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National Condom WeekNational Condom Week is usually celebrated the same week as Valentine's Day in the USA
In the US, February is National Condom Month. Originally started on the campus of the University of California - Berkeley, it has grown into a educational even for high schools, colleges, family planning organizations, AIDS groups, sexually transmitted disease awareness groups, pharmacies and condom manufacturers.
Even though the week has grown, it continues to emphasize the importance of using using humor to help educate. Part of that has been to come up with slogans through the years for the week such as:
Don't be silly, protect your willy
When in doubt, shroud your spout
It will be sweeter if you wrap your peter
No glove, no love!
While humor is used to help provide education, National Condom Week has become a tool to help educate young adults about serious risks involved with unprotected sex. This includes the risk of catching and spreading sexually transmitted diseases including AIDS as well as helping to prevent unwanted pregnancies.
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Cover Your Soil
By Robert C. Schiffner, Resource Conservationist
Natural Resources Conservation Service
Soil should always be covered by growing plants, their residues, or a combination of the two. Healthy soils are full of microorganisms living in the soil that have the same needs as other living creatures. They need food and cover to survive. The healthiest soils are those with a diversity and abundance of life.
When you have a vegetative cover on the soil, especially in living cover, you offer those microbes both food and shelter. Some feed on dead organic matter and some eat other microbes. As a group, they cycle nutrients and build the soil and give it structure.
The tiny fraction of soil composed of anything and everything that once lived— organic matter—is more than an indicator of healthy soil. The carbon in organic matter is the main source of energy for all-important soil microbes and is the key for making nutrients available to plants. Organic matter supplies, stores, and retains such nutrients as nitrogen, phosphorous, and sulfur. Soil properties influenced by organic matter can increase water infiltration rates and increase the ability to store water, soil structure, and soil organisms. One percent of organic matter in the top six inches of the soil can hold approximately 27,000 gallons of water per acre. Organic matter can also help reduce soil erosion.
Cover crops, green manure crops, and perennial forage crops add organic matter, as do compost and manure. Soil organic matter can be increased by minimizing tillage, planting as many different species as possible in your rotations, and planting diverse mixtures of cover crops that keep the soil covered with residue year round.
In other words, if you are trying to make your soil healthier, you should not see the surface very often. Consider keeping your soil covered.
For more information on soil health please contact your local Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) office or conservation district office located at your local county USDA Service Center (listed in the telephone book under United States Government or on the internet at offices.usda.gov). More information is also available on the Kansas Web site at www.ks.nrcs.usda.gov. Follow us on Twitter @NRCS_Kansas. USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.
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Some 26 foreign agricultural experts have attended a training class in Changsha, capital of central south China's Hunan Province to study the cultivation method of hybrid rice.
Since the 1990s, entrusted by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, Chinese scientist Yuan Longping, father of hybrid rice, has conducted several similar training classes with the purpose of spreading the rice species worldwide.
Under the leadership of Yuan, Chinese scientists have cultivated an improved variety of hybrid rice with its per-hectare yield increased to 10.5 tons. Scientists describe the achievement as having great significance for China's food security in the 21st century.
So far, trial cultivation of hybrid rice has been conducted on over 20 countries including the United States, but its popularization has only been achieved in several countries like India and Vietnam due to technical reasons.
Experts attending the current month-long training class come from eight countries including India, the Philippines, Iran, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
(Xinhua News Agency 08/22/2001)
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Aug 2, 2012
Nanowires give vertical transistors a boost
Gate structures in silicon-based transistors will have to evolve in the future as these devices become ever smaller. Researchers in Japan have made an important advance in developing these next-generation architectures by successfully fabricating vertical transistors from semiconducting nanowires on a silicon substrate. The wires, made from indium gallium arsenide, are surrounded by 3D – rather than planar-shaped – gates and the finished devices have extremely good electronic properties.
Conventional microelectronic circuits, based on metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) have become increasingly smaller with time and this is one of the main reasons for their success. However, many problems, such as off-state current leakage and the so-called short-channel effect, become more apparent as device size decreases.
To overcome these complications, the gate structure of silicon-based transistors has already gone from being 2D (planar) to 3D with the development of "fin" field-effect transistors in the last few years. Researchers are currently looking at planar and fin architectures using compound III-V semiconductors, like InGaAs, as alternatives to complementary metal-oxide-semiconductors (CMOS) because of their high electron mobility and excellent compatibility with existing gate-dielectric materials. However, a new "surrounding-gate" architecture – where the gate is wrapped around a nanowire channel – also appears to show great promise. Such structures are difficult to study though because it is not easy to integrate freestanding semiconducting nanostructures, like nanowires, onto silicon substrates.
Katsuhiro Tomioka and colleagues at Hokkaido University in Sapporo are now reporting on a new technique to grow vertical InGaAs nanowires and show that they can fabricate surrounding-gate transistors using these wires and core-multishell nanowires (made from InGaAs/InP/InAlAs/InGaAs) as channels. The channels have a six-sided structure, which has the benefit of greatly increasing on-state current and device transconductance.
The researchers, who report their work in Nature, measured the on-off current ratio in their devices to be around 108 – a value that is superior to those observed in devices made from similar materials with equivalent dimensions. The estimated field-effect mobility of around 7850 cm2/V· s of the transistors also appears to be much higher than the typical electron mobility of a Si metal-oxide-semiconductor FET. These properties mean that the new devices could be useful as building blocks for high-speed wireless networks and other sophisticated technologies, said Tomioka.
"Nature recently published several review papers about new gate architectures, alternative channels and alternative switching mechanisms for future CMOS technologies," he explained. "At a recent major conference for transistor researchers, Intel suggested that integrating group III–V material onto silicon could be the future of low-power, high-speed CMOS. The company also emphasised the importance of vertically oriented 3D transistors.
"Our results are the first to realize these predictions," he told nanotechweb.org.
The Japan researchers have also already made "steep-subthreshold slope" tunnel FETs using their technique – a feat that "goes far beyond" what was outlined in the Nature reviews and at the conference, they said.
The team now plans to fabricate p-type FETs for logic operations using its technique.
About the author
Belle Dumé is contributing editor at nanotechweb.org.
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COLOR MAGIC WITH POLARIZED LIGHT (May, 1939)
COLOR MAGIC WITH POLARIZED LIGHT
By E. W. MURTFELDT
BLAZING with brilliant, ever-changing colors that rival the hues of the rainbow, the illuminated face of a giant electric clock is attracting crowds to an exhibit of timepieces at the San Francisco World’s Fair. Visitors, curious to know how this spectacular effect is obtained, are amazed to learn that this gleaming disk of light, sparkling with an intricate, moving pattern of colorful stars and concentric circles, is produced not by any complicated arrangement of colored bulbs, projectors, and revolving niters, but merely by plain white light, and strips of transparent cellulose mending tape sandwiched between two practically colorless disks.
What, they ask, is the magic element that transforms these simple materials into a myriad of whirling rainbows? Polaroid, the crystalline substance invented by Edwin H. Land, Boston scientist, that produces and controls polarized light (P.S.M., Apr. ’36, p. 20), provides the key to the mystery. First placed on the market only a few years ago, this polarizing material is already well known through its extensive use in sun glasses, camera-lens filters, desk lamps, train windows, and microscopes. In industry, it is used to spot invisible strains in glass and other transparent materials, much as X-ray apparatus is employed to track down hidden defects in metal parts.
But few people today know that polarizing disks can be made to create vivid colors such as those that shimmer on the face of this mammoth clock. Yet Fford Burchell, New York City expert who built this magic dial, predicts that “polarized color” will soon sweep the country, creating startling and revolutionary lighting effects for outdoor signs, advertising displays, interior decoration, and theater stage sets, to name only a few applications.
Exactly how does this important but mysterious lighting development work ? Physicists generally explain it by referring to a graphic diagram such as that reproduced on the opposite page. For the sake of simplicity, this diagram shows a quartz crystal between two polarizing disks, instead of the mending tape used in the clock dial, for the tape acts on polarized light in a more complicated way, although the general principle is the same.
With the diagram as a visual guide, follow a beam of light on its path through the first disk, into the crystal, and out through the second disk. Vibrating in all directions, the beam strikes the first polarizing disk, which acts like an opaque circle with countless optical slots cut in it, letting through only light vibrating in a single plane. Next, the beam enters the quartz crystal, where the different colors that make up this polarized white light are “twisted” by various amounts, each color emerging at a separate angle, something like a wheel with spokes painted in various colors.
Only the particular color emerging at the same angle as that of the optical slots in the second polarizing disk will pass through and become visible on the other side. If you rotate the disk, the colors change as the optical slots coincide first with the angle of one color and then with that of another.
This, in simplified form, is the general principle employed to change the plain face of this huge clock into a brilliant galaxy of colors. The clock itself is built like a mammoth five-layer cake set up on edge, with each layer measuring about six feet in diameter.
The bottom, or back, layer serves as a circular light box, with twenty standard light bulbs arranged around its inside rim. In front of this light chamber is a diffusing screen that spreads the illumination evenly over every part of the dial. The third layer, more like an icing, is a thin polarizing film. This is the disk responsible for the changing colors of the clock face, since it is slowly revolved by an electric motor with a rheostat control to regulate its speed.
Layer No. 4 is a disk of transparent acetate material on which is mounted a pattern built up of about 1,000 strips of the cellulose tape. These are laid down in from one to six thicknesses, and set so that the grain of the material lies at varying angles.
Finally, the second polarizing disk, fixed in a stationary position, forms the top layer of the “cake,” which is garnished with black hour numerals, and with the two moving hands.
The most delicate part of this polarized color process lies in mounting the cellulose tape in designs that will produce a balanced array of colors. A pattern is first drawn on paper to serve as a guide. Then a sheet of clear acetate material is placed over it. On this, cellulose tape is cut and pasted down over each section of the design, following a chart that tells what colors will be obtained with any number of tapes at given angles.
The skill with which this work is done is evidenced not only by the spectacular clock dial, but also by an amazing group of moving color displays in a demonstration room at the Burchell laboratory in New York. These include a star design that whirls through a dazzling spectrum of color, a flower pattern with petals that shift slowly from red through green and blue to a deep purple, and a fish, copied in amazing detail from an old Japanese print, with iridescent scales that shimmer in a thousand delicate hues.
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<urn:uuid:72d4601f-8d08-4ec7-a33b-f6f965507715>
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California-Nevada Fault Map centered at 33°N,121°W
- Red lines are known faults (orange lines are unnamed faults).
- Thin grey lines are roads.
- Magnitude = ? for new earthquakes until a magnitude is determined (takes 4-5 minutes).
Earthquakes can appear near a fault without having occurred on that fault.
To associate an earthquake with a fault requires viewing both of them in three-dimensions.
- Maps show events recorded in the past 7 days.
Maps are updated whenever a new earthquake has been located.
Try to reload this page if you do not have the most current map.
Special Regional Maps
Additional Maps and Info
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Assessment of Climate Change in the Southwest United States—a contribution to the 2013 National Climate Assessment—is a summary and synthesis of the past, present, and projected future of the region’s climate, emphasizing new information and understandings since publication of the previous national assessment in 2009.
- The assessment examines what climate and climate change mean for the health and well-being of human populations and the environment throughout the Southwestern United States, an area of about 700,000 square miles.
- The region includes Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah, vast stretches of coastline, an international border, and the jurisdictions of 182 federally recognized Native American tribes.
- With its regional perspective, this assessment also provides a foundation for assessments to be made for decision making at finer scales.
Comprehensive approach. The assessment looks at:
- climate and its effects, on scales ranging from states to watersheds and across ecosystems and regions;
- links between climate and resource supply and demand;
- effects on sectors—such as water, agriculture, energy, and transportation— that are critical to the well-being of the region’s inhabitants;
- the vulnerabilities to climate changes of all facets of the region; and
- the responses and preparedness plans that society may choose to make.
- The assessment represents the findings of 120 authors, representing a variety of disciplines, who have discussed and made judgments about the importance, quality, and limitations of the information used in the assessment.
- The assessment is guided, in part, by stakeholders who identified issues of concern within the region and made comments at meetings and online.
- In addition, the assessment received two independent reviews.
- The assessment evaluates and synthesizes information from a range of sources, including data sets of observations, simulations and projections from computer modeling, peer-reviewed scientific papers, case studies, and other sources.
- This assessment is evidence-based as verified by multiple reviews. Authors have clearly labeled and consistently judged the importance of information and their level of confidence in the assessment’s key findings.
- To ensure transparency in developing this regional assessment’s conclusions and key findings, we also have cited all sources of information, as is common peer-review practice, and sources of data for all graphics and tables.
Knowledge gaps and research needs
- The assessment presents key uncertainties associated with the topics it discusses, and identifies important gaps in knowledge about climate change and the type of research that would reduce or better define areas of uncertainty.
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Ascariasis isn't spread directly from person to person. Instead, a person has to come into contact with soil mixed with human feces that contain ascariasis eggs or infected water. In many developing countries, human feces are used for fertilizer, or poor sanitary facilities allow human waste to mix with soil in yards, ditches and fields.
Small children often play in dirt, and infection can occur if they put their dirty fingers in their mouths. Unwashed fruits or vegetables grown in contaminated soil also can transmit the ascariasis eggs.
Life cycle of a worm
- Ingestion. The microscopic ascariasis eggs can't become infective without coming into contact with soil. People can accidentally ingest contaminated soil through hand-to-mouth contact or by eating uncooked fruits or vegetables that have been grown in contaminated soil.
- Migration. Larvae hatch from the eggs in your small intestine and then penetrate the intestinal wall to travel to your lungs via your bloodstream or lymphatic system. After maturing for about a week in your lungs, the larvae break into your airway and travel up your throat, where they're coughed up and swallowed.
- Maturation. Once back in the intestines, the parasites grow into male or female worms. Female worms can be more than 15 inches (40 centimeters) long and a little less than a quarter inch (6 millimeters) in diameter. Male worms are generally smaller.
- Reproduction. Male and female worms mate in the small intestine. Female worms can produce 200,000 eggs a day, which leave your body in your feces. The fertilized eggs must be in soil for at least 18 days before they become infective.
The whole process — from egg ingestion to egg deposits — takes about two or three months. Ascariasis worms can live inside you for a year or two.
April 23, 2015
- Leder K, et al. Ascariasis. http://www.uptodate.com/home. Accessed Feb. 22, 2015.
- Ascariasis infection (ascariasis). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/ascariasis/. Accessed Feb. 22, 2015.
- Ascariasis. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. http://www.niaid.nih.gov/topics/ascariasis/Pages/default.aspx. Accessed Feb. 22, 2015.
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http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/ascariasis/basics/causes/con-20027084
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A lot has happened since the last time the Census Bureau produced national population projections: a recession, a baby bust, a 2010 census that counted 3 million fewer non-Hispanic whites than expected, and two elections in which minorities flexed their political muscle with profound results. How do the Census Bureau's new projections capture these events and what will be their impact on the nation's future population? Let's take a look.
Much slower population growth. The Census Bureau's new projections show a population of just 399.8 million in 2050. This is much less than the 439.0 million projected for 2050 in the previous set of projections (produced in 2008).
Non-Hispanic white decline. The new projections show the number of non-Hispanic whites peaking in 2024 at just under 200 million and declining steadily after that. As a share of the population, however, non-Hispanic whites will remain above 50 percent until 2043. Non-Hispanic whites are already in decline among Americans under age 45. The non-Hispanic white share of the younger population will fall below 50 percent in 2027. Among the nation's children (under age 18), the non-Hispanic white share is projected to fall below 50 percent in 2018.
No baby bust in projections. The Census Bureau's forecast of slowing population growth may not be conservative enough. The projections assume the addition of well more than 4 million infants (under age 1) each year, including 4.2 million in 2012. Yet, according to the National Center for Health Statistics, the provisional number of births for the 12 months ending in June 2012 was just 3.9 million.
Source: Census Bureau, 2012 National Population Projections
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http://demomemo.blogspot.com/2012/12/new-projections-show-much-slower.html
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- Evaluate the terrain, flow of water, plants and wildlife?
- Analyze the climate?
- Research the history of the area?
2. Site Design. Does the development/design project:
- Preserve fragile ecosystems?
- Use natural grades to contain new run-off?
- Ensure that a minimum of earth & vegetation are disturbed during development/construction?
3. Circulation. Does the layout:
- Minimize distances between points of destination?
- Cluster medium and high density areas while leaving other areas undisturbed?
- Include non-residential functions within residential areas?
- Provide safe paths for self-powered means of transportation?
- Include paths that are as direct as or more direct than routes provided for motor vehicles?
- Provide the self-powered paths on a separate grade where possible to enhance safety?
- Have paths (such as sidewalks) ramped to street level to allow easy access for wheelchair pedestrians and bicyclists?
- Provide routes for connecting with the mass transit system and facilities for encouraging ridership?
- Provide a way to upgrade nearby road facilities to accommodate self-powered transportation?
- Provide the least maintenance to roads by keeping their slope under 11%.
4. Infrastructure. Is your development/design project:
- Designing roads and utilities to minimize energy costs?
- Using the most efficient types of outdoor lighting only where needed?
- Integrating infrastructure into natural habitat?
5. Power. Are you taking an approach that:
- Exhausts all biological and non-tech solutions first?
- Uses the most energy-efficient method of performing tasks?
- When possible, uses renewable energy directly instead of indirectly?
- When renewables are not available, uses fuel (eg natural gas) directly instead of through the production of electricity?
- Generates power within the development from co-generation or renewable sources?
- Contracts for maintenance with a utility or renewable energy equipment specialist?
- Minimizes lengths of distribution lines?
6. Building. Is the development/design project being designed to:
- Orient streets on an east-west axis so that the predominant sides of buildingsʼ glass areas will face within 20 degrees of north and south?
- Incorporate natural ventilation, day-lighting and passive solar heating into building designs?
- Situate building so that they do not block solar access to adjacent buildings?
- Situate buildings in such a way that they do not block natural ventilation of adjacent units?
- Use renewable energy sources for water heating and space heating?
- Use architectural guidelines to ensure quality designs instead of imposing minimum square footage requirements?
- Minimize the use of incandescent lighting?
- Promote wall and roof surfaces that either reflect (in hot climates) or absorb (in cold climates) the majority of the sunʼs heat?
- Promote the use of locally available non-toxic materials for building components?
- Provide a low-cost method for upgrading to renewables at a later date. were renewable systems are not presently cost-effective?
7. Landscape. Does the design:
- Preserve natural landscape and habitats?
- Incorporate landscape design that provides shade from the summer sun?
- Employ landscape materials that will minimize long-term requirements for maintenance, irrigation, pesticides or herbicides?
- Use native vegetation?
- Use natural biological controls to reduce pests, avoid toxic chemical use?
8. Water. Do the design and facilities:
- Use drought-tolerant plants?
- Mandate low-water-use toilets (1.5 gallons/flush or less)?
- Reuse water (eg household greywater) for watering landscape?
- Where needed, distribute drinking water using solar energy?
- Use efficient hydraulic designs and pumps?
- Collect rainwater to serve as the water supply?
- Use groundwater only in quantities that can be replenished?
- Use natural means for water treatment and water disposal?
9. Food. Does the development/design project:
- Include food-producing landscapes sufficient to meet the needs of residents?
- Integrate tracts of food-producing lands throughout the design that can be gardened or farmed without excessive quantities of polluting machinery?
- Provide guidelines to grow crops organically?
- Offer methods to use solid and liquid wastes from the sustainable development as fertilizers?
10. Wastes. Does the property and management agreement regulations/guide lines:
- Include on-site recycling centers?
- Require separation of organic waste from other garbage?
- Provide for a community tool and appliance sharing/renting center?
- Allow only non-toxic, biodegradable and recyclable items to be sold within the development?
- Provide for periodic collection of toxic materials?
- Ensure the use of natural biological systems to treat sewage?
11. Education. Does the development/project design sales team:
- Offer literature on all aspects of sustainable developments?
- Offer “how-to” workshops on projects that enhance the sustainable community?
- Impose noise limits on regularly-used equipment and ensure good sound insulation in closelyspaced units?
- Permit clotheslines, solar collectors, and other items that reduce energy use?
- Encourage the use of natural ponds and lakes a “swimming holes instead of an energy-and chemical-intensive swimming pool”?
- Create a neighborhood association to help maintain the quality of development?
Record your score for each characteristic in the Score column, then multiply this score by the weight to get the weighed score. 5 Excellent! ! 4 Good! 3 Average! 2 Mediocre !1 Poor 0 Non-existent
The minimum weighted score points require for a viable permaculture design project/development is 400-420.
Characteristic Weight Score W/Score
Development ease 10
(include political ease)
Commercial suitability 8
Percent utilization 8
Aspect (Solar) 8
Natural resources-local 8
Electric power 7
Proximity to service facilities 7
Comfort (max/min temps) 7
Soil suitability 5
Character (personal taste) 5
Natural features (views) 5
Natural boundaries 5
Wind (good and bad) 4
Tree cover 4
INGREDIENTS FOR COMMUNITY GLUE
Bonding to each other
Bonding to the community
Clear aims of the group
Decisions making protocols
Tolerance and generosity
Forgiveness/ability to let go
Bonding to the land
Connections and relationships with the outside world
Structure and processes
Reflection and evaluation
Safety and trust
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<urn:uuid:293393b9-8aed-4344-9003-9f07332ba475>
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It's a living legal community making laws accessible and interactive. Click Here to get Started »
Public Administrative Bodies
Agencies endowed with governmental functions.
Public administrative agencies are created by statute and only the legislature has the authority to provide for their creation. The statutory provisions that create the administrative agencies and confer functions on them determine the character of the agencies. In general, agencies represent the people and act as guardians of the public interest, not the interests of private persons. As an incident to the performance of their public functions, however, agencies can decide issues between private parties or private rights.
Administrative agencies are extensions of the legislative branch of the government and can perform acts of a legislative or quasi-legislative nature. Agencies can also be part of the executive branch of government and can be empowered to deal with matters within the scope of executive power.
Administrative agencies are continuing organizations, unaffected by changes in personnel. Ordinarily final actions of administrative officers or bodies within the scope of their authority are binding on their successors.
All persons are equally eligible to hold an administrative office unless they are excluded by some constitutional or statutory disqualification. The legislature usually establishes the qualifications of those who are to hold administrative offices. The qualifications must be reasonable in light of the functions and duties of the office. The tenure and term of administrative officers are indicated in the statute. Generally an official is entitled, and sometimes required, to hold office until a qualified successor is chosen. The power to remove an official is derived from the sovereign power of the state and is indispensable in obtaining good administration of public activities. An officer should be removed only according to law. If the office is held at the pleasure of the appointing agency, the incumbent can be removed without notice or hearing.
Generally when authority is conferred on an administrative body composed of three or more members, the authority can be exercised by less than all the members, provided all had notice of the meeting and an opportunity to attend. Membership on an administrative board ordinarily includes the right to vote, and statutory provisions governing the method of voting should be observed. The number of members for effective action is usually fixed by statute, and action by a quorum is necessary. Unless provided by statute, the authority cannot be exercised by a solitary member, or less than a majority. A statutory requirement that a quorum be present is a jurisdictional one that cannot be waived; the action of less than a quorum is void in such a case.
In the interest of orderly procedure and certainty, administrative bodies keep minutes or written records of all proceedings and actions. Administrative agencies speak through their records, and the minutes must be truthful, clear, and precise. In contested cases when an administrative agency acts in a quasi-judicial capacity, the record should contain a summary of the facts and circumstances presented and the reasons for any administrative actions.
Administrative bodies have an inherent right to amend their records. When records are incorrect, they can be changed to reflect the truth. Typographical or clerical errors can be corrected at any time.
Records should be open for inspection by persons who have some real or proper interest in them, such as the parties to a proceeding. When the records are made public, no particular reason has to be demonstrated for inspecting them, since such records can be examined out of mere curiosity. The right of inspection, however, is subject to reasonable regulation.
Liability for the expenses of an administrative agency is usually regulated by statute. The legislature can also grant the agency the exclusive power to fix the fees for expenses incurred in the performance of its duties.
Administrative officers and agencies have no common law or inherent jurisdiction of powers. Custom or usage cannot invest administrative officers, agencies, or bodies with authority. Their powers are wholly derived from, and limited by, the constitution, a statute, or some other legislative enactment. In addition to the express powers, the officials and agencies have whatever implied powers are reasonably necessary to effectuate the express powers and duties.
An administrative agency that originally acquires jurisdiction over a particular matter ordinarily has exclusive jurisdiction as against an agency with concurrent jurisdiction, and no coordinate body has any right to interfere. An administrative body, however, can perform its duties in matters over which it has exclusive jurisdiction in cooperation with other public bodies and officials.
When the power and jurisdiction of federal and state agencies conflict or overlap, the federal authority is supreme and will prevail. Where Congress has preempted a particular field and has granted exclusive power over it to a federal agency, the power of a state is suspended, and a state agency has no jurisdiction, even when the particular matter sought to be administered by the state agency has not been addressed by the federal agency. The mere enactment of a federal statute authorizing a federal agency to act in a certain field does not preclude a state from enacting a statute on the same general subject and creating a state agency for its enforcement. When Congress in enacting a statute has not preempted an area, a state board or official, acting under a state statute, can assume jurisdiction and act.
As a general rule, administrative agencies or officers are not civilly liable for the consequences of their acts, when acting in good faith within the scope of proper authority. An officer is not responsible for damages if he makes a mistake of fact in exercising discretion or an error in ascertaining and deciding on the facts of a case, or if the law is misconstrued or misapplied.
Similarly, an administrative officer is not liable for the wrongful acts or omissions of subordinates, unless she directed, authorized, or cooperated in them. Liability results, however, when damages occur as a result of an official acting outside her scope of jurisdiction and without legal authorization.
When exercising their powers, administrative agencies must keep within the scope of the powers granted to them. They are powerless to act contrary to the provisions of the law, and they must follow the standards established by statute. They cannot ignore or transgress the statutory limitations on their power, even to accomplish what they believe to be worthwhile goals. Acts or orders that do not fall within the powers granted are wrong and void.
Persons whose rights are affected by administrative action are entitled to an impartial action free from bias, prejudice, or personal interest. When an individual or a group claims that an administrative act adversely affects a right, a presumption exists in favor of the legality and regularity of official acts of administrative officers and agencies. It is presumed that they act within the limits of the authority conferred on them and that facts exist that justify the administrative action.
Investigations by administrative agencies or officials are informal proceedings to obtain information to govern future action. They are not proceedings in which action is taken against anyone. An administrative investigation is comparable to a grand jury investigation where witnesses are compelled to appear and testify.
An administrative body can be required to make certain investigations, such as when a public service commission is required to investigate the activities of a public utility. A board might also be authorized to exercise its discretion in determining when an investigation is to be made.
The form of the investigation usually depends on the nature of the question to be decided and the type of data that is needed. Investigations are ordinarily held in private, and they must be conducted so that harmful publicity will not result or influence the final outcome. In the course of its investigation, a board can review official documents and can supplement this means of inquiry by private correspondence and by conducting personal research.
Investigations by administrative agencies or officials have no parties as found in a lawsuit or criminal prosecution, and usually, there is no need to give notice of the investigation. An administrative body or official can issue a subpoena requiring a witness to appear and to testify at an investigation. In addition, a subpoena can be issued for the production of all books, papers, or other documents that are relevant to the inquiry. The subpoena is void when it does not indicate that the evidence to be produced is germane to the inquiry. A person must respond to a subpoena to the best of his ability. Compliance with a subpoena is enforceable by a court order. Although hearings can be held, as a general rule, a hearing is not an integral part of an investigation by an administrative body or official.
An administrative body or official is not bound to conduct an investigation under the strict RULES OF EVIDENCE required for courts, but particular evidence, such as hearsay evidence, has been held to be inadmissible. Witnesses can be called in an investigative proceeding and their testimony can be taken, subject to cross-examination. Witnesses can even be entitled to the presence and advice of counsel. The costs and expenses of an investigation can be assessed against the particular persons or corporations involved, particularly if the complaining party receives an adverse decision.
Public administrative bodies promulgate rules and regulations. Their authority to do so and the guidelines under which the agencies perform these duties are governed by administrative law and administrative procedure.
Box, Richard C. 2004. Public Administration and Society: Critical Issues in American Governance. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe.
Fitzgerald, Randall, and Gerald Lipson. 1984. Porkbarrel: The Unexpurgated Grace Commission Story of Congressional Profligacy. Washington, D.C.: Cato Institute.
Osborne, David, and Ted A. Gaebler. 2000. Reinventing Government: How the Entrepreneurial Spirit Is Transforming the Public Sector. Cambridge, Mass.: Perseus.
Pinkerton, James P. 1995. What Comes Next?: The End of Big Government—and the New Paradigm Ahead. New York: Hyperion.
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How did the Palestinian Authority get telephone and Internet codes like a country?
Telephone Country Code 970
How did the Palestinian Authority get their own telephone country code, a powerful symbol of independence in the modern world?
As a direct result of the Oslo Accords, Israel gave the newly formed Palestinian Authority (PA) limited autonomy over certain territories. Israel and the PA worked on many technical issues that were intended to help create the infrastructure of a modern state, such as telecommunications. In the spirit of Oslo, Israel was a co-sponsor of International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Resolution 32 of the Plenipotentiary Conference (Kyoto, 1994) on Technical Assistance to the Palestinian Authority for the Development of Telecommunications. The ITU is an international treaty organization that is a ‘specialized agency’ of the UN with its own governing body.
Even though the PA did not follow through on the most important commitments of the peace process -- involving Israel's security -- the momentum of these agreements carried the PA forward toward statehood. Many anti-Israel countries in fact recognize "Palestine" as a state and the Palestinian Authority has been given observer status at the United Nations. In 1998, the ITU, at their Plenipotentiary Conference in Minneapolis, passed Resolution 99, "Status of Palestine in ITU", recognizing the Palestinian Authority and allowing them to have Observer status as a non-voting participant for the purposes of the ITU. In January 1999, over Israeli objections, the ITU reserved the use of ITU-T Recommendation E.164 code 970 for the Palestinian Authority, the preliminary step toward permanent assignment. Previously, calls to areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority were routed through Israel (code 972) but now the PA would control these calls and derive the revenue from them. A joint Palestinian-Israeli telecommunications committee, which was established following the signing of the Oslo Declaration of Principles in 1993, developed the details of implementation of the change. Country code 970 will be permanently assigned to the PA by the ITU at a later date. Such permanent assignment typically happens when the service is ready for public, commercial operations, but in the case of the Palestinian Authority there may be political aspects to the decision as well. Israel objected to the change because, under the Interim Agreement of the Oslo Accords, the Palestinian Authority was specifically prohibited from taking on the trappings of a national state until agreement on final status was reached bilaterally with Israel. But the UN and others continually undermined that agreement by cooperating with the Palestinian Authority as if it were a state. The reservation of a telephone country code (and an Internet top level domain, discussed below) are examples of this trend. The operating telephone carriers in member countries of the ITU (essentially the whole world) will conform to the new arrangements (although not required to do so). The Palestinian Authority had their carrier Paltel acquire international grade switches and they made all technical preparations, starting in early 1999. Egypt was the first country to establish service direct to 970 in May 1999. By now, most carriers have made the change. AT&T, Sprint, MCI, BT and other international telephone companies, use the 970 code into areas where it has been implemented by the PA. The official name of the entity associated with the 970 country code is "Palestinian Authority". However, due to sloppy practices, many of the operating carriers refer to 970 as "Palestine". One AT&T website found in January 2003 has a listing for "Israel including Palestine, 970" and also "Israel, 972". Pro-Palestinian Arab organizations go even further, e.g. "Palestine National Authority International dialing code: 970 / 972" thereby including Israel under the misnamed "Palestinian National Authority". The assignment of the country code to particular areas is administrative and not necessarily geographic. For example, Ariel and Kiryat Arba (Hebron) phones are connected via country code 972 even though they are geographically in the "West Bank".
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GONZALES, MANUEL C.
GONZALES, MANUEL C. (1900–1986). Manuel C. (M. C.) Gonzales, Mexican-American civil-rights activist, was born on October 22, 1900, in Hidalgo County, Texas, to Ruperto and María Luisa (Carbajal) Gonzales. His grandfather was Gen. José M. J. Carbajal. Gonzales married Cornelia Blank, with whom he had one daughter. On June 6, 1959, he married Rose Olga Solís; they had four children. When his family moved to San Antonio in 1910, Gonzales worked for Francisco A. Chapa at his drugstore and attended both parochial and public schools, then Nixon Clay college in Austin. He subsequently worked as a law clerk for the district judge of Hidalgo County, as chief clerk at the Capitol in Austin, and as a secretary for the Patterson and Love law firm, also in Austin. Although underage, Gonzales served as secretary and interpreter to the military attaché at the United States Embassy in Spain and France in 1918–19. When he returned to the states he studied law at St. Louis University and later attended the University of Texas law school. He passed the bar examination on June 9, 1924. By 1930 Gonzales had also worked with the Bexar County district attorney and become familiar with crime cases.
He began working for Mexican-American civil rights while he was employed at the Patterson and Love firm. He played a key role in the founding of La Liga Protectoria Mexicana (see MEXICAN PROTECTIVE LEAGUE) around 1917, the Asociación Jurídica Mexicana (a legal-assistance organization) in 1921, and the Sons of Texas in 1922. Gonzales also served as vice president of the Order of Knights of America in 1927, wrote the constitution and charter for the Mexican Chamber of Commerce in 1928, and acted as secretary at the founding convention of the League of United Latin American Citizens on February 17, 1929. He was active in LULAC for many years. In 1931 and 1932 he participated in the Del Rio ISD v. Salvatierra case. He became the third LULAC president in 1931. He also worked with the "Flying Squadron," a San Antonio LULAC organizing team, in the 1930s, and served as national executive secretary in LULAC under the George I. Sánchez and Ben Osuna administrations (1941–43). Gonzales worked as legal advisor for the Mexican Consulate from 1926 to 1958 and held several diplomatic positions with Mexico and Guatemala. He was a proponent of the Good Neighbor Commission and Pan-Americanism.
He was one of only a few Mexican Americans to seek political office in San Antonio in the early twentieth century. In 1930 he ran as a Democrat for the state legislature, and he made a name for himself as a fighter of machine politics. In 1954 he was elected to the San Antonio Union Junior College District Board of Trustees, a position he held until 1978. He wrote for such periodicals as El Luchador, OKA News, LULAC News, Alma Latina, and the Texas Outlookqv. He was a member of the Methodist Church, the Perfect Union Masonic Lodge, the Shriners, and the Lion's Club and served as a scoutmaster. The Latin American Sports Association named a trophy in his honor, and when he retired from the San Antonio Union Junior College District Board of Trustees the science building at San Antonio Junior College was named after him. In 1976 he was chief of the district attorney's grand jury. Gonzales died in San Antonio on June 12, 1986, and left a legacy throughout the Southwest as a defender of the rights of Mexican Americans. His papers are located in the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection at the University of Texas at Austin.
Image Use Disclaimer
All copyrighted materials included within the Handbook of Texas Online are in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 related to Copyright and “Fair Use” for Non-Profit educational institutions, which permits the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA), to utilize copyrighted materials to further scholarship, education, and inform the public. The TSHA makes every effort to conform to the principles of fair use and to comply with copyright law.
For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this article.Handbook of Texas Online, Cynthia E. Orozco, "Gonzales, Manuel C.," accessed June 26, 2016, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fgo57.
Uploaded on June 15, 2010. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
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Now what's cooler than this?
LONDON, England -- Scientists in the U.S. are developing a laser gun that could kill millions of mosquitoes in minutes.
The laser, which has been dubbed a "weapon of mosquito destruction" fires at mosquitoes once it detects the audio frequency created by the beating of its wings.
The laser beam then destroys the mosquito, burning it on the spot.
Developed by some of the astrophysicists involved in what was known as the "Star Wars" anti-missile programs during the Cold War, the project is meant to prevent the spread of malaria.
Lead scientist on the project, Dr. Jordin Kare, told CNN that the laser would be able to sweep an area and "toast millions of mosquitoes in a few minutes."
In any case," he added, "The laser is able to distinguish between mosquitoes that go after people and those that aren't dangerous."
He added that other insects would not be affected by the laser's beam.
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Tobacco’s ill effects apparently can be passed down to future generations. A study looking at the link between smoking and childhood asthma shows for the first time that when a woman lights up during pregnancy, her children aren’t the only ones at risk. Her grandchildren are likely to suffer as well.
Preventive medicine researcher Yu-Fen Li and her colleagues at the University of Southern California found that smoking by a maternal grandmother during her own pregnancies doubles the risk that her daughters’ children will develop asthma. Li had planned on looking only at the effects of a mother’s smoking on children but included an additional question about the mother’s own exposure to maternal smoking. To the researchers’ surprise, if grandma had smoked, her grandchild’s risk of asthma went up—even when neither her daughter nor anyone else in the child’s home used tobacco.
Li’s group speculates that when a pregnant woman’s child is female, the tobacco damages the eggs developing in the fetus. Tobacco might also change markers on a certain type of the unborn baby’s DNA. That may affect the child’s immune system, increasing her susceptibility to asthma, which is passed to her children too.
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Small Samples, Big Science
Microscopes, blood analyzers, and Petri dishes are among the National Zoo’s front line of animal-care practices. Tools like these allow the Zoo’s pathology department to diagnose illnesses with little more than a drop of blood or a fecal sample.
By Cristina Santiestevan
Origami kangaroos and paper elephant mobiles hang from the ceiling. Chemical-resistant countertops and deep laboratory sinks are reminiscent of high school chemistry class. Three stainless steel refrigerators bear matching signs: “No Food.” Above a doorway hangs another sign: “From poop to blood: We do it all.”
This sign adorns the Zoo's pathologoy lab. (Mehgan Murphy/NZP)
The sign above the door is absolutely correct. The people who work here, in the Zoo’s pathology lab, are essential members of the animal-care team, although they rarely leave the lab or see an animal. Instead, they interact with the Zoo’s elephants, clouded leopards, and golden lion tamarins through blood, urine, and stool samples. They gauge an animal’s health from the laboratory, by counting blood cells, testing stool samples for pathogenic bacteria, and running countless other tests.
“It’s a lot of fun, because you learn all the time,” says Ann Bratthauer, a 27-year veteran of the Zoo’s pathology department. Bratthauer, Betty Ackerman, and Stephanie Otto are the lab’s three technologists. They handle samples from Rock Creek, Front Royal, and Smithsonian field researchers around the globe, and they conduct tests in the clinical pathology lab. The variety of patients is both a challenge and a delight. Some animals are still relatively unknown to science, and every blood test might bring a new discovery. “Everything we do is research,” says Bratthauer.
Almost every animal at the Zoo will have a sample analyzed in this lab. In total, approximately 5,000 individual cases will be handled by the clinical pathology lab this year. Each will be summarized on a detailed data sheet and filed for future reference. Data sheet number 2010-3599, for example, summarizes routine tests that were recently completed for a female Gila monster. Her test results reveal she’s in fine health.
These standard checks are a routine but important part of the monitoring animal health at the National Zoo. Parasite loads are tested at least once a year, and sometimes as often as once a month. Water samples are routinely checked for harmful bacteria. Blood and urine samples allow Zoo staff to track kidney and liver function. If a test comes back abnormal, the veterinary staff are alerted, and the animal receives medical care.
Most important, however, may be the countless tests that come back as normal. For many animals, researchers are just beginning to understand what typical really looks like. Healthy human blood cells, for example, should be round. Healthy camel blood cells, in contrast, are oval. Without knowing this, a researcher might incorrectly assume that a healthy camel is sick, all based on those oval blood cells.
The differences between animals extend beyond blood cell shape and include practically every measurement that might determine an animal’s health, such as blood cell size and count, proportions of red and white blood cells, and hemoglobin content. Each of these parameters in mammals can be measured using the Hemavet, an automated blood analyzer. But the automated results will mean little, unless the team has already determined what typical looks like for that particular species.
Puja Basu and Esther Langan trim preserved tissues. Mehgan Murphy/NZP)
“People doctors have no clue how hard it can be,” says Bratthauer, who clearly does not mind the challenge. “They have only one species to work with.” The sheer number of species is not the only challenge here. There is also the fact that the patients are all wild animals, and many species and individuals are not exactly cooperative with their caregivers.
For example, those clean urine sample cups that human doctors pass out to patients for every routine physical simply don’t work here. Instead, urine samples must be collected in whatever way possible, even if it means getting them off the floor. This means the lab technologists must be able to tell the difference between contamination in a urine sample, and an actual symptom. Pollen grains, for example, can look remarkably like parasites when suspended in a drop of urine.
Pollen-contaminated urine samples and oval-shaped blood cells are simply part of the equation for a zoo’s clinical pathology lab and the people who work there. “It doesn’t matter if it’s blood or feces or what have you,” says Bratthauer. “It’s our job to do it right.”
Learning From the Dead
The laboratory is only one part of the pathology facility. A short walk from the lab is a separate building that is the ultimate destination for every animal at the Zoo. This is where Tim Walsh, the Zoo’s head pathologist and self-described animal coroner, conducts necropsies—animal autopsies—on deceased animals.
“Every animal we have will eventually die,” says Walsh. Even though zoo animals tend to live longer than their wild counterparts, none of them will live forever. When they die, it is Walsh’s responsibility to determine why.
Whether it is a much-loved Zoo resident or an anonymous wild sparrow, every animal that is discovered dead on the Zoo’s grounds is given the same treatment: a thorough necropsy and, often, a microscopic investigation of the animal’s tissues and organs. This attention to detail is a necessity in a world where wild animals can transmit their diseases, parasites, and infections to the Zoo’s residents. Determining the cause of death for one animal may save the lives of countless more.
Every necropsy shares the same set of goals. First, the necropsy team attempts to learn why an animal died. In particular, the team looks for evidence of disease that might pose a threat to other Zoo animals, or might indicate a larger trend in an animal group or species. If the animal died of normal causes, the necropsy helps develop a better understanding of what normal looks like for that particular species. Finally, the team collects and saves samples that may be used in research projects, for educational programs, or as museum exhibits.
A complete necropsy also includes histopathology—the investigation of tissue or organ samples through a microscope. Some necropsies may also include tests for parasites, toxins, viruses, and more. “Most of our answers come from looking through a microscope,” says Walsh.
Thousands of microscopic samples can be preserved from a single two-millimeter slice of tissue or organ. Each sample may hold a clue that will ultimately further our understanding of these animals, leading to advancements in their care in zoos, and their conservation in the wild. “We try,” says Walsh, “to learn all we can from the animals, since many of them are so rare.”
Pathology lab slides (Mehgan Murphy/NZP)
Samples collected from National Zoo necropsies support research and conservation projects around the world. “That’s a whole research project,” says Walsh, pointing at a container that holds the heart of a deceased male gorilla. Heart problems are not humans’ alone; in fact, they are the leading health problem with male gorillas in captivity and a key focus for chief veterinarian Suzan Murray. No one yet knows why. But studying preserved hearts may eventually help a researcher discover the cause for heart problems in male gorillas. Knowing the cause is the first step to developing a treatment.
“Any researcher can ask for samples,” explains Walsh. For example, the Zoo recently shipped several primate samples to a researcher who is investigating the prevalence of alcoholism—once thought to afflict only humans—in various primates that eat fermented berries. The results might help treat addiction in primates.
Over the years, the Zoo’s pathology department has contributed directly to several important discoveries. For example, when Kumari the elephant died in 1995, the Zoo’s pathology department diagnosed herpesvirus as the cause of death. This was the first documented case of elephant herpes, and it led to the discovery that herpes is a leading killer of elephants, both in zoos and in the wild. Today, the National Zoo is the leader in a worldwide effort to understand the cause and treatment of elephant herpes.
Additional discoveries supported by the Zoo’s pathologists include callitrichid hepatitis (a fatal disease transmitted by mice) in golden lion tamarins and chytrid fungus (a deadly skin fungus that has devastated amphibian populations around the world) in frogs and toads.
These discoveries guide animal-care practices around the world. They also provide essential insight for conserving wild populations of animals in their native habitat. If zoo pathologists are able to develop a successful treatment for elephant herpes by working with captive animals, their findings may eventually contribute to decisions and actions relating to wild elephant conservation.
Likewise, by studying chytrid fungus in zoo amphibians, pathologists advance our knowledge of the condition, and may ultimately help reverse the downward trend of most amphibian populations around the world.
“These animals are ambassadors for conservation and science,” says Walsh of the Zoo’s many residents. That means great benefits come from translating research and knowledge gleaned at the Zoo into helping the species in the wild. “We are not just trying to save an individual,” says Walsh. “We are trying to save a species.”
— Freelance writer-photographer CRISTINA SANTIESTEVAN wrote about clouded leopards for the May-June 2009 issue of Smithsonian Zoogoer.
If you have a comment about Smithsonian Zoogoer magazine, please email it to us.Smithsonian Zoogoer 39(6) 2010. Copyright 2010 Friends of the National Zoo. All rights reserved.
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California is best know for its coastline and beaches. The state has nearly 2,000 km of
coastline, so the state is known as a surfer's paradise. From the tall cliffs that line the coast,
you are almost always guaranteed a beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean, especially at sunset.
The state is also famous for its giant redwood trees. These trees can grow to be over 100 meters tall.
Some trees are so wide you can drive a car through them. These trees have a long life, for
they can live for over 1,000 years. One tree in California is over 2,200 years old.
On the eastern side of California, you will find the Sierra Mountains. These Mountains start in
Alaska and run all the way to Chile, in South America. People usually think of California as
a warm place, but the Sierra Mountains provide a great playground for both skiers
and snow boarders.
In the Sierras you can find Yosemite National Park. This is by far the most popular national
park in California because it offers a little bit of everything: tall mountains, high cliffs, deep
forests, wide meadows, great hiking trails, and beautiful views everywhere you look.
In Southern California, the weather can be very hot and dry, so not surprisingly you will find
many deserts in the south. These dry lands are home to many wildlife such as iguana, foxes,
coyotes, eagles, bighorn sheep and rattlesnakes.
California is not all wild terrain. It is also home to large areas of farm land. In fact, California
produces nearly half of all the fruit and vegetables grown in the United States. For this reason,
California is sometimes referred to as America's fruit basket!
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Biogeography -- Where Darwin Does Theology (Poorly): Why Darwinism Is False
Theological arguments are also prominent in The Origin of Species. For example, Darwin argued that the geographic distribution of living things made no sense if species had been separately created, but it did make sense in the context of his theory. Cases such as "the presence of peculiar species of bats on oceanic islands and the absence of all other terrestrial mammals," Darwin wrote, "are facts utterly inexplicable on the theory of independent acts of creation." In particular: "Why, it may be asked, has the supposed creative force produced bats and no other mammals on remote islands?" According to Darwin, "on my view this question can easily be answered; for no terrestrial mammal can be transported across a wide space of sea, but bats can fly across."34
But Darwin knew that migration cannot account for all patterns of geographic distribution. He wrote in The Origin of Species that "the identity of many plants and animals, on mountain-summits, separated from each other by hundreds of miles of lowlands, where Alpine species could not possibly exist, is one of the most striking cases known of the same species living at distant points without the apparent possibility of their having migrated from one point to the other." Darwin argued that the recent ice age "affords a simple explanation of these facts." Arctic plants and animals that were "nearly the same" could have flourished everywhere in Europe and North America, but "when the warmth had fully returned, the same species, which had lately lived together on the European and North American lowlands, would again be found in the arctic regions of the Old and New Worlds, and on many isolated mountain-summits far distant from each other."35
So some cases of geographic distribution may not be due to migration, but to the splitting of a formerly large, widespread population into small, isolated populations--what modern biologists call "vicariance." Darwin argued that all modern distributions of species could be explained by these two possibilities. Yet there are many cases of geographic distribution that neither migration nor vicariance seem able to explain.
One example is the worldwide distribution of flightless birds, or "ratites." These include ostriches in Africa, rheas in South America, emus and cassowaries in Australia, and kiwis in New Zealand. Since the birds are flightless, explanations based on migration over vast oceanic distances are implausible. After continental drift was discovered in the twentieth century, it was thought that the various populations might have separated with the landmasses. But ostriches and kiwis are much too recent; the continents had already drifted apart when these species originated. So neither migration nor vicariance explain ratite biogeography.36
Another example is freshwater crabs. Studied intensively by Italian biologist Giuseppe Colosi in the 1920s, these animals complete their life cycles exclusively in freshwater habitats and are incapable of surviving prolonged exposure to salt water. Today, very similar species are found in widely separated lakes and rivers in Central and South America, Africa, Madagascar, southern Europe, India, Asia and Australia. Fossil and molecular evidence indicates that these animals originated long after the continents separated, so their distribution is inconsistent with the vicariance hypothesis. Some biologists speculate that the crabs may have migrated by "transoceanic rafting" in hollow logs, but this seems unlikely given their inability to tolerate salt water. So neither vicariance nor migration provides a convincing explanation for the biogeography of these animals.37
An alternative explanation was suggested in the mid-twentieth century by Léon Croizat, a French biologist raised in Italy. Croizat found that Darwin's theory did "not seem to agree at all with certain important facts of nature," especially the facts of biogeography. Indeed, he concluded, "Darwinism is by now only a straitjacket... a thoroughly decrepit skin to hold new wine." Croizat did not argue for independent acts of creation; instead, he proposed that in many cases a widespread primitive species was split into fragments, then its remnants evolved in parallel, in separate locations, into new species that were remarkably similar. Croizat called this process of parallel evolution "orthogenesis." Neo-Darwinists such as Ernst Mayr, however, pointed out that there is no mechanism for orthogenesis, which implies--contrary to Darwinism--that evolution is guided in certain directions; so they rejected Croizat's hypothesis.38
In Why Evolution Is True, Coyne (like Darwin) attributes the biogeography of oceanic islands to migration, and certain other distributions to vicariance. But Coyne (unlike Darwin) acknowledges that these two processes cannot explain everything. For example, the internal anatomy of marsupial mammals is so different from the internal anatomy of placental mammals that the two groups are thought to have split a long time ago. Yet there are marsupial flying squirrels, anteaters and moles in Australia that strikingly resemble placental flying squirrels, anteaters and moles on other continents, and these forms originated long after the continents had separated.
Coyne attributes the similarities to "a well-known process called convergent evolution." According to Coyne. "It's really quite simple. Species that live in similar habitats will experience similar selection pressures from their environment, so they may evolve similar adaptations, or converge, coming to look and behave very much alike even though they are unrelated." Put together common ancestry, natural selection, and the origin of species ("speciation"), "add in the fact that distant areas of the world can have similar habitats, and you get convergent evolution--and a simple explanation of a major geographic pattern."39
This is not the same as Croizat's "orthogenesis," according to which populations of a single species, after becoming separated from each other, evolve in parallel due to some internal directive force. According to Coyne's "convergent evolution," organisms that are fundamentally different from each other evolve through natural selection to become superficially similar because they inhabit similar environments. The mechanism for orthogenesis is internal, whereas the mechanism for convergence is external. In both cases, however, mechanism is crucial: Without it, orthogenesis and convergence are simply words describing biogeographical patterns, not explanations of how those patterns originated.
So the same question can be asked of convergence that was asked of orthogenesis: What is the evidence for the proposed mechanism? According to Coyne, the mechanism of convergence involves natural selection and speciation.
34 Darwin, The Origin of Species, Chapters XIII (pp. 347-352) and XV (p. 419). Available online (2009) here.
35 Darwin, The Origin of Species, Chapters XII (pp. 330-332). Available online (2009) here.
36 Alan Cooper, et al., C. Mourer-Chauviré, C.K. Chambers, A. von Haeseler, A.C. Wilson & S. Paabo, "Independent origins of New Zealand moas and kiwis," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 89 (1992): 8741-8744. Available online (2008) here.
Oliver Haddrath & Allan J. Baker, "Complete mitochondrial DNA genome sequences of extinct birds: ratite phylogenetics and the vicariance biogeography hypothesis," Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 268 (2001): 939-945.
John Harshman, E.L. Braun, M.J. Braun, C.J. Huddleston, R.C.K. Bowie,
J.L. Chojnowski, S.J. Hackett, K.-L. Han, R.T. Kimball, B.D. Marks, K.J. Miglia,
W.S. Moore, S. Reddy, F.H. Sheldon, D.W. Steadman, S.J. Steppan, C.C. Witt & T. Yuri, "Phylogenomic evidence for multiple losses of flight in ratite birds," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 105 (2008): 13462-13467. Abstract available online (2008) here.
Giuseppe Sermonti, "L'evoluzione in Italia - La via torinese / How Evolution Came to Italy - The Turin Connection," Rivista di Biologia/Biology Forum 94 (2001): 5-12. Available online (2008) here.
37 Giuseppe Colosi, "La distribuzione geografica dei Potamonidae," Rivista di Biologia 3 (1921): 294-301. Available online (2009) here.
Savel R. Daniels, N. Cumberlidge, M. Pérez-Losada, S.A.E. Marijnissen &
K.A. Crandall, "Evolution of Afrotropical freshwater crab lineages obscured by morphological convergence," Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 40 (2006): 227--235. Available online (2009) here.
R. von Sternberg, N. Cumberlidge & G. Rodriguez. "On the marine sister groups of the freshwater crabs (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura)," Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research 37 (1999): 19--38.
Darren C.J. Yeo, et al., "Global diversity of crabs (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura) in freshwater," Hydrobiologia 595 (2008): 275-286.
38 Léon Croizat, Space, Time, Form: The Biological Synthesis. Published by the author (Deventer, Netherlands: N. V. Drukkerij Salland, 1962), p. iii.
Robin C. Craw, "Léon Croizat's Biogeographic Work: A Personal Appreciation," Tuatara 27:1 (August 1984): 8-13. Available online (2009) here.
John R. Grehan, "Evolution By Law: Croizat's 'Orthogeny' and Darwin's 'Laws of Growth'," Tuatara 27:1 (August 1984): 14-19. Available online (2009) here.
Carmen Colacino, "Léon Croizat's Biogeography and Macroevolution, or... 'Out of Nothing, Nothing Comes'," The Philippine Scientist 34 (1997): 73-88.
Ernst Mayr, The Growth of Biological Thought (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1982), pp. 529-530.
39 Coyne, Why Evolution Is True, pp. 92-94.
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The process of lowering the temperature of a liquid or solid to its freezing point. At this point the item becomes solid. The temperature at which pure water freezes is 32º Fahrenheit or 0º Celsius. Impurities, minerals and miscellaneous substances in water (such as salt or alcohol) change the temperature or length of time required to freeze water. Thus, various liquid substances freeze at different temperatures based on their chemical composition. Solid items such as food also experience similar results, freezing at different lengths of time or temperatures based on their substance and chemical composition. Typically, items such as meat, poultry or fish will freeze in several hours. Keep in mind that the faster an item can freeze, the better it is for preserving the quality of the food item. Freezing a food and keeping it frozen will eliminate the opportunity for food borne illnesses to occur, since the pathogens that adversely affect food cannot grow. Freezing a food will not guarantee that it can be kept forever, since there are too many variables affecting the quality of the food prior and during freezing. Check foods for freezer burn. Be aware of the difference between the refrigerator freezer and a free-standing freezer. The refrigerator freezer is opened and closed often, affecting the amount of air leaking out, thus warming and refreezing contents. This leakage of air may cause food items to grow ice crystals as moisture forms from temperatures variations. Therefore, keep items in refrigerator freezers for a month or two while free-standing freezers can keep foods protected for up to 12 months.
When freezing foods, use materials that are safe for freezing and containing foods, such as plastic freezer containers, freezer paper, non-sticking freezer foil, or freezer bags. Materials that are not freezer safe will allow air to enter and affect the food, or in a reverse manner, allow odors to escape and affect surrounding foods. Generally, it is more important to be concerned with the way the food is wrapped rather than the container, but both are very important to keep the food as fresh as possible.
Foods that are to be placed together for freezing should be separated by a piece of freezer wrapping to keep them from sticking as they freeze. After wrapping or placing food in a freezer bag, force all of the air out of the package and seal it to keep it airtight thus reducing the chance for freezer burn. Refrain from using foil for any food that is acidic, such as citrus fruits or tomatoes, since acid reacts with foil and breaks down the material as it opens tiny pinholes allowing air to enter. When using plastic freezer containers, select a container size that is not too large for the food being stored. Excess space allows excess air to crystallize and adversely affect the stored food. To insure proper temperatures, check the freezer periodically with a refrigerator/freezer thermometer making sure temperatures for freezing are maintained at a safe level for food.
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It is a truism that first impressions really count. So you would think that a paper entitled "Superfluid motion of light" that had me running off to discuss a potential experimental demonstration with colleagues would have me raving. Unfortunately, on second, third, and now fourth reading, I find myself slightly at a loss. It seems very interesting, but what is it that we are actually interested in?
The paper, published in Physical Review Letters, plays on the idea that the mathematics of some very different physical phenomena are often very similar. This means that if you find a property in one system, then you can try and figure out what the analogous property would be in the other from the mathematics. In this case, scientists have compared superfluidity with light propagation to try and figure out what superfluid motion in light might look like.
Let's start with describing what a superfluid is. A superfluid is generally a liquid that flows without dissipation. That means that when it encounters an obstacle in its path, it will flow around the obstacle without slowing or experiencing turbulence—turbulence being a source of dissipation. The explanation for this behavior lies in the quantum nature of matter, but we can boil it down to one essential ingredient: sound waves. As the atoms move and encounter obstacles, their motions set up sound waves that propagate through the liquid. In a sense, these sound waves tell the atoms where the obstacles are, so the atoms don't simply collide with them.
This tells us that a superfluid can't flow faster than the speed of sound in said fluid. And, indeed, experiments bear this out, with superfluidity shown to appear and vanish as flow speed drops below and rises above the speed of sound. So what has this got to do with light?
The interesting thing about superfluids is that the mathematics used to describe their flow are very similar to those that describe the flow of light in particular types of media, specifically, those that are nonlinear—the brightness of the light modifies the optical properties of the media. If the mathematics are the same, then it should be possible to work backwards and figure out what superfluid light would look like and how that superfluidity could be observed.
This is pretty much what Patricio Leboeuf and Simon Moulieras of France have attempted to do. So, the first question would be what would constitute a superfluid light flow. The key property of superfluid light is that it shouldn't exhibit the equivalent of dissipation. In the case of light, dissipation can be thought of as scattering.
Imagine you have a fiber optic cable, where light pulses flow down the cable. Even when the cable is bent, light remains in the cable. However, if I put a small air bubble in the center of the cable, when a light pulse encounters that, some of the light will be reflected back down the cable, but still more will scatter out of the cable entirely. Although the total amount of light remains the same, the light propagating in the direction we intended is reduced. This is dissipation and, if it's a superfluid, light must be immune to it. In the superfluid case, light would flow around the air bubble and continue down the cable.
But wait, there's more. Superfluids have a critical flow speed as well. This is where things will get a little complicated later, so suffice it to say that such a speed does exist, but it isn't the speed of light in the medium.
Now that we've got these predicted behaviors, how do we make it happen? The idea presented by the authors is to create an array of closely spaced waveguides made from material that is nonlinear in its response to light.
When light is confined in a waveguide, part of it hangs outside the waveguide. If two waveguides are closely spaced, then the part of the light outside of the first waveguide will be inside the second waveguide. This allows light to tunnel from one waveguide to another. So, in this array of waveguides, light hops back and forth across the different waveguides as it propagates along. Furthermore, because the brightness of the light modifies the optical properties of the waveguides, the rate of hopping depends on how much light is hanging around in a particular waveguide.
The end result is that light zig-zags its way along the waveguide array with its forward speed reduced. There is now a transverse speed as well—how fast the most intense part of the light pulse jumps from waveguide to waveguide. This transverse speed is determined by how intense the light pulse is: brighter pulses hop faster.
Leboeuf and Moulieras show that if an obstacle is placed in the array, then, provided the transverse speed of the light pulse is less than about one-hundredth of its speed along the waveguide, the light pulse is not scattered and continues along the array. As the light intensity increases, the transverse speed increases and the zig-zag motion becomes disrupted as light flies off in all directions. Well, actually, since this is a 2D simulation, it can only fly in two directions, but you get the picture, I hope.
This paper has me quite excited, because it probably isn't that difficult an experiment to perform. We just have to decide if we want to do it. As for what it might be good for, or mean for light transport, I really have no idea yet. It just seems interesting.
Physical Review Letters, 2010, DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.163904
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Researchers with the First Colony Foundation and the British Museum say a 16th-century map of the Carolina coast could help solve the Lost Colony mystery. Officials with both organizations plan to discuss their findings at UNC’s Wilson Library on Thursday (May 3) at
Researchers have spent several years studying and conducting tests on John White’s 1585 map “La Virginae Pars,” which shows the coast from Cape Charles to Cape Lookout and west from the mouth of the Roanoke and Neuse rivers. White joined a 1585 expedition from England to establish a fort and base for survey of the coast and interior of Virginia and the Carolinas. The expedition and their settlement was subsequently dubbed the Roanoke Colony. White’s drawings and paintings combined with the field notes of Thomas Harriot, a mathematician and navigator on the expedition, document the physical and natural environment of the areas as well as the native people who were living there.
White and Harriot returned to England with their fellow colonists in 1586. Harriot described his findings in A briefe and true report of the new found land of Virginia, published in 1588. Two years later, in 1590, engraver and editor Theodor De Bry republished Harriot’s account, illustrating the volume with some of White’s sketches, including a version of the artist’s map of the Virginia and Carolina coast.
Even before publication of their written and visual accounts of Virginia and Carolina, Harriot and White saw their works used to drum up interest in further exploration and colonization of the region. In 1587 White led a group of settlers on a return visit to the Roanoke colony. Upon arrival in late summer, the group found itself short on supplies. Barely a month passed before White left his family, including his newborn granddaughter, and other colonists to return to England in search of aid.
Three years passed before White could return to the Roanoke Colony and when he did, in 1590, he found no one there and few indications of the settlers’ fate. Thus began the mystery of the Lost Colony. And it’s that mystery that the First Colony Foundation and the British Museum hope to offer a few clues toward solving during their announcement tomorrow. The event will be webcast live at http://carolinaunion.unc.edu/live.
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The Harahan Bridge
On July 15, 1916, the Harahan Bridge opened for railroad traffic, the second bridge built in Memphis to cross the Mississippi River. Originally named the Rock Island bridge, the steel structure was renamed for Memphis businessman J.T. Harahan, who had been killed in a 1912 train wreck.
For a time after the bridge opened, automobiles were still ferried across the river. In 1917, wooden planks were installed on each side of the bridge and placed atop metal girders. The planks carried single file traffic in each direction. Bridge guards were employed to walk the wooden planks 24 hours a d ay until 1960, when a fire alarm system was installed.
A celebration was planned for September 1917, when the bridge first opened to cars, but the celebration was canceled, because many people felt it was unpatriotic to celebrate while Memphians were fighting in World War I.
The bridge remained a single-lane highway until 1949, when the Memphis and Arkansas Bridge was completed. Although it is now closed to cars, the Harahan Bridge is still a presence on the riverfront.
To learn more about the cultural and natural history of Memphis, please visit the Pink Palace family of Museums at http://www.memphismuseums.org/.
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History of the Garden of the Gods
The human history of the
Garden of the Gods commences many centuries before our present time.
Stone hearths and fire rings found in the Garden dating over 3000 years
ago indicate the presence of early inhabitants, According to Ute
traditions, their people have always lived in this area, not having any
stories of migration from elsewhere. The Utes were known to winter in
the Garden of the Gods prior to removal to reservations in southwestern
Colorado and northeastern Utah.
Modern history of the Garden begins in 1858 when gold was discovered
along the Front Range and in South Park, northwest of Colorado Springs.
Thousands of prospectors and settlers flocked to the area, including a
party from Lawrence, Kansas, who camped along the stream known as Camp
Creek, and carved their names on the sandstone boulder we call
“Signature Rock.” In 1859, the Garden was named by two surveyors who
were laying out the town of Colorado City, south of the Park. As they
were riding their horses through the Garden, Malancthon Beach remarked
the place would be a “capital place for a beer garden.” Rufus Cable
replied, “Beer Garden! Why it is a place fit for the gods to assemble.
We will call it Garden of the Gods."
The city of Colorado Springs was founded in 1871 by General William
Jackson Palmer, founder of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad, who
built his home in Queens Canyon, just north of the Park. In 1879,
General Palmer talked a fellow railroad man, Charles Elliot Perkins,
into buying 240 acres of the Central Garden for a summer home. Perkins
later added another 240 acres. However, he never built on the land but
always kept it open to the public. It became Mr. Perkins wish to give
the land to the city of Colorado Springs for a park, but he died before
making these wishes know in a will. However, his 6 children honored his
wishes, and on Christmas Day of 1909 the 480 acres were conveyed to the
city with the provision it would always remain free to the public.
Later acquisitions by the city brought the total park size to 1,367
With thousands of visitors exacting a toll on the Park's environment,
attempts have been made throughout the years to preserve the beauty of
its natural wonders. In the 1930’s, the Civilian Conservation
Corps planted hundreds of juniper trees in the Central Garden to
control erosion. In the early 1990’s, members of the general public,
including hikers, bikers, climbers, equestrians, scientists, Native
Americans, and historians, worked together to develop a new master plan
for the Park to insure its preservation. Commercial structures, such as
the Chuckwagon Pavilion and the Hidden Inn were removed. The road
through Gateway Rocks was replaced by a sidewalk, the paths in the
Central Garden were paved, and a new Visitors Center opened on private
land east of the Park.
Today, we continue to wonder at the natural beauty of the Garden of the
Gods as we share this National Natural Landmark with millions of
visitors from around the world.
2008-2016 The Friends of Garden of the Gods City Park in Colorado Springs, Colorado
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By: Dilip Mookherjee
How a patchily implemented NREGA could end up hurting the Congress.
Nine years have passed since the UPA government launched the MGNREGA, the world’s largest workfare programme. The scale of the programme is staggering, providing employment to a third of India’s rural population, at an annual cost of nearly 1 per cent of the GDP. It has formed the backbone of the UPA’s anti-poverty and rural safety net programme, and may represent its most important legacy in the long run.
Views concerning the impact of the MGNREGA are varied, often predictably along partisan lines. Critics argue it is beset with corruption and leakages, populist, politically motivated and manipulated by the UPA for its own electoral advantage. It is said to be responsible for runaway fiscal deficits, inflation and slowdown of growth. Supporters argue that the programme has succeeded in reducing rural poverty, building infrastructure and strengthening local governance. Where does the truth lie?
To answer this, it is essential to review ground-level evidence concerning how the MGNREGA has actually performed. There are numerous studies based on large household surveys, besides a few books, field studies and government reports. Written by academic scholars both in India and abroad, the research papers are free of partisan bias. Though they examine different aspects of the MGNREGA, often with contrasting methodologies, they present a coherent perspective on its main shortcomings and achievements.
With regard to the implementation of mandated provisions, the evidence shows myriad shortcomings and wide variations across states. Less than 50 per cent of beneficiaries were aware of the work-on-demand feature, and just 20 per cent were aware of their unemployment benefit entitlement. Gram sabhas are held infrequently, with low participation rates. There is substantial rationing: in 2009-10, while 25 per cent of rural households were provided work, 19 per cent sought work but did not get employed.
Household surveys and social audits reveal numerous complaints — delayed wage payments, non-issuance of dated receipts, non-payment of the unemployment allowance, and payment of less than full wages. In some states, resistance from local elites has prevented social audits from being carried out. In states such as Andhra Pradesh, where they have been carried out, there is no sign of these complaints abating through successive years. A rising proportion (ranging from 25-50 per cent) are to do with non-payment or delayed payment of wages, besides bribes (14-20 per cent), benami payments (16-19 per cent) and missing records (4-6 per cent). There were fewer complaints regarding material irregularities, but these are intrinsically harder to detect. Follow-up disciplinary action on discovered irregularities were largely lacking, with major or medium actions taken in only 3.4 per cent of the cases. A recent study of eight AP districts estimates that the overall leakage of funds from the programme is at 30 per cent.
Have these implementation problems rendered the scheme ineffective in reducing poverty? Many studies directly examine its effects on the growth of wages, employment, consumption, savings, child labour and schooling. One methodology — difference in differences (DID) — compares the measures of well-being for households before and after coverage, controlling for pre-existing trends and household characteristics. The DID estimates show a rise of approximately 5 per cent in daily wages that can be attributed to the programme, a figure that rises to 9 per cent in the “star” states. Different studies using this methodology find corresponding positive effects on food and non-food consumption, calorie and protein intakes and savings. Rural-urban migration rates have dropped, largely because of a fall in “distress migration”; urban unemployment rates fell by 7 per cent. Child labour fell by approximately 10 per cent, with no corresponding effects on school enrolment, and significant positive effects on grade progression and test scores — larger than the observed effects of conditional cash transfer schemes in Latin America. These benefits were larger for lower castes, illiterates and women.
An alternative methodology — regression discontinuity (RD) — examines differences between districts that just missed belonging to one phase of the rollout and those that just made it. This approach yields more conservative estimates of impacts, with no average impact on wages. Yet even this approach shows strong positive effects — a 50 per cent drop in poverty — for the most vulnerable sections of the population (SCs and STs) during the slack season. The effects are more pronounced in periods of low rainfall. The stronger safety net was accompanied by a move out of employment to self-employment and non-agricultural employment for males, while women’s labour force participation rates rose. Field studies corroborate these statistical results.
There is no comparable evidence concerning the broader macroeconomic effects of the MGNREGA on growth, fiscal deficit or inflation. These are intrinsically harder to estimate. Nevertheless, my own broad assessment is that the MGNREGA had relatively little impact on macro aggregates, compared to other key determinants. The adverse macroeconomic events set in only after 2009-10, by which time the MGNREGA had already been fully implemented. The slowing of growth rates has been caused by many different problems, ranging from “policy paralysis”, environmental clearances, land acquisition, recession in the world economy, appreciation of the real exchange rate to fiscal and monetary contraction since 2010. The rise in inflation is also a post-2010 phenomenon, especially marked in food articles such as milk, edible oils, sugar, fish and vegetables, in which rising rural wages are unlikely to have played an important role. Moreover, the RD-based econometric evidence fails to find positive effects on average rural wages, with most of the positive effect concentrated in the agricultural slack season.
To sum up, the most striking evidence is on the MGNREGA’s success in providing a safety net and reducing poverty for the most vulnerable sections of the rural population. Providing employment to rural unskilled labour is the single most direct and effective way of reducing poverty. Undoubtedly, the price tag is large, at 1 per cent of GDP. But the scheme cuts in half the poverty of the poorest one third of the rural population. With regard to targeting success, it beats the other big-ticket subsidy items in government budgets: food, fertiliser and petroleum subsidies, each of which accounts for 0.8 per cent of the GDP and benefits mainly the middle class rather than the poor. A leakage rate of 30 per cent or less seems a vast improvement on the 70 per cent-plus leakage rates associated with the PDS. The MGNREGA is far from perfect, but considerably more effective than any of these schemes in lowering poverty.
It is no surprise, therefore, that the MGNREGA helped the UPA win for the second time in the 2009 general elections. There is RD-based evidence showing that the Congress reaped electoral benefits from rolling out MGNREGA, and that the budgetary allocations for the programme across districts and blocks have been manipulated in certain states to increase these benefits. But there is also recent evidence that the electoral benefits which arose for the Congress in the early stages of implementation have turned into a liability in later stages. As time goes by, citizen expectations from the scheme have risen, while the problems of implementation have become more evident. Failure to implement the MGNREGA properly is thus likely to be a political liability for the Congress in the medium to long run. Herein lies a cautionary tale for parties in power when they introduce populist schemes: failure to implement them properly will turn out to be a political liability later on.
The writer is director of the Institute for Economic Development and professor of economics, Boston University
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- Adolf Hitler has always been hated by the western media.
Joseph Stalin, however, was once their favorite. Only in recent decades
has he acquired some of the opprobrium once reserved for Adolf Hitler -
and only half-heartedly. What is the explanation?
- Essentially, Stalin was the front man for the Jews -
while Adolf Hitler was the enemy of the Jews. "Uncle Joe" Stalin
was whitewashed for the same reason Stalin was condemned. Stalin's crimes
were committed on behalf of the Jews; Hitler's crimes were committed against
the Jews. When Hitler marched into Czechoslovakia and Poland, the west
erupted in rage. When Stalin marched into Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania
and Poland, the west looked the other way. It was the same after the war
when Stalin took over Eastern Europe. Before the war, the same western
media which screamed over Kristallnacht, viewed Stalin's purge trials as
a legitimate response to an internal threat.
- The western media shrugged with indifference toward seven
to ten million dead in the Ukrainian man-made 'famine', while giving a
public platform to every Jew wailing over his father imprisoned in Dachau.
Stalin's gulags contained millions of victims in the 1930's; Hitler's camp
system pre-war did not contain more than 20-30,000 total inmates - and,
of that number, only 10%-15% were Jews. The remainder were political opponents
of Hitler, such as members of the Catholic Center Party or the Social Democrats.
Hitler was generally improving working conditions in Germany.; Stalin was
sending Russia back to the stone age. Yet Hitler was the Devil of the western
media; Stalin was their angel.
- Why did Hitler get crucified while Stalin got the bouquet
of red roses? The answer is that Stalin killed on behalf of the Jews; Hitler
killed while fighting against the Jews. Stalin was the Czar of Red Russia
- but his commissars were two-thirds Jewish. Stalin got the free pass for
his crimes the same way that the state of Israel gets the free pass for
its crimes. If an Arab suicide bomber kills a dozen Jews, the media wail
for weeks. If the Israeli's bulldoze families to death in the rubble of
their homes, that is not newsworthy. Stalin enjoyed a sainted reputation
until he turned against the Jews in the final years of his life. So long
as he was appointing one Jew after another to high Soviet positions and
blinking at the crimes, he was applauded. Stalin is now more useful as
a whipping boy than as the favorite of the media he once was. He can
take the blame for the crimes of the Jewish commissars who have disappeared
down the memory hole of history. He can even be used to paint the Jews
as victims of communism, rather than the originators of communism,
because he liquidated a few of them late in life.
- Joseph Stalin now enjoys a bad reputation. But he is
never as bad as Adolf Hitler and 'The Holocaust'. Thirty million dead Russians
cannot compare with a mythical 'six million' dead Jews. Stalin was a much
greater mass murderer than Adolf Hitler - but Hitler (supposedly) murdered
the people who really count. And that is why we have one standard for the
man who stood up to the Jews - and a different standard for the man who
killed for the Jews so successfully for so many decades.
- WINSTON CHURCHILL in July 1940
- "When I look around to see how we can win the war
I see that there is only one sure path. We have no Continental army which
can defeat the German military power.. Should [Hitler].. not try invasion
[of Britain].. there is one thing that will bring him back and bring him
down, and that is an absolutely devastating, exterminating attack by
very heavy bombers from this country upon the Nazi homeland. We must be
able to overwhelm them by this means, without which I do not see a way
through. We cannot accept any aim lower than air mastery. When can it be
obtained?" [Extract from Winston S Churchill The Second World
War (Volume 2 Their Finest Hour Appendix A), Memo from Prime
Minister to Minister of Aircraft Production, 8.July 1940].
- ADOLF HITLER in May 1940
- Britain and France declared war on Germany, not the other
way around. Hitler actually wanted peace with Britain, as the German generals
admitted (Basil Liddell Hart, The Other Side of the Hill 1948,
Pan Books 1983) with regard to the so-called Halt Order of 24 May 1940
at Dunkirk, where Hitler had the opportunity to capture the entire British
Army, but chose not to. Liddell Hart, one of Britain's most respected military
historians, quotes the German General von Blumentritt with regard to this
- "He (Hitler) then astonished us by speaking with
admiration of the British Empire, of the necessity for its existence, and
of the civilization that Britain had brought into the world. He remarked,
with a shrug of the shoulders, that the creation of its Empire had been
achieved by means that were often harsh, but 'where there is planing, there
are shavings flying'. He compared the British Empire with the Catholic
Church saying they were both essential elements of stability in the
world. He said that all he wanted from Britain was that she should acknowledge
Germany's position on the Continent. The return of Germany's colonies would
be desirable but not essential, and he would even offer to support Britain
with troops if she should be involved in difficulties anywhere.."
- According to Liddell Hart, "At the time we believed
that the repulse of the Luftwaffe in the 'Battle over Britain' had saved
her. That is only part of the explanation, the last part of it. The original
cause, which goes much deeper, is that Hitler did not want to conquer
England. He took little interest in the invasion preparations, and for
weeks did nothing to spur them on; then, after a brief impulse to invade,
he veered around again and suspended the preparations. He was preparing,
instead, to invade Russia" (p140).
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A weak but weather-altering La Nina appears have taken shape in the equatorial Pacific in recent weeks. Storms, like those which have been lambasting sections of the West Coast with high winds, waves, driving rains and high elevation snow even as wildfires have swept the drought-ravaged Plains, are all consistent with a La Nina pattern. La Ninas occur when easterly winds along the equator strengthen, pushing warm surface water away from the South American coast. Upwelling of colder, deeper water occurs. This chilly water interacts with the atmosphere adjusting jet stream positions, altering storm tracks in the process. Because jet stream shifts at one location on the planet often spur adjustments elsewhere, the effects of La Nina--like its warmer "brother" El Nino--can be global. Weak La Ninas since 1950 have actually lowered Chicago's overall winter temperature modestly. But, moderate or strong La Ninas have been known to foster normal or above normal winter readings.
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March 13, 2012
Is That a Raccoon?
How to tell if a raccoon is causing the ruckus
Sometimes raccoons are blamed for damage they don’t do (it might be your neighbor’s dog who’s rummaging in the trash).
The first step to take is to make sure it’s a raccoon you’re dealing with. Look at the clock: If you hear sounds in the house or the trash is knocked over during the day, it’s probably not a raccoon who’s causing you concern.
But if the sounds in your house start at dusk and then again around dawn, you could very well have a visitor of the raccoon kind.
Read the signs
In your yard, there are other signs you can look for to determine if a raccoon may be stopping by, although signs of a raccoon doesn not necessarily mean that the raccoon has committed any misdeeds.
The raccoon’s track is hand-shaped, and can usually be seen on light surfaces or where the ground is soft enough for their paws to leave an impression. Like bears, they walk on their entire paws, not just the toes, as some other animal.
A noticeable stain or rub may be seen on surfaces that raccoons pass frequently. Other animals can leave such stains, as well, so seeing the raccoon’s “handprints” on climbable surfaces is a more reliable sign of their presence.
Raccoon scats vary widely in size, depending upon the raccoon’s age, and in content—which is often quite evident, depending upon what has been eaten. Typically, though, they are about 3/4” in diameter and 2-3” long, with segmenting and blunt ends.
Scat stations—also called latrines—are places where one animal has repeatedly left scat or multiple animals have done so. Unfortunately, these are sometimes established on roofs and in attics. Due to the potential of roundworm presence, raccoon latrines should be cleaned up by a hazardous waste professional.
» Purchase a copy of Wild Neighbors, the go-to guide for useful, humane solutions to conflicts with wildlife.
» If you are located within the D.C. Metro Area, take advantage of our wildlife conflict resolution service.
» Read Dorcas MacClintock’s Natural History of Raccoons (Blackburn Press, 2003) to learn more.
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A group of myeloid cells that are able to strongly suppress the immune system and aid cancerous tumors have finally met their match in the form of a peptide that binds to and destroys them, without damaging the surrounding tissue.
The research paper was published in Nature Medicine. In a press release, senior author Dr. Larry Kwak, director of the Center for Cancer Immunology Research at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center said, "We've known about these cells blocking immune response for a decade, but haven't been able to shut them down for lack of an identified target."
These heterogenous myeloid cells, called myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs), start out as immature myeloid cells formed in the bone marrow, but instead of differentiating into normal immune cells they turn to MDSCs under chronic conditions like cancer. In mouse models, MDSCs have been found surrounding inflamed sites and tumors where they strongly inhibit T cell proliferation and activation, thus stopping immune responses and accelerating cancer progression and metastasis. But the mechanisms they use to block T cells is not fully understood due to lack of a targeting method, the researchers said.
Having already developed anti-cancer therapeutic vaccines, which proved ineffective in destroying tumors due to the presence of MDSCs, Kwak said that “the key to taking cancer vaccines to another level is combining them with immunotherapies that target the tumor microenvironment."
In their new study, Kwak and his colleagues have finally had success with newly developed peptide (short chains of amino acid monomers) antibodies. "This is the first demonstration of a molecule on these cells that allows us to make an antibody, in this case a peptide, to bind to them and get rid of them," Kwak said. "It's a brand new immunotherapy target."
These anti-cancer cells flushed out MDSCs in the blood, spleen, and tumor cells of mice without binding to or affecting other white blood cells or dendritic cells involved in an immune response. "That's really exciting because it's so specific for MDSCs that we would expect few, if any, side effects," Kwak said. Their next goal is to make such a peptide target for treating humans.
The experiment was conducted by applying a peptide phage library to MDSCs, which allowed the mass screening of peptide libraries to find those that bind to the surface of the MDSCs. Of the peptides that were found after expanding, enriching, and then sequencing of phages, only two, labeled G3 and H6, were selected and the others were eliminated because they tied to other types of cells besides MSDCs.
“Peptibodies” were then created by sandwiching two peptides and a portion of mouse immune globulin. Both peptibodies bound to both types of MDSC — monocytic white blood cells, which engulf large foreign bodies or cell debris, and granulocytic white cells that have granules in their cytoplasm.
The mouse model had two types of thymus tumors, and was treated with each peptibody, one of which was a control, while the other was an antibody against Gr-1. The G3 and H6 peptibodies depleted both types of MDSC in the blood and spleens of mice in both tumor models, while the Gr-1 antibody only worked against granulocytic MDSC.
The two peptides also showed positive results on mice with lymphoma by wiping out the MDSCs in their blood and spleen and in both types of thymic tumor.
A set of mice were also treated with the G3 and H6 peptides every other day for two weeks in order to check if inhibition of MSDC reduced cancerous tumors. They found that mice treated with peptides had tumors that were about half the size and weight of those in mice treated with controls or the Gr-1 antibody.
The researchers are now trying to see if the peptibodies will show similar results in human MDSCs. Drugs targeting the immunosuppressive function of T regulatory cells and allowing tumor infiltrating cells to prolifer have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
"Immune checkpoint blockade is great,” Kwak said in the release. “There have been dramatic response rates, but those drugs also have side effects. Targeting MDSCs could provide an additional way to unleash the immune system."
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Bock, Fedor von (fāˈdôr fən bôk) [key], 1880–1945, German field marshal. During World War II he led German armies in Poland, the Low Countries, France, and Russia. In 1941 he failed to take Moscow and was relieved of his command. In 1942 he commanded the army against Stalingrad (now Volgograd) but was removed by Adolf Hitler when he did not capture that city. Bock's bullet-ridden body was found by Allied soldiers near Hamburg in May, 1945.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
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A string of Native American place names across the entire length of western North Carolina and the northern edge of Georgia can also be found among Seminole villages in Florida. Some Southeastern archaeologists rabidly attack the obvious fact that Maya refugees became part of the ancestry of the Seminoles and Miccosukees even though speakers of several Maya dialects can understand much of what a Miccosukee visitor is saying. Meanwhile, a grossly inaccurate map, adopted by Congress in 1991, keeps the true facts of history out of American history books. How could this strange state of affairs have happened?
Tuckase Emathla was entitled the “Principal Chief of All Florida Indians” from 1826 to 1833. The Federal government persuaded Florida Indian leaders to elect him, but he was not recognized as such by many traditionalists. Anglo-Americans called him John Hicks. Had he not died under suspicious circumstances in 1833, the Second Seminole War would have probably never occurred. It was one of the most costly ever fought by the United States and ended in a stalemate.
Tuckase Emathla was a political title meaning that he was originally the spokesman for the Tuckase People, who lived in present day Madison County, Florida until the mid-1820s. His personal name has been lost to history.
Florida history books will tell you that the Tuckase People were immigrants from farther north, who spoke a language that was different than that of other Seminoles living nearby. That is the generally the pattern today in all discussions of the Seminoles and Miccosukees in contemporary history books. They came to Florida from vague locations somewhere to the north of Florida.
Meanwhile, most references will tell you that the Tuckasegee River in western western North Carolina is an ancient Cherokee word whose meaning has been lost, or “perhaps” the Anglicization of the Cherokee word dagisiyi, which is means turtle place. This is typical of what results when historians try to create an etymology for a word that was never Cherokee. They struggle to find any Cherokee syllables that might be similar to the Anglicized place name, without any clue as to how the original Native American words were pronounced.
The true etymology of Tuckasegee is that is the Anglicized version of the Creek word, Toka-se – ke, which means Tuckase People in English. Both English-speakers and Cherokees typically pronounced a Creek “k” sound as a “g.” The Tokase were offspring of the mother town Toke (Toque) that was visited by Spanish explorer Juan Pardo in 1567. It was probably located in the vicinity of present day Highlands, NC.
Principal Chief John Hicks’ people were originally from the Tuckasegee Valley of North Carolina. Within a few generations, they were only known as a division of the Miccosukee Seminoles in Florida.
Miccosukee is the Anglicization of the Creek words “miko sokee,” which means “leaders of the Soque People.” Their name survives in the Southern Appalachians as the Soque River in the Georgia Mountains and Soco (Soque) Gap on the Cherokee Reservation. The main river flowing through that reservation is the Oconaluftee. Its name has no meaning in Cherokee, but means “Oconee People – cut off” in Itsate Creek. The Oconee composed the original nucleus of those indigenous peoples, who moved to Florida and became known as Seminoles.
In almost every county in the Southern Appalachians are place names that either were names of founding tribes in the Seminole Alliance, the names of early Seminole villages or are also place names in Florida. Tallasee, Talula, Tuskegee and Chiaha in Graham County, NC ended up in Florida. Ellijay was a Seminole town in southern Florida and is still the name of a river in the Georgia Mountains. Oothlooga was a village visited by William Bartram in Florida and is still a river in northwestern Georgia. Etchite and Tanasee were villages in Macon County, NC and later villages in Florida. Tamasee in Jackson County, NC can also be found on early Florida maps. There was a Native American village in Cherokee County, NC named Tamatli. There was once a Seminole village named Tamatli. The North Carolina community is now Anglicized to Tomatla. Coosa Creek can be found near the Track Rock Terrace Complex in Union County, Georgia, but also in Lake Worth, Florida. There is a town named Suwannee in northern Georgia and one named Suwannee in northern Florida.
Charles Hicks, although officially Second Chief of the Cherokee Nation, functioned as its CEO from 1817 till his death in January of 1827. He grew up at a trading post owned by his Scottish father in Andrews, NC. The location was 19 miles from the Tuckasegee River. Was the leader of the Cherokee Nation closely related to John Hicks, the leader of the Seminole Nation during that same period? It is a question that has never been researched.
How the past became obscured
Early 19th century Anglo-American settlers in Florida seemed vaguely aware that the Seminoles and Miccosukees were not aboriginal to Florida. However, their original homelands were presumed to be in southern Georgia, where they lived in the late 1700s. Americans, in general, assumed that all Southeastern Indians were living in 1800 at the same locations that they lived in 1600. This misconception was caused by the fact that very few Anglo-Americans lived in the interior of the Southeast until after the American Revolution.
This presumption is echoed in the writings of the famous Smithsonian Institute ethnologist, John Swanton. The names of several Seminole towns appeared in the chronicles of the Hernando de Soto Expedition as being high in the Appalachian Mountains. This conundrum thoroughly confused mid-20th century scholars, who were trying to locate the route of de Soto.
Instead of being confused, the scholars could have read the eight letters that Cherokee Principal Chief Charles Hicks wrote to future Principal Chief John Ross in 1827. Hicks clearly stated that the Cherokees entered into North Carolina from the west. He added, “We killed or drove off the mound builders, who lived there.” In 1939, when the De Soto Commission was formed, the original copies of those letters were already in the possession of the Newberry Library in Chicago.
American history became really skewed in 1976 when the State of North Carolina directed a group of history and archaeology professors at the University of North Carolina to prove that the Cherokees had been in North Carolina for 1000 years. It was called the Cherokee History Project. It has never been explained why the presence of Cherokees in North Carolina 1000 years ago was so important to the politicians. Several Cherokee history books and films now claim that Cherokees have been living on the Oconaluftee River (with a Creek Indian name) for 10,000 years and that the Cherokees were the ancestors of the Mayas and Aztecs.
A series of books were published by anthropology professors from Georgia and North Carolina in the late 20th century, which sought to create a new history in which the Cherokees greeted the Hernando de Soto Expedition. All of the Native American town names in present day Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Tennessee, that were mentioned by de Soto’s chroniclers, were either Maya or Muskogean words.
No problem! The academicians defined these Muskogean words as “ancient Cherokee words, whose meanings have been lost.” This is still a standard joke among Southeastern indigenous peoples. The late Charles Hudson also skewed his path for the de Soto Expedition far to the north so that a maximum amount of distance would have been traversed in the land of his Alma Mater, the University of North Carolina. Apparently, de Soto’s conquistadors traveled in Humvees. They would necessarily have averaged about 40 miles a day on Hudson’s circuitous route.
Academic chicanery was fossilized into bureaucratic stone in 1990. The George H. Bush Administration prepared an official map of Native American tribal territories that left most of the Southeast either blank or under traditional Cherokee occupation. The map stated that the only places where the Seminoles, Miccosukees and Creeks ever lived were their last reservations before being deported to the Indian Territory (Oklahoma.) The map was adopted by Congress and became law. It could have been worse. The map announced that the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Alabama, Koasate, Yuchi and Shawnee Indians NEVER lived in the Southeast.
Native American history might seem irrelevant to other Americans, but this official map has cost the indigenous Southeastern tribes many millions of dollars in Federal grants. Federal funding for tribal historic preservation offices and archaeological studies is based on a formula derived from tribal population and the area of territory on which they are considered indigenous by the official map. The federally recognized Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, Seminole Tribe of Florida and Miccosukee Tribe of Florida are clearly descendants of those Appalachian towns visited by Hernando de Soto, but are excluded from reviewing any artifacts or human burials excavated from their ancestral towns in the Appalachians.
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Press packer Lisa and her friends are part of the Eco-nomics, a group that looks after the environment at their school.
In her report Lisa tells us what her group does to help the environment. She also explains how everyone can become more environmentally friendly.
"I am a class rep for a group in our school called the Eco-nomics.
The Eco-nomics try to protect the environment.
We focus on looking after our environment at school, and trying to recycle as best we can at home too.
What we do
Every break time, a couple of us clear up the litter in and around the school. We have competitions at our school to spread the message about recycling.
We also have five recycle bins around the school which we use to recycle paper, and we make sure we use both sides of the worksheets in class so nothing goes to waste.
Judges come to look at our school and see how we care for it, and award the Eco-nomics flags for our efforts.
There are three flags, bronze, silver and green. At the moment, we are trying to achieve a bronze flag but hopefully we can achieve green next year.
In the future we are planning to plant a garden to attract more wildlife to the area.
If you would like your school to be more environmentally friendly you could speak to a teacher about what your school could do for the environment.
You could even ask your parents for a patch in the garden where you could plant a few flowers.
You can help save energy and the environment, by just remembering to do simple things, like switching the light off when you leave a room.
Even small changes can make a big saving to the environment.
Remember we only get one world, we should try and look after it as best we can."
Lisa, 11, West Lothian
Why don't you write us a Press Pack report - and get it published on the site?!
It can be about anything that's happened in your local area - or your views on the news.
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One of the most important concepts in algebra is that of the function. The formal mathematical definition of the term function14 is beyond the scope of this short review, but the summary below should be more than enough to work with.
A function is a mapping between a set of coordinates (which is why we put this section after the section on coordinates) and a single value. Note well that the ``coordinates'' in question do not have to be space and/or time, they can be any set of parameters that are relevant to a problem. In physics, coordinates can be any or all of:
Note well that many of these things can equally well be functions themselves - a potential energy function, for example, will usually return the value of the potential energy as a function of some mix of spatial coordinates, mass, charge, and time. Note that the coordinates can be continuous (as most of the ones above are classically) or discrete - charge, for example, comes only multiples of and color can only take on three values.
One formally denotes functions in the notation e.g.
is the function name represented symbolically and
the entire vector of coordinates of all sorts. In physics we often
learn or derive functional forms for important quantities, and may or
may not express them as functions in this form. For example, the
kinetic energy of a particle can be written either of the two following
One important property of the mapping required for something to be a true ``function'' is that there must be only a single value of the function for any given set of the coordinates. Two other important definitions are:
Two last ideas that are of great use in solving physics problems algebraically are the notion of composition of functions and the inverse of a function.
Suppose you are given two functions: one for the potential energy of a mass on a spring:
With the composition operation in mind, we can define the inverse. Not all functions have a unique inverse function, as we shall see, but most of them have an inverse function that we can use with some restrictions to solve problems.
Given a function , if every value in the range of corresponds to one and only one value in its domain , then is also a function, called the inverse of . When this condition is satisfied, the range of is the domain of and vice versa. In terms of composition:
Many functions do not have a unique inverse, however. For example, the function:
We can get around this problem by restricting the domain to a region where the inverse mapping is unique. In this particular case, we can define a function where the domain of is only and the range of is restricted to be . If this is done, then for all and for all . The inverse function for many of the functions of interest in physics have these sorts of restrictions on the range and domain in order to make the problem well-defined, and in many cases we have some degree of choice in the best definition for any given problem, for example, we could use any domain of width that begins or ends on an odd half-integral multiple of , say or if it suited the needs of our problem to do so when computing the inverse of (or similar but different ranges for or ) in physics.
In a related vein, if we examine:
The second is that once we have defined the inverse functions for either trig functions or the quadratic function in this way so that they have restricted domains, it is natural to ask: Do these functions have any meaning for the unrestricted domain? In other words, if we have defined:
This leads us naturally enough into our next section (so keep it in mind) but first we have to deal with several important ideas.
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Clark, C.D., Evans, D.J.A. and Piotrowski, J.A. (2003) Palaeo-ice streams: an introduction. Boreas, 32 (1). pp. 1-3. ISSN 0300-9483
[FIRST PARAGRAPH] Ice streams are narrow fast-flowing zones within ice sheets, and in the case of Antarctica are responsible for draining up to 90% of the mass from the ice sheet. It has been shown that Quaternary ice sheets were profoundly, and arguably catastrophically, influenced by the operation of transitory ice streaming. The palaeo-ice stream that operated through Hudson Strait for example, destabilized the Laurentide Ice Sheet, changed its configuration and thickness, and the resultant iceberg melt cooled North Atlantic waters enough to alter ocean circulation and produce ~4°C flips in climate on abrupt time scales.
|Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information:||© 2003 Taylor & Francis. Reprinted from "Palaeo-ice streams: an introduction" by Clark, C.D. and Evans, D.J.A. and Piotrowski, J.A. from Boreas, www.tandf.no/boreas, 2003, 32, 1-3, by permission of Taylor & Francis|
|Institution:||The University of Sheffield|
|Academic Units:||The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Department of Geography (Sheffield)|
|Depositing User:||Repository Officer|
|Date Deposited:||06 Jan 2006|
|Last Modified:||08 Jun 2014 03:00|
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Security flaws found in Project 25 mobile radios
Many users don’t know how to use encryption, and radios can be jammed with a child’s toy
A paper presented at this year’s APCO conference showed the vulnerability of some new and expensive encrypted digital mobile radios, particularly those used by federal law enforcement agencies. The researchers from the University of Pennsylvania found that it was very easy to monitor sensitive law enforcement operations, that users either didn’t turn on their encryption or thought their transmissions were encrypted when they weren’t, and that a $30 child’s toy could corrupt the radios’ signals enough to make them useless. They also found a way to make the radios transmit at will, so that direction-finding equipment could be used to determine their location.
The radios with the identified problems operate on a relatively new protocol called Project 25 (P25). P25 is an initiative of the Association of Public Safety Communications Officers (APCO) and both users and manufacturers of radio equipment. P25 radios use digital transmissions on channels spaced 12.5KHz apart in the UHF and VHF bands. One of the objectives of P25 is to expand the number of channels available for use in the crowded radio spectrum. Presently, federal law enforcement agencies are the biggest users of P25 equipment, but other public safety organizations are adopting the standard as they replace their “legacy” radios. Eventually, all users in the VHF and UHF bands will be required to go to P25 equipment, as their licenses to operate on the broader channels and with analog equipment won’t be renewed by the FCC.
Traffic over P25 equipment is transmitted in digital form, as bits of ones and zeros, rather than as an analog waveform as with older radios. The body of voice or data traffic is preceded and followed by several data frames of different lengths that identify the source, the type of information (voice or data) that follows, and when the traffic is encrypted, encryption keys that prevent the transmission from being heard by a radio which doesn’t have the matching codes. The authors of the paper found that the markings on the radios that turned the encryption on or off were so cryptic themselves that many of them thought they were transmitting encrypted, when they were actually sending “in the clear.” The knobs and indicators for encryption were poorly located, making it easy to turn encryption on and off while adjusting the volume or changing radio channels.
There are blocks of frequencies allocated for the exclusive use of federal law enforcement agencies. These are allocated by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, and are not published, as are FCC-allocated channels. The allocation is made by both region and user agency, so that a channel used by the FBI in New York might be the one used by the U.S. Forest Service in Boise. Even though the assignments are confidential, the researchers were able to scan the federal bands in two large U.S. cities and monitor ongoing operations at length. The encryption problem became obvious, as users openly discussed names and descriptions of informants, appearance and vehicles of undercover agents and surveillance operators, and plans for raids and arrests. The researchers used a $1000 bench-type receiver, but indicated that the same task could be accomplished with gear from Radio Shack.
Techies are familiar with the acronym “RTFM,” or “Read the [Bleeping] Manual.” The manual for a P25 radio from one well-known manufacturer is 150 pages long. On top of that, most P25 radios are user-configurable, so that combinations of button presses and switch settings set the radio to work in specific ways the owner agency thinks is appropriate. The net effect is that — in addition to the 150-page manual — each agency has to publish their own user manual if they want their users to understand all the functions of the radio and how to use them. Of course, getting the users to read those manuals is another matter.
Digital communications has several advantages over analog, one being that if a portion of a transmission is not received or corrupted in sending, an error-correction protocol identifies it and sends a request for a re-send. The University of Pennsylvania researchers found they could manipulate this mechanism and send a string of renegade error messages to a radio, triggering a string of retransmit requests. There would be no retransmit, as the messages pointed to a nonexistent message stream, but the nearly continuous transmission could be used with a direction finder to pinpoint the location of the radio. Someone who was running countersurveillance on law enforcement users would be able to tell by this method when officers were active, and where they were.
A variation on the data packet manipulation worked to disable the radios entirely. The researchers purchased a toy text messaging device called an IM-Me http://uk.girltech.com/electronics-imMe.aspx , which sends and receives text messages between a computer and the toy, which looks like a text pager. By loading some custom firmware onto the device, it could be set to transmit corrupted data packets to P25 radios and confound their reception. The device had to transmit these packets for milliseconds at a time, making it very difficult to locate and identify.
The authors of this paper are all “good guys” who have no agenda for compromising public safety communications, but if they can produce the hardware and software necessary to manipulate P25 radios, you can bet someone with less honorable motives can, as well. These new P25 radios are expensive; one available from Midland costs $3295. Hopefully, that custom-configuration capacity can be used to modify the radio firmware and close some of these security gaps. In the meantime, if your agency is using or contemplating a purchase of P25 radios, you should revisit your security procedures and contact your vendor to determine how vulnerable your communications may be.
Clark, S., Goodspeed, T., Metzger, P., Wasserman, Z., Xu, K., Blaze, M. University of Pennsylvania. Why (Special Agent) Johnny (Still) Can’t Encrypt: A Security Analysis of the APCO Project 25 Two-Way Radio System, 2011. Available at http://www.usenix.org/events/sec11/tech/full_papers/Clark.pdf
Clark, S., Metzger, P., Wasserman, Z., Xu, K., Blaze, M. University of Pennsylvania. Security Weaknesses in the APCO Project 25 Two-Way Radio System, 2010. Available at http://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1990&context=cis_reports
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Jackson Pollock: Physicist?
The instantly recognizable works of painter Jackson Pollock can inspire a divergent response. There are those who look at the ragged mix of drips and splashes and see nothing more than an impatient artist, one whose style is no more thoughtful than an average preschooler. Then there are those who read more into his works, seeing them as a literal flow of ideas onto canvas.
And then, of course, there are those who think really, really deeply about Pollock, to the point where they conceive of him as an artist-cum-physicist. Andrzej Herczyński, a physicist at Boston College, Claude Cernuschi, an art historian at Boston College, and L. Mahadevan, a mathematician at Harvard University, just published a study in Physics Today arguing that Pollock manipulated the viscosity of the paint on his trowel to vary the swirls and loops that splash across his paintings. A summary from the Science Now blog at the journal Science sums up their findings:
By measuring the thickness of the lines and the radius of the coils in the painting, Herczyński and Mahadevan were able to estimate the flow rate of Pollock’s paint as he moved his hand across the canvas. As Pollock increased his lateral speed, the lines he created progressed from loops to cusps to undulating sinusoids.
See? Your kid hasn’t taken physics yet and probably has no idea what a undulating sinusoid is. But chances are, Pollock didn’t have a clue, either. That fact doesn’t bother the study’s authors, who say their goal was to illustrate that genius can be demonstrated by using both sides of the brain — that art and science coexist. Regardless of whether Pollock was able to explain the physics of his process, he fiddled with the theory of gravity to his advantage. And that’s a big dripping deal.
Source URL: http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/blog/2011/07/12/jackson-pollock-physicist/
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The right to treatment: The Global Fund strives to achieve universal HIV/AIDS care
This month, we’ll be featuring blog posts that help illustrate how the Global Fund affects programs that fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria around the world. In this article, Dr. Joia Mukherjee of Partners in Health (PIH), who participated in our ONE Haiti conference call in January, highlights the partnership between the Fund and PIH.
It is hard to believe that it has been ten years since all 191 United Nations member states agreed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Yet the lack of progress on the final one — a global partnership for development — has hampered the achievement of all others. The one shining light in such a partnership for global development is the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria.
The Global Fund was partly established by activists in the developed and developing world, otherwise known as the “global North and South.” Many of these activists were living with HIV and wanted to start an organization that could help achieve universal HIV/AIDS treatment.
The Fund is a novel mechanism; it is a multilateral fund, independent of the United Nations and financed by donors from the government and private sector. Its structure has allowed even some of the poorest countries to expand treatment for HIV, tuberculosis and malaria as a basic right for free, largely through the public sector, with support from non-government organizations and the private sector.
The Fund has put more money into the public health sector than any previous initiative , and a consortium convened by the World Health Organization documented the positive synergies that this money has had not just on MDG 6 — combating AIDS, malaria and other diseases — but the health sector in general.
My organization, PIH, has been working to provide health care and improve the social determinants of health for the destitute for more than 20 years. As one of the recipients of first-round Global Fund monies in Haiti, we set out to build public sector health systems and tackle poverty as a critical component to our HIV response.
This work, supported by the Global Fund since its inception, has resulted in the rehabilitation and revitalization of 52 public facilities in ten countries around the globe. The public sector-NGO community partnership that has developed in the course of this work is poised to meet 4 and 5, the other health-related MDGs as well.
As the 2010 MDG summit approaches and the challenges to achieve the MDGs are addressed, it is critical to note the importance that dedicated funding for MDG 6 has had not only in achieving the right to HIV, TB and malaria treatment, but in improving the systems to deliver health care around the world.
"The Global Call to Action Against Poverty can take its place as a public movement alongside the movement to abolish slavery and the international solidarity against apartheid." ~ Nelson Mandela. GCAP honours Mandela's words as we fight for justice and commemorate Int'l Rural Women's Day, World Food Day and Int'l Day for the Eradication of Poverty. Watch Mandiba's famous Make Poverty History speech.
- Vice President Timmermans RE: 2030 Agenda
- Climate Chane is already here, a letter form Kampala
- GCAP at the COP21 in Paris
- Solidarity, Justice and Freedom
- GCAP at the COP21 in Paris
- Solidarity Justice and Freedom. A statement after the recent terror attacks
- International Civil Society Call to Address Inequalities and Social Justice in Climate
- The New York Declaration
- CSO letter to Vice President Timmermans on the 2030 Agenda
- GCAP response to Addid Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA)
- Reactive on Zero Draft Post 2015
- From Labour Rights to Citizen Participation - the first 16 days of May Mobilisations
- Climate Justice, All Ages and Sexual and Reproductive Rights - May Mobilisations Continue
- The Elephant is Waiting!
- GCAP Statement on Forests, Food, & Nutrition
- GCAP Solidarity with Nepal
- Release the five Women Activists Now!
- Launch of action/2015
- A Red Flag for the United Nations
- Action/2015 - Launching Today
- "Peshawar: Social Justice, Not Terror"
- "Mutual Accountability: Data on its own is not enough"
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In celebrating Black History Month this year I want our West African ancestral religious contributions to also be lifted up. One of them for me, as a lesbian, is the contribution of Voodoo. Why? Because of its spiritual tenets of acceptance of all people of all sexual orientations and gender expressions.
As one of the religions brought to the New World by the African Diaspora, there is no religion that frightens and fascinates the world over as Voodoo. Misconstrued by racist images of zombies rising from graves, jungle drums, orgiastic ceremonies ritualizing malevolent powers of black magic and engaging in cannibalism, and by today's popular culture images courtesy of Hollywood and New Orleans' tourism industries, Voodoo is a persecuted religion.
But Haitian Voodoo is an ancestral folk religion whose tenets have always been queer-friendly.
Ironically, homosexuality has been legal in Haiti since 1986. But few protections and provisions come with it. For example, same-sex marriage, and civil unions are not recognized. It's unclear whether LGBTQ couples can adopt children or have custody of their own children. LGBTQ Haitians don't openly serve in the military. They don't have anti-hate crime bill that specifically addresses discrimination and harassment LGBTQ Haitians face on the basis due to their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Minimally, LGBTQ Haitians are protected under its Constitution as stated in Article 35-2 that prohibits discrimination in the workplace based on, "sex, beliefs, opinions and marital status." And the United Nation's International Bill of Human Rights mainly protects LGBTQ Haitians. With no queer enclaves in Port-au-Prince and other big cities throughout Haiti, many LGBTQ Haitians are left puzzled by what it means that homosexuality is legal in their country.
However, as in all repressively homophobic cultures, LGBTQ people have always found ways to express and to live out their true authentic lives. In Haiti, how openly queer you are depends not only on your class, profession and skin complexion, but also your religious affiliation.
In a country that is predominately Roman Catholic, homosexuality is condemned. But among Haiti's LGBTQ middle and profession classes they find ways to socialize out of the public "gaydar" and with impunity.
For example, in Petionville, an upscale suburb of Port-au-Prince of mostly American and European whites and multiracial Haitians, is where many LGBTQ people will informally gather for dinner parties, at restaurants and beaches. The well-known 4-star tourist hotel, the Hotel Montana, in the hills of Petionville that was recently destroyed by the quake is one of the hot spots. And these queers hold positions as government officials, business people, NGO and UN aid workers.
For the poorer classes of LGBTQ Haitians, however, who live, work and socialize in one of the densely populated and improvised city like the capitol city of Port-au-Prince, discrimination on the basis of their sexual orientation and gender expressions is commonplace.
For example, the 2002 documentary Des Hommes et Dieux (Of Men and Gods), by anthropologist Anne Lescot, exposed the daily struggles of Haitian transwomen, one of whom said, "When people insult me because I wear a dress I am not ashamed of how I am. Masisis (gay males) can't walk down the street in a wig and dress."
But with the ancestral religious belief that behavior is guided by a spirit (loa), gay males in Haitian Voodoo are under the divine protection of Erzulie Freda, the spirit of love. And as a feminine sprit, gay males are allowed to imitate and worship her. And lesbians (madivins) are considered to be under the patronage of Erzulie Dantor, a fierce protector of women and children experiencing domestic violence. Erzulie Dantor is bisexual, but she prefers the company women.
As a monotheistic religion, Voodoo believes in one God, but many spirits called "lwas" that have both dark and light sides. The lwas are the varied expressions of God in the world, and these spirits oversee all human activities by forming connections between the material world people live in and the spiritual world they derive from.
Two different forms of Voodoo exist. While it is true that Voodoo evolved in New Orleans at the same time it was taking shape in Haiti, New Orleans' Voodoo, known as the Voodoo capital of the U.S., was not suppressed and allowed to flourish between both its black and white citizens.
Haiti's, however, was not. And, hiding itself behind the trappings of Catholicism, Voodoo in Haiti was unofficial and largely practiced in secret until recently.
Why Voodoo as a religion many people ask?
Voodoo enables Haitians to connect and preserve their West African heritage, to link to their ancestral spirits who affect everyday events of their lives, and to bond with their local communities.
And poorer classes of LGBTQ Haitians have at least two ways to openly express and celebrate who they are: in Voodoo and in Rara festivals.
At Rara Festivals, a yearly festival that begins following Carnival belongs to the peasant and urban poor of Haiti. The Rara bands come out of Voodoo societies that have gay congregations where gay men are permitted to cross-dress with impunity.
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By Dr. Mercola
Adding herbs like parsley and thyme to your diet might help boost your brainpower, courtesy of apigenin. Apigenin is a flavonoid found in many herbs, including parsley, thyme, and chamomile, and certain other plants like celery and other vegetables.
When researchers applied apigenin to human stem cells in a petri dish, something remarkable happened – 25 days later, the stem cells had turned into neurons (an effect that didn't occur without apigenin).1
The synapses, or connections between neurons, were also "strong and more sophisticated," which is crucial for memory consolidation, learning, and overall brain function.2
The researchers noted that apigenin binds to estrogen receptors, which affect the development, maturation, function, and plasticity of the nervous system. They wrote in the journal Advances in Regenerative Biology:3
" … [B]y simply adding a plant compound called apigenin to human pluripotent stem cells, they become neurons after a few days. We also observed that neurons could make more sophisticated connections among themselves after treatment with this natural compound.
This observation suggests that flavonoids derived from plants can be used as a tool for the production of neurons in a dish.
Moreover, since flavonoids are present at high amounts in some foods, we can speculate that a diet rich in flavonoids may influence the formation of neurons and the way they communicate within the brain."
How Might Apigenin Help Grow New Brain Cells?
The fact that apigenin triggers stem cells to become neurons is quite remarkable. Neurogenesis, or your brain's ability to adapt and grow new brain cells, is known to be influenced by lifestyle factors, including exercise and diet.
Apigenin may be one factor in the latter and may explain why flavonoid-rich foods are associated with neurogenesis. According to Stanford University, antioxidants such as flavonoids promote neurogenesis not only in a petri dish but also in rodent brains.
Flavonoids, in particular, increase neurogenesis in the hippocampus of stressed rats, possibly by increasing blood flow to the brain and/or increasing levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF).4 BDNF is a remarkable rejuvenator in several respects.
In your brain, BDNF not only preserves existing brain cells,5 it also activates brain stem cells to convert into new neurons and effectively makes your brain grow larger.
Apigenin May Fight Cancer Too
Brain health isn't the only reason to include more apigenin-rich foods in your diet; it also appears to be a potent cancer fighter. When mice implanted with cells of a particularly deadly, fast-growing human breast cancer were treated with apigenin, the cancerous growth slowed and the tumors shrank.6
Blood vessels feeding the tumors also shrunk and restricted nutrient flow to the tumor cells, starving them of the nutrients need to spread. In 2013, apigenin was again shown to block the ability of breast cancer cells to inhibit their own deaths.
Interestingly, the compound was also found to bind to 160 proteins in the human body, which suggests it has far-reaching health effects (unlike pharmaceutical drugs, which typically only have one specific target). The researchers explained:7
"… [I]n contrast to small-molecule pharmaceuticals designed for defined target specificity, dietary phytochemicals affect a large number of cellular targets with varied affinities that, combined, result in their recognized health benefits."
Apigenin has even been found to make treatment with the breast cancer drug paclitaxel more effective.8 And according to the International Journal of Oncology:9
"Apigenin has been shown to possess remarkable anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anti-carcinogenic properties. In the last few years, significant progress has been made in studying the biological effects of apigenin at cellular and molecular levels."
You Can Increase Your Apigenin Intake by Eating Celery, Parsley, and More
Apigenin is most prevalent in celery and parsley, but it's also found in many other plant foods, including:
| Apples || Chamomile
|| Beans and barley
Apigenin may even be one reason why drinking chamomile tea has been found to reduce thyroid cancer risk by up to 80 percent.10
Human exposure to apigenin occurs mostly through the consumption of apigenin-containing fruits and vegetables, although researchers are not sure how much is absorbed into the bloodstream.
Some of the research studies used an injection of apigenin, but you also obtain biologically significant quantities through a healthy diet. Researchers of the 2011 study noted:11
" … [I]t appears that keeping a minimal level of apigenin in the bloodstream is important to delay the onset of breast cancer …
It's probably a good idea to eat a little parsley … every day to ensure the minimal amount. However, you can also find this compound in pill supplements …"
Turmeric: A Spice with Brain-Boosting, Cancer-Fighting Potential
The plant world is teeming with ingredients that can support your health. Another food worth mentioning is turmeric, whose active ingredient, curcumin, is beneficial for both brain health and cancer prevention/treatment, much like apigenin.
Curcumin has potent anti-cancer properties and is also capable of crossing the blood-brain barrier, which is one reason why it holds promise as a neuroprotective agent in a wide range of neurological disorders.
Researchers have previously investigated curcumin for its potential role in improving Parkinson's, Alzheimer's disease, and stroke damage. It can also promote brain health in general, courtesy of its potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.
One of the ways it works, which is similar to vitamin D, is by modulating large numbers of your genes. But unlike vitamin D that influences thousands of genes, curcumin has been shown to influence about 700 genes.
Another bioactive compound in turmeric called aromatic-turmerone can increase neural stem cell growth in the brain by as much as 80 percent at certain concentrations.12 Neural stem cells differentiate into neurons and play an important role in self-repair.
The findings suggest aromatic-turmerone may help in the recovery of brain function in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and stroke — provided the effect also applies to humans.
Previous research has also shown that curcumin may help inhibit the accumulation of destructive beta-amyloids in the brain of Alzheimer's patients, as well as break up existing plaques.
Ashwagandha for Your Brain
Another lesser-known herb (at least in the U.S.) is ashwagandha, a small evergreen perennial herb that's been a part of India's Ayurvedic medical system for thousands of years.
While often regarded as an herb for stress reduction and improved energy and vitality, researchers at the National Brain Research Centre (NBRC) have conducted studies on mice that suggest ashwagandha extract may reverse memory loss and improve cognitive abilities in those with Alzheimer's disease.13
Initially, mice with Alzheimer's were unable to learn or retain what they learned, but after receiving ashwagandha for 20 days this improved significantly. After 30 days, the behavior of the mice returned to normal. Researchers reported a reduction in amyloid plaques (amyloid plaques, along with tangles of nerve fibers, contribute to the degradation of the wiring in brain cells) and improved cognitive abilities.
Rather than impacting the brain directly, researchers found that the herb worked by boosting a protein in the liver, which enters the bloodstream and helps clear amyloid from the brain.
Researchers concluded, "The remarkable therapeutic effect of W. somnifera [ashwagandha] ... reverses the behavioral deficits and pathology seen in Alzheimer's disease models."
Ginseng and Green Tea: Two More Brain-Boosting Compounds
American ginseng is another beneficial herb that's been linked to improved mental performance. For instance, American ginseng was found to improve working memory and mood in both young individuals and middle-age adults.14
Another study revealed "robust working memory enhancement following administration of American ginseng."15 Green tea shows promise for protecting brain health.
In a study presented at the 2015 International Conference on Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Diseases, those who drank green tea one to six days a week had less mental decline than those who didn't drink it.16 Green tea isn't actually an herb, it (as well as black, oolong, dark, and white teas) comes from an evergreen called Camellia sinensis.
What Are Other Top 'Brain Foods?'
If you want to boost your brainpower, one of the best choices you can make is to eat more real foods. Inside healthy foods are the vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and countless other phytochemicals to nourish your brain cells (and even grow new ones).
Consider this: people who eat plenty of vegetables and fruits (about 1.6 cups, or 400 grams) a day perform better on cognitive tests,17 while those who eat a lot of sugar are 1.5 times more likely to develop mild cognitive impairment than those who do not.18
Celery may be particularly beneficial, as in addition to containing apigenin, it's also a rich source of luteolin, a plant compound that may calm inflammation in your brain, which is a primary cause of neurodegeneration. Luteolin has also been linked with lower rates of age-related memory loss in mice, and older mice fed a luteolin-supplemented diet scored better on learning and memory tasks.19 In addition to celery, peppers and carrots are also good sources of luteolin.
The omega-3 fats found in wild Alaskan salmon are also important, as they help fight inflammation throughout your body, including in your brain, and offer numerous protections to your brain cells.
For instance, a study in the journal Neurology found "older women with the highest levels of omega-3 fats … had better preservation of their brain as they aged than those with the lowest levels, which might mean they would maintain better brain function for an extra year or two."20
In separate research, when boys were given an omega-3 supplement, there were significant increases in the activation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex part of the brain.21 This is an area of your brain that is associated with working memory. They also noticed changes in other parts of the brain, including the occipital cortex (the visual processing center) and the cerebellar cortex (which plays a role in motor control).
You can get omega-3 fats in therapeutic doses by taking a supplement like krill oil. But, if you're looking for a food source, wild Alaskan salmon (along with sardines and anchovies) is among the best. Keep in mind that your brain is not "programmed" to shrink and fail as a matter of course as you age. In fact, you can build a bigger, better brain by making smart choices, including fortifying your diet with herbs, vegetables, and healthy fats.
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Javanese is the language spoken by inhabitants of the Indonesian island of Java. It is also spoken in Malaysia and surprisingly by quite a few people in Suriname (in South America!). The native tongue of more than 75 million people, it can be written in the unique Javanese or Arabic scripts. It can also be rendered with the Latin alphabet.
Online Javanese Lessons and Resources (U of Northern Illinois)
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By John Bartlett Meserve.
History is not a grouping of sapless facts or an arrangement of uninspiring dates. Its elements are based on realities provoked by romantic figures who lived and moved in an atmosphere remote from the nebulous, on deeds that were actually done, on touches of human nature. It is to these romantic figures that we pause in homage because their life stories may be termed the alphabet of history. The American Indian has been featured as unemotional, nevertheless certain unified emotions of the race form the basis of his history. These elements in his group life, recognized and influenced by chieftains whom he trusted, cannot be ignored. As the American Indian stood amid the wreckage of his primitive dreams, capable, unselfish leaders taught him the fundamental, bedrock worth of American civilization. The life tales of such Indian leaders are of historical significance. They mirror the evolutionary impulses of these simple folk whose history becomes fossilized in a cold narration of facts alone.
A conspicuous character whose public service is interwoven with the history of the Cherokees during the latter years of their tribal life in the West, was Dennis Wolfe Bushyhead, a chieftain of his people from the year 1879 to 1887, inclusive. His career was picturesque and his background is of dramatic interest.
1Ludovic Grant, a Scottish emigrant, came to the Cherokee country about 1726, where he married a Cherokee woman of the "Long Hair Clan" and lived in the vicinity of Charleston, South Carolina. A daughter of Ludovic Grant and his Cherokee Indian wife married William Emory, an Englishman, and their daughter, Susannah wedded (1) Capt. John Stuart, (2) Richard Fields, (3) Brig. Gen. Joseph Martin, all white men, and left a most engaging posterity to enlist our interest. Three of her sons by Richard Fields, her second husband, became tribal leaders of much prominence among the Cherokees. Her son Richard went to Texas in 1821, became a chief among the Texas Cherokees and was slain
by the Texans in 1827. Another son, George was a captain among the Cherokee allies of Gen. Jackson in 1813-14 and fought at Horseshoe Bend. Turtle Fields, a younger son, also a soldier in the Creek War, became a Methodist minister. The famous John Martin, a son of Susannah Emory and Brig. Gen. Joseph Martin, was born in Tennessee on October 20, 1781, was a member of the Cherokee constitutional convention of 1827, served as the first national treasurer and was the first chief justice of the Cherokee Nation. He died on October 17, 1840 at Ft. Gibson and his grave suitably marked, is situated a short distance south of the old stockade (recently reconstructed) at that historic place.
Capt. John Stuart, the first husband of Susannah Emory was born in Scotland, came to America in 1733 as a young lad and settled in South Carolina. He became a captain in the British army and was second in command of the garrison at Ft. Loudon, Georgia when it was forced to capitulate to the militant Cherokees on August 7, 1760. Through the intervention of Attacullaculla, a civil chief among the Cherokees, the life of Capt. Stuart was spared from the general massacre of the garrison which ensued and was removed to Virginia where he was released. Subsequently, he became the British Indian Agent to the tribes south of the Ohio river and married young Susannah Emory. Capt. Stuart became known among the Cherokees as Oo-na-du-to or Bushyhead because of his heavy growth of blonde hair.2 The ambitious captain, during the early days of our War of the Revolution, conceived a plan to exterminate the rebellious whig colonists in one grand uprising and butchery by the Indians led by English tories, in June 1776, confiscate their property and allot their lands to new loyalist colonists. The entire scheme failed and Capt. Stuart was subsequently stationed at Pensacola, Florida, where he died on February 21, 1779. His only son, also known as Oo-na-du-to or Bushyhead, married Nancy Foreman, the half-blood Cherokee Indian daughter of Anthony Foreman, a Scotchman, and lived, died and was buried in Georgia. Nancy removed with a contingent of the Cherokees led by her son Jesse Bushyhead to the West, in the spring of 1839. She is reputed to have lived to the advanced age of 104 years and died in 1868 in the Illinois river country near Tahlequah.
3Perhaps no character in all Cherokee history was more revered and respected by his people than was Jesse Bushyhead, who was born in southeastern Tennessee in September 1804. The family home was situated some three miles north of the present town of Cleveland, Tennessee and it was from there that the young Baptist minister inaugurated and carried on his years of faithful service to the welfare of his people. In 1837, Rev. Jesse Bushyhead was dispatched with a commission, by Chief John Ross to contact the Seminoles in Florida in an effort to compose their differences with the United States Government and on November 10th of that year he met a delegation of the Seminoles at St. Augustine. He was a strong adherent of the Ross faction and while he vigorously opposed the en masse removal policy of the Cherokees, by the Government, he accepted the inevitable uncomplainingly and headed a party of approximately one thousand Cherokees in their trek to the West. With his group, he departed from the East on October 9, 1838, arriving at their destination, near where is now situated the town of Westville in Adair County, on February 23, 1839. He immediately established the Baptist Mission and resumed his labor for the spiritual welfare of his people. He became chief justice of the Cherokee Nation upon the death of John Martin in 1840 and held this position until his death, which occurred on July 17, 1844, at the old Baptist Mission north of Westville where he lies buried. Rev. Bushyhead was married twice, his second wife being Eliza Wilkinson of the "Wolf Clan" of the Cherokee Nation.
Rev. Jesse Bushyhead was a man of lofty attainments and unflinching courage. He used both the Cherokee and English with fluency and was engaged with Rev. Evan Jones, the Baptist missionary, in Bible translations. Untiring were his efforts for the spiritual welfare of his people, but in so doing he, by no means, overlooked their temporal necessities. He was rated the best interpreter among the Cherokees and was ever a cogent supporter and adviser of John Ross, the celebrated Chieftain of the Cherokees during the oppressive removal years in the East as well as during the initial years of rehabilitation in the West. He gathered
3For extended sketch of Rev. Jesse Bushyhead and picture, see "Aunt Eliza of Tahlequah," by Caroline Thomas Foreman, Chronicles Vol. IX, pp. 43 et seq.; also "Oklahoma, a History," by Thoburn and Wright, Vol. I, p. 210.
a contingent of his people under his leadership and led them to the old Territory but with no thought of retribution in his patient soul. No people may long survive for any considerable time without faith and with faith gone, superstitution comes. Through the years of the heavy toll upon the Cherokees, Jesse Bushyhead held the faith and imbued the distressed hearts of his people with an abiding conviction of Divine mercy. The high confidence which he enjoyed among these folk enabled him to regiment their stricken hearts within the shadow of the cross. It was leadership of the character of Jesse Bushyhead that lifted the American Indian from savagery to civilization. He stands in the foremost ranks of capable, unselfish and worthwhile leadership among the Cherokees.
4Dennis Wolfe Bushyhead, eldest son of Rev. Jesse Bushyhead and Elizabeth Wilkinson, his wife, was born on Mouse Creek about three miles north of the present town of Cleveland, Tennessee in what is today Bradley County of that State, on March 18, 1826. His initial school was the Candy Creek Mission in charge of Rev. Holland, his subsequent enrollment being at a mission school conducted by Rev. Evan Jones at Valley River, North Carolina, in 1835. As a lad, young Bushyhead came West with the contingent of Cherokees led by his father in the early spring of 1839 and in the succeeding year he attended school at Park Hill under the tutelage of Dr. Samuel A. Worcester. He was sent to school at Lawrenceville, New Jersey in January 1841 where he remained in attendance until he completed his scholastic course in July 1844. In his departure for Lawrenceville in January 1841, he accompanied a Cherokee delegation headed by Chief John Ross, to Washington, where he was privileged to witness the presidential inauguration of Gen. William Henry Harrison. He graduated from Lawrenceville and had entered the Sophomore class of Princeton University when his father died and he returned home. The young graduate upon his return from school entered
4"Autobiography" by Dennis W. Bushyhead, among "Ross Manuscripts and Papers" in Phillips Collection at the University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma; "Handbook of the American Indians," Vol. II, p. 866; "The Indian Territory, its Chiefs, Legislators and Leading Men," by O'Beirne, p. 117; personal interview with Mr. George W. Mayes, Oklahoma Cty, Oklahoma.
The writer is indebted for valuable information, to Mrs. Dennis W. Bushyhead, relict of the late Chief. Mrs. Bushyhead is now (1936) living at Tahlequah in the same house in which she lived when she married Chief Bushyhead in 1883.
the mercantile establishment of Lewis Ross as a clerk in October 1844 where he remained until the summer of 1847. The initial political recognition of young Bushyhead came in his election as clerk of the Cherokee National Committee (Senate) in October 1847 which post he capably filled for one year.
The discovery of gold in California about this time provoked an unparalleled surge of American emigration to the Pacific coast. Utopian, were the dreams of the pioneer who crossed the prairies and threaded the steep defiles of the Rockies with ox team and covered wagon. It was a period which engages our particular interest. Those were the twilight years of a later era which Mark Twain called "The Gilded Age." They were our National character-forming years—years of individual adventure which defied the untamed forces of nature, but which gave us the sturdy, unafraid pioneer-days of glorious adventure and of the great American dream.
Young Bushyhead became a "forty-niner" and joined the caravan of adventurous crusaders to the West, leaving his home near the old Baptist Mission, in what is today Adair County, for California on April 10, 1849. The daring venture was made overland by way of Ft. Scott, Kansas, Westpoint, Missouri and over the old "California Route" up the Platte River and through the South Pass of the Rockies, arriving at Lassen's Ranch on the Sacramento River in California, late in September 1849. The group of which he was a member consisted of thirteen Cherokees, ten of whom died of cholera, enroute, a short distance beyond Westport. Young Bushyhead with his two remaining associates joined other gold seekers and continued the journey. Shortly after his arrival in California, a flagrant scourge of small pox broke out in the mining camp and he aided and cared for the many victims, most of whom died, without taking the disease himself. The environs in the placer camps were vile beyond safe description, and in 1851, young Bushyhead went to San Francisco to join a group of his Cherokee friends and return home by steamer. Upon looking the steamer over, he questioned its safety and so declined to accompany them and returned to the mines. The ill-fated schooner upon which his friends shipped was lost at sea with all on board. He remained in California until 1868, living in Calaveras County, where he engaged in placer mining, but with rather
indifferent success, from 1852 until his return to the Cherokee country. He departed from San Francisco by boat for home on February 18, 1868, returning by way of Panama, New York City, St. Louis, Kansas City and Ft. Scott, arriving at Ft. Gibson on March 31,1868. He immediately assumed the mercantile business at Ft. Gibson which had been established by his brother Jesse who had been killed on December 24, 1867 and continued its operation until June 1871. He again entered Cherokee politics and was chosen treasurer of the Cherokee Nation in November 1871, was subsequently reelected and served until November 1879. He was a pronounced adherent of the Ross faction out of the remnants of which he formed the National Party in Cherokee Nation politics. Dennis Wolfe Bushyhead was elected chief of the Cherokees on October 4, 1879, served with distinction and was easily reelected on October 6, 1883, serving for eight years.
Dennis W. Bushyhead succeeded the picturesque Charles Thompson as chief of the Cherokees and his elevation to the position at that particular time, was one of the fortunate ironies of Fate. He came from one of the oldest and most highly respected families among the Cherokees and his own life had been enriched by his association with the grim white settlers in the West. He had been absent from the Nation for 18 years during his sojourn in California and, as a consequence, had been entirely out of touch with the Civil War period among his people. He saw no military service in either army. Obviously, he was not involved in any of the hangover controversies from that struggle which created a cleavage among the Cherokees. John Ross, the stormy petrel of Cherokee politics had passed away and hence had ceased to be a political issue or the target of political foes. The political situation among the Cherokees became pretty well composed, when in November 1879, Dennis W. Bushyhead took over the executive reins of the Cherokee Nation. He brought to the position a varied experience and complete divorcement from the petty jealousies which, at times had embarrassed the orderly processes of the tribal government.
The eight years tenure of Chief Bushyhead was entirely free from domestic dissension, and a judicious poise was maintained with the Federal authorities. The influx of white intruders continued and in later years was to become a provoking menace. The
presence of the whites among the Cherokees created the anomalous situation of two peoples, racially different, occupying the same territory but each accountable to a different jurisdiction for offenses committed. The white man was not responsive to the tribal laws or courts but answerable alone to the Federal Court at Ft. Smith, Arkansas for the infractions of laws passed by Congress. This most unusual court presided over by the famous Judge Isaac C. Parker from May 10, 1875 until September 1, 1896 performed a remarkable service to the tribal government. The chieftains of the Cherokees without exception coordinated with the unafraid judge in his twenty-one years of service. In fact, Judge Parker enjoyed the respect, esteem and confidence of the peaceful members of the tribe and of the law abiding intermarried whites. Quite naturally, the elements of vice hated his court, but as the years elapsed, defiance gave way to fear and a semblance of law and order began to evidence itself. Little cared the judge what the outlaws though of him and not unlike Byron's grim Corsair,
"He knew himself detested, but he knew
The greatest epic of the old romantic West was the movement of vast herds of longhorn cattle from Texas north over the famous Chisholm trail. This trail crossed the old Indian Territory from south to north, extending from Red River Station on the Red River to shipping points in Kansas where railroad facilities were available. The movement of these herds involved the unauthorized use of what was then known as the Cherokee Outlet or "Strip."5 The Cherokee Strip was a rather detached domain belonging to the Cherokees, extending westward along and contiguous to the southern boundary line of Kansas, to what is today known as the "Panhandle" of Oklahoma. It was approximately ninety miles in width and embraced about 6,000,000 acres of unoccupied lands as the Cherokees had never undertaken to colonize it. For many years the Texas cattle men had made use of this Strip for grazing purposes and had done so without any pretense of remuneration to the Cherokees. The Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association was formed on March 6, 1883 and a plan was inaugurated, on a more enlarged scale, to appropriate the use of the Strip as a
cattle range. It was at this pont that Chief Bushyhead stepped vigorously into the picture and, on July 5, 1883, entered into a contract on behalf of the Cherokees, with the Stock Association, whereby the Strip was leased to the new company for a term of five years at an annual rental of $100,000. The Stock Association then subleased the lands to various individuals and corporations for range purposes. This action stimulated the cattle industry in the Indian Territory and concluded the contentions and bickerings between the individual range holders and the tribal authorities. Chief Bushyhead saw to it that this annual lease payment was promptly paid. Differences of opinion with regard to the rights of the adopted and intermarried white citizens arose initially in the Cherokee Nation in 1883 when the tribal authorities began to make the per capita payments to its citizens out of the Cherokee Strip lease money. Bushyhead caused a careful census to be made of all Cherokees by blood and adoption, and this roll of membership constituted the basis of distribution of the tribal monies. At that time, the adopted whites were excluded from participation. The Bushyhead census or roll of tribal membership with necessary amplifications and deletions as the lapse of years required was employed in later distributions of tribal monies and formed the working basis when a final roll of tribal membership was undertaken by the government.
An incident which threatened serious race difficulties was averted by the prompt intervention of Chief Bushyhead in the summer of 1881. Billy Cobb, a Cherokee Indian living near Wagoner, was slain by a party of Creek negroes near Gibson Station. The incensed Cherokees immediately formed a company of 100 Cherokee Indians under the leadership of William Jackson, who had been a captain in the Confederate service. This company marched to Gibson Station and made demands for the surrender of the negro culprits, which demand was refused. While these preliminaries were in process, word was conveyed to Chief Bushyhead at Tahlequah of the ominous situation and the chief, with William P. Adair, the second chief, hastened to Gibson Station to intervene. The Indian Agent also joined the peace party. Bushyhead fortunately encountered Capt. Jackson and his company as they were en route to attack the negroes and succeeded in influencing the enraged Cherokees from taking the law into their
own hands. Through the intervention of Chief Bushyhead, the Creek Chief caused the murderers to be arrested and turned over to the Cherokee authorities. The negroes were tried, convicted and hung at Tahlequah and the incident was closed.
The tribal election held in October 1887 was bitterly contested. Chief Bushyhead being ineligible for another consecutive term, Rabbit Bunch, the second chief became the nominee of the National Party and, of course, had the support of the Chief. Joel B. Mayes was offered by the Downing Party and apparently, was elected, but the National Council which met in November adjourned the following month without making a canvass of the election returns as required by law. Under the constitution, Chief Bushyhead remained in office until the Council should certify the election of his successor. Bushyhead offered no claims for a continuance in office, but militant Downing Party adherents forcibly took charge of the executive office at Tahlequah in January, 1888 and installed Mayes as Chief. Chief Bushyhead gracefully retired with the observation that he was awaiting the demand of his duly elected successor. The National Party never returned to power in the Cherokee Nation.
The retirement of Chief Bushyhead from the executive office did not conclude his public service to the Cherokees. In 1889 and 1890, he served as a delegate to Washington and in November 1890, was one of three commissioners who negotiated with the Government in the sale of the Western Reservation. He attended an inter-tribal meeting held at McAlester, on November 12, 1896, called for the purpose of agreeing upon some concerted action in regard to the allotment of the tribal lands and the extinguishment of the tribal governments as demanded by the Government. As chairman of the Cherokee delegation, he joined with the representatives of the other tribes, in signing the resolutions of the meeting, which opposed this contemplated action without certain reservations and other positive provisions to secure the future status of the tribes.
Chief Bushyhead married Elizabeth Alabama Adair nee Schrimsher, a daughter of John G. Schrimsher, at Ft. Gibson, in September 1870. She was born in Alabama in 1835. Their children were Jesse C., now a physician at Claremore, Oklahoma,
Eliza, Catherine and Dennis W. jr., of Westville, Oklahoma. Mrs. Bushyhead died at Ft. Gibson on October 31, 1882, and on October 31, 1883, he married Eloise Perry Butler, of Tahlequah, a daughter of James L. Butler. She was born at Tahlequah on August 14, 1859 and is a niece of the late Senator Butler of South Carolina and a grand niece of the famous Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry. Mrs. Bushyhead was educated in the Cherokee National schools and completed her studies in Philadelphia. Two children were born of this second union, James Butler and Francis Taylor. The Chief was a large man, standing about six feet and weighing perhaps 200 pounds. He had the dark Indian complexion, was erect in his carriage and imposing in his posture and appearance. He was an affable individual and enjoyed the esteem and respect of the whites although he was at all times unafraid in defense of the rights of his people. The Cherokees believed in him and with every reason and today pause in memory of his splendid character. He was a consistent supporter of the Baptist Church. His biographer, the late W. P. Boudinot, wrote of him: "He was a Christian in every respect, except being called one" and "He died rich in everything except money."
Dennis W. Bushyhead met the responsibilities of his office most capably and courageously. The Cherokees had no more devoted friend and advocate. Under his directing hand, they approached, with a better understanding, the onus of complete American citizenship which lay in the years ahead. He was a towering figure among his people, embodying the higher and nobler impulses of examplary leadership. Reflective of his erudite leadership were the thoughts expressed in his first message to the National Council, delivered on November 10, 1879, wherein he thoughtfully concludes,
"In conclusion, I would counsel a spirit of harmony and good will among our own people. In our councils, let us avoid hasty legislation. Let every bill presented for your consideration and action be closely scanned in order to perfect the good and eliminate the evil that may appear, and may the welfare of our Nation and our people be your highest consideration. Then, with a firm trust and reliance upon the Ruler of nations, an abiding faith in the people and govern-
ment of the United States and, above all, in ourselves, let us to the best of our abilities govern the Cherokee Nation wisely and well; thus helping all in power to a peaceful, harmonious and just solution of the intricate and deeply important Indian question, so far as it relates to the Cherokee Nation."
These were the well chosen words of a statesman and such was Dennis W. Bushyhead.
Such is the career Chief Bushyhead folded up and left for us. Re passed away at his home in Tahlequah, on February 4, 1898 and rests in the cemetery at that place where his grave is suitably marked.
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The RRM Gas Fittings Removal task represents the first use of RRM tools in orbit. During the task, robot operators at NASA's Johnson Space Center remotely control Dextre to retrieve RRM tools and go through the tasks required to remove representative fittings (located on the RRM module) used on many spacecraft for filling various fluids and gases prior to launch. Subsequent RRM operations include practicing robotic satellite refueling and servicing tasks using Dextre, RRM tools, and the satellite piece parts and interfaces contained within and covering the cube-shaped RRM module.
The Robotic Refueling Mission module, installed on its temporary platform on the International Space Station's Dextre robot (Photo: NASA)
Launched to the space station in July 2011 aboard the last space shuttle mission (STS-135), RRM is the first in-orbit demonstration to test, prove and advance the technology needed to perform robotic servicing on spacecraft not designed for refueling and repair. RRM and Dextre will proceed through several tasks over about the next two years designed to demonstrate a wide array of servicing capabilities. RRM results are expected to reduce the risks associated with satellite servicing as well as lay the foundation and encourage future robotic servicing missions. Such future missions could include the repair and repositioning of orbiting satellites.
"The significance of RRM is that it demonstrates that robotic satellite-servicing technology exists now and it works correctly on orbit," says Benjamin Reed, Deputy Project Manager of SSCO.
The Canadian Space Agency is an essential partner in RRM operations. Dextre, the space station's twin-armed Canadian robotic "handyman," was developed by the CSA to perform delicate assembly and maintenance tasks on the station's exterior as an extension of its 57-foot-long (17.6 meter) robotic arm, Canadarm2. CSA wrote the software to control Dextre during RRM operations. Along with NASA Goddard and Johnson Space Center, CSA tested the software with flight-like tools and the RRM high-fidelity mockup in January-February 2012 at the MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. facility in Brampton, Canada. "The Canadian Space Agency has played a pivotal role in the development of space robotics, from the early days of the space shuttle to the work they are doing with Dextre on ISS," says Cepollina.
If you liked this article, please give it a quick review on ycombinator or StumbleUpon. Thanks
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Department of Psychiatry, Center for Mental Health Services Research
Medical Subject Headings
Parenting; Parents; Family Relations; Mental Disorders; Mentally Ill Persons
Health Services Research | Mental and Social Health | Psychiatric and Mental Health | Psychiatry | Psychiatry and Psychology
Abstract: Family is the context where mental health recovery takes place. Mental health services need to take a whole-of-family approach when working with people with a mental illness. Supporting people with a mental illness in their family roles actually improved the mental health outcomes of people participating in their programs.
Citation: Nicholson, J. (2010, May). Mental illness: Understanding the impact on families and how to help. Presented as the 12th Annual Bruce Woodcock Memorial Lecture, Mental Illness Fellowship Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Nicholson, Joanne, "Mental Illness: Understanding the Impact on Families and How to Help" (2010). Systems and Psychosocial Advances Research Center Publications and Presentations. Paper 226.
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Naltrexone is short for Naltrexone Hydrochloride (C20H23NO4-HCl), an opiate-antagonist prescribed for opiate drug addiction; it blocks the response to opiate drugs such as heroin or morphine. Doses for this usage are 50-150 mg.
So where did Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) come from?
The idea of using Naltrexone at a much lower dosage for treating immune disorders such as MS is credited to Dr. Bernard Bihari, a practicing neurologist in New York, who began prescribing LDN for his MS patients in 1985.
How does Low Dose Naltrexone work?
LDN works by briefly* obstructing the effects of brain endorphins (the brain's natural painkillers). This has an effect of stimulating the increased production of these same endorphins, which re-balances the immune system, thus reducing the activity of the MS. This blocking effect lasts around 3 or 4 hours.
But how can this work? Isn’t MS is caused by an overactive immune system?
Although there is a long-held theory that MS might be caused by an overactive immune system, it has never been proven. Recent clinical studies indicate that this theory might not be true at all. The October 2004 issue of The Archives of Neurology reports a clinical study by researchers who found that intravenous immunoglobulin therapy applied after the first signs of MS significantly reduced the probability of developing clinically definitemultiple sclerosis. Patients receiving this immune-system boosting therapy also suffered fewer brain lesions.
What MS symptoms does LDN help?
Primarily neuromuscular spasm and fatigue, although patients have also reported improvements of numerous other symptoms. In addition, patients who are in the middle of an acute relapse when they start LDN have generally shown rapid resolution of the attack.
How fast does it work?
Around two-thirds of MS patients have some symptomatic improvement within the first few days.
What dosage and frequency should be prescribed?
The usual adult dosage of LDN for the treatment of MS is 4.5mg taken once daily at bedtime. Because of the rhythms of the body's hormone production, LDN is best taken between 9pm and 3am. The therapeutic dosage range for LDN is from 1.75mg to 4.5mg every night. Dosages below this range are likely to have no effect at all, and dosages above this range are likely to block endorphins for too long a period of time and interfere with its effectiveness.It is generally recommended that the patient begin on 4.5mg per day, and adjust the dosage if necessary. Prescribing 1.5mg capsules allows easy adjustment of dosage. (For example, the patient can take either 2 capsules for 3mg, or 3 capsules for a 4.5mg dose.)
How is LDN prepared?
LDN is prepared by a compounding pharmacy, who will make capsules by either grinding up 50mg tablets of Naltrexone, or using Naltrexone powder purchased from a primary manufacturer. The most popular source of Naltrexone is the 50mg "ReVia" Naltrexone tablet (DuPont), usually prescribed for treatment of drug and alcohol addictions. Naltrexone may also be taken as a solution (in distilled water) with 1mg per ml dispensed with a 5ml medicine dropper. If LDN is used in a liquid form, it is important to keep it refrigerated.
IMPORTANT: Make sure to specify that you do NOT want LDN in a slow-release form.
Are there any side effects?
All sources indicate that LDN has virtually no side effects. Occasionally, during the first week of use, patients may complain of difficulty sleeping. (Reports indicate that sleep disturbance is rare, occurring in less than 2% of users.) If this persists after the first week, dosage can be reduced from 4.5mg to 3mg. Full-dose Naltrexone (50mg 3x day) carries a cautionary warning for patients with liver disease. (This warning was placed because adverse liver effects were noted in early experiments involving 300mg daily.) The 50mg dose does not apparently produce impairment of liver function nor, of course, does the much smaller 3mg - 4.5mg dose. LDN, in the low doses used for MS therapy, is virtually non-toxic, simple to administer, and, compared with other MS drug therapy, very inexpensive.
What about cautionary warnings?
Because LDN blocks opioid receptors throughout the body for three or four hours, people using narcotic medication such as Ultram, morphine, Percocet, Tramadol, Duragesic patch or codeine should not take LDN until such medicine is completely out of the system. Steroids would counteract the effects of LDN, and so should not be combined. LDN should probably not be taken during pregnancy. LDN cannot be used by people already receiving beta interferon; because LDN stimulates the immune system and beta interferon suppresses it, the two therapies are incompatible.
What does it feel like to be on LDN?
At both high and low dosages, patients taking Naltrexone usually say they are largely unaware of being on medication. Naltrexone usually has no psychological effects and patients (at both high and low dosages) don't feel either "high" or "down" while they are on naltrexone. It is not addicting.
Why isn’t LDN routinely prescribed for MS?
Many physicians simply have not yet learned about the positive effects of LDN on MS symptoms. Others may be hesitant to prescribe LDN because it hasn’t yet been approved as an MS treatment by the FDA.
Why hasn’t LDN been approved by the FDA?
Although Naltrexone (in the higher 50mg dosage) was approved by the FDA in 1984, Low Dose Naltrexone (in the 3mg or 4.5mg dosage) has not yet been submitted for FDA approval. LDN cannot be officially approved by the FDA as an MS therapy until it undergoes specific clinical trials required by the FDA.
Why hasn’t LDN gone through a clinical trial as an MS therapy?
Clinical trials are usually initiated and funded by pharmaceutical companies, and these companies are not interested in promoting or marketing LDN.
Why aren’t pharmaceutical companies interested in exploring the possibility of LDN as an MS therapy?
Naltrexone was developed so long ago, no one holds a patent, so generic versions of the drug can be created and sold very inexpensively. LDN can't make anyone any money, so pharmaceutical companies are not willing to fund a clinical trial for a drug that will make them so little profit. Also, if LDN were certified by the FDA and became a preferred treatment for MS, the pharmaceutical companies who make the expensive ABCR (aka "crabs")drugs could lose million$ of dollar$. (In other words, it'$ all about the money.)
Are any clinical trials of LDN scheduled?
Responding to the rapidly-growing, patient-driven publicity about the success of LDN, the MS center at University of Texas recently announced plans for a full clinical trial of LDN as an MS therapy.
Are there any other plans to underwrite a clinical study of LDN and MS?
In August 2004, the LDN Research Trust was created in the UK. Conceived by a group of MS patients who have been helped by LDN, the Trust’s mission is to raise funds for the initiation of clinical trials for LDN. Their website, http://www.ldnresearchtrust.org/, encourages contributions and participation. In conjunction with the Trust, Dr Alasdair Coles, a neurologist and MS specialist from Cambridge University, and Dr Robert Lawrence of Wales, himself an MS patient, are currently working on a proposal for a clinical trial of LDN for the treatment of MS.
Has LDN been reported in any of the major medical journals?
Medical journals are not usually interested in reviewing any drug therapy that has not yet had a major clinical trial. However, the peer-reviewed medical journal Medical Hypothesis recently accepted an LDN/MS hypothesis for publication; it will be published in the next few months.
Can a doctor legally prescribe LDN?
Of course. While it is illegal for a pharmaceutical company to market or promote a drug for a use other than that approved by the FDA, it is NOT illegal for a physician to prescribe an FDA-approved drug for a non-FDA-approved use. (Neurontin, for example, was approved by the FDA in 1993 for the treatment of epilepsy; yet it is routinely prescribed for the "off-label" treatment of MS symptoms.) All physicians understand that the responsible off-label use of an already FDA-approved medication such as Naltrexone is perfectly ethical and legal.
How many MS patients are taking LDN for Multiple Sclerosis?
No one is sure of the exact number, but it is known that thousands of MS patients worldwide are now using LDN, and this number is growing. Without the financial support of the pharmaceutical industry, the reputation of LDN has been driven solely by the patients themselves.
Are MS patients getting positive results from LDN?
A review of the anecdotal evidence indicates that most MS patients taking LDN have experienced considerable improvement, often within days or weeks of beginning the treatment.
How can I obtain LDN and what will it cost?
Answer: LDN can be prescribed by your doctor, and prepared by a compounding pharmacy. Naltrexone is a prescription drug, so your physician would have to give you a prescription after deciding that LDN appears appropriate for you.Naltrexone in the large 50mg size, originally manufactured by DuPont under the brand name “ReVia”, is now sold by Mallinckrodt as “Depade” and by Barr Laboratories under the generic name “naltrexone”. LDN is now being made available by hundreds of local pharmacies, as well as by some mail-order pharmacies, around the US. Some pharmacists have been grinding up the 50mg tablets of naltrexone to prepare the 4.5mg capsules of LDN; others use naltrexone, purchased as a powder, from a primary manufacturer.One of the first pharmacies to do so was Irmat Pharmacy in Manhattan. Their recent price for a one-month's supply of 4.5mg LDN (30 capsules) was $38. Irmat will ship it anywhere, in the US or to other countries, and will accept prescriptions from any licensed physician.
Pharmacies that are good sources of LDN:
Irmat Pharmacy, New York, NY (212) 685-0500
The Compounder Pharmacy, Aurora, IL (800) 679-4667
The Medicine Shoppe, Canandaigua, NY (800) 396-9970
Skip's Pharmacy, Boca Raton, FL (800) 553-7429
Smith's Pharmacy, Toronto, Canada (800) 361-6624
IMPORTANT: Make sure to specify that you do NOT want LDN in a slow-release form.Reports have been received from patients that some pharmacies have been supplying a slow-release form of naltrexone. Pharmacies should be instructed NOT to provide LDN in an "SR" or slow-release or timed-release form. Unless the low dose of naltrexone is in an unaltered form, which permits it to reach a prompt "spike" in the blood stream, its therapeutic effects may be inhibited.
Also, make sure to fill your Rx at a compounding pharmacy that has a reputation for consistent reliability in the quality of the LDN it delivers. The FDA has found a significant error rate in compounded prescriptions produced at randomly selected pharmacies. Dr. Bihari has reported seeing adverse effects from this problem.
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|For the bt allele:|
|bt Allele (MGI)||Gene (MGI)||All Alleles (MGI)|
This recessive mutation ( bt; chromosome 15) has been reported twice: the first time as a spontaneous mutation in the DBA stock ( Murray and Snell, 1945) and the second time as a spontaneous mutation in strain CBA/J ( Mayer and Maltby, 1964). 15
As is usually, if not always, the case the effect which bt/bt has on the amount of white spotting is greatly augmented when it is combined with other spotting genes. 16
There are two investigations ( Mayer and Maltby, 1964; Schaible, 1972) concerned with the etiology of white spotting in bt/bt mice, and, in spite of the fact that they employed very similar protocols, their results are quite different. In Mayer and Maltby's experiments small explants of ectoderm and underlying mesoderm from potentially pigmented and spotted (belted) areas of 12- to 12.5-day-old bt/bt embryos were transplanted to the coelom of the chick. Whereas grafts from potentially pigmented regions always developed pigmented hair, and in most cases melanocytes were found in the dermis of the graft between the hair follicles, as well as in the lining of the coelom of the host, grafts from the region of the belt usually displayed no hair pigment, even though numerous melanocytes occurred in the dermis (between the white hair follicles) and in the coelom of the host. Moreover, some grafts which Mayer and Maltby believe by chance had overlapped both belted and nonbelted areas, formed pigmented hairs in one region and white hairs in another. Since these observations indicate that melanoblasts migrate freely throughout all areas of the skin of bt/bt mice, even in those areas destined to form white hairs, Mayer and Maltby contend that the unpigmented hairs must result either from "a failure of melanoblasts to gain entrance into the developing follicles, or to their failure to differentiate in this environment." They therefore conclude that bt produces a specific genetic block at the level of the hair follicle. To further support this contention they cite their observation that, unlike most other spotting genes, bt does not affect the melanocyte populations of other tissues. Thus they noted that the number of melanocytes in the harderian gland, the membranous labyrinth, the choroid, the leg muscles, and the ankle skin of bt/bt mice was the same as in +/+ animals. 17
On the other hand, Schaible's transplantation experiments yielded almost diametrically opposite results, and from donors ( ae/ae;bt/bt) which had been selected from a white-belted stock. Thus, using a slightly different grafting procedure he transplanted pieces of 12- to 14-day-old embryonic bt/bt skin to the chick coelom. Some of these grafts were proportional to the full width and one-third of the dorsoventral length of the belts (assuming that the belt region of the embryos had the same location and was proportional in size to that of the adult), while others (controls) were taken from potentially pigmented regions. Although, in accord with Mayer and Maltby, Schaible found that all grafts derived from potentially pigmented areas always displayed pigmented skin and hair, and all grafts regardless of origin displayed pigment in the skin, unlike Mayer and Maltby, he also observed pigmented hairs in grafts which had originated from the belted region. Thus all seven grafts which had originated from the lumbar area of 12- and 13-day-old wide-belt donors, and two of the six 14-day-old wide belt transplants were completely pigmented.
To explain these different results Schaible suggests that perhaps the different ages of the hosts (because of the different grafting techniques, Schaible's host embryos were a day older at the start of the experiment than Mayer and Maltby's) as well as the unique genetic backgrounds of the donors were responsible. 18 He also suggests that the failure of some of his 14-day-old embryonic grafts to develop pigmented hair could have been due to the fact that the grafting procedure was not carried out until the guard hair follicles were already formed [the first hair follicles develop on the fourteenth day of gestation ( Schumann, 1960)].
Although it may seem surprising that it was the grafts from the wide-belted region of Schaible's mice rather than those from the narrower belted area of Mayer and Maltby's animals that formed pigmented hairs, the different sizes of these transplants could be responsible. Thus if one assumes that the larger lumbar region grafts which Schaible introduced into the coelom did not expand as rapidly as they would have if left in situ (or at as rapid a rate as Mayer and Maltby's smaller grafts) this could explain why melanoblasts were able to reach hair follicles in time to become incorporated into the bulb. Indeed, both Mayer and Maltby's and Schaible's observations are most readily explained in terms of Mintz's hypothesis (see Chapter 7, Section VII). Thus the pigment cells which occurred in the skin and sometimes in the hair of their recovered "belted-region" grafts could represent a secondary population which had migrated into the explanted region after the primary population (of inviable cells) had died (but before the transplants were made), a secondary population which migrated in too late to become incorporated into the hair follicles of Mayer and Maltby's transplants, but not too late to become established in the hairs of the less rapidly expanding Schaible grafts. 19 Mintz's hypothesis also readily explains why under normal conditions the belt usually occurs just posterior to the midline. Thus she would argue that bt/bt genotypes undoubtedly possess a number of inviable melanoblast clones but that most of these are replaced after they die by melanoblasts from neighboring viable clones. However, because the region just posterior to the midline of the trunk is a rapidly growing area, viable melanoblasts are unable to repopulate it completely and hence a belt is formed. 20
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Even in cases of existing osteo-arthritic conditions, improvement may be brought about through osteopathic treatment in terms of improved mobility, the lessening of pain, and possibly the slowing down of the degenerative process. This is especially likely in spinal regions such as the neck and upper thortic spine and the lower back and pelvic joints which are those most abused by bad postural habits. Osteopathic treatment cannot undo the damage already done, however, but it can often minimize the effects by increasing the degree of mobility in all but extremely advanced cases.
Chronic or acute obstruction of the breathing passages may yield to osteopathic manipulative therapy, although the causative factors must also be dealt with, and it is not suggested that structural factors play a major part in the background to bronchitic conditions. Osteopathic treatment in the spinal, chest and diaphragm areas can improve respiratory function and seems to speed the elimination of obstructing mucus. Apart from the mobilizing of the structure of the chest, such as ribs and their articulations with the spine and sternum, there are specific osteopathic methods such as the 'thoracic pump' and the 'diaphragmatic coming' techniques which may help.
When the problem results from an over-contracted or spastic bowel, osteopathic treatment may assist in normalizing the condition, in conjunction with a restructured diet to include a high degree of fibre.
Osteopaths find that there is frequently a spinal element involved in digestive dysfunction, whether the condition involves over- or under-supply of acid, or over- or under-supply of enzymes, or increased or decreased blood supply, to particular regions of the digestive organs. Osteopathic treatment is non-specific in such conditions, and usually areas of spinal dysfunction will be found in the mid and lower thoracic areas. The normalizing of these, together with dietary changes, can alleviate the problem.
There are a great variety of causes of what are generally termed headaches, but one of the main causes of the common headache is tension in the neck and back of the skull and this is found to be particularly amenable to osteopathic treatment. Also, a definite reduction in frequency and intensity of pain was found to result from the osteopathic normalization of the cervical spine when research into migraine was conducted at the British College of Naturopathy and Osteopathy in the early 1970s.
Many headaches of less obvious origins may respond to a combination of cranial, cervical and upper thoracic normalization, but it would be wrong to assume that all headaches can always be relieved by osteopathy. In my own experience, however, I have found that some headaches of many years duration have yielded to just one treatment session.
Generally the improvement of mobility in the thoracic spine and chest region after osteopathic manipulation seems to enhance the heart's function and in turn the blood is more efficiently oxygenated.
References have been made in Chapter 7 to the results of research into the possibility of a musculo-skeletal connection in cases of cardiac disorder, and the correction of spinal dysfunction by osteopathic manipulative therapy is claimed to reduce the chances of cardiac distress.
A frequent finding is that of what has come to be called ‘false angina'. In this condition all the classical symptoms of angina occur (pressure in the chest, breathlessness, pain in one or both arms etc. ) but they fail to respond to drug therapy. In many such cases there is found to be an upper thoracic lesion which responds to simple manipulative techniques with a consequent disappearance of the symptoms.
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| 0.953349
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What happens to 32P-labelled compounds?
pk03+ at andrew.cmu.edu
Tue Jul 28 00:16:19 EST 1992
Decay of P-32, although producing S-32, will only rarely result in the
replacement reaction. Of prime concern should be the radiolysis of the
labeled mixture. The betas will generate many thousands of ions,
radicals, and excited molecules within a millimeter of their
'production'. These, obviously, are very chemically reactive, and
frequently catalytic too.
Paul J. Karol
(but not Radiation Chemist...a radiation chemist will be able to provide
more detailed information)
More information about the Methods
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| 0.87253
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LIVERMORE, Calif. -- Researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have discovered another fingerprint of human effects on global climate.
Recent research has shown that increases in the height of the tropopause over the past two decades are directly linked to ozone depletion and increased greenhouse gases.
The tropopause is the transition zone between the lowest layer of the atmosphere -- the turbulently-mixed troposphere -- and the more stable stratosphere. The tropopause lies roughly 10 miles above the Earth's surface at the equator and five miles above the poles. To date, no scientist has examined whether observed changes in tropopause height are in accord with projections from climate model greenhouse warming experiments.
The comparison was made by Livermore scientists Benjamin Santer, James Boyle, Krishna AchutaRao, Charles Doutriaux and Karl Taylor, along with researchers from the National Center for Atmospheric Research, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, the Max-Planck Institute for Meteorology and the Institut f¸r Physik der Atmosph‰re in Germany. Their findings are reported in the today's (Jan. 3) online edition of the Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres.
This research undercuts claims by greenhouse skeptics that no warming has occurred during the last two decades. Such claims are based on satellite measurements of temperatures in the troposphere, which show little or no warming since the beginning of the satellite record in 1979.
"Weather balloons and weather forecast models show that there's been a pronounced increase in the height of the global tropopause over the last two decades," Santer said. "Our best understanding is that this increase is due to two factors: warming of troposphere, which is caused by increasing greenhouse gases, and cooling of the stratosphere, which is mainly caused by depletion of stratospheric ozone. Tropopause height changes give us independent evidence of the reality of recent warming of the troposphere."
The Livermore research supports the bottom-line conclusion of the 2001 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which states that, "most of the observed warming over the last 50 years is likely to have been due to the increase in greenhouse gas concentrations."
Earlier research showed that changes in the Earth's surface temperature, ocean heat content, and Northern Hemisphere sea ice cover are other indicators of human effects on climate change.
"The climate system is telling us a consistent story -- that humans have had a significant effect on it," Santer said. "We're seeing detailed correspondence between computer climate models and observations, and this correspondence is in a number of different climate variables. Tropopause height is the latest piece of the climate-change puzzle."
To support the research, Livermore scientists examined tropopause height changes in climate-change experiments using two different computer climate models. Both models showed similar decadal-scale increases in the tropopause height in response to changes in human-caused climate forcings. The patterns of tropopause height change were similar in models and so-called 'reanalysis' products (a combination of actual observations and results from a weather forecast model).
The model experiments focused on both manmade climate forcings, such as changes in well-mixed greenhouse gases, stratospheric and tropospheric ozone, and on natural forcings, such as changes in volcanic aerosols. The forces have varying effects on atmospheric temperature, that in turn affect tropopause height, the report concludes.
Founded in 1952, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is a national security laboratory, with a mission to ensure national security and apply science and technology to the important issues of our time. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is managed by the University of California for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration.
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Angel with Crown and Flagellum
Unknown artist, French, France
Angel with Crown and Flagellum, ca. 1460
Oil on panel
32.4 x 32.4 x 5.1 cm (12 3/4 x 12 3/4 x 2 inches)
Anonymous gift 60.105
This small painting probably flanked a central devotional image. The contemplative angel is seated in an interior decorated with luxurious furnishings and classical ornamentation. Barefoot and simply robed, he is distinguished by a halo and by wings of pink and green feathers. He holds a flagellum (whip) and a crown, symbols of martyrdom and celestial reward. In the late Middle Ages, particularly during plagues, the flagellum also symbolized atonement and purification. The finials on the tips of the gold crown are in the form of a fleur-de-lys (lily flower), an indication of royalty suggesting that the angel is an attendant to King Louis IX of France (1214–1270), a pious and ascetic man who practiced the penitential use of the flagellum.
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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| 0.89801
| 239
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On the surface “CREATE Wisconsin” seems noble enough in its intent.
The program, established in 2009 by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, was supposedly developed to help school teachers and administrators better understand the challenges facing minority students – particularly black kids – in the state’s K-12 schools.
It argues that minority students sometimes struggle because public education is geared toward white students, and lessons are often delivered in a manner that minority students can’t understand.
It argues that too many minority students are placed in special education because school officials fail to understand their strengths, challenges and cultural norms.
In short, the achievement gap that exists between white and minority students has less to do with ability than culture, and the lack of a level playing field in schools.Continue Reading on eagnews.org
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<urn:uuid:0ef13cd1-910b-408d-a619-f9e6a59ecf25>
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http://zionica.com/2013/03/20/teacher-program-focuses-on-white-privilege-creating-separate-standards-for-minority-students/
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| 0.964683
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| 3.203125
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Seven Lessons for Leaders in Systems Change
The first guiding principle of the Center for Ecoliteracy's framework for schooling for sustainability — Smart by Nature® — is "nature is our teacher."
Taking nature as our teacher requires thinking in terms of systems, one of nature's basic patterns. Systems can be incredibly complex, but the concept is quite straightforward. The American Association for the Advancement of Science, for example, defines a "system" as "any collection of things that have some influence on one another." Individual things — like plants, people, schools, communities, and watersheds — are all systems of interrelated elements. At the same time, they can't be fully understood apart from the larger systems in which they exist.
Living systems have their own dynamics. Observing systems reveals recurring properties and processes. They resist change, but they also develop, adapt, and evolve. Understanding how systems maintain themselves and how they change has very practical consequences that go to the heart of education for sustainable living. Much of the Center's work over the past two decades could be thought of as applied systems thinking. As an offering for leaders engaged in systems change, we report in this piece on seven important lessons we've learned.
While the work of the Center has been profoundly affected by the insights of our cofounder, systems theorist Fritjof Capra, as well as by other notable thinkers including Margaret Wheatley, Joanna Macy, and Donella Meadows, we will touch only briefly here on their important theoretical work. At the end of this report, we've listed a few sources for readers who want to pursue these ideas more deeply.
Seven Lessons for Leaders
For educators and change agents who are tackling the challenge of changing systems, some of them deeply entrenched, we are pleased to offer these lessons, based on our work with thousands of leaders.
Lesson #1: To promote systems change, foster community and cultivate networks.
Most of the qualities of a living system, notes Fritjof Capra, are aspects of a single fundamental network pattern: nature sustains life by creating and nurturing communities. Lasting change frequently requires a critical mass or density of interrelationships within a community. For instance, we've seen from research and our experience that curricular innovation at a school usually becomes sustainable only when at least a third of the faculty are engaged and committed.
"If nothing exists in isolation," writes famed essayist Wendell Berry, "then all problems are circumstantial; no problem resides, or can be solved, in anybody's department." Even if problems defy solution by a single department, school districts are often structured so that responsibilities are assigned to isolated and unconnected divisions. Nutrition services may report to the business manager, while academic concerns lie within the domain of the director of curriculum. To achieve systems change, leaders must cross department boundaries and bring people addressing parts of the problem around the same table. For example, we're currently coordinating a feasibility study with the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD). It requires looking simultaneously at ten aspects of school food operations (from teaching and learning to finance and facilities) identified in our Rethinking School Lunch framework.
In the push to make decisions and produce results quickly, it's easy to bypass people — often the very people, such as food service staff and custodians, who will have the task of implementing changes and whose cooperation is key to success. It's necessary to keep asking: "Who's being left out?" and "Who should be in the room?"
Lesson #2: Work at multiple levels of scale.
"Nested systems" is a core ecological principle. Like Russian "matryoshka" dolls that fit one into the other, most systems contain other systems and are contained within larger systems: cells within organs within individuals within communities; classes within schools within districts within counties, states, and the nation.
Changing a system affects both the systems within it and the systems in which it is nested. The challenge for change agents is choosing the right level, or levels, of scale for the changes they seek. The answer is often working at multiple levels: top down, bottom up, outside in, and inside out.
The Center for Ecoliteracy is applying this strategy in Oakland. We're supporting a pilot school, Cleveland Elementary, on garden and classroom projects that can be accomplished on a single campus. We're helping to facilitate the Oakland Food Web, which is a network of teachers, parents, and staff members from several Oakland schools, the district's food service, and the County Department of Public Health. The OUSD feasibility study, meanwhile, is taking on changes that depend on centralized administration, facilities, economies of scale, and coordination possible only at the district level.
Lesson #3: Make space for self-organization.
Fritjof Capra writes, "Perhaps the central concept in the systems view of life" is that the pattern favored by life "is a network pattern capable of self-organization." He adds, "Life constantly reaches out into novelty, and this property of all living systems is the origin of development, learning, and evolution."
Networks that can effect systems change will sometimes self-organize if you set up the right conditions. Our seminars and institutes are designed for teams representing schools and districts rather than for individuals. Parents, teachers, administrators, and community volunteers — sometimes including people who had not met before the seminar — have organized themselves into effective ongoing collaborations, such as the Oakland Food Web, which still continue.
Lesson #4: Seize breakthrough opportunities when they arise.
Living systems generally remain in a stable state. That's a good thing; otherwise, we'd be living in chaos. But it's also why systems change can be so difficult. From time to time, however, a system encounters a point of instability where it is confronted by new circumstances or information that it can't absorb without giving up some of its old structures, behaviors, or beliefs. That instability can precipitate either a breakdown or — due to systems' capacities for self-organization — a breakthrough to new possibilities.
Remember the adage of former White House Chief of Staff (now Chicago Mayor) Rahm Emanuel: "You never want a serious crisis to go to waste." Take the epidemic of obesity and nutrition-related disease. It's a serious crisis that could precipitate a public health breakdown. At the same time, authorities who once viewed school food reform as a frivolous issue being promoted by foodies have now become more willing to look at the role that school food plays in an array of related problems ranging from rising health care costs to disparities in academic achievement. And that willingness in turn has created opportunities to use food as an entree for introducing a variety of sustainability topics into the curriculum, as we addressed in our book Big Ideas: Linking Food, Culture, Health, and the Environment.
Lesson #5: Facilitate — but give up the illusion that you can direct — change.
"We never succeed in directing or telling people how they must change," observes Margaret Wheatley. "We don't succeed by handing them a plan, or pestering them with our interpretations, or relentlessly pressing forward with our agenda, believing that volume and intensity will convince them to see it our way."
So what can you do? In the provocative maxim of Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela, "You can never direct a living system. You can only disturb it." How do you disturb a system? By introducing information that contradicts old assumptions. By demonstrating that things people believe they can't do are already being accomplished somewhere (one of the objectives of our book Smart by Nature: Schooling for Sustainability). By inviting new people into the conversation. By rearranging structures so that people relate in ways they're not used to. By presenting issues from different perspectives.
Meanwhile, you can create conditions that take advantage of the system's capacity for generating creative solutions. Nurture networks of connection and communication, create climates of trust and mutual support, encourage questioning, and reward innovation. Effective leaders recognize emergent novelty, articulate it, and incorporate it into organizations' designs. Leaders sometimes lead best when they loosen control and take the risk of dispersing authority and responsibility.
Lesson #6: Assume that change is going to take time.
"Quick fixes are an oxymoron," says Margaret Wheatley. "If leaders would learn anything from the past many years, it's that there are no quick fixes. For most organizations, meaningful change is at least a three- to five-year process — though this seems impossibly long. Yet multiyear change efforts are the hard reality we must face."
Anticipate that you'll need time for the education and training required for people to change attitudes, adopt new practices, or use new tools. Set high goals, but take manageable steps. Look for intermediate achievements that allow people to experience — and celebrate — success and to receive recognition on the way to the ultimate goal.
Taking time for stakeholders to understand each other's concerns and learn to trust each other's motivations and intentions can be time well spent. OUSD has one of the most comprehensive wellness policies we've seen. Writing that policy began with scores of community members meeting in a process marked by debate and often disagreement. When the policy was finally formulated, though, it received buy-in throughout the community.
Lesson #7: Be prepared to be surprised.
Change in living systems is nonlinear. As they develop and evolve, living systems generate phenomena that are not predictable from the properties of their individual parts, much as the wetness of water cannot be forecast by adding together the properties of hydrogen and oxygen. Systems theorists call these "emergent properties."
In the late 1990s, we convened a disparate community of activists with a variety of complaints about school meals in Berkeley. A year later, the first district school food policy in the nation emerged. The coherence of the policy, which has had a worldwide impact, was an expression of the group rather than the vision of any single individual.
The art and science of systems change are continually evolving. We encourage people to experiment with these seven lessons — and to expect surprises. Frequently it's the unanticipated consequences that are the most rewarding and effective results of immersion in dynamic systems.
Some good resources:
Fritjof Capra, The Web of Life: A New Scientific Understanding of Living Systems (New York: Anchor Books, 1996); The Hidden Connections: A Science for Sustainable Living (New York: Anchor Books, 2002).
Joanna Macy, Coming Back to Life: Practices to Reconnect Ourselves, Our World (Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers, 1998).
Humberto M. Maturana and Francisco J. Varela, The Tree of Knowledge: The Biological Roots of Human Understanding (Boston: Shambhala, 1992).
Donella Meadows, Thinking in Systems: A Primer (White River, Vermont: Chelsea Green Publishing, 2008).
Margaret Wheatley, Finding Our Way: Leadership for an Uncertain Time (San Francisco: Barrett-Kohler Publishers, 2005, 2007); Leadership and the New Science: Discovering Order in a Chaotic World (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2006).
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The Colonial style of house includes four subgroups:
- Post Medieval
- Classical Revival
The early colonists arriving in the New World from Europe brought with them the prevailing architectural styles and building practices of their native countries. At first these were of late Medieval inspiration, for the new classicism of the Renaissance had not yet spread beneath the grandest palaces and mansions of their homelands. Indeed, most Colonial dwellings built during the 1600s lacked even Medieval decorative detailing and might be classified as folk houses did they not so strongly reflect, in form and structure rather than stylistic detail, the distinctive building traditions of their countries of origin.
The prospering English colonies of the eastern seaboard began to import Renaissance-inspired Georgian fashion in the early 1700s. This would dominate the colonies for almost a century before being replaced by the closely related Adam style after the American Revolution.
Original examples of Colonial houses are relatively rare, but their forms and detailing are abundantly familiar because, beginning with the Centennial celebrations of 1876, they have been copied in various stylistic revivals.
Excerpted from A Field Guide to American Houses, Virginia and Lee McAlester, Alfred Knopf, New York, © 2000.
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Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world. Simply, it answers two basic questions "What is there?" and "What is it like?" A person who studies metaphysics would be called either a meta-physicist or a metaphysician. Metaphysics is a multidisciplinary field of study. It is difficult to specialize in all fields, so a basic knowledge of all included areas is recommended. With a little effort and research, you’ll be able to learn everything you want to know about metaphysics.
Learning the Basics
1Start by understanding the basic concepts of physics, math, logic, and philosophy. It seems difficult but introductory level books and Internet research can help. These fields are all crucial to your learning about metaphysics in general.
- Understand the philosophy of mathematics. Do not simply solve sums. Understand the concept of numbers and patterns in universe.
- Gain a sound understanding of concepts related to physics. Concentrate on Einstein’s Theory of Relativity.
2Learn how to tell whether an object is abstract or concrete. Research abstract objects and mathematics. Some philosophers endorse views according to which there are abstract objects such as numbers, or Universals. Abstract objects are generally regarded as being outside of space and time, and/or as being causally inert. Mathematical objects and fictional entities and worlds are often given as examples of abstract objects so it is important to have idea about objects and whether they or abstract or concrete.
3Study quantum physics. Quantum physicists believe that determinism was proven incorrect with the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. Quantum physics tell us has that objects have a dual type nature – this "wave nature and particle nature." Simply, we cannot determine any two unknowns or things we just don’t know about a particular object.
4Learn the properties of objects. The world seems to contain many individual things, both physical, like apples, and abstract such as love and the number 3; the former objects are called particulars. Metaphysicians are mostly concerned with nature of objects and their properties. David Armstrong holds that universals exist in time and space but only at their instantiation and their discovery is a function of science.
Studying Metaphysics in Your Free Time
1Research cosmology and cosmogony. Metaphysical Cosmology is the branch of metaphysics that deals with the world as the totality of all phenomena in space and time. Historically, it has had quite a broad scope. However, in modern times it addresses questions about the Universe beyond the scope of physical science.
- Cosmology is the study of how the world/universe operates.
- Cosmogony is the study of how the world/universe originated.
2Consider whether you believe in determinism or free will. Determinism is the philosophical proposition that every event, including human cognition, decision, and action, is causally determined by an unbroken chain of prior occurrences. Determinists believe a human being's future depends on present and past events beyond the individual's influence. In philosophy it is believed that human decision is based on past events.
3Research Identity and change. The Greeks took some extreme positions on the nature of change: Parmenides denied that change occurs at all, while Heraclitus thought change was ubiquitous (i.e., you cannot step into the same river twice).
- For example, it seems, too, that objects can change over time. If one were to look at a tree one day, and the tree later lost a leaf, it would seem that one could still be looking at that same tree. Two main theories account for this tree problem "Perdurantism," which treats the tree as a series of tree-stages, and "Endurantism," which maintains that the tree always remains the same tree.
Studying Metaphysics in a Guided Manner
1Take courses in metaphysics. There are many institutions that offer courses on the metaphysical sciences – like the University of Metaphysical Sciences. These kinds of courses will allow you to study metaphysics with the help of trained professionals who will guide you in your journey toward understanding.
- These courses will help you learn about various metaphysical philosophies as well as aid you in your path toward a career relating to the metaphysical sciences if that is what you desire.
- Some regular universities offer courses on metaphysics too.
2Gain legitimacy by attaining a degree in metaphysical teachings. Getting a degree in metaphysics will allow you more prestige as a metaphysical teacher or counselor by supplying you with the academic/professional background necessary to foster the kind of trust and respect so often required in this field. A degree will help you acquire more job opportunities
- A degree in the field of metaphysics will help you achieve greater potential for life and career opportunities in your chosen field, a greater understanding of the world around you, and better prospects in the field of metaphysics with regard to possible future employment.
3Become ordained in the field of metaphysics. Many people who work as a metaphysical professional do so under the umbrella of religious affiliation. Since the law does not typically separate the religious from the spiritual, metaphysical practitioners usually become ordained in their field in order to teach and guide others in the study of metaphysics.
- While a metaphysical degree can help you establish yourself as a trained professional, becoming ordained in the field will legally allow you to teach your beliefs to others.
- You can consult physics, math, and philosophy professors for help.
- It is difficult to cover all the categories. For further research, you can also search the following topics: “Mind and matter,” “Necessity and possibility,” “Religion and spirituality,” or “Space and Time.”
Sources and Citations
- ↑ http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/abstract-objects/
- ↑ http://www.forbes.com/sites/chadorzel/2015/07/08/six-things-everyone-should-know-about-quantum-physics/#7ba237b841f8
- ↑ http://philosophy.fas.nyu.edu/docs/IO/1160/met.pdf
- ↑ https://www.creationworldview.org/articles_view.asp?id=30
- ↑ http://www.informationphilosopher.com/freedom/determinism.html
- ↑ http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/metaphysics/
- ↑ http://umsonline.org/career.htm
- ↑ http://whatismetaphysics.com/
- ↑ http://www.cms.edu/career.html
- ↑ http://www.cms.edu/career.html
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Europe is the world's leader in biodiesel production, accounting for three-quarters of last year's global output of the alternative fuel. The United States is No. 2, but its production lags far behind.
In 2004, Congress passed a tax credit intended to promote the U.S. biodiesel industry. The tax credit equals a dollar for every gallon of biodiesel blended in the United States. The idea was to encourage marketers of regular diesel to mix in plant-based fuel and, thus, broaden the use of biodiesel.
But a loophole has producers on both sides of the Atlantic crying foul.
Biodiesel and petroleum-based diesel mix easily together. The U.S. law allows producers to claim the tax credit for any level of blend. In the United States, blenders taking advantage of the credit have usually produced mixes of mostly petroleum diesel with, generally, up to 10 percent biodiesel, for the U.S. market. Most diesel engines can handle a blend that includes 20 percent biodiesel, known as B20, with no additional maintenance. Many can readily use 100 percent biodiesel, called B100.
But the law did not anticipate "splash and dash" — a loophole in the system. This practice involves bringing a tanker of biodiesel made elsewhere, usually Indonesia or Malaysia, to the United States, adding just a "splash" of U.S.-made petroleum diesel, then shipping the "blend" to Europe for sale. Adding just 0.1 percent petroleum diesel to a load of biodiesel while at a U.S. dock is enough to qualify for the credit.
U.S. critics say it rewards biodiesel producers — both foreign and domestic — without any real benefit to U.S. taxpayers, who are paying the bill. European critics say it's an unfair trade practice that's undercutting their market.
European biodiesel producers first cried foul when U.S. government-subsidized blends of 99.9 percent biodiesel and 0.1 percent petroleum diesel began showing up on the European market. They argued that they were being unfairly undercut by an illegal subsidy, and lobbied the European Union to fight the practice on the grounds that it creates unfair competition.
"This system clearly represents an unfair trade measure that urgently needs to be reviewed and eliminated – at least in its unfair trade aspects — by the U.S. government," officials of Europe's leading industry group, the European Biodiesel Board, wrote in a letter earlier this year to the European Trade Commissioner.
Commission sources say there is no doubt in Brussels that the subsidized B99 "is causing damage to the EU biodiesel producers."
American producers also became concerned with the practice when biodiesel producers from other countries started taking advantage of the program.
Jenna Higgins with the National Biodiesel Board, a U.S. industry group, calls this practice an "abuse" of congressional intent. As the law currently stands, she says, no American biodiesel producers have to be involved in order for foreign "splash and dashers" to claim the U.S. tax break.
Higgins says the tax credit for biodiesel blends is important for the domestic industry.
"This really is the main federal incentive for biodiesel," Higgins says. "If we don't work to close the loophole, it's possible the entire biodiesel tax credit will go away for everyone. And that would be devastating for the entire U.S. biodiesel industry."
The tax credit is scheduled to phase out at the end of 2008, but there is legislation pending that could end the "splash and dash" loophole sooner.
It's hard to predict whether the subsidy will be changed. For one thing, although the European producers complain about it, there is nothing to stop European biodiesel companies from shipping to the United States and taking advantage of the credit. Indeed, some reports suggest that is already happening.
And despite the concerns expressed by Higgins, some American companies are certainly benefiting from the subsidy — either by exporting made-in-the-U.S. biodiesel blends, or by importing loads of biodiesel, adding a touch of petroleum, then re-selling the subsidized blend abroad.
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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The whitebark pine, a wide-ranging tree found throughout the Western U.S. and in British Columbia and Alberta in Canada, may be on its way to extinction due to factors including climate change. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said last week that the tree qualifies for listing as an endangered or threatened species. This is the first time that the federal government has identified climate change as one of the key factors in why a wide-ranging tree could disappear.
According to an article in the Washington Post, the National Resources Defense Council, an environmental group, asked the Fish and Wildlife Service to place the whitebark pine on the endangered species list. The agency said a listing was “warranted but precluded,” meaning that while that the pine should be listed as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act, funding and resources are not available to protect the pine. In a statement by the National Resources Defense Council, the government’s decision makes the pine “the first broadly dispersed tree that the federal government has clearly pegged as a climate casualty.”
Government wildlife specialists will review the tree’s status over the next year to determine both the level of biological risk and whether there are enough resources to develop a recovery plan. Meanwhile, the Canadian government has already place the whitebark pine on its endangered species list, and a recent study found that more than 50 percent of whitebark pine forests in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem are dead or dying.
The tree, a source of food for bears and birds and whose branches block wind prolonging snowmelt and slowing spring runoff, is under attack by an invasive disease called white pine blister rust, as well as pests such as the mountain pine beetle. The disease makes the whitebark pine more susceptible to the beetles that have started to infiltrate colder altitudes where the trees grow. In the article in the Washington Post, Fish and Wildlife service biologist, Amy Nicholas, stated these factors in addition to fire patterns, and more importantly, global warming are undermining chances for the pine’s long-term survival.
The whitebark pine remains a candidate under the Endangered Species Act and will come under review annually.
For other great stories on all aspects of climate change, check out Celsias :
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Kepler is using an interesting technique to spot the planets it's trying to find. It's looking for the faint dimming a star's light will undergo as a planet passes in front of it, as seen along Kepler's line of sight.
It's called the transit technique. It's a testament to ever-more sensitive detectors and the ability to put telescopes in space that scientists can use this approach to hunt for planets around stars as far away as 3,000 light years.
But, asks Stuart Hurst in a comment to a post-launch Kepler post, how will Kepler's handlers tell the difference between dimming because a planet has briefly signaled its presence, or because the star has its own version of sunspots?
Enter Todd Klaus, with Kepler's Operations Center at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field in California.
In an e-mail exchange, he explains that researchers have a couple of strong clues that what they detect is indeed a planet candidate, and not a "starspot."
"First, the transit duration for planets is much smaller than for spots," he writes. "The transit duration for planets is on the order of hours, whereas the transit duration for spots is on the order of days."
Second, he continues, planets have consistent orbital periods, so they reappear at regular intervals. Starspots do not.
"This is one of the reasons that we want to see at least three transits, equally spaced, before we will say we have a planetary candidate," he adds.
And other astronomers will be using ground-based and space-based telescopes for follow-up work on Kepler's detections. Their different approaches to picking up signs of extrasolar planets will serve as yet another check.
By the way, if you're eager to snag the latest Kepler updates, check out its Twitter posts. A spacecraft twittering? Supposedly it's not good practice to anthropomorphize a telescope, but, hey, what the tweet....
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BRIDGAR, JOHN, an early governor of HBC forts on Hudson and James bays; fl. 1678–87.
He was engaged by the HBC on 19 April 1678 at a salary of £40 a year and arrived in James Bay on 22 August to serve under Governor Charles Bayly. When Bayly returned to England the following year he left Bridgar in charge of the newly founded Albany post. Two years later Bridgar went back to London and on 15 May 1682 was commissioned governor of Port Nelson and of the west mainland of the Bay north from Cape Henrietta Maria, at £100 a year for three years. At the same time he was instructed “to Penetrate into the Countrey to make what discoveries you can, and to gett an Acquaintance and Comerce with the Indians thereabts.”
He sailed on the Company’s ship Prince Rupert (Zachariah Gillam captain) accompanied by the Albemarle (Esbon Sanford captain), and in September entered the mouth of the Nelson. But Pierre Esprit Radisson* was there ahead of him as agent for the French – who planned to drive the HBC from the Bay – and challenged his right to be there. Radisson and his brother-in-law Médard Chouart Des Groseilliers had built a fort on the right bank of the Hayes River to the south. Bridgar chose a spot on the north shore of the Nelson, and there built the first HBC establishment in that area.
Twelve years previously Radisson, then in the employ of the English company, had landed at the mouth of the Nelson and had astutely perceived that it would be the gateway to the fur trade of the great Northwest. But the ship on which he and Governor Bayly had arrived was driven out to sea by a storm and no fort had been erected there.
Misfortune also dogged Bridgar’s venture. His deputy, Sanford, died on 6 October; and on 21 October the Prince Rupert was blown out into the bay during a gale and sunk with all on board, including Zachariah Gillam, who had learned from Radisson that his son Benjamin Gillam* from New England was trading farther upstream at his post on Gillam Island in defiance of the Company’s charter – a fact still unknown to Bridgar.
Early next year Radisson captured young Gillam’s fort and ship with their inhabitants and in the summer took possession of the Company’s fort, making Bridgar and his men prisoner. In the New Englander’s ship he took Bridgar to Quebec, where the Englishman was released by Governor Le Febvre de La Barre to return home by way of New England. In 1685 he sailed again for James Bay, apparently aboard the Success (John Outlaw captain), to become deputy governor of that district under Henry Sergeant – whom he was supposed to succeed as governor of “the Bottome of the Bay” – and took over the command of Moose Fort.
On 10 June (20 June N.S.) 1686 he set sail with his officers for Charles Fort; the very next night a French force from Montreal under Pierre de Troyes and three of the Le Moyne brothers stormed Moose Fort and captured it from the remaining 17 leaderless traders. But Bridgar was not to escape so easily. In their birchbark canoes the Montrealers followed his ship to Charles Fort, boarded and captured it, and took the fort; so once more the luckless Bridgar found himself a prisoner of the French.
However, he was again released and wintered either at New Severn or at Port Nelson, returning to England in 1687. There shortly afterwards he appears to have left the Company’s service, thus ending his short but stormy career on Hudson Bay.
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To evaluate the CoreValve system, Anita Asgar, M.D., and her colleagues at Montreal Heart Institute recruited 17 elderly patients with a severely narrowed aortic valve, all of whom had been turned down for surgery because of other health problems. In severe narrowing, or stenosis, of the aortic valve, the heart has difficulty pumping blood from the left ventricle to the rest of the body. The result is a back-up of fluid into the lungs and severe shortness of breath with even minimal activity.
With the CoreValve system, aortic valve replacement is performed by threading a special delivery catheter through the femoral artery in the groin and into the aorta in a direction opposite, or retrograde, to the normal flow of blood. Once the catheter is properly positioned in the opening of the aortic valve, it is pulled back to release the CoreValve, a self-expanding stent-like frame with the new tissue valve attached to its core. As it expands, the CoreValve covers the diseased natural valve leaflets.
During the procedure, the patients were placed on a bypass pump for an average of 30?0 minutes to minimize blood flow through the aorta and ease placement of the replacement valve.
All 17 patients survived the procedure. One patient died 5 days later from stroke. Five additional patients died after discharge from the hospital from health problems unrelated to the replacement valve. Follow-up in the 11 survi
vors showed that the average aortic valve area more than doubled, on average, following the procedure. In addition, the severity of heart failure significantly improved, as gauged by both B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-BNP), a protein produced by the ventricles of the heart during heart failure, and New York Heart Association (NHYA) classification. After the procedure, patients were ranked in NYHA class II, on average, suggesting most were able to engage in a moderate level of activity before becoming short of breath.
Source:Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions
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Feast of Saint Brigid
Click here for details of the week long programme in Kildare town celebrating St Brigid and the first stirrings of Spring.
Who was Saint Brigid?
St Brigid – Mary of the Gael – is second only to St Patrick in the esteem of the Irish people. She is, of course, specially associated with Kildare and the whole area of Magh Life (The Liffey Plain).
Brigid's father was Dubtach descendant of Con of the Hundred Battles, her mother Brotseach of the house of O'Connor. Her mother was said to have been a slave of Dubtach and she was sold, shortly before Brigid was born, to a Druid who lived at Faughart, a few miles from Dundalk. The date of Brigid's birth is disputed, but may be between 451 and 458; commonly it is taken as 453. Memories of the saint still linger around her birthplace. Her father's family were natives of the Province of Leinster and Fr. Swayne, late Parish Priest of Kildare, claims that they were from Umaras, between Monasterevin and Rathangan in Co. Kildare. Another explanation of how she came to be born in Faughart was that her mother was visiting some relatives at the time. In any case she was baptised in the Christian faith, receiving the name Brid or Brigid. It is said that she was reared on the milk of a white red-eared cow, the colour of the beasts of the Tuath de Danann.
From earliest childhood the stories of her kindness and miracles associated with her are told. Brigid was also renowned for her love of animals.
The Tripartite Life of St Patrick mentions her meeting with St Patrick. We are told that while still a child she was brought to hear him preach.
When Brigid came to marriageable age she decided to enter the religious life. Accompanied, it is said, by seven other young girls she left her home and travelled to Co. Meath where St Maccaille was Bishop. At first St Maccaille hesitated to take them into the religious life as they were very young, and he rather doubted their motives. However there was a great congregation in the church when Brigid and her companions entered to pray. They were all astonished when they saw a column of fire that reached to the roof of the church resting on Brigid's head. When the Saint heard of this miracle he hesitated no longer but gave the veil to the eight young girls.
St Maccaille's church was on Croghan Hill, in Co. Westmeath and it is here that St Brigid founded the first convent in Ireland. A large number of noble ladies entered the convent as postulants and here Brigid and her companions completed their novitiate. At the end of the novitiate Brigid and her original seven companions, journeyed to Ardagh where they made their final vows to St Mel, bishop of Ardagh and nephew of St Patrick. She founded another convent in Ardagh and remained for twelve years, during which time the convent flourished. At the request of many bishops she sent sisters to various parts of Ireland to establish new foundations.
St Brigid then went on a journey around Ireland. On her way she visited St Patrick who was preaching at Taillte or Telltown in Co. Meath. Having obtained St Patrick's blessing she continued on her journey. Many stories are told of miracles and the foundation of convents in various parts of the country during that journey.
The Leinstermen were always conscious that Brigid was from their province, and they constantly asked her to return and make her home amongst them. She was offered any site in the province. She decided to make her foundation on Druim Criadh (the ridge of clay) near the Liffey, in what is now the town of Kildare. On the ridge grew a large oak tree and Brigid decided to build her oratory beneath its branches.
The new foundation prospered and developed rapidly. Soon, it is said, Drum Criadh was covered with the cells of the community. From all parts of Ireland and even from abroad girls came to join the community. Bishops and priests went to Cill Dara (the Church of the Oak), as it was now named, seeking Brigid's advice and guidance. The poor, the sorrowful, and the afflicted flocked there in search of help and consolation, which was never refused. Kings showered gifts on the convent, and the privilege of sanctuary was conferred on the foundation, so that any who had offended against the law were safe within the precincts.
There is no exact date for St Brigid's death. It is said that she died at the age of seventy, which would make the date of her death somewhere between 521 and 528.
After her death the monastery flourished. The first Life of St Brigid was written not much later than 650, and perhaps even within a hundred years of her death. The author was a monk of the foundation in Kildare named Cogitosus. The “Life” was not really a biography as we would understand it, but rather a compilation of stories of St Brigid. It gives us a fascinating glimpse of life in Kildare some 1400 years ago. He describes the great church of Kildare where the bodies of Sts Brigid and Conleth were:
“laid on the right and left of the ornate altar and rest in tombs adorned with a refined profusion of gold, silver, gems and precious stones, with gold and silver chandeliers hanging from above and different images presenting a variety of carvings and colours”
St Brigid's Day is celebrated on 1 February.
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J. David Solf
Alaska Department of Fish and Game
Wildlife Notebook Series, 1972
"How retired the otter manages to live here!
He grows to be four feet long, as big as a
small boy, perhaps without any human being
getting a glimpse of him."
H. D. Thoreau, Walden
A SINGLE SPECIES OF land otter (Lutra canadensis) ranges over most of North America north of Mexico. It is found throughout Alaska with the exception of the Aleutian Islands, the off-shore islands of the Bering Sea and the area adjacent to the Arctic coast east of Point Lay.
Land otters of other species inhabit most of the rest of the world. All are amphibious members of the family Mustelidae along with mink and sea otter. Animals in this family produce a more or less disagreeable scent that is discharged from a pair of anal glands.
General Description: The North American land otter is a thick-set mammal with short legs, a neck no smaller than its head, inconspicuous ears and a muscular body that is broadest at the hips. Its tail is powerful and a little more than a third as long as its head and body. Only the hind feet are webbed. Adults weigh 15 to 35 pounds and are 40 to 60 inches in length. On the average, females are about 25 per cent smaller than males.
When prime, their fur appears black-brown, with the belly slightly lighter in color than the back. The chin and throat are greyish. This fur consists of a very dense undercoat overlaid with longer guard hairs which are usually removed by furriers.
Land otters appear to have a well-developed sense of smell and very acute hearing. Their vision is not good and may be better underwater than above. Several sets of strong whiskers on their faces are used by the animal in hunting and avoiding obstructions.
These animals are graceful swimmers and propel themselves in the water primarily by flexing their body from the head to the tip of the tail. They can swim at about 6 miles per hour and can go faster for short distances bv "porpoising" along the surface. Land otters dive to depths of at least 60 feet and can stay submerged for more than four minutes. They can run as fast as a man and on hard snow or ice reach speeds of more than 15 miles per hour by alternately running and sliding.
About half of a land otter's time is spent sleeping. Both young and adults are fond of play. They manipulate rocks or sticks, play tag and hide-and-seek, duck each other, wrestle and slide on mud or snow.
Signs of land otter activity are seen more often than the animals themselves. They travel several miles overland between bodies of water and develop well-defined trails that are used year after year, and they may flatten and dig up the vegetation or snow over an area of several square yards. There are usually scats, twisted tufts of grass and small piles of dirt and vegetation here. Urine and scent deposited on these piles serve as identification. During the winter, they dig elaborate tunnels and feeding dens within the snow over a frozen lake or bay where fluctuations in water level leave cracks for them to come and go.
Life History: Land otters in Alaska breed in spring, usually in May. Mating can take place in or out of the water. One to six pups (usually 2-3) are born the following year between late January and June after a gestation period of nine to 13 months. Delayed implantation (a period of arrested embryonic growth) accounts for this variation in the length of gestation.
The pups are born toothless and blind in a den that is usually a subterranean burrow. Their eyes open seven weeks later. When about two months old, they begin to leave the den and shortly thereafter start to swim and eat solid food. They are taught to swim by the female who must coax or drag them into the water. Pups are weaned when about five months old but stay with their mother until shortly before her next litter is born.
Land otters are sexually mature when two years old. A female will then mate with the male of her choice and will produce one litter each year. They can live and breed for more than 20 years.
Food Habits: Land otters in Alaska hunt on land and in fresh and salt water. They eat snails, mussels, clams, sea urchins, insects, crabs, shrimp, octopi, frogs, a variety of fish and occasionally birds, mammals and vegetable matter. Aquatic organisms no bigger than a man's finger are usually eaten at the surface of the water; larger food is taken ashore.
If a fish or other animal is too big to be eaten at one meal, the remains are abandoned and become available to other flesh-eating mammals and birds. Scraps left out of the water may be a significant part of the food available to some scavengers when snow and ice are present.
Social Habits: Land otters are often found in groups. A family unit is made up of a female and her pups, with or without an aduIt male. They usually travel over an area of only a few square miles. The female appears to dominate the rest and may drive other animals away from a small area around the den where her pups are living.
Other groups may consist of an adult male and female, a litter of pups that remain together after the family separates, or a group of bachelor males. Male groups usually consist of fewer than 10 individuals. Larger numbers that are occasionally seen together may represent a temporary association of neighboring groups. The groups have no apparent leader. They travel together and operate as a social unit but do not cooperate in hunting or share what is caught. Travel is over a wide area and apparently there are no exclusive territories. Fighting among them is extremely rare although they are wary of strange individuals.
Vocalizations: Land otters produce a variety of noises. They growl, caterwaul and whine. When alarmed, individuals emit an explosive "hah!". When two or more are together they often produce a mumbling noise that seems to be a form of conversation. A good imitation of this is made by closing the lips and rapidly uttering "hm" several times in a deep voice. A bird-like chirp apparently expresses anxiety. It is most often heard when members of a group become separated.
Human Utilization: Land otters have no significant enemies except man. They are occasionally killed unintentionally when they become entangled in fish nets or trapped in crab pots. In each of the past 20 years, between one and four thousand were harvested in Alaska for their pelts. They are usually taken in steel traps but natives in Prince William Sound hunted them with the aid of dogs of a nondescript type that were small enough to enter an otter den. The dogs could usually drive out the otter without a fight.
J. D. Solf
[Map of the range of the land otter in Alaska]
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“We need to rebuild our country and for that our country needs educated men and women,” said a female student in grade 5 with tears in her eyes when I asked her why she wanted to be educated and why education was so important to her.
In Afghanistan under the Taliban government, women and girls lost their freedom of movement – they were completely
excluded from any social life. Girls were banned from attending school and their
schools were burned down to ashes. After the fall of the Taliban regime and with the intervention of the international community, girls regained their rights and were able to get an education again. The good news is that right now almost 34% of girls in Afghanistan are attending school.
Recently, I visited Afghanistan and Pakistan in order to gain a greater sense of the state of girls’ education in both countries. I witnessed the challenges to educating girls and saw how the Feminist Majority Foundation can assist to further girls’ goals of obtaining a quality education. Also, I found some partner schools for Girls Learn International.
One school in particular stands out in my mind. Sediqi Girls High in Parwan, is in a dire state and in need of immediate assistance. The Taliban burned down the school a few years ago and the Afghan government has not made rebuilding a priority. The school is still awaiting government assistance.
When I toured the school I was shocked at the conditions. How can students learn in this environment? It is not safe! Students learned in classrooms where the ceiling was falling down and there were no doors or windows. Thus, students were at the mercy of the weather.I was overcome by the determination that these students exhibited. They attend school, which is quite frankly dangerous, because they have a passion to be educated and become an active member of their society.
While here in the US we take education for granted, in Afghanistan being able to go
to school and have proper school uniforms and textbooks is a luxury. I have talked to many students ranging from grade one to twelve about what they need in order to continue with their education and they told me that they do not have textbooks. Unfortunately, most of these students come from impoverished families. Students drop out of the school because their parents cannot afford to buy them uniforms or textbooks. Textbooks are only a few dollars! Students also stressed their need for school uniforms.
I also traveled to Swat to visit Malala Yousafzai’s school, Khushal Girls High School. Malala was shot on her way home from school in October 2012. The students at this school inspired me, as they were willing to show me around their school under a bomb threat, which is quite frequent in the area. Upon arriving at the school, I was warmly welcomed by the principle. I met with some of
Malala’s friends. These girls are full of energy and are passionate about fighting for education even if they have to risk their lives just like Malala. After meeting these young girls, I feel that every girl was Malala – very brave and outspoken. I asked them if there was anything we could do to
assist them. They told me with joy in their eyes and smile in their faces, that they needed some computers and a projector.
For any society, in order to achieve social, economic and political advancement it is crucial to include women and girls. Afghanistan cannot be rebuilt and cannot sustain its peace and security if we do not empower Afghan women and girls with quality education. The U.S and the international Community need to continue its support and invest in educating women and girls in Afghanistan.
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The chronology of Genesis 29-45 is interesting for a number of reasons. Not just interesting for its own sake, it serves to open up certain dimensions of the narrative that would not be otherwise apparent. It gives us information that a surface reading of the narrative does not. For example, study of the chronology can teach us that Judah and Joseph were most probably born within a year of each other. Given the fact that Reuben (35:22), Simeon and Levi (34) all disqualify themselves through committing serious crimes, the birthright would naturally fall to Judah (presuming that the sons of Rachel’s handmaid don’t have a claim to the birthright in the same way as the sons of his wives). This gives greater significance to the way that the stories of Judah and Joseph are placed alongside each other in Genesis, particularly in chapters 38-39.
Study of the chronology can also make clear that the events of Genesis 38 took place after the descent into Egypt (which took place when Joseph, and hence Judah also, was under 40 years of age). This suggests that Israel maintained a presence in Canaan even after relocating to Egypt, much as they continued to keep their sheep in Shechem after Jacob relocated to Hebron.
The following is a question of chronology is one that I would appreciate any helpful comments on. It has to do with the problem of working out the age at which Joseph was taken into Egypt.
1. Joseph was born at the end of the first seven years of Jacob’s marriage to Leah and Rachel (Genesis 30:25).
2. As the births of Gad, Asher, Issachar and Zebulun intervene, Dinah was probably born at least 6 years after Joseph (29:35; 30:9-21).
3. Dinah has obviously reached about the age of 15 when the events of chapter 34 take place, by which stage Joseph would be 21.
4. Chapter 34 seems to be set during the period while Jacob is still settled in Shechem.
5. After his time in Shechem, Jacob moves to Bethel and then to Hebron (Genesis 35).
6. The selling of Joseph into slavery seems to be set during Jacob’s time in Hebron (37:14). This is the reason why I find it hard to follow Jordan’s chronology here.
6a. However, the beginning of chapter 37 speaks of Joseph as ‘the son of [Jacob’s] old age’, which suggests that that part of the chapter at least is referring to a time before the birth of Benjamin, It also seems to take place before the death of Rachel (37:10).
7. Joseph is 30 when he stands before Pharaoh (41:46) and thus around 28 when he interprets the dreams of the butler and the baker (41:1).
8. In 44:20 (when Joseph is 39 years of age, 30 + 7 years of plenty + 2 years of famine), Benjamin is spoken of as ‘a child of [Jacob’s] old age, a little one’.
My guess is that there is a chronological jump between 37:11 and 37:12. Joseph is sold into Egypt sometime between the age of about 21 and 25, both extremes being quite unlikely. When Joseph is sold Benjamin is no more than 1 or 2 years of age, which would make him around 14-19 years of age when Joseph sees him in Egypt. Any help on this question would be greatly appreciated.
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By Lydia DePillis
The Washington Post
In the Andean highlands of Bolivia and Peru, the broom-like, purple-flowered goosefoot plant is spreading over the barren hillsides, further and further every spring. When it's dried, threshed and processed with special machines, the plant yields a golden stream of seeds called quinoa, a protein-rich food that has been a staple of poor communities there for millennia. Now, quinoa exports have brought cash raining down on the dry land, and farmers have converted the profits into new clothes, richer diets and shiny vehicles.
But at the moment, the Andeans aren't supplying enough of the ancient grain. A few thousand miles north, at a Washington, D.C., outlet of the fast-casual Freshii chain one recent evening, a sign delivered unpleasant news: "As a result of issues beyond Freshii's control, Quinoa is not available." Strong worldwide demand, the sign explained, had led to a shortage. A Freshii spokeswoman said that prices suddenly spiked, and the company gave franchises the choice of either eating the cost or pulling the ingredient while the company renegotiated its contract.
Quinoa is a low-calorie, gluten-free, high-protein seed that tastes great. Its popularity has exploded in the last several years, particularly among affluent, health-conscious Americans. But the kinks that kept the grain out of Freshii that day are emblematic of the hurdles it will face before becoming a truly widespread global commodity and a major part of Americans' diet. It shows the crucial role of global agribusiness, big-ticket infrastructure investment, and trade in bringing us the things we eat.
In short, it's hard to keep something on the menu if you might not be able to afford it the next day. And the American agricultural economy makes it hard for a new product to reach the kind of steady prices and day-in, day-out supply that it takes to make it big.
Quinoa went extinct in the United States long before upscale lunch places started putting it in side salads. Agronomists have found evidence of its cultivation in the Mississippi Valley in the first millennium A.D., but it faded away after farmers opted for higher-yielding corn, squash and bean crops.
Enthusiasts started growing quinoa again in the 1980s, mostly in the mountains of Colorado. It's not easy, though — sometimes it takes several seasons to get any harvest, since seeds can crack, get overtaken by weeds or die off because of excessive heat or cold. In 2012, the United States accounted for a negligible amount of the 200 million pounds produced worldwide, with more than 90 percent coming from Bolivia and Peru.
Demand started to ramp up in 2007, when customs data show that the United States imported 7.3 million pounds of quinoa. Costco, Trader Joe's, and Whole Foods began carrying the seeds soon after. The United States bought 57.6 million pounds in 2012, and imports this year are projected at 69 million pounds. Prices are skyrocketing; they tripled between 2006 and 2011 and now hover between $4.50 and $8 per pound on the shelf.
A big part of the reason is increased demand from developed countries — from the kind of people who don't think twice about paying five bucks for a little box of something with such good-for-you buzz. A few blocks away from Freshii in D.C. is the Protein Bar, a four-year-old Chicago-based chain that uses between 75 and 100 pounds of quinoa per week in its stores for salads and bowls that run from $6 to $10 each (Their slogan: "We do healthy ... healthier").
Right now, the company has decided to absorb the higher prices, which still aren't as much of a cost factor as beef and chicken. It will even pay a little extra to ship the good stuff from South America, rather than the grainier variety that Canada has developed.
"As much as I don't like it — you never want to pay more for your raw materials — it's central to our menu," says CEO Matt Matros. "I'm pretty positive that as the world catches on to what a great product it is, the supply will go up and the price will come back down. It'll come down to the best product for us. If we find that the American quinoa is as fluffy, then we'll definitely make the switch."
A new climate
Andean smallholders are trying to keep up with demand. They've put more and more land into quinoa in recent years; Bolivia had 400 square miles under cultivation last year, up from 240 in 2009. The arid, cool land that quinoa needs is plentiful, since little else could grow there. And thus far, quinoa's need for those dry yet cool conditions has made the crop difficult to grow elsewhere.
But that doesn't mean the rest of the world isn't trying. A Peruvian university has developed a variety that will grow in coastal climates. There also are promising breeding programs in Argentina, Ecuador, Denmark, Chile and Pakistan.
The South American quinoa industry, and the importers who care about it, are worried about the coming worldwide explosion in production of their native crop. Despite a bubble of media coverage earlier this year about how strong demand is making it difficult for Bolivians to afford to eat what they grow, the quinoa harvest has boosted incomes from about $35 per family per month to about $220, boosting standards of living dramatically. Now, the worry is maintaining a steady income level when production takes off around the world.
Sergio Nunez de Arco, a native Bolivian who in 2004 helped found an import company called Andean Naturals in California, likes to show the small-scale farmers from whom he buys, pictures of quinoa trucks in Canada to prove that the rest of the world is gaining on them, and that they need to invest in better equipment. Meanwhile, he's trying to develop awareness about the importance of quinoa to reducing poverty, so that farmers can charge a fair-trade price when the quinoa glut comes.
"The market has this natural tendency to commoditize things. There's no longer a face, a place, it's just quinoa," de Arco says. "We're at this inflection point where we want people to know where their quinoa is coming from, and the consumer actually is willing to pay them a little more so they do put their kids through school."
He is even helping a couple of Bolivian farmers who don't speak English very well to fly to a Washington State University conference, so they'll at least be represented.
"It kind of hurts that the guys who've been doing this for 4,000 years aren't even present," de Arco says. "'You guys are awesome, but your stuff is antiquated, so move over, a new age of quinoa is coming.'"
Where's the American quinoa?
So far, though, the mystery is why the new age of quinoa is taking so long to arrive.
Americans have been aware of the crop for decades and used to produce 37 percent of the world supply, according to former Colorado state agronomist Duane Johnson. It never took off, partly because of pressure from advocates of indigenous farmers. In the 1990s, Colorado State University researchers received a patent on a quinoa variety but dropped it after Bolivian producers protested that it would destroy their livelihoods.
Switching crops is extremely costly, says Cynthia Harriman of the Whole Grains Council. "Can you get a loan from your bank, when the loan officer knows nothing about quinoa? Will he or she say, 'Stick to soybeans or corn?'" It even requires different kinds of transportation equipment. "If you grow quinoa up in the high Rockies, where are the rail cars that can haul away your crop? Or the roads suitable for large trucks?"
All that infrastructure costs money, and the only farmers with lots of money are in industrial agribusiness. But U.S. industry has shown little interest in developing the ancient grain. Kellogg uses quinoa in one granola bar, and PepsiCo's Quaker Oats owns a quinoa brand, but the biggest grain processors — Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland — say they've got no plans to start sourcing it. Monsanto, the world's largest seed producer, has nothing, either.
Their research and development dollars are focused entirely on developing newer, more pest-resistant forms of corn, soybeans, wheat, sugar, and other staples. All of those crops have their own corporate lobbying associations, government subsidy programs and academic departments devoted to maintaining production and consumption. Against that, a few researchers and independent farmers trying to increase quinoa supply don't have much of a chance.
"This is something where it would truly have to come from the demand side. No one wants to get into this and get stuck with all this excess inventory," says Marc Bellemare, an agricultural economist at Duke University.
Experts believe quinoa prices are likely to remain volatile for a long while. Rick Jellen, chair of the plant and wildlife sciences department at Brigham Young University, says the lack of research funding for quinoa, relative to the other large crop programs, means that even if a more versatile strain is developed, it won't have the resilience to survive an infestation.
"Once that production moves down to a more benign environment, you're going to get three or four years of very good production," he predicts. "And then you're going to hit a wall, you're going to have a pest come in, and it's going to wreak havoc on the crop. I think we're going to see big fluctuations in quinoa prices until someone with money has the vision and is willing to take the risk to invest to really start a long-term breeding program for the crop."
Which means that if you're looking forward to a quinoa lunch, be prepared for a disappointment.
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The federal government approves Oregon for a waiver from "No Child Left Behind." This means that the one size fits all legislation approved back in 2007, that increasingly punishes struggling schools, doesn't have to be followed.
Instead, individual states granted this waiver can come up with their own plans with federal approval to improve education in their states.
Ben Cannon, Education Advisor for Governor Kitzhaber believes this waiver will result in positive changes in the state. “These priority or focused schools will see changes in the way the instruction is delivered, time used. There will be changes in leadership of school and changes in supports that are provided for students and families.” Without the waiver, 250 schools in Oregon were slated to be labeled failing and would face punitive fines.
Meanwhile, Bend La Pine School leaders have anticipated approval of the "No Child Left Behind" waiver for awhile.
The "one size fits all" was problematic for many states including Oregon. Lora Nordquist, the Assistant Superintendent of Elementary Education in the Bend La Pine School District says NCLB was hurting many school districts. “It's not just the label failing, but school labeled that faced sanctions. And these penalties increased with AYP scores. We think sanctions hurt the schools instead of support the school district; it just punishes them with a harder hammer so to speak.” Oregon's waiver is the product of months of work of more than 120 education and community leaders in Oregon.
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Continuous Positive Airway Pressure
This diagram shows the anatomy of sleep apnea (source: nihseniorhealth.gov).
National Heart Lung and Blood Institute
Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) is the most common treatment for sleep apnea. For this treatment, you wear a mask over your nose during sleep. The mask blows air into your throat at a pressure level that is right for you. The increased airway pressure keeps the throat open while you sleep. The air pressure is adjusted so that it is just enough to stop the airways from briefly getting too small during sleep.
Treating sleep apnea may help you stop snoring. Stopping snoring does not mean that you no longer have sleep apnea or that you can stop using CPAP.
Any experience with this form of sleep apnea treatment? Share your experiences with other nurses.
Sleep apnea will return if CPAP is stopped or if it is not used correctly. Usually, a technician comes to your home to bring the CPAP equipment. The technician will set up the CPAP machine and make adjustments based on your doctor’s orders.
CPAP treatment may cause side effects in some people. Some side effects are:
- Dry or stuffy nose
- Irritation of the skin on your face
- Bloating of your stomach
- Sore eyes
If you are having trouble with CPAP side effects, work with your sleep medicine specialist and technician. Together you can do things to reduce these side effects, such as:
- Use a nasal spray to relieve a dry, stuffy, or runny nose.
- Adjust the CPAP settings.
- Adjust the size/fit of the mask.
- Add moisture to the air as it flows through the mask.
- Use a CPAP machine that can automatically adjust the amount of air pressure to the level that is required to keep the airway open.
- Use a CPAP machine that will start with a low air pressure and slowly increase the air pressure as you fall asleep.
People with severe sleep apnea symptoms generally feel much better once they begin treatment with CPAP. When using CPAP, it is very important that you follow up with your doctor. If you are having side effects, talk to your doctor.
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Saturday, September 19, 2009
The 5 Themes of Geography for Austin Texas
There are five themes of Geography. They all apply to Austin Texas. The "Five Themes of Geography" are Location, Place, Human/Environment Interaction, Movement, and Region. The relative location of Austin Texas is (obviously) in Texas, with surrounding towns of Cedar Park, Georgetown and Round Rock. Other cities near Austin that are in Texas include Houston, Dallas, and Fort Worth. The absolute location of Austin Texas is 25ºN 10ºS. The place characteristics would be: mainly warm climate, a lot of trees, grass, and woodlands. It is well known for being the "live music capital of the world", most people say "Y'all" and use southern language, clothing is somewhat normal, and buildings are big and there's a lot of them, but it's no 'New York City'. The human characteristics would have to be we depend greatly on air conditioning especially in the summer when temperatures reach over 100 degrees. Austin also has a lot of highways and also has dams. Movement traits of Austin are mainly dependent on automobiles. There is a metro system being built, and buses are common, but cars are what will be the most familiar in Austin. The region characteristics of Austin would include some landforms like hills, lakes, and rivers. The city has mainly grassland vegetation and climates are mainly warm/hot. In Austin, the most common religion would probably be Christianity, but there are all kinds of religions such as Jewish, Mormon, etc. The natural boundaries of Texas include the Rio Grande (separating us from Mexico), the Sabine, and Red Rivers. The surrounding states are New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana.
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The number of children under the age of 18 who live below the poverty line in the United States increased by 9% between 2000 and 2006. In Colorado, the number of children living in poverty grew by 73%, the highest rate increase in the nation. These are the stories of some of those children. The project provides a window into the lives of eight families. The Denver Post project contains photos of the children living in poverty, videos of the families and their struggle to survive below the poverty line, an interactive map of childhood poverty in Colorado and contacts for agencies offering help to children and families living below the poverty line.
Sherry and Eli Martinez, ages 40 and 39, are raising eight of their nine children in an adobe home and an adjacent building on their property. The adobe house was built by Eli's father more than 75 years ago. Sherry earns $21,000 a year at a hospital nine miles away, but Eli, a war veteran, is unable to hold a job. Poverty has been a way of life for generations in this part of the San Luis Valley. But Eli is too proud to accept food stamps. Instead, he spends time with the children, hunts for meat and takes seasonal jobs in nearby potato farms. All the kids pitch in to fix meals, feed the animals and gather firewood for the stoves. The family is featured in photos and video.
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Toronto — Imagine what would happen to plastic litter beside the highway if it degraded like paper and cardboard. Ecoplastics of Toronto has developed a plastic that disintegrates in the sun. When ultraviolet rays of the sun hit a coffee cup or hamburger package that has been made with the special resin, the plastic container gradually becomes brittle and breaks apart. It finally degrades into water and carbon dioxide; no toxic chemicals leach into the soil.
Oil to plastic to earth - the whole process takes from 60 days to five years, depending on how much of the Ecolyte resin is added to the original plastic mixture. The company says it adds about 5 percent to the cost of manufacturing a coffee cup or meat tray.
At the same time, plastic articles on supermarket shelves or on the kitchen ledge won't fall apart, says Anthony Redpath, president of Ecoplastics: ``The ultraviolet rays of the sun don't penetrate glass. That's why you can't get a tan through a window.''
Last year Ecoplastics sold just 30 metric tons of the material. This year it is selling more than 20 metric tons a month. The big boost, says Mr. Redpath, has come from Italy. Bologna, Florence, and Venice have banned some plastic packaging and national legislation is pending. Ecoplastics is selling 20 tons a month to its Italian distributor, Bonapace. One of the biggest end users is Dorica Plastica, an Italian manufacturer of plastic bags.
The company's other major customer is a Canadian maker of brown plastic garden mulch, Lecofilms. It stops the weeds growing in the garden and later degrades into the soil. Ecoplastics claims to be the only manufacturer of photo-degradable plastic resins in the world.
``There is an Israeli company which makes a light-sensitive plastic,'' says Redpath, ``but it is an additive. Our product is a co-polymer. In other words it is actually part of the plastic and won't leak into the product.''
The process was invented by Jim Guillet of the University of Toronto. The underlying chemistry was discovered by R. W. Norrish of Cambridge University who won the Nobel Prize for this and other work. Dr. Guillet had worked with Dr. Norrish. Later, with students at the University of Toronto, Guillet developed the science into the present invention.
The patent is still held by the University of Toronto and the university still owns some shares in the firm.
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Need to relax, calm down or manage your emotions? Sometimes it’s as simple as relaxing your breathing. Learning how to do breathing exercises is useful because many relaxation techniques include breathing exercises.
Breathing and relaxation
If you’re feeling stressed or anxious, you might notice that you’re doing shallow breathing (or chest breathing) – that is small, short breaths. If you’re breathing more deeply, you’ll notice that your abdomen rises and falls. This is more relaxing.
There are many different breathing exercises that you can use for relaxation. Here are some breathing exercises that you can do anywhere, anytime that you feel like you need to calm down.
Basic breathing exercise
This breathing exercise aims to get you breathing more deeply and feeling more relaxed:
- Sit, stand or lie down so that you’re comfortable.
- Close your eyes.
- Think – five, five, five. As you do each part of this breathing exercise, count to five in your head. Count as quickly or slowly as you need to. When you first begin this exercise, you might be counting quickly, but with practice you’ll be able to slow down your counting.
- Count to five as you slowly breathe in through your nose.
- When you feel that your lungs are full, hold the breath while counting to five. If you can hold your breath a few seconds longer, try to do so. This is often the hardest part of the breathing exercise to start with.
- Now slowly breathe out through your mouth, again counting to five.
- Repeat this exercise another two times (three times in total).
- Return to your normal breathing pattern. If you still feel tense or anxious, do the exercise again.
Breathing exercise to release muscle tension
With this breathing and relaxation technique, you start by closing your eyes.
While you breathe in and out slowly and deeply, scan your body from top to bottom. Check for any tension or discomfort. You’ll probably notice that you’re feeling tension somewhere – perhaps in your neck, chest, legs or shoulders.
Now visualise breathing slowly into the areas of your body where you’ve noticed tension or discomfort. Think of it as a warm, healing breath.
Breathing and stretching exercise
Here’s a 10-second breathing exercise that combines breathing and stretching:
- Stand up straight. As you breathe in through your nose, raise your arms up over your head and touch your palms together.
- As you release the breath through your mouth, turn the palms of your hands outwards.
- Slowly bring your arms down while stretching out your hands and fingers at the same time.
Deep breathing exercises aren’t recommended if your stress levels put you at risk of hyperventilation (as in a ‘panic attack’). Speak to your GP if you’re concerned.
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Alberto Manguel, Chapter 2 of A History of Reading(New York; Viking, 1996).
THE SILENT READERS
In AD 383, almost half a century after Constantine the Great, first emperor of the Christian world, was baptized on his death-bed, a twenty-nine-year-old professor of Latin rhetoric whom future centuries would know as Saint Augustine arrived in Rome from one of the empire's outposts in North Africa. He rented a house, set up a school and attracted a number of students who had heard about the qualities of this provincial intellectual, but it wasn't long before it became clear to him that he wasn't going to be able to earn his living as a teacher in the imperial capital. Back home in Carthage his students had been rioting hooligans, but at least they had paid for their lessons; in Rome his pupils listened quietly to his disquisitions on Aristotle and Cicero until it came time to settle the fee, and then transferred en masse to another teacher, leaving Augustine empty-handed So when, a year later, the Prefect of Rome offered him the opportunity of teaching literature and elocution in the city of Milan, and included travelling expenses in the offer, Augustine accepted gratefully.1
Perhaps because he was a stranger to the city and wanted intellectual company, or perhaps because his mother had asked him to do so, in Milan Augustine paid a visit to the city's bishop, the celebrated Ambrose, friend and adviser to Augustine's mother, Monica. Ambrose (who, like Augustine, was later to be canonized) was a man in his late forties, strict in his orthodox beliefs and unafraid of even the highest earthly powers; a few years after Augustine's arrival in Milan, Ambrose forced the emperor Theodosius I to show public repentance for ordering a massacre of the rioters who had killed the Roman governor of Salonica.7 And when the empress Justina requested that the bishop hand over a church in his city so that she could worship according to the rites of Arianism, Ambrose organized a sit-in, occupying the site night and day until she desisted.
According to a fifth-century mosaic, Ambrose was a small, cleverlooking man with big ears and a neat black beard that diminished rather than filled out his angular face. He was an extremely popular speaker; his symbol in later Christian iconography was the beehive, emblematic of eloquence.3 Augustine, who considered Ambrose fortunate to be held in such high regard by so many people, found himself unable to ask the old man the questions about matters of the faith that were troubling him because, when Ambrose was not eating a frugal meal or entertaining one of his many admirers, he was alone in his cell, reading.
Ambrose was an extraordinary reader. "When he read," said Augustine, "his eyes scanned the page and his heart sought out the meaning, but his voice was silent and his tongue was still. Anyone could approach him freely and guests were not commonly announced, so that often, when we came to visit him, we found him reading like this in silence, for he never read aloud."4
Eyes scanning the page, tongue held still: that is exactly how I would describe a reader today, sitting with a book in a cafe across from the Church of St. Ambrose in Milan, reading, perhaps, Saint Augustine's Confessions. Like Ambrose, the reader has become deaf and blind to the world, to the passing crowds, to the chalky flesh-coloured facades of the buildings. Nobody seems to notice a concentrating reader: withdrawn, intent, the reader becomes commonplace.
To Augustine, however, such reading manners seemed aufficiently strange for him to note them in his Confessions. The implication is that this method of reading, this silent perusing of the page, was in his time something out of the ordinary, and that normal reading was performed out loud. Even though instances of silent reading can be traced to earlier dates, not until the tenth century does this manner of reading become usual in theWest.s
Augustine's description of Ambrose's silent reading (including the remark that he never read aloud) is the first definite instance recorded in Western literature. Earlier examples are far more uncertain. In the fifth century BC, two plays show characters reading on stage: in Euripides' Hippolytus, Theseus reads in silence a letter held by his dead wife; in Aristophanes' The Knights, Demosthenes looks at a writing-tablet sent by an oracle and, without saying out loud what it contains, seems taken aback by what he has read.6 According to Plutarch, Alexander the Great read a letter from his mother in silence in the fourth century BC, to the bewilderment of his soldiers.7 Claudius Ptolemy, in the second century AD, remarked in On the Criterion (a book that Augustine may have known) that sometimes people read silently when they are concentrating hard, because voicing the words is a distraction to thought.8 And Julius Caesar, standing next to his opponent Cato in the Senate in 63 BC, silently read a little billet-doux sent to him by Cato's own sister.9 Almost four centuries later, Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, in a catechetical lecture probably delivered at Lent of the year 349, entreated the women in church to read, while waiting during the ceremonies, "quietly, however, so that, while their lips speak, no other ears may hear what they say"10 -a whispered reading, perhaps, in which the lips fluttered with muffled sounds.
If reading out loud was the norm from the beginnings of the written word, what was it like to read in the great ancient libraries?The Assyrian scholar consulting one of the thirty thousand tablets in the library of King Ashurbanipal in the seventh century BC, the unfurlers of scrolls at the libraries of Alexandria and Pergamum, Augustine himself looking for a certain text in the libraries of Carthage and Rome, must have worked in the midst of a rumbling din. However, even today not all libraries preserve the proverbial silence. In the seventies, in Milan's beautiful Biblioteca Ambrosiana, there was nothing like the stately silence I had noticed in the British Library in London or the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. The readers at the Ambrosiana spoke to one another from desk to desk; from time to time someone would call out a question or a name, a heavy tome would slam shut, a cartful of books would rattle by. These days, neither the British Library nor the Bibliotheque Nationale is utterly quiet; the silent reading is punctuated by the clicking and tapping of portable word- processors, as if flocks of woodpeckers lived inside the book-lined halls. Was it different then, in the days of Athens or Pergamum, trying to concentrate with dozens of readers laying out tablets or unfurling scrolls, mumbling away to themselves an infinity of different stories? Perhaps they didn't hear the din; perhaps they didn't know that it was possible to read in any other way. In any case, we have no recorded instances of readers complaining of the noise in Greek or Roman libraries-as Seneca, writing in the first century, complained of having to study in his noisy private lodgings.11
Augustine himself, in a key passage of the Confessions, describes a moment in which the two readings-voiced and silent-take place almost simultaneously. Anguished by indecision, angry at his past sins, frightened that at last the time of his reckoning has come, Augustine walks away from his friend Alypius, with whom he has been reading (out loud) in Augustine's summer garden, and flings himself down under a fig-tree to weep. Suddenly, from a nearby house, he hears the voice of a child-boy or girl, he can't say-singing a song whose refrain is tolle, lege, "take up and read".12 Believing that the voice is speaking to him, Augustine runs back to where Alypius is still sitting and picks up the book he has left unfinished, a volume of Paul's Epistles. Augustine says, "I took hold of it and opened it, and in silence I read the first section on which my eyes fell."The passage he reads in silence is from Romans 13-an exhortation to "make not provision for the flesh" but to "put ye on [i.e., 'like an armour'] the Lord Jesus Christ". Thunderstruck, he comes to the end of the sentence. The "light of trust" floods his heart and "the darkness of doubt" is dispelled.
Alypius, startled, asks Augustine what has affected him so. Augustine (who, in a gesture so familiar to us across those alien centuries, has marked the place he was reading with a finger and closed the book) shows his friend the text. "I pointed it out to him and he read [aloud, presumably] beyond the passage which I had read. I had no idea what followed, which was this: Him that is weak in the faith receive ye." This admonition, Augustine tells us, is enough to give Alypius the longed-for spiritual strength. There in that garden in Milan, one day in August of the year 386, Augustine and his friend read Paul's Epistles much as we would read the book today: the one silently, for private learning; the other out loud, to share with his companion the revelation of a text. Curiously, while Ambrose's prolonged wordless perusal of a book had seemed to Augustine unexplainable, he did not consider his own silent reading surprising, perhaps because he had merely looked at a few essential words.
Augustine, a professor of rhetoric who was well versed in poetics and the rhythms of prose, a scholar who hated Greek but loved Latin, was in the habit-common to most readers-of reading anything he found written for sheer delight in the sounds.'3 Following the teachings of Aristotle, he knew that letters, "invented so that we might be able to converse even with the absent", were "signs of sounds" and these in turn were "signs of things we think".14 The written text was a conversation, put on paper so that the absent partner would be able to pronounce the words intended for him. For Augustine the spoken word was an intricate part of the text itself-bearing in mind Martial's warning, uttered three centuries earlier:
The verse is mine; but friend, when you declaim it,
It seems like yours, so grievously you maim it.15
Written words, from the days of the first Sumerian tablets, were meant to be pronounced out loud, since the signs carried implicit, as if it were their soul, a particular sound. The classic phrase scripta manes, verba volat-which has come to mean, in our time, "what is written remains, what is spoken vanishes into air"-used to express the exact opposite; it was coined in praise of the word said out loud, which has wings and can fly, as compared to the silent word on the page, which is motionless, dead. Faced with a written text, the reader had a duty to lend voice to the silent letters, the scripta, and to allow them to become, in the delicate biblical distinction, verba, spoken words-spirit. The primordial languages of the Bible-Aramaic and Hebrew-do not differentiate between the act of reading and the act of speaking; they name both with the same word. 16
In sacred texts, where every letter and the number of letters and their order were dictated by the godhead, full comprehension required not only the eyes but also the rest of the body: swaying to the cadence of the sentences and lifting to one's lips the holy words, so that nothing of the divine could be lost in the reading. My grandmother read the Old Testament in this manner, mouthing the words and moving her body back and forth to the rhythm of her prayer. I can see her in her dim apartment in the Barrio del Once, the Jewish neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, intoning the ancient words from her bible, the only book in her house, whose black covers had come to resemble the texture of her own pale skin grown soft with age. Among Muslims too the entire body partakes of the holy reading. In Islam, the question of whether a sacred text is to be heard or read is of essential importance. The ninthcentury scholar Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Hanbal phrased it in this manner: since the original Koran-the Mother of the Book, the Word of God as revealed by Allah to Muhammad-is uncreated and eternal, did it become present only in its utterance in prayer, or did it multiply its being on the perused page for the eye to read, copied out in different hands throughout the human ages? We do not know whether he received an answer, because in 833 his question earned him the condemnation of the mihnah, or Islamic inquisition, instituted by the Abassid caliphs.17 Three centuries later, the legal scholar and theologian Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali established a series of rules for studying the Koran in which reading and hearing the text read became part of the same holy act. Rule number five established that the reader must follow the text slowly and distinctly in order to reflect on what he was reading. Rule number six was "for weeping.... If you do not weep naturally, then force yourself to weep", since grief should be implicit in the apprehension of the sacred words. Rule number nine demanded that the Koran be read "loud enough for the reader to hear it himself, because reading means distinguishing between sounds", thereby driving away distractions from the outside world.18
The American psychologist Julian Jaynes, in a controversial study on the origin of consciousness, argued that the bicameral mind-in which one of the hemispheres becomes specialized in silent reading- is a late development in humankind's evolution, and that the process by which this function develops is still changing. He suggested that the earliest instances of reading might have been an aural rather than a visual perception. "Reading in the third millennium BC may therefore have been a matter of hearing the cuneiform, that is, hallucinating the speech from looking at its picture-symbols, rather than visual reading of syllables in our sense."19
This "aural hallucination" may have been true also in the days of Augustine, when the words on the page did not just "become" sounds as soon as the eye perceived them; they were sounds. The child who sang the revelatory song in the garden next door to Augustine's, just like Augustine before him, had no doubt learned that ideas, descriptions, true and fabricated stories, anything the mind could process, possessed a physical reality in sounds, and it was only logical that these sounds, represented on the tablet or scroll or manuscript page, be uttered by the tongue when recognized by the eye. Reading was a form of thinking and of speaking. Cicero, offering consolation to the deaf in one of his moral essays, wrote, "If they happen to enjoy recitations, they should first remember that before poems were invented, many wise men lived happily; and second, that much greater pleasure can be had in reading these poems than in hearing them."20 But this is only a booby-prize tendered by a philosopher who can himself delight in the sound of the written word. For Augustine, as for Cicero, reading was an oral skill: oratory in the case of Cicero, preaching in the case of Augustine.
Until well into the Middle Ages, writers assumed that their readers would hear rather than simply see the text, much as they themselves spoke their words out loud as they composed them. Since comparatively few people could read, public readings were common, and medieval texts repeatedly call upon the audience to "lend ears" to a tale. It may be that an ancestral echo of those reading practices persists in some of our idioms, as when we say, "I've heard from So-and-so" (meaning "I've received a letter"), or "So-and-so says" (meaning "So-and-so wrote"), or "This text doesn't sound right" (meaning "It isn't well written").
Because books were mainly read out loud, the letters that composed them did not need to be separated into phonetic unities, but were strung together in continuous sentences. The direction in which the eyes were supposed to follow these reels of letters varied from place to place and from age to age; the way we read a text today in the Western world-from left to right and from top to bottom-is by no means universal. Some scripts were read from right to left (Hebrew and Arabic), others in columns, from top to bottom (Chinese and Japanese); a few were read in pairs of vertical columns (Mayan); some had alternate lines read in opposite directions, back and forth-a method called boustrophedon, "as an ox turns to plough", in ancient Greek.Yet others meandered across the page like a game of Snakes and Ladders, the direction being signalled by lines or dots (Aztec).21
The ancient writing on scrolls-which neither separated words nor made a distinction between lower-case and upper-case letters, nor used punctuation-served the purposes of someone accustomed to reading aloud, someone who would allow the ear to disentangle what to the eye seemed a continuous string of signs. So important was this continuity that the Athenians supposedly raised a statue to a certain Phillatius, who had invented a glue for fastening together leaves of parchment or papyrus.22 Yet even the continuous scroll, while making the reader's task easier, would not have helped a great deal in disentangling the clusters of sense. Punctuation, traditionally ascribed to Aristophanes of Byzantium (circa 200 BC) and developed by other scholars of the Library of Alexandria, was at best erratic. Augustine, like Cicero before him, would have had to practice a text before reading it out loud, since sight-reading was in his day an unusual skill and often led to errors of interpretation. The fourth- century grammarian Servius criticized his colleague Donat for reading, in Virgil's Aeneid, the words collectam ex llio pubem ("a people gathered from troy") instead of collectam exilio pubem ("a people gathered for exile").23 Such mistakes were common when reading a continuous text.
Paul's Epistles as read by Augustine were not a scroll but a codex, a bound papyrus manuscript in continuous writing, in the new uncial or semi-uncial hand which had appeared in Roman documents in the last years of the third century. The codex was a pagan invention; according to Suetonius,24 Julius Caesar was the first to fold a roll into pages, for dispatches to his troops. The early Christians adopted the codex because they found it highly practical for carrying around, hidden away in their clothes, texts that were forbidden by the Roman authorities. The pages could be numbered, which allowed the reader easier access to the sections, and separate texts, such as Paul's Epistles, could easily be bound in one convenient package.25
The separation of letters into words and sentences developed very gradually. Most early scripts - Egyptian hieroglyphs, Sumerian cuneiform, Sanskrit-had no use for such divisions. The ancient scribes were so familiar with the conventions of their craft that they apparently needed hardly any visual aids, and the early Christian monks often knew by heart the texts they were transcribing.26 In order to help those whose reading skills were poor, the monks in the scriptorium made use of a writing method known as per cola et commata, in which the text was divided into lines of sense-a primitive form of punctuation that helped the unsteady reader lower or raise the voice at the end of a block of thought. (This format also helped a scholar seeking a certain passage to find it with greater ease.)27 It was Saint Jerome who, at the end of the fourth century, having discovered this method in copies of Demosthenes and Cicero, first described it in his introduction to his translation of the Book of Ezekiel, explaining that "what is written per cola et commata conveys more obvious sense to the readers".28
Punctuation remained unreliable, but these early devices no doubt assisted the progress of silent reading. By the end of the sixth century, Saint Isaac of Syria was able to describe the benefits of the method: "I practice silence, that the verses of my readings and prayers should fill me with delight. And when the pleasure of understanding them silences my tongue, then, as in a dream, I enter a state when my senses and thoughts are concentrated. Then, when with prolonging of this silence the turmoil of memories is stilled in my heart, ceaseless waves of joy are sent me by inner thoughts, beyond expectation suddenly arising to delight my heart."29 And in the mid-seventh century, the theologian Isidore of Seville was aufficiently familiar with silent reading to be able to praise it as a method for "reading without effort, reflecting on that which has been read, rendering their escape from memory less easy".30 Like Augustine before him, Isidore believed that reading made possible a conversation across time and space, but with one important distinction. "Letters have the power to convey to us silently the sayings of those who are absent,"31 he wrote in his Etymologies. Isidore's letters did not require sounds.
The avatars of punctuation continued. After the seventh century, a combination of points and dashes indicated a full stop, a raised or high point was equivalent to our comma, and a semicolon was used as we use it today.32 By the ninth century, silent reading was probably common enough in the scriptorium for scribes to start separating each word from its encroaching neighbours to simplify the perusal of a text -but perhaps also for aesthetic reasons. At about the same time, the Irish scribes, celebrated throughout the Christian world for their skill, began isolating not only parts of speech but also the grammatical constituents within a sentence, and introduced many of the punctuation marks we use today.33 By the tenth century, to further ease the silent reader's task, the first lines of the principal sections of a text (the books of the Bible, for example) were ordinarily written in red ink, as well as the rubrics (from the Latin for "red"), explanations independent of the text proper. The ancient practice of beginning a new paragraph with a dividing stroke (paragraphos in Greek) or wedge (diple) continued; later the first letter of the new paragraph was written in a slightly larger or upper- case character.
The first regulations requiring scribes to be silent in the monastic scriptoriums date from the ninth century.34 Until then, they had worked either by dictation or by reading to themselves out loud the text they were copying. Sometimes the author himself or a "publisher" dictated the book. An anonymous scribe, concluding his copying sometime in the eighth century, writes this: "No one can know what efforts are demanded. Three fingers write, two eyes see. One tongue speaks, the entire body labours."35 One tongue speaks as the copyist works, enunciating the words he is transcribing.
Once silent reading became the norm in the scriptorium, communication among the scribes was done by signs: if a scribe required a new book to copy, he would pretend to turn over imaginary pages; if he specifically needed a psalter, he'd place his hands on his head in the shape of a crown (in reference to King David); a lectionary was indicated by wiping away imaginary wax from candles; a missal, by the sign of the cross; a pagan work, by scratching his body like a dog.36
Reading out loud with someone else in the room implied shared reading, deliberate or not. Ambrose's reading had been a solitary act. "Perhaps he was afraid," Augustine mused, "that if he read out loud, a difficult passage by the author he was reading would raise a question in the mind of an attentive listener, and he would then have to explain what it meant or even argue about some of the more abstruse points."37 But with silent reading the reader was at last able to establish an unrestricted relationship with the book and the words. The words no longer needed to occupy the time required to pronounce them. They could exist in interior space, rushing on or barely begun, fully deciphered or only half-said, while the reader's thoughts inspected them at leisure, drawing new notions from them, allowing comparisons from memory or from other books left open for simultaneous perusal. The reader had time to consider and reconsider the precious words whose sounds- he now knew-could echo just as well within as without. And the text itself, protected from outsiders by its covers, became the reader's own possession, the reader's intimate knowledge, whether in the busy scriptorium, the market-place or the home.
Some dogmatists became wary of the new trend; in their minds, silent reading allowed for day-dreaming, for the danger of accidie- the sin of idleness, "the destruction that wasteth at noonday".35 But silent reading brought with it another danger the Christian fathers had not foreseen. A book that can be read privately, reflected upon as the eye unravels the sense of the words, is no longer subject to immediate clarification or guidance, condemnation or censorship by a listener. Silent reading allows unwitnessed communication between the book and the reader, and the singular a refreshing of the mind", in Augustine's happy phrase.39
Until silent reading became the norm in the Christian world, heresies had been restricted to individuals or small numbers of dissenting congregations. The early Christians were preoccupied both with condemning the unbelievers (the pagans, the Jews, the Manicheans and, after the seventh century, the Muslims) and with establishing a common dogma. Arguments digressing from orthodox belief were either vehemently rejected or cautiously incorporated by Church authorities, but because these heresies had no large followings, they were treated with considerable leniency. The catalogue of these heretical voices includes several remarkable imaginations: in the second century the Montanists claimed (already) to be returning to the practices and beliefs of the primitive Church, and to have witnessed the second coming of Christ in the form of a woman; in the second half of that century the Monarchianists concluded from the definition of the Trinity that it was God the Father who had suffered on the Cross; the Pelagians, contemporaries of Saint Augustine and Saint Ambrose, rejected the notion of original sin; the Apollinarians declared, in the last years of the fourth century, that the Word, and not a human soul, was united with Christ's flesh in the Incarnation; in the fourth century the Arians objected to the word homoousios (of same substance) to describe the stuff of which the Son was made and (to quote a contemporary jeu de moss) "convulsed the Church by a diphthong"; in the fifth century the Nestorians opposed the ancient Apollinarians and insisted that Christ was also a man; the Eutychians, contemporaries of the Nestorians, denied that Christ had suffered as all humans suffer.40
Even though the Church instituted the death penalty for heresy as early as 382, the first case of burning a heretic at the stake did not occur until 1022, in Orleans. On that occasion the Church condemned a group of canons and lay nobles who, believing that true instruction could only come directly from the light of the Holy Spirit, rejected the Scriptures as "the fabrications which men have written on the skins of animals".4l Such independent readers were obviously dangerous. The interpretation of heresy as a civil offence punishable by death was not given legal basis until 1231, when the emperor Frederick I decreed it as such in the Constitutions of Melfi, but by the twelfth century the Church was already enthusiastically condemning large and aggressive heretical movements that argued not for ascetic withdrawal from the world which the earlier dissenters had proposed) but for a challenge to corrupt authority and the abusive clergy, and for an individual reckoning with the Divinity. The movements spread through tortuous byways, and crystallized in the sixteenth century.
On October 31, 1517, a monk who, through his private study of the Scriptures, had come to believe that the divine grace of God superseded the merits of acquired faith, nailed to the door of All Saints Church in Wittenberg ninety-five theses against the practice of indulgences -the selling of remission from temporal punishment for condemned sins-and other ecclesiastical abuses. With this act Martin Luther became an outlaw in the eyes of the empire and an apostate in those of the Pope. In 1529 the Holy Roman emperor Charles V rescinded the rights granted to Luther's followers, and fourteen free cities of Germany, together with six Lutheran princes, caused a protest to be read against the imperial decision. "In matters which concern God's honour and salvation and the eternal life of our souls, everyone must stand and give account before God for himself," argued the protesters or, as they were later to be known, Protestants.Ten years earlier, the Roman theologian Silvester Prierias had stated that the book upon which the Church was founded needed to remain a mystery, interpreted only through the authority and power of the pope.42 The heretics, on the other hand, maintained that people had the right to read the word of God for themselves, without witness or intermediary.43
Centuries later, beyond a sea that for Augustine would have been at the limits of the earth, Ralph Waldo Emerson, who owed his faith to those ancient protesters, took advantage of the art that had so surprised the saint. In church, during the lengthy and often tedious sermons which he attended out of a sense of social responsibility, he silently read Pascal's Pensees. And at night, in his cold room in Concord, "covered with blankets to the chin", he read to himself the Dialogues of Plato. ("He associated Plato," noted a historian, "ever after, with the smell of wool.")44 Even though he thought there were too many books to be read, and thought readers should share their findings by reporting to one another the gist of their studies, Emerson believed that reading a book was a private and solitary business. "All these books," he wrote, drawing up a list of "sacred" texts that included the Upanishads and the Pensees, "are the majestic expressions of the universal conscience, and are more to our daily purpose than this year's almanac or this day's newspaper. But they are for the closet, and are to be read on the bended knee. Their communications are not to be given or taken with the lips and the end of the tongue, but out of the glow of the cheek, and with the throbbing heart."45 In silence.
Observing the reading of Saint Ambrose that afternoon in 384, Augustine could hardly have known what was before him. He thought he was seeing a reader trying to avoid intrusive visitors, sparing his voice for teaching. In fact he was seeing a multitude, a host of silent readers who over the next many centuries would include Luther, would include Calvin, would include Emerson, would include us, reading him today.
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LITTLE ROCK — The sound of raindrops on tree leaves and the little greenish-brown pellets on the sidewalk are related to a common summertime phenomenon — leaf-hungry caterpillars.
“Leaf-devouring insects such as variable oak leaf caterpillars are just part of the onslaught faced each summer by Arkansas’ trees,” said Tamara Walkingstick, associate director of the Arkansas Forest Resources Center, part of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. “The good news is that birds and other predators will take care of them and if the trees are healthy, they’ll put on new foliage.”
“As for the pellets, they’re fecal pellets, the byproduct of all that leaf-eating,” she said. “Those pellets falling on leaves are what cause that raindrop sound in the woods.
“The pellets can also stain concrete, so if you have lots of them on your sidewalk or patio or other surface, sweep them off before the rain comes or you water your grass, or you’ll have smeared, hard-to-remove stains,” she said.
“If you go for a walk in the woods, wear a hat,” Walkingstick said with a laugh.
While Arkansas’ wet spring helped return moisture to the soil, effects of previous years’ drought and this summer’s heat and dry weather are also prompting changes in trees.
“We need to remember is that the impact of drought is cumulative and can take several years to manifest,” she said. “Trees don’t really fully recover from prolonged drought.”
Trees hurt by last year’s drought might have smaller and fewer leaves than usual.
“This could start a downward spiral if they can’t produce enough food to sustain themselves,” Walkingstick said. “I have a maple whose foliage is somewhat sparse this year. It and other trees are already losing some leaves and the leaves that are there are often deformed and smaller than normal. Some are changing color.”
The shedding tactic to preserve water also affects “some fruit- and nut-bearing trees that lose those fruit and nuts,” she said. “Drying conditions signal the tree to drop the fruit in order to sustain itself. That’s fairly normal.”
Hypoxylon canker, caused by a fungus, is also seen in larger areas on trees.
“This is an impact of the past years’ drought,” Walkingstick said. “The canker is caused by a fungus that’s always present in the soil. Stressed trees become susceptible and eventually die.”
There’s no cure for hypoxylon canker, but prevention, by maintaining tree health, is the best medicine, she said.
Other signs you might see on trees this summer:
• “Windowpaned” leaves — These are leaves where the green parts have been eaten out, leaving a translucent white skin and veins. This is a sign oak skeletonizer larvae have been chewing on leaves. Large outbreaks or successive defoliations can lead to death in part of the tree crown.
• Bark stains — What looks like a black oil stain on an oak’s bark can be a sign of red oak borers. Borers can degrade the wood and if there is a large enough infestation, can eventually kill a tree.
For more information about forestry, contact your county extension office, or visit the Arkansas Forest Resources Center www.afrc.uamont.edu/.
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Nepal Dependency and Sex Ratios
Sources: The Library of Congress Country Studies; CIA World Factbook
Figure 6. Nepal: Population Distribution by Age and Sex, 1988
Source: Based on information from Nepal, National Planning Commission Secretariat, Central Bureau of Statistics, Statistical Pocket Book: Nepal, 1988, Kathmandu, 1988, 26.
The dependency ratio is defined as the ratio of the population in the birth to fourteen age-group, and those sixty years and older to the population in the productive age-group, that is, fifteen to fifty-nine years of age. In 1981 this ratio stood at eighty to nine. The temporal increase in the number of those in the young population group has depressed the median age of the population from 21.1 years in the mid-1950s to 19.9 years in 1981. The sex ratio in 1981, defined as the number of males to 100 females, was 105 males to every 100 females (see fig. 6).
Data as of September 1991
NOTE: The information regarding Nepal on this page is re-published from The Library of Congress Country Studies and the CIA World Factbook. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Nepal Dependency and Sex Ratios information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Nepal Dependency and Sex Ratios should be addressed to the Library of Congress and the CIA.
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A study led by nutritional scientist Richard Bruno has found that green tea can help mitigate the impact of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.
Bruno, an assistant professor of nutritional sciences in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, and his research team have found that the daily ingestion of green tea blocks the amount of fat stored in the livers of obese mice that otherwise develop severe fatty liver disease; improves liver function; and reverses declines in antioxidant defenses in the liver.
| Nutritional scientist Richard Bruno works with green tea in his lab in the Jones Building. Photo by Frank Dahlmeyer
The researchers found these beneficial effects when genetically obese mice were fed green tea extract for six weeks at doses equivalent to about three to seven cups of liquid green tea per day for humans.
Bruno says that although green tea had previously been found to have benefits for those with heart disease, and lowers cholesterol and triglycerides – risk factors in both heart and fatty liver disease, prior to his study “no one knew whether green tea could protect the liver against fatty liver disease.”
He describes nonalcoholic fatty liver disease as “a silent but potentially deadly disease.”
Two-thirds of Americans are currently overweight or obese, and the incidence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease – which is very common in people who are obese or diabetic – has risen in parallel with the rates of obesity. “About 40 million people in the U.S. are estimated to have fatty liver disease,” he says, “and unless the obesity epidemic that’s underway is corrected, or we develop new dietary strategies, we should expect the incidence of this disease to increase dramatically.”
Obesity often causes insulin resistance, which results in the alteration of the body’s fat metabolism and leads to excess storage of fat in the liver. The fat-engorged liver increases in size – possibly up to two or three times its normal size – resulting in liver injury or abnormally high liver function tests. Eventually this may lead to liver failure or death.
“Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is quite serious,” says Bruno, “yet there are currently no pharmacological therapies for it, only recommendations to lose weight and exercise more.”
Bruno and his team are looking at green tea and other dietary antioxidants that may mitigate the processes underlying the disease.
Their research, which has been underway for nearly four years, is currently funded by a two-year, $458,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The initial study, which was featured on the cover of the Journal of Nutrition in February 2008, showed clearly that green tea reduces fat accumulation in the liver and protects against liver injury, says Bruno. The USDA award is to support research into the mechanisms by which green tea protects against fatty liver disease, and how a reduction in liver fat content improves liver function.
TOP: A microscopic image of a liver from a lean mouse fed no green tea extract, illustrating a normal, healthy liver with no evidence of hepatic steatosis (fat accumulation in the liver). MIDDLE: image from an obese mouse fed no green tea extract, illustrating the severity of hepatic steatosis that naturally occurs in obese mice due to a genetic defect. BOTTOM: image from an obese mouse fed green tea extract, illustrating the typical improvement in the degree of fat accumulation in the liver. Photos supplied by Richard Bruno
Possible avenues the team is exploring are whether green tea interferes with fat absorption, whether it enhances the rate at which fat is used for energy by the liver, and whether it blocks fat synthesis in the liver.
“There are data to support all three,” says Bruno. “Possibly it affects all of these systems simultaneously.”
He says that although the beneficial impact of green tea is clear from the mouse model, it may not be possible to carry out a human trial, because that would require taking multiple liver biopsies from healthy people as well as those with liver disease, raising ethical issues.
Bruno says green tea is different from other types of tea, even though they come from the same plant. When it is harvested, the leaves are immediately steamed and withered, and this preserves certain compounds known as catechins that are thought to exert beneficial effects on human health.
In the processing of oolong and black tea, however, these compounds are largely destroyed.
Future research questions
In future research, he hopes to discover whether the catechins are indeed the part of green tea that is effective, and to analyze each of the four major catechins it contains.
For now, he is focusing on a whole food approach. “My philosophy is that food is a complex matrix,” he says, “and if one compound has an effect, it likely has synergistic effects in the presence of other bioactive food components.”
Bruno, a registered dietitian, says he would recommend green tea as part of a weight loss program, but its effects are limited. “Green tea could be a critical component of a lifestyle change, but it is not a magic bullet,” he says.
“The number one recommendation for losing weight is to exercise, and work with a dietitian to develop a structured program to modify your lifestyle.”
He says he does not recommend taking green tea supplements, since these probably contain only one of the catechins found in green tea.
UConn collaborators include co-investigators Sun Koo, professor and head of nutritional sciences; Joan Smyth, an associate professor of pathobiology; post doctoral fellow Hea Jin Park; doctoral student Min-Yu Chung; and master’s student Dana Dinatale. Ji-Young Lee, a molecular biologist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, is also a co-investigator.
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Electric Shock Topic Guide
Electric Shock: Electric shock may result in no injury, or severe injury, even death. Causes of electric shock to infants and children include chewing on electrical cords or playing with electrical outlets. Electric shock injuries to adults are generally work-related. Symptoms of electric shock include burns, shortness of breath, chest pain, and abdominal pain. Treatment of electric shock depends on the severity of the injury.
Automated External Defibrillators (AED) Automated external defibrillators (AEDs) are used when a person has had a heart attack or sudden cardiac arrest. It is a machine that instructs the user through the steps to defibrillate the victim. As more and more AEDs are placed in public places, more lives are saved from sudden cardiac arrest.
Expert Views and News
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Propping Up Early Photography
By Wes Cowan
It has been said that “a picture is worth a thousand words,” and in some cases, a picture can be worth a thousand dollars, or more, especially to those interested in collecting early photographs. Since 1839 when the daguerreotype, the first practical form of photography, was invented, both famous historical figures and everyday people wanted to have their pictures taken. While the early portraits of notable individuals such as Abraham Lincoln can sell for several thousands of dollars in today’s market, the early images of often unidentified individuals do not draw as much interest or money at auction, unless of course, the sitter is posing with a prop such as a firearm, a sign, a tool or an animal. In many cases, props not only add historical value to early photographic portraits but also increased monetary value.
Some of the most popular portraits accompanied by props are those of people posing with a weapon such as a shotgun, revolver or knife. Whether it is a Civil War soldier or a cowboy, collectors cannot help but get excited when they come across an early image of someone armed with their weapon of choice. A particular weapon can often help identify what type of sitter the person is, such as a soldier or hunter, and can help date the portrait. In December, Cowan’s featured an early half plate daguerreotype of an enlisted member of the Regiment of Mounted Riflemen armed with an Ames knife made specifically for the regiment, a revolver and a Model 1841 Mississippi rifle. These weapons enhanced the rarity and value of the image.
Political statements were often made by using props in early photographs. This past year, Cowan’s handled a scarce ambrotype of an Abraham Lincoln supporter, identified as a “Wide Awake Marcher.” The sitter wears a black glazed hat and cape and carries a swing-torch, all common aspects of the Wide Awake uniform. A flag hanging from the torch promotes Lincoln for president. Without using props such as the torch and flag, this young, unidentified sitter would have been overlooked, but because he proudly displayed the items, he established his place in history and drew a great deal of interest from historians and collectors alike.
Early occupational portraits of craftsmen, doctors, musicians and firemen exhibiting the tools of their trade are desirable. The sitters who chose to use items like animals, books and toys as props to reveal something about their personal interests also draw interest amongst collectors. In December, Cowan’s featured an ambrotype of a peculiar gentleman holding a live opossum in his lap. A beginning collector can purchase these early photographs of tradesmen for as little as $50 and as much as $1,000, or more. Therefore, if you come across an early image of an individual holding an opossum or a Colt revolver, you should consider investing in the photograph. You might discover that the props included in the portrait literally “prop” up the monetary value and historical significance of the image.
About the author: Wes Cowan is founder and owner of Cowan’s Auctions, Inc. in Cincinnati, Ohio. An internationally-recognized expert in historic Americana, Wes stars in the PBS television series History Detectives and is a featured appraiser on Antiques Roadshow. He can be reached via email at email@example.com. Research by Katie Landrigan.
Half plate daguerreotype of an enlisted member of the Regiment of Mounted Riflemen, sold for $6,463 in Cowan’s Dec. 2, 2009 American History Auction.
Sixth plate ambrotype of an Abraham Lincoln Wide Awake Marcher, sold for $10,575 in Cowan’s June 24, 2009 American History Auction.
Sixth plate daguerreotype of a young dentist, sold for $294 in Cowan’s Dec. 2, 2009 auction.
Sixth plate ambrotype, “Gentleman Holding Opossum in his Lap,” sold for $382 in Cowan’s Dec. 2 auction.
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A Pew Research Center study looking into the break-up of income levels across the world released last week offers a wake-up call for those familiar with headlines in the English press touting the promises of India's massive middle-class. The study, which looked at changes in income levels across the world's population, points out that the first decade of the 2000s saw a dramatic, historic reduction in global poverty. Yet, despite this, the actual number of people who could be considered middle-income remained under 15%.
The study divided the population in each country into five groups based on a family's daily per-capita consumption or income. The thresholds are based on various things, with $2 being the daily per capita income level under which people are globally considered poor, and $2-$10 fitting people in under the low-income category. As per this measure, the middle-class falls into those who earn between $10 and $20 a day. (As a reminder of how low this still is, the study reminds us that the poverty line in the United States, comes in at around $16 – on the upper end of what this report considers middle income).
A look at India's break-up, based on these parameters, would leave you asking where that celebrated middle-class actually is.
Up to 95% of India still qualifies as poor or low-income, the vast majority of India's 1.2 billion citizens. For the globe, the equivalent proportion is 71%. As far as middle-income Indians go, only 2% of the country actually falls into this zone, compared to 13% of the globe, which is itself a disappointing number.
"Although the poverty rate in India fell from 35% in 2001 to 20% in 2011, the share of the Indian population that could be considered middle income increased from 1% to just 3%," the report said. "Instead of a burgeoning middle class, India’s ranks of low-income earners swelled. Many of these were people hovering closer to $2 than $10 in daily income, and thus still a way from the transition to middle-income status."
As the graph shows, most of the Indians who left the poor category travelled into the low-income zone, but the mobility into higher classes proved to be much smaller. Indians are clearly some way away from achieving higher standards for the vast majority of the population, and have been completely eclipsed by its northern neighbour China, which saw its middle-income proportion go up from 3% in 2001 to 18% in 2011.
What makes it slightly more ironic is the share of Indians who call themselves middle class. Middle income and middle class aren't the same thing, of course, but one would expect a fair amount of overlap between the two categories. Yet research done by Devesh Kapur and Milan Vaishnav based on a multi-year panel survey by the Centre for Advanced Study of India suggests that about half the Indians in practically any bracket – urban, rural, lowest-income, highest-income – all self-identify as middle class.
The Pew Research Study points out the essential problem with having such a broad definition for middle-class. Although we keep hearing about India's massive middle class, probably because so many Indians think they fall into the category, the reality is that only a tiny amount of Indians qualify to be in a very conservative middle-income category, and the gap in living standards between economically advanced nations and developing ones is not narrowing.
"The first decade of this century witnessed an historic reduction in global poverty and a near doubling of the number of people who could be considered middle income. But the emergence of a truly global middle class is still more promise than reality," the report said.
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Researchers at Johns Hopkins have used a precision sensor in a chicken embryo to find dramatic differences in the use of copper between developing and fully mature neurons.
In a report published online today in Nature Communications, the investigators say their findings reveal how brain cells quickly adjust copper allocation from a predominant use in energy production and defense against free radicals to a use in activating enzymes that make neurons neurons.
“Biochemical studies had shown that many proteins involved in neural differentiation require copper, and we also knew there is a big spike in the brain’s copper levels at a certain stage of development,” says Svetlana Lutsenko, Ph.D., professor of physiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “With these new results, we now know a lot more about how developing neurons use copper for their various needs.”
Yuta Hatori, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow on Lutsenko’s team, used a protein sensor that changes its fluorescence to signal the so-called redox state of cells, which refers to the ability of molecules to exchange electrons, driving many processes. Cells control their internal redox states by precisely tuning the ratio of two small molecules: glutathione and glutathione disulfide. Working with colleagues in the school of medicine’s Department of Neuroscience and led by Shanthini Sockanathan, D.Phil., a professor in the department, the team infected chicken embryos at different stages of development with a gene encoding a tiny sensor and found that the redox state of neurons that control movement changes as they mature.
Delving deeper, Lutsenko says, they found that one effect of the changed redox state was to expose the copper-binding site on a protein called Atox1, which shuttles the metal around the cell. Differentiating cells also turned out to make more Atox1 and a related protein, ATP7A, another copper transporter that works together with Atox1 to direct copper into a “secretory pathway.” The net effect was increase copper supply to the copper-requiring enzyme responsible for signaling between neurons.
The importance of getting copper to the right place in the cell at the right time may shed light on processes beyond development, Lutsenko says. For example, aging is known to wear on cells’ precision control of their redox states. “Our study suggests that small redox changes may have big effects on proteins in the secretory pathway, which are very important for brain function,” she says.
Armed with a better understanding of how normal neurons use copper, Lutsenko’s team plans to look next at what happens when that process goes wrong, using cells from patients with a copper-processing disorder known as Wilson disease.
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In a time of record high fertilizer and commodity prices, should you apply sulfur (S) fertilizer? Well, an economist would say, "It depends." As an agronomist, I would have to agree with them. Some critical factors for applying S fertilizer are S soil test level, soil type, yield goal for the crop, amount of nitrogen fertilizer being applied and the amount of S obtained from rain, irrigation and other sources.
Sulfur recommendations in Oklahoma are based on supplying a ratio of 20:1 nitrogen (N) to sulfur. A soil test will determine the amount of S available in the soil. Assuming the soil samples received at the Noble Foundation represent the soils in our service area, we can make some general observations from the results. Of the 1,436 soil samples tested for S, the median test result for S is 16 pounds per acre. This means, keeping the 20:1 ratio, that 50 percent of the time there is enough S to match 320 pounds per acre of actual N. But let's look further. If you apply 100 pounds per acre actual N, you need five pounds per acre S. Only 0.2 percent of the soils we tested had less than that amount of sulfur. Furthermore, we can expect about five pounds per acre per year of S from incidental additions such as rainfall. Table 1 illustrates the percent of our soil sample results that would require additional S at a given N rate.
So, when are producers in the Noble Foundation service area likely to need S fertilizer? Quite frankly, it is rare. One possible scenario is on very sandy soil with very low organic matter. Another scenario is when applying over 200 pounds per acre of actual N or growing very high yielding legumes.
What if you don't have a soil test? A forage test can be used. Sulfur dry matter tissue concentration of 0.2 percent or higher is acceptable. Of the 2,890 forage samples we have received at the Noble Foundation and tested for S, 39 percent have a dry matter tissue concentration of less than 0.2 percent which means 61 percent of these forages would not be expected to respond to additional S.
So again, the answer to whether or not to apply S fertilizer is "it depends." If you are on sandy soil, have low organic matter, have high yield goals or are applying high rates of fertilizer N, you may need additional S. Take the time to get a soil or forage test including S, and then visit with a soil and crops consultant.
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Each day of the week is ruled by a particular planet, and each of the 24 hours of a day is ruled by or comes under the influence of one of the seven planets.
There are 10 planets in number , of which Pluto, Uranus and Neptune have not been given official rulership over any sign of the Zodiac - it is only recently that Uranus is given to rule the night sign of Aquarius, who has always been under the ruler ship of Saturn and number 8; and Neptune to rule the night sign of Pisces, who has always been ruled by Jupiter Number 3. Yet, their influence and effects on earth and its inhabitants are accepted as being very potent.
So, we have 7 planets who are given rulership over the Zodiac and who aspect particular hours every day. The order in which they are lined is: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury and Moon. The rule is that the first hour of the day is presided over by the planet under whose rulership that day comes. Since the day has been divided into 24 hours, the 25th hour naturally becomes the first hour of the next day, i.e; 1 a.m. of any day is its first hour.
On a Monday the first hour , after the 24 hours of Sunday are over, will become the first hour of the day, and will be aspected by the Moon, as Monday is Moon's Day, the second hour, 2 am, will be presided over by Saturn, the third by Jupiter, the fourth by Mars, the fifth by Sun, the sixth by Venus and seventh by Mercury.
The eighth hour will again come under the effect of the Moon and so on till the seven planet cycle ends the 24 hours of Monday under the aspect of Jupiter. The first hour on Tuesday, i.e; 1 a.m. will be aspected by Mars under whose rulership the day comes, the second by Sun and so on, as every eight hours the same planetary influence comes into effect.
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Mint family (Lamiaceae)
Description: This wildflower is a summer annual about 4-12" tall that is branched or unbranched. The stems are light green, terete, and pubescent. The opposite leaves are about 1" long and ¼" across; they are elliptic, oblong-lanceolate, or oblong-oblanceolate in shape. The margins of the leaves are smooth or they have a few blunt teeth toward their tips. The petioles of the leaves are short and slender. The foliage of American Pennyroyal has a strong medicinal-mint scent. Small axillary clusters of 1-4 flowers are produced from the base of each middle to upper leaf. Each flower is about ¼" long and half as much across, consisting of a 2-lipped tubular corolla, a tubular calyx with 5 teeth, 2 stamens, and a 4-celled ovary with a single style. The corolla is white or blue-violet with a contrasting color near its throat. Along the outer rim of the corolla, there is an upper lobe, 2 lateral lobes, and a lower lobe; they are short and rounded (although not always well-defined). The hairy ridged calyx has 3 upper triangular teeth and 2 lower teeth that are slender-lanceolate. At the base of each flower, there is a pair of a leafy bracts; these bracts are at least as long as the flower. The blooming period occurs from mid-summer to early fall and lasts 1-3 months; individual flowers are short-lived. At maturity, each fertile flower is replaced by 4 nutlets. This wildflower reproduces by reseeding itself. It occasionally forms colonies at favorable sites.
Cultivation: The preference is full sun to light shade, mesic to dry conditions, and soil that is rocky or loamy. Plants that are grown in sunny locations require more moisture than those growing in shade. Barren or disturbed locations that are largely devoid of ground vegetation are preferred, as this reduces competition from taller plants.
Range & Habitat: The native American Pennyroyal is occasional to locally common throughout Illinois, except the NW section of the state, where it is less common (see Distribution Map). Habitats include dry upland woodlands, rocky woodlands, areas along woodland trails, rocky glades, areas along railroads, roadsides, pastures, and fallow fields. This species prefers areas (whether sunny or shaded) that have been subjected to some disturbance.
Faunal Associations: Small bees pollinate the flowers, where they seek nectar and pollen. These visitors include little carpenter bees (Ceratina spp.), Halictid bees (Augochlorella spp., Halictus spp., & Lasioglossum spp.), and the dagger bee Calliopsis andreniformis. Syrphid flies may visit the flowers occasionally, but they feed on the pollen and are less effective at pollination. The strong scent of the foliage protects this plant from mammalian herbivores.
Photographic Location: An upland area of Busey Woods in Urbana, Illinois.
Comments: The most remarkable thing about this little plant is the strong scent of the foliage. Otherwise, it is rather easy to overlook. The only other species in this genus that occurs in Illinois, Hedeoma hispida (Rough Pennyroyal), has linear leaves and a milder scent; it also prefers sunnier habitats. American Pennyroyal superficially resembles Gratiola neglecta (Clammy Hedge Hyssop), but this latter species lacks any fragrance and its prefers soggy habitats (e.g., damp depressions in woodlands). Native pennyroyal species (Hedeoma spp.) have only 2 stamens per flower, while other similar species in the Mint family often have 4 stamens per flower. Because the flowers are so small, this requires a 10x hand lens to see clearly.
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In a paper published in Science and Technology of Advanced Materials, researchers summarize recent advances in the controlled synthesis and application of luminescent metal nanoclusters, including potential uses in sensors, bioimaging, and energy harvesting and conversion.
Luminescent metal nanoclusters are a new class of materials consisting of several, to tens of, metal atoms. These materials not only provide the missing link between atomic and nanoparticle behaviors in metals, but also present abundant information for the development of new material systems to meet urgent needs in optical imaging and related areas.
Gold (Au) and silver (Ag) nanoclusters (NCs) have been extensively studied over the past decade. In sharp contrast, other types of nanoclusters – composed of platinum (Pt) or non-noble metals – received much less attention, although they demonstrate comparable or superior luminescent properties.
In this paper, published in Science and Technology of Advanced Materials, Hong-Tao Sun and Yoshio Sakka focus on luminescent NCs composed of Pt, molybdenum (Mo), bismuth (Bi) or more than one metal element, and compare their respective advantages and disadvantages. They also speculate on future research and discuss potential developments for their use in sensors, bioimaging, and energy harvesting and conversion.
Given the low-cost, excellent chemical stability, colloidal stability and photostability of the nanoclusters described in this paper, they may find a broad range of applications in optical imaging and related disciplines.
College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science,
Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, People’s Republic of China
Advanced Ceramics Group, Materials Processing Unit,
National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS),
1-2-1 Sengen, Tsukuba-city, Ibaraki 305-0047, Japan
Head of Scientific Information Office
National Institute for Material Science (NIMS)
Phone: +81 29 859 2494
Hong-Tao Sun and Yoshio Sakka: Sci. Technol. Adv. Mater. Vol. 15 (2014) p. 014205
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Apr. 5, 2012 -- An athlete's knack for completing a pass or scoring a goal may depend as much on sharp mental skills as superior physical abilities, a new study shows.
Researchers in Sweden gave a battery of psychological tests to 57 male and female soccer players. About half the players were athletes from Sweden's elite Allsvenskan league. The other half came from lower Division I teams.
Researchers found top athletes scored higher than 95% of the population on certain measures of brain function.
The tests were designed to measure a set of coordinated mental processes that scientists refer to as executive function.
Executive functions involve creativity, attention, time management, working memory, and self-control. In general, executive functions help people to reach personal goals.
Executive functions are also the basis of something coaches call game intelligence.
"Game intelligence is about being able to read a play and acting quickly on that," says researcher Predrag Petrovic, MD, PhD, a professor in the department of clinical neuroscience at Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.
As a group, the soccer players had better executive function scores than members of the general population. And the elite players had significantly better scores than the Division I players.
"So it seems that the better player you are, the higher you score, basically," Petrovic says.
Phillip Tomporowski, PhD, a professor in the department of kinesiology at the University of Georgia, in Athens, says in an email to WebMD that the study is "quite interesting and relevant" and helps further dispel the idea that athletes are all brawn and no brains.
"Indeed, the ?dumb jock' is a myth," he says.
Tomporowski studies the effect of exercise on executive function in older adults, but he was not involved in the new study.
One question the study can't answer, Tomporowski says, is whether a person has to be born with high executive function to make it as a top-level team player, or whether those skills can be honed through practice.
"That is the question," says Petrovic, "Our working theory is that both are true."
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New Haven, Conn. Rivers and streams in the United States are releasing enough carbon into the atmosphere to fuel 3.4 million car trips to the moon, according to Yale researchers in Nature Geoscience. Their findings could change the way scientists model the movement of carbon between land, water and the atmosphere.
"These rivers breathe a lot of carbon," said David Butman, a doctoral student and co-author of a study with Pete Raymond, professor of ecosystem ecology, both at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. "They are a source of CO2, just like we breathe CO2 and like smokestacks emit CO2, and this has never been systematically estimated from a region as large as the United States."
The researchers assert that a significant amount of carbon contained in land, which first is absorbed by plants and forests through the air, is leaking into streams and rivers and then released into the atmosphere before reaching coastal waterways.
"What we are able to show is that there is a source of atmospheric CO2 from streams and rivers, and that it is significant enough for terrestrial modelers to take note of it," said Butman.
They analyzed samples taken by the United States Geological Survey from over 4,000 rivers and streams throughout the United States, and incorporated highly detailed geospatial data to model the flux of carbon dioxide from water. This release of carbon, said Butman, is the same as a car burning 40 billion gallons of gasoline.
The paper, titled "Significant Efflux of Carbon Dioxide from Streams and Rivers in the United States," also indicates that as the climate heats up there will be more rain and snow, and that an increase in precipitation will result in even more terrestrial carbon flowing into rivers and streams and being released into the atmosphere.
"This would mean that any estimate between carbon uptake in the biosphere and carbon being released through respiration in the biosphere will be even less likely to balance and must include the carbon in streams and rivers," he said.
The researchers note in the paper that currently it is impossible to determine exactly how to include this flux in regional carbon budgets, because the influence of human activity on the release of CO2 into streams and rivers is still unknown.
|Contact: David DeFusco|
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Like the amateur orchid expert Tom Hart Dyke in "Orchid Hunter," they have no formal training. They are often ignored by those who do. In some cases they don't live to see the scientific recognition they so richly deserve. Who are they? They are the nonprofessional scientists who every now and then make their professional counterparts green with envy for the enormous contributions they make to their discipline. Here, in no particular order, meet ten amateur scientists who secured such an enviable place in the history of science.
Gregor Johann Mendel is regarded today as the father of genetics, but the importance of his work wasn't recognized until 15 years after his death and 35 years after he completed his revolutionary experiments with garden peas. Born to a farming family in 1822 in what was then Moravia (and is now part of the Czech Republic), Mendel became an Augustinian monk in order to further his education.
In part because of his tendency to freeze during exams, and in part because he debated his teachers, he failed to pass the tests necessary to teach high school students, although he did teach younger ones. As disappointing as that may have been to him at the time, it did leave him time to carry out his experiments on peas, aided by Abbot Cyril Napp of the monastery in what is now called Brno. Napp even saw to it that a special greenhouse was built for Mendel.
After nine years of crossing and recrossing pea plants in ways that no one had ever done before, Mendel delivered a two-part lecture on the results, demonstrating that seven traits of pea plants were either dominant or recessive. The lecture was published, and Mendel sent it to leading scientific figures across Europe, including Charles Darwin. The paper was almost entirely ignored; Darwin did not even cut the pages of his copy, although it would have answered questions that deeply troubled him.
Mendel was subsequently elected abbot of his monastery and lived out his days
there. Three botanists rediscovered his paper in 1899-1900, and scholars
ultimately credited the obscure monk with being the first to discover the laws
that underlie modern genetics.
David H. Levy has had the good fortune to become famous in his own lifetime. Born in Montreal, Canada, in 1948, at age 12 he began observing the night sky with a small telescope in his backyard. Despite his great interest in the stars and comets, Levy majored in English at Acadia University in Nova Scotia and never took a course in astronomy.
Moving to Tucson, Arizona, where the night sky was less obscured by lights, he discovered his first new comet on November 13, 1984. Over the next several years, his backyard observations led to sole or shared discovery of seven more comets.
In the early 1990's, Levy started working with the husband-and-wife team of Gene and Carolyn Shoemaker, who were technically also amateur astronomers, although Gene was a renowned expert on planetary geology and the craters formed by comets and asteroids. Carolyn, for her part, had a gift for analyzing astronomical photographs and by then was credited with the discovery of 27 comets and more than 300 asteroids.
Working at the Mount Palomar Observatory in California, the Shoemaker-Levy team
proved extremely successful, but it was the discovery in 1993 of Shoemaker-Levy
9, in orbit around Jupiter, that caught the world's attention. It soon became
apparent that the comet had broken into 21 pieces, which ultimately crashed
into Jupiter. Those collisions, in July 1994, provided one of the
most spectacular and carefully studied celestial events in history, and David
Levy's name became known around the world.
Henrietta Swan Leavitt was one of several women hired at the end of the 19th century by Edward C. Pickering, director of the Harvard College Observatory, to assist him in sorting and classifying thousands of photographic plates of the stars. Nicknamed "the computers" for their ability but paid initially as little as 25 cents an hour, several of these women eventually made a considerable mark in the world of astronomy, none more so than Leavitt, whose work led to an entirely new concept of the universe.
Born in 1868, Leavitt suffered serious hearing loss from an illness in her early 20s, but that did not hold her back. Using a system she had devised for measuring the magnitude (brightness) of stars, she undertook a careful photographic study of variable stars, known as Cepheids, within the Magellanic Clouds. (These are the two galaxies nearest our own, though at the time they were thought to be part of the Milky Way.)
Leavitt discovered that Cepheids have a remarkable property. The cycles of each Cepheid—that is, the period of time that it goes from brightest to dimmest and back to brightest again—is related to its average brightness over that period (the longer the period, the brighter the star). If two Cepheids with the same cycle appear equally bright from Earth, the two stars must be the same distance away, she reasoned correctly; if one appears dimmer than the other, it must be farther away.
Leavitt's discovery made possible the calculations that ultimately led to the
first measurements of how far specific stars are from Earth as well as to Edwin
Hubble's 1929 proof that the universe consists of large numbers of "island
universes" rather than just our own Milky Way galaxy. Leavitt, alas, died in
1921, never knowing that she had provided the key to a revolutionary new
understanding of the size and complexity of the universe.
Joseph Priestley was one of the most remarkable men of the 18th century, a widely read author of scientific and theological books, a supporter of the American and French revolutions, and a clergyman whose dissident ideas would serve as a foundation for Unitarianism. Born in 1733 near Leeds, England, Priestley was also one of the foremost scientific experimenters of his age. A quintessential amateur, he has been regarded by some professionals as a "dabbler." But if so, to what effect!
Encouraged in his scientific studies by his friend Benjamin Franklin, Priestley demonstrated that graphite could conduct electricity, and he documented the process of photosynthesis. In a spur-of-the-moment experiment, he invented the eraser and gave rubber its name. He discovered carbon dioxide and used it to invent soda water, and he was the first to describe the properties of ammonia, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, and carbon monoxide. Most significantly, Priestley discovered oxygen (although it was his French rival Antoine Lavoisier who gave the gas the name we use).
In 1794, Priestley's religious dissidence made it necessary for him and his
wife Mary to flee to America, where their three sons already resided. He
quickly made new friends, including Thomas Jefferson. Declining a professorship
of chemistry in Philadelphia, he built a house near his sons in Northumberland,
Pennsylvania, then at the edge of the American frontier, where he died in 1804.
Michael Faraday was the son of a blacksmith and received only a grammar school education. Born in 1791, he was apprenticed to a London bookbinder at the age of 14. He set about educating himself, starting with a popular book on basic chemistry from which he cut the pages and rebound them with a blank page interleaved between each page of text so that he could take proper notes.
Faraday's gradual rise to the pinnacle of British science is a story of extraordinary perseverance in the face of great social and educational barriers. Fortunately, a number of people recognized very early on that he was a youth with unusual intellectual ability. In 1813, for instance, Faraday managed to get an interview with Sir Humphrey Davy, the head of the Royal Institution and the most important scientist in England, who soon hired him as his assistant. (Despite Davy's own eminence, it has often been said that his greatest discovery was Michael Faraday.) Faraday eventually became head of the Royal Institution himself and one of the great lecturers of the century.
But his first love remained experimental research, and today he is recognized as the foremost experimental scientist in history. His three Laws of Induction (concerning electromagnetism) and his two Laws of Electrolysis remain fundamental to modern science.
After years of work, on October 28, 1831, Faraday invented the dynamo, or
electric generator. In a sign of how highly regarded he remains today, for the
150th anniversary of his invention of the dynamo in 1981, Faraday's face
temporarily replaced that of Shakespeare on the ten-pound note. Faraday died in
1867 in a house at Hampton Court given to him by Queen Victoria.
Grote Reber is far less well known than he deserves to be. Born in Chicago in 1911, Reber graduated from the Illinois Institute of Technology in 1932 and took an engineering job with a Chicago radio manufacturer. He became, among other accomplishments, an immensely proficient ham radio operator, succeeding in making contact with other hams in no fewer than 60 countries.
But his greatest achievement came in astronomy. Following up on an experiment conducted at Bell Labs in 1932, Reber built the world's first true radio telescope in his backyard in Wheaton, Illinois. Putting his knowledge of radio waves to work in constructing his telescope, he used a parabolic antenna—a "dish"—with a sheet-metal surface to reflect radio waves to a receiver located 20 feet above it. He designed the receiver so as to enhance the signals by a factor of several million, and he used an electronic stylus to record the radio waves on paper charts. His radio telescope became operational in 1937, and he published a number of papers in technical journals concerning his techniques and results.
Reber's telescope remained the only one of its kind until after World War II,
when new technologies led to the building of much larger dish antennas. His
pioneering work was a key to the development of vast modern radio telescopes
such as those found in the Very Large Array in New Mexico (popularized in the
movie Contact). Reber has received many awards, including the coveted
Bruce Medal in 1962, and his original telescope is now on display at the
National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, West Virginia.
Arthur C. Clarke is one of the most celebrated science-fiction writers in the world. But he himself says that by far the most important piece he ever wrote was a short technical article published in an obscure journal in October 1945. Clarke was then serving as an officer in the British Royal Air Force radar division.
Born in 1917 and raised on a farm near Taunton in southwestern England, Clarke had gained only a high school diploma (he would attend college after the war), but in the RAF he had the opportunity to work with scientists who were doing cutting-edge work that ultimately would prove crucial to the Allied victory in World War II. Clarke had published some short science-fiction stories, but his article "Extra-Terrestrial Relays" was a different matter.
In the article he proposed that communications satellites orbiting the Earth would be the best way to transmit television around the world. Although television would not become a commercial success in the United States until the 1950s, the British Broadcasting Corporation had begun operations in 1936. The few scientists who read Clarke's article largely dismissed his idea as science fiction. But his technical discussions of how such satellites would work were solid, and he correctly calculated the orbit in which they should be placed to gain maximum coverage of the globe.
This geostationary orbit, lying directly above the equator, would come to be
called a Clarke orbit in honor of the young visionary who first proposed it.
And while Clarke has won numerous awards for his science-fiction novels and
stories, his greatest honors—from a special Emmy award in 1981 to NASA's
Distinguished Public Service Medal in 1995—have paid tribute to the
revolutionary idea he conceived in 1945.
Thomas Jefferson is such a towering figure that it can be difficult to see him whole. It's hard enough to grasp that the principal author of the Declaration of Independence and third president of the United States was also an architectural genius, as exemplified by his home, Monticello, and an expert in zoology and botany.
But how many people today know that he is considered the father of modern archeology for his investigation of an Indian burial mound in 1784? Jefferson described this endeavor in detail in his book Notes on the State of Virginia. Archeologists now recognize the way Jefferson went about examining the mound as the first modern archeological excavation.
Instead of simply digging down from the top of the mound or attacking it
randomly in hope of stumbling upon some treasure (as had occurred at
Pompeii in 1748), Jefferson cut a narrow wedge into the mound that he could
walk into. This allowed him to examine the mound's strata, or layers, from top
to bottom, enabling him to draw conclusions about how it had been constructed
that would otherwise have been impossible to deduce.
Susan Hendrickson is a self-taught expert in a number of fields who has the unusual distinction of having a fossil dinosaur named after her—in fact, the largest and most complete fossil skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex ever found.
Hendrickson has often been compared to Indiana Jones, the fictional hero of the Spielberg movies. She was indeed born and raised in Indiana and has had fascinating adventures all over the world. She was the kind of kid who was reading Dostoyevsky at age 11 yet dropped out of high school. She didn't need diplomas—many people later in her life have simply assumed she has a Ph.D.
An accomplished scuba diver, Hendrickson early on supplied aquariums with rare marine specimens, some of which had never been described. She always knew when she had found something unusual, because she had taught herself well. Later she dealt in amber insect fossils. The good ones she sold to collectors for as much as she could get; the great ones she sold to museums at cost, earning a reputation as someone who cared more about knowledge than money or fame.
But fame came her way. Working with Peter Larson, founder of an organization of private fossil-hunters known as the Black Hills Institute, she set off on her own on August 12, 1990, to investigate a cliff that had been "beckoning" to her for two weeks in the rocky terrain of north-central South Dakota. As was her wont, she had learned the new discipline of dinosaur hunting with great thoroughness, and that training paid off.
Today, the enormous skeleton of "Tyrannosaurus Sue" that she discovered is the
principal attraction at Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History. And
Sue Hendrickson, who never went to college, finds herself collecting honorary
degrees from major universities.
Felix d'Herelle was a self-taught French-Canadian bacteriologist who had difficulty working with establishment scientists. Yet he made one of the most significant breakthroughs in 20th-century biology, discovering and naming bacteriophages, the viruses that attack bacteria.
Testing diseased locusts on the Yucatan Peninsula in 1909 while in the employ of the Mexican government, d'Herelle noticed that cultures of the locust bacteria showed an anomaly that took the form of circular clear spots. In 1916, while he was working at the Pasteur Institute in Paris trying to find ways to control the dysentery that was then felling soldiers on the front, the anomalous clear spots turned up again. This time he conducted further research, leading to the discovery of bacteriophages (literally "eaters of bacteria").
D'Herelle published his first paper on the subject in 1917. An English biochemist named Frederick Twort had made the same discovery, and the two men are given dual credit, but d'Herelle described them in greater depth and named them. He believed that phages, as they came to be generally called, could be used to eradicate some of the most ancient of human diseases, and he spent the rest of his life working toward that end. (Today, as bacteria are becoming increasingly immune to antibiotics, modern scientists have begun undertaking new research of this kind.)
Phages proved to have ideal properties for genetic research, leading directly to the unraveling of the mysteries of DNA. D'Herelle died in 1949, four years before James Watson and Francis Crick worked out the structure of DNA, but he knew that was coming and that his own discovery of phages had made it possible.
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100.7 Star wants to help end bullying and the effects that it causes.
100.7 Star Shine A Light on Bullying program, sponsored by Fantastic Sams and The Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School, focuses on helping children and teens in spotting and addressing bullying in their schools.
Here are some bullying prevention tips for middle school students.
If you witness bullying:
Switch from being a bystander into acting as an ally. If directly speaking up for a target doesn’t feel safe, here are some additional choices:
- Try distracting the aggressor by changing the subject or using humor.
- Engage the targeted student in another activity elsewhere.
- Invite the target to eat lunch or hang out with you. Be sure to listen without judging.
- Send a supportive text to the target.
- Report what happened to the school and ask for adults to investigate and help.
These tips were published from this guide of Bullying Prevention Tips for Middle School Students provided by Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC. Learn more about 100.7 Star’s Shine a Light on Bullying program here.
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http://starpittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2014/03/04/bullying-prevention-tips-for-middle-school-students-what-to-do-if-you-witness-bullying/
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A prescription for tackling antibiotic resistance
Antibiotics are great for treating bacterial infections such as bronchitis and pneumonia. They are so great that many doctors prescribe them even when infections are caused by viruses, not bacteria.
But the overuse of antibiotics has helped spawn the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. One obvious solution is to prescribe fewer antibiotics. But that is easier said than done.
Patients with lower respiratory tract infections caused by bacteria have the same clinical symptoms as patients with lower respiratory tract infections caused by viruses. There are tests that can tell them apart, but it can take days to get the results. Sick patients – and the doctors who treat them – simply don’t want to wait.
Wouldn’t it be great if there were some kind of test that could tell you in a matter of minutes whether your infection was caused by a bacterium or a virus?
There is, according to a study published in Wednesday’s edition of the Journal of the American Medical Assn.
Procalcitonin, or PCT, is a substance that circulates in the blood when a patient is fighting a bacterial infection but is rarely released in response to a viral infection. Hospital laboratories can measure the amount of PCT in a blood sample in about 20 minutes.
A group of Swiss researchers wanted to know whether PCT levels could help them figure out when it was appropriate to prescribe antibiotics for lower respiratory tract infections. They recruited 1,359 patients from six hospitals and randomly assigned them to two groups. One group got antibiotics according to their PCT levels; the other group’s prescriptions were determined the old-fashioned way.
It turned out that patients in the PCT group took fewer antibiotics but were just as likely to get better as patients in the control group. Not only did fewer patients in the PCT group receive antibiotics, but those who did took them for fewer days, the study found.
How big was the difference? Overall, the antibiotic prescription rate was 87.7% in the control group and 75.4% in the PCT group, according to the study. Among patients with community-acquired pneumonia, the difference was 99.1% versus 90.7%; for patients with exacerbated chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, it was 69.9% versus 48.7%; and for patients with acute bronchitis, the difference was 50% versus 23.2%.
When patients took fewer antibiotics, they also had fewer adverse events related to antibiotic use, such as nausea, diarrhea and rash, the study found.
-- Karen Kaplan
Photo: Overuse of antibiotics has led to dangerous bugs like methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, better known as MRSA. Photo credit: Visuals Unlimited
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<urn:uuid:fbc76204-37e1-4562-a810-2d5c6ddc0f35>
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/booster_shots/2009/09/antibiotic-prescription-overuse-pct-test.html
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Subject verb agreement refers to the fact that the subject and verb in a sentence must agree in number. In other words, they both must be singular or they both must be plural. You can’t have a singular subject with a plural verb or vice versa. The tricky part is in knowing the singular and plural forms of subjects and verbs.
Singular and plural subjects, or nouns, are usually pretty easy. In most cases the plural form of a noun has an “s” at the end. Like this:
Bicycle – singular
Bicycles – plural
Verbs don’t follow this pattern, though. Adding an “s” to a verb doesn’t make a plural. Here’s what I mean:
Which one is the singular form and which is the plural form? Here’s a tip for you. Ask yourself which would you use with the word they and which would you use with he or she.
Since he and she are singular pronouns walks is a singular verb. The word they is plural so walk is the plural form.
Here are some more guidelines for subject verb agreement.
- When two singular subjects are joined by the words or or nor a singular verb is in order.
My sister or my brother is meeting you at the airport.
- Two singular subjects joined by either/or or neither/nor also need a singular verb.
Neither Carla nor Jeff is available to meet you at the airport.
Either Angie or Jeff is meeting at the airport.
- When the word and connects two or more nouns or pronouns, use a plural verb.
She and her family are at Disney World.
- When a compound subject contains both a singular and a plural noun or pronoun joined by or or nor, the verb should agree with the part of the subject that is nearer the verb.
The athlete or his teammates sprint every day.
His teammates or the athlete sprints every day.
- When a phrase comes between the subject and verb, the verb has to agree with the subject, not with the noun or pronoun in the phrase.
Two of the puppies are whimpering.
The birthday boy, along with his friends, is anxious for the party to stop.
- Since doesn’t is a contraction of does not it should be used with a singular subject.
Mary doesn’t care for pizza.
- Don’t is a contraction of do not and requires a plural subject.
They don’t know the way home.
- Each, either, each one, everyone, neither, everybody, anyone, anybody, somebody, nobody, someone, and no one are singular so they need a singular verb.
Each of the girls is qualified for the prize.
Neither knows how the competition will end.
- Sentences that begin with there is or there are have the subject following the verb since there is not a subject. Therefore, the verb must agree with what follows it.
There are many paths to success.
There is one road out of town.
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<urn:uuid:c6086d2e-5e19-46a6-925b-1e86ddec716d>
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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http://sentrablog.blogspot.com/2012/03/task-1-bhs-inggris-bisnis-2-subject.html
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|By Aaron Logan via Wikipedia|
Abstract: The mammalian intestine harbors a vast, complex and dynamic microbial population, which has profound effects on host nutrition, intestinal function and immune response, as well as influence on physiology outside of the alimentary tract. Imbalance in the composition of the dense colonizing bacterial population can increase susceptibility to various acute and chronic diseases. Valuable insights on the association of the microbiota with disease critically depend on investigation of mouse models. Like in humans, the microbial community in the mouse intestine is relatively stable and resilient, yet can be influenced by environmental factors. An often-overlooked variable in research is basic animal husbandry, which can potentially alter mouse physiology and experimental outcomes. This study examined the effects of common husbandry practices, including food and bedding alterations, as well as facility and cage changes, on the gut microbiota over a short time course of five days using three culture-independent techniques, quantitative PCR, terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (TRFLP) and next generation sequencing (NGS). This study detected a substantial transient alteration in microbiota after the common practice of a short cross-campus facility transfer, but found no comparable alterations in microbiota within 5 days of switches in common laboratory food or bedding, or following an isolated cage change in mice acclimated to their housing facility. Our results highlight the importance of an acclimation period following even simple transfer of mice between campus facilities, and highlights that occult changes in microbiota should be considered when imposing husbandry variables on laboratory animals.
I personally think that we as a community are going to have to come to grips with the fact that the microbial communities in / on research organisms (of all kinds) may have a profound effect on experimental results. This may explain many of the differences seen in experiments between facilities or over time within a facility. In general, I think either controlling the microbes more carefully in lab experiments (e.g., using defined flora) or at least monitoring them is going to be very important to best interpret studies of plants and animals in the lab (or for that matter - in the field too). Anyway -this paper is a tiny window into one of the ways that controlling for microbiomes may be important in lab studies.
Citation: Ma BW, Bokulich NA, Castillo PA, Kananurak A, Underwood MA, et al. (2012) Routine Habitat Change: A Source of Unrecognized Transient Alteration of Intestinal Microbiota in Laboratory Mice. PLoS ONE 7(10): e47416. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0047416
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<urn:uuid:cb433407-ffd1-4541-9889-a62abb275557>
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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http://phylogenomics.blogspot.com/2012/11/important-neglected-aspect-of-lab.html
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January 4, 2005
Limitations Frustrate Tsunami Scientists
EWA BEACH, Hawaii (AP) -- For scientists at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, the world's most powerful earthquake happened below the wrong ocean.
They sat by helplessly when an 9.0-magntiude quake underneath the Indian Ocean last week touched off a series of tsunamis that killed more than 139,000 people in southern Asia and Africa.There were no instruments, such as tide gauges that measure sea levels, set up there to let them know what waves were on the way. With the instruments, the scientists think they could have issued warnings that save lives.
"It's just very, very frustrating," said geophysicist Stuart Weinstein, who was on duty when the disaster struck. "It's frustrating for us to learn about destructive waves from a wire report, as opposed to a tide gauge."
Weinstein and his colleagues could only surmise the Indonesia earthquake would set off a tsunami near its epicenter. They had no way of telling what other shores it might hit or exactly when.
"I think people have a misconception about how much we know," said Charles McCreery, the center's director. Predictions are not possible without tide gauges or other such instruments in place, he said.
On Monday, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono announced his nation would join in an international effort to set up an early-warning system for the Indian Ocean region.
Hawaii has been dealing with the fear of tsunamis since 1946, when hundreds of people were killed in Hilo after an Alaskan earthquake triggered a massive tidal wave. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center was established three years later and has been at Ewa Beach since 1960, with a modern international warning system in place since 1965.
The warning center's 185-acre compound, where most of the scientists also live, sits two blocks from the beach in a residential stretch of land west of Pearl Harbor.
Within 15 minutes of first learning about the Indonesia earthquake, geophysicist Barry Hirshorn and Weinstein put out a bulletin. They issued a second bulletin 49 minutes later, revising the quake's strength from a magnitude 8.0 to 8.5.
Two hours later, through Internet reports, they learned a tsunami hit Sri Lanka. Then officials from Sri Lanka began to call - a navy commander, someone in the president's office, the U.S. ambassador, and the port master.
The scientists managed to reach Madagascar and the Mauritius Islands through the State Department in Washington. An official there said they would try to contact Kenya and Somalia.
"We tried to get people who had not yet gotten hit," Hirshorn said.
Hawaii also hosts a system to distribute warnings to the United States and 25 other member nations participating in an international tsunami program. Although Indonesia and Thailand receive the warnings, Sri Lanka and India do not.
Federal officials are looking to bolster the warning system in the Pacific. Another center in Palmer, Alaska, monitors that state and the West Coast.
Three years ago, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration installed sensors on the ocean floor to transmit tsunami data to a buoy on the surface that zips it to a satellite and back to the scientists in seconds.
Six sensors are in place, and the plan is to someday place 20 sensors around the Pacific. Now, there is talk of making that happen in the next three years, officials said.
"It's a lot of world to cover," said Jeff LaDouce of NOAA. "We have a technology and we're interested in making that technology available."
On the Net:
Pacific Tsunami Warning Center: http://www.prh.noaa.gov/pr/ptwc/
International Tsunami Information Center: http://www.prh.noaa.gov/itic/
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/116103/limitations_frustrate_tsunami_scientists/
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- Posted December 14, 2012 by
This iReport is part of an assignment:
100 places to eat like a local
Oyster Company Evicted by the US Federal Government
A local Oyster farm in California has been given 90 day notice by the US Federal Government to vacate or risk losing their Oysters, their tools and access to the land. Local's have been going to the Drakes Bay Oyster Company for years and possibly decades to eat locally grown Oysters cultivated in some of the California's most pristine Marine areas. According to their website "Drakes Estero has been in commercial oyster production for nearly 100 years. For most of its commercial history the estero was farmed by Johnsons’ Oyster Company. The Johnsons, over the past 60 years, developed much of the oyster growing techniques still used today. The Lunny family now owns and operates Drake’s Bay Oyster Company in the pristine waters of Drake’s Estero. The Lunnys have been farming and ranching adjacent to Drakes Estero for three generations. Drake’s Bay Oyster Company is the site of the last operating oyster cannery in the state of California."
US Federal Government killing more jobs? The plight of an Oyster Company in California
Everyone knows what an Oyster is right? If you don’t know simply Google the term. Oysters have been cultivated and eaten ever since the Roman Times, and are good sources of zinc, iron, calcium, selenium and Vitamins A and B12. They have even been considered an aphrodisiac.
California happens to be home to many locally grown and cultivated Oyster suppliers, including one named the
Drakes Bay Oyster Company(DBOC) in the Point Reyes National Seashore area. The Point Reyes National Seashore is home to many dairy farms/ranches that have existed in that area since the 1800’s. And most use Federal pastoral lands, but the DBOC uses Federal land to place the Oysters and uses Federal land to cultivate, pack and sell their products. As of December 14 2012 the Drakes Bay Oyster Company has filed a restraining order against the US Federal Government to stop the take-over or loss of their business. A petition can be found here, https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/save-drakes-bay-oyster-co-reversing-decision-interior-department/GXsMsG3p
They have also solicited help from the “Cause of Action” Organization http://causeofaction.org/tag/drakes-bay-oyster-company/
But recently Ken Salazar from the Secretary of the Interior said “he has directed the National Park Service to allow the Drakes Bay Oyster Company’s current permit to expire on their lease at the end of its term which is the end of 2012.” His decision is based on the 1976 Congress’s designation of the Drakes Estero as a Marine wilderness. They were given a 90 day noticed at the end of November 2012.
In other words the Drakes Bay Oyster Company will lose all their property and access to the land if they don’t pack up and leave by the end of 2012.
My pictures will show that site during a peaking King Tide.
Shutting down that company means at least 30 people will lose their jobs, and will have to rely on government assistance to get work, or assistance with everyday survival. It means 30 peoples’ families will lose their income. It means local businesses will lose the support they get from the local workers and farmers, and it means people pursuing the American dream will once again be taken away by the U.S Federal government. It will also mean that over 30 people will become disenchanted and disenfranchised by the United States Government.
I heard about this story months ago, and have been to the business on numerous occasions. I once again visited the Drakes Bay Oyster Company on December 13th 2012, day two of the King high tide cycle. I often visit the Point Reyes national Seashore and hike the trails, the seashores and the photograph the wildlife. It is one of the best parks or wilderness areas I have ever visited, but nearly everyplace you go is considered remote. There is spotty cell phone coverage and at many of the trailheads are pay phones in case of emergency. There are many miles of coast that are unguarded and unprotected by law enforcement. In other words I have hiked into areas where no other human was, for up to 3 miles. In the park are many species of wildlife including harbor and elephant seals. It is the equivalent to the African Safari Ranges. I am all about protecting wildlife, and the natural areas, but am also all about people keeping their jobs.
Many kayakers and canoe’ers have complained about the power boats, the music they play while working, and their presence in a secluded and beautiful area.
But the California unemployment rate is still close to 10% and people need jobs, or they will not survive and will end up depending on the United States Government for financial or food assistance. Jobs in California are a commodity and the more time passes the more it seems the job scene gets more difficult.
|This iReport is part of an assignment that we created with Travel + Leisure: 100 places to eat like a local|
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<urn:uuid:96bfd944-a5eb-4cdf-be2f-08c07a92e75e>
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-895660
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en
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AILA ISS shows off her new hands (image copyright DFKI)
DFKI Bremen’s humanoid robot AILA is being readied for work in space, thanks to 3.8 Million euros in funding by the German Aerospace Center (DLR). Project BesMan (Behaviors for Mobile Manipulation) will run the next four years to develop the control software necessary to teleoperate robots in space. Specifically, the robot will mimic human movements of the torso, arms, and hands. Already AILA has been given a new pair of five-fingered hands which are much more capable than the fingerless pads it had before (they only picked up boxes, which doesn’t really require fingers).
Like NASA’s Robonaut R2 and Russia’s SAR-400, AILA ISS will be required to grasp and use tools as well as operate control panels. Although it will be teleoperated by a human on Earth most of the time, it will also need to perceive changes in the environment and act independently should the need arise. But the researchers are already thinking beyond the space station: the software will be designed to work with robots of varying shapes; from humanoids like DLR’s Justin, to multi-legged climbing robots. It could then be used to teleoperate robots designed to assemble solar panel energy stations on the Moon ahead of a manned mission.
In order to recreate human-like movements, the researchers are experimenting with a motion-capture system. Basically a researcher in the lab performs an action which is then simulated on the computer. The software will break up the movements into smaller segments that can be sent into space and used when necessary. “We must build systems that approach the capabilities of people,” says Prof. Dr. Frank Kirchner, Director of DFKI Robotics Innovation Center and the Robotics Group at the University of Bremen.
Although the initial investment may seem pricey, sending robots rather than people into space is much safer and will ultimately save millions.
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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http://www.plasticpals.com/?p=33674
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en
| 0.945117
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The energetic verse says the following:
Keep your eyes open.
Even the walls have ears.
Chatter and gossip
Go hand in hand with
This is one of the most famous posters of the WW2. It was created by Nina Vatolina, a Soviet poster artist. After the break of War Vatolina along with other artists started making artworks, which covered the most acute topics both of battle front and home front. This one was aimed at increasing vigilance. It shows a working woman in kerchief, who holds her finger to lips, which is a gesture for silence. The face pictured had a real prototype, who turned out to be Vatolina’s neighbor. Her sons were at battle-front, so her stare did have a certain attitude.
The verse was written by Samuil Marshak – a Soviet poet, who is most known as the author of numerous fairy tales and poems for children. During the War he was busy writing satire and pamphlets as well as collaborating with various poster artists, including Kukriniksy (see their posters). Also, during his life Marshak did brilliant translations of Robert Burns, William Shakespeare, William Wordsworth, John Keats, Alan Milne and Rudyard Kipling.
Nowadays this poster has a new life as it turns out to be quite popular in
Buy this very poster at allposters here!
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<urn:uuid:13d6aeaf-d856-4995-b188-c18b3d148ee5>
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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http://sovietposter.blogspot.com/2007/12/silence-is-gold.html
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The p2p networks are new real deal for savvy and modern people looking for cool networks. The concept for this type of networking started in 1999 as file sharing systems like the music-sharing app, Napster. It can also be an ad hoc connection; a group of computers connected via a universal serial bus to transfer files. A good example is this, a chat session between computer A and computer B will not hinder a file transfer from computer D to computer E. Furthermore, if computer D does not have the file needed, the user of computer E is able to start a search to find another computer on the network with the required file. However, depending on the search algorithm, the amount of bandwidth used for a small network varies from a network of many attached devices. This means that the search has to go through all the computers before locating the file. Therefore, it would take a lot time for a network of many devices. However, the P2P applications are a mixed breed where the server has all the search tools and file location information whereas the file transfers are completed directly from device to device.
One of benefits of p2p networks is that the resources of all the computers spread the load thus increasing the strength of the network. Transferring files from one computer to different computers is easier and faster without the resource computer bogging. This networking enables the ability to access internet wherever one is around the world. A mobile phone p2p network is a great way to search and share ringtones, music, videos or photos. When applied within a work environment it enables instant messaging among colleagues. P2p networks running costs are also small for the innovative content distributor. You will also benefit from streaming media using applications such as PP Live, Cybersky-tv, JOOST and many others..
All networking systems encounter security problems. The p2p networks use authorization, encryption and authentication as the primary areas of security concerns. Authorization means that the user has the entity permission to use resources or perform an action. Authentication is where by the online user is trusted to be who they claim to be. Moreover, encryption is the method of rendering a message hard to read unless the online user possesses the appropriate method or decipher key. To enjoy p2p networking, security has to be entirely upon the user. Network security should be studied before any file sharing application is set up for all the files and areas left open for sharing
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<urn:uuid:a81501e4-57bc-4f18-9afb-5c73900967f0>
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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http://www.p2pcongress.org/
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| 0.940715
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Saving money, saving the Earth
Try feeding a corn plant more nitrogen than it can eat, and you could be flushing money—and nitrogen—down the drain.
That’s the theory behind nutrient management plans.
To write a plan, farmers test fields in 5-acre grids and apply the exact amount of nutrients each square needs. It can save money and the environment by preventing wasted fertilizer.
Gathering the samples and crunching all those numbers can get expensive. The Natural Resources Conservation Services in Rock and Walworth counties are offering cash incentives for nutrient management and other conservation plans through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program—EQIP.
Designing the plans is voluntary, but Gary Risseeuw, Clinton, thinks those days are numbered.
“It’s kind of what’s coming as far as the farm programs,” Risseeuw said.
Risseeuw feeds 150 steers and grows 800 acres of corn and soybeans. He signed up for EQIP cost sharing in the spring of 2006. The money paid for a crop consultant to write a nutrient management plan and helped with some clean up. Risseeuw cleared trash trees from the banks of a creek, planted a grass buffer strip and sealed old wells.
The plan didn’t force Risseeuw to change much.
“A lot of it just plain old makes sense,” Risseeuw said.
He’s spread less nitrogen and varied the amount of phosphorous and potassium he’s put in places. He’s not sure if he’s saved money, but he thinks he’s working more efficiently.
Farmers always have been stewards of the land, Risseeuw said, but if conservation practices are going to work, they have to be cost effective.
“You put it all on the line every year,” Risseeuw said. “They have to keep in mind we have to be profitable out here.”
Mike Cerny, Sharon, echoes Risseeuw on nutrient management improving efficiency.
Cerny grows corn, wheat and beans on 1,300 acres and custom harvests another 1,700.
Cerny heard about nutrient management cost sharing three years ago when The Natural Resources Conservation Services started it.
He blew it off.
He already was doing most of the requirements: site specific fertilizing, no-till planting and best practices in pest control. But he was scared of the amount of paperwork he’d see with a government program.
“The money they were offering was considerable,” Cerny said. “So I took a risk.”
He was right about the paperwork.
“But it’s good,” Cerny said. “It forces you to look at what you’re doing.”
The Natural Resources Conservation Services in Rock and Walworth counties are offering cash incentives for nutrient management and other conservation practices through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP).
The NRCS will give producers $8 per acre for nutrient management programs on livestock farms and $5.50 an acre for row crop farms.
To learn more, visit www.nrcs.usda.gov and click on programs, then the EQIP link.
In Rock County, call (608) 608-754-6617, Ext. 3. In Walworth County, call (262) 723-3216, Ext. 3.
Applications are due Friday, Nov. 16. The contracts are good for three years.
No-till: Planting a new crop on top of last year’s without plowing first. The practice is meant to prevent erosion.
Best management pest prevention: An example is keeping daily records of the numbers of bugs and weeds in each field. Then you spray pesticides only as needed, Walworth County crop producer Mike Cerny said.
Site-specific farming: Testing soil samples in 2.5- or 5-acre grids and spraying fertilizer only as needed on each grid. For livestock farmers, it also means testing manure to find out how much of certain nutrients it contains. Then farmers can replace commercial fertilizer with manure.
Last updated: 9:43 am Thursday, December 13, 2012
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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http://www.gazettextra.com/news/2007/nov/03/saving-money-saving-earth/
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William Batchelder Bradbury
For Bradbury’s biography, click here. (Link opens at Hymnsys)
Died:January 7, 1868, Montclair, New Jersey.
Buried:Bloomfield Cemetery, Bloomfield, New Jersey.
William Bradbury was a successful composer, also well known for making vast improvements in children's music. When he was fourteen, Bradbury moved with his family to Boston, Massachusetts where he attended the Boston Academy of Music. It was from Sumner Hill in Boston that Bradbury learned much about music harmony. Also adding to Bradbury's musical education was Lowell Mason. Mason was the choir director at the time Bradbury joined the Bowdoin Street Church choir and it was with Mason's encouragement that Bradbury soon went to Machias, Maine and also to St. John's, New Brunswick to teach music classes. Beginning in 1841, Bradbury was the organist at the First Baptist Church in New York City. He also worked as a choir director in several Baptist Churches, working especially well with children's choirs. About this time, young Bradbury began giving free singing classes to children, an idea taken from Lowell Mason. Mason was an advocate of music in Boston public schools and it was from his example that Bradbury became involved in bringing music into the New York City public-school system.
In 1847, Bradbury left his job as organist and spent two years in Europe with his family. He studied music and teaching techniques in Germany and England. After Bradbury returned to New York, he spent much time composing tunes and compiling music collections. Over all, Bradbury published 59 compilations of sacred as well as secular music. Bradbury continued his free music classes and he also conducted annual music festivals in New York City. Over 1,000 children came to these festivals to learn about music and to sing songs, many of them Bradbury's compositions. As a reward for his efforts, Bradbury was also able to teach music in New York's public schools.
William Bradbury founded Bradbury Piano Company with his brother in 1854. Despite Bradbury's many accomplishments, he is still most widely known for his hymn tunes and compilations. The Jubilee, 1858, was a very successful singing book edited by Bradbury. The simple, fitting melodies composed by Bradbury for Sunday School and congregational use have brought many hymn texts alive.
"(c) Copyright 1996 by Vicky Boyd, from HymnSys, the Multimedia Hymnal System.
All Rights Reserved."
If you would like to help support Hymns and Carols of Christmas, please click on the button below and make a donation.
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Arachnophobes look away: The giant 8cm long fish eating spiders being reintroduced into the wild
- Great raft spiders so rare staff fed them using a special mouth tube
- Plans will see them reintroduced to the Norfolk Broads
Ecologists have released hundreds of Britain's largest breed of spider into the wild - which can grow to eight centimetres.
The great raft spider has been saved by a breeding programme involving ten zoos.
With a leg span of up to 8cm, the arachnid is capable of catching and eating a fish as it glides across the surface of water.
An adult male great raft spider similar to the ones which are being released as part of a Bristol Zoo conservation programme. They can grow to 8cm long
THE GREAT RAFT SPIDER
As with most spiders, the female is the larger sex.
This semiaquatic creature dines on small water-based insect larvae, sticklebacks, tadpoles and other small spiders.
Just three populations are believed to exist in the UK after they were ravaged by agricultural drainage.
Around 200 baby spiders have already been released at the RSPB's Strumpshaw Fen reserve near Norwich.
Ecologist Dr Helen Smith said: 'Most invertebrate groups don't receive a lot of conservation effort.
'The ones that tend to receive the attention are the big and spectacular ones ... this is very much the case with great raft spiders.
'They're big, they're beautiful and they have to fly the flag for other species.'
Funding from Natural England, the BBC Wildlife Fund and the Broads Authority hopes to reintroduce the spider to the Norfolk Broads, where it was once commonplace.
Instead of being raised in their usual nursery webs, suspended from wetland plants, the tiny animals were individually housed in test tubes - where iron-willed volunteers fed them by mouth.
Bristol Zoo Gardens keeper Carmen Solan raised 170 of the arachnids, using a special tube operated with her mouth to feed the tiny critters dead flies.
She said: 'It does take a lot of time.
Carmen Solan with some of the great raft spider's which she fed by mouth while they were very young.
One of the young spiders set to be released into the wild. The great raft spider can reach sizes of 8cm
'You have to be careful to make sure they've got enough humidity to be able to moult.'
Carmen even had favourite spiders - which in the wild are capable of catching a stickleback.
Dr Smith said: 'Having invested their summer into feeding them individually, people do get quite attached.
'But when you return the next year and see 500 to 700 babies, it's worth the effort.'
The ecologist, who has 20 years' experience working with raft spiders, says the conservation programme is designed to give the spiders the best chance in the wild - boosting survival rates by as much as 90 per cent.
She said: 'We're all improving our captive-rearing expertise through this process.
'It's early days.
'We're two years down the line now but the indications are that the spiders are settled in well.'
An adult male great raft spider similar to the ones which are being released as part of a Bristol Zoo conservation programme.
The spiders were once commonplace in the Norfolk Broads, and researchers hope they will flourish again.
Previous batches of spiderlings released have been discovered to be breeding well in the fen, and four nursery webs were spotted, each containing around 200 tiny spiders.
Dr Smith said: 'With animals that are this rare you can make lots of arguments about food chains and food webs, and how important that is.
'We simply don't know what pulling out one brick will do further down the heap.'
The spiders can live up to two and a half years, but thankfully they will not be appearing in bathtubs any time soon, as they cannot survive outside their marshland habitat.
One of the young great raft spiders feasting on an insect. Adults are capable of eating a fish.
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Denis Diderot (October 5, 1713 – July 31, 1784) was a French philosopher and writer, a prominent figure in what became known as the Enlightenment, and the editor-in-chief of the famous, Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. During his career, Diderot moved from Roman Catholicism to deism, atheism, and finally, philosophic materialism. He did not develop a particular system of philosophy, but his original views on a wide variety of subjects influenced many modern thinkers and writers. He promoted the optimistic belief that all knowledge could be acquired through scientific experimentation and the exercise of reason, and championed the value and uniqueness of the individual. He explored the idea that different individuals should be judged by different moral standards according to their circumstances. Diderot also suggested that education should be tailored to the abilities and interests of the individual student, and that students should learn to experiment and do research rather than simply acquiring knowledge.
The Encyclopédie, conceived as a compendium of all available knowledge, challenged the authority of the Roman Catholic Church and of the aristocratic government, both of whom tried to suppress it. The seventeen volumes of print and eleven volumes of engravings were completed in 1772, and remain as a monument of the Enlightenment.
Diderot also contributed to literature by challenging conventions of structure and content with works such as Jacques le fataliste et son maître, Le Neveu de Rameau (Rameau's Nephew), and Règrets sur ma vieille robe de chamber. He announced the principles of a new drama, the serious, domestic, bourgeois drama of real life, in contrast to the stilted conventions of the classic French stage. As an art critic, he favored spontaneity and naturalism, and introduced a theory of ideas expressed by color.
Diderot was born at in Langres, Champagne, France, in 1713, the son of a well-known cutler. Originally intending to become a priest, he studied with the Jesuits at Langres and was tonsured in 1726. He studied in Paris from 1729 to 1732, and received the degree of master of arts at the University of Paris in 1732. He then became an articled clerk in the law offices of Clément de Ris, but continued to pursue the study of languages, literature, philosophy, and mathematics. He abandoned an early ambition to become an actor, and from 1734 to 1744, seems to have made his living by working for a publisher, teaching, and writing sermons for missionaries. He frequently visited the coffee houses, particularly the Procope, where he befriended Jean Jacques Rousseau in 1741. In 1743, he married Antoinette Champion, a linen draper’s daughter, in secrecy because her father did not approve. The couple’s sole surviving child, Angelique, was born in 1753. Diderot educated her carefully, and she later wrote a short biography of her father and classified his manuscripts. Diderot had an affair with the writer Madame Madeleine de Puisieux, whose best work, Les caractères (1750-51), was published during their liaison. He also had an affair with Sophie Volland, from 1755 until her death in 1784, and his letters to her provide a vivid insight into the society of intellectuals such as Louise d'Epinay, F.M. Grimm, the Baron d'Holbach, and Ferdinando Galiani. Among his friends Diderot counted Rousseau (with whom the friendship ended after a quarrel in 1757), Hume, Helvetius, Abbé Raynal, Lawrence Sterne, Marmontel, and Sedaine.
After his marriage, Diderot began to translate English works into French. In 1750, the bookseller André Le Breton approached him about producing a French translation of the Cyclopaedia, or Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences of Ephraim Chambers, a Scottish globe-maker. Diderot persuaded Le Breton to expand the project into a collection, written by all the active writers, of all the new ideas and all the new knowledge which was then circulating among the intellectuals of the Republic of Letters. His enthusiasm inspired the publishers, who amassed capital to fund the larger project, and applied for permission from the government. Jean le Rond d'Alembert was persuaded to become Diderot's colleague. Other participants in the enterprise were Voltaire; Chevalier de Jaucourt, a tireless researcher; and Marmontel. In 1750, an elaborate prospectus announced the project to the public, and the first volume appeared in 1751. By 1757, the number of subscribers had grown from 2,000 to 4,000. The last of the letterpress was issued in 1765, but it was 1772 before the subscribers received the final volumes of the Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. The finished Encyclopédie consisted of seventeen volumes and eleven books of engravings.
For twenty years, Diderot worked incessantly to produce the Encyclopédie, suffering harassing persecution, and the desertion of several of his good friends. The ecclesiastical party detested the Encyclopédie because it gave a voice to materialistic and atheistic philosophers. The French aristocracy felt threatened by the promotion of concepts such as religious tolerance, freedom of thought, and the value of science and industry, and the assertion that the well-being of the common people ought to be the main purpose of a government. A belief arose that the Encyclopédie was the work of an organized band of conspirators against society, whose dangerous ideas were now being openly published. In 1759, the Encyclopédie was formally suppressed by the government, and it became necessary to continue the work clandestinely. The publisher was jailed, then released, and his license was revoked. The threat of visits from the police was a constant harassment, but the censor, de Malesherbes, believed in freedom of the press and warned them of impending raids, so that the manuscripts could be hidden.
D'Alembert withdrew from the enterprise and other powerful colleagues, Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, Baron de Laune, among them, declined to contribute further to a book which had acquired such a bad reputation. Diderot continued to work alone, to complete the Encyclopédie as best he could. He wrote several hundred articles, many of which were laborious and comprehensive. He wore out his eyesight in correcting proofs, and in editing the manuscripts of less competent contributors. He spent his days in industrial workshops, mastering the processes of manufacturing, and his nights in reproducing on paper what he had learned during the day.
At the last moment, when his immense work was complete, Diderot discovered that after he had signed and submitted the final proofs, the publisher, fearing the displeasure of the government, had removed all the passages that he considered too controversial. The manuscript to which Diderot had devoted twenty years was irreparably altered. (A collection of the altered passages was found and published in Russia in 1988.)
The good of the people must be the great purpose of government. By the laws of nature and of reason, the governors are invested with power to that end. And the greatest good of the people is liberty. It is to the state what health is to the individual (from L'Encyclopédie).
While editing the Encyclopédie (1745-1772), Diderot wrote most of his own important works. He never became wealthy from his efforts. In 1765, in order to provide a dowry for his daughter, he put his library up for sale. Catherine II of Russia heard of this and purchased the library, leaving the books in his possession until they were needed and paying Diderot an annual salary to act as librarian and to add to the collection. During 1773 and 1774, Diderot made a difficult journey to Russia to visit Catherine II and help plan the establishment of a Russian university.
Diderot died of emphysema and dropsy in Paris, on July 31, 1784, and was buried in the city's Eglise Saint-Roch. Catherine II deposited his vast library at the Russian National Library.
Diderot was not a coherent and systematic thinker, but rather "a philosopher in whom all the contradictions of the time struggle with one another" (Johann Karl Friedrich Rosenkranz). He was a representative of the intellectual changes that were taking place during the French Enlightenment. During his writing career, Diderot moved from being a devout Roman Catholic to deism and finally to atheism and philosophical materialism. He experienced a reaction to the morality imposed by the Roman Catholic Church, believing that religious dogmas interfered with the natural, organic development of human passions, and contributed many of the most declamatory pages of the Système de la nature, an atheistic work by his friend Paul Henri Thiry, baron d'Holbach. He proclaimed that Christianity was morally harmful for those who believed in it, and a threat to societies which had not yet been introduced to it. Diderot believed that the moral improvement of humanity would directly result in the progress of civilization. He also explored the connection between biology and human culture, and between culture and morality, laying the groundwork for new developments in the social sciences.
Diderot espoused the scientific materialism of the Enlightenment. He had translated some of the writings of John Locke, and agreed with his emphasis on observation and experimentation over abstract speculation. During previous centuries, intellectuals had used empiricism and reason to seek metaphysical truth; during the Enlightenment they sought scientific knowledge of the physical universe. Diderot was confident that all things could be understood by using reason to interpret data supplied through the senses. In one of his earliest philosophical works, Lettre sur les aveugles, he offered an explanation of how phenomena could be accounted for in terms of the motion of matter, and nothing else.
The Enlightenment celebrated the value and uniqueness of the individual; Diderot wholeheartedly embraced this concept in every aspect of his work. He criticized the church for imposing its moral standards on everyone, and the secular education system for assuming that every individual was equally receptive to learning. He theorized that education should develop the curiosity and passionate interests of a student rather than simply instill knowledge. His dramatic works, in contrast to the formal, stilted plays of classic French drama, explored the characters and personalities of individuals and families in ordinary situations of domestic life. He delighted in curious puzzles of right and wrong, and in devising a conflict between the generalities of ethics and the conditions of an ingeniously contrived practical dilemma. Diderot attempted to educate his audience while showing sympathy for his protagonists. One of his best-known works, Le Neveu de Rameau, explores the conflict between a mind of genius and the restrictions of conventional morality. In his writing, Diderot promoted the idea that all human beings had equal value and the right to certain freedoms.
Diderot's earliest works included a translation of Temple Stanyan's History of Greece (1743); with two colleagues, François-Vincent Toussaint and Marc-Antoine Eidous, he produced a translation of James's Dictionary of Medicine (1746-1748) and about the same date he published a free rendering of Shaftesbury's Inquiry Concerning Virtue and Merit (1745), with some original notes of his own. He composed a volume of erotic stories, Les bijoux indiscrets (1748), which he later regretted publishing. His Pensées philosophiques (1746), a collection of aphorisms (many inspired by Shaftesbury) with a short complementary essay on the sufficiency of natural religion, was burned by the Parliament of Paris for its anti-Christian ideas.
In 1747, he wrote the Promenade du sceptique, an allegory pointing out the extravagances of Catholicism; the vanity of the pleasures of the secular world; and the desperate and unfathomable uncertainty of the philosophy of skepticism, which disdains the values of both the church and the secular world.
Diderot's next piece, Lettre sur les aveugles (1749), introduced him to the world as an original thinker. The immediate object of this short work was to show the dependence of humanity's ideas on their five senses, by considering the case of the intellect deprived of the aid of the sense of sight. The work also suggested a theory of the progression of biological development through a series of stages, which bears some resemblance to the theory of natural selection; and the possibility of teaching the blind to read through the sense of touch. A second piece, the Lettre sur les sourds et muets, considering the case of a similar sense deprivation in the deaf and mute, examined several points of aesthetics. The Lettre sur les aveugles applied the principle of relativism to the concept of God, and was considered so radical that Diderot was seized and thrown into the prison of Vincennes for three months.
The Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers is considered one of the monuments of the Enlightenment. As editor-in-chief, Diderot contributed hundreds of articles, many of them on social and religious philosophy. The Encyclopédie was intended to be a compendium of all theoretical knowledge available to humankind, as well as a practical reference for workmen of all trades. Diderot visited workshops and factories, taking notes on all types of manufacturing practices and eliciting trade secrets, and collaborating with an artist to produce detailed illustrations. As a consequence, the Encyclopédie remains a valuable historical record of the economic practices of the eighteenth century.
The Encyclopédie became a mouthpiece for radical Enlightenment thinkers. It challenged the traditional authority of the Roman Catholic Church and undermined the political establishment by promoting religious tolerance, freedom of thought, and the value of science and industry. Numerous attempts were made to suppress its production, and subscribers were obliged to travel outside of Paris in order to collect the final ten volumes.
Although the Encyclopédie was Diderot's monumental work, he was the author of new ideas in many areas of intellectual interest. He wrote sentimental plays, Le Fils naturel (1757) and Le Père de famille (1758), accompanying them with essays on dramatic poetry, including the Paradoxe sur le comédien, in which he announced the principles of a new drama, the serious, domestic, bourgeois drama of real life, in opposition to the stilted conventions of the classic French stage.
Diderot was also an art critic. His Essai sur la peinture was described by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who thought it worth translating, as a magnificent work, which speaks even more helpfully to the poet than to the painter, though to the painter too it is as a blazing torch." Diderot's most intimate friend, the philologist Friedrich Melchior Grimm, wrote newsletters for aristocrats in Germany, reporting what was going on in the world of art and literature in Paris, then the intellectual capital of Europe. Between 1759 and 1779, Diderot helped Grimm by writing accounts of the annual exhibitions of paintings in the Paris Salon. According to Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, these pieces of art criticism initiated a new attitude towards art in France, and introduced people to the mystery and purport of color by ideas. "Before Diderot," Anne Louise Germaine de Staël wrote, "I had never seen anything in pictures except dull and lifeless colors; it was his imagination that gave them relief and life, and it is almost a new sense for which I am indebted to his genius." Diderot's favorite among contemporary artists was Jean-Baptiste Greuze, whose paintings rendered scenes of domestic virtue and the pathos of common life: "It has been said that love robs those who have it of their wit, and gives it to those who have none" (Paradoxe sur le comédien).
Two of Diderot’s most remarkable pieces are Jacques le fataliste (written in 1773, but not published until 1796) and the dialog Le Neveu de Rameau (Rameau's Nephew). Jacques le fataliste et son maître is a humorous, ironic story of fate and individual choice. Diderot wrote the original draft of Le Neveu de Rameau in 1761, and continued to make alterations to it until his death twenty-three years later. Goethe's German translation (1805) was the first publication of Le Neveu de Rameau in Europe; the first French publication did not appear until 1823. Other works include Règrets sur ma vieille robe de chambre (Regrets on Parting with My Old Bathrobe) and Le rêve de D'Alembert, which deals with the constitution of matter and the meaning of life.
Several of Diderot’s books were confiscated because of their radical content, and did not appear in print until after his death, during the French Revolution. La religieuse, the story of a young girl who entered a nunnery and was corrupted by her Superior, was published in 1796. It was originally written by Diderot and Grimm as an attempt to lure their acquaintance, the Marquis de Croismare, to Paris by playing on his interest in the case of a nun who had refused to give up her vows. Diderot sent letters in her name to the marquis, as if she had escaped her convent and was looking for his help, and from these letters he composed the book. Supplement au Voyage de Bougainville, which contains an indictment of slavery and colonialism, was not published until 1796.
All links retrieved August 17, 2013.
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Slow the spread of EAB
Even though the entire state of Missouri is now under federal quarantine and it is legal to move ash products and hardwood firewood among counties within the state, the Missouri Invasive Forest Pest Council URGES everyone to follow the following steps to protect from the spread of EAB:
Three easy ways to slow its spread
Don’t move firewood.
EAB travels in firewood. The easiest way to keep it from spreading is to avoid buying exotic firewood and/or moving it from place to place. What is exotic firewood? Any stick of wood that comes from more than 50 miles from the place it was cut. If you burn firewood in your home stove or use it for camping, cut and burn your own or make sure the wood you buy comes from a local forest.
Visit Don't Move Firewood to find out how easy it is to slow the spread of EAB and other harmful pests.
Don't transport ash for woodworking (including buying ash wood over the Internet).
There is risk involved with using wood from a dead ash tree for woodworking projects or buying some uniquely patterned ash lumber over the Internet. You just might unwittingly help the emerald ash borer travel tens if not hundreds of miles to a new home.
Don't plant ash trees.
EAB feeds exclusively on ash trees. If you deprive them of food, they can't survive. Choose from any number of other suitable hardwoods for shade, habitat and timber.
See the Missouri Department of Conservation's Missouri Urban Trees (PDF) for varied tree options.
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During his State of the Union address, President Obama reaffirmed his commitment to taking action to fight climate disruption. And in many respects, the president has already accomplished quite a lot: stronger fuel standards, increased energy efficiency, a doubling of solar and wind installations, curbing toxic pollution from coal plants, and beginning the process to establish carbon-pollution standards.
Unfortunately, as President Obama himself surely knows, when measured against what is actually necessary if we want to save our lands, forests, oceans, rivers, and children's future, those accomplishments still fall well short of the mark. That's not entirely his fault. He has challenges -- most notably a hostile Congress -- that are beyond his control.
By definition, "all of the above" makes no distinction at all between the clean energy sources of the future and the dirty fuels that are disrupting our climate and threatening our world. For us to achieve real progress on energy and climate issues, we must base our energy policies on a practical and consistent standard of "clean before dirty."
What would such a standard mean for America?
"Clean before dirty" means holding polluters accountable for their pollution. We need protection from carbon, soot, smog, sulfur, water toxics, and coal ash from coal-fired power plants. We need more waters protected under the Clean Water Act. We need stronger federal standards and better science to protect water, air, and our climate from unproven technologies like fracking and other forms of oil and gas production.
"Clean before dirty" means rejecting proposals to import dirty fuels such as tar sands and stopping the rush to export coal, oil, and gas. We need to see consistent support for clean energy projects overseas.
"Clean before dirty" means rejecting fossil fuel projects that are more expensive and subject to unpredictable price hikes that families cannot afford. That's right, today, in many parts of the United States, new electricity generation options based on fossil fuels are more expensive than wind, solar, and increased efficiency.
"Clean before dirty" means protecting our public lands, water, and wildlife from reckless fossil fuel development and climate disruption. We need to stop the rush to expand oil and gas drilling, coal mining, and dirty fuels development on our public lands, while permanently protecting the most vulnerable and valuable lands while we still can.
Lastly and most importantly, "clean before dirty" means speeding the clean-energy revolution by opening innovative financing and investment avenues for energy efficiency and renewable energy, while also smoothing the path for environmentally responsible clean energy development on public lands and waters and within federal agencies. And let’s be clear: “environmentally responsible” means not throwing birds and other wildlife under the bus in some blind rush to hit the numbers. Siting, installation and operation of renewable energy projects must be done in ways that uphold the highest standards of protection for wildlife and great American landscapes.
It's only fair to acknowledge that the president has made some progress on most of these fronts during the past five years. But for nearly every clean step forward, there has been a disastrous, dirty step backward -- whether it's giving Shell Oil the green light to drill in the Polar Bear Seas, taking a pass on cutting down on dangerous smog pollution, or continuing to allow the leasing of coal at below fair market value.
The world's best climate scientists have made it clear: To avoid catastrophic climate change, we cannot exceed 800 billion total tons of carbon emissions by 2100. We've already used up at least two-thirds of that budget, and we're going through another 10 billion tons each year. If we burn just the fossil fuel reserves that are already claimed today by coal, oil, and gas companies, we'll end up hundreds of millions of tons past the disaster point. That doesn't even consider the possibility of new fossil fuel discoveries (and it's not as though no one's looking for them).
No one, not even the president of the United States, can change this math. We believe this president when he says he's serious about taking action on climate disruption. So, it's time for a choice: "clean before dirty" or "all of the above"?
Brune is executive director of Sierra Club and Yarnold is president and CEO of the National Audubon Society.
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Awesome Video Explains Synthetic Biology
A succinct, yet powerful animation titled "Synthetic Biology Explained" shows the incredible potential of this emergent field and how engineering will transform the field of genetics to produce some truly amazing technology. With the sequencing of the human genome and the increased understanding of genes that have followed, unraveling of the genetic code had led to mastery of genetic manipulation. Now, synthetic biology is poised to take these principles and combine them with engineering and computer technology to usher in an era of programmable biological systems that have the potential to transform a vast array of industries, including agriculture, medicine, ecology, pharmaceuticals, and materials science.
Capturing the excitement and promise of a diverse field is a challenge, but Australia-based agency Bridge8 does a fantastic job, as you can see:
Recently we covered the SynBio Startup Launchpad at Singularity University and included this video at the end to offer some perspective about the field. But this animation summarizes such a vast body of research in an easy to understand presentation that it deserves its own post. Public understanding of scientific ideas and technologies, which can often be complex, benefit hugely from polished videos like this, and so we look forward to more of what Bridge8 can produce. You can also check out the team's other projects covering critical thinking, synthetic meat, and regenerative medicine on their YouTube channel.
Latest posts by David J. Hill (see all)
- What Happens If Society Is Too Slow to Absorb Technological Change? - June 14, 2016
- This Week’s Awesome Stories From Around the Web (Through June 11th) - June 11, 2016
- Solar Energy Is Now as Cheap as Fossil Fuels - June 9, 2016
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Should schools teach students earthquake safety measures?
Elaine Yu Yee-nee, 15, Creative Secondary School
I don't think it's a good idea that students learn earthquake safety at school. We are unquestionably in an era of learning. With limited time and resources, schools should provide students with the best they can. Teachers need to make choices - they need to select the most beneficial topics for students to train them to become global citizens. what's more, If students were taught earthquake safety, shouldn't they also be taught tsunami safety or tornado safety? There's just not enough time at school.
Hong Kong is quite far from the nearest seismic zone. It is unlikely Hong Kong would be hit by an earthquake. Students should be taught more practical knowledge, such as how to help the elderly and the orphans.
I don't mean it's not important to learn about earthquake safety measures It's just inappropriate for students to learn the subject at school. We can look up information in books and on the internet .
Ronald Ling Pak-ki, 20, University of Hong Kong
What would happen if there was an earthquake in Hong Kong? Most of us think Hong Kong is blessed because we've never had any natural disasters. But recent studies have shown the seismic belt has shifted borders to Hong Kong, and a small-scale earthquake took place last month. I think we should be on the alert.
We do not have any experience in dealing with earthquakes. Our only knowledge of earthquakes comes from news reports and documentaries. That's second-hand information. No one can predict how destructive an earthquake in Hong Kong would be. We need to respond properly to remain safe. Lives would be at stake. We need to have more than just a little basic knowledge.
The public should be familiar with the standard procedures taken during an earthquake. It's like knowing what to do when there's a fire.
Schools should be responsible for teaching students how to respond in case of an earthquake. This would help prevent chaos in the event of an earthquake. It's vital for an international metropolis to maintain order even when hit by natural disasters.
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<urn:uuid:85f509f7-a7f8-4083-87ad-c279c7dc71ce>
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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http://www.scmp.com/article/732705/should-schools-teach-students-earthquake-safety-measures
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en
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