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Next: My Tiles are Cracking in the Corners
My tiles are wearing out
Tiles are well known for their durability and wear resistance. But, we need to always remember that tiles are not indestructible. If mistreated, or subjected to harsh conditions, or wrongly selected for purpose, the glaze on a ceramic tile will scratch or it can wear.
There needs to be an understanding of the difference between 'wearing' and 'scratching.' Wearing is where the glazed surface is thinning and eventually actually work through. Scratching is damage to the surface from a harder substance that scratches the glaze. Heavy scratching can actually dull the surface of a glazed tile. It is damage to the surface, but it is not actually wearing through. Much like granite in a heavy traffic area will dull off from scratching, but is not worn.
The best way to avoid tiles becoming worn is to get good advice when selecting them. This way, tiles that are suited to the area can be chosen and that includes for reasons such as colour, ease of cleaning, durability, and resistance to wear.
The other way is to keep the floor clean and free from sand and abrasive dirt. This is especially important at doorways to the outside of a home or building. Abrasive grit is brought in under shoes and if there is a doormat, this grit is removed and left on the doormat. Even gravel (which can be equally as hard as granite) can be trapped under a shoe and then trodden onto the tiled surface.
What can cause the problem?
• Absense of doormats at doorways to the outside of a home. These remove grit and sand from shoes which can be very abrasive on tiled surfaces. Think of sandpaper, which can actually just be sand trapped on the paper, yet is highly abrasive.
• Incorrectly specified tiles that are not suited to the traffic conditions of an area. Always heed the advice of the Beaumont Tiles consultant and explain clearly the conditions to which the tiles will be subject.
• Keep your tiles clean. A clean tile won't have a film of accumulated grinding dirt on the surface.
• Avoid the use of unnecessary chemicals, especially acid based ones and the use of hard cleaning implements such as steel wool. These too will deteriorate the surface of a tile.
So what can I do now?
Once the glaze on tiles has worn, it can't be rejuvenated in any way.
Likewise, damage by harsh scratching cannot be reversed.
Scratched tiles will continue to perform as a tile should. But, once a tile surface has worn through, and the protective glazed surface is gone, the tile will need to be replaced.
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Genital/ perigenital infection caused by the yeast-like fungus Candida albicans or occasionally by other species of Candida. Vulvovaginitis due to Candida presents with an erythema of the vaginal mucous membrane and the vulval skin, itching, soreness, and with a thick, creamy-white discharge. There may be spread on to the perineum and into the groins. In Candida balanitis, tiny papules develop on the glans penis, evolve as white pustules or vesicles and rupture, leaving a peeling edge. Involvement of groins sometimes coexists. Perianal candidiasis presents with erythema, soreness and irritation, and subsequent spread along the natal cleft is common.
Candidosis, Genital/Perigenital, Kolpitis Candidomycetica, Vulvitis Candidomycetica
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(You can find in this post the answers to the Questions C-06, C-o7 and C-O8)
As discussed in a former post Polysaccharides are carbohydrates formed by more than 9 monosaccharides linked by glycosidic bonds.
When they are formed by the same kind of monosaccharides, they are called homopolysaccharides, like starch, glycogen and cellulose, formed each of them by hundreds of molecules of glucose linked by glycosidic linkages.
If the polysaccharides molecules are formed by different kinds of monosaccharides, they are considered heteropolysaccharides. Hyaluronic acid, formed by thousands of alternative units of N-acetyl glucosamine and glucuronic acid, is an example of heteropolysaccharide.
Cellulose is a linear polymer of D-glucose residues bonded by b(1, 4)-O-glycosidic linkages. It is the most abundant carbohydrate in nature.
It is formed by glucose units, linked by Beta-1, 4 O-glycosidic linkages. We can say then that, if we consider the kind of linkage, the repeating unit in cellulose is cellobiose, the disaccharide formed by two molecules of glucose linked by Beta-D-O glycosidic bonds, (that is why some text books say that the monomer in cellulose is cellobiose).
The long fibers of cellulose are held together by intermolecular hydrogen bonds. Hydrogen bonding continues in the same plane with other chains as well as in planes above and below this plane to form strong, fibrous bundles. It made cellulose very appropriate for its structural function in plants
Since cellulose is formed by glucose molecules, it can be a source of energy for certain species. The lack in human beings of appropriate enzymes for digesting cellulose make this polysaccharide unsuitable for human nutrition (Have you though about how hunger in the world could disappear if we had enzymes for digesting cellulose?). Cellulose and derivatives are used as a component of laxatives for humans.
Starch is the second most abundant carbohydrate in nature.
The biological functions include, in plants, the main way of storage of sugar, and consequently, of energetic sources; in humans, the first supply of glucose on diet (Answer to C-O7)
Starch is not really a molecule, but a grain formed by two different kinds of molecules: Amylose and Amylopectin
Amylose is a linear molecule formed by glucose units linked by alpha-1, 4 O glycosidic linkages. Taking in account the kind of linkage we can say that the repeating unit in amylose is maltose. (It explains that some books indicate that the monomeric unit in amylose is maltose).
Amylose molecule is helicoidal
Amylopectin is the second type of molecule that forms starch. It is a branched molecule, formed also by glucose. Amylopectin contains D-glucose residues bonded together by a(1, 4)-O-glycosidic linkages with branching through a(1 6)-O-glycosidic linkages.
The disaccharides that can be obtained from the digestion of amylopectin are maltose and isomaltose.
Amylopectin shows a branch each 24-30 units of glucose,
The structure of glycogen is very similar to amylopectin but more branched, with one branch every 8 to 12 glucose unit
Glycogen is the way in which glucose is stored in animals. Glycogen is stored mainly in liver (to release glucose to blood when necessary) and in muscle, where it is used as a reserve of energy for muscular contraction (Answer to C-o8)
Heteropolysaccarides contain two or more different kind of monosaccharides. Usually they provide extracellular support for organisms of all kingdoms: the bacteria cell envelope, or the matrix that holds individual cells together in animal tissues, and provides protection, shape and support to cells, tissues and organs.
Heteropolysaccharides provide extracellular support to very different organisms, from bacteria to humans; together with fibrous proteins, like collagen, elastin, fibronectin, laminin and others, heteropolysaccharides are the most important components of the extracellular matrix. Hyaluronic acid, condroitin sulfates and dermatan sulfates are important heteropolysaccharides in the extracellular matrix. These heteropolysaccharides usually are formed by the repetition of a disaccharide unit of an aminosugar and an acid sugar.
A typical example
Other common constituents are sulfate groups linked to certain monosaccharides. Usually heteropolysaccharides are associated with proteins forming proteoglycans, glycosaminoglycans or mucopolysaccharides (since they are abundant in mucous secretions). As a group, they perform diverse functions: structural, water metabolism regulation (as a reservoir of water), cellular cement, biological sieve, biological lubricant, docking sites for growth factors, among other functions.
Established specific functions of some glycosaminoglycans are:
Hyaluronic Acid (Hyaluronate): It is a lubricant in the synovial fluid of joints,
give consistency to vitreous humor, contributes to tensile strength and elasticity of cartilages and tendons (Answer to C-O6)
Chondroitin Sulfates: contributes to tensile strength and elasticity of cartilages, tendons, ligaments and walls of aorta.
Dermatan sulfate (former chondroitin sulfate B) is found mainly in skin, but also is in vessels, heart, lungs. It may be related to coagulation and vascular diseases and other conditions.
Keratan sulfate: Present in cornea, cartilage bone and a variety of other structures as nails and hair.
It is a potent natural anticoagulant produced in the Mast Cells that causes antithrombin bind to thrombin and produce inhibition of blood coagulation.
Glycosaminoglycans are synthesized in the ER and Golgi. They are degraded by lysosomal hydrolases. A deficiency of one of the hydrolases results in a mucopolysaccharidosis. These are hereditary disorders in which glycosaminoglycans accumulate in tissues, causing symptoms such as skeletal and extracellular matrix deformities, and mental retardation.
Examples of these genetic diseases are Hunter and Hurler syndromes.
These diseases, caused by different enzyme deficits, are characterized by physical deformities, mental retardation and disturbances in the degradation of heparan sulfate and dermatan sulfate.
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There is new scientific evidence to support the time-honored advice to students cramming for exams to get themselves a good night's sleep after studying.
Researchers who analyzed brain activity in sleeping volunteers who had learned to navigate through a computer-generated virtual town have discovered evidence that spatial memories are consolidated during deep sleep.
Also, the researchers say that they have shown for the first time that the activity level in the brain's learning center, the hippocampus, correlates with the improvement in memory performance when the subjects are tested the next day.
According to Philippe Peigneux and his colleagues, "A growing body of experimental evidence shows the influence of sleep on the consolidation of recent memory traces. The underlying hypothesis posits that the information that is acquired during wakefulness is actively altered, restructured, and strengthened during sleep."
However, they said, exploring this consolidation process was difficult because of the complexities of both sleep and memory. For example, sleep consists of two major stages -- rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and non rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep. Evidence from animal studies of learning and sleep indicated that spatial memories seem to be replayed in the hippocampus during the deep "slow wave sleep" (SWS) during the NREM sleep stage.
Peigneux and his colleagues explored the memory consolidation process by asking volunteers to learn the layout of a virtual town that the researchers adapted from a popular computer game. They then tested the subjects on their knowledge of the town by challenging them to quickly find routes through the town to specific locations.
The researchers divided the subjects into three experimental groups:
- one that underwent training in the virtual town and whose brains were scanned during testing while they were awake;
- one that underwent training and testing and whose brains were then scanned during sleep;
- one that did not undergo any training and whose brains were scanned.
The researchers measured the subjects' brain activity using positron emission tomography (PET) to measure blood flow in the subjects' brain regions. In PET, test subjects receive a harmless dose of radioactive tracer, and their brains are scanned as the tracer infuses through the brain. Blood flow through specific brain structures constitutes a measure of activity in that structure.
The researchers found that the first group -- compared to the non-trained group -- showed greater activity in their hippocampus and an adjacent learning-related region as they took the route tests, with greater activity correlated with better performance. The group scanned during sleep after testing also showed greater hippocampal brain activity during sleep, compared to the non-trained group.
Importantly, when the researchers compared the hippocampal activity during SWS sleep in the trained group and the non-trained group, they found that the first group showed higher activity.
Next, the researchers tested the trained group after their sleep session and compared their performance with the brain activity measured during sleep. They found that the higher the gain in post-sleep performance, the higher had been their NREM brain activity during sleep. No such correlation was found in REM brain activity.
To ensure that they were, indeed, measuring brain activity due to spatial processing, Peigneux and his colleagues also compared brain activity data from the spatially trained group with data from a fourth group that had only taken a reaction time test. In that test, the subjects' brains were scanned as they pressed a key as fast and accurately as possible corresponding to the location of a dot on a computer screen.
Thus, the data from the fourth group allowed the researchers to distinguish brain activity changes due to spatial processing from those due to general mental processing. The researchers' comparisons of the brain activity in the groups confirmed that the hippocampal activity they detected was due to spatial processing.
"Our results provide critical evidence that spatial memory traces are processed during NREM sleep in humans," wrote the scientists. "Moreover, the hippocampal activity during sleep is shown to correlate with the improvement in memory performance on the next day. To the extent of our knowledge, this effect has not yet been reported in the animal hippocampus."
Source: Eurekalert & othersLast reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 21 Feb 2009
Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.
Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul.
-- Emily Dickinson
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Vocalisation has been recognised as one of the important modes of animal communication. In one anabantoid fish, the croaking gourami Trichopsis vittata, both sexes produce loud, croaking sounds during agonistic encounters and courtship. It is known that sound emission of this fish is mostly involved with the ritualised portion of the contest, which is likely to convey information between the opponents about their respective strength and status. The sound is produced by a complex mechanism that involves two modified tendons, located behind each pectoral fin. Due to the external position of these soft structures, parasites, sickness, or injury from fights can easily damage the tendons, leading to muteness. Reduction or even loss of the croaking ability may result in a substantial decreasing of the overall fitness. Experiments were designed to test whether or not croaking gouramis can repair damaged tendons and regain fully functional sound producing organs, as well as to evaluate the effect of muting and recovery on the outcomes of agonistic interactions. Fishes were muted by surgically cutting one or both the tendons that connect the "sonic'' muscle with the fin rays. The occurrence and timing of recovery was evaluated for 30 specimens of T. vittata after surgical muting. Croaking sounds produced by the fish were recorded during staged contests after recovery. Sound from each specimen was previously recorded before and after muting as well, for comparison. The elapsed time of reconnection of each tendon to the relative fin ray was also recorded. Some fishes were found to recover completely within less than 30 days, while others needed up to three months. However, evidence for the beginning of the recovery process was noticed as early as 4 days after operation. Behavioural performance after recovery was normal. Details of sounds produced and changes of behavioural repertoires are discussed (supported by National Organization for Hearing Research, NIMH-58198, Institute of Museum and Library Service-LL90187).
Nicola Novarini, Tomonari Akamatsu & Hong Y. Yan (2002). Effects of muting and recovery on sound production in the croaking gourami Trichopsis vittata (Pisces: Anabantoidei) [abstract]. Bioacoustics 13(2): 202-203
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35 - The Philosopher's Toolkit: Aristotle's Logical Works
Peter discusses Aristotle’s pioneering work in logic, and looks at related issues like the ten categories and the famous “sea battle” argument for determinism.
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• J. Hintikka, Time and Necessity. Studies in Aristotle's Theory of Modality (Oxford:1973).
• W. Leszl, “Aristotle's Logical Works and His Conception of Logic,” Topoi 23 (2004), 71–100.
• R. Smith, "Logic," in J. Barnes (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Aristotle (Cambridge: 1995), 27-65.
• S. Waterlow, Passage and Possibility (Oxford: 1982).
On the "sea battle" problem:
• G.E.M. Anscombe, “Aristotle and the Sea Battle,” in J.M.E. Moravcsik (ed.), Aristotle: a Collection of Critical Essays, (1967), reprinted from Mind 65 (1956).
• D. Frede, “The Sea-Battle Reconsidered: a Defence of the Traditional Interpretation,” Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 3 (1985).
• J. Hintikka, “The Once and Future Sea Fight: Aristotle’s Discussion of Future Contingents in de Interpretatione 9,” in his Time and Necessity (see above).
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Subscribe Free! to the DigiFreq Pro Audio and Music Technology Newsletter
Numerous studies, including one released last month by University of Louisville researchers, indicate that learning to play the piano as a preschooler sets a child up for later academic success. And now "Piano For Preschoolers" has introduced a new way for parents to teach their children the piano - complete with a Casio(R) keyboard.
Developed by Angie Crellin, a mother of two who has studied the piano for over 30 years, "Piano For Preschoolers" uses color-coded notes printed on a traditional musical staff to teach songs preschoolers already love, like "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." A corresponding color strip sits behind the piano's keys and guides the child to the correct key for each note.
Crellin came up with the "Piano For Preschoolers" concept when her son, a preschooler at the time, expressed interest in playing the piano. Crellin's daughter had done the same several years before, but she had quickly lost interest once Crellin introduced popular beginning piano books to the lessons. Not wanting the same thing to happen with her son, Crellin decided to create a program that was fun for children and easy for parents to teach. Hundreds of hours of research later, she had "Piano For Preschoolers."
"The results were amazing," said Crellin. "My son loved playing real songs he recognized and couldn't wait to learn more. But the truly remarkable thing was that my preschool son started helping my second-grade daughter with her math homework."
Crellin's results correspond to those obtained by Dr. Frances Rauscher of the University of Wisconsin and Dr. Gordon Shaw of the University of California. The researchers, who have long studied the connection between math and music, compared the effects of musical and nonmusical training on preschoolers' intellectual development. They found that preschoolers who received piano or keyboard training performed 34% higher on tests measuring spatial-temporal ability than did other preschoolers. Those who received piano or keyboard training could think in pictures and see the pictures moving or changing shape over time - a crucial skill for later success in mathematics, science and engineering.
But the pint-sized students of "Piano For Preschoolers" don't care about all that. Most are just having fun playing for rapt audiences of parents and grandparents.
"The 'Piano For Preschoolers' program really seems to be boosting children's self-confidence," said Crellin. "Customers report their preschoolers are practicing the piano with no prompting from the parents. And that's really the key. No four-year-old will stay motivated to learn if she isn't having fun."
The entire "Piano For Preschoolers" system is $129.95 plus shipping. It includes: a music book of 17 familiar songs written in color-coded notes; the durable color strip to set behind the piano keys; a parent/teacher guide with step-by-step instructions for each lesson; and a free Casio(R) SA-75 electronic keyboard.
For more information: www.pianoforpreschoolers.com
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S7 Technical Assistance
Eastern prairie fringed orchid (Platanthera leucophaea)
Determining whether eastern prairie fringed orchid (Platanthera leucophaea) may be present in a proposed project area in the following northeastern Illinois counties: Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will.
|Photo by Mike Redmer
As part of Step 1 of the S7 process, you checked the Illinois species list and found that eastern prairie fringed orchid is present in the county where your proposed project is located. The next step is to determine whether eastern prairie fringed orchid "may be present" in the action area of your proposed project. Below is guidance to help you make that determination.
Habitat: The eastern prairie fringed orchid (orchid) occurs in a wide variety of habitats, from wet to mesic prairie or wetland communities, including, but not limited to sedge meadow, fen, marsh, or marsh edge. It can occupy a very wide moisture gradient of prairie and wetland vegetation. It requires full sun for optimal growth and flowering, which ideally would restrict it to grass and sedge dominated plant communities. However, in some plant communities where there are encroaching species such as cattail and/or dogwood, the orchid may be interspersed or within the edge zones of these communities and thus can sometimes occur in partially shaded areas. The substrate of the sites where this orchid occurs include glacial soils, lake plain deposits, muck, or peat which could range from more or less neutral to mildly calcareous (Bowles et al. 2005, USFWS 1999). In some cases, the species may also occur along ditches or roadways where this type of habitat is present.
Processes that maintain habitats in early or mid-successional phases may be important in providing the sunny, open conditions required by the orchid (USFWS 1999). Sedge meadow and marsh habitats that support this orchid are usually early- or mid- successional because of past grazing, drainage, or soil disturbance. Patch disturbances that expose the soil to this orchid’s seeds, and reduce competition from established plants, may be needed for seedling establishment.
Hawkmoths are the pollinators of this orchid species. In Illinois the hawkmoth, Sphinx eremitus is a confirmed pollinator although there may be others. Eumorpha pandorus and Eumorpha achemon have been confirmed as pollinators in other states. Host plants for the caterpillars of Sphinx eremitus include various species of beebalm (Monarda spp.), mints (Mentha spp.), bugleweed (Lycopus spp.) and sage (Salvia spp.).
Follow the steps below to determine whether the eastern prairie fringed orchid may be present in the action area of your proposed project. This guidance is specific to Cook, Lake, McHenry, DuPage, Kane, and Will counties in northeastern Illinois.
1) Define the action area – all areas to be affected directly or indirectly by the Federal action and not just in the immediate area involved in the action. (For example: downstream areas, adjacent off-site wetlands, etc.)
2) Does the action area support any wet to mesic prairie or wetland
communities including, but not limited to sedge meadow, fen, or marsh edges?
If the answer is yes, go to number 3 (below). If the answer is no, conclude that “the eastern prairie fringed orchid is not present,” document your finding for your records or provide this information to the federal action agency. No further consultation is required.
3) Conduct a floristic quality assessment for the proposed project site during the growing season or use a previous assessment that is not more than three years old and was conducted during the growing season.
4) If any wetland in the action area is determined to be high quality, (a Floristic Quality Index of 20 or greater and/or a Native Mean C of 3.5 or greater) proceed to number 5 (below) or contact the Chicago Field Office for further consultation.
Wetlands that are not high quality will not support eastern prairie fringed orchid. For those wetlands, conclude that “the eastern prairie fringed orchid is not present,” document your finding for your records or provide this information to the federal action agency. No further consultation is required for those wetlands.
5) Compare the plant species list generated for each high quality wetland with our Associate Plant Species List for the Eastern Prairie Fringed Orchid. If four or more associates are listed, then proceed to number 6. If not, high quality wetlands that support three or less eastern prairie fringed orchid associate plant species are unlikely to support eastern prairie fringed orchids. Conclude that “the eastern prairie fringed orchid is not present” and document your finding for your records or provide this information to the federal action agency. No further consultation is necessary for those wetlands.
6) The eastern prairie fringed orchid may be present in your action area. You may either assume that the eastern prairie fringed orchid is present and proceed to Step 2 of the Section 7 Consultation Process or conduct a field search during the bloom date of the orchid; June 28 through July 11. Because northeastern Illinois orchid populations bloom sporadically rather than all plants blooming at the same time, searches should be conducted on a minimum of three non-consecutive days within this time period. Please notify the Chicago Field Office before conducting your survey.
7) If you assume that the eastern prairie fringed orchid may be present in the action area or a field search proves that the orchid is present, the next step in the S7 Consultation Process is to determine whether the proposed action may affect any eastern prairie fringed orchids. Go to Step 2 of the S7 Consultation Process to begin that determination.
Please contact the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Chicago Illinois Field Office if you for more information or if you have any questions.
Chicago Illinois Field Office
1250 South Grove, Suite 103
Barrington, Illinois 60010
Phone: 847/381-2253, ext. 20
1Swink, F. and G. Wilhelm. 1994. Plants of the Chicago Region, 4th ed. Indiana Academy of Science, Indianapolis. 921pp.
Step 1 of the Section 7 Process
Section 7 Technical Assistance
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Note: This lesson was originally published on an older version of The Learning Network; the link to the related Times article will take you to a page on the old site.
Teaching ideas based on New York Times content.
Overview of Lesson Plan: In this lesson, students evaluate current search procedures implemented to fight terrorism and examine constitutional rights to privacy. They then share and defend their opinions about domestic security and civil liberties in an age of terrorism.
Kristen Tepfenhardt, The New York Times Learning Network
Yasmin Chin Eisenhauer, The Bank Street College of Education in New York City
Suggested Time Allowance: 1 hour
1. Participate in a “random search” simulation; evaluate current search procedures implemented to fight terrorism.
2. Consider the New York area mass transit’s response to the terror attacks in London by reading and discussing the article “In New York, It’s Open Bag or Find Exits.”
3. Discuss constitutional amendments that relate to rights to privacy.
4. Share individual opinions on domestic security and civil liberties in an age of terrorism.
5. Justify their stances on this topic in letters to state legislators.
Resources / Materials:
-five index cards with instructions, as described in Warm-Up activity
-copies of the article “In New York, It’s Open Bag or Find Exits,” found online at http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/featured_articles/20050725monday.html (one per student)
-four large pieces of paper or poster board, each with one of the following statements written in large letters: “Strongly Agree,” “Agree Somewhat,” “Disagree Somewhat,” “Strongly Disagree”
Activities / Procedures:
1. WARM-UP/DO-NOW: Prior to class, write the words Security Check on the classroom board, place a desk underneath it, and write the following five instructions each on its own index card:
-Please proceed to the Security Check area and list all of the items in your possession on the back of this card.
-Please proceed to the Security Check area, list all of the items in your possession on the back of this card, and take out proper photo identification.
-Please proceed to the Security Check area, remove your shoes and empty all of your pockets on the desk.
-Please proceed to the Security Check area and write your social security number, full name, home address and phone number on the back of this card, and await a search of your personal belongings.
-Please proceed to the Security Check area and await the K-9 Dog Unit, which will search your belongings.
As students enter the classroom, randomly hand an index card to students until all five index cards are distributed. (Based on your class size, you might want to give a card to every fourth or fifth student.) Each student who receives a card reports to the front of the room to the Safety Check area and follows the instructions as indicated on his or her index card.
After a few minutes, ask each student to read his or her card aloud, and have each student share his or her thoughts about being selected for this process. Did all students fully comply with the security check? Why or why not? Did they feel that their privacy was being invaded in any way? Now, facilitate a class discussion: How do other students in the class feel about these types of security checks? Would they feel comfortable with this search procedure if it were applied to them in school? On public transportation? In an airport? While entering a mall? Do students think this type of search procedure is effective in stopping potential terrorists? Do students feel that these types of procedures are a violation of their privacy?
2. As a class, read and discuss “In New York, It’s Open Bag or Find Exits” (found online at http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/featured_articles/20050725monday.html), focusing on the following questions:
a. What “new era” has entered New York City’s subways?
b. What new element was added to subway riders’ commuting routines, and why?
c. Where did the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey state it would conduct its searches?
d. Where did the Metropolitan Transportation state its searches were conducted?
e. Who is Michael Chertoff, and according to him, how long will the nation’s mass transit agencies remain on high alert?
f. What did the New York Police Department refuse to disclose after its first day of searches?
g. According to officials, how will the searches be conducted on the weekends?
h. How many subway stations were involved in the initial searches?
i. What was the consequence for commuters who did not agree to inspection?
j. During what hours are the searches focused, and why?
k. How were officers ordered by commanders to stop riders for searches?
l. What did Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg acknowledge on the morning that the searches were announced?
m. What does Mayor Bloomberg hope he has established, as he indicated on his weekly program on WABC-AM?
n. What did Mayor Bloomberg pledge?
o. What has Mayor Bloomberg learned?
p. What has the New York Civil Liberties Union called the searches?
q. What did Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly indicate for officers in the guideline issued on July 21, 2005, to top police commanders?
r. What different types of packages were searched?
s. According to Shauna Murray, how long did the search process take at Woodlawn-Jerome Avenue in the Bronx?
t. When did the “every fifth person” search break down?
u. In addition to searching bags, what steps were taken at Sutphin Boulevard-Archer Avenue by officers?
v. What was the search procedure at 42nd Street and Eighth Avenue in Manhattan?
w. By what were selected riders met at Lafayette Avenue in Fort Greene, Brooklyn?
x. What was Amy Lisogorsky’s reaction the second time she was searched?
y. How did the search situation in the suburbs compare to that in the city?
z. What is James Murphy’s view regarding the searches’ ability to prevent a bombing?
aa. According to the Port Authority’s chairman, Anthony R. Coscia, what did the announcement of these searches prompt him to do?
3. Refer back to the statement in the article made by Acting New Jersey Gov. Richard J. Codey: “The two bomb attacks this month on subways and buses in London made it ‘necessary to bring a new level of vigilance to our mass transit system.’” Then, explain to students that privacy is not mentioned specifically in the Constitution, but the Supreme Court has ruled that several amendments do establish our constitutional right to privacy. Review and discuss the following amendments, focusing on how they relate to privacy:
-First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
-Fourth Amendment: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”
-Fourteenth Amendment, Section 1: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
4. Explain to students that they will be expressing their views on different statements that you will be reading to them regarding domestic security and civil liberties in an age of terrorism. Hang the four “statement” posters in different corners of the room. Because students will be moving around to stand beneath the statements with which they most agree for different questions related to democracy, be sure that students have clear paths in the room to reach the four corners. For each of the statements below, read the statement aloud and allow students to move to the corners of the room that best express their views on the statement. As students take their places, write the statement on the board. Then, ask at least one student in each group to share his or her choice. Encourage students to support their opinions with reasons, facts, and examples, and allow students to challenge one another’s ideas.
-Sometimes personal rights must be given up in order to protect people from those who could be a danger to all of us.
-Searches should be conducted at the discretion of police officers based only if they have probable cause to suspect someone of a crime.
-The phrase “it is better to be safe than sorry” applies when it comes to fighting terrorism.
-The American government should have the right to investigate to the fullest extent of the law any suspicious person and his or her activities.
-Civil liberties have been granted in the United States Constitution and should be preserved at all costs.
5. WRAP-UP/HOMEWORK: Students respond to the following prompt, written on the board for students to copy prior to leaving the classroom: “As quoted in the article read in class, Port Authority’s chairman Anthony R. Coscia stated that ‘people are willing to endure some level of inconvenience to have a higher level of safety.’ Considering the content of the article and today’s class discussions, write a letter to a senator or representative from our state. What balance can be struck between providing domestic security against terrorism and preserving the civil liberties guaranteed by the Constitution? What potential terror targets exist in your state, how are they protected in this age of terrorism, and how successful do you think those measures are?” Students can peer-edit their letters and send them to your state legislators. (You can find the addresses of your legislators at http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home/.)
Further Questions for Discussion:
-Public mass transit systems are currently using a random search method. What other systems might also be subject to searches?
-If current search methods begin to produce fear in the American people and deter them from using mass transit, how can the government restore faith in this system?
-Is it fair to compare mass transit search procedures to those used in airports if these modes of transportation do not follow the same protocol? Is one method more effective than the other?
Evaluation / Assessment:
Students will be evaluated based on participation in class discussions and clear presentation and defense of opinions, in both spoken and written forms.
widespread, yielding, random, conduct, endure, networks, vigilance, alertness, disclose, intrusive, violating, turnstile, profiling, unconstitutional, precedents, checkpoints, intoxication, guideline, retained, probable cause, diverse, notation, detained, emigrated, overzealous, substantial, submitted, optimistic
1. Examine other times in history when the United States government has implemented policies that some would consider to be invasions of privacy or threats to individuals’ civil liberties. Create a political cartoon for your school newspaper comparing that historic situation to the current situation discussed in the article read in class.
2. Research the United States Homeland Security Advisory System. Why was it developed? When and how was it developed? How does it work? What do different people think of this system’s effectiveness? Write a newspaper article sharing your findings, or an editorial piece offering your views.
3. What is the American Civil Liberties Union? What is their mission? What are their goals? What have they done to attain these goals? In what recent situations were they involved, and to what extent did their involvement impact the outcome? Create an informational poster or illustrated timeline with your findings.
Economics/Mathematics- How much has the United States spent on homeland security since September 11, 2001? Create a series of graphs illustrating various angles of answers to this question (e.g., one graph focusing only on New York, another focusing on airline security, another on costs incurred in the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, etc.) Then, write an evaluative piece reflecting on your findings.
Media Studies- Identify an issue of privacy related to the news media. Prepare a chart that lists the consequences of maintaining privacy in the situation, and identify these consequences as benefits or costs. Be prepared to explain the issue to your class. Is there a need for legislation related to this issue? What laws currently exist?
Teaching with The Times- Search for headlines in The New York Times that discuss to the London bombings and terrorism in general. What anti-terrorism methods are other countries taking in response to the London attacks? Then, create a chart to compare and contrast methods being used abroad with those being implemented in the United States. To order The New York Times for your classroom, click here.
Other Information on the Web:
The American Civil Liberties Union, or A.C.L.U. (http://www.aclu.org), is an advocate of individual rights.
Center for Civic Education (http://www.civiced.org) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan corporation which provides K-12 programs and curriculum which foster the development of informed, responsible participation in civic life.
Justice Learning: Civic Education in the Real World (http://www.justicelearning.org) is a collaboration between NPR’s Justice Talking and The New York Times Learning Network, with features on various constitutional issues affecting the world today.
Academic Content Standards:
Civics Standard 18- Understands the role and importance of law in the American constitutional system and issues regarding the judicial protection of individual rights. Benchmarks: Understands the importance of the rule of law in establishing limits on both those who govern and the governed, protecting individual rights, and promoting the common good; Knows historical and contemporary examples of the rule of law; Understands criteria for evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of a rule or law by determining if it is understandable, possible to follow, fair, well designed to achieve its purposes, and designed to protect individual rights and to promote the common good; Understands the basic concept of due process of law; Understands the importance to individuals and to society of major due process protections; Understands why due process rights in administrative and legislative procedures are essential for the protection of individual rights and the maintenance of limited government; Understands current issues regarding judicial protection of the rights of individuals
Civics Standard 26- Understands issues regarding the proper scope and limits of rights and the relationships among personal, political, and economic rights. Benchmarks: Understands what is meant by the “scope and limits” of a right; Understands different positions on a contemporary conflict between rights; Understands different positions on a contemporary conflict between rights and other social values and interests
Civics Standard 29- Understands the importance of political leadership, public service, and a knowledgeable citizenry in American constitutional democracy. Benchmarks: Understands why becoming knowledgeable about public affairs and the values and principles of American constitutional democracy and communicating that knowledge to others is an important form of participation, and understands the argument that constitutional democracy requires the participation of an attentive, knowledgeable, and competent citizenry; Understands how awareness of the nature of American constitutional change gives citizens the ability to reaffirm or change fundamental constitutional values
Language Arts Standard 7- Demonstrates competence in the general skills and strategies for reading a variety of informational texts. Benchmarks: Applies reading skills and strategies to a variety of informational texts; Knows the defining characteristics of a variety of informational texts; Uses new information to adjust and extend personal knowledge base; Identifies techniques used to convey viewpoint; Draws conclusions and makes inferences based on explicit and implicit information in texts; Differentiates between fact and opinion in informational texts
Language Arts Standard 8- Demonstrates competence in speaking and listening as tools for learning. Benchmarks: Plays a variety of roles in group discussions; conveys a clear main point when speaking to others and stays on the topic being discussed
Civics Standard 18- Understands the role and importance of law in the American constitutional system and issues regarding the judicial protection of individual rights. Benchmarks: Understands how the rule of law makes possible a system of ordered liberty that protects the basic rights of citizens; Knows historical and contemporary practices that illustrate the central place of the rule of law; Knows historical and contemporary instances in which judicial protections have not been extended to all persons and instances in which judicial protections have been extended to those deprived of them in the past; Understands why due process rights in administrative and legislative procedures are essential for protecting individual rights and maintaining limited government
Civics Standard 26- Understands issues regarding the proper scope and limits of rights and the relationships among personal, political, and economic rights. Benchmarks: Knows how to distinguish among personal, political, and economic rights; Understands different positions on a contemporary conflict between rights such as one person’s right to free speech versus another person’s right to be heard
Civics Standard 29- Understands the importance of political leadership, public service, and a knowledgeable citizenry in American constitutional democracy. Benchmarks: Understands why becoming knowledgeable about public affairs and the values and principles of American constitutional democracy, and communicating that knowledge to others are important forms of participation, and understands the argument that constitutional democracy requires the participation of an attentive, knowledgeable, and competent citizenry; Understands how awareness of the nature of American constitutional change gives citizens the ability to reaffirm or change fundamental constitutional values
Language Arts Standard 7- Demonstrates competence in the general skills and strategies for reading a variety of informational texts. Benchmarks: Applies reading skills and strategies to a variety of informational texts; Knows the defining characteristics of a variety of informational texts; Determines the effectiveness of techniques used to convey viewpoint
Language Arts Standard 8- Demonstrates competence in speaking and listening as tools for learning. Benchmarks: Asks questions as a way to broaden and enrich classroom discussions
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Memory loss (amnesia) is unusual forgetfulness. You may not be able to remember new events, recall one or more memories of the past, or both.
Forgetfulness; Amnesia; Impaired memory; Loss of memory; Amnestic syndrome
Normal aging may cause some forgetfullness. It's normal to have some trouble learning new material, or needing more time to remember it.
However, normal aging does NOT lead to dramatic memory loss. Such memory loss is due to other diseases. Sometimes, memory loss may be seen with depression. It can be hard to tell the difference between memory loss and confusion due to depression.
Some types of memory loss may cause you to forget recent or new events, past or remote events, or both. You may forget memories from a single event, or all events.
Memory loss may cause you to have trouble learning new information or forming new memories.
The memory loss may be temporary (transient), or permanent.
Memory loss can be caused by many different things. To determine a cause, your doctor or nurse will ask if the problem came on suddenly or slowly.
Many areas of the brain help you create and retrieve memories. A problem in any of these areas can lead to memory loss.
Causes of memory loss include:
- Alcohol or use of illicit drugs
- Not enough oxygen to the brain (heart stopped, stopped breathing, complications from anesthesia)
- Brain growths (caused by tumors or infection)
- Brain infections such as Lyme disease, syphilis, or HIV/AIDS
- Brain surgery, such as surgery to treat seizure disorders
- Cancer treatments, such as brain radiation, bone marrow transplant, or after chemotherapy
- Certain medications
- Certain types of seizures
- Depression, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia when symptoms have not been well controlled
- Dissociative disorder (not being able to remember a major, traumatic event; the memory loss may be short-term or long-term)
- Drugs such as barbiturates or benzodiazepines
- Electroconvulsive therapy (especially if it is long-term)
- Encephalitis of any type (infection, autoimmune disease, chemical/drug induced)
- Epilepsy that is not well controlled with medications
- Head trauma or injury
- Heart bypass surgery
- Illness that results in the loss of, or damage to, nerve cells (neurodegenerative illness), such as Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, or multiple sclerosis
- Long-term alcohol abuse
- Migraine headache
- Mild head injury or concussion
- Nutritional problems (vitamin deficiencies such as low vitamin B12)
- Permanent damage or injuries to the brain
- Transient global amnesia
- Transient ischemic attack (TIA)
A person with memory loss needs a lot of support. It helps to show them familiar objects, music, or photos.
Write down when the person should take any medication or complete any other important tasks. It is important to write it down.
If a person needs help with everyday tasks, or safety or nutrition is a concern, you may want to consider extended care facilities, such as a nursing home.
What to Expect at Your Office Visit
The doctor or nurse will perform a physical exam and ask questions about the person's medical history and symptoms. This will almost always include asking questions of family members and friends. They should come to the appointment.
Medical history questions may include:
- Can the person remember recent events (is there impaired short-term memory)?
- Can the person remember events from further in the past (is there impaired long-term memory)?
- Is there a loss of memory about events that occurred before a specific experience (anterograde amnesia)?
- Is there a loss of memory about events that occurred soon after a specific experience (retrograde amnesia)?
- Is there only a minimal loss of memory?
- Does the person make up stories to cover gaps in memory (confabulation)?
- Is the person suffering from low moods that impair concentration?
- Time pattern
- Has the memory loss been getting worse over years?
- Has the memory loss been developing over weeks or months?
- Is the memory loss present all the time or are there distinct episodes of amnesia?
- If there are amnesia episodes, how long do they last?
- Aggravating or triggering factors
- Has there been a head injury in the recent past?
- Has the person experienced an event that was emotionally traumatic?
- Has there been a surgery or procedure requiring general anesthesia?
- Does the person use alcohol? How much?
- Does the person use illegal/illicit drugs? How much? What type?
- Other symptoms
- What other symptoms does the person have?
- Is the person confused or disoriented?
- Can they independently eat, dress, and perform similar self-care activities?
- Have they had seizures?
Tests that may be done include:
Cognitive therapy, usually through a speech/language therapist, may be helpful for mild to moderate memory loss.
See: Dementia - homecare for information about taking care of a loved one with dementia.
Kirshner HS. Approaches to intellectual and memory impairments. In: Gradley WG, Daroff RB, Fenichel GM, Jankovic J, eds. Neurology in Clinical Practice. 5th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Butterworth-Heinemann; 2008:chap 6.
Luc Jasmin, MD, PhD, Department of Neurosurgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, and Department of Anatomy at UCSF, San Francisco, CA. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Health Solutions, Ebix, Inc.
The information provided herein should not be used during any medical emergency or for the diagnosis or treatment of any medical condition. A licensed medical professional should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any and all medical conditions. Call 911 for all medical emergencies. Links to other sites are provided for information only -- they do not constitute endorsements of those other sites. © 1997-
A.D.A.M., Inc. Any duplication or distribution of the information contained herein is strictly prohibited.
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August 20, 2012
- coddle (verb)
- What does it mean?
- : to treat with extreme care : pamper
- How do you use it?
- "Big Ma was not one for coddling any of us, but now she turned from the stove and, wiping her hands on her long white apron, sat down on the bench and put her arm around Little Man." (Mildred D. Taylor, _Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry_)
- Are you a word wiz?
The "pamper" sense of "coddle" comes from an earlier meaning that had to do with a special kind of careful treatment given to something delicate. What do you think was treated so carefully?We're not going to coddle you, just tell you that A is the right answer. When "coddle" first came to be part of the English language around 1600, the word meant to cook something slowly and gently in water that is just below the boiling point. Usually eggs are what's being cooked when "coddle" is used in this sense today, but when "coddle" was first being used, other foods, especially fruit, were also cooked by coddling. Because coddling is a very gentle way to cook something, such gentle treatment led to the extended meaning of "to treat with extreme care, pamper."
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This speciesis classified as Vulnerable because remote-sensing data indicate that there has been a dramatic loss of lowland forest across its range and that it is therefore likely to be undergoing a rapid population decline.
Distribution and population
Ninox odiosa is endemic to the island of New Britain Papua New Guinea where although it is rather poorly known, it appears to be not uncommon in suitable habitat. It is suspected to have declined rapidly in recent years owing to ongoing clearance of lowland forest (Buchananet al. 2008).
The population is estimated to be in the band 10,000-19,999 mature individuals, equating to 15,000-29,999 individuals in total, rounded here to 15,000-30,000 individuals.
Buchanan et al. (2008) calculated the rate of forest loss within the species's range on New Britain as 33.8% over three generations. Hence, this decline is expected to continue.
It inhabits lowland rainforest up to 1,200 m. It is thought to tolerate some degree of habitat degradation.
Lowland forest clearance on New Britain for conversion to oil palm plantations has been intense in recent decades and the island accounts for approximately half of Papua New Guinea's timber exports (Buchanan et al. 2008). Over 30% of suitable habitat has been cleared in the last 10 years and this trend is ongoing (Buchanan et al. 2008).
Conservation actions underway
None is known.
Conservation actions proposed
Identify and effectively protect a network of reserves, including some containing large areas of unlogged lowland forest, on New Britain. Continue to monitor trends in forest loss. Research its tolerance of degraded forest. Monitor populations in a number of primary forest and degraded forest sites across the island.
Related state of the world's birds case studies
thank you for your interest to save the Russet Hawk-owl (Ninox odiosa)
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In employment, a young person is someone who is over the compulsory school age but under the age of 18. In England and Wales, a person is no longer of compulsory school age after the last Friday of June of the school year in which their 16th birthday occurs. In Scotland, pupils whose 16th birthday falls between 1 March and 30 September may not leave before the 31 May of that year. Pupils aged 16 on or between 1 October and the last day of February may not leave until the start of the Christmas holidays in that school year. In Northern Ireland, a person is no longer of compulsory school age after the 30th June of the school year in which their 16th birthday occurs.
The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 (or Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000) requires you to undertake a risk assessment before a young person starts work or work experience.
Try to look at your workplace from an adolescent's viewpoint. What dangers will they recognise? They may not be fully grown - will they find the workplace awkward and the tools too big?
In particular you should look at:
- How the workplace is laid out (and the particular site where they will work)
- What type of work equipment will be used and how it will be used
- How the work is organised
- The need to provide health and safety training
- The nature of any physical, biological and chemical agents they may be exposed to, for how long and to what extent
- The risks from certain work hazards.
Work they cannot do because of their age
You must not allow a young person to carry out activities when you find that a significant risk remains in spite of your best efforts to take all reasonable steps to control it.
You must protect your young employees and work experience students from the risks of accidents or ill health which they are unlikely to recognise because:
- They are inexperienced
- They have not been trained
- They may not pay enough attention to safety.
The overall rule is that young people under 18 years old must not be allowed to do work which:
- Cannot be adapted to meet any physical or mental limitations they may have
- Exposes them to substances which are toxic or cause cancer
- Exposes them to radiation
- Involves extreme heat, noise or vibration.
Young people who are over the minimum school leaving age can do this work under special circumstances which are:
- The work is necessary for their training
- The work is properly supervised by a competent person
- The risks are reduced to the lowest level, so far as is reasonably practicable.
Children below the minimum school leaving age must never do work involving these risks whether they are employed or under the following special circumstances.
Work activities permitted for children and young persons
At 13 years of age the following work activities are permitted (14 years in Scotland, but local education authority bylaws are likely to permit children aged 13 to do the following):
- Delivering newspapers
- Shop work
- Office work
- Working in hairdressing salons
- Washing cars by hand
- Work in a cafe/restaurant cleaning tables (not in a kitchen)
- Light work in riding stables
- Domestic work in hotels
- Light agricultural/gardening work (not using machinery)
There are also very detailed restrictions on the number of hours a child can work which are greatly restricted in term time and on Sundays.
Whilst of compulsory school age the following work activities are not permitted:
- Selling/delivering alcohol
- Delivering milk
- Delivering fuel
- Working in a kitchen including: use/cleaning of food slicers, mixers, food processors, potato chippers; cleaning/draining and use of fat fryers; de-boning meat
- Use of chemicals including corrosive cleaning materials, e.g. oven and beer line cleaners
- Collection/sorting of refuse including use of waste compactors
- Work in telephone sales
- Work more than 1 metre above ground (on ladders)
- Work in a cinema/nightclub
- Work as an attendant/assistant in a fairground/amusement arcade
- Work as a personal care assistant of residents in a nursing home
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By Pauline Hammerbeck
It's been a doozy of a wildfire season (Colorado's most destructive ever), leaving homeowners wondering what safety measures they can put in place to stave off flames in the event of a fire in their own neighborhood.
Landscaping, it turns out, can be an important measure in wildfire protection.
But fire-wise landscaping isn't just something for those dwelling on remote Western hilltops. Brush, grass and forest fires occur nearly everywhere in the United States, says the National Fire Protection Association. Here's how your landscaping can help keep you safe.
Create 'defensible' space
Most homes that burn during a wildfire are ignited by embers landing on the roof, gutters, and on decks and porches. So your first point of action should be creating a defensible space, a buffer zone around your home, to reduce sources of fuel.
Start by keeping the first 3 to 5 feet around your home free of all flammable materials and vegetation: plants, shrubs, trees and grasses, as well as bark and other organic mulches should all be eliminated (a neat perimeter of rock mulch or a rock garden can be a beautiful thing). Maintenance is also important:
- Clear leaves, pine needles and other debris from roofs, gutters and eaves
- Cut back tree branches that overhang the roof
- Clear debris from under decks, porches and other structures
Moving farther from the house, you might consider adding hardscaping - driveways, patios, walkways, gravel paths, etc. These features add visual interest, but they also maintain a break between vegetation and your home in the event of a fire. Some additional tasks to consider in the first 100 feet surrounding your home:
- Thin out trees and shrubs (particularly evergreens) within 30 feet
- Trim low tree branches so they're a minimum of 6 feet off the ground
- Mow lawn regularly and dispose of clippings and other debris promptly
- Move woodpiles to a space at least 30 feet from your home
Use fire-resistant plants
Populating your landscape with plants that are resistant to fire can also be an important tactic. Look for low-growing plants that have thick leaves (a sign that they hold water), extensive root systems and the ability to withstand drought.
This isn't as limiting as it sounds. Commonly used hostas, butterfly bushes and roses are all good choices. And there are plenty of fire-resistant plant lists to give you ideas on what to pick.
Where and how you plant can also have a dramatic effect on fire behavior. The plants nearest your home should be smaller and more widely spaced than those farther away.
Be sure to use a variety of plant types, which reduces disease and keeps the landscape healthy and green. Plant in small clusters - create a garden island, for instance, by surrounding a group of plantings with a rock perimeter - and use rock mulch to conserve moisture.
Maintain accessible water sources
Wildfires present a special challenge to local fire departments, so it's in your interest to be able to access or maintain an emergency water supply - particularly if you're in a remote location.
At a minimum, keep 100 feet of garden hose attached to a spigot (if your water comes from a well, consider an emergency generator to operate the pump during a power failure). But better protection can come from the installation of a small pond, cistern or, if budget allows, a swimming pool.
Good planning and a bit of elbow grease have a big hand in wildfire safety. In a year with record heat and drought, looking over your landscape with a firefighter's eye can offer significant peace of mind.
- Are You Properly Insured for Your Real Estate?
- The Ins and Outs of Homeowner's Insurance
- Tips for Fire Safety in Your Home
Guest blogger Pauline Hammerbeck is an editor for the Allstate Blog, which helps people prepare for the unpredictability of life.
Note: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or position of Zillow.
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It is fair to say that the struggle for power in the USSR between 1924 and 1929 was partially to do with the economic policy because the way in which different members of the Communist Party treated the economic policy depended how much support they got from fellow members of the Communist party. However, there were other factors involved such as a lack of democratic elections, the nature of leadership and fear of a divided party.
You could argue that the struggle for power was due to the differing economic policies, this is because different key players in the power struggle wanted different things. For example, the Bukharinite model wanted gradualism – to allow market forces to drive the economy forward and so letting the peasants gain wealth individually. He believed this would lead to a prosperous consumer market and heavy industry that is centrally controlled, planned economy run by a proletariat dictatorship. This would please the peasantry and results in political and economic growth as well as increased trade. Trotsky and his leftist model agreed that the party must recognise the role of the market forces during the gradual change to socialism. However, in 1926 he became increasingly critical of the gradualist approach and didn’t approve of peasants who had no obligation to sell if the market wasn’t right and therefore wanted a slightly more capitalist approach to the economic policy so that the government had greater control over produce. This created a power struggle because different people wanted different things and approached economic policy in certain ways and whilst Bukharin was trying to ensure the happiness of the public, Trotsky was trying to ensure the wealth and growth of the USSR as a trade nation. Although these two models were important in why there was a power struggle in those years it is not the most important reason.
Secondly, you could say it... [continues]
Cite This Essay
(2012, 05). The Struggle for Power in the Ussr. StudyMode.com. Retrieved 05, 2012, from http://www.studymode.com/essays/The-Struggle-For-Power-In-The-994323.html
"The Struggle for Power in the Ussr" StudyMode.com. 05 2012. 05 2012 <http://www.studymode.com/essays/The-Struggle-For-Power-In-The-994323.html>.
"The Struggle for Power in the Ussr." StudyMode.com. 05, 2012. Accessed 05, 2012. http://www.studymode.com/essays/The-Struggle-For-Power-In-The-994323.html.
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- Cooking Time: 0
- Servings: 0
- Here are some recipes I have collected over the years and I am thrilled to share them with you.
- There are some dangerous dog treats which can be fatal to dogs.
- Even if you're creating your own healthy dog treats, you would like to look at out for sure ingredients. Here's an inventory of toxic foods you would like to avoid.
- Chocolate is one among a lot of renowned toxic human food a dog will eat. Here may be a list of different toxic foods.
- *Is Garlic Healthy or Toxic for Dogs?
- Naturaldoghealthremedies.com claims that garlic boosts immunities, fights infection, enhances liver perform, lowers blood fats, and repels ticks and fleas, nevertheless cautions that giant doses given to dogs on a daily basis will cause oxidative injury to red blood cells resulting in Heinz-body anemia and even death. They additionally caution that puppies below the age of eight weeks, dogs scheduled for surgery, and people with pre-existing anemia mustn't be given garlic.
- Dr's Foster and Smith of peteducation.com are in agreement that garlic causes a breakdown of red blood cells in dogs though they permit that garlic in terribly tiny amounts in some industrial pet foods has not been shown to cause any issues. Their web site states that a toxic dose is unknown which cats are a lot of sensitive to garlic than dogs are.
- Wikipedia says that green or un-ripened tomatoes should not be included in your dog's diet as a result they contain ptomaine, that is harmful to our pets; however red tomatoes are fine.
- It says that moldy food may also create dangerous dog treats.
- Small balls, toys, and chicken or turkey bones will be choked on by dogs. Cooked bones also are too brittle for a dog to eat safely - it's safer to stay to raw bones.
- If your dog eats an excessive amount of food, obesity can develop which may be fatal.
- If you're thinking that you pet has been poisoned by one among the on top of foods, then call your vet or the Emergency Vet - particularly if he's vomiting or showing signs of lethargy.
- How sick he could get can relies on the amount ingested. My pet has had tiny amounts of onion and garlic and it hasn't caused any issues. He once additionally stole an After-Eight! Mint, once more - this was simply a tiny low quantity of chocolate therefore he was fine. However it will pay to stay an eye fixed out - and keep the incorrect style of dangerous ingredients out of reach.
- As well as these dangerous foods, there are different ingredients that will not be terribly healthy for your pet. Dog food allergies will be caused by things like wheat or diary product. And similar to humans - an excessive amount of sugar can create an overweight pet.
- Grapes and Raisins
- Macadamia nuts
- Seeds (such as apple seeds)
- Turkey skin
- Green or sprouting potato skins
- Apricot – Stone
- Apple – Seeds
- Cherry – Seeds
- Peach Stone
- There are voluminous safe foods which will be used to create simple homemade dog treats. A few things, like pumpkin for dogs will truly be a super food.
- It is simple to keep your pet safe and healthy once you recognize what to avoid. Safe and nutritious treats, served up with love, can invariably be appreciated!
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The founders explicitly rejected direct democracy — in which citizens vote on every issue — in favor of representative democracy. The idea was that legislators would convene at a safe remove from voters and, thus insulated from the din of narrow interests and widespread but ephemeral passions, do what was in the long-term interest of their constituents and of the nation. Now information technology has stripped away the insulation that physical distance provided back when information couldn’t travel faster than a horse.Yes, one wonders what the Framers might have thought of free speech.
February 3, 2010
Says Robert Wright:
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A rising tide of drug-resistant staph infections
Spider bites and pimples that just won't heal.
That's how parents are describing their children's skin infections that turn out to be caused by a deadly strain of drug-resistant "staph" bacteria, says C. Buddy Creech, M.D., M.P.H., assistant professor of Pediatric Infectious Diseases.
Creech has been following the rising tide of cases of community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, MRSA, and he's concerned.
He describes deaths of children, particularly adolescents, who are healthy and then develop sudden, devastating disease.
"These are cases where a child has a fever on Saturday night, feels bad on Sunday, collapses in the pediatrician's office on Monday, and then dies. It's horrible."
Skin abscesses are the most common presentation, and recent MRSA outbreaks have occurred among athletes, prisoners and tattoo recipients, with the germ spreading through skin contact or shared items like towels.
Of the skin abscesses treated in the adult and pediatric emergency departments at Vanderbilt from Nov. 1, 2004 to Oct. 31, 2005, about 70 percent were
positive for MRSA, according to a study conducted by Thomas Talbot, M.D., assistant professor of Medicine.
These findings mirror the national scene. A study published this summer
in the New England Journal of Medicine reported that 59 percent of all skin infections among adults treated in emergency rooms in 11 U.S. cities in August 2004 were caused by MRSA.
"We culture every abscess now," Creech says. "Not only do we want to know if it's MRSA, we want to keep tabs on what MRSA is doing – is it becoming resistant to the drugs that we think still work?"
Physicians have been able to turn to some "old" antibiotics to treat community-associated MRSA, sulfa-type drugs like Bactrim that were not being routinely used because other germs had developed resistance to them, Creech says.
"There are two MRSA treatment arms right now – we still have a small number of drugs that are easy to give to people at home for uncomplicated MRSA infections, and we have several intravenous drugs, such as vancomycin, that we reserve for the critically ill patients."
With any of these antibiotics, Creech warns, "it's the finger in the proverbial dike. We will inevitably see resistance – it's just a matter of time."
Wendy Inman, a 30-year-old mother of three from Waynesboro, Tenn., knows about resistance firsthand.
She has battled skin abscesses caused by MRSA for the past three years. Because of repeated boils in her underarm area, both wearing clothing and letting her arms hang at her side have been painful.
Bactrim would help for only about six weeks, then the pus-filled cysts would return. She was referred to Vanderbilt's Patty Wright, M.D., assistant professor of Medicine, in June, and prescribed Bactrim and a decontaminating-cleansing regimen that has kept the skin abscesses at bay.
Twice a day, for the first week of each month, Inman cleanses with a surgical-type scrub and uses an antibiotic nasal ointment. She also takes diluted bleach baths twice a week during that week, and takes a daily dose of Vitamin C. "People who have never had this don't realize how bad this is," she said. "It's like living with a toothache, a constant pain. But, now, it's such a blessing to be free of pain," she says.
- Leigh MacMillan and Nancy Humphrey
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NEW YORK — Children of older fathers are known to be more at risk for diseases including schizophrenia and autism. Now, a new scientific look at the genes passed down within families may have pinpointed a reason why.
The study, reported Wednesday in the journal Nature, found that older fathers transmit more new DNA variations to their children than younger dads, with each added year of age resulting in an average of 2 extra new mutations. The genetic changes occur in men as they age because of environmental factors, such as radiation, or through mistakes that occur in cell division.
The research led by scientists at Reykjavik, Iceland-based deCode Genetics Inc., is the first to quantify the number of new, or de novo, mutations that fathers hand along by age to their children. The findings may suggest that dads-to-be should consider collecting their sperm at a young age and storing it for later use, according to Alexey Kondrashov, a professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
“If the paternal-age effect on the de novo mutation rate does lead to substantially impaired health in the children of older fathers, then collecting the sperm of young adult men and cold-storing it for later use could be a wise individual decision,” Kondrashov wrote in an accompanying editorial that called for further study on the issue.
Mental processes may be most affected, leading to illnesses such as schizophrenia, because more genes express themselves in the human brain than elsewhere.
The de novo findings suggest it may be “reasonable to assume that the ongoing increase in the incidence and prevalence of autism in many human populations could be due, at least in part, to the accumulation of mutations resulting from relaxed selection and a higher average paternal age — and not only to better recognition of cases,” Kondrashov said.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in March reported that one in 88 children in the U.S. had autism or a related disorder in 2008, the latest period for which data was available. That was a 23 percent rise from 2006, the agency’s researchers reported, saying it was unclear how much of the increase was due to increased awareness of the disease.
Genes are the blueprints for making all the proteins needed by the human body to grow, develop and work properly. DeCode Genetics’ group looked at the DNA shared by 78 groups of Icelandic mothers, fathers, and children.
A 20-year-old father transmits on average 25 new mutations to his child while a 40-year-old transmits 65, the study found. Mothers always transmit about 15 new mutations, regardless of their age, according to the accompanying editorial.
Men probably contribute more mutations because sperm have to divide many more times than eggs, which don’t actively split when women are of reproductive age, according to Kondashov.
“The only important thing when it came to explaining the mutations was the age of the father,” said study author Kari Stefansson, who is also the chief executive officer of deCode Genetics. “There’s very little else to be accounted for. That’s a stunning observation.”
Most de novo mutations are neutral, and all mutations in the genome were once de novo, Stefansson said by telephone. Once scientists determine the importance of de novo mutations relative to heredity mutations in autism, it will be easy to see how much contribution a father’s age has to the child’s health. That work hasn’t yet been done, he said.
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Erythritol is a sweetener made from sugar alcohols, manufactured to provide a low-calorie substitute for sugar trade, so it is a good alternative when used to sweeten foods without consuming many calories.
However, erythritol may also have certain health problems it is better to know before deciding on a sweetener which on the market.
What is erythritol?
Erythritol is obtained from the fermentation of the natural enzymes contained in the corn and wheat. Because it is a sweetener that the body becomes very slowly glucose, intake not entail risks of alterations in blood sugar, which in turn makes it an artificial sweeteners preferred by diabetics and can not eat sugar.
Negative effects of erythritol
But not everything is beneficial, and erythritol can also cause some health problems. Mainly its laxative reaction, which causes bloating and diarrhea.
While the negative effects depends on the individual and their metabolism, we can say as a general rule that the symptoms you mentioned are more likely in cases of high consumption of the sweetener and infant bodies. It is therefore advisable to pay attention to the recommended amount in each package, and not exceeded in proportion.
At the beginning of the article you were saying that erythritol has a much lower level of calories than conventional sugar and other sweeteners, but this does not mean that it lacks them altogether. It is estimated that each grain of erythritol may contain about 2.6 calories, so this information should also be considered for consumption because of an improperly made, in addition to affecting overall health, can cause weight problems or ruin your diet.
Erythritol and trans fats
You will also have to consider the other components that accompany a commercial sweetener erythritol. This is due to erythritol does not provide the same taste as sugar, so the companies add to the product other ingredients, like trans fat to improve taste and bring a touch sweeter.
This entails that, although we will be consuming less calories than traditional sugar, on the other side will be increasing our intake of fat, with its known harmful effects on the body.
It is best that you inspect each product carefully and read carefully the nutritional tables. Those sweeteners that contain Trans fats, should be discarded immediately, because this single ingredient decompensation other benefits that could have the erythritol.
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Preprocessing of Educational Institution Web Log Data for Finding Frequent Patterns Using Weighted Association Rule Mining Technique
In the Internet world, web search is mandatory to all. Millions of searches performed for each second in a web and that search information are stored in Web Server Log. Web Log data are massive and erroneous stream data. Handling huge data and incorrect data processing are two significant problems in Web Data Mining. Processing of huge data is a complex task, which increases processing time and memory occupation that will reduce the performance of the system. Incorrect data sometimes produce an erroneous result that reduces the quality of data. To handle this problem web Miner's has introduced several preprocessing methods to reduce the log data size and to eliminate incorrect records, which lead to improved quality, quantity and performance.
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Profile: In the late 1600s, King Louis XIV of France brought Breton and Norman horses to the region of North America now known as Canada. They are believed to be the ancestors of the modern Canadian Horse, which still possesses traits similar to the Arabian, Andalusian and Barb bloodlines that the Breton and Norman horses also displayed. These French horses bred with little interference for hundreds of years, and the resulting breed became known as the Canadian Horse, or Cheval Canadien. Met with harsh weather and sparse food supplies, the Canadian Horse became a sturdy animal and remains hardy today. In the mid-1800s, the Canadian Horse could be found in Canada and the United States, and was crossbred to improve the strength of other breeds. The Morgan, Tennessee Walking Horse, Standardbred and American Saddlebred are said to trace back to the Canadian Horse. Canadian Horses were exported to southern Africa for the Boer War, to work on sugar plantations in the West Indies, and for the Civil War in America. With this exportation and the introduction of machinery replacing horse power, the Canadian Horse nearly became extinct. The first studbook was produced in 1886 by a group of concerned enthusiasts, and the Canadian Horse Breeders Association was formed in 1895. Today, the breed is still listed as critical by the American Livestock Conservancy. Characteristics: The Canadian Horse has a beautifully arched neck with a long, flowing mane and tail. Its head is refined with a short forehead and small throatlatch. The chest is deep and the back is short and strong. Long, sloping shoulders and broad hindquarters give way to muscular legs with clean joints and bone structure.
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You are browsing the web and suddenly come across a page that displays numbers
instead of letters? You see four numbers inside a little box instead of letters? Well then you might just be missing a Unicode font. Here is a simple fix.
Those four numbers inside the little box are the hexadecimal code for the letter. If you have not got the font that translates those four numbers into a character or glyph you will only be able to see the number.
Here you can find a list of all Unicode fonts as well as a comparison of those Unicode fonts.
Having a look at the list, "GNU Unifont" clearly stands out with 63,446 characters 63,449 glyphs. As the name already suggests GNU Unifont is free to use and to download. You can get the GNU Unifont for Mac and Windows from here. Download the WinZip archive for Mac or Windows, it is 3MB in file size.
Once downloaded simply unzip the file and copy it to your systems fonts folder.
If you have trouble with that have a look here for Windows 7 users and here for Windows XP users. Basically in Windows the fonts are located at c:\windows\fonts.
Mac users can check this out to install the font.
Additionally here is a link to the Unicode 6.0 Character Code Charts.
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Dover Castle, Kent - England
Located at the shortest crossing between the UK and continental Europe, Dover Castle played a prime role in England's historical fortunes. Invading from France, William the Conqueror built the first castle in 1066 - an earthwork structure with a motte. Henry II did most to shape the building between 1179 and 1188, adding defences radiating out from the keep to produce Europe's first concentric castle. Henry II’s work was carried out with the help of Maurice the Ingeniator, and was completed by King John, resulting in a four-storey keep, a three-towered forebuilding and impregnable defensive walls.
From 1216-17 the castle was besieged by the French, standing up to the test, but Henry III strengthened the defences further. The outer curtain wall was completed, stretching to the edge of the cliff, and Constable's Gate was constructed - a cluster of different sized towers designed to command all angles of attack. In the 18th century, Colonel William Twiss added extra gun positions, and constructed Constable's Bastion, Canon's Gateway and numerous barracks and storehouses. Further additions were made in the 1850s, and Dover Castle played an vital role in the two world wars as a site for anti-aircraft guns and radar. The army remained in the castle until 1958, and in 1963 handed it over to the Ministry of Works for preservation.
The entry to Dover Castle, which includes two chapels, is the magnificent forebuilding. The significance of the three-towered forebuilding , can be fully appreciated, stretching along the eastern wall of the keep. It was around this stronghold that the concentric castle was developed and work was completed in the mid-13th century. Looming over the busy port, the centrepiece of Dover Castle is the Great Tower - the largest keep in Britain - a four storey building housing a basement, a first floor and a second floor spanning two stories. The outer curtain wall, with twenty individual towers, creates an outer bailey stretching to the edge of the cliff.
The Great Tower and forebuilding, viewed from the west demonstrate the vast size of Dover Castle, perched atop the cliffs overlooking the English Channel. Beneath the castle is a network of tunnels, a barracks during the Napoleonic Wars and a military command centre during World War II.
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Winter Around the World:
Whether you observe Yule, Christmas, Sol Invictus, or Hogmanay, the winter season is typically a time of celebration around the world. Traditions vary widely from one country to the next, but one thing they all have in common is the observance of customs around the time of the winter solstice. Here are some ways that residents of different countries observe the season.
Althought Australia is huge geographically, the population sits at under 20 million people. Many of them come from a blend of cultures and ethnic backgrounds, and celebration in December is often a mix of many different elements. Because Australia is in the southern hemisphere, December is part of the warm season. Residents still hhave Christmas trees, Father Christmas, Christmas Carols and gifts which are a familiar Christmas and gifts, as well as being visited by Father Christmas. Because it coincides with school holidays, it's not uncommon for Australians to celebrate the season on vacation away from home.
In China, only about two percent of the population observes Christmas as a religious holiday, although it is gaining in popularity as a commercial event. However, the main winter festival in China is New Year celebration that occurs at the end of January. Recently, it's become known as the Spring Festival, and is a time of gift-giving and feasting. A key aspect of the Chinese New Year is ancestor worship, and painings and portraits are brought out and honored in the family's home.
In Denmark, Christmas Eve dinner is a big cause for celebration. The most anticipated part of the meal is the traditional rice pudding, baked with a single almond inside. Whichever guest gets the almond in his pudding is guaranteed good luck for the coming year. Children leave out glasses of milk for the Juulnisse, which are elves that live in peoples' homes, and for Julemanden, the Danish version of Santa Claus.
The Finns have a tradition of resting and relaxing on Christmas Day. The night before, on Christmas Eve, is really the time of the big feast -- and leftovers are consumed the next day. On December 26, the day of St. Stephen the Martyr, everyone goes out and visits friends and relatives, weather permitting. One fun custom is that of Glogg parties, which involve the drinking of Glogg, a mulled wine made from Madeira, and the eating of lots of baked treats.
Christmas was typically not a huge holiday in Greece, as it is in North America. However, the recognition of St. Nicholas has always been important, because he was the patron saint of sailors, among other things. Hearth fires burn for several days between December 25 and January 6, and a sprig of basil is wrapped around a wooden cross to protect the home from the Killantzaroi, which are negative spirits that only appear during the twelve days after Christmas. Gifts are exchanged on January 1, which is St. Basil's day.
India's Hindu population typically observes this time of year by placing clay oil lamps on the roof in honor of the return of the sun. The country's Christians celebrate by decorating mango and banana trees, and adorning homes with red flowers, such as the poinsettia. Gifts are exchanged with family and friends, and baksheesh, or charity, is given to the poor and needy.
In Italy, there is the legend of La Befana, a kind old witch who travels the earth giving gifts to children. It is said that the three Magi stopped on their way to Bethlehem and asked her for shelter for a night. She rejected them, but later realized she'd been quite rude. However, when she went to call them back, they had gone. Now she travels the world, searching, and delivering gifts to all the children.
In Romania, people still observe an old fertility ritual which probably pre-dates Christianity. A woman bakes a confection called a turta, made of pastry dough and filled with melted sugar and honey. Before baking the cake, as the wife is kneading the dough, she follows her husband outdoors. The man goes from one barren tree to another, threatening to cut each down. Each time, the wife begs him to spare the tree, saying, "Oh no, I am sure this tree will be as heavy with fruit next spring as my fingers are with dough today." The man relents, the wife bakes the turta, and the trees are spared for another year.
In Scotland, the big holiday is that of Hogmanay. On Hogmanay, which is observed on December 31, festivities typically spill over into the first couple of days of January. There's a tradition known as "first-footing", in which the first person to cross a home's threshold brings the residents good luck for the coming year -- as long as the guest is dark-haired and male. The tradition stems from back when a red- or blonde-haired stranger was probably an invading Norseman.
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The wide variety of national origins and the USA's relatively short history has resulted in a rich blend of cultural and traditional customs. All Americans are renowned for their openness and friendliness to visitors. As a rule, dress is casual; although smart restaurants, hotels and clubs insist on suits and ties or long dresses. Smoking is becoming increasingly unpopular and is often considered offensive; in fact, it's forbidden on city transport and often in public buildings. There will usually be a notice where no smoking is requested, and most restaurants have smoking and non-smoking sections.
Most people are Protestant with significant Roman Catholic, Jewish and ethnic minorities.
Archaeological finds suggest that Florida had been inhabited for thousands of years before any European settlements. Juan Ponce de Leon, a Spanish conquistador, named Florida in honour of his discovery of the land in 1513, during Pascua Florida - a Spanish term for the Easter season.
Over the following century, both the Spanish and French established settlements with varying degrees of success. The area of Spanish Florida diminished with the development of English colonies to the north and French to the west. Great Britain gained control of Florida diplomatically in 1763 through the Peace of Paris, but Spain regained it after Britain's defeat by the American colonies and the subsequent Treaty of Versailles (1783). Finally, in 1819, Spain ceded Florida to the United States in exchange for the American renunciation of any claims on Texas. On March 3, 1845, Florida became the 27th state of the United States of America.
Until the mid-twentieth century Florida was the least populated Southern state. However, the local climate - helped by the growing availability of air conditioning - made the state a desirable location, and migration sharply increased the population. Economic prosperity led to the Florida land boom of the 1920s, which brought a brief period of intense development before the Great Depression brought it all to an end. Florida's economy didn't fully recover until World War II. But today, it's the most populous state in the South besides Texas, and the fourth most populous in the United States.
Before the American Civil War, when slavery was legal, African Americans made up nearly half of the state's population. This proportion declined over the next century, as many moved north in the Great Migration while large numbers of northern whites moved to the state. Recently, the state's percentage of black residents has begun to grow again. Today, large concentrations of black residents can be found in northern Florida (especially in Jacksonville, Gainesville and Pensacola), the Tampa Bay area, and South Florida (where their numbers have been bolstered by significant immigration from Haiti and Jamaica).
Florida's Hispanic population includes large communities of Cuban Americans in Miami and Tampa, Puerto Ricans in Tampa and Orlando, and Central American migrant workers in inland West-Central and South Florida. The Hispanic community continues to grow more affluent and mobile.
Whites of all ethnic groups are present in all areas of the state. Those of British ancestry can be found in large numbers in the coastal cities, there's a large German population in South West Florida, a sizeable Italian community in the Miami area, and white Floridians of longer-present generations in parts of inland and northern Florida. Native white Floridians, especially those who have descended from long-time Florida families, affectionately refer to themselves as "Florida Crackers."
As far as language is concerned, around 75% of Florida residents speak only English at home, while around 15% speak Spanish. Haitian Creole is the third most spoken language at around 2%.
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"Chatter": Language and History in Kierkegaard
Stanford University Press (1993)
|Abstract||'Chatter' cannot always be taken lightly, for its insignificance and insubstantiality challenge the very notions of substance and significance through which rational discourses seek justification. This book shows that in 'chatter' Kierkegaard uncovered a specifically linguistic mode of negativity. The author examines in detail those writings of Kierkegaard in which he undertook complex negotiations with the threat - and also the promise - of 'chatter', which cuts across the distinctions in which the relation of language to reality - and above all, the reality of 'existence' - is stabilized, and it therefore releases historical understanding from its established conventions. Chatter situates as well as takes the measure of the seminal importance of Kierkegaard for many of today's unresolved debates about the relation of language and philosophy to history.|
|Keywords||Language and languages Philosophy History Philosophy|
|Buy the book||$13.00 used (48% off) $227.35 new Amazon page|
|Call number||B4378.L35.F46 1993|
|External links||This entry has no external links. Add one.|
|Through your library||Configure|
Similar books and articles
Jon Stewart (2003). Kierkegaard's Relations to Hegel Reconsidered. Cambridge University Press.
Johann Georg Hamann (2007). Writings on Philosophy and Language. Cambridge University Press.
Angelo Mazzocco (1993). Linguistic Theories in Dante and the Humanists: Studies of Language and Intellectual History in Late Medieval and Early Renaissance Italy. E.J. Brill.
Matthew Lauzon (2010). Signs of Light: French and British Theories of Linguistic Communication, 1648-1789. Cornell University Press.
Michael Losonsky (2006). Linguistic Turns in Modern Philosophy. Cambridge University Press.
David Emery Mercer (2001). Kierkegaard's Living-Room: The Relation Between Faith and History in Philosophical Fragments. Mcgill-Queen's University Press.
Michael N. Forster (2011). German Philosophy of Language: From Schlegel to Hegel and Beyond. Oxford University Press.
Antony Aumann (2011). The ‘Death of the Author’ in Hegel and Kierkegaard: On Berthold’s 'The Ethics of Authorship'. Graduate Faculty Philosophy Journal 32 (2):435-447.
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Aleja wakes up very early in the morning, as she does every Saturday, to go to the market and buy the groceries for the week. She takes with her the same amount of money she usually does, but to her surprise she can’t even buy half of the things she needs.
At home, Aleja has five small children waiting for her to bring them something to eat. She is a single parent, mother of two sponsored children from Betel Student Center in the city of Oruro. She was abandoned by her husband and left with her children.
The family lives in a very small and dark room where they have three beds, a small table, some chairs and a small, wrecked shelf. Outside of the room, they use a small space covered with old pieces of calamines as their kitchen.
Aleja works washing clothes. She earns around $21 per week, and that is how she supports her family. She uses the money to pay the rent, the water, the electricity, the gas and buy the food and some things her children need for school.
Bolivia is experiencing a food crisis as a consequence of many things. Besides the inflation, there are other variables that are affecting the country.
When we have the “typical” unrests, immediately some food is “hidden,” so people speculate, and as a consequence the prices rise. This general rise of prices in basic food has affected everybody, especially those who need it the most.
“It affects my family because I can’t feed my children properly, I can’t provide them everything they need,” says Aleja.
Families have had to reduce the number of meals they have every day, because what they earn and what they have is simply not enough.
When people go to buy what they need for the week, they go back home with half, or less, of the things they were supposed to buy. It seems like money doesn’t have the same value anymore. It seems like money flies out of their hands. It seems like money falls out from holes in their pockets.
Sonia, the Betel Student Center director says,
“Many rather not eat bread anymore. They eat quinua (grain) or other things they bring from their crops. They eat chuño (dried potato) soup. They bring food from the country, like potatoes, chuño, grains, and that way they don’t have to buy things here.
For example, they don’t eat oat, lentils or milk. Things that are good for them, they can’t have because they are too expensive.”
The development centers have also been affected by this situation. Suddenly, the budget they had wasn’t enough, so they had to take some measures that also affected the children. They had to reduce the daily provision they gave the children in order to make the money last for the whole month. Sonia explains,
“We were very sad, because we started to give the children only one plate of food. One day they received soup; the other a dry plate. We also suspended special activities for the children, like field trips. Also in the material for the classes, we stopped buying some things.”
However, not everything is discouraging. Thanks to special funding through the Complementary Intervention Program (CIV), many children who have malnutrition will be helped by receiving extra nourishment at the student center.
This intervention will benefit 80 child development centers in Bolivia. They will work with all of the undernourished registered children, up to 18 years old.
Sonia says that parents are very thankful for this extra support they receive. They were already thankful for the meals, but this extra food can be considered an extra blessing for them.
They are very thankful; they come here and say that here they can have meals and a soft drink. Those are the only three days they can eat. At their home they don’t.
Children don’t miss a day at the center, even though many of them live far away and have to walk around one hour or more to get here.”
The children are very thankful, too. They might not express it with words, but their faces of happiness, when they receive their meals, say it all.
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Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are a group of diseases marked by abnormal production of blood cells by the bone marrow. Healthy bone marrow produces immature blood cells—called blasts—that then develop into red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. MDS disrupts this normal process so that the bone marrow is overactive, producing many immature cells. These blasts, however, do not fully develop into mature blood cells. As a result, patients with MDS have fewer mature blood cells, and those they do have may be abnormal and not function properly.
Any or all blood cell types may be affected by MDS, which is different from leukemia in which only white blood cells are overproduced. The direct effects of MDS may include:
- Anemia and fatigue if red blood cells counts are low
- Increased risk of infection if white blood cell counts are low
- Compromised ability to control bleeding if platelets counts are low
Failure of the bone marrow to produce normal cells is a gradual process. As such, MDS is primarily a disease of the aging and most patients are over 65 years of age. Some patients may survive with MDS while approximately one-third will have their disease progress to acute myeloid leukemia (AML). AML that develops from MDS is a difficult disease to treat.
The possible treatments for MDS, which may be used alone or in combination, include the following:
- Supportive care through administration of growth factors to stimulate immature cells to development into mature blood cells
- Destruction of abnormal cells through administration of chemotherapy, at either low, conventional, or high doses, depending on the condition of the patient and the aggressiveness of their disease
- Replacement of damaged bone marrow with healthy cells that develop into blood cells, a procedure called stem cell transplantation
Targeted therapy that may include the new drug Revlimid® (lenalidomide), which is thought to work by regulating the immune system
About this MDS Treatment Information
The information contained on this site is a general overview of treatment for MDS. Treatment may consist of growth factors, chemotherapy with or without stem cell transplantation, targeted therapy, or a combination of these treatment techniques. Multi-modality treatment, which utilizes two or more treatment techniques, is increasingly recognized as an important approach for improving a patient’s chance of cure or prolonging survival.
In some cases, participation in a clinical trial utilizing new, innovative therapies may provide the most promising treatment. Information about treatments for MDS that are being evaluated in clinical trials is discussed under Strategies to Improve Treatment.
Circumstances unique to each patient’s situation may influence how these general treatment principles are applied. The potential benefits of multi-modality care, participation in a clinical trial, or standard treatment must be carefully balanced with the potential risks. The information on this website is intended to help educate patients about their treatment options and to facilitate a mutual or shared decision-making process with their treating cancer physician.
MDS Treatment Sections:
Background: Normal Blood Cell Production
In order to better understand MDS and its treatment, a basic understanding of normal blood cell production is useful. Normal blood is made up of fluid called plasma and three main types of blood cells–white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets. Each type of blood cell has a specific function:
- White blood cells, also called leukocytes, help the body fight infections and other diseases.
- Red blood cells, also called erythrocytes, make up half of the blood’s total volume and are filled with hemoglobin, which picks up oxygen from the lungs and carries it to the body’s organs.
- Platelets, or thrombocytes, help form blood clots to control bleeding.
Blood cells are produced inside the bones in a spongy space called the bone marrow. The process of blood cell formation is called hematopoiesis. All blood cells develop from one common cell type, called a stem cell. Stem cells become mature blood cells by a process called differentiation. Immature blood cells are called blasts. Blasts grow or differentiate into mature red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. Once they are fully developed, these cells are released into the blood where they circulate throughout the body and perform their respective functions. In healthy individuals, there are adequate stem cells to continuously produce new blood cells and mature blood cells are produced in a continuous and orderly fashion.
MDS disrupts this normal process resulting in many blasts and few mature, healthy blood cells.
In order to diagnose MDS and plan treatment, a physician must evaluate the patient’s bone marrow cells to determine the specific type of MDS. The cells are removed through a technique called a bone marrow biopsy, which uses a large needle to withdraw cells directly from the bone marrow.
A special laboratory test is conducted on the sample cells, called a cytogenetic analysis. The purpose of this test is to determine whether there are abnormalities in the DNA of the blood cells. DNA contains the genetic code for the cell, which can be thought of as the instructions for what the cell looks like, what it does, and how it grows. Most forms of MDS and leukemias are characterized by specific abnormalities. Identifying these provides useful information about the patient’s prognosis, or duration of survival.
Types of MDS
There are several different types of MDS, which are classified by how the abnormal cells that were removed from the bone marrow appear under the microscope and how many blasts can be identified. At the time of bone marrow evaluation, cells are also removed for cytogenetic analysis. MDS is classified into five different diseases characterized by ineffective blood cell production in the bone marrow and varying rates of progression to acute leukemia. Following is a description of the five classifications:
Refractory Anemia (RA): Patients have low blood counts, bone marrow blasts are less than 5%, and sideroblasts (iron containing cells) are less than 15%. The average survival is approximately 43 months, but can be influenced by specific chromosomal abnormalities.
Refractory Anemia with Ringed Sideroblasts (RARS): Patients have low blood counts, bone marrow blasts are less than 5%, and sideroblasts are greater than 15%. The average survival is 55 months, but can be influenced by specific chromosomal abnormalities.
Refractory Anemia with Excess Blasts (RAEB): Patients have low blood counts, 1-5% blasts in the blood, and bone marrow blasts between 5 and 20%. The average survival is 12 months, but can be influenced by specific chromosomal abnormalities.
Refractory Anemia with Excess Blasts in Transition (RAEBt): Patients have low blood counts, over 5% blasts in the blood or cells in the blood containing an abnormality referred to as Auer rods, and bone marrow blasts between 20 and 30%. The average survival is 5 months, but can be influenced by specific chromosomal abnormalities.
Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia (CMML): Blood cells called monocytes make up more than 1,000 ml in the blood and patients have less than 5% blasts. Bone marrow blasts are less than 20% and the average survival is 30 months, but can be influenced by specific chromosomal abnormalities.
Planning Treatment for MDS
Since a stem cell transplant utilizing cells from a donor—called an allogeneic stem cell transplant—holds the most hope for cure, a major decision faced by patients with MDS is not whether to undergo transplantation, but when. Patients with MDS that is likely to progress to leukemia early—which results in shorter survival—may be willing to accept higher risks of treatment and proceed quickly to a stem cell transplant. Patients with MDS that progresses more slowly are likely to live longer and may wish to pursue a more conservative treatment approach, opting to use supportive care and wait a longer period before undergoing a stem cell transplant.
However, patients who choose conservative treatment approaches should always be prepared to receive more aggressive treatment in case their disease progresses more rapidly than anticipated. To prepare for a possible stem cell transplant, patients should consider arranging for a stem cell donor and/or having their own stem cells collected and stored shortly after diagnosis. This is important because as MDS progresses and treatment is initiated, it becomes increasingly difficult to collect stem cells.
In order to better plan treatment, doctors try to identify how quickly patients are likely to progress to acute myeloid leukemia (AML). A score is assigned that reflects this tendency to progress, and is based on a system called the International Prognostic Scoring System (IPSS). A higher score is associated with a type of MDS that is likely to progress to leukemia more quickly. The IPSS score takes into account three important factors in MDS:
- The percent of bone marrow blasts—more blasts contributes to a higher score
- Genetic abnormalities—more abnormalities contribute to a higher score
- Severity of low white blood cell counts—lower counts of white blood cells, platelets, and red blood cells contribute to a higher score
Relationship between a patient’s risk of progressing to leukemia and timing of stem cell transplant: Research shows that knowing a patient’s risk of progressing to leukemia is important for determining optimal timing of stem cell transplantation. Based on information about 1,000 patients who had been diagnosed with MDS, researchers from several U.S. cancer centers have determined that patients with a low or low-intermediate risk of progression to leukemia have better outcomes if their transplant was not performed at the time of diagnosis, but was delayed. Patients with a high or high-intermediate risk experienced optimal survival if they underwent an allogeneic transplant at the time of diagnosis, without delay. Furthermore, the patients with lower risk achieved optimal outcomes if their transplant was administered prior to progression of their disease to acute myeloid leukemia compared to after progression.
Overview of Treatment of MDS
The objective of treatment is to control the growth of the abnormal cells so that more normal cells can grow and improve blood cell production. Some treatments are designed to manage the complications associated with ineffective blood cell production, while others extend survival or even cure the disease.
Treatment of MDS is individualized and depends on two main factors:
- The severity of low blood counts
- The risk of progression to acute myeloid leukemia
Other factors that influence treatment decisions include patient’s age, other medical conditions, and the severity of the myelodysplastic syndrome.
The potential treatment options for MDS include the following:
Currently, only stem cell transplant utilizing cells from a donor—called an allogeneic transplant—can consistently cure patients with MDS. Other therapies are directed at prolonging survival and decreasing the symptoms from these diseases.
Cutler C, Lee S, Greenberg P, et al. A decision analysis of allogeneic bone marrow transplantation for the myelodysplastic syndromes: delayed transplantation for low-risk myelodysplasia is associated with improved outcome. Blood. 2004;104:579-585.
Copyright © 2013 Omni Health Media Myelodysplastic Syndrome Information Center. All Rights Reserved.
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In December 1992, Toutatis made a close approach to Earth. At the time, it was an average of about 4 million kilometers (2.5 million miles) from Earth. Images of Toutatis were acquired using radar carried out at the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex in California's Mojave desert. For most of the work, a 400,000-watt coded radio transmission was beamed at Toutatis from the Goldstone main 70-meter (230-foot) antenna. The echoes, which took as little as 24 seconds to travel to Toutatis and back, were received by the new 34-meter (112-foot) antenna and relayed back to the 70-meter (230-foot) station, where they were decoded and processed into images.
The images of Toutatis reveal two irregularly shaped, cratered objects about 4 and 2.5 kilometers (2.5 and 1.6 miles) in average diameter which are probably in contact with each other. These "contact binaries" may be fairly common since another one, 4769 Castalia, was observed in 1989 when it passed near the Earth. Numerous surface features on Toutatis, including a pair of half-mile-wide craters, side by side, and a series of three prominent ridges -- a type of asteroid mountain range -- are presumed to result from a complex history of impacts.
Toutatis is one of the strangest objects in the solar system, with a highly irregular shape and an extraordinarily complex "tumbling" rotation. Both its shape and rotation are thought to be the outcome of a history of violent collisions. "The vast majority of asteroids, and all the planets, spin about a single axis, like a football thrown in a perfect spiral, but Toutatis tumbles like a flubbed pass," said Dr. Scott Hudson of Washington State University. One consequence of this strange rotation is that Toutatis does not have a fixed north pole like the Earth. Instead, its north pole wanders along a curve on the asteroid about every 5.4 days. "The stars viewed from Toutatis wouldn't repeatedly follow circular paths, but would crisscross the sky, never following the same path twice," Hudson said.
"The motion of the Sun during a Toutatis year, which is about four Earth years, would be even more complex," he continued. "In fact, Toutatis doesn't have anything you could call a 'day.' Its rotation is the result of two different types of motion with periods of 5.4 and 7.3 Earth days, that combine in such a way that Toutatis's orientation with respect to the solar system never repeats."
The rotations of hundreds of asteroids have been studied with optical telescopes. The vast majority of them appear to be in simple rotation with a fixed pole and periods typically between one hour and one day, the scientists said, even though the violent collisions these objects are thought to have experienced would mean that every one of them, at some time in the past, should have been tumbling like Toutatis.
Internal friction has caused asteroids to change into simple rotational patterns in relatively brief amounts of time. However, Toutatis rotates so slowly that this "dampening" process would take much longer than the age of the solar system. This means that the rotation of Toutatis is a remarkable, well-preserved relic of the collision-related evolution of an asteroid.
On September 29, 2004, Toutatis will pass by Earth at a range of four times the distance between the Earth and the Moon, the closest approach of any known asteroid or comet between now and 2060. One consequence of the asteroid's frequent close approaches to Earth is that its trajectory more than several centuries from now cannot be predicted accurately. In fact, of all the Earth-crossing asteroids, the orbit of Toutatis is thought to be one of the most chaotic.
High Resolution Goldstone Images
These are 8 of the "high resolution" Goldstone images that are being used to produce a higher-resolution 3D model of Toutatis. (From Ostro et al., Science 270:80-83, 1995--© Copyright 1995 by the AAAS)
High Resolution Image
This is a close up of one of the high-resolution images of Toutatis. (From Ostro et al., Science 270:80-83, 1995--© Copyright 1995 by the AAAS)
Topographic Map of Toutatis
This is a topographic map of Toutatis. It is based upon the shape model of Phil Stooke which he produced using rendered images of the shape model by R.S. Hudson and S.J. Ostro and modified by him to fit the radar images. As with all maps, it is the cartographer's interpretation; not all features are necessarily certain given the limited data available. This interpretation stretches the data as far as possible. (Courtesy A. Tayfun Oner)
Shaded Relief Map of Asteroid 4179 Toutatis
This is a shaded relief map of asteroid 4179 Toutatis. As with all maps, it is the cartographer's interpretation and not all features are necessarily certain given the limited data available. This interpretation stretches the data as far as is feasible. (Courtesy Phil Stooke, NSSDC, and NASA)
4 Views of Toutatis
This image shows four frames of asteroid Toutatis that were obtained on December 8-10 and 13, 1992. On each day, the asteroid was in a different orientation with respect to Earth. One large crater can be seen in the December 9 image (upper right) that measures about 700 meters (2,300 feet) in diameter. (Courtesy JPL/NASA)
Computer Model of Toutatis
These images show a computer model of the Earth-orbit-crossing asteroid Toutatis. These views of the asteroid show shallow craters, linear ridges, and a deep topographic "neck" whose geologic origin is not known. It may have been sculpted by impacts into a single, coherent body, or Toutatis might actually consist of two separate objects that came together in a gentle collision. (Courtesy Scott Hudson, Washington State University)
Spin State of Toutatis
This image shows the shape and non-principal-axis spin state of asteroid 4179 Toutatis rendered at a particular instant. The red, green, and blue axes are the principal axes of inertia; the magenta axis is the angular momentum vector; the yellow axis is the spin vector. If a flashlamp was attached to the short axis of inertia (the red axis) and flashed it every 15 minutes for a month, it would trace out the intricate path indicated by the small spheres stacked end-to-end. If this process was continued forever the path would never repeat. Toutatis's spin state differs radically from those of the vast majority of solar system bodies that have been studied. (© Copyright 1995 by the AAAS)
Spin State of Toutatis on Nine Successive Days
This image shows the non-principal-axis spin state of asteroid 4179 Toutatis at one-day intervals (from left to right, top to bottom). The red, green, and blue axes are the principal axes of inertia; the magenta axis is the angular momentum vector; the yellow axis is the spin vector. Toutatis does not spin about a single axis. Instead, its spin vector traces a curve around the asteroid's surface once every 5.41 days. During this time the object rotates once about its long axis, and every 7.35 days, on average, the long axis precesses about the angular momentum vector. The combination of these two motions with different periods give Toutatis its bizarre "tumbling" rotation. (Courtesy Scott Hudson, Washington State University)
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Dust off Morocco and fires in Portugal
Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC
Saharan Desert dust (tan pixels) was spreading northwestward over the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Morocco on September 13, 2003. In this scene, the Canary Islands are visible in the lower left corner while the western tip of the Iberian Peninsula can be seen in the upper right. A thick plume of gray smoke is streaming westward from a large forest fire that had been burning in Portugal since the previous week.
This true-color image was acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), aboard NASA's Aqua satellite.
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Climate change is the defining human development challenge of the 21st Century. Failure to respond to that challenge will stall and then reverse international efforts to reduce poverty. The poorest countries and most vulnerable citizens will suffer the earliest and most damaging setbacks, even though they have contributed least to the problem. Looking to the future, no country—however wealthy or powerful—will be immune to the impact of global warming.
Climate change is not just a future scenario. Increased exposure to droughts, floods and storms is already destroying opportunity and reinforcing inequality. Meanwhile, there is now overwhelming scientific evidence that the world is moving towards the point at which irreversible ecological catastrophe becomes unavoidable. Business-as-usual climate change points in a clear direction: unprecedented reversal in human development in our lifetime, and acute risks for our children and their grandchildren.
In a divided but ecologically interdependent world, it challenges all people to reflect upon how we manage the environment of the one thing that we share in common: planet Earth. It challenges us to reflect on social justice and human rights across countries and generations. It challenges political leaders and people in rich nations to acknowledge their historic responsibility for the problem, and to initiate deep and early cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. Above all, it challenges the entire human community to undertake prompt and strong collective action based on shared values and a shared vision.
The IPCC2000 report, based on the work of some 2,500 scientists in more than 130 countries, concluded that humans have caused all or most of the current planetary warming. Human-caused global warming is often called anthropogenic climate change.
Industrialization, deforestation, and pollution have greatly increased atmospheric concentrations of water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, all greenhouse gases that help trap heat near Earth’s surface. Humans are pouring carbon dioxide into the atmosphere much faster than can be absorbed by plants and oceans.
It is expected that environmentally friendly methods of electricity generation will help to lower the CO2 being produced during power generation. Some of this methods include solar and wind energy power generators.
THE SUN IS NOT TO BLAME
It’s global warming, it’s climate change, it’s our fault, no it’s volcanoes… wait, actually it’s the sun! Or maybe not.
The arguments about climate change have been raging for years. Some say that the warming is a natural occurrence, some blame humanity and then others simply say ‘what warming?’ One idea now at least can be put to rest – the sun is not to blame.
It has been very popular to cite that the planet goes through many warming and cooling periods as a direct result of changes in solar activity. It sounds fair enough, if the sun produces more heat we get warmer. And this was very much the idea put forward by Britain’s Channel 4 in their documentary called ‘The great global warming swindle.’ There is one main problem with blaming the sun – it’s just not true.
It is true that up until about 1980 all the information showed that solar activity was increasing. This is exactly what they showed on all of their graphs, and it looks both convincing and logical. The sun was outputting more energy, the planet was getting warmer, bingo, we have our culprit! But this is just not the case, the trend in solar activity changed.
“This paper is the final nail in the coffin for people who would like to make the sun responsible for present global warming,” Stefan Rahmstorf, a climate scientist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany, told the journal Nature.
GLOBAL MEAN TEMPERATURES
Mike Lockwood, from Oxford’s Rutherford-Appleton Laboratory and Claus Fröhlich, from the World Radiation Centre in Switzerland recently published their paper in the UK’s Royal Society’s journal, stating clear evidence that the warming of the past two decades is not due to the sun – we need to look elsewhere.
Not only does the sun fail to explain any rise in temperature but it would actually suggest a cooling, as clearly stated in the abstract of the paper, “There is considerable evidence for solar influence on the Earth’s pre-industrial climate and the Sun may well have been a factor in post-industrial climate change in the first half of the last century. Here we show that over the past 20 years, all the trends in the Sun that could have had an influence on the Earth’s climate have been in the opposite direction to that required to explain the observed rise in global mean temperatures.”
COUNTERING GLOBAL WARMING
This study has compiled data about solar activity spanning the last one hundred years and have shown that solar activity peaked between 1985 and 1987.
“This is an important contribution to the scientific debate on climate change. At present there is a small minority which is seeking to deliberately confuse the public on the causes of climate change. They are often misrepresenting the science, when the reality is that the evidence is getting stronger every day. We have reached a point where a failure to take action to reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions would be irresponsible and dangerous,” said a representative of the Royal Society.
Even though one theory countering global warming has been overturned new ones will come up every day. People will continue to say that the whole idea of climate change is nothing but government propaganda and a dozen or so other conspiracy theories. Now more than ever it is important for the public to be properly educated about what is going on. There are far too many places citing ‘scientific’ reasons as to why global warming is nothing but a lie. And sadly, with the way the media and the internet works, this is unlikely to change. Let’s just hope the politicians listen to the scientists and not to members of the public who are being confused and misled by far too many sources.
SHEEP BLAME HUMANS
Two years after scientists concluded that a breed of wild sheep on a remote Scottish island was shrinking over time, a study released Thursday revealed why: milder winters tied to global warming.
Due to milder winters, lambs on the island of Hirta do not need to put on as much as weight in the first months of life to survive to their first year, according to the study in the peer-reviewed journal Science. As a result, even the slower-growing ones now have a chance of surviving.
“In the past, only the big, healthy sheep and large lambs that had piled on weight in their first summer could survive the harsh winters on Hirta,” lead author Tim Coulson, a researcher at Imperial College London, said in a statement.
“But now, due to climate change, grass for food is available for more months of the year, and survival conditions are not so challenging — even the slower growing sheep have a chance of making it, and this means smaller individuals are becoming increasingly prevalent in the population.”
EVOLUTIONARY THEORY UPENDED
The study upends the belief that natural selection is a dominant feature of evolution, noting that climate can trump that card.
“According to classic evolutionary theory,” Coulson added, the sheep “should have been getting bigger, because larger sheep tend to be more likely to survive and reproduce than smaller ones, and offspring tend to resemble their parents.”
The sheep on Hirta have been examined closely since 1985 and experts concluded in 2007 that average body size was shrinking. By this year, it had decreased by 5 percent since 1985.
Coulson’s team analyzed body-weight measurements and key life milestones for a selected group of female sheep. They then plugged the data into a computer model that predicts how body size will change over time due to natural selection and other factors.
The results suggest that the decrease in average size is primarily an ecological response to warming, the authors said, and that natural selection has contributed relatively little.
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These LEDs are connected to a thermistor that’s running just a little bit hotter than the ambient room temperature. So, by blowing on the thermistor, the birthday boy or girl is cooling it down, thus increasing the resistence. The microcontroller senses this and turns off a few of the LEDs as a result. Make one of these guys and you’ll never again have to worry about melted wax on your cake. For detailed instructions, head on over to Instructables.
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Robert Bridges, ed. (18441930). The Spirit of Man: An Anthology. 1916.
From Pulvis et umbra
Robert Louis Stevenson (18501894)
POOR1 soul, here for so little, cast among so many hardships, filled with desires so incommensurate and so inconsistent, savagely surrounded, savagely descended, irremediably condemned to prey upon his fellow lives: who shd have blamed him had he been of a piece with his destiny and a being merely barbarous? And we look and behold him instead filled with imperfect virtues: sitting down, amidst his momentary life, to debate of Right and Wrong and the attributes of the Deity .. To touch the heart of his mystery, we find in him the thought of Duty; the thought of something owing to himself, to his neighbour, to his God: an ideal of decency, to which he would rise if it were possible; a limit of shame, below which, if it be possible, he will not stoop .. It matters not where we look, under what climate we observe him, in what stage of society, in what depth of ignorance, burthened with what erroneous morality; by camp-fires in Assiniboia, the snow powdering his shoulders, the wind plucking his blanket, as he sits, passing the ceremonial calumet and uttering his grave opinions like a Roman senator; in ships at sea, a man inured to hardships and vile pleasures; in the slums of cities, moving among indifferent millions to mechanical employments,.. a fool, a thief, the comrade of thieves, even here keeping the point of honour and the touch of pity, often repaying the worlds scorn with service, often standing firm upon a scruple, and at a certain cost rejecting riches:everywhere some virtue cherished or affected, everywhere some decency of thought and carriage, everywhere the ensign of mans ineffectual goodness:ah! if I could show you this! if I could show you these men and women, all the world over, in every stage of history, under every abuse of error, under every circumstance of failure, without hope, without help, without thanks, still obscurely fighting the lost fight of virtue, still clinging, in the brothel or on the scaffold, to some rag of honour, the poor jewel of their souls! They may seek to escape, and yet they cannot; it is not alone their privilege and glory, but their doom; they are condemned to some nobility; all their lives long, the desire of good is at their heels, the implacable hunter ..
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Date: April 2003
Why does DNA decompose when heated to too high a temperature?
The most of the hydrogen bonds that join the two DNE stands break from the
heat. With more heat the actual bonds between the nucleotides can break
-fragmenting a strand.
Very few organic molecules can with stand high temperatures for very
long. Heat provides the activation energy to break covalent bonds and
denature/destroy molecular structure. Proteins are particularly sensitive.
There are exceptions, as in the case of thermophillic bacteria. There are
cases or heat shock-proteins or "chaperone" proteins that can protect
regular proteins from breakdown - to a point.
DNA doesn't actually decompose when heated. It just melts. DNA comes in two mirror image strands that you could visualize as a zipper. The chemical bonds that make up each strand of the zipper are permanent joins, but the teeth that connect the two strands are much weaker and sensitive to heat. So when you expose DNA to heat (for instance, by boiling it), the two strands of the zipper separate. By very slowly cooling that denatured DNA, you could actually get the strands to reanneal or zip up again.
Christine Ticknor, Ph.D.
Ireland Cancer Center
Case Western Reserve University
DNA in its native form is composed of two molecules that have the
characteristic of being complementary such that one strand associates
with the other in a particular fashion, forming a "double helix." The
two molecules are stabilized in this structure due to noncovalent bonds,
mostly hydrogen bonds and vanderWaals forces. These bonds are not
strong; accordingly, when the temperature rises sufficiently, the double
helix is said to "melt" into its two component molecules, and will
reassociate upon slow cooling under appropriate salt conditions. So,
the issue is not decomposition so much as disassociation upon exposure
to too high a temperature; and the reason for the disassociation is that
the energy input of the heat overcomes the ability of the noncovalent
bonds to keep the molecules together.
Heat "cooks" organic material, DNA or others, especially in the presence of oxyge. So
DNA can "burn" in the usual sense of the word forming CO2, N2 and other compounds. Even in the
absence of O2, heat can cause DNA, or other molecules, to change its structure either by losing
some degradation product, or just changing structure so that it cannot replicate. The
"technical" term for proteins is "denaturing", which is a catch-all phrase for "losing its
Chemical bonds have a certain stability based on the type of bonding. Some
bonds are quite strong The following are covalent bond strengths.
Bond Bond Strength(kJ/mole); Bond Bond Strength (kJ/mole)
Cl-Cl 239 H-Cl 427
H-H 432 C-H 413
N N 941 N-H 391
Bond strength can be overcome by adding heat...The GC and AT bonds in DNA
are hydrogen bonds (non-covalent) and can also be overcome with heat.
these hydrogen bonds are about 71 kilojoules per mole...relatively weak (but
strong in large numbers) and can be broken and reformed by heating and
cooling. This is the secret behind the polymerase chain reaction.
Click here to return to the Molecular Biology Archives
Update: June 2012
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Low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) occurs when there is too little glucose (sugar) in your child’s blood. It can be caused by skipping meals or snacks, eating too little food, or taking too much insulin or diabetes medication. A lot of physical activity can also cause low blood sugar, even hours later. In severe cases, low blood sugar can lead to seizures or passing out.
Everyone’s symptoms are different. Your child may feel dizzy, weak, hungry, headachy, or shaky. Your child may seem cranky or confused. If lows happen very often over time, your child may no longer be able to sense them. Encourage your child to recognize his or her symptoms and tell you about them right away.
Stay calm so you can better help your child.
Check your child’s blood sugar to make sure that it is low. If you’re not able to check, treat for low blood sugar anyway.
Give your child 15 to 20 grams of fast-acting sugar such as 3 to 4 glucose tablets, a glass of nonfat milk, or 4 ounces (½ cup) of juice or regular soda. Diet soda will not help at all. Chocolate, cookies, and other fatty sweets will not work as quickly.
If possible, recheck blood sugar in 15 minutes. If it is still low, give your child another 15 to 20 grams of fast-acting sugar.
Once your child’s blood sugar is normal, give your child a snack or meal to eat.
If your child’s blood sugar does not go back up, call the doctor or take your child to the emergency room.
Be sure your child eats meals and snacks on time, and eats before exercising.
Have your child carry fast-acting sugar.
Don’t inject insulin near a muscle that’s going to be exercised.
Check your child’s blood sugar often, especially after exercise and at bedtime.
Keep fast-acting sugars handy.
Check blood sugar often, especially after activity and before bed.
For severe low blood sugar, your child may need a glucagon injection. Ask your child’s healthcare provider about glucagon emergency kits for home and school.
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Narrator: This is Science Today. A new air sampler, which can effectively trap and evaluate fine particle pollutants in both their solid and gas phases has been developed by scientist Lara Gundel of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. This sampler can greatly impact future EPA air quality standards and lead to a definitive understanding of how pollutants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and pesticides, affect our health.
Gundel: I guess the innovations we made were a way to separate the gases and particles accurately and then to be able to collective measure particles and the gases separately and accurately.
Narrator: Gundel achieved this by coating an inner tube of roughened glass inside the filter with sticky resin beads, which were finely ground up until their pores were small enough to trap gas particles.
Gundel: We quickly decided that this new technology that we had, these new kinds of sampler designs, could be used in outdoor air, in general atmospheric questions.
Narrator: Gundel is currently collaborating with other scientists and the EPA to test this sampler at various sites across the country. For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
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"Have you ever passed a nail salon gasping from the chemicals seeping through the open door, while a dozen women patrons and their handlers are breathing in those same chemicals without a trace of discomfort?"
There was a time shortly before the human genome was sequenced that many believed genetic science was on the cusp of a medical revolution. Our sequenced DNA was thought to hold the key to understanding the onset of disease. Why are some children afflicted with autism? Why do some adults stop producing enough insulin? Why do some otherwise healthy individuals who reach their senior years lose mental functions and memory? Ten years after the human genome was sequenced, biomedical scientists have become more cautious in their optimism about how DNA sequencing will change medicine by revealing the existence of a disease years before its onset or by introducing new therapies with the tools of molecular medicine and stem cells.
The terms "gene-environment interaction" and "epigenetics" are now recognized as the clue to many disease conditions. The switches that turn genes on and off may be more important in understanding clinical pathology than mutations in coding sequences of DNA. These switches, which may stop or modify gene expression, are in the form of protein complexes that overlay the DNA code, such as histones or methyl groups, or the RNA interference molecules that reside in the genome.
On the website of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences we find the following statement: "A good part of who we are is 'written in our genes,' inherited from Mom and Dad. Many traits, like red or brown hair, body shape and even some personality quirks, are passed on from parent to offspring. But genes are not the whole story. Where we live, how much we exercise, what we eat: These and many other environmental factors can all affect how our genes get expressed."
Despite the growing awareness that environmental factors interact with and affect the human genome, most of the research remains focused on the mechanisms operating at the molecular level. Thus, there is much discussion about sequencing the epigenome to gain an understanding of the genetic switches or to probe deeply into non-coding DNA for discovery of RNA sequences that interfere or modulate gene expression.
Meanwhile, we know that around 100,000 people die from adverse drug reactions. Some people are highly sensitive to chemicals in perfumes or outgassing from carpets or plastic. The detoxification mechanisms of people vary widely. Without a sufficient quantity of enzyme production, our bodies cannot break down certain chemicals fast enough before experiencing harm. If we expect to make any major inroads into preventing the many environmentally-induced diseases, each of which may affect a small percentage of the population, then we must use the human genome and the epigenome to acquire an understanding of why some people are more adversely affected by environmental agents. What we need is a massive effort to unravel the "gene-environment" interaction in disease causation. We have over 100,000 chemicals in current industrial use. Many of these chemicals were introduced into commerce without much toxicological evaluation. It takes between 25-50 years to regulate or ban a chemical that has been shown to be harmful to humans. The United States has only banned about a half dozen chemicals over half a century. In part this is because the regulatory system is geared toward industrial interests. The government requires very minimal safety studies to permit a chemical into industrial use, but demands an extraordinary body of replicable scientific studies and cost-benefit analyses before a chemical is removed from the marketplace.
The one area where there have been major contributions in deciphering the gene-environment interaction is in the study of the genetic effects of ionizing radiation. Perhaps radiation effects on health is the low hanging fruit because of the mutations the radiation produces, although low level radiation effects remains highly controversial.
How can we learn what chemicals are adversely affecting the healthy human genome and what chemicals have differential effects on different genomes? How can we detect the detoxification potential of each individual toward a chemical? The differences in people's ability to detoxify a chemical may be the result of shorter genes coding for the relevant detoxifying enzymes, or the enzyme-producing gene is switched off.
Most of the commercial interest in the sequenced human genome has been focused on risk factors for certain diseases that are read from the individual's DNA. There is nothing in direct-to-consumer testing kits that reveals the cause of any disease other than what is encrypted in the code itself. And there are only a small number of illnesses where there is a one-to-one correlation between having a particular form of a gene and a disease, such as cystic fibrosis, sickle cell anemia and Canavan's disease.
Of course, a massive effort to determine how chemicals interact with the human genome may have unintended consequences. Instead of banning the chemical, it may result in a genetic classification of people-those hypersensitive to chemical X, those with peanut allergies, etc.-putting the onus on them about how to navigate through life. Many people have figured out they are hypersensitive to new carpets, latex or perfumes and learn how to keep away. But if we had a mechanism that showed us these people were not psychologically challenged but rather had a normal genome with less capacity to metabolize chemical toxins, we would have a new regulatory mechanism for removing the chemicals from the environment.
Biomedical scientists have been able to titrate chemotherapy agents to individuals based on genomic information. Gene expression patterns associated with sensitivity and/or resistance to chemotherapy may be used to help provide more effective treatment.
Scientists have used genetic testing to identify patients at high risk of bleeding from the drug warfarin. Two genes account for most of the risk. Recently, genetic variants in the gene encoding Cytochrome P450 enzyme CYP2C9, which metabolizes warfarin, and the Vitamin K epoxide reductase gene (VKORC1), has enabled more accurate dosing that takes account of the genome of an individual. Genotyping variants in genes encoding Cytochrome P450 enzymes (CYP2D6, CYP2C19, and CYP2C9), which metabolize antipsychotic medications, have been used to improve drug response and reduce side-effects. Pain killers like codeine affect people differently. Tests for certain enzymes (P450-2D6) can determine whether someone will be an ultra-rapid metabolizer of codeine, which could induce life-threatening toxicity.
If we can understand through certain enzyme pathways that individuals react differently to drugs and that some of us cannot efficiently metabolize certain chemicals, why couldn't we do the same for industrial toxins within the next 20 years? Once we learn that many people cannot de-toxify a chemical that bioaccumulates in their body, it provides new grounds for finding a substitute for that chemical rather than waiting a quarter century to complete hundreds of studies with mixed results.
Sheldon Krimsky, PhD, is Chair of the Board of Directors and a founder of the Council for Responsible Genetics. He is a Professor of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning at Tufts University.
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SULUJAM INDIANS. Although they were apparently native to the area lying between the San Antonio and Frio rivers south and southeast of San Antonio, the Sulujams were not encountered by the earliest Spanish travelers who traversed parts of southern Texas. They were first seen in 1709 at the site of present-day San Antonio. There is no indication that they had been displaced from some other area and had migrated into southern Texas. Sulujams are said to have entered Mission San José y San Miguel de Aguayo of San Antonio in considerable numbers when it was founded in 1720. As the registers of San José have not been found, no figure can be given for the total number of Sulujams in residence at the mission. A few entered nearby San Antonio de Valero Mission, whose surviving registers identify twelve Sulujam individuals for the period 1719–56. No Sulujams seem to have entered the remaining three missions of San Antonio or any missions elsewhere. It is generally thought that the Sulujams spoke a dialect of the Coahuilteco language, but this is not based on conclusive evidence. Nothing is known of the Sulujams' culture other than that they lived by hunting and gathering.
Thomas N. Campbell and T. J. Campbell, Historic Indian Groups of the Choke Canyon Reservoir and Surrounding Area, Southern Texas (San Antonio: Center for Archaeological Research, University of Texas at San Antonio, 1981). J. Jesús Figueroa Torres, Fr. Juan Larios, defensor de los Indios y fundador de Coahuila (Mexico City: Editorial Jus, 1963). Frederick Webb Hodge, ed., Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico (2 vols., Washington: GPO, 1907, 1910; rpt., New York: Pageant, 1959).
The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this article.Thomas N. Campbell, "SULUJAM INDIANS," Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/bms44), accessed May 21, 2013. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
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A predicate is part of a sentence or clause in English and is one of two primary components that serves to effectively complete the sentence. Sentences consist of two main components: subjects and predicates. Subjects are the primary “thing” in a sentence which the rest of the words then describe through either a direct description or by indicating what type of action that subject is performing. The predicate is this secondary aspect of the sentence and usually consists of a verb or adjective, though complicated sentences may have multiple verbs and a number of descriptions affecting the subject.
It can be easiest to understand predicates by first understanding subjects and how sentences are constructed. A sentence just about always has a subject, though it can be implied in some way and not necessarily directly stated. In a simple sentence like “The cat slept,” the subject is “the cat,” which is a noun phrase consisting of the direct article “the” and the noun “cat.” Subjects can be longer and more complicated, but they are usually fairly simple in nature.
The predicate of a sentence is then basically the rest of the sentence, though this is not always the case for longer and more complicated sentences. In “The cat slept,” the predicate is quite simple and merely consists of the word “slept.” This is simple because “slept” is an intransitive verb, which means that it requires no further description or objects to make it complete. The sentence could be expanded as “The cat slept on the bed,” but this is not necessary and merely adds a descriptive component to the predicate through the prepositional phrase “on the bed.”
In a somewhat more complicated sentence, such as “The man gave the ball to his son,” the subject of the sentence is still quite simple: “The man.” The predicate in this sentence, however, has become substantially more complicated and consists of the rest of the sentence: “gave the ball to his son.” This has been made more complicated because the verb “gave” is transitive, specifically ditransitive, which indicates both a direct object and an indirect object.
The act of “giving” requires that there is a direct object, which is the item given, and an indirect object, which is who or what it is given to. In this instance, the predicate consists of the verb “gave” and the direct object “the ball” with a connecting preposition “to” and the indirect object “his son.” Predicates can become even more complicated as an idea expands, such as a sentence like “The rock rolled off the table, landed on top of a skateboard, and proceeded to roll down the hill until it was stopped by a wall.” In this sentence, the subject is only “The rock,” which means that the rest of the sentence is the predicate.
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The unity between a man and a woman in marriage is an expression of the spiritual relationship that God desires His creation to realize with Him. The first marriage occurred nearly 6,000 years ago in the Garden of Eden, in the area of the world that we now know as the Middle East. The first couple was Adam and Eve, and the Lord Jesus specified that it was male and female that God joined together in marriage for life. (Matthew 19:4-6)
Marriage has been practised as such in most cultures across geography and time. Marriage is a life-long commitment, and typically this involves a public ceremony (a wedding) in which vows are exchanged by the parties and before God. Approximately half of all traditional marriages in America end in divorce, many due to Facebook and other liberal activities.
Dinesh D'Souza wrote:
- Marriage requires a) two people who are b) of legal age and c) not closely related to each other who are d) one male and one female. Note that this definition excludes people who want to marry children, or guys who want to marry their sisters, or Muslims who want to take four wives, or that strange guy who wants to marry his dog.
Bill Bennett wrote:
- Based as it is on the principle of complementarity, marriage is also about a great deal more than love. That "great deal" encompasses, above all, procreation. The timeless function of marriage is childbearing and child-rearing, and the best arrangement ever developed to that end is the marital union between one man and one woman ...
What Bennett's words ultimately imply is that, in terms of the value of marriage to anything which stands outside of it, marriage is most principally for the production of additional marriages, and, thus, is a progressive type of scale-invariance such as the Mandelbrot fractal.
So, marriage is the most glorious kind of relation between human individuals because it alone is what most essentially defines humanity. The good of humanity is defined as an integration of all naturally enduring mutual benefits between all free individuals. But, all those benefits are created-and-sustained by the existence of marriage as that one relation for the preservation of which is invoked the most special legal recognition, because...
...Marriage not only historically is the very first form of human society, it is logically the most beautiful, perfect, simple, and potentially productive human institution possible.
Biblical marriage advice
1 Corinthians 7:1-16:
|“||Now concerning the things about which you wrote, it is good for a man not to touch a woman. But because of immoralities, each man is to have his own wife, and each woman is to have her own husband. The husband must fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; and likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Stop depriving one another, except by agreement for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. But this I say by way of concession, not of command. Yet I wish that all men were even as I myself am However, each man has his own gift from God, one in this manner, and another in that. But I say to the unmarried and to widows that it is good for them if they remain even as I. But if they do not have self-control, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn with passion. But to the married I give instructions, not I, but the Lord, that the wife should not leave her husband (but if she does leave, she must remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband), and that the husband should not divorce his wife. But to the rest I say, not the Lord, that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he must not divorce her. And a woman who has an unbelieving husband, and he consents to live with her, she must not send her husband away. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through her believing husband; for otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy. Yet if the unbelieving one leaves, let him leave; the brother or the sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God has called us to peace. For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife?||”|
Modern marriage licenses
In the present-day United States, "getting married" typically involves a marriage license issued by the state government or a subdivision thereof (e.g., a county). However, marriage licenses are nowhere mentioned in Scripture; in fact, they are a relatively recent innovation and originally applied only to marriages that were otherwise forbidden.
Definition of marriage
For Christians, marriage has traditionally been seen as "a union that takes its distinctive character from being founded, unlike other friendships, on bodily unity of the kind that sometimes generates new life." As such, marriage is the one and only form of companionship from which all other forms spring: it is the single irreducible core of society.
Modern history of marriage law
- 1724 - blacks, with permission of their slave owner, given the right to marry (formerly, under British law, only whites could legally marry)
- 1769 - women no longer considered property of their husbands
- 1899 - polygamy outlawed in the US
- 1967 - interracial marriage legalized in all states
- 1981 - rise of community property laws as men no longer seen as the sole owner of all marital assets
Attacks on the institution of marriage
Any society which has lessened the sanctity of marriage has perished, whereas those that have upheld the sanctity of marriage have endured. It has been argued that Ancient Rome's decline and its eventual fall in A.D. 476 were due in no small part to a growing tolerance of extramarital sex, particularly of homosexual acts, beginning in the Late Republic period ending in 27 B.C.
Since the middle of the 20th century, Liberalism has sought to dismantle the societal pressures that dissuade people from engaging in extramarital and premarital sex. Removing the stigma from these behaviors, creating no-fault divorce laws, exalting adultery as liberating, rejuvenating, and "stimulating", and especially the de-stigmatizing of homosexuality all weaken the institution of marriage.
A recent Newsweek article complained that Biblical figures have not provided good historical examples of marriage, noting that Abraham begat Ishmael by a maidservant and Jacob had two wives and had sons with both of their servants. The article also criticizes Jesus and St. Paul for remaining single.
- ↑ Marriage between the sexes is a covenant, not a contract. Since time immemorial, some men disposed of a wife (woman) after her childbearing years to pursue a younger female consort. God, being a defender of women, ordained marriage by his perfect will to protect women's rights and not allow a man (male) to abandon them to homelessness and poverty with no marketable job skills other than homemaking or child rearing. This however, is not the only reason the covenant of marriage evolved between the sexes.
- ↑ See also Perfect will of God vs Permissive will of God.
- ↑ Article 7, "The sacrament of matrimony"
- ↑ "Basic Beliefs," Southern Baptist Convention
- ↑ "Marriage"
- ↑ Albert Barnes, Matthew 19
- ↑ Matthew Henry, Matthew 19
- ↑ "Because there is a natural complementarity between men and women - sexual, emotional, temperamental, spiritual - marriage allows for a wholeness and a completeness that cannot be won in any other way. (Bill Bennett, The Broken Hearth, Page 197)
- ↑ Divorce is within the permissive will of God, Deut. 22:13; divorce however, is due to sin entering the world, which God is willing to redeem. God himself in fact is divorced from Israel (Jer. 3:8-14; see also Is. 54:5), or for that matter, all unredeemed sinners.
- ↑ Gay Rights vs. Democracy
- ↑ The Broken Hearth, Page 197)
- ↑ Scale-invariance as a unifying psychological principle; 1999
- ↑ Information on marriage licenses from Mercy Seat Christian Church
- ↑ Gay Marriage, Democracy, and the Courts
- ↑ Is there anyone left to defend traditional marriage?
- ↑ http://www.newsweek.com/id/172653/page/1
- Form of Solemnization of Matrimony, an example of a traditional marriage service
- Civil marriage
- Marriage in the Unification Church
- Essay: The Irreducible Core of Politics
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CMS Web Guide (University of Michigan-Flint)
What is a CMS and how can it be used?
A CMS (content management system) is a piece of software used to effectively organize and manage large amounts of digital content. Content, in reference to the university's CMS, includes all web pages, documents, and other files made available via the university web site. The CMS makes it possible for almost anyone to easily manage web content, without needing to know how to write HTML (hyper-text mark-up language, the typical method for creating web pages). By using a CMS the university will also have an easy way to implement version control.
Once in place and properly utilized, the CMS will improve the overall quality of content (by reducing broken links, content redundancy, human error, and providing a more uniform appearance for ease of navigation).
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Some unknown terrible person shot a defenseless pilot whale last month, leaving it to swim the Atlantic in agony for weeks before it finally beached itself on the New Jersey shore and died. Authorities are still looking for the shooter. The bullet wound caused a fulminant infection in the whale’s jaw that prevented it from eating, so it basically starved to death. This was determined during a necropsy, an autopsy for animals.
Along with sympathy for the poor creature, this debacle aroused an interesting question: How does one autopsy a whale? With four-ton meat hooks, whaling knives and bone saws, actually. Michael Moore, a veterinarian and whale biologist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, does it all the time.
Moore spends much of his time studying North Atlantic right whales, an endangered species whose name derives from whalers’ adage that these were the “right whales” to hunt, because they’re easy to spot and float when they die. They’re no longer hunted for their oil, but they are entangled in fishing lines and injured in ship collisions, often suffering for a great while and also succumbing to starvation. “It’s the most egregious animal welfare issue globally at this time,” in Moore’s words. But protecting them requires understanding how they died, and to do this Moore must take them apart, studying their broken bones and lobster net-tangled flukes to determine their exact causes of death.In partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Moore deploys on-call, toting a case full of knives to examine right whales that have beached or are floating in the open ocean. Right whales are baleen whales and at least two orders of magnitude bigger than the toothed pilot whale that was shot, so in most cases, they must be examined right where they‘re found — that means on the beach. They either beach themselves and die there, or they’re towed to shore once they have been located at sea.
Moore and other rubber-suited biologists work amid 120,000 pounds of slick black-and-red whale flesh, clambering over and through the carcass to find out what went wrong. Time is of the essence, because the longer they wait, the more the animal’s internal organs break down, making it difficult to determine how it died.
Moore uses a Japanese whaling hook, which is useful for pulling back sheets of blubber to get at the animal’s internal organs. He carries a bone saw — formerly his mother’s — to get through jaws and vertebrae to find the location of a fatal injury. He’s even visited indigenous Alaskan tribes to study their ancestral whale processing techniques.
The pilot whale that died was small, so it was trucked to a necropsy facility at the the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine, N.J., down the shore north of Atlantic City. It weighed about 740 pounds when it beached, quite gaunt for an animal that should normally weigh more than a ton. Researchers knew something was seriously wrong, but they had to perform a necropsy to determine what it was.
The creatures are brought in on trucks and hoisted into the facility on chains rigged to the ceiling, attached to four-ton-rated meat hooks. They lay on negative-pressure steel tables, the same types used in human autopsy procedures, which suck out odors and pathogens as the biologists get to work. The lab also contains deep freezers for stringing up deceased animals; it harbors an overwhelming odor of chemical and organic substances. (It’s somewhat legendary at WHOI that Moore lost his sense of smell while in veterinary school, which he says enables him to get literally inside a rotting animal carcass without losing his lunch or his cool.)
The 11-foot-long pilot whale died shortly after authorities reached its side on the beach on Sept. 24. But it wasn’t until a necropsy a couple weeks later that they knew what happened. The bullet entered near its blow hole, but the wound had closed and faded a bit, suggesting it had been shot about a month prior. The .30-caliber round lodged in its jaw, causing the infection.
“This poor animal literally starved to death,” said Bob Schoelkopf, co-director of the Marine Mammal Stranding Center, in an interview with the AP. “It was wandering around and slowly starving to death because of the infection. Who would do that to an innocent animal?”
That question is now in the hands of the authorities. For biologists like Moore and Schoelkopf, necropsies can at least answer the question of how. Why, of course, is something else entirely.
Five amazing, clean technologies that will set us free, in this month's energy-focused issue. Also: how to build a better bomb detector, the robotic toys that are raising your children, a human catapult, the world's smallest arcade, and much more.
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ARCHIVED: Expanding Role for Genetics Counselors
The completion of the human genome sequencing launches a new era in genetic medicine. With the decoding of the letters that make up the recipe of human life an opportunity now exists for scientists to discover new cures for cancer, heart disease, drug addiction, neurological disorders and mental illness. In this brave new world of medicine, the human genetics counselor will play an increasingly important role as patients and doctors struggle with the impact of these exciting new breakthroughs. The Human Genetics Program at Sarah Lawrence College the oldest and largest training program for genetic counselors in the United States, is well positioned to take on this challenge.
Many ethical dilemmas have surfaced. For example, should people be tested to determine whether they might later develop a disease if there is no cure for that disease? Should fetal genetic testing extend beyond the health of a baby to screen for desirable physical and mental traits?
A recent study conducted by the Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington published in Genetics in Medicine, found that 70 percent of health care practitioners surveyed had discussed genetics with their clients. Yet fewer than 10 percent of those people surveyed - including physical therapists, speech and hearing therapists and social workers - were confident in their training in these issues. According to Dr. E. Virginia Lapham, the lead author of the study, a need exists to expand genetic education programs for health professionals.
"As the field broadens, the need for more counselors and more thorough training will also increase," says Lauren Scheuer, a genetic counselor at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York and a graduate of the Sarah Lawrence Program. "At the present time there are a finite number of genetic counselors in the field. As more and more complex medical information becomes available to patients and their families, there will be an increasing need for trained professionals to help sort out the all the issues and ramifications."
The two-year master's program at Sarah Lawrence began in 1969 and trains 25 counselors per class. Half of the nation's genetic counselors, including the directors of many other human genetics programs in the U.S. and Canada and in other parts of the world, are graduates of the SLC Program.
Genetic counselors work as members of a health-care team, providing information and support to families that have members who have birth defects or genetic disorders, or who may be at risk for a variety of inherited conditions, says Caroline Lieber, program director. "We identify families at risk, interpret information about the disorder, analyze inheritance patterns and risks of recurrence, discuss the risks, benefits, and limitations of genetic testing, review available options with families and provide supportive counseling," she added.
Human genetics counselors also serve as patient advocates, educators, administrators, researchers and resources for health-care professionals and the public. The importance of training in the field of human genetics counseling is demonstrated by the success of the Sarah Lawrence graduates. Genetics programs at major teaching hospitals, other colleges and universities, government agencies and corporations are staffed by Sarah Lawrence College graduates. These include the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York Presbyterian Hospital, Center for Disease Control, Glaxo Wellcome and Applied Genetics.
"This is a field with definite career opportunities and is well suited to individuals interested in being on the leading edge of medical research, and with an interest and commitment to helping others and making a difference." says Lieber.
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Indigenous Websites:Information Networks
Indigenous Websites: Opinion
Aborigines Milton- Ulladulla region
Produced in consultation with the Kupa Piti Kungka Tjuta, the Senior Aboriginal
Women from Coober Pedy, South Australia. Documents their knowledge of atomic
tests in the 1950's and 60's and their continued struggle against the proposed
waste dump in their traditional lands.
for Native Title and Reconciliation; their site has some great information,
and things you can join in on, - the Sea of Hands etc.
Events, newsletters, competitions and more, organised by ANTaR and Lets
Talk, all for the purpose of reconciliation.
Australia National reconciliation
body with partners in each State - includes archives of the old Council
sign in if you still want to say sorry...
Native Title Another group doing things,
including the Sorry Books, Sea of Hands, and Fax Direct.
National Public Discussion - Native Title and Reconciliation .
Media Coverage of Indigenous Issues:
ABC Indigenous Online
NATIONS) RECENT PRESS RELEASES Committee on the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination - in particular covering UN
comments on Australia's racism.
The Koori Mail
Excellent coverage of current Indigenous issues. It is a newspaper,
so students needing published articles: this is for YOU!
Australian Native Title Documents
World Indigenous Links:
back to AAR Homepage
text marked up by Sarah
last updated 12th Feb 2006
Begun February 1996.
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I’m struggling a bit to teach my children to pack for themselves. I want them to learn how to be self-reliant, but I also want to make sure they have everything they need for the day. If I don’t triple check every detail, they’re likely to be fully prepared for snack time but missing important papers or sports equipment. What’s the right thing to do?
Your desire to raise self-reliant children is fantastic. But there’s no doubt that passing the baton can be tough. The first question has to be: how old are your children? A good general rule of thumb is, if they’re old enough to read, they’re old enough to pack their own bags. Assuming your little ones are old enough, the most effective thing to do is give them some time frame to take complete responsibility for getting themselves ready, ask questions to help prompt them if you think they aren’t paying attention to something crucial, and most importantly, when things aren’t crucial (e.g. do they have the right uniform packed), letting them fail. Nothing teaches quite like experience. As you let go of the reigns a bit, here are some more ideas to guide you.
• Planning Starts the Night Before. Mornings are not the right time to teach your children how to pack themselves. You’re rushed, and they’re often bleary-eyed and grumpy. The ideal time to sit down with them, explain what you are trying to accomplish, and get them to start preparing for the next day is after homework but before TV time. That way you have time to ask them questions and offer un-stressed help in the initial stages. This is a process that will take time and spending time in the evenings helping them learn how to become responsible for themselves is time well spent.
• Explain as You Go. You need to develop a checklist with them and then go through the items. Don’t criticize or watch over the task being done. Accept that the task will not be done exactly the way you would do it but recognize that as long as it is accomplished and done on time, that it is okay. In the beginning, be prepared to patiently ask and answer a lot of questions! Why do emergency numbers need to be in the backpacks? Because you might need to call someone. Why does lunch have to be prepared? So that mom knows they are eating healthy and, besides, too much sugar will make them feel bad, Why do you keep asking about permission slips or projects that need to go with them? Because it’s important they do not miss out on something the rest of the class is doing. This is just a primer but you get the idea.
• Provide Feedback. Once the task has been completed, give constructive feedback to the person. As a guideline, tell your son or daughter five great things about the job for every one criticism. If after some time you notice they are consistently sloppy or forgetful, be patient but firm and make sure there are consequences for actions.
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|BEING PREPARED - READ ONLINE|
Winter storms may include strong winds, heavy snow, sleet, freezing rain, ice and/or extreme cold. Storms often knock out power, down trees, and make roads impassable for days. The weight of snow and ice can collapse buildings. Winds descending off mountains can reach 100 miles per hour. Ice jams in rivers can lead to flooding, and snow in the mountains can become an avalanche.
Winter storms are called deceptive killers because most deaths are only indirectly related to the storm. Nearly seventy percent of all deaths from ice and snow are due to traffic accidents on icy roads. The remainder are from exposure of people caught out in the storm, hypothermia, dehydration, and heart attacks from over exertion.
What constitutes extreme cold varies in different areas of the country. In southern and coastal areas, both the people and the buildings are unused to winter weather. Extreme cold may mean temperatures just below freezing (32 degrees Fahrenheit) because it damages crops, bursts pipes, brings down power lines and threatens people living in houses with inadequate heat. In the north and Midwest, winter storms are expected and few would consider it extreme cold unless the temperatures are below zero.
The safest place to be in a winter storm is in a building. If you live in an area that has severe winters, your house should be prepared. Start with an outdoor thermometer that is easily readable from inside the house. As winter approaches, install storm windows or staple over windows with strong plastic sheeting to improve insulation. Windows should also have heavy draperies that can keep out the cold. Insulate outside walls, attics and crawl spaces. Weather strip all doors. Wrap or insulate water pipes to prevent freezing. Remove and store hoses and cover the hose nipples until spring. Make sure your furnace is working properly and check all fireplaces or other secondary heating systems. As a bonus, all this will save you money on your heating bills.
As a winter storm approaches, there are additional preparations. Make sure that you have food and water for a week because it may be difficult to get out for several days after the storm passes. Fill your car with gas and check your emergency supplies. If you live in an area where winter storms are unusual, you may need to bring in hoses, wrap pipes and cover windows to improve your insulation.
During the storm, stay inside. Even if you lose power and heat, you will be safer in the house than in a car. Wear several layers of loose fitting, light weight, warm clothing so you can adjust to the temperature in the house. Wear socks and shoes. Get out mittens and a hat that covers your ears to use if you need them. Eat regularly and drink plenty of water, broth or juice to avoid dehydration. Avoid alcohol and caffeine since they make hypothermia and dehydration worse.
Reduce the temperature in the house to conserve fuel: 65F in the day and 55F at night. There will be very high demand on the natural gas and electricity distribution systems. If you use oil, your tank could run dry before you can get it refilled.
When using alternative heat from a fireplace, wood stove or space heater, follow all fire safety rules and ventilate properly to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning. Keep a fire extinguisher or bucket of water near the fire in case it gets out of control.
Open cabinet doors under sinks to keep the pipes warm and let all faucets drip a little to keep the water lines from freezing. If a pipe freezes, use a hair dryer to thaw it out gently, never a torch. Heat only the areas of your house that you are using.
If you lose heat, move everyone into one room to conserve what heat you can. Use an interior room with few doors or windows. A bedroom or dining room is usually a good choice. Seal off drafts by putting blankets over windows and towels under doors. Walk around or exercise to generate body heat and maintain circulation. Sleep in shifts. At least one person should stay awake at all times to make sure the others are alright. Watch for signs of hypothermia such as slurred speech, disorientation, or uncontrollable shivering. Let the authorities know that you are in trouble so they can get to you as quickly as possible after the storm.
Try to make sure your car will continue to work if you need it. Winterize your car in the fall. Keep the battery and ignition system in top condition, and keep the battery terminals clean. In long periods of severe cold, cars will be hard to start in the morning. If you don’t have an engine warmer, you can keep the car warm the same way you keep a person warm. Every few hours, start the car and run it until it is warm. Make sure the garage door is open to avoid carbon monoxide. When the car is warm, turn it off and close the garage. Put blankets over the hood and radiator. This holds in the engine heat and keeps the car warm enough to restart.
Use public transportation instead of your car, if public transportation is available. If you must drive in a winter storm, be very well prepared. If the car is parked outside, clean the ice and snow off the hood, roof, trunk and lights, as well as the windows. Warm up the car outside, never in the garage. Plan your route carefully, stay on main roads and plan alternatives if some roads are impassable. Call ahead so you are expected. Give your route and estimated time of arrival.
If possible, travel with at least two people in the car and travel only in daylight. If you have a choice of vehicles, take the one that is most brightly colored. Drive for the road conditions: do not speed; be cautious about passing; and remember that patches of ice can be virtually invisible. Make sure the car is fit for the road. In bad conditions, you should have snow tires or chains. Keep the car at least half full of gasoline and top it off before the storm hits. This reduces the chance of icing in the fuel line. Wear polarized sunglasses to reduce glare. Carry a cell phone and keep in touch with those at your destination.
Keep emergency supplies in the car all winter long. Along with the usual car emergency kit, you should have supplies for being stranded in the snow. These include several gallons of water, high calorie non-perishable foods, blankets, a change of clothes for keeping dry, a bright colored flag for the antenna or window, sand or cat litter for traction, a shovel, a windshield scraper, and a large coffee can with lid and toilet paper for sanitation.
If you get stuck in the snow, turn the steering wheel from side to side to clear away some of the snow. Accelerate slowly and see if you can get the car moving again. If this does not work, use the shovel to dig out the drive wheels and put some sand or litter under them for traction. If neither of these works, you are stuck.
If you have to stop, stay in your vehicle. You will quickly become disoriented in snow and cold. Try to find a place where you are partially protected by an overpass or tree line. Make the car as visible as possible: set out flares or triangles; lift the hood; put a brightly colored cloth or flag on the antenna or window; clear snow off the roof. Leave the overhead light on so you can be seen at night unless this appears to be running down the battery. In remote areas, spread a large cloth or the trunk mat on top of the snow to attract the attention of rescue planes.
Clear the snow away from the exhaust pipe, open the two front windows about 2 inches and run the engine and heater for 10 minutes out of every hour. This is usually enough to keep the occupants warm while conserving fuel and reducing the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning. Listen to the radio, charge the cell phone and turn on the emergency flashers while the motor is running. Roll the windows up just before turning off the engine. If you feel drowsy or nauseated, turn the engine off immediately.
Conserve as much body heat as possible. Wear all the dry clothing you have available. Huddle together if there is more than one person in the car. Use maps and newspapers as added insulation under the blankets. If they are dry, put the floor mats under you on the seat to insulate your back side. Keep your hands and feet inside your clothing and cover your head and ears.
Keep your circulation going and generate body heat by doing isometric exercises. Contract muscles in your arms and legs rhythmically. Clap your hands and move your legs. Sing and dance to the music in your seat. If there are two people in the car, alternate brief periods of sleep. You need to reawaken and exercise periodically.
Don’t go outdoors in a winter storm unless it is absolutely necessary. If you must go out, prepare very carefully. Stretch and warm up before going out. If you are shoveling snow, pushing a car, or walking in deep snow, you are doing heavy exercise. Avoid over exertion and take frequent breaks to warm up. Do not work up a sweat as this can lead to chilling and hypothermia. If you develop chest pain or shortness of breath stop immediately and go inside since these may be signs of a heart attack. Walk carefully. Falling on ice can cause disabling injuries.
If you are caught outside in a snow storm, the first thing to do is find shelter. If you can get to a building or a car, go immediately. If you are too far away from existing shelters, try to build a shelter. Prepare a lean-to, wind-break or even a snow cave for protection from the wind. Build a fire in the open for heat and as a signal to rescuers. If you can place rocks around the fire they will absorb and radiate heat to keep you warmer. Curl up and cover all exposed parts of your body to preserve heat and prevent frostbite of your fingers and toes. Stay as dry as possible. In extreme cold, do not let yourself go to sleep. If you feel drowsy, start exercising. This will wake you up and increase your body heat.
Once the snow storm has passed, do whatever you can to make yourself visible to rescuers. Dig out your car or tent so it shows up against the snow. Get out from under trees. Use a bright cloth as a flag. Stamp out “HELP” or “SOS” in the snow. Write the message with tree limbs or stones or anything that will show up against the snow. Don’t over exert yourself and don’t try to walk out. Let help come to you.
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According to Wikipedia, the definition of Earth Day is “a day early each year on which events are held worldwide to increase awareness and appreciation of the Earth’s natural environment.” Earth Day, started in 1970, and is celebrated nationally and in over 175 countries world wide. Do you celebrate Earth Day in your home?
My family and I love to celebrate our mother earth not only on Earth Day, but everyday. Each step we make in our home to become a greener family means we are doing that much more to reduce our carbon footprint. Cox Communications, my local cable company, wanted a way to reduce their carbon footprint as well so they started Cox Conserves in 2007.
Launched in 2007, Cox Conserves is the company’s national sustainability program that is designed to reduce Cox Enterprises’ carbon footprint by 20 percent. Cox Conserves seeks to reduce Cox Enterprises’ energy consumption by embracing alternative energy, conserving natural resources and inspiring eco-friendly behavior. The program engages each of the company’s major subsidiaries (Cox Communications, Manheim, Cox Media Group and AutoTrader.com) and encourages Cox Enterprises’ more than 50,000 employees and their families to engage in eco-friendly practices. For more information, visit: http://www.coxconserves.com/
How does Cox Conserves make a difference right here in Las Vegas?
How does Cox Conserves make a difference nationally?
Alternative Energy – Cox actively identifies opportunities to harness solar energy and employ fuel cell technology, annually preventing more than 17,400 tons of greenhouse gases from entering the environment through its alternative energy projects.
Energy Conservation- Across Cox Enterprises, programs are in place to conserve energy, including producing alternative energy, constructing eco-friendly buildings, greening the company fleet, conserving resources and recycling materials.
Waste Management- Cox Enterprises employs a holistic approach to waste management including waste reduction, strategic partnerships for e-waste and customer engagement.
Water Conservation- Cox’s water conservation efforts save more than 20 million gallons of water annually and return high-quality reusable water to the community.
How can you celebrate Earth Day everyday? 5 Tips for a Green Home!
- Reduce your junk mail stream by joining a no-send list. This is where my family is listed.
- Use compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs. They use 2/3 less energy than standard incandescent light bulbs and last up to 10 times longer. If every household in the U.S. replaced one light bulb with a CFL, it would prevent enough pollution equal to taking more than 800,000 cars off the road for an entire year. This was one of the first things we did when we moved into a new home.
- Buy bulk items. A family of four can save $2,000/year in the supermarket by choosing large sizes instead of individual serving sizes. This also reduces production of plastic wrappers and boxes. We love shopping our local super store.
- Avoid using non-native plants that may be invasive in your area. We have desert landscaping to help reduce our use of water.
- Skip pre-packaged items for school lunches and cut up your own cheese, meats and veggies to cut down on wasteful packaging.
Treat the Earth well. It was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children.”
~ Kenyan proverb
Disclosure: This post was written on behalf of Cox Communications. All my thoughts and opinions are my own.
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COMMON SENSE DEFINED
If we’re going to think about common sense I guess we first need to look for a definition. One dictionary’s definition is:
common sense: (kòm¹en sèns) noun: Native good judgment. [Translation of Latin sênsus commúnis, common feelings of humanity.]
I get from the reference “native” that a little common sense comes from experience and a little may be given to each of us by God. When I was a child, after getting caught for something I had done, I lost count of the times my grand-mother said, “Sometimes you don’t show the common sense God gave a jackass!” So, from an early age I was informed that God did give us some kind of sense that is supposed to be “native” to our being and that even jackasses have some of this gift. Once a person reaches an age where conscious thought actually occurs, we continue to show signs of a common sense that apparently comes from God. For example, testing has proven that all children have an inborn fear of heights. Without anyone actually receiving lessons, common sense tells a child that if they fall or jump from a high place, they’re only going to fly straight to the bottom and that, most likely, they will only get to do it once. Then there’s common sense learned from experience. As a child growing up in Florida, I once chased down, and caught in my hand, a rather large, brown spider. Notice I said “once”. Fortunately for me the lesson was only painful and not deadly. No one had ever told me that spiders would bite. However, from that point forward, without ANY outside instruction, I was always aware that anything and everything “might” bite. Viola! …. Another seed of common sense had just been planted to hopefully keep at least one fool from early disaster. Unfortunately, this aspect of developing common sense can be somewhat painful, and takes longer with some than others. It does not take much common sense for most of us to know that running into a brick wall full force will be an uncomfortable and unrewarding experience. I have a wonderful daughter, who for some unknown reason, when she was young, insisted on experiencing many of life’s challenges, first-hand, in an equally similar manner with the usual predictable results. ZOOM! SPLAT! OUCH! More than once, she got her nose bloodied, before her common sense finally began to start showing itself.
I don’t know just how much common sense God actually decided to give the jackass, or if the jackass tried, could he ever improve his station in life beyond being a politician; but I hope and pray that now, as an older adult, I have developed that which the Lord did choose to give me, plus what I have learned the hard way, to a level of being able to help my children and even grand-children, “fine tune” their own common sense, while experiencing fewer bloody noses.
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Before we may design a crystal filter it is necessary to know the crystal's data.
Unfortunately this information is not in the datasheet - or we have no datasheet
because the crystals were bought on a market some decades ago ...
Fig.1: A crystal, it's symbol and equivalent circuit
Fortunately these values may be measured using a small adapter - which may be built on the fly.
We measured our crystals using the circuit below :
Fig.2: Measurement Adapter
Fig.3: Measurement Adapter Schematics
The Capacitors used are Mica (Glimmer) obtained from www.reichelt.de
With a jumper either the short or one of the series capacitors ( 15 pF or 33 pF ) may be selected.
The tree positions of the jumper result in 3 different Transmission curves when using
a Network Analyser or Spectrum Analyser with built in generator.
( of course you may use a generator and a hf-voltmeter or anything equivalent ... )
The Amplitude response looks somehow like this :
Fig.4: Measured Amplitude Response S21
You will notice, that the maximum (fs) will move while the minimum (fp) remains constant.
With the short selected we measure the lowest frequency where Transmission
is maximum. The maximum ( with 33 pF selected ) is next and then the
maximum ( with 15 pF selected ).
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MYSTIC, Conn. (AP) — Oceanographer Robert Ballard, best known for discovering the Titanic wreck, has new plans to plumb the depths of the seas.
Ballard said Thursday that his latest deep-sea venture will send crews combing through the Black, Aegean and Mediterranean seas for artifacts from ship wrecks and ancient civilizations.
His research vesse set out from a port in Turkey last week on a four-month mission that will use four remote-operated vehicles and sonar technology to explore lost cities.
At a news conference, Ballard said that while he has a general idea what his crew might find, the exploration is about looking for the unknown.
"We're fascinated by extremely confusing parts of our planet and we say 'let's go there and see if we can figure it out,' " said Ballard.
The 211-foot ship, carrying a team of about 15 scientists, will travel through waters including the Hellenic and Aeolian Arcs, the Gorringe bank and the Straits of Sicily — a course that will take it near deep trenches, continental faults and cities under the surface of the Mediterranean that are more than 2,000 years old. The journey is expected to wrap up in November off the coast of Israel.
Ballard, who is also a professor at the University of Rhode Island, founded the Institute for Exploration at the Sea Research Foundation, the nonprofit environmental organization that also runs Mystic Aquarium. In addition to leading an international team that discovered the RMS Titanic in 1985 on the floor of the North Atlantic, Ballard found the wrecks of the battleship Bismarck and the PT-109 torpedo patrol boat that John F. Kennedy commanded during World War II.
The 69-year-old explorer said his ship will dispatch video and audio feeds from this newest venture to connect with the public as he pursues new discoveries. The material will be available online and at a theater at Mystic Aquarium, and teams of educators will rotate aboard the ship to host information sessions and explain the latest finds.
Mission co-leader Katherine Croff Bell said the live technology lets the ship expand beyond the knowledge of the scientists onboard.
"If we don't have the proper expertise on the ship we can call somebody on shore and have them be a part of the exploration in real time," Bell said.
Paul Johnson, an oceanographer at the University of Washington who has worked with Ballard, said these types of expeditions help stir public interest in deep-sea research. He said the voyage was not a traditional research mission and would likely involve a mixture of education, entertainment and "probably some science mixed in there."
The ship's primary mission is to make discoveries, not try to extract artifacts or disturb the seabed. For Ballard and the E/V Nautilus, that means setting themselves up for to find something new by planning trips over unusual or unknown areas.
"What really excites me is when you go looking for one thing and find something more important," Ballard said.
"So we are all about creating moments of discovery by trying to get a little lucky," he said.
On the Web:
E/V Nautilus website: http://nautiluslive.org/
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Language Instruction for Immigrant and Non-English Speaking Children
Title III of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 provides Federal financial support to state and local educational agencies to supplement English language instruction in order to ensure that all English Language Learners, including immigrant children and youth, attain English proficiency, develop high levels of academic language proficiency in English, and meet the same challenging State academic achievement standards as all Maryland students are expected to meet.
To comply with these requirements, the Title III office of the Maryland State Department of Education works with local school districts to ensure that quality, research based ESL programs are offered to language minority students.
Title III, Secs. 3101, 3102 Part A
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Darfur’s people are a complex mosaic of between 40 and 90 ethnic groups, some of ‘African’ origin (mostly settled farmers), some Arabs. All Darfurians are Muslim. The Arabs began arriving in the 14th century and established themselves as mainly nomadic cattle and camel herders. Peaceful coexistence has been the norm, with inevitable disputes over resources between fixed and migratory communities resolved through the mediation of local leaders. For much of its history, the division between ‘Arab’ and ‘African’ has been blurred at best, with so much intermarriage that all Darfurians can claim mixed ancestry. Identities have been defined in different ways at different times, based on race, speech, appearance or way of life.
An Independent Sultanate
At the heart of Darfur is an extinct volcano in a mountainous area called Jebel Marra. Around it the land is famously fertile, and it was here that the earliest known inhabitants of Darfur lived – the Daju. Very little is known about them. The recorded history of Darfur begins in the 14th century, when the Daju dynasty was superseded by the Tunjur, who brought Islam to the region.
Darfur existed as an independent state for several hundred years. In the mid-17th century, the Keyra Fur Sultanate was established, and Darfur prospered.
In its heyday in the 17th and 18th centuries the Fur Sultanate’s geographical location made it a thriving commercial hub, trading with the Mediterranean in slaves, ivory and ostrich feathers, raiding its neighbours and fighting wars of conquest in the surrounding region.
Darfur under siege
In the mid-19th century, Darfur’s sultan was defeated by notorious slave trader Zubayr Rahma, who was in turn subjugated by the Ottoman Empire. At the time, this included Egypt and what is now northern Sudan. The collapse of the Keyra dynasty plunged Darfur into lawlessness. Roaming bandits and local armies preyed on vulnerable communities, and Islamic ‘Mahdist’ forces fighting British colonial control of the region sought to incorporate Darfur into a much larger Islamic republic. A period of almost constant war followed, until 1899 when the Egyptians – now under British rule – recognized Ali Dinar, grandson of one of the Keyra sultans, as Sultan of Darfur. This marked a de facto return to independence, and Darfur lived in peace for a few years.
Colonial ‘benign neglect’
Ali Dinar refused to submit to the wishes of either the French or the British, who were busy building their empires around his territory. Diplomatic friction turned into open warfare. Ali Dinar defied the British forces for six months, but was ambushed and killed, along with his two sons, in November 1916. In January 1917 Darfur was absorbed into the British Empire and became part of Sudan, making this the largest country in Africa.
The only aim of Darfur’s new colonial rulers was to keep the peace. Entirely uninterested in the region’s development (or lack thereof), no investment was forthcoming. In stark contrast to the north of Sudan, by 1935 Darfur had only four schools, no maternity clinic, no railways or major roads outside the largest towns. Darfur has been treated as an unimportant backwater, a pawn in power games, by its successive rulers ever since.
Independence brings war
The British reluctantly but peacefully granted Sudan independence in 1956. The colonialists had kept North and South Sudan separate, developing the fertile lands around the Nile Valley in the North, whilst neglecting the South, East and Darfur to the west. They handed over political power directly to a minority of northern Arab élites who, in various groupings, have been in power ever since. This caused the South to mutiny in 1955, starting the first North-South war. It lasted until 1972 when peace was signed under President Nimeiry. But the Government continually flouted the peace agreement. This, combined with its shift towards imposing radical political Islam on an unwilling people, and the discovery of oil, reignited conflict in the South in 1983.
Darfur, meanwhile, became embroiled in the various conflicts raging around it: not just internal wars by the centre over its marginalized populations – many of the soldiers who fought for the Government against the South were Darfurian recruits – but also regional struggles. The use of Darfur by Libya’s Colonel Qadafhi as a military base for his Islamist wars in Chad promoted Arab supremacism, inflamed ethnic tensions, flooded the region with weaponry and sparked the Arab-Fur war (1987-89), in which thousands were killed and hundreds of Fur villages burned. The people’s suffering was exacerbated by a devastating famine in the mid-1980s, during which the Government abandoned Darfurians to their fate.
Bashir seizes power
In 1989 the National Islamic Front (NIF), led by General Omar al-Bashir, seized power in Sudan from the democratically elected government of Sadiq al Mahdi, in a bloodless coup. The NIF revoked the constitution, banned opposition parties, unravelled steps towards peace and instead proclaimed jihad against the non-Muslim South, regularly using ethnic militias to do the fighting. Although depending on Muslim Darfur for political support, the NIF’s programme of ‘Arabization’ further marginalized the region’s ‘African’ population.
The regime harboured several Islamic fundamentalist organizations, including providing a home for Osama bin Laden from 1991 until 1996, when the US forced his expulsion. Sudan was implicated in the June 1995 assassination attempt on Egyptian President Mubarak. Its support for terrorists and increasing international isolation culminated in a US cruise-missile attack on a Sudanese pharmaceutical factory in 1998, following terrorist bombings of the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam.
The Janjaweed: ‘counterinsurgency on the cheap’
Janjaweed fighters, with their philosophy of violent Arab supremacism, were first active in Darfur in the Arab-Fur war in the late 1980s. Recruited mainly from Arab nomadic tribes, demobilized soldiers and criminal elements, the word janjaweed means ‘hordes’ or ‘ruffians’, but also sounds like ‘devil on horseback’ in Arabic. The ruthlessly opportunistic Sudanese Government first armed, trained and deployed them against the Massalit people of Darfur in 1996-98. This was an established strategy by which the Government used ethnic militias to fight as proxy forces for them. It allowed the Government to fight local wars cheaply, and also to deny it was behind the conflict, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
The Comprehensive Peace Agreement
When President George W Bush came to power in 2000, US policy shifted from isolationism to engagement with Sudan. After 11 September 2001 Bashir ‘fell into line’, started to co-operate with the US in their ‘war on terror’ and a peace process began in earnest in the South. After years of painstaking negotiations, and under substantial pressure from the US, in January 2005 a Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) was signed between the Government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), ending 21 years of bloody war which killed two million people, displaced another four million and razed southern Sudan to the ground.
A surprisingly favourable deal for the South, the CPA included a power-sharing agreement leading up to a referendum on independence for the South in 2011, a 50-50 share of the profits from its lucrative oilfields, national elections in 2009, and 10,000 UN peacekeepers to oversee the agreement’s implementation. But the ‘comprehensive’ deal completely ignored Darfur, catalyzing the conflict that is currently engulfing the region.
The rebels attack
Rebellion had been brewing in marginalized, poverty-stricken Darfur for years. After decades in the political wilderness, being left out of the peace negotiations was the final straw. Inspired by the SPLA’s success, rebel attacks against Government targets became increasingly frequent as two main rebel groups emerged – the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM). By early 2003 they had formed an alliance. Attacks on garrisons, and a joint attack in April on an airbase that reduced several Government planes and helicopters to ashes, were causing serious damage and running rings around the Sudanese army.
Facing the prospect of its control over the entire country unravelling, in 2003 the Government decided to counterattack. Manipulating ethnic tensions that had flared up in Darfur around access to increasingly scarce land and water resources, they unleashed the Janjaweed to attack communities they claimed had links to the rebels.
Julie Flint and Alex de Waal, Darfur: a Short History of a Long War, Zed Books, 2005; Ruth Iyob and Gilbert M. Khadiagala, Sudan: The Elusive Quest for Peace, Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2006; Douglas H. Johnson, The Root Causes of Sudan’s Civil Wars, Indiana University Press, 2006; Gerard Prunier, Darfur: The Ambiguous Genocide, Cornell University Press, 2007; www.wikipedia.org
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| Quote #1
Richard's first mention of his relation to his family prepares us for the way family will function in the play. Richard speaks of deceiving one brother to imprison the other. He even explicitly compares himself to his brother Edward, saying that he is all the evil that Edward is not. Thus we get the hint that family will not be about the ties and the love that bind people. Instead, it's just one more instrument Richard will use to manipulate and spread his hate.
| Quote #2
Richard implicitly draws a comparison between himself and Anne's dead husband, the murdered Prince Edward, by pointing out their old family connection. By invoking the Plantagenet name, Richard goes far back to the original family from which the two warring houses, Lancaster and York, sprang. Amidst all the animosity in the play, it's easy to forget that the warring Lancasters and Yorks are actually related by blood (hence the dispute). Remembering the family connection between the Lancasters and Yorks also makes all the quarreling within the York family a bit more understandable. Being family doesn't guarantee allegiance. Fighting within the family is common, hence the Wars of the Roses.
| Quote #3
Margaret represents the old guard that the Yorks defeated to come to power. As they turn from their in-fighting to attack her, we get a rare glimpse of family loyalty and unity amongst those related to King Edward.
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EAU CLAIRE, Wis. — David Ciresi, M.D., describes himself as a “safety fanatic.” The trauma surgeon at Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire, a Level II Trauma Center, also is an avid bow hunter.
Because of his job, Dr. Ciresi and his colleagues will see about 10 patients a year with major injuries related to tree stands — head or spinal cord injury, broken bones or hypothermia.
“All these things are 100 percent preventable,” Dr. Ciresi said.
So, Dr. Ciresi filmed a tree stand safety video, posted on YouTube, to offer tips to hunters, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bhg58pMNxLM.
The video follows Dr. Ciresi in the woods to show how to use a five-point harness, which holds hunters from below as well as from above, as opposed to using a strap across the chest.
“Don’t think it won’t happen to you,” Dr. Ciresi said of potential tree stand falls. “The only way to protect yourself is to prepare ahead of time.”
Besides using a harness, other hunter safety tips include:
• Tell someone where you’re going: Draw a map if you’re hunting somewhere unfamiliar to them.
• Carry global positioning system (GPS) navigation and a cell phone: Technology can be helpful to lost or injured hunters but may not always work in the woods. Injuries can limit hunters’ ability to use their arms or legs, so relying solely on a cell phone to call for help is not sufficient.
• Keep alert: Staying up late or drinking to excess the night before a hunt can lead to injury.
• Watch the weather: Be aware of conditions. A snow-covered tree stand, for example, can lead to a fall.
• Know your limitations: If you’re too heavy or too weak, a tree stand may not be appropriate for you. A ground blind can be as effective for hunting as a treestand.
With planning and precaution, hunters can enjoy their time outdoors, Dr. Ciresi said. “Have fun, be safe and good luck hunting.”
# # #
Mayo Clinic Health System consists of Mayo-owned clinics, hospitals and other health care facilities that serve the health care needs of people in 70 communities in Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin. The community-based providers, paired with the resources and expertise of Mayo Clinic, enable patients in the region to receive the highest-quality health care close to home.
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Mount Hope Cemetery: Restoring history
If you visit the Chinese Immigrant Memorial at Mount Hope Cemetery in Mattapan, Mass, you will notice that a lot of the headstones are in poor condition. This is due to aging, but it is also because of vandalism and lack of care for many years. Many of these headstones belong to the Chinese immigrants that created the Chinatown that we are able to enjoy today.
The first Chinese settlers of Boston Chinatown came from San Francisco, Ca, to North Adams, MA around the 1870s. These settlers consisted of about 75 workers who started working at the Sampson Shoe Factory in North Adams and later traveled to Boston. Chinese laundries and Chinese restaurants were soon established along Harrison Avenue. Overtime, Chinatown slowly began to evolve to include many other infamous streets such as Kneeland Street and Hudson Street.
Like many immigrants, the Chinese Settlers came to the United States for a better life for themselves and their family. Unfortunately, many of the early settlers were bachelors who did not have families in the United States nor were they able to have a family before they deceased. Many of these settlers that passed away were buried in Mount Hope.
Without family members, these headstones remained in Mount Hope Cemetery for decades without proper care. As any item with age, the heads stone deteriorated and some were even vandalized. Perhaps, it was fate for us to keep our history when the cemetery experienced financial burden which led the city to contact the Chinatown community. This attention was brought to two active members of the Chinatown community, Davis Woo and David S.Y. Wong, in 1989. And in 1992, when The Chinese Historical Society of New England (CHSNE) was established, they began the project to restore history. CHSNE and along with many efforts of volunteers had started a project in hopes to restore these burial grounds, build a memorial alter, and find a way to restore the damaged tombstones. With ambition and hard work, CHSNE and volunteers alike were able to raise an amazing amount of money.
On March 2007, the Chinese Immigrant Memorial was complete.
Although the Chinese Immigrant Memorial is complete, many efforts are still involved in this project. Every year, a group of students from UMASS Boston (UMB), led by Peter Kiang, Director of the Asian American Studies Program at UMB and co-president of CHSNE, try to maintain and clean the Chinese Immigrant Memorial. In addition, since the tombstones are privately owned by the descendants of the Chinese setters, it is considered private property. Currently, efforts are being made to contact these descendants. However, if efforts has been made but failed, these tombstones could be replaced.
For more information or if you would like to volunteer, please contact CHSNE: (617)338-4339 or email@example.com.
This post is also available in: Chinese
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Fundamentals of Business Finance
Durée de l'évènement:
Page d'accueil du programme:
Event focal point email:
Autres infos sur l'évènement:
This course is designed for both officials and businessmen who are interested in learning the basics of investments and finance as needed in a modern environment. It represents a departure from available academic courses as it is directly centred on the typical challenges that are faced every day by officials involved with trade promotion and business development as well as young entrepreneurs.
It covers, in intuitive plain language, basic concepts needed to understand modern finance for enterprises in a normal and efficient business environment. From modern and practical perspectives, it covers notions of finance and accounting sufficient to understand balance sheets, short and long-term credit, equity and investments, cash as well as sustainable profits, return to shareholders, areas of financial risks and available insurances. It also provides an idea where to look for sources of funds, what to ask and finally understand offers and contracts.
This practical course on the fundamentals of business finance will allow participants to face all those business situations in which finance plays a role, let it be for starting a business, acquiring a production tool or contributing to the promotion of a country business environment. It also helps participants to understand and act at present times when the global finance is going through critical times.
At the end of the course, the participants should be able to:
- Explain with accuracy the main issues relating to modern business finance such as but not limited to, starting a business, acquiring a production tool, or contributing to the promotion of a country business environment;
- Identify the essential accounting needs including the preparation of cash flow, profit and loss, balance sheets, and the basics of forecasting, target and ratios;
- Interpret financial, economic, and social results;
- Analyze existing financial needs - short vs. long-term credit, equity, investments, cash as well as sustainable profits, return to shareholders, areas of financial risks and available insurances, financing tools, and banking products; and
- Analyze a presentation and business plan with strategies on how to deal with banks, or develop a plan on how to renegotiate existing contracts.
Contenu et structure
The course consists of the following modules:
Module 1: Understanding and planning a business and its financial implications
Module 2: Examining financial options and identifying sources of finance
Module 3: Dealing with financial institutions
Module 4: Financial results, economic, social Results: protective measures to weather the crisis
In order to ensure the best possible outreach, the course will be delivered through e-learning. Through a multiple-instructional setting, the goal is to achieve the learning objectives by means of learning technologies that match personal learning styles and by the inclusion of non-linear learning that aims at the development of just-in-time skills of adult learners. At the same time, in order to allow participants maximum flexibility of scheduling , the learning will be conducted in an asynchronous manner. Using a state-of-the-art training architecture, UNITAR will combine self-learning with assessments and online discussions. The pedagogy - adapted specifically to professionals in full-time work - will help train participants through various experiences: absorb (read); do (activity); interact (socialize); reflect (relate to one’s own reality).
This course is designed for private sector managers and entrepreneurs in industrial as well developing countries, government officials, typically at ministry of trade, finance, economy and/or planning levels, diplomats and trade representatives, and national and international experts involved in trade and finance negotiations.
A certificate of completion will be issued by UNITAR to all participants who complete the course-related assignments and assessments successfully. Course schedule is subject to change. Course fee is non-refundable but transferrable to another course or participant and subject to change as per UNITAR's policy on pricing.
- Public - Sur Inscription
- Public - Candidature
- Privé - sur Invitation
- Open to register/apply
- Face à face
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Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, , at sacred-texts.com Now the word of the Lord - , literally, "And, ..." This is the way in which the several inspired writers of the Old Testament mark that what it was given them to write was united onto those sacred books which God had given to others to write, and it formed with them one continuous whole. The word, "And," implies this. It would do so in any language, and it does so in Hebrew as much as in any other. As neither we, nor any other people, would, without any meaning, use the word, And, so neither did the Hebrews. It joins the four first books of Moses together; it carries on the history through Joshua, Judges, the Books of Samuel and of the Kings. After the captivity, Ezra and Nehemiah begin again where the histories before left off; the break of the captivity is bridged over; and Ezra, going back in mind to the history of God's people before the captivity, resumes the history, as if it had been of yesterday, "And in the first year of Cyrus." It joins in the story of the Book of Ruth before the captivity, and that of Esther afterward. At times, even prophets employ it, in using the narrative form of themselves, as Ezekiel, "and it was in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, and I was in the captivity by the river of Chebar, the heavens opened and I saw." If a prophet or historian wishes to detach his prophecy or his history, he does so; as Ezra probably began the Book of Chronicles anew from Adam, or as Daniel makes his prophecy a whole by itself. But then it is the more obvious that a Hebrew prophet or historian, when he does begin with the word, "And," has an object in so beginning; he uses an universal word of all languages in its uniform meaning in all language, to join things together. And yet more precisely; this form, "and the word of the Lord came to - saying," occurs over and over again, stringing together the pearls of great price of God's revelations, and uniting this new revelation to all those which had preceded it. The word, "And," then joins on histories with histories, revelations with revelations, uniting in one the histories of God's works and words, and blending the books of Holy Scripture into one divine book. But the form of words must have suggested to the Jews another thought, which is part of our thankfulness and of our being Act 11:18, "then to the Gentiles also hath God given repentance unto life." The words are the self-same familiar words with which some fresh revelation of God's will to His people had so often been announced. Now they are prefixed to God's message to the pagan, and so as to join on that message to all the other messages to Israel. Would then God deal thenceforth with the pagan as with the Jews? Would they have their prophets? Would they be included in the one family of God? The mission of Jonah in itself was an earnest that they would, for God. Who does nothing fitfully or capriciously, in that He had begun, gave an earnest that He would carry on what He had begun. And so thereafter, the great prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, were prophets to the nations also; Daniel was a prophet among them, to them as well as to their captives. But the mission of Jonah might, so far, have been something exceptional. The enrolling his book, as an integral part of the Scriptures, joining on that prophecy to the other prophecies to Israel, was an earnest that they were to be parts of one system. But then it would be significant also, that the records of God's prophecies to the Jews, all embodied the accounts of their impenitence. Here is inserted among them an account of God's revelation to the pagan, and their repentance. "So many prophets had been sent, so many miracles performed, so often had captivity been foreannounced to them for the multitude of their sins. and they never repented. Not for the reign of one king did they cease from the worship of the calves; not one of the kings of the ten tribes departed from the sins of Jeroboam? Elijah, sent in the Word and Spirit of the Lord, had done many miracles, yet obtained no abandonment of the calves. His miracles effected this only, that the people knew that Baal was no god, and cried out, "the Lord He is the God." Elisha his disciple followed him, who asked for a double portion of the Spirit of Elijah, that he might work more miracles, to bring back the people. He died, and, after his death as before it, the worship of the calves continued in Israel. The Lord marveled and was weary of Israel, knowing that if He sent to the pagan they would bear, as he saith to Ezekiel. To make trial of this, Jonah was chosen, of whom it is recorded in the Book of Kings that he prophesied the restoration of the border of Israel. When then he begins by saying, "And the word of the Lord came to Jonah," prefixing the word "And," he refers us back to those former things, in this meaning. The children have not hearkened to what the Lord commanded, sending to them by His servants the prophets, but have hardened their necks and given themselves up to do evil before the Lord and provoke Him to anger; "and" therefore "the word of the Lord came to Jonah, saying, Arise and go to Nineveh that great city, and preach unto her," that so Israel may be shewn, in comparison with the pagan, to be the more guilty, when the Ninevites should repent, the children of Israel persevered in unrepentance." Jonah the son of Amittai - Both names occur here only in the Old Testament, Jonah signifies "Dove," Amittai, "the truth of God." Some of the names of the Hebrew prophets so suit in with their times, that they must either have been given them propheticly, or assumed by themselves, as a sort of watchword, analogous to the prophetic names, given to the sons of Hosea and Isaiah. Such were the names of Elijah and Elisha, "The Lord is my God," "my God is salvation." Such too seems to be that of Jonah. The "dove" is everywhere the symbol of "mourning love." The side of his character which Jonah records is that of his defect, his want of trust in God, and so his unloving zeal against those, who were to be the instruments of God against his people. His name perhaps preserves that character by which he willed to be known among his people, one who moaned or mourned over them. Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city - The Assyrian history, as far as it has yet been discovered, is very bare of events in regard to this period. We have as yet the names of three kings only for 150 years. But Assyria, as far as we know its history, was in its meridian. Just before the time of Jonah, perhaps ending in it, were the victorious reigns of Shalmanubar and Shamasiva; after him was that of Ivalush or Pul, the first aggressor upon Israel. It is clear that this was a time Of Assyrian greatness: since God calls it "that great city," not in relation to its extent only, but its power. A large weak city would not have been called a "great city unto God" Jon 3:3. And cry against it - The substance of that cry is recorded afterward, but God told to Jonah now, what message he was to cry aloud to it. For Jonah relates afterward, how he expostulated now with God, and that his expostulation was founded on this, that God was so merciful that He would not fulfill the judgment which He threatened. Faith was strong in Jonah, while, like Apostles "the sons of thunder," before the Day of Pentecost, he knew not" what spirit he was of." Zeal for the people and, as he doubtless thought, for the glory of God, narrowed love in him. He did not, like Moses, pray Exo 32:32, "or else blot me also out of Thy book," or like Paul, desire even to be "an anathema from Christ" Rom 9:3 for his people's sake, so that there might be more to love his Lord. His zeal was directed, like that of the rebuked Apostles, against others, and so it too was rebuked. But his faith was strong. He shrank back from the office, as believing, not as doubting, the might of God. He thought nothing of preaching, amid that multitude of wild warriors, the stern message of God. He was willing, alone, to confront the violence of a city of 600,000, whose characteristic was violence. He was ready, at God's bidding, to enter what Nahum speaks of as a den of lions Nah 2:11-12; "The dwelling of the lions and the feeding-place of the young lions, where the lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps, and strangled for his lionesses." He feared not the fierceness of their lion-nature, but God's tenderness, and lest that tenderness should be the destruction of his own people. Their wickedness is come up before Me - So God said to Cain, Gen 4:10. "The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto Me from the ground:" and of Sodom Gen 18:20 :21, "The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, because their sin is very grievous; the cry of it is come up unto Me." The "wickedness" is not the mere mass of human sin, of which it is said Jo1 5:19, "the whole world lieth in wickedness," but evil-doing toward others. This was the cause of the final sentence on Nineveh, with which Nahum closes his prophecy, "upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?" It bad been assigned as the ground of the judgment on Israel through Nineveh Hos 10:14-15. "So shall Bethel do unto you, on account of the wickedness of your wickedness." It was the ground of the destruction by the flood Gen 6:5. "God saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth." God represents Himself, the Great Judge, as sitting on His Throne in heaven, Unseen but All-seeing, to whom the wickedness and oppressiveness of man against man "goes up," appealing for His sentence against the oppressor. The cause seems ofttimes long in pleading. God is long-suffering with the oppressor too, that if so be, he may repent. So would a greater good come to the oppressed also, if the wolf became a lamb. But meanwhile, " every iniquity has its own voice at the hidden judgment seat of God." Mercy itself calls for vengeance on the unmerciful. But (And) Jonah rose up to flee ... from the presence of the Lord - literally "from being before the Lord." Jonah knew well, that man could not escape from the presence of God, whom he knew as the Self-existing One, He who alone is, the Maker of heaven, earth and sea. He did not "flee" then "from His presence," knowing well what David said Psa 139:7, Psa 139:9-10, "whither shall I go from Thy Spirit, or whither shall I flee from Thy presence? If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall Thy hand lead me and Thy right hand shall hold me." Jonah fled, not from God's presence, but from standing before him, as His servant and minister. He refused God's service, because, as he himself tells God afterward Jon 4:2, he knew what it would end in, and he misliked it. So he acted, as people often do, who dislike God's commands. He set about removing himself as far as possible from being under the influence of God, and from the place where he "could" fulfill them. God commanded him to go to Nineveh, which lay northeast from his home; and he instantly set himself to flee to the then furthermost west. Holy Scripture sets the rebellion before us in its full nakedness. "The word of the Lord came unto Jonah, go to Nineveh, and Jonah rose up;" he did something instantly, as the consequence of God's command. He "rose up," not as other prophets, to obey, but to disobey; and that, not slowly nor irresolutely, but "to flee, from" standing "before the Lord." He renounced his office. So when our Lord came in the flesh, those who found what He said to be "hard sayings," went away from Him, "and walked no more with Him" Joh 6:66. So the rich "young man went away sorrowful Mat 19:22, for he had great possessions." They were perhaps afraid of trusting themselves in His presence; or they were ashamed of staying there, and not doing what He said. So men, when God secretly calls them to prayer, go and immerse themselves in business; when, in solitude, He says to their souls something which they do not like, they escape His Voice in a throng. If He calls them to make sacrifices for His poor, they order themselves a new dress or some fresh sumptuousness or self-indulgence; if to celibacy, they engage themselves to marry immediately; or, contrariwise, if He calls them not to do a thing, they do it at once, to make an end of their struggle and their obedience; to put obedience out of their power; to enter themselves on a course of disobedience. Jonah, then, in this part of his history, is the image of those who, when God calls them, disobey His call, and how He deals with them, when he does not abandon them. He lets them have their way for a time, encompasses them with difficulties, so that they shall "flee back from God displeased to God appeased." "The whole wisdom, the whole bliss, the whole of man lies in this, to learn what God wills him to do, in what state of life, calling, duties, profession, employment, He wills him to serve Him." God sent each one of us into the world, to fulfill his own definite duties, and, through His grace, to attain to our own perfection in and through fulfilling them. He did not create us at random, to pass through the world, doing whatever self-will or our own pleasure leads us to, but to fulfill His will. This will of His, if we obey His earlier calls, and seek Him by prayer, in obedience, self-subdual, humility, thoughtfulness, He makes known to each by His own secret drawings, and, in absence of these, at times by His Providence or human means. And then , "to follow Him is a token of predestination." It is to place ourselves in that order of things, that pathway to our eternal mansion, for which God created us, and which God created for us. So Jesus says Joh 10:27-28, "My sheep hear My voice and I know them, and they follow Me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My Hand." In these ways, God has foreordained for us all the graces which we need; in these, we shall be free from all temptations which might be too hard for us, in which our own special weakness would be most exposed. Those ways, which people choose out of mere natural taste or fancy, are mostly those which expose them to the greatest peril of sin and damnation. For they choose them, just because such pursuits flatter most their own inclinations, and give scope to their natural strength and their moral weakness. So Jonah, disliking a duty, which God gave him to fulfill, separated himself from His service, forfeited his past calling, lost, as far as in him lay, his place among "the goodly fellowship of the prophets," and, but for God's overtaking grace, would have ended his days among the disobedient. As in Holy Scripture, David stands alone of saints, who had been after their calling, bloodstained; as the penitent robber stands alone converted in death; as Peter stands singly, recalled after denying his Lord; so Jonah stands, the one prophet, who, having obeyed and then rebelled, was constrained by the overpowering providence and love of God, to return and serve Him. "Being a prophet, Jonah could not be ignorant of the mind of God, that, according to His great Wisdom and His unsearchable judgments and His untraceable and incomprehensible ways, He, through the threat, was providing for the Ninevites that they should not suffer the things threatened. To think that Jonah hoped to hide himself in the sea and elude by flight the great Eye of God, were altogether absurd and ignorant, which should not be believed, I say not of a prophet, but of no other sensible person who had any moderate knowledge of God and His supreme power. Jonah knew all this better than anyone, that, planning his flight, he changed his place, but did not flee God. For this could no man do, either by hiding himself in the bosom of the earth or depths of the sea or ascending (if possible) with wings into the air, or entering the lowest hell, or encircled with thick clouds, or taking any other counsel to secure his flight. This, above all things and alone, can neither be escaped nor resisted, God. When He willeth to hold and grasp in His Hand, He overtaketh the swift, baffleth the intelligent, overthroweth the strong, boweth the lofty, tameth rashness, subdueth might. He who threatened to others the mighty Hand of God, was not himself ignorant of nor thought to flee, God. Let us not believe this. But since he saw the fall of Israel and perceived that the prophetic grace would pass over to the Gentiles, he withdrew himself from the office of preaching, and put off the command." "The prophet knoweth, the Holy Spirit teaching him, that the repentance of the Gentiles is the ruin of the Jews. A lover then of his country, he does not so much envy the deliverance of Nineveh, as will that his own country should not perish. - Seeing too that his fellow-prophets are sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, to excite the people to repentance, and that Balaam the soothsayer too prophesied of the salvation of Israel, he grieveth that he alone is chosen to be sent to the Assyrians, the enemies of Israel, and to that greatest city of the enemies where was idolatry and ignorance of God. Yet more he feared lest they, on occasion of his preaching, being converted to repentance, Israel should be wholly forsaken. For he knew by the same Spirit whereby the preaching to the Gentiles was entrusted to him, that the house of Israel would then perish; and he feared that what was at one time to be, should take place in his own time." "The flight of the prophet may also be referred to that of man in general who, despising the commands of God, departed from Him and gave himself to the world, where subsequently, through the storms of ill and the wreck of the whole world raging against him, he was compelled to feel the presence of God, and to return to Him whom he had fled. Whence we understand, that those things also which men think for their good, when against the will of God, are turned to destruction; and help not only does not benefit those to whom it is given, but those too who give it, are alike crushed. As we read that Egypt was conquered by the Assyrians, because it helped Israel against the will of God. The ship is emperiled which had received the emperiled; a tempest arises in a calm; nothing is secure, when God is against us." Tarshish - , named after one of the sons of Javan, Gen 10:4. was an ancient merchant city of Spain, once proverbial for its wealth (Psa 72:10. Strabo iii. 2. 14), which supplied Judaea with silver Jer 10:9, Tyre with "all manner of riches," with iron also, tin, lead. Eze 27:12, Eze 27:25. It was known to the Greeks and Romans, as (with a harder pronunciation) Tartessus; but in our first century, it had either ceased to be, or was known under some other name. Ships destined for a voyage, at that time, so long, and built for carrying merchandise, were naturally among the largest then constructed. "Ships of Tarshish" corresponded to the "East-Indiamen" which some of us remember. The breaking of "ships of Tarshish by the East Wind" Psa 48:7 is, on account of their size and general safety, instanced as a special token of the interposition of God. And went down to Joppa - Joppa, now Jaffa (Haifa), was the one well-known port of Israel on the Mediterranean. There the cedars were brought from Lebanon for both the first and second temple Ch2 3:16; Ezr 2:7. Simon the Maccabee (1 Macc. 14:5) "took it again for a haven, and made an entrance to the isles of the sea." It was subsequently destroyed by the Romans, as a pirate-haven. (Josephus, B. J. iii. 9. 3, and Strabo xvi. 2. 28.) At a later time, all describe it as an unsafe haven. Perhaps the shore changed, since the rings, to which Andromeda was tabled to have been fastened, and which probably were once used to moor vessels, were high above the sea. Perhaps, like the Channel Islands, the navigation was safe to those who knew the coast, unsafe to others. To this port Jonah "went down" from his native country, the mountain district of Zabulon. Perhaps it was not at this time in the hands of Israel. At least, the sailors were pagan. He "went down," as the man who fell among the thieves, is said to "have gone down from Jerusalem to Jericho." Luk 10:30. He "went down" from the place which God honored by His presence and protection. And he paid the fare thereof - Jonah describes circumstantially, how he took every step to his end. He went down, found a strongly built ship going where he wished, paid his fare, embarked. He seemed now to have done all. He had severed himself from the country where his office lay. He had no further step to take. Winds and waves would do the rest. He had but to be still. He went, only to be brought back again. "Sin brings our soul into much senselessness. For as those overtaken by heaviness of head and drunkenness, are borne on simply and at random, and, be there pit or precipice or whatever else below them, they fall into it unawares; so too, they who fall into sin, intoxicated by their desire of the object, know not what they do, see nothing before them, present or future. Tell me, Fleest thou the Lord? Wait then a little, and thou shalt learn from the event, that thou canst not escape the hands of His servant, the sea. For as soon as he embarked, it too roused its waves and raised them up on high; and as a faithful servant, finding her fellow-slave stealing some of his master's property, ceases not from giving endless trouble to those who take him in, until she recover him, so too the sea, finding and recognizing her fellow-servant, harasses the sailors unceasingly, raging, roaring, not dragging them to a tribunal but threatening to sink the vessel with all its unless they restore to her, her fellow-servant." "The sinner "arises," because, will he, nill he, toil he must. If he shrinks from the way of God, because it is hard, he may not yet be idle. There is the way of ambition, of covetousness, of pleasure, to be trodden, which certainly are far harder. 'We wearied ourselves (Wisdom 5:7),' say the wicked, 'in the way of wickedness and destruction, yea, we have gone through deserts where there lay no way; but the way of the Lord we have not known.' Jonah would not arise, to go to Nineveh at God's command; yet he must needs arise, to flee to Tarshish from before the presence of God. What good can he have who fleeth the Good? what light,
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Make your own D-net. The net is named for the "D" shape of its frame. It
is used to collect stream insects from the bottom of a stream. You can
make one at home (but make sure an adult is around to help!).
Materials you will need
x 14" piece of screen •
42" x 2" piece of canvas or heavy cloth
Thread and needle •
Wire coat hanger •
Drill with 1/8" and 1/4" bits
Wooden broom handle
Building a D-net
1. Fold the screen in half (21" x 14") and cut screen (as shown).
2. Sew the two pieces of screen together along the cut edge.
3. Fold the canvas in half along the open edge of the net.
4. Untwist the wire hanger and cut off the top (as shown).
5. Bend the smaller cut piece into a U-shape.
6. Drill a 1/4" hole in the flat end of the broom stick.
7. Drill two shallow 1/8" holes on the sides of the broomstick, positioned
so you can fit U-shaped wire over the flat end and into the holes.
8. Slip large wire into the folded canvas slot of the net and twist the
9. Cut the twisted wire to no longer than 2" in length and insert into
hole at flat end of the broomstick.
10. Secure the net to the pole using the U-shaped wire and duct tape (as
Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring
Non-profit Stream Monitoring
County Stream Monitoring Groups
Maryland DNR's Teaching Environmental Awareness in Maryland (TEAM) program
offers students a two-part stream investigation in a local freshwater
stream of their choice. At this streamside setting, trained volunteers
guide them as they learn about water quality, stream habitats and the
community of organisms that inhabit the stream. Using the information they
collect, the students will then formulate conclusions about the health of
the stream they have investigated. If you are interested in becoming a
TEAM volunteer and helping educate Marylanders about our natural
resources, visit our website at
www.dnr.maryland.gov/education/teamdnr and fill out an application.
It's a known fact kids are drawn to streams and waterways. Some visit them to
fish, hike, canoe and kayak or just enjoy nature; others want to learn more
about them and how people affect their overall health. Streams offer students a
unique outdoor field experience and a window to understanding their local
environment and the Chesapeake Bay.
Maryland's 8,800 miles of
streams form the life support system for the Chesapeake Bay watershed by
providing important habitats for many aquatic and terrestrial organisms. Each
stream plays a vital role in linking the Chesapeake Bay to its surrounding
Many kids think of a stream in terms of the trout they caught while
fishing or the crayfish they found while exploring its banks. These are some of
the more visible examples but they are only a fraction of the diversity
contained within Maryland's streams. Upon closer examination you can find fish,
amphibians and insects that are invisible to the casual observer. More
important, many of these organisms are biological indicators of stream health,
especially the insects or macroinvertebrates.
An Outdoor Classroom Realized
year thousands of students experience Maryland's streams through programs
offered by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) outdoor education centers,
and summer camps. However, students, parents or teachers can organize their own
stream investigations. Using a stream as an outdoor classroom offers kids an
incomparable hands-on learning experience that leads them to a greater
understanding and appreciation of their natural environment.
Getting to Know Macroinvertebrates
Prior to going out and doing an actual field investigation,
students should learn how to identify some of the basic types of stream insects
and stream habitats
they might encounter, either through classroom exercises or
home study. Stream insects are one of the most important indicators of the
long-term health of a stream. Many are long-lived and spend most of their lives
within the stream. Some, like stoneflies, are highly sensitive to pollution
while others such as blackfly larvae are very tolerant. During a field
investigation, many of these insects may be seen; however without some initial
preparation, students will not have the proper knowledge and skills to conduct a
meaningful investigation of a stream.
In the Field
After completing the
classroom or home study of stream insects and their habitats, it's time to
consider a field investigation. The best time to conduct one is typically in
spring or late fall when weather conditions are most favorable for being
outside. First and foremost, the stream must be accessible to the students.
Those on the school grounds are ideal but streams on other public lands are also
Prior to going out to the stream, students will also need to have
some sampling equipment. A net, preferably a D-net, is used to sample for macroinvertebrates. However you can also just use your hands and look under
rocks to get a sample. It's also helpful to have a bucket to put your sample in,
a magnifier, tweezers and a tray with a white background. The white background
provides good contrast for seeing the darker macroinvertebrates.
Once at the
stream, look for riffles or woody debris to sample. A stream riffle is a shallow
area where rocks break up the flow of water. This area is highly enriched in
oxygen and has lots of small spaces for macroinvertebrates to hide in. Woody
debris found in the water -- leaves, sticks and tree roots -- is another
important habitat as these materials provide an important food source for stream
In addition to looking at the macroinvertebrate community within the
stream, you may also decide to sample for dissolved oxygen levels, pH, depth,
water flow and turbidity. All provide important information on the physical and
biological conditions of the stream. You should end the investigation by making
some basic conclusions about the health of the stream.
By using streams as
outdoor classrooms, students are making an important and meaningful connection
to the Chesapeake Bay watershed; they learn monitoring techniques and problem-
solving skills that will benefit them for a lifetime.
Maryland DNR currently offers opportunities for middle school
students to conduct a stream investigation. Those interested in learning more
about DNR's student streams investigations should visit
or contact Matthew Chasse at 410-260-8828, or
our website for more information at
is an Education Specialist for DNR's Conservation Education Division, the TEAM
Program Coordinator, and serves on the Education Matrix Team.
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The Durban climate change negotiations are about three gaps.
The first is scientific and has to do with the amount of Greenhouse gases we are pumping into the atmosphere, and the levels we need to reduce to in order to prevent irreversible changes to the climate system. The second is political and affects the course of the negotiations. The third is the gap between public perception of climate change and the reality of the change that has already begun.
All of these gaps are interrelated.
In 2009 countries made pledges to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in order to keep global average temperature from increases below 2 degrees Celsius. Last week the United Nations Environment Programme issued “The Emissions Gap Report: Are the Copenhagen Accord Pledges Sufficient to Limit Global Warming to 2oC or 1.5oC?”
Following the conclusion of the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP 15) in Copenhagen, 42 industrialized countries submitted “economy-wide” emissions targets for 2020. Another 43 developing countries also submitted “nationally appropriate mitigation actions.” While the Copenhagen negotiations failed to produce an expected new climate change treaty, these pledges have become the basis for “analyzing the extent to which the global community is on track to meet long-term temperature goals” (for details, see the Emissions Gap Report).
They are also the source of much of the wrangling that continues in the Durban negotiations. The 2020 date is significant because that’s the date by which the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change states that emissions cuts need to start being made if the global average temperature increases are to be kept below 2oC.
The report states that while it is possible to reach the required level of reductions by 2020, the current reduction pledges “are not adequate to reduce emissions to a level consistent with the 2°C target, and therefore lead to a gap.”
Research tells us that annual emissions need to be around 44 gigatonnes (Gt) of CO2 equivalent by 2020 to have a likely chance of holding global average temperatures to 2°C or less. (A gigatonne is equal to 1 billion tonnes of carbon. According to the International Energy Agency, the world emitted a record 30.6 tonnes of CO2 in 2010 - a 5% increase over the previous record level in 2008.
The report states that if the “highest ambitions” of all the countries that signed the Copenhagen Accord are implemented, annual emissions of greenhouse gases would be cut by around 7 (Gt) of CO2 equivalent by 2020.
This represents a cut in annual emissions to around 49 Gt of CO2 equivalent, which would still leave a gap of around 5 Gt compared with where we need to be—”a gap equal to the total emissions of the world’s cars, buses and trucks in 2005.”
However, if only the lowest ambition pledges are implemented, and if no clear rules are set in the negotiations, emissions could be around 53 Gt of CO2 equivalent in 2020 – “not that different from business-as-usual so the rules set in the negotiations clearly matter.” If it’s “business as usual” emissions could rise to 56 Gt by the same date.
This points to the second gap -- in political will. The differences between those who are feeling the brunt of rapid climate change right now -- primarily many of the Small Island Developing States and Least Developed Countries -- and the major emitters, is growing. The Framework Convention on Climate Change, negotiated nearly 20 years ago in Rio de Janeiro, calls on all nations to cooperate “...in accordance with their common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities and their social and economic conditions.”
This has been traditionally interpreted to mean that the industrialized nations of Europe and North America bear a large portion of the responsibility for dealing with the problem since they are primarily responsible for the vast majority of historical emissions. Indeed, the United States was only recently surpassed by China as the largest GHG emitter. However, the US, Canada and others have higher per capita emissions levels.
Nevertheless, Canada has led the charge of developed nations that now say that it is “unfair” for developed countries to cut total emissions while developing nations such as China, India and Brazil are not bound to reduce in the same way. Canada has become the first nation in the world to say it will not abide by the Kyoto Protocol, nor will it agree to a second commitment period.
This approach has widened the gap between those that support a renewed Kyoto Protocol -- most of the developing world and the European Union (subject to developing nations such as China getting onboard) -- and those that say they don’t want a second commitment period. This group is led by Canada, Russia and Japan but others have now joined, so many that there is little chance that the Kyoto Protocol, which lapses next year, will be renewed in Durban.
Such positioning and politicking is widening the gap between developed and developing countries. For some, like the Small Island Developing States, there is a sense of being abandoned to their fates. Delay does not bode well for the Arctic either. People from both regions need immediate and sustained emissions reductions.
The third gap is between what we think or believe is (or is not) happening and what the facts are telling us. The latter are based on observation and a growing body of scientific knowledge. There are literally thousands of peer reviewed scientific papers that demonstrate that the climate is changing and we are primarily responsible.
The public in developed countries -- and many developing nations -- still has not embraced this reality. While millions of people are mobilized and calling for action, there is still a strong predilection to ignore the signals that are all around us, or to use the current economic downturn as an excuse for inaction. Both lead to the same end -- they are further narrowing the window in which we have time to act. And they are passing the problem of adaptation on to future generations, when the price will be much higher.
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I love the fall and how the leaves change from deep greens to reds and orange and gold. This natural riot of color takes place wherever there are trees with leaves and there’s almost no place better to watch the leaves change than in the Northeast. This part of the four-seasoned ritual of life attracts tourists from far and wide and tugs at me to make a special trip to our home in the mountains there. And this reminds me every year about the natural changes that are a constant in our lives. Ever wonder why and how the leaves change colors? • As summer ends and autumn comes, the days get shorter and shorter. This is how the trees "know" to begin getting ready for winter. The trees will begin to rest and live off the food they stored during the summer. The green chlorophyll disappears from the leaves. As the bright green fades away, we begin to see yellow and orange colors. Small amounts of these colors have been in the leaves all along - we didn’t them in the summer because they were covered up by the green chlorophyll. The bright reds and purples we see in leaves are made mostly in the fall. In some trees, like maples, glucose is trapped in the leaves after photosynthesis stops. Sunlight and the cool nights of autumn cause the leaves to turn this glucose into a red color. It’s the combination of all these things that makes the beautiful fall colors we enjoy each year. Ever hear of Thomas Cole’s The Voyage of Life series? In 1840 he did this series of paintings that represent an allegory of the four stages, or seasons, of human life: • In childhood, the infant glides from a dark cave into a rich, green landscape. • As a youth, the boy takes control of the boat and aims for a shining castle in the sky. • In manhood, the adult relies on prayer and religious faith to sustain him through rough waters and a threatening landscape. • Finally, the man becomes old and the angel guides him to heaven across the waters of eternity. In each painting, accompanied by a guardian angel, the voyager rides the boat on the River of Life. The landscape, corresponding to the seasons of the year, plays a major role in telling the story. And in those paintings you can clearly see the leaves changing colors in the season (manhood) that represents the fall of the voyager’s life. So what’s this mean to you and me? Things change! Always! Life is full of changes and most of us are creatures of habit. And because we don’t know what’s next, we tend to cling to what we already have and know and are comfortable with. We reminisce about and cherish the past because it’s familiar, it’s already happened and we know how the movie ends. And while that’s generally true, it’s the half of the story that we tend to recognize. The other half is that the things we learn from the past should continually be updating our knowledge of life, and how to process the new things we see and experience, and how to better understand the meaning of who and what we are – that’s the harder part of the story to accept. With each passing season, and the changes that occur, we need to grow and become wiser. And that wisdom should create the stuff we need to constantly be better, to do the things we’re called upon to do each day better, and to help those around us to become better. But you won’t learn anything or get better if you’re not open to the changes – natural or man-made – that occur every day. I wish you could join me here at our camp to look across the lake at the beauty that is unfolding. The scene is constant; the colors let me know that time is marching on. On the one hand I could worry that the seasons of my life are marching on, or, on the other, I could be challenged by the things I’ve learned this year that will help me to be wiser and more thoughtful in the future. One stunts natural growth; the other invigorates a sense of wonder about the world around us and the endless possibilities that potentially exist. The choice is ours. And while these leaves will begin to fade and fall soon, the inspiration that they trigger should last a lifetime. That’s the voyage of life, and I’m sure glad to be on it! My message this week is about being inspired to dream about improving our lives: “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” -C.S. Lewis Clive Staples Lewis (1898 – 1963), commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as "Jack", was a British novelist, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian and Christian apologist from Ireland. Got any new dreams today? Not the ones you try to remember and think about when you wake, but the kind that have you excited to try something really new. Everyone can dream, but not everyone has the curiosity, energy, courage and stamina to try to attempt and achieve their dreams. Most want things to be smooth and easy, with no surprises or challenges that can potentially make you look silly. Fact is, without those challenges or knowing how to recover from looking silly you’ll never get to experience what it is to learn from trying something new. You can tell the ones who are into this – the twinkle in their eye, the bounce in their step, the way they carry themselves. If that’s you, and you’ll know if it is, then set another goal today, dream another dream today and make a pledge to be creative and innovative today. Go ahead – you’re never too old! Friday, September 30, 2011 at 5:24 AM Friday, September 23, 2011 “Everyone wants to be true to something, and we’re true to you” - that’s the marketing tagline for Jet Blue’s travel rewards program. I know because it kept scrolling across the little screen on the back of the seat in front of me when I recently flew across country. It’s okay in the context of what they’re trying to promote, but it also might apply to more than just loyalty programs. And it may be that because people naturally want to be ‘true blue’ to so many things, it becomes overused and almost trite. That’s too bad. Because being ‘true blue’ can be a good thing. First: ever wonder where the term ‘true blue’ comes from? • Loyal and unwavering in one's opinions or support for a cause or product. • 'True blue' is supposed to derive from the blue cloth that was made at Coventry, England in the late middle-ages. The town's dyers had a reputation for producing material that didn't fade with washing, i.e. it remained 'fast' or 'true'. The phrase 'as true as Coventry blue' originated then and is still used (in Coventry at least). • True Blue is an old naval/sailing term meaning honest and loyal to a unit or cause. • And dictionaries say that true blue refers to “people of inflexible integrity or fidelity”. And second: does ‘true blue’ really mean anything in this era of fast food and slick advertising? There are lots of loyalty programs – hotels, airlines, slot clubs, retail stores, pop food brands, credit cards, clothing, wine, restaurants, movie theaters, travel sites, theme parks, computer games and countless more – and they all try to get you to stick with them by rewarding you in all kinds of ways: points, miles, free gifts, shows, food and on and on. But it seems a bit contrived, as if there’s some Oz-like character behind a curtain trying to entice you with these awards (read: bribes). Imagine if this kind of thing were done with going to school or work, singing in a choir, participating in some community event, volunteering your time to some worthy cause, remaining friends or staying in a relationship… doesn’t seem as appropriate in those, does it? Think of someone or something you really like: do you really and truly like them or it, or do you need to be bribed with rewards to feel that way. Of course you don’t. So why do the airlines and hotels and all those other things we purchase have to bribe us like them? But – there are companies out there that do understand what it takes to win your loyalty: • Southwest Airlines was one of the first companies that made having fun and using common sense part of their strategy for success. Singing the safety jingle, devising a different boarding routine and setting the record for on-time departures set them apart and won over customers. They got it! • Zappos doesn’t give you anything extra to make you want to come back – they believe that great service plus free shipping and returns will do that. Everyone said that nobody would buy shoes online – wrong. Zappos gets it! • Apple wins and keeps their customer’s loyalty by incubating and introducing cool new ideas and products all the time. And they’re just about the biggest and most successful and most admired company on the planet. They get it! But for every Southwest Airlines-type great experience there are hundreds of others that under perform and underwhelm. So they sign you up and hope that rewarding your loyalty overcomes the other things they do that destroys your loyalty. Seems to me they just don’t get it? Jet Blue says they give you more leg room – that’s true if you pay extra for those few rows that have it. How come they just don’t make eye contact and smile more? How come they can’t get the bags to the conveyor in less than 30 minutes (which may not seem like much to them but after a cross country flight an extra 30 minutes is painful). How come they don’t get it? I want to join their loyalty program so I can get another trip with them like I want to have my teeth drilled. And then they spend so much time and energy trying to give you that free round trip ticket if you apply for their credit card – you know, the one that has annual fees and high interest rates. How come they don’t get it? Why can’t they just treat me like a loyal and valued customer, like someone they genuinely like and appreciate, like they’d like to be treated if they had to fly on someone else’s airline. Seems to me they just don’t get it. Most of the good things in life are rooted in quality, trust and respect. People you work with and for, family that you live with and love, things you do for fun and relaxation, games you gladly play with others, friendships you’re lucky enough to have, clubs you join and actively participate in, activities you sign up for – they’re all based on the simple premise that things that are good are that way because they are genuinely good and fun and worthwhile. And that’s why you stick with them loyally. But all these other kinds of loyalty programs are contrived. And yet we sign up for them like they’re free and worthwhile. They’re not free – we pay for the increased costs of these rewards. And they’re not worthwhile - we’re treated poorly by those who have the attitude that the cheap rewards they give are enough to overcome the thoughtless and robotic service they go through the motions of providing. Next time someone asks if I’ve signed up for their loyalty program I’m going to give them a tip: treat me nicely, treat me fairly, treat me respectfully, act like you really do care, thank me like you really mean it and treat me like you really do want me as a customer – and I’ll come back as often as I can or need to, willingly and freely. When are all these marketing geniuses going to wake up? When are they going to be ‘true blue’ to the Golden Rule? My message this week is about how excellence can lead to greatness: ”If you want to achieve excellence, you can get there today. As of this second, quit doing less-than-excellent work.” -Thomas J. Watson Thomas John Watson, Sr. (1874 – 1956) was president of International Business Machines (IBM) and oversaw that company's growth into a global force from 1914 to 1956. Watson developed IBM's distinctive management style and corporate culture, and turned the company into a highly-effective selling organization. He was called the world's greatest salesman. Do you want to achieve excellence? Some people don’t – they’re content to work alongside others, doing just enough to get by and satisfy their basic needs, content to have a few toys, take life easy and not make waves. But is that what you want – would that be enough for you? If not, then you’ve got to decide right now to start going farther, looking to help others, caring more, trying harder, and being more of what you can be today. You’ve got to take it to the next level – in commitment, in energy, in enthusiasm, in being a role model, in paying closer attention to details, in always striving to do and be all that you’re capable of. As of this second, you’ve got to quit doing less-than-excellent work. That’s how YOU can achieve excellence - (note: the emphasis is on YOU)! at 5:34 AM Friday, September 16, 2011 Where were you on 9/11? For most of us the answers are permanently etched in our minds. Like the attack on Pearl Harbor and VE Day for our parents, or the moment John Kennedy was shot or Armstrong set foot on the moon for the baby boomers, 9/11 has become one of the iconic moments in time for all who were alive then. I remember exactly where I was, what I was doing, who told me and how I felt the day Kennedy was killed; and like most people I was watching on our little black and white TV when Ruby shot Oswald the next day. I remember my teacher bringing me into the assembly hall to watch when Armstrong took “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”. There have been literally trillions of moments in my life, but these iconic ones stand out, frozen in time and in my mind. And then there was 9/11. In these weekly blogs I try to write about things that catch my attention. These stories tend to take on meanings beyond the specific incidents I mention, meanings that relate to life’s larger issues and that can possibly teach us something. But this one goes way beyond any of the moments and incidents that caught my attention - 9/11 caught the attention of everyone on the planet. There aren’t many things that reach that level, things that stop time, that leave indelible memories about where we were and who we were with, that immediately bring back visceral feelings and emotions of a long ago but clearly remembered moment in time. 9/11 does all of those things and more. My wife and I were in NYC: preparing to get on the George Washington Bridge to go into Manhattan when the first plane hit; coming to a complete stop on the road and in our lives; watching in fear and confusion as the second plane hit; staring in horror as first one and then the other building fell; hearing about the other plane crashes in Washington and Pennsylvania; staying glued to the radio and then the television while the world stood still. We drove away from the City that day in fear and confusion – trying to get as far away as possible and to make sense of how and why this happened. As we drove we came upon a rise in the road where all the cars were stopped; people were standing beside their cars and looking back in the direction we came from, so we stopped too. In the distance there was smoke where the towers so recently stood; nobody was talking; everyone was crying. We eventually made it to our home in the Adirondack Mountains, safe and overwhelmed by the fear and confusion that enveloped the world as we knew it. I can see and feel that day now as if were yesterday. I guess that’s what an iconic moment is: something we remember – clearly and forever. And now, in what seems like no time at all, ten years have passed and the memorial to those killed has been unveiled. The reading of the names this past Sunday stopped and stunned us all over again. The tolling of the bells in New York, Washington and Shanksville brought us back to that moment in time. The sight of the grieving families and friends as they touched and etched the names of their fathers, brothers, mothers, sisters, relatives and friends brought us together now as we were back then. The pettiness and partisanship that dominates the news was pushed aside for just a moment as we all stood in solemn and shared tribute to something that transcended all the comparatively meaningless stuff that normally seeks to grab our attention. As sad as the memories are, the togetherness helps us get through the memories now like it did when this terrible tragedy first happened. Why can’t we make that feeling last? A man named Al DiLascia from Chicopee, Mass. wrote a letter to the editor of the New York Times this week that summed this up: For one brief moment on September 11, 2011, time seemed to stand still. People sought family members and recognized the importance of family. Acts of charity were plentiful. There was an assessment of life and what is really important. Places of worship were full. People unashamedly prayed. For one brief moment... Let’s try to remember – not just the events that make up these iconic moments, but what they really mean, and what’s really important. Don’t let a day pass that you don’t tell those you love how much you care and to show it in thoughtful and meaningful ways, to touch the people and things that are most important to you, to reach out and give to those in need, and to quietly count and give thanks for all the blessings that are in your life. Do whatever you have to do to make the meaning of your iconic moments last! My message this week is about being loyal to the people and things that are important in your life: “Loyalty is something you give regardless of what you get back, and in giving loyalty, you're getting more loyalty; and out of loyalty flow other great qualities.” Colonel Charles Edward ("Chuck") Jones (1952 – 2001) was a United States Air Force officer, a computer programmer, and an astronaut in the USAF Manned Spaceflight Engineer Program. He was killed in the attacks of September 11, 2001 aboard American Airlines Flight 11, the first plane to hit the first World Trade Center building at 8:46am. All of the great values we read and write about seem to be interconnected, and loyalty may be the one at the hub of them all. Think of the people and things you’re loyal to, and then note the other great qualities that come from that loyalty. Friendship, success, pride, humility, professionalism, integrity, team spirit and passion are a few that immediately come to mind. These are the qualities and values that you hope to find in others, and certainly they’re the ones to which you should always aspire. But to get loyalty you need to give it, and that means you must be true to your work and family and friends, forgiving in your nature, humble in your approach to others, sincere in your dealings with all, and understanding in the complex and competitive world that we live in. Look for ways to give loyalty today without attaching any strings for reciprocity. And don’t be surprised if you then start to get loyalty and all the other great qualities flowing back to you in return. Stay well. And please say a prayer for these heroes and all the others in your life who’ve passed. at 6:20 AM Friday, September 9, 2011 Vacation homes in the Adirondacks are commonly referred to as camps – my family is fortunate to have one and, as you know from some of my previous blogs, we’ve spent a lot of time there this year. These are not to be confused with day and overnight camps that parents send their kids to. This is about the second kind of camp. I went to an overnight camp as a kid and loved it, but that’s a story for another time. This tale begins at Camp Nazareth (that’s the name of the overnight camp at the end of our lake). Its run by the local Catholic Diocese which has had little success in recent years attracting enough kids. More often than not, this wonderful facility – it can hold up to 300 kids at any one time - is terribly under used. Fortunately, it seems that they’ve now discovered ways to attract alternate users like family reunions, corporate retreats and, just this past week, a high school crew team (Google “rowing sport” to learn more about this sport on Wikipedia). And that crew team caught our attention. Our family’s camp (we call it “The Point”) is on the water and we can easily see when anyone is on the lake. While sitting on our dock one morning we were surprised to see this crew team go by. If you’ve never seen a crew team before, they operate in long narrow boats (like large kayaks) that are referred to as “sculls” – these are two to eight-person boats that are rowed by that many team members, each of whom operates one oar. In this case, there were two eight-person sculls (one with all men and the other all women) that were practicing. Mind you, this is not an everyday sight – there are a few motorboats and a lot of canoes and kayaks on our lake, so the sight of these two sculls was a bit of a surprise. Alongside these two sculls was a small motorboat in which sat the coach who had a megaphone and was giving instructions and commands. On the first day of what appeared to be one of their initial practice sessions, these two sculls were having what was obviously some beginner’s training. And here’s another key bit of information: the team has to row in very close order for the boat to move along smoothly. If any of the rowers is out of synch (even a little) the boat can very easily (and visibly) miss a beat. And if any of those misses are overly pronounced the boats can stop altogether or even capsize. So at the beginning of this training the coach definitely wanted to take it slow. As the week progressed, however, the boats began to move more smoothly, and over time they got smoother and faster. And since the object of crew is to beat the competition, smooth and fast is definitely better. In order to get smoother and faster, the individual team members all have to practice at learning not only how to improve their own skills but also how to be in better synch with all the other members of their team. In crew, as in so many other aspects of life, both are critical (as in one without the other is not worth much). As we watched this unfold before us, we started to reflect on how the basic lessons being learned out on the lake apply to just about everything we do in life (and here I need to confess that my wife realized this before I did). Being effective and functional at anything – playing with friends on the school yard, getting along as a family, working with colleagues, participating on a sports team, singing in a choir, building something with others, participating in community events – really is about learning how to improve your own skills while also performing in concert with others. Learning
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On the Lap of the Mighty Sagarmatha - Solu Khumbu or Everest region
The major mountains are the Mt.Everest, Mt.Lhotse, Cho Oyu, Nuptse, Pumori, Ama Dablam, Thamserku, Kantega, Mera Peak and Island Peak.
Mt. Everest, which is part of the Himalaya range, is located on the border between Nepal and Tibet. Rising to a height of 8848m, the world’s highest mountain was named in 1865 after Sir George Everest. The mountain got its Nepali name Sagarmatha during the 1960s, when the Government of Nepal gave the mountain the official Nepali name. In sanskrit Sagarmatha means "mother of the universe”. The Tibetan name for Mount Everest is Chomolungma or Qomolangma, which means “Goddess Mother of the Snows". Climbers wishing to scale the peak have to obtain an expensive permit from the Nepal Government, often costing more than $25,000 (USD) per person. Base Camp, which serves as a resting area and base of operations for climbers organizing their attempts for the summit, is located on the Khumbu glacier at an elevation of 5300 m (17,400 ft); it receives an average of 450 mm (18 in) of precipitation a year. The climate of Mount Everest is extreme In July, the warmest month, the average summit temperature is -19° C (-2° F).
When George Mallory, the British climber was asked why he wanted to climb Everest he replied ‘Because it is there’. After two unsuccessful attempts, in 1924 he again tried to climb the peak with Andrew Irvine. They started on June 8, 1924 to scale the summit via the north col route and never returned. Their bodies were later discovered by the Mallory and Irvine Research Expedition near the old Chinese camp in 1999. Edmund Hillary, a New Zealander and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay from Nepal were the first two climbers to set foot on the summit of Mt.Everest. They reached the summit at 11:30 a.m. on May 29, 1953 by climbing through the South Col Route. More than 300 climbers have scaled the highest mountain since then. Also there have been more than 100 deaths on the mountain where conditions are so difficult that most corpses have been left where they fell, some of them visible from standard climbing routes.
Mt. Lhotse (8516m) is the fourth highest mountain in the world. It lies south of Mt. Everest. It was first climbed by two Swiss climbers F. Luchsinger and E. Reiss in 1956 from the West face. The Czech scaled it via the South face in 1984. An impressive ring of three peaks makes up the Lhotse massif: Lhotse East or Middle, Lhotse and Lhotse Shar. The South Face of Lhotse is one of the largest mountain faces in the world.
Cho Oyu, (8201m) the sixth highest mountain in the world, has gained popularity among climbers just recently. The mountain sits on both sides of the border of Nepal and Tibet, about 30 km. west of Mount Everest. Cho Oyu in Tibetan means "the turquoise goddess ." The south face of Cho Oyu, facing Nepal, is quite steep and difficult, and is rarely climbed. The north side, accessed from Tibet, is more moderate, and there is a relatively safe route to the summit. In the autumn of 1954, an Austrian team made the first ascent via this route.
Ama Dablam (6856m) which means ‘mother’s jewellery box’, in sherpa language is considered to be one of the most beautiful mountains in the world. Seen from below, the mountain looks like a woman with outstretched arms or a woman wearing a long necklace. Ama Dablam lies alongside Everest in the heart of the Khumbu valley. Mt Lhotse, Mt. Makalu, Mt. Cho Oyu and Mt. Everest can be seen at close quarters from Ama dablam.
Nuptse (7,855m.) lies south west of Mt Everest. It is situated in the Khumbu Himal. From the Thyangboche Monastery Nuptse appears as a massive wall guarding the approach to Everest. The name Nup-tse in Tibetan means west-peak. The main ridge, which is separated from Lhotse by a 7556m high saddle, is crowned by seven peaks and goes west-northwest until its steep west-face drops down more than 2300m to the Khumbu-glacier. Nuptse I was first summited by a British expedition on May 16, 1961
Pumori peak at 7145m is just 8 km away from the world’s highest peak Mt.Everest. The ascent to this peak is described as a classic climb in the 7000m peak category. In Tibetan, ‘Pumo’ means girl and ‘Ri’, mountain. The peak was named by George Mallory, the famous English climber who lost his life trying to ascend Everest in 1924. The German climber Gerhard Lenser was the first to reach the summit of Pumori peak in 1962. Pumori is a popular climbing peak and the easiest. The best season to climb this peak is during autumn and spring.
Mera Peak (6,475m) is the highest of Nepal's trekking peaks. By its standard route, it is also the highest peak in Nepal that can be climbed without prior mountaineering experience. It was first climbed on 20 May 1953, by J.O.M. Roberts and Sen Tenzing, from the standard route at Mera La. The mountain lies to the south of Everest, dominating the watershed between the wild and beautiful valleys of the Hinku and Hongu.
Island Peak also known as Imja Tse at 6160m was named by Erick Shipton's group in 1953.It was so named as the peak resembles an island in a sea of ice when observed from Dingboche. The peak was first climbed in 1953 by a British group as preparation for climbing Mt. Everest. Among them one of the climbers was Mr. Tenzing Norgay. The peak is part of the south ridge of Lhotse Shar and the main land forms a semicircle of cliffs that rise to the north of the summits of Nuptse, Lhotse, Middle Peak and Lhotse Shar. Cho Oyu and Makalu lie to the east of the Island Peak. Baruntse, Amphu and Ama Dablam lie to the south.
Lobuche(6,119m) is known as Lhauche among the Locals. It rises above the town of Lhauche which is just a few kilometer from Mt. Everest. The first ascent on this peak was done by Laurice Nielson and Ang Gyalzen Sherpa on 25 April 1984.
Kalapattar is a small mountain 5,545 m (18,500 ft) high on the southern flank of Pumori (7,145 m). It is a trekking peak and every year tourists climb this peak to enjoy the fantastic panoramic views it offers of the Khumbu glacier, the Everest and nearby peaks like Lhotse and Nuptse. To the east, Makalu, Amadablam, Pumori, and Cho Oyu are visible.
Climate, Flora & Fauna
The climate in the Everest region can be divided into four climate zones owing to the gradual rise in altitude. The climatic zones include a forested lower zone, a zone of alpine scrub, the upper alpine zone which includes upper limit of vegetation growth, and the Arctic zone where no plants can grow. The types of plants and animals that are found depend on the altitude. In the lower forested zone, birch, juniper, blue pines, firs, bamboo and rhododendron grow. All vegetation that is found above this zone is shrubs. As the altitude increases, plant life is restricted to lichens and mosses. At an elevation of 5,750m begins the permanent snow line in the Himalayas. From this point there is no sign of greenery or vegetation. A common animal sighted in the higher reaches is the hairy animal yak. Dzopkyo a sterile male crossbreed between a yak and a cow is used to move goods along the trail. Red panda, snow leopard, musk deer, wild yak, and Himalayan black bear are some of the more exotic animals that are found in this region. A variety of birds can be sighted in the lower regions.
Sagarmata (Mt. Everest) National Park
The Sagarmatha National Park is the highest national park in the world. It was formally opened to public in July 19, 1976. The park covers an area of 1,148 sq km. It rises from its lowest point of 2,845 m (9,335 ft) at Jorsale to 8,850 m (29,035 ft) up to the summit of Everest. The park’s area is very rugged and steep, with its terrain cut by deep rivers and glaciers. It includes three peaks higher than 8,000 m, including Mt Everest. In 1979 the park was inscribed as a Natural World Heritage Site. The park's visitor centre is located at a hill in Namche Bazaar, where a company of the Nepal Royal Army is stationed for protecting the park. The park's southern entrance is a few hundred meters north of Monjo at 2,835 m. Trekking and climbing groups must bring their own fuel to the park (usually butane and kerosene), and the cutting of wood is prohibited. The Sagarmatha Pollution Control, funded by the World Wildlife Fund and the Himalayan Trust, was established in 1991 to help preserve Everest's environment. About a humdred species of birds and more than twenty species of butterflies have made this park their home. Musk deer, wild yak, red panda, snow leopard, Himalayan black bear, Himalayan thars, deer, langur monkeys, hares, mountain foxes, martens, and Himalayan wolves are found in the park
Early expeditions to climb Everest from the Nepalese side started from Jiri. Before the airstrip at Lukla came into existence all the trekking and climbing expeditions to the Everest region started from Jiri. Starting from Jiri, the route passes through the Sherpa villages of the Solu Khumbu, many of them having beautiful Buddhist monasteries.
Lukla, a village in Khumbu boast of the region’s sole airport.Lying at a height of 9000ft, most travelers to this region usually begin and end their adventure in Lukla. The airport was built in 1964 by Sir Edmund Hillary as part of his project in Khumbu region during the early 60s to transport the supplies for the Himalayan Trust projects in the Khumbu region. Today, somewhere between 90-95% of the foreign nationals who reach Lukla, arrive by a half hour flight from Kathmandu.
Namche Bazar is known as the sherpa capital. Namche is actually a village lying at the junction of the Dudh Koshi and a valley that leads to the frontier pass of Nangpa La . It is tucked away in a niche at a height of 7,845 ft. W. H. Tilman and C. Houston were the first westerners to enter it in 1950 and many more have come since then. Facilities like a bank, a post office, hotels and shops where one can purchase climbing equipment as well as tinned food have sprung up over the years. Namche Bazar is the major regional trading center. Its Saturday market or haat is the place where most of the trading takes place. The headquarters of the Sagarmatha National Park is located in Namche.
Thyangboche is famous for the Thyangboche gompa. It is one of the most important centers of Buddhism in the region. The gompa is the largest in the Khumbu region. It was first built in 1923. Destroyed by a fire in 1989, it was rebuilt later on partly with foreign aid. From Thyangboche, one gets a panoramic view of Kwangde, Tawache, Everest, Nuptse, Lhotse, Amadablam, Kangtenga, and Thamserku.
Buddhism is believed to have been introduced in the Khumbu region towards the end of the 17th century by Lama Sange Dorjee. According to the legend, he flew over the Himalayas and landed on a rock at Pangboche and Thyangboche, leaving his footprints embedded on the stone. He is believed to have been responsible for the founding of the first gompas in the Khumbu region, at Pangboche and Thami. Pangboche is the highest year-round settlement in the valley. The Imja Khola, coming from the right, joins the Dudh Koshi River a little above the village. The gompa (monastery) in Phyangboche is thought to be one of the oldest in the Khumbu region.
Khumjung , a village lying west of Thyangboche, is famous for the gompa where the skull of a supposed Yeti, the Abominable Snowman, is preserved under the supervision of the head Lama. The skull seems more like the outer skin of Himalayan Brown Bear, and this is proved by the report of a scientific exploratory expedition conducted by Sir Edmund Hillary, a copy of which is kept in the gompa.
Pheriche is located at an altitude of 13,845 ft. It lies on a level patch. Apart from the basic facilities available here, there is a medical-aid post maintained by the Himalayan Rescue Association of the Tokyo Medical College with Japanese doctors in attendance. Among other facilities, there is an air compression chamber installed for assisting victims of high altitude sickness
The scenic village of Gokyo lies below the hilly Gokyo Ri(5483m). The village is a cluster of stone houses and walled pastures.One has to pass by the holy Gokyo lakes on the way to the village. The Ngozumpa Glacier Nepal’s longest glacier at 25 miles has to be traversed enroute to this remote village. Gokyo Ri looms above the village on the northern edge of the lake. The summits of Everest, Lhotse and Makalu are visible from the summit of Gokyo Ri.
Thami at 3750m is in a large valley. The village has a police checkpost and a few lodges and tea shops. A little above the village is the Thami gompa, which is the site of the annual Mani Rimdu festival.
Sherpas live in the upper regions of Solu Khumbu. They emigrated from Tibet about 600 years ago. In the past they were traders and porters, carrying butter, meat, rice, sugar, and dye from India, and, wool, jewelry, salt Chinese silk and porcelain from Tibet and beyond. The closure of the border between India and China undermined their economy. Fortunately, with the mountaineering expeditions and trekkers, the Sherpa's found their load carrying skills, both on normal treks and high altitudes in great demand. The Khumbu region has provided a strong group of able bodied, hardy and fearless Sherpa porters and guides. The sherpas are Buddhists.
At the lower elevations lives the Kiranti Rai. The villages of Jubing, Kharikhola, Okhaldhunga, are inhabited by the Rais. Of mongoloid stock they speak their own dialect. Reference is made of their fighting spirit in the Hindu epic Mahabharata. The people from this group have supplied recruits to Gurkha regiments both in the British as well as Indian armies. The Rais follow a religion that is partly animistic with a strong Hindu influence. They revere their ancestors by observing Kul or Pitri puja every year.
The Jirels live in the area around Jiri. They are mongoloid and follow Buddhism.
Losar is celebrated in the month of February by the Sherpas. ‘Losar’ means New Year in Tibetan. Apart from the Sherpas and Tibetans, the Gurungs and Tamangs also celebrate Losar. Buddhist monks offer prayers for good health and prosperity at monasteries. People exchange various goods and gifts among them. Families organize feasts and perform dances.
Dumje is celebrated to mark the birthday of Guru Rimpoche (Padmasambhava).The celebration takes place in June and lasts for six days. It is celebrated in a big way in the villages of Namche, Thame and Khumjung.
Mani Rimdu is a festival that celebrates the victory of Buddhism over the ancient animistic religion of Bon. This festival is celebrated in the monasteries of Thyangboche, Chiwang and Thami. At Thangboche the celebration takes place during the November- December full moon. At Thami the Mani rimdu is festival is celebrated during the full moon in May.Chiwang Gompa generally celebrate this festival during autumn. The lamas wear elaborate brocade gowns and papier-mâché masks while performing. Through the dances, symbolic demons are conquered, dispelled, or converted to Dharma Protectors as positive forces clash with those of chaos. The dances convey Buddhist teaching on many levels from the simplest to the most profound, for those who do not have the opportunity to study and meditate extensively. It gives an opportunity to the Sherpas to gather and celebrate together with the monks.
Sakela (Chandi Dance) is a harvest festival celebrated by the Rai community. The harvest ceremony involves the worship of mother earth, called ‘Bhumi-Puja’. The festival is celebrated twice a year, once in spring before planting begins and once during autumn before harvesting. Ubhauli is celebrated during the spring season on Baishakh Purnima. In the autumn season on Mangsir Purnima, Udhauli is celebrated. The spring worship is done to propitiate mother earth for a good harvest and the rain god to bless the earth with enough rain. The festival is celebrated with more fervor in the remote hills. The Rai villagers celebrate it with priests (dhami) who perform rituals to worship their ancestors. The elders of the community begin the dance with a puja. Later on everybody participate in the dance forming a circle by holding each other’s hands. With drumbeats, they begin dancing at a slow pace but moves faster later with the drumbeats. The dance steps and hand gestures imitate the sowing and harvesting of crops .The festival also provides an opportunity for the Rai people to socialise.
The Classic Everest Base Camp Trek
Mt Everest Base Camp is the most popular destination for trekkers in Nepal. Its popularity has grown since the first expedition to the Nepalese side of Everest in the 1950s.One can do this trek the old way, by beginning the trek from Jiri. From Jiri it takes around nine days to reach Namche. On the way you will come across Rai settlements. The other (quicker) alternative is to take a flight to Lukla and to begin the trek from there. The trek follows the Dudh Kosi valley route with an ascent up to the Sherpa capital of Namche Bazaar. From Namche, you traverse along a high path from where you have the first good view of Everest. You head towards Thyangboche Monastery located on top of a mountain ridge and then descend the Imja Khola and continue to the villages of Pangboche and Pheriche. After that you arrive at the Khumbu Glacier. The trek through the glacier takes you first to Lobuche and then to Gorak Shep. From Gorak Shep you can climb up to Kala Pattar for even more spectacular views of the surrounding mountains, including Everest's south west face. Yhou then reach your destination, the Everest Base Camp at the foot of the Khumbu ice fall.
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The loss of biodiversity affects us in many ways. For some of us, its loss is felt in the same way that we regret the destruction of a great work of art- it may not affect us directly, but the indirect impact is strong. For others, its loss is felt in changes in lifestyles and livelihoods- the measurable costs are high. Striking the right balance between the conservation/sustainable use and the loss of biodiversity requires accounting for all the impacts of its destruction. Weighing the loss against any potential benefits will ensure that the social, as well as economic, well-being of every one are at the best levels possible. Market based economic systems have the potential to ensure that such a balancing occurs, but require that all the impacts of its loss, or use, have been fully internalised into market transactions. This book shows how public policy in the form of market creation can be used to internalise the loss of biodiversity. It promotes the use of markets to ensure that our collective preferences for conversation and sustainable use are reflected in economic outcomes.
Executive Summary available.
How to obtain this publication
Readers can access the full version of Handbook of Market Creation for Biodiversity: Issues in Implementation choosing from the following options:
- Subscribers and readers at subscribing institutions can access the online edition via SourceOECD, our online library.
- Non-subscribers can purchase the PDF e-book and/or paper copy via our Online Bookshop.
- The report is available to journalists from the OECD Media Relations Division (Media Relations Division)
Executive Summary Handbook of Market Creation for Biodiversity: Issues in Implementation
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Luckily, Music Theory for Dummies shows you the fun and easy way to understanding the concepts needed to compose, deconstruct, and comprehend music. This helpful guide will give you a great grasp of:
- Note value and counting notes
- Treble and bass clefs
- Time signatures and measures
- Naturalizing the rhythm
- Tempo and dynamic
- Tone, color, and harmonics
- Half steps and whole steps
- Harmonic and melodic intervals
- Key signatures and circles of fifths
- Scales, chords, and their progressions
- Elements of form
- Music theory’s fascinating history
This friendly guide not only explores these concepts, it provides examples of music to compliment them so you can hear how they sound firsthand. With a bonus CD that demonstrates these ideas with musical excerpts on guitar and piano, this hands-on resource will prove to you that music theory is as enjoyable as it is useful. Don’t get discouraged by the seemingly complicated written structure. With Music Theory for Dummies, understanding music has never been easier!
Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.
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How will the technology and policy changes now sweeping through the industry affect the architecture of the utility grid? Will America build an increasingly robust transmission infrastructure, or...
Unforeseen consequences of dedicated renewable energy transmission.
Growth in renewable electricity (RE) generation will require major expansion of electricity transmission grids, and in the U.S. this could require building an additional 20,000 miles of transmission over the next decade—double what’s currently planned. To facilitate this, government policymakers are planning to build what are sometimes called “green” transmission lines that are restricted to carrying electricity generated by renewable sources, primarily wind and solar.
However, state and local jurisdictions are resisting siting of transmission unless it serves local constituents and existing power plants. If such transmission is built and local access is allowed, then the major beneficiaries of the added transmission might be existing power generation facilities, especially coal plants. Many of these facilities have very low electricity generating costs and their capacity factors are transmission-constrained. Their access to added transmission lines could enable them to sell electric power at rates against which RE can’t compete.
20,000 Miles of Wire
JP Morgan studied a possible federal renewable energy standard (RES) and its impact on the growth rate of RE. 1 We used JP Morgan data to estimate the potential impact of an RES and the transmission required to facilitate it on the existing fleet of power plants. The analysis focused primarily on coal plants because they can increase their capacity factors, whereas U.S. nuclear plants already have capacity factors above 90 percent. Given the location of the coal plants throughout the U.S. and their current capacity factors, we estimated the impact of expanded electricity transmission lines on RE generation and costs and on conventional electricity generation and costs.
The locations of the RE central station technologies and their distances from major load centers largely determine the new transmission that will be required. Geothermal will be installed in a small number of Western states, 2 while biomass will be installed primarily in the northern Great Plains, the Pacific Northwest, and perhaps parts of the South. Solar thermal (ST) and photovoltaics (PV) will be installed in some Western and Southwestern states, and wind will be installed primarily in the northern Great Plains.
The major load centers are primarily metropolitan areas in the coastal states, the Boston-Washington corridor, the West Coast corridor, and major Midwestern cities. In general, increased transmission capability is desirable, because a robust interstate electric transmission system is in everyone’s interest—consumers, power producers, and governments. An expanded transmission network will allow for power system growth, provide greater flexibility in expanding generation at existing plant sites, and facilitate construction of new generating plants at optimal locations.
However, there’s a mismatch between RE resources and load centers: Most of the best RE sites are west of the Mississippi river, but most of the load centers are east of the river or on the West Coast. Even West Coast load centers are far from the best RE sites. We estimated how much new transmission needs to be built to
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This section provides primary sources that document how Indian and European men and one English and one Indian woman have described the practice of sati, or the self-immolation of Hindu widows.
Although they are all critical of self-immolation, Francois Bernier, Fanny Parks, Lord William Bentinck, and Rev. England present four different European perspectives on the practice of sati and what it represents about Indian culture in general, and the Hindu religion and Hindu women in particular. They also indicate increasing negativism in European attitudes toward India and the Hindu religion in general. It would be useful to compare the attitudes of Bentinck and England as representing the secular and sacred aspects of British criticism of sati. A comparison of Bentinck’s minute with the subsequent legislation also reveals differences in tone between private and public documents of colonial officials. Finally, a comparison between the Fanny Parks and the three men should raise discussion on whether or not the gender and social status of the writer made any difference in his or her appraisal of the practice of self-immolation.
The three sources by Indian men and one by an Indian woman illustrate the diversity of their attitudes toward sati. The Marathi source illuminates the material concerns of relatives of the Hindu widow who is urged to adopt a son, so as to keep a potentially lucrative office within the extended family. These men are willing to undertake intense and delicate negotiations to secure a suitably related male child who could be adopted. This letter also documents that adoption was a legitimate practice among Hindus, and that Hindu women as well as men could adopt an heir. Ram Mohan Roy’s argument illustrates a rationalist effort to reform Hindu customs with the assistance of British legislation. Roy illustrates one of the many ways in which Indians collaborate with British political power in order to secure change within Indian society. He also enabled the British to counter the arguments of orthodox Hindus about the scriptural basis for the legitimacy of self-immolation of Hindu widows. The petition of the orthodox Hindu community in Calcutta, the capital of the Company’s territories in India, documents an early effort of Indians to keep the British colonial power from legislating on matters pertaining to the private sphere of Indian family life. Finally, Pandita Ramabai reflects the ways in which ancient Hindu scriptures and their interpretation continued to dominate debate. Students should consider how Ramabai’s effort to raise funds for her future work among child widows in India might have influenced her discussion of sati.
Two key issues should be emphasized. First, both Indian supporters and European and Indian opponents of the practice of self-immolation argue their positions on the bodies of Hindu women, and all the men involved appeal to Hindu scriptures to legitimate their support or opposition. Second, the voices of Indian women were filtered through the sieve of Indian and European men and a very few British women until the late 19th century.
- How do the written and visual sources portray the Hindu women who commit self-immolation? Possible aspects range from physical appearance and age, motivation, evidence of physical pain (that even the most devoted woman must suffer while burning to death), to any evidence of the agency or autonomy of the Hindu widow in deciding to commit sati. Are any differences discernible, and if so, do they seem related to gender or nationality of the observer or time period in which they were observed?
- How are the brahman priests who preside at the self-immolation portrayed in Indian and European sources? What might account for any similarities and differences?
- What reasons are used to deter Hindu widows from committing sati? What do these reasons reveal about the nature of family life in India and the relationships between men and women?
- What do the reasons that orthodox Hindus provide to European observers and to Indian reformers reveal about the significance of sati for the practice of the Hindu religion? What do their arguments reveal about orthodox Hindu attitudes toward women and the family?
- How are Hindu scriptures used in various ways in the debates before and after the prohibition of sati?
- What is the tone of the petition from 800 Hindus to their British governor? Whom do they claim to represent? What is their justification for the ritual of self-immolation? What is their attitude toward the Mughal empire whose Muslim rulers had preceded the British? What is their characterization of the petitioners toward those Hindus who support the prohibition on sati? How do the petitioners envision the proper relationship between the state and the practice of religion among its subjects?
- Who or what factors do European observers, British officials, and Indian opponents of sati hold to be responsible for the continuance of the practice of sati?
- What were the reasons that widows gave for committing sati? Were they religious, social or material motives? What is the evidence that the widows were voluntarily committing sati before 1829? What reasons did the opponents of sati give for the decisions of widows to commit self-immolation? What reasons did opponents give for widows who tried to escape from their husbands’ pyres?
- What are the reasons that Lord Bentinck and his Executive Council cite for their decision to declare the practice of sati illegal? Are the arguments similar to or different from his arguments in his minute a month earlier? What do these reasons reveal about British attitudes toward their role or mission in India? Do they use any of the arguments cited by Ram Mohan Roy or Pandita Ramabai?
- What do these sources, both those who oppose sati and those who advocate it, reveal about their attitudes to the Hindu religion in particular and Indian culture in general?
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Food Safety: Serving
You can help prevent food poisoning by taking precautions when serving food.
When you eat out, be sure that meat is cooked thoroughly and that foods that should be refrigerated, such as puddings and cold cuts, are served cold. Also pay attention to the restaurant environment. If the tables, dinnerware, and restrooms look dirty, the kitchen may be too.
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To learn more visit Healthwise.org
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Some numbers mean things, and some numbers do things. Making--and breaking--that distinction was central to renowned mathematician John von Neumannâs implementation of Alan Turingâs Universal Machine in 1945-56. In this lecture, you will learn about the unlikeliest place on earth to build such a device and how this vital 5-kilobyte step in the digital revolution was sparked by a collision of ideas between mathematicians and engineers. Combining soldering guns with science, Von Neumann and his Electronic Computing Instrument tackled previously intractable problems ranging from thermonuclear explosions, stellar evolution, and long-range weather forecasting to cellular automata, network optimization, and the origins of life. In this highly visual and informative presentation, George Dyson will impart the full story - from the people to their processors - and where our digital directions through history may lead us next.
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NASA scientists captured some footage of Plasma Indirection, a plasma shift on the surface of the Sun that looks like huge tornadoes churning. Pretty amazing stuff.
As if it could not make up its mind . . . darker, cooler plasma slid and shifted back and forth above the Sun’s surface seen here for 30 hours (Feb. 7-8, 2012) in extreme ultraviolet light. An active region rotating into view provides a bright backdrop to the gyrating streams of plasma. The particles are being pulled this way and that by competing magnetic forces. They are tracking along strands of magnetic field lines. This kind of detailed solar observation with high-resolution frames and a four-minute cadence was not possible until SDO, which launched two years ago on Feb. 11, 2010. So it’s our 2nd Anniversary!
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Mars is a cold desert world. It is half the diameter of Earth and has the same amount of dry land. Like Earth, Mars has seasons, polar ice caps, volcanoes, canyons and weather, but its atmosphere is too thin for liquid water to exist for long on the surface. There are signs of ancient floods on Mars, but evidence for water now exists mainly in icy soil and thin clouds.
Featured Mission: Mars Science Laboratory/Curiosity
Curiosity, a robotic rover about the size of a small SUV, is designed to find whether the Red Planet ever was -- or is still today -- an environment suitable for life. The rover landed on Mars in August 2012.
Read More About Mars
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New York Manumission Society
The New York Manumission Society was an early American organization founded in 1785 to promote the abolition of the slavery of African descendants within the state of New York. The organization was made up entirely of white men, most of whom were wealthy and held influential positions in society. Throughout its 71-year history, which ended in 1849, the society battled against the slave trade and for the eventual emancipation of all the slaves in the state; it founded the African Free School for the poor and orphaned children of slaves and free people of color.
John Jay
John Jay had been a prominent leader in the antislavery cause since 1777, when he drafted a state law to abolish slavery. The draft failed, as did a second attempt in 1785. In 1785, all state legislators except one voted for some form of gradual emancipation. However, they did not agree on what civil rights would be given to the slaves once they were freed. In 1799, an emancipation bill passed by not mentioning the subject of civil rights for freed slaves at all.
Jay brought in prominent political leaders such as Alexander Hamilton. He also worked closely with Aaron Burr, later head of the Democratic-Republicans in New York. The Society started a petition against slavery, which was signed by almost all the politically prominent men in New York, of all parties and led to a bill for gradual emancipation. Burr, in addition to supporting the bill, made an amendment for immediate abolition, which was voted down.
Jay founded the New-York Society for Promoting the Manumission of Slaves, and Protecting Such of Them as Have Been, or May be Liberated or the New York Manumission Society, and became its first president in 1785.
The organization was originally composed of Jay and a few dozen close friends, many of whom were slave-owners at the time. The first meeting was on January 25, 1785, at the home of John Simmons - who had space for the nineteen men in attendance since he kept an inn. Robert Troup and Melancton Smith were appointed to draw up rules; Jay was elected President. There were 31 members at the second meeting on February 4, including Alexander Hamilton. Several of the members were Quakers.
The Society formed a ways-and-means committee to deal with the difficulty that more than half of the members, including Troup and Jay, owned slaves (mostly a few domestic servants per household). The committee reported a plan for gradual emancipation: members would free slaves then younger than 28 when they reached the age of 35, slaves between 28 and 38 in seven years' time, and slaves over 45 immediately. This was voted down; and the committee dissolved.
This society was instrumental in having a state law passed in 1785 prohibiting the sale of slaves imported into the state, and making it easy for slaveholders to manumit slaves either by a registered certificate or by will. In 1788 the purchase of slaves for removal to another state was forbidden; they were allowed trial by jury "in all capital cases," and the earlier laws about slaves were simplified and restated. The emancipation of slaves by the Quakers was legalized in 1798. At that date, there were still about 33,000 slaves statewide.
Lobbying and boycotts
The Society organized boycotts against New York merchants and newspaper owners involved in the slave trade. The Society had a special committee of militants who visited newspaper offices to warn publishers against accepting advertisements for the purchase or sale of slaves.
Another committee kept a list of people who were involved in the slave trade, and urged members to boycott anyone listed. As historian Roger Kennedy reports,
"Those [blacks] who remained in New York soon discovered that until the Manumission Society was organized, things had gotten worse, not better, for blacks. Despite the efforts of Burr, Hamilton, and Jay, the slave importers were busy. There was a 23 percent increase in slaves and a 33 percent increase in slaveholders in New York City in the 1790s."
Beginning in 1785, the Society lobbied for a state law to abolish slavery in New York, as all the other northern states (except New Jersey) had done. Considerable opposition came from the Dutch areas upstate (where slavery was still popular), as well as from the many businessmen in New York who profited from the slave trade. The two houses passed different emancipation bills and could not reconcile them. Every member of the New York legislature, but one, voted for some form of gradual emancipation, but no agreement could be reached on the civil rights of freedmen afterwards. Success finally came in 1799, when the Society supported a bill which said nothing about such rights. Jay signed this statement into law as governor.
The Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery 1799 declared that, from July 4 of that year, all children born to slave parents would be free. It also outlawed the exportation of current slaves. However, the Act held the caveat that the children would be subject to apprenticeship. These same children would be required to serve their mother’s owner until age twenty-eight for males, and age twenty-five for females.
The law defined the children of slaves as a type of indentured servant, while scheduling them for eventual freedom. The last slaves were emancipated by July 4, 1827; the process was the largest emancipation in North America before 1861. Thousands of freedmen celebrated with a parade in New York.
Other anti-slavery societies directed their attention to slavery as a national issue. The Quakers of New York petitioned the First Congress (under the Constitution) for the abolition of the slave trade. In addition, Benjamin Franklin and the Pennsylvania Abolition Society petitioned for the abolition of slavery in the new nation; but the NYMS did not act. (Hamilton and others felt that Federal action on slavery would endanger the compromise worked out at the Constitutional Convention, and so the new United States.)
African Free School
See also
- Berlin, Ira and Leslie Harris, eds.. Slavery in New York. New Press, 2005. ISBN 1-56584-997-3.
- Gellman, David N. Emancipating New York: The Politics of Slavery And Freedom, 1777-1827 Louisiana State Univ Press, 2006. ISBN 0-8071-3174-1.
- Gellman, David N. "Pirates, Sugar, Debtors, and Slaves: Political Economy and the Case for Gradual Abolition in New York." Slavery & Abolition (2001) 22(2): 51-68. Issn: 0144-039x
- Gellman, David N. "Race, the Public Sphere, and Abolition in Late Eighteenth-century New York." Journal of the Early Republic (2000) 20(4): 607-636. Issn: 0275-1275 Fulltext: online in Jstor
- Leslie M. Harris. In the Shadow of Slavery: African Americans in New York City, 1626-1863 (2003),
- Horton, James Oliver. "Alexander Hamilton: Slavery and Race in a Revolutionary Generation" New-York Journal of American History 2004 65(3): 16-24. ISSN 1551-5486
- Roger G. Kennedy, Burr, Hamilton, and Jefferson: A Study in Character (2000)
- Littlefield, Daniel C. "John Jay, the Revolutionary Generation, and Slavery." New York History 2000 81(1): 91-132. Issn: 0146-437x
- Edgar J. McManus, History of Negro Slavery in New York (1968)
- Newman, Richard S. The Transformation of American Abolitionism: Fighting Slavery in the Early Republic. Univ of North Carolina Press, 2002. ISBN 0-8078-2671-5.
- Schaetzke, E. Anne. "Slavery in the Genesee Country (Also Known as Ontario County) 1789 to 1827." Afro-Americans in New York Life and History (1998) 22(1): 7-40. Issn: 0364-2437
- Jake Sudderth," John Jay and Slavery" (2002) at
- "African-Americans in New York City, 1626-1863". Emory University Deptartment of History. Retrieved 2006-12-11.
- "Race and Antebellum New York City - New York Manumission Society". New-York Historical Society. Retrieved 2006-12-12.
- Davis, New York’s Manumission (Free the Slaves!)Society & Its African Free School 1785-1849, as cited.
- John Jay and Sarah Livingston Jay, Selected Letters of John Jay and Sarah Livingston Jay (2005) pp 297-99; online at
- Edgar McManus, History of Negro Slavery in New York, Syracuse University Press, 1966
- Davis, op. cit.; Chernow, Alexander Hamilton p.214
- Ron Chernow, Alexander Hamilton, p. 215
- Peter Nelson. The American Revolution in New York: Its Political, Social and Economic Significance. (1926). p, 237.
- Roger G. Kennedy, Burr, Hamilton, and Jefferson: A Study in Character (2000) p. 92
- Herbert S. Parmet and Marie B. Hecht, Aaron Burr (1967) p. 76
- Edgar J. McManus, History of Negro Slavery in New York
- Edgar J. McManus, History of Negro Slavery in New York
- Jake Sudderth," John Jay and Slavery" (2002) at
- Forrest McDonald, Alexander Hamilton, a Biography(1982) p. 177
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The Bruce-Benedicks Saga and the Birth of the AGH
While living in Paris in the 1880's, the budding young Canadian artist, William Blair Bruce
, met the aristocratic Swedish sculptress, Caroline Benedicks
. They fell in love, married, and eventually established themselves in a permanent year-round residence, Brucebo
, on the western seashore of Gotland Island in Sweden. From their artistic union two significant institutions in the world of fine art were to evolve – the birth of the Art Gallery of Hamilton in Canada and the creation of the Brucebo Fine Art Scholarship Foundation in Sweden.
The saga of William and Caroline’s life-story spans one of the most exciting phases in European contemporary history, including its fine art development. It comprises the last quarter of the 19th century and the decades leading up to World War II. The era is characterized by dramatic transformations in not just technological and industrial developments, but also in social and cultural institutions, including the world of art in its various forms.
was born in 1856 into a wealthy industrialist family in Stockholm. Caroline had finished her studies in Sweden in the early 1880's, before moving South, to Paris, and settling in the village of Grez-sur-Long in 1884, where she stood out from the majority of artists living there. First, she was a single young female in a society that basically frowned upon such status. Second, she was financially independent, and third, she had received a typical "proper" education as behooved a young woman of wealthy family circumstances. Finally, she was a family girl whose keen interest in the fine arts had landed her in a sea of male artists. Another factor that made her quite atypical was her chosen field of art specialization in sculpture rather than the standard popular domain of painting.
William Blair Bruce’s
formative years could not have been more different from Caroline’s. William was born in 1859 into a comfortable middle-class here a continent away in Canada, on Hamilton’s “mountain”. He received his early training from his father who was also an amateur painter. In 1877, William studied at the local Mechanics Institute (Hamilton Art School), and from 1878 until 1880 was employed as a draftsman for a local architectural firm.
In the autumn of 1881, at age 22, William sailed to France, settling in Paris and enrolling in classes at the Académie Julien. William wanted to soak up the Parisian atmosphere, discover new inspirational approaches in painting by rubbing shoulders with contemporaries, and to meet the new generation of avant-guard painters. Above all, he wanted to pit his artistic skills and talent in the open competition at the annual Grand Salon, and at various exhibition galleries, against other talented painters who tried to achieve fame in the art world “mecca”, Paris.
William’s behavior in this world was typical. He first rented a studio apartment on Rive Gauche with all the other aspiring artists. However, in 1882, he leased a cottage in the village of Barbizon, on the outskirts of the Forest of Fontainebleau. This became his permanent pied-a-terre during his years in Paris.Meanwhile, Caroline was mixing with the Swedish crowd that tended to center upon the village of Grez-sur-Long, where the young, up-and-coming generation of Swedish painters were developing their talents.
The 1880's were an exciting time for any young artist to reside in France. Toward the latter part of the 19th century, the art world in general had broken with the previous romantic/realism styles that had typified the (landscape) painting schools, both on the Continent and in England during earlier decades. New fine art waves were washing away the traditional studio-based approach to painting, and the innovations in France at the time fostered the first generation of impressionistic painters. This powerful wave of avant-garde art as represented by the impressionists had a major impact throughout European and international art communities. The standard bearers, such as Corot, Monet, Pissaro, and Sisley, were all well-established, and frequently organized private exhibitions outside the annual Paris Salon. They, and others in a widening flock, served as beacons for the younger generation of artists that came to France. William and Caroline included.
The first couple of meetings of Caroline and William must have occurred in this context - accidental and informal encounters in popular places of residence typical of the artistic community at large.
By this time, Caroline was an active and respected member of the Swedish art circles, first at Grez and later Paris. Indeed, before she came to Paris, she had been admitted into the Royal Swedish Academy of Art, a measure of her professional calibre. How a " colonial nobody " such as William, straight out of the British North America Dominion of Canada, could fit into her busy social and professional calendar is hard to imagine. Perhaps it can be best explained through the "Parisian way of life " - the great ease by which people in the art community socialized. Also, both William and Caroline belonged to the younger "talent pool" of the foreign art colony, which also raised their public profile. Hence, given the artist's small world, it was only matter of time before they bumped into each other sometime in the spring of 1885.
William’s letters home suggested that he possessed both a strong personal determination and a great belief in his own artistic talent. William’s talents were not generally being recognized in France at the time, but what surely must have added a certain personal fame was his ill-fated trip home to Canada in the Fall of 1885, during which the steamship, Brooklyn
, sank in the Gulf of St. Lawrence with his whole portfolio of five years hard work in Paris – some 200 paintings. Such an event must have been much talked about, and seen as a catastrophic, almost monumental personal tragedy - a drama literally handmade for the bistro and cafe gossip-mills.
Shortly thereafter, a surprise transatlantic voyage brought Caroline and her chaperone uncle to New York and to Canada. After considerable discussion the young couple decided to return to Paris, where William would start resurrecting his shattered career and Caroline continue hers. Caroline and her understanding uncle must have been quite persuasive in the discussions, but more important was the fact that the pair wanted more than anything else to be together, preferably in Paris, where their love affair had begun.
So, they crossed the Atlantic again in 1887, she getting closer to her twin "home-bases" of Paris and Stockholm, he subconsciously casting loose his moorings from his Canadian home-base.
Although Caroline and William were engaged in the fall of 1886, their subsequent marriage did not materialize until 1888. One can only conclude that there existed a certain amount of concern, even resistance, to the young couple's marriage on the part of the Benedicks family. The fact that the newly-weds almost immediately after the wedding returned to Paris is perhaps indicative of their preference of having the Benedicks clan at some distance rather than just round the corner in Stockholm. After the wedding, which saw an impressive gathering of Stockholm high society and cultural elite, Caroline and William literally fled southward to Paris, where they remained for another couple of years practicing a typical bohemian, but fashionable, vagabond lifestyle. They freely traveled to places that caught their fancy and inspired their creativity. They also took up the habit of spending summers in the North, where at an early stage they became enamored with the Island of Gotland.
The Gotland connection is something of an enigma in the Bruce - Benedicks saga. There were no family links with Gotland among the Benedicks, nor any business. The couple seemed to have fallen in love with the island, its serene landscape and leisurely summer ambiance. Gotland Island possessed an open, expansive, almost prairie-flat, pastoral landscape dotted with Viking rune stones, burial sites, rich archeological digs, and 14th century churches in classical "Gotland Gothic style". Gotland was romantic, historical, aesthetically pleasing, and highly inspirational - well worth the young artists’ gaze.
William quickly succumbed. As an aspiring impressionist, he was fascinated by the “Gotland light” and shoreline/seascape interface, both of which figured prominently in his painting from that time on. And, in winter, the island atmosphere was hauntingly dark, with the afternoon's magical l'heure bleue
reflected across the frozen beaches and snow-covered meadowlands.
In 1899, the Bruces' settled at Brucebo
. The site of their home was located a few kilometers up the coast from Visby, at Skalso - a fishing village on a limestone terrace offering a beautiful westward view toward the low-lying shore, with the light blue sea and sky serving as an immense backdrop. The air was clear, salubrious, and healthy, combining its tonic quality with a scent of fresh pine and the sound of the wind through the forest. At Brucebo
they experienced spectacular and ever-changing scenery and the rhythmic sounds of wave and wind mixed with the cries of terns and seagulls. The summer climate was dry, sunny and warm – the very best Sweden could offer, especially for William who was sensitive to damp and raw weather.
The Bruces loved their Brucebo
homestead. Caroline did sculpture, etchings, and watercolors, while William captured seascapes on canvas.
They had only seven years on Gotland before William’s untimely death on November 17, 1906 at the age of 47. Caroline was then 50 years old, and would survive her husband by 29 more years. She settled for good at Brucebo
and continued to work as a painter and sculptress. She also took an active interest in a number of contemporary political causes - especially the women's emancipation movement in the years prior to World War I. Strangely perhaps, she also became active in Gotland's voluntary military organization, and over the years established herself as a great nationalist-patriot with strong sympathies for the British- French Grande Entente. Indeed, Caroline's life remained full to the very end.
When Caroline passed away, World War II was only four years away, the famous impressionists were all long-gone, 20th century modernistic fine art styles were in full bloom, and social democracy was about to become the political standard in Sweden.
After the death of Caroline in 1935 at the age of 70, a grant endowment was established. However, it was only in 1972 that the formula and institutional arrangement for her wish that a stipend be made available to a promising Canadian painter to spend some summer weeks at Brucebo
on the island of Gotland, became reality. Thus, through the Gotland Fine Art Museum, and the Brucebo Fine Art Scholarship Foundation, the Brucebo Fine Arts Summer Scholarship and in recent years, the William Blair Bruce Fine Arts European Travel Scholarship have been offered in a tangible and lasting manner to talented Canadian artists, in commemoration of William Blair Bruce of Hamilton Ontario, and Caroline Benedicks of Stockholm Sweden, and of their transatlantic saga of love and art.
But there was also another more immediate legacy of this saga. Upon the death of William, his father in Hamilton and his widow in Gotland offered the City of Hamilton twenty-nine of William’s works, on the understanding that a permanent municipal gallery would be established to house them. However, Hamilton lacked a municipal art gallery at the time, and six years were to pass before the City acquired a space to house the Blair Bruce Collection
In 1913 the first Hamilton Public Library vacated their building, built on Main Street West near James in 1890, and moved across the street into the new Carnegie Library. Finally, on November 27, 1913 the City finally designated the second floor and attic of the old Public Library Building as space for the first municipal art gallery, named the Hamilton Municipal Gallery
Without the Blair Bruce bequest, it would likely have been many years before Hamilton could ever boast a municipal art gallery – perhaps never. Today, that modest gallery with its Blair Bruce Collection has grown and matured to become the Art Gallery of Hamilton
For AGH's chronology from 1886 to 2005, click here.
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Lesson 1: Why Pray?
This first lesson of a series of three will introduce children to the importance of prayer in their daily lives.
Christian Living, Knowing God, Listening, Prayer, Relationships
AS KIDS ARRIVE (10 minutes)
Display the following items on a table:
Telephone Newspaper Letters & Envelopes Road Map Radio
As the children arrive, give them a sheet of paper and ask them to list what they think the items on the table have in common. Just before class starts let the kids know that all the things displayed on the table are used to communicate with each other. Today our lesson is about another way we communicate. More specifically, it is about how we communicate with God.
OPENING PRAYER AND PRAISE (5 minutes)
Further info? Click here
MEMORY WORK (12 minutes)
"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart" Jeremiah 29:13
Write the verse on the board. Say the verse together as a group several times. Then erase one word. Have the kids say the verse correctly again with the missing word. Then erase another word and say the verse again. Continue erasing words until the kids can say the entire verse without seeing the words.
SCRIPTURE READING AND DISCUSSION (15 minutes)
Today we will learn that prayer is communicating or talking with God. We may not be able to call God on the telephone or send Him a letter, but prayer is just as real as e-mail or newspapers. Why should we pray? Because it makes our relationship with God stronger. Could you imagine trying to have a best friend without communicating with them? Prayer is seeking God and His direction for our lives. Praying also helps keep us out of trouble. Jesus told us to pray, "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation." (Matthew 26:41)
Read James 5:13-16 (The Prayer of Faith)
Have the kids find James 5:13-16 in their Bibles. Ask for a volunteer to read the passage, or if you prefer, read the passage to the children yourself.
1. What is prayer? (Prayer is spiritual communication between ourselves and God.)
2. Can you pray when you are in trouble? (Yes.)
3. Can you pray when you are happy? (Yes.)
4. What is another name for happy prayers? (Praises.)
5. What are some of the examples of why to pray mentioned in James 5:13-16? (When you are in trouble, when you are happy, when you are sick, to show faith, for confession of sin, and to pray for others.)
6. What else can we pray for? (Some examples include: Guidance, Protection, Strength, Wisdom.)
7. Is the prayer of a righteous man powerful? Is it effective? (Yes the Bible tells us in James 5:16b that the prayers of the righteous are both powerful and effective.)
CLASS EXERCISE (5 minutes)
Answers Without Speaking (Activity) Click here
ALTERNATE CLASS EXERCISE (5 minutes)
So Don't Worry (Activity) Click here
APPLICATION (2 minutes)
Why pray? It's simple, to talk with God and to get His direction for our lives. God is so good and will help us when we are happy, sad, sick or even when we're in trouble. God will give us wisdom, strength and understanding if we only ask Him. In fact God is willing to give us many good things as long as we ask for them in accordance to His Will. God answers our prayers with signs, the Holy Spirit and His Word, the Bible. When we pray our relationship with God grows.
Did you ever see a human that thought he was a robot? If not, be sure to come back next week.
CLOSING PRAYER (2 minutes)
Further info? Click here
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We Can End Domestic Abuse
If your friend or loved one is experiencing domestic violence or is a survivor, there are many ways you can help to support them.
Do respect what she wants to do.
Every step is up to her.
Do share resources with your friend or loved one.
Professionals who work at shelters and on hotlines can help. You can’t do it all alone!
Do offer your unconditional understanding and support.
Start by helping them feel good about themselves. Emphasize their strengths.
Do be clear that you are there to listen, and not to judge.
There is an important balance between expressing concern and telling someone what to do. Encourage them to express their feelings and make their own decisions.
Do tell her it's not her/his fault.
Stress that she doesn’t deserve the abuse and that abuse is NEVER okay. Remind them often that you’re there for support whenever necessary.
Do identify the unhealthy behaviors.
Keep track of things you have noticed about the relationship and the abuser. Identify the changes you have seen in your loved one's behavior.
Do acknowledge the scariness of domestic violence.
It is scary and difficult to talk about interpersonal violence. Be prepared with good information.
Do encourage your loved one to build a support system.
A good support system includes the safe and healthy people in her life.
Don't spread gossip.
Gossip can put a victim in danger if it gets back to the abuser, so think before you speak. Your friend or loved one has taken a big step in coming to you—it is critical that they can trust you with confidential information.
Don't blame your friend or loved one for the abuse.
The victim should never feel as though the abuse is her fault.
Don't make them do something.
Don't force her to do something she is uncomfortable doing. They can make their own decisions. Don't try to end the relationship for them.
Don't criticize your loved one or her partner.
Even if you disagree with her choices. This may isolate them even more by making them feel that no one approves, or that they have to hide their relationship.
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To preserve our planet, scientists tell us we must reduce the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere from its current level of 392 parts per million ("ppm")to below 350 ppm. But 350 is more than a number—it's a symbol of where we need to head as a planet.
At 350.org, we're building a global grassroots movement to solve the climate crisis and push for policies that will put the world on track to get to 350 ppm.
Scientists say that 350 parts per million CO2 in the atmosphere is the safe limit for humanity. Learn more about 350—what it means, where it came from, and how to get there. Read More »
Submit your success story from your work in the climate movement and we'll share the best ones on our blog and social networks! Stories from people like you are crucial tools in growing the climate movement.
Help spread the word and look good while doing it—check out the 350 Store for t-shirts, buttons, stickers, and more.
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THREE-PHASE ROTATING FIELDS
The three-phase induction motor also operates on the principle of a rotating magnetic field. The following discussion shows how the stator windings can be connected to a three-phase ac input and have a resultant magnetic field that rotates.
Figure 4-4, views A-C show the individual windings for each phase. Figure 4-4, view D, shows how the three phases are tied together in a Y-connected stator. The dot in each diagram indicates the common point of the Y-connection. You can see that the individual phase windings are equally spaced around the stator. This places the windings 120° apart.
Figure 4-4. - Three-phase, Y-connected stator.
The three-phase input voltage to the stator of figure 4-4 is shown in the graph of figure 4-5.
Use the left-hand rule for determining the electromagnetic polarity of the poles at any given instant. In applying the rule to the coils in figure 4-4, consider that current flows toward the terminal numbers for positive voltages, and away from the terminal numbers for negative voltages.
Figure 4-5. - Three-phase rotating-field polarities and input voltages.
The results of this analysis are shown for voltage points 1 through 7 in figure 4-5. At point 1, the magnetic field in coils 1-1A is maximum with polarities as shown. At the same time, negative voltages are being felt in the 2-2A and 3-3A windings. These create weaker magnetic fields, which tend to aid the 1-1A field. At point 2, maximum negative voltage is being felt in the 3-3A windings. This creates a strong magnetic field which, in turn, is aided by the weaker fields in 1-1A and 2-2A. As each point on the voltage graph is analyzed, it can be seen that the resultant magnetic field is rotating in a clockwise direction. When the three-phase voltage completes one full cycle (point 7), the magnetic field has rotated through 360°.
ROTOR BEHAVIOR IN A ROTATING FIELD
For purposes of explaining rotor movement, let's assume that we can place a bar magnet in the center of the stator diagrams of figure 4-5. We'll mount this magnet so that it is free to rotate in this area. Let's also assume that the bar magnet is aligned so that at point 1 its south pole is opposite the large N of the stator field.
You can see that this alignment is natural. Unlike poles attract, and the two fields are aligned so that they are attracting. Now, go from point 1 through point 7. As before, the stator field rotates clockwise. The bar magnet, free to move, will follow the stator field, because the attraction between the two fields continues to exist. A shaft running through the pivot point of the bar magnet would rotate at the same speed as the rotating field.
This speed is known as synchronous speed. The shaft represents the shaft of an operating motor to which the load is attached.
Remember, this explanation is an oversimplification. It is meant to show how a rotating field can cause mechanical rotation of a shaft. Such an arrangement would work, but it is not used. There are limitations to a permanent magnet rotor. Practical motors use other methods, as we shall see in the next paragraphs.
The construction of the synchronous motors is essentially the same as the construction of the salient-pole alternator. In fact, such an alternator may be run as an ac motor. It is similar to the drawing in figure 4-6. Synchronous motors have the characteristic of constant speed between no load and full load. They are capable of correcting the low power factor of an inductive load when they are operated under certain conditions.
They are often used to drive dc generators. Synchronous motors are designed in sizes up to thousands of horsepower. They may be designed as either single-phase or multiphase machines. The discussion that follows is based on a three-phase design.
Figure 4-6. - Revolving-field synchronous motor.
To understand how the synchronous motor works, assume that the application of three-phase ac power to the stator causes a rotating magnetic field to be set up around the rotor. The rotor is energized with dc (it acts like a bar magnet). The strong rotating magnetic field attracts the strong rotor field activated by the dc. This results in a strong turning force on the rotor shaft. The rotor is therefore able to turn a load as it rotates in step with the rotating magnetic field.
It works this way once it's started. However, one of the disadvantages of a synchronous motor is that it cannot be started from a standstill by applying three-phase ac power to the stator. When ac is applied to the stator, a high-speed rotating magnetic field appears immediately. This rotating field rushes past the rotor poles so quickly that the rotor does not have a chance to get started. In effect, the rotor is repelled first in one direction and then the other. A synchronous motor in its purest form has no starting torque. It has torque only when it is running at synchronous speed.
A squirrel-cage type of winding is added to the rotor of a synchronous motor to cause it to start. The squirrel cage is shown as the outer part of the rotor in figure 4-7. It is so named because it is shaped and looks something like a turnable squirrel cage. Simply, the windings are heavy copper bars shorted together by copper rings. A low voltage is induced in these shorted windings by the rotating three-phase stator field. Because of the short circuit, a relatively large current flows in the squirrel cage.
This causes a magnetic field that interacts with the rotating field of the stator. Because of the interaction, the rotor begins to turn, following the stator field; the motor starts. We will run into squirrel cages again in other applications, where they will be covered in more detail.
Figure 4-7. - Self-starting synchronous ac motor.
To start a practical synchronous motor, the stator is energized, but the dc supply to the rotor field is not energized. The squirrel-cage windings bring the rotor to near synchronous speed. At that point, the dc field is energized. This locks the rotor in step with the rotating stator field. Full torque is developed, and the load is driven. A mechanical switching device that operates on centrifugal force is often used to apply dc to the rotor as synchronous speed is reached.
The practical synchronous motor has the disadvantage of requiring a dc exciter voltage for the rotor. This voltage may be obtained either externally or internally, depending on the design of the motor.
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New Scientist has an article on the contenders for the Google Lunar X Prize. If you haven’t heard of this, it is a contest sponsored by Google to see who can land a rover on the Moon and accomplish a set of pre-assigned tasks. Do this and your team gets a great deal of recognition and $20 million.
The Google Lunar X Prize site details what the rovers need to accomplish: “The Google Lunar X PRIZE is a $30 million international competition to safely land a robot on the surface of the Moon, travel 500 meters over the lunar surface, and send images and data back to the Earth. Teams must be at least 90% privately funded and must be registered to compete by December 31, 2010. The first team to land on the Moon and complete the mission objectives will be awarded $20 million; the full first prize is available until December 31, 2012. After that date, the first prize will drop to $15 million. The second team to do so will be awarded $5 million. Another $5 million will awarded in bonus prizes. The final deadline for winning the prize is December 31, 2014.”
So, on the New Scientist site there photos of some of the more interesting and unique entries. They cover the range of hoppers, wheeled rovers, and, in one case, a sphere-shaped robot reminiscent of a hamster ball. You can see this planned lunar bot in the photo below. Click on the photo to go to the page in the New Scientist article about this creation by Team Frednet, one of the Google X Prize entrants. And look at the video on You Tube of the PicoRover, as it is called. This innovative approach to a lunar rover is very intriguing because it weighs only 500 grams. It certainly won’t need a Saturn 5 to get it to the Moon. And besides, if this design doesn't make it to the Moon, it certainly has a future as a cat toy.
Image: Team Frednet/Joshua Tristancho
More than a dozen teams are racing to claim a $30 million prize for landing a robot rover on the moon – see the most advanced prototypes so far…
Hamster balls and lunar hoppers: meet the X Prize teams
Wed, 12 Aug 2009 14:50:14 GMT
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My Child Has These Odd Behaviors!
Autism in Children with Down Syndrome
by Cyndi Ringoen
Austin’s parents have taken him to the doctor. They have a few concerns to discuss. Austin rejects hugs and kisses from them; he won’t leave his shirt on; he screams every time his mom needs to vacuum the house; he sits for hours by himself quietly humming while lining up cars in a neat row. The doctor observes the child in front of him. Austin won’t make eye contact. He isn’t responding to directions (seems almost not to hear), instead he is quietly sitting while continually flipping the pages of a book. “Ah hah!” thinks the doctor. His diagnosis is Autism.
There is a small, but consistent and significant portion of children with Down syndrome who also become labeled as autistic. Once parents have come to terms with the diagnosis of Down syndrome and all it entails, the addition of yet another label, another set of obstacles often becomes overwhelming. In this article I hope to provide families with demystifying information regarding the label of “autistic,” proactive observation techniques to detect autistic-like or sensory behaviors, and practical ideas for eliminating the behaviors.
|Understanding the Autism Label||What Parents Should Look For|
|What Can a Parent Do?||Conclusion|
The label of “autistic,” whether for a person with Down syndrome or not, is a symptomatic label. This means you receive this label if you have a certain number of symptoms on a list. It is important to know that “autism” is not a disease that you can take a blood test or x-ray to detect. What I see in my work with children and families is that many doctors throw around this label rather haphazardly because of a few symptoms. Having the label or not having the label doesn’t change the fact that the family is dealing with a number of behaviors and symptoms that need to be addressed. The earlier that parents can identify and eliminate the symptoms, the better the chance of the child developing without autistic-like behaviors.
Autism is basically a dysfunction of the sensory channels. This means that some senses are hyperactive (over active) and some are hypoactive (under active). Because of this there are atypical responses to different stimuli. We have five main sensory channels and each of them may be affected with hyper- or hyposensitivities.
Sound. For example, it is common for those affected with autism to be hypersensitive to sound. Sound can actually cause pain and discomfort. Parents may notice the following: covering of ears with hands to block out the sound, extremely negative behavior in certain locations, physical withdrawal or auditory shut down in noisy environments, inconsolable crying that only stops when the child is removed from the noise, or hearing and reacting to sounds before others can even perceive them. If the sounds are too uncomfortable the child will learn to totally turn off the hearing and then cease to make progress in speech and language development—sometimes almost appearing deaf. Often when a person is hypersensitive to certain sounds there are other sounds to which they are hyposensitive, or that they do not process at all. This greatly affects speech, as it is the ability to hear and process tones well that culminates in the ability to produce sound and speech effectively. To onlookers this behavior appears strange and inappropriate but most people would react the same way if they were dealing with auditory hypersensitivity. The solution is to address the problem of the hypersensitivity to sound. Then the “strange” behavior will dissipate.
Touch. Touch, or tactility (the ability to interpret tactile input) can be oversensitive causing withdrawal or reactions to deep touch (hugs) or light touch (tickling, tags, clothing material), discomfort with haircuts or hair combing, aversion to water at certain temperatures, aversions to textures—both on the skin and in the mouth, or overactive gag reflex. Tactility can be hyposensitive, meaning the brain doesn’t even acknowledge that something has touched the body. Instead of overreaction there is a lack of reaction. Parents may notice falling and bruising without the normal response, lack of response to hot and cold, lack of ticklish response, and lack of mouth response to hot and cold.
Smell. Hypersensitivity to odors can cause odd behaviors such as hand sniffing, object and person sniffing, aversion to food odors causing gagging or rejection of food. Hyposensitivity to odor can cause problems with lack of motivation to eat, and inability to distinguish between edible and inedible objects.
Taste. Hypersensitivity to taste can cause gagging or rejection of food. Hyposensitivity to taste can cause lack of motivation to eat, and inability to distinguish between edible and inedible objects. Problems with appropriate sensory information for odors and smell can cause serious eating difficulties.
Sight. We have two main types of vision, peripheral and macular/central. Peripheral vision picks up on edges and motion. Central or macular vision is what we use to learn with, we see details with it, we are able to line up rows and columns, and clearly distinguish letter, numbers, words etc. When a person has overdeveloped or hyperperipheral vision they attend to “odd” things–things which have edges and movement: dangling strings, fans, open and shutting doors/drawers, edges of walls, and often their hands and fingers. Underdeveloped macular vision or hypomacular vision causes difficulties such as lack of eye contact, lack of interest in pictures, books, and television.
Persons diagnosed with “autism” have a combination of the above sensory dysfunctions. One of the most common profiles I find in a person labeled autistic is: hypersensitive to light touch, hyposensitive to deep touch, hyperauditory, hyperperipheral vision and hypomacular vision. Austin, described above, has this set of dysfunctions. This type of person is not receiving information in the same way as you and I, and therefore, is not responding to stimuli in their environment as you and I would.
The most likely reason a child with Down syndrome would begin to be labeled “autistic” is because of something called “sensory play.” Sensory stimulation, self-stimulation behaviors, self-stim, and sensory play are all terms referring to the same type of actions. They are behaviors that a child engages in that are “odd,” repetitive, sometimes obsessive, but they are all inputting information into the “broken” sensory channel. This is so negative because it reinforces what is already wrong. Sensory play does more than just stop the positive development for the moment. It seems to create endorphins in the brain. Endorphins produce happy feelings. As the child engages in sensory play he wants to do it more and more; he craves it; and often it can become an addiction.
There are many, many types and variations of sensory play. A majority of sensory play is visual, often stimulating the peripheral vision. But sensory play can also be auditory or tactile, too. Following is a list of some common sensory play activities:
|Repeatedly opening and shutting doors or drawers, flipping pages of books, flipping books or toys, flicking toys with fingertips, wiggling fingers in front of face, wiggling fingers at side of face, hand flapping, holding toys to the side of face and shaking, twirling or shaking strings and ropes, nose up to the TV, watching TV sideways, spinning wheels of cars, spinning toys, spinning self, head shaking, rocking, continuous humming, echolalia (repeating videos, ads, or conversation but not communicating), hand wringing, excessive touching/sweeping with fingertips, wall walking, non-language repetitive auditory sounds, banging, pounding, tongue sucking, tongue play, excessive picking of their own skin, pacing/walking in patterns or circles, lining up toys.|
This is not meant to be a complete list, but rather a general description that may help parents when observing the behavior of their children. Most of these activities are not inappropriate in and of themselves. Some are even developmentally appropriate at certain stages. They become inappropriate and turn into sensory play when they are done repeatedly or obsessively. I have found that parents usually are very good judges of what might be potential sensory play. If I point out some behavior that they should try to eliminate, they often confess that they had a funny feeling about it, or thought it wasn’t positive.
As the child spends more time in sensory play they are undoing the positive developmental input that their parents or caregivers are trying to impart to them. Sensory play does more than just undo current input. It can actually cause significant regression in the developmental and cognitive ability of a child.
One of the most severe examples I ever assessed was a child who had a very involved family. They were spending a lot of time each day with him on his developmental progress. In addition, they were ensuring that he was supervised almost constantly so he could not engage in any type of sensory play. His short-term memory was growing; he was able to speak to me in short sentences; he was reading some words and he was very tuned in and following directions. I saw him about four months later. He was not following any directions; he was totally tuned out, engaging in sensory play constantly. His short-term memory had regressed by two to three years, and he wasn’t able to communicate at all with me.
What happened during the four months to cause this? His mother had given birth to a baby who was understandably taking up much of the family’s time and energy. The older child was then left to engage in sensory play as much as desired for four months. No blame should be put on the family. They were dealing with a real life situation. But this situation illustrates the extreme urgency and importance of stopping any and all sensory play so that a child’s development will continue progressing in a positive manner.
My suggestion is for parents to become expert observers of their children’s play. If you notice some of the above-mentioned repetitive behaviors, try to immediately distract and redirect the child’s attention to something more appropriate. Changing this behavior at the beginning is relatively easy compared to the task of trying to change it after it becomes addictive and obsessive. Along with eliminating the sensory play, it is of the utmost importance to have a neurodevelopmental evaluation of the child, which can then pinpoint any sensory dysfunctions and provide you with specific methods of stimulation and activities to normalize the sensory channels. This will offer you the very best possibility of eliminating the “autistic” symptoms, thereby providing your child with the best possible opportunities for continuing in their development.
Normalizing the sensory channels is part of the plan for anyone with sensory dysfunction. What follows are some quick, general ideas regarding appropriate sensory input for helping children develop optimally.
Hearing. I suggest the use of Samonas Sound Therapy, which has a proven track record in reducing sound sensitivities. It can also help normalize the hearing of any frequencies that the child is not hearing well. Used correctly, Samonas or Sonas Therapy should be done very gently with short durations for optimal results. In addition, parents can provide lots of good quality auditory input—reading stories to the child, the child listening to stories on tape, talking face to face to the child.
Touch. Parents can provide tactile input to their child for a few minutes several times a day. Provide deep pressure (squeezing), starting at the fingertips and working toward the shoulders and starting at the toes and squeezing up to the thighs. Deep pressure often calms children who display autistic-like symptoms. Give deep hugs (bear hugs) lots of times a day. You can also provide light touch with tickling (fingertips) or a feather on the limbs.
Smell. Provide the child with the opportunity to smell a variety of pleasant odors, i.e. orange oil, peppermint, coffee grounds. Provide the input for a few minutes, several times a day.
Taste. Allow opportunity to taste sweet, sour and salty tastes to stimulate the taste buds. Use only minute amounts for a child that is hypersensitive to taste. Provide the input for a few minutes, several times a day.
Vision. Provide lots of opportunity to develop good central/macular vision. Talk face to face as much as possible. Play catch; pop bubbles. Practice visual tracking by holding small toy away from face and moving it slowly side to side and up and down for child to follow. Discourage inappropriate use of peripheral vision (described above as sensory play). High interest television and videos, if monitored by parents, can be used to help develop central vision. The child must sit at least three feet away and be looking directly at the TV, and not out of the corner of the eyes. Looking at books and picture cards is also a positive visual stimulation exercise.
Stopping Sensory Play. By far the most important thing you can do for a child with autistic behaviors is to stop all the sensory play and spend as much one-on-one time with them as possible. If you detect sensory play early, then all you need to do is to distract and redirect the child’s activity and it will not likely develop into anything more serious. However, if you are the parent of an older child who has done some of these behaviors on a consistent basis your job will be more difficult. By structuring the child’s down time so that someone is with them, interacting and playing with them, you will reduce the sensory play because there will be less time for the child to engage in it. Sometimes it means removal of certain types of toys that seem to increase the sensory play.
Inputting the appropriate information to the sensory channels will help the child to gradually become interested in their environment in a more typical way. Stopping sensory play in a child for whom it has become a way of life is difficult. But usually this only lasts a certain amount of time, until the “addiction” quality wears off from lack of stimulation. As the sensory play decreases, the parents start to enjoy interacting with and discovering a new side of their child—a child who is more “tuned in,” less withdrawn, more interactive, and easier to teach.
Autism is just a word. It is a word for a group of symptoms. If your child acquires the “autistic” label or begins to display sensory dysfunctions, you will need to address each of the individual issues. The good news is sensory problems respond very well to intervention, thereby eliminating the original symptoms.
Cyndi Ringoen is a certified neuro-developmentalist who writes individual, home-based educational programs for parents to do with their children. Her expertise covers a range of disabilities and “labels” including Down syndrome and autism. As a mother and foster mother of many children with disabilities over the years, she has conducted neurodevelopmental programs in her own home with her children. She is a founding member of ICAN, an association of neuro-developmentalists, and through ICAN can refer parents to a neurodevelopmental practice near their home.
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Gasoline prices have increased rapidly during the past several years, pushed up mainly by the sharply rising price of oil. A gallon of gasoline in the US rose from $1.50 in 2002 to $2 in 2004 to $2.50 in 2006 to over $4 at present. Gasoline prices almost trebled during these 6 years compared to very little change in nominal gas prices during the prior fifteen years. The US federal tax on gasoline has remained at 18.4 cents per gallon during this period of rapid growth in gasoline prices, while state excise taxes add another 21.5 cents per gallon. In addition, many local governments levy additional sales and other taxes on gasoline. Gasoline taxes have not risen much as the price of gasoline exploded upward.
The price of gasoline is much lower than in other rich countries mainly because American taxes are far smaller. For example, gasoline taxes in Germany and the United Kingdom amount to about $3 per gallon. Some economists and environmentalists have called for large increases in federal, state, and local taxes to make them more comparable to gasoline taxes in other countries. Others want these taxes to rise by enough so that at least they would have kept pace with the sharply rising pre-tax fuel prices. At the same time two presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton and John McCain, proposed a temporary repeal during this summer of the federal tax in order to give consumers a little relief from the higher gas prices. We discuss the optimal tax on gasoline, and how the sharp increase in gas prices affected its magnitude.
Taxes on gasoline are a way to induce consumers to incorporate the "external" damages to others into their decision of how much to drive and where to drive. These externalities include the effects of driving on local and global pollution, such as the contribution to global warming from the carbon emitted into the atmosphere by burnt gasoline. One other important externality is the contribution of additional driving to road congestion that slows the driving speeds of everyone and increases the time it takes to go a given distance. Others include automobile accidents that injure drivers and pedestrians, and the effect of using additional gasoline on the degree of dependence on imported oil from the Middle East and other not very stable parts of the world.
A careful 2007 study by authors from Resources for the Future evaluates the magnitudes of all these externalities from driving in the US (see Harrington, Parry, and Walls, "Automobile Externalities and Policies", Journal of Economic Literature, 2007, pp 374-400). They estimate the total external costs of driving at 228 cents per gallon of gas used, or at 10.9 cents per mile driven, with the typical car owned by American drivers. Their breakdown of this total among different sources is interesting and a little surprising. They attribute only 6 cents of the total external cost to the effects of gasoline consumption on global warming through the emission of carbon into the atmosphere from the burning of gasoline, and 12 cents from the increased dependency on imported oil. Perhaps their estimate of only 6 cents per gallon is a large underestimate of the harmful effects of gasoline use on global warming. Yet even if we treble their estimate, that only raises total costs of gasoline use due to the effects on global warming by 12 cents per gallon. That still leaves the vast majority of the external costs of driving to other factors.
They figure that local pollution effects amount to 42 cents per gallon, which makes these costs much more important than even the trebled cost of global warming. According to their estimates, still more important costs are those due to congestion and accidents, since these are 105 cents and 63 cents per gallon, respectively. Their figure for the cost of traffic accidents is likely too high –as the authors' recognize- because it includes the cost in damages to property and person of single vehicle accidents, as when a car hits a tree. Presumably, single vehicle accidents are not true externalities because drivers and their passengers would consider their possibility and internalize them into their driving decisions. Moreover, the large effect of drunk driving on the likelihood of accidents should be treated separately from a gasoline tax by directly punishing drunk drivers rather than punishing also sober drivers who are far less likely to get into accidents.
On the surface, these calculations suggest that American taxes on gasoline, totaling across all levels of government to about 45 cents per gallon, are much too low. However, the federal tax of 18.4 cents per gallon is almost exactly equal to their figure of 18 cents per gallon as the external costs of global warming and oil dependency. To be sure, a trebled estimate for global warming would bring theirs up to 30 cents per gallon. However, the federal government also taxes driving through its mandated fuel efficiency standards for cars, although this is an inefficient way to tax driving since it taxes the type of car rather than driving. Still, the overall level of federal taxes does not fall much short, if at all, from the adjusted estimate of 30 cents per gallon of damages due to the effects of gasoline use on global warming and oil dependency.
Any shortfall in taxes would be at the state and local levels in combating externalities due to local pollution effects, and to auto accidents and congestion on mainly local roads. Here too, however, the discrepancy between actual and optimal gasoline taxes is far smaller than it may seem, and not only because single vehicle accidents are included in their estimate of the cost of car accidents, and accidents due to drunk driving should be discouraged through punishments to drunk drivers. One important reason is that congestion should be reduced not by general gasoline taxes, but by special congestion taxes- as used in London and a few other cities- that vary in amount with degree of congestion (see our discussion of congestion taxes on February 12, 2006). Congestion taxes are a far more efficient way to reduce congestion than are general taxes on gasoline that apply also when congestion is slight.
In addition and often overlooked, the sharp rise in pre-tax gasoline prices has partly accomplished the local pollution and auto accident goals that would be achieved by higher gas taxes. For higher prices have cut driving, just as taxes would, and will cut driving further in the future as consumers continue to adjust the amount and time of their driving to gasoline that costs more than $4 a gallon. Reduced driving will lower pollution and auto accidents by reducing the number of cars on the road during any time period, especially during heavily traveled times when pollution and accidents are more common.
The effects of high gas prices in reducing congestion, local pollution, and accident externalities could be substantial. These authors estimate the size of local driving externalities, aside from congestion costs, at 105 cents per gallon. Even after the sharp run up in gas prices, this may still exceed the 28 cents per gallon of actual state and local taxes, but the gap probably is small. It surely is a lot smaller than it was before gas prices exploded on the back of the climb in the cost of oil. In effect, by reducing driving, higher gasoline prices have already done much of the work in reducing externalities that bigger gas taxes would have done when prices were lower.
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- Digital Resources
Positive Health Information
Pattern number within this pattern set:74
Health information in the developed world exists in vast quantities, not only for the general public but also for health professionals. Much of this information depicts good health in terms of vigilance against the failings of our own bodies. This serves to create dependency on a high tech, commodity health system.
The style of language and the content of information are very important in how information makes people perceive the world. Authors in many fields have noted patterns of communication that create distrust and enforce dependency by emphasizing danger from external, uncontrollable forces. If people have a sense of helplessness in the face of this threat, they do not act upon their own feelings and perceptions.
Negative language has the effect of emphasizing threats, magnifying fears, and creating dependency. Reminding people of their mortality tends to make them hold more closely to traditional culture (Pyszczynski, Solomon, & Greenberg, 2003); this has implications for mental health, and can also be used to influence mass opinion and behavior. A recent example is the US administrations use of language to create fear and mistrust among the public by creating the specter of a constant external threat (Brooks, 2003).
Much health information, especially advertising from hospital corporations and pharmaceutical companies, uses this technique. A paternalistic (doctor knows best) and commodity-driven medical system produces an endless stream of information that encourages the perception that natural processes, such as growing older or pregnancy, are fraught with danger. This inhibits the spread of health information that is not based on the treatments that this system has to offer.
Language may not only be negative; it can also be empty (Brooks, 2003); complex issues are broken down into broad statements with little meaning. In health care information, this pattern of communication places the cause of ill health on the individual. The complexity of individuals relationships to the world they live in and the effects on individual health of pollution, poverty, and unhealthy social norms and values are ignored. People come to construe healthy behavior in terms of dependency on a medical industry that constantly invents not only new cures, but new diseases for the cures it already possesses (Blech, 2006).
Empty language is like empty calories. It tastes good and you can eat a lot of it, but you dont obtain much benefit. A great deal of health information tempts us to feel that we are well-informed. We are bombarded by advertising and public health campaigns that do little more than create mistrust of the inherent healthy processes we possess. To reduce complex health issues to taking a pill ignores peoples emotional needs and the complex connection between body and mind; instead it emphasizes the negative aspects of their health.
The use of estrogen replacement in post-menopausal women illustrates this. Estrogen replacement was pushed on women as a way if combating the problems of growing old such as osteoporosis, heart disease, memory loss and drying skin. The unspoken message was that there was something wrong with growing old that taking medication could correct it. Preventative approaches, that emphasized a lifetime of healthy behaviors and the inherent correctness of aging, were ignored.
In pattern 47, Health Center, Alexander et al. (1977) describe a medical system that emphasizes sickness over health. By contrast, they show the Pioneer Health Center in Peckham, an experiment from the 1930s, as an example of medical care that focuses on health instead of sickness. In the same manner, health information must distinguish between healing and medicine. We need to hear messages of what is right with us and what needs to be done to stay in touch with the inherent health of our bodies.
Many alternative health practices, such as yoga, polarity treatment, or acupuncture focus on the inherent healthiness of the body. In these practices, the underlying concept is on healing, the natural process by which the body repairs itself. The rise of alternatives to conventional medicine reflects, in part, the lack of substance people feel from the information they receive after a visit to a doctor. Health-related discussion forums, that include both lay and professional perspectives but avoid the disease-mongering (Marshall & Aldhous, 2006) influence of industry funding, offer a way to make sense of information from various health related sources without falling victim to negative language and information; people put information into the context of everyday life and validate positive perceptions of themselves. This type of information has substance to it, not only because it is active rather than passive; it has the positive effect of engaging people in independent, creative thinking.
Health information should emphasize the idea that people are inherently healthy. It must inspire trust in the bodys ability to heal itself, once a healthy path has been taken. Where information of this kind is insufficient, either create it or supplant it with participant-controlled interactive forums.
Verbiage for pattern card:
Health information in the developed world often depicts health in terms of vigilance against external, uncontrollable forces. This fosters distrust and dependency on a high-tech, commodity health system. Positive Health Information is built on the fact that people are inherently healthy. It inspires trust in the body's ability to heal itself, once a healthy path has been taken.
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The intent of this work is five fold: 1) To spatially characterize and monitor the distribution, abundance, and size of both reef fishes and macro-invertebrates (conch, lobster, Diadema); 2) To relate this information to in-situ data collected on associated benthic composition parameters; 3) To use this information to establish the knowledge base necessary for enacting management decisions in a spatial setting; 4) To establish the efficacy of those management decisions; and 5) To work with the National Coral Reef Monitoring Program to develop data collection standards and easily implemented methodologies for transference to other agencies and to work toward standardizing data collection throughout the US states and territories. Toward this end, the Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment's Biogeography Branch (BB) has been conducting research in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands since 2000 and 2001, respectively. It is critical, with recent changes in management at both locations (e.g. implementation of MPAs) as well as proposed changes (e.g. zoning to manage multiple human uses) that action is taken now to accurately describe and characterize the fish/macro-invertebrate populations in these areas. It is also important that BB work closely with the individuals responsible for recommending and implementing these management strategies. Recognizing this, BB has been collaborating with partners at the University of Puerto Rico, National Park Service, US Geological Survey and the Virgin Islands Department of Planning and Natural Resources.
To quantify patterns of spatial distribution and make meaningful interpretations, we must first have knowledge of the underlying variables determining species distribution. The basis for this work therefore, is the nearshore benthic habitats maps (less than 100 ft depth) created by NOAA's Biogeography Program in 2001 and NOS' bathymetry models. Using ArcView GIS software, the digitized habitat maps are stratified to select sampling stations. Sites are randomly selected within these strata to ensure coverage of the entire study region and not just a particular reef or seagrass area. At each site, fish, macro-invertebrates, and benthic composition information is then quantified following standardized protocols. By relating the data collected in the field back to the habitat maps and bathymetric models, BB is able to model and map species level and community level information. These protocols are standardized throughout the US Caribbean to enable quantification and comparison of reef fish abundance and distribution trends between locations. Armed with the knowledge of where "hot spots" of species richness and diversity are likely to occur in the seascape, the BB is in a unique position to answer questions about the efficacy of marine zoning strategies (e.g. placement of no fishing, anchoring, or snorkeling locations), and what locations are most suitable for establishing MPAs. Knowledge of the current status of fish/macro-invertebrate communities coupled with longer term monitoring will enable evaluation of management efficacy, thus it is essential to future management actions.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA)/National Ocean Service (NOS)/National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS)/Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment (CCMA)/Biogeography Branch, 20101216, St. Croix, USVI Habitat Assessment and Monitoring Data (2001 - Present): NOAA's Ocean Service, National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS), Silver Spring, MD.
Horizontal positions are specified in geographic coordinates, that is, latitude and longitude. Latitudes are given to the nearest 0.00001. Longitudes are given to the nearest 0.00001. Latitude and longitude values are specified in Decimal Degrees.
This is a cooperative effort between NOAA's Biogeography Branch, the National Park Service and the Virgin Islands Department of Planning and Natural Resources.
1) To spatially characterize and monitor the distribution, abundance, and size of both reef fishes and macro-invertebrates (conch, lobster, Diadema); 2) To relate this information to in-situ data collected on associated benthic composition parameters; 3) To use this information to establish the knowledge base necessary for enacting management decisions in a spatial setting; 4) To establish the efficacy of those management decisions; and 5) To work with the National Coral Reef Monitoring Program to develop data collection standards and easily implemented methodologies for transference to other agencies and to work toward standardizing data collection throughout the US states and territories.
Data are collected on the following: 1) Logistic information - diver name, dive buddy, date, time of survey, site code, and meter numbers at which the quadrat is placed.
2) Habitat structure - to characterize the benthic habitats of the dive site, the habitat diver first categorizes the habitat structure of the site: hard, soft or mangrove.
3) Proximity of structure - on seagrass and sand sites, the habitat diver records the absence or presence of reef or hard structure within 3m of the belt transect. A score of zero (0) indicates that no reef or other hard structure is present; one (1) indicates that a reef or hard structure smaller than 4m2 is present; and (2) indicates that a reef or hard structure larger than 4m2 is present within 3m of the diver. The point-count diver also uses this scoring system to record the absence, presence, and proximity of reef or hard structures within their cylinder.
4) Transect depth profile - the depth at each quadrat position. Depth is measured with a digital depth gauge to the nearest 1ft.
5) Abiotic footprint - defined as the percent cover (to the nearest 1 percent) of sand, rubble, hard bottom, and fine sediments within each quadrat position. Rubble refers to rocks and coral fragments that are moveable; immovable rocks are considered hard bottom. The percent cover given as a part of the abiotic footprint should total 100 percent. In a seagrass area for example, despite the fact that seagrass may provide 50 percent cover, the underlying substrate is 100 percent sand so this is what is recorded. To estimate percent cover, the habitat diver first positions the quadrat at the chosen meter mark along the transect tape. If the meter mark is an odd number, then the quadrat is placed on the left side of the tape; if even, it is placed on the right. Next, the habitat diver lays the quadrat along the substrate (regardless of the slope) and estimates percent cover based on a two-dimensional (planar) view (e.g. if bottom is sloping, the quadrat is not held horizontally). Also, the diver should try to use the same planar view for all estimates of percent cover. The habitat diver then estimates, for each quadrat, the height (in cm) of the hardbottom from the substrate to get a sense of bottom relief. Note: Height is collected for all hardbottom substrates, excluding rubble; height is not collected for softbottom substrate.
6) Biotic footprint - defined as the percent cover (to the nearest 0.1 percent) of algae, seagrass, live corals, sponges, gorgonians, and other biota (tunicates, anemones, zooanthids, and hydroids) within each quadrat position. The remaining cover is recorded as bare substrate to bring the total to 100 percent. Again, the diver must use a planar view to estimate percent cover of the biota. Seagrasses and gorgonians should not be stacked upright. For example, if a single seagrass blade crosses 10 squares, then total seagrass coverage should be the sum of the area taken up by that blade in all 10 squares instead of the area covered if the blade was held upright. Species covering less than 0.1 percent of the area are not recorded. Taxa are identified to the following levels: stony coral-species, algae-morphological group (macro, turf, crustose, rhodolith, filamentous, cyanobacteria), sponge-morphological group, and gorgonians-morphological group. When estimating percent cover, it is important to realize there is a balance between precision and time. For stony corals, the approximate area covered by living coral tissue is recorded. Coral skeleton (without living tissue) is usually categorized as turf algae or uncolonized substrate. Data on the condition of coral colonies are also recorded. When coral is noticeably bleached, the entire colony is considered affected and is recorded to the nearest 0.1 percent. Coral colonies are reported as entirely bleached if they contain any portion of white, blotchy, mottled, or pale tissue. This protocol assumes stress throughout the colony and estimates maximum bleaching impact. Diseased/dead coral refers to coral skeleton that has recently lost living tissue because of disease or damage that is still visible, and has not yet been colonized by turf algae. Turf algae include a mix of short (less than 1cm high) algae that colonize dead coral substrate.
7) Maximum canopy height - for each soft biota type (e.g., gorgonians, seagrass, algae), structure is recorded to the nearest 1cm at the quadrat level.
8) Number of individuals - for sponges, gorgonians and "other" biota type (non-encrusting anemones and non-encrusting hydroids) the number of individuals at the quadrat level is recorded.
9) Rugosity - measured by placing a 6-m chain at two randomly selected positions along the 25m belt transect. The chain is placed such that it follows the substrate's relief along the centerline of the belt transect. Two divers measure the straight-line horizontal distance covered by the chain. The chain is placed on top of any hard substrate encountered, but not on top of soft corals or sponges since we are measuring hard bottom rugosity. Data on rugosity are collected for reef sites only. Rugosity measurements typically are made by the point-count and belt-transect divers while awaiting the completion of other benthic habitat measurements by the habitat diver. Upon completion of the dive, the rugosity data are transferred from the fish data sheet to the habitat data sheet by the habitat diver.
10) Abundance and maturity of queen conchs (Strombus gigas) - a count of the total number of conch encountered within the 25 x 4m belt transect are enumerated. The maturity of each conch is determined by the presence or absence of a flared lip and labeled mature or immature, respectively. If conch abundance is counted by a fish diver, the data are then reported to the habitat diver. The decision of who will collect conch data should be made prior to entering the water.
11) Abundance of spiny lobsters (Panilaurus argus) - a count of the total number of lobsters encountered within the 25 x 4m belt transect. No measurements are taken. If lobster abundance is counted by a fish diver, the data are then reported to the habitat diver. The decision of who will collect lobster data should be made prior to entering the water.
12) Abundance of long-spined urchin (Diadema antillarum) - a count of the total number of urchins encountered within the 25 x 4m belt transect. No measurements are taken. If urchin abundance is counted by a fish diver, the data are then reported to the habitat diver. The decision of who will collect urchin data should be made prior to entering the water.
NOTE: If rugosity, conch, lobster or urchin data are collected by a fish diver, data must be transferred to the habitat data sheet. The habitat diver is responsible for transferring the data to their data sheet; however, the fish diver should assist the habitat diver with this task by reporting the data once the dive concludes.
13) Marine debris - type of marine debris within the transect is noted. The size of the marine debris and the area of affected habitat is also recorded along with a note identifying any flora or fauna that has colonized the debris.
14) Photography - the point count or habitat diver will take at least two photos in different directions at each site to maintain an anecdotal and permanent visual description of the sites that were sampled. Proper care and maintenance is necessary for all camera and camera housings. It is important to maintain the cameras and housings before, after and in between dives.
Data Caveats: Overtime, some changes were made to the stratified random site selection process as follows: 1) Habitat strata initially consisted of hard bottom, sand, and seagrass. Sand and seagrass strata were subsequently combined into one soft bottom strata at all three locations (Puerto Rico, St. Croix, and St. John). This action was taken after the February 2002 mission to Puerto Rico. 2) A small subset of sites were resampled during each mission through June 2002 in Puerto Rico and October 2002 in St. Croix. These station names contain the letter 'P' indicating they are permanent stations. 3) The sample area in St. Croix has increased over time. Initially, samples were collected within historic Buck Island National Monument boundaries as well as outside up to a distance of 0.5 km from those boundaries. In February 2002 the sampling effort was increased to include the entire expanded monument boundaries. Finally in April 2003 the effort was increased again to include areas outside of the Monument for control sites. This area is now almost entirely enclosed within the East End Marine Park of St. Croix. 4) The habitat map utilized to stratify the samples in St. Croix was changed from the original habitat map created with a 1 acre minimum mapping unit to one with a 100m2 minimum mapping unit beginning with the April 2003 mission. 5) In 2007, algae data collection changed from identification of each alga to the genus level to grouping algae into six morphological groups: macro, turf, crustose, filamentous, rhodolith, and cyanobacteria for more efficient data collection. 6) Shelter characteristics ceased being recorded at the end of 2006. 7) Marine debris data collection began in 2007. 8) The spring St. Croix mission was cancelled in 2007, therefore only one mission was conducted that year. 9) Beginning in 2010, missions to St. Croix was reduced from twice per year (March/April and October) to once per year (October only).
Although the 1m-square-quadrat remained the basic method of choice for habitat data collection, overtime, changes in data collection methods were made for some habitat variables and several additional variables were added. These changes were deemed necessary to capture more precise information and as many variables as possible to explain better the observed variability in reef fish assemblage metrics. Detailed information on all changes to the protocols for collecting habitat data in St. Croix can be found at: <http://ccma.nos.noaa.gov/ecosystems/corealreef/reef_fish/protocols.html>
Process Date: 200102 - Present
These data consists of multiple fish community surveys across all nearshore marine habitats around St. Croix, US Virgin Islands. Sites were randomly selected and stratified across by habitat types using NOAA's benthic habitat maps of St. Croix, USVI.
Are there legal restrictions on access or use of the data?
- Access_Constraints: None
- Please reference NOAA/NOS/NCCOS/CCMA/Biogeography Branch when utilizing these data in a report or peer reviewed publication. Additionally, knowledge of how this dataset has been of use and which organizations are utilizing it is of great benefit for ensuring this information continues to meet the needs of the management and research communities. Therefore, it is requested but not mandatory, that any user of this data supply this information to the Program Manager: Kimberly Roberson (email: Kimberly.email@example.com).
These data were prepared by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, make any warranty, expressed or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference therein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. Any views and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof. Although all data have been used by NOAA, no warranty, expressed or implied, is made by NOAA as to the accuracy of the data and/or related materials. The act of distribution shall not constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed by NOAA in the use of these data or related materials.
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Herbal In Italy
( Originally Published 1912 )
The Italian botanists of the Renaissance devoted them-selves chiefly to interpreting the works of the classical writers on Natural History, and to the identification of the plants to which they referred. This came about quite naturally, from the fact that the Mediterranean flora, which they saw around them, was actually that with which the writers in question had been, in their day, familiar. The botanists of southern Europe were not compelled, as were those whose homes lay north of the Alps, to distort facts before they could make the plants of their native country fit into the procrustean bed of classical descriptions.
One of the chief of the commentators and herbalists of this period was Pierandrea Mattioli [or Matthiolus] (Text-fig. 40), who was born at Siena in 1501, and died of the plague in 1577. We realise something of the frightful extent of this scourge, when we remember that it claimed as victims no less than three of the small company of Renaissance botanists, Gesner, Mattioli and Zaluzian. Leonhard Fuchs was brought into fame by his successful treatment of one of these epidemics. It should also be recalled that, while Gaspard Bauhin, one of the best known of the later herbalists, was practising as a physician at Basle, no less than three of these terrible outbreaks occurred in the town.
Mattioli was the son of a doctor, and his early life was passed in Venice, where his father was in practice. He was destined for the law, but his inherited tastes led him away from jurisprudence to medicine. He practised in several different towns, and became physician, successively, to the Archduke Ferdinand, and to the Emperor Maximilian II.
Mattioli's ` Commentarii in sex libros Pedacii Dioscoridis,' his chef-d'oeuvre, the gradual production and improvement of which occupied his leisure hours throughout his life, was first published in 1544. It was translated into many languages and appeared in countless editions. The success of the work was phenomenal, and it is said that 32,000 copies of the earlier editions were sold. The title does not do the book justice, for it contains, besides an exposition of Dioscorides, a Natural History dealing with all the plants known to Mattioli. The early editions had small illustrations only (Text-figs. 41, 42, 93 and 94), but, later on, editions with large and very beautiful figures were published, such as that which appeared at Venice in 1565.
Mattioli's descriptions of the plants with which he deals are not so good as those of some of his contemporaries.
He found and recorded a certain number of new plants, especially from the Tyrol, but most of the species, which he described for the first time, were not his own discoveries, but were communicated to him by others. Luca Ghini, for instance, had projected a similar work, but handed over all his material to Mattioli, who also placed on record the discoveries made by the physician, Wilhelm Quakelbeen, who had accompanied the celebrated diplomatist, Auger-Gislain Busbecq, on a mission to Turkey.
Busbecq brought from Constantinople a wonderful collection of Greek manuscripts, including Juliana Anicia's copy of the Materia Medica of Dioscorides, now in the Vienna Library (see pp. 8 and 154). He discovered this great manuscript in the hands of a Jew, who required a hundred ducats for it. This price was almost prohibitive, but Busbecq was an enthusiast, and he successfully urged the Emperor, whose representative he was, to redeem so illustrious an author from that servitudes." His purpose in buying the manuscript seems to have been largely in order to communicate it to Mattioli, who would thus be able to make use of it in preparing his Commentaries on Dioscorides.
The personal character of Mattioli does not appear to have been a pleasant one. He engaged in numerous controversies with his fellow botanists, and hurled the most abusive language at those who ventured to criticise him.
Another Italian herbalist, Castor Durante, slightly later in date than Mattioli, should perhaps be mentioned here, not because of the intrinsic value of his work, but because of its widespread popularity. At least two of his books appeared in many editions and translations.
Durante was a physician who issued a series of botanical compilations, bedizened with Latin verse. The best known of his works is the Herbaro Nuovo,' published at Rome in 1585 (Text-figs. 45 and 103). A second book, the original version of which is seldom met with, has survived in the form of a German translation, by Peter Uffenbach. The German version was named ` Hortulus Sanitatis.' As an illustration of Durante's charmingly unscientific manner, we may take the legend of the " Arbor tristis " which occurs in both these works. The figure which accompanies it (Text-fig. 45) shows, beneath the moon and stars, a drawing of a tree whose trunk has a human form. The description, as it occurs in the ` Hortulus Sanitatis,' ay be translated as follows :
"Of this tree the Indians say, there was once a very beautiful maiden, daughter of a mighty lord called Parisa taccho. This maiden loved the Sun, but the Sun forsook her because he loved another. So, being scorned by the Sun, she slew herself, and when her body had been burned, according to the custom of that land, this tree sprang from her ashes. And this is the reason why the flowers of this tree shrink so intensely from the Sun, and never open in his presence. And thus it is a special delight to see this tree in the night time, adorned on all sides with its lovely flowers, since they give forth a delicious perfume, the like of which is not to be met with in any other plant, but no sooner does one touch the plant with one's hand than its sweet scent vanishes away. And however beautiful the tree has appeared, and however sweetly it has bloomed at night, directly the Sun rises in the morning it not only fades but all its branches look as though they were withered and dead."
Much more famous than Durante was Fabio Colonna, or, as he is more generally called, Fabius Columna (Plate IX), who was born at Naples in 1567. His father was a well-known littérateur. Fabio Colonna's profession was that of law, but he was also well acquainted with languages, music, mathematics and optics. He tells us in the preface to his principal work that his interest in plants was aroused by his difficulty in obtaining a remedy for epilepsy, a disease from which he suffered. Having tried all sorts of prescriptions without result, he examined the literature on the subject, and discovered that most of the writers of his time merely served up the results obtained by the ancients, often in a very incorrect form. So he went to the fountain head, Dioscorides, and after much research identified Valerian as being the herb which that writer had recommended against epilepsy, and succeeded in curing himself by its use.
This experience convinced Colonna that the knowledge of the identity of the plants described by the ancients was in a most unsatisfactory condition, and he set himself to produce a work which should remedy this state of things. This book was published in 1592, under the name of ` Phytobasanos,' which embodies a quaint conceit after the fashion of the time. The title is a compound Greek word meaning "plant torture," and was apparently employed by Colonna to explain that he had subjected the plants to ordeal by torture, in order to wrest from them the secret of their identity. But it must be confessed that Colonna himself is by no means free from error, as regards the names which he assigns to them.
The great feature of the `Phytobasanos,' however, is the excellence of the descriptions and figures. The latter are famous as being the first etchings on copper used to illustrate a botanical work (Text-figs. 46 and 105). They were an advance on all previous plant drawings, except the work of Gesner and Camerarius, in giving, in many cases, detailed analyses of the flowers and fruit as well as habit drawings. We owe to Colonna also the technical use of the word "petaI," which he suggested as a descriptive term for the coloured floral leaves'.
By means of his wide scientific correspondence, Colonna kept in touch with many of the naturalists of his time, notably with de l'Écluse and Gaspard Bauhin.
A passing reference may be made here to a book which is rather of the nature of a local flora than a herbal, entitled Prosperi Alpini de plantis .iEgypti,' which was published at Venice in 1592. It contains a number of wood-cuts, which appear to be original. The one reproduced (Text-fig. 47) represents Salicornia, the Glasswort. The author was a doctor who went to Egypt with the Venetian consul, Giorgio Emo, and had opportunities of collecting plants there. He is said to have been the first European writer to mention the Coffee plant, which he saw growing at Cairo. Prospero Alpino eventually became Professor of Botany at Padua, and enriched the botanical garden of that town with Egyptian plants.
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Take any point P inside an equilateral triangle. Draw PA, PB and PC
from P perpendicular to the sides of the triangle where A, B and C
are points on the sides. Prove that PA + PB + PC is a constant.
Can you decide whether two lines are perpendicular or not? Can you
do this without drawing them?
The centre of the larger circle is at the midpoint of one side of an equilateral triangle and the circle touches the other two sides of the triangle. A smaller circle touches the larger circle and. . . .
X is a moveable point on the hypotenuse, and P and Q are the feet
of the perpendiculars from X to the sides of a right angled
triangle. What position of X makes the length of PQ a minimum?
The circumcentres of four triangles are joined to form a
quadrilateral. What do you notice about this quadrilateral as the
dynamic image changes? Can you prove your conjecture?
It is impossible to trisect an angle using only ruler and compasses
but it can be done using a carpenter's square.
Find the area of the shaded region created by the two overlapping
triangles in terms of a and b?
Position the lines so that they are perpendicular to each other.
What can you say about the equations of perpendicular lines?
ABCD is a square. P is the midpoint of AB and is joined to C. A line from D perpendicular to PC meets the line at the point Q. Prove AQ = AD.
At the time of writing the hour and minute hands of my clock are at
right angles. How long will it be before they are at right angles
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Maryland’s Largest Civil War Exhibit Now Open
Baltimore, Maryland (April 21, 2011) -The Maryland Historical Society’s (MdHS) Museum opened Maryland’s largest and most comprehensive Civil War exhibit on April 16. The impact of the war on the people of Maryland is being told in personal terms in “Divided Voices: Maryland in the Civil War.” The largest Civil War exhibit in the museum’s 167-year history occupies over 5,000 square feet and tells the story of a tragedy in three acts: the romantic war, the real war and the long reunion. For more information on this 150th anniversary of the Civil War exhibit go to www.mdhs.org or call 410-685-3750.
The exhibit takes visitors back in time with 3-D videos that leads them back to 1861. There are also be interactive exhibits designed for children and adults as well as storyteller guides in period costumes. On Saturdays and Sundays the Maryland Historical Society Players perform short vignettes of major events that took place in Maryland. Admission - $6 adults, $5 seniors, 3-18 $4, under 3 free. Museum is free on first Thursday of each month.
The romantic war was the first year or so of the conflict, when both sides saw the war as an adventure and patriotic duty. The real war over the next three years of bloodshed left hundreds of thousands of young men dead. The long reunion focuses on the reuniting of the country, which some say is not complete to this day.
Maryland sent 60,000 men to serve in the Union Army. Over 20,000 more served in the Confederacy. The first bloodshed of the war took place in Baltimore. The human stories of these men and women are told by bringing letters to life with today’s technology, as well as the display of hundreds of rare objects, many of which have not been shown publicly since the 19th century. Museum visitors see Robert E. Lee’s camp chair, John Brown’s carbine, Abraham Lincoln memorabilia as well as compelling and heartbreaking photographs of the period.
Visitors will learn of Maryland’s major battles like Antietam and of lesser-known battles like the Battles of Monocacy and Silver Spring. They will come to understand how the soldiers suffered. More than 600,000 men died in the Civil War, compared to 400,000 American deaths in World War II. It was the deadliest war in American history.
Museum goers will discover why the first widely-used bullet made this one of history’s bloodiest wars and how this spurred advances in medical care. Triage, the ambulance corps, field hospitals and many significant surgical advances all began during the Civil War.
The war’s impact on Maryland’s citizens is revealed. Baltimore, for example, was under martial law and occupied by Union troops for the entire war. Lincoln’s suspension of the writ of habeas corpus ( people can’t be jailed without trial or a hearing) was famously used against John Merryman of Cockeysville, Maryland. Lincoln was willing to break the law to keep Maryland from joining the Confederacy and cutting the capital off from the North. The State legislature moved from Annapolis to Frederick to keep Maryland from joining the Confederacy.
Visitors also learn the important role that African Americans played in the war. Over 10,000 African Americans served in the Union Army. Harriet Tubman served as a spy for the Union Army. Black soldiers such as Christian Fleetwood of Baltimore led African American troops into battle and earned America’s highest military honor.
Women’s growing role in society during those years will be revealed. They began serving as nurses for the first time. Women on the home front mourned their dead, creating the “Vacant Chair” tradition at dinner tables in Maryland and elsewhere.
The Civil War exhibit will run for the next four years with annual updates. Visitors to the museum will also find major exhibits of famous Maryland paintings, silver, furniture, maritime history and children’s toys from the last 300 years.
The Maryland Historical Society was founded in 1844 and is the world’s largest museum and library dedicated to the history of Maryland. Occupying an entire city block in the Mount Vernon district of Baltimore, the society’s mission is to “collect, preserve, and interpret the objects and materials that reflect Maryland’s diverse cultural heritage.” The Society is home to the original manuscript of the Star Spangled Banner and publishes a quarterly titled “Maryland Historical Magazine.” More information about the Maryland Historical Society can be found online at http://www.mdhs.org/
Three Union soldiers are stationed on Federal Hill overlooking what is now the Inner Harbor of Baltimore (1862 photo). Their cannon is trained on the city as Baltimore was under martial law throughout the Civil War. Lincoln was afraid that Maryland would secede from the Union cutting Washington D.C. off from the North. The background is a contemporary photo of Baltimore from the same angle. The historic photo is part of the Maryland Historical Society's Civil War exhibit, Divided Voices: Maryland in the Civil War, the largest and most comprehensive display on the subject in the state.
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Galactorrhea is a discharge of milk-like substance from the breast that is not associated with breastfeeding after pregnancy. This condition mainly occurs in women. It does occur in men, but much less commonly. The milky white discharge can come from one or both breasts, and the breast may leak fluid with or without stimulation.
Galactorrhea has many causes, though sometimes the cause is unknown. Tumors of the pituitary gland, called pituitary adenomas or prolactinomas, can cause galactorrhea. The pituitary is a small gland attached to the brain. Pituitary tumors are usually not cancerous. They can cause galactorrhea when they produce excess prolactin, a hormone that stimulates milk production.
Other causes of galactorrhea include:
- Hormonal imbalance
Some medications, such as:
- Stopping or starting to take birth control pills or other hormones
- Certain blood pressure drugs
- Certain psychiatric medications
- Anti-nausea drugs
- Some antigastroesophageal reflux medications
- Some pain killers
- Certain herbs, such as :
- Illicit drugs, such as marijuana and opioids
- Sexual stimulation of the breast
- Certain diseases, such as underactive or overactive thyroid, and chronic kidney failure, or liver disease
- Chronic emotional stress
- Hypothalamic tumors or disease
Chest wall conditions, such as:
- Surgical scars
- Tumors of chest wall
- In newborns, high levels of circulating estrogen may result in enlarged breast tissue and secretion of milk
Galactorrhea is more common in women. Other factors that may increase your chance of galactorrhea include:
- Wearing clothing that irritates the nipple
- Frequent breast self-exam or frequent breast stimulation
The primary symptom is a milky discharge from the nipple that is not associated with breast-feeding. The discharge can come from one or both breasts. Other symptoms that can occur along with the discharge include:
- Abnormal or absent menstruation
- Heat or cold intolerance
- Disordered appetite, increase or decrease in weight
- Increased thirst or urination
- Loss of sex drive
- Bloody or foul-smelling discharge
- Acne or abnormal hair growth
- Visual difficulties
- Impotence in men
The doctor will ask about your symptoms and medical history. A physical exam will be done. Tests may include:
- A sample of the breast discharge to look at under a microscope
- Blood tests to check hormone levels
- Pregnancy test
- Imaging tests to check for a pituitary gland tumor in the brain:
If the discharge is not milky or contains blood, then this is not galactorrhea. Other tests must be done to check for breast cancer or other disorders.
Treatment depends on the cause. In some mild cases, no medical treatment is necessary, and the condition will go away on its own. In these cases, breast binders that prevent stimulation of the nipples may be effective. If medications are identified as the potential cause, safe alternatives should be sought.
If an underlying cause for galactorrhea, such as a pituitary tumor, is found, this condition may be treated.
Tumors of the pituitary gland that cause galactorrhea are usually benign. Small tumors may be treated with a medication, such as a dopamine agonist. Larger tumors that do not respond to medication may be treated with the following:
- Surgery to remove the tumor and nearby tissues
- Radiation therapy to shrink tumors
Despite treatment, pituitary gland tumors often recur.
To reduce your risk of galactorrhea, take these steps:
- Avoid wearing clothing that irritates the breast.
- Avoid frequent breast self-exam; usually once a month is enough.
- Avoid excessive sexual stimulation of the breasts.
- Do not use illicit drugs.
- Reviewer: Andrea Chisholm; Brian Randall, MD
- Review Date: 06/2013 -
- Update Date: 06/11/2013 -
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Look up in the sky - It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a ... hummingbird!
Those fragile-looking little flecks of light and noise that flit to and fro are not nearly as delicate as they might seem. Looking like dainty little fairies in their plumage of sparkly feathers, hummingbirds are really tough old birds that will fight fiercely to defend a territory or fly thousands of miles solo on their annual migration. Don't let their small size mislead you, for these miniature flyers are really little super heroes in disguise.
Just imagine all you could accomplish if you could move your arms as fast as the wings of the hummingbird. Actual wing speed varies with species, but the hummingbirds that frequent our valley move their wings at an average speed of 40 to 50 beats per second. This incredible speed is achieved from a combination of features.
The hummingbird's average weight is only about 0.13 ounces, 25 percent to 30 percent of which is pure muscle. Additionally, its shoulder joints have a unique design, allowing them to rotate nearly 180 degrees. This permits the hummingbird to move its wings in a figure-eight pattern, generating power on the upstroke as well as the downstroke. This is what enables the hummingbird to hover and fly in all directions - straight up or down, sideways and even backwards.
Hummingbird migration is legendary, and the eastern ruby-throated hummingbird is famous for its solo flights as far south as Panama. For years, researchers have sought to understand how such a small creature could make such a long journey, particularly because it entails crossing the Gulf of Mexico without stopping.
Stories told by generations past rationalized this feat by explaining that the tiny birds must hitch rides on the backs of more legendary migrators, such as the Canada goose. This story, while still told in some places, is completely untrue for so many reasons, starting with the fact that the geese don't go anywhere close to the Gulf of Mexico in their migrations.
Since our valley is home to lots of visitors and transplants from the East Coast, it's common to hear the local hummingbirds called ruby-throats, since the males share the same red gorget as their East Coast cousins. The predominant species of hummingbirds in our valley, though, is the broad-tail. These birds look similar to the ruby-throats but are slightly larger and hardier and are differentiated primarily by their range. The broad-tailed hummingbirds are primarily a Western species, with occasional sightings as far north as British Columbia. These hardy birds typically migrate down to Mexico, or sometimes as far south as Guatemala, where some populations remain all year long. The larger, rusty-colored Rufous hummingbird usually arrives later in summer, stopping in Colorado on its way from the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico to breeding grounds as far north as Alaska.
Very tiny animals don't typically fare well in really cold places. These hardy avian champions, though, have developed the ability to enter torpor, or a period of slowed metabolic rate similar to hibernation, during cold spells. During this time, they can lower their heart rate from a typical speed of 500 beats per minute to approximately 50. Body temperatures also decrease dramatically, from a daytime norm of 105 degrees to a nightly average of 50 degrees or so. Additionally, the male broad-tailed hummingbird, free from the obligations of caring for young, typically travels upslope at night, avoiding the cold air trapped in the valleys by thermal inversions. This reduces its overall energy costs by close to 15 percent, which can sometimes mean the difference between life and death. Despite these adaptations, really cold frosts can and do sometimes kill these hardy marvels of nature.
The mighty little hummingbird, smallest of all the vertebrate species, continues to amaze and astound. Recent high-tech, super-slow-motion video of these miniature flyers shows that they fight savagely to defend their territories, even body-slamming one another in order to make their point clear. These miniature birds are also champion migrators, with some species traveling more than 12,000 miles round trip each year. The hummingbird, while small in stature, stands as a testament to the tenacity and brilliance of nature's work, reminding us that there is beauty, strength and resilience in a world where appearances don't always tell the whole story.
Jaymee Squires is the director of graduate programs at Walking Mountains Science Center. She enjoys watching the hummingbirds buzz to and fro, but she has given up trying to feed them for this summer.
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The man behind ‘Twin Bridges,’ Gen. Thaddeus Kosciuszko, remembered as the Revolutionary War hero he was
HALFMOON — To countless Northway travelers, the span over the Mohawk River is simply a way to get to and from work, or fun Adirondack vacations.
Most people call it the “Twin Bridges.”
To veterans advocate Carol Hotaling, of Clifton Park, the structure has a much deeper meaning – a tribute to the Revolutionary War hero that it’s officially named after — Gen. Thaddeus Kosciuszko.
The bridge, which first opened in 1959, underwent a major reconstruction project this fall.
“I would like to propose a rededication of this bridge,” she said. “He (Kosciuszko) was born in Poland, came to a struggling America, volunteered his services to the Continental Army and became chief engineer.”
Hotaling, the “Yellow Ribbon Lady,” has made countless yellow decorations for veterans-themed events, celebrations and observances, and works tirelessly to support troops stationed overseas.
Kosciuszko’s accomplishments were many, including the fortification of West Point. But his most important contribution was designing the American defenses for the 1777 Battles of Saratoga, which proved to be the Revolution’s turning point.
Gen. Horatio Gates, the American commander, gets most of the credit for the victory at Saratoga. Without Kosciuszko, though, it never would have happened.
“It was his use of topography and design of defenses that gave Americans an extremely strong and defensible position,” said Bill Valosin, a Saratoga National Historical Park ranger.
Specifically, artillery placed atop Bemis Heights stopped the flow of British supplies on the Hudson River, directly below, and kept them from using the main north-south river road. Continued...
The southward advancing British army, under Gen. John Burgoyne, was trying to reach Albany, where it would meet British forces moving up the Hudson Valley led by Gen. William Howe. The goal was to split the colonies in two, and bring the American rebellion to a quick end.
At Saratoga, however, the river forms a bottleneck and thanks to Kosciuszko’s well-designed defenses, the Americans controlled it. Burgoyne’s army split up into three separate columns – one near the river; the other two about a mile and two miles inland, respectively.
However, Kosciuszko built an L-shaped three-quarter-mile long line to the west, and another about two-thirds of a mile to the south and west, to hold off attacks from those directions, too.
None of this work began until Sept. 12, one week before the first battle.
“He (Kosciuszko) wasn’t directly in the (battle) lines,” Valosin said. “But his fortifications, where and the way that he placed them, forced the British to abandon the direct route south.”
Born in February 1746, Kosciuszko came to America looking to gain experience and make a name for himself, which he unquestionably did. In Europe, he’s considered one of the Revolution’s greatest heroes, perhaps second only to George Washington.
After the war, he helped lead an insurrection against the Russian occupation of Poland.
In August 1797, still suffering from battle wounds during the insurrection, he came back to the U.S. and lived in Philadelphia. That historic home is now the smallest site, one fifth of an acre, in the entire National Park system.
The next spring, Kosciuszko left Philadelphia for France. He dreamed of seeing a unified and free Poland, but Napoleon’s rise to power dashed those hopes. He spent the last two years of his life in Soleure, Switzerland where he died in 1817.
Recently, there’s been some debate because of constantly changing European borders, about whether Kosciuszko was born in Poland, Lithuania or Belarus. Continued...
Regardless, there is no question about his role as a hero during the American fight for independence.
His good friend Thomas Jefferson called him “as pure a son of liberty as I have ever known.”
Hotaling would like people to remember that during the course of their busy travels over the bridge that bears Kosciuszko’s name.
“It’s one way we can show him the respect he deserves,” she said.
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Cyclopædia of Political Science, Political Economy, and the Political History of the United States
GEORGIA, one of the thirteen original United States. Its territory was originally included in the charter of 1662-3 to the lords proprietors of the Carolinas, but was set apart by a royal charter of June 9, 1732, to a company organized by James Oglethorpe to provide homes in America for indigent persons. The boundaries of the new colony were laid down in the charger as follows: "All those lands, countrys and territories situate, lying and being in that part of South Carolina, in America, which lies from the most northern part of a stream or river there, commonly called the Savannah, all along the sea coast, to the southward, unto the most southern stream of a certain other great water or river called the Alatamaha, and westerly from the heads of the said rivers respectively in direct lines to the south seas." this boundary was more precisely defined by the state constitution of 1798 as beginning at the mouth of the Savannah, running up that river and the Tugalo to the headwaters of the latter, thence straight west to the Mississippi, down that river to parallel 31° north latitude, thence east on that parallel to the Appalachicola or Chattahoochee, along that river to the Flint, thence straight to the head of the St. Mary's river, along that river to the Atlantic, and thence along the coast to the place of beginning. June 20, 1752, the charter was surrendered, and the colony be came a royal province.
—The first state constitution was adopted by a state convention, Feb. 5, 1777. It changed the name of parish to that of county, gave the choice of the governor to the legislature, fixed the governor's term at one year, and forbade the election of any person as governor for more than one year in three. A new constitution was formed by a state convention which met at Augusta, Nov. 4, 1788, and was ratified by another convention at the same place, May 6, 1789. Among other changes, it prolonged the governor's term to two years, and directed the senate to elect the governor from three names to be selected by the house. By an amendment adopted by a new state convention at Louisville, May 16, 1795, Louisville was made the permanent seat of government. Another constitution was adopted in state convention at Louisville, May 30, 1798. It abolished the African slave trade, but forbade the legislature to emancipate slaves without the consent of their owners, or to prevent immigrants from other states from bringing their slaves with them. Various amendments to this constitution were made up to and including the secession convention of 1861, the only one necessary to specify here being that of Nov. 17, 1824, which transferred the election of governor to the people. The changes produced by the rebellion will be given hereafter.
—The territory originally claimed by Georgia, extending from the Atlantic coast to the Mississippi, was diminished in 1798 by the formation of Mississippi territory, from which the states of Mississippi and Alabama were afterward formed. (See
—In presidential elections the electoral votes of Georgia have always been cast for democratic candidates, except in 1840 and 1848, when they were cast for Harrison and Taylor respectively, the whig candidates. In 1789 and 1792 the Georgia electors voted for Washington for the presidency and for various democrats for the vice-presidency. (See
—The state elections until 1830 were undisputedly democratic, and all political struggles were entirely personal between different members of the same party. From 1796 until 1810 the claim of land companies to the Mississippi lands claimed by Georgia was the controlling issue in state politics, as was the case from 1825 until 1835 with the removal of the Creek and Cherokee Indians from the state. (See
—After 1830 the state elections resulted almost as steadily in democratic success, but with much greater difficulty. Although but one governor, Crawford, was an avowed whig, the whig party in the state disputed every election vigorously, aided in electing at least one governor, Gilmer, in opposition to the national or regular democratic candidate, and frequently controlled the legislature, generally in years not affected by a presidential election. As a general rule the whig vote in the state may be reckoned at from 47 to 49 per cent. of the total, occasionally rising to a majority.
—The formation of the so-called American party in the state reduced the opposition vote to about 40 per cent., and this proportion represents the opposition in 1860-61 both to the election of Breckinridge and to secession. The opposition to the latter measure, as elsewhere-mentioned, was to the advisability, not to the principle, of secession, and ceased when the majority and pronounced the decision. Indeed, the leader of the so-called union party of the state, A. H. Stephens, was almost immediately elected vice-president of the new southern confederacy. (See
—In November, 1860, an act of the legislature provided for a special election for delegates to a state convention, which met at Milledgeville, Jan. 16, 1861. Jan. 16, by a vote of 208 to 89, an ordinance of secession was passed. It repealed the ordinance ratifying the constitution, and the acts ratifying the amendments to the constitution, dissolved the union between Georgia and the other states, and declared "that the state of Georgia is in the full possession and exercise of all those rights of sovereignty which belong and appertain to a free and independent state." The minority, however, signed the ordinance, as a pledge that they would sustain their state, with the exception of six; and these yielded so far as to place on the minutes a pledge of "their lives, fortunes and honor" to the defense of the state. Ten delegates were chosen by the convention to represent the state at the organization of the provisional government in Montgomery, and Georgia thus became one of the confederate states. The progress of the war developed a considerable opposition in Georgia to the confederate government. In the leaders it took the form of a sublimated state sovereignty, in opposition to the despotic acts of the executive; but in the mass of voters there seems to have been a strong undercurrent in favor of reconstruction in its first form, that is, re-entrance to the Union on terms. April 30, 1865, the Sherman-Johnson agreement ended the rebellion in Georgia. (See
—June 17, 1865, James Johnson was appointed provisional governor of the state. Under his directions a convention met at Milledgeville, Oct. 25, repealed the ordinance of secession, voided the war debt, and adopted a new state constitution, Nov. 7, which was ratified by popular vote. It recognized the abolition of slavery by the federal government as a war measure, but reserved the right of its citizens to appeal to "the justice and magnanimity of that government" for compensation for slaves; it made the governor ineligible for re-election; it confined the right of suffrage to free white male citizens; and it enjoined upon the legislature the duty of providing by law for "the government of free persons of color." State officers were elected Nov. 15, 1865, the legislature met in December, and the state remained under the new form of government until March, 1867. (See
—The election at which the constitution had been ratified had resulted in the choice of republican state officers, a republican senate, and a democratic house of representatives. In July the new state officers entered on their duties and the legislature ratified the congressional changes in the constitution, but during this and the next month the legislature proceeded to declare negroes ineligible to membership in it, and to admit to membership several persons who, it was alleged, were disqualified to hold office by the 14th amendment. During the year the state supreme court decided in favor of the eligibility of negroes to office, but the action of the legislature provoked an unfavorable feeling to Georgia in congress, and was construed as an effort to avoid the terms of reconstruction. In December, therefore, the Georgia senators were not admitted, and did not obtain their seats until January and February, 1871; the representatives had been admitted July 25, 1868. The Georgia electors, in obedience to a state law passed under the confederacy and not repealed in 1880, voted Dec. 9, 1868, the second Wednesday of December, instead of the first, as required by the federal statute. On this nominal ground a vigorous effort was made in February, 1869, to reject the vote of Georgia, but it was counted "in the alternative." (See
—Nothing, however, could save Georgia from re-reconstruction. The act of Dec. 23, 1869, authorized the governor to reconvene the legislature, with only such members as the reconstruction acts allowed, prohibited the exclusion of qualified members, authorized the use of the army and navy to support the governor, and imposed upon the legislature the ratification of the proposed 15th amendment as a condition precedent to the admission of senators and representatives from Georgia. The seats of the representatives also were thus vacated until January and February, 1871. The organization of the legislature in January and February, 1870, was only effected with great difficulty by the governor, and his irregular course of action was condemned by the senate investigating committee; but the organization was finally accomplished, the conditions fulfilled by the legislature, and the state admitted by act of July 15, 1870. The first election under the new regime took place Dec. 20—22, 1870, and resulted in the choice of democratic state officers, and of five democratic and two republican representatives in congress. At the next election for congressmen, 1872, the state having been re-districted, the republicans lost one congressman and gained one. At the next election, 1872, the democrats elected all the nine congressmen: in two districts the republican vote entirely disappeared, and in all the others it was much reduced. Since that time the state has been democratic in all elections, state and national, and the political contest has been confined to factions of the dominant party. The peculiar state law, requiring electors to vote on thesecondWednesday of December, excited some comment in 1881, but the undisputed republican majority in the presidential election of 1880 allowed the state's electoral votes to be admitted without objection.
—A new constitution was formed by a convention which met at Atlanta, July 11, 1877, and was ratified by popular vote, Dec. 5. Its only noteworthy changes were its location of the state capital at Atlanta, and its limitation of the right of suffrage by prohibiting any one convicted of a penitentiary offense, and not pardoned, from registering, voting or holding office.
—The most prominent citizens of the state in national politics have been William H. Crawford, Herschel V. Johnson, and Alexander H. Stephens. (See those names.) Reference should also be made (see also list of governors) to John M. Berrien, democratic United States senator 1825-9, attorney general under Jackson (see
—The name of Georgia was given to the colony in 1732 in honor of King George II. The prosperity of the state and its vast possibilities of future growth have encouraged its citizens to give it the popular name of the empire state of the south.
—GOVERNORS George Walton (1789-90); Edward Telfair(1790-3); Geo. Matthews (1793-6); Jared Irwin (1796-8); James Jackson (1798-1801); Josiah Tatnall (1801-2); John Milledge (1802-6); Jared Irwin (1808-9); David B. Mitchell (1809-130; Peter Early (1813-15); David B. Mitchell (1815-17); William Rabun (1817-19); John Clark (1819-23); George M. Troup (1823-7); John Forsyth (1827-9); George R. Gilmer (1829-31); Wilson Lumpkin (1831-5); William Schley (1835-7); George R. Gilmer (1837-9); Charles J. McDonald (1839-43); George W. Crawford (1843-7); G. W. B. Towns (1847-15); Howell Cobb (185103); Herschel V. Johnson (1853-7); Joseph E. Brown (1857-65); James Johnson (provisional, 1865); Chaekwa J. Jenkins (1863-7); John Pope and G.G. Meade (military governors, March, 1867-June, 1868); Rufus B. Bullock (June, 1868-October, 1871); Benjamin Coley (acting, October 1871-January, 1872); James M. Smith (chosen by special election, January, 1872-January, 1877); Alfred H. Colquitt (1877-83).
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Fracking is short for ‘hydraulic fracturing,’ a term used to describe the process of pumping millions of gallons of pressurized water, sand and chemicals down a newly drilled well to blast out the surrounding shale rock and gas.
It’s a relatively new technique that‘s made shale gas more popular in recent years. For a long time, shale gas — a natural gas that’s embedded in ancient rocks known as shale — was deemed as being not worth the trouble by drilling companies because it was so difficult to recover. The gas is embedded in rocks and the best way to get it out is to drill in sideways, which only became possible in the 1980s and 1990s as the gas industry improved its directional drilling technology. Later, technological advances that let drillers use more water pressure made fracking into an economically viable option for obtaining shale gas from the rocks.
Read more about 'fracking'
Shale is scattered throughout the United States. The two hottest shale sites in America right now are the Barnett Shale in Texas and the Marcellus shale, which is buried beneath seven states and part of Lake Erie. Other large shale deposits are located in Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Wyoming.
Despite its potential, though, a movement has welled up lately to block the shale gas boom. Some critics say embracing natural gas so heartily will slow the rise of renewable energy, but the biggest beef with shale isn't as much about its gas — it's about how we get it out of the ground. Shale gas would likely still be a novelty fuel without modern advances in hydraulic fracturing, yet the need for fracking is also starting to seem like it could be shale's fatal flaw. The practice has sparked major environmental and public heath concerns near U.S. gas fields, from diesel fuel and unidentified chemicals in groundwater to methane seeping out of sink faucets and even blowing up houses.
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Download Full Text (640 KB)
Decision-making problems in water resources are often associated with multiple objectives and multiple stakeholders. To enable more effective and acceptable decision outcome, it is required that more participation is ensured in the decision making process. This is particularly relevant for flood management problems where the number of stakeholders could be very large. Although application of multi-objective decision-making tools in water resources is very wide, application with the consideration of multiple stakeholders is much more limited. The solution methodologies adapted for multi-objective multi-participant decision problems are generally based on aggregation of decisions obtained for individual decision makers. This approach seems somewhat inadequate when the number of stakeholders is very large, as often is the case in flood management.
The present study has been performed to have an overview of existing solution methodologies for multi-objective decision making approaches in water resources. Decision making by single and multiple stakeholders has been considered under both deterministic and uncertain conditions. It has been found that the use of fuzzy set theory to represent various uncertainties associated with decision making situations under multi-objective multiple-participant environment is very promising. Coupled with multi-objective methods (e. g. compromise programming and goal programming), fuzzy approach has also the ability to support group decisions, to reflect collective opinions and conflicting judgments.
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The University of Western Ontario
London, Ontario, Canada
Overview, Multiple objectives, Multiple stakeholders, Decision-making, Flood management
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Akter, Taslima and Simonovic, Slobodan P., "A General Overview of Multi-objective Multiple-participant Decision Making for Flood Management" (2002). Water Resources Research Report. Book 4.
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Here: have at it with a Swedish nuclear power plant simulator. Raise and lower the control rods, turn pumps on and off, open and close valves, just make sure you don’t blowup anything.
Go look at the Chernobyl tour to see what happens when you mess up.
The original page includes this context:
The control-room operators of the Kärnobyl nuclear power plant are telecommuting and are running the plant through the Web. However, the mean time between failure for the components of Kärnobyl is not great. Try to keep the reactor stable when component failures occur!
tags: chernobyl, control rods, control room, control room operators, mean time between failure, nuclear power, nuclear power plant, nuclear power plant operator, nuclear power plant simulation, nuclear power plant simulator, operator, power plant, power plant operator, pumps, reactor, simulation, simulator, telecommuting
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Multilateral Trade Negotiations: Tips and Techniques (2013)
Duration of event:
Event focal point email:
Other events details:
Prior to the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations, which were concluded in December 1993, multilateral trade negotiations were seen as a preserve of the developed countries and the developing countries have only a marginal role to play in the negotiation process; they were primarily the recipients of preferential market access and other special differential treatment. Since the Uruguay Round, although the developing countries have been actively involved in the negotiation process, they face serious challenges in keeping pace with the growing area of international trade law. Their role in the negotiation process is limited due to certain imbalances in their negotiation preparedness, structures and outcomes. Negotiators from developing countries face serious challenges to catch up and keep pace with, and even to influence the scope and outcome of negotiations that serve the best interests of their countries.
This course aims to assist the negotiators and government officials of developing and least-developed countries in their preparations for future multilateral trade negotiations. The course will enhance their knowledge and disseminate information about various trade negotiation skills and techniques, which will enable them to better prepare for future multilateral trade negotiations, become ‘well-informed’ and fully benefit from their participation by becoming equal partners in the negotiating process. The course will provide a comprehensive overview of the concept of negotiations, background and special characteristics of multilateral trade negotiations in the WTO and how to strategically prepare and plan in conducting successful negotiations. It will also help participants gain greater insight into various negotiation issues currently involved in different WTO Agreements.
At the end of the course, the participants should be able to:
• Differentiate between bilateral and multilateral trade negotiations;
• Illustrate how multilateral trade negotiations in the WTO are done;
• Examine the problems faced by both the developing and the least developed countries as regards multilateral negotiations;
• Formulate a sound negotiation strategy;
• Analyze the significance of data required for a multilateral trade negotiation; and
• Assess various issues that may arise during negotiation processes related to WTO Agreements such as agriculture, sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS), technical barriers to trade (TBT), trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights (TRIPS), and trade in services.
Content and Structure
The course consists of the following modules:
• Module I – The Concept of Trade Negotiations: An Overview
• Module II – General Introduction to WTO Negotiations
• Module III – Multilateral Trade Negotiations: Strategic Planning and Preparation
• Module IV – Information Requirements in a Negotiation Process
• Module V – Negotiating Issues in Different WTO Agreements
In order to ensure the best possible outreach, the course will be delivered through e-learning. Through a multiple-instructional setting, the goal is to achieve the learning objectives by means of learning technologies that match personal learning styles and by the inclusion of non-linear learning that aims at the development of just-in-time skills of adult learners. At the same time, in order to allow participants maximum flexibility of scheduling , the learning will be conducted in an asynchronous manner. Using a state-of-the-art training architecture, UNITAR will combine self-learning with assessments and online discussions. The pedagogy - adapted specifically to professionals in full-time work - will help train participants through various experiences: absorb (read); do (activity); interact (socialize); reflect (relate to one’s own reality).
This foundation course is designed for government officials, trade experts, government lawyers and negotiators who serve their government in regional or international trade negotiations. The course is beneficial for all other participants including policy advocates, academics, researchers, and the members from the wider public, who are interested in learning about the structuring and negotiating of multilateral trade agreements.
A certificate of completion will be issued by UNITAR to all participants who complete the course-related assignments and assessments successfully. Course schedule is subject to change. Course fee is non-refundable but transferrable to another course or participant and subject to change as per UNITAR's policy on pricing.
- Public - by registration
- Public - by application
- Private - by invitation
- Open to register/apply
Mode of Delivery
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Respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) occurs most often in infants who are born too early. RDS can cause breathing difficulty in newborns. If it is not properly treated, RDS can result in complications. This may include pneumonia, respiratory failure, chronic lung problems, and possibly asthma. In severe cases, RDS can lead to convulsions and death.
RDS occurs when infant's lungs have not developed enough. Immature lungs lack a fluid called surfactant. This is a foamy liquid that helps the lungs open wide and take in air. When there is not enough surfactant, the lungs do not open well. This will make it difficult for the infant to breathe.
The chance of developing RDS decreases as the fetus grows. Babies born after 36 weeks rarely develop this condition.
A risk factor is something that increases your chance of getting a disease or condition. Factors that increase your baby's risk of RDS include:
- Birth before 37 weeks; increased risk and severity of condition with earlier prematurity
- Mother with insulin dependent diabetes
- Multiple birth
- Cesarean section delivery
- Cold stress
- Precipitous delivery
- Previously affected infant
- Being male
- Hypertension (high blood pressure) during pregnancy
The following symptoms usually start immediately or within a few hours after birth and include:
- Difficulty breathing, apnea
- Rapid, shallow breathing
- Delayed or weak cry
- Grunting noise with every breath
- Flaring of the nostrils
- Frothing at the lips
- Blue color around the lips
- Swelling of the extremities
- Decreased urine output
The doctor will ask about the mother's medical history and pregnancy. The baby will also be evaluated, as outlined here:
Amniotic fluid is fluid that surrounds the fetus. It may be tested for indicators of well-developed lungs such as:
- Lecithin:sphingomyelin ratio
- Phosphatidyl glycerol
- Laboratory studies—done to rule out infection
- Physical exam—includes checking the baby's breathing and looking for bluish color around the lips or on trunk
- Testing for blood gases—to check the levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the blood
- Chest x-ray —a test that uses radiation to take a picture of structures inside the body, in this case the heart and lungs
Treatment for a baby with RDS usually includes oxygen therapy and may also include:
A mechanical respirator is a breathing machine. It is used to keep the lungs from collapsing and support the baby's breathing. The respirator also improves the exchange of oxygen and other gases in the lungs. A respirator is almost always needed for infants with severe RDS.
Surfactant can be given to help the lungs open. Wider lungs will allow the infant to take in more oxygen and breathe normally. One type of surfactant comes from cows and the other is synthetic. Both options are delivered directly into the infant's windpipe.
Inhaled Nitric Oxide
Nitric oxide is a gas that is inhaled. It can make it easier for oxygen to pass into the blood. The gas is often delivered during mechanical ventilation.
Newborns with RDS may be given food and water by the following means:
- Tube feeding—a tube is inserted through the baby's mouth and into the stomach
- Parenteral feeding—nutrients are delivered directly into a vein
Preventing a premature birth is the best way to avoid RDS. To reduce your chance of having a premature baby:
- Get good prenatal care. Start as early as possible in pregnancy.
- Eat a healthful diet. Take vitamins as suggested by your doctor.
- Do not smoke. Avoid alcohol or drug use.
- Only take medicines that your doctor has approved.
If you are at high risk of giving birth to a premature baby:
- You may be given steroids about 24 hours before delivery. Steroids can help your baby's lungs develop faster.
- Your doctor may do an amniocentesis. This test will check the maturity of your baby's lungs. The results will help determine the best time for delivery.
- Reviewer: Michael Woods
- Review Date: 09/2012 -
- Update Date: 00/91/2012 -
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Per Square Meter
Warm-up: Relationships in Ecosystems (10 minutes)
1. Begin this lesson by presenting the powerpoint, “Per Square Meter”.
2. After the presentation, ask students to think of animal relationships that correspond to each of the following types; Competition, Predation, Parasitism, and Mutualism
a. For example, two animals that compete for food are lions and cheetahs (they compete for zebras and antelopes)
3. Record the different types of relationships on the board.
Activity One: My Own Square Meter (30 minutes)
1. Have students go outside and pick a small area (about a square meter each) to explore. It is preferable that this area be grassy or ‘natural’. The school playground might be a good spot.
2. Each student should keep a list of both the living organisms and man-made products found in their area (i.e grass, birds, insects, flowers, sidewalk etc.) Students are allowed to collect a few specimens from this area to show to the class. If students do not have jars, they can draw their observations. *See Reproducible #1
Activity Two: Who lives in our playground? (10 minutes)
1. After listing, collecting, and drawing specimens, students should return to the classroom and present their findings.
a. Have the students sit in a circle. Each student should read his or her list of findings out loud. If they collected specimens or drew observations, have them present them to the class.
2. Make a list of these findings on the board. Only write repeated findings once (to avoid writing grass as many times as there are students). Keep one list of living organisms and one list of man-made products.
3. For now, focus on the list of living organisms. As a class, help students name possible relationships between the organisms. See if they can find one of each type of relationship. For example, a bee on a flower is an example of mutualism because the nectar from the flower nourishes the bee and in return, the bee pollinates the flower.
Activity Three: Humans and the Environment: Human Effect on one Square Meter (15 minutes)
1. Now that students have focused on the animal relationships of their square meter, it is time to examine the effect of humans on the natural environment. Focus on the human-made product list. Ask students to consider the possible relationships between the human-made products and the environment. Prompt a brief class discussion on the effects of man-made products on the environment. Use the following questions as guidelines.
a. What is the effect of an empty drink bottle (or any other piece of trash) in a grassy field? Will it decompose? Will it be used by an animal as a habitat or food?
Answer: Trash is an invasive man-made product. Most trash is non-bio degradable and is harmful to the environment and to eco-system relations.Therefore, it is a harmful addition to the square meter.
b. Who left the bottle there? Do you think they are still thinking about it? Did they leave it there on purpose? Why did they leave it there?
Answer: Most people litter thoughtlessly. They are not thinking about their actions and how they may effect the environment or eco-systems. It is important that people recognize that litter has a major effect on the environment.
c. What about a bench? Does a park bench have the same effect on the environment as a piece of trash?
Answer: A park bench can be considered as a positive human-made product. A park bench has little negative effect on the environment and even helps humans further appreciate eco-systems. The Park Bench may even provide shelter or a perch for the eco-systems living organisms.
d. Is there a difference between positive human-made products and negative ones? What are some examples of each?
Answer: Yes, there is a difference between positive and negative human-made products. Positive products have minimal effect on the functioning of eco systems whereas negative products have major effects on eco systems. An example of a positive human-made product would be a solar powered house. An example of a negative human-made product would be a car that produces a lot of pollution.
Wrap Up: Our Classroom Eco-Web (20-30 minutes)
1. Have students create classroom artwork by illustrating the relationships between their eco-systems.
2. Each student should draw at least two components of his or her square meter.
3. After everyone has finished their illustrations, create a web relating the illustrations. Draw arrows between illustrated components with written indications of the type of relationship exemplified.
4. Post the finished product in the classroom so that students can see the interconnectedness of the earth’s eco-systems.
Extension: Exploring Aquatic Eco-Systems (On-going Activity)
Students can explore another type of eco-system by creating a classroom aquarium or terrarium. The supplies for both of these mini eco-systems can be found at your local pet store. Students should help set up and maintain the aquarium or terrarium throughout the year. Periodically, students should observe how the mini-ecosystem is progressing, note changes, and assess the relationships between the organisms of the eco-system. This way, students are able to directly participate in the functioning of a natural system.
Another related activity might be to take your students on a field trip to a different eco-system from that of your school. If you live near a river, lake, or ocean take them there to explore different ecological relations. If you live in a city, examples of diverse eco-systems can be found at the local zoo or aquarium.
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Member Comment Sought on Draft National Science and Mathematics Curriculum
In 2008 all Australian governments agreed that a quality education for all young Australians is critical to maintaining Australia’s productivity and quality of life. They agreed that a national curriculum would play a key role in delivering quality education and committed to the development of a K–12 national curriculum, initially in the areas of English, mathematics, science and history.
The Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) was formed to develop a national curriculum from Kindergarten to Year 12 in specified learning areas.
ACARA released discussion papers on the development of the new curriculum. Following member consultation Engineers Australia compiled a submission making comments on the proposed structure of the science and mathematics curriculum.
ACARA then released the Shape of the Australian Curriculum documents in the second half of 2009. Engineers Australia in partnership with APESMA and ACEA provided further comments to ACARA outlining concerns that a clear understanding of engineering was not being successfully built into the science school curriculum.
Now, Engineers Australia has been given the opportunity to provide further comments on the draft Mathematics and Science curriculum.
To view the submission and curriculum documents or to make a comment, please click here (note: you must be logged in to view this page)
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The latest weapon unleashed to battle California's growing energy demand comes in the form of free software. The State of California Energy Commission's Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) program is responsible for the development of a free software package dubbed the Sensor Placement and Orientation Tool (SPOT). The purpose of this software is to help designers establish correct photosensor placement relative to a given daylighting and electric lighting design.
Daylighting systems, which use natural lighting to supplement electric lighting, are sensitive to photosensor placement and performance. However, until now, there have been no easy-to-use tools to help designers predict performance and determine optimum sensor positioning. Using an Excel worksheet interface, SPOT accounts for variables such as room geometry, surface reflectances, solar orientation, electric lighting layout, and window design to help determine the best location for photosensors. It also helps designers comply with the daylighting requirements in California's Title 24 energy code, which calls for separate controls for daylit areas and offers substantial energy budget credits for automatic daylighting controls.
This software may be downloaded for free at www.archenergy.com/SPOT/index.html.
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Summer is usually the time for beach fun and barbeques but if you're stuck inside with a miserable cold, you may be sick longer than usual.
Medical experts are now saying that summer colds can last longer and have a higher chance of recurring than winter colds.
Winter viruses that cause upper respiratory infections are joined in the warmer months by enterovirus. This virus spread by coughing, sneezing and fecal matter. On top of the typical common cold symptoms, enterovirus can cause diarrhea, sore throats and rashes and linger around longer.
Another summer-specific factors is constant exposure to re-circulated air, which can dry out the lining of the nostrils and provide easier access to viruses. Dr. Muhammed Choudhry of Texas Health WNJ says there are several way to battle these summer colds.
"Most of these should respond to rest and plenty of hydration. They are usually caused by viruses and should get better in a few days. If they do not, you should talk to your doctor and see if there's something else that needs to be done such as a prescription to an antibiotic," said Choudhry.
You can prevent summer colds by following these tips:
WASH HANDS OFTEN
GET PLENTY OF SLEEP
EAT A BALANCED DIET
AVOID CONTACT WITH SICK PEOPLE
Designed by Gray Digital Media
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Asbestos Exposure in the Workplace
Asbestos exposure is common among those who work in the trades or do manual labor. Discuss your work history with your doctor if you fall into one of the high risk categories listed below. This will keep your doctor on the alert for symptoms of asbestos–related diseases, which often take decades to develop after the initial asbestos exposure (see asbestosis, mesothelioma, and lung cancer for details).
If your asbestos exposure took place during the course of private employment, you may be eligible to file a workers' compensation claim. You may also have a case against the manufacturer of the asbestos product involved. To learn more about workers' compensation options, visit the asbestos workers' compensation section.
Additional Information About High Risk Jobs
The following list of trades have a high incidence of asbestos exposure. More specific information about asbestos exposure on the following jobs can be found at Asbestos Network.
Insulators, or people that worked extensively around asbestos insulation, are especially at risk for the development of an asbestos related disease. Common products that insulators worked with are:
- asbestos pipe covering,
- asbestos block insulation,
- asbestos containing cement,
- asbestos lagging, or
- Zonolite Attic Insulation.
Those involved with the building or maintenance of ships are at risk for high doses of airborne asbestos. Commonly used around boilers and steam pipes, asbestos insulation may become air borne during simple routine maintenance.
Power Plants, Refineries and Industrial Settings
Power plants, refineries and industrial settings are jobsites where asbestos was used extensively.
Asbestos products were used extensively in both home and commercial construction. Fireproofing, insulation, joint compounds, plaster and patching compounds are just a few of the commonly used products that contained asbestos. Plumbers and pipefitters are also at risk—exposed through asbestos laden cement pipes, deteriorating asbestos insulation and pipe coverings.
Pipefitters and Plumbers
Miners of asbestos, talc and vermiculite are at significant risk for heavy asbestos exposure and asbestos disease. Large amounts of asbestos dust, poor ventilation and lack of proper breathing protection were contributing factors to the high incidence of mesothelioma in the Iron Range miners.
The textile industry used asbestos in heat resistant products like heat–resistant pads, asbestos gloves, and woven into cloth coverings and protective blankets.
There was extensive use of asbestos in brake pads and shoes, as well as asbestos clutch discs and linings. For mechanics, the danger from asbestos resides in asbestos fibers becoming airborne during brake, clutch, and gasket installation, removal, and inspection.
The high heat output of steam and diesel locomotives made them a perfect candidate for the heat resistant properties of asbestos heat insulation. Boilers, steam pipes, hot water lines and refrigeration units were common applications of asbestos heat wrap and insulation. Regular maintenance involved the removal and replacement of asbestos insulation; exposing workers to airborne asbestos fibers.
Appliance shops, where older asbestos–containing consumer products are dismantled and repaired.
Helping Those With Asbestos & Work Related Injuries
Our asbestos attorneys have helped asbestos victims for over 30 years. If asbestos exposure has affected you and you are suffering from an asbestos–related disease, contact our team of expert asbestos attorneys to learn more about how we can help you.
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8. Scurrula buddleioides (Desrousseaux) G. Don, Gen. Hist. 3: 421. 1834.
滇藏梨果寄生 dian zang li guo ji sheng
Shrubs 0.5-2 m tall, young branchlets, leaves, and inflorescences with dense short grayish yellow, rarely brown, verticillate and stellate hairs. Branches brownish, glabrous, scattered lenticellate. Leaves opposite; petiole 4-12 mm, pilose; leaf blade ovate, ovate-oblong to oblong, 6-10 × 3.5-8 cm, papery or thinly leathery, abaxial surface minutely tomentose, adaxial surface glabrous, lateral veins 4 or 5 pairs, base obtuse to rounded, apex acute. Racemes 2-5-fascicled, axillary, sometimes at leafless nodes, 3-5(-7)-flowered; peduncle and rachis 1.5-5 mm, brownish or grayish yellow tomentose. Flowers densely alternate; bracts ovate, ca. 1 mm. Pedicel 1-1.5 mm. Calyx pyriform, 2-3 mm, limb annular, ciliate. Mature bud tubular, 1.5-2 cm, tip ellipsoid. Corolla red, slightly curved and inflated, tomentose, lobes lanceolate, ca. 5 mm, reflexed. Style red; stigma subcapitate. Berry pyriform, 8-10 × 3.5-4 mm, pilose, base tapering into stalk. Fl. and fr. Jan-Dec.
Forests, thickets, mountain slopes, valleys; 1100-2200 m. Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan [India].
Recorded hosts include species of Caprifoliaceae, Coriariaceae, Fagaceae, Moraceae, Rosaceae, Rutaceae, and Tiliaceae.
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Blue Ocean Research & Conservation
Discovering the Ocean
Our scientific research has focused recently on an often overlooked yet ecologically important part of many ecosystems–sponges. Numbering over 8000 species, they are common to many aquatic habitats from the Ross Shelf in Antarctica, Lake Baikal in Russia, rocky reefs in South Africa, to coral reefs throughout the Caribbean.
Sponges are critical to coral reef survival. Sponges filter and clean the water, provide shelter for commercially important species like juvenile lobsters, and are eaten by many fish and turtles. On many coral reefs, sponges outnumber corals, with sponges providing three-dimensional structure that creates habitat and refuge for thousands of species. Because of their large size and kaleidoscope colors, sponges help fuel the popular and lucrative diving and tourism industries.
As climate change results in warmer, more acidic oceans, all marine life is potentially affected. It is well-known that coral health declines under these conditions, but the effect on sponge growth and survival is unknown. Significant declines in sponge health and biomass would be catastrophic to coral reefs, reducing water quality and severely impacting thousands of species from symbiotic microbes to foraging hawksbill turtles. A major loss of sponges would not only negatively impact marine life, but also local communities that depend on reefs for coastal protection and food.
Blue Ocean’s research scientist, Dr. Alan Duckworth, studied the effects of warmer, more acidic waters on the sponge Cliona celata, which bores into the shells of scallops and oysters, weakening and eventually killing them. Alan hypothesized that because climate change will result in shellfish having weaker shells, these sponges could cause greater losses of shellfish. This study has been done in collaboration with Dr. Bradley Peterson of Stony Brook University.
Alan’s other area of study was the first climate change experiment focused on tropical sponges. It investigated the effects of warmer, more acidic water on the growth, survival, and chemistry of several Caribbean coral reef sponges. This study was based at the Discovery Bay Marine Lab in Jamaica and chemical analysis of sponge samples was completed by Dr. Lyndon West from Florida Atlantic University.
Putting Teeth in Shark Conservation
The goal of this fellowship is to help small, island nations by strengthening their ability to identify illegal shark fishing and enforce recently established shark sanctuaries. It will help provide much needed scientific research, training, outreach and DNA-testing tools which can then be used to help protect valuable marine sanctuaries worldwide.
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