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Bladder infections, also known as urinary tract infections (UTI) is an encroachment by the bacteria in the urinary tract which includes the urethra, bladder, ureters, and the kidney. This can be very painful and if not contained or eliminated in the early stages it can reach the kidneys thus making it very serious.
The infection can infect anyone, women in particular, and can develop into cystitis which is also very common in women.
Some common symptoms include:
-The need to go all the time
-Burning sensation while urinating
-Signs of blood seen in urine
-Fever and vomiting in conjunction with the above symptoms is a sure sign of a bladder infection, or UTI.
Some of the main causes are:
-Bacteria from the digestive tract holds on to the opening of the urethra
-Sexual intercourse can be a cause, due to the bacteria in the vagina being pushed back to the urethra
-Waiting to long to urinate, causing the bladder to stretch which does not allow the complete load of urine to be released when urinating. The remaining urine can cause a bladder infection.
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda in 8-10 ounces of water can really help a bladder infection. The baking soda helps balance the acidity of the entire tract.
When someone has a bladder infection the importance of urinating is high on the list. Even though it burns one should drink a lot of water thus releasing more urine and helping to cleanse the urinary tract. We recommend drinking a lot of water and eliminating completely all other liquids with the exception of PURE (no sugar or additives) cranberry juice.
In smaller cases try 1/2 teaspoon of tincture every hour. Severe infections need a stronger remedy, but this can be used in the first stages and might even take care of it.
To make a tincture:
Blend equal parts of pipsissewa, bucha, echinacea, and uva ursi tinctures.
We also recommend consuming a soothing tea like marshmallow root to help counter the strong antiseptic effect of the urva ursi.
We recommend consuming fresh berry juice daily to prevent infections, women especially.
It is evident that when sick one should take more vitamin C, this is true because the immune system gets a nice boost from the vitamin C. However the vitamin C in the case of a bladder infection is also beneficial in eliminating the infection because of the alkaline qualities of the vitamin.
When the body gets a bladder infection that area is very acidic, with vitamin C and other alkaline fruits the infection cannot survive.
We love reflexology and know that it can help almost every ailment. For bladder infections it is especially beneficial. Make sure the reflexologist works on the bladder and kidney points.
Wear cotton clothing and be sure it is loose fitting and breathable. With tight fitting clothing the infection can grow worse.
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The physical properties of a material e.g. conductivity, density,
color, solubility etc., are determined by its crystal structure,
(the way in which atoms and molecules are positioned with respect
to each other in a crystalline material). For example, the dramatic
differences between diamond and graphite (both of which only contain
carbon atoms as building blocks) are due to their crystal structures
(3-D vs. planar). Today, we are still unable to predict the crystal
structure of even the simplest of compounds even with complete
information about the chemical composition. However, if we were
able to control the structure of a solid, we would also be able
to customize its physical properties. Control over the assembly
of molecules into extended networks is rapidly becoming an important
target in both materials chemistry and biochemistry. In this context,
the selectivity and directionality of the hydrogen bond have been
instrumental in the preparation of distinctive structural aggregates,
and the use of hydrogen bonding as a steering force is now emerging
as the most important strategy in crystal engineering
2.1 Fundamental crystal engineering
(i) To examine hydrogen bonding in the solid-state and to develop
strategies that employ hydrogen bonding as a tool for designing
and incorporating predictable structural aggregates into organic
and inorganic crystalline materials.
(ii) To explore correlations between internal architecture (structure),
external appearance (morphology) and performance (properties) of
crystalline materials. Special attention will be given to polymorphic
and acentric systems.
2.2 Design of functional solids
(i) To synthesize new nonlinear optical material materials by ‘grafting’ polarizable
chromophores onto chiral hydrogen-bonded 1-D and 2-D architectures
which provide mechanical strength. These architectures are also
zwitterionic leading to improved thermal stability.
An SHG-active crystal will double the frequency of light
(ii)To construct low-dimensional solids around robust, but flexible,
hydrogen-bonded sheets separated by cationic ‘pillars’.
The interplanar separation is determined by the bridging cations,
thus enabling the design of cavities and tunnels with specific
dimensions that can be used for separations and catalysis.
(iii) To direct the assembly and orientation of photoreactive
species to enable photochemically induced dimerization reactions;
the structural control will be imparted by "preformed" 1-D
and 2-D anionic hydrogen-bonded motifs.
3. Previous work
3.1 Organic crystal engineering
We have shown how a variety of simple molecules can be used in
the predictable assembly of chains, ladders, sheets and channels.
An organic lamellar solid, constructed via hydrogen bonds
3.2 Crystal engineering and coordination chemistry
We have promoted specific coordination geometries of transition-metal
complexes (linear, square-planar, octahedral) into infinite motifs
with predictable architectures. These materials can have important
applications in separation and catalysis.
Some compounds can crystallize into different structures and below
is a view of the one of the three known crystal structures of 2-amino-5-nitropyrimidine.
All forms can be grown simultaneously from the same solution, and
since they have different structures they also have different physical
properties. Thus, a single molecule can give rise to three different
Form I of 2-amino-5-nitropyrimidine
4. Synthesis of Molecular Co-crystals: A Versatile Approach to Controlling Bioavailability, Formulation, and Processing of Anti-Cancer Drugs
Active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), including many anti-tumor drugs, are frequently delivered to the patient in the solid-state as part of an approved dosage type (e.g. tablets, capsules, etc.). Solids provide a convenient, compact and generally stable format to store a drug product. APIs can exist in a variety of distinct solid forms, including polymorphs, solvates, salts, co-crystals and amorphous solids, where each form may display unique physicochemical properties such as melting point, hygroscopicity, morphology, and surface activity. Each physical form will also have a profound impact on two of the most important properties that are essential to the successful development of drug candidates: solubility and stability.
4.2 Challenge of co-crystal formation
What is the most likely outcome when a homogeneous solution containing two different molecular solutes is allowed to evaporate to dryness? Unless a chemical reaction driven by the formation of covalent bonds takes place between the two solutes, one would, as a rule, expect the appearance of two separate molecular solids.This is a simple recrystallization – an event that is taken for granted as a highly effective method of purification in industrial processes as well as in every conventional synthetic laboratory. In the supramolecular laboratory, however, the very same process provides the supramolecular chemist with an opportunity to move in a completely different direction – a co-crystallization is a deliberate attempt at bringing together different molecular species within one periodic crystalline lattice without making or breaking covalent bonds.The chances of accidentally making a co-crystal and bringing together different molecular species within one periodic crystalline lattice without making or breaking covalent bonds, are very small without effective synthetic protocols, Scheme 1, so how do we go about developing reliable, effective, and versatile synthetic methods for the directed assembly of heteromeric co-crystals?
Scheme 1 Recrystallization (homomeric) or co-crystallization (heteromeric)?
4.3 Research Program
For the last five years we have carried out systematic synthetic and structural studies with the goal of developing practical, versatile and reliable strategies for the construction of molecular co-crystals. We have been able to demonstrate how specific molecular recognition events can be controlled by modulating the balance between different binding sites in a series of tailor-made supramolecular reagents (SR’s). For example, recent work on isonicotinamide resulted in the unprecedented assembly of ternary supermolecules with predictable and desired connectivity, Scheme 2.
Scheme 2 A ternary supermolecule in 3,5-dinitrobenzoic acid/isonicotinamide/3-methylbenzoic acid. The stronger acid binds to the best acceptor (pyridine), and the weaker acid binds to the ‘second-best’ acceptor (amide).
We are applying our current expertise in supramolecular synthesis to the development of strategies that enable the formation of co-crystals of API’s using predesigned and readily available small molecules. After demonstrating the feasibility if this approach, we intend to initiate a major new research program geared towards the design of a library of SR’s that can be employed for making subtle changes to bulk physical properties such as solubility and stability of several classes of anti-tumor compounds without adversely affecting their inherent molecular bioactivity.
5. Supramolecular chemistry of photochromic spiropyrans: using non-covalent interactions for controlling physical properties (collaboration with Dr. Silvia Giordani, Trinity College, Dublin)
In order to understand how we can control or fine-tune the balance between open and closed forms of spiropyrans we have initiated a systematic synthetic-structural program in order to determine how (i) different substituents affect the precise molecular geometry (and thus photochemical behaviour) of the spiropyran molecule and (ii) how non-covalent interactions can be employed for shifting the intramolecular equilibrium in such a way that specific responses of the photo-active molecule can be engineered in a predictable manner. Furthermore, once we can control the availability and appearance of the open merocyanine form, Scheme 3, we are seeking to design and develop chemosensory devices geared towards selective recognition and binding of biologically/environmentally relevant molecules and metal ions.
Scheme 3 A 1-D hydrogen-bonded chain of a rare example of an open form of a spiropyran.
(Aakeröy, C.B.; Hurley, E.P.; Desper, J.; Natali, M.; Douglawi, A.; Giordani*, S., The balance between closed and open forms of spiropyrans in the solid state, CrystEngComm, 2010, 12, 1027-1033.)
Co-crystals and pharmaceutical applications
Aakeröy, C.B.; Forbes, S.; Desper, J. The effect of water molecules in stabilizing solid forms of co-crystals of a family of active pharmaceutical ingredients, CrystEngComm, 2012, 14 (7), 2435 - 2443.
Aakeröy, C.B.; Grommet, A. B., Desper, J, Co-crystal screening of diclofenac, Pharmaceutics 2011, 3, 601-614.
Co-crystals and intermolecular interactions
Aakeröy, C.B.; Panikkattu, S.V., DeHaven, B., Desper, J., Interdependence of structure and physical properties in co-crystals of azopyridines, CrystEngComm, 2013, 15, 463 – 470.
Aakeröy, C.B., Hurley, E.P., Desper, J., Modulating supramolecular reactivity using covalent “switches” on a pyrazole platform, Cryst. Growth Des., 2012, 12, 5806–5814.
Aakeröy, C.B.; Chopade, P.; Rajbanshi, A.; Ganser, C.; Desper, J., Exploring the structural landscape of 2-aminopyrazines via co-crystallizations, CrystEngComm, 2012, 14 (18), 5845 - 5853.
Aakeröy, C.B.; Panikkattu, S.V., DeHaven, B., Desper, J., Establishing supramolecular control over solid-state architectures - A simple mix and match strategy, Cryst. Growth&Des. 2012, 12, 2579−2587.
Aakeröy, C.B.; Chopade, P.D, Cocrystals: Synthesis, Structure, and Applications in Supramolecular Chemistry: from Molecules to Nanomaterials, J.W. Steed and P.A. Gale (eds). John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester, UK, 2012, 2975-2992.
Aakeröy, C.B.; Desper, J.; Smith, M.M., a,a',a''-Tris(hydroxyimino)-1,3,5-benzenetriacetonitrile: A three-fold symmetric, versatile and practical supramolecular building block, CrystEngComm.. 2012, 14, 71-74.
Aakeröy, C.B.; Chopade, P.D.; Desper, J. Avoiding ‘synthon crossover’ in crystal engineering with halogen bonds and hydrogen bonds, Cryst. Growth & Des., 2011, 11, 5333-5336.
Aakeröy, C.B.; Chopade, P.D.; Ganser, C.; Desper, J., Facile synthesis and supramolecular chemistry of hydrogen bond/halogen bond-driven multi-tasking tectons, Chem. Commun., 2011, 47, 4688-4690.
Inorganic supramolecular chemistry
Abul-Haj, M.; Aakeröy, C.B.; Desper, J., Silver (I) coordination chemistry: From 1-D chains to molecular rectangles, New J. Chem., 2013, 37, 204-2011.
Aakeröy, C.B.; Sinha, A. S. Chopade, P.D.; Desper, J., Halogen bonding or close packing? Examining the structural landscape in a series of Cu(II)-acac complexes, Dalton, 2011, 40, 12160-12168.
Aakeröy, C.B., Desper, J., Haque, N., Hussain, I., Effective double-ended chelating agents: crystal structures of N,N,N,N'-tetraacetyl diamino derivatives and their chelates, CrystEngComm, 2010, 12, 3218-3224.
Cavitands and Capsules
Aakeröy, C.B.; Rajbanshi, A.; Metrangolo, P.; Resnati, G.; Parisi, M.F.; Desper, J.; Pilati, T., The quest for a molecular capsule assembled via halogen bonds, CrystEngComm, 2012, 14, 6366-6368.
Aakeröy, C.B.; Rajbanshi, A.; Desper, J.; Hydrogen-bond driven assembly of a molecular capsule facilitated by supramolecular chelation, ChemCommun, 2011, 47, 11411 – 11413,
Aakeröy, C.B., Chopade, P.D., Oxime Decorated Cavitands Functionalized through Solvent-Assisted Grinding, Org. Letts., 2011, 13, 1-3.
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Fresh, local and organic: Tips for buying produce
Feature Article- Fri., Feb. 11, 2011
These days, when it comes to produce, the buzz words are “local” and “seasonal.” Local and seasonal, like fresh and organic, can mean a lot of different things, according to Jim Gallivan, department chair of Culinary Arts at The International Culinary School at The Art Institute of Atlanta, and author of several cookbooks, including “The Adventure Cookbook” and “The New Spa Cuisine.”
Gallivan offers definitions for the terms:
• Local. Local can be defined as having been grown less than a day’s drive from where it’s purchased. In general, local is preferable, Gallivan says, because it lasts longer, not having spent days traveling across the country or the world to get to you. Less travel also means less use of resources and less air pollution.
• Seasonal. If you’ve ever picked your own strawberries, you know there’s nothing like that fresh-picked taste. Today, you can get almost any kind of produce at just about any time of the year. Asparagus in December? It’s shipped in from Peru, where it’s in season. Apples in July? They’re pulled from cold storage just for you. But if it’s not in season, it’s not local, and that means it won’t have the great flavor you find in local fresh-picked produce.
• Fresh. We tend to think we should always choose fresh. And if it’s local and seasonal, fresh is usually better. But sometimes canned or frozen is a better choice, especially when you’re cooking the vegetables or fruit, as opposed to serving them uncooked. For instance, if you’re making something with tomatoes – especially in the winter, when tomatoes are not in season – canned are probably best. Gallivan says to remember that canned and frozen produce has typically been picked and processed at its peak. That means it’s going to taste much better than out-of-season fresh produce that has been traveling for days or in cold storage for months.
• Organic. Google the word “organic” and you’ll find hundreds of websites, and as many variations of meaning. By definition, organic produce has been raised without chemical fertilizers and pesticides, using sustainable agricultural practices. “Natural” is not the same as “organic.” Neither is “additive- free” or “no preservatives.” Moreover, there are different levels of United States Department of Agriculture Organic Certification (www.ams.usda.gov). That means when you shop for organic produce, you need to be aware and read the fine print.
One other important influence on the flavor of modern produce – which is grown on huge farms and packaged in giant processing plants – is the trend toward hybrid varieties bred for looks, shelf life, and being tough enough to transport long distances. Flavor is not generally a top priority. Gallivan says there are exceptions, and some large agribusinesses do produce flavorful, organic foods.
The bottom line for buying produce: Educate yourself. Know what is in season, what is grown locally and where it can be purchased, and how to determine if something really is organic. To learn more about The Art Institutes schools, visit www.artinstitutes.edu/nz.
Courtesy of ARA Content
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In April of 2008, Schinnerer reported that the Social Economic Environmental Design Network, or SEED (linked article is password-protected for Schinnerer and CNA policyholder and broker use only), held its first national conference. Started in 2005, the SEED network’s mission is “to increase the social relevancy of the built environment.” Its guiding principles encourage SEED members to:
- advocate with those that have a limited voice in public life;
- build structures for inclusion that engage stakeholders and allow communities to make decisions;
- promote social equality through discourse that reflects a range of values and social identities;
- generate ideas that grow from place and build local capacity; and
- believe that a community’s design should help conserve resources and minimize waste.
At the Structures for Inclusion conference in Washington, D.C. in March, SEED introduced a new standard for evaluating projects based on SEED principles. This standard includes the SEED Evaluator, an online tool that helps users through the process of creating a socially, economically, and environmentally-sensible building or community.
It is not clear from SEED’s information how well-intentioned designers will be able to convince project owners, government agencies, or other funding sources to apply SEED in the process of investing in and creating capital assets. While LEED certification can produce a return on investment through significant financial pay-backs to a project client through energy and water savings, tax rebates, zoning or density variances, and permitting acceleration, currently no direct financial advantages exist for project owners through SEED certification. Perhaps the early LEED attractions of a plaque, public recognition, and the possibility of user or tenant goodwill will translate over to the inclusion of the SEED principles.
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Optimism bias: Why the young and the old tend to look on the bright side
Even more surprising was the finding that kids and elderly people both showed more of a bias than college students. On one hand, the young and the old were quite good at responding to desirable information: Everyone updated their beliefs similarly when they learned they were less likely to get cancer or have their credit card stolen than they had initially believed. But when they learned their chances were worse than expected, kids, teenagers and older adults seemed to ignore this information more than college students and middle-aged individuals.
The behavioral economist Andrew Oswald has found that from about the time we are teenagers, our sense of happiness starts to decline, hitting rock bottom in our mid-40s. (Middle-age crisis, anyone?) Then our sense of happiness miraculously starts to go up again rapidly as we grow older. This finding contradicts the common assumption that people in their 60s, 70s and 80s are less happy and satisfied than people in their 30s and 40s.
How can we explain this? The first thing that comes to mind is that these changes have something to do with raising kids in our 30s and 40s. Could it be that having children in the household has a negative influence on our happiness?
Oswald ruled out this possibility. He also controlled for people being born in better times, marital status, education, employment status, income: The age pattern persisted. Even more surprising, the pattern held strong even though Oswald did not control for physical health. In other words, older individuals are happier and more satisfied than middle-aged individuals even though the health of the former is generally worse.
Oswald tested half a million people in 72 countries, in both developing and developed nations. He observed the same pattern across all parts of the globe and across sexes. Happiness diminishes as we transition from childhood to adulthood and then starts rising as we grow wrinkles and acquire gray hair.
And it’s not only we humans who slump in the middle and feel sunnier toward the end. Just recently, Oswald and colleagues demonstrated that even chimpanzees and orangutans appear to experience a similar pattern of midlife malaise.
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Here is a quick guide to doing problems involving the work energy theorem, to help you do your physics homework or assignment:
The work energy theorem states that the work done is equal to the change in kinetic energy:
where the kinetic energy is:
1. On a frozen pond, a 10-kg sled is given a kick that imparts to it an initial speed of = 2.0 m/s. The coefficient of kinetic friction between sled and ice is = 0.10. Use the work-energy theorem to find the distance the sled moves before coming to rest.
In this case, the work done by friction is equal to the change in kinetic energy (work energy theorem).
and since = 0,
2. You are given a uniform flexible chain whose mass is 5 kg and length is 5m, and a small frictionless pulley whose circumference is negligible compares to the length of the chain. Initially the chain is hung over the pulley with nearly equal lengths on both sides, but just unequal enough so that the unstable equilibrium condition will let the chain start to move. After some time, the longer end of the chain is a distance down from the pulley's axle. Find the acceleration of the chain when the chain is at this position. Find the velocity of the of the chain when
and the linear density of the chain is,
the mass of the left side of the pulley is,
and the mass of the right side of the pulley is,
and using Newton's laws on the left side of the pulley,
and on the right side of the pulley,
adding these equations gives,
and solving for a,
hence the acceleration of the chain at this position is 5.88 m/s2
to find the velocity at this point, we will use the work energy theorem to equate kinetic and potential energies of the chain.
The change in kinetic energy is,
the initial position of the chain nearly half hanging on both sides, then the entire chain goes to one side and therefore
and , and the chains center of mass is,
and the change in potential energy is,
finally from the conservation of energy,
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From the NEWS
Shah Allah Ditta caves are located on the route leading towards Khanpur. These caves are next to the shrine and tomb of a Mughal period ‘dervish,’ Shah Allah Ditta. Once you start travelling on Golra Sharif Road, a sharp turn comes for a village named after the saint — Shah Allah Ditta. The narrow road leads towards Margalla Hills on the base of which these caves are located. Old Banyan trees at the roadside marks the entrance to the caves.
The caves are in the form of tufa (a rough, thick, rock-like calcium carbonate deposit that forms by precipitation from bodies of water with a high dissolved calcium content) caverns with a stream about 17 metres below. According to the research conducted by Taxila Institute of Asian Civilisations Director Dr. M Salim, tufa deposits are from the late Pleistocene Period and 17 metres is the maximum thickness of tufa deposits recorded in this area.
There are two caves in general, which further bifurcate into two more portions. They are arranged in a crescent form on tufa rocks at foothills of the Margallas. This cliff is located at the base of Margalla Hills and has ancient city of Taxila on its back. It is reported that the people of Taxila also used these caves in Buddhist times.
The caves have a spring water stream in the middle. The water of the stream is collected in a man-made pond. There is an arch opening into this pond and steps leading down into the water. The caves have underground warm mineral water springs, which the locals believe, have powers to heal their illnesses. These caves have some important religious significance as well for the local people as devotees visit the place often. We found signs of burning of ‘diyas’ on the cave walls that these people have been burning and many ‘taveez’ or amulets were tied to roots of old Banyan trees. Banyan trees are interlaced with the caves so tightly that they have become their part and facade.
On the outer wall of the caves there are paintings on the red toned mud plaster. The paintings are more like drawings with the black and terracotta red paint. Unfortunately, the people who visited the place have totally vandalised paintings on the wall. Now only an eye of a human face is left to give us clue that there were some paintings on the wall. The remains of red pottery and flaked artefacts of limestone have been discovered all around the caves.
Dr. M Salim and his team have found evidence that makes them believe that these caves were in the use from the middle stone-age period. The caves have platform like formations between them, indicating a raised area where ‘sadhus’ or priests performed their acts of spiritual meditations. There are many fossilised deposits found here. The Taxila Institute of Asian Studies, Quaid-i-Azam University, has dated these to the late Pleistocene Period.
Recently, a research team of the Comsats University, in a joint venture with Natural History Museum, visited the caves. The idea was to collect samples for dating the correct time period of these cavern like caves. And to create awareness about these caves, which are there for many thousands of years ignored by the people of Islamabad.
The initial conclusion of the team that was made on the site after looking at tufa fossils was that it was a very important discovery, as it gives clues about the botanical life of this area as well as also tells geologists about the cultural life that has been going on in these caves. Hence these caves have dual importance as they hide scientific as well as anthropological clues within them. The director general of Natural History Museum was certain that these fossils were thousands of years old and immediately need to be taken under the protection as national heritage sites. The team took many samples from the site for dating the caves.
These caves need our immediate attention or they will vanish without a trace. They are situated at such a place that they will most certainly become part of some housing scheme sooner or later. It is our heritage that we are ignoring. We need to take immediate steps to save these caves from their hopeless and doomed conditions and preserve them for our coming generations.
—- By Samra M. Khan (associate professor) & Aisha Imdad (assistant professor), Department of Architecture, Comsats Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad
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Men are four times more likely than woman to die by suicide, but women try to commit suicide twice as often as men (they're just unsuccessful). Such attempts are often viewed as a "cry for help" rather than an actual attempt to end the person's life.
Guns are the most commonly-used method for committing suicide. Using a gun to kill oneself accounted for nearly 60 percent of suicides in 1996. Seventy-three percent of all suicides are committed by white men, and 79 percent of all firearm suicides are committed by white men. The highest suicide rate was for white men older than 85 years of age -- 65.3 per 100,000 persons.
Children, Adolescents and Young Adults
During the last several decades, the suicide rate in young people has increased dramatically. In 1996, suicide was the 3rd leading cause of death in 15 to 24 year olds -- 12.2 of every 100,000 people -- following unintentional injuries and homicide.
Suicide was the fourth leading cause in 10- to 14-year-olds, with 298 deaths among 18,949,000 children in this age group. For adolescents age 15 to 19, there were 1,817 deaths among 18,644,000 adolescents. The gender ratio in this age group was 5 to 1 (males:females). Among young people 20 to 24 years of age, there were 2,541 deaths among 17,562,000 people in this age group. The gender ratio in this age group was 7 to 1 (males: females).
No national surveillance data on attempted suicide are available; however, reliable scientific research has found that:
- There are an estimated eight to 25 attempted suicides to one completion; the ratio is higher in women and youth and lower in men and the elderly.
- The strongest risk factors for attempted suicide in adults are depression, alcohol abuse, cocaine use, and separation or divorce.
- The strongest risk factors for attempted suicide in youth are depression, alcohol or other drug use disorder, and aggressive or disruptive behaviors.
- The majority of suicide attempts are expressions of extreme distress that need to be addressed, and not just a harmless bid for attention. A suicidal person should not be left alone and needs immediate mental health treatment.
Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 26 Aug 2010
Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.
The most important things in life aren't things.
-- Art Buchwald
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A California population-based twin study of autism
Basic & Clinical
Over the past two decades, research has supported the idea that autism has a strong genetic component. The strongest evidence comes from studies of twins that show that identical twins have a 90 percent chance of sharing a diagnosis of autism. Unfortunately, these studies have been too small to demonstrate the genetic risk for autism in fraternal twins. In addition, these studies have not been able to establish whether people with autism inherit susceptibility for a general diagnosis of autism or whether they inherit susceptibility for specific autism traits and behaviors. This funding will provide additional support to Dr. Hallmayer's group to conduct the largest, most detailed, population-based study of twins with autism, examining 300 pairs of twins across California. They will measure autistic-like behaviors; repetitive and stereotyped behaviors; general cognitive ability; and more specific neurocognitive abilities. This funding will allow Dr. Hallmayer's team to increase the number of twin pairs studied. In addition, it will allow them to measure social and communication abilities with the Social Responsiveness Scale and to collect additional blood samples from family members that can be used to search for specific genes. Such a large sample, together with detailed assessments, will allow the researchers to verify earlier estimates about the heritability of autism. It will also help them tease apart which traits and symptoms of autism are genetic and which are more likely influenced by the environment. What this means for people with autism:This study will not only vastly improve estimates of the heritability of autism, but will also allow researchers to determine which behavioral and cognitive traits are specific to autism, which are mostly determined by genes, and which are more influenced by the environment. Such data will help genetics researchers by providing them with unambiguous genetic subgroups in which to search for genes for specific traits.
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Improve the quality of life of ordinary citizens by strengthening sustainable, legitimate livelihoods.
Decades of ongoing conflict, political instability, drought and economic chaos has left Afghanistan one of the world’s poorest and unstable nations. Eighty-five percent of the population relies on agriculture and natural resource-based livelihoods, leaving them vulnerable in a precarious economy.
- Agriculture & Food: Increasing farmers' production through training, infrastructure and links to local and global markets
- Economic opportunity: Providing training and work opportunities in areas ranging from road-building to poultry farming
- Water: Supporting equal, sustainable access to water resources for farmers
- Women & Gender: Helping women learn job skills and start small businesses
All stories about Afghanistan
Afghanistan: Winter in Afghanistan brings its own challenges January 31, 2012
In freezing conditions, Afghanistan's most vulnerable are in need of water and warmth. As we help them cope with immediate needs, we're also building a stronger economy to help break the cycle of poverty.
Afghanistan: Setting a strong development agenda December 3, 2011
Ten years after the international intervention in Afghanistan began and the Taliban regime fell, world leaders are this week gathering in Germany to discuss Afghanistan's future.
Afghanistan: Helmand-born, university-bound November 10, 2011
I was at the Mercy Corps Vocational Training Centre this morning checking in with the team and catching up with some of the students and teachers.
Afghanistan: What it's like in Helmand November 9, 2011
Helmand, where I’ve worked for the last two years, is certainly a fascinating place. It is a place where you can wake to yet another suicide bombing that rattles the windows and leaves you wondering who might have been the target this time.
Afghanistan: 'All roads lead to women' May 6, 2011
This afternoon Gayle Tzemach Lemmon talked with Mercy Corps’ communications director Joy Portella and supporters from around the country and the world about the importance of investing in women -- a theme of her New York Times bestselling book, Th
Afghanistan: New book honors Afghan women entrepreneurs March 7, 2011
International Women’s Day reminds me of the many courageous women I’ve had the pleasure of meeting during my last years at Mercy Corps. In all corners of the globe, women work tirelessly — sometimes against incredible odds — to build better, more prosperous and peaceful lives for their families.
Afghanistan: When entrepreneurs need a boost December 2, 2010
Afghanistan: Searching for the next Frank Perdue November 15, 2010
Afghanistan: Better than meeting Springsteen November 11, 2010
Some people are thrilled to meet rock stars or celebrities. I, on the other hand, get really excited about meeting grape growers.
Afghanistan: Afghan farmers get noticed by NY Times October 8, 2010
I'm a big consumer of news, and sometimes I get tired of reading about the same old cadre of high-profile folks: politicians, celebrities, big business types — the "news makers." It's rare to hear about how current events impact normal people; even rarer to hear about the impoverished and voicele
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Revista Panamericana de Salud Pública
versión impresa ISSN 1020-4989
GUILHERME, Ana Lucia Falavigna et al. Secondary triatomine species in dwellings and other nearby structures in municipalities under epidemiological surveillance in the state of Paraná, Brazil. Rev Panam Salud Publica [online]. 2001, vol.9, n.6, pp. 385-392. ISSN 1020-4989. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1020-49892001000600005.
Objective. Since data are scarce regarding secondary triatomine species in the Brazilian state of Paraná, this study investigated infestations in inhabited and abandoned houses and in various other nearby structures in rural areas of that state. Methods. Triatomines were manually captured in inhabited and uninhabited houses and other nearby structures in nine areas (eight municipalities and one district) of Paraná from June 1996 to February 2000. Testing for Trypanosoma cruzi infection was performed, as were also precipitin tests to determine the triatomines' food sources. Results. While Triatoma infestans was not found in any of the nine areas of Paraná that were studied, three secondary triatomine species were detected: Triatoma sordida, Panstrongylus megistus, and Rhodnius neglectus. T. sordida was the most common species found, comprising 575 of the 658 triatomines captured (87.4%). The second-most common was P. megistus, with 82 specimens (12.5%). Of the various categories of structures investigated, uninhabited houses was the most frequently infested category (19/62, or 30.6%), followed by chicken coops (24/350, or 6.9%). The primary food source of the triatomines was the blood of birds. Nevertheless, in the municipality with the highest density of triatomines, the food sources included domestic animals and even humans. We found that 13.4% of the T. sordida and 13.5% of the P. megistus were infected with Trypanosoma cruzi. Conclusions. These results demonstrate the need to maintain entomological surveillance measures in the studied areas. This is especially important since Brazil and other countries of Latin America have affirmed the need to interrupt the vector-borne transmission of Chagas' disease.
Palabras llave : Triatominae; Chagas' disease; Brazil; epidemiological surveillance.
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Ever wonder what great educational APP you should check out for your class?!? Welcome to the Spotlight Series on fantastic apps from Discovery Educators! Featuring this week’s app:
- Handout with Tips and Tricks
- Description: Toontastic allows you to create stories using Freytag’s Pyramid for story development. There are many settings, scenes, and toys (characters) to choose from.You can add music to fit the mood of your story. You can share your story online at Toon Tube. Others can view them at http://toontube.launchpadtoys.com.
- Cost: Free or $9.99 for all access
- Grade Level: All
- Subject Area: All
- Instructional Application: Students can create stories in any subject area to demonstrate their knowledge of concepts learned. Great for development of setting, plot, and characters.
- Discovery Education Connection: Students can create Toons to summarize videos and/or use images from Discovery Education as backgrounds. Watch these video segments from Discovery Education prior to using the app to help students understand plot.
- Video Segment – The Plot Thickens from Discovering Language Arts: Intermediate: Fiction
- Video Segment – Plot of a Story from Discovering Language Arts: Primary: Fiction
For more APPs in this series click here
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Treasures of the Deep
Summary:With higher log values, interest is growing in BC in salvaging `sinkers' and standing trees in man-made lakes created years ago by hydro dam construction.
By Reg Barclay
A barge with a grapple-equipped crane floats quietly on the placid waters of the lake, which reflects the greens and blues of the surrounding hills. In the cab of the crane, the operator stares intently at a video screen. A sector-scanning sonar unit dangling below the barge produces an image of the bottom of the lake, showing a criss-cross pattern of long, cigar-like shapes.
The operator lowers the grapple, the barge tilts slightly, and the sought-after treasure _ sinker logs _ soon breaks the surface. Loaded onto the barge, the logs will ultimately end up at a sawmill or pulp mill for conversion into a commercial product.
Recovering sinkers on a commercial scale like this is relatively new in BC; there are now up to a dozen underwater salvage operations, while five years ago there may have been only one or two. What is the commercial potential of recovering wood like this?
According to Roger Stanyer, CEO of Forest Renewal BC, it is significant. He refers to the "lost gold mine" sort of stories, where divers have reported piles of logs underwater 300' high, some of the logs of a size that we haven't seen logged for years.
It has been reported that one out of every 17 logs harvested on the Coast has ended up underwater. No one knows the source of that estimate, but if it's true, it is roughly six per cent of the harvest lost over the last 80 years. In addition to sinkers, nearly one million acres of standing timber has been submerged behind hydro dams in BC over the last 80 years. Whatever the potential, it is clear that there is a substantial opportunity awaiting the hard-working entrepreneur, with the capital, skill and patience to harvest these treasures of the deep. Stanyer points out that underwater logs are, of course, a non-renewable resource. Still, sinkers and drowned trees represent an opportunity, if taken on an incremental basis over 10 years, that could be "significant in volume, partially offsetting the declining timber supply, forecast for the next decade."
How big is the expected supply decline? Russ Taylor, writing in the Widman World Wood Review, said, that as a result of new reserves for parks and the new Forest Practices Code, the annual harvest of logs in BC will decline 12 to 15 million m 3 [or 1.5 billion fbm], by the year 2000. This represents a loss of enough fibre to close 12 large sawmills.
The surprise about salvaged logs is their condition. "They are as bright and sound as the day they sank, as long ago as 50 years," says Stewart Mossman of Marwood Industries, who, with partner Norm Ross, has been operating on Cowichan Lake for four years. About 80 percent of the salvaged logs are sold as pulp wood. They also have an operation in Nimpkish Lake where the yield is about 50 percent saw logs .
That salvaged logs are commercially useable is not a surprise and was confirmed by scientific research in previous years. John Hatton, Principal Scientist at the Canadian Pulp and Paper Research Institute at UBC found that salvage logs from Williston Lake were eminently suitable for kraft pulp manufacture.
This included floating logs, as well as partially and fully submerged trees. A paper by John Dobie of the former Western Forest Products Lab in Vancouver confirmed that logs from Ootsa Lake developed satisfactory quality lumber, although, because of their saturation, special drying schedules may be required to dry the lumber to KD standards and to prevent a higher-than-normal degrade.
Ken McKeen, Director of Technical Services of COFI, says, "logs in deep, fresh water are not subject to rot as bacteria requiring oxygen are not present. The structural integrity of the wood is sound, although there may be some slight discolouration."
Ownership of salvage logs is a consideration but not an insoluble problem. Where ownership is clear, the salvage operator usually arranges a salvage contract with the owner.
Frank Marks of Underwater Logging Ltd., has been operating on the lower Arrow Lake since April, 1994. Initially operating at Nakusp, his operation is now located ab ove t he Hugh Ke e n l eyside Dam at Castlegar, and he sells to Pope and Talbot and Celgar. His logo reads, "retriever of lost treasures."
Under normal operating conditions, Frank Marks says he salvages 50 to 60 m 3 of logs per day, the equivalent of two truckloads. Assuming 12 operators in the province work a full year, this represents a salvage volume of approximately 100,000 m 3 per year, or about one-tenth of one percent of the annual harvest in BC. However, a strong wind is the nemesis of the salvage logger. In the Interior, cold weather forces closure during the winter, so a full operating season is not always possible.
A capital investment of up to $500,000 is required to set up a sal-vage operation. Equipment required is a barge, grapple-equipped crane, multiple anchoring system, log storage tray, sector-scan imaging sonar with video screen, and a small tug.
With this equipment, Bill Maitland, operations manager of Goat Lake Wood Products working on Lois Lake near Powell River, says he can recover logs in depths up to 300', but prefers shallower depths for better production. Oddly enough, operators are currently facing a weak market for pulpwood and some curtailment has taken place, despite the loom-ing harvest reduction. This is the result of panic buying of logs from outside the province, combined with an unexpected weakness in overseas pulp markets.
Consultant John Mees says the market is now temporarily awash in logs, and pulp log prices have collapsed, after doubling in the third quarter of 1995 from the average of 1992 and 1993. The Ministry of Forests has not been too interested in underwater salvage logging up to now. Proper timber sales have not been possible, as volume, quality and species of logs on lake bottoms is unknown. The MOF has been content for independent operators to make their own arrangements and the MOF charges 25 cents per m 3 for recovered logs.
However, Ian Haman, MOF Castlegar says, "this may change and timber sales are under consideration. Stumpage may be increased, but the operator, because it's a crown sale, would be free to sell to anyone, which is attractive to operators generally."
While there appears to be room for more sinker recovery, the real volume potential lays in salvaging the drowned timber in hydro dam reservoirs. In his report, Dobell estimated a volume of 28 million m 3 . If harvested over a 10-year period, this could theoretically add 2.8 million m 3 or four per cent to the BC annual harvest.
In line with this thinking, the MOF has advertised its first reservoir salvage timber sale. Involving three forest districts, the sale volume is 7 million m 3 to be harvested over 10 years on Ootsa Lake, part of the Nechako River watershed, which is dammed to provide power for the Alcan mill at Kitimat. Bill Brennan, MOF Prince George, is responsible for the sale and says "while providing additional fibre is a priority, there are other benefits. There is an environmental problem to resolve, as submerged trees are a hazard to boating and broken tops litter the shore and are unsightly. In addition, employment will be increased in the region by extending the work season into the sum-mer months."
He noted also that the sale requires bidders to consider Native Indian claims and consequently he said, "bidders intend to include Indian bands in joint ven-ture relationships." The sale stipulates salvage of three types of fibre-floating logs, trees partly or completely submerged, and shoreline debris. The lake is relatively shallow, averaging 150' in depth.
Operators must take everything to 35'' below the surface. This means that clearing will be much deeper, when standing trees, whose tops are in the 35' zone, are recovered. As an incentive, stumpage will be 25 cents per m 3 , as this is in the nature of a test sale, and the sale volume is strictly a guess.
The sale has generated considerable interest by major companies, such as Canfor and Slocan. Small, independent salvage companies are also bidding, such as Fred Host, who has been salvage logging on Harrison Lake for several years, but has now decided to concentrate on Ootsa Lake. Canfor's Sandy Long, Manager of Special Projects, Prince George office, is enthusiastic. "The plan," he said, "is to pull up the submerged trees by their tops, and because the roots are dead, the tree should come up with little difficulty. Roots will be re-entered in the Lake, where they provide an environmentally friendly habitat for marine life."
Unrelated to the Ootsa sale, but recognizing the same benefits, is a $350,000 project to map and inventory Kinbasket Lake, north of Golden. BC Hydro estimates that 1.8 million m 3 of standing timber was drowned, when this lake was created. Because of its extreme depth, salvage will be difficult, and so the project will also test equipment for commercially recovering the wood.
The successful bidder, Bluewater Marine Services, has employed Sylvametrics, a forestry consultant specializing in forest inventory methods, to assist. "We feel this project will benefit the for-est industry by supplementing fibre supply and providing more fo re s t ry jobs,'' says Stanyer." Undoubtedly, technology will be a key element in the Kinbasket project, as it has been for the lake salvagers to date.
A Vancouver company, Imagenex Technology Corporation, is a world leader in producing and distributing specialized imaging equipment such as the sector-scanning unit used by salvagers to recover `sinkers'. They also produce an underwater side-scan module for mapping lake bottoms and locating concentrations of drowned timber. Through adaptations, even the size and volume of the timber can be measured. This equipment is towed behind a slowly moving boat or mounted on a remotely operated underwater vehicle. A global positioning receiver and antenna are connected to the sonar processor to measure position. Sonar images, GPS latitude and longitude, plus the time and date are stored on a computer disc for printing later at a more suitable place. All this can be powered with a portable generator supplying a few hundred watts.
Alan Mulvenna, Vice President said, " Imagenex has made sales and deliveries to customers all over the world through agents in the US, Europe, Scandinavia and Australia." Salvage logging illustrates that ways can be found to supplement a fading harvest of standing timber. Despite the usual short-term peaks and valleys, the trend towards a higher value for fibre will undoubtedly support other new ways to increase the fibre supply.
This page and all contents
©1996-2007 Logging and Sawmilling
Journal (L&S J) and TimberWest Journal.
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The American Crocodile: A Story of Recovery
Michelle P. Moller, Michael S. Cherkiss and Frank J. Mazzotti
The American crocodile is a primarily coastal crocodilian occurring in parts of Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and at the northern end of its range in southern Florida. The crocodile was first sighted by early settlers in the late 1800s in Biscayne Bay. Historically, crocodiles were observed in coastal areas between the present day locales of Key West in the south, Lake Worth in the north, on the east coast and Naples, and Sanibel Island on the West Coast.
Human population growth and development in South Florida is diminishing the restricted distribution of the American crocodile at the northernmost limit of its range.
A Comparison of Two Crocodilians
|American Crocodile||vs||American Alligator|
Home for a Crocodile
The American crocodile inhabits brackish water and is typically found in ponds, coves, and creeks in mangrove swamps. These areas are characterized by deeper water, low wave action, and intermediate salinities. The creation of man-made habitat, especially nesting sites near natural areas, have been essential for the long-term recovery of crocodiles.
Nestng Behavior and Hatchlings
Nest building occurs in well-drained soil adjacent to water, which prevents flooding and allows for direct access to water. The female begins building a nest in March, and returns repeatedly to complete the nest and then she lays all her eggs during a single night, usually in late April or early May. The number of eggs laid averages 40 eggs per nest. The female will cover all her eggs to protect them from desiccation and predators such as raccoons. She returns in late July or August to open the nest, and she may carry the hatchlings to the water. She may even assist the hatchlings by gently cracking the shells with her jaws.
Survival in the Everglades
Crocodiles feed on small fish, invertebrates, reptiles, birds and mammals. Feeding and growth rates vary with temperature, food availability, and salinity. Diminished freshwater flow to Ever- glades estuaries have negatively affected growth rates of crocodiles.
Occasionally, deaths result from direct or indirect interactions with man, such as collisions with cars. Crocodiles also die from fatal wounds inflicted by other crocodiles or from cannibalism. Survival rates are the lowest for hatchlings, which are faced with many threats from predators (raccoons, birds, crabs), and dehydration. Suitable nesting sites, nursery areas and good year-round habitats are critical to the survival of both
Crocodiles are found continuously between southern Biscayne Bay and Cape Sable in Everglades National Park, as well as in several locations in southwest Florida between Shark River and Sanibel Island, and in Broward County.
Current nest locations are concentrated between northeast Florida Bay and south Biscayne Bay. Since the 1930s, there has been a gradual disappearance of nesting on islands in Florida Bay, and absence of adults on central Key Largo, and the east coast of Florida north of Biscayne Bay. Nest areas lost to human development have to some extent been compensated by the inadvertent creation of nest sites.
A Rare Species
The American crocodile in Florida has always been rare. Human population growth and development of coastal areas have caused population numbers to be depressed to even lower levels. Humans have built homes in what was once crocodile habitat, mainly affecting the nesting range of crocodiles. By the early 1970s nesting had been restricted to northeastern Florida Bay and north Key Largo. In 1975, Florida's crocodile population was listed as endangered by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. In the late 1970s, intensive studies mainly conducted by the US National Park Service and Florida Game and Fresh Water Commission (now Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission), and Florida Power and Light Company resulted in a more optimistic outlook for crocodiles in Florida. Largely based on these studies, the National Park Service established a crocodile sanctuary in northeastern Florida Bay. Crocodile Lakes National Wildlife Refuge was created and Florida Power and Light Company began a long term management monitoring program. In 2007, due to an increase in the distribution and number of crocodiles and nests, the US Fish and Wildlife Service downgraded their status in Florida to threatened. In particular the crocodile has made a comeback in southern Biscayne Bay where suitable habitat remains and where habitat modifications have made other areas more favorable for crocodiles, since they can adapt to altered environments.
For example, construction of the cooling canal at the Florida Power & Light Company's Turkey Point Power Plant has created nesting habitat where none had existed.
However, the recent increase of the American crocodile is not a permanent success. Environmental changes that affect the ecological health of the Everglades could be detrimental to crocodile populations. Furthermore, crocodiles have been increasingly found in public parks, golf courses and marinas creating conflicts between humans and crocodiles. The result has been the removal of crocodiles from critical habitats. The major challenge for the present and future recovery of crocodiles lies in public education and ecosystem management.
American Crocodile: Crocodylus acutus
Respect their nature - crocodiles are shy and they want to be left alone so observe them from a safe distance.
Everglades Restoration and the Future for Crocodiles
If we continue to protect and restore habitat for crocodiles, South Florida crocodiles will prosper. However, if we are unable to change people's misconceptions about crocodiles and allay their fears, crocodile recovery will become an increasingly difficult task.
The answer lies in linking Everglades restoration with crocodile ecology, the health of the Everglades with the health of crocodile populations, by using crocodiles as indicators of the success of restoring natural freshwater flows to estuaries.
More importantly, we need to educate concerned citizens who feel threatened by the presence of American crocodiles in their neighborhood that conflicts rarely occur unless an animal is provoked. It is possible to coexist peacefully with crocodiles if people are ready to embrace their responsibility to protect an endangered species.
Education promoting the tolerance and understanding of crocodile behavior and habitat has assisted in the survival of crocodiles throughout the world. We should not allow ungrounded fears and lack of awareness to interfere with the recovery of the American crocodile.
Living with Crocodiles
Safe and responsible behavior: Swim in daylight hours only in areas designated as safe, and never alone. Dispose of fish scraps in garbage bins, and keep your pet away from crocodile-inhabited areas.
Dangerous and irresponsible behavior: Taunting, touching, teasing or attempting to move a crocodile could potentially create a harmful situation, as could swimming in areas with crocodiles.
DO NOT FEED CROCODILES: Feeding crocodiles creates animals that no longer fear humans. Crocodiles will approach other humans for food in the future. Crocodiles can't tell where a handout ends and the hand begins. Feeding a crocodile is a violation of state law. Help spread information by educating others of the dangers of feeding crocodiles and of the proper behavior when around crocodiles.
If you encounter a crocodile, call a regional office of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission for further assistance. It is against the law to attempt to move or otherwise come into contact with a crocodile.
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Benign breast conditions (also known as benign breast diseases) are non-cancerous breast disorders. Some of these conditions increase the risk of breast cancer and others do not.
To assess breast cancer risk, benign breast conditions are classified as:
- Proliferative (those with quickly growing cells)
- Non-proliferative (those without quickly growing cells)
Proliferative breast conditions
Proliferative breast conditions are not cancerous, but they increase the risk of breast cancer [71-73]. The most common type of proliferative breast condition is hyperplasia. There are two types of hyperplasia: usual hyperplasia (more common) and atypical hyperplasia (less common).
In usual hyperplasia, the most common form of hyperplasia, the proliferating cells look normal under a microscope.
Women with usual hyperplasia have about two times the breast cancer risk of women without a proliferative breast condition [71-72].
In atypical hyperplasia, the proliferating cells look abnormal. This type of hyperplasia is less common than usual hyperplasia.
Women with atypical hyperplasia have about four to five times the breast cancer risk of women without a proliferative condition [72-73].
Non-proliferative breast conditions
Non-proliferative benign breast conditions (such as cysts) do not increase the risk of breast cancer.
Learn more about benign breast conditions.
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It was April 14, 1912. At 11:40 p.m. the ill-fated Titanic, touted as unsinkable, struck an iceberg on its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York, killing 1,507 people. In 1985, a team of U.S. and French scientists led by Robert Ballard discovered its watery grave. Since then, fewer than 100 people have journeyed into the depths of the North Atlantic to visit the doomed ship. Michael Harris and his son Sebastian are two of them.
GUINNESS RECORD HOLDER
On August 5, 2005 Sebastian Harris became the youngest person ever to dive on the Titanic. Diving to a depth of 12,500+ feet put him in the Guinness Book of World Records. To the thirteen-year-old, that’s pretty cool. But Michael Harris, Sebastian’s dad, points out that it wasn’t really the Titanic or the depth that made it so special. For both Michael and Sebastian, the significance was that father and son went on this adventure together. Michael had been to the Titanic site seven times before. He’s dived in search of Amelia Earhart and he’s recovered incredible artifacts from ancient Chinese dynasties and still he says the thrill of sharing a dive with his son outweighs all his other accomplishments.
'THE SUBMERSIBLE IS LOOSE'
Michael and two other men were in the submersible, MIR2 as it surfaced from a dive in August 2000. The normal procedure meant the MIR2 would be literally picked up out the sea and returned to the deck of the Russian research vessel, Keldysh . But a storm swell lifted the Keldysh up on a huge wave. As the Keldysh rose, the sub with Michael aboard slid down the side of an opposing wave. The Keldysh crashed down on the sub and the inhabitants were tossed around the inside of the tiny cabin. The CO2 scrubbers in the submersible were damaged and malfunctioned and the air was no longer the right mix to sustain life. CO2 levels were rising fast. In the capsule just large enough to hold the three adult men, a fire was burning. The collision had broken the MIR2 free from the Keldysh. The Keldysh crew struggled to capture and recover the MIR2, but it looked like death was certain for the men inside. After several harrowing hours being tossed in the wounded submersible, rescue crews were finally able to pull the men on board the Keldysh and they were spared.
But facing what appeared to be certain death made Michael really think about his own life. When it looked like he would die in the submersible, he thought of his wife and his kids and the life he had led so far. He wondered what his 36 years of life were worth. He wondered what he had missed by being so focused on the Titanic’s dead and the past. Even though he began to apologize to God during that storm, and even though Michael had been an atheist, he would contemplate this whole new concept of the significance of life for the coming three weeks.
Not only was there a life-threatening storm on the sea that night, but over the next several days storms raged in Michael’s business and personal life. The company he headed was taken from him by his business partners. He says there was just upheaval everywhere. Suddenly this atheist found himself without a job or a plan or any thoughts as to how it could all work out. Then he received a call from one of the other two men trapped with him that night on the sea. The man said his mother wanted to talk to Michael. Michael says he has no recollection of that 3.5 hour conversation with this woman.
He says the lady told him later it was nothing more than a demonic tirade from him while she patiently talked to him about how the Lord was with him and wanted to save him from his sins. Michael can’t explain it, but at the end of the 3.5 hours with all the resistance gone out of him, the woman finally asked if he was ready to ask Jesus into his heart and Michael said, “Yes.”
IT’S ALL ABOUT LIFE
In the five short years since Michael made his decision, his wife and children have also been saved and all his thinking about the importance of life and the living has begun to make sense. He is now thrilled to be, first and foremost, a husband and father who keeps his priorities as God, family and then work. Michael says that what he learned when he almost died in 2000 was exactly the opposite of what he’d believed for years. For him, diving on the Titanic had originally been about the 1507 people who died. His exploration of the site had been about how life ended there and what the remains could tell us. He says he felt his job was to protect and preserve the memory of those who died.
Since his salvation, God has given Michael back his company including the Titanic exhibit he created. During the years since he lost his job, he says God miraculously provided for his family even when there was no work for him. Michael and Amy developed a habit of giving to the Lord which has resulted in continued blessings.
Michael has had theories about what really happened to the Titanic and how the sinking may actually have occurred. In his last dive with son Sebastian, he made several exciting discoveries that seem to confirm his theories.
“We found a new debris field about 900 meters south of the stern, which supports my long-standing belief that the Titanic began to break apart and sink further south than where she currently sits.” The discovery of personal artifacts in this area, some of which include Gladstone bags, women’s shoes and White Star Line china, contribute to the validity of his theories on the ship’s final moments. In addition to the newly discovered debris field, damaged pieces of the ship’s hull were also discovered for the first time. These findings support what Michael calls the “grounding theory.” This theory suggests the Titanic rode up onto the iceberg, damaging the plates on the underside of the ship, and causing water to enter through the damaged plates in the bottom of the hull.
Michael and Amy are members of the 700 Club’s Chairman’s Circle. They live in Belleair, Florida with their four children. Amy and their older two children are certified divers and Michael says each child will take their deep water dive with dad when the time is right.
A caring friend will be there to pray with you in your time of need.
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The efforts of volunteers to increase public awareness of invasive plant issues are invaluable in protecting native plants, animals, and their habitats in the Refuge System.
– Jenny Ericson, Invasive Species Volunteer Coordinator, USFWS
What’s It All About?
This module on Public Outreach will provide you with a look at
- understanding the audience as learners
- how to engage an audience during a presentation
- the nuts and bolts of an effective presentation
- a PowerPoint slide show and interactive activities that can be used for giving a presentation
- online resources of invasive plant information for a presentation
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Volunteering For A Clinical Trial
Every year, millions of people volunteer to take part in clinical trials. For some, it is an opportunity to help advance medical research. For others, it is a chance to gain access to latest potential treatment. For everyone, however, it is a very personal decision and one that requires careful thought.
Below is a list of online resources that will help you decide whether participation in a clinical trial is the right decision for you.
Understanding Clinical Trials
An introduction to clinical trials provided by the National Institutes of Health.
Your Rights and Informed Consent
Information regarding patients' rights for deciding to participate in a clinical trial.
Children and Clinical Studies
US Government website explaining the need for pediatric clinical research and information on child participation.
The following areas are the primary focus of ITN research and trials. Click on the links below for more information.
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Thirsty Birds 'Burn the Engine' In Flight
Migratory songbirds like Swainson's thrushes spend their winters in South and Central America. But as spring approaches, they fly thousands of miles north to Canada.
Along the way, these little birds show endurance that would shame even the toughest athletes. They can fly for up to eight hours straight without stopping for food or water.
Scientists know how birds cope without food during the flights: They burn fat. But until now, they haven't figured out the water question. How do migrating birds avoid dehydration after all that flying?
Packing On The Pounds
One possibility is that they get water from burning fat.
"As spring migration approaches, these birds start to eat a lot, and they put on a lot of fat," says Alexander Gerson, an avian researcher at the University of Western Ontario. "They can almost double their body mass in fat."
That makes sense for fliers, says Gerson. "You can carry a light load of fat, and it will provide a lot of energy."
But burning fat doesn't get you much water. And any long-distance athlete will tell you that dehydration is the real enemy, not hunger.
Unlike humans, birds don't sweat. But they do lose water when they breathe. And their flights are strenuous and long — maybe 200 miles at a time. So the birds breathe heavily and water loss adds up.
So why don't the birds fall out of the sky dehydrated? Gerson says reports from field biologists provided a clue. They found birds that actually lost muscle mass between migratory stops, and in some cases, their internal organs had shrunk.
"The hypothesis was that these birds might be using their lean mass, their protein, which is their muscles and organs, as a source of water," says Gerson.
And this would kind of make sense, biochemically speaking. Burning muscle tissue would give a bird about five times as much water as would burning fat.
Flying In Place
Gerson had a way to test this hypothesis. There's a large wind tunnel at the University of Western Ontario. It's the avian equivalent of a treadmill. Put birds in the tunnel, turn on the wind, and the birds can fly for hours without going anywhere.
As he and his colleague report in the journal Science, the birds that flew in conditions where they needed more water also lost more muscle mass. But they didn't burn any more fat.
Now if you think about, it may seem like a mistake to burn away the muscles that you need to fly. Wouldn't it be easier to just take a pit stop? Gerson says that for the price of a bit of muscle, birds get the freedom, say, to pick the best migratory route.
"These birds can take advantage of tailwinds," he says, "and not have to worry about becoming dehydrated."
Scientists have suspected that burning muscle might be the secret for birds' staying hydrated.
But according to avian researcher Scott McWilliams at the University of Rhode Island, "it was surprising in the sense that [Gerson and colleagues] designed a nifty experiment to demonstrate that that could be the case."
What's still not clear is how the birds' bodies "decide" to start burning protein. And scientists don't know whether bigger, heavier birds have the same muscle-for-water trick.
"You have something like a goose that would be one of the larger species," says McWilliams, "and yeah, they could very well do different kinds of things, depending on the migration distance."
In other words, what's good for the goose may not be the same as what's good for the thrush.
Maureen Langlois produced this report.
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American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Law One who has committed a felony.
- n. Archaic An evil person.
- adj. Archaic Evil; cruel.
- n. A painful purulent infection at the end of a finger or toe in the area surrounding the nail. Also called whitlow.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A wicked person; a cruel, fierce person; one guilty of heinous crimes.
- n. In law, a person who has committed a felony. The term is not applicable after legal punishment has been completed.
- n. Felony.
- n. Synonyms Criminal, convict, malefactor, culprit, outlaw.
- Wicked; malignant; malicious; treacherous; proceeding from a depraved heart.
- Obtained by felony or crime; of goods, stolen.
- Wretched; forlorn.
- n. In medicine:
- n. An acute and painful inflammation of the deeper tissues of the finger or toe, especially of the distal phalanx, generally seated near the nail; paronychia; whitlow.
- n. A sort of inflammation in quadrupeds, similar to whitlow in man.
- n. A person who has committed a felony.
- n. law A person who has been tried and convicted of a felony.
- n. A bacterial infection of the pad at the end of a finger or toe.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Law) A person who has committed a felony.
- n. A person guilty or capable of heinous crime.
- n. (Med.) A kind of whitlow; a painful imflammation of the periosteum of a finger, usually of the last joint.
- adj. Characteristic of a felon; malignant; fierce; malicious; cruel; traitorous; disloyal.
- n. someone who has committed a crime or has been legally convicted of a crime
- n. a purulent infection at the end of a finger or toe in the area surrounding the nail
- Middle English felun, feloun, from Anglo-Norman felun ("traitor, wretch"), from Old Low Franconian *felo (“wicked person”), from Proto-Germanic *fillô, *filjô (“flayer, whipper, scoundrel”), from Proto-Germanic *faliz, *felaz (“cruel, evil”) (compare English fell ("fierce"), Middle High German vālant ("imp")), related to *fellanan (compare Dutch villen, German fillen ("to whip, beat"), both from Proto-Indo-European *pelh₂- (“to stir, move, swing”) (compare Old Irish adellaim 'I seek', diellaim 'I yield', Umbrian pelsatu 'to overcome, conquer', Latin pellere ("to drive, beat"), Latvian lijuôs, plītiês ("to force, impose"), Ancient Greek πέλας (pélas, "near"), πίλναμαι (pílnamai, "I approach"), Old Armenian հալածեմ (halacem, "I pursue"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English feloun, from Old French felon, wicked, a wicked person, from Medieval Latin fellō, fellōn-, possibly of Germanic origin.Middle English feloun, probably from Latin fel, gall, bile. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
“Before I go any further I have to say the justice system goes too far in some or perhaps many cases for what a felon is and the penalties and restrictions once time has been served, they paid for the crime.”
“I do sense that you are invested in felon disenfranchisement for some reason, like I am invested in having a universal franchise.”
““I do sense that you are invested in felon disenfranchisement for some reason, like I am invested in having a universal franchise ….””
“I reason that if a felon is deemed too dangerous to possess a gun then why is he being turned loose in the first place?”
“A convicted felon is going to be speaking at their convention.”
“A Republican felon is much better that the possibility of having a Liberal dictatorship in control of this country.”
“I haven't seen the word felon used, I assume that you made that one up based on the corruption claim which is again pretty much made up by you from people claiming that she is beholden to special interest money.”
“Truth be told, I've generally found your average convicted felon is a hell of a lot more decent than your average prison guard, who are allmost uniformly some of the most vile & despicable people I have ever met.”
“Sorry, Bruce, but the determining factor as to whether or if a felon can vote has nothing to do with socieity's determination as to if said felon is a "great risk to others.”
“Oh, and check out this update from the Chicago Sun-Times, which has done an amazing job dogging this story: A convicted felon is running one of the top Web sites trafficking in your private cell phone records.”
These user-created lists contain the word ‘felon’.
words for those who commit particular crimes: i.e., bank robber, arsonist, etc.
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
List of words referent to persons who commit specific crimes, or are suspected of committing those crimes, beginning with arsonist and safecracker.
Check out reesetee's nice Bad Guys l...
U Gotta Know These.......
Looking for tweets for felon.
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Active galactic nucleus
An active galactic nucleus (AGN) is a compact region at the centre of a galaxy that has a much higher than normal luminosity over at least some portion, and possibly all, of the electromagnetic spectrum. Such excess emission has been observed in the radio, infrared, optical, ultra-violet, X-ray and gamma ray wavebands. A galaxy hosting an AGN is called an active galaxy. The radiation from AGN is believed to be a result of accretion of mass by a supermassive black hole at the centre of its host galaxy. AGN are the most luminous and persistent sources of electromagnetic radiation in the universe, and as such can be used as a means of discovering distant objects; their evolution as a function of cosmic time also puts constraints on models of the cosmos.
Models of the active nucleus
For a long time it has been argued that an AGN must be powered by accretion of mass onto massive black holes (106 to 1010 times the Solar mass). AGN are both compact and persistently extremely luminous. Accretion can potentially give very efficient conversion of potential and kinetic energy to radiation, and a massive black hole has a high Eddington luminosity, and as a result, it can provide the observed high persistent luminosity. Supermassive black holes are now believed to exist in the centres of most if not all massive galaxies. Evidence for that is that the mass of the black hole correlates well with the velocity dispersion of the galactic bulge (the M-sigma relation) or with bulge luminosity (e.g.). Thus AGN-like characteristics are expected whenever a supply of material for accretion comes within the sphere of influence of the central black hole.
Accretion disc
In the standard model of AGN, cold material close to a black hole forms an accretion disc. Dissipative processes in the accretion disc transport matter inwards and angular momentum outwards, while causing the accretion disc to heat up. The expected spectrum of an accretion disc peaks in the optical-ultraviolet waveband; in addition, a corona of hot material forms above the accretion disc and can inverse-Compton scatter photons up to X-ray energies. The radiation from the accretion disc excites cold atomic material close to the black hole and this in turn radiates at particular emission lines. A large fraction of the AGN's radiation may be obscured by interstellar gas and dust close to the accretion disc, but (in a steady-state situation) this will be re-radiated at some other waveband, most likely the infrared.
Relativistic jets
Some accretion discs produce jets of twin, highly collimated, and fast outflows that emerge in opposite directions from close to the disc. The direction of the jet ejection is determined either by the angular momentum axis of the accretion disc or the spin axis of the black hole. The jet production mechanism and indeed the jet composition on very small scales are not understood at present due to the low resolution of astronomical instruments, and as a result, observations cannot provide enough evidence to support one of the various theoretical models of jet production over the many that exist. The jets have their most obvious observational effects in the radio waveband, where Very Long Baseline Interferometry can be used to study the synchrotron radiation they emit at resolutions of sub-parsec scales. However, they radiate in all wavebands from the radio through to the gamma-ray range via the synchrotron and the inverse-Compton scattering process, and so AGN jets are a second potential source of any observed continuum radiation.
Radiatively inefficient AGN
There exists a class of 'radiatively inefficient' solutions to the equations that govern accretion. The most widely known of these is the Advection Dominated Accretion Flow (ADAF), but other theories exist. In this type of accretion, which is important for accretion rates well below the Eddington limit, the accreting matter does not form a thin disc and consequently does not efficiently radiate away the energy that it acquired as it moved close to the black hole. Radiatively inefficient accretion has been used to explain the lack of strong AGN-type radiation from massive black holes at the centres of elliptical galaxies in clusters, where otherwise we might expect high accretion rates and correspondingly high luminosities. Radiatively inefficient AGN would be expected to lack many of the characteristic features of standard AGN with an accretion disc.
Observational characteristics
There is no single observational signature of an AGN. The list below covers some of the historically important features that have allowed systems to be identified as AGN.
- Nuclear optical continuum emission. This is visible whenever there is a direct view of the accretion disc. Jets can also contribute to this component of the AGN emission. The optical emission has a roughly power-law dependence on wavelength.
- Nuclear infra-red emission. This is visible whenever the accretion disc and its environment are obscured by gas and dust close to the nucleus and then re-emitted ('reprocessing'). As it is thermal emission, it can be distinguished from any jet or disc-related emission.
- Broad optical emission lines. These come from cold material close to the central black hole. The lines are broad because the emitting material is revolving around the black hole with high speeds causing a range of Doppler shifts of the emitted photons.
- Narrow optical emission lines. These come from more distant cold material, and so are narrower than the broad lines.
- Radio continuum emission. This is always due to a jet. It shows a spectrum characteristic of synchrotron radiation.
- X-ray continuum emission. This can arise both from a jet and from the hot corona of the accretion disc via a scattering process: in both cases it shows a power-law spectrum. In some radio-quiet AGN there is an excess of soft X-ray emission in addition to the power-law component. The origin of the soft X-rays is not clear at present.
- X-ray line emission. This is a result of illumination of cold heavy elements by the X-ray continuum that causes fluorescence of X-ray emission lines. The best-known of which is the iron feature around 6.4 keV. This line may be narrow or broad: relativistically broadened iron lines can be used to study the dynamics of the accretion disc very close to the nucleus and therefore the nature of the central black hole.
Types of active galaxy
It is convenient to divide AGN into two classes, conventionally called radio-quiet and radio-loud. In the radio-loud objects the emission contribution from the jet(s) and the lobes that they inflate dominates the luminosity of the AGN, at least at radio wavelengths but possibly at some or all others. Radio-quiet objects are simpler since jet and jet-related emission can be neglected.
AGN terminology is often confusing, since the distinctions between different types of AGN sometimes reflect historical differences in how the objects were discovered or initially classified, rather than real physical differences.
Radio-quiet AGN
- Low-ionization nuclear emission-line regions (LINERs). As the name suggests, these systems show only weak nuclear emission-line regions, and no other signatures of AGN emission. It is debatable whether all such systems are true AGN (powered by accretion on to a supermassive black hole). If they are, they constitute the lowest-luminosity class of radio-quiet AGN. Some may be radio-quiet analogues of the low-excitation radio galaxies (see below).
- Seyfert galaxies. Seyferts were the earliest distinct class of AGN to be identified. They show optical range nuclear continuum emission, narrow and occasionally broad emission lines, occasionally strong nuclear X-ray emission and sometimes a weak small-scale radio jet. Originally they were divided into two types known as Seyfert 1 and 2: Seyfert 1s show strong broad emission lines while Seyfert 2s do not, and Seyfert 1s are more likely to show strong low-energy X-ray emission. Various forms of elaboration on this scheme exist: for example, Seyfert 1s with relatively narrow broad lines are sometimes referred to as narrow-line Seyfert 1s. The host galaxies of Seyferts are usually spiral or irregular galaxies.
- Radio-quiet quasars/QSOs. These are essentially more luminous versions of Seyfert 1s: the distinction is arbitrary and is usually expressed in terms of a limiting optical magnitude. Quasars were originally 'quasi-stellar' in optical images as they had optical luminosities that were greater than that of their host galaxy. They always show strong optical continuum emission, X-ray continuum emission, and broad and narrow optical emission lines. Some astronomers use the term QSO (Quasi-Stellar Object) for this class of AGN, reserving 'quasar' for radio-loud objects, while others talk about radio-quiet and radio-loud quasars. The host galaxies of quasars can be spirals, irregulars or ellipticals. There is a correlation between the quasar's luminosity and the mass of its host galaxy, in that the most luminous quasars inhabit the most massive galaxies (ellipticals).
- 'Quasar 2s'. By analogy with Seyfert 2s, these are objects with quasar-like luminosities but without strong optical nuclear continuum emission or broad line emission. They are scarce in surveys, though a number of possible candidate quasar 2s have been identified.
Radio-loud AGN
See main article Radio galaxy for a discussion of the large-scale behaviour of the jets. Here, only the active nuclei are discussed.
- Radio-loud quasars behave exactly like radio-quiet quasars with the addition of emission from a jet. Thus they show strong optical continuum emission, broad and narrow emission lines, and strong X-ray emission, together with nuclear and often extended radio emission.
- “Blazars” (BL Lac objects and OVV quasars) classes are distinguished by rapidly variable, polarized optical, radio and X-ray emission. BL Lac objects show no optical emission lines, broad or narrow, so that their redshifts can only be determined from features in the spectra of their host galaxies. The emission-line features may be intrinsically absent or simply swamped by the additional variable component. In the latter case, emission lines may become visible when the variable component is at a low level. OVV quasars behave more like standard radio-loud quasars with the addition of a rapidly variable component. In both classes of source, the variable emission is believed to originate in a relativistic jet oriented close to the line of sight. Relativistic effects amplify both the luminosity of the jet and the amplitude of variability.
- Radio galaxies. These objects show nuclear and extended radio emission. Their other AGN properties are heterogeneous. They can broadly be divided into low-excitation and high-excitation classes. Low-excitation objects show no strong narrow or broad emission lines, and the emission lines they do have may be excited by a different mechanism. Their optical and X-ray nuclear emission is consistent with originating purely in a jet. They may be the best current candidates for AGN with radiatively inefficient accretion. By contrast, high-excitation objects (narrow-line radio galaxies) have emission-line spectra similar to those of Seyfert 2s. The small class of broad-line radio galaxies, which show relatively strong nuclear optical continuum emission probably includes some objects that are simply low-luminosity radio-loud quasars. The host galaxies of radio galaxies, whatever their emission-line type, are essentially always ellipticals.
These galaxies can be broadly summarised by the following table:
|Emission Lines||X-rays||Excess of||Strong
|OVV||yes||no||stronger than BL Lac||yes||yes||no||yes||yes||yes||yes|
Unification of AGN species
Unified models propose that different observational classes of AGN are really a single type of physical object observed under different conditions. The currently favoured unified models are 'orientation-based unified models' meaning that they propose that the apparent differences between different types of objects arise simply because of their different orientations to the observer.
Radio-quiet unification
At low luminosities, the objects to be unified are Seyfert galaxies. The unification models propose that in Seyfert 1s the observer has a direct view of the active nucleus. In Seyfert 2s the nucleus is observed through an obscuring structure which prevents a direct view of the optical continuum, broad-line region or (soft) X-ray emission. The key insight of orientation-dependent accretion models is that the two types of object can be the same if only certain angles to the line of sight are observed. The standard picture is of a torus of obscuring material surrounding the accretion disc. It must be large enough to obscure the broad-line region but not large enough to obscure the narrow-line region, which is seen in both classes of object. Seyfert 2s are seen through the torus. Outside the torus there is material that can scatter some of the nuclear emission into our line of sight, allowing us to see some optical and X-ray continuum and, in some cases, broad emission lines—which are strongly polarized, showing that they have been scattered and proving that some Seyfert 2s really do contain hidden Seyfert 1s. Infrared observations of the nuclei of Seyfert 2s also support this picture.
At higher luminosities, quasars take the place of Seyfert 1s, but, as already mentioned, the corresponding 'quasar 2s' are elusive at present. If they do not have the scattering component of Seyfert 2s they would be hard to detect except through their luminous narrow-line and hard X-ray emission.
Radio-loud unification
Historically, work on radio-loud unification has concentrated on high-luminosity radio-loud quasars. These can be unified with narrow-line radio galaxies in a manner directly analogous to the Seyfert 1/2 unification (but without the complication of much in the way of a reflection component: narrow-line radio galaxies show no nuclear optical continuum or reflected X-ray component, although they do occasionally show polarized broad-line emission). The large-scale radio structures of these objects provide compelling evidence that the orientation-based unified models really are true. X-ray evidence, where available, supports the unified picture: radio galaxies show evidence of obscuration from a torus, while quasars do not, although care must be taken since radio-loud objects also have a soft unabsorbed jet-related component, and high resolution is necessary to separate out thermal emission from the sources' large-scale hot-gas environment. At very small angles to the line of sight, relativistic beaming dominates, and we see a blazar of some variety.
However, the population of radio galaxies is completely dominated by low-luminosity, low-excitation objects. These do not show strong nuclear emission lines — broad or narrow — they have optical continua which appear to be entirely jet-related, and their X-ray emission is also consistent with coming purely from a jet, with no heavily absorbed nuclear component in general. These objects cannot be unified with quasars, even though they include some high-luminosity objects when looking at radio emission, since the torus can never hide the narrow-line region to the required extent, and since infrared studies show that they have no hidden nuclear component: in fact there is no evidence for a torus in these objects at all. Most likely, they form a separate class in which only jet-related emission is important. At small angles to the line of sight, they will appear as BL Lac objects.
Cosmological uses and evolution
For a long time, active galaxies held all the records for the highest-redshift objects known either in the optical or the radio spectrum, because of their high luminosity. They still have a role to play in studies of the early universe, but it is now recognised that an AGN gives a highly biased picture of the 'typical' high-redshift galaxy.
More interesting is the study of the evolution of the AGN population. Most luminous classes of AGN (radio-loud and radio-quiet) seem to have been much more numerous in the early universe. This suggests (1) that massive black holes formed early on and (2) that the conditions for the formation of luminous AGN were more common in the early universe, such as a much higher availability of cold gas near the centre of galaxies than at present. It also implies that many objects that were once luminous quasars are now much less luminous, or entirely quiescent. The evolution of the low-luminosity AGN population is much less well understood due to the difficulty of observing these objects at high redshifts.
See also
- Lynden-Bell, D. (1969). "Galactic Nuclei as Collapsed Old Quasars". Nature 223 (5207): 690–694. Bibcode:1969Natur.223..690L. doi:10.1038/223690a0.
- Kazanas, Demosthenes (2012). "Toward a Unified AGN Structure". Astronomical Review 7 (2).
- Marconi, A.; L. K. Hunt (2003). "The Relation between Black Hole Mass, Bulge Mass, and Near-Infrared Luminosity". The Astrophysical Journal 589 (1): L21–L24. arXiv:astro-ph/0304274. Bibcode:2003ApJ...589L..21M. doi:10.1086/375804.
- Narayan, R.; I. Yi (1994). "Advection-Dominated Accretion: A Self-Similar Solution". Astrophys. J 428: L13. arXiv:astro-ph/9403052. Bibcode:1994ApJ...428L..13N. doi:10.1086/187381.
- Fabian, A. C.; Rees; M. J. Rees (1995). "The accretion luminosity of a massive black hole in an elliptical galaxy". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 277 (2): L55–L58. arXiv:astro-ph/9509096. Bibcode:1995MNRAS.277L..55F.
- Vermeulen, R. C.; P. M. Ogle, H. D. Tran, I. W. A. Browne, M. H. Cohen, A. C. S. Readhead, G. B. Taylor, R. W. Goodrich (1995). "When Is BL Lac Not a BL Lac?". The Astrophysical Journal Letters 452 (1): 5–8. Bibcode:1995ApJ...452L...5V. doi:10.1086/309716.
- HINE, RG; Longair; MS LONGAIR (1979). "Optical spectra of 3 CR radio galaxies". Royal Astronomical Society, Monthly Notices 188: 111–130. Bibcode:1979MNRAS.188..111H.
- Laing, R. A.; C. R. Jenkins, J. V. Wall, S. W. Unger (1994). "Spectrophotometry of a Complete Sample of 3CR Radio Sources: Implications for Unified Models". The First Stromlo Symposium: the Physics of Active Galaxies. ASP Conference Series, 54.
- Baum, S. A.; E. L. Zirbel, C. P. O'Dea (1995). "Toward Understanding the Fanaroff-Riley Dichotomy in Radio Source Morphology and Power". The Astrophysical Journal 451: 88. Bibcode:1995ApJ...451...88B. doi:10.1086/176202.
- Chiaberge, M.; A. Capetti, A. Celotti (2002). "Understanding the nature of FRII optical nuclei: a new diagnostic plane for radio galaxies". Journal reference: Astron. Astrophys 394 (3): 791–800. arXiv:astro-ph/0207654. Bibcode:2002A&A...394..791C. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20021204.
- Hardcastle, M. J.; D. A. Evans, J. H. Croston (2006). "The X-ray nuclei of intermediate-redshift radio sources". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 370 (4): 1893–1904. arXiv:astro-ph/0603090. Bibcode:2006MNRAS.370.1893H. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2006.10615.x.
- Grandi, S. A.; D. E. Osterbrock (1978). "Optical spectra of radio galaxies". Astrophysical Journal 220 (Part 1): 783. Bibcode:1978ApJ...220..783G. doi:10.1086/155966.
- Antonucci, R. (1993). "Unified Models for Active Galactic Nuclei and Quasars". Annual Reviews in Astronomy and Astrophysics 31 (1): 473–521. Bibcode:1993ARA&A..31..473A. doi:10.1146/annurev.aa.31.090193.002353.
- Urry, P.; Paolo Padovani (1995). "Unified schemes for radioloud AGN". Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 107: 803–845. arXiv:astro-ph/9506063. Bibcode:1995PASP..107..803U. doi:10.1086/133630.
- Laing, R. A. (1988). "The sidedness of jets and depolarization in powerful extragalactic radio sources". Nature 331 (6152): 149–151. Bibcode:1988Natur.331..149L. doi:10.1038/331149a0.
- Garrington, S. T.; J. P. Leahy, R. G. Conway, RA LAING (1988). "A systematic asymmetry in the polarization properties of double radio sources with one jet". Nature 331 (6152): 147–149. Bibcode:1988Natur.331..147G. doi:10.1038/331147a0.
- Barthel, P. D. (1989). "Is every quasar beamed?". Astrophysical Journal 336: 606–611. Bibcode:1989ApJ...336..606B. doi:10.1086/167038.
- Belsole, E.; D. M. Worrall, M. J. Hardcastle (2006). "High-redshift Faranoff-Riley type II radio galaxies: X-ray properties of the cores". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 366 (1): 339–352. arXiv:astro-ph/0511606. Bibcode:2006MNRAS.366..339B. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2005.09882.x.
- Ogle, P.; D. Whysong, R. Antonucci (2006). "Spitzer Reveals Hidden Quasar Nuclei in Some Powerful FR II Radio Galaxies". The Astrophysical Journal 647 (1): 161–171. arXiv:astro-ph/0601485. Bibcode:2006ApJ...647..161O. doi:10.1086/505337.
- Browne, I. W. A. (1983). "Is it possible to turn an elliptical radio galaxy into a BL Lac object?". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 204: 23P–27P. Bibcode:1983MNRAS.204P..23B.
- Media related to Active galactic nuclei at Wikimedia Commons
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The story of the introduction of Christianity to Japan is quite different from its introduction in Europe or the Americas, because the culture of the Japanese is quite different from those of the West. There were two religions in Japan from the sixth century to the sixteenth century: Shinto and Buddhism. Shinto is the nationalist religion; it is for Japanese only and is not an evangelical faith, meaning it does not seek converts. It is animistic in nature, with different kami or spirits inhabiting trees and rocks and animals, etc. It is nationalistic in that its leader is the Emperor, who is descended from Amaterasu, the sun-goddess. Shinto has been the religion of Japan since 400 B.C.E. Buddhism was introduced from Korea in 552 C.E., and it spread rapidly. The Japanese have combined Shinto and Buddhism, creating a syncretic faith unique to Japan and the Ryukyu Islands.
The first Christian missionaries arrived in the Japanese Islands not long after the first Westerners. Three Portuguese sailors were traveling on a Chinese junk, which was driven off its course by a storm. After drifting about for some days, it finally arrived on the shores of Tanegashima, a small island off the coast of Kyushu, the main Japanese island. The Portuguese were well accepted, and soon they set-up trade with the Japanese. One day, a Japanese named Yajiro found asylum on a Portuguese ship. Yajiro was on the run, trying to escape punishment for his crimes. The Portuguese told him that he would have to go to Malacca, India, and confess his sins to a Jesuit missionary named Francis Xavier. Yajiro did so and his encounter with Francis Xavier created a desire in the heart of the priest to witness to the Japanese people. Father Xavier arrived in Kagoshima, in the southern part of Kyushu, on August 15, 1549, and was given permission to preach by Lord Satsuma, ruler of the province. Lord Satsuma wasn’t interested in Christianity, but he did want Portuguese ships to stop in Kagoshima with their European goods, but the Portuguese passed Kagoshima for Hirado, a rival port. Francis Xavier began to preach, but the Buddhist priests complained to Lord Satsuma that he wasn’t content to merely preach but was attacking their religion. This, combined with Satsuma’s disappointment in the lack of ships visiting Kagoshima caused Lord Satsuma to issue an edict in 1550 forbidding the adoption of Christianity. The edict carried a penalty of death. More Jesuit missionaries arrived with the Portuguese traders, and they continued to preach throughout Japan, gathering converts and building churches. In forty-five years there were more than 300,000 Christians in Japan, and this was happening even though the faith was forbidden in some areas. The Jesuits continued to attach the faiths of Shintoism and Buddhism, and this created a lot of trouble for them.
Hideyoshi, the emperor of Japan, was open to letting the Jesuits work throughout his island nation, but the complaints of the Shinto and Buddhist priests, plus the evil actions of Portuguese traders, created a situation in which Hideyoshi turned against Christianity and asked the Vice Provincial of the Jesuit Order the following five questions, demanding an immediate answer:
1. Why and by what authority were he and his fellow workers
converting Hideyoshi’s subjects to Christianity?
2. Why had they induced their converts to overthrow Shinto and
3. Why did they persecute the Shinto and Buddhist priests?
4. Why did the Christians and Portuguese eat animals useful to humans, such as cows and oxen?
5. Why did the Vice-Provincial allow the Portuguese merchants to buy Japanese and make slaves of them in India?
The Vice-Provincial’s answers did not placate Hideyoshi and he began to wonder if the foreigners were threatening the new unity he was creating in Japan. Hideyoshi allowed the Jesuits to remain, under some restrictions. He then allowed some Franciscans to enter Japan with the distinct understanding that they would not evangelize. This did not work at all; I guess the Franciscans misunderstood the understanding. The Franciscans were soon running around preaching and building churches and fighting with the Jesuits; they even seized a Jesuit church in Nagasaki (reminds me of the Donatists and catholics of Northern Africa in the fifth century!). Hideyoshi became very angry that the Franciscans had violated their agreement and was planning to deport them. He was also planning an invasion of Korea, so he really didn’t want to bother with these troublesome missionaries. Hideyoshi spoke with the pilot of a Spanish ship that was stranded on the coast of Japan, and he had heard of their colonies around the world. He asked the pilot how the Spanish had managed to hold sway over so much of the world, and the pilot told him: “Our kings begin by sending into the countries they wish to conquer missionaries who induce the people to embrace our religion, and when they have made considerable progress, troops are sent who combine with the new Christians, and then our kings have not much trouble in accomplishing the rest.” A statement which does contain some truth, but was hardly helpful for the Christian missionaries.
Hideyoshi was furious and threatened to put all missionaries to death, but some influential Japanese, some of whom were not Christians, intervened and only three Jesuits were executed, but no mercy was shown to the Franciscans. Their ears and noses were cut off, and they were led through the streets of Kyoto, Sakai, and Osaka in carts. They were sent to be crucified in Nagasaki. Terazawa Hazaburo, brother of the governor of Nagasaki, was in charge of the execution. Twenty-six crosses were on the ground at Nishizaka Hill, waiting for the condemned. They were fastened to the crosses by iron rings around their hands, feet, and neck and a rope around the waist. The sentence of death, read to the martyrs, stated As these men came from the Philippines under the guise of ambassadors, and chose to stay in Miyako preaching the Christian law, which I have severely forbidden all these years, I come to decree that they be put to death, together with the Japanese that have accepted that law. According to an account written by the Rev. Diego R. Yuki, a Japanese Jesuit priest, one of the martyrs, Paul Miki, responded: "All of you who are here, please, listen to me. I did not come from the Philippines, I am a Japanese by birth, and a brother of the Society of Jesus. I have committed no crime, and the only reason why I am put to death is that I have been teaching the doctrine of Our Lord Jesus Christ. I am very happy to die for such a cause, and see my death as a great blessing from the Lord. At this critical time, when, you can rest assured that I will not try to deceive you, I want to stress and make it unmistakably clear that man can find no way to salvation other than the Christian way." He saw Terazawa and the executioners and said to them, "The Christian law commands that we forgive our enemies and those who have wronged us. I must therefore say here that I forgive Taikosama. I would rather have all the Japanese become Christians." The executioners moved down the line, stabbing the martyrs with lances. According to Padre Yuki: The Portuguese and the Japanese Christians attending the executions could not be kept in check any longer. Breaking through the guard, they pressed forward to the crosses and started soaking pieces of cloth in the martyrs blood gathering lumps of the earth sanctified by them, tearing up their habits and kimonos for holy relics. The guards kept on beating them. pulling them away. The blood of the wounded mixed with that of the martyrs. Order was finally established, and Terazawa positioned guards all around the hill, with strict orders not to allow anybody near the crosses. After completing his task Terazawa withdrew from the hill. Many could notice that even the tough soldier was crying.
The twenty-six martyrs were:
1. ST. FRANCIS, a carpenter from Kyoto.
2. ST. COSMAS TAKEYA, a sword-maker from Owari.
3. ST. PETER SUKEJIRO, a young man from Kyoto.
4. ST. MICHAEL KOZAKI, a native of Ise, 46 yeas old and a bow maker.
5. ST. JAMES KISAI, a Jesuit lay brother, Sixty-four years of age.
6. ST. PAUL MIKI, had been born in Tsunokuni district, the son of a brave soldier, Miki Handayu. The best preacher in the country he fell silent when the executioner's blow shattered his heart. He was only thirty years of age.
7. ST PAUL IBARAKI, born in Owari, of a samurai family.
8. ST. JOHN OF GOTO, a portrait of innocence and joy, a short life of 19 yeas fully used in the service of God.
9. ST. LOUIS IBARAKI, the youngest of the group, only 12 years old.
10. ST. ANTHONY, born Nagasaki of a Chinese father and Japanese mother.
11. ST. PETER BAPTIST. Superior of the Franciscan Mission in Japan, former ambassador from Spain, a father to the poor lepers, a captain of martyrs.
12. ST. MARTIN OF THE ASCENSION, born in Guipuzcoa, Spain. He was 30 years old.
13. ST. PHILIP OF JESUS, a Mexican, 24 years old.
14. ST. GONZALO GARCIA, 40 years, born in India of a Portuguese father and an Indian mother. He is the patron saint of Bombay.
15. ST. FRANCIS BLANCO, was born in Monterey (Galacia, Spain) and came to Japan with St. Martin of the Ascension.
16. ST. FRANCIS OF ST MICHAEL, 53, born in La Parrilla (Valladolid, Spain). He died in silence, just as he had lived.
17. ST. MATTHIAS. We know nothing about his age, place of birth or date of baptism, only his name and the reason why he joined the martyrs. The soldiers were looking for another Matthias who could not be found. Our saint offered himself and the soldiers gladly accepted him. God accepted him too.
18. ST. LEO KARASUMARU, from Owaru, younger brother of St. Paul Ibaraki. A zealous catechist and a man of prayer, he was a leading figure among the lay martyrs.
19. ST. BONAVENTURE. Baptized as an infant, he soon lost his mother, and his stepmother sent him to a Buddhist monastery. One day he found out about his baptism, and came to visit the Franciscan convent in Kyoto, his place of birth, eager to have further information. here he found again his peace of soul. On his way to the cross he prayed for his father's faith and the conversion of his stepmother.
20. ST. THOMAS KOZAKI. With the rugged manners of a country boy, this fourteen year old had a beautiful heart, much like the Pearls of his native Ise. He was straightforward, unhesitant and totally committed in his service to God.
21. ST.JOACHIM SAKAKIBARA, 40 year old, a native of Osaka. A man of very strong character, he excelled for his kindness and readiness to serve, a fitting preparation for the martyrs' crown.
22. ST FRANCIS. Born in Kyoto, 48 years old. He was a physician and a zealous preacher.
23. ST THOMAS DANGI. A druggist, with an extremely violent disposition, he mellowed with God's help into a kindhearted catechist.
24. ST. JOHN KINUYA, 28 years old, from Kyoto. A silk weaver and trader, he had recently been baptized and moved his shop next to the convent.
25. ST. GABRIEL, a native of Ise, 19 years old, another young life ungrudgingly offered to God. He worked as a catechist.
26. ST. PAUL SUZUKI, 49 years old, from Owari. His cross was at the end of the row and his voice, all fire and zeal, could be heard un impeded. He was in charge of St Joseph's Hospital in Kyoto.
The Christians of Japan continued to be persecuted, and Japan eventually isolated itself from the rest of the world, not to open up again until the nineteenth century. The Church existed underground in Nagasaki for over two hundred years, without bishops, priests or deacons, but under the guidance and protection of the Holy Spirit. There are now many missionaries in Japan, and there is an Anglican Church (Nippon Sei Ko Kai) which has been there since the nineteenth century, but Christianity is still a minority religion. But those who are Japanese Christians remember the tremendous witness of the 26 martyrs of Japan, whom we remember today. May we all be as faithful and brave as they.
O God our Father, source of strength to all your saints, you brought the holy martyrs of Japan through the suffering of the cross to the joys of eternal life: Grant that we, encouraged by their example, may hold fast the faith we profess, even to death itself; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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A long but worthy read. Sadly.
An Overview of the Experiences of LGBT Youth in the Juvenile Justice System
Download this brief (pdf)
Read this brief in your web browser (Scribd)
Gay, transgender, and gender nonconforming youth are significantly over-represented in the juvenile justice system—approximately 300,000 gay and transgender youth are arrested and/or detained each year, of which more than 60 percent are black or Latino. Though gay and transgender youth represent just 5 percent to 7 percent of the nation’s overall youth population, they compose 13 percent to 15 percent of those currently in the juvenile justice system.
These high rates of involvement in the juvenile justice system are a result of gay and transgender youth abandonment by their families and communities, and victimization in their schools—sad realities that place this group of young people at a heightened risk of entering the school-to-prison pipeline.
Despite the disproportionately high rates of gay and transgender youth entering the juvenile justice system, our nation’s schools, law enforcement officers, district attorneys, judges, and juvenile defenders are not equipped to manage the unique experiences and challenges that these young people face. As a consequence, the system often does more harm by unfairly criminalizing these youth—imposing harsh school sanctions, labeling them as sex offenders, or detaining them for minor offenses—in addition to subjecting them to discriminatory and harmful treatment that deprives them of their basic civil rights.
Angela Irvine of the National Council on Crime and Delinquency in conjunction with the Equity Project, which works to ensure gay and transgender youth in the juvenile justice system are treated with fairness and respect, have both generated groundbreaking research on the experiences of these youth in the system over the past few years. This issue brief offers a high-level summary of some of their findings, as well as others, to explain the disproportionate pipelining of gay and transgender youth into the juvenile justice system, the bias and discrimination they face once within the system, and the steps that the federal government and state and local juvenile courts can take to ensure that gay and transgender youth are treated with dignity and respect.
Why gay and transgender youth end up in the juvenile justice system
Family rejection, homelessness, and failed safety nets
Research shows that gay and transgender youth entering into the juvenile justice system are twice as likely to have experienced family conflict, child abuse, and homelessness as other youth. This trend is partly due to the fact that youth today “come out” at younger ages, often to families that may not accept gay and transgender people. Since these youth still depend on their families to meet their material needs, family rejection can leave them emotionally and physically vulnerable, particularly if they find themselves cast onto the streets with nowhere to turn for support.
Many gay and transgender youth leave their homes of their own accord to escape the conflict and emotional or physical abuse that can ensue—26 percent report leaving their homes at some point—but more often, they are pushed out and into the juvenile justice system by their own families.
Interfamily conflicts stemming from parents’ refusal to accept a child’s sexual orientation or gender identity often result in the first contact these young people have with the justice system. According to the Equity Project, prosecutors frequently file charges against these youth for being “incorrigible” or beyond the control of their parents or guardians, based largely on the parent’s objections to their sexual orientation. This practice unfairly criminalizes gay and transgender youth because of their identity rather than because of their behavior.
Further, family discord that casts these youth from their homes can send them cascading through social safety nets not adequately equipped to support them. Programs designed to keep children and youth off the streets, such as foster care, health centers, and other youth-serving institutions, are often ill-prepared or unsafe for gay and transgender youth due to institutional prejudice, lack of provider and foster-parent training, and discrimination against gay and transgender youth by adults and peers.As a result, many youth run away from these placements, actions that could also land them in the custody of the juvenile justice system.
Gay and transgender youth who flee hostility and abuse at home and in temporary placements are most likely to end up homeless, which is the greatest predictor of involvement with the juvenile justice system. Gay and transgender youth represent up to 40 percent of the homeless youth population even though they only compose 5 percent to 7 percent of the youth population overall, and 39 percent of homeless gay and transgender youth report being involved in the juvenile justice system at some level.
Out of despair and a need for survival, homeless gay and transgender youth are more likely to resort to criminal behaviors, such as drug sales, theft, or “survival sex,” which put them at risk of arrest and detainment. These youth are also at an increased risk of detainment for committing crimes related to homelessness, such as violating youth curfew laws and sleeping in public spaces.
Family rejection, which sets off a tragic chain of events for many gay and transgender youth, is at the core of these issues. Caitlin Ryan of the Family Acceptance Project at San Francisco State University, whose research has brought to light the negative impacts that family rejection can have on gay and transgender youth, emphasizes the need to provide opportunities to help support and strengthen families in order to promote nurturing environments for gay and transgender children. Early intervention can help families and caregivers reduce the risk of these youth entering the juvenile justice system. It is important that law enforcement officials, district attorneys, judges, and juvenile defenders seek ways to keep gay and transgender youth and their families together, rather than pushing for incarceration.
Biased school discipline policies
Unfortunately, schools do not always provide a reprieve for youth experiencing family rejection. According to the Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network’s School Climate Survey, 84 percent of gay and transgender students report being verbally harassed, 40 percent physically harassed, and 19 percent physically assaulted.
What’s more, gay and transgender students report astonishingly low levels of confidence in their school administrators and often do not report incidents because they expect the situation will not improve or fear it might even become worse. This is not surprising considering that one-third of bullied gay and transgender students who reported bullying to school officials said the administrators did nothing to address the issue.
In fact, school officials in many ways exacerbate these problems and place further stress and burden on gay and transgender youth by disproportionately doling out harsh school sanctions against them for minor disciplinary infractions. The school and juvenile justice systems have become inextricably linked in recent years with schools relying heavily on law enforcement to manage what in the past were school discipline issues. The consequence of this conflated discipline system is that it unduly criminalizes youth of color and gay and transgender youth.
School discipline policies across the United States are under heightened scrutiny because of the disparate impact they have on youth of color, particularly black boys. Data released this spring from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights show that harsh school sanctions—such as zero-tolerance policies, which lead to suspensions and expulsions of students for even the most minor offenses—perpetuate a school-to-prison pipeline that disproportionately criminalizes youth of color.
Hidden among these school discipline data are thousands of gay and transgender youth who bear a double burden of disparate impact. A groundbreaking study published in 2010 in the medical journal Pediatrics revealed that gay and transgender youth, particularly gender nonconforming girls, are up to three times more likely to experience harsh disciplinary treatment by school administrators than their heterosexual counterparts.
As with the racial disparities in school suspensions and expulsions, these higher rates of punishment do not correlate to higher rates of misbehavior among gay and transgender youth. What the research suggests is that gay and transgender youth actually face harsher sanctions by school administrators even when committing similar offenses.
Surely bias and discrimination among teachers, staff, and administrators contributes to the unfair treatment of gay and transgender youth in schools. Adults in schools often draw assumptions of guilt based on a student’s physical characteristics, demeanor, dress, or mannerisms, deeming those deviating from an accepted gender norm to be agitators. Such assumptions are not only misguided, but biased against gay and transgender students who do not fall within rigid stereotypes of expression.
Moreover, studies reveal that gay and transgender youth are often the victims, rather than the aggressors in school conflicts, which stem from bullying and harassment. Consider, for example, a gender nonconforming girl exhibiting masculine traits, who is disciplined for fighting but may be defending herself from peers’ taunts. Yet more often than not, school administrators will consider her the aggressor based solely on her physical demeanor and will suspend or expel her despite the defensive nature of her actions.
For many students, suspension and expulsion are the first steps toward time behind bars. This is equally true for gay and transgender youth. Black boys and gender nonconforming girls similarly experience disproportionately harsh punishments and juvenile justice system referrals in schools, but the latter are rendered all but invisible because sexual orientation and gender identity are not included in the federal school discipline data cited earlier in this report. A first step in addressing the unfair punishment of gay and transgender youth in schools is to expand the research and collection of school discipline data to include gay and transgender youth, which will help policymakers and practitioners alike better understand the problem and formulate more supportive school discipline policies.
Unfair criminalization by the system
Once in the juvenile justice system, gay and transgender youth are too often denied basic civil rights, wrongly categorized as sexually deviant simply because of their sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender nonconformity, and even labeled as sex offenders. They are also subjected to the biases and discrimination of law enforcement agents, judges, and other justice system officials that leave them vulnerable to abuse and neglect.
Classification as sex offenders
Gay and transgender youth who end up in the justice system are at-risk of being labeled as sex offenders, regardless of whether they have actually committed a sexual crime. Gay and transgender youth “are more likely to be prosecuted for age-appropriate consensual sexual activity” than their heterosexual counterparts—a lopsided application of the law, which has devastating consequences for gay and transgender youth who would be required to register as a sex offenders in 29 states if convicted. The stigma of being a registered sex offender could haunt them for the rest of their lives, negatively impacting their future employment and life opportunities and causing significant psychological distress.
Many gay and transgender youth charged with nonsexual offenses are also unfairly treated as sex offenders and ordered by the court to undergo sex offender treatment programs or sex offense risk assessments simply because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. This misguided categorization by the courts has led gay and transgender youth, innocent of violent crimes or sex offenses, to be placed in restrictive punitive settings for high-risk youth and to be given longer stays in out-of-home placements.
These restrictive settings not only hinder rehabilitation efforts, they perpetuate the stigma that being gay or transgender is wrong. Additionally, extended stays in out-of-home placements prevent gay and transgender youth from reconnecting with their families, a critical step proven to stabilize their lives and reduce their risk of returning to the system. These unfair practices make gay and transgender youth susceptible to discrimination and harmful treatment while in the system.
Detention as a default
In most incidences juveniles who have been arrested or detained will only be released from custody under the supervision of a parent or guardian. Without someone to claim them, youth can be left to languish in detention centers with youth convicted of crimes, even if they have not been. Gay and transgender youth are most at-risk of detainment by default by the juvenile justice system as they are more likely to be estranged from their families and lack parental support, which leaves them to fend for themselves. As a consequence, these youth are subjected to criminal incarceration while they await foster or group home placements.
Discriminatory and harmful treatment
Segregation and isolation of gay and transgender youth
From the moment gay and transgender youth enter a detention facility they are at risk of being inappropriately classified and housed. Transgender youth, for example, are often placed according to their birth sex rather than by their gender identity in an effort to force transgender youth to conform to societal norms. Doing so can be psychologically devastating and leave them vulnerable to physical and sexual abuse. Additionally, youth facility staff often view them as threatening or sexually predatory, harmful stereotypes that taint placement decisions and influence the treatment of transgender youth.
Some facilities will automatically segregate gay and transgender youth or place them in solitary confinement for their “own safety,” but this isolation perpetuates the stigmatization of gay and transgender youth, casts them as sexually deviant, and signals that they might be of threat to other youth.
According to the American Psychiatric Association, isolation “is a form of punishment and is likely to produce lasting psychiatric symptoms.” Unwarranted segregation deprives gay and transgender youth of educational, recreational, and programming opportunities that they are otherwise entitled to receive, punishing them unfairly and at a particularly vulnerable time in their adolescent development.
Physical, sexual, and emotional abuse
A 2007 study funded by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation found an astounding 67 percent of gay or transgender men have been sexually assaulted by another inmate—a rate 15 times higher than the overall inmate population. Another study found that sexual assaults that occur are not just isolated events, but that 30 percent of all inmates have endured six or more sexual assaults.
Gay and transgender youth are particularly at risk for physical, sexual, and emotional abuse while in detention, by both staff and other youth. Eighty percent of those surveyed by the Equity Project believed a lack of safety in dentition was a serious problem. Some reports suggest that staff have turned a blind eye to incidents of rape and abuse against gay and transgender youth, confusing gay and transgender identity as an invitation for sex. Gay and transgender youth are not only subjected to abuse by their peers but by staff as well, particularly in the facilities that lack training and policies that promote inclusiveness and rely on biases rather than on best practices in treatment and placement decisions. This type of environment allows physical, sexual, and emotional abuse toward gay and transgender youth to happen without so much as a second thought and leaves them with nowhere to turn for help.
Unsafe reparative or conversion therapy
Gay and transgender youth have been subjected to reparative or conversion therapy to change their sexual orientation by both social workers and the courts, even though so-called reparative or conversion therapy has been condemned by every major health organization, including the American Medical Association, American Psychological Association, and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
Sadly, the juvenile justice system is rife with examples of misguided interventions. One judge hospitalized a gay youth to stop his same-sex attraction, while another judge with the parent’s approval, had a young lesbian who was caught in a sexual act with another girl placed in a private hospital to be “treated and diagnosed for this behavior.” These examples may be the extreme, but instances such as a 15-year-old boy being given a women’s lingerie catalogue with the purpose of teaching him “appropriate” sexual desires and a male-to-female transgender youth, who was detained in a boy’s facility, being placed on “treatment plan” to “help with gender confusion and appropriate gender identity,” are more common examples of unsafe reparative therapy.
The inclination to change a youth’s sexual orientation or gender identity or force him or her to conform to “social norms” hinders general mental health and causes severe psychological distress. This type of “counseling and other services are virtually worthless [for gay and transgender youth] because they either ignore or criminalize the youth’s sexuality.”
Conclusion and recommendations
Gay and transgender youth are pipelined into the juvenile justice system at disproportionate rates, often stripped of their basic dignity and civil rights, and treated in a harmful and discriminatory manner once in the system. The current policies and practices of schools and the juvenile justice system overlook gay and transgender youth and perpetuate stigma and bias that can lead to their unwarranted criminalization and unfair treatment.
Some of the issues discussed in this report stem from the lack of cultural competency on the part of school officials, law enforcement officers, district attorneys, judges, and juvenile defenders. The individuals who interface directly with these youth must be better equipped to provide respectful, culturally appropriate interventions in order to reduce the number of gay and transgender youth unfairly and unnecessarily pipelined into the juvenile justice system and to improve conditions for them once in the system. A first step toward improving the system will be to institute training standards across the board for all agents of the court.
Moreover, institutional bias is at the heart of the mistreatment of gay and transgender youth by schools and the juvenile justice system, and we recommend broad policy suggestions to address them. The following recommendations are adopted in part from the National Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Council and the Equity Project. These recommendations are by no means the only recommendations for improvement, but instead offer a start to address the serious issue of the criminalization of gay and transgender youth.
- Promotion of family center interventions
Family rejection drives many gay and transgender youth from their homes and perpetuates negative coping behaviors and unlawful activities, heightening risk of entering the juvenile justice system. Gay and transgender youth who feel a sense of family acceptance report better physical, mental, and educational outcomes all around. Yet families have largely been left out of the equation on reform. Interventions that reconnect youth with their families will reduce their susceptibility to involvement with the juvenile justice system. Moreover, schools and juvenile detention systems should engage in more supportive behaviors that reduce risk and promote the positive development of gay and transgender youth in custodial care.
- Gay and transgender inclusive training for all juvenile justice professionals
“Juvenile justice professionals must receive training and resources regarding the unique societal, familial, and developmental challenges confronting [gay and transgender] youth … [T]rainings must be designed to address the specific professional responsibilities of the audience (i.e., judges, defense attorneys, prosecutors, probation officers, and detention staff).” Furthermore, these professionals must ensure that they and others treat gay and transgender youth with dignity, respect, and fairness and avoid ridiculing or attempting to change their sexual orientation or gender identity.
- Development of gay and transgender inclusive policies, procedures, and programs
All agencies involved with juvenile justice and all officers of the juvenile court should develop, adopt, and enforce polices that prohibit discrimination and mistreatment of any youth on the basis of their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity at all stages of the process. Juvenile justice professionals should develop appropriate responses to the behavior of each gay and transgender youth that are tailored to address specific needs and to promote individual well-being by allowing gay and transgender youth to express themselves freely. This would include giving them the choice of name, clothing, hairstyle, or any other means by which they feel comfortable expressing themselves.
- Gay and transgender inclusive data collection by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
Many states and localities are unable to achieve meaningful changes to their juvenile justice systems because the lack adequate data. Therefore, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention should prioritize data collection that is disaggregated not only by race, ethnicity, and gender, but also by sexual orientation and gender identity. Through this type of robust data collection, communities will be better able to develop services that are culturally and linguistically appropriate for youth and their families, especially for gay and transgender youth.
- Dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline for all youth and for gay and transgender youth in particular
As previously noted, gay and transgender youth are disproportionately pipelined into the juvenile justice system by their schools. Yet little data are available to quantify the problem and address it effectively. We can address this by including sexual orientation and gender identity questions in the Department of Education’s school discipline data collection efforts. In addition, it is important that the Supportive School Discipline Initiative, a joint effort between the Department of Education and the Department of Justice aiming to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline and currently focusing on race, provide guidance to school systems that bridges the gap for all youth, including those who are gay or transgender.
- Pass the Safe Schools Improvement Act and the Student Nondiscrimination Act
The federal Student Nondiscrimination Act would prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation against any student in a public school that receives federal funding and would allow individuals to take legal action and be awarded compensatory damages and reimbursement of court costs if judgment is found in their favor under the bill’s provisions. The Safe Schools Improvement Act would require kindergarten-through-12th-grade public schools that receive federal funding to implement policies prohibiting harassment and bullying based on gender identity and sexual orientation. The bill would also require states to report harassment and bullying data to the U.S. Department of Education. Passage of these two pieces of legislation by Congress would help ensure that gay and transgender students do not end up in the juvenile justice system for protecting themselves against discrimination they face on a daily basis at school.
- Gay and transgender cultural competence in Safe Schools/Healthy Students
The Department of Education’s Safe Schools/Healthy Students program is widely recognized as a model of “effective collaboration across public education, local mental health, and juvenile justice.” Therefore the evaluations of the Safe Schools/Healthy Students program should be inclusive of gay and transgender students needs, including cultural competency training for those who work in the juvenile justice system. Increased training focused on the needs of gay and transgender youth will help decrease arrest rates and referrals of these youth to the juvenile justice system. Currently, law enforcement is 50 percent more likely to stop gay youth than other youth, according to a recent study in the medical journal Pediatrics. Additionally, “girls who identified themselves as lesbians or bisexual reported twice as many arrests and convictions as other girls who had engaged in similar behavior.” Gay and transgender youth in general experience high rates of school violence, which not only interferes with their ability to learn but also can affect their involvement with the juvenile justice system.
- Amend the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act
Congress should amend the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, or SORNA, to exclude youth who are convicted of certain sex-based offenses from mandatory sex offender registration. The way the U.S. Department of Justice’s SORNA program is currently set up can disrupt families because both the youth who has to register is stigmatized and the entire family. More importantly, SORNA can have lasting effects on a youth’s identification and treatment. A parent, for example, may delay getting his or her child needed treatment and even go as far as hiding the child’s problem after discovering that the child may have to register as a sex offender for life. Thus, amending this law can help to alleviate the criminalization that is part and parcel of a gay or transgender youth being labeled as a sex offender.
- Reauthorization of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act
The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act has not been reauthorized since 2002 and is in need of substantive changes to ensure that youth are put on a better path and that our communities are kept safe. In particular, the act should be reauthorized to include three key items that will help gay and transgender youth in the system. The first is to strengthen the Disproportionate Minority Contact core protections “by requiring states to take concrete steps to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in the juvenile justice system,” rather than just issuing vague requirements with no clear guidance on how to reduce these disparities.
Second, the partnership between states and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention should expand training, technical assistance, and research and evaluation to include of gay and transgender needs and issues.
Third, incentives for the juvenile justice system to ensure that all policies, practices, and programs recognize the unique needs of gay and transgender youth, including accountability measures, expertise on the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act advisory groups, and increased research and information dissemination should be created.
- Passage of federal legislation prohibiting gay and transgender discrimination in the juvenile justice system
As this brief has shown, the juvenile justice system holds a disproportionally large number of gay and transgender youth, who experience high rates of discrimination and violence. Passage of federal protections that would ensure equality and the end of discrimination against gay and transgender youth is universal and should not be legislated on a state-by-state basis. Therefore, “Congress should pass federal protections against discrimination in all settings based on actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity and create incentives for States to appropriately and effectively respond to [gay and transgender] youth involved in the justice system.”
Jerome Hunt is a Research Associate for LGBT Progress at American Progress and Aisha C. Moodie-Mills is the Advisor for LGBT Policy & Racial Justice at American Progress.
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Prostate cancer Hedgehod Signal
Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered a possible way to distinguish lethal metastatic prostate cancers from those restricted to the walnut-size organ.
If future studies show their test -- measuring the level of activity of a signaling pathway called Hedgehog -- can predict which prostate cancers will spread, the results could revolutionize decision making processes for prostate cancer patients, the researchers say.
Most prostate cancers grow slowly, making "watchful waiting" a common alternative to immediate surgical removal of the prostate. However, there's no sure-fire way to tell whose cancer will stay put in the gland, and whose will be aggressive and spread -- a development that despite aggressive treatment is usually fatal.
In the September 12 advance online edition of Nature, the Hopkins researchers report that only three of 12 localized prostate tumors obtained at surgery had detectable activity of the Hedgehog signaling pathway. In contrast, all 15 samples of metastatic prostate cancers, donated at patients' deaths, had Hedgehog activity, which was 10 to 100 times higher than the highest levels seen in localized tumors. It remains to be seen whether Hedgehog activity in localized cancers will predict the ability to be metastatic.
The Hedgehog pathway produces a well-known growth and development signal during embryonic and fetal stages. It is also active in some cancers, including prostate, pancreatic and stomach cancers and the brain tumor medulloblastoma, but the researchers' study is believed to provide the first evidence of its role in cancer's spread.
"If we can use Hedgehog activity to predict whether a tumor will metastasize, we will have a great diagnostic tool, but manipulating the Hedgehog signaling pathway may also offer a completely new way to treat metastatic prostate cancer," says David Berman, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of pathology, urology and oncology at Johns Hopkins. "Right now nothing works very well -- you can help temporarily by cutting off testosterone, but the cancer always comes back."
In experiments with mice, fellow Sunil Kahadkar, M.D., showed that blocking the Hedgehog signal with daily injections of either a natural plant compound called cyclopamine or an antibody slowed and even reversed growth of highly aggressive rat prostate tumors implanted into the animals. Without treatment, the aggressive cancers, from a collection established by Hopkins' John Isaacs, Ph.D., killed the animals within 18 days. A low dose of cyclopamine gave the animals an extra week to 10 days, but at a higher dose, these aggressive cancers not only didn't metastasize, they actually disappeared and didn't return.
In a similar set of experiments using human prostate cancers implanted into mice, treatment with cyclopamine also caused those tumors to regress and not return -- even months after treatment was stopped, the researchers report.
"Cyclopamine may not itself become an anti-cancer drug, in part because it's already in the public domain -- it's been known since the mid 1960s as the cause of one-eyed sheep in the western U.S.," says Philip Beachy, Ph.D., professor of molecular biology and genetics in Hopkins' Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. "But our finding that cyclopamine inhibits Hedgehog signaling has provided the basis for drug companies' very active efforts to develop new mimics of cyclopamine."
Right now, prostate cancer is evaluated largely by levels of prostate specific antigen (PSA) circulating in the blood. However, the ranges associated with various potential diagnoses -- non-cancerous growth, cancer, and aggressive cancer -- are fairly rough guides. And even under a microscope, aggressive prostate cancer doesn't always look appreciably different from its wallflower counterpart.
In sharp contrast, levels of Hedgehog activity weren't even close between still-localized tumors removed during prostatectomies and those from lethal metastatic prostate cancers, which were collected as part of a research program run by G. Steven Bova, M.D., assistant professor of pathology, to try to figure out what makes them so deadly.
To investigate Hedgehog's role in metastasis, Karhadkar genetically engineered normal prostate cells to activate their Hedgehog signal. These cells then grew unchecked and formed aggressive tumors when implanted into mice, he found. He also discovered that triggering Hedgehog activity in a low-metastasizing rat prostate cancer line made it metastasize aggressively.
"Hedgehog isn't just making these cells grow and divide more, the signal is really converting them from being indolent to being highly invasive and dangerous," says Beachy. Exactly how the Hedgehog signal is involved in other cancers, including pancreatic and stomach cancers and medulloblastoma, a childhood brain cancer, is still being worked out. Critical in normal embryonic development, the signal is supposed to be turned off when cells take on the "grown-up" identity of a differentiated cell type.
Karhadkar, Beachy and Berman -- and a growing number of other scientists -- point to the involvement in cancer of embryonic proteins and pathways like Hedgehog as evidence that aggressive cancer in particular might form not by accumulation of genetic errors in regular cells, but because a smaller number of errors occurs in a more primitive cell, what might be called a "stem cell," in the tissues. And it would be these "cancer stem cells" -- transformed versions of the tissue's normal stem cells -- that metastasize and travel through the body to form new tumors in distant places. "Perhaps aggressive prostate cancers get started from a more primitive prostate cell or from a different initiating lesion than do prostate cancers that don't metastasize," says Beachy. "It's an idea we're exploring."
The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Prostate Cancer Foundation, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Authors on the paper are Karhadkar, Bova, Nadia Abdallah, Surajit Dhara, Anirban Maitra, Isaacs, Berman and Beachy, all of Johns Hopkins; and Dale Gardner of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Poisonous Plant Research Laboratory.
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Useful Reference Works
Horse Sense: 4. How Much Does a Horse need to Eat?
The average I have been told all my life, in feeding stock with hay, is that a horse needs 25 pounds of rough feed a day. That means, in order to maintain his weight, fitness, and good tone, he needs to consume 25 lbs of roughage, meaning grass or hay, each day. Grain is NOT a substitute for good feed. It is merely a supplement, and does not fill the ol' belly any more than a granola bar. Of course, like people, individual horses differ in their actual calorie requirement, and the richness of the feed must also be taken into account. (i.e. alfalfa has more calories per pound than plain grass hay.) Adjustments must therefore be made according to the type of feed, the animal's level of activity, and how easily he maintains his body weight.
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by Zakutnyaya Olga
Moscow (Voice of Russia) May 15, 2012
Light coming from an exoplanet only eight times larger than the Earth was observed with the help of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.
With the advent of new space and Earth-based devices, the study of exoplanets has become more intensive and competitive than ever. Even though no 'entrance fee' is required to enter the space race, Russia still considers exoplanet research as a potential, rather than real, prospect.
The planet under close scrutiny is orbiting a star in the Cancer constellation and is called 55 Cancri e, since its star has four other planets. Exoplanet 55 Cancri e faces its star, 55 Cancri A, whose temperature exceeds 2000 Kelvin, with only one side, and takes a little less than 18 hours to complete an orbit.
As the star is relatively close to our Solar System (55 Cancri A can be observed with naked eye), and the planet's position is convenient for observation, the planet was chosen as a promising target for further studies. The study was performed by an international team of researchers with the help of the Spitzer Space Telescope. The results will be published in the Astrophysical Journal.
While preliminary observations studied the planet as it passed in front of its star, thus affecting the appearance of the latter, a new study was aimed at the planet's composition. Therefore researchers tried to detect infrared light coming from the planet itself.
Collected data were interpreted and revealed evidence that 55 Cancri e most likely has a rocky core enveloped in an extremely thin atmosphere, that does not allow the heat from the sun-facing side to be transferred to the other side. It might also be covered by water in a so-called 'super-critical' state, which is both liquid water and gas.
Such observations can also prove useful as they allow the orbit of the planet to be defined more accurately and therefore helping make assumptions about its internal structure. For example, tidal forces can lead to extensive volcanism that might be supporting the atmosphere of the planet.
The work performed by researchers paves the way for further, more detailed studies of exoplanets. While Spitzer, launched nearly a decade ago (in August 2003), was primarily used for studying radiation from hot 'Jupiters' (gas giants that are very close to their host stars), a new generation of telescopes, the James Webb Space Telescope being the first to name, might bring a wealth of data on emissions from super-Earths, or much smaller rocky planets comparable to the Earth.
Although they frequently say that the technique applied in the current research can be used to detect signs of life on other planets, studies of the overall structure and composition of alien worlds are no less promising for their own sake, since they can help one to understand the formation of planetary systems around stars.
The study and discovery exoplanets evolves rapidly. More than 750 planets outside the Solar System have been found since 1992 (to name only confirmed ones).
Even more are promised by the continued operation of NASA's Kepler observatory, specially dedicated to search for extrasolar planetary systems, that led to wave of new exoplanets (accounting for thousands since its launch in 2009) discovered on a routine basis.
However, since we know that there are other planets outside of our Solar System, it is not enough to find a new one, but rather to obtain its detailed characteristics and to find a rather peculiar planet.
Therefore it is of utter importance that new instruments possess high sensitivity since the objects being studied are extremely far and faint (strictly speaking, the telescopes do not detect planets themselves, but rather their effects on the host star, thus making the task even more complicated).
The search for life or planets capable of sustaining life is only part of the task, since no one really knows how life can manifest itself. It would be more precise to say that studying other planetary systems brings us closer to understanding the way planets evolve and whether there are common laws for planetary formation.
Up until now only few planetary systems have been found that resemble our own Solar System, where gas giants orbit the Sun in the outer regions and small rocky planets - in the inner regions. Suprisingly, we see the contrary: gas giants that seem to like form near their stars, thus shattering earlier theories on the origin and evolution of planetary systems.
The study of exoplanets was one of the space exploration development strategies specified by the Federal Space Agency. According to the document, other planetary systems are to be studied from a period lasting till 2030.
As there are no specific details on the plan, one is left to speculate what actual steps will be taken to actually carry out these studies. As for now, Russia does not have observatories specifically dedicated to the task, and it is unlikely that there will be any, since the history of other space instruments, such as Spitzer or Kepler, counts several decades from initial idea to the actual design.
Probably, there might be some kind of program that will use Earth-based facilities, but its specific structure is unclear. Furthermore, as technology and data processing methods develop rapidly, the task to study other planets might become kind of a routine by the end of 2020's. To stay in trend, one is better to start today.
Daily Russian News
Lands Beyond Beyond - extra solar planets - news and science
Life Beyond Earth
Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.
Free-floating planets in the Milky Way outnumber stars by factors of thousands
Heidelberg, Germany (SPX) May 11, 2012
A few hundred thousand billion free-floating life-bearing Earth-sized planets may exist in the space between stars in the Milky Way. So argues an international team of scientists led by Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe, Director of the Buckingham Centre for Astrobiology at the University of Buckingham, UK. Their findings are published online in the Springer journal Astrophysics and Space S ... read more
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Across the globe, an emergent group of committed clinicians, organizations and individuals are engaged in advancing a new healthcare paradigm. Broadly, this new healthcare paradigm fosters the promotion of health and resilience of individuals and communities by promoting personal health, social health and the regeneration of ecological systems. There is a recognition that “green’ healthcare, while important, is not sufficient to address long term resilience of healthcare delivery.
" I think it is time... to make our own wise rules....the first of those rules has to be the rule of respect – respect for the Commons, respect for the needs of the patient and of the community that we share with the patient..."
Donald Berwick, M.D. President and CEO Institute for Healthcare Improvement, 2009
Central to this approach is the recognition that the health of populations is increasingly determined by the interrelated loss of ecosystem services and socio-economic health impacts. Two key drivers are climate change and an industrial food and agriculture model. Distinct from our conventional health care treatment delivery model, commons health care is community centered (rather than hospital centered), prevention focused, systems orienteed, embraces integrative practice and employs local or bioregional knowledge and solutions.
This framework embraces a variety of evolving, interrelated conceptual themes, which include:
Anchor Institutions - Hospitals are key anchor institutions, place-based organizations firmly established in their communities. As a result hospitals and other healthcare institutions have a responsibility to link their economic activity to the socio-economic health of the communities in which they are anchored. Moreover, healthcare's anchor institution role is enhanced through collaborative partnerships with local universities and colleges and the communities in which they are based. More...
C "Agency", "Sense of Place" and Community Driven Healthcare - which recognizes that ultimately it is citizens and engaged communities that are going to need to take responsibility to define their commons, set goals, develop metrics and create solutions. Explicitly this highlights the importance of prevention, health of populations and solutions that exist outside hospital walls. In addition, it includes the concept of personal "health agency", which includes patients are empowered partners in treatment and prevention.
· Integrative Practice – healing-oriented medicine which facilitates the body’s innate healing ability and which incorporates all factors that influence health and wellness including mind, spirit, community, and environment. Moreover, integrative medicine has developed a deserved reputation for a focus on prevention and health promoting environments through its understaning of the interplay of environment, biological and social factors. More...
Re Regenerative Healthcare or Regenerative Design – the concept that the design and construction of hospital and healthcare infrastructure is integrated within communities and ecologically neutral - carbon neutral, water balanced, and ultimately ecologically regenerative. This approach neccesitates community invovlement in healthcare design and operations.
If you are visiting this site you are likely interested in, or working in this new paradigm. Please feel free to join our blog, submit a blog, send us links to your work and share news or conferences, and tell us what you think!
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Preterm birth is defined as a live birth before 37 completed weeks gestation. Some other classifications of preterm births include late preterm (34-36 weeks), moderately preterm (32-36 weeks) and very preterm (<32 weeks). These classifications are useful because they often correspond to clinical characteristics - increasing morbidities or illnesses with decreasing gestational age. Babies born too soon are often born too small. While the causes of preterm birth and low birthweight may be different in some cases, there is significant overlap within these populations of infants.
| ||In 2010, 1 in 7 babies (15.5% of live births) was born preterm in Tulsa city.|
| ||Between 2000 and 2010, the rate of infants born preterm in Tulsa city increased 22%.|
| ||The rate of preterm birth in Tulsa city is highest for black infants (19.8%), followed by Native Americans (14.9%), whites (14.1%), Hispanics (13.8%) and Asians (11.5%).|
| ||Compared with singleton births (one baby), multiple births in Tulsa city were about 5 times as likely to be preterm in 2010.|
| ||For more detailed data, click on the topic edit button in search tool on left side, select one of the Subtopics from drop down list under this topic. Here you'll find more graphs, maps, and tables that pertain to this topic.|
March of Dimes 2020 Goal
Reduce preterm births to no more than 9.6% of live births.
For more information, see here.
Healthy people 2020
Preterm births: reduce to no more than 11.4% of live births.
National Center for Health Statistics, final natality data.
Retrieved May 25, 2013, from www.marchofdimes.com/peristats.
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Health Illustrated Encyclopedia
Our Health Information Database is provided by A.D.A.M. the leading provider of electronic and printed information for professionals and consumers in healthcare and industry. It provides authoritative, reliable content written and reviewed by an editorial board who represent a variety of specialty areas. This board reviews and evaluates all healthcare information to ensure it is accurate, reliable, and can be used with complete confidence. And now you have access to the same authoritative, trusted clinical information relied upon by health professionals around the world.
This article may contain information on medical procedures that are not recommended or endorsed by Catholic Health Partners. Promotion of this topic is prohibited by the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Services. In the Ethical and Religious Directives, Catholic health institutions are prohibited from condoning contraceptive practices. Married couples should be given information about natural family planning
as well as the church’s teachings on responsible parenthood. The information in this article is designed for educational purposes only. It is not provided as a professional service or as medical advice for specific patients.
Primary infertility describes couples who have never been able to become pregnant after at least 1 year of unprotected sex (intercourse).
Secondary infertility describes couples who have been pregnant at least once, but have not been able to become pregnant again.
Inability to conceive; Unable to get pregnant
Causes, incidence, and risk factors
Causes of infertility include a wide range of both physical and emotional factors. A couple's infertility may be due to female factors, male factors, or both:
Female infertility may be due to:
- Problems with a fertilized egg or embryo being able to survive once it is attached to the lining of the uterus
- Problems with the fertilized egg being able to attach to the lining of the uterus
- Problems with the eggs being able to move from the ovary to the uterus
- Problems with the ovaries producing eggs
Female infertility may be caused by:
- Autoimmune disorders, such as antiphospholipid syndrome (APS)
- Clotting disorders
- Defects of the uterus and cervix (myomas or fibroids, polyps, birth defects)
- Excessive exercising, eating disorders, or poor nutrition
- Exposure to certain medications or toxins
- Heavy use of alcohol
- Hormone imbalance or deficiencies
- Long-term (chronic) disease, such as diabetes
- Ovarian cysts and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)
- Pelvic infection or pelvic inflammatory disease (PID)
- Scarring from sexually transmitted infection or endometriosis
Male infertility may be due to:
- A decrease in the number of sperm
- Sperm being blocked from being released
- Sperm that do not work properly
Male infertility can be caused by:
- Environmental pollutants
- Exposure to high heat for prolonged periods
- Genetic abnormalities
- Heavy use of alcohol, marijuana, or cocaine
- Hormone deficiency or taking too much of a hormone
- Infections of the testes or epididymis
- Older age
- Previous chemotherapy
- Previous scarring due to infection (including sexually transmitted diseases), trauma, or surgery
- Radiation exposure
- Retrograde ejaculation
- Surgery or trauma
- Use of prescription drugs, such as cimetidine, spironolactone, and nitrofurantoin
In healthy couples both under age 30, having sex regularly, the chance of getting pregnant is only 25 - 30% per month. A woman's peak fertility occurs in her early 20s. As a woman ages beyond 35 (and especially after age 40), the likelihood of getting pregnant drops to less than 10% per month.
When to seek help for infertility depends on your age. For women under age 30, it is generally recommended to try to conceive for at least a year before seeking testing.
The physical symptom of infertility is the inability to become pregnant.
Experiencing infertility can bring on a range of painful emotions in one or both members of the couple. In general, having at least one child already tends to soften these painful emotions.
Signs and tests
A complete medical history and physical examination of both partners is essential.
Tests in women may include:
- Blood hormone levels
- FSH and clomid challenge test to check ovarian reserve
- Hysterosalpingography (HSG)
- Pelvic ultrasound
- Laparoscopy (especially if endometriosis is suspected)
- Luteinizing hormone urine test (ovulation predictor kit)
- Pelvic exam
- Progestin challenge if periods are infrequent
- Serum progesterone
- Temperature first thing in the morning to check for ovulation (basal body temperature charting)
- Thyroid function tests
Tests in men may include:
Increase your chance of becoming pregnant each month by having sexual intercourse at least every 3 days in the weeks leading up to and through the expected time of ovulation. Ovulation occurs about 2 weeks before the next period starts. So, if you get your period every 28 days, you should have sexual intercourse at least every 3 days between the 10th and 18th day after you get your period, and concentrating on the 72 hours before ovulation occurs.
Treatment depends on the cause of infertility. It may involve:
- Education and counseling
- Medical procedures such as intrauterine insemination (IUI) and in vitro fertilization (IVF)
- Medicines to treat infections and clotting disorders, or promote ovulation
It is important to recognize and discuss the emotional impact that infertility has on you and your partner, and to seek medical advice from your health care provider.
Many organizations provide informal support and referrals for professional counseling. See infertility - support group.
Up to 60% of couples who were considered infertile become pregnant after receiving appropriate therapies (not including advanced techniques such as in vitro fertilization).
However, as many as 1 in 5 couples diagnosed as infertile eventually become pregnant without treatment.
Although infertility itself does not cause physical illness, it can have a major emotional impact on the couples and individuals it affects.
Couples may have problems with their marriage. Individuals may experience depression and anxiety.
Calling your health care provider
Call for an appointment with your health care provider if you are unable to get pregnant.
Because sexually transmitted infections (STIs) often cause infertility, practicing safer sex behaviors may minimize the risk. Gonorrhea and chlamydia are the two most common causes of STI-related infertility.
STIs often don't have symptoms at first, until PID or salpingitis develops. These conditions scar the fallopian tubes and lead to decreased fertility, infertility, or an increased risk of ectopic pregnancy.
Getting a mumps vaccine in men has been shown to prevent mumps and its complication, orchitis. The vaccine prevents mumps-related sterility.
Some forms of birth control, such as the intrauterine device (IUD), carry a risk for pelvic infection, especially in women with more than one sex partner and when sexually transmitted infections occur.
Maintain a healthy diet, weight, and lifestyle to optimize your chances for getting pregnant and having a healthy pregnancy.
Remember to take either prenatal or multivitamins containing folate starting before you are trying to become pregnant to decrease your risk for miscarriage and problems with the baby.
Jose-Miller AB, Boyden JW, Frey KA. Infertility. Am Fam Physician. 2007;75(6):894-856.
Lobo RA. Infertility: etiology, diagnostic evaluation, management, prognosis. In: Katz VL, Lentz GM, Lobo RA, Gershenson DM eds. Comprehensive Gynecology. 5th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Mosby Elsevier; 2007: chap 41.
Speroff L, Fitz M, eds. Clinical Gynecologic Endocrinology and Infertility. 7th ed. Philadelphia, Pa; Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2005.
Brassard M, Melk YA, Baillargeon JP. Basic Infertility Including Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. Medical Clinics of North America. Sept 2008;92(5).
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Review Date: 3/21/2010
Review By: Susan Storck, MD, FACOG, Chief, Eastside Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound, Redmond, Washington; Clinical Teaching Faculty, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Washington School of Medicine. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., 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- 2010 A.D.A.M., Inc. Any duplication or distribution of the information contained herein is strictly prohibited.
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Electronic format: Acrobat PDF
OECD has conducted policy reviews of migrant education in Austria, Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden and has examined the migrant education experience in many countries. This book offers comparative data on access, participation and performance of immigrant students and their native peers and identifies a set of policy options based on solid evidence of what works.
Table of contents:
Foreword Executive Summary Chapter 1. Introduction -Government tools for steering migrant education policy -Key general messages Chapter 2. Key challenges and opportunities -Background factors affecting migrant education policy -Education outcomes, factors and policy implications Chapter 3. School level policies -Language support -Teaching and learning environments -Parental and communicty involvement Chapter 4. System level -Managing variations and concentration -Funding strategy -Monitoring and evaluation Annex 1 - Description of the project
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Growth and Development, Ages 11 to 14 Years
When to Call a Doctor
Your child's doctor can help you discuss difficult issues with your adolescent if you ever are having trouble doing so on your own. Keep in mind that important subjects, such as sex, should be addressed long before you think your child will face them.
Talk to your child's doctor if you are concerned about your child's health or other issues. For example:
- A significant delay in physical or sexual development—for example, if Reference puberty Opens New Window has not begun by age 14.
- Becoming sexually active. Teens who are sexually active need to be educated about Reference birth control Opens New Window and Reference sexually transmitted diseases Opens New Window (STDs).
- Being Reference overweight Opens New Window. A doctor can help guide weight loss and proper nutrition.
- A significant change in appetite, weight, or eating behaviors. These may signal an Reference eating disorder.
- Severe Reference acne Opens New Window.
- Struggling to understand or use spoken or written language. Having learning problems in school could be a sign of a Reference learning disability Opens New Window.
- Showing signs of Reference attention deficit hyperactivity disorder Opens New Window (ADHD)—such as Reference inattention, Reference impulsivity, and/or Reference hyperactivity—that are causing problems at home or school.
Call a doctor or a mental health professional if your child develops behavioral problems or signs of mental health problems. Signs may include:
- Expressing a lack of self-worth.
- Reference Acting physically aggressive.
- Dropping out of school or failing classes.
- Drinking alcohol or using drugs or tobacco.
- Having serious relationship problems with friends and family that affect home or school life.
- Showing signs of Reference depression Opens New Window, such as a lack of interest in normal activities and withdrawing from others.
- Regularly experiencing severe mood swings, such as being happy and excited one minute and sad the next.
Also be aware that these problems can sometimes be Reference warning signs of suicide.
|By:||Reference Healthwise Staff||Last Revised: Reference August 3, 2011|
|Medical Review:||Reference Susan C. Kim, MD - Pediatrics
Reference Thomas Emmett Francoeur, MD, MDCM, CSPQ, FRCPC - Pediatrics
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The spine is composed of 33 interlocking bones called vertebrae. The lumbosacral region of the spine (or lumbar spine) consists of 5 lumbar vertebrae and 5 sacral vertebrae. The sacral vertebrae, which are fused together, are called the sacrum.
A disc is located between each pair of lumbar vertebrae. The discs are capsules of connective tissue with a soft, jellylike center. The discs absorb shock and make the spine flexible. The bones of the sacrum are joined to one another and have no discs between them.
The vertebrae are supported by ropy tissues called ligaments and groups of muscles:
The spinal cord runs through the spinal canal, a tunnel that is formed by the holes in the center of each of the vertebrae. Nerves branch from the spinal cord, pass through openings (foraminae) between the vertebrae, and branch to the lower body.
|Primary Medical Reviewer||William H. Blahd, Jr., MD, FACEP - Emergency Medicine|
|Specialist Medical Reviewer||Robert B. Keller, MD - Orthopedics|
|Last Revised||December 14, 2011|
Last Revised: December 14, 2011
Author: Healthwise Staff
To learn more visit Healthwise.org
© 1995-2012 Healthwise, Incorporated. Healthwise, Healthwise for every health decision, and the Healthwise logo are trademarks of Healthwise, Incorporated.
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Exhibit of "Great Migration" to open in Union Station
WASHINGTON (AP) - Amtrak is opening a new exhibit at Washington's Union Station to recount the history of the "Great Migration" of Southern blacks moving to the North early in the 20th century.
Between 1915 and 1970, about 6 million African Americans moved from the South to the North. Many left behind rural farm lives for job opportunities in industrialized cities. Many made the journey by passenger or freight train, which provided the connection for Amtrak.
The exhibit opens Monday near Gate B at Union Station and will remain on view through Sept. 26. The Washington Post reports it will then move to Baltimore's
Penn Station for display through October.
Allen Ballard, a University of Albany history professor, consulted on the exhibit. Amtrak also called on museums and the Library of Congress.
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E. Cobham Brewer 18101897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Barricade (3 syl.).
To block up. The term rose in France in 1588, when Henri de Guise returned to Paris in defiance of the kings order. The king sent for his Swiss Guards, and the Parisians tore up the pavement, threw chains across the streets, and piled up barrels filled with earth and stones, behind which they shot down the Swiss as they passed through the streets. The French for barrel is barrique, and to barricade is to stop up the streets with these barrels.
The day of the Barricades:
(1) May 12th, 1588, when the people forced Henri III. to flee from Paris.
(2) August 5th, 1648, the beginning of the Fronde War.
(3) July 27th, 1830, the first day of le grand semain which drove Charles X. from the throne.
(4) February 24th, 1848, which drove Louis Philippe to abdicate and flee to England.
(5) June 23rd, 1848, when Affre, Archbishop of Paris, was shot in his attempt to quell the insurrection.
(6) December 2nd, 1851, the day of the coup détat, when Louis Napoleon made his appeal to the people for reelection to the Presidency for ten years.
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Battle of Bywater
The Battle of Bywater was a battle between the Hobbits of The Shire and a band of Ruffians who followed "Sharkey" (Saruman). Meriadoc Brandybuck (Merry) himself slew the leader, a squint-eyed orcish-looking brute. Peregrin Took (Pippin) also took part in this battle. The courage and skill they had discovered during the Battle of the Pelennor Fields had made them confident in their abilities, and this enabled them to rally the Shire-folk against the invaders.
Ruffians had been sent by Sharkey (Saruman) to supress the Hobbit revolt breaking out in Bywater. However, the Hobbits' scouts gave them advanced warning. The Hobbits then devised a plan to surround and trap the Ruffians when they arrived. Makeshift mobile roadblocks were made out of carts and wagons, and after the Ruffians reached the center of the town the road was blocked in front and behind them. The Ruffians then tried to fight their way out through the Hobbits, some breaking through. These were then encircled and engaged until the battle was won.
The Hobbits were informally commanded by Merry and Pippin. Technically, Pippin was still a Knight of Gondor, as King Elessar had not released him from service but granted him indefinite leave, and when he departed Aragorn reminded Pippin that his restored kingship now extended to the old northern lands which included the Shire. Therefore, Pippin loosely saw himself as fighting off the Ruffians with the authority of the King supporting him. Sam Gamgee also fought in the battle. Frodo was also present at the battle, though he did not fight: he spent the battle making sure that no Ruffians who threw down their weapons were killed (indeed, during his entire life, even when The Shire itself was invaded, Frodo never killed a sentient being).
The next day, Frodo, and his three companions, leading the Hobbits of the Shire, marched to Hobbiton. There Frodo confronted Saruman and exiled him from the Shire. Then Wormtongue killed Saruman by slitting his throat, on the very doorstep of Bag End. Before Frodo could react the Hobbits of the Shire shot Wormtongue dead with three arrows. Thus, the last stroke of the War of the Ring fell at the very door that Frodo had first set out from.
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Oligarchy - "a form of power structure in which power effectively rests with a small segment of society distinguished by royalty, wealth, family ties, or military control. Such states are often controlled by a few prominent groups who pass their influence from one generation to the next."
For many of us who believe that India is a functional democracy – the largest democracy in the world - let’s think again.
In practice India is closer to an Oligarchy – a nation whose wealth, power and opinions are controlled by a few – for their own benefit. It’s not just the political class, the bureaucracy, or the wealthy corporate kings – but even the powerful opinion makers of new India - the media houses – are all here, to protect and fuel their own narrow interests.
How representative are any of these power centres of the cares and concerns of the majority of Indians? What is majority India? Here is a sample of India:
- 55 % of Indians live in villages.
- 40 % of Indians live on less than Rs 1.25 $ a day, the official poverty line of the UN. (that is nearly 450 million Indian from a total of 1.1 billion)
- 55 % don’t have a bank account.
- 75% don’t speak English.
- 93 % don’t have an internet connection.
More of ‘real’ India …
- 90% of the work force is in the unorganized sector with no labour laws guiding their employment rights.
- The public health system is nearly non-functional in a majority on India.
- The public education system is in shambles marked by absenteeism of teachers and poor oversight by the administrators.
- Over 40 % of the population doesn’t have access to clean drinking water.
And who constitute the Oligarchy in India?
1. The Political Class
The only semblance to a ‘Democracy’ that India can claim is that our election process is relatively free. It’s in two other indicators of a true democracy; that the Indian system of adult suffrage fails. Firstly, electioneering itself is dishonest and breaks every rule the Indian election commission has set. And secondly, once elected, the elected representatives of India act in sharp contrast to the interests of its electorate.
The only way you can get elected in India is if you represent a political party. Currently 534 of India MPs in India’s lower house, the Lok Sabha, belong to a political party. There are only 9 Independent candidates who won the last elections.
To contest an election to a Lok Sabha seat, a candidate, and his party, today unofficially spends anything from Rs 3 crores to Rs 20 crores. Interestingly, the Election commission of India has set a limit for expenditure as Rs 25 lakhs per candidate. Any expense in excess of Rs 25 lakhs amounts to a corrupt practice under sec 123 (6) of R. P. Act, 1951.
So, an illegal act is what gets an overwhelming majority of our elected representatives to our Parliament. The candidates and their political parties believe they must spend in excess of the legal limit to reach the hinterlands, to pay for crowds to come to rally’s, to give sops to prospective voters to lure them to vote; but most of all - to “buy” small leaders, who control vote banks because of caste or religious loyalties – with promises of returning favors for votes cast after the elections are over. It is also well known that some major political parties “sell tickets” to candidates based on his ability to pay for the “party ticket” and his potential to win from his constituency. In addition, huge amounts are collected unofficially from business men and business houses to fund elections. Every one of these actions is defined as a corrupt practice under the Indian Election Commission rules. So what do you say of a ruling class where the first step to power has been a corrupt practice?
Once elected, the Member of Parliament, who has started his journey with breaking laws on the way to power, has many favours to return, and begins to use his powers to benefit himself, regain his return on investment and to help those who helped fund his candidature.
Lay Indians today are tired of the political class and their skepticism is well founded. We laugh when the two leading parties of India accuse each other of “massive” corruption in the space of the last two months. The BJP’s ruling dispensation in Karnataka nearly lost power with their own leadership stating that the Congress party ‘induced’ their rebels. They were caught, just a bit earlier, with their pants down, with allegations of massive irregularities in the mining mafia run by the Reddy brothers of Bellary. A few weeks later, the leadership of the Congress Party in Maharashtra finds itself deeply embroiled in a messy land grab in the heart of Mumbai in Colaba, with present and past Chief Ministers among those allegedly guilty of malpractices. The Ruling UPA in Delhi, once again, is defending the telecom minister accused of illegally causing the loss of a preposterous Rs 1,30,000 crores to the exchequer. Laughably, these national parties have, over the last few years, deriding Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party in Uttar Pradesh for the party,s more brazen and blatant money collection practices!
What recent events have shown is that neither of the national parties is better than the other. Even politicians known to be personally honest, like the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, AK Antony, Pranab Mukherjee, can only look the other way, while their party members collect money, ostensibly to fill their coffers to fund the next election, but allowing them to take a huge swipe at the tills themselves.
Illegal Election funding and spending, (legalized in the United States and other evolved democracies), is the single biggest reason for our sham democracy. It has put a veil of acceptability to the worst and most blatant of corrupt practices. Every politician seems to believe he has a license to thieve in the name of election funding, and the few honest ones are forced to look the other way.
2. The Bureaucrats
The British left the Indian civil services with a legacy of enormous powers to set things right in their districts and in the state and central government offices. Unfortunately, the best among them have reduced themselves to being subservient serfs of the political leadership – and prefer to take the path of least resistance. The majority of them prefer to share the booty and connive with the politicians and the powerful business lobbies. Why rock the boat, when you can be part of the loot? They never seem to be blamed for blatant wrong doing or inefficiency – no bureaucrat seems to have been blamed and found accountable for the shocking shame of the Commonwealth Games! The politicians seem to have taken the flak for corruption but no government official seems to be blamed for insufficient oversight. The bureaucrat always gets away, though they would have garnered benefits for themselves as a pay-off for looking the other way. The worst punishment one has heard given to a bureaucrat suspected of wrong doing is “suspension” or “transfer”! That the most tainted bureaucrats are rising to hold powerful positions is evident with the appointment of the new Central Vigilance Commissioner, no less, challenged now in the Supreme Court of India, for having allegedly been implicated earlier in corrupt practices! It is obvious that having a spine is not one of the characteristic of an Indian Administrative Service officer who wishes a bright future in Indian administration.
3. The Indian Businessman
In the maze of rules and regulations created to perpetuate their power and influence by the bureaucrats and the political leadership, the business houses become soft targets and chose often to pay illegal gratification to get favours, permissions and licenses to run their businesses. Mr Ratan Tatas recent admission of a minister asking for Rs 15 crores to give the TATAs a licence to run a private airlines, speaks of a malady which is well known but rarely spoken of. Land deals are rarely done without exchange of huge amounts of black money, mining contracts are awarded to powerful political and business lobbies when money changes hands, large scale housing projects get cleared breaking statutory regulations to benefit a few, illegal contracts are awarded to favored business houses, and the list can go on with every Central and State government, regardless of its political leanings. There seems to be no other for way for corporate growth in India.
4. The Media Houses
The queerest case in the Indian democratic cauldron of deceit is the fourth pillar of the new oligarchy - the powerful Indian media. Many media houses claim to be fiercely independent, and national in their outlook, but their views are pathetically myopic at best, and dangerously compromised, at its worst. The powerful visual media overtly represents the concerns of a small growing middle class, but it covertly allows itself to be manipulated by the other two elements of the oligarchy; the political class and the business house. Most news channels, news papers and periodicals seems to only crave market share and thereby advertising revenue. That news stories are bought and sold at a premium is apparent from the stories emanating from the last elections where political parties were asked to pay for favourable reports from sections of the media. Honest reporting of what deeply matters to India is a secondary concern. They run from one screeching controversy to another at break neck speed, rarely getting to the depths of anything, as the next raging controversy engulfs it for the next adrenalin shot of TRP ratings.
But the ignorance and disinterest of the media in expressing the true concerns of majority India has huge implications. What the media does not cover today has much graver implications than what it covers. The Americans went into Iraq because public opinion was built to believe that it was the right thing to do, the dangers were never rationally brought up. It resulted in one of the most disastrous international interventions by the United States in its history.
Similarly, it seems incredulous that the powerful and knowledgeable elements in the American media did not see the dangers to the American economy well before the recession hit it and burst the bubble of the capitalistic empire world -wide. No one in the media – the vital fourth estate of a vibrant democracy - had the wisdom or the courage to challenge the status quo – when they would clearly have seen that huge fundamentals were being constantly violated.
Indian media too is going down the same path. The Maoist insurgency is a shockingly story of a whole swathe of India’s population, unaffected by India’s professed growth, rising in revolt against the Indian state. The Maoists influence has come to light after years of festering, as a deep and dangerous wound grew in India’s hinterland. It went unnoticed till bombs blew close to where it became uncomfortable for the power elite – the towns and cities of India. It was rarely brought into middle class drawing rooms by our opinion makers till that happened, and our myopic media must take their share of the blame.
All revolutions in history have happened when the power elite ignored the masses. Has Indian governance - and its oligarchy - resulted in huge neglect of the rural and less privileged masses of India?
The sickeningly cozy cohabitation by the four partners of India’s sham democracy must end for India to become a truly egalitarian state representing the majority of its people.
Ironically, the solutions are to be found from within the oligarchy.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government for all its inadequacies, has not desisted from allowing the worms to crawl out – the 2 G scam, the Adarsh scam and others would have been swept under the carpet by earlier governments. We need more honest parties and politicians who can stand up to public scrutiny. The Congress leadership is showing some heart in this regard inspite of it being in a coalition. The younger generation of political leaders, show signs of being tired of their lineage and wanting to make a positive change.
Among business houses, Tata’s, Infosys and a few others have shown that one can run a relatively taint free business enterprise to considerable growth by sticking to by and large honest ways.
The stunning success of the Delhi metro project, with its admirable efficiency and speed of execution, shows us that government projects with the right leadership, as demonstrated by the exceptional Mr Sreedharan, can still come out of our much criticized bureaucracy. Though exceptions don’t make the rule, it is a shining example for young bureaucrats.
The Indian media for all its ills, has been the one pillar on which our claims to a democracy can rest, as it is surely the most powerful element among our democratic institutions. It has the power to keep a check on the wrongdoings by the other triad of the oligarchy - if it chooses to.
However, the greatest positive change will occur due to a coming together of technology and governmental intent to integrate it into governance. The ubiquitous PAN card has resulted in huge tax compliance over the past few years. Digital signatures of mobiles communications and other digital signatures will curb illegal activities like no other, because the trail it leaves behind is irrefutable evidence. All pervasive technological imprints will reduce the days of corruption in public life - and with it the influence of the current oligarchy.
And most of all, for India to move to a true democracy, much effort and positive intent will be needed from India’s young leaders – elections reforms could be the first major step.
Image (c) Gettyimages.com
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News Item Detail Page
The Discovery of the Higgs Boson July 12, 2012
Aug 04, 2012
Scientists working with the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) may have made one of the biggest discoveries in recent particle physics. They have discovered evidence of the Higgs boson, a subatomic particle that is a linchpin of the theory that unifies the forces of electromagnetism and radioactive decay – and that is also the mechanism through which everything – from atoms to soap bubbles to galaxies – acquires mass. How might this have an impact on the scientific community; and why is the Higgs boson important?
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William Wordsworth (7 April 1770 – 23 April 1850) was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with the 1798 joint publication Lyrical Ballads.
Wordsworth's magnum opus is generally considered to be The Prelude, a semiautobiographical poem of his early years which the poet revised and expanded a number of times. The work was posthumously titled and published, prior to which it was generally known as the poem "to Coleridge". Wordsworth was England's Poet Laureate from 1843 until his death in 1850.
See main article: William Wordsworth's early life. The second of four children born to John Wordsworth and Ann Cookson, William Wordsworth was born on 7 April 1770 in Cockermouth in Cumberland—part of the scenic region in northwest England, the Lake District. His sister, the poet and diarist Dorothy Wordsworth, to whom he was close all his life, was born the following year, and the two were baptized together. They had three other siblings: Richard, the eldest, who became a lawyer; John, born after Dorothy, who would become a poet and enjoy nature with William and Dorothy until he died in an 1809 shipwreck, which only the captain escaped; and Christopher, the youngest, who would become an academician. Their father was a legal representative of James Lowther, 1st Earl of Lonsdale and, through his connections, lived in a large mansion in the small town. Wordsworth, as with his siblings, had little involvement with their father, and they would be distant with him until his death in 1783.
Wordsworth's father, although rarely present, did teach him poetry, including that of Milton, Shakespeare and Spenser, in addition to allowing his son to rely on his father's library. In addition to spending his time reading in Cockermouth, he would stay at his mother's parents home in Penrith, Cumberland. At Penrith, Wordsworth was exposed to the moors and was influenced by his experience with the landscape and was further turned toward nature by the harsh treatment he received at the hands of his relatives. In particular, Wordsworth could not get along with his grandparents and his uncle, and his hostile interactions with them distressed him to the point of contemplating suicide.
After the death of their mother, in 1778, John Wordsworth sent William to Hawkshead Grammar School and Dorothy to live with relatives in Yorkshire; she and William would not meet again for another nine years. Although Hawkshead was Wordsworth's first serious experience with education, he had been taught to read by his mother and had attended a tiny school of low quality in Cockermouth. After the Cockermouth school, he was sent to a school in Penrith for the children of upper-class families and taught by Ann Birkett, a woman who insisted on instilling in her students traditions that included pursuing both scholarly and local activities, especially the festivals around Easter, May Day, and Shrove Tuesday. Wordsworth was taught both the Bible and the Spectator, but little else. It was at the school that Wordsworth was to meet the Hutchinsons, including Mary, who would be his future wife.
Wordsworth made his debut as a writer in 1787 when he published a sonnet in The European Magazine. That same year he began attending St John's College, Cambridge, and received his A.B. degree in 1791. He returned to Hawkshead for his first two summer holidays, and often spent later holidays on walking tours, visiting places famous for the beauty of their landscape. In 1790, he took a walking tour of Europe, during which he toured the Alps extensively, and visited nearby areas of France, Switzerland and Italy. His youngest brother, Christopher, rose to be Master of Trinity College.
In November 1791, Wordsworth visited Revolutionary France and became enthralled with the Republican movement. He fell in love with a French woman, Annette Vallon, who in 1792 gave birth to their child, Caroline. Because of lack of money and Britain's tensions with France, he returned alone to England the next year. The circumstances of his return and his subsequent behaviour raise doubts as to his declared wish to marry Annette, but he supported her and his daughter as best he could in later life. During this period, he wrote his acclaimed "It is a beauteous evening, calm and free," recalling his seaside walk with his daughter, whom he had not seen for ten years. At the conception of this poem, he had never seen his daughter before. The occurring lines reveal his deep love for both child and mother. The Reign of Terror estranged him from the Republican movement, and war between France and Britain prevented him from seeing Annette and Caroline again for several years. There are strong suggestions that Wordsworth may have been depressed and emotionally unsettled in the mid-1790s.
With the Peace of Amiens again allowing travel to France, in 1802 Wordsworth and his sister, Dorothy, visited Annette and Caroline in France and arrived at a mutually agreeable settlement regarding Wordsworth's obligations.
In his "Preface to Lyrical Ballads" which is called the "manifesto" of English Romantic criticism, Wordsworth calls his poems "experimental". The year 1793 saw Wordsworth's first published poetry with the collections An Evening Walk and Descriptive Sketches. He received a legacy of £900 from Raisley Calvert in 1795 so that he could pursue writing poetry. That year, he met Samuel Taylor Coleridge in Somerset. The two poets quickly developed a close friendship. In 1797, Wordsworth and his sister, Dorothy, moved to Alfoxton House, Somerset, just a few miles away from Coleridge's home in Nether Stowey. Together, Wordsworth and Coleridge (with insights from Dorothy) produced Lyrical Ballads (1798), an important work in the English Romantic movement. The volume had neither the name of Wordsworth nor Coleridge as the author. One of Wordsworth's most famous poems, "Tintern Abbey", was published in the work, along with Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner". The second edition, published in 1800, had only Wordsworth listed as the author, and included a preface to the poems, which was significantly augmented in the 1802 edition. This Preface to Lyrical Ballads is considered a central work of Romantic literary theory. In it, Wordsworth discusses what he sees as the elements of a new type of poetry, one based on the "real language of men" and which avoids the poetic diction of much eighteenth-century poetry. Here, Wordsworth gives his famous definition of poetry as the "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings from emotions recollected in tranquility."A fourth and final edition of Lyrical Ballads was published in 1805.
Wordsworth, Dorothy and Coleridge travelled to Germany in the autumn of 1798. While Coleridge was intellectually stimulated by the trip, its main effect on Wordsworth was to produce homesickness. During the harsh winter of 1798–1799, Wordsworth lived with Dorothy in Goslar, and, despite extreme stress and loneliness, he began work on an autobiographical piece later titled The Prelude. He wrote a number of famous poems, including "The Lucy poems". He and his sister moved back to England, now to Dove Cottage in Grasmere in the Lake District, and this time with fellow poet Robert Southey nearby. Wordsworth, Coleridge and Southey came to be known as the "Lake Poets". Through this period, many of his poems revolve around themes of death, endurance, separation and grief.
In 1802, after returning from his trip to France with Dorothy to visit Annette and Caroline, Lowther's heir, William Lowther, 1st Earl of Lonsdale, repaid the ₤4,000 debt owed to Wordsworth's father incurred through Lowther's failure to pay his aide. Later that year, Wordsworth married a childhood friend, Mary Hutchinson. Dorothy continued to live with the couple and grew close to Mary. The following year, Mary gave birth to the first of five children:
1.) Isabella Curwen (d. 1848) had six children: Jane, Henry, William, John, Charles and Edward.
2.) Helen Ross (d. 1854). No issue.
3.) Mary Ann Dolan (d. after 1858) had 1 daughter Dora (b.1858).
4.) Mary Gamble. No issue.
Wordsworth had for years been making plans to write a long philosophical poem in three parts, which he intended to call The Recluse. He had in 1798–99 started an autobiographical poem, which he never named but called the "poem to Coleridge", which would serve as an appendix to The Recluse. In 1804, he began expanding this autobiographical work, having decided to make it a prologue rather than an appendix to the larger work he planned. By 1805, he had completed it, but refused to publish such a personal work until he had completed the whole of The Recluse. The death of his brother, John, in 1805 affected him strongly.
The source of Wordsworth's philosophical allegiances as articulated in The Prelude and in such shorter works as "Lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey" has been the source of much critical debate. While it had long been supposed that Wordsworth relied chiefly on Coleridge for philosophical guidance, more recent scholarship has suggested that Wordsworth's ideas may have been formed years before he and Coleridge became friends in the mid 1790s. While in Revolutionary Paris in 1792, the twenty-two year old Wordsworth made the acquaintance of the mysterious traveller John "Walking" Stewart (1747–1822), who was nearing the end of a thirty-years' peregrination from Madras, India, through Persia and Arabia, across Africa and all of Europe, and up through the fledgling United States. By the time of their association, Stewart had published an ambitious work of original materialist philosophy entitled The Apocalypse of Nature (London, 1791), to which many of Wordsworth's philosophical sentiments are likely indebted.
In 1807, his Poems in Two Volumes were published, including "". Up to this point Wordsworth was known publicly only for Lyrical Ballads, and he hoped this collection would cement his reputation. Its reception was lukewarm, however. For a time (starting in 1810), Wordsworth and Coleridge were estranged over the latter's opium addiction. Two of his children, Thomas and Catherine, died in 1812. The following year, he received an appointment as Distributor of Stamps for Westmorland, and the £400 per year income from the post made him financially secure. His family, including Dorothy, moved to Rydal Mount, Ambleside (between Grasmere and Rydal Water) in 1813, where he spent the rest of his life.
In 1814 he published The Excursion as the second part of the three-part The Recluse. He had not completed the first and third parts, and never would. He did, however, write a poetic Prospectus to "The Recluse" in which he lays out the structure and intent of the poem. The Prospectus contains some of Wordsworth's most famous lines on the relation between the human mind and nature:
My voice proclaims
How exquisitely the individual Mind
(And the progressive powers perhaps no less
Of the whole species) to the external World
Is fitted:--and how exquisitely, too,
Theme this but little heard of among Men,
The external World is fitted to the Mind.
Some modern critics recognize a decline in his works beginning around the mid-1810s. But this decline was perhaps more a change in his lifestyle and beliefs, since most of the issues that characterize his early poetry (loss, death, endurance, separation and abandonment) were resolved in his writings. But, by 1820, he enjoyed the success accompanying a reversal in the contemporary critical opinion of his earlier works. Following the death of his friend the painter William Green in 1823, Wordsworth mended relations with Coleridge. The two were fully reconciled by 1828, when they toured the Rhineland together. Dorothy suffered from a severe illness in 1829 that rendered her an invalid for the remainder of her life. In 1835, Wordsworth gave Annette and Caroline the money they needed for support.
Wordsworth received an honorary Doctor of Civil Law degree in 1838 from Durham University, and the same honor from Oxford University the next year. In 1842 the government awarded him a civil list pension amounting to £300 a year. With the death in 1843 of Robert Southey, Wordsworth became the Poet Laureate. When his daughter, Dora, died in 1847, his production of poetry came to a standstill.
William Wordsworth died by re-aggravating a case of pleurisy on April 23rd, 1850, and was buried at St. Oswald's church in Grasmere. His widow Mary published his lengthy autobiographical "poem to Coleridge" as The Prelude several months after his death. Though this failed to arouse great interest in 1850, it has since come to be recognized as his masterpiece.
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London: Scientists claim to have finally solved the mystery why zebras evolved their distinctive black and white stripes - to keep blood-sucking flies at bay.
Researchers from Hungary and Sweden, who detailed their study in the Journal of Experimental Biology, said that this pattern of narrow stripes makes zebras "unattractive" to the flies.
And the key to this effect is in how the striped patterns reflect light, said Susanne Akesson, from Lund University in Sweden, a member of the international team that carried out the study.
According to researchers, this pattern of narrow stripes makes zebras \"unattractive\" to the flies.
"We started off studying horses with black, brown or white coats. We found that in the black and brown horses, we get horizontally polarised light," Akesson was quoted as saying by the BBC News.
This effect made the dark-coloured horses very attractive to flies, she said.
It means the light that bounces off the horse's dark coat - and travels in waves to the eyes of a hungry fly - moves along a horizontal plane, like a snake slithering along with its body flat to the floor.
The team found that horseflies, or tabanids, were very attracted by these "flat" waves of light. "From a white coat, you get unpolarised light reflected," Dr Akesson explained.
Unpolarised light waves travel along any and every plane, and are much less attractive to flies. As a result, white coated horses are much less troubled by horseflies than their dark-coloured relatives, the researchers pointed out.
Having discovered the flies' preference for dark coats, the team then became interested in zebras. They wanted to know what kind of light would bounce off the body of a zebra, and how this would affect the biting flies that are a horse's most irritating enemy.
They placed a blackboard, a whiteboard and several boards with stripes of varying widths at a field in Hungary. "We put insect glue on the boards and counted the number of flies that each one attracted," Dr Akesson said.
It was found that the striped board that was the closest match to the actual pattern of a zebra's coat attracted by far the fewest flies, even less than the white boards that were reflecting unpolarised light, she said.
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School Choice in England: Background Facts
AbstractThere is considerable debate on the merits of extending and strengthening school choice. In England, the controversial Education and Inspections Bill, published on the 28 February 2006, contains a prominent role for ‘school choice’. But the debate lacks some basic information on these issues, and this paper provides some background facts to fill this gap. We first consider the transport issue and ask how many pupils have choice of schools. We report the distance of school commutes for various breakdowns of LEA and school type, and for sub-groups of pupils. We also turn the question around and tabulate the proportion of pupils who have 3 schools within 2km of their home, and within 5km and 8km. The conclusion from all this is that most pupils do have considerable choice of school (as defined here). We also address a specific issue about school access ? which pupils attend their nearest school. We show that only about a half of pupils attend their nearest school, and 30% do not attend one of their nearest three schools. We investigate this to understand which pupils attend their local school, and the role played by the quality of that local school.
Download InfoIf you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
Bibliographic InfoPaper provided by Department of Economics, University of Bristol, UK in its series The Centre for Market and Public Organisation with number 06/159.
Length: 16 pages
Date of creation: Sep 2006
Date of revision:
school choice; school commute; ethnicity and education;
Find related papers by JEL classification:
- I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:
- NEP-ALL-2007-03-10 (All new papers)
- NEP-EDU-2007-03-10 (Education)
- NEP-URE-2007-03-10 (Urban & Real Estate Economics)
You can help add them by filling out this form.
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- Adam Briggs & Simon Burgess & Deborah Wilson, 2006.
"The Dynamics of School Attainment of Englands Ethnic Minorities,"
case105, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.
- Deborah Wilson & Simon Burgess & Adam Briggs, 2011. "The dynamics of school attainment of England’s ethnic minorities," Journal of Population Economics, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 681-700, April.
- Deborah Wilson & Simon Burgess & Adam Briggs, 2005. "The Dynamics of School Attainment of England’s Ethnic Minorities," The Centre for Market and Public Organisation 05/130, Department of Economics, University of Bristol, UK.
- repec:cep:cepsps:29 is not listed on IDEAS
- Stephen Gibbons & Stephen Machin, 2008. "Valuing school quality, better transport, and lower crime: evidence from house prices," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 24(1), pages 99-119, spring.
- Steve Gibbons & Olmo Silva, 2007.
"Urban Density and Pupil Attainment,"
CEE Discussion Papers
0080, Centre for the Economics of Education, LSE.
- Richard Harris, 2011. "“Sleepwalking towards Johannesburg”? Local measures of ethnic segregation between London’s secondary schools, 2003 – 2008/9," The Centre for Market and Public Organisation 11/275, Department of Economics, University of Bristol, UK.
- Burgess, Simon & Briggs, Adam, 2010.
"School assignment, school choice and social mobility,"
Economics of Education Review,
Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 639-649, August.
- Simon Burgess & Adam Briggs, 2006. "School Assignment, School Choice and Social Mobility," The Centre for Market and Public Organisation 06/157, Department of Economics, University of Bristol, UK.
- Deborah Wilson, 2008. "Exit, Voice and Quality in the English Education Sector," The Centre for Market and Public Organisation 08/194, Department of Economics, University of Bristol, UK.
For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Jacqui Barton).
If references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.
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Family Economy of 19th-Century Industrial Workers
This set of assignments leads students through the steps of identifying a research question and designing an empirical analysis. Students use a large collection of late 19th-century family budgets from the U.S. and Europe, which lend themselves to questions about consumer decisions and the labor-force participation of women and children.
The activity is designed to teach students how to translate a research question into a hypothesis for empirical analysis. Students should learn the importance of descriptive statistics for understanding data, and they should begin to think about controlling variables that are not part of their hypothesis.
Context for Use
This assignment was developed for a course in quantitative methods for graduate students in history. It was also used in a 4-week course at the ICPSR Summer Program in Quantitative Methods. The assignment works best for students who will be able to use multiple regression by the end of the course.
The activity consists of a sequence of projects
Project Reports for the Cost of Living Survey (Acrobat (PDF) 22kB Sep28 09)
Teaching Notes and Tips
There were several aspects of this assignment that helped to make it successful. First, I gave them a dataset (the 1888-90 US Cost of Living Survey
) which already had a substantial literature. Students had to come up with their own hypotheses, but I provided a bibliography to get them started. Second, they wrote a sequence of "project reports," but they did not write a "term paper." This was intended to get them to think through the steps of defining their project before they actually looked at the data. It also broke up the project across the semester and allowed more time for me to work with them. Third, I emphasized that any reasonable hypothesis was acceptable, and that their grade would not be affected if the data did not support their hypothesis. This takes away the pressure to find the "right" answer. Fourth, this is a assignment works very well as a group project.
Instructors should also plan on time to teach students how to use statistical software.
The assignment was used with frequent in-class discussions and meetings with students. Since assignments were distributed acros the semester, there were more opportunities to monitor students' progress and their understanding of the research process and the substantive material in the course.
References and Resources
Graduate/Professional, College Upper (15-16)
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Open Government Partnership
GSA met President Obama's open government challenge head on by successfully spearheading several open government initiatives and making meaningful headway towards fulfilling the aspirations set forth in his Open Government Directive. Full story >
The Open Government Partnership is a new multilateral initiative that aims to secure concrete commitments from governments to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance. Visit site >
- View the White House Blog: A Status Report on the Administration’s Commitment to Open Government
- Read the U.S. Open Government National Action Plan
- Download the Open Government Partnership Brochure (PDF)
- Data.gov-in-a-Box: Through the U.S.-India Open Government Dialogue, the two countries have partnered to release “Data.gov-in-a-Box,” an open source version of the United States’ Data.gov data portal and India’s India.gov.in document portal. It will be available for implementation by countries globally, encouraging governments around the world to stand up open data sites.
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With lengths of 40-50 feet and jaws studded with 6-inch teeth, these powerful predators were extraordinarily equipped to feed upon a variety of dinosaurs. In fact, dinosaur bones have been found here that are heavily damaged and covered with distinctive crocodile bite marks! Just like modern day crocodilians, Deinosuchus riograndensis probably hunted by ambush...lying submerged near shore, and violently seizing large dinosaurs as they foraged amid the vegetation of Big Bend's ancient swamps.
The magnificent skull of Deinosuchus is on display at the Dallas Museum of Natural History.
Did You Know?
In 1935, Conrad Wirth, later the director of the National Park Service, said this of Persimmon Gap in Big Bend National Park, “There will probably always be a road from Marathon through . . . Persimmon Gap, which is a very fine and natural gateway to the Park.” More...
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June 20, 2011 -- The so-called "white coat effect" is both real and common in the management of hypertension and it may be a significant cause of patient overtreatment, a new study finds.
Researchers from Duke University and the Durham VA Medical Center report that blood pressure readings taken in doctors' offices were consistently higher than those taken at home or in the research setting.
Doctors largely rely on one or two blood pressure readings taken in their offices to determine if patients need treatment for high blood pressure or if hypertension is adequately controlled in patients who are already on medication.
The researchers concluded that repeated measurements taken at home may help give a more accurate picture of blood pressure control than a single reading in a doctor's office.
Duke assistant professor of medicine Benjamin J. Powers, MD, who led the research team, says the finding lends credence to the notion that the stress of a medical exam can cause large elevations in blood pressure.
"Blood pressure normally fluctuates from hour to hour, and from day to day" he tells WebMD. "Even knowing this, we were surprised to see how big the differences were between clinic and home readings."
Close to one in three adults in the U.S. has high blood pressure, but only about half of these people are adequately controlling the condition with drugs, according to the CDC.
While undertreatment is far more common than overtreatment, the new research highlights the largely unrecognized risk of treating patients too aggressively based on falsely high blood pressure readings, Powers says.
The study included 444 male veterans being treated for hypertension who had blood pressure readings taken in three different settings: a doctor's office, at home with a blood pressure cuff; and in the research setting (which included multiple readings taken by a trained researcher).
Just one in three patients had either consistently controlled or uncontrolled blood pressure across all three settings over the 18-month study.
The researchers concluded that blood pressure needs to be tested five or six times to give the best estimate of the patient's true status.
Location of Blood Pressure Testing
The researchers also documented big differences between blood pressure readings taken in doctors' offices and the research setting.
A systolic blood pressure reading of 140 or above is considered high enough to warrant treatment, but many patients with a single reading in the 140 range may not really need to be on hypertension drugs, Powers says.
At the start of the study, the average systolic blood pressure measured in the clinical setting was 145, which was 15 higher than in the research setting.
In about half the study participants, systolic blood pressure readings were more than 10 higher in the doctor's office than in the research setting.
"This information makes the most difference for the patient with a blood pressure reading in the 140 ... range," Johns Hopkins Medical Center professor of medicine Lawrence J. Appel, MD, tells WebMD. "Multiple readings may be needed to determine if this patient really needs treatment."
In an editorial published with the study, Appel and colleagues called for guidelines to standardize blood pressure measurement in the clinical setting.
The study and editorial appear in the June 21 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.
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New York Passes Sewage Pollution Right-to-Know Act
On August 9th, New York State passed the "Sewage Pollution Right-to-Know Act", which requires the operators of publicly owned sewer systems or sewage treatment plants to notify regulators and the public of discharges of untreated sewage or partially treated sewage. This bill adds to existing federal and state spill reporting requirements for sewage treatment plants.
Under the current system, sewage discharges need only be reported to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the local department of health if they will affect recreational areas, shellfish harvesting, or public water supply intakes. Even this type of discharge was not required to be reported if it resulted from a combined sewer overflow ("CSO"). Under the new law, which takes effect May 1, 2013, all sewage discharges, including CSO discharges, must be reported to DEC and the local department of health (or the state department of health if there is no local health department) within two hours of their discovery. To the extent possible, this report must include:
- the volume of the discharge and the extent, if any, of its treatment;
- the expected duration of the discharge;
- the steps being taken to contain the discharge (unless it results from a CSO);
- the location of the discharge;
- and the reason for the discharge.
The new law also provides for notice to the general public and the chief elected officials (or their designated representative) of the municipality where the discharge occurred and any other municipalities that may be affected. This notice must take place within four hours of discovery of the discharge. The law requires DEC to promulgate new regulations specifying the form of this notice "through appropriate electronic media", possibly including email or voicemail. DEC's new regulations, however, are only to require public notice of sewage discharges that may affect public health — presumably, these discharges will include those that affect recreational areas, shellfish harvesting, or public water supply intakes, but it remains to be seen if DEC will require public notice of sewage discharges beyond those categories.
Article continues at ENN affiliate, SPR Environmental Law Blog
Sewage Plant image via Shutterstock
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Postage stamps designated for parcel delivery
By Michael Baadke
When we think of how postage stamps are used, the first thing that typically comes to mind is a stamp on an envelope, paying the postage to deliver a letter from one location to another.
|Figure 1. The first specially designated parcel post issue is probably Italy's 1884 set, including Scott Q2 shown at top. Later Italian parcel post stamps (bottom) were vertically perforated so they could be torn in half easily.|
|Figure 2. The United States issued a set of 12 carmine-rose parcel post stamps in 1913, including the 20¢ issue shown on top (Scott Q8), and an accompanying parcel post postage due set of five dark green stamps, including the 25¢ issue on bottom (Scott JQ5).|
|Figure 3. When regulations limiting the use of U.S. parcel post stamps were relaxed in July 1913, mailers began using the stamps on first-class mail as well as on parcels. Click on image to enlarge.|
|Figure 4. Collectors often find that parcel post stamps preserved on cover, such as these four issues from Greenland, provide insight into the way such issues were used. Click on image to enlarge.|
For many years postage stamps have also been used to pay for the delivery of parcels — small or large packages — and in some cases, postal authorities created special stamps specifically for this service.
Such issues are known collectively as parcel post stamps. In the Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue, parcel post stamps are numerically listed for each country using the prefix letter "Q." They follow regular postage stamps and other special service issues, such as semipostals and airmail stamps.
Not all countries have issued parcel post stamps. Additionally, some countries have issued stamps specifically for the shipment of parcels using a particular method of transport, such as train or ferry.
The earliest parcel post issue was probably a set of six stamps created by Italy in 1884. These stamps are inscribed "PACCHI POSTALI" across the top and feature a portrait of Italy's King Humbert I.
The 20-centesimo value stamp from that set, Italy Scott Q2, is shown at the top of Figure 1.
Thirty years later Italy issued its second parcel post set, consisting of long horizontal stamps perforated vertically down the center. The stamps were affixed to a waybill in such a way that the stamp was torn in half when the sender was given his receipt. This format was used in Italy for decades.
A 1914 5c parcel post stamp from Italy, Scott Q7, is shown at the bottom of Figure 1. Used copies of these and similar Italian stamps often consist of the right half only.
Parcel post stamps were first created for the United States Post Office Department in 1912, to meet new parcel rates established by the U.S. Congress earlier that year. The rates became effective Jan. 1, 1913.
The Congressional act that created the new parcel post rates made it less expensive to send packages through the mail.
The new law also required "that distinctive parcel post stamps must be used on all fourth-class matter beginning January 1, 1913, and that such matter bearing ordinary postage stamps will be treated as 'Held for postage.'"
The U.S. parcel post postage stamps were issued in 12 denominations: 1¢, 2¢, 3¢, 4¢, 5¢, 10¢, 15¢, 20¢, 25¢, 50¢, 75¢ and $1.
The vignettes (central pictorial designs) of these stamps address three specific themes. The 1¢ through 4¢ issues show postal employees at work, performing their daily duties. The 5¢ through 20¢ issues depict methods of mail transportation.
The 20¢ parcel post stamp, by the way, was the first postage stamp of any country to show an airplane, and it bears the inscription, "AEROPLANE CARRYING MAIL." The stamp, Scott Q8, is shown in Figure 2 at the top.
The 25¢ through $1 issues feature scenes of industry and agriculture.
The stamps were designed by Clair Aubrey Huston, who by that time had been designing stamps at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing for 10 years.
Although the 12 designs in the parcel post set are very attractive, the series was not well-accepted by postal clerks or the general public.
The stamps were all the same shade of carmine-rose, which meant that clerks had to take considerable care when selling the stamps to avoid handing out the wrong denomination.
Mailers were displeased by the large size of the stamps because they often had to be applied to parcels in multiples, sometimes in areas of limited space, such as mailing tags and the like.
A set of five parcel post postage due stamps were also issued in 1913 as a result of the same new rate classification.
The parcel post postage due stamps, in values of 1¢, 2¢, 5¢, 10¢ and 25¢, were nearly identical to one another, with the exception of the numeral of value positioned prominently in the center of the stamp. All were printed in the same shade of dark green.
This issue was also designed by Huston. The 25¢ high value of the set is shown at the bottom in Figure 2.
The strict regulations requiring the use of parcel post stamps on parcel post mailings were relaxed only six months after they went into effect. Beginning July 1, 1913, any postage stamp could be used to mail a parcel, and the parcel post stamps could be used for any kind of mailing.
As a result, collectors have found many examples of parcel post stamps used after that date on regular first-class mail.
Figure 3 shows a picture postcard mailed July 21, 1913, from Portland, Ore., to Hollister, Calif., franked with the 1¢ parcel post stamp, Scott Q1.
Postally used parcel post stamps are best saved intact on cover, regardless of the use, as doing so often preserves many important elements of postal history.
An example is the item shown in Figure 4, offered several years ago by the Danish auction firm of Thomas Hoiland.
The trimmed cover bears four stamps from Greenland's parcel post issues of 1905-37, the first stamps issued by that country.
The piece is from an 18kg parcel mailed from Christianshaab (Qasigiannguit) on Greenland's western coast to Copenhagen, Denmark. The exact date is not known because, as is the custom with many countries, the parcel post mailing did not receive a dated cancel.
Three of the stamps were issued as early as 1905, but the 20-ore red first appeared in 1915, so the cover is certainly from that year or later.
This type of detailed information would be forever lost if the stamps were cut from this piece, soaked and placed into an album. It is far better to preserve the entire item for its historical relevance.
Along with Italy, the United States and Greenland, there are a few other parcel post stamp series worldwide that are particularly well-known.
Belgium began issuing its railway parcel stamps in 1879, with the inscription "Chemins de Fer," which simply means "Railroads."
Over the years nearly 500 Belgian railway stamps have appeared, most with a railway theme in the design.
While Belgium's railway parcel stamps are still being issued, many other nations have ended their special parcel post stamp series.
Among these are Finland, which issued parcel stamps from 1949 through 1981; Denmark, which began issuing parcel post stamps for ferry service in 1919; Mexico's railway parcel stamps, issued from 1941-54; and numerous others.
Many nations, including the United States, created all-new stamp designs for their parcel stamps, while others designated parcel post issues by simply overprinting previously issued postage stamps.
Denmark's ferry stamps, for example, are all regular definitive postage stamp issues overprinted with the word "POSTFAERGE," meaning "ferry post."
Additional information about parcel post stamps for individual countries can be obtained by consulting either the Scott catalog or a specialized catalog for the country in question.
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| 0.966837
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American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To cry or screech like a cat in heat.
- v. To make a shrill, discordant sound.
- v. To have a noisy argument.
- n. A shrill, discordant sound.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To cry as cats under the influence of the sexual instinct; make a disagreeable howling or screeching.
- v. intransitive To cry as cats in heat; to make a harsh, offensive noise.
- v. intransitive To have a noisy argument, like cats.
- n. A yowling.
- n. A noisy quarrel.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To cry as cats in rutting time; to make a harsh, offensive noise.
- n. A caterwauling.
- v. utter shrieks, as of cats
- n. the yowling sound made by a cat in heat
- From Middle English caterwrawe (one of numerous earlier variants); from cater ("cat") + wrawen/wrawlen ("cry like a cat"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English *caterwawlen : *cater, tomcat; akin to Low German kater + wawlen, wrawlen, to yowl (ultimately of imitative origin). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
“I was not going to indict, complain or caterwaul, which is why I didn't even consider writing a year-in-review piece before very early this morning.”
“Unfortunately, most of the people who caterwaul about being offended are being serious.”
“Most of the people who caterwaul about being offended are being serious.”
“Although other kids were quicker with the software, Simon enjoyed these studies because he loved learning new words, like caterwaul, which meant “to shriek or yowl,” and taciturn, which described someone who was quiet… like him.”
“It's a comedy rule, it seems, that the louder you can say a line or caterwaul in reaction to some hoary bit of high jinks, the more uproarious the moment becomes.”
“Jump the chair light the stove heat the pan stop the floor caterwaul beneath the faucet”
“You walk in to the deafening metronome uncha-uncha-uncha robotic caterwaul, the music almost binary in nature 101101-ing to a crowd of Latino gangbangers, septuagenarians, slumming rich kids and washed-up high school jocks with backwards hats who were just looking for something to date rape.”
“The Australian government is having a harder time endorsing the verdict, prompting the predictable caterwaul from China.”
“ The warbling, caroling, tweeting and trilling were a caterwaul of happiness.”
“The NRA could publicly gnash their teeth and caterwaul about mass disarmament resulting from the draconian rules imposed by the state of North Carolina and the dark overlords of the Time-Warner Cable Arena.”
These user-created lists contain the word ‘caterwaul’.
Words formed in imitation of the sound of the things they signify.
Animal sounds in different languages, and the verbs that specify them.
Since Georgetown took down their page, the current definitive website for this information is:
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
Whimpering, wailing words...
Shhh! Listen! Did you hear that?
words delicious to pronounce
List of most of the words I've learned
For those who wish no words were ever forgotten
Looking for tweets for caterwaul.
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Memorial Day seems to be forgotten for its original intent. Now people think it’s a long weekend signifying the start of summer and a time to break out the BBQs.
Please remember our fallen brothers and sisters this weekend. Fly the flag. Remember that your weekend BBQ came at a great price. Freedom is never free.
By RU Rob
While Memorial Day in the United States often induces thoughts of the beginning of summer, BBQ’s and a long holiday weekend, it is not celebrated as intended. Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation’s service. There are many stories as to its actual beginnings, with over two dozen cities and towns laying claim to being its birthplace but was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11, and was first observed on 30 May 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.
Traditional observance of Memorial Day has sadly diminished over the years. Many Americans nowadays have forgotten the meaning and traditions of Memorial Day as well as its importance to many who have lost someone in the service to the country. At many cemeteries, the graves of the fallen are increasingly ignored, neglected and have fallen into a state of disrepair. Most people no longer remember the proper flag etiquette for the day. While there are towns and cities that still hold Memorial Day parades, many have not held a parade in decades. Some people think the day is for honoring any and all dead, and not just those fallen in service to our country.
There are a few notable exceptions. Since the late 50′s on the Thursday before Memorial Day, the 1,200 soldiers of the 3d U.S. Infantry place small American flags at each of the more than 260,000 gravestones at Arlington National Cemetery. They then patrol 24 hours a day during the weekend to ensure that each flag remains standing. In 1951, the Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts of St. Louis began placing flags on the 150,000 graves at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery as an annual Good Turn, a practice that continues to this day. More recently, beginning in 1998, on the Saturday before the observed day for Memorial Day, the Boys Scouts and Girl Scouts place a candle at each of approximately 15,300 grave sites of soldiers buried at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park on Marye’s Heights.
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English to English
1. make (images or sounds) soft or softer
2. lessen in force or effect
soften a shock|break a fall
3. give in, as to influence or pressure
4. protect from impact
cushion the blow
5. make less severe or harsh
He moderated his tone when the students burst out in tears
6. make soft or softer
This liquid will soften your laundry
7. become soft or softer
The bread will soften if you pour some liquid on it
8. To make soft or more soft.
9. To become soft or softened, or less rude, harsh, severe, or obdurate.
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| 0.806287
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Butterfly Wing Scale Digital Image Gallery
Variable Eggfly Butterfly
The variable eggfly butterfly mimics the high contrast black and white wing coloration of three poisonous species of friar butterfly. Wide-ranging in tropical Africa, the variable eggfly and the other members of its mimetic ring are often found flying in mixed groups. Belonging to the family Nymphalidae, variable eggfly butterflies have a highly modified front pair of legs that are used for tasting, rather than walking.
Both palatable and unpalatable butterflies can benefit from participating in mimicry rings. Associated with open areas near forests, the variable eggfly butterfly mimics the design of noxious butterflies, but is itself harmless. The species and other edible butterflies in mimetic rings are able to deter predators with their appearance without synthesizing metabolically costly toxins. Toxic butterflies also benefit from sharing colors with other poisonous species because predators more quickly associate the appearance with negative consequences.
Described scientifically as Hypolimnas anthedon, variable eggfly butterflies are a distinct species that are characterized by specific traits in each of its life stages. The range of the butterflies stretches from the island of Madagascar to the Atlantic Ocean, along Africa's west coast. Variable eggfly adults are characterized by large wings and a slow, graceful flight with long glides. The caterpillars are not so refined, but noisily and rapaciously feed on leaves of stinging nettles in three different African genera. The larvae display a warning coloration, as do the adults, and their primarily black bodies are covered with bright red spines. Variable eggfly chrysalides also display spines, but have a brown, rugged appearance that blends in well with tree trunks, branches, and dried leaves.
Collectors are particularly interested in variable eggfly butterflies and others in its mimetic rings. The species and its associates are raised on butterfly farms in Africa for international markets. The butterflies are part of environmentally friendly sustainable economic development in impoverished portions of eastern and southern Africa, where ecotourism and forest-dependent butterfly farming are rising in popularity. Nature reserves in Kenya, which ban butterfly harvesting, act as refuges for the variable eggfly and its allies. In other areas, however, rampant habitat destruction due to overlogging, overgrazing, intensive farming, and urban encroachment threaten subspecies and local populations of this exotic tropical butterfly.
Cynthia D. Kelly, Shannon H. Neaves, Laurence D. Zuckerman, and Michael W. Davidson - National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, 1800 East Paul Dirac Dr., The Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, 32310.
Questions or comments? Send us an email.
© 1995-2013 by Michael W. Davidson and The Florida State University. All Rights Reserved. No images, graphics, software, scripts, or applets may be reproduced or used in any manner without permission from the copyright holders. Use of this website means you agree to all of the Legal Terms and Conditions set forth by the owners.
This website is maintained by our
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Like this page?
Send it to a friend!
This site, for students of Higher English, focuses on Robin Jenkins' novel The Cone-Gatherers.
Using extracts from the book, we take you step-by-step through the process of literary interpretation, leaving you confident and ready for the exam.
We recommend the enhanced version of the site, which features interactive textual analysis and audio elements. The standard version contains the same core material but in a simpler format.
Choose the version of the site you'd like to access.
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New theoretical modeling by Carnegie's Alan Boss provides clues to how the gas giant planets in our solar system—Jupiter and Saturn—might have formed and evolved. New stars are surrounded by rotating gas disks during the early stages of their lives. Gas giant planets are thought to form in the presence of these disks.
Observations of young stars that still have these gas disks demonstrate that sun-like stars undergo periodic outbursts, lasting about 100 years, which transfer mass from the disk onto the young star, increasing its luminosity. It is thought that these short bursts of mass accretion are driven by marginal gravitational instability in the gas disk.
"Gas giant planets, once formed, can be hard to destroy," said Boss, "even during the energetic outbursts that young stars experience."
Boss developed highly detailed, three dimensional models demonstrating that regardless of how gas giant planets form, they should have been able to survive periodic outbursts of mass transfer from the gas disk onto the young star.
One model similar to our own Solar System was stable for more than 1,000 years, while another model containing planets similar to our Jupiter and Saturn was stable for more than 3,800 years. The models showed that these planets were able to avoid being forced to migrate inward to be swallowed by the growing proto-sun, or being tossed completely out of the planetary system by close encounters with each other.
Given that searches for extrasolar gas giant planets have found them to be present around about 20% of sun-like stars, this is a reassuring outcome. It suggests that our improved theoretical understanding of the formation and orbital evolution of gas giants is on the right track.
This research was supported in part by the NASA Origins of Solar Systems Program and contributed to in part to the NASA Astrobiology Institute. The calculations were performed on the Carnegie Alpha Cluster, the purchase of which was partially supported by a NSF Major Research Instrumentation grant.
The study was published recently by the Astrophysical Journal.
The Daily Galaxy via Carnegie Institution for Science
The image at the top of the page is an ALMA observation of the disc and gas streams around HD 142527. Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), S. Casassus et al.
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The groundbreaking initiative we are announcing today is the first of its kind in the nation…Because of this historical initiative, millions of documents, miles of film, and hundreds of thousands of photographs from President Kennedy’s administration will be scanned, digitized, indexed and permanently preserved. More importantly, they will be available to all citizens of the world – not just the scholars and researchers who make the journey to Boston.
-- Senator Edward M. Kennedy, June 9, 2006
"Access to a Legacy" is a public-private partnership between the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum and the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation. The initiative's objectives are to: digitize, index, and permanently retain millions of presidential documents, photographs, and audiovisual recordings; provide worldwide, online access to these materials and facilitate their search and discovery through the use of metadata; protect historical assets through remote replication; and minimize the deterioration of unique and irreplaceable records and artifacts.
We invite you to browse our digital collections.
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The Invisible Minority
The National Education Association has a long, proud legacy of advocating for great public schools for every student, including English language learners. Educational, socio-economic, and sociocultural factors facing English language learners (ELLs) and NEA members are more important now than ever. The future of our members is closely tied to the educational outcomes of ELLs.
NEA cares about ELLs because our members:
In 1966, the National Education Association’s Department of Rural Education released a report entitled, “The Invisible Minority: Report of the NEA-Tucson Survey On the Teaching of Spanish to the Spanish-Speaking.” The opening page contains the following quote from Thomas Jefferson to his nephew Peter Carr in 1787.
“Bestow great attention on Spanish and endeavor to acquire an accurate knowledge of it. Our future connections with Spain and Spanish America will render that language of valuable acquisition. The ancient history of that part of America, too, is written in that language. I am sending you a dictionary.”
Since 1787, the number of languages other than English spoken in the U.S. has increased significantly, as has the number of people in the U.S. who speak languages other than English. This is a trend that educators experience today in schools throughout the country.
The enrollment growth rate far outpaces that of PK-12 enrollment. The foresight of Thomas Jefferson in his note to his nephew and that of NEA’s commissioning of this important report are more prescient today as the population of native/heritage language speakers is expected to increase to more than half of the total U.S. population by the year 2050.
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| 0.961899
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In computer programming, BASIC (an acronym for Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) is a family of high-level programming languages.
: can you help me on how to associate flash animation with
: actionscript..im developing a GIS using flash and actionscript..can
: you please send me some example???
I wouldn't recommend...
This message was edited by TheNox at 2006-7-3 23:26:59
theRock Open Source Game Engine
New Era Games
theRock is an open source game engine built on multiple frameworks....
I can respect what you are saying here; know what is the most important thing about programming, originality. Python is the loser end of a hack, since it pieces togather the protocalls of the...
We have a commercial product, C-Sharpener For VB, that converts Visual Basic .Net projects to C#. As a service to the Open Source community, we will convert Open Source Visual Basic .Net projects for...
Hmm,no older radeons?Im using a radeon9600 and everything works fine.And YES,opengl is definitly the better choice,in my oppinion its much easier to use than
Why dont you write your own engine? :)
What platform do you targeting?Pure dos with dpmi-interface?What screenmodes should it run in?Im almost sure none of todays APIs (opengl,direct3d,etc) dont...
I m looking for some very basic open source 3d racing game engine, which used to run over old 386/486 machines....also if possible please direct me to some good online resources...
My goal is to create an IDE for a scripting language much like PHP. It'll have syntax highlighting, debugging, code checking, autocompleting, etc. All my previous experience has been in...
: I hope that someone can help me. I have a diploma in Busines Computer Information Systems, and two computers at home. I know the basics in C++, Visual Basic, Linux, and HTML. Basically, my greatest...
I suppose Linux would be easier to do it in. Cos there's so much open source available. Windows, on the other hand, doesn't have that much. However, doing basic things with ports in windows is not...
In Visual Basic there is a function called "FileCopy", if you don't have if, write your own.
source = "d:\main.log"
dest = "c:\MyProg\main.log"
open source for binary as inf
open dest for...
: Could anyone describe the main differences between FreeBSD and Linux?
Well, guess its time to write up a Linux vs BSD post so if anyone asks this question again you can look into it there. I...
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| 0.91148
| 592
| 2.515625
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Negative and positive rights
|Rights by claimant|
|Other groups of rights|
Philosophers and political scientists make a distinction between negative and positive rights (not to be confused with the distinction between negative and positive liberties). According to this view, positive rights usually oblige action, whereas negative rights usually oblige inaction. These obligations may be of either a legal or moral character. The notion of positive and negative rights may also be applied to liberty rights.
To take an example involving two parties in a court of law: Adrian has a negative right to x against Clay if and only if Clay is prohibited from acting upon Adrian in some way regarding x. In contrast, Adrian has a positive right to x against Clay if and only if Clay is obliged to act upon Adrian in some way regarding x. A case in point, if Adrian has a negative right to life against Clay, then Clay is required to refrain from killing Adrian; while if Adrian has a positive right to life against Clay, then Clay is required to act as necessary to preserve the life of Adrian.
Rights considered negative rights may include civil and political rights such as freedom of speech, private property, freedom from violent crime, freedom of worship, habeas corpus, a fair trial, freedom from slavery. Rights considered positive rights, as initially proposed in 1979 by the Czech jurist Karel Vasak, may include other civil and political rights such as police protection of person and property and the right to counsel, as well as economic, social and cultural rights such as food, housing, public education, employment, national security, military, health care, social security, internet access, and a minimum standard of living. In the "three generations" account of human rights, negative rights are often associated with the first generation of rights, while positive rights are associated with the second and third generations.
Some philosophers (see criticisms) disagree that the negative-positive rights distinction is useful or valid.
Under the theory of positive and negative rights, a negative right is a right not to be subjected to an action of another person or group—a government, for example—usually in the form of abuse or coercion. A positive right is a right to be subjected to an action of another person or group. In theory, a negative right forbids others from acting against the right holder, while a positive right obligates others to act with respect to the right holder. In the framework of the Kantian categorical imperative, negative rights can be associated with perfect duties while positive rights can be connected to imperfect duties.
Belief in a distinction between positive and negative rights is usually maintained, or emphasized, by libertarians, who believe that positive rights do not exist until they are created by contract. The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights lists both positive and negative rights (but does not identify them as such). The constitutions of most liberal democracies guarantee negative rights, but not all include positive rights. Nevertheless, positive rights are often guaranteed by other laws, and the majority of liberal democracies provide their citizens with publicly funded education, health care, social security and unemployment benefits.
When positive and negative rights conflict
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Rights are often spoken of as inalienable and sometimes even absolute. However, in practice this is often taken as graded absolutism; rights are ranked by degree of importance, and violations of lesser ones are accepted in the course of preventing violations of greater ones. Thus, even if the right not to be killed is inalienable, the corresponding obligation on others to refrain from killing is generally understood to have at least one exception: self-defense. Certain widely accepted negative obligations (such as the obligations to refrain from theft, murder, etc.) are often considered prima facie, meaning that the legitimacy of the obligation is accepted "on its face"; but even if not questioned, such obligations may still be ranked for ethical analysis.
Thus a thief may have a negative obligation not to steal, and a police officer may have a negative obligation not to tackle people—but a police officer tackling the thief easily meets the burden of proof that he acted justifiably, since his was a breach of a lesser obligation and negated the breach of a greater obligation. Likewise a shopkeeper or other passerby may also meet this burden of proof when tackling the thief. But if any of those individuals pulled a gun and shot the thief for stealing, most modern societies would not accept that the burden of proof had been met. The obligation not to kill—being universally regarded as one of the highest, if not the highest obligation—is so much greater than the obligation not to steal that a breach of the latter does not justify a breach of the former. Most modern societies insist that other, very serious ethical questions need come into play before stealing could justify killing.
Positive obligations confer duty. But as we see with the police officer, exercising a duty may violate negative obligations (e.g. not to overreact and kill). For this reason, in ethics positive obligations are almost never considered prima facie. The greatest negative obligation may have just one exception—one higher obligation of self-defense—but even the greatest positive obligations generally require more complex ethical analysis. For example, one could easily justify failing to help, not just one, but a great many injured children quite ethically in the case of triage after a disaster. This consideration has led ethicists to agree in a general way that positive obligations are usually junior to negative obligations because they are not reliably prima facie. Critics of positive rights implicitly suggest that because positive obligations are not reliably prima facie they must always be agreed to through contract.
Nineteenth century philosopher Frederic Bastiat summarized the conflict between these negative and positive rights by saying:
|“||M. de Lamartine wrote me one day: "Your doctrine is only the half of my program; you have stopped at liberty; I go on to fraternity." I answered him: "The second half of your program will destroy the first half." And, in fact, it is quite impossible for me to separate the word "fraternity" from the word "voluntary." It is quite impossible for me to conceive of fraternity as legally enforced, without liberty being legally destroyed, and justice being legally trampled underfoot.||”|
According to Jan Narveson, the view of some that there is no distinction between negative and positive rights on the ground that negative rights require police and courts for their enforcement is "mistaken." He says that the question between what one has a right to do and who if anybody enforces it are separate issues. If rights are only negative then it simply means no one has a duty to enforce them, although individuals have a right to use any non-forcible means to gain the cooperation of others in protecting those rights. Therefore, he says "the distinction between negative and positive is quite robust." Libertarians hold that positive rights, which would include a right to be protected, do not exist until they are created by contract. However, those who hold this view do not mean that police, for example, are not obligated to protect the rights of citizens. Since they contract with their employers to defend citizens from violence, then they have created that obligation to their employer. A negative right to life allows an individual to defend his life from others trying to kill him, or obtain voluntary assistance from others to defend his life—but he may not force others to defend him, because he has no natural right to be provided with defense. To force a person to defend one's own negative rights, or the negative rights of a third party, would be to violate that person's negative rights.
Other advocates of the view that there is a distinction between negative and positive rights argue that the presence of a police force or army is not due to any positive right to these services that citizens claim, but rather because they are natural monopolies or public goods—features of any human society that arise naturally, even while adhering to the concept of negative rights only. Robert Nozick discusses this idea at length in his book Anarchy, State, and Utopia.
In the field of Medicine, positive rights of patients often conflict with negative rights of physicians. In controversial areas such as abortion and assisted suicide, medical professionals may not wish to offer certain services for moral or philosophical reasons. If enough practitioners opt out as a result of conscience, a right granted by conscience clause statutes in many jurisdictions, patients may not have any means of having their own positive rights fulfilled. Such was the case of Janet Murdock, a Montana woman who could not find any physician to assist her suicide in 2009. This controversy over positive and negative rights in medicine has become a focal part on the ongoing public debate between conservative ethicist Wesley J. Smith and bioethicist Jacob M. Appel. In discussing the case of Baxter v. Montana, Appel has written:
Medical licenses are a limited commodity, reflecting an artificial shortage created by a partnership between Congress and organizations representing physicians—with medical school seats and residency positions effectively allotted by the government, much like radio frequencies. Physicians benefit from this arrangement in that a smaller number of physicians inevitably leads to increased rates of reimbursement. There's nothing inherently wrong with this arrangement. However, it belies any claim that doctors should have the same right to choose their customers as barbers or babysitters. Much as the government has been willing to impose duties on radio stations (e.g., indecency codes, equal time rules) that would be impermissible if applied to newspapers, Montana might reasonably consider requiring physicians, in return for the privilege of a medical license, to prescribe medication to the dying without regard to the patient's intent.
Smith replies that this is "taking the duty to die and transforming it into a duty to kill," which he argues "reflects a profound misunderstanding of the government’s role."
Presumably, if a person has positive rights it implies that other people have positive duties (to take certain actions); whereas negative rights imply that others have negative duties (to avoid certain other actions). Philosopher Henry Shue is skeptical; he believes that all rights (regardless of whether they seem more "negative" or "positive") requires both kinds of duties at once. In other words, Shue says that honouring a right will requires avoidance (a "negative" duty) but also protective or reparative actions ("positive" duties). The negative positive distinction may be a matter of emphasis; it is therefore unhelpful to describe any right as though it requires only one of the two types of duties.
To Shue, rights can always be understood as confronting "standard threats" against humanity. Dealing with standard threats requires all kinds of duties, which may be divided across time (e.g. "if avoiding the harmful behaviour fails, begin to repair the damages"), but also divided across people. The point is that every right provokes all 3 types of behaviour (avoidance, protection, repair) to some degree. Dealing with a threat like murder, for instance, will require one individual to practice avoidance (e.g. the potential murderer must stay calm), others to protect (e.g. the police officer, who must stop the attack, or the bystander, who may be obligated to call the police), and others to repair (e.g. the doctor who must resuscitate a person who has been attacked). Thus, even the so-called "negative right not to be killed" can only be guaranteed with the help of some positive duties. Shue goes further, and maintains that the negative and positive rights distinction can be harmful, because it may result in the neglect of necessary duties.
James P. Sterba makes similar criticisms. He holds that any right can be made to appear either positive or negative depending on the language used to define it. He writes:
What is at stake is the liberty of the poor not to be interfered with in taking from the surplus possessions of the rich what is necessary to satisfy their basic needs. Needless to say, libertarians would want to deny that the poor have this liberty. But how could they justify such a denial? As this liberty of the poor has been specified, it is not a positive right to receive something, but a negative right of non-interference.(emphasis added)
Sterba has rephrased the traditional "positive right" to provisions, and put it in the form of a sort of "negative right" not to be prevented from taking the resources on their own, albeit creating a conflict with the traditional negative right of private property. Thus, all rights may not only require both "positive" and "negative" duties, but it seems that rights that do not involve forced labor can be phrased positively or negatively at will. The distinction between positive and negative may not be very useful, or justified, as rights requiring the provision of labor can be rephrased from "right to education" or "right to health care" to "right to take surplus money to pay teachers" or "right to take surplus money to pay doctors".
- Claim rights and liberty rights—a different distinction, orthogonal to that between positive and negative rights
- Constitutional economics
- Freedom versus license
- Graded absolutism
- Rule according to higher law
- Second Bill of Rights
- Three generations of human rights
- Two Concepts of Liberty— a lecture by Isaiah Berlin, which distinguished between positive and negative liberty
- Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action
- Individual rights, Ayn Rand Lexicon.
- Bastiat, Frédéric (1995, originally written 1850). "The Law". Chapter 2 in Selected Essays on Political Economy". Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: The Foundation for Economic Education, Inc. Retrieved 2009-01-20. Unknown parameter
|chapter title=ignored (help)
- Do We Need a Pro-Choice Litmus Test for Obstetricians?
- Big Sky Dilemma: Must Doctors Help Their Patients Die?
- Smith, Wesley J. The "Right to Die" Means a Physician Duty to Kill?
- Shue, Henry (1980). Chapters 1-2 of Basic Rights: Subsistence, Affluence, and U.S. Foreign Policy. Princeton University Press.
- ^ Publishers Weekly review of Stephen Holmes and Cass R. Sunnstein, The Cost of Rights: Why Liberty Depends on Taxes, ISBN 0-393-32033-2.
- ^ Nozick, Robert (1975). Anarchy, State, and Utopia. Oxford : Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-15680-1
- ^ Sterba, J.P., "From Liberty to Welfare" in Ethics: The Big Questions. Malden, MA : Blackwell, 1998. (page 238)
- ^ Hodgson, D. (1998). The Human Right to Education. Aldershot, England: Ashgate Publishing
- ^ Machan, Tibor R., "The Perils of Positive Rights" in The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty, April 2001 Vol. 51 No. 4
- Walter Williams, "Rights vs. Wishes", Capitalism Magazine, October 27, 2002, arguing against the validity of positive rights
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Uffizi GalleryArticle Free Pass
Uffizi Gallery, Italian Galleria degli Uffizi, art museum in Florence that has the world’s finest collection of Italian Renaissance painting, particularly of the Florentine school. It also has antiques, sculpture, and more than 100,000 drawings and prints.
In 1559 the grand duke of Tuscany, Cosimo I de’ Medici, engaged the painter-architect Giorgio Vasari to plan a building for the offices (uffizi) of the government judiciary. The Uffizi Palace (1560–80), one of the most important examples of Italian Mannerist architecture, has been subsequently enlarged and remodeled, but always in keeping with Vasari’s original design. After Cosimo I died in 1574, the new grand duke, Francis I, commissioned Bernardo Buontalenti to convert the top floor of the Uffizi into a repository for the art treasures amassed by the Medici family from the time of Cosimo the Elder (1389–1464) on. These galleries were expanded in the 17th century by the grand duke Ferdinand II and his brother, Cardinal Leopoldo, who collected the artist self-portraits later exhibited in the Vasari corridor connecting the Uffizi and the Pitti Palace. In the 18th century the Medici’s personal property was bequeathed to the Lorraine family with a pact providing that the works of art should always remain in Florence. It was the grand duke Leopold I who gave the Uffizi its status as a museum in the 18th century. He had its collections reorganized, appointed its first director (1769), and opened it to the public.
The Uffizi Gallery has a comprehensive and voluminous collection of Florentine paintings from the Late Gothic through the Renaissance and Mannerist periods. Its holdings of works by Sandro Botticelli are quite extraordinary, and the Uffizi is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Florence. A car-bomb explosion in 1993 killed six people and seriously damaged parts of the gallery, though few of its masterworks were harmed. In the wake of the bombing the museum was rebuilt, and over the subsequent decade an expansion of the Uffizi’s gallery space was planned. The Nuovi Uffizi project was begun in 2007, with the goal of more than doubling the size of the Uffizi’s exhibition area. New galleries featuring Dutch, Flemish, French, and Spanish artists were unveiled in 2011, and a series of rooms highlighting the works of 16th-century Tuscan artists were dedicated the following year.
What made you want to look up "Uffizi Gallery"? Please share what surprised you most...
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October 17, 2011
The locomotory system of many animals is muscle based. However, small marine animals often move by cilia. This type of locomotion is more ancient in evolution than muscle-based locomotion and very common in marine plankton. Besides the annelid larvae, the larvae of many marine invertebrates are part of this plankton, for example larvae of snails, sea shells and starfish.
“Not much is known about how the nervous systems of the marine plankton regulate ciliary beating, since the locomotion of intensely explored model organisms like the fruit fly is based on muscles,” says Gáspár Jékely. Together with his team at the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology and in cooperation with Thomas A. Münch at the Centre for Integrative Neuroscience in Tübingen, he has examined in detail the nervous system of marine annelid larvae of Platynereis dumerilii.
The ciliary band of Platynereis larvae serves as a swimming motor in the seawater: When cilia beat fast and continuously, larvae swim upward, and when cilia cease beating, the larvae sink. These larvae sense different environmental conditions, e.g. they react to changes in temperature, light and food supply, and alter their movement in the water column accordingly.
In order to gain insight into the regulation of this behaviour, the Tübingen scientists analysed the genes of Platynereis. They discovered several neuronal signalling substances, so-called neuropeptides in their Platynereis gene databases. Moreover, the scientists found that these neuropeptides are produced in single sensory nerve cells of the larva and are released directly at the ciliary band. The scientists concluded that these nerve cells send the sensory information directly on to the cilia. Some of these neuropeptides influence over cilia beating frequency, others act on the frequency of cilia holdups as well. By means of the neuropeptides, the scientists could control the up and down movement of freely swimming larvae and change their swimming depth in the water column deliberately.
“We have discovered that the responsible nervous circuitries are built in an unusually simple way. The sensory nerve cells have motor function at the same time, that is, they send the motion impulse directly to the ciliary band,” says Markus Conzelmann from the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, first author of the study. Such simple circuitries are not known from the regulation of muscle-based locomotion. “We were astonished to find not only one neuropeptide as part of such a simple circuitry, but eleven different ones.”
According to the scientists this discovery gives insights into the form and function of nerve systems in an early stage of evolution. Moreover, the results could be interesting for other fields of marine biology: “We now have a suitable model to further explore the regulation of swimming depth in marine plankton. Since the swimming behaviour of plankton is crucial for the survival and prevalence of thousands of marine animal species, our research results could be relevant for marine ecology,” explains Gáspár Jékely. In his future research he wants to reveal how single nerve cells process the different sensory information from water pressure, temperature or salinity.
Printable images can be obtained at the Public Relations Office. Please send a proof upon publication.
The Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology conducts basic research in the fields of biochemistry, genetics and evolutionary biology. It employs about 325 people and is located at the Max Planck Campus in Tübingen. The Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology is one of 80 research institutes that the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science maintains in Germany.
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Open: Year-Round, Tuesdays-Sundays,
11am to 3pm.
Closed: Major holidays.
Dumbarton House is a fine example of Federal period architecture and offers visitors to Washington, D.C., a unique opportunity to enhance their appreciation of early American history. Closely connected to the first years of the American Republic, the house has stood on the heights of Georgetown for over two centuries
The property was built within a large tract of land patented in 1703 by an immigrant Scot, Ninian Beall (that would become Georgetown in 1751). This land was originally named "Rock of Dumbarton” in tribute to Beall’s homeland. In 1798 developer Samuel Jackson bought 4.5 acres of "Rock of Dumbarton" on Cedar Hill, and began to construct the home that he originally called Belle Vue or View. In order to build this house and others in the area, Jackson employed craftsmen who had flocked to the new Federal city after its creation in 1791. Although construction began soon Jackson went bankrupt within a couple of years. The house went up for public auction, and eventually was acquired by Joseph Nourse, first Register of the U.S. Treasury. Nourse completed construction of the home and he and his family lived at "Mr. Jackson's House" known as Belle Vue from 1804-1813. In 1813, the home was bought by Charles Carroll. During Carroll's residence, the house would host Dolley Madison on August 24, 1814, during her flight from the White House and British invaders.
Today Dumbarton House is one of the few stately brick homes in Washington to survive the heady days when the country and its capital were new. The design of the house reflects the shift from Georgian tradition to the Adamesque Federal style that would take hold as the new republic defined itself. From the parlor to the dining room, through the music room to the bedrooms upstairs, visitors to Dumbarton House today see a wealth of furniture, paintings, textiles, silver, and ceramics that were made and used in the republic’s formative years.
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From An Illustrated History of Ireland by Margaret Anne Cusack
Cromlech at Castle Mary, Cloyne
The Religion of Ancient Erinn—The Druids and their Teaching—The Irish were probably Fire-worshippers—The Customs of Ancient Erinn—Similarity between Eastern and Irish Customs—Beal Fires—Hunting the Wren—"Jacks," a Grecian game—"Keen," an Eastern Custom—Superstitions—The Meaning of the Word—What Customs are Superstitious and what are not—Holy Wells—The Laws of Ancient Erinn—Different kinds of Laws—The Lex non Scripta and the Lex Scripta—Christianity necessitated the Revision of Ancient Codes—The Compilation of the Brehon Laws—Proofs that St. Patrick assisted thereat—Law of Distress—Law of Succession—The Language of Ancient Erinn—Writing in pre-Christian Erinn—Ogham Writing—Antiquities of pre-Christian Erinn—Round Towers—Cromlechs—Raths—Crannoges.
ASTERN customs and eastern superstitions, which undoubtedly are a strong confirmatory proof of our eastern origin, abounded in ancient Erinn. Druidism was the religion of the Celts, and druidism was probably one of the least corrupt forms of paganism. The purity of the divinely-taught patriarchal worship, became more and more corrupted as it passed through defiled channels. Yet, in all pagan mythologies, we find traces of the eternal verity in an obvious prominence of cultus offered to one god above the rest; and obvious, though grossly misapplied, glimpses of divine attributes, in the many deified objects which seemed to symbolize his power and his omnipotence. The Celtic druids probably taught the same doctrine as the Greek philosophers.
The metempsychosis, a prominent article of this creed, may have been derived from the Pythagoreans, but more probably it was one of the many relics of patriarchal belief which were engrafted on all pagan religions. They also taught that the universe would never be entirely destroyed, supposing that it would be purified by fire and water from time to time. This opinion may have been derived from the same source. The druids had a pontifex maximus, to whom they yielded entire obedience,—an obvious imitation of the Jewish custom. The nation was entirely governed by its priests, though after a time, when the kingly power developed itself, the priestly power gave place to the regal. Gaul was the head-quarters of druidism; and thither we find the Britons, and even the Romans, sending their children for instruction. Eventually, Mona became a chief centre for Britain. The Gaedhilic druids, though probably quite as learned as their continental brethren, were more isolated; and hence we cannot learn so much of their customs from external sources. There is no doubt that the druids of Gaul and Britain offered human sacrifices; it appears almost certain the Irish druids did not.
Our principal and most reliable information about this religion, is derived from Caesar. His account of the learning of its druids, of their knowledge of astronomy, physical science, mechanics, arithmetic, and medicine, however highly coloured, is amply corroborated by the casual statements of other authors. He expressly states that they used the Greek character in their writings, and mentions tables found in the camp of the Helvetia written in these characters, containing an account of all the men capable of bearing arms.
Authors.—Strabo, 1. iv. p. 197; Suetonius, V. Cla. ; Pliny, Hist. Nat. 1. xxv. c. 9. Pliny mentions having seen the serpent's egg, and describes it.
From a sad, comfortless childhood Giles Truelove developed into a reclusive and uncommunicative man whose sole passion was books. For so long they were the only meaning to his existence. But when fate eventually intervened to have the outside world intrude upon his life, he began to discover emotions that he never knew he had.
This is a story for the genuine booklover, penned by an Irish bookseller under the pseudonym of Ralph St. John Featherstonehaugh.
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H.L. Mencken (18801956). The American Language. 1921.
9. Other Syntactical Peculiarities
Language begins, says Sayce, with sentences, not with single words. In a speech in process of rapid development, unrestrained by critical analysis, the tendency to sacrifice the integrity of words to the needs of the complete sentence is especially marked. One finds it clearly in American. Already we have examined various assimilation and composition forms: thatn, useto, woulda, themere and so on. Many others are observable. Offn is a good example; it comes from off of and shows a preposition decaying to the form of a mere inflectional particle. One constantly hears I bought it offn John. Sorta, kinda and their like follow in the footsteps of woulda. Usent follows the analogy of dont and wouldnt, as in I didnt usent to be. Wouldve and shouldve are widely used; Lardner commonly hears them as would of and should of. The neutral a-particle also appears in other situations, especially before way, as in that-a way and this-a way. It is found again in a tall, a liaison form of at all.102
Various minor syntactical peculiarities may be noticed; an exhaustive study of them would afford materials for a whole volume. The use of all the further, as in, it was all the further I could go, seems to be American. It has bred many analogues, e. g., is that all the later it is? Another curious formation employs there with various negatives in an unusual way; it is illustrated in there cant anyone break me. Again, there is the use of in in such constructions as he caught in back of the plate, apparently suggested by in front. Yet again, there is the use of too and so as intensives, as in You are, too and You are, so. Yet again, there is the growing tendency to omit the verb of action in phrases indicating desire or intent, as in, he wants out for he wants to go out. This last, I believe, originated as a Pennsylvania localism, and probably owes its genesis to Pennsylvania German, but of late it has begun to travel, and I have received specimens from all parts of the country. In the form of Belgium wants in this protective arrangement it has even got into a leading editorial in the Chicago Tribune, the worlds greatest newspaper.103
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Ray Frank, 1861 - 1948
Ray Frank Litman died on October 10, 1948. Her lifelong enthusiasm for Judaism and tireless work to bring people into the circle of Jewish life left their mark both on those immediately surrounding her and on American Jewry at large. Her words had moved several congregations to overcome differences and "join hands in one glorious cause"; her leadership and encouragement had inspired many students to pursue studies in Jewish history and involvement with the Jewish community.
Frank's death occurred almost a quarter of a century before the Reform movement finally admitted women to the rabbinate. Many observers during Frank's heyday in the 1890s would have been surprised to learn that the ordination of women was so long in coming. When asked in 1896 if she expected at some point to see a Jewish woman in the pulpit, Louise Mannheimer, one of the speakers at the 1893 Jewish Women's Congress, responded simply, "We have a woman in the pulpit, though she has not been ordained. Her enthusiasm impels her to speak. She is Miss Ray Frank."
Although Frank's experiences were but one step along the long road to the ordination of women, "the Girl Rabbi of the Golden West" played a pivotal role by reinvigorating and redirecting an ongoing conversation about Jewish women's roles. Jewish women had already demonstrated their importance to communal life over the course of the nineteenth century; Frank's unprecedented presence in the pulpit demonstrated the contribution they could make to religious leadership as well. While subsequent pioneers in the field would face their own challenges and opposition, never again would they be called "the first woman since Deborah to preach in a synagogue," for Frank had trod that path before them.
- Quote from "In Woman's Wake," The American Jewess, December 1896, 142.
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Welcome to Kenya Wildlife Service
Canada partners with Kenya in climate change adaption in National Parks
Date Published: 15 Feb, 2013
The Canadian Government through Parks Canada has partnered with Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) to support the country’s efforts in coping with adverse effects of climate change in National Parks.
KWS received a grant of sh.78 million from the Canadian Government towards supporting the project which will highlight the importance of National Parks in climate change adaptation and enhanced ecosystem services around conservation areas in Kenya.
The project is being implemented in the country’s premium parks of Amboseli and Nakuru as well as Mt. Kenya National Park, Aberdare National Park and both the Tsavo East and West National Parks.
It aims at enhancing the ecological integrity and resilience of protected areas and wildlife populations to climate change and reduction of human wildlife conflicts among local communities living around Kenya’s parks and reserves.
It also aims at increasing water security for wildlife and adjacent communities.
Already, KWS has been involved in numerous initiatives related to this project such as training of staff on climate change adaption and mitigation strategies, development of the protected areas invasive species strategy and action plans and general ecosystem management initiatives such as habitat rehabilitation in various parks.
The project comes at a critical time when climate change is a reality in Kenya as depicted by variation in weather patterns, unpredictable levels of water in lakes and rivers, frequent and prolonged occurrence of droughts and floods, and other environmental disasters.
These occurrences have adverse impacts on the Kenyan economy and livelihoods of the population which largely depends on natural resources such as water, land, plants and animals. Wildlife and tourism sectors, which support a large proportion of the Gross Domestic Product, are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. The successful implementation of this project will go a long way towards addressing some of these challenges.
KWS and Parks Canada have had a long continued and fruitful partnership .The two signed a Memorandum of Understanding in November 2006. The objectives of the MOU are to share the experience of Parks Canada and KWS related to management of national parks, and support the capacity of KWS in the specific areas of greater park ecosystem planning and management; monitoring and assessment of ecosystem condition; stakeholder involvement and conflict management; providing memorable visitor experiences; policy development and implementation; and governance and accountability structures.
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Seven-year-old Jennifer* lay whimpering on the emergency room bed. The ambulance ride had been frightening and the nurse was just now giving her pain medication. What had been a glorious spring day complete with a team barbecue after a successful soccer season had suddenly turned tragic when Jennifer took a nasty spill on her coach's backyard trampoline. Several children were jumping at once when Jennifer collided with another child. Jennifer's mother heard her daughter's startled screaming and ran to find her lying motionless on the trampoline. In the frantic moments that followed, someone called 911 and an ambulance arrived within 10 minutes. The emergency room was busy, and Jennifer waited more than an hour to see the pediatric emergency physician. She told Jennifer's mother that a specialist was needed and another hour went by before the orthopedic surgeon entered the room and said to the nurse, "I'll call the OR." Jennifer's mother, trying to be strong, was crying. "Are you going to put her in a cast?" she asked. He responded hurriedly but not unkindly, "Jennifer's arm is broken in several places. She needs to have surgery in order to align the fragments, and I will put in some pins to hold them together." Later she would recall that he also said, "With these types of fractures, sometimes the growth plates in the bone are affected, and it is possible that Jennifer's injured arm will have a deformity that will need to be fixed in a subsequent surgery several years from now."
Jennifer is not the only one getting hurt on a trampoline. In 1998, the journal Pediatrics reported a 98 percent rise in trampoline-related injuries, calling it a "national epidemic”. In that same year, an estimated 640,000 trampolines were sold — a 350 percent increase over sales a decade earlier. With approximately 3 million backyard trampolines currently in use, the number of children getting injured is rising. Broken bones, while no small injury, generally heal, but other injuries can be much more devastating. For example, the American Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation recently published a report of an 11-year old boy who had fallen off a trampoline, injuring the left side of his neck. Twelve hours later, he was admitted to the hospital with a serious injury to the vertebral artery in his neck (which helps to supply blood to the brain). This child's injury will likely not heal without a trace — sadly, he will almost certainly have permanent brain damage. The injuries that both of these children endured highlight the vital information that most doctors already know: trampolines are dangerous and should not be used in backyards as recreational toys. In fact, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has come out with a formal policy statement on this important topic which states that "the trampoline should not be used at home, inside or outside... should not be part of routine physical education classes in schools... has no place in outdoor playgrounds and should never be regarded as play equipment." Dr. Gary Smith, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Columbus Children's Hospital in Columbus, OH, helped to craft the AAP's policy statement on trampolines. He explains: "Trampolines were not designed to be backyard toys. They were designed to be training equipment for gymnastics and diving sports." Dr. Smith suggests that if parents want their children to learn to use a trampoline, they should send them to a gym where professionals can teach them how to jump and do gymnastics routines while at the same time making sure that there are proper safety devices to protect them. Even at a gym where there is proper supervision and training, injuries can still occur. However, emergency room physician Dr. Frank Jehle reports that most of the children he treats with trampoline injuries have been hurt on backyard trampolines where there was little or no parental supervision. Dr. Jehle agrees that if children are going to use a backyard trampoline, parents should definitely be present to enforce the rules. But he notes that even the most vigilant parents cannot make trampolines safe for their children — they can only make them somewhat less dangerous. Dr. Jehle advises parents: "Backyard trampolines should not be permitted because they are unsafe in any setting, supervised or not."
In an effort to at least minimize the risk of serious injury to children, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has worked with the trampoline industry to develop new standards for the equipment; these went into effect in 1999. Four new requirements were added to decrease the risk of serious injury and to alert consumers to potential dangers: • There must be padding that completely covers the metal frames, hooks and all springs. • A label must be printed on the trampoline box stating that trampolines over 20 inches tall are not recommended for children under 6 years of age. • Ladders cannot be sold with trampolines, in order to prevent access by young children. • A warning label on the trampoline bed must alert consumers not to allow more than one person at a time to jump and to warn them against somersaults (flips) which can result in paralysis and death. One of the unfortunate consequences of these new "safety standards" is that they may give parents the false sense that following these recommendations will make trampolines safe. In fact, they serve only to make the trampolines somewhat less hazardous. There is still significant danger. For example, a parent might assume that a trampoline is safe because it has a net surrounding the mat. While it is true that nets do reduce the risk of a child falling off a trampoline, studies show that less than one-third of trampoline-related injuries occur in this manner. The majority of pediatric trampoline injuries (7 out of every 10 injuries) occur from falls or collisions on the mat itself. Another factor closely associated with trampoline injury is the common practice of several children jumping on the trampoline simultaneously. Injuries are usually most severe when the child lands with great force. Besides the risk of collision between children, having another person jumping on the trampoline can significantly increase the force with which a child lands on the mat itself. For example, if one child jumps up at the same time another child is coming down (and the mat is accelerating upwards), the child who is landing may hit a mat that feels like concrete. Dr. Smith saw this precise scenario one day when a mother brought her son to the emergency room with a shattered leg. She told Dr. Smith that she was standing right by the trampoline and videotaped the entire sequence of events. Indeed, when he reviewed the film, he said it was remarkable how innocent the scene appeared as the boy landed correctly on what should have been a soft mat (but instead was rock hard due to the altered forces from another child jumping at the same time). Dr. Smith calls this type of situation the Myth of Supervision, whereby a parent believes that "if I follow the directions and I watch my child, there will be no injury." Unfortunately, with regard to trampolines, this is often not the case. Which is precisely why no matter what preventive measures one takes, backyard trampolines are simply never safe for children to use. So what should parents do if there is a trampoline already accessible to their children? Dr. Denise Dowd, chief of the section of injury prevention at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, MO, advises, "If it's your neighbor's trampoline, don't get on it. If it's yours, get rid of it."
Ten things parents can do to protect their children from trampoline injuries
1. Just say, "No!" 2. Prohibit multiple jumpers. 3. Avoid ladders that give access to young children. 4. Ban flips and other stunts. 5. Be sure there is adequate padding on all springs and exposed metal. 6. Use a net around the mat. 7. Keep the trampoline away from all other structures. 8. Position on level ground with padding below. 9. Have an adult present to enforce the rules. 10. Never allow a child who is not your own to take a turn unless you have the permission of his or her parent.
*This is a true story, but the names and identifying details were changed to protect the privacy of the patient and her family.
LINDA COZZENS is a mother and practicing pediatrician at Southboro Medical Group in Southboro, MA, and a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
JULIE SILVER is a mother and practicing physiatrist who is also an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and the medical director of the Spaulding-Framingham Outpatient Center in Massachusetts.
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The Battle of Hurtgen Forest was fought between the US 1st Army, under the command of General Courtney Hodges, and the German 275th and 353rd Infantry Divisions, led by General Hans Schmidt, from September 19, 1944, to December 15, 1944, during World War II.
This inconclusive battle that had no victor took place in the Hurtgen Forest (Hürtgenwald), along the border between Germany and Belgium, in the southwest corner of the German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
It is up to you to determine the victor!
This WILL BE a Military Simulation Event. Generals will be given a complete set of "Orders" from TAW Central Command
If you are interested in being a General for this event Do Not Register. Email TAW@TAWScenarios.com for information.
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New Creations from Six Simple Machines
- Grades: 6–8
- Observe and identify the types of simple machines.
- Conduct research and gather data to increase knowledge of simple machines.
- Apply knowledge and organize data to complete a graphic organizer and focus questions.
- Identify and understand the terms: force, effort, work.
- Communicate data and observations to a partner.
- Demonstrate knowledge by designing and constructing a model of an obstacle course, utilizing simple machines.
- Develop expository writing to sequentially describe the use of the model.
- Present creative and written work in an oral presentation.
- Brainstorm ideas for a new product using simple machines.
- Communicate a finished project through an oral, written, and graphic presentation.
Lesson Plans for this Unit
Lesson 1: Internet Field Trip: Simple Machines
Lesson 2: Simple Machines, Survivor-Style
Lesson 3: It's a Whatchamacallit
Host a "Young Inventors" Day. Students could create presentations on various young inventors who were responsible for many products important today. Students could dress the part of famous inventors, and perform "Who Am I" skits. Inventions made by the class could be displayed and presented to parents, other students, and faculty.
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Teacher of Record (TOR)
The Teacher of Record definition framework is the starting point for a dialogue within and between state education agencies (SEA), local education agencies/school districts (LEA), and schools about the purposes, characteristics, and data elements required for effective, reliable teacher-student data links (TSDL). These discussions should include near-term uses of the TSDL, as well as longer-term uses that leverage emerging teaching practices and technologies. The framework provides the structure for a common understanding of the TOR concepts along with the flexibility to customize a TOR definition to reflect a state's education policies and priorities.
The CELT framework begins with this definitional template: a teacher of record is an "educator” who is responsible for a "specified proportion” of a student's "learning activities” that are within a "subject or course” and are aligned to "performance measures”. From this starting point, the SEA, the LEAs or school districts, and individual schools select the appropriate words to replace or modify those in quotation marks depending on how they intend to use the term. They identify the data elements required to support their specific TOR definition and whether these can be gathered in a cost-effective manner. If the data cannot be gathered to support the definition, the term needs to be redefined.
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Preparing for Kindergarten can be overwhelming. While most children start at 5 years old, some public and private schools are enrolling children as young as 4. The decision about when to start kindergarten should depend not only on what is offered in your area, but on your child's abilities and maturity. Here are some questions to think about if you are considering "testing in" for early kindergarten admittance.
1. Is Your Child Ready Academically?
Many parents who consider their child to be advanced academically prefer the early start route, and some schools, both private and public, will let them. Ashley F.'s school district allows 4-year-olds who will be turning 5 during the fall months to start kindergarten early. She signed her daughter up based on her academic readiness: "She knows her ABCs, 123s, Colors, Shapes, can write and spell her own name, mine some other family member names, and a few other daily used words and can read beginner books."
Jenny started her daughter in kindergarten early (at the age of 4) because she didn't want to underestimate their potential: It worked out fine for Jenny; her daughter excelled in kindergarten; she was reading "off the charts" by the time the year was over, "and was thrilled to be there."
But even if your child is familiar with letters, numbers, shapes, and colors at the age of 4, is she really ready to handle the rigorous curriculum of some kindergarten programs? Cassie C. advises waiting. In her school district, kindergarten is very structured: "Children are pushed very hard to read and write all day (even if they are not developmentally ready). The kindergarten curriculum has become very demanding on young children and can add a lot of undue stress and pressure to a 4-year-old or a newly 5-year-old."
(To find out where your child should be with reading, writing, and math in order to start kindergarten, this article can help: What Your Child Should Know By Kindergarten.)
2. Is Your Child Mature Enough?
It's hard to predict how any child will handle a major change such as starting kindergarten. You might know your child's technical reading and math skill level, but the social and emotional challenges of kindergarten are hard to predict. This is especially true if your child will be the youngest, or one of the youngest in class. As Lindsay H. says: "Some kids thrive in kindergarten and some struggle but it's hard to know how they will handle it until they are actually in that setting."
Circle of Moms member and preschool teacher Karol D. offers some advice on behavioral skills that are helpful in kindergarten: "The things I try to work on with my class are ability to follow 2-part directions (get a toy and sit on the carpet), [and] being considerate of others' feelings (Jenny is upset because you wouldn't share with her, is that okay?). Lastly, I make certain my class can sit quietly to listen and not be disruptive." Does you child have the maturity to learn in a kindergarten environment?
Some parents advise considering the possibility that your young child could face bullying, even at the kindergarten level. Being younger or smaller than the rest of the kids at their grade level can put a child at extra risk of being targeted by a bully. As Jane H. says, "Size. . . is important. He'll be developmentally behind... so when puberty hits, he will be left behind. Tweenagers can be cruel. All food for thought."
3. What If They Get Held Back Later?
Although most early starters will make it through kindergarten and beyond, the gap in maturity and learning ability can become apparent later. Being held back is a tough process for everyone involved, and one that can sometimes be avoided by starting kindergarten at the appropriate time. Tonya M. shares her experience after starting her son in kindergarten at age 4: "Halfway through kindergarten his teacher recommended holding him back because he was behind some of the other kids, and did not blend as well socially. . . we felt a bit pressured by the school. . . we all agreed to let him go to the first grade, however about halfway through the first grade it was the same thing, he started falling behind. . . It was at that time the school convinced us to hold him back."
Many moms whose children have been held back after kindergarten or first grade say it was ultimately for the best. As Risa T. says: "Better to do it when they are young than wait until the later years when there a stigma about being held back."
4. What Are The Long Term Effects?
For kids who are ready for kindergarten at the age of 4, starting early can give them opportunities they crave. This was the case for Rebeka B., who started Kindergarten at 4 and was always the youngest in her class: "Once I got into college I loved it. I started college at 17 and graduated with my BSN at 21 years old and that was great!
Jody B. is a Circle of Moms member and an elementary principal, and she gives a different perspective on the long run approach and the pressures that lay ahead: "When parents ask me to start their kids early, I always ask them to think beyond kindergarten. . . beyond elementary school. . . ask yourself if you would rather have your son dealing with middle school bullies and pressures a year younger than his peers. . . ask yourself if you would rather your son deal with dating drama and pressures in high school a year younger than his peers. . . and ask yourself if you would rather your son leave for college as a young 17-year-old."
Ultimately, Mom Knows Best
If the school district qualifies your child for an early start, the decision is in your hands. You know your kid better than anyone, and you have the most firsthand knowledge of her skills and maturity level on a day-to-day basis. Sarah M. agrees that this decision should be the parent's, and should depend entirely on the particular child: "You know whether your child will cope or not."
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, POPSUGAR.
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Students will make observations about a selection of works from Africa and identify how the art reflects a diversity of cultures and visually embodies core values and beliefs. A group writing activity encourages students to construct a cinquain summarizing their observations.
Appropriate for grades: 3rd-8th
Maximum size: 60 students
School tours are FREE, one hour and 15 minutes in length and are available for grades 2-12.
Rozzelle Court Restaurant offers $7.50 box lunches for school groups. Orders must be placed in advance. E-mail email@example.com.
Click here for lunch menu.
School groups may bring sack lunches and picnic on the grounds of the Kansas City Sculpture Park. Teachers are responsible for making alternate arrangements in inclement weather. There are limited facilities for students who are scheduled for an All-Day Visit to eat sack lunches inside the Museum. Request to eat indoors must be made at the time of registration and are on a first-come, first-served basis.
Click here for lunch procedures
©2013 Nelson Gallery Foundation
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LEDs have a well-deserved reputation for high-efficiency operation, not to mention high reliability. Properly specified and implemented, LEDs should and do satisfy virtually every lighting application. Still, there are times when actual device lifetimes fall short of the specified ideal. LEDs are wide-bandgap semiconductor devices. As a result, they have far more complex and varied failure modes than the incumbent technologies. Unlike an incandescent lamp, where failure is fairly simple (the bulb produces light until the filament breaks), with an LED, the failure modes range from mechanical and electrical to material.
First, a quick review of the basics
At the chip level, an LED consists of semiconductor materials doped to form a p-n junction. Biasing the junction with a forward current pushes electrons from the n-type conduction band to the p-type conduction band. In a large percentage of cases, this recombination is a radiative process that generates a photon whose wavelength is defined by the bandgap of the material.
Once a wafer of LEDs has been patterned, it is diced and the individual die are connected and packaged. In order to generate the forward current required to get light out of the LED, it must be connected to the leads with ultrathin wires, typically gold (Figure 1). The die may be bonded in place with silver paste, which provides both electrical and thermal conduction. Another option is to apply a viscoelastic damping material for protection. The vast majority of LEDs are then encapsulated in an epoxy resin which provides mechanical stability, optical diffusion, and a certain amount of environmental protection.
Figure 1: The wire bonds (gold) that connect the LED die (blue) to the leads can be fractured by the stresses of thermal expansion. Moisture or caustic chemicals absorbed by the epoxy envelope can corrode the leads (gray).
LEDs have two primary classes of failure: gradual and catastrophic. With rare exceptions, LED failure tends to be rooted in gradual degradation rather than catastrophic change. Vendors don't define failure as a binary condition but rather as a designated point in a continuum. According to studies, the output of a lamp can degrade as much as 30 percent in luminous flux before the human eye can detect the change. Accordingly, most manufacturers define the lifecycle of a device by the time at which its output luminous flux drops below 70 percent of the initial value.
That isn't to say that catastrophic failure never happens. In fact, the more extreme the operating conditions, the greater the likelihood that your devices may experience failure at some point. There are, however, ways to mitigate many of the causes to ensure the success of your application.
Material failure modes
The quality of the material in an LED has a direct impact on its performance and lifetime. The larger the number of defects in the material, the greater the likelihood that electron-hole recombination will give rise to nonradiative decay. Gallium nitride LEDs, which form the basis of most white-light LEDs, are currently grown primarily on sapphire substrates coated with a layer of GaN. Lattice mismatch between the two materials introduces strain that causes a type of defect known as a threading dislocation. These are fine cracks that propagate vertically from the GaN film into the active region, causing nonradiative decay. The greater the percentage of nonradiative decay, the lower the output of the lamp. These defects can propagate, especially if the material undergoes thermal cycling.
Structural defects introduced a different kind of loss by creating paths for leakage current, opening the way for reverse-bias current flow. This injection of carriers through the active region can generate new defects or cause existing defects to propagate. The resultant defect density reduces breakdown voltage which can impair performance.
Similarly, high current can create defects, especially on the p-side of the junction. Indeed, in tests of ultraviolet LEDs, electrical stress degraded performance more than thermal stress. If you have an ultra-high-brightness application, consider a product such as the W724C0-D cool-white LED from Seoul Semiconductor. The surface mount device can tolerate a forward current of as much as 2.8 A for an output of 900 lm (Figure 2).
Figure 2: Driving an LED excessively hard can introduce defects that ultimately compromise output and lifetime. For high brightness applications, ensure that you specify a device that can do the job, like this cool-white LED that can generate up to 900 lm of output when driven at 2.8 A. (Courtesy of Seoul Semiconductor.)
The active media is not the only potential source of fault in LEDs. Epoxy encapsulate is designed to protect the die, but it can actually create problems of its own. The material is inherently absorptive, which means that in humidity or even corrosive environments, it can transfer moisture or caustic chemicals to the die. This can cause the contacts to corrode, leading to shorts or voltage spikes. Although passivation can help mitigate this effect, it is important to try to protect devices if they are being used in hot, humid conditions.
Electrical failure modes
In the presence of an electrical field, metals such as the silver in the paste used to adhere a surface-mount LED to the board may spontaneously form filaments in a phenomenon known as electromigration, a spontaneous process exacerbated by humidity or wet conditions. For LEDs that are not encapsulated, and they do exist, this can be a problem that should be guarded against.
LEDs exposed to a high voltage electrostatic discharge run the risk of catastrophic failure. Unfortunately, ultra-high-voltage spikes do not represent an unusual condition. Depending on the humidity and your shoes, you could accumulate an electrostatic charge of as much as 1.5 kV by walking through a carpeted room. When applied to a die, that kind of shock can overcome the electrostatic resistance of the material semiconductor material. The discharge takes the form of extreme localized heating, which can create perforations in the active media, leading to a short-circuit failure.
A transient-voltage-suppression diode (TVS) with a breakdown voltage of around 50 V, such as the 5KP series from Littelfuse, can help protect the device. The diode can tolerate a 5,000-W peak pulse with a response time better than 1 ps.
The wire bonds that connect to the die can be very fragile. The epoxy resin encapsulation generally protects devices from shock and vibration. That said, the packaged LED incorporates a number of different materials—conductors, insulators, semiconductors, nearly all with different coefficients of thermal expansion. As a result, temperature swings can introduce variations in material expansion, leading to mechanical stress that can fracture the wires or otherwise compromise the contact, typically causing catastrophic failure in the form of an open circuit. Stabilizing the device from thermal extremes and rapid thermal cycling using good heat management practices is essential. Consider conductive or even active cooling to address the issue. If heat promises to be a problem, take care to seek out components rated for temperature extremes.
Open circuits can be a problem, particularly for LEDs wired in series with other components. If one device goes open circuit, it can take the whole string with it. The LSP0900BJR-S shunt protector from Bourns can tolerate a breakover current Ibo of 75 mA and a breakover voltage Vbo of 33 V. The RoHS-compliant device provides protection against an LED that has failed open circuit, allowing the current bypass the fault and continue to the rest of the string. If you're working with a high-reliability application, it's a good approach to ensure performance.
The foregoing represents a jumping off point for your discussions with your vendor. Other failure modes for LEDs exist, of course, including thermal degradation, which has been covered previously in a TechZone Lighting article Overall, probably the most important thing you can do is to be clear on the requirements for your application and the trade-offs you are willing to make, and then work with your vendor to find a product that fits your specifications. Properly chosen and integrated, LEDs can provide robust, high-efficiency sources for a wide range of products.
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Flour. Butter. Water. Salt. No leavening. Or is there?
When these four ingredients are combined into a homogeneous dough, then rolled out and baked, you end up with a cracker or flatbread. Not much rise there.
Blend the same ingredients together but stop while the butter is still discernible-- about the size of peas. Now roll out and bake. You have a pate brisee or a short, flaky pie crust with unevenly puffed layers that may have doubled in height.
Now, take the same four ingredients, blend the flour, water and salt to make a dough. Evenly layer the butter throughout the dough through a series of rolling out and folding. Stop when you have made 6 "turns", resulting in 1459 alternating layers of fat and starch. After a final rolling and baking, you are left with pate feuilletee or puff pastry. This time, the finished pastry leaving the oven has risen up to 6 times in volume from the raw dough that went in.
Three products...sharing identical ingredients in similar proportions...with significantly different results. Do you know why?
Lacking chemical leavening, the release of gases is not responsible for the differences between the three pastry products. And with the absence of yeast, it cannot be attributed to fermentation.
What caused the puff pastry to rise to glorious heights and the pie crust to puff to a lesser degree is the steam created by the melted butter. As the butter melts and boils, the gluten matrix in the dough hardens, trapping the pockets of steam. The degree of rise in the three products varies with the distribution of fat and starch.
Understanding this was an epiphany. So was grasping the unfolding of egg proteins. And the destruction of sugar to make caramel. And so on.
These were my AH-HAA moments. They allowed me to analyse mistakes and to not only correct them, but to control the outcome. They liberated me from bondage to recipes, and with this freedom came a broader one: the freedom to create.
Modern cooking places an emphasis on science, when, in fact, chemistry has been at play throughout the history of food and cooking. Does a strong knowledge of food science make us good cooks? If that were true then scientists, by right, would all be chefs.
What about technique? Consider the baker who gets up at 3 AM every morning to bake bread. After some time, he can turn out hundreds of perfect loaves even while half-asleep. He may even have a grasp on the chemistry of his craft through extended observation of cause and effect. His talent and dedication may move him onto the saute line, where through repetition he learns to turn out a perfectly cooked piece of fish every time.
But would he know what to do with a salsify? Would he even know what to serve it with?
At ICC, Jordi Butron of Espai Sucre gave a presentation about the process of creating desserts. A lot of what he said resonated with me. In it, he stated (from my notes) "Pastry is techniques...but technique has to service flavor. Technique is easy--it only requires repetition, but a library of flavors takes many years to acquire."
As a baker, I have made puff pastry countless times. Through muscle memory, I could even make it while half-asleep. Because of my understanding of steam pockets and gluten matrixes, I was able to effectively teach it to my students, passing on the AH-HAA moments. My familiarity with this product allows me to play and ask questions:
Why butter? (because it is fat and for it's flavor)
What else is flavored fat? (oils..but they won't work, they're liquid and here, the fat needs to start as a solid)
What else is solid, flavored fat? (pork fat, bacon fat, foie, cheese...)
Cheese? Which cheese? (needs to be spreadable and have a high fat content...a triple cream)
Saint Andre? Boursault? Brillat-Savarin? (no...too subtle for the flavor to come through)
l'Explorateur? (a triple cream, assertive flavor...yes, it will work)
That is how I have come to make l'Explorateur puff pastry; a product that pleases me.
Will it please everyone? Is it ground-breaking? Life-altering? No. No. And no.
It is simply a token of where I'm at as a cook/baker at this moment in time and a synthesization of what I know about technique, food science and my own palate.
Do these things make me a better cook? I'd like to think so. What I do know for certain is that by relying on their guidance, I am free to contemplate and to think about food; what it is...what it can be.
And that, I believe, is the starting point for innovation.
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A wild bull was chosen and said to be the Bukhis incarnation of Menthu, in which role it was worshipped as such. Over time, the criteria for choosing the bull became more rigid, fixing themselves on what had been simply the general appearance of bulls in the region, being a white body and black face.
When these bulls, or their mothers, died, they were mummified, and placed in a special cemetery known as the Bucheum. The mothers of these bulls were considered aspects of Hathor, the mother of these deities.
Eventually, the Bakha was identified as a form of the Apis, and consequently became considered an incarnation of Osiris. The last burial of a Buchis bull in the Bucheum at Hermonthis occurred in 340 A.D. The worship of the bull in this form lasted until about 362 AD, when it was destroyed by rising Christianity in the Roman Empire.
See also
- W. Max Muller, Egyptian Mythology, Kessinger Publishing 2004, p.160
- David Frankfurter, Religion in Roman Egypt: Assimilation and Resistance, Princeton University Press 1998, p.72
- M. W. Daly, Carl F. Petry, The Cambridge History of Egypt, Cambridge University Press 1998, p.28
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David of Dinant
A pantheistic philosopher who lived in the first decades of the thirteenth century. Very little is known about his life. It is not certain whether he was born at Dinant in Belgium, or at Dinan in Brittany. He is believed to have lived for some time at the Roman Court under Innocent III. He was a magister , or teacher, perhaps at Paris ; at any rate, it was at Paris that his work, entitled "Quaternuli" (little note-books), was condemned by a provincial council in 1210, a condemnation which was confirmed in 1215 by a letter of Cardinal Robert Courçon, papal legate . From a work ascribed to Albert the Great, "Compilatio de Novo Spiritu", in the Munich Library ( manuscript lat. 311, fol. 92 b), we learn further that in consequence of the condemnation, David fled from France, and so escaped punishment. When and where he died is unknown; all we are warranted in saying is that he died after the year 1215. Besides the "Quaternuli", condemned in the council of 1215, and ordered to be burned "before Christmas ", another work entitled "De Tomis, seu Divisionibus" is mentioned. It is not improbable, however, that this was merely another title for the "Quaternuli". The effect of the order issued by the council was to cause all the writing of David to disappear. Whatever is known, therefore, about his doctrines is derived from the assertions of his contemporaries and opponents, chiefly Albert the Great and St. Thomas. From these sources we learn that David was a Pantheist. He identified God with the material substratum of all things, materia prima (St. Thomas, Summa Theol., I, Q. iii, a. 8). He reduced all reality to three categories, namely bodies, minds, and eternal separate substances. The indivisible substrate or constituent of bodies is matter ( yle ); of minds, or souls, intellect (nous); and of eternal separate substances, God ( Deus ). These three, matter, intellect, and God, are one and the same. Consequently all things, material, intellectual, and spiritual, have one and the same essence -- God (St. Thomas, In II Sent., dist. xvii, Q. i; Albert the Great, Sum. Theol., II, Tract. xii, Q. lxxii, a. 2). The phraseology, which must be David's own, as well as the title above mentioned, "De Tomis", suggests at once the influence of John Scotus Eriugena, an influence which cannot be denied. Eriugena's work must have been widely known and read in the first decades of the thirteenth century, as is evident from many undeniable facts. Whether David was influenced also by Amalric of Chartres ( see A MALRICIANS ) is a matter of debate. Albert, who was a contemporary of David, says that David merely renewed the heresy of Alexander, "who taught that God and intellect and matter are one substance ". It is impossible to determine whom Albert here means by Alexander, "a disciple of Xenophanes"; probably the reference is to some Arabian work that went under the name of a Greek philosopher. There were several works of that kind current in the early part of the thirteenth century. Some critics, however, put forward the surmise that David's immediate source was Avicebron's "Fons Vitæ", or the work "De Unitate", written by Archdeacon Gundisalvi of Segovia, who was well versed in Arabian philosophical literature. Whatever the source, the doctrines were, as all our authorities concur in describing them, the expression of the most thoroughgoing pantheism. This of itself would justify the drastic measures to which the Council of Paris had recourse. There were, moreover, circumstances which rendered summary condemnation necessary. On the one hand the University of Paris was being made the scene of an organized attempt to foist the Arabian pantheistic interpretation of Greek philosophy on the schools of Latin Christendom. Texts, translations, and commentaries were introduced every day from Spain, in which doctrines incompatible with Christian dogma were openly taught. On the other hand, there was the popular movement in the South of France which found its principal expression in the Albigensian heresy , while in learned and ascetic communities in the North, the anti-hierarchical mysticism of the Calabrian Joachim of Floris was being combined with the more speculative pantheistic mysticism of John Scotus Eriugena. In view of these conditions the condemnation of the errors of David of Dinant, the complete extirpation of the sect of Amalricians to which he apparently belonged, and the unwonted harshness of St. Thomas's reference to him cannot be judged untimely or intemperate.
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NOAA Weather Radio
NOAA Weather Radio (NWR) is a unique service provided by the federal government that began in the 1960's. It provides a continuous 24 hours a day, 7 days a week broadcast of the latest weather information. In 1975, the main function of NWR was defined, as an executive order of the White House made it the only government operated radio system that could directly warn the public of impending hazardous conditions. In addition, routine weather information (including public, marine and other specialized forecasts; hourly weather observations; river and tropical information) is transmitted. These broadcasts, which originate directly from the local National Weather Service Office, can be found on specially allocated frequencies between 162.400 MHz and 162.550 MHz. This means that a special radio receiver is necessary to pick up the broadcast. These radios are sold by many retail outlets and can cost less than $20 in their basic form. Some CB radios, scanners, short wave and AM/FM radios are now also capable of picking up these broadcasts. Currently there are more than 450 NWR stations located throughout the 50 states, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the U.S. Pacific Territories. Each of these stations can reach an audience out to 40 miles from the transmitter site, while some are rebroadcast over local cable TV and local government owned AM radio stations.
NWR Stations under the responsibility of the National Weather Service Office in Lake Charles
(with approximate transmission areas in circles).
(Click on the map for more detailed information on each transmitter)
The primary goal of the National Weather Service is to "Protect Life and Property." To help achieve this goal, a special alert tone is sounded over NOAA Weather Radio to warn listeners of dangerous situations. The alert tone is transmitted over the NWR in which its listening area is affected by the warning or watch. The tone is sent at a level of 1050 Hz and will set off an alarm on those weather radio receivers that have a "tone alert" feature. This enables the listener to find out about the impending hazard immediately so they can take the appropriate action to protect life and property. Radios which have the alert feature built in usually cost $30 to $40 and are available at most electronics stores.
In order to better serve the public, a second alert feature has been developed to be transmitted by NOAA Weather Radio. This feature is known as Specific Area Message Encoder, or SAME. The SAME technology works in conjunction with the new Emergency Alert System (EAS) now in operation to allow consumers to choose which warnings and watches and for what counties or parishes in their area they want to be alerted for. For example, the emergency manager of Calcasieu Parish can set up the SAME receiver to alert only for a dangerous weather situation that will affect Calcasieu Parish. How this works is 4 special tone bursts are sent in a 3 second period over NWR. These electronic bursts have special coded messages for the type of hazard, the area affected, and the time which it will last. In order to receive this message, consumers will need to have a weather radio with the SAME receiver built into it and program the radio using special codes to define the areas to be alerted for. These new radios are sold mainly by companies specializing in electronics or radio equipment at a cost of about $60.
Click here for a list of codes for parishes and counties within our NWR transmitters' listening areas. To find out SAME codes for parishes or counties elsewhere in the U.S., call the special SAME Hot Line number at 1-888-NWR-SAME. Or you can click the following link: SAME Codes for Anywhere in the United States
That voice you hear on NWR is the voice of the new NOAA Weather Radio 2000 program. Unlike the former human-interactive NWR, the NWS instituted a PC-based system called the Console Replacement System (CRS). This system is able to automatically receive products issued by our office and air them on NWR immediately, instead of taking a minute or two for a human to record the product and then place it into the broadcast cycle. This is especially important during severe weather when every second counts. The original computer-sounding voice, which was included in the software when the system was developed, will be replaced in the near future by a pair of more human-sounding voices...allowing the NWR program to sound more natural. For more information on CRS, please see the NWS's CRS FAQ page.
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|Occultation of Anahita|
The globe of the Earth is centered on the location at the time of conjunction, and shows the footprint of the shadow at intervals on either side of conjunction.
The interval depends on the length of the occultation, with lighter footprints at the start. The first and last footprints are offset by 1s and are drawn in red, which shows where on the Earth the occultation begins and ends.
Note these first and last red footprints are very small.
The Astronomical Almanac Online!
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Location: Located in North Eastern Kenya, it borders Somalia to the East, Wajir and Isiolo to the North, Tana River to the West and Lamu to the South.
Area (Km 2): 44,175 Km 2
Population Density: 14 people per Km 2
Some strengths of Garissa County include:
- Natural resources as livestock, river, pasture, wildlife, land, solar and wind energy, mineral resources, medicinal plants
- Tourist attractions as Giraffe Sanctuary, Arawale & Boni National Reserves.
- Main Economic Activities as Livestock Keeping and Trading, Bee-keeping, Sand Harvesting
Potential Minerals: Gypsum
Number of Institutions: Primary (47), Secondary (9)
Health Facilities: 28; Hospitals (1), Dispensaries (17), Health Centers (4), Clinics (6), Nursing Homes (3), Others (1)
Doctor to Population Ratio: 1:52,000
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- Buyers Guide
Free-space vs. One-horn Interferometer Techniques for Radar Absorber Measurements
The reflection coefficient measurements of radar-absorbing materials (RAM) in free space (FS) and using the one-horn interferometer (OHI) technique are compared for different test samples. It is observed that the problems in the measurement of reflection coefficients using the OHI technique can be eliminated and better accuracy can be achieved by using spot-focused horn antennas in FS. Because of its contactless nature the FS system can be adapted conveniently to quality control during the absorber manufacturing process.
K.A. Jose, Vasundara V. Varadan and Vijay K. Varadan
Pennsylvania State University, Center for the Engineering of Electronic and Acoustic Materials
University Park, PA
RAMs have attracted considerable interest in recent years since they are used in many military and civilian applications. The study of electromagnetic and physical properties of materials as well as the techniques for determining the reflection coefficient of RAMs at microwave frequencies are essential for industrial applications. The measurement and evaluation of RAMs are difficult and time-consuming tasks. A large number of papers describing the accurate determination of the reflectivity of RAMs have been published. The measurements are either of the destructive type (as in waveguide or coax measurements where the sample is cut properly to fit into the fixtures) or the nondestructive type (as in the Naval Research Laboratories’ arch, FS or large waveguide methods).1,2
Recently, a swept-frequency OHI was described where the absorber panel is placed against the aperture of a well-matched horn.3 This aperture-matched exponential horn technique offers a reflectivity level lower than –35 dB and has the advantage of using fairly small areas (approximately the size of the horn aperture) of absorbers. However, the metal-backed planar absorbers are placed directly against the aperture of the horn. When the horn’s reflectivity is compared to that of a metallic shorting plate, the thickness of the absorber may affect the accuracy of the measurement. Because the sample is sandwiched between the horn aperture and the shorting metallic plate, various thicknesses of the sample may place the metallic plate at different positions. In such cases, distinguishing the performance of the absorbers from variation of the thickness and variation of the relative position of the shorting plate is a problem. The final product from the industry usually is in a planar form and may have inherent inhomogeneities from point to point in a single sample. Hence, the OHI technique may show variations in performance.
In this article, a simple spot-focused, one-horn FS measurement technique for the accurate characterization of planar absorbers is described. This nondestructive and contactless setup is for measuring the reflectivity of samples and makes it possible to measure electromagnetic properties for various temperatures. Using spot-focused antennas, the FS method provides plane-wave illumination and does not require samples to meet strict size and shape tolerances. Since the focused antennas use waveguide feeds and transitions, they can discriminate the polarization state of the received signal, which is transmitted through or reflected from the sample. Because of the contactless nature of the system, it can be adapted conveniently to quality control during the manufacturing process in a variety of industrial settings.
A schematic diagram of the experimental setup is shown in Figure 1 . The system described here has an automated setup for measuring the reflection coefficient as well as the complex permittivity and permeability of samples at different temperatures.4–6 The spot-focusing horn lens antenna consists of two equal plano-convex dielectric lenses mounted back to back in a conical horn antenna. The antenna has a focal length of 30.45 cm and a focal depth of 8.4 wavelengths at 10 GHz. Because of the spot focusing of the lens antenna, diffraction effects at the edge of the sample are negligible.
The antenna is connected to an S-parameter test set using circular-to-rectangular waveguide adapters, rectangular-to-coaxial line adapters and precision cables. Two pairs of focused antennas are required to cover the 8 to 40 GHz frequency range. The sample for reflectivity measurement is placed directly below the antenna at its focal plane. The vector network analyzer is calibrated using a FS thru-reflect-line calibration technique and time domain gating eliminates multiple reflections.7 The reflection coefficients are measured in a step-sweep mode and a computer is used for data acquisition, storage and processing.
Figure 2 shows the conventional OHI technique where the absorber is located between the horn aperture and shorting metallic plate. One of the major problems here is that the distance between the horn and shorting plate (plane of calibration) changes for different thicknesses of the absorbers and each time separate calibration of the system is required. In actual industrial applications, calibrating the measuring system for each individual measurement is not practical. Figure 3 shows the time domain response from a shorted metallic plate for different positions in the OHI technique. It is evident from the data that the accuracy of the measurement is affected by the movement of the shorting metallic plate for different thicknesses of the sample. Since a two-way propagation time is required for the signal to travel from antenna to metallic plate and back, marker 1 is located at 28.28 mm, which is twice the distance to the first shorting plate.
Since the absorber is located in the far field of the horn antenna and the position of the metallic plate is fixed, the thickness of the absorber does not affect the accuracy of the measurement in the FS method. It is possible to separate the reflections from various parts of the test setup using the time domain features of the vector network analyzer because of the finite difference between their arrival times. The time domain method for measuring the reflection of the coefficient is used widely.8 The diffraction effects at the edges of the sample are usually negligible if the transverse dimension of the sample is greater than three-times the 3 dB E-plane beam width of the antenna at the focus.7 For the described antenna, the measured 3 dB beam width in the E- and H-planes is 2.87 and 2.03 cm, respectively, at 14.5 GHz. Generally, the 3, 10 and 20 dB E-plane beam widths of the antenna are approximately l0 , 1.9l0 and 3.8l0 , respectively.
Samples were characterized using both methods to compare the performances of the OHI and FS techniques. A wideband (2 to 18 GHz) aperture-matched horn antenna3 is connected to the S-parameter setup and OHI measurements are taken using this antenna. The antenna is calibrated for isolation and response using a shorting metallic plate. The metal-backed sample is placed so it touches the aperture of the horn and S11 is measured. Figure 4 shows the measured S11 response from a metal-backed type AN-73 absorber. Inserting the sample between the shorting plate (plane of calibration) and aperture causes the calibration plane to change. It would be possible to analyze the data only if they are properly curve fitted.
The data are presented with and without smoothing using a special feature of the vector network analyzer. However, this smoothing depends on the compromise between the accuracy and individual frequency points of interest. In critical cases such as narrowband absorbers, the trade-off may cause loss of measured data. The smoothing operation in a network analyzer operates in the same manner as a video filter operator. Smoothing produces a linear average of adjacent data points. In a typical case of 20 percent smoothing, data are smoothed over a 3.2 GHz frequency smoothing aperture and the average value of the data over a 3.2 GHz frequency aperture is displayed. In this case, it is necessary to select a low value for smoothing for narrowband absorbers. Figure 5 shows the measured S11 response for different smoothing values applied using the network analyzer. Cases 1, 2 and 3 are for five percent (0.9 GHz span), 10 percent (1.8 GHz span) and 20 percent (3.2 GHz span), respectively, of smoothing.
Since the calibration plane moves with the thickness of the sample, the measured performance changes. Figure 6 shows the reflectivity of the AN-73 absorber of the same thickness but different aperture-sample gaps. In position 1, the sample is placed directly touching the aperture of the horn antenna and the value of S11 measured at 9.68 GHz is –21.40 dB. The absorber is moved back along with the metallic plate for a distance of 2.8 cm from the aperture and the measurements are repeated. It is determined that the S11 is changed to –26.84 dB for the same frequency. From such observations it is not easy to conclude the performance of the sample.
The FS measurement technique does not lead to such problems since the sample is located in the far field of the antenna and has a fixed calibration plane. Moreover, the smoothing problem does not occur because of an accurate calibration and error correction. It is also observed that the accuracy increases by using the time domain gating features of the network analyzer.
In order to verify the accuracy of the measurement setup, performances of various microwave absorbers were measured and compared. Figure 7 shows the comparison of the measured data from the AN-73 absorber using the FS and OHI techniques for 8 to 18 GHz. For FS measurements, it is necessary to use two antennas to cover the entire frequency band from 8 to 40 GHz; one antenna is for 8 to 12 GHz and the other is for 12 to 40 GHz.
Figure 8 shows the magnitude of S11 for metal-backed ferrite absorbers using FS and OHI techniques. The resonance absorption is predominant at approximately 8.5 GHz since the thickness of the composite ferrite absorber is 3 mm. Figures 9 and 10 show the performance comparison of FS and OHI measurements for a composite radar absorber. These absorbers are designed and developed for specific applications to be used as RAMs. It can be seen from the above observations that the FS technique offers better results compared to the OHI technique.
The results reported in this article indicate that better accuracy in the measurement of reflection coefficients of RAMs is obtained with the FS spot-focused measurement technique compared to the near-field OHI technique. It also has been observed that accuracy is improved by using the time domain gating features of the network analyzer. (It is not possible to use the time domain gating features in the OHI technique.) One of the major advantages of the FS system is its contactless nature, which allows it to be adapted conveniently to quality control during the manufacturing process. Using a wideband (2 to 18 GHz) aperture-matched, spot-focused horn, it is possible to obtain results for the entire frequency band without changing the horn antennas. Work in this area is ongoing.
- E.F. Knott, J.F. Shaffer and M.T. Tuely, Radar Cross Section, Chapters 8 and 9, Artech House, 1993.
- E. Michielssen, J.M. Sajer, S. Ranjithan and R. Mittra, "Design of Lightweight, Broadband Microwave Absorbers Using Genetic Algorithms," IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, Vol. 41, July 1993, pp. 1024–1030.
- D.E. Baker and C.A. van der Neut, "Reflection Measurements of Microwave Absorbers," Microwave Journal, Vol. 31, No. 12, December 1988, pp. 95–104.
- D.K. Ghodgaonkar, V.V. Varadan and V.K. Varadan, "Free-space Measurement of Complex Permeability of Magnetic Materials at Microwave Frequencies," IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurements, Vol. 39, April 1990,pp. 387–394.
- M.H. Umari, D.K. Ghodgaonkar, V.V. Varadan and V.K. Varadan, "A Free-space Bistatic Calibration Technique for the Measurement of Parallel and Perpendicular Reflection Coefficients of Planar Samples," IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurements, Vol. 40, February 1991, pp. 19–24.
- V.V. Varadan, R.D. Hollinger, D.K. Ghodgaonkar and V.K. Varadan, "Free-space Broadband Measurement of High Temperature, Complex Dielectric Properties at Microwave Frequencies," IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurements, Vol. 40, October 1991, pp. 842–846.
- D.K. Ghodgaonkar, V.V. Varadan and V.K. Varadan, "Free-space Method for Measurement of Dielectric Constants and Loss Tangent at Microwave Frequencies," IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurements, Vol. 38, 1989, pp. 789–793.
- A.R. Onderjka and M. Kanda, "A Time Domain Method for Measuring the Reflection Coefficient of Microwave Absorbers at Frequencies below 1 GHz," Proceedings of the IEEE APS International Symposium, 1991, pp. 1656–1659.
K.A. Jose received his PhD degree from Cochin University of Science and Technology in 1989. After serving on the faculty of Cochin University from 1989 to 1993, he joined the Center for the Engineering of Electronic and Acoustic Materials at Pennsylvania State University where he currently is a research associate.
Vasundara V. Varadan received her PhD degree in physics from the University of Illinois in 1974 and has served on the faculties of Cornell University and Ohio State University. Currently, she is an alumni distinguished professor of engineering science and electrical engineering and the co-director of the Penn State Research Center for the Engineering of Electronic and Acoustic Materials. Varadan is also a fellow of the Acoustical Society of America and a member of the IEEE and the Society of Engineering Science.
Vijay K. Varadan received his PhD degree from Northwestern University in 1973. After serving on the faculties of Cornell University from 1974 to 1977 and Ohio State University from 1977 to 1983, he joined Pennsylvania State University where he currently is an alumni distinguished professor of engineering science and electrical engineering and the co-director of the Penn State Research Center for the Engineering of Electronic and Acoustic Materials. Varadan’s interest is in the design and development of various electronic, acoustic and structural composites and devices. He is also interested in microwave and ultrasonic experiments to measure the dielectric, magnetic, mechanical and optical properties of composites.
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THE PARIS COMMUNE ARCHIVE
The Paris Commune, functioning between March 18 to May 28 of 1871, was spawned by the Franco-Prussian war. Germany's victory created discontent among the Parisian workers who were already unhappy over growing economic inequality and food shortages. A truce between France and Germany created further anger among workers who now were technically under German rule as a result of the armistice reached between Germany and France. This Armistice resulted in the Prussian army sending food to Paris and withdrawing troops to the east side of the city. Once a war indemnity (compensation for damages done) was paid, the troops would be withdrawn out of the east of the city and no Prussian troops would occupy Paris.
Before the Germans had arrived in Paris, the government had the National Guard hide a number of cannons in case of future conflicts with German troops. However, the National Guard was becoming increasingly unruly, so the French government sent troops to sieze the hidden cannons. The troops, discouraged by France's defeat, joined the National Guard and the aroused workers. The Parisian government paniced when the emerging Paris Commune killed military officials. As more and more troops joined the Commune, government officials and many supporters soon fled Paris, effectively leaving Paris in control of the Commune. In addition to the troops, there were a large number of skilled workers, professionals, and political activists active in the Commune. The Paris Commune established many progressive laws including separation of church and state, women's rights to vote, and pensions for unmarried companions of National Guards killed in active duty.
Soon conflicts arose between the official Versailles government and the Paris Commune and fighting broke out on April second. The fighting intensified over time and hostages began to be taken and often murdered (it is believed that between May 24 and 26, more than 50 Communards were murdered). While the Commune put up a notable fight, it eventually fell to the official government's army. Fighting officially stopped on May 28, marking the end of the Paris Commune. The Official government executed thousands of Communards and thousands more were imprisoned.
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/anarchist_Archives/pariscommune/Pariscommunearchive.html
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batch - execute commands when the system load permits
The batch utility reads commands to be executed at a later time. It is the equivalent of the command:where queue b is a special at queue, specifically for batch jobs. Batch jobs will be submitted to the batch queue with no time constraints and run by the system using algorithms, based on unspecified factors, that may vary with each invocation of batch.
at -q b -m now
Users are permitted to use batch if their name appears in the file /usr/lib/cron/at.allow. If that file does not exist, the file /usr/lib/cron/at.deny. is checked to determine if the user should be denied access to batch. If neither file exists, only a process with the appropriate privileges is allowed to submit a job. If only at.deny. exists and is empty, global usage is permitted. The at.allow and at.deny files consist of one user name per line.
The standard input must be a text file consisting of commands acceptable to the shell command language described in
Shell Command Language. The standard input will only be used if no -f file option is specified.
The text files /usr/lib/cron/at.allow and /usr/lib/cron/at.deny contain user names, one per line, of users who are, respectively, authorised or denied access to the at and batch utilities.
The following environment variables affect the execution of batch:
- Provide a default value for the internationalisation variables that are unset or null. If LANG is unset or null, the corresponding value from the implementation-dependent default locale will be used. If any of the internationalisation variables contains an invalid setting, the utility will behave as if none of the variables had been defined.
- If set to a non-empty string value, override the values of all the other internationalisation variables.
- Determine the locale for the interpretation of sequences of bytes of text data as characters (for example, single- as opposed to multi-byte characters in arguments and input files).
- Determine the locale that should be used to affect the format and contents of diagnostic messages written to standard error and informative messages written to standard output.
- Determine the format and contents for date and time strings written by batch.
- Determine the location of message catalogues for the processing of LC_MESSAGES .
- Determine the name of a command interpreter to be used to invoke the at-job. If the variable is unset or null, sh will be used. If it is set to a value other than a name for sh, the implementation will do one of the following: use that shell; use sh; use the login shell from the user database; any of the preceding accompanied by a warning diagnostic about which was chosen.
- Determine the timezone. The job will be submitted for execution at the time specified by timespec or -t time relative to the timezone specified by the TZ variable. If timespec specifies a timezone, it will override TZ . If timespec does not specify a timezone and TZ is unset or null, an unspecified default timezone will be used.
When standard input is a terminal, prompts of unspecified format for each line of the user input described in the STDIN section may be written to standard output.
In the POSIX locale, the following will be written to the standard output for each job when jobs are listed in response to the -l option:
where <date> is equivalent in format to the output of:
"%s\t%s\n", at_job_id, <date>
date +"%a %b %e %T %Y"
The date and time written will be adjusted so that they appear in the timezone of the user (as determined by the TZ variable).
The following will be written to standard error when a job has been successfully submitted:
"job %s at %s\n", at_job_id, <date>where <date> will have the same format as is described in the STDOUT section. Neither this, nor warning messages concerning the selection of the command interpreter, are considered a diagnostic that changes the exit status.
Diagnostic messages, if any, are written to standard error.
The following exit values are returned:
- Successful completion.
- An error occurred.
The job will not be scheduled.
It may be useful to redirect standard output within the specified commands.
- This sequence can be used at a terminal:
batch sort < file >outfile EOT
- This sequence, which demonstrates redirecting standard error to a pipe, is useful in a command procedure (the sequence of output redirection specifications is significant):
batch <<! diff file1 file2 2>&1 >outfile | mailx mygroup !
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<urn:uuid:b3ea4a9d-83f6-4d07-b358-b1398551575f>
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/7908799/xcu/batch.html
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en
| 0.838708
| 1,025
| 2.53125
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Forgot your password?
Type your email address below and click the sign up button to create an account.
The correct answers to the incorrect answers for the quiz are:
4. The Army of Northern Virginia was led by General Joseph E. Johnston (from the time it was created as a merger of the Confederate Army of the Potomac and the Army of the Shenandoah) until he was wounded. It was then under the command of General Gustavus Woodsom Smith for one day, before General Lee of given command on June 1, 1862.
6. The Emancipation Proclamation did not declare the freedom of slaves in America. It only purported to free those slaves in Confederate states in areas not under the control of the Union forces on January 1, 1863. All slaves in the Union slave states, the border slave states with disputed governments, and in areas under Union occupation were specifically not freed.
13. 13, not 11, states seceded from the Union and sent legislators to the Confederate Congress. Kentucky and Missouri also had governments loyal to the Union and sent legislators to the US Congress. However, the Ordinances of Secession passed by the Kentucky and Missouri legislatures were just as valid as those passed by the other states.
14. The first battle of the Civil War was not First Manassas. According to the Civil War Sites Advisory Commission, First Manassas is the 11th battle of the Civil War, and the second to be rated by the SWSAC as "Decisive". The real answer to this question has already be given in question 2. The first battle, rather obviously, was at Fort Sumter, South Carolina. Like First Manassas, it was also a Confederate victory.
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<urn:uuid:8f8e9885-1809-441f-9a6e-547d835c4c78>
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://www.victoriaadvocate.com/news/2011/oct/18/kb_civil_war_101911_155678/comments/
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s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
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en
| 0.973256
| 353
| 2.71875
| 3
|
Start out thinking about the basics of survival fresh water, food, safety, warmth, sanitation
and clean air.
- Water (1 gallon per person per day for 3 days)
- Food that does not need electricity for storage or preparation
- Manual can opener (if kit contains canned food)
- Battery-powered NOAA Weather Radio and a commercial radio or hand crank radio
- Flashlights and extra batteries
- Sleeping bag or warm blanket for each person
- First aid kit and emergency medical reference manual
- Prescription medications and eyewear
- Mess kits, paper cups, plates and plastic utensils, paper towels, moist towelettes, garbage bags and ties
- Complete change of clothing, including a long-sleeved shirt, long pants, socks and sturdy shoes
- Bottled water to mix with formula and to wash bottles
- Blankets (both emergency blankets and receiving blankets)
- Diapers keep the diaper size current
- Disposable wipes
- Copy of a current shot record
- Bath towels and wash cloths
- Burp cloths, bibs
- Cotton swabs
- Diaper rash ointment
- Binkies and toys
- Cotton swabs
- Diaper rash ointment
- Identification tags on collars
- Medications, immunization records
- Food, drinking water, bowls, cat litter/pan and can opener
- Sturdy leashes or carriers to transport pets safely (Carriers should be large enough for the pet to stand up, turn around and lie down)
- Towels or blankets
- Current photos of you with your pets
- Feeding schedules, medical conditions, behavior problems, and the name and number of your veterinarian
- Pet beds and toys
- Cash in small denominations or traveler's checks and change
- Copies of important family documents, such as insurance policies, identification and bank account records in a waterproof, portable container
- Wrench or pliers to turn off utilities
- Matches in a waterproof container
- Household chlorine bleach and medicine dropper (When diluted nine parts water to one part bleach it can be used to disinfect)
- Dust mask (to help filter contaminated air) and plastic sheeting/duct tape (to shelter where you are)
- Local maps
- Books, games, puzzles or other activities for children
- Paper and pencil
- Fire Extinguisher
- Whistle to signal for help
You can purchase commercially bottled water. Make sure you check the expiration date.
If You are Preparing Your Own Containers of Water:
Purchased food-grade containers
Its best to purchase food-grade water storage containers from surplus or camping supplies stores. Before filling with
water, thoroughly clean the containers with dishwashing soap and water, and rinse completely so there is no residual soap.
Follow directions below for filling the containers with water.
Your own containers
Choose two-liter plastic soft drink bottles not plastic jugs or cardboard containers that have had milk or fruit
juice in them.
Milk protein and fruit sugars cannot be adequately removed from these containers and provide an environment for bacterial
growth when water is stored in them. Cardboard containers also leak easily and are not designed for long-term storage of liquids. Also, do not use glass
containers, because they can break and are heavy.
Thoroughly clean the bottles with dishwashing soap and water, and rinse completely so there is no residual soap.
Sanitize the bottles by adding a solution of 1 teaspoon of non-scented liquid household chlorine bleach to a quart of water.
Swish the sanitizing solution in the bottle so that it touches all surfaces. After sanitizing the bottle, thoroughly
rinse out the sanitizing solution with clean water.
Filling Water Containers
Fill the bottle to the top with regular tap water. If the tap water has been commercially treated from a water utility
with chlorine, you do not need to add anything else to the water to keep it clean.
If the water you are using comes from a well or water source that is not treated with chlorine:
- Add two drops of non-scented liquid household chlorine bleach to the water.
- Tightly close the container using the original cap.
- Be careful not to contaminate the cap by touching the inside of it with your finger.
- Place a date on the outside of the container so that you know when you filled it.
- Store in a cool, dark place.
- Replace the water every six months if not using commercially bottled water.
Store at least a three-day supply of non-perishable food. Select foods that require no refrigeration, preparation or
cooking and little or no water.
If you must heat food, pack a can of sterno. If you use a barbecue grill for cooking, do not use it indoors.
Select food items that are compact and lightweight. Avoid foods that will make you thirsty. Choose salt-free crackers,
whole grain cereals, and canned foods with high liquid content.
- Ready-to-eat canned meats, fruits and vegetables
- Canned juices, milk, soup (if powdered, store extra water)
- Staples--sugar, salt, pepper
- High energy foods--peanut butter, jelly, crackers, granola bars, trail mix
- Foods for infants, elderly persons or persons with special dietary needs
- Comfort/stress foods--cookies, hard candy, sweetened cereals, lollipops, instant coffee, tea bags
Many injuries are not life threatening and do not require immediate medical attention. Knowing how to treat minor
injuries can make a difference in an emergency.
Consider taking a first aid class, through the American Red Cross. Also, put together a first aid kit or purchase
a kit with the following items:
Things you should have:
You may also want to include:
- Two pairs of Latex, or other sterile gloves (if you are allergic to Latex).
- Sterile dressings to stop bleeding.
- Cleansing agent/soap and antibiotic towelettes to disinfect.
- Antibiotic ointment to prevent infection.
- Burn ointment to prevent infection.
- Adhesive bandages in a variety of sizes.
- Eye wash solution to flush the eyes or as general decontaminant.
- Prescription medications you take every day such as insulin, heart medicine and asthma inhalers.
You should periodically rotate medicines to account for expiration dates.
- Prescribed medical supplies such as glucose and blood pressure monitoring equipment and supplies.
Things it may be good to have:
- Tube of petroleum jelly or other lubricant
- Aspirin or non-aspirin pain reliever
- Anti-diarrhea medication
- Antacid (for upset stomach)
- Cold medications
Contact your local American Red Cross chapter to learn more about first aid training.
Bedding & Clothing
Include at least one complete change of clothing and footwear per person.
- Blankets or sleeping bags for each person
- Jacket or coat
- Long pants
- Long sleeve shirt
- Sturdy shoes or work boots
- Hat, gloves and scarf
- Rain gear
- Thermal underwear
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<urn:uuid:fe1d2bbd-d0ce-4fce-8319-bc2535a50d97>
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://readywisconsin.wi.gov/kit/GetKit.asp?maintab=0
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s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.885793
| 1,528
| 2.890625
| 3
|
The New Jersey Bureau of Marine Water Monitoring is involved
in many aspects of the State's coastal water quality.
It's roles include monitoring for compliance with the
National Shellfish Sanitation Program, coordination of coastal bathing beach monitoring, removal of trash from coastal beaches, evaluation of the
ecological health of the coastal waters, and monitoring
to identify and track pollution sources impacting the
State's coastal waters.
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<urn:uuid:5733b12a-7470-4522-8f4a-4e144c5b3997>
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://www.state.nj.us/dep/wms/bmw/
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s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
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en
| 0.896217
| 83
| 2.609375
| 3
|
Learning to write is like learning a new language. It can be done by breaking tasks into small manageable chunks. With a bit of help and patience, new skills are acquired and the essay form is mastered.
I am a certificated high school English teacher, but earn my living by writing. I understand the frustrations students face -- narrowing a topic, constructing a thesis, organizing material, and creating compelling transitions and conclusions. Learning to write clearly can make you a better thinker, a better reader, and a more successful student.
Even though I love to read, I understand that many students struggle. Reading with someone to help explain vocabulary and understand themes can help in preparing for class, reviewing for tests, and earning good grades.
back to top
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<urn:uuid:8ab97b38-f00c-4fcf-8c62-6ae501ad0afc>
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://www.wyzant.com/Tutors/CA/Pasadena/8055608/?g=3MG
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s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
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en
| 0.955959
| 150
| 2.5625
| 3
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|Type||Main battle tank|
|Place of origin||USSR|
|In service||1963 – present|
|Used by||Soviet Union, Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan|
|Designer||Morozov Design Bureau|
|Designed||1951 – 62|
|Produced||1963 – 87|
|Weight||38 tonnes (42 short tons; 37 long tons)|
|Length||9.225 m (30 ft 3.2 in) (gun forward)|
|Width||3.415 m (11 ft 2.4 in)|
|Height||2.172 m (7 ft 1.5 in)|
|Armour||20–450 mm (0.79–18 in) of Glass-reinforced plastic sandwiched between layers of steel.
ERA plates optional
|D-81T 125 mm smoothbore gun|
|7.62 mm PKMT coax machine gun, 12.7 mm NSVT antiaircraft machine gun|
|Engine||5DTF 5-cyl. diesel
700 hp (522 kW)
|Power/weight||18.4 hp/tonne (13.7 kW/ton)|
|500 km (310 mi), 700 km (430 mi) with external tanks|
|Speed||60.5 km/h (37.6 mph) (road)|
The T-64 is a Soviet main battle tank, introduced in the early 1960s. It was a more advanced counterpart to the T-62: the T-64 served tank divisions, while the T-62 supported infantry in motor rifle divisions. Although the T-62 and the famed T-72 would see much wider use and generally more development, it was the T-64 that formed the basis of more modern Soviet tank designs like the T-80.
The T-64 was conceived in Kharkiv, Ukraine as the next-generation main battle tank by Alexander A. Morozov, the designer of the T-54 (which in the meantime would be incrementally improved by Leonid N. Kartsev's Nizhny Tagil bureau, in models T-54A, T-54B, T-55, and T-55A).
A revolutionary feature of the T-64 is the incorporation of an automatic loader for its 125-mm gun, allowing a crewmember's position to be omitted, and helping to keep the size and weight of the tank down. Tank troopers would joke that the designers had finally caught up with their unofficial hymn, "Three Tankers"—the song had been written to commemorate the crewmen fighting in the Battle of Khalkhin Gol, in 3-man BT-5 tanks in 1939.
The T-64 also pioneered other Soviet tank technology: the T-64A model of 1967 introduced the 125-mm smoothbore gun, and the T-64B of 1976 would be able to fire a guided antitank missile through its gun barrel.
The T-64 design was further developed as the gas turbine-powered T-80 main battle tank. The turret of the T-64B would be used in the improved T-80U and T-80UD, and an advanced version of its diesel engine would power T-80UD and T-84 tanks built in Ukraine.
The T-64 would be used only by the Soviet Army and never exported, unlike the T-54/55. It was superior to these tanks in most qualitative terms, until the introduction of the T-72B model in 1985. The tank equipped elite and regular formations in Eastern Europe and elsewhere, the T-64A model being first deployed with East Germany's Group of Soviet Forces in Germany (GSFG) in 1976, and some time later in Hungary's Southern Group of Forces (SFG). By 1981 the improved T-64B began to be deployed in East Germany and later in Hungary. While it was believed that the T-64 was "only" reserved for elite units, it was also used by much lower "non-ready formations", for example, the Odessa Military District's 14th Army.
With the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991, T-64 tanks remained in the arsenals of constituent republics. Currently, slightly fewer than 2,000 of the old Soviet inventory of T-64 tanks are in service with the military of Ukraine and about 4,000 remain in service with the Russian Ground Forces.
Development history
The initial requirement
Recognizing that the T-55/T-62 lineage had finally exhausted its potential for improvement, the USSR embarked upon the development of an entirely new tank design that could defeat new Western tanks like the British Chieftain and resist new Western anti-tank weapons.
Project 430
Studies for the design of a new battle tank started as early as 1951. The KB-60M team was formed at the Kharkiv design bureau of the Kharkiv transport machine-building factory No. 75 named for Malyshev (Russian: конструкторское бюро Харьковского завода транспортного машиностроения №75 им. Малышева) by engineers coming back from Nizhniy Tagil, with A.A. Morozov at its head. A project named obyekt 430 gave birth to three prototypes which were tested in Kubinka in 1958. Those vehicles showed characteristics which were going to radically change the design of battle tanks on this side of the Iron Curtain. For the first time, an extremely compact opposed-piston engine was used : the 4TD, designed by the plant's engine design team. The transmission system comprised two lateral gears on each side of the engine. Those two innovations yielded a very short engine compartment with the opening located beneath the turret. The engine compartment volume was almost half that of the T-54. The cooling system was extracting and a new lightweight suspension was fitted, featuring hollow metallic wheels of a small diameter and caterpillar tracks with rubber joints.
The tank would keep a D-10TS 100 mm gun and frontal armour of 120 mm. As it did not present a clear superiority in terms of combat characteristics when compared to the T-55 which was entering active service, Morozov decided that production was not yet ready given the project's drawbacks. However, studies conducted on the obyekt 430U, featuring a 122 mm gun and 160 mm of armour, demonstrated that the tank had the potential to fit the firepower and armour of a heavy tank on a medium tank chassis. A new project was consequently started, obyekt 432.
Project 432
The gun fitted on this new tank was a powerful 115 mm D-68 (2A21). This was a potentially risky decision to replace the human loader by an electro-hydraulic automatic system, since the technology was new to Russian designers. The crew was reduced to three, which allowed an important reduction in internal volume, and consequently in weight, from 36 tonnes (obyekt 430) to 30.5 tonnes. The height dropped by 76 mm.
However, the arrival of the British 105 mm L7 gun and the US M-68 variant of it, fitted respectively to the Centurion and M60 tanks, forced the team to undertake another audacious première, with the adoption of a composite armour. The recently created process was called "K combination" by Western armies: this protection consisted of an aluminium alloy layer between two high strength steel layers. As a consequence, the weight of the prototype rose eventually to 34 tonnes. But as the engine was now a 700 hp (515 kW) 5TDF (also locally designed), its mobility remained excellent, far superior to the active T-62. The obyekt 432 was ready in September 1962 and the production started in October 1963 in Kharkiv plant. On December 30, 1966, it entered its service as the T-64.
Even as the first T-64s were rolling off the assembly lines, the design team was working on a new version which would allow it to keep firepower superiority, named obyekt 434. The brand new and very powerful 125 mm D-81T gun, from the Perm weapons factory, was fitted to the tank. This gun was merely a scaled-up version of the 115 mm smoothbore cannon from the T-62. The larger size of the 125 mm ammunition meant less could be carried inside the T-64, and with a fourth crewman loader taking up space as well, the tank would only have a 25-round capacity. This was unacceptably low for the Soviet designers, but strict dimensional parameters forbade them from enlarging the tank to increase interior space. The solution was to replace the human loader with a mechanical autoloader, cutting the crew to three and marking the first use of autoloaders in a Soviet MBT.(Perrett 1987:42) The 6ETs10 autoloader has 28 rounds and can fire 8 shots per minute; the stabiliser, a 2E23, was coupled to the new TPD-2-1 (1G15-1) sight. Night driving was also adapted with the new TPN-1-43A periscope which would benefit from the illumination of a powerful infrared L2G projector, fitted on the left side of the gun. The shielding was improved, with fibreglass replacing the aluminium alloy in the armour, and small spring-mounted plates fitted along the mudguards (known as the Gill skirt), to cover the top of the suspension and the side tanks. They were however extremely fragile and were often removed. Some small storage spaces were created along the turret, with a compartment on the right and three boxes on the front left. Schnorkels were mounted on the rear of the turret. A NBC protection system was fitted and the hatches were widened.
Prototypes were tested in 1966 and 1967 and, as production began after the six hundredth T-64, it entered service in the Soviet Army under the T-64A designation. Chief engineer Alexander Morozov was awarded the Lenin Prize for this model's success.
Designed for elite troops, the T-64A was constantly updated as available equipment was improved. After only three years in service, a first modernisation occurred, regarding :
- fire control, by replacing the sights with the TPD-2-49 day sight with an optical coincidence rangefinder and a TPN-1-49-23 night sight, and stabilisation by mounting a 2E26 system.
- the radio by mounting a R-123M
- night vision with a TBN-4PA for the driver and a TNP-165A for the tank leader. His battlepost was transformed by mounting a small stabilised turret with an anti-aircraft NSVT 12.7 mm x108 machine gun, electrically guided through an optical PZU-5 sight, and fed with 300 rounds. It could be used from within the tank so that the tank leader could avoid being exposed (as on previous tanks). The possibility of mounting a KMT-6 anti-mine system was also added.
A derived version appeared at the same time, designed for the commanding officer, and named T-64AK. It comprised a R-130M radio with a 10 m telescopic antenna which could be used only in a static position as it required shrouds, an artillery aiming circle PAB-2AM and TNA-3 navigation station, all of those could be supplied by an auxiliary gasoline-fired generator.
In 1976, the weapons system was improved by mounting a D-81TM (2A46-1), stabilised by a 2E28M2, supplied by an automatic 6ETs10M. The night sight is replaced by a TNPA-65 and the engine can accept different fuels, including diesel fuel, kerosene or gasoline. The production, first carried on the B variant, stopped in 1980.
But the majority of T-64As were still modernised after 1981, by mounting a six smoke grenade-launcher 81 mm 902A on each side of the gun, and by replacing the gill plates by a rubber skirt for a longer life. Some of them seem to have been fitted after 1985 with reactive bricks (as the T-64BV), or even with laser TPD-K1 telemeters instead of the optical TPD-2-49 optical coincidence rangefinder(1981). Almost all T-64's were modernised into T-64R, between 1977 and 1981, by reorganising external storage and snorkels, similar to the T-64A.
The design team was carrying on its work on new versions. Problems with the setup of the 5TDF engine occurred as the local production capacity was proven to be insufficient against a production done in three factories (Malyshev in Kharkiv, Kirov in Leningrad and Uralvagonzavod).
From 1961, an alternative to the obyekt 432 was studied, with 12 V-cylinder V-45 engine : the obyekt 436. Three prototypes were tested in 1966 in the Chelyabinsk factory. The order to develop a model derived from the 434 with the same engine gave the obyekt 438, later renamed as obyekt 439. Four tanks of this type were built and tested in 1969, which showed the same mobility as the production version, but mass production was not started. They served however as a basis for the design of the T-72 engine compartment.
In the beginning of the 1970s, the design team was trying to improve the tank further. The T-64A-2M study in 1973, with its more powerful engine and its reinforced turret, served as a basis for two projects :
- Obyekt 476 with a 6TD 1000 hp (735 kW) engine which served as a model for the T-80 combat compartment.
- Obyekt 447 which featured a new fire control with a laser telemeter, and which was able to fire missiles through the gun.
For the latter, the order was given to start its production under the name T-64B, as well as a derived version (which shared 95% of its components), the obyekt 437, without the missile guidance system for cost reasons. The latter was almost twice as much produced under the designation T-64B1. On September 3, 1976, the T-64B and the T-64B1 were declared good for the service, featuring the improved D-81Tm gun (2A46-2) with a 2E26M stabiliser, a 6ETs40 loader and a 1A33 fire control, including:
- a 1V517 ballistic calculator
- a 1G21 sight with laser telemetry
- a 1B11 cross-wind sensor.
Its ford capacity reaches 1.8 m without equipment. The T-64B had the ability to fire the new 9M112 "Kobra" radio-guided missile (NATO code "AT-8 Songster"). The vehicle then carries 8 missiles and 28 shells. The missile control system is mounted in front of the tank leader small turret and has many changes. The T-64B1 carries only 37 shells and has 2,000 7.62 mm rounds, against 1,250 for the T-64B.
They were modernised in 1981 by the replacement of the gun by a 2A46M1, the stabiliser by a 2E42, and the mounting of a 902A "Tucha-1" smoke grenade launcher in two groups of four, on each side of the gun. Two command versions are realised, very similar to the T-64AK: the T-64BK and the T-64B1K.
The decision, in October 1979, to start the production of the 6TD engine, and its great similarity with the 5TDF engine, allowed after some study to fit it in versions B and B1, but also A and AK, yielding the new models T-64AM, T-64AKM, T-64BM and T-64BAM, entering service in 1983.
The production ended in 1987 for all versions. The total production has reached almost 13,000.
Modernisations in Ukraine
- T-64BM2, with a 57DFM 850-hp (625 kW) engine, a new 1A43U fire control, a new 6ETs43 loader and the possibility to fire the 9M119 missile (NATO code "AT-11 Sniper").
- T-64U which integrated on top the 1A45 fire control (from the T-80U and T-84), PNK-4SU and TKN-4S optics for the tank commander and PZU-7 for the AA machine gun. The tank leader is then able to drive the tank and to use the gun directly if needed. The tank is also known as BM "Bulat".
The two variants are also protected by Kontakt-5 modular reactive armour, able to resist to kinetic energy projectiles, as opposed to the first models which were efficient only against HEAT shaped-charge ammunition. Those two variants could also be remotorised with the 6TDF 1000 hp (735 kW) engine.
As of October 2010, Ukrainian Army has 47 T-64BM "Bulat" [Т-64БМ "Булат"] in service. In 2010 the Kharkiv Malyshev Factory upgraded 10 T-64B tanks to T-64BM "Bulat" standard, and a further 19 will be delivered in 2011. These 29 tanks are being upgraded under a 200 million Hryvnia ($25.1 million) contract signed in April 2009. The T-64B [Т-64Б] tanks were originally produced at Kharkiv in 1980. According to Constantin Isyak (chief engineer of Malyshev Factory), the T-64BM "Bulat" is armoured to the level of modern tanks. They have 'Knife' [Нiж] reactive armour, and the 'Warta' [Варта] active defence system. The T-64BM "Bulat" weighs 45 tonnes (44 long tons), and with its 850 hp (630 kW) 5TDFM multi-fuel diesel engine can do 70 km/h (43 mph), and has a range of 385 km (239 mi). It retains the 125 mm smoothbore gun with an autoloader for 28 rounds, some of which can be guided missiles. It has a 12.7 mm AA machinegun, and a 7.62 mm coaxial machinegun.
Production history
The T-64 first entered production in 1967, shortly before the T-72. (Serial production begin in 1963. The T-64 formally entered service in army in 1967.) The T-64 was KMDB's high-technology offering, intended to replace the IS-3 and T-10 heavy tanks in independent tank battalions. Meanwhile, the T-72 was intended to supersede the T-55 and T-62 in equipping the bulk of Soviet tank and mechanized forces, and for export partners and east-bloc satellite states.
It introduced a new autoloader, which is still used on all T-64s currently in service, as well as all variants of the T-80 except the Ukrainian T-84-120. The T-64 prototypes had the same 115 mm smoothbore gun as the T-62, the ones put in full-scale production had the 125 mm gun.
While the T-64 was the superior tank, it was more expensive and physically complex, and was produced in smaller numbers. The T-72 is mechanically simpler and easier to service in the field, while it is not as well protected, and its manufacturing process is correspondingly simpler. In light of Soviet doctrine, the relatively small numbers of superior T-64 were kept ready and reserved for the most important mission: a potential outbreak of a war in Europe.
The T-64 was never common in Soviet service, except with those units stationed in East Germany. No T-64s were exported. Many T-64s ended up in Russian and Ukrainian service after the breakup of the Soviet Union.
- Ob'yekt 430 (1957) – Prototype with D-10T 100-mm gun, 120 mm armour, 4TPD 580 hp (427 kW) engine, 36 tonnes.
- Ob'yekt 430U – Project, equipped with a 122-mm gun and 160 mm of armour.
- T-64 or Ob'yekt 432 (1961) – Prototype with a D-68 115-mm gun, then initial production version with the same features, about 600 tanks produced.
- T-64R (remontirniy, rebuilt) or Ob'yekt 432R – Redesigned between 1977 and 1981 with external gear from the T-64A but still with the 115-mm gun.
- T-64A or Ob'yekt 434 – 125-mm gun, “gill” armour skirts, a modified sight, and suspension on the fourth road wheel.
- T-64T (1963) – Experimental version with a GTD-3TL 700 hp (515 kW) gas turbine.
- Ob'yekt 436 – Alternative version of Ob'yekt 432 with a V-45 engine. Three built.
- Ob'yekt 438 and Ob'yekt 439 – Ob'yekt 434 with V-45 diesel engine.
- T-64AK or Ob'yekt 446 (1972) – Command version, with a R-130M radio and its 10 m (33 ft) telescoping antenna, a TNA-3 navigation system, without antiarcraft machine gun, carrying 38 rounds of main gun ammunition.
- Ob'yekt 447 – Prototype of the T-64B. Basically a T-64A fitted with the 9K112 "Kobra" system and a1G21 gunsight . This is the "T-64A" displayed in the Kiev museum.
- T-64B or Ob'yekt 447A (1976) – Fitted with redesigned armour, 1A33 fire control system, 9K112-1 "Kobra" ATGM system (NATO code "AT-8 Songster"), TPN-1-49-23 sight, 2A46-2 gun, 2E26M stabiliser and 6ETs40 loader. Later B/BV models have more modern systems 1A33-1, TPN-3-49, 2E42 and a 2A46M-1 gun. From 1985 the T-64B was fitted with stronger glacis armour; older tanks were upgraded with a 16-mm armour plate. Tanks, equipped with the 1,000 hp 6DT engine are known as T-64BM.
- T-64BV – Features "Kontakt-1" reactive armour and "Tucha" 81-mm smoke grenade launchers on the left of the turret.
- T-64BM2 or Ob'yekt 447AM-2 – "Kontakt-5" reactive armour, rubber protection skirts, 1A43U fire control, 6ETs43 loader and able to fire the 9K119 missile (NATO code "AT-11A Sniper"), 5TDFM 850 hp (625 kW) engine.
- T-64U, BM Bulat, or Ob'yekt 447AM-1 – Ukrainian modernisation, bringing the T-64B to the standard of the T-84. Fitted with "Nozh" reactive armour, 9K120 "Refleks" missile (NATO code "AT-11 Sniper"), 1A45 "Irtysh" fire control, TKN-4S commander's sight, PZU-7 antiaircraft machine-gun sight, TPN-4E "Buran-E" night vision, 6TDF 1,000-hp (735 kW) engine.
- T-64B1 or Ob'yekt 437 – Same as the B without the fire control system, carrying 37 shells.
- T-64B1M – T-64Ba equipped with the 1,000-hp 6DT engine.
- T-64BK and T-64B1K or Ob'yekt 446B – Command versions, with an R-130M radio and its 10-m telescoping antenna, a TNA-3 navigation system and AB-1P/30 APU, without antiaircraft machine gun, carrying 28 shells.
- Obyekt 476 – Five prototypes with the 6TDF engine, prototypes for T-80UD development.
- BREM-64 or Ob'yekt 447T – Armoured recovery vehicle with a light 2.5-tonne crane, dozer blade, tow bars, welding equipment, etc. Only a small number was built.
- T-55-64 – Heavily upgraded T-55 with the complete hull and chassis of the T-64, fitted with "Kontakt-1" ERA. Prototype.
- T-80 and T-84 –further developments of the T-64.
- 1977–1981 – brought to the T-64R standard, reorganisation of external equipment as on the T-64A.
- 1972 redesign, fire control improvement (TPD-2-49 and TPN-1-49-23), inclusion of the NSVT machine gun on an electrical turret, R-123M radio.
- 1975 redesign, new 2E28M stabiliser, 6ETs10M loader, multi-fuel engine, 2A46-1 gun and TNPA-65 night vision.
- 1981 redesign, two sets of six 902A smoke grenade launchers, rubber skirts on the suspension instead of the Gill protection.
- 1983 T-64AM,T-64AKM, some tanks were equipped with the 6TDF engine during maintenance.
- 1981 redesign, 2 sets of four 902B2 smoke grenade launchers, 2A26M1 gun.
- 1983 T-64BM,T-64B1M,T-64BMK and T-64B1MK: some tanks were equipped with the 6TDF engine during maintenance.
- 1985 T-64BV,T-64B1V,T-64BVK and T-64B1VK: with "Kontakt" reactive armour, smoke grenade launchers on the left of the turret.
- BM Bulat – T-64 modernization by the Malyshev Factory in Ukraine (see above).
- BMPV-64 – Heavy infantry fighting vehicle, based on the chassis of the T-64 but with a completely redesigned hull with a single entry hatch in the rear. Armament consists of a remote-controlled 30-mm gun. Combat weight is 34.5 tons. The first prototype was ready in 2005.
- BTRV-64 – Similar APC version.
- UMBP-64 – Modified version that will serve as the basis for several (planned) specialized vehicles, including a fire support vehicle, an ambulance and an air-defence vehicle.
- BMPT-K-64 – This variant is not tracked but has a new suspension with 4 axles, similar to the Soviet BTR series. The vehicle is powered by a 5TDF-A/700 engine and has a combat weight of 17.7 tons. It is fitted with a RCWS and can transport 3+8 men. Prototype only.
- BAT-2 – Fast combat engineering vehicle with the engine, lower hull and "small roadwheels" suspension of the T-64. The 40-ton tractor sports a very large, all axis adjustable V-shaped hydraulic dozer blade at the front, a single soil ripper spike at the rear and a 2-ton crane on the top. The crew compartment holds 8 persons (driver, commander, radio operators plus a five-man sapper squad for dismounted tasks). The highly capable BAT-2 was designed to replace the old T-54/AT-T based BAT-M, but WARPAC allies received only small numbers due to its high price and the old and new vehicles served alongside during the late Cold War.
Service history
The tank remained secret for a long time, the West often confusing it with the less-evolved T-72 tank. The T-64 was never exported, and has seen only limited combat experience—in the campaigns against Chechen separatists.
According to David Isby the T-64 first entered service in 1967 with the 41st Guards Tank Division in the Kiev Military District, the suggestion being that this was prudent due to the proximity of the division to the factory, and significant teething problems during induction into service that required constant presence of factory support personnel with the division during acceptance and initial crew and service personnel training on the new type.
- Transnistria - T-64BVs are in service in unknown numbers by the Dnestr separatists.
- Russia – Around 100 are in reserve and 4,000 are probably in storage.
- Ukraine – 2,345 were in service as of 1995, 2,277 as of 2000 and 2,215 as of 2005. Currently around 600 are in service, 1500+ in storage and over 90 from those that are in active service are modernized to T64 BM Bulat.
- Uzbekistan – 100 in service as of 2013.
Potential operators
- Peru - T-64s offered by Ukraine will be part of comparative tests done by the Peruvian Army to find a replacement for their aging T-55s. Between 120 and 170 tanks may be aquired. The T-64 is competing against the T-90S, M1A1 Abrams, Leopard 2A4 and A6, and the T-84.
Former operators
- Soviet Union – Passed on to successor states.
T-64BV technical information
Capabilities and Limitations
The T-64 did not share many drawbacks with the T-72, even if it is often confused with it:
- The automatic loader, hydraulic and not electric, is much faster (loading cycle of 6 to 13 seconds) and more reliable, and less sensitive to jolting when running off-road. It also has a "sequence" fire mode which feeds the gun with shells of the same type in less than 5 seconds. It is also able, in the modern versions, to turn backwards to keep a good speed at the end of the loading sequence.
- Driving seems much less exhausting for the crew, thanks to assisted controls and a more flexible suspension. (Perrett 1987:43)
- The ammunition is stowed at the lower point of the turret shaft, minimizing the risks of destruction by self-detonation.
- Protection, remains able to stop some types of modern projectiles.
- The fire control on the B version is very modern.
- The tank commander's cupola provides good vision, the antiaircraft machine gun can be operated from inside the turret; the commander can also control the main gun sight if necessary.
Additionally, the adoption of the autoloader was highly controversial for several reasons:
- Early versions of the autoloader lacked safety features and were dangerous to the tank crews (especially the gunner, who sits nearby): Limbs could be easily caught in the machinery, leading to horrible injuries and deaths. A sleeve unknowingly snagged on one of the autoloader's moving parts could also drag a crewman into the apparatus upon firing. (Perrett 1987:42)
- The turret was poorly configured to allow the human crew to manually load the gun should the autoloader break. In such situations, rate of fire usually slowed to an abysmal one round per minute as the gunner fumbles with the awkward task of working around the broken machine to load the gun. (Perrett 1987:42)
- While having smaller tank crews (three vs. the usual four) is advantageous since more tanks can theoretically be fielded using the same number of soldiers, there are also serious downsides. Tanks require frequent maintenance and refueling, and much of this is physically demanding work that several people must work together to accomplish. Most of the time, these duties are also performed at the end of a long day of operations, when everyone in the tank is exhausted. Having one less crewman for these tasks increases the strain on the remaining three men and increases the frequency of botched or skipped maintenance. This problem worsens if the tank's commander is also an officer who must often perform other duties such as higher-level meetings, leaving only two men to attend to the tank. (Perrett 1987:42-43) All of this means that tanks with three-man crews are more likely to suffer from performance-degrading human exhaustion, and mechanical failures that take longer to fix and that keep the tank from reaching the battlefield. These problems are exacerbated during prolonged time periods of operations.
- The T-64 was criticized for being too mechanically complex, which resulted in a high breakdown rate. Problems were worst with the suspension system, which was of an entirely new and advanced design on the tank. Due to these problems, teams of civilian mechanics from the T-64 factories were "semi-permanent residents" of Soviet tank units early. (Perrett 1987:43-44)
- Length (gun to the front): 9.295 m.
- Length (without the gun): 6.54 m.
- Breadth: 3.6 m.
- Height: 2.17 m.
- Weight: 42.4 t.
- Engine: 5DTF multifuel (diesel, kerosene and petrol) with 5 opposed cylinders, 10 piston, 13.6 L. Developing 700 hp (515 kW) at 2,800 rpm, consumption of 170 to 200 litres per 100 km.
- Transmission: two lateral gearboxes with seven forward and one backward gear.
- Three internal tanks for a 740 litres fuel capacity, two on the mudguards with 140 litres and two droppable 200 litres tanks on the aft end of the chassis.
- max. road speed: 60.5 km/h.
- max off-road speed: 35 km/h.
- power-to-weight ratio: 16.2 hp/t (11.9 kW/t).
- range: 500 km, 700 km with additional tanks.
- ground pressure: 0.9 kgf/cm2 (88 kPa, 12.8 psi).
- able to ford in 1.8 m of water without preparation and 5 m with snorkels.
- crosses a 2.8 m wide trench.
- crosses a 0.8 m high obstacle.
- max. slope 30°.
- 125 mm smoothbore 2A46M-1 gun (D-81TM) with carousel 6ETs40 loader, 28 shots, fire rate 8 shots per minute, 36 embedded shots (8 x 9M112M "Kobra" (NATO code "AT-8 Songster"), 28 shells). Available shells are all fin-stabilised:
- anti-personnel (APERS) version of the 3UOF-36, 3OVF-22, with several perforating abilities.
- armour-piercing shells (APFSDS) 3UBM-17 or 3UBM-19 or older ones with a supplementary charge giving them an initial speed of about 1800 m/s.
- hollow charge shells, 3VUK-25 or 3UBK-21.
- coaxial machine gun 7.62 mm PKT with 1,250 rounds.
- remote-controlled air-defence machine gun 12.7 mm NSVT "Utyos" with 300 rounds.
- 4+4 (T-64B) or 6+6 (T-64A) 81 mm smoke mortars 902B "Tucha-2".
- The 1A33 fire control system, with:
- Radio control of the 9K112 "Kobra" missiles (NATO code "AT-8 Songster") launched from the gun.
- The 2E28M hydraulic stabiliser (vertical range -5°20' to +15°15')
- The gunner day sight 1G42 with embedded laser telemeter.
- The TPN-1-49-23 active IR night sight.
- The L2G IR projector left of the gun for illumination.
- The 1V517 ballistic calculator.
- The 1B11 anemometric gauge.
- The tank commander's cupola is equipped with:
- The PKN-4S combined day and night sight which allows a 360° vision and to fire the main weapons.
- The PZU-6 AA sight.
- The 2Z20 2-axis electrical stabiliser (vertical range -3° to +70°).
- The TPN-3-49 or TPN-4 and TVN-4 night vision for the driver.
- A R-173M radio.
- An NBC protection, with radiation detectors and global compartment overpressure.
- Two snorkels for crossing rivers with a depth up to 5 m.
- A KMT-6 mine clearing plough can be fitted at the front.
- 3-layer composite armour (K formula), with a thickness between 450 and 20 mm:
- front: 120 mm steel, 105 mm glass fibre, 40 mm steel.
- sides: 80 mm steel.
- front of the turret: 150 mm steel, 150 mm glass fibre, 40 mm steel
- lateral rubber skirts protecting the top of the suspension.
- Kontakt-1 reactive bricks covering:
- the front and the side of the turret
- the glacis
- the lateral skirts
See also
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to: T-64 tanks|
Tanks of comparable role, performance and era
- Chieftain tank : Approximate British equivalent
- T-64A Main Battle Tank at KMDB.
- Три танкиста (Three Tankers)
- Perrett 1987:42
- http://www.meshwar.vistcom.ru/tech/t-64.htm Main battle tank T-64 (Основной боевой танк Т-64)
- wknews.ru Украинская армия получила десять модернизированных Т-64, 28 October 2010
- Kharkiv Morozov Machine Building Design Bureau Main Characteristics of the Upgraded BM Bulat Battle Tank
- Sewell, Stephen, CW2 (rtd). "Why Three Tanks?" (Armor, July–August 1998), p.45.
- Т-64: Чи піде «під ніж» унікальна техніка? (T-64: Will Unique Technology go "Under the Knife"?) at Військо України (Ukrainian Army)
- p.13, Isby, per "Victor Suvorov"
- T-64 MBT at Warfare.ru
- Ground Forces Equipment - Ukraine
- Uzbek-Army Equipment
- Peruvian Tank Contenders - Army-Technology.com, May 17, 2013
- Isby, D.C. (1988). Ten million bayonets: inside the armies of the Soviet Union, Arms and Armour Press, London. ISBN 978-0-85368-774-0
- Perrett, Bryan (1987). Soviet Armour Since 1945. London: Blandford Press. ISBN 0-7137-1735-1.
- Saenko, M., V. Chobitok (2002). Osnovnoj boevoj tank T-64, Moscow: Eksprint. ISBN 5-94038-022-0.
- Sewell, Stephen ‘Cookie’ (1998). “Why Three Tanks?” in Armor vol. 108, no. 4, p. 21. Fort Knox, KY: US Army Armor Center. ISSN 0004-2420. (PDF format)
- Zaloga, Steven (1992), T-64 and T-80, Hong Kong: Concord, ISBN 962-361-031-9.
- BM Bulat Main Battle Tank, Ukraine
- Ukrspets on T-64 upgrades
- Kampfpanzer T-64 (German language)
- T-64 and Bulat at KMDB (manufacturer's site)
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Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Politics of Quebec
Many of Quebec's political institutions are among the oldest in North America. The first part of this article presents the main political institutions of Quebec society. The last part will attempt to present an overview of Quebec's current politics and issues.
National Assembly of Quebec
The National Assembly of Quebec is part of a legislature based on the Westminster System. However, it has a few special characteristics, one of the most important ones being that it functions primarily in French, although English is allowed and the Assembly's records are published in both English and French. The representatives of the Quebec people are elected with the first-past-the-post electoral method.
The government is created by the majority party and it is responsible to the National Assembly. Since the abolition of the Legislative Council in 1968, the National Assembly has all the powers to enact laws in the provincial jurisdiction as specified in the Constitution of Canada.
The Legislative Assembly was created with the Constitutional Act of 1791. It was abolished from 1841 to 1867 under the Act of Union which merged Upper Canada and Lower Canada into a single colony named the Province of Canada. With the British North America Act 1867, which would later become the Constitution Act 1867, the Legislative Assembly was restored to former Lower Canada, today the province of Quebec.
Originally, the Quebec legislature was bicameral, consisting of the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly. In 1968 Bill 90 was passed by the Union Nationale government of Premier Jean-Jacques Bertrand, and the Legislative Council was abolished, with the Legislative Assembly being renamed the National Assembly. Before 1968, there had been various unsuccessful attempts at abolishing the Legislative Council, which was analogous to the Senate of Canada.
Main article: Executive Council of Quebec
The Executive Council is the body responsible for decision-making in the government. It is composed of the Premier (in French Premier ministre), the government ministers, the ministers of state and delegate ministers. The Executive Council directs the government and the civil service, and oversees the enforcement of laws, regulations and policies. Together with the lieutenant governor, it constitutes the government of Quebec. See also Premier of Quebec.
Government of Quebec
The government of Quebec consists of all the ministries and governmental branches that do not have the status of independent institutions such as municipalities and regional county municipalities.
The Quebec Ombudsman is a governmental institution responsible for handling complaints from individuals, companies and associations who believe the government of Quebec or any of its branches has made an error or treated them unjustly. The Ombudsman has certain powers defined by the Public Protector Act. The Quebec Ombudsman has a social contract with Quebecers to ensure the transparency of the state.
Human Rights and Youth Commission
The Human Rights and Youth Commission is an organization created by the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms. It has been given the powers to promote and protect the human rights within all governmental institutions.
Office québécois de la langue française
The Office québécois de la langue française (Quebec Office of the French language) is an organization created in 1961. Its mandate was greatly expanded by the 1977 Charter of the French Language. It is responsible for applying and defining Quebec's language policy pertaining to linguistic officialization, terminology and francization of public administration and businesses.
See language policies for a comparison with other jurisdictions in the world.
Conseil du statut de la femme
Established in 1973, the Conseil du status de la femme (Council on the Status of Women) is a government advisory and study council responsible for informing the government of the status of women's rights in Quebec. The council is made of a chair and 10 members appointed by the Quebec government every four to five years. The head office of the council is in Quebec City and it has 11 regional offices throughout Quebec.
Commission d'accès à l'information du Québec
A first in North America, the Commission d'accès à l'information du Québec (Quebec Commission on Access to Information) is an institution created in 1982 to administer the Quebec legislative framework of access to information and protection of privacy.
The first law related to privacy protection is the Consumer Protection Act, enacted in 1971. It ensured that all persons had the right to access their credit record. A little later, the Professional Code enshrined principles such as professional secrecy and the confidential nature of personal information.
Today, the CAI administers the law framework of the Act respecting access to documents held by public bodies and the protection of personal information as well as the Act respecting the protection of personal information in the private sector.
Chief electoral officer of Quebec
Independent from the government, this institution is responsible for the administration of the Quebec electoral system.
Municipal and regional institutions
The vast territory of Quebec is divided into 17 administrative regions. They are: Bas-Saint-Laurent, Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, Capitale-Nationale, Mauricie, Estrie, Montréal, Outaouais, Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Côte-Nord, Nord-du-Québec, Gaspésie-Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Chaudière-Appalaches, Laval, Lanaudière, Laurentides, Montérégie, and Centre-du-Québec.
Inside the regions, there are municipalities and regional county municipalities (RCMs).
On July 1, 1998, 69 linguistic school boards, 60 francophone and 9 anglophone, were created in replacement for the former 153 Protestant and Catholic boards. In order to pass this law, which ended a debate of over 30 years, it was necessary for the Parliament of Canada to amend Article 93 of the Constitution Act 1867.
- List of Quebec school boards
- List of Quebec schools
- Education in Quebec
Main article: Political parties in Quebec
The current major political parties in Quebec are:
Other recognized parties include:
- The Union des forces progressistes
- The Bloc pot
- The Parti égalité/Equality Party
- The Parti marxiste-léniniste du Québec
- The Parti démocratie chrétienne du Québec
- The Parti vert du Quebec (Green Party)
Historical parties include:
- The Union Nationale
- The Parti créditiste or Ralliement créditiste
- The Bloc populaire
- The Action libérale nationale
- The Parti conservateur du Québec
- The Ralliement national
- The Rassemblement pour l'indépendance nationale
- The Parti républicain du Québec
Quebec is a participating government in the international organization the Francophonie, which can be seen as a sort of Commonwealth of Nations for French-speaking countries. Since the 1960s, Quebec has an international network of delegations which represent the Government of Quebec abroad. It is currently represented in 28 foreign locations and include 6 General delegations (government houses), 4 delegations (government offices), 9 government bureaux, 6 trade branches, and 3 business agents.
Politics of Quebec today
Recent political history
When Quebec became one of the four founding provinces of Confederation, guarantees for the maintenance of its language, culture, and religion were specifically written into the Constitution. English and French were made the official languages in Quebec and school systems which provided for public funding of religious schools were established. Unfortunately for French-speaking Canadians, the same was not true for the other provinces. Under the Constitution the provinces had control of education, and in Quebec the school system was entirely confessional. The Protestants and Roman Catholics ran separate school systems in Quebec until the 1990s when secularization of schools took place under the Parti Québécois government.
Under the Union Nationale government of Maurice Duplessis and all previous governments, the Roman Catholic Church was allowed to maintain control over social services such as schools and hospitals. In return, the clergy used its influence to exhort voters to stay with the conservative government, which also took firm stands against social reform and unionism.
In 1960, under a new Liberal Party government led by Premier Jean Lesage, the political power of the church was greatly reduced. Quebec entered an accelerated decade of changes known as the Quiet Revolution. In 1966 the Union Nationale returned to power despite losing the popular vote by nearly seven points to the Liberal Party.
During the 1960s, a group known as the Front de libération du Québec was formed in an effort to attain independence for Québec. Their activities culminated in events referred to as the October Crisis when the British Trade commissioner to Canada was kidnapped along with Pierre Laporte, a provincial minister and Vice-Premier, who was killed a few days later.
A non-violent Quebec independence movement slowly took form in the late 1960s. The Parti Québécois was created by the sovereignty-association movement of René Lévesque; it advocated a reconfederation recognizing Quebec as an equal and independent nation. The Parti Québécois was elected in 1976. The first PQ government was known as the "republic of teachers" for its high number of candidates teaching at the university level. The PQ passed laws to favour equal financing of political parties and the Charter of the French Language (the so-called Bill 101). The Charter is a fundamental law making French the sole official language of Quebec while guaranteeing the rights of the English-speaking community. The first enactment of Bill 101 became controversial for its regulations on commercial signs. It banned English-only and bilingual signs, as the government claimed that they violated the right of the French-speaking majority. This section of the law was deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Canada under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, see: Ford v. Quebec (A.G.). The law was amended to comply with the Supreme Court ruling. The current 1988 law specifies that signs can be multilingual so long as French is predominant. Most businesses, following their customers' wishes, now voluntarily choose to put up French signs.
Premier Lévesque put sovereignty association before the Quebec voters in the 1980 Quebec referendum. Sixty per cent of the Quebec electorate voted against it. The Canadian government patriated the constitution in 1982 without the approval of the Quebec government. From 1985 to 1994, the federalist Parti libéral du Québec governed under Robert Bourassa and Daniel Johnson, Jr. Progress on the constitutional issue resulted in the Meech Lake Accord in 1987, but it collapsed in 1990. Another constitutional deal, the Charlottetown Accord, which sought to resolve a long list of unrelated issues at the same time as it resolved the rest of the nation's relationship with Quebec, was rejected by country-wide referendum in 1992.
The Parti Québécois was re-elected to office in 1994, led by Jacques Parizeau, and held the 1995 referendum on sovereignty. On October 30, 1995, the measure was rejected by an extremely slim margin, less than one per cent. The federal Liberal Party under Prime Minister Jean Chrétien came under sharp criticism for mishandling the "No" side of the referendum campaign.
Parizeau resigned and was replaced by the head of the federal Bloc Québécois, Lucien Bouchard. Under Bouchard, the sovereignist option was pushed aside, as it didn't seem possible to gather "winning conditions".
Still today, the political status of Quebec inside Canada remains a central question. This desire for greater provincial autonomy has often been expressed during the annual constitutional meetings of provincial premiers with the Prime Minister of Canada. In Quebec, no single option regarding autonomy currently gathers a majority of support. Therefore, the question remains unresolved after almost 50 years of debate. However, after a ten-year rule by the separatist Parti Québécois government, Jean Charest, leader of the federalist Parti Libéral du Québec, became premier of the province in the 2003 Quebec election.
The National Question
Main article: Quebec federalism
The federalist nationalists are nationalists who believe it best for the people of Quebec to reform the Canadian federation in order to accommodate the wish of Quebecers to continue to exist as a society distinct by its culture, its history, its language, and so on. They recognize the existence of the Quebec political (or civic) nation; however, they do not think Quebecers truly wish to be independent from the rest of Canada. Before the arrival of the Parti Québécois, all major Quebec parties were federalist and nationalist. Since then, the party most associated with this view is the Liberal Party of Quebec. On two occasions, federalist nationalists of Quebec attempted to reform the Canadian federation together with allies in other provinces. The 1990 Meech Lake Accord and the 1992 Charlottetown Accord were both ultimately unsuccessful.
Trudeauists defend Quebec remaining within Canada and keeping the status quo regarding special constitutional recognition for the province. They also defend the need for the federal government to assume the major role in the Canadian system, with occasional involvement in areas of provincial jurisdiction. They do not recognize the national status of Quebec, formally or informally. The traditional vehicle for Trudeauists is the Liberal Party of Canada.
Main article: Quebec sovereigntism
Sovereigntists are nationalists who do not believe Canada to be reformable in a way that could answer what they see as the legitimate wish of Quebecers to govern themselves freely. They opt for the independence of Quebec; however, at the same time they insist on offering an economic and political partnership to the rest of Canada on the basis of the equality of both nations. The political parties that the sovereignists created are the Bloc Québécois and the Parti Québécois, which its members define as a party of social democrat tendency. The Parti Québécois organized two referendums that could have led to negotiations for independence: one in 1980 and one in 1995. The No side won both.
- État québécois
- List of Quebec general elections
- List of Quebec premiers
- List of Quebec leaders of the Opposition
- National Assembly of Quebec
- Political parties in Quebec
- History of Quebec
- Timeline of Quebec history
- Quebec nationalism
- Quebec sovereigntism
- Quebec federalism
- Reference re Secession of Quebec
- National Assembly of Quebec
- Government of Quebec Website
- Chief Electoral Officer of Quebec
- La Politique québécoise sur le Web
- Conseil du statut de la femme
- Commission des droits de la personne
- The Courts of Quebec Website
- Office de la langue française
- Quebec Ombudsman
- Quebec English School Boards Association
The contents of this article is licensed from www.wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click here to see the transparent copy and copyright details
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Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (abbreviated J. Acoust. Soc. Am. or JASA) is a scientific journal in the field of acoustics, published by the Acoustical Society of America. It contains technical articles on sound, vibration, speech and other topics. Access to articles is by subscription or purchase, though most universities have access.
Children with hearing loss struggle to hear in noisy school classrooms, even with the help of hearing aids and other devices to amplify their teacher's voice. Training the brain to filter out background noise and thus understand ...
Health Feb 11, 2013 | not rated yet | 0
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Phillis Wheatley was the first African American poet: born in West Africa in 1753, brought to America on the slave ship, The Phillis, she was sold into slavery at age eight to the Wheatley family in Boston. The Wheatley children provided her with a solid classical education and she began writing poetry. Her Poems on Various Subjects was published in London in 1773, and she became a celebrity in Europe and America.
We have several important pieces by Wheatley, two manuscript poems in her hand, a presentation copy of her first book, and her 1770 Elegy on the Death of George Whitefield, but the object that often stands out is something she did not write.
It is a memento of her 1773 trip to London where she was presented to London society and even invited to visit King George III. During the trip she met Lord Dartmouth, yes, our Lord Dartmouth, who offered her a gift of an edition of Pope's translation of the Iliad. The gift must have had a certain resonance for Wheatley: according to most accounts she had studied Pope and read Virgil in Latin. Holding the book forces you into a very foreign world, one where a young woman could be feted in London and held up as a celebrated poet, yet remain a slave to a Boston family.
You can see all of these pieces: ask for DC History PA4025.A2P6 1771 for The Iliad;Ticknor PS866.W5 1773 for the Poems; Ticknor 772501.1 for the manuscript poem above; and Rare PS866.W5 E5 1770 for the Elegiac Poem.
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Did you Expect Anything Less?
Are you asking what they'll think of next? Not even they know.
Photographer: Rob Ratkowski
Summary Author: Rob Ratkowski
Astronomers are frequently asked why we have our observatories on high mountain tops. A big part of looking into deep space has to do with atmospheric transparency and freedom of particulates along with heat that causes blurring. A simple but effective understanding of this 'seeing' is to put a finger at arm’s length in front of the Sun and observe the aureole that’s produced. Held at arm’s length, a finger tip subtends about one half of a degree of sky – nearly the same amount of space that both the Sun and Moon take up. At sea level, observing is often compromised by the build up of heat, dust, moisture, haze, pollution, and aerosols that include ash and even salt. Higher up, there’s less of this to deal with since there’s less atmosphere to peer through. These three photos were taken on the Hawaiian island of Maui at (left to right) Baldwin Beach, Kula and Haleakala Observatory, respectively. The disk of the Sun is completely hidden by my index fingertip at 10,000 ft (about 3,050 m). Note, I can positively verify that my finger didn’t increase in size as a result of the thinner air.
And Now a Story About this Picture Written by Bracken and the folks at his Creatorium :)
Jack: The Snowman Hunter
Very little is known about the history of Jack Frost. In the early 1900's his legendary hunting skills moved him into a position of fame. Later, in the late 1970's, he became immortalized in a stop-motion movie about the beginning of Santa. But, in all reality- Jack was a snowman hunter, and a very good one at that.
Before Jack- Snowmen weren't the cute, cuddly creatures they make them appear to be on television. In fact- Frosty isn't like his actor portrayed at all. I know they made Jack Frost appear bad, but in all reality, they were switched in roles. Frosty was causing the blistering cold that was causing global freezing- starting in about 1883. Global freezing was scaring environmentalists, they were afraid that all the world oceans would freeze, and our precious water resource would vanish, until a massive flood would wipe everyone out (please refer to the documentary called ICE AGE, put out by my agency for more information).
Frosty was behind it. He had created a machine that would spiral the freezing cold weather out of control. It was a terrible problem for everyone around. Nobody knew that the source of the problem was actually a machine- most people were blaming el nino at the time.
Jack was working for an organization called the counter-freezing unit (CFU). He worked with several other people attempting to counter the freezing cold. A snowman attempted to blow up their headquarters, and that was the end of it. Jack was instantly on the job. He was able to take care of multiple global freezing threats. (For a completely revamped version of these missions- please watch the hit television series "24". The character Jack Bauer is based on Jack Frost).
This trophy wall- even though it looks evil, and sadistic- holds the heads of the snowmen that were attempting to freeze the world. Because of this trophy wall though, Jack Frost will forever be considered "evil"... Even though he saved all of us from an certain doom.
Just remember troops. Never judge a book by it's cover.
The centerpiece of the collection is the famous Howard Hughes “Spruce Goose. While not in flying condition it is in great physical shape. The sponsor of the museum is Evergreen Aviation, which is into everything from crop dusting to cargo and passenger charter services. In fact they have one of there own 747s parked out front. These guys have very deep pockets. The museum is a memorial to Captain Michael King Smith son of Evergreens owner. Captain Smith (He was an F-15 pilot in the Oregon Air National Guard) brokered the deal to move the Spruce Goose from Long Beach to Evergreens McMinnville Oregon facility. Tragically, he was killed in a car accident before the aircraft arrived. He was 26 years old. The facility is state of the art and has a very strong emphasis on education. Our Space Center would fit very nicely into their program. If only we could get a patron like that. This is not exactly the high travel season but a substantial number of people were there. Also there were about a half dozen classes they’re being supervised by guides who were obviously teachers themselves. They just added an IMAX Theater and a Space Museum to the existing aviation facility. Both are very well laid out. The current construction project is an indoor waterpark. With a real 747 perched on top and the slide tubes coming out of it as though they were emergency exits. This place is a destination by itself. But you can see the project is a true labor of love.
The Tillamook Blimp museum. By comparison looks a little shabby. They too have a large number of classic aircraft in flyable condition but you can see they have to scrape for money wherever they can. This facility is housed in an old WWII Blimp hangar made entirely of wood. It is amazing to see how it was constructed. What is more amazing is the amount of unrestricted space here is inside of it. Something like 7.5 acres. Movies are often filmed in the hangars that still exist. They make great studios. Question: Name 2 science fiction films that did a substantial amount of filming inside a Blimp Hanger?
Of course no trip to Tillamook in complete without a visit to the Cheese Factory. A fun place to visit and if you haven’t had lunch you can fill up on cheese and ice cream samples. Another Question: What is the definition of cheese making.
Near Tillamook I discovered the fabled city of Cloverdale. I have photographic proof. Actually I have more proof than I care to have. When I stopped and got out to take the picture I stepped square into a pile of cow manure. Upon retreating to the safety of my truck I discovered the aroma retreated with me. (I can’t make this stuff up!) At least Victor could have warned me as to the mainstay of Cloverdale’s economy. Forewarned, I would have watched my step.
I finally reached the coast late in the afternoon. The Grey Whales are supposedly migrating north this time of year; all I saw were a lot of waves. The coastline looks fine but the really rugged coastline is to the south. Did I say this would be a short blog. I guess it is short like Vic’s final bridge talk, before he starts a mission.
I’m done, Goodbye
Pictures From the Road:
The Business End of a Russian Booster
In Want to Own This Plane!
The Apollo 17 Capsule.
The Yukatat Lighthouse
Hello Troops,Greetings Space Center Staff, Volunteers and Fans.
While all many of us are stuck at home during this Spring Break Bill Schuler, our Space Center colleague, is on the road hunting down new destinations for his other job, a tour director for West Tours. This is Bill's first report 'On the Road'. Written just to make the rest of us jealous I'm sure.
I am writing you from beautiful Woodlawn Washington. Doesn’t that sound like a private mental institution? “Sorry Bill isn’t available, he’s resting at Woodland.” Truth is I am on the road for spring break. I generally do this every spring break. I pick a direction and go. I love snooping out new places. One year I even ended up in Mr. Williamson’s home town, Rapid City, South Dakota. This helped me understand Vic much better. Any town with concrete dinosaurs, 7 story churches, the worlds largest drug store, and statues of dead presidents peppered through its downtown streets is going to have a profound impact on any young intellect residing there.
Well I’m not in South Dakota, This year I decided to come up to the Northwest then drive down the coast. This isn’t entirely for pleasure. Being a Tour Director in the summer, the better acquainted I am in an area the more valuable I am to the company employing me. As I am being sent to run more tours of the Northwest and Coast It is in my best interest to better acquaint myself with the area. I took off about noon on Friday and made it as far as the Idaho, Washington boarder before calling it a night. I wanted to get closer to Portland that first night but I ran into 2 blizzards on the way. Fortunately I have four wheel drive and new tires, so chains did not come into the picture.
Next day I cruised through the Columbia River Gorge, which is very beautiful. Among other things I stopped at Vista House on the Gorge’s scenic highway. It gives you a fabulous view of the Columbia River Gorge. That however, was not its intended purpose, it was a fringe benefit. In reality it was at the time, the most expensive bathroom ever built. It was built in 1918 for the ladies who complained of the primitive nature of the comfort stations on the then new road. I also drove the Mount Hood Loop, a very scenic road here in Oregon, when you are not driving through a blizzard. I even stopped at a famous ski lodge that had snow up to the third story window. There should be a photo of the lodge with this post. Can anyone tell me what 1980s movie was filmed here, exteriors only.
The next day I spent in Portland, mapping out a more definitive tour of that city than I have done in the past. Portland is a beautiful city, if you don’t happen to need to drive through it. To put it mildly, this town is very motorcoach unfriendly. Imagine yourself as the Flight Officer aboard the Voyager and you must navigate through an asteroid field, except when you do it you are hung upside down by your ankles, blindfolded, hands crossed behind your back and tied, wearing headphones playing Nirvana at 300 decibels.
That done I headed for Seattle. This town I know well because I used to spend the summers up here while I was working for Holland America Line doing tours of Alaska and the Canadian Rockies. I hadn’t been there in ten years so I needed to refamiurize myself with the area. It can be rather grueling to map out a tour route cold turkey, I knew where all of the important sites where but the ballet of getting from point A to point B is another story. I was not looking forward to this day.
Then a bit of serendipity came in. While inspecting the hotel my company uses, I hear what sounds like a world War II tank rumbling down the road. I also hear strains of “Saturday Night Fever. Over this I hear very enthusiastic, nearly hyperactive commentary. I turn and behold a 1944 war surplus General Motors Amphibious DUK. Once used to deliver troops and supplies to World War II beachheads. As it races past propelled by some demented soul, I read the side of the vehicle, “Duck Tours!”
I think, Why not! I grab my faithful iPhone and type in duck tours on google maps. A moment later I see they are based near the Space Needle about 1.2 miles from my current location. The weather this morning was clear and warm so I went for it. With clipboard, paper and pen, I was able to rough out a suitable tour of the city. The tour guide had a very enthusiastic, bordering on silly, delivery but it worked fine for the 1.5 hour tour. I would never get away with that kind of frantic delivery on a 7 to 10 day tour. At the end of 2 days the group would mutiny, skin me alive and tack my skin on the side of the motorcoach as a warning to all other tour directors.
Tomorrow I head to the coast, the part of the trip I am really looking forward to. I am done with all the big cities, now its time to putter along, see the sites, hike and such. Looks like it will be wet and cool. That’s OK I grew up on the California Coast where fog is elevated to a religion. With sites like the Tillimook Cheese Factory, Blimp Hanger Museum, Sea Lion Caves, Worlds 2nd shortest river and Trees of Mystery, I won’t let a little rain get in the way.
So much for life on the road.
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William S. Burroughs
William Burroughs was born on February 5, 1914, in St. Louis, Missouri, the grandson of the inventor of the Burroughs adding machine. After his graduation from Harvard, he lived in Chicago and New York on an income of two hundred dollars a month from his parents. He met Lucien Carr and Allen Ginsberg in New York City around Christmas 1943 shortly after Ginsberg began studying at Columbia, and Burroughs impressed them with his erudition, as well as his sardonic humor and reserved poise. Older than the others in the group, he took on the role of teacher, encouraging Kerouac and Ginsberg in their attempts to write fiction and poetry.
Although Burroughs collaborated on a humorous sketch with a classmate, Kells Elvins, at Harvard and completed a short novel written in the style of Dashiell Hammett with Kerouac, both works were rejected by publishers, and Burroughs did not think of himself as a writer. Instead, his search for an identity led him to deliberately seek out a criminal life.
In the hope that he would feel at home in a "community of outlaws," Burroughs began buying stolen goods, including morphine Syrettes, and became addicted to morphine. In 1947 he began to live with Joan Vollmer, another member of the group around the Columbia campus, and they had a son William S. Burroughs, Jr. Joan was addicted to Benzedrine, and they moved to New Orleans, Texas, and Mexico City where drugs were more easily obtainable.
In the spring of 1950 Burroughs' old Harvard friend Kells Elvins visited him in Mexico City and talked him into writing a factual book about his drug experience as a "memory exercise." Burroughs set himself on a daily schedule, helped by injections of morphine. He finished the project in December, titled his book Junk, and set the manuscript to Lucien Carr in New York. Acting as an agent for both Burroughs and Kerouac. Ginsberg was able to get the book published as a pulp paperback in 1953 under the pseudonym "William Lee" with the lurid subtitle Confessions of an Unredeemed Drug Addict."
On September 6, 1951, Burroughs accidentally killed his wife and was charged in Mexico City with criminal imprudence. His parents took over the care of Billy Junior and brought him to their home in Florida. Released on bail, Burroughs left Mexico and traveled in South America looking for a drug called yage. His letters to Ginsberg describing his experiences in the cities, jungles, and mountains of Ecuador and Peru were collected in his volume later published by City Lights as The Yage Letters (1963), which Burroughs thought would interest readers after the success of Aldous Huxley's The Doors of Perception in 1954.
After Burroughs left South America, he settled in Tangier, where he could live cheaply and obtain the drugs he needed. Burroughs has said that the death of his wife gave him a literary vocation. He felt that he had been possessed by an invader, "the Ugly Spirit," who controlled him at the time of the accident and maneuvered him into a lifelong struggle, "in which I have had no choise except to write my way out."
In February 1957 Kerouac came to visit him in Tangier and began to type the hundreds of handwritten pages of Burroughs' new book that Kerouac titled Naked Lunch. Writing it, Burroughs said he was "shitting out my educated Middlewest background once and for all. It's a matter of catharsis, where I say the most horrible things I can think of. Realize that--the most horrible dirty smily awful niggardliest posture possible. . . ."
Burroughs continued to work on the book until it's publication in 1959, thinking of it as a picaresque novel narrated by an alter ego, "William Lee." As his biographer, Ted Morgan, understood, Burroughs shared Ginberg and Carr's "New Vision" of the writer as an outlaw and creating a "literature of risk." The compression and urgency of Naked Lunch in "the fragmentation of the text is like the discontinutity of the addict's life between fixes. . . . For Burroughs sees addiction as a general condition not limited to drugs. Politics, religion, the family, love, are all forms of addiction. In the post-Bomb society, all the mainstays of the social order have lost their meaning, and bankrupt nation-states are run by 'control addicts.'" Burroughs' essay "Deposition: Testimony Concerning a Sickness." describing an experimental cure for herion addiction developed by a London doctor, was published in the Evergreen Review in 1960.
|WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS : WORDS | TEXTS | LINKS | FEEDBACK|
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measure from A to B, fold her tape in four and mark off the point E,
which is thus one quarter of the side.
Then, in the same way, mark off
the point F, one-fourth of the side AD.
Now, if she makes EG equal to
AF, and GH equal to EF, then AH is the required width for the path in
order that the bed shall be exactly half the area of the garden.
exact numerical measurement can only be obtained when the sum of the
squares of the two sides is a square number.
Thus, if the garden
measured 12 poles by 5 poles (where the squares of 12 and 5, 144 and
25, sum to 169, the square of 13), then 12 added to 5, less 13, would
equal four, and a quarter of this, 1 pole, would be the width of the
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Annually, the RSPCA receives over 7,000 phone calls about litter-related incidents and our officers regularly rescue pets, farm and wild animals trapped or hurt by discarded litter.
With many pet and farm owners going direct to vets, and many injured wild animals never being found, it is estimated that this figure is just the tip of the iceberg.
Here are just some of the preventable incidents we have dealt with. Many more animals are harmed or killed because of carelessly discarded rubbish.
- A fox cub with its head stuck in a dumped wheel hub.
- A badger cub with a plastic can holder embedded in its neck.
- A cat that lacerated the footpad of its paw on some broken glass.
- A dog with its tongue caught in a discarded can.
- A cow with its head stuck in a fly-tipped washing machine.
- A hedgehog that got its head wedged in an empty carrot tin.
- A seal with fishing net caught around its neck.
- A dog that cut an artery on a sharp piece of metal.
What you can do to help
Protecting pets, farm animals and wildlife from harmful rubbish is straightforward – simply dispose of your waste responsibly.
- Recycle and reuse where you can
- Otherwise take your rubbish home and put it in a bin.
Everyday objects can become hazards to animals
Once balloons burst, animals can mistake them for food and can choke.
- Cut used balloons into pieces before putting in the bin.
- Avoid balloon releases as the balloons can land anywhere. Read more in our wildlife factsheet above on the right.
- Chinese or sky lanterns
The debris from Chinese lanterns, also known as sky or flying lanterns, can have devastating effects on animals.
- Pick up the debris if you see it lying around.
- Use alternatives to Chineses lanterns, such as static candles and nightlights.
- Containers and cans
Attracted by leftovers, animals will forage inside and get their heads trapped, like this hedgehog pictured here. Larger animals may get their tongues caught or damaged by sharp edges. Animals such as cats, foxes, gulls, rats and dogs often rummage in rubbish bins.
- Clean cans and containers, drop lids inside cans and pinch cans shut.
- Cut containers in half.
- Try to recycle where possible.
- Elastic bands
These get caught around necks of small animals and beaks of birds. They can also be swallowed, causing an animal to choke.
- Whenever possible reuse bands.
- Cut them open before putting in a bin.
- Fishing tackle
Line can get caught around legs, wings, necks and beaks, and hooks can pierce skin and muscle or be swallowed causing internal injuries. It is estimated that around 8,000 swan rescues take place each year. Many of these swans have injuries caused by fishing tackle.
- Take unwanted line home and cut it into small pieces before putting it in a bin.
- Wrap hooks in newspaper before putting in a bin.
- Read more in our wildlife factsheet above on the right.
Bottles and jars break easily, leaving sharp pieces that can cause serious injury. Animals can get trapped in glass jars, like the fox cub pictured here.
- Clean and recycle glass at a bottle bank.
- Plastic bags
Animals can climb inside and suffocate, or eat them and choke. Each bag takes hundreds of years to decompose and are not broken down once eaten so can kill more than one animal.
- Tie a knot in all bags before disposing of them.
- Better still, reuse or recycle.
- Plastic can holders
Animals can get entangled, like this mallard duck pictured right. This can cause deep sores, wounds and choking.
- Always cut the loops before putting in a rubbish or recycling bin.
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It’s a fact that all distilled spirits and beers have one common ingredient – the most essential ingredient of the product, that being water. Unfortunately, most water is a lot more that just H2O, which often adversely impacts the final product. Chlorine, iron, manganese, chloramines, tannin, nitrate, TDS, sodium, chlorides, sulfates and many other elements in the water are not desirable for distilling alcohol or brewing beer.
Beer contains approximately 90% water, and the importance of the water to final beer quality cannot be over-estimated. Water impacts beer in three ways: (1) Water ions are critical in the mashing process for all grain brewers, where the character of the water determines the efficiency and flavor of the extracted wort; (2) water also affects the perceived bitterness and hop utilization of finished beer; and (3) water adds flavor directly to the beer itself because water is the largest single component in finished beer.
Depending upon the type of beer, certain water ions will greatly affect the final product: magnesium, calcium, sulfate, chloride, carbonate and sodium. US Water does not brew beer, but the best brewers do start with the highest purity and add back certain ions depending upon the type of beer they are brewing. US Water specializes in providing high-purity water for all distillation and brewing companies, especially smaller companies, micro-breweries and distilleries that uses under 30,000 gallons per day.
The age-old tradition of distilling whiskey involves just three simple ingredients: water, yeast, and barley. It is the purity of these elements that creates the complexity of character evident in the finest single malts. It is difficult to overstate the importance of water quality in the distilling of a premium single malt whiskey or scotch. Water literally is the lifeblood of the product. Apart from its direct role as an ingredient, water naturally informs the character of the remaining elements used in distilling. Vodka is also a distilled spirit that is enhanced with clean, clear water. US Water is the simple solution to solving all your water treatment problems for distilled spirit alcohol production.
To properly treat water for brewing and distillation, it is important that all unnecessary contaminants be removed. The most effective method for remoiving the largest spectrum of contaminants is Reverse Osmosis. Prior to the reverse osmosis system, chlorine and other organics are removed by a backwashing carbon filter and if the water contains iron/manganese or sulfur, it must also be removed. If the water is over 4 or 5 grain hard (over 70 mg/l hardness), then a water softener or anti-scalant must proceed the reverse osmosis system.
After the water is processed through the reverse osmosis system it is stored in an atmospheric storage tank that is from 100 gallons to up to 2,000 gallons in capacity. Some distilleries opt to put the water from the RO system through a deionization (DI) system which results in absolutely pure water with a pH of 7.0. After the storage tank, there is a re-pressurization pump that delivers the water to the desired sources at approximately 60 PSI up to 22 GPM. In order to prevent any airborne bacterial contamination, there is an ultraviolet (UV) light in-line to destroy any bacteria.
US Water offers a variety of monitoring and water quality options to monitor your water quality. Additionally, many breweries utilize a calcite filter which adds a small amount of calcium carbonate back to the water for flavor and to raise the pH. That is your choice – there is no right or wrong answer.
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<urn:uuid:54228f35-90c8-413c-925b-cd2ae794c708>
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://www.uswatersystems.com/blog/2012/06/water-treatment-for-breweries-and-distilleries/
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Why Set & Save?
Just click "Add to Set & Save" when placing items in your cart.
Pepper berries come from a woody climbing vine and grow in spike-like clusters. Immature berries are harvested, fermented and dried. In earlier times (1000 B.C. to 1000 A.D.) Pepper was so valuable that it was used as a currency, like gold.
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<urn:uuid:7eb723cd-49cf-4158-beef-660fb3a5e9b1>
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://www.vitacost.com/celebration-herbals-organic-black-pepper-coarse-grind
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Many women struggle to get pregnant because the number of eggs they have and the eggs' quality drops as women get older. But now Researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center are experimenting with a process that can create new eggs from ovarian cells.
"We're just taking cells and then we're able to grow those cells outside the body. We're able to form the eggs again," said Dr. Anthony Atala of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.
Scientists hope these early stage eggs could one day be fertilized.
"The hope is to place those eggs back into the same patient so that there will be no rejection to the patient's own egg," Atala said.
So far, doctors have only tested the process on rats. But the ultimate goal is to use it with people, so women can have another source of eggs which are their own.
"It would give a huge boost to these patients for fertility options. Right now the most important thing for women to realize is that we don't have these options available yet," said Dr. James Goldfarb, the medical director at University Hospital's Fertility Center.
And researchers at Wake Forest agree it will be quite some time before they try to create eggs from women's cells.
The Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest is currently working to grow more than 30 different organs and tissues in their laboratory.
PO Box 4508
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<urn:uuid:ca4d51af-4854-43c9-b6af-45b08c20a952>
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://www.wcax.com/story/20035896/hope-for-patients-who-cant-get-pregnant
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President of the Southern States
Out of the depths of the 80’s, Ta-Nehisi Coates unveils Hank Williams, Jr’s “If the South Woulda Won,” an absolutely astonishing hymn to how great it woulda been:
Coates laconically suggests we “Notice the whiteness of the “we,” and generally how black people do not figure in.”
Which is true, but doesn’t even scratch the surface of the crazy. Let’s start with the almost total evacuation of politics into culture: in the world of this song, the idea of Hank Williams, Jr, singing “I’d probably run for president of the Southern States” comes to seem almost natural since the singer’s father, Hank Williams senior, has his picture on the hundred dollar bill and “the day Elvis passed way would be our national holiday” (reprised with Lynrd Skynrd and Patsy Cline). If the South woulda won, in other words, the nation woulda been defined by a sainted aristocracy of cultural heroes. Which makes some sense; such a polity has to be imagined specifically not in terms of political figures — the Lee’s, the Jackson’s, the Jefferson Davis’ etc — because those people are tainted by actual politics, the actual real world in which black people exist and were enslaved. Instead, you have to invest authenticity (and civic authority) in entertainers, who can give you the fantasy. This might be why, instead of restoring Richmond, the historical capital of the confederacy, he imagines how “we’d put that capitol back in Alabama,” whatever that means.
Some other highlights are the line “We’d put Florida on the right track, cause we’d take Miami back” — not that we’re racist or anything — and the amusing conceit that “Southern Justice” had anything to do with proof, as in the line “If they were proven guilty, then they would swing quickly, instead of writing books and smiling’ on TV.” It’s also kind of cute that he wants to ban all the “cars made in China.” Oh, the 80’s!
But what really caught my attention was the great blast of NOLA brass from about 1:20-1:38, by far the funkiest part of the entire song. Up until that point, the closest thing we’ve gotten to syncopation is the little riff off “Dixieland” that punctuates the line “…president of the Southern States”; the rest of the song is the ploddingly dead country beat so beloved of boring musicians like him. But for about eighteen seconds in the middle of the song (and then reprised at the very end), we get a whole bunch of what is a distinctly, if not exclusively, black form of music. That’s not to say its Rebirth or anything, just to echo what Jorgen Harris pointed out in the comments to that post, that in moments like that you see — slipping through – “how huge the influence of black southerners has been on the southern culture that CSA nostalgics are so proud of.” Which is why it’s also worth noting that when he gets to Louisiana (in his state-by-state shout out), he emphasizes “cajun cooking” which is followed by a lick of cajun fiddle music right afterward. When it comes to celebrating Louisiana, you see, it’s important that the blackness of that musical lineage be displaced onto a safely white set of references, the white Acadians/Cajuns.
Which got me thinking. Who are the musicians actually playing that music? Are they white or are they black?
Not that it really matters, of course; but it would be interesting at least, if some of the session people on that track — as a commenter suggested — were not white. And the thing about the internet is that you can find out a lot of information while sitting at your kitchen table drinking coffee on a Saturday morning. So, after clicking around, I determined that — surprise! — all the horn players playing NOLA style brass music are white.
I started with Wikipedia, which tells us that the horn section consisted of Herbert Bruce, Ray Carroll, Quitman Dennis, Jack Hale, Michael Haynes, Jim Horn, Jerry McKinney. Herbert Bruce (trombone) is white. Ray Carroll (trumpet) was a longtime member of the Nashville Brass (whose recordings he now sells on the internet), and if this album cover is any indication, he is white. Quitman Dennis was harder, but via this account of Bobby Darin’s last concert, I determined that Dennis was one of the four backing musicians at that show, and in this clip of that show, you can see his glorious caucasionicity shining forth as he plays bass (he was a bassist as well as a sax player and arranger for Darin). Jack Hale is white. Jerry McKinney (saxophone) is a white guy, as I determined from this video of “Larry Raspberry and the High Steppers.” Jim Horn (baritone saxophone), is a white sax player who played sax on Pet Sounds, it appears. And finally, Michael Haynes… Well, when I found out he played trumpet with Confederate Railroad, I lost interest in searching any further.
So there’s that.
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://zunguzungu.wordpress.com/2010/11/20/president-of-the-southern-states/
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en
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Ernie is walking (or running or jumping or flying or dancing) and he falls (or trips or slips or tumbles). He hurt his nose (or knee or hand or forehead). What happened? Why is he crying? Where does it hurt? Where will you put the band-aid? Do you need a big band-aid or a little band-aid?
This was one of my favorite lessons when talking about body parts and all that was needed was a doll and a box of band-aids. Label body parts and actions, use appropriate verb tense, answer questions, increase utterance length, and turn taking are some of the objectives that could be covered during this activity.
A note of caution - I did have one student who was sensitive to latex so she used a plastic band-aid from an old Fisher - Price doctor's bag. However, latex free band-aids can be found at most pharmacies.
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<urn:uuid:18321814-51cb-48e6-9cfa-9e55b305dd64>
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://www.thebudgetslp.com/2012/09/cover-your-objectives-with-band-aids.html
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An Education professor at UMPI recently was in Spain to present at the Global Conference on Inclusive Education, an event organized by Inclusion International, a global federation of organizations advocating for the human rights of people with intellectual disabilities worldwide.Dr. JoAnne Putnam gave a presentation titled Teacher Education Program Models for Inclusion during the conference, which was held in Salamanca, Spain from Oct. 21-23. Inclusive education involves including students with special needs in the same educational arrangements as the majority of children through quality education and support for different styles and rates of learning.
The conference was co-sponsored by a number of organizations including: the United Nation Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education; the Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia de España; the Instituto Universitario de Integración en la Comunidad [INICO]; and Confederación Española de Organizaciones en favor de las Personas con Discapacidad Intelectual [FEAPS].
In 1994, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization [UNESCO] convened the World Conference on Special Education and 92 governments adopted Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights guaranteeing "the right to education...directed to the full development of the human personality and promoting understanding, tolerance, and friendship."
Fifteen years later - at the conference Putnam attended in Spain - educators, policy makers, and parents met to evaluate progress toward the goal of inclusion and confront the gap between policy and the reality in schools. Program Chair for the conference was Gordon Porter, Chair of the New Brunswick Human Rights Commission and Director of Inclusive Initiatives for the Canadian Association for Community Living, who is also an adjunct professor at UMPI.
"Throughout the world, there seems to be a denial of the needs of children with disabilities," Putnam said.
UNESCO reports that 77 million children are not in school and 25 million have a disability. According to the 2009 report Better Education for All, systemic barriers to inclusive education include public policy failures, a political vacuum of leadership and accountability, unsupported families, unsupported teachers and, although there is an abundance of knowledge, a lack of knowledge mobilization.
Putnam's presentation focused on another barrier: the lack of training for teachers and educational administrators to adapt curriculum and create inclusive school communities.
Putnam said she was inspired by the spirit of cooperation and the willingness to confront the "separate and unequal" treatment of people with disabilities throughout the world. She said that the fact that there are greater proportions of children living in poverty or from minorities in special education is further impetus to address education equity issues in Maine and the U.S.
"In Maine, we have made great progress, and the majority of teachers are committed to teaching students with disabilities in general classes," Putnam said. "However, we still lack the resources and teacher support to attain equal education for all."
She is hopeful that the issues discussed at the Global Conference on Inclusive Education ultimately will help to address such matters.
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<urn:uuid:f831bfc1-c323-40aa-ad40-1147d7f0fa59>
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://www.umpi.edu/news/releases/item/09-10040?category_id=34
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Obtaining an ISBN for Your Self-Published Book
If you look at any commercially available book, the back cover lists the book's International Standard Book Number (ISBN) and barcode, along with the book's price. Any book that's sold anywhere in the world must have a unique ISBN.
An ISBN: What it is and why your book needs one
The ISBN system is an internationally recognized book identification system that's been in use since 1970. An ISBN is used for a variety of purposes, including inventory control; sales tracking; and order processing by booksellers, wholesalers, distributors, libraries, and universities. in January 2007, the ISBN became 13 digits long (it has been 10 digits long since 1970), divided into parts of variable length, with each part separated by a hyphen.
Some books have similar titles, or the same book may have multiple editions published over several years. To help keep track of every edition of every book that's published, each book is given a unique ISBN. The ISBN is displayed not only on the back cover, but also inside the book's interior on the copyright page and sometimes on the inside front or back cover.
The five parts of an ISBN-13 offer the following information:
- The new prefix: This three-digit number (currently 978 or 979) identifies the book industry.
- Group of country identifier: This section indicates the country where the book was published.
- Publisher identifier: This part of the number is a unique code given to every individual publishing company.
- Title identifier: This part of the ISBN is unique to every book and identifies the particular title or edition of that title.
- Check digit: This single digit at the end of the ISBN validates the number. In some cases, this could be the capital letter 'X' (the Roman numeral for the number 10).
Publishers who want to find out more about implementing the new 13-digit ISBNs can check out the following two sources:
- Download the free guide Guidelines for the Implementation of 13-Digit ISBNs. The guide is published by The International ISBN Agency.
Download the free, 21-page eBook ISBN-13 For Dummies, Special Edition (Wiley).
Without a proper ISBN, most places that sell books won't be able to order or sell yours.
How and when to register for an ISBN
Throughout the world, there are 160 ISBN agencies; each is responsible for assigning unique ISBNs to new books published within a specific region. The U.S. ISBN Agency handles the United States, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and Puerto Rico.
It's important to understand that if you're using a POD publisher or a publisher that offers a turnkey self-publishing solution to authors, that the publisher/printer typically obtains an ISBN on your behalf. You only need to acquire your own ISBN if you plan to self-publish your book entirely by yourself and establish your own publishing company to do this.
Even if you represent a small publishing company planning to publish only one or two book titles, you still need to acquire an ISBN publishing prefix, along with a block of at least 10 ISBNs. This process takes approximately 15 business days; however, for an additional fee a Priority Processing (two-day) or an Express (one-day) service is available.
To acquire an ISBN publisher prefix and purchase a block of ISBNs, you must first complete and submit the appropriate form — Application for An ISBN Publisher Prefix — to The U.S. ISBN Agency. This process can be done in a couple of different ways:
- Online application: Fill out your forms online and submit immediately. Online applications are free of charge.
- Printed forms: Download the printable forms. After you've filled out the forms, send them via
• Mail: R.R. Bowker, 630 Central Avenue, New Providence, NJ 07974
• Fax: (908) 219-0188
• E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.org
There is a one-time application submission fee of $20 for submitting paper forms.
All fees are nonrefundable and can be paid using a major credit card, check, or money order. In addition, ISBNs can't be transferred, sold, or reassigned because a portion of the 10- or 13-digit number represents the individual publishing company.
After you've submitted your application, you'll be asked for a wide range of information about your publishing company:
- The company/publisher name
- The company/publisher address, phone number, fax number, e-mail address, and Web site
- The name of the Rights and Permissions Contact within the company, the person's title, and phone number. (In most cases, this person is the self-published author.)
- The name of the ISBN Coordinator within the company, the title, and phone number. (In most cases, this person would be the self-published author.)
- The year the company was founded and started publishing
- The type of products produced by the company (books, videos, software, eBooks, spoken word cassettes/CDs)
- The company's primary focus in terms of subject areas covered
- Information about how your products are distributed
After you've obtained your ISBN publisher prefix and have assigned individual ISBNs to your upcoming books, each title can then be listed with Bowker's Books In Print, a comprehensive database and directory of all current and upcoming books. This directory is used by booksellers, libraries, schools, universities, and other institutions to search for and pre-order books and decide what books they want to carry in advance of the publication date. Check out the Web site.
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<urn:uuid:f49bc693-808b-43d2-8051-f4add713c5db>
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/obtaining-an-isbn-for-your-selfpublished-book.navId-404469.html
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[Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies: Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease].
ABSTRACT Different diseases of the transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) group are known to affect humans and various animals. Owing to the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) epidemic and the description of the new variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (nvCJD), which is probably linked to BSE, TSE received much attention. The nature of the causative agent is still disputed; none of the proposed concepts (prions, viruses) can explain all features. It is clear, however, that there is a genetic component in susceptibility to infection and in development of disease and that transmission may cross the species barrier. This paper gives an overview of the first results and latest developments of basic TSE research that has focused on in vivo early diagnosis and the prevention of possible (also iatrogenic) transmission.
Holger F. Rabenau
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<urn:uuid:64bfd9b6-c641-4740-97ac-0ccc04392c1c>
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://www.researchgate.net/publication/13630348_Transmissible_spongiform_encephalopathies_Creutzfeldt-Jakob_disease
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s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
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en
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In association football, the goalkeeper occupies a position that represents the last line of defence between the opponent's offence and his own team's goal. The primary role of the goalkeeper is to defend his team's goal and prevent the opposition from scoring a goal. The goalkeeper is the only player who is permitted to touch the ball with his hands or arms in open play (within his own penalty area). Each team is required to have a goalkeeper on the field at all times during a match. If a goalkeeper is forced to leave the field due to injury or being sent off, another player must occupy the post, even if the team has no substitute goalkeeper available and/or has used up its allotted substitutions.
Goalkeeper is often abbreviated GK in lineup cards, match reports, and TV captions. The terms keeper and goalie are also commonly used. This position is colloquially referred as 'custodian' or 'the man between the posts'.
When assigning numbers to players on the team, if a squad number system is not in use, the number 1 shirt is usually reserved for the goalkeeper. Notable exceptions include Argentine Ubaldo Fillol, who wore the numbers 5 and 7 at the 1978 and 1982 FIFA World Cups, and Vítor Baía, the Portuguese keeper who wore 99 in the latter part of his career.
Football, like many sports, has experienced many changes in tactics that have generated positions, as well as made positions disappear. Goalkeeper is the only position which is certain to have existed since the creation of the rules of the sport. Even in the early days of organised football, when systems were limited or non-existent and the main idea was for all field players to attack and defend, teams had a designated member to play as the goalkeeper.
The earliest account of football teams with player positions comes from Richard Mulcaster in 1581; however, he does not specify goalkeepers. The earliest specific reference to keeping goal comes from Cornish Hurling in 1602. According to Carew: "they pitch two bushes in the ground, some eight or ten foot asunder; and directly against them, ten or twelve score off, other twayne in like distance, which they term their Goals. One of these is appointed by lots, to the one side, and the other to his adverse party. There is assigned for their guard, a couple of their best stopping Hurlers". Other references to scoring goals begin in English literature in the early 16th century, for example in John Day's play The Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green (performed circa 1600; published 1659): "I'll play a gole at camp-ball" (an extremely violent variety of football, which was popular in East Anglia). Similarly in a poem in 1613, Michael Drayton refers to "when the Ball to throw, And drive it to the Gole, in squadrons forth they goe". It seems inevitable that wherever a game has evolved goals, some form of goalkeeping must also be developed. David Wedderburn refers to what has been translated from Latin as to "keep goal" in 1633 (however, contrary to media reports in 2006 he does not refer to the noun "goalkeeper". This is important as being a goalkeeper implies a fixed position throughout a match, whereas "keeping goal" suggests a temporary, fluid position accorded to whichever player or players find themselves nearest the goal. Wedderburn provides no evidence of such a fixed position on the field. It is not clear that what he meant by a goal was the same as modern usage; his word "metum" in the original Latin means the object to mark the end of a chariot race).
Initially, goalkeepers typically played between the goalposts and had limited mobility, except when trying to save opposition shots. Throughout the years, goalkeeping has evolved, due to the changes on systems of play, to be a more active role. The original Laws of the Game permitted goalkeepers to handle the ball anywhere in their half of the pitch. This was revised in 1912, restricting use of the hands by the goalkeeper to the penalty area and goal box.
In the mid-20th century, goalkeepers like Amadeo Carrizo pioneered a playing style that involved more mobility. He also helped introduce new techniques and strategies that would become a standard for the position. Carrizo was the first goalkeeper to wear gloves, the first one to leave the penalty area to defend his goal and the first one to use goal kicks as a strategy to start counter attack plays.
In 1992, the International Board made changes in the laws of the game that affected goalkeepers - notably the back-pass rule, which prohibits goalkeepers from handling the ball with their hands when receiving a deliberate pass from a teammate that is made with their feet (the pass can be made with all the others parts of the body except hands). As a result, all goalkeepers were required to improve controlling the ball with their feet.
The goalkeeper position is the most specialised of all positions on the field. Unlike other players, goalkeepers may touch the ball with any part of their body while in their own penalty area. Outside of their penalty area, goalkeepers have the same restrictions as other field players. They are also "protected" from active interference by opponents within their own goal area, an action punishable by fouling.
The tactical responsibilities of goalkeepers include:
Although goalkeepers have special privileges under the laws of the game, they are otherwise subject to the same rules as any other player. The goalkeeper is often the tallest member of the team, and most stand over 183cm (6ft) tall in western countries, with many well-known keepers standing particularly tall at 193 cm (6 ft 4 inches).
Goalkeepers are not required to stay in the penalty area. They may get involved in play anywhere on the pitch, and it is common for them to act as an additional defender during certain passages of the game. Colombia's René Higuita, Mexico's Jorge Campos and Liverpool's Bruce Grobbelaar were notable for their foot skills and their constant play outside the penalty area.
Some goalkeepers have even scored goals; a number of goalkeepers have scored by rushing up to the opposite end of the pitch in order to create an advantage in numbers. This rush - nicknamed a "goalie run" - is risky, and is normally only done late in the game, in order to score a last-minute goal if the goalkeeper's team is losing (and only then, in situations where goal difference is unimportant). Similarly, goalkeepers will "come up" for a corner or attacking free kick, as many goalkeepers are tall, often taller than all the outfield players, and can often connect with a header.
The action very rarely succeeds, although players like Michelangelo Rampulla, Peter Schmeichel, Mart Poom, Marco Amelia, Andrés Palop, Jens Lehmann, Brad Friedel, Massimo Taibi, Jimmy Glass, Paul Robinson, Federico Villar and Mark Crossley have been able to score in these situations at the top level. Palop's case might be the most notable, because the goal he scored sent the match to an extra time where his team, Sevilla, won, and thanks to this, went on to win the UEFA Cup 2006-07.
In some even rarer situations, goalkeepers have even scored goals unintentionally, when a ball punted downfield has caught the opposing goalkeeper out of position. Paul Robinson and Pat Jennings have both scored under such circumstances. In the final of the 2003 CAF African Champions League, El Ahly goalkeeper Essam El Hadary scored a goal by driving a free kick from near his penalty box into the top bar of opponents goal; the ball then hit the back of the goalkeeper going into the net. Vitoria de Guimaraes' Palatsi also scored in that situation against Moreirense on a game for the Portuguese Liga. Serbian goalkeeper Dragan Pantelić and, more recently, Colombian "Neco" Martínez and Michael Petkovic have also scored goals the same way.
Some goalkeepers, such as Rogério Ceni and José Luis Chilavert, go forward to take their team's attacking free kicks and even penalties. Ceni has scored over 80 goals in his career, more than many outfield players.
Goalkeepers must wear clothing that distinguishes them clearly from other players and match officials, as this is all that the FIFA Laws of the Game require. Some goalkeepers have received recognition for their match attire, like Lev Yashin of the Soviet Union who was nicknamed the "Black Panther" for his distinctive all-black outfit, Klaus Lindenberger of Austria who designed his own variation of a clown's costume and Jorge Campos of Mexico, who was popular for his colourful attire.
Most goalkeepers also wear goalkeeper gloves to improve their grip on the ball, and to protect themselves from injury. There are now gloves that have features designed to prevent injuries such as sprained fingers. Gloves are not mandatory; however, due to the increased grip they give, it is very rare for a goalkeeper to play without them in professional matches.
Czech republic and Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Čech wears a head guard, after having fractured his skull in an English Premier League game against Reading, and a few goalkeepers, most notably Miguel Calero, wear baseball style caps to shield their eyes from the sun. Calero has also worn a bandana while keeping goal for Pachuca.
The most expensive goalkeeper of all time is currently Gianluigi Buffon (following his €52.29 million transfer to Juventus from Parma), followed by Angelo Peruzzi (€17.9 million from Inter Milan to Lazio). The British record is held by Scottish goalkeeper Craig Gordon, who signed for Sunderland A.F.C. from Scottish club Heart of Midlothian for £9m on August 7 2007.
The quickest goal scored by a goalkeeper is Nottingham Forest's Paul Smith after 23 seconds, on September 18 2007, when Leicester City agreed to give Forest a 'free goal' in the Football League Cup second round after the original tie was abandoned when City's Clive Clarke collapsed at half time when Forest were 1-0 up. Forest lost the game 3-2.
A few goalkeepers have become notable at taking set pieces; for example, José Luis Chilavert is the only goalkeeper to score a hat trick (3 goals in a game), doing so through penalty kicks. He also was a free kick-expert. Rogério Ceni has scored the highest amount goals for a goalkeeper, having scored 83 times (as of December 3 2008) through free kicks and penalty kicks.
The following are the top 20 goalkeepers on the IFFHS poll for "The World's best Goalkeeper of the 20th century."
The following is a list of goalkeepers selected by the IFFHS every year since 1987 as "The World's best Goalkeeper."
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