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Home || Political Parties || Polling Data || Ridings || Marginal Seats || Women & Elections || Election Laws || Links
The single member plurality system used in all Canadian federal and provincial elections has many strengths but also reveals serious weaknesses in producing legislatures that reflect the choice of parties made by the voters. Also, recent Canadian elections have witnessed a significant fall in voter turnout, which some say indicates that structural changes are needed in order to encourage greater participation.
Electoral reform is a current issue in Canada, with the Liberal Party winning a majority in the 2015 national elections on a platform which promised that the 2015 election would be the last one held under the current voting system. The Liberals made an election pledge to introduce legislation within 18 months of coming to power. Both the NDP and the Green Party had also made promises in their election platforms to pursue electoral reform. The House of Commons has set up a special committee to hold hearings and recommend a replacement system by December 1, 2016. In addition, all 338 MPs are "invited" to hold town hall meetings in their communities to engage the gauge the general public's views on electoral reform.
Virtually every election provides fresh fodder for calls for electoral reform, to ensure that representation in Parliament reflects the wishes of voters. The most recent election in 2015 provided the Liberals with every single seat across the four Atlantic provinces, despite about 40% of the region's voters supporting other parties. In the 2004 election, as well, the Conservatives won about 93% of the seats (13 out of 14) in Saskatchewan, even though they only got 42% of the vote.
Since 2000, there has been significant movement towards electoral reform at both the federal and provincial levels. In early 2004, the Law Commission of Canada issued a report recommending that the federal electoral system be changed to a mixed member system that allows for more proportional representation of parties in the House of Commons. However, since neither the Liberals nor Conservatives were in favour of electoral reform at the time, the Commission's proposals languished.
Until the 2015 election, electoral reform was most seriously pursued at the provincial level. British Columbia broke new ground on this issue with the creation of the Citizens' Assembly in 2004. 160 citizens were chosen at random - 2 from each riding and 2 from the aboriginal community - to meet and debate the merits of changing the provincial electoral system. The Assembly met for several months in early 2004 and then set out a series of public consultation meetings. In the fall of 2004, the Assembly decided to recommend that BC should adopt the Single Transferable Vote (STV) system. The Assembly's report, Making Every Vote Count (pdf - 1.9MB) was released in December 2004. The recommendation to adopt a new electoral system was put to the voters in a referendum question at the May 2005 provincial election. In order for the measure to be acted upon, the government raised the existing referendum legislation to require a successful vote to achieve 60% support across the province, including 50% support in 60% of the ridings. The referendum results fell just short of the main criterion, with 58% support province-wide, although all but 2 of the ridings saw at least 50% support for adopting STV. With the widespread dissatisfaction that a strong majority was still not accepted by the government of the day, the premier agreed to a second vote to be held four years later along with the next general election. By that time interest in electoral reform had fallen off the the vote was almost 61% in favour of the current system.
PEI voters recently rejected changes, after several years of study had culminated in a 2005 plebiscite. The PEI Electoral Reform Commissioner recommended in 2003 that some element of proportionality be added, but he did not make specific recommendations. After the Commission on PEI's Electoral Future reviewed the matter, issued a final report, that recommended the province adopt an MMP system with two ballots. It suggested that the selection of the 27-member house be divided between 17 to be elected by SMP and 10 to be filled from party lists; in theory the list seats are top provide 'full compensation' to ensure that a party has a total number of seats in the house that is proportional to its share of the votes. The proposal was put to the PEI voters in a plebiscite on November 28, 2005; the PEI government adopted the BC thresholds, requiring 60% support province-wide plus 50% support in at least 60% of the ridings. When the votes were counted, however, 64% of the PEI electorate voted against the proposal; only 2 of the 27 ridings saw a majority in favour of electoral change. But electoral reform returned to the political agenda some years later. Following the second report of a special committee of the legislature, PEI will hold another plebiscite in the fall of 2016 in which voters will be asked to rank order their preferences of five different options for voting systems.
The Commission on Legislative Democracy in New Brunswick recommended that the province adopt a Mixed-Member Proportional (MMP) system as well as moved to elections being held on a fixed 4-year schedule. Their final report was issued in January 2005 and recommended that there be 36 single-member ridings and 4 multi-member ridings with a total of 20 seats filled through a PR party list system. Although then Premier Bernard Lord had announced that a referendum would be held at the same time as municipal elections in the spring of 2008, his party lost the provincial election in 2006 and the reform proposal never got put to a vote. Ironically, the 2006 elections resulted in a Liberal government coming to power with a majority of seats despite having won fewer votes province-wide than the Conservatives.
Quebec has created the Ministry for the Reform of Democratic Institutions. Under this initiative, a public consultation process, called the Estates General; a report of the findings was published in 2003, as was a survey of opinion on democratic reform of those attending the session. Serious debate was launched with a draft bill (English text) proposed in December 2004 that would see radical restructuring of the electoral boundaries and methods of election. There would be 75 single member ridings roughly based on the current federal boundaries, plus another 2 rural single member ridings. In addition there would be 24-27 "districts" that would each cover 3 of the regular ridings, and every district would have a further 2 district seats. Voters would only cast one vote and the district seats would be compensatory; the filling of district seats would be based on the shares of the party vote in the combined single-member ridings for that district, and filled from party lists. See the working document and the summary for an overview. In 2005, a special committee of the National Assembly discussed the proposal and reiterated the desire for change, with agreeing on the details. In late 2006, the Minister announced a further round of consultations with the Director General or Elections and with members of the National Assembly. However, a provincial election ensued in March 2007 and no formal move had been undertaken to change the voting system by late 2007.
In Ontario, the government set up the Democratic Renewal Secretariat and proposed that elections be held on a 4-year cycle starting with the first in October, 2007. As well, the government created a Citizens' Assembly, similar to BC's, to examine electoral reform. 52 women and 51 men were selected and held a number of sessions and public hearings between October 2006 and May 2007, when they released their report recommending Ontario adopt a Mix-Member Proportional system. This recommendation was rejected by over 63% of Ontarians who voted on a referendum question held in October 2007, at the same time as the province's general elections; only in 5 of the 107 ridings did a majority favour the new system. In addition, a Citizens' Jury will examine election finance issues.
Strengths of Single Member Plurality (SMP)
There are several direct advantages of using the single member plurality system. First, it is far more likely to produce majority governments in a competitive multi-party system where no one party is able to dominate.. In the 16 federal elections held between 1965 and 2015, 10 have resulted in majority governments, even though the winning party won a majority of votes only once, in 1984. Majority governments are said to provide stable government and allow direct accountability to the electorate, with one party for the electorate to reward or punish. In contrast, partners in a minority or coalition government can either point fingers at each other or each claim credit at the next election.
SMP also facilitates clear community representation. With the 2015 elections, Canada is divided into 338 constituencies each with their own representative to speak on behalf of local interests.
The system is also easy to understand and administer. A winning candidate only needs one more vote that any other candidate in the district.
There are five key disadvantages to the SMP system, which underlie the calls for electoral reform in Canada:
1. Candidates only need one vote more than any other candidate in order to win, not a majority of votes in their district. In the 2015 federal election, 206 candidates won with less than 50% of the vote. With several competitive parties vying for votes in Quebec, four candidates were declared elected there with less than 30% of the vote. Most individual MPs in Canada are elected despite a majority of votes being cast against them. As a result, it can be very difficult to hold individual MPs to account when they face re-election in their ridings.
2. There is often a significant distortion between the share of seats parties win and their share of votes. When the results of all the local contests are added up across a province or region, some parties can dominate while other parties have very few if any seats despite winning significant numbers of votes. In the 2015 federal election, for example, the Liberals won every seat across the four Atlantic provinces; the Conservatives and NDP were blanked out despite the backing of 37% of the region's voters between them.
Other examples of vote/seat distortion abound in Canadian elections. The clearest example is found in the 1987 New Brunswick provincial election, in which the Liberal Party won all the seats in the legislature on the strength of about 60% of the vote. The other 40% of the electorate were left with no direct representation of their policy interests in the legislature. The BC Liberal Party swept all but two of the seats in the 2001 election, with about 58% of the vote. In the 1997 federal elections, two other serious problems were seen. In Ontario, the Liberals won 99 out of the province's 101 seats, even though a bare majority of voters had voted for other candidates. In PEI, the Liberals won all four seats on the basis of about 45% of the vote
Another famous quirk of this distortion between seats and votes arose from the 1993 federal election. The Bloc Quebecois formed the Official Opposition, with the second largest number of elected MPs, despite placing fourth overall in the national vote count.
The distortion in vote and seat share can be seen in the following charts of selected elections:
See also the provincial discrepancies in the vote/seat shares of parties in the 1997 federal election on the past elections page of this site.
3. Most majority governments are based on false majorities. Ten national governments were formed in the last fifty years by a party with a majority of MPs, but on only one occasion has that party actually won a majority of votes across the country; Brian Mulroney led the Progressive Conservatives to power in 1984 with just over 50% support. The two most recent majority governments, formed by Stephen Harper in 2011 and by Justin Trudeau in 2015, both involved parties who had won less than 40% of the vote.
These false majorities undermine the basic premise of democracy that the will of the majority should prevail. False majorities allow a minority to rule over the majority.
The most concerning types of false majorities are those formed by parties who were not even the most popular choice among voters. In the 2006 New Brunswick, 1998 Quebec, 1996 BC, and 1986 Saskatchewan provincial elections, parties won a majority of seats even though they had placed second in the overall province-wide total of the votes.
4. Many votes are wasted votes in SMP elections, which can discourage voters and lead to declining turnout & general alienation. Since a candidate only needs one more vote than her or his opponents, the winner's votes beyond that number are "wasted." Similarly, the votes for all the other candidates are wasted in the sense that they do not help in electing other members of their parties.
5. Winning by a plurality undermines fairness because there are inconsistent targets to get elected. Many second-place candidates win a greater share of votes in their ridings than do winning candidates in other districts. In the 2015 federal election, for example, 31 second-placed candidates won over 40% of the vote in their constituencies, while 72 MPs were elected with less than 40% of the vote - 23 of them with less than a third of the votes.
Alternative Electoral Systems
There are different ways in which people can be given choices to vote ( for individual candidates, for parties, or both) and how those votes are then translated into seats in the legislature. The choice of voting system can make an enormous difference in the shares of seats parties win, based on their level of support and its geographical distribution. The Library of Parliament has published a research paper that provides useful background on the Canadian electoral system and alternatives.
Some countries, such as Australia and France, use majority systems that aim to ensure that the winning candidate has received some sort of support from a majority of voters. These are usually single member ridings and can either be by preferential ballot or multiple rounds of voting. In the Alternative Vote system, a voter ranks the candidates on the ballot paper according to their preference: their first choice gets "1", the second choice "2", and so on. When all the first choice votes are added up, a candidate is declared a winner only if they have a majority of the first choices. In the event that no one has a majority of first choice votes, then the candidate with the least number is dropped off the list, and their ballot papers are examined to redistribution according to the second choice marked on the ballot. These votes are then added to the remaining candidates and added up to see if anyone has a majority. The process of eliminating a candidate and redistributing their votes is continued until one candidate emerges with a majority of votes. The French use a double ballot system, where one round of voting is held in single member ridings; if a candidate receives a majority then they are elected. If not, then a second round of voting is held a few weeks later, with lower ranked candidates eliminated.
The most popular systems are proportional representation systems. There are several varieties, but all attempt to translate a parties share of votes into a roughly proportional share of the legislature's seats. The most common is a party list system, where political parties prepare a ranked list of candidates with up to as many candidates as there are seats in the legislature. On election day, the voters vote for the party of their choice and the total votes for each party are added up. The parties are then declared to have won a number of seats in the legislature that is roughly proportionate to their share of the votes; most countries have some threshold number of votes (i.e. 3 or 5%) that a party must win in order to qualify for seats. There are two variations on basic PR systems:
- the closed list works strictly with the list of candidates as ranked by the parties, and the seats are filled from candidates drawn from the top of the list and working down. States that use this system include Israel, Italy, and South Africa
- the open list system allows the voters to vote for a candidate and the candidate's final position on the party's list of candidates is determined by the overall number of votes he or she has received. This system is used in a number of countries, including Belgium and Austria
The success with which a PR system provides parties with a share of the seats that is proportional to their vote share is dependent on several factors including the number of parties that fall short of the threshold and whether the votes and seats are counted up either nationally, provincially, or regionally. In counties such as Israel or the Netherlands, where the votes are added up and distributed nationally, the large pool of seats allows a closer relationship between seats and votes. Many countries, however, divide the pool of seats into smaller regions with a smaller set of seats (for example from 5 to 20). The smaller the number of seats to be shared, the more likely distortions are likely to occur in competitive, multi-party elections. In addition, there are several mathematical formulas that can be used to allocate seats among the parties and each imparts a certain distortion into the process.
The single transferable vote (STV) system has not been widely adopted around the world, but its profile has been raised in Canada since the BC Citizens' Assembly recommended in 2004 that the province should adopt STV instead of SMP. The STV system raises the probability that the main parties share of seats in the legislature will be somewhat proportional to their share of votes. In this system, a country or province is divided into smaller regions, and several members will be elected from each region. From the voters' perspective the system is similar to the alternative vote system, since voters rank the parties or candidates in order of their preference (e.g. 1, 2, 3). Initially all the candidates first preferences are counted up in order to see if any have achieved the "quota" of votes needed to get elected. This quota is determined by a mathematical equation that is based on the number of valid votes cast and the number of seats to elected in the region.
For example, if 100,000 valid votes were cast and there are 3 seats to be filled, then the quota is calculated in the following way to be 25,001 votes:
Anyone who is receives enough 1st preference ballots to meet the quota is elected. Otherwise, the candidate with the lowest number of votes is eliminated and the 2nd choices that voters marked on those ballots are then distributed among the remaining candidates. The process continues until all the eligible seats are filled. There are, however, very different ideas about how to distribute the "surplus" of votes cast for a candidate once they meet the quota - see David Farrell's article (pdf) on Australia's 1983 electoral reforms for an explanation.
It should be noted that the STV system does not guarantee proportional results, and sometimes allows the leading one or two parties to completely dominate the seats won in a region. Minor parties with 10-15% of the vote, for example, may be left without enough votes to reach the quota needed to win seats. The main strength of the STV is that voters can rank order the individual candidates - although the STV system used for Australian Senate elections permits voters to simply mark their ballot in favour of a whole party rather than have to mark individual candidates' names. As well, the size of the region from which members of the legislatures are elected may be smaller than those used in party-list PR systems. STV is used in Ireland, Malta, as well as for several state-level elections in Australia and for the Australian Senate elections
Germany and New Zealand are examples of countries that use some form of the mixed member proportional (MMP) system. The idea is to use two different voting systems to elect members to the legislature, with the goal of harnessing the virtues of both systems in the hopes of countering their disadvantages. With MMP, some seats are contested in single-member districts while others are apportioned to the parties on a basis of their share of the votes won. Voters are given two ballots - one for the their choice of individual legislator, and another vote for their choice of party for the second set of seats. In Germany and New Zealand, roughly half of the legislature is elected by single member plurality and the other half is drawn from the party lists. The party list seats are allocated in a manner that provides a party with a total share of all the seats in the legislature that is roughly proportional to their share of the party-list vote. For example, if a party wins 30% of the party list votes but only 25% of the single-member seats, it would be given enough party list seats to bring its total up to 30% of all the seats in the legislature. The value of an MMP system is that it combines the local attachment of legislators to specific electoral districts, with a legislature composed of parties roughly proportional to their share of the votes.
There are several variants of mixed member models, but the common factor is that two different systems are used in parallel to elect members of the legislature. The relative portion of seats devoted to single member elections and those chosen by PR can vary widely, as can the voting system used for the single member seats. In addition, there may be different objectives for the supplementary seats assigned from the party list. They may, as in the case of Germany & New Zealand, be distributed in a compensatory manner to ensure the total share of seats a party wins (including the single-member & party list seats together) is proportional to the party's share of votes. Or, the party list seats may be awarded simply according to their proportion of those party votes; the number of seats won by SMP would be irrelevant in this case. The party list seats are viewed as purely supplementary in this model and not compensatory. This particular approach is sometimes referred to as a mixed member majority (MMM) system, as it can (but need not) produce majority governments when a party only wins a plurality of the vote. Whether or not a majority is produced may depend on the portion of the legislature's seats set aside for supplementary allocation, party shares of the vote, and the rules for their allocation.
There are many variations possible in mixed-member systems, including the proportion of the house which is elected by each system (i.e. it could be a 75-25 split instead of 50-50). It should be noted that the single-member ridings may also be elected by a majority system, such as the alternative vote, rather than SMP. And, Taiwan uses STV for the first tier of seats, instead of a single-member system.
It is important to note that the models covered here do not exhaust the many possible ways of translating votes into seats. For example, Italy's parliament has approved major changes to their electoral system, which has been a pure party list system since 2005. Under the new system, voting would still be based on an elector choosing one of the parties to vote for, and the initial distribution of seats is done on a proportional basis from party lists. But there is a majoritarian bonus, given to a party that wins 40% or more of the national vote: a total allocation of 340 seats out of the total 630. If no party wins 40%, a second round of voting would be held. So, the Italians would have what one might describe as a PR, pluralitarian-majority, double-ballot system!
Resources on Electoral Systems
Institute for Research on Public Policy has published some interesting material on electoral reform, particularly in connection with its Governance Project. In addition, the July-August 2001 and September 1997 issues of Policy Options contains many articles debating the relative merits of reforming Canada's electoral system. Broader discussions of elections are also found in Richard Johnson's Canadian Elections at the Millennium (pdf) and in Paul Howe's and David Northrup's Strengthening Canadian Democracy: The Views of Canadians.
The Australian Electoral Commission provides a good overview of all the different electoral systems which includes a chart of which countries around the world use which system.
The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance provides a detailed Handbook of Electoral Systems Design.
Further useful information can also be found at:
I welcome any feedback and suggestions for fresh material to add to this site -
Political Science Department -- Simon Fraser university
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About Breast Cancer
Approximately 21,500 Californians will hear the words, “you have
breast cancer ”this year alone. An estimated 4,000 will die of the
Although breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in
California , the chance of survival is excellent when diagnosed early.
In fact, if caught early, an estimated 95 percent of patients will
Breast cancer is not just a disease impacting women. About 150 men
are diagnosed with breast cancer each year in California and about
30 die of the disease annually.
For reasons that are not completely understood, being well-educated,
financially well-off and delaying childbearing until later in life
are associated with a higher risk of developing breast cancer.
For women over 40, getting a regularly-scheduled mammogram is their
best defense against breast cancer.
Nutrition/Physical Activity Basics
Poor diet, obesity and physical inactivity may be responsible for
one out of every three cancer deaths, just as many as smoking.
A 2003 study in the New England Journal of Medicine demonstrated
a direct link between obesity and several forms of cancer. The study
proves that poor diet, obesity and lack of exercise are critical pieces
to the cancer puzzle. Unfortunately only 1% of Californians identified
maintaining a healthy weight as a way to decrease cancer risk.
Healthy eating means consuming at least five servings of fruits and
vegetables each day.
Along with healthy eating, regular physical activity is one of the
best ways to prevent chronic disease. The American Cancer Society
recommends moderate physical activity for 30 minutes for adults and
60 minutes for children and teens on five or more days a week
Based on self-reported weight and height, 57 percent of California
adults are considered overweight or obese, while nearly one out of
every three teenagers in the state is considered overweight or obese.
Arm yourself with the facts!
If early detection is key, then staying informed is tantamount!
The following links are great resources to understanding the disease and
the many resources and options available.
Do your home work!
- M.D. Anderson
- Komo 4
- Lifetime Television for Women
this petition. By doing so, you'll ensure that women who are
diagnosed with breast cancer won't have to worry about being forced
out of the hospital after undergoing a mastectomy!
- Cancer Treatment Centers of America
- Y-Me National Breast Cancer Organization
- National Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc.
- American Cancer Society
- Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation
- Arkansas BreastCare
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e, and bears the Indian name of Kowaliga. Being near the corner of two adjoining counties, it is a rural centre from which large numbers of children can be reached who ought to be educated, and who are anxious to "get an education" as their one chance in life, a chance which so far has been beyond them.
Kowaliga settlement is remote from any railroad and consists wholly of plantations. These plantations were formerly tilled by slaves, but since freedom came to those who gave their unrequited labor, the rich white planters have become poor and many of their sons now may be seen themselves following their plows, tilling the fields and driving mules instead of men. The country is fertile and repays intelligent tillage.
The American Missionary Association has been applied to repeatedly for help in this settlement of Kowaliga. Under the lead of two young college graduates, both of whom I had met while they were students at Fisk University, the colored people with great sacrifice had contributed build
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Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted
In: Social Issues
Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be TweetedSmall Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted
The term “social media” refers to the wide range of Internet-based and mobile services that allow users to participate in online exchanges, contribute user-created content, or join online communities (Dewing). It has become common today to use applications such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube to express and share your thoughts, opinions, and common interest. In Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted, writer Malcolm Gladwell touches upon the issues of social media’s role in activism vs. the traditional way of becoming a true activist Many of us today use these social networks for its beneficial approach to attract users and acquaintances to support their cause or activism. In today’s social era, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and so on constantly surround us. For most individuals, these social applications have become our daily way of communication. These application are so internally imbedded within our lives we tend to believe that what goes through these social media are true and that we technically are involved and active on these events, causes, and activism. Utilizing the sources from Gladwell’s Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted allows the reader to be more persuaded to believing that social outlets do not help change a cause or revolution.
Gladwell uses the events at Greensboro to confirm his belief of how a protest can manifest itself without the usage of social media. For example, “These events in the early sixties became a civil-rights war that engulfed the South for the rest of the decade-and it happened without email, texting, Facebook, or Twitter” (Gladwell 314). Gladwell is using successful past event to portray true activism prior to the technological advances of Facebook and Twitter. Gladwell uses sources to differentiate the strength and weaknesses of social activism and traditional activism. Throughout the reading selection, he uses various kinds of events,...
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1029 Birth of Caliph Al-Mustansir of Cairo (d. 1094)
1262 Birth of Arthur II, Duke of Brittany (d. 1312)
1298 Death of Graf Adolf von Nassau near Worms, Germany; King of the Germans until deposed by the Habsburg, Albert I.
1298 The Battle of Göllheim is fought between Albert I of Habsburg and Adolf of Nassau-Weilburg.
1457 Kristian of Oldenburg, King of Norway and Denmark, is elected King of Sweden, after agreeing to limitations on royal prerogative.
1489 Birth of Thomas Cranmer England, archbishop/reformer/martyr.
1504 Death of ?tefan cel Mare, Prince of Moldova (b. 1434)
1561 Menas, Emperor of Ethiopia defeats a revolt in Emfraz.
1566 Death of Nostradamus, French astrologer (b. 1503)
1566 Nostradamus, French astrologer/physician/prophet, dies in Salon.
1578 Martin Frobisher sights Baffin Island.
1582 Death of Akechi Mitsuhide, Japanese samurai (b. 1528)
1591 Death of Vincenzo Galilei, Italian composer (b. 1520)
1613 First English expedition from Massachusetts against Acadia – led by Samuel Argall.
1621 Death of Thomas Harriot, English astronomer and mathematician
1644 Battle of Marston Moor; Parliamentary forces defeat royalists.
1644 English Civil War: Battle of Marston Moor.
1644 William Gascoigne introduced telescopic sights, is killed at age 24.
1647 Birth of Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham, English privy councilor (d. 1730)
1656 Death of Frantois-Marie, comte de Broglie, Italian-born French commander (b. 1611)
1665 Birth of Samuel Penhallow, English-born American colonist and historian (d. 1726)
1674 Death of Eberhard III, Duke of Wnrttemberg (b. 1614)
1679 Europeans first visit Minnesota and see headwaters of Mississippi – led by Daniel Greysolon de Du Luth.
1684 Death of John Rogers, American President of Harvard University (b. 1630)
1714 Birth of Christoph Willibald Ritter von Gluck Erasbach Germany, composer.
1724 Birth of Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, German poet (d. 1803)
1743 Death of Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington, English statesman
1746 Death of Thomas Baker, English antiquarian (b. 1656)
1776 Continental Congress resolves “these United Colonies are and of right.
1776 The Continental Congress adopts a resolution severing ties with Great Britain, though a formal Declaration of Independence is not adopted until July 4.
1777 Vermont becomes the first American state to abolish slavery.
1777 Vermont becomes the first American territory to abolish slavery.
1778 Death of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Swiss philosopher (b. 1712)
1787 de Sade shouts from Bastille that prisoners are being slaughtered.
1798 John Fitch American inventor, clockmaker, etc, dies.
1808 Simon Fraser completes his trip down Fraser R, British Columbia, Canada, lands at Musqueam.
1808 Simon Fraser reaches Pacific near New Westminster.
1821 Birth of Charles Tupper (Conservative) 6th Canadian Prime Minister (1896).
1822 Denmark Vesey and five aides hanged at Blake’s Landing, Charleston, South Carolina.
1833 Death of Gervasio Antonio de Posadas, Argentine politician (b. 1757)
1839 Twenty miles off the coast of Cuba, 53 rebelling African slaves led by Joseph Cinque take over the slave ship Amistad.
1843 An alligator falls from the sky during a Charleston South Carolina thunderstorm.
1843 Death of Samuel Hahnemann, German physician (b. 1755)
1847 Envelope bearing the first US 10-cent stamps, still exists today.
1850 Death of Sir Robert Peel, Prime Minister of Great Britain (b. 1788)
1850 The self-contained gas mask is patented by Benjamin J. Lane.
1853 The Russian Army invades Turkey, beginning the Crimean War.
1856 Birth of Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Indian nationalist leader (d. 1920)
1858 Partial emancipation of Russian serfs.
1862 Birth of William Henry Bragg, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1942)
1862 Lincoln signs act granting land for state agricultural colleges.
1863 American Civil War: Second day of the Battle of Gettysburg.
1863 Day two of the Battle of Gettysburg: General James Longstreet leads the main Confederate attack, but Union forces retain control of their strategic positions. After three hours, the total number of dead at Gettysburg stood at 35,000.
1864 General Early and Confederate forces reach Winchester.
1864 Statuary Hall in US Capitol established.
1865 Birth of Lili Braun Prussia, feminist/socialist writer (Im Schatten Titanen).
1867 First US elevated railroad begins service, New York City.
1876 Birth of Wilhelm Cuno, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1933)
1877 Birth of Hermann Hesse in Switzerland; novelist/poet (Steppenwolf, Nobel Prize 1946).
1878 The Brighton Beach Line (now the BMT Brighton Line) opens in the then-city of Brooklyn.
1881 Charles J. Guiteau shoots and fatally wounds U.S. President James Garfield, who eventually dies from infection on September 19.
1881 US President James Garfield shot and fatally wounded by Charles J Guiteau, a disappointed office-seeker.
1882 James Garfield assassinated by “job-seeker”.
1884 Birth of Dr Otto B�hm Prussia, scientist (helped create England Radar).
1885 Canada’s North-west Insurrection ends with surrender of Big Bear.
1887 Birth of Marcel Tabuteau CompiFgne France, oboist (Philadelphia Orchestra 1915-54).
1890 Sherman Antitrust Act prohibits industrial monopolies.
1890 The U.S. Congress passes the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.
1894 Birth of Walter Brennan Swampscott Massachusetts; actor (Real McCoys).
1894 Government obtains injunction against striking Pullman Workers.
1900 Birth of Tyrone Guthrie, English actor (d. 1971)
1900 Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin first airship LZ-1, flies.
1900 First zeppelin flight on Lake Constance near Friedrichshafen, Germany.
1902 John J McGraw becomes manager of New York Giants (stays for 30 years).
1903 Birth of Lord Alex Douglas-Home (Conservative) British Prime Minister (1963-64).
1905 Birth of Jean-Rene Lacoste France, tennis champ/alligator shirt designer.
1906 Birth of Hans Bethe physicist (Nobel Prize 1967), peace worker.
1906 New York Yankees win by forfeit, for their first time.
1908 Birth of Thurgood Marshall Maryland, first black Supreme Court justice (1967-91).
1912 Death of Tom Richardson, English cricket player (b. 1870)
1914 Birth of Frederick Fennell Cleveland Ohio, conductor (Time and the Winds).
1915 Death of Porfirio Dfaz, President of Mexico (b. 1830)
1916 Birth of Barry Gray radio personality (started call-in radio).
1917 Forty-eight die in rioting in East St. Louis, Illinois, as lower-paid black laborers clash with whites.
1918 Birth of Wibo, Dutch cartoonist (d. 2005)
1919 Birth of Johnny Bradford Long Branch New Jersey; actor (Ransom Sherman Show).
1920 Death of William Louis Marshall, American general and engineer (b. 1846)
1921 First million dollar gate ($1.7m) boxing match (Jack Dempsey knocks out Carpentier).
1922 Birth of Dan Rowan Beggs Oklahoma, USA; comedian (Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-in).
1923 Birth of Wis?awa Szymborska, Polish writer, Nobel Prize laureate
1925 Birth of Medgar Wiley Evers near Decatur, Mississippi, USA; African-American civil rights leader (murdered 1963).
1926 Birth of Lee Allen in Pittsburg, Kansas, USA; tenor sax (“Walkin’ With Mr Lee”).
1926 Death of �mile CouT, French psychologist (b. 1857)
1926 US Army Air Corps created; Distinguish Flying Cross authorized.
1927 Birth of Cornelius “Kees” Broekman in Holland; speed skater (Olympic-silver-1952).
1927 Helen Wills Moody is first American to win Wimbeldon tennis championships in 20 years.
1929 Birth of Imelda Marcos, First Lady of the Philippines
1930 Birth of Carlos Menem, President of Argentina
1932 Birth of Dave Thomas, American fast food entrepreneur (d. 2002)
1932 Death of King Manuel II of Portugal (b. 1889)
1932 Franklin Roosevelt makes first presidential nominating conventional acceptance speech.
1933 Birth of Kenny Wharram, Canadian hockey player
1933 Carl Hubbell shuts-out Saint Louis Cardinals 1-0 in 18 innings without a walk.
1934 Death of Ernst R�hm, Nazi official (b. 1887)
1935 Birth of Gilbert Kalish in Brooklyn, New York, USA; pianist/professor (SUNY Stony Brook).
1935 C Jackson discovers asteroid #1357 Khama.
1935 Great Britain boxers beat US team in first international Golden Gloves.
1937 Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan disappear over Pacific Ocean.
1937 Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappear over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to make the first round-the-world flight at the equator.
1937 Birth of Richard Petty; auto race driver (Daytona 500-1979,1981).
1937 C Jackson discovers asteroids #1429 Pemba and #1456 Saldanha.
1937 Death of Amelia Earhart, American aviator (disappeared) (b. 1897)
1938 Helen Wills Moody (US) wins her 8th and final Wimbeldon singles tournament.
1939 Birth of John Sununu; US Secretary of State (1989-91).
1940 Birth of Georgi Ivan Ivanov; first Bulgarian space traveler (Soyuz 33).
1940 Lake Washington (Seattle, Washington) Floating Bridge dedicated.
1941 Joe DiMaggio breaks Willie Keeler’s 44-game baseball hitting streak (45th of 56).
1942 Birth of Vicente Fox, President of Mexico
1943 Cleveland Indians score 12 runs in fourth inning and beat New York Yankees 12-0.
1945 The Okinawa campaign is declared over. Total US casualties are 80,000 (dead, wounded, missing, non-combat sickness). Total Japanese casualties are 120,000.
1946 Anthony Overton, publisher/cosmetics manufacturer/banker, dies at age 81.
1946 Birth of Richard Axel, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
1947 An object speculated to be a UFO crashes near Roswell, New Mexico, though the United States Air Force claims it is a weather balloon.
1947 Birth of Larry David, American television producer
1949 Birth of Roy Bittan, American keyboardist (E Street Band)
1950 Henri Queuille becomes Prime Minister of France.
1952 Birth of Linda M Godwin in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, USA; PhD/astronaut (STS 37).
1954 Birth of Pete Briquette, English bassist (Boomtown Rats)
1955 Birth of Andrew Divoff, Venezuelan actor
1956 Birth of Jeffrey Cooper; guitarist (Midnight Star – “No Parking”).
1957 Birth of Mike Anger; rocker (The Blow Monkeys – “Wicked Ways”).
1958 Birth of Thomas Bickerton, American Methodist bishop
1959 Birth of Wendy B Lawrence in Jacksonville, Florida, USA; US Navy Lieutenant Commander/astronaut.
1960 Birth of Terry Rossio, American screenwriter
1961 Death of Ernest Hemingway, American writer, Nobel Prize laureate (suicide) (b. 1899)
1961 Writer Ernest Hemingway shoots himself to death in Ketchum, Idaho, USA.
1962 The first Wal-Mart opens in Rogers, Arkansas, USA.
1962 The first Wal-Mart store opens for business in Rogers, Arkansas.
1964 Birth of Dave Parsons; rocker (Transvision Vamp, Sham 69-That’s Life).
1964 Death of Glenn “Fireball” Roberts, American race car driver (b. 1929)
1964 Glenn “Fireball” Roberts, biggest NASCAR money winner, dies in crash.
1964 President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits segregation in public places.
1964 U.S. President Lyndon Johnson signs into law the Civil Rights Act, in a televised ceremony in the White House. The Act prohibits racial discrimination in employment and education and outlaws racial segregation in public places such as schools, buses, parks and swimming pools.
1966 Billie Jean King wins her first (of six) Wimbeldon single titles.
1966 Death of Jan Brzechwa, Polish poet (b. 1900)
1966 The French military explode their nuclear test bomb codenamed AldTbaran in Mururoa, their first nuclear test in the Pacific.
1969 The International resort/casino opens in Las Vegas Boulevard, Nevada. With 1500 rooms, it is the world’s largest hotel, with the world’s largest casino, at 29,000 square feet.
1969 The Jimi Hendrix Experience break up.
1970 Birth of Yancy Butler, American actress
1970 Jessie Street, Australian civil rights activist, dies.
1970 Near Sivas, Turkey, a magnitude 4.8 earthquake occurs.
1971 Birth of Evelyn Lau, Canadian author
1972 Death of Joseph Fielding Smith, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1876)
1973 Birth of Peter Kay , British comedian
1973 Death of Betty Grable, American actress (b. 1916)
1973 Match Game begins its 1970s run.
1973 Swede Savage dies from injuries at Indianapolis 500.
1974 Birth of Sean Casey, baseball player
1974 Fernando Mameda of Portugal sets record for 10km (27:13.81).
1975 Birth of Erik Ohlsson, Swedish guitarist (Millencolin)
1976 Birth of Tom�? Vokoun, Czech hockey player
1976 North and South Vietnam, divided since 1954, reunite to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
1976 North and South Vietnam reunite to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
1976 US Supreme Court rules death penalty not inherently cruel or unusual.
1977 Death of Vladimir Nabokov, Russian-born writer (b. 1899)
1977 Sweden’s Bj�rn Borg wins Wimbeldon men’s singles over Jimmy Connors.
1978 Birth of Jnri Ratas, Estonian politician
1978 Pitcher Ron Guidry sets New York Yankees record of 13-0 start.
1979 Birth of Sam Hornish, Jr., American race car driver
1979 The first U.S. coin to honor a woman, the Susan B. Anthony dollar, is introduced.
1979 The US Mint releases the new Susan B. Anthony small diameter dollar coin to circulation.
1981 Birth of Alex Koroknay-Palicz; American activist.
1981 L E Gonzalez discovers asteroid #3495 Colchagua.
1982 Larry Walters, a.k.a. Lawn Chair Larry, flies 16,000 feet above Long Beach, California in lawn chair with weather balloons attached.
1982 Larry Walters uses 45 helium balloons and a lawnchair to propel himself to 16,000 feet.
1982 Roy Jenkins is elected leader of the Social Democratic Party.
1982 Soyuz T-6 returns to Earth.
1983 Birth of Michelle Branch; American singer (The Wreckers).
1983 The Police release their final album, “Synchronicity”, which would eventually spend 17 weeks at #1 on the U.S. album chart
1984 Standard Oil of California changes its company name to Chevron.
1985 Andrei Gromyko is appointed the chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union.
1985 Birth of Ashley Tisdale; American actress.
1985 Death of David Purley, British race car driver (born 1945).
1985 European Space Agency launches Giotto to Halley’s Comet.
1985 Proto launched to Halley’s Comet.
1986 Birth of Lindsay Lohan, American actress and singer.
1986 US Supreme Court upholds affirmative action in two rulings.
1987 Karl Linnas, accused German, dies of heart failure in Russia.
1988 Steffi Graff beats Martina Navratilova for Wimbeldon crown.
1989 Andreas Papandreou, Prime Minister of Greece, resigns. A new government is formed under Tzannis Tzannetakis.
1989 Death of Andrei Gromyko, Soviet foreign minister (b. 1909)
1990 A stampede in a pedestrian tunnel leading to Mecca kills 1,426.
1990 A stampede inside a pedestrian tunnel leads to the deaths of 1,426 pilgrims in Mecca during hajj.
1990 Imelda Marcos and Adnan Khashoggi found not guilty of racketeering.
1990 In Masvingo, Zimbabwe, a meteorite falls harmlessly to the ground.
1991 Death of Lee Remick, American actress (b. 1935)
1992 The one millionth Corvette car is built. It is an Arctic White LT1 convertible, with red interior and black top. Chevrolet donates the car to the National Corvette Museum.
1994 Colombian football player AndrTs Escobar, 27, is shot dead in Bogot�.
1994 Death of AndrTs Escobar, Colombian footballer (murdered) (b. 1967)
1997 A supertanker strikes a shallow reef in Tokyo Bay, Japan, leaking an estimated 1.7 million litres of crude oil.
1997 Death of James Stewart, American actor (born 1908).
1997 The Thai currency, baht, is allowed to float freely according to market forces.
1997 Tom Walters Sr. of Meridian, Mississippi wins powerball of US$11 million.
1999 Benjamin Nathaniel Smith begins a three-day killing spree targeting racial and ethnic minorities in Illinois and Indiana, USA.
1999 Death of Mario Puzo, American author (born 1920).
2000 Death of Joey Dunlop, Northern Irish motorcycle racer (born 1952).
2000 France beats Italy 2-1 to win Euro 2000 with a golden goal.
2000 Vicente Fox is elected President of Mexico, as candidate of the rightist PAN (National Action Party), ending 71 years of PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party) rule.
2000 Vicente Fox Quesada is elected the first President of MTxico from an opposition party, the Partido Acci=n Nacional (PAN) after more than 70 years of continuous rule by the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI).
2001 The world’s first self-contained artificial heart is implanted in Robert Tools.
2002 Steve Fossett becomes the first person to fly solo around the world in a balloon.
2002 Steve Fossett becomes the first person to fly solo around the world nonstop in a balloon.
2003 At the International Olympic Committee session in Prague, Vancouver, British Columbia is declared the Host City for the XXI Olympic Winter Games in 2010.
2003 International Olympic Committee selects Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada to host the 2010 Winter Olympics.
2004 ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) accepted Pakistan as the 24th member.
2004 Death of John Cullen Murphy, American comic strip artist (born 1919).
2005 Death of Ernest Lehman, American screenwriter (b. 1915)
2005 Live 8, a series of 10 simultaneous concerts take place throughout the world, raising interest in the Make Poverty History campaign.
2005 Ten Live 8 concerts are held around the world in an attempt to force G8 countries to address poverty.
2006 A presidential election is held in Mexico. Felipe Calder=n is confirmed as the winner on September 5.
2006 Death of Jan Murray, American comedian (b. 1916)
2007 10th anniversary of the collapse of the Thai baht, which triggered the Asian Financial Crisis.
2007 Death of Jimmy Walker, American basketball player (born 1944).
2007 US President George Bush annuls the 30-month prison sentence given to Lewis Libby for perjury and obstruction of justice.
2007 Venus and Saturn are in conjunction, separation 46 arcsecs.
2008 Colombia soldiers disguised as members of a non-government organization trick FARC rebels into releasing fifteen long-held hostages. They are French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt, held for six years, three American defence department contractors, and eleven members of the Colombian security forces.
2008 In England, the country’s largest house builder fails to raise 500 million pounds (US$1 billion), and is forced to write down the value of about 660 million pounds worth of land. The company’s share value is now about 1/15th of a year ago.
2009 American forces led by 4000 Marines begin a large offensive in southern Afghanistan against Taliban forces.
2009 California begins issuing billions of dollars in “IOUs” after failing to start the fiscal year with a balanced budget. With a US$26.3 billion deficit, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declares a fiscal emergency.
2009 Siemens AG agrees to a US$100 million settlement with the World Bank over bribery allegations.
2010 An oil fuel truck explosion in the Democratic Republic of Congo kills at least 230 people; many were trapped in buildings that caught fire from the explosion.
2010 Twenty thousand people march through Israel calling for the release of captured soldier Gilad Shalit, being held by Hamas for four years.
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Plunging cliffs and towering mountains characterize the gigantic impact structure called Odysseus on Saturn's moon Tethys. The great impact basin lies before the Cassini spacecraft in one of the best views yet obtained.
Quite a few small craters are visible inside Odysseus (450 kilometers, or 280 miles across), making it clear that this is not a very young structure. However, a comparison of cratering density between the interior of Odysseus and the surrounding terrain should show whether the large basin is at least relatively young.
Odysseus is on the leading hemisphere of Tethys (1,071 kilometers, or 665 miles across). North is up and rotated 18 degrees to the right.
The image was taken in polarized ultraviolet light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Dec. 24, 2005 at a distance of approximately 196,000 kilometers (122,000 miles) from Tethys and at a Sun-Tethys-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 85 degrees. Resolution in the original image was 1 kilometer (3,831 feet) per pixel. The image has been magnified by a factor of two and contrast-enhanced to aid visibility.
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 operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.
For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org.
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In the present case, the analysis of the filtering procedure is straightforward: a single peak is produced, which corresponds to the orientation of one of the molecules. The second molecule is not found in this particular run, since its orientation was not among the first 240 peaks of the rotation function. This shows a problem with the PC-refinement strategy: if no solution is found, one cannot be sure that there is no solution. A ``direct" rotation search (see Section 17.7) may help in these cases. Another aspect of the result of the filtering procedure is that sometimes several PC-refinements converge on the same solution. The Rotman statement provides a facility to measure the ``distance" or metric between two rotation matrices by removing crystallographic redundancies. Suppose one wants to know the distance between two orientations of the search model (=80.477, =85.000, =24.806) and (=261.392, =90.000, = 336.243) taking into account the crystallographic symmetry. Using the Rotman statement
xrefin a=44.144 b=164.69 c=70.17 alpha=90. beta=108.50 gamma=90. symmetry ( x, y, z ) symmetry ( -x, y+1/2, -z ) end rotman euler=(80.477 85.000 24.806) swap euler=( 261.392 90.000 336.243) dist endone finds that the difference between these two orientations is about 5, due to the crystallographic symmetry.
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Giant Hogweed Plant: Summer Plant Causes Burns and Blindness
With the official first day of summer, new plants may be popping up around the yard. Most fruits and vegetables, in particular, are at their peak during the summer harvest, with an assortment of colors covering many farmers' fields. However, other plants that come around during the sweet summer time are not so welcome. Take, for example, the giant hogweed plant, a potentially dangerous invasive species that can cause burns and even blindness.
According to Yahoo News, this super-sized weed might look impressive, when it reality, touching the up-to-23-feet tall thing can cause a scorching sunburn.
According to the Department of Environmental Conservation, this can be explained by a chemical in the plant called furocoumarin, which can cause blisters, long-lasting scars, three-years long sensitivity to sunlight on the skin, and as stated previously, blindness.
No matter how silly or innocent looking a plant tends to be, this one, for certain, simply isn't one you want to even try and trim.
The DEC notes that this plant is native to the Caucasus Mountain region, between the Black and Caspian Seas. Back in the late nineteenth century, it was introduced in Europe and the United Kingdom as an ornamental garden plant. (If only they'd known, right?)
It later became established in New England, the Mid-Atlantic Region and the Northwest. The organization notes that "Giant hogweed grows along streams and rivers and in fields, forests, yards and roadsides. It prefers open sites with abundant light and moist soil but it can grow in partially shaded habitats, too."
If you think you've come in contact with a giant hogwood plant, make sure to immediately wash with soap and water, and don't expose the area to sunlight for a full 48 hours. Wash out your eyes with water, and wear sunglasses. Lastly, seek medical attention as soon as possible.
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Making Public Libraries Accessible to People with Disabilities
The Centre for Internet & Society was one of the 20 disability rights groups that wrote to the Ministry of Culture on January 23, 2013 seeking remedial action on the barriers faced by persons with disabilities in accessing public libraries in India.
Hon’ble Ministers of Culture, HRD, Social Welfare
Secretaries of the above Ministries/Departments
January 23, 2013
Sub: Making Public Libraries Accessible for Persons with Disabilities
We, the organizations representing persons with disabilities listed at the end of this document would like to bring to your attention for your urgent remedial action on the barriers faced by persons with disabilities in accessing public libraries in the country.
As you are aware, India has approximately 150 million persons with disabilitieswho have the inalienable fundamental right to life as enshrined in the Constitution including the right to seek knowledge and education. Public libraries play a critical role in creating an enabling environment for citizens to gain knowledge, information and education. This is particularly true in the case of persons with disabilities who have limited access to purchase books through mainstream shops due to various barriers including lack of physical access to shops, lack of availability of books in accessible formats like Braille, etc. India has signed and ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and therefore India is required to "to take all appropriate measures, including legislation, to modify or abolish existing laws, regulations, customs and practices that constitute discrimination against persons with disabilities, "to develop, promulgate and monitor the implementation of minimum standards and guidelines for the accessibility of facilities and services open or provided to the public” and take all appropriate measures to ensure that persons with disabilities enjoy access to libraries
The recent copyright amendments enabling libraries to convert their collections into accessible formats free of cost for the benefit of persons with disabilities coupled with technological developments in the form of cost effective screen reading software have created an unprecedented opportunity to make libraries accessible to persons with visual impairment and dyslexia. Additionally increased clarity on standards for physical access also now enables libraries to be made physically accessible without expensive modifications to enable wheelchair users and those with limited mobility access the libraries.
We understand that the Ministry of Culture has constituted a high powered committee as part of the National Mission on Libraries to look into revamping the library system in the country. We urge that the issue relating to making public libraries accessible to persons with disabilities is taken up by the government on a fast track basis, a separate budget is allocated for this exercise and libraries are made accessible on a priority basis. Please find attached a brief note on the steps to be taken to make libraries accessible to persons with disabilities.
We recommend that regional consultations are conducted through which additional data can be gathered on regional/language/types of communication/availability of power and related issues. We also urge you take steps to extend library services to rural areas across the country. We are happy to assist the government in this initiative. Do let us know how we can contribute to this effort.
Thank you and best regards,
- Inclusive Planet Centre for Disability Law and Policy (www.inclusiveplanet.org.in)
+91 98403 57991
- AccessAbility (www.accessability.co.in)
Shivani Gupta+91 93102 45743
- Xavier’s Resource Centre for the Visually Challenged (www.xrcvc.org)
+91 99670 28769
- Saksham Charitable Trust (www.saksham.org)
+91 98180 94781
- National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled
+91 98687 68543
- National Institute of Speech and Hearing (www.nish.ac.in)
+91 99615 68443
- Centre for Internet and Society (www.cis-india.org)
+91 98458 68078
- Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy (www.iicpindia.org)
+91 94330 45340
- National Centre for Autism (www.autism-india.org)
+91 98102 25923
- Ability Foundation (www.abilityfoundation.org)
- Nilesh Singit, Disability Rights Activist
- Andhjan Kalyan Trust (www.aktrust.org)
- Blind Graduates Forum of India
- Tamilnadu Handicapped Federation Charitable Trust
+91 98406 46953
- Human Rights Law Network AP Unit
- Global Ability in Disability
- Mitra Jyothi
- Vaishnavi Jayakumar, Human Rights Activist
- Samarthyam (www.samarthyam.org)
+91 98105 58321
With inputs from:
- Stephen M. Shore, Ed.D.
Assistant Professor of Special Education, Adelphi University
International consultant, presenter, and author
Person on the autism spectrum
- Tania Meinyczuk
Director, Autistic Strategies Network
- Shellique Carby
- Fazli Azeem
South Asian Self-Advocate for the Autism Spectrum
Fulbright Scholar @ MassArt Boston, USA
- Michael Vestergaard Drejer
Making Public Libraries Inclusive For Persons With Disabilities – An Overview
It is estimated that India has approximately 150 million persons with disabilities (“PWDs”). Depending on their disability, PWDs have varying degrees of problems in accessing libraries and the material available at libraries. PWDs cannot access the premises of libraries since the buildings themselves are not accessible. People who are blind or have low vision cannot access reading material in libraries since the reading materials are not in formats that are accessible. It is estimated that less than 0.5% of books are available in formats that are accessible by people who are blind or have low vision. It is therefore critical that libraries in India are made inclusive so as to become accessible by PWDs.
Suggestions For Improvement
Given below are suggestions to make the public library system inclusive to PWDs based on internationally recognized best practices:
Structural modifications must be made to the library to ensure that PWDs can use the library building easily and safely, without any barriers or obstructions. Some of the modifications required include accessible parking, clear paths of travel to and throughout the facility, entrances with adequate, clear openings or automatic doors, handrails, ramps and elevators, accessible tables and public service desks, and accessible public conveniences such as toilets, and drinking fountains. Other reasonable modifications may include visible alarms in toilets and general usage areas and signs that have Braille and easily visible character size, font, contrast and finish.
For further information see Annexure 1 and http://socialjustice.nic.in/glinecpwd.php
- Accessible Formats and Library as a Distribution Centre
People, who are blind, have low vision, dyslexia and other print disabilities cannot access reading materials in printed formats. They require reading material in “accessible formats” such as Braille, large print, audio recordings and electronic formats including digital talking books. In addition, people with some disabilities may find it difficult to come to the library. Under the recently amended Copyright Act libraries can convert books into the accessible formats specified above free of cost and without requiring permission from publishers and can distribute them in physical form and in electronic form including over the Internet to persons with disabilities.
Libraries now have the unprecedented opportunity to create an extensive collection of reading material in the accessible formats mentioned above in English and all Indian languages and make them available at the library in the form of physical copies, on CDs and other media, as well as over the Internet. The catalog of the collection must be in accessible formats. For digitization of books State Level Focal Points to be created for this purpose possibly at State level libraries. For further information on the standards to be adhered to when the library undertakes digitization see Annexure 2. State Level Focal Points will get production done through outsourcing or with some inhouse facilities for production of digital content. A National Level Focal point with full time staff will be required for standardization and networking between the State Level Focal Points and maintaining the central server as mentioned below. The central server will have a database containing digital copies of works in accessible formats created by the State Focal Points and other organizations that undertake the conversion of material into accessible formats such as the National Federation of the Blind, All India Confederation of the Blind, Daisy Forum of India and the Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy. Requests for books in accessible formats can be sent to these organizations as well. The central server will also be connected to the Braille presses. Each public library at the district level will act as a distribution point for accessible formats and will be connected to the central server so that requests for books at each of the libraries can be sourced from the database on the central server. This is advantageous as the list of books available at each library will be constantly updated once they are added to the database. In addition, persons with disabilities must be able to download books in accessible formats from the database without coming to the library.
The website of each library must contain the catalog of material available in accessible formats and the services provided for persons with disabilities. The website of the libraries and the centralized database must adhere to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 as outlined by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) so that persons with print disabilities can access the websites and the database. Each library must take orders for accessible books from library users over the internet and over the telephone and source the books from other libraries. Libraries must work together to enable interlibrary exchange of books in accessible formats including hard copy Braille books.
All existing books published in India must be digitized over a period 7 years and all new books must be digitized within 60 days of their first publication in India. Special efforts must be made to provide accessible formats in Indian languages as these are extremely limited. An advisory committee consisting of specialist representatives from disability organizations, among others, may be constituted to oversee the implementation of this project. The expert committee will be associated with both the National Level Focal Points and the State Level Focal Points.
- Assistive Aids and Equipment
PWDs require certain assistive aids and equipment to be able to fully utilize the services of the library and the information available therein. Some forms of accessible formats specified above can only be accessed using assistive aids. Libraries must provide the assistive aids/equipment specified in Annexure 3.
- Training and sensitization
Adequate training and sensitization must be given to library staff to ensure that they are able to interact with PWDs. This training can be in the nature of a short refresher course and the training and sensitization programs must be evolved in consultation with the disability sector and must be conducted with the assistance of experts in the disability space.
- Specialized personnel and services
The library should have a dedicated person to interact with persons with disabilities. This person should have a background in disability, highly motivated, familiar with sign language and also be responsible for providing specific assistance required by persons with disabilities such as guiding them to print out books in Braille, procuring books from the online database etc. The library should offer specialized services to PWDs including a telephonic help line and home delivery of books ordered online or over the phone and reading service at designated times at the library. It is pertinent to note that literature for the blind has no postal fees. Each library must have a specific section on disability related reading material. It is also essential to cooperate with other libraries around the world to share learning.
a. Outside the library
- The main gate of the entrance of the library must be made accessible in accordance with applicable accessibility standards. If the main entrance cannot be made accessible, a secondary accessible entrance should be provided.
- At least covered three parking spaces marked with the international symbol of Accessibility (wheelchair symbol) close to the library entrance must be provided.
- Clear and easy to read signposting must be provided.
- Unobstructed and well lit access paths from the main gate to the entrance of the library must be provided. All steps must be replaced/complimented with ramps having less than 5% gradient, with railings on both sides.
- Smooth and non-slip surface must be used throughout.
b. Getting into the library
- A person using any kinds of support such as wheelchair, crutches or walker, cane, or guide dog, should be able to enter through the door and pass through security check points, if any, without encountering obstacles.
- All mobility aids and assistive devices including wheelchairs, walkers, communicators among others must be able to pass through security checkpoints, if any.
- Applicable accessibility standards must be adhered to.
- Sufficient space must be provided in front of the door to allow a wheelchair to turn around.
- Entrance door should be wide enough to allow a wheelchair to enter.
- Non-automatic doors should be operable using one hand.
- Glass doors, if any, must be highlighted with contrast colour band at eye level to prevent persons with low vision banging into these.
- Stairs and steps edges must be marked with a contrasting color band.
- Pictogram signs must be provided for services and amenities such as toilets, elevators, stairways.
- Elevators, if any, must be well lit with buttons and signs in Braille and synthetic speech.
- Elevator buttons reachable from a wheelchair.
- At least 5 wheelchairs (preferably motorized) or mobility scooters must be made available for use by persons with physical disabilities
c. Inside the library
- All parts of the library should be accessible.
- The catalogs must be available in accessible formats.
- Clear and easy-to-read signs with pictograms must be provided.
- Service desks should be located close to the entrance.
- A certain number of tables and computer workstations should be adapted for persons in wheelchairs.
- Shelves must ideally be reachable from a wheelchair
- Chairs with sturdy armrests must be provided
- Unobstructed aisles between bookcases must be provided and wide enough to accommodate wheelchairs and one person not on a wheelchair.
- Visible and audible fire alarms must be provided.
- Non-fluorescent lighting. In case fluorescent lighting is used there must be an area free of visual clutter and sharp light contrasts, with plain walls and cubicles.
- Printers must be kept in areas away from reading areas to reduce sound in the reading areas.
- Suitable sound insulation to be used to minimize sound in the reading areas.
- Stack area should have clear aisle space for wheelchair and bi-lateral crutch users (3ft. min.). Where book stacking is in shelves and areas beyond reach of persons with disabilities using mobility aids, human assistance should be available to access books.
- Plants inside the space can help with air filtering, which can make a huge difference to the level of comfort.
The library should have at least one toilet for PWDs, equipped with the following:
- Clear signs with pictogram indicating the location of the toilets
- Door wide enough for a wheelchair to enter and sufficient space for a wheelchair to turn around
- Room enough for a wheelchair to pull up next to the toilet seat
- Toilet with handles and flushing lever reachable for persons in wheelchairs
- Alarm button reachable for persons in a wheelchairs
- Washbasin, mirror at the appropriate height
e. Information Desk and Circulation desk
- The desks must be of adjustable height to enable persons in wheelchair to be able access the desk
- Chairs must be provided at the desk
- Induction loop system for hearing impaired persons
Standards for material converted into digital formats by libraries
- Master Digital Documents of converted material must be maintained in DAISY XML format.
- All Master Digital Documents in Indic Languages must be encoded in Unicode [UTF8/16] and formatted using a royalty-free Open Type Font.
- All Master Digital Documents must be tagged according to DAISY standards to capture semantic information for parts, units, chapter headings, subsections, pagination, ordered and un-ordered list, tables, images along with their alternative text, math equations, title, author, footnote, end-note, text box, abbreviation, acronym, etc.
- Metadata information about the publication as prescribed in the DAISY Standards must be added to all Master Digital Documents.
- Distribution of digital copies of the Master Digital Documents through web sites or otherwise must be done in epub format.
- If other standards are used for different target populations those standards must be compliant with the National Open Standards Policy and the Interoperability Framework for E-Governance in India.
- DAISY audio format for Indic languages.
For assisting persons with Visual Impairment or blindness or autism spectrum disorders:
Persons with vision impairments or blindness or autism spectrum disorders would benefit from software and hardware for enlarging displays on the monitor or reading material through a speech synthesizer.
Some of the most common assistive aids/equipment are:
- Screen-magnification software. This program allows people with low vision to access computer information by enlarging the screen display or tailoring the display to accommodate their disability.
- Large magnification devices such as closed-circuit television magnifiers (CCTV). This system employs a video camera lens to enlarge text from three to thirty times normal text size
- Handheld magnifiers
For Screen reading
At least one computer must face outward and not against the wall since people with autism spectrum disorders find it disturbing to have people walking behind them.
For Braille support -
- Braille Translating Software - To produce correctly formatted and coded Braille one needs a Braille Translation Software. A document prepared by a word processing program is loaded into the translation software. The final document may be printed in Braille by a Braille embosser.
- Braille Embosser - Braille embossers print Braille output from a computer by punching dots onto paper and enable users to make hard copies of documents.
- Refreshable Braille displays and DAISY players.
All multimedia content to have audio descriptions
For Assisting people with Hearing Impairment or Deafness
Users with deafness or have hearing impairments do not have problems using the computer except problems will arise from programs and websites that have audio cues.
- Sound Sentry This option directs the operating system to display a visual signal when a sound is generated by a Windows application. Sound sentry in built into Windows and Apple operating systems.
- All multimedia content to have captions
For Assisting people with Learning Disabilities
Specialized software programs and hardware for people who have learning differences will display print as well as provide auditory reading of the text simultaneously.
For Assisting people with Physical Disabilities
Persons with physical disabilities may need assistance in using the computer apart from having physical accessibility. The following items increase computer usability and safety:
- Special input devices such as trackballs, joysticks, switches, touch pads, and augmented keyboards (micro keyboards or oversize keyboards with enlarged keys)
- A computer camera/tracker allows users to manipulate the cursor through head movement.
- Software utilities that replaces the functionality of a standard keyboard with a full-featured, onscreen keyboard.
- Speech to text software such as Dragon Naturally Speaking
- Motorized wheelchairs to be used by physically impaired users especially motorized chairs whose seat can raise so that users can reach books on higher shelves on the rack.
- Availability of reachers to access books that may be placed too low or too high on the book rack.
- Page turners
- American Library Association: http://www.ala.org/ascla/asclaissues/libraryservices
- International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions: http://archive.ifla.org/VII/s9/nd1/iflapr-89e.pdf
- World Wide Web Consortium: http://www.w3.org/WAI/
. The World Health Organization estimates that 15% of the population is disabled. http://www.who.int/disabilities/world_report/2011/factsheet.pdf
. Article 4.1 (b) of the UNCRPD
. Article 9.2 (a) of the UNCRPD
. Article 30. 1 (c) of the UNCRPD
. The World Health Organization estimates that 15% of every population is disabled. http://www.who.int/disabilities/world_report/2011/factsheet.pdf
. For more information see www.nabindia.org
. For more information see www.aicb.org.in
. For more information see www.daisyindia.org
. For more information see www.iicpindia.org
. Based on checklist prepared by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions available at http://archive.ifla.org/VII/s9/nd1/iflapr-89e.pdf. These should be over above the guidelines prescribed here http://socialjustice.nic.in/glinecpwd.php
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The Secretary-General has called for urgent attention to the social impacts of the financial and economic crisis. Lessons from other crises show that social consequences need to be tackled rapidly, as they lead to a quick increase in unemployment, disease, poverty and hunger.
Governments find themselves constrained, with a contracting fiscal space for social policies. Policymakers face tremendous challenges to protect social expenditures and to provide necessary social services and transfers, which are also critical to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Pensions are under severe strain because of the collapse of capital markets. People around the world have lesser access to social services, benefits, remittances and credit.
The crisis is going to have severe negative social impacts. According to the World Bank, 45 million people will fall under extreme poverty and as a result 400,000 children will die in 2009. This comes on top of the vulnerability created by the food and energy crisis, which pushed more than 130 million people into poverty in 2008. It is expected that urban slums will triple, and 50 per cent of men and women globally will remain below two US dollar a day poverty line in 2009. Addressing the social impacts of the crisis is an urgent imperative.
DESA focus areas
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A MOLECULAR post-it note added to a breast cancer gene could flag up the risk that the disease will spread in patients, according to research published in the BJC today (Wednesday).
Cancer Research UK scientists at Imperial College London showed that high levels of a molecular modification called methylation on a gene called CACNA2D3, were linked to the spread of the disease in breast cancer patients.
Methylation is a common cell process that adds methyl groups onto DNA to prevent the gene’s instructions from being given – acting like a post-it note on the DNA telling the cell when to switch genes off.
The gene CACNA2D3 is a known tumour suppressor gene which prevents cancer. It is not methlyated in healthy breast cells and highly methlyated in breast cancer cells.
The research revealed that the addition of methyl groups to the gene stops it from protecting against cancer development.
The gene is known to be faulty or missing in a range of cancers including lung, renal cell, neuroblastoma and osteosarcoma but this is the first time it has been linked to breast cancer.
Lead author, Dr Carlo Palmieri, Cancer Research UK scientist at Imperial College London, said: “Our research suggests that methyl groups can muffle the messages given by the CACNA2D3 gene - blocking its potential protective effect against breast cancer. Methylation of the gene could be used to flag up breast cancer patients who have a greater chance of the disease spreading – helping doctors decide what treatment plan would be most effective.
“The next stage is to repeat these findings in larger studies with patients to confirm whether analysing methylation of the gene could be a useful test.”
Epigenetics is the study of DNA modifications - such as methylation –which change the way genes behave, rather than faults in the genes themselves.
Dr Julie Sharp, Cancer Research UK’s cancer information manager, said: “These results show the exciting potential of our research into epigenetics. It’s an emerging and very promising area of research that looks at how changes made to DNA can control whether genes are switched on or off, and to different amounts.
“Understanding the effect of epigenetics in cancer cells has enormous untapped potential – it could provide powerful clues about how to treat the disease in new ways and save more lives in the future.”
For more information:
Last updated on: 11/07/2012
PharmiWeb.com is Europe's leading industry-sponsored portal for the Pharmaceutical sector, providing the latest jobs, news, features and events listings.
The information provided on PharmiWeb.com is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her physician.
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Antelopes may be widespread and prevalent across the continent, but they are not immune to habitat changes, most wrought by human hand, throughout Africa. The roan and sable antelopes, for example, are considered endangered in the limited ranges they still occupy. The blue antelope, a close cousin of the roan, vanished in the 18th century, making it the first large mammal to go extinct in historical times. On a daily basis, antelopes are forced to survive alongside their mortal enemies: cheetahs, jackals, lions, hyenas, leopards, hunting dogs and, now, humans.
In comparison with Africa's bigger and stronger animals, like the mighty lion or fierce rhino, many tend to underestimate antelopes. But the bushmen of Africa, who are so well attuned to the rhythms of the natural world, have discerned subtle qualities in the eland, the largest of Africa's antelopes. This animal has a special place in a bushman's spiritual life, and he believes that the noble animal can connect him to God. Elands are considered to be an animal endowing peace, well-being, healing and prosperity. The eland is almost invariably represented in bushman rock art throughout southern Africa.
Africa is home to 11 tribes and 75 species of antelopes, and South Africa alone hosts 29 antelope species, more than anywhere else in Africa. On any African safari, you are almost guaranteed to spot several of the region's antelopes. Here is a brief introduction of what you'll see, and where:
Duiker Antelopes: The small common duiker – adults reach just 45 pounds (20 kg) – represents the duiker tribe, technically known as the Cephalophinae subfamily. They have long legs, flat backs and relatively large eyes. Their horns sit upright and appear only in males. Duikers range throughout the tropical rainforests of central and western Africa, and live in forest and dense bush, where they feed on leaves, twigs, fruits, flowers and seeds. They sometimes spice up their diet with small birds, caterpillars and lizards.
Dwarf Antelopes: In Southern Africa, the Neotragini tribe of dwarf antelopes is comprised of three species: the steenbok, the klipsringer and kirk's dik dik. The steenbok is a small reddish antelope with big round ears, a small tail, slender and long legs, and well-shaped hindquarters. They are well distributed throughout southern Africa.
Steenboks inhabit open country, including the grasslands and scattered bushlands of southern and eastern Africa. They feed on leaves and shoots, as well as seeds, fruits and grass. Steenboks are territorial and, like most small antelopes, are largely monogamous. They are, however, more likely to be found singly than in pairs. The steenbok is largely nocturnal and spends most of the day under grassy cover.
The Kirk's dik dik is another arid antelope, characterized by its pointed and mobile snout, hairy muffle with slit nostrils, large eyes and prominent erectile crest. They weigh an average of 11-13 pounds (5-6 kg) and their horns are ridged and slant backwards. They live in a variety of habitats throughout eastern and south-western Africa, provided there is good cover, but generally avoid tall grasses that may obstruct their view.
Klipspringer Antelopes: A small antelope, weighing in at just 31 pounds (14 kgs), the klipspringer lives on rocky areas and cliffs. Their hooves are well adapted to steep and rocky terrain – a food source and refuge from predators. This species is well distributed from eastern Africa down to the tip of South Africa.
Gazelles: Comprised of 19 species, gazelles are one of the most diverse and largest antelope tribes. They enjoy the widest distribution, ranging from South Africa across Asia, into Siberia and China. They are slender, mid-sized antelopes built for speed, with long, evenly developed limbs, a level back and long neck. In almost all species, both sexes have horns that are strongly ridged and S-shaped.
Of all 19 species, the springbok is the gazelle's principal representative in Southern Africa, where it is found in most parks throughout the region. Springboks are mostly associated with their joyous jumping displays, especially in celebration of the rains. They are prolific sprinters and can reach speeds of up to 50 mph (80 kph), and are honoured in as the national symbol of South Africa. In fact, the South African national rugby team is proudly named after this agile antelope.
Reduncini Antelopes: This Southern African antelope tribe is comprised of reedbucks, kob and waterbuck. The reduncini is a close-knit tribe with only two genera and about eight species, of which six are geographically paired. Thus the waterbuck, lechwe and kob are so genetically close that in captivity, they interbreed and produce viable hybrids. The reedbuck, especially the mountain reedbuck and common reedbuck, is the most common in the region.
Rhebok Antelopes: These mid-sized antelopes have long necks, bulbous noses, long and narrow ears, and upright, spike-like horns, which are found only in males. They are covered in short, rabbit-like fur in varying shades of grey, and their legs feature a dark stripe on the lower front sides. Rheboks are gregarious and territorial, and herds consist of 1-15 females, juveniles and a single adult male. They are found only in South Africa and typically occur in grassland habitats extending to the coastal belt of the Cape region up to almost sea level.
Horse Antelopes: Technically known as Hippotragini, this subfamily features large antelopes with horse-like bodies. Their leading representative in southern Africa is the oryx, a large level-backed antelope with short neck, deep chest and long limbs. Males are heavier than females and have thicker necks and longer horns. Oryx are considered the most perfectly desert-adapted large mammal, and are capable of living in waterless habitats. Only very few other hoofed animals survive in such habitats. African oryx species include the Beisa oryx, mostly found in northern east Africa; the fringe-eared oryx of southeast Africa; and the gemsbok, exclusively found in southern Kalahari.
Nyala Antelopes: This unique species is confined to southern Africa and belongs to the antelope tribe Tragelaphines, which also includes the bushbuck, kudu and eland. Nyalas have spiral horns with vertical stripes and the males are markedly different from females in body form and structure. Male nyalas are far larger than females, reaching up to 250 pounds (114 kg) to the females' 127 pounds (58 kg). Nyalas prefer riverside thickets, dense brush and the fringes of forest, and are almost entirely confined to the Lowveld of the southern savannah (the Mozambique coastal plain). The most popular places to see them are Hluhluwe Reserve and Kruger National Park.
Kudu Antelopes: The kudu is especially noted for its spectacular spiral horns, which give the animal a rather solid appearance. Greater kudu, one of the largest kudu species, have horns that can reach a length of 72 inches. In parts of southern Africa, these horns are used as musical instruments and symbolic ritual objects.
Eland Antelopes: Elands are the largest of Africa's antelopes, measuring 70 inches (178 cm) at the shoulder and weighing up to 2,100 pounds (950 kg). Both male and female elands sport horns, which on males can reach an impressive 50 inches (127 cms). Elands can live in varying habitats, including semi-desert, miombo woodlands, grasslands, and the acacia savannah.
Hartebeest Antelopes: This large, grassland antelope species is found widely throughout Southern Africa. Among antelopes, the hartebeest is one of the fastest and most resilient runners. This gift comes in very handy, as it is rather sedentary and therefore easy to hunt. The hartebeest is relatively large, weighing in at 350 pounds (160 kgs). They thrive in open plains and medium to tall grasslands. The wildebeest and topi are similar in many ways to the hartebeest.
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Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, November 17, 2011 at 3:17pm.
Which of the following are characteristic of the growth of realism?
An embracing of the ideals but not the methodology of later romanticism, a focus upon the lower classes, and a "slice of life" approach
A reaction against romanticism, a reaction against the changing scientific attitudes of the time (particularly Darwinism), and a focus upon the details of documentary history.
A reaction against romanticism, an interest in scientific method, the systematizing of the study of documentary history, and the influence of rational philosophy
The influence of rational philosophy, the embracing of the methodology but not the ideals of romanticism, and a systematization of the study of documentary history.
Which of the following best describes the relationship between realism and naturalism?
Many argue that there really is no real difference, largely because of the differing definitions. Naturalism may be more interested in the lower classes, and it tends to have a more direct philosophic position.
Realism tends to focus on the "real" events in the lives of people, while naturalism tends to deal with people and their experiences in the natural world.
Realism is an evolution from the earlier naturalism, and it is simply a more extreme focus on real world experiences.
Realism and naturalism are very similar, except that Realism still embraced the ideals of romanticism, while naturalism rejected them.
- English - Writeacher, Thursday, November 17, 2011 at 3:20pm
I agree with your first answer, but not the second.
Please read through several explanations in each of these and then let us know what you decide.
- English - Anonymous, Thursday, November 17, 2011 at 4:19pm
Would it be C?
- English - Writeacher, Thursday, November 17, 2011 at 4:20pm
Yes, I agree with C for the 2nd question.
- English - Anonymous, Thursday, November 17, 2011 at 4:26pm
Great! Thanks for your help!
Answer This Question
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The heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) is an improvement of the bipolar junction transistor (BJT) that can handle signals of very high frequencies up to several hundred GHz. It is common in modern ultrafast circuits, mostly radio-frequency (RF) systems, as well as applications requiring a high power efficiency, such as power amplifiers in cellular phones. The idea of employing a heterojunction is as old as the conventional BJT, dating back to a patent from 1951.
The principal difference between the BJT and HBT is in the use of differing semiconductor materials for the emitter and base regions, creating a heterojunction. The effect is to limit the injection of holes from the base into the emitter region, since the potential barrier in the valence band is higher than in the conduction band. Unlike BJT technology, this allows a high doping density to be used in the base, reducing the base resistance while maintaining gain. The efficiency of the device is measured by the Kroemer factor, after Herbert Kroemer who received a Nobel Prize for his work in this field in 2000 at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Materials used for the substrate include silicon, gallium arsenide, and indium phosphide, while silicon / silicon-germanium alloys, aluminium gallium arsenide / gallium arsenide, and indium phosphide / indium gallium arsenide are used for the epitaxial layers. Wide-bandgap semiconductors are especially promising, eg. gallium nitride and indium gallium nitride.
In SiGe graded heterostructure transistors, the amount of germanium in the base is graded, making the bandgap narrower at the collector than at the emitter. That tapering of the bandgap leads to a field-assisted transport in the base, which speeds transport through the base and increases frequency response.
Due to the need to manufacture HBT devices with extremely high-doped thin base layers, molecular beam epitaxy is principally employed. In addition to base, emitter and collector layers, highly doped layers are deposited on either side of collector and emitter to facilitate an ohmic contact, which are placed on the contact layers after exposure by photolithography and etching. The contact layer underneath the collector is, named subcollector, is an active part of the transistor.
Other techniques are used depending on the material system. IBM and others use UHV CVD for SiGe; other techniques used include MOVPE for III-V systems.
A pseudomorphic heterojunction bipolar transistor developed at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, built from indium phosphide and indium gallium arsenide and designed with compositionally graded collector, base and emitter, was demonstrated to cut off at a speed of 710 gigahertz.
Besides being record breakers in terms of speed, HBTs made of InP/InGaAs are ideal for monolithic optoelectronic integrated circuits. A pin-type photo detector is formed by the base-collector-subcollector layers. The bandgap of InGaAs fits for detection of 1.55μm-wavelength signal used in optical communication systems. Biasing the HBT to obtain an active device, a photo transistor with high internal gain is obtained. Among other HBT applications are mixed signal circuits such as analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters.
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Two Da Vinci's paintings depicting Virgin Mary to be reunited
Two museums in London and Paris informed that they organize an exhibition that will showcase together side by side two versions of the Leonardo Da Vinci's work "Virgin Of The Rocks" which these two museums own. "The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and John the Baptist", which hangs at the London's National Gallery, dates from between 1483 and 1486, while its counterpart at the Louvre, known as "The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne" was created 25 years earlier.
The museum from Paris will lend Da Vinci's painting to London;'s from its collection while the National Gallery will give, in turn, one drawing of this painter. Two Da Vinci's masterpieces on the same theme will be displayed within the exhibition "Court Painter of Milano", which will be opened in November and will last until February.
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Seventeenth-century sketches of Africa as it appeared to marauding European traders. Nineteenth-century slave auction notices. Twentieth-century sheet music for work songs and freedom chants. Photographs of war heroes, regal in uniform. Antebellum reward posters for capturing runaway slaves. An 1856 article titled “A Visit to the Slave Mother Who Killed Her Child.”
In 1974, Middleton A. Harris and Toni Morrison led a team of gifted, passionate collectors in compiling these images and nearly 500 others into one sensational narrative of the black experience in America: The Black Book.
Now in a deluxe 35th anniversary hardcover edition, The Black Book remains a breathtaking testament to the legendary wisdom, strength, and perseverance of black men and women intent on freedom. Prominent collectors Morris Levitt, Roger Furman, and Ernest Smith, as well as Middleton Harris and Toni Morrison (then a Random House editor, now a two-time Pulitzer Prize—winning Nobel laureate) spent months studying, laughing at, and crying over these materials–from transcripts of fugitive slaves’ trials and proclamations by Frederick Douglass and other celebrated abolitionists to chilling images of cross burnings and lynchings, patents registered by black inventors throughout the early twentieth century to vibrant posters from “Black Hollywood” films from the 1930s and 1940s.
A labor of love and a vital link to the richness and diversity of African American history and culture, The Black Book honors the past, reminding us where our nation has been, and gives flight to our hopes for what is yet to come. Beautifully and faithfully presented, and featuring a new Foreword and original poem by Toni Morrison, The Black Book remains a timeless landmark work.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
"A friend introduced me to Middleton (Spike) Harris* [a retired city employee], who became the chief author of the project. His collection of black memorabilia is extensive and his passion for the subject as intense as it is thorough...His friend Morris Levitt, a retired public-school teacher and amateur black sports enthusiast, joined Harris on the project. So did Roger Furman, an actor and director of New York's black New Heritage Repertory Theater.
Finally, Ernest Smith [a collector of black memorabilia since he was 14] also joined...All of these men have one thing in common: an intense love for black expression and a zest wholly free of academic careerism." (Toni Morrison, in
"Rediscovering black history," New York Times)
Toni Morrison is the author of numerous works of fiction, non-fiction, and children’s literature, most recently, the novel A Mercy. She twice has received the Pulitzer Prize–for Sula (1974) and Beloved (1988)–as well as the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Nobel Prize for Literature. Most recently the Robert F. Goheen Professor of Humanities at Princeton University, she lives in Rockland County, New York.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Book Description Random House. Hardcover. Book Condition: New. 1400068487 New Condition. Bookseller Inventory # NEW4.0676950
Book Description Random House, 2009. Hardcover. Book Condition: New. Bookseller Inventory # P111400068487
Book Description Random House, 2009. Hardcover. Book Condition: New. Anv. Bookseller Inventory # DADAX1400068487
Book Description Random House, 2009. Book Condition: New. Brand New, Unread Copy in Perfect Condition. A+ Customer Service! Summary: "This book should be in every home to be read and shown to every child, at least until that child reaches age 12." -Bill Cosby " The Black Book is an incredible testament to the strength, character, and endurance of a people never meant to succeed. Especially in these historic times, I can think of no better way to celebrate African American achievement than through a retrospective look at our historypainful and pleasurableour shared experiences and our successes. This is a book no Americanblack or whitecan afford to ignore."-Dr. Cornel West, Princeton University "I love The Black Book. I vividly remember when it was published: I was a graduate student in England, at Cambridge, desperately looking for sources in the emerging field of African American Studies. Both the book and Toni Morrison's brilliant New York Times Magazine essaywhich I avidly devouredopened up for me the very possibilities for, and the keen attraction of, the use of documents and artifacts to recreate the full and rich narrative of African American History. I read it like one reads a coffee table book, making my way through its lovely pages leisurely; but I also used it religiously as a scholarly reference source. One of the beautiful things about this beautiful book is that it fulfills both functions, and does so with great aplomb. When The Black Book was published, virtually no one knew that these sources even existed. No single book has done more to shape the field of African American History than has this brilliantly conceived book. It is the ultimate treasure chest of the Black Experience."-Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr., Harvard University "A terrible error grew as humans spread out around the globe from our common ancestors in Southern Africa: race became a source of division and hierarchy instead of the minor adaptation to climate it truly was. The Black Book records some of the everyday suffering and wisdom that this false hierarchy has caused. There is not a member of the human family on earth who cannot learn from it."-Gloria Steinem " The Black Book is an important document of American history that defines a people's strength, hope, and perseverance. By honoring the past, Toni Morrison's remarkable book sheds light on the present, and shows the unlimited potential for the future."-Gay Talese "Terrific, terrific, terrific. tell the truth and shame the devil."-Melvin Van Peebles, Writer/Director "BountifulResonantAs fresh as the day it was born, 35 years ago, this category-smashing book is scrapbook, photo album, treasure chest and time capsule."- Publishers Weekly, starred review. Bookseller Inventory # ABE_book_new_1400068487
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Cnidarians have two types of body forms, viz., polyp and medusa.
- The polyp is cylindrical and usually fixed. It represents the asexual stage.
- The medusa is umbrella like and usually free swimming. It represents the sexual phase.
Polyp vs Medusa
|1. Fixed, rarely free, found near water mark attached to rocks.||1. Free swimming, found in open waters.|
|2. Body cylindrical with a long stalk (Hydra).||2. Body saucer shaped, umbrella like with a reduced stalk (Jellyfish).|
|3. Body attached below so that manubrium is directly upward.||3. Base above so that manubrium hangs downward.|
|4. Velum is absent||4. Velum is present.|
|5. Sense organs absent||5. Statocysts present at the bases of eight adradial tentacles.|
|6. Gastrovascular cavity simple without radial and circular canals.||6. Gastro vascular cavity represented by stomach, four radial canals and one circular canal.|
|7. Gonads absent.||7. Four gonads on radial canals.|
|8. Reproduces asexually by budding.||8. Reproduces sexually by gametes.|
|9. Concerned with feeding, protection and asexual reproduction.||9. Concerned with sexual reproduction.|
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Taking the Temperature of Yellowstone from Space (2012)June 08, 2012
We all know Yellowstone is hot… but how hot? And how can we detect park- or basin-wide changes in geothermal areas (regions that let off Earth's internal heat) that may take place over months, or years? Thermal imaging with satellites has proven highly useful at erupting volcanoes, where magma emerges at very high temperatures. Geothermal areas, though appearing hot on the ground, are more difficult to study from space because their temperatures are much lower and the signal can be masked by solar heating of the ground surface during the daytime.
USGS scientist Greg Vaughan, together with colleagues from the USGS YVO and Yellowstone National Park recently studied Yellowstone's thermal areas using satellite-based thermal infrared (TIR) remote sensing data from two NASA satellites MODIS and ASTER. This research was published in the July 2012 issue of the Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research. MODIS data are collected frequently, but the TIR data measure surface heat over very large areas (about 1 km per pixel). Vaughan used nighttime MODIS data to establish background thermal patterns and to quantify how much temperatures would have to change to be detectable with modern spaceborne techniques. Most natural thermal changes at Yellowstone within the past decade are around the detection limits of the technique, providing hope for future monitoring during more active periods. The ASTER data cover smaller areas with greater spatial detail (about 90 meters per pixel). Vaughan was able to use ASTER to create maps showing regions where abnormal amounts of heat are released, called thermal anomalies, and also to estimate surface temperatures and other aspects of heat flow at Yellowstone.
Within the time frame of the study, the thermal areas with the highest pixel temperatures and the highest heat flow were large acid-altered regions (e.g., the Sulfur Hills near Yellowstone Lake) and areas with large, boiling hot spring pools (e.g., Grand Prismatic Spring in Midway Geyser Basin). The ASTER- based estimate for how much geothermal heat was radiating away from all of Yellowstone's thermal areas, was ~1,970 megawatts, which is comparable to measurements made with land-based techniques that take much more time to acquire than satellite measurements.
This work provides a basis for future use of satellites to measure and monitor changes in geothermal areas around the world that are well below magmatic temperatures and have proven difficult to study with satellite-based techniques. The full article is available through the Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research.
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These monkeys are highly sexually dimorphic. Males weigh around 23 kg and females around 12 kg. The head and body length ranges between 508 and 1,143 mm, with the tail adding an additional 456 to 711 mm to the total length. These animals have 32 teeth. The first lower premolar is modified and serves as a hone for the upper canine tooth. Males have large canine teeth, whereas the teeth of females are much smaller. There is significant geographic variation in average body size and skull size, as well as in the texture of pelage. The three forms most often described are Ibean baboons, Kinda baboons, and "typical" yellow baboons.
The orientation of the face in yellow baboons is normal, helping to distinguish them from Papio ursinus which has a downwardly flexed face. The post-orbital constriction of these animals is less pronounced than in anubis and chacma baboons. Ibean yellow baboons have large skulls. Typical yellow baboons have medium to large skulls. Kinda baboons are noted for their greatly reduced cranial size, associated smaller teeth, and weakly expressed temporal lines.
Pelage is characteristically a yellowish-brown. This overall color is produced by individual hairs which are yellow-brown for most of their length but have a black tips. In typical yellow baboons, both males and females are unmaned. However, in the Ibean form of this species, males have a weakly expressed mane. It is not at all comparable to the large mane found in Papio hamadryas, Papio anubis, and Papio papio. The head has a prominent crest on the top, produced by the longish hairs which grow upward toward the crest. This helps to distinguish this species from P. anubis which has a "flat" head. The pelage of typical and Kinda forms of this species is straight. The hair of Kinda baboons is reported to be very silky in texture. In contrast, the hairs of Ibean baboons are wavey and coarser than those of the other yellow baboons. All yellow baboons have hands and feet that are the same color as the rest of the body, and silver-colored fringes on the hands and feet.
Tail shape varies geographically. The tail of Ibean baboons resembles that of P. anubis, with the proximal portion extending straight out from the rump, and the distal 3/4 falling limp, as if the tail has been broken. Kinda baboons have a gracefully arched tail. Typical yellow baboons generally have the bent phenotype, but are variable, with some individuals showing the arched tail morphology.
In Ibean and typical yellow baboons, the natal pelage is black. This fur is replaced by the typical yellowish-brown by about 6 months of age. In sharp contrast, the natal coat of Kinda baboons is a reddish-brown color.
Yellow baboons have a somewhat "pointed" nose, and are thinner through the chest than are anubis baboons.
Average mass: males, 23 kg; females 12 kg.
Range length: head and body: 508 to 1,143 mm.
Other Physical Features: endothermic ; homoiothermic; bilateral symmetry
Sexual Dimorphism: male larger; ornamentation
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Last physics problem for the day I promise :)
A stone falls from rest from the top of a cliff. A second stone is thrown downward from the same height 3.1s later with an initial speed of 60.76m/s. They hit the ground at the same time.
The acceleration of gravity is 9.8m/s/s.
a) How long does it take the first stone to hit the ground? Answer in units of s.
b) How high is the cliff? Answer in units of m.
Based on the information given it definitely seems possible to solve this problem, but I just can't seem to put the information together.
firstly form 2 separate equations s = ut + (a(t^2))/2, then equate them
ut + (a(t^2))/2 = ut + (a(t^2))/2
taking one t as t = -3.1 and the other as just t.
Hmm, I just created two position functions for each rock. The first rock is simply 4.9x^2 and the second rock is (4.9x^2)+(60.76x). I'm trying to find when their distances are equal because they hit the ground at the same time, but my calculator is only giving me 0,0 for an intersection :p
Bleh, I'm not factoring time into my equation of the second rock, which is why they never have an equal distance :\
Using your help I got t = 1.55 seconds, I think it works :D I did it backwards though, making the first rock's equation t+3.1.
which will give a value for t, then to find height of the cliff plug t into the equation in my first post.
god i havent done that for 3 years, i used to love the mechanic part of maths until i got to university
see i got the height of the cliff as 11.7m when i first did the calculation, but it seemed wrong so i plugged t into the equation for the stone with initial velocity 60.76m/s and got the height of the cliff as 106m, which makes more sense as the stone takes 1.55s to hit the floor and the initial vel. is 61m/s.
I'm not doing so hot today, am I? (Puke)
Originally Posted by mathmonster
I forgot to add the 3.1 s when using that equation. If you plug the 1.55 s into the "thrown rock" equation you get the correct height. If you plug 1.55 + 3.1 (s) into the "dropped rock" equation you also get the right answer.
I have corrected this in my original post. (And I also got the 105.95 m answer.)
(Ahem!) Sorry about that!(Crying)
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A major component of health care reform in the United States is the imperative to deal with our appallingly high infant mortality rates and the evidence they reveal of a medical care system that is failing to meet the needs of parents and very young children. As of 2011, the U.S. ranked 34th in the world, with 6.9 infant deaths per 1,000 live births, twice the infant mortality of Singapore, Iceland or Japan.
As of 2002-2004, when this issue last received critical federal attention from the General Accounting Office and the Congress, more than 12,700 children were placed into state child welfare or juvenile justice systems each year in order to gain access to mental health care.1 Although some states2 now outlaw this practice for child welfare,3 and some states and school districts have provided funding to deal with the fundamental problem of lack of resources, substantial anecdotal i
Mental Health America (“MHA”) is committed to the principle that mental health is an essential part of a child’s overall well-being and that a full array of services should be available to children with mental health conditions and their families. This includes mental health and substance use prevention, early identification, treatment, and long-term support, as needed, regardless of how he/she and his or her family enter the service delivery system.
As a leading advocate for the mental health and wellness of children and adolescents, Mental Health America (MHA) opposes corporal punishment1 and zero tolerance2 policies and supports individuated school disciplinary processes that take account of mental health conditions and emotional disturbances and promote the healthy mental and emotional development of our country's youth.3 In particular, MHA supports schoo
Mental Health America (MHA) places a high priority on early, equal and effective access to comprehensive mental health services and supports and therefore strongly opposes zero tolerance policies in schools. A “zero tolerance policy” is a school or district policy that mandates predetermined consequences or punishments for specific offenses that are intended to be applied regardless of the seriousness of the behavior, mitigating circumstances, or situational context.1 MHA’s concern
With the recent understanding that prevention and promotion programs can be effective in reducing the prevalence of mental health and substance use conditions in American society,(1) it is important for the federal government to support comprehe
The evidence regarding the benefits of systematic prevention and promotion programs is strong, and Mental Health America believes that the promotion of mental health and the prevention of mental health and substance use conditions should be central to the nation's public health agenda[1,2]. Evidence based programs have been developed that will have positive effects not only on an individual's health but also on multiple social h
Early identification, accurate diagnosis and effective treatment of mental health or substance use conditions1 in school-aged young people can alleviate enormous suffering and heartbreak and help young people to benefit from their education and to lead productive lives. No one contests that state and federal systems that serve young people like juvenile justice and child welfare need to engage in comprehensive screening, but several states have sought to ban mental health screening in schools.
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Gypsy Folk Tales, by Francis Hindes Groome, , at sacred-texts.com
In 1387 Mircea I., woiwode of Wallachia, by a charter still preserved in the archives of Bucharest, renewed a grant made about 1370 by his uncle Vladislav to the monastery of St. Anthony at Voditza of forty salaschi ('tents' or families) of Atsegane. Which shows that already the Roumanian Gypsies were serfs; and serfs they continued till 1856. To the Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society (vol. i., Lond., 1857, pp. 37-41) Mr. Samuel Gardner, H.M. Consul at Jassy, contributed some interesting 'Notes on the Condition of the Gypsy Population of Moldavia.' 'The Tzigans,' he says, 'are an intelligent and industrious race, and in their general condition of prædial slavery (for few are in reality emancipated) are a reproach to the country and to the Government. Many of them are taught arts. They are the blacksmiths, locksmiths, bricklayers, masons, farriers, musicians, and cooks especially, of the whole country. . . . They dwell in winter in subterranean excavations, the roof alone appearing above ground, and in summer in brown serge tents of their own fabric. . . . The children, to the age of ten or twelve, are in a complete state of nudity; but the men and women, the latter offering frequently the most symmetrical form and feminine beauty, have a rude clothing. Their implements and carriages, of a peculiar construction, display much ingenuity. They are in fact very able artisans and labourers, industrious and active, but are cruelly and barbarously treated. In the houses of their masters they are employed in the lowest offices, live in the cellars, have the lash continually applied to them, and are still subjected to the iron collar and a kind of spiked iron mask or
helmet, which they are obliged to wear as a mark of punishment and degradation for every petty offence.' The Gypsies of Wallachia and Moldavia are referred to in eleven original documents of the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries. Every one of these documents speaks of them as serfs, but we get never a hint of when they were first reduced to serfdom.
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Dr. Mark Strynar is a Physical Scientist in EPA’s Office of Research and Development. His research interests include developing methods to measure and analyze the movement and fate of perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) and other xenobiotic compounds (chemicals found in organisms that are not normally expected to be present) in biological and environmental media.
When not at work, he enjoys spending time with his family and volunteering at his local church and various community programs. He is also an avid hunter, woodworker and welder who spends countless hours in his workshop creating furniture, contraptions, sawdust, and metal filings.
How does your science matter?
For the past eight years or so, I’ve focused on perfluorinated compounds (PFCs). PFCs are chemical compounds used to make products resistant to stains, water, or heat. Most people would recognize them as the compounds that keep food from sticking to pans or stains from ruining carpet.
Unfortunately, the same properties that make PFCs useful in kitchenware and fabric also make them highly resistant to degradation, which means they stay in our environment for a long time after we are done using them. We have found that PFCs are also widely dispersed in human beings.
My job is trying to figure out the different ways that PFCs get into your body. Each avenue of exposure: water, fish, air, food, house dust, etc., requires a different way (“analytical method”) for us to measure for PFCs and other chemicals of interest.
My research supports human risk assessment studies. It matters because if PFC exposure levels are too high we can help people take action. For example, in Decatur, Alabama, we found that levels of PFCs were too high in water and we were able to put people on alternate sources of drinking water. I can see an immediate impact from the work I’m doing to protect people’s health.
If you could have dinner with any scientist, past or present, who would it be and what would you like to ask them about?
I would say Louis Pasteur , who was one of the first to do a lot of microbial work and discover that the root causes of many diseases are biologically based in microrganisms. I would like to ask him what made him begin to suspect that microbes are the root cause of diseases.
To keep reading Mark’s interview, click here.
To read more Scientist at Work profiles, click here.
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This information is for reference purposes only. It was current when produced and may now be outdated. Archive material is no longer maintained, and some links may not work. Persons with disabilities having difficulty accessing this information should contact us at: https://info.ahrq.gov. Let us know the nature of the problem, the Web address of what you want, and your contact information.
Please go to www.ahrq.gov for current information.
Hospital fall prevention programs should target certain patient, medication, and care-related factors that increase falling risk
Falls account for up to 70 percent of accidents among hospitalized patients. A new study recently identified patient, medication, and care-related factors that increase the likelihood of falls. Patients most likely to fall suffered from gait and lower extremity problems or confusion, used certain medications (sedatives/hypnotics or diabetes medications), or needed assistance to get out of bed. Many falls occurred while an unassisted patient was walking or getting out of bed, usually to go to the bathroom, according to the study supported by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (HS11898).
Hospital fall prevention programs should target patients with risk factors, monitor and adjust medication use related to falls, and consider scheduled mobilization and toileting to reduce falls, conclude the researchers who conducted the study. They used nurse and patient interviews and medical records to compare potential risk factors and circumstances of falls among 98 inpatients who fell and 318 matched controls who did not fall at the same hospital. Compared with controls, patients with gait/balance deficits or lower extremity problems were nine times as likely to fall, confused patients and those using sedatives/hypnotics were about four times as likely to fall, and those taking diabetes medications were three times as likely to fall.
Also, increasing the patient-to-nurse ratio nearly doubled the likelihood of a fall. Those who were only supposed to "get up with assistance" were much more likely than those with bathroom privileges to fall. Having one or more side rails raised was associated with a decreased risk of falling.
See "A case-control study of patient, medication, and care-related risk factors for inpatient falls," by Melissa J. Krauss, M.P.H., Bradley Evanoff, M.D., M.P.H., Eileen Hitcho, M.S., and others, in the February 2005 Journal of General Internal Medicine 20, pp. 116-122.
Return to Contents
Proceed to Next Article
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- a striped or figured woolen petticoat formerly worn beneath a skirt that was looped up in front
- a kind of laced walking shoe
- a round, brimless Scottish cap, flat on top
Origin of Balmoralafter Balmoral Castle, Scotland
- A brimless Scottish cap with a flat, round top.
- often balmoral A heavy, laced walking shoe.
Origin of BalmoralAfter Balmoral , Castle in northeast Scotland.
- Both noun senses are sometimes capitalized.
From Balmoral Castle, in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.
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Definition of motioner
n. - One who makes a motion; a mover.
The word "motioner" uses 8 letters: E I M N O O R T.
Direct anagrams of motioner:
Words formed by adding one letter before or after motioner (in bold), or to eimnoort in any order:
c - microtone d - monitored s - motioners remotions
Words within motioner
not shown as it has more than seven letters.
List all words starting with motioner, words containing motioner or words ending with motioner
All words formed from motioner by changing one letter
Other words with the same letter pairs: mo ot ti io on ne er
Browse words starting with motioner by next letter
Previous word in list: motioned
Next word in list: motioners
Some random words: aunt
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Pneumonia is a lung infection that can be caused by many different germs, including bacteria, viruses, and fungi.
This article discusses pneumonia that occurs in a person whose ability to fight infection is greatly reduced because their immune system is weakened and not working properly. Such disease is referred to as "pneumonia in an immunocompromised host."
Pneumonia in immunodeficient patient; Pneumonia - immunocompromised host
People whose immune system is not working well are less able to fight off germs. Because of this state, they are more likely to become infected by germs that typically do not cause disease in healthy people. They are also more vulnerable to the usual causes of pneumonia, which can affect anyone.
Your immune system may be weakened or not work well because of:
Other symptoms that may occur:
The doctor may hear crackles or other abnormal breath sounds when listening to the chest with a stethoscope. Reduced or absent breath sounds can be an important sign, because it may mean there is a buildup of fluid between the chest wall and lung, called a pleural effusion.
Tests may include:
Antibiotics or antifungal medicines are used, depending on the type of germ that is causing the infection. Patients usually must stay in the hospital, at least during the early stages of the illness.
Oxygen and respiratory treatments to remove fluid and mucus are often needed.
The outcome may be poor if the pneumonia is caused by a virus or fungus, or if the patient's immune system is severely weakened.
Call your health care provider if you have a weakened immune system and you have symptoms of pneumonia.
If you have a weakened immune system and are in the hospital, you may receive daily antibiotics to prevent pneumonia.
Ask your health care provider if you should receive the influenza ("flu") and pneumococcal ("pneumonia") vaccines.
Practice good hygiene. Thoroughly wash your hands with soap and water:
Keep your house clean. Stay away from crowds. Ask visitors who have a cold to wear a mask or not to visit. Do not do yard work or handle plants or flowers (they can carry germs).
Donnelly JP, Blijlevens NMA, DePauw BE. Infections in the immunocompromised host. In: Mandell GL, Bennett JE, Dolin R eds. Mandell, douglas, and Bennett's Principles and Practice of Infectious Disease. 7th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier; 2009:chap 308.
Mandell LA, Wunderink RG, Anzueto A, et al. Infectious Diseases Society of America/American Thoracic Society consensus guidelines on the management of community-acquired pneumonia in adults. Clin Infect Dis. 2007 Mar 1;44 Suppl 2:S27-72.
Young LS. Approach to fever and suspected infection in the compromised host. In: Goldman L, Ausiello D, eds. Cecil Medicine. 23rd ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier; 2007:chap 303.
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Solving Power-Management Problems with a Single Chip that Handles up to 7 Channels of Sequencing, Monitoring, and Supervision
The design of systems with multiple supply voltages is commonplace today. In such systems as Internet routers, digital subscriber-line access multiplexers (DSLAMs), base stations, and servers, the sequencing and supervision of their multiple supplies has grown in importance. The ADM1060 supervisor/sequencer from Analog Devices greatly simplifies this task by providing multiple supply supervisors, sequencing logic, and multiple-output drivers, in a single 28-lead TSSOP deviceideal for applications where board space is at a premium. The configuration of these multiple functions is easily programmed using an intuitive graphical user interface (GUI), also provided by Analog Devices.
The increasing number of user demands on designers of the backplanes, line-cards, and blades used in infrastructure and server systems is making the design task increasingly difficult. Customers want more channels at higher data rates for less money. They also require a much higher level of reliability than before: An uptime of 99.999%, commonly known as five-9s reliability (analogous to two minutes of down time per year), is now a basic requirement. Yet these more complex, more reliable boards must still fit in the same central-office and server form factors as before. Power budgets for these systems have not necessarily increased either, so greater attention must now be paid to power consumption.
The additional bandwidth, expressed in both channel count and speed, has resulted in a proliferation of many new-generation microprocessors, DSP devices, FPGAs, and CPLDs. The cores of these devices run at much lower voltages than the traditional 3.3 V or 5 V (for example, 1.2 V, 1.5 V, 1.8 V, and 2.5 V are common core-supply levels). Yet I/O protocols dictate that 3.3-V and 5-V supplies still be provided. In fact, some designs may require a 12-V supply; others need termination voltages as low as 0.75 V; and there are even cases where negative supplies are required for op amp rails.
It is not uncommon for many, if not all, of these supplies to be needed on a single board. The requirement could easily be for six, seven, or more supplies. The sequence in which the supplies turn on can be critical to the reliable operation of the system. A good rule of thumb might be to start with the highest supply first and work downwards; but this is not always the case. For instance, some DSP manufacturers recommend that the core of their device be powered up before the I/O, while others recommend the opposite. Given the complexity of the PCBs being designed, the truth is that it may be difficult to determine what the optimal power-up sequence is without first designing, building, and testing the board. This trial-and-error approach can prove costly, both in terms of manufacturing costs (multiple board-design cycles, or spins) and in time to market.
The current discrete approach to supply sequencing, using reset generators, FET drivers, and RC time constants (a typical implementation is shown in Figure 1)while adequate for a system requiring two or three supplies, becomes very cumbersome when the number rises to six or seven. Another problem is that accurate reset generators have fixed threshold voltages. Ifas can be the case with ASIC designsa supply voltage must be tweaked to a nonstandard value in order to provide maximum performance, a reset generator with the revised threshold may not exist. Also, designs of this nature require the power designers best guess (albeit an educated one) as to the sequence required. If the guess proves wrong, it is difficult to rectify the issue without a board spin. Further, as the population density of PCBs increases, real estate becomes an issue and a multi-component discrete solution becomes unattractive. Finally, it is not easy to design a power-down sequence, using the same simple reset generators with fixed timeouts and open-drain outputs.
Figure 1. Discrete implementation for sequencing seven supplies.
The solution to be described here is a single IC, which provides a total voltage-management solution and encompasses all of the functionality of the discrete design shown in Figure 1. The device needs toand doesgo further, however, in providing the flexibility to change its configuration easily as required. If the alteration of a reset threshold, the power-up sequence, the power-down sequence, and the watchdog timeout on a processor clock can be altered without laying out the hardware again, the power designers task is made infinitely easier. Naturally, a single IC (with minimal external components) also addresses the key issue of board real estate. Reduced design time also means reduced time-to-market, since the power designer can implement a design more quicklywith confidence that, if necessary, it can be altered later without a change in hardware.
The Analog Devices ADM1060 multi-supply supervisory circuit is such a device. It is a total voltage-management solution in a single small 28-lead TSSOP package. It requires as few as two external components (two decoupling capacitors), making it ideal for applications where board space is at a premium.
The ADM1060 can supervise up to seven supplies. All of the supervisors on the chip use window comparators, so that both overvoltage and undervoltage supply faults can be detected on each of the supply fault input pins. One of the supply fault detectors can supervise a supply up to 14.4 V (analogous to a 12-V supply being overranged by +20%). Four of the supervisors can detect faults from 0.6 V to 6 V (analogous to a 5-V supply being overranged by +20%). The other two supervisors can be used to monitor negative supplies down to 6 V. If supervision of a negative supply is not required, these two pins can be used to monitor supplies up to +6 V. Any threshold voltage within the above ranges can be programmed with 8-bit resolution. Thus, if an ASIC runs optimally with a nonstandard voltagei.e., not 1.2 V, 1.5 V, 1.8 V, etc., the ADM1060 can be programmed around the modified supply voltage with an accurate fault-detection window. The hysteresis of these comparators is programmable digitally, allowing the user to control the level of noise immunity required.
The ADM1060 does not need a dedicated power pin. The device uses an arbitration scheme to power itself from any one of five of the supply-fault input pins (the negative supply input pins are not used here). Whichever supply is highest is used to power the device. If the highest supply should fail, the ADM1060 seamlessly switches over to the next highest supply to power itself. Thus, even in a failing system, the device continues to be powered, allowing it to maintain supervision of the supplies for as long as possible. For example, it could cause a controlled power-down sequence to be initiated. The ADM1060 requires a minimum of 3.0 V (on one of the supply input pins) to power the device.
The ADM1060 also provides four general-purpose inputs (GPIs). These are logic inputs (TTL- or CMOS-compatible) that enable the user to apply control signals, such as POWER_OK, RESET, or MANUAL RESET, and use these to control the sequence in which the supplies turn on. Note that these inputs can also be used to take signals from external supervisory chips, if more than seven supplies need to be supervised and included in the sequencing. A watchdog timer is also included. This circuit is used to ensure that a processor clock continues to toggle (transition from low to high or high to low).
The logical core of the device is the programmable logic-block array (PLBA), combined with the programmable delay block (PDB). These blocks enable the ADM1060 to sequence the turn-on of the supplies programmable time delays in the chosen order. A set of different time delays can be programmed for a power-down sequence. For instance, a supply may be required to power up 100 ms after the previous supplybut to turn off instantly if a fault occurs.
The ADM1060 makes available nine output drivers. These programmable driver outputs (PDOs) can be used as logic-control signals, such as chip-enable, LDO- (dc/dc brick-) output enable, or simply as status signals, such as POWER_GOOD, or RESET. The output pins all have an open-drain configuration, allowing the user to connect an external resistor to pull the pin up to the desired voltage. However, it is likely that the pull-up voltage is one that is being supervised at one of the inputs of the device and is available on-chip. Therefore, the ADM1060 features a bank of internal pull-up resistors, which can be connected to the pull-up voltage without external components. This is of course significant where minimal board space is available. Four of the output drivers can also provide a high-voltage gate drive to turn on an NMOS FET, which may be placed in a supply path. In this option, a 12-V charge-pump voltage is provided at the output pin.
Communication with the ADM1060 is via an industry-standard 2-wire interface (SMBus). The user can set up the features described using the intuitive GUI provided by Analog Devices. This programming can be done offline, using the Evaluation Kit, or in-system, using a 3-pin header cable (data, clock, and GND). Both are available from Analog Devices. Once satisfied with the configuration, the user can store this in nonvolatile memory, so that each time the device is subsequently powered up, the same configuration is downloaded and set up in the device. An example window from the GUI is shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2. ADM1060 graphical user interface (GUI).
Providing the same seven supplies outlined in the discrete design of Figure 1, a sequence could be implemented using a single ADM1060 as shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3. Sequencing the same seven supplies using a single ADM1060.
Another very powerful feature of the ADM1060, not easily replicated in a discrete design, is the ability to configure a controlled power-down sequence. Again, using the software provided, a sequence like that shown in Figure 4 can be configured.
Figure 4. Controlled power on/off sequence using the ADM1060.
Copyright 1995- Analog Devices, Inc. All rights reserved.
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The pelican is a bold and clever bird
BRISBANE, Australia » "A wonderful bird is the pelican. His bill can hold more than his belly can. He can take in his beak, food enough for a week, but I'm darned if I see how the helican."
American newspaper editor Dixon Lanire Merrith wrote this catchy little limerick in 1910. It drives me crazy, because every time I see a pelican, my brain starts chanting the verse and repeats it over and over all day long.
That's not so bad in Hawaii, but I'm in Brisbane tending to my sailboat and the black-and-white Australian pelicans are everywhere. I see these huge birds standing on the shoreline, paddling around the marina or gliding in formation over the river.
I didn't have this poem problem when I was here in April. Nearly all the local pelicans were gone then, having flown by the thousands to the outback where unusually heavy rains had caused a fish and invertebrate bloom in desert lakes and rivers.
How the pelicans know such blooms are happening is a mystery, but they do know it and off they go.
I think of pelicans as marine birds, because that's where I see them. But pelicans go where the food is, be it ocean, estuary, wetland, lake, river, island, fishing boat or human hands.
These bold birds are clever. When they see small boats coming back to the ramp at the end of a day's fishing, the pelicans paddle out to greet the fisher, hoping for leftover bait. People here like their pelicans and the birds often get their treat.
The pelican's famous pouch is not a storage container, but acts more like a net. The bird scoops water in with its fish, and then draws the pouch to its chest. As the water runs out, the bird positions the prey to go down the throat head first.
Pelicans also use the pouch to catch food tossed by humans, a skill in which they excel. At a famous dolphin feeding spot here in Australia, I had as much fun throwing fish to the pelicans as I did handing them to the dolphins.
A pelican's pouch has a 3-gallon capacity, and can also hold turtles, gulls and ducklings.
These aren't pelicans' usual prey, but during times of starvation, they'll eat anything they can catch. A famished pelican will hold gulls and ducks underwater to drown them before swallowing.
Sometimes pelicans hunt in groups. In Cairns last year, I watched a line of 10 pelicans paddle shoulder to shoulder to herd fish toward shore. When the fish were nearly grounded, the pelicans had a feast.
Of the world's eight pelican species, the Australian pelican is medium size. But its bill is not. Of all birds in the world, the Australian pelican's beak is the longest.
In medieval Europe, people believed pelican mothers drew their own blood to feed their young when no food was available. No one knows where this bizarre notion came from, but because of it, the pelican came to symbolize, in some Christian sects, the Passion of Christ.
To me, these odd-looking birds symbolize the marvel of evolution.
Since I'm going to be here awhile longer, I decided to trick my brain by memorizing a new pelican poem called "The Pelican Chorus" by Edward Lear (1812-1889): "King and Queen of the pelicans we. No other birds so grand we see! None but we have feet like fins, with lovely leathery throats and chins."
Now two pelican poems are driving me crazy.
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Some people find the world of de-icers, ice melters, anti-icers, or basic ice removal compounds somewhat confusing especially with all the claims various manufacturers make regarding these products. This article helps the reader navigate through that maze of confusion. These are the commonly asked questions about icemelters.
Anything used to melt the ice is considered to be a deicer or icemelter. It does not matter what the material composition is or what format it comes in. It can be in variety of solid formats, such as:, granular, flakes, pellets, pearls, powder or even in a liquid format. Many people assume that the word “icemelter” means that it is somehow eco-friendly. This simply is not the case. Rock salt is an icemelter.
An anti-icer is any product that can be applied to a surface before a storm to help prevent ice build-up from occurring. It typically does not eliminate ice build-up, but rather just delays it enough that clearing equipment can be brought out to remove the slush accumulation. Anti-icers come in granular or liquid formats.
Snow and ice storms generally occur between -18o and 0o Celsius (0o and +32o F). This is when ice melters will effectively melt ice and snow. When the weather gets too cold, such as below -30°C (-22°F) an icemelter becomes impractical and will not work. In this really cold weather one typically requires a traction aid - a grit substance to prevent slips and falls. At this temperature, ice typically does not form, as the falling snow will stay in its crystallized format, and will simply build-up in the form of compact snow. When the weather warms up, then melting and refreezing will occur to form ice build-ups.
Icemelters help to remove ice by breaking it down – first into smaller chunks, and finally into a liquid. Icemelters should not be confused with snow removal. Icemelters or deicers are designed to melt and break down the ice accumulations not the snow accumulations. In situations where there is ice and snow build up, it is best to remove the snow, using mechanical means such as shovels or snow blowers, and then use an ice melter to break down the ice into slush.
There are many different chemicals that can go into making up a deicer, however, only a few base compounds are used, due to price and availability. They are:
Some icemelters are simply variations of these basic types, blended with a non-icemelting additive for marketing reasons. Many products sold today are merely re-packaged commodities of rock salt, natural or artificially coloured.
Icemelters (or de-icers) are available in pellets, granules, flakes, pearls, powder and liquid, with granules being the most effective. Flaked forms are best avoided for two reasons: they do not penetrate as deep as granules, and therefore do not liquefy beneath the surface of the ice, nor do they apply well in windy conditions. Pellets, pearls and powder pose a similar problem: they blow away in stormy weather.
None. According the two leading concrete authorities, the American Concrete Institute (ACI), and the Portland Cement Association (PCA), NO icemelter should be used on newly poured concrete, as concrete requires a certain length of time to cure. This amount of time can vary depending on the type of concrete. It is best not to use icemelter on new or unsealed concrete less than 12 months old, exposed aggregate, brick, or pre-cast steps. Applying ice melter to damaged, cracked or chipped concrete may result in further damage due to the thaw and re-freeze cycles. For further information on concrete, here is a great article on the basics, “Icemelters & Concrete”.
Some icemelters containing ammonium nitrate or ammonium sulphate additives will rapidly disintegrate concrete and therefore should not be used. Discolouring, however, is primarily caused by calcium chloride. How? Calcium Chloride accelerates the hydration process, but has a retarding effect of the hydration of the ferrite compound in Portland cement. This ferrite phase normally becomes lighter with hydration, however, in the presence of calcium chloride, the unhydrated ferrite phase remains dark.
Concrete scaling (or flaking) is the loss of surface mortar. This is a primarily physical action caused by the hydraulic pressure that occurs when water freezes within the concrete, as opposed to a chemically corrosive action. For this reason, it is necessary to extend the freeze/thaw cycle as long as possible. Calcium chloride ice melters have the shortest freeze/thaw cycle.
Spalling is a surface defect that is deeper than scaling. Spalls tend to occur over corroded reinforcing steel due to the present of chloride ions.
The type of concrete best at resisting these two effects is concrete where properly spaced air voids are present. Air-entrained concrete has an excellent resistance to surface scaling and mortar flaking due to freezing and thawing.
Beside the fact that calcium chloride causes damage to concrete by having a very short thaw/freeze cycle, and causes discolouration of concrete, Calcium Chloride inherently attracts moisture – is hygroscopic – and therefore has a limited shelf life. Further, Calcium chloride leaves behind an oily residue, which is easily tracked into buildings, soiling and damaging carpets and floorings and presenting a serious slip/fall hazard. Perhaps most frighteningly, it is harmful to the environment – damaging plant life, soil and the water system. Also, people must be very careful when using calcium chloride as it caustic and will burn skin causing an irritation. It should not be used around pets as it will burn their paws and irriatate their noses.
Rock salt has an enormously negative effect on the environment as it is toxic to vegetation and damaging to soil. The general impact of salt on grass, crops or vegetation is to impair or reduce growth. It does this by promoting high pH values which cause micronutrient deficiencies. Rock salt or sodium chloride is not only harmful to plant life but also the very soil that sustains life. Salt content in soils disperses both the clay particles and organic matter. This breakdown in the soil's aggregate structure reduces its permeability to air and water. As a result, root proliferation and penetration throughout the soil is impaired. Also, when these soils dry, they become hard and cloddy with a tendency to form heavy surface crusts. For more information on the effects of salt on plant life, here is a great article, “How Salt Damages Trees”
The shelf life of a bag of icemelter will depend on the basic components that make up the deicer being stored. Many icemelters that are stored in a dry location will generally have a shelf life of 3 – 5 years. However, it should be noted that some icemelter components such as calcium chloride or magnesium chloride are very hydroscopic, and attract moisture easily. These components have a much shorter shelf, such as around 1 – 2 years maximum. Storing these type of products in a humidity controlled warehouse is highly recommended.
When exposed to moisture, or excessive humidity, calcium chloride will soak up this moisture and solidify. A bag of calcium chloride will become solid like a brick and even when broken up cannot be used. Magnesium chloride, when exposed to these same conditions, breaks down to a slimy liquid, making the product very messy and completely un-useable. Extreme care should be taken with these two products.
Potassium based icemelters, seem to store well and are not as susceptible to high moisture conditions.
Icemelter tracking into buildings causes many problems including safety issues and excessive maintenance costs. Icemelter tracks into buildings in two ways: by being picked up on people’s shoes when the product is still in its solid format, and by being picked up on people’s shoes in its dissolved state. Rock salt (sodium chloride) leaves behind a white residue when tracked into buildings. Calcium chloride, leaves behind an oily type residue that is much more costly and dangerous. This oily residue soils carpets requiring excessive cleaning or replacement. If the entry way to a building is a smooth surface flooring, such as tile, linoleum, hardwood, or polished concrete, this residue will cause a serious slip hazard and must be continually cleaned up, increasing a building owner’s maintenance costs.
Experience has shown potassium based icemelters, do not track in a residue when in its dissolved states and many school boards are specifying such products on their bids because of this reason.
It is almost impossible to prevent the solid formatted ice melter from being picked up on people’s shoes and carried into buildings. The line of defence against this, however, is to have a very good quality mat at the entrance of the buildings.
Icemelters are best spread by using some mechanical means such as a spreader. Using a spreader guarantees even consistent distribution. While deicers can be spread manually using a scoop or by hand, it is not recommended. Spreaders are available in all sizes, from small hand held varieties to large dump truck attachments. XYNYTH Manufacturing Copr. (www.xynyth.com) makes a very durable mid-sized spreader that holds 75 lbs of icemelter and is great for doing large walkways or parking lots.
Many users of ice melters like to have their product coloured to make it easier for the person doing the spreading and to help over use of the product. Coloured deicers can easily be seen by people, assuring them that it is safe to walk on the ice.
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African Kusu Tribal Knife, ca. 1900
Click thumbnails for expanded view.
- Quantity Available: 1
About 60,000 Kusu live in the Southeastern Congo (Zaire) along the left bank of the
Lualaba River. Formerly a hunting society, in recent years they have become more
sedentary and have turned to agriculture and fishing. They tend to live in small villages
isolated from each other. This knife features 9 1/2" blade in a Christmas Tree shape
with medial ridge; sharpened on all edges except the angled back. Hardwood grip with
integral large disk pommel. Collection label on pommel. Very similar example
illustrated in Figs. 216, 217 in “Afrikanische Waffen”, by Fischer & Zirngibl.
Overall length 12 ½".
- Tuckasegee, North Carolina
- View Storefront
- View Seller Website
- Contact Seller About This Item
- View Store Policies
- Reference #
- Ethnic, Folk & Native American Art
- ca. 1900
- Width: 0 inch
- Height: 0 inch
- Depth: 0 inch
- Weight: 0 pound
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An experimental train introduced to 1980s Britain by the erstwhile British Rail (BR), with a view to increasing the speed of passenger services without expensive track replacement.
By the mid-1960s, Britain's rail network was beginning (ahem) to display the strain of steadily growing passenger numbers combined with their demands for faster service. The 125mph InterCity services, though one of Britain's few nationalised industries turning a profit, were becoming a victim of their own success. Capacity was being stretched and the service was being looked upon enviously by passengers of Northern routes, whose trains were still capped at 100mph.
This limitation was mostly one of comfort: trains were quite capable of high-speed cornering but taking 'tight' bends (with a radius of 3 miles or less) in this manner was uncomfortable for passengers, making it difficult to sit up straight or remain standing. Trains in Britain spent (and still spend) most of their time slowing down for, or speeding up after bends.
This presented something of a dilemma for BR when trying to design the next generation of high-speed trains. Much of the rail network was and is very curvy, rounding rather than cutting through or under the undulating British countryside. Some of the track would not even permit the InterCity trains to do their top speed of 125mph and other sections restricted trains to 100mph or less, well short of the speeds desired for future trains.
BR had two choices: lay new, straighter sections of track suitable for high-speed operation (as France ultimately did for the TGV, which entered development at around the same time), or design a train that could go faster on the existing rail network. The first option would cost billions of pounds (and the rest, once the train itself had been designed and manufactured), the second...wouldn't. Although the second option would necessitate a more complex train design, it would still be considerably cheaper and potentially allow high-speed operation on a large percentage of the existing rail network.
BR began designing the new train in 1970, producing a working prototype in their Derby engineering yards by 1972. The train consisted of two gas turbine power cars sandwiching two 'passenger' cars full of sensory equipment. The physical design of the cars differed somewhat from their successors: if you've ever seen a profile photo of a silver wedge-nosed train with an ocean blue stripe down the side emblazoned with a white BR logo, this was it. The APT-E ('E' for 'experimental') was not only capable of 150mph+ but as its centrepiece incorporated a tilting mechanism, which would allow each section of the train to lean up to 12° into corners. The idea was to lessen the turning effect being exerted on passengers, meaning the train could corner at higher speed without affecting passengers' perception of the cornering speed.
The APT-E unit made over 23,000 miles of test runs between 1972 and 1979; on December 20th of that year setting an unofficial British rail speed record of 162mph (its official record is 152.3mph). This record stood until July 2003, when a Eurostar unit recorded 208mph in Kent.
The APT-E incorporated a number of firsts, not least its tilting mechanism which was the first in the world. It was BR's first train to employ articulated bogies, which span the division between each car, requiring one bogie less for every pair of cars (which would normally have a pair of bogies each). This gave a significant weight saving and meant the tilt mechanism could be operated with less hardware. Further weight was saved by the train's aluminium construction (trains of the time were constructed mostly from steel) and a hydrokinetic braking system gave it a stopping distance virtually the same as slower trains.
The results of the extensive testing were then engineered into what was planned as the production train, the APT-P ('P' for 'prototype'). The powerplant was changed to electric traction, as the original gas turbine engines were not suited for frequent stopping and starting, nor were they particularly fuel-efficient.
This change had an unusual effect on the makeup of an APT consist: instead of having power cars at either end (as is common - see the Intercity 125/225), there was a pair of 4000hp power cars in the centre of the train with a six-car rake on either end. This was imposed by technical limitations: the pantographs (articulated arms that make contact with the overhead power lines) of the time could not be used at either end of a train going at the APT's planned speeds, as the leading pantograph set up a wave effect in the overhead line that the trailing pantograph could not compensate for. A single pantograph could have been used with a power car at either end of the consist, but designers were not confident that power could be reliably transmitted down the length of the train over its numerous articulations.
The only viable alternative was to have both power cars, with their pantographs, at the centre of the train. Because access to one end of the train from the other was so limited (only possible via a cramped, noisy walkway through the centre of the power cars - which engineers feared would interfere with pacemakers) each consist was essentially two trains, with buffet facilities in each end.
The APT-P looked more like an Intercity 125 than the APT-E, with a distinctive yellow, drooped, wedge-shaped front. Again the bogies were articulated; large arches in the body above displayed the range of tilt travel. The majority of the train body was constructed from aluminium; only the power cars remained of steel construction. This, together with the articulated bogies, saved roughly 40% in weight over an equivalent-sized passenger train, meaning the APT cost no more to run than its slower brethren. Three fourteen-car consists were manufactured.
APT-P was introduced at Glasgow station in December 1981 to considerable press attention. The entrance was not the most dramatic: the train was rather inauspiciously shunted to its unveiling by a Class 37 diesel locomotive, as the rail was not electrified. Its first journey was watched and accompanied by many dignitaries, members of the press and some paying passengers. It was from these initial trips that the train gained its unfortunate and largely-undeserved notoriety.
Anyone I have spoken to who has heard of this train generally remembers some mumblings about people feeling sick on the train or the tilt mechanism not working properly. This is partly true: the tilt mechanism was patchy during the first journey (it was later the subject of two stages of modification which made it more reliable and improved the quality of its operation) and pictures exist of the train cornering with some cars visibly remaining upright. The problems that received such press attention, however, were the result of the tilt mechanism working too well (or, it has been speculated, journalists enjoying a little too much of BR's liquid hospitality).
Some passengers reported "tilt sickness": a feeling of nausea during corners when the tilt mechanism was operating. This has virtually identical roots to seasickness - the tilt mechanism evidently removed the turning effect altogether so passengers, even though they could see the train was tilting and turning could not feel the effect on their bodies. To compensate for this the tilt mechanism was dialed down slightly in effectiveness so passengers could still feel when the train was cornering.
Withdrawal & Re-Issue
These initial, over-reported problems caused the train's temporary withdrawal later in December 1981 after freezing conditions caused problems with the train's braking systems that compounded APT's already-poor public image further. BR took comments and complaints to the drawing board, producing a much improved and more reliable train. This included several modifications to the tilt mechanism, making it more efficient and safer under failure conditions. Previously it had been possible for the tilt mechanism to fail, leaving the failed car tilted in one direction. The redesigned system constantly monitored the tilt angle and compared it to the correct one, automatically righting and locking any car that was not within specific tolerances.
Ignorant of the positive sides of the project and the improvements, the government or BR's management (it isn't clear which) evidently got cold feet when the first problems were reported. The train was quietly re-introduced in early 1982 as a relief train on the West Coast Line where it quickly got its own departure slots and operated reliably for several years. Unfortunately government disinterest in the project meant this could only continue for so long.
The design team and operators were dismayed, having produced a train that, despite demonstrably fulfilling the original specification, was being sidelined:
I had many conversations with APT engineers - obviously glowing with pride that their child had finally come good. “Of course she could do 180mph if she were allowed to...”(4)
The train (which set a record time on the London-Glasgow run of 3hrs 52 minutes, at an average speed of 103mph) never received the widespread acceptance it should have done, as the political will to built the planned fleet of trains virtually evaporated after the initial hail of bad publicity. This also had the unfortunate effect that the few APT trains that were operating frequently had their speeds restricted to 125mph due to the 'slow' Intercity services operating ahead of them.
The fleet was retired in 1984, low reliability being cited. It has been speculated that employing so much unproven technology in a single train was at least partly to blame for this, although the train was in development for over a decade before seeing service. Two of the trains were scrapped and the third was sent to a siding behind Crewe Yards (or a 'heritage yard', whichever you prefer to call it), where it can be seen from the West Coast Mainline should you ever take a trip along it. It is currently available as a venue for - wait for it - children's parties.
The design of the APT - sans tilt mechanism - later went into the Class 91, or InterCity 225 locomotive, so named for its top speed of 225km/h which it regularly operates at. The tilt technology was exported to Fiat who integrated it into their Pendolino tilting trains, operated by Italy's state . Evidently it wasn't such the technical disaster implied by the short shrift it received from the notoriously fickle British press. Hilariously, Britain is almost the only country in Europe now that does not use tilting trains, and is set to buy back its own tilt technology to employ in the planned InterCity 250.
Fortunately Britain has not lost its more recent rail history altogether. The APT-E rake, which had been gathering rust in the National Rail Museum car park for almost 25 years, was in September 2004 moved to Shildon where a group of volunteers spent months restoring and refurbishing it. apt-e.org heavily documents the restoration effort from 2000 on, including film of the completed train. At the time of writing it appears it has not yet been moved back to the NRM.
- Duffy, Johnathan; "APT - The lean machine"; <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1695589.stm>
- Keating, Oliver; "The Advanced Passenger Train"; <http://www.o-keating.com/hsr/apt.htm>
- Latham, R. G; "APT-P Preservation Update"; <http://www.apt-p.com/>
- Leverton, Nick; "The Advanced Passenger Train";
- Alex, Lu;
- "The Advanced Passenger Train"; <http://www.lexcie.zetnet.co.uk/apt.htm>
- "The Advanced Passenger Train: Summary"; <http://www.lexcie.zetnet.co.uk/apt1.htm>
- "The Advanced Passenger Train: its evolution"; <http://www.lexcie.zetnet.co.uk/apt2.htm>
- "The Advanced Passenger Train: the new technology"; <http://www.lexcie.zetnet.co.uk/apt3.htm>
- BBC News (Author unknown); "Intercity 225: Fastest in the UK"; <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/976815.stm>
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I have a lot of nice sized oak trees. I have pin, black, and chestnut. Every once in a while one of them puts out sprouts all over the trunk and starts looking like a green pillar. How do I keep that from happening?
Oak runners can be stopped by stripping off the leaves; check them weekly and rub off any new sprouts. It takes a few months, longer for Red Oak than Live Oak. Do not cut them, because they will come back thicker. If you notice in nature you do not find many trees with sprouts. That is because deer, goats, cattle etc. eat the new sprouts. Once the sprouts become brittle, break them off.
Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do to prevent them from growing sprouts. Oak trees occasionally propagate in the wild through root sprouts and that's what these are (discounting when it's a fallen acorn that has sprouted). Since these sprouts are connected to the main tree through the roots, using any form of chemical to "burn" them will easily kill the tree. You could however, keep them in check by trimming them often or digging them out.
This page has some good info on oak sprouts:
Being interconnected through roots also has its disadvantages because diseases can propagate through the entire group easily.
They also recommend planting jasmine and trimming the sprouts when they outgrow the jasmine. Another suggestion is to plant grass such as St. Augustine or Zoysia and mow the sprouts along with the grass.
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Authors: Peter Warr, ANU, Sitthiroth Rasphone, NERI, and Jayant Menon, ADB
Since 1990, global inequality has declined, following almost two centuries of gradual increase. Inequality has fallen between countries, but increased, on average, within countries. On average, poor countries have grown more rapidly than rich countries, causing between-country inequality to fall. Most, though not all, economic literature on inequality has focused on the increase within rich countries. But inequality has also increased within many developing countries, such as Laos. This trend threatens social and political stability and must be understood.
Since the early 1990s, five rounds of the Lao Expenditure and Consumption Surveys (LECS) have shown that measured inequality has increased at the national level — within both rural and urban areas, within almost all provinces of Laos and within each of the four major ethnic groups of the Lao population. The estimated Gini coefficient of expenditure inequality has risen from 0.311 to 0.364 at the national level.
At the same time, the estimated incidence of absolute poverty has halved, from 46 per cent of the population to 23 per cent. Put together, these facts mean that the poor of Laos have become better off in real terms, but that the rich have benefited more in both proportionate and absolute terms.
Despite rising inequality in household expenditures, access to publicly provided services (primary education, lower secondary education, access to health care and household access to the electricity network) has become more equal. Disparities in participation rates between richer and poorer groups have diminished.
Still, this increase in inequality is important as it undermines poverty reduction. If the real expenditures of all household groups had hypothetically increased at the same rate (meaning that inequality had remained unchanged at its 1992–93 level), absolute poverty incidence would have declined from 46 per cent to 17 per cent. That is, increased inequality reduced the amount of poverty reduction that occurred over the last two decades by around 6 per cent of the population, compared with what would have hypothetically occurred if inequality had not risen. When the data are decomposed into rural and urban areas of residence or by province, or by the ethnicity of the household head, the increase in inequality within groups dominates any changes between groups: inequality has increased throughout the country.
Laos’ experience raises several important questions about the nature of national inequality that remain unanswered by the LECS. First, to what extent is rising inequality in private consumption mitigated by a more equal distribution of publicly-provided services? Second, what economic or other forces have driven the increase in private expenditure inequality?
More fundamentally, should Laos necessarily be concerned about inequality? Surely, in low-income countries the priority must be the reduction of absolute poverty. But as the case of Laos suggests, there is ample reason to think that inequality, as well as the rate of economic growth, can be important for poverty reduction. An increase in inequality raises the level of poverty incidence given the level of national income. There is also evidence that a high initial level of inequality reduces the amount by which poverty incidence declines for a given rate of growth.
The extent to which inequality is bad for poor countries presumably depends on whether it is transitory or persistent. If it persists, in that inequality begets more inequality, it could increase social tensions and disrupt peace and order. This will harm growth and undermine further attempts at reducing poverty. Rising inequality in countries where a large proportion of the population remains poor may indicate that a significant share of the labour force is either underemployed or unemployed, or at least not participating fully in the growth process. This could potentially put at risk the sustainability of the growth process itself.
If it is transitory, in the form posited by the famous Kuznets hypothesis, then its detrimental effects will be short-lived. Whether rising inequality is likely to be persistent or transitory depends on a number of factors, not least the underlying causes of the high or rising inequality, as well as policy reactions to this. The linkages between poverty reduction, inequality and growth are complex and subject to continuing controversy.
Whether the increase in expenditure inequality is a serious public policy problem for Laos is debatable. Some increases in inequality may be inevitable in a poor country undertaking a wide-reaching program of economic reform, as in Laos over the past two decades. What is not controversial is that for social, economic and political reasons, economic inequality needs to be monitored and understood.
Professor Peter Warr is former head of the Arndt-Corden Department of Economics and director of the Poverty Research Centre at the Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.
Sitthiroth Rasphone is a Research Fellow at the National Economic Research Institute (NERI) in Vientiane, Laos.
Jayant Menon is a lead economist at the Economic Research and Regional Cooperation Department, Asian Development Bank (ADB) and an adjunct fellow at the Arndt-Corden Department of Economics, The Australian National University.
This article is based on a longer paper that is available here.
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Peregrine falcons are found on every continent except Antarctica, enjoying the widest range of all bird species. During April, May, October, and November, peregrine falcons migrate along the Central Flyway from Canada to the Texas coast; there, the falcons spend several weeks resting and feeding in preparation for flight further south along the coast.
Songbirds, shorebirds, waterfowl, and seabirds comprise the peregrine falcon's diet. Peregrines usually hunt in open areas with cliffs or other high vantage points above rivers and coasts. Occasionally, peregrines may nest on bridges and buildings as well. Peregrines measure sixteen to twenty inches long, with a wingspan up to forty-six inches. Characterized by a black head with a white neck patch and throat, a blue-gray back, and a pale white underside marked with black bars, the peregrine is a distinctive sight. Male and female peregrine falcons are identical in appearance, although the female is slightly larger.
Meet more Texas wildlife
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Making Sense out of the WordApril 9th
We often use the term sense to mean that we have a feeling or a premonition. We have a “sense of foreboding” or a “sense of importance” for a moment. We also use the word to mean an abstract idea or understanding as in, “he had a sense of honor” or “he had no sense of mercy.” Doesn’t it seem odd that a word which we usually use to denote the physical or rational (the 5 senses or “making sense”) can also be used in such a nebulous way?
Is it odd, though? Sense, in all the usages listed here, has a common root- the idea that exterior forces or events have made some sort of impression on us. Sense is a word that we use when we want to affirm some sort of connection, some level of understanding, even if it is just the mood of a room or the tone of a book.
To bog the word down with one, stilted, physical meaning we are cheating it and ourselves our of it’s proper usage- A collection of data conveying a conclusion.
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Since 1989 I have written several times about domestic cats and the havoc they wreak on native wildlife populations. On July 11 cats made the national “fake” news on John Stewart’s The Daily Show. The scientific evidence of the damage that cats do to wildlife continues to mount.
A 2010 publication by the University of Nebraska Extension service reviewed the subject. Earlier this year a paper in the Journal of Ornithology took a detailed look at the impact of cats, and predators in general, on gray catbird nest success in three suburban Washington, D.C. communities.
Predators accounted for 79 percent of all deaths, and cats were responsible for 47 percent of known predator kills. Historically, nest success has been defined as the percentage of nests from which at least one nestling fledged. But we had no measure of post-fledging survival.
Today, however, tiny telemetry devices can be attached to nestlings to monitor their survival after they leave the nest. At one of the D.C. area study sites, cats were undetected during the study.
At that location, nest success and post-fledging success were double that found at the two sites where cats were present. Gray squirrels, crows, blue jays, chipmunks and rats were also notable predators.
The point is that, when present, cats are clearly a major predator of young birds in suburban neighborhoods. In such areas, cats often occur at unnaturally high densities. Some people feed “wild” cats so they are not limited by food, but they maintain their natural opportunistic, ambush style of hunting.
From a strictly ecological point of view, cats disrupt natural food chains and webs. The natural world would be a better place without domestic cats. The problem, of course, is that cats are great indoor pets that many people allow outdoors. Many farm cats are outdoors 24/7 and can almost be considered working farm animals.
But in city neighborhoods, towns and rural areas, cats are pets. And they should be kept indoors 24/7 (see www.abcbirds.org and click on “cats indoors”).
Let’s begin by changing terminology. An indoor cat is kept indoors 24/7. All other cats are “outdoor” cats. Fluffy may be a beloved member of the family, but if she goes outside for even an hour a day, she’s a part-time killer. A pet outdoor cat is no gentler on the environment than a feral cat.
Now, let’s look at the problem from the cat’s perspective. Any time spent outdoors puts cats at risk. Cats thrive indoors; they live 12 to 15 years. Outdoors, their life expectancy shortens to about three years. Outdoor life is tough on cats. Every day they face:
Death by cars and trucks on roadways.
Attacks by dogs, other cats, raccoons, skunks and foxes that can result in puncture wounds, infections, rabies, distemper and other diseases.
Death by hungry coyotes. As coyote numbers explode, reports of mysterious disappearances of cats also increase.
Infestations of fleas, ticks and other parasites.
Getting lost, stolen, poisoned or shot.
Unspeakably cruel treatment by sadistic people. Visit a local animal shelter and ask how often they see cats that have been abused.
How can anyone who professes to love cats subject them to these dangers every time they open the door? The simple solution to all these problems is to eliminate outdoor cats and keep pet cats indoors.
Conservation organizations, veterinary associations and humane societies all agree that outdoor cats are a social and ecological problem that needs to be addressed.
One option for those who insist their pet cats must get “fresh air and be free” is to enclose the back porch in chicken wire. Make the porch a cat sanctuary. Install a pet door so cats can move freely in and out of the house, and add a scratching post and some climbing shelves.
This solution also means you can move the litter box outside. Or build a walk-in, outdoor cage just for your cats. Google “walk-in outdoor cage for cats” for ideas and plans.
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The pig was part of the flight demonstration.
Perhaps inspired by the old saw “When pigs fly,” an educator had assembled a plastic pig, a sheep, a dragonfly, a butterfly, two airplanes, and a boat. They were all perched atop a cart for National Air and Space Museum volunteer Bob Greene to use to introduce a four-year-old visitor to the principles of flight. The Museum’s youngest visitors are encouraged to find similarities between airplanes, birds, and insects, and to separate them from, well, the pig. Using other objects at the station, Greene familiarizes adults with the concepts of pitch, yaw, and roll.
Greene has volunteered since 2003 at various Discovery Stations—a series of portable carts that feature hands-on activities related to aviation, space exploration, astronomy, and planetary geology. He’s a pilot with more than 3,000 hours flying Bell UH-1H “Huey” helicopters during two tours in Vietnam. Today at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia, his cart is parked next to a reproduction of the Wright Model B, but Greene talks easily with a visitor whose father flew a World War II Lockheed P-38J Lightning, much like the one a few feet away.
Education and curatorial staffs develop the stations to help explain the more complicated concepts in an exhibition. “With the Wright brothers exhibit,” says Beth Wilson, who coordinates the Discovery Station program on the National Mall, “it’s difficult to understand wing warping unless you either have a lot of knowledge about it to begin with, or there’s someone there explaining it to you. It’s the same thing with our Black Holes Discovery Station. You can read a label about a black hole, but if you have someone there describing it, it really helps.” (The objects used to demonstrate this challenging concept? A magnet, glass marbles, and a steel ball.)
Dan Grünberg, a junior at the University of Maryland, has worked at the Museum for almost three years. Today he’s staffing the “America by Air” Discovery Station, which accompanies the exhibition of the same name. His cart is covered with models of the aircraft in the exhibition, a passenger window from a Boeing 747, and other bits and pieces that help illustrate the story of commercial flight.
Grünberg points to the Ford 5-AT Tri-Motor hanging from the ceiling at the Museum on the Mall, its corrugated aluminum exterior glinting in the sunlight. “This is one of the first planes to carry people commercially,” he tells a group of young visitors. “The plane ride was very bumpy, and the bolts in your seat had to be tightened every once in a while, so your stewardess would carry a wrench in her pocket.
“Now, a lot of people hadn’t been on planes before,” he continues. “So people wanted to look out the window.” Those who didn’t have a window seat, he says, would go to the door to look out that window. “The problem was, there’s no safety on the door,” says Grünberg. “You could literally just turn the knob and open it.”
The children look at each other, impressed by the thought of a door opening at 5,200 feet.
“So they had to put up a sign,” Grünberg tells them, “saying ‘It is dangerous to open up the airplane while it’s in motion.’ You guys think that would be common sense, but believe me, common sense isn’t so common.”
While the Discovery Stations sometimes include computers and other electronics, they’re more likely to feature items from aerospace history: an astronaut’s spacesuit, a space shuttle thermal tile, fabric from a vintage aircraft’s wing.
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When most people first hear about data science, it’s usually in the context of how prominent web companies work with very large data sets in order to predict clickthrough rates, make personalized recommendations, or analyze UI experiments. The solutions to these problems require expertise with statistics and machine learning, and so there is a general perception that data science is intimately tied to these fields. However, in my conversations at academic conferences and with Cloudera customers, I have found that many kinds of scientists– such as astronomers, geneticists, and geophysicists– are working with very large data sets in order to build models that do not involve statistics or machine learning, and that these scientists encounter data challenges that would be familiar to data scientists at Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
The Practice of Data Science
The term “data science” has been subject to criticism on the grounds that it doesn’t mean anything, e.g., “What science doesn’t involve data?” or “Isn’t data science a rebranding of statistics?” The source of this criticism could be that data science is not a solitary discipline, but rather a set of techniques used by many scientists to solve problems across a wide array of scientific fields. As DJ Patil wrote in his excellent overview of building data science teams, the key trait of all data scientists is the understanding “that the heavy lifting of [data] cleanup and preparation isn’t something that gets in the way of solving the problem: it is the problem.”
I have found a few more characteristics that apply to the work of data scientists, regardless of their field of research:
- Inverse problems. Not every data scientist is a statistician, but all data scientists are interested in extracting information about complex systems from observed data, and so we can say that data science is related to the study of inverse problems. Inverse problems arise in almost every branch of science, including medical imaging, remote sensing, and astronomy. We can also think of DNA sequencing as an inverse problem, in which the genome is the underlying model that we wish to reconstruct from a collection of observed DNA fragments. Real-world inverse problems are often ill-posed or ill-conditioned, which means that scientists need substantive expertise in the field in order to apply reasonable regularization conditions in order to solve the problem.
- Data sets that have a rich set of relationships between observations. We might think of this as a kind of Metcalfe’s Law for data sets, where the value of a data set increases nonlinearly with each additional observation. For example, a single web page doesn’t have very much value, but 128 billion web pages can be used to build a search engine. A DNA fragment in isolation isn’t very useful, but millions of them can be combined to sequence a genome. A single adverse drug event could have any number of explanations, but millions of them can be processed to detect suspicious drug interactions. In each of these examples, the individual records have rich relationships that enhance the value of the data set as a whole.
- Open-source software tools with an emphasis on data visualization. One indicator that a research area is full of data scientists is an active community of open source developers. The R Project is a widely known and used toolset that cuts across a variety of disciplines, and has even been used as a basis for specialized projects like Bioconductor. Astronomers have been using tools like AIPS for processing data from radio telescopes and IRAF for data from optical telescopes for more than 30 years. Bowtie is an open source project for performing very fast DNA sequence alignment, and the Crossbow Project combines Bowtie with Apache Hadoop for distributed sequence alignment processing.
We can use the term “data scientist” as a specialization of “scientist” in the same way that we use the term “theoretical physicist” as a specialization of “physicist.” Just as there are theoretical physicists that work within the various subdomains of physics, such as cosmology, optics, or particle physics, there are data scientists at work within every branch of science.
Data Scientists Who Find Oil: Reflection Seismology
Reflection seismology is a set of techniques for solving a classic inverse problem: given a collection of seismograms and associated metadata, generate an image of the subsurface of the Earth that generated those seismograms. These techniques are primarily used by exploration and production companies in order to locate oil and natural gas deposits, although they were also used to identify the location of the Chicxulub Crater that has been linked to the extinction of the dinosaurs.
Seismic data is collected by surveying an area that is suspected to contain oil or gas deposits. Seismic waves are generated from a source, which is usually an air gun in marine surveys or a machine called a Vibroseis for land-based surveys. The seismic waves reflect back to the surface at the interfaces between rock layers, where an array of receivers record the amplitude and arrival times of the reflected waves as a time series, which is called a trace. The data that is generated from a single source is called a shot or shot record, and a modern seismic survey may consist of tens of thousands of shots and multiple terabytes of trace data.
In order to solve the inversion problem, we take advantage of the geometric relationships between traces that have different source and receiver locations but a common depth point (also known as a common midpoint). By comparing the time it took for the seismic waves to travel from the different source and receiver locations and experimenting with different velocity models for the waves moving through the rock, we can estimate the depth of the common subsurface point that the waves reflected off of. By aggregating a large number of these estimates, we can construct a complete image of the subsurface. As we increase the density and the number of traces, we can create higher quality images that improve our understanding of the subsurface geology.
Additionally, seismic data processing has a long history of using open-source software tools that were initially developed in academia and were then adopted and enhanced by private companies. Both the Seismic Unix project, from the Colorado School of Mines, and SEPlib, from Stanford University, have their roots in tools created by graduate students in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Even the most popular commercial toolkit for seismic data processing, SeisSpace, is built on top of an open source foundation, the JavaSeis project.
Hadoop and Seismic Data Processing
Geophysicists have been pushing the limits of high-performance computing for more than three decades; they were early adopters of the first Cray supercomputers as well as the massively parallel Connection Machine. Today, the most challenging seismic data processing tasks are performed on custom compute clusters that take advantage of multiple GPUs per node, high-performance networking and storage systems for fast data access.
The data volume of modern seismic surveys and the performance requirements of the compute clusters means that data from seismic surveys that are not undergoing active processing are often stored offsite on tape. If a geophysicist wants to re-examine an older survey, or study the effectiveness of a new processing technique, he must file a request to move the data into active storage and then consume precious cluster resources in order to process the data.
Fortunately, Apache Hadoop has emerged as a cheap and reliable online storage system for petabyte-scale data sets. Even better, we can export many of the most I/O intensive steps in the seismic data processing into the Hadoop cluster itself, thus freeing precious resources in the supercomputer cluster for the most difficult and urgent processing tasks.
Seismic Hadoop is a project that we developed at Cloudera to demonstrate how to store and process seismic data in a Hadoop cluster. It combines Seismic Unix with Crunch, the Java library we developed for creating MapReduce pipelines. Seismic Unix gets its name from the fact that it makes extensive use of Unix pipes in order to construct complex data processing tasks from a set of simple procedures. For example, we might build a pipeline in Seismic Unix that first applies a filter to the trace data, then edits some metadata associated with each trace, and finally sorts the traces by the metadata that we just edited:
sufilter f=10,20,30,40 | suchw key1=gx,cdp key2=offset,gx key3=sx,sx b=1,1 c=1,1 d=1,2 | susort cdp gx
Seismic Hadoop takes this same command and builds a Crunch pipeline that performs the same operations on a data set stored in a Hadoop cluster, replacing the local susort command with a distributed sort across the cluster using MapReduce. Crunch takes care of figuring out how many MapReduce jobs to run and which processing steps are assigned to the map phase and which are assigned to the reduce phase. Seismic Hadoop also takes advantage of Crunch’s support for streaming the output of a MapReduce pipeline back to the client in order to run the utilities for visualizing data that come with Seismic Unix.
Challenges to Solve Together
Talking to a geophysicist is a little bit like seeing into the future: the challenges they face today are the challenges that data scientists in other fields will be facing five years from now. There are two challenges in particular that I would like the broader community of data scientists and Hadoop developers to be thinking about:
- Reproducibility. Geophysicists have developed tools that make it easy to understand and reproduce the entire history of analyses performed on a particular data set. One of the most popular open source seismic processing toolkits, Madagascar, even chose reproducibility.org as its home page. Reproducible research has enormous benefits in terms of data quality, transparency, and education, and all of the tools we develop should be built with reproducibility in mind.
- Dynamic and resource-aware scheduling of jobs on heterogeneous clusters. MR2 and YARN will unleash a Cambrian explosion of data-intensive processing jobs on Hadoop clusters. What was once only MapReduce jobs will now include MPI jobs, Spark queries, and BSP-style computations. Different jobs will have radically different resource requirements in terms of CPU, memory, disk, and network utilization, and we will need fine-grained resource controls, intelligent defaults, and robust mechanisms for recovering from task failures across all job types.
It is an unbelievably exciting time to be working on these big data problems. Join us and be part of the solution!
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Environmental Health - Toxic Substances
New Approach to Evaluating Selenium Toxicity in the Environment
A new unified approach to evaluating the toxicity of selenium could help ecologists faced with varied and inconsistent approaches to assessing the toxicity of selenium in rivers, estuaries, and other water bodies. A team of U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists proposed an ecosystem-scale model of the fate of selenium in the environment. The model quantifies how selenium is transferred from water and into predatory fish and birds through dietary uptake. The model integrates the chemistry of biological and geological systems and the physiological factors that control how various animals within food webs bioaccumulate selenium.
From Water To Predators: It's the Pathway That's Important
The approach shows that environmentally safe concentrations of selenium dissolved in water vary among ecosystems because the factors that affect whether selenium reaches toxic levels in fish and birds depends on the unique ecological and chemical conditions in each ecosystem. For example, the amount of selenium transferred within a local food web will differ depending on the species involved because different species bioaccumulate selenium at different rates and amounts. The unified approach is implemented in a computer model. The model provides a tool that ecologists, regulators, water resource managers, and other environmental professionals can use to:
What Makes the Model Unique?
The model is unique because it integrates:
Each trophic level (the placement of an organism within a food web or what an organism eats and what eats it) in the model is assigned a trophic transfer factor. These factors are different for each organism in the simulated food web. For example, a clam bioaccumulates selenium at a different rate than an insect, but both are prey for fish and birds. The model has been validated using 29 case studies. The development of the model is part of collaborative investigations with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Luoma, S.N., and Presser, T.S., 2009, Emerging opportunities in management of selenium contamination: Environmental Science & Technology, v. 43, no. 22, p. 8483-8487, doi:10.1021/es900828h.
Related Science Features
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Bamberg (bämˈbĕrk) [key], city (1994 pop. 70,770), Bavaria, S Germany, a port on the Regnitz River. It is an industrial and commercial center; its manufactures include textiles, electrical equipment, clothing, machinery, and beer. Bamberg was the capital of a powerful ecclesiastical state from 1007 to 1802. In 1803 it passed to Bavaria. Noteworthy buildings in the picturesque city include the cathedral (built mostly in the 13th cent.), which includes the tombs of Emperor Henry II and Pope Clement II; a Gothic church (14th cent.); and two episcopal residences (16th and 18th cent.). It is the seat of a Roman Catholic archbishopric and has a museum of natural history.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
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In contrast to the working-class origins of Talloran Village, Oradam was a beachfront paradise for wealthy trader-barons and their families. These men and women spent their profits constructing elaborate homes and relaxing by the sea. Their freely flowing credits attracted numerous merchants and artisans to Oradam, many of whom remained long after their wealthy patrons fled.
Oradam is the last uncontested Republic village on the island of Avilatan, partially because it holds very little strategic significance. Its importance to the separatists is mostly symbolic. Republic strategists theorize that if the encroaching separatists were to successfully invade Oradam, the enemy would most likely burn the village to the ground as a way of spiting the corrupt upper class.
Top Wiki Contributors
Need assistance with editing this wiki? Check out these resources:
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Sun and UV
No one is completely safe from the sun. In Canada, sunlight is strong enough to cause skin cancer, premature aging of the skin and harm to the eyes.
Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer, and it's also one of the most preventable. UV radiation causes about 90% of melanoma cases. The incidence of melanoma skin cancer has increased significantly among men and women during the past 25 years.
Enjoy the sun safely: protect your skin and protect your eyes. Reduce your risk of skin cancer by using SunSense and talk to your doctor about any changes to your skin.
There are 3 types of ultraviolet (UV) rays:
- Ultraviolet A rays (UVA) make up most of the sun's natural light. They can penetrate deep into the skin, causing wrinkles and premature aging of the skin.
- Ultraviolet B rays (UVB) are the main cause of sunburn. They are nearly 1,000 times stronger than UVA rays.
- Ultraviolet C rays (short-wave radiation) never reach the earth's surface because the atmosphere filters them out.
UV rays can get through clouds, fog and haze. Water, sand, concrete and especially snow can reflect, and even increase, the sun's rays. We are exposed to more UV rays as the protective layer of ozone around the earth becomes thinner due to the effects of pollution and chemicals. The main source of UV radiation is the sun, but indoor tanning equipment, such as tanning beds and sun lamps, are also sources.
You have a higher risk of skin cancer if you:
- have light-coloured skin, eyes or hair
- work, play or exercise in the sun for long periods of time
- had several blistering sunburns as a child
- take drugs that make you more sensitive to UV light
- use indoor tanning
The UV Index is a useful tool when it comes to sun protection. It tells you the strength of the sun's daily UV rays - the higher the number, the stronger the sun's rays and the more important it is to protect yourself.
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(Of a liquid) flow or leak slowly through porous material or small holes: water began to seep through the soles of his boots
More example sentences
- Water seeped into deep holes he dug, enough to quench thirst for another few days.
- Oil has seeped into the water table, and air pollution is a serious problem.
- When you remove the ring after completing the layering you'll have a pretty pool of green oil seeping out from the edge.
A place where petroleum or water oozes slowly out of the ground.
- The stable isotope composition of the first and second stages of the worm tube carbonates is similar to that of carbonates from modern petroleum seeps.
- Some creeks or river reaches are fed by springs or groundwater seeps.
- They breed in alpine areas, near seeps, streams, lakes, or wet meadows.
Late 18th century: perhaps a dialect form of Old English sīpian 'to soak'.
Words that rhyme with seepasleep, beep, bleep, cheap, cheep, creep, deep, heap, Jeep, keep, leap, neap, neep, peep, reap, sheep, skin-deep, sleep, steep, Streep, sweep, veep, weep
For editors and proofreaders
What do you find interesting about this word or phrase?
Comments that don't adhere to our Community Guidelines may be moderated or removed.
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Grades 3 - 7
Grade level Equivalent: 6.4
Lexile® Measure: 920L
Guided Reading: V
- Autobiography and Biography
- Family Life
- The Presidency
About This Book
View the Video Interview with 13-year-old Author Noah McCullough
Updated to include Malia and Sasha Obama!
Did you ever wonder what it would be like if your dad was president?
From the private quarters of the White House, this book written by a kid, for kids - will make readers laugh and get hooked on history in a way they never thought possible!
First Kids are kids like any other; they just happened to live with parents who were running the free world. Readers will discover their likes and dislikes and learn about everything from the games they played to the vegetables they despised.
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The McKinsey Global Institute recently reported on the effects of Quantitative Easing or QE on the UK economy or to be more precise the net transfer of £110 billion from UK households to the UK government.
The truth, in regards to the world’s mineral resources, is that we in the western developed countries are not in control of supply. There are many serious concerns in regards to global resource extraction that we need to consider.
While it might not look like it now, the most investable trend over the next 20 years is going to be in the resource sector, the renewable and non-renewable resources, the minerals, ores, fossil fuels and biomass.
In light of the strongly growing world population especially in emerging countries the question when staring at the vanishing commodity supply must not be when the commodity boom will end, but rather if the boom can come to an end at all.
The human enterprise now consumes nearly 60 billion metric tons of the world's four key resources – minerals, ores, fossil fuels and biomass (plant materials) – per year and developed countries citizens consume an average of 16 tons of those four key resources per capita.
The world is about to suffer a shortage of equity capital over the next eight years which could total $12.3 trillion. The cause of the coming debacle is simple. Investable assets in the emerging world are growing faster than in the developed world.
The Australian government has recently compiled a database of Australian resource sector projects in Africa and the companies involved. There are over 220 Australian companies with nearly 600 projects in Africa spread across 42 countries.
Currently 180,000 people a day move from the country to the city. Urban infrastructure devours copper. Over the next 12 months that demand might drive investment dollars into juniors with big resources like Catalyst Copper.
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http://www.resourceinvestor.com/term/mckinsey-global-institute
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Our basic operators are the inclusion of an edge between a pair of non-adjacent nodes and the removal of an existing edge between a pair of adjacent nodes in the current configuration. These edges may be either directed or undirected.
The inclusion of an isolated link will serve as a template for the arcs and ; however, the link together with another link represent any combination of arcs except those that create new h-h patterns (the DAGs (a), (b) and (c) in Figure 3). In the case of adding an arc, we may obtain several different neighboring configurations, depending on the topology of the current RPDAG and the direction of the arc being included. As we will see, if we are testing the inclusion of an edge between two nodes and , this may involve testing some of the different valid configurations obtained by the inclusion of the link , the arc , the arc , the h-h pattern or the h-h pattern (where in the last two cases would be any node such that either the link or the link exists in the current configuration). However, the removal of an edge will always result in only one neighboring configuration. Other operators, such as arc reversal , will not be used by our search method. The set of neighboring configurations of a given RPDAG will therefore be the set of all the different RPDAGs obtained from by adding or deleting a single edge (either directed or undirected).
Before explaining the details of the search method, let us illustrate the main ideas by means of the following example: consider the RPDAG in Figure 8, which represents the current configuration of the search process (this figure only displays the part of the RPDAG corresponding to the neighborhood of the nodes and ), and assume that we shall include an edge between the nodes and .
In this situation, we cannot introduce the link because we would violate one of the conditions defining RPDAGs (condition 1). We may introduce the arc and in this case, again in order to preserve condition 1, the two neighbors of must be converted into children. We can also include the arc . Finally, we may include two different h-h patterns , where is a neighbor of (the other neighbor must be converted into a child, once again in order to preserve condition 1). These four different configurations are displayed in Figure 9.
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http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/project/jair/pub/volume18/acid03a-html/node6.html
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Download the files below to use offline, or to incorporate into your own lesson planning tools.
Highways Impact slide show
Highways Impact teacher's guide
This slideshow provides background information on the human motivation for building large highways in the region occupied by the bighorn sheep.
Key Idea: Highways are important to the tourist economy of Las Vegas.
Use the map of major roads and highways of the same region to introduce why highways are important to the Nevada economy.
- About 50,000 tourists a day arrived from California on Interstate 15 just in the month of July!
- If those numbers hold steady, Las Vegas will have over 18 million tourists a year arriving from California by car. Almost half of all tourists to Las Vegas arrive by car from California.
- Also, the tourism economy employs over 260,000 people in Las Vegas alone, which is 30% of the working population.
- Tourists contribute billions of dollars to the Nevada economy, which helps to fund schools, museums, and city services.
Key Idea: There are many potential ways that highways can impact the bighorn sheep or other wildlife.
Use the picture of the Bighorn sheep and highway to connect the highways to the study.
Question: Scientists became curious about whether the highways that are so important to the Vegas economy were impacting the sheep. Can you think of possible ways highways might impact living things that live near you? What are the consequences?
Answers: Cars going at high speed run over animals on the roads; an increase in driving leads to increased emissions and air pollution; cars are loud and can scare away wildlife, etc. Some consequences are disrupted populations that are cut off from each other, diminishing wildlife populations, asthma and other environmental health problems for humans, etc.
Key Idea: Humans try to limit road kill by putting up fences.
If students suggest that these roads lead to increases in road kill, point out the fence on the next image. Fences are designed to limit accidents and road kill on the highways.
Question: What do you notice about this picture?
Answer: Humans have put up a fence between the highways and the terrain.
Question: Why do you think the fences were put up?
Answer: To protect people and their cars from damage occurred when running over animals while driving at high speeds.
More About This Resource...
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http://www.amnh.org/explore/curriculum-collections/ecology-disrupted/bighorn-sheep/lesson-plans/the-bighorn-sheep-and-their-environment/highways-impact
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On April 2, 2014, four people were killed in an incident on Fort Hood an Army base in Texas. The funerals for the deceased have been held. The memorials on Fort Hood have been created, and ceremonies for the deceased have been held. http://www.hood.army.mil/.
What happens next for the families whose loved ones had been killed in this incident? Our first thought is to think of the wives, and children of the victims. Actually the number of persons affected by the death of the victims is much larger than the immediate families. Think of a concentric circle around the victims. In the center of the circle is one victim. In one circle around each victim is the immediate family. The 2nd widening circle is the parents, siblings, grandparents, aunt and uncles, and cousins of the deceased. The number of people impacted in this circle could easily reach into the tweens and twenty numbers. The 3rd widening circle around the victim is friends, collogues, and co-workers. Lastly the fourth widening circle is acquaintances from various social settings such as church, children’s activities, sport groups, and other groups the victim was involved in. In some cases the number of people who will experience grief symptoms from this shooting could be as large as a 100 people or more.
Many grief counselors, grief sites, and media outlets refer to the Five Stages of Grief created by Elizabeth Kubler- Ross listed here http://psychcentral.com/lib/the-5-stages-of-loss-and-grief/000617 as the way all people grieve. This is actually incorrect. Many grievers try to fit themselves into this theory of grief thinking they are abnormal if they don’t experience these stages of grief. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross’s Five Stages of grief was created from talking with people who were DYING not people who were grieving. This is an important distinction. People who are dying are not experiencing what the families of the deceased family and friends are.
Each grief experience for each person is different from everyone else. This makes it difficult to say when or if a grieving person will experience the same thing as someone else. This difference in the grieving process has been attributed to the strength of attachment the griever had to the deceased. An example of this would be the mother of the deceased experiences the grief differently than the wife of the deceased because the relationships are different.
Each person will also, have a different amount of time they will grieve. For those who are supporting grievers you must understand there is no time limit for grief. It can be anywhere from two years to forever.
In many ways grief is an internal personal process that takes energy, time, and support. These families will need the support of their friends and relatives while healing. The most important thing you can do for them is listen, and don’t give advice. Just listen.
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This resource is no longer officially part of our collectionThis resource has been removed from our collection, likely because the original resource is no longer available.
If you have further information about the link (e.g. a new location where the information can be found) please let us know.
This brief summary of the geology of Yellowstone National Park includes a stratigraphic column for the northern portion of the park. The summary discusses Precambrian, Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic time, emphasizing the Cenozoic because most of the visible rocks and features in the park formed during this time. The stratigraphic column can be accessed as a Word or PDF file.
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http://nagt.org/resources/1978.html
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Breaking the Outer Ring:
Marine Landings in the Marshall Islands
Marines in World War II
by Captain John C. Chapin,
A flamethrower, center, is among weapons carried by men of the 22d Marines on Eniwetok.
Marine riflemen under fire leap from a just-beached amphibian tractor in the January 1944 landing.
Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 72411
Breaking the Outer Ring:by Captain John C. Chapin, USMCR (Ret)
Marine Landings in the Marshall Islands
By the beginning of 1944, United States Marine forces had already made a dramatic start on the conquest of areas overrun by the Japanese early in World War II. Successful American assaults in the Southwest Pacific, beginning with Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands in August 1942, and in the Central Pacific at Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands in November 1943, were crucial campaigns to mark the turn of the Japanese floodtide of conquest. The time had now come to take one more decisive step: assault of the islands held by Japan before 1941.
These strategic islands, mandated to the Japanese by the League of Nations after World War I, were a source of mystery and speculation. Outsiders were barred; illegal fortifications were presumed; yet any Central Pacific drive towards Japan's inner defense ring had to confront these unknowns. The obvious target to begin with was the Marshall Islands. As early as 1921 a Marine planning officer had pinpointed their geographic significance.
Planning the Attack
In May 1943; the Combined Chiefs of Staff decided to seize them. This difficult assignment fell to Admiral Chester W. Nimitz who bore the impressive titles of Commander in Chief, Pacific, and Commander in Chief, Pacific Ocean Areas (CinCPac CinCPOA), based at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. He turned to four very capable men who would carry out the actual operation: three admirals who were experts in amphibious landings, fast carrier strikes, and shore bombardment, and Major General Holland M. Smith, who was the commanding general of the Marines' V Amphibious Corps and now also would be Commanding General, Expeditionary Troops. It was he who would command the troops once they got ashore. Original cautious plans for steppingstone attacks starting in the eastern Marshalls were modified, and the daring decision was made to knife through the edges and strike directly at Kwajalein Atoll in the heart of Marshalls' cluster of 32 atolls, more than 1,000 islands, and 867 reefs.
Kwajalein is the largest atoll in the world, 60 miles long and 20 miles wide, a semi-enclosed series of 80 reefs and islets around a huge lagoon of some 800 square miles. Located 620 miles northwest of Tarawa and 2,415 miles southwest of Pearl Harbor, its capture would have far-reaching strategic significance in that it would break the outer ring of Japanese Pacific defense lines. Within the atoll itself there were two objectives: Roi and Namur, a pair of connected islands shaped like weights on a four-mile barbell in the north end, and crescent-shaped Kwajalein Island at the south end. The 4th Marine Division under Major General Harry Schmidt was to assault Roi-Namur, and the Army 7th Infantry Division under Major General Charles H. Corlett would attack Kwajalien. After these islands were taken, there was one more objective in the Marshalls: Eniwetok Atoll. This was targeted for attack some three months later by a task force comprised of the 22d Marine Regiment (called in the Corps the "22d Marines") and most of the Army's 106th Infantry Regiment. Brigadier General Thomas E. Watson, USMC, would be in command.
As a preliminary to these priority operations, the occupation of another atoll in the eastern Marshalls was planned. This objective was Majuro, which would serve as an advanced air and naval base and safeguard supply lines to Kwajalein 220 miles to the northwest. Because it was believed to be very lightly defended, only the Marine V Amphibious Corps Reconnaissance Company and the 2d Battalion, 106th Infantry, 7th Infantry Division were assigned to capture Majuro. To support all of these thrusts there would be a massive assemblage of U.S. Navy ships: carriers, battleships, cruisers, destroyers, and an astonishingly varied array of transports and landing craft. These warships provided a maximum potential for intensive pre-invasion aerial bombing and ship-to-shore bombardment; the increased tonnage in high explosives, the lengthened duration of the softening-up process. and the pinpointing of priority enemy targets were all lessons sorely learned from the inadequate preparatory shelling which had contributed to the steep casualties of Tarawa. For the Marshalls, there were altogether 380 ships carrying 85,000 men.
With the plans in place and a very tight schedule to meet the D-day
Major General Holland M. Smith
One of the most famous Marines of his time, General Smith was born in 1882. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in 1905. There followed a series of overseas assignments in the Philippines, Nicaragua, Santo Domingo, and with the Marine Brigade in France in World War I. Beginning in the early 1930s, he became increasingly focused on the development of amphibious warfare concepts. Soon after the outbreak of war with Japan in 1941, he was assigned to a crucial position, command of all Marines in the Central Pacific.
As another Marine officer later described him, "He was of medium height, perhaps five feet nine or ten inches, and somewhat paunchy. His once-black hair had turned gray. His once close-trimmed mustache was somewhat scraggly. He wore steel-rimmed glasses and he smoked cigars incessantly." There was one other feature that characterized him: a ferocious temper that earned him the nickname, "Howlin Mad" Smith, although his close friends knew him as "Hoke."
On board Rocky Mount (AGC 3), newly designed and equipped to serve as an amphibious command ship, MajGen Holland M. Smith, V Amphibious Corps commander and commander of Expeditionary Troops at Roi-Namur in the Marshalls, points out a feature of the battle to his chief of staff, BGen Graves B. Erskine.
Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 721628
This characteristic would usually emerge as irritation at what he felt were sub-standard performances. One famous example of this was his relief of an Army general from his command. It came when an Army division was on the line alongside two Marine divisions on Saipan in the Marianas Islands campaign following the Marshalls operation. A huge interservice uproar erupted!
Less than two years later, after 41 years of active service, during which he was awarded four Distinguished Service Medals for his leadership in four successive successful amphibious operations, he retired in April 1946, as a four-star general. He died in January 1967.
deadline, the complex task of assembling and transporting the assault troops to the target area was put in motion. Readying the Army 7th Division was the easiest part of the logistical plan; it was already in Hawaii after earlier operations at Attu and Kiska in the Aleutian Islands off Alaska. The 22d Marines, however, had to come from Samoa (where it had been on garrison duty for some 18 months), and the 4th Marine Division was still at Camp Pendleton in California, where it had recently been formed. On 13 January 1944, the division sailed from San Diego to commence the longest shore-to-shore amphibious operation in the history of warfare: 4,300 miles!
Life at sea soon settled down into a regular routine. All hands soon became acquainted with the rituals of alerts for "General Quarters" in the blackness of predawn, mess lines stretching along the passageways, inspections and calisthenics on the cluttered decks, the loudspeaker with its shrill whistle of a "bosuns pipe" and its "Now hear this!," fresh water hours, and classes and weapons-cleaning every day. Off duty, the men took advantage of the opportunity to sleep, play cards, stand in line for ice cream, write letters, and, of course, engage in endless speculation about the divisions objective (which was originally known only by the intriguing title of "Burlesque and Camouflage").
On 21 January the transports carrying the Marines anchored in Lahaina Roads off Maui, Hawaii, and visions of shore leave raced through the minds of all the men: hula girls, surf swimming, cooling draughts in a local bar--just what was needed after the long nights in the crowded, humid troop compartments during the voyage. Over the ships' loudspeakers, sad to say, came a not unexpected announcement, "There will be no liberty. . . ."
After one day filled with conferences and briefings for the senior officers, the task force sailed again. Next stop: the Marshall Islands! En route, crossing the 180th Meridian, there were the traditional, colorful ceremonies in which the old salts initiated the men who had never before crossed the International Date Line into the "Domain of the Golden Dragon." On 30 January the ships thread-
Pacific Ocean Areas
ed their way through the eastern atolls of the Marshalls, and the following morning (dawn, 31 January) they halted before their objectives, with the northern component off Roi-Namur and the southern component facing Kwajalein Island. On every transport the men crowded the ships' rails to stare at the low-lying islets which they must soon attack. The 23d, 24th, and 25th Marines were assigned to the Roi-Namur operation, and the 32d, 17th, and 184th Infantry Regiments of the Army's 7th Division were to take the Kwajalein Island objectives.
Meanwhile, the small group assigned to Majuro (2d Battalion, 106th Infantry, plus the V Amphibious Corps Reconnaissance Company) had split off from the main task force and would make its own landing on 31 January. Advance intelligence estimates of minimal enemy forces proved accurate; there were no American casualties and just one Japanese officer was captured on the main islet. Three days later more than 30 U.S. ships lay at anchor in the Majuro lagoon.
Forward at the main theater, an awesome pre-landing saturation bombardment, begun on 29 January, was in full swing. U.S. Navy ships moved in on Roi-Namur, with some at the unprecedented short range of 1,900 yards, and poured in their point-blank massed fire. Continuing the repeated aerial strikes which had begun weeks earlier from the carriers, waves of planes swept in low for bombing and strafing runs. Key enemy artillery and blockhouse strong points had earlier been mapped from submarine and aerial reconnaissance, and individual attention was given to the destruction of each one. The combined total of shells and bombs reached a staggering 6,000 tons.
As a result of the underwater obstacles and beach mines uncovered at Tarawa, for the first time Navy underwater demolition teams had been formed for future operations. For-
Major General Harry Schmidt
The leader of the 4th Marine Division at Roi-Namur was born in 1886 and entered the Corps as a second lieutenant in 1909. By extraordinary coincidence, his first foreign duty was at Guam in the Marianas Islands, an area he would return to 33 years later under vastly different circumstances!
The Philippines, Mexico, Cuba, and Nicaragua (where he was awarded a Navy Cross--second only to the Medal of Honor), interspersed with repeated stays in China, were the marks of a diverse overseas career. At home, there were staff schools, paymaster duties, and a tour as Assistant Commandant.
By the end of the war, he had been decorated with three Distinguished Service Medals. Retiring in 1948 after 39 years of service, he was advanced to the four-star rank of general. He died in 1968.
A contemporary described him as "a Buddha, a typical old-time Marine: he had been in China; he was regulation Old Establishment; a regular Marine."
MajGen Harry Schmidt
Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 1118D
The 4th Marine Division
This division was formed as the result of the organization and redesignation of several other units. The 23d Marines began as infantry detached from the 3d Division in February 1943, the same month that an artillery battalion of the 12th Marines became the genesis of the 14th Marines and engineer elements of the 19th Marines formed the nucleus of the 20th Marines. In March the 24th Marines was organized, and then in May it was split in two to supply the men for the 25th Marines.
This war-time shuffling provided the major building blocks for a new division. The units were originally separated, however, with the 24th Marines and a variety of reinforcing units (engineer, artillery, medical, motor transport, special weapons, tanks, etc.) at Camp Pendleton in California. The rest of the units were at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. This East Coast echelon moved to Pendleton by train and transit of the Panama Canal in July and August. When all the units were finally together, the 4th Marine Division was formally activated on 14 August 1943:
After intensive training, it shipped out on 13 January 1944, and in 13 short months made four major assault landings: Roi-Namur, Saipan, Tinian, and Iwo Jima, suffering more than 17,000 casualties. It was awarded two Presidential Unit Citations and a Navy Unit Commendation, and then deactivated 28 November 1945. In February 1966, however, it was reactivated as the lead division in the Marine Corps Reserve, and major units later served with distinction in the Persian Gulf.
Shoulder patch of the 4th Marine Division: a gold "4" on scarlet background, official colors of the U.S. Marine Corps. This emblem was designed by John Fabian, in the division's Public Affairs Office before the Marshalls campaign, and his commanding officer was astonished to find that the layout of the runways on the Japanese airstrip on Roi were "an exact replica."
Department of Defense; Photo (USMC) A707113
tunately, they found no mines at Roi-Namur and were not needed at Kwajalein.
Another factor which would assist the assault troops was the configuration of the atoll. The two main objectives, at the north end and at the south, were each adjoined by islets, and these neighboring locations were to be seized on D-day, 31 January, as bases to provide close-in artillery support for the infantry landing. On either side of Roi-Namur the 14th Marines would bring in its 75mm and 105mm howitzers and dig them in to support the main landing from islets which carried the exotic names of Ennuebing, Mellu, Ennubirr, Ennumennet, and Ennugarret. As is always the case in war, there were problems. The task was assigned to the 25th Marines, and, because of communications difficulties, the different units going ashore on different islets could not coordinate their landings. Their radios went dead from drenching sea swells that swept over the gunwales of the amtracs (LVTS, landing vehicles, tracked, or amphibian tractors). Nevertheless, by nightfall, the beachheads had been secured, and, for the first time, U.S. Marines had landed on a Japanese mandate.
On board the transports outside the lagoon, the men of the 23d and 24th Marines spent the afternoon of D-day transferring to LSTs (Landing Ships, Tank). That night saw a muddled picture of amphibian tractors stranded or out of gas inside the lagoon, with many others wandering in the blackout as they sought to find their own LST mother ship.
While this scramble was going on, the assault troops on board the LSTs were facing, each in his own way, the prospect of intensive combat on the following morning. One rifleman, Private First Class Robert F. Graf, remembered:
As I thought of the landing that I would be making on the morrow, I was both excited and anxious. Yes, I thought of death, but I wasn't afraid. Somehow I couldn't see myself as dead. "Why wasn't there fear?" I wondered. Even though I was nervous, it was with excitement, not fear. Instead there was a thrill. I was headed for great adventure, where I had wanted to be. This was just an adventure. It was "grown up" Cowboys and Indians, it was "grown up" Cops and Robbers. . . .Thoughts of glory were in my mind that night. Now it was my turn to "carry the flag" into battle. It was my turn to be a part of history. To top it all off, I was going into battle with the "Elite of the Elite," the United States Marines. Just prior to falling asleep, I prayed. My prayers were for courage, for my family, and I prayed to stay alive.
By the next morning, D plus 1, 1 February, the LSTs had moved inside the lagoon. Up before dawn, the infantrymen filed into the cavernous holds of the LSTs and clambered onboard their amphibious tractors. Graf described his equipment:
Landings were made with each
Jammed all together in the fetid multi-tiered bunks below decks, Marine troops welcomed being in the fresh air on deck even if they were also crowded there.
Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 146975
person loaded with weight. We wore our dungarees, leggings, and boondockers (shoes). Our skivvies (underwear) had been dyed green while we were still in the States. White ones were too good a target. In addition, our packs were loaded with whatever gear we thought we would need, such as extra socks, toilet gear, poncho, and our "D" and "K" rations. Extra cigarettes were stuffed in also. Believe it or not, some of us carried books that we were reading.
I wore two knives. The K Bar [knife] that was issued was tucked into my right legging. The throwing stiletto that I had purchased was on my belt; a leather thong at the bottom of the sheath was tied around my leg so that the knife would not flop around. My bayonet was in its sheath and attached to my pack. On went the loaded pack. Around my waist went the cartridge belt, fully loaded, with ten clips of M1 rifle ammo, each clip holding eight rounds. Over my shoulder were two bandoleers of M1 ammo, holding an additional eighty rounds. Hanging from my pockets were four hand grenades, only requiring a pulled pin to be activated. We donned our helmets with the brown camouflaged covering. Finally we slung our gas masks over our shoulders. Now we were ready for bear!
Out of the deafening din of the ships' holds, eerily lit by red battle lamps, down the ramps of the unfolding bows, lurching into the rough seas whipped up by the wind, the columns of amtracs went to war.
The Marine Attack:
As the amphibian tractors sought to form up in organized attack waves, a series of problems arose. There was a continuation of the rough weather and radio communications difficulties of the day before; the amtrac crews had not previously practiced with the assault units; the control ship turned out to have been assigned firing missions as well as wave control and left its control station (followed by some stray amtracs); the attack commander was reduced to racing around in a small ship and shouting instructions through a megaphone. As a result, W-hour, the hour for attack, had to be postponed from 1000 to 1100.
Meanwhile the men in the amtracs (and some in hastily scrounged up LCVPs [landing craft, vehicle or personnel]) were watching the awe-inspiring sight of the furious bombardment. Overhead, for the first time in the Pacific War, two Marines were in airplanes to act as naval gunfire controllers who would cut off the shelling when the troops approached the beach. Brigadier General William W. Buchanan later recalled how one of them "on one of his passes found one of the trenches on the north side of Namur filled with a number of troops crouching down in the trench. So he asked the pilot to go in on a strafing attack, and then as they came over he was going to continue raking them with the machine guns. He did this to such a point that, after they got back to the ship, it was determined that in his [the spotter's] enthusiasm he practically shot off the tail end!"
Col Franklin A. Hart, commander of the 24th Marines, briefs his staff on the operation plan for the invasion of Roi-Namur. To his left is his regimental executive officer, LtCol Homer L. Litzenberg, Jr. Both would retire as general officers.
Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 70490
Down in the lagoon the signal finally came to the assault waves, "Go on in!" The two lead battalions of the 23d Marines headed for Roi, with the two lead battalions of the 24th Marines churning towards Namur. The memories of this run-in were burned forever into the mind of young Second Lieutenant John C. Chapin, leading his platoon in the first wave:
By now everything was all mixed up, with our assault wave all entangled with the armored tractors ahead of us. I ordered my driver to maneuver around them. Slowly we inched past, as their 37mm guns and .50-cal. machine guns flamed. The beach lay right before us. However, it was shrouded in such a pall of dust and smoke from our bombardment that we could see very little of it. As a result, we were unable to tell which section we were approaching (after all our hours of careful planning, based on hitting the beach at one exact spot!) I turned to talk to my platoon sergeant, who was manning the machine gun right beside me. He was slumped over--the whole right side of his head disintegrated into a mass of gore. Up to now, the entire operation had seemed almost like a movie, or like one of the innumerable practice landings we'd made.
Now one of my men lay in a welter of blood beside me, and the reality of it smashed into my consciousness.
The landing then became a chaotic jumble of rapid events for that officer and his men. There was a grinding crash to their right, and looking over they saw an LVT collide at the water's edge with an armored tractor, climb on its side and hang there, crazily atilt. Simultaneously, there was a grating sound under their tractor as they hit the beach. Keeping low, the men slid over the side of the tractor and dove for cover, for their LVT was a perfect target sitting there on the sand. The lieutenant was the last one to drop to the deck, and as he sprawled on the sand, the amtrac ground its way backwards into the ocean.
Now the lieutenant faced his first combat in a situation that characterized all the landing beaches. His intensive training stood him in good stead as he took stock of the situa-
tion. Being in the first scattered group of tractors ashore, his men had no contact yet with any other unit, so the Japanese were on both sides of them--as well as in front. One glance told him that they had landed on the west side of Namur, 300 yards to the right of the spit of land that their company had for its objective. The long hours of studying maps and aerial photographs had proved their worth. The lieutenant's account continued:
My immediate task was to reorganize my platoon, for it was scattered along the beach. The noise, smoke, and choking pall of burnt powder further complicated things. I turned to my sergeant guide, as we lay there in the sand, and asked him where his men were. He started to point and right before my eyes his hand dissolved into a bloody stump. He rolled over, screaming "Sailor! Sailor!" (This was our code name for a corpsman. Bitter past experiences of the Marines had shown that the Japs delighted in calling "corpsman" themselves, and then shooting anyone who showed himself.) Soon our corpsman crawled over, and started to give the sergeant first aid, so I turned my attention to more pressing matters.
As yet the officer hadn't seen a single Japanese, even though he was in the midst of them. But now one of the men next to him gasped, "They're in there!" pointing to a slit trench four feet away; the Marine raised himself up to a crouching position and hurled his bayonetted rifle like a javelin into the slit trench. There was heavy enemy fire coming at the platoon, but it was almost impossible to determine its source. Ten feet in front of the Marines, however, the Japanese had dug a series of trenches running the length of the beach. Tied in with these trenches were scores of machine gun positions and foxholes, mutually supporting each other, all camouflaged so that they were invisible until a Marine was right on top of them. Accordingly, as soon as the men of the platoon would locate an emplacement, they would deluge it with hand grenades, and then work on the next one. The lieutenant's next experience was almost his last:
At one point in this swirling maelstrom of action I was kneeling behind a palm tree stump with my carbine on the deck, as I fished for a fresh clip of bullets in my belt. Something made me look up and there, not ten feet away, was a Jap charging me with his bayonet. My hands were empty. I was helpless. The thought that "this is it" flashed through my brain! Then shots chattered from all sides of me. My men hit the running Jap in a dozen places. He fell dead three feet from me.
Shortly after this, the squad with the Marine officer was working on another Japanese emplacement. He pulled the pin from one of his grenades, let the handle fly off, and started counting to three. (The grenade's fuse was timed to give a man about five seconds before it exploded.) In the middle of his count, a Japanese started shooting at him from the flank. Instinctively he turned to look for the enemy. Then something in his mind clicked, "And what about that live grenade in your
The infantry assault units in the Marshalls operations were carried by an incredible array of ships designed to perform very specialized functions. Also included were converted destroyers. The amphibian tractors carried the invading Marines in to the beaches, supplemented by the older ramped landing craft. Added to these were a jumble of acronyms: LCI, LST, LSM, etc., for infantry, rockets, tanks, and trucks.
No landings would have been successful, however, without the crucial support of naval gunfire and aerial bombardment. The fast task force that roamed the Pacific and the support groups which stood off the island objectives were visual proof of the deadly striking power that had been reborn in the U.S. Navy in the two years since the debacle at Pearl Harbor. Nearly all the old, slow battleships which had lain shattered in the mud were back in action, and now were joined by brand new, fast counterparts, and the familiar old peacetime carriers were now supplemented by a steady flow of new fleet carriers and the innovation of smaller escort carriers.
This is the roll call of the ships which poured in their fire before and during the landings:
Carriers: Saratoga (CV 3), Princeton (CVL 23), Langley (CVL 28), Enterprise (CV 6), Yorktown (CV 10), Belleau Wood (CVL 24), Intrepid (CV 11), Essex (CV 9), Cabot (CVL 27), Cowpens (CVL 25), Monterey (CVL 26), and Bunker Hill (CV 17), plus six escort carriers.
Destroyers: The Kwajalein Atoll landings had 40 in direct support.
D-Day in the North
hand?" Without looking, he threw it and dove for the deck. It went off in mid-air and the fragments spattered all around him . . . .
Groups of Marines were forming now under their own initiative, and beginning to work their way slowly inland. It was nearly impossible to keep tight control of the platoon under these conditions, but the lieutenant was moving with them, trying to get them coordinated as best he could, when suddenly he dropped to the ground, stunned. He recalled:
My first reaction was that someone had hit my right cheek with a baseball bat. With the shock, instinct made me cover my right eye with my hand. Then I realized I'd been hit. Searing my mind came the question, "When I take my hand away, will I be able to see?" Slowly I lowered my arm and opened my eye. I could see! Relief flooded through me. The wound was on my cheekbone, just below the eye, and it was bleeding profusely, so I lay there and broke out my first aid packet. After shaking sulfa powder into the wound rather awkwardly, I bandaged my right eye and cheekbone as best I could. The bullet had gone completely through my helmet just above my right ear, and left a jagged, gaping hole in the steel. My left eye was still functioning all right, however, so after a drink from my canteen, I started forward again.
A little later I encountered another lieutenant from our company, Jack Powers. He had been hit in the stomach, but was still fighting. Crouching behind a concrete wall, he showed me a pillbox about 25 feet away that was full of Japs who were still very much alive and full of fight. This strong point commanded the whole area around us and was holding up our advance very effectively. It was about 50 feet long and 15 feet wide, constructed of double rows of sand-filled oil drums. Grabbing the nearest men, we explained our plan of attack and went to work. With a couple of automatic riflemen, Jack covered the rear entrance with fire. Taking another man and a high-explosive bangalore torpedo, I crawled around to the front and observed for a few minutes. Then we inched our way up to the slit that served as a front entrance, and I threw a
Artillerymen unload ordnance on D-Day for the preparatory bombardment from the neighboring islets to pound targets before the infantry attacks on Roi-Narnur.
Department of Defense Photo (Army) 324729
grenade in to keep down any Jap who might be inclined to poke a rifle out in our faces. Next we lighted the fuse on the bangalore, jammed it inside the pillbox, and scrambled for shelter. The fuse was very short, we knew, and we barely had tumbled into a nearby shell hole when we were overwhelmed by the blast of the bangalore. Dirt sprayed all over us, billowing acrid smoke blinded us, and the numbing concussion deafened us. In a few moments we felt all right once more, and a glance told us that we had closed that entrance permanently. We worked our way back to where we'd left Jack Powers, and found that he'd managed to locate a shaped charge of high explosive in the meantime. Taking this, we repeated our job--this time blowing the rear entrance shut.
That took care of that pillbox! Jack looked like he was in pretty bad shape, and I urged him to go get some medical attention, but he refused and moved on alone to the next Jap pillbox (where, I later learned, he was killed in a single-handed heroic attack for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor).
All over Namur there were similar examples of individual initiative. They were needed, for the island was covered with dense jungle, concrete fortifications, administrative buildings, and barracks. It was difficult to mount an armored attack under these conditions. Meanwhile, the Japanese used them to their fullest extent for cover and concealment. Enemy resistance and problems of maintaining unit contact slowed the Marines' advance.
Amidst all of this, a Marine demolition team threw a satchel charge of high explosive into a Japanese bunker which turned out to be crammed with torpedo warheads. An enormous blast occurred. From off shore, an officer watched as "the whole of Namur Island disappeared from sight in a tremendous brown cloud of dust and sand raised by the explosion." Overhead, a Marine artillery spotter felt his plane catapult up 1,000 feet and exclaimed, "Great God Almighty! The whole damn island has blown up!" On the beach another officer recalled that "trunks of palm trees and chunks of concrete as large as packing crates were flying through the air like match sticks . . . . The hole left where the blockhouse stood was as large as a fair-sized swimming pool." The column of smoke rose to over 1,000 feet in the air, and the explosion caused the deaths of 20 Marines and wounded 100 others in the area.
Finally, at 1930, Colonel Franklin A. Hart, commander of the 24th Marines ordered his men to dig in for the night. The troops had come across a good portion of the island. Now they would hold the ground gained
Landing Vehicles, Tracked (LVTs) equipped with rocket launchers new to the 4th Marine Division, churn towards the assault beaches of Roi-Namur on D-Plus One.
Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 70694
and get ready for the morrow. One rifleman, Robert F. Graf, later wrote about that time:
Throughout the night the fleet sent flares skyward, lighting the islands as the flares drifted with the prevailing wind. Ghostly flickering light was cast from the flares as they drifted along on their parachutes. Laying in our foxhole, my buddy and I were watching, waiting, and straining our ears trying to filter out the known sounds.
Our foxhole in that sand was about six feet long by two feet in depth and just about wide enough to hold the two of us. Since I had eaten only my "D" ration since leaving the ship, I was hungry. "D" rations were bitter-sweet chocolate bars about an inch and a half square and were supposed to be full of energy. I removed a "K" ration from my pack and opened it. "K" rations came in a box about the size of a Cracker Jack box and had a waterproof coating. These rations contained a small tin of powdered coffee or lemonade, some round hard candies, a package of three cigarettes, and a tin about the size of a tuna-fish can containing either cheese, hash, or eggs with a little bacon. We dined on our rations, drank water from our canteens, and prepared to settle in for the night . . . .
After finishing chow we elected to take two-hour watches, one on guard while the other slept. Also we made sure we knew where our buddies' foxholes were, both on the left and right of us. Thus we were set up so that anyone to our front would be an enemy. Our first night in combat had started.
Before dawn the Japanese mounted a determined counterattack which was finally repulsed. Nevertheless, it was a tragic night for one particular family. A 19-year-old Marine private first class and his 44-year-old father, a corporal, had been together in the same company back in California, but the son was hospitalized with a minor illness and then transferred to another outfit. The father boarded his ship prepared to sail for combat alone, but then his son was found stowed away on it in order to be with his father. The young man was taken off and was placed under arrest. His mother, however, telephoned the Commandant's office in Washington and told the story of her son's effort to be together with her husband. The charges were dropped and the two were reunited for the trip to the Marshalls. The son was killed that first night on Namur. The father went on fighting--alone.
Early on the afternoon of the next day, 2 February, D plus 2, the 24th Marines finished its conquest of Namur, and the island was declared "secured." In the final moments of combat, however, Lieutenant Colonel Aquilla J. Dyess, commander of the 1st Battalion, was standing to direct the last attack of his men. A burst of machine gun fire riddled his body,
Troops of the 24th Marines near the beach on Namur, thankful for having made it safely ashore, are now awaiting the inevitable word to resume the attack.
Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 70209
A watercolor by combat artist LtCol Donald L. Dickson depicts members of a Marine fire team in a close-in attack on a Japanese defensive position on Namur.
Marine Corps Art Collection
and he became the most senior officer to die in the battle. For his superb leadership under fire he was awarded a posthumous Medal of Honor).
Across the sand spit, on Roi, it had been a different story. This island was nearly bare, for it was mostly covered by the airfield runways. When the 23d Marines hit the beaches on D plus 1, the fierceness of the pre-landing bombardment prevented the Japanese defenders from mounting a coordinated defense. Small groups of Marine riflemen joined their regiment's attached tanks in a race across to the far side of the island. This charging style caused considerable confusion as to who was where. Reorganized into more coherent units, the men made a final orderly drive to finish the job.
In spite of the rapid progress on Roi, there were still some major enemy strongpoints which had to be dealt with. An after-action report of the 2d Battalion described one example of this perilous work in matter of fact terms:
[There] was a blockhouse constructed of reinforced concrete approximately three feet thick. It had three gunports, one each facing north, east, and west, another indication of the enemy's mistaken assumption that the Americans would attack from the sea rather than the lagoon shore. Two heavy hits had been made on the blockhouse, one apparently by 14-inch or 16-inch shells and the other by an aerial bomb. Nevertheless, the position had not been demolished . . . .
[The battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel Edward J. Dillon] then ordered Company G to take the blockhouse. The company commander first sent forward a 75mm halftrack, which fired five rounds against the steel door. At this point a demolition squad came up, and its commander volunteered to knock out the position with explosives. While the halftrack continued to fire, infantry platoons moved up on each flank of the installation. The demolition squad placed charges at the ports and pushed bangalore torpedoes through a shell hole in the roof. . . .
"Cease fire" was then ordered, and after hand-grenades were thrown inside the door, half a squad of infantry went in to in-
Members of the 23d Marines on Roi turn to look in astonishment at the black plume of the giant explosion which took many lives in the 24th Marines on Namur.
Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 71921
One of the very few Japanese finally persuaded to surrender in the Roi-Namur operation, this stripped-down soldier is well covered by suspicious Marine riflemen as he leaves his hiding place in a massive but shell-shattered blockhouse.
Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 70241
vestigate. Unfortunately, the engineers of the demolition squad had not got the word to cease fire, and had placed a shaped charge at one of the ports while the infantry was still inside. Luckily, no one was hurt, but as the company commander reported, "a very undignified and hurried exit was made by all concerned." Inside were three heavy machine guns, a quantity of ammunition, and the bodies of three Japanese.
Many Japanese had to be flushed out of or blown up in the airfield's drainage ditches and culverts, but by 1800 that day, D plus 1, Roi had been secured. ("Secured" seemed a somewhat flexible term when the first service of Mass, held the next day, was interrupted by Japanese shots.) By 6 February, however, the ground elements of a Marine aircraft wing were ensconced at the airfield, preparing for the arrival of their planes in five more days. For the entire remainder of the war these planes pounded the by-passed atolls with such power that the Japanese on them were eliminated from any further role in the war. (There was one surprise Japanese air raid on Roi, staged from the Mariana Islands, on 12 February. This caused a number of casualties and major damage to material.)
The repair of the airfield and its quick return to action was a tribute to the skills of both the 20th Marines, an engineer regiment, and the 109th Naval Construction Battalion (Seabees). This achievement was one more illustration of the vital role played by a dizzying list of units that supported the assault rifle battalions. Besides the vast armada of naval planes, ships, and landing craft, there were Navy chaplains and corpsmen (two specialties which are always Navy). In addition to the Marine air, artillery, and engineer units, there were the tanks, heavy weapons, motor transport, quartermaster, signals, and headquarters supporting units. An amphibious operation, to be suc-
Marine tanks and infantry worked effectively together when the terrain permitted.
Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 70203
cessful, must be a finely tuned, highly trained juggernaut that depends on all its parts working smoothly together and this was clearly demonstrated in the Marshalls.
The conquest of Roi-Namur had been a relatively easy operation when compared to some of the other Marine campaigns in the Pacific. (At Tarawa, for example, more than 3,300 men had been killed or wounded in 76 hours.) The 4th Division's victory came at a cost of 313 Marines and corpsmen killed and 502 wounded. By contrast, the defeated Japanese garrison numbered an estimated 3,563--with all but a handful of them now dead.
Two more tasks remained for the 4th Division; the first was mopping up the rest of the islets in the northern two-thirds of the atoll. The 25th Marines, which had supported the attacks of the 23d and 24th, took off on a series of island-hopping trips on board their LVTs. The regiment checked out more of the exotically named islets such as Boggerlapp, Marsugalt, Gegibu, Oniotto, and Eru. The 25th found no resistance and by D plus 7 it had covered all 50 of the islets that were its objectives. This assignment was a total change from what the regiment had experienced around Roi-Namur. One writer, Carl W. Proehl, described the expedition this way:
The once heavily overgrown terrain of Namur was almost completely denuded at the end of the battle by the combination of naval gunfire and bombing.
National Archives Photo 127-N-72407
This watercolor by LtCol Donald L. Dickson, USMCR, portrays Marines reviving themselves and taking it easy after the fighting near blockhouse skeleton.
It was on this junket that the men of the 25th got to know the Marshall Island natives, for it was these Marines who freed them from Japanese domination. On many islets, bivouacking overnight, the natives and Marines got together and sang hymns; the Marshall Islanders had been Christianized many years before, and missionaries had taught them such songs as "Onward Christian Soldiers." K rations and cigarettes also made a big hit with them. And more than one Marine sentry, walking post in front of a native camp, took up the islander's dress and wore only a loin cloth--usually a towel from a Los Angeles hotel.
The final task that remained for the division was a miserable one. Roi and Namur were littered with dead Japanese; the stench was overpowering as their bodies putrefied in the blazing tropical sun. All hands, officers and enlisted, were put to work day and night on burial details. "Hey, I just finished two days of brutal combat! We dont have any gloves or equipment for this." "Too bad, just start doing it anyway!" Health conditions were so bad that 1,500 men in the division were suffering from dysentery when the troops finally reboarded transports for the journey back to their rear base at Maui in the Hawaiian Islands.
The Army Attack:
In accordance with the overall campaign plan for the seizure of the Marshall Islands, the Army's attack on Kwajalein Island at the south end of the atoll began in exact synchronization with the Marine assault in the north. The same softening-up process
Using palm fronds for concealment, two Marines carefully scout out the terrain ahead of them on Roi in a firefight with the Japanese forward of their position.
Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 71920
was used on D-day, 31 January, with a large force of warships and planes pouring on a blanket of high explosive. The Navy, for instance, fired 7,000 shells. Because of the location of the islets immediately surrounding its main objective, the 7th Infantry Division was able to follow a plan identical to the Marines, with the 17th Infantry Regiment clearing the way for placement of close-by supporting artillery. The 145th Field Artillery Battalion then proceeded to inundate the target with 28,000 rounds.
Then, on D plus 1, the riflemen of the 32d and 184th Infantry Regiments landed on Kwajalein Island itself. Because of previous joint rehearsals held in Hawaii the amtracs carried in the assault troops with smoothness and efficiency. In addition, Major General Charles H. Corlett, the division commander, had an assemblage of DUKWs (amphibious trucks always called "ducks") available, and it proved valuable in ferrying priority supplies ashore to the fighting men.
Once ashore, the assault units found widespread devastation from the preinvasion bombing and shelling. Smashed seawalls, uprooted trees, demolished buildings, scarred pillboxes were everywhere. Dug in amidst all this debris, the Japanese fought resolutely. This kind of close combat usually forced the issue down to the individual level. An Army officer, Lieutenant Colonel S. L. A. Marshall, who later interviewed the troops, gave this account of how they dealt with the deadly Japanese "spider holes" they encountered:
The holes were everywhere. Each one had to be searched from close up. Every spot where a man might be hiding had to be stabbed out. So greatly was the beach littered with broken foliage that it was like looking through a haystack for a few poisoned needles . . . .
The fire which cut the men down came from the spider holes farther up the line. It was the kind of bitter going that made it necessary for the junior leaders to prod their men constantly. The leader of the 3d Squad had been trying to get his men forward against the fire. Private First Class John Treager got up, rushed forward about ten yards, hit the dirt, fired a few shots with his BAR [Browning Automatic Rifle] and crumpled with a bullet in his head.
Somewhat farther along, a bayonet was seen sticking up through a patch of fronds. The Jap crouched within it hadn't
A rifleman of the 23d Marines moves slowly past a Japanese airplane and a hangar destroyed on Roi by naval gunfire. The rifle slung over his shoulder and the adjacent Marine carrying supplies indicate that combat is no longer imminent.
National Archives Photo 127-GW-1253-70345
The American flag is raised on Roi on 2 February 1944 to signify the end of the fighting. In the background is the shattered hulk of a three-story concrete blockhouse.
Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 70650
room to draw in the whole length of the weapon. Private First Class Edward Fiske fired his BAR at the hole: the dried fronds caught fire from the tracers. At that point Fiske ran out of ammunition.
Private First Class Julian Guterrez then took up the fire with his M1 [rifle]. He stood directly above the hole and fired down into it. Then the hole exploded; the Jap inside had turned a grenade on himself. A man's shattered arm came flying out of the hole and hit Guterrez on the shoulder, splattering blood all over his face and clothing. The arm bounced off and fell to the side. As Guterrez looked at it, fascinated and horror-stricken, he saw another bayonet rising out of a patch of fronds just beyond the outstretched and still-quivering fingers. He yelled to a man behind him. The man relayed a grenade and Guterrez pitched it with all of his might into the patch of fronds. It erupted in a shower of palm leaves and blood and flesh.
Guterrez reeled over toward the lagoon to cleanse himself of the blood. Before he could reach the water, in sight of all the other men, he vomited all over the beach. Minutes passed before he could gather himself together again.
As the two Army regiments began their third day of combat, it was dirty and dangerous work. One Marine historical summary of the Marshalls operation told their story:
Resistance during the day was continually stiffer as the enemy took advantage of every possible uncertainty of the terrain, and concentrated the fire of such mortars and artillery as were left to them. Despite the havoc wrought by the bombardments, there was still much cover available and positions were concealed with great adroitness. Many of the concrete installations still stood in partial ruin even though they had received direct hits from heavy naval guns, and the fire from 75mm [cannon] had little effect on them.
It was necessary to employ heavy demolition charges to breach emplacements sufficiently for the employment of flame throwers and grenades. In the utter turmoil, it was nearly impossible to maintain contact. Nothing was any longer recognizable. The situation was made doubly uncertain from the fact that fire might come from almost any direction at the flanks, frontally, or from the rear. The going was tough.
Weird things can and do happen in such fighting. A Japanese officer charged a U.S. tank with just his bare saber. In the dusk one evening Japanese riflemen tried to walk into the American lines carrying palm branches in front of their bodies so they would not be seen. A U.S. infantryman carrying a flamethrower approached a pillbox, and out through its door bolted a Japanese officer in counterattack. He was
Named "Dyess Field" in honor of the deceased battalion commander who earned the Medal of Honor, the Roi airstrip was quickly converted from Japanese use to become a new base for Marine aircraft as the Central Pacific drive moved westward.
National Archives Photo 127-N-88477
squirting a fire extinguisher towards the flame gun. The liquid doused the American soldier as he let the flame go. The Japanese officer dropped dead at his feet, burned to a crisp.
And so it went for four long days until the far tip of Kwajalein had been reached and the island was declared secured.
The successful battle for both ends of Kwajalein Atoll had been concluded, and a series of conclusions were drawn from it. Japanese deaths reached a total of 8,122, some 27 times the number of Americans killed. The relatively small scale of U.S. casualties gave Admiral Chester W. Nimitz the ready forces he needed to push forward rapidly with plans for further action: first, one more atoll in the Marshalls, and then quickly on to the vital Mariana Islands, the linchpin of Japan's inner line of defense. Kwajalein would provide the air base from which the B-29 bombers would conduct their raids on the Marianas, and the Army 7th
Navy corpsmen (in their Marine uniforms) are there on the front lines of combat, plasma in hand, saving riflemen's lives in the critical minutes after a wound.
Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 7239
LtCol Aquilla J. Dyess was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroic personal leadership on Namur. Known affectionately as "Big Red," he was the only person to have been awarded both the Medal of Honor and the Carnegie Medal for Heroism (in 1928). He was honored in 1945 by having a Navy destroyer named after him.
Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 36034
Infantry Division and the 4th Marine Division would play key roles in those future operations.
Tactically, there were a variety of innovations in the twin battles at Kwajalein, and these would continue to prove valuable in the future. There
1stLt John V. Power, after being seriously wounded attacking one pillbox, held his hand over his wound and went on to attack a second one. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.
Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 307689
was the first use of Navy underwater demolition teams; the first use of DUKWs in combat; the first use of command ships with special communications equipment to control the battle, the first use of airplanes to control naval gunfire; and the first use of armored amphibian tractors (LVTAs). In addition, the two battles saw the debut of new units designed to facilitate crucial communications during combat. These were the Joint Assault Signal Companies. The official Marine history of the Marshalls campaign described their complex responsibilities:
The primary mission of this unit was to coordinate all supporting fires available to a Marine division during an amphibious operation. In order to carry out this function, the company was divided into Shore and Beach Party Communications Teams, Air Liaison Parties, and Shore Fire Control Parties . . . . During training, the various teams were attached to the regiments and battalions of the division. Thus each assault battalion could become familiar with its shore and beach party, air liaison, and fire control teams.
Another new element was the way rockets were used. This was a centuries-old technique of bombardment, but in the Marshalls the 4th Marine Division was the first American division to use rockets mounted on jeeps, pick-up trucks, and Navy gunboats in combat.
One other Marine resource was unique: the use of Navajo Indian "code talkers" in battle. They proved a perfect foil for the Japanese ability in previous battles to understand Marine voice-to-voice communications and Morse Code. To prevent this a group of Navajo Indians had been recruited and trained in special code words they could use in combat. When they were talking in the Navajo's exotic language, no Japanese
PFC Richard B. Anderson was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for sacrificing his life when he threw himself upon a live Japanese hand grenade, in order to protect his fellow Marines.
Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 302952
would ever decipher the message! At Roi-Namur their walkie-talkie portable radios carried the urgent instructions back and forth between ship and shore, as well as between higher echelons and subordinate units, and did it so quickly that previous delays of up to 12 hours (intercepting, transmitting, and deciphering messages) were eliminated.
Pvt Richard K. Sorenson saved the lives of five Marines by throwing himself on a Japanese grenade which was thrown into the shell crater they occupied. He was awarded the Medal of Honor and later recovered from his terrible wounds.
Marine Corps Historical Collection
Resolute and fanatic Japanese defenders who were not previously killed by the Marines very often committed hara-kiri, as did the two soldiers in the foreground.
Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 70200
Finally, the two battles for Kwajalein Atoll proved incontestably the effectiveness of prolonged and massive preinvasion naval gunfire and aerial bombing. The U.S. planes and warships had so thoroughly scoured not only the target islands, but also the other Japanese air bases in the Marshalls, that not a single Japanese plane was able to attack the American surface forces in the campaign.
With Kwajalein Atoll now in American hands, a review of the next operation immediately took place. Admiral Nimitz flew there from Pearl Harbor and met with his top commanders. The 2d Marine Division, tempered in the fires of Tarawa, had earlier been alerted to prepare for a May attack on Eniwetok Atoll, 330 miles northwest of Kwajalein. The planners decided to use instead the 22d Marines (under the command of Colonel John T. Walker) and two battalions of the Army's 106th Infantry Regiment, since they had not been needed in the quick conquest of Roi-Namur and Kwajalein. In addition, the date for the attack was jumped forward to mid-February.
The softening-up process had begun at the end of January, and the carrier air strikes increased the following month. Japanese soldiers caught in this deluge were dismayed. One wrote in his diary, "The American attacks are becoming more furious. Planes come over day after day. Can we stand up under the strain?" Another noted that "some soldiers have gone out of their minds."
On D-Day, 17 February, the Navy's heavy guns joined in with a thunderous shelling. Then, using secret Japanese navigation charts captured at Kwajalein, the task force moved into the huge lagoon, 17 by 21 miles in size. Brigadier General Thomas E. Watson, the Marine in overall command of some 10,000 assault troops, had the responsibility for conducting a complex series of successive maneuvers. As at Kwajalein Atoll, the artillery was sent ashore on D-Day on two tiny islets adjacent to the first key target, Engebi Island. The Marines' 2d Separate [75mm] Pack Howitzer Battalion went to one islet, and the Army's 104th Field Artillery Battalion went to the other. There they set up to provide supporting fire for the forthcoming infantry assault.
The landing on Engebi came the next morning, D plus 1, 18 February, as the 1st and 2d Battalions of the 22d Marines headed for the beach in their amtracs. At this time there occurred "one of those pathetic episodes incident to the horrible waste of war." As one Marine report described it:
One tank was lost in the landings. It was boated in an LCM [Landing Craft, Medium]
Men of the 17th Infantry Regiment go in by amtrac to occupy one of the islets adjacent to Kwajalein itself in preparation for the main landing the next day.
Department of Defense Photo (Army) 187435
Troops of the Army's 7th Infantry Division make the tricky transfer from their landing craft to the amphibian tractors which will now carry them in across the reef fringing Kwajalein, for the final leg of their assault of the island.
Department of Defense Photo (Army) 324729
on which, unfortunately, only one engine was functioning. By some mischance the lever depressing the ramp was operated with the result that the craft began to flood rapidly while still 500 yards offshore. The tank crew had "buttoned up"and could gain but [a] small idea of the accident. Despite the frantic efforts of the LCM's crew to warn the occupants, the desperate urgency of the situation was not appreciated. The LCM gradually filled, listed, and finally spilled her load into the lagoon, turning completely over. At the last possible moment, one of the crew of the tank managed to escape as the tank actually hit bottom forty feet down.
Once the two battalions hit the beach, they found the core of the enemy defenses to be a palm grove in the middle of the island. This area was riddled with "spider holes;" and
Map of the attack on Kwajalein Island, with the landings at the west end, 184th Regiment on the left and 32d on the right. Demarkation lines show daily progress.
The 37mm gun provided invaluable direct fire support throughout the campaigns of the Pacific War. Here, one of the guns takes on a stubborn Japanese position on Kwajalein, reinforcing the ability of riflemen to deal with the enemy.
Department of Defense Photo (Army) 212590
Army soldiers lie warily on the ground as their flamethrower pours a sheet of fire on a Japanese pillbox. Since there were often multiple exits from the strongpoints, these soldiers are on the alert for any of the enemy who may try to escape.
Department of Defense Photo (Army) 212770
Victorious Army soldiers relax by the ruins of a Japanese plane, smashed by the preinvasion bombardment of one of the islets adjacent to Kwajalein. One enterprising man still has the energy and the curiosity to climb on board for a look.
Department of Defense Photo (Army) 233727
the American shelling had added fallen trees to the cover provided to the Japanese by the dense underbrush. Thus their positions were extremely difficult to locate. It was dangerous work for the individuals and small groups who had to take the initiative, but they did and the assault ground ahead against enemy defenses.
With these advances and some direct fire from self-propelled 105mm guns against concrete pillboxes, the whole of Engebi had been overrun by the Marines by the afternoon of D plus 1. On the following morning the American flag was raised to the sound of a Marine playing "To the Colors" on a captured Japanese bugle. An engineer company, however, spent a busy day using flamethrowers and demolitions to mop up bypassed enemy soldiers. More than 1,200 Japanese, Koreans, and Okinawans were on Engebi, and only 19 surrendered.
The main action now shifted quickly on D plus 2 to the attack on Eniwetok Island. This mission was assigned to the 1st and 3d Battalions of the Army's 106th Infantry Regiment. When they landed, their advance was slow. Only 204 tons of naval gunfire rounds (compared to the 1,179 tons which had plastered Engebi) hit Eniwetok. "Spider hole" defenses held up their advance. A steep bluff blocked the planned inland advance of their LVTAs, resulting in a traffic jam on the beaches. Less than an hour after the initial landing, General Watson felt obliged to radio Colonel Russell G. Ayers, commanding the 106th, "Push your attack."
Things were clearly not going as planned, for General Watson had hoped to secure Eniwetok quickly, and then have the battalions of the 106th immediately ready for an attack on the final objective, Parry Island. To speed the progress on Eniwetok, the reserve troops, the 3d Battalion of the 22d Marines, were ordered to land early in the afternoon. Moving forward, they were soon in heavy combat. Japanese soldiers who had been by-passed kept up their harassing fire; permission to bring the battalion's half-track 75mm cannon ashore was flatly denied Colonel Ayers. The Marines had to take responsibility for clearing two-thirds of the southern zone on the island. Tanks were ashore but "not available," and coconut log emplacements provided the Japanese with strong defensive positions.
Nevertheless, the attack inched forward with the repeated use of flamethrowers and satchel charges. Halting for the night several hundred yards from the tip of the island, the Marines were greeted the following morning (D plus 3) by an astonishing sight. The Army battalion supposed to be on their right flank had, without notifying the Marines, pulled back 300 yards to the rear during the night and left a large gap in the American lines. The Marines then had to stem a small but furious Japanese night counterattack. When the soldiers returned in the morning, the American attack began again, and by mid-afternoon the Marines
A crater from U. S. Navy gun fire marks the left end of a series of Japanese trenches designed to provide mutually supporting enfillade fire against attackers. The shattered trunks of the palm trees show the effects of the Navy's bomdardment.
Department of Defense Photo (Navy ) 218615
Brigadier General Thomas E. Watson
Commander of Tactical Group-1 built on the 22d Marines, he led the conquest of Eniwetok. For this he was awarded a Distinguished Service Medal. Promoted to major general, he received a second DSM for his service while commanding the 2d Marine Division at Saipan and Tinian. He retired in 1950.
With a birth date of 1892, and an enlistment date of 1912, he fully qualified as a member of "the Old Corps." After being commissioned in 1916, he served in a variety of Marine assignments in the Caribbean, China, and the United States.
Given the nickname "Terrible Tommy," Watson's proverbial impatience was later characterized by General Wallace M. Greene, Jr., as follows: "He would not tolerate for one minute stupidity, laziness, professional incompetence, or failure in leadership. . . . His temper in correcting these failings could be fiery and monumental." And so, both Marine and Army officers found out at Eniwetok and later Saipan!
BGen Thomas E. Watson, USMC, commanded Tactical Group-1, built around the 22d Marines, as he led his Marines in the capture of Eniwetok. He later commanded the 2d Marine Division in the ensuing Saipan-Tinian operation.
Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 11986
and the Army battalion had secured the southern part of the island.
Progress was still very slow in the northern sector, so Marine tanks and engineers moved in to assist the other Army battalion there. Finally, in the afternoon of D plus 4, 21 February, the northern area was also declared secure.
With the elapse of all this time (96 hours instead of the 24 hours expected), General Watson was forced to alter his plans for the final phase of the operation: the assault on Parry. He brought down from Engebi the 1st and 2d Battalions of the 22d Marines, pulled that regiment's other (3d) battalion off Eniwetok, and designated them for the landing on Parry.
Amidst all of this purposeful activity, the ludicrous side of war emerged in one episode. A U.S. float plane moored in the lagoon, and a boat was sent to take off the crew. Coming alongside, the boat cleverly
Waves of amtracs, each one crammed with Marines uncertain of what they will find when they hit the beach, churn in for the assault of Engebi on 18 February 1944. They are hoping to find an enemy dazed by the preparatory artillery fire.
Department of Defense Photo (Navy) 217679
managed to capsize the plane.
The exact timing of an amphibious assault is a crucial decision based on a delicate balancing of a host of factors, such as the condition of the troops and their equipment, provision of fire support, etc. General Watson decided to hold off the landing on Parry until D plus 5 (22 February). An official report explained the reasons for the delay:
To rehabilitate and reorganize [the battalion of the 22d Marines] which had been in action for three successive days.
To reembark, repair, and service medium tanks and rest their crews.
To make light tanks, which were still engaged on Eniwetok, available for the assault on Parry Island if required.
To provide one [battalion] of the 106th Infantry as support reserve in the event it was required.
To allow additional time for the air and surface bombardment of Parry.
Awaiting the amtracs of the 22d Marines, the Japanese commander on the island issued a very succinct order to his troops:
At the edge of the water scatter and divide the enemy infantry in their boats--attack and annihilate each one. Launch cleverly prepared powerful quick thrusts and vivid sudden attacks, and after having attacked and having destroyed the enemy landing forces, first
The capture of this atoll followed a carefully planned sequence, using a variety of geographic points: (1) entrance of U.S. ships into the lagoon through Wide Passage in the south and Deep Entrance in the southeast; (2) artillery set up on "Camellia" and "Canna" in the northeast; (3) landing on Engebi in the north; (4) landing on Eniwetok in the south; and, finally (5) landing on Parry in the southeast.
of all, then scatter and break up their groups of boats and ships. In the event that the enemy succeeds in making a landing annihilate him by means of night attacks.
The enemy plans to "annihilate" failed. For two days before the Marine assault, the Navy had moved its big guns in as close as 850 yards offshore and pounded the defenders with 944 tons of shells. This was supplemented by artillery fire from the neighboring islands and rocket fire from the gunboats as the Marines went in. This rain of shells crept ahead of the tanks and infantrymen as they tenaciously slogged their way across the island.
As always, there was the unexpected. When a shell from a U.S. warship hit directly on top of an underground bunker, all the Japanese inside poured out and ran--of all places--into the sea. Another shell hurled a coconut tree aloft and catapulted the body of an enemy sniper from its branches through the air to his death.
For the assault troops, it was a continuing story of "spider holes," tunnels, underground strong points, and enemy resistance to the death. Another young Marine, Second Lieutenant Cord Meyer, Jr., in his first combat fought on both Eniwetok and Parry. The grueling experiences he had were typical of everyone who took part in these battles. He was landed with his machine gun platoon in the second wave of assault troops, three minutes after the first men to hit the beach on Eniwetok. Moving quickly inland, the platoon came to the edge of a blasted coconut grove. Then, as the lieutenant later wrote home:
We were hard hit there, and with terrible clarity the reality of the event came home to me. I had crawled forward to ask a Marine where the Japs were, pretty excited really and enjoying it almost like a game. I crawled up beside him but he wouldn't answer. Then I saw the ever widening pool of dark blood by his head and knew that he was dying or dead. So it came over me what this war was, and after that it wasn t fun or exciting, but something that had to be done.
Fortune smiled on me that day, or the hand of a Divine Providence was over me, or I was just plain lucky. We killed many of them in fighting that lasted to nightfall. We cornered fifty or so Imperial [Japanese] Marines on the end of the is-
Cpl Anthony P. Damato, V Amphibious Corps, was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for having saved the lives of his fellow Marines by throwing himself on a Japanese hand grenade.
Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 303037
Poised in a shollozo trench, riflemen of the 22d Marines await the order to attack an enemy coconut-log strongpoint on Eniwetok. While the most of the men are carrying M-1 rifles, the flamethrower in their midst may well prove crucial.
Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 72434
land, where they attempted a banzai charge, but we cut them down like overripe wheat, and they lay like tired children with their faces in the sand.
That night was unbelievably terrible. There were many of them left and they all had one fanatical notion, and that was to take one of us with them. We dug in with orders to kill anything that moved. I kept watch in a foxhole with my sergeant, and we both stayed awake all night with a knife in one hand and a grenade in the other. They crept in among us, and every bush or rock took on sinister proportions. They got some of us, but in the morning they all lay about, some with their riddled bodies actually inside our foxholes. With daylight it was easy for us and we finished them off. Never have I been so glad to see the blessed sun.
With that battle over, the lieutenant and his men were hustled back on ship. For a day and a night they were "desperately trying" to get their gear into proper shape to go right back into combat. The following morning, they went in on the attack on Parry.
They found the beach was swept with machine-gun and mortar fire, but they surged inland over ruined, shell-blasted soil rocked by the continual mortar bursts. Then their captain suddenly pointed, and above the brush line they saw 150 or so men bending forward, moving on a parallel course about 50 yards away. The Marines, however, waved, thinking that they must be fellow Marines. The men paid little attention to the Marines and seemed to be setting up machine guns. The realization struck home: they were Japanese.
The lieutenant by now had just half a platoon of men and two machine guns. They set the guns up and started firing at the enemy. One gun jammed, so they buried the parts in the sand, because they thought that the Japanese would charge and they couldn't possibly stop it or prevent the capture of the gun. When they didn't attack, the Marines moved in against them. The two sides threw grenades back and forth for what seemed like hours. Many were killed on both sides. finally the lieutenant and his men threw a whole
The Deadly Spider Holes
Later accounts explained what the Marines ran into at Engebi--and what they did to keep their advance moving forward. Those defenses were of the "spider web" type to which there were many entrances. They were constructed by knocking out the heads of empty gasoline drums and making an impromptu pipeline of them, sunk into the ground and covered with earth and palm fronds. The tunnels thus constructed branched off in several directions from a central pit and the whole emplacement was usually concealed with great skill and ingenuity. If the main position was spotted and attacked the riflemen within could crawl off fifty feet or so down one of the corridors and emerge at an entirely different and unexpected spot from which they could get off a shot and dive down to concealment before it was possible to determine whence the fire proceeded. Every foot of ground had to be gone over with the greatest precaution and alertness before these honeycombs of death could be silenced by the literal process of elimination.
The attacking Marines soon hit upon a method of destroying completely these underground defenses. When the bunker at the center of the web had been located, a member of the assault team would hurl a smoke grenade inside. Although this type of missile did no harm to the Japanese within, it released a cloud of vapor which rolled through the tunnels and escaped around the loose-fitting covers of the foxholes.
Once the outline of the web was known, the bunker and all its satellite positions could be shattered with demolitions.
F6F "Hellcat" fighters from carrier decks played an important part in the U.S. Navy's elimination of Japanese airpower on a number of islands in the Marshalls, as well as in the devastating air strikes supporting the assault landings.
Department of Defense Photo (Navy) 80-K-100
In one of the classic photographs of the Pacific War, dog-tired and battle-grime-coated Marines, thankful to be off the island and still alive, relax with a hot cup of coffee on board ship after victoriously ending the bruising fight for Eniwetok.
Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 149144
volley of grenades and charged in and got to the beach. Down it they could see a whole group of Japanese, so all 12 of the Marines, standing, kneeling, or lying prone, fired their rifles and carbines. The enemy fell like ducks in a shooting gallery, but still they closed in on the little group of Marines who then had to back away.
Now the lieutenant continued his story:
But we got some tanks and reinforcements some half hour later and moved through them in skirmish line, which brings this tale to the most extraordinary incident of all. I was following some ten yards behind the tanks, when a Jap officer came out of a hole pointing his pistol at me; so instinctively I shot my carbine from the hip and hit him full in the face. I walked forward and looked into the trench and saw another with his arm cocked to throw a grenade. He didn't see me. I was only six feet away. I pulled the trigger but the weapon was jammed with sand. I had to do something, so I took my carbine by the barrel and hit him with all my might at the base of the neck. It broke his neck and my carbine.
Finally we killed them all. They never surrender. Again the night was a bad one, but with the dawn came complete victory, and those of us who still walked without a wound looked in amazement at our whole bodies. There was not much jubilation. We just sat and stared at the sand, and most of us thought of those who were gone--those whom I shall remember as always young, smiling, and graceful, and I shall try to forget how they looked at the end, beyond all recognition. . . .
The lieutenant's letter went on to praise his men:
They obeyed with an unquestioning courage. One of my section leaders was hit by a bullet
in his arm. It spun him clear around and set him down on his behind. A little dazed, he sat there for a second and then jumped up with the remark, "The little bastards will have to hit me with more than that." I had to order him back to the dressing station an hour later. He was weak with loss of blood but actually pleaded to stay.
My runner was knocked down right beside me with three bullet holes in him and blood all over his face. Stupidly I said, "Are you hit, boy?" He was crying a little, being just a kid of eighteen, and said, "I'm sorry, sir. I guess I'm just a sissy." I damn near cried myself at that.
And so it went all through the day, but by evening it was nearly all over. Early the next morning (D plus 6, 23 February) Parry was completely in American hands, and the conquest of Eniwetok Atoll's vital objectives was complete. Some 3,400 Japanese had been eliminated there at a cost of 348 American dead and 866 wounded.
Mopping up operations on many of the tiny islets in the Marshalls continued until 24 April. The troops encountered a few scattered Japanese soldiers--quickly dispatched--and an oddity. On one atoll they found a German who had married a native woman and had lived there since he had originally been shipwrecked in 1891. One of the obscure atolls was later to become famous as a U.S. nuclear testing ground, and as a name given to a sensational new womans bathing suit: Bikini.
The 22d Marines had performed superbly. Recognition of their achievements came in the form of a Navy Unit Commendation, which praised its "sustained endurance, fortitude, and fighting spirit throughout this operation."
Thus the Marshall Islands operations were successfully concluded. With relatively light American casualties, a big step had been taken in the Central Pacific campaign. U.S. forces were now within 1,100 miles of their next objective, the Mariana Islands. The timetable for that leap was moved up by at least 20 weeks. The 2d Marine Division and the remainder of the Army's 27th Division were now free for that operation, since they were not needed in the Marshalls. The basic techniques for victorious amphibious assaults were now clearly proven. Another large contingent of American troops had received its baptism of fire, and the Americans had broken the outer ring of Japan's Central Pacific defenses with impressive skill and courage.
The Secretary of the NavyThe Secretary of the Navy takes pleasure in commending the
Twenty-Second Marines, Reinforced, Tactical Group One, Fifth Amphibious Corps
Twenty-second Marines; Second Separate Pack Howitzer Company; Second Separate Tank Company; Second Separate Engineer Company; Second Separate Medical Company; Second Separate Motor Transport Company; Fifth Amphibious Corps Reconnaissance Company; Company D, Fourth Tank Battalion; Fourth Marine Division; 104th Field Artillery Battalion, U.S. Army; Company C, 766th Tank Battalion, U.S. Army; Company A, 708th Amphibian Tank Battalion, U.S. Army; Company D, 708th Provisional Amphibian Tractor Battalion, U.S. Army; and the Provisional DUKW Battery, Seventh Infantry Division, U.S. Army.
for service as follows:
"For outstanding heroism in action against enemy Japanese forces during the assault and capture of Eniwetok Atoll, Marshall Islands, from February 17 to 22, 1944. As a unit of a Task Force, assembled only two days prior to departure for Eniwetok Atoll, the Twenty-second Marines, Reinforced, landed in whole or in part on Engebi, Eniwetok and Parry Islands, in rapid succession and launched aggressive attacks in the face of heavy machine-gun and mortar fire from well camouflaged enemy dugouts and foxholes. With simultaneous landings and reconnaissance missions on numerous other small islands, they overcame all resistance within six days, destroying a known 2,665 of the Japanese and capturing 66 prisoners. By their courage and determination, despite the difficulties and hardships involved in repeated reembarkations and landing from day to day, these gallant officers and men made available to our forces in the Pacific Area an advanced base with large anchorage facilities and an established airfield, thereby contributing materially to the successful conduct of the war. Their sustained endurance, fortitude and fighting spirit throughout this operation reflect the highest credit on the Twenty-second Marines, Reinforced, and on the United States Naval Service"
All personnel attached to and serving with any of the above units during the period February 17 to 22, 1944, are authorized to wear the Navy Unit Commendation Ribbon.
All of the basic Marine histories for World War II contain detailed accounts of the Marshalls operation. This monograph represents a summary, supplemented by individual experiences drawn from the Personal Papers and Oral Histories Collections in the Marine Corps Historical Center, Washington, D.C.
Among the most useful were: 1stLt John C. Chapin, USMCR, The 4th Marine Division in World War II (Washington: Historical Division, HQMC, 1945); LtCol Robert D. Heinl, Jr., USMC, and LtCol John A. Crown, USMC, The Marshalls: Increasing the Tempo (Washington: Historical Branch, G3 Division, HQMC, 1954); Historical Division, HQMC. "The Marshall Islands Operations." Unpublished draft, n.d. World War II-Marshall Islands Records File. Marine Corps Historical Center, Washington, D.C.; LtCol S. L. A. Marshall, AUS, Island Victory (Washington: Infantry Journal Press, 1944); Carl W. Proehl, ed., The Fourth Marine Division in World War II (Washington: Infantry Journal Press, 1946); Henry I. Shaw, Jr., Bernard C. Nalty, and Edwin T. Turnbladh, Central Pacific Drive--History of U.S. Marine Corps Operations in World War II, vol 3 (Washington: Historical Branch, G3 Division, HQMC, 1966).
In the Personal Papers Collection Unit, Marine Corps Historical Center, Washington, D.C., the following files have been useful: First Lieutenant John C. Chapin (PC 671); Master Sergeant Roger M. Emmons (PC 304); Private First Class Robert F. Graf (PC 1946); Princeton University Collection (PC 2216).
Transcripts of interviews in Oral History Collection, Marine Corps Historical Center, Washington, D.C: BGen William W. Buchanan; BGen Melvin L. Krulewitch; Col William P McCahill; MajGen William W. Rogers; LtGen James L. Underhill.
The following pamphlets in the Marines in World War II Commemorative Series are now in print: Opening Moves: Marines Gear Up For War; Infamous Day: Marines at Pearl Harbor; 7 December 1941: First Offensive: The Marine Campaign for Guadalcanal: Outpost in the North Atlantic: Marines in the Defense of Iceland; A Magnificent Fight: Marines in the Battle for Wake Island: Across the Reef: The Marine Assault of Tarawa; Up the Slot: Marines in the Central Solomons; Time of the Aces: Marine Pilots in the Solomons, 1942-1944.
About the Author
Captain John C. Chapin earned a bachelor of arts degree with honors in history from Yale University in 1942 and was commissioned later that year. He served as a rifle-platoon leader in the 24th Marines, 4th Marine Division, and was wounded in action during assault landings on Roi-Namur and Saipan.
Transferred to duty at the Historical Division, Headquarters Marine Corps, he wrote the first official histories of the 4th and 5th Marine Divisions. Moving to Reserve status at the end of World War II, he earned a master's degree in history at George Washington University with a thesis on "The Marine Occupation of Haiti, 1915-1922."
Now a captain in retired status, he has been a volunteer at the Marine Corps Historical Center for 10 years. During that time, he wrote History of Marine Fighter Attack (VMFA) Squadron 115. With support from the Historical Center and the Marine Corps Historical Foundation, he then spent some years researching and interviewing for the writing of a new book, Uncommon Men--The Sergeants Major of the Marine Corps. This was published in 1992 by the White Mane Publishing Company.
THIS PAMPHLET HISTORY, one in a series devoted to U.S. Marines in the World War II era, is published for the education and training of Marines by the History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, Washington, D.C., as a part of the U.S. Department of Defense observance of the 50th anniversary of victory in that war.
Printing costs for this pamphlet have been defrayed in part by the Defense Department World War II Commemoration Committee. Editorial costs of preparing this pamphlet have been defrayed in part by a bequest from the estate of Emilie H. Watts, in memory of her late husband, Thomas M. Watts, who served as a Marine and was the recipient of a Purple Heart.
WORLD WAR II COMMEMORATIVE SERIES
DIRECTOR OF MARINE CORPS HISTORY AND MUSEUMS
Brigadier General Edwin H. Simmons, USMC (Ret)
WORLD WAR II COMMEMORATIVE SERIES
Benis M. Frank
George C. MacGillivray
EDITING AND DESIGN SECTION, HISTORY AND MUSEUMS DIVISION
Robert E. Struder, Senior Editor; W. Stephen Hill, Visual Information
Specialist; Catherine A. Kerns, Composition Services Technician
Marine Corps Historical Center
Building 58, Washington Navy Yard
Washington, D.C. 20374-0580
PCN 190 003124 00
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Father Pierre-Marie Benoît was a French national who until 1940 lived in the Capuchin monastery in Rome. When war between France and Italy was clearly inevitable, he returned to his homeland and moved into the Capuchin monastery in Marseilles. The Jewish laws enacted by the Vichy government set in motion a tumultuous and active chapter in Father Benoît's life. Out of a profound commitment to humanitarian values, Father Benoît pledged himself to protecting Jewish refugees.
Utilizing his ties with passeurs (border guides), the French underground, and other religious organizations-Protestant, Greek Orthodox, and Jewish-Father Benoît procured false papers and hiding places and smuggled some refugees into Spain or Switzerland. His reputation as a man who spared no effort to save Jews spread far and wide. The waiting room in his monastery teemed with people at all times, and the printing press in the monastery's basement printed thousands of false baptismal certificates for distribution to Jews.
When, in November 1942, southern France was occupied and the Swiss and Spanish borders became harder to cross, Father Benoît began to organize the transfer of Jews to the Italian occupation zone. He met in Nice with Guido Lospinoso, the Italian commissioner of Jewish affairs, whom Mussolini had sent at the Germans' insistence. Father Benoît persuaded Lospinoso to refrain from action against the 30,000 Jews who lived in Nice and the vicinity (the original purpose of his trip).
In April 1943, he met with Pope Pius XII and presented a plan to transfer Jews in Nice to North Africa via Italy. This plan was foiled when the Germans occupied northern Italy and the Italian-occupied zone of France. When the Gestapo discovered Father Benoît's activities, he was forced to move to Rome.
Although he himself was now a refugee, he persevered in his rescue efforts with even greater fervor. Father Benoît was elected to the board of Delasem (Delegazione Assistenza Emigranti Ebrei), the main Jewish welfare organization in Italy and when the Jewish president was arrested, Father Benoît was named the acting president. The organization's meetings were held at the Capuchin college in Rome. Father Benoît contacted the Swiss, Romanian, Hungarian, and Spanish embassies, and obtained important asylum documents which enabled Jews to circulate freely under false names. Father Benoît also extracted numerous ration cards from the police on the pretext that they were meant for non-Jewish refugees.
Very many Jews owe their lives to Father Benoît and regard him as the man who saved them from the crematoria. When Rome was liberated in June 1944, the Jewish community held an official synagogue ceremony in honor of Father Benoît and showered him with praise. Years later, U. S. President Lyndon Johnson delivered a moving speech in which he said that Father Benoît's wonderful actions should inspire the American people in the protection and preservation of the rights of citizens, irrespective of race, color or religion.
On April 26, 1966, Yad Vashem recognized Father Pierre-Marie Benoît as Righteous among the Nations.
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Historically, we began our relationship with bees when somebody discovered that the taste of honey was worth the pain it cost to harvest. We became honey-hunters, and while there were few of us and many of them, this was sustainable. When somebody discovered that it was possible to offer shelter to honeybees while they made their honey, and then kill them off to raid their stores, we became bee keepers, and while there were few bee keepers and many honeybees, that too was sustainable.
Then someone invented a clever way to house bees that did not require them to be killed, but instead allowed people to manage and control them to some extent, arranging things so as to trick them into producing more honey for their masters than for themselves, and we became bee farmers. And that was sustainable for a while because there were still many of them and although there were also many of us, we could manipulate their reproduction so as to make more of them as we needed. Then it became clear that we had gone too far, for some people began to find that their bees began to suffer from diseases that had been virtually unknown during the old days, and that they now had to be given medicines in order to keep them from dying. And because a whole industry had grown up around the farming of these bees, and there was a lot of money at stake, bee keepers were slow to change their ways and many could not do so for fear of bankruptcy, and so the health of the honeybees became worse and they became subject to parasites and viruses that had never troubled them in the past.
Meanwhile, we forgot how to grow food in the way that we once had done because we were no longer inclined to labour in the fields, and instead devised clever ways to make the soil support more crops. We poured fertilizers onto our fields and killed off inconvenient creatures with pesticides. This was never sustainable, and never can be: we are constantly withdrawing more than we deposit.
And that is where we find ourselves today, and this is the problem we face: bees that have become weakened through exploitation and a toxic agricultural system, allied to the expectation of continuous economic growth.
As 'natural beekeepers', our most pressing work is to restore bees to their original, healthy state. We need to think of ourselves as 'keepers' in the sense of 'nurturing and supporting' rather than 'enslaving', which is the old way. We must seek to protect and conserve the honeybee by working within their natural capacity, and not constantly urge them towards ever greater production. We must challenge the whole agricultural and economic system that has caused us to arrive at this point, because without change at that level, the future for both us and the bees is bleak.
We can make a start by establishing new and more natural ways of working with bees: neither we nor they have any need of unnatural 'treatments' with synthetic antibiotics, fungicides or miticides. We don't need to operate 'honey factories' – we can content ourselves with providing accommodation for bees in return for whatever they can afford to give us. In some years, this may be nothing at all, while in others there may be an abundant harvest. Such is nature: bees depend on honey for their survival; we do not. If the price of returning bees to a state of natural, robust health is a little less honey on our toast, is it not a worthwhile sacrifice?
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Swati is part of the Nguni group of Bantu languages and is spoken by about 1.5 million people in Swaziland and South Africa. It is one of the eleven official languages in South Africa and is taught in the schools of Swaziland, and in some South African schools. Swati, which is also known as Swazi, is closely related to Phuthi, a language spoken in Lesotho, and to Zulu, Ndebele and Xhosa.
Swati has four main varietes: Shiselweni, Hhohho, Manzini and Shiselweni, which correspond with the four administrative regions of Swaziland.
Information on Swati pronunciation compiled by Wolfram Siegel
Bonkhe bantfu batalwa bakhululekile balingana ngalokufananako ngesitfunti nangemalungelo. Baphiwe ingcondvo nekucondza kanye nanembeza ngakoke bafanele batiphatse nekutsi baphatse nalabanye ngemoya webuzalwane.
Information about Swati languages
Bemba, Chichewa, Duala, Ewondo, Ganda/Luganda, Herero, Kikuyu, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Kongo, Lingala, Loma, Lozi, Mandekan, Mende, Northern Ndebele, Northern Sotho, OshiWambo, Ronga, Shona, Soga, Southern Ndebele, Southern Sotho, Swahili, Swati, Tofa, Tshiluba, Tsonga, Tswana, Tumbuka, Umbundu, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu
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Wild Bill Hickok
On August 2, 1876, Wild Bill Hickok, one of the most famous gunfighters of the American West, is murdered in Deadwood, South Dakota. Born on May 27, 1837 in Troy Grove, Illinois, James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok first gained notoriety as a gunfighter in 1861 when he coolly shot three men who were trying to kill him. A highly sensationalized account of the gunfight appeared six years later in the popular periodical Harper's New Monthly Magazine, sparking Hickok's rise to national fame.
Other articles and books followed, and though his prowess was often exaggerated, Hickok did earn his reputation with a string of impressive gunfights. After accidentally killing his deputy during an 1871 shootout in Abilene, Texas, Hickok never fought another gun battle. For the next several years he lived off his famous reputation, appearing as himself in Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West show. Occasionally, he worked as guide for wealthy hunters. His renowned eyesight began to fail, and for a time he was reduced to wandering the West trying to make a living as a gambler. Several times he was arrested for vagrancy. In the spring of 1876, Hickok arrived in the Black Hills mining town of Deadwood, South Dakota. There he became a regular at the poker tables of the No. 10 Saloon. On August 2, 1876, Hickok was playing cards with his back to the saloon door. At 4:15 in the afternoon, a young gunslinger named Jack McCall walked into the saloon, approached Hickok from behind, and shot him in the back of the head. Hickok died immediately. McCall was later tried, convicted, and hanged for Hickok’s murder. According to legend, Hickok was holding a pair of black aces and black eights when he died, a combination that has since been known as the Dead Man's Hand.
Michael Thomas Barry is the author of Murder & Mayhem 52 Crimes that Shocked Early California 1849-1949. The book can be purchased from Amazon through the following link:
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| 0.98385
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New developments and curiosities from a changing global media landscape: People, Spaces, Deliberation brings trends and events to your attention that illustrate that tomorrow's media environment will look very different from today's, and will have little resemblance to yesterday's.For years, researchers and social critics have speculated that social media and niche interest sites were capturing more and more attention of people, thereby supplanting traditional sources of news like radio, television, and print. Much of the concern has come from data that mobile phones are proliferating around the world and that adults aged 21-34 — so-called Millennials — do not visit news sites, read print newspapers, or watch television news. Instead, this generation (and Generation Z, which follows it) spends more time on social networks, often on mobile devices. This trend can be seen worldwide, as newspapers have become a dying breed in many countries.
Nevertheless, if the current media preferences of young adults are an indication of the future, the data may offer bad news for print media, but good news for TV. According to a Nielsen global survey of more than 30,000 online consumers across 60 countries, television is still the most popular source of news for people around the world. When asked where they get the news, 53% of the respondents named television as one of their preferred sources. Click on the image below to see how each generation differs in their media use.
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Uses practical examples from criminal justice scenarios to bring complex and involved issues to life
Hypothetical scenarios at the beginning of each chapter
Shows the relevance of research methodology to the practical problems of everyday criminal justice operations in a reader-friendly manner.
Research should be enjoyable - whether it is a college student completing a project for a degree or a professor meeting requirements or expectations associated with his or her position. Learning the basics for conducting research is the first step. This text is a reader-friendly primer which has as its strength the facility to positively and gently ease the reader into the task of conducting research.
Each chapter begins with a vignette, describing a hypothetical situation in which students might find themselves. By chapter's end, students should be equipped with the knowledge on how to address the confusion or problem presented in the appropriate scenario. Another pedagogical tool is the Methodological Link which refers to excerpts from actual criminal justice and criminological research, the full text which is available in a companion text Readings for Research Methods in Criminology and Criminal Justice. Each chapter also ends with Methodological Queries, questions and exercises requiring students to apply what has been learned.
Upper-level undergraduates criminal justice students.
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Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya join forces to tackle the deadly cassava viral diseases
Dar es Salaam, 16 March 2014. Five countries which are severely affected by two deadly viral diseases threatening to wipe out cassava in East and Southern Africa, have joined efforts to tackle the problem by sharing their top five varieties with tolerance to the two diseases. The 25 varieties in total will then be evaluated in each country to identify those that are well adapted to the various cassava-growing regions and acceptable to the local farming communities.
Together, cassava brown streak disease (CBSD) and cassava mosaic disease (CMD), are responsible for production losses worth more than US$1 billion every year and are a threat to food and income security for over 30 million farmers growing cassava in East and Central Africa.
The first consignment of 19 varieties to each of the countries, as tissue culture virus-tested plantlets, was handed over end of last week to the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) that received them on behalf of the national agricultural research systems of the five countries – Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya. The handing over was held at the Genetics Technologies International Limited (GTIL) – a tissue culture-based laboratory based in Nairobi, Kenya, that was tasked with mass multiplication of the varieties. The remaining varieties are still undergoing mass multiplication and will be sent out later.
While handing over the tissue culture plantlets to IITA and KARI, Dr Ochieng Joseph, the Assistant Director, Food Crops at KARI, who was also the chief guest, said this marked a very important step in the effort to control the two diseases ravaging cassava to ensure food security in the five countries.
He thanked all the partner organizations for their effort in collecting, cleaning up, and multiplying the varieties. “The next task will be to ensure that, once these varieties are evaluated and the best varieties are identified, they reach the small-holder farmers by having an efficient seed distribution system in place. Without seeds, we have no varieties. And all these efforts will have been in vain,” he said.
“Cassava is a very important food and income security crop for over 80 million farmers in the tropics. We are also looking to it to help our farmers cope with climate change as it is able to withstand harsh conditions such as drought and poor soils. However, for this to happen we need to control the spread of these two diseases. And one of the most sustainable ways to do so is to develop varieties that have dual resistance,” said Dr Leena Tripathi, IITA Kenya Country Representative during the ceremony. “However, this takes a very long time, therefore this sharing of varieties that have been released or are near release from and across the five countries will considerably reduce this time.”
This exchange of material is one of the key activities of the project New Cassava Varieties and Clean Seed to Combat CMD and CBSD” led by IITA and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The project aims to alleviate food insecurity and poverty by ensuring that farmers have access to high-quality disease-free planting material of diverse improved varieties that combine resistance to CBSD and CMD, and with preferred end-user characteristics.
The varieties were first sent to the Natural Resources Institute (NRI,UK) and to Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services (KEPHIS) for cleaning to ensure their safe transfer to all five participating countries and reduce any chance of spreading the diseases further. They were then forwarded to GTIL.
“Today marks a very important step in the fight against CBSD, with the five countries coming together to freely share their best materials that are tolerant to the disease. Each country will have 20 new varieties to evaluate and choose for official release and multiplication to farmers,” said Dr Edward Kanju, IITA breeder and 5CP Project Coordinator. “We have also taken steps to ensure that we are not spreading the diseases from one country to another and that the materials that we are distributing are virus free,”
Each country will receive 300 plantlets of the 25 varieties which they will multiply in bulk and test across different cassava-growing regions in their respective countries to fast-track efforts to provide farmers with varieties that are tolerant to the two diseases.
“On behalf of the national agricultural research systems from Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya, I receive these tissue-culture plantlets and promise we will multiply and test them across different cassava-growing regions. We will identify those that are tolerant to the diseases and suitable for different uses such as for cooking, for flour, and even for starch,” said Dr Therese Munga, 5CP Kenya Country Coordinator and Head of cassava research at KARI.
She noted that currently the cassava yield in the five countries was very low averaging 8 – 9 t/ha but with these new varieties, yield could go up to 20 t/ha. “This will give our farmers enough cassava to meet their food needs and the surplus for processing into for flour and starch. This will not only contribute to food security but also income and job creation in the rural areas,” she said.
To date, despite all the breeding efforts, no country has developed varieties with resistance to the two diseases and they therefore continue to spread in the region. However, varieties that are tolerant—showing mild symptoms but still giving acceptable yields—have been officially released and many more are in the final stages of official release in project target countries.
NARS partners: Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI), Department for Agricultural Research Services (DARS)–Malawi, National Institute of Agronomic Research (IIAM)–Mozambique, Ministry of Agriculture & Food Security-Department for Research and Development (DRD)–Tanzania, National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO)–Uganda.
Regulatory partners: Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services (KEPHIS), Tanzania Official Seed Certification Institute (TOSCI).
Private/Commercial partners: Genetics Technologies International Limited (GTIL)–Kenya and Crop Biosciences Solution–Arusha, Tanzania.
International partner: Natural Resources Institute (NRI)–UK.
© 2014, Submitted by Catherine Njuguna. All rights reserved. – The views expressed here are purely those of the author and not necessarily those of the publishers. – Newstime Africa content cannot be reproduced in any form – electronic or print – without prior consent of the Publishers. Copyright infringement will be pursued and perpetrators prosecuted.
54,441 total views, 7 views today
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TELLING OUR STORIES
KEEPING THE THEME ALIVE
National Longhouse, Ltd. developed and administers Native Sons and Daughters Programs® across the country. If you live in an area that does not already have a program, we will work with you to create a program that will benefit your entire community.
These programs emphasize the vital role that parents play in the growth and development of their children. The original program plan of sons learning directly from their father was patterned from the tradition of some North American Indian cultural groups. These programs seek to strengthen the foundations for a positive lifelong relationship between parent and child that is mutually beneficial and satisfying.
BRIEF OVERVIEW OF PROGRAMS
- North American Indian Theme
Parents teaching and guiding their own children.
- Appropriate Age Range
Boys and girls can start between ages 5 and 9. We also offer a Pathfinders program for older children up to age 12.
- How Long Has This Program Been Around?
The program was started in Missouri in 1926 by Joe Friday and Harold Keltner.
- What Type of Activities Can We Expect?
You and your children will together attend meetings and outings with your tribe, and experience other activities like campouts, nature hikes, canoeing, archery, etc.
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Dr. Halsey's presentation at the National
Vaccine Advisory Committee Workshop on Thimerosal and Vaccines
held in Bethesda, Maryland on August 11-12, 1999.
Slide 12 of 26
Which reference guideline for methyl mercury exposure
should be used to evaluate ethyl mercury exposures from
vaccines? WHO is the only organization that put a time
period for exposure of more than one day, by giving a
Provisional Weekly Tolerable Intake (PWTI). As noted by John
Clements from WHO and Dr. Teely from the European Union, the
WHO PWTI for pregnant women, nursing women, and infants
would be one-fifth the PWTI for the general population. This
makes the WHO guideline approximately the same as the EPA
guideline. The Public Health Service has chosen the ATSDR
guideline, which were based largely on the Seychelles data
and allow for more liberal exposures.
Does that mean that we should ignore the data from the
more recently generated studies in the Faroe Islands?
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| 0.913339
| 224
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| 3
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Here’s what parents, patients think researchers should study in Canada
Canadian researchers say that parents, patients and front line health care workers should have a say in what’s being studied when it comes to children’s health.
In new findings out of the Hospital for Sick Children, the scientists identify three key issues that resonate with parents, their families and pediatricians. How much screen time kids should have, appropriate discipline strategies and setting a routine sleep schedule are what they’re hoping scientists will start studying.
“These topics we’ve identified are hot button issues that are very important for parents, and within these topics, there’s a lot of fantastic material that could be the focus of future scientific studies,” lead researcher, Dr. Mikael Katz-Lavigne, told Global News. He’s a pediatrician at SickKids, among other hospitals in the Greater Toronto Area.
“This is a new priority that’s come about in getting the public involved in research. There are many reasons why this is important – a large part of funding comes from taxpayers and donors and when you involve patients and families, it gives the public power in an environment dominated by researchers,” he explained.
In a time where funding dollars are hard to come by, the hope is Katz-Lavigne’s research will prevent doubling up on studies. It’ll also lead to concrete outcomes in patient care and garner interest from patient advocacy groups.
For his study, Katz-Lavigne had 115 parents (with kids who needed pediatric care) and 42 doctors respond to online questionnaires asking them what their priorities were in understanding children’s health. The scientists took the responses to see which issues weren’t addressed in medical literature yet – that list was sent to a steering group made up of parents and doctors so they could whittle the list down to 30 priorities.
At a follow-up workshop, they came together to make a list of 10. It will be published later this year.
In previous research, scientists learned that a disparity exists between academics and patients in what each group thinks is worth studying.
When it comes to osteoarthritis, for example, scientists saw value in studying medication for the patients but those living with the chronic condition wanted research to shed light on exercises to alleviate pain.
Katz-Lavigne says his study could expand to include other groups of patients. For now, he plans on handing his research to funding organizations and research institutes. Ultimately, the results could determine what’s studied.
“This may lead to outcomes that are directly relevant to health care consumers,” Katz-Lavigne said.
He’s presenting his preliminary findings on Thursday afternoon at the Canadian Paediatric Society’s annual conference.
© 2015 Shaw Media
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Lift me up: coping with depression in its many forms
Graham has a long history of depression. He doesn't remember how it started, but says it runs in his family. Depression can be a natural response when something goes wrong, sometimes it strikes for unknown reasons.
He recently came out of a relationship and the break-up made him deeply unhappy. He has been finding it difficult to get out of bed and is sleeping more than usual. He feels lonely and has isolated himself from his friends and family.
Most people will feel down after a break-up. But they are usually able to keep living their lives. They take their portion of responsibility for the break-up and realise that they will be happy again someday.
But when anything happens to Graham, he responds by feeling down about himself. His thinking becomes self-persecutory. As a result of his break-up, he feels he is not good enough and that it was his fault: 'No woman will want me. This always happens and I am going to be alone forever.' Depressed people feel they have little control over their lives and that they are helpless.
There is some research to say that depression is a habit rather than a hereditary disease. That means that the depressed response is a habituated response which develops over time. It may still turn out to be a disease. But if it is a habit, it means we may have more control over it than we think. As with most mental disorders, people have a predisposition towards certain illnesses. Certain environmental factors trigger them into being.
A difficult break-up can leave a person scared of future relationships. They think they cannot handle break-ups. So whenever they enter into a relationship, the fear of it ending is always there. That can lead to them sabotaging it themselves.
If this happens, it reinforces the person's fears about relationships, and it becomes fixed at the brain level. This is the same for depression. It becomes fixed, and it becomes the common response to problems. As with the fear of a relationship ending, the brain becomes hardwired for depression.
Depression covers all experiences with a negative film that is pervasive. Reality becomes grim. Even normally positive experiences cannot be enjoyed.
Depression is usually caused by a first-time event. But it eventually doesn't need a trigger. People can become depressed about being depressed. Graham, our example, is at a loss about how to deal with his life. He endures a sense of hopelessness. Graham earns a lot of money, but he feels like a fraud.
He pretends to have fun when he goes out, but goes home feeling empty. He has been looking for a girlfriend, but ends up choosing looks over substance. There is an inability to suspend gratification, so he finds himself at the mercy of pleasure, experiencing only pleasure not joy. He tries to use relationships to fill the emptiness he feels inside.
A good way of preventing depression is to limit exposure to stressful situations. If you are confronted every day with a situation, or a person, that evokes the stress response, you should try to avoid it. This means leaving a destructive relationship or dead-end job. Depressed people often put up with bad situations much longer than necessary.
Depressed people often find it hard to make decisions. So getting better at decision making can help to prevent depression. Learn to ask, is this something I can fix? Is this something I should put up with, or should I walk away from it? Tell yourself you can cope, that you can think, that you can make good decisions and trust yourself. When you really can't cope, ask for help, or gather more information. It's important to take action and learn to let go where appropriate.
The worst thing depressed people do is isolate themselves. This is the time when you need others most. It's important to spend time with others, because it helps.
If you are depressed, analyse your thinking and try to counteract the depression. Realise that it's normal to make mistakes. Understand that you are a good person and as worthy as the next of being loved. Don't believe everything your mind tells you and don't trust your feelings. Thoughts and feelings can be conditioned responses. They don't have to control us. We can take actions to change our neural pathways.
People become depressed when their lives are out of balance, when they have little substance in their lives, or when they receive no rewarding experiences. This was the case for Graham. People cope better if they can balance the negative experiences with the positive ones.
We need social connections like friends and family, too. Depressed people need empathy, validation of their worth, understanding and love. Staying away from alcohol and drugs, eating good food, sleeping well and taking regular exercise are vital to the prevention of depression.
Having a fulfilling and secure job and doing the things you enjoy are also important. Going to a support group for those suffering from depression is immensely beneficial, and meditation can be effective.
If you are depressed, sometimes you cannot do the things you need to do until you get above a certain level. If you feel that way, or if you are having suicidal thoughts, go and see a therapist. Getting the help you need is taking care of yourself. There is no shame in it.
Depression can be debilitating. But with the right skills and help it can be managed and even cured.
Hayley Thomas is a child, adolescent and family therapist who specialises in eating disorders. Her website can be found at relatehk.com
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THE types by which our Lord was prefigured to the Jews of old, are distinguished into real and personal, or typical things, and typical persons. Among the great variety of typical things, which, under the Mosaic dispensation, were emblematical of Christ and pointed to Him, none was more eminent and expressive than the Paschal Lamb: an account of which sacrifice, together with the occasion of its appointment, we have in the chapter from whence I have taken the above passage. Without a long introduction, I shall enter immediately on that which I design; namely, to show that the Jewish sacrament of the passover, or the slaughtering of the paschal lamb was exactly typical of the sufferings and death of the Son of God: between which, the analogy was evident, and the resemblance so exact, that St. Paul himself draws the parallel, and asserts, without the least hesitation, “Christ our passover is sacrificed for us.”
It is observable, that it was to be a lamb, which the Jews were to sacrifice for the passover. But why a lamb rather than any other creature? For these reasons: to reproach the folly and wickedness of the Egyptians; lambs were worshipped by the Egyptians, and it was a tacit reproof of their idolatry, when that which was the object of their adoration was slain and offered up in sacrifice to the true God. Another reason why a lamb was pitched upon, was, that it might be a more lively emblem of that Redeemer, who, in the fulness of time, was to offer Himself up in sacrifice for the sins of His people. Of all creatures a lamb is one of the most innocent, and therefore the fittest to shadow forth the purity and goodness of the future Messiah. Lambs are likewise remarkable for their meekness and patience. “As meek as a lamb” is a common proverb. Hence, the prophet says of Christ. “He was oppressed, and He was afflicted; He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before the shearers is dumb, so opened He not his mouth.” Lambs are much exposed to injury and danger; their innocence renders them an easy prey to almost every assailant. And was not our Lord persecuted and afflicted — Did He not endure the daily contradiction of sinners against Himself? and was He not set up as a mark for the arrows of evil men and evil spirits? No wonder, then, that on all these accounts, John the Baptist should say, concerning Christ, “Behold the Lamb of God”.
In one particular, indeed, the comparison fails; lambs are exposed to various dangers, but they are feeble, timorous animals, and unable to help themselves: whereas Christ, though He underwent what no one but Himself could have undergone, yet all His sufferings were matter of mere condescension: He voluntarily endured them, though He was possessed of infinite power, and had all the hosts of heaven at His command, and could, had it pleased Him, have melted even the hearts of His bitterest persecutors into duty and love. But He whom, on account of His dignity and strength, the Scripture styles “the lion of the tribe of Judah,” vouchsafed to suffer as a helpless lamb; that mankind, whose griefs He bore, might be eternally happy; that mankind, for whom He died, might live for ever.
The paschal sacrifice was not only to be a lamb, but a lamb without blemish: it was to be entire and free from all defect. Herein, likewise, it was typical of Christ; who, as the apostle says, was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. He was born free from the infection of original, and lived utterly unacquainted with actual sin; and St. Peter, no doubt, had the paschal lamb in view, when, speaking of Christ, he calls Him a Iamb “without spot or blemish.”
The lamb that was to be slain for the passover, was to be put by itself, and separated from the rest of the flock; and did not the holiness of Christ, as it were, separate and distinguish Him from the rest of mankind? and since the paschal lamb was the same in nature with those other lambs from whom it was selected, so our blessed Lord, though in point of Deity infinitely superior to men and angels, yet assumed our human nature, and was as truly and properly a man, as we: or, to express it in the Apostle’s language, “Forasmuch as the children were partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself took part of the same.”
The paschal Lamb was not to be sacrificed until it was a year old: and, in like manner, our Lord was not to lay down His life in His infancy, but was to continue on earth until the glorious work of His ministry was fully accomplished; until all His amiable perfections were displayed, in doing good to the souls and bodies of men, and until He had experienced, in their utmost extent, all the temptations and afflictions incident to life. And all that Satan or his emissaries could do, was not able to cut Him off, before He had by a course of the most absolute and perfect obedience, glorified His heavenly Father, and wrought out a complete righteousness for the justification of all that believe in Him. And, as the paschal lamb was to be a year old, so it was not to exceed a year; it was to be slain in the full prime and vigour of its age. So our Divine Passover, the Son of God, laid down His life not when worn out with age, or enfeebled with sickness: but in the very flower of His days; amidst all the bloom of health, and all the vigour of manhood.
The paschal lamb was to be slain by none but Jews only. It is said in the 6th verse of this chapter, “And the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it.” So the Jews were the murderers of that Divine person, of whom the paschal lamb was a figure: He was condemned, indeed, by Pilate the Roman governor, but it was the Jews who were, from first to last, the authors of His death: they caused Him to be apprehended; they bribed Judas to betray Him; they suborned false witnesses against Him at His trial, and insisted on His execution.
And, as the paschal lamb was to be slain by none but Jews, so neither was it to be slain by them in private, but publicly, and in the presence of all the people. In like manner was Christ put to death in the most public and ignominious manner. He was crucified on a conspicuous mountain, within sight of Jerusalem, their capital city; and that too at the very time of their annual celebration of the Passover; when there was the greatest resort of strangers from all parts: many of whom consented to His death, and all of whom were witnesses of it.
The blood of the paschal lamb was not to be spilt on the ground, but to be carefully caught in a bason; to intimate that the Redeemer’s sufferings and death, of which the blood of the paschal lamb was typical, were infinitely meritorious in themselves, and should not be lightly regarded; on the contrary, believers are to look on the atonement of Christ, and the blood which He shed for their sins, as the only ground of their forgiveness, the procuring cause of their exemption from punishment, and the inestimable price by which their salvation was purchased. The blood of the paschal lamb, being caught in a bason, was to be sprinkled on the doorposts of the Israelites’ houses, that when the destroying angel passed through the land, to slay the first-born of every Egyptian, he might, on seeing the blood thus sprinkled on the doors, pass over the families of Israel, and spare them from the general ruin; as we find it at the 23rd verse of this chapter, “The Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when He seeth the blood on the lintel, and on the two side-posts the Lord will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come into your houses to smite you.”
Now, this deliverance of the Jews from temporal destruction, by the sprinkling of the blood of the passover was expressive of our deliverance from everlasting death, by the mediation of Christ in our behalf, and by His offering Himself as a sacrifice to His Father’s justice in our stead: “Being justified by His blood,” says the Apostle, “we shall be saved from wrath through Him”; and as the Jews, had they neglected to sprinkle the blood of the paschal lamb on their doors, would have shared in the calamities which the Egyptians experienced; so they who do not depend for pardon on the atonement of Christ, must expect nothing, and will receive nothing but destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power: and as sure as the Jews, by using the means appointed, escaped unhurt, while their Egyptian neighbours perished by thousands; so sure shall they who believe in the merits of Christ, with the faith that works by love, be saved from condemnation, and made partakers of His heavenly kingdom.
The paschal lamb, after being bled to death, was to be roasted with fire, Anciently, fire was an emblem of the wrath of God; as appears from several passages in Scripture: and the passover being roasted with fire, imported, that the sufferings of Christ on our account should be inconceivably great and intense; and that He should sustain, in His own blessed person, that vengeance and wrath of God, which we deserved to bear, and which we actually must have borne, had not He endured it for us. Though He was all purity, without alloy; though He had no dross to lose, no chaff to be consumed, but was in every respect perfectly holy and righteous; He, nevertheless, passed through the furnace of inward and outward sufferings, that we might be exalted by His fall, and healed by His stripes. He was treated as a sinner, that we might be accepted as righteous; or, as St. Paul expresses it, “He who knew no sin, was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” Nothing short of this could have atoned for our iniquities. Infinite justice, which we had offended, required an infinite satisfaction.
Should it be objected, as it has been by some, that “the sins of finite creatures can never require an infinite atonement”; I answer, that all sin is objectively infinite; it is infinitely evil, because it is committed against God, the infinite good; it offends infinite majesty; it is a contempt of infinite authority; an affront to infinite sovereignty; an abuse of infinite mercy; a provocation of infinite justice; a contrariety to infinite holiness; a reproacher of infinite glory; and an enemy to infinite love. From all which, it appears, that every sin properly deserves infinite, or endless punishment; and likewise, that the death of Christ must have been infinitely meritorious, or it could never have averted this punishment: and the reason why it is averted is, because He has suffered as our surety. Had not the dignity of Christ, as God, derived infinite efficacy on His sufferings as man, His atonement would not have been proportioned to our offences. The wrath of the infinitely just and holy God, was contracted, as it were, to a point, and poured out, at once, intensively on Christ, which must, otherwise, have been spending itself extensively on us to all eternity. This is what we call the doctrine of the satisfaction, or the atonement of Christ; namely, the compensation which He made to the law and justice of God, by obeying and suffering as our substitute and representative.
It is observable, moreover, of the paschal lamb, that it was not only to be roasted, but thoroughly roasted; signifying, that Christ should not only suffer the penalty we had incurred, but that He should suffer it in its fullest extent, and in its utmost latitude; He was to exhaust the very dregs of the bitter cup, that so not one drop of wrath might fall on His people: and therefore the Psalmist, speaking in the person of the Messiah, says, “Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and Thy hand presseth me sore.”
From David’s time, the paschal lamb was not to be sacrificed out of Jerusalem; and Christ, the true paschal lamb, was put to death within the precincts of that city, and there was also another circumstance very worthy of notice; namely, that our Lord suffered upon the cross, at the very time of the day that the passover was ordered to be sacrificed: for we read, at the 6th verse of this chapter, that the paschal lamb was to be killed in the evening; or, as it is more literally translated in the margin, “between the two evenings”; in order to understand which expression it should be observed, that the Jews reckoned two evenings in the day; that which they call the first evening, commenced when noon was over, and lasted till sun-set; the second evening, in their account, lasted from sun-set to dark night: and as the passover was to be sacrificed in the month Nisan, which answered pretty nearly to our March, the Jews, in order to fulfil the command, which required the paschal lamb to be offered between the two evenings, constantly sacrificed it a little after what they termed the ninth hour of the day, that is, between three and four in the afternoon.
It appears from scripture, that our Lord was fastened to the cross, about the third hour; that is, about nine o’clock in the morning, or a little after; and that He did not expire till some time after the ninth hour, that is till between three or four in the afternoon: so that the time of day, wherein the passover was slain, exactly answered to the time of the Messiah’s death.
But the circumstances already mentioned, are not the only ones in which the paschal lamb was typical of Christ, for both in killing and dressing it, a particular command was given, that a bone of it should not be broken: and this was eminently fulfilled in Christ; for when the Roman soldiers, according to the custom of that nation, came to break the legs of the thieves that were crucified with Him, His, by the immediate providence of God, were left untouched; that both the type and prophecies concerning Him might be fulfilled.
The paschal lamb served the Israelites not only for sacrifice, but also for food: and Christ not only gave Himself a sacrifice for us, but is, likewise, in a mystic and spiritual sense, the food of every believing soul. Hence our Lord Himself says, “He that eateth Me shall live by Me”: and “Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you”; which expression is not to be understood in the gross, unnatural sense in which some people take it; who would fain persuade us, that, in the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, every single piece of consecrated bread is changed into the real flesh of Christ, and that the wine is changed into His real blood: this is quite contrary to our Saviour’s meaning; who, when He speaks of our eating His flesh and drinking His blood, meant no more than our being united to Him by faith, and partaking of those benefits which are the effect of His assuming our nature: for, as our animal life is maintained by a continual supply of food; so our spiritual life results from faith in Him, and our everlasting life is owing to our being interested in His merits.
And, as the paschal lamb, after it had been slain in sacrifice, was to be eaten by the Israelites, so they were to eat it with bitter herbs, which implied the extremity of our Redeemer’s sufferings, and the severe afflictions He should meet with in the world; and likewise to show us, that as the Jews eat the passover with bitter herbs and unleavened bread, so they who are interested in Him, must not think to be totally exempted from troubles and distresses of various kinds. If Christ Himself was a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief, let us not expect to get to heaven unexercised with trials by the way. We must sometimes be content to eat the passover with bitter herbs.
I might mention several more particulars, wherein the paschal lamb was a type of Christ: but what has been observed, may suffice to show how exactly that was emblematical of Him as a lamb. It was typical of the innocence and purity of Christ; of the sufferings to which He was exposed, and of His meekness under them. Was the paschal lamb to be without blemish or defect? So was Christ, in a moral sense, the mirror of holiness, and the standard of all perfection. Was it to be sacrificed in the full vigour of its age? Christ likewise was put to death in the prime of His days, when He had scarce attained the age of three-and-thirty years. Were the Jews the only persons appointed to slay the paschal lamb? They too were the contrivers and accomplishers of the Mediator’s death. Was the Iamb to be slain in the most public and conspicuous manner? So was Christ. Was the blood of the passover to be caught in a bason, as a thing sacred and valuable? This shows us both how inestimable the Redeemer’s sufferings were in themselves; and how immensely precious His atonement should be in our esteem. Was the blood of the victim to be sprinkled on the doorposts of the Israelites’ houses? So, spiritually speaking, must the blood of our great High Priest be sprinkled on our consciences; that is, in other words, the merit of His death and sufferings must be made over to us, as the cause of our redemption, and the foundation of our pardon.
And did the blood of the paschal lamb, thus sprinkled on their houses, secure the Israelites from the death of their first-born? So the efficacy of Christ’s sacrifice secures His redeemed from everlasting punishment, which is the second death. Was the passover to be roasted with fire? This pointed out the fierceness of those sufferings which the Saviour was to undergo. Was the paschal lamb to be offered up in Jerusalem? There it was that Christ was arraigned, mocked, and condemned; and in the precincts of that city He was crucified and slain. Was the passover to be killed about the ninth hour of the day? Precisely at that time, the Son of God expired. Was not a bone of the paschal lamb to be broken? No more were Christ’s, though officers were sent on purpose to do it. Did the Israelites feed on the sacrifice when it was slain? So do we, spiritually, on Christ. Believers are united to Him in one spirit, and partake of the benefits of His death, through which they live a spiritual life of grace on earth; and shall live a life of glory in heaven.
This subject plainly points out the great end which our Lord had in view, in suffering and dying for His people, namely, that He might put away sin, by the sacrifice of Himself. He gave Himself for us, says the Apostle, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, that is, from the whole punishment due to our iniquities, by dying for us, and causing us, in return, to show our gratitude, by a life of devotedness to God. Hence you see that obedience, which flows from love on our side, as well as forgiveness on God’s, is a fruit of our Lord’s atonement; and to hope for one, without being careful to maintain the other, is to put asunder what God has joined together. But this can never be; the blessings of pardon and sanctification always go hand in hand: all the people of Christ are, for His sake, in a state of favour, and those who are really so, are careful to excel in all the works of practical and Undefiled religion.
And let it ever be remembered, that our works do not precede us to the bar of God, so as to open the door of heaven, nor yet as heralds to clear our way there; but simply as witnesses, to give in their evidences, and deposit their attestation to the reality of our election, redemption, and conversion.
Augustus Montague Toplady (1740-1778), was educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Dublin, he was converted through a Methodist lay preacher, took Anglican orders in 1762, and later became vicar of Broadhembury, Devon. In 1775 he assumed the pastorate of the French Calvinist chapel in London. He was a powerful preacher and a vigourous Calvinist, bitterly opposed to John Wesley. He wrote the Historic Proof of the Doctrinal Calvinism of the Church of England (2 vols., 1774) and The Church of England Vindicated from the Charge of Arminianism (1769). His fame rests, however, on his hymns, e.g., “A debtor to mercy alone”; “A sovereign Protector I have”; “From whence this fear and unbelief?”; and especially “Rock of Ages” (appended to an article calculating the “National Debt” in terms of sin). This article is taken from Toplady’s own manuscripts.
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Jefferson's reply to Banneker
|Resource Bank Contents|
Click here for the text of this historical document.
Less than two weeks after Benjamin Banneker wrote to Thomas Jefferson, challenging the democratic ideology that denied liberty and humanity to blacks, Jefferson sent him a polite response (dated August 30, 1791).
While repeatedly asserting the desirability of "such proofs as you exhibit...talents equal to those of the other colors of men," Jefferson fails to comment either on his impressions of the Almanac Banneker sent to him or on the critical issues that Banneker's letter raised.
Years later, in a letter to his friend Joel Barlow, Jefferson speculates that Banneker had help in developing the calculations for his Almanac, and refers to the "long letter from Banneker, which shows him to have had a mind of very common stature indeed..."
Banneker's letter to Jefferson
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Since OpenGL Core does not have a nice line-draw function with possibilities for texturing, line-width or curves, here is a small example to draw softbody ropes from the Bullet-Physic Engine. I’m using my YAOGL library to access the OpenGL State-Machine.
A rope (or string) thereby consists of several segments. A rope with one segment is a straight line.
The Rope Segment
There are several possibilities to create a rope segment. A simple form could be a 2D Billboard. A 2D Billboard consists of a plane which is alway oriented to the viewers direction. But even for small visual elements these depthless objects look ugly.
Therefore I’m using a 3D model, which is a regular cylinder with unit length.
int starStringImpId = [world createImpersonator:@"Rope"]; YAImpersonator* starStringImp = [world getImpersonator:starStringImpId];
The cylinder was created with Blender and exported to a file with the name Rope.y3d.
The Length of the Rope
To calculate the length of the rope you need its start and end position:
YAVector3f* positionFrom = star.translation; YAVector3f* positionTo = [[YAVector3f alloc] initCopy: positionFrom]; positionTo.y = 10;
The rope starts at the current position of the star and ends at the ceiling which has a hight of 10 units.
In this case the length of the rope is easily calculate by
positionTo.y - positionFrom.y. For a general approach you would use vector-subtraction or simply:
float stringLength = [positionFrom distanceTo: positionTo];
The length of the rope has now to be mapped to the size of the segment. Since the 3D Model “Rope” has unit length this is:
starStringImp.size.y = stringLength / 2.f;
Positioning the Rope
The center of the rope segment has to be centered between
positionFrom (the star) and
positionTo (the ceiling):
YAVector3f* position = positionTo; [position subVector:positionFrom]; [position mulScalar:.5f]; [position addVector:positionFrom]; [[starStringImp translation] setVector:position];
The positionTo vector is mapped according to the world-origin (0,0,0), halved and repositioned above the star-object.
Calculating the Segment Direction
The direction of the segment was already calculated during the positioning. It is the normalized vector from the origin.
YAVector3f* direction = [[YAVector3f alloc] initCopy:position]; [direction subVector:positionFrom]; [direction normalize];
To calculate the object rotation you could do something like this to get the angles around the world X-Axis and Z-Axis:
float rotZ = ToDegree(acosf([direction dotVector: vZAxis])); float rotX = ToDegree(acosf([direction dotVector: vXAxis]));
Only two angles are necessary to calculate the rotation of an object. But mapping to or from euler vectors is alway a bad idea. If the possibility exists, it is advisable to use quaternions.
starStringImp.useQuaternionRotation = YES; YAQuaternion* quat = [[YAQuaternion alloc]initEulerDeg:0 pitch:rotZ roll: rotX]; [starStringImp setRotationQuaternion:quat];
Or even faster with:
YAQuaternion* quat = [[YAQuaternion alloc]initVector: direction];
As mentioned above, a rope typically consists of several segments. Instead of the complete distance you calculate each segment separately. In YAOGL you can do this with:
YABulletEngineTranslator* physics = [[YABulletEngineTranslator alloc] initIn:world]; NSArray* ropes = [physics ropeDescriptions];
Each rope element in the ropes array holds all segments of one rope. Here is an example of the presented algorithm:
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Death Valley is a Strange Land, and we were strangers within it. Even the volcanoes are kind of odd, at least if you think volcanoes are big cones that put out lava flows and clouds of seething ash. The presence of the volcanoes is not strange in itself; it is a natural consequence of crustal extension. As normal and detachment faults broke up the crust, decompression allowed partial melting of the underlying mantle, producing basaltic magmas. Sometimes the magma rose into the crust, and melted the granitic rock into rhyolite lava that produced explosive caldera eruptions, including the one we observed in this earlier post. There was also some cinder cone activity at the south end of Death Valley, including a cone that was offset by a right lateral fault. But it is the northern end of Death Valley that has one of the stranger "volcanoes" that you might want to investigate if you ever visit.
some recent research indicates they could be as little 800-2,100 years old. Media reports kind of played up the "recent" angle a bit much, suggesting they could erupt any moment (sillies, those things won't happen until December when the Mayan Calendar ends). I guess that is what the media needs to do to sell things, but at least people learn that there are things in Death Valley other than reptiles and sand.
Check out the miniature wineglass canyon below, with an alluvial cone forming the base, and the valley in the shadow above forming the cup. Sort of a Death Valley mountain range in miniature.
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Obasogie, Osagie K.
The salt debate is certainly heated. But the government doesn't hedge any bets in making a "key recommendation" that Americans reduce their daily intake of sodium to 2,300 milligrams—about a teaspoon, or roughly the amount in 10 dill pickles. This alone poses a remarkable challenge; less than 15 percent of the population currently meets this target. But the Dietary Guidelines don't stop there. They also recommend reducing salt intake to 1,500 mg for people who are 51 and older or have hypertension, diabetes, or chronic kidney disease. And they set the same, more stringent goal for anyone—anyone at all—who happens to be African-American.
|Export/Citation:||EndNote | BibTeX | Dublin Core | ASCII (Chicago style) | HTML Citation | OpenURL | Reference Manager|
|Social Networking:|| |
|Uncontrolled Keywords:||Dietary Guidelines for Americans, sodium, hypertension, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, African-American, racial disparities in health, salt sensitivity|
|Subjects:||Health > Health Equity|
Health > Disparities
Health > Public Health > Chronic Illness & Diseases > Diabetes
Health > Public Health > Chronic Illness & Diseases > Hypertension
Health > Public Health > Chronic Illness & Diseases > Obesity
Health > Public Health > Health Risk Factors
|Depositing User:||Users 141 not found.|
|Date Deposited:||18 Apr 2011 21:32|
|Last Modified:||18 Apr 2011 21:32|
|Link to this item (URI):||http://health-equity.pitt.edu/id/eprint/2404|
Actions (login required)
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HARARE, Zimbabwe -- Crocodiles took a narrow lead over elephants as the most dangerous animal to humans in Zimbabwe this year, a conservation group reported Wednesday.
Crocodiles dragged away and ate 13 people -- including children -- in the first 10 months of 2005, according to the Communal Areas Management Program for Indigenous Resources, known as Campfire.
Elephants charged and trampled 12 others, including some villagers trying to protect their crops from the giant herbivores, who eat an average 300 kilograms (660 pounds) of fodder a day as adults, the group said in its annual report.
Buffalo and hippopotamuses, also considered among Africa's most dangerous animals, killed one person apiece.
Lions are reported to have killed 17 cattle belonging to a traditional leader in western Zimbabwe in November, but there were no fatal attacks on humans. Rogue lions who acquire a taste for human prey are usually hunted down.
The Campfire group was founded after the country gained independence from Britain in 1980. The group promotes the management of wildlife and use of wildlife products in sparsely populated areas. The report is part of its efforts to educate remote communities about the dangers of animal attacks.
"Most of the time there is no recognition of that fact, that communities are always on the front line of the battle between man and beast," said Campfire director Charles Jonga.
Crocodiles prey on villagers who fish and wash in rivers and lakes, conservationists say. Elephants can become enraged when confronted by people, or when females are separated from their young. Buffalo and hippos can also attack when disturbed.
Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of UnderwaterTimes.com, its staff or its advertisers.
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Exploring on your own
Now that you have learned the basics of formatting text in an InDesign document, you’re ready to apply these skills on your own. Try the following tasks to improve your typography skills.
- Place an insertion point in various paragraphs and experiment with turning hyphenation on and off in the Paragraph panel. Select a hyphenated word and choose No Break from the Character panel menu to stop an individual word from hyphenating.
- Experiment with different hyphenation settings. First, select all the text in the main story. Then, choose Hyphenation from the Paragraph panel menu. In the Hyphenation Settings dialog box, select Preview, and then experiment with the settings. For example, Hyphenate Capitalized Words is selected for this text, but an editor would probably want to turn it off to prevent the chef’s name from hyphenating.
- Experiment with different justification settings. First, select all the text, and then click Justify With Last Line Aligned Left () in the Paragraph panel. Choose Justification from the Paragraph panel menu. In the Justification dialog box, select Preview and experiment with the settings. For example, look at the difference that the Adobe Single-line Composer and the Adobe Paragraph Composer make when applied to justified (rather than left-aligned) text.
- Choose Type > Insert Special Character and view all the options available, such as Symbols > Bullet Character and Hyphens And Dashes > Em Dash. Using these characters rather than hyphens significantly enhances how professional the typography looks. Choose Type > Insert White Space and notice the Nonbreaking Space. Use this to “glue” two words together so they cannot split at the end of a line (such as “Mac OS”).
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Alzheimer's Drug Slows Memory Decline
Other Alzheimer's Drugs in Late-Stage Testing
There are more than 5 million Americans living with Alzheimer's disease, which disrupts memory, learning, and other mental functions. In 2010, estimates showed nearly half a million new cases each year, and by 2050, there will be nearly a million new cases annually, according to the Alzheimer's Association.
Also at the meeting, researchers offered an update on another drug called bapineuzumab, which targets beta-amyloid in the brain.
In August, researchers reported that patients taking bapineuzumab didn't fare any better in terms of memory loss or daily functioning than those taking placebo.
Reisa Sperling, MD, director of the Center for Alzheimer's Research and Treatment at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, now reports that imaging studies show bapineuzumab reduces beta-amyloid more than placebo.
Is the lack of a bigger effect in terms of reducing symptoms because "we are giving too little of the drug or giving the drug too late?" she asks.
"Hopefully, these new results from the bapineuzumab studies together with the clinical results from the solanezumab studies may provide a potential path forward for Alzheimer's research,'' Sperling says.
No cost has been set for either drug, but targeted disease-modifying drugs used to treat arthritis generally cost hundreds of dollars a month.
These findings were presented at a medical conference. They should be considered preliminary, as they have not yet undergone the "peer review" process, in which outside experts scrutinize the data prior to publication in a medical journal.
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F. Background, References, and Resources
On this Page
- F.1 Background to the Development of the H/L ATS
- F.2 References and Resources
- F.3 Contacts
This guide is intended to be used by health practitioners, researchers, and statisticians who are interested in collecting data on tobacco use, cessation, secondhand smoke, risk perceptions and social influences, and demographic information from Hispanic/Latino populations. Specific sections of the guide may be most appropriate for specific uses: health practitioners might use Sections A, B, and F; interviewer training may benefit most from Section B; and researchers and statisticians may want to consult Sections C, D, and E. In this section we provide this array of users with the detailed history, theoretical demands, and practical considerations informing the Hispanic/Latino Adult Tobacco Survey (H/L ATS). We conclude with a bibliographic list of resources subdivided by content area of the guide. Contact information completes the resources offered here.
F.1 Background to the Development of the H/L ATS
The H/L ATS is a culturally appropriate adult tobacco use questionnaire administered to determine among Hispanic and Latino adults in the United States the prevalence of tobacco use, exposure to secondhand smoke, and exposure to influences for and against tobacco use. The availability of a consistent, well-developed questionnaire will improve the quality of this information, which will in turn aid in the development of culturally sensitive and effective tobacco control programs for Hispanic and Latino populations. Section F.1 provides the user of this guide with the background and rationale for the development of these survey materials.
F.1.1 Purpose of a Culturally Appropriate H/L ATS
Hispanic and Latino persons residing in the United States embody a unique set of attitudes, behaviors, knowledge, experience, and other cultural characteristics. These characteristics call for a customized approach to measuring health-compromising behaviors such as tobacco use, in order that truly effective cessation and prevention programs may be developed in this population at the local, state, and regional levels (Kerner, Breen, Tefft, & Silsby, 1998). To this end, in 2002, under the direction of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Office on Smoking and Health (OSH), the General Population State ATS was adapted to create the H/L ATS. The H/L ATS was designed specifically to measure general health, tobacco use, cessation, exposure to secondhand smoke, risk perceptions, social influences, and demographics among Hispanic and Latino adults.
For information and background on the General Population State ATS, see the Guidelines for Conducting General Population State Adult Tobacco Surveys (Mariolis, in press).
Growth in Hispanic and Latino Populations
The need for targeted, culturally sensitive tobacco use prevention programs is substantiated by the growing number of Hispanic and Latino persons residing in the United States. The U.S. Hispanic and Latino population already constitutes a large portion of the overall population, and the numbers are increasing rapidly. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2003 there were 39.9 million Hispanic/Latino persons living in the United States (U.S. Census Bureau, 2004), a 78% increase over 1990 (22.4 million). It is expected that the number of Hispanic/Latino persons living in the United States will increase to 102.6 million by the year 2050. If these Census projections are correct, 24.4%, or about 1 of every 4 persons residing in the United States, will be of Hispanic or Latino origin (U.S. Census Bureau, 2004).
If the Hispanic/Latino adult smoking prevalence remains at its average level of 18.3% (1990–1999) for the next 50 years, the number of Hispanic and Latino adult smokers will increase from 3.8 million in the year 2000 to 11.0 million in the year 2050. Although the H/L ATS is not administered to those under the age of 18, data on adults will inform prevention programs for younger Hispanic and Latino persons, who are the largest minority youth population in the United States and 16% of the population under age 18 (Flores et al., 2002).
Tobacco Use and Exposure Among Hispanic and Latino Populations
The Hispanic and Latino populations in the United States face unique challenges that put them at higher risk than the general population for tobacco use and exposure to smoke:
- Depending on location, about one fifth of Hispanic or Latino persons have low English-language skills (U.S. Census Bureau, 2004).
- The Hispanic and Latino populations are likely to have limited exposure to anti-tobacco use information, educational materials, media messages, and cessation services, compared with those who have better English-language skills.
- The Hispanic and Latino populations continue to be the target of intensive tobacco-industry marketing efforts. These efforts include sponsorship of cultural events, funding of Hispanic and Latino organizations and issues, and other targeted marketing efforts.
- Initial evidence suggests that Hispanic and Latino workers tend to be more exposed than other workers to secondhand smoke on the job. This increased exposure occurs even though Hispanic and Latino populations often demonstrate high levels of awareness of the health risks posed by secondhand smoke, as well as strong support for smoke-free policies.
- As Hispanic and Latino persons become more acculturated, initial findings suggest that their rate of smoking is increasing and approaching that of the general population. This trend is of particular concern with regard to younger people.
Several issues pertain directly to the design and implementation of successful tobacco control programs in the Hispanic and Latino population assessed with the H/L ATS:
- Prevalence of "occasional," or nondaily, smoking.
- Increase in use of menthol cigarettes.
- Prevalence of smoking cessation and quit attempts.
- Methods used to quit, including nontraditional methods possibly unique to Hispanic/Latino persons.
- Rules and perceptions about secondhand smoke exposure in the home and at work.
- Additional demographic considerations (e.g., country of birth, education and income levels, length of stay in the United States).
Hispanic and Latino communities have unique strengths and assets conducive to effective tobacco control initiatives. By acting now to help these communities implement sustained, culturally appropriate tobacco control interventions, researchers and health practitioners can avert the predicted rise in smoking and the associated danger of smoking-related disease.
F.1.2 Design of the H/L ATS Questionnaires and Survey Methodology
CDC convened a meeting of leading researchers and health program administrators, "Effective Tobacco Control in Hispanic/Latino Communities," in August 2002. The purpose of this meeting was to address questions about tobacco control specifically as it relates to program, policy, communication, surveillance, and evaluation in various Hispanic and Latino populations. The subsequent findings and recommendations specific to surveillance needs assisted in the development of the H/L ATS. Recommendations that directly influenced the development of the H/L ATS included the following:
- Increase sample sizes to generate more precise estimates of tobacco use prevalence in Hispanic and Latino populations.
- Collect information on secondhand smoke exposure rates and on attitudes toward public policy.
- Appropriately adapt, both culturally and linguistically, survey questions for the Hispanic/Latino population.
- Monitor the prevalence of and trends in "occasional smoking" among Hispanic and Latino populations.
- Collect data at the regional and state levels.
- Track and analyze the effects of acculturation, income levels, and education levels on tobacco use prevalence and behaviors among Hispanic and Latino populations.
- Conduct research on whether differences in tobacco use prevalence between specific Hispanic/Latino populations are due to differences in culture or to differences in class and income (or socioeconomic) status.
- Examine the reasons for disparities among various Hispanic/Latino populations.
During the meeting, strong consensus emerged that tobacco control interventions that acknowledge and highlight the cultural strengths, assets, and protective factors of the Hispanic and Latino population would be most effective. Conversely, it was agreed that interventions that failed to recognize the unique linguistic, social, and cultural characteristics of this population would be relatively ineffective.
During the August 2002 meeting, 10 researchers reviewed the OSH General Population State Adult Tobacco Telephone Survey. These 10 researchers were selected for the review of the survey instrument because of their expertise in tobacco control and their research experience with specific Hispanic and Latino subpopulations (e.g., Mexican American, Puerto Rican, and Cuban). The researchers advised OSH which questions were appropriate and which were inappropriate for Hispanic and Latino populations.
Five of the original 10 researchers were subsequently identified to provide more in-depth recommendations on how to adapt the survey for the Hispanic and Latino population. A second meeting was held at CDC, where the five researchers and an OSH epidemiologist continued to modify the General Population State ATS to make the questions more culturally appropriate for Hispanic and Latino subgroups. In addition, new questions specific to Hispanic and Latino populations were added to the instrument, such as the following: "In the past 12 months, have you seen a medicine man (curandero), santero, spiritist (espiritista), herbalist (yerbero), religious leaders (priest, pastor, rabbi, etc.), or other non– health professionals to help you quit smoking?" New demographic questions also elicit country of birth, educational levels, income levels, and language preference.
The H/L ATS is meant to be readily usable by public health organizations at all levels. The H/L ATS can be administered either as a telephone interview or as an in-person interview, and in English or Spanish.7 Two of the case studies described in Section C use telephone administration, and the third uses in-person interviewing. Each of the case studies selected the administration mode that best suited its particular study population. To further increase the usability of the H/L ATS, complementary survey materials (i.e., screeners, consent forms, and advance letters in both English and Spanish) were developed as part of the H/L ATS package.8 All materials are publicly available to jurisdictions, organizations, and individuals.
- The H/L ATS questionnaire and screener are available in three versions: all English, all Spanish, and Spanish with English instructions for interviewers and programmers. The designers of the H/L ATS have anticipated that the survey may be used in countries where Spanish is the national language. The "all Spanish" version is appropriate when all interviewers, programmers, and survey staff are Spanish monolinguals. The "Spanish with English instructions" version is appropriate when it is expected that those programming the computerized version of the questionnaire will be English monolinquals.
- The consent form and consent text provided here differ slightly from those used in CDC's 2007 survey.
F.1.3 Development of Spanish Versions of the H/L ATS
Consensus Approach to Translation
Committee approaches to translation have been used since the 1960s (Nida, 1964) and more recently in the translation of data collection instruments (Acquadro, Jambon, Ellis, & Marquis, 1996; Brislin, 1976; Guillemin, Bombardier, & Beaton, 1993; Schoua-Glusberg, 1992). Moreover, the Census Bureau guideline for survey translation now recommends this approach (U.S. Census Bureau, 2004). Its strength is that consensus among bilinguals produces more accurate text than the subjective opinion of a single translator: problems of personal idiosyncrasies, culture, and uneven skill in either language are overcome. Translation by committee produced the Spanish version of the H/L ATS.
The core modules of the H/L ATS were originally translated into Spanish by an epidemiologist within OSH. This translation underwent review by a team of three translators who are native speakers of some of the main varieties of Spanish spoken in the United States (Mexican, Puerto Rican, and South American). This review was refereed by a specialist with 2 decades of experience in chairing survey translation committees. For the supplemental modules, there existed no original Spanish translation. The team of three translators worked independently, translating from English one third of the protocol each. After this initial translation, another refereed reconciliation meeting was held to ensure each item reflected the intent of the English original and was equally effective in Spanish.
In reconciliation meetings, each translator contributed to the discussion to improve and refine the translation, in order to make the Spanish culturally appropriate for the three majority Latino or Hispanic populations. In the discussions, each member was required to articulate the reasons for suggested changes or improvements to the original translation. The team looked together for alternative translations, finally selecting by consensus.
Cognitive Research to Enhance Cultural Adaptation
Upon completion of the translations, the questionnaires were subjected to extensive cognitive testing with members of the target populations residing in Miami, New York City, El Paso, and Chicago. Cognitive testing was conducted to establish that the questions are culturally appropriate and sensible; that they will be understood similarly across participants of different national origins, education levels, or income levels; and that the Spanish translation works well across such a diversity of respondents. As is the case in every cognitive evaluation project, a goal was also to identify any question-processing problems or difficulties respondents might experience—including cognitive complexity of questions, words not understood, problems in stems or response categories, and recall issues—that could lead to measurement error.
Cognitive interviews are a qualitative method that determines not only which items work and which present problems, but also why certain items do not work. Because they are bilingual, translators are systematically different from the monolingual (and often monocultural) population for whom the translated instrument is prepared. With the use of such qualitative methods, the generation of a translated text brings together, at each stage of the process, the combined efforts of professional translators and the input of the audience.
Sixty-eight interviews—19 in English, and 49 in Spanish—were conducted in two rounds, between June 2004 and April 2005 (Table F-1). Recruiting for interviews was accomplished through community organizations and agencies in each city.
|Origin and residence||Spanish interviews||English interviews|
Findings from the first round of interviews were used to make changes intended to reduce or eliminate problems and error. In the second round, these changes were tested. The current, final version of the English and Spanish H/L ATS includes the modifications stemming from both rounds of cognitive interviews. The resulting version is suitable for the broader Latino population of the United States.
F.2 References and Resources
F.2.1 Background to Hispanic/Latino Surveying and the ATS
- Flores G, Fuentes-Afflick E, Barbot O, Carter-Pokras O, Claudio L, Lara M, et al. The health of Latino children: urgent priorities, unanswered questions, and a research agenda. Journal of the American Medical Association 2002;288(1):82–90.
- Kerner J, Breen N, Tefft M, Silsby J. Tobacco use among multi-ethnic Latino populations. Ethnicity & Disease 1998;8(2):167–183.
- Mariolis M. Guidelines for Conducting General Population State Adult Tobacco Surveys. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; in press.
- U.S. Census Bureau. U.S. Census Report: Language Use and English Speaking Ability [PDF–482 KB]. Available at http://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/c2kbr-29.pdf.
- Waksberg J, Levine D, Marker D. Assessment of Major Federal Data Sets for Analyses of Hispanic and Asian or Pacific Islander Subgroups and Native Americans: Extending the Utility of Federal Data Bases. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation; 2000. Available at http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/minority-db00/task3/section2.htm.
- Acquadro C, Jambon B, Ellis D, Marquis P. Language and translation issues. In: Spilker B, editor. Quality Life and Pharmacoeconomics in Clinical Trials. 2nd edition. Philadelphia: Lippincott–Raven; 1996:575–585.
- Al-Tayyib AA, Rogers SM, Gribble JN, Villarroel M, Turner CF. Effect of low medical literacy on health survey measurements. American Journal of Public Health 2002:92;1478–1481.
- Bernal H, Wooley S, Schensul JJ. The challenge of using Likert-type scales with low-literate ethnic populations. Nursing Research 1997;46:179–181.
- Brislin R. Introduction. In: Brislin R, editor. Translation: Applications and Research. New York: Gardner; 1976.
- Brodie M, Steffenson A, Valdez J, Levin R, Suro R. 2002 National Survey of Latinos. Menlo Park, CA: Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation; 2002. Washington, DC: Pew Hispanic Center. Available at http://www.kff.org/kaiserpolls/20021217a-index.cfm.
- Carley-Baxter L, Link MW, Roe D, Quiroz RS. Does context really matter? Results from a Spanish language advance letter pilot. Presentation to the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) conference, Montreal, Canada, May 2006.
- Dillman DA. Mail and Internet Surveys: The Tailored Design Method. New York: Wiley; 2000.
- Dillman DA, Redline C, Carley-Baxter L. Influence of type of question on skip pattern compliance in self-administered questionnaires. Proceedings of the American Statistical Association, Section on Survey Methods. 2000.
- Erkut S, Alarcon O, Garcia CC, Tropp LR, Vazquez Garcia HA. The "dual focus" approach to creating bilingual measures. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 1999;30:206–218.
- Gallagher PM, Fowler FJ, Stringfellow VL. Hablamos español: collecting information by mail from Spanish-speaking Medicaid enrollees. Paper presented to the American Association of Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) conference, St. Petersburg Beach, FL, May 1999.
- Guillemin F, Bombardier C, Beaton D. Cross-cultural adaptation of health-related quality of life measures: literature review and proposed guidelines. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology 1993;46:1417−1432.
- Harris-Kojetin LD, Fowler FJ, Brown JA, Schnaier JA, Sweeny SF. The use of cognitive testing to develop and evaluate CAHPS 1.0 core survey items. Medical Care 1999;37:MS10–MS21.
- Herdman M, Fox-Rushby J, Badia X. "Equivalence" and the translation and adaptation of health-related quality of life questionnaires. Quality of Life Research 1997;6:237–247.
- Marin G, Marin BVO. Research with Hispanic populations. Applied Social Research Methods Series 1991;23:1–130.
- McKay RB, Breslow MJ, Sangster RL, Gabbard SM, Reynolds RW, Nakamoto JM, et al. Translating survey questionnaires: lessons learned. New Directions in Evaluation 1996;70:93–104.
- Morales LS, Weidmer BO, Hays RD. Readability of CAHPS 2.0 Child and Adult Core Surveys. In: M. Cynamon M, Kulka R, editors. Seventh Conference on Health Survey Research Methods. Hyattsville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; 2001:83–90.
- Nida EA. Toward a Science of Translating. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill; 1964.
- Rosal MC, Carbone ET, Goins KV. Use of cognitive interviewing to adapt measurement instruments for low-literate Hispanics. Diabetes Educator 2003;29:1006–1017.
- Schoua-Glusberg A. Report on the Translation of the Questionnaire for the National Treatment Improvement Evaluation Study. Chicago: National Opinion Research Center; 1992.
- Schoua-Glusberg A. Screening households in Chicago: Latino cooperation rate in the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN). Poster session presented at Hearing the Unheard: Interviewing Minorities, University of Nebraska Survey Research Center 2nd Annual Symposium, Lincoln, April 1998.
- Schoua-Glusberg A. Privacy, Census and Surveys: Latinos' Views: Final Report for Protecting Privacy Project Contract Research. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau; 2000.
- U.S. Census Bureau. Census Bureau Guideline: Language Translation of Data Collection Instruments and Supporting Materials [PDF–482 KB]. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau; 2004. Available at http://www.census.gov/srd/papers/pdf/rsm2005-06.pdf.
- Weech-Maldonado R, Weidmer BO, Morales LS, Hays RD. Evaluating Measurement Equivalence across Race and Ethnicity on the CAHPS® Cultural Competence Survey. Hyattsville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 2000:75–82. Available at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/conf/conf07.pdf.
F.2.3 Sampling and Weighting
- Albright V, DiSogra C, Krotki K, Bye L. Special challenges of conducting research in California. Presentation to the annual meeting of the Society for Applied Sociology, Sacramento, CA, October 2002.
- American Association of Public Opinion Research (AAPOR). Standard Definitions: Final Dispositions of Case Codes and Outcome Rates for Surveys. Lenexa, KS: AAPOR; 2004.
- Biernacki P, Waldorf D. Snowball sampling: problems and techniques of chain referral sampling. Sociological Methods and Research 1981;10(2):141–163.
- Birnbaum ZW, Sirken MG. Design of Sample Surveys to Estimate the Prevalence of Rare Diseases: Three Unbiased Estimates. Series 2, No. 11. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, Vital and Health Statistics. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 1965.
- Blair J, Czaja R. Locating a special population using random digit dialing. Public Opinion Quarterly 1982;46(4):585–590.
- Blumberg SJ, Halfon N, Olson LM. The national survey of early childhood health. Pediatrics 2004;113:1899–1906.
- Boyle WR, Kalsbeek WD. Extensions to the two-stratum model for sampling rare subgroups in telephone surveys. Proceedings of the Section on Survey Research Methods, American Statistical Association. 2005. [CD-ROM].
- Carr K, HertvikJ. Within-household selection: is anybody listening? Proceedings of the Section on Survey Research Methods, American Statistical Association. 1993:1119– 1123.
- Casady RJ, Lepkowski JM. Optimal allocation for stratified telephone survey designs. Proceedings of the Section on Survey Research Methods, American Statistical Association. 1991:111–116.
- Casady RJ, Lepkowski JM. Stratified telephone survey designs. Survey Methodology 1993;19:103–113.
- Cochran WG. Sampling Techniques. 3rd edition. New York: Wiley; 1977.
- Deville JC, Särndal CE. Calibration estimators in survey sampling. Journal of the American Statistical Association 1992;87:376–382.
- Gaziano C. Comparative analysis of within-household respondent selection techniques. Public Opinion Quarterly 2005;69(1):124–157.
- Hartley HO. Multiple frame methodology and selected applications. Sankhya: The Indian Journal of Statistics 1974;36C:99–118.
- Horvitz DG, Thompson DJ. A generalization of sampling without replacement from a finite universe. Journal of the American Statistical Association 1952;47:663–685.
- Iannacchione VG, Staab JM, Redden DT. Evaluating the use of residential mailing addresses in a metropolitan household survey. Proceedings of the Section on Survey Research Methods, American Statistical Association. 2003:4028–4033.
- Johnson RL, Saha S, Arbelaez JJ, Beach MC, Cooper LA. Racial and ethnic differences in patient perceptions of bias and cultural competence in health care. Journal of General Internal Medicine 2004;19(2):101–110.
- Kalsbeek WD. Sampling minority groups in health surveys. Statistics in Medicine 2003;22:1527–1549.
- Kalsbeek WD, Agans RP. Sampling and weighting in household telephone surveys. In: Lepkowski JM, et al., editors. Advances in Telephone Survey Methodology. New York: Wiley; 2007.
- Kalsbeek WD, Boyle WR, Agans RP, White JE. Disproportionate sampling for population subgroups in telephone surveys. Statistics in Medicine 2007;26(8):1657–1674.
- Kalsbeek WD, Kavanagh ST, Wu J. Using GIS-based property tax records as an alternative to traditional household listing in area samples. Proceedings of the Section on Survey Research Methods, American Statistical Association. 2004:3750–3757.
- Kalton G. Introduction to Survey Sampling. Newbury Park, CA: Sage; 1983.
- Kalton G, Flores-Cervantes I. Weighting methods. Journal of Official Statistics 2003;19(2):81–97.
- Kish L. Survey Sampling. New York: Wiley; 1965.
- Lessler JT, Kalsbeek WD. Nonsampling Error in Surveys. New York: Wiley; 1992.
- Lohr SL. Sampling: Design and Analysis. Pacific Grove, CA: Duxbury Press; 1999.
- Mosca L, Ferris A, Fabunmi R, Robertson RM. Tracking women's awareness of heart disease. Circulation 2004;109:573–579.
- Moy E, Bartman BA. Physician race and care of minority and medically indigent patients. Journal of the American Medical Association 1995;273(19):1515–1520.
- Oldendick RW, Bishop GF, Sorenson SB, Tuchfarber AJ. A comparison of the Kish and last birthday methods of respondent selection in telephone surveys. Journal of Official Statistics 1988;4(4):307–318.
- Särndal CE, Swensson B, Wretman J. Model Assisted Survey Sampling. New York: Springer-Verlag; 1992.
- Thompson SK. Adaptive cluster sampling. Journal of the American Statistical Association 1990;85(412):1050–1059.
- Troldahl VC, Carter RE. Random selection of respondents within households in phone surveys. Journal of Marketing Research 1964;1:71–76.
- Waksberg J. The effect of stratification with differential sampling rates on attributes of subsets of the population. Proceedings of the Survey Research Methods Section, American Statistical Association. 1973:429–434.
- Waksberg J, Levine D, Marker D. Assessment of Major Federal Data Sets for Analyses of Hispanic and Asian or Pacific Islander Subgroups and Native Americans: Extending the Utility of Federal Data Bases. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation; 2000. Available at http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/minority-db00/task2/index.htm.
- Wolter KM. Introduction to Variance Estimation. New York: Springer-Verlag; 1985.
F.2.4 Analysis and Reporting
- Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights (ANRF). States and Municipalities with 100% Smokefree Laws in Workplaces, Restaurants, or Bars. [PDF–129 KB] Available at http://www.no-smoke.org/pdf/WRBLawsMap.pdf.
- Brownson RC, Hopkins DP, Wakefield MA. Effects of smoking restrictions in the workplace. Annual Review of Public Health 2002;23:333–348.
- Clark PI, Gardiner PS, Djordjevic MV, Leischow SJ, Robinson RG. Menthol cigarettes: setting the research agenda. Nicotine & Tobacco Research 2004;6(Suppl. 1):S5–S9.
- Fleiss JL, Levin B, Paik MC. Statistical Methods for Rates and Proportions. 3rd edition. New York: Wiley; 2003.
- Giovino GA, Sidney S, Gfroerer JC, O'Malley PM, Allen JA, Richter PA, et al. Epidemiology of menthol cigarette use. Nicotine & Tobacco Research 2004;6(Suppl. 1):S67–S81.
- Mowery PD, Farrelly MC, Haviland ML, Gable JM, Wells HE. Progression to established smoking among US youths. American Journal of Public Health 2004;94(2):331–337.
- Nazaroff WW, Singer BC. Inhalation of hazardous air pollutants from environmental tobacco smoke in US residences. Journal of Exposure Analysis and Environmental Epidemiology 2004;14(Suppl. 1):S71–S77.
- Pirkle JL, Flegal KM, Bernert JT, Brody DJ, Etzel RA, Maurer KR. Exposure of the US population to environmental tobacco smoke: the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1988 to 1991. Journal of the American Medical Association 1996;275(16):1233–1240. Shopland DR, Anderson CM, Burns DM, Gerlach KK. Disparities in smoke-free workplace policies among food service workers. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine 2004;46(4):347–356.
- U.S. Census Bureau. Current Population Survey, February, June, and November 2003: Tobacco Use Supplement Technical Documentation CPS-03 [CD-ROM]. Washington, DC: Marketing Services Office, Customer Services Center, U.S. Bureau of the Census; 2006. Available at http://riskfactor.cancer.gov/studies/tus-cps/index.html.
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (USDHHS). The Health Benefits of Smoking Cessation: A Report of the Surgeon General. Rockville, MD: USDHHS, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Coordinating Center for Health Promotion, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health; 1990. USDHHS Publication No. [CDC] YO-K-116.
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (USDHHS). Tobacco Use Among U.S. Racial/Ethnic Minority Groups—African Americans, American Indians and Alaska Natives, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and Hispanics: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: USDHHS, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Coordinating Center for Health Promotion, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health; 1998.
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (USDHHS). The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: USDHHS, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Coordinating Center for Health Promotion, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health; 2006.
F.2.5 Enhancing Response Rates
- Albright V. Current methodological issues in telephone interviewing. Presentation to the annual meeting of Bay Area Survey Evaluators, Researchers, and Statisticians, University of California, Berkeley, September 2003.
- Albright V, Bye L. Integrating priority populations into comprehensive surveillance and evaluation systems: California's LGBT Population Survey. Paper presented at the 2003 National Conference on Tobacco or Health Conference, Boston, MA, May 2003.
- American Association of Public Opinion Research (AAPOR). Resources for Researchers. 2006. Available at http://www.aapor.org/resources.
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (USDHHS). Effective Tobacco Control in Hispanic/Latino Communities: A Synopsis of Key Findings and Recommendations. Atlanta, GA: USDHHS, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Coordinating Center for Health Promotion, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health; 2004.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health
- Page last reviewed: March 10, 2016
- Page last updated: December 30, 2014
- Content source:
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Common name: Native Violet, Showy Violet
Viola betonicifolia Sm. APNI*
Description: Perennial herb, stems short, erect, glabrous or slightly pubescent.
Leaves with lamina mostly 1–6 cm long, 5–25 mm wide, margins entire or shallowly crenate; petiole 1.5–8 cm long; stipules linear, entire or laciniate, fused to petiole.
Scapes to 20 cm long; bracteoles below the middle. Sepals 3–6 mm long. Petals usually 9–15 mm long, violet to ± white, the lower with a short spur, the laterals hairy within.
Capsule ellipsoid, 7–13 mm long, apex acute.
Distribution and occurrence: Widespread in woodland and forest.
NSW subdivisions: NC, CC, SC, NT, CT, ST, NWS, CWS, SWS, SWP
Other Australian states: Qld Vic. Tas. S.A.
Text by T. A. James
Taxon concept: Flora of NSW 1 (1990)
APNI* Provides a link to the Australian Plant Name Index (hosted by the Australian National Botanic Gardens) for comprehensive bibliographic data
***The AVH map option provides a detailed interactive Australia wide distribution map drawn from collections held by all major Australian herbaria participating in the Australian Virtual Herbarium project.
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The body paragraphs need to thoroughly address all
elements of the task by: demonstrating an understanding of the
theme; incorporating relevant facts, examples, and details; and
presenting everything in an organized manner.
This is where the completion of a pre-writing table
really pays off! If constructed and filled in properly, this table
will form the basis of organizing the body paragraphs of the thematic
essay response. For example:
The colors above highlight how the information about
can be organized into three body paragraphs. One approach to writing
this essay would be to compose one body paragraph
about slavery, another body paragraph
about segregation and the Civil Rights Movement, and a
final paragraph discussing how voting rights, affirmative action
and economic gains demonstrate that equality has been achieved
by African Americans. For example:
The enslavement of African Americans
beginning in the earliest days of our founding as a colony
of England, and ending in 1865, represents the most fundamental
denial of rights. Slaves had no rights whatsoever, and were
even beaten, raped, and killed by their white owners and
overseers. During this time, even freedmen risked
if they were suspected of being a runaway slave. Slavery
was officially banned in the United States with the passage
of the Thirteenth Amendment at the end of the Civil War.
After being freed, African Americans were also provided
with the same rights afforded to all Americans. The Fourteenth
Amendment granted citizenship and equal protection, and
the Fifteenth Amendment provided all males with the right
to vote. However, shortly after Reconstruction ended, African
Americans once again were denied basic civil rights.
Jim Crow laws were passed and Black
Codes were designed to keep African Americans in conditions
very close to the previous servitude. Eventually, racial
segregation took hold, and in 1896 the landmark Supreme
Court case of Plessy v. Ferguson established the
Separate But Equal Doctrine. This stated that so long as
the facilities provided for each race were equal, they were
legal. Thus, legal segregation would be the norm for at
least the next fifty years. Plessy v. Ferguson was
eventually overturned in 1954 in the Brown v. Board
case in which the Supreme Court decided that all public
schools were to integrate as quickly as possible. Then,
Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of the bus to accommodate
a white passenger in 1955. Eventually, through an organized
bus boycott forced the end of segregated bus seating in
Montgomery, Alabama. The Civil Rights Movement continued,
leading to an expansion of rights currently enjoyed by all
African Americans today.
Currently, African American enjoy
equality on a level never before seen. The Twenty-Fourth
Amendment banned the use of the poll tax, removing the last
legal obstacle used by states to prevent African Americans
from voting. Today, the vote of African Americans is courted
by politicians from both the Republican and Democratic parties.
Affirmative action has also leveled the playing field in
a variety of areas of life including education and the workplace.
This has helped African American achieve economic gains
that have helped to place many solidly in the middle class.
The table above formed the basis for the content
included in these body paragraphs. It has allowed the writer to
visualize the flow of the essay before committing to a single paragraph
to paper. The facts in the table were embellished with details
designed to thoroughly address all aspects of the task.
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- About the College
- Find news
- Departments & other units
- Development, Alumni & Advocacy
- Give online
- Search options
- Quick links
- University phonebook
- Contact options
- CALS homepage
- University of Arizona homepage
Cultivating Gardeners and Urban Farmers
A half-acre farm has sprouted up on a vacant lot across from the light-rail station in the heart of the nation’s sixth largest city, Phoenix.
The Phoenix Urban Research Farm is where urbanites – a generation or two removed from agrarian life – go to learn how to garden or even how to start a small farm business.
The farm, which is helping to meet the increasing demand for locally grown food, is managed by faculty at the Maricopa County Cooperative Extension, part of the UA College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
"You can't just plant on a vacant lot and expect it to grow," said Haley Paul, an urban agricultural assistant. "We're educating people on how to grow food in the low desert."
Volunteers have turned the sunbaked lot – vacant for 20 years – into a productive research farm, which is part of a 15-acre urban revitalization project, a partnership of Keep Phoenix Beautiful and landowner Barron Collier Companies.
The first step was planting cover crops of rye, peas and turnips in the hard-packed caliche, a type of sedimentary rock.
"Turnips are amazing at breaking up the soil and crowding out competing weeds," Paul said. "Those crops were plowed under to further condition the soil. We spent many hours of volunteer service to get these beds ready for summer crops."
The next step is recruiting more volunteers for the harvest.
Read more from this April 7 UANews article at the link below.
Date released:Apr 17 2014
Contact:Kelly Murray Young
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<urn:uuid:8fffa2bd-f767-4d1a-8768-48649704eda8>
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http://mailto:btainfo@ag.arizona.edu/spotlight/cultivating-gardeners-urban-farmers
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Ferré-D'Amaré Lab Research > Catalytic RNAs
Catalytic RNAs (also called ribozymes) are responsible for essential physiologic functions in all organisms. An atomic-level understanding of their mechanism of action that is grounded in the principles of physics and chemistry is a prerequisite for the manipulation of ribozyme function in health and disease. By determining their crystal structures in multiple functional states, we have generated 'molecular movies' of the hairpin and glmS ribozymes in action. These studies revealed how ribozymes can preferentially stabilize the transition state of their reactions, and how the glmS ribozyme can employ a small molecule as a coenzyme. We have also analyzed several artificial ribozymes with biotechnological applications, including an RNA ligase ribozyme and flexizyme, an aminoacil-tRNA synthetase.
• Lau, M.W.L & Ferré-D'Amaré, A.R. An in vitro evolved glmS ribozyme has the wild-type fold but loses coenzyme dependence. Nature Chemical Biology 9, 805-810 (2013). [abstract]
• Ferré-D'Amaré, A.R. & Scott, W.G. The small self-cleaving ribozymes. Cold Spring Harbor Persp. Biol. (published online September 15, 2010). [abstract]
• Xiao, H., Murakami, H., Suga, H. & Ferré-D'Amaré, A.R. Structural basis of specific tRNA aminoacylation by a small in vitro selected ribozyme. Nature 454, 358-361 (2008). [abstract]
• Klein, D.J., & Ferré-D’Amaré, A.R. Structural basis of glmS ribozyme activation by glucosamine-6-phosphate. Science 313, 1752-1756 (2006). [abstract]
• Rupert, P.B., Massey, A., Sigurdsson, S.Th. & Ferré-D'Amaré, A.R. Transition state stabilization by a catalytic RNA. Science 298, 1421-1424 (2002). [abstract]
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Manzanillo (mänsänēˈyō) [key], city (1994 est. pop. 98,000), Granma prov., SE Cuba, a port on the Guacanayabo Gulf of the Caribbean Sea. A leading city on Cuba's southern coast, Manzanillo is a commercial center and the exportation point for the agricultural produce (sugarcane, rice, tobacco) of the Cauto plain. The city was founded in 1784 and was long a smuggling center involving British merchants from Jamaica. An attack by Great Britain on Manzanillo in 1792 destroyed numerous Spanish ships in the harbor and led to the fortification of the city.
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Warmer climates are shrinking Tibetan glaciers at their summits, researchers have discovered.
A study has shown that the glaciers may be losing ice at altitudes of up to 6000 metres.
Examining trapped chemical compounds in the ice, the research team discovered they were able to detect the signature of nuclear tests that occurred between 1952 and 1963, but not those of more recent events such as the Chernobyl nuclear disaster which happened in 1986.
This suggests that ice layers formed on the glacier from the 1950s onwards have melted away.
The Tibetan ice acts as a water reservoir for vast regions in China and South Asia and to the hundreds of millions of people that live there.Read more at Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research
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http://theconversation.com/tibetan-glaciers-decapitated-by-warming-climate-18326
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Sacagawea also Sakakawea or Sacajawea, was a Lemhi Shoshone woman who
helped the Lewis and Clark Expedition achieve each of its chartered mission
objectives exploring the Louisiana Purchase. With th...
Do you know the story of Sacagawea, the woman who is on the new $1 ... In
1800, when she was 12 years old, Hidatsa warriors raided her tribe and captured
... Along with maintaining the lodges, women did most of the farming and grew
Remarkably, Sacagawea did it all while caring for the son she bore just two ....
novel do the real woman a disservice, as her true legacy of accomplishments ...
Sacagawea played a very important role in the success of the expedition, not as
a ... Where did she belong — in a Hidatsa village, with her Shoshone relatives, ...
Lewis and Clark navigation, Who was Sacagawea, and how did she aid the
expedition? .... I do think that there's a great deal of romanticizing of Sacagawea
Although there are conflicting opinions concerning how important Sacagawea
was to the Lewis and Clark expedition, she did serve as the interpreter and ...
Sacajawea recovered from this illness, but a few days later, on June 29, she, her
infant ..... Contrary to the popular belief, Sacagawea did not serve as a guide.
Where did Sacagawea grow up? Sacagawea grew up near the Rocky Mountains
in land that is today in the state of Idaho. She was part of the Shoshone tribe ...
She was also referred to as “squaw”, a term that was not derogatory at the time
and ... Native American Indians did not develop a written language; oral Indian ...
Sacagawea was a Indian girl who accompanied the Corps of Discovery
expedition led by Captains ... She belonged to the Agaidika band of the Northern
also known as Snake Indians. c.180. .... Used to the frontier land Charbonneau
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| 0.944553
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- Make/Cancel an Appointment
- Submit a Draft Online
- Faculty Resources
Narration: Tell a story. Go chronologically, from start to finish.
One North Carolina man found quite a surprise last year while fishing in the Catawba River: a piranha. Jerry Melton, of Gastonia, reeled in a one pound, four ounce fish with an unusual bite. Melton could not identify it, but a nearby fisherman did. Melton at first could not believe he had caught a piranha. He said, “That ain’t no piranha. They ain’t got piranha around here.” Melton was right: the fish is native to South America, and North Carolina prohibits owning the fish as a pet or introducing the species to local waterways. The sharp-toothed, carnivorous fish likely found itself in the Catawba River when its illegal owner released the fish after growing tired of it. Wildlife officials hope that the piranha was the only of its kind in the river, but locals are thinking twice before they wade in the water.
Description: Provide specific details about what something looks, smells, tastes, sounds, or feels like. Organize spatially, in order of appearance, or by topic.
Piranha are omnivorous, freshwater fish, which are mostly known for their single row of sharp, triangular teeth in both jaws. Piranhas’ teeth come together in a scissor-like bite and are used for puncture and tearing. Baby piranha are small, about the size of a thumbnail, but full-grown piranha grow up to about 6-10 inches, and some individual fish up to 2 feet long have been found. The many species of piranha vary in color, though most are either silvery with an orange underbelly and throat or almost entirely black.
Process: Explain how something works, step by step. Perhaps follow a sequence—first, second, third.
You can safely swim with piranhas, but it’s important to know how and when to do it. First, chose an appropriate time, preferably at night and during the rainy season. Avoid piranha-infested waters during the dry season, when food supplies are low and piranhas are more desperate. Piranhas feed during the day, so night-time swimming is much safer. Second, streamline your movement. Wild or erratic activity attracts the attention of piranhas. Swim slowly and smoothly. Finally, never enter the water with an open wound or raw meat. Piranhas attack larger animals only when they are wounded. The presence of blood in the water may tempt the fish to attack. If you follow these simple precautions, you will have little to fear.
Classification: Separate into groups or explain the various parts of a topic.
Piranhas comprise more than 30-60 species of fish, depending on whom you ask. The many species fall into four genera: Pygocentrus, Pygopristis, Serrasalmus, and Pristobrycon. Piranha in the Pygocentrus genus are the most common variety, the kind you might find in a pet store. Pygopristis piranha are herbivores, feasting on seeds and fruits, not flesh. In contrast, fish in the Serrasalmus genus eat only meat, and their teeth are razor-sharp. Pristobrycon are the least friendly of all piranhas; they often bite the fins of other fish, even fish of the same species. The label piranha, then, refers to a wide variety of species.
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http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/paragraphs/paragraph-development-examples/
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Alauddin Khalji holds a very significant place among the Sultans of Delhi. During his reign the supremacy of Khaljis was established in entire India. Sir Wolseley Haig has remarked, “With the reign of Alauddin begins what may be called the imperial period of Sultanate which lasted about half a century.”
Alauddin Khalji was not only a competent general, a worthy conqueror and a great warrior, but was also an administrator par excellence. He took personal interest in administration, prepared guidelines and executed his scheme efficiently. No doubt, he had to spend most of his time either in defending his borders or capturing territories, yet he carried out several reforms.
He liberally rewarded the competent officials and also punished the incompetent and the corrupt ones mercilessly. He made several changes in the administration of his predecessor. Dr. K. S. Lai remarks, “It is as administrator than anything else that Alauddin stands head and shoulders above his predecessors. His accomplishments as warrior were dwarfed by his achievements as an organizer.”
Sultan Alauddin Khalji established a strong central government during his reign in which the Sultan was the head of the administration. AH executive”, legislative and judicial powers were centred in the hands of the “Suttan and he had the supreme power in all the three departments. K. M. Ashraf remarks, “The Sultan of Delhi was in theory an unlimited despot bound by no law, subject to no material check and guided by no law or will except his own.”
There were two powerful classes—nobility and ulema in the Sultanate throughout the 13th century. Alauddin snatched all the powers from the nobility and deduced them to the position of mere servants. He also minimized the powers of Ulema in the affairs of State and religion.
Dr. Ishwari Prasad writes, “Alauddin was opposed to the interference of the Ulema in matters of State and in this respect, he departed from the tradition of the previous Sultans of Delhi. The law was to depend upon the will of the monarch and had nothing to do with the laws of the prophet. This was the guiding maxim of the new monarch.”
A powerful ministry was organized by the Sultan for the smooth running of administration. Each minister was attached to one Particular department. Their duties were to tender advice to the Sultan but there was not bound to act according to their counsel. The post of minister was not reserved for any class. It was the privilege of the Sultan to appoint or suspend a minister. The ministers had to work in their respective departments according to the will of the Sultan. The following were the notable ministers during the reign of Aluddin Khalji.
Wazir was the most powerful minister of the Sultan. His position was next to the Sultan in the Sultanate. He was both a civil and military officer. He was in charge of revenue department and he had a right to inspect the departments of other ministers.
Various appointments were made by the Sultan in consultation with the Wazir. He used to command the royal forces at the time of war.
This was a department pertaining to the army and war and the incharge of this department was named Ariz-i- Mamalik. He assisted the Sultan in recruitment of soldiers, organization of the army and expeditions.
He was incharge of judicial department. He was expected to administer justice according To Islamic law.
He was the lord of petitions. People could not approach the Sultan directly. They could only send their petitions to the Sultan through the Mir Ariz.
He was the accountant general. He used to maintain the accounts of the Sultanate.
The auditor general was known as Mustaufi. He audited the accounts of the Sultanate.
He was the pay master of the royal army.
He was in charge of the agriculture department.
Diwan-i-Riyasat and Shahana-l-Mandi:
They looked after the affairs of the market. They used to keep close watch on the prices.
During pre-Mughal period the post of Kotwal was very significant. The person who worked on it had to maintain law and order in the city. He was also expected to check thefts and robberies. To provide peaceful life to the citizens was the first and foremost duty of the Kotwal.
Besides the above referred officials, there were several other officers who looked after the affairs of administration, out of which the following were significant:
1. Vakil-l-Dar (Incharge of the keys of the gates of palace)
2. Amir-i-Hajib (Incharge of festivals)
3. Amir-i-Akhur (In charge of royal stables)
4. Amir-i-Shikar (Lord of the Hunts)
5. Sar-i-Jandar (Head of the bodyguards)
The empire of Alauddin was divided into several provinces due to its large extent. The incharge of each province was known as governor. They were almost kings in miniature but they had to obey the orders of the Sultan. They had all executive, legislative and judicial powers. People could prefer appeal against their decisions to the Sultan or to Qazj-ul-Quzat. They had independent army and ‘hey made use of it in realizing revenue. At the time of war, they sent their army for assistance of the royal army.
The vast empire of Alauddin Khalji was divided into eleven Provinces: I. Gujarat, 2.Mlultan and Sehwan, 3.Dipalpur, 4. Samana and Sunam, 5. Dhar and Ujjain, 6. Jhain, 7. Chittor, 8. Chanderi, 9. Badaun, 10. Avadh, 11. Kara.
Besides these provinces there were some States which accepted supremacy of the Sultan. The rulers of these States were more independent than the Governors. Owing to strong monarchy of Alauddin veteran governors like Ghazi Malik, Malik Kafur and others dared not disobey the commands of the Sultan.
Towns were the lower units. The administration of the towns was in the hands of separate officers. Villages were the smallest units of administration. Alauddin used to keep a close watch over local and village administration.
Alauddin Khalji was a lover .of justice. Dr. K. S. Lai has remarked, “The Sultan was as relentless and unflinching in administering justice as Balban.” He was the fountainhead of justice. He listened to the appeals and gave his judgements.
Qazi-ul-Quzat was next to him. Justice was administered by Qazis (junior officers) in the provinces. Panches and Panchayats used to settle the disputes in the villages. Alauddin was in favour of awarding impartial and immediate justice’.
Severe punjshmeala were in vogue during the reign of Alauddin. Mutilation of limbs was very common. Nobody could escape justice on the basis of his piety or wealth. The criminals were tortured to accept their crimes. Contemporary historian, Barani has written that owing to cruelty of Alauddin and his barbarous justice thefts and dacoities were not heard of in his reign.
Police and Intelligence System:
Alauddin established a strong and effective police and intelligence system in his territories. The Kotwal was the chief police officer and it was his first and foremost duty to establish law and order in the Sultanate. Alauddin is also known for establishing a strong spy system in the country. Intelligence department was the base of his strong autocratic rule.
Without an effective espionage system, he might not have achieved success in establishing control over the Amirs and nobles. Barani has also written, “No one could stir without his (Alauddin’s) knowledge and whatever happened in the houses of Maliks and Amirs, officers and great men, was communicated to the Sultan. The fear of spies led barons to cease speaking anything aloud in the Hazur Sultan and if they had to say anything they said through gestures. Day and night did they tremble in their own houses on account of the activity of the patrol? Neither did they do anything nor did they utter a single word which could subject them to reproof or punishment.”
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A total of 195 Americans were saved last year with the help of the international Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking system, or SARSAT, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Maritime rescues accounted for 154 of the 195 lives saved, says Lt. Shawn Maddock, NOAA SARSAT operations support officer. Alaska had the most rescues with 49 people saved, followed by Florida (39) and Texas (32). Since its inception 28 years ago, the program has supported more than 26,800 rescues worldwide, including 6,253 in the United States, according to NOAA SARSAT.
When a satellite detects a distress signal from an EPIRB or personal locator beacon, it bounces the alert back to a ground station and, ultimately, to the SARSAT Mission Control Center in Suitland, Md. The signal is then processed and forwarded to the nearest Rescue Coordination Center, operated by either the Air Force or the Coast Guard. At that point, staff at the Rescue Coordination Center will pull the registration information and attempt to contact the beacon's owner, then alert the nearest search-and-rescue unit.
"Basically the satellites do all the work for us," says Maddock. "The human element comes in once we submit the information to the proper rescue agency."
Only rescues in which the satellite signal was the initial source of information are included in the 2009 total, Maddock says. If a boater has contact with the Coast Guard by cell phone, satellite phone or radio before a beacon is activated or detected by a NOAA satellite, then that rescue would not count in the year-end tally. "We sometimes go back to a case a month or two later just to verify," he says.
Maddock did not have numbers for the rescues initiated by other sources.
Last year saw 88 fewer satellite-initiated rescues than 2008, which was down from 353 in 2007. There's no one definitive cause for the reduction, Maddock says. It could be a result of fewer people on the water because of the economy or more rescues initiated by cell phones. Or perhaps boaters are being safer. "It could just be that the Coast Guard has done a better job of educating people," he says.
Almost a year after the switch from the 121.5 MHz frequency to the 406 MHz digital frequency, Maddock says the system has 263,101 registered 406 EPIRBs in its database.
For information, visit www.sarsat.noaa.gov.
See related article:
- One giant leap for vessel-tracking
This article originally appeared in the April 2010 issue.
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MYTHS AND FACTS ABOUT HIV
CASE REPORTING BY NAME
VERSUS BY UNIQUE IDENTIFIER
The American Medical Association, the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists and the New England Journal of Medicine, among others, have recently started urging all states to adopt name-based reporting of HIV. This policy requires doctors, test sites and labs to report to their state Health Department the names of all individuals who test positive for HIV.
Some people who oppose Mandatory Name Reporting (MNR) of people with HIV believe that HIV case data should be collected using unique identifier codes instead of names. They argue that this enables epidemiologists to track HIV spread and study the epidemic without putting the privacy of people with HIV at risk by entering their names into a permanent state registry.
These are a few of the myths and facts about HIV case reporting by MNR versus by unique identifiers:
MYTH: If state Health Departments have the names, they can make sure that everybody who tests HIV positive gets into care early and has a chance to take advantage of medical advances in HIV treatment.
FACT: In 1996 through early 1997, only 25% of Americans with CDC-defined AIDS were on any kind of Protease Inhibitor therapy. The federally funded AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAP) got medication to somewhere between 14% and 28% of all ADAP eligible people in 1996. Even while serving a quarter or less of the eligible population, ADAP initiatives are going broke. Medicaid is clearly unable to afford triple combination therapy for all the Medicaid recipients with HIV who might benefit from it. How will collecting names get everyone into care when money to pay for the care obviously isn't available?
MYTH: People with HIV don't have to worry about having their names in a state HIV registry because existing privacy laws protect them from discrimination.
FACT: On September 11, 1997, Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala recommended to the US Congress that police and other law enforcement officials be given unlimited access on request to all private medical records. If her recommendation is passed into law, it could very well give them legal access to name-based HIV registries. How do we know that this access won't be used by INS (since HIV positivity disqualifies an individual for legal immigration) or by police in states where laws exist that criminalize HIV under various circumstances (such as "willful transmission" laws, sodomy statutes, etc.)?
State privacy laws are only as strong as the legislatures' will to uphold them. States can, and do, change their laws regarding privacy all the time. If a state Health Department has a name-based registry listing people with HIV, it can be forced at any time to open that registry by either legislative mandate or court order.
MYTH: The fear that HIV name reporting will cause people to avoid getting tested for HIV turns out not to be true.
FACT: The recently completed MESH (Multi-State Evaluation of Surveillance of HIV) study surveyed HIV positive and negative people in eight states about the attitudes and factors that influenced their HIV testing decisions. Nearly 20% of those surveyed listed fear of name reporting as one reason for avoiding HIV testing. Since 50% of HIV positive Americans don't know they are infected, anything that discourages testing to this extent should be a serious public health concern.
MYTH: Health Departments need the names so that they can contact people and get the names of their sex and needle sharing partners for partner notification.
FACT: The MESH study also disproved this. Of the HIV positive people surveyed in the MESH study, those tested at anonymous test sites (where names aren't used) supplied the same number of partner names on average as those tested at confidential test sites (where names are collected). In partner notification, it is the partners who are contacted during follow up. Thus, the name of the person testing positive is not needed in order for effective partner notification to be done.
MYTH: Unique identifier-based reporting systems are uniformly inefficient and inadequate for HIV case reporting.
FACT: Unique identifier-based HIV case reporting is done in the U.S. by Maryland and Texas and abroad by France and Australia. The Maryland Health Department, to give one example, reports that its system accurately monitors statewide HIV trends and has achieved 96.6% completeness in reporting by state-funded HIV test sites. Completeness rates from other testing sites (hospitals and private physicians) are lower but steadily improving.
It is a mistake, however, to evaluate unique identifiers in general by looking at one or two systems. A wide variety of unique identifier systems are available. They vary widely in efficiency and effectiveness at protecting privacy. Some make it hard to prevent duplication of records, for example, while others ensure a lower duplication rate than is achievable with names. Some unique identifier codes are very easy to "crack" (decipher to obtain the person's identity) and some are virtually impossible to crack. Each system has to be weighed on its own merit
MYTH: Unique identifier systems are too expensive.
FACT: HIV case reporting costs money to implement, whether names or unique identifiers are used. Maryland and Texas set up their systems after receiving one-time CDC grants of $600,000, allocated to evaluate the systems over three years. Both states report that the difficulty of mounting a unique identifier system was exacerbated by the total lack of state funding. Maryland estimates that it now takes about $100,000 per year to keep its unique identifier system functioning.
By comparison, New York's Health Department spends twice that amount on name-based reporting of low CD4 test results. To follow up on approximately 2000 low CD4 reports per month, New York had to add four FTE's (two research specialists and two public health representatives) to its HIV/AIDS surveillance staff as well as a 1/4 FTE for ongoing computer system maintenance and improvement. The staffing costs can be assumed to total $200,000 or more.
MYTH: Since most of the states already have Mandatory Name Reporting, the rest of the states might as well go along with it.
FACT: 30 states already have some form of MNR for people with HIV. All but two of these, however, are not high incidence states. The CDC estimates that 75% of all US residents with HIV are living in the high incidence states and territories that don't yet require HIV case reporting by name. These are California, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico and Texas.
Whether these places adopt Mandatory Names Reporting or not will depend on the level of resistance to it generated by the consumer, civil rights and activist communities. A number of national organizations including the National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA), the National Minority AIDS Council and the National Lesbian and Gay Health Association are already on record as opposing MNR for HIV case reporting.
prepared by Anna Forbes, MSS, AIDS and Women's
Health Policy Consultant
phone: (610) 649-8113, e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.org
ACT UP/New York Position on Names Reporting
NAMES REPORTING...Activists Responses
Congressional Legislation (The Coburn Bill)
NAMES News Media Clips
Nushawn Williams Heinous TV Newscasts
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Fort Lesley J. McNair
Fort Lesley J. McNair, located at the point of the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers in Washington, D.C. has been an Army post for 200 years, second only to West Point in length of service. The military reservation was established in 1791. Major Pierre C. L'Enfant included it in his plans for Washington as a major defense site for the city. An arsenal first occupied the site and defenses were built in 1794. Fort McNair has been the headquarters of the U.S. Army Military District of Washington since 1966 and home of the National Defense University since 1977. Other units on post are the 67th Explosive Ordinance Detachment and a platoon of the MDW Military Police Company. Fort McNair is the home of several general and flag officers, and by tradition, the Army's number two officer, the Vice Chief of Staff.
Fort Lesley J. McNair stands upon the site where city designer, Maj. Pierre C. L'Enfant, positioned a military garrison. Located where the Anacostia River empties into the Potomac, the post reveals a past with much interest, tragedy and mystery. Fort McNair has been in continuous use as a military reservation since 1791 and is one of the oldest posts in the United States. The original reservation consisted of approximately 28 acres and was known as Turkey Buzzard Point, and later as Greenleaf Point. Within a few of years "The U.S. Arsenal at Greenleaf Point" grew gradually from a modest acreage to more then 89 acres.
During the War of 1812, because of its position, the arsenal was not an effective defense against the British. The arsenal was destroyed when powder hidden in a well was accidentally ignited, killing or mangling a small unit of British soldiers.
In 1826 land just north of the arsenal was purchased as the site for the first federal penitentiary. The accused conspirators in the Lincoln assassination were imprisoned there and after trial were executed. Mary Surratt, one of the accused, was the first American woman to be executed by federal order.
From 1898 until 1909 a general hospital, the forerunner of Walter Reed Army Medical Center, was located there. Maj. Walter Reed, perhaps best known for his contributions to the discovery of the cause of yellow fever, did much of his research there. The post dispensary and the Inter-American Defense College bachelor-officer's quarters now occupy the buildings in which Reed worked and died.
In 1948, the post was renamed to honor the commander of the Army Ground Forces during World War II, Lt. Gen. Lesley J. McNair, who was killed at Normandy by friendly fire July 25, 1944. He was the highest-ranking officer in the U.S. armed forces to die in that manner. At the time of his death, his headquarters was on Fort McNair. McNair was promoted to full general posthumously.
Fort McNair is home to the National Defense University, established in 1976, which is the parent organization of three colleges on the post and one in Norfolk, Va.
The first is the National War College, which was first established as the Army War College in 1901 and reorganized as the joint Army-Navy Staff College in 1943. The college not only was highly successful as a wartime venture, but also served to broaden the horizon of thinking on the postwar structures of our higher military-educational system.
The Industrial College of the Armed Forces is the second school on post. It had its origin in the Army Industrial College, founded in 1924 to prepare officers for top-level posts in the future wartime supply organization and to study the problems of industrial mobilization.
Also on Fort McNair is the Information Resources Management College, which was formed in 1990 as the capstone institution for Defense Information Resources Management education. The IRM College provides graduate-level courses in information-resources management.
Part of the university, but not on Fort McNair is the Armed Forces Staff College. Established in 1946, the Staff College prepares selected officers for joint and combined duty.
The Inter-American Defense College is on Fort McNair but is not part of the university. It formally opened studies in 1962 for senior officers of 19 member nations of the Inter-American Defense Board. It now supports 25 member nations. The curriculum includes study of the international situation and world blocs, the Inter-American system and its role, and planning exercises for hemispheric defense.
Fort McNair has been the home of the U.S. Army Military District of Washington headquarters since 1942, with numerous staff elements of the command staging their operations from that post. It is also the home of the Army's vice chief of staff, who with his family resides in Quarters 8, traditionally the home of the Army's number-two officer. The Army chief of staff resides at Fort Myer, Va.
In addition to the colleges and MDW, soldiers of Company A, 3rd U.S. Infantry, known as the Commander-in-Chief's Guard, call Fort McNair home. This Old Guard element wears the colonial uniform during Army reviews and performs drill under the rules of Von Steuben's "Blue Book." Also assigned to the post are the 767th Ordnance Detachment (Explosive Ordnance Disposal); Headquarters, 1101st Signal Brigade and a platoon from the Fort Myer Military Community Military Police Company.
|Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list|
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Native American Tradition
The culture of Native Americans is visible throughout Klickitat County. The county is the north shore home to 10,000 years of native American habitation concentrated near Celilo Falls, which was a major Native American fishing and trading center on the Columbia River. Klickitat County was also the delineation point where two major and very different Native American language groups, coastal Chinook and interior Sahaptin came together. As with the interior plateau Nez Perce guides for Lewis & Clark who traveled with the party only as far as Celilo Falls, this linguistic and tribal boundary was seldom crossed.
With a treaty signing in 1855, most of the bands along the Columbia became part of the Confederated Tribes of the Yakama Nation. Along the Simcoe Hills, the southern part of the Yakama Reservation is in Klickitat County.
To celebrate the coming of the first roots, such as camas and wild celery, and in honor of the annual return of the salmon, Native Americans still hold pow-wows. Two notable powwows are held in the eastern part of the County, in March at the Rock Creek longhouse and at Roosevelt in August.
A mile upstream from Lyle, the Klickitat River narrows into a chute where Native Americans still dip net for salmon and steelhead from precarious scaffolds perched above the rapids.
Horsethief Lake, near Dallesport, showcases the area's best Native American petroglyphs, including "She Who Watches." This renowned petroglyph can be viewed on guided tours offered through Horsethief Lake State Park.
Date of Source Material: 1/26/2002
Source: Klickitat County Tourism
Link to Source:
Tourism About Activities Accommodations Calendar Maps Contact Press Releases
127 W Court St., MS-CH-26
Goldendale, WA 98620
Phone: 509 773-7060
Fax: 509 773-4521
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Join our Google+ Hangout on increasing diversity in science, technology, engineering & math disciplines. | Infographic by Sarah Gerrity.
This February, we’re celebrating Black History Month with a special Google+ Hangout on increasing diversity in STEM -- those disciplines focusing on science, technology, engineering and math.
Here at the Energy Department, cultivating a thriving, diverse STEM workforce is a top priority -- critical to maintaining America’s global competitiveness. STEM positions are among the fastest-growing occupations in the U.S. And yet, while demand for STEM professionals increases, the skills gap among the largest ethnic and racial minorities continues to widen. During our Google+ Hangout we’ll discuss strategies for increasing the participation of African Americans, Latinos and other underrepresented groups in STEM careers.
Our live Google+ Hangout on STEM will be led by two experts in the field: Dot Harris, Director of the Office of Economic Impact and Diversity, and Karina Edmonds, Director of the Technology Transfer Program. Also joining the discussion is Bryan Carter, medical student at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and a former Department of Energy National Science Bowl participant.
During the Hangout, you’ll have the opportunity to learn about some of the innovative ways we’re working to support the next generation of STEM leaders, share ideas on increasing STEM Education in communities that need it most and get information on the STEM-focused internships, fellowships and other opportunities offered at the Energy Department and other federal agencies.
To participate in the Hangout, send your questions now by:
- Sending an email to firstname.lastname@example.org
- Posting in the comments on the Energy Department's Facebook page or Google+ event page
- Tweeting @ENERGY using #STEMHangout
We look forward to hearing from you!
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Ebola Virus Is Detected At Texas `Monkey Farm'
ALICE, Texas - The strain of Ebola virus responsible for the deaths of two monkeys poses virtually no threat to humans, health officials stressed today.
"This is not the Ebola Zaire strain," said Dr. David Smith, Texas Department of Health commissioner.
The virus infected two monkeys of a shipment of 100 that arrived at the Texas Primate Center on March 21 from the Philippines, said Dr. Diane Simpson, an epidemiologist at the Texas Department of Health.
The privately owned primate-breeding facility is about 15 miles southeast of Alice, a South Texas town 40 miles west of Corpus Christi.
"The first one died; the second was euthanized," Simpson said, adding that the rest are under quarantine. "We're watching any people who may have come in contact with them."
The sick monkeys came from the same Filipino exporter as the infected monkeys in Reston, officials said.
Last year in Zaire, Ebola infected 316 people and killed 245. Earlier this year, at least 13 people died from Ebola in Gabon in western Africa.
Ebola Zaire is one of the world's deadliest diseases, causing 80 percent of its victims to bleed to death. It is spread through bodily fluids, commonly through a break in the skin. It has no treatment and no cure.
The Alice center supplies monkeys to laboratories throughout the United States and does its own research. The monkeys live in hundreds of huts dotting the property.
Doctors had no reports of bites or scratches to monkey handlers, but are watching employees carefully as they try to contain the outbreak to the secluded facility.
This is the third virus outbreak at the facility since 1990.
The best-selling "Hot Zone" a nonfiction work, detailed research on Ebola Zaire and the case of a similar strain that infected monkeys at a primate facility in Reston, Va., in 1989.
Ebola Reston, however, has not been linked to illness in humans. And the virus at the Texas primate center is 99 percent similar to Ebola Reston, said Dr. Pierre Rollin, chief of the special pathogens branch at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
Another Ebola virus, similar to the Reston strain, infected a shipment of monkeys that arrived at the Alice center shortly after the '89 outbreak, Simpson said. It was contained in quarantine.
In 1991, a veterinarian at the primate center contracted a monkey herpes virus and died of complications, according to the Alice Echo-News.
Copyright (c) 1996 Seattle Times Company, All Rights Reserved.
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Spirits are supernatural beings or essences — transcendent and therefore metaphysical in nature.
- Teach me to do your will,
- The heart's wave would not foam up so beautifully and become spirit, if the ancient, mute rock, fate, did not stand opposed to it.
- Friedrich Hölderlin, Hyperion, or the Hermit in Greece (1797–1799), translated by Ross Benjamin. Brooklyn, NY: Archipelago Books, 2008, p. 55
- Variant translation: The heart's wave would never have splashed and frothed so beautifully, and become Spirit — had not the grim, old cliff of Destiny stubbornly opposed ...
- As translated by Gerald Malsbary in Josef Pieper, Leisure, the Basis of Culture (1948). South Bend, Indiana: St. Augustine's Press, 1998, p. 129.
- During the prehistoric age of mankind, spirit was presumed to exist everywhere and was not held in honor as a privilege of man. Because, on the contrary, ... one saw in the spirit that which unites us with nature, not that which sunders us from it.
- Friedrich Nietzsche, Daybreak, § 31
- We said that the perceptive-ability of the animal, when compared with what is in plants, is a more far-reaching way of relating to things. Would not, then, the peculiarly human manner of knowing — for ages past, termed a spiritual or intellective knowing — in fact be another, further mode of putting-oneself-into-relation, a mode which transcends in principle anything which can be realized in the plant and animal worlds? And further, would this fundamentally different kind of relating power go together with a different field of relations, i.e., a world of fundamentally different dimensions? The answer to such questions can be found in the Western philosophical tradition, which has understood and even defined spiritual knowing as the power to place oneself in relation to the sum-total of existing thngs. And this is not meant as only one characteristic among others, but as the very essence and definition of the power. By its nature, spirit (or intellection) is not so much distinguished by its immateriality, as by something more primary: its ability to be in relation to the totality of being.
- Josef Pieper, "The Philosophical Act", in Leisure, the Basis of Culture (1948), translated by Gerald Malsbary. South Bend, Indiana: St. Augustine's Press, 1998, p. 85.
- To label Seth as a spirit guide is to limit an understanding of what he is . . . The minute I found out after my first book was published that this automatically put me in what people called the psychic field . . . I was so humiliated I could hardly hold my head up. I'm using my writing [and] my life to transform intuitive, sometimes revelationary material into art, where it can be enjoyed, understood to varying degrees, and stand free of the stupid interpretations . . . The whole psychic bit as it is, is intellectually and morally psychologically outrageous as far as I'm concerned and I want no part of it or the vocabulary or the ideas.
- There is neither spirit nor matter in the world; the stuff of the universe is spirit-matter. No other substance but this could produce the human molecule. I know very well that this idea of spirit-matter is regarded as a hybrid monster, a verbal exorcism of a duality which remains unresolved in its terms. But I remain convinced that the objections made to it arise from the mere fact that few people can make up their minds to abandon an old point of view and take the risk of a new idea... Biologists or philosophers cannot conceive a biosphere or noosphere because they are unwilling to abandon a certain narrow conception of individuality. Nevertheless, the step must be taken. For in fact, pure spirituality is as unconceivable as pure materiality. Just as, in a sense, there is no geometrical point, but as many structurally different points as there are methods of deriving them from different figures, so every spirit derives its reality and nature from a particular type of universal synthesis.
- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, A Sketch of a Personalistic Universe.
- One of the unfortunate consequences of the intellectualization of man's spiritual life was that the word "spirit" was lost and replaced by mind or intellect, and that the element of vitality which is present in “spirit” was separated and interpreted as an independent biological force. Man was divided into a bloodless intellect and a meaningless vitality. The middle ground between them, the spiritual soul, in which vitality and intentionality are united, was dropped.
- Paul Tillich, The Courage To Be (1952), p. 82.
- Therefore, all the spirits and demons have one half from man below, and the other half from the angels of the supernal realm.
- Zohar 3:76b-77a
Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations (1989)
- The sword conquered for a while, but the spirit conquers for ever!
- Sholem Asch, The Apostle (1943), trans. Maurice Samuel, p. 804.
- Never the spirit was born; the spirit shall cease to be never;
Never was time it was not; End and Beginning are dreams!
Birthless and deathless and changeless remaineth the spirit for ever;
Death hath not touched it at all, dead though the house of it seems!
knoweth it exhaustless, self-sustained,
Immortal, indestructible,—shall such
Say, "I have killed a man, or caused to kill?"
Nay, but as when one layeth
His worn-out robes away,
And, taking new ones, sayeth,
"These will I wear to-day!"
So putteth by the spirit
Lightly its garb of flesh,
And passeth to inherit
A residence afresh.
- Bhagavad Gita (The Song Celestial or Bhagavad-Gita, trans. Sir Edwin Arnold (1934), p. 10–11). This is chapter 2, sections 20–22 in other editions.
- If that vital spark that we find in a grain of wheat can pass unchanged through countless deaths and resurrections, will the spirit of man be unable to pass from this body to another?
- William Jennings Bryan, eulogy, Elks Lodge annual memorial service, Lincoln, Nebraska, December 2, 1906, as reported by the Nebraska State Journal, December 3, 1906, p. 3.
In "The Prince of Peace", a lecture delivered at Chautauquas and religious gatherings, starting in 1904, he phrased the idea this way: "If this invisible germ of life in the grain of wheat can thus pass unimpaired through three thousand resurrections, I shall not doubt that my soul has power to clothe itself with a body suited to its new existence when this earthly frame has crumbled into dust".—Speeches of William Jennings Bryan, vol. 2, p. 284 (1909).
- I am certain that after the dust of centuries has passed over our cities, we, too, will be remembered not for victories or defeats in battle or in politics, but for our contribution to the human spirit.
- John F. Kennedy, remarks at a closed-circuit television broadcast on behalf of the national cultural center, November 29, 1962. Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: John F. Kennedy, 1962, p. 846–47. Inscription on the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C.
- Glendower: I can call spirits from the vasty deep.
Hotspur: Why, so can I, or so can any man;
But will they come when you do call for them?
- William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part I, act III, scene i, lines 53–55.
Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations
- Quotes reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 745-46.
- Why, a spirit is such a little, little thing, that I have heard a man, who was a great scholar, say that he'll dance ye a hornpipe upon the point of a needle.
- Joseph Addison, The Drummer, Act I, scene 1.
- Not of the letter, but of the spirit; for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
- II Corinthians, III. 6.
- Some who are far from atheists, may make themselves merry with that conceit of thousands of spirits dancing at once upon a needle's point.
- Ralph Cudworth, True Intellectual System of the Universe, Volume III, p. 497. Ed. 1829. Isaac D'Israeli in Curiosities of Literature. Quodlibets, quotes from Aquinas, "How many angels can dance on the point of a very fine needle without jostling each other." The idea, not the words, are in Aquinas—Summa and Sentences. Credited also to Bernardo de Carpino and Alagona.
- A Corpse or a Ghost—… I'd sooner be one or t'other, square and fair, than a Ghost in a Corpse, which is my feelins at present.
- William De Morgan, Joseph Vance, Chapter XXXIX.
- I am the spirit of the morning sea,
I am the awakening and the glad surprise.
- Richard Watson Gilder, Ode.
- Ich bin der Geist stets verneint.
- Aërial spirits, by great Jove design'd
To be on earth the guardians of mankind:
Invisible to mortal eyes they go,
And mark our actions, good or bad, below:
The immortal spies with watchful care preside,
And thrice ten thousand round their charges glide:
They can reward with glory or with gold,
A power they by Divine permission hold.
- Hesiod, Works and Days, line 164.
- The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
- Matthew, XXVI. 41.
- Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth
Unseen, both when we wake, and when we sleep.
- Teloque animus præstantior omni.
- A spirit superior to every weapon.
- Ovid, Metamorphoses, III. 54.
- Ornament of a meek and quiet spirit.
- I Peter, III. 4.
- Know then, unnumber'd Spirits round thee fly,
The light Militia of the lower sky.
- Alexander Pope, Rape of the Lock. I. 41.
- He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.
- Proverbs, XVI. 32. Mishna. Ethics of the Fathers, IV. 2.
- A wounded spirit who can bear?
- Proverbs, XVIII. 14.
- After the spiritual powers, there is no thing in the world more unconquerable than the spirit of nationality…. The spirit of nationality in Ireland will persist even though the mightiest of material powers be its neighbor.
- George W. Russell, The Economics of Ireland, p. 23.
- Black spirits and white,
Red spirits and grey,
Mingle, mingle, mingle,
You that mingle may.
- Spirits are not finely touched
But to fine issues.
- The spirit, Sir, is one of mockery.
- Robert Louis Stevenson, Suicide Club, In New Arabian Nights.
- Of my own spirit let me be
In sole though feeble mastery.
- Sara Teasdale, Mastery.
- Boatman, come, thy fare receive;
Thrice thy fare I gladly give,
For unknown, unseen by thee,
Spirits twain have crossed with me.
- Ludwig Uhland, The Ferry Boat, Skeat's translation.
Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895)
- Quotes reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895).
- There are times in the history of men and nations, when they stand so near the vail that separates mortals from the immortals, time from eternity, and men from their God, that they can almost hear the beatings, and feel the pulsations, of the heart of the Infinite.
- James A. Garfield, p. 310.
- Hands of invisible spirits touch the strings
Of that mysterious instrument, the soul,
And play the prelude of our fate.
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, p. 309.
- Millions of spiritual beings walk the earth unseen,
Both when we wake, and when we sleep.
- John Milton, p. 309.
- It may be that at this moment every battlement of heaven is alive with the redeemed. There is a sainted mother watching for her daughter. Have you no response to that long hushed voice which has prayed for you so often? And for you, young man, are there no voices there that have prayed for you? And are there none whom you promised once to meet again, if not on earth, in heaven?
- Dwight L. Moody, p. 310.
- Do we not hear voices, gentle and great, and some of them like the voices of departed friends,— do we not hear them saying to us, "Come up hither?"
- William Mountford, p. 310.
- Yes, thank God! there is rest — many an interval of saddest, sweetest rest — even here, when it seems as if evening breeze; from that other land, laden with fragrance, played upon the cheeks, and lulled the heart. There are times, even on the stormy sea, when a gentle whisper breathes softly as of heaven, and sends into the soul a dream of ecstasy which can never again wholly die, even amidst the jar and whirl of daily life. How such whispers make the blood stop and the flesh creep with a sense of mysterious communion! How singularly such moments are the epochs of life — the few points that stand out prominently in the recollection after the flood of years has buried all the rest, as all the low shore disappears, leaving only a few rock points visible at high tide.
- Frederick William Robertson, p. 310.
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Sedimentary Processes on Earth and Mars
December 06, 2000
Earlier this week scientists released images from Mars (above left) taken by the Mars Global Surveyor revealing layered terrain indicative of sedimentary processes. Distinct, thick layers of rock within craters and other depressions indicate that they may have formed in lakes or shallow seas sometime during Mars' distant past. As a comparison, two areas on our home planet are presented to the same scale on the right. The upper image of an area near arid Death Valley shows the complex landsape that even occasional water erosion can create. The image of the Palouse region of Washington state in the lower right shows evidence of broad erosional features formed by the sudden draining of glacial lakes as they eroded soft wind blown sediments.
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Encourage creativity and imagination. Ask lots of open-ended questions whenever there is a pause in play. For example, if your child is building a tower out of blocks, ask who lives in the tower. Follow up your child's response with additional questions, like "Who is that person?" Or "What are they doing inside the tower?" The same practice can be applied to all sorts of play, like painting ("Tell me what's going on in this picture.") and even cars ("Where is this car going?"). Your child will use his creativity and imagination coming up with answers to your fun questions. Just make sure to wait for a pause in play before peppering him with questions, or else he might get distracted or frustrated.
When selecting new toys for the playroom, keep an eye on toys designed to be educational. Some are as simple as floor puzzles, which allow your child to work on problem-solving and fine-motor skills. Others are more elaborate, like digital devices. Regardless, focus on purchasing toys that contribute an educational value to playtime.
Allow your child to choose what and how to play. As adults, we might know that there is a "right" way to stack blocks into a tower. However, your child may want to try different methods or explore other opportunities with her toys. Try not to step in and correct or help in any way. Your little one needs time to direct her own play so that she is challenged to think things through on her own. If a project or an idea isn't working, this self-directed time allows your child to problem solve and get creative. By not stepping in, you give your kid the freedom to test her own ideas.
Playing with others is a surefire way to make playtime more educational. Kids can learn new skills by watching their peers. Plus, by playing together, kids are learning how to get along, how to work as a team and how to share — all very valuable skills. Also, since your child's friends probably all have different toys, it's a great way for them to experience diversity in play.
And you'll see personalized content just for you whenever you click the My Feed .
SheKnows is making some changes!
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Canneries, factories and mills formed an industrial cluster on one side of the railroad line in the period between 1880 and 1940.
Turn of the century small working class homes for workers employed by these companies dotted the connecting streets nearby.
The district did not officially become part of Oakland until annexation in 1909 and this may be part of the reason residents always have seemed to maintain a seperate sense
of neighborhood identity.
In the early years a mix of German, Italian and most prevalently Portuguese immigrants, settled in Fruit Vale. Paid good wages by the canneries and mills, workers were
said to jingle coins in their pockets as they strolled home on payday--signifying their prosperity. Hence "Jingletown" came into popular usage and the name stuck.
The coming of the Nimitz Freeway in the early 1950s greatly impacted Jingletown. Despite the disruption of the freeway, Jingletown's sense of community has never failed. A spirited
effort to rezone portions of the area from industrial to residential (thereby recinding city policy in place since the 1930s) was successful in 1974.
--(from "Oakland's Jingletown has its own history, identity" by Annalee Allen, The Oakland Tribune, March 2, 1997)
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Learn something new every day
More Info... by email
Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact refers to instances of contact between Native Americans and the people of other continents prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492. At least two instances are generally recognized as true — that Norsemen traveled to modern-day Canada and made colonies there around the year 1000, and that Polynesians visited South America at least as early as between 1304 and 1424.
Norse (also known as Viking) pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact is verified by historical and archaeological evidence. The remains of a Viking settlement were uncovered in 1961 by archaeologists Anne and Helge Ingstad at L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland, Canada. Workshops and dwellings were uncovered, including an iron smithy with a forge, a carpentry woodshop, and a boat repair area. The largest building, with several rooms, measured 28.8 by 15.6 m (94.5 by 51 ft). Because of the find, L'Anse aux Meadows has been named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
This archaeological evidence of Norse pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact fits in well with Viking stories of a land west of Greenland called Vinland, penned around the time. According to the Vinland Sagas, the North American settlement was established by Leif Ericson, the famous Viking explorer. The Vinland Sagas state the colony subsequently collapsed due to infighting and conflicts with natives. Today, the shrewd call Ericson the first European to reach the Americas, rather than Christopher Columbus. The Vinland Sagas and accompanying archaeological evidence remain the first solid instance of pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact.
In 2007, a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that chicken bones located in Arauco Province, Chile matched the genetic profile of chickens from that period from American Samoa and Tonga, 5,000 miles (8,000 km) away, and had little in common with any European chicken. These chicken bones were dated to between 1304 and 1424, well before the arrival of the Spaniards. As a breeding pair of chickens would never make it all the way across the Pacific Ocean floating on a piece of wood, this makes it extremely likely that pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact occurred between the Polynesians and South American natives during this time.
One of our editors will review your suggestion and make changes if warranted. Note that depending on the number of suggestions we receive, this can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days. Thank you for helping to improve wiseGEEK!
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John Lewis was committed body and soul to nonviolent action. In 1960, he participated in the first mass lunch counter sit-ins in Nashville. As a Freedom Rider, he was badly beaten by a white mob in Montgomery. In 1963, at age 23, he became chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. SNCC ("Snick") had been formed three years earlier at a conference convened by Ella Baker, executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Its youthful members, impatient with the slower pace of older civil rights activists, concentrated on grassroots organizing in the South. At the March on Washington, John Lewis’ intended remarks had to be revised at the last minute because some of the other leaders thought them too inflammatory. Nonetheless, his speech drew a tremendous response from the marchers.
Click below to view copies of his correspondence with the White House:
Telegram (9/22/61) from John Lewis appealing to the President on behalf of fourteen students from Tennessee A & I University jailed in Mississippi.
Telegram (8/20/63) from John Lewis to President Kennedy requesting investigation of shooting in Americus, Georgia.
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Stones shot from near US assembly site, looking towards the Japanese assembly site (and Japanese antenna). This formation is called an “apacheta": a man-made formation of stones gathered as offerings by indigenous people to the keeper of the roads, placed on special locations, such as the peaks of hills or upon cordillera/mountain paths (openings or crossing points), water sources, or refuge places. There, the indian walkers woud leave a rock, colored wools, coca leaves, strong drinking alcohol or water, as symbolic offerings to the ancestral spirits and to their divinities. They are places for meetings and departures, a demonstration of profound devotion within Andean religiosity.
This work by the OSF of Conservation and Validation of the Cultural Patrimony of the “apacheta”, is included in the program of the Study of Enviromental Impact undertaken by the Chilean Archaeologist Ana María Barón, in the entire territory covered by the ALMA Project, from its beginnings in 2003, also including the protection of “The Barrio Estancia”, which today is a Site Museum.Credit:
About the Image
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About the Object
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Condensates enter new era
Nov 19, 2003
Physicists are getting closer and closer to the holy grail of research into ultracold atomic gases – the observation of superfluidity in a Fermi gas. Research groups in Austria and the US have recently taken a major step towards this goal by creating a Bose-Einstein condensate of bosonic molecules from a gas of fermionic atoms. If the atoms can be persuaded to form weakly-bound pairs, rather than molecules, physicists hope to learn more about the basic mechanisms responsible for superconductivity.
Atoms behave very differently at temperatures near absolute zero depending on the value of their intrinsic angular momentum or spin. Spin is measured in units of the Planck constant divided by 2π. Bosons have spins with integer values in these units, while fermions have spins of 1/2, 3/2, 5/2 and so on. A molecule made of two fermionic atoms will be a boson because it will have an integer value of spin.
All fermions must obey the Pauli exclusion principle, which means that they cannot occupy the same quantum state. However, there are no such restrictions on bosons, so they can all collapse into the same quantum ground state. This process, known as Bose-Einstein condensation, is at the heart of superconductivity – the flow of electric current without any resistance.
Since electrons are fermions they must form Cooper pairs – named after Leon Cooper of the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) theory of superconductivity – to allow them to collapse into a Bose condensate. If physicists were able to mimic this process in a gas of fermionic atoms, it should be possible to learn a great deal more about superconductivity.
Rudolf Grimm and colleagues at the University of Innsbruck in Austria started with a gas of fermionic lithium-6 atoms in an optical trap and cooled them in a magnetic field to produce a condensate containing over 100 000 lithium molecules (S Jochim et al. 2003 Sciencexpress 1093280). The condensate lasted for more than 20 seconds. Meanwhile, Deborah Jin and co-workers at the JILA laboratory in Boulder, Colorado, performed a similar feat with potassium-40 atoms (M Greiner et al. 2003 Nature to be published; arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0311172).
The atoms in a molecule are strongly bound together, whereas the particles in a Cooper pair are only weakly bound and can be quite far apart. By using magnetic fields to control the interactions between fermionic atoms – which is difficult to do with electrons - physicists hope to explore a wide range of novel phenomena between these two extremes.
About the author
Peter Rodgers is Editor of Physics World
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Read the following pairs of sentences:
- I saw a little girl. She was very beautiful.
- I know a man. His son is at Oxford.
- He got a letter. He had been expecting it.
Each of these pairs can be combined into a single sentence:
- I saw a little girl who was very beautiful.
- I know a man whose son is at Oxford.
- He got a letter that he had been expecting.
Here the words who, whose and which are examples of relative pronouns. Let’s examine what purpose they serve in the sentences.
In sentence 1, who stands for the little girl: hence it is a pronoun. It also connects the two statements ‘I saw a little girl’ and ‘She was very beautiful’. Hence it acts as a conjunction. Thus it does double work and may be called a conjunctive pronoun. But it is actually called a relative pronoun because it relates or refers to a noun that has gone before it.
In sentence 2 and 3, the words whose and which also do double work as pronoun and conjunction. Both are, therefore, called relative pronouns.
The noun to which a relative pronoun refers is called its antecedent. In the sentences given above, the nouns girl, man and letter are the antecedents of who, whose and which respectively.
Functions of the relatives within their clauses
Within the subordinate clause the relative pronoun may serve as subject or object of the verb, or object of a preposition.
Trust no man who does not love his country. (Here the relative pronoun who is the subject of the subordinate clause ‘who does not love his country’.)
As object of the verb
There I met an old man whom my father had known.
As the object of a preposition
There was no room in which we could stay.
Note that when the relative pronoun is the object of a preposition, we can put the preposition at the end of the clause. In such cases we usually omit the relative pronoun.
There was no room we could stay in.
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We can express the patterns in compact form as the order of dots added:
8 3 4 and 1 7 4
6 1 2 5 8 3
7 5 9 6 2 9
Then we can simply use the value in the array as a threshold.
If the value
Then we can simply use the value in the array as a threshold. If the valueof the pixel (scaled into the 0-9 range) is less than the number in the corresponding cell of the matrix, plot that pixel black, otherwise, plot it white. This process is called ordered dither. As before, clustered patterns should be used for devices which blur dots. In fact, the clustered pattern ordered dither is the process used by most newspapers, and the term halftoning refers to this method if not otherwise qualified.
Bayer has shown that for matrices of orders which are powers of two there is an optimal pattern of dispersed dots which results in the pattern noise being as high-frequency as possible. The pattern for a 2x2 and 4x4 matrices are as follows:
1 3 1 9 3 11 These patterns (and their rotations
4 2 13 5 15 7 and reflections) are optimal for a
4 12 2 10 dispersed-pattern ordered dither.
16 8 14 6
Bayer's method is in very common use and is easily identified by the cross-hatch pattern artifacts it produces in the resulting display. This artifact is the major drawback of the technique which is otherwise very fast and powerful. Ordered dithering also performs very badly on images which have already been dithered to some extent. As stated earlier, dithering should be the last stage in producing a physical display from a digitally stored image. The dithered image should never be stored itself.
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What Are My Options?
There are different types, or classes, of drugs that work in different ways to lower blood glucose (blood sugar) levels:
- DPP-4 inhibitors
- SGLT2 Inhibitors
- Alpha-glucosidase inhibitors
- Bile Acid Sequestrants
Sulfonylureas stimulate the beta cells of the pancreas to release more insulin. Sulfonylurea drugs have been in use since the 1950s. Chlorpropamide (Diabinese) is the only first-generation sulfonylurea still in use today. The second generation sulfonylureas are used in smaller doses than the first-generation drugs. There are three second-generation drugs: glipizide (Glucotrol and Glucotrol XL), glyburide (Micronase, Glynase, and Diabeta), and glimepiride (Amaryl). These drugs are generally taken one to two times a day, before meals. All sulfonylurea drugs have similar effects on blood glucose levels, but they differ in side effects, how often they are taken, and interactions with other drugs.
Metformin (Glucophage) is a biguanide. Biguanides lower blood glucose levels primarily by decreasing the amount of glucose produced by the liver. Metformin also helps to lower blood glucose levels by making muscle tissue more sensitive to insulin so glucose can be absorbed. It is usually taken two times a day. A side effect of metformin may be diarrhea, but this is improved when the drug is taken with food.
Meglitinides are drugs that also stimulate the beta cells to release insulin. Repaglinide (Prandin) and nateglinide (Starlix) are meglitinides. They are taken before each of three meals.
Because sulfonylureas and meglitinides stimulate the release of insulin, it is possible to have hypoglycemia (low blood glucose levels).
You should know that alcohol and some diabetes pills may not mix. Occasionally, chlorpropamide and other sulfonylureas, can interact with alcohol to cause vomiting, flushing or sickness. Ask your doctor if you are concerned about any of these side effects.
Rosiglitazone (Avandia) and pioglitazone (ACTOS) are in a group of drugs called thiazolidinediones. These drugs help insulin work better in the muscle and fat and also reduce glucose production in the liver. The first drug in this group, troglitazone (Rezulin), was removed from the market because it caused serious liver problems in a small number of people. So far rosiglitazone and pioglitazone have not shown the same problems, but users are still monitored closely for liver problems as a precaution. Both drugs appear to increase the risk for heart failure in some individuals, and there is debate about whether rosiglitazone may contribute to an increased risk for heart attacks. Both drugs are effective at reducing A1C and generally have few side effects.
A new class of medications called DPP-4 inhibitors help improve A1C without causing hypoglycemia. They work by by preventing the breakdown of a naturally occurring compound in the body, GLP-1. GLP-1 reduces blood glucose levels in the body, but is broken down very quickly so it does not work well when injected as a drug itself. By interfering in the process that breaks down GLP-1, DPP-4 inhibitors allow it to remain active in the body longer, lowering blood glucose levels only when they are elevated. DPP-4 inhibitors do not tend to cause weight gain and tend to have a neutral or positive effect on cholesterol levels. Sitagliptin (Januvia), saxagliptin (Onglyza), linagliptin (Tradjenta), alogliptin (Nesina) are the DPP-4 inhibitors currently on the market in the US.
Glucose in the bloodstream passes through the kidneys, where it can either be excreted or reabsorbed. Sodium-glucose transporter 2 (SGLT2) works in the kidney to reabsorb glucose, and a new class of medication, SGLT2 inhibitors, block this action, causing excess glucose to be eliminated in the urine. Canagliflozin (Invokana) and dapagliflozin (Farxiga) are SGLT2 inhibitors that have recently been approved by the FDA to treat type 2 diabetes. Because they increase glucose levels in the urine, side effects can include urinary tract and yeast infections.
Acarbose (Precose) and miglitol (Glyset) are alpha-glucosidase inhibitors. These drugs help the body to lower blood glucose levels by blocking the breakdown of starches, such as bread, potatoes, and pasta in the intestine. They also slow the breakdown of some sugars, such as table sugar. Their action slows the rise in blood glucose levels after a meal. They should be taken with the first bite of a meal. These drugs may have side effects, including gas and diarrhea.
Bile Acid Sequestrants
The bile acid sequestrant (BAS) colesevelam (Welchol) is a cholesterol-lowering medication that also reduces blood glucose levels in patients with diabetes. BASs help remove cholesterol from the body, particularly LDL cholesterol, which is often elevated in people with diabetes. The medications reduce LDL cholesterol by binding with bile acids in the digestive system; the body in turn uses cholesterol to replace the bile acids, which lowers cholesterol levels. The mechanism by which colesevelam lowers glucose levels is not well understood. Because BASs are not absorbed into the bloodstream, they are usually safe for use by patients who may not be able to use other medications because of liver problems. Because of the way they work, side effects of BASs can include flatulence and constipation.
Oral combination therapy
Because the drugs listed above act in different ways to lower blood glucose levels, they may be used together. For example, a biguanide and a sulfonylurea may be used together. Many combinations can be used. Though taking more than one drug can be more costly and can increase the risk of side effects, combining oral medications can improve blood glucose control when taking only a single pill does not have the desired effects. Switching from one single pill to another is not as effective as adding another type of diabetes medicine.
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Many towns and cities across the UK held an annual 'Children's Day' event in the 1950s, and some still do so today. At Children's Day, there would be sports, gymnastics and other activities, and families would come to watch and cheer on the children taking part. A 'Queen' would also be crowned and there would be a procession.
This film clip from the Yorkshire Film Archive shows the 1951 'Leeds Children's Day' at Roundhay Park.
Students from St Bart's Primary School in Armley watched the film 'Leeds Children's Day' and then responded to it, imagining that they were one of the children in the park. This is what they thought they would...
See: Parades with people waving. Children running races and dancing around a maypole. People wearing costumes and wigs.
Hear: The sound of people cheering and shouting. The noise of the parade and the floats. Feet running races and children panting.
Smell: The hot dog and burger stands, smoke from the trucks, grass and flowers.
Touch: Rope, bags spoons and sacks from the races. The grass and flowers on the ground. The maypole ribbons, costumes and the atmosphere.
Design a poster:
The children then used the information they had gleaned from the film to design a poster advertising Leeds Children's Day, including all the activities that would have taken place. Examples of some of the posters the children made are pictured above.
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Many of the drugs we use today originate from the healing properties of medicinal plants. Now researchers are augmenting plants so that they can serve as natural factories for the world’s drugs and chemicals.
It could mean cheaper drugs to treat HIV, cancer and Ebola, and enable researchers to make completely new drugs for novel medical applications.
Many of the most important drugs in modern medicine are derived from nature: aspirin from the bark of the willow tree, the pain-relief drug morphine from the opium poppy, and the powerful antimalarial drug artemisinin from the sweet wormwood plant.
Researchers are amending the genetic makeup of plants so that they can produce other types of drugs, such as antibodies – molecules used by our immune systems to neutralise diseases.
Antibodies come in a great variety of types in our bodies, each of which will have a different ability to target and kill bacteria or viruses. The gene sequences encoding for certain antibodies – known to target specific, dangerous bacteria or viruses – can then be inserted into the genome of a plant, which can produce that antibody in large quantities.
‘With plants you can get to the same early stage of clinical development with a much lower financial investment,’ said Professor Julian Ma, Director of the Institute for Infection and Immunity at St George’s, University of London, UK.
‘What you need to do is to build a greenhouse – a fairly good greenhouse admittedly – probably for a tenth or even a hundredth of the cost of a typical antibody manufacturing facility,’ said Prof. Ma, who is the principal investigator of the FUTURE-PHARMA project funded by the EU's European Research Council (ERC).
‘And that means … you can take risks, you can take 10 times or 100 times more risks on a new product, because you can afford to do that (with plants).’
This lower cost would allow developing countries to produce drugs that they can't currently afford to manufacture.
Prof. Ma and his collaborator, Professor Rainer Fischer from the Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology in Aachen, Germany, have used plants to produce antibodies they hope can help protect against HIV and rabies. The FUTURE-PHARMA project follows on from the EU-funded PHARMA-PLANTA project in which approval was received for the first human trial in the EU using plant-made antibodies to target HIV.
‘You can take risks, you can take 10 times or 100 times more risks on a new product, because you can afford to do that (with plants).’
Professor Julian Ma, Director of the Institute for Infection and Immunity at St George’s, University of London
Prof. Ma believes that the technology could be adapted to produce antibodies against cancer and tuberculosis, and it is also being used to develop a treatment for Ebola.
The case of the drug ZMapp – an experimental antibody against Ebola – exemplifies the use of plants in antibody production. ZMapp is a cocktail of several antibodies that researchers have produced in tobacco plants using a strategy similar to that employed by Prof. Ma’s lab.
‘If ZMapp is a successful product and using plants is a good way of making it – the best way of making it in fact – then I’m sure this will be a springboard for the whole field,’ he said.
Researchers are not only engineering plants for antibody production, but also for the synthesis of natural chemicals with medicinal properties.
Often these compounds are made by the plants to defend against herbivores and pests and only coincidentally have medicinal properties in humans. But typically plants only need to make minute amounts of the defence compounds to gain protection, so harvesting these chemicals is cumbersome. For example, to obtain one injection’s worth of the anticancer drug taxol from its natural plant source, you would need six Pacific yew trees, each around 100 years old.
As part of the ERC-funded LIGHTDRIVENP450s project, Professor Birger Lindberg Møller at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, is developing a way to amplify the production of valuable medicinal compounds from plants.
The idea is to alter the DNA of plant cells in a way that targets the enzymes producing these valuable compounds to the chloroplast, the sunlight-driven powerhouse of the plant cell. In this way energy production and synthesis of medicinal compounds is merged at the same place.
Prof. Møller and his team have been particularly successful in developing ways to insert certain enzymes known as P450s directly into the photosynthetic energy-producing parts of the cell in order to make plants produce diterpenoids – a class of compounds which includes the sweetener stevia, the anticancer compound taxol and forskolin, a promising anticancer compound currently used to treat glaucoma and heart failure.
‘P450s have been taken out of the chloroplast during evolution to enable the plant to prioritise energy consumption between growth, making fruits or seeds and only making defence compounds when challenged by herbivores and pests,’ said Prof. Møller. ‘Now we are putting them back and it works quite well – amazingly well actually!’
The challenges that still remain are significant, but Prof. Møller is optimistic that the technology will reach real-world application soon. ‘I would say in around five years, then I think you would have the first product from our lab with these complex molecules,’ he said.
Geneticists are studying the super-intelligent in search of genes that control cognitive ability while psychologists explore whether memory training can improve social skills and make us smarter.
Researchers are hoping to usher in an urban energy revolution by fitting our homes with third-generation solar cells, micro wind turbines and seasonal energy storage.
Your bills may never be the same.
What sets the super-intelligent apart from the rest of us?
Hydrogen will play a bigger role in Europe's transport and energy sectors but we have to let people know the tech is ready, says Bart Biebuyck.
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Stanley Mosk Courthouse / Los Angeles County Courthouse
The Los Angeles County Courthouse, along with the adjacent Los Angeles County Hall of Administration, were designed simultaneously by a team of noted, local architects and artists of the period. Both buildings were conceived as part of the 1947 Civic Center Master Plan, a monumental plan that transformed a large portion of Bunker Hill through the westward expansion of the Civic Center and created the east-west axis of government buildings that frame today’s Grand Park.
The County Courthouse was completed in 1958 and formally opened on January 5, 1959. Los Angeles County had gone nearly twenty-six years without a dedicated courthouse structure after the previous 1891 sandstone courthouse was damaged in the 1933 Long Beach earthquake. The Los Angeles Times noted that the architects of the present courthouse, which is home to both municipal courts and superior courts, designed it to last 250 years.
The County Courthouse was renamed in 2002 in honor of Stanley Mosk, who was the longest serving justice on the California Supreme Court and earlier served as Attorney General of California.
Massive in scale, the County Courthouse spans two city blocks and rises to eight stories through a series of angular volumes. The building is clad in panels of ceramic veneer with the lower floors featuring polished red granite. Hallmarks of its Late Moderne design include its spare detailing and smooth surfaces, strong horizontal emphasis and stepped volumes, bands of windows within bezeled frames, and integrated planting beds. Mid-century design details include the interior columns at the entrances to the main floor, which are clad in blue-green mosaic tile. Polished Italian marble is used for interior walls.
The design of the County Courthouse also features an original fountain and integrated sculpture. The circular fountain, located at the corner of Hill and First Streets, features an elevated bronze basin and contoured nozzle rising above a tiled pool which features a Greek key design.
The Hill Street entrance features terra cotta relief sculptures, designed by sculptor Donal Hord, depicting allegorical representations of Truth, Law and Justice. The Grand Avenue entrance features an integrated, terra cotta sculptural group titled Foundation of Law designed by sculptor Albert Stewart, with three figures representing the legal traditions upon which America was founded: Mosaic Law, with Moses representing Judeo-Christian heritage, Magna Carta, with a 13th century knight representing English Common Law, and Declaration of Independence, depicted by Thomas Jefferson.
One prominent feature of the County Courthouse actually predates the structure by a century: the numerals of the east-facing clock positioned high on the exterior date from 1859, and formerly adorned one of the clocks on the previous red sandstone courthouse (1891) and originated with one of clocks on the earlier clock tower courthouse (1859).
The County Courthouse, along with the adjacent County Hall of Administration, were both identified as eligible for listing in the California Register in 2009. They are also contributing structures in the Los Angeles Civic Center Historic District, which was formally determined eligible for listing in the National Register in 2010.
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