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We are all familiar with Cantor’s diagonal argument that proves there exist infinite sets which are “larger” than the set of natural numbers. In this post I will show that we can express this argument in the form of a program, thus showing that there are countable sets which are “computably uncountable”.
I begin with the program itself:
type Cantor = Nat -> Bool diagonal :: (Nat -> Cantor) -> Cantor diagonal cs n = not (cs n n)
Cantor is “the cantor space”, the type of infinite sequences of booleans. We will call such an infinite sequence “a Cantor“. There are clearly infinitely many Cantors; e.g. take the range of this function which gives False at every position except the one specified:
unit :: Nat -> Cantor unit m n = m == n
diagonal is (Georg) Cantor’s diagonal argument written as a program — it takes an alleged sequence of all Cantors, and returns a Cantor which does not occur in the sequence, by construction. This function shows by contradiction that we cannot put Cantors in 1 to 1 correspondence with naturals, and thus that there are more Cantors than there are naturals.
So how many Cantors are there? Since Nat -> Bool is a Haskell type — the type of computable functions from Nat to Bool — Cantors must be representable by programs. We can encode programs as numbers by treating their source code as base-128 numbers. Hence, there are no more Cantors than naturals, and so Cantors can be put into 1 to 1 correspondence with naturals.
Wait — what? There are more Cantors than Nats, but they both have the same size? Something is wrong. Indeed, in the process of this argument we have asserted both
- “We cannot put Cantors in 1 to 1 correspondence with naturals”
- “Cantors can be put into 1 to 1 correspondence with naturals”
We clearly can’t have both.
The erroneous statement is (2). It is undecidable whether a given program represents a Cantor. If the nth Cantor is ⊥ at n, then diagonal will fail: diagonal cs n = not (cs n n) = not ⊥ = ⊥. Because ⊥ is a fixed point of not, diagonal cannot return an element different from the one it was given. Thus for diagonal to work, we must require that Cantors be fully-defined — no infinite loops!
With this requirement, we can no longer put Cantors in 1 to 1 correspondence with the naturals, because we would have to solve the halting problem. It is not enough that the type of the term is a Cantor, it now must be fully defined for all inputs, and determining that given arbitrary source code is an undecidable problem.
The erroneous statement is (1). Cantors are computable functions, so as we have argued, they have the same cardinality as the naturals. There are no more programs than numbers, so by the definition of equal cardinality we can put them in 1 to 1 correspondence with a function.
The problem with (1) occurs because diagonal takes as its first argument not an arbitrary sequence of Cantors, but a computable sequence of Cantors. If cs is not computable, then neither is diagonal cs (for we no longer have cs‘s source code with which to construct it), and Cantors are defined to be computable sequences. So diagonal fails to contradict our bijection.
The erroneous statement is (2). Section II claims to put Cantors and naturals in 1 to 1 correspondence, but it is lying. Suppose Section II is formulated with respect to some axiom system A. If it were “telling the truth”, we would expect there to be some term f in the language of A such that for every fully defined Cantor program c, there is some natural number n such that we have (i.e. it is a theorem of A that f(1 + 1 + … + 1) = (source code of c)).
Let’s suppose we have written down the axioms of A into a Haskell program, and we have a (partial) function proofSearch :: Nat -> Cantor, which, given a number n, searches for theorems of the form and compiles and returns the first such c it finds. In the case that there is no such statement, it just runs forever; similarly for the case that c fails to compile. Although cumbersome to write, I’m sure we agree that this is possible to write. If section II is not lying, then we expect that for every natural n, proofSearch n does in fact return a valid Cantor.
Now, let us return to familiar lands with a new program:
evidence :: Cantor evidence = diagonal proofSearch
Oh my! If section II is the truth, then proofSearch is a total, computable function of type Nat -> Cantor, which we can pass to diagonal to find a Cantor that it missed! So it must have been lying, either (1) about its function f finding every possible Cantor or (2) about it actually possessing such a function (i.e. it “proved” that there is such a function, but it couldn’t actually represent it). In either case, it did not actually create a 1 to 1 correspondence between the naturals and Cantors.
Left as an exercise for the reader.
Which one is it really?
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Scholars date the digging of this underground
water conduit to the 9th or 10th century BCE. It is accessed by a
descending tunnel which terminates in a vertical shaft the bottom of
which is at the level of the Gihon Spring.
Using this system,
residents of ancient Jerusalem could obtain water during periods of siege or war without having to
venture outside the city wall. The shaft bears the name of its
19th-century discoverer, the British scholar Charles Warren.
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Siebel VB Language Reference > VB Language Reference >
This standard VB function is used to determine whether the end of an open file has been reached.
The file number used in the Open statement to open the file
The value -1 if the end of the specified open file has been reached, 0 otherwise.
For more information about assigning numbers to files when they are opened, read Open Statement.
This example uses the Eof function to read records from a Random file, using a Get statement. The Eof function keeps the Get statement from attempting to read beyond the end of the file. The subprogram,
CreateFile, creates the file
C:\TEMP001 used by the main subprogram. For another example, read FileDateTime Function.
Declare Sub CreateFile
' Put the numbers 1-10 into a file
Dim x as Integer
Open "C:\TEMP001" for Output as #1
For x = 1 to 10
Write #1, x
Dim msgtext as String
newline = Chr(10)
Open "C:\temp001" For Input As #1
msgtext = "The account numbers are:" & newline
Do While Not Eof(1)
msgtext = msgtext & newline & acctno & newline
Line Input Statement
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Definitions for virus attachment
This page provides all possible meanings and translations of the word virus attachment
U.S. National Library of Medicine
The binding of virus particles to receptors on the host cell surface. For enveloped viruses, the virion ligand is usually a surface glycoprotein as is the cellular receptor. For non-enveloped viruses, the virus CAPSID serves as the ligand.
The numerical value of virus attachment in Chaldean Numerology is: 9
The numerical value of virus attachment in Pythagorean Numerology is: 5
Find a translation for the virus attachment definition in other languages:
Select another language:
Discuss these virus attachment definitions with the community:
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Use the citation below to add this definition to your bibliography:
"virus attachment." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2016. Web. 27 Jun 2016. <http://www.definitions.net/definition/virus attachment>.
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Is body mass index obesity accurate? In a word, no. Studies show that by comparing two adult women with similar height, weight and BMI, one has twice as much fat as the other one. Body mass index obesity is suppose to measure a person's body fat by using their height and weight. This method would be very accurate if it also measured bone density, fat mass and lean mass, which vary for every person whether they are slim or obese. There is a method used by doctors to determine percent of fat called dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA), which can measure fat mass, lean mass and bone density and is very accurate.
Factors to Consider
The body mass index scale started out years ago for Caucasian women and men, never taking into consideration the different body composition in men and women, much less between the different races. The results of a person's BMI are used to tell what weight category they belong in, the category determining whether the person is overweight, underweight or at an ideal weight. As an example, a category that falls in the 18.6 to 24.9 range is just right, a category that falls below 18.5 is seen as underweight, and a category that falls between 25 to 29 is considered overweight (with anything over 30 being obese).
In reality, a person can fall into the 25 to 29 range and still be slim and in good health, but have more lean mass and bone density; the opposite is also true. Other things that can cause the body mass index obesity to be inaccurate are hydration state and bone mineral content.
Body Mass Index Obesity vs. The Tape Measure
Some studies have shown that by simply measuring your waist circumference, arm's and leg's is a better way of determining if a person is overweight. Some believe that a combination of using the BMI and a tape measure will give very accurate readings as to a person's overhaul health.
A quote from the National Institutes of Health says, "a bigger waist circumference (greater than 40 inches for men and 35 inches for women) is linked to a higher risk of type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, abnormal cholesterol levels, and heart disease when BMI is 25 to 34.9." This would seem to be the reason why using a tape measure in conjunction with the BMI is recommended.
If your body mass index obesity shows you to be toward the high end, and your waist measurements agree, your health care provider should put you on a healthier diet and start you on a regular exercise program. Losing weight and getting in shape will improve blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol.
We all want to live a long and healthy life watching our children and grandchildren grow up. By taking care of our bodies through healthy eating and regular exercise, we will come closer to that goal.
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Netball was originally conceived as a women's version of basketball. It rapidly grew as a sport, particularly in the Commonwealth, and about 20 million people play netball around the world. The Commonwealth Games along with the World Championships, represent the top level of competition for the sport.
Netball players can't run with the ball or dribble and are restricted to certain parts of the court, depending on their position.
Top netball players are fast and agile. Although height and reach are advantages, great footwork, reflexes and tactical awareness are also important.
Did you know that Hall of Fame and International Player Amanda Newton competed in London Youth Games.
This competition is a new development sport added to the LYG event calendar for 2016. The event is to give older players an opportunity to...» More
The traditional 7-a-side game, played against the other 32 London Boroughs at Crystal Palace National Sports Centre. This competition...» More
England Netball is the organisation responsible for the sport in England. They work to grow participation, including work in schools and prepare teams at all age groups including for the Commonwealth Games
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How many ways can you tie a tie? For many years there were just three styles of knot: the Four-in-Hand, the Windsor, and the Half-Windsor. Then the Pratt was introduced to the world on the cover of the New York Times in 1989.
Intrigued that only one new knot had been added to the tie-tying repertoire in more than half a century, two researchers from the University of Cambridge's physics department, Thomas Fink and Yong Mao, decided to see how many tie knots were actually possible.1 To this end, they applied random walk theory – a technique useful for describing movement which, although unpredictable in detail, reveals large-scale patterns. Such patterns, the researchers realized, were essential to a successfully accomplished tie-knot. For example, if the end of the tie is moved to the right, its next move can't be to the right again – it has to be either to the left or to the center. This means that each move made in tying a tie can only be followed by one of two alternatives. Fink and Mao found that the simplest possible knot involves just three moves. They went on to discover 85 possible tie-knots, including the four popular knots, six new knots that they consider aesthetically pleasing, and two complicated nine-move knots.
Related category TOPOLOGY
Home • About • Copyright © The Worlds of David Darling • Encyclopedia of Alternative Energy • Contact
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But sometimes we overlook the sports of other lands, and that’s a shame, because we’re missing out on some amazing games.
I came across one of those sports last Saturday, when I trekked up to Columbia University to watch the New York Knights play the Boston 13s in a game of rugby.
Now, for those who are unfamiliar with the sport (don’ worry, I was one of you just last week), there are two kinds of rugby that are played: Rugby Union and Rugby League. While Rugby Union is the variant you’ll see played more often in Europe, Rugby League is generally more accessible to Americans, as it’s similar to American football. The Knights and 13s play in the American National Rugby League (AMNRL), a league which plays, you guessed it, rugby league.
Like every game, the object in rugby league is score more points than your opponent. Offensive teams get six tackles (think of downs in football) to score. There are a few ways to score. The first is to score a try, worth four points, which happens when the attacking (offensive) team gets the ball over the defense’s try-line. (Think of scoring a touchdown.) However, unlike football, the rugby ball must actually touch the try line. (It’s not enough to just break the plane.)
After scoring a Try, teams can then attempt a place kick for two extra points. (Think of a point-after) However, unlike football, the place kick is attempted from the side of the field where the Try was scored. So if a player scores a try from the far right side of the field, the place kick takes place on the far right side of the field. (Because of this, everyone tries to score in the center of the field.)
So as you can see, it’s not a terribly difficult sport to grasp. However, there are some differences between football and rugby.
In football, an offensive line clears a path for the running back to run through. In rugby, there is no offensive line. If you get the ball, you’re on your own against thirteen angry defensemen.
Also, in rugby there is no down by contact. A play is whistled dead once the attacking player’s ball-carrying arm is on the ground.
Another difference is that there is no forward passing in rugby. If you’re about to get tackled, you can pitch the ball to the closest player behind you.
Differences aside, rugby league is an exciting sport to watch and play. Due to the similarities, a lot of former collegiate football players go on to play rugby after their careers end.
“There are a lot of players who played football in college who just give up after college,” said Knights head coach Guillaume Cieutat. “When they can really come and have success in rugby.”
Knights player Chris Carey was one of those players. Carey, who played football at Columbia, described rugby as the “next logical step” after his collegiate days were over.
However, both Carey and Cieutat noted that not every football player can succeed in football.
“There so much running and so much play time,” Carey said, “that you can’t have big fat linemen.”
Cieutat agreed, but stressed more on coordination and fitness. “Fitness is big for me,” he said. “One minute you can go from tackling to running, to catching, and you have to be fit enough and have good enough hands to adjust.”
The Knights and 13s were both fit enough to put on a spectacular show Saturday night, with each pass, big run, and crushing hit raising the intensity level. Even rugby’s iconic scrum, (which actually occurs very rarely- only after penalties) had high intensity.
And once you get past the differences, you will get to your feet the first time an attacker breaks through the defense for a big run, and you will cringe the when the player finally gets dragged down and flipped to the floor for tackle.
On Saturday, New York did most of the running and tackling. The Knights jumped out to a quick 12-0 lead over the 13s and never looked back, cruising to a 46-30 victory and moving to 4-1 on the season. Carey made the most of his return to his college haunts, and was named man of the match. And while Cieutat was mostly happy with his team’s performance, I came away thrilled.
Folks, if you get a chance to watch a rugby game, do it. You won’t be sorry.
For more information on the New York Knights, visit www.newyorkknightsrugby.com
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THE LAST CONTINGENCY TO RETURN HOME A BURN OF THE LM'S ASCENT ENGINE.
THE DOCKED APS BURN STEPS.
FLOWN on Apollo 13, LM-7 Contingency Checklist, pp. 20 and 21. A single sheet printed recto and verso. NASA/MSC January 6, 1970, updated February 9, 1970. 8 by 5 ½ inches. With a Typed Letter Signed by FRED HAISE.
Both sides have been INSCRIBED and SIGNED: "Carried around the Moon! FRED HAISE, Apollo 13 LMP."
The Apollo 13 crew lost the use of their primary rocket engine, the Service Module's (SM) Service Propulsion System (SPS), due to an oxygen tank explosion some 55 hours into the mission. This forced the crew to use their Lunar Module (LM) with its separate oxygen and power as a "life boat" to survive. They needed the LM's rocket engines to place them back onto a trajectory that would allow them to be in the precise place to safely enter the earth's atmosphere. The larger Descent Propulsion System (DPS), designed to land the LM on the Moon, had sufficient fuel to make the engine burns needed for the nearly 4 days to return to the earth. However, if the DPS failed or encountered problems, the only other large engine available was the Ascent Propulsion System (APS), originally designed to lift two lunar landing astronauts off the Moon. This sheet has the steps the crew needed to perform as a last hope procedure to return safely to the earth.
Consensus within the Astronaut Corps and mission controllers is that if indeed the APS was needed for the return home, it would have been the most demanding flight scenario ever undertaken during an Apollo mission.
FRED HAISE'S September 20, 2007 signed provenance letter reads in part: "Accompany this letter is a sheet numbered 20 and 21 from the Apollo 13 LM-7 Contingency Checklist carried and used on the flight of Apollo 13 during April 11 to 17, 1970. Our flight was scheduled to be the third lunar landing mission but had to be aborted after a Service Module oxygen tank explosion. During this emergency, electrical power conservation was paramount in order for us to survive the amount of time required to return to the Earth. Commander Jim Lovell would have used this sheet to perform any LM Ascent Propulsion System burns to get our crippled CSM and docked LM back to Earth if our LM descent engine failed.
The top of side 20 is labeled "DOCKED APS BURN" and would be used primarily for an abort during insertion into lunar orbit if our descent engine did not provide sufficient velocity to escape from the lunar gravity environment. The center of this side has an illustration of our FDAI or Flight Director Attitude Indicator on the LM control panel. It also describes the flight method for "PITCH Error" then "ROLL Needle Left" with steps I should perform immediately after APS ignition. I made the additional notes in red ink of: "If rate & err needles moving in same direction in same quadrant."
The side numbered 21 has a series of steps including battery, circuit breaker, and switch settings. Various systems were set to "ON" or "OFF" with some "OPEN" or "CLOSED." The steps after "400+5" were to load and verify the actual burn values including time and attitude.
After the flight I wrote and signed side 20 and 21 in blue ink with: "Carried around the Moon! Fred Haise, Apollo 13 LMP." This sheet has been in my personal collection since 1970. It is a significant artifact from the Apollo 13 mission."
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Browse by Medical Category
Research with Drosophila
1. The UAS/GAL4 system allows us to study gene expression in the fruit fly, Drosophila. A subset of neuroendocrine cells in the larval CNS is revealed using a neuropeptide-GAL4 line to drive a UAS-GFP reporter (green). In collaboration with Dr. Erik Johnson (Wake Forest University, NC).
2. The Drosophila ortholog of the Neurofibromatosis Type-1 (NF1) gene is expressed in a subset of neurons (stained red) in the larval CNS. The optic neuropil is revealed by staining for actin (green).
3. Insulin (stained in red) controls organism growth during fly development. Produced in seven neuroendocrine cells located on each side of the larval brain hemispheres (blue arrow), it is then transported through processes (yellow) and secreted into the hemolymph.
4. We have used genetic screens to identify modifiers of the NF1 growth defect in Drosophila. Fly pupae are shown, from left: wild-type, NF1 mutant (reduced in size) and three genetic enhancers in the NF1 mutant background. These enhancer mutations result in a further reduction of organism size and help reveal how NF1 regulates growth.
5. Genetic interactions between genes involved in Schwannomatosis. The Drosophila eye can be used to determine whether two genes interact with each other. Scanning electron micrographs of a wild-type eye (left) and an eye from animal mutant for two genes implicated in the development of schwannomas, which results in tissue overgrowth (right).
Back to Top
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part 1 2 3 4
The head of the SS, Heinrich Himmler, had ordered the mobilisation of a special division under the command of notorious Erich Von den Bach. So, at the same time as the Zoska battalion was liberating the Jews, Von den Bach's men were launching a full scale attack on the "Vola" district in the western suburbs.
Maria Jaszczol lived in the Wola district of Warsaw with her family. Her father was killed by the S.S. in the civilian massacre of August 5, 1944.
"Germans ask all the civilians from all the block of flats to come down to the street," remembers Jaszczol, "and it didn't matter whether it was small children or grown-up parents or old people, they all had to come. They heard machine gun shots. When these machine guns were getting nearer and nearer, my younger brother sort of tried to shield my father. Well, the German took him by the back of his neck and throw him to the ground and shot my father. Not only him, all the other people as well. Thousands of people were killed, more than 20, if not more in that one day, in those few hours. We did not realise that they are not only shooting the people, that they not only burned the houses but also the human bodies. Even if some of them were still alive, they just burned everything. Next day - so that was the sixth, August - we couldn't breathe because, although it was a beautiful sunny day, it was complete darkness. The smoke was so dense."
An estimated 35,000 people were shot by the SS in Warsaw that day, but in other parts of the city, in the Old Town for instance, people were unaware of the massacre. Each district of Warsaw had become a fortress almost totally separated from its neighbour by barricades and enemy lines.
"At one stage," says Jaszczol, "I went to the old town. They were celebrating because they already managed to liberate this old town, so they were singing and dancing. They didn't know what went on in Vola. They didn't. We were young. We were very young. Between the age of 16 and 20, 22, and we were full of life and full of energy and we were uplifted by the fact that we are doing something, that we are fighting for our freedom. There were times when we were dancing if we get the chance or singing, or joking with each other. I think that, that was the part of us which wanted to live."
On day 13, the fighters in the Old Town captured yet another tank, but this time, it was not accompanied by singing and dancing.
"I was in the gatekeeper's flat and in his kitchen," recalls Hanna Niedzielska-Kepinska, "and I was preparing soup for the boys which were fighting on the barricades, and suddenly my colleague came to me and said, 'Hanna, come, come because our boys brought the tank. It's outside our gate.' So I said, 'Alright. I will come, I will come, I have to finish the soup.'"
Hanna Niedzielska-Kepinska (right)
In a recording from the Imperial War Museum archive, Zofia Nowiak says "We were standing on the balcony. I have seen the little tank coming towards us and on this tank there was a little boy with a little Polish flag on the top. There were quite a lot of people around him and everybody was singing and shouting because this tank was moving and the Polish crew was in it."
"The tank was packed with explosives and they were timed," says Hanna Niedzielska-Kepinska.
"There was such a terrible explosion and when we looked down," says Nowiak, "all the square was littered with the bodies."
"On the street, when I went out finally from the house," says Niedzielska-Kepinska, "it was so slippery because it was the remnants, blood, everything mixed together. It was a carnage."
"There was dead silence for a while," says Nowiak. "And then, suddenly, they started to cry and scream, and that was the beginning of the hell."
Go to part 4
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CHALLENGING THE VACCINATION DOGMA
Sherri Tenpenny, DO
A chilling, consistent pattern exists in stories told by parents:
The reports vary slightly in content and timing, but the descriptions of thousands of children who suddenly regress into the isolated world of autism are eerily the same.
What is dogma?
Webster�s defines dogma as �a doctrine; a positive arrogant assertion of opinion� and medical dogmas certainly abound. Many have existed for decades simply because a claim of effectiveness was made and never disputed. Over time, the allegations were melded into medical jargon, presumed to be facts.
An early example of dogma in the vaccine industry occurred in 1913 when Dr. Simon Flexnor held out that polio was a disease caused by a virus entering the body through the nose and mouth. He postulated that paralysis arose when the virus traveled directly from the sinuses to the brain and the spinal cord. Flexnor�s assertions about the mode of paralysis were never reproduced and it is now known that polio is a gastrointestinal virus, not a respiratory virus.
Difficulties in developing a vaccine occurred because he propagated a dogma that the polio virus would only grow in neurological tissue, a culture media that was associated with life-threatening encephalitis in experimental animals. No one attempted to use other types of tissue cultures to grow polioviruses. His solo paper remained unquestioned dogma for 25 years until Dr. John Enders found, serendipitously, that the virus would indeed grow in a variety of different tissues. When Enders� revolutionary discovery was published in Science, January 28, 1949, the entire virology community immediately accepted the new findings. The polio vaccine was produced within five years. A scientific claim passed off as dogma vanished when challenged by scientific fact.
Present day vaccine dogma is promoted by The Institute of Medicine (IOM), a group of ostensibly impartial physicians, scientists and researchers. After reviewing the industry-funded research papers concluding there is no connection between vaccines and autism, the IOM similarly concludes there is no connection between vaccines and autism. How could they come to any other conclusion?
The phrase, �temporal association does not prove causality� means that even though two events occur at the same time, one event does not cause the other.� The IOM supports the dogma purported by the American Academy of Pediatrics: Since autism occurs chronologically around the same time as the first year vaccinations, angry parents need something to blame.
Parents blame the vaccine, but medical officials blame the defective child, a position supported by the government at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC.) The following statement was published in the CDC�s publication on infection diseases, referred to as The Pink Book:
Current investigations are searching for a genetic cause for autism. The identification of corrupt genes will give ammunition to public health and medical officials who are quick to point an incriminating finger at defective parents.
The classic example of unquestioned dogma is the long held notion that the sun rotated around the earth. In 1530, Copernicus challenged the assumption with evidence that the earth rotated on its axis once daily and traveled around the sun once yearly. A fantastic concept for the times, the new information was considered heresy. Later, when Galileo supported Copernicus' conclusions, he was imprisoned, subjected to a trial by Holy Inquisitioners, and forced to withdraw his evidence to save his own life.
Similarly, parents are forced into vaccination decisions by modern day medical inquisitioners. Threats include expulsion from the medical practice and calls to children�s protective services with accusations of medical neglect. Parents are told vaccines are safe and necessary for keeping children healthy. But are they really safe?
Vaccination is a medical treatment, and, like dogmas, assumptions regarding the effectiveness of medical practices abound. A report published by The Government Accounting Office (GAO) in 1978 concluded that �only 10 to 20 percent of all procedures currently used in medical practice have been shown to be efficacious by controlled trials.� In other words, up to 90 percent of accepted medical practices are assumed to be effective without proof. Vaccination falls into this category.
Contrary to repeated claims by the government and the pharmaceutical industry, vaccines have never been proven to be safe by the gold standard of medical research: The double-blind, placebo controlled investigation. In a placebo-controlled study, the safety of a medication is determined by comparing it to a neutral substance, such as a sugar pill. In vaccine safety trials, a new vaccine is not compared to an inert compound such as a shot of sterile water. Instead, the �placebo� is another vaccine. If the number of side effects caused by the experimental vaccine is found to be the same as the number of reactions caused by the placebo-vaccine, manufacturers declare the new vaccine to be �as safe as placebo.�
Another trick used by investigators to promote the safety of vaccines is to discount any part of the study�s data that suggests a problem. The following excerpt from a clinical trial demonstrates how a placebo-vaccine is used and the elimination of negative data occurs. The study was designed to determine the safety of Comvax�, a vaccine combining the Haemophilus influenza vaccine (HiB) and the hepatitis B vaccine into one shot.
The placebo in this study, the HiB and the hepatitis b vaccines, was a vaccine given as two separate shots. Because the number of side effects from the single shot was similar to the number of side effects induced by the separate shots, Comvax� was declared to be �as safe as placebo.� Investigators nullified the association between the vaccines and SIDS with a stroke of the pen. Comvax� was declared to be �well-tolerated.�
Researchers define an effective vaccine as one that creates antibodies after being deposited into the bloodstream, a response called �positive seroconversion.� One vaccine is considered to be more effective than another, from a researcher�s perspective, if the first vaccine induces a larger antibody response than the second.
The medical community and the general public define an effective vaccine as a vaccine that protects a person from the infection they have been vaccinated against. For example, the chickenpox vaccine is considered to be effective by doctors if, in the case of an outbreak, those vaccinated do not contract chickenpox.
The definitions differ substantially and have considerably different ramifications, mostly because the presence of an antibody does not assure the person will be protected from infection. Many outbreaks have occurred in fully vaccinated populations. One example was an out break of measles that occurred in a group where more than 99 percent of the population had been vaccinated. Many outbreaks of chickenpox and mumps have occurred when children were fully vaccinated.
A substantial body of evidence demonstrates that antibodies do not assure that a will be vaccine clinically effective. The package insert of the HiBTiter�, a vaccine to protect against an infection by the H. influenza b bacteria, clearly states �the contribution [antibodies make] to clinical protection is unknown.� Similar findings have been reported about the pertussis vaccine: �The findings of efficacy studies have not demonstrated a direct correlation between antibody response and protection against pertussis disease.� Even tetanus has occurred in patients with high anti-tetanus antibody levels. The esteemed medical journal, Vaccine, states clearly, �It is known that, in many instances, antibody titers do not correlate with protection.�
The dogma that vaccines are safe and effective has become a medical sacred cow, an icon regarded to be above criticism or attack. Challenges to vaccination have often been written off as conspiracy theories. Parents have learned through experience the difficulties of challenging their pediatrician�s vaccine mandates. Nonetheless, many are resisting the medical profession�s dogmas about vaccines and many are refusing vaccinations for their children.
A benchmark in a civilized society is the absence of infectious diseases, a doctrine that emerged during the pre-antibiotic era. Public health officials attribute low infection rates to mandatory vaccination policies rather than giving credit to improved personal hygiene and modern conveniences such as indoor plumbing. It is time for the truth about vaccines to be widely known. Vaccine safety has not been proven. Vaccines provide false security about protection. Vaccines can cause harm. It is time to dispense with the �safe and effective� dogma before one more person is harmed.
Rogers, Naomi. Dirt and Disease, Polio before FDR. (New Brunswick:
Rutgers University Press, 1996), p. 24
2007 Sherri Tenpenny - All Rights Reserved
E-Mails are used strictly for NWVs alerts, not for sale
Dr. Sherri J. Tenpenny is respected as one of the most knowledgeable and outspoken physicians in the country regarding the negative impacts of vaccines on health. Through her education company, NMA Media Press, she spreads her vision of retaining freedom of choice in healthcare, including the freedom to refuse vaccination. Her three hour DVD, Vaccines: The Risk, The Benefits and The Choices, her new book FOWL! Bird flu: It�s Not What You Think, and many other books, tapes and materials are available HERE. Information about her medical clinic in Cleveland, Ohio can be found HERE.
The classic example of unquestioned dogma is the long held notion that the sun rotated around the earth. In 1530, Copernicus challenged the assumption with evidence that the earth rotated on its axis once daily and traveled around the sun once yearly. A fantastic concept for the times, the new information was considered heresy.
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Assam has two different communities? hira and the kumar in the clay and terracotta craft. Both have two different methods of working. The hiras...
Clay & Terracotta of West Bengal
The finest patterns of terracotta panels can be found in Bengal towns of Murshidabad, Birbhaum, Jessore, Hooghly and Digha. The theme is generally folk and the patterns are fairly highlighted with traditional skill and explicit artwork.
The clay used is generally a blend of two to three clays found in river beds, pits and ditches. More often than not the fuel used is one of the local resources available in the form of twigs, dry leaves or firewood. The kilns where the clay pots are baked are operated at temperatures between 700 ? 800 degrees celcius.
The womenfolk in the khumbkar families are the potters who work on the wheels making the round necks and the upper halves of the pots. They also make solid clay toys and dolls which are cast in burnt clay moulds. Large figurines of gods and goddesses are also made in clay and generate a lot of income for these families.
Terracotta, which is found mainly in rural parts of West Bengal, has found inroads into mainstream lifestyle with many household using the suraii, a clay pitcher used to keep water cool. Most rural households use terracotta feeding bins for cattle, tea mugs, clay pots for cooking rice, plates, tumblers, yoghurt pots. Most of the items though are of the use and throw variety.
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Individual differences |
Methods | Statistics | Clinical | Educational | Industrial | Professional items | World psychology |
Biological: Behavioural genetics · Evolutionary psychology · Neuroanatomy · Neurochemistry · Neuroendocrinology · Neuroscience · Psychoneuroimmunology · Physiological Psychology · Psychopharmacology (Index, Outline)
|The entrance to the larynx, viewed from behind. (Aryepiglottic fold labeled at center right.)|
|Gray's||subject #236 1079|
|Laryngoscopic view of interior of larynx. (Aryepiglottic fold labeled at center right.)|
The entrance of the larynx is a triangular opening, narrow in front, wide behind, and sloping obliquely downward and backward. It is bound, in front, by the epiglottis; behind, by the apices of the arytenoid cartilages, the corniculate cartilages, and the interarytenoid notch; and on either side, by a fold of mucous membrane, enclosing ligamentous and muscular fibers, stretched between the side of the epiglottis and the apex of the arytenoid cartilage; this is the aryepiglottic fold, on the posterior part of the margin of which the cuneiform cartilage forms a more or less distinct whitish prominence, the cuneiform tubercle. These folds form the upper borders of the quadrangular membrane.
This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained herein may be outdated. Please edit the article if this is the case, and feel free to remove this notice when it is no longer relevant.
Head and neck anatomy, Upper RT: Larynx (TA A06.2, TH H3.05.01, GA 11.1072)
major/unpaired: Epiglottis (Vallecula) · Thyroid (Laryngeal prominence, Oblique line, Superior thyroid notch, Superior horn, Inferior horn) · Cricoid
|Template:Respiratory system navs|
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Yuca is also known as cassava, a root native to South America but now imported from Africa. The root can range from 6 to 12 inches in length and 2-3 inches in diameter. It has a tough brown skin and can be difficult to peel but once peeled it has a white, crisp flesh.
The bitter form of this root is poisonous unless cooked. The sweeter version is used to make tapioca.
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Published August 28, 2011
In the classic 1977 book A Pattern Language, Christopher Alexander and others offer more than 250 "patterns" learned from traditional architecture and research towards the betterment of towns, buildings and construction. The still-influential book gives architects and laypeople guidelines for building better houses.
Pattern number 159 — Light on Two Sides of Every Room — purports that the success or failure of a room is determined by the arrangement of daylight. Based on observations of people in buildings with rooms of varied lighting conditions, the authors conclude that light on two sides creates a better social atmosphere.
Over three decades later we can extend their argument to include the benefits toward green building, namely in the reduced need for artificial light and the ability to naturally ventilate a space.
Whatever the reasoning, providing windows on two sides is not always easy or even possible. Think of infill houses in cities or apartment buildings in high rises. It also can be more expensive to execute a house with ins and outs versus a simple rectangular plan.
An ideal, in my mind, would be an L-shaped plan that defines and outdoor space and is laid out with rooms shallow enough to have flow-through ventilation. The following examples run the gamut with different spaces, styles and lighting effects that can be said to follow Pattern 159.
A narrow floor plan — one room deep — is the best way to get light from two sides. Glazing on opposite sides draws light from two directions, tracking the sun as it moves across the sky. It also is ideal for ventilating a space. This example is extreme, with full-height glazing and operable glass walls. The light is so even that the dining room feels like it is outside.
Another way to bring light in from two directions is by opening the living spaces into one large room, as in this example. A look inside reveals that light also comes from behind the kitchen — at third wall, at left — and a skylight in the middle of the large living area. All of the light sources combine to make an evenly lit interior where comfort can be found in various places, not just next to the windows.
In this double-height space off of a pool, light comes in both low and high— through sliding glass walls and windows above on one side, and through glass doors and clerestories on the other side. One can nearly feel the breeze moving through the space.
This long, bar house features sliding glass doors on both sides that bring fresh air into the different spaces, just as light enters the house. An added benefit is the view of the river (to the left of this photo) that is available to every room in the house.
Not all houses with light on opposite sides need be modern glass boxes. This fairly rustic house features rooms with sliding doors opening to the yard, opposite operable windows. With light on two sides of the dining room table, people are illuminated, and one can "read in detail the minute expressions that flash across people's faces," as Alexander and company assert.
It's not always possible to incorporate light on two sides of a room, especially light on opposite sides. In high-rise city living that is one reason corner units are so prized. The rooms, typically living rooms, that occupy the corner become the most popular. Light is a strong attractor, but so is the wide view afforded by the perpendicular windows.
There is no hard and fast rule about the amount of a glass versus the size of the room, though many of the examples featured here err on the side of too much light, combined with shades or other techniques for controlling light. This small seating area features plenty of windows and light, even a third source in the clerestory above the wall at left.
This photo shows that even inserting a relatively small window (in the center of the photo) strengthens a space. Combined with the built-in bench, it creates a nice seating area that anchors the far end of the living room.
Dining rooms are ideal for corners with windows on two sides. And with today's open plans, that means the kitchen also receives more sunlight. In this example the kitchen/dining area is adjacent to a small yard with some very nice landscaping. Here is a small dining nook off the kitchen where built-in seating is tucked under the two windows. The light and the seating anchor the space and draw one to the corner. It's easy to see the table being a site not only for meals, but also reading the paper, doing homework and other activities.
Bathrooms need not be excluded. In the same house as the seating area with light on three sides, this bathroom has the tub right below the corner windows. Oh, to have a soak here!
Another bathroom features two windows moved away from the corner because a shower occupies that spot. A bathroom is one of the best places for such abundant light; it helps us wake up, and it gives us a better idea of what we'll look like when we get outside.
Browse more home design photos on Houzz.
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When Edmund Selous first saw a flock of starlings, he was both transfixed and baffled. The birds would ripple through the sky like a living sheet, thousands of them flying and turning as one. Their coordination was so precise that Selous, a serious biologist and a pioneer of bird-watching, could think of only one possible explanation—the starlings must be telepathic. After 30 years of observations, he published his ideas in 1931 in a book called “Thought Transference (Or What?) in Birds”.
The bit in the brackets is important.
No, starlings aren’t telepathic. Selous had fallen prey to a common assumption—that complicated behaviour must have an equally complex basis. Instead, we now know that complexity can arise from incredible simple rules. Flying birds can form coordinated flocks just by paying attention to how far away their closest neighbours are and what direction they’re flying in. Stupid fish can suddenly gain new powers of thought and calculation just by swimming in a shoal. Locusts can instigate a plague that devastates nations just by nipping each other in the legs.
We know this thanks to the burgeoning science of collectives—the study of birds, neurons, cells, wildebeest, ants, humans, and more. It is both the pinnacle of reductionism and its complete antithesis. It tells us that behaviour which seems impossibly complex can have disarmingly simple foundations. But it also reminds us that we will only perceive those foundations by looking at the whole instead of the parts.
In a big story published in the latest issue of Wired, I take a look at these swarms, and how they achieve their amazing feats of collective movement and even collective intelligence. The piece focuses on the work of Iain Couzin from Princeton University—he’s one of the most prominent disciples of the swarm, and someone whose work I’ve written about a lot on this blog. But I also look at the history of swarm science, how it differs from related (but more boring) concepts like the wisdom of crowds, and how it will develop in the future, through team-working robots and hacked crows.
I hope you enjoy it. Here’s a little teaser:
The first thing to hit Iain Couzin when he walked into the Oxford lab where he kept his locusts was the smell, like a stale barn full of old hay. The second, third, and fourth things to hit him were locusts. The insects frequently escaped their cages and careened into the faces of scientists and lab techs. The room was hot and humid, and the constant commotion of 20,000 bugs produced a miasma of aerosolized insect exoskeleton. Many of the staff had to wear respirators to avoid developing severe allergies. “It wasn’t the easiest place to do science,” Couzin says.
In the mid-2000s that lab was, however, one of the only places on earth to do the kind of science Couzin wanted. He didn’t care about locusts, per se—Couzin studies collective behavior. That’s swarms, flocks, schools, colonies … anywhere the actions of individuals turn into the behaviors of a group. Biologists had already teased apart the anatomy of locusts in detail, describing their transition from wingless green loners at birth to flying black-and-yellow adults. But you could dissect one after another and still never figure out why they blacken the sky in mile-wide plagues. Few people had looked at how locusts swarm since the 1960s—it was, frankly, too hard. So no one knew how a small, chaotic group of stupid insects turned into a cloud of millions, united in one purpose.
Couzin would put groups of up to 120 juveniles into a sombrero-shaped arena he called the locust accelerator, letting them walk in circles around the rim for eight hours a day while an overhead camera filmed their movements and software mapped their positions and orientations. He eventually saw what he was looking for: At a certain density, the bugs would shift to cohesive, aligned clusters. And at a second critical point, the clusters would become a single marching army. Haphazard milling became rank-and-file—a prelude to their transformation into black-and-yellow adults.
That’s what happens in nature, but no one had ever induced these shifts in the lab—at least not in animals. In 1995 a Hungarian physicist named Tamás Vicsek and his colleagues devised a model to explain group behavior with a simple—almost rudimentary—condition: Every individual moving at a constant velocity matches its direction to that of its neighbors within a certain radius. As this hypothetical collective becomes bigger, it flips from a disordered throng to an organized swarm, just like Couzin’s locusts. It’s a phase transition, like water turning to ice. The individuals have no plan. They obey no instructions. But with the right if-then rules, order emerges.
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The Dharun Ravi Verdict: Lessons on Reducing Prejudice and Bullying
A verdict has been reached in the Dharun Ravi trial. The ex-Rutgers student faced a series of charges, including bias intimidation and invasion of privacy, after he used a webcam to watch his college roommate Tyler Clementi kissing a man. The incident drew international attention after Clementi killed himself, raising difficult questions about homophobia, bullying, and the level of tolerance and diversity in American colleges. This week, we spoke with RSF Visiting Scholar Elizabeth Paluck about the Ravi trial and its implications. Paluck, a social psychologist at Princeton, studies prejudice and intergroup conflict reduction and has used large-scale field experiments to test theoretically driven interventions.
Q: A large part of the Dharun Ravi trial centered on the intentions and actions of Tyler Clementi’s peers—what they thought about his homosexuality, what they said to him and others about it and how they acted around him. What do we know about the importance of peer influence on prejudice and attitudes in school settings?
A: We think that peers have a strong influence, especially because much of the behavior that we care about unfolds in situations that are dominated by peers. Peers exert their influence by setting a standard, through their own behavior or expressions of belief, about what is appropriate and typical to do in that situation. In my field, that is what we call a social norm--a perception of what is appropriate and typical to do in the situation. Sometimes these peer-based social norms are so pervasive across situations that students internalize them as private attitudes. But the powerful thing about peer influence is that it can exert a pressure on students to behave in ways that they normally would not, or that go against the student's private attitudes.
- Website: Elizabeth Paluck
- Study: Peer Pressure Against Prejudice: A High School Field Experiment Examining Social Network change
- Study: What’s in a Norm? Sources and Processes of Norm Change
- Study: Diversity Training and Intergroup Contact: A Call to Action Research
Students report in surveys that they believe if they stand up against prejudice or bias then their peers will not like them as much. Other research shows that they are right! In those studies, students who object to teasing and harassment lose a bit of face, of their reputation, and are liked a little bit less. This is not to say that being an active bystander is a lost cause. Students have ways of shooting down prejudice or bias that can preserve their reputation, and in fact many of them do this every day, by supporting the target of harassment, or calming down someone who is doing the harassment. Many programs that urge students to stand up, speak out, are a bit less sensitive to this fact than they should be. Students can have a major positive influence on one another, and I think they have some great strategies for doing this in a sustainable way.
Q: In a 2011 paper, you looked at whether tolerance could be spread through student leaders who were trained confront expressions of prejudice. Give us a snapshot of some of the major findings and their implications for combating bullying.
A: I found that student leaders' behavior (which included confronting expressions of bias but also speaking to targets of harassment, or seeking adult help in certain situations) spread to other students in their social network; for example, the friends of trained student leaders were more likely to sign a website petition advocating for gay rights than were the friends of student leaders who were randomly assigned to wait for the leadership and outreach training. Interestingly, the trained student leaders did not influence attitudes in the same way--they were only able to encourage close friends to think like they think. However, I was encouraged by the behavioral finding, because of the theoretical stance that I take, which is that harassment is not necessarily caused by your personal beliefs or attitudes, but by the behavior of your peers, and your perceptions of the behavior of your peers.
So, a bottom line implication is that students are quite sensitive to the ways in which important peers are behaving, and they figure out what is acceptable and desirable in a school situation by watching these peers' behavior. Students will try not to deviate too much from the behavioral standard their peers set, ie, from the peer social norm. In a current project with Hana Shepherd of Princeton University, we have been using social network analysis to determine which student leaders are most influential over these perceived social norms of harassment, and our results so far have been very promising when we've tested whether those students can in fact change students' perceptions of harassment norms at the school.
Q: After Clementi’s suicide, columnist Dan Savage launched the ‘It Gets Better’ campaign, which posted a series of short public service announcements from celebrities and other activists aimed at gay teenagers. You’ve looked at the ways entertainment and media can be used to reduce bias – how effective can this medium be in reducing prejudice?
A: I think that media can set in motion a very important process, which is the perception that certain ideas or behaviors are typical and desirable in your society. When a media campaign takes off, and particularly when it is endorsed by the people around you, it can change your perception of social norms, meaning your perception of what behaviors are typical and desirable. I've studied this approach to changing people's behavior, and I would contrast that to other types of approaches that target a person's private beliefs or attitudes. Because behavior is linked so closely to our perceptions of societal and especially peer approval, I've suggested that to change prejudiced behavior, it may be more fruitful to target social norms than personal beliefs. Put simply, you should convince someone that their peers no longer support gay bashing, rather than convince the person that they, personally, should not support gay bashing. The It Gets Better campaign has the potential to do this, because students observe that it is a trending, successful media phenomenon. Students may also notice their friends tweeting about it, sharing it on Facebook, or discussing it positively at school. However, if a student's close friends told him that they thought the It Gets Better project was stupid, I would say that this would weaken the campaign's effect. We need reinforcement in our immediate environments; media cannot be the ultimate cure because it operates at a bit more of a distance.
Q: The Ravi trial has also raised questions about the best way to deal with bullying and bias intimidation in schools and colleges. One idea is to increase the use of diversity training seminars, which have become fixtures in the American corporate world. You wrote a paper in 2006 examining results from these sessions – how effective are they? Do diversity trainings merely encourage people to express stereotypes?
A: The story of diversity trainings is a depressing one to me as a social scientist, because our field and the diversity training industry has never really tried to test the efficacy of these trainings very rigorously. There are many scholarly critiques of the diversity training industry, but mine focus on whether or not we have actually learned anything about whether they work, whether they are useless, or worse, if they provoke a backlash. My review of many of these programs led me to believe that hypothetically, some of them could work, but also that some of them might really backfire and produce resentment, cynicism, or callousness. Another recent review of diversity trainings by a group of sociologists (Kalev, Dobbin, & Kelly, 2006) showed that advancement of women and minorities is not correlated with one-off trainings, but rather more systemic changes in an organization, specifically full time positions for a person whose job it is at the organization to ensure that women and minorities are fully integrated and given a fair shot at advancement. Employing someone full time to worry about this, someone who is legitimate and integrated into the organization, produces more long term meaningful change, according to their research.
My bottom line is that we have a lot of creative, experienced, and hard working advocates out there, and we should be assessing the concrete behavioral consequences of what they do in schools and organizations. I'm also a big advocate of social scientists taking their carefully constructed theories out into the field and testing their efficacy in the interest of creating more inclusive and supportive environments at school and work. If we have ideas about what creates inclusion and equality, these should be tested in the settings that could use them. There isn't enough of this kind of translational research from the ivory tower to the world, to my mind.
Q: Social psychologists and policymakers have long been interested in finding ways to reduce prejudice. What is your assessment of the literature on this subject? Are we any closer to practical, effective interventions? What are some promising approaches on the horizon?
A: I can be a bit of a downer when it comes to assessing the state of the art in the prejudice reduction field. In the review I wrote with Donald Green, we concluded on the basis of over 900 research reports that we just don't have much evidence (showing positive, neutral, or negative effects) of whether or not prejudice reduction interventions are working. In short, we just don't know what works. This is obviously not because of a lack of research, but more because of the types of research methodologies deployed when researchers are trying out whether there are observable, behavioral effects. There isn't a very big body of evidence on real world interventions using research methods that allow for inferences about cause and effect, showing that know that x intervention can have y behavioral effect in the real world. Many other interventions are contained to laboratory tests with college students, and their translation to real world contexts is unknown. However, I am optimistic about the future involvement of social scientists, including psychologists like myself, in assessing prejudice reduction programs. This kind of applied work is growing and gaining more recognition. I also think that there are exciting developments in the social psychology literature that could lead to promising approaches to prejudice reduction. One research program pursued by a few different working groups, for example, considers the kinds of interventions that increase vs. reduce intergroup tensions, and in particular, considers when increased tensions could be productive, in the interest of provoking social change efforts.
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The views expressed on this site do not necessarily represent the views of the Russell Sage Foundation.
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This product is currently not available for purchase.
CHILDREN'S UNDERSTANDING OF RECTANGULAR SOLIDS MADE OF SMALL CUBES. Edition No. 1
- ID: 1898413
- January 2010
- 116 Pages
- VDM Publishing House
This study investigated fourth graders' understanding of rectangular solids made of small cubes through equal sharing activities involving cube buildings. A quasi-experimental design was utilized. In the first phase, clinical interviews were conducted individually to assess the level of functioning both in concrete and pictorial situations. In the second phase, they engaged in equal sharing of spatial constructions using drawings, concrete buildings, loose cubes, and colored pens. In the last phase, post-clinical interviews were conducted to probe their improvements. Students used three distinct conceptualizations for cube arrays depending on what they formed as a unit and how they structured the whole building. Initially, their structuring was distracted by the complexity of buildings and none of them used the same strategies consistently across the problems. During the instruction, they exhibited the same three conceptualizations. After the instruction, all students consistently used layering strategies regardless of the complexity of the buildings. Equal sharing situations paved the road in establishing units, composite units, and unit iteration.
Sinan Olkun is currently working for Ankara University, as a Professor of Mathematics Education at the Faculty of Educational Sciences, Department of Elementary Education. His area of interest includes children’s mathematical development, geometric thinking, spatial visualization and word problem solving.
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'I hear that Ladies think it delightful reading, but that it does not do to talk about it, which no doubt promotes the sale.' For the first time online you can now read the full texts of nearly 800 letters Darwin wrote and received during 1871, the year in which his controversial first public statement on human evolution was published. The extraordinary number of letters reflects the excitement the book – Descent of man and selection in relation to sex – caused. All 2500 copies of the first printing sold immediately, and 5000 more copies were published during the year.
Darwin played an important role in the controversy over vivisection that broke out in late 1874. Public debate was sparked when the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals brought an unsuccessful prosecution against a French physiologist who had performed vivisection on dogs.
Darwin was a photography enthusiast. This is evident not only in his use of photography for the study of Expression and Emotions in Man and Animal, but can be witnessed in his many photographic portraits and in the extensive portrait correspondence that Darwin undertook throughout his lifetime. His close friend and botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker would come to call Darwin’s epistolary exchange of photographic images as his “carte correspondence”.
Read and search the full texts of more than 8,500 of Charles Darwin’s letters, and find information on 6,500 more. Discover complete transcripts of all known letters Darwin wrote and received up to the year 1871.
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Shooting at clay targets a few inches wide as they fly past you in two different directions at fast speed? And actually hitting them? It's a thrill like none other, and can prove to be an addictive sport when you take the plunge. Skeet shooting involves speed, accuracy, and eye-to-hand coordination. Shooting skeet can be done for pure enjoyment or in competitive matches. If you're an experienced shooter or if you just want to get started, shooting skeet is a good and popular option to explore. See Step 1 to learn how to get started shooting skeet.
Learning the Rules
1Know what you're shooting at. As in trap shooting, skeet shooting involves aiming at small clay targets that are launched through the air to simulate bird hunting. They're typically orange and typically about 4–5 inches (10.2–12.7 cm) in diameter. They're fired individually and simultaneously from two different points at each side of an arc of stations, where you'll rotate, firing between 2 and 4 shots at each target. A round of skeet involves 25 shots.
2Use a skeet gun. Generally speaking, a skeet gun is an over-under double-barrel shotgun. Though any type of shotgun would be appropriate for the task of shooting skeet, this type of gun is often referred to as a "skeet gun" among experienced shooters for its accuracy and range.
- Consider adding relatively open chokes to improve your accuracy and ensure that you'll hit the target regularly. This is a common addition among experienced skeet shooters.
3Learn the difference between the stations. When shooting skeet, you'll move between 7 different stations in an arc (21 yards from the target launch) and one point from slightly closer up. You're essentially aiming in the same general direction each time (down range) but you'll change your angle on the targets when you move from point to point. There are two traps which release clay targets from either side of the range, one low target and one higher target, both of which will cross your field of vision and your firing line. The object is to hit both of the targets.
4Learn the target pattern. The order of the targets being released changes from station to station. Generally, you'll only shoot one target from each trap, though this changes at different points along the way. Learning the pattern is part of the strategy of the event.
- At stations 1 and 2 a single target is released from the higher trap, then a single target is released from the lower trap (sometimes called "high house" and "low house"). Then, there'll be another target released from the low trap, and then targets released simultaneously. On the simultaneous release, the object is to shoot the higher target first. A total of four shorts will be taken at each station.
- At stations 3 through 5 a single target will be released from the higher target, then a single target released from the lower house, for a total of two shots at each station.
- At stations 6 and 7 The pattern is exactly the same as stations one and two. A high target, a low target, and then simultaneous targets. The only difference is that the lower target should be shot first this time. There will be a total of four shots taken at each of these stations.
- At station 8, the closer-up station, you'll shoot a high target and a low target. If you've not missed up until this point, there'll be a bonus shot on a target released from the lower house.
1Get positioned. If you've never shot clay before, stand inside any one of 7 stations positioned equidistantly around a half-circle on one side of the skeet field, between the high and low houses and take a few practice shots to get used to the flight pattern of the targets. Practice to get a sense of their timing and their basic trajectory.
2Assume the proper shooting stance. Facing the target, keep your back straight and spread your feet to a comfortable width. Bend your forward knee slightly and place your weight on your forward foot. Bring the gun to your shoulder and keep it tight in. Maintain good cheek weld on the stock and get a good sight picture with your gun.
3Practice swing the gun in an arc. As you mount the gun, practice tracking your shots with the safety on and the rifle unloaded a few times to get a sense of the motion. The targets move pretty fast so it's no wonder that experienced shooters have to develop a fair amount of muscle memory to shoot well. It's got less to do with perfect "aim" and more to do with these mechanics. Once you've gotten your swing loose, it's time to shoot a few targets.
4Learn to shoot ahead of the targets. Getting a sense of the trajectory and the lead you need to give each target will take some time, but once you've got it dialed in, you'll be winging 'em out of the sky. Adjust your lead time if you are missing the targets too often and move from one target to the next. Use your natural swing as much as possible to quickly track each target and squeeze the trigger.
5Follow through. Just as in golf and basketball, accurate target shooting like this involves a certain amount of follow through. Imagine that your swing is like an arc that you push a button on to start and pull the trigger to activation at some point along the way. The arc doesn't stop after you fire. Keep moving the gun through your swing after you pull the trigger, but remove your finger from the trigger when you're finished.
Taking the Next Step
1Join a local gun club. To get regular access to the club’s facilities, join a skeet club. There, you can meet other shooters, learn tips, and even start competing. Some clubs have skeet leagues you can join.
2Join the National Skeet Shooting Association (NSSA). As an NSSA member, you’ll be able to shoot in registered tournaments, improving your accuracy and your scores, and even acquiring a ranking.
- The levels are generally classed at different skill levels, so you can compete against shooters with a similar handicap when you're first getting started. Don't worry about being the best yet. Focus on the mechanics and keep shooting and you'll eventually climb up.
3Consider skeet lessons. An experienced shooter can offer you helpful advice, critiques, and pointers to straighten that learning curve. As you improve, a coach can continue helping as you compete, kind of like a caddy does a golfer. Certified skeet-shooting instructors are an invaluable help when you're first learning.
4Keep shooting. Reading about it won't help you get any more accurate. Get out there. Shooting regularly will help build in the necessary muscle memory and get you shooting accurately. After a while, it'll be raining clay.
- Make sure the gun is empty when you have finished skeet shooting and you are exiting your station.
- Make sure the shotgun is empty until you are in your station and ready to begin skeet shooting.
- Practice swinging and mounting with an empty gun in a mirror until you feel comfortable with the movements.
- Start skeet shooting using a gun gauge you are comfortable with and work your way up to more advanced equipment as you improve.
- Use shot shells with low shot and more powder for less recoil when practicing.
- Consider getting instruction from a certified National Sporting Clays Association (NSCA) trainer.
- Note that the high and low houses are situated to fling the clay targets 15 feet (4.6 m) above the shooters, crossing at a center point 18 feet (5.5 m) from Station 8 (situated halfway between the high and low houses).
- The high house is situated 10 feet (3.0 m) about Station 1, while the low house is set 3 feet 6 inches (15.2 cm) above Station 7.
- Always start swinging first before mounting the gun.
- Do not point the shotgun in any direction but down field, in the direction of the two houses.
- Do not attempt to shoot skeet without proper ear plugs and eye protection.
Sources and Citations
Categories: Guns and Shooting
In other languages:
Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 105,714 times.
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Social Skills Chipper Chat is a fun, motivating, magnetic chip game designed to help students discuss and understand appropriate ways of dealing with numerous social situations. The game has 12 different sets of social "theme" boards. To encourage group or individual discussions, the boards present 144 everyday scenes (12 per theme), related social stories, and relevant follow up questions.
|12 Theme Boards|
- Polly Parrot Politeness
- Race for Responsibility
- Peer Relation-SHIPS
- Camp Compliance
- Assertion Asteroids
- Staying Focused
- Operation Cooperation
- Building Body Language
- Problem Solving Solution
- Self-Management Soccer
- Ice Cream Social Rituals
- Negotiation Nations
Each of the topics has five illustrated Chipper Chat boards, so groups of 2-5 students can play. Every game board has 12 social scene cards that relate to the main theme of the board. Two levels of stories accompany each scene. Level A is a short, simple story that contains the basic facts describing the action in the scene. Rely on this level for young children. Level B is a longer story with additional facts. Use this story with more advanced students that have greater attention spans and the ability to grasp main ideas and inferences.
Four questions/discussion statements follow the stories.
- Why Question - asks why a person acted a certain way in the story.
- Related Question - asks a relevant question about the story.
- Reasoning/Predicting Question - asks what might have happened, how the characters felt, or what the student thinks about the situation.
- Personal Discussion - the player talks about what he/she has done or would do in similar circumstances.
There are over 576 question/discussion opportunities!
Each time a player answers a question, he/she rolls the die and earns chips to place on the game board. When the board is full, the player uses the "magic" wand to pick up the "flying"chips.
Social Skills Chipper Chat
- 12 boards (60 playing surfaces total, 8 ½" x 11")
- 144 social scenes (9 ¾" x 6")
- Instructional activity book
- Magnetic wand and chips
- Sturdy storage box
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Numbers, numbers, numbers ... you see them all over the grocery store and even on your foods.
Let’s start with taking a closer look at those little stickers on your fruit with codes. I have known they were part of a pricing and inventory system, but did you know there was more to the story? Here’s the lowdown on those pesky stickers.
PLU stands for Price Look UP. It is a numbering system used by supermarkets on produce since 1990 for easier checkout and accurate inventory control. All stores use the same codes. These codes are four or five numbers in length.
The PLU stickers can be found on produce sold by weight or unit in an unprocessed form and they originated as a service to growers, shippers and retailers to help with the supply chain for fresh produce.
What do those numbers mean? Well they actually mean more than price and inventory. The first number reveals the general category for instance 4 = fruit, 9 = organically grown and 8 = genetically-engineered produce. However, it is not really that helpful to use the leading “8” as a way to identify genetically-engineered foods just yet. The numbering system is optional. No one really uses the number 8 on produce. So although this system is in place to identify genetically-engineered produce, it is still optional and not widely used.
The second set of numbers to look at are the sell-by date, use-by date and expiration dates. As with most things grocery related, something simple like a date is actually more complicated than it might seem.
Here is some basic information regarding sell-by and use-by dates!
The sell-by date is a suggested date the manufacturers voluntarily use to stamp on their product packages to indicate when to eat for optimum quality. Not all products have this date (it is voluntary not a legal requirement).
Every carton of milk sold in the United States is clearly labeled with a “sell-by,” “pull,” “use-by” or “best-if-used-by” date. Each of these dates means something different. The “sell-by” and “pull” dates refer to how long a grocery store can keep the product in the dairy case. The product must be sold by the date labeled on the package. This date takes into account time for the food to be used at home, so you should buy the product before the “sell-by” or “pull” date, but you don’t have to use it by then. When properly refrigerated, milk will stay fresh two to three days after this date (perhaps longer).
The use-by date is similar to the best-if-used-by date; both refer to the last date that the product is likely to be at peak flavor and quality. These dates tell us how long the product will stay fresh at home. If kept cold and stored properly, you may have fresh, wholesome milk and dairy products for more than a week past the “use-by” or “best-if-used-by” date. When in doubt, let your nose be the guide -- milk that has gone bad has a sour scent. If it doesn’t smell right, toss it out.
The bottom line is: Pay attention to the dates, store foods properly and, if in doubt regarding food safety, toss it out.
Eat well, live well!
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Set up a habitat for the snakes. These habitats should be separate and must be similar to ones in the natural environment.
Snakes are cold-blooded animals, so ensure that there is sufficient warmth available at the place where the snakes are kept.
In the habitat of the female boa, place a small heated rock in one corner. The rock should be constantly heated and to prevent the female boa from getting burned, wrap the rock in towels or any soft yet thick material.
Keep the snakes in their respective cages for a few months till the opposite sexes become accustomed to each other. Make sure that both the snakes are more than two years old.
Take the male boa out of its cage and introduce it to the female cage. If the living habitats are proper and there is no aggression, the snakes will mate.
Place the male boa constrictor back to its cage right after the snakes have mated with each other.
The female boa will resort to a warm spot after it has mated. Make sure the cage is warm enough for her to be comfortable. She will most probably spend a few days resting in one position.
Re-introduce the male snake weekly until you are confident that the female reptile has become pregnant.
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These neat rows of cola bottles represent matter can in three different states—solid, liquid, and gas. The bottles and caps are solids, the cola is a liquid, and carbon dioxide dissolved in the cola is a gas. It gives cola its fizz. Solids, liquids, and gases such as these have different properties. Solids have a fixed shape and a fixed volume. Liquids also have a fixed volume but can change their shape. Gases have neither a fixed shape nor a fixed volume. What explains these differences in states of matter? The answer has to do with energy.
Energy is the ability to cause changes in matter. For example, your body uses chemical energy when you lift your arm or take a step. In both cases, energy is used to move matter—you. Any matter that is moving has energy just because it’s moving. The energy of moving matter is called kinetic energy. Scientists think that the particles of all matter are in constant motion. In other words, the particles of matter have kinetic energy. The theory that all matter consists of constantly moving particles is called the kinetic theory of matter. You can learn more about the theory at this URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Agk7_D4-deY.
Kinetic Energy and States of Matter
Differences in kinetic energy explain why matter exists in different states. Particles of matter are attracted to each other, so they tend to pull together. The particles can move apart only if they have enough kinetic energy to overcome this force of attraction. It’s like a tug of war between opposing sides, with the force of attraction between particles on one side and the kinetic energy of individual particles on the other side. The outcome of the “war” determines the state of matter.
- If particles do not have enough kinetic energy to overcome the force of attraction between them, matter exists as a solid. The particles are packed closely together and held rigidly in place. All they can do is vibrate. This explains why solids have a fixed volume and a fixed shape.
- If particles have enough kinetic energy to partly overcome the force of attraction between them, matter exists as a liquid. The particles can slide past one another but not pull apart completely. This explains why liquids can change shape but have a fixed volume.
- If particles have enough kinetic energy to completely overcome the force of attraction between them, matter exists as a gas. The particles can pull apart and spread out. This explains why gases have neither a fixed volume nor a fixed shape.
Look at the Figure below. It sums up visually the relationship between kinetic energy and state of matter. You can see an animated diagram at this URL:
Q: How could you use a bottle of cola to demonstrate these relationships between kinetic energy and state of matter?
A: You could shake a bottle of cola and then open it. Shaking causes carbon dioxide to come out of the cola solution and change to a gas. The gas fizzes out of the bottle and spreads into the surrounding air, showing that its particles have enough kinetic energy to spread apart. Then you could tilt the open bottle and pour out a small amount of the cola on a table, where it will form a puddle. This shows that particles of the liquid have enough kinetic energy to slide over each other but not enough to pull apart completely. If you do nothing to the solid glass of the cola bottle, it will remain the same size and shape. Its particles do not have enough energy to move apart or even to slide over each other.
- According to the kinetic theory, particles of matter are in constant motion. The energy of motion is called kinetic energy.
- The kinetic energy of particles of matter determines the state of matter. Particles of solids have the least kinetic energy and particles of gases have the most.
- kinetic theory of matter: Theory that all matter consists of constantly moving particles.
Watch the animation at this URL, and then answer the questions below.
- Which phase of matter, solid, liquid, or gas has the most kinetic energy?
- State the kinetic theory of matter.
- Explain the relationship between kinetic energy and state of matter.
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NASA wants to pay people $18,000 to lie in bed for 70 days.
The space agency says it wants to study how long-term space missions affect the body, the Weather Network reports.
Lying in bed is a straightforward way to simulate microgravity without heading to space.
During the experiment, participants will first be observed in normal gravity conditions. Then they will lie in a tilted bed for more than two months.
Read more here.
Also read: Fan pays $4.2M for Batmobile
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Patriotism has a different face for everyone. Some follow it blindly, some reject and oppose it, some stand indifferent, and others choose to follow it cautiously. Patriotism is also now a challenge for multi-cultural societies because the back bone of social unity can no longer be merely similarities in ethnicity, culture, or religion. In this essay, I shall state the risks of following patriotism blindly and the risks involved in rejecting patriotism completely. I will also show the practicality and correct motives for following moderate patriotism.
Patriotism is the love, commitment, and loyalty an individual feels for his or her country. In the U.S. , patriotism started after English, Scottish, and Dutch settlers achieved their independence from England (Hibben 2). Later, a migration of multi ethnic people came to aid with the development of the country, adopting it as their own (3). Psychologically, patriotism is a result of people's definition of themselves according to the groups they love and belong to (Bar-Tal 216). I shall proceed to argue the limits of this love.
Blind patriotism is most popularly seen as harmless, or even a goal worthy of effort. How is it possible that blind patriotism, something that strengthens communal unity, be harmful by any means? In Patriotism, Morality and Peace , Stephen Nathanson writes, “Most people think of patriotism as a trait that is valuable and worth encouraging. … They expect other citizens to care about and support the country and assume that patriotism is a virtue… No society can endure and flourish without some degree of commitment to its overall good” (Nathanson 3). Thus, patriotism is often viewed as a commitment necessary for the strength and growth of a community, in this case, a national community. Many people believe that following leaders for the overall good of a community can by no means be harmful. In a recent interview with CNN, Britney Spears, a pop star, called on people to “trust the president in every decision he makes… and we should just support that and be faithful in what happens” (Alter). In other words, blind patriotism calls for people to stop thinking autonomously and instead adopt actions and ideas that please the rest of the national public, for the unity and good of the rest of the country.
However, according to some anti-patriotic thinkers, blind patriotism is a destructive idea that erodes the world. The flaw in blind and unconditional commitment to one community is the belief that a community is superior to other communities (Nathanson 4). Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) declared blind patriotism, “our country right or wrong,” as a form of “monarchical patriotism,” or repeating the historical mistake of abiding by the English throne without representation (Alter). Leo Tolstoy went even further and declared patriotism “very stupid and immoral” (Nathanson 4). He supported this statement by adding, “The sentiment (of patriotism), in its simplest definition is merely the preference of one's country or nation above the country or nation of any one else… (H)ow can patriotism be a virtue… when it requires of men an ideal…not of the equality and fraternity of all men, but of the dominance of one country or nation over all others?” (4).
However, the commitment, love, and loyalty an individual feels for his or her country does not mean he or she opposes, hates, or desires to dominate other countries. Tolstoy's argument is persuasive and by far more reasoned than that of blind patriotism, but there is a simple flaw in it—commitment to a nation does not necessarily mean the desire to dominate other communities (Nathanson 17). The commitment, love, and loyalty that individuals feel for their families does not mean they oppose, hate, or desire to dominate other families. Patriotism was described in 1915 by John Grier Hibben as a love for the country as well as love for the rest of humanity, each love complimentary and necessary to the other. He describes two kinds of love, a sort of intimate love (as one has for the family or country) and a merciful love, a love for the stranger who needs a helping hand (such as that to other families or countries) (Hibben 4-5). In other words, loving our own family inspires us to love other families due to the moral principles we acquire from that experience. However, this love for the stranger must have some rules and limitations. Our love for another country should not overwhelm their autonomy and self thought. For example, Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt supported the annexation of the Philippines in the grounds of the U.S as a universal model; however, William James supported an anti-imperialistic idea that defended the Philippines in their right to self-government.
Thus arises a question of diversity and patriotism—can there be love for a nation if the ideal for the nation is as different as all the individuals in it? The problem with the concept of patriotism as loyalty and commitment to family, or a homogeneous society, is that modern nations are no longer homogeneous, but rather have divisions such as creeds, opinions, races, cultures, and values. These differences and divisions clash constantly as a result. This clash causes pain and divides a nation even further. In the late 1800's, immigrant children were extensively exposed to the American flag, patriotic songs, and military drills supported by the government in hopes to “Americanize” these children, or make them loyal to this country. (O'Leary 176) However, many of these children's parents (immigrant and non-immigrant) were offended because the government's attempts to inspire patriotism conflicted with the parents' religious principles. For example, the pacifist Quakers opposed the program's military drills (184). Surely, there must be better ways of creating or nourishing a patriotic sentiment among people. What are these common ties that will build or break a nation from its unity?
Many things unite people in a common bond; however, many of these bonds are artificial and weak. As Carol C. Gould has written, “Holding together multicultural nations has become one of democracy's greatest challenges…” because only a few nations are monocultural now. Thus she goes on to say, multicultural nations “…must seek common identity in something other than race, religion, and culture” (Gould 57).
In recent years, several instances have arisen in which other bonds have been substituted for those of culture. But they are not all healthy options. Modern common bonds such as consumerism and fear fail as worthy backbones of patriotism.
Consumerism should not be a common bond among Americans. As Benjamin R. Barber has stated, there should be a faith in national morals, or the constitution, but instead an artificial faith is being created in the values and products of a nation, to compensate for the contrast in cultural heritage (Gould 58). Although consumerism may appear to be a good basis for national unity because its basis is not culture anymore, this artificial faith in products causes problems. Consumers are seen by companies as potential individual shoppers but not as a group of citizens with the power to change the nation for better. In other words, marketers care about the consumption of their product but not about creating social solutions. On the other hand, the consumer has material power to consume products but not to change a nation through its marketers. For example, a marketer will listen to a consumer say “I want a new television set;” however, the marketer will fail to listen to a group of consumers who ask for less violence on TV (58). This method leaves citizens with a limited power to consume but not to organize in groups and improve society.
Fear is another negative option for promoting group unity. Psychologically, there are two kinds of self-identities in the world-- the autonomous and the group identity. (Bar-Tal 219) American society values autonomous identities. Thus, the majority of people have autonomous identities in this country. This identity creates problems when a group is put together in a frightening situation, for the group will unite only due to fear of a common enemy. While group identity individuals are highly supportive of each other and fare better, the autonomous individuals will seek to connect to the other individuals by finding a common enemy and will create a scapegoat, and confront other groups (Bar-Tal 219). The main problem with this type of unity is that it may create hatred, and foster jingoistic attitudes towards the global community.
Clearly, there are better bases for patriotism. During the Civil War, African Americans had a clear idea of who they were—an American minority fighting for freedom. Their belief was that “…the struggle for liberation and equality would not only affect the future slaves, but also purify American ideals and redeem America's destiny” (O'Leary 112). The history of African Americans shows that one very positive common bond upon which to found patriotism could be the goals of progress, liberty, equality, and justice. These goals are best achieved if the citizens of a nation can all cooperate and participate in their vision of a better country. These goals encourage individuals with different experiences, beliefs, understandings, and cultures to come together to create solutions.
Thus the question bursts forth-- when is a person eligible to become part of a nation, and capable of uniting with others in the bond of patriotism? According to Aristotle, “To be a fellow citizen is to be sharers in one state, and to have one state is also to have one place of residence” (Gross 21). For Aristotle, residing in a country was enough for a person to be a legal citizen of the country. Ancient Greek societies believed citizenship to be “…a territorial identity fused with a political identity…” (28). Thus they had separate ideas of tribal identity, or ethnicity, and citizenship. Modern times still hold that thought as valuable, believing ethnicity does not determine citizenship. So how did Americans become Americans? As explained by the Frenchman Creveceour, “What then is the American, this new man?... He is neither European, or a descent of a European; however, most of all he is an American, who, leaving behind all his ancient prejudices and manners, receives new ones from the new mode of life he has embraced, the new government he obeys, and the new rank that he holds” (Renshon 287). This book further explains that Americans were once Europeans who “…had no economic or social standing, or hope to acquire it, here (in the U.S. ) they did. Ubi pani ibi patria … the motto of the new immigrants” (287). If the root of the American society is indeed this, “ ubi pani, ibi patria ” (literally where there is bread there is my country, in other words, I shall be loyal to the country that feeds me), individuals who feel their country feeds them should decide whether they want to be loyal and cooperative to a government or not. It would be hypocritical for an immigrant's descendant to close the doors to other immigrants, especially if their wish coincides with the current American's forefather's dreams. Immigrants are most often the true representatives of the righteous bonds of patriotism, those beliefs of liberty, equality, and justice. Are not these the principles of the American dream, that for which they left their native country and came to this one?
In conclusion, the individual choice of patriotism is most effective if the common factor uniting people is a belief in the moral principles. If all individuals took the time and effort of creating a better society based on these principles not only would this nation dramatically improve, but the rest of the world would also benefit tremendously. Patriotism is not a call for a person to forget about the world, it is merely a call to build a stronger society so that the nation may later focus more in external aid rather than in internal schism.
Alter, John. “Time for a new Patriotism?” Newsweek. 15 September 2003 Lexis Nexis Academic. 13 November 2003 <http://lib.ecu.edu/>
Barber, Benjamin R. “Three Models of Identity—Ethnic, Commercial, and Civic.” Cultural Identity and the Nation-State. Ed. Carol C. Gould and Pasquale Pasquino. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2001. 57-65.
Bar- Tal , Daniel and Ervin Staub, ed. Patriotism: In the Lives of Individuals and Nations. Chicago: Nelson Hall Inc., 1997.
Gross, Feliks. Citizenship and Ethnicity: The Growth and Development of a Democratic Multiethnic Institution. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1999
Hansen, Jonathan M. The Lost Promise of Patriotism: Debating American Identity, 1890-1929. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003.
Hibben, John Grier. The Higher Patriotism. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1915.
Nathanson, Stephen. Patriotism, Morality, and Peace. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 1993.
O'Leary, Cecilia Elizabeth. To Die For: the Paradox of American Patriotism. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999.
Renshon, Stanley A., and John Duckitt, ed. Political Psychology: Cultural and Crosscultural Foundations. New York: New York University Press, 2000.
Viroli, Maurizio. For Love of Country: An Essay on Patriotism and Nationalism. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995.
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- 01-09-2011, 12:09 PM
The adult stage of the honey bee is also affected by diseases, but both symptoms and damage done to colonies are often less well defined than those resulting from brood diseases. This does not mean, however, they can be ignored. The most damaging adult disease appears to be nosema, caused by a microsporidian that infects the digestive system. The incidence of nosema very often is correlated with stress on a colony. Several viruses also affect both adult worker and queen honey bees, and certain worm-like parasites called spiroplasmas found in nectar have been shown to be deleterious to workers.
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Do you pine for the nice old days, when men were men and build their own coffee machines?
This chapter is about assembling a smart, intelligent!, coffee machine. It will be a computer designed with a von Neumann architecture, comprised of a CPU, ROM/RAM and I/O and will also be suitable for generic use, a.k.a. Universal Turing Machine.
Unlike other complex, but popular, systems that are either CISC or RISC, our machinery will be MISC: Mono-Instruction Set Computer!
Alas, our processor will understand just one command and yet, given enough memory and time, it is able to perform any action that your 3GHz Pentium IV could do, or just simulate it alltogether; It can solve any computable problem by running simple code like this:
SBN $mem1, $addr1 SBN $mem2, $addr2 SBN $mem3, $addr3 SBN $mem4, $addr4 SBN $mem5, $addr5 SBN $mem6, $addr6 [...]
The magic command is called SBN $mem, $addr (Subtract and Branch if Negative), and does take the value of a memory cell $mem, subtract it from the accumulator (A is the only available register in this architecture) and store it back to the accumulator and memory $mem : [mem] <= A <= A-[mem]. If the result is negative, and only then, it jumps to the designated address $addr. If $addr points to the next command, there is no conditional jump. Now, with that command at hand you can subtract, add, zero memory addresses, move bytes around, multiply, compare and so on, so forth. What's best of all, you can easily build an optimizing compiler.
Voila. This is a great system for any Turing Complete problems plus, it is even simpler in coding than the original Turing Machine!
The great thing with this innovative MISC processor is that you need 0 bits to store the opcode of your commands. This makes your CPU much, much simpler: you only have to read a couple of operands each time. You might wish to extend the capabilities of your processor by extending the SBN instruction to 3 or 4 operands, so that it can directly load and store data from main memory. This is an exercise left to the reader; kudos to google.
The CPU diagram looks like this:
<========= ADDRESS BUS ==============> = = = +---------+ = = | CONTROL | = +---------+ +-----------------+ | ALU & A | | Program Counter | +---------+ +-----------------+ = | LOGIC | = = +---------+ = = = <=========== DATA BUS ===============>
Now, all you have to do is just hook together some memory chips, for example by recycling static cache RAM from old 386 PCs, an ALU and a few glue components. You may pick one of TTL or CMOS for logic gates and latches; I'm a CMOS guy, but this really depends on your favourite flavor. You may build an 8, 16, 32, 64 bit or whatever width system you need. Just in case, for larger word widths, I have found preferable building the ALU with pre-programmed 27128 EPROMS instead of the harder-to-find 74x181s. Look around for a carry propagation unit, too.
The monolithic nature of this system allows only memory-mapped I/O, and requires special design provisions for bidirectional interfacing, but nothing more peculiar than what is seen in older-generation systems. AGC, the computer that drove Apollo 11 mission to the moon was making use of such techniques, so it should be sufficient in this case, too.
Note that the data bus has to be exactly as wide as the address bus, that implies that the notion of a byte is only applicable to 8 bit coffee machines, which you will eventually find that it is more of a feature than a bug. You will be surprised with what a coffee you can have for 8 or 16 bits bus! It is really a general-purpose piece of hardware, built for peanuts.
Such a pure system will make a good fit together with the, famous for embedded systems controlling, FORTH programming language. The major prerequisite for doing so is to have a stack mechanism, which in this case can be constructed by a counter combined together with a memory pool.
If you want to claim a serious coffee development platform, C portability is an absolute must nowadays. Your choices might be hacking one of gcc, lcc or sdcc, which with proper tweaking at the back-ends will be able to spit out the specially crafted MISC assembly code. One day you might even want to rewrite another language like C, forget the D letter - it is taken already, so do not make again the same mistakes with your compiler please: http://www.gnu.org/software/gcc/projects/beginner.html
Just in case you thought of writing your own compiler, please read in advance about flex, yacc and just a little bit of related theory. In particular you will quickly appreciate Noam Chomsky's taxonomy on languages:
Because of the way a Turing Machine works (see for that http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/turing-machine/ ), it is a very complicated device to program, and debug at the end of the day. The reason is, that its behavior is a sequential process that is completely determined by the following parameters:
The major contemporary disadvantage of the Turing Machine (TM) is that it is of sequential nature, which implies that only a particular range of problems can be mapped to it in a straightforward way. TMs are suitable for problems that are described well on a serial storage medium (tapes) and don't make use of indexes for data reference. This is in contrast to the Coffee Machine (CM) that can handle any Random Access algorithms as well (with no compromise of simplicity).
Add to this, that TMs impose a very high and unnecessary complexity on item (3) in favor of keeping (1) and (2) simple. And just in case you don't agree that the so called Table of Instructions gets trully overwhelmed, have you ever tried to write a compiler for a Turing Machine? A system that isn't easily programmable and is hard to debug, should be considered a seriously questionable system, at least as far as Computer Engineering (!= CS) is concerned. For instance, try to simulate the Coffee Machine with a Turing Machine and vice versa. Hey, if you still disagree, show me the code.
Bottom Line: The Coffee Machine (CM), is a much better model for the von Neumann architecture and has a O(1) relationship with what is standard practice of weighting algorithms, in the current form of complexity theory.
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Jennifer Thomson Explains How Genetically Modifying Plants Allows Us to Add Certain Traits
Rebekah Kendal wrote an article for Foschini’s Club Magazine about genetically modified foods and spoke to Jennifer Thomson to find out more. Thomson, who is the author of Food for Africa: The life and work of a scientist in GM crops, explained that there’s nothing new about manipulating plants to suit our needs but that GM gives us the ability to “add genes specifically for a given trait”, such as insect-resistance.
The long and short of it
Genetic modification (GM) is a form of biotechnology in which genetic material is transferred from one living organism to another. For example, a gene could be taken from a fish and added to the DNA of a tomato. There is nothing really new about manipulating plants to suit our needs – hybrids have been around since the 1920s – but GM involves specific changes on a molecular level. ‘What is different with GM is that we can now add genes specifically for a given trait,’ explains Professor Jennifer Thomson of the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of Cape Town.
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Classification and the Treatment of the Patient
University of Pittsburgh
If one thinks about what is the case and what is not the case seriously, intensely, and long enough, one seems either to drive oneself insane or to come to the conclusion that almost everyone else is or that we all are. . .
R.D. Laing, The Facts of Life
We are all born mad. Some remain so.
Estragon in Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot
The Rise of the DSM
In today's therapeutic settings the terms "diagnosis" and "treatment" are virtually inseparable. In clinical settings it has become quite popular to speak of the diagnosis as "driving the treatment plan," or of the caregiver "providing a proven treatment pathway" for the patient who suffers from a mental illness. But the link between diagnosis and clinical treatment has not always enjoyed such a prominent position. Our own classification system, or nosology, emerged separately from the work of clinicians within the therapeutic framework, and it even predated Freud's publications which first outlined the methods of psychoanalysis by over a half a century.
In the United States the need to collect statistical information for the census was the impetus behind gathering information on the prevalence of mental disorders. Obviously a facile task in its beginning, for the 1840 census consisted of exactly one category of mental illness: insanity. The number of mental illness categories leaped to seven by the 1880 census. In 1917 the Bureau of the Census began employing the efforts of the American Medico-Psychological Association (whose name changed to the American Psychiatric Association shortly thereafter) and charged the Association with the task of developing a nationally acceptable psychiatric nomenclature which would be included in the American Medical Association system of classification (DSM-IV, p. xvii).
But it wasn't until World War II that the nomenclature business began to boom. Shortly after the war the U.S. Army began developing a broad classification system to facilitate outpatient treatment of its servicemen and veterans. Concurrently, the World Health Organization (WHO) published the 6th edition of the ICD (International Classification of Diseases), which included for the first time a section dedicated to mental illnesses-- a section heavily influenced by the Veterans Administration nomenclature (DSM-IV, p. xxii). The ICD-6 included 10 categories for psychoses, 9 for psychoneuroses, and 7 for personality disorders. It was this version of the ICD that most heavily influenced the development of the DSM-I (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ), which was first published in 1952 by the American Psychiatric Association. What was unique about the DSM-I was that it was the first classification system of mental disorders to focus on clinical utility (DSM-IV, p. xvii). Historically speaking, the developers of the forerunners of today's major classification systems (the DSM and ICD) did not attempt to relate the classification of mental disorders (nosology) with the actual treatment of mental disorders (clinical application). Perhaps such a consideration at that time might have been viewed as malapropos for the doctor/patient relationship.
This distinction between classification and treatment can also be seen in the different approaches of Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, and Emil Kraepelin, the father of the psychiatric laboratory. Whereas Freud's theories focused on the etiological dynamics of mental illness, Kraepelin attempted throughout his career to classify, categorize, and describe mental disorders as discrete entities (Kirk & Kutchins, 1992, p. 5). These two approaches-- the former etiological, the latter nosological-- were united, or at least placed side by side, for the first time with the publication of the DSM-I.
The publication in 1968 of the DSM-II witnessed the addition of 76 new diagnostic categories (DSM-I contained 106 categories). Consistent with its predecessor, and despite the new additions, the DSM-II did not vary much in terms of its clinical usefulness-- practitioners appreciated its modest administrative practicality. But for researchers, the DSM-II was a nuisance. For this group, the DSM-II was vague, inconsistent, and theoretically clumsy (Kirk & Kutchins, p. 202). It was also during this time that American psychiatry underwent a number of scathing attacks from groups such as the humanists (including the "anti-psychiatry" movement) and behaviorists, as well as clinicians who were more inclined to view mental illness as entirely organic (a physiological perspective). As Kirk and Kutchins note:
American psychiatry and the field of mental health were more fragmented and diverse than they had been in 1960. The developers knew that it was impossible to organize a classification system that would satisfy multiple constituencies with different views about etiology, prognosis, structure, severity, or relevant dimensions (axes). (Kirk and Kutchins, p. 203)
Faced with such pressing legitimation problems, the American Psychiatric Association set up the DSM-III Task Force in 1974 to oversee the development of a new manual. And in 1980 the DSM-III was published. The DSM-III heralded a number of important methodological changes over its predecessors, including "explicit diagnostic criteria, a multiaxial system, and a descriptive approach that attempted to be neutral with respect to theories of etiology" (DSM-IV, p. xviii). This new manual boasted of "extensive empirical work" which attempted to resolve issues of reliability and validity, and provide consistent medical nomenclature for both clinicians and researchers (DSM-IV, p. xviii).
The diagnostic manual was revised in 1987 (DSM-III-R), and pitched once again in 1994 as the DSM-IV, the most current manual available as of this writing. In the last two decades, the DSM has become an indispensable tool for psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, educators, and many others. Its reputation as the only authorized diagnostic manual of the APA is virtually sealed and guaranteed for years to come.
As the authoritative guidebook for psychiatrists and other mental health care practitioners, the DSM represents our current scientific understanding of mental illness. Arriving at such an understanding is no easy task. For even the developers of the DSM recognize the difficulties of delineating between the mental and physical spheres of illness:
. . . the term mental disorder unfortunately implies a distinction between "mental" disorders and "physical" disorders that is a reductionistic anachronism of mind/body dualism. A compelling literature documents that there is much "physical" in "mental" disorders and much "mental" in "physical" disorders. The problem raised by the term "mental" disorders has been much clearer than its solution, and, unfortunately, the term persists in the title of DSM-IV because we have not found an appropriate substitute. (DSM-IV, p. xxi)
Of course, to do away with the term "mental" in its definition would in essence eliminate the entire domain of modern psychiatry and psychology, and, besides, would further muddy an already murky pond. The resolution of the problem for the developers of the DSM is to continue the work of clarifying what is meant by the term "mental disorder." It is to this end that they offer the following definition:
In the DSM-IV, each of the mental disorders is conceptualized as a clinically significant behavioral or psychological syndrome or pattern that occurs in an individual and that is associated with present distress . . . or disability . . . or with a significantly increased risk of suffering death, pain, disability, or an important loss of freedom. In addition, this syndrome or pattern must not be merely an expectable and culturally sanctioned response to a particular event, for example, the death of a loved one. Whatever its original cause, it must currently be considered a manifestation of a behavioral, psychological, or biological dysfunction in the individual. Neither deviant behavior . . . nor conflicts that are primarily between the individual and society are mental disorders unless the deviance or conflict is a symptom of a dysfunction in the individual, as described above. (DSM-IV, p. xxi-xxii)
Quite comprehensive! According to this definition, a mental disorder involves a basic dysfunction in an individual regardless of etiology . The diagnosis of a mental disorder for an individual relies upon the presentation of a marked level of impairment (distress, disability, increased risk of death, pain, etc.) or dysfunction for that individual and cannot be based upon culturally accepted or permissible patterns of behavior and/or expression. A mental disorder is a conflict in the individual person. In reference to its uses in forensic settings, the developers of DSM-IV explicitly state that "inclusion of a disorder in the Classification does not require that there be knowledge about its etiology" (DSM-IV, p. xxiii). The correspondence between diagnostic category and the individual's presenting problems (symptomatology) alone provide the ground for a diagnosis. These two fundamental premises of the definition of "mental disorder"-- that it is an individual event, and etiology is not a necessary component of the diagnosis-- is the sine qua non of our modern understanding of whole enterprise of the mental health profession. It is on this basis that both research and practice are carried out, directly affecting what is being researched and who is being treated.
One striking and incontrovertable feature of the evolution of modern psychiatry through the revision of the DSM-IV is the exuberance and fanfare that accompanied it. After the publication of the DSM-III in 1980, Gerald Klerman, who was the highest ranking psychiatrist in the federal government, declared:
In my opinion, the development of DSM-III represents a fateful point in the history of the American psychiatric profession. . . the judgment is in: DSM-III has already been declared a victory. There is not a textbook of psychology or psychiatry that does not use DSM-III as the organizing principle for its table of contents and for classification of psychopathology. (Kirk & Kutchins, p. 6)
Klerman was not alone in his views. In the pages of The New Psychiatrists, Gerald Maxmen proclaimed:
On July 1, 1980, the ascendance of scientific psychiatry became official. For on this day, the APA published a radically different system for psychiatric diagnosis called . . . DSM-III. By adopting the scientifically based DSM-III as its official system for diagnosis, American psychiatrists broke with a fifty year tradition of using psychoanalytically based diagnoses. Perhaps more than any other single event, the publication of DSM-III demonstrated that American Psychiatry had indeed undergone a revolution. (1985, p. 35; as quoted in Kirk & Kutchins, p. 7)
With biopsychiatry making leaps and bounds in scientific journals, the publication of a diagnostic manual grounded in empirical research was surely a fresh source of enthusiasm and solidarity for psychiatry. Many psychiatrists welcomed this new nosology, for it provided an avenue for moving psychiatry closer to mainstream medicine; hence, closer to legitimacy.
Furthermore, predicated as it was on empirical research, the new psychiatry was now apparently immune to the excoriating work of critics such as Thomas Szasz and R. D. Laing. Szasz's claims in the late 50s and early 60s struck the very foundation of psychiatry as a profession. Szasz argued that what constituted "mental illnesses" were in actuality merely socially devalued behaviors (Kirk & Kutchins, p. 20). These "problems in living" were no more akin to medical conditions than were issues of spirituality, thus undercutting an already weak link between psychiatry and modern medicine (no doubt the Achilles heel for modern psychiatry). R. D. Laing's bitter criticisms in the 60s and 70s attempted as well to turn modern psychiatry on its head by suggesting that "schizophrenia was an adaptive response to a chaotic and disordered society" (Kirk & Kutchins, p. 22). By attacking the claims of diagnostic validity and medical authority, both Szasz and Laing, among many others, almost succeeded in capsizing an already splintered and sinking vessel. Modern psychiatry, by the mid-1970s, was in a severe identity crisis.
For psychiatry, as well as its relatives in the mental health sphere (psychology, sociology, social services, etc.), the issues of validity and reliability were of major concern when it came to measurement and diagnosis. Simply put,
Classification is, in the crudest way, a form of measurement, a method of determining whether phenomena have the particular characteristics for membership in a class. Questions about the meaningfulness of the concept of mental illness, just like questions about the substantive meaning of many relatively abstract concepts such as intelligence or anxiety, involve issues about the validity of scientific constructs. (Kirk & Kutchins, p. 29)
Construct validity is concerned with questions about the nature of the phenomena under investigation. In other words, the question is: are we in fact describing what we say we are describing? For example, intelligence testing is widely regarded as a useful tool, yet scholars and researchers have yet to agree upon what is being tested-- namely, what is intelligence? There are still several camps who disagree on fundamental criteria for what is and what is not intelligence. Critics such as Szasz and Laing were addressing these fundamental issues of validity, and doing so with a force and acumen not easily dismissed by those within mainstream psychiatry. The inability of researchers and practitioners to agree upon the nature of the object of study was a very real and stultifying problem.
Another focal point were the attacks on the credibility of the nosology of DSM-I and II, both by critics such as Szasz and Laing, and by the new critics within psychiatry. These new critics, including Robert Spitzer, who was a key consultant on DSM-II and senior architect of the DSM-III, succeeded in shifting the focus of attention from the question of validity to questions of reliability. This was no accident, for
there is . . . one ironic advantage of problems of reliability: they make it possible to forget about the messy problems of validity. Preoccupation with the consistency of clinician's judgments about the presence of mental illness or about the types of mental illness in a particular group of patients has the attraction of avoiding the issue of the general conceptual definition and meaning of disorder. (Kirk & Kutchins, p. 31)
In their book, The Selling of the DSM, Kirk and Kutchins suggest that the first task of the new critics was to transform the problems of diagnostic reliability into a technical difficulty requiring technical solutions (Kirk & Kutchins, p. 35). According to Kirk and Kutchins, shifting the focus from the quagmire of validity to the technical and statistical difficulties of reliability had two major advantages. First, the issue of reliability appeared to be more solvable than the problems of validity. Second, the abrupt removal of the pertinent issues into a purely technical arena made matters more complex, and thus beyond competence of clinicians and the public alike (Kirk & Kutchins, p. 35). By focusing on a problem perceived as having a greater chance of success, and by confining this work to the realm of the expert (statisticians), this new group of critics succeeded in mystifying the psychiatric profession as well as the public at large.
The movement of the debate into the realm of the expert and the attempts at solving the problems of reliability successfully pushed the earlier critiques of validity entirely out of the picture. Variations on the "expert" theme are also evident. In the late 60s and early 70s mainframe computers came on the scene, forever altering the methods of statistical analyses. But unlike today's personal computing environment, computers then were the domain of large institutions, and controlled by experts trained in the use of statistical programming software. With the introduction in 1967 of kappa, a statistical formula used to calculate diagnostic agreement rates, new avenues were developed in the hopes of conquering the reliability dilemma. What the new critics wanted was a classification system built on empirical data, analyzed by modern statistical methods, and for this system to be proven to be more successful at inter-rater diagnostic agreement than either DSM-I or II. The DSM-III would be the vehicle in which to accomplish these goals. The first Task Force for the development of the new manual was created in 1974: a massive army of more than one hundred members working in fourteen specially designed task force subcommittees, its 265 separate diagnoses based on field trials involving over 450 clinicians evaluating over 800 patients -- adults, adolescents, and children. Six years later came the publication of the manual itself: the DSM-III.
But the so-called proof is in the pudding. Was the reliability of the new DSM-III, published in 1980, greater than either of its predecessors?
Kirk and Kutchins answer with a resounding "No!" Their analysis of the entire literature of research involved in assessment of the reliability for the new diagnostic system found no significant improvement in reliability-- in some categories it was worse! Kirk and Kutchins use as their standard of evaluation the .70 standard used in Spitzer and Fleiss's earlier work. a standard by which Spitzer and others discredited the earlier versions of the DSM (Kirk and Kutchins, p. 142). Using this standard, the results of the field trials that formed the basis of the new manual are appallingly low. For example, on Axis I not a single major diagnostic category achieved the .70 standard (Kirk & Kutchins, p. 143). On Axis II, only one of the seven individual kappas reached the .70 level; none of the overall kappas in Axis II did (Kirk & Kutchins, p. 143). In almost each and every diagnostic category Kirk and Kutchins discovered similar scores, leading them to claim:
Given that even the combined overall reliability for axes I and II did not reach the self-imposed .70 standard and that there were other reliability problems in various categories, one would expect serious concerns to have been raised about the reliability, and therefore the validity, of the classification system. But they were not. Instead, the data were interpreted liberally and inconsistently. (Kirk & Kutchins, p. 147)
In addition, not only were these statistics based on field trials with very small numbers of participants, what constituted diagnostic agreement was sometimes frighteningly lenient:
if one clinician judged a series of patients to be suffering from Agoraphobia with Panic Attacks and another clinician thought all the same patients suffered from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, their diagnoses would be considered in perfect agreement on the diagnostic class of Anxiety Disorders and the kappa coefficient would be 1.0 (Kirk & Kutchins, 148)
And this was considered far greater improvement in diagnostic reliability by the developers of the DSM-III! At each and every turn in their analysis, Kirk and Kutchins fail to discover the "scientific evidence" proving that the DSM-III is more reliable or valid than its antecedents I and II.
Having studied the entire enterprise of the manufacturing and selling of APA's diagnostic manual, Kirk and Kutchins offer four points to consider. First, none of the revisions of the manual have ever been stimulated by clinicians demanding a new classification system. New systems have been initiated by the census, by the army, by medical groups, and by researchers in the field of psychiatry-- never by those who practice psychiatry. Secondly, the whole arena of diagnostics is now more complex than ever, with ever increasing layers of political involvement. Third, new diagnostic categories are added or changed with the belief that it is "better science"-- and no evidence is actually produced to support these claims. Fourth, a visible cycle of "denigration, enthusiasm, denigration" is at work, where the old system is seen as antiquated and a new system necessary (with new gadgets, case books, and other supplies) (Kirk and Kutchins, pp. 214-215). What we are left with is a monolith of mental health practices, theoretically based on a scientific "grounding" lacking in real evidence, but rich in rhetorical justification. And this supposedly constitutes progress.
The current DSM-IV contains over 300 diagnostic categories. In its first 10 months on the market, the DSM-IV reportedly brought in $18 million in revenue for the American Psychiatric Association (Kirk & Kutchins, 1997, p. 247). What do its developers say about it?
It is our belief that the major innovation of DSM-IV lies not in any of its specific content changes but rather in the systematic and explicit process by which it was constructed and documented. More than any other nomenclature of mental disorders, DSM-IV is grounded in empirical evidence. (DSM-IV, p. xvi)
Classification and the Treatment of the Patient
What Kirk and Kutchins revealed in their analysis of the statistical results of the DSM field trials can be summarized as follows: clinicians are today no more likely to agree upon a particular diagnosis than they were a half century ago. And not only are clinicians unable to agree upon general diagnostic categories, clinicians cannot agree upon the criteria for basing a diagnosis, putting into question once again the issue of validity in the current nosology as a whole.
The foregoing warrants further discussion in at least three related areas: first, the definition of "mental disorder" used by the developers of the DSM; second, the significance of this understanding of "mental disorder" for clinical practice; and lastly, the question of alternative approaches in today's current mental health climate. It is with these thoughts in mind that I now turn to a discussion concerning the theoretical approach of R. D. Laing.
In 1959 Ronald D. Laing published his first book titled The Divided Self. In 1961 he produced Self and Others, and in 1967 he published the widely read and critically acclaimed The Politics of Experience. All three books (as well as his research with families of schizophrenics) helped to establish Laing as a respected critic of modern psychiatry alongside such notable thinkers as Harry Stack Sullivan, Thomas Szasz, Michel Foucault, and Ivan Illich. Laing. s polemical style has yielded comparisons to such leftist thinkers as Herbert Marcuse and social critic Paul Goodman. His later books, which include The Facts of Life (1976), The Voice of Experience (1982), and Wisdom, Madness and Folly: The Making of a Psychiatrist (1985) did not sell as well as his work from the 1960s; this turn in Laing's popularity was partly because of a radical shift in his subject matter. During the 70s and 80s, Laing was preoccupied with the influences of intra-uterine experience on development. This interest and the deepening theoretical contradictions within his own work were unappealing to most of Laing's more critically minded readers.
Even so, prior to the publication of the DSM-III in 1980, Laing and critics of psychiatry enjoyed some success in challenging popular assumptions concerning the role of the psychiatrist and of classification systems. Remember at this time the question of validity was paramount (Kirk and Kutchins, 1992, p. 28), and psychiatry's Achilles heel provided an opportunity for public debate and criticism. Laing was one of the first critics to attack modern psychiatry for its failure to show universal validity for its diagnostic categories.
The issue of whether or not there actually is such a thing as a "mental disorder" was a basic theoretical conundrum for Laing, and one that he did not take lightly. With his dislike for conventional psychiatric approaches to treatment and his deeply philosophical background, R. D. Laing expended much of his energy trying to understand what we mean by "mental disorder."
As noted earlier, there are two main assumptions in the DSM's definition of "mental disorder." The first premise states that a mental disorder is a strictly individual event. The second premise asserts that the etiology of the disorder should not be a factor when a clinician forms a diagnostic impression. What we have then is an individual with a disorder that can be identified on the basis of a particular set of criteria. The individual is said to have the "disorder" if that person meets the descriptive criteria as set forth by the diagnostic manual.
To give a brief example: if you were to present to your clinician symptoms such as insomnia and low energy, each of which lasted most of the day for at least two years, without any relief, you would qualify for a diagnosis of 300.4 Dysthymic Disorder (note: several other minor features must also be accounted for, but these are primarily negative, i.e. symptoms you do not exhibit at the time of the diagnosis.) (DSM, p. 349). The diagnosis is based only upon what you, the patient, present to the clinician during your interview together. The DSM even offers to clinicians "structured interview" forms to aid in this information gathering process.
The first aspect of this definition of "mental disorder" assumes that "mental illness" is a strictly individual event. Laing, as well as many other theorists, would simply object to such a gross oversimplification. Laing, coming out of an existential-phenomenological framework, suggested that there is no such thing as an individual. We are all being-in-the-world-with-others, as Martin Heidegger would say. We cannot, for scientific or theoretical purposes, simply excise the individual from his or her enveloping social context. Laing makes this point quite clear in his discussion of schizophrenia in The Politics of Experience:
In using the term schizophrenia, I am not referring to any condition that I suppose to be mental rather than physical, or to an illness, like pneumonia, but to a label that some people pin on other people under certain social circumstances. The "cause" of "schizophrenia" is to be found by the examination, not of the prospective diagnosee alone, but of the whole social context in which the psychiatric ceremonial is being conducted. (Laing, 1967, p. 103)
It is the "whole social context" that forms the horizon within which interpersonal relations are enacted and experienced. To take the "individual" out of his or her context is, ontologically, a mistake. "Whether we exist in a close, distant, complementary, or adversarial relationship, self and other are always reciprocally constituted" (Burston, 1996, p. 178). Any attempts to isolate the individual from his/her surroundings, their context, is to neglect an entire field of meaning. There is no self without the other; the other is always implied. In Self and Others Laing writes:
we cannot give an undistorted account of "a person" without giving an account of his relation with others. Even an account of one person cannot afford to forget that each person is always acting upon others and acted upon by others. The others are there also. No one acts or experiences in a vacuum. (Laing, 1961, pp. 81-82)
The second problem with the current definition of "mental disorder" is its avoidance of clinical concern over etiology, or the course of the illness. This approach naturally assuages the ofttimes temperamental disputes between different theoretical factions within psychiatry (e.g. psychoanalytic vs. physiologically oriented professionals), but in so doing effaces the entire cultural, historical, and familial context from which the person emerges. It is not unlike the proverbial throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Because we cannot understand individuals outside of their context (and one's history is a very important part of one's context), ignoring the history of a particular illness is a dangerous affair. Such temerity on the part of the clinician not only promotes an alienating attitude toward the patient, it prevents the clinician from actually coming to know the patient. For Laing, this ahistorical, atomizing attitude toward the patient often resonates with the very attitudes that produced the psychological distress that drove that patient to therapy in the first place:
Psychotherapy consists in the paring away of all that stands between us, the props, masks, roles, lies, defenses, anxieties, projections and introjections, in short, all the carryovers from the past, transference and countertransference, that we use by habit and collusion, wittingly or unwittingly, as our currency for relationships. It is this currency, these very media, that re-create and intensify the conditions of alienation that originally occasioned them. (Laing, 1967, pp. 46-47)
But even concern for the etiology of the illness is not enough for Laing, for our modern scientific and medical model approach to mental illness is itself ontologically skewed. Laing's thought on this matter is as follows:
the psychiatrist adopting his clinical stance in the presence of the pre-diagnosed person, whom he is already looking at and listening to as a patient, has too often come to believe that he is in the presence of the "fact" of "schizophrenia." He acts "as if" its existence were an established fact. He then has to discover its "cause" or multiple "aetiological factors," to assess its "prognosis," and to treat its course. The heart of the "illness," all that is the outcome of process, then resides outside the agency of the person. That is, the illness, or process, is taken to be a "fact" that the person is subject to, or undergoes, whether it is supposed to be genetic, constitutional, endogenous, exogenous, organic or psychological, or some mixture of them all. This, we submit, is a mistaken starting point. (Laing, 1964, p. 18)
It is not that the medical model approach itself is mistaken, but our use of it in trying to understand the psychological landscape of suffering persons fails to bring us closer to an understanding of their world. It is, quite simply, a narrow approach. It is an approach that fails to view persons qua persons, and degrades them to the status of "objects." Such an understanding of a "mentally disordered" person precludes a deeper understanding and appreciation of a world in conflict. "It is tempting and facile to regard -- persons-- as only separate objects in space, who can be studied as any other natural objects can be studied" (Laing, 1967, p. 23).
According to the developers of the DSM, the role of the psychiatrist or clinician is to observe the patient's symptoms and to correlate these symptoms with a proper diagnosis. In fact, a good psychiatrist is one who works diligently at perfecting the art of diagnostics. However, in The Divided Self, Laing points out that this approach actually prevents the doctor from understanding the patient, let alone promoting the process of recovery. Laing viewed diagnostic criteria as a form of reification. In his own words:
Natural scientific investigations are conducted on objects, or things, or the patterns of relations between things, or on systems of "events." Persons are distinguished from things in that persons experience the world, whereas things behave in the world. Thing-events do not experience. Personal events are experiential. Natural scientism is the error of turning persons into things by a process of reification that is not itself part of true natural scientific method. (Laing, 1959, p. 62)
The psychiatrist who approaches his "subject" from an "objective" perspective ("natural scientism") fails to understand his/her own involvement or relationship with the "who" under investigation. This mode of depersonalization, or objectification, Laing suggests, "although conducted in the name of science, . . --yields false . knowledge. " (Laing, p. 24). In neglecting to see the uniquely human relationship between doctor and patient, between an I and a Thou, the traditional models can only view a person's behavior as "signs" of a "disease" and, more important, forego the possibility of seeing such "behaviour as expressive of his existence" (Laing, p. 31).
Laing situates his critique of traditional models of "mental disorders" in the technical language used to describe "mental states," and more specifically in its overwhelming tendency to reify its "subject matter." Within the technical vocabulary trapped in the "anachronism" of a dualistic framework (terms such as "mind/body," "psyche/soma," etc.), what is uncovered, Laing suggests, is "an entity not essentially 'in relation to' the other and in a world" (Laing, p. 19). As such, the technical language falls short of describing existentially a unitary phenomenon that reflects the totality of the "original experience of oneself in relationship to others" (Laing, p. 19).
Laing was quite aware of the radical shift in thinking that his theory required of the clinician. Consider the following statement:
We believe that the shift of point of view that these descriptions [of families of schizophrenics] both embody and demand has a historical significance no less radical than the shift from a demonological to a clinical viewpoint three hundred years ago. (Laing, 1964, p. 27)
Laing knew that his work with schizophrenic families, which had an existential-phenomenological orientation, required a radical shift in our conceptualization of the human being. Ontologically speaking, one's relation to oneself is an ambiguous situation. There is a sense in which I can recognize my identity, yet at the same time I am not who/ what I say I am. Following Heidegger, Laing would say that our being is always in question, that it is always at issue. These ontological themes were the focus of both Sartre's Being and Nothingness and Martin Heidegger's Being and Time , two classics of existentialism, and both influenced Laing's own theoretical orientation.
By establishing his perspective as existential-phenomenological, Laing is able to offer a re-orientation to the problems and incongruities encountered when trying to understand "mental disorders." Laing's re-orientation is not a classification system of the possible "signs" and "symptoms" of a pathological "disease," but an acknowledgement of our own limitations to "totalize" the existence of other persons. Laing here describes such a situation:
There are therapists-- whether they're Freudian or Jungians, or whether they call themselves one thing or another, or simply psychotherapists-- who don't treat people as objects and as things, and who don't feel it is their job to impose their numbers and their scenarios and their values on the patient, but rather see therapy as a reciprocal undertaking and just don't have that impulse to depersonalize and reify the patient. (Charlesworth, 32)
But how does Laing understand persons who are traditionally labeled with a "mental disorder?"
We have to decide whether to use old terms in a new way, or abandon them to the dustbin of history. There is no such "condition" as "schizophrenia," but the label is a social fact and the social fact a political event. (Laing, 1967, p.121)
Most of Laing's published work dealt with so-called "schizophrenics." This raises the question of whether or not Laing's critique can be applied to diagnostic categories as a whole (i.e. our current nosology). Once again, at this point in our consideration, history can be of some service. Recall that for over one hundred years the classification of mental illness as a discrete entity and the clinical practice of psychiatry and psychology were two separate enterprises. Classification, properly understood, was viewed primarily as an administrative duty, not an edict of what does or does not constitute proper treatment. This is a crucial distinction to bear in mind, for it brings to light key differences between the two approaches. In classification we seek to concentrate or group data according to similarities. In caring for another person, we seek to open up a world that is already all too constricted and indifferent to their individuality. With one we sharpen our focus and induce structures, with the other we look for freedom where it appears there is little or none. Classification systems such as the DSM are the products of political and historical processes. These processes valorize tacit prescriptions for what is or is not considered "sane" or "normal." Such global prescriptions and categories become literally of no use for a clinician sitting face-to-face with a person whose history, present situation, and future are entirely unique and, perforce, ambiguous. Again, recalling the observations of Kirk and Kutchins, the work of creating, maintaining, and perfecting a classification system has at no time in our history been initiated by working clinicians. Why? Because good clinicians are aware that no matter how many diagnostic categories one can hang around the neck of a patient, healing takes place in a realm without judgments, in a forum in which the clinician comes to simply understand the patient. It is in this forum that persons get better, and lives are changed.
American Psychiatric Association: Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, fourth edition. Washington, DC, American Psychiatric Association, 1994.
Burston, D. (1996). The wing of madness: the life and work of R. D. Laing. Harvard University Press: Campbridge, MA.
Charlesworth, M. (1980, 1993). Sartre, Laing, and Freud. In Sartre and psychology, Ed. Hoeller, K. Humanities Press: NJ.
Kirk, S.A., & Kutchins, H. (1992). The selling of the DSM: The rhetoric of science in psychiatry. Aldine de Gruyer: New York.
Kirk, S.A., & Kutchins, H. (1997). Making us crazy: The psychiatric bible and the creation of mental disorders. Free Press: New York.
Laing, R.D. (1959). The divided self. Penguin Books: New York.
Laing, R.D. (1961). Self and others. Penguin Books: New York.
Laing, R.D. (1964). Sanity, madness, and the family. Penguin Books: New York.
Laing, R.D. (1967). The politics of experience. Ballantine Books: New York.
Laing, R.D. (1976). The facts of life. Pantheon Books: NY.
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Some friends recently gave me a new book called "The Wolverine Way" (by D. Chadwick), and reading that book perked up my interest in wolverines and the tremendous challenge of studying them in the wild. So, here is a little bit about them.
Wolverines belong to the weasel family, Mustelidae. They are the largest terrestrial weasels. Males usually weigh 25-40 pounds, but they can top out around 70 pounds. Females generally weigh 12-25 pounds. They have a flat-footed walk, like bears and humans. Their paws are huge for their body size - as big as those of a wolf weighing three times as much. The claws can be partly retracted (more than a dog and less than a cat). Although most illustrations show them in a somewhat crouched posture, their legs are not as short as they often look. They have dark brown fur with a blond "swoosh" stripe along the side.
An early naturalist, Ernest Thompson Seton, described wolverines this way, "The wolverine is a tremendous character ... a personality of unmeasured force, courage, and achievement so enveloped in a mist of legend, superstition, idolatry, fear, and hatred, that one scarcely knows how to begin or what to accept as fact."
Years later, detailed studies are yielding many new insights into wolverine behavior and natural history.
The wolverine is also known as the glutton, a name that conjures up an image of unrestrained gobbling of food, an image that is surely exaggerated. They have very powerful jaws, capable of gnawing into frozen meat and crushing bones. As in wolves and foxes, some of the molar teeth are modified into large, slicing blades called carnassial teeth. Wolverines take prey up to the size of a bobcat or a moose calf, but have been known to sometimes take larger animals. They also scavenge carcasses left by wolves, human hunters or winter-kills. However, much of their prey consists of rodents and hares. In the Yukon, they've been seen foraging on spawning salmon. They even eat berries in season.
In some circles, this large weasel has a reputation of total, malevolent ferocity. It is presumably this reputation that has led to its name being adopted by an avenging comic book character, a brand of tough boots and sports teams of a certain Midwestern state. Indeed, it can be a fierce creature, ripping up box traps made of logs and snarling aggressively while fighting back when threatened. They fight each other upon occasion, often with lethal consequences.
But there are other aspects of the animal as well. Wolverines in captivity can become very tame and docile, eating snacks offered by human hands and enjoying tummy-rubs like happy dogs and cats do. Family life is more social than previously imagined. Long thought to be solitary creatures, detailed studies reveal that family associations are sometimes prolonged, at least intermittently, for years. Duos of mother and grown-up offspring, or even father and grown-up son have been documented, keeping company for days at a time.
Wolverines are excellent climbers with great endurance. By intensive radio tracking and by satellite tracking of animals with special transmitters on collars or in surgical implants, researchers can follow the movements of individual animals for extended periods of time. A study in Montana recorded them as they climbed up nearly vertical cliffs and snow chutes near the tops of mountains where humans dare not go. One animal climbed almost five thousand feet in an hour and a half. They can travel twenty, thirty, forty miles or more in a day.
A male's home range covers two or three hundred square miles, or even five or six hundred, in some cases. Home ranges of males can also overlap those of several females. A male wolverine can cover hundreds of miles in a week as he patrols his home range, looking for patchy food sources or for females ready to mate.
Wolverines mate in summer, but the embryo is not implanted in the females' uterus until early winter. Two or three kits are born in winter or early spring. They have white fur when they are born, but gradually the fur darkens to deep brown. Dens are often located at the end of long tunnels in deep snow, sometimes on barren rocky hillsides above timberline, but seldom in the forest. One female used an old beaver lodge. Females often move the kits from one den to another.
Kits are weaned in about two and half months, but they stay near the mother at least into fall and often into winter. Wolverines mature at age two, but seldom breed successfully until age three. Breeding success is probably related to food supply.
Wolverines typically live at low densities on the landscape. Their food is often widely and patchily distributed. Their natural enemies include grizzly bears and other wolverines, but their principal predator is humankind.
In Alaska, wolverines are widespread, including Southeast. They occur in forested and alpine habitats all across northern reaches of Eurasia and North America, but American wolverines have been extirpated around the Great Lakes and St Lawrence River and in much of the mountainous west, where a few small, isolated populations still remain. Around Juneau, their tracks are occasionally seen near the glacier, on Mt Roberts and near Eaglecrest. A few lucky observers have reported a sighting in Spaulding Meadow.
At 7 p.m. on Nov. 14, there will be a Nature program on wolverines on Channel 10.
Mary F. Willson is a retired professor of ecology.
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Hello friends and colleagues , today I present another view of the villa Casorla taken from the balcony of Zabaleta , with the remains of the cathedral of Santa Maria destroyed in the war of independence , has not returned to rebuild , I hope you like, then some letters on the villa.
Cazorla is a municipality located east of the province of Jaén , in the autonomous community of Andalusia , Spain .
It is the largest and capital municipality of the Shire Sierra de Cazorla . It is located in the foothills of the Sierra de Cazorla Cerezuelo river valley , a tributary of Guadalquivir .
Around 2,000 BC , in the older river terraces Cerezuelo Cazorla, the first stable settlements were established. Nearby, in a period known as the Loma del Bellotón hill, a small town in the culture of Bronze (1500 a. C. ) is located. The Ibera culture developed significantly in these lands.
During the romanization , the Romans settled in this region, known as " Saltus Tugiensis " named their saws as " Mons Argentarius " the riches of silver and salt found here . The Roman presence is extensive in the county , and even found some important remains within the current town of Cazorla .
During the Muslim occupation , both Cazorla and the neighboring towns are to fortify , as indicated by archaeological findings .
The Lordship of Cazorla during the Middle Ages was a frontier area of great importance . Testimony to this is the dense network of castles and fortresses to delimit the Advancement created in 1231 , with the donation of the town of Quesada and villages by Ferdinand III the prelate of Toledo.
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries litigation between the Crown and Mitre questions of jurisdiction , privileges and rents impoverished Lordship originated. In 1811 , the Cortes of Cadiz abolished the civil jurisdiction of the Mitra Toledana on these lands , although not happen the same with the church . Cazorla and other towns and villages continue Overtaking dependent archbishopric of Toledo until 1954.
During the war of independence, the people of this district were distinguished for their patriotism , fighting heroically against the invader. Remains of the rawness of the moment, are the ruins of the cathedral of Santa Maria, which was destroyed and never finished completely by the invader. As a reward for services so high , the Parliament of Cadiz, granted , on April 1, 1813 to the town of Cazorla , the title of city with the distinction of " Very Noble and Very Loyal" . Later Alfonso XII Cazorla rewarded loyalty to the Crown, when the Carlist wars , giving his Excellency Hall category .
Source Wikipedia .
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Date Taken: 2013-04-22 15:20
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Critiques | Translate
holmertz (51932) 2014-04-11 9:38
This is a splendid composition with very good colours, light and sharpness. You have balanced the view very nicely between the white village, the nearest green hills and the more distant rugged mountain. It is a very beautiful area.
Fis2 (96665) 2014-04-11 11:30
Good POV and composition.
I like colors.
Have a nice evening and nice weekend.
Greetings from Southern Greater Poland.
mjw364 (842) 2014-04-11 12:55
Nicely composed shot of this magnificent scene. I love the way the triangle of houses is countered by a triangle of green mountains and the mountain sits atop both in the far distance.
macjake (67532) 2014-04-11 13:21
the white colored homes and buildings with the tan colored rooftops are very striking. I wouldn't want you to change anything about this view.
and the rough hills and rocks add a sweet contrasting element in the bg.
Noel_Byrne (30976) 2014-04-11 13:22
Ruins are a fascinating subject for me, beautiful but yet telling of such tragic history. This is a perfect composition on the scene, the cathedral perfectly placed, an ideal amount of the town, and then the expansive landscape beyond. All of the colors are so vivid as are the textures, which is amazing from this distance! Great shot, thanks as always for sharing
carlo62 (47311) 2014-04-11 14:04
hai ottenuto una bella diagonale con le abitazioni e ci sono molte architetture interessanti che si vedono.
Il tuo taglio ha messo in evidenza le grandi montagne che incombono sul villaggio e il contrasto del candore delle pareti nei confronti delle rocce.
jurek1951 (42196) 2014-04-11 23:11
beautiful view, the composition is very spectacular and I like the splendid architectural details and the attractive POV. Great atmosphere,
dta (77576) 2014-04-12 1:17
Hola Angel ,
C'est un village magnifique , superbement situé dans son cirque de montagne .
snunney (98241) 2014-04-12 4:49
One of the famous white villages of Andalusia? The shot is well composed, cleverly setting the village in context. The ruins of the cathedral placed to one side contrast well with the whitewashed houses and make an excellent focal point. Very good technical presentation.
Sergiom (78425) 2014-04-12 5:58
Il y a quelque chose de typiquement andalous dans cette composition. J'aime le blanc des maisons typique à la région et cette superbe campagne montagneuse.
Silvio1953 (141915) 2014-04-12 7:49
Ciao Angel, gran bella vista del delizioso villaggio con le bianche case sormontate dal ferrigno torrione, bella ed originale l'architettura della chiesa, ottima nitidezza e splendidi dettagli, bravo, buon week end, ciao Silvio
Romano46 (18472) 2014-04-12 9:08
un paesdino dell'Andalusia molto grazioso colto al meglio in questa forto in grande formato che permette di apprezzarne e di soffermarsi sui vari dettagli.
Composizione, definizione, contrasto e colori perfetti.
Eccellente il soggetto.
Ciao e buon fine settimana
Nicou (141078) 2014-04-12 9:32
le village en fond tout en pierre et cette vue sur la montange la végétation et la roche parsemée sueprbe captage et ensemble.
Bravo et amitié
elenimavrandoni (0) 2014-04-12 11:26
una vista panoramica espectacular, la luz añade mucho a tu composición, brilla sobre los colores y juega con las sombras sobre las casitas blancas!!
un lugar muy acogedor y encantador que me gustaría visitar!! muy lindas las montañas!!
un saludo grande
eldancer1 (36343) 2014-04-12 12:15
This village may look old but it is very well situated, I like those mountains. Nicely captured with sharp details. Well done, tfs.
lousat (90594) 2014-04-12 15:21
Hi Angel,the choice of point of view makes the difference,truly beautiful this high view on the village,magnificent details and colors in the best exposure too,very interesting post! Have a nice Sunday and thanks,Luciano
Cricri (118673) 2014-04-13 4:18
Belle lumière qui baigne ce joli village entourée de montagnes, belle et intéressante composition
adramad (45290) 2014-04-13 8:28
Fantastico POV que nos muestra este bonito pueblo, con todo su tipismo, escalando por la ladera de la montaña, impresionante la montaña que vemos al fondo y que contrasta con la que se extiende a la derecha del plano, mas suave y accesible, también mas arbolada.
Muy bien gestionada la luminosidad y la nitidez, con un hermoso color, en estos tonos suaves.
Disfruta del domingo.
Un fuerte abrazo.
boa (7375) 2014-04-13 11:41
wonderful view from the balcony. Mountains in the background are impressive and the village looks interesting to visit. There are probably good restaurants and idyllic streets there. Harsh light but still a good photograph with an excellent overview and a good note, well done!
Kamilutka (8105) 2014-04-14 6:50
great picture my friend - sincere congratulations! The POV has been chosen very wisely and the view from it is just glorious. The charming town on the slope has been captured at the very right angle and the small church there adds very much to the cityscape. The background is very pretty too with all the vivid green hills and small house hiding among them. Great colors and well managed light.
COSTANTINO (64676) 2014-04-14 10:20
Hello my dear friend
I love this traditional postcard remitted
from you to all of us with an amazing
view of the villa Casorla a municipality
located east of the provence of Jaen
white colored buildings placed perfectly
and the cathedral too
shot with great lightness and sharpness
have a nice new day
mohammad_H (9904) 2014-04-14 10:25
Beautiful shot background
A good resolution
Eye-catching and pleasant
Have a good night.
Tigerlily (3379) 2014-04-14 15:01
A beautiful shot with wonderful color and detail. You handled the light excellently.
jcpix (13916) 2014-04-14 16:51
I can only assume there's not a bad view to be had on this village, another truly beautiful result! I really like this angle, as it provides a criss-cross pattern and layering of the village and mountains in the background. Vibrant green hillsides and stark white exteriors make quite the contrast, but a delightful one as the merge of nature and man-made structures comes together in harmony. A lot of depth and detail contained within this framework, and nice bright sunlight to see it all. :) Enjoy the new day. All the best.
claudeD (38330) 2014-04-15 2:33
very well composed picture from Cazorla showing much details under perfect clarity and sharpness. I like the view very much.Very well done.TFS.
With regards from Luxembourg
Graal (102752) 2014-04-15 10:46
interesting view of Cazoria. Nice village between the hills and mountains. Good composition. Fine presentation. Photo is very well done.
Have a nice evening.
ourania (44926) 2014-04-15 11:00
a lovely white town, compact and luminous in the characteristic bright sunshine of this region. I like very much how the town is tucked into the bottom right corner and in the beautiful mountainous landscape. There's a very pleasing brightness in this view, the colours are so vivid and attractive. The textures are very interesting too and make the composition look really rich. You used your vantage point in an excellent way. Congratulations and thank you!
All the best, have a great evening,
npecanhuk (75026) 2014-04-15 16:58
Certainly, a wonderful place!
A very beautiful and attractive picture too!
Sharpness, exposure, colors, horizontal format, chosen pov and composition are all excellent!
TFS - congrats,
Didi (60588) 2014-04-18 8:52
Belle vue dominante sur ce vieux village avec un bel arrière plan montagneux
Amitiés depuis Orléans
pili51 (1853) 2014-04-18 11:32
Hola amigo Ángel,
muy bonita composición la de este encantador pueblo tan blanco, que destaca en medio de las montañas que parecen querer abrazarlo.
Me gusta las proporciones que has escogido al encuadrar esta preciosa toma.
Hermosos colores, con buena exposición y nitidez.
Que bonita es Andalucía! y qué bien nos la muestras.
Nos están cogiendo ganas de conocerla cuando estemos jubilados je je.
Recibe un cordial saludo,
PS/ Buena Semana Santa.
tatadalou (7459) 2014-04-26 8:55
Bella vista sobre este pueblo andaluz y su entorno. Se nota una buena gestion de la luz y de los colores. Lo que me encanta mas es la composicion, dividida en tres planos bien destacados.
josepmarin (58357) 2014-04-30 12:11
Hola amigo Ángel,
me encanta la perfecta y armónica integración de la arquitectura blanca tradicional andaluza con el entorno natural donde se ubica, un ejemplo que deberían seguir casi todos los chapuceros y especuladores constructores de hoy en día.
Desgraciadamente no es así, y solo hay que ver algunas zonas del país para darse cuenta del descomunal desaguisado urbanístico y paisajístico que han perpetrado por todas partes.
Pero no pasa nada, aquí no va nadie a la cárcel por eso.
Bueno, vamos a la foto, que es lo que importa aquí.
Has hecho un buen trabajo controlando la fuerte luz solar, que las casas blancas se encargan de potenciar, y has alcanzado un gran contraste con el paisaje de montañas y su verde vegetación.
La calidad de la luz y de los colores es encomiable.
Un trabajo excelente.
ikeharel (70589) 2014-05-05 4:25
A bit too large KB photo, Angel.
Yet, I find this scenery from the point taken, is in marvelous contrast, and intriguing landscape for photography.
Beautiful houses in white and their archi.-design, stretched along the trough.
PaulVDV (28741) 2014-06-02 11:32
What immediately strikes me in this picture, is what remains of the cathedral of Santa Maria. Impressive, so close to the town and it has never been rebuilt. From this POV we can even see one of the statues in its interior. It seems to have remained intact.
The raw hinterland is in a stark contrast with the white houses of Cazorla.
You looked for an excellent POV to present us this splendid panorama picture.
Excellent sharpness and composition.
Best regards, Paul
SWEETFREEDOM (24621) 2014-06-04 0:25
very nice view, good details and colors.
Miguel82 (27674) 2014-08-02 8:46
This a very authentic village situated in south andalucian mountains angel, pine forests typical mediterranean climate, beautiful houses, excellent light, neat picture, have a good we
- Copyright: angel cornejo (cornejo) (41645)
- Genre: Places
- Medium: Color
- Date Taken: 2013-04-22
- Categories: Nature, Architecture
- Camera: Nikon D3100, Tamron AF18-200 F/ 3.5-6.3 xr, 62mm HAMA Circular Polarizer
- Exposure: f/7.1, 1/500 seconds
- More Photo Info: view
- Photo Version: Original Version
- Date Submitted: 2014-04-11 9:23
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Start CT River ATLAS
The Atlas is a web portal designed to facilitate information exchange for resource managers, planners, and anyone interested in understanding landscape and environmental features of the Connecticut River Watershed. The Atlas provides a collection of land and water data, descriptions of the data, and links to other resources, organizations, and data sources. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has initiated this project to help assess the long-term sustainability of the Watershed's natural resources. This Atlas is currently a collaborative effort between the USGS and The Nature Conservancy (TNC), and we will continue to incorporate other partners in the future. For more background on the goal of working toward a sustainable watershed, see Project Background.
Data describing physical characteristics, cultural characteristics, biology, ecology, water flow and water quality are available through the Atlas. See About the Data for a detailed list of the data layers with explanations.
WATERSHED AND STREAM INFORMATION TOOL
Start Stream Information Tool
Users can interactively select a mapped stream segment in this Google Maps application. The tool then displays the watershed boundary for the selected stream and generates a PDF report (see an example report) with information about the stream and its watershed. Users have access to over 12,500 stream segments (from the National Hydrography Dataset Plus) in the CT River Watershed.
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- 1 Idade Média
- 2 Início da Idade Moderna (Renascença)
- 3 Literatura elisabetana
- 4 Literatura jacobina
- 5 Literatura cromwelliana
- 6 Literatura da restauração
- 7 Literatura augustina
- 8 Idade da sensibilidade
- 9 Romantismo
- 10 Literatura victoriana
- 11 Literatura eduardiana
- 12 Literatura da era georgiana
- 13 Literatura modernista
- 14 Literatura pós-modernista
- 15 Principais autores
The first works in English, written in Old English, appeared in the early Middle Ages (the oldest surviving text is Cædmon's Hymn). The oral tradition was very strong in the early English culture and most literary works were written to be performed. Epic poems were thus very popular and many, including Beowulf, have survived to the present day in the rich corpus of Anglo-Saxon literature that closely resemble today's Icelandic, Norwegian, North Frisian and the Northumbrian and Scots English dialects of modern English. Much Old English verse in the extant manuscripts is probably a "milder" adaptation of the earlier Germanic war poems from the continent. When such poetry was brought to England it was still being handed down orally from one generation to another, and the constant presence of alliterative verse, or .consonant rhyme (today's newspaper headlines and marketing abundantly use this technique such as in Big is Better) helped the Anglo-Saxon peoples remember it. Such rhyme is a feature of Germanic languages and is opposed to vocalic or end-rhyme of Romance languages. But the first written literature dates to the early Christian monasteries founded by St. Augustine of Canterbury and his disciples and it is reasonable to believe that it was somehow adapted to suit to needs of Christian readers.
Middle English literature
In the 12th century, a new form of English now known as Middle English evolved. This is the earliest form of English literature which is comprehensible to modern readers and listeners, albeit not easily. Middle English lasts up until the 1470s, when the Chancery Standard, a form of London-based English, became widespread and the printing press regularized the language. Middle English Bible translations, notably Wyclif's Bible, helped to establish English as a literary language.
There are three main categories of Middle English Literature: Religious, Courtly love, and Arthurian. William Langland's Piers Plowman is considered by many critics to be one of the early great works of English literature along with Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (most likely by the Pearl Poet) during the Middle Ages. It is also the first allusion to a literary tradition of the legendary English archer, swordsman, and outlaw Robin Hood.
The most significant Middle English author was Geoffrey Chaucer who was active in the late 14th century. Often regarded as the father of English literature, Chaucer is widely credited as the first author to demonstrate the artistic legitimacy of the vernacular English language, rather than French or Latin. The Canterbury Tales was Chaucer's magnum opus, and a towering achievement of Western culture. The first recorded association of Valentine's Day with romantic love is in Chaucer's Parlement of Foules 1382.
The multilingual audience for literature in the 14th century can be illustrated by the example of John Gower, who wrote in Latin, Middle English and Anglo-Norman.
Since at least the 14th century, poetry in English has been written in Ireland and by Irish writers abroad. The earliest poem in English by a Welsh poet dates from about 1470.
Following the introduction of a printing press into England by William Caxton in 1476, vernacular literature flourished. The Reformation inspired the production of vernacular liturgy which led to the Book of Common Prayer, a lasting influence on literary English language. The poetry, drama, and prose produced under both Queen Elizabeth I and King James I constitute what is today labelled as Early modern (or Renaissance).http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_literature
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Please have a look here : http://www.mathhelpforum.com/math-he...ial-proof.html
I've forgotten the methodology for deducing the number of ways to select N groups from M objects. For example, if I had 11 flags, how many ways would there be to put the 11 flags in 5 piles?
The real question I'm working on is:
"How many integer solutions are there to the equation x1 + x2 + x3 + x4 + x5 = 21, if xi >= 2 for i = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5."
I was going to try and think about it as having 5 groups of at least 2 (since each xi much be at least 2) and then distribute the remaining 11 groups of 1 between the 5 groups.
I can help you with the second one.
The number of non-negative integer solutions to is the standard .
But if you want to restrict the answer is .
Note the change to 11. The mind trick here is to think of putting two ones into each variable.
That uses ten ones leaving eleven ones to distribute.
The first one is really ambiguous. Not sure about piles. Can you have an empty pile?
Are the piles distinguishable other that by number contained?
In the first situation, I evaluate:
(21+5+1)! / 21!4! = 12650
This seems plausible, but it seems to me that:
4+4+8+2+3 = 21
is counted twice, once for the arrangement you see there and once for:
4+4+8+3+2 = 21
I tried dividing by 5!, but 12650 is not evenly divisible by 5!, which seemed odd to me at first.
But then I thought, because of the nature of what we're doing, taking a set of "a"s and putting "b"s in-place to separate groups, the two different "orderings" of the identical "4"s isn't double-counted, but "3" and "2" in reversed order is counted twice.
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Simple Definition of haste
: speed of motion or action : quickness or eagerness that can result in mistakes
Examples of haste in a sentence
The application had been approved with undue haste.
<made haste to get there on time>
Origin and Etymology of haste
Middle English, from Anglo-French, of Germanic origin; akin to Old English hǣst violence
First Known Use: 14th century
Synonym Discussion of haste
Definition of haste
: to urge on : hasten
: to move or act swiftly
First Known Use of haste
HASTE Defined for Kids
Seen and Heard
What made you want to look up haste? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).
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Getting to the Bottom of Lake Pollution
Story posted June 01, 2009
There was a time when government major Catherine Jager '09 wondered what she had gotten herself into. It was the middle of winter and she was helping to haul a sled laden with an ice auger two miles across Androscoggin Lake.
"It was right after a snow storm and it was freezing," Jager recalled. "And there we were getting ready to drill a hole through the ice."
Her wintry trek was just one part of data gathering undertaken by students in Environmental Geology and Hydrology, a 100-level service-learning course taught by Associate Professor of Geology Peter Lea. Within the semester, other students took lake water samples, cored sediments to determine pollution trends, and developed statistical data models.
Jager's adventure paid off in the spring when she and her classmates became the star attraction at a public meeting in the nearby town of Leeds, which borders the lake. The students gave poster presentations of their data to town residents and members of the citizen-based Androscoggin Lake Improvement Corporation.
Their work has become a central part of a community-state effort to protect the environmentally threatened lake.
"This is the only lake in the state that gets floodwater from a Class C industrialized river—the Androscoggin—and as a result it has impaired water quality," noted Lea, who is one of several Bowdoin professors working on research related to the Androscoggin River. "We're trying to get a better sense of what's going on in the system. We hope to be able to measure and quantify contamination levels, water flow, and sedimentary history to pass on to community members and the Maine DEP, which is the main body charged with overseeing its protection."
The lake is home to a large river delta with an unusual ecosystem, including the only recorded occurrence of cattail sedge in Maine, a rare plant. The delta is periodically submerged when water from the Androscoggin River back floods into Androscoggin Lake.
"After the river got industrialized in the early 1900s the floodwaters started bringing nasty stuff with them into the lake," noted Lea. A dam was built in the 1930s to curtail flooding, however, the lake had major algal bloom in 1999, which indicates a high level of phosphorus in the water.
To better pinpoint the cause of the bloom, Lea and his students are combining their new data with archival field notes on lake water quality taken over a 30-year period by volunteers from the Androscoggin Lake Improvement Corporation. Among the members of the community group is Jack Mahoney, an octogenarian who wrote fastidious field notes and observations in a journal over several decades.
Bowdoin student Duncan Masland '11 entered Mahoney's measurements into a spreadsheet program to develop detailed graphs of lake temperature, oxygen and transparency over time. Mahoney was on hand at the town meeting to see his handiwork on display.
"It was really neat to meet him," noted Jager, adding: "People do a lot of community service at Bowdoin, but what is amazing about the geology department is the amount of improvising and fun involved. You work up to your knees in cold water, you take data for organizations on weekends, you gotta push a car out of a snow bank. Every time we went on a trip it was always an adventure."
Sampling efforts were supported by community course liaisons funded by the Joseph McKeen Center for the Common Good, a program designed to enhance connections between Bowdoin's academic programs and the surrounding community.
« Back | Campus News | Academic Spotlight | | Subscribe to Bowdoin News by Email
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From the silent victims of climate change, rain forest peoples in Latin America are preparing themselves to have an active voice in international decision-making on climate issues. A major landmark in preparing for the dialogue with authorities of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change will take place from April 1-4 in Manaus, Brazil, when forest leaders from 13 countries and experts will be participating in the workshop "Climate Change and the Peoples of the Forest: Advancing in the Discussion on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) and the Rights of Indigenous and Traditional Peoples", promoted by the Forest Peoples' Alliance.
The emergence of the global climate issue and the effective participation of forest communities in the conservation of the environment was one of the reasons for the re-launching of the Forest Peoples' Alliance, in September last year. The Alliance had been first established in 1989, shortly after the murder of leader Chico Mendes and represents the interests of indigenous peoples, extractive producers, riverine populations and other traditional communities who keep a mutual pact of survival with the forest.
During the workshop, leaders of Latin American forest communities expect to reach a consensus on which stand they shall take with regard to economic compensation for the environmental services they provide to the planet by helping to conserve millions of hectares of rain forests. Representatives from Asia and Africa will be participating as observers.
In order to encourage discussions during the workshop, the Forest Peoples' Alliance has invited some of the most expressive scientists and experts on topics related to climate, deforestation, indigenous and community rights in rain forests, including Daniel Nepstad (The Woods and Hole Research Center), Peter Frumhoff (Union of Concerned Scientists), Mrcio Santilli (Instituto Socioambiental) and Paulo Moutinho (IPAM).
The meeting's final document will be taken to debate with global authorities during the meeting of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) of the Climate Convention to take place next June, in Bonn, Germany. Policies and incentives for the reduction of emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries also shall be discussed during the meeting.
"We want to reach a much clearer picture about the new issues that have come up after the 13th Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Climate Change and agree on consensual points for our action", explains Chairman Manoel Silva da Cunha, the president of the National Rubber Tappers Council (CNS). According to Cunha, the environmental services that forest people provide to the planet have taken on an essential role in climate-related discussions. Cunha advocates the inclusion of non-deforesting populations in the sharing of benefits deriving from carbon funds or credits.
Way beyond deforestation
Starting from the outcomes of the Bali Conference and the drafting of the Course Map the participation of traditional peoples in the debate on climate change reached international dimensions. The proposals to be discussed by forest leaders during the Manaus event include mechanisms associated to the Reduction of Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD). These mechanisms will allow developing countries to be financially compensated for reducing deforestation or for conserving forests within their territories.
"We are aware of our role in the overall climate change context and we will exert our right to decide over the future of rain forests", highlighted Alberto Cantanhede Lopes, the president of GTA, an entity that represents 630 institutions throughout the Brazilian Amazon, a region in which 25% of all forests are under the guardianship of traditional and indigenous communities.
The rights of these peoples and their way of participating in the drafting of international policies and in fighting climate change will be some of the topics on the agenda of the Manaus meeting. "Countries must commit themselves to respecting the rights of traditional populations through internationally acknowledged conventions, treaties and declarations", says Jecinaldo Satere, the indigenous president of the Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon (COIAB). The meeting is being organized by the Climate Change Program of the Institute for Environmental Research of the Amazon (IPAM), with support from the David & Lucile Packard Foundation and the British Embassy.
|Contact: Elizabeth Braun|
Woods Hole Research Center
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GEF SGP Funds Climate Change Adaptation
13 October 2009: The Community-Based Adaptation (CBA) scheme, an initiative of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) funded by the Global Environment Facility's (GEF) Small Grants Programme (SGP), provides technical support to communities who want to understand what climate change is and how they could potentially deal with it.
Nine CBA projects in Kazakhstan, for example, seek to address climate-related threats, including increased risks of drought, soil salinization and erosion. Other countries participating in the CBA programme are Jamaica, Samoa, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Guatemala, Morocco, Namibia, Niger and Viet Nam. Each country is expected to develop, plan and implement up to 20 community-level schemes, and it is hoped that communities in other nations will be able to replicate their successes. [UN News Release]
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Active Coal Mines
The outlines of active coal mines were obtained from the Kentucky Mine Mapping Information System website.
These data are maintained by the Kentucky Revenue Cabinet’s Unmined Minerals Tax program as part of their assessment methodology. Mine outlines are digitized from mine maps submitted by coal companies to the Office of Mine Licensing. Updates to the shapefiles are made continuously. Mine polygons are attributed with a permit number (SFN) that allows links to be made to the state database of annual production data for the mines and to online scanned minemaps. The downloaded shapefile was first processed to remove inactive mines.
Because individual mines have areas appended to them over time, the result is multi-part polygons. This created an issue for displaying attribute information (a row was returned for each polygon of a single mine), therefore the shapefile was further processed to merge the parts into a single shape. For surface mines, a single permit may cover geographically distinct areas, usually where different seams are being extracted. In the case of these mines, the polygons were merged by coal seam and permit number.
Download Current Digitized Mine Outlines (Active and Inactive)
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Origin and Etymology of lysosome
International Scientific Vocabulary lys- + 3-some
First Known Use: 1955
LYSOSOME Defined for Kids
Definition of lysosome for Students
: a tiny saclike part in a cell that contains enzymes which can break down materials (as food particles and waste)
Seen and Heard
What made you want to look up lysosome? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).
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Grown-up Moon: What Do You See in Today's Moon?
Adapted from What Do You See in the Moon?, Family Space Day – Moon, Lunar and Planetary Institute.
Children use their imaginations to discover an object or character in the Moon! They first read or listen to a cultural story describing a shape identified in the Moon's surface features. Then, they consider how the features formed over the Moon's 4.5-billion-year history and investigate Earth rocks that are similar. Children may examine the types of Earth rocks (named anorthosite, basalt, and breccia) that are also found on the Moon and that would have been shaped by the processes explored here. Finally, they draw their own object or character that they see when they look at the Moon.
What's the Point?
- Scientists study the Moon's rocks and surface features to learn how it formed and changed over its long "lifetime."
- The features we see on the Moon's surface today were formed over its 4.5-billion-year history.
- Impact craters and basins, caused when asteroids or comets collided with the Moon, cover the Moon's surface.
- Large impact basins formed early in the Moon's history, then were later filled in by lava flows to form the dark patches — maria — we see today.
- The Moon has some of the same types of rocks that are found on Earth. The rocks have certain properties, such as color.
- Cultures throughout history have identified shapes in the Moon's features and told stories about them.
The following materials are for one What Do You See in the Moon? activity set and will serve approximately 10 children working in teams of two to three.
- Books or other media that share stories about the Moon and what different cultures see when they look at the Moon. For example:
Moontellers: Myths of the Moon from Around the World
Lynn Moroney, 1995, Northland Publishing Company, ISBN
Dot to Dot in the Sky: Stories of the Moon
Joan Marie Galat, Whitecap Books, 2004, ISBN 1552856100
MyMoon: World Tales of the Moon
This site offers links to several stories from across the globe, including "Rabbit on the Moon" (Mexico), "Drummer on the Moon" (Ivory Coast), "Tears on the Moon" (Algeria), "Rabbit and Frog on the Moon" (China), and "Boy on the Moon" (North America).
- Optional: Computer, speakers, and access to the Internet for listening to online cultural stories
- Optional: A live storyteller reading or performing Moon myths
- Optional: Images of features that different cultures see in the Moon
- Optional: 1 sample each of anorthosite, basalt, and breccia, ordered from a natural science catalog (optional):
- 1 sample of Earth basalt ordered from a natural science catalog; a flood basalt hand specimen (item # 47 V 1044) is available from WARD'S Natural Science
- 1 sample of Earth anorthosite, ordered from a natural science catalog; an anorthosite hand specimen (item # 47 V 0559) is available from WARD'S Natural Science
- 1 sample of breccia, ordered from a natural science catalog; a volcanic breccia hand specimen (item #47 V 1324) is available from WARD'S Natural Science
- Moon Map
- Grown-up Moon: What Do You See in Today's Moon? station sign
- Grown-up Moon: What Do You See in Today's Moon? children's guide
- Art materials such as crayons, colored pencils, and markers
For each child:
- Grown-up Moon: What do you see in Today's Moon? comic panel
- His/her Marvel Moon comic book and binder clip
- 1 pencil or pen
For the facilitator:
- If desired, set this station up on a small stage or in the story corner of the library. Have a storyteller read stories from the suggested books, or invite a professional storyteller to describe what shape — such as a tree or a rabbit — his or her culture identifies in the features of the Moon.
- Optional: provide the computer and Internet access as a listening station for cultural stories about the Moon's appearance.
- Print theimages of the Moon and shapes seen in its features and spread them out on the table.
- Place the books, rock samples, art materials, Moon map, and children’s guide at the station.
Described in the children's guide.
The children may recognize their own patterns in the Moon or they may identify those described in cultural stories. By comparing fun shapes and personal stories to the actual topographical features in the Moon, they should recognize that the Moon has a science story to tell, as well. Younger children should be able to recognize that the large dark circles are maria or "seas" after their mistaken identification by early astronomers.
Many cultures through time have developed stories about the features they observed on our Moon. One is the story that rabbits live on the Moon with a Katsura tree. Some people see an outline of a rabbit on the Moon, others see a dog, and still others see a man in the Moon, a crab, a lady knitting or reading a book, a man resting under a tree, a frog, a lizard...
The Moon is covered with light and dark areas. The light colored areas are the oldest part of the Moon's surface — they have many craters and are called the "cratered highlands." This part of the Moon's crust formed from a cooling magma ocean soon after the Moon formed 4.5 billion years ago! The basins were formed by BIG impacts early in the Moon's history. Later, lava filled these basins and cooled. The dark-colored plains (maria) we see are made of a fine-grained, dark, volcanic rock called basalt — the same rock type as found on Earth's ocean floors and the same type that makes up the islands of Hawaii.
September 12, 2012
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New wearable electronics could become smart surgical gloves that allow surgeons to feel and do everything using their fingertips. Such electronics could even include electronic "socks" wrapped snugly around a patient's heart to monitor cardiac health.
The idea of stretchy smart materials fitting the hands of surgeons or human hearts comes from researchers who have discovered how to transform hard semiconductors into soft, flexible electronics. A U.S.-China team has published its blueprint for designing and making smart devices that can wrap around 3D objects like the human fingertip.
"The biggest challenge is in integrating a hard, brittle material like silicon, which exists for high performance electronics only in the form of planar, rigid wafers, into a thin, stretchable skinlike system that has a 3D curvature like the body," said John Rogers, a materials engineer at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Rogers and his colleagues from the University of Illinois, Northwestern University and China's Dalian University of Technology have already built and tested the form-fitting cardiac "socks." Such smart materials could someday lead to medical gloves that not only give a heightened sense of touch, but also allow surgeons to "feel'' the electric activity related to heart health and behavior.
Advanced versions of the smart surgical gloves could even allow surgeons to precisely remove or cut heart tissue during surgery with a touch of their fingertips, Rogers said. [Smart Clothing Could Become Wearable Gadgets]
The researchers achieved their flexible breakthrough by making silicon into ultrathin "nanomembranes" that are about 10,000 times thinner than the width of a human hair. They then cut the nanomembranes into wavy snakelike shapes and combined them with a thin rubbery membrane that allowed the entire material to "stretch, twist, bend and wrap curved surfaces" without damaging the silicon.
"One doesn't need to break any laws of physics to make this happen," Rogers told InnovationNewsDaily. "The challenges are now less in concepts and more in engineering execution."
The flexible silicon was printed on the outside of elastic "finger-tubes," so that researchers could simply flip the finger-tubes inside out to have the electronics touching the wearer's skin. The electronics included stimulators capable of transmitting information to humans as a tingly sensation or vibration and sensors that could measure the pressure of physical contact.
Other electronics included "strain gauges" attached to the lower part of the hand that could detect the stretching sensation of the wearer moving his or her finger. The researchers published their paper in the Aug. 10 issue of the journal Nanotechnology, and have already begun creating wearable electronics through their startup company called MC10.
Additional testing with a more diverse array of flexible electronics could also lead to devices that monitor human body temperature and hydration level. Such health and wellness monitoring capabilities could benefit an MC10 joint project with sportswear company Reebok — a project that may unveil commercial products before the end of 2012.
This story was provided by InnovationNewsDaily, a sister site to LiveScience. You can follow InnovationNewsDaily Senior Writer Jeremy Hsu on Twitter @ScienceHsu. Follow InnovationNewsDaily on Twitter @News_Innovation, or on Facebook.
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(Last Updated on : 22/02/2011)
are a part of the highly untouchable castes that were the last in the order of castes in the state of Kerala. This last group hides under its rags some very interesting features, since all the castes it comprises still carry on magical and shamanistic practices. They include the astrologer caste of Kanisans or Pannikars, the Vanans or washer men who claim powers of exorcizing diseases, the Pulayas who claim spiritual familiarity with the ancient serpent deities, and the Paraiyas, who are feared as sorcerers.
From the Pulayas and the Paraiyas were drawn the agrarian serfs of the lowlands; even below them were the miserable, unseeable Nayadis. The outcaste groups are led numerically by the Pulayas and the Paraiyas. Altogether these three groups comprise over eighty percent of the Hindu population in Kerala; the Pulayas are the oldest inhabitants of the lowlands of Kerala. Many of their customs resemble those of the hill tribes, and their legends claim that they were once independent and lived under a Pulaya king who ruled from a fort at the village of Pulayanarkotta in the hills close to Trivandrum. A further suggestion of their past importance is contained in the legend that Sri Padmanabhan, the avatar of Vishnu who reigns in the great Temple at Trivandrum, was discovered as an infant and nurtured by a Pulaya woman.
The people belonging to this community are well-known for their craftsmanship, music and for some specific dances which include Kolam-thullal. Kolam-thulla is a mask dance which forms a vital component of their exorcism rituals, and also the Mudi-attam or hair-dance which is linked to a fertility ritual. There are various other traditions of the Pulayas which include, the Theyyannam. It is a ritualistic dance which is done by the Kurava and Pulaya communities. There is a devotional offering made by the Pulayas called Bhadrakali thullal meant for their deity Bhadrakali. Especial pandals are erected in fields once the harvesting work is done and there the dances are executed.
There were certain hints of past wars between Pulayas and other Malayalis in a curious Saturnalian custom called Pula peddi which was abolished by a proclamation of the Raja of Venad as late as 1696. Pulapeddi was the privilege accorded to Pulayas at a certain season to molest women of higher castes whom they encountered after nightfall, either by abducting them or by casting stones or sticks so that, if hit, the women would feel polluted and on their own accord would leave their homes and join the outcastes. At the same time, the shamanistic practices of the Pulayas and other outcaste groups link them with a pre-Aryan and even pre-Dravidian magical culture. There seems little doubt of their descent from those remnants of the megalithic people who stayed in the lowlands to be enslaved by the Dravidian invaders, while their relatives in the hills retained a much greater degree of independence.
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Fashion and history go hand in hand, believe it or not. Historical events in a time period reflects the way people living in the time dress, especially with teenagers, but it would not have started with out the Woman's Rights Movement. If it were not for the movements, would it still be a male-dominated society? It is scary to think about, what might not have happened if it were not for those who fought for privileges? In the first part of the twentieth century, fashion was beginning to make a radical change. Because of the first wave of working women making their way into American society, Victorian styles were suddenly unfashionable and the skirt and blouse combination became more accepted. The advancing feminine cause influenced many trends. Women, and their desire to conform with and show that they could do the same job as men, brought about such as the Gibson Girl, with her hourglass figure, her expertly upswept hair, and her unquestionable upper-class air, was everything American women in 1900 wanted to be.
Although women fought for the rights, in the 1950s teenagers started to take advantage of the fact they could express their feelings. Rock N Roll music made teenagers come out with their own since of style. They were more open with developing their own since of style, showing that they no longer wanted to dress like their parents. The girls now started to wear poodle skirts in every color you could imagine with tight sweaters that matched. They wore their hair in a pony tail and started having a social life. The guys on the other hand went along with what movie stars made popular. Author James Laver stated "Hollywood film stars James Dean and Marlon Brando popularized jeans and the motorbike jacket and also transformed the T-shirt into a fashionable item of clothing"(260). American teenage boys also wanted to show their rebellious side by having sideburns and greased hairstyle as illustrated in the movie Grease.
The 1960's were the beginning of the new youth culture. Young people suddenly had power, they wanted to have a say on what was going on at that particular time. The best way to do this was through the music. Music was used as a way to express emotions about everything, and to make political and other statements. Fashion reflected the music by making a statement and expressing personal opinions. The 1960's clothing styles developed along simpler, more youthful lines. It was the decade that had it's own fashions directed specifically at teenagers. However, by the 1960's it had evolved into a more generalized yet at the same time more outrageous form of fashion. It led to an explosion of the youth culture, which gave all teenagers a style of dress they could call their own. This style was very revolutionary but it eventually influenced the fashions of the entire decade for people of all ages. The 1960's fashion became more youthful; they became simpler, shorter, and brighter.
The "Swinging Sixties," 1960- 1967 most of American fashion came from Paris. Clothing stores called boutiques were finally becoming more popular with American teenagers. They found them to be fun to visit because of their loud music and sales assistants, dressed in the most recent fashions, there to aid your every need.
In 1966 mini skirts became the hottest trend around with U.S. females. They could now wear a skirt that was above their knees and it not be frowned upon. Mini skirts were worn with...
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As the first gorge in the Three Gorge area , Qutang gorge is not only famous for its beautiful sight but also there is a cliff named Chalk Wall , which is several hundred meters wide and several dozen meters high, completely covered with carved inscriptions dating from the Song Dynasty 1,000 yeas ago.
All the inscriptions were carved in different styles of Chinese calligraphy , including seal characters, official script, regular script and running hand. Among all the inscriptions there is the eulogy on the Virtues of Revival of the Song Dynasty , an essay of over 980 words written by the Southern Song calligrapher Zhao Gongshuo. The total essay covered a space of 4 meters high and seven meters wide. It is really an amazing and marvellous piece of calligraphy work from ancient China.
Actually , as soon as the cruise ship enters the Qutang Gorge, what people see at the first sight are four large characters carved on the cliff. They are 'Kui Gate' and 'Qutang Gorge', both of which refers to the name of this place. The two characters of 'Qutang Gorge' were written by Zhang Boxiang, who was from the Qing Dynasty over 400 years ago, and each measured 1.70 meters in width. They are forcefully written with matured elegance. The two characters for "Kui Gate" are written by Liu Xinyuan. They are in the style of the official script of' the Han Dynasty combined with the characteristics of the tablet inscriptions of the Northern Wei Dynasty. All of these inscriptions are the best works of Chinese calligraphy. There are another two inscriptions by patriot general Feng Yuxiang at the beginning of the 20th century. One of them reads, March out of Kui Gate and Wu to drive out the Japanese invaders. As at that time China wad invaded by the Japanese troops and the general was working hard with other Chinese to resist the invasion.
These inscriptions on the cliff are very good materials for the visitors who are interested in Chinese calligraphy. While enjoying the beautiful sight at Qutang Gorge, in the meanwhile, appreciating the magnificent works like these must be a lot of fun for tourists.
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Your Kidneys and How They Work
How Do Kidneys Fail?
Many factors that influence the speed of kidney failure are not completely understood. Researchers are still studying how protein in the diet and cholesterol levels in the blood affect kidney function.
Acute Renal Failure
Some kidney problems happen quickly, like an accident that injures the kidneys. Losing a lot of blood can cause sudden kidney failure. Some drugs or poisons can make your kidneys stop working. These sudden drops in kidney function are called acute renal failure (ARF).
ARF may lead to permanent loss of kidney function. But if your kidneys are not seriously damaged, acute renal failure may be reversed.
Chronic Renal Failure
Most kidney problems, however, happen slowly. You may have "silent" kidney disease for years. Gradual loss of kidney function is called chronic renal failure or chronic renal disease.
End-Stage Renal Disease
The condition of total or nearly total and permanent kidney failure is called end-stage renal disease (ESRD). People with ESRD must undergo dialysis or transplantation to stay alive.
What Are the Signs of Kidney Disease?
People in the early stages of kidney disease may not feel sick at all. The first signs that you are sick may be general: frequent headaches or feeling tired or itchy all over your body.
If your kidney disease gets worse, you may need to urinate more often or less often. You may lose your appetite or experience nausea and vomiting. Your hands or feet may swell or feel numb. You may get drowsy or have trouble concentrating. Your skin may darken. You may have muscle cramps.
How Will My Doctor Detect Kidney Disease?
First, your doctor will probably send blood and urine samples to a lab to test for substances that should not be there. If the blood contains too much creatinine or urea nitrogen and the urine contains protein, your kidneys may not be functioning properly.
Creatinine is a waste product in the blood created by the normal breakdown of muscle during activity. Healthy kidneys take creatinine out of the blood and put it in the urine to leave the body. When kidneys are not working well, creatinine builds up in the blood.
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THE MOST AMBITIOUS MAN
IN THE WORLD
On a cold winter’s day in February 1843, attorney Richard Thomas went to his post office in Virginia, Illinois, to retrieve the mail. In his pile was a folded-up parchment bearing a Springfield postmark. The message was from his friend Abraham Lincoln. Thomas paid for his mail (the stamp still being one year off, all mail came postage due) and unfolded it.
“Now if you should hear any one say that Lincoln doesn’t want to go to Congress, I wish you as a personal friend of mine, would tell him you have reason to believe he is mistaken. The truth is, I would like to go very much.”1
With that, Abraham Lincoln, a Springfield attorney and a leader in the Illinois Whig Party, began in earnest his first attempt to win a seat in Congress. Thomas, a Cass County attorney, knew Lincoln from their work together on the Eighth Judicial Circuit. On the frontier of Illinois, no lawyer could earn a living in just one county. Throughout the year, the Eighth Circuit traveled from county seat to county seat, from courthouse to courthouse, handling a variety of causes and controversies.
The Illinois General Assembly, now three years removed from the last census, was far behind on drawing new congressional maps. But when it did, surely there would be an opportunity for Lincoln. Westward migration meant Illinois would grow from three to seven seats in the House of Representatives. John T. Stuart, the incumbent congressman and Lincoln’s former law partner, was unlikely to run again, and by this time had probably already signaled this decision to his friends.I
The same day Lincoln penned his letter to Thomas, he also wrote to Alden Hull, a friend from Tazewell County with whom he’d served in the General Assembly. “Your county and ours are almost sure to be placed in the same Congressional district,” he wrote. “I would like to be its Representative.”2
Through his service in the legislature and in Whig Party politics, and his work on the circuit, Lincoln had made a wide network of friends and acquaintances. He would now begin to put the pieces in place, his eyes fixed to the east toward the national seat of power.
Lincoln’s early campaign letters caught few by surprise. Those who knew him attested to Lincoln’s aspirations, going back to his earliest youth. His cousin remembered that “even in his early days he had a strong conviction that he was born for better things than then seemed likely or even possible.”3 A childhood friend recalled, “Abe was just awful hungry to be somebody.”4 Even the nation’s top position did not seem out of reach to Lincoln, who said “he did not recollect the time when he did not believe that he would at some day be President.”5
For a desperately poor young boy on the frontier, who lost his mother at age nine, such a life should well have been unimaginable. But history remembers few who did not take seriously what others found laughable. That Lincoln maintained this belief through backbreaking labor on the farm, long days on a Mississippi flatboat, a failed general store that left him with crippling debt, or a failed first legislative race may have seemed to others like a missed reality check. But refusal to accept the death of a dream would seem a historical imperative in realizing it. And like others who have risen in politics, Lincoln interacted with men who were reputed to be great, only to find that while they might be exceptional, they were still humans, in no material way different from him.6 The year before he ran for Congress, Lincoln had his first chance to meet someone with a truly national reputation. Martin Van Buren, who had just left the presidency, stopped for the night in Rochester, Illinois, six miles from Springfield.7 Despite the fact that he was a prominent Whig, the local Democrats invited Lincoln to dinner. It was a testament to Lincoln’s good company and sense of humor, for the Democrats wanted their exalted guest to enjoy himself. Lincoln did not disappoint, filling the evening with “a constant supply” of entertaining stories, “each more irresistible than its predecessor,”8 while the former president insisted “his sides were sore from laughing.”9 Lincoln listened carefully to Van Buren’s stories of old New York politics, of the days of Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, and no doubt believed with increasing confidence that he, too, could make a name for himself. Perhaps he would not have been surprised to know that one day, this tiny town of Rochester would build a memorial to commemorate not just Van Buren’s visit, but his presence at the dinner as well. William Herndon, Lincoln’s law partner from 1844 until the end of his life, remembered him as “the most ambitious man in the world.”10
Two days removed from his thirty-fourth birthday when he wrote to Thomas and Hull, Lincoln was already an experienced politician. After losing his first attempt for the legislature in 1832, he had come back to win the next four elections. The time spanning Lincoln’s first bid for office and his retirement from the legislature saw a breakdown in the national consensus, division, and the rise and crystallization of new political parties. For his part, Lincoln was a Whig.
Although we remember Lincoln as a Republican, or as someone who was “above” party politics, he was a member of the Whig Party for most of his political life. The Whigs, little understood and largely forgotten, were for a time one of two major American political parties. They elected two presidents, and due to their untimely deaths produced two more, and at times controlled the Senate and House of Representatives.
The Whig coalition came together in response to the policies of President Andrew Jackson. Like all movements born in opposition, they were a disparate bunch. The Whigs included everyone from genteel former Federalists, who traced their most recent lineage to James Madison, to members of the populist Anti-Masonic Party, sworn enemies of secret societies. The latter was formed after William Morgan, a Mason from upstate New York, let it be known that he was publishing a book revealing the secrets of Freemasonry.11 When Morgan was arrested on a petty charge, four men bailed him out, paid his debt, and took him off in a carriage, never to be seen again.12
The essence of Whig Party policy was Henry Clay’s “American System.” It called for a high protective tariff to shield infant American industries from foreign competition; a system of internal improvements such as ports, canals, roads, bridges, and railroads to create a truly national marketplace; and a national bank for stable currency and a source of financing for commerce.
In 1832, Jackson vetoed the reauthorization of the national bank. The mercantile class of the United States, who relied on the credit to fund their operations, was driven to the Whig Party. Then Jackson went further, removing deposits from the national bank and violating federal law.13 Two Treasury secretaries were fired, in a nineteenth-century version of Nixon’s Saturday Night Massacre. Meanwhile, South Carolina attempted to “nullify” the national tariff, which provoked a strong reaction from Jackson and a deep resentment among supporters of states’ rights.14 While northern Whigs were upset about banking policy, southern supporters of state prerogatives were also driven to join the Whig Party, despite its support for the tariff.
Whigs were focused on economic progress. They pushed the nation’s first bankruptcy law and the creation of limited liability companies.15 The Whigs anticipated and advocated for many of the features now associated with the modern economy, while Jackson and the Democrats had a nostalgic view of a nation of yeoman farmers toiling away.
The Jacksonian era, which gave rise to a new party system, also saw the dramatic expansion of voting rights. New tactics would be necessary to win over this broad new electorate. These included new newspapers, and events such as campaign “rallies, parades, barbecues, and pole raisings.”16
The Panic of 1837 allowed the Whigs to present a unified and national economic message, discussing what they were for and not what they were against.17
Lincoln would recall that he “was always a Whig in politics,”18 and called the Whig platform “the right to rise.”19 While many have celebrated the extreme poverty from which Lincoln emerged, he was never among that group. It was his desire to foster a society with social mobility, in which everyone could rise according to his talents and hard work. Henry Clay was Lincoln’s “beau ideal of a statesman, the man for whom I fought all my humble life.”20
In 1838, John Stuart, Lincoln’s law partner, decided to run for Congress. His Democratic opponent was Stephen Douglas, then only twenty-five. Stuart and Douglas traveled the broad district, one of only three in the state of Illinois, and even rode to debates together. One night they arrived late at an inn, and the innkeeper roused his guests from their beds, telling them to make room for two more (it was not uncommon, with the scarcity of sleeping space on the frontier, for innkeepers to ask patrons to share a bed with strangers). Upon learning the partisan affiliations of the two existing guests, Douglas said, “Stuart, you sleep with the Whig, and I’ll sleep with the Democrat.”21 But the campaign was not always a model of civility. In a debate at the Market House in Springfield, Stuart lifted Douglas by his head and paraded him around the square.22 With limited options, the diminutive Douglas closed his jaws around Stuart’s thumb, scarring the latter for life.23
On May 10, 1838, Abraham Lincoln filled in on the campaign trail for Stuart, who was sick—it was the first Lincoln-Douglas debate.24
Stuart won, becoming the first Whig representative from Illinois. On September 29, there was a barbecue for two thousand in celebration at Porter’s Grove. Three of the prominent speakers—Abraham Lincoln, John J. Hardin, and Edward D. Baker—were probably even then contemplating how they would win the seat when Stuart gave it up.
By 1843, Lincoln was one of the senior leaders of the Illinois Whig Party, and “the most ambitious man in the world” was itching to move on to the next level. With his behind-the-scenes campaign for Congress revving up, Lincoln participated in a Whig meeting on March 1 to organize for the upcoming elections.
From his home at the Globe Tavern on Adams Street, where he lived with Mary Todd, his wife of four months, Lincoln could see the Illinois State Capitol, his destination. The Globe advertised itself as “well provided with rooms for families and travelers . . . one square southwest of the state house,” charging twenty-five cents a meal, fifty cents per day for people, and to stable horses twenty-five cents per night.25
Lincoln would have been an instantly recognizable sight on the streets of the town. He weighed 160 pounds, ridiculously thin for his six-foot-four-inch frame.26 His height was all the more distinctive due to his long legs.27 Though he stood head and shoulders above nearly everyone he met, when seated he was “no taller than ordinary men.”28
The capitol stood in stark relief against the scattered structures of the sleepy town of Springfield, the seat of government for an infant state on the western frontier of a young republic.29 Months earlier, in response to a sermon on the second coming of Christ, Lincoln had said of his town: “If the Lord has been in Springfield once, he will never come the second time.”30 But that view of the capitol must have served as a constant point of pride for Lincoln. Nearly six years earlier, he and the other legislators from Sangamon County had secured Springfield as the site of the new capital for Illinois.II This Classical Revival building was created out of limestone from a local quarry, giving it an unusual brown and yellow color, crowned by a white cupola and a modest red dome, topped by an American flag with twenty-six stars.
Inside the packed Hall of Representatives, enthusiasm ran high as Whigs readied for the next contest. Their optimism was a triumph of hope over experience.
The Whigs of Illinois had “never carried a presidential election, never elected a United States Senator, never elected a Governor or Lieutenant Governor,” were in the minority in the General Assembly, and had never held more than one of the state’s three congressional seats.31
The meeting made a number of resolutions and committed them to a policy paper, “An Address to the People of Illinois.”32 Lincoln was one of three assigned to craft it.III The address offers the clearest possible insight into Lincoln’s philosophy as he first set his sights on national office, covering not only political issues but also best practices for local party organizations. The address advocated for a tariff on imports to fund the operations of the federal government and eliminate the need for direct taxation, which the Whigs opposed. In such a case, Lincoln argued, “The land must be literally covered with assessors and collectors, going forth like swarms of Egyptian locusts, devouring every blade of grass and other green thing.” Whigs also favored a tariff to protect American manufacturing from competition with foreign goods.33
The address denounced deficit spending and borrowing by the national government, “growing with a rapidity fearful to contemplate.” Indebtedness “is a system,” Lincoln wrote, “not only ruinous while it lasts, but one that must soon fail and leave us destitute. An individual who undertakes to live by borrowing, soon finds his original means devoured by interest, and next no one left to borrow from—so must it be with a government.”
The third point of the circular was the “necessity and propriety of a National Bank,” one of the most contentious national issues. As to the advisability of the bank, the circular simply asks its readers to compare the economy now with what it had been under the bank’s existence, a predecessor to the perennial question: “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?”
The fourth resolution regarded Henry Clay’s bill on public land sales. This would allow states to keep a percentage of federal property sold within their borders, money that could be used to promote economic development in the form of internal improvements. The benefit to Illinois from this bill, Lincoln reasoned, “seems to us the clearest imaginable.” Illinois would receive substantial annual revenues, “no part of which we otherwise receive. . . . Shall we accept our share of the proceeds, under Mr. Clay’s bill; or shall we rather reject that, and get nothing?”
Resolutions five through nine concerned organizing and preparing the Whig Party for victory. A Whig candidate should be slated for every seat in Congress, Lincoln argued, regardless of how difficult the district.
In addition to fielding a full slate of candidates, the circular prescribed the use of a convention system to narrow the field to a single candidate. “This we believe to be of the very first importance. Whether the system is right in itself, we do not stop to enquire; contenting ourselves with trying to show, that while our opponents use it, it is madness in us not to defend ourselves with it. Experience has shown that we cannot successfully defend ourselves without it.” Today it is nearly universally accepted that parties, mostly through primary elections, must narrow down the field for the final ballot, but that was far from the case at the time. Lincoln reported that “go where you would in a large Whig county, you were sure to find the Whigs, not contending shoulder to shoulder against the common enemy, but divided into factions, and fighting furiously with one another.” Consequently, the Whig counties sent twenty-seven Democrats to the Illinois House. Conventions were so controversial within the party that Whigs who ran against the convention choice frequently polled ahead of their rivals, only to see themselves lose to the Democrat, “the spoils chucklingly borne off by the common enemy.”
“That ‘union is strength’ is a truth,” Lincoln observed, “that has been known, illustrated and declared, in various ways and forms in all ages of the world.” In an analogy that Lincoln would later use to unforgettable effect, “He whose wisdom surpasses that of all philosophers, has declared that ‘a house divided against itself cannot stand.’ ”
“If two friends aspire to the same office, it is certain both cannot succeed. Would it not, then, be much less painful to have the question decided by mutual friends some time before, than to snarl and quarrel till the day of election, and then both be beaten by the common enemy?”
The simple formula for victory, to render Whig candidates “always successful,” was to get them all to the polls, and to vote unitedly. “This is the great desideratum. Let us make every effort to attain it. At every election, let every Whig act as though he knew the result to depend upon his action.”
But hatred of political conventions had contributed to the founding of the Whig Party. In 1832, the Democratic Party held its first national nominating convention. The renomination of Andrew Jackson for president was beyond doubt. At issue was who would serve as his running mate and vice president in his second term, and so at its heart it was a decision on who would succeed him as president and party leader. Richard Mentor Johnson was extremely popular in the West and among the grass roots of the party. Johnson, a colorful but largely forgotten figure, held out one of his slaves, Julia Chinn, as his wife (though of course they could not legally marry), and, much to the chagrin of Kentucky’s debutante set, even tried to have their daughters presented to society. Johnson had won a massive following in the West for his efforts to eliminate indebtedness as a criminal offense.34 But while Johnson may have held the hearts of the grass roots, it was Martin Van Buren of New York who was selected. Elected officials and party bosses were overrepresented in the convention, and “steam roller methods” were used to rubber-stamp the predetermined vote.35 Many of the disappointed joined the Whig Party, bringing with them their antipathy for conventions. One of these was Joseph Duncan, a former Democratic governor of Illinois. Duncan replied to the circular Lincoln had drafted by saying, “I look upon the convention system as designed by its authors to change the government from the free will of the people into the hands of designing politicians.”36
As a legislator, Lincoln was part of a nucleus of influential Whigs who refused to cede the tactical high ground to the Democrats. Referred to by their detractors as “the Springfield Junto,” they worked quietly behind the scenes to slate ambitious Whigs for office and deter others to avoid dividing the vote. The Junto’s “saving grace,” it was reported, “was the lack of reliable information about it.”37
Many Whigs still prided themselves on being “too independent to wear the collar of party discipline,”38 but there is nothing like the crush of persistent political reversals to open minds to new approaches. In October 1839, the Whigs had their first state convention, in Springfield. Counties that had honored the result of conventions were successful.39 Lincoln tried to capitalize on that success by publishing a handbook for party organization. It read as follows:
Lincoln’s Plan of Campaign in 184040
1st. Appoint one person in each county as county captain, and take his pledge to perform promptly all the duties assigned him.
Duties of the County Captain.
1st. To procure from the poll-books a separate list for each Precinct of all the names of all those persons who voted the Whig ticket in August.
2nd. To appoint one person in each Precinct as Precinct Captain, and, by a personal interview with him, procure his pledge, to perform promptly all the duties assigned him.
3rd. To deliver to each Precinct Captain the list of names as above, belonging to his Precinct; and also a written list of his duties.
Duties of the Precinct Captain.
1st. To divide the list of names delivered him by the county Captain, into Sections of ten who reside most convenient to each other.
2nd. To appoint one person of each Section as Section Captain, and by a personal interview with him, procure his pledge to perform promptly all the duties assigned him.
3rd. To deliver to each Section Captain the list of names belonging to his Section and also a written list of his duties.
Duties of the Section Captain.
1st. To see each man of his Section face to face, and procure his pledge that he will for no consideration (impossibilities excepted) stay from the polls on the first Monday in November; and that he will record his vote as early on the day as possible.
2nd. To add to his Section the name of every person in his vicinity who did not vote with us in August, but who will vote with us in the fall, and take the same pledge of him, as from the others.
3rd. To task himself to procure at least such additional names to his Section.
Instead of capitalizing on that success, as Lincoln argued, the Whigs backed off the convention system, running a disorganized campaign in 1842, and were routed throughout the state.
When the redistricting maps were completed, the Whig stronghold of central Illinois found itself in the Seventh District.IV Though competition for the spot would be intense, all sides seemed to agree that a nominating convention was the fairest method of ensuring the seat remained in their hands.
On the morning of March 6, the Whigs of the Seventh District met to decide the date and place of their congressional convention. The next day, Lincoln wrote to his old friend John Bennett, a Whig living in Petersburg, Menard County. “I am sorry to hear that any of the Whigs of your county, or indeed of any county, should longer be against conventions . . . the right way for you to do, is to hold your meeting and appoint delegates any how; and if there be any who will not take part, let it be so. The matter will work so well this time that even they who now oppose will come in next time.”41
The race would be covered by newspapers, each openly affiliated with one political party or another. In Lincoln’s day, this primarily meant the Whig-allied Sangamo Journal (later the Illinois State Journal) and the Illinois State Register, the organ of the Democrats.
Both papers featured advertisements, often illustrated, to meet the various needs of their frontier readership; these included “incorruptible teeth,” balm to restore lost eyesight, lozenges (the “Greatest discovery of the age”), glasses, putty, hand pumps, plows, and other farm implements. As time went on, these ads reflected advancements in technology such as spectacles and daguerreotypes. Flashy drawings or headlines helped the ads compete against their neighbors (WAR IN TEXAS! preceded a blurb for a local apothecary). The local papers featured divorce decrees (in one memorable ad, a man warned merchants that he was no longer responsible for paying his ex-wife’s creditors), New Hampshire Senate elections, riots in Canada. The papers reprinted the queen’s speech at the opening of Parliament and reported Indian slayings on the frontier and alongside revolutions in the Punjab region of India, as well as strange lights witnessed on the Illinois horizon.
Unlike today, when news outlets and reporters make a pretense at impartiality, the newspapers proudly advertised their partisan and ideological identities. Readers were invited to digest the news accordingly. The Register featured a recurring column titled “Whig falsehoods.” The Whig-affiliated Journal, with overstatement characteristic of the partisan press, called the new congressional maps the worst “specimens of gerrymandering, the equal of which was never before exhibited in a representative government.”42
The Whig nomination would not come easily for Lincoln. For ambitious, experienced Whigs, there was no realistic chance of being elected governor, or to statewide office, or to be elected by the General Assembly to the United States Senate. The Seventh District was the funnel of Whig aspirations. Though many expressed interest, Lincoln’s true competitors were John Hardin of Morgan County and Edward Baker, who like Lincoln lived in Sangamon.
Hardin was from one of the elite families of Kentucky. Lincoln had lived the first seven years of his life in Hardin County, Kentucky, named for his adversary’s grandfather, a Revolutionary War hero killed by the Indians to whom he’d been sent by George Washington. Hardin’s father was a United States senator who had served as Kentucky’s Speaker of the House and secretary of state.43 Hardin’s reputation was that of an “honest, upright, and inflexible public servant.”44 Hardin’s wife once received a letter from a friend advising her to “put yourself down as favored among women,” noting that she’d be hard-pressed to “challenge the annals of matrimony to produce another specimen of husband.”45 Though serious in demeanor, Hardin was sweet with his children, and a doting father. “You are at an age where you are forming habits which will last you through life,” he once wrote his daughter. “Be studious, and you will store your mind with useful knowledge, which will be a resource to you whenever you may be left with a lonesome or idle hour on your hands.”46 To his son, during a Christmas when they were separated, he wrote, “It is a great sacrifice for me to be without the society of my two oldest children, and nothing in this world can give me so much pleasure as to hear from them and learn they are good and happy, and improving in knowledge, and learning something of the great responsibilities of life.”47
Though Lincoln and Hardin were always more professional colleagues than friends, Abe was as close as could be with Edward Baker. It was said that “wherever he spoke he carried his audience captive by the power of his eloquence and the strength of his arguments.”48 Baker was an incredible showman, who liked to deliver speeches with “a pet eagle chained to a ring.”49 When denouncing Democratic failures, the eagle was trained to “lower its head and droop its wings,” but when discussing the promise of Whig policies, the eagle would “spread its wings and scream.”50 Even the Register thought Baker “a very handsome man . . . an eloquent speaker . . . naturally good natured.”51 Such was Baker’s drive that he denounced his parents for having him in England, once he found out its impact on his eligibility to be president.52 The Register ribbed Baker, saying that he “has neglected everything else this session in order to get himself a district made here . . . we hope our legislature will have mercy on Congress.”53
It is a maxim of politics that intraparty contests are the most vicious of all. Elections are about offering contrasts to voters and clarifying choices. With Lincoln, Baker, and Hardin in harmony on the issues, with each an experienced legislator and lawyer, that left their supporters limited options to advance their candidate’s cause. They could trump up minor or nonexistent policy differences or attack the opposition personally.
The Congressional District Convention would be made up of delegates nominated at smaller county conventions. Lincoln’s first hurdle was getting past Baker in their shared home county of Sangamon.
Leave it to the Register to cover Whig infighting with feigned shock: “Our ears are stunned here, just now, by the din of the Whigs, concerning Lincoln and Baker as to which shall go to Congress from this district. If we are to believe either of the two factions, it would be difficult to decide which is the bigger rascal.”54 The Register, which had contributed mightily to the mythos surrounding the “Springfield Junto,” reported that their “secret agents” are “ready to visit the several counties.”
Lincoln had a number of challenges to overcome. The first was Baker’s popularity and long standing in Sangamon County. The rest were personal to him. First, his association by marriage with the Edwards family led to charges of elitism and aristocracy.
Mary Todd was descended from Kentucky high society and could reportedly trace her lineage back to the sixth century.55 She came to Springfield at age twenty-one, where in the course of time she would be united to a man with an undistinguished past but a promising future. Mary Todd’s sister, Elizabeth, was married to Ninian Edwards, scion of a prominent Illinois family and one of Lincoln’s fellow legislators.56
Mary Todd’s education, intelligence, and pedigree made her popular among the many single men of the frontier. In time, Lincoln joined the others in calling on her. Elizabeth remembered her sister as “the most ambitious woman I ever knew.”57 But it was a man’s world, and Mary’s ambitions would have to be satiated by her husband’s successes. She was reported to have said that, from her many suitors, she would marry “him who has the best prospects of being President.”58
Their mutual friends thought Abraham and Mary an improbable match.
For his part, Lincoln grew to realize the wisdom of these observations. One evening, he summoned his friend Joshua Speed to his home, handing him a breakup letter to convey to Mary. In an act with wide-ranging and unforeseeable consequences, Speed threw it in the fire, insisting that Lincoln tell her himself.59 But Lincoln had written the letter for a reason, and what happened next he probably anticipated. Lincoln told Mary that he did not love her, and she burst into tears.60 Lincoln hugged her and kissed her and backed down. He reported the news that evening to Speed, who told him that he was a fool, and that the die was now cast.61 Lincoln said, “Well if I am in again, so be it. It’s done, and I shall abide by it.”62 Then on January 1, 1841, after food had been prepared and the guests arrived for the event, Lincoln simply didn’t show up for his wedding.63
When Lincoln was finally located, he was so frantic and upset that his friends undertook a suicide watch, with Speed recalling, “Knives and razors, and every instrument that could be used for self destruction were removed from his reach.”64 In the weeks that followed, Lincoln reported, “I am now the most miserable man living. If what I feel were equally distributed to the whole human family, there would not be one cheerful face on earth. Whether I shall ever be better, I cannot tell.”65 Lincoln, diligent in his attendance at the legislature, now absented himself for weeks.66 Returning, he barely kept his seat warm during the remainder of session. During this time, Congressman John Stuart, his former law partner, recommended him to Secretary of State Daniel Webster for a diplomatic post in Bogotá, Colombia.67 Nothing came of it.
After the session, Lincoln repaired to Kentucky, where Speed was now living. Speed was still frightened of his guilt-ridden friend harming himself. Why Lincoln did not may be found in something he said to Speed during the course of this visit. Lincoln despaired that “[h]e had done nothing to make any human being remember that he had lived; and that to connect his name with the events transpiring in his day and generation, and so impress himself upon them as to link his name with something that would redound to the interest of his fellow-men, was what he desired to live for.”68 Even the most miserable man living could survive, it appears, with something to hope for.
Lincoln returned to Springfield, still burdened by “the never-absent idea that there is one still unhappy whom I have contributed to make so. That kills my soul. I cannot but reproach myself for even wishing to be happy while she is otherwise . . . I must gain confidence in my own ability to keep my resolves when they are made. In that ability I once prided myself as the only chief gem of my character; that gem I lost, how and where you know too well. I have not regained it; and until I do I cannot trust myself in any matter of much importance.”69
The wife of Simeon Francis, editor of the Sangamo Journal, conspired to bring Lincoln and Mary Todd back together.70 After a party held for that sole purpose, to which neither knew the other had been invited, they continued to see each other at the Francis home.71
In November 1842, James Matheny was awakened from sleep by a knocking at his door. He opened it to find his friend Abraham, informing him that he would be married later that evening, and asking him to serve as best man.72
As Lincoln dressed for the occasion at his friend’s house, their little boy came up to him, and “in boyish innocence asked him where he was going.”73 “To hell, I suppose,”74 was Lincoln’s response. One can only imagine the look on the boy’s face.
This time, Lincoln showed up for his wedding, “as pale and trembling as if being driven to slaughter,” and went through with the ceremony. In William Herndon’s view, Lincoln, caught between “honor and domestic peace . . . chose the former, and with it years of self-torture, sacrificial pangs, and the loss forever of a happy home.”75 Now it was hurting Lincoln’s chances of going to Congress. With a growing movement against centralized control and the perceived machinations of the Springfield Junto, Ninian Edwards was defeated in his attempt for renomination to the legislature at the 1840 Sangamon Whig convention. Lincoln grumbled that he himself would have lost had the Whigs not desired his speaking skills out on the stump.76 Lincoln’s marriage into what passed for Illinois aristocracy, ironically, would hamper the chances of this former farmhand.
Religion was also a factor. Baker was a member of the Campbellite religious movement and received perhaps every vote from that quarter. But Lincoln, who was not a member of any church and whose personal beliefs were considered suspect, faced great resistance from some religiously motivated voters. If that were not enough, there was the Shields affair.
The trouble began with a decision by the leadership of Illinois to stop accepting taxes in notes from the state bank. In criticism, Lincoln penned “A Letter from the Lost Townships,” purportedly written by a widow flush with notes from the state bank but unable to pay her taxes.77 Lincoln’s rapier wit was deployed to full effect, with Treasurer James Shields bearing the brunt. Shields demanded of the newspaper editor the name of his anonymous attacker, which Lincoln gave him permission to provide, and Shields challenged Lincoln to a duel. Lincoln received some bad advice from the person he’d chosen as his second and issued a highly technical response that made things worse. Eventually, Lincoln responded that the letter was of a political, not a personal nature, but that if this was unsatisfactory, Lincoln (as the challenged party) would choose to fight with broadswords, across the Mississippi River from Alton on the Missouri side.78 As Lincoln pointed out, “I did not want to kill Shields, and felt sure I could disarm him . . . and furthermore, I didn’t want the damned fellow to kill me, which I rather think he would have done if we had selected pistols.”79 The duelists and their parties (and a substantial crowd) had made it all the way to the dueling site before their seconds and a number of others, including John Hardin, who had come down in an attempt to prevent the duel, found a way to do so. Lincoln would spend the rest of his life embarrassed and reminded of the incident, saying years later, “If all the good things I have ever done are remembered as long and well as my scrape with Shields, it is plain I shall not soon be forgotten.”80
Baker had campaigned hard. The Register described him “running this way to catch a man by the hand, then that way to pat another on the shoulder, then starting off to seize a third by the buttonhole—nodding and bowing to people two or three squares distant—running into a knot of Whigs, and offering his hat full of cigars with astonishing liberality.”81
March 20 was the day. The Sangamon County Whigs met at the capitol to appoint delegates to the Seventh District Convention. Lincoln must have felt knots in his stomach as he watched so many familiar faces enter the convention, to weigh in on whether he or Baker should be the nominee.
Political conventions take on a life of their own, more than the sum total of their parts. The palpable feeling of who has momentum often exceeds the predictions of the best head counter. It is likely that Lincoln could feel that the tide was not in his favor. The convention was more similar to a primary with one polling location. The Whigs of Sangamon County filed in, hundreds of them, and probably signaled their preference to a teller, who recorded their vote in a poll book. The Register reported that Baker’s forces came as early as possible, as Lincoln’s friends were trickling in. Around noon, Lincoln was convinced to withdraw. After more than eight hundred votes, Lincoln trailed Baker by fifty-one.82 Lincoln’s acquiescence, however, seems to have been a fatal political mistake. According to the Register, Lincoln stepped aside before “his real strength was apparent.” As the day went on, delegates in favor of Lincoln arrived in greater numbers. In fact, the Register reports that “Lincoln would have ‘paralyzed’ Baker’s support by nightfall.”83 Mary “berated him for not exerting himself hard enough to win.”84 Indeed, it seems as though Lincoln failed to heed his own advice. If he had identified his supporters throughout the county, and made note of who had voted and who was outstanding, he may well have realized that the contest was not yet over.
Baker would carry delegate-rich Sangamon County to the district-wide convention in Pekin. Despite his best efforts to decline, the disheartened Lincoln was selected as a delegate to the district convention, committed to supporting Baker. Lincoln compared it to “a fellow who is made groomsman to the man who has ‘cut him out,’ and is marrying his own dear gal.” He predicted that Hardin would prevail.85 It surely wasn’t easy for Lincoln and Baker, two friends, to stand in each other’s way as they had, and it was probably just as difficult for the Whigs of Sangamon to choose between friends. According to the Journal, “At the end of the meeting Lincoln was loudly called for and addressed the meeting.”86 No doubt he gamely congratulated Baker and preached the familiar gospel of party unity.
Lincoln’s loss in Sangamon very nearly, but not entirely, ruined his chances for 1843. Though Lincoln himself was a pledged Baker delegate, his allies throughout the district could still send pro-Lincoln delegates to the district convention. Menard County, meeting shortly thereafter, instructed its delegates to support Lincoln. Menard included Lincoln’s original Illinois home of New Salem, and the town of Petersburg, which Lincoln had plotted as a young land surveyor. Petersburg had attracted many former New Salem residents when that town failed.87 If other counties followed suit, or if a compromise candidate was needed at Pekin, Lincoln might still have emerged the nominee.
Lincoln wrote to his friend Martin Morris, “It is truly gratifying to me to learn that while the people of Sangamon have cast me off, my old friends of Menard, who have known me longest and best, stick to me.”88 He related to Morris the litany of charges he faced from Baker supporters. “It would astonish, if not amuse, the older citizens to learn that I (a stranger, friendless, uneducated, penniless boy, working on a flatboat at ten dollars per month) have been put down here as the candidate of pride, wealth, and aristocratic family distinction. Yet so, chiefly, it was . . . it was everywhere contended that no Christian ought to go for me, because I belonged to no church, was suspected of being a deist, and had talked about fighting a duel . . . those influences levied a tax of a considerable per cent upon my strength throughout the religious controversy. But enough of this.”89
Lincoln took a long walk in the woods with James Matheny, the best man at his wedding, to further vent his frustration. “Why Jim,” he protested, “I am now and always shall be the same Abe Lincoln I was when you first saw me.”90
While Lincoln stewed over the “bitter features of the canvass,”91 Hardin and Baker campaigned intensely. Both frantically wrote to supporters throughout the district. In Hardin’s letters he manifested an intense attention to detail, knowing the particulars of the local convention in Visalia, Woodford County.92 Hardin had traveled to Versailles, and then to Lacon in Marshall County, visiting the opinion leaders and power brokers at each stop, knowing which delegates were committed and which ones were uninstructed.93 In five days he traversed an astounding two hundred miles on horseback. Writing from Tazewell, Hardin believed the delegates there would go for “Lincoln, Logan [Lincoln’s law partner, who was also interested but not actively campaigning], Baker, or myself,” while in Woodford “they are instructed to go for Baker as a 2nd choice,” and in Putnam the first choice.94 Hardin, never prone to problems with self-esteem, wrote that if he believed any man from (his home county) Morgan could defeat the nominee of Sangamon, “I should not have taken the field.”95 He pledged to do “anything which is honorable and fair to get the nomination.”96 Hardin seems to have been looking past the convention, and upon encountering Baker supporters he could not persuade, asked them to commit to supporting him in the general election.97
Toward the end of April, Baker traveled from Cass County to Petersburg, in Menard, “in low spirits,” recorded one of Hardin’s informants.98 Baker, with some of his comrades from the Black Hawk War, had a muster on the other side of the river “and at Clary’s Grove.”99
That same informant noted, “At present there is more excitement with us than we usually have between Whig and Locos on the eve of an election.”100 Loco Focos, originally a name for a wing of the Democratic Party, had by now become a Whig epithet for the entire group.
On May 1, Lincoln arrived in Pekin for the districtwide Whig convention. If he were best man to the person who was marrying his dear old gal, this was the wedding. That morning featured a long impasse, with Baker and Hardin tied through many ballots. Lincoln watched one round follow the next. Being pledged to support his opponent made the situation difficult enough. But knowing that his support in Menard would have put him over the top had he, and not Baker, been nominated by Sangamon must have been especially painful. Still, Lincoln had been pledged and he did his utmost to bring Menard into Baker’s column.
“When the convention assembled,” wrote James Ruggles, “Baker was there with his friend and champion delegate, Abraham Lincoln. The ayes and noes had been taken, and there were fifteen votes apiece, and one in doubt that had not arrived. That was myself. I was known to be a warm friend of Baker, representing people who were partial to Hardin. As soon as I arrived Baker hurried to me, saying: ‘How is it? It all depends on you.’ ”101
This was not possible, however, as that county’s convention had ranked the candidates; if Lincoln could not be chosen, the delegates were instructed to support Hardin over Baker. He relates that he reluctantly broke the tie.102 Lincoln as chair of Sangamon withdrew Baker’s name and allowed Hardin to be chosen by acclamation.103
What Lincoln did next seemed for all the world to be an act of party unity. Though carefully disguised, it was a masterful political power play. As the door swung shut on his congressional ambitions, he managed to stick his boot in its path, just in time.
“Immediately after the nomination,” Ruggles remembered, “Mr. Lincoln walked across the room to my table, and asked if I would favor a resolution recommending Baker for the next term. On being answered in the affirmative, he said: ‘You prepare the resolution, I will support it, and I think we can pass it.’ The resolution created a profound sensation, especially with the friends of Hardin.”104
It is all the more amazing since he likely thought of it on the spot. There was no way to know for sure that it would come down to one vote. Or that Lincoln would find out that Hardin commanded a majority of the delegates’ pledges but not a majority of their preferences. It was the intensity of the fight, and the disappointment from half of the convention, that so easily paved the way for Lincoln to act.
The carefully worded resolution read as follows:
“That this convention, as individuals, recommend E. D. Baker as a suitable person to be voted for by the Whigs of this district, for representative to Congress, at the election in 1844, subject to the decision of a district convention should the Whigs of the district think proper to hold one.”105
By a vote of 19–14, it was successful.106
The measure of the success might be judged against the faux outrage from the Register. “Was this fair? Was this not going beyond the line of duty? Although it is only a recommendation, it has the moral force of a nomination. . . . We have never before, in all our political experience, heard of such an instance as this.” They likened the Whigs to a “tyrannical despotism, worse than that of Turkey.”107
Surely Hardin was livid. He would not soon forget what had happened—or at whose hands it had been done. But he was cornered. At a Jacksonville barbecue on October 6, 1843, well before taking office, he publicly announced that he would not run for reelection.108 But he did not foreclose a political comeback. One upset supporter said, “I am rejoiced to find that you by no means intend to [spend] the balance of your days upon the political laurels you have already won.”109
While unheard-of today, short tenure in the House of Representatives was the rule, not the exception, in the era of Abraham Lincoln.
The 1840s saw the highest turnover of any other decade, with 60 percent over the course of those ten years.110 From that number, retirements due to voluntary withdrawal were as high as 75 percent and as low as 55 percent.111 It was the norm that more than half of any incoming House of Representatives would be freshmen, and not until 1876 did this figure drop below 50 percent.112 It was not until 1901 that less than 30 percent of the House were freshmen.113
One of the reasons for this was that the principle of rotation, introduced to the Seventh District by Lincoln, was common throughout most of the country, more or less for the same reasons. House districts were “artificial political units which generally subsumed several or more separate communities. With few political organizations extending beyond their local towns and counties, district nominating caucuses were pluralistic, frequently fragmented affairs with each local organization sponsoring its own candidate.”114 Like the Seventh, “Districts throughout the country had long found rotation of the nomination to be an acceptable method for resolving conflict.”115 In a few areas the rotation period was a strict “one term and out,” whereas in others it was a much more common two-term limit.116 From 1838 to 1865, 30 percent of freshmen were defeated, compared to 23 percent of more senior members of the House (outside of the South).117 More than 50 percent of all turnover was due to voluntarily withdrawal.118 From 1838 to 1853, in nonsouthern states, the figure was 45 percent for freshmen, 61 percent for sophomores, and 42 percent for those with three or more terms.119
Why was the South largely exempt from this phenomenon? The reason is as simple as it is sinister. Southern voters believed that slavery was constantly endangered by Congress. Understanding that seniority mattered in obtaining influence and mastering the mechanics of Congress, districts frequently returned the same members. After Reconstruction, southern electorates would employ the same tactic for similar reasons, ensuring that the powerful committee chairs were in place to block civil rights legislation.
So Hardin, loath as he may have been to retire from Congress at age thirty-five, was in the same position as many of his colleagues.
The Register, when it had expected Baker to win the convention, had taken a “poor Hardin vs. the Junto” attitude. Now that he’d been nominated, they referred to Hardin as part of the “Springfield Junto Whig Ticket.”120
Hardin feared that the Sangamon Whigs would be less than enthusiastic in working toward his election. To counter this, Lincoln and his compatriots offered a wager in the Journal: Hardin’s majority in Sangamon would be double that of his home county of Morgan. “The losing county shall give a free barbeque to the Whigs of the other county. . . . Whigs of Morgan, will you go for it?”121
Lincoln wrote to Hardin, assuring him that Sangamon would not only fall in line but deliver big. “You will see by the Journal of this week that we propose, upon pain of losing a barbecue, to give you twice as great a majority” as Morgan.
But despite campaigning for the ticket, Lincoln could not bring himself to vote for Hardin, instead casting no vote at all in the congressional race.122 Nothing could better manifest his hurt at not being chosen.123
Hardin won without Lincoln’s vote. The Register blamed a superior Whig turnout operation, plus the number of Democrats that stayed home.124
On the day Hardin left to take his place in Washington, Mary “shed buckets full of tears.”125
I It is not totally clear when Stuart declined to run again; on April 6, after weeks of reporting on the campaign to replace him, the Sangamo Journal noted, “We ought to have stated several weeks since that Hon. John T. Stuart is not a candidate for Congress.”
II Remarkably, all were taller than six feet, and they were collectively dubbed “the Long Nine.”
III Also on the committee were Stephen Logan, Lincoln’s law partner, and Albert Bledsoe, a lawyer who occupied the office next to Lincoln’s, who would later serve as assistant secretary of war for the Confederacy.
IV The Seventh Congressional District included the counties of Sangamon, Scott, Morgan, Cass, Menard, Logan, Mason, Tazewell, Woodford, Marshall, and Putnam. Of these, Sangamon, Menard, Tazewell, and Woodford were in Lincoln’s Eighth Judicial Circuit.
Chris DeRose, the “gifted young historian” (Richard Norton Smith) who penned one of The Washington Post’s “Best Political Books” with 2011’s Founding Rivals, draws from the unpublished “Papers of Abraham Lincoln,” and other rare sources, to deliver the first fully realized portrait of Lincoln’s controversial early political career.
The years 1847 through 1849, though marked by defeat and divisiveness for Washington’s newest arrival, ultimately defined Lincoln’s future as president during America’s darkest days. With keen insights sprung from his exhaustive research, DeRose portrays Congressman Lincoln as a leader torn between principle and viability, who once nearly dueled a political adversary; a master strategist and member of the Whig party; a reluctant husband saddled with a tormented private life; and more—in a biography so timely and relevant that House Speaker John A. Boehner quoted Congressman Lincoln at length in a 2013 address to House Republicans, excerpting Lincoln’s warnings about government debt “growing with a rapidity fearful to contemplate.”
- Threshold Editions |
- 352 pages |
- ISBN 9781451697285 |
- February 2014
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Wednesday, November 09, 2005
Abuse 'triggers eating disorders'
BBC - November 9, 2005
We have known for some time that sexual abuse can lead to eating disorders -- British Eating Disorders Association
Childhood sex abuse increases the risk of women developing eating disorders - and can even impact on their children, a study says.
Researchers found girls abused before the age of 16 were twice as likely to develop eating disorders later in life.
The University of Bristol team also said these women were likely to have weight concerns while pregnant and that had a knock-on effect on the child.
The findings were published in the British Journal of Psychiatry.
The team studied 10,000 women - one in five of whom had being abused.
Researchers involved in the university's Children of the 90s project found 79% of the women recalled happy childhoods.
The report said these women were less likely to worry about their weight or develop conditions such as bulimia and anorexia later in life.
But of those who were sexually abused, 15% showed symptoms of an eating disorder and 30% showed concern about their weight during pregnancy.
The researchers said this was a cause for concern, as maternal eating problems after childbirth interfered with parenting and child growth.
Women with excessive fears about weight and shape are less likely to breast feed.
But the report accepted other distressful experiences during childhood could also trigger problems.
Previous research has shown that eating disorders may be connected to a wide range of unhappy childhood influences including parental alcohol misuse, physical or emotional cruelty and other family problems.
Lead author Dr Rob Senior said health professionals needed to be aware of the pattern.
"The majority of women with concerns about weight, shape and eating do not describe a history of abuse, and GPs or midwives may have reservations about raising the topic."
He said the high-prevalence of concern during pregnancy was particularly worrying because of the knock-on effects.
A spokesman for the Eating Disorders Association said the findings were not surprising and should be viewed in context.
"We have known for some time that sexual abuse can lead to eating disorders.
"But it is not the only, nor most common, cause. Being teased and bullied about your weight is more likely to cause a problem.
"What is interesting about people who develop disorders after abuse is that it is a defence mechanism; they do it so they don't draw attention to themselves.
"They do not care about how they look, whereas others generally do it because they are worried about how they look."
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This infographic has some interesting facts about programming languages including who created them and what they are used for. It also has recent rankings from the TIOBE index and looks at security vulnerabilities in Java, .NET and C/C++.
Application security testing specialists, Veracode, chose Ada Lovelace at the starting point for its History of Programming Languages. While she may be credited with being the first programmer, the algorithms Lovelace wrote for Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine hardly counted as a "programming language".
That accolade is probably best bestowed on Fortran which, after a lengthy gestation period of almost five years by a team of IBM programmers led by John Backus, was released to customers in April 1957.
The late 1950's also saw the start of development of Lisp, Cobol (COmmon Buisness Oriented Language) and Algol (ALGOrithmic Language). These languages were created by teams of several people but Grace Hopper is credited as being the "Mother of Cobol" and John McCarthy, the person considered the creator of Lisp, also contributed to Algol.
Click for high resolution version
The TIOBE index measures language popularity not in terms of number of users but in terms of the number of lines of code written and Java and C take it in turns to be at the top of the list. The infographic asks "How will Java recent security vulnerabilities affect its popularity" and in fact the most recent TIOBE index has C in the top slot with 19% and Java in second place with 17% so it did suffer a small dip as a result of the recent well-publicized security flaws.
The infographic concludes with information on what type of vulnerabilities are most common in programs developed in Java, .NET and C/C++ and which flaws are most typically fixed once discovered.
The I-Programmer team covers a lot each week, but there's far more out there than we can possibly cover. So we are really pleased to welcome a weekly round up of items from other blogs. This week they [ ... ]
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Maya Angelou Knew How To Inspire As A Writer, Teacher, and Great Human Being
I called Maya Angelou expecting lament. She was having none of that.
It was a little less than a year ago, after the verdict that set Trayvon Martin's killer free. I was writing a cover story for Newsweek about the chasm between white and black understandings of the Martin case. I had my own understanding, and it was an angry, hurting one. Shattered by the verdict, I understood our country to be in a dismal state.
So I called Dr. Angelou for perspective, and perhaps to validate my own perspective. I had corresponded with her a few times over the years, and crossed paths briefly with her in the White House, when President Obama awarded her the Medal of Freedom in 2011. I didn't expect her to remember any of these minor details—one eager, young staffer among thousands. But when her assistant connected me last July, she exclaimed, "Du-boys! I remember you!"
She tended to store things away.
I launched into questions that, looking back, had an edge, a leaning, to them. "How did you feel when the verdict came down ...?" "Why haven't we come further ...?" Questions that probably belied my own pain.
But in response, I could hear what sounded like a wide smile creaking through the phone. Dr. Angelou was of course devastated by the Martin/Zimmerman verdict—but in the protests that swelled in its wake, she saw the future.
"It is not just African Americans who feel belittled and injured,” she told me at the time. “No, the desire to understand what happened, to comprehend, to inform, to ingest what we know to be right has finally spread to people of all different backgrounds and beliefs.”
“These aren’t just black people or white people [in the protesting crowds]—these are right people!" she so lyrically said.
Out of deep injury, Maya Angelou had a way of finding universal hope.
When she was raped by her mother's boyfriend as a child, and then mute for five years after, she discovered her love for literature, and listening, in her own silence silence.
When poverty and desperation drove her to a West Coast brothel, she emerged with a story to tell, and a dance in her feet. She went on to dance calypso at San Francisco's Purple Onion, and formed her own troupe with Alvin Ailey himself—"Al and Rita" they called it.
She met Malcolm X in Accra, and planned a new civil rights effort with him—the Organization of Afro-American Unity—but Malcolm was assassinated soon after. She met Martin Luther King in Harlem, and was planning a march for him years later—when he too was taken away. Each experience—like so many others in her life—left her wounded, weary, adrift. But she shoveled these fragments of coal into her engine, and hotter she burned.
Burning usually through her pen, which was always mighty, aware. Honed at the Harlem Writer's Guild with the likes of Julian Mayfield and Rosa Guy, she reported for The Arab Observer in Cairo, and The African Review from Accra. And then came her epic memoirs and poetry—I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes and And Still I Rise and the rest. Writing was still a task for her—years ago she told the Paris Review, "I try to pull the language into such a sharpness that it jumps off the page. It must look easy, but it takes me forever to get it to look so easy." But she did make it look easy—easy, and heavy, and light.
Perhaps more than anything else, Dr. Angelou was a teacher—"a teacher who writes," as she would say. She taught little black girls to do all of the things that no one expects little black girls to do. She taught little black boys to love themselves, and look beyond their own front porch to the hope of a broader horizon. And she taught every single one of us to make good use of pain, and weave that pain in as yet another plot line in our own, triumphant, stories.
One need not be a believer, as I am, to know that Maya Angelou will so fully live on. Every poet who takes the Inaugural stage will hear her voice echoing around the Capitol. Every writer will learn from her prose and process, every actor from her poise, every leader from her titanic heart. And all of us who have ever known sorrow can learn from Aunt Maya the gratefulness with which she approached each day—especially the tough days, the devastating days, the days that seem so dark. And perhaps we will learn to hum this verse of hers, in memory:
I went to sleep last night
And I arose with the dawn,
I know that there are others
Who're still sleeping on,
They've gone away,
You've let me stay,
I want to thank You.
Thank you. Thank you God, for Maya Angelou. And thank you, Maya Angelou, for showing us glimpses of God.
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Tom is just more detailed than the mice, because his drawing is so much bigger. The bigger your character is on screen, the more detail and contrasts in sizes you can take advantage of - if you know what you are doing.
Tom becomes simpler once you understand the basics of construction and facial mechanics .
FACIAL MECHANICS BASIC:Facial mechanics are the logical ways that faces make expressions. How when one part of the face moves, it pulls or pushes other parts. It starts with knowing what the basic features are that make an expression.
Those 4 basic parts can add up to an infinite amount of expressions. They each can be broken down into sub parts:
Eyes have pupils.
Eyebrows have accompanying brow wrinkles and sometime individual hairs.
The mouth has an upper lip, a lower lip, a hole when its open, teeth and a tongue.
All these sub forms can help define or refine the basic expression made by the basic parts.
The wrinkles on the brow that accompany the eyebrows themselves are part of the brow muscle that is making the expression. The wrinkles go where the hairy parts go. Follow the fur, I always say. They follow along and obey the same planes and forms. The space between the wrinkle and the eyebrow should form worm0like fleshy tubes that wrap around the construction of the head.
No lines on a face should ever just float around in space. Every line should have meaning and sense.
Knowing all this, you can then break down logically how this drawing of Tom's head, face and expression works, step by step.
Starting with the main features, then working down to the details.
And making sure the details obey the directions of the larger features.
WORK OUT BASIC CONSTRUCTION AND BASIC EXPRESSION FIRST
THEN WRAP THE DETAILS AROUND THE BASIC FORM AND EXPRESSIONMouths are more complicated than eyes and brows because they have more parts and a lot more pliability than the other features, so I'll leave the mouth for another post.
Cartoon wrinkles follow the same basic logic and mechanics as real ones. They are secondary features that help define main features.
You can really see the hierarchy of the main facial features vs the accompanying lesser wrinkles and folds that follow them, in this bust.
Human faces are more complex than cartoon faces and harder to draw. Everything becomes easier when you understand the logic and hierarchy of it all.
But you gotta practice and copy good drawings using the construction method if you are to make any real gains in skill and understanding.
Just thinking about it won't make your drawings any better.
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Any of a group of phospholipids present in cell membranes, especially in the brain.
- In this way a reaction product forms in which more than 95% of the cephalin originally present has been converted to acylcephalin.
- The major cephalins are phosphatidylserine and phophatidylethanolamine.
- The three assessed commercial cephalins can be used in laboratorial routine for the lupus anticoagulant research.
Late 19th century: from Greek kephalē 'brain' + -in1.
For editors and proofreaders
Definition of cephalin in:
What do you find interesting about this word or phrase?
Comments that don't adhere to our Community Guidelines may be moderated or removed.
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Possessing two X chromosomes can significantly reduce DNA methylation in mouse embryonic stem cells, potentially explaining why such cell lines have proven unstable in culture, scientists report online in
These findings suggest an embryo's sex could have subtle but significant consequences on "diseases where epigenetics plays a difference," Brockdorff said. Uncovering the human homologs of the mouse genes responsible for this reduced methylation could illuminate differences between the species in X inactivation, he added.
In mammals, methylation typically occurs on cytosine residues of CpG dinucleotides. In mice, phosphorimager analysis showed roughly 70 percent of CpG dinucleotides were methylated in two different XY embryonic stem cell lines and in XY and XX somatic cells. However, in two mouse XX embryonic stem cell lines, less than 35 percent of CpG sites were methylated, according to the new report.
CpG sites are found in high concentrations in repetitive sequences. Southern blot analysis of XX embryonic stem cells showed reduced methylation levels in major satellite repeat sequences that were fully methylated in XY embryonic stem cells, embryonic stem cells possessing just an X chromosome, and differentiated XX cells where one X chromosome is normally inactivated. This suggests this reduced methylation is due to the presence of two active X chromosomes and not the absence of a Y chromosome, the authors note.
Focusing on imprinted genes, which are methylated differently depending on which parent they came from, Brockdorff and his colleagues found the
Frequently, when scientists try establishing XX embryonic stem cell lines, an X chromosome is lost. During serial passaging of six embryonic stem cell lines derived from unfertilized eggs, Southern blot analysis suggested losing an X chromosome restored methylation of
Western blot analysis of Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b, enzymes linked to de novo methylation, revealed significantly lower Dnmt3a levels in XX than in XY embryonic stem cells. The researchers speculate the X chromosome encodes a repressor of de novo methyltransferases such as Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b, and that cells with two active X chromosomes overexpress this gene. "Finding out what this gene is could shed light on regulation through DNA methylation," Brockdorff said.
Transfecting XX embryonic stem cells with either Dnmt3a or Dnmt3b expression constructs mostly restored global methylation levels, although not at KvDMR1 and
While more mouse XX embryonic stem cell lines should be studied to confirm these findings, "this may explain why there have been difficulty in isolating embryonic stem cell lines from different species," Mahendra Rao at the National Institute on Aging in Bethesda, Md., who did not participate in this study, told
It is "intriguing" that obtaining human XX embryonic stem cell lines has not been that difficult. This possibly suggests X-inactivation happens early in human cells or is regulated differently than from mice, Rao noted. "It's proven very hard to study X chromosome inactivation," so these findings are helpful in that light, Rao said.
The only other model system to look at reduced global methylation "is cancer," Rao said. "What they have provided here is another handle onto global methylation, which will be very useful in understanding this fundamental biological regulation process." Future research can see if X chromosome-related trisomy such as XXY also reduces methylation, he added.
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A mysterious illness that begins as a high fever with little appetite and spreads to a rash on the hands and feet is responsible for the loss of 17 lives, so far, in an impoverished Vietnamese district. 171 others have also been sickened but have been able to recover with proper and timely medical care.
Patients whose symptoms are successfully treated still are vulnerable to reinfection. Failure to receive treatment early on can result in liver damage and multi-organ failure.
The illness was first detected a year ago, in April 2011, but was thought to have been eradicated by October. Last month, 68 new cases emerged. Most patients are from Ba Dien village in Ba To, one of the poorest in the province.
After a team sent by the Ministry of Health failed to determine the cause of this illness earlier this month, the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have now been asked to help determine just what, exactly, is killing the children of Ba Dien. [Newsday - Image via atm2003/Shutterstock]
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Does the Constitution Echo Republican Views?
In the context of affirmative action, some of the nation’s most important and distinguished conservative legal thinkers, including Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, appear to have abandoned their own deepest beliefs about how to interpret the Constitution.
Unfortunately, this is not the only area in which they have done so. To appreciate the problem, we have to step back a bit.
For at least 25 years, there has been a clear division between leading conservatives and liberals with respect to constitutional interpretation. Conservatives have tended to favor “originalism” -- the view that the meaning of the Constitution is fixed by the original understanding of its provisions at the time they were ratified.
Liberals have tended to reject originalism. They contend that the Constitution establishes broad principles whose specific meaning changes over time and that must, in the words of the influential legal theorist Ronald Dworkin, be given a “moral reading.”
Consider debates over the right to choose abortion and to engage in sexual relationships with people of the same gender. Many conservatives insist, rightly and to their credit, that our moral judgments must be separated from our judgments about the meaning of the Constitution. They go on to argue that if no provision of the Constitution was understood to protect these rights when it was ratified, then none protects these rights today.
Just this month, Justice Scalia put the point unambiguously: “Abortion? Absolutely easy. Nobody ever thought the Constitution prevented restrictions on abortion. Homosexual sodomy? Come on. For 200 years, it was criminal in every state.” By contrast, liberals have urged that the meaning of the Constitution’s broad principles evolves, and that judges can legitimately help shape the evolution.
Last week, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments involving the constitutionality of an affirmative-action policy at the University of Texas. Here is the great paradox: None of the conservative justices asked a single question about whether affirmative-action programs are consistent with the original meaning of any provision of the Constitution.
This failure to consider history is long-standing. Justices Scalia and Thomas, the court’s leading “originalists,” have consistently argued that the Constitution requires colorblindness. But neither of them has devoted so much as a paragraph to the original understanding. As conservative Ramesh Ponnuru, liberal Adam Winkler and others have suggested, their silence is especially puzzling because for decades, well-known historical work has strongly suggested that when passed by Congress in 1866 and ratified by the states in 1868, the 14th Amendment did not compel colorblindness.
Perhaps the most important evidence is the Freedmen’s Bureau Act of 1866, which specifically authorized the use of federal funds to provide educational and other benefits to African-Americans. Opponents of the act (including President Andrew Johnson) explicitly objected to the violation of colorblindness, in the form of special treatment along racial lines. In fact, much of the congressional debate involved colorblindness. Along with many others, Representative Ignatius Donnelly of Minnesota gave what the strong majority of Congress saw as a decisive response: “We have liberated four million slaves in the South. It is proposed by some that we stop right here and do nothing more. Such a course would be a cruel mockery.”
As law professor Eric Schnapper has shown, the 1866 Freedmen’s Bureau Act was one of several race-conscious measures enacted in the same period during which the nation ratified the 14th Amendment -- which is now being invoked to challenge affirmative action. If Congress enacted race-conscious measures in the same year that it passed that amendment, and just two years before the nation ratified it, we should ask: Isn’t it clear that the 14th Amendment doesn’t require colorblindness?
Maybe this question can be answered. Maybe current affirmative-action programs, including the one at the University of Texas, are meaningfully different from the measures enacted by Congress after the Civil War. But to invalidate current programs, constitutional originalists have to say more. They must show that such programs are fatally inconsistent with the original understanding. Maybe they can do this, but remarkably, they haven’t even tried.
How can we explain this conspicuous lack of historical curiosity? A tempting answer would point to the Constitution’s text, which bans states from denying any person the “equal protection of the laws.” Perhaps any effort to consider race is, by definition, inconsistent with this requirement. Yet that argument is hopelessly unconvincing. As the historical debates reveal, whether colorblindness is required by a commitment to “equal protection” is the question, and the words themselves don’t provide that answer.
In the context of affirmative action, conservative constitutional thinkers appear to have adopted the approach of some of their liberal adversaries. They are giving a moral reading to the 14th Amendment.
This is far from the only area in which they have been doing so. For example, many conservatives believe in strong protection of property rights. They want courts to use the Fifth Amendment’s takings clause to strike down regulations that interfere with property rights -- even though some leading historical accounts suggest that when originally ratified, the Fifth Amendment was limited to actual physical takings of property, and didn’t restrict regulation at all. Here too, Justices Scalia and Thomas have made no serious inquiry into the original understanding.
Conservatives tend to believe the First Amendment requires courts to invalidate many restrictions on commercial advertising. But until 1976, the Supreme Court didn’t believe that the First Amendment protected commercial advertising at all. It would take a lot of work to establish that the constitutional protection that some would give to commercial advertising can be traced to the original understanding in 1791.
In short, the constitutional judgments of many influential conservatives show an uncomfortably close overlap, not with the original understanding of those who ratified the Constitution, but with the political understandings of the Republican Party in 2012. Who, then, believes in the living Constitution?
(Cass R. Sunstein, the Felix Frankfurter professor of law at Harvard University, is a Bloomberg View columnist. He is the former administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, the co-author of “Nudge” and, most recently, the author of “On Rumors: How Falsehoods Spread.” The opinions expressed are his own.)
Today’s highlights: the editors calculate what Europe must do to save its currency; Margaret Carlson on Marco Rubio; Clive Crook on how governments can improve the world economic outlook; Peter Orszag on the promising future of health-care costs; Virginia Postrel on the economics of kidney transplants; Steven Greenhut on tax collusion in California.
To contact the writer of this article: Cass R. Sunstein at firstname.lastname@example.org
To contact the editor responsible for this article: Katy Roberts at email@example.com
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Osmotic pressure, turgor pressure and suction pressure are the three osmotic quantities of a plant cell because they control the osmotic behaviour of the cell.
Osmotic pressure (OP):
Osmotic pressure of a solution is defined as the excess hydrostatic pressure which is to be applied to it in order to make its water potential equal to that of pure water.
The turgor pressure (T.P):
When a plant cell is placed in water, water enters into the cell due to endosmosis. As soon as the water enters into the cell, it exerts a pressure on cell inclusions and organelles and ultimately on the cell wall.
This pressure which develops in a cell from time to time due to osmotic entry of water is called turgor pressure. The turgor pressure is variable. It is maximum when the cell is fully turgid and is zero when the cell is flaccid.
Due to increase in turgor pressure the cell wall stretch's to-wards outside. Since the cell wall provides a definite shape to the cell and is elastic in nature, it also exerts a pressure on cell sap from outside i.e. in opposite direction, equal to T.P. The pressure exerted by the cell wall on the cell sap is called wall pressure. The wall pressure resists turgor pressure and prevents bursting of cell wall.
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Computers and Their Impact on State Assessments
Recent History and Predictions for the Future
A volume in the series: The MARCES Book Series. Editor(s): Robert W. Lissitz, University of Maryland.
The Race To The Top program strongly advocates the use of computer technology in assessments. It dramatically promotes computer-based testing, linear or adaptive, in K-12 state assessment programs. Moreover, assessment requirements driven by this federal initiative exponentially increase the complexity in assessment design and test development. This book provides readers with a review of the history and basics of computer-based tests. It also offers a macro perspective for designing such assessment systems in the K-12 setting as well as a micro perspective on new challenges such as innovative items, scoring of such items, cognitive diagnosis, and vertical scaling for growth modeling and value added approaches to assessment. The editors’ goal is to provide readers with necessary information to create a smarter computer-based testing system by following the advice and experience of experts from education as well as other industries.
This book is based on a conference (http://marces.org/workshop.htm) held by the Maryland Assessment Research Center for Education Success. It presents multiple perspectives including test vendors and state departments of education, in designing and implementing a computer-based test in the K-12 setting. The design and implementation of such a system requires deliberate planning and thorough considerations. The advice and experiences presented in this book serve as a guide to practitioners and as a good source of information for quality control.
The technical issues discussed in this book are relatively new and unique to K-12 large-scale computer-based testing programs, especially due to the recent federal policy. Several chapters provide possible solutions to psychometricians dealing with the technical challenges related to innovative items, cognitive diagnosis, and growth modeling in computer-based linear or adaptive tests in the K-12 setting.
Preface. Computer-Based Testing in K–12 State Assessments, Hong Jiao and Robert W. Lissitz. PART I: COMPUTER-BASED TESTING AND ITS IMPLEMENTATION IN STATE ASSESSMENTS. History, Current Practice, Perspectives and what the Future Holds for Computer Based Assessment in K–12 Education, John Poggio and Linette McJunkin. A State Perspective on Enhancing Assessment and Accountability Systems through Systematic Implementation of Technology, Vincent Dean and Joseph Martineau. What States Need to Consider in Transitioning to Computer-Based Assessments from the Viewpoint of a Contractor, Walter D. Way and Robert K. Kirkpatrick. Operational CBT Implementation Issues: Making It Happen, Richard M. Luecht. PART II: TECHNICAL AND PSYCHOMETRIC CHALLENGES AND INNOVATIONS. Creating Innovative Assessment Items and Test Forms, Kathleen Scalise. The Conceptual and Scientific Basis for Automated Scoring of Performance Items, David M. Williamson. Making Computerized Adaptive Testing Diagnostic Tools for Schools, Hua-Hua Chang. Applying Computer Based Assessment Using Diagnostic Modeling to Benchmark Tests, Terry Ackerman, Robert Henson, Ric Luecht, John Willse and Jonathan Templin. Turning the Page: How Smarter Testing, Vertical Scales, and Understanding of Student Engagement May Improve Our Tests, G. Gage Kingsbury and Steven L. Wise. PART III: PREDICTIONS FOR THE FUTURE. Implications of the Digital Ocean on Current and Future Assessment, Kristen E. DiCerbo and John T. Behrens. About the Editors. About the Contributors.
Web price: $39.09 (Reg. 45.99)
Web price: $73.09 (Reg. 85.99)
- EDU030000 - EDUCATION: Testing & Measurement
- EDU039000 - EDUCATION: Computers & Technology
- EDU037000 - EDUCATION: Research
- "The Brain Controls Everything" Children's Ideas About the Body
- E-Learning and Social Media Education and Citizenship for the Digital 21st Century
- From a Gadfly to a Hornet Academic Freedom, Humane Education, and the Intellectual Life of Joseph Kinmont Hart
- Informing the Practice of Teaching Using Formative and Interim Assessment A Systems Approach
- Learning from the Federal Market‐Based Reforms Lessons for ESSA
- The Next Generation of Testing Common Core Standards, Smarter‐Balanced, PARCC, and the Nationwide Testing Movement
- Value Added Modeling and Growth Modeling with Particular Application to Teacher and School Effectiveness
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This article will cover the details of the American Psychological Association (APA) bible citation style. The bible is classified as a classical work together with the Quran. For classical works, APA requires no citation in the reference list; hence the bible is only cited in the in-text citation with the following elements: book chapter, verse, and translation. These elements are enough to guide the readers in locating specific information from the bible since its sections are standardized for all editions, versions, or translations.
Basic Format: (Book Chapter: Verse Translation)
Example: “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat” (Genesis 3:6 King James Version)
If the book chapter and verse is part of the narrative, only include the translation within parentheses.
Basic Format: Book Chapter: Verse (Translation)
Example: In 1 Kings 3:6 (King James Version), Solomon said…
- The book chapter and the verse are separated by a colon.
- No punctuation mark is necessary between the verse and translation.
- The name of the book may be abbreviated in the in-text citations.
“According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon” (1 Cor. 3:10 King James Version)
Note: Cor. is the abbreviated form of Corinthians.
- Include the version of the bible you used in the first citation (e.g. New International Version, English Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version, and King James Version). In the subsequent citations, there is no need to indicate the version unless you use a different one.
1st Citation: “Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name” (Revelation 3:12 King James Version)
Subsequent Citation: “And the priest shall put some of the blood upon the horns of the altar of sweet incense before the LORD, which is in the tabernacle of the congregation; and shall pour all the blood of the bullock at the bottom of the altar of the burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation” (Leviticus 4:7)
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Friday, May 18, 2007
The Speed Queen
On this day in 1953, Jacqueline Cochran became the first woman to break the sound barrier. Piloting a Canadair F-86 Sabre that she had borrowed from the Royal Canadian Air Force, Jacqueline took off from Rogers Dry Lake, California and flew at an average speed of 652.337 miles per hour.
Cochran's career in aviation began in the 1930's after a friend offered her a ride in an aircraft. While she ran a cosmetics business, Jacqueline began flying lessons at Roosevelt Airfield in Long Island and learned to fly in three weeks. A natural, she earned her commercial pilot's license in two years. Her husband, Floyd Bostwick Odium, was a savvy businessman and saw the commercial opportunities for her and her cosmetics company. Jacqueline named her company "Wings" and began flying around the country in her aircraft promoting her products.
Cochran flew in her first major race in 1934. From that point on she worked with Amelia Earhart in opening races and the field of aviation to women. In 1937 Cochran was the only woman to compete in the prestigious Bendix race. By 1938 she was the preeminent woman pilot in the United States having won the Bendix and set new altitude and transcontinental speed records.
After America entered WWII in 1942, Jacqueline became head of the women's flight training program for the States. As director of the Women's Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), Cochran trained over 1000 female pilots. For her efforts in WWII she received the Distinguished Service Medal and the Distinguished Flying Cross.
Jacqueline Cochran died in 1980 at her home in Indio, California. At the time of her death, Cochran held the most speed, distance and altitude records of any pilot, man or woman, in aviation history.
And now a toast to Jacqueline Cochran!
1 oz Applejack
1 oz Gin
.5 oz Lemon Juice
.25 oz Simple Syrup
1 or dashes grenadine
Shake with cracked ice and strain into your favorite vintage cocktail glass!
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Parents September 1, 2013
My kid is constantly putting small objects into her nose and ears. Why? Beans. Cotton balls. Crayons. Coins. Batteries. "You name it, we find it in a toddler's ears, nose, and mouth," says UTMB’s Dr. Patricia A. Rogers. To your toddler, fitting small items into her nose is no different than conquering the shape sorter. Plus, placing objects in body openings can be a self-soothing behavior like sucking one's thumb. While shoving a pea up her nostril isn't likely to cause any harm, small objects such as a button or a coin could get lodged in her throat and block her airway. Alkaline batteries are toxic, and swallowing two or more magnets can cause extensive internal injuries. "The greatest choking risk is in kids ages 7 months to 4 years," Rogers says. Her advice: Crawl around the rooms where your child plays and pick up all the small things you encounter. Otherwise, she will find them first.
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Threats to the Environment Posed by War in Iraq
CAMBRIDGE, UK, (February 16, 2003 - BirdLife International today identified
the main threats to the environment posed by a war in Iraq in a dossier of
information, maps and photographs sent to the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP), the five permanent members of the UN Security Council
(China, France, Russia, the UK and USA) and the Government of Iraq. The
dossier highlights threats to local people and key natural sites critical for
globally threatened and endemic biodiversity in Iraq and the endangered
Mesopotamian wetlands .
Based on the unprecedented environmental damage caused by the 1990-1991
Gulf War and available data on the environmental effects of recent conflicts in
Yugoslavia and Afghanistan [2,3], BirdLife has identified seven risks to the
environment and biodiversity - and as a consequence also to local people -
posed by war:
- Physical destruction and disturbance of natural habitats of international
importance and wildlife resulting from weapons use
- Toxic pollution of natural habitats and wildlife resulting from oil spills or oilwell
fires caused by fighting or deliberate damage
- Radiological, chemical or bio-toxic contamination of natural habitats and
wildlife resulting from the use of weapons of mass destruction and
conventional bombing of military or industrial facilities
- Physical destruction of natural habitats and wildlife resulting from increased
human pressure caused by mass movements of refugees (ie, water pollution,
use of wood as fuel, hunting of wildlife)
- Burning of wetland and forest vegetation as a result of fighting or deliberate
- Desertification exacerbated by military vehicles and weapons use
- Extinction of endemic species or subspecies
"Until recently the impact of war on nature has often been ignored or obscured
by the conflict itself. As the 1990-1991 Gulf War showed, such conflicts have
devastating effects on the environment, biodiversity and the quality of life of
local people long after the cessation of hostilities", said Dr Michael Rands,
Director and Chief Executive of BirdLife International.
Iraq has a number of internationally important natural areas, in particular
Important Bird Areas (IBAs). "Waders and waterbirds will be particularly at risk
from oil spills because Iraq is at the northern end of the Arabian Gulf which is
one of the top five sites in the world for wintering wader birds and a key
refuelling area for hundreds of thousands of migratory waterbirds during the
spring and autumn period" said Mike Evans, a BirdLife researcher who visited
the Arabian Gulf in 1991.
In 1991 BirdLife International and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
(RSPB - BirdLife in the UK) sent three teams of scientists to the Gulf region to
collaborate with the National Commission for Wildlife Conservation and
Development (BirdLife in Saudi Arabia) and with the Kuwaiti Environment
Protection Council to assess the environmental impacts of the war and
resulting oil pollution. The results were published in the Journal of the
Ornithological Society of the Middle East .
These and other data show that the 1990-1991 Gulf War resulted in by far the
largest marine oil spills in history with 6-8 million barrels of crude oil spilled,
severely polluting 560km of coast, totally obliterating intertidal ecosystems and
resulting in large-scale oil slicks that severely damaged the northern Arabian
Gulf. Extensive mechanical damage by the manoeuvring armies also harmed
the fragile desert crust and its ecosystem.
Other oil spills occurred at Basrah refinery at the mouth of the Shatt Al-Arab,
from refineries on the coast of Kuwait, and from the storage depot at Al-Khafji
just south of the Kuwait-Saudi Arabian border. BirdLife International therefore
cautions that oil spills of the same scale or worse could occur if there is a new
Many of the natural habitats and sites impacted in the 1990-1991 Gulf War will
be at risk again in a new war. Recently the US administration stated it does not
rule out the use of nuclear weapons in Iraq. The Iraqi Government may itself
feel compelled to use weapons of mass destruction - if it still possesses any -
as a last resort if faced with the prospect of defeat.
A new war could result in physical destruction of natural areas and wildlife in
Iraq and the northern Arabian Gulf. The main habitats in Iraq are:
- Wetlands (<5%)
- Coastal (<5%)
- Desert (<80% of land)
- Steppe (<15% of land)
- Forest and high mountain scrub (<5% of land)
Iraq contains 42 Important Bird Areas (IBAs) and the Mesopotamian marshes
Endemic Bird Area (EBA). Sixteen globally threatened or near-threatened bird
species occur in the country, plus three unique endemic wetland bird species
(Iraq Babbler, Basra Reed Warbler, Grey Hypocolius) and five endemic or nearendemic marshland sub-species (Little Grebe, African Darter, Black Francolin,
White-eared Bulbul, Hooded Crow) .
"It was the heart-rending image of an oiled bird that became a symbol of the
environmental impact of the first Gulf War. BirdLife International hopes that
images of oiled birds do not once again fill our television screens in 2003",
said Dr Rands.
Before their near-total destruction between 1991 and 2002, the 15,000km2
Mesopotamian marshlands formed one of the most extensive wetland
ecosystems in western Eurasia. It comprised a complex of interconnected
freshwater lakes, marshes and inundated floodplains following the Tigris and
Euphrates rivers, extending from Baghdad in the north to Basra in the south.
Approximately 50km2 may remain. These remnants would have the potential to
help restore the marshlands.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report The
Mesopotamian Marshlands shows that destruction of the marshes in the 1990s
had a devastating effect on wildlife and people, "with significant implications to
global biodiversity from Siberia to southern Africa ... Mammals and fish that
existed only in the marshlands are now considered extinct. Coastal fisheries in
the northern Gulf, dependent on the marshlands for spawning grounds, have
also experienced a sharp decline." A sub-species of Otter and the Bandicoot
Rat are also believed to have become extinct .
The impact of this destruction has also deprived the indigenous Ma'dan people
who have lived in these marshes for 5,000 years, pursuing a sustainable way
of life based on the abundant fish and wildlife living in the wetlands, of their
traditional homeland. These marshlands were also important spawning
grounds for a multi-million dollar shrimp fishery in the Arabian Gulf and also
provided 60% of fish eaten in Iraq. Most of Iraq's rice, sugarcane and Water
Buffalo used to be reared in the marshlands.
They were also heavily degraded by the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war. Much of the
fighting took place in and around these wetlands resulting in extensive burning,
heavy bombing and the widespread use of napalm and chemical weapons. A
new war in Iraq could lead to their final destruction.
Art specialists concerned about potential threats to the thousands of
archaeological sites scattered throughout Iraq are supplying maps and
information to the US Defense Department as part of an initiative co-ordinated
by Arthur Houghton, a Middle East specialist and former Antiquities Curator at
the J. Paul Getty Museum, in an attempt to protect Iraq's cultural heritage
following initial disregard for archaeological sites during the first Gulf War
In the dossier BirdLife International also urges potential combatants in a war
not to deliberately target or damage globally important natural habitats and
biodiversity which, like Iraq's cultural heritage, have a unique and irreplaceable
value for humanity.
Notes for Editors
- BirdLife International is a global alliance of national conservation nongovernmental organisations working in more than 100 countries in five
continents who, together, are the leading authority on the status of the world's
birds, their habitats and the issues and problems affecting bird life.
- E Hoskins (1997) Public Health and the Persian Gulf War. In Levy, Barry and
Siddel (eds) War and Public Health. Oxford University Press. New York; US
EPA (1991), Kuwait Oil Fires: Interagency Interim Report, 3 April 1991, p1;
UNEP (1991), Gulf War Oil Spill: UNEP Appeals for International Action, Press
Release, 28 January 1991; Lee Hockstader (1991), UN Official Urges Fast
Assessment of Health Risks Posed by Oil Fires, Washington Post, 29 March
1991, p.A1; Greenpeace International (1991) On Impact - Modern Warfare and
the Environment. A case study of the Gulf War, WM Arkin, D Durrant and M
Cherni; Greenpeace International (1992) The Environmental Legacy of the Gulf
War, WM Arkin (ed).
- Assessment of the Environmental Impact of Military Activities During the
Yugoslavia Conflict, June 1999, Prepared for European Commission DG-XI -
Environment, Nuclear Safety and Civil Protection, The Regional Environment
Center for Central and Eastern Europe; United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) 2003 Post-Conflict Assessment of the impact of war in
Afghanistan. The UNEP report found that two decades of war have laid waste to
the country's environment. Over 80% of Afghans live in rural areas where many
of their basic resources - water for irrigation, trees for food and fuel - have been
lost in just a generation. Millions of refugees are putting further strains on
natural resources. Four years of drought have compounded a state of
widespread and serious resource degradation: lowered water tables, dried-up
wetlands, denuded forests, eroded land and depleted wildlife populations. With
more than half the forests in three provinces destroyed in 25 years of conflict,
wildlife inevitably suffers.
- Sandgrouse, Arabian Gulf Issue, Volume 15, Parts 1-2, 1993. Journal of
Ornithological Society of the Middle East.
- Mainly the remaining Mesopotamian marshes in the Tigris/Euphrates valley.
- The Khawr Abdallah Important Bird Area (IBA) is particularly vulnerable to the
effects of an oil spill. In 1991 nearby oil terminals were bombed and damaged
leading to massive marine oil spills. The 1991 oil spills were blown out to sea,
but new oil spills in 2003 could be blown ashore impacting this IBA.
- Up to 90% of the Kuwaiti desert was impacted by military vehicle movements
- This habitat is especially important for agriculture.
- Remote forests in the mountains in northern Iraq are rich in biodiversity.
Refugee pressure from cities such as Mosul and Kirkuk could cause civilians
to flee to or through these mountains towards Iran and Turkey causing damage
to them as they move.
- Threatened Birds of the World, AJ Stattersfield and DR Capper (senior
editors), Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, 2000.
- UNEP (2001) The Mesopotamian Marshlands: Demise of an Ecosystem,
Early Warning and Assessment Technical Report.
DOCUMENTS IN THE DOSSIER
Related papers on the environmental impacts of the 1990-1991 Gulf War
Effects of the Gulf War oil spills and well-head fires on the avifauna and
environment of Kuwait. C.W.T. Pilcher and D.B. Sexton, Sandgrouse, Arabian
Gulf Issue, Volume 15, Parts 1-2, 1993. Ornithological Society of the Middle
Abstract: Large toxic oil lakes formed inland whilst burning well-heads poured tens of thousands of tonnes of toxic smoke into the atmosphere daily. At least 25% of Kuwait's desert was covered in oil or heavy deposits of oily soot. Probably 90% of Kuwait's desert surface was impacted by military activities and desertification was greatly exacerbated. All existing protected areas for nature conservation were damaged. In the Jal Az-Zawr National Park most habitats were seriously impacted by military activities.
Impact of Gulf War oil spills on wintering seabird populations along the northern
Arabian Gulf coast of Saudi Arabia, 1991. P. Symens and A. Suhaibani,
Sandgrouse, Volume 15, Parts 1-2, 1993. Ornithological Society of the Middle
Abstract: Counts of dead birds along the northern Arabian Gulf coast of Saudi
Arabia indicated that more than 30,000 wintering seabirds were killed by oil
spills in January-April 1991.
Impact of Gulf War oil spills on the wader populations of the Saudi Arabian Gulf
coast. M.I. Evans and G.O. Keijl. Sandgrouse, Volume 15, Parts 1-2, 1993.
Ornithological Society of the Middle East.
Abstract: The northern half of the Saudi Arabian Gulf coastline (c.560km) was
heavily polluted by the enormous marine oil spills from February 1991
onwards. The study investigated the effects on coastal wader populations, and
found that the oiled coastline no longer supported significant numbers of
waders during the spring migration period of April-May 1991 or in early winter
(November-December 1991); the magnitude of the reduction in numbers
compared to a single previous baseline survey was estimated as c.97%.
List of Globally Threatened and Near-Threatened species present in Iraq
Greater Spotted Eagle
List of Endemic and Near-Endemic marshland species present in Iraq
List of Endemic and Near-Endemic marshland sub-species present in Iraq
List of seasonal migrants present in the Arabian Gulf during 1990-1991 Gulf
Lesser Sand Plover
Little Ringed plover
Lesser Crested Tern
Important Bird Areas in Iraq
The Mesopotamian marshlands Endemic Bird Area
Related papers from 'Sandgrouse', the Journal of the Ornithological Society of the Middle East
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HELLP Syndrome and PreeclampsiaSkip to the navigation
HELLP syndrome is a life-threatening liver disorder thought to be a type of severe preeclampsia. It is characterized by Hemolysis (destruction of red blood cells), Elevated Liver enzymes (which indicate liver damage), and Low Platelet count.
HELLP is usually related to preeclampsia. About 10% to 20% of women who have severe preeclampsia develop HELLP.footnote 1 In most cases, this happens before 35 weeks of pregnancy, though it can also develop right after childbirth.footnote 1
HELLP syndrome often occurs without warning and can be difficult to recognize. It can occur without the signs of preeclampsia (which are usually a large increase in blood pressure and protein in the urine). Symptoms of HELLP syndrome include:
- Vision problems.
- Pain in the upper right abdomen (liver).
- Shoulder, neck, and other upper body pain (this pain also originates in the liver).
- Nausea and vomiting.
HELLP syndrome can be life-threatening for both the mother and her fetus. A woman with symptoms of HELLP syndrome requires emergency medical treatment.
Treatment and prognosis
Delivery is the only known way to reverse HELLP syndrome. Vaginal delivery is often possible, but a cesarean is used if the mother or fetus is not medically stable. Before delivery, treatment with medicines is used to:
- Prevent seizures, known as eclampsia (magnesium sulfate prevents seizures).
- Control severe high blood pressure.
- Develop the fetus's lungs if the pregnancy is less than 34 weeks along (corticosteroid injections are given to the mother).
Most women begin to recover from HELLP within a few days after delivery. But for some women, especially those who have had complications of HELLP, it can take longer. Your doctor will monitor your recovery.
After having HELLP syndrome, you are considered high-risk for complications during any future pregnancies. Make sure that your doctor knows about this part of your health history—you will require close monitoring during any pregnancy and postpartum period.
Primary Medical Reviewer Sarah Marshall, MD - Family Medicine
Specialist Medical Reviewer William Gilbert, MD - Maternal and Fetal Medicine
Current as ofMay 22, 2015
Current as of: May 22, 2015
To learn more about Healthwise, visit Healthwise.org.
© 1995-2016 Healthwise, Incorporated. Healthwise, Healthwise for every health decision, and the Healthwise logo are trademarks of Healthwise, Incorporated.
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With Holy Week in full swing and Easter Sunday upon us, now is a great time to ask what eggs have to do with Easter.
Folks with certain kinds of religious training will remember that eggs are metaphors for Christ’s resurrection from the tomb on Easter.
As a tradition, the decorating and collecting of eggs goes back much, much farther in history and is practiced much more widely in the world than Cristendom knew.
Follow the links in the previous sentence to read the details.
Some seasonal folklore
Because spring begins a new growing season, it is associated with birth, rebirth and renewal – spiritual, mental, physical and otherwise.
So as many, many springs festivals grew out of goddess worship, organizers and practitioners took eggs and the female as tropes.
In fact, our word Easter derives from the name Eostra, a German deity whose rites are celebrated at the beginning of spring.
As in other symbolism involving seeding, eggs represent the germs of ideas as well as the medium for growing new life forms.
Ritual blessings are offerings to nature in hopes of a good growing year and abundant crops.
Much is made of balance – life and death, birth and renewal, light and dark – at the vernal equinox on the first day of spring – when day and night are exactly the same length.
Easter eggs, anyone?
The tradition of decorating eggs dates back at least to pre-dynastic Egypt where decorated ostrich eggs where in Neolithic graves.
A common thread through stories about why eggs are decorated is color.
Many cultures use very deep, saturated colors. Not a few use deep red, which, like deep purple, is very hard to achieve without the right dyes:
- Druids dye eggs deep scarlet, the color of gorse blossoms and madder root, to honor the sun.
- At sunrise on Easter, Ukranians eat hard-boiled, red-dyed eggs then throw the red shells in rivers as offerings to the gods.
- In other parts of eastern Europe, red eggs symbolize resurrection and the blood of Christ and are left on graves and placed in caskets.
- Chinese folk have exchanged scarlet eggs during their spring festival since at least 900 BC.
Another weird egg thing
Arguably the most bizarre spring-time egg tradition is the claim that you can stand a raw egg on end on the vernal equinox.
Or at all.
There are thousands of seemingly reasonable people who claim to have done so with just the right egg on just the right surface on just this day.
And they’ve taken photos to prove it.
There are scientists who claim that fluid balance is easy to achieve with the right materials, and when you think about it, it’s perfectly reasonable that you should be able to balance an object with a liquid center any time you want to.
Get a dozen eggs, and try it for yourself.
©2014 All rights reserved.
OFFICIAL BIO: K Truitt is a second-generation, native Floridian born in Jacksonville. Truitt worked in public higher education for 25 years and knows newspaper publishing, printing and graphic design. Contact: email@example.com
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Abstract:Housing is a major element of people's material living standards. It is essential to meet basic needs, such as for shelter from weather conditions, and to offer a sense of personal security, privacy and personal space. Good housing conditions are also essential for people's health and affect childhood development. Further, housing costs make up a large share of the household budget and constitute the main component of household wealth. This chapter describes housing conditions through indicators of the living space available, access to basic sanitary facilities, the weight of housing costs on household income and people's satisfaction with their housing. No core set of housing indicators currently exists, which underscores the need for more comparable data in this field. Overall, housing conditions seem good in most OECD countries although, in terms of living space, the results are less satisfactory when household composition is taken into consideration. On average, almost all household dwellings in OECD countries have access to basic sanitary facilities, although important differences remain across countries, and a non‐negligible share of people in OECD countries live in overcrowded dwellings. Housing costs are a major concern for households' finances, and income is an essential driver of housing conditions.
Document Type: Review Article
Publication date: October 1, 2011
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To determine the cause of such a fire, investigators rely on a number of observations and techniques, from telltale signs of flames to satellite imagery and chemical tests.
To better understand the science, National Geographic spoke with Richard Meier, a fire investigator in Sarasota, Florida, with John A. Kennedy and Associates, which analyzes fires and explosions for insurance companies and trials. Meier is also a staff member at the National Association of Fire Investigators, and the organization's treasurer.
How does one become a fire investigator?
There's a lot of different ways. In my case I spent about 23 years in engineering, in the manufacturing industry, which is a good thing: I used to make things, so I know how they work. A lot of people start off as firefighters and then become investigators.
What kind of training is required?
I started training a few years before I came to Kennedy. I started attending seminars and webinars. The National Fire Protection Association maintains a list of subjects that investigators must know to be certified. These include fire chemistry, fire dynamics, documenting the scene, and so on.
How do you determine the cause of a fire?
Science had nothing to do with fire investigation up to the late 1970s and early '80s. Before that it was based on old wives' tales. But now we use the scientific method.
The first thing is to find out where the fire started, which is what we call the "origin." The "area of origin" can be a broad area, like a room in a house ... The "point of origin" is the smallest area you can identify, which can be as small as a thimble or as big as a room. In the case of a wildland fire, you're probably talking [about] an area of origin around a half acre to an acre, and a point of origin the size of a campsite or a campfire.
After you figure out the origin, you look for things that could have served as an ignition source: a campfire, a flare, hunting ammunition (rare but sometimes happens), or a curved bottle that's left in the sun and acts as a magnifying glass. You have to test each one, at least logically, and determine if it's a competent ignition source for the fuels that you have.
Fuels could be dried grass or pine needles, which take a lot of energy to get started. You can light a piece of paper with a match, but you can't light a two-by-four with a match.
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Gulf of Mexico Oil Catastrophe Worst in History &
What to Do Instead
An estimated 3.4 million gallons are spewing
out daily with no end in sight while toxic oil and dispersants are killing all
Dr. Ilya Sandra Perlingieri
interviews Ohio scientist Mike Castle on what can be done instead
Gulf disaster far worse than official account
It seems unbelievable that
after almost six weeks of concentrated effort from
the most technologically sophisticated staff and scientists of BP (ex British Petroleum, relaunched Beyond Petroleum!) that
the catastrophe unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico from Deepwater Horizon’s
off-shore oil rig explosion is still spreading out of control. It has
devastated the entire Gulf of Mexico, Florida, and entered the Atlantic Ocean,
traveling along the coast, up to New Jersey and New York. This is no “spill”;
it is already far worse than the 1989 ExxonValdez tanker accident. Some
scientists estimated that 3.4 million gallons are coming out of 3 plumes daily
. To-date this means 156.4 million gallons of crude oil, and counting; no
wonder it is being called an underwater oil volcano.
That’s not all.
There are new reports that another crude oil plume, 22 miles long by 6 miles
wide, has been found going in another direction (West) , “3,300 feet [below
the surface], with the greatest concentration of hydrocarbons at about 1300
feet suggesting the highest level of environmental pollution from the BP
disaster may be located out of sight in the Gulf’s deep waters.” It was
discovered by David Hollander, associate professor of chemical
oceanography, University of South Florida, the lead investigator of a research mission
sent to the Gulf of Mexico [2, 3]. They “fear it is
the result of BP’s unprecedented use of chemical dispersants applied underwater
at the well site.” Professor Hollander said this raises “more fears that
oil combined with dispersant toxicity may lead to a dangerous situation for
fish larvae and other creatures that filter ocean water for food.”
Despite 11 deaths
from the initial rig explosion and the gravity of the ecological disaster, the
worst of its kind in US history, not one person has been fired or held
accountable. The cozy, on-going revolving door policy between corporations and
government officials means that safety, precaution, and accountability are not
part of the picture [4, 5].
dispersants wreck worse ecological havoc
BP also continues to spray highly
toxic “dispersants” that are wrecking
additional ecological havoc, exacerbating an already
critical situation . One dispersant is the chemical solvent known as Corexit
9500, banned in Europe. It is spreading the crude oil and chemical toxicity
over a far wider area, and traveling on the Gulf and ocean currents. The impact
and extent of the devastation underwater is far worse, but unseen by
satellite tracking. The ecological catastrophe is highly likely to become
transAtlantic. A short ABC-TV news item showing the underwater spread of the
crude oil and dispersants on their regular national program “Good Morning America” 25 May 2010 should be seen by
everyone and shared widely .
posted by the Boston Globe on 24 May are also heart wrenching . There is no
doubt that our entire ocean food chain has been poisoned. It will take time to
document the full extent of the environmental and health impacts perpetrated by
gross negligence and a total disregard of the Precautionary Principle . And, all those who are involved in any kind of miniscule
and, so far, inept and extremely dangerous “clean up” are already becoming ill.
This includes hired paid workers and volunteers from environmental
organizations, who have not been informed by
BP or anyone else of the environmental health hazards they face. And nothing
is getting even remotely fixed while the epic environmental tragedy keeps unfolding. Birds, fishes, turtles, dolphins, whales and
other sea creatures, the entire ecosystem is facing a far worsening crisis with
every passing day. Toxic crude oil has hit land in Louisiana. In one area,
Plaquemines Parish, there are video reports that all life in the ocean is dead
. Dead turtles and dolphins are already washing up onto the Gulf shore; but
the real extent is not being reported by mainstream news. Apparently BP is
forbidding news crews access to the off-shore site; it is making the rules, not
the US Coast Guard. BP has also refused to use less toxic dispersants .
With hundreds of millions of dollars at stake, The New York Times has
reported numerous conflicts of interest .
An urgent report “It’s
raining oil in Florida” , on 25 May, noted
raindrops of black crude oil carried on bands of storm clouds from the Gulf of Mexico. Until late on Tuesday 25 May, there was a live feed of the underwater crude
oil spew. This live, streaming video was cut off, after a new
eruption/explosion began. The last report was posted on Youtube .
“Nightmare of incompetence and greed” and what not to do
Dr. R. Michael Castle, one of the top
independent polymer chemists in the US, has been following “this
nightmare of incompetence and greed” as he told me, since the oil rig explosion
last month on April 20. Castle is also the author of
“The Methodic Demise of Natural Earth,” an essay on what is happening to our
planet’s environment with the out-of-control and illegal spraying of highly
toxic aerosol Chemtrails over the past twelve years . He is further the
author of the 2003 Unified Atmospheric Protection Act (now tied up in
Congressional committee) .
With his extensive polymer
chemistry background, Dr. Castle clearly understands the enormous ecological
chemical devastation that is continuing unabated. The
following are my conversations with him on 25 and 29 May 2010.
“What can be done?” he said. “Firstly, don’t
set off any nuke! [This is still under consideration . ] Do not do
that. This is sheer madness. In no way will this fix anything. It
will do irreparable and long-term massive harm.” Radiation damage would
devastate the immediate area and the rest of our planet. [Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors are still monitored 65 years after the US military dropped atomic bombs
“Secondly, for emergency
clean-up crews exposed to the crude oil’s benzene vapors, they must be informed
about the consequences of working there. Many of them are neither trained
properly, nor know what serious health damage can result. [This is another
unfolding scenario like what the 9/11 First
Responders experienced, when they were told by public officials that it was
safe to breathe the toxic air at Ground Zero in New York City.]
Thirdly, according to Dr.
Castle, the dispersant “contains ethylene oxide surfactants [that allows for
increased spreadability]; and, one of them, 2-butoxy ethanol is a water soluble glycol ether. These are
known to coat fish gills [that help absorb oxygen from the water]. Due to this
toxic action, the fish then die, because they cannot get available oxygen. This
is in addition to all sea life suffering from benzene poisoning.”
For anyone involved in the
clean-up, Dr. Castle urges the following:
“Stay out of the water. Protect yourself from the hazardous
vapors and carcinogenic effects of benzene. Benzene cuts off oxygen to the body
(it’s water soluble) and is a known cause of leukemia –blood cancer.
“Use organic coconut oil or organic coconut butter. These
are safe and natural plant ingredients that are bioactive and will coat the
skin and protect it. Rub it on your hands, and face, and neck. It creates a
protective film against benzene. Do not rub or wash it off, as it helps reverse
the toxins’ many effects on the body.
“Also, use a capful of Willard’s XXX Dark and rub it on
arms and hands. This will also naturally protect the body. This is made of
lignite coal in water and is another natural way to shield the body from toxins.
[Dr. Castle has no financial ties with this company/product.]
“I repeat: Do not send any emergency hazard clean-up teams
to the Gulf who are uninformed and do not realize the extreme damage these
poisons can do –short and long term.
“AmeriHaz can be safely used to gather up the crude oil
that is already causing such ecological damage.”
What to use instead of toxic dispersants
Castle developed “AmeriHaz” in 1996, an inert
polymer, to deal in a truly safe manner with cleaning up serious
crude oil leaks and out-of-control dispersals of highly dangerous chemicals.
“I wanted to create a product that could absorb any devastating ‘spill’ (it’s
really the very wrong word for what is happening in the Gulf. A ‘spill’ is
something very minor). This is catastrophic in its scope,” he told me. “This is
an inert polymer product that will encapsulate this crude oil, so it won’t be
picked up systemically in anything else. It literally locks up PAHs
[polyaromatic hydrocarbons] that are precursors of benzene.” He has given a
demonstration for Ohio’s TV news channel on how it works .
Castle also recommends “using
crushed, pebble-size lignite coal all along beaches, marshes, and estuaries.
This will help detoxify the benzene (that is naturally soluble in water) because
it is extremely toxic in crude oil.
These are realistic solutions
that can actually begin to remedy the effects of this catastrophe, if those
people in charge really do care about saving the Gulf, an area still in trauma
from the post-Hurricane Katrina debacle where there was really no help for
those in most need.
Finally, an international
boycott of all BP products should be instituted immediately. The untapped power
of the consumer pocketbook should be used. When their CEO says this is a
“modest” event, the company should not get any more money from already very
strapped consumers. Dr. Ilya Sandra Perlingieri is an environmental writer and the author of the
highly acclaimed book, “The Uterine Crisis.” The Ecologist notes: “this book is
Gulf of Mexico oil
volcano gushes 3.4 million gallons of oil a day. The Real Agenda, accessed 31
Ian Urbina. “Conflict of interest worries raised in spill
rests,” Ian Urbina, New York Times,20 May 2010, www.nytimes.com/2010/05/21/science/earth/21conflict.html;
See also Stephen Lendman. “BP and the Administration – Lies, Deceit, and Cover
up in the Gulf.” 22 May 2010: www.rense.com/general90/bpp.htm
“It’s raining oil in Florida”, Eve.
Dr Lathan Ball Comment left 18th June 2010 16:04:39 Those involved with the oil spill clean-up and those living and working close to the affected shoreline will be exposed to benzene. With airborne monitoring it is not possible to say exactly how much benzene an individual has been exposed to. Biomonitoring, the measurment of a chemical or a breakdown product from that chemical in the body of an individual allows a much more accurate measurment of a persons exposure to that harmful chemical. For example the measurement of a specific urinary metabolite of benzene called S-PMA allows a persons exposure to benzene to be determined. Biomark Limited have recently launched a simple to use and cost-effective benzene biomonitoing test. This test allows large numbers of sample to be taken and quickly measured. Details of this test can be found at www.biomark.co.uk. The test is available on-line to individuals, environmental organisations, companies and governments. This test could be a very powerful tool for determining benzene exposure and assessing the lnog-term inpact of this environmental disaster.
John Polasek Comment left 14th June 2010 08:08:51 Cleanup is not the answer- this could flow for months or years.
There is no information as to the shape of the leak! By now they should know this exactly: and is it a round pipe hole, or is it a jagged wound in the pipe?
If it is a round pipe I suggest a long tapered lead plug. the point hollowed out for dynamite and segmented.This would use the same principle as explosive rivets.
The differential pressure might be only 100 psi.
Dr. Mikhail Kravchuk, Comment left 6th June 2010 21:09:03 Dear Sirs!
The only way to preserve life on the planet Earth and protect its environment is to switch to new technologies which would allow humankind to reimburse Nature for what we have been taking from it during the last 4 hundred years or so.
Recent events in the Gulf of Mexico are not just an incident; it is a world catastrophe which will affect most of the countries on the planet. Thereupon we have set up a Special Public Commission and invited a number of Russian scientists on board. Their research works can, from our point of view, liquidate both the catastrophe itself as well as its consequences in mid-to-long-term timeframe.
Below you will find a description of various technologies and projects, selected by the Commission, which could quickly stop oil leaking from the well, liquidate the oil slick spill in the Gulf and help prevent or minimize the risk of similar events happening in the future.
Dr. Mikhail Kravchuk,
“Telos Technology” Foundation
Russian Federation, Moscow/
Tel: +7 903 725 14 53
Great Britain, London
Dr. Tamara Voronina
Tel: +44 (0) 207 935 8416
Mob: +44 (0) 78 1632 7447
Our suggestions are based directly on research carried out during the past decade. The continuing disaster in the Mexican Gulf shows there is nothing more important for governments and energy companies to consider at the moment. In order to understand these methods, it is necessary to change the thinking about the existing world.
RESOLUTION OF THE DISASTER IN THE MEXICAN GULF
The resolution of the disaster in the Mexican Gulf needs to be considered in 3 parts:-
I. Cessation of oil entering the sea from the bore-hole.
II. Dealing with the consequences of the oil spill in the Gulf area.
III. Avoiding future global catastrophes by adopting the proven resource of fuel from water.
At the beginning of the millennium, experiments in the correction of the trajectory of hurricanes in the Mexican Gulf under the supervision of Pentagon, were held. The experiments were carried out under the leadership of N. Levashov. Levashov managed to put an energetic barrier in the way of hurricanes which diverted them back into the open ocean where they dispersed. After the experiments, N. Levashov was ‘politely’ asked to put the energetic barriers in the way the hurricanes will go in the direction of one of the Caribbean islands. More information can be found on the site http://www.levashov.info , to switch to English version site, you need to click the mouse the English flag. In the section "articles" there are articles «Taming The Intractables: How to Make Hurricanes Behave» and «The Drought». These studies described some studies made by N. Levashov. Thus the terms of the agreement were broken and N. Levashov rejected to fulfill the new conditions and had difficulties in leaving for Russia.
N. Levashov created special devices – generators, which give him possibility to rule ‘dark matter’, which is known to exist in 90 percent in the Universe. Now the remainders of energetic barrier still stay in the gulf. Actually, N. Levashov can close the bore-hole, creating additional tension in the crust of the Earth in the place of oil emission.
N. Levashov is waiting invitation and suppose to make business in some days.
Reorganizing his generators, there is a chance to annihilate all oil pollution on the water surface. This may sound fantastically, but it is true. See our report ‘ Strategy of global survival.’ Exactly such projects will save the world.
Unfortunately, thirst for absolute power in the world thus having control over all technologies, doesn’t allow the majority of projects to start. We’ve proved that even now every country has a proper and qualified amount of food and sources of energy. But the world’s ruler directs the process. Natural disasters will soon smash the majority of this civilization, if the rulers of Mankind won’t change up their mind in the nearest future.
In 1998 the group of Russian scientists is working in Middlesex University, Great Britain, on the problem of cleansing water from oil pollution.
The first technology allows to remove oil products from the water without chemicals. It has been done in closed reservoirs.
Secondly, the developed technology allows to stir up the activity of oil oxidizing bacteria 6-12 times more in water and soil. In the case of lack or absence of corresponding oil oxidizing bacteria, technology allows change the phenotype of the presented in the water or on the soil oil oxidizing bacteria and they start discomposing the oil. After finished work, bacteria are transferred back to their phenotype, according to the corresponding command. These are the closed technologies of a double destination. There are reports, which prove that it is possible to use this method with a great benefit for the environment, in the case of oil spilt. All the documents can be attached.
To avoid similar global catastrophes the industrial world should embrace a new energy resource - fuel from water. This already exists and can be produced to any scale.
A new kind of fuel, based on water plasma was developed in Russia. This fuel is the most promising one as it is cheap and environmentally friendly. At the core of it lies the so called “water plasma” effect. It takes around 90.0%-99.5% of plain water and just 0.5%-10.0% of any other combustible materials (vegetable oils, including rape seed oil, spirit, crude oil, residual oil fuel, diesel fuel etc.) to produce boiler fuel alone. Combustion heat of such boiler fuel is comparable to that of propane gas, and so notably exceeds similar qualities of diesel fuel.
Transition to such water-plasma-based fuel would fully replace and save non exhaustible raw materials, such as hydrocarbons, for future generations. It would also enable us to make Earth atmosphere, polluted by combustion engines, thermo and electrical plants, much cleaner. Performance characteristics of such substance exceed almost all known kinds of fuel. The Ecological aspect of the new fuel is particularly important. Exhaust products of such fuel, are negligible – CO and emissions are times smaller than in any traditional kind of fuel. That is why transition to the suggested fuel will sharply decrease carbon dioxide emissions into the Earth atmosphere and will hence significantly contribute to solving global warming problem, which has been a great concern for the humanity nowadays.
The know-how of these sorts of combustible substance, i.e. water-plasma-based fuels is rooted in utilisation of vortex and cavitation processes energy. It is aimed at defined transformation of water inner-molecular interactions with a wide range of hydrocarbons, i.e. already existing hydrocarbon fuel. The production costs of such fuel are another of its immensely important characteristic – when mass produced it shall start at 15-20 USD per tonne. The production equipment of such fuel could also be used for recycling and utilisation of various kinds of liquids, such as liquid radioactive materials, industrial and household waste, agricultural fertilizers, automobile liquids (engine oil) etc. Considering the latter it is clear that manufacturing of this sort of equipment becomes a rather relevant issue for a wide range of world ecological problems.
Water-plasma-based fuel has already passed the trials and is currently being certified both in Russia and abroad. Production principles of water plasma were published in the open press. It has also been expertise by such notable foreign certification centres such as Swiss company SGS, South Korean State Institute of Petroleum Quality and other world certification bodies. Technology engineers have undertaken rounds of talks with business representatives from the United Kingdom, South Korea, Israel, Switzerland, Chile, Republic of South Africa and India. These talks were aimed at furthering launch of the first boiler fuel production facilities. Representatives from energy companies in question were demonstrated new fuel production unit, as well as given fuel samples for subsequent analysis. Documentary films were also made.
Economic community was presented by a unique chance to provide the world market with a finished high-tech product. This product combines previously mutually exclusive fuel properties – extremely low production costs and exceptional ecological parameters.
The move of the industrial world in the direction suggested would completely obviate ecological accidents such as the one we are currently dealing with in the Gulf of Mexico. Licences for the production of such fuel should be offered equally to all member states of the United Nations.
The developers of the new type of fuel are prepared to hand over to the United Nations the basic right to produce such fuel.
Todd Millions Comment left 5th June 2010 22:10:55 To;Claude st-Jarre
Bp was partnered with Imperial oil before standard got em-over a century ago now.
For updated partnerships-se;Greg Palast.
daniel frimpong Comment left 2nd June 2010 23:11:17 may need job from the oil company
ehnriko Comment left 2nd June 2010 23:11:05 Since day 1 - I have felt shivers all around me with this dreadful news... as an experimenter/ hobbyist... I am in the habit of imagineering any possible solution for any problem... this is a problem - I couldn't imagine any solution... until I stumbled upon this video. This is about the Vortex Oil Recovery method that was proposed to BP- but BP seems to have ignored. It is the greenest way to fix the problem and help prevent the damage from growing... but we need to have help mass and public awareness that there is such a solution... and pressure the Higher ups to consider it... and stop killing the planet. this is not their planet - and everybody has a right to do everything in their capacity to help save it.
Please watch these links:
Donald Patriquin Comment left 27th June 2010 07:07:03 Why do we not hear about an almost identical oil spill some 25 years ago in the Gulf. There are so many parallels - including clean-up. There are also innovative techniques that have not been discussed fully nor implemented. The people who 'let' this happen should at the very least stand trial.
Reverend I: Daly Comment left 4th July 2010 16:04:10 The problem here and, indeed, across the globe, can be summed up with one word.
These corporations , and the handfull of plutocrats who control them , are bringing our species closer to extinction with each passing day.
They buy off the whole system of 'politics, pay scientists to bend the truth , pay lawyers to bend , change or bypass the law and are devoted to one goal only - profit.
We have based our entire world on a system of individual gain, greed, "might is right" and unristricted commercial exploitation of humanity and the environment (our life support system in the void of space).
We need to remove the laws which give corporate entities the status of 'persons' with all the protections of a human being. They are artificial paper entities and different laws should apply.
The owners and controlers of these corporations should be held criminaly accountable for the crimes they have committed against humanity and the planet.
If our leaders are so corrupt that they will not take action then it is incumbant upon the people themselves to protect the future of our species by whatever means are necessary.
We have a right to protect ourselves from the rapine greed of these handfull of plutocrats.(Without actually hurting people-ok?).
Dr. Perlingieri Comment left 11th June 2010 20:08:31 11 June 2010
Here are more updates on the Gulf of Mexico catastrophe:
1.Scientists find dead zone in Gulf:
2.Toxic gas concentrations:
mp nougaret Comment left 15th July 2010 13:01:01
Dear dr Perlingieri
as a journalist I interviewed a scientist in institut Français du pétrole who tells me your're right about methane but a) HAP are not precursors ro benzene, it's over simplistic chemistry; b) coconut oil may catch and concentrate benzene on the skin and help it get through as it is both water and fat soluble; I checked a bit on the oil and found it is very anti oxydant, and anti anti virus, and anti microbial but not a barrier… what should I think ?
Todd Millions Comment left 16th June 2010 06:06:25 In all the poor reporting on this-no one seeems to be picking up on-
The quality of the pipe.
Lack of fail safe valves ect and failure of is one thing,but-
The holes on the pipe look like tears-shear failure,rather than punctures.
This isn't somethig I would expect from very ductile drill pipe.It looks more like slaggy,sulfur contaminated high carbon lawn furniture crap plate(think titanic hull).
Thus BP wouldn't dare try to pinch it off,with either ship anchor sized clamp(s),or shape charge explosives.
Any metallurgist's or noth sea experinced engineers commenting on this?
claude saint-jarre Comment left 3rd June 2010 07:07:50 Hello. To me BP is invisible in Canada. Does it have other names or affiliated companies?
Dr. I.S. Perlingieri Comment left 26th June 2010 07:07:36 25 June 2010.
Dear Dr. Ho and ISIS readers: The following is to answer readers comments and update you on the unfolding nightmare from the Gulf of Mexico Oil Catastrophe:
1. There is a real potential for a methane explosion in Gulf:
Methane levels in the Gulf are astronomical. See:
The many cracks in the seabed floor that have been videoed could be a part of a precursor to some enormous explosion. See:
2. How much of this oil volcano has contaminated the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean?
None of this is a “natural” hazard:
3. What is boiling on the Pensacola Beach?
4. Another issue not addressed (even in alternative web reports) is the extreme danger of burning crudeoil/tar on the surface of the gulf. This is already happening. These toxic fumes go up into our air, and are then spread on the wind currents. This only exacerbates an already dire situation. It is obvious that those in charge have no wish to do any sane or reasonable procedure to in any way mitigate what continues to unfold. Harm is the order of the day/month. What happens if any of these fires hits another oil rig? There are more than 3500 oil rigs around the Gulf of Mexico.
5. There is no US agency that is doing anything to mitigate the spread of this nightmare. Unbelievably, security has been privatized (from Wackenhut), while they keep citizens off public beaches. These mercenary troops have barred reporters from investigating. There are no public officials in charge. They defer to BP’s corporate, private military wishes, while the devastation continues to spread. See: www.rense.com/general91/itsget.htm
6. All around the Gulf, serious illnesses are not being reported: major upper respiratory troubles, benzene poisoning, and an outbreak of serious diarrhea (from VOCs). The mixture of benzene/Corexit 9500 dispersants is killing untold birds, mammals, and other sea life. Many creatures are illegally being burned, so an accurate count will never be possible. This animal burning also spreads the toxicity via the air currents. This poisoning can be equated with discounted early reports of Gulf War Syndrome in the 1990s.
Dr. Castle, whom I interviewed for this article, just sent me this on 25 June:
“Even though the EPA has ordered BP to stop using any carcinogenic dispersants...they yet continue...and Coast Guard Allen...knows full well that he will not enforce that order by the EPA to stop it. Corexit contains a heavy amount of Glycol Ethers, Surfactants based on 9-Moles Ethylene Oxides and causative of serious and lethal diarrhea...due to these combinations of Glycol-Ether based toxins. Where are you, epidemelogists, toxicologists, anyone remotely familiar with this scenario?”
7. In short, any real help whether clean-up or medical warnings are miniscule to non-existent. All real help has been turned down, while CEO Tony Hayward goes yachting, and Obama goes golfing. The coverup continues. The criminality is evident for anyone who researches the true, and epic extent of the worst man-made catastrophe in our entire global history.
Percy Comment left 3rd June 2010 18:06:23 Where is my comment that i just put up here?
Mae-wan Ho Comment left 3rd June 2010 21:09:06 Hi Percy,
this comment of yours got through so please post it again as you did the one that got through
Dr. Perlingieri Comment left 9th June 2010 08:08:47 7 June 2010
In response to several questions:
1. BP has its tentacles all over. However, much of their global reach is hidden. A place to start is at: www.bp.com The best thing for consumers to do is boycott all of their known products, starting with their gasoline. From reports posted since my article was written, it is already obvious that this epic catastrophe is deliberately not being contained. From the very beginning, it could have been. If the 1989 ExxonValdez catastrophe is any past indication, it also appears that little will be done to truly hold anyone accountable. The staggering loss of animal life already is tragic. Even with the continuing mainstream “controlled” news reports, not one person who is doing any supposed cleanup has been warned of the extreme personal "health" dangers to which they are exposed. Greed continues to triumph, while the contamination will become global.
1. The toxicity that is spreading is extreme:
2. Business as usual, means that the US has already granted approval for another oil company to drill in the Gulf of Mexico: www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jun/2/greens-seeing-red-over-newgulf-oil-permit
3. BP CEO sold shares 3 weeks before “accident” in Gulf:
4. “BP bosses unlikely to face jail for oil spill”:
5. Politics trump safety and precaution:
Dr. Perlingieri Comment left 9th June 2010 17:05:37 9 June 2010
Here is another follow-up to my previous comments. Most news crews and photographers have little access on site, due to military and BP staff (who may in fact be making decisions). What is still not reported is the extreme danger from breathing benzene and how dangerous it is when combined with the toxic dispersants. This exposure goes for cleanup crews, anyone on the beach or in the water, and all birds and sea life. There are also credible reports that the entire Gulf may be evacuated. These photos were posted today:
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Plethora of Products
There are now over 200 biopharmaceuticals on the market in the U.S. and EU2 and many hundreds more in development. The first recombinant product, insulin3 (Eli Lilly), produced in E. coli, was approved in the U.S. in 1982. This was followed by other products expressed in that bacterium (human growth hormone-1985, interferon-a-1986) and in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae (hepatitis B vaccine-1986).
While both of these organisms proved valuable and have been used extensively in the ensuing years, it became apparent quite early on that they would not be appropriate for the expression of all proteins. The first generation of products were typically small proteins, lacking post-translational modifications such as glycosylation that are commonly found on many mammalian proteins of therapeutic interest.
For large complex molecules, and particularly for proteins requiring mammalian-type glycosylation to be effective as therapeutics, microbial expression was not a viable option. For these proteins attention turned to mammalian cell culture and the first recombinant product (tissue plasminogen activator from Genentech) was approved in 1987.
As it turned out, mammalian cell culture would be used to produce a wide range of enzymes, blood factors, monoclonal antibodies and other proteins. In fact, cell culture is now used to produce more than half of the licensed proteins.
Monoclonal antibodies have had a particularly big impact on the development of mammalian cell expression technology. There was great interest in the therapeutic use of antibodies following the development of the monoclonal technology in the 1970s and a nonrecombinant murine antibody (OKT®3), produced in mouse hybridoma cells was licensed in 1986.
However, the more general use of antibodies was limited by their immunogenicity, a problem that was resolved using novel engineering approaches to produce chimeric, humanized, and eventually, fully human recombinant antibodies. There are now around 25 antibody therapeutics on the market, and as a class they represent approximately two-thirds of the biopharmaceutical proteins in development4.
In addition to numbers of products, antibodies have also had an impact in terms of quantities required. Because of the large doses needed for some products, manufacturing requirements can be high—tonnage quantities in a few cases. On the one hand this has led to a requirement for extremely large-scale culture systems (up to 20,000 liters in scale).5 On the other hand, it has been a potent driver for improving the efficiency of cell culture technology.
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“My dear Professor. . . [a]ll this ‘You-Know-Who’ nonsense—for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name: Voldemort.” Professor McGonagall flinched, but Dumbledore, who was unsticking two lemon drops, seemed not to notice.
Dumbledore’s impatient reproach to Professor McGonagall occurs in Chapter 1, when they and Hagrid appear in front of the Dursleys’ house to discuss the sudden tragic deaths of Harry’s parents. The passage reveals Dumbledore’s composure even after a hugely traumatic event like an evil wizard’s murder of two innocent people: he is calmly using phrases like “My dear Professor” and eating candy, while McGonagall is flinching with nervousness. We see clearly why Dumbledore is head wizard and McGonagall his subordinate.
The passage also reveals the importance of facing one’s enemies directly. For all of McGonagall’s education and expertise, she is unable to speak Voldemort’s name out loud, as are many other Hogwarts residents. The implication is that they are too scared to utter the name. Harry, we find out later, is, by contrast, not scared at all; his friends keep urging him to say “You-Know-Who” instead of “Voldemort,” but he sees no reason to do so, and keeps forgetting. When Harry calls Voldemort by his proper name, we get a hint that Harry will be the one who can face the evil wizard directly, as he in fact does when he stares at Voldemort’s face on the back of Quirrell’s head. Harry’s directness is exactly what Dumbledore is asking for from McGonagall and symbolizes the importance of confronting one’s obstacles.
Hagrid says these words to Harry in Chapter 4, after bursting into the hut on the secluded island where Mr. Dursley has brought Harry to escape the magical letters. Hagrid’s surprise at Harry’s ignorance of himself and of his family underscores the separation of the Muggle and the wizard worlds. Being famous among wizards does not necessarily imply being famous among ordinary humans. Despite all the vast powers of the wizards, the Hogwarts officials have been unable to penetrate the defenses of stupid and selfish Muggles like the Dursleys, who have, quite impressively, kept Harry’s uniqueness a secret from him for ten whole years. The intense Muggle dread of being different and the powerfully oppressive denials of how Harry is special are actually quite a match for all the wizards at Hogwarts. In Hagrid’s astonishment that one could be a wizard without realizing it, we see how stifling and constraining human society can be, at least in the Dursley household.
Hagrid’s reference to Harry’s parents in connection with Harry’s own fame foreshadows one important aspect of Harry’s upcoming adventures. His experiences at Hogwarts will prove how talented Harry is (“You’re famous”), but they will also re-establish the connection that has been lost between Harry and his real family. By learning magic, Harry will earn the right to belong again in the company of his mother and father. Harry’s education will take him not just forward to his brilliant future, but also symbolically backward to his original family.
He was wearing Professor Quirrell’s turban, which kept. . . telling him he must transfer to Slytherin at once, because it was his destiny. . . . [H]e tried to pull it off but it tightened painfully—and there was Malfoy, laughing at him. . . . [T]here was a burst of green light and Harry woke, sweating.
Harry has this dream at the end of Chapter 7, and it reveals much not only about Harry’s fate and his situation, but also about Harry’s own challenge in having to deal with such a burden. Before describing this dream, the narrator suggests that the dream comes perhaps because Harry has eaten too much, but we know better. We understand that Harry is wrestling with some very difficult issues that are affecting his dreams. His dream of Quirrell is prophetic, as Harry discovers only in Chapter 17 that Quirrell, not Snape, is behind the evil plot; perhaps he suspected Quirrell unconsciously all along. The talking turban clearly reminds us of the Sorting Hat, which represents fate for Harry in assigning him to a house at Hogwarts.
The turban also reminds us how Voldemort talks to Harry much later from under Quirrell’s turban and how Voldemort and his evil green light are also part of Harry’s fate. But even fate is not so easy to understand, as we recall that Harry is able to persuade the hat to assign him to Gryffindor rather than Slytherin; perhaps fate can be changed through personal actions, just as Harry tries to pull off the turban of destiny in his dream. Finally, the presence of Malfoy in Harry’s dream shows that his adventure in solving the Sorcerer’s Stone mystery is intertwined with his more everyday task of having social interactions, choosing friends, and facing down one’s enemies. Malfoy plays no part in Voldemort’s plot, but he seems important to Harry nevertheless, as one of the many confusing factors in Harry’s attempt to make sense of his Hogwarts experience.
Your father left this in my possession before he died. It is time it was returned to you. Use it well. A very merry Christmas to you.
This note accompanies the vanishing cloak that Harry mysteriously receives at Christmas in Chapter 12. It signals once again that Harry’s growth at Hogwarts will bring him back into contact, at least symbolically, with his long-lost parents. The cloak also becomes an important symbol of the relationship between Harry and Albus Dumbledore when we find out later that it is Dumbledore who has given the cloak to Harry. It symbolizes Dumbledore’s growing trust in Harry, as the great wizard surely knows that giving a boy the gift of invisibility is bound to lead to some naughtiness, which it in fact does. Dumbledore may caution Harry to “[u]se it well,” but in all his wisdom he must realize that Harry will use it wrongly, breaking into the restricted-books section of the library and hauling an illegal dragon across the campus.
Yet, in the long run, Dumbledore’s trust in Harry is justified, because Harry does learn finally to use the cloak—and all his magic gifts—toward the right ends. His disaster in being caught and punished after the dragon incident, when he stupidly forgets to wear the cloak, forces him to think more carefully about the consequences of his actions. We sense that Harry’s education in personal responsibility is all part of Dumbledore’s grand plan in giving Harry the cloak, because after the dragon affair Dumbledore returns the cloak to Harry neatly folded. With it, Dumbledore places his own vote of confidence in Harry.
Dumbledore makes this remark to Harry in Chapter 17, when Harry is in the hospital, in reference to the imminent death of Nicolas Flamel, Dumbledore’s old partner and inventor of the Sorcerer’s Stone. When Dumbledore announces that he and Flamel have decided to thwart Voldemort by destroying the stone, and with it the possibility of attaining eternal life, Harry realizes that Flamel will die. Flamel is effectively sacrificing himself for the good of Hogwarts and of the world, just as Jesus Christ, according to Christian belief, was supposed to have sacrificed himself for the salvation of humankind. Flamel’s decision reveals his wisdom, all the more so as Dumbledore’s words echo the thoughts of innumerable philosophers and religious figures (from the Greek Socrates to the Indian Buddha) who have similarly seen death as a beginning rather than an end.
Dumbledore’s and Flamel’s wisdom is precisely what is lacking in a villain like Voldemort, who clings unnaturally to life, refusing to accept the natural human adventure of death. By saying that a healthy acceptance of death is a characteristic of a “well-organized mind,” Dumbledore is implying that Voldemort’s manic pursuit of immortality is not well organized at all, despite all of his savvy tricks, but is rather deranged.
The Sorting Hat is a symbol of free will. The Sorting Hat places one into the house one wants and therefore you can choose to be good (Gryffindor) or evil (Slytherin).
17 out of 48 people found this helpful
If you have not seen Harry Potter movies. YOU SHOULD!! Seeing these movies gives you a good idea of whats happening and while your are reading you can see and imagine all that happens clearer. To those who do not like to read, (Why?!?!?!) look at the movies they give out very important info and all the answers to your reports in 2 hours!! For those WHO DO READ!!, enjoy the book and have FUN!
2 out of 4 people found this helpful
I think the rule breaking can be interpreted as Harry not being perfect however he is making the choice to do a bad thing for a good reason. I think a common theme throughout the books is that there is no purely good and purely evil, it is not our inherent characteristic, however it is our choices, this is demonstrated with Dumbledore, James Potter and Snape. In contrast, bad decisions are represented by Malfoy and Wormtail.
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If you are new to the land of Hink Pinks, here's how they work:
- Hink Pinks are riddles wherein the clues lead you to a 2 word answer. Each answer word must have just 1 syllable and the 2 answer words must rhyme.
- Hinky Pinkies are riddles seeking answers with 2 syllables in each word. The 2 words must rhyme.
- Hinkity Pinkities are rhyming answer word pairs with 3 syllables each.
Some teachers like to distribute Hink Pink clues on a work sheet, but I continually strive to eliminate worksheets from my teaching. About 20 years ago, I started putting the clues on 1/4 sheet cards. By doing so, I was able to create a resource that was ready to use year after year, saving me bunches of time and conserving paper big time!
Armed with my Hink Pink, et al cards, I was able to use them as an anchor activity when students were arriving each morning. They also work well as a sponge activity and are great at a literacy center. Now, working as a pull-out enrichment specialist, I use these cards as a warm-up activity. Without a doubt, G/T students are enthralled with these riddles. But, I also found that "average" students were intrigued and set their caps to solve them.
It's about time, teachers, to offer you my FREE set of Valentine's Day Hink Pinks, Hinky Pinkies, and Hinkity Pinkities. Here's a preview:
The answer to this Hink Pink is sweet treat.
The answer to this Hinky Pinky is sandy candy.
The answer to the Hinkity Pinkity below is valentine turpentine.
There are 24 cards in this FREE set. Naturally, there is an answer key. Did I mention that it is FREE? You can retrieve your copy here.
I hope you enjoy Hink Pinks, et al as much as my students and I do.
If you like this product, you may like these, as well:
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In my readings in the neuroscience literature, I've yet to find any account of how information is sent from the eyes to the brain--what form the nerve signals take. Visual images are complex, so it would follow that the system has to be pretty complex, and it would be a real interesting topic. Knowing how the nerve impulses go would tell us something about the brain: it would tell us that its set up to process information in that particular format. It seems to me like that would be a huge step in finding out how the brain works.
Since this doesn't get talked about at all, as far as I've seen, one of two things must be true: the research has been done and has been ignored (in which case a lot of scientists are being stupid), or the research hasn't been done. I don't think scientists would ignore something as big as this, so I can only guess the research hasn't been done. On the other hand, it would seem in principle simple to do: put a sheep eyeball with intact optic nerve into an apparatus with chemicals able to keep it functioning in the short term, a small video screen, and sensor able to give a very precise account of what's happening at the end of the optic nerve. I can only assume, then, that the technical aspects of building such a device would be too difficult, and therefore no such device has been built. If someone did figure out how to build the thing, though, the hard part of the research would be over, they'd be able to gather some amazing data, publish it, and be a real contender for the Nobel.
All of the above is definite half-assed speculation territory for me. I'd love to have someone who really knows what they're talking about shed some light on this one. But if the above is correct, might it suggest we should start giving scientists engineering training in the interest of being able to develop better experimental apparatuses? Or perhaps, at least, having scientists work closer with engineers?
Tags: brain, eye, science, neuroscience, engineering
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On a scorching hot day in late June, some 20 tourists were gazing at the fenced-off entrance of an abandoned tunnel named Taura Zuido (Taura Tunnel) in the Kanagawa Prefecture port city of Yokosuka.
Yoshiyuki Hiranuma, who was guiding that “Old Tunnels of Yokosuka” tour, explained that the Taura Zuido tunnel is 80 meters long and was constructed by local volunteers in 1893 as a shortcut for workers at a munitions factory.
“It was used until 1923, when a new and bigger tunnel was made,” Hiranuma, an authority on abandoned roads and tunnels, told the group.
“It is said that when the authorities constructed the new tunnel, they made sure it was high and wide enough for tanks to go through.”
Conjuring up not only history but past lives, too, Hiranuma went on to explain that Yokosuka has more than 150 tunnels because it has many hills and valleys. Since late in the Meiji Era (1868-1912), when a military port was constructed there, he outlined how the city developed into a major naval base, with many of its tunnels built to house and transport munitions and other military materials — some, like Taura Zuido, by volunteer local labor.
The members of the tour organized by East Japan Railway Co. were clearly fascinated by what Hiranuma was telling them, and some appeared lost in a reverie of times past.
Indeed, one of those on the tour, Takao Takagi from Hayama in Kanagawa Prefecture, looked so excited as he explained, “This way I can see many tunnels that I cannot visit just as an individual. This kind of tour is very rare and it is so intriguing.”
The tour guide Hiranuma, who is a freelance writer and photographer specializing in abandoned roads, explained that tunnels exhibit a great diversity of designs, construction methods and purposes, and that this is just part of their appeal he hopes more people will become interested in.
Since 2004, Hiranuma has been posting pictures and reports on abandoned roads, tunnels and bridges in eastern Japan on his Web site at yamaiga.com, which typically logs around 7,000 views a day. He also coauthored a series of books titled “Haido wo Yuku” (“Traveling Obsolete Roads”), which has so far sold a very healthy 60,000 copies.
No doubt many of the 60-strong audience who turned up to hear a lecture Hiranuma gave at a bookstore in Chiba in mid-June had bought those books. In his talk, the author defined what are haido (obsolete roads) and discussed how many of them came about.
“Generally, when a new and more convenient road has been constructed, fewer people will use the old road rather than the new one,” Hiranuma said. “But because it takes money to maintain a road, those responsible for the old one will often stop spending on it. Then it falls into disrepair and may well just be abandoned.”
Until the end of the Edo Period (1603-1867), very few wheeled vehicles were used in Japan, but in the rapidly modernizing Meiji Era that followed, horse-drawn carriages and wagons mimicking those in use in the West were gradually introduced — and they required new roads on which to run.
But by the time the Showa Emperor (Hirohito) took the throne in 1926, Hiranuma explained, those roads made for horse-drawn vehicles were becoming obsolete in Japan’s dawning automobile age. Consequently, enthusiasts can still find those old tracks and lanes on which horses provided the only horsepower there was.
However, it’s not just changing means of transport that can lead to roads becoming disused, Hiranuma pointed out — explaining that natural disasters and depopulation can also make that happen.
In his PowerPoint presentation to highlight the attractions of such forgotten byways, Hiranuma showed a picture of one of those Meiji Era roads he had talked about, commenting, “Look at this road with its stone fence, it’s so beautiful and elegant.”
Then he showed photos of bridges on such routes that have fallen into disuse as well, poignantly noting, “Obsolete roads, and bridges especially, let us feel sorrow.”
Indeed, it is the pathos and the beauty of abandoned roads that seemed to be their key appeal to the 32-year-old freelance writer — though he insisted those weren’t the only reasons he loved to seek out remote routes now largely grassed over.
“I have a mission to record the old abandoned roads by taking pictures of them and writing about them,” he said, citing as his driving force the comments about his photos that viewers of his Web site report. Typical of those comments, he said, “was one that said, ‘I used to walk on this road decades ago.’ ”
“When I get such reactions, I feel I am rewarded,” he said.
However, he also felt obliged to remind his audience that exploring old, abandoned roadways can be a dangerous pastime.
In particular, he reminded those who would follow in his footsteps that out there in the often long grass may lurk not only sharp leaves and spiky plants, but also mosquitoes and leeches. Then there can be falling rocks and sometimes even bears to watch out for, too.
Despite all that, though, Hiranuma concluded by confessing that he loves to explore abandoned roads . . . both for the adventure and to keep knowledge of them alive.
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Being of a curious mind, I am occasionally fascinated by simple things such as the phenomenon of cracking knuckles. In this respect, I have done some very basic research regarding this phenomenon and have been repeatedly disappointed by the explanations presented on nearly every web site I have seen that attempts to describe the process in question. There are many physiological reasons that our joints make noise, but the description of at least one of these processes is always, well…not what it is cracked up to be.
Specifically, virtually every web article mentions “cavitation” as the primary cause of the sound that accompanies knuckle cracking in our finger joints, but in almost every case they go on to describe cavitation incorrectly, or propose a scenario that has little, if nothing, to do with cavitation. Here, for example, is an excerpt from the article on knuckle cracking at HowStuffWorks.com (italics added):
“If you’ve ever laced your fingers together, turned your palms away from you and bent your fingers back, you know what knuckle popping sounds like. Joints produce that CRACK when bubbles burst in the fluid surrounding the joint.
Joints are the meeting points of two separate bones, held together and in place by connective tissues and ligaments. All of the joints in our bodies are surrounded by synovial fluid, a thick, clear liquid. When you stretch or bend your finger to pop the knuckle, you are causing the bones of the joint to pull apart. As they do, the connective tissue capsule that surrounds the joint is stretched. By stretching this capsule, you increase its volume. And as we know from chemistry class, with an increase in volume comes a decrease in pressure.
So as the pressure of the synovial fluid drops, gases dissolved in the fluid become less soluble, forming bubbles through a process called cavitation. When the joint is stretched far enough, the pressure in the capsule drops so low that these bubbles burst, producing the pop that we associate with knuckle cracking.”
The above excerpt is typical of the hundreds of articles about knuckle cracking, and the fact that no one questions this description of the cavitation process is tragic. In a closed system such as the synovial capsule of a joint, this description makes absolutely no sense. Why? Because these gas bubbles simply cannot burst! Gas bubbles created in a liquid under negative pressure do not pop like balloons, or soap bubbles in the air, no matter how low the fluids pressure becomes. To say they “burst” is to say that they somehow cease to be bubbles and become re-dissolved in the surrounding liquid. This defies the laws of physics, at least as I understand them. Balloons and soap bubbles burst because the material of the bubble/balloon eventually ruptures and fails. Gas bubbles in a liquid have no such container. They simply cannot “fail “ to be bubbles.
In such a system, the only things that individual gas bubbles can do is:
1.) Get bigger (take up more volume) when pressure is further reduced. (Note: This produces no sound whatsoever.)
2.) Combine with each other. (Ahh, now it can be argued that small bubbles “burst” in a fashion as they combine with larger bubbles, but this does not accurately describe the knuckle-cracking phenomenon. Think of opening a can of soda. As the small CO2 bubbles reach the surface, they “pop” as the surface tension of the liquid soda weakens and fails. But in this example we do not hear a single “pop.” Instead, we hear hundreds of “pops,” producing the typical fizzing sound.) By the way, this soda pop analogy is also often used incorrectly to describe cavitation in many knuckle-cracking articles. It is wrong for the same reason.
3.) Get smaller / collapse when the pressure is increased. (Aha! Now we are getting somewhere. The only thing that produces loud sound in such a system is the collapse of a gas bubble as a direct result of the sudden introduction of pressure. This is the very definition of cavitation!)
Cavitation is the sound that occurs when gas bubbles are partially or totally collapsed as result of a sudden and dramatic increase in surrounding pressure. The sides of the bubble clap together violently as it collapses, producing a surprisingly loud sound. Submariners hate cavitation because it occurs when the submarine’s propellers, or more properly “screws,” turn too quickly for the surrounding water conditions. The friction of the blade against the water produces a partial vacuum along its surface. Gas bubbles form as a result of this partial vacuum, and move to the edge of the blade. As these bubbles are pushed off of the blade, they are immediately no longer under the partial vacuum created by the blade friction and they collapse instantly, producing the telltale sound. This sound makes the submarine easily detectable at great distances, and hence, is extremely undesirable.
In a sealed system, like the synovial capsule of a finger joint, cavitation of a gas bubble formed under negative pressure can only occur if pressure is suddenly and quickly re-introduced. This is not discussed, described, or mentioned in any knuckle-cracking article I have ever read. This is not to say that cavitation is not at the heart of the sound that we hear, but rather that the common description of the knuckle cracking process is likely faulty.
Here, instead, I propose my own theory and description as to what happens when you crack your knuckles:
When you flex your knuckles beyond their normal range and/or direction of motion, you actually temporarily separate the synovial capsule of the joint into two or more distinct areas of high and low pressure. As you continue to pull/push/twist/flex the joint, dissolved gasses come out of solution in the synovial fluid and rapidly form bubbles in the area(s) of low pressure.
As you continue to pull/push/twist/flex, the synovial capsule stretches further, and at some point the physical seal produced between these high and low pressure areas can no longer be maintained. At this critical failure point, the synovial fluid under high-pressure rushes to the area of low pressure, rapidly collapsing the bubble(s) of gas, which causes the cavitation and the audible “crack.”
Since the synovial capsule has now been temporarily stretched in such a way that prevents adequate sealing of the joint capsule into the necessary areas of high and low pressure, you cannot immediately re-crack that joint (at least not in the exact same manner.) Only when the synovial capsule shrinks back to its normal size/shape, and can again support a temporary seal between potential areas of high and low pressure, do you regain the ability to “crack” the knuckle.
Admittedly, I do not have the requisite detailed knowledge of joint anatomy and physiology that is required to precisely explain how each joint capsule becomes temporarily compartmentalized in my theory of this process. As a result, I would love to hear from any rheumatologist, or orthopedic expert who is sufficiently knowledgeable on this subject and can either verify my theory, or offer a more accurate and technically valid description that doesn’t gloss over the actual process.
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NEES Project Warehouse
Experiment contains sensor data, metadata, and the required documentation including the experiment report.
Complete - 04/29/2014
The curation dashboard shows your progress as you add required elements to your project or experiment.
|Description:||Many researchers have studied rocking shallow foundations for various structures using different experimental tools. Several consecutive series of centrifuge model tests characterized the static and dynamic behavior of rocking shallow foundations for rigid shear walls or for highway bridges. Additionally, the behavior of rocking foundations has been experimentally investigated using shaking table and in-situ model tests.
Current research has indicated that shallow rocking foundations on competent soils can reduce seismic ductility demand on columns and improve the performance of the system. If the moment capacity of the footing is designed so that it is smaller than the moment capacity of the column, rocking of the structure about the base of the footing will be initiated. In the conventional fixed-base foundation condition, almost all energy must be dissipated through bending of the column. The rocking of the foundation results in a ductility demand transfer from the column to the footing and surrounding soil. This reduces the magnitude of differential displacements imposed along the column in comparison to a column supported on a fixed foundation.
Although the beneficial effects of rocking foundations on bridge systems have been widely explored, some hurdles impeding the use of rocking shallow foundations in bridge design still exist. One of these hurdles is the excessive displacement and collapse potential due to foundations rocking on poor, liquefiable soils. The overall goals of this research are to (1) delineate the soil conditions under which rocking foundations would not be acceptable and (2) explore the viability of rocking foundations in poor soil conditions if the foundations are supported on unconnected piles.
In responding to these hurdles, the first testing series (JDA01) was performed on six identical a??single-degree-of-freedoma?? (SDOF) models that were built upon loose-liquefiable and erosive soil ground. The test was completed at the Center for Geotechnical Modeling Facility at the University of California at Davis on the 9 meter radius centrifuge. The test series was comprised of 11 shakes at a centrifugal acceleration of 55g. The experiment was performed in a flexible laminar container box which could enable the interlayer shear strain.
The purpose of this first centrifuge test was to observe the structural and soil response of a rocking foundation system in fully saturated soil, which includes a liquefiable layer. The presence of water introduces interesting fluid-soil interaction issues, such as suction, erosion, and liquefaction, which could potentially be amplified by the dynamic cyclic motion of the rocking foundation.
In consideration of the potential excessive settlements imposed by liquefaction, one goal of this research is to consider the potential benefit of coupling the rocking footing with unconnected deep piles. The purpose of these piles would be to bypass the liquefiable or poor layer of soil to set in a more competent, dense layer. If settlements are in fact unreasonable, coupling the rocking footing with unconnected piles may reduce excessive settlements. Through the use of unconnected piles, the footings are able to rock freely ensuring the desired self centering effect and benefits of a rocking foundation system, while reducing settlements.
The orientation styles of the six structures were chosen to try and capture the different fluid failure mechanisms presented above. That is, the surface footings would be susceptible to the rocking induced erosion, the embedded footings to rocking induced suction, and the unconnected pile footings to represent an improved site condition. Two surface soils were used for comparison purposes, resulting in six different stations of varying footing orientation and grounding.
|Dates:||June 08, 2010 - June 10, 2010|
|Facility:||University of California, Davis, CA, United States|
|Specimen Type:||JDA01 Container and Structures|
|Material:||Soil Layers in Model (view)|
No files available
|Cite this work:|
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<urn:uuid:03e5cc27-da30-41b1-82cf-73c6f660174f>
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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http://nees.org/warehouse/experiment/2083/project/565
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SPARKLE Computer today announced a more effective technology that promises to keep your graphics card cooler.
Once applied to graphics cards, Sparkle's "Diamonds Sputtering technology" significantly lowers the temperature of a GPU increasing its life expectancy.
The Taiwanese company applied a Diamond-like Carbon (DLC) membrane on the surface of video cards' cooling fins to realize the significant cooling effects of DLC, which display some of the unique properties of natural diamond. The membrane can help to quickly transfer the heat from GPU and video memory chips to the cooling fins.
SPARKLE R&D team found in the study that Diamond-like Carbon (DLC) which gradually been found in the past few years has many high-natures, such as high optical penetrating, high-chemical corrosion-resistant, excellent friction properties and good compatibility. In addition, Diamond-like Carbon (DLC) has a high heat conduction. General heatsinks rely on the electrons' movement within the metal (such as copper) to transfer heat via conduction. In DLC, phonons produced by the crystal lattice vibration lower the produced heat. Sparkle claims that the DLC dissipates heat four times faster than copper.
Sparkle said that it will use the Plasma Enhanced CVD (PECVD) technology to apply Diamond-like Carbon (DLC) membranes on the surface of video cards.
SPARKLE R&D team found that compared with currently available VGA cooling solutions, the Diamond-like Carbon (DLC) membrane can reduce temperature of a GPu by 5 degrees Celsius.
In addition, SPARKLE R&D team also found that the Diamond-like Carbon (DLC) membrane is a super-hard carbon coating that protects the radiator metal from scratching.
Sparkle did not say when the first DLC graphics cards will be available, since the technology is still expensive.
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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Bookmarks are one of the most wonderful tools that Internet browsers have to offer. Keeping records of our favorite web sites and letting us get back to them with the click of a button. Bookmarking is easy to do in your web browser, just click a button (or hit Ctrl-d) and bam, the web page you are currently visiting is bookmarked.
If you're the type of person who likes to have organized bookmarks but also likes to use more than one browser or utilizes more than one computer, you might find bookmarking a little more difficult. How do you keep bookmarks synchronized between browsers or computers? A new generation of bookmark software designed to be your one stop bookmark source might just be the answer.
Rather than bookmarking your pages through a single web browser, these external bookmark management programs work separately from any browser. Once the software is installed bookmarking is often just as easy, but the bookmarks aren't just saved for a single browser. Instead they are saved into an external bookmarking program that then exports its bookmarks to whatever browser you happen to be using, whether it is Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, Firefox or any other web browser.
Besides this sharing of data between different browsers that are located on the same computer, there are also software programs that allow you to synchronize bookmarks between computers, either using the same browsers or different browsers. Different software programs can attack the problem of computer synchronization in different ways.
If the computers you wish to synchronize your bookmarks on both reside on the same network, it is often a piece of cake to keep bookmarks synchronized with a program designed to transfer data over the LAN. You can set up automatic synchronization routines to operate once a day or once a week. You can also set it up to synchronize whenever you tell it to. There are many different possibilities for bookmark synchronization.
If your computers don't reside on the same network, other software available can work through the internet. Bookmarks are uploaded to a special server on the Internet, from which you can synchronize your bookmarks from one computer to the other through your internet connection. This is great, for example, for synchronizing bookmarks between your home and office computers that often times are not set up on a personal local area network.
These bookmark managers oftentimes also make the process of bookmark management in general even easier than software included with web browsers. Utilizing simple, intuitive and user-friendly interfaces, they allow you to organize your bookmarks as well as change bookmarks quickly and easily. If you're not satisfied with your current bookmark managing software, these sorts of bookmark management solutions could just be the answer you've been waiting for. Combining ease of use with functionality, they are a great way to keep your bookmarks up to date with ease and style.
Kevin Dark is an online marketer. Find out about " bookmark manager"on his new site.
Article Source: ">" http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kevin_Dark"
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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Last summer Pakistan endured the worst flooding in its history. Today, many people are still homeless since the floods occurred and aid is still desperately needed in some areas. Oxfam recently announced that Pakistan’s flood defences are far from adequate in defending itself from another flood disaster. Unlike China, which has experienced more intense flooding similar to last year, Pakistan has not come close to experiencing another flood disaster. Both Pakistan and China depend on monsoon rainfall during this time of year to water their crops, but the magnitude of recent flood events in China (see Severe Floods in China) and last year’s floods in Pakistan (see Flood waters rising in Pakistan and Flood alleviation efforts in Pakistan) have been far beyond the norm, with scientists naming climate change as a likely culprit. Another report says that the freezing of the jet stream is the cause of the floods in Pakistan and the forest fires that broke out in Russia last summer.
Not long after the floods there were researchers claiming that Pakistan’s floods could have been predicted (see ‘Were the 2010 Pakistan floods predictable?’), but there was a retort made by scientists in Pakistan that even if the data was received it would have done little in the face of the much bigger problem of evacuating millions of people. Despite all this there is without a doubt much more that could have been done by government, especially regarding the use of flood data by scientists. According to a newspaper in Pakistan (The Nation), 70 percent of the relief aid pledged to Pakistan ‘has been realised‘, but 1 million flood-hit families are still homeless.
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http://ihrrblog.org/2011/08/02/one-year-after-pakistan-floods/
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Show me the manner in which a nation or community cares for its deadand I will measure with mathematical exactness the tender sympathies of its people,their respect for the law of the land and their loyalty to high ideals. -Gladstone
People who deal with death every day, professional caregivers such as palliative care, grief counsellors, clergy and medical practitioners have long understood the importance of remembrance. It is an established principle that helps heal, so we can go on living our lives in meaningful ways.
In the short video below, Martha C. talks about the solace she and her family find in slowing down and having the opportunity to cherish the memories of her husband, and about the surprising “best Christmas gift“ they received because of a cemetery visit.
Funeral and cremation services remembrance rituals are not only ways to say goodbye to a loved one, but are also time-tested ways that can help families and friends move from grieving to remembrance. Also, permanent remembrances further provide a place and a way for families to remember and honor their loved ones forever.
There are many reasons to celebrate and mourn the life of a loved one, but for many, these six things sum up why remembrance is important:
Sadness at the loss of a loved one may never entirely go away, but remembrance lives on.
The desire to be remembered lives within our genetic makeup. It is the age-old reason people carve their initials in trees, place their hands in cement, and chalk their names on rocks. They want to leave their mark. They want to be remembered. But for the living, the real marks they leave are the ones they’ve left on us. A hug. A smile. A timely word of advice. We want to remember those we’ve loved and lost, not only for them, but also as importantly for ourselves, to mend, to heal, to live, and never to forget.
In the video below, Betty K. discusses the lessons she has learned throughout her career helping families deal with grief.
Two poems, one by a writer of this century and another from another era, try to express in words about life, and dying, and remembering.
We talk openly of life. Of the joyful times we had. And the joyful times we will have together. Death gives no joy. It has no voice. We have muted it because there are no more times to have together. While the remembrance of death is painful, the remembrance of those who lived, those we loved, is joyous. They have left footprints implanted in our minds, in our hearts, and in the very essence of our being that shall remain forever. Death is sad. Remembrance is not. So let us remember their lives. Forever.
I am standing upon the seashore. A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength. I stand and watch her until at length she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other. Then someone at my side says: “There, she is gone!” “Gone where?” Gone from my sight. That is all. She is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my side and she is just as able to bear her load of living freight to her destined port. Her diminished size is in me, not in her. And just at the moment when someone at my side says: “There, she is gone!” there are other eyes watching her coming, and other voices ready to take up the glad shout: “Here she comes!”
And that is dying.
-Henry Van Dyke
Why do people carve their initials in trees? Or place their hands in cement? They want to leave their mark, and to be remembered. But the real marks they leave are the ones they've made on us. A hug. A smile. A kind word. We want to remember them. This touching video helps families see how remembering can help them deal with loss.
“A smile of encouragement at the right moment may act like sunlight on a closed-up flower; it may be the turning point for a struggling life.” -Unknown “Cry out for insight and understanding. Search for them as you would for lost money or hidden treasure.” -Proverbs 2:3-4
Sometimes death comes without warning. Here is a step by step guide to follow during those first difficult hours. Read More
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Newly found microbe is close relative of complex life
- 6 May 2015
- From the section Science & Environment
A newly discovered life form could help resolve one of the most contentious conundrums in modern biology.
All organisms on Earth are classified as either prokaryotes, which have simple cells, or eukaryotes, which have larger, more complex cells.
But the two cell types are so divergent that understanding how one evolved from the other has foxed biologists.
The new microbes, reported in Nature journal, go some way to bridging that gap.
They have been named Lokiarchaeota, partly after the Loki's Castle volcanic vent system lying 15km away from the site where the microbes' genetic material was isolated in cold marine sediments of the Arctic Mid-Ocean Ridge.
Prokaryotes are single-celled organisms and comprise all bacteria and archaea (a group of microbes that were once considered to be bacteria, but now form a separate domain of life).
Eukaryotes comprise some single-celled life forms, as well as all multi-cellular organisms, such as animals, plants and fungi.
The gulf between these two groupings is vast. The eukaryotes possess cellular structures that are enclosed within a lipid envelope. The defining trait is the nucleus, which hosts the cell's genetic material.
Another would be mitochondria; these are found in most eukaryotes and act as a cell's "batteries". According to a widely accepted theory, mitochondria began as bacteria and were gradually incorporated into eukaryotic cells, perhaps through some relationship of mutual benefit.
Lokiarchaeota have genes that code for proteins only otherwise found in eukaryotes, such as parts of the cytoskeleton - a matrix that supports cell shape and movement.
"Archaea and eukaryotes are sister groups, sharing a common ancestor," said lead author Thijs Ettema, from Uppsala University in Sweden.
He told BBC News: "This has been a leading model for 20 years or so. What happened a few years ago is that the branch in the tree that had the eukaryotes jumped on to the archaea branch. More specifically, it was affiliating with a group known as the TACK archaea."
Lokiarchaeota fall within the TACK grouping and represent the closest prokaryotic organisms to the eukaryote state.
According to Dr Ettema, the similarities between them show that Lokiarchaeota shared a common ancestor with eukaryotes roughly two billion years ago, and that this ancestor possessed a "starter kit" of genes that supported the increase in cellular complexity seen in eukaryotes today.
He explained: "The fact that we have found these same genes in [Lokiarchaeota] does not mean that they have the same function as they do in eukaryotes.
"But what we need to do to find out what those genes do in Lokiarchaeota is to carry out experiments, and for that we need actual cells."
The team had to reconstruct the new organisms from genetic material found in the cold marine sediments. But the effort to isolate cells will be a challenge.
"Getting the samples is not easy, and the amount of nutrients in these harsh environments is extremely limited. So the number of cells in these sediments will be extremely low and in general life down there is very slow.
"Some people have made predictions about how often cells divide down there and they have come up with numbers like one division every 10 years. If you want to grow them in the lab, these are not timescales that are feasible."
But the researchers are looking for "Loki-like" organisms in other locations, including hot springs in Yellowstone National Park, in the US, and New Zealand.
"We might even find Loki-like organisms that have more recent ancestry with eukaryotes. We could try to reconstruct their genomes and find additional pieces of the puzzle of how complex life might have originated," said Dr Ettema.
A key event in the evolution of eukaryotes was the acquisition of mitochondria. Lokiarchaeota do not possess them - making this organism no different from any other prokaryote. So precisely when cells first merged with the ancestors of these cellular powerhouses remains an open question.
"The acquisition of mitochondria really got things started," said Dr Ettema, adding: "The genes we find in Loki provide some pointers."
One critically important gene in eukaryotes is that which encodes a protein called actin. This has many functions in eukaryotic cells, but one of them is "phagocytosis". This process enables cells to engulf other cells, "eating" them.
"In Loki we also find genes that are related to those that encode actin proteins. Although we don't know what they do in Loki, we can infer that the last common ancestor had these genes," said Thijs Ettema.
Commenting on the research in the latest edition of Nature, Newcastle University cell biologists Martin Embley and Tom Williams write: "The identification of Lokiarchaeota so early in the history of this nascent field suggests that more closely related archaeal relatives of eukaryotes will soon be discovered."
Follow Paul on Twitter.
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http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-32610177
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The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.
The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.
You'll be amazed what wood can do As soon as the first men bravely moved out of their protective caves, they surely built protective structures out of wood. The ultimate renewable resource for architecture is thus the oldest, but also the most modern of materials. Thanks to computer-driven design and manufacturing techniques, wood can be cut and carved in the most astonishing new ways. Such innovative contributors to the work published in this volume as the German professor Achim Menges are showing the way to the creation of complex, almost living wood structures. Others like the young architects from WMR who are based in Santiago, Chile, show just how it is possible to build a dramatic two-story wood cabin overlooking the Pacific for just $750. Or imagine how an innovative polyurethane-coated wood canopy can cover and renew a whole area of the historic city of Seville (Metropol Parasol by Jürgen Mayer H.). Just as it can be simple and evocative, wood can be part of sophisticated structures like Snohetta's Norwegian Wild Reindeer Pavilion, with its CNC-milled timber wall. Economical, ecological, and fundamentally warm, wood architecture is as contemporary as it gets.
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WASHINGTON, DC, January 9, 2013 (ENS) – Environmental factors contribute to higher rates of disease and injury among Americans compared to people in other high-income countries, , finds a new report from the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine.
The report shows that this health disadvantage exists at all ages from birth to age 75 but is more pronounced among people younger than 50.
The U.S. has relatively high rates of poverty and income inequality and is lagging behind other countries in the education of young people, but the report shows that even advantaged Americans with health insurance, college educations, higher incomes, and healthy behaviors – appear to be sicker than their peers in other rich nations.
“We were struck by the gravity of these findings,” said Steven Woolf, professor of family medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond and chair of the panel that wrote the report.
“Americans are dying and suffering at rates that we know are unnecessary because people in other high-income countries are living longer lives and enjoying better health,” said Dr. Woolf. “What concerns our panel is why, for decades, we have been slipping behind.”
The report is the first comprehensive look at multiple diseases, injuries, and behaviors across the entire life span, comparing the United States with 16 peer nations, all affluent democracies: Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.
Among these countries, the United States is at or near the bottom in nine key areas of health: infant mortality and low birth weight; injuries and homicides; teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections; prevalence of HIV and AIDS; drug-related deaths; obesity and diabetes; heart disease; chronic lung disease; and disability.
This health disadvantage exists even though the U.S. spends more per capita on health care than any other nation. Although documented flaws in the health care system may contribute to poorer health, the panel concluded that many factors are responsible for the nation’s health disadvantage.
Many conditions that might explain the U.S. health disadvantage – from individual behaviors to systems of care – are also influenced by the physical and social environment in U.S. communities, the report finds.
The panel “conceptualizes the environment more broadly to encompass a range of human-made physical and social features that are affected by public policy,” in contrast with traditional environmental health approaches that focus on toxic substances in air, water, and soil.
“These economic, social, urban or rural, transportation, and other policies that affect the environment were not traditionally thought of as relevant to health policy but are now attracting greater attention because decision makers are beginning to recognize their health implications,” explains the panel in its report.
“For example, built environments that are designed for automobiles rather than pedestrians discourage physical activity. Patterns of food consumption are also shaped by environmental factors, such as actions by the agricultural and food industries, grocery store and restaurant offerings, and marketing.”
“Asthma rates may be higher because of unhealthy housing and polluted air,” the report states. But it also says, “The effects of particulate matter on mortality appear to be consistent across countries.”
Ana Diez Roux, professor and chair of epidemiology, and director of the Center for Social Epidemiology and Population Health at the University of Michigan, wrote the report’s chapter on environmental factors.
She told reporters on a conference call today that the committee did not do a comprehensive review of air and water quality, but said, “There is no strong evidence air quality is worse in the United States than in the other rich countries we compared it with.”
Nor, said Dr. Roux, is there “strong evidence” that water pollution contributes to discrepancies between the United States and the other rich countries.
Youth is a factor, the report found to the surprise of many panelists. More children and adolescents than other age groups are affected by many of these health conditions, the report says. For decades, the U.S. has had the highest infant mortality rate of any high-income country, and it also ranks poorly on premature birth and the proportion of children who live to age 5.
U.S. adolescents have higher rates of death from traffic accidents and homicide, the highest rates of teenage pregnancy, and are more likely to acquire sexually transmitted infections.
Nearly two-thirds of the difference in life expectancy between males in the U.S. and these other countries can be attributed to deaths before age 50.
These findings build on a 2011 Research Council report that documented a growing mortality gap among Americans over age 50. “It’s a tragedy. Our report found that an equally large, if not larger, disadvantage exists among younger Americans,” Woolf said. “I don’t think most parents know that, on average, infants, children, and adolescents in the U.S. die younger and have greater rates of illness and injury than youth in other countries.”
The panel did find that the U.S. outperforms its peers in some areas of health and health-related behavior. People in the U.S. over age 75 live longer, and Americans have lower death rates from stroke and cancer, better control of blood pressure and cholesterol levels, and lower rates of smoking.
The panel was given 18 months for the task, enough time to “pull back the curtain” but not to conduct a systematic review of every contributory factor and every relevant study or database. This report serves only to open the inquiry, the panel said.
Don’t wait for more research – act now, the report urges. Dr. Woolf recommends a comprehensive outreach campaign to alert the American public to the U.S. health disadvantage and to stimulate a national discussion about what it means and how to lessen the risks.
“The strength of our findings – which was a surprise to us – led us to consider what public-and private-sector leaders can do to begin to catch up with the health advances that other countries are achieving,” the panel says.
In parallel, it recommends data collection and research to better understand the factors responsible for the U.S. disadvantage and potential solutions, including lessons that can be learned from other countries.
“Research is important,” Dr. Woolf said, “but we should not wait for more data before taking action, because we already know what to do. If we fail to act, the disadvantage will continue to worsen and our children will face shorter lives and greater rates of illness than their peers in other rich nations.”
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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http://ens-newswire.com/2013/01/09/americans-sicker-die-sooner-than-peers-in-rich-nations/
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Network address should be the IP you want the computer to use. On a private network, its usually somewhere in 192.168.0.# . You can change the 0 to a different number if you want your network to be different.
The Gateway address is the IP of the computer you want yours to go through to get to the internet. It's uaually 192.168.0.1, but doesn't have to be. It might also be one of the DNS servers.
Netmask is usually 255.255.255.0. Broadcast is usually 192.168.0.255.
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-networking-3/what-is-gateway-address-and-what-is-network-address-159183/
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The Airedale Terrier is a terrier dog breed originating from Airedale in Yorkshire, England. It traditionally was called the “King of Terriers” because they are the largest of the terrier breeds, 50 to over 100 pounds.
The Airedale terrier was bred originally to hunt otters in and around the valleys of the River Aire from whence it gets its name. In England this breed was used as a police dog to help find criminals. As pets Airedales can be very entertaining. They are fun-loving animals. Socializing (contact with other dogs) during the first months of age is specially important in this breed.
Yes, Airedale Oorangs love to play and go on walks. The Oorang Airedales are also called Mountain Airedales because of their larger size.
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http://www.airedale-terriers-oorang.com/airedale-terriers/mountain-airedales.html
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Method for Cleanly and Precisely Breaking Off a Rock Core Using a Radial Compressive Force
- Created: Wednesday, 01 June 2011
This technique can be used by civil engineers in rock, ground, and concrete coring and sampling.
The Mars Sample Return mission has the goal to drill, break off, and retain rock core samples. After some results gained from rock core mechanics testing, the realization that scoring teeth would cleanly break off the core after only a few millimeters of penetration, and noting that rocks are weak in tension, the idea was developed to use symmetric wedging teeth in compression to weaken and then break the core at the contact plane. This concept was developed as a response to the break-off and retention requirements.
The wedges wrap around the estimated average diameter of the core to get as many contact locations as possible, and are then pushed inward, radially, through the core towards one another. This starts a crack and begins to apply opposing forces inside the core to propagate the crack across the plane of contact.
The advantage is in the simplicity. Only two teeth are needed to break five varieties of Mars-like rock cores with limited penetration and reasonable forces. Its major advantage is that it does not require any length of rock to be attached to the parent in order to break the core at the desired location. Test data shows that some rocks break off on their own into segments or break off into discs. This idea would grab and retain a disc, push some discs upward and others out, or grab a segment, break it at the contact plane, and retain the portion inside of the device. It also does this with few moving parts in a simple, space-efficient design.
This discovery could be implemented into a coring drill bit to precisely break off and retain any size rock core.
This work was done by Megan Richardson and Justin Lin of Caltech for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. NPO-47444
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The Greater Hudson Heritage Network (GHNN) held its annual conference on September 28 at the Henry A. Wallace Visitor Center, Hyde Park. The theme of the conference was “Mining the Museum: Using Your Existing Resources in New Ways” with Executive Director Priscilla Brendler presiding. The meeting was so-well attended I didn’t even have a chance to speak with the all the people I would like to have talked to. The format has been expanded beyond being primarily an awards ceremony to be more like the Museumwise conference with a plenary speaker followed by concurrent sessions but for one day instead of two. Read more
Matilda Joslyn Gage (1824-1898) was involved in the Abolitionist Movement and the Underground Railroad. Along with Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Gage was a major figure in the Women’s Rights Movement. With them, she co-authored The History of Woman Suffrage.
She was a supporter of Native American sovereignty and a proponent of the total separation of Church and State, she was the author of Woman, Church and State.
Because of her strong, liberal position on religious freedom, she was written out of history books until recently.
Gage’s ideas are as relevant today as they were in the 19th century and this is a great way to bring Central New York history into your classroom and promote discussion of the past and contemporary issues.
Materials for lessons, activities, and curriculum packets available.
For more information, call 637-9511.
Participants will explore the rooms in the home of 19th century activist Matilda Joslyn Gage through fun, thought-provoking and empowering activities including:
Haudenosaunee Room – Outdoors for nature exploration and to learn about the culture of Central New York’s Native Americans and how they inspired Joslyn Gage in her work for social justice.
Women’s Rights Room – Create a special exhibit with a Seneca Falls doll house crafter and portrait artist and meet a local pioneer of science.
Oz Parlor & Local History Hall: Learn about the powerful girls of Oz, see what it was like to wear corsets and petticoats and take a look at today’s clothing styles.
Religious Freedom Room – Discover the rich diversity of people and religion in Central New York- learn about labyrinths- try meditation.
Underground Railroad Room – Uncover the secrets of the Underground Railroad- examine today’s bullying problem- try your hand at acting- join a drumming circle
Each day wraps-up with a Victorian tea party. Register by Saturday, July 30 ~ Space is limited. Call (315) 243-7667 or email email@example.com. The cost is $135.00 members, $150.00 non-members ~ Some scholarships are available. A $50.00 deposit is required to reserve a space, the balance due by Friday, August 5.
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Eric Morris discusses stereotypes about Los Angeles transportation in this six-part series.
Los Angeles Transportation Facts and Fiction: Freeways
We’ve been running a quiz about stereotypical views of transportation and urbanization in Los Angeles. Consider a headline that ran in The New York Times in 2006: “In Land of Freeways, Mass Transit Makes Nary a Dent.” I’ll soon address the issue of Los Angeles transit. In the meantime, did you, like The Times‘s headline writer, guess that Los Angeles is dominated by an overbuilt freeway system?
Answer: a half-truth.
In a couple of respects, it is entirely justified to identify Los Angeles with the freeway; the city was a pioneer in freeway development. The Arroyo Seco Parkway (today’s Pasadena Freeway), which opened in 1940, is considered by many to be the first true urban freeway. (Sadly, the builders didn’t quite get it right. A jaunt down the road will remind you of a trip to Space Mountain; it twists like a snake, lacks acceleration and deceleration lanes, has inadequate shoulders, and features hair-raising exit ramps with tight turns and 5 m.p.h. speed limits.)
It is also correct that Los Angeles boasts an extensive freeway system. Counting Interstates and other expressways, the area ranks second in the nation in lane mileage, after New York.
But taking into account the area’s vast size, the network is one of the most underdeveloped in the U.S. According to the Federal Highway Administration, of the 36 largest metro areas, Los Angeles ranks dead last in terms of freeway lane miles per resident. (Chicago is second to last, and New York is near the bottom as well. The most freeway-heavy big city by this measure is Kansas City.)
With rock-bottom road space per person, it’s difficult to claim that the system is overbuilt (at least by U.S. standards), or that it dominates the region’s transportation profile. It is, of course, possible that despite the paucity of freeway mileage, Angelenos are disproportionately heavy highway users, perhaps due to the region’s geography or culture. I have some data on this, but to avoid spoiling the competition it will have to wait for a future post.
How did Los Angeles end up with such a skimpy system? Only about three-fifths of the lane mileage envisioned in Los Angeles’s 1959 master plan was ever completed.
Interestingly, the original plans included a freeway smack dab through Beverly Hills. Anybody want to hazard a guess as to why this project was canceled while plenty of freeways through poorer neighborhoods were not? I’ll give you a hint: it’s not because the department of transportation just forgot to get around to it.
- Thanks to the great distances between far-flung destinations, and perhaps Angelenos’ famed “love affair” with the car, Angelenos drive considerably more miles than most Americans.
- Angelenos spend more time stuck in traffic than any other drivers in the nation.
- Los Angeles’s mass transit system is underdeveloped and inadequate.
Tune in next time.
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The Conception of Wild Ideas: Scientists Confront Conservation Challenges of Our Times
Date: February 13, 2013
This essay by Travis Belote, Greg Aplet, and Pete McKinley ran abridged in the print version of The Appalachian Voice.
1934 was a big year for conservation in the southern Appalachians. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park was established in June, and in October, on a roadside somewhere outside of Knoxville, The Wilderness Society was born.
The story of The Wilderness Society’s conception has been told different ways, but all versions involve a heated roadside discussion centered on the novel idea of protecting wild places from the growing threat of “recreational motoring” and its associated roads.
In Bernard and Miriam Frank’s car on that October Friday were Benton MacKaye (father of the Appalachian Trail), Harvey Broome (notable Tennessee author and conservationist), and Bob Marshall (namesake for a million acre wilderness area in Montana). This group of five was simmering on a provocative, and at that time new, idea: that some places should be left to their own devices where people could experience nature on its own terms. Setting aside large tracts of land as untrammeled wilderness provided the best way to protect nature’s wildness.
That historic day marked the beginning of The Wilderness Society, the organization most closely associated with the Wilderness Act, establishing a National Wilderness Preservation System that now contains over 100 million acres. These wilderness areas provide the core of a network of wildlands aimed at protecting nature and passing it on to future generations. As conservation science has developed, wilderness designation has repeatedly been shown to effectively protect wildlife and their habitats, clean water, and refuges from many pernicious threats.
Recently, however, a host of threats including climate change, pervasive invasive species, and atmospheric pollution have been shown to transcend wilderness boundaries and now threaten the species and processes we value from nature. Some have even begun to question the appropriateness of wilderness in such a profoundly altered world.
Last fall, 77 years after The Wilderness Society was conceived, TWS research ecologists met in the Smokies to take on a new provocative idea: how do we ensure that future generations will have opportunities to experience nature under increasing pressures from climate change and other threats unknown to our founders?
We came from all over the country (from Alaska to Maine) and convened in Tennessee, not because our organization was conceived there, but because the region hosts special landscapes that exemplify the conservation challenges of our time. Southern Appalachian wildlands support a rich array of biological diversity jeopardized by existing and future threats, where boundaries of a national park or wilderness area may not be enough to protect the wildness within. At the core of our work are the values of our founders, but we have come to understand that sustaining those values will require new thinking.
The challenge before us now is that wilderness conservation inherently values nature operating without human control – “untrammeled by man” in the words of the Wilderness Act – but increasingly, many of the things that we value in wilderness are under threat from external forces that bring human impacts well inside the boundary lines of wilderness and other protective reserves drawn on maps.
What do we do if protecting nature – or at least nature’s parts – requires intervening to fend off the effects of climate change, invasive species, and pollution? Do we value “untrammeled” nature more than we value the diversity of native species and the processes they maintain? Will human-caused climate change impacts be more destructive than management interventions undertaken to assist the maintenance of nature’s parts and processes? Do we have to let go of the ideal of wilderness and pursue the control of nature everywhere? Do we have to make a choice?
The Wilderness Society’s ecologists went to the Smokies to explore these questions and seek understanding of the role of wilderness in the 21st century. There, pervasive stressors and their impacts are well-known and include loss of American chestnut as a foundational species from the invasion of a nonnative blight. Other examples of invasive species in the Smokies abound: European wild hogs impact soils and streams; numerous exotic plants compete with natives and alter ecological characteristics; and eastern hemlocks are being lost to the hemlock woolly adelgid (a small sap sucking aphid).
In the high elevation forests of the southern Appalachians, red spruce and Fraser fir face pervasive stressors that have been taking their toll the past couple of decades. Invasive balsam woolly adelgids have killed many of the large Fraser firs. Acid deposition has altered the soil chemistry, creating a toxic environment for red spruce. And, given that species in this forest type can’t move upslope (they already occur at the crest of the Smokies), climate change may increasingly contribute to the cumulative stress on this system. Ultimately, climate change may be the last straw leading to local loss of these species.
Intervening in nature to remove existing stress to these forests may be the best defense to prepare the species for future changes in climate. In such a case, an argument can be made that ‘trammeling’ in the form of restoration is needed to head off greater and longer term threats to wilderness coming from the pervasive, and mostly unknown, impacts of human-caused climate change. The National Park Service already actively controls invasive plant and animal species in GSMNP. Most agree that that investment in this kind of punctuated, defensive action is warranted to sustain the park’s native ecosystems.
But, what about situations where continuous pressure like climate change threatens the ecological integrity of wilderness? If we allow nature to respond to changes in climate without intervening, we would maintain the untrammeled nature of wilderness and its role as a barometer against which to judge management elsewhere, but a hand’s off approach may in some cases jeopardize the very species and populations we hope to preserve. How resilient will nature be in the face of climate change? The answer is uncertain, but in cases where the threat of climate change-induced extinction seems likely, how should we respond?
By our analysis, no single approach is capable of addressing all concerns. Instead, a diversity of approaches is necessary. While in the Smokies, TWS ecologists concluded that the soundest course to the future will require a “portfolio approach” in which some parts of the landscape are devoted to forestalling change through the process of ecological restoration, some parts are devoted to innovative management that anticipates climate change and prepares for it, and other parts are left to change on their own time – on wilderness time – to serve as scientific “controls” and continue to provide the benefits of wilderness.
An important aspect that should guide how we respond to environmental change emerged from our discussions on the trails and around campfires in East Tennessee last fall. Bad decisions of the past, conducted with good intentions, have led to some natural resource disasters (think planting kudzu to control soil erosion). Whatever we do and however we respond, a Hippocratic Oath to land management and conservation should be considered: first, do no harm.
Despite 77 years of separation in time, the ecologists at The Wilderness Society went to the Smokies to discuss provocative and new ideas of our generation. The storied history of our organization’s conception during a heated debate of once and still profound ideas gave rise to our own impassioned conversations.
At their core, our values and those of the founders remain the same: we hope to convey into the future that which we inherited from the past. New approaches are needed and The Wilderness Society scientists are on the front lines of applying the latest science to these challenges. Future generations will live in a different world, just as we live in a different world from 1934.
However, preserving wildlands and the biodiversity therein, offers a chance that our grandchildren may live in a rich, productive, interesting, and beautiful world. Our thinking and approaches to conservation will evolve, but our commitment to preserving wildlands has changed little since that October day in 1934.
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Dear EarthTalk: I keep meeting people who say that human-induced global warming is only theory, that just as many scientists doubt it as believe it. Can you settle the score?
-- J. Proctor, London, UK
So-called “global warming skeptics” are indeed getting more vocal than ever, and banding together to show their solidarity against the scientific consensus that has concluded that global warming is caused by emissions from human activities.
Upwards of 800 skeptics (most of whom are not scientists) took part in the second annual International Conference on Climate Change—sponsored by the Heartland Institute, a conservative think tank—in March 2009. Keynote speaker and Massachusetts Institute of Technology meteorologist Richard Lindzen told the gathering that “there is no substantive basis for predictions of sizeable global warming due to observed increases in minor greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and chlorofluorocarbons.”
Most skeptics attribute global warming—few if any doubt any longer that the warming itself is occurring, given the worldwide rise in surface temperature—to natural cycles, not emissions from power plants, automobiles and other human activity. “The observational evidence…suggests that any warming from the growth of greenhouse gases is likely to be minor, difficult to detect above the natural fluctuations of the climate, and therefore inconsequential,” says atmospheric physicist Fred Singer, an outspoken global warming skeptic and founder of the advocacy-oriented Science and Environmental Policy Project.
But green leaders maintain that even if some warming is consistent with millennial cycles, something is triggering the current change. According to the nonprofit Environmental Defense, some possible (natural) explanations include increased output from the sun, increased absorption of the sun’s heat due to a change in the Earth’s reflectivity, or a change in the internal climate system that transfers heat to the atmosphere.
But scientists have not been able to validate any such reasons for the current warming trend, despite exhaustive efforts. And a raft of recent peer reviewed studies—many which take advantage of new satellite data—back up the claim that it is emissions from tailpipes, smokestacks (and now factory farmed food animals, which release methane) that are causing potentially irreparable damage to the environment.
To wit, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences declared in 2005 that “greenhouse gases are accumulating in Earth’s atmosphere as a result of human activities, causing surface air temperatures and subsurface ocean temperatures to rise,” adding that “the scientific understanding of climate change is now sufficiently clear to justify nations taking prompt action.” Other leading U.S. scientific bodies, including the American Meteorological Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Geophysical Union have issued concurring statements—placing the blame squarely on humans’ shoulders.
Also, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a group of 600 leading climate scientists from 40 nations, says it is “very likely” (more than a 90 percent chance) that humans are causing a global temperature change that will reach between 3.2 and 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of this century.
EarthTalk is produced by E/The Environmental Magazine. SEND YOUR ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTIONS TO: EarthTalk, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; email@example.com. Read past columns at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/archives.php. EarthTalk is now a book! Details and order information at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalkbook.
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Positron Emission Tomography (PET)
Positron emission tomography (PET) is a test that uses a special type of camera and a tracer (radioactive chemical) to look at organs in the body. The tracer usually is a special form of a substance (such as glucose) that collects in cells that are using a lot of energy, such as cancer cells.
During the test, the tracer liquid is put into a vein (intravenous, or IV) in your arm. The tracer moves through your body, where much of it collects in the specific organ or tissue. The tracer gives off tiny positively charged particles (positrons). The camera records the positrons and turns the recording into pictures on a computer.
PET scan pictures do not show as much detail as computed tomography (CT) scans or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) because the pictures show only the location of the tracer. The PET picture may be matched with those from a CT scan to get more detailed information about where the tracer is located.
A PET scan is often used to evaluate cancer, check blood flow, or see how organs are working.
Why It Is Done
A positron emission tomography (PET) scan is done to:
- Study the brain's blood flow and metabolic activity. A PET scan can help a doctor find nervous system problems, such as Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, transient ischemic attack (TIA), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Huntington's disease, stroke, and schizophrenia.
- Find changes in the brain that may cause epilepsy.
- Evaluate some cancers, especially lymphoma or cancers of the head and neck, brain, lung, colon, or prostate. In its early stages, cancer may show up more clearly on a PET scan than on a CT scan or an MRI.
- See how advanced a cancer is and whether it has spread to another area of the body (metastasized). It is often necessary to do both CT and PET scans to evaluate cancer.
- Help a doctor choose the best treatment for cancer or to see how well treatment is working. PET scans may also be done to see whether surgery can be done to remove a tumor.
- Help diagnose Alzheimer's disease when the symptoms are not clear or when a person has dementia symptoms at a young age (usually younger than 65).1 This is called amyloid imaging.
- Find poor blood flow to the heart, which may mean coronary artery disease.
- Find damaged heart tissue, especially after a heart attack.
- Help choose the best treatment, such as coronary artery bypass graft surgery, for a person with heart disease.
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Black Abolitionist Archive
Subtitle: Have We A War Policy?
Speaker or author: editor
Newspaper or publication: Weekly Anglo-African (1859 - 1862)
The writer urges his readers to develop a strategy for dealing with the coming war as it unfolds around them. He urges the free African Americans to stand as representatives for the "voiceless" who remain in bondage in the middle of this struggle. He urges them to organize and rally together for the benefit of the slave and the entire race.
Description of file(s): two scanned newspaper pages (three columns)
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Comprehensive DescriptionRead full entry
BiologyAdults inhabit coastal waters, estuaries and lagoons, penetrating into freshwater; usually at depths less than 20 m (Ref. 3713). Feed on fishes (Gobiidae, Gerreidae, Engraulidae) and crustaceans (shrimps and crabs) (Ref. 35237). Mature individuals congregate at mouths of passes and rivers during the spawning season, May through September (Ref. 3713). Seasonal movements into freshwater occur but poorly understood (Ref. 3713). Marketed fresh (Ref. 5712). Valued game fish and an excellent food fish (Ref. 26938). The world record for hook and line is a 53-lb., 10 ounce fish caught at Parismina Ranch, Costa Rica (Ref. 13442).
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Two-hundred and sixty years ago, on January 4, 1754, Columbia University was founded in New York City by royal charter of King George II of England as King's College. It is the oldest institution of higher learning in New York State and the fifth oldest in the United States.
The leaders of colonial society could receive an education at the college designed to “enlarge the Mind, improve the Understanding, polish the whole Man, and qualify them to support the brightest Characters in all the elevated stations in life."
The first class, with eight students, was held in July 1754 in a new schoolhouse adjoining Trinity Church on what is now lower Broadway in Manhattan. And the first American medical school to grant the MD degree was founded in 1767.
Among the earliest students were John Jay, first chief justice of the US ; Alexander Hamilton, first secretary of the Treasury; Gouverneur Morris, author of the final draft of the Constitution; and Robert R. Livingston, a member of the committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence.
The American Revolution halted the growth of the college, forcing a suspension of classes in 1776. It reopened in 1784 as Columbia—a name that embodied the patriotic fervor that had inspired America’s quest for independence.
Columbia also reflected the legacy of the revolution in the greater economic, religious and geographic diversity of its students. In 1857, the campus was moved from Park Place to 49th Street and Madison Avenue, where it remained for 40 years. The Columbia School of Law was founded in 1858.
The country's first mining school was established in 1864. The first Columbia PhD was awarded in 1875, and Barnard College for women became affiliated with Columbia in 1889. The medical school came under the aegis of the university in 1891, followed by Teachers College in 1893.
The development of other faculties made Columbia one of the earliest centers for graduate education in America. In 1896, the trustees authorized the use of another name, Columbia University. Today, it is officially known as Columbia University in the City of New York.
The university moved in 1897 to the Morningside Heights campus, designed as an academic village by McKim, Mead, and White, the renowned urban architectural firm.
The School of Journalism was established at the bequest of Joseph Pulitzer in 1912, while the study of the sciences flourished along with the liberal arts, as Franz Boas founded the modern science of anthropology at the university in the early 20th century.
In the 1960s, Columbia experienced the most significant crisis in its history. Currents of unrest sweeping the country—among them opposition to the Vietnam War—converged with great force, casting the campus into the national spotlight.
More than 1,000 protesting students occupied five buildings in the last week of April 1968, effectively shutting down the entire school until they were forcibly removed by the New York City police.
Those events led to the cancellation of a gym in Morningside Park, the end of defense-related research projects, the retirement of the president, a downturn in finances, and the creation of the University Senate, in which faculty, students, and alumni acquired a larger voice in university affairs.
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Science Translational Medicine: Making Mice with Autistic Behavior
Researchers have created mice with some vocal communication and social behavior problems that parallel those seen in autistic patients. The findings pave the way toward understanding exactly how genes cause some of the symptoms of autism, and appear in the 5 October issue of Science Translational Medicine.
“The study shows that something considered uniquely human—speech and communication characteristically defective in autism—can be measured in juvenile and adult mice and impaired by autism-related genes,” said Matthew P. Anderson, lead author of the study and professor of pathology and neurology at Harvard Medical School.
A reliable mouse model is also necessary for future testing of drugs that might treat autism in children and adults. Currently, it’s nearly impossible for autism researchers to confirm whether or not a particular gene is causative. Each patient potentially has hundreds of damaging mutations and finding enough people with the same mutation to make a strong statistical link is always an obstacle.
Matthew Anderson of Harvard Medical School discusses the research on the autism-mimicking mouse.
[Video courtesy of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center; © Science/AAAS]
To get around these issues, scientists rely on the mouse model. But creating mice with the specific behavioral problems seen in autistic patients has been equally challenging.
In their experiment, Anderson and colleagues honed in on a gene called Ube3a. This gene is located on a particular region of the human chromosome called 15q11-13 that previous studies have linked to autism.
Ube3a itself has also been implicated in Angelman Syndrome, a developmental disorder that shares some symptoms with autism. Doubling and tripling the doses of the Ube3a gene in mice causes three core autism-related behaviors in the animals compared with normal mice: Reduced social interaction, impaired communication, and excessive repetitive behavior.
The researchers think that certain defects in how neurons communicate are responsible for the animals’ behavioral changes. Notably, the team did not notice any obvious changes in brain structure in the mice.
“This is a step forward in confirming that a common genetic change found in human autism actually causes the behavioral problems and helps focus our investigations into a specific biological pathway,” Anderson said.
There are scores of identified and yet-to-be identified autism-associated genes that individually or together cause autism. Mimicking of some of these symptoms in mice by boosting the gene dosage of Ube3a reveals a key piece of the puzzle, but there are many pieces left to find and fit together.
Read the abstract, “Increased Gene Dosage of Ube3a Results in Autism Traits and Decreased Glutamate Synaptic Transmission in Mice,” by Matthew P. Anderson and colleagues.
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An example of deprive is for an animal to not provide its young with proper nutrients.
- to take something away from forcibly; dispossess: to deprive someone of his property
- to keep from having, using, or enjoying: to be deprived of one's rights
- to remove from office, esp. ecclesiastical office
Origin of depriveMiddle English depriven ; from Ecclesiastical Medieval Latin deprivare ; from Classical Latin de-, intensive + privare, to deprive, separate: see private
transitive verbde·prived, de·priv·ing, de·prives
- To take something away from: The court ruling deprived us of any share in the inheritance.
- To keep from possessing or enjoying; deny: They were deprived of a normal childhood by the war.
- To remove from office.
Origin of depriveMiddle English depriven, from Old French depriver, from Medieval Latin d&emacron;pr&imacron;vare : Latin d&emacron;-, de- + Latin pr&imacron;vare, to rob (from pr&imacron;vus, alone, without; see per1 in Indo-European roots).
(third-person singular simple present deprives, present participle depriving, simple past and past participle deprived)
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Josh Wolfe, Contributor
I write as VC on emerging technology, science & finance.
Hod Lipson is director of Cornell University’s Computational Synthesis Lab (CCSL) at the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Ithaca, N.Y. He focuses on novel ways for automatic design, fabrication and adaptation of virtual and physical machines. He has led work in areas such as evolutionary robotics, multi-material functional rapid prototyping, machine self-replication and programmable self-assembly. Lipson received his Ph.D. from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in 1999, and continued to a postdoc at Brandeis University and MIT. His research focuses primarily on biologically-inspired approaches, as they bring new ideas to engineering and new engineering insights to biology.
Why don’t we start with a quick overview of your research?
I am interested in robotics, specifically the questions of how we can make machines more adaptive to the environment, to other machines and to changes in themselves such as failures. Robotic systems today are superhuman in their accuracy, in their speed, in their ability to work 24/7 in hazardous environments and so forth. But, their inability to adapt to new situations is really their weak point. In contrast, biology is very good at adaptation.
So you think Darwin’s mantra, survival of the most adaptable, applies to robots?
As environments and tasks become increasingly complex, it eventually boils down to adaptation, which is a key to sustained operation and to long-term viability. Traditionally in engineering, people focused on optimizing system performance and so-forth, but increasingly we need to shift the focus to the resilience of systems in the face of changing environments.
You recently published an exciting paper in Science summarizing some of your latest research. Could you give a quick overview of your results?
What we have done recently is created what we call a “robotic scientist.” It’s essentially an algorithm hooked up to an experimental system that performs experiments, collects data, and tries to distill the physics principles or physical laws that underlie the observed behavior. It doesn’t just collect data, calculate correlations or make predictions–it actually tries to see if there is some simple underlying law that explains the apparently complex behavior. It doesn’t quite replace scientists, but it’s certainly a tool that I think will be necessary in order to make progress working on increasingly complex questions with large amounts of data, where laborious hand modeling falls short.
In a very primitive way, are you making robots self-aware and aware of their environments?
Well, the term “self-aware” is very touchy and controversial, but that’s the direction we are heading. I think the ability of a machine to create a simulator of itself and its environment, and then use that simulator to plan and make predictions, is the beginning of what may be deemed self reflection, and I think it will be important in any kind of adaptive system. From a psychological point of view, you can argue that consciousness has to do with the ability to self-reflect and self-model. Of course, there is a huge gap between what we can do with machines and what primates and humans can do, but I think it’s on the same path.
In taking inspiration from nature and Darwinian evolution and applying those lessons to robotics, what has really surprised you?
I’m always fascinated by the kind of solutions that you get when you allow something as open-ended as evolution to tackle a problem. What we have been doing extensively in robotics and other areas of engineering is using algorithms inspired from biological evolution to try to solve a challenging design synthesis problem. In other words, we have set of building block and we put them in a “primordial soup,” so-to-speak. We then allow evolutionary processes of recombination and mutation to connect these pieces together, subject to some selection criteria, and let this evolutionary process brew for hundreds and thousands of generations until we get solutions that match our criteria of selection. We have been applying this to anything from designing robot bodies and brains to designing analog circuits and mechanical devices, and what’s been really interesting to see are the kinds of results that come out of this process.
Can you give an example of a creative robotic invention?
In one case, we let it try to design a photonic structure, a structure that manipulates light at the submicron scale. The system came up with a new kind of design that we hadn’t thought of before and that resulted in a publication in its own right. In another example, we let it design mechanisms to solve a particularly notorious challenge in mechanical design (making a machine that can create a perfect straight line–an engineering puzzle that took humans over a century to solve). Within about a day of computation, it came up with a number of different designs, some of them infringing on patents in this area.
We let it design some analog circuits, which usually take quite a bit of knowledge to design, and this algorithm, without any prior knowledge whatsoever about analog design, was able to create some really interesting designs, some again infringing on patents. What’s most interesting is that when we added the requirement that not only must the design work, but it needs to be robust so that if you eliminate any of the elements it still works, and it was able to do that as well.
Most recently, in this robotic scientist challenge, we let this evolutionary process try to create models that explained the behavior of a double pendulum, which is a very complex and chaotic dynamical system. And just by looking at the behavior of this pendulum through a camera, it was able to generate Hamiltonians and Lagrangians (mathematical equations) that exactly explicate its behavior, something that would probably take someone with a major in physics to write down.
What have you learned about people and our own evolution in the process of working in robotics?
When you study robotics, it forces you to rethink, in a very quantitative way, the attributes we hold close and consider unique in our definition of what it means to be human. For example, what is creativity? If machines can create new things and ideas that infringe on patents, which humans have traditionally defined as being creative, what does that mean about creativity? When we have computers that can generate experiments and ask questions, what does that mean about curiosity? Traditionally, we use terms like creativity and self-reflection in a very loose way to cloak something we don’t understand very well, but when you actually work with robots trying to emulate these very characteristics, it forces you to think about them in a very precise and quantitative way. Ultimately, I think it leads to deeper questions and better understanding of these concepts.
What innovations in robotics will change our lives 100 years from now?
We are heading toward increased automation, not just in terms of machines and robots performing automated tasks and chores, but automation in the design of those machines. That is, can we make machines that can make other machines? I definitely see an acceleration of these kinds of technologies showing up. It’s a bit of a subtle point, but design automation gives you huge leverage to design other things faster. In parallel with that, I also foresee more automated manufacturing and personal fabrication taking over. I think personal fabrication is today, where personal computation was in the 1970s, and pretty soon we will see machines such as 3-D printers being used to fabricate things of increasing complexity at home and on-demand, replacing many traditional manufacturing technologies. And so this combination of robotic design and robotic manufacture is going to be one of the profound changes that we will see in the next couple of decades.
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In an unfavourable position relative to someone or something else: stringent regulations have put British farmers at a disadvantage
More example sentences
- They can force an advancing enemy to take an approach or position in which they are at a disadvantage.
- So in that sense they were at a disadvantage relative to the newcomers who were coming in.
- He cleverly chose a defensive position, putting the French force at a disadvantage.
Definition of at a disadvantage in:
What do you find interesting about this word or phrase?
Comments that don't adhere to our Community Guidelines may be moderated or removed.
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Wildlife scientists have re-opened the cryptic case of a carnivore that resembled a striped coyote and vanished from its Australian haunt nearly 80 years ago.
While the scientists think chances are slim that the so-called Tasmanian tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus) still roams the island off the coast of Australia, they can’t help but turn over every possible leaf to look for evidence of the elusive animal.
The last wild Tasmanian tiger was killed between 1910 and 1920, and the last captive one died in 1936 at the Hobart Zoo in Tasmania, Australia. In 1986, the creature was declared extinct. The extinction marked the demise of the only member of its family, Thylacinidae, and the world’s largest marsupial (pouched) carnivore. It weighed about 65 pounds and had a nose-to-tail length of six feet.
However, rumored sightings of the creature continue to emerge from the island's ancient forests.
Now zoologist Jeremy Austin of the Australian Center for Ancient DNA and his colleagues are examining DNA from animal droppings found in Tasmania in the late 1950s and 1960s, which have been preserved in the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.
Eric Guiler, a thylacine expert who found the scats, said he thought the droppings probably came from the Tasmanian tiger rather than a dog, Tasmanian devil or a quoll, according to Austin.
“If we find thylacine DNA from the 1950s scats it will be significant,” Austin said. “This would prove that either the thylacine produced the scat or a [Tasmanian] devil ate a thylacine and dropped the scat. Either way that is proof that the thylacine was there at the time.”
If they were to find evidence the Tasmanian tiger was alive between its last sightings in the wild (between 1910 and 1920), that would mean the beast was hidden from humans for 40 to 50 years.
“If they could survive this long with no real physical proof, then it does add a little more hope to the possibility that they could survive another 50 years without ever being caught, killed [or] hit by a car,” Austin told LiveScience. “This chance is of course not great, but the glimmer of hope is ever so slightly brighter.”
- Top 10 Creatures of Cryptozoology
- Images: The World's Biggest Beasts
- Pleistocene Park Could Solve Mystery of Mammoth's Extinction
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Since its first identification in Asia, highly pathogenic avian influenza - H5N1 - has caused significant alarm in the scientific community. While the virus' primary target is birds - tens of millions have already died from it - it is capable of infecting mammals, including humans, causing serious illness and a frightening rate of mortality.
In a new study, Matthew Scotch, a researcher at Arizona State University's Biodesign Institute, tracks the spread of an H5N1 variant in Egypt - a country recently identified as a major epicenter for the virus. In results recently appearing in the journal BMC Genomics, Scotch tracks the spread of H5N1 cases using a technique known as phylogeography.
The authors hope that studies of this kind will significantly enhance efforts by public health officials to identify viral outbreaks, limit their spread, coordinate vaccination efforts, reduce mortality and better inform the public of risks.
"Egypt represents an epicenter for H5N1 and there are new variants that have emerged since it was first discovered there in 2006, "Scotch says. "We used phylogeography and influenza genome sequences to model diffusion and evolution of the virus."
Phylogeography was born out of the fields of biogeography and phylogenetics or molecular evolution. By combining viral sequence data and geographical information over time, as well as evaluating features associated with viral carriers, researchers can better understand how viruses spread across a landscape through animal and human populations.
Phylogeography has already been established as a powerful technique for investigating viral dispersal for human diseases, including dengue fever, rabies, influenza and HIV. Recent application of phylogeographic methods to the study of avian influenza promises to significantly improve fine-grained mapping of viral origin and spread.
Avian flu H5N1 is a form of influenza A - an RNA virus - first identified in Hong Kong in 1997. The initial cases of H5N1 were apparently not transmitted efficiently among birds. In 2002 however, new isolates of H5N1 appeared, causing acute disease in ducks, resulting in neurological dysfunction and death.
Infected birds transmit H5N1 to one another through nasal secretions, saliva, feces and blood. Other animals, including humans, may become infected with the virus through direct contact with avian bodily fluids or through contaminated surfaces.
Human cases of H5N1 often result from contact with infected poultry, particularly in live bird markets and farms, which are believed to be major reservoirs for the virus. Avian H5N1 however, is also carried by migratory species of birds, which further spread H5N1 to other parts of the world.
In 2004, researchers discovered that H5N1 is a more potent pathogen than originally assumed, attacking waterfowl, chickens, crows, pigeons and ducks, as well as mammals, yielding a high mortality rate. Avian flu is now considered a significant global health threat, with the very real prospect of an international pandemic, causing widespread fatality.
Indeed, the mortality rate in humans contracting H5N1 has been estimated to be around 60 percent, making it more lethal for infected individuals than Spanish influenza - a genetically similar strain that killed 50-100 million people worldwide during the pandemic of 1918.
Currently, H5N1 is not highly transmissible to humans from birds and has a very low rate of human-to-human transmission, (though around a half dozen cases have been reported). Should a small number of mutations render H5N1 more easily transmissible among humans, the conditions for a deadly pandemic will have been met.
In addition to mutations, mixed forms of influenza virus - known as reassortant strains - can occur when a single individual is infected with two versions of a given virus and they exchange genes. An H5N1 reassortant could render avian influenza readily transmissible between human hosts.
In the new study, a particular variant of H5N1, labeled 18.104.22.168, was observed in Egypt. There, avian flu has already killed thousands of birds and caused 173 human cases, of which 63 have been fatal as of December 10th, 2013, according to the World Health Organization. These are the highest case numbers for H5N1 outside of Asia. As in the case of Asian H5N1, experts associate most human infections in Egypt with exposure to diseased poultry, particularly at live bird markets.
In their attempts to identify the origin and spread of the virus in Egypt, researchers made use of a new software platform created by Professor Scotch. Known as ZooPhy, the program enables the phylogeographic analysis of H5N1 spread.
The avian influenza virus H5N1 takes its name from two kinds of spikes adorning the viral surface, hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA). Influenza viruses of Type A or Type B use hemagglutinin to attach to cell surface receptors, allowing viral infection of the cell. Neuraminidase later acts to remove these receptors from infected cells, allowing newly synthesized viruses particles to escape and infect other cells.
(There are 17 different types of hemagglutinin, from H1 to H17 and nine different types of neuraminidase, from N1 to N9 among influenza A viruses. Each virus has one type of H (such as H5) and one type of N (such as N1).)
Through the analysis of 226 HA and 92 NA sequences, Scotch and his colleagues used a phylogeographic approach to trace the preponderance and transmission routes of H5N1 in Egypt. Phylogeography is a particularly fruitful approach for animal-to-human (or zoonotic) RNA viruses, due to short genomic sequences and rapid rates of evolution.
The group's findings revealed a geographic spread of the 22.214.171.124 viral form of H5N1 across Egypt's four primary areas: Cairo, Nile Delta, Canal and Upper Egypt. Statistical analysis suggests the northern governorate of Ash Sharqiyah as the point of origin for the spread of H5N1, however, the mathematical association is too weak to claim certainty. Analysis also implied that the strongest transmission routes for H5N1 were from Ash Sharqiyah to Al Gharbiyah and Al Fayyum to Al Qalyubiyah.
Most of the identified routes of transmission appeared in the densely populated Delta region of Egypt. The Al Qalybiyah governate in particular appears to be a popular area for viral transition, though dispersion to and from this region remains uncertain, requiring further research. The study also noted considerable viral diversity over a limited time frame - perhaps an evasive response to a country-wide poultry vaccination program.
"This has significant public health implications for the rest of the world," Scotch says. "It is important to focus on variant clades in order to better understand how this virus has evolved and which governorates are propograting its spread."
The authors are further developing the ZooPhy software's graphical interface. The tool requires no specialized knowledge of phylogeography or bioinformatics, making it convenient for field use by public health officials. By zeroing in on trade routes, migration patterns and highways of viral transmission, health authorities can conserve limited resources, applying them where they can be most effective.
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Valuing Your History
- Grades: 3–5
What will your students be talking about during Thanksgiving? Will they avoid Great-Aunt Hazel or will they tap into her knowledge of family history? Do some students feel that they have nothing noteworthy to investigate with family? Do they discard what makes their loved ones different? Thanksgiving is the perfect opportunity to tap into undervalued family resources. In fact, the day after Thanksgiving, November 26th, is the National Day of Listening. This holiday season, arm your students with the tools to become proud reporters and competent historians.
From kindergarten to college, we ask kids to investigate and memorize facts about distant cultures and periods of time. So the two most popular questions in social studies classes are "What does this have to do with me?" and "Why do we have to know this?" We can't expect anyone to care about or think critically about history when they haven't had the chance to explore their OWN stories — their personal histories. For great insight on creating your class of historians throughout the year, read Monica Edinger and Stephanie Fins' Far Away and Long Ago, Young Historians in the Classroom. To sprout historians this month, start an ancestor study with your students.
In our Ancestor Project, my students interviewed family members, collected artifacts for a personal history museum and photographed their families. But this year, thanks to a nonprofit organization called StoryCorps, students will take part in a national effort to record and preserve interviews with loved ones.
StoryCorps touts itself as "one of the largest oral history projects of its kind." If you haven't heard of StoryCorps, check out their weekly broadcasts on NPR's Morning Edition. At StoryCorps.org students can upload their interviews to share with family and friends worldwide. And with several recording locations around the country, StoryCorps allows participants to record their stories on a free CD. All conversations are preserved at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. This season your kids could create a piece of audio that will be treasured for generations!
Tools and Tips for Making History:
1. A pre-made packet of questions created by you and your students. See our Ancestor Project list below and use the StoryCorps question generator. Bob Greene and D. G. Fulford's To Our Children's Children is also an excellent resource.
2. Recording equipment. In the past we've used just a pen and paper to document family history. Now students may use a tape recorder OR cell phone OR computer OR whatever is available in their homes.
Easiest route? Demonstrate for your students the use of the recording equipment on a standard PC or Mac and of flash drives. Designate one or two laptops and flash drives to be signed out by school families for recording purposes. Or assign times over the next month when families can use the school's computer lab for recording.
3. Disposable cameras. Ask students to bring in two photos of their holiday interview on a flash drive. For families without access to a digital camera, offer disposables. A camera with 15 exposures can be ordered for under two dollars, including shipping. Spend $10, and you can give 25 kids without cameras three wonderful chances to take a family picture.
5.National Day of Listening video. Watch this video with your kids for great tips on setting up your interview space, getting the best sound quality, and more.
6. Model recordings. Listen to the subject-based stories suggested in the StoryCorps' Education Toolkit.
To show off their family culture or history, students don't need to bring in the stereotypical food items or over-the-top traditional costumes typical of many "diversity" assignments. StoryCorps audio samples show kids that incredible family audio can come from a simple moment — a joke, a short song, or the response to a direct question.
Too often fourth and fifth generation immigrants who have assimilated into American life think they are devoid of culture. This assignment and the questions that follow ensure that all families have something unique and important to share. I also allow families to substitute other questions for particularly difficult ones, or to opt out of some questions altogether. For example, many African-American families have no knowledge of their ancestors' country of origin, and a few of these families prefer to answer questions about their migration from the South to the northern region of the United States or to other hometown settlements.
7. Interview questions. The questions in bold afforded great details or insights during my students' interviews.
B. Tell me about my relatives/ancestors. Where is our family from? What country/countries did we come from and when? Did you or our ancestors want to come to the United States, and why or why not?
C. Have you ever been to any of the countries or places we are from? If you have, what is that place or country like? Make a mental movie for me. What would you often see, smell, and hear there?
D. How did our family get to the United States or our hometown? How did they travel? Was it difficult? Was the journey long?
E. What did you (or Mom, Dad, etc.) think America or our hometown would be like? What has your experience really been like? Was it everything you hoped for?
F. Did you or any of our ancestors who came to the United States speak another language? What languages did they speak? If they did not speak English, how did they learn?
G. What things did you or our ancestors bring with them to the U.S. or our hometown? What was your or our ancestors' most valued item and did they bring it with them? Did you or our ancestors leave anything special behind?
H. What did you or our ancestors miss from the country or town they came from?
I. What traditions have been passed down in our family? (For example, if I were being interviewed, I would talk about the ancient tradition of "jumping the broom." In the United States, the "official" marriage ceremony commonly experienced today was not afforded to slaves. Marriage was acknowledged in the slave quarters by an exchange of vows sealed with a united jump over a straw broom. So at my wedding, our united jump over an elaborate straw broom symbolized the traditional 18th century wedding of my great-great-grandparents!)
J. What were the lives of your parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents like? How did they live? What do you remember them saying over and over again?
K. Do you know what their schools were like? Can you tell me? Can you tell me how they got to school?
L. Do you remember any of the stories anyone in the family used to tell? Tell me one . . . please!
M. Do you remember any of the songs sung or jokes told by family members? Sing me a song. Tell me a joke.
N. What is your first memory of leaving your homeland or coming to America? Or what is your first childhood memory?
O. Make up one more question to ask. The question should help you gain additional information about your family's cultural background.
P. What artifact could I bring in that represents our family? (If I were doing the project, I would show off the doorknob to the room where my mother was born in my great-great-grandparents' house.) What thing is really important to our family that I could use for our ancestor museum? Please tell me about that treasured item.
Before the Ancestor Project, I often heard this comment, reiterated several ways by parents: "I try to help him with his homework but he says, 'No.' He thinks I'm stupid because I don't speak English." After the project, the children of these parents returned to school with a new sense of pride and a much better appreciation and understanding of their own history. Use the National Day of Listening to spark powerful cultural conversations with your class historians or to share something special with your own family!
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