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Click on the orange words in the correct order to fill in the blanks.
Photography is a way of making a picture using a camera. A person who makes using a camera is called a . A made using a camera is called a or photo.
A "camera" is, in its form, like a box with a hole in the front. There is a special piece of glass in front of the hole called a lens. To take a photograph of , the lens makes a small picture of the object inside the camera. The lens does this by light. A lens in a camera works like a lens in glasses () or a glass.
To make a photograph with a camera the button is . the button opens the shutter. The shutter is like a door. It covers the hole in the camera box. The shutter is behind the lens. When the shutter is closed no light can enter the camera box. When the shutter is open light can enter the camera. When the button is pressed the shutter opens and then closes. This very fast. The amount of time the shutter stays open for is called the shutter speed. The shutter speed can change between 1/1000th of a second (0.001 s) to a few seconds. the time taken for the shutter to open and close is much less than 1 second.
Read more in the Wikipedia entry for Photography
Get more cloze exercises like this one at clozure.trainingo2.net | <urn:uuid:223f060b-16d2-4e24-a9cf-a2f0ab0f25c5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eflnet.com/cloze/photography.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952617 | 296 | 3.5625 | 4 |
(HealthDay News) -- A good night's sleep does much more than help you stay awake through a long day. It actually helps protect your health.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists these problems that can arise as a result of insufficient sleep:
- Increased risk of chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
- Greater likelihood of becoming obese or overweight.
- Increased risk of developing depression.
- Added risk of getting into a motor vehicle accident because of "drowsy driving."
Copyright © 2011 HealthDay. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:356e775b-3604-40f8-963a-ff3bd54b48c7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.emanuelmed.org/body.cfm?id=148&action=detail&ref=39450 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938847 | 118 | 2.78125 | 3 |
“As the 20th century was dominated by oil, carbon emissions became a major issue at the end of that period”, said Glen Murray, Ontario’s Minister of Research and Innovation in his address to the public at the conference. “Water is the next big issue”, he said. “It will be the dominant force in the 21st century.”
Water is embedded in every human activity and it’s becoming scarce. It is predicted that one in three people will not have proper access to water in the next 20 years. Despite all that, there has been very little innovation over the last 40 years, said Booky Oren, CEO Global Water Technologies, based in Israel. He contrasted the conservativeness of the water industry with the rapid advances made by communications and IT during the same period.
But that seems to be about the change as the huge interest attracted by the Ontario summit seems to testify, a fact that panel discussion repeatedly reiterated, pointing to innovation as a driving force behind the shift. Thanks to the remarkable energy/water nexus, this booming new industry, which is expected to move $22 trillion over the next few years on a global scale, will inevitably drive more innovation and application in the alternative energy sector.
You should follow us here. | <urn:uuid:9fe8de19-1c85-4e56-a2a5-7b8f9d9c8ab2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.energyrefuge.com/blog/dispatches-from-ontario-water-is-the-next-big-environmental-issue/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97771 | 265 | 2.75 | 3 |
For centuries, we humans have been destroying the natural habitat of animals for our own purposes, whether by deforestation, over-hunting or because of over-population. Our lust for natural resources often overcomes the natural ecology. According to the IUCN Red List, over forty-thousand species are facing extinction. Here is an entire list of some of the more recent species that have gone completely and will never walk the earth ever again.
13. Quagga (extinct: 1880)
A yellowish-brown subspecies of the plains zebra with stripes only on its head, the quagga was a close relative of horses and zebras. It lived on grassy plains and in the drier parts of South Africa. It is very sad to know that the true quagga was hunted down for meat and vanished almost unnoticed, before any conservation efforts were made.
12. Passenger Pigeon (extinct: 1914)
Billions of passenger pigeons lived in eastern North America in the early 1800s. Huge numbers of the birds were reported in single flocks, which often darkened the skies for days. Sadly, these beautiful birds were hunted for meat and were declared extinct when the last known individual died in 1914.
11. Bubal Hartebeest (extinct: 1923)
The bubal hartebeest once lived freely throughout Egypt, Libya, Northern Africa and Tunisia and was once used for sacrificial purposes. Also considered an excellent food source, they were driven to extinction by hunters.
10. Thylacine (extinct: 1936)
A distant relative of the opossum, the thylacine looked like a dog with tiger-like stripes. Thylacines fed on smaller animals and were often considered a threat to small farm animals. So, due to constant hunting by farmers, the largest known carnivorous marsupial of modern times is now extinct.
9. Round Island Burrowing Boa (extinct: 1975)
A close relative of Round Island Burrowing Boa, known as Round Island Keel-scaled Ba
The best-known species of Round Island, Mauritius, the burrowing boa was last seen in August 1975. One of two members of a unique sub-family of primitive boas, it preferred to live in the topsoil of volcanic slopes. It is believed that extreme habitat changes and the use of poisons for the extermination of rabbits may have driven this predator to extinction.
8. Javan Tiger (extinct: 1979)
Javan tigers were known for their unusually long cheek whiskers. They once roamed on the Indonesian Island of Java and were considered pests by island natives. Agricultural development led to a severe decline in their population. The last evidence of the tigers' existence was in 1979. Since then, sadly no one has ever seen them again.
7. Tecopa Pupfish (extinct: 1982)
Native to the Mojave Desert, California, the Tecopa pupfish was first described in 1948. Found only in the North and South Tacopa, two springs of the Amaragosa River system, the fish was added to the endangered species list in 1970. It was later declared extinct, in 1982, after its natural habitat was destroyed by developers.
6. The Golden Toad (extinct: 1989)
The Golden Toad was a brilliant orange-colored toad last seen in 1989. The high-altitude regions of Costa Rica were the home of this fluorescent amphibian before it became extinct, possibly due to a fungal epidemic. Even though researchers are trying hard, they haven’t been able to produce any more evidence of the golden toad's existence since then.
5. Zanzibar Leopard (extinct: 1996)
It is still not clear whether this subspecies of leopard is technically extinct. Locals believe that Zanzibar leopards were kept by witches. Extermination by humans and deforestation were largely responsible for their disappearance in the 20th century.
4. Pyrenean Ibex (extinct: 2000)
In 1980, about 30 Pyrenean ibex were reported to exist. With the death of their last family member in 2000, they were declared extinct. But, this was not the end. Scientists worked hard and brought them back into existence through cloning. Sadly, the cloned ibex also died due to lung failure. Native to the Pyrenees in France and Spain, no sightings of the ibex have been reported in recent years.
3. Po'o-uli (extinct: 2004)
The po'o-uli, or honeycreeper, was endemic to Maui, Hawaii. Predators, a decline in food sources and habitat loss are all thought to have been responsible for the beautiful bird‘s demise. By 1997, only three individuals were known to exist. Later, in 2004, the last known male bird also died in captivity.
2. Spix's Macaw (extinct: 2004)
The spix’s macaw, the world’s rarest parrot, disappeared from the wild recently. Also known as the little blue macaws, it was the only member of the parrot genus Cyanopsitta. This magnificent bird, which came in various shades of blue, was endemic to the state of Bahia, Brazil and the Caraibeira Riparian Woodland. Though some of them are still participating in captivity breeding program, they have been declared extinct in the wild.
1. Madeiran Large White (extinct: 2007)
Once upon a time, this magnificent white butterfly flew in the humid subtropical forests of Portugal's Madeira Islands. The gorgeous butterflies had a very limited distribution, as they lived in a very rare type of forest. Researchers believe that pollution from agricultural fertilizers and deforestation could be the reasons for their extinction.
We humans are destroying the concept of the food chain. Every day, a few plants and animals go extinct. The time has come to think things over again. | <urn:uuid:d688f7f7-d3b9-40ea-88fd-1e0825eaf3c0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/news-13-recently-extinct-animals?image=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973554 | 1,245 | 3.25 | 3 |
Scientists develop computer Global Climate Models or GCMs based on estimates of future greenhouse gas emissions, climate forcing factors, and the laws of physics. Once they verify a GCM through accurately simulating Earth's climate history, they use the GCM to predict climate in the near future.
Global warming is epic, long-term study saysLast Updated on 2013-04-08 at 20:52
(CNN) -- Global warming has propelled Earth's climate from one of its coldest decades since the last ice age to one of its hottest -- in just one century.
A heat spike... More »
Model Climate SensitivityLast Updated on 2013-04-04 at 15:05
The response of climate to a perturbation such as a change in carbon dioxide concentration, or in the flux of energy from the sun, can be divided into two... More » | <urn:uuid:659128da-2f10-4dc6-85d8-b027b27ba0eb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eoearth.org/topics/view/65993/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927353 | 175 | 3.484375 | 3 |
Vehicle Emissions Inspection and Maintenance (I/M)
What is Inspection and Maintenance?
The Inspection and Maintenance (I/M) program is a way to check whether the emission control system on a vehicle is working correctly. All new passenger cars and trucks sold in the United States today must meet stringent pollution standards, but they remain low-polluters if the emission controls and the engine are both functioning properly. I/M is a state-operated program designed to ensure that vehicles stay clean after they leave the factory and are in-use by the driving public. Through periodic emissions performance checks and repairs for those vehicles that fail emissions tests, I/M encourages proper vehicle maintenance and discourages tampering with emission control devices.
Why is Emissions Testing Needed in Region 3?
Motor vehicle manufacturers have been required to meet increasingly stringent new vehicle air pollution standards. But vehicles that are poorly maintained or that have malfunctioning emission controls often emit pollution at levels exceeding these standards. Even seemingly minor malfunctions can cause increased emissions. Major malfunctions can cause emissions to skyrocket by hundreds of times beyond federal vehicle standards. Even though cars having malfunctioning emissions controls comprise a small portion of the fleet, they can have dramatically higher emissions.
Drivers typically don't think of their own vehicle as a significant source of air pollution, but cars and trucks collectively are the single greatest contributor in this country to carbon monoxide pollution and to ground-level ozone, or smog. In our more polluted cities, vehicles contribute between 35 and 70 percent of ozone-forming emissions and 90 percent or more of carbon monoxide emissions. Ambient concentrations of one or both of these pollutants exceed national air quality standards in virtually every major urban area of the country, including the Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, DC metropolitan areas.
Substantial reductions in vehicle emissions are essential in our cities' struggle to achieve clean air. I/M programs can significantly reduce vehicle-related ozone-forming and carbon monoxide emissions. A comprehensive I/M program can also yield substantial reductions in nitrogen oxide emissions.
What is on the Horizon for I/M in Region 3?
On-board diagnostic (OBD) system checks are now becoming a major element of emissions testing. New second generation OBD systems were added to cars beginning in the 1994 model year. These advanced OBD systems use the vehicle's on-board computer to monitor emissions devices and engine control systems that can impact emissions performance. If the system detects a malfunction, the computer stores a code that aids in diagnosis of the problem and triggers a dashboard indicator light alerting the motorist of a problem.
By 2001, states began incorporating on-board diagnostic (OBD) system checks into the emissions test process. A computer checks for any stored trouble codes, the dashboard malfunction light is also checked. However, you don't need to wait for your emissions test to respond to an illuminated dashboard malfunction light. If you see the light, have your vehicle checked for problems as soon as possible and you can do your part to reduce air pollution before it deteriorates.
Where is I/M being performed in Region 3?
This map includes the I/M counties in the Mid-Atlantic region. For additional information regarding specifics of the I/M program for your county go to the respective state information page...
Links to Region 3 state I/M program websites
Delaware - Vehicle Emissions Inspection Program
District of Columbia - Enhanced Emissions Inspection Program
Maryland - Vehicle Emissions Inspection Program (VEIP)
Pennsylvania - Drive Clean PA!
Virginia - Virginia Air Check
Other EPA I/M Web Pages
EPA Inspection and Maintenance Main Web Page - EPA information on I/M programs
Clean Cars - Clean Air - Consumer fact sheet on I/M and clean air
On-Board Diagnostics Information - On-board diagnostics systems and I/M testing
Tailpipe Emissions Testing Procedures - I/M procedures and equipment; evaporative system pressure test
Other State I/M Web Pages
Connecticut - Emissions Information Page
Colorado - Air Care Colorado
Ohio - ECheck
Illinois - Vehicle Emissions Testing
Wisconsin - WisDOT: Vehicle Emission Inspection
California - California Smog Check home page
Massachusetts - Massachusetts Vehicle Check
New Jersey - Motor Vehicle Commission Testing
New York - New York Vehicle Inspection and Maintenance
Georgia - Georgia Clean Air Force
Other useful I/M-related links
CCAR-Greenlink - Environmental Information for Automotive Technicians - Consumer environmental information for auto technicians, repair shops
National Center for Vehicle Emissions Control Safety (NCVECS); mobile source programs/issues - *NCVECS*
National OBD Clearinghouse, administered by Weber State University - National OBD Clearinghouse
Society of Automotive Engineers - Source of OBD-related standards and studies
SAE Service Technology Program Office - trade organization for auto technicians
International Automotive Technicians Network (IATN); trade organization for auto technicians - iATN - International Automotive Technicians' Network
EPA Mid-Atlantic Region I/M Contacts
- Pennsylvania - Brian Rehn (215) 814-2176
- Virginia - Brian Rehn (215) 814-2176
- Maryland - Brian Rehn (215) 814-2176; Marilyn Powers (215) 814-2308
- Delaware - Brian Rehn (215) 814-2176; Marilyn Powers (215) 814-2308
- District of Columbia - Brian Rehn (215) 814-2176; Marilyn Powers (215) 814-2308 | <urn:uuid:3a083fae-9d8d-482d-a03c-be239a2a8ad6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.epa.gov/reg3artd/vehicletran/vehicles/vehicle_emissions_testing.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.853977 | 1,156 | 3.015625 | 3 |
A lectionary is a table of readings from Scripture appointed to be read at public worship. The Lectionary (1969, revised 1981) developed by the Roman Catholic Church after Vatican II provided for a three-year cycle of Sunday readings. This Roman lectionary provided the basis for the lectionary in 1979 edition of The Book of Common Prayer, as well as for lectionaries developed by many other denominations.
The Common Lectionary, published in 1983, was an ecumenical project of several American and Canadian denominations, developed out of a concern for the unity of the church and a desire for a common experience of Scripture. It was intended as a harmonization of the many different denominational approaches to the three-year lectionary.
The Revised Common Lectionary, published in 1992 and officially adopted by The Episcopal Church in 2006, takes into account constructive criticism of the Common Lectionary based on the evaluation of its trial use, and like the current prayer-book lectionary, is a three-year cycle of Sunday Eucharistic readings in which Matthew, Mark, and Luke are read in successive years with some material from John read in each year. | <urn:uuid:49552fac-6f15-4ea2-8db5-99e94928ffd1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.episcopalchurch.org/es/lectionary/about-revised-common-lectionary | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975177 | 241 | 3.5625 | 4 |
Thursday, August 23, 2012
TAMPA, Fla., Aug. 23, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Traditional electrical sources such as coal, nuclear, and natural gas use massive amounts of fresh water. Fitting solar panels that generate electricity from the sun on site reduce the amount of electricity required from traditional sources thereby reducing national fresh water consumption. This benefits everyone, the homeowner, the utility, and our farmers.
It is estimated that 0.687 gallons of fresh water is used to generate every Kilowatt-hour (kWh) of electricity. The average US home uses 11,496 kWh of electricity every year and, therefore, indirectly consumes 7,897 gallons of valuable fresh water. If every household in the US installed solar panels, we would save 7 Billion gallons of water annually! That is enough for over 147 million people to survive on for an entire year; equivalent to almost half the population of the United States.
The traditional generation of electricity uses water in a variety of ways, but mostly for cooling. Supply problems occur when the water is lost as steam instead of being purified and returned to its original source. Most people don't consider the link between energy generation, renewable technologies and fresh water conservation. However, it has a huge direct impact. Since less than 1% of the water on the earth is accessible freshwater and our consumer demand is growing exponentially, fresh water is one of our most valuable assets and is increasingly in short supply. Attacking the problem of indirect water use like energy generation can help to ensure that we will have safe, fresh, drinkable water well into the future.
SolarTek is a Tampa based supplier of solar electricity generating systems at affordable prices with a national network of owner operated franchises providing objective, free, no obligation advice to home and small business owners. | <urn:uuid:341f0634-9f14-41b0-b74e-2d2557428808> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.esolarenergynews.com/2012/08/solartek-fact-solar-panels-could-save.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950722 | 367 | 2.90625 | 3 |
Contact: Diana Lutz
Washington University in St. Louis
Caption: RuBisCO crucial photosynthetic enzyme sometimes reacts with oxygen rather than carbon, then goes through a long, complicated and energy-expensive process called photorespiration just to recover the carbon and get it back to the starting line. Scientists are trying to fix the problem by stealing ideas from C4 plants. C4 plants (right) prevent RuBisCO from binding oxygen by concentrating carbon dioxide in special photosynthetic cells called bundle-sheath cells. The high concentrations of carbon dioxide in these cells suppress oxygen binding, allowing RuBisCO to work more efficiently.
Credit: Viten, a service of the Norwegian Centre for Science Education
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Related news release: Turning plants into power houses | <urn:uuid:6cd23a79-a531-4d1b-879e-5824ac53980d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/pub/31838.php?from=184275 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.902727 | 164 | 3.453125 | 3 |
Contact: Rob Gutro
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Caption: On Oct. 25, when NASA's Aqua satellite passed overhead it collected valuable data about Rina's cloud top temperatures. It showed a large area of strong thunderstorms (purple) completely surrounding the center of circulation. The strongest, coldest, highest cloud tops that surrounded the center of Rina (the eye) were colder than -63 Fahrenheit. The eye (blue surrounded by purple) showed warmer temperatures, indicating that it may be seen on visible satellite data.
Credit: NASA JPL, Ed Olsen
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Six-thousand year old bones excavated in Jericho may help a joint Israeli-Palestinian-German research group combat tuberculosis.
According to Prof. Mark Spigelman of the Kuvin Center for the Study of Infectious and Tropical Diseases at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who is leading the Israeli team, the bones, which were all excavated by Dr. Kathleen Kenyon between fifty and seventy years ago, will be tested for tuberculosis, leprosy, leishmania and malaria. However, the primary focus will be tuberculosis.
Spigelman is known for his pioneering studies of ancient diseases (palaeoepidemiology) found on mummified bodies and human remains from Hungary and Korea to Sudan, in his quest to provide answers to the development of diseases affecting us today, such as tuberculosis, hepatitis and malaria.
'TB still the biggest killer'
Tuberculosis - or TB - is a deadly infectious bacterial disease that usually attacks the lungs. Acknowledged as a disease of crowds, it is transmitted from human to human living in close contact.
Dating back thousands of years, tuberculosis was well known in antiquity. However, according to Spigelman, it is still the biggest killer even today. One-third of the world's current population has been infected by tuberculosis, resulting, in recent years, in approximately three million deaths per year.
While the origins of tuberculosis and its evolution remain unclear, it is thought it came from the first villages and small towns in the Fertile Crescent region about 9-10,000 years ago. Jericho is one of the earliest towns on earth, dating back to 9,000 B.C., and so a lot of communicable - or town - diseases would have had a good start in this community.
By examining human and animal bones from this site, the researchers will be able to see how the first people living in a crowded situation developed the diseases of crowds and how this affected the disease through changes in DNA – of both the microbes and the people.
The most significant results of this research will come from a comparison between those data for humans and corresponding animal remains which may allow the identification of animal-human vectors and their interaction.
How can this research help us today?
Preliminary work suggests that there is sufficient DNA in the bone samples to make a contribution to our understanding of the origin and development of microbial disease which could provide crucial information in the evolution of tuberculosis.
Spigelman believes that knowing how a disease developed 6,000 years ago helps us understand what it will do as it continues to evolve, and will ultimately alter the practice of public health officials in combating it.
Where were the bones until now?
Spigelman came across the long-forgotten bones while examining mummies at Sydney University's Nicholson Museum.
"They told me they had lots of boxes of bones and didn't know what they were because they'd been deposited there fifty years earlier by an anthropologist who'd worked with Dr. Kathleen Kenyon who'd been excavating at Jericho. When I examined them, I recognized that these were the bones from Jericho, and I told them not throw them out!"
Some of the bones, which were then brought to Israel by Spigelman while on a Sir Zelman Cowan Fund fellowship, will be studied along with other bones from Jericho that have been contributed by the Duckworth Collection at Cambridge University who have agreed to participate in the project.
The research, which is being sponsored by a grant from the German Science Foundation, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), will be conducted by the Hebrew University, Al Quds University and the Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich. In Israel, Ph.D. and master's students from both Al-Quds and the Hebrew Universities will devote their time exclusively to this project.
According to Spigelman, the project will also help the Palestinians develop the technology and set up their own ancient DNA lab at Al Quds University.
This is one of eleven trilateral research projects at the Hebrew University involving Palestinian, Israeli and German cooperation.
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system. | <urn:uuid:7bf8c1c5-53c4-49d6-87f8-0325321208cd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-07/thuo-ejb071408.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966067 | 882 | 3.53125 | 4 |
There is no evidence to support the fact that smoking in cars is 23 times more toxic than in other indoor environments, states an analysis article in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) (pre-embargo link only) http://www.cmaj.ca/embargo/cmaj090993.pdf.
The article, by Australian researchers, describes how a local media report of an unsourced statistic — that "second-hand smoke was "23 times more toxic in a vehicle than in a home"" — led to widespread reporting of the figure in international media and peer-reviewed literature.
However, there appears to be no scientific evidence to support this claim. "In a subsequent exhaustive search of the relevant literature, we failed to locate any scientific source for this comparison," write Mr. Ross MacKenzie, School of Public Health, University of Sydney, Australia and coauthor. "Given that the issue of banning smoking in cars is gaining traction internationally, use of this media-friendly tobacco control 'fact' presents potential problems of credibility."
The 23 times estimate has evolved from being a brief quotation in a US newspaper to entering the academic mainstream in 1998 when a Tobacco Control editorial closely copied the previous quote. Both the newspaper report and the editorial were then cited in an issue of Nicotine and Tobacco Research.
"The biggest danger of inaccurately interpreting research on smoking in cars for the sake of a snappy media sound bite is to lose favour with an overwhelmingly supportive public and to provide ammunition for opponents of tobacco control," write the authors.
The authors conclude that researchers and organizations should stop using the 23 times more toxic "fact" because of the lack of evidence in scientific literature. "Instead, advocating of smoking bans in cars should simply state that exposure to second-hand smoke in cars poses a significant health risk and that vulnerable children who cannot remove themselves from this smoky environment must be protected."
Media contact: Mr. Ross MacKenzie, School of Public Health, University of Sydney, tel: (work) +612 9351 7789 (cell) +61 404 153 986, [email protected]
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system. | <urn:uuid:ffa9d695-d366-4e1f-900a-88848551b253> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-04/cmaj-sst040910.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93133 | 483 | 2.890625 | 3 |
How Rap Music Can Keep Blood Vessels from Bursting
Researchers at Purdue University have designed an implantable sensor that monitors the pressure inside blood vessels. Instead of batteries, it's powered by music — specifically rap.
Feb. 8, 2012 — What do rappers Drake, Jay-Z, and Kanye
West have in common? Aside from their occupations and celebrity status, they
can save your life. At least their music might.
powerful bass rhythm of rap music has the ability to power a new, implantable
sensor designed by researchers at Purdue University.
The device, which can monitor the pressure of an aneurysm in the blood stream, can
warn doctors before a potentially fatal rupture. Likewise, a sensor such as this
could detect pressure in the bladder and trigger a device to prevent urine
leakage for those with paralysis-induced incontinence.
instead of batteries, this tiny sensor is charged by sound waves from music,
which pass through the skin and cause part of the device, the cantilever, to
vibrate. The electricity generated from this action is then stored.
tones would do the trick, but music is more fun. Researchers tested different genres
including blues, jazz, rock, and rap. Rap, with its low-frequency sound (that
super bass), won out.
music in a certain range of frequencies (anywhere from 200-500 hertz) can make
the cantilever vibrate. "The music reaches the correct frequency only at
certain times, for example, when there is a strong bass component," Babak
Ziaie, PhD, Purdue University professor and co-author of the paper detailing
these findings, said in a release.
would only need to do this for a couple of minutes every hour or so to monitor
either blood pressure or
pressure of urine in the bladder," says Ziaie. "It doesn't take long
to do the measurement."
used in traditional implantable devices have to be replaced periodically and external
transmitters used for inductance are cumbersome, so recharging with sound
energy has its benefits.
rap enthusiast? It sounds like patients only have to listen to a song at a
time, but this new technology could amp up the genre’s fan base. The catchy
beats can grow on you! | <urn:uuid:64be51e2-f2cc-44b8-89c6-b53c93d179b9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.everydayhealth.com/heart-health/0208/how-rap-music-can-keep-blood-vessels-from-bursting.aspx?xid=tw_everydayhealth_20120208_rapmusic | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931134 | 485 | 3.296875 | 3 |
The Evolution Deceit
When populations are divided by some geographic obstacle, the gene pools (representing the populations’ genetic structure) of populations living in the two different environments may be found to change. The further apart populations move from one another, the greater the potential increase in the differences between them. Isolation giving rise to population changes may be geographic, economic, cultural or climatic.227 (See Geographic Isolation theory, the.)
These two populations separated from one another for whatever reason—generally geographic isolation—may lose the ability to interbreed with each other. As a natural consequence of this, the genetic combination of each population remains restricted. Evolutionists refer to every effect that prevents mating and effective fertilization between populations as isolation or as an isolation mechanism. According to evolutionists, isolation that restricts reproduction is essential for species formation.228 One evolutionist source describes this essential requirement:
No species can separate from another in the absence of this; and if ever it did, it could never survive independently. What if all animals mated freely with one another and were able to reproduce among themselves? The result would be a convergence leading to the disappearance of all zoological units. In other words, no dog, horse, cat or cow would have a separate existence; they would be just combinations of all animals. Because the distinction between animals and human beings would be lost, there would be many human-like animals and animal-like humans. Eventually a most fascinating mongrel would emerge from the combination of all these. Since reproduction is unrestricted on the streets we see various mongrel breeds among dogs. Since dogs all belong to separate breeds they produce mongrels among themselves. That is why dog breeders take care to use only pedigree breeds in order to maintain specific characteristics. If this were not done, then peculiar mongrel breeds from a mixture of all dogs.229
Evolutionists try to account for the origin of species in terms of isolation. But the question of how so many thousands of species emerged on Earth is exceedingly hard for evolutionists to answer. Therefore, they deliberately use the concept of isolation as the mechanism that brings new species into being. However, no new species comes into being through isolation. That merely enables the emergence of different variants, stemming from a narrowing of the gene pool. At the basis of speciation, there is no genetic incompatibility stemming from division into two groups. These life forms will still belong to the same species, in terms of their overall genetic information.
Therefore, there is nothing about the speciation that supports the theory of evolution, which claims that all living species evolved from the simple to the complex in a random manner. This means that if evolution is to be taken seriously, it must be able to point to mechanisms that increase genetic information. It must be able to explain how life forms originally lacking eyes, ears, a heart, lungs, wings, feet or other organs and systems managed to acquire them, and where the genetic information describing these organs and systems came from.
No doubt that the division of an already existing species into two, suffering a loss of genetic diversity, has absolutely nothing to do with this.
The fact that subspecies are not evolving into new species is actually admitted even by evolutionists. For that reason, evolutionists describe examples of variations within a species and of speciation by division as micro-evolution. (See Micro-evolution.) Micro-evolution is used in the sense of variants emerging within an already existing species. However, the use of the term evolution here is deliberately intended to mislead, because there is no such process going on. What is happening consists of different combinations of genetic information that already exists in that species’ gene pool being distribution in different populations of individuals.
Evolutionists need to answer such questions as, “How did the first species come into existence?” and “How did the categories above species, the classes, orders, families etc. initially come into existence?” that.
227 Özer Bulut, Davut Sağdıç, Elim Korkmaz, Biyoloji Lise 3, p. 152.
228 Prof. Dr. Ali Demirsoy, Yaşamın Temel Kuralları, Genel Biyoloji/Genel Zooloji, Vol. I, Part I, Ankara, 1993, p. 605.
229 Prof. Dr. Ali Demirsoy, Kalıtım ve Evrim, p. 689. | <urn:uuid:c2c0289a-b118-4e06-ba66-d148c4b99f27> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.evolutiondeceit.com/en/Evolution-Dictionary/16434/Isolation | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936645 | 929 | 3.703125 | 4 |
Houphouët-Boigny, Félix (fālēksˈ ōfwāˈ-bwäˈnyə) [key], 1905–93, African political leader, president (1960–93) of Côte d'Ivoire. Descended from wealthy Baoule chieftains, he practiced medicine (1925–40) in Côte d'Ivoire and then entered government service. At the Bamako Conference (1946) he was elected chairman of the newly formed African Democratic Rally, subsequently a powerful force in African politics. As minister delegate (1956–57), he helped form French colonial policy. In 1958, when Côte d'Ivoire became a self-governing republic, Houphouët-Boigny was president of the constituent assembly. He became prime minister in 1959 and president of the republic in 1960. In 1990 he was elected to his seventh five-year term and for the first time with the participation of legal opposition parties. His political longevity may have been due to the relative economic prosperity induced by his policies of slow Africanization, encouragement of foreign investment, and French aid.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: African History: Biographies | <urn:uuid:a1f75ae8-724e-4da6-a5e2-322733f24fb5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.factmonster.com/encyclopedia/people/houphouet-boigny-felix.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946643 | 282 | 3.1875 | 3 |
Different species differ widely in their diets and may be carnivorous, herbivorous, or omnivorous. Members of some species eat honeydew from plants infested with aphids and certain other insects; others, called dairying ants, feed and protect the aphids and "milk" them by stroking. Harvester ants eat and store seeds; these sometimes sprout around the nest, leading to the erroneous belief that these ants cultivate their food. However, cultivation is practiced by certain ants that feed on fungi grown in the nest. Some of these, called leaf-cutter, or parasol, ants, carry large pieces of leaf to the nest, where the macerated leaf tissue is used as a growth medium for the fungus. Most leaf cutters are tropical, but the Texas leaf-cutting ant is a serious crop pest in North America. The army ants of the New World tropics and the driver ants of tropical Africa are carnivorous, nomadic species with no permanent nests. They travel like armies in long columns, overrunning and devouring animals that cannot flee their path; the African species even consume large mammals.
Sections in this article:
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Zoology: Invertebrates | <urn:uuid:5ed44944-e316-489f-9784-b8089b1d8ac8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.factmonster.com/encyclopedia/science/ant-feeding-habits.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947436 | 255 | 3.734375 | 4 |
pontifex maximus (pŏnˈtĭfĕks măkˈsĭməs) [key], highest priest of Roman religion and official head of the college of pontifices. As the chief administrator of religious affairs he regulated the conduct of religious ceremonies, consecrated temples and other holy places, and controlled the calendar. During the time of the empire, and until Christianity became firmly established, the emperor was designated pontifex maximus. After the supremacy of Christianity, the popes assumed the title.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Ancient Religion | <urn:uuid:fcb2db2c-1c20-4222-aa60-6ed122a40db9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.factmonster.com/encyclopedia/society/pontifex-maximus.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.894812 | 125 | 2.875 | 3 |
Last modified: 2012-10-13 by ivan sache
Keywords: colfontaine | paturages | wasmes | warquignies | eagle: half (black) | posthorn (yellow) | shovels: 3 (white) |
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Municipal flag of Colfontaine - Image by Arnaud Leroy, 25 May 2005
The municipality of Colfontaine (19,998 inhabitants on 1 January 2007; 1,364 ha) is located in Borinage, aka Pays Noir (Black Country), the former coal mining basin, 10 km south-west of Mons and 10 km north-east of the border with France. The municipality of Colfontaine was formed in 1976 by the merging of the former municipalities of Pâturages, Warquignies and Wasmes (seat of the new municipality) with a part of the former municipality of Eugies (the other part of Eugies being incorporated to Frameries. The new municipality was named after the forest of Colfontaine, located on its territory. The name of the forest is said to recall Colart de Fontaine, lord of Fontaine-l'Evêque, who was appointed Bishop of Cambrai around 1100.
Between 1828 and 1842, Henri Degorge, the owner of the coal mining
complex of Grand Hornu, bought 645 ha of the forest of Colfontaine; the
domain was laid out by the French architect Séquenard for wood
exploitation. In the beginning of the XXth century, the forest had to
be suppressed and replaced by a colliery; on 20 May 1907, a huge crowd
rallied against the suppression of the only natural park in Borinage
and the forest was purchased the same year by the Belgian state. The
forest has today 750 ha and is a main ornithological reserve.
Coal extraction started in Borinage in the XIIIth century. In the XVIIth centuries, the fifty active shafts were destroyed by Louis XIV's troops. Coal industry flourished in the XVIIIth century, with the set up of the big collieries of Hornu, Wasmes, Grand Buisson and Vanneaux. In the XIXth century, the Agraffe-Escouffiaux colliery exploited 3,328 ha located on seven municipalities; the territory of Wasmes was also exploited by the Rieu-du-Cœur colliery. in Wasmes, there were also two quarries of chalk (used to produce lime), one tannery, three breweries, three grain mills (one wind mill and one water mill powered by the brook Ribeaupont).
A disaster killed 91 miners in Wasmes in 1819; until 1953, another 88 were killed in five accidents. The last shaft was closed in 1957. In Warquigines, 23 miners were killed on 4 March 1894. In Pâturages, an accident killed 57 miners on 15-17 May 1934 in the Fief of Lambrechies; 33 bodies were never recovered. The disaster is commemorated by a monument inaugurated in the municipal parc of Pâturages on 26 August 1945. The last shaft was closed in 1961.
Pâturages (332 ha, lit., Pastures) was in the past a wide non-cropped
area used by the inhabitants of Quaregnon, Eugies, Frameries and Jemappes for cattle grazing. After a long dispute between the Chapter of the St. Waudru church in Mons and the Count of Hainaut, the land was split
among the Chapter, the Bishop of Cambrai and the villagers. The "common pastures" could neither be sold nor ceded to foreigners, and the dispute resumed when coal extraction began in the
XVth and XVIth century. The first permanent settlement was set up in the
forest of Colfontaine in the XVIIth century and a chapel was built in
1680. Bishop of Cambrai Fénelon, then fallen into disgrace, stayed in
the Belle Maison (Beautiful House) at the edge of the forest, from
1695 to 1715. Around 1735, the first machine à feu (steam engine) of
Borinage was set up in Pâturages, which became an independent
municipality in 1792.
Pâturages is the birth town of Achille Delattre (1879-1964), a miner and newspaper seller who became redactor at the newspaper L'Avenir du Borinage and secretary of the President of the Miners' Union. Delattre was Socialist Deputy of Mons (1921-1954), Minister of Work (1935-1939), Minister of Fuel (1947-1948) and State Minister (1945), and Mayor of Pâturages (1939-1940 and 1944-1952).
Warquignies (56 ha) was given in 1262 by Pope Urban IV to the abbey of Saint-Ghislain. The village was later owned by the lords of Montignies-sur-Roc and then the Grouff d'Erkelem. Wasmes and Warquiginies were separated in the XVIIIth century. Coal was already extracted in Warquignies in 1470 but the production always remained low.
Wasmes (688 ha) is considered as the geographical center of the region
of Borinage. King of the Franks Dagobert I is said to have given the
land of Wasmes around 635 to St. Ghislain in order to found a
monastery. In 1095, Bishop of Gaucher ceded the church of
Wasmes to the abbey of Saint-Ghislain; Gontier and Gilles de Chin gave in 1133 their possessions at Wasmes to the abbey. The monks
progressively purchased the whole village. Wasmes is known for its dragon, killed in the beginning of the XIVth century by Gilles de Chin. This act is celebrated every year on Whit
Tuesday by a procession dedicated to the Blessed Virgin.
In the XVIth century, Protestants settled in Borinage, in spite of a violent repression by the abbey of Saint-Ghislain. On 26 December 1878, the Synodal Committee of the Evangelical Protestant Church of Belgium sent to Peit-Wasmes a young intern pastor named Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890). He lived in Wasmes and helped the poor. Vincent was 25 and was deeply impressed by the extreme poverty of the coal miners, as can be read in the letters he sent to his brother Theo. After six months, in July 1879, Van Gogh was rejected by the population and fired by his employer. On the St. Peter's square in Wasmes, a bust of Van Gogh by Ossip Zadkine (1890-1967) recalls this episode.
Wasmes is the birth town of Marcel Busieau (1914-1994), member of the Socialist anti-German resistance during the Second World War and publisher of the clandestine newspaper La Pensée Socialiste. Busieau was Mayor of Wasmes (1953-1976) and the first Mayor of Colfontaine (1976-1983). He was Deputy of Mons (1954), Senator (1956-1982) and Minister of the Post (1961-1963). In 1960, Busieau was appointed Delegate for Belgium at the General Assembly of the United Nations.
Source: Municipal website
Ivan Sache, 21 March 2006
The municipal flag of Colfontaine is vertically divided green-yellow
with the municipal arms in the middle.
According to Armoiries communales en Belgique. Communes wallonnes, bruxelloises et germanophones, the flag and arms were adopted by the Municipal Council on 25 October 1999 and confirmed by the Executive of the French Community on 20 December 1999, with the following description:
Flag: Parti vert et jaune, chargé au centre de l'écu communal occupant le tiers du battant (The width of the shield is one third of the flag width).
Arms: Parti, au premier d'or à la demi-aigle de sable, armée et lampassée de gueules, mouvante de la partition, au deuxième de sinople à trois pelles d'argent, accompagnées en chef d'un huchet d'or (Per pale or an half-eagle sable armed and langued gules moving from the partition vert three shovels argent in chief a posthorn or).
More details are given in the unofficial Colfontaine website.
On 28 February 1977, the Municipal Council of Colfontaine applied for the following arms:
The shield surmounted by a Count's crown, representing Warquignies and recalling Count Baudouin de Grouff d'Erkelens.
The first third of the shield charged with an half-eagle, representing the abbey of Saint-Ghislain.
The second third of the shield charged with an abbot's crozier, also representing the abbey of Saint-Ghislain.
The third third of the shield, representing Pâturages, with two equal parts:
- On top, three miner's double-headed picks (in French, haveleuses) on a black background, representing the collieries;
- In the bottom, a hunting horn (in French heraldic language, huchet) on a green background, representing the forest. The shield would be tierced per pale.
This proposal was rejected by the General Archivist; on 15 October 1979, the Municipal Council commissioned M. Delferrière to design a new proposal based on the General Archivist's recommendations. There were several successive versions of the coat of arms, amended by the Heraldry and Vexillology Council of the French Community. The Heraldry Council recommended to simplify the initial proposal by placing the half-eagle on the viewer's left and three spades on the viewer's right. The Municipal Council required the addition of a hunting horn in the upper right corner to better represent Pâturages; the Heraldry Council suggested to swap the spades and the horn for the sake of aesthetics. On 25 October 1999, the Municipal Council of Colfontaine unanimuously adopted the municipal coat of arms and applied to the French Community for its official confirmation. On behalf of the Executive of the French Community, Minister of Culture Robert Collignon signed on 20 December 1999 the Decree confirming the municipal coat of arms of Colfontaine. The honour diploma is shown in the entrance hall of the town hall, located in Wasmes.
Servais gives the description and the origin of the coat of arms of the
former municipalities now included in Colfontaine.
The Municipal Council of Pâturages applied for a coat of arms in 1864. The printer and bookseller Caufriez wanted to give to the municipality a shield representing the collieries and agriculture. Nothing happened until the Heraldry Council decided to grant a shield to the municipality, confirmed by Royal Decree on 5 November 1913 and probably based on the early request:
Écartelé aux 1 et 4 de sinople au huchet d'or et aux 2 et 3 de sable â trois haveuses d'argent (Quarterly; 1 and 4, vert a hunting horn or; 2 and 3, sable three haveuses argent).
The Municipal Council of Wasmes used in 1534 a seal (scel eschevinal)
showing a spreading eagle bearing a shield. This shield was divided per
pale and showed dexter the arms of the abbey of Saint-Ghislain and
senester the quartered arms of Croÿ-Renty bore by Abbot Charles de
Croÿ. In 1572, the Municipal Council used the same kind of seal, with
the shield showing dexter the arms of the abbey and senester the arms of
Abbot Moulart - a fess with two horse's heads in chief and a harrow in
the bottom. The Heraldry Council refused to grant this seal to the
municipality of Wasmes but granted the arms of the abbey of
Saint-Ghislain. They were confirmed by Royal Decree on 22 May 1909:
Parti à dextre d'or une demi-aigle éployée de sable, becquée, membrée et languée de gueules, à senestre de gueule une crosse d'or posée en pal (Per pale, or a half-eagle sable, beaked, armed and langued gules, gules a crozier or per pale).
The Municipal Council of Warquignies was granted a coat of arms by
Royal Decree on 19 February 1951:
D'argent à trois pelles de sable, emmanchées en pointe.
These arms, represented on a municipal seal dated 1750, were bore by the Grouff d'Erkelens.
Arnaud Leroy, Pascal Vagnat & Ivan Sache, 6 June 2007 | <urn:uuid:9854bb3d-b1f0-45dc-9028-ebad6c8da5fe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fahnenversand.de/fotw/flags/be-whtcf.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919813 | 2,805 | 2.6875 | 3 |
Senna mexicana var. chapmanii, known as Bahama senna, is native to South Florida, the Bahamas and Cuba. It is a small shrub to 6 feet tall with yellow flowers nearly all year. Bahama senna is a larval host plant for several butterflies, including the orange-barred sulphur, sleepy orange sulphur and cloudless sulphur. It grows best in full sun to light shade. Bahama senna is a wonderful choice for all butterfly gardens. We have examples of this species growing in our butterfly garden. | <urn:uuid:24e71e2f-8020-47c5-a124-78fb345bd989> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fairchildgarden.org/livingcollections/blogs/date/2010-09/id/364/read/Plant-Countdown-to-Members-Day-Plant-Sale-Day-5/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926688 | 115 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Leukemia and Lymphoma
At Fairview, you have access to doctors known around the world for their innovative care programs designed for people suffering from leukemia, Hodgkin’s and Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Our team of experts take a multidisciplinary approach to treating the disease and offer patients optimal care that leads to the best-possible outcomes.
Leukemia is a cancer that begins in the blood forming tissue of the body, such as bone marrow. While often considered a childhood disease, leukemia is also common in adults.
Lymphoma is a cancer that begins in cells of the immune system. Two common lymphatic cancers include lymphoma/Hodgkin's disease and Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
When to call your doctor
Many of the early symptoms of leukemia and lymphoma are similar to other common illnesses, such as the flu or other infections. Headache, fatigue, weakness, fever and joint pain are common symptoms. If any of these symptoms persist for an extended period of time, see your doctor.
Advanced symptoms are more noticeable. Contact your doctor if you experience any of the following:
- Swelling or a painless lump in your neck, armpit or groin
- Swelling in your abdomen
- Frequent infections
- Weight loss
These symptoms can be attributed to conditions other than leukemia or lymphoma. To be certain, see your doctor. | <urn:uuid:138fa43a-7571-4e73-85d3-f6f2627c20bc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fairview.org/ServiceLines/CancerCare/LeukemiaandLymphoma/CAN_LEUK | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934455 | 296 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Survival Analyses of the Dynamics of Sibling Experiences in Foster Care*
The present study compares reunification for sibling groups in foster care under alternate placement conditions, including placement with kin and entering care within the same month. The findings suggest siblings placed completely or partially together reunify at a faster rate than those placed apart. The gap between siblings placed completely or partially together and those placed completely apart increases over time, in particular after the first year in care. Fewer of those placed together remain in care during the first 8 months than those placed apart. Efforts to place siblings together should be strengthened. Monetary incentives might encourage more foster parents to provide homes to keep siblings together. Training foster parents about sibling issues may lead to more intact placements.
Free to All—Article access is for all readers.
Free to Registered Users—Article access is for readers who register for a free online account.
Subscriber-only Access—Article access is for readers who have an online subscription.
Continuing education credit (CEU) based on Families in Society articles can be earned online. | <urn:uuid:d705684b-f4c7-40f1-8b46-cb5afe2d7cfa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.familiesinsociety.org/ShowDOIAbstract.asp?docid=3819 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928708 | 221 | 2.765625 | 3 |
Your Generator May Be Harming Your Child
If you live in Nigeria or any other country where there is rarely electricity, then you understand how important it is to have one or more generators to power your house and business. While it provides a way out of darkness, a gasoline powered generator can also cause heavy harm to you and your children in many ways. One of the most common is the harm caused by the carbon monoxide that comes out of these generators. Here is a more detailed explanation from Childrenscolorado and Barcelectric;
Unfortunately, the symptoms of CO poisoning are similar to the flu and may not be top of mind for parents when their children show these symptoms. Young children are especially vulnerable to the effects of CO. They are more susceptible to carbon monoxide and may experience symptoms sooner than a healthy adult. Due to their smaller bodies, children may be more severely affected by carbon monoxide in their blood. Regardless of who is affected by CO, the treatment is the same – oxygen therapy to treat symptoms and to lower carbon monoxide levels in the blood, or the use of a full-body hyperbaric chamber that applies air pressure to remove the carbon monoxide faster.
For those who survive a carbon monoxide poisoning, the long-term effects can include memory loss, impaired motor skills and heart and lung problems. Often times, they deal with the CO injury for the rest of their lives.
Many carbon monoxide poisonings can be easily prevented by;
Installation Of CO Alarm - With the installation of a carbon monoxide alarm, the only safe way to detect CO, injuries and fatalities related to CO poisonings can be dramatically reduced. A CO alarm in the home can give families a sufficient warning when concentrations of carbon monoxide reach dangerous levels. It is estimated that CO alarms may prevent half of such related deaths from occurring.
Keeping Generators Outside - The farther the generator is from your house the safer it is for you and your children. When using a generator, be sure to locate it outside so that poisonous carbon monoxide gas is exhausted. Never operate a generator in an enclosed building, especially in a building attached to a dwelling. Make certain, too, that the generator has enough air to breathe and that its exhaust is vented properly. Fumes from burnt fuel can be deadly. Always insure proper ventilation, and air flow around the generator. | <urn:uuid:af6d0d12-463d-458c-9851-c69ea267d6af> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.femmelounge.org/your-generator-may-be-harming-your-child/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934603 | 482 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Gear-up For Bike Safety
It’s the time of year when kids are hopping on their bikes more and more, so parents have been pedaling lots of questions at me about bicycle safety. Well, let me see if I can gear-up and answer some of those questions.
Every year more than one million children go to emergency rooms for bike-related accidents and about 500 under the age of 15 die – half of the total deaths from these incidents. If you don’t want your child to be a bicycle accident injury statistic, here are a few reminders:
- Make sure your child’s bike fits properly. Don’t buy a bike that is too big expecting your child to grow into it because they could lose control of it and hurt themselves. A bike is sized right when your child can sit on the seat with feet flat on the ground and the handlebar is no higher than the shoulders.
- Make sure you have the right equipment and that means helmets that meet standards set by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. A properly fitted helmet should sit level and not tilt forward or backward and should not be worn on top of a baseball cap or other hat. The straps should fit snugly under the chin and only one finger maximum should fit between the chin strap and the chin. A football helmet or ski helmet is not a substitute for a bike helmet. Parents should be role models and use helmets at all times.
- Children should wear fluorescent or at least bright colored clothing to help motorists see them on the road. The name of the game is to see and be seen so night riding should be prohibited, even at dusk, since that is when most accidents occur due to poor visibility of the rider and the driver.
- Pant legs shouldn't be too loose-fitting or they might get caught in the chain.
- Make sure shoes can grip the pedals - so riding barefoot, or wearing cleats, shoes with heels or even flip flops can be a problem.
- A well-maintained bike is a safe bike so make sure it is tuned-up at least once a season with tires inflated, chains oiled and cleaned, handlebar and seat adjusted for height, and brake pads checked for wear and tear.
- Kids also need to learn the rules of the road before they go off riding without you. The keys are to ride with the traffic, stop and look both ways before entering the street or at intersections, and use proper hand signals before turning.
- A newer rule is never to wear headphones while biking so bikers can hear everything such as car horns and everyone else on the road.
Hopefully tips like this will put the brakes on any concerns you have when it comes to keeping your child safe on a bicycle this summer.
Lewis First, M.D., is chief of Pediatrics at Vermont Children's Hospital at Fletcher Allen Health Care and chair of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Vermont College of Medicine. You can also catch "First with Kids" weekly on WOKO 98.9FM and WPTZ Channel 5, or visit the First with Kids video archives at http://www.FletcherAllen.org/firstwithkids | <urn:uuid:cceb93d9-cad5-4ed0-8203-565861ace806> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fletcherallen.org/_includes/transcript_reader.php?vid=kIjp4IxJ6l8 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952672 | 652 | 2.8125 | 3 |
1895 – Birth of Paul Frank Baer, American World War I flying ace who scored the first aerial victory ever for U.S. military aviation.
1918 – First unqualified air combat victory at night against another aeroplane takes place, when two Sopwith Camels of the Royal Air Force No. 44 Squadron (formed the previous year) shoot down a German Gotha bomber during a raid on London.
1932 – Imperial Japanese Navy seaplanes from the seaplane carrier Notoro attack Nationalist Chinese military positions in Shanghai, China, beginning Japanese air operations in the Shanghai Incident. The operations, which will continue into February, are the first significant military air operations to take place in East Asia.
1959 – The first jet passenger service across the U.S. is begun by American Airlines using Boeing 707s.
1988 –A Boeing 747SP owned by United Airlines starts an around-the-world air speed record from Seattle, Wash. The Friendship Foundation was established and all money went to children’s charities. A ticket on the flight cost $5,000 and in total, the flight raised more than $500,000.
2005 – Nonstop flights between mainland China and Taiwan take off for the first time since 1949. | <urn:uuid:9dac86f4-4a5e-47ed-9a4b-ce9553b12a36> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.flightjournal.com/blog/2013/01/29/on-this-day-in-aviation-history-11/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930289 | 255 | 2.96875 | 3 |
The Basques (Basque: euskaldunak, Spanish: vascos, French: basques) are an ethnic group which primarily inhabits an area traditionally known as the Basque Country (Basque: Euskal Herria), a region that is located around the western end of the Pyrenees on the coast of the Bay of Biscay and straddles parts of north-central Spain and south-western France.
The Basques are known in the local languages as:
Álava (IPA: [ˈalaβa] in Spanish) or Araba (IPA: [aˈɾaba] in Basque), officially Araba/Álava, is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lord of Álava. Its capital city is Vitoria-Gasteiz which is also the capital of the autonomous community. It borders the Basque provinces of Biscay and Gipuzkoa to the north, the community of La Rioja to the south, the province of Burgos (in the community of Castile and León) to the west and the community of Navarre to the east. The Enclave of Treviño is part of the province of Burgos, not Álava.
It is the largest of the three provinces in the Basque Autonomous Community in geographical terms, with 2,963 km², but also the least populated with 317,352 inhabitants. | <urn:uuid:40eeb1b3-be01-4d2f-a1a9-15ba25be9793> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fotopedia.com/wiki/Basque_people | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93894 | 315 | 2.71875 | 3 |
The Front Lines of Disarmament: Blocking a Nuclear Facility Six Times the Cost of the Manhattan Project
That is, six times the cost of the division of the Manhattan Project (to develop nuclear weapons during World War II) that was based in New Mexico. The heart of it -- what later became known as Los Alamos National Laboratory. Odds are, with the Cold War consigned to history, you couldn't have imagined that a nuclear weapons facility of such immensity was still on the table.
Greg Mello is the executive director of the Los Alamos Study Group (LASG), which, since 1989, has been spearheading nuclear disarmament in New Mexico, and, consequently, the nation. Since 1999, it has concentrated on halting or, failing that, downsizing a building project at Los Alamos called the Chemical and Metallurgical Research Replacement Nuclear Facility (CMRR). The intended function of this facility is to increase the capacity to produce new plutonium pits. The actual site of the nuclear fission, they're the beating heart of the warhead.
The CMRR, writes Greg Mello in a press release, "was marketed to Congress as a $350 million building [but] has grown to an estimated $4.3 billion." The "per square foot of useful space has grown to more than 100 times what [Los Alamos's] existing plutonium facility cost in 1978, in constant dollars [adjusted for inflation]."
How, you're probably wondering, in these economic times, could we be embarking on an endeavor more vast than the Manhattan Project? If we were, shouldn't it be, instead of weapons, a flagship form of alternative energy?
Cognitive dissonance on our part aside, over the years, LASG devised a plan with the help of a law firm. Under the National Environmental Policy Act they filed suit to stop all funding for and work on the CMRR until a new Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) was prepared. Nor is this just a legal maneuver: a new EIS is sorely needed.
"The Los Alamos Study Group," reads the the original suit for an EIS (apologies for yet more abbreviations), "alleges that the DOE [Department of Energy] and NNSA [National Nuclear Security Administration] have violated the National Environmental Protection Act [NEPA] by preparing to construct [the CMRR] without an applicable [EIS]. . . . NNSA wrote an EIS for an earlier version of the facility in 2003. At that time the facility was to cost one-tenth as much, use one-fiftieth as much concrete, take one-fourth the time to build, and entail far fewer environmental impacts.
Many of the project's difficulties can be traced to just a few major causes. . . . Changes . . . helped drive the proposed facility underground [not figuratively, literally] -- into a thick stratum of loose volcanic ash which cannot support it. [Especially since the] magnitude and frequency of earthquakes expected at the site has increased dramatically, requiring much heavier construction.
Said construction would entail (emphasis added):
- A new excavated depth of 125 feet . . . and replacement of an entire geologic stratum beneath the building with 225,000 cubic yards of concrete and grout;
- . . . 29-fold increases . . . in structural concrete and steel;
- Greatly increased total acreage, sprawling over many technical areas at LANL;
- Anywhere from 20,000 to 110,000 heavy truck trips to and from Los Alamos County;
- A decade-long construction schedule, up from less than 3 years
Bear in mind that the United States already has "approximately 24,000 . . . tested, stockpiled pits for each delivery system" and "these pits last essentially forever." LASG "believes there are many simpler, cheaper, faster, less risky, and less environmentally damaging alternatives to [the CMRR, which] let alone any other . . . is poorly justified from the nuclear deterrence perspective."
Has LASG's strategy proven effective? On November 15 Nuclear Weapons and Materials Monitor reported (emphasis added):
The National Nuclear Security Administration has suspended all procurements related to the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement-Nuclear Facility while the agency updates the environmental analysis of the multi-billion-dollar facility. . . . The move . . . could jeopardize the laboratory's plans to complete work . . . for the project in 2011. . . .
Spurred in part by a push from New Mexico nuclear watchdogs including an ongoing lawsuit by the Los Alamo Study Group -- the NNSA announced in September that it was preparing a Supplemental [EIS] for the CMRR. [Said Supplemental] hasn't satisfied the Los Alamos Study Group, which is still pursuing its lawsuit and pushing for the NNSA to redo the EIS rather than simply update it. . . . But the [NNSA] study will also include an examination of the alternative of not building the project at all, but rather modifying the existing Chemistry and Metallurgy Research building.
The first highlighted phrase shows the effect that LASG is having on the NNSA. The second shows how pragmatic LASG's tactics are. Although total disarmament is its ultimate goal, it keeps its eye on the first line of defense: curbing expansion and waste at Los Alamos.
"The simple hallmark of good policy, is to spend less money"
I contacted Greg Mello and asked him to expand on LASG's strategy. To begin with, he states in one of his press releases:
CMRR . . . should not be desirable to weapons administrators because there are much better, less managerially risky, cheaper, and safer facility options for preserving U.S. nuclear weapons. [And we] have already developed a set of reasonable alternatives to this facility and anticipate working productively with the review team and with Congress.
I just wanted to hear Mello confirm in his own words that the underlying strategy behind the above statements is to walk the world back toward disarmament by working with the nuclear-industrial complex one step at a time. His reply, with my annotation and emphases, follows. Excuse the prejudicial statement, but let's hope that you find it as brimming with insight as I did.
Consider the matter from two perspectives: a) values, or timelessness, or eternity if you want to put it that way, or an ideal; and b) historical process, management reality, political decisions today, or realpolitik. [Most of our work] addresses both. We have to.
If we express only absolutist "positions" . . . we will play into the hands of the "antinuclear nuclearists,"* which is a militarist strategy designed in part to emphasize, or capitalize upon, an absence of realpolitik. We will be easily manipulated.
*Anti-nuclear nuclearism, as LASG defines it, is "a foreign and military policy that relies upon overwhelming U.S. power, including the nuclear arsenal, but makes rhetorical and even some substantive commitments to disarmament, however vaguely defined." Mello continues.
I think we must try to place ourselves in the position of those in government who make real decisions, and offer steps . . . to embody our values. . . . . We are not more pure than they are. . . . . They have a job to do and we have to help them or we are not doing our job. . . .
At present, effective steps toward disarmament and effective steps toward more effective management of the nuclear enterprise can be the same. How? . . . NNSA believes it must modernize the arsenal, replace old weapons with newly-designed ones, and provide the capability for large-scale manufacturing. It is these goals which drive about one-third to half the existing budget, and all the budget increases proposed by Obama and demanded by Republicans. Wiping out these goals would wipe about about 60% of Los Alamos and most of Livermore. Sandia would be affected much less, and the plants much less still.
Wiping out all this spending would bring us toward rationality overall and within NNSA. We would [still] be dealing with an abusive, violent relative, to be sure, but he would not also be drunk.
Mello provides more little-known insights into the National Nuclear Security Administration.
Officially, NNSA has a goal of nuclear disarmament, since the [nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty] was signed and entered into force. . . . It also has a goal of nuclear weapons sustainment. [Significantly, though, it] does not yet quite have a goal of modernization, but is sidling there. NNSA ignores the disarmament side of its mission. It could decrease the dissonance by construing its [supposed] deterrence goal [even] in a conservative manner. That would help disarmament a lot.
We find that all parties who want to understand us (as opposed to those who seek to harm us, which are unreachable anyway), from the hard-core abolitionists, of which we are one, to active weapons managers, understand all this pretty well and respect our attempt to reconcile God and man as it were.
The golden road right now, the simple hallmark of good policy, is to spend less money. This is almost an absolute good, as I see it. Money spent equals the value of nuclear weapons in society, mas o minus. The chief distinguishing characteristic of the co-opted is that they want to build up in order to build down. They want to build up the [Nevada Test site] budget or the Pantex [nuclear weapons assembly and disassembly plant] budget in order to increase the rate of dismantlement, for example.
Wrong. Dismantlement eats into [life extension programs], at present, which is just fine. That's how it should be. It's a real tradeoff. Why decrease the pressure on NNSA to choose? They want to build new factories in New Mexico, increasing the budget "in the short run," while there are perfectly good facilities elsewhere. Wrong. The Weapons Activities budget is far too big and should decrease monotonically. . . .
What is real is effectively symbolic. What is merely symbolic is not real. (A dictum of ours this year.)
So who is the audience, you will ask? That has to sort itself out. The masses are powerless, uninterested, and disengaged, so -- not them.
Politically, I think we must all recognize that we cannot push what we ourselves need to do onto some posited others who will not ever act politically in any meaningful way, just a sort of "pretend" activity aimed at the next foundation grant, etc. There is a huge difference between reaching to others politically, for actual, effective political action, and reaching to others for mere legitimization of an elite perspective, career, or institution.
Which, in the end, is why LASG has demonstrated proven effectiveness -- as opposed to impotence on the part of certain disarmament organizations to which he alludes in the preceding paragraph.
In LASG's November 23 press release, Mello describes the cost and scale of the CMRR as "a bellwether for our society. At those unprecedented prices something -- our society or the project -- has to break. . . . That's part of the point. The folks planning this thing at LANL know perfectly well the sorry state of federal finance. Nevertheless they are bending every effort to make sure the federal government is fully vested in this project before the full crisis hits. Their primary consideration is to make sure they, and the rest of nation's nuclear establishment, end up on top. Social needs, renewable energy, avoiding climate catastrophe, and in final analysis human survival -- all these are expendable goals, just like they have always been in the nuclear bomb business." | <urn:uuid:b1ba6bed-0eb1-4a5b-9d93-e5fe694faa76> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fpif.org/blog/the_front_lines_of_disarmament_blocking_a_nuclear_facility_six_times_the_cost_of_the_manhattan_project?q=Tag%3ANonproliferation | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950656 | 2,476 | 2.6875 | 3 |
Auto and passenger ferries operated by the Washington State Transportation Department shuttle more than 11 million people across the Puget Sound every year. Now, the electric-diesel engines that propel these vessels are powered by a blend of soy-based biodiesel and petroleum diesel. | Photo courtesy of Joe Mabel.
Washington State Ferries, owned and operated by the state transportation department, is the largest ferry service in the United States and third largest in the world. Twenty-two ferries transport 11 million passengers from the mainland and larger islands across the Puget Sound each year at a cost of 18 million gallons of diesel fuel.
In 2009, Washington’s transportation department concluded a five-year pilot program that determined biodiesel fuel blends -- soy-based biodiesel blended with petroleum diesel -- to be a viable fuel source for normal operations in any weather condition. Today, thanks to a $165,000 Recovery Act loan through the State Energy Program, the ferries run on a blended biodiesel fuel that will prevent over 65 million pounds of carbon dioxide from being emitted into the environment each year.
The pilot program proved the viability of the fuel, but there was still a kink in the biodiesel supply chain. Traditionally, the blending process needs to be performed in a specialized facility and then transported to customers, which is costly in time and resources. Instead, biodiesel producer Whole Energy Corporation installed a system with the State Energy Program loan to blend biodiesel with petroleum-based diesel on distribution trucks.
Using this method, the corporation has been able to deliver this biofuel blend to its customers at a competitive rate and keep the state-owned ferry service afloat with locally blended biofuel. Since making the cost-competitive upgrade, Whole Energy has also expanded its customer base to other ferry lines serving Puget Sound communities and also the Army Corps of Engineers.
The state of Washington is advancing its efforts toward clean energy and is now the largest public consumer of biodiesel in the country. | <urn:uuid:c7761c12-ff9b-47fa-ab2c-b448aa79d63b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gc.doe.gov/articles/washington-state-becomes-largest-public-consumer-biodiesel | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955176 | 400 | 2.953125 | 3 |
1777 Lotter and Sauthier Map of New York and New Jersey
Description: An important 1777 Revolutionary War era map of New York and New Jersey by Claude Joseph Sauthier and Matthew Lotter. This map is Lotter's German edition of Sauthier's map of 1776. The map covers from Quebec and Lake Champlain along the Hudson Valley Corridor south as far as Delaware Bay, inclusive of all of New York (as it then appeared) and New Jersey, as well as significant portions of adjacent Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Delaware. Vermont, shown here attached to New York, was at this time legal part of New York (as shown) but in fact under the control of the New Hampshire land grantee in the form of ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys.
This map is essentially a summary of mapping in New York completed by the British Corps of engineers in the yeas just prior to the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War. Sauthier was the official surveyor of the province of New York from 1773 to 1776, a period that witnessed numerous boundary disputes both within the colony and with neighboring Quebec, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts. These disputes fostered a wealth of new survey information and encouraged a careful re-examination of older survey work – most of which was accomplished by Sauthier and those in his charge. When Sauthier briefly returned to London in 1774, he met with William Faden to publish a new, definitive map of the region – the 1776 first edition of this map.
In the early years of the American Revolutionary War, the ethnically German King of england, George III, called on his resources as Prince-elector of Hanover, a title which he held concurrently with this British titles, to field numerous German soldiers in defense of his colonial claims in America. On the opposite side of the battle, significant pre-war German immigration to the American led to the formation of the Provost Corps in Pennsylvania and the German Regiment. Other Germans, supporting the Revolution, fought for American independence under the French Flag. The significant presence of German forces on both sides of the conflict thus fostered a wide interest throughout Germany (then the Holy Roman empire) in the unfolding war in the Americas. Lotter was quick to capitalize on this interest with the 1777 republication of Sauthier's important map, essentially the most up to date map of the region available at the time.
Ultimately both sides of the war benefited from the accuracy of Sauthier's map. The present example offers impressive detail in both New York and New Jersey with color coding identifying county lines. Topography, though minimal, is rendered in profile. The boundary line between east and West Jersey is noted as are various conflicting boundaries associated with the New York-New Jersey border dispute. The Tienaderha River (Unadilla River) marks the western frontier of colonial power in the region and recognizes the territory of the Six Nations Tribes – with various geographical features and American Indian villages noted. In Pennsylvania, just east of the Susquehanna, Sauthier identifies the 'Great Swamp'. Though modern residents of this region may have hard time recognizing it, in the colonial ear there was in fact a vast wetland in this region, modern day Bucks County. Today the much reduced 'Great Swamp' is called the Quakertown Swamp and is a protected wetland popular with birders.
This map was engraved and published by Matthew Lotter in Augsburg. It was sold individually, as well as included in some editions of Seutter's Grosser Atlas, published by Lotter in 1778, in certain example of Seutter's Atlas Novus, and in various composite atlases of the period.
Date: 1777 (dated)
Source: Seutter, M., Grosser Atlas, (Augsburg: Lotter) 1778. as in Seutter, M., Atlas Novus, (Augsburg: Lotter) 1778.
References: New York Public Library Map Div. 01-1836. Brooklyn Collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Document 51. Bulletin of the New York Public Library, Vol 4, 1902, Page 86. McCorkle, B.B., New England in Printed Maps 1513-1800: An Illustrated Carto-Bibliography, 777.20.
Cartographer: Claude Joseph Sauthier (November 10, 1736 - 1802) was a French born surveyor, cartographer, and draftsman active in the British Colonies in North America just prior to the American Revolutionary War. Sauthier was born in Strasbourg, France, where he trained under Dezallier d'Agenvie and Jean Baptiste Alexandre le Blond as a garden designer and draftsman. He migrated to America in 1767 at the request of North Carolina royal governor William Tyron who was perhaps familiar with his book, A Treatis on Public Architecture and Garden Planning. Sauthier mapped much of the province of North Carolina before being promoted to the office of Surveyor of the Province of New York. Sauthier oversaw the surveying of numerous regional and provincial boundary disputes before the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War. During the Revolutionary War he was reassigned to the British Corps of Engineers, preparing an important survey for General Howe of New York and another of Staten Island. Sauthier was later attached to the staff of General Hugh Percy, who commanded the British Forces in Rhode Island. When Percy retired to his family estate, Alnwick Castle, in England, Sauthier accompanied him as a personal secretary. Ultimately, after a long, impactful, and adventurous career, Sauthier returned to his hometown of Strasburg where resided until his death on November 26, 1802. He was 66. Click here for a list of rare maps by Claude Joseph Sauthier.
Cartographer: Tobias Conrad Lotter (1717 - 1777) was a German engraver and map publisher. He married the daughter of prominent map publisher Matthaus Seutter, the Elder. Upon Seutter's retirement Lotter took control of the firm and republished many of his maps with minor updated and changes. In time, Lotter became one of the most prominent mid 18th century map publishers working in the German school. After his death in 1777, the firm was taken over by his son, Mathias Albrecht Lotter who republished and updated many of his father's maps. Click here for a list of rare maps from Tobias Conrad Lotter.
Size: Printed area measures 23 x 30 inches (58.42 x 76.2 centimeters)
Condition: Very good condition. A few minor wrinkles. Some verso repairs on centerfold and in eastern Pennsylvania - see image zoom. Original platemark visible. Blank on verso.
Code: NewYorkNewJersey-lotter-1777 (to order by phone call: 646-320-8650) | <urn:uuid:8ba1e06d-2a57-4bfd-80a1-77e27133ae0a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.geographicus.com/P/AntiqueMap/NewYorkNewJersey-lotter-1777 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954661 | 1,428 | 2.671875 | 3 |
The U.S. Navy was in the LTA "business" from 1917 to 1962. In April 1917, the year the United States entered World War I, the Navy accepted its first LTA aircraft, the non-rigid airship ("blimp") D-1. This was the progenitor of 245 manned LTA craft acquired by the Navy. These were in addition to several tethered observation balloons (operated by the Navy mostly from ships) during World War I. Navy LTA development between the world wars included non-rigid blimps and rigid airships. Two of the rigid airships, the Akron and Macon, were "flying aircraft carriers," each capable of storing, launching, and retrieving four fighter aircraft.
The Navy stressed the development and procurement of non-rigid airships. During World War II, the Navy's LTA strength reached 168 blimps, which were engaged in coastal patrol and convoy escort, mainly in the Atlantic and North African theaters. Although the blimps scored no U-boat sinkings-and one blimp was shot down by a U-boat-the airships did make a major contribution as a deterrent to submarine attacks and carried out other reconnaissance missions.
Navy interest in LTA continued into the Cold War era with the procurement of 56 blimps of advanced design, initially for anti-submarine warfare, and subsequently for the airborne early warning mission. The latter were for use on the seaward extension of the early warning network built to warn of a Soviet air attack against the United States. In this role, the radar-configured airships were to supplement EC-121 Constellation-type aircraft, surface radar picket ships, and fixed offshore radar stations. In 1962 the Navy's airship program was terminated because of fiscal constraints as other Navy aviation and missile programs (including the Polaris deterrent system) were accorded higher priorities.
The U.S. Navy carried out a limited LTA research and development effort from 1975 to 1990, oriented primarily to maritime patrol and cruise missile defense for surface combatants. A prototype airship, the Sentinel 1000, was procured for tests. A 1985 agreement between the Navy and Coast Guard transferred responsibility for tethered aerostats to the latter service. The Coast Guard operated several aerostats and support ships until 1992, after which the program was transferred to the Army and promptly disbanded by the Army.
The balloon is a free floater that is capable of carrying heavy loads to high altitudes. The weather balloon is a common example. Balloons are used by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and other research activities to venture above the stratosphere and higher. Payloads of 8,000 pounds borne aloft to an altitude of 134,000 feet and higher are not uncommon. The military application for balloons is limited, however. Subject to the atmosphere's prevailing winds, free- floaters are unable to maintain position over an area, a capability necessary for persistence.
Aerostats achieve persistence over an area of interest. The aerostat offers the advantage of retaining a position and the ability to extend the horizon. Today, aerostats are used for advertising, communications relay, surveillance, and other ISR missions. They range from those used at a tethered altitude of several hundred feet with a light payload, to those that can ascend to 15,000 feet and accommodate a 2200-pound payload.
Today's manned airships can operate in benign areas. Present payload ranges are about 3,000 pounds and maximum altitudes are less than 10,000 feet. The altitude extends the horizon for ISR. Current airborne endurance is limited by both crew endurance and fuel capacity.
Current U.S. operations, ashore and afloat, and especially for the GWOT, have demonstrated the need for persistent ISR for specific areas. LTA vehicles, whether tethered (aerostats) or free floating (airships) are capable of remaining in the same location for prolonged periods and providing a persistent presence. Similarly, commanders, whether afloat or ashore, have always sought to extend their horizons-to see farther or "over the next hill." Tethered or free-floating LTA vehicles can provide the ability to carry ISR, EW, and communications-relay systems to greater altitudes than can presently be reached for ships or tactical units, and can be directly responsive to the needs of ship or unit commanders.
At the same time, potential ISR, EW, and communications-relay payloads for LTA vehicles are lighter and require less power than their predecessors. Airships can also help to mitigate "urban canyon" effects on ISR, communications, and navigation aides Persistence can be achieved relatively easily with current LTA technology to altitudes up to about 10,000 feet. Although higher altitudes for ISR/EW/communications relay systems are highly desirable, reaching them is relatively difficult and presents technological challenges.
In many respects, LTA vehicles represent a potentially cheaper option for providing certain capabilities than satellites or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). LTA vehicles also offer the potential to lift and transport heavy payloads over long distances directly to the vicinity of the warfighter - "from fort to foxhole." This mode of transport can eliminate transfer points (e.g. ship to pier to road convoy), the vulnerability of road convoys, and need for intermediate depots.
LTA vehicles are capable of ascending to altitude and increasing the line of sight to the horizon. This figure shows how the line of sight is increased as altitude increases. In a typical environment, line of sight (for communication or surveillance) is limited to less than 20-25 nautical miles. Line of sight can be increased to over 100 nautical miles by ascending to less than 10,000 feet, an altitude easily attainable by the aerostats available today. It also demonstrates the value of moving to higher altitudes since line of sight can be increased to over 300 nautical miles by ascending to or above 60,000 feet.
Altitude also provides the ability to see and achieve line of sight over both urban and geographic terrain features. At altitude, an aerostat can provide communication connectivity to a low flying helicopter hidden by terrain or urban structures and provide surveillance of threats, which might otherwise be hidden by the environment.
LTA vehicles have relatively large volumes when compared to aircraft, an attribute that offers the potential for very large, internal antenna apertures. Furthermore, platform non-recurring costs of LTA vehicles are relatively low when compared to aircraft procurement. Similarly, LTA infrastructure costs are potentially low relative to the costs of other forms of aviation, both manned and unmanned. LTA vehicles also permit quiet operation, an attribute that enhances survivability and may create advantages for psychological warfare.
Most of the airships currently flying are similar in size to the Goodyear airship, which is approximately 100 feet long, contains 200,000-300,000 ft3 of helium, and operates at altitudes below 10,000 feet. Existing aerostats fall into a similar size range. High-altitude airships will require a significant increase in size to reach the altitudes desired. For example, NASA's high-altitude balloon requires 40 million cubic feet of helium to fly to an altitude of 130,000 feet.
- The US Army's "Rapidly Elevated Aerostat Platform (REAP)" system is a lightweight aerostats only 9.5 meters (31 feet) long and with a sensor payload weighing 16 kilograms (35 pounds). The entire system is capable of being deployed by a Hummer light truck, and has seen service in Iraq.
- The US Army's "Rapid Deployment Initial Development (RAID)" system uses small TCOM 15M aerostats, with a length of 15 meters (49 feet) and a sensor payload of 90 kilograms (200 pounds). It has been deployed in small numbers to Afghanistan.
- The US Army later deployed a "Persistent Threat Detection System (PTDS)" to Iraq. It uses mid-sized Lockheed Martin 56K aerostats, with a length of 33.4 meters (109 feet 6 inches) and a sensor payload of 225 kilograms (500 pounds).
- The US Marines have deployed their own aerostat system, the "Marine Airborne Re-Transmission System (MARTS)" to Iraq, though as its name implies it is intended for radio relay and not surveillance. It uses TCOM 32M aerostats, with a length of 32 meters (105 feet) and a relay payload weighing 225 kilograms (500 pounds).
- The US Navy has committed to the development of a sea-based aerostat surveillance system with a payload capacity of 225 kilograms (500 pounds).
- The US military acquired a set of radar aerostats for defense of forces in the field under the "Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor (JLENS)" program. The contract for JLENS was awarded to Raytheon in 1998, with the first system delivered in 1999. They feature TCOM 71M aerostats carrying a Raytheon payload with surveillance and targeting radars. Plans were to acquire up to a dozen systems. South Korea, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates also operate aerostat radar systems.
- "Tethered Aerostat Radar System (TARS)" began in 1980, when the USAF used an aerostat to keep an eye on Cuba from the Florida Keys. In 1984, the US Customs Service began to put up an aerostat surveillance system to spot smugglers trying to get into the US from the south, while the US Coast Guard began to put up aerostats along the Gulf of Mexico for maritime surveillance. Initially, the network used aerostats built by General Electric, but they proved too leaky and were replaced by "71M" aerostats built by TCOM Corporation of Columbia, Maryland. The 71M aerostats were 71 meters (233 feet) long and carried the AN/TPS-63 surveillance radar system. They were replaced in turn in the late 1990s by more capable "420K" aerostats from Lockheed Martin Tactical Defense Systems (TDS), carrying the Lockheed Martin L-88A surveillance radar. The 420K aerostats are 63.5 meters (208 feet 6 inches) long, they are about 50% bigger in volume than the 71M aerostats they replaced, and are built under subcontract by ILC Dover Corporation. Floating at an altitude of 3,000 to 4,500 meters (10,000 to 15,000 feet), the aerostats can spot low-flying intruders and water surface traffic.
Airspace deconfliction, already a major concern for military commanders, will be exacerbated by the presence of LTA vehicles. The relatively low speed of airships and the fixed (tethered) operating mode of aerostats must be addressed for both combat and behindthe- lines areas. Similarly, while helium is readily available in the United States, the establishment of an LTA program will require the development of an infrastructure to acquire, inspect, store, and transport the gas to LTA facilities.
A large number of aerostats have been built and are in operation, making it relatively easy to procure and evaluate them further. Presently, the airship community is limited to relatively few commercial vehicles. Thus, airship operations would require the development of a procurement and evaluation process, establishment of a training program and personnel career-planning programs, building of a logistics structure, and other steps.
Because of their large surface areas and lack of aerodynamic control surfaces, LTA vehicles are affected greatly by weather and winds-less a concern for the airship, which can maneuver out of weather, but still a major consideration for all forms of LTA vehicles. Takeoffs and landings of LTA vehicles, both manned and unmanned, can be difficult because of wind and weather conditions. Airships can, under certain circumstances, avoid unfavorable weather and, if necessary, land at alternative locations. Aerostat landings are more problematic because they must be winched down in the event of unfavorable weather or winds; bringing down an aerostat from 10,000 feet could take up to two hours.
Historically, rigid airships have been susceptible to severe atmospheric turbulence. The primary options for avoiding high winds and atmospheric turbulence are flying the airships to a safe location or securing them in hangars designed to withstand hurricane-force winds. This will likely continue to be the dominant threat to LTA vehicles.
|Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list| | <urn:uuid:ab716e54-66f1-4423-9203-56056464df68> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/aircraft/airship.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939916 | 2,599 | 3.46875 | 3 |
'Beyond the Midpoint: Achieving the Millennium Development Goals' UNDP 2010 Report
19, January, 2010, United Nations Development Programme - Beyond the Midpoint: Achieving the Millennium Development Goals is UNDP’s forward-looking review of the factors that shape MDG progress, along with the constraints and bottlenecks that have hampered MDG achievement in many countries. The findings build on MDG assessments in 30 countries that were undertaken for this review.
The report shows that while there has been notable progress on many targets and indicators across countries, it is clear that much more needs to be done for MDG achievements to be realized by 2015.
Beyond the Midpoint stresses that there are four key factors that shape progress at the country level:
1. Policy choices and programme coherence
2. Governance and capacity deficits
3. Fiscal space constraints and aid effectiveness
4. National ownership: political will and partnerships
Accelerated MDG achievements will depend on unlocking constraints in all four of these areas. Since each country faces a unique context and set of challenges, breaking the bottlenecks will require a country specific approach.
The report shows that progress has been most successful in countries where economic growth has been broadly distributed and where national ownership of the MDG agenda is strong, especially within civil society. Policies and interventions targeted for the rural sector and generating employment for the poor have been shown to be particularly effective at promoting inclusive growth. Most often, a layered combination of policies and programmes is needed to ensure that growth benefits are broadly shared and that different groups of vulnerable populations are reached.
Effective democratic governance underpins MDG achievements because it addresses how the goals can be translated into outcomes. This includes ensuring that communities are able to freely participate in the governing process, where they can hold officials to account and promote more accountable and transparent institutions. More effective decentralization and highly capacitated state institutions can also lead to increased efficiency of MDG service delivery.
In contrast to prevailing thinking, pursuing the MDG agenda in conflict-affected countries can be a powerful vehicle to mobilize recovery efforts, as long as the process does not aggravate tensions. The report also shows that while increased, predictable and efficient aid cannot be over-emphasized, enhancing domestic fiscal space is a key factor to achieve accelerated progress.
Finally, the assessments also show that hard fought gains can be reversed. Any plan for accelerated progress must consider ways to protect existing gains.
For a full report click here | <urn:uuid:880f8bf9-ed8a-4607-856f-129c59bfad71> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gmfc.org/fr/component/content/article/61-news-on-millennium-development-goals/778-beyond-the-midpoint-achieving-the-millennium-development-goals-undp-2010-report | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941499 | 507 | 2.546875 | 3 |
By GreatSchools Staff
A Handful of Dirt
by Raymond Bial
Walker Books for Young Readers (2000), $17
Dirt gets its due as award-winning photo-essayist Raymond Bial takes readers on an up-close tour of one of the planet's most precious resources — and the microscopic creepy-crawlies and mammals that depend on it. As Bial writes, "Without soil, there would be no life on earth." Understanding this concept is vital to teaching kids the fundamentals of ecology.
Corn Is Maize: The Gift of the Indians
HarperCollins (1986), $6
Did you know that one tiny kernel of corn can produce up to 1,000 plants? In this history of the ubiquitous crop, kids learn how early Native American farmers discovered, cultivated, and harvested corn — and shared their agricultural knowledge with the Pilgrim settlers. Your child will develop a new appreciation for popcorn, cornbread, tamales, and tacos.
by G. Brian Karas, Putnam (2008)
With minimal text and colorful pictures, On Earth offers children "a giant ride in space/spinning like a merry-go-round" as it explains the earth's daily and yearly cycles. Kids get a rudimentary explanation of the planet's orbit, rotation, and tilt; gravity; why we have seasons; and what happens as day turns into night. Vocabulary is simple for early readers, but some adult explanation of complex scientific concepts may be necessary.
Bottom line: Kids will get a first glimpse of how their everyday observations are connected to the larger life of the planet.
Stars Beneath Your Bed: The Surprising Story of Dust
by April Pulley Sayre, illustrated by Ann Jonas
Greenwillow Books (2005), $18
Who knew that something as ordinary as dust could be so fascinating? Using watercolors and free verse, the book explains what dust is, its many sources (such as pollen, fires, and volcanic ash), and how it colors spectacular sunrises and sunsets. There is a two-page section at the end with additional information that will require adult explanation.
My Bag and Me!
by Karen Farmer, illustrated by Gary Currant
Penton Kids (2008), available used
In this straightforward and clever book, a little boy shops with his mom and learns that what he buys and how he takes it home can have a big impact on the environment. By including a reusable shopping bag, this book gives even the youngest readers a tool for reducing their carbon footprint.
by Joy Cowley, photographs by Nic Bishop
Scholastic (2005), $17
Chameleon, Chameleon lets readers explore the tropical world of Madagascar's panther chameleon. Nic Bishop's full-color photography captures the lizard's unusual appearance and behavior in amazing detail — check out the stop-action shot of the chameleon snaring a caterpillar with its long tongue. The brief text of the book is supplemented by notes on the creature and how the photos were taken.
by Lizann Flatt, Maple Tree Press (2005)
ages 6 and up
Answering your youngster's questions about plants, animals, water, and just about anything else having to do with nature is easy with this reference book in hand. Broken up into 22 sections, The Nature Treasury covers topics like "How animals grow", "Soil up close," and "What animals eat." With double-page spreads depicting ecosystems ranging from savannas to tundras, this book will have kids searching the panoramas for the animals that live there. Large labeled ovals with the animals superimposed on them act as guides, so children can scan the scenes to find where the sea stars are hiding in the coral reef or the sidewinder in the desert. Children will be enchanted by the lush illustrations.
Bottom line: A great go-to book for curious kids — and parents who don't know all the answers! | <urn:uuid:2c126e2b-0eb0-4fe4-a53f-e80da21a7f9e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.greatschools.org/print-view/students/books/slideshows/1848-science-nature-books-kindergarten.gs?fromPage=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.922536 | 812 | 3.640625 | 4 |
When shopping for vegetables at the local farmers’ market I am struck by the abundance of choice. Local produce from local farmers on offer in all colors of the rainbow. The natural taste and beauty of the fruits and vegetables tells me about the culture of the land and of the ways of ecological farming. The fruits and vegetables are seasonal, meaning they do not grow all year around and you buy what is on offer right now.
Organic Maize in Hungary
© Greenpeace / Emma Stoner
Ecological farming is so much more though than the farming method that puts locally produced food on your table. The science of ecological farming aims at producing food for all using mainstream production methods that can be adapted to all parts of the world, while minimizing damage to the environment.
Why ecological farming
By producing food in cooperation with nature we make sure that there are provisions in the form of healthy soil and water for the next harvest and for the next generation. The current model of industrial agriculture is destructive, and pollutes nature with synthetic fertilizers and toxic chemicals. Groundwater contamination, loss of natural pest control mechanisms and increases in pesticide resistance are only a few of the problems related to industrial agriculture.
By decreasing the pollutants, we increase nature’s capacity to keep pests and disease under control, reduce the negative impact on biodiversity and make sure that crops can be harvested year after year.
Feeding the hungry, in the future and today
Food is what brings people and Earth together, and Greenpeace believes that ecological farming is the solution to feeding the hungry. Over a billion people on our earth go hungry right now. They need to be able to produce food and feed themselves without relying on multinational corporations providing them with seed or chemicals. Ecological farming methods can provide food for all.
Ecological farming ensures healthy farming and healthy food today and tomorrow, by protecting soil, water and climate. It promotes biodiversity, that is to say the richness of flora and fauna on farmland - which provides for a healthy living for humans and for sustainable food production. It also does not contaminate the environment with harmful chemical inputs.
Genetic engineering vs ecological farming
While scientific progress has great potential to increase our understanding of nature and the environment, it should not be used as justification to turn our Earth into a giant experiment driven by commercial interests. Agricultural systems driven by genetic engineering technology is discredited, threaten crop biodiversity, and pose potential risks to human health and the environment. In comparison, ecological agricultural has a proven track record of being able to ensure food security and high yields under multiple and diverse stresses (like diseases, pests and droughts), while genetically engineered crops have failed.
The ability to feed ourselves and our children is too important to gamble with. Greenpeace chooses ecological farming as a safe and viable option for everyone right now. The integrity of the world's food supply is too important to our survival to be put at risk.
[Join us for Blog Action Day by registering and posting something about food. Here are some photos you can use to illustrate it and for inspiration. You can also help by finding a post you like and sharing it.] | <urn:uuid:b5144c3d-6bf0-493f-b911-97cca0da1df9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/Blogs/makingwaves/a-future-with-food-for-all-ecological-farming/blog/37349/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942438 | 631 | 2.890625 | 3 |
The moon will rise in Earth's shadow this evening in a rare lunar eclipse that could turn our natural satellite a deep shade of red.
With clear skies, the celestial spectacle will be visible across the UK, with the exception of northern Scotland, as soon as the moon rises after sunset.
Moonrise time varies with location, but for observers in London, the show will begin at 9.13pm. Further north, in Glasgow, moonrise begins at 9.58pm.
A total lunar eclipse happens when the moon, Earth and sun line up, and our home planet casts a vast shadow that engulfs the moon.
When the moon moves into the darkest part of the Earth's shadow, the umbra, it will turn a slate grey or brick red colour.
The moon changes colour because blue light - and other short wavelengths - scatter more in the Earth's atmosphere, with more red light getting through.
The Royal Astronomical Society said the eclipse, if visible, could be a spectacular opportunity for photographers. The moon will remain low in the night sky, so observers will need a clear horizon and cloudless skies to see it well. Unlike solar eclipses, a lunar eclipse is safe to watch with the naked eye.
The event will be visible in Australasia, southern Japan, a large area of Asia, India, Africa, Europe and the eastern part of South America.
The total eclipse ends at 22.03pm, when the Moon starts to leave the darkest part of the umbra. At this time, the moon will be only five degrees above the south-eastern horizon from London, whilst in Glasgow the whole of the lunar disk will not yet have appeared and from northern Scotland it will not be visible at all.
In the final stage of the eclipse, the moon moves into the lighter part of Earth's shadow, the penumbra, and will likely take on a yellowish hue. The eclipse will be over just after midnight, at 00.02am Thursday morning. | <urn:uuid:b6a87aff-4f91-48a7-9eb9-60061082ce4e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/jun/15/lunar-eclipse-moon-red?CMP=twt_fd | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.884659 | 407 | 2.953125 | 3 |
Offshore wind is a relatively new technology, so costs will reduce and the technology will advance, helping offshore wind to be more efficient and cost competitive in the near term. But this exciting technology is already being incorporated into government’s energy planning around the world.
More than 90% of the world’s offshore wind power is currently installed off northern Europe, in the North, Baltic and Irish Seas, and the English Channel. Most of the rest is in two ‘demonstration’ projects off China’s east coast.
Offshore wind is an essential component of Europe’s binding target to source 20% of final energy consumption from renewables, and China has set itself a target of 30 GW of installations off its coast by 2020. The United States has excellent wind resources offshore, and many projects are under development, but there is no offshore wind power installed yet.
The key benefits of offshore wind are:
- The wind resource offshore is generally much greater, thus generating more energy from fewer turbines;
- Most of the world’s largest cities are located near a coastline. Offshore wind is suitable for large scale development near the major demand centers, avoiding the need for long transmission lines;
- Building wind farms offshore makes sense in very densely populated coastal regions with high property values, because high property values makes onshore development is expensive sometimes leads to public opposition.
Although offshore wind is often the most talked about part of the wind sector, today it represents less than 2% of global installed capacity. 2011 installations of about 1,000 MW represented ~2.5% of the annual market.
Our projections show that by 2020, offshore wind will be about 10% of global installed capacity.
See our latest articles on global offshore:
Current Status and Future Prospects. Potential for mass rollout, Energy and Environment Management Magazine, October 2012 (see full magazine here) | <urn:uuid:345cdffb-ce8f-43e8-9769-5b037c782349> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gwec.net/global-figures/global-offshore/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942874 | 386 | 3.1875 | 3 |
AUGUST 9, 1946
HYDE PARK, Thursday—In the headlines of one of our great New York newspapers yesterday morning, I read: "Byrnes Accuses Molotov of Twisting Views, Asks Russia to Print Speech." And just below: "Molotov Derides Press. Suggests American and British Newspapers Reflect Only Views of Their Owners." These headlines show how government representatives can reach a point of exasperation where the amenities are completely forgotten.
Amenities are important because they create an atmosphere, but there are more important things than the amenities. The fundamentals are the things which the peoples of the world must keep in mind, even when their representatives forget them. There is one great objective being served today by the representatives of 21 nations meeting in Paris. This great objective is the actual achievement of a world at peace.
The peoples of the world want peace. Their representatives, as individuals, may be tried almost beyond endurance but, when all is said and done, the only thing which will satisfy the people is the feeling that security and confidence is being built up in the world and that we are moving towards a more peaceful atmosphere.
* * *
The two nations pitted against each other in most people's minds today are the United States and Russia. When we were fighting the war together, even the American press frequently emphasized some of the similarities that exist between us. Now, however, it is always the differences that are exploited. It is not only Russia's actions that create fear and suspicion in the minds of the people of the United States. Our own press must accept some of the responsibility.
Of course, the Russians whom most of us meet in this country, being government representatives, are sometimes hard to get to know as human beings. They feel that they must always express the point of view of their government. They rarely feel that they can depart from this role.
Among themselves, perhaps even in their dispatches sent back to Moscow, they may acknowledge that an argument is valid for a new point of view. But it is rare, indeed, that a free and close relationship is built up with the representatives of another nation which permits them to express personal opinions. More frankness between individuals would bring their governments closer together.
* * *
The actions that are taken in great assemblages of statesmen seem far away from those of us who are leading our daily lives in rather narrow confines. But as a matter of fact, they affect our daily lives, and we the people should begin to insist that our final objective never be lost sight of.
It is impossible to find the right solution to all the questions that come up in a peace conference, and we know that many changes will be made later. But if every action is taken to bring about better conditions, we will be ready to make changes when we see that a change is necessary to attain our objective.
Because so much is said about the difficulties that may arise between Russia and ourselves, I think we should make an effort to understand some of the background of these difficulties. My experience with Russians is limited, but my experience with many different kinds of people is fairly wide. Tomorrow I would like to discuss some of the things we might bear in mind in our dealings with other peoples in this postwar period. | <urn:uuid:76e0dd6c-6b0e-4927-9b38-ea7bf8d1e67f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gwu.edu/~erpapers/myday/displaydoc.cfm?_y=1946&_f=md000413 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967347 | 670 | 2.6875 | 3 |
This wind logger project was designed to help a friend who wants to log wind speed for one year. It uses an inexpensive cup anemometer from Biral (see photo, left) available here in the UK. The anemometer contains a reed switch with rotating magnets which produce two switch closures per revolution of the cup assembly. It can be connected to produce a varying frequency output, whose frequency 0 - 100Hz corresponds to windspeeds of 0 - 40m/s.
The second part of the system is the datalogger from Sparkfun electronics in the US. The datalogger can log analogue inputs or serial data onto a standard SD memory card up to 1GByte. The output is a plain text file.
The problem is how to interface the anemometer pulse output to the datalogger? Biral do sell anemometers with an analogue output however they are typically five times the price of the more simple unit. So I designed a simple interface using an ATtiny2313 AVR microcontroller to count the pulse frequency and output a serial data stream of ASCII characters to the datalogger.
SPONSORED LINK: COMMERCIAL WIND LOGGER:
The ATtiny2313 circuit diagram is shown right (courtesy of John VK6JY). The crystal is 5.0688MHz between pins 4 and 5, which also have a 20pF capacitor to ground. There is a 10K resistor from the RESET pin 1 to +Vcc. The anemometer reed switch is connected between PORT D, bit 2 (pin 6) and Gnd. There is also a 10nF capacitor between +Vcc and Gnd; and a 1K resistor in series with a 2mm LED connected between PORT B, bit 0 (pin 12) and Gnd. This LED flashes once per rotation of the anemometer cup assembly in order to indicate correct operation of the system. Power for the ATtiny2313 is provided by the 3.3V on-board regulator of the datalogger.
The 5.0688MHz crystal frequency was chosen because it provides easy division in the ATtiny2313 for both the required 9600 baud serial data clock, and determination of suitable measurement intervals. The ATtiny2313 reads the PORT D, bit 2 (pin 6) input at a rate of 3.96kHz. This is used to debounce the anemometer reed switch (all mechanical switches produce multiple transitions at the instant of switching, which would cause false triggering). The number of input pulses is counted in software in a 16-bit counter for a period of 400 seconds. The resulting value is between 0 and 40,000 corresponding to average wind speeds of 0 - 40m/s at a sample rate of 400 seconds (9 readings per hour). This value is converted to ASCII with a decimal point in the appropriate position, and sent to the datalogger followed by a carriage return (CR) and line feed (LF) character. The output text file looks something like this:
01.132 02.217 01.747 01.302
CLICK HERE for the assembly program listing (thanks John VK6JY for beautifying it for me!) CLICK HERE to see an example output text file.
Initial setup of the system is simple. The reed switch of the anemometer is connected to the two pins on the circuit board (see photos below). Note that the anemometer also contains a heater which should be powered by 24V 1A DC to allow operation in cold weather. The datalogger requires a power supply of 3.6V to 7.5V at 80mA to be connected.
A standard SD-card should be formatted in FAT16 format and inserted into the datalogger. The datalogger automatically writes a configuration file on the SD-card, which you can check by removing the SD-card from the datalogger and inserting into your PC's cardreader. NO CHANGES ARE REQUIRED to this configuration file: the default settings are fine for this project. The SD-card can then be put back in the datalogger and power switched on. Read the datalogger datasheet for more information.
When datalogging is complete, the STOP button must be pressed on the datalogger board. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT! It is needed in order to ensure that the last buffer is correctly written to the SD-card and the file is properly closed. The file name on the SD-card starts at LOG0.TXT with successive datalogging sessions creating files named LOG1.TXT, LOG2.TXT and so on.
The datalogger text files can be loaded directly in Excel (etc) and the chart shown to the right is an example trace obtained during an overnight wind speed logging session. | <urn:uuid:3e5969a0-5e0c-42c4-9277-ccd5a564fbf1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hanssummers.com/wind.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.883044 | 996 | 2.609375 | 3 |
National Action Plan to Prevent Healthcare-Associated Infections: Roadmap to Elimination
A. Magnitude of the Problem
Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are infections that people acquire while they are receiving treatment for medical or surgical conditions in a healthcare setting. HAIs can be acquired anywhere healthcare is delivered, including but not limited to inpatient acute care hospitals; outpatient settings such as ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs) and end-stage renal disease (ESRD) facilities; and long-term care (LTC) facilities, such as nursing homes and rehabilitation centers.
Healthcare-associated infections are linked with a variety of risk factors, including but not limited to, the use of indwelling medical devices such as bloodstream, endotracheal, and urinary catheters; having a surgical procedure; receiving injections; contamination of the inanimate environment, such as table surfaces; and transmission of communicable diseases between patients and healthcare workers. The overuse of antimicrobial agents increases the likelihood of some infections (e.g., Clostridium difficile HAI) and especially the risk of infection with an antimicrobial resistant microorganism. HAIs may be caused by any type of infectious agent, including bacteria, fungi, and viruses.
Healthcare-associated infections exact a significant toll on human life. Even if only those infections which have their onset in hospitals are measured, HAIs are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. At any given time, about one in every 20 inpatients has an infection related to their hospital care. In LTC facilities, about 1.6 to 3.8 million infections occur annually. There are no reliable overall estimates at the time of this publication of the total burden of infections which occur as a result of treatment in outpatient settings.
Based on 2002 data, nearly 80 percent of all hospital-acquired HAIs are caused by four types of infections. Urinary tract infections (UTI) comprise the highest percentage (34% of all hospital-acquired HAIs) followed by surgical site infections (SSI) (17%), bloodstream infections (14%), and pneumonia (13%).
The cost to the American economy is also steep. Based on 2002 estimates of the numbers of HAIs, hospital-acquired HAIs alone were responsible for $28 to $33 billion dollars in excess healthcare costs in 2002. A recent report using different methodology from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Office of the Inspector General estimated that hospital care associated with adverse and temporary harm events, including hospital-acquired HAIs, cost Medicare an estimated $324 million in October 2008.
It has been known for many years that some HAIs are largely preventable and that the occurrence of these infections can be drastically reduced in order to save lives and avoid excess costs. Today, there is a growing consensus that the aspirational goal should be the elimination of HAIs. The growing demands on the healthcare system, coupled with increasing concerns about antimicrobial-resistant pathogens and steadily rising healthcare costs, reinforce the imperative to address this issue.
To maximize the efficiency and improve the coordination of prevention efforts across the Department, HHS established in 2008 a senior-level Steering Committee for the Prevention of Healthcare-Associated Infections. Members of the Steering Committee include clinicians, scientists, and public health leaders who are high-ranking officials within their Operating and Staff Divisions. Among the Divisions contributing to the effort are the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Administration on Aging (AoA), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Indian Health Service (IHS), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and from within the HHS Office of the Secretary (OS), the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (National Vaccine Program Office (NVPO) and Office of Healthcare Quality (OHQ)), Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), and Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC). Later, the Steering Committee expanded beyond HHS to include the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD).
Since its inception, the Steering Committee has marshaled extensive and diverse resources (see Table 4), formed public and private partnerships, and initiated discussions that enhanced new approaches and worked towards identifying new approaches to HAI prevention and collaborations. In 2009, the HHS Assistant Secretary for Health created the OHQ to support and carry out the Steering Committee’s mandate to improve healthcare quality by reducing HAIs.
Table 4. Departmental & HHS Operating Division Roles and Activities in Implementing the National Action Plan to Prevent Healthcare-Associated Infections: Roadmap to Elimination
|U.S. Department of Defense|
Provides healthcare to eligible members of the military and their families
|U.S. Department of Health & Human Services|
Supports and conducts research on ways to organize, manage, and deliver quality care
Supports and conducts research on approaches for preventing and reducing HAIs
Funds expansion of the Comprehensive Unit-based Safety (CUSP) initiative (Keystone) to reduce bloodstream infections nationwide
Manages system to collect patient safety data (Network of Patient Safety Databases)
Manages the longitudinal evaluation of Action Plan implementation on behalf of HHS
Provides resources/programs to support care coordination between care settings (e.g., hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, home, adult day care)
Provides resources/programs that support consumer and caregiver activation to better understand, participate in and control personal health, chronic conditions, and healthcare decisions
Supports State Long-Term Care Ombudsman programs to resolve problems of individual residents and bring about changes at the local, state, and national levels that will improve residents’ care and quality of life
Investigates outbreaks and emerging threats in healthcare facilities
Identifies magnitude, populations at risk, and prevention methods
Conducts research to develop approaches for HAI prevention, surveillance, and evaluation
Develops laboratory methods for detection and identification of key HAI pathogens
Produces evidence-based guidelines to prevent HAIs through the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC) and provides guidance on prevention practices
Provides HAI data (National Healthcare Safety Network or NHSN) immediately
available for use by reporting facilities, hospital groups, and state health
departments to target prevention activities
Evaluates impact of prevention interventions
Supports surveillance and prevention efforts being led by state and local health
Leverages payment policies to enhance delivery of quality care (Value-Based Purchasing, Hospital-Acquired Conditions, meaningful use incentives)
Implements traditional quality improvement programs (Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs), ESRD Networks, External Quality Review Organizations)
Publicly reports hospital quality data (Hospital Compare)
Makes national coverage decisions that can incorporate best available evidence
Develops regulations and enforces regulatory authority (e.g., Conditions of Participation, surveys, deeming authority)
Uses demonstration authority to test new approaches
|FDA||Approves or clears where necessary treatments (drugs, devices), equipment, and other technologies to reduce the risk of infection|
Provides resources/programs to train health professionals
Provides access to uninsured, isolated, and medically vulnerable populations
|IHS||Provides access to quality healthcare for Native American communities|
|NIH||Supports and conducts biomedical research on the pathogenesis, transmission, and colonization of healthcare-associated pathogens|
|OS/ASPE||Develops patient safety measures as a part of their planning and evaluation role|
|OS/OASH||Coordinates and manages overall effort|
|OS/ONC||Leverages resources to advance a coordinated HAI information systems strategy|
|U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs|
|Provides healthcare to eligible Veterans, partners with other Federal departments and agencies to measure the frequency and impact of HAIs, implements and evaluates HAI prevention strategies, and investigates HAI outbreaks at VA healthcare sites|
Through late 2008 and 2009, the Steering Committee, along with scientists and program officials across the government, developed the HHS Action Plan to Prevent Healthcare-Associated Infections, providing a roadmap for HAI prevention in acute care hospitals. In the first iteration of the Action Plan, the Steering Committee chose to focus on infections in acute care hospitals because the associated morbidity and mortality was most severe and the scientific information on prevention and capacity to measure improvement was most complete. Thus, prevention of HAIs in acute care hospitals became the first phase, or Phase One, of the Action Plan (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Organizational Structure of the HAI Steering Committee
Given the substantial breadth and depth of HAIs and the complexity of addressing these problems, the Steering Committee, at the time of its formation in 2008, decided to concentrate its activities and the content of the initial Action Plan on six high priority HAI-related areas within the acute care hospital setting. In addition, the Steering Committee included in the Action Plan five-year goals for nine specific measures of improvement tied to the six HAI prevention priority areas (see Table 5). Focusing on these six high priority and high burden areas allowed for a concentration of resources and effort during the initial phases of Action Plan implementation. It also allowed the Steering Committee to take advantage of the substantial expertise and experience both within and outside HHS in HAI prevention in the acute care hospital setting.
Table 5. HHS Action Plan to Prevent Healthcare-Associated Infections (2009) Priority Areas and Five-Year Goals
Five-Year (2013) Goal
National Baseline Period
|Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infection||Catheter-associated urinary tract infections||25% reduction||2009|
|Clostridium difficile Infection||Hospitalizations with Clostridium difficile||30% reduction||2008|
|Clostridium difficile infections||30% reduction||2009-2010|
|Central Line-Associated Bloodstream Infection||Central line-associated bloodstream infections||50% reduction||2006-2008|
|Adherence to central-line insertion practices||100% adherence||2009|
|MRSA Infection||MRSA invasive infections (population)||50% reduction||2007-2008|
|MRSA bacteremia (hospital)||25% reduction||2009-2010|
|Surgical Site Infection||Surgical site infections||25% reduction||2006-2008|
|Adherence to CMS Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP) processes||95% adherence||2006-2008|
Thus, Phase One of the Action Plan addressed the most common infections in acute care inpatient settings and outlined: specific recommended optimum clinical practices to prevent the infections; a prioritized research agenda; an integrated information systems strategy; policy options for linking payment incentives or disincentives to quality of care and enhancing regulatory oversight of hospitals; and a national messaging and communications plan to raise awareness of HAIs among the general public and HAI prevention strategies among healthcare personnel.
The plan was initially released in January 2009 for public comment. A final version that incorporated additional content and responses to comments was released in June 2009. The Steering Committee clearly articulated the need to maintain the Action Plan as a “living document,” developing successor plans in collaboration with public and private partners to incorporate advances in science and technology, shifts in the ways healthcare is delivered, changes in healthcare system processes and cultural norms, and other factors.
C. Action Plan Expansion
Over the past five decades, the dramatic changes in medical care and the health system in the U.S. have allowed patients with complex health problems to be managed outside the acute care hospital, rather than requiring extensive inpatient stays. Thus, patients at risk for HAIs are now managed at home, have surgical procedures of many types done on an outpatient basis at free-standing clinics, and may have intravascular and urinary catheters as well as other indwelling medical devices in place for extended periods outside the hospital. At the same time, there is a growing proportion of individuals admitted to nursing facilities for Medicare Part A short-term rehabilitation and post-acute care.
Movement of patients between their homes, community based-settings, outpatient facilities, acute care hospitals, and LTC facilities occurs frequently and continuously. Infection control and the prevention and elimination of HAIs can no longer be compartmentalized within the time span from a patient’s date of admission to date of discharge at any one particular facility. The chain of transmission may have multiple links connecting to the intensive care unit, not just to other wards in the hospital but all the way to the patient’s home.
The healthcare and public health communities are then increasingly challenged to identify, respond to, and prevent HAIs across the continuum of settings where healthcare is delivered. The public health model’s population-based perspective can increasingly be deployed to enhance the prevention of HAIs, particularly given the shifts in healthcare delivery from acute care settings to ambulatory and LTC settings.
Thus, following publication of the initial Action Plan in 2009, the Steering Committee quickly moved to expand the scope of its activities to include both the outpatient environment and role of healthcare personnel in ensuring optimal patient outcomes. In late 2009, the Steering Committee approved an expansion of the Action Plan through the addition of three new modules or chapters:
- Prevention of HAIs in Ambulatory Surgical Centers;
- Prevention of HAIs in End-Stage Renal Disease Facilities; and
- Increasing Influenza Vaccination Coverage of Healthcare Personnel.
These chapters comprise the second phase of the Action Plan, extending its scope to the outpatient environment and addressing the health and safety of healthcare personnel, as well as the risks of influenza transmission from healthcare personnel to patients (see Action Plan Chapters 4, 5, and 6).
Ambulatory surgical centers and ESRD facilities were selected as areas of focus because of the complexity of care delivered in those settings, their continued growth in terms of number of patient care encounters, the infection control challenges faced in those settings, and in the case of ASCs, recent large-scale outbreaks which demonstrate the urgency of addressing infection control and prevention for patients in that setting. Similarly, recent experiences in which public health authorities needed to consider the risk of influenza and persistent concerns about sub-optimal rates of healthcare personnel vaccination against seasonal influenza led the Steering Committee to request a report on that subject. Drafts of these additional sections were released for public comment in September 2010. These sections, revised based on public comments, have now been incorporated in the overall Action Plan.
In 2012, the Steering Committee will consider and decide upon additional components to constitute the third phase of Action Plan development.
D. Partnership for Patients
On April 12, 2011, HHS launched a new public–private initiative, entitled Partnership for Patients: Better Care, Lower Costs, to help to improve the quality, safety, and affordability of healthcare for all Americans. The Partnership for Patients brings together leaders of major hospitals, employers, physicians, nurses, and patient advocates along with state and federal governments in a shared effort to make hospital care safer, more reliable, and less costly.
The two goals of this new partnership are to:
- Keep patients from getting injured or sicker. By the end of 2013, preventable hospital-acquired conditions would decrease by 40% compared to 2010. Achieving this goal would mean approximately 1.8 million fewer injuries to patients with more than 60,000 lives saved over three years.
- Help patients heal without complication. By the end of 2013, preventable complications during a transition from one care setting to another would be decreased so that all hospital readmissions would be reduced by 20% compared to 2010. Achieving this goal would mean more than 1.6 million patients would recover from illness without suffering a preventable complication requiring re-hospitalization within 30 days of discharge.
Achieving these goals will save lives and prevent injuries to millions of Americans and has the potential to save up to $35 billion dollars across the healthcare system, including up to $10 billion in Medicare savings, over the next three years. Over the next ten years, it could reduce costs to Medicare by about $50 billion and produce billions more in Medicaid savings.
The Partnership for Patients is committed to addressing all forms of harm that can affect patients in hospitals. Addressing all causes of harm means tackling safety and quality in every care setting and embedding a new ethos into the system and the culture of care. As a starting point, the Partnership for Patients has identified nine focus areas including four HAIs: catheter- associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI), central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI), SSI, and ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP).
As a component of the Partnership for Patients, success in achieving the Action Plan goals will strongly align with and vitally contribute to the success of the Partnership for Patients. Joining our accumulated HAI knowledge base and other resources developed since 2008 to the Partnership’s foci, energies, and additional resources promises escalated action in the fight for patient safety and healthcare quality and against preventable human and economic costs.
E. Key Partnerships
The breadth and complexity of the healthcare delivery and public health systems require that a national initiative to eliminate HAIs be a shared responsibility of practicing healthcare professionals and their representative organizations, the healthcare industry, federal, state and local governments, and consumers. The growth of a proactive, highly engaged healthcare consumer movement has been one of several factors that greatly accelerated the patient safety movement since the publication of the Institute of Medicine report To Err is Human in 1999.
The Action Plan goals cannot be achieved without a broad-based network of partners comprising all segments of the healthcare and public health enterprise in the United States. In recognition of this, the Steering Committee committed to widespread stakeholder engagement and input into the development of the first iteration of the Action Plan. In September 2008, HHS, through the CDC, convened a meeting of key stakeholders from academia, federal and state governments, professional provider organizations, consumer groups, and others with the purpose of soliciting individual input on the setting of potential national prevention targets regarding HAI elimination. At this meeting, participants identified near- and long-term process and outcome measures for benchmarking progress in the prevention of HAIs.
Since that initial meeting, HHS and its component Operating and Staff Divisions have held numerous stakeholder meetings to continue proactive engagement with groups and individuals throughout the U.S. involved in HAI elimination. The result of this ongoing engagement has been the development of a network of organizations comprising a broad range of private and public sector groups coordinated through OHQ. This network, initially established through the Steering Committee to more closely link HHS Operating and Staff Divisions, has joined together governmental and non-governmental partners by leveraging established contacts already existing within each of the HHS component organizations. The network achieved rapid success in filling a clearly recognized need for better communication and bridging between bureaucratic and organizational silos both within and outside the Federal government, as well as at the state-level and among various components of the healthcare system.
As the revised Action Plan is reviewed and as the Steering Committee seeks to achieve the Action Plan goals, the federal government will increasingly look to its multidisciplinary partners to co-develop and amplify key messages, increase the adoption of recommended practices, and serve as local, state, regional, and national leaders in a coordinated effort to eliminate HAIs. More progress can and will be accomplished together, focused on the end goal of eliminating preventable infections and their associated consequences.
F. Setting Elimination as an Aspirational Goal
Since the publication of To Err is Human in 1999, experts in the field of patient safety have discussed the concept and feasibility of not just reducing, but eliminating HAIs. Scientific advances, a changing culture of safety within the healthcare system, and the proven success of smaller scale prevention initiatives have now led to a consensus of the foremost experts in the field that the elimination of HAIs is a worthy aspirational goal and that the elimination of HAIs is possible., The Steering Committee, through the Action Plan, subscribes to that challenge and seeks to continue to provide leadership to move the field as far as possible towards HAI elimination.
II. Changing Landscape
The publication of the 2009 HHS Action Plan to Prevent Healthcare-Associated Infections was a milestone in national efforts to address this serious public health problem and provided a roadmap for HHS activities in this area.
The Action Plan also described the process by which the Steering Committee has been monitoring progress toward the success of the effort through regular reporting by the Steering Committee’s various Working Groups and the HHS Operating and Staff Divisions; building HAI prevention infrastructure at the regional, state, and local/community levels; on-going input from and dialogue with stakeholders; formalized independent evaluation by external consultants; and, most importantly, measurement using identified metrics towards corresponding five-year national HAI prevention targets.
B. Progress Toward Achieving Five-Year National Prevention Targets
Progress toward achieving the nine goals established in the 2009 Action Plan (Table 5) was presented during the Steering Committee’s meeting “Progress Toward Eliminating Healthcare-Associated Infections” held in September 2010 in Arlington, Virginia.
Overall, national HAI prevention efforts resulted in decreases in the national incidence rates of some HAIs when compared to baseline data:
- 33% decrease in CLABSI when 2009 and 2010 data is compared to a baseline established according to 2006-2008 data;
- 18% decrease in invasive MRSA infections when 2009 and 2010 data is compared to a baseline established according to 2007-2008 data;
- 10% decrease in SSIs when 2009 and 2010 data is compared to a baseline established according to 2006-2008 data; and,
- 7% decrease in CAUTI when 2010 data is compared to a baseline established according to 2009 data.
Increases in national rates of adherence to specific processes to reduce the risk of SSIs using CMS SCIP measures were also reported. Experts also reported that the national rate of hospitalizations with C. difficile infection were on the rise. Progress data for the remaining 2009 Action Plan measures were not available as national baselines were still in the process of being established. A more complete summary of the data illustrating progress toward achieving the 2009 Action Plan goals is available on the OHQ website.
C. Recent Advances
Since the publication of the 2009 Action Plan, a number of developments have served to greatly accelerate and facilitate the HAI prevention effort. The Steering Committee’s activities in themselves have successfully leveraged both existing and new investments in prevention and monitoring throughout HHS. The Steering Committee’s Working Groups (Figure 1) regularly report on each group’s progress in implementing the components of the Action Plan and provide leadership and support to the public health and healthcare delivery communities in working toward the achievement of the five-year Action Plan targets.
In addition, each of the HHS Divisions conducts far-reaching programs in accord with its individual mission for the prevention of HAIs. All of these entities have achieved significant accomplishments in their domains. Some of the highlights include:
- CDC’s Prevention Epicenter research network addressed priority gaps in prevention knowledge.
- Scientific evidence and past experience have highlighted the importance of employing appropriate strategies to implement guidelines and recommendations for the prevention of HAIs. Efforts such as AHRQ’s spreading the use of CUSP, aimed at preventing CLABSI, have demonstrated the improvements that are achievable when CDC guidelines and recommendations for care are coupled with practical and explicit implementation approaches for use by hospitals and other healthcare delivery organizations.,, The CUSP approach was designed to improve the culture of safety and help clinical teams learn from mistakes by integrating safety practices into the daily work of a unit or clinical area. CUSP, which was first shown to be effective in reducing CLABSI through the AHRQ-supported Keystone Project in Michigan Intensive Care Units (ICUs), has been implemented at a large number of organizations and has achieved significant reductions in CLABSIs. AHRQ is currently expanding this effort to the prevention of other forms of HAIs (i.e., CAUTI, SSI, VAP), as well as to patient care areas of the hospital other than ICUs.
- A new supply chain of HAI data has been launched. As a first step in implementing the Affordable Care Act (ACA), data from CDC’s NHSN will be supplied to CMS’s Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting Program. NHSN is providing CLABSI data for the CMS Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System for acute care hospitals. As a result of the CDC-CMS collaboration, NHSN will serve as a national data source for publicly reported HAI data, beginning with CLABSI data in 2011, which are to be included in the healthcare quality measurement data made publicly available on the Hospital Compare website. This initial data collection will be followed in January 2012 by the collection and reporting of CAUTI data. Additional HAI measures may be added to the program in subsequent years. These new achievements in HAI systems integration and data standardization are occurring at the same time that new federal efforts, funding through the HITECH Act and guided by ONC and CMS, are supporting accelerated adoption of electronic health records (EHRs). With more ubiquitous use of EHRs on the near-term horizon, new opportunities are arising for HHS agencies and their partners to catalyze and coordinate the transition from manual to electronic methods of HAI detection and reporting.
- AHRQ and CDC have also worked together to assure that HAI data standards are applied to the new patient safety reporting program established by AHRQ that will enable voluntary and confidential HAI reporting to designated Patient Safety Organizations (PSOs). Healthcare providers voluntarily work with PSOs to report non-identifiable patient safety event data to the Network of Patient Safety Databases using AHRQ’s Common Formats that includes HAIs using CDC definitions.
- In terms of coverage, over 5000 healthcare facilities have enrolled in NHSN as of January 2011 and there are currently 80 listed PSOs in 30 states and the District of Columbia.
D. Building Sustainability: Infrastructure and Stakeholder Network
The Action Plan’s overall coordinating structure seeks to bring into alignment the disparate agencies, programs, and organizations at the national, regional, state, and local levels that can together significantly reduce HAIs. The Steering Committee pursues an overall multi-level, multi-system approach to HAI prevention.
A critically important component of the initiative has been the development of an informal national network of organizations comprising a broad range of public and private sector groups. This network, which initially connected HHS Divisions, rapidly expanded to include non-governmental partners by leveraging the established contacts already existing within each of the HHS components. This network quickly became effective because it filled a clearly recognized need for better communication and bridging between bureaucratic and systemic silos both within and outside the federal government.
In the current economic, regulatory, and scientific environment, this informal network served the needs of all parties to have structured lines of communication and the capacity for on-going interaction which was created under the auspices of the Steering Committee. These structures soon evolved a wide array of secondary and tertiary communication channels which provided to all participants the means to interact with greater facility. The Steering Committee and OHQ, on behalf of the Steering Committee, continues to maintain the basic infrastructure of the network.
HHS is currently sponsoring regional pilot projects implemented by the HHS Regional Offices. The projects evaluate new programs and leverage state activities across multiple states in a region. Through the development and implementation of these projects, state coordination across the regions has strengthened, in addition to coordination between local, state, regional and national-level efforts and activities.
The Action Plan outlines strategies needed to achieve and sustain progress toward reducing HAIs at the national level. However, measurable progress depends on the leadership of states in coordinating prevention efforts at the state and local levels. Many state health agencies have been leaders in advancing HAI prevention through public reporting, survey and certification quality assurance processes, and outreach and training for healthcare personnel.
Investments in State Activities
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 provided a total of $50 million in funding for state level HAI prevention activities. The funding created opportunities for strengthening and building the state-level infrastructure for HAI prevention. As determined by the Steering Committee, the HAI ARRA program was administered by CDC and CMS. In addition, other HHS funds from annual appropriations to AHRQ, CDC, CMS, and OHQ are being used to directly support state efforts.
The CDC-administered ARRA program built state health departments’ HAI prevention capacity. CDC provided technical assistance to states for surveillance and prevention of HAIs, collaboration initiatives, workforce training activities in HAI prevention, and measurement of outcomes. States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico have begun implementation of their State Action Plans and have hired HAI state coordinators to implement prevention collaboratives and pursue validation of data to improve HAI measurement and reporting.
Many states have shown successes in HAI prevention, including progress toward goals set in Phase I of the Action Plan. States are also furthering HAI prevention efforts outside acute care settings including ESRD facilities, ASCs, and LTC facilities. Recovery Act investments have not only accelerated these efforts, but also supported new, successful HAI prevention programs in states without previous programs.
The CMS-administered ARRA program was designed to support State Survey Agencies in their efforts to enhance the inspection process of Medicare-participating ASCs, specifically to include case tracer methodology and a CDC-CMS developed infection control assessment tool in surveys. Initial findings from the enhanced inspection process include that over two-thirds of the facilities surveyed in the pilot phase of the project had lapses in infection control and prevention and half of the facilities had not undergone a full inspection in more than five years.
Through CMS’ policy setting mechanism, all states were required to use the enhanced inspection process and survey one third of ASCs in FY 2010. Prior to the ARRA-funded program, ASCs were inspected at an average frequency of every 10 years. The goal with the program is to inspect facilities every three years.
In efforts to support state level HAI collaboration, AHRQ involves State Hospital Associations in implementing the Action Plan. Funds from AHRQ have awarded projects that address critical implementation science gaps that are in alignment with the Action Plan and demonstrate generalizability and feasibility for widespread implementation. CUSP is one such program that has been supported by these funds and has demonstrated how a structured strategic framework for safety can result in dramatic improvements in patient care. AHRQ is currently expanding the successful program across the country.
Federal funds have had a considerable impact in supporting state advancements, but significant challenges remain. Enhanced investment in staffing at various levels, research, communication and health information technology, and investigation of human and organizational factors that contribute to the occurrence of HAIs are necessary to overcome these challenges. State officials have expressed concern that sustaining state based efforts may prove challenging without the availability of a long-term, sustainable funding mechanism.
State Action Plans
The 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act required states receiving Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grant funds to certify that they would submit a plan to reduce HAIs to the Secretary of HHS in order to receive the full allotment of grant funds. The Secretary received plans from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico in January 2010.
The purpose of the State Action Plans was primarily to outline strategies to leverage and enhance state capacity to reduce and prevent HAIs, focusing on achievement of the Action Plan goals. In addition, states were encouraged to establish statewide HAI prevention leadership through the formation of multidisciplinary groups or State HAI Advisory Councils led by State Health Departments.
States were asked to address four areas in their State Action Plans:
- Program Infrastructure;
- Surveillance, Detection, Reporting, and Response;
- Prevention; and,
- Evaluation, Oversight, and Communication.
Through the State Action Plans, states had the opportunity to articulate areas of strength and areas requiring support in their HAI programs; identify which stakeholders to engage in HAI prevention activities; and set benchmarks for future activities. States outlined a uniform way of addressing HAI prevention focusing not only on acute care facilities but, when possible, on other healthcare settings, complementing the expanding scope of the national Action Plan. By having each state identify its own goals based on the level of infrastructure and resources presently in place, HHS has been able to gather valuable information that is further guiding prevention efforts.
State Action Plans Report to Congress
The Healthcare-Associated Infections: FY 2010 State Action Plans Report to Congress addressed the adequacy of the state plans for achieving state and national goals for reducing HAIs. Based on a review of the 52 State Action Plans received, HHS reported that each State Action Plan submitted was consistent with the national Action Plan, and where appropriate, included measurable five-year goals and interim milestones for reducing the infections.
The Report to Congress described the great degree of variability across states regarding current prevention activities and resources available to support HAI prevention. Some states had more mature HAI prevention programs and demonstrated excellent understanding of the necessary scope for an effective and ambitious prevention program. These states had not only identified target initiatives, but had begun implementation several years ago and were already involved in multiple prevention collaboratives. States with the strongest HAI programs indicated that they had completed extensive efforts to validate HAI data submitted by facilities. These states were also progressing towards interoperability of electronic systems and lab capacity enhancements to improve HAI reporting. Although some States had longstanding programs in place, others were just beginning to launch HAI prevention programs and still need support to strengthen basic program infrastructure, communications, lab capacity, and data collection systems.
State Based HAI Reporting
State-Specific HAI Summary Data Reports (May 2010 and March 2011) include both national CLABSI and SSI data and state-specific data for states mandated by law to report. Additional, regular reporting of state level HAI data is planned for the remaining Action Plan measures.
E. An On-Going, National Dialogue with Partners
To ensure that the Action Plan is representative of the needs of the many partners and participants in the national effort to prevent HAIs, each of HHS’ component Operating and Staff Divisions sponsored and conducted numerous engagement activities to ensure an on-going and vibrant dialogue with the many sectors within public health and healthcare, as well as with the general public. Examples of engagement activities include:
- Public Comment Periods (Periodic): With the release of each version of the Action Plan, the Steering Committee requests and carefully reviews written comments from the public on plan content. Public comments provide HHS with important feedback from individuals, professional societies, businesses, advocacy groups, and others. Comments have prompted revisions and additions to subsequent versions of the Action Plan and provided guidance for future HAI prevention work.
- Action Plan Stakeholder Meetings (June to September 2009): The Steering Committee hosted a series of engagement meetings in Washington, District of Columbia, Denver, Colorado, Chicago, Illinois, and Seattle, Washington in mid-2009 to engage the public and gather feedback on the Action Plan.
- HAI Recovery Act State Grantee Meetings (October 2009, 2010, and 2011): This annual meeting gathers State HAI Coordinators and others working at the state-level to discuss best practices in HAI prevention. The meeting is one opportunity to link national, regional, and state-level perspectives in HAI prevention and progress.
- Fifth Decennial International Conference on Healthcare-Associated Infections (March 18-22, 2010): Hosted by the CDC and the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America in partnership with Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology and the Infectious Diseases Society of America, provided a review of accomplishments in the field over the past decade and proposed a scientific agenda for the next decade, including an expert consensus on the prospect of eliminating HAIs.
- Progress Toward Eliminating Healthcare-Associated Infections (September 23-24, 2010): National-level expert meeting and workshop reviewed progress toward achieving the nine five-year national HAI prevention targets for reducing the incidence of specific HAIs, and how to accelerate the prevention, reduction, and eventual elimination of HAIs. The content of the discussions provided input for this revision of the Action Plan.
- AHRQ Healthcare-Associated Infections Investigator Meetings (September 26, 2010 and September 18, 2011): Hosted by AHRQ as a component of the AHRQ Annual Conference, these meetings gathered together contractors (2010, 2011 meetings) and grantees (2011 meeting) conducting HAI-related work to discuss on-going efforts and the broader initiative to prevent HAIs across HHS.
- Public Health Collaboration Models for Infection Prevention in Licensed Healthcare Settings A Focus on Ambulatory Surgical Centers (October 20, 2010): This meeting continued the national-level discussion during the ASC-focused session at the September meeting, Progress Toward Eliminating Healthcare-Associated Infections, among those working at the state level.
- Accelerating Healthcare-Associated Infection Elimination: Health System, Hospital, and Government Leadership Collaboration (October 28, 2010): In response to the need for an enhanced partnership between the federal government and healthcare facility and health system senior leadership, OHQ collaborated with the Texas Medical Institute of Technology’s Greenlight Program Healthcare to host a meeting of hospital quality leaders from across the nation regarding the key role of leadership in eliminating HAIs.
- State-Level Partners Collaborating to Eliminate Healthcare-Associated Infections (September 15-16, 2011): This meeting gathered state-level organizations (e.g., State Health Departments, QIOs, PSOs, private payers) working on HAI to discuss national and state programs and policies affecting state-level prevention efforts and next steps to sustain state-level programs.
In addition to these highlighted activities, many of the organizations with representation on the Steering Committee, as well as each of the Steering Committee’s Working Groups maintain communication and interaction with a vast array of interested parties.
F. External Independent Evaluation
As part of the national effort outlined in the original Action Plan, AHRQ, CDC, and OHQ contracted with an independent evaluation group to conduct a three-year evaluation of all activities associated with the Action Plan and the impact of the initiative. The iterative, longitudinal, and comprehensive evaluation uses context, input, process, and product evaluations to measure the initiative’s effectiveness in reducing HAIs nationwide.
The goals of the evaluation are to:
- Record the content and scope of the Action Plan, how it is designed now, and what it will add in the future;
- Provide feedback on how to strengthen on-going assessments of the scope of HAIs and interventions, to reduce them, and to begin to understand the effectiveness of those interventions; and
- Provide strategic insights from on-going processes and outcomes to identify high yield opportunities to reduce HAIs.
The report Longitudinal Program Evaluation of the Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAI) HHS Action Plan Year 1 Report (September 2010) summarizes initial recommendations. The report gives information on using identified strengths and weaknesses to inform what the HAI initiative should accomplish (the context evaluation) and how it should be accomplished (the input evaluation).
At the state level, the evaluation will not only monitor the progress and impact of the individual State HAI Action Plans and initiatives linked to the plans, but also examine other activities that are taking place within states performed by health departments, state hospital associations, QIOs, and other entities.
G. A National Focus on Improving Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety
ACA, passed in 2010, seeks to increase access for all Americans to high-quality, affordable healthcare and includes an array of provisions designed to enhance coordination, innovation, efficiency, and the quality of healthcare.
To help guide and coordinate public and private sector activities, ACA calls on the HHS Secretary to establish a National Strategy for Quality Improvement in Healthcare (the National Quality Strategy). The National Quality Strategy is a plan for improving the delivery of healthcare services, achieving better patient outcomes, and improving the health of the U.S. population. It pursues three broad aims used to guide and assess local, State, and national efforts to improve the quality of healthcare:
- Better Care: Improve the overall quality, by making healthcare more patient-centered, reliable, accessible, and safe.
- Healthy People/Healthy Communities: Improve the health of the U.S. population by supporting proven interventions to address behavioral, social, and environmental determinants of health in addition to delivering higher-quality care.
- Affordable Care: Reduce the cost of quality healthcare for individuals, families, employers, and government.
The Partnership for Patients initiative, launched in 2011, carries out the broad aims in the National Quality Strategy by implementing a broad multi-year program to significantly reduce harm in hospitals and preventable readmissions. Despite decades of work to improve patient safety and despite daily efforts by committed caregivers, patients are still harmed by the healthcare system. The initiative combines broad incentives and programmatic supports to address preventable harm and readmissions.
Existing policy levers and programs, as well as new programs (e.g., supports for state and local cooperative learning networks; programs to engage patients and family members in the care process) are included in the initiative. In addition to HAIs, the harm events targeted for reduction include pressure ulcers, adverse drug events, obstetrical adverse events, injuries from falls, and post-surgical venous thromboembolisms.
Under the framework created by both the National Quality Strategy and the Partnership for Patients, the Action Plan provides a roadmap to specifically reduce the burden of HAIs in U.S. healthcare facilities. Data measures and goals across the Partnership for Patients, Action Plan, and other related programs have been aligned to reduce confusion. ACA clearly demonstrated the importance of preventing HAIs as a critical component in ensuring quality healthcare and patient safety. The law links payment to quality outcomes and established the Hospital Value-Based Purchasing program in Medicare. This program offers financial incentives to hospitals to improve the quality of care provided. Hospital performance is required to be publicly reported, beginning with measures relating to heart attacks, heart failure, pneumonia, surgical care, and HAIs. HAI specific reporting began in January of 2010 with CLABSIs and became publicly available on the Hospital Compare website in January of 2012. Also in January 2012, CMS will require reporting to include SSIs. In 2015, CMS will include reporting of MRSA bacteremia, Clostridium difficile infection, and healthcare personnel influenza vaccination, and intends to propose VAP, post-procedure pneumonias, and multi-drug resistant organisms (e.g., Klebsiella, Acinetobacter) in the future. Payments will begin to apply for discharges occurring on or after October 1, 2012.
Also established by ACA, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation at CMS is a new entity aimed at helping transform Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program through improvements in the healthcare system, thereby ensuring better healthcare, better health, and reduced costs for beneficiaries, and ultimately enhancing the healthcare system in the United States. The new center has the resources and charge to rapidly test innovative care and payment models and encourage widespread adoption of practices that support better healthcare at lower cost.
III. Ten Themes for Translating Strategy to Action
A national effort to achieve and exceed the Action Plan goals will occur as a result of activities and initiatives within all parts of the health system and as a result of actions by every individual and group, including consumers and their families, concerned with the quality of healthcare in the United States. At the September 2010 meeting “Progress Toward Eliminating Healthcare-Associated Infections,” experts identified key themes in HAI prevention strategies that are central to creating and sustaining core capacities of HAI prevention.
Although there is no simple formula that will lead to the prevention and elimination of HAIs in every setting and every facility and for every patient, well-established strategies to prevent and eventually eliminate HAIs have been tested and proven. These strategies include actions taken during patient care in the clinic and at the bedside; actions taken by executives, managers and administrators of facilities and health systems; and broad-based system changes that involve focused and concerted efforts by everyone.
B. Ten Themes for Translating Strategy to Action
- Reduce Inappropriate/Unnecessary Device Use: A large proportion of HAIs are associated with the use of indwelling medical devices, especially intravascular catheters, urinary catheters, and devices associated with mechanical ventilation. Although optimal practices concerning insertion, maintenance, and care of such devices greatly reduces the risk of HAIs, avoiding the insertion of such devices and their prompt removal as soon as clinically appropriate is the best strategy for preventing device-associated infections.
- Improving Adherence to Hand Hygiene and Barrier Precautions: Mechanically preventing the spread of pathogenic microorganisms, especially to high-risk patients and particularly for antimicrobial resistant microorganisms, is a simple and powerful prevention tool that requires the consistent and universal adoption of these proven prevention practices in every patient interaction and in ongoing vigilance of the environment.
- Implementing and Improving Antimicrobial Stewardship: Antimicrobial stewardship programs have been shown to be an important factor in reducing the overall prevalence of antimicrobial resistant microorganisms in the hospital environment. Efforts to ensure optimally appropriate antimicrobial use have been a hallmark of quality improvement activity in both inpatient and outpatient care setting in recent decades. Ongoing research is allowing for greater precision and understanding of the best use of antimicrobial agents balancing clinical necessity and optimal patient care with the negative consequences of overuse and inappropriate use of antimicrobial agents, including the spread of antimicrobial resistant pathogens, adverse drug reactions in patients, and excess financial cost. Providers and patients must partner to use antibiotics only when needed and completing scheduled doses appropriately.
Clinical Leaders, Executives, and Administrators
- Engaging Leadership Support at the Highest Levels of the Facility: A central role for leadership in supporting practice improvements is vital to efforts in preventing HAIs and other adverse patient safety events. Strong support, both in terms of personal commitment and allocated resources, from healthcare executives and administrators is frequently cited by front-line healthcare workers as one of the most important factors in implementation of successful HAI prevention strategies in healthcare facilities and health systems.
- Implementing a Culture of Safety: All parts of the health system need to move towards a culture of safety that includes patients and families as members of the healthcare team. The broadening of responsibility and accountability for patient safety, including recognition of a role for patients and their families, has been one of the most impactful developments in the patient safety movement. Making the prevention of HAIs as important a part of the clinical decision-making process as any other aspect of patient care, and continuing to acknowledge the role of consumers as partners in prevention – even, and perhaps especially – in clinical settingscan have a profound impact on our ability to eliminate HAIs. Further, all members of the healthcare team must feel secure in their ability to contribute to the recognition of the risks and correction of sub-optimal practices without fear of adverse consequences.
Government, Advocates, Clinical Leaders, and Administrators
- Enhancing Financial Incentives and Regulatory Oversight: The growth of the patient safety and HAI prevention and elimination effort has both prompted, and been advanced by, an increasing alignment of financial incentives by public and third party payers. These incentives provide a greater margin of reimbursement for care that does not incur adverse healthcare events such as HAIs. Similarly, accreditation, certification, and other regulatory oversight increasingly incorporate adherence to proven HAI prevention practices in the inspection process. This has promoted adherence to best practices and facilitated decision-making that rewards prevention.
- Implementing System-Based Approaches and Evidence-Based Guidelines: A number of authors and organizations have demonstrated the value of system-based approaches to improving healthcare and preventing medical errors and adverse healthcare events, including HAIs. These approaches, based on human factors research in the social sciences as much as on the traditional medical sciences, have led to significant improvements in patient outcomes in many different types of facilities in a variety of settings. Introducing checklists and standardizing care or protocols for procedures associated with HAI incidence (i.e., catheter insertion) have been helpful in reducing infections and promoting stronger healthcare teams.
- Achieving Better Use of Technology: Technological advances are very powerful tools in the effort to eliminate HAIs. Improvements in medical devices, supplies, equipment, and antimicrobial compounds can impede colonization of indwelling catheters, improve the effectiveness of barrier precautions, enhance compliance with and the effectiveness of hand hygiene, and decrease the risk of cross-infection due to contamination of the environment.
The advance of information technology and the rapidly increasingly application of digital technologies to medical records, healthcare management, and healthcare administration are of particular importance now. Thoughtful applications of computer-based records and systems (e.g., computerized physician order entry) have shown their value in improving patient care and patient safety, including HAI prevention and elimination.
In addition, information technology tools need to be appropriate for smaller, rural, or under-resourced hospitals and the timeliness of data feedback must be improved for real-time improvements.
- Improving Public Reporting of Credible Data: Elimination of HAIs will require “a clear national will to succeed in this area.” Public reporting of HAI data has been a vital factor in focusing the attention of both the general public and healthcare professionals and administrators on the scope and magnitude of the problem. Assuring the validity of reported and published data is a responsibility of all parties in the data collection and reporting process. The continued dissemination of trusted, reliable, and credible data can provide an ongoing stimulus for the HAI prevention effort. The goal is to report actionable, timely data that multi-sector stakeholders can readily use for multiple purposes.
- Enhancing Traditional and Non-Traditional Partnerships: The modern patient safety movement has succeeded in engaging the attention of everyone who works in or seeks care from the health system. Continuing awareness of this problem is prompting an ever-growing network of committed individuals and organizations. Some of these partners have been traditional advocates for infection control for many decades; others, including consumers, are newly empowered and exercising an increasingly important role. The network and partnerships involving care providers, health professionals, public health officials, academia, industry, payers, employers, and patients and their families have provided both the capacity and commitment that has led to the call for the elimination of HAIs. Meaningful partnerships across sectors could uncover innovative ways to improve patient safety across the continuum of care.
Within the healthcare and public health arenas, the emphasis on healthcare quality, patient safety, and particularly on the prevention and elimination of HAIs continues to grow in prominence. The past two years (2008-2010) have seen dramatic growth in the health system’s capacity to measure and improve the health and safety of patients and healthcare personnel alike with significant improvements in care, reductions in morbidity and mortality, and substantial cost savings from infections prevented.
Continuing this progress and achieving the goal of HAI prevention and progressing towards elimination will require on-going commitments of action, energy, and resources on the part of all members of the broad-based HAI prevention network that has grown and been strengthened through the national coalition since 2008. | <urn:uuid:aa13005c-4b5c-4ccc-a7eb-0419f883a542> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hhs.gov/ash/initiatives/hai/framework.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934771 | 10,726 | 3.15625 | 3 |
From the Archives and Research column of the May 2005 Perspectives
Some Sources for African American Historical Research
at the National Archives
For scholars exploring African American history, a number of archival sources automatically spring to mind. The famous Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York City, the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University, and the Amistad Research Center at Tulane University are well recognized for research in black life and culture. These are the repositories that most scholars of African American history will think of first. However, the National Archives is also a rich depository of documents relating to African American history.
In fact, as a repository of federal records, it is an unparalleledif not often tappedresource for such historians. As an evolving government's bureaucracy expanded to deal with a growing, multifaceted nation, it recordedextensively, and in great detailits activities. This fact did not go unnoticed by the American Historical Association while pleading its case to the U.S. Congress for an archives. The Association in 1910 adopted the following resolution:
The American Historical Association, concerned for the preservation of the records of the National Government as muniments of our national advancement and as material which historians must use in order to ascertain the truth, and aware that the records are in many cases now stored where they are in danger of destruction from fire and in places which are not adapted to their preservation, and where they are inaccessible for the administrative and historical purposes, and knowing that many of the records of the Government have in the past been lost or destroyed because suitable provision for their care and preservation was not made, do respectfully petition the Congress of the United States to take such steps as may be necessary to erect in the city of Washington a national archive depository, where the records of the of the Government may be concentrated, properly cared for, and preserved.
These federal records, which cover all the different periods of American history, are useful for research, investigation, and writing about American history in general and about African American life and culture in particular. From the early days of the republic, the U.S. government regularly dealt with issues concerning African Americans (especially because of the constitutional protections given to the institution of slavery) and left a paper trail that clearly marked and recorded the significant issues of race and class in American life and societyslavery, the international slave trade, the Civil War, white supremacy, segregation, and discrimination within the government and in mass society, as well as the modern struggles for civil and human rights.1
With the opening of the National Archives to the general public, November 11, 1935, this rich documentary heritage of the United Statesin the form of the federal recordsnot only became permanently preserved but also became available for scholarship and research into America's past. Soon after the opening of the archives, the archival staff recognized that the archives had an enormous amount of records that documented African American history. Indeed, by 1940 the National Archives had undertakenthrough the encouragement of Carter G. Woodson of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History and the American Council of Learned Societiesefforts to identify and describe records that pertained to African Americans.2
A few historians have made use of the extraordinarily rich documentation in remarkable ways. A most notable example is the massive documentary editing project undertaken by Ira Berlin and his colleagues, which culminated in Freedom: A Documentary History of Emancipation, 18611867, an enormous compilation with revolutionary implications for Civil War and Reconstruction history.3 But so rich are the federal records that they can be mapped and mined almost endlessly.
More than two hundred years of American governance have generated an enormous number of records, and therein lies the difficulty of research at the National Archives. Many scholars are intimidated by the very vastness of these archival holdings. And the holdings are not merely voluminous; they are also complex and often perplexing, as they echo the intricate and hierarchical structures of the bureaucratic networks that produced them in the first place. The interconnectedness of federal records often means that scholars feel lost in the maze of paper trails. Even the finding aids that the archives staff have been creating almost from the beginning seem ineffective and laborious to use. Yet, these records must be examined if scholars seek to study the complexities and politics of governing, the machinations of bureaucratic agencies, the opposition and support for government, the ambivalent stances of a nation unsure and uneasy about race, and the efforts to create a philosophy of race relations and civil rights.
Some scholars believe that research in the National Archives consumes a large quantity of time and resources while the results fail to match the research effort. There are even those who believewronglythat the archival records are not relevant to the issues and questions they are pursuing. Scholars may think of NARA when they have a specific topic that they know is federally related; however, even then some become disappointed when they discover that the records are not always complete. Some scholars think that all the "good stuff" has been removed, or that "all the best records are classified and would take years for the Freedom of Information Act to gain access to them." Misinformation and misperceptions abound. Despite all these inhibitions, research in the National Archives can be exhilarating and rewarding, even if it is tedious and frustrating at times. If, for instance, one finds only a small amount of correspondence on some occasions, there will be other instances when a full run of letters, reports, studies, and assorted data can be located.
What can scholars do to minimize the hurdles of pursuing historical topics in the National Archives? Scholars should first use NARA's web pages to identify finding aids and records that may be of use to their research. Communication with the reference staff before coming to the National Archives is important, as is frequent consultation with the staff once at the archives. This can help researchers to use the finding aids more efficiently. Providing first-rate customer service is a principal NARA goal, and researchers should benefit from this expanded service. It would be useful also to consult the many bibliographic articles and books that discuss the records at the archives.4
The rise of a new information environment and the growth of the World
Wide Web has meant that the National Archives too had to confront the major
challenge for repositories of historical records these daysthe question
of the extent to which their holdings should appear on the Internet for
scholars to access. Today's generation of students and aspiring scholars
believes that everything should be on the Web. But this ideal cannot be
realized in practice. The National Archives is placing an increasing percentage
of its holdings on its web site. But the sheer volume of federal records
precludes all of it being made available. Research in the old-fashioned
way will thus have to remain, even as historical data on the Internet and
the related searching tools grow and make it easier to discover new sources.
There is, of course, a necessary correlation between the amount and nature of available sources and research topics. Federal activity increased two-fold in the period immediately following World War II, with a proportionate increase in the number of records available for research. These records captured an amazing amount of information about postwar American society, and also about the modern civil rights movement (194565). Researchers studying U.S. historyespecially 20th-century U.S. historywill thus find many new and valuable sources at the National Archives.5 Students of African American history will, in particular, find that more sources are now available. The need to explore these sources and expand upon topics is increasingly important. The holdings of the National Archives are a resource that truly needs to be considered in any investigation of African American and American histories.
Walter Hill, who received his PhD from the University of Maryland at College Park, is senior archivist and a subject area specialist at the National Archives. He is also an adjunct professor of Afro-American studies at Howard University.
1. For a discussion of these issues as reflected in the U.S. Constitution, see Paul Finkleman, Slavery and the Founders: Race and Liberty in the Age of Jefferson (New York: M.E. Sharpe, Inc., 2001); Don E. Fehrenbacher, The Slaveholding Republic: An Account of the United States Government's Relations to Slavery (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001); For a specific focus on the Constitution, see Finkleman, "Garrison's Constitution: The Covenant with Death and How it Was Made," Prologue: Quarterly of the National Archives 32:4 (winter 2000).
2. See James R. Mock, "The National Archives with Respect to the Records of the Negro," Journal of Negro History 23 (January 1938), 4056; Roland McConnell, "Importance of Records in the National Archives on the History of the Negro," Journal of Negro History 34 (April 1949), 135152; and Paul Lewinson, A Guide to Documents in the National Archives for Negro Studies (New York: American Council of Learned Societies, 1947). Lewinson's book was the first formal guide to records pertaining to black history.
3. Ira Berlin, Leslie Rowland, and Joseph P. Reidy, eds., The Black Military Experience, Series II (Cambridge University Press, 1982), was the first volume published. Three subsequent volumes have been produced with different associate editors: Barbara Fields, Thavolia Glymph, Julie Saville, and Steven Miller.
4. For African American history in particular, see for example, the special summer 1997 issue of Prologue, which was devoted to African American historical research in NARA. The entire issue is on NARA's web site at http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/summer_1997_table_of_contents.html. I also highly recommend Debra Newman Ham, "Government Documents," in Evelyn Brooks-Higginbotham, Leon F. Litwack, Darlene Clark Hine, and Randall K. Burkett, eds., The Harvard Guide to African American History (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2001). Ham was formerly the Afro-American history specialist at the National Archives. Before she departed in 1986, she completed Black History: A Guide to Civilian Records. (National Archives Trust Fund, 1985); see also Walter B. Hill Jr., "Living With the Hydra: The Documentation of Slavery and the International Slave Trade in Federal Records," Prologue: Quarterly of the National Archives 32:4 (winter 2000). A database that identifies records that pertain to slavery and the international slave trade can be found at http://www.archives.gov/research_room/research_topics/slavery_records.html.
5. According to the National Research Council's Doctorate Recipients from United States Universities: Summary Report 2000, the field of U.S. history generated the largest number of history PhDs over the past few decades. In 19992000, for instance, more than half of the PhDs produced (505 of 942) were in U.S. history, predominantly in 20th-century U.S. history. Maryellen Trautman, Government Document Specialist, NARA, assisted me in locating the report on the Web.
Copyright © American Historical AssociationLast Updated: January 31, 2008 2:44 PM | <urn:uuid:512052b5-44ac-4748-9168-be5e4bb73e4b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.historians.org/Perspectives/Issues/2005/0505/0505arc2.cfm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929869 | 2,338 | 3.3125 | 3 |
From 1776 to World War II
On the hot and sticky morning of Monday, 20 July 1942, the green parade ground at Fort Des Moines, Iowa, was lush with grass, daisies, gnats, and members of the press. The photographers required the most supervision because of their tendencies toward photographing female underwear or latrine scenes. There were representatives of four press associations, nineteen newspapers, four foreign news organizations, six motion picture companies, and two photographic services, plus many well-known writers. The occasion was the opening of the United States Army's first training center for women.
Centuries of evolution in warfare and in society had been required to make possible this unprecedented event. From the days of the American Revolution to the early twentieth century, there could be found little serious consideration of a women's corps in the United States Army. For the pioneer woman, home defense was a readily acceptable activity, but it had no connection in the public mind with an organized military corps of women.
However, from the earliest days there were innumerable popular stories of females who had disguised themselves well enough to enlist in the Army as individuals. None of these stories could be verified from Army files, and they apparently occurred more often in legend than in fact, but there was evidence that not all were fictional. The American Congress went so far as to recognize the claims of one Revolutionary soldier, Deborah Sampson Gannett, by granting her husband a widow's pension.
Every succeeding war had its Molly Pitchers, most of whom made good copy for the young American press. Nineteenth century newspapers reveled in such headlines as SERVED BY HER LOVER'S SIDE, or THE DEAD SOLDIER WAS A WOMAN. According to these accounts, the Union Army inadvertently awarded some women the Kearny Cross and the Confederacy placed others on a Roll of Honor. One Confederate wife, declaring that she was "perfectly wild about war," was said to have donned a false mustache and successfully raised and commanded a regiment of recruits. Such stories were legion, but scarcely of help to later Army planners.1
Of more significance for the future were scattered cases in which, because of an actual need for women's skills, the Army employed groups of civilian women as nurses, laundresses, clerks, and emergency aides of many types, sometimes in uniforms of their own devising. It was not unusual, for example, that each regiment of the Braddock expedition was allowed some forty women employees, one ration
per woman. In 1775 General Washington sponsored a bill that created a hospital department for the Army and allowed it to pay civilian nurses approximately twenty-five cents a day. In time of emergency, civilian women of prominence and reputation continued to nurse the sick, sew, operate canteens, and lend what assistance their skills permitted. However, for a reputable woman to accept such employment was often considered daring in view of the danger of confusion with the more numerous women camp followers, whose ill repute was apt to attach itself to any female employee. In later wars, the employment of women became more common; drill, mascot, and social groups were also organized, complete with uniforms and sometimes rifles.2
There was a very clear distinction in the Army's and the public's minds between such groups and a corps of women with soldiers' legal status, rights, and discipline. Just before the nation's entry into the first World War, the Army stated positively:
No official record has been found in the War Department showing specifically that any woman was ever enlisted in the military service of the United States as a member of any organization of the Regular or Volunteer Army. It is possible, however, that there may have been a few instances of women having served as soldiers for a short time without their sex having been detected, but no record of such cases is known to exist in the official files. Women were often employed as laundresses and as nurses, but they were merely civilians while so engaged and were in no sense in the military service of the United States.3
Total War and the Industrial Resolution
Serious consideration of an official women's corps was scarcely possible before the twentieth century. Until then, war was not organized and mechanized to an extent that required more manpower than a nation could provide from among its men; the great supply systems and fixed headquarters of total war were yet to come. Also, women were skilled in few duties that would have been useful to an army even had it needed manpower, and few women felt it proper to practice even their traditional tasks of cooking and nursing outside the home.
Both reasons were swept away in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when the industrial revolution that mechanized men's wars also taught women to work outside the home. Long before the Army began to consider the admittance of women, businesses and factories had employed them and had trained them as clerks, typists, telephone operators, and technicians. Some such fields were in fact taken over by women so completely that by the time of the first World War it was already difficult for the Army to find any number of competent male typists and telephone operators.
Nevertheless, there remained considerable room for doubt as to the value of woman as a military employee. Industry's experience had produced the general impression that women were suited only for work of limited responsibility: that "women won't work for women" and certainly that men would not; that a woman employee was handicapped by a weaker constitution and more frequent ailments. Business surveys as late as 1942 confirmed the fact that women supervisors were unpopular with employees because of alleged
deficiencies in leadership. Army planners also noted delicately that a woman had a "physiological handicap which renders her abnormal, unstable, etc., at certain times." 4 Medical statistics indicated that women were in general smaller than men in stature, lighter in weight, less in average weight of skeletal muscles and heart, lower in basal metabolism, and with only about 60 percent the strength to lift, grip, or pull loads.5
It therefore was a matter for grave consideration whether an Army would be justified in accepting women into military positions where unreliability would be not merely uneconomical but disastrous, even though farm and factory were thereby stripped of their last man. In the relatively flexible civilian economy, a woman might soften in many ways her adjustment to difficult work, but in the rigid military framework, adaptation would be an all-or-nothing affair. There would be no easy absenteeism, home privacy and comforts, or choice of working conditions, nor yet the privilege of quitting a demanding job.
Even if these handicaps proved exaggerated, there was one obstacle that was not-the opposition of the American public. The Army did not operate in the vacuum of a dictatorship, but in a nation, society, and culture whose traditions must be considered. The course of public opinion regarding woman's place had by no means kept pace with her economic progress. The saying was still frequently heard that "woman's place is in the home," and it appeared certain that there would be great public opposition to placing women in soldier's jobs and in positions of rank and command. Army psychiatrists later noted that "in order for women to gain an active participation in military activities it was necessary for man to change his basic concept of the feminine role, to overcome his fear of ' women generals.' " 6 Army planners realized that such an obstacle existed, but it was not until after the establishment of a women's corps that its full extent was to be revealed.
The Army Nurse Corps
First to take the field against these obstacles was the Army Nurse Corps, whose development provided a close parallel to later WAC events. The admitted superiority of female nursing first caused acceptance of nurses as civilian employees, but in war after war it was found extremely difficult to maintain a civilian group within a military organization. Much inefficiency in Civil War medical care was believed due to "the lack of a single unified Nurse Corps with official status." In the Spanish-American War, it was noted that "unified direction and control within the Army framework itself was the only way to avoid administrative confusion and to assure maximum efficiency." 7
Such full admission was delayed chiefly by popular opposition to military status for females, which led one early organizer to remark, "The nurse question is the women question; we shall have to run the
gantlet of those historic rotten eggs." 8 In 1901 Congress established the Army Nurse Corps, with somewhat the same status as the later Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC)-a military organization, but without Army rank, officer status, equal pay, or Army benefits such as retirement and veteran's rights. After the first World War its members were given relative rank and some retirement benefits, although pay and allowances still were not those of the men. Full military rank was not to be granted to nurses until 1944, a year after the WAAC had been legally admitted to full Army status and rank as the Women's Army Corps (WAC). 9
Nevertheless, in placing nurses in a militarized and uniformed corps, the nation had taken one long step toward admission of women to full membership in the armed forces. Neither the public nor the Army was prepared to take further steps; the serious proposal for the establishment of the Women's Army Corps waited for the day when some great war that would almost drain the pool of American manpower should coincide with an availability of women workers trained in the modern skills an army required.
World War I
The first World War narrowly missed being that occasion. The first pinch of manpower shortage was felt chiefly by American industry and business, but by the end of 1918 the military services were also seriously concerned. The British, whose war effort was more nearly total, had already established women's auxiliaries in several of their services, and there was considerable evidence that had the war lasted a few months longer the United
States might have done likewise. At the moment of the Armistice, the War Department General Staff was beset by serious proposals to this effect from both within and without the Army. 10
One of the first of these proposals was initiated by the American Expeditionary Force in France. On 8 October 1917, General Pershing cabled a request for one hundred women telephone operators who could speak French and recommended that they be uniformed. This request was approved and the women were sent as civilian contract employees with privileges very similar to those of the Army Nurse Corps. Subsequently other groups were sent overseas, under varying contracts, by The Quartermaster General, the Ordnance Department, and the Medical Corps, but none had military status. In spite of extensive use of these groups, and of French women for unskilled work, the labor shortage of the AEF continued. 11
At the same time, numerous civilian volunteer welfare groups, using over 5,000 American women, thrived and multiplied overseas in an un-co-ordinated manner, and appeared to the Army to be striving through competitive publicity to show what they had done for "the boys." While Army reports recorded almost no criticism of the conduct of these women, they did
criticize the lack of orderly administration, the overlapping of duties, and the absence of any Army control. The confusion in the welfare groups was in striking contrast to the organized service given by members of the British Women's Auxiliary Army Corps, the largest of the British auxiliaries, whose services were lent to the AEF when the need for women's skills grew desperate. American Army officers in later years remembered favorably the discipline, efficiency, and esprit de corps of the British women's services.12
In still further attempts to solve the AEF's labor shortages, the commanding general of the AEF's Services of Supply, Maj. Gen. James G. Harbord, cabled repeatedly to the War Department in August of 1918 for authority to send a representative to the United States to recruit and organize a group of 5,000 women clerical workers to replace enlisted men. The representative was sent, followed by a proposal from the AEF that a women's service corps be organized as a part of the Army Service Corps. After considerable War Department debate as to whether the women should be enlisted, Civil Service, or uniformed contract employees, General Harbord was informed that, because of the change in draft age, 5,000 limited service men would be sent instead of the women. Concerning a women's corps, the War Department stated that it was not yet convinced of "the desirability or feasibility of making this most radical departure in the conduct of our military affairs." 13
Meanwhile, strong supporting action for the AEF's effort came from posts and camps and from headquarters agencies in the United States. All Army and National Guard cantonments and camps had previously been forbidden to employ civilian women in any capacity except as nurses.14
In the face of pleas from station commanders, this ruling was soon modified to authorize civilian employment of women "in essential work for which men employees cannot be obtained . . . taking only those of mature age and high moral character." 15 The War Department noted, "With careful supervision, women employees may be permitted in camps without moral injury either to themselves or to the soldiers." 16 Even with this concession, enough employees could not be procured, especially in isolated and uncomfortable stations, to perform all necessary duties. The Washington headquarters offices also found it difficult to obtain and hold an adequate number of female Civil Service employees. 17
Therefore, the conclusion was reached almost simultaneously by several Army agencies, both in Washington and in the field, that a corps of women under military control would be the solution to these problems. As The Quartermaster General pointed out concerning laundresses:
Every effort in the past of this office to provide a hired force of women at camps and cantonments has been unsatisfactory . . .
only women of doubtful character show any inclination to remain as long as the voluntary system of employment is in vogue.18
The Quartermaster General thereupon recommended that legislation be secured to authorize the enlistment of women, ages 21-45, to be organized as the Women's Auxiliary Quartermaster Corps. Similar requests, giving similar reasons, were also made by the Inspector General's Department, the Chief of Engineers, the Operations Branch of the General Staff, and the Chief of Ordnance. The Chief of Ordnance estimated that the yearly turnover of civilian employees in his branch was approaching 84 percent. Ordnance and other branches went so far as to devise the uniform to be worn by enlisted women. At a meeting with representatives of The Quartermaster General, The Surgeon General, Signal Corps, Military Aeronautics, and the Corps of Engineers, it was decided that the uniform should be of "soft silver brown wool material," with a tan pongee blouse and brown Windsor tie, and that "no furs shall be worn with the uniform." 19
These pleas did not receive favorable consideration by the War Department. Legislation to enlist "effective and able-bodied women" had in fact already been introduced in Congress in December of 1917, but had been returned to the House Military Affairs Committee by the Secretary of War with an expression of his disapproval. The memorandum upon which this opinion was based stated in unmistakable terms:
The enlistment of women in the military forces of the United
States has never been seriously contemplated and such enlistment is
considered unwise and highly undesirable
. . . the action provided for in this bill is not only unwise, but exceedingly ill-advised.
War Plans Division noted in May of 1918:
Industrial conditions in the United States are not yet in such shape that it is necessary to undertake a line of action that would be fraught with so many difficulties. 20
The War Department was equally unfavorable to an attempt by The Surgeon General to commission women doctors in the Medical Corps. The Judge Advocate General was unable to discover in the terminology of the National Defense Act any legal barrier to the appointment of women under that act. Nevertheless, the War Department's opinion was upheld on the grounds that only persons "physically, mentally, and morally qualified" could be appointed and that women doctors were obviously not physically qualified.21
The dismay of certain Army agencies at the lack of Army authority to enlist women was heightened by the Navy's action in placing the opposite interpretation upon its legislative authority and enlisting all the women it needed without further ceremony. As one Army planner later complained, "By enlisting Yeomen (F) the Navy Department ignored the Civil Service Commission and satisfied its needs regardless of the needs of others. They
WOMEN DURING WORLD WAR I served in France as telephone operators in a civilian capacity, and with the Navy and Marine Corps in the same status as men.
wanted clerks and they got them." 22 Nearly 13,000 women enlisted in the Navy and Marine Corps on the same status as men and wore a uniform blouse with insignia. These women were the first in the United States to be admitted to full military rank and status. 23
In addition to the pressure on the War Department from military advocates of the enlistment of women, there was undoubtedly some activity by organized women's groups. Prominent women in various sections of the country went so far as to organize semimilitary groups. In New York the Women's League for Self-Defense, five hundred strong and dressed in bloomers and puttees, drilled with rifles in the 66th Regimental Armory, and informed reporters that they had written Secretary of War Newton D. Baker and Maj. Gen. Leonard Wood "offering our service as the only strictly military women's organization in America." 24 The YWCA proposed that any more women sent to France be placed in a women's army corps like the British WAAC, with strict discipline and no individual billeting.25 A similar proposal came from the American Council on Education, which concluded that military status would make for fewer resignations among trainees for war jobs.26
All such proposals came to an abrupt end with the cessation of hostilities on 11 November 1918. With a one-page sigh of relief the General Staff shelved the bulky documents that had set forth the arguments pro and con, and declared:
In view of the present military situation it is believed no longer desirable that arrangements be made to form military organizations composed of women . . . . A continuance of the war would have required the United States in completing its program for the year 1919 to make a much more extended use of women . . . to replace men sent overseas or men shifted to heavy work which men alone can do.27
With this, the serious consideration of the establishment of a women's military group was relinquished to another generation of planners and to another war.
Twenty-three Years of Peace
The nation had hardly settled itself into postwar routine when it became evident that considerable political power was being wielded by the newly enfranchised female sex and its many well-organized national groups. It soon began to appear to the Army, as well as to many female leaders, that the mass of American women was dangerously susceptible to the charms of pacifism and other doctrines that advocated the abolition of the military as the best means of insuring peace.28
To stem this tide of opinion the Army sought to teach women voters more about
its own nature and purpose. To this end, Secretary Baker in 1920 created a new position under the comprehensive title of Director of Women's Relations, United States Army, with an office in G-1 Division of the General Staff: The director was to maintain liaison between the War Department and the women of the country and to secure: their co-operation by explaining to them that the Army was "a progressive, socially minded human institution" and that women voters should not "fanatically demand the dissolution of a ruthless military machine." 29 There was some consideration as to whether the: director should have military status, but the Army decided to await developments.
The first incumbent of the position resigned after one year, for personal reasons and for what her successor believed to be "dissatisfaction with the lack of support given her." 30 The next appointee. Miss Anita Phipps, the daughter of an Army family, was also dissatisfied. There ensued a decade-long battle as to whether tier position should degenerate into that of a supervisor of the Army's thirty-odd hostesses, or should be expanded into that of planner-in-chief for a women's Army corps, and first director.
Miss Phipps' difficulties, as set forth in periodic lengthy memoranda to the Secretary of War, centered around War Department failure to support her commitments and to give her military status. She thus; in her opinion, lost prestige in the eyes of powerful women's groups. She was embarrassed in the presence of Army and Navy nurses by her "undignified make-shift" of a uniform. Headquarters divisions and offices often failed to consult her when corresponding with women's organizations. General officers, when asked to speak before women's groups, ignored the careful tip sheets Miss Phipps had prepared for their guidance, and often alienated those whom she had cultivated with care. Her recommendations and staff studies were frequently filed without further action. One of her chiefs in G-1 Division went so far as to state baldly that her position should be abolished, since the male members of the General Staff were competent to plan the future utilization of women by the: military service.31
In 1929, after almost ten years of work, Miss Phipps had nevertheless secured tentative approval of a plan that would unite the support of the most powerful women's groups behind the Secretary of War by means of a system of civilian aides to the Secretary-one: chief aide, one in each corps area, and one in each state. Secretary of War Dwight F. Davis on 25 February 1929 publicly announced this plan to the press after a conference with women members of the League of Women Voters, American War Mothers, Daughters of the American Revolution. National Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs, and other such groups.
There at once: arose a storm of letters from Senators and clergymen and from male civilian aides threatening to resign if women were also made civilian aides. Only fifteen days later a new Secretary of War, James W. Good, was in office and promptly sent telegrams to the women representatives, canceling the meeting of the nominating committee. This action, which in Miss Phipps' opinion greatly alienated the powerful women's groups,
was followed in October by a final letter from Mr. Good to the women concerned, regretting that "the present is not a propitious time for appointing women civilian aides." 32
Discouraged and in ill health, Miss Phipps in 1930 made a last appeal to the Secretary of War to define her duties and authority or to abolish her position. Nothing definite was done, and in 1931 her work was terminated by illness and by a new Chief of Staff, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, who overrode a favorable G-1 opinion and informed the Secretary of War that he considered her duties to be of no military value.33
Plans for a Women's Service Corps
The Director of Women's Relations left behind her the first complete and workable plan for a women's corps. Over a period of several years she compiled all evidence concerning the utilization of women during World War I, including the opinions of the British, the Congress, the Navy, and various Army commands. The heart of the plan was that the proposed women's service corps should be in the Army and not an auxiliary. She rejected the then-popular idea of enlisting women and giving them a uniform and a job but no military training, organization, discipline, housing, or required courtesies. This idea, she noted, had been tried and proved undesirable by both the Navy and the British. Instead, she proposed that women be fully trained and assigned only in units under the command of women officers, with not less than a squad at any station and no individual billeting allowed. All Army Regulations were to apply, plus special regulations for women as needed. 34
By sending questionnaires to eight corps areas, three territorial departments, and eighteen chiefs of branches or similar services, Miss Phipps discovered that about 170,000 women would be wanted in wartime, although only six agencies favored giving them immediate military status.
In view of later debate about the proper jobs for women in the Army, it was significant that at this time the concept of a menial type of corps of low-grade personnel still loomed large in Army thinking. Not quite half of the requests were for clerks and stenographers; a few others were for small numbers of skilled workers such as draftsmen, dietitians, and telephone operators. The rest were chiefly for large numbers for relatively unskilled work: approximately 5,800 laundry workers, 7,000 cooks, 1,300 charwomen and janitors, 5,000 chauffeurs, 2,000 messengers, 11,000 laborers, 8,000 seamstresses, and so on.
The whole idea was rejected by the General Staff in August of 1926, although most divisions called it a "very splendid" study. 35 G-2 Division objected to the cost of housing, G-3 to difficulties in transportation and toilet facilities, and G-4 to the personnel policy involved. War Plans
Division suggested that the study be used only as a basis for further study and planning.
Throughout the comments of the entire General Staff ran the conviction that the mobilization of the United States would be a leisurely affair. G-4 Division noted: "To consider the development of a training organization for women workers in the beginning of a major emergency appears unthinkable." 36
A more powerful reason for private opposition among officers of the General Staff was noted by the Assistant Chief of Staff, G-1, Brig. Gen. Campbell King. General King wrote personally to the Chief of Staff that Miss Phipps seemed to wish to perfect within the Army an organization of women, headed by a woman; with a hierarchy of subheads plus influential civilian advisers, which would constitute "a powerful machine difficult to control and endowed with possibilities of hampering and embarrassing the War Department." 37
Oddly enough, during a decade when neither a military corps nor a civilian advisory group could receive approval, a few women somewhat accidentally fell heir to the full blessings of Army status. When, in a more or less routine order, the supposedly all-male category of Army field clerks was blanketed into military service, it was found to include a handful of women employees. While this occurrence was scarcely noted on the planning level and was never considered a precedent for an organized women's corps, the few individuals concerned were later held by the Comptroller General to have been full-fledged members of the military service, with the same status as the Navy yeomanettes. Later, Congress amended the armed forces' legislation to place the word male before persons, thus effectually guaranteeing that neither the yeomanette nor the field clerk episode would be repeated without its sanction.38
The Hughes Plan
Male planners up to this time had not come to very close grips with the problem of planning for a women's corps. While students at the Army War College had studied a course entitled "Conservation by Utilization of Women in Industry, in Military Service, and in Welfare Work," it was ordinarily assumed that such "Conservation" would be most appropriately left to industry. The chief Army planner for a women's corps was appointed in 1928; he was Maj. Everett S. Hughes of G-1 Division. General Staff. 39
Pointing out that nothing but fruitless conflict had resulted from previous arguments between extreme feminists on the one side and male die-hards on the other, all disagreeing endlessly over minor details, Major Hughes proposed acceptance of the fact that women would inevitably play a part in the next war-the more nearly total the war, the greater the part. No amount of wishful thinking could avert that necessity, powered as it was by social and economic trends beyond the nation's powers to reverse.
On the other hand, he stated, the Army should not attempt a detailed solution until the situation was known; it would be futile to waste time debating minor points,
such as whether women should enter the combat zone, until it was known what the combat zone of the next war might include. Before the time arrived to make these specific decisions, the women who were to help make them must be trained not merely in drill but in an understanding of Army thinking, a process that could not be achieved overnight. And the men who were to make the decisions must also be trained in understanding the problems of militarization of women. If the women who were to lead the new corps were ignorant, said Hughes. "this ignorance, coupled with man's intolerance, may be, fatal." 40
The Hughes plan contemplated that only women overseas or in danger zones would be militarized. The only advantage to the Army in militarizing other women would be that of being able to order them to perform certain unpopular duties such as laundry work, and the plan noted the fallacy of supposing that women of a higher type would enlist after they knew that only menial work was in store for them.
The need for military status in danger zones was strongly indicated by current arguments then before Congress concerning women who had worked in France and who were seeking compensation for the loss of their health. The War Department had already decided that such women were not entitled to veterans' gratuities, ruling in one case:
Female telephone operators have no military status whatever . . . those serving with the American Expeditionary Forces [were] not even under civil service regulations . . . . It is not believed that Congress intended that a gratuity should be paid to any person not actually a member of the military establishment. 41
Nevertheless, the sentiment in Congress favored those women whose disabilities were directly due to war service, and financial relief to prevent their destitution was voted in certain cases. At this time Congresswoman Edith Nourse Rogers of Massachusetts developed an interest in the problem which was to lead ultimately to her sponsorship, fifteen years later, of the WAAC bill. 42
Major Hughes also stated that it was uneconomical and confusing to have separate organizations of men and women, and that qualified women could be integrated into the men's army, with a similar uniform and privileges. He argued against camouflaging rank by odd titles such as Deputy Controller, which spared the male ego but confused the employing agencies. "Why not take the whole step and do the thing right?" he wrote.
Major Hughes' prophetic efforts were embalmed with indorsement, laid out for observation for a period, and then buried so deep in the files that they were recovered only after the WAAC was six months old and War Department planners had already made most of the mistakes he predicted.43 His study was sent to the Chief of
Staff in 1928 and again, refurbished, in 1930. 44 At this time the new G-1, Brig. Gen. Albert J. Bowley, also distinguished himself in the field of prophecy by proposing an immediate campaign of education for Regular Army officers, since
Successful co-operation between men and women during the next war will depend to a great extent on the attitude of the officers of the Regular Army toward the women of the country. To influence this attitude will require much time and discussion.45
A dejected-looking sheaf of handwritten scraps of paper indicated that the studies were carried back and forth from G-1 to the Chief of Staff to the Secretary of Near to G-1, bearing notations of diminishing intensity, such as "Hold until Secretary of War decides "; "Hold until fall when women return to their homes after summer activities"; and, finally, merely "Hold." The last one in the series, dated 5 January 1931, stated: "General B. says may as well suspend; no one seems willing to do anything about it."
So ended the peacetime planning for a women's corps.
The Approach of World War II
On 1 September 1939, under the shadow of imminent hostilities, Gen. George C. Marshall was appointed Chief of Staff, and a month later planning for a women's corps was resumed. A staff study of the problem was shortly prepared by G-1 Division. The study did not reflect its predecessors in any way; planners were evidently not aware of the Phipps and Hughes studies. 46
The most important idea in the new plan was that women must under no circumstances be given full military status. The Civilian Conservation Corps was hit upon as the model. The plan stated:
The CCC has shown how persons may be grouped in units with a military form of organization, uniformed, given grades of rank, paid and cared for, employed under orders of Army Officers, administered by the Army's chain of command, and governed by War Department Regulations, without being members of the Army.
WAAC leaders were later to consider this analogy extremely unfortunate, since the CCC had been a peacetime organization employed in separate camps, whereas the WAAC was to be used in Army camps and overseas where a legal distinction in status would be far more difficult. The plan likewise proposed that some women would be set up in "quasi-military female organizations" similar to companies, while others would move about individually or in small groups. It was stated that women's probable jobs would include those of "hostesses, librarians, canteen clerks, cooks and waitresses, chauffeurs, messengers, and strolling minstrels." The plan was held in abeyance, and for another eighteen months the War Department did not commit itself. 47
Meanwhile, numerous letters and telegrams began to be received from women's organizations and from individuals offering their services. G-1 Division now expressed mild anxiety lest any of these women arrive in a theater of operations before they could be organized in some civilian corps under military control. With the collapse of France in May and June of 1940 and the subsequent Battle of Britain, the offers of help redoubled. When in September of 1940 the first peacetime Selective Service Act became law, women's groups increased their demands that they be allowed to contribute to the nation's defense. By March of 1941 a change in tone could be noted in official statements. In a letter to an inquirer General Marshall stated:
While the United States is not faced with an acute shortage of manpower such as has forced England to make such an extensive use of its women, it is realized that we must plan for every possible contingency, and certainly must provide some outlet for the patriotic desires of our women.48
The pressure of these patriotic desires was soon considerable. In Chicago, the Women's League of Defense, 17,000 strong, set itself up as an agency for the enrollment and classification of "women who can do anything helpful to replace a man in the event of war." In Los Angeles, the Women's Ambulance and Defense Corps trained women in military skills and persistently sought recognition as an Army sponsored agency for training women officers. In Pittsburgh, the Memorial Gold Cross First Aid and Ambulance Corps enrolled 2,000 members. In Washington, D. C., the Green Guards stated that they had "contended, urged, and pleaded with the powers that be to include women in the national defense plan in some capacity." In Ohio, the Toledo Unit of the Willys-Overland Women's Motor Defense Corps proposed to train women for duties with the Army.
Many other such private organizations arose, most of them genuine, but a few spurious. G-2 Division was obliged to discontinue replies from the Chief of Staff to organizations that had previously tried to convince the public that they had Army sponsorship. During these months, private citizens without number also wrote to the Army and to Congress offering their services.49
More significant than this sporadic activity was evidence that Congress or national groups might act to set up women's units outside Army control, or with full military status. Congresswoman Edith Nourse Rogers reported herself ready to introduce a bill for full military status. The Air Corps requested a woman's volunteer defense corps for duty with its Aircraft Warning Service; as the War Department delayed, the Air Corps decided that a separate women's corps under its own control might be preferable. U.S. Army representatives in England also advised that a women's auxiliary would be necessary in the event that larger forces were sent overseas, since members of the British Women's Auxiliary Air Force and Auxiliary Territorial Services could not be borrowed by the U.S. forces in sufficient numbers because of the British manpower shortage.
From the White House came two infor-
mal proposals. Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt suggested that American women, like the British, be used in antiaircraft barrage work, a duty that was considered by some military planners as dangerously close to combat work. In a separate proposal she suggested a pool of women for service with the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps, as needed, but under the command of none of them; instead, it would possibly be under the Office of Civilian Defense, although members of Congress protested such action from the House floor because of the "miserable record of mismanagement" of that organization. 50
Immediate impetus was supplied by Congresswoman Rogers, for many years an authority on legislation concerning women. Mrs. Rogers stated later, when asked her motives:
My motives? In the first World 'War, I was there and saw. I saw the women in France, and how they had no suitable quarters and no Army discipline. Many dietitians and physiotherapists who served then are still sick in the hospital, and I was never able to get any veterans' compensation for them, although I secured passage of one bill aiding telephone operators. I was resolved that our women would not again serve with the Army without the protection men got. 51
Mrs. Rogers later informed the House: "I have been nursing this measure along through the years." 52
In the spring of 1941 Mrs. Rogers called upon the Chief of Staff and informed him that she intended to introduce a bill to establish a women's corps. General Marshall replied. "Give me a week to consider it," and afterwards asked that the week be extended to a month.53
During this month the War Department plunged into furious planning for a bill that the Army could safely sponsor.
The planners' motives were made clear in a staff memorandum from the Assistant Chief of Staff, G-1, who wrote:
Congresswoman Edith Nourse Rogers has been determined for some time to introduce a bill to provide a women's organization in the Army. We have succeeded in stopping her on the promise that we are studying the same thing, and will permit her to introduce a bill which will meet with War Department approval.
Mrs. Roosevelt also seems to have a plan.
The sole purpose of this study is to permit the organization of a women's force along lines which meet with War Department approval, so that when it is forced upon us, as it undoubtedly will be, we shall be able to run it our way. 54
The resulting plan was the work of Col. James Taylor of G-1 Division and, later, of Maj. Robert W. Berry. It provided for a Women's Army Auxiliary Force (WAAF), definitely a civilian auxiliary and not part of the Army. The plan's authors believed that it would avoid the errors made during World War I. They stated:
The War Department initially made no provision for the use of women in the last war with the exception of the Army Nurse Corps.
. . . However, the services of women were found to be so necessary overseas and in posts, camps, and bureaus in the United States that before the World War was over, a large group of women were serving with the Army in unorganized and uncoordinated groups, hastily and inefficiently recruited, under little if any discipline, and with no military status or recognition.55
Cited advantages of the plan included not only its greater controls but the fact that "it will tend to avert the pressure to admit women to actual membership in the Army." Cited disadvantages included not only the many special arrangements necessary for women's care but the fact that the corps would "inject many other unpredictable problems into military administration."
Most of the General and Special Staff Divisions, when the plan was submitted to them for comment, agreed with G-1's reasoning. The name was changed from WAAF to WAAC, at the suggestion of The Adjutant General, because a parallel with the earlier British name was believed desirable, although Mrs. Rogers and other women advisers objected because of the sound and the similarity to the word wacky. G-4 Division concurred "in time of war only." 56
Although The Surgeon General concurred, the Director of the Army Nurse Corps. Maj. Julia Flikke, did not favor the bill, saying, "It is my opinion that the disadvantages outweigh the advantages . . . complications would arise between that organization and other existing organizations." She feared that it would inconvenience citizens by causing "a dearth of domestic help" during the war and that "this organization necessarily would be composed largely of married women who would find it difficult to comply with regulations because of home ties, and would always need special consideration and no doubt there would be many who would object to regimentation." 57 Only the Judge Advocate General proposed full military status, fearing-all too accurately, as it later proved-legal complications in an auxiliary.58
The Secretary of War rejected the plan at first sight, declaring it "premature," but upon learning the alternatives he acceded, being reassured by G-1 Division that "if the organization of this force is authorized by law, it is the intention of the War Department to develop it slowly and by trial and error. It is not the purpose of the War Department to rush into this matter on a large scale." 59
H. R. 4906
On 28 May 1941 Mrs. Rogers introduced in the House of
Representatives "A Bill to establish a Women's Army Auxiliary
Corps for Service with the Army of the United States."
accepted auxiliary status for the corps, saying:
In the beginning, I wanted very much to have these women taken in as a part of the Army . . . . I wanted them to have the same rate of pension and disability allowance. I . . . realized that I could not secure that. The War Department was very unwilling to have these women as a part of the Army. 61
She also correctly estimated Congressional temper as being at this time much opposed to any idea of full military status for women.
H.R. 4906, as prepared by Major Berry and other officers of G-1 Division, took fourteen printed pages to outline the ways in which the Corps did and did not differ from the Army. The WAAC was to be a corps of 25,000 women for noncombatant service; it was "not a part of the Army but it shall be the only women's organization authorized to serve with the Army, exclusive of the Army Nurse Corps." There followed a statement of its mission that was extremely significant, for it indicated a decision which was perhaps the most basic and vital of the Corps' history: the WAAC was established "for the purpose of making available to the national defense the knowledge, skill, and special training of the women of the nation." Deliberate emphasis was placed on the utilization of a small number of skilled high-grade workers, instead of large numbers of unskilled low-grade personnel, as contemplated in earlier plans. Planners noted:
The problem in the United States is not primarily one of
utilizing women in the military service for the purpose of
releasing manpower, but is one of utilizing women to increase the
efficiency of the Army.
Both educational and technical qualifications should be set exceptionally high to make of the projected organization an elite corps; in order that it may quickly attain the highest reputation for both character and professional excellence.63
Later developments were to make it appear that no one yet fully understood the tremendous implications which this decision would have in necessitating procedures different from those for men, who were of course enlisted without any such selectivity as to skills and character. In fact, the same planners in a list of possible duties included jobs manifestly unfit for recruits of skill and education, such as charwoman and laundry worker.
The bill neglected to spell out a point that had been clearly stated in earlier plans: the WAAC was to operate under Army command channels above the company level. Instead, command responsibility was publicly placed on a woman entitled Director, who was to "operate and administer the Corps in accordance with the normal military procedure of command." The Director was also to "advise the War Department" and "make recommendations as to plans and policies."
Endless legal distinctions were also attempted. Waacs were to receive medical service from the Army, but no medical or other benefits after discharge except those provided by the Employees Compensation Commission. They were considered military personnel for benefits of the Soldiers and Sailors Relief Act but not for benefits of the act granting re-employment rights, except for those who left Civil Service jobs. Most important, the extent to which Waacs could be disciplined was not clear. It was stated that Waacs were to be subject to the Articles of War "when applicable," but it was to develop that no one then or later ever knew when they were applicable except in overseas areas.
The bill was obliged to be specific on matters such as pay, allowances, grades and the numbers in each grade, travel pay, leave, and other points that were to be quickly outmoded by subsequent Army
legislation, thereupon requiring additional WAAC legislation.
Still worse, the camouflaged grades were not strictly comparable to Army grades in either rank or pay and were to cause great confusion in finance and personnel offices when the attempt was made to replace men on Army Tables of Organization. Instead of lieutenants and captains, the WAAC had third, second, and first officers. A first officer was comparable to a captain in duties and insignia but drew the pay of a first lieutenant; a second officer drew pay somewhere between a first and second lieutenant's; and a third officer was comparable to a second lieutenant, with pay of $1,500.
Enlisted grades were still more confusing, with three grades of auxiliaries comparable to the Army's two grades of privates and three grades of leaders in place of the Army's five grades of noncommissioned officers. In addition there was to be a director, who was authorized the salary of $3,000, comparable to a major's, and a few assistant directors, who were to receive a captain's pay of $2,400.
This bill after its introduction immediately sank from sight; it was not to become law for a full year. It was referred routinely to the Bureau of the Budget, which did not reply for four months. Meanwhile, G-1 Division had reversed its previous stand and ventured the hope that the Chief of Staff would withdraw his support or at least not commit himself until the Bureau of the Budget was heard from.64
Nevertheless, the Chief of Staff, almost alone in the War Department, made it clear in the fall of 1941 that he had come to look on the bill with more than official approval. Mrs. Rogers noted that "General Marshall now became very enthusiastic about the bill." 65 Col. John H. Hilldring, soon to assume office as G-1, stated later:
By the summer of 1941, General Marshall was intensely interested in the WAAC business. He foresaw a cycle of shortages; that of the moment was the supply shortage, in which the scarcity of supplies hindered mobilization, but he now became convinced that the bottleneck of the future would be that of manpower. He also considered the fact that war had become a complicated business which needed many civilian techniques, and that many of these were almost completely in the control of women. General Marshall asked me why we should try to train men in a specialty such as typing or telephone work which in civilian life has been taken over completely by women; this, he felt, was uneconomical and a waste of time which we didn't have. For example, the Army's telephone service had always had a reputation for being bad in spite of our superior equipment, and women operators could and did end all that.
The Chief of Staff was also influenced by the fact that the ladies wanted in; he literally has a passionate regard for democratic ideals.66
General Marshall at this time told several of his staff members that, while he did not see any immediate need for large numbers of women in the Army, he would like to have authorization for a women's corps on his books so that, if the need for quick action should arise, the point of debate would be past.67 This agreed with what he later wrote to Congress:
I regard the passage of this bill at an early date as of considerable importance. In general, we have secured most of the legislation required for the complete mobilization of the Army so that we can go ahead with its development and definitely plan for the future. However, we lack Congressional authority for the establishment of a Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, and as a result can make no definite plans. Also, I am under continued pressure from many directions regarding this phase of our preparations.
It is important that as quickly as possible we have a declared national policy in this matter. Women certainly must be employed in the overall effort of this nation . . . . We consider it essential that their status, their relationship to the military authority, should be clearly established.68
The Chief of Staff therefore took personal action to needle the agencies still brooding on the WAAC bill. Although the U.S. Civil Service Commission and the Employees Compensation Commission both had been persuaded by Mrs. Rogers to render favorable reports, the Bureau of the-Budget informed the War Department on 7 October: "It is not believed that the enactment of the proposed legislation, at least at the present time, should be considered as being in accord with the program of the President." 69 The Bureau of the Budget stated, "There appears to be no need for a WAAC inasmuch as there will never be a shortage of manpower in the limited service field." 70
In his attempts to get the measure past the Bureau of the Budget, the Chief of Staff employed a newcomer to the War Department, one of its civilian consultants, Mrs. Oveta Culp Hobby. Mrs. Hobby had, in the summer of 1941, been "virtually drafted" to come to Washington to set up the new Women's Interests Section of the War Department Bureau of Public Relations, a section designed to furnish soldiers' wives and mothers with information that would reassure them about the living conditions of their drafted relatives. She had agreed to stay for not more than four months, or until the agency was functioning properly; any longer absence from home she considered undesirable in view of the fact that she had a husband and two children and was coeditor and publisher of a newspaper.71
General Marshall reported himself impressed with Mrs. Hobby's work in organizing a meeting, at which he spoke, of the national presidents of the twenty-one largest women's organizations, designed to secure their good will and assistance to the Army. 72 He therefore asked her to give the G-1 planners any assistance on the public relations aspect of the WAAC bill that they might need. At the time of certain discussions with the President's wife, General Marshall himself sent a handwritten note to G-1: "Please utilize Mrs. Hobby as your agent to smooth the way in this matter through Mrs. Roosevelt.'' 73 As a result, Mrs. Hobby was thoroughly familiar with the legislation and was appointed
GEN. GEORGE C. MARSHALL speaking to a meeting of the national presidents of the twenty-one largest women's organizations, 13 October 1941.
the only female representative of the War Department in negotiations with the Bureau of the Budget and in later Congressional hearings.
In further efforts to get the WAAC bill past the Bureau of the Budget, General Marshall made a personal call and sent a highly favorable written report to the effect that "this legislation has great merit." Already overshadowed by the coming events at Pearl Harbor, the report on 25 November 1941 spoke of gaining "valuable time while time is available" in order to develop a small corps in an orderly and efficient fashion.74
On Thanksgiving eve General Marshall checked over with Colonel Hilldring the measures now completed to make the War Department ready for the gathering storm and, noting that WAAC legislation was still among the missing, directed him to omit no step to ensure its immediate passage. Colonel Hilldring recounted later: "General Marshall shook his finger at me and said, 'I want a women's corps right away and I don't want any excuses!' At that, I displayed considerable energy." 75
Colonel Hilldring's energy was shortly reinforced by that of the Japanese at Pearl Harbor. On 11 December, four days after Pearl Harbor, the Bureau of the Budget withdrew its objections.76 The way was now clear to ask Congress for the orderly
and efficient development of a small women's corps capable of expansion in wartime.
When later criticism came to be leveled against the agencies and individuals who failed, in the five months now left before the passage of the bill, to anticipate and prevent every problem of the new organization's development, they were able to note in reply that they were attempting in one hundred and fifty days, and in the midst of events that dwarfed the WAAC in importance, to settle problems which twenty-three years of leisurely planning had not succeeded in solving. "Woman's ignorance" and "man's intolerance" had now come together in the fatal combination of Major Hughes' prophecy.
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Colonial Williamsburg’s Michael Monaco often portrays musician Peter Pelham.
- Born 1721
- Keeper of Public Gaol
- Organist at Bruton Church
- Died 1805
Arrived in Boston from England
Peter Pelham, the keeper of the Public Gaol from 1771 until 1779, also was a man of many talents. Born in England in 1721, Pelham came to America in 1726 with his father and spent a number of years in Boston, where he studied music and became the organist at Boston's Trinity Church.
Pelham moved to Williamsburg around 1750. He was the organist at Bruton Parish Church, taught young ladies to play the harpsichord and spinet, and served as musical director when "The Beggar's Opera" first was performed in the city.
Music career not sufficient to support family
Like many musicians then and now, Pelham's art and talent were insufficient to maintain his growing family. He and his wife, Ann, had 14 children, some of whom died in infancy. He supplemented his income by acting as a clerk to Governors Fauquier and Botetourt. Governor Dunmore, Lord Botetourt's successor, named Pelham keeper of the Public Gaol.
Ability as a gaoler questioned
After Pelham assumed his duties at the Gaol, he conveniently – and habitually – took a prisoner to the church to pump the organ while he played. It appears that Pelham was more successful as an organist than as a gaoler. He was criticized for occasionally "appearing much disguised with liquor," and some felt that his laxity led to a number of escapes. An inquiry ordered by the General Assembly cleared Pelham of all charges, however.
For further reading: | <urn:uuid:afdc76b8-fd9a-4b73-9d69-ac8567d6b5af> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.history.org/almanack/people/bios/biopet.cfm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.990434 | 370 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Mortality marked the record of Jamestown’s early years. Graves swallowed the condemned, the starved and the sick.
Allison Harcourt and Alex Clark as Jamestowners whose squabbles violated public order. Suitable punishment followed quickly.
Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation’s Mark Mazzochi as minister, Howard Sherman, Don Hulick, Brian Beckley as miscreant, and Jaie Pizzetti
Upon Paine of Death
The Lawes Divine, Morall and Martiall
by Ivor Noël Hume
In Virginia’s “new found land,” this demi-Eden, into which the seventeenth-century English landed, picking the flowers in one’s neighbor’s garden could be punished by death. That was Article 31 in the Lawes Divine, Morall and Martiall, written and established by the colony’s Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Gates in the spring of 1610. More followed when Lord Delaware arrived and became governor a few weeks later, all carefully transcribed by the colony’s secretary, William Strachey.
Much has been written about the prevalence of the death penalty as the price for relatively minor infractions in this era. In truth, its purpose was to frighten would-be transgressors into behavior unlikely to cause conflict between private individuals or government. The intent was to shape the colony into a family of docile, law-abiding citizens.
That was more easily ordered than accomplished. The first colonists were not a well-disciplined lot; indeed, they were seeking either profit or degrees of freedom denied them in their mother country. Half the first arrivals were classed as gentlemen, or “Persons of Quality,” and the rest as “the other sort.” The need for law and order applied to both, though the avoidance of it differed not one whit from common transgressions in England. Gentlemen committed crimes from behind a screen of education and superiority, while the others exercised venal instincts as old as mankind.
The first set of Virginia Company of London instructions to the leadership it sent to the colony was written in April 1606, well before the ships sailed. This, the First Charter, signed by James I, was primarily concerned with geographic locations for planting two footholds, one in Virginia to be named the Firste Colonie and the other the Seconde Colonie in New England. Specifics of the rights of the colonists were vague but reassuring. All the king’s subjects were to “enjoy all the liberties, franchises and immunities … as if they had been abiding and borne within this our realme of England.” The established common law of England would remain the yardstick employed in America.
Needless to say, the lawyers and politicians who framed the First Charter had not the slightest idea of what the settlers would find or need when they reached Virginia. They were content to export the status quo in the assumption that something more definitive could be written later. In the autumn of the year, however, the king’s lawyers got more specific. In November, again in his name, they created a set of Articles, Instructions, and Orders to help his Majesty’s “loving people” properly conduct themselves and be advised by a blue ribbon, stay-at-home council of twenty-three knights, two lawyers, and one doctor of divinity.
In the space of three years, the Virginia Company received three charters, but it was the sets of instruction given to each successive governor that addressed specific potential problems. In essence, all three charters gave the governor the authority to do as he thought best. If he said do it, you did. Arguing with him was thought nigh unto treason and placed one in “paine of death.” The use of the word “paine” suggests a possible mitigation, but in the seventeenth century it meant punishment by death with no ifs or buts. The instructions, however, did not define the method of execution. That was up to the governor. Article 16 in the instructions of 1611 made it clear that “the life of souldier, or a laborer, belongs to none to take away, but to the Lord Generall” or his deputies.
Stranded by a hurricane in Bermuda as he made his way to Virginia in 1609, Governor Sir Thomas Gates was faced with a mutiny that carried with it the pain of death. Two men were sentenced, one pleading for forgiveness and pardoned, the other condemned to be hanged. But being a gentleman, he asked to be shot. His request was granted, and he was dead before the day was done. By coincidence, his name was Henry Paine.
In Virginia, too, when sentence was passed, the penalty was swiftly paid. There were no postponements or appeals. With the criminal condemned, it was best to brook no delays that could lead to more disorder in the colony. Besides, there was no well-guarded penitentiary to house either condemned or lesser malefactors. Consequently, long-term prison sentences were not included in the governor’s instructions. The penalty for most paltry offences was public whipping that could continue for “four and twenty hours,” or be repeated across days and even weeks. The perpetrators of more serious infractions could find themselves “committed to the gallies” for six months or as much as three years. In reality, the fledgling Virginia colony had no oared galleys and so had no means of imposing that punishment.
Military punishments were more readily inflicted and commonly related to the illegal use of weapons. Thus Article 22 stated that “Hee that draweth his sword upon the Court of Guard, shall suffer death by the Armes which he weareth,” while any soldier who should draw his sword in a town or camp “shall lose his right hand,” the presumption being that men with swords were right-handed. That punishment was somewhat self-defeating, however, for a one-handed soldier was not worth his bread.
Openly cursing an officer called for a punishment known as “passing the pikes,” whereby the intemperate soldier was forced to run between ranks of his fellows, who whipped him and slashed at him as he passed. We may assume that the severity of both depended upon whether the man was liked by his comrades.
At all times a colonist had to be careful of what he said to whom. Any use of “disgraceful words” risked the punishment of being tied head and feet together in the guardhouse for the space of a month. Saying something uncomplimentary about God—taking His name in vain—would earn an unspecified “severe punishment” the first time, a bodkin through one’s tongue for the second, and a third would be one’s last.
God played a much greater role when everyone was required to be a believer, and those who failed to loudly and clearly say so could have one leg in the grave. It fell to the preacher, therefore, to be God’s messenger. Article 6 called on everyone from governor to goat herder to repair to the church to hear divine service and listen to the preacher read the entire document of Lawes Divine, Morall and Martiall just to be sure that no one could claim to be unfamiliar with the articles—all fifty-one of them. Anyone who failed to hold the preacher in high regard could expect to be thrice whipped. These and other imposed penalties were read out in front of the congregation, and minor miscreants were required to beg forgiveness on their knees in front of all their fellows.
The notion that most punishments should be imposed in public was very much a part of the procedure and was a warning to others to resist temptation. In Virginia, where the population was very small, it probably had the desired effect, but in England, public executions had already become a spectator sport.
The standard words of condemnation uttered by the judge were so graphic that they would make a modern jury cringe. Richard Langhorn, a Catholic lawyer accused of complicity in the Popish Plot, heard them in 1678:
That you be conveyed from hence to the place from whence you came, and from thence you be drawn to the place of execution, upon a hurdle; That you there be severely hanged by the neck; that you be cut down alive; that your privy member be cut off; that your bowels be taken out and burned in your view; that your head be severed from your body; that your body be divided into four quarters, and your quarters be at the king’s dispose. And the God of infinite mercy be merciful to your soul.
And the crowd applauded, neither knowing nor caring that Langhorn was innocent. In Virginia in the previous year, participants in Bacon’s Rebellion met a comparable fate, and the probable evidence of it would be found by archaeologists in a Jamestown well.
Regardless of such penalties as were actually exacted under Governor Gates, in 1610 the newly arrived Governor for Life, Lord Delaware, found the surviving colonists in something less than parade order. As he brought with him a small army of soldiers, the new administration was equipped to wield a bigger stick and had no need for carrots. Illness, however, forced Delaware to leave, to be replaced by Sir Thomas Dale, who arrived in May 1611. What he found was not encouraging, the colonists lazy and undisciplined, and “at their usuall works bowling in the streets.”
When Dale reissued the Lawes Divine etc., some colonists deserted and went to live with the Indians, who were becoming more aggressive as the colony weakened. When some of the absentees were caught, Dale made a public example of them, and colonist George Percy allowed that they were executed in “a most severe mannor.” He described the methods:
“Some he appointed to be hanged, some burned, some broken upon wheles, others to be staked and some to be shott to death.” Hungry men who robbed the store were tied to trees and left to starve to death. All this Dale ordered “To Terrefy the reste for Attempteinge the Lyke.” Breaking on the wheel had medieval origins and involved stretching the criminal on a wheel and tying his arms and legs to the spokes. The wheel was then slowly turned while the executioner broke the victim’s bones with an iron bar.
In the reign of Catholic Queen Mary, from 1553 to 1558, clergymen whose views were considered inimical could expect to be burned at the stake, and burning was still an option in the mind of Lord Delaware, who was prepared to burn the queen of the Paspehegh Indians. It says much for the humanity of colonist Percy, who said that “to Burne her I did not howlde itt fitteinge.”
Barbarous though such forms of punishment may be to us today, in the seventeenth century they were accepted hazards of life. The colonists of seventeenth-century Virginia had a while to wait before humanity trumped the Lawes Divine, Morall and Martiall.
Even relatively minor miscreants could expect to be branded on their cheeks or have their noses slit, or their ears cut off or nailed to the pillory—a device whose use was not abandoned until 1837. In England the last to be pressed to death died in 1828, and the last women to be publicly whipped suffered its pain and humiliation in 1831.
By November 1794, however, one John Stedman could write in his journal that
Our civil laws are altered for the better of late. No malefactors to be crushed to death for want of pleading, and no more women to be burnt for coining as formerly, but to be hanged as men. This certainly is an amendment.
Williamsburg’s Ivor Noël Hume contributed to the spring 2010 journal a story about a rapid-loading Revolutionary War rifle. The University of Virginia Press last autumn published his autobiography, A Passion for the Past: The Odyssey of a Transatlantic Archaeologist. ISBN: 978-0-8139-2977-4, hardcover $29.95.
Suggestions for further reading:
- Samuel M. Bemiss, ed., The Three Charters of the Virginia Company of London (Williamsburg, VA, 1957).
- Arthur Griffiths, The Chronicles of Newgate (London, 1884).
- James Long and Ben Long, The Plot against Pepys (New York, 2007).
- Richard L. Morton, Colonial Virginia (Chapel Hill, NC, 1960).
- George Percy, "A Trewe Relacyon": Virginia from 1609 to 1612," Tyler's Quarterly Magazine, vol. 3 (1922): 359–82.
- William Strachey, Lawes Divine, Morall and Martiall (London, 1612; repr., Charlottesville, VA, 1969).
- Stanbury Thompson, ed., Journal of John Gabriel Stedman (London, 1962).
- Louis B. Wright, ed., A Voyage to Virginia in 1609 (Charlottesville, VA, 1964). | <urn:uuid:d3718cd1-5433-4141-97dc-c283db5cd34b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.history.org/foundation/journal/summer11/death.cfm?showSite=mobile | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979703 | 2,781 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Speeding "Fingertip" Discovery-Twenty Years of Protein Info in One Place
Researchers at Johns Hopkins took advantage of a new technique that reads the makeup of proteins to identify nearly all chemical changes nature makes by adding phosphate to proteins manufactured in human cells.
The Hopkins team then added its list of these so-called phosphorylation events to lists compiled by others and created a publicly available database on the Web - PhosphoMotif Finder [ http://www.hprd.org/PhosphoMotif_finder ] - to help speed the work of researchers around the world.
“Finding so many at one time is a huge advance,” says Akhilesh Pandey, M.D., Ph.D., an associate professor at the McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine at Hopkins. “Phosphorylation is essential for controlling chemical reactions in our cells’ protein factories, and phosphorylation gone awry has been implicated in several diseases. The ability to study more than one phosphorlyation at a time will help us understand some of these diseases - including cancers - sooner.
“What we have here is about 20 years’ worth of lots of work in one searchable list,” says Pandey. A report on all of the newly identified protein alterations is published in the Feb. 13 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, while a report on the database appears in the March issue of Nature Biotechnology.
Pandey’s team used electron transfer dissociation (ETD) tandem mass spectrometry, a technology that breaks apart proteins into small fragments, separates them by size and identifies the fragments based on their mass - their size and weight. The process improves on previous techniques by breaking up proteins more gently and keeping chemical modifications like phosphorylation intact. Previous spectrometry methods were “just too rough” on the delicate protein alterations and sheared them right off, he says. “We had to guess where they might be and nobody wants to chase false leads based on wrong guesses.”
Pandey says the original goal of the research was to identify accurately as many protein changes as possible using the new technology. “But to see how well we measured up, we had to compare our findings to what already was published, and there was just no clean, easy way of doing that because there were reports all over the place.
“That’s when we decided to go through and consolidate just about everything on phosphorylation that was out there.”
Working with human kidney cells, the researchers fished out the thousands of different proteins and analyzed them by ETD, resulting in a net total of 1,435 phosphorylations. Comparing these 1,435 to the 20 years’ of published data, they discovered that about 80 percent of what they found never had been reported.
The team then constructed an online search tool, PhosphoMotif Finder, which was incorporated into their previously established Human Protein Reference Database. Human Protein Reference Database now contains about 16,000 phosphorylation sites described in the literature and the PhosphoMotif Finder tool allows any researcher to find potential phosphorylation sites in any protein of interest.
“The power of this technique is not just in the numbers,” says Pandey. “Rather, we’ve found what you might call new information about old proteins, and we hope the new data will help researchers study their favorite proteins in greater depth. After all, there’s no sense in reinventing the wheel.”
Pandey and his team now are curious about other chemical modifications of proteins, which are the “business-end” products of our genes. “There is evidence of other, more fragile modifications that until now no one has been able to get a handle on because they’re way too hard to work with. Now we have the tools to probe further,” he says.
The research was funded by the U.S. Public Health Service, Canadian Institute of Health Research, National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
Authors on the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences paper are Henrik Molina and Pandey, of Hopkins; Suresh Mathivanan of the Institute of Bioinformatics in Bangalore, India; and David Horn and Ning Tang of Agilent Technologies in Santa Clara, Calif. Authors on the Nature Biotechnology paper are Ramars Amanchy, Balamurugan Periaswamy, Suresh Mathivanan, Raghunath Reddy, and Pandey, all of Hopkins; and Sudhir Gopal Tattikota of the Institute of Bioinformatics in Bangalore, India. | <urn:uuid:bcebb167-3f46-456b-b08e-4468e8d994ca> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/media/releases/speeding_fingertip_discovery_twenty_years_of_protein_info_in_one_place | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951722 | 995 | 2.890625 | 3 |
Baby Elephant Doesn't Understand Its Trunk (VIDEO)
Just when it seems like the elephant world is saturated with bad news, from allegations of abuse caught on hidden cameras, to mistreatment during movie training, gems like this video surface and the world seems a little better.
This cute little elephant at the Whipsnade Zoo in Bedfordshire, England seems to be struggling with its first-ever baby steps on Earth.
Just keep putting one foot in front of the other, little cutie! As for your trunk troubles ... we're not really sure we have a lot of advice to offer on that one.
Watch as this wobbly baby trots around near his mother, feebly trying to master his motor skills.
In other happy news, scroll through some photos of 50-year-old Motala the elephant getting a prosthetic leg in Thailand, and view an elephant painting for Elephant Appreciation Day.
Need more cute animals? Check out the orangutan slideshow below: | <urn:uuid:f4bb5ec3-446e-4e37-85fa-9c11061268fa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/17/baby-elephant-trunk-video_n_1016599.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955657 | 205 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Dinosaur Had Black Feathers, Archaeopteryx Study Shows
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By: Charles Choi, LiveScience Contributor
Published: 01/24/2012 11:07 AM EST on LiveScience
The raven-size creature long thought of as the earliest bird, Archaeopteryx, may have been adorned with black feathers, researchers have found.
The structures that held the black pigment may have strengthened wing feathers, perhaps helping Archaeopteryx fly, scientists added.
Archaeopteryxlived about 150 million years ago in what is now Bavaria in Germany. First unearthed 150 years ago, the fossil of this carnivore, with its blend of avian and reptilian features, seemed an iconic evolutionary link between dinosaurs and birds.
(Story continues below slideshow.)
One recent study has called into question whether Archaeopteryx was a true bird or just one of many birdlike dinosaurs. To learn more about whether birds and birdlike dinosaurs might have evolved flight, and if so, why, researchers often turn to the animals' feathers. Illustrations of the creature are often colorful, but such depictions of its plumage until now had little else but artistic license to draw on.
"Being able to reconstruct the colors of feathers can help us gain more knowledge about the organisms and more responsibly reconstruct what they looked like," researcher Ryan Carney, an evolutionary biologist at Brown University, told LiveScience.
An international team of scientists now finds that a well-preserved feather on Archaeopteryx's wing was black. The color-generating structures within the creature's feather, known as melanosomes, "would have given the feathers additional structural support," Carney said. "This would have been advantageous during this early evolutionary stage of dinosaur flight." [Images: Dinosaurs That Learned to Fly]
The Archaeopteryx feather was discovered in a limestone deposit in Germany in 1861. After two unsuccessful attempts to pinpoint any melanosomes within the feather, the investigators tried a more powerful type of scanning electron microscope.
"The third time was the charm, and we finally found the keys to unlocking the feather's original color, hidden in the rock for the past 150 million years," Carney said.
The group located patches of hundreds of melanosomes encased within the fossil. The sausage-shape melanosomes were about 1 millionth of a meter long and 250 billionths of a meter wide — that is, about one-hundredth the diameter of a human hair in length and less than a wavelength of visible light in width. To determine the color of these melanosomes, researchers compared the fossilized structures with those found in 87 species of living birds that represented four classes of feathers — black, gray, brown and ones found in penguins, which have unusually large melanosomes compared with other birds.
"What we found was that the feather was predicted to be black with 95 percent certainty," Carney said.
To better pin down the structure of the feather, they analyzed its barbules — tiny, riblike appendages that overlap and interlock like zippers to give a feather rigidity and strength. The barbules and the way melanosomes are lined up within them are identical to those found in modern birds, Carney said.
This analysis revealed the feather is a covert, one that covers the primary wing feathers that birds use in flight. Its feather structure is identical to that of living birds, suggesting "that completely modern bird feathers evolved as early as 150 million years ago," Carney said.
Color may serve many functions in modern birds, and it remains unclear what use or uses this pigment had in Archaeopteryx. Black feathers may have helped the creature absorb sunlight for heat, acted as camouflage, served in courtship displays or assisted with flight.
"We can't say it's proof that Archaeopteryx was a flier, but what we can say is that in modern bird feathers, these melanosomes provide additional strength and resistance to abrasion from flight, which is why wing feathers and their tips are the most likely areas to be pigmented," Carney said. "With Archaeopteryx, as with birds today, the melanosomes we found would have provided similar structural advantages, regardless of whether the pigmentation initially evolved for another purpose."
More feathers will need to be tested across Archaeopteryx to see how the animal was colored overall, researchers said. Unfortunately, this is the only Archaeopteryx feather discovered with the kind of residues one can test for color.
Still, this one feather is enough to leave an indelible mark on Carney. "I got a tattoo of the feather on the 150th anniversary that Archaeopteryx's scientific name was published," he said.
The scientists detailed their findings online today (Jan. 24) in the journal Nature Communications. Their work was funded by the National Geographic Society and the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research.
Copyright 2011 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Also on HuffPost: | <urn:uuid:7445400f-cd9a-46da-a495-55db070f1226> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/24/dinosaur-had-black-feathers_n_1228138.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956863 | 1,043 | 3.703125 | 4 |
The five-year anniversary since the attacks of September 11, 2001, is fast approaching and a number of security related initiatives have been implemented between Canada and the United States. The following is a review of some of these developments.
The Canada-US border is often touted as the “Longest Undefended Border in the World”. While this remains true, this statement has generally been based on the philosophy in the 20th century that saw the border in terms of the opportunity for trade, more than anything else. But this view has, since the attacks of September 11th, 2001, dramatically changed. Now, attitudes and policies towards the border revolve almost entirely around security concerns, and these issues are having a drastic effect on how the border is operated. While policymakers insist they are trying to impede travel as little as possible, the reality of such policies could create significant difficulties for the 300,000 Americans and Canadians that cross the border each day. While the Canadian government might have little influence as to how the US dictates its border policy, there is much that can be done in terms of easing and preparing Canadians into the new requirements, as well as suggesting and promoting creative solutions that would address the security requirements while keeping the process of crossing the border hassle-free.
The Canada-US border had never seriously been considered a security risk before 9-11. Canadians were able to enter the US with a driver’s license or a birth certificate for quite some time. Considerable steps to improve the border to promote business and facilitate access were put in place in 1989, when the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement came into being. This, along with its successor NAFTA, allowed Canadians unprecedented access privileges to the US. Canadians were afforded greater access to employment in the US, and the applications for work permits under NAFTA could be granted at the border, on site. “Smart Cards” were also introduced on both sides of the border, serving as a means for frequent travelers to enhance assured and quick access. The border at this point was quickly transforming itself to facilitate access between the two countries.
But the attacks of September 11th, 2001 changed this philosophy dramatically. US policymakers have unapologetically stated that security concerns trump business concerns at the border. A large reason for the focus on security is Canada’s reputation in the US as being lax on immigration policy. One could argue that if Canada adopted immigration policy more along the lines of the US’s, increased security requirements at the border would be unnecessary. As it stands, such change remains unlikely in the foreseeable future, and dealing with America’s security concerns will be a reality.
Smart Border Declaration
The first signs of increased protection after 9-11 came quickly, in December 2001, with the “Smart Border” Declaration. Its intention was to “enhance the security of our shared border while facilitating the legitimate flow of people and goods”, but the first aspect was clearly the priority.
A key feature of the declaration was a commitment to implement common biometric standards and technology, which would make Canadian identification easier to process at the border, due to increased confidence on the part of the US in Canadian identification methods. (Biometrics involve having an individuals physical characteristics, such as facial features and fingerprints, encoded digitally for measurement) This commitment was reinforced in December 2003, when new permanent resident cards were issued in Canada that fall much more in line American standards. The NEXUS system to ease access for pre-approved low risk travelers was also enhanced with Biometric technology, and the number of border crossings that can read such technology is expanding at a rapid pace.
Another important element of the Smart Border Declaration was the Safe Third Country agreement. This agreement effectively changes previous policy on refugee claims whereby immigrants could enter the US on a travel visa and subsequently claim refugee status at the Canadian border. The agreement changes this policy such that refugee claims can only be made in the country of initial entry. This agreement has since cut the number of refugee claims made in Canada by half.
Canada and the US have also established, as part of this declaration, the Passenger Information Sharing System. This allows the two nations to share information about airline travelers, including a calculated “risk score”. Also in development are Joint Passenger Analysis Units, which would screen passengers in advance, using a standard Canadian/American framework.
The final steps of this declaration would involve a merging, to a certain extent, of Canada and America’s border security policies. This is taking place through steps as simple as insuring compatibility of immigration databases, to extensive integration through joint immigration processing facilities, where immigration processing of both countries are undertaken by a joint US and Canadian staff. 6 of these stations currently exist in low-volume points of entry, and consideration is being given to adding more.
In terms of the declaration’s mandate to enhance trade, the two governments have established a program called Free and Secure Trade, or FAST. It is designed to harmonize commercial processing for pre approved individuals crossing the border at 19 designated locations. It works similarly to the previous “smart card” regimes, but has one notable feature: status review and pre-clearance prior to reaching the border. While this has been present in some previous programs such as NEXUS, FAST reviews specific entry issues for pre-screened groups of foreign nationals, and allows for a broader scope of “work” related to commercial trade. A pilot project is also in place to establish “full pre-clearance”. Individuals who would qualify under this program would be able to receive status and customs inspection before actually arriving at the border.
Some in the field of immigration have called such pre-clearance programs the best approach to ensuring hassle free border crossings. Since travel times to the border and wait times at the border can be long, ensuring eligibility to cross beforehand will prevent difficulties that might occur on site, saving time. Pre-clearance will also reduce the amount of time individuals will have to spend at the border, as officers will have less extensive checks to do. The pre-clearance process can still be cumbersome, however, and the electronic pre-screening that some advocate as a tool to enhance ease of entry poses security risks of its own.
The Security and Prosperty Partnership of North America
The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America is a program initiated in the spring of 2005. It is a trilateral agreement between Canada, the US, and Mexico to bolster continental security without hindering the flow of people and goods. It has been suggested that this agreement represents a first step towards a continental security perimeter. Under such a perimeter, the 3 North American Nations would have harmonized security (including immigration and refugee) policies. Every point in North America would be equally tight, and therefore less security would be necessary at the borders between the three countries. This is a main argument for proponents of such a perimeter, but there are several problems that must not be overlooked.
Firstly, there is no guarantee that the United States would ease up border security even given such a perimeter. America’s “layered” approach to security demands that strong border controls remain in place. This would mean that Canada would be losing sovereignty over its security and immigration policy with no guaranteed result. Secondly, bilateral security arrangements such as the Smart Border Accord have been successful at demonstrating Canada’s commitment to security while limiting policy concessions around specific issues at one border. The limited scope of such accords does little to infringe on
sovereignty and do much to assuage the US, and is as such preferable to policymakers and voters alike.
The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative
The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative is a recent, much publicized bill adopted by the US Congress. In its initial form, it requires all people crossing the border into the United States to show a passport or “other approved document”. This requirement would be in place by December 31st, 2006, for Sea and Air travel, and December 31st, 2007 for land entry. This would include US citizens leaving the country and then re-entering. This is a point of major concern for Canadian and American businesses that rely significantly on cross-border trade and are used to the simpler requirements of a birth certificate or drivers license.
According to Tourism Canada, only 50% of Americans surveyed who have traveled to Canada for an overnight visit have a passport. Sentiment on both sides of the border from many casual tourists is that it would not be worth the trouble of getting a passport. A study by the Conference Board of Canada estimates that the proposed law will deter some 3.5 million trips into Canada, will cost the Canadian economy around 1.6 billion dollars, and the American economy another 750 million. Already, visits are declining as many tourists are under the belief that passports are already required.
Pressure from US political leaders in the border states have led to the delay of the bill’s provisions for 17 months, to June 1st, 2009. These leaders have demanded more time to put the initiative into action and prepare travelers for the new requirements. Some critics have also expressed that the new rules would hurt commerce without actually improving security.
While Canadian pressure is likely to do little to sway sentiment behind the legislation, the Canadian government can do much to ensure that Canadians are informed about the requirements. Initiatives that could ease the burden of adjustment could be a temporary reduction of passport fees and increased personnel to process them. Also, the Canadian government should ensure that it is able to issue promptly and effectively whatever “other approved document” American authorities might deem acceptable. Currently, it seems like a biometric identification card such as a PASS card might fit this description, but some critics feel that the PASS card is not significantly easier or cheaper to receive than a passport and is limited in that it is only valid at land crossings.
It is apparent to most observers that these measures of tightening security and bringing Canada’s border controls more in line with those of the US are a result of perceptions that Canadian immigration policies are two lax and are a security risk to the US. Canada’s options, then, are to either bring its immigration policy closer in line to that of the US, or deal with increased security and work with the US to harmonize the two nation’s border policies. Given Canada’s vastly different immigration needs, the later option is likely to be the one that remains pervasive in the foreseeable future. | <urn:uuid:96e0ac88-327d-42b9-81c1-5f2405e4695f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.immigration.ca/permres-gii-securingborders.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96798 | 2,142 | 2.875 | 3 |
Life after Death
The populace found its expression of religious feeling in the funerary cults. The great body of mortuary texts has, in fact, provided us with much that we know of ancient Egypt, particularly of belief in the afterlife (see Book of the Dead). The dead were provided with food and drink, weapons, and toiletry articles. Tombs were often visited by the family, who brought new offerings. Proper precautions and care for the dead were mandatory to insure immortality (see mummy). Although the ancient Egyptians strongly believed in life after death, the idea of passing from life on earth to life in the hereafter was somewhat obscure, and the concepts concerning the afterlife were complex.
The ancient Egyptian, however, hoped not only to extend life beyond the grave, but to become part of the perennial life of nature. The two most important concepts concerning the afterlife were the ka and the ba. The ka was a kind of double or other self, not an element of the personality, but a detached part of the self which was sometimes said to guide the fortunes of the individual in life, like the Roman genius, but was clearly most associated with a person's fortunes in the hereafter. When people died they were said to join with their ka. More important perhaps than the ka was the concept of the ba. The ba is perhaps loosely identifiable as the soul of a person. More specifically the ba was the manifestation of an individual after death, usually thought to be represented in the form of a bird. The Egyptians also believed in the concept of akh, which was the transformation of some of the noble dead into eternal objects. The noblest were often conceived of as being transformed into stars, thus joining in the changeless rhythm of the universe.
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The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:e2ae1198-77b6-4117-b545-9fded4a97be8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/society/egyptian-religion-life-after-death.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981782 | 382 | 3.484375 | 3 |
Antwerp was a small trading center by the early 8th cent. It was destroyed by the Normans in 836, but by the 11th cent. it was a fairly important port. The city was chartered in 1291. Antwerp was held (13th to mid-14th cent.) by Brabant and then became an early seat of the counts of Flanders. In the 15th cent. it rose to prominence as Bruges and Ghent declined. In 1446 the English Merchant Adventurers and other traders motivated port trade by moving their operations from Bruges to Antwerp. By the middle of the 16th cent. Antwerp was Europe's chief commercial and financial center with spices, gold, and other luxury goods from the East and the Americas arriving at its ports. The diamond industry, established in the 15th cent., had expanded considerably after the arrival (early 16th cent.) of Jewish artisans expelled from Portugal. The city's prosperity suffered in 1576, when it was sacked and about 6,000 of its inhabitants killed by Spanish troops (the "Spanish fury"), and again in 1584–85, when the city was captured by the Spanish under Alessandro Farnese after a 14-month siege.
Under the Peace of Westphalia (1648), the Scheldt was closed to navigation (as a means of favoring Amsterdam), and Antwerp declined rapidly. The city revived with the opening of the Scheldt by the French in 1795 and with the expansion of its port facilities by Napoleon I. The incorporation (1815) of Belgium into the Netherlands again hindered Antwerp's economic development, a situation that was continued by the Dutch-Belgian treaty of separation (1839), which gave the Netherlands the right to collect tolls on Scheldt shipping. The expansion of Antwerp as a major modern port dates only from 1863, when, by a cash payment, Belgium ended Dutch restrictions on traffic on the Scheldt. Antwerp was seriously damaged in World War I when it was captured (Oct., 1914) by the Germans after a 12-day siege. In World War II it was again taken (May, 1940) by the Germans, who bombarded it heavily after it had been recaptured (Sept., 1944) by the Allies.
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The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Benelux Political Geography | <urn:uuid:fc3cf2d8-2e88-45c6-aed8-f1e01e9c3b4e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/world/antwerp-city-belgium-history.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976686 | 519 | 3.875 | 4 |
On this day in 1957, the Soviet Union deployed Sputnik. The two-foot, 180-pound orb’s beeping was the starting gun of the space race and we in the U.S. seemed to be just putting our sneakers on. Despite President Eisenhower’s initial shrug, America freaked out – but in good way.
In under a year, a Democratic Congress and the Republican President created and made operational the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The National Defense Education Act, which not only jump started higher education in math and science here but also promoted the study of countries we realized were gaining on us, became law. The Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) came into being. Later, of course, it became (Defense) DARPA, which yielded numerous technological advances, including what became the Internet.
When it came to being #1 in space, we didn’t wait for market forces to work their magic. In a speech at Rice University on September 12, 1962 President Kennedy said the tripling of the space budget in a little over two years was worth it. There were new jobs, new companies and new discoveries. We were in the race but the finish line came into clearer view when Kennedy declared, “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too. “
The phrase “we choose” is interesting. Not “this administration is committed to..,” or “our government will endeavor…,” or “I will ask for legislation…” It was, “We choose.” It was as though he was merely reporting what the American people’s aspiration was. He gave voice to our confidence and made it a priority for his presidency.
The nation’s spirit at the time was captured well in “Rocket Boys,” the1998 memoir by Homer H. Hickman, Jr., later brought to the big screen so beautifully on “October Sky.” It is the true story of a West Virginia coal miner’s son whose imagination is propelled heavenward with tenacity and audacity, just like one of the spacecraft he would eventually help succeed as a NASA scientist.
Hickman was not an outlier. Stories abound of students, teachers, parents, and inventors who responded in the fall of 1957 to an historic call not to take up arms and die but to think, study, analyze, explore and invent. When we actually did go to the moon by end of the 1960s, we were fulfilling not Kennedy’s dream but our own.
Ah, the good old days.
Early this year, President Obama sought to tap our inner Homer Hickmans and declared we were facing a “Sputnik moment” and called for a new pursuit for the outer edges of technology and science that would enhance our competitiveness and prosperity. And how have we responded?
There has been no landmark legislation passed to revitalize innovation, invention and education. In fact, the proposed fiscal year 2012 federal R&D investment of $148.9 billion represents a 0.3 percent decrease from the previous year, continuing the trend of flat federal funding for R&D since 2004. As the National Association for the Advance of Science has noted, if we were to restore federal support for research as a share of GDP to 1987 levels, we would have to increase federal support for R&D by almost $150 billion-per year. But that doesn’t seem likely. The political right calls even modest investments in cutting-edge R&D “socialism” and the left pans anything that benefits business as “corporate welfare.” The untruthful debate over tax cuts or spending cuts pushed the U.S. to the brink of defaulting on its debt. (Interesting, we owe that money to some of the “third world” countries we started studying in the NDEA.) The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), with the mission of putting the U.S. at the lead in clean energy technology, regarded by many as the 21st century’s space race, has been struggling to survive because funds are so tight. Sure, there are billionaires who are practically begging to have their wealth confiscated and put to use upgrading America’s innovation capacity and schools, stepping up clean energy research and rebuilding our physical infrastructure. Still, a majority of the lawmakers voters have sent to Washington insist that cutting spending is the better course.
As ITIF pointed out in the Atlantic Century 2011, the U.S. ranks 25th out of 27 countries in the growth of college-aged adults with college degrees over the last decade. Yet, as we enter an election year, people seem to have affection for wealthy elites but are wary of academic elites. Candidates who chuckle with skepticism about science fare about as well or even better than those who exalt it. It’s a tough time to be nerd, especially in politics.
Why the change? What is different about these times? Some would say we simply don’t have the money to dream as big as we could 50 years ago. Others would say the Sputnik analogy is not apt because the actual Sputnik reordered our thinking in a matter of hours, like Pearl Harbor, whereas the Sputnik moment of 2011 is the culmination of slow build– the proverbial frog in the cauldron.
Or have we lost some of our self-confidence and optimism? Perhaps Kennedy’s charisma and soaring rhetoric better matched the national spirit and vitality of 1962. Obama’s oratorical gifts notwithstanding, we seem not to believe the inspiring things he says about us. We insist our leaders talk about American “exceptionalism” (a word spellcheck doesn’t even recognize) but do we really feel exceptional? Or, as the baby boom reaches retirement (those who are able to afford to) and the population ages, we all seem imbued with a middle-aged sense of resentment and old-guy crankiness, as if we paid our dues and shouldn’t have to start over again to compete with the young upstarts from other countries who we helped launch. Let’s hope that is not the case.
Yes, we have debt but we also have wealth. We can invest more in science, emerging technologies such as robotics, nanotechnology, and clean energy innovation. We can revamp our corporate tax code to make it a vehicle for innovation and global competiveness. We can take on predatory trade and economic practices by other countries. We can reform education and immigration policies to train, attract and retain the top talent of the world– what we summarize as the four T’s– taxes, trade, technology and talent. ITIF has spelled this out in a sensible, non-partisan report in March 2011 and more recently outline some specific ideas on reforming corporate taxation and manufacturing strategy. This would not cost a fortune. However one calculates it, it would have to be less expensive than losing 5.5 million manufacturing jobs and 9.1% unemployment. And certainly less than the $60.9 billion we spent on dieting in 2010, according to a national survey.
And we can be forgiven for being a little complacent. The Sputnik moment crept into our consciousness through thousands of news stories about declining test scores, offshoring, Asian tigers, downsizing, and other harbingers of doom that ran simultaneously with more hopeful stories of mapping the human genome, the latest mind-blowing electronic gadget, lethally accurate drones, and robots performing surgery. It was easy to believe that we are not facing an emergency but simply change. And change is something we adapt to, as we always have, even at great speed. Just look at how we mobilized after Pearl Harbor. But now is the time to realize the near complete economic collapse in 2008, the loss of one third of our wealth, and the prospect of a lost decade are as close to a Sputnik or a Pearl Harbor as we are likely to get.
Fortunately, we retain a measure of confidence that matches our innovative spirit and curiosity, work ethic, and indeed, greed. We still have a knack that Churchill saw in us for doing the right thing after exhausting all the other possibilities. Gallup polls show voters largely disapprove of their elected representatives in Washington – and that’s across party lines. Either office holders will change course or be forced to change jobs. Maybe after a few more election cycles, the wisdom of the political system will again reveal itself. And maybe the country’s spirit too.
The Greatest Generation passed the Sputnik generation a burning torch. The Sputnik moment generation needs to recognize the torch it got passed might go out unless they get its embers going again. Let’s hope President Obama had his finger on the pulse of that spirit in his third annual back-to-school speech a week ago. He said, “With all the challenges that our country is facing right now, we don’t just need you for the future; we actually need you now. America needs young people’s passion and their ideas. We need your energy right now. I know you’re up to it because I’ve seen it. Nothing inspires me more than knowing that young people all across the country are already making their marks. They’re not waiting. They’re making a difference now.”
Time for the Homer Simpsons to step aside and make way for the Homer Hickmans. | <urn:uuid:8260e0d0-738a-4e60-8d48-351a6b4cf734> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.innovationfiles.org/are-we-a-nation-of-homer-hickmans-or-homer-simpsons/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966082 | 2,038 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Launched in May 2011 by the former Liberal Quebec government, the Plan Nord is a sustainable development program for northern Quebec that establishes the framework for the long-term economic and social development of an area that covers approximately 72 percent of Quebec’s territory (463,323 square miles).
The government will deploy the Plan Nord over the next 25 years through a series of phases and is expected to lead to 80 billion Canadian dollars ($81.8 billion) in public and private investments. The Plan Nord focuses primarily on the mining, forestry, biofood and tourism industries and places great emphasis on the development of energy, transportation, communication and social infrastructure, such as housing.
In this context, the Quebec Finance Minister announced the following measures in the 2012 budget speech:
- Focusing on natural gas to stimulate the development of new mineral resource processing projects. Thus, Gaz Métro with the support of the Quebec government will undertake feasibility studies with a view to building a gas pipeline to supply the Côte-Nord region. Such a pipeline would represent an investment of approximately CA$750 million.
- The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Quebec (manager of public- and private-sector pension funds) and CN (a Canadian railway company) are teaming up on a project to build a rail link between the port in Sept-Îles and the various mining projects in the Labrador Trough. If the project proceeds, it would represent a multi-billion dollar investment.
- In 2012 Hydro-Quebec will undertake studies on the extension of the power transmission grid to Nunavik from the Complexe La Grande facility.
When the Plan Nord was launched in 2011, the Quebec government announced the creation of a new government corporation, the Société du Plan Nord, which will be responsible for coordinating government funding to implement the strategic plan formulated by the government in connection with its five-year action plans relating to the Plan Nord. Bill 27 creating the Société du Plan Nord is still being reviewed by the lawmakers. Under the circumstances, the government announced the creation of the Plan Nord Transition Office. This office is taking over the short‑term mandates and responsibilities that will eventually be entrusted to the Société du Plan Nord.
It is worth noting that two other major economic arms of the Quebec government, Hydro-Quebec and Investissement Quebec, were assigned important roles in their respective areas of expertise, namely the development of energy strategies and the coordination of public investments in private-sector projects.
In the 2012 budget, the Quebec government refined the role of Investissement Quebec, not only vis-à-vis the Plan Nord but in the natural resource sector generally.
Investissement Quebec already controls two subsidiaries operating in the natural resources sector, Société québécoise d’exploration minière (SOQUEM), which specializes in mining, and SOQUIP, which specializes in hydrocarbons. For better coordination of its investment strategy in resource development companies, the government announced in the 2012-2013 budget the creation of Ressources Quebec, a new Investissement Quebec subsidiary. That new entity will consolidate all of Investissement Québec’s current equity interests in mines and hydrocarbons, with SOQUEM and SOQUIP becoming subsidiaries of Ressources Quebec. The primary role of Ressources Quebec, made official on April 18, will be to establish more private partnerships with private entities in the mining and hydrocarbon sectors.
Ressources Quebec will be allocated over CA$1 billion, of which CA$500 million will be invested in equity interests in specific Plan Nord projects and the other CA$500 million will be invested in projects in the overall the Plan Nord territory. Thirteen developers have already been informed that the government is considering investing in their projects.
SOQUEM, now a Ressources Quebec subsidiary, will be allocated a further CA$100 million over five years for investments in mining projects.
Furthermore, the profits generated by the equity interests taken by Ressources Quebec will be deposited in a new fund announced in the budget speech, Capital Mines Hydrocarbures, and reinvested in future projects.
On Sept. 4, Quebec’s voter elected a minority Parti Québécois (PQ) government. The announcement of the new government’s vision for the Plan Nord is eagerly awaited. The new government has proposed to adopt an “integrated strategy for resources in the north in order to guide development projects” and may do some tinkering with the Plan Nord, such as changing the nature of the program to “Développement nordique”. It will be interesting to see how and if the new government will support infrastructure projects such as roads, transmission lines and railways in order to allow the new development projects to get off the ground in the north. Some have speculated that the new government will require some form of equity participation in projects in order to finance infrastructure projects. | <urn:uuid:032dc648-cae0-481b-9191-ffd599814b1f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.insidecounsel.com/2012/10/17/regulatory-an-overview-of-quebecs-plan-nord | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.922643 | 1,019 | 2.546875 | 3 |
DSM and Demand Respone - Concepts Universally Accepted...
There are many definitions of DSM and Demand Response, Demand Response is a new name possibly the most charming for the Demand Side Management - DSM. The proponents of the Demand Response argue that the two terms are not necessarily equal. May be Demand Response can be only one new piece of DSM, but the two methods provides for smarter energy use and more efficient operation.
But the Demand Response is not energy efficiency as its main target, although Demand Response programs can serve as a complement to the efforts of energy efficiency. Demand Response is different from energy efficiency, but Demand Response does not primarily aim to save energy, you only respond, if you want, when provoked while DSM can be mandatory or voluntary membership.
DSM programs have energy efficiency as its primary goal, but programs such as Demand Response have two main goals:
- Economic benefits -- for the consumer and the utility.
- Customer satisfaction and improve the reliability of the entire power system.
Improve the service provided to customers is a primary goal of Demand Response programs, consumers have the opportunity to save money by shifting their energy consumption over time for the energy use of lower price of the day.
The success of this program is the fact that it was designed from the ground up with customer focus as the only priority. Response to Demand for residential work, the utility must provide a tariff structure that encourages customers to change their consumption habits, and the program must be understandable and easy to use.
The flaws in the supply side of the electric power industry may be relieved temporarily, with the randomness of supply and demand becomes necessary to maintain the Demand Response programs in place as an aid to security and system reliability.
Demand Response can be part of the solution to the problems associated with deficits in energy generation, and can help alleviate the lack of capacity of Transmission and Distribution. Demand Response is not just a fad, it's here to stay.
The negotiation of Demand is based on customer demand, the ability of consumers to respond to price changes in the short term - as the next day or hours in advance -- or from one region to the energy supply capacity by reducing demand at times appropriate.
The negotiations on Demand Response projects with customer, promises a substantial increase in efficiency, stability and reliability of the energy sector.
The negotiations that recognize the value of time in energy use can be used to help optimize the balance between Supply and Demand, encouraging clients to actively engage.
Demand Response programs become important to manage price and risk, as are a link between the wholesale energy markets and also at retail.
The Load profile of the residential consumer and the ability to restrict energy use can vary greatly, but the aggregation of its reductions provides a highly reliable resource for planners in the energy market.
The definition of trade in energy demand is based on conventional demand response approaches such as voluntary programs, demand bidding, the cutting options and pricing in real time.
Trading Demand provides a wide avenue for the provision of resources to view, such a response in the regional energy markets through a variety of marketing tools. | <urn:uuid:82163c63-8286-43bb-a65f-6a36f94b3ad4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.intelligentutility.com/article/11/09/dsm-and-demand-respone-concepts-universally-accepted?quicktabs_6=1&quicktabs_4=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942348 | 625 | 3 | 3 |
North India Hydro Boom Leaves Communities High and Dry
The following is Part I of a two part trip report by Samir Mehta, South Asia Program Director.
It is with mixed feelings of joy, hope and despair that I return after a survey of some of the proposed, under construction and completed hydroelectric projects in the north Indian State of Himachal Pradesh. Joy that people continue to fight for their rights and against corporate efforts to own rivers, hope that their struggles will bear fruit, and despair at the injustices done to them. During my 10-day trip, I surveyed a dozen or so hydropower projects of all sizes in the Satluj and Ravi river basins. The projects are wreaking havoc on livelihoods and the environment.
Himachal Pradesh includes three main mountain ranges; the Dhauladhar, Pir Panjal and Great Himalayan ranges. The climate and beauty of the region prompted the British to make Shimla their summer capital. The rural landscape is dotted with small villages and fields. The state is also famous for its apples. The soil is fertile and the people are not poor. The steep topography is conducive to construction of dams. The state has identified hydropower as one of its main sources of revenue and pegged its hydropower generation potential at 23,000 MW. The present generation is about 7,000 MW.
What is most disturbing is that even locally important brooks and streams have not been spared from maximum exploitation for hydropower generation and even have cascading power plants on them. The snow- and glacier-fed Tarela brook is one such example. Most of the brook has been diverted into channels to support four hydropower projects of 5 MW each. This has resulted in the shutdown of more than 50 water mills and water-powered wool carding machines (the locals predominantly rear sheep/goat). The water mill owners were promised benefits, but no agreements were signed and the monthly payments were discontinued after the projects came into operation. Nearly half of the water-mill owners who had been operating for decades were not compensated. Another common impact on local communities is the indiscriminate dumping of debris, which harms forests and watercourses. Hydropower projects less than 25 MW are not required to carry out Social Impact Assessment and Environmental Impact Assessment, despite the fact that they can have serious impacts.
Rivers and streams are being diverted from one valley into another, with serious impacts. The 800 MW Parbati-II Hydroelectric Project is one such example. The Parbati River is just one of a number of rivers and streams being diverted through a long tunnel from the Parbati valley into the Sainj valley. A part of the Great Himalayan National Park was de-listed to permit the project to go forward, despite the fact that the area was a prime nesting site for the rare Western Tragopan bird, for the conservation of which the park has been set up. Another project will devastate a local apple-growing community by drying up about 35 of their water springs.
Projects are being built and proposed at higher and higher altitudes and closer and closer to the snowline (and the Chinese border). The Kashang projects start around 3,000 m (10,000 feet). If one is to go by the ecological devastation caused by projects at lower altitudes, the prospect of what will happen to the fragile Alpine ecosystem is frightening. Himanshu Thakkar, Coordinator of SANDRP, says that the projects will change the microclimate which will result in accelerated melting of the snow and glaciers. The strategic implications of having these projects so close to the border with China are not being discussed in the public domain.
Cascade dams do not leave any stretch of the river flowing free. Sutlej River originates from Lake Rakshastal in China. It enters India in Kinnaur District of the State. Within 7 kms (4.3 miles) of entering India it flows from one tunnel into another. All these projects are so-called run-of-river projects. It is funny (in a sad way) how these projects are proposed. It is said that the powerhouse of the proposed 261 MW Yangthang-Khab project will be submerged in the reservoir of the proposed 1,020 MW Khab-Shaso project. Both project proponents are in a race to acquire all permissions and sanctions before the other to win the battle of the dueling dams.
Such situations are arising even when a committee set up by the state’s High Court has recommended that, pending further studies, rivers should flow free for at least 5 kms (3 miles) between dams. The Ministry of Environment and Forests is not taking a clear stand on what should be the minimum distance that the river must flow freely. Hence state governments and other agencies are permitting such cascading dams which essentially bottle up long stretches of rivers. The Ministry is aware of the implications of such a large number of dams in a river basin and has hence sought cumulative impact assessments of many river basins. However, at the same time it continues to sanction hydropower projects without waiting for the report. In the case of the Sutlej river basin, the agency that has been selected to do the cumulative impact assessment is the Forum of Independent Hydropower Producers. Apparently no one in government will admit that this is a clear case of conflict of interest.
The government and courts have put a price on natural resources. The philosophy is that economic considerations override environmental considerations. Hence one can pay the monetary price and destroy the environment. This is being increasingly challenged and questioned by civil society. With regard to hydropower, civil society is mobilizing against India’s destructive energy policy.
During my travels I had discussions with many local NGOs and civil society on strategies for protecting their rivers and rights. In the coming months, I'll be helping them with information, analysis and advocacy. The magnitude of the tasks ahead is daunting, as borne out by a statement from a resident of the region: "Mahatma Gandhi himself may have found fighting these dams more challenging – he had only one enemy, the British. We have the dam developers, contractors, construction industry, and misguided politicians and bureaucrats." It's a big challenge, but we'll use all our strength to ensure that economic development does not supersede all else, that natural resources are not treated as commodities with artificial economic values attached to them, that environmental flows are maintained, and livelihoods and social impacts are addressed.
This trip would not have been possible without the efforts of Rahul Saxena of the Palampur based Lok Vigyan Kendra ([email protected]), and I thank him for organizing it, his company and his valuable insights. | <urn:uuid:129c1723-36a7-4611-ab24-1f8edfafb67d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.internationalrivers.org/blogs/257/north-india-hydro-boom-leaves-communities-high-and-dry | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961994 | 1,393 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Indigenous Land Use Agreement
This Agreement contains five Parts:
Part 1 - Preliminary - This Part mostly contains technical information about how the Agreement works.
Part 2 - Resolving the Native Title Claim - This Part sets out how the Local Government can help resolve the Native Title Claim and how the Native Title of the Jagera, Yuggera and Ugarapul People and the interests of the Local Government will co-exist if Native Title is recognised by theFederal Court of Australia.
Part 3 - Native Title Compliance - Some Activities by the Local Government may affect Native Title. This Part sets out how those Activities can be done validly.
Part 4 - Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Compliance - This Part contains some practical measures to help protect Aboriginal Cultural Heritage. It enables Activities by the Local Government which might affect Aboriginal Cultural Heritage to be carried out lawfully.
Part 5 - Other Outcomes - The Local Government and the Jagera, Yuggera and Ugarapul People agree on a range of other things to help them meet mutual aspirations, benefit the local community and ensure ongoing communication between the Parties. Details are recorded in this Part.
Download the Indigenous Land Use Agreement (PDF, 538 kb)
To view PDF files you can download Adobe Reader
for free. If you are unable to view this page owing to accessibility issues, please contact us | <urn:uuid:94a65084-c3ef-4e13-ae27-fd1cdcda8459> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ipswich.qld.gov.au/about_council/corporate_publications/indigenous_land_use/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.886032 | 276 | 2.859375 | 3 |
April 6, 2010
City workers posted signs throughout the city in mid-March to remind residents about the importance of ground water.
Workers installed five ground water protection signs in the Critical Aquifer Recharge Area — places where rainwater filters into the underground municipal water supply. Ground water pumped from the Lower Issaquah Valley Aquifer serves as a major source of city drinking water.
Officials said the signs will be used alongside other tools, like the city Web site, to educate residents about the source of city water, as well as manmade impacts on the ground water supply.
Learn more about drinking water, the Critical Aquifer Recharge Area and the signs here.
June 2, 2009
A city program to cut water pollution has prevented industrial chemicals, fryer grease and even the material dentists use to fill cavities from contaminating ground water. Read more | <urn:uuid:5d79851e-75f4-4961-aaa8-d75aa7d77ed7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.issaquahpress.com/tag/critical-aquifer-recharge-area/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933292 | 177 | 3.234375 | 3 |
Seventy years ago this week, 40,000 New Yorkers watched as Jewish activists and Hollywood celebrities joined hands to bring news of the Holocaust to the vaunted stage of Madison Square Garden. But a requested message of greeting from President Franklin D. Roosevelt never arrived, because the White House decided the mass murder of the Jews was too “political” to touch.
In January 1943, a Gallup poll asked Americans, “It is said that two million Jews have been killed in Europe since the war began. Do you think this is true or just a rumor?” Although the Allied leadership had publicly confirmed that two million Jews had been murdered, the poll found only 47 percent believed it was true, while 29 percent dismissed it as a rumor; the remaining 24 percent had no opinion.
The failure of the news media to treat the Nazi genocide as a serious issue contributed to the public’s skepticism. To some extent, editors were following the lead of the Roosevelt administration, which, after issuing a condemnation of the mass murder, made no effort to publicize the tragedy or aid Jewish refugees.
Ben Hecht, the newspaper columnist and Academy Award-winning screenwriter, responded in the way he knew best: he picked up his pen and began to write.
With his outsized dramatic sense in high gear, Hecht authored a full-scale pageant called “We Will Never Die.” On a stage featuring forty-foot-high tablets of the Ten Commandments, it would survey Jewish contributions to civilization throughout history, describe the Nazi slaughter of the Jews, and culminate in an emotional recitation of Kaddish, the traditional Jewish prayer for the dead, by a group of elderly rabbis.
“Will it save the four million [Jews still alive in Europe]?” Hecht wrote on the eve of the opening. “I don’t know. Maybe we can awaken some of the vacationing hearts in our government.”
Hecht was involved with a small group of Jewish activists led by Hillel Kook, a Zionist emissary from Palestine who operated under the pseudonym Peter Bergson. The Bergson Group booked Madison Square Garden for the evening of March 9 and set about trying to convince the established Jewish organizations to cosponsor “We Will Never Die.”
Bergson’s well-meaning attempt at Jewish unity flopped. A meeting of representatives of several dozen Jewish groups, hosted by Hecht, deteriorated into shouting matches. It was an example of what the historian Henry Feingold has described as the sad tendency of some Jewish organizations to “allow themselves the luxury of fiddling while Jews burned.”
Hecht succeeded, however, in persuading some of Hollywood’s most prominent Jews to volunteer their services. Actors Edward G. Robinson, Paul Muni, Sylvia Sydney and Stella Adler assumed the lead roles; Kurt Weill composed an original score; Moss Hart agreed to serve as director, and famed impresario Billy Rose signed on as producer.
It was Rose who decided to approach Roosevelt. Through White House adviser David Niles, Rose asked the president for a “brief message” that could be read aloud at the pageant. Nothing bold or controversial, of course – something that would say “only that the Jews of Europe will be remembered when the time comes to make the peace.”
Rose assured the White House, “There is no political color to our Memorial Service.”
But apparently even the very mention of the Jews was “political” in the eyes of official Washington. White House aides warned the president that sending the requested message would be “a mistake.” Despite Rose’s assurance, “it is a fact that such a message would raise a political question,” Henry Pringle of the Office of War Information advised.
What Pringle meant was that publicizing the slaughter could raise the “political question” of how America was going to respond to the Nazi genocide. And since Roosevelt had decided the U.S. was not going to take any specific steps to aid the Jews, raising that question would be embarrassing. Hence Rose was informed that the “stress and pressure” of the president’s schedule made it impossible for FDR to provide the few words of comfort and consolation the Bergson Group sought.
None of this deterred the irrepressible Ben Hecht and his comrades from making sure the show would go on. More than 20,000 people jammed Madison Square Garden on the frigid evening of March 9. Since there were so many people gathered on the sidewalks outside who were unable to enter the packed hall, the cast decided to do a second performance immediately after the first. The second show, too, filled the Garden. | <urn:uuid:e7999fc4-5e16-4fa1-9fac-7ee6eb2cd2da> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jewishpress.com/tag/bergson-group/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968812 | 989 | 2.609375 | 3 |
I have always been intrigued by Victorian-era invention thinking. Posters of the great World’s Fairs and their featured inventions have always captured my attention with futuristic visions of a techie tomorrow. On that note, I’ve always liked the 1950′s videos films of the kitchens of the future too. Where’s that nuclear-powered stove that floats out of the counter and floors that clean themselves as we were promised?
So today when I read about the Telectroscope on The Carrot Revolution (an art blog I’m previewing) I was immediately captivated. Perhaps there really is a giant “viewing tunnel” connecting New York and London. While it seems kind of pointless with streaming video, something about a giant real transatlantic tunnel that requires no virtual connections seems kind of cool. Well, much as I guessed there is no giant tunnel, but there is a pretty cool art and human interaction exhibit going on connecting New York and London.
As I read more about the Telectrscope and its supposed inventors I also realized this is a great lesson on information literacy. Take a look at the Telectroscope website. The idea of a giant tunnel looks pretty real. There are even pictures of artifacts that were supposedly found during the tunnel’s recent completion. I also found a host of photos on Flickr. For a short period of time a Wikipedia entry for the Telectrocope’s supposed inventor Alexander Stanhope St. George existed, but due to the power of mass collaboration it was deleted by a Wikipedian as a hoax. If you’re interested in learning more about the Telectroscope check out the New York Times article all about it.
Have a great three day weekend! | <urn:uuid:11cd99b1-b40e-43e9-b1c0-a3d7a8f18bb4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.joewoodonline.com/telectroscope/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967602 | 363 | 2.546875 | 3 |
The Kingdom of Jordan is located in Western Asia on the north-western part of the Arabian Peninsula. Its area is around 90,000 sq km.
Check out Jordan photos to view the desert, seas, mountains, valleys and historic sites.
The official name of Jordan is the "Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan" or the "Jordanian Kingdom" (JK).
The name is spelled in Arabic as Al-Mamlaka Al-Urduniya Al-Hashemiya, Al-Urdun or al-Ordon.
Amman city is the capital of Jordan. Other main cities in Jordan include Irbid, Kerak, Zarqa, Karak,
Jerash and Aqaba (Jordan's only port).
Jordan has been occupied by many civilizations and empires over history, all which left rich historic and archaeological remains, such as the Petra Nabataean city,
Quseir Amra castle, Karak Crusader castle, Jerash Temple of Artemis. Jordan also has a wealth of natural, cultural and religious sites, such as the Dead Sea,
Great Rift Valley, Wadi Rum, Gulf of Aqaba, Azraq Wetland Wildlife Reserve and Dana Nature Reserve.
Jordan tourism is the most important sector of the economy, followed by services, agriculture,
manufacturing and production industries. Jordan attracts millions of tourists each year who visit the religious sites, historic monuments, natural scenery,
medical tourism, hotels and beach resorts.
The population of Jordan is around 6.5 millions. The main spoken languages are Arabic and English, as well as French and Armenian.
Jordanian food is similar to Lebanese and Syrian food. Some of the Jordanian national dishes include
mezze assortment, maglouba, kebab and mansaf. | <urn:uuid:8687ea7a-94a3-4b25-9071-e3e1dbe59a72> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jordanlinks.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925086 | 366 | 3.0625 | 3 |
Did you know children who start to use drugs/alcohol or use drugs during adolescence are four times more likely to become substance-involved as adults? Between 1992 and 2003, prescription drug abuse in 12- to 17-year-olds rose 212 percent.
Teens abuse prescription drugs more than heroin, cocaine, meth, crack or ecstasy. They see prescriptions as "safer" than other drugs (shared by family and friends).
At 8.9 percent, West Virginia is among the top five states leading the country in teen abuse of prescription pain relievers (SAMHSA, 2007).
Members of the training in Martinsburg practice their reflective listening skills, part of motivational interviewing in the SBIRT Model. Pictured are, from left to right: Mary Beth Vickers from Jefferson County Alternative School; Hope Reagan, school psychologist from Berkeley County; Marjorie Lynch, counselor of Spring Mills High School in Berkeley County; and Kathy White, counselor from North Jefferson Elementary School.
These statistics were shared with school officials and private partners during two substance abuse prevention workshops recently held through RESA 8 School Wellness, in collaboration with community private partners in substance abuse prevention; Potomac Highlands Guild (PHG), BOLD, and Morgan County Partnership (MCP). The presenter was James R. Matney, Clinical Director of WVSBIRT. SBIRT stands for "Screening; Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment."
Trainings were held in Martinsburg and Romney. The trainings were attended by 65 school administrators, counselors, health and PE teachers, school psychologists, private substance abuse coordinators and counselors.
According to Matney, there are definite signs of substance abuse in youth. They include sudden personality changes, including work or school attendance, unusual flare-ups or outbreaks of temper, withdrawal from responsibility, loss of interest in hobbies or pursuits, change in friends, difficulty in concentration, sudden jitteriness, nervousness or aggression, increased secrecy and deterioration in physical appearance or grooming.
According to Matney, we must start to intervene early. Providing this training is part of that early intervention.
Along with the implementation of "Expected Behaviors in Safe and Supportive Schools Policy 4373," there comes a change in perspective. Schools are meeting the challenge to become more proactive rather than reactive, as we continue to learn new ways to help our students identify and deal with problems they may be having.
RESA 8, in conjunction with PHG, BOLD and MCP, will provide further trainings throughout the school year. Suicide prevention training is planned for November. For more information about SBIRT or future trainings, contact Terri Miller, Regional School Wellness Specialist for RESA 8 at [email protected], 304-267-3595, ext. 158. | <urn:uuid:17a52a5a-d07a-4333-b218-d37e805fc1d7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.journal-news.net/page/content.detail/id/587391/Learning-barriers-addressed-by-RESA-8.html?nav=5152 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948791 | 581 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Unclean feet can harbor bacteria and fungi. Cleaning between all the toes and the bottom of the feet daily typically lowers these infection types. Depending on your activity type and level, you may need to wash them more than once daily. Always thoroughly dry between the toes and on the bottom of the foot before wearing socks and shoes.
Foot powders help to soak up excessive moisture that can breed fungi and bacteria. Plus, a lightly scented powder makes your feet feel refreshed. There are a variety of foot powders on the market, both scented and unscented as well as foot powders with antibacterial and antifungal properties. If you're in a bind, you can use corn starch to keep your feet dry and moisture free.
Consider wearing an open sandal in the summer to keep your feet dry and give them a chance to "breathe". Put away your hot, heavy boots any other constrictive shoe that might promote foot perspiration. Beware of sandals with thongs that fit between the toes since these can be irritating to the foot and cause blister formation.
If you do lots of walking on your job or as recreation, treat yourself to a professional foot massage every few weeks. It's a great stress reliever!
Many people don't realize feet are subject to sunburn just like the rest of your body. Use a sunscreen with an SPF of at least 15 if you're going to be barefoot outdoors or have your feet exposed through open sandals
Locker rooms are a common source of fungi and bacteria that can set up a foot infection. Always wear sandals or some other foot covering when walking around in a public locker room.
If you're a runner or avid walker, invest in a shoe that gives you good support to avoid potential injury. Buy a shoe designed for your particular sport. If you're a runner, an aerobic shoe won't work. You need more support than a simple aerobics shoe can provide Give a quality running shoe a try and you'll be amazed at the difference in the way your feet feel! Also, running shoes make a great everyday shoe. | <urn:uuid:62ceff45-fdb7-4428-ae41-4b64363638a1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kait8.com/category/77045/ask-the-expert-podiatry-with-dr-walter-hayes-of-jonesboro?redirected=true | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952389 | 434 | 2.578125 | 3 |
A modern approach to an old-school problem, teaching kids math
California has nearly a 1,000 charter schools, making it the most in the nation. Thirty-five of those are in the Oakland Unified School District. Charter school popularity has spurred education pedagogy research, the documentary Waiting for Superman, and has left lots of people wondering what these independent schools have to offer.
One charter, Oakland Unity High School, is so small that it rents its campus from Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in East Oakland. It’s transforming how its students do math homework by using Khan Academy, a non-profit educational program developed on YouTube by educator Salman Khan. While most schools use Khan Academy for its video lectures, Oakland Unity uses it for the randomly generated exercises that facilitate independent learning.
At Unity, all schoolwork happens on a tablet or at a desktop. Ninth grade algebra students are armed with not only pencils, paper, and calculators, but school-provided tablets that stream Khan Academy lessons.
Peter McIntosh, a math teacher at Unity, is an advocate of Khan Academy because he believes it changes how students do math. In the past, for instance, “they copied it, someone else did it for them, or, basically, they handed in a sheet of paper with some stuff on it but, when you really looked at it, it was more of an attempt just to hand in a piece of paper - assuming they’d get some partial credit,” McIntosh says
And McIntosh says Unity did present the information in a variety of ways, but students weren’t using it to do their homework. McIntosh suspects that most students looked at the problems in the textbook, perhaps attempted them for a minute or two, and gave up when they didn’t understand them quickly. Those who still wanted a grade on the assignment would write as much as they could to give the illusion that work was put in, thinking it was better to get some points rather than no points.
Khan is interactive, almost like a video game. After students login, they can choose the skill they would like to work on. A non-threatening cream screen appears within the browser with instructions written at the top – things like, “Find the value of Angle C” with a figure drawn below.
Most of McIntosh’s class uses paper and pencil to solve the problem off of the tablet screen, but Khan does allow you to pull up a scratchpad to write in different colors right beneath the instructions. According to McIntosh, Khan one-ups the textbook in its ability to provide quick help for each problem.
It may seem like Khan eliminates the need for teachers because students can sit in front of the screen and figure it out for themselves. But McIntosh is quick to defend this new teaching process. Khan, he explains, takes the guesswork out of the equation by giving him the tools to track his students’ progress. So when one student is struggling, he can see how and where – and help. Now, when he does a problem on the board, it’s a concept everyone is struggling with.
As McIntosh provides his class with extra examples and individual attention, Khan teaches struggling students through repetition.
Ninth grader Diego Rosas is talking about a set of eight homework problems called a stack. Because students have to do an additional eight problems every time they answer one question wrong, many worry that Khan forces students to do too much work. Diego predicts he does about five extra hours of work each week on Khan, but other students like Marcella Resaga complain they put in much more time.
Principal Samuel Brewer recognizes the worry but sees the stacks as a way for students to take ownership of their math progress.
The evidence of Principal Brewer’s theory is in the numbers: since the school started using Khan last summer, Unity has increased its ninth grade math scores from 76 to 94 percent on the California Standardized Test – a 38 percent increase, which Principal Brewer attributes to what Unity likes to call the “Khan Effect.”
By continuing to use Khan Academy in their math classes, Unity Charter High School hopes to give students a new sense of responsibility and control of their academic success.
“The secret is getting a kid to develop real confidence in their ability and then to just kind of get them over the hump that it’s okay to struggle with this stuff,” says Brewer. “That’s what we’re seeing kids do. I think that’s the most exciting part. The perseverance - just seeing that develop.”
Stephanie Scerra is a student reporter at Mills College in Oakland. | <urn:uuid:5dcdf890-2bc5-424b-b205-37593d300d4e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kalw.org/post/modern-approach-old-school-problem-teaching-kids-math | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970736 | 971 | 3.34375 | 3 |
Nine Peruvian miners emerged into the daylight Wednesday morning after six days trapped in a collapsed mine.
State television showed the miners leaving the mine, each supported by two rescuers. They wore sunglasses to protect their eyes from the light, after spending so much time in darkness.
For days, a tube snaked down to the collapsed cavern was the only connection the miners had to the surface. It provided them with oxygen, food and water, as well as communication.
Peruvian President Ollanta Humala greeted the miners at the mouth of the mine. The group unfurled the red and white Peruvian flag and waved at television cameras.
"We are happy that this high-risk operation was successful," said Claudio Saenz, a fire department official with knowledge of the rescue efforts.
The miners had been stuck since Thursday in the wildcat Cabeza de Negro mine in southern Peru.
A cave-in over the weekend slowed rescue efforts.
It was not clear what caused the initial collapse.
Humala's government has made a push for illegal mines and miners in Peru to be formalized and regulated so that risks decrease.
After the rescue, he made a similar argument. | <urn:uuid:896aca45-e22b-4d80-ab09-8e0143699470> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kcci.com/news/national/Peru-Nine-miners-rescued-after-six-days-underground/-/9357144/10482262/-/74etdqz/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96936 | 245 | 2.6875 | 3 |
Power rule introduction Determining the derivatives of simple polynomials.
Power rule introduction
⇐ Use this menu to view and help create subtitles for this video in many different languages. You'll probably want to hide YouTube's captions if using these subtitles.
- Welcome back.
- In the last presentation I showed you that if I had the
- function f of x is equal to x squared, that the derivative of
- this function, which is denoted by f-- look at that, my pen
- is already malfunctioning.
- The derivative of that function, f prime of
- x, is equal to 2x.
- And I used the limit definition of a derivative.
- I used, let me write it down here.
- This pen is horrible.
- I need to really figure out some other tool to use.
- The limit as h approaches 0 -- sometimes you'll see delta x
- instead of h, but it's the same thing-- of f of x plus
- h minus f of x over h.
- And I used this definition of a derivative, which is really
- just the slope at any given point along the curve,
- to figure this out.
- That if f of x is equal to x squared, that
- the derivative is 2x.
- And you could actually use this to do others.
- And I won't do it now, maybe I'll do it in a
- future presentation.
- But it turns out that if you have f of x is equal to x to
- the third, that the derivative is f prime of x is
- equal to 3x squared.
- If f of x is equal to x to the fourth, well then the
- derivative is equal to 4x to the third.
- I think you're starting to see a pattern here.
- If I actually wrote up here that if f of x -- let me see
- if I have space to write it neatly.
- If I wrote f of x -- I hope you can see this -- f
- of x is equal to x.
- Well you know this.
- I mean, y equals x, what's the slope of y equals x?
- That's just 1, right?
- y equals x, that's a slope of 1.
- You didn't need to know calculus to know that.
- f prime of x is just equal to 1.
- And then you can probably guess what the next one is.
- If f of x is equal to x to the fifth, then the derivative is--
- I think you could guess-- 5 x to the fourth.
- So in general, for any expression within a polynomial,
- or any degree x to whatever power-- let's say f of x is
- equal to-- this pen drives me nuts.
- f of x is equal to x to the n, right?
- Where n could be any exponent.
- Then f prime of x is equal to nx to the n minus 1.
- And you see this is what the case was in all
- these situations.
- That 1 didn't show up.
- n minus 1.
- So if n was 25, x to the 25th power, the derivative
- would be 25 x to the 24th.
- So I'm going to use this rule and then I'm going to show
- you a couple of other ones.
- And then now we can figure out the derivative of pretty much
- any polynomial function.
- So just another couple of rules.
- This might be a little intuitive for you, and if you
- use that limit definition of a derivative, you could
- actually prove it.
- But if I want to figure out the derivative of, let's say, the
- derivative of-- So another way of-- this is kind of, what is
- the change with respect to x?
- This is another notation.
- I think this is what Leibniz uses to figure out the
- derivative operator.
- So if I wanted to find the derivative of A f of x, where A
- is just some constant number.
- It could be 5 times f of x.
- This is the same thing as saying A times the
- derivative of f of x.
- And what does that tell us?
- Well, this tells us that, let's say I had f of x.
- f of x is equal to-- and this only works with the constants--
- f of x is equal to 5x squared.
- Well this is the same thing as 5 times x squared.
- I know I'm stating the obvious.
- So we can just say that the derivative of this is just 5
- times the derivative of x squared.
- So f prime of x is equal to 5 times, and what's the
- derivative of x squared?
- Right, it's 2x.
- So it equals 10x.
- Similarly, let's say I had g of x, just using
- a different letter.
- g of x is equal to-- and my pen keeps malfunctioning.
- g of x is equal to, let's say, 3x to the 12th.
- Then g prime of x, or the derivative of g, is equal
- to 3 times the derivative of x to the 12th.
- Well we know what that is.
- It's 12 x to the 11th.
- Which you would have seen.
- 12x to the 11th.
- This equals 36x to the 11th.
- Pretty straightforward, right?
- You just multiply the constant times whatever the
- derivative would have been.
- I think you get that.
- Now one other thing.
- If I wanted to apply the derivative operator-- let me
- change colors just to mix things up a little bit.
- Let's say if I wanted to apply the derivative of operator-- I
- think this is called the addition rule.
- It might be a little bit obvious.
- f of x plus g of x.
- This is the same thing as the derivative of f of x plus
- the derivative3 of g of x.
- That might seem a little complicated to you, but all
- it's saying is that you can find the derivative of each of
- the parts when you're adding up, and then that's the
- derivative of the whole thing.
- I'll do a couple of examples.
- So what does this tell us?
- This is also the same thing, of course.
- This is, I believe, Leibniz's notation.
- And then Lagrange's notation is-- of course these were the
- founding fathers of calculus.
- That's the same thing as f prime of x plus g prime of x.
- And let me apply this, because whenever you apply it, I think
- it starts to seem a lot more obvious.
- So let's say f of x is equal to 3x squared plus 5x plus 3.
- Well, if we just want to figure out the derivative, we say f
- prime of x, we just find the derivative of each
- of these terms.
- Well, this is 3 times the derivative of x squared.
- The derivative of x squared, we already figured
- out, is 2x, right?
- So this becomes 6x.
- Really you just take the 2, multiply it by the 3, and
- then decrement the 2 by 1.
- So it's really 6x to the first, which is the same thing as 6x.
- Plus the derivative of 5x is 5.
- And you know that because if I just had a line that's y equals
- 5x, the slope is 5, right?
- Plus, what's the derivative of a constant function?
- What's the derivative of 3?
- Well, I'll give you a hint.
- Graph y equals 3 and tell me what the slope is.
- Right, the derivative of a constant is 0.
- I'll show other times why that might be more intuitive.
- Plus 0.
- You can just ignore that.
- f prime of x is equal to 6x plus 5.
- Let's do some more.
- I think the more examples we do, the better.
- And I want to keep switching notations, so you don't get
- daunted whenever you see it in a different way.
- Let's say y equals 10x to the fifth minus 7x to the
- third plus 4x plus 1.
- So here we're going to apply the derivative operator.
- So we say dy-- this is I think Leibniz's
- notation-- dy over dx.
- And that's just the change in y over the change in x,
- over very small changes.
- That's kind of how I view this d, like a very small delta.
- Is equal to 5 times 10 is 50 x to the fourth minus 21 --
- right, 3 times 7-- x squared plus 4.
- And then the 1, the derivative of 1 is just 0.
- So there it is.
- We figured out the derivative of this very
- complicated function.
- And it was pretty straightforward.
- I think you'll find that derivatives of polynomials are
- actually more straightforward than a lot of concepts that you
- learned a lot earlier in mathematics.
- That's all the time I have now for this presentation.
- In the next couple I'll just do a bunch of more examples, and
- I'll show you some more rules for solving even more
- complicated derivatives.
- See you in the next presentation.
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At 5:31, how is the moon large enough to block the sun? Isn't the sun way larger?
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about the site | <urn:uuid:5ce7919a-0d15-4854-acc2-e3b0fffddd41> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.khanacademy.org/math/calculus/differential-calculus/power_rule_tutorial/v/calculus--derivatives-3 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934677 | 2,364 | 4.1875 | 4 |
For some parents the news from school that their child may have a learning disability can leave them feeling confused and in some cases lead to total denial.
First of all, it is important to remember that your child’s school are trying to help, they have detected a potential problem and have taken action and that can only be good. You have probably been called in to speak with your child’s teacher and it can be a shock to hear the news. Primarily as parents we worry about the label ‘disability’ and then that’s closely followed by worry of how this is going to affect our child’s future.
The school will usually want to have your child seen by a school psychologist, all sounding very scary when it’s new, to correctly identify the learning disability and therefore put together a plan to help your child. It is sometimes helpful to remind yourself that many successful, well known and frankly very clever people were diagnosed with learning disabilities, such as Walt Disney and Winston Churchill. The process of diagnosis will lead to your child achieving far more in the long run but much of this will depend on your reaction.
It’s important to remember that each one of us is an individual and each of us learns in a slightly different way. Learning disabilities affect the receiving and processing part of the brain, which can make it difficult for a child to learn as quickly when faced with traditional teaching methods. Some learning disabilities affect a child’s ability to concentrate, perhaps causing their mind to wander. Other learning disabilities can interfere with reading, writing or even solving math’s problems. Unlike a physical disability you can’t tell by looking at someone and therefore it can take longer to diagnose. It’s not unusual for a child to be diagnosed later in their education, as many children become masters at covering their learning issues. The stress caused by a learning disability is greatly reduced for everyone involved once a plan of action to help has been put in place. Work with your child’s school and learn as much as you can about your child’s particular needs. A plan put in place to help your child at school will also work at home too and with everyone working towards the same goal your child stands the best chance for success. | <urn:uuid:0c453354-34d5-4f7f-a409-335b2bff41f0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kideeko.co.uk/education-and-learning/labelled-with-a-learning-disability | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983813 | 466 | 3.015625 | 3 |
A historian looks at the crisis-related problems remaining on President John F. Kennedy’s desk in the immediate wake of the Cold War’s most dangerous moment.
Coleman (History/Univ. of Virginia; co-author, Real-World Nuclear Deterrence: The Making of International Strategy, 2006) reminds us that for Kennedy and his advisors, the crisis played out for months afterward, really until February 1963. Drawing heavily from the secret White House tapes, the author reconstructs the debates within the administration on at least three issues of greatest concern. First, notwithstanding Krushchev’s agreement to withdraw “the weapons you call offensive” from Cuba, serious questions remained as to what exactly he meant. Long-range nuclear weapons, of course, but did the Soviet premier intend to include bombers, Russian combat troops and short-range missiles? Moreover, with Cuba vetoing any ground inspections, how would the United States verify that the missiles were gone? Second, satisfying the American public on this score was part of what drove JFK’s determination to channel and control the story, and to counter the inevitable Republican charges of mismanagement of and responsibility for the possible intelligence failure the nuclear showdown exposed. Third, this effort exacerbated an ongoing battle with the press about the administration’s tight hold over information, needless restrictions, critics charged, that enabled the government to “manage the news” for its own political ends. Coleman treats Kennedy well, calling his authorization of warrantless wiretaps on journalists merely “dubious,” skipping lightly over the administration’s willingness to appease public concern by exposing intelligence collection capabilities, and generally approving of the president’s unwillingness to press Krushchev too far on Russian concessions.
A briskly charted tale of the neglected denouement of the defining event of JFK’s presidency. | <urn:uuid:0bc51de7-878e-4d6c-8c4d-0172f3d5d863> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/david-g-coleman/fourteenth-day/print/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93313 | 383 | 2.703125 | 3 |
|Holocene Kamchatka volcanoes||
Institute of Volcanology and Seismology
Global Volcanism Program number
54°32' N, 159°48' E, summit elevation 2353 m
Most people look at Taunshits volcano from southeast, and see a huge Late Pleistocene edifice, consisting of a large tuya pedestal, formed during the last glaciation, and a central cone loaded by several extrusive domes (Figs. 1, 2). Moraines dotted with abundant thermocarst lakes surround the volcano and form spectacular "Sinii Dol" ("Blue Plateau") south of it. However, Taunshits secret is hidden on its rarely visited western slope, which demonstrates traces of violent Holocene activity: a large horseshoe-shaped crater with an extrusive dome and lava flow inside (Fig. 3).
The volcano had frequent moderate eruptions in the very beginning of the Holocene. About 7700 14C yrs BP a catastrophic eruption took place preceded by a failure of the western sector of the edifice. The landslide formed a horseshoe-shaped crater 1.5 km in diameter and a debris avalanche with travel distance of about 19 km and a volume of 3 km3. The debris avalanche deposits are overlain by stratified pyroclastic surge deposits, plinian fall-out and later pyroclastic flow and surge deposits.
The most recent eruption of Taunshits took place about 2400 14C yr BP. It was preceded by moderate activity in the mid-Holocene time associated with the growth of an extrusive dome in the crater of the 7700 eruption. The most recent activity began with a phreatic explosion followed by an eruption of andesitic material which formed pyroclastic flow and surge deposits, and then a lava flow (Fig. 3). Ash from this eruption can be traced over a vast territory between Kronotskoe Lake and Bol'shoi Semiachik massif. Holocene products of the volcano are dominated by hornblende-bearing mid-potassic andesites of the calcalkaline series.
The Taunshits eruptive history suggests that it still can resume its activity and produce hazardous pumice fallout and pyroclastic flows. However, it has never been included into catalogues of recent volcanoes, possibly because people looked at it from southeast.
Leonov VL, Grib EN, Kartasheva LA (1990) On the structure and age of Taunshits volcano. Voprosy Geographii Kamchatki 10: 156-166 (In Russian)
Melekestsev IV, Braitseva OA, Ponomareva VV (1998) Taunshits volcano, Eastern Kamchatka: a newly recognized potentially active and hazardous center and its past catastrophic eruptions. Colima volcano Sixth International Meeting. University of Colima, January 26-30 1998 | <urn:uuid:fce6934a-69e3-4592-aa79-07709d2865b6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/volcanoes/holocene/main/textpage/taunshits.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.912936 | 612 | 3 | 3 |
Learning Center: Student Resources
Writing, Grammar, Skills, & Spelling Links
- NEW! Irregular Verb Forms. Use this gLINKT game to learn the past and participle forms of irregular verbs.
- NEW! Study Guides and Strategies. This web site has been researched, authored, maintained and supported by Joe Landsberger as an international, learner-centric, educational public service.
- NEW! Note-taking Skills and Test-taking Skills PowerPoint presentations. These presentations offer tips on how to successfully study for tests and write essays for exams given during class.
- Wikipedia. A big, free encyclopedia currently containing over 550,000 articles.
- Encyclopedia. Online Encyclopedia with more than 50,000 articles.
- Paradigm Online Writing Assistant. A lot of information about how to write informal essays, thesis/support essays, argumentative essays, and exploratory essays.
- Guide to Grammar and Writing. Excellent grammar quizzes, explanations of grammar points, and presentation of writing guidelines.
- Active / Passive Verb Chart. This Color-Coded Chart has examples of switching from active to passive voice in a variety of verb tenses.
- Grammar Exercises. Hundreds of free categorized grammar exercises.
- Vocabulary Learning Fun. Vocabulary quizzes and games to help build vocabulary skills.
- Touch Typing. Free Program that lets you practice and learn typing.
- SpellingCity provides an online free site where students can practice their spelling words using fun online word games. Create your own list of words to study.
- Stories for reading practice. Fifty free short English stories with grammar, comprehension, and dictation exercises.
- Translation. Translate a paragraph into another language with one click.
- How to Write a Resume. Resume examples and tips on writing resumes, writing cover letters, finding a job, and interviewing.
- How to Write a Summary. From Phil Drucker at U of Idaho. Sample summary.
- How to Paraphrase and Summarize (pdf format) or (html format). From Jerry Plotnick, Director of the University College Writing Workshop. | <urn:uuid:cb20cee2-9328-42e3-ab47-a2dbd3270143> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lamission.edu/learningcenter/WritingGrammarSpelling.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.821672 | 440 | 3.03125 | 3 |
About the Lantern Festival Legends, this post is about the history lighting colourful lantern. Long long ago, there were a lot of ferocious beasts, they hurted human and livestocks everywhere, therefore, people combined togeter to fight against them. Unfortunately, a uninformed hunter killed a bird from paradise who lost its way in mortal world by mistake.
The Emperor of Heaven got furious when he heard about this, he promulgated an edict immediately, let the heaven’s soldiers set fire to mortal world every the 15th day of the first month, to burn out everything in mortal’s world. The Emperor of Heaven’s daughter is very kindhearted, she couldn’t have the heart to watch innocent people suffering. So she came to the mortal world by cloud secretly, risked her life to pass the message to people. The people are appalled at the message, felt like a thunder blast in the head.
After a long time, an old person come up with a sure way, he said: “In the first month 14th, 15th, 16th. Every household turned on the lanterns, burn firecrackers, and lit Smoke. Then the Jade Emperor‘s soldiers would think that people have been burned to death.
Everyone nodded, and prepared separately. In the fifteenth day evening, the Jade Emperor looked at the earth and found there were full of red light, noise deafening. And it continued for three nights, thought it was fire burning flames, feel very well.In this way, the people keep their lives and property. To commemorate this success, every fifteenth day, every household hung chinese lanterns, and burn firecrackers to mark the occasion.
Continue to read the other Lantern Festival Legends:
Or you can get some knowledge about: | <urn:uuid:90141e2a-2633-4172-b858-f45793c91754> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lantern-festival.com/about-lantern-festival/legend-of-lantern-festival-1.html/comment-page-1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960693 | 369 | 2.515625 | 3 |
After reading a book or short story, you, the reader, must know the plot, theme (significance), characterization, point of view, setting, style, ending and tone of the work.
If you organize this information on note cards it will make writing the report easier. Even better, put paper slips or note cards between those pages that you want to quote passages from, or dialogue that illustrates those points that you want to make.
Plot - what is the story; a summary of the action.
Theme - the subject or central idea of the work.
Style / Structure - how the author uses words. For example Anne Rice, Stephen King, R.L. Stine, and Dean Koontz are horror writers but their styles are very different.
Setting - time and place, how does it contribute, does it shape or reveal character, does it have a symbolic value.
Point of View - first person, third person; again what does it reveal about the characters, how do the characters see events, how does it affect plot.
Characterization - what motivates them, how does setting effect them, what purpose do the minor characters serve, how are they described, is the main character active or passive.
ELEMENTS THAT SHOULD BE IN YOUR PAPER
- Impression - did you like it
- Analysis - did the author accomplish what he or she set out to do
- What does it mean
- Orientation - how does this work fit in with other works by the same author, other
- writers of the same genre, others of their time period
- Value - does it have any appeal, who is the audience for this
- Generalization - what broad statement can be made about this work
WHAT ELSE SHOULD YOU DO?
Read a brief biography of your writer to get a sense of who they are and what they have written. The index to CONTEMPORARY AUTHORS should be your first stop; it covers much more than just contemporary authors.
WHAT ELSE COULD YOU DO?
Read what other critics/reviewers have written.
Remember the librarians can help you! There are many sources for reviews and criticism, both printed and electronic. Just ask for help; that's one of the reasons we are here. All titles listed below are located in the Literature and Fiction Department.
How to Write Book Reports by Harry Teitelbaum (029.61 T265)
Modern English Handbook (808 G673)
A general English handbook but Chapter 18 (p. 353-366) is a concise guide to writing the book report. It also includes samples of criticism for poems and plays.
Writing Essays About Literature by Kelly Griffith (808 G853)
In addition to the basic points of writing essays this has many samples of criticism, including criticism of plays and poetry.
Literary Terms by Karl Beckson (803 B397 1987)
Arranged dictionary style but like the following book, it is a good source for definitions such as: theme, motif, dramatic monologue, etc.
A Handbook to Literature (803 H747)
Arranged dictionary style this book has clear definitions for such terms as: style, theme, mood, gothic novel, point of view, romanticism, etc.
The Holt Guide to English (808 I69)
Another standard textbook. Chapter 12 "writing on Literary Topics" (p. 300-411) covers the same points as the others but this has suggestions for your approach to writing and samples that include poetry, plays and a popular song lyric.
Holt Handbook (808 K615)
Brief and to the point; see chapter 41 "Writing About Literature," (p.700-712.)
How to Write Themes and Essays (808 M122)
Has 36 samples with constructive comments about them. What is unique about this book is that on page 129 there is a typical grade sheet; in other words what constitutes an "A", a "B", a "C" etc. followed by good information on how to begin and end your report / critique.
BIOGRAPHY / CRITICISM SOURCES
Contemporary Authors (809 C761 - Room Reference - Section #4) Biographies of approximately 100,000 writers, living and deceased.
Contemporary Literary Criticism, Twentieth Century Literary Criticism, Nineteenth Century Literary Criticism, Classical And Medieval Criticism excerpts from thousand of critical reviews. (These series of books are all located in Room Reference Section #1.) | <urn:uuid:81634599-a48f-4dce-a6b7-e71f8b8cce39> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lapl.org/collections-resources/research-guides/book-reports | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930385 | 938 | 3.75 | 4 |
Teacher resources and professional development across the curriculum
Teacher professional development and classroom resources across the curriculum
Standards of Quality for School-Based and
Community-Based Service Learning
School-based and community-based service learning initiatives have much in common, and both are served by attention to standards of good practice. Each desires to serve and educate young people. Both are strengthened by community service activities that are recognized by the community and the youth as meaningful. Subtle differences exist, however. Where school-based initiatives can benefit from intentionally linking the service experiences of students to what they are studying in the classroom, community-based initiatives can be strengthened by developing specific learning objectives fitted to the mission of the sponsoring or recipient agency. Yet, even when these differences exist, school-based and community-based service learning initiatives can each be strengthened by a better understanding of the language, objectives, interests, and issues faced by the other. The presentation of the two sets of standards together helps identify areas of significant overlap and subtle divergence, and underscores the opportunities for schools and community agencies to work together for common goals.
Community service is a powerful tool for youth development. It facilitates the transformation of a young person from a passive recipient to an active service provider and consequently helps redefine the perception of youth in the community from a cause of problems to a source of solutions. When combined with formal education (school-based) and/or when thoughtfully organized to provide concrete opportunities for youth to acquire knowledge and skills and to make a positive contribution, (community-based) service becomes a method of learning or "service learning." Service learning enables teachers and youth development professionals to employ a variety of effective teaching strategies that emphasize youth-centered, interactive, experiential education. Service learning integrates curricular concepts with "real-life" situations and empowers youth to analyze, evaluate, and synthesize these concepts through practical problem solving, often in service to the community.
Service learning connects young people to their community, placing them in challenging situations where they associate with adults and accumulate experiences that can strengthen traditional academic studies. Service learning also makes classroom study relevant, as young people apply their skills in the world beyond the school's walls with work in math, social studies, language arts, and science.
Service activities provide an opportunity for youth and adults to work together in solving community problems and improving the quality of life. In the process of working toward common goals, youth and adults engage in meaningful dialogue and develop trust and respect for each other. They recognize both have needed skills and knowledge to contribute to society. Awareness and acceptance of significant roles for youth in the community are powerful forces in dispelling the sense of isolation and alienation so many young people suffer today.
Although the terms "service learning" and "community service" are sometimes used interchangeably, they are not synonymous. Community service can be, and often is, a powerful experience for young people, but community service ripens to service learning when there is a deliberate and explicit connection made between service and learning opportunities that are then accompanied by conscious and thoughtful occasions to prepare for and reflect on the service experience.
Effective service learning responds to the needs of the community as well as to the developmental and learning needs of youth. Duration of the service role, type of service, desired outcomes, and the structure for reflection must all be designed to be age-appropriate. Service learning is most effective when it combines community needs and youth's interests and is compatible with young people's skills and abilities.
The following standards of service learning are not a list of absolutes or even a complete inventory of the elements that contribute to high quality. When these standards were developed, recognition was given to the wide diversity of regions, populations, communities, and programs they will embrace. They are designed to be broad reaching in their scope, yet concrete enough to be translated into action as a measure of success in the use of service learning.
What Is Service Learning?
School Based Experiences
© Annenberg Foundation 2013. All rights reserved. Legal Policy. | <urn:uuid:98d91ffe-63be-401d-8c3d-c374d2fcc109> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.learner.org/workshops/civics/workshop6/readings/standards$1.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960969 | 817 | 3.453125 | 3 |
H. B. 4594
(By Delegate Canterbury)
[Introduced February 17, 2012; referred to the
Committee on Education.]
A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated §18-2-7d, relating to requiring inclusion of science fiction reading material in certain existing middle school and high school courses to stimulate interest in the fields of math and science.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated §18-2-7d, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION.
§18-2-7d. Science fiction reading material to be included in curriculum to stimulate interest in math and science.
The Legislature finds that promoting interest in and appreciation for the study of math and science among students is critical to preparing students to compete in the workforce and to assure the economic well being of the state and the nation. To stimulate interest in math and science among students in the public schools of this state, the State Board of Education shall prescribe minimum standards by which samples of grade-appropriate science fiction literature are integrated into the curriculum of existing reading, literature or other required courses for middle school and high school students.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require that science fiction reading material be incorporated into the curriculum for middle school and high school students to stimulate interest in the study of math and science.
This section is new; therefore, it has been completely underscored. | <urn:uuid:41216d0d-0d03-4f27-aa22-d3d890618722> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.legis.state.wv.us/bill_status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=hb4594%20intr.htm&yr=2012&sesstype=RS&i=4594 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939015 | 334 | 2.65625 | 3 |
- Learner-centered instruction develops creative and critical thinking skills.
- Symbol aided problem solving through movement promotes confidence, self-expression, and reflection.
- Construction of understanding by each learner to speed ownership of knowledge.
- Application of LOD conceptual framework promotes dance literacy.
- Physical experience of Movement Alphabet concepts acquires deeper significance when linked with the actual movement symbol.
- Motif Notation reinforces the body-mind experience of the Movement Alphabet concepts. | <urn:uuid:cc2882f9-ea6c-4ed2-86ca-e32530936cfc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lodcusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=59&Itemid=66 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.791314 | 96 | 3.609375 | 4 |
Our research team is interested in children's learning and remembering, and the important role that parents can play in children's cognitive development. Some of our work involves longitudinal observations of parent-child interactions over time as children's skills for learning and remembering develop. Other work involves teaching parents the best ways to promote children's memory. Another branch of our research program explores ways parents and other educators can support children's learning of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). All of the work is aimed at contributing to understanding and improving young children's cognitive skills.
The lab provides research opportunities for students at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. | <urn:uuid:919717b2-3848-4ddc-8f00-37357c061e80> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.luc.edu/childrensmemory/index.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953916 | 126 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Michael Barone, writing in The Washington Examiner, pointed out that this is not the first time a political party forced an unpopular bill through Congress by a narrow margin. While he was at it, he described the consequences of the battle.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 was pushed through Congress by the Democratic Party without a single vote from the opposition Whig party. Stephen A. Douglas, of the Lincoln — Douglass Debates, in his eighth year as senator from Illinois, led the battle. The Democratic Party had control of Congress and the presidency. They won the previous presidential election by 254 electoral votes for Franklin Pierce to only 42 for Winfield Scott.
The Kansas-Nebraska act overturned the Missouri Compromise that had limited the extension of slavery in the northwest territory leaving the newly created states to decide for themselves if they would accept the “peculiar institution.”
Opponents of the action responded by killing off the Whig party and launching a totally new “Republican” party. A bloody political campaign between the supporters and opponents of slavery in the Kansas territory resulting in the slogan of “Bleeding Kansas.” Eventually, this power play by the Democrats led to the election of Abraham Lincoln as president by the new party, which was the final straw forcing the Southern states to feel they had no choice but to secede from the union, which in turn lead to the outbreak of the War for Southern Independence.
Now I do not think the action by the Democrats to ram an unwanted health bill down the throats of Americans will lead to a civil war. But it stands a chance of causing a major political upheaval that once again may lead to a new political party and likely damage the Democratic Party so severely that they are at risk of being in the minority for years to come.
A recent poll listed a large number of people who wish George Bush were still president. A generic poll showed the Republicans with an eight-point lead over the Democrats. The Tea Party movement is making noises about organizing a new party and the idea polls well among the voters.
President Obama’s approval ratings are the lowest of any recent president after one year in office. The voters are restless and very unhappy about the way the country is going under his leadership.
History may be about to repeat itself again. The national Democratic Party is forcing an unwanted bill through Congress on a totally partisan basis, and the majority of Americans do not like it. Many of them are “mad as hell and are not going to take it anymore.”
It is normal for the party in power to lose seats in Congress during the mid term elections. But the Democrats are at risk of losing much more than that. They might lose control of both houses of the legislature, and I do not think that President Obama has the political skills to deal with an opposition congress.
2010 will be a very interesting year, and 2012 may well bring the upheaval that the physics are predicting.
Put on your helmets and strap up your seatbelts. I think we are in for a very bumpy ride.
Frank Gillispie is founder of The Madison County Journal. His e-mail address is [email protected]. His website can be accessed at http://www.frankgillispie.com/gillispieonline.
That means 60% are happy George Bush is not still president.
And health care is hardly unpopular. Polls show an overwhelming majority favor health care reform. The only thing people are upset about this bill is that 75% of Americans support a govt. operated public option and those Americans are upset that the public option may not make it into the bill.
What part of the overwhelming number of Americans CHOICE of Obama and Democrats over the Republicans who crashed our economy and ran our deficit through the roof do some fringe teabagging nutjobs not understand?
George Bush increased our deficit and national debt more than any President in the history of the United States. Think about that. More than any tax and spend liberal President EVER. More than Jimmy Carter. More than Lyndon Johnson. More than FDR. A republican. Conservative? Yeah, right.
At least with health care we will get something for our money and it won't all go to republican pals in Halliburton, Blackwater, and Bush's Saudi Arabian and Texas oil pals. | <urn:uuid:eaf4aabc-b628-43d6-be0a-00e0df342a03> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.madisonjournaltoday.com/archives/2469-OPINION-History-may-be-about-to-repeat-itself.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966669 | 896 | 2.765625 | 3 |
Introduction—Boston of Benjamin Franklin's Youth
HIS web presentation displays materials relating to Benjamin Franklin’s youthful career as a fledging journalist and newspaper publisher in Boston, before he left for Philadelphia—and everlasting fame—in 1723.
Benjamin Franklin was born on Milk Street in Boston on 6 January 1706 (old style), the son of Josiah and Abiah Franklin. Many years later, in his celebrated Autobiography, Franklin described his childhood along the Boston waterfront in relatively idyllic terms. However, as one of seventeen children of a tallow merchant and cloth dyer, by the time he was twelve he had left school for good and become an apprentice to his older brother, James, the printer and publisher of The New-England Courant, an early Boston newspaper, located on Queen Street.
The "Couranteers," as the contributors to James Franklin's paper came to be known, started something new in America--a lively journal, without ties to the Massachusetts colonial government, that published attacks on Boston's political and religious establishment. The "Couranteers" expressed strong opinions on religion, politics, free speech, and smallpox inoculation, to name a few. Click here for a brief account about the Courant and the smallpox controversy. Their satirical attacks grew so strong that James Franklin was imprisoned and later forbidden to publish without prior censorship. James went into hiding, but The New-England Courant continued to appear with his teenage brother Benjamin at the helm.
It was also during this apprenticeship, that Benjamin Franklin became a published writer, contributing a series of essays to the Courant under the name of Silence Dogood.
Funding from the Richard Saltonstall Charitable Foundation supported this project. | <urn:uuid:04d75544-f263-4423-b7b1-80c881d1af44> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.masshist.org/online/silence_dogood/essay.php?entry_id=202 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967806 | 354 | 3.4375 | 3 |
Although short, Seychelles’ history is as colourful as its beauty. For many centuries the archipelago remained a well-kept secret. Even if Arab manuscripts from the 12th century talk of ‘high islands’ beyond the Maldives, it wasn’t before 1544 that the Seychelles first appeared on Portuguese maps under the name of ‘The Seven Sisters’ and ‘The Brothers’. It is possible that the islands were frequented by even earlier explorers who came to its shores in search of food and water.
However, one thing is for sure: once the mysterious coco de mer was discovered, Arab merchants kept its location a secret for so rare and mystical was the giant nut that it was worth the price of gold. Other frequent visitors included fearsome pirates who, chased out of the Caribbean by the British Navy, sailed to the Indian Ocean to terrorise the valuable Spice Route. Traces of their passage have been left on many of Seychelles’ islands…
It was Frenchman Captain Morphey who, after a series of expeditions in the 18th Century, first took possession of Mahé and several nearby islands on behalf of the King of France. To mark the occasion, the monumental ‘Possession Stone’ was erected on the first of November 1756 and the islands were named Seychelles, in honour of Vicompte Moreau de Sechelle who was controller-general of France at the time. 14 years later, the French established a settlement on St. Anne Island made up of “fifteen whites, five Malabar Indians and eight Africans”. Towards the end of 1771, another party was sent to the bigger island of Mahe to set up the “Jardin du Roy” – a spice plantation on the southeastern coast of the island. This was done with the aim of allowing the French to compete with the Dutch in the valuable spice trade.
During the Napoleonic Wars, the islands passed from French to English rule then back again several times over, before the British finally took over as colonial masters in 1811. Besides being strategic points in the route between India and the Cape, the Seychelles were being used by French corsairs, who were making their own profits by plundering British East India Company ships.
However, for several years life under the British was no different from during the wars. The French administrator, Quéau de Quinssy was even allowed to stay even after the hand over. With this liberal attitude, it is not surprising that the colony maintained much of its French character. This was reinforced by the arrival of the Catholic Church in 1851. A British woman writing in 1893 sums up the state of affairs: ‘the islands are but English in name – indeed they are as much French as they were a hundred years ago. The language, manner and customs are emphatically French; French is spoken in the law courts, where French law is also preeminent, and in the Government-aided schools English is taught only as a subject.’
During the 19th century, many ships arrived with hundreds of liberated Africans, rescued from Arab slave traders operating out of Zanzibar. Seychelles was a favoured place of emancipation and the new arrivals were quickly hired as labourers on the many coconut plantations. In 1903, the islands acquired the status of a separate British crown colony. A clock tower, a replica of London’s Vauxhall Bridge Tower in Victoria, was erected in the centre of the capital to commemorate the event.
Seychelles gained its independence from Britain in 1976 and since then has been an independent Republic within the British Commonwealth. Today, the islands’ thriving population is made up of a colourful blend of 80 000 people of which 90% live on the main Island of Mahé with the rest scattered on Praslin, La Digue and some other smaller Islands. | <urn:uuid:f743ac7c-7daa-42fc-99d5-49045f8732ca> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mauritius.com/(S(r2ssco2rm4jvbnkytg2ygeal))/Info/AboutSeychelles.aspx?NewsID=15&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978231 | 812 | 2.953125 | 3 |
Located in northeast Arkansas, Mississippi County was established by Act of the Territorial Legislature on November 1, 1833, and was named for the Mississippi River which forms the entire eastern boundary.
The City of Osceola was the original county seat. The County became a dual seat by Act 81 of 1901. This Act divided Mississippi County into Judicial Districts, the Osceola District and the Chickasawba District. The Blytheville Court House was first erected in 1902. In 1919, the present Blytheville Court House was erected.
Mississippi County's rich Delta soil still supports a large but more various farming industry; including cotton and soybeans. Additionally, the County is a strong producer of wheat and rice. The drastic move away from labor intensive methods, however, has brought new challenges to the county's people and their leaders. The move toward a more machine intensive output allows for increased productivity and capital use.
After a period of population loss, due to the closing of Eaker Air Force Base, which effected employment numbers, the county began to work to attract industry that would create a broader and more stable economic base.
Mississippi County now has Nucor-Yamato and Nucor Steel in Blytheville, and other steel processing plants which officials say, makes this County one of the top steel producers in the country. American Greetings, Creative Foods LLC, Maverick Tube Corp., Coil Tec, Terra International, Milwaukee Tool, Siegel-Roberts, NIBCO, and other businesses of various kinds thrive over Mississippi County.
Cotton Boll Technical Institute, and the first all solar-powered college in the nation, Mississippi County Community College is now Arkansas Northeastern College, offers a variety of educational experiences to upgrade the skills of the work force at every level.
Mississippi County leaders have implemented intensive grant research and application projects. Recently, the County received a $2.9million Enterprise Community Grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and has received designation through the Foundation for the Mid-South (funded by Pew Charitable Trusts) as a Workforce Alliance Community to increase work force labor skills and training initiatives.
Big Lake National Wildlife Refuge, the oldest federal refuge in Arkansas, is the only comparatively large area remaining in northeast Arkansas that contains a significant amount of virgin timber. About 5,000 acres has been designated as a National Natural Landmark. It contains the 500-acre Bald Cypress Research National Area of century-old cypress trees. Evidence has been found of almost 25 centuries of human occupancy of this region.
Big Lake Wildlife Management Area is one of the last remaining large tracts of bottomland hard-woods in northeast Arkansas and offers good hunting and fishing. The southern end contains a unique cypress-tupelo brake that is outstanding for bird watching, thus making Mississippi County popular with bird watchers and outdoor sports fans.
This information was researched from This Is Arkansas, 1993; Mississippi County Arkansas: Through The Years; and The Delta Historical Review, Summer, 1993. | <urn:uuid:13747e7c-ad0f-45f9-9984-43344be70610> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mcagov.com/history | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951872 | 623 | 3.109375 | 3 |
Effectiveness of One Dose of 2009 Influenza A (H1N1) Vaccine at Preventing Hospitalization with Pandemic H1N1 Influenza in Children 7 Months to 9 Years of Age Full Text
The Journal of Infectious Diseases, 05/04/2012
Hadler JL et al. – These findings are consistent with those from prelicensure immunogenicity studies and have implications for interpretation of immunogenicity studies and setting priorities for vaccination of young children in future pandemics. Immunization registries can provide a simple, rapid assessment of VE to evaluate and inform vaccination policy. | <urn:uuid:9c109140-e0ea-4abc-94ac-54916775d2ab> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mdlinx.com/infectious-disease/news-article.cfm/4059596/0/influenza-a-virus-h1n1-subtype/next/1?source=scroller | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.827436 | 126 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Cold smoking at 52-71° F (12-22° C), from 1-14 days, applying thin smoke with occasional breaks in between, is one of the oldest preservation methods. We cannot produce cold smoke if the outside temperature is 90° F (32° C), unless we can cool it down, which is what some industrial smokers do. Cold smoking is a drying process whose purpose is to remove moisture thus preserving a product.
You will find that different sources provide different temperatures for cold smoking. In European countries where most of the cold smoking is done, the upper temperature is accepted as 86° F (30° C). The majority of Russian, Polish and German meat technology books call for 71° F (22° C), some books ask for 77° F (25° C). Fish starts to cook at 85° F (29.4° C) and if you want to make delicious cold smoked salmon that is smoked for a long time, obviously you can not exceed 86° F (30° C). Cold smoking assures us of total smoke penetration inside of the meat. The loss of moisture also is uniform in all areas and the total weight loss falls within 5-20% depending largely on the smoking time. Cold smoking is not a continuous process, it is stopped (no smoke) a few times to allow fresh air into the smoker.
In XVIII century brick built smokehouses a fire was started every morning. It smoldered as long as it could and if it stopped, it would be restarted again the following morning.
Cold smoked meats prevent or slow down the spoilage of fats, which increases their shelf life. The product is drier and saltier with a more pronounced smoky flavor and very long shelf life. The color varies from yellow to dark brown on the surface and dark red inside. Cold smoked products are not submitted to the cooking process. If you want to cold smoke your meats, bear in mind that with the exception of people living in areas with a cold climate like Alaska, it will have to be done in the winter months just as it was done 500 years ago.
|Cold smoking at its best. Smoking continues through the night.|
Using dry wood is of utmost importance when cold smoking. It is recommended to keep wood chips in a well defined single pile as they will have less contact with air, thus will smoke better without creating unnecessary flames and heat. By following these rules we achieve 75-85% humidity, creating the best conditions for moisture removal. Once the moisture content drops low enough, the salt present in the meat will further inhibit the development of bacteria and the products can hang in the air for months losing more moisture as time goes by.
Lox (smoked salmon) is smoked with cold smoke for an extended period of time. Applying hotter smoke (over 84° F, 28° C) will just cook the fish, the flavor will change and we will not be able to slice it so thin anymore. Cold smoking is a slow process and the hams, which lend themselves perfectly to this type of smoking, can be smoked from 2 to even 6 weeks. During smoking they will slowly be acquiring a golden color along with a smoky flavor.
|Cold smoking allows us total smoke penetration inside of the meat. Very little hardening of the outside surface of the meat or casing occurs and smoke penetrates the meat easily.||Hot smoking dries out the surface of the meat creating a barrier for smoke penetration| | <urn:uuid:d7389784-b1f5-49e3-9500-54af069e112d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.meatsandsausages.com/meat-smoking/cold-smoking | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951363 | 707 | 2.796875 | 3 |
“Ladies in red” was the nickname used for the streetcars of the Riverfront Line, which used to transport passengers via Canal Street to the French quarter, the historic city center, until August 28, 2005, when New Orleans was submerged by the flooding unleashed by hurricane Katrina. These were original vehicles from the Perley A. Thomas Car Works, but they had not been in use without interruption since the 1920s. They were, in fact, re-commissioned as a tourist attraction in 1988, after a long time off the streets. And even in its heyday, Perley A. Thomas Car Works was hardly one of the leading American streetcar makers, with a market share of no more than five percent. Its vehicles were, however, renowned for their quality and elegance.
Given the complete domination of individual transport in the urban environment of the United States today, it is difficult to imagine just how much streetcars were part of the scene on the streets of American cities for over four decades. The streetcar age began almost simultaneously in Europe and America, after a ten-year experimental phase, towards the end of the 1880s. In Germany, the technology had been pioneered by Werner von Siemens since 1879, and the first tramlines went up in Bremen in 1890. And in the U.S.A., Frank J. Sprague, now an almost forgotten name, set up the first streetcar line in 1887, in the face of major teething problems, in Richmond, Virginia. Just one year later, streetcar lines were under construction or in operation in 200 cities.
Taking the initiative: Perley A. Thomas builds his first streetcar line
Perley A. Thomas was born on September 11, 1874 in Ontario, Canada, and moved 50 miles south to Detroit in 1901. He found a cityscape where streetcars were already a familiar sight, linking factory and residential areas, and enabling the more affluent citizens to reside in the green belt of the suburbs. In the weekends, they also transported millions of the city’s inhabitants to the pleasure parks located at the end of the streetcar lines. But the market was very unevenly distributed: the leading streetcar maker, J. G. Brill from Philadelphia, had a market share of almost 50 percent, as compared with 20 and 15 percent, respectively, for the St. Louis Car Company and Cincinnati Car Company, and many small manufacturers had also found a place in the local market.
As a mechanic’s son, Perley A. Thomas soon found work in the city, in the Streetcar Department of Detroit United Railroad. In 1906, he moved to Cleveland to work for the Kuhlmann Car Company, a subsidiary of the Brill Company. While working there, he also attended an evening course to complete his qualification as a structural engineer. Then, in 1910, he received a highly attractive offer to take up a higher-ranking position as Chief Engineer with the Southern Car Company in High Point, North Carolina, which was looking to increase its market share. Here, he was able to make good use of his specialist knowledge and skills in woodworking, since at that time most of the body and fittings in streetcars were made of wood. But this did not mean he was left behind five years later, when steel structures began to take over. He was responsible for the design of 52 streetcars with an all-steel body, which the company supplied to New Orleans in 1915 for 3000 dollars each.
Thomas soon buys up his ex-employer’s assets
But it was not easy for a small-scale manufacturer to survive in the market against tough competition. The Southern Car Works had to file for bankruptcy just one year later, leaving Perley A. Thomas without a job. However, the young engineer found it difficult to remain idle, and a few months later, with a loan of over 6,000 dollars and money inherited by his wife, he bought up the assets of his former employer and started production in his own right. New orders were beckoning, because streetcars were required for more than weekend excursions to pleasure parks: in April 1917, America entered the First World War, and, in that same month, Thomas received an order for nine closed streetcars from the naval support base in Mobile, Alabama.
Production really started to pick up only at the end of the war, however, when the economy gained momentum, and Thomas received street orders from cities from New York to Miami, and even Puerto Rico and Havana. The secret of his success was a consistent commitment to the highest quality. Whenever he found any sign of slackness, employees were immediately out on their ear, but only to be invited back the same evening. He was particularly successful in New Orleans, where, in 1924, at the peak of his success as a streetcar marker, he sold 25 vehicles, also immediately picking up a further order for another 55.
Attractive offers from the competition
Then, however, the situation changed overnight, when a fire in the plant destroyed 14 of the vehicles already under construction. The President of the streetcar manufacturer J. G. Brill offered Thomas a five-year agreement for 5,000 dollars a year, or the entire amount as a lump sum, in return for an undertaking not to reopen the plant. Thomas rejected this offer, and instead spent an advance payment of over 100,000 dollars from New Orleans on repairing the damage, so that the streetcars could be delivered as soon as possible. With over 100 units – almost one third of the total production of Perley A. Thomas Car Works – New Orleans became the company’s most important customer, closely followed by Detroit, with an order for exactly 100 streetcars placed in 1929.
But the story was coming to an end. A further order for four vehicles was received in 1930 from Mobile, Alabama, but no sales were made over the next several years. The era of the streetcar in the USA was over. | <urn:uuid:4a982a11-c0ab-4abc-9096-33569f0bd54f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.media.daimler.com/dcmedia/0-921-883945-1-884120-1-0-0-884176-0-0-11702-614318-0-1-0-0-0-0-0.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983462 | 1,213 | 3.03125 | 3 |
Child marriage declines in South Asia: study
MARRIAGE rates for girls under the age of 14 in South Asian countries have significantly declined since 1991, according to a meta-analysis.
However, marriage rates among girls aged 16 and 17 have stayed the same, except for an increase of 36% in Bangladesh. US researchers have looked at population data from health surveys from Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan. They found the marriage prevalence for girls younger than 14 decreased by 35% in India, 45% in Bangladesh, 57% in Nepal and 61% in Pakistan.
Researchers believe this is due to education and urbanisation. However many are still likely to marry, at age 15–16 years.
JAMA 2012; 307:2027-29
Tags: , World Report | <urn:uuid:eb979229-0c06-479d-8abb-a774c9e47b9a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.medicalobserver.com.au/news/child-marriage-declines-in-south-asia-study | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961103 | 159 | 2.734375 | 3 |
Living with AIDS
Although aids is one of the most deadly illnesses in the world today, there are many more people living with aids than ever before, and it is possible to relatively normal life thanks to new drugs on the market to ease the symptoms of the serious disease. While it is known that many people can live with hiv without even being aware of it, since many hiv infected people do not have symptoms or have symptoms that may feel like ordinary colds and flus, living with aids is more difficult, because by then, the situation is much more serious. If someone is infected with hiv but has not yet developed full blown aids from this infection, he or she may not yet feel ill and may live normally. This is one of the hazards of the disease; the fact that hiv infected people do not usually have strong symptoms means that many people are infected with hiv and don't realize it, and therefore, can spread the disease to other people. Living with aids is more difficult than living with hiv, but it is possible, thanks to a new medications on the market that make symptoms less difficult to deal with.
Living with aids means dealing with frequent illnesses and infections, which may be a challenge. It is necessary for those who are living with aids to have a strong support network of family and friends, including those who also suffer from the disease, who can be depended on for support and information. In addition, living with aids is less difficult if one has a physician that one can trust and talk to when necessary.
Living with aids is not easy, and there are many illnesses that can occur. It is necessary to familiarize oneself with the many complaints suffered by people who are living with aids, and to get the medication needed to treat these problems. Depression is a common problem for those who are living with aids, and the difficulties with illnesses can make depression more keenly felt. Negative thoughts and feelings may become obsessive, and when this happens, it is necessary to alert your physician who can prescribe an anti-depressive medication. Thrush is also a common problem and it characterized by a thin coating and a bad taste on one's tongue and in the inside of the mouth. Diarrhea happens frequently to those who are living with aids, as well as nausea. People who are living with aids may notice rapid weight loss, and a problem with fat distribution; their arms may be bony while there may be fat deposits on the stomach and at the back of the neck. There are treatments for all of these problems which are common among those living with aids.
It is important not to feel overwhelmed by the problems that can occur while living with aids and to seek help and support when necessary. There are support groups for those living with aids and online resources available as well. It is important not to suffer alone, and since there are many people living with aids, there are also many support networks out there.
|AIDS||AIDS - Complete Database of Australian AIDS Resources|
|AIDS - Latest Research News||AIDS - Questions and Answers|
|AIDS and Blood Transfusions||AIDS and Drugs|
|AIDS in South Africa||Facts on HIV|
|HIV and AIDS||HIV Rapid Testing|
|Information on AIDS||Living with AIDS|
|People with AIDS||Symptoms of AIDS|
|Symptoms of HIV||World AIDS Day|
Did Heath Ledger Die of an Overdose? | <urn:uuid:eba864b5-ff96-475b-aa0e-199481ca7fad> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.medicalonline.com.au/medical/professional/aids/living-with-aids.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975682 | 700 | 2.796875 | 3 |
Definition of Antineoplastic
Antineoplastic: Acting to prevent, inhibit or halt the development of a neoplasm (a tumor). An agent with antineoplastic properties. For example, oxaliplatin (Eloxatin) is an antineoplastic used in the treatment of metastatic colon cancer. The term is applicable to dozens of other chemotherapy agents used to treat this an other forms of cancer.
Last Editorial Review: 9/20/2012
Back to MedTerms online medical dictionary A-Z List
Need help identifying pills and medications?
Get the latest health and medical information delivered direct to your inbox FREE! | <urn:uuid:cb4bf4be-7130-42a7-b44f-56b408c71ca1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=22631 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.824712 | 133 | 2.9375 | 3 |
May improve attention, brain function and self control
May help maintain normal brain development
May help maintenance of the retina in the eye
May be helpful with inflammatory skin conditions such as eczema
Melrose Omega-3 Kids Fish Oil is an easy-to-swallow liquid that is rich
in omega-3 fatty acids just like fresh fish. It is a delicious Tutti Fruity
flavour with Natural Orange and Pineapple flavors, which kids (and adults) will
love. Australian Dietary Guidelines recommends two serves of fish a week for
children. Omega-3 fatty acids are essential to the cerebral developments and
A deficiency of Omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA may cause problems with
learning, memory, vision and behavior. Supplementing EPA and DHA can improve
reading, spelling and behavior and may also improve attention, brain function
and self control in children with less than adequate intake of Omega-3.
Melrose Omega 3 Kids Fish Oil is derived from fish species containing high
amounts of Omega-3. The species most commonly used are anchovies and sardines.
Fish Oil has higher concentrations of EPA and DHA than Cod Liver Oil. Unlike
Cod Liver Oil, Fish Oil is obtained from the body of the fish, excluding the
Fish oils are processed using state of the art refrigeration and preservation
methods. The fresh fish are rapidly processed to remove the body oils by steam
distillation and further processed by vacuum separation of the low boiling
toxins and filtration to provide a standard uniformity. Modern processing
methods and the processing of smaller fish have kept both mercury and PCBs
(polychlorinated biphenyls) at less than 0.2ppm. | <urn:uuid:5808227c-3ef6-4e63-919e-f842621a4762> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.melrosehealth.com.au/health_products/Heart_Joint_Skin_Arthritis/Melrose-Kids-Fish-Oil.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.907773 | 360 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Yeon Sun (Ellie) Ro
Instruction Curriculum Leadership
- Choi, J., Godina, H., & Ro, Y. (In press). Korean American immigrant language, literacy and identity: Perspectives from an ethnographic case study in a 3rd grade classroom. Asia Pacific Journal of Education.
- Ro, Y., Cheatham, G., & Choi, J. (Under review). Indeterminate futures of residency decision and linguistic practices: Comparison study of two different types of immigrant families in the US. Anthropology and Education Quarterly.
- Carrie, F., & Ro, Y. (In progress). "I just love kids" Teachers' perspectives and motivations: Comparative review between North and South in the US. Manuscript in preparation.
G. A., & Ro, Y. E. (2011).
Communication between early educators and parents who speaks English as a
Second Language: A semantic and pragmatic perspective. Early Childhood Education Journal.39. 249-256.
S. J., & Ro. Y. (2011). Approaches to writing instruction in elementary classroom. Pedagogies. 6(4). 273-295.
- Cheatham, G. A., & Ro, Y. E. (2010). Linguistic perspective on communication with parents who speak English as a Second Language: Phonology, morphology, and syntax. Early Childhood Development and Care. 1-14.
- Cheatham, G. A., & Ro, Y. E. (2010). Young English learnersí interlanguage as a context for language and literacy development. Young Children. 65(4). 18-23.
- Crandall, J. & Lim, S., & Ro, Y. E. (2010). The impact of IT: Pedagogical
perspectives in university education settings. Journal of International Business Research.
Y. E., &
Cheatham, G. A. (2009). Biliteracy and bilingual development in a second
generation Korean child: A case study. Journal
of Research in Childhood Education, 23(3). 290-308.
- Cheatham, G. A., Santos, R. M., & Ro, Y. E. (2007). Home language acquisition and retention for young children with special needs. Young Exceptional Children, 11(1), 27-42.
Return to Department | <urn:uuid:172d4046-e4e2-4f3c-8fce-e2a011648873> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.memphis.edu/cehhs/profile/profile-publications.php?uuid=ysro | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.751009 | 490 | 2.59375 | 3 |
These products were then black marketed resulting in huge profits to business houses and great hardship to people. The primary aim of bank nationalization was to ensure that deposits of the people of India remained under the control of government of India and was not used by business houses for exploiting the people and increasing their profit.
2. Equitable Growth
Equitable growth has been one of the goals of the Indian Government. There was a need of funds for development of agriculture, small and village industries. Private banks do not like to lend to small businesses and farmers as these operations are less profitable and more risky. Hence nationalization of private banks was essential.
3. Controlling Monopolies of Business Houses
Banks owned by business houses were used by the business houses to increase their profits. Loans were selectively given to serve their business interest while stifling competition.
4. Expansion of Banking to Rural India
Private Banks were mostly located at areas of commercial interest. 70 percent of people in rural areas do not have access to banks. It was necessary to spread banking across the country. Nationalization of was the only way this could be achieved.
5. Reducing Regional Imbalance: In a country like India where we have a urban-rural divide and more developed and less developed regions; it was necessary for banks to go in the rural areas and less developed regions like the North East where the banking facilities were not available. Thus bank nationalization was necessary to reduce these regional imbalances.
6. Priority Sector Lending: In India, the agriculture sector and its allied activities were the largest contributor to the national income. Thus these were labeled as the priority sectors. But unfortunately they were deprived of their due share in the credit. Nationalisation was urgently needed for catering funds to them.
Why Do We Need Corporate Houses to Have their Own Banks?
Nationalized banks are not without shortcomings. There was lack of competition, lack of motivation in staff, lack of accountability and inadequate technological upgradation. But most of that has changed. Opening up the banking sector to foreign banks and private Indian banks like ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC Bank, AXIS Bank, etc., has increased competition in the banking sector and made banking in India competitive.
The dangers of business houses owning banks and misusing public deposits for financing their operations to create monopolies, manipulating markets and profiteering still exists. Banks in the developed economies are not owned by business houses. In fact, there are legislations that prohibit business houses from owning banks. The World Bank has warned the Indian Government about the dangers of their proposed misadventure.
So why has our Prime Minister, Finance Minister and the Congress Party going to undo the farsighted action of its most distinguished leader? Why has the Indian Government passed the Banking amendment Bill in spite of the opposition of the Reserve Bank to the measure? Has the Finance Ministry of the Government of India shifted from the South Block in Delhi to the offices of Reliance Industries?
The most popular citizen journalists' reports on merinews chosen automatically on the basis of views and comments
View more jobs | <urn:uuid:4a41fec4-dc99-44b4-8d47-19a0ac2a59c7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.merinews.com/article/why-is-our-memory-so-short-in-case-of-nationalization-of-banks/15881073.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977913 | 637 | 3.0625 | 3 |
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Parallel of latitude approximately 66°30 south of the Equator that circumscribes the southern frigid zone. It marks the northern limit of the area within which, for one day or more each year, the sun does not set or rise. The length of continuous day or night increases southward from the Antarctic Circle, mounting to six months at the South Pole.
This entry comes from Encyclopædia Britannica Concise. For the full entry on Antarctic Circle, visit Britannica.com.
Seen & Heard
What made you look up Antarctic Circle? Please tell us what you were reading, watching or discussing that led you here. | <urn:uuid:07d7f668-c89f-40f7-9ba5-b9fe869b4a5e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.merriam-webster.com/concise/antarctic%20circle | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.898102 | 149 | 2.953125 | 3 |
Any large piece of timber or iron long in proportion to its thickness, and prepared for use.
One of the principal horizontal timbers of a building or ship.
The width of a vessel; as, one vessel is said to have more beam than another.
The width of of a vessel at its widest point.
The bar of a balance, from the ends of which the scales are suspended.
A cylinder of wood, making part of a loom, on which weavers wind the warp before weaving; also, the cylinder on which the cloth is rolled, as it is woven; one being called the fore beam, the other the back beam.
A spool, on which is wound a number of parallel ends of singles or plied yarns, for use in weaving or similar processing operations.
The cylinder of light that comes out of the laser head. This is what makes the mark on the selected material by vaporizing it.
This is essentially the signal or group of signals that is sent from the satellite to the surface of the Earth. This surface, defined by the beam, is the satellite 'footprint', ie the area on Earth where the beam can be captured and used. No one satellite can transmit a beam to the entire Earth, though theoretically three equally spaced satellites in a network could cover the entire Earth.
satellite transmission pattern. It may be wide, narrow or spot.
A portion of the satellite footprint at L-band and S-band. The satellite footprint is divided into 16 beams.
a column of light (as from a beacon)
A ray or collection of parallel rays emitted from the sun or other luminous body; as, a beam of light, or of heat.
A ray; a gleam; as, a beam of comfort.
The directed radio waves emanating from a transponder. Typically refers to aggregates of these rays, such as a "Latin American" coverage beam.
a source of parallel rays
A unidirectional or approximately unidirectional flow of electromagnetic radiation or particles.
a group of nearly parallel lines of electromagnetic radiation
an ensemble of particles with coordinates that move in close proximity
a collection of particles traveling in an accelerator, storage ring, or transfer line.
send and receiving data using infrared light.
describes the use of infrared to transfer data from one handheld to another. With appropriate software, beaming can also be used to send a document from the handheld to an infrared-capable printer.
To send software programs or data via an infrared- or radio-wave transmission from one PDA to another, or from a PDA to a desktop computer or printer.
Term coined by Palm, Incorporated to describe the way data (business cards, programs, phone numbers, etc) is transmitted from one handheld computer to another via infrared ports. Based on Star Trek Classic's, "Beam me up, Scotty!"
To send forth; to emit; -- followed ordinarily by forth; as, to beam forth light.
To emit beams of light.
emit light; be bright, as of the sun or a light; "The sun shone bright that day"; "The fire beamed on their faces"
the flow of light from a lantern
Beam is an open-source mail-client for BeOS that aims to be fast, stable and feature-complete. The main idea is to produce a full-featured graphical mail-client for BeOS that provides all modern mail protocols/standards and is fun to use.
The principal stem or horn of a stag or other deer, which bears the antlers, or branches.
The main stem of an antler.
Main branches of antlers from which the forks grow.
smile radiantly; express joy through one's facial expression
express with a beaming face or smile; "he beamed his approval"
experience a feeling of well-being or happiness, as from good health or an intense emotion; "She was beaming with joy"; "Her face radiated with happiness"
Expressions Beams Ends Expressions
Beam and it's follow-on I-Beam are sets of programs to produce coverage charts of radio sources. It has been used for RADAR, DME, VOR and various communications sources specific to aviation. However, it is also valid for cell phone, TV and radio towers
1. In radio interferometry, the inverse Fourier transform of the u-v sampling distribution, or of a weighted u-v sampling distribution, possibly convolved with a gridding convolution function: the idealized response to a point, or unresolved, radio source. 2. A numerical approximation to 1. 3. A digitized version of 2, sampled on a regular grid (usually regarded as an image). 4. Synonymous with point spread function. 5. (Occasionally) as above, but taking into account instrumental effects, so that the beam depends on position in the sky. See dirty image. Occasionally, any one of the above, other than 5, is termed the synthesized beam.
broadcast over the airwaves, as in radio or television; "We cannot air this X-rated song" | <urn:uuid:db28ce16-ad2c-49a5-97d1-246facfe9436> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.metaglossary.com/terms/beam/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930283 | 1,074 | 3.046875 | 3 |
Common Argument Fallacies
Common Argument Fallacies
When arguing a case or examining the arguments of another, look for these
common fallacies. Avoiding these problems makes a case stronger. Further,
finding these fallacies in other's statements can make your rebuttal easier.
The Straw Man fallacy is committed when an arguer distorts an opponent's
argument for the purpose of more easily attacking it. This often happens
when someone quotes another Debate Forum
member out of context.
Circular Reasoning occurs when stating in one's proof that which one is
supposed to be proving.
The Missing the Point fallacy occurs when the premises of an argument
appear to lead up to one particular conclusion but then a completely
different conclusion is drawn.
The Red Herring fallacy is committed when the arguer diverts the attention
of the reader or listener by changing the subject to some totally different
issue. Sticking to the topic of each individual folder will minimize the
impact of this fallacy.
The Hasty Generalization fallacy occurs when there is a likelihood that the
sample is not representative of the group.
The Ad Hominem fallacy occurs when an arguer's post appeals to feelings or
prejudices as opposed to logic. It also occurs when an arguer moves a
discussion to a personal level through character assassination or personal
The False Cause fallacy occurs whenever the link between premises and
conclusion depends on some imagined causal connection that probably does not
The Amphiboly fallacy occurs when the arguer misinterprets a statement that
is ambiguous, owing to some structural defect and proceeds to draw a
conclusion on this faulty interpretation. Again, this can happen when
someone is quoted out of context. If a statement seems unclear, ask the
person about it.
The Composition fallacy is committed when the conclusion of an argument
depends on the erroneous transference of characteristic from the parts of
something into the whole. In other words, the fallacy occurs when it is
argued that because the parts have a certain characteristic, it follows that
the whole has that characteristic, too. However, the situation is such that
the characteristic in question cannot be legitimately transferred from parts
The Suppressed Evidence fallacy is committed when an arguer ignores
evidence that would tend to undermine the premises of an otherwise good
argument, causing it to be unsound or uncogent.
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Markup copyright © 1994..96 by
Jon Shemitz -
October 13, 1994..November 12, 1996 | <urn:uuid:dc675cde-86a4-48fa-a298-d7d4d8b2f2c5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.midnightbeach.com/hs/fallacys.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.87933 | 551 | 3.015625 | 3 |
GANDHI MUSEUMS - ASHRAMS - LIBRARIES > SEVAGRAM ASHRAM, WARDHA, MAHARASHTRA, INDIA > World War and Quit India Movement
World War And Quit India Movement
When the second World war started, the British government sought assistance in the war from the Congress party. Congress leaders thought of putting many conditions before offering any help. However, Gandhiji had to begin Individual Satyagraha movement because the British declared India at war without consulting the Congress. He declared Vinobha Bhave as the first Satyagrahi. During the war period many Japanese and Chinese visitors came to see Gandhiji to find out as to how non-violence could be effective in such a situation. In 1942,Gandhiji called upon the British to quit India finally as rulers and launched the famous "Quit India" movement. Gandhiji was arrested. On release from prison in 1944,he came to Sevagram. The British transferred power in India in 1947 and ceased to be the rulers of India.
When Gandhiji was in prison at Pune, his wife had planted one sapling of Tulsi plant. Gandhiji brought that plant with him to Sevagram and replanted it near his hut.
During the Quit India movement many Khadi cloth shops and production centres were burnt. Poor people had to suffer a lot. It was a matter of concern for Gandhiji. After coming out of the prison, he, therefore, advised that instead of producing Khadi for sale, Khadi should be produced in the villages for village primarily for village use, so that no centralised authority could attack it. Like food, cloth should be available in each village. Thus making each village a unit self-reliant in its basic needs of food, clothing, shelter, etc., and having its own management.
The first six months of independence were very crucial. There were numerous problems facing the country. Gandhiji tried to imbibe politics with spiritual values. He wanted that man should live peacefully and the kingdom of love be established on earth.
It is said that the nobler the task, the greater are the hurdles. Gandhiji's aim and activities were clear and well laid out; therefore opposition to him was also equally strong. However, this, as usual, made him not only more determined, but showed his greatness. | <urn:uuid:9d4043d6-979f-499a-a964-1b51921b44a1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mkgandhi.org/sevagram/wrldwar.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981732 | 494 | 3.6875 | 4 |
It’s a $3-billion burden for taxpayers — and a life-altering moment for those who experience it firsthand.
Falls are the leading cause of injury hospitalizations among Canadians 65 and older, with one in three expected to suffer a spill this year.
But as more people delay retirement, staying on the job into their 70s or later, researchers are working on innovations. These inventions will in the years to come, help older employees bounce back — literally — from falls and other workplace perils.
From offices with flex-floors to injectable heart monitors and mobile medication alerts, experts predict our job sites could one day come to offer a standard of safety approaching that of a care facility.
“This is the kind of thing that will allow people to work into their 70s and 80s,” says Fabio Feldman, a Canadian injury-prevention researcher.
Within just five years, the B.C.-based scientist says, workers will be able to wear biometric sensors no bigger than Band-Aids that will improve doctors’ capacity to remotely monitor workers’ overall health.
Also under development are “smart canes,” which will provide real-time feedback on proper gait and potentially alert a person’s colleagues by text if a fall occurs in the workplace.
And, when those falls do occur, special “bouncy floors” could reduce seniors’ risk of serious injury.
“It’s a floor that’s compliant enough to prevent injury in case of a fall, but hard enough that you can do normal activities on it,” explains Feldman, whose tests suggest the high-tech terrain could reduce hip fractures by as much as 80 per cent.
Additionally, Feldman says seniors will have the option of wearing belts with built-in airbags that deploy when sensors detect that a fall is imminent. Those Canadians prone to balance problems, for example, could simply wear them as a part of their regular office apparel.
Even a 20 per cent reduction in falls would translate to 7,500 fewer hospitalizations and 1,800 fewer permanently disabled seniors, at a national savings of $138 million annually, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada.
It’s all part of a vision of the future in which employees and employers alike assume greater responsibility for workers’ well-being.
“If you’ve got people living longer, and they’re reasonably healthy, they need to be able to work,” says Gloria Gutman, director emerita of the Simon Fraser University Gerontology Research Centre. “You could think of gerontechnology as the idea of, ‘what can we (make) that will allow people to do that for as long as possible?’”
Ongoing debate about raising Old Age Security eligibility from 65 to 67 has many seniors rethinking their retirement. But the golden years are being pushed back for demographic cohorts across the board.
A recent analysis from the human-resources consulting firm Towers Watson showed pension freedom for the vast majority of Canadians is already drawing close to 67 years.
Meanwhile, Wells Fargo, a U.S.-based financial services company, says that fully a quarter of middle-class workers today believe they’ll “need to work until at least age 80” to enjoy a comfortable retirement — with three-quarters expecting to work during retirement.
With that, experts say Canadian organizations will need to revisit everything from office design to personal health monitoring to ensure people aren’t literally worked to death.
For now, the vast majority of gerontechnology is about finding new ways for seniors to self-screen for potential problems.
Canada’s Thermor Ltd., for instance, recently started selling personal blood-pressure monitors that simultaneously check for atrial fibrillation — a major cause of stroke.
Similarly, cardiologist Dr. Atul Verma is helping develop an injectable heart monitor that would track everything from blood-flow problems to erratic rhythms, all of which could be remotely accessed by the patient’s doctor. He predicts the coming years will see older employees receive text alerts based on these readings, such as recommendations to take an insulin shot based on heightened blood-sugar.
“Within five or 10 years, we’ll see all these technologies very much in mainstream use,” says Verma, of Newmarket, Ont.-based Southlake Regional Health Centre. “I wouldn’t necessarily say workplaces or homes will become makeshift doctor’s offices, but there’s no doubt improvements to technology will empower people to take greater responsibility for their health.”
A 2010 report on Canada’s aging population found that 15 per cent of seniors age 65 to 79 have four chronic diseases (think hypertension, diabetes, etc.). That proportion climbs to 21 per cent for those 80 and older.
Rob Goudswaard, senior director of global innovation programs for Philips Home Monitoring, says telehealth initiatives will play a major role in the offices of the future.
“At (a certain) age, what really becomes relevant is managing illness, and not having to interrupt your work in order to go to the doctor,” says Goudswaard. “As algorithms get smarter, we’re more and more able to guide people as to when to see a professional and when not to.”
It’s important to note, however, that seniors’ well-being and behaviour today aren’t necessarily indicative of future elders. With each successive generation, gerontologist Barbara A. Mitchell says our notion of the Golden Years changes.
“We’re seeing more and more ‘super senior’ role models who are incredibly vibrant, healthy and active,” says Mitchell, social sciences editor of the Canadian Journal on Aging. “Many are redefining the entire aging process because our previous historical benchmarks and stereotypes of what constituted old age are no longer valid.”
In fact, Simon Fraser University’s Gutman says many workplaces may be able to get away with only minor design changes to the office environment as Canada’s labour force ages.
“The big myth is that you have to make huge adjustments, when mainly all you have to do is increase the intensity of the lights and make sure you have a good sound system,” says Gutman. “But if you can (afford to) get a robot that can do the vacuuming, why not?” | <urn:uuid:2a053113-1706-4466-9e66-682aaa98e0a5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/technocite/video+tech+helps+aging+workers+bounce+back/6325309/story.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949519 | 1,360 | 2.609375 | 3 |
(Sialadenitis; Salivary Gland Infection)
Parotitis causes swelling in one or both of the parotid glands. These are two large salivary glands that sit inside each cheek over the jaw in front of each ear. Usually, the problem goes away by itself, but some cases require treatment. See your doctor if you have swelling or other symptoms in this part of your face.
A variety of factors can lead to an inflamed parotid gland. They include:
- Viral infection
A blockage may block saliva flow and lead to a bacterial infection; causes include:
- Salivary stone in the parotid gland
- Mucus plug in a salivary duct
- Tumor (usually benign)
- Sjogren’s syndrome —an autoimmune disease
- Radiation treatment of head and neck cancer can lead to parotid gland inflammation
- Other conditions can cause the parotid glands to become enlarged, but not infected, including:
A risk factor is something that increases your chance of getting a disease or condition.
Discuss these risk factors with your doctor:
- Poor oral hygiene
- Not vaccinated against mumps
- Age: older than age 65
- HIV-positive or AIDS
- Sjogren’s syndrome
If you have any of these symptoms, do not assume it is due to parotitis. These symptoms may be caused by other health conditions. To determine the cause of your symptoms, see your doctor.
- Swelling in front of your ears, below your jaw, or on the floor of your mouth
- Dry mouth
- Strange or foul taste in your mouth
- Pus draining into the mouth
- Mouth or facial pain, especially when you are eating or opening your mouth
- Fever, chills, and other signs of infection
If parotitis recurs, it can cause severe swelling into the neck and can destroy the salivary glands.
Your doctor will ask about your symptoms and medical history, and perform a physical exam. This may be enough to make a diagnosis. Tests may include:
- Removing fluid from the gland and checking it for signs of infection
- X-rays —a test that uses radiation to take a picture of structures inside the body; used to see salivary stones
- Ultrasound —a test that uses sound waves to take pictures of the structures inside the body
- CT scan —a type of x-ray that uses a computer to make pictures of structures inside the body
Talk with your doctor about the best treatment plan for you. Treatment options include:
Good Oral Hygiene
Flossing and thorough tooth brushing at least twice a day may help with healing. Warm salt water rinses can help keep the mouth moist. It may also help if you quit smoking.
- Antibiotics—to control bacterial infections only; not effective for viral infections
- Medications—to treat underlying conditions, such as Sjogren’s syndrome or AIDS
- Anti-inflammatories—to manage swelling and pain
To help reduce your chances of getting parotitis, take the following steps:
- Get treatment for infections.
- Get regular dental care.
- Drink plenty of fluids.
- Suck on sugarless candy or chew sugarless gum to increase the flow of saliva.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
National Library of Medicine
Public Health Agency of Canada
Cain A. Parotitis. Net Doctor website. Available at: http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/diseases/facts/parotitis.htm. Updated April 10, 2005. Accessed November 10, 2010.
Chitre VV, Premchandra DJ. Review: recurrent parotitis. Arch Dis Child. 1997;77:359-363.
DynaMed Editorial Team. Acute suppurative parotitis. EBSCO DynaMed website. Available at: http://www.ebscohost.com/dynamed/what.php. Updated June 21, 2010. Accessed November 10, 2010.
Last reviewed September 2012 by Kari Kassir, MD
Please be aware that this information is provided to supplement the care provided by your physician. It is neither intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. CALL YOUR HEALTHCARE PROVIDER IMMEDIATELY IF YOU THINK YOU MAY HAVE A MEDICAL EMERGENCY. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider prior to starting any new treatment or with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. | <urn:uuid:3b6b8b83-84b4-4b0b-a145-1a4d041c5650> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mountsinai.org/patient-care/health-library/diseases-and-conditions/parotitis | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.880911 | 962 | 3.28125 | 3 |
MS ExplainedWho gets MS?
How many people have MS?
MS is the most common disease of the central nervous system affecting young adults. An estimated 2,500,000 people in the world have MS.
Research by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 2009 suggested that the number of people with MS in the UK may be about 100,000.
Similarly, if the results of local area studies are applied nationwide it suggests that about 2,500 people are diagnosed with MS in the UK each year, or about 50 a week.
Who gets MS?
Most people with MS are diagnosed in their 20s or 30s, although it can appear in people who are older than this, and, less frequently, in children.
Research suggests that one person in 50 with MS is diagnosed in their teens or younger, although precise figures are unknown.
Due to the age at which it is diagnosed, MS is sometimes referred to as a condition affecting younger people. However, as it only has a small effect on life expectancy, most people live with the condition for a long time.
More women than men are diagnosed with MS. Roughly two women have MS for every man with the condition, although research suggests that the proportion of women with MS may be growing. Recent studies in north America suggest that the figure may be closer to three women to each man diagnosed.
When MS is diagnosed in people in their teens, the proportion of women to men is about 3:1. When MS is diagnosed in older people or in those whose MS is progressive from onset, the numbers of women and men are more equal.
The reason for the larger proportion of women with MS is unknown but this pattern occurs in most other autoimmune conditions.
Where is MS more common?
The distribution of MS around the world is uneven. As a rough guide, the prevalence increases as you travel further north or south from the equator. Those parts of Asia, Africa and America that lie on the equator have extremely low levels of MS, whilst Canada and Scotland have particularly high rates.
For instance, studies in countries near the equator have shown a prevalence rate in Peru of about 4 cases per 100,000, 8 in Saudi Arabia and just 1 amongst Indians in Mumbai.
In contrast, studies in Australia show a range from 11 in the north to 68 in Tasmania in the south. This increasing prevalence is more marked in the northern hemisphere. Studies in the UK suggest that the rate in England and Wales is between 100 and 120 per 100,000, about 160 in Northern Ireland and as high as 190 in Scotland. Individual studies in Orkney have recorded rates of over 200.
A simple geographical spread is not the whole picture. Studies show that some ethnic groups have a markedly lower prevalence of MS, despite living in countries where MS is relatively common. For instance, the Sami (Lapps) of northern Scandinavia and the Inuit in Canada have very low rates of MS. A similar pattern is observed amongst the Maoris of New Zealand.
In contrast, a study in Kuwait showed that the rate for Kuwaitis was half that of the ethnic Palestinian population - many of whom had been born and raised in Kuwait. Similarly, the same studies in India that showed very low rates for Indians found that the rate for Parsis, an ethnic group that originated in Persia, was much higher and equivalent to areas in southern Europe.
Vikings and Scots
The fact that MS is most prevalent in Northern Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand has led to speculation that it has been carried around the world by European colonists and settlers. It has been suggested that the origins can be traced back to the Vikings who colonised those parts of Northern Europe where MS is now most pronounced and that 'Viking' genes can make people particularly susceptible to MS.
It has also been noted that Scotland has a much higher rate of MS than England or Wales and that areas of high MS prevalence around the world have been settled by Scottish immigrants. In Ireland for instance, the prevalence rate of MS in the Irish Republic - based on an old study from 1971 - is about 66. In Northern Ireland, which was extensively settled by immigrants from Scotland from the 17th century, the rate was recorded in 1996 as 168.
Research looking at the effect of migration on the risk of developing MS suggests that the age someone moves is important. If someone moves from an area of low risk to an area of high risk as an adult, they retain the risk level of the location from which they originally came. People who move as children and the subsequent children of immigrants have a risk of MS similar to that found locally.
This explains the old fashioned, incorrect idea that MS was a condition that only affected white people and was rare or unknown amongst black or Asian people. Whilst this might have been true for the initial immigrant generations, it is not the case for the people born and brought up in the UK.
The geographic spread of MS suggests the genetic make up of people from different parts of the world has an impact on risk of MS; the migration studies point to there being an environmental element at play as well.
Next page - The possible causes of MS? | <urn:uuid:5d777f2c-75d2-4e75-b243-7f45c81b293a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mstrust.org.uk/information/publications/msexplained/who_gets_ms.jsp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975126 | 1,058 | 3.359375 | 3 |
The climate change issue remains surrounded by controversy and uncertainty. Despite this, Federal, State and local governments have increasingly proposed legislation and regulations to address this issue. This push has resulted in funding for the development of transit over expanded roadways, proposals for higher density development, restricting development in exurban areas, and revising existing land use, building and zoning codes, all presumably to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Climate change regulations have the potential not only to exacerbate the challenges home builders already face but can also change where and how communities grow. To learn more about the climate change issue and its impacts on housing and development, and NAHB’s efforts to stay ahead of it, explore the topics below.
NAHB’s policy on climate change can be found here. | <urn:uuid:8a57db24-7fe9-4f8a-8fe3-bdb4935872c4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nahb.org/page.aspx/category/sectionID=1774 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949934 | 155 | 2.96875 | 3 |
carbon monoxide, lead, ozone, nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter with a diameter of 10 µm or less (known as PM10) and sulfur oxides (measured as sulfur dioxide).
The act establishes an array of programs intended to ensure that the standards are attained and maintained and that air quality superior to the standards is protected.
Each state must submit to EPA a state implementation plan (SIP) that demonstrates that primary NAAQS will be attained by the statutory deadlines and that secondary NAAQS will be attained as expeditiously as practicable. If a state does not do so, then EPA must prepare a federal implementation plan (FIP) for the state.
SIPs usually concentrate on existing sources in or near nonattainment areas—areas that violate one or more NAAQS. For many types of new sources, SIPs are supplemented by federal regulations that apply to clean air as well as nonattainment areas. For instance, EPA may promulgate new source performance standards for categories of stationary sources that contribute to air pollution. These standards require the use of the best demonstrated technology by new and modified sources in the category. Similarly, the act establishes emissions standards for new mobile sources and standards for fuel content; the act also authorizes EPA to establish additional regulations on those subjects.
Two programs under the act are concerned specifically with visibility in national parks and wilderness areas. One of these, the prevention of significant deterioration (PSD) program (§160–169), is directed primarily at new sources; the other, the visibility program (§169A–B), is aimed primarily at existing sources.
The PSD program requires that each applicant for a new or modified major emitting facility seeking to locate in a clean-air area (an area in which the NAAQS are met for one or more air pollutants) show that the facility will use the best available control technology (BACT) to minimize additional air pollution. (Every area meets the NAAQS for at least one pollutant; therefore, the PSD program applies nationwide.) BACT is defined as the maximum achievable degree of emission reduction, taking into account energy, environmental, and economic effects and other costs. It is determined on a case-by-case basis, but must be at least as stringent as any new source performance standard that applies to the facility's category.
The applicant must also demonstrate that the proposed new or expanded source will comply with air-quality "increments" that limit increases | <urn:uuid:d176c2d4-8514-4b53-9e12-45812e06151e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=2097&page=58 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939873 | 511 | 2.765625 | 3 |
NASA Goddard and University of Idaho Create Solutions for 2 NASA Missions
Pen-Shu Yeh is a senior engineer at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. and a grant technical officer. She's also the person that helped create unique solutions for data compression for future missions with a team from the University of Idaho (U-Idaho). Those solutions are now going to fly on two of NASA's upcoming missions.
Under Yeh's guidance, engineers at the University of Idaho’s Center for Advanced Microelectronics Biomolecular Research (CAMBR) located in Post Falls, Idaho, have developed three unique advanced special purpose processors. These processors, along with a previously developed processor, will be used in the upcoming Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) and the Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS) missions that will study the Earth and Sun-Earth connection.
Development of the Algorithms
Yeh lead the creation of a tunable data compression algorithm that will increase science data return for NASA missions. "She demonstrated that the algorithm is superior to existing technology for onboard applications," said Gary Maki, Principal Investigator on the CAMBR U-Idaho team.
The data compression algorithm, adopted by the international Consultative Committee on Space Data Systems (CCSDS) in 2005, allows missions to precisely control compression factor, therefore the data rate from instruments. "The algorithm is over 50 times more complicated than the previous CCSDS compression standard," says Yeh. "However, this algorithm is much more versatile, but it does pose a great challenge for implementation."
In the 90’s, Yeh also assisted the development of the first CCSDS lossless data compression standard.
Yeh was also the grants officer for the design of an algorithm, called Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) coder. The LDPC code was created by Prof. Shu Lin of University of California at Davis and based on a recently rediscovered technique for protecting data fidelity in a communication channel. This was part of a larger effort called the Bandwidth Efficient Channel Coding Project under the aegis of NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation program. Wai Fong of Goddard is the Principal Investigator for the Bandwidth Efficient Channel Coding project and the LDPC effort; and his advocacy at CCSDS led the LDPC code to a soon to be standard. This new algorithm is shown to perform better than previous CCSDS standards.
The team of specialized processor chip designers at U-Idaho were able to implement these difficult algorithms and create high speed versions suitable for various space missions. They tested the processor chips in October. Aeroflex, a company in Colorado Springs is now testing for flight qualification.
"We at NASA are extremely fortunate to have the U-Idaho team developing these chips from given algorithms;" says Yeh. "The team’s capability allows high-end specialized space processors to be developed at a budget level considered 'shoe-string' by industry standards. I hope other NASA centers and maybe other government agencies can benefit from this capability and the developed technology."
What Do the Chips Do?
Generally speaking, two of the chips - the Discrete Wavelet Transformer and Bit Plane Encoder – compress science data to decrease the data volume to be sent back to Earth. "If we didn’t produce these chips, instruments on the MMS satellites would have to greatly reduce science data return or use an inferior technique with less performance," Yeh said.
Chad Orbe, research engineer, spent six years building the BPE chip. "Some teams felt that it was impossible to build a single high speed BPE chip. So the impossible takes a little bit longer," said Sterling Whitaker, research professor at U-Idaho.
The third chip – the Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) encoder – adds redundancy information to data before it is transmitted to Earth. This allows for error corrections caused by signal degradation. Instead of just adding binary information of 1’s and 0’s, it adds a probability factor to each bit with just how strong of a 1 it is or how strong of a 0 it is. This chip is rated 7/8, meaning 7 out of 8 bits are data and 1 out of 8 is for error correction.
This allows for efficient use of available bandwidth. With this coder, scientists are approaching the theoretical limit for the best you can do called the Shannon limit. The bit/error rate is 1 in 10^14, comparable to the error rate seen in hard drives. "We’re getting as reliable as talking to our hard drives on our desk, except here they’re millions of miles away in space," said Whitaker, one of the LDPC designers.
A fourth chip, the previously developed lossless data compression chip called Universal Source Encoder for Space (USES) and the newly developed LDPC channel coder will be implemented in the LDCM mission.
The Challenges Overcome
The biggest challenge to insert custom-designed chips into space missions is the potential chip failure caused by radiation environment. The U-Idaho team is able to utilize a sleek technology, the radiation-hardness-by-design (RHBD) method, to overcome the failure mechanism. With this technique, the radiation tested LDPC coder shows a worst-case of failure once every 1700 years. The DWT and BPE chips are being tested and expect to fair even better. Shown in the attached picture are CAMBR engineers Paul Winterrowd, Chad Orbe, and Ron Nelson testing the BPE and DWT at the radiation test facility at Texas A&M.
The Missions the Chips Will Fly Inside
LDCM is the future of Landsat satellites. It will continue to obtain valuable data and imagery to be used in agriculture, education, business, science, and government. The Landsat Program provides repetitive acquisition of medium resolution near-infrared and visible data of the Earth's surface on a global basis.
The MMS will have four spacecraft acting in concert to measure the three-dimensional structure and motion of magnetic and electric fields around the Earth. MMS will determine the small-scale basic plasma processes which transport, accelerate and energize plasmas in thin boundary and current layers – and which control the structure and dynamics of the Earth's magnetosphere. MMS will for the first time measure the 3-D structure and dynamics of the key magnetospheric boundary regions, from the subsolar magnetopause to the distant tail. Launch is planned for 2014. Karen Halterman, MMS Project Manager at Goddard said, "MMS plans to use the data compression chips to increase the amount of science data that can be sent to the ground on two instruments: the Fast Plasma Investigation and the Hot Plasma Composition Analyzer."
"Currently, this new technology is not available anywhere else in the world," Maki said.
> Landsat Data Continuity Mission
> Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission
Goddard Space Flight Center
University of Idaho | <urn:uuid:bcc39a52-ec7b-4d3c-b38c-3100ec810ea3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2008/technology_2.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919587 | 1,464 | 2.921875 | 3 |
Warm ocean waters fuel hurricanes, and there was plenty of warm water for Katrina to build up strength once she crossed over Florida and moved into the Gulf of Mexico. This image depicts a 3-day average of actual sea surface temperatures (SSTs) for the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, from August 25-27, 2005. Every area in yellow, orange or red represents 82 degrees Fahrenheit or above. A hurricane needs SSTs at 82 degrees or warmer to strengthen. The data came from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E) instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite. The GOES satellite provided the cloud data for this image.
Image Credit: NASA/SVS
+ View animation showing sea surface temperatures from June 9-August 9, 2005 | <urn:uuid:5c4d2257-381f-4e82-a468-7804399bdea1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_398a.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.862753 | 160 | 3.5625 | 4 |
Images of Astronauts
From NASA, these images show astronauts from early space missions, to the space shuttle and international space station. The images can be used to illustrate human space exploration in a range of resources.
Yuri Gagarin was the first human in space and Neil Armstrong, part of the Apollo 11 mission, was the first man on the moon.
HEALTH and SAFETY
Any use of a resource that includes a practical activity must include a risk assessment. Please note that collections may contain ARCHIVE resources, which were developed at a much earlier date. Since that time there have been significant changes in the rules and guidance affecting laboratory practical work. Further information is provided in our Health and Safety guidance. | <urn:uuid:e044587e-6ef9-41d2-a6c1-58f34585b824> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nationalstemcentre.org.uk/elibrary/resource/1137/images-of-astronauts | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946648 | 146 | 2.859375 | 3 |
(NaturalNews) Your gum pain and tooth decay could be caused by poor dentistry. Think about it - the "modern" dentist puts toxic mercury fillings inside of us; life-threatening material in our root canal and advocates the use of fluoride - which eats away at our brain function and weakens our bone structure. Does this sound like good healthcare to you? Fortunately, there is a better way to save your teeth.
Don't become a negative statistic of conventional dentistry! There are many (natural) therapies available to reverse gum disease and tooth decay. Discover the untold truth about proper oral hygiene; ways to reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer plus much more. The next NaturalNews Talk Hour will literally save you thousands of dollars in unnecessary procedures and years of health-related problems.
Sustainable dentistry integrates the best of conventional dental care with traditional healing practices to promote overall health and wellness. Keep in mind, oral health is literally the "gateway" to your overall body health. Simply put, an unhealthy mouth leads to infection, inflammation and, eventually, chronic diseases like, heart disease and cancer.
What would motivate you to seek out a sustainable dentist?
Conventionally speaking, most people with gum disease are told to see a gum surgeon and "take care" of the problem. But, a sustainable dentist provides a non-surgical approach to treating gum disease. You'll discover how to activate your body's ability to heal itself by reducing inflammation; killing off unfriendly bacteria in the mouth plus natural ways to nourish the gums back to health.
"Most dentists are entirely unaware of either the contents of the dental materials they implant or the potential consequences of those materials after they get into your mouth." - Hal Huggins, D.D.S., MS
The connection between gum disease and chronic degenerative disease
Oral Health in America: A Report of the Surgeon General says, "gum disease has been linked to numerous life-threatening diseases including stokes, diabetes and heart disease". But, keep in mind, your teeth are designed to last a lifetime - it's just gum disease that causes you to lose your teeth. So, the big question is how to prevent gum disease?
Most people have been taught to rely on a tooth brush and dental floss to maintain a healthy mouth. Unfortunately, this is not enough to clear away the "unfriendly" bacteria growing underneath the gum line - which causes periodontal disease. One of the best ways to clean your teeth; remove unwanted plaque and flush toxic bacteria from your mouth is to use a "Hydro Floss Oral Irrigator".
On the next NaturalNews Talk Hour - we'll reveal what your (conventionally-trained) dentist has not told you about proper oral healthcare; how to reverse gum disease plus much more!
This week's guest: Reid Winick, D.D.S., Founder of Dentistry for Health New York
Discover a natural way to save your teeth and reverse gum disease - Thu. Dec. 20
Reid Winick, D.D.S. is a graduate of New York University College of Dentistry. He has extensive experience in General Dentistry, as well as the Oral Systemic Link and in TMJ Dysfunction and Craniofacial Disorders. Dr. Winick is the founder and president of Dentistry for Health New York, a green and sustainable dental practice designed as a haven for overall wellness. He is committed to the environment and to the health and wellness of his patients' mind, body, and spirit.
Dr. Winick's whole body program of Sustainable Dentistry treats the patient as a human ecosystem. With the right conditions, the mouth can heal on its own and remain disease free. Patients throughout the United States seek out Dr. Winick and his personalized treatment programs regarding sustainable dental treatments in order to save their teeth without painful gum surgery and extractions.
Don't become a negative statistic of conventional dentistry! There are many (natural) therapies available to reverse gum disease and save your teeth. Discover the untold truth about proper oral hygiene; ways to reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer plus much more. The next NaturalNews Talk Hour will literally save you thousands of dollars in unnecessary procedures and years of health-related problems.
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See selection at www.StorableOrganics.com | <urn:uuid:ac179abd-35f4-4b4e-8ecc-42d551b6a969> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.naturalnews.com/038414_gum_pain_tooth_decay_holistic_dentistry.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927963 | 1,088 | 2.828125 | 3 |
That smoke detector outside your bedroom door could be giving you a false sense of security. It might not sound quickly enough to get you up and out if there’s a fire when you are asleep.
It feels like heresy to question the value of smoke detectors. Clearly, these are life-saving devices. But some of the nation’s firefighters are doing just that. They’re on a crusade to get people to change the type of alarms found in most homes.
Smoke alarms 101
House fires will kill about 3,000 Americans this year. Surprisingly, more than a third of the victims will have at least one working smoke detector in their home or apartment.
How could this be?
As it turns out, not all smoke alarms are the same.
There are two basic types of detectors: ionization and photoelectric. Ionization models are quicker to spot flaming fires. Photoelectric models react more quickly to smoldering fires, the kind caused by a cigarette on the couch or an overloaded extension cord. These smoldering fires produce toxic gases that can kill people sleeping in the house before there are any flames.
While any smoke detector is better than nothing, a growing number of experts favor photoelectric or dual-mode alarms to guard against both fire and smoke.
Nine out of 10 homes in the U.S. have ionization alarms. There are two reasons for this. They are cheaper to buy, and fire departments across the country have given them away for decades.
Comparison tests show differing results
Many safety experts believe either type of smoke detector is adequate, as long as the unit is working properly. Six years ago, the Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology conducted an extensive test. The report said both ionization and photoelectric detectors “consistently provided time for occupants to escape from most residential fires.”
Others disagree. For almost 20 years, B. Don Russell, a professor of electrical engineering at Texas A&M University, has studied smoke alarms. He uses a full-scale test facility to see how the detectors respond to different fire conditions and various materials. Russell says there is little difference between the two types of alarms when there’s a flaming fire, but his tests show ionization alarms are dramatically slower when it comes to smoldering fires.
“When you’re asleep, you need the earliest possible warning to get out and you do not get that with just an ionization detector,” Russell says. “So if you were going to pick a single smoke detector to put in your home, pick a photoelectric detector.”
Building codes changing
In Massachusetts, new or renovated homes or apartment cannot rely solely on ionization alarms for fire protection. If a detector is within 20 feet of a kitchen or bathroom, it must be photoelectric. It took Boston’s deputy fire chief Jay Fleming years to get the law passed.
“Any smoke detector is better than nothing.” Fleming says. “I don’t want anyone to throw out what they have. But there’s an alternative out there that for only a few dollars more works better than what most people have in their homes.”
In Vermont, all new homes and those sold to new owners must have photoelectric detectors on every floor. State lawmakers passed the law after a tragic apartment fire in the city of Barre claimed the lives of four children and their mother in 2005.
Firefighters say the ionization smoke alarms didn’t go off even though the building was filled with smoke. As part of the investigation, the detectors were checked and found to be working.
To find out how this happened, Barre firefighters did some experiments, testing both ionization and photoelectric alarms. They used a soldering iron stuck in a couch. The photoelectric alarms sounded in about 10 minutes. It took an hour and six minutes for the first ionization alarm to go off.
“If you and I had been sitting a desk next to each other, I wouldn’t have been able to see you,” Lt. Mike Cetin told me. “You think you’re well protected with an ionization smoke detector, when you’re not really protected that well at all.”
“If we could wave a magic wand right now and get rid of all the ionization smoke alarms and replace them instantly with photoelectric smoke alarms, we would cut out fire deaths in this country by more than 50 percent,” McGinn says.
Tests also show photoelectric alarms are less prone to nuisance alarms. Studies show that as many as a third of all smoke alarms in U.S. homes are disconnected, which could account for hundreds of fire deaths each year.
People often remove the batteries when cooking or moisture from the bathroom causes the alarm to sound when there’s no danger. You want that alarm to go off when there’s a threat to your life, not when you’re cooking a steak.
Some think the push for photoelectric detectors is misguided. The National Fire Protection Association says “either type of smoke alarm will provide sufficient time for escape for most people for most fires of either smoldering or flaming type.”
First Alert, a major manufacturer, takes the same position. Kidde, the other big smoke alarm manufacturer, goes one step further. Spokesperson Heather Caldwell says, “Banning a proven technology can truly limit innovation and could be a disservice to consumers.”
Even Underwriters Labs says the science doesn’t support outlawing ionization detectors.
The bottom line: Consider dual detectors
Many safety experts recommend a smoke alarm with both an ionization and photoelectric sensor. These combination models, which are widely available, guard against both flaming and smoldering fires. That way you’re protected no matter what type of fire you have.
Consumer Reports recommends replacing ionization units with these new dual sensor models. The editors also recommend alarms that are wirelessly interconnected, especially if you have a multilevel house. That way if one goes off (say in the basement) they all sound throughout the house.
Find more information
© 2013 msnbc.com. Reprints | <urn:uuid:c038d388-2704-4c44-8fe8-dbfbf1905575> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nbcnews.com/id/40240039/ns/business-consumer_news/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93777 | 1,299 | 2.875 | 3 |
Poster Contest Details
Who Can Enter?
Students may enter through their school or community group such as 4H and scouts. Each student may only submit one entry.
Designing the Poster
Classroom teachers work with their students to design a poster, following the guidelines below. In addition to their poster, students 3rd through 12th grade will be required to answer the following questions:
- What is the name of the endangered species you have chosen and what habitat does it live in?
- What are the main threats to this animal/plant and its habitat?
- How can we help protect this animal/plant and its habitat?
An endangered species teacher resource pack is available to support implementation in the classroom. This important teaching aid includes lesson activities across different curriculums, suitable web sites and resources, and entry details for the contest. Download a free Resource Pack.
- Students must design an 8½” x 11” poster containing a picture and a message about one threatened or endangered species. It should encourage people to care about endangered plants and animals and want to protect them. A very short simple message is best for a poster so that it is easy to see and sticks in people’s minds.
- The poster may be designed on any kind of paper, including card stock. Students may be as creative as they wish. The poster may be in any medium including collage, free-hand drawing, paint, charcoal or pencil. Chalk, charcoal, and pastel must be sealed with a fixative spray to prevent smearing and smudging. Photography, 3D designs and computer-generated images and text are excluded. Three-dimensional entries will not be accepted.
- All posters should be backed with construction paper leaving a two-inch frame around the edges.
- Only the original poster can be submitted into the competition, no photocopies.
- Each poster should reflect the student’s own idea, reflecting the theme. The teacher may assist young children with writing down the message on their poster, but the message must be the child’s own thoughts and all artwork must be the child’s own work.
- All posters will become the property of the NC Zoo.
- Any incomplete entry (e.g. no research submitted for grades 3 – 12) or entry not following these specifications, will be disqualified from final judging.
Schools will first hold a school-based competition, and choose first, second and third place in the following divisions.
- Division 1 – Kindergarten – 2nd Grade
- Division 2 – 3rd – 5th Grade
- Division 3 – 6th – 8th Grade
- Division 4 – 9th – 12th Grade
For the first place winner of each division, please complete an entry form and attach it to the back of the original artwork with a paperclip. Posters will not be returned. Take a photo or copy of your poster before submitting it.
Competition coordinators should take photographs or color copies of the 3 winning entries in each division and submit them on the group results form. This form will be used to issue certificates to those students. Please do not send originals for 2nd and 3rd place to the zoo.
Folded posters will not be accepted. Artwork should be rolled and shipped in a mailing tube or be packed and wrapped flat. Please read the poster contest rules carefully, as only posters that meet the contest rules will be considered. Send your posters to the following address:
Endangered Species Poster Competition
NC Zoo Education Division
4401 Zoo Parkway
Asheboro, NC 27205
Posters must be postmarked on or before the second Friday in December. Winners will be notified by mail.
The posters will be grouped in one of the following four grade categories:
- Kindergarten through 2nd Grade
- 3rd through 5th Grade
- 6th through 8th Grade
- 9th through 12th Grade
Posters will be judged by a committee of zoo staff and community representatives. The winning poster and runner-up in each grade category will be judged based on the criteria listed below.
- Clear message conveyed by the text and artwork.
- How significant or relevant is the poster in increasing understanding of an endangered species?
- Does it communicate the message to a broad audience?
- Did the artist use a catchy slogan or message?
- Creativity, originality and artistic quality.
- Is the design creative and original?
- Does the selected media enhance the presentation of the overall artistic quality?
- Visual clarity — easily read.
- Visual use of space - Is the poster clearly and logically set out?
- Is the text easy to read?
- Clarity of information – all questions were answered in clear sentences
- Was the information accurate?
One winner will be chosen in each division. All winning entries will be combined to create an Endangered Species Awareness Poster. The poster will be sent to participating schools and used in conjunction with the zoo’s education programs. Winning posters in each division will be displayed on the zoos web site.
The overall winner of each division will receive a prize pack including a family pass to the zoo, an endangered species poster and an educational program for their classroom.
For more information on the Endangered Species Poster Competition, Email or Phone (336) 879-7715 or toll free 1-800-488-0444 ext. 7715 | <urn:uuid:3b57d062-9dc6-4d9f-a406-603a79760f85> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nczoo.org/education/PosterContest/posterdetails.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925382 | 1,122 | 3.390625 | 3 |
Lesson Plan Search
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Top Picks for June
- Helping Kids Cope With Natural Disasters (Collection)
Subject: Tornadoes, Hurricanes, Fear, Loss, Grief, Death
Grade Levels: PreK–2, 3–5, 6–8, 9–12
Summary: Tips and expert advice for teachers and parents on reassuring children after natural disasters strike.
- Full Esteem Ahead! (K-2) ( PDF, 341 KB, 4 pgs.)
Full Esteem Ahead! (3-5) ( PDF, 347 KB, 4 pgs.)
Subjects: Health, Phys. Ed., Reading, Language Arts, Science, Life Science
Grade Levels: K-2, 3-5
Summary: Students explore self esteem and create an art project that illustrates their unique physical and non-physical characteristics.
- The Great Gatsby: Primary Sources from the Roaring Twenties
Subjects: Character Education
Grade Levels: 8-12
Summary: Series of eight multi-media classroom lessons that explore the importance of positive character development. | <urn:uuid:c3125222-38d4-4601-8e43-6bbf7bb078a2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nea.org/tools/lesson-plan-search.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.751334 | 231 | 3.53125 | 4 |
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