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Cooperation not competition underpins evolution
A significant body of research into evolution now indicates that survival of the fittest is only a part of the story. Life did not take over the globe by combat but by networking!
That is according to Prof. Lynn Margulis, distinguished biologist and Presidential Medal of Science Winner 1999
Recent scientific discoveries are showing that evolution is more about collaboration between organisms and species than it ever was about competition. For example, the New Scientist (April 2005 issue) has published its Top Ten of "Evolutions Greatest Inventions":
- The Eye
- The Brain
Included at Number Ten is Symbiosis (defined as two species engaging in physically intimate, mutually beneficial dependency) which the New Scientist declares, "has popped up so frequently during evolution that it is safe to say it's the rule, not the exception".
Also making the top ten is the "Superorganism" covering those social species like ants and bees which operate collectively. The article describes a lesser-known superorganism - the Portuguese man-of-war Jellyfish. Although it looks like a one- tentacled individual is in fact a colony of single-celled organisms. According to New Scientist these superorganisms are probably "the closest thing on earth to utopia"
Its also enlightening to notice that three of the other top ten (Multicellurity, Parasitsm, Symbiosis) specifically involve co-operation (sometimes unwitting) between species.
Also the remaining six inventions all validate nicely the simple model of a living system adapted from Maturana (A Design Framework for Bioteams).
Sex, Death (that is programmed cell death!) and Photosynthesis (capturing energy from sunlight) are all Processes within a living system, the Eye and the Brain are key aspects of the Nervous System and finally Language is that ability generated by the nervous system for a living system to recurrently communicate with other living systems.
To read the article
1. Margulis, L., 1998 The Symbiotic Planet - A New Look at Evolution, Weidenfield & Nicholson, pp. 33-49
2. Maturana, H., Varela F., 1992. The Tree of Knowledge - The Biological Basis of Human Understanding, Shambhala, pp. 43-52, 180-201
Bioteams Books Reviews
A few months ago I read the book "Leadership and Self-Deception". Then I became a friend of the Arbinger Institute, went through some training with them in London and may be involved with them in the future. So I suppose the book inspired me – here’s why! Guest book review by Mario Gastaldi.
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Sometimes, particle animations work, such as with Perpetual Ocean [nasa.gov], developed by NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio. This visualization shows ocean surface currents around the world during the period from June 2005 through Decmeber 2007.
Interestingly, the visualization does not include any narration or annotations. Instead, the goal was to use ocean flow data to create a simple, visceral experience. The data was based on a high resolution model of the global ocean and sea-ice, that is able to capture ocean eddies and other narrow-current systems which transport heat and carbon in the oceans.
You can either hit your bandwidth allowance by downloading the 2GB versions at the NASA website, or watch the somewhat smaller, yet still HD version, below.
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Furniture Styles - Some Governing Influences
Style was frequently controlled and directed by the affairs of State and by Court intrigues. The habits and customs of the people as they became more defined brought about the necessity for a new style. As an instance, the feeling of greater security produced by civilisation gave rise to many changes. This may be seen in the widening of the dining-table in the days of the Restoration, when it was no longer necessary from considerations of safety to sit at meat with back against the wall and sword in readiness. The table was then made wider, and it was placed in the centre of the room so that servants could move freely round it and wait upon the guests.
As will be seen in a subsequent chapter, the incidents of travel gave the cue to the artist who carved or painted the ornament upon chests and coffers—and especially marriage coffers—in early days.
At a still earlier period in Egyptian times the style of ornament evolved from the materials at hand, and from those substances which were brought to that country by native travellers and merchants. There was a plentiful supply of ivory and ebony for overlays, and artists who painted and ornamented wooden furniture found ready at hand a model to copy in the lotus flower growing on the banks of the Nile. Right along the line, through the history of the furniture trade, style was chiefly formulated and controlled by the prevailing influences and surroundings of the day ; the materials selected were those at hand, although when there was a variety of materials those chosen were selected to produce ornament by contrast. New styles in furniture resulted from changes in material, and from altered design and ornament in other things. The architecture of the day influenced style in furniture, but outside, or what may be termed foreign, influence, often effected a complete change.
GRADUAL AND YET COMPLETE CHANGES
Style changed from the plainest of primitive furniture made for practical use, without any suggestion of ornament, to the more elaborate and extravagant styles, by a gradual process. At every stage in the development, however, there was a cause to which this change was attributable. At the time of the Commonwealth, after the downfall of the Royal cause, all things appertaining to the older order of things were swept away, and a severe style came into being. Again, at the -Restoration, the carving as well as the fashioning of the new furniture was a strong contrast. At one time there was French influence, at another Italian ; then for a time Eastern designs were popular, followed in due course by periods of carving, of inlays, and of painted design.
Sometimes there does not appear to have been any special reason for a change of style, other than that the change occurred to some one suggested from some common object with which the woodworker would be familiar. Thus when an ornate oak panelling was desired to replace the plain panels, many of which had been painted after a fashion not then popular, two styles came into vogue ; one the parchemin, cut in imitation of rolls of parchment upon rods, the other the linen-fold, which is said to be emblematic of the veil covering the chalice at the consecration of the Host in the Catholic Mass. There are some beautiful examples of this early woodwork at Hampton Court Palace and in other old buildings, although these styles were in vogue but a short time.
( Originally Published Early 1900's )
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Health Impact News Editor
In an opinion column by Moises Velasquez-Manoff of the New York Times, the cure for modern day allergies is presented, from the farm!
The column title is A Cure for the Allergy Epidemic? and begins with the question: WILL the cure for allergies come from the cowshed?
The presumed answer is “yes.”
Moises recounts a visit to an Indiana Amish farm with an allergist from Indianapolis. They found that Amish people in northern Indiana are relatively free from allergies. In fact, he makes the rather astonishing comment that “the Indiana Amish (are) among the least allergic populations ever described in the developed world.”
They rule out genetics by noting that the Amish originally came over to the U.S. from the German speaking populations of Switzerland, but modern Swiss children, who would be genetically similar to the Amish, are just as allergy prone as U.S. children.
So what do they think is the “Amish secret” to avoiding allergies?
According to European scientists, they call it “the farm effect.” Here is how they summarized it:
The working hypothesis is that innocuous cowshed microbes, plant material and raw milk protect farming children by favorably stimulating their immune systems throughout life, particularly early on.
The column highlights the various aspects of farm life and exposure to various microbes that seem to prevent allergies from developing in farm children the way they do in urban children. Then, Moises makes a comment about raw milk:
In Europe, the consumption of unpasteurized milk has repeatedly correlated with protection against allergic disease. In America, 80 percent of the Amish studied by Dr. Holbreich consume raw milk. In a study published earlier this year, Dr. Schaub’s group showed that European children who consumed farm milk had more of those regulatory T-cells, irrespective of whether they lived on farms. The higher the quantity of those cells, the less likely these children were to be given diagnoses of asthma. Here, finally, is something concrete to take off the farm.
So the conclusion therefore should be that more people should drink raw milk to prevent allergies, right? Nope.
None of these scientists recommend that people consume raw milk; it can carry deadly pathogens. Rather, they hope to identify what’s protective in the milk and either extract it or preserve the ingredients during processing.
In other words, let’s certainly not advocate what we can see plainly works. That would upset our preconceived ideas of what is proper for people (and bring about a loss of profit for the makers and marketers of all those allergy medicines). Instead, wait for us to develop something that is not natural so we can patent it, and then we will approve it and sell it to you.
Read the full article in the N.Y. Times here.
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This resource is no longer available
Malicious Code Detection Technologies
Just like every other type of technology, malicious code has grown increasingly sophisticated and complex. The antivirus industry must try to stay one step ahead, especially since it is often easier to produce malicious code than it is to detect it. This white paper provides an overview of the evolving combat tactics used in the antivirus battle, giving both simplified explanations of technological approaches as well as a broad chronological perspective.
Many of the technologies and principles discussed in the paper are still current today, not only in the antivirus world, but also in the wider context of computer security systems. The early malicious code detection technology was based on signatures - segments of code that act as unique identifiers for individual malicious programs. Using signatures is a relatively primitive and repetitive technology which requires little explanation and is widely understood.
- Kaspersky Lab
- 21 Feb 2008
- 01 Feb 2008
- 18 Page(s)
- White Paper
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The Single Most Convincing Fact
Evolutionists like to say that there are mountains of evidence for evolution, but what is the best evidence? What would make a creationist think twice? Twenty five seconds into this video evolutionist Richard Dawkins answers this question. His killer evidence is the congruence between the genes of different plants and animals. Compare the genes across a range of species and you’ll see a “perfect hierarchy, a perfect family tree.” In fact, you’ll see the same result for evolutionary trees using just single genes—the so-called gene trees. It works “with every gene you do separately.”
[0.25] I think perhaps the single most convincing fact—observation—you could point to would be the pattern of resemblances that you see when you compare the genes, using modern DNA techniques, such as looking at the letter-to-letter correspondences between the genes—compare the genes of any pair of animals you like—a pair of animals or a pair of plants—and then plot out the resemblances and they fall in a perfect hierarchy, a perfect family tree. … [1.05] Moreover the same thing works with every gene you do separately and even pseudogenes that don’t do anything but are vestigial relics of genes that once did something. I find it extremely hard to imagine how any creationist that actually bothered to listen to that, could possibly doubt the fact of evolution.
Dawkins went on to have some rather harsh words for creationists. The message was clear. The evidence for evolution falls perfectly into place. It makes evolution a fact that is beyond any reasonable doubt. And anyone who doubts this is a bad person.
This sentiment is by no means particular to Dawkins. I have heard this same claim, and others like it, dozens of times. Sometimes informally in lectures, discussions, debates and so forth. Other times in textbooks or other literature.
What is amazing is the evolutionist’s high confidence and self-assuredness in such a blatant misrepresentation of science. It would be difficult to imagine a bigger falsehood. Phylogenetic incongruence is rampant in evolutionary studies. Conflicts exist at all levels of the evolutionary tree and throughout both morphological and molecular traits. This paper reports on incongruent gene trees in bats. That is one example of many. These incongruences are caused by just about every kind of contradiction possible. Molecular sequences in one or a few species may be out of place amongst similar species. Or sequences in distant species may be strangely similar. As one paper admitted, there is “no known mechanism or function that would account for this level of conservation at the observed evolutionary distances.” Or as another evolutionist admitted, the many examples of nearly identical molecular sequences of totally unrelated animals are “astonishing.”
An even more severe problem is that in many cases no comparison is even possible. The molecular sequence is found in one species but not its neighbors. When this problem first became apparent evolutionists thought it would be resolved as the genomes of more species were decoded. No such luck—the problem just became worse. Not surprisingly evolutionists carefully prefilter their data. As one paper explained, “data are routinely filtered in order to satisfy stringent criteria so as to eliminate the possibility of incongruence.”
Short genes that produce what are known as microRNA also contradict Dawkins’ high claim. In fact one evolutionist, who has studied thousands of microRNA genes, explained that he has not found “a single example that would support the traditional tree.” It is, another evolutionist admitted, “a very serious incongruence.”
Another paper admits that “the more molecular data is analysed, the more difficult it is to interpret straightforwardly the evolutionary histories of those molecules.”
And yet in public presentations of their theory, evolutionists present a very different story. As Dawkins explained, gene comparisons “fall in a perfect hierarchy, a perfect family tree.” This statement is so false it isn’t even wrong—it is absurd. And then Dawkins chastises anyone who “could possibly doubt the fact of evolution.” Unfortunately this sentiment is typical. Evolutionists have no credibility.
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Selection of High-Speed Tool Steels
High-speed tool steels are designed primarily for cutting tool applications. The term “high-speed” was used when these steels were first invented. The term refers to the fact that the steels could be used as cutting tools at high turning speeds on a lathe. In some cases, the turning speeds were so fast that the tools would heat to dull red color, which is about 1100°F (593°C). The ability to maintain the hardness required for cutting while at this temperature is a property known as red hardness or hot hardness, and it is the primary defining characteristic of high-speed steels.
High-speed steels exhibit high strength and hardness, but typically exhibit lower toughness than the cold work tool steels. Some, most notably M2 and powder metal M4, are used in cold work applications because of the strength and wear resistance which can be achieved.
To qualify as a high-speed steel, the chemical composition must meet certain minimum requirements, which are defined in the ASTM A600 Specification for High-Speed Tool Steels. The lowest alloy grades, M50 and M52 high-speed steels, are properly known as intermediate high-speed steels because of their lower alloy contents. The cobalt-bearing grades, such as M35 and M42, are known as super high-speed steels because they exhibit enhanced hot hardness.
The nominal chemical compositions of the common high-speed and intermediate high-speed tool steels are presented in weight percent below. Relative comparisons of the properties of the steels are presented in the chart on the reverse side. More specific information about the steels may be obtained from the individual data sheets. Grades with the DuraTech™ prefix are manufactured by powder metallurgy and provide very unique combinations of strength, toughness, and wear resistance. Several of the grades are also available in a resulfurized version. The sulfur addition improves the machinability of the steel in the annealed condition and the grindability in the hardened condition.
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This pig was no inert mechanism of production. He was a unique individual, with a sense of humor.
Photo from: Farm Sanctuary
An automated hum defines daybreak inside a sunless barn. Grunts and squeals gradually emerge from narrow stalls arranged in corridors. Each row contains over 100 pigs. All snouts and hooves are aligned symmetrically in a scene of unpiglike uniformity.
One 600-pounder wobbles insecurely upon grated flooring that cuts into her sensitive hooves. Another, marked with shoulder sores and eye abrasions, rubs against metallic bars in a vain effort to turn around. With barely enough room to rise or recline, the sows spend unremitting 4-month pregnancy cycles in fixed positions.
Several pigs ready to give birth are transferred to farrowing crates, where they'll nurse piglets through metal slats for 3 weeks. Piglets are then moved to other cages to be fattened. At least 15% of the babies won't survive early separation. Sows return to gestation crates for re-impregnation. Each will yield 20 or more piglets a year.
In the U.S. roughly 100 million pigs are annually raised and slaughtered in factory farms. They are deprived of space, sunlight, straw, mudbaths or any feature pertinent to pigs. The National Pork Producer's Council recommends that crates be 2 feet wide, 7 feet long, and 3.3 feet high. "This extreme confinement allows a great many sows to be housed in an environmentally controlled situation, fed and cared for by a minimal and unskilled labor force, and maintained with minimal feed. Such a system allows maximal production efficiency," says Bernard Rollin, Professor of Physiology and Biophysics at Colorado State University. "Plainly, many of the needs of the animals are not met in austere confinement systems."
Pigs are gregarious individuals who thrive in the company of other pigs. In Rollin's study "Farm Animal Welfare: Social, Bioethical, and Research Issues," pigs in their natural habitat constructed shared nests and forged complex social bonds. Boxed and bored pigs cannot express these instinctive behaviors. Researchers M. Mendl, A.J. Zanella, and D.M. Broom revealed that pigs with no hope for release may deteriorate into a state of swine depression. Many resort to neurotic coping mechanisms known as stereotypies.
They "vacuum" chew the air, bob their heads, bite and lick pen bars, and nose-jab objects. In the study, "Farming beyond the ability for pigs to adapt," G. Van Putten suggested that such activities produce comfort chemicals (endorphins) to help an animal deal with a bleak environment. Unlike the pigs observed in sanctuaries, crated pigs display significant levels of aberration. By a sow's fourth pregnancy, she is the pig version of psychotic.
A lot of money is invested in studies to tell us that pigs simply want to be pigs. Rather than emulate the European Union's proposed ban on sow stalls, American agri-experts seek ways to suppress the unwanted behaviors they engender. To inhibit stress-related tail biting, each pig's tail is lopped off with no anesthesia. To identify piglets, notches are clipped out of the animals' ears. Males suffer mutilations and overcrowding until they're slaughtered at 6-months-old. Sows endure impregnation for 3 to 5 years, followed by nameless death.
Hogs and humans inside swine confinement buildings inhale dust, dander and noxious gases from the animals' feces and urine. Among surveyed workers, 60% were found to have respiratory difficulties. For pigs, physical distress is severe. One industry report speculates that 60% of U.S. herds have Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome. Grated floors, artificially induced growth rates and inactivity contribute to malformed muscle and bone. Arthritic pigs teeter on weak or crippled legs. The majority also suffer chronic urinary tract infections.
Some estimate that one-third to half of U.S. swine plants harbor salmonellosis. Forty to 70% of stall-housed hogs are contaminated with bratislava and up to 85% are exposed to parvovirus. Transmissible gastroenteritis (TGE) claims most newborns who are infected with this disease.
Amid this ambience of suffering and death, many employees view the animals as inanimate objects. Last August the director of a Seaboard, Inc. hog farm in Oklahoma incurred cruelty charges after a PETA undercover video showed workers bludgeoning pigs with a hammer and smashing piglets' heads against a cement floor. Earlier last year, PETA's investigative endeavors led to the conviction of 3 employees at a North Carolina farm. Among other atrocities, these workers had skinned and dismembered a fully conscious sow.
For the first time in U.S. history, a single state has launched a ballot initiative to ban inhumane hog confinement systems. If Floridian volunteers can gather the required signatures to qualify for the November 2002 ballot, voters will have a chance to outlaw gestation crates. Florida's unprecedented initiative could instigate state-by-state reforms for farmed animals.
Every summer I travel to Upstate New York to visit Farm Sanctuary, a non-profit haven for rescued victims of the food industry. On my last trip I stopped by the pig barn to bid farewell to a cluster of critters snuggled hide to hide on a bed of satiny hay. A few curious snouts scrutinized the ground in a trait called rooting. As I gazed over the canopy of pink backs and bellies, one pig raised his enormous head, looked into my eyes--and grinned.
I carry that goofy smile in my thoughts. This pig was no inert mechanism of production. He was a unique individual, with a sense of humor.
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The study suggests that while people sleep, if certain odors are presented after hearing tones, people start sniffing even if there is no odor presented when they hear the same tones. This happens during sleep and even when people wake up.
There have been several past studies explaining the importance of sleep for learning and memory consolidation. However, none of them have been able to show the human brain actually learning new information during sleep.
Professor Noam Sobel, research student Anat Arzi, Sobel's team from the Institute's Neurobiology Department, and experts from Loewenstein Hospital and the Academic College of Tel Aviv- Jaffa, decided to try an experiment with a type of conditioning that exposes participants to a tone followed by an odor, so that they soon experience a similar response to the tone as they would to the odor.
The researchers found many advantages from pairing tones and odors, for example, neither wakes the subject, yet the brain processes them and even reacts during sleep. Certain odors actually even help the participants to have a sound sleep. On the other hand, sleep-learning studies are extremely difficult to conduct, so the experts had to make sure the participants were really asleep during the "lessons."
Associations made whilst sleeping appear to be retained after waking up.
It didn't matter if participants were asleep or awake, this variation in sniffing could be recorded either way. This type of conditioning, while appearing so simple, is also associated with some higher brain areas, like the hippocampus (involved in memory formation).
In order to continuously monitor the subjects' sleep state, the subjects slept in a special lab during the experiments. Even if a participant woke up for a second, the results had to be disqualified.
During sleep time, the subjects heard a tone that was followed by either a pleasant or an unpleasant odor. Then another tone was heard, followed by an odor (at the opposite end of the pleasantness scale from what they previously smelt).
The associations were partially reinforced throughout the night, in order to expose the subjects to the tones alone. The volunteers sniffed deeply or took shallow breaths when they heard the tones without the odor, reacting the same way as if the associated odors were still present.
After volunteers awoke the next day, they heard the tones again with no odor following. Since they were asleep the night before, they had no conscious memory of ever listening to them, but their breathing patterns were showing something different. When the tones that were paired with bad smells were played for the subjects, they produced short, shallow sniffs; and when they heard the tones that were associated with nice odors, they sniffed deeply.
The team conducted a second experiment to find out if this type of learning was tied to a particular phase of sleep. In order to do so, they divided the sleep cycles into rapid eye movement (REM) and non-REM sleep where they induced the conditioning in only one phase or the other.
Researchers were surprised to see that the REM phase showed a more pronounced learning response. However, being able to transfer the learned association from sleep to waking was only found when the learning happened in the non-REM phase.
REM sleep may make us more open to stimuli in the environment, according to Sobel and Arzi, but "dream amnesia" (which makes people forget their dreams) may operate on any conditioning during that stage. Non-REM sleep, they explained, is important for consolidating memory, so it could also be playing a role in this form of sleep-learning.
Since Sobel's lab focuses on the sense of smell, Arzi hopes to further investigate brain processing in altered states of consciousness such as sleep and coma.
"Now that we know that some kind of sleep learning is possible, we want to find where the limits lie- what information can be learned during sleep and what information cannot."
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Washing for Prevention
Did you know that viruses and bacteria can live up to two hours (or more) on doorknobs, tables, desks and other surfaces that schoolchildren touch? One way to prevent the spread of germs among children is to encourage them to wash their hands with soap and warm water, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For those times when soap and water aren't feasible, have disposable hand wipes or gel sanitizers handy. The gel should be rubbed on the hands until it is dry.
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A hospital-acquired infection, also called a nosocomial infection, is an infection that first appears between 48 hours and four days after a patient is admitted to a hospital or other health-care facility.
About 5–10% of patients admitted to acute care hospitals and long-term care facilities in the United States develop a hospital-acquired, or nosocomial, infection, with an annual total of more than one million people. Hospital-acquired infections are usually related to a procedure or treatment used to diagnose or treat the patient's initial illness or injury. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has shown that about 36% of these infections are preventable through the adherence to strict guidelines by health care workers when caring for patients. What can make these infections so troublesome is that they occur in people whose health is already compromised by the condition for which they were first hospitalized.
Hospital-acquired infections can be caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi, or parasites. These microorganisms may already be present in the patient's body or may come from the environment, contaminated hospital equipment, health care workers, or other patients. Depending on the causal agents involved, an infection may start in any part of the body. A localized infection is limited to a specific part of the body and has local symptoms. For example, if a surgical wound in the abdomen becomes infected, the area around the wound becomes red, hot, and painful. A generalized infection is one that enters the bloodstream and causes systemic symptoms such as fever, chills, low blood pressure, or mental confusion. This can lead to sepsis, a serious, rapidly progressive multi-organ infection, sometimes called blood poisoning, that can result in death.
Hospital-acquired infections may develop from the performance of surgical procedures; from the insertion of catheters (tubes) into the urinary tract, nose, mouth, or blood vessels; or from material from the nose or mouth that is aspirated (inhaled) into the lungs. The most common types of hospital-acquired infections are urinary tract infections (UTIs), ventilator-associated pneumonia, and surgical wound infections. The University of Michigan Health System reports that the most common sources of infection in their hospital are urinary catheters, central venous (in the vein) catheters, and endotrachial tubes (tubes going through the mouth into the stomach). Catheters going into the body allow bacteria to walk along the outside of the tube into the body where they find their way into the bloodstream. A study in the journal Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology shows that about 24% of patients with catheters will develop catheter related infections, of which 5.2% will become bloodstream infections. Death has been shown to occur in 4–20% of catheter-related infections.
All hospitalized patients are at risk of acquiring an infection from their treatment or surgery. Some patients are at greater risk than others, especially young children, the elderly, and persons with compromised immune systems. The National Nosocomial Infection Surveillance System database compiled by the CDC shows that the overall infection rate among children in intensive care is 6.1%, with the primary causes being venous catheters and ventilator-associated pneumonia. The risk factors for hospital-acquired infections in children include parenteral nutrition (tube or intravenous feeding), the use of antibiotics for more than 10 days, use of invasive devices, poor postoperative status, and immune system dysfunction. Other risk factors that increase the opportunity for hospitalized adults and children to acquire infections are:
Any type of invasive (enters the body) procedure can expose a patient to the possibility of infection. Some common procedures that increase the risk of hospital-acquired infections include:
Urinary tract infection (UTI) is the most common type of hospital-acquired infection and has been shown to occur after urinary catheterization. Catheterization is the placement of a catheter through the urethra into the urinary bladder to empty urine from the bladder; or to deliver medication, relieve pressure, or measure urine in the bladder; or for other medical reasons. Normally, a healthy urinary bladder is sterile, with no harmful bacteria or other microorganisms present. Although bacteria may be in or around the urethra, they normally cannot enter the bladder. A catheter, however, can pick up bacteria from the urethra and give them an easy route into the bladder, causing infection. Bacteria from the intestinal tract are the most common type to cause UTIs. Patients with poorly functioning immune systems or who are taking antibiotics are also at increased risk for UTI caused by a fungus called Candida . The prolonged use of antibiotics, which may reduce the effectiveness of the patient's own immune system, has been shown to create favorable conditions for the growth of this fungal organism.
Pneumonia is the second most common type of hospital-acquired infection. Bacteria and other microorganisms are easily introduced into the throat by treatment procedures performed to treat respiratory illnesses. Patients with chronic obstructive lung disease, for example, are especially susceptible to infection because of frequent and prolonged antibiotic therapy and long-term mechanical ventilation used in their treatment. The infecting microorganisms can come from contaminated equipment or the hands of health care workers as procedures are conducted such as respiratory intubation, suctioning of material from the throat and mouth, and mechanical ventilation. Once introduced through the nose and mouth, microorganisms quickly colonize the throat area. This means that they grow and form a colony, but have not yet caused an infection. Once the throat is colonized, it is easy for a patient to aspirate the microorganisms into the lungs, where infection develops that leads to pneumonia.
Invasive surgical procedures increase a patient's risk of getting an infection by giving bacteria a route into normally sterile areas of the body. An infection can be acquired from contaminated surgical equipment or from the hands of health care workers. Following surgery, the surgical wound can become infected from contaminated dressings or the hands of health-care workers who change the dressing. Other wounds can also become easily infected, such as those caused by trauma, burns, or pressure sores that result from prolonged bed rest or wheel chair use.
Many hospitalized patients need continuous medications, transfusions, or nutrients delivered into their bloodstream. An intravenous (IV) catheter is placed in a vein and the medications, blood components, or liquid nutritionals are infused into the vein. Bacteria from the surroundings, contaminated equipment, or health care workers' hands can enter the body at the site of catheter insertion. A local infection may develop in the skin around the catheter. The bacteria can also enter the blood through the vein and cause a generalized infection. The longer a catheter is in place, the greater the risk of infection.
Other hospital procedures that may put patients at risk for nosocomial infection are gastrointestinal procedures, obstetric procedures, and kidney dialysis .
Fever is often the first sign of infection. Other symptoms and signs of infection are rapid breathing, mental confusion, low blood pressure, reduced urine output, and a high white blood cell count. Patients with a UTI may have pain when urinating and blood in the urine. Symptoms of pneumonia may include difficulty breathing and inability to cough. A localized infection begins with swelling, redness, and tenderness on the skin or around a surgical wound or other open wound, which can progress rapidly to the destruction of deeper layers of muscle tissue, and eventually sepsis.
An infection is suspected any time a hospitalized patient develops a fever that cannot be explained by the underlying illness. Some patients, especially the elderly, may not develop a fever. In these patients, the first signs of infection may be rapid breathing or mental confusion.
Diagnosis of a hospital-acquired infection is determined by:
Cultures of blood, urine, sputum, other body fluids, or tissue are especially important in order to identify the bacteria, fungi, virus, or other microorganism causing the infection. Once the organism has been identified, it will be tested again for sensitivity to a range of antibiotics so that the patient can be treated quickly and effectively with an appropriate medicine to which the causative organism will respond. While waiting for these test results, treatment may begin with common broad-spectrum antibiotics such as penicillin, cephalosporins , tetracyclines , or erythromycin. More and more often, some types of bacteria are becoming resistant to these standard antibiotic treatments, especially when patients with chronic illnesses are frequently given antibiotic therapy for long periods of time. When this happens, a different, more powerful, and more specific antibiotic must be used to which the specific organism has been shown to respond. Two strong antibiotics that have been effective against resistant bacteria are vancomycin and imipenem, although some bacteria are developing resistance to these antibiotics as well. The prolonged use of antibiotics is also known to reduce the effectiveness of the patient's own immune system, sometimes becoming a factor in the development of infection.
Fungal infections are treated with antifungal medications. Examples of these are amphotericin B, nystatin, ketoconazole, itraconazole, and fluconazole.
Viruses do not respond to antibiotics. A number of antiviral drugs have been developed that slow the growth or reproduction of viruses, such as acyclovir, ganciclovir, foscarnet, and amantadine.
Hospitals take a variety of steps to prevent nosocomial infections, including:
Andreoli, T. E., J. C. Bennet, C. C. Carpenter, and F. Plum. Cecil Essentials of Medicine. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders Co., 1997.
Schaffer, S. D., et al. Infection Prevention and Safe Practice. New York: Mosby-Year Book, 1996.
U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 1600 Clifton Road, Atlanta, GA 30333. 404-639-3311. http://www.cdc.gov/health/disease.htm .
"Safer Hospital Stay, and Reducing Hospital-Born Infections." Health Scout News, 2003 [cited July 7, 2003]. http://www.healthscout.com .
L. Lee Culvert
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How often do people visit the world’s protected areas (PAs)? Despite PAs covering one-eighth of the land and being a major focus of nature-based recreation and tourism, we don’t know. To address this, we compiled a globally-representative database of visits to PAs and built region-specific models predicting visit rates from PA size, local population size, remoteness, natural attractiveness, and national income. Applying these models to all but the very smallest of the world’s terrestrial PAs suggests that together they receive roughly 8 billion (8 x 109) visits/y—of which more than 80% are in Europe and North America. Linking our region-specific visit estimates to valuation studies indicates that these visits generate approximately US $600 billion/y in direct in-country expenditure and US $250 billion/y in consumer surplus. These figures dwarf current, typically inadequate spending on conserving PAs. Thus, even without considering the many other ecosystem services that PAs provide to people, our findings underscore calls for greatly increased investment in their conservation.
Citation: Balmford A, Green JMH, Anderson M, Beresford J, Huang C, Naidoo R, et al. (2015) Walk on the Wild Side: Estimating the Global Magnitude of Visits to Protected Areas. PLoS Biol 13(2): e1002074. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1002074
Published: February 24, 2015
Copyright: © 2015 Balmford et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited
Funding: This study was supported by The Natural Capital Project (http://www.naturalcapitalproject.org/). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Abbreviations: PA, protected area; IUCN, International Union for Conservation of Nature; GLM, generalised linear model; WDPA, World Database on Protected Areas
Enjoyment of nature, much of it in protected areas (PAs), is recognised as the most prominent cultural ecosystem service [1–3], yet we still lack even a rough understanding of its global magnitude and economic significance. Large-scale assessments have been restricted to regional or biome-specific investigations [4–8] (but see ). There are good reasons for this. Information on visit rates is limited, widely scattered, and confounded by variation in methods [10,11]. Likewise, estimates of the value of visits vary greatly—geographically, among methods, and depending on the component of value being measured [12–14]. Until now, these problems have prevented data-driven analysis of the worldwide scale of nature-based recreation and tourism. But with almost all the world’s governments committed (through the Aichi Biodiversity Targets ) to integrating biodiversity into national accounts, policymakers require such gaps in our knowledge of natural capital to be filled.
We tackled this shortfall in our understanding of a major ecosystem service by focusing on terrestrial PAs, which cover one-eighth of the land and are a major focus of nature-based recreation and tourism. We compiled data on visit rates to over 500 PAs and built region-specific models, which predicted variation in visitation in relation to the properties of PAs and to local socioeconomic conditions. Next, we used these models to estimate visit rates to all but the smallest of the world’s terrestrial PAs. Last, by summing these estimates by region and combining the totals with region-specific medians for the value of nature visits obtained from the literature, we derived approximate estimates of the global extent and economic significance of PA visitation.
Given the scarcity of data on visits to PAs, our approach was to use all available information (although we excluded marine and Antarctic sites, and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Category I PAs where tourism is typically discouraged; for further details of data collection and analysis see Materials and Methods). This generated a database of visitor records for 556 PAs spread across 51 countries and included 2,663 records of annual visit numbers over our best-sampled ten-year period (1998–2007) (S1 Table). Mean annual visit rates for individual PAs in this sample ranged from zero to over 10 million visits/y, with a median across all sampled PAs of 20,333 visits/y.
We explored this variation by modelling it in relation to a series of biophysical and socioeconomic variables that might plausibly predict visit rates (after refs [6,7,17]): PA size, local population size, PA remoteness, a simple measure of the attractiveness of the PA’s natural features, and national income (see Materials and Methods for a priori predictions). For each of five major regions, we performed univariate regressions (S2 Table) and then built generalised linear models (GLMs) in an effort to predict variation in observed visit rates. While the GLMs had modest explanatory power within regions (S3 Table), together they accounted for 52.9% of observed global variation in visit rates. Associations with individual GLM variables—controlling for the effects of other variables—differed regionally in their strength but broadly matched our predictions (S1 Fig.). Visit rates increased with local population size (in Europe), decreased with remoteness (everywhere apart from Asia/Australasia), increased with natural attractiveness (in North and Latin America), and increased with national income (everywhere else). Controlling for these variables, visit rates were highest in North America, lower in Asia/Australasia and Europe, and lowest in Africa and Latin America.
To quantify how often people visit PAs as a whole, we used our region-specific GLMs to estimate visit rates to 94,238 sites listed in the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) ). We again excluded marine, Antarctic, and Category I PAs, as well as almost 40,000 extremely small sites which were below the size (10 ha) of the smallest PA in our sample (S2 Fig.). The limited power of our GLMs and significant errors in the WDPA mean our estimates of visit rates should be treated with caution for individual sites or (when aggregated to national level) for smaller countries. However, the larger-scale patterns they reveal are marked. Estimated median visit rates per PA (averaged within countries) are lowest in Africa (at around 3,000/y) and Latin America (4,000/y), and greatest in North America (350,000/y) (S3 Table). When visit rates are aggregated across all PAs within a country, pronounced regional differences in the numbers of PAs (with relatively few in Africa and Latin America) magnify these patterns and indicate that while many African countries have <100,000 PA visits/y, PAs in the United States receive a combined total of over 3 billion visits/y (Fig. 1). This variation is underscored when aggregate PA visit rates are standardised by the annual number of non-workdays and total population size of each region: across Europe we reckon there are ~5 PA visits/100 non-work person-days; for North America, the figure is ~10 visits/100 non-work person-days respectively, while for each other region our estimates are <0.3 visits/100 non-work person-days.
Totals (which are log10-transformed) were derived by applying the relevant regional GLM (S3 Table) to all of a country’s terrestrial PAs (excluding those <10 ha, and marine and IUCN Category I PAs) listed in the WDPA . Asterisks show countries for which we had visit rate observations.
Summing our aggregate estimates of PA visits suggests that between them, the world’s terrestrial PAs receive approximately 8 billion visits/y. Of these, we estimate 3.8 billion visits/y are in Europe (where more than half of the PAs in the WDPA are located) and 3.3 billion visits/y are in North America (S3 Table). These numbers are strikingly large. However, given our confidence intervals (95% CIs for the global total: 5.4–18.5 billion/y) and considering several conservative aspects of our calculations (e.g., the exclusion of ~40,000 very small sites and the incomplete nature of the WDPA), we consider it implausible that there are fewer than 5 billion PA visits worldwide each year. Three national estimates support this view: 2.5 billion visitdays/y to US PAs in 1996 , >1 billion visits/y (albeit many of them cultural rather than nature-based) to China’s National Parks in 2006 , and 3.2–3.9 billion visits/y to all British “ecosystems” (most of which are not in PAs) in 2010 .
Finally, what can be inferred about the economic significance of visits on this scale? Economists working on tourism distinguish two main, non-overlapping components of value : direct expenditure by visitors (an element of economic impact, calculated from spending on fees, travel, accommodation, etc.); and consumer surplus (a measure of economic value which arises because many visitors would be prepared to pay more for their visit than they actually have to, and which is defined as the difference between what visitors would be prepared to pay for a visit and what they actually spend; consumer surplus is typically quantified using travel cost or contingent valuation methods). We conducted an extensive literature search to derive median (but conservative) figures for each type of value for each region (S4 Table). Applying these to our corresponding estimates of visit rates and summing across regions yields an estimate of global gross direct expenditure associated with PA visits (within-country only, and excluding indirect and induced expenditure) of ~US $600 billion/y worldwide (at 2014 prices). The corresponding figure for global consumer surplus is ~US $250 billion/y.
Such numbers are unavoidably imprecise. Uncertainty in our modelled visit rates and the wide variation in published estimates of expenditure and consumer surplus mean that they could be out by a factor of two or more. However, comparison with calculations that visits to North American PAs alone have an economic impact of $350–550 billion/y and that direct expenditure on all travel and tourism worldwide runs at $2,000 billion/y suggests our figures are of the correct order of magnitude, and that the value of PA visitation runs into hundreds of billions of dollars annually.
These results quantify, we believe for the first time, the scale of visits to the world’s PAs and their approximate economic significance. We currently spend <$10 billion/y in safeguarding PAs —a figure which is widely regarded as grossly insufficient [21–25]. Even without considering the many other benefits which PAs provide , our estimates of the economic impact and value of PA visitation dwarf current expenditure—highlighting the risks of underinvestment in conservation, and suggesting substantially increased investments in protected area maintenance and expansion would yield substantial returns.
S1 Fig. Visit rates plotted against each predictor variable.
Plots show observed visit rates (adjusted for every other predictor variable) against each predictor variable (top to bottom) for each region (left to right). Values for mean visit rate, PA size, local population size, remoteness, and national income are all log10-transformed (after adding one to all values of mean visit rate and local population size and remoteness). Red lines show the relationships summarised in part A of S3 Table. In the Europe plots, blue symbols and lines show the data (and relationships) for the United Kingdom National Parks.
S2 Fig. The representativeness of our sample PAs.
Histograms show the values of each of our predictor variables (top to bottom) for all terrestrial PAs in each region (left to right; excluding marine and IUCN Category I PAs), compared with the range represented in our sample of PAs (red vertical lines). For each predictor, the range of observed values is well covered by our sample, except for PA size, where we sampled no PAs <10 ha in area (black vertical lines); we therefore excluded these extremely small PAs from further analysis. Values for PA size, local population size, remoteness, and national income are all log10-transformed (after adding one to all values of mean visit rate, local population size, and remoteness).
S1 Table. Annual visit data for PAs, 1998–2007.
S2 Table. Univariate regressions between observed visit rates and potential predictor variables for each region.
S3 Table. Results of GLMs of PA visit rates in each region.
S4 Table. Empirically-derived estimates of the values of visits to terrestrial PAs or similar natural sites.
S1 Text. Materials and methods.
For information on visit rates we are grateful to Abhishek Behl, Graham Burton, Janet Cochrane, Ian Craigie, Phil Dearden, Andy Drumm, Dubiure Umaru Farouk, Wu Haohan, Graham Hirons, Richard Jenkins, Afan Jones, Małgorzata Karczewska, Kwanmok Kim, Chris Kirkby, Neil Aldrin D. Mallari, John Kahekwa Munihuzi, Kiruben Naicker, Quang Nguyen, Maria del Mar Otero-Villanueva, Gregory Simkins, Joep Stevens, Gareth Todd and Heather Todd, and staff at African Parks Network (South Africa), Cape Nature (South Africa), Central Balkan National Park Directorate (Bulgaria), Department of Environment and Natural Resources (Philippines), DNPWC (Nepal), Forestry Commission (Ghana), Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade (Brazil), Instituto Nacional de Recursos Naturales (Peru), Kasanka Trust (Zambia), Kenya Forest Service (Kenya), Kenya Wildlife Service (Kenya), Ministry of the Forest Economy (Republic of the Congo); Ministry of Environment and Tourism (Namibia), Ministère des Forests et de la Faune (Cameroon), National Forest Administration (Romania), Oromia Agricultural and Rural Development Bureau (Ethiopia), Rwandan Office for Tourism and National Parks (Rwanda), Association Nationale pour la Gestion des Aires Protegées (Madagascar), Protected Area Management Board (Philippines), South African National Parks (South Africa), Servicio Nacional de Areas Protegidas (Bolivia), Tanzania National Parks (Tanzania), Thanh Hoa Provincial Forest Protection Department (Vietnam), Uganda Wildlife Authority (Uganda), Vitosha Nature Park Directorate (Bulgaria), Wildlife Conservation Society (USA), Wildlife Division (Ghana) and Zambian Wildlife Authority (Zambia). We thank Jenny Merriman and Kelvin Peh for unpublished data on visitor expenditure. We also thank Neil Burgess for helping derive our natural attractiveness scores; Kate Willott for helping prepare the paper; and Lewis Reed for inspiration.
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Managing your Diabetes: Talking with your Health Care Team
When you have diabetes, staying in regular contact with your healthcare providers is a key component of your care. Communicating well them and contributing valuable information is also extremely important. Your primary care doctor and the other members of the team need to know how you are feeling and how you are doing with your treatment. A lot of the time, you know best when things might not be going just right. That's why it's good to be able to ask questions when you're not sure about something.
For example, if you notice changes in your eyesight, make sure that you let your eye doctor (ophthalmologist) know right away. Don't wait until your next appointment to bring it up. That goes for any kind of discomfort you may have, or general worries about your condition. If you think there might be a problem, it's up to you to let someone on the health care team know about it.
Some of the key people on your care team include:
- Primary care doctor
- Nurse practitioner
- Dietitian or nutritionist
- Diabetes educator
- Ophthalmologist or other eye doctor
They’re all there to help you do your best at managing your diabetes and to treat any complications you may experience.
Don't be afraid to ask questions!
Asking questions is the best way to find out what you want to know. One of the best ways to remember your questions is to write them down when you think of them. That way, you can take the questions with you to your next appointment and you won't forget to ask them. It's also a good idea to take some kind of note pad to your appointments. Taking notes can help you to remember what health care providers say.
Here are the kinds of questions you should feel comfortable asking:
- It's okay to ask your doctor or any other member of your health care team if you can bring someone with you into the office or the examining room, if that's what you want to do. Having someone else listen to your health care providers can help you remember what they said during the appointment.
- It's okay to ask what your medicine is for or what it does to help you.
- It's okay to ask if any other medicines you take have any effect on your diabetes medicine. That goes for any kind of medicine at all, even if it's not prescription medicine.
- If the doctor changes your medicine or anything else about your treatment, it's okay to ask why.
- If you have heard about other ways to treat diabetes, it's okay to ask your doctor or other health care providers what they think about them.
Tell your health care team what's on your mind
It's very important to be honest with your health care team. Being honest is one of the best ways to help them give you good care. Here are some examples of things your health care team would like to know:
- If you're having trouble testing your blood as often as you should, let your health care providers know, and tell them why it's difficult. Then you can talk together about making a plan to help you test more frequently.
- If you think it's hard to stick with your eating plan (remember, nobody's perfect!), talk about that with your dietician, diabetes educator or doctor.
- If you think some of your medicine makes you feel bad, let your doctor or nurse know, so that you can talk about it. But don't stop taking a medicine without talking to your doctor first!
- If you feel upset sometimes, and think about stopping the blood testing or insulin shots, tell your health care providers how you are feeling before you skip these things.
Visit your providers even when you’re feeling good
Sometimes, it may seem like going to see your diabetes educator isn’t really necessary this time. Or you may be feeling completely fine, and that visit to your doctor seems like something you can put off.
The truth is that when you have diabetes, it’s best to stay in touch with your care team even when things are going great. For example, your blood pressure could be getting high, but you would have no way of knowing that without a doctor’s visit. Or maybe there’s a new testing meter available, and your diabetes educator thinks that you would do well with that particular one.
One thing about diabetes you can be sure of—things are always changing. Your health status can change, and there are constantly new developments in terms of treatment and testing. Your care team can help you keep up with the changes, and that’s one of the best ways to manage your condition well.
L. Holzmeister, P Geil. Diabetes Nutrition A to Z. American Diabetes Association, 2001; The National Federation of the Blind: The Voice of the Diabetic. Spring 1997; H.P. Chase, MD. Understanding Insulin Dependent Diabetes; The Guild of the Children’s Diabetes Foundation at Denver; 9th Edition.
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The best way to actually make sure that you learn a new skill is to go to sleep right after learning it, suggests a study published June 5 in Science.
While the study was done in mice, it might offer some insight about the long-observed connection between sleep and memory in humans.
People's memories and learning abilities suffer when sleep-deprived - contrary to the hopes of college students pulling all-nighters everywhere. But this is the first time that scientists have observed new learning-related brain connections forming during deep sleep.
They were able to see exactly how each new skill created a new pathway in the brain. And the study offers some evidence suggesting it might be important to sleep right after learning something new - instead of hours later.
A Departure From Previous Research
These results were unexpected.
Past studies have shown that learning a new skill strengthens internal connections, or synapses, between brain cells. But normally, researchers have seen that the number of synapses decreases during sleep, so they've theorized that there is some sort of "paring down" effect, where trimming the connections somehow allows the brain to store more information, according to an article by neuroscientists David R. Euston and Hendrick W. Steenland published alongside the study.
But those past studies generally did not look at the direct link between a specific set of new skills and sleep that followed immediately after, and in the new research, a team from NYU's Langone Medical Center observed something different than what had been seen before. If mice were allowed to sleep immediately after learning a new skill, the connections that showed learning in their brains continued to grow. But if they weren't allowed to sleep, their brains formed far fewer connections.
"Perhaps," Euston and Steenland suggest, "synapses that are forged during recent experiences undergo strengthening whereas synapses representing more distant memories undergo downscaling."
While sleep is known to be a time when you essentially clear the cobwebs accumulating in your brain, those hours are also crucial for storing new information and new pathways, letting you reinforce something you've just learned.
The New Experiment
The NYU researchers engineered mice to have a fluorescent protein in their brains so they could observe the growth of little spikes called dendrites on neurons, or brain cells. More of those dendrites mean more synapses, or stronger connections between neurons, which shows learning.
They taught the mice to run on a spinning rod, training them to keep their balance while running forward. Later, the researchers had them run forward again, or taught them a new trick: running backwards. With each new skill learned, a new pathway of brain connections was created.
This was significant because it showed that each new skill learned was associated with one particular new set of connections in the brain. "Imagine a tree that grows leaves on one branch but not another branch," said Dr. Wen-Biao Gan of NYU, one of the authors of the study, in the press release. "When we learn something new, it's like we're sprouting leaves on a specific branch."
The Effect Of Sleep
When the researchers repeated the experiment, they allowed some mice to sleep after the running lessons and forced others to stay awake another eight hours.
The sleep-deprived mice grew fewer new connections in their brains, and were less likely to keep any new connections they did form. (The researchers checked up on their brains 24 hours later.)
The mice who slept did much better. They continued to form new connections while sleeping, along the same pathway that was associated with their new skill.
What's more, the new connections seem linked to better skill retention.
When the mice were tested again - first one day later, and then again five days later - they all did better with their new tricks than they had the first time. But the performance improvement was twice as great in the ones who had slept (and formed more new connections).
In the article accompanying the study, neuroscientists Euston and Steenland note that this result suggests that sleep does more than solidify something that's been learned: It helps give it "staying power."
Even when the sleep-deprived mice were able to later sleep and receive an additional training session, they never formed as many neural connections related to that particular skill as the mice who had been allowed to sleep after learning the skill the first time.
What This Means
Although studies have suggested for some time that sleep helps crystallize memory, this is the first time that researchers have been able to see how that works. They think that the mice may have been able to form additional connections during sleep because they were able to sleep immediately after training.
Since the mice were tested on motor skills, it's too soon to say whether the results would hold for other types of learning as well. And since this is the first time this process has been shown, it will need to be replicated - ideally in humans. But the Science study suggests new avenues for investigation and will have important implications for researchers trying to understand the relationship between learning, memory, and sleep.
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Selenium and the Great Salt Lake
Nicole Albano, Westminster College; Dr. Paul Hooker, Dept. of Physical Sciences, Westminster College; Dr. Ty Harrison, Dept. of Biology, Westminster College
Selenium is a trace element essential for life, but it is also toxic at relatively low concentrations. If present in water, selenium is known to bioaccumulate in aquatic flora and fauna resulting in the decimation of fish and bird populations. The seleniferous soils of the Western deserts combined with anthropogenic activities, e.g., copper mining, in the vicinity of the Great Salt Lake make it a likely repository for selenium. The presence of bird sanctuaries makes it necessary to monitor the concentration of selenium in this unique environment so that potential disasters may be avoided. In this study we have analyzed selenium levels in water and brine shrimp collected from the Great Salt Lake, Utah, using fluorescence spectroscopy. In addition, we have investigated the role of high concentrations of NaCl on the extraction and proper quantification of Se using this analytical technique.
Why the Great Salt Lake?
USGS Website for the Great Salt Lake
· The Bear River refuge at the north end of the lake is renowned worldwide for the diversity and number of bird species and is an important stopping point for the North/South migration of many species. Birds depending on brine shrimp as their principle diet may be affected by selenium bioaccumulation.
· Utah had the largest releases of selenium to the environment (1,578 lbs to water, 696,515 lbs to land) in the country between the years 1983 and 1992 mostly due to copper mining activities.
· One of the largest copper smelting and refining industries in the
world is located adjacent to the lake.
Back to Top
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Inflammation – The Key to Chronic Ill Health
Inflammation is at the root of many serious health conditions, affecting cardiovascular health, joint health, and even cognitive function. While a little inflammation is normal in response to invading organisms, stress, and after injury, persistent inflammation can trigger tissue damage, causing pain and increasing the risk of several diseases.
Developing effective strategies to support healthy inflammatory processes is essential for a long and happy life, especially because our daily lives are full of potential causes of inflammation. While we can take steps to better manage some of these triggers, such as stress, poor diet, lack of exercise, excess body weight, and smoking, some causes of inflammation are much harder to avoid.
Fortunately, a number of natural compounds have demonstrated significant anti-inflammatory activity, helping to prevent the formation and signalling of pro-inflammatory molecules and to guard against tissue damage associated with inflammation.
Nature’s Answer to Inflammation
Curcumin is one of the most prized and promising natural anti-inflammatory and antioxidant compounds. Found in the root of turmeric (Curcuma longa), a member of the ginger family, curcumin has been associated with significant health benefits, such as:
- Help prevent cognitive decline
- Reduce a range of risk factors for chronic degenerative diseases
- Improve joint function and reducing arthritic joint pain
- Provide antioxidant protection from environmental toxins
Turmeric is the principal spice in curry and has been used for thousands of years in India in traditional Ayurvedic medicine to treat inflammatory conditions.
However, despite turmeric being a rich source of curcumin, very little of the compound is absorbed when ingested in normal dietary amounts.
The Trouble with Turmeric
The low bioavailability of curcumin is due to its relative insolubility in water and rapid metabolism and excretion from the body. Early clinical studies found that even with dosages as high as 12,000 mg, most people did not have a significant increase in levels of curcumin in their blood (Cheng et al., 2001).
Given the incredible promise of curcumin, scientists have worked hard to create a highly bioavailable form of the compound. The result of extensive research is Theracurmin™, the number one absorbable form of curcumin.
It’s Not How Much You Take, It’s How Much You Absorb
Natural Factors CurcuminRich with Theracurmin offers an advanced formulation that uses proprietary dispersion technology to create microscopic particles dispersed in a colloidal suspension for better absorption. The curcumin in Theracurmin is absorbed faster into the blood, and stays there longer.
Published studies have demonstrated that this innovative form of curcumin is 300 times more bioavailable than regular curcumin powder, ensuring a therapeutically effective level in the blood to support a healthy inflammatory response (Kanai et al., 2012; Kanai et al., 2013).
The Benefits of Theracurmin Curcumin has been called the master switch for inflammation as it blocks more than 30 different inflammation pathways (Aggarwal & Harikumar, 2009). Numerous clinical trials have confirmed curcumin’s anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and analgesic (pain-relieving) properties, and have noted the compound’s ability to prevent the degeneration of connective tissue and bone (Henrotin et al., 2013).
Theracurmin has been investigated at major universities and research centres worldwide and has been found to help:
- Reduce tissue damage caused by inflammation
- Improve liver function
- Increase the heart’s ability to pump blood more efficiently
- Increase the flexibility of the arteries
(Shimatsu et al., 2012; Sugawara et al., 2012)
Curcumin has even been found comparable to the commonly prescribed NSAID phenylbutazone for relief of rheumatoid arthritis symptoms including morning stiffness, walking time, and joint swelling (Deodhar et al., 1980).
There is a lot of excitement about the potential for highly bioavailable forms of curcumin, such as Theracurmin, in the prevention of cognitive decline, especially Alzheimer’s disease. Curcumin exhibits multiple neuroprotective actions, including helping to promote the growth of new neurons (Frautschy et al., 2010).
Every capsule of Natural Factors Double Strength CurcuminRich contains 60 mg of Theracurmin curcumin from turmeric. It is gluten-free, non-GMO, and is suitable for vegetarians and vegans. Theracurmin is not intended for use by children. Pregnant women should consult a health care practitioner prior to using this supplement, as should anyone who is taking antiplatelet medication or blood thinners, has gallstones, bile duct obstruction, stomach ulcers, or excess stomach acid.
Natural Factors CurcuminRich featuring Theracurmin is ideal for people looking for a natural way to relieve pain due to inflammation.
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Science subject and location tags
Articles, documents and multimedia from ABC Science
Thursday, 7 May 2009
Canadian scientists have completed the full genetic sequencing of the H1N1 swine flu virus, which officials say will help in better understanding the outbreak and developing a vaccine.
Wednesday, 15 April 2009
The United Arab Emirates has claimed its own version of Dolly the sheep, the world's first cloned mammal, after the birth of a cloned camel in Dubai this month.
Tuesday, 10 March 2009
A marine biologist has helped fill in the so-called lost years of Australia's loggerhead turtles by discovering they are using ocean currents to undertake a 20,000km round trip across the Pacific Ocean.
Thursday, 26 February 2009
In an effort to find the best of the worst, scientists in the UK have pioneered a way to examine sperm using a process known as Raman spectroscopy.
Friday, 13 February 2009
Researchers have mapped the DNA of 99 different rhinoviruses, which could lead to better treatments for the common cold.
Friday, 30 January 2009
Scientists will analyse DNA in the dung of the Southern Cassowary to determine how many of the big weird endangered birds are left in Australia's tropical rainforests.
Monday, 8 December 2008
US researchers have discovered a gene switch that they believe could lead to better treatments for sickle cell disease and thalassemia, two inherited blood disorders that affect millions of people.
Thursday, 20 November 2008
Researchers have sequenced the gene map of a long-extinct woolly mammoth using DNA taken from its hair, but don't expect to see them brought back to life anytime soon.
Tuesday, 18 November 2008
After more than four years and a last-minute rescue plan to fund the project, the genome of Australia's largest marsupial, the kangaroo, has been mapped.
Tuesday, 4 November 2008
Japanese scientists have cloned mice whose bodies were frozen for as long 16 years, and say it may be possible to use the technique to resurrect mammoths and other extinct species.
Monday, 27 October 2008
The discovery of a genetic variation in male to female transsexuals adds weight to the view that transsexualism has a biological basis, the Australian researchers behind the find say.
Tuesday, 21 October 2008
Couples struggling to conceive should move their focus out of the bedroom and on to the beach, new fertility research suggests.
Thursday, 9 October 2008
An international team of scientists have mapped the genes of two species of malaria, opening the way for more research into one of the world's most deadly diseases.
Thursday, 2 October 2008
A preserved specimen of lymph node nearly half a century old has revealed how rapidly the HIV virus has diversified since the turn of the century, according to international research.
Monday, 1 September 2008
Researchers have broken the code of an enzyme that plays a key role in the growth of most cancers, opening a path that could lead to a new class of anti-cancer drugs, according to a new study.
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When the University of Arizona announced plans to build observatories on Mt. Graham, atop the Pinaleño Mountains, the construction was seen as a potential threat to an isolated species found only on
this sky island. The Mt. Graham red squirrel was declared "endangered" by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Legal action required the university to provide funds for research and monitoring the Mt.
Graham red squirrel.
This book provides wonderfully diverse viewpoints on the problems of conserving the habitats and populations of the endangered subspecies of red squirrel.
—Richard Thorington, National Museum of Natural History
This book is derived from a symposium on the Mt. Graham red squirrel and offers a comprehensive picture of the ecology of this red squirrel and the impacts on its
mountain home. Forty contributors detail studies conducted to understand the natural history of the creature and the challenges and changing ecological conditions on Mt. Graham.
tells a unique story that contributes to the mosaic of natural history knowledge about the endangered Mt. Graham red squirrel. They reflect diverse viewpoints on the problems of conserving the
habitats and populations of the squirrel, showing how it was complicated by perspectives ranging from Native Americans' concern over traditional lands to astronomers' hope for a better view of space,
and by issues ranging from forestry practices to climate change. Studies of such factors as squirrel middens, seed hoarding, and nest sites provide definitive research on the animal.
censuses continue to track the squirrel's population trends, and both Forest Service and Arizona Department of Transportation activities continue to be scrutinized by interested parties to determine
their impact. This book represents an authoritative overview of this still-endangered species and its habitat.
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University of Houston (UH) professor Suncica "Sunny" Canic is a mathematician, not a medical doctor, but her research could save the lives of heart patients. Working with collaborators from Houston Methodist Hospital on a minimally invasive experimental procedure for heart valve replacement, Canic's work could lead to optimal design of an alternative to open-heart surgery for treating failing heart valves.
"It almost sounds like science fiction," Canic said. "Our project combines the most recent breakthroughs in technology, such as 3-D human organ printing, materials science, mathematics, scientific computations and cardiovascular sciences."
Specifically, together with Dr. Stephen Little, a cardiologist at Methodist, Canic is leading an interdisciplinary team to improve the treatment of dysfunctional heart valves. With the number of patients requiring valve replacement on the rise, Canic and her colleagues are working to design new strategies in a minimally invasive procedure called Transcatheter Valve Replacement (TVR). Their approach would minimize post-procedural complications and provide a safe alternative to open-heart surgery.
An emerging treatment for patients with failing valves, TVR entails implanting a prosthetic valve through the skin, using catheterization to forgo more invasive surgery. Going through the groin area, a catheter containing a replacement valve is guided to the location of the failing valve. Canic says the stent holding this bioartificial valve is made of a shape memory alloy that assumes a predefined shape optimized for TVR procedures once it reaches the patient's body temperature of 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. When the catheter reaches the location of the failing valve, the stent expands and anchors the bioartificial valve in place.
"Our computational results are being validated using functional, 3-D, patient-specific models in Dr. Little's lab. We are then testing them with virtual TVR procedures performed in an apparatus, called the pulsatile flow loop, at the Methodist DeBakey Heart and Vascular Center," Canic said. "By combining 3-D human organ printing and computational simulations of anatomic and physiologic conditions associated with TVR at this patient-specific level, the experimental and computational methods we're developing provide new information on the optimal design for this procedure."
Canic's research group at UH includes Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Professor of Mathematics Roland Glowinski, assistant professor Annalisa Quaini and several post-doctoral associates and graduate and undergraduate students. Her team is considered a leader in developing mathematical and computational techniques analyzing the interaction between fluids and structures, such as blood and cardiovascular tissue. The methodology they are developing is based on new computational approaches for providing stable, computationally efficient algorithms for valve motion, coupled with a novel approach to endovascular stent modeling.
Recognized as one of the leading experts in the world in the area of mathematical modeling and scientific computing related to cardiovascular science, Canic recently was honored at the 2014 Society of Industry and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) Annual Meeting held in July. Canic, a Cullen Distinguished Professor in the Department of Mathematics, was named to the 2014 SIAM Class of Fellows for her outstanding contributions to the development of mathematical theory and applications to the life sciences. Her interdisciplinary approach to studying TVR promises to provide a major breakthrough in the treatment and imaging of heart valve repair.
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Help Save Wildlife
By 2025 as many as one fifth of all animal species may be lost, gone forever. In recent times, hundreds of species have become extinct as a result of human activities:
Habitat destruction by logging; ever-encroaching human settlement; pollution of water, soil, and air; unmanaged fishing that exhausts fish stocks; and illegal hunting to supply the demand for skins, hides, traditional medicines, food, and tourist souvenirs all threatens species' existence.
Extinction is forever. We must act now. Time is running out.
- Endangered Species
- Preserving Wildlife
- Why Save Endangered Species?
- Living in Harmony With Nature
- Habitat Destruction
- Help Save Elephants
- Wild Horses
- Save the Seals
- Save the Manatees
- Save the Whales
- Save the Dolphins
- Urban Ducks
- Sea Turtles
- Turtles & Tortoises
- Rattlesnake Roundups
- Captive Hunts
- Wildlife Services' War on Wildlife
- Bear Baiting
- Internet Hunting
- Solving Raccoon Problems
- Solving Woodchuck Problems
- Polar Bears
- Use public transportation. Walk or ride bicycles rather than using the car. Turn off lights, radios and TV's when not in use.
- Reuse paper and plastic bags. Don't allow water to run while you brush your teeth. Use water-saving devices.
- Buy products and with less packaging whenever possible. Use clothe bags at the grocery store. Recycle items you no longer use by donating them to charity. Buy organic fruits and vegetables.
We cause our wild animal neighbors far more trouble than they do us, as each day we invade thousands of acres of their territories and destroy their homes. Here are some ways to live in harmony with them.
Centuries ago, the African elephant enjoyed ample representation among the teeming herds of wildlife that roamed the African continent. Today, their survival dangles on the precipice of extinction due to unchecked human population growth and overdevelopment. Once numbering in the millions, the continent-wide population in Africa is now estimated to be just under 600,000 elephants.
- If you are going to visit Africa, do not patronize countries such as Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Namibia, which have demonstrated their tenacity for exterminating elephants on their soil. Instead, choose to spend your tourist dollars in elephant-friendly countries such as Kenya and Uganda.
- Write to your U.S. Representative and your two U.S. Senators and tell them that you do not want your tax dollars spent on the trophy hunting of elephants. Ask them to stop funding the CAMPFIRE program. Write to The Honorable __________, U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C. 20510; The Honorable __________, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. 20515.
- Write to the conservation organizations that you want to support and ask them about their policies regarding elephants. Do they support trophy hunting? Do they support the ivory trade? What is their position on exporting live elephants to zoos and circuses? Spend your well-intentioned donation wisely.
These beautiful cats are generally found in the dense, damp, forested areas of India and Southeast Asia. Once common in all parts of Africa apart from the Sahara, they have now disappeared from most parts of northern Africa (apart from a few areas of the Atlas Mountains) and are scarce in the extreme west of the continent. The leopard is under extreme threat, especially in the Middle East and southwest Asia, and is listed in CITES Appendix 1.
There are eight types of bear in the world: polar bears, brown (or grizzly) bears, American black bears, Asiatic black bears, sun bears, sloth bears, spectacled bears and giant panda bears. Some are on the verge of extinction, but all face threats.
Each year thousands of seals are killed in Canada. The seals suffer painful and lingering deaths. The weapon used is a club, the brutal hakapik. Sometimes the seals are skinned alive. Sealers often use sharpened steel hooks to drag the creatures on board their vessels. Seal-clubbing is justified by the Canadian government because its victims are adversely affecting the profits of the Newfoundland fishing industry.
- 79% of the sealers did not check to see if an animal was dead before skinning it.
- In 40% of the kills, a sealer had to strike the seal a second time, presumably because it was still conscious after the first blow or shot.
- Up to 42% of the seals they examined were likely skinned alive.
Whales are hunted for their meat and other body parts. The oil from their bodies has been used to make lipstick, shoe polish and margarine. The practice of hunting whales began in the 9th century when Spain undertook the first organized hunt. By the 20th century, the Netherlands, Denmark, Britain, France, Germany, Norway, Japan and the United States had begun to kill large numbers of whales.
Each year, people are amazed to see ducks and ducklings in the most unlikely places, such as walking single-file through city streets or nesting under bank teller windows! Luckily, ducklings are precocious and mature quickly. Here are some common sense solutions to typical problems encountered in suburban and urban settings.
- bringing sheep into a barn during lambing (when they are especially vulnerable)
- corralling livestock at night
- removing livestock carcasses before they attract coyotes, bears, or other predators.
- livestock-guarding animals
- electric fencing
- aversive conditioning of attacking predators.
- Contact your state wildlife agency. If bear baiting is legal in your state, express your outrage to state officials and to your governor.
- Write letters to the editor of newspapers in your state and contact the media to investigate.
- Submit an Op-Ed to your local newspaper.
- Attend state wildlife agency meetings and demand that steps be taken to prohibit bear baiting.
- Contact your state legislators and ask them to introduce legislation to ban this practice.
Raccoons are intelligent, fascinating and highly adaptable mammals. As we destroy more and more wildlife habitat, we force animals like raccoons to come into closer contact with us. There's no need to panic or pay hundreds of dollars for trapping services because most problems can be easily resolved with some simple advice and household materials. Many conflicts occur in spring and summer when raccoons take advantage of cavities in human dwellings to raise their young. This is why it's vital to solve problems in a way that doesn't separate a mother from her cubs. Here are some solutions to common raccoon problems:
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I'm trying to create the music sheet of "Recuerdos de La Alhambra" with Sibelius music notation software.
How to create tremolos in Sibelius?
I Use Sibelius G7.
Tremolos are located on third pane of Keypad.
Press CTRL+ALT+K (or menu Windows->Keypad) to display Keypad window, and then "+" key on numeric keyboard (or just use Your mouse to click) to navigate to third pane.
You have options from 2 up to 32 tremolos.
Examples of tremolos in Sibelius G7
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1 Answer | Add Yours
A dominant theme of A Streetcar Named Desire is the beginning of the end of the class structure, gender inferiority and superior status in America's "South" during industrialization.
The audience expects a demure, typical, Southern woman to reveal herself in the form of Blanche but it becomes obvious that appearances are deceiving. Blanche is the antithesis of herself and her opposing personalities will sooner or later expose her weaknesses and her neurotic temperament.
Blanche's fall from grace and ultimate hospitalization in a mental institution highlights the discrepancy between expectations and norms and Blanche's need to retain her imagined status despite her very real indiscretions. This reveals her hypocrisy and the reality of the time. Blanche's contradictory nature and her acknowledgement of her own inconsistent behavior which " brought me here—Where I'm not wanted and where I'm ashamed to be" will eventually destroy her, contributing to a cycle of violence from which she cannot escape. Blanche has no real concept of morality and her grasp of right and wrong is entirely questionable "when the devil is in you."
The underlying plot throughout A Streetcar Named Desire relates to society as a whole and its shortcomings and the confusion that abounds when conformity makes demands. People will always judge others and "casting the first stone" is very relevant here. It drives the audience's feelings for Blanche and whilst disapproving, Blanche is to be pitied as a product of her society.
We’ve answered 327,551 questions. We can answer yours, too.Ask a question
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Have you heard this before? There is an unspoken corollary to the statement, as well. What the skeptic is really saying is “Noah couldn’t fit millions of species into the Ark, so the Bible is obviously wrong!”
Let’s do something radical. Let’s look at what the Bible actually says.
Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive. (Genesis 6:20)
There are, in fact, some limiters on the quantities of animals that Noah needed to take into the Ark. First, the animals taken were “cattle” and “creeping things”. This implies domestic and wild land vertebrates. The word translated “fowls” includes birds, but also includes other flying animals, such as bats and, I suggests, pterosaurs. No invertebrates were required. Invertebrates can often survive today’s minor floods, and would have been able to withstand the Flood, for example, by being on floating rafts of vegetation. Obviously, there was no need to rescue marine vertebrates either. Some of these would have been killed, as evidenced by fossils, but enough would have survived to maintain those animal kinds.
The second thing to notice is that Noah was not ordered to rescue two of every species, but two of every kind. So Noah would not have needed to rescue two lions and two tigers, if those species had existed at the time of the Flood, which I doubt. Instead, there would have been two of the cat kind on the Ark. Maybe these were similar to the extinct sabre-toothed tiger. Other species of cat would have developed from this pair by rapid speciation after the Flood. Speciation is NOT evolution, because it involves variation of the existing gene pool, not the spontaneous generation of new genetic information.
It is estimated that, even including dinosaurs, there would have been about 8,000 kinds before the Flood. So the Ark had to rescue just over 16,000 animals. The reason why I said “just over 16,000” is because there would have been seven of each clean animal kind. Let’s add a few more animals, then, and assume there had to be 30,000, which is definitely much more than necessary. The average size of these animals would be the size of a sheep. So Noah had to fit the equivalent of 30,000 sheep on the Ark. This would have taken less than the total space on just one of the three decks. Therefore, there was plenty of room to take these animals, along with enough food, and mechanisms and systems for getting rid of waste, with plenty of space left over!1
- John Woodmorappe has written an entire book, analyzing the possible ways in which the Ark could have been built to rescue the animals. Woodmorappe, J. (1996), Noah’s Ark: A Feasibility Study, (Dallas, TX: Institute for Creation Research) ↩
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Robert W. Merry, A Country of Vast Designs: James K. Polk, the Mexican War and the Conquest of the American Continent, Simon & Schuster, 2009, $18.00, 576 pp. (softcover)
In 2008, Al Gore told a national television audience that the Mexican-American War has been “condemned by history.” That war, which added more than a million square miles of American territory, was largely the work of one man: President James K. Polk. Liberal orthodoxy therefore spurns Polk as a warmonger and imperialist, but he was one of the most successful Presidents in American history. Anyone not blinded by contemporary self-righteousness would recognize this, and veteran journalist Robert W. Merry has not been blinded. He has written a fascinating, detailed, fair-minded biography of one of our least appreciated Presidents.
When Polk took office in 1845, he had four goals: reduce tariffs, establish an independent treasury, and secure Oregon and California for the United States. He achieved all four goals in just four years, while fighting a war against political opposition that was sometime as fierce as the war against Mexico.
Polk was a protégé of Andrew Jackson, who was 28 years his senior. He first went to Congress in 1825, and, like Jackson, he was a Tennessean. He served one term as governor of Tennessee, but when he lost bids for reelection in 1841 and 1843, many people thought his political career was over.
At the Democratic nominating convention of 1844, Polk had been proposed for the Vice Presidential slot behind Martin Van Buren, but as Van Buren’s popularity faded, Polk emerged as a compromise candidate. In order to win the support of other Democratic pretenders, he promised to serve only one term. Thomas Hart Benton, John C. Calhoun, James Buchanan, and Silas Wright might have opposed him more vigorously if they feared a second term could thwart their own presidential ambitions. Mr. Merry fills his account of the convention with details that make it clear that personal ambitions and animosities were just as potent political factors 170 years ago as they are today.
Polk’s opponent in the general election, Whig candidate Henry Clay, assumed he would make short work of the relatively unknown Polk, but was brought down largely by the Texas question.
When Mexico became independent of Spain in 1821 it tried to populate Texas by encouraging American immigration, but as Mr. Merry writes, “the newcomers rejected loyalty to Mexico and cast their devotion to their ethnic brethren in the United States.” Mexico woke up to what was happening and outlawed immigration in 1830, but could not stop it. Texas won independence from Mexico in 1836 and was recognized by the United States and the European powers.
Mexico never accepted Texas independence, however, insisting that there was a state of war between it and its “rebellious province.” The Mexicans even made a few probes as far as San Antonio, but failed to recapture Texas. There was also a huge border disagreement between the Texans and the Mexicans. As this map shows, the Mexicans recognized only the light yellow area, with its southern border on the Nueces River. Texas claimed the much larger green area that extended to the Rio Grande, and far to the north. The Texas congress passed a law officially asserting its claim to the larger area.
Texas was chronically broke during its nine years of independence, and was the subject of constant political intrigue by the French and the British, who wanted to stop American expansion towards the Pacific. The British were particularly active, offering financial assistance to Texas in exchange for an alliance. Polk’s predecessor in the White House, John Tyler, feared that a close association between Texas and Britain would undermine American influence in the Gulf of Mexico and even menace American control over New Orleans (the Battle of New Orleans had been fought only 27 years before Tyler’s inauguration). Tyler had therefore started annexation negotiations with Texas but tried to keep them secret so as to avoid interference by France and Britain.
Although in retrospect nothing seems more natural than Texas joining the union, it was not a sure thing. The last president of Texas, Anson Jones, preferred independence, and the British and French even persuaded the Mexicans to recognize Texas independence if Texas promised never to join the United States.
Nor was American sentiment unanimously pro-annexation. Ordinary people wanted it, but Whigs and abolitionists opposed it. They were afraid annexation would mean war with Mexico, and they did not want another slave state. It was opposition to Texas annexation that caused Van Buren’s star to fade as the Democratic candidate, thus opening the nomination to Polk. And it was opposition to annexation that probably lost the election for Polk’s Whig opponent, Henry Clay. Polk himself had always been a staunch expansionist, and this boosted his popularity with voters.
Opposition to annexation by politicians was strong enough to defeat Congress’s first attempt to bring Texas into the union. President Tyler sent an annexation treaty to the Senate in 1844 at the end of his term but failed to get the necessary two-thirds majority. That was how matters stood when Polk took office in 1845. The new President solved the problem by sending an annexation bill to Congress, which won majority votes in both houses on February 28, 1845. This was a Constitutionally doubtful procedure. Congress had the power to make new states from territories, but Texas was an independent country, not a territory and, by all rights, should have come in by treaty. As Mr. Merry shows, getting Texas into the Union was no easy feat, and owed much to Polk’s determination and political skill.
Of course, by annexing Texas, Polk greatly angered Mexico, which broke off diplomatic relations exactly one month later on March 28, 1845. It declared that the United States had “usurped a portion of territory which belongs to Mexico by a right which she will maintain at whatever cost.” Many people in both countries predicted that Mexico would declare war.
What had been American relations with Mexico up to that point? The United States had welcomed Mexican independence from Spain and was the first country to recognize it. It had signed treaties of friendship and mutual recognition of boundaries, and did everything possible to have good relations.
Mexico did not reciprocate. Ruled by thieves and incompetents, the government itself had stolen American property and had done little to prevent Mexican citizens from doing the same. In one notorious incident the American captain of a ship transporting Mexican troops under government contract was killed, and his crew was forced into servitude for three years. American vessels in Mexican ports were routinely seized. There had been nearly 100 such incidents, and Andrew Jackson had declared in 1837, his last year in office, that such “outrages . . . would justify, in the eyes of all nations, immediate war.”
In 1839 there was arbitration between the two countries, and an award of $2 million to the Americans, to be paid in 20 installments. Mexico quickly fell behind on the payments, and new claims continued to pile up. In 1842, a frustrated President Tyler proposed that Mexico hand over California as compensation, with the US government to pay off American claims, but the Mexicans refused.
War was the usual way to settle such claims in those days. The French had already received satisfaction by violent means, and the British were paid after threats of war. Many Americans thought they were being snubbed because they refrained from using force.
Polk did not want war, but he wanted American claims met and he wanted more territory. Magazine editor John O’Sullivan had coined the term “manifest destiny” in 1845, and Polk had a clear vision of the United States straddling the continent.
What were his intentions regarding Mexico? In Mr. Merry’s view, Polk was, first of all, determined to defend the borders of the United States, which he believed extended to the Rio Grande. Second, he was prepared to pay handsomely for as much territory as Mexico was willing to sell. Was he prepared to wage unilateral war? Mr. Merry is uncertain, but when the Mexicans fired the first shots, Polk was more than ready to fire back. In any case, in the summer of 1845, shortly after Mexico broke off relations, Polk ordered General Zachary Taylor to march into Texas to defend the state against possible attack—but not to enter the disputed territories.
Polk first proposed a diplomatic solution to the Mexicans. In response, in November 1845, Mexico agreed to accept an envoy “with full powers to adjust all the questions in dispute between the two governments.” Polk quickly dispatched John Slidell, with authority to pay as much as $30 million dollars in exchange for California and New Mexico for assuming responsibility for the American claims. The Slidell mission was kept secret because the French and British were sure to try to sabotage any agreement that would add territory to the United States.
When Slidell got to Mexico City in December, the Mexicans went back on their word and refused to negotiate. This was probably because the government of the time, led by Jose Herrera, was under threat from more bellicose factions that threatened to take power if Herrera discussed the possibility of ceding territory. This rebuff infuriated Slidell, who warned that it could lead to war. Later that same month, Herrera was ousted anyway by Mariano Paredes, who ruled out compromise. He ordered Slidell out of the country, and started mobilizing for war.
It was only after the failure of the Slidell mission that Polk took the fateful step of sending General Taylor into the disputed territory. By March 28, 1845, there were 3,550 American soldiers on the Rio Grande near what is now Brownsville. Across the river was a force of 3,000 Mexicans. Their commander sent a message to Taylor saying he was in Mexican territory, warning him that there would be war if he did not withdraw. Taylor refused to move.
This standoff continued for a month, as the Mexicans brought in more troops, and by April 11, there were 6,000 soldiers on the Mexican side. Taylor then blockaded the Rio Grande, through which the Mexican troops were being supplied. On April 25, the Mexicans sent 1,600 men across the river above Taylor’s position. The next day, he sent 63 men to investigate. They were ambushed, with 11 killed and the rest captured.
When word of the incident reached Washington, Polk asked Congress for a declaration of war, stating that Mexico had “shed American blood on American soil.” As Mr. Merry notes, however, many Whigs accepted the Mexican version of the border and accused Polk of deliberately starting a war in order to wrest land from Mexico. There was much thundering about “invasion” and “waging aggressive war,” but in the end both houses voted by large majorities to declare war. At the time, Polk’s thinking appears to have been that Taylor would conquer enough territory to make Mexico sue for peace. In the meantime, Polk would send forces to occupy New Mexico and California, which would be accepted as compensation for the war.
Polk now had a war with Mexico on his hands; he very nearly had one with Britain, too. At the time of his inauguration, the United States and Britain had jointly occupied the Oregon Territory for 22 years, and had pledged to negotiate ultimate ownership. Oregon was being settled at a rate of nine or ten American immigrants to one Briton, and in time, the territory would naturally have fallen into American hands. Polk wanted it right away, and in his inaugural address he angered the British by claiming that Oregon was American. The British posted frigates off the Oregon coast, and there was talk of war.
Mr. Merry charts the course of the clever but risky diplomatic maneuvers that eventually resulted in the current boundary at the 49th parallel. He argues that Polk got what he wanted only through a willingness to go right up to the brink of war. There were hotheads in his own party who demanded a border that would have been just south of Alaska—the “54’ 40” or fight” contingent—but this would unquestionably have meant a second and probably disastrous war. Polk did not get a satisfactory Oregon settlement until June 1846, by which time the Mexican war had already begun. If Polk had delayed, Britain would certainly have exploited the Mexican conflict to drive a harder bargain.
Mr. Merry covers the war with Mexico at a level of fascinating detail that need only be summarized. Taylor fought a number of brilliant engagements, often defeating armies larger than his own, but the Mexicans refused to sue for peace. Polk finally had to send General Winfield Scott on an expedition to Vera Cruz, and the Mexicans agreed to peace talks only after Scott occupied the capital.
As Mr. Merry notes, the Mexicans deceived the gullible Americans several times. For example, at one time General Taylor had bottled up a Mexican army of 7,000 men in Monterrey, and their commander, Pedro de Ampudia sought terms. He claimed that he had word the two countries had started peace talks, and that since the war would soon be over there was no need to take his men prisoner. Taylor fell for this lie, and let the Mexican soldiers leave with their artillery. The escaped army of course went back into action against the Americans.
Perhaps the worst dupe, however, was Polk himself. In 1845 he had received word from Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, then in exile in Cuba, that if he ever returned to power, he would be happy to sell Texas and California for $30 million. In July 1846, after the war had begun, he said that if he gained power, he would sell California, recognize the Rio Grande border, and call off the war. The Paredes government had turned down a similar deal, so Polk instructed the American Navy, which was blockading Mexican ports, to let Santa Anna through. He landed at Vera Cruz in March 1847 to much fanfare, and took power. He then double-crossed Polk, announcing that he intended to roll the Americans all the way back to the Louisiana border.
After Santa Anna was defeated outside Mexico City and fled into the city, he tried to fool General Scott. He negotiated a truce that prohibited construction of fortifications and provided for resupply of the Americans, but broke these conditions.
Santa Anna’s government reluctantly agreed to negotiate. Polk had sent an envoy for this purpose, Nicolas Trist, who was under strict orders to insist on the Rio Grande border and to buy as much of Mexico as possible. Instead, Trist accepted a Mexican proposal offering only part of California, and declaring the territory between the Nueces and the Rio Grande as a neutral zone. Polk was furious when he learned of this proposal and sent a letter recalling Trist.
In September 1847 Scott renewed the war and took Mexico City in a brilliant campaign. Santa Anna’s government fell, and a new government was formed under General P.M. Anaya. Anaya had a more realistic sense of how little leverage the Mexicans had, and was more willing to accept Polk’s terms. By then, Trist had been recalled, and had no authority to negotiate, but decided to stay in Mexico and see if he could work out an agreement anyway. Polk was again furious when he learned about this, and ordered General Benjamin Butler to expel Trist from the country. Trist replied calmly that since he was no longer an American envoy but a private citizen, the President had no power over him.
The Mexicans knew Trist had no authority, but they were in the mood to negotiate, and spent the winter working out a deal much along the lines of Trist’s original instructions. On February 2, 1848, Mexico agreed to take $15 million in exchange for New Mexico, California, the border at the Rio Grande, and forgiveness of American claims.
Polk believed that the treaty was illegal because it had been negotiated without authorization, but since the 6,000-word document contained everything he wanted—Trist had authority to offer as much as $30 million—he sent it to the Senate for ratification anyway.
Again, what seems in retrospect to have been a sure thing was not. There was much Whig bluster about the propriety of taking territory from a defeated enemy. Abolitionists feared the new territory might become slave states. Some Democrats—members of Polk’s own party—insisted on annexing all of Mexico. Just 19 votes in the Senate could have killed the treaty, and Mr. Merry ably describes the arguments and posturing that lead to the final vote of 38 to 14.
In the end, therefore, Polk got what he wanted, but at a high price. The war killed 13,780 Americans and an estimated 25,000 Mexicans, and cost the federal government $100 million—which, as Mr. Merry explains, Polk had great difficulty raising from Congress. If any other man had been in the White House, it is not at all certain that the United States would have absorbed California and New Mexico.
The great majority of the fighting was in Mexico, but there were Western adventures as well. Polk wanted New Mexico and California to be in American hands by the time the Mexicans recognized they were beaten and were ready to negotiate. Therefore, on August 18, 1846, shortly after the war began, American General Stephen Kearny led 1,458 men into Santa Fe, the capital of the Mexican department of New Mexico, and claimed it for the United States. He got it without firing a shot, but the outcome could have been entirely different. The Mexican commander Manuel Armijo had massed 4,000 men around a pass where they could have rained fire down on Kearney’s men as they approached, but at the last minute Armijo lost his nerve, ordered his men to disband, and fled to Mexico. Kearney set up a government in Santa Fe, and set out on September 25 with 300 men for California.
Polk had had his eye on California from the beginning. Mexico had been no better able to populate California than Texas, and Americans were settling in large numbers. Britain, which opposed American expansion, had offered Mexico money and arms with which to assert its sovereignty, and Polk feared eventual British domination in the West. Kearney was therefore under orders to take California as soon as he had secured New Mexico, but others got there first.
John Fremont, with 60 men, had been on a government map-making mission in the Western reaches of the Louisiana Purchase, and had angered the Mexicans by poking around in California even before the war began. After the declaration of war, he raised a small army of several hundred men from among the American settlers, and joined forces with Commodore John Stockton, who arrived in Monterrey in July 23, 1846, and took command of the American fleet.
Together they subdued California, which the Mexicans defended incompetently. This was a free-lance effort, however, since Kearney was the only officer with official orders to conquer California. When Kearney arrived, Stockton submitted to his command, but Fremont did not. This led to his arrest, court martial, and conviction, but Polk eventually pardoned Fremont. The campaigns in the West were a confused mess, which Mr. Merry sorts out nicely.
Maps like the one below chart the expansion of the original 13 colonies to the Pacific as if it had been inevitable. And yet, as this book shows, there was a great deal of opposition to “Manifest Destiny.” Ordinary Americans were thrilled at the idea of expansion, but many politicians were not. The Whig leader Henry Clay, for example, wanted to keep the American population east of the Rockies, and had no interest in settling Oregon. He was also afraid to absorb Texas: “Annexation and war with Mexico are identical.”
Daniel Webster, another Whig, called Polk’s war not just “a clear violation of duty” but “an impeachable offense.” He considered it an act of naked aggression for which there was no Constitutional authority, and led the fight not to vote funds for the war. He wanted no new, lightly inhabited territories far from Washington. The rising Whig politician Abraham Lincoln also condemned the war.
General Zachery Taylor was another anti-war Whig. This was ironic, since it was the war that made him a hero and enabled him to succeed Polk as President. On the day of his inauguration, as he rode to the Capitol in the same carriage as the outgoing President, he shocked Polk by remarking that New Mexico and California were so far away that he thought they should become independent countries. This was anathema to Polk, who had devoted himself to extending the United States to the Pacific.
Whig objections to expansion seem quaint now, but Mr. Merry notes that when Polk took office, the United States had a population of only 17 million, and the addition of the Louisiana Purchase just a few decades earlier must have made the country seem gigantic. The first steam-locomotive railway started operating only in 1831. Samuel Morse sent his first telegraph message in 1838. Indeed, at many crucial junctures during the Mexican-American war, Polk had no idea what was happening, and heard conflicting rumors before he got official dispatches. San Francisco must have seemed a world away from Washington, and the United States was already a huge country. For many Americans, it was already big enough.
Naked aggression or legitimate conquest?
Was Polk’s conduct of the war legitimate? Mr. Merry seems to have no doubt that by the rules of its era it was. War was a recognized way to force a country to meet its obligations. Indeed, in 1861, France, Britain, and Spain jointly occupied Vera Cruz as part of a military campaign to make Mexico pay its debts. The United States also had a strong, if not undisputed claim to the north bank of the Rio Grande. Polk argued that sending Taylor to the river was legitimate defense of American territory.
In hindsight, it was extremely foolish of the Mexicans to begin hostilities, but Mexico expected to win. Its standing army of 32,000 men was five times that of the United States, and had been toughened by countless revolutions. Its European advisors thought it would make short work of the Americans. The principal theater of the war was expected to be Texas, which would mean long supply lines for the Americans, who had never fought a war outside their own territory. Many Mexicans were also aware of Whig opposition to the war, and believed Americans would not fight in earnest. Paredes boasted that he would not only retake Texas but occupy New Orleans and Mobile. Some Mexicans believed their invading army would be supported by a massive slave uprising, and there was even talk of dictating peace terms from the White House.
Morally and strategically, the western invasion was a different matter; New Mexico and California were indisputably Mexican. However, once war began the rules were different, and territory could be rightly acquired by the law of conquest—though not all Americans agreed. Some Whigs argued that there was no constitutional authority to acquire territory by conquest, but popular sentiment overwhelmingly favored expansion.
Mexicans today complain about “stolen” land, but their claim is weak. They accepted American payment as part of the Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo, thus ratifying the transfer. The Gadsden Purchase of 1854 was a reiteration of the principle of exchanging land for money. Moreover, if the Mexicans had defeated the Americans they would certainly have exercised their own rights under the law of conquest. Had they been able to occupy New Orleans and Mobile they would have felt entitled to keep them.
Mexico gambled on war and lost. It is impossible to predict what Polk would have done had Mexico not “shed American blood on American soil,” but once blood was shed, he was determined to make the most of it. Without Polk, there could have been a different and much smaller United States.
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Predictors of employment for youths with visual impairments: findings from the second national longitudinal transition study.
Visually disabled persons
Visually disabled persons (Employment)
Visually disabled persons (Research)
|Author:||McDonnall, Michele Capella|
|Publication:||Name: Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness Publisher: American Foundation for the Blind Audience: Academic Format: Magazine/Journal Subject: Health Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2011 American Foundation for the Blind ISSN: 0145-482X|
|Issue:||Date: August, 2011 Source Volume: 105 Source Issue: 8|
|Topic:||Event Code: 530 Labor force information; 310 Science & research|
|Geographic:||Geographic Scope: United States Geographic Code: 1USA United States|
Abstract: The study reported here identified factors that predict
employment for transition-age youths with visual impairments. Logistic
regression was used to predict employment at two levels. Significant
variables were early and recent work experiences, completion of a
postsecondary program, difficulty with transportation, independent
travel skills, and social skills.
Levels of employment among youths with visual impairments (that is, those who are blind or have low vision) who are making the transition to adulthood (aged 16-24) have long been a concern of professionals who work with this population. In 2009, data became available to document the severity of the problem among these youths. The results from the Current Population Survey indicate that 19.8% of youths with visual impairments aged 16-19 are working (the employment-population ratio), compared to 29.2% of the youths in the general population, and 39.5% of youths with visual impairments aged 20-24 are working, compared to 63.8% of those in the general population (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2009).
Despite the difficulty with employment that youths with visual impairments face, there has been only limited research in this area. Most federal-state vocational rehabilitation programs provide special programs to help youths who are visually impaired prepare to make the transition to work, yet the contents of these programs are generally not based on empirical evidence. The purpose of the study presented here was to identify factors that are related to future employment for youths with visual impairments to assist professionals in the field to work with this population and to provide an empirical foundation for the development of transition programs.
A substantial amount of research has been conducted on factors that affect successful transition outcomes for youths with disabilities, with employment being one of the key outcomes. Several variables have consistently been found to be important to helping youths with disabilities obtain employment, including early work experiences, self-determination, and academic competence (Benz, Lindstrom, & Yovanoff, 2000; Bremer, Kachgal, & Schoeller, 2003; Stodden, Dowrick, Gilmore, & Galloway, 2001). Other research has documented an association between employment and level of education, health, and the receipt of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) for transition-age youths with disabilities (Berry, 2000). A much more limited amount of research has been conducted on factors that influence employment outcomes for youths who are visually impaired. Studies involving this population have supported the importance of self-determination, early work experiences (including the number of experiences), academic competence, level of education, parental support
and expectations, health, level of functional vision, and use of assistive technology (McDonnall, 2010; McDonnall & Crudden, 2009; Shaw, Gold, & Wolffe, 2007).
Research has identified variables that are associated with the employment of adults with visual impairments. Several studies have specifically focused on barriers to employment for this population. Some of the most commonly identified barriers are employers' negative attitudes, transportation problems, receipt of social security benefits and associated medical benefits, access to assistive technology, and the lack of or limited work experience (Crudden & McBroom, 1999; Crudden, Sansing, & Butler, 2005; Kirchner, Johnson, & Harkins, 1997; O'Day, 1999). Other studies have focused on factors that are associated with successful employment. Some key factors that were identified were good social skills, the ability to travel independently (that is, good orientation and mobility skills) and to work independently, communication skills, basic academic skills, the receipt of an educational certificate or degree, and having worked since one became visually impaired (Capella-McDonnall, 2005; DeMario, 1992; Golub, 2003).
The goal of the study presented here was to expand the field's understanding of the factors that affect employment for youths who are visually impaired by using data from the most comprehensive study available for this population: the second National Longitudinal Transition Study (NLTS2). The NLTS2 includes variables to measure many of the factors found to be important to employment for persons with visual impairments. The following research question was addressed: What factors are the most important predictors of employment for youths who are visually impaired?
SOURCE OF DATA
The NLTS2 was a longitudinal study (consisting of five waves, or occasions, of data collection) that was conducted between 2001 and 2009 by SRI International, under contract from the U.S. Department of Education. SRI International is an independent nonprofit research institute that conducts client-sponsored research and development activities for the government and other organizations. It has conducted numerous large studies for the Department of Education, including the original NLTS.
The NLTS2 consisted of a nationally representative sample of students receiving special education services who were aged 13 to 16 in December 2000. The sample was stratified on the basis of several factors, including disability, resulting in a nationally representative sample of youths with visual impairments who received special education services while in high school. The data were collected via interviews with the youths and their parents, interviews with school personnel, and direct assessments of the youths. At the time of the analyses reported here, data were available from the first four waves--Wave 1: 2001-02, Wave 2: 2003-04, Wave 3: 2005, and Wave 4: 2007--and data for all four waves were used in the analyses. The data cover multiple topics, including the characteristics of the youths, the characteristics of the households, the youths' access to and use of services, the involvement of the youths' families, the youths' academic and functional skills, the youths' postsecondary education, and the youths' employment. Because this is a restricted-use dataset, unweighted sample sizes can only be provided to the nearest 10. Therefore, sample sizes reported in this study are approximates, not exact numbers. Additional information about the NLTS2 is available at http://www.nlts2. org/studymeth/index.html.
The sample was restricted to youths whose visual impairments were identified as the primary disability under which they were eligible for special education services. It was further limited to youths who (1) had employment data available at Wave 4, (2) had completed or were no longer attending high school, and (3) were not currently attending postsecondary school, resulting in a maximum available sample of 250. The sample size for each analysis varied because of missing data on the independent variables. The sample size available for the multivariate analyses ranged from 140 to 200. Demographic information on the sample that was available for the majority of the multivariate analyses (N = 180) is presented in Table 1.
The dependent variable was employment, measured at two levels: working 20 or more hours per week and working 35 or more hours per week (full time). Both levels of the variable were dichotomous and were coded 0 if the individual did not work at all or worked less than the specified number of hours per week or if the individual worked the specified number of hours (or more) per week. The levels of this variable were created from two items in NLTS2: a dichotomous variable indicating whether the youth was currently employed and a variable indicating the total number of hours the youth worked per week (based on all jobs held).
Independent variables were selected for the study on the basis of prior empirical research that supported their importance to the employment outcomes of youths with visual impairments or other disabilities or for adults with visual impairments. All independent variables were based on a single item in the NLTS2 database, although the item was taken from more than one wave of data in three cases. Several categorical items were changed to dichotomous variables (to increase the numbers in each category and to preserve power for the multivariate analyses). The following coding system was used to identify the origin of each variable that was included in the analyses: created (created from more than one wave of data or other change), SRI (original item in the NLTS2), dichotomized (made into a dichotomous variable from a categorical NLTS2 variable). Because missing data on key variables reduced the available sample size for the multivariate analyses, univariate analyses of each variable were conducted to identify those that were significantly related to employment for this sample. Only those variables that were significantly related to employment in the univariate analyses were considered for inclusion in the logistic regression models, as recommended by Hosmer and Lemeshow (2000). The numbers and percentages reported in the following descriptions of the independent variables are based on the data available for the univariate analyses.
Work experience. Two variables were used to measure early and recent work experience. High school employment (created) was a dichotomous variable that indicated paid work experience anytime between one year prior to Wave 1 to the Wave 3 interview if the individual was in high school during that time. Just over 42% (100 out of 240) of the youths were employed at some point during high school. Number of recent jobs (created) represented the number of jobs the youth had held in the two years before the Wave 4 interview (original SRI variable), excluding the job currently held if the person was employed. The mean number of jobs held was 0.75 (1.37), with a range of 0 to 11.
Receipt of SSI benefits (SRI). This dichotomous variable was based on an item that asked the youths to report whether they had received SSI benefits in the two years prior to the Wave 4 interview. Almost 63% (120 out of 190) of the youths had received SSI benefits during that period. Academic competence (SRI). Academic competence in reading and mathematics was measured with standard scores on four subtests of the Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Achievement (WJ-III ACH): Passage comprehension and synonyms-antonyms (reading) and applied problems and calculation (mathematics). Standard scores are normed to a mean of 100, with a standard deviation of 15 at each grade, and can be used for across-grade analyses. The WJ-III ACH was administered to the participants as part of the direct assessments during Wave 1 or Wave 2, when the youths were at least 16 years old. The WJ-III ACH is a well-developed and psychometrically sound instrument; it is considered the best available instrument to measure achievement (Cizek, 2003). Passage comprehension involves reading a short passage and identifying a missing word (M = 82.45, SD = 26.71). Synonyms-antonyms requires reading a word and supplying either a synonym or antonym for that word (M = 92.03, SD = 21.01). Applied problems involves analyzing and solving mathematics problems, including deciding the appropriate mathematical operations to use and which data to include (M = 83.99, SD = 22.18). Calculation requires performing mathematical calculations ranging from simple addition to calculus (M = 88.83, SD = 25.40).
Transportation difficulties (dichotomized). Difficulty with transportation was measured with an item from Wave 4 that asked the participants to report how difficult it is for them to get where they need to go. A dichotomous variable was created to indicate whether the youth experienced difficulty with transportation; it was coded 1 if the participant reported that transportation was "very difficult" or "somewhat difficult" and 0 if he or she reported that transportation was "somewhat easy" or "very easy." Almost 44% of the youths (90 of 210) reported difficulty with transportation. Self-determination (SRI). This variable was measured with items from the Arc's Self-Determination Scale (Wehmeyer, 2000). Items with the highest factor loadings and face validity were selected from the original instrument by SRI to measure four domains of self-determination: personal autonomy, career planning autonomy, self-realization, and psychological empowerment (Facts from OSEP's, 2005). This scale was administered to the youths during Wave 1 or 2, when they were at least 16 years old.
Health (dichotomized). Health was measured with one item from the Wave 4 youth or parent interview that asked the respondent to describe the youth's general health. Response options were used to create a dichotomous variable, with excellent, very good, or good given a value of 1, and fair or poor given a value of 0. A large majority of the youths were in good or better health (200 out of 230, or 88%).
Completion of a postsecondary program (SRI). This dichotomous variable was based on responses to three questions regarding whether the youth had received a diploma, certificate, or license from a two-year or community college; a four-year college or university; or a vocational, business, or technical school. Less than 18% of the youths (40 out of 250) had completed any type of postsecondary program at Wave 4.
Parental expectations (created). The parents were asked about their expectations regarding the youth's ability to support himself or herself financially in the future. They provided their opinion on the likelihood that the youth would earn enough without financial help from his or her family or a government benefit program. The dichotomous variable used for this study was created from these responses, with negative parental responses (probably won't or definitely won't) given a score of 1 and positive parental responses (definitely will or probably will) given a score of 0. Data on this variable were available from Waves 1 to 3; the most recent data available for the youth were used. The majority of parents had positive expectations about the youth's ability to support himself or herself financially (64%, or 140 out of 220). Level of vision loss (SRI). This variable was based on the parents' report of the youth's disability. The parents were asked in Wave 1 whether the youth had a disability (from a list of disabilities), including blindness. Youths whose parents identified them as being blind in Wave 1 received a score of 1; youths who were not identified as being blind received a score of 0. Thirty-seven percent of the youths (90 out of 240) were classified as blind.
Social skills (SRI). Several variables were available to measure social skills. One was a social skills scale, created by SRI on the basis of the parents' responses in Wave 1 to questions about the youths' involvement in social activities, ability to cope with frustration and deal with conflict, and ability to cooperate. Scores could range from 0 to 22; the mean for the youths in this study was 14.70 (3.67). Two other items were also used as proxy measures of social skills: whether the youth was invited to social activities in the past 12 months (yes or no; the most recent wave of data available was used) and the number of days per week that the youth got together with friends during the 12 months prior to the Wave 4 interview (on a scale of 0 to 5, with 0 being never and 5 being six or seven days per week). A large majority of the youths (77%, 190 out of 240) were invited to social activities, and the average score on getting together with friends was 2.23 (1.62), which corresponds to approximately one day per week.
Independent travel skills (dichotomized). In Wave 1, the parents were asked how well the youth was able to get to places outside the home on his or her own without help. Examples of places were school, a nearby store or park, or a neighbor's house. This item was used to create a dichotomous variable that measured independent travel skills; the parents' responses "not at all well" or "not very well" received a score of 0, and those of "pretty well" or "very well" received a score of 1. A majority of the youths (62%, or 140 out of 230) exhibited good travel skills as rated by their parents.
Use of assistive technology (created). The youth and his or her parents were asked whether the youth used assistive technology for the computer. This dichotomous item was asked during the Wave 1 through Wave 3 interviews, and the most recent data available were used. A majority of the youths (58%, or 140 out of 240) used assistive technology.
Logistic regression was the statistical technique that was used for this study, and SAS version 9.2 was the statistical software that was used. Power for the multivariate analyses was limited because of the small sample, which was due, in part, to the large amount of missing data on the independent variables. Therefore, the method recommended by Hosmer and Lemeshow (2000) was used to select variables for and build the logistic regression models. The first step in this process, univariate analyses of all the independent variables of interest, involved chi-square tests for the categorical variables and t-tests for the continuous variables. All variables that exhibited a significant relationship with employment in the univariate analyses were then considered for inclusion in the logistic regression models. Some of these variables were eliminated because of patterns of missing data that resulted in too few observations available for the logistic regression models. All the remaining significant variables were included in the two models (one for each level of employment--working 20 hours or more per week and working 35 hours or more per week; N = 140). Variables that were not found to be significant in the logistic regression model were removed from the model, one at a time, and a new model was evaluated. Generally, variables were removed on the basis of their p-values; an exception was that the first variable removed was SSI benefits, since it had the smallest available sample size. The sample size was reestablished with SSI benefits removed (N = 180), and thereafter that sample was used to test each new model that was fit, as one variable was removed at a time. When the final models were established, SSI benefits was reintroduced to the models because of its presumed importance, but was not found to be significant. The final models for each dependent variable were then fit with the full sample available for them (N = 200 and N = 190). An alpha level of. 10 was used because of the relatively low power for the models.
Univariate analyses of 22 potential predictor variables for the logistic regression models were conducted. Thirteen of these variables significantly predicted employment at p < .05, and two predicted employment at p < .10 (see Table 2). Because all variables had been identified in previous research as factors that are associated with employment, it is not surprising that most of them were also significant predictors in the NLTS2 data. Perhaps what is more interesting to note are the variables that were not found to be significant predictors even in the univariate analyses: health, some measures of self-determination (the self-advocacy, empowerment, and self-realization scores), a global measure of social skills (rated by the parents), the use of assistive technology, and reading achievement (one measure significant at p <. 10 for working 20 hours or more per week only).
LOGISTIC REGRESSION MODELS
Only the variables that were statistically significant in the univariate analyses were considered for the logistic regression models. Variables with the largest effect sizes were considered first; however, some of these variables had a large amount of missing data, which would result in a substantial decrease in the sample size for the multivariate analyses. Because of missing data, mathematics achievement, personal autonomy, and one of the social skills measures could not be included in the models. The remaining social skills measure (invited to social activities by peers) was a significant predictor only of working 20 hours or more per week and therefore was entered only into that model.
Each model was fit with the remaining variables (9 for the 20-hour work model and 8 for the 35-hour work model). Model fitting proceeded as described in the Method section, with variables removed in the following order:
1. 20-hour work model: receipt of SSI, level of vision loss, parental prediction, independent travel skills
2. 35-hour work model: receipt of SSI, level of vision loss, parental prediction
After the last nonsignificant variable was removed and the models were refit with the largest sample available, the final models were established. The results for these models are presented in Table 3. Four variables were significant in both final models: early work experiences, number of recent work experiences, difficulty with transportation, and completion of a postsecondary program. One additional significant variable was present in each model: Peer social skills predicted employment at 20 hours or more per week, and independent travel skills predicted employment at 35 hours or more per week. The relative importance of the predictor variables differed in the two models, with early and recent work experiences being the best predictor of employment at 20 hours or more, whereas these experiences were the weakest predictors of employment at 35 hours or more. With both employment variables in the full-time work model, neither one reached significance at p < .05; if only one was retained in the model, it was significant at p < .05 (because of the low power available for the analyses). Despite these differences, the estimated effect sizes (odds ratios) for the variables were similar in the models.
As was found in other recent studies, early work experiences and the number of work experiences were important predictors of employment for youths with visual impairments. These other studies used different data and therefore represented different populations of youths with visual impairments (youths who received vocational rehabilitation services; see McDonnall & Crudden, 2009) and youths from the general population who self-reported difficulty with vision (McDonnall, 2010). These three studies provide compelling evidence of the importance of not just obtaining work experience while in high school, but of obtaining multiple work experiences. In this study, the size of that effect was substantial: Youths who had just two jobs in the past two years had odds 1.6 to 2.1 times higher of being employed at Wave 4 than did youths who held no jobs in the past two years.
It is relevant to consider Why having multiple work experiences is so valuable to future employment. One hypothesis is that multiple work experiences result in a stronger network of people who can assist the youth in finding a job. Using personal contacts (a network) in a job search is commonly considered the best way to obtain employment. Furthermore, research has shown that most jobs are found through acquaintances, rather than close friends and family members, and that the more diverse and expansive a person's network is, the more likely that this network will result in a successful job lead (Luecking, Fabian, & Tilson, 2004). Having a large network may be a problem for many youths with visual impairments: research has documented that youths who are visually impaired have smaller social networks than do sighted youths (Kef, 1997; Sacks, Wolffe, & Tierney, 1998). It is possible that the connections made through multiple work experiences while younger result in a greater network of contacts to call on when one searches for a job later.
Another variable that was identified as a significant predictor of employment at both levels was transportation difficulties. Transportation difficulties have long been considered a major barrier to employment for persons with visual impairments, but little empirical evidence to support this variable has been available. Youths in this study who reported that transportation was easy or somewhat easy had odds 2.4 times greater of being employed than did those who reported difficulties with transportation. The fact that transportation problems were important even when other variables were taken into account is relevant. For example, if youths experienced difficulty with transportation, despite having a positive work history, their odds of being employed were lower.
The fourth variable that significantly predicted employment in both models was having completed a postsecondary program resulting in a diploma, certificate, or license. Previous research documented the importance of completing a postsecondary educational program, but not of only participating in such a program (Capella-McDonnall, 2005). This was the strongest predictor of working full time for youths with visual impairments, since those who had completed a postsecondary program had odds three times greater of being employed at 35 hours per week or more. It is particularly relevant to note that for the sample in this study, completing a postsecondary educational program was a more important predictor of full-time employment than was previous work experience. It may be that the diploma, certificate, or license actually helps the person obtain a job, but it is also possible that the personal characteristics of the person that enabled him or her to complete a postsecondary program despite a significant visual impairment contribute to the influence of this variable.
Another variable in the full-time employment model with an effect similar to completion of a postsecondary educational program was independent travel skills. These skills were rated by the youths' parents at Wave 1, approximately six years before the employment outcome. Youths whose parents indicated that they could get to places outside the home on their own pretty well or very well were almost three times as likely to be employed full time at Wave 4. It is interesting that this variable did not significantly predict fewer hours of employment (the 20-hour work model). It is possible that this variable represents more than simply travel skills, such as a sense of independence in general, which is important to the capacity to work independently.
The final significant predictor in the 20-hour employment model was peer social skills. The estimated effect for peer social skills was large: Those who were invited by friends to social activities had 3.5 times greater odds of being employed than did those who were not. The importance of social skills to employment is obvious for everyone, visually impaired or not. Social skills are a particular concern for youths who are visually impaired, however, since it is considered challenging for persons with visual impairments to learn social skills because the acquisition of these skills generally occurs through observation in an incidental way (Skellenger, Hill, & Hill, 1992).
The nonsignificance of one variable in particular deserves attention. The recent receipt of SSI benefits, although a significant predictor when considered alone, was clearly not important when considered in combination with other variables. This finding indicates that the other variables in the model were more important predictors of employment than was the receipt of SSI. This is an important finding because the receipt of benefits from the Social Security Administration is often considered a major barrier to employment for persons with visual impairments. Perhaps these financial and medical benefits are not as great a deterrent for transition-age youths as they are for older persons who are visually impaired. It is important to study the effect of the receipt of SSI while young on obtaining early work experiences. If the receipt of SSI deters youths from attempting to work when young, the lack of work experience may have a negative impact on future employment, resulting in an indirect effect of the receipt of SSI on future employment.
The major limitation of the study was its small sample, which was due, in part, to a large amount of missing data on some independent variables. Some variables that were strongly associated with future employment in the univariate analyses (such as personal autonomy and mathematics achievement) could not be included in the logistic regression models because of the small samples, but may have been important predictors in the multivariate models. With a larger sample, the variables that were found to be the most important predictors of employment could have been different.
Implications for professionals
There are important implications for professionals with regard to each of the six factors that were found to predict employment for youths with visual impairments. First, the value of obtaining employment experiences, including working during high school, must be emphasized to these youths. A focus on educational studies often prevents youths from working (O'Day, 1999), but youths should be encouraged to find time to devote to obtaining work experience. Parents may also need encouragement and education in this area, since they may not realize the importance of early work experiences to their children's ability to obtain employment in the future.
That the number of recent work experiences is significantly related to employment suggests the importance of youths building a network of contacts that may help them find employment in the future. Research has documented that unemployed college graduates who are visually impaired have less extensive social and supportive networks and use them in more limited ways than do employed college graduates who are visually impaired (Roy, Dimigen, & Taylor, 1998). One way to build a network is through work experiences, but there are several other avenues to increase network contacts (including extracurricular school activities, volunteer work, and membership in religious or other formal organizations). Youths need first to become aware of the importance of building a network and then strive to increase their number of personal contacts. Increasing a youth's knowledge of how to find a job, including how to build and use a network to do it, is an important lesson that could be included in transition programs.
Completion of a postsecondary educational program was associated with fulltime employment. To complete a postsecondary program, youths with visual impairments may need some support. In postsecondary school, youths who are visually impaired have the responsibility to request their accommodations and locate the support they need to succeed, a situation that is in stark contrast to that of secondary school. Transition programs can help prepare youths for the different atmosphere and requirements of postsecondary school, which may help increase their ability to succeed and complete a postsecondary program. Vocational rehabilitation counselors can also provide support and assistance, as needed, to ensure the success of their consumers who are attending postsecondary school.
Teachers of students with visual impairments and other professionals in the field are well aware of the importance of social skills and independent travel skills to the success of their students, as evidenced by the inclusion of these topics in the expanded core curriculum (Hatlen, 1996). The findings of this study provide additional support for the importance of these variables as they relate to future employment, which is a central measure of successful transition for young adults with visual impairments. It is imperative that the Individual Education Programs for youths with visual impairments include goals in these areas. Teachers of students with visual impairments and parents should ensure that youths are trained in both areas as part of their school curricula. Transition programs could also include components that focus on social skills, such as providing feedback on poor social skills in everyday interactions and in formal interactions like job interviews. Helping youths learn to solve transportation problems is another area that teachers of students with visual impairments, rehabilitation counselors, and transition programs could address as part of their education or rehabilitation programs.
Youths and their parents want the youths to obtain employment following their education, yet they will likely not be aware of important factors that may contribute to their ability to do so. Professionals are in a position both to assist youths in these areas and to educate them and their parents. Transition programs that are designed to assist these youths as they move from secondary school to postsecondary school or work must incorporate the factors that have been found by empirical research to predict employment. Professionals who are working in these programs should evaluate the programs' contents to ensure that they are relevant to their consumers.
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The contents of this article were developed with support from Grant H133A070001 from the Department of Education, National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research. However, the contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the Department of Education, and readers should not assume endorsement by the federal government.
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Table 1 Demographic characteristics of the sample. Variable Percentage Age 19 5 20 24 21 22 22 29 23 20 Gender Female 44 Male 56 Race or ethnicity White 61 African American 25 Hispanic 13 Asian American or Pacific Islander 2 When youth left high school Within the past 2 years 48 More than 2 years ago 52 Table 2 Univariate analyses predicting employment for youths with visual impairments. Variable N Working 20+ hours Dichotomous [chi [rho] [phi] variables square] Paid work while in 240 11.04 <.001 .22 high school Parent expectations: Able 220 11.60 <.001 -.23 to support self (yes or no) Blind (parents' 240 3.89 .049 -.13 report, completely blind) Receipt of SSI 190 6.77 .01 -.19 benefits (past 2 years) Has difficulty with 210 5.31 .02 -.16 transportation (yes or no) Independent travel 230 10.98 <.001 .22 skills Completion of 250 8.37 .00 .18 postsecondary program Good health 230 0.41 .52 .04 Social skills: Invited to social 240 5.14 .02 .15 activities by peers (yes or no) Use of assistive 240 0.80 .37 -.06 technology Continuous t-test p d variables Number of jobs held 230 -4.62 <.001 .70 in past 2 years Math achievement: 130 -2.30 .02 .43 Applied problems score Math achievement: 160 -1.67 .10 .29 Calculation score Reading achievement: 160 -1.74 .08 .30 Passage comprehension score Reading 160 -1.16 .25 .20 achievement: Synonyms-antonyms Self-determination: 160 -2.31 .02 .40 Career autonomy scale Self-determination: 140 -3.19 .002 .58 Personal autonomy scale Self-determination: 160 0.75 .45 .13 Empowerment scale Self-determination: 160 -0.26 .80 .04 Self-realization scale Social skills: How often youths go 190 -3.03 .003 .50 together with friends Social skills scale 230 -1.09 .27 .16 Variable N Working 35+ hours Dichotomous [chi [rho] [phi] variables square] Paid work while in 240 9.21 .00 .20 high school Parent expectations: Able 220 10.50 .00 -.22 to support self (yes or no) Blind (parents' 240 4.69 .03 -.14 report, completely blind) Receipt of SSI 190 4.50 .03 -.15 benefits (past 2 years) Has difficulty with 210 5.34 .02 -.16 transportation (yes or no) Independent travel 230 10.96 <.001 .22 skills Completion of 250 10.45 .00 .21 postsecondary program Good health 230 .23 .63 .03 Social skills: Invited to social 240 1.97 .16 .09 activities by peers (yes or no) Use of assistive 240 .21 .64 -.03 technology Continuous t-test p d variables Number of jobs held 230 -3.97 <.001 .69 in past 2 years Math achievement: 130 -2.61 .01 .54 Applied problems score Math achievement: 160 -1.76 .08 .33 Calculation score Reading achievement: 160 -.98 .33 .18 Passage comprehension score Reading 160 -1.20 .23 .22 achievement: Synonyms-antonyms Self-determination: 160 -1.08 .28 .20 Career autonomy scale Self-determination: 140 -3.45 <.001 .68 Personal autonomy scale Self-determination: 160 1.22 .23 .22 Empowerment scale Self-determination: 160 .35 .73 .06 Self-realization scale Social skills: How often youths go 190 -2.79 .01 .53 together with friends Social skills scale 230 -.69 .49 .11 Table 3 Logistic regression models predicting employment for youths with visual impairments. Working 20 or more hours/week (a) Wald [chi Odds ratio Variable [beta] SE square] p [95% CI] High school work 0.44 0.18 6.40 .01 2.42 [1.22, 4.81] Number of recent 0.36 0.12 8.95 .003 1.44 (1.13,1.82] jobs Transportation -0.44 0.19 5.54 .02 0.42 [0.20, 0.86] difficulty Postsecondary 0.41 0.21 3.72 .05 2.25 [0.99, 5.12] completion Peer social skills 0.63 0.28 4.95 .03 3.51 [1.16, 10.64] Independent travel -- -- -- -- -- Working 35 or more hours/week (b) Wald [chi Odds ratio Variable [beta] SE square] p [95% CI] High school work 0.37 0.21 3.25 .07 2.10 [0.94, 4.7] Number of recent 0.24 0.13 3.72 .05 1.28 [1.00, 1.63] jobs Transportation -0.44 0.22 4.04 .04 0.41 [0.17, 0.98] difficulty Postsecondary 0.55 0.23 5.86 .02 3.03 [1.23, 7.42] completion Peer social skills -- -- -- -- -- Independent travel 0.54 0.25 4.60 .03 2.96 [1.10, 7.97] (a) Model [chi square] (5, N = 200) = 37.78, p <.0001; Nagelkerke [R.sup.2] = .25. (b) Model [chi square] (5, N = 190) = 29.65, p <.0001; Nagelkerke [R.sup.2] = .23.
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Food allergy has become one of the more common allergic disorders. Food allergy typically presents in early childhood, usually after the first exposure to the offending food. Cow’s milk, peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, wheat, soybean and shellfish are the most common foods implicated after an allergic reaction occurs.
Symptoms of food allergy occur within minutes of ingestion and may include mouth itching, hives, sneezing, and coughing. Untreated this may progress to wheezing, choking, and/or loss of consciousness.
Patients with atopic dermatitis or a family history of allergies are particularly at risk for food allergy. It is not unusual to have an allergy to multiple items. At both of our Northern New Jersey offices, we carefully perform food allergy testing on each patient and identify all foods to which the patient is sensitive to. Once this is done avoidance of offending foods is very achievable and allergic reactions are rare.
For more information on Food Allergies you can visit the AAAAI website or contact one of our New Jersey food allergy doctors.
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Update - April 18, 2014 - The LADEE spacecraft has crashed into the moon. Ground Controllers at NASA's Ames Research Center report that the craft made impact some time between 9:30 and 10:22 PM PDT on April 17. Engineers believe that during its descent the lunar explorer heated up to the point that some materials could have vaporized, and whatever remained upon impact was likely buried in shallow craters.
“At the time of impact, LADEE was traveling at a speed of 3,600 miles per hour – about three times the speed of a high-powered rifle bullet,” said LADEE project scientist Rick Elphic. “There’s nothing gentle about impact at these speeds–it’s just a question of whether LADEE made a localized craterlet on a hillside or scattered debris across a flat area. It will be interesting to see what kind of feature LADEE has created.”
LADEE crashed on the far side of the moon, which is not visible from Earth and where no prior lunar mission has landed. NASA hopes to piece together the exact time of impact over the coming months and to obtain an image of the impact site through the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Original Story - April 8, 2014 - NASA’s LADEE (Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer) spacecraft has been orbiting the moon since October 6, 2013—a month after its launch—gathering scientific data and accomplishing several milestones as it circled our planet’s nearest celestial body’s equator.
LADEE was the first spacecraft to communicate with Earth using Optical Laser Communications (a system that sends information six times faster than radio). It is also the first deep space spacecraft to be designed and built entirely in NASA’s Ames Research Center, the first payload launched on a U.S. Air Force Minotaur V rocket integrated by Orbital Sciences Corp, and the first deep space mission launched from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center's Wallops Flight Facility.
The machine was sent to collect data on the moon’s atmosphere and dust environment in an effort to determine whether lunar dust, electrically charged by the sun, was the cause of a pre-sunrise glow above the lunar horizon seen during several Apollo missions. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has also used the vending machine-sized craft to gather information about the composition of the moon’s atmosphere.
LADEE’s mission is now drawing to a close, however, and at some point over the next two weeks will crash into the moon’s surface. On Friday, April 11, ground controllers will have the spacecraft perform its last orbital maintenance maneuver just days before a four-hour total lunar eclipse occurs on April 15. That eclipse will put LADEE on the cusp of the conditions under which it was designed to operate and survive.
The maneuver will make sure that LADEE hits the far side of the moon, which is neither viewable from Earth nor near any prior lunar landings, but it will not set a specific location or time for impact. As the craft runs out of fuel its orbit will decay and it could strike the moon at any time on or before April 21.
“The moon's gravity field is so lumpy, and the terrain is so highly variable with crater ridges and valleys that frequent maneuvers are required or the LADEE spacecraft will impact the moon’s surface,” said LADEE project manager Butler Hine. “Even if we perform all maneuvers perfectly, there's still a chance LADEE could impact the moon sometime before April 21, which is when we expect LADEE's orbit to naturally decay after using all the fuel onboard.”
Since NASA is uncertain of exactly when LADEE will make impact, it has put together a contest asking the general public to guess when the spacecraft will hit. The contest is open to all, and asks participants to simply take their best guess as to the date, hour, and minute that LADEE will fall.
Winners will be announced after impact, and will also be e-mailed a commemorative, personalized certificate from the LADEE program. Submissions must be entered by 3 PM on Friday, April 11.
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The Doll Study Club of Jamestown New York met at Alfie's Restaurant on July 19 for their monthly meeting, lunch, and doll-related program. Susan Mitchell gave the group a bit of history on the story of Alice in Wonderland, from its beginnings as a story told to a bored little girl named Alice Liddell, who was being rowed five miles along the Thames with her sisters and two family friends. One of these was the Reverend Chas. Dodgson, the future author of the publication that is famous to this day. From that day in July 1862, it took three years for the tale to be published; it was immediately a sensation, beloved by children and adults alike, including Queen Victoria and the young Oscar Wilde. The book has never been out of print, and there are now over one hundred editions along with countless adaptations in theatre, film and other media.
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New program to ‘focus on positive behavior’
This summer a group of educators from the middle school attended a conference in the Tennessee city. While there, the group was impressed by a program that had been put together by a Colorado middle school, and came back to Jamestown determined to do something similar here. “We got excited,” Almanzor said.
According to Almanzor, the program is based on a national organization called Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports.
“It’s been around for a few years,” Almanzor said. “Different schools use it and they incorporate it in different ways to focus on positive behaviors with students, and for adults to be more consistent by clearly explaining expectations, and having students adhere to them.”
The Lawn School educators came back to Jamestown this summer and devised a matrix of behavior for the students. The name they gave their program was an acronym for the major points that they wanted to address.
“We decided on Lawn ROCKs,” Almanzor said. ROCKs is an acronym utilizing the words respect, owning, challenge and kind.
“We knew ‘respect’ was part of it,” said Almanzor. “‘Owning it’ was really important to us, about each of us owning our piece, and our responsibilities. We used the ‘C’ from ‘rise to the challenge.’ For the ‘K,’ of course, we always talked about being kind.”
“So that’s been our theme,” she added. “We kind of went with ROCKs because Jamestown is an island, and it’s sometimes referred to as ‘the rock.’”
At the meeting following their decision to implement ROCKs, the educators were looking for ways to physically manifest their new program. Lawn Avenue School features a garden in the center hallway. When the building was constructed in 1955, there were skylights in the ceiling, allowing for plant growth. When the school was renovated, the skylights were closed, and there was difficulty in keeping plants alive. Last spring a rock garden was installed, using boulders supplied by Watson Farm.
“We were thinking of what else we were going to add,” Almanzor said. “At our next meeting we came up with the idea of everyone having a rock and we would place those rocks in the garden. Then it went further and somebody came up with the idea of putting a challenge word on it. That way it’s visible. Every time we passed by through the center hallway, kids would be able to see what their challenge word is. It really turned out beautifully.”
In Rhode Island middle schools and high schools, it is mandatory to set up advisory groups for students. At Lawn Avenue School, eight to 10 students meet with an advisor once a week for 30 minutes. The students stay with the same advisor from the time they enter the school in the fifth grade until they finish the eighth grade. “It’s more about building relationships. It’s for helping students learn to set goals for their life,” Almanzor said.
The advisory group faculty presented the idea of challenge rocks to their students in their group. They talked about the various challenges that students have in their lives. The kids practiced printing their graphics so they would know how it was going to look on their rock. Eventually, the students were called down with their advisory group to place their rocks. Each student’s rock is next to the rocks of others in their group.
“The kids really put some moving words [on their rocks], and very personal,” Almanzor said. “Each kid really looked at what their challenge was.”
Words like “willing,” “calm” and “balance” appear on the rocks.
Almanzor hopes that the rocks will remain in place permanently. Recently some sand has been added to the garden to give it a beach feel.
“It’s the whole idea of building a positive culture,” Almanzor said. “When you’re in middle school, sometimes it seems cool not to follow the rules.” She added that the school is building a culture – and putting it out there with the kids – that students and educators alike really love their school.
“It’s that whole buy-in about being proud of who we are at Lawn Avenue School, that we do rock,” Almanzor said. “That is reinforced daily by teachers and certainly comes up in advisory each week. The student council has taken it on. They’re coming up with activities around this. We also get input from parents.”
Almanzor reports that discipline referrals have decreased since the plan has been implemented, though she acknowledges that it still too early in the year to know if that trend will continue. “There’s a lot of buy-in from the kids,” she said. “I’ve seen enthusiasm, and that’s very positive.”
It is not only the students that are enthusiastic. Almanzor recently received a note from a teacher’s assistant. The note read, “Just want to say that the rock garden is beautiful, inspiring and a great idea.”
Viewing the rock garden has proven to be an emotional experience for some. “People were almost teary,” Almanzor said. “It was very beautiful.”
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Congress mandates that researchers receiving federal funds must publish research results and distribute them to as wide an audience as possible. As one of the two founding research schools at UAF, the School of Natural Resources and Extension has generated plenty of research to report on over the last century. Topics cover a broad spectrum, from peony marketing to reindeer husbandry to the projected effects of climate change in the Arctic to the dynamics of forest soils in the taiga.
The AFES/SNRE Information Services Office provides the editing, publishing, and distribution activities to support the dissemination of faculty and student research. Publications are written for a general or scientific audience, ranging from the research magazine, Agroborealis; to annual variety trial circulars detailing the results of tests on herbs, vegetables, and flowers at the Fairbanks Experiment Farm; to the Senior Thesis Series, highlighting the research of undergraduate students.
Small-Scale Coriander Production in Interior Alaska
Coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.) is a spice that is used widely in Asian, Middle Eastern, North African, Mexican, and South American cuisines. It is grown and harvested commercially in many parts of the world including Russia, central Europe, the Mediterranean region, Canada, Mexico, and South America (Lopez et al . 2008). In Alaska, it has been grown for many years, but not often as a seed crop. The leaves of the coriander plant are harvested as the culinary herb cilantro.
On the cover: Mingchu Zhang checking canola variety plots at the Fairbanks Experiment Farm. AFES photo by Nancy Tarnai
Growing Our Energy at Home: Biomass Crops in Alaska
Alaska is home to vast energy resources and is a net exporter of energy in the form of crude oil. Yet Alaskans, especially those residing in remote communities, pay some of the highest energy prices in the country. Energy experts are working to identify opportunities for developing cheaper, renewable energy sources for Alaskans. Alaska has vast quantities of biomass, mostly in the form of trees, which provide an excellent and often cheap fuel source for many communities in the forested regions of the state. However, there are concerns over the long-term sustainability of repeated harvests of forests, especially if the harvest repeat rate is short. Also, many communities in Alaska do not have ready access to forest biomass. Growing biomass crops for energy may be a feasible way to sustainably produce renewable energy in some parts of Alaska.
volume 44 number 1
Senior Thesis 2011-01
Assessing Food Security in Fairbanks, Alaska
Since the arrival of non-Native peoples to Alaska, the state has heavily relied on importing most food. Food security concerns have been raised related to supply disruptions, cost, and health. This thesis was designed as a pilot study and intended to provide information on local vegetable and fruit production in the Tanana Valley through a survey of commercial vegetable and fruit producers.
The survey provided insight into characteristics of producers, production, and marketing practices. Increasing crop production in the Tanana Valley is possible, but measuring current production may require a more complex measuring system that is more consistent with producer practices. Alaska faces many challenges if it is to transition from an un-integrated food system to a more comprehensive food system that generates value to local communities.
Annual Flowering Plant Evaluations
Trials at the botanical garden consist of new and standard cultivars suitable for small market gardens and home gardens in the Tanana Valley, Alaska. Each year more than 300 annual flowering plants are grown in field trials.
MP2010-02 Peony Research 2009
on the cover: experimental peony plot at the Georgeson Botanical Garden
Research has been conducted at the Georgeson Botanical Garden since 2001 on peony field cut flower production and distribution, from field selection and planting to post harvet handling and packaging for export. This publication is the latest in a series, and addresses three components of the production cycle: field planting dates, root quality and plant productivity, and post harvest handling of cut stems.
Growing Small Grains in Your Garden
With the recent release of 'Sunshine' hulless barley there has been an increase in interest about growing grains in a small-scale garden setting. Even though the scale is greatly reduced, a few square feet versus many acres, the same principles apply to growing a high yielding crop successfully. This publication reviews crop selection of species and varieties suitable to the north, seedbed preparation, soil fertility, tilling, pest control, harvesting, processing, and flour storage.
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This interesting overview offers insights into the prevalence of beliefs in female spirits and ways in which throughout history these spirits were channeled or entreated by dance. The books focus is on Europe, primarily from Greece to northern Russia. Readers will learn of the multiple ways dances, images, and relics from the stone ages to modern day have reflected the importance of dance and movement to not only honor the spirit world but to connect with the often wily, both threatening and benevolent, nature and infertility goddesses and fairies.
The authors interest in this research was peaked as a result of her own folk dancing experiences. Trained in archeology and linguistics, she spent twenty years chasing these spirit maidens, which she calls dancing goddesses, in research which resulted in new perspectives on European traditional dances and even on some of our still practiced traditions.
Included are maps and helpful photos and line drawings which illustrate how some of the dances are done.
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CONFLICT MANAGEMENTIntroductionWebster’s Dictionary defines conflict as “a battle, contest of opposing forces, discord, antagonismexisting between primitive desires, instincts and moral, religious, or ethical ideals.” Conflict occurswhen two or more people or organizations disagree because their needs, wants, goals, or values aredifferent. Hurt feelings, anger, bruised egos, and poor communication are all the precursors toconflict. However, conflict is NOT the end of the world, or your team or group. Some tools havebeen developed that will help us all recognize conflict and deal with it so that our group or team canmove on, stronger than before.Lesson ObjectivesBy the end of the lesson a learner should be able to: 1. Discuss red flags of conflict 2. Talk about why conflict can be both positive and negative 3. Discuss conflict management styles 4. Talk about the ways that individuals analyze conflict 5. Discuss ways that an individual can positive deal with difficult people while managing conflict.Lesson ContentMost all of us have been in a conflict at some point in our lives. But did we know that conflict wascoming? Could we have seen it, and “headed it off at the pass”? The National School BoardAssociation has developed a Toolkit for Educational Leadership(http://www.nsba.org/sbot/toolkit/Conflict.html) that talks about conflict and what might be some“red flags” to look out for.Red Flags of Conflict • Body language • Disagreements, regardless of issue • Withholding bad news • Surprises • Strong public statements • Airing disagreements through media • Conflicts in value systems • Desire for power • Increasing lack of support • Open disagreement • Lack of candor on budget problems or other sensitive issues • Lack of clear goals • No discussion of progress, failed goals, and inability to evaluate leaders fairly, thoroughly, or at all.Many people think of conflict as negative. But conflict can be both negative AND positive. TheNational School Board Association in their Toolkit for Educational Leadership(http://www.nsba.org/sbot/toolkit/Conflict.html) tells us that . . .
Conflict is negative when it… • Takes attention away from other activities • Damages the spirit of the team or an individual • Divides people and groups, and makes cooperation difficult • Makes people or group focus on their differences • Leads to harmful behavior, like fighting or name-callingBut it can be positive or constructive when it… • Clears up important problems or issues • Brings about solutions to problems • Gets everyone involved in solving issues • Causes real communication • Release emotion, anxiety, and stress in a positive way • Helps people learn more about each other and cooperate • Develops understanding and skillsWhile the definition of conflict and our feelings about it tend to be negative, conflict itself doesnot need to be negative! How we manage our conflict can sway the outcome, our feelings about theway it was handled, and the people involved conflict.What is CONFLICT MANAGEMENT?Conflict management is what we’re doing when we identify and deal with conflict in a reasonablemanner. To manage conflict the United States Department of Agriculture(http://www.usda.gov/cprc/understand.htm) says we must develop and use skills like effectivecommunication, problem solving, and negotiating. When we resolve issues, we need to focus on thethings we need or desire as a group, and not things needed or wanted by individuals. This promotesworking with each other instead of against each other. There are some proven strategies that youcan use to help resolve conflicts within your groups. The Ohio Commission on Dispute Resolution andConflict Management (http://disputeresolution.ohio.gov/schools/contentpages/styles.htm)describes five popular styles.• Style 1- Collaborating o Why should I collaborate?: Cooperation will help everyone achieve their goals and keep relationships healthy. o A Collaborator’s Attitude: Talking through the conflict will help us find creative ways to solve our problems where everyone is satisfied in the end. o When should I collaborate?: • Everyone trust each other • No one wants total decision or resolution power • Everyone needs to have a part in the decision • Everyone involved will change their thinking as more information is available • People need to work through personal hurts and disappointments o When should I choose another method?:
• When you need a resolution that won’t take a lot of time and money • When some may take advantage of others’ trust• STYLE 2-COMPROMISING o Why should I compromise?: Winning something while losing a little is sometimes okay. o A Compromiser’s Attitude: We should all meet halfway to do what is best for the group and each of us can still get part of what we want. o When should I compromise?: • No one at the table has more position or power than anyone else and everyone is equally committed to the group’s goals. • Time can be saved by agreeing on a situation that works for everyone “for now” • Achieving all of your goals are only somewhat important o When should I choose another method?: • Things that are important to you may be lost in the fray • Someone’s demands are too great for the rest of the table• STYLE 3-ACCOMODATING o Why should I accommodate?: Our commonalities are more important than other issues and facing differences may hurt relationships. o An accommodator’s attitude: I will please others by playing down how important the issue or conflict is in order to protect relationships. o When should I accommodate?: • Issues not as important to you as it is to others • You know you can’t win • Everyone agreeing is the most important thing • The things people have in common are more important than their differences o When should I choose another method?: • Some ideas don’t get attention • Credibility and influence can be lost• STYLE 4-COMPETING o Why should I compete?: Resolving a conflict is associated with competition and winning. o A competitor’s attitude: I must use all of my power to win the conflict. o When should I compete?: • You know you’re right • A quick decision is necessary • Strong personalities are overshadowing other people • Defending your rights or position o When should I choose another method?: • Can make conflict worse • Those on the losing end may attempt to get back at the winners• STYLE 5-AVOIDING o Why should I avoid?: Not the right time or place to address this issue.
o An avoider’s attitude: I avoid conflict by leaving, avoid, or putting off discussions. o When should I avoid?: • Conflict is small and the future of a relationships is at stake • There is no time to devote to conflict resolution • Other issues are more important than the conflict • There is no chance of getting your concerns heard • One party is too emotionally involved and others can better resolve the conflict • More information is needed o When should I choose another method?: • Decisions may be made by default • Putting off or avoiding issues may make matters worseDealing with People While Managing ConflictSome people aren’t willing to admit that they may not be the best at conflict management, but thatdoesn’t mean that they aren’t sometimes involved in the management process. You can’t change theway that people behave or approach conflict, but you can arm yourself with some tools to help yousuccessfully navigate conflict when not everyone is on the same page. Don Wallace and ScottMcMurry talk about some of those tools using Robert Bramson’s book Coping with Difficult People inan article titled How to Disagree without Being Disagreeable in the November 1995 issue of FastCompany Magazine (http://pf.fastcompany.com/online/01/disagree.html). • Sherman Tanks- These intimidators get “in your face” to argue and state opinions as facts. 1. Get their attention by using their first name to begin a sentence. 2. Maintain eye contact; give them time to wind down. 3. Stand up to them without fighting; don’t worry about being polite. 4. Suggest you sit down to continue discussions. • Snipers- These individuals take potshots in meetings but avoid one-on-one confrontations. 1. Expose the attack; draw them out in public and don’t let social convention stop you. 2. Get other opinions--don’t give in to the sniper’s views. 3. Provide the sniper with alternatives to a direct contest. • Chronic Complainers- These people find faults with everyone-except themselves. 1. Politely interrupt and get control of the situation. 2. Quickly sum up the facts. 3. Ask for their complaints in writing. • Negativists- These individuals know that nothing new will work; they’ll disrupt group brainstorming sessions. 1. Acknowledge their valid points. 2. Describe past successes. 3. Avoid “you’re wrong, I’m right” arguments. • Exploders- These individuals throw tantrums that quickly escalate. 1. Give them time to regain self control.
2. If they don’t, shout a neutral phrase such as “STOP!” 3. Take a time-out or have a private meeting with them.Steps to Analyzing ConflictHow can you manage conflict and disagreements in ways that strengthen instead of damage personaland professional relationships? These five steps from the Watershed information Network atPurdue University (http://www.ctic.purdue.edu/KYW/Brochures/ManageConflict.html ) could helpyou out…• STEP 1: ANALYZE THE CONFLICT Don’t be afraid to ask questions of everyone involved. Take in answers from a variety of sources, and gain as much information as you can.• STEP 2: DETERMINE YOUR MANAGEMENT STRATEGY When you understand the basis of the conflict and everyone involved, you will need to develop a plan to manage the conflict. There are many plans to choose from, so you can pick the one that is most appropriate for your situation.• STEP 3: PRE-NEGOTIATION Steps must be taken for discussion to begin. This to think about include: • Someone has to start the conversation! If neither party is willing to do so, bring in an outsider who will remain neutral to begin discussions. • Everyone must be ready to come to the table, to work together, and resolve the issues. • The group must agree on rules for the discussion. Some ideas of things to include are: ways we’ll communicate and how we’ll make the final decision. • BE ORGANIZED! Location, time, place and materials must all be in order for conflict management to work. • Everyone at the table must agree on what information is put on the table, relevant to the conflict, and how the group will get answers to questions.• STEP 4: NEGOTIATION Negotiations should be discussions that include: • Reasons, needs, concerns and motivations for differing positions • Current options • Evaluation of all the current options • Written agreement that documents what everyone understands • Everyone must be confident that all parties will follow through with their parts of the agreement. Make sure everyone is on the same page and understands the expectations.• STEP 5: POST-NEGOTIATION Once negotiation is complete, the group should take the actions they decided upon. • Individuals should get support from outside parties who may have been involved in some way. Outsiders must be on board with the terms of the agreements reached during Step 4.
• Communication and working together should continue throughout this process.Reflection Identify a time when you’ve been in a conflict. How did you behave? Did you escalate or de- escalate the situation? If you could replay the situation, what would you do differently? Identify times when you have behaved like one of the “conflict problem people” listed in the brochure. How can we keep ourselves in check so that we don’t repeat past mistakes? How can you implement the strategies contained in this lesson in your club or group?ResourcesNational School Board Association. Toolkit for Educational Leadership. Retrieved electronicallyfrom http://www.nsba.org/sbot/toolkit/Conflict.html on October 5, 2003.Ohio Commission on Dispute Resolution and Conflict Management. Choosing a Conflict ManagementStyle. Retrieved electronically fromhttp://disputeresolution.ohio.gov/schools/contentpages/styles.htm on October 5, 2003.United States Department of Agriculture. Understanding conflict management and ADR. Retrievedelectronically from http://www.usda.gov/cprc/understand.htm on October 5, 2003.Wallace, D. & McMurry S. (1995) How to Disagree without Being Disagreeable . Fast CompanyMagazine . Retrieved electronically from http://pf.fastcompany.com/online/01/disagree.html onOctober 5, 2003.Watershed Information Network at Purdue University. Managing Conflict. Retrieved electronicallyfrom http://www.ctic.purdue.edu/KYW/Brochures/ManageConflict.html on October 5, 2003.
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Library Home || Primary || Math Fundamentals || Pre-Algebra ||
Algebra || Geometry || Discrete Math || Trig/Calc
|Discrete Math, difficulty level 3. Students are given clues about intervals on the number line and must determine whether they intersect or not.|
|Please Note: Use of the following materials requires membership. Please see the Problem of the Week membership page for more information.|
© 1994-2012 Drexel University. All rights reserved.
The Math Forum is a research and educational enterprise of the Drexel University School of Education.
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In January 1885, Elizabeth Cochran grew incensed after reading a sexist screed in the Pittsburgh Dispatch declaring that a woman’s domain “is defined and located by a single word—home.” The searing letter she sent to the newspaper in response so impressed the managing editor that he hired the 20-year-old as a reporter. Cochran took on a pen name, based on a popular Stephen Foster song, which would make her world-famous—Nellie Bly. Explore the biggest stories broken by this pioneer of investigative journalism.
1. “Our Workshop Girls”
Among Bly’s first assignments for the Dispatch was an eight-part illustrated series examining the working conditions for women toiling in dozens of the city’s sooty factories. The series gave readers a rare glimpse at the daily lives and dreams of female laborers and exposed some of the dangerous, unsanitary and exploitative conditions in which they worked. As the series progressed, factory owners shuttered their doors to Bly and her prying pen. Undeterred, the scrappy journalist instead dressed in tattered clothes and went undercover as a worker in order to report first-hand on factory conditions. In spite of the success of the series, Bly’s editors returned her to the “women’s page” to write puff pieces on hair care, fashion, gardening, shopping, high society and homemaking.
2. “Nellie in Mexico”
Dissatisfied with her trivial assignments, Bly lobbied her editors to send her to Mexico as a foreign correspondent. Although they believed the assignment too dangerous for a woman, Bly’s editors relented under her persistent entreaties. For five months, her regular reports offered her readers a portrait of the customs and daily life of its little-known neighbor to the south. She unflinchingly wrote that the poor of Mexico City were “worse off by thousands of times than were the slaves of the United States.” She exposed massive political corruption and, although against the law for a foreign journalist to do so, criticized the country’s dictatorial government for jailing a local newspaper reporter. Under the threat of arrest, Bly returned to Pittsburgh where she was again assigned to the “women’s page.” In the spring of 1887, the 21-year-old left this note for her Pittsburgh Dispatch colleagues: “I am off for New York. Look out for me—BLY.”
3. “Inside the Madhouse”
Bly finally received her big break in September 1887 when Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World, the country’s premier newspaper, agreed to give her a daunting trial assignment—to impersonate a mentally disturbed person to verify rumors of the mistreatment of the female patients confined to the Asylum for the Insane on Blackwell’s Island. Bly took to the streets of New York, feigning a Spanish accent and displaying strange behavior. Doctors diagnosed her with “dementia with delusions of persecution” and committed her to the asylum. Inside, Bly was fed revolting food, tormented by nurses and stripped of her clothes in unheated bathrooms and washed with ice water and dirty rags. After enduring 10 days in the asylum, the New York World rescued her. Bly’s bombshell report offered a “plain and unvarnished narrative of the treatment of the patients.” It detailed “the terrors of cold baths,” “cruel, unsympathetic nurses” and “attendants who harass and abuse patients and laugh at their miseries.” Her graphic account sparked reform, earned her a job as a full-time reporter for the New York World and made her such a journalistic sensation that her name subsequently appeared not just in bylines, but in headlines as well.
4. “What Becomes of Babies”
As a New York World staff writer, Bly continued her undercover work as a literary crusader exposing the tarnished underbelly of Gilded Age America. Just weeks after the story about the abuse on Blackwell’s Island, Bly wrote a piece exposing New York’s secret underground baby trade. Posing as a new mother wishing to dispose of a baby born on May 5 (her own birthday), Bly visited doctors who told her they could sell her unwanted baby for a small fee. When she told one doctor that her baby was a girl, he replied, “Too bad. They are very hard to get rid of. Now, if it was only a boy you would have had more chance.” The same doctor told Bly that the death rate of babies he placed in boarding houses was a shocking 80 percent. “You think it horrible? Well, it’s the way of the world,” the doctor told Bly.
5. “Around the World in 72 Days”
On November 14, 1889, Bly set sail from New York City on an epic adventure. In a quest to beat the time of Phileas Fogg, the fictional hero of Jules Verne’s 1873 novel “Around the World in Eighty Days,” she embarked on a circumnavigation of the globe by boat, by railroad and even by burro. “Can Jules Verne’s great dream be reduced to actual fact?” the New York World asked its readers, who read Bly’s dispatches from foreign ports as she raced both Fogg and Elizabeth Bisland, a journalist from a rival magazine who left New York on the same day to span the world in the opposite direction. Crossing France, Bly met Verne, who expressed doubts that she could circle the planet in 80 days but promised to “applaud with both hands” should she be able to do it. Traveling solo most of the voyage and toting only a small leather gripsack, the 25-year-old completed her around-the-world journey in 72 days, 6 hours, 11 minutes and 14 seconds, four days ahead of Bisland and faster than any person had ever before accomplished the feat.
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Analysis of trends in global oil reserves, production, and consumption
This activity was selected for the On the Cutting Edge Reviewed Teaching Collection
This activity has received positive reviews in a peer review process involving five review categories. The five categories included in the process are
- Scientific Accuracy
- Alignment of Learning Goals, Activities, and Assessments
- Pedagogic Effectiveness
- Robustness (usability and dependability of all components)
- Completeness of the ActivitySheet web page
For more information about the peer review process itself, please see http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/review.html.
This page first made public: Jun 28, 2012
Students explore data in the most recent annual BP Statistical Review of Energy to analyze trends in oil reserves, production, and consumption of various nations. This is one part of a larger problem set on global energy issues
To recognize the distinction between amounts of an energy source and the rate at which it is being consumed; to recognize the tremendous inequities in rates of oil consumption among populations, and the tremendous inequities in amounts of oil reserves (and their locations); to appreciate the the current trend in oil consumption for the U.S. (and likely for the world) is unsustainable.
Context for Use
This is part of the first problem set for students enrolled in CHEM 108: Solar Energy, a non-majors course in chemistry. A look at U.S. and global oil supplies is part of in-class discussion prior to this assignment. Internet access to the BP website is needed. The large data set offers students the opportunity to explore quantitatively and qualitatively numerous questions about national and global energy systems.
Description and Teaching Materials
Students open the data set for the most recent annual the BP Statistical Review of Energy
and use the Energy Charting Tool to compare various data sets (proved oil reserves for various nations; trends in proved oil reserves vs. oil consumption for various nations) and how these data can quantify the degree of oil imports or exports. CHEM 108 global oil exercise (Acrobat (PDF) 193kB Jun28 12)
Teaching Notes and Tips
Some students find the website difficult to use; so having available individual data sets or graphs related to particular questions may save time.
Quiz and exam questions ask students to evaluate a data set NOT included in this exercise, so assess if they understand the concepts of peak oil production, can quantify imports/exports, and can predict trends in imports/exports.
References and Resources
Data included in the exercise originates from the BP Statistical Review of Energy
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If an incident occurs and the buildings or areas around you become unstable, or if the air outdoors becomes dangerous due to toxic or irritating substances, it is usually safer to stay indoors. Thus, to "shelter-in-place" means to make a shelter of the building you are in, and with a few adjustments, this location can be made even safer and more comfortable until it is safe to go outside.
How to "Shelter-in-Place"-
No matter where you are, the basic steps of shelter-in-place will generally remain the same. Should the need ever arise; follow these steps, unless instructed otherwise by LVC officials.
1. If your environment is stable, stay where you are indoors. If you are outdoors, proceed into the closest building quickly or follow instructions from campus officials and emergency personnel on the scene.
a. Locate a room to shelter inside. It should be:
- An interior room above ground level; and
- Without windows or with the least number of windows.
2. Shut and lock all windows (tighter seal) and close exterior doors.
3. Turn off air conditioners, heaters, and fans.
4. Close vents to ventilation systems as you are able. (LVC staff will turn off the ventilation as quickly as possible).
5. Make a list of the people with you and ask someone to call the list to the Office of Public Safety (ext. 6111) so they know where you are sheltering.
6. Monitor updates on www.lvc.edu
, LVC Facebook page, and e2Campus.
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|Youre here: Home » eDigg Biographies » Biographies N-S » Samuel Johnson|
Samuel Johnson, one of the most eminent English writers of the eighteenth century, was the son of Michael Johnson, who was, at the beginning of that century, a magistrate of Lichfield, and a bookseller of great note in the Midland Counties. Michael's abilities and attainments seem to have been considerable. He was so well acquainted with the contents of the volumes which he exposed to sale, that the country rectors of Staffordshire and Worcestershire thought him an oracle on points of learning. Between him and the clergy, indeed, there was a strong religious and political sympathy. He was a zealous churchman, and, though he qualified himself for municipal office by taking the oaths to the sovereigns in possession, was to the last a Jacobite in heart. At his house, a house which is still pointed out to every traveller who visits Lichfield, Samuel was born, on September 18, 1709. In the child the physical, intellectual, and moral peculiarities which afterward distinguished the man were plainly discernible: great muscular strength accompanied by much awkwardness and many infirmities; great quickness of parts, with a morbid propensity to sloth and procrastination; a kind and generous heart, with a gloomy and irritable temper. He had inherited from his ancestors a scrofulous taint, which it was beyond the power of medicine to remove. His parents were weak enough to believe that the royal touch was a specific for this malady. In his third year he was taken up to London, inspected by the court surgeon, prayed over by the court chaplains, and stroked and presented with a piece of gold by Queen Anne. One of his earliest recollections was that of a stately lady in a diamond stomacher and a long black hood. Her hand was applied in vain. The boy's features, which were originally noble and not irregular, were distorted by his malady. His cheeks were deeply scarred. He lost for a time the sight of one eye, and he saw but very imperfectly with the other. But the force of his mind overcame every impediment. Indolent as he was, he acquired knowledge with such ease and rapidity, that at every school to which he was sent he was soon the best scholar. From sixteen to eighteen he resided at home, and was left to his own devices. He learned much at this time, though his studies were without guidance and without plan. He ransacked his father's shelves, dipped into a multitude of books, read what was interesting, and passed over what was dull. An ordinary lad would have acquired little or no useful knowledge in such a way; but much that was dull to ordinary lads was interesting to Samuel.
Dr. Johnson's Penance.
The time drew near at which Johnson would, in the ordinary course of things, have become a Bachelor of Arts; but he was at the end of his resources. Those promises of support on which he had relied had not been kept. His family could do nothing for him. His debts to Oxford tradesmen were small indeed, yet larger than he could pay. In the autumn of 1731 he was under the necessity of quitting the university without a degree. In the following winter his father died. The old man left but a pittance; and of that pittance almost the whole was appropriated to the support of his widow. The property to which Samuel succeeded amounted to no more than twenty pounds.
His life, during the thirty years which followed, was one hard struggle with poverty. The misery of that struggle needed no aggravation, but was aggravated by the sufferings of an unsound body and an unsound mind. Before the young man left the university his hereditary malady had broken forth in a singularly cruel form. He had become an incurable hypochondriac. He said long after that he had been mad all his life, or at least not perfectly sane; and, in truth, eccentricities less strange than his have often been thought grounds sufficient for absolving felons and for setting aside wills. His grimaces, his gestures, his mutterings, sometimes diverted and sometimes terrified people who did not know him.
With such infirmities of body and of mind this celebrated man was left, at two-and-twenty, to fight his way through the world. He remained during about five years in the Midland Counties. At Lichfield, his birthplace and his early home, he had inherited some friends and acquired others. He was kindly noticed by Henry Hervey, a gay officer of noble family, who happened to be quartered there. Gilbert Walmesley, registrar of the ecclesiastical court of the diocese, a man of distinguished parts, learning, and knowledge of the world, did himself honor by patronizing the young adventurer, whose repulsive person, unpolished manners, and squalid garb moved many of the petty aristocracy of the neighborhood to laughter or to disgust. At Lichfield, however, Johnson could find no way of earning a livelihood. He became usher of a grammar-school in Leicestershire; he resided as a humble companion in the house of a country gentleman; but a life of dependence was insupportable to his haughty spirit. He repaired to Birmingham, and there earned a few guineas by literary drudgery. In that town he printed a translation, little noticed at the time, and long forgotten, of a Latin book about Abyssinia. He then put forth proposals for publishing by subscription the poems of Politian, with notes containing a history of modern Latin verse; but subscriptions did not come in and the volume never appeared.
While leading this vagrant and miserable life Johnson fell in love. The object of his passion was Mrs. Elizabeth Porter, a widow, who had children as old as himself. To ordinary spectators the lady appeared to be a short, fat, coarse woman, painted half an inch thick, dressed in gaudy colors, and fond of exhibiting provincial airs and graces which were not exactly those of the Queensberrys and Lepels. To Johnson, however, whose passions were strong, whose eyesight was too weak to distinguish ceruse from natural bloom, and who had seldom or never been in the same room with a woman of real fashion, his Titty, as he called her, was the most beautiful, graceful, and accomplished of her sex. That his admiration was unfeigned cannot be doubted; for she was as poor as himself. She accepted, with a readiness which did her little honor, the addresses of a suitor who might have been her son. The marriage, however, in spite of occasional wranglings, proved happier than might have been expected. The lover continued to be under the illusions of the wedding-day till the lady died, in her sixty-fourth year. On her monument he placed an inscription, extolling the charms of her person and of her manners; and when, long after her decease, he had occasion to mention her, he exclaimed, with a tenderness half ludicrous, half pathetic, "Pretty creature!"
His marriage made it necessary for him to exert himself more strenuously than he had hitherto done. He took a house in the neighborhood of his native town and advertised for pupils. But eighteen months passed away, and only three pupils came to his academy. Indeed, his appearance was so strange, and his temper so violent, that his school-room must have resembled an ogre's den. Nor was the tawdry, painted grandmother whom he called his Titty well qualified to make provision for the comfort of young gentlemen. David Garrick, who was one of the pupils, used, many years later, to throw the best company of London into convulsions of laughter by mimicking the endearments of this extraordinary pair.
At length Johnson, in the twenty-eighth year of his age, determined to seek his fortune in the capital as a literary adventurer. He set out with a few guineas, three acts of the tragedy of "Irene" in manuscript, and two or three letters of introduction from his friend Walmesley.
Some time appears to have elapsed before Johnson was able to form any literary connection from which he could expect more than bread for the day which was passing over him. He never forgot the generosity with which Hervey, who was now residing in London, relieved his wants during this time of trial. "Harry Hervey," said the old philosopher, many years later, "was a vicious man; but he was very kind to me. If you call a dog Hervey, I shall love him." At Hervey's table Johnson sometimes enjoyed feasts which were made more agreeable by contrast. But in general he dined, and thought that he dined well, on sixpenny-worth of meat and a pennyworth of bread at an ale-house near Drury Lane.
About a year after Johnson had begun to reside in London he was fortunate enough to obtain regular employment from Cave, an enterprising and intelligent bookseller, who was proprietor and editor of the Gentleman's Magazine.
A few weeks after Johnson had entered on these obscure labors he published a work which at once placed him high among the writers of his age. It is probable that what he had suffered during his first year in London had often reminded him of some parts of that noble poem in which Juvenal had described the misery and degradation of a needy man of letters, lodged among the pigeons' nests in the tottering garrets which overhung the streets of Rome. Pope's admirable imitations of Horace's "Satires and Epistles" had recently appeared, were in every hand, and were by many readers thought superior to the originals. What Pope had done for Horace, Johnson aspired to do for Juvenal. The enterprise was bold, and yet judicious. For between Johnson and Juvenal there was much in common--much more, certainly, than between Pope and Horace.
Johnson's "London" appeared, without his name, in May, 1738. He received only ten guineas for this stately and vigorous poem; but the sale was rapid and the success complete. A second edition was required within a week. Those small critics who are always desirous to lower established reputations ran about proclaiming that the anonymous satirist was superior to Pope in Pope's own peculiar department of literature. It ought to be remembered, to the honor of Pope, that he joined heartily in the applause with which the appearance of a rival genius was welcomed. He then made inquiries about the author of "London." Such a man, he said, could not long be concealed. The name was soon discovered; and Pope, with great kindness, exerted himself to obtain an academical degree and the mastership of a grammar-school for the poor young poet. The attempt failed, and Johnson remained a bookseller's hack.
The fame of his abilities and learning continued to grow. Warburton pronounced him a man of parts and genius; and the praise of Warburton was then no light thing. Such was Johnson's reputation that, in 1747, several eminent booksellers combined to employ him in the arduous work of preparing a dictionary of the English language, in two folio volumes. The sum which they agreed to pay him was only fifteen hundred guineas; and out of this sum he had to pay several poor men of letters who assisted him in the humbler parts of his task.
Johnson had flattered himself that he should have completed his dictionary by the end of 1750, but it was not till 1755 that he at length gave his huge volumes to the world. During the seven years which he passed in the drudgery of penning definitions and marking quotations for transcription, he sought for relaxation in literary labor of a more agreeable kind. In 1749 he published the "Vanity of Human Wishes," an excellent imitation of the Tenth Satire of Juvenal. It is, in truth, not easy to say whether the palm belongs to the ancient or to the modern poet.
About a year after the representation of "Irene" he began to publish a series of short essays on morals, manners, and literature. This species of composition had been brought into fashion by the success of The Tattler, and by the still more brilliant success of The Spectator. A crowd of small writers had vainly attempted to rival Addison. The Lay Monastery, The Censor, The Freethinker, The Plain-Dealer, The Champion, and other works of the same kind, had had their short day. None of them had obtained a permanent place in our literature, and they are now to be found only in the libraries of the curious. At length Johnson undertook the adventure in which so many aspirants had failed. In the thirty-sixth year after the appearance of the last number of The Spectator appeared the first number of The Rambler. From March, 1750, to March, 1752, this paper continued to come out every Tuesday and Saturday.
From the first The Rambler was enthusiastically admired by a few eminent men. Richardson, when only five numbers had appeared, pronounced it equal if not superior to The Spectator. Young and Hartley expressed their approbation not less warmly. Bubb Dodington, among whose faults indifference to the claims of genius and learning cannot be reckoned, solicited the acquaintance of the writer. In consequence probably of the good offices of Dodington, who was then the confidential adviser of Prince Frederick, two of his Royal Highness's gentlemen carried a gracious message to the printing-office, and ordered seven copies for Leicester House.
The last Rambler was written in a sad and gloomy hour. Mrs. Johnson had been given over by the physicians. Three days later she died. She left her husband almost broken-hearted. Many people had been surprised to see a man of his genius and learning stooping to every drudgery and denying himself almost every comfort, for the purpose of supplying a silly, affected old woman with superfluities which she accepted with but little gratitude. But all his affection had been concentrated on her. He had neither brother nor sister, neither son nor daughter. To him she was as beautiful as the Gunnings, and witty as Lady Mary. Her opinion of his writings was more important to him than the voice of the pit of Drury Lane Theatre, or the judgment of the Monthly Review. The chief support which had sustained him through the most arduous labor of his life was the hope that she would enjoy the fame and the profit which he anticipated from his Dictionary. She was gone; and in that vast labyrinth of streets, peopled by eight hundred thousand human beings, he was alone. Yet it was necessary for him to set himself, as he expressed it, doggedly to work. After three more laborious years the Dictionary was at length complete.
In the spring of 1758 Johnson put forth the first of a series of essays entitled The Idler. During two years these essays continued to appear weekly. They were eagerly read, widely circulated, and, indeed, impudently pirated while they were still in the original form, and had a large sale when collected into volumes. The Idler may be described as a second part of The Rambler, somewhat livelier and somewhat weaker than the first part.
While Johnson was busied with his Idlers, his mother, who had accomplished her ninetieth year, died at Lichfield. It was long since he had seen her; but he had not failed to contribute largely out of his small means to her comfort. In order to defray the charges of her funeral, and to pay some debts which she had left, he wrote a little book in a single week, and sent off the sheets to the press without reading them over. A hundred pounds were paid him for the copyright; and the purchasers had great cause to be pleased with their bargain, for the book was "Rasselas."
By such exertions as have been described Johnson supported himself till the year 1762. In that year a great change in his circumstances took place. He had from a child been an enemy of the reigning dynasty. His Jacobite prejudices had been exhibited with little disguise both in his works and in his conversation. Even in his massy and elaborate Dictionary he had, with a strange want of taste and judgment, inserted bitter and contumelious reflections on the Whig party. The excise, which was a favorite resource of Whig financiers, he had designated as a hateful tax. He had railed against the Commissioners of Excise in language so coarse that they had seriously thought of prosecuting him. He had with difficulty been prevented from holding up the Lord Privy Seal by name as an example of the meaning of the word "renegade." A pension he had defined as a pay given to a state hireling to betray his country; a pensioner as a slave of state hired by a stipend to obey a master. It seemed unlikely that the author of these definitions would himself be pensioned. But that was a time of wonders. George the Third had ascended the throne, and had, in the course of a few months, disgusted many of the old friends, and conciliated many of the old enemies of his house. The city was becoming mutinous. Oxford was becoming loyal. Cavendishes and Bentincks were murmuring. Somersets and Wyndhams were hastening to kiss hands. The head of the treasury was now Lord Bute, who was a Tory, and could have no objection to Johnson's Toryism. Bute wished to be thought a patron of men of letters, and Johnson was one of the most eminent, and one of the most needy men of letters in Europe. A pension of three hundred a year was graciously offered, and with very little hesitation accepted.
This event produced a change in Johnson's whole way of life. For the first time since his boyhood he no longer felt the daily goad urging him to the daily toil. He was at liberty, after thirty years of anxiety and drudgery, to indulge his constitutional indolence, to lie in bed till two in the afternoon, and to sit up talking till four in the morning, without fearing either the printer's devil or the sheriff's officer.
But though his pen was now idle, his tongue was active. The influence exercised by his conversation, directly upon those with whom he lived, and indirectly on the whole literary world, was altogether without parallel. His colloquial talents were indeed of the highest order. He had strong sense, quick discernment, wit, humor, immense knowledge of literature and of life, and an infinite store of curious anecdotes. As respected style, he spoke far better than he wrote. Every sentence which dropped from his lips was as correct in structure as the most nicely balanced period of The Rambler. But in his talk there were no pompous triads, and little more than a fair proportion of words in osity and ation. All was simplicity, ease, and vigor. He uttered his short, weighty, and pointed sentences with a power of voice, and a justness and energy of emphasis, of which the effect was rather increased than diminished by the rollings of his huge form, and by the asthmatic gaspings and puffings in which the peals of his eloquence generally ended. Nor did the laziness which made him unwilling to sit down to his desk prevent him from giving instruction or entertainment orally. To discuss questions of taste, of learning, of casuistry, in language so exact and so forcible that it might have been printed without the alteration of a word, was to him no exertion, but a pleasure. He loved, as he said, to fold his legs and have his talk out. He was ready to bestow the overflowings of his full mind on anybody who would start a subject, on a fellow-passenger in a stage-coach, or on the person who sat at the same table with him in an eating-house. But his conversation was nowhere so brilliant and striking as when he was surrounded by a few friends, whose abilities and knowledge enabled them, as he once expressed it, to send him back every ball that he threw.
On Easter eve, 1777, some persons, deputed by a meeting which consisted of forty of the first booksellers in London, called upon Johnson. Though he had some scruples about doing business at that season, he received his visitors with much civility. They came to inform him that a new edition of the English poets, from Cowley downward, was in contemplation, and to ask him to furnish short biographical prefaces. He readily undertook the task, a task for which he was pre-eminently qualified. His knowledge of the literary history of England since the Restoration was unrivalled. That knowledge he had derived partly from books, and partly from sources which had long been closed; from old Grub-Street traditions; from the talk of forgotten poetasters and pamphleteers who had long been lying in parish vaults; from the recollections of such men as Gilbert Walmesley, who had conversed with the wits of Button; Cibber, who had mutilated the plays of two generations of dramatists; Orrery, who had been admitted to the society of Swift; and Savage, who had rendered services of no very honorable kind to Pope. The biographer, therefore, sat down to his task with a mind full of matter. He had at first intended to give only a paragraph to every minor poet, and only four or five pages to the greatest name. But the flood of anecdote and criticism overflowed the narrow channel. The work, which was originally meant to consist only of a few sheets, swelled into ten volumes--small volumes, it is true, and not closely printed. The first four appeared in 1779, the remaining six in 1781.
When at length the moment, dreaded through so many years, came close, the dark cloud passed away from Johnson's mind. His temper became unusually patient and gentle; he ceased to think with terror of death, and of that which lies beyond death; and he spoke much of the mercy of God, and of the propitiation of Christ. In this serene frame of mind he died, on December 13, 1784. He was laid, a week later, in Westminster Abbey, among the eminent men of whom he had been the historian--Cowley and Denham, Dryden and Congreve, Gay, Prior, and Addison.
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Sod laying is like painting. The hard part is in the preparation and the finished product is only as good as the preparation. Start with good soil. There is no better time to enhance home lawn's ultimate beauty and success than by improving the soil before any planting takes place. Be sure to read this whole Sod Laying Instructions and Soil Preparation Guide prior to sodding.
Soil Preparation for a Beautiful Lawn
Quick Fact: Why Is Good Soil Important?
For optimum growth, turfgrass needs just four things (in the proper balance) to grow...sunlight, air, water and nutrients. Reduce any of these, or provide too much of any one, and the grass may die or simply suffer. In the right proportions, the grass will flourish, providing not only beauty to the landscape, but also a clean and safe place to play and many benefits to the environment.
Grass obtains three of these four essential factors (air, water and nutrients) from the soil, but many soils are less than ideal for growing grass. Some soils contain too much clay and may be very compacted... great for roads, bad for grass, because air and water aren't available to the roots and the roots can't grow. Other soils may have too much sand... beautiful on a beach, but difficult to grow grass because water and nutrients won't stay in the root zone long enough for the plant to use. Another frequently observed problem with many soils is that its pH (the degree of acidity or alkalinity) is too high or two low for optimum grass growth.
Quick Fact:What Is The Best Soil For Turfgrass?
Loams, sandy loams and loamy sands, with a pH of 6.0 to 6.5 are the very best soils for producing a beautiful, high-use, low-maintenance lawn. Unfortunately, this idea soil mixture is seldom found on any property after construction.
Quick Fact: How Deep Should the Soil Be For Turfgrass?
The absolute minimum quality soil depth for a care-free lawn is 4 inches; however, for deeper root penetration and the benefits that brings, the accepted standard is 6 inches.
Quick Fact: Can Soils Be Improved?
Practically without exception, not only can most soils be improved, they usually need to be improved to get the maximum results with only a minimum of other on-going effort. The knowledge of what's necessary, the amount and availability of materials and the immediate costs of time and money are the factors that typically deter people from taking the steps necessary to improving the soil. While some people do not fully understand the importance of good soils for grass, many also believe they can save time and money by ignoring the need to improve their lawn's soil. The fact is that failing to improve the soil before planting is only inviting a much greater and continual investment of both time and money, which will never return its value as fully as preparing the soil properly before planting any grass. It is important to remember that most warm season turf grasses can grow an a host of soils and adding a foreign soil can actually hinder root production. If you amend or modify your soil you must till it completely with the original soil to make a homogeneous mixture. If you do not do this results can be disastrous. It would be better to add no soil than to add soil and not thoroughly blend it.
Site Preparation Steps
"The beauty is in the blades, but the 'action' is in the roots," is a good adage to remember when growing grass. Thus, the value of proper site preparation and soil improvement, before any planting takes place, is that it will be easier for the grass roots to penetrate deeply and evenly. Deep roots will make the lawn more drought resistant, a more efficient water and nutrient user and more dense as new grass plant shoots emerge. A dense lawn will crowd out weeds and better resist insects and diseases. That is Turfgrass 101 and also the foundation of environmentally sound principals like Best Management Practices.
Cultivated turf allows you to enjoy a lawn of instant beauty and maturity without the usual time-consuming hassles of seeding or sprigging. When purchasing turfgrass sod, consult a professional from Modern Turf, to be assured that you are getting the finest quality turf available and the best variety for your unique needs and site location. The following are the basic steps to a beautiful lawn.
STEP 1 - Measuring and Ordering
With a tape, measure the area of your planned lawn. Include these measurements on a sketch of the lawn area, with the length, width, and any unusual features. A Modern Turf employee will be happy to assist you in determining the amount of sod you will need from your sketch.
Schedule your order for delivery of sod after preparatory work is completed and you are ready to install. Prompt installation on the day of delivery is crucial to a strong beginning for your lawn.
STEP 2 - Soil Preparation
With the weed pressure common in the Carolinas we recommend spraying the area to be sodded prior to initial tilling with Round Up or similar non selective herbicide. After tilling we recommend fertilizing the soil and watering it to encourage new weed growth then spraying a second time with non selective herbicide. This process will eliminate an entire generation of weeds that would have otherwise germinated at the time of installing the sod. For best results, roto-till or spade the area to a depth of 10 to 15 cm. (4 to 6 in.). Eliminate drainage problems by having soil slope away from foundations, etc.
Soil test your lawn area with the assistance of your local County Extension Service. Then rake in fertilizer, lime, peat, compost, etc. as recommended to a depth of 7 to 10 cm. (3 to 4 in.). Rake and smooth the soil removing rocks, roots, and large clods. Roll the area lightly with a lawn roller 1/3 full of water. This will firm the soil surface and reveal low areas that need more soil. Keep the grade 2 to 3 cm. (1 in.) below sidewalks or driveway.
Water the prepared area to settle soil and provide a moist base for sod. Moistening to a depth of 15 cm. (6 in.) is recommended for most soils. However, consult with your Modern Turf professional regarding your specific soil needs.
STEP 3 - Turf Installation
Install your lawn immediately upon delivery. Begin watering lawn within 30 minutes of installation. Turfgrass sod is a living plant that requires ground contact and moisture to survive!
In hot weather, protect un-laid sod by placing stacks in shade, covering with moist burlap sacking, and/or lightly sprinkling, making sure to moisten the sides of the pallet not just the top.
Begin installing sod along the longest straight line, such as a driveway or sidewalk. Butt and push edges and ends against each other tightly, without stretching. Avoid gaps or overlaps. Stagger the joints in each row in a brick-like fashion, using a large sharp knife, machete or stick edger to trim corners, etc. Avoid leaving small strips at outer edges as they will not retain moisture. On slopes, place the sod across the slope. This will keep heavy rainfall run off from cutting trenches between the seams of the sod.
To avoid causing indentations or air pockets avoid repeated walking or kneeling on the sod while it is being installed or just after watering.
After installing the sod, roll the entire area to improve sod /soil contact and remove air pockets but this step may not be necessary if preparation is good.
STEP 4 - Watering
Give your new lawn at least 2 to 3 cm. (1 in.) of water within 1/2 hour of installation. Water daily, or more often, keeping turf moist until it is firmly rooted (about 2 weeks). Then less frequent and deeper watering should begin.
Weather conditions will dictate the amount and frequency of watering. Be certain that your new lawn has enough moisture to survive hot, dry, or windy periods. Irrigate and water areas near buildings, drives and sidewalks more often or more heavily. These are areas where reflected heat tends to dry the turf more quickly.
During the first three weeks, avoid heavy or concentrated use of your new lawn. This gives the roots an opportunity to firmly knit with the soil, and insures that the turf will remain smooth.
Your new sod lawn increases your property value significantly. With proper care, it will remain a great asset, providing beauty, a clean playing surface, and an improved environment. Mow often, generally removing no more than 1/3 of the grass height at a mowing. Keep your mower blade sharp. Follow the Lawn Maintenance section for mowing recommendations for your type of lawn.
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This family of monocotyledons comprises about 115 genera and 2000 species, the majority of which are tropical. The flowers have no bracts and are usually massed in a cylindrical spadix, wrapped in an enclosing spathe. Often the flowers have an offensive smell to attract flies as pollination agents. Some species are climbers with aerial roots such as the Swiss Cheese Plant, Monstera. There are also many ornamental species, often grown as houseplants.
Botanical characteristics of this family of rhizomatous or tuberous plants, with a brief description and photographs of a number of individual species.
Hundreds of high-resolution images sorted by genus, with tags to show which are newly added, sections devoted to specimens from China and Sikkim, and extensive links.
Independent organization devoted to the breeding and study of plants in the family Araceae (Aroids). Research includes the hybridization of Alocasia, Philodendron and Anthurium species in an effort to develop new, hardier, and architecturally interesting aroid plant varieties.
Description of Araceae
Habit and leaf form; Anatomy; Morphology; Physiology; Biochemistry; Geography.
International Aroid Society
Dedicated to the dissemination of information on the plants in the family Araceae such as taxonomy, nomenclature, botany, pollination, horticulture, ethnobotany, literature, and art, as well as membership information for the IAS.
Last update:March 24, 2016 at 3:05:08 UTC
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To reduce outdoor water consumption.
Reduce outdoor water use through one of the following options. Nonvegetated surfaces, such as permeable or impermeable pavement, should be excluded from landscape area calculations. Athletic fields and playgrounds (if vegetated) and food gardens may be included or excluded at the project team’s discretion.
Option 1. No irrigation required (2 points except Healthcare, 1 point Healthcare)
Show that the landscape does not require a permanent irrigation system beyond a maximum two-year establishment period.
Option 2. Reduced irrigation (1-2 points except Healthcare, 1 point Healthcare)
Reduce the project’s landscape water requirement (LWR) by at least 50% from the calculated baseline for the site’s peak watering month. Reductions must first be achieved through plant species selection and irrigation system efficiency as calculated in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) WaterSense Water Budget Tool.
Additional reductions beyond 30% may be achieved using any combination of efficiency, alternative water sources, and smart scheduling technologies.
Table 1. Points for reducing irrigation water
|Percentage reduction from baseline||Points (except Healthcare)||Points (Healthcare)|
Ask questions, share tips, and get notified of new forum posts by joining LEEDuser, a tool developed by BuildingGreen and supported by USGBC!
No sample form available for this credit.View all sample forms
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Coyotes are thriving in virtually every urban area in the country; biologists who study the predators say they pose no threat to people--as long as we let them stay wild
LAST MARCH, a full-grown coyote made headlines when it led a posse of heavy-breathing police officers, city officials and reporters on a zigzagging chase through New York City's Central Park, where it was finally subdued with a tranquilizer dart.
To most of the public who watched video footage of the chase the next day (thanks to the five news helicopters that had followed along), the saga of the coyote in midtown Manhattan seemed utterly bizarre. The coyote, however, was likely a native New Yorker, quite possibly even a Bronx resident. It just picked the wrong time and place to show itself.
From coast to coast, coyotes have become a fact of life in urban America. They howl in downtown Chicago, trot across Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills and dig dens in and around Tucson, St. Louis, Boston, Detroit and Washington, D.C. "Coyotes that have been born and raised in urban areas prefer urban areas," says wildlife ecologist Stan Gehrt of Ohio State University, who has radio-collared nearly 200 coyotes in the Chicago area over the past six years. "It's not a matter of coyotes being pushed out of better habitat and into a city. For the majority of these animals, they're home. They're where they want to be."
While these four-footed neighbors are bound to make some city dwellers nervous--coyotes are carnivorous, after all--Gehrt and other wildlife experts say there's no reason we should feel threatened. Most coyotes avoid contact with people so thoroughly that we're lucky if we see one at all; learning to be wary is part of a pup's upbringing. The key to coexisting is to not undo what coyotes have learned so well.
Few wildlife success stories are as dramatic as that of Canis latrans. "If you go back 200 years, Lewis and Clark didn't stumble on coyotes until they got to what is now the Dakotas," says Matthew Gompper, a wildlife biologist at the University of Missouri. Coyotes were originally grassland animals, he says. The disappearance of huge swaths of forest helped them expand their range, as did the eradication of wolves, their chief predators. Expanding beyond the rural West over the past century--despite efforts early on by farmers and ranchers, with federal help, to exterminate them--coyotes now reside in every state except Hawaii. Their infiltration into cities and suburbs in recent decades, Gompper says, is simply a side effect of their overall range expansion. "At this point, all cities have them. Urban coyotes are probably much more common than people realize." No one knows how many coyotes live in urban areas. Their total U.S. population could be anywhere from one to ten million. The sense that their numbers are on the rise is based in part on increases in phone calls to animal-control officers about coyote sightings. Some of this increase no doubt stems from a heightened awareness of coyotes and what they look like, thanks to sometimes sensationalistic press coverage.
Most coyotes manage to operate unobserved, mainly due to their preference for the wee hours between midnight and dawn. They may visit your backyard regularly, but not while you're awake. Urbanites who do cross paths with coyotes can easily mistake them for unleashed dogs. With their large, upright ears and bushy tails, they look a bit like small German shepherds but with lighter frames and narrow, foxlike muzzles. In the western United States, adults typically weigh between 20 and 30 pounds, though their heavy coats can make them appear larger. Eastern coyotes average 10 pounds more; some reach 50 or 60 pounds. Their larger size may be due to crossbreeding with wolves sometime in the past.
A modern city might at first seem like marginal habitat for a coyote. Not so, says Paul Krausman, a University of Arizona wildlife biologist who is studying two groups of coyotes living in downtown Tucson. "Coyotes are one of the most adaptable species on the face of the Earth," he says. "In urban areas, they've got everything they need. There are no wolves or mountain lions, so they're at the top of the heap. People are throwing out garbage for them to eat, and they're watering their lawns, which attracts prey species. It's a perfect setup."
In dietary matters, coyotes are opportunists, which is one reason they're able to make themselves at home while surrounded by people, cars, buildings and asphalt. Strictly speaking, they're more omnivores than carnivores. Their diet consists of mammals like deer (fawns in spring, roadkill year-round), raccoons, rabbits, mice and, when the opportunity presents itself, cats and small dogs, but also birds, insects, berries and other fruit. An urban coyote's natural diet is often supplemented by anthropogenic food items like pet food and trash.
How this latter, unintended smorgasbord is affecting coyotes is among the questions that Paul Curtis, a wildlife specialist at Cornell University, hopes to answer. Curtis is involved in a five-year investigation, begun in 2005, of urban and suburban coyotes in New York state. While most of his data are preliminary, Curtis can already confirm the coyote's legendary wiliness: Trapping study animals has not been easy. He and his colleagues mask their own scent by dyeing and waxing their traps and handling them with special gloves. They even avoid kneeling on the ground. "We go through all this effort, and several times last month we've had coyotes come in, know exactly where the trap was, dig all around it, and urinate on it, as though they're saying, 'Ha! You didn't get me.'"
The most extensive study of urban coyotes is in Chicago, where Gehrt has been monitoring up to 40 radio-collared animals at a time. He reports a number of surprises. "People used to think large carnivores needed big tracts of undeveloped habitat to be successful," Gehrt says, "but we found that's not true in Chicago." Those living in packs and defending a territory, he says, use a range of between two and eight square miles. "It can include some of the most urbanized land you can imagine." One group he's monitoring lives at the corner of two major interstate highways, with the country's second-largest indoor mall alongside. Not surprisingly, collisions with vehicles represent a Chicago coyote's number-one mortality risk, accounting for 70 percent of the deaths that Gehrt has tabulated. Still, the animals aren't blundering through the city like disoriented moose. "Coyotes definitely learn how to cross roads," he says. "They have to. Some of these guys cross hundreds of roads every night."
The most impressive example of coyotes making do with scarce urban real estate, Gehrt says, was a pair of animals that dug their den under a single line of bushes between a municipal swimming pool and a day care center. "They were able to raise their young a few yards from where children were playing, and hardly anyone knew they were there," he says. Unless he's aware that a coyote has become a nuisance, Gehrt avoids publicizing den sites.
Indeed, more than a few city residents are uncomfortable with the idea of coyotes in their midst. Once an urban coyote is trapped, some people believe it should be removed to a nature preserve somewhere, not released into the very neighborhood where it was found. Even if a coyote were to be relocated, it might be capable, like Lassie, of coming back home. (A coyote thinks nothing of trotting 20 miles in a night.) And if it didn't, another coyote might well take its place. "No matter what anyone might try to do to remove coyotes from cities and suburbs," says Curtis, "they're going to be there."
Jim deVos is research chief for the Arizona Game and Fish Department in Phoenix, where coyotes are well-entrenched residents. The urban public, he's noticed, is divided in its views about coyotes. "We've held neighborhood meetings where half the group sits on one side of the room and half on the other," deVos says. "One side wants them gone. They say, 'I'm scared to death of them. They're going to eat my children.' The other side says, 'Boy, that's cool! I got to see one.'"
Coyote attacks on humans are extremely rare, but they do happen. In southern California, over the past 25 years especially, some coyotes have become brazen, prowling in the daytime and even openly following people walking small dogs. The only known fatality was a young girl attacked by a coyote in suburban Glendale, California, in 1981. Biologists believe that dangerous coyotes are those that have become habituated to humans. Unsecured trash cans, overfilled bird feeders and outdoor pet bowls have been part of the problem. In many cases, however--including that of the Glendale animal--they are fed intentionally as part of a homeowner's misguided nature-watching strategy.
Gehrt knows that a few Chicagoans have begun feeding the local coyotes, just as some urban Californians have for decades. "When I tell them they need to stop, they get upset," he says. "Not just a little bit. We're talking irate. It will be interesting to see if we can change people's behavior before people change the coyotes' behavior."
Doug Stewart, a regular contributor, doesn't mind sharing his Massachusetts neighborhood with coyotes, but he keeps his puppy inside at night.
Be a Good Neighbor
Urban coyotes are here to stay, so we need to learn how to coexist with them. The predators can make perfectly good neighbors as long as they don't lose their natural fear of us. Some tips:
Don't feed coyotes! Avoid overflowing bird feeders and open compost bins.
Obey leash laws. Small dogs on the loose are attractive prey for coyotes, especially at night. Cats? Keep them inside, along with pet food bowls. In dry climates, even a water bowl can draw coyotes.
Keep all garbage containers closed and inaccessible. Adding ammonia or pepper spray to trash can discourage rummaging by coyotes and other wildlife.
Don't invite coyotes to build dens next to (or under) your home: Seal crawl spaces, close sheds and thin brushy areas.
Even if you love seeing coyotes, don't let them know it. If a coyote visits your yard, wave your arms, shout, spray it with a hose. Be a threat!
Coyotes to the Rescue?
In urban areas throughout the country, populations of Canada geese, benefiting from food and habitat provided by people, have grown rapidly--along with the smell and mess the animals leave behind. In the Chicago area, for example, Christmas Bird Counts conducted between 1972 and 1979 tallied about 300 geese a year. By 1981, the number had jumped to 2,000 and was up to 9,000 geese by 1993.
Recent research, however, suggests that another hearty city survivor, the coyote, is beginning to control the goose population boom. As part of the nation's largest study of urban coyotes to date, biologist Stan Gerht of Ohio State University observed that as the predator's numbers increased in and around Chicago, the goose population growth rate slowed--from between 10 and 20 percent annually just a few years ago to between 1 and 2 percent today. To implicate coyotes in the decline, one of Gehrt's graduate students, Justin Brown, set up infrared video cameras around goose nests, which recorded the canines' nocturnal raids. In addition to consuming goose eggs themselves--as well as caching some to eat later--the coyotes provided smaller carnivores such as raccoons and skunks an opportunity to feast on eggs by scaring away the ordinarily combative parent birds.
At least one company, Renzo's in Milwaukee, is hoping to profit from the coyote's potential to deter geese. It is marketing a life-sized, two-dimensional coyote decoy to golf courses, office complexes and others plagued by problem geese. "The only thing you have to be sure to do is move them around once a week so the geese don't catch on they're not real," reports Julie Pendleton, a Hartford, Connecticut-based school business manager who used six decoys to scare geese off a high school's playing fields.--Laura Tangley
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LIKE AND UNLIKE FRACTIONS
We have shown that like fractions are addedby simply adding the numerators and keeping the denominator. Thus,
Similarly we can subtract like fractions bysubtracting the numerators.
The following examples will show that likefractions may be divided by dividing the numerator of the dividend by the numerator of the divisor.
SOLUTION: We may state the problem as aquestion: ‘How many times does 1/8 appear in 3/8 or how many times may 1/8 be taken from 3/8?"
We see that l/8 can be subtracted from 3/8three times. Therefore,
3/8 ÷ 1/8 = 3
When the denominators of fractions are unequal, the fractions are said to be unlike. Addition, subtraction, or division cannot be performed directly on unlike fractions. Theproper application of the fundamental rule, however, can change their form so that they become like fractions; then all the rules for like fractions apply.
LOWEST COMMON DENOMINATOR
To change unlike fractions to like fractions,it is necessary to find a COMMON DENOMINATOR and it is usually advantageous to find the LOWEST COMMON DENOMINATOR (L C D). This is nothing more than the least common multiple of the denominators.
Least Common Multiple
If a number is a multiple of two or moredifferent numbers, it is called a COMMON MULTIPLE. Thus, 24 is a common multiple of 6 and 2. There are many common multiples of these numbers. The numbers 36, 48, and 54, to name a few, are also common multiples of 6 and 2.
The smallest of the common multiples of aset of numbers is called the LEAST COMMON MULTIPLE. It is abbreviated LCM. The least common multiple of 6 and 2 is 6. To find the least common multiple of a set of numbers, first separate each of the numbers into prime factors.
Suppose that we wish to find the LCM of 14,24, and 30. Separating these numbers into prime factors we have
14 =2 x 7
The LCM will contain each of the various primefactors shown. Each prime factor is used the greatest number of times that it occurs in any one of the numbers. Notice that 3, 5, and 7 each occur only once in any one number. On the other hand, 2 occurs three times in one number.
We get the following result:
LCM = 23 x 3 x 5 x 7
Thus, 840 is the least common multiple of 14,24, and 30.
Greatest Common Divisor
The largest number that can be divided intoeach of two or more given numbers without a remainder is called the GREATEST COMMON DIVISOR of the given numbers. It is abbreviated GCD. It is also sometimes called the HIGHEST COMMON FACTOR.
In finding the GCD of a set of numbers, separate the numbers into prime factors just asfor LCM. The GCD is the product of only those factors that appear in all of the numbers. Notice in the example of the previous section that 2 is the greatest common divisor of 14, 24, and 30. Find the GCD of 650,900, and 700. The procedure is as follows:
Notice that 2 and 52 are factors of each number. The greatest common divisor is 2 x 25 = 50.
USING THE LCD
Consider the example
The numbers 2 and 3 are both prime; so theLCD is 6.
Thus, the addition of $ and i is performed asfollows:
In the example
10 is the LCD.
Practice problems. Change the fractions ineach of the following groups to like fractions with least common denominators:
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A boot loader is a program that resides in the starting sectors of a disk, e.g., the MBR (Master Boot Record) of the hard disk. After testing the system during bootup, the BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) tranfers control to the MBR if the system is set to be booted from there. Then the program residing in MBR gets executed. This program is called the boot loader. Its duty is to transfer control to the operating system, which will then proceed with the boot process.
There are a lot of boot loader programs available, including GNU GRUB (Grand Unified Boot Loader), Bootmanager, LILO (LInux LOader), NTLDR (boot loader for Windows NT systems), etc. I've chosen to discuss GNU GRUB and how to use it.
GRUB is a very powerful boot loader that can load a variety of operating systems such as Windows, DOS, Linux, GNU Hurd, *BSD, etc.
Currently LILO is the most popular boot loader, used by almost everyone with multiboot systems. But if you use LILO, you have to remember to rerun LILO every time you change your configuration or install a new kernel. Also, LILO has less flexibility than GRUB.
GRUB is another name for flexibility. Its latest release, 0.5.96.1, supports ext2 (a file system Linux uses), FAT16 and FAT32 (used by Win9x and ME), FFS (Fast File System used by *BSD UNIX), ReiserFS (a new journalling file system developed for Linux and integrated into Linux Kernel 2.4.1), and minix (an old file system developed for the MINIX OS, also used by earlier Linux). With GRUB, you can "see" into these file systems without even booting an operating system. For example, if you want to see the date and time stored in a text file and don't have time for the whole operating system to boot, you can use GRUB's shell (prompt "grup>) and type:
grub> cat (partition number)/home/god/filename.txt.You'll have all your file system contents, including dates and times.
The best use of GRUB is that you can load any kernel on any partition right out of the box. For example, if you forget adding the newly compiled kernel to the list, you would normally need to boot, add it to the list and then reboot to use it. But with GRUB, you can simply use the shell and load the desired kernel image.
I'll now explain the three primary steps to using GRUB: compilation, installation and configuration.
Download the source of GRUB from ftp://alpha.gnu.org/pub/gnu/grub.
Extract the compressed archive as "tar -xvzf filename.tar.gz"/ For me the filename was grub-0.5.96.1.tar.gz, so I did
# tar -xvzf grub-0.5.96.1.tar.gzThis command extracted a lot of files and directories to a directory called grub-0.5.96.1 Now do the following:
[root@heaven ~/grub-0.5.96.1 ]# ./configure
If you want to customize GRUB to include particular filesystem and network-card support, or to remove support of network cards you don't need, run:
[root@heaven ~/grub-0.5.96.1 ]# ./configure --help
This command will show you all the options. Now use the --enable and --disable prefixes to add or remove support for certain cards.
(NOTE: GRUB supports network booting.)
To start the compilation process, type:
[root@heaven ~/grub-0.5.96.1 ]# make
To install all the files in their proper places, type:
[root@heaven ~/grub-0.5.96.1 ]# make install
Now you are ready to really install grub GRUB.
It's a good idea to keep all of GRUB's boot-related files in a directory such as /boot/grub . To do this, follow this simple procedure:
1. By default all the files of GRUB are either installed in /usr/share/grub/i386-pc or /usr/local/share/grub/i386-pc depending upon how your shell variables are set.
2. Make a new directory called /boot/grub. Then copy the following files to this directory:
stage1 stage2 *_stage1_5
I will explain these files later. Also copy the GRUB program (which may be in /usr/sbin or /usr/local/sbin) to the /boot/grub directory.
Before installing GRUB, you need to know how GRUB understands your hard drive and partition information. First of all, counting starts from 0, not from 1. In Linux, your first hard drive attached to the primary master controller is called "hda". In GRUB it becomes "hd0". Likewise, your first floppy drive in GRUB is "fd0". So the first, second and third partitions on the first hard disk (hda1, hda2 and hda3), become "hd0,0", "hd0,1" and "hd0,2" in GRUB. NOTE: the comma is an integral part of GRUB partition nomenclature.
To integrate the two fields (disk drive number and partition number) around the comma into one, use parentheses. For example: (hd0,0) (hd0,1) (hd0,2) and so on. (hd0,0) is first partition on first hard disk. Similarly, (hd1,5) is the sixth partition on second hard disk and (hd2,0) is first partition on third hard disk.
Installing GRUB can be broken into three separate parts:
Start installing GRUB by issuing the following command:
[root@heaven /boot/grub ]# ./grub
This command probes devices to guess BIOS drives and produces an output message. This may take a long time.
end_request: I/O error, dev 02:00 (floppy), sector 0 GRUB version 0.5.96.1 (640K lower / 3072K upper memory)
NOTE: Although it may seem surprising, GRUB does have minimal Bash-like line editing is supported. For the first word, TAB lists possible command completions. Anywhere else TAB lists the possible completions of a device/filename. You may be surprised to see this feature. Something like this then appears:
Now, I assume that you have installed your Linux distro in the first extended partition in the first disk or /dev/hda5. Remember the GRUB naming convention and rename the above to (hd0,4). Type the following command:
grub> install (hd0,4)/boot/grub/stage1 (hd0) (hd0,4)/boot/grub/stage2 p (hd0,4)/boot/grub/menu.confNow let's examine this command in detail:
We can also summarize that command as follows:
You have now completed the basic hard drive installation.
Installation on the floppy:
To install GRUB on a floppy you need to know the 'dd' command and how it works. For a GRUB bootable floppy you need to put the stage1 and stage2 files on the starting sectors of floppy.
Insert a formatted floppy disk and type:
[root@heaven /boot/grub ]# dd if=stage1 of=/dev/fd0 bs=512 count=1
Again, lets examine the command in detail:
[root@heaven /boot/grub ]# dd if=stage2 of=/dev/fd0 bs=512 seek=1
Everything here is same as stage1 except for a new item called seek. Seek skips 1 "bs" value. For example, in the above command bs is 512, so seek=1 will skip the first 512 bytes of space on the floppy disk and continue at the 513rd byte. This will preserve the first operation by not overwriting the first 512 bytes written on stage1.
You have now completed the basic floppy drive installation.
In this section we will see how to boot into various operating systems and build the menu.conf file.
Let's start with boot procedures supported by GRUB. Booting can be done in two ways:
Boot procedure using method A:
To boot Linux, I have my kernel in /boot/ as bzImage and my root file system as /dev/hda5, or (hd0,4) in GRUB. So my booting procedure is as follows:
Boot procedure using method B (this method assumes that you have another boot manager such as LILO or NTLDR installed in the partition):
Let's try another example with Windows installed in /dev/hda1 or (hd0,0). The procedure for booting with Windows is as follows:
The menu.conf file: this is used for booting multiple operating systems and menu building. Building the menu.conf file is not difficult. It uses plain English, as you will see in this section.
All the menu entries start with "title TITLENAME" without commas. You can set your TITLENAME to whatever you want.
To make the menu for booting Linux:
To make a working menu:
title Debian GNU/Linux 2.2 kernel 2.4.1 root (hd0,4) kernel /boot/bzImage.2.4.1 boot #----
(Hash (#) in front of a line is a comment.)
To make a menu for Windows or DOS:
title Windoze rootnoverify (hd0,0) makeactive chainloader +1 boot #----
What if you want to have two verisons of Windows installed--say one for yourself and the other for your family--but the second one won't install because it says Windows is already installed?
There is an easy way install two versions by hiding one partition during boot and then using the other. You can even password-protect your option so that no one loads your partition by mistake. Here's how to create two installations of Windows, hda1 and hda2 or (hd0,0) and (hd0,1), using the commands lock, password, hide and unhide.
For Windows "My Entry":
title My Entry lock unhide (hd0,0) hide (hd0,1) rootnoverify (hd0,0) makeactive chainloader +1 boot #----
To use the lock command effectively you need to specify the password command near the start of the configuration file. The syntax of password command is as follows: password secret ("secret" is the password). At any time you can enter the password by pressing p.
For Windows "Family Entry"
title Family Entry unhide (hd0,1) hide (hd0,0) rootnoverify (hd0,1) makeactive chainloader +1 boot ----
Anyone will be able to boot this entry as a password is not required.
Here's another interesting trick in the using password command. To hide the entries in the default menu listing or configuration file, you can load a personal listing by using the following command:
/boot/grub/secret-list.conf In this command, "secret" is the password and /boot/grub/secret-list.conf is the password file. Before doing this you should set the root directive or give the full path. For example:
password secret (hd0,4)/boot/grub/secret-list.conf
One more important command is the "map" command, which you can use when you have two hard disks and an operating system such as Windows which doesn't like to be booted from the second hard disk. For example, you can map hd0 as hd1 and hd1 as hd0. In other words, you can virtually swap the two hard disks and load the desired operating system. The commands are as follows:
grub> map (hd0) (hd1) grub> map (hd1) (hd0)
For Booting FreeBSD:
title FreeBSD 4.0 root (hd0,4,a) kernel /boot/loader boot #----
Here we are calling FreeBSD's loader. You see that the root (hd0,4,a) has three arguments as FreeBSD does virtual slicing of a single partition. We call the root partition "a". If FreeBSD occupies a complete second disk on your system, this would be root (hd0,a). So instead of calling the kernel we are calling the FreeBSD loader, which is better to talk to than the kernel.
(NOTE: I recommend that before trying OpenBSD and GNU/Hurd, you keep working on doing chain loading.)
You have now completed basic GRUB compiling, installing and configuring. The more you get to know GRUB, the more you will find GRUB to be an easy and powerful way to control booting.
Miscellaneous GRUB commands:
color green/black or light-gray/blueYou can also use corresponding numbers.
REMEMBER: all values start from 0, so 0 is the first entry.
In my next article, I plan to test Fire GNU/Hurd and OpenBSD and maybe some networking bootup. You'll have to wait for at least three or more months as I will be taking my exams in between. Keep watching.
Any comments or mistakes can be forwarded to me at firstname.lastname@example.org.
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Golden-rumped lion tamarins (Leontopithecus chrysopygus) at one time inhabited the vast tropical forest in the Central and Western portions of the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Now L. chrysopygus is limited to only two areas. One is the 375 square kilometer Morro do Diabo State Forest Reserve in southwesten Sao Paulo. The other is the Caiteus Reserve, a 23 square kilometer reserve in central Sao Paulo. (Beacham 1998)
Biogeographic Regions: neotropical (Native )
L. chrysopygus is covered almost completely in silky, dense black hair. The only place this differs is in the hind quarters. The thighs, buttocks, and base of the tail are colored a reddish-brown. This is what gives the animal its common name, golden-rumped lion tamarin. The face of L. chrysopygus is not haired, as well as the hands and feet, these are colored dark gray to black. The hind limbs are generally longer than the forelimbs and the tail is not prehensile. All digits have a pointed sickle shaped nail, which is used for gripping trees, except the big toe which has a flat nail. The dental formula is as follows, 2/2 incisors, 1/1 canines, 3/3 premolars, 2/2 molars. Body length in L. chrysopygus is between 20 cm and 33.5 cm, tail length is usually 31.5 to 40 cm, and mass ranges from 300 to 700 g. (Beacham 1998; Nowak 1999; Wolters 1990)
Range mass: 300 to 700 g.
Average mass: 572.5 g.
Range length: 20 to 33.5 cm.
Other Physical Features: endothermic ; bilateral symmetry
Leontopithecus chrysopygus lives primarily in semideciduous forest of Sao Paulo. But it has also been know to occupy swamp forest and macega, a forest made up of mainly small bush-like trees. In these forests, L. chrysopygus lives approximately 3 to 12 meters above the ground, rarely going to the forest floor, giving it the classification of arboreal.
Range elevation: 0 to 700 m.
Habitat Regions: tropical ; terrestrial
Terrestrial Biomes: forest ; rainforest
- Flannery, S. 2000. "Golden-rumped Lion Tamarin (Leontopithecus chrysopygus)" (On-line). Accessed November 14, 2001 at http://www.primate.wisc.edu/pin/factsheets/leontopithecus_chrysopygus.html.
- Massicot, P. 2001. "Animal Info - Golden-rumped Lion Tamarin" (On-line). Accessed November 14, 2001 at http://www.animalinfo.org/species/primate/leonchrp.htm.
- Nowak, R. 1999. Walker's Mammals Of The World. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Habitat and Ecology
Marmosets and tamarins are distinguished from the other monkeys of the New World by their small size, modified claws rather than nails on all digits except the big toe, the presence of two as opposed to three molar teeth in either side of each jaw, and by the occurrence of twin births. They eat fruits, flowers, nectar, plant exudates (gums) and animal prey (including frogs, snails, lizards, spiders and insects (see Rylands 1993; Kierulff et al. 2002a).
Coimbra-Filho (1970a,b, 1976a; Coimbra-Filho and Mittermeier 1977) studied their bevaviour in the wild, and Rylands (1993) and Kierulff et al. (2002a) provide a comprehensive review of the ecology, diet and behaviour of the lion tamarins. They differ from other callithrichids in having long fingers and hands, which allow them to forage for prey efficiently in nooks and crannies and in epiphytic tank bromeliads. Lion tamarins live in extended family groups of usually 4 to 8 individuals. For L. chyrsopygus, Carvalho and Carvalho (1989) obtained a mean group size of 3.6 (range 2-7, n=9) in the Morro do Diabo State Park. Generally, only one female per group breeds during a particular breeding season. They breed once a year. The groups defend home ranges of 40 to more than 100 ha (the size depending on availability and distribution of foods and second-growth patches). In the Morro do Diabo State Park, they have been found to have ranges exceeding 100 ha (113-199 ha: Valladares-Padua 1993; Valladares-Padua and Cullen Jr. 1994). Passos (1997) recorded a home range for his study group in the Ceatetus State Ecological Station of 277 ha.
French et al. (2002) review the reproductive biology of lion tamarins, Baker et al. (2002) review their mating system and group dynamics (focussing particularly on L. rosalia) and Tardif et al. (2002) aspects of infant care and development.
Adult male 575 g (n=4) (Rosenberger and Coimbra-Filho 1984).
Leontopithecus chrysopygus eats mainly insects and fruits. When they are able to catch them, L. chrysopygus will eat small lizards, small birds, bird eggs, and small vertebrates. (Massicot 2001)
Animal Foods: birds; reptiles; eggs; insects
Plant Foods: fruit
Primary Diet: omnivore
Golden-rumped lion tamarins may be important as seed dispersers in the ecosystems in which they live.
The main predators of golden-rumped lion tamarins are small cats, birds of prey, and snakes. They avoid predation by being part of a social organization, so that more individuals are alert to potential dangers and will give warning signals to other members of their troupe. (Wolters 1990)
- small cats (Felidae)
- birds of prey (Falconiformes and Strigiformes)
- snakes (Serpentes)
This list may not be complete but is based on published studies.
Known prey organisms
This list may not be complete but is based on published studies.
Life History and Behavior
Perception Channels: tactile ; chemical
Leontopithecus chrysopygus in the wild will live for approximately ten years. In captivity the longest lived golden-rumped lion tamarin lived for 28 years. (Nowak 1999)
Status: wild: 10 years.
Status: captivity: 28 (high) years.
Status: captivity: 17.9 years.
Lifespan, longevity, and ageing
Most cases have found L. chrysopygus to be monogamous when mating but there has been some polyandy observed in certain populations. In populations where there is more than one adult male per social group the female may mate with several males to confuse the males as to paternity of her young. This causes males to provide assistance in the care of offspring that may be their own.
Mating System: monogamous ; polyandrous
Golden-rumped lion tamarins give birth most frequently to twins, though triplets and quadruplets have been reported. In other species of lion tamarin, gestation lasts from 125 to 132 days. Lion tamarins give birth during the rainy season, usually from September through March.
Breeding season: Breeding occurs from September through March, the wet season..
Range number of offspring: 1 to 4.
Average number of offspring: 2.
Range gestation period: 125 to 132 days.
Range weaning age: 2 to 3 months.
Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female): 16 to 24 months.
Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male): 16 to 24 months.
Key Reproductive Features: gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual
Both male and female golden-rumped lion tamarins aid in the rearing of offspring. The young are born well-furred and with their eyes open, but are entirely dependent on adults for their care. For the first 2 to 3 weeks newborns stay primarily with the mother. After three weeks the father will carry the young for much of the day, bringing them to their mother every 2 to 3 hours for feeding. The offspring are weaned after 2 to 3 months but usually don't leave the family group until they reach sexual maturity, at 16 to 24 months. (Nowak 1999)
Parental Investment: precocial ; pre-fertilization (Provisioning, Protecting: Female); pre-hatching/birth (Provisioning: Female, Protecting: Female); pre-weaning/fledging (Provisioning: Female, Protecting: Male, Female); pre-independence (Protecting: Male, Female); post-independence association with parents; extended period of juvenile learning
L. chrysopygus is listed as one of the world's rarest mammals. It is estimated that only about 700 are still living in both the wild and captivity. (Massicot 2001)
US Federal List: threatened
CITES: appendix i
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: endangered
IUCN Red List Assessment
Red List Category
Red List Criteria
- 2003Critically Endangered(IUCN 2003)
- 2003Critically Endangered
- 2000Critically Endangered
- 1996Critically Endangered
- 1994Endangered(Groombridge 1994)
- 1990Endangered(IUCN 1990)
- 1988Endangered(IUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre 1988)
- 1986Endangered(IUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre 1986)
- 1982Endangered(Thornback and Jenkins 1982)
The species is recorded from Morro do Diabo State Park (34,441 ha, of which 23,800 ha is forest), and Caetetus State Ecological Station (2,178 ha). A new (federal) Ecological Station of 5,500 ha was decreed in July 2002 – Mico-Leão-Preto Ecological Station in São Paulo. It covers three forest fragments containing Black Lion Tamarins.
The isolation and small size of the existing populations is being addressed through metapopulation management, which includes the captive population founded on individuals taken from the Morro do Diabo State Park, in the 1970s and later, in 1983-1985 as part of the rescue operation in the inundation area of the Rosana hydroelectric dam (Rylands et al. 2002a). Current efforts are focussing on the genetic health of these populations (translocation, managed dispersal and re-introduction) (Valladares-Padua et al. 2000; Valladares-Padua, Ballou et al. 2002), environmental education (Pádua and Valladares-Padua 1997; Pádua et al. 2002), the preservation of remaining forest fragments, with and without lion tamarins, and the creation of corridors to link forest patches to establish larger areas of continuous forest (Pádua and Valladares-Padua 1997; Cullen Jr. et al. 2001; Valladares-Padua et al. 2000; Valladares-Padua, Ballou et al. 2002; Valladares-Padua, Padua et al. 2002).
There is a well-managed captive breeding programme, although it has not been as successful as those for Leontopithecus rosalia and L. chrysomelas, probably because of a very reduced founder stock (Ballou et al. 2002). However, it is growing and, despite having few founders, is now also contributing significantly to the metapopulation management programme currently udnerway by Valladares-Padua and his team (Valladares-Padua and Ballou 1996; Valladares-Padua and Martins 1996; Valladares-Padua 1997; Valladares-Padua et al. 2000; Medici 2001; Valladares-Padua, Ballou et al. 2002). The first translocation of a wild L. chrysopygus group was carried out in 1995, and the first experimental re-introduction, was carried out in July 1999 by combining an adult male born in the Jersey Zoo, UK, with two wild females (Valladares-Padua et al. 2000).
Relevance to Humans and Ecosystems
There are no negative effects of lion tamarins on humans.
L. chrysopygus is periodically captured and sold in Brazil as pets, though this has a negative impact on this imperiled species. The charismatic quality of lion tamarins makes them excellent candidates for ecotourism activities. (Beacham 1998)
Positive Impacts: pet trade ; ecotourism
Black lion tamarin
The black lion tamarin (Leontopithecus chrysopygus), also known as the golden-rumped lion tamarin, is a lion tamarin endemic to the Brazilian state of São Paulo, almost exclusively at the Morro do Diabo State Park. Its limited geographical range makes it the rarest of the New World monkeys, with little known about it. It was thought to be extinct for 65 years until its rediscovery in 1970.
The total number of individuals is estimated to be around 1000. Some experts believe this to be an overestimate, as recent studies have shown that the average area inhabited by the black lion tamarin is closer to 106 hectares (260 acres) than the previously estimated 66 hectares (160 acres). They are usually found in groups of 4 to 9, living in the secondary and primary forests along the circumference of its home range.
On average, the black lion tamarin weighs 590–640 grams (21–23 oz).
The diet of the black lion tamarin is seasonal and varies with the habitats it moves through. When the tamarin is in the dryland forest, it usually eats a variety of fruits, whereas in a swampy environment it predominantly feeds on the gum of various trees. In addition to seasonal variation, the black lion tamarin exhibits daily and monthly cycles of food preferences.
Independent of the environment it occupies, a tamarin spends long periods each day searching for different types of insects and spiders to feed on. On average, 80% of its time foraging is spent searching for insects, such as by foraging the forest floor. The tamarin's foraging locations are very intentional: it spends extended periods of time looking under dry palm leaves, in loose bark, and in tree cavities, with hands that have specialized fingers for prying. The tamarin also positions itself in trees and scans for insects from above, usually four meters above the forest floor.
The black lion tamarin eats the gum and fruit of trees, climbing up to ten meters to reach them and as these are easily found, the tamarin spends 12.8% of its day obtaining them, rather than the 41.2% of the day spent foraging for insects in the high trees.
Black lion tamarins mate and have offspring during the spring, summer, and fall months (August to March in Brazil). Females usually have one litter per year, though 20% females produce two litters per year. The mean litter size is two infants.
Most infants deaths occur within the first two weeks of birth, with newborns of first-time mothers having the lowest survival rates. The number of tamarins that survive to adulthood in the wild is 10% higher than those in captivity.
During the first few months after birth, the infant is unable to obtain food on its own. For this reason, the infant rides on the parent's back and receives food from the parents. It drinks milk in the 4 to 5 weeks after birth; after that, the parents and other group-members share food with the infant. Sharing involves both offers from the parents and begging by the infant. Usually, until the age of approximately 15 weeks, the infant will receive the majority of its food (especially insects) from others. The number of offers from group-members peaks at week 7; after week 15, sharing slowly declines, stopping by week 26.
Within Leontopithecus, the black lion tamarin is the largest in size and has the lowest-pitched calls, using longer notes than other species. The black lion tamarin use calls to defend territory, maintain cohesion within the group, attract a mate, and contact individuals who might be lost. Most calls can be recorded in the morning, and can be attributed to the reunion of mated pairs. These mated pairs are coupled-up throughout the mating season.[clarification needed]
The classification of the black lion tamarin was debated, as one group of taxonomists classified the lion tamarins by their geography, while other taxonomists placed them all into one species and then divided them into subspecies. More recently, taxonomists have agreed to base classification predominantly on their geography, though sometimes characteristics such as long calls are used to classify different species, similar to the use of bird songs in taxonomy. For differentiating within Leontopithecus, the black lion tamarin is categorized as starting its call at the lowest note and going through the greatest range of pitch.
Status and threats
The black lion tamarin is the most endangered species within Leontopithecus, and the IUCN has recorded their population to be declining. The main threat against it is the destruction of its habitat through deforestation, though it is also threatened by being hunted in unprotected forests, such as the Fazenda Rio Claro and the Fazenda Tucano (which have roughly 3.66 and 1.0 individuals per square kilometer respectively).
There have been several attempts to bring black lion tamarins into captivity and to salvage what little habitat they have left within the Morro do Diabo State Park, as well as to increase breeding rates. Their population decline in the wild, however, could cause the black lion tamarins to become entirely endemic to the Morro do Diabo.
- Groves, C. P. (2005). Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M, eds. Mammal Species of the World (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 133. OCLC 62265494. ISBN 0-801-88221-4.
- Rylands, A.B.; Mittermeier, R.A. (2009). "The Diversity of the New World Primates (Platyrrhini)". In Garber, P.A.; Estrada, A.; Bicca-Marques, J.C.; Heymann, E.W.; Strier, K.B. South American Primates: Comparative Perspectives in the Study of Behavior, Ecology, and Conservation. Springer. pp. 23–54. ISBN 978-0-387-78704-6.
- Kierulff, M. C. M., Rylands, A. B., Mendes, S. L. & de Oliveira, M. M. (2008). Leontopithecus chrysopygus. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Retrieved 2 January 2009.
- Snowdon, Charles T.; Hodun, Alexandra; Rosenberger, Alfred L.; Coimbra-Filho, Adelmar F. (1 January 1986). "Long-call structure and its relation to taxonomy in lion tamarins". American Journal of Primatology 11 (3): 253–261. doi:10.1002/ajp.1350110307.
- Albernaz, Ana L. K. M. (1 January 1997). "Home Range Size and Habitat Use in the Black Lion Tamarin (Leontopithecus chrysopygus)". International Journal of Primatology 18 (6): 877–887. doi:10.1023/A:1026387912013.
- "Black lion tamarin (Leontopithecus chrysophygus)". ARKive. Environmental Agency – Abu Dhabi.
- Alexine, Fernando De; Keuroghlian (1999). "Foraging Behavior and Microhabitats Used by Black Lion Tamarins, Leontopithecus Chrysopygus". Revista Brasileira De Zoologia 16: 219–222.
- French, Jeffrey A.; Pissinatti, Alcides; Coimbra-Filho, Adelmar F. (1 January 1996). "Reproduction in captive lion tamarins (Leontopithecus): Seasonality, infant survival, and sex ratios". American Journal of Primatology 39 (1): 17–33. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1098-2345(1996)39:1<17::AID-AJP2>3.0.CO;2-V.
- Feistner, Anna T.; Price, Eluned C. (September 2000). "Food sharing in black lion tamarins (Leontopithecus chrysopygus).". American Journal of Primatology 52 (1): 47–54. doi:10.1002/1098-2345(200009)52:1<47::AID-AJP4>3.0.CO;2-D. PMID 10993137.
- Cullen, L.; Bodmer, C.; Valladares-Padua (4 April 2001). "Ecological consequences of hunting in Atlantic forest patches, Sao Paulo, Brazil". Oryx 35 (2): 137–144. doi:10.1046/j.1365-3008.2001.00163.x.
|Wikispecies has information related to: Black Lion Tamarin|
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Fisherman’s Terminal By Andrew Schneider/PI
The Environmental Protection Agency may be underestimating the hazard pesticides pose to salmon, especially in the Pacific Northwest, says Science Now.
Reporter Erik Stokstad writes that one of salmon’s main enemies is agricultural chemicals, such as chlorpyrifos, made by Dow Chemical. Studies by zoologist Nathaniel Scholz of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Seattle show the pesticides interfere with the salmon’s brain and harms their ability to feed. Now Scholz’s research is showing that mixtures of pesticides are even worse for salmon and can be surprisingly lethal.
Chlorpyrifos and other so-called organophosphate pesticides kill cells by inhibiting acetylcholinesterase, an enzyme that helps neurons communicate. These pesticides are sprayed on crops and are widespread in streams in the Northwest; half of the waters sampled by the U.S. Geological Survey contain six or more pesticides.
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http://blog.seattlepi.com/secretingredients/2008/02/19/pesticide-brew-spells-trouble-for-salmon/
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Music brings memories back to the injured brain
December 19, 2013
New hope for severely brain-injured patients: researchers have found that playing popular music can help them recall personal memories.
The study by Amee Baird and Séverine Samson, published in Neuropsychological Rehabilitation (open access), is the first to examine what they call “music-evoked autobiographical memories” (MEAMs) in patients with acquired brain injuries.
The researchers played excerpts from 50 “Number 1 Songs of the Year” (from 1960 to 2010) and found that the frequency of recorded MEAMs was similar for patients and controls.
They found that approximately 30% of the songs elicited autobiographical memories that were typically of a person or people, or a period of life. Analysis of written memory reports found that the most common situations associated with MEAMs was “dancing” or “driving a car,” and the most common social reference was “friends,” followed by “girl/boyfriends.”
The study covered only five patients without a fundamental deficit in autobiographical recall memory (such as Alzheimer’s) and with intact pitch perception.
Abstract of Neuropsychological Rehabilitation paper
Music evoked autobiographical memories (MEAMs) have been characterised in the healthy population, but not, to date, in patients with acquired brain injury (ABI). Our aim was to investigate music compared with verbal evoked autobiographical memories. Five patients with severe ABI and matched controls completed the experimental music (MEAM) task (a written questionnaire) while listening to 50 “Number 1 Songs of the Year” (from 1960 to 2010). Patients also completed the Autobiographical Memory Interview (AMI) and a standard neuropsychological assessment. With the exception of Case 5, who reported no MEAMs and no autobiographical incidents on the AMI and who also had impaired pitch perception, the range of frequency and type of MEAMs in patients was broadly in keeping with their matched controls. The relative preservation of MEAMs in four cases was particularly noteworthy given their impaired verbal and/or visual anterograde memory, and in three cases, autobiographical memory impairment. The majority of MEAMs in both cases and matched controls were of a person/people or a period of life. In three patients music was more efficient at evoking autobiographical memories than the AMI verbal prompts. This is the first study of MEAMs after ABI. The findings suggest that music is an effective stimulus for eliciting autobiographical memories, and may be beneficial in the rehabilitation of autobiographical amnesia, but only in patients without a fundamental deficit in autobiographical recall memory and intact pitch perception.
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http://www.kurzweilai.net/music-brings-memories-back-to-the-injured-brain
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Cum Hoc Fallacy
The cum hoc fallacy is committed when it is assumed that because two things occur together, they must be causally related. This, however, does not follow; correlation is possible without causation. This fallacy is closely related to the post hoc fallacy.
As the graph below (taken from the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster website) shows, two things have happened since the early 19th-century: one is that the number of pirates has declined, the other is that global average temperatures have risen.
If correlation implied causation, we would be able to infer a connection between these two events. It is not the case, however, that global warming is an effect of the decline in piracy. Neither is the decline in piracy the result of increasing temperatures. Mere correlation does not imply a causal connection.
Nestle, the makers of the breakfast cereal Shredded Wheat, once ran an advertising campaign in which the key phrase was this: “People who eat Shredded Wheat tend to have healthy hearts.” This is very carefully phrased. It does not explicitly state that there is any causal connection between eating Shredded Wheat and having a healthy heart, but it invites viewers of the advertisements to make the connection; the implication is there. Whether or not there is any such connection, the mere fact that the two things are correlated does not prove that there is such a connection. In tempting viewers to infer that eating Shredded Wheat is good for your heart, Nestle are tempting viewers to commit a fallacy.
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http://www.logicalfallacies.info/presumption/cum-hoc/
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The U.S. Congress : a very short introduction /
"Many scholars believe that the framers of the Constitution intended Congress to be the preeminent branch of government. Indeed, no other legislature in the world approaches its power. Yet most Americans have only a murky idea of how it works. In The U.S. Congress, Donald A. Ritchie, a congre...
|Main Author:||Ritchie, Donald A., 1945-|
New York :
Oxford University Press,
Very short introductions.
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
- Machine generated contents note:
- Chapter 1: The Great Compromise
- -Why Not a Parliament? -All Laws Necessary and Proper -The People's House -The Cooling Senate -To Get Along, Go Along
- Chapter 2: Campaigns and Constituents
- -Campaigning for Congress -The Freshman Class -Serving Constituents -Media Relations and News Coverage
- Chapter 3: Congress at Work
- -The Committees -Turning Bills into Laws -House Committees -Senate Committees -Appropriations: Where Things Happen
- Chapter 4: Floor Proceedings and Coalition Building
- -Debate, Rules, and Procedure -Majority Rule in the House -Minority Muscle in the Senate -Making Laws and Making Sausage
- Chapter 5: Checks and Balances
- -The Chief Legislator -Advice and Consent -War and Peace -Congress Investigates -Punishment and Protection -Congress and the Courts
- Chapter 6: The Contours of Capitol Hill
- -The Capitol -The Members -The Staff -Lobbyists and Other Visitors
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- freely available
Using Quantum Computers for Quantum Simulation
AbstractNumerical simulation of quantum systems is crucial to further our understanding of natural phenomena. Many systems of key interest and importance, in areas such as superconducting materials and quantum chemistry, are thought to be described by models which we cannot solve with sufficient accuracy, neither analytically nor numerically with classical computers. Using a quantum computer to simulate such quantum systems has been viewed as a key application of quantum computation from the very beginning of the field in the 1980s. Moreover, useful results beyond the reach of classical computation are expected to be accessible with fewer than a hundred qubits, making quantum simulation potentially one of the earliest practical applications of quantum computers. In this paper we survey the theoretical and experimental development of quantum simulation using quantum computers, from the first ideas to the intense research efforts currently underway.
Share & Cite This Article
Brown, K.L.; Munro, W.J.; Kendon, V.M. Using Quantum Computers for Quantum Simulation. Entropy 2010, 12, 2268-2307.View more citation formats
Brown KL, Munro WJ, Kendon VM. Using Quantum Computers for Quantum Simulation. Entropy. 2010; 12(11):2268-2307.Chicago/Turabian Style
Brown, Katherine L.; Munro, William J.; Kendon, Vivien M. 2010. "Using Quantum Computers for Quantum Simulation." Entropy 12, no. 11: 2268-2307.
Notes: Multiple requests from the same IP address are counted as one view.
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Most of the world's faiths are cultural religions. Hinduism, with its caste system and social rituals, is inextricably tied to the culture of India. Islam seeks to apply the Koranic law to every detail of society and so creates a specific culture, as evident throughout the Middle East. Tribal religions mythologize tribes' customs, history, and social organization. Secular sociologists go so far as to define religion as a means of sanctioning the social order. According to this line of thought, cultural institutions are invested with a spiritual, divine significance, so that people will more obediently go along with them.
Christianity, on the other hand, is not supposed to be merely a cultural religion. To be sure, sociology's laws and the tendencies of our fallen nature give us a penchant for human-made or culture-made faiths that often hijack the church. The Bible, though, outlines a much more complex approach to culture, one that offers a radical critique of culture while encouraging believers to engage their culture in positive ways.
In the Old Testament, God elects the tribes of Israel, giving them a law and a covenant that turns them into something like a holy culture. But, far from having their social practices sanctioned by their God, the Hebrews are constantly being chastised for their failures to obey God's transcendent demands. Their kings, for example, are constantly being condemned for their unrighteousness by the prophets and the inspired writers of the historical books, something unthinkable by Israel's Canaanite neighbors, for whom the king was an avatar of a god. The people of God were strictly forbidden to follow after the ways of their pagan neighbors. When they nevertheless adopted the lax sexual and ethical mores of their neighbors and developed a syncretic theology that allowed the God of Abraham to be worshipped in the same culture-friendly terms as in the pagan religions, they experienced the full measure of his wrath.
The coming of Christ complicates the believer's relationship to culture even further. Christianity is to be a faith for all cultures, "for every nation, tribe, people, and language" (Rev. 7:9). Cultural differences are not to obstruct Christian unity, as the controversies in Acts and the Epistles over the status of gentile believers demonstrate. Though Jesus tells his followers to be salt, light, and leaven in the world, he also warns that the world will hate them (Mat. 5). Christian freedom and service extend to every dimension of life, yet Christians are warned about the temptation of worldliness. Christians are commanded to obey the secular authorities (Rom. 13:1-7), and yet to obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29).
Then we have the curious counsel of St. Paul: "I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people-not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat" (1 Cor. 5:9-11). Apparently, we should not associate with immoral Christians, but we should associate with immoral unbelievers.
Jesus, in his prayer in Gethsemane, sets forth the principle that his followers are to be "in the world," but not "of the world": "I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one....As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world" (John 17:14-18). Christians are somehow to be separated from the world, while still being involved, redemptively, in it.
How are we to untangle these paradoxes? The question is especially urgent today. Our culture has virtually cut what ties it may have once had to biblical faith. An ascendant popular culture whose only values are hedonism, entertainment, and consumerism is sweeping away both the traditional values of the folk culture and the rational standards of the high culture and is now demanding supremacy in the church. Though Christianity is facing dangerous cultural contamination, we, as Christians, are still called to serve, influence, and communicate the gospel to this culture. In order to navigate through these cultural challenges, while maintaining both theological integrity and cultural relevance, Christians need to understand the double sovereignty of God.
Richard Niebuhr, in his classic book Christ and Culture outlines the different possible relationships between the two, each of which has been advocated in the history of the Church. One option is to put culture above Christ. In this view, Christianity serves culture, or, in the words of the National Council of Churches slogan: "The world sets the agenda for the church." When the culture changes, Christianity must also change to maintain its relevance. This is the path of liberal theology.
There have been many different kinds of theological liberalism in church history. During the Age of Reason of the eighteenth century Enlightenment, many theologians jettisoned the supernatural teachings of scripture in an effort to turn Christianity into a "rational" religion. When the rationalistic vogue gave way to the emotional focus of nineteenth century Romanticism, the liberal theologians changed their tune and taught that Christianity is a matter of religious feelings. After Darwin, Romanticism gave way to a trust in utopian social progress, and the liberal theologians said that's what Christianity is all about. The twentieth century has seen a plethora of intellectual fashions and social movements-existentialism, socialism, the peace movement, gay rights, feminism-and each has had its liberal theologians revising Christianity accordingly.
Today, in our postmodern era, belief in the supernatural is once again socially acceptable, though the relativism now in vogue makes doctrine and absolute standards of morality highly suspect. Generally, people in our contemporary American culture want to have a good time, have their consumer needs met, and be left alone to their own values, beliefs, and vices. These new cultural attitudes have given rise, as always, to another form of liberal theology.
Churches that were once evangelical, boldly standing up for the gospel and the authority of the Bible against modernist culture and its liberal theologians, are now changing their teachings and their practices to keep up with the culture. They conduct market surveys to find what the religious consumers of their culture want, then they respond like any other successful business. They throw out time-tested modes of worship in favor of whatever styles are most popular. Told that people do not want to hear about how sinful they are, they switch to more positive messages of self-esteem. They comb the Bible for principles for successful living rather than preaching that Christ died for sinners. Though these Christians may have the best of motives in trying to reach their culture, they often fail to see that, instead, their culture has reached them. Though they often call themselves evangelical, those who uncritically follow the dictates of the culture are not evangelicals at all but simply the latest version of an old theology: they are liberals.
The problem with liberal theology in all of its manifestations is that it turns Christianity into what it must never merely be, a cultural religion. The Church, in passively agreeing with a godless world, and in trying so hard to be relevant, actually loses its relevance. Why should anyone go to church if it offers nothing more than what the culture has already provided? Disabled from being able to criticize or influence the culture and having surrendered its transcendent moorings, religion is reduced to the role that sociologists have assigned it-making people feel good about their society by peddling the illusion that their culture is the ultimate reality.
Instead of placing culture above Christ, as the liberals do, other Christians have, more nobly, placed Christ above culture. In this view, Christianity offers standards to which the culture should be made to conform. Those who place Christ above culture will attempt to develop and promote distinctly Christian approaches to art, music, economics, science, and every other sphere of life. Society should be reformed until it approximates a Christian civilization.
This option has also been found throughout the history of the church. The Lordship of Christ over the earthly kingdoms has been emphasized by medieval popes, Reformation commonwealths, nineteenth century social reformers, twentieth century liberation theologians, and some contemporary Christian political activists. Christians with this cultural stance have boldly stood up against social evils and in many cases have exerted a powerful influence for good. Many have adopted this approach, from Puritan revolutionaries in seventeenth century England and eighteenth century America to today's Reconstructionists who seek to make the Bible the law of the land.
While I cannot find anything about theological liberalism to respect, I do admire those Christian reformers and revolutionaries who defy their cultures and attempt to make them conform to God's law. And yet, there are problems with this position. In the first place, it often underestimates the effect of the Fall and the scope of human sinfulness. No human being, much less a culture, can in fact keep God's law. No earthly kingdom, even one ruled by or consisting of Christians, can be a utopian paradise this side of Eden. All are transient and will prove disappointing, corrupted by injustice or pride, until Christ rules directly in the kingdom of heaven.
There can be no such thing as a Christian culture as such, because Christianity comes from faith in the Gospel, not the works of the Law, and God saves individuals, not nations. Not every member of a culture is going to be a Christian. Since conversion is the work of the Holy Spirit, it is impossible to coerce or require anyone to become a Christian. The unregenerate cannot obey biblical principles so as to be part of a Christian culture. Neither, while they are in their fallen flesh, can Christians.
A culture ruled completely by Christ is a reality in heaven and will be realized on earth at his return, but attempts on the part of human beings to establish heaven on earth prematurely by their own efforts and on their own terms, are doomed to fail. At the worst, they result in the divinization of culture, with Christianity reduced, once again, to a cultural religion.
Another option cited by Niebuhr is Christ against culture. This view recognizes the sinfulness of human institutions and calls Christians to separate from the corrupt culture, withdrawing into distinct Christian communities. The church becomes an alternative to the mainline culture, and Christians refuse to take part in the culture as a whole.
This approach characterized the early monastic movement, the Anabaptist subcultures, fundamentalist separatism, and the various experiments in Christian communal living of the last few decades. The Amish are a continual example of a group of Christians refusing to compromise with the worldly culture, rejecting military service, contemporary dress, and modern technology as being unworthy of their commitment to radical discipleship.
Again, this kind of integrity and radical commitment commands respect. But it too is problematic. Besides denying God's sovereignty over the rest of the world, it violates the words of Jesus: "My prayer is not that you take them out of the world....As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world" (John 17:15, 18). Jesus directs us not into the protection of a fortified bunker; rather, he sends us into the world in service and evangelism.
Furthermore, the option of separatism, in forming a Christian subculture, has the effect of reducing Christianity into just another culture. The Amish may end up defining themselves by their beards and buggies, rather than by a transcendent gospel. Christianity, once again, becomes a cultural religion.
The remaining possibility for the relationship between Christ and culture appears to be the one that best accounts for the scriptural injunctions. Niebuhr calls it "Christ and culture in paradox"; Luther calls it the doctrine of the Two Kingdoms. This view accounts for the insights of the other positions, acknowledging that we are cultural creatures, that God is sovereign over every sphere of life, and that Christians must be both separate from the world and actively involved in it.
The doctrine of the Two Kingdoms has been explored not only by Lutheran theologians but by Augustine in his great work The City of God (see, for example, James Boice's Two Cities, Two Loves) and probably describes the way most faithful Christians have always carried out their fidelity to Christ in their secular callings.
According to this view, God is sovereign both in the church and in the culture-but he rules the two in different ways. In the church, God reigns through the work of Christ and the giving of the Holy Spirit, expressing his love and grace through the forgiveness of sins and the life of faith. God also exercises his authority and providential control through all of creation-upholding the very universe, so that the laws of physics, the processes of chemistry, and other natural laws are part of what he has ordained. Similarly, God rules the nations-even those who do not acknowledge him-making human beings to be social creatures, in need of governments, laws, and cultures to mitigate the self-destructive tendencies of sin and to enable human beings to survive.
Thus, God has a spiritual rule in the hearts and lives of Christians; he also has a secular rule that extends throughout his creation and in every culture. God reigns in the church through the gospel, the proclamation of forgiveness in the Cross of Jesus Christ, a message which kindles faith and an inward transformation in the believer. He reigns in the world through his law, which calls human societies to justice and righteousness.
Notice that, according to this view, morality is not a matter of religion. Contrary to those who would silence Christian objections to abortion, for instance, on the grounds that moral issues are inappropriate intrusions of private religious belief, the doctrine of the Two Kingdoms insists that God's Law is universal in its scope and authority. As C. S. Lewis has shown in The Abolition of Man, it is simply not true that every culture and every religion has its own morality. Principles of justice, honesty, courage, and responsibility to one's neighbor are universal. Though revealed most fully in Scripture, God's law is written on the hearts even of the unbelieving gentiles (Romans 2:14-16).
Human beings and cultures are, however, in a state of rebellion against him. No individual can keep God's law and entire cultures are subject to corruption, injustice, sexual depravity, and every other kind of evil. While the world is condemned and all human institutions will pass away, God saves some in the ark of his church. Christians, strictly speaking, are no longer under the law at all-their new life of faith will make them spontaneously do what God requires, though because of their fallen nature full perfection will be found only in heaven.
In the meantime, Christians have a vocation in the world. They are called to evangelize, serve others, and do good works in the unbelieving world. Christians also must continue to play their part in their cultures, serving God in his secular kingdom in secular ways. A Christian farmer is expressing his love for God and neighbor by growing food for everyone, not just fellow believers; a Christian CEO serves God and neighbor by selling useful products, giving a livelihood to employees, making money for stockholders, and contributing to the good of the economy.
A Christian is thus a citizen of two kingdoms-the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of this world. These spheres have different demands and operate in different ways. But God is the King of both.
This doctrine has sometimes been misunderstood to mean that the secular government has absolute authority as an agent of God. This is the farthest from the truth. God is the king. His law judges the kingdoms of the earth. A governmental system, such as that of Nazi Germany, which is in stark violation of that law is in a state of rebellion and can demand no allegiance. A nation, however, need not be ruled by a Christian to exercise legitimate authority. The ruler's faith is a matter of the other kingdom and a function of the gospel; even an unbelieving ruler, however, can be held accountable to God's law and to its corollaries in the secular requirements of effective government.
Both kingdoms are binding, but they are not to be confused with each other. The secular values of the culture are not to be imposed upon the church. Nor may the spiritual realm be imposed upon the secular culture. Saving faith is a gift of the Holy Spirit and cannot be a matter of coercion. Nor can the freedom created by the gospel be applied to unbelievers, who are still in their sins.
People today who oppose the death penalty, for example, because we should forgive, would be confusing the two kingdoms, as would pacifists who oppose all war because we are told to love our enemies. I recently came across a book that addressed the problem of crime by advocating that all criminals be released from prison. Jesus said that he came to proclaim release to the captives, the author argued. Therefore, we should do as he said, trusting that the gesture would transform the criminals' hearts.
Christians must certainly express the love and forgiveness of Christ in their relationship with others, both inside and outside of the church. But God's other kingdom operates in terms of power, coercion, punishment, and the sometimes harsh demands of justice. The lawful magistrate is "God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer" and "does not bear the sword for nothing" (Romans 13:4). As a citizen in both kingdoms, a Christian may thus operate in different ways in the two spheres. No Christian should take private revenge, but a Christian soldier, judge, police officer, or juror may well have to "bear the sword."
If the government bears the sword, the church bears only the Word. Though the local church is also an earthly institution and so must be concerned with committees, by-laws, and even politics, the church is not to be run like a business, a nation, or the surrounding culture. It should be a haven of love and mutual forgiveness in the midst of a fallen, sin-sick world.
Christians exercising their vocations in the secular culture must assess their activity in secular terms, which are also under God's sovereignty. A Christian artist may well express his faith in his art, but the quality of the art lies primarily not in its theological message but in its aesthetic excellence, since the laws of aesthetics have been ordained by God in his creation. There is no need for a distinctly Christian approach to music, plumbing, computer science, physics, or wood-carving, because all of these things, no matter how secular or non-religious they appear, already fall under God's sovereignty.
Conversely, the church must never uncritically capitulate to the culture. Money-making, marketing techniques, entertainment ventures, power politics, and intellectual fashions must never set the church's agenda, which must be governed instead solely by the Word of God.
The doctrine of the Two Kingdoms is most often applied to the Christian's obligations to the state, but it also illuminates the cultural controversies which are causing so much confusion in today's church.
Should Christians get involved in politics? Yes, as part of our vocation in God's secular kingdom. The goal should not be necessarily the election of Christian rulers, nor to make America a "Christian nation." Rather, it should be to apply God's law in our social relationships and to establish justice and righteousness in our land. Abortion, for example, is a monstrous crime against the weakest and most defenseless in our society, and Christians are right to work against this evil, as against many others. Christians in politics must play by political rules, whether hard-ball power plays or the arts of compromise and consensus building. The church should be gentle and loving, while never compromising its doctrines. The rough-and-tumble of the political process, however, means that Christian politicians should not be prevented from exercising power or from making a tactical compromise by the charge that to do so is "not Christian." That confuses the kingdoms. Christian politicians, however, like all politicians, must exercise their power justly and in accordance with God's law.
Can a Christian take part in the expressions of the surrounding culture? Yes. Christians are still part of their culture and can be expected to share the tastes of their neighbors. A Christian can enjoy, perform, and get involved in secular art forms; they need not be religious, but they are subject to God's law. Christians need to draw the line at music or any other form of entertainment that violates God's canons of morality by tempting us to sin.
Can a Christian, then, like rock music? Yes, for the most part. This does not mean, however, that Christians should demand rock music in church. The secular kingdom, again, must be kept separate from the spiritual kingdom. Churches must keep themselves distinct from the surrounding culture.
To return to our earlier categories, a liberal would have little trouble accepting any brand of currently popular music and would even import it into the church. By this way of thinking, the church must always give in and conform itself to whatever the culture is doing. A Christian who believes in Christ above culture would reject secular music and try to devise a completely distinct Christian style, to which every subsequent piece of music should conform. A Christian who believes in Christ against culture would allow the world its own music but never listen to it, developing instead a separate Christian musical style.
A Two Kingdoms approach would allow the Christian to enjoy secular music, even, for those with the God-given talent, to pursue a musical vocation. The Christian's standards for this music would be God's moral law, but also God's aesthetic laws, which were built into the created order and human nature by God himself. The Christian musician might express his or her faith artistically, but the work would be assessed not primarily by its theology but by its aesthetic merits, which also come under God's dominion. The music, though, would not have to be explicitly religious at all-it is part of God's dominion even in its secularity.
This same Christian musician, whether a rock 'n' roller or a concert violinist, would very likely object to electric guitars or chamber music in church. Art designed to please and to gratify the senses has its place, but worship belongs to the Word of God. Here, theological truth must take priority. The purpose is not to entertain the congregation but to convict them of sin and convert them to Christ. The audience is not the culture but God, whom the entire congregation is seeking to glorify-in his terms, not ours.
Kenneth Myers has said in his brilliant book All God's Children and Blue Suede Shoes that the contemporary church has reversed Christ's injunction to be in the world, but not of the world. Instead, he says, we are not in the world-with our separate schools, bookstores, music companies, and other cultural institutions, so that we seldom interact with non-believers-and yet, we are of the world. Our music, stores, schools, and corporate structures, may be separate, but they are exactly like their secular counterparts.
Recognizing God's double sovereignty over all of life can enable Christians to be engaged in a positive, transforming way, with their culture without succumbing to the deadly, spirit-quenching sin of worldliness. It is a formula for both faithfulness and relevance.
Gene E. Veith is academic dean at Patrick Henry College (Purcellville, Virginia) and cultural editor for World Magazine.
Issue: "The Effects of Popular Culture on Religion" Jan./Feb. 1997 Vol. 6 No. 1 Page number(s): 15-19
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CREDIT: Casa Presidencial
Costa Rica’s President Laura Chinchilla signed a decree earlier this week ushering in a carbon market for the Central American nation. The market will be overseen by the country’s Department of Climate Change, and according to the government it will be the first carbon market in the developing world.
Called the Costa Rican Voluntary Domestic Carbon Market (MDVCCR), it was developed by the Costa Rican government with the aid of the consultancy ÉcoRessources and is part of larger national effort to make the country carbon neutral by 2021. It’s purely domestic for the moment, and not open to traders outside Costa Rica. According to the Tico Times, the MDVCCR will “establish guidelines for the generation, issuance and exchange of carbon credits, called Costa Rican Compensation Units (UCC) from projects or activities originating in Costa Rica.” The UCCs are estimated to cost between $3 and $5 per metric ton of carbon dioxide.
A few more details, via the Times:
Under the cap-and-trade scheme, companies will trade UCCs for the right to release carbon dioxide into the air to compensate for any emissions that cannot be reduced, according to a statement from the Casa Presidencial.
The UCCs are tied to reforestation and conservation efforts that capture and sequester carbon dioxide, along with projects designed to reduce emissions and improve energy efficiency.
There are a few questions worth asking here. Cap-and-trade systems work by establishing the total amount of carbon that can be emitted under the system, then breaking that amount up into tradable permits, and finally by legally enforcing that limit so that emitters can only release carbon in proportion to the amount of permits they possess. Firms in the system can then buy, sell, and trade the permits amongst themselves as they see fit.
Detailed descriptions of the MDVCCR have been hard to come by, but it’s not obvious it actually has a limit — or if it does what the limit is. And if participation in the market is voluntary, it’s not clear how that limit would be enforced. So describing the MDVCCR as a “cap-and-trade scheme” may be a misnomer.
From the above, it sounds more like the MDVCCR is a clearing house for companies that want to earn carbon credits — the UCCs — through various carbon-reduction, conservation, and efficiency efforts, and then sell those credits for profit. This is tricky. The theory behind carbon credits or offsets is that they incentivize climate-friendly and environmentally-friendly practices, but they’re horribly vulnerable to gaming: a firm’s project may not reduce carbon emissions as much as advertised, if at all, or the project may be something they would’ve gone forward even without the incentive of the carbon credit trading. The Department of Climate Change will have to be vigilant in who it credits with carbon reduction and how.
On top of all that, $3 to $5 per metric ton is an exceptionally low price.
If participation is voluntary, there’s no hard cap, and the creation of an unlimited number of credits is permitted, it’s not obvious how the MDVCCR will deliver real progress in combating climate change.
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Are we missing critical inflation data with the CPI? How the government over time has altered the CPI to under report inflation.
- 2 Comment
Most Americans realize that their standard of living has decreased. Many realize today that their dollars do not go as far as they once did. We try to reflect this data via the Consumer Price Index but over the last few decades, this index has been adjusted to suit the needs of those producing the data or more to the point, those in power. A measurement is only as good as its ability to accurately produce valuable data. The CPI has been altered many times over the last few decades and we’ll discuss how this measure no longer reflects real underlying inflation. You need only look at your underlying budget to realize that somehow, your money is not going as far as it once did. Yet the CPI data tells us that inflation is hardly any concern in the current economy. Let us examine a little bit of history with the CPI.
Inflation over time
Ironically much of this “control” came in the early 1980s with some minor adjusting of the CPI. The biggest change was with the addition of the owners’ equivalent of rent measure to replace housing costs. There are major issues with this approach. This change started looking at supposed market rates instead of actually looking at the true cost of owning a home. The BLS asks the following question:
Consumer Expenditure Survey asks of consumers who own their primary residence:
“If someone were to rent your home today, how much do you think it would rent for monthly, unfurnished and without utilities?”
The following questions, asked of consumers who rent their primary residence, are the basis of the weight for Rent:
“What is the rental charge to your [household] for this unit including any extra charges for garage and parking facilities? Do not include direct payments by local, state or federal agencies. What period of time does this cover?”
Do you see the problem here? How in the world would a person know their real market rents without actually renting the place out? Also, what if you pay $3,000 a month in total housing costs while the place can only rent for $2,000? For renters, you know your market rent because you are actually paying it. Prior to this people reported what they were paying for their actual home and not treating their primary residence as some hypothetical rental. This change alone started to down play inflation since housing is the biggest expense for Americans and rent is typically cheaper than owning.
You can see how badly this change missed the entire housing bubble:
According to the CPI, the OER measure was reporting increasing home values but only slightly. During the entire housing bubble, never did the OER go over 5 percent on a year-over-year basis. However, looking at the Case Shiller Index we see that home values were going up by double-digits on an annual basis all the way until the bubble burst in 2007.
The above should be a clear example of why we should opt out of the OER yet as you see in the first chart that would likely mean that the real inflation rate is running much higher. So of course there will be no adjustments.
A few other notable changes to the CPI have occurred:
-Later, a change to substitution was added (i.e., if steak becomes too expensive, then people opt for chicken).
-If there is a cheaper outlet, people will opt to shop there (i.e., Wal-Mart).
-Quality improvements offset price increases (like GPS in cars).
Every additional change of course begins to reflect a basket of goods that does not represent reality. If we continued using the 1982 method of calculating the CPI, inflation would be above 9 percent today. That is a major difference from where we stand today. It would also reign in the Federal Reserve and their $3 trillion balance sheet when they point to inflation being modest as a reason for their continued monetary policy. It is interesting that the biggest miss of the last decade was the housing bubble and the OER was a big reason it was underreported. In fact the Fed used the CPI as a reason to justify lower rates. “Hey, see here with the CPI, no inflation in housing!”
Ultimately inflation is hitting with wages back to 1990s levels and costs soaring for tuition, healthcare, and once again, housing. Of course the CPI isn’t showing this but you should look at that data a little more carefully and keep the above changes in mind.
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The variety of mammal species in the Galapagos Islands is rather limited, as is typical for most islands located far from mainland continents. In fact, there are only 6 mammal species (that can be found on land) that are considered native to the islands, plus a number of aquatic mammals that swim in and out of the Galapagos Marine Reserve.
- Galapagos Sea Lions
- Galapagos Fur Seal
- Rice Rats (four species)
- Bats (two species)
- Dolphins and Whales
With a population size of about 50,000, the Galapagos Sea Lion (Zalophus californianus, subspecies: wollebacki) is one of the first animals that visitors to the Galapagos Islands encounter. They can often be found sprawled on the docks or benches where tourists board their cruise boats, and are found lounging on beaches or low rocky shorelines throughout the islands. Their playful and inquisitive behavior makes them a tourist favorite, and lucky divers or snorkelers may be treated to underwater gymnastic displays from these graceful creatures. Despite their curiosity, sea lions are wild animals and can be unpredictable in their behavior – especially the males – and people will occasionally be bitten for not respecting their space and privacy.
Sea Lions are the largest animals found in Galapagos – full-grown males (bulls) can weigh up to 550 pounds. Besides their larger size, males differ from females in that they have a large “bump” on their foreheads and have extremely thick necks that provide protection.
Sea Lions mainly eat fish that they catch out in ocean on extended foraging trips. When on land, they congregate in harems (a group of females with one dominant male bull) or in bachelor colonies (males without harems to defend). However, females are free to move from harem to harem, as it is the territory where the females lie that a dominant bull defends, more so than the actual females in the territory. A dominant bull will spend the majority of his day patrolling the shallow coastal waters along his territory, ensuring that other bulls do not come near. It is exhausting to defend a harem, and for this reason, defense of a harem generally only lasts for a few days up to three months for a single bull. Fights between bulls for territories are quite common, with pushing, neck-biting, and dramatic water chase scenes ensuing. Harems are usually found in the most desirable beach locations, and the bachelor colonies are located in less desirable places, sometimes high atop rocky cliffs or farther inland near lagoons.
Once a year, females give birth to single pups, which they rear for one to three years. For this reason, it is common to see one mother with two suckling pups of different ages. Mothers will stay with their newborn pups for about 5 days, as they get to know each other’s sounds and smells, and then she will venture out to fish and replenish her energy. Baby sea lions will gather in shallow water nurseries that are watched over by one female, while the other mothers go out fishing. Bulls will even join in defending the nurseries from sharks, who may come looking for a defenseless pup meal. At about five months old, young sea lions will begin to learn to fish on their own.
Females are sexually mature at around 5 years old, and can live to be about 20 years old – males mature a bit more quickly, but will not guard a harem until they are older, and they do not live as long as females.
Many people think Galapagos Fur Seals (Arctocephalus galapagoensis) are much less abundant in Galapagos than Sea Lions, but their population numbers are similar. Fur Seals typically prefer more rugged, rockier, and shadier shores than sea lions in areas that less likely to be frequented by people. Fur seals are less tolerant of heat than sea lions, which is why they prefer cooler water and shaded areas. And despite their “seal” name, they are actually a type of sea lion.
Galapagos Fur Seals and Sea Lions are morphologically similar, but there are some key physical differences that can help people tell them apart. Fur seals are generally smaller with broader and shorter heads. Fur Seals have bulging eyes and ears that protrude more than sea lions’, and larger front flippers that aid in climbing rockier coasts. The biggest difference is probably in their fur coat, which is much thicker and appears “furrier” on fur seals than on sea lions.
Because of their remarkably insulating coats, fur seals were hunted by the tens of thousands in the 1800s, nearly to extinction. They have made an amazing comeback in their population numbers, and can be seen most easily by Galapagos tourists at James Bay on Santiago Island and in Darwin Bay on Genovesa Island.
Fur seals eat fish and squid, and they are nocturnal hunters. Scientists have found that they tend to hunt less when the moon is full, probably because they become more visible to shark predators and their prey tends to move into deeper waters.
Fur seals’ social and breeding behaviors are quite similar to that of sea lions (see above), with a few differences. With regards to bulls defending territories, a fur seal bull will defend his harem from land, rather than from the water. Pups begin to hunt at about a year old, but will suckle from their mothers for two to three years. Though females can give birth every year, they will, at most, successfully raise one pup every two years. Should a second pup be born while a yearling is still suckling, the new pup has little chance of survival, despite being defended by its mother.
Unfortunately, only four of the original seven endemic Rice Rat species still exist in Galapagos; not surprisingly, these four species live on three islands that are not inhabited by humans – Santa Fé, Santiago, and Fernandina. The other three species of rice rats became extinct since humans colonized the islands and brought black rats with them. Competition with and/or a virus carried by the black rats is likely what brought about the demise of these three species.
The ancestors of the native rats of Galapagos originally arrived to the Islands via rafts of vegetation that floated from the South American mainland out to Galapagos – these rats actually hold the world record for terrestrial mammal ocean crossings.
There are two bat species present in Galapagos, but little is actually known about them.
Lasiurus cinereus, the Hoary Bat from North America, is light brown with white fur tips, eats insects, and tends to prefer roosting in Mangrove trees or scrub bushes during the day. It is quite widespread and is found on Santa Cruz, San Cristóbal, Isabela, Santiago, and Floreana Islands.
Lasiurus brachyotis is found on Santa Cruz and San Cristóbal in the highlands and coastal zones, and it is believe to migrate seasonally between the two zones. This bat forages near the ground while the Hoary Bat forages higher in the trees and air, which explains why they can coexist. L. brachyotis is believed to be closely related to the Red Bat of South America.
DOLPHINS and WHALES
The aquatic mammals (cetaceans – whales, dolphins) form the last group of mammals found in the Galapagos Islands. Unlike most land mammals that are generally covered in hair or fur, these aquatic mammals have little, if any, hair. Instead, they have a fat layer of blubber which helps to maintain their body heat and to provide a reserve of energy when needed during long migrations or strenuous activity.
The blubber of whales can be used to make oil, and this is what made them so valuable to humans in the 19th century when the Galapagos Islands were central to Pacific whaling activities. Fortunately today, whaling does not take place anymore in the Islands. Whales are occasionally seen passing through Galapagos, and dolphins are likely to be seen all around the islands.
The Cetaceans fall into two major groups – those with teeth, and those with baleen (fringed whalebone that enables filter-feeding of plankton and small marine animals). Both groups of cetaceans, and several species from each group, can be found in the Galapagos Islands. Humpback whales are one of the easier baleen whales to identify because of their angled back, as well as their tendency to breach and splash dramatically back into the sea.
Many species of toothed whales show up in the Galapagos Marine Reserve, including the Sperm Whale, Killer Whale, False Killer Whales, the Pilot Whale, as well as several species of dolphins. There are two dolphin species that are quite abundant and easy to spot– the Bottle-nosed Dolphin and the Common White-bellied Dolphin. The Bottle-nosed Dolphins are often found racing alongside boats, and sometimes they get close enough that people on board can hear their delightful squealing. Common Dolphins are more likely to be found in large schools of 100 or more individuals.
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Data Link Layer
The Data Link Layer (DLL) of the OSI Reference Model, also known as Layer 2, is responsible for providing error-free communication between adjacent devices on a network. To accomplish this, the DLL protocol must perform several functions:
- Framing and Synchronization: The Physical Layer deals with the transmission of bits. At the DLL, bits are organized and blocked together into units typically called frames. Some information, then, must be added to the frame to indicate its beginning and end. The frame usually comprises a header, a trailer, and an information payload.
- Data Delimiting: Because the DLL protocol adds overhead to the information being transmitted, the system receiving the information has to be able to tell the difference between the overhead added by the transmitter and the actual data being transmitted.
- Detection/correction of bit errors: Most DLL protocols use a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) to detect bit errors. The CRC is typically found in the trailer. If the DLL also acts to correct bit errors, it typically does so by requesting a retransmission from the transmitter, a process known as backward error correction. Many modern DLL protocols simply discard errored frames, which requires the upper layers (typically the Transport Layer) to resolve the loss.
- Addressing: If the underlying Physical Layer is a point-to-multipoint (P2MP) or multipoint-to-multipoint (MP2MP) circuit, then the DLL must also define an addressing structure to ensure that the correct system reads and copies the data. If present, the address is typically carried in the frame header.
- Access control: Again, if the underlying Physical Layer is a point-to-multipoint (P2MP) or multipoint-to-multipoint (MP2MP) circuit, the DLL must ensure orderly access to the medium to prevent systems from colliding with one another on the circuit. Medium access control (MAC) schemes were commonly found in local area networks, most of which were originally broadcast in nature.
- Link establishment and termination: Some DLL protocols operate on the connectionless communication model, while other operate on a connection-oriented communication model. If the DLL is connection-oriented, then it must define procedures for establishing and terminating the DLL connection between devices. In most cases, once the DLL connection is established between two systems, it is usually not terminated as long as the network is operational. Although less common today, this model is still present for such things as dial-access to the Internet.
- Flow control: The DLL may also implement flow control mechanisms. Although typically associated with connection-oriented DLLs, there are some connectionless DLLs (e.g., some version of Ethernet) that also define flow control mechanisms.
Some modern DLL protocols also define a switching function, which was not anticipated by the OSI Reference Model.
Common DLL protocols include: Ethernet, LAPF (frame relay), ATM, PPP, LAPD, and DOCSIS. There are also DLL protocols in wireless environments (e.g., Wi-Fi, WiMAX)). Older, more obsolete DLL protocols include SDLC, LAPB, Token Ring, and LocalTalk, to name a few.
Protocol Control Information
The sending and receiving DLL stations use control information to ensure that only “correct” information is passed to higher layers. The sending station adds control information to the beginning and end of the data (most DLL protocols function in this manner), and then sends the frame to the Physical Layer. The receiving station uses the control information to ensure that the frame has been received correctly.
Header information typically includes the receiving station’s address and control information. An error detecting code is normally included in the Trailer field.
In most modern data link protocols the trailer is used for error detection only. Earlier the field was used in conjunction with the header to perform error correction after errors were detected. With today’s digital transmission systems errors are infrequent, as a consequence the error correction capability of the DLL has been eliminated in newer protocols. Elimination increases the protocol efficiency by allowing the receiver to treat each frame as an independent entity.
Data Link Layer Services
The basic services of a DLL protocol are defined below:
1. Framing and Frame Synchronization
The DLL is responsible for providing synchronization at the frame level, that is, determining the beginning and end of each frame. The Physical Layer is typically responsible for maintaining bit synchronization. How this is accomplished differs from one DLL to another. Some protocols (e.g., Ethernet, Wi-Fi) require the Physical Layer to go inactive for a minimum period between frames. This means each frame must begin with starting delimiter that will provide the receiver with a window during which it can resynchronize it's Physical Layer clock and prepare to receive a new frame.
Other protocols, (e.g., PPP, frame relay, HDLC, LAPD) keep a continuous stream of bits on the medium. When there is no actual frame to be transmitted, the continuously transmit a sequence known as the flag pattern: 01111110. When this repetitious pattern is interrupted, the receiver knows it is witnessing the beginning of a new frame. To avoid confusion, the transmitter must ensure this pattern does not occur within the frame itself. It achieves this using a simple technique known as bit stuffing.
Still other protocols (e.g. ATM) achieve synchronization by placing a continuous stream of fixed-length frames, called cells, on the medium. The header for these cells contains an error detection code for the header only. The receiver scans the incoming bit stream looking for an error check code that consistently evaluates correctly, at which point it has "lock on" to the header of the cells and knows how to extract each cell. Cells that have no payload are given a special address to distinguish them from cells that have a valid payload.
2. Data Delimiting
The DLL adds control information to the transmitted frame. The receiving station must be able to distinguish the header and trailer from the payload. There are essentially two strategies for doing so.
Some DLL protocols (e.g., frame relay) fix the length of the header and trailer. If these fields never vary in length, and the receiver can synchronize on the frame itself, then identifying the payload within the frame is trivial.
Some DLL protocols either have varying length headers, or define optional fields. For such protocols, there must be explicit information in the header or trailer indicating where the valid payload resides. For example, the header may include a header length field and a payload length field. Or the header may have a fixed number of basic fields, and then optional fields, each of which contains a "last option" indicator. This indicator would be set (e.g., turned on) only in the last option in the header, effectively marking the end of the DLL header.
3. Error Detection and Correction
Error detection is a primary service provided by the DLL. Using an error detecting or correcting code, the DLL protocol ensures that frames with errors are recognized and not delivered to higher layers. Error detection is the DLL’s primary reason for existence. Within the scope of error detection are two general categories: A DLL must be able to detect bit errors within a frame; and the DLL must be able to determine if all transmitted frames have arrived.
To determine that all of the delivered bits are correct, an error detecting code is transmitted in a control field. This code (usually a CRC is computed from the data by both transmitter and receiver. If the receiver’s calculation matches what the transmitter sent, the bits are assumed correct.
If the DLL provides and error correction function, then it typically also defines sequence numbers to ensure that it can detect if all frames have arrived and are in the correct order. If Frame 6 arrives before Frame 5, for example, at least the receiver knows that Frame 5 is required. It is left to the individual protocols to specify if out-of-sequence frames are accepted or rejected.
Sequence numbering alone cannot detect the fact that an isolated frame failed to arrive. Thus, where guaranteed delivery is an important issue, transmitter timers are also employed. The transmitter gives the receiver N time units to acknowledge receipt. If the receiver fails to respond in the allotted time, the transmitter re-sends the frame or polls the receiver for an indication of its status.
Backward Error Correction
In computer-to-computer communication, a protocol can opt for forward or backward error correction. Backward error correction (i.e., detect-retransmit) is the simplest and most common approach. The transmitter sends the data along with a calculated error-detecting code capable of detecting the presence of bit errors. The receiver uses the code to check the received data bits. If an error is detected, the receiver ignores the frame and waits for (or asks) the transmitter to send it again.
Various error-detecting codes have been developed, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Strengths are usually expressed in terms of the kinds of errors detected (e.g., single bit, multiple bits). Weaknesses relate to the complexity of the computation and the number of bits that must be sent to perform the detection.
Forward Error Correction
Forward error correction codes contain sufficient information to not only detect the presence of bit errors, but to enable the receiver to determine which bits need correcting. As expected, the number of code bits required to correct an error is substantially greater than the number to simply detect an error. Due to the high overhead, forward error correction is reserved for extremely noisy channels (i.e., where there is a large probability that the retransmitted frame will contain errors). It is also used for channels with inordinately long propagation delays (e.g., frames from a solar system explorer), or those having no reverse path (i.e., a submarine under radio silence).
Since the vast majority of physical media do not suffer from high error rates, long propagation delay, or simplex service, detect-retransmit is the choice for most Data Link Layers.
Addressing is used to determine the destination for the frames. Two types of addressing are commonly found at the data link. The first is a hardware address that uniquely identifies each station. The second is a virtual circuit identifier, these identify the path to the destination.
DLL protocols operate over both point-to-point and multipoint physical links. Many DLL protocols, such as IBM’s Synchronous Data Link Control (SDLC), provide for multipoint configurations in which one station, called the primary, is in charge of the link. In such a configuration, an address is required to ensure message delivery to the correct secondary station. An address may also be contained in frames to the primary, so the primary can determine the sender. The addresses shown on the accompanying visual should not be confused with network address; network addressing is a separate issue. Station addresses A, B, and C are local to the Data Link Layer.
In LAN settings, all stations are generally considered peers (i.e., there is no primary/secondary distinction). Since any station can transmit to any other, the Address field of a frame must contain both destination and source addresses.
5. Line Access Control
Line control determines which station can transmit next. This commonly used in a local area network for access to the shared medium.
Line access control is determined by the type of physical circuit connecting the stations and the number of stations connected.
Links can be full duplex or half duplex. Full duplex links (i.e., two-way simultaneous) allow two communication stations to transmit at will, whereas on a half duplex link (i.e., two-way alternate), the stations must take turns. However, some protocols (e.g., BISYNC) force two-way alternate communication even on a full duplex link.
Three link configurations are possible: P2P, P2MP, MP2MP. The latter is also known as a broadcast circuit.
P2P Access Control
Access control is only needed in a P2P configuration if it is half duplex. In such an environment, a mechanism for turning the line around must be defined. This is fairly rare in modern P2P circuits.
P2MP Access Control
In a P2MP configuration, one station (the point) is typically designated the “primary,” the others (the MP) are considered the “secondaries.” The primary station controls the behavior of the secondary stations. The primary can talk to any secondary, but the secondary stations can only talk to the primary. The primary arbitrates access to the circuit. In this environment, addressing is also typically defined.
MP2MP Access Control
Typically found in broadcast LAN environments, this schemes are typically referred to as MAC schemes. In the wired LAN world, two models have predominated: token passing and contention.
Token Ring, Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI), and token bus LANs use variations of the distributed polling technique called token passing. Unlike those environments where a single device (or primary station) grants permission to all other devices (secondary stations) allowing them to send their data, token passing systems take turns using the shared link without one central controlling station. Each station holds peer status with others on the same link—there is no primary/secondary designation. A station wishing to transmit waits until an electronic “token” is passed to it by one of its peers. After sending its data (or after an established maximum time) the token is passed to another station on the link. This orderly passing of the token allows each station an opportunity to transmit, but no one station dominates the others as in primary/secondary environments. These technologies have become largely obsolete and with it this form of access control.
As the name implies, contention-based methods find stations contending for a common broadcast link. When a station needs to transmit, it checks first to see if the link is already in use by another station by simply “listening” to (or sensing carrier on) the link—a technique called Carrier Sense Multiple Access (CSMA). If the link is in use, the station defers its transmission so as not to cause a “collision,” thereby corrupting both its own and the other stations data stream. If the link is idle, the station transmits its data. However, should two or more stations begin transmitting at roughly the same time, a collision will result. collision detection (CD) and collision avoidance (CA) try to minimize wasted time and link throughput resulting from such collisions. Both Ethernet and Wi-Fi use contention-based methods.
6. Connection Setup and Release
If the DLL in question operates on a connection-oriented model, once all physical connections are in place and the equipment is running, the DLL must be activated. Similarly, there must be a mechanism to deactivate a link.
Stations that sequence data frames to ensure sequential delivery must have a known starting point for these sequence numbers. Stations must also agree on a sequencing modulus. One station initiates the logical connection by sending a defined Start command to the intended recipient. The format for this command and which station(s) may send it are defined by the specific protocol. Typically, a connection acknowledgment is returned by the other station before the transfer of data begins. The start-up process can also clear error conditions and restart the DLL protocol.
While not often used, DLL protocols also have a defined “stop” frame. The command causes a software halt rather than a hardware stop.
Connectionless DLL protocols do not engage in any of these activities. They simply send frames whenever there is a frame to be sent. Most of these do not define an error correction mechanism.
7. Flow Control
There are times when a transmitter can overwhelm a receiver. This can happen in either a connectionless or connection-oriented DLL protocol. Many DLL protocols define a mechanism by which the receiver can limit transmissions from the transmitter. If the DLL is connection-oriented, this is typically achieved by explicitly sending the transmitter a Receiver Not Ready (RNR) frame as part of the normal exchange. The transmitter is required to withhold all further transmissions until it receives a Receiver Ready (RR) frame from the receiver. This capability is part of PPP, HDLC, SDLC, LAPB, and LAPD, to name a few.
In connectionless environments, if a flow control function is required, it is typically accomplished by defining a special "pause" frame. The receiver sends it on the link to the transmitter, which is required to cease all transmissions until it receives a new frame releasing it from the pause condition. This strategy is defined for Ethernet.
Some DLLs do not define a flow control mechanism at all (e.g., frame relay).
Switching in the Data Link Layer
The OSI Reference model never anticipated this development in the DLL. It was the Network Layer that was supposed to (and does) provide a packet switching function. But the early 1990s saw the introduction of at least three DLL environments in which frame switching was defined at the DLL: Ethernet, frame relay, and ATM. There were also switched Token Ring and FDDI environments, but these are now considered obsolete technologies and are fading from the industry.
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Poetry written in the English language has a long and fascinating history. Like other creative arts, poetry began in service to communities. Its function was to aid the memory and enshrine in its rhythmic diction the history of the tribe. Over the centuries it became a way in which people could communicate not only stories but also ideas and emotions in an imaginative and expressive way. One characteristic has remained: throughout the history of poetry-making, poems have provided a commentary - often critical - on what people, communities and nations do. And in the 20th century, the horrors and irreversible changes created by modern warfare changed poetry for good.
The thirty or so poems in this selection (written between 1914 and 1998) demonstrate - among many other things - this change. After the First World War it was clear that the subject of war could no longer be treated as though its slaughter was solemn and glorious. But how could war now be written about by poets? The following poems illustrate the diversity of answers to that question, in a variety of ways expressing the fundamental unacceptability of war. They also show that poets have not found the subject easy.
ABOUT THIS COLLECTION
The poems are divided into eight groups, roughly chronologically where possible:
1. THE FIRST WORLD WAR
2. THE 1930S
3. THE SECOND WORLD WAR
4. CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
5. THE NUCLEAR AGE
6. OTHER WARS
8. WOMEN'S VOICES
Each poem is followed, where it might be helpful, by INFORMATION (clarification of words and references), HISTORY (background information), and IDEAS (critical commentary).
We hope that anyone visiting the website will find the poems interesting. But the poems are also presented for use by teachers of English Language and Literature, History, Citizenship, and general studies in schools, and by tutors in English Literature and Creative Writing anywhere. Reading groups, now springing up in communities across the UK, might also like to make the collection a basis for discussion.
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Origins of the Toast
Ironically, the cheerful clinking of a friend's glass before drinking evolved from one of the darker practices of the distant past. The custom dates back to the Middle Ages, when people were so distrustful of one another that they weren't above poisoning anyone they perceived as an enemy. As a safeguard, drinkers first poured a bit of wine into each other's glass, acting as mutual "tasters." Trustworthy friends, however, soon dispensed with the tastings and merely clinked their glasses instead.This custom is said by some to explain why "to your health" is the most common toast worldwide. Some other historians hold that clinking glasses provided the noise that would keep evil spirits at bay.
And the word "toast"? In the ale houses of Elizabethan England, a bit of spiced toast was usually put in the bottom of a cup of ale or wine to flavor it, and possibly to soak up the dregs. In time, any male or female whose qualities or accomplishments were frequently honored with a group drink came to be called "toasts" (hence the phrase "toast of the town"). One story-attributed, in a 1706 edition of The Tatler, to "many Wits of the last Age"-claimed that "toast" was first used in this manner during the reign of Charles II (1660-1684). That label, it was said, was bestowed on a well-known belle from the town of Bath. As the beauty luxuriated in the healthful waters of the public baths, an admiring gentleman scooped a little bath water into a cup, added the customary piece of toast, and raised the cupful of water to her before drinking it.
The word "toast" as used today-"a sentiment expressed just before drinking to someone"-did not begin to gain currency until the early 1700S.
Our resting utensils etiquette section covers the rules (american and continental) for resting your utensils when taking a break from eating, when you are finished eating, and when you are passing food [...]Read More
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See below our run down on Electric cars from the Past, Present and Future
Read more about the Nissan Leaf
Electric Cars like the Nissan Leaf are actually worse for the environment than efficient Diesel or Petrol Engines. This is because energy is lost in conversion to the different types of storage energy. In a Electric Car, you are theory producing zero tailpipe emissions, however, in the UK we still rely largely on non renewable sources of energy to power the electrical grid which the cars obtain charge from.
Any sucker who has sat GCSE Science could tell you that the fuel for Electric Cars undergoes many transformations which introduce inefficiencies. For example in a typical power plant coal or natural gas (chemical energy) is used to heat water (heat) which in turn boils to turn turbines (kinetic) before it is then turned into AC electrical energy for the grid.
When you plug your EV in, you are then converting the AC current to DC and storing it in a battery (chemical) and then the energy needs to make one last transformation to be used in the vehicle.
Unlike this, traditional cars have one conversion process; Chemical –> Kinetic. The only practical advantages of electrical cars would be that the pollution generated to run them is dealt with at a power plant and not a city centre, therefore reducing air pollution in populated areas.
Even the best Diesel and Petrol engines are not exactly efficient at the job they do.
Contrary to your article above, efficient diesel/petrol engines are not better for the environment especially when compared with an electric car charged from a solar array or charged overnight using wind power from a green grid supplier.
So drilling for oil, pumping it to a refinery, refining it, distributing it by lorry and then pumping it (electrically) into a car to be combusted is more efficient than drilling for gas, pumping, burning to generate energy to turn a turbine to distribute over fixed cabling to charge a car.
Its swings and roundabouts. Neither is particularly green, efficient or effective. Buts where we are! Massive amounts of localised pollution around towns/cities or massive amounts of pollution at a power station.
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Though many believe gender discrimination is a thing of the past, research shows women bear the brunt of harassment and discrimination online.
Prof. Caryl Rivers draws on the findings of her recent book, The New Soft War on Women to give context to recent instances of feminine voices silenced by the so-called “harmless male trolls spewing venom” on the Internet.
Rivers wrote for the Huffington Post:
Why the targeting of women who express opinions online? Because public speech is power, and the prohibitions against such speech by women are ancient.
The Bible (1Timothy 2:12) decrees: “…do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet.”
Strictures against women speaking in public go back to antiquity and continued throughout most of history. In 1837, a group of American Congregationalist ministers published a letter declaring that a woman who spoke publicly would “not only cease to bear fruit [i.e., become infertile], but fall in shame and dishonor in the dust.”
If women are powerful, they can’t be caring nurturant, self-sacrificing and submissive. And they have often been punished for stepping outside these gender role boundaries. You’d think these ancient strictures would have vanished by now, with fully half the workforce being female. Not so.
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Pronunciation: (in"du-vij'OO-āt"), [key]
—v., -at•ed, -at•ing.
1. to form into an individual or distinct entity.
2. to give an individual or distinctive character to; individualize.
1. to make distinctions: to individuate among one's students.
2. to become individualized or distinctive: With maturity, the artist individuated.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
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"Long-term smokers find the taste of plain-packaged cigarettes worse than that of branded cigarettes," The Guardian reports.
The news comes from Australian research into the impact of plain packaging and health risk warnings on packets of cigarettes and anti-smoking TV adverts.
The researchers found highly emotive warnings were more likely to capture the attention of the study's participants. However, these warning messages did not actually prompt the smokers to try to quit.
Interestingly, some smokers reported they felt the quality and taste of cigarettes had worsened or different brands now all tasted the same after plain packs were introduced.
While this may well be a minority view, it does suggest the effects of branding could have a psychological influence on some smokers, changing how they perceive the quality of the product.
This may explain why tobacco companies have been lobbying against similar laws being introduced in the UK.
Further research is needed to determine the best ways of engaging with vulnerable smokers.
Australia introduced plain packaging laws for cigarettes in 2012.
The packs themselves are not plain – all branding and logos has been removed from the packs and replaced with graphic anti-smoking images, such as pictures of the devastating effect oral cancer can have on the mouth and teeth.
The only brand-specific information is the name of the brand under the image.
The study was carried out by researchers from the University of Newcastle and the Hunter Medical Research Institute in Newcastle, Australia.
It was funded by an Australian Postgraduate Award PhD Scholarship, the Cancer Institute New South Wales, and Newcastle Cancer Control Collaboration.
The study was published in the peer-reviewed journal Health Education Research.
The Guardian's headline, "Long-term smokers find plain-packaged cigarettes taste worse", gives a false impression of the findings of this study. The researchers did not compare the taste of branded and plain-packaged cigarettes.
Following the implementation of plain packaging, perceptions of the quality and taste of cigarettes did change for some participants.
However, it is unclear from the research article whether this was a majority view, and the research itself was not designed to address the question of whether plain-packaged cigarettes taste different.
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The heaviest nuclei have been investigated near the limits of stability in charge, spin and excitation energy. They have so many protons that their Coulomb repulsion should cause spontaneous fission. Yet elements with atomic weight up to 118 appear to exist, based on recent reports from Dubna. The heaviest nuclei survive because a quantal effect, the shell-correction energy, gives extra binding, which creates a barrier against fission. The stabilization is largest when protons and neutrons fill shells up to a "magic" energy gap, analogous to inert gases with filled electron shells in atoms. In the quest for nuclei with the largest number of protons, the view of the "island of stability", a predicted region of superheavy nuclei in the nuclear chart, is now becoming clear. Excited states have been found in 254No, a nucleus with the largest number of protons (102) studied using spectroscopy. The energies of these states provide critical tests of theories of superheavy nuclei and, thereby, discriminate among their predictions of the center of the island of stability. The best candidate for the center, where there is a "magic" energy gap, is at proton number 114. This result supports a long-standing prediction and challenges conflicting suggestions of modern self-consistent mean-field theories. Loosely bound nuclei such as nobelium are expected to be fragile, yet experiments at Argonne have shown them to be surprisingly robust. The resilient survival of superheavy nuclei with atomic weight up to perhaps Z=118, well past the onset of spontaneous fission in uranium (Z=92), is an interesting phenomenon in nuclear physics.
ANL Physics Division Colloquium Schedule
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http://www.phy.anl.gov/events/Colloquium/classified/abstracts-2006/nov03.html
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Brahmachari, SK and Meera, G and Sarkar, PS and Balagurumoorthy, P and Tripathi, J and Raghavan, S and Shaligram, U and Pataskar, S (1995) Simple repetitive sequences in the genome: structure and functional significance. In: Electrophoresis, 16 (9). pp. 1705-1714.Full text not available from this repository. (Request a copy)
The current explosion of DNA sequence information has generated increasing evidence for the claim that noncoding repetitive DNA sequences present within and around different genes could play an important role in genetic control processes, although the precise role and mechanism by which these sequences function are poorly understood. Several of the simple repetitive sequences which occur in a large number of loci throughout the human and other eukaryotic genomes satisfy the sequence criteria for forming non-B DNA structures in vitro. We have summarized some of the features of three different types of simple repeats that highlight the importance of repetitive DNA in the control of gene expression and chromatin organization. (i) (TG/CA)n repeats are widespread and conserved in many loci. These sequences are associated with nucleosomes of varying linker length and may play a role in chromatin organization. These Z-potential sequences can help absorb superhelical stress during transcription and aid in recombination. (ii) Human telomeric repeat (TTAGGG)n adopts a novel quadruplex structure and exhibits unusual chromatin organization. This unusual structural motif could explain chromosome pairing and stability. (iii) Intragenic amplification of (CTG)n/(CAG)n trinucleotide repeat, which is now known to be associated with several genetic disorders, could down-regulate gene expression in vivo. The overall implications of these findings vis-à-vis repetitive sequences in the genome are summarized.
|Item Type:||Journal Article|
|Additional Information:||Copy right of this article belongs to John Wiley and Sons.|
|Department/Centre:||Division of Biological Sciences > Molecular Biophysics Unit|
|Date Deposited:||13 Jan 2010 05:22|
|Last Modified:||13 Jan 2010 05:22|
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Limb shedding assists escape: starfish
The limbs of a starfish assist escape because they can be shed.
"Starfishes, which have hard spiny skeletons and five (or more) arms or limbs in a star-like arrangement, are also adept at autotomy when caught by predators. Their subsequent regeneration, however, can be particularly dramatic. As long as the shed limb is not devoured by the predator and still contains a section of the central body disc of the starfish that shed it, this limb has the ability to regenerate into a complete starfish." (Shuker 2001:132)
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TUPPER LAKE - The Wild Center presented its new heating and hot water systems, fueled by renewable resources and part of the "New Path" exhibition, that will explore and test the technology that decreases the museum's dependence on fossil fuels.
First announced in July 2009, the efficient wood pellet boiler is integrated with a solar hot water system that will supply much of the hot water required to heat the 54,000-square-foot facility in Tupper Lake.
The new boiler system is the first efficient, commercial-sized, gasification wood-pellet boiler of its kind and size manufactured and installed in New York state. Additionally, the solar hot water collection system is the first of its kind used in a commercial application in the Adirondack region.
Wild Center Executive Director Stephanie Ratcliffe speaks Thursday about the new wood-pellet boiler and solar-thermal heating system at The Wild Center in Tupper Lake.
(Photo — Chris Morris)
The project just won the Best Building Integrated and Innovative category in the 6KC Awards, recognizing the best solar projects and industry champions in the Empire State, by the New York Solar Energy Industries Association.
The project is supported by a $350,000 contract award by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority in response to a competitive solicitation, A key component of the project is that Clarkson University will conduct a rigorous scientific evaluation of the energy-efficiency and emissions performance of the boiler, as well as the integrated heating system, and report its findings to NYSERDA. It is anticipated that this evaluation will provide objective scientific information to be used by decision makers developing renewable energy strategies. It will also serve as a model for others looking to evaluate ways to heat with renewable fuels in an efficient manner.
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http://adirondackdailyenterprise.com/page/content.detail/id/513047.html?nav=5017
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In this article, we are discussing about the role of Java Applets in web application development. As we all know that an Applet is a simple Java program, which is written in Java programming language that extends the java.applet. Applet class provides the standard interface between an Applet application and Web Browser environment. Swing JApplet "javax.swing.JApplet" is another Swing Applet class, which is used in an Applet application to create graphical user interfaces (GUIs).
Basically, an Applet is a simple Java program that can be embedded within an HTML page and it runs into a web browser. However to run the Applet application, your browser must have the JVM plug-in or you can download and install Java Virtual Machine (JVM) in your system as JVM create an instance of the applet class that invokes various methods during the applet's lifetime.
There is one more noticeable thing about Java Applet is that it differs from stand-alone Java applications and never invokes the main ( ) method so, an Applet will not define the main method.
Here are few useful examples on Java Applet that illustrates the essentials of Java Applet programming:
Posted on: October 3, 2013 If you enjoyed this post then why not add us on Google+? Add us to your Circles
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Washington: Drinking more coffee could lower the risk of basal cell carcinoma, the commonest form of skin cancer, according to a new study.
“Our data indicate that the more caffeinated coffee you consume, the lower your risk of developing basal cell carcinoma (BCC),” said Jiali Han, associate professor at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston.
“I would not recommend increasing your coffee intake based on these data alone. However, our results add basal cell carcinoma to a list of conditions for which risk is decreased with increasing coffee consumption,” said Han, the journal Cancer Research, reported.
Even though BCC is slow-growing, it places a burden on health care systems. Though the cancer rarely kills, it can cause significant destruction and disfigurement by invading surrounding tissues.
“Given the large number of newly diagnosed cases, daily dietary changes having any protective effect may have an impact on public health,” said Han, according to a university statement.
Of the 112,897 participants included in the analyses, 22,786 developed basal cell carcinoma during the more than 20 years of follow-up in the two studies.
“These results really suggest that it is the caffeine in coffee that is responsible for the decreased risk of basal cell carcinoma associated with increasing coffee consumption,” said Han.
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http://www.gdayindia.com.au/coffee-lowers-risk-of-common-skin-cancer/
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Stay Slim by Eating Mediterranean
Scoring dietary habits
The current study, which comes out of a larger study called the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition—Physical Activity, Nutrition, Alcohol Consumption, Cessation of Smoking, Eating Out of Home, and Obesity project (EPIC—PANACEA), included data from more than 373,000 people in ten European countries. The people in the study filled out detailed dietary surveys and their eating habits were scored for how closely they matched a Mediterranean dietary pattern (MDP).
The MDP score was based on nine characteristics of a Mediterranean diet:
- eating high amounts of olive oil, vegetables, fruits and nuts, legumes, fish and seafood, and cereals;
- drinking alcohol moderately; and
- eating low amounts of meat and dairy products.
A score of 0–2 was assigned to each of the nine characteristics, so that the total MDP score ranged from 0–18, with a high score reflecting close adherence to the MDP. Once calculated, participants’ scores were compared with their weight changes over five years.
Small but significant
The results showed that eating a Mediterranean-style diet was associated with slightly less weight gain and a lower risk of becoming overweight or obese:
- For every 2-point increase in MDP score, 0.05 kg (0.11 pounds) less weight was gained during the five-year study.
- People with a high score (11–18) gained 0.16 kg (0.35 pounds) less weight and were 10% less likely to become overweight or obese during the study than people with a low score (0–6).
“This observational prospective study shows that eating a Mediterranean-like diet may help to prevent weight gain and the development of overweight and obesity,” the study’s authors said of their findings.
The researchers then looked at each component of the MDP separately to determine whether certain characteristics were especially important. “The low meat content of the Mediterranean diet seemed to account for most of its positive effect on weight gain,” they reported.
Get the meat out
This study suggests that we can add obesity prevention to the growing list of health benefits linked to the Mediterranean diet. One previous analysis involving 1.5 million healthy adults found that following a Mediterranean diet reduced the risks of overall and cardiovascular mortality, cancer and cancer mortality, and Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases.
If you’re making the switch to a Mediterranean diet, remember these important aspects:
- Cut down on meat. Have small portions infrequently, and choose plant-based alternatives like protein-dense beans and lentils whenever possible. Cold-water fish like wild salmon, tuna, and herring are another good meat-replacement once or twice a week.
- Beef up on fruits and vegetables. All healthy diets emphasize fruits and vegetables, and this one is no exception. Aim for seven to ten servings per day.
- Unrefined is the rule. Choose whole grains like wheat berries, bulgur wheat, brown rice, and oats instead of refined grain products such as breads, pasta, and crackers made from white flour.
- Pick healthy fats. Olive oil is a Mediterranean staple. It can be used instead of butter on cooked or raw vegetables and in many recipes. And don’t feel guilty about having nuts and seeds as snacks or in salads or other dishes—they are firmly established as heart-healthy.
- Celebrate with a glass of wine. Two glasses for a man and one glass for a woman every day is just about right, but check with your doctor if you have a health condition that might make drinking any alcohol a poor choice.
(Am J Clin Nutr 2010;92:912–21)
Maureen Williams, ND, received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania and her Doctorate of Naturopathic Medicine from Bastyr University in Seattle, WA. She has a private practice on Cortes Island in British Columbia, Canada, and has done extensive work with traditional herbal medicine in Guatemala and Honduras. Dr. Williams is a regular contributor to Healthnotes Newswire.
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The tortured southern polar terrain of Enceladus appears strewn with great boulders of ice in this fantastic view, one of the highest resolution images obtained so far by Cassini of any world.
Some smearing of the image due to spacecraft motion is apparent in this scene, which was acquired as Enceladus raced past Cassini's field of view near the time of closest approach. At the time, the imaging cameras were pointed close to the moon's limb (edge), rather than directly below the spacecraft. This allowed for less motion blur than would have been apparent had the cameras pointed straight down. Thus, the terrain imaged here was actually at a distance of 319 kilometers (198 miles) from Cassini.
At this fine scale, the surface is dominated by ice blocks between 10 and 100 meters (33 and 330 feet) across. The origin of these icy boulders is enigmatic. Scientists are interested in studying the sizes and numbers of the blocks in this bizarre scene, and in understanding whether terrain covered with boulders is common on Enceladus.
A wide-angle camera view centered on this location on Enceladus is available (see PIA06251), as well as a comparison view showing the position of this image within the wide-angle image (see PIA06250).
The image was taken during Cassini's very close flyby of Enceladus on July 14, 2005, from a distance of approximately 208 kilometers (129 miles) above Enceladus. Resolution in the image is about 4 meters (13 feet) per pixel. The image has been contrast enhanced to improve the visibility of surface.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.
For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. For additional images visit the Cassini imaging team homepage http://ciclops.org.
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When preschoolers are grouped in classrooms with a wide range of ages, their development suffers, says Gettysburg College Psychology Prof. Arlen Moller.
Moller is studying how preschool children are influenced by their peers. Together with colleagues at the Children's Institute and University of Rochester, Moller conducted a longitudinal study investigating how the range of age in preschool classrooms influences children's development. Among the 70 preschool classrooms included in their study, the age-range in some classrooms was as narrow as less than one year, while in other classrooms more than 2.7 years separated the oldest from the youngest child.
The results of their study indicate that greater variability in age was related to slower cognitive, motor, and social development. More specifically, several tests revealed that the negative influence of greater variability in age within classrooms was magnified for older children. In other words, when preschool classrooms are characterized by a wide range in age, children do worse, and older children suffer most. These findings remained significant when controlling factors such as class size, quality, and socioeconomic status, and may be controversial given that a number of experts in preschool education have recently expressed support for more mixed-age preschool classrooms.
Moller's research interests are in human motivation, specifically intrinsic motivation. His research often relates intrinsic motivation to the satisfaction of universal psychological needs, such as for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Some of his work has focused on why making choices can be fatiguing versus vitalizing. Moller earned a bachelor's degree from Cornell University, and a doctorate from the University of Rochester.
Contact: Kendra Martin, director of media relations
Founded in 1832, Gettysburg College is a highly selective four-year residential college of liberal arts and sciences with a strong academic tradition. Alumni include Rhodes Scholars, a Nobel laureate, and other distinguished scholars. The college enrolls 2,700 undergraduate students and is located on a 200-acre campus adjacent to the Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania.
Posted: Fri, 19 Dec 2008
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Common household pets, such as dogs and cats, can carry ringworm, which causes scalp fungus. You can pick up the condition just by touching these animals -- ringworm can transfer to you from contact with an animal's fur or skin. If a dog or cat has a bald spot, it could be a sign of a ringworm infection [source: Centers for Disease Control].
While you should keep in mind the risks posed by animals infected with ringworm, you're more likely to pick up the condition from another person. Ringworm can live for several months on items like hats, scarves, brushes, combs and other items that touch your scalp. To avoid infection, try to avoid sharing these items with other people. Even if someone's scalp looks healthy, he or she could be carrying scalp fungus without showing any symptoms [source: WebMD].
The best way to steer clear of scalp fungus is to avoid situations where you could pick it up from another person or animal. Good hygiene is important, too -- scalp fungus thrives in areas that are damp and moist, so be sure to wash the sweat out of your hair when you come back from a workout. Also, be careful if you have a cut or scrape on your scalp, because this is a prime spot for the fungus to enter your body. Be sure to wash any cuts or scrapes thoroughly [source: Berman].
Despite all your best efforts at prevention, sometimes it just doesn't work. For information on how to treat scalp fungus, read the next page.
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Image adapted with permission from 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
In the EFC, a slurry of activated carbon spheres in a non-toxic electrolyte (water with dissolved sodium sulfate) is pumped from reservoirs into the electrode-contact cell (inset), where the spheres acquire surface charge. The charged spheres attract ions in the electrolyte to their surfaces, forming an electrochemical capacitor slurry. The charged slurries are then pumped into separate storage reservoirs. To discharge the cell and extract the stored electrical energy, the process is simply reversed.
A new discovery shows that carbon-electrolyte slurries can store electrical energy in electric double layers just like conventional supercapacitors.
Capacitive carbon slurries can flow, enabling a new type of electrochemical storage device called the electrochemical flow capacitor (EFC), which combines the high charge/discharge rates of supercapacitors with the scalable energy capacity of flow batteries. Because only activated carbon and an environmentally friendly electrolyte are used, this invention (patent pending) is suitable for large-scale storage of renewable energy.
Scientists at Drexel University studying the properties of carbon slurries have discovered that the electrochemical and physical flow characteristics of such slurries are favorable for a new grid-scale storage concept called the electrochemical flow capacitor (EFC). In work supported by the Fluid Interface Reactions, Structures, and Transport (FIRST) Center, a DOE Energy Frontier Research Center, researchers have discovered that, just like supercapacitors, energy is stored in the electric double layer of charged carbon particles in an electrolyte slurry. A flowable carbon-electrolyte slurry could serve as the active material for an EFC, in which the charged slurry is handled in a similar fashion to flow or semi-solid battery fluids (i.e., for charging/discharging, the slurry is pumped into an electrochemical cell; for energy storage, the charged slurry is pumped into reservoirs). This new concept shares the major advantages of supercapacitors and flow batteries, providing rapid charging/discharging and excellent cyclability, while enabling the decoupling of the power and energy ratings. The study reported promising initial EFC performance data for carbon slurries obtained under static and intermittent flow operations. This approach may reduce the use of polymer separators, metal current collectors and packaging materials; these passive elements increase the cost and weight in current devices without contributing to the charge storage.
Director of the Fluid Interface Reactions
Structures and Transport (FIRST) Center EFRC
DOE Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences, Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) Program (V.P. and Y.G.); Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (fellowship support for V.P.); National Science Foundation student fellowships - IGERT (C.R.D.), REU (K.W.K.) and Bridge to the Doctorate Fellowship (J.C.); and Southern Pennsylvania Ben Franklin Energy Commercialization Institute (E.C.K.)
Presser, V.; Dennison, C.R.; Campos, J.; Knehr, K.W.; Kumbur, E.C.; and Gogotsi, Y. “The Electrochemical Flow Capacitor: A New Concept for Rapid Energy Storage and Recovery” Advanced Energy Materials, 2, 895–902 (2012). [DOI: 10.1002/aenm.201100768]
Gogotsi, Y., Presser, V., Kumbur, C. “Electrochemical Flow Capacitors, Patent Application PCT/US2012/024960, February 14, 2012
Fluid Interface Reactions, Structures and Transport (FIRST) Center EFRC
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Huntington, Samuel, 1731–96, political leader in the American Revolution, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. Windham, Conn. He was a delegate (1775–84) to and president (1779–81) of the Continental Congress before serving as governor of Connecticut (1786–96).
See A. E. Waugh, Samuel Huntington and His Family (1968).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
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Cement Deep-Soil Mixing
Professor K.K. “Muralee” Muraleetharan, School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, University of Oklahoma, and his team, which includes engineers from Iowa State, San Jose State University, UCLA, UCDavis, Earth Mechanics, Inc. and Advanced GeoSolutions, are studying a technique called “cement deep-soil mixing”, which strengthens clay soil to improve the performance of bridge pilings. The research project is a first step in a long-term process of understanding and improving the seismic behavior of pile foundations in soft clays. For structures undergoing seismic retrofit with pile foundations in weak soils, improving soils may be the only option.
According to Muraleetharan, innovative centrifuge and full-scale field tests using NEES sites at UCLA and UC Davis, simplified analysis methods and sophisticated, fully-coupled, simulation techniques are being used to understand and improve the seismic behavior of pile foundations in soft clays. As part of the study, the researchers are working in Miami, OK because the soft red clay soil is similar to soil in San Francisco and the New Madrid, which are some of the target applications for the project. The test hopes to determine if movement in the soil around iron piles that support bridge stanchions in earthquake zones may be controlled by adding certain amounts of cement. Testing will be conducted in mid-October. (NSF Award #0830328, “NEESR-SG: Understanding and Improving the Seismic Behavior of Pile Foundations in Soft Clays,” Muraleetharan, principal investigator, and Gerald Miler, Sri Sritharan, Steven Vukazich, and Amy Cerato, co-principal investigators.)
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Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) provides a common messaging format for web services. SOAP enables objects not known to one another to exchange messages. SOAP uses an XML-based data encoding format and HTTP to transport messages. SOAP is independent of both the programming language and the operational platform, and it does not require any specific technology at its endpoints
Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI) provides a standard way to register, de-register, and look up web services. Similar to a telephone system's yellow pages, a UDDI registry's enables providers to register their services and requestors to find services. Once a requestor finds a service, the registry has no more role to play between the requestor and the provider.
Web Services Description Language (WSDL) defines a standard way to specify the details of a web service. It is a general-purpose XML schema that can specifies details of web service interfaces, bindings, and other deployment details. By having such a standard way to specify details of a service, clients who have no prior knowledge of a web service can use it.
ebXML (Electronic Business using eXtensible Markup Language) is a set of specifications that enables enterprises to conduct business over the Internet. OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards) controls the ebXML specifications.
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The federal government, through the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), requires school districts to report Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) of schools.
The Utah State Office of Education and Superintendent Douglas E. Wright, have determined that ten of the twelve schools in the district have met the NCLB’s AYP standard.
They are elementary schools in Bluff, La Sal, Montezuma Creek, Monticello, and Mexican Hat and high schools in Monticello, Montezuma Creek, Monument Valley High, Navajo Mountain, and Blanding.
Testing results are divided into 40 groups, and each school must reach the standard in every group to make AYP status.
Blanding Elementary and Albert R. Lyman Middle school made Adequate Yearly Progress in mathematics, but did not make Adequate Yearly Progress in language arts.
Both schools also failed to make AYP status in 2007.
For the 2007-08 school year, the district as a whole made AYP. This is a significant improvement from the 2006-07 No Child Left Behind report.
In the previous school year, seven of the 12 schools made AYP. School officials believe this is due to the continued efforts of all stakeholders to improve the quality of the schools, including students, parents, and staff. They add that the overall trend since 2002 has illustrated a significant and consistent improvement in standardized assessment.
Superintendent Wright noted, “By building on the success and dedication of years past, we continue to strive to make improvements in the education we offer. San Juan School District is on a journey toward excellence. We appreciate the efforts of all who are involved in the education of the students of San Juan School District.”
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Learn about heat transfer and how to keep things warm by testing the characteristics of different materials with this fun activity for kids. Some materials are good thermal conductors, easily letting heat pass through them, while others are good thermal insulators, not easily letting heat pass through them. Conduct experiments and watch how the temperature changes. Record your results on a table and make your own conclusions, some materials help keep things warm while others make them go cold quick. Find out if metal, cardboard and polystyrene are good at thermal insulation or have good thermal conductivity by checking out this heat transfer activity.
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Locate information on school districts and individual schools in Maricopa County.
Locating a School District
The easiest way to find the name of the school district(s) you reside in is to visit the Maricopa County Recorder's website. Once there, check the School Districts box under the Map Layers list on the far left side of the page. Click Tools in the upper right hand corner, then choose Find an Address (House Icon) once the toolbar appears. A box will appear in the lower right hand corner; input the address you're interested in and click the Search button. The address will appear on the map indicating your local school district as well as in the address input box.
Maricopa County School Districts
Maricopa County is home to 58 schools districts which serve over 700,000 students. School districts are classified as elementary districts (kindergarten- 8th grade), union high school districts (9-12th grades), and unified school districts (kindergarten through 12th grade). View Maricopa County School Districts
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By Catherine Malcolm
While core values has guided the educational curriculum and testing protocols in this country, world stats continue to show that it doesn’t work.
“U.S. students, who once led the world, currently rank 21st in the world in science and 25th in math,” Newsweek reported in 2011.
Core Values is a hot topic in parenting and teaching circles. Everyone wants what’s best for their little budding brainiac. But does it work? Many, like Sir Ken Robinson (acclaimed educationalist) and most of the best private schools in the world don’t think so.
Not only is the Core Value initiative an old model based on an old paradigm of teaching, production line education at its best produces conformity. But when the first authors designed our our current system, conformity in society was what everyone wanted. “Follow the leader!” And we did. The handful of creative thinkers who dared to step outside of the box became pioneering entrepreneurs. And we followed. While knowing how to get along with the group is as necessary as learning one’s ABC’s, that kind of teaching fails us when we try to stand out or even stand up to the new global dynamic.
The major problem with the CORE VALUE argument is what it leaves out. The arts are not extra-curricular, they are essential educational experiences that nurture true visceral relationships between the student and his/her curriculum. It helps to foster divergent and critical thinking whereas our current standard core promotes conformity. Our schools should not be factories with children on an assembly-line toward jobs that no longer exist. To compete in the 21st century, with technology, social media and communication at it’s most powerful in the history of our world, we must create a new educational paradigm. One that embraces the arts and its ability to nurture divergent thinking. A curriculum that uses the tools that we have at our disposal, tools that the authors of our old educational system couldn’t have imagined. We need teachers who are supported for their ability to nurture critical thinking and creativity, and a support system to allow those possibilities to grow.
Sir Robinson said of education, “Teachers will tell you, ‘don’t copy!’ – it’s cheating. But when you leave school, it’s called collaboration.”
A study published in the book Break Point & Beyond illustrates the need for change in our current educational system. A longitudinal study tested children for “Divergent Thinking” (the ability to think critically and creatively about a problem).
The first group showed a remarkable 80% scoring at the GENIUS level. How old were they? Kindergarten level. These same children were tested 5 years later. The same children. The same test. The genius level scores dropped to 50%. Five years following…down to 15%. While the educational system cannot be laid blame for all of the decline, it certainly can’t be left outside the margins of cause and effect.
In the last 5 years, with the rise of mobile communications and “smart phones” there is a growing trend for parents to share time with their children on apps, some of which are labeled “educational.” Even some “entertainment” apps have shown to encourage a child’s intellectual and creative growth. While apps for children, especially in the educational market is the fastest growing segment in this market, there’s a lot out there that are simply cheap product.
The growth of good, high quality apps that help to support what schools are doing, and better yet, NOT doing, is small. App development is expensive and labor intensive, while many apps released are either free or cost less than a cup of coffee at Starbucks. Less than a cup of coffee. Imagine that for a moment. You’ve just experienced divergent thinking. Now imagine what a good app could do for your child…or maybe even you.
Here’s an excerpt of Sir Ken Robinson’s discussion of our current educational crisis and what he believes are key points of inquiry.
About the Author
Catherine Malcolm is co-founder of FeeFiFoFun, an emerging children’s entertainment and publishing company that seeks to break through the barriers facing children’s education to give parents and their kids an alternative, or at least complementary support to curriculum enrichment. Our mission is to foster arts, creativity and critical thinking in children of all ages. Like them on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/FeeFiFoFunz.
Used with permission from StayTooned.com
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A new study this week indicates that dogs poop in alignment with the Earth's magnetic field. When left to their own devices (as in not on a leash), they exhibit a strong tendency to align themselves along a north/south axis before the first turd hits the ground. This ground-breaking research is in agreement with previous studies of cattle and deer, suggesting that there may well be something to the ancient oriental art of feng-pui.
Our findings open horizons for the study of magnetoreception in general and are of potential significance for applied ethology (husbandry, animal welfare). They challenge neuroscientists and biophysics to explain the proximate mechanisms.
It's a safe bet that animal "rights" professional agitators will soon be demanding that doghouses, stables, and barns be designed and situated in such a manner as to accommodate the clearly preferred alignments of the animals housed therein.
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Bamboo is a great product for making products for the home such as strand woven bamboo flooring, bamboo kitchen utensils and bamboo furniture. It is also great for the garden. This article will focus on how you can use bamboo for the garden.
Firstly, it is easy to grow bamboo in your garden. Bamboo grows naturally all over the world. Only Europe and Antarctica lack indigenous varieties of bamboo. Bamboo can withstand both the freezing cold as well as the steamy heat of the tropics. There are over 1,000 types of bamboo to choose from. These can be divided into 2 main groupings – running bamboo and clumping bamboo. Running bamboo, as the name suggests, spreads quickly and is great for creating privacy and shade in a garden. It can also be used to define a border. Clumping bamboo grows in tight groupings and adds a striking ornament to a garden.
You can grow bamboo in your garden from seed or from small plants. Bamboo plants are easy to establish and maintain. Bamboo has a natural resistance to pests and so can be grown organically. If you have a slope on your property bamboo is great for holding the soil together and preventing landslides.
Tests in Japan have shown that bamboo charcoal makes a good organic fertilizer. It keeps the soil at a suitable PH level for the growing of many plants and vegetables.
Another use of bamboo is for stakes and poles for growing such things as beans. Bamboo is strong and flexible. It can withstand the vicissitudes of bad weather and is inexpensive.
Bamboo also makes great fencing for a garden. It looks more natural and appealing than plastic fencing and it is more environmentally friendly than wooden fencing.
Finally, outdoor bamboo blinds and shades help to create privacy and shade in an outdoor area such as a patio, veranda or balcony. Bamboo shades also help to filter out the UVA and UVB rays from the sun. They make an outdoor area more appealing and can be bought for just a few dollars.
Bamboo is a very hardy and fast growing plant. It is also an excellent material from which to make a number of products for the garden.
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Moderate El Niños often bring big snows
* Windy and chilly, but gradually drying out: Full Forecast *
Our winter outlook, and several others that have been issued, are calling for better than average chances of a snowy winter because we're currently experience a weak to moderate El Niño event (an event characterized by warmer-than-normal sea-surface temperatures over the equatorial Pacific that can lead to shifts in weather worldwide). Our local National Weather Service Office in Sterling, Va. recently posted an article discussing the relationship between El Niño events and snow here. Here's an excerpt from the article along with a telling graphic:
On average, the stronger the El Niño episode, the warmer and wetter the winters have been. These findings can largely be linked to a stronger than normal sub-tropical jet that typically occurs during moderate to strong El Niño winters, which would favor more active storm systems from the south that draw warm, moist air northward as opposed to the drier Alberta clippers from the northwest. Seasonal snowfall averaged above normal for weak and moderate El Niño winters while below normal for strong El Niño episodes. During strong El Niño episodes, the bulk of the cold air remains north of the mid-Atlantic region, often resulting in precipitation falling as rain instead of changing to snow.
Interestingly, though moderate El Niños tend to produce above average snows for the season, slightly below average snow is characteristic of December during such events. When do you think we'll see our first accumulating snow?
| November 27, 2009; 11:00 AM ET
Categories: Local Climate, Winter Storms
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Paris, France (ESA) Nov 04, 2010
Adding to their unique information from previous tandem missions, ESA's ERS-2 and Envisat satellites have been paired up again - for the last time. Data from this final duet are generating 3D models of glaciers and low-lying coastal areas.
The 2010 tandem campaign continues the work of the satellites' earlier joint efforts on measuring the speed of fast-moving glaciers, detecting land-ice motion and developing elevation models over flat terrain.
Their third pairing took place from February to April 2010 with both satellites acquiring radar data for the first time over Antarctica's coastal glaciers and ice shelves just 30 minutes apart.
By combining their synthetic aperture radar (SAR) tandem data, acquired over the same area within a short time, changes that occurred quickly can be detected. Some fast-moving glaciers, for instance, move more than 200 m per year and can move as much as 1 cm in 30 minutes.
This technique, known as SAR interferometry, or InSAR, has proven to be very useful for monitoring glaciers, detecting surface deformation and creating digital elevation models (DEMs).
Dr Paolo Pasquali, Technical Director of Switzerland's Sarmap, is using the SAR data to document the fast dynamic of sea ice and icebergs as they move and detach from the Larsen Ice Shelf.
In the image (right), acquired on 26 February over the Antarctica Peninsula, the brightness of the pixels depends on the reflectivity of the terrain to the radar, while the colour variation relates to the velocity of motion of the sea ice/icebergs and to its direction.
Denser fringes (colour variations) represent faster displacements. One full colour cycle (e.g. from red to red) corresponds to around 1.4 cm/hour of additional displacement.
"These measures are of great interest for monitoring the fast dynamic of sea ice and for identifying the ground ice line," Dr Pasquali said. "We have also plenty of other very nice sea ice examples obtained during the first and second tandem campaigns over the Northern Canada-Alaska region."
A fourth campaign, from July to October 2010, focused on low-lying coastal areas, such as New Orleans in USA and the Po River Mouth in Italy. This information will be used for various applications in many different fields, in particular for creating accurate DEMs of coastal areas that could be used to help manage floods.
Dr Urs Wegmuller, President of GAMMA Remote Sensing, is using the data to generate valuable information about the topography and state of permafrost areas. The image below characterises the land cover in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug region in Arctic Northwest Russia.
"In flat parts, the surface topography can be retrieved in great detail, which is important for understanding the hydrology of this permafrost area," Dr Wegmuller said.
Realising the tandem campaign was a team effort. ERS-2's instruments operate only within range of a ground station because its tape recorder broke in 2003, the 2010 Tandem Campaign Manager Siegfried Schmuck explained.
"To help ESA get data from over areas where it didn't have an available station, NASA and the German Aerospace Center offered up their Antarctic antenna stations for ERS-2 data downlinks. It was a really great experience to see how well the teams from different continents worked together, and we are glad the data are being put to good use."
Other ground stations within the ERS-2 network, such as the Khanty-Mansiysk station in Siberia, contributed to the success of the campaigns.
As planned, the fourth campaign ended on 22 October, the day in which Envisat was placed into a new orbit (from about 800 km to about 783 km) to minimise fuel usage and extend its life by three years. As a consequence, Envisat and ERS-2 are now in two different orbits and can no longer acquire tandem SAR data.
ESA will make the datasets from this final joint flight available to everyone as soon as they are processed and validated.
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Earth Observation News - Suppiliers, Technology and Application
After bitter row, Google launches Street View in Germany
Berlin (AFP) Nov 2, 2010
Following months of controversy over privacy, US Internet giant Google put its first images from Germany online Tuesday as part of its Street View navigation service. Street View users were able to see the rolling hills, tree-lined streets and quaint wooden houses of the tiny town of Oberstaufen in Bavaria, south Germany. In contrast to the fevered debate leading up to the service's laun ... read more
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Plant chemistry and aphid parasitoids (Hymenoptera : Braconidae): Imprinting and memory
van Emden, H. F., Storeck, A. P., Douloumpaka, S., Eleftherianos, I., Poppy, G. M. and Powell, W. (2008) Plant chemistry and aphid parasitoids (Hymenoptera : Braconidae): Imprinting and memory. European Journal of Entomology, 105 (3). pp. 477-483. ISSN 1210-5759
Full text not archived in this repository.
Emerging parasitoids of aphids encounter secondary plant chemistry from cues left by the mother parasitoid at oviposition and from the plant-feeding of the host aphid. In practice, however, it is secondary plant cheinistry oil the Surface of the aphid mummy which influences parasitoid olfactory behaviour. Offspring of Aphidius colemani reared oil Myzus persicae on artificial diet did no distinguish between the odours of bean and cabbage, but showed a clear preference for cabbage odour if sinigrin had been painted oil the back of the mummy. Similarly Aphidius rhopalosiphi reared on Metopolophium dirhodum on wheat preferred the odour of wheat plants grown near tomato plants to odour of wheat alone if the wheat plants oil which they had been reared had been exposed to the volatiles of nearby tomato plants. Aphidius rhopalosiphi reared on M dirhodum, and removed from the mummy before emergence, showed a preference for the odour of a different wheat cultivar if they had contacted a mummy from that cultivar, and similar results were obtained with A. colemani naturally emerged from M. persicae mummies. Aphidius colemani emerged from mummies oil one crucifer were allowed to contact in sequence (for 45 min each) mummies from two different crucifers. The mumber of attacks made in 10 min oil M. persicae was always significantly higher when aphids were feeding oil the same plant as the origin of the last MUMMY offered, or oil the second plant if aphids feeding on the third plant were not included. Chilling emerged A. colemani for 24 h at 5 degrees C appeared to erase the imprint of secondary plant chemistry, and they no longer showed host plant odour preferences in the olfactometer. When the parasitoids were chilled after three Successive mummy experiences, memory of the last experience appeared at least temporarily erased and preference was then shown for the chemistry of the second experience.
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The 2012 Republican primary race introduced super political action committees (super PACs) to the presidential campaign setting. A super PAC is a powerful entity that can accept unlimited donations from individuals, corporations, and unions. Super PACs can then spend this money on advertisements, automated calling systems, or any other campaign activity as long as they do not coordinate with individual candidates. The concept of a super PAC is a fairly recent innovation, and the federal laws that govern elections must be updated in order to handle the unique challenges that super PACs present.
In Citizens United v. FEC, the Supreme Court justified striking down legislative bans on corporate political expenditures in part because “disclosure [of donors] permits citizens . . . to react to the speech of corporate entities in a proper way” and allows them to “make informed decisions and give proper weight to different speakers and messages.” However, as this Comment discusses, the current disclosure requirements are antiquated and ineffective.
Current laws allow super PACs to withhold their donors’ identities until after the first four presidential primaries. The first few primaries in the presidential race are often the most important because that is when frontrunners emerge and many candidates withdraw. In 2012, it was impossible for voters in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Florida to “react to the speech of corporate entities in a proper way” because their sole method of reacting—voting—expired before they even learned that they were hearing corporate speech. This Comment identifies the holes in current federal disclosure laws that allow super PACs to delay disclosing their donors and proposes new legislative language that will fix this problem.
Food safety is a hotly debated issue. While food nourishes, sustains, and enriches our lives, it can also kill us. At any given meal, our menu comes from a dozen different sources. Without proper incentives to encourage food safety, microbial pathogens can, and do enter the food source—so much so that according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), each year roughly one in six Americans (or forty-eight million people) gets sick, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die of foodborne diseases. What is the optimal way to prevent unsafe foods from entering the marketplace?
Safety in the food system emerges from a delicate interplay of several sources—direct regulation, legal liability, and market response. And yet food safety is a largely unexplored area in legal scholarship. This Article fills this void by examining the contribution of legal liability first as an economic signal to deter firms from producing unsafe food and then as an indirect regulator promoting food safety. Two parts follow.
Part I examines the efficacy of legal liability to deter firms from producing unsafe food. I estimate an empirical model using all (320) publicly recorded foodborne illness settlements and verdicts in the U.S. from 2000–2011, to determine factors that influence the plaintiff win rate, resolution time, and plaintiff recovery.
Statistically significant results include: Plaintiffs who sue for foodborne illness injuries win more often and win more monetary damages when they settle. Cases are resolved faster and damages are higher when the plaintiff’s attorney is ranked and an expert in the field. Interestingly, in states where punitive damage limits are in place, plaintiffs resolve their cases faster, they are more likely to win, and they collect more damages in general. When the plaintiff suffers the gravest injury (death), the case takes longer to resolve and damages are higher. Plaintiffs also win more damages when the injury takes place in a state that has an efficient public health reporting system.
The results suggest that as a cost of doing business, foodborne illness litigation sends a strong signal to firms to increase food safety practices—but only when cases settle and not necessarily when they reach a jury trial. The way in which the results highlight the existence of market failures in providing food safety—the transaction costs and the information costs preventing plaintiffs from suing in the first place and from recovering fully—presents valuable information for regulators.
Part II contributes to the understanding and active debate surrounding the interplay between legal liability and food safety regulation, suggesting the optimal way for these two deterrence mechanisms to interact. My solution is for regulation to be responsive to foodborne illness litigation. This Article advocates for empirically informed regulation and contributes to the literature of tort law, law and economics, and food safety. The new Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), promulgated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), has the potential to aid plaintiffs in overcoming causation and traceability concerns with their claims. Concrete recommendations seek to inform an audience of regulators currently drafting the final rules.
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My son has only recently been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, and we are trying to ensure that we feed him the right balance of foods to avoid a hypo whilst he is asleep at night. We have been asked to check his glucose level at 3:00 am each day, and this is proving very draining to us. Are there comparison graphs available for carbohydrates to show their relative breakdown periods?
The total amount of carbohydrate at a meal or snack, rather than the type of carbohydrate, affects blood sugars most. It is important for persons with diabetes to match insulin dosages with a proper amount of carbohydrate. Food choices from the starch/bread group, fruit group, milk group, and sweets should be spread out during the day and combined with lean protein choices and healthier fats.
[Editor's comment: How a particular food will effect a blood sugar can vary greatly because of individual differences and day to day changes in a variety of things. Trial and error is the only way to see what works best for your child.
As far as 3:00 checks go, I suspect you'll be able to back off for a while after insulin doses are stabilized. However, I do know many parents who get up every night even after living with diabetes for years. Pain that it is, blood glucose monitoring is the only way right now to really see what is going on so that adjustments can be made as needed. Not monitoring is sort of like driving your car without a speedometer. The more you check, the better your child's will be. SS]
Original posting 12 Sep 2003
Posted to Meal Planning, Food and Diet
Last Updated: Tuesday April 06, 2010 15:09:50
This Internet site provides information of a general nature and is designed for educational purposes only. If you have any concerns about your own health or the health of your child, you should always consult with a physician or other health care professional.
This site is published by T-1 Today, Inc. (d/b/a Children with Diabetes), a 501c3 not-for-profit organization, which is responsible for its contents. Our mission is to provide education and support to families living with type 1 diabetes.
© Children with Diabetes, Inc. 1995-2016. Comments and Feedback.
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Twitter Revolutions: How social media and young people can change the world
When throngs of young people took to the streets of Tunis, Tunisia, last month to protest the corrupt, repressive government and its inability to combat rising food prices and high unemployment, they communicated through social means that you and I take for granted.
Using Twitter and Facebook, the protesters managed to organize large groups of Tunisians to come together and express their outrage against a 23-year-old regime that had done little for the people but suppress their rights and fill the pockets of those at the top. When President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali fled the country on Jan. 14, it became clear that the first Twitter Revolution had occurred.
The same could be said for Egypt. Emboldened by the revolution in Tunisia, young Egyptian protesters mobilized using social networking sites to take to the streets. After two days of unrest, the Egyptian government shut down the nation’s Internet and cut off wireless phone service to prevent the protests from gaining momentum. But that hasn’t stopped protesters, despite the tear gas and the threats of prison.
|When states were deciding whether to ratify the Constitution, several of the Founding Fathers used newspapers, the most effective means of communication at the time, to try to win the document’s approval. James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and John Jay wrote a series of 85 compelling essays, known as The Federalist Papers, which explained how the new government would run and argued in favor of the Constitution. The essays were later published as a book in 1788.
While it appears the Internet blackout has done little to put out the fires of discontent in Cairo, these two revolutions and the unsuccessful 2009 “Green Revolution” in Iran have shown how young people can use social media to try to bring about meaningful change in their countries.
New Internet tools, however, can be a double-edged sword as repressive governments use social networking sites to gather information against dissidents.
But the roles that Facebook and Twitter have played in recent revolts cannot be overlooked. For example, in Tunisia, reporters were prevented from covering the protests that started in the coastal city of Sidi Bouzid and that the state-run media labeled as terrorism or vandalism.
Despite government efforts to cover up protests, Ethan Zuckerman of Foreign Policy magazine reported: “Tunisians got an alternative picture from Facebook, which remained uncensored through the protests, and they communicated events to the rest of the world by posting videos to YouTube and Dailymotion. As unrest spread from Sidi Bouzid to Sfax, from Hammamet and ultimately to Tunis, Tunisians documented events on Facebook. As others followed their updates, it’s likely that news of demonstrations in other parts of the country disseminated online helped others conclude that it was time to take to the streets.”
What do you think?
How are social media such as Twitter and Facebook used to bring about change? How does Facebook offer an alternative view of events? How could you use Facebook or Twitter to implement a positive social change in your community? Join the discussion and let us know what you think!
Join the Discussion
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These vapour pressure analyses and associated maps use data contained in the Bureau of Meteorology climate database, the Australian Data Archive for Meteorology (ADAM). The analyses are initially produced automatically from real-time data with limited quality control. They are intended to provide a general overview of vapour pressure across Australia as quickly as possible after the observations are received.
What is vapour pressure?
According to the American Meteorological Society's Glossary of Meteorology, vapour pressure is the pressure exerted by the molecules of a given vapour. For a pure, confined vapour, it is that vapour's pressure on the walls of its containing vessel; for a vapour mixed with other vapours or gases, it is that vapour's contribution to the total pressure (i.e., its partial pressure). In meteorology, vapour pressure is used almost exclusively to denote the partial pressure of water vapour in the atmosphere.
The water vapour pressure is directly related to the number of water vapour molecules in the air. In Australia, the air-masses with the highest water vapour content are tropical in origin, while those with the lowest are sourced from the arid interior or the high latitudes of the Southern Ocean during cold outbreaks.
Humans experience the sensation of 'humidity' when the vapour pressure reaches around 18 to 20 hPa, allowing for individual tolerances and acclimatisation to local conditions. Furthermore, the air can feel 'humid' despite the fact that the relative humidity doesn't convey it. For example, at 3 pm on an average January day in Broome, the relative humidity would be about 66%, but the vapour pressure would be around 30 hPa. Conversely, on a cool, foggy morning in Hobart with a temperature of, say, 5°C, the relative humidity will be 100% but the vapour pressure would only be around 9 hPa.
Daily vapour pressure maps
At about 3:30 am each day, the 9 am and 3 pm vapour pressure values for the previous day are analysed, using dewpoint temperature data with very limited quality control.
The vapour pressure (in hectopascals) is calculated from the dewpoint temperature (in degrees Celsius), via the equation
vapour pressure = exp (1.8096 + (17.269425 * dewpoint)/(237.3 + dewpoint))
Dewpoint temperatures are measured directly at about 750 sites across the country, and stored in the climate database. These station data are then analysed onto 0.25x0.25 and 0.05x0.05 degree grids.
The national map shown on the web is based on the 0.05x0.05 degree grid, sub-sampled at every fifth point to give an effective resolution of 0.25x0.25 degrees. The regional maps are based directly on the 0.05x0.05 degree grids, so there may be some differences in the fine detail between the national map and the regional maps.
All analyses and maps are progressively updated over the following six months, as new data becomes available and as the data in the climate database are improved through quality control. The schedule of updates is available here. Subsequent versions will tend to be more accurate, as they will be based on larger quality-controlled input datasets. A date stamp at the bottom right-hand corner of each map indicates when the analysis was produced.
Monthly and multiple-monthly vapour pressure maps
Monthly (9 am or 3 pm) vapour pressures are calculated as the averages of the corresponding daily (9 am or 3 pm) vapour pressures.
The latest vapour pressure maps, for periods of one or more months, are usually produced on the first day of the following month, with further updates according to the schedule of updates available here. Subsequent versions will be more accurate, as they will be based on larger and more accurate input datasets. A date stamp at the bottom right-hand corner of each map indicates when the analysis was produced.
Analyses over 3, 6 and 12 months are based on the average of the one-month grids which comprise the period in question.
The anomaly maps show the departure from the long-term climate average calculated over the period 1971-2000, with the daily anomalies calculated with respect to the monthly average for the relevant month. There would normally be some correlation between rainfall anomalies and vapour pressure anomalies, with excessive rainfall coinciding with above average vapour pressure values (positive anomalies) and drought conditions coinciding with negative anomalies. During droughts, soil and vegetation become drier thereby reducing the amount of water available for evaporation and transpiration.
The analyses are computer generated using a sophisticated analysis technique described here. This method uses an optimised Barnes successive correction technique that applies a weighted averaging process to the station data. Topographical information is included by the use of anomalies (departures from average) in the analysis process. On the maps each grid point represents an approximately square area with sides of about 5 kilometres (0.05 degrees). The size of the grids is limited by the data density across Australia.
This grid point analysis technique provides an objective average for each grid square and enables useful estimates in data-sparse areas such as central Australia. However, in data-rich areas such as southeast Australia or in regions with strong gradients, 'data smoothing' will occur resulting in gridpoint values that may differ slightly from the exact vapour pressures measured at the contributing stations.
Most of these vapour pressure maps are produced as both colour and black/white GIF images, with low and high resolution versions available in each case. The low resolution colour GIF images are the ones usually displayed, with links to the other three types placed under the main image. Place names are generally to be found on the high resolution versions. PDF version of the images are also generated for high-quality printing. Please note however that the PDF version is not archived for reasons of space. PDF version of older maps may be obtained via feedback form, but charges may be imposed for their provision.
The map projections used are either Cylindrical Equidistant (CE) or Lambert Conformal (LC). The Lambert Conformal projection takes three parameters; the central longitude (in degrees east of the Greenwich Meridian) and two standard parallels of latitude (in degrees south of the equator).
|Map projection||LC 134° 10°, 40°||CE||CE||LC 140.8° 10°, 40°||LC 146.5° 10°, 44°||CE||CE||CE|
The Victoria and Tasmania maps are based on a finer resolution analysis than the remaining maps. Consequently there may be slight inconsistencies in the detail represented on the Vic./Tas. maps as compared against the Aus./SA/NSW maps.
Daily and monthly vapour pressure grids may be downloaded from the Bureau's website. These grids are in an ASCII format suitable for ingesting into geographic information systems (GISs), compressed using the UNIX compress utility. The ASCII grids have appended to them their original AIFS ASCII grid header (a Bureau of Meteorology grid format), to provide additional grid metadata. Note that some GISs may require the user to change the grid file extension from '.grid' to '.txt', prior to ingestion into the GIS.
The analyses use data collected through electronic and paper communication channels. These data have been screened for errors, using an automated technique, and make use of quality control which has been undertaken on the climate database. Full quality control is completed some weeks to months after the end of the most recent month when (a) extreme values are confirmed by written reports, and (b) data more generally are compared with those of nearby stations so that values and dates of occurrences are similar.
Occasionally in the data-sparse areas, observational errors may enter the analyses because they cannot be detected by comparison with other reports. In these instances, the erroneous maps will be amended as soon as is practicable.
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Friday, May 21, 2010
"A school needs to be a place for all children, not based on the idea that they are all the same, but that they are all different."
-Loris Malaguzzi (founder of the first Reggio Emilia School)
Reflective light has been the subject of discovery and object of fascination for the children for quite sometime. A few days ago we decided to experiment and play with sand on top of the light table. The children begun to explore the sand, perhaps attracted by the light that shined through the plexi glass… The explorations involved their entire body moving it up and down from left to right in rhythm with the sands movement. They used their palms, finger tips, elbows and different objects to move it around. The light created some dark and light shadows that altered the appearance of the sand.
I had prepared baskets with glass prisms, agate slices and natural shells to be used with the sand if the children chose too. The first child used the natural seashells and discovered that when rolled on top of the sand it left beautiful soft stripes of light. His attention is fully captured; he notices the stripes of light peaking through the sand and yells out, “GUYS come here! Have you ever seen a beautiful design like this before?” The emotional reaction to the discovery of the “stripe lights” spreads across the room. Everyone loved his amazing discovery and asked him for a live demonstration. He gladly gave one with a big proud smile on his face while his admirers looked and learned.
Let us not forget that children are clever and capable. Yesterday, I was reminded that I should change the color of sand in order to make it more fun. “You never know Ms. Maria; it might make the light shine more,we should experiment. Let’s use purple today and maybe green tomorrow.”
It is probably one of the most powerful memories that the children and I will forever treasure. Why not simply, let go of a set curriculum and things that make us comfortable, it diminishes the excitement and wonder from each child. They have to make those discoveries in order for learning to take place.
LEARNING SHOULD BE FUN!!!
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In our problem, the level of water remains the same, as we have and flowing in and flowing out.
If we call the salt level , then we have
To find , we subtract the rate of salt flowing out from the rate flowing in:
The rate flowing in is
Since the fluid is well-mixed, the rate flowing out will be in proportion to as the current salt level is to the entire resevoir. Therefore,
For , we obtain
Now, all that remains is to solve the differential equation using the initial conditions given.
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The bizarre and repressive nation of North Korea has taken yet another outlandish turn – the state-controlled media claims that archaeologists have found the remains of a lair where the mythical unicorn belonging to an ancient king resided.
In an article from the Korean Central News Agency entitled “Lair of King Tongmyong's Unicorn Reconfirmed,” archaeologists from the History Institute of the DPRK [North Korea] Academy of Social Sciences discovered the lair near the Yongmyong Temple in Moran Hill in Pyongyang City.
The unicorn was allegedly owned by King Tongmyong, who founded the Koguryo Kingdom which lasted from B.C. 277 BC to 668 AD.
The KCNA report also stated that a “rectangular rock carved with words ‘Unicorn Lair’ stands in front of the lair. The carved words are believed to date back to the period of Koryo Kingdom (918-1392)… The temple served as a relief palace for King Tongmyong, in which there is the lair of his unicorn."
Continue Reading Below
Historically, in the West, the existence in the belief of unicorns stretches back to ancient Greece and the Bible. In the Middle Ages in Europe, unicorns became a popular and dominant symbol.
Jo Hui Sung, director of the Institute, apparently told KCNA: "Korea's history books deal with the unicorn, considered to be ridden by King Tongmyong, and its lair.”
Clearly using this “discovery” as a propaganda tool against South Korea, KCNA further declared that this extraordinary find “proves that Pyongyang was a capital city of Ancient Korea as well as Koguryo Kingdom."
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Colonel George Crook was on the stagecoach that approached Tucson from the west. The old walled city was a welcome sight for the colonel and the other passengers who looked forward to relief from the stifling heat, the bouncing and jolting, the enveloping dust and the constant tension of traveling through the hostile deserts of Apachería.
For many days Crook had endured the rigors of the 1,000-mile journey from San Francisco, but none of the passengers knew who he was. At the stage stations they had not seen him drink tea, coffee or any alcoholic beverage. He had not smoked, uttered any profanity or chewed tobacco. Despite the absence of those male habits common in that era, there was no doubt he was a man’s man, and he sat with a shotgun across his knees. He was not wearing his uniform. He never wore it when he did not have to.
Although more than 6 feet tall, Crook was not big, but rather spare, athletic and sinewy. He wore his fair hair close-cropped. His beard parted at the point of his chin and his blue-grey eyes were always alert.
He had orders to assume command of the U.S. Army’s Arizona Department. His mission was to end the fighting between the Apaches and the whites–peacefully if possible. The ‘dark and bloody ground’ of Kentucky in Daniel Boone’s time had never even begun to approach the blood and terror of Apachería for the past 10 years. Crook’s job was to round up the Indians and put them on reservations.
Others had tried. All had failed. But the man who arrived in Tucson in early July 1871, so unassuming that even the stage driver did not know who he was, had different ideas about how to deal with Indians. As a young lieutenant in California in the early 1850s, he had been dismayed at how the Indians were treated when the U.S. Senate rejected the 18 treaties negotiated with 139 bands and tribes, leaving them with no rights. He stated, ‘When they were pushed beyond endurance and would go on the warpath we had to fight when our sympathies were with the Indians.’ Nevertheless, he led successful campaigns against them in Washington, Oregon and California, and proved to be very effective in dealing with the Shoshones and the Nez Perce Indians. He believed that Indians were human beings and deserved to be treated as such. That was a very unpopular idea among the whites in Arizona in the 1870s, and he would find his philosophy nearly impossible to implement.
After serving the Union well during the Civil War, Crook had been awarded the regular rank of lieutenant colonel and sent to the Northwest again. He was assigned the tough task of subduing the ferocious Shoshones, who possessed some of the finest light cavalry units the world has ever seen. He conducted a tough, successful campaign and then tried to obtain a fair deal for them. They were grateful and respected him for his honesty.
Ten years later, Shoshone warriors would help him in his battles with Cheyenne and Sioux hostiles. But first, Crook had to confront the Apaches. When ordered to Arizona Territory, he went down to San Francisco and left from there to tackle what he knew would be a major undertaking.
The colonel may have arrived in Tucson in anonymity, but he was immediately the man in charge. Before the end of his first day there, he had sent orders to all of his unit commanders in forts and camps to report without delay to Tucson. As each man reported to him, Crook learned everything that man knew about the territory–the rivers, the fords, the trails, the soil and the climate. He found out about the troopers each commanded, the state of their morale and their experience.
Crook stressed the importance of having healthy pack mules and horses, and he asked detailed questions about the animals. He had a passionate interest in the mules because he knew the success of any campaign, to a large extent, depended on them. He made it a point to know about the mules on every expedition, about their health and their eccentricities. The best men available were assigned to them.
George Crook’s pack mules easily carried twice the load the army manual stipulated because he allowed only the best equipment to be used, and each pack saddle was tailored to fit each mule. He often spent an hour a day with the men and the mules, demonstrating scientific packing and how to check on the physical health of the mules. Therefore, Crook’s troopers always had the ammunition they needed and his mule trains never failed in an emergency.
When the colonel’s officers had completed their conferences with Crook, they had told him everything they knew that was pertinent, but had been told nothing. He did not reveal his plans, and they could sense that they should not ask about them. It was not that he had a formidable personality, for he was genial, but he maintained a certain reserve that was not to be breached. Nevertheless, his officers felt he had a genuine interest in them and their careers.
Within a few days the new commandant had decided to have a ‘practice’ expedition with five full companies of cavalry and some experienced scouts. At 6 a.m. on July 11, the expedition headed for Camp Bowie, 100 miles south and east, in the very heart of Chiricahua country. Then it was north to Camp Apache, back west to Camp Verde and the town of Prescott and south to Tucson. It amounted to a 675-mile expedition, all in enemy territory.
George Crook set the example, often the first up in the morning and the first in the saddle. He wore an old canvas hunting outfit and a pith helmet. He rode a good, strong mule named Apache and carried a rifle across the pommel of his saddle. On the trail he brought into play his frontier experience. He was always alert to indications of the enemy–an unusual depression in the sand, cleverly concealed directions left by one Apache for another, an odor on the breeze or a sound that should not be there.
When the expedition arrived at only half-completed Camp Bowie, Crook held a council with the chiefs in the area. He talked to the famous and powerful ones like Miguel, Pedro, Cochise, Pitone and Eskititsla. They told him they were at peace and wanted to remain at peace. Crook told them what he told all Indians. He said it did not matter who had started the trouble between the whites and Indians, but it was important for them to know that it could not continue. More whites were coming, and the Indians could no longer live on wild game, which was already beginning to disappear. The Indians would have to learn other ways, and they and the whites would have to learn to live together peacefully.
He told them he would protect them from the bad whites, but the chiefs would have to protect the whites from the bad Indians. If they let the bad Indians raid and steal and kill, it would be impossible to protect the Indians who obeyed the law. Crook promised he would try to find work for those who wanted it, and the Indian workers would be paid the same wages as the whites.
The colonel said he would always tell them the truth and never make promises he could not keep. He expected the chiefs to do the same. The chiefs had heard other white men talk about truth and honesty and were naturally skeptical, until Crook said all promises he made would be written down and copies would be given to the chiefs. Crook sincerely believed that until the Indians learned the ways of the whites they would be safe only on reservations. And he believed that as soon as the two races stopped fighting and came to trust each other, the Indians would be able to go anywhere to live and work.
President Ulysses S. Grant dispatched Oliver O. Howard, the one-armed general, to make peace with Cochise and the Chiricahuas, but Crook had to militarily subdue the rest of the warring Apaches. The colonel waited until November 1872 to start his campaign. His plan was to make life miserable for those Indians who still chose to fight. He knew they would retreat up into the mountains and try to survive the snow and low temperatures. He hoped that when the women and children began to suffer, the men would surrender without fighting.
Crook believed it would take Apaches to find Apaches, so he hired those who wanted peace to find those who wanted war. He paid them the same wages he paid the whites and sent word around to explain what he was doing. Many whites opposed his policy, including some of his own superiors, but it was a master stroke.
Crook’s plan was to hit hard, saturating the area with columns of troops. Each column was self-sufficient, with its own scouts and its own pack train, and with a highly capable officer in command. The colonel gave few orders, but he let his officers know what was expected of them. They were to use their initiative to carry out his policy. They were to fight until every hostile male Indian had either surrendered or been killed. If the Indians retreated, the troops must pursue relentlessly. If the horses gave out, the pursuit must be continued on foot. His orders included the stipulation that no woman or child was ever to be harmed and no prisoner was to be mistreated.
The target area was the Tonto Basin. Some Western Apache bands–as well asYavapais, who mingled with the Tonto Apaches–in that mountainous area had been raiding and eluding troops for several years. Crook dispatched his columns so that there was no place the bands could go to escape the relentless pressure. His Apache scouts always found them. Crook was right–it took an Apache to find an Apache. Within weeks, bands began to come in to surrender. Those that did not surrender were hunted and found. They either gave up or were killed.
Chief Chalipan (often called Charlie Pan) came to make peace for 2,300 Western Apaches. He said they were sick of war. They could not cook because the Apache scouts saw the smoke, and they could not sleep because they feared surprise attacks. The chief said the Indians could not fight the soldiers and their own people at the same time.
If Chalipan kept the peace, Crook said he would be the best friend the chief ever had. The Indian must work like the white man worked and he would be treated exactly like the white man. The work would start right away on an irrigation project for the farms. The colonel would find markets for their crops, and they would be paid directly. No middleman would siphon off profits. The Apaches would have their own police force, paid for by the Army. Thieves and drunkards would be jailed if found guilty by Apache juries.
Crook knew he could not wait for Washington to send tools, so he collected every old shovel, spade and pick from all the camps and forts. Work began immediately. The men did the digging, and the women carried the dirt in their handwoven baskets. They had soon dug a ditch 4 feet wide, 3 feet deep and 5 miles long. They planted 57 acres of melons and other truck garden produce they liked.
Crook emphasized the individual, not the traditional communal philosophy of tribes and bands. An individual cut hay, sold it himself and collected the money. An individual was paid to cut wood. An individual was responsible for his own actions and was rewarded or punished. Apache juries were respected, and if they had a fault, it was in being too severe.
Crook tried hard but was not successful in establishing schools on all the reservations. He believed the Indians could only be assimilated into white society if they had an education. He believed it was wrong to send children off to boarding schools in the East, then have them return to a society that resented their superior knowledge and skills. They would be accepted in neither the white nor the Indian culture.
In most of his efforts, Colonel Crook was opposed by many ordinary citizens who hated the Apaches for the burning and killing of the past 10 years and wanted them all exterminated. His greatest problem, however, was the infamous, corrupt Tucson Ring–a group of Arizona businessmen who wanted Indians on the warpath. War in the territory meant these wheeler-dealers could sell supplies to the Army and guns and ammunition to the Indians. If the Ring members could not have war, they wanted the Indians to be on reservations, where the Ring could sell supplies to the often corrupt Indian agents. Putting rocks in bags of flour and sugar and selling cattle that were meant for the reservations were just two of the ways the Ring men cheated the Indians. The Ring knew that self-sufficient Indians would bring an end to swollen profits from government contracts.
Despite the many obstacles, by the fall of 1872, Crook and General O.O. Howard had brought peace to Arizona Territory. Howard worked out a treaty with Cochise, which the chief kept until his death two years later. President Ulysses S. Grant promoted Crook to brigadier general. Crook was in Arizona two more years, fighting for the humane, wise treatment of Indians, building roads, repairing and upgrading forts, and relocating forts to more healthful surroundings.
In 1875 the War Department had a new challenge for the brigadier general. Arizona was under control, but serious Indian trouble was about to erupt on the northern Plains. The Sioux and the Cheyenne were especially restive and dangerous. Crook’s new orders sent him to take command of the Department of the Platte, headquartered in Omaha. His district included Nebraska and the territories of Wyoming, Utah and part of Idaho.
There were good reasons why the Indians were ready to take to the warpath. The government was not honoring the provisions of the 1867 treaty, which granted them a huge tract of land that included the beautiful Black Hills and extended all the way west to the Bighorn Mountains. There were supposed to be schools, but after eight years, none had been constructed.
More and more whites were arriving and staying. Gold had been discovered in the sacred Black Hills, so even more whites were certain to come, and there was going to be fighting. There had been too many broken treaties, and Little Big Man, for one, argued that the only way to save their hunting grounds was to make war.
Crook tried in 1876 to prevent the trouble that was brewing. He ordered all whites out of the Black Hills. That helped for a while, but the Indians still prepared for the war they were sure was coming. Although they were buying guns and ammunition, the situation remained fairly stable until whites began sneaking into the Black Hills again. The last straw came when the government demanded that the Indians present themselves to be enrolled on reservations. Some came in, some ignored the demand and some sent word they would not do it. Sitting Bull wanted to know: ‘Are you the great God who made me?’ He said if the whites wanted to talk, they would have to come to Sitting Bull.
There were probably 50,000 Indians on the wide-open northern seas of grass. The warriors were great horse soldiers, and the Indians apparently had strong alliances; they seemed to believe they could defeat the white troopers whenever they chose. The situation was far different from Crook’s earlier problems in Arizona.
He decided on another winter campaign. He would have to find a large village and destroy it, in order to prove that the Army was formidable. He hired all the Indian scouts he could find and made his usual thorough preparations. On March 1, 1876, the troops left Fort Fetterman to travel 150 miles to the Powder River and the Bighorn Mountains. Crook had 10 full companies of cavalry and four companies of infantry. The men wore fur coats, fur-lined hats and fur overboots. They were a trained and well-disciplined force.
On March 5, Crook gave orders for a two-week intensive search for hostiles. There would be no wagon trains, just mules, and the men would be on half-rations. A blizzard swept in, and the thermometer plummeted to 40 degrees below zero. When the men ate, they drew their forks through hot ashes so the metal would not strip their tongues.
On March 12, the column of Colonel (brevet Maj. Gen.) Joseph Reynolds came upon a large occupied village. Reynolds moved his troops into position for a surprise attack at dawn, but a young boy watering his horse saw the soldiers and gave the alarm. The Indians had time to run to a bluff, which gave them an excellent position for shooting. They aimed at the horses and mules. More troops came up and began firing into the tepees, which contained caches of gunpowder in kegs, metallic cartridges, bullet molds and lead. The tepees did not burn–they exploded, and lodge poles flew through the air like sticks.
Some troops began to collect the great wealth that was in many of the tepees–prime pelts of beaver, deer and elk, great buffalo robes and huge quantities of food, all of which were to have been traded by the Indians for guns and ammunition. Reynolds found out he was fighting Crazy Horse’s Sioux band of 100 lodges, and that 40 lodges of Cheyenne had escaped from the Red Cloud Agency to join Crazy Horse. The colonel may have decided he could not defeat the combined forces. At any rate, he suddenly ordered a retreat, even though the troops had only begun collecting the riches in the tepees. When Crook came up to help finish the job, he could not hide his bitter disappointment. His column could have destroyed or at least seriously crippled the ability of this strong combination of Sioux and Cheyennes to make war. Reynolds’ order to retreat destroyed that opportunity.
Reynolds was court-martialed and suspended from command for a year. The Army had not achieved a complete victory at the Battle of Powder River. In fact, the Sioux and Cheyenne decided they had won a very important victory, and it gave them great confidence for the future.
General Crook knew he had to mount another large campaign. On May 29, 1876, he was ready again. Bands of Crows and Shoshones joined him, and Crook’s column started up the Rosebud River as part of a three-column push into Wyoming and Montana territories. Crook was worried because he had not heard from the columns under General Alfred Terry and Colonel John Gibbons, and he needed their support.
On June 17, Crazy Horse attacked with 1,500 men. ‘The broken terrain fragmented the fighting and made central command almost impossible,’ historian Robert Utley noted. It was basically every man for himself, with the troops spread along a thin line three miles long. Never before had Sioux and Cheyenne warriors fought so boldly. They raced their horses toward the troops at a dead run, often breaking through the soldiers’ line. Crook and his Indian allies finally managed to stop the attacks, and Crook counterattacked when he could. When Crazy Horse’s assaults failed repeatedly, the warriors halted their efforts. Years later, a Cheyenne warrior said they quit the fight because they were tired and hungry. At the time, Crook’s contemporaries agreed that he had defeated the Indians, and the Army called it a victory. Some writers today say it was a defeat because it allowed the huge Indian force to go on to the Greasy Grass area, where Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer unfortunately found them on June 25. In fairness it should be said that no one knew where the Indians would go after the Rosebud fight. The Indians could not easily maintain large forces. The Battle of the Rosebud was probably the only time Crook was not a definite victor in his many Indian battles.
Washakie, the greatest Shoshone chief, joined Crook with more warriors, but he advised Crook to wait for more soldiers. He said that Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull would soon have to break up their great force to obtain food, and that many of the warriors would want to go to their families. Lieutenant General Philip Sheridan agreed, and he sent word of the terrible fate of one of Terry’s columns, the one under Custer, at the Little Bighorn.
In September, Crook found and destroyed the camp of American Horse, Roman Nose and Iron Shield. Crazy Horse arrived and attacked but soon gave up the fight and left the area. That winter, Crook defeated Dull Knife, the great Cheyenne, and destroyed his essential war supplies. Soon Arapahos, Utes, Bannocks, Shoshones, Crows and Winnebagos wanted to fight their old enemies, the Sioux. The hostiles began returning to the reservations in great numbers. Even Crazy Horse came in and surrendered with 1,100 people on May 6, 1877.
The last great battles on the Plains were finished. When Crazy Horse later left the reservation, trying to take his band north to live the old wild, free life, his own people stopped him. In a guardhouse fight, Crazy Horse was killed, probably by a soldier’s bayonet. Chief Touch The Clouds said, ‘It is good; he has looked for death and it has come.’
In 1882, Crook was ordered back to Arizona Territory. The businessmen in the Tucson Ring had achieved enormous success during his absence. So dishonestly and shamelessly had they dealt with the Apaches that some chiefs had been fighting for years. Victorio, Nana, Loco and Nan-tia-tish had killed many whites and destroyed thousands of dollars worth of property while making fools of the civilian posses and the military.
The aged Alchise told Crook, ‘When you left there were no bad Indians out. We were content; everything was peace.’ Old Pedro said, ‘When you were here, whenever you said a thing we knew it was true….I used to be happy….Where are those good officers? Why don’t they come back?’
Crook instituted all the policies that had been so successful before, and most of the Chiricahuas came back to the reservations. He went after those who did not return, chasing some far into Mexico, and brought them all back and put them on the reservations.
Unfortunately, Geronimo and Natchez went on a long tiswin (a fermented beverage made from corn) drunk and created havoc. The general and his Apache allies chased them for months, finally caught them and brought them back. Sheridan did not understand Chiricahuas and criticized Crook’s methods. Crook tried to explain, but finally just asked for a transfer.
He was ordered to the Department of the Platte again, where he continued to fight against the shameful treatment of Geronimo and his band after their 1886 surrender. The government even imprisoned most of the Apaches who had been loyal, trusted scouts for years.
Crook kept the peace with the Plains Indians, and in 1888 President Grover Cleveland promoted him to major general and placed him in charge of the huge Department of the Missouri. On March 21, 1890, Crook suffered a heart attack and died. Captain John G. Bourke, his aide for many years, reported that at the Camp Apache reservation, his scouts formed a large circle, bent their heads and cried. Red Cloud said, ‘His words gave the people hope. He died. Their hope died again.’
Crook had fought well against hostile Indians. Historian Robert Utley wrote, ‘General George Crook [was] considered by many of his contemporaries to be the army’s most skilled Indian fighter….’ Whether Crook was the greatest Indian fighter can be argued, but he was never an Indian hater. He must be regarded as one of the Army’s greatest Indian friends. He respected the Plains warriors as vanquished, valiant foes who deserved to be treated as human beings.
This article was written by J. Jay Myers and originally appeared in the December 1998 issue of Wild West. For more great articles be sure to subscribe to Wild West magazine today!
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Finch Eye Disease
We have been getting reports in the area of House Finches with “finch eye disease” or conjunctivitis. Infected birds have red, swollen, runny, or crusty eyes; in extreme cases the eyes become swollen shut or crusted over, and the birds become essentially blind. Birds in this condition obviously have trouble feeding. You might see them staying on the ground, under the feeder, trying to find seeds. If the infected bird dies, it is usually not from the conjunctivitis itself, but rather from starvation, exposure, or predation as a result of not being able to see. If you notice these finches, take down your feeder and clean with a 1 to 9% bleach solution and be sure to remove any build-ups of dirt around the food openings. We also have a product from Carefree Enzymes that works well. Let the feeders dry completely and then re-hang them. Also, rake underneath the feeder to remove old seed and bird droppings.
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Johanne Sebastian Bach was active in composition during the 18th century and during this time he specialised in two different genres of keyboard music. One was his organ music, the best known of which includes the six Schubler Chorales. The other was his music for keyboard.
There were in Bach's day a number of different keyboard instruments. One of course was the organ, which was usually only available in churches, just as it is today. Other instruments which could more commonly be found in homes included the spinet, the clavicord and the harpsichord. In the early part of the 19th century the fortepiano (as opposed to the pianoforte of today) was in its very early stages of development from the Cristofori workshop. Bach is known to have heard one in about 1736 and not to have cared for the sound, but later in the 1750s he is known to have approved of the instrument. Until about the 1760s when Zumpe's cheaper and more portable fortepianos became available, the fortepiano was only to have been found in royal houses with a known interest in music, such as that of Portugal where the composer Domenico Scarlatti wrote his keyboard sonatas for one of the princesses.
As for the quieter and smaller clavicord, this would have been common. Mozart is known to have taken one on his travels for practise and composition during journeys. Spinets and harpsichords would also have been relatively widely available.
It is for this reason that Bach's keyboard music is just that and is not marked for any specific instrument. We do not know whether he would have approved his music being played on a piano and certainly most "authentic" performances of Bach's keyboard works today are on the harpsichord. Even the continuo part in a Bach period orchestra is almost always taken by the harpsichord. However to my mind performances on the piano are equally valid provided care is taken with the edition used. The Henle Verlag edition of Bach's 48 preludes and fugues is an excellent one to start with if you wish to learn his music on the piano as it is as near to urtext as you can get.
Bach's music is wonderful for students as there is such a lot to learn from one of his pieces in terms of interpretation and technique. There is no such thing as an easy Bach piece, all require diligence and practice. However, today most students wishing to learn his works will only have access to a piano and it would be a pity indeed to deny them the opportunity of such study simply because they don't have harpsichords on which to play the music.
There are a number of good interpretations of Bach's music available today but by far my favourite is Wanda Landowska's performance of the 48 preludes and fugues, plus her recording of the Italian Concerto and of some of the Little Preludes and two and three part inventions. She was playing in the 1940s onwards and some of her interpretation would be considered odd today - her use of ritardando and accellerando for example would be questioned and she was using a strange edition of the music with the occasional rhythm and note not quite right - but the musicality of her playing cannot be questioned, nor her wonderful technique. Not everyone likes the growly harpsichord she plays but I think it has beautiful clear tone though I do question her use of different "stops" to change the sound style from piece to piece.
For the French and English Suites you can't go wrong with Andras Schiff. His playing is wonderfully fresh and light and again he is technically superb. If you can get hold of the recording of him playing the Two and Three Part Inventions, you should grab it.
In other words, there is room in the interpretation of Bach's music for performances on both modern and authentic instruments, and what is most important is the musicality of the performance. This should remain as true to Bach's music as is possible, given a good musical, preferably Urtext, edition of the scoring and an intelligent, skilled practitioner.
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Monday, February 15, 2010
February: What Keeps Oppressed Peoples From Fighting Back?
Featured author Sharon Draper asks, "In the time of Copper Sun, Why didn't more slaves rise up and protest or fight back? What social and cultural pieces were in place to prevent it?"
More to think about: Are these or other social and cultural pieces still in place today for any group of people?
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Health Indicator Report of Obesity Among Adults
Adults who are obese are at increased risk of morbidity from hypertension, high LDL cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, and osteoarthritis. Obesity is the second leading cause of preventable death in the United States. Only smoking may exceed obesity in contributing to total U.S. mortality rates.
Adult Obesity by Ethnicity, Utah, 2014
NotesObesity is defined as a BMI of 30 or more. BMI is calculated by dividing weight in kilograms by the square of height in meters. [[br]] [[br]] Age-adjusted to U.S. 2000 standard population.
Data SourceUtah Data: Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, Office of Public Health Assessment, Utah Department of Health
Data Interpretation IssuesRespondents tend to overestimate their height and underestimate their weight leading to underestimation of BMI and the prevalence of obesity. To reduce bias and more accurately represent population data, the BRFSS has changed survey methodology. In 2010, it began conducting surveys by cellular phone in addition to landline phones. It also adopted "iterative proportional fitting" (raking) as its weighting method. More details about these changes can be found at: [http://health.utah.gov/opha/publications/brfss/Raking/Raking%20impact%202011.pdf].
DefinitionPercentage of respondents aged 18 years and older who have a body mass index (BMI) greater than or equal to 30.0 kg/m^2^ calculated from self-reported weight and height.
NumeratorNumber of respondents aged 18 years and older who have a body mass index (BMI) greater than or equal to 30.0 kg/m^2^ calculated from self-reported weight and height.
DenominatorNumber of respondents aged 18 years and older for whom BMI can be calculated from their self-reported weight and height (excludes unknowns or refusals for weight and height).
Healthy People Objective NWS-9:Reduce the proportion of adults who are obese
U.S. Target: 30.5 percent
State Target: 24.0 percent
How Are We Doing?According to a recent report from the Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Utah has the fifth lowest adult obesity rate in the nation (see [http://healthyamericans.org/report/115/] ''The State of Obesity: Better Policies for a Healthier America'', September 2014). In just 15 years, the age-adjusted proportion of obese Utah adults increased from 15.8% in 1997 to 26.3% in 2014. While the sampling method changed for 2011 data, this change was still similarly pronounced in the years immediately prior. The highest rates of obesity were seen for adults ages 50 to 64. Age-adjusted rates are used to compare rates for race and local health districts to account for the differences in ages. In 2014, Pacific Islanders had higher rates than the state, while Asians had lower rates than the state. An estimated 30 percent of Hispanic/Latino adults were obese.
How Do We Compare With the U.S.?The age-adjusted prevalence of obesity in Utah adults is slightly lower than the U.S. In 2014, the obesity prevalence rate in Utah adults was 26.3%. The obesity prevalence for U.S. adults in 2014 was 28.8%.
What Is Being Done?In 2013, through funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) the Healthy Living through Environment, Policy, and Improved Clinical Care Program (EPICC) was established. Within Domain 2--Environmental Approaches that Promote Health--EPICC works: In Schools:[[br]] 1) Schools are encouraged to apply for the Healthy Schools program through the Alliance for a Healthier Generation. Participation in this program assists schools to set up policy and environmental supports that make it easier for students and staff to be physically active and eat healthy food.[[br]] 2) Height and weight trends are being tracked in a sample of elementary students to monitor Utah students.[[br]] 3) Action for Healthy Kids brings partners together to improve nutrition and physical activity environments in Utah's schools by implementing the school-based state plan strategies, working with local school boards to improve or develop policies for nutritious foods in schools. This includes recommendations for healthy vending options. In Worksites:[[br]] 1) The Utah Council for Worksite Health Promotion recognizes businesses that offer employee fitness and health promotion programs.[[br]] 2) EPICC partners with local health departments to encourage worksites to complete the CDC Scorecard and participate in yearly health risk assessment for their employees. EPICC provides toolkits and other resources for employers interested in implementing wellness programs through the [http://choosehealth.utah.gov choosehealth.utah.gov] website: [http://www.choosehealth.utah.gov/worksites/wellness-programs.php] In Communities:[[br]] 1) Local health departments (LHDs) receive federal funding to partner with schools, worksites, and other community based organizations to increase access to fresh fruits and vegetables through farmers markets and retail stores. LHDs also work with cities within their jurisdictions to create a built environment that encourages physical activity. In Healthcare:[[br]] 1) EPICC works with health care systems to establish community clinical linkages to support individuals at risk for or diagnosed with diabetes or hypertension to engage in lifestyle change programs such as chronic disease self-management and diabetes prevention programs. In Childcare:[[br]] 1) LHDs statewide are implementing the TOP Star program, which aims to improve the nutrition and physical activity environments and achieve best practice in child care centers and homes.[[br]] 2) EPICC works with state and local partners through the Childcare Obesity Prevention workgroup to implement policy and systems changes in early care and education across agencies statewide.
Evidence-based PracticesThe EPICC program promotes evidence based practices collected by the Center TRT. The Center for Training and Research Translation (Center TRT) bridges the gap between research and practice and supports the efforts of public health practitioners working in nutrition, physical activity, and obesity prevention by: *Reviewing evidence of public health impact and disseminating population-level interventions; *Designing and providing practice-relevant training both in-person and web-based; *Addressing social determinants of health and health equity through training and translation efforts; and, *Providing guidance on evaluating policies and programs aimed at impacting healthy eating and physical activity. [[br]] Appropriate evidence based interventions can be found at: [http://www.centertrt.org/?p=interventions_interventions_overview]
Available ServicesGold Medal School Initiative - for more information, call 801-538-6142 Action for Healthy Kids Local School Policy CD - for more information, call 801-538-6142 The Utah Department of Health has established a program, Healthy Living through Environment, Policy and Improved Clinical Care (EPICC). The EPICC website has information on heart disease and stroke prevention on [http://www.choosehealth.utah.gov]. Utah Worksite Wellness Council is a non-profit organization made up of volunteers from organizations across Utah. Information is available at [http://utahworksitewellness.org].
Page Content Updated On 03/29/2016, Published on 03/29/2016
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Andros Blue Holes
Blue Holes are found in many places on Andros Island. Most of them lie along a massive fracture system which starts in the marine environment at the edge of the Tongue of the Ocean and runs through the land and across South Bight. Rare and highly specialized species, including cave fish and shrimp can be found within the blue holes. Many of these endemic species have highly restricted ranges.
Andros Diving offers guided snorkeling and diving tours of the Andros Blue Holes including Stargate Blue Hole and El Dorado. These tidal freshwater blue holes are unique to the Bahamas and are most abundant in Andros Island and South Andros Island. A major fault line of blue holes runs for more than 50 miles through and surrounding South Andros Island. These blue holes are not to be missed.
Barbs Nature Walk and Blue Hole Tour is an amazing guided hiking tour of the inland blue holes. This is an essential part of any true South Andros Island vacation.
Blue Holes of South Andros Island
The rarity, scientific and ecological significance of blue holes and their cave systems cannot be overstated. The South Andros blue holes were first featured in Vol. 138 No. 3, Sept. 1970 of National Geographic Magazine. In the early 1970’s, Jacques Cousteau led an expedition to dive in the blue holes on South Andros. More recently, similar scientific exploration and research by Dr. Stephanie Schwabe, founder and director of the Rob Palmer Blue Holes Foundation, has resulted in the discovery of new species of bacteria. Much of the microbial life which lives in these systems may be the only view we have into early life forms on this planet.
The blue holes and extensive cave system house the fresh water lens underlying Andros and providing the fresh water resources for the island. The integrity of this water supply is essential to literally all indigenous and migrating life forms on Andros. In addition, there are birds regularly sighted around some of these blue holes including barn owls, cave swallows and herons. Finally, unique cave formations, such as stalagmites and stalactites, as well as Lucayan artifacts can be found within the blue holes.
Source: The Nature Conservancy 2005 Report
Rosewell Rahming of Andros Bahamas Fishing free diving 80+ feet into an ocean blue hole.
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Liberty, February 1937
by Nikola Tesla
as told to
George Sylvester Viereck
Tesla. “It seems,” he says, “that I have always been ahead of my time.”
Editor’s Note: Nikola Tesla, now in his seventy-eighth year, has been called the father of radio, television, power transmission, the induction motor, and the robot, and the discoverer of the cosmic ray. Recently he has announced a heretofore unknown source of energy present everywhere in unlimited amounts, and he is now working upon a device which he believes will make war impracticable.
Tesla and Edison have often been represented as rivals. They were rivals, to a certain extent, in the battle between the alternating and direct current in which Tesla championed the former. He won; the great power plants at Niagara Falls and elsewhere are founded on the Tesla system. Otherwise the two men were merely opposites. Edison had a genius for practical inventions immediately applicable. Tesla, whose inventions were far ahead of the time, aroused antagonisms which delayed the fruition of his ideas for years.
However, great physicists like Kelvin and Crookes spoke of his inventions as marvelous. “Tesla,” said Professor A. E. Kennelly of Harvard University when the Edison medal was presented to the inventor, “set wheels going round all over the world. . . . What he showed was a revelation to science and art unto ail time.”
“Were we,” remarks B. A. Behrend, distinguished author and engineer,” to seize and to eliminate the results of Mr. Tesla’s work, the wheels of industry would cease to turn, our electric cars and trains would stop, our towns would be dark, our mills would be dead and idle.”
FORECASTING is perilous. No man can look very far into the future. Progress and invention evolve in directions other than those anticipated. Such has been my experience, although I may flatter myself that many of the developments which I forecast have been verified by events in the first third of the twentieth century.
It seems that I have always been ahead of my time. I had to wait nineteen years before Niagara was harnessed by my system, fifteen years before the basic inventions for wireless which I gave to the world in 1893 were applied universally. I announced the cosmic ray and my theory of radio activity in 1896. One of my most important discoveries—terrestrial resonance—which is the foundation of wireless power transmission and which I announced in 1899, is not understood even today. Nearly two years after I had flashed an electric current around the globe, Edison, Steinmetz, Marconi, and others declared that it would not be possible to transmit even signals by wireless across the Atlantic. Having anticipated so many important developments, it is not without assurance that I attempt to predict what life is likely to be in the twenty-first century.
Life is and will ever remain an equation incapable of solution, but it contains certain known factors. We may definitely say that it is a movement even if we do not fully understand its nature. Movement implies a body which is being moved and a force which propels it against resistance. Man, in the large, is a mass urged on by a force. Hence the general laws governing movement in the realm of mechanics are applicable to humanity.
There are three ways by which the energy which determines human progress can be increased: First, we may increase the mass. This, in the case of humanity, would mean the improvement of living conditions, health, eugenics, etc. Second, we may reduce the frictional forces which impede progress, such as ignorance, insanity, and religious fanaticism. Third, we may multiply the energy of the human mass by enchaining the forces of the universe, like those of the sun, the ocean, the winds and tides.
The first method increases food and well-being. The second tends to bring peace. The third enhances our ability to work and to achieve. There can be no progress that is not constantly directed toward increasing well-being, peace, and achievement. Here the mechanistic conception of life is one with the teachings of Buddha and the Sermon on the Mount.
While I am not a believer in the orthodox sense, I commend religion, first, because every individual should have some ideal—religious, artistic, scientific, or humanitarian—to give significance to his life. Second, because all the great religions contain wise prescriptions relating to the conduct of life, which hold good now as they did when they were promulgated.
There is no conflict between the ideal of religion and the ideal of science, but science is opposed to theological dogmas because science is founded on fact. To me, the universe is simply a great machine which never came into being and never will end. The human being is no exception to the natural order. Man, like the universe, is a machine. Nothing enters our minds or determines our actions which is not directly or indirectly a response to stimuli beating upon our sense organs from without. Owing to the similarity of our construction and the sameness of our environment, we respond in like manner to similar stimuli, and from the concordance of our reactions, understanding is barn. In the course of ages, mechanisms of infinite complexity are developed, but what we call “soul ” or “spirit,” is nothing more than the sum of the functionings of the body. When this functioning ceases, the “soul” or the “spirit” ceases likewise.
I expressed these ideas long before the behaviorists, led by Pavlov in Russia and by Watson in the United States, proclaimed their new psychology. This apparently mechanistic conception is not antagonistic to an ethical conception of life. The acceptance by mankind at large of these tenets will not destroy religious ideals. Today Buddhism and Christianity are the greatest religions both in number of disciples and in importance. I believe that the essence of both will he the religion of the human race in the twenty-first century.
The year 2100 will see eugenics universally established. In past ages, the law governing the survival of the fittest roughly weeded out the less desirable strains. Then man’s new sense of pity began to interfere with the ruthless workings of nature. As a result, we continue to keep alive and to breed the unfit. The only method compatible with our notions of civilization and the race is to prevent the breeding of the unfit by sterilization and the deliberate guidance of the mating instinct, Several European countries and a number of states of the American Union sterilize the criminal and the insane. This is not sufficient. The trend of opinion among eugenists is that we must make marriage more difficult. Certainly no one who is not a desirable parent should be permitted to produce progeny. A century from now it will no more occur to a normal person to mate with a person eugenically unfit than to marry a habitual criminal.
Hygiene, physical culture will be recognized branches of education and government. The Secretary of Hygiene or Physical Culture will he far more important in the cabinet of the President of the United States who holds office in the year 2035 than the Secretary of War. The pollution of our beaches such as exists today around New York City will seem as unthinkable to our children and grandchildren as life without plumbing seems to us. Our water supply will he far more carefully supervised, and only a lunatic will drink unsterilized water.
MORE people die or grow sick from polluted water than from coffee, tea, tobacco, and other stimulants. I myself eschew all stimulants. I also practically abstain from meat. I am convinced that within a century coffee, tea, and tobacco will be no longer in vogue. Alcohol, however, will still be used. It is not a stimulant but a veritable elixir of life. The abolition of stimulants will not come about forcibly. It will simply be no longer fashionable to poison the system with harmful ingredients. Bernarr Macfadden has shown how it is possible to provide palatable food based upon natural products such as milk, honey, and wheat. I believe that the food which is served today in his penny restaurants will be the basis of epicurean meals in the smartest banquet halls of the twenty-first century.
There will be enough wheat and wheat products to feed the entire world, including the teeming millions of China and India, now chronically on the verge of starvation. The earth is bountiful, and where her bounty fails, nitrogen drawn from the air will refertilize her womb. I developed a process for this purpose in 1900. It was perfected fourteen years later under the stress of war by German chemists.
Long before the next century dawns, systematic reforestation and the scientific management of natural resources will have made an end of all devastating droughts, forest fires, and floods. The universal utilization of water power and its long-distance transmission will supply every household with cheap power and will dispense with the necessity of burning fuel. The struggle for existence being lessened, there should be development along ideal rather than material lines.
Today the most civilized countries of the world spend a maximum of their income on war and a minimum on education. The twenty-first century will reverse this order. It will be more glorious to fight against ignorance than to die on the field of battle. The discovery of a new scientific truth will be more important than the squabbles of diplomats. Even the newspapers of our own day are beginning to treat scientific discoveries and the creation of fresh philosophical concepts as news. The newspapers of the twenty-first century will give a mere “stick” in the back pages to accounts of crime or political controversies, but will headline on the front pages the proclamation of a new scientific hypothesis.
“It will be possible to destroy anything approaching within 200 miles. My invention will provide a wall of power,” declares Tesla.
PROGRESS along such lines will be impossible while nations persist in the savage practice of killing each other off. I inherited from my father, an erudite man who labored hard for peace, an ineradicable hatred of war. Like other inventors, I believed at one time that war could he stopped by making it more destructive. But I found that I was mistaken. I underestimated man’s combative instinct, which it will take more than a century to breed out. We cannot abolish war by outlawing it. We cannot end it by disarming the strong. War can be stopped, not by making the strong weak but by making every nation, weak or strong, able to defend itself.
Hitherto all devices that could be used for defense could also be utilized to serve for aggression. This nullified the value of the improvement for purposes of peace. But I was fortunate enough to evolve a new idea and to perfect means which can be used chiefly for defense. If it is adopted, it will revolutionize the relations between nations. It will make any country, large or small, impregnable against armies, airplanes, and other means for attack. My invention requires a large plant, but once it is established it will he possible to destroy anything, men or machines, approaching within a radius of 200 miles. It will, so to speak, provide a wall of power offering an insuperable obstacle against any effective aggression.
If no country can be attacked successfully, there can be no purpose in war. My discovery ends the menace of airplanes or submarines, but it insures the supremacy of the battleship, because battleships may be provided with some of the required equipment. There might still be war at sea, but no warship could successfully attack the shore line, as the coast equipment will be superior to the armament of any battleship.
I want to state explicitly that this invention of mine does not contemplate the use of any so-called “death rays.” Rays are not applicable because they cannot be produced in requisite quantities and diminish rapidly in intensity with distance. All the energy of New York City (approximately two million horsepower) transformed into rays and projected twenty miles, could not kill a human being, because, according to a well known law of physics, it would disperse to such an extent as to be ineffectual.
My apparatus projects particles which may be relatively large or of microscopic dimensions, enabling us to convey to a small area at a great distance trillions of times more energy than is possible with rays of any kind. Many thousands of horsepower can thus be transmitted by a stream thinner than a hair, so that nothing can resist. This wonderful feature will make it possible, among other things, to achieve undreamed-of results in television, for there will be almost no limit to the intensity of illumination, the size of the picture, or distance of projection.
I do not say that there may not be several destructive wars before the world accepts my gift. I may not live to see its acceptance. But I am convinced that a century from now every nation will render itself immune from attack by my device or by a device based upon a similar principle.
At present we suffer from the derangement of our civilization because we have not yet completely adjusted ourselves to the machine age. The solution of our problems does not lie in destroying but in mastering the machine.
Innumerable activities still performed by human hands today will be performed by automatons. At this very moment scientists working in the laboratories of American universities are attempting to create what has been described as a “thinking machine.” I anticipated this development.
I actually constructed “robots.” Today the robot is an accepted fact, but the principle has not been pushed far enough. In the twenty-first century the robot will take the place which slave labor occupied in ancient civilization. There is no reason at all why most of this should not come to pass in less than a century, treeing mankind to pursue its higher aspirations.
And unless mankind’s attention is too violently diverted by external wars and internal revolutions, there is no reason why the electric millennium should not begin in a few decades.
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Data edits test the logical effects of coding rules or natural relationships. For example, squamous cell carcinoma commonly develops in the lung but it is not expected to develop in the pleura. An automated edit could question or flag a case coded as squamous cell carcinoma of the pleura. Depending on how the edit is implemented by the registry software, it may prohibit saving that combination of codes, allow the registrar to set an override flag if necessary, or simply print an edit report.
Data edited using varying data sets are not statistically comparable. This is an especially difficulty concept to grasp because it challenges a widely accepted axiom, "the more editing the better."
The SEER program developed the first standard edits for registry data. Through the leadership of NAACCR, edit standards have been compiled for data elements within and across standard data sets. When edits are adopted, any updated or modified data in the registry should be re-edited. View the NAACCR Standard Edits for Cancer Registries, Volume IV.
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Simple Definition of common law
: the laws that developed from English court decisions and customs and that form the basis of laws in the U.S.
Full Definition of common law
: the body of law developed in England primarily from judicial decisions based on custom and precedent, unwritten in statute or code, and constituting the basis of the English legal system and of the system in all of the United States except Louisiana
First Known Use of common law
Legal Definition of common law
: a body of law that is based on custom and general principles and embodied in case law and that serves as precedent or is applied to situations not covered by statute <the common law of torts>: as a : the body of law that was first developed in the English courts of law as distinguished from equity and that allows for particular remedies (as damages or replevin) <in suits at common law…the right of trial by jury shall be preserved — U.S. Constitution amend. VII> — compare equity 2 b : the body of law developed in England that is the basis of U.S. federal law and of state law in all states except Louisiana — compare civil law 2, statutory law
Seen and Heard
What made you want to look up common law? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).
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Adam Savage – How Simple Ideas Lead To Scientific Discoveries
The Accurate Source To Find Quotes To Adam Savage – How Simple Ideas Lead To Scientific Discoveries.”
[Adam Savage – How Simple Ideas Lead To Scientific Discoveries]
[Adam Whitney Savage (July 15, 1967)] Source: LYBIO.net
One of the funny things about owning a brain is that you have no control over the things that it gathers and holds onto, the facts and the stories. And as you get older, it only gets worse. Things stick around for years sometimes before you understand why you’re interested in them, before you understand their import to you. Here’s three of mine. When Richard Feynman was a young boy in Queens, he went for a walk with his dad and his wagon and a ball. And he noticed that when he pulled the wagon, the ball went to the back of the wagon. And he asked his dad, “Why does the ball go to the back of the wagon?” And his dad said, “That’s inertia.” He said, “What’s inertia?” And his dad said, “Ah. Inertia is the name that scientists give to the phenomenon of the ball going to the back of the wagon. But in truth, nobody really knows.” Feynman went on to earn degrees at MIT, Princeton, he solved the Challenger disaster, he ended up winning the Nobel Prize in Physics for his Feynman diagrams describing the movement of subatomic particles. And he credits that conversation with his father as giving him a sense that the simplest questions could carry you out to the edge of human knowledge, and that that’s where he wanted to play. And play he did. Now Eratosthenes was the third librarian at the great Library at Alexandria, and he made many contributions to science. But the one he is most remembered for began in a letter that he received as the librarian, from the town of Swenet, which was south of Alexandria. The letter included this fact that stuck in Eratosthenes’ mind, and the fact was that the writer said at noon on the solstice, when he looked down this deep well, he could see his reflection at the bottom, and he could also see that his head was blocking the sun. Now, I should tell you — the idea that Christopher Columbus discovered that the world is spherical is total bull. It’s not true at all. In fact, everyone who was educated understood that the world was spherical since Aristotle’s time, and Aristotle had proved it with a simple observation. He noticed that every time you saw the Earth’s shadow on the Moon it was circular, and the only shape that constantly creates a circular shadow is a sphere, Q.E.D. the Earth is round. But nobody knew how big it was until Eratosthenes got this letter with this fact. So he understood that the sun was directly above the city of Swenet, because looking down a well, it was a straight line all the way down the well, right past the guy’s head up to the sun. Eratosthenes knew another fact. He knew that a stick stuck in the ground in Alexandria at the same time and the same day, at noon, the sun’s zenith, on the solstice, the sun cast a shadow that showed that it was 7.2 degrees off-axis. Now, if you know the circumference of a circle, and you have two points on it, all you need to know is the distance between those two points, and you can extrapolate the circumference. Three hundred and sixty degrees divided by 7.2 equals 50. I know it’s a little bit of a round number, and it makes me suspicious of this story too, but it’s a good story, so we’ll continue with it. He needed to know the distance between Swenet and Alexandria, which is good because Eratosthenes was good at geography. In fact, he invented the word geography. The road between Swenet and Alexandria was a road of commerce, and commerce needed to know how long it took to get there. It needed to know the exact distance, so he knew very precisely that the distance between the two cities was 500 miles. Multiply that times 50, you get 25,000, which is within one percent of the actual diameter of the Earth. He did this 2,200 years ago.
[Adam Savage] Source: LYBIO.net
Now, we live in an age where multi-billion-dollar pieces of machinery are looking for the Higgs boson. We’re discovering particles that may travel faster than the speed of light, and all of these discoveries are made possible by technology that’s been developed in the last few decades. But for most of human history, we had to discover these things using our eyes and our ears and our minds. Armand Fizeau was an experimental physicist in Paris. His speciality was actually refining and confirming other people’s results, and this might sound like a bit of an also-ran, but in fact this is the soul of science, because there is no such thing as a fact that cannot be independently corroborated. And he was familiar with Galileo’s experiments in trying to determine whether or not light had a speed. So, Galileo had worked out this really wonderful experiment where he and his assistant had a lamp, each one of them was holding a lamp. And Galileo would open his lamp, and his assistant would open his lamp. And they got the timing down really good. They just knew their timing. And then they stood at two hilltops, two miles distant, and they did the same thing, on the assumption from Galileo that if light had a discernable speed, he’d notice a delay in the light coming back from his assistant’s lamp. But light was too fast for Galileo. He was off by several orders of magnitude when he assumed that light was roughly 10 times as fast as the speed of sound. Fizeau was aware of this experiment. He lived in Paris, and he set up two experimental stations, roughly five and a half miles distant, in Paris. And he solved this problem of Galileo’s, and he did it with a really relatively trivial piece of equipment. He did it with one of these. I’m going to put away the clicker for a second because I want to engage your brains in this. So this is a toothed wheel. Source: LYBIO.net It’s got a bunch of notches and it’s got a bunch of teeth. This was Fizeau’s solution to sending discrete pulses of light. He put a beam behind one of these notches. If I point a beam through this notch at a mirror, five miles away, that beam is bouncing off the mirror and coming back to me through this notch. But something interesting happens as he spins the wheel faster. He notices that it seems like a door is starting to close on the light beam that’s coming back to his eye. Why is that? It’s because the pulse of light, it’s not coming back through the same notch. It’s actually hitting a tooth. And he spins the wheel fast enough and he fully occludes the light. And then, based on the distance between the two stations and the speed of his wheel and the number of notches in the wheel, he calculates the speed of light to within two percent of its actual value. And he does this in 1849. This is what really gets me going about science. Whenever I’m having trouble understanding a concept, I go back and I research the people that discovered that concept. I look at the story of how they came to understand it. And what happens when you look at what the discoverers were thinking about when they made their discoveries, is you understand that they are not so different from us. We are all bags of meat and water. We all start with the same tools. I love the idea that different branches of science are called fields of study. Most people think of science as a closed, black box, when in fact it is an open field. And we are all explorers. The people that made these discoveries just thought a little bit harder about what they were looking at, and they were a little bit more curious. And their curiosity changed the way people thought about the world, and thus it changed the world. They changed the world, and so can you. Thank you. (Applause)
Adam Savage – How Simple Ideas Lead To Scientific Discoveries. The idea that Christopher Columbus discovered that the world is spherical is total bull. It’s not true at all. In fact, everyone who was educated understood that the world was spherical since Aristotle’s time, and Aristotle had proved it with a simple observation. Complete Full Transcript, Dialogue, Remarks, Saying, Quotes, Words And Text.
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