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The EPA has welcomed publication of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Renewable Energy sources and Climate Change mitigation (SRREN). The report shows that global potential for renewable energy is substantially higher than both current and projected future global energy demand. This is the case globally and in most regions of the world.
Currently less than 3 per cent of the globally available renewable energy is being used. This means that more than 97 per cent is untapped. Realising this resource would be a major step in reducing greenhouse gas emissions from energy. The report projects that 80 percent of the world’s energy supply could be met by renewable sources by 2050 if enabling policies are put in place.
Commenting on the report Dr Mary Kelly, EPA director general, says: “This is a timely report given the choices we need to make on energy investment, here in Ireland, in Europe and internationally. It shows the potential of renewable energy technologies to provide energy solutions which also have wider economic, social and environmental benefits, including their potential to cut air pollution and improve public health, and increase energy security.”
The six renewable energy technologies reviewed are: bioenergy, direct solar energy, geothermal energy, hydropower, ocean and wind energy.
The report states that the cost of most renewable energy technologies has declined. Some renewable energy technologies are already economically competitive. Technical advancements are expected to further reduce costs. Increasing the share of renewables requires additional short-term and long-term integration efforts. There is a need for advanced technologies to optimize the infrastructure capacity for renewable an area in which Ireland has active research.
The IPCC report notes that enabling policies and measures are required to ensure rapid deployment of many renewable sources. Research is also required to overcome technical barriers. The deployment of renewable energy will benefit from testing centres for demonstration projects.
Two experts from Ireland were lead authors for this IPCC report – Professor Tony Lewis of the Hydraulics & Maritime Research Centre, University College Cork and Professor Mark O’Malley of University College Dublin.
Renewable Energy in Ireland
Ireland is committed to the deployment of renewable energy and aims to reach the European Commission target of 20 per cent of its total energy mix by 2020. Ireland is also implementing its National Renewable Energy Action Plan which all Member States were required to submit in 2010. This plan sets out how we intend to reach EU wide renewable energy targets.
Currently, the majority of Ireland’s renewable energy is generated using onshore wind with a small contribution from offshore. Bioenergy is a growing area through the establishment of bioenergy crops such as miscanthus and rapeseed oils as well as traditional forestry biomass. In the agricultural sector, technologies such as biomethane generation from grass and anaerobic digestion of farm and food wastes have the potential to play a key part in mitigating emissions from this sector. There are proposals in place for a state of the art research test bed in Belmullet for wave energy test site in Belmullet. Irish companies such as WaveBob and Ocean Hydro have already gained international attention for the potential of their technology.
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While the global economic recovery slowed in 2012, the world’s largest metropolitan economies continued to have very different growth experiences. Disparities loom both across major world regions and within them, reflecting differences in metro industrial structure, national growth rates, and metro starting points.
An analysis of GDP per capita and employment changes from 2011 to 2012 for the largest 300 metropolitan economies worldwide, which account for nearly one-half (48 percent) of global output but contain only 19 percent of world population, shows that:
- Three-quarters of the fastest-growing metropolitan economies in 2012 were located in developing Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa. By contrast, almost 90 percent of the slowest-growing metro economies were in Western Europe and North America. These recent trends reflect the accelerating shift of economic growth from developed metro areas in the global West towards developing metropolitan areas in the global South and East.
- Compared to their countries, more than half of metro areas outperformed on employment growth in 2012, but only 40 percent achieved faster GDP per capita growth. Fifty-six (56) metro areas were pockets of growth in their countries, with both GDP per capita and employment expanding at a faster pace than national averages.
- Almost three-quarters of the 300 metro areas had higher levels of employment and/or GDP per capita in 2012 than in 2007. Most metro areas in the developing Asia- Pacific and Latin America regions suffered no recession in the last five years or fully recovered to pre-recession levels, while only five North American metro areas managed to recover in both employment and GDP per capita. About 46 percent of metro areas, mostly in North America and Asia-Pacific, achieved higher employment and/or GDP per capita growth rates in 2011-12 than before the worldwide downturn.
- Growth rates of both GDP per capita and employment slowed between 2011 and 2012 compared to the previous year for half of the 300 metro areas. Only in developed Asia- Pacific metro areas did combined GDP per capita growth accelerate last year, and among developed economies only North American metro areas achieved faster aggregate job growth in 2012 than in 2011.
- Both national and local factors influence metropolitan economic growth. The previous year’s metro GDP per capita, the previous year’s national GDP per capita growth, and industry performance most affect annual changes in metro GDP per capita growth in the short-term. Over the long run (2000 to 2010), factors including national GDP per capita growth, initial metro GDP per capita, metro industry specialization, and metro human capital stock influence changes in a metro area’s standard of living.
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NAIROBI: Communities in developing countries are facing increased health and environmental risks linked to mercury exposure, the United Nations Environment Programme said Thursday.
"Mercury ... remains a major global, regional and national challenge in terms of threats to human health and the environment," said UNEP head Achim Steiner.
Parts of Africa, Asia and South America could see increasing emissions of mercury into the environment, owing mainly to the use of the element in small-scale gold mining and to the burning of coal for electricity generation.
Such exposure "poses a direct threat to the health of some 10-15 million people who are directly involved in small scale gold mining, mainly in Africa, Asia and South America," UNEP said.
The announcement comes ahead of a major conference on mercury to be held in Geneva next week and that aims to conclude discussions on a global treaty to minimise risks from mercury exposure.
New reports by UNEP, which will be made public at the Geneva conference, say emissions of mercury from artisanal mining alone have doubled since 2005, due in part to better reporting and rising gold prices.
Steiner said Thursday that a study by the Blacksmith Institute, a New York-based group that cleans up polluted sites, shows that a device costing less than $10 can be used to trap 90% or more of the mercury used in gold mining.
The main barriers to the use of such safer methods are socio-economic conditions and low awareness of the risks attached to mercury, a UNEP statement said.
UNEP's new studies provide the first global assessment of releases of mercury into rivers and lakes.
"In the past 100 years, man-made emissions have caused the amount of mercury in the top 100 metres of the world's oceans to double. Concentrations in deeper waters have increased by up to 25%," the agency said, adding that much human exposure to mercury is through the consumption of contaminated fish.
Serious mercury poisoning affects the body's immune system and can lead to problems including psychological disorders, loss of teeth and problems with the digestive, cardiovascular and respiratory tracts.
The reports also highlight rising levels of mercury in the Arctic, where 200 tonnes of the substance are deposited every year.
"Due to rapid industrialisation Asia is the largest regional emitter of mercury, and accounts for just under half of all global releases," the UNEP statement said.
The studies also highlight significant releases into the environment linked to contaminated sites and deforestation. The findings show that an estimated 260 tonnes of mercury -- previously held in soils -- are being released into rivers and lakes.
The International Negotiating Committee on Mercury will be held from January 13-18 in Geneva.
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Naturalization Records Index
The first naturalization law was created on March 26, 1790. This law provided that aliens to the United States could apply for citizenship provided that they were “free white persons” of “good moral character” and lived for two years in the United States plus one year in the state in which they were living. If they met those qualifications they could file for a Petition for Naturalization. He would take an oath of allegiance and become a citizen.
The Act of 1795 required that aliens had to live in the United States for five years and two in the state of residence. This act now required an extra step, the Declaration of Intention. The immigrants had to go their local court and complete the declaration of intention or “first papers.” This had to be completed three years prior to the formal application for citizenship.
The Naturalization Act of 1798 required that aliens had to live in the United States for fourteen years and aliens from countries that were at war with the United States were prohibited from applying for naturalization. This law was repealed in 1802 and the residency laws of 1795 were reinstated. The Act of April 14, 1802 also provided that aliens had to present two witnesses that could verify their time of residence within the United States.
It is important to point out two deviations from the two step process. The Act of May 26, 1824 pertained to minor naturalizations. Immigrants, who came to the United States and were under the age of 18 at the time, could become citizens upon turning 21 years of age and after five years of residence. The Act of July 17, 1862 allowed veterans who served during wartime to become citizens. Both of these acts did not require the Declaration of Intention.
An Act in 1855 allowed alien women to acquire citizenship by marrying a United States citizen, or upon his naturalization. A woman’s citizenship was directly tied to that of her husband. Women and children automatically received naturalization upon the husband or father’s naturalization. In 1907 a law was passed that took citizenship away from women if they married alien men. In 1922 women’s citizenship was considered separate.
Until 1906, there were too many variations in the naturalization procedure. The Naturalization Act of June 29, 1906 declared standard fees and forms and created the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization. This act also required proficiency of the English language. Jurisdiction over naturalization had changed hands numerous times. The Secretary of the Treasury oversaw it from 1882 to 1891 when the Superintendent of Immigration office was created within the Treasury Department. Jurisdiction was later moved to the Department of Labor. In 1940 it was again transferred to the Department of Justice under the office of Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS).
In 2003 the Immigration and Naturalization service moved to the Department of Homeland Security and became the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Prologue, Vol. 30, No.2, Summer 1998
900 Governors Dr.
Pierre, SD 57501
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| ||Medical Myths || |
Myths About Snoring
November 9, 2012
By Robert H. Shmerling, M.D.
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Have you ever wondered why people snore?
Perhaps you should. Whether it's you, your housemate or your bedmate, understanding snoring and its treatment can help keep peace at home. And it can even help identify and treat serious illnesses associated with snoring.
Snoring is remarkably common. And, it becomes more common with age. About a third of 30 year-olds and 50% of those age 60 and older snore. Yet, most of them don't know why they do it (if they know they're snoring at all). Here are some of the most common myths about snoring:
- Only men snore.
- Only overweight people snore.
- Snoring is more funny than serious.
- People who snore know it.
Each of these is completely or largely false. Here's why:
- Among adults over age 50, snoring affects men and women equally. However, it's true that among younger adults, male snorers outnumber female snorers.
- While excess weight is a risk factor for snoring, even people who are lean can snore.
- Movies and television shows often show snoring as an amusing annoyance. But, if your snoring bedmate is keeping you awake, it's certainly no laughing matter. Nor is it funny when snoring is associated with sleep apnea or other serious complications.
Ignoring snoring may be easier said than done: Snoring can reach 80 decibels, louder than a garbage disposal or even a freight train from about 50 feet away. (Noises louder than 85 decibels can be harmful your ears.)
- Many snorers don't know they snore until someone tells them.
Back to top
Why Do We Snore?
Snoring is caused by turbulent air flow through the upper airways (the mouth and nasal passages) that causes the uvula and palate at the back of the throat to vibrate. Also, the tissues in the upper airways lose muscle tone and become loose as we age. As a result, they vibrate more as air sails past.
Several conditions that interfere with air flow or affect muscle tone may contribute to snoring. These include:
- Anatomy Some people have a more prominent palate or tongue than others, which interferes with air flow.
- Allergies Congestion and swelling in the tissues of the upper airway make it more difficult for air to flow.
- Obesity Extra fat around the neck may be to blame (although even people whose extra fat is mostly around their abdomen have a higher rate of snoring).
- Alcohol use (especially just before bed) It relaxes the muscles around the upper throat.
- An infection (sinus, tonsils or cold) Inflammation and swelling of the structures through which air must pass increases turbulence.
- A deviated septum The cartilage between the two sides of your nose may be off to one side rather than right in the middle.
Back to top
Why Snoring Matters
Sometimes snoring is just a nuisance. But, it may be a sign of a serious medical condition.
The most common (by far) is obstructive sleep apnea. With this condition, people don't just snore. They also stop breathing for short periods of time while sleeping. And the quality of their sleep is poor. Oxygen levels in the blood may drop. This can lead to complications, such as high blood pressure, an unstable heart rhythm or a serious lung disease (called pulmonary hypertension).
Of course, it also matters to the snoring person's bedmate.
Back to top
What You Can Do
Banishing a snorer to another room is not the best solution.
If you have a treatable condition that may be contributing to your snoring, see your doctor. For example, if you have a cold, allergies or a sinus infection, treating these conditions may improve or eliminate the snoring.
Losing excess weight, moderating alcohol use (especially at night), and adjusting your sleep position may be helpful. A special dental appliance can hold the jaw and tongue in a position that reduces snoring. However, the device can be hard to tolerate.
Besides losing excess weight, the most common treatment for sleep apnea (and the snoring that accompanies it) is a "continuous positive airway pressure" (CPAP) device. It includes a mask through which air flows. The air pressure keeps the airways open. While these can be quite effective, many people find them hard to tolerate. (Some snorers remove the appliance while sleeping without even realizing it.
Surgery can be a last resort. It can help increase the space available for air to flow through the upper airways. Examples include tonsillectomy, repair of a deviated septum or removal of the uvula.
Back to top
The Bottom Line
Snoring is common and highly misunderstood. But, there's a lot you can do if you're one of the estimated 90 million Americans who snore. Just don't assume it's only men or obese people who snore. These are myths you can help end. Snoring is serious business. Just ask the guy sleeping on the downstairs couch.
Back to top
Robert H. Shmerling, M.D. is associate physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and associate professor at Harvard Medical School. He has been a practicing rheumatologist for over 20 years at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He is an active teacher in the Internal Medicine Residency Program, serving as the Robinson Firm Chief. He is also a teacher in the Rheumatology Fellowship Program.
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These findings come from a little-noticed report the FDA released back in December. The report, which was dumped onto the FDA's web site without so much as a mention or a press release, compiles data from 5,236 samples of chicken breasts, ground turkey, ground beef and pork chops that were taken in 2008. It's unclear why the FDA either waited or took so long to release the info.
On her blog, Maryn McKenna, author of a book about antibiotic resistance called Superbug and the first person to write about the report, summarized some of the findings: In 2008, 45% of salmonella on chicken were resistant to the antibiotic tetracycline and 30% were immune to penicillins. Among enterococci bacteria on chicken, 65% were resistant to tetracycline and more than 90% to lincosamides, which include the everyday drug clindamycin.
Overall, salmonella, including resistant and non, was found in 12% of chicken and campylobacter in 49% of samples.
What this means for the millions of Americans who eat meat regularly is that our lunch not only has the ability to make us horribly sick, but that if we do become ill, the antibiotics that could be used to help us recover may not work.
It sounds quite scary - and it is - but the good news is that proper cooking kills most, if not all, of these dangerous bacteria. The danger comes when meat isn't cooked thoroughly or handled properly - like if juice from raw meat comes into contact with other foods or hands that have touched uncooked meat are used to prepare other foods.
For meat industry groups, who are already feeling besieged by critics who charge that industrial livestock farming is inhumane and causes huge environmental messes, this is one more headache they don't need. Meat producers use antibiotics on large factory farms, where thousands or tens of thousands of animals are confined in crowded quarters, to help prevent the spread of disease. They also use these drugs because, for reasons still unknown, they allow the animals to grow faster.
Such an overly judicious use of antibiotics has led to resistance because the relatively low doses administered to farm animals don't kill all bacteria, allowing the heartiest ones to grow and mutate into superbugs. For the most part, Big Meat sees nothing wrong with its record of antibiotic use, and appears determined to defend it.
Comment: David Kirby, author of the book Animal Factory depicts the many known health and environmental problems associated with large factory farms or CAFO's (Confined Animal Feeding Operations). In the article Factory Farms Make You Sick. Let Us Count the Ways, Kirby sums up the situation with Factory Farms quite clearly:
"You can pass all the laws you want, organize all the boycotts," Kirby said. "But ultimately when you cram thousands of animals into a single confined space without access to fresh air, outdoor sunlight, pasture, natural animal behaviors - you are asking for problems in the form of diseases that attack people."For a more in depth look at The Problem with Factory Farms read the following:
Farmacology: Antibiotics resistance generated at factory farms
How Factory Farms Are Pumping Americans Full of Deadly Bacteria and Pathogens
The question now is whether the FDA will do anything about the information in its report, which is based on the government's National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS). Last June, FDA Deputy Commissioner Joshua Sharfstein took the bold, unprecedented step of saying the meat industry should stop using antibiotics on pigs, cattle and chicken simply for the purpose of making them grow faster. Then in December, much to the further chagrin of the meat industry, the agency released data on exactly how many antibiotics are used on farms - some 29 million pounds in 2009, or about 60% of all antibiotics in the U.S.
Comment: Tom Philpot from Grist wrote two articles describing the FDA's stance on 'Big Meats' record use of antibiotics in factory farming':
As MRSA Gets Worse, the FDA Discovers Antibiotic Abuse on Factory Farms
While banning the use of antibiotics for growth promotion is an important step forward, we need to ensure that antibiotics are not used to compensate for unsanitary conditions on many industrial farms.The FDA Finally Reveals How Many Antibiotics Factory Farms Use
The proposed FDA position does not go far enough in this regard and would allow the continuation of conditions that necessitate the improper use of antibiotics in the first place. Successful models already exist in the U.S. where millions of animals on large industrial farms can be raised cost-effectively without the routine use of antibiotics.
Well, federal regulators have for years ignored the question and refused to release estimates of just how much antibiotics the livestock industry burns through. But that ended yesterday, when the FDA released its first-ever report on the topic. The answer: 29 million pounds in 2009.
But less than a month later, Sharfstein, the FDA's leader in this fight, resigned to become Maryland's secretary of health and mental hygiene, casting doubt on whether the FDA will do anything to stop what is now clearly a runaway train.
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The biblical record of God’s prophet Elijah is filled with many unusual and at times miraculous events. Thus in the first encounter that the reader has with God’s prophet, he is startled by the prophet’s ominous pronouncement: “As certainly as the LORD God of Israel lives (whom I serve), there will be no dew or rain in the years ahead unless I give the command.” Anyone who lives in areas where heaven sent water is in scarce supply would instantly recognize the seriousness of such a declaration. This was especially true of the Bible lands for they are “prone to drought and aridity” and “the world of the Old Testament is an agrarian world in which people are aware of their dependence on weather.”1 Therefore, “No rain, no life. It was just that simple in OT times in the Promised Land.”2
In what follows we shall note the particular significance and emphases of dew and rain as presented in the Bible (especially the Old Testament) with a view to some of their applications to the believer’s life. We shall examine them in the order in which Elijah stated them.
As mentioned above, water, including dew, was critical to life in the biblical world. Dew, however, was normally in rather good supply. As Cogan remarks, “Dewfall is known year round; it is particularly abundant on the coastal plain and helps sustain summer planting.”3 Dew was seen as part of God’s creation. Among the dialogues with Job, where the Lord is portrayed as the creator of the earth and that the element forces of nature are under his control (Job 28:25-26; 36:37; cf. Ps. 147:16-18) God poses the question to Job, “ Who has fathered the drops of the dew?” (Job 38:28). In context the clear answer to the rhetorical question is: God Himself and Job understands it quite well (cf. Job 40: 1-5). The purpose of the dew, like the other manifestations mentioned in Job 28:28-30, is “to impress Job with God’s superb control of all such things.”4 So it is the Solomon wisely pointed out:
By wisdom the Lord laid the foundation of the earth;
he established the heavens by understanding.
By his knowledge the primordial sea was broken open,
and the clouds drip down dew (Prov. 3:19-20).
It is God, therefore, who ultimately controls the dew and provides it for his people in accordance with his blessings to them (Deut. 33:26-28). Accordingly, when fathers as leaders in ancient Israel invoked God’s blessings upon their sons or people, they would sometimes call for God’s blessings by using the imagery of the dew so necessary for good crops and a productive life. Thus when Isaac mistakenly blessed Jacob thinking that it was Esau, he prayed, “May God give you the dew of the sky and riches of the earth” (Gen. 27:28). Likewise, Moses blessed the tribe of Joseph saying, “May the Lord bless his land with a harvest produced by the sky, by the dew, and the depths crouching beneath with a harvest produced by the daylight and the moonlight” (Deut. 33:13). The dew, therefore, at times symbolized the blessing of God.
By way of contrast, God’s withholding of the dew could be a sign of his disfavor and punishment. In the case of 1 Kings 17:1 Elijah’s announcement of the withholding of the dew likewise declared God’s punishment of unfaithful Israel. Israel had gone after Baal, the Canaanite god of fertility and rain. Baal’s supposed power over rain appears in the Ugaritic story of Aqhat. There Aqhat’s father Danel laments his son’s passing by pronouncing a curse, which involved the activity of Baal:
For seven years let Baal fail,
eight, the Rider on the Clouds;
no dew, no showers,
no surging of the two seas,
no benefit of Baal’s voice.5
Understandably then, Elijah’s pronouncement provides a notice of distinct disfavor of and challenge to the authority of Baal and his state sponsorship by Ahab and Jezebel. The challenge would reach a climax in the contest between Elijah and the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, where Elijah boldly declared, “How long are you going to be paralyzed by indecision? If the LORD is the true God, then follow him, but if Baal is follow him!” (1 Kings 18:21). Soon afterwards, in accordance with Elijah’s sacrifice and prayer, the Lord sent the needed rain (1 Kings 18:41-46).6
Of special interest is the fact that in blessing his healed and restored people God likens himself to refreshing dew (Hos. 14:5). Indeed, “The dew becomes symbolic here of a life-giving vitality that provides the source of renewed life and strength for Israel—God himself.”7 Similarly, Isaiah records the Lord’s assurance that in the future God’s people in Israel will live again,“ like plants drenched with the morning dew, and the earth will bring forth its dead spirits” (Isa. 26:19). Herein is found one of the key Old Testament texts suggesting the believer’s bodily resurrection. As Oswalt observes, “God’s dew will rest upon the dead as he will force earth to give them up to life in his presence forever.”8 Smith concurs, saying that much more than national Israel is involved here: “These are not promises of national restoration, but a commitment to bring someone who was considered dead back to life.”9
The psalmist reminds the Lord’s anointed that because of God’s presence, he will have willing followers who themselves will experience God-given refreshment, hence success in the day of battle (Ps. 110:1-3). As Delitzsch points out, “The host of young men is likened to the dew both on account of its vigorousness and its multitude, which are like the freshness of the mountain dew.”10 It has been suggested further that because Jesus cites Psalm 110:1 as having prophetic application to himself as David’s heir, hence the divine Messiah (Matt. 21:41-46), this verse may also contain a veiled hint of that great future triumph of Christ at his return to subdue the nations, accompanied by the heavenly hosts (Rev. 19:11-16). It is perhaps not without merit to suggest also that even in this life God’s people who willingly follow the Lord in their daily struggles can lead victorious lives, and in so doing they will prove to be a godly example to those with whom they come in contact (cf. 2 Cor. 2:14-17). Such certainly is in accordance with the well-known hymn, Lead on O King Eternal:
Lead on O King Eternal, we follow not with fears!
For gladness breaks like morning wher-e’er Thy face appears;
Thy cross is lifter o-er us, we journey in its light;
The crown awaits the conquest—lead on O God of Might.11
Dew can at times also be a picture of refreshment. Thus the author of Psalm 133 declares that true brotherhood is reflected in living in harmonious unity. Where such is the case, it is not only a pleasant experience, but testifies to a rich spiritual relationship, which is akin to both priestly service and a source of refreshment ( v.1).12 It is also a source of spiritual refreshment like unto the refreshing, vitalizing morning dew: “It is like the dew of Hermon, which flows down upon the hills of Zion” (v.3a). As Allen observes, the dew is “a simile with positive overtones of divinely sent refreshment.”13 Furthermore, the spiritual unity and harmony among believers finds such favor in God’s sight that it evokes the blessing of a conscious living enjoyment of his presence both in this life and the next: “Indeed that is where the Lord has decreed a blessing will be available—eternal life” ( v.3b).14 Dew, therefore, at times appears in the Scriptures to symbolize the benefits of a committed spiritual life in God’s presence, which provides sustenance, renewal, refreshment, vitality, and true success. It reminds believers of the high value of their life in the presence and power of God, for his glory and their good.
Unfortunately, the dew could also be used in contexts symbolizing unfaithfulness and inconsistent conduct before the Lord, which brings God’s punishment. For example, Hosea laments Israel’s inconsistent faithfulness to God: saying of his people “Your faithfulness is as fleeting as the morning mist; it disappears as quickly as dawn’s dew” (Hos. 6:5). “As these appear briefly only to vanish with the rising sun, so God’s people have shown brief flashes of spiritual progress and then have shortly afterwards resorted to their own selfish ways. Even worse now, they attempt to blend the worship of Yahweh with respect for foreign deities.”15 Indeed, Israel’s lack of faithfulness will occasion God’s certain soon coming punishment: “There is a saying about them, ‘those who sacrifice to the calf idol are café kissers! Therefore, they will disappear like the morning mist, like early morning dew that evaporates” (Hos. 13:2b-3). Like dew as well as mist, chaff, and smoke that can vanish all too quickly, Israel’s continued infidelity would not long endure. Indeed, the Northern Kingdom could soon disappear and be no more (cf. Hos. 13:9-16). The only hope for God’s people lay in a genuine repentance, which is reflected in a consistent faithful living in the presence of God (cf. Hos. 6:1-3; 14:1-3). As noted previously, if such should occur, it would bring God’s healing and Israel’s godly remnant will experience his renewed blessing: “I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like a lily” (Hos. 14:5). The lesson of Israel’s experience ought not to be lost by today’s believers as well (cf. 1 Pet. 2:4-12).
Thus in addition to the natural physical benefits of dew, the Scriptures testify to the fact that dew owes its existence to earth’s Creator. Dew is in the final analysis a divine blessing, which provides a source of refreshment, renewal, and vitality to the land—a blessing, however, that can be withheld as a source of correction where sin and disregard of God’s standards are involved.
Among the many Hebrew words used to depict rain, by far the two most common are mâ?âr and gešem. The former is the more frequent and most commonly considered to be the more general term, but where a distinction is to be observed, the latter is taken to refer to heavier occasions of rain. A third frequently occurring word, zerem, is viewed as being used of violent weather such as cloudbursts or electrical storms, which at times were accompanied by hailstones.16 Futato concludes concerning these terms, however, “The modern reader can discern no difference between mâ?âr or gešem.”17 Our study will particularly feature the Old Testament teaching concerning the two most frequent terms for rain.
The underlying Hebrew roots behind these two nouns at times also appear in verbal form. In a great many cases these words for rain simply refer to literal rain. Such is obviously so in the previously mentioned declaration of Elijah (1 Kings 17:1, 7, 14; 18:1, 41).18 The Scriptures abundantly attest to the fact that it is God who created the rain (e.g., Deut. 11:11-14; Job 5:10). Thus in the original creation account it is recorded that, “no shrub of the field had yet grown on the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the earth” (Gen. 2:5). Moreover, it is God who sends the rain (Isa. 55:10; cf. Matt. 5:45) and certainly is not as a result of mankind’s idolatry (Jer. 14:22). The God sent rain was a sign of the Lord’s blessing (Ps. 147:8; Isa. 30:23; Ezek. 34:26), including the seasonal rains of fall and spring (Joel 2:23). Joel’s reference to the rains and the seasonal rains is set in a context of God’s renewal of a repentant covenant people who have come again into renewed fellowship with the Lord (cf. Hos. 6:1-3). “Not only will he give renewed fellowship (v. 23a) and renewed rain (v. 23b) but also renewed provision (vv. 24-25). Their threshing floors will be filled with grain, their collecting vats will overflow with fresh wine and oil, and God will thoroughly restore to them the years the devastating plague had caused them to lose (cf. 1:4, 10, 17; 2:19).19 Indeed, the blessing of rain was distinctly related to covenant faithfulness: “If you walk in my statutes and are sure to obey my commandments, I will give you your rains in their times so that the land will give its yield and the trees of the field will produce their fruit” (Lev. 26:3-4; cf. Deut. 11:14; 28:12; Jer. 5:23-24). Thus as noted already, God’s withholding of rain was a sign of his disfavor for covenant infidelity and/or rampant sin (cf. Deut. 11:17; 2 Chr. 6:26-27; 7:13-14; Jer. 3:3; Zech. 14:17). In an ironic twist, however, heavy rain, especially accompanied by hailstones and/or violent wind, could signify God’s punishment (e.g., Gen. 7:11-12; Exod. 9:22-23; Ps. 105:32; Ezek. 13:11-13; cf. Ezek. 38:22).20
Occasionally both māṭār and gešem are brought together in juxtaposition for special emphasis. Thus Elihu remarks concerning God, “God thunders with his voice in marvelous ways, does great things beyond our understanding. For to the snow he says, ‘Fall to the earth,’ and to the torrential rains, ‘Pour down’” (Job 37:5-6). Amos combines the noun gešem with a form of the verb māṭār to mark God’s attempt to bring his people back to covenant faithfulness: “I withheld rain from you three months before the harvest. I gave rain to one city, but not to another. One field would get rain, but the field that received no rain dried up” (Amos 4:7). In one case not only these two prominent words for rain but also another word for rain, that is, a thunderstorm (ḥāzȋz) appears with them (Zech 10:1). The three words, therefore, admonish God’s people to “pray to the Lord, realizing that all blessings come from him.”21 Thus all forms of rain are the result of God’s blessing upon this faithful people.
Even in figurative uses rain may be used in both a positive and a negative sense. In the former case, beneficial rain is compared to sound advice (Job 29:21-23) or the actions of a godly king: “He will descend like rain on the mown grass, like showers that drench the earth. During his days the godly will flourish, peace will prevail as long as the moon remains in the sky” (Ps. 72:6-7). Rain at an inappropriate time, however, is likened to giving honor to an undeserving fool: “Like snow in summer or rain in harvest, so honor is not fit for a fool” (Prov. 26:1).
The mention of snow is also of interest. Although snow is used here in a negative sense, most often it appears in a positive way. Thus David prays for the Lord’s cleansing, saying, “Sprinkle me with water and I will be pure; wash me and I will be whiter than snow” (Ps. 51:7). Such can be the situation with people and even nations that confess their sins and commit themselves to the Lord’s standards of righteousness (Isa. 1:17-19). Of special interest is Daniel’s vision in which he sees God the Father seated on his throne clothed in attire “white as snow” (Dan. 7:9), thus symbolizing “the absolute moral purity of the divine judge.”22 In like manner the risen Christ appears to John having head and hair “white as snow” (Rev. 1:14). “For John, the same functions of ruler and judge ascribed to ‘Ancient of Days’ in Daniel’s vision relate to Jesus. In Eastern countries, white hair commands respect and indicates the wisdom of years. This part of the vision may have shown John something of the deity and wisdom of Christ (cf. Col. 2:3).”23 Doubtless the snow likewise spoke of Christ’s absolute holiness and moral purity.24
Dew and Rain
It will be recalled that our opening citation of I Kings 17:1 featured both the dew and the rain, which were to be withheld because of the sins of Ahab and Israel—especially in their worship of the Canaanite storm god Baal. Elijah’s announcement that both would cease until he, as God’s messenger would give the word for their renewal, was thus a pronouncement of judgment. Of a similar negative nature is David’s curse upon the mountains of Gilboa as being the scene of the death of Saul and Jonathan: “O mountains of Gilboa, may there be no dew or rain on you, nor fields of grain offerings! For it was there that the shield of warriors was defiled, the shield of Saul lies neglected without oil” (2 Sam. 1:21).
Dew and rain also appear together figuratively.25 The prophet Micah tells of a distant future for God’s blessed people in which they will serve as channels of blessing to the other nations. Thus Barker observes, “Israel will be a blessing to the other nations and people groups of the world, as her covenant Lord intended originally. Just as dew and showers do not depend on humankind to perform their refreshing influence, so Israel will trust in her Lord. The Lord himself will make his people just such a blessing (cf. Ps. 72:6, 16-19).”26 In a more general setting Moses demonstrates that godly teaching is like the refreshing and revitalizing effects of dew and rain (Deut. 32:1-3):
Listen, O heavens, and I will speak;
hear, O earth the words of my mouth.
My teaching will drop like the rain,
as rain drops upon the grass,
and showers upon new growth.
For I will proclaim the name of the LORD;
you must acknowledge the greatness of our God. 27
In an ironic twist dew and rain appear in close proximity to one another in our previously noted case of Hosea’s admonition to his fellow countrymen, whether in Israel or Judah (Hos. 6:3-4). Having encouraged the people to “return to the LORD” (Hos. 6:1), should they do so God will prove himself faithful to his covenant people: “He will come to our rescue as certainly as the appearance of the dawn, as certainly as the winter rain comes, as certainly as the spring rain that waters the land” (Hos. 6:3). Nevertheless, despite Hosea’s urging, it was unlikely that they would heed his challenge to them. Therefore, he records God’s lament over his covenant people: “What am I going to do with you, O Ephraim? What am I going to do with you, O Judah? For your faithfulness is as fleeting as the morning mist; it disappears as quickly as dawn’s dew” (Hos. 6:4). Indeed, certain judgment laid ahead (Hos. 6:5-6). The prophet’s heart surely must have mirrored the heart of God, for although the very symbols of the people’s renewal, revitalization, and refreshment were proclaimed to them, he realized that they will fail to respond.
The texts and imagery associated with dew and rain stand as another visible reminder that God is in control of all things, including the physical world (cf. Ps. 104:1-9). Not only is God the Creator of all things, but he is their controller and the consummator of the flow of history (cf. Job 38:1-11; Isa. 40:1-23, 28). More specifically, the New Testament records that such was accomplished through Christ Jesus (John 1:1-3; Col. 1:15-20). Thus even the common, mundane things of life, which mankind so often takes for granted, are the result of God’s goodness to man (Ps. 104:10-25; 107:9; 145:9; James 1:17).
Nevertheless, the above texts serve as a reminder that God’s goodness is not to be taken lightly. Even as Israel learned, those who are members of his earthly family are to respond in faithfulness to him and his high moral standards. Otherwise God’s favor can be turned into needed chastisement and correction (2 Kings 17:1-23; Isa. 26:1-6). Believers, therefore, should resolve to maintain a whole soul faith that is committed to the Lord (cf. Ps. 37:3-5; Hab. 2:4; Rom. 1:17; Gal. 2:20; 3:11). Those who so live demonstrate their true relationship to God and have the sure hope of an eternal reward (2 Tim. 4:8; Rev. 2:10).
Even before that grand future time, much as the dew and the rain can symbolize refreshment and renewal, so also consciously living in God’s presence and in accordance with his word provides an abiding sense of refreshment and spiritual vitality (see, e.g., Josh. 1:8-9; Ps. 23; 27:11-14; 63:1; 119:25-32, 49-50, 140, 144; cf. John 15:7; Eph. 5:25-26; 1 Pet. 2:1-3). Surely it is the better part of wisdom to follow the psalmist’s teaching that those who pursue Worldly acclaim and pleasures or who live a selfish or evil lifestyle are ultimately destined for a disastrous end (Ps. 73:3-22, 27). What really matters is a life lived in the conscious presence of the Lord (Ps. 73:23-26): “But as for me, God’s presence is all I need” (Ps. 73:28). Indeed, the believer can know the rich experience of a truly successful and satisfying life. It is one that exudes the abiding spiritual vitality of Christ’s preeminence and leading in his life (Col. 1:27).
To that end that apostle whom Jesus loved (John 19:26) admonished all believers: “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him, because all that is in the world (the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the arrogance produced by material possessions) is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world is passing away with all its desires, but the person who does the will of God remains forever” (1 John 2:15-17). Let us, therefore, as did Paul not be satisfied with anything less than a living experience with Christ (Phil. 3:8-11) and the power of God’s word (Phil. 2:16; Col. 3:16-17; 1 Pet. 2:1-3; 3:14-18). When such is the case, it proves to be even more refreshing and revitalizing then the heaven sent dew and rain.28 For then the believer has at his disposal the full force of what Jesus promised to the Samaritan woman—a far superior water source: “Everyone who drinks some of this water will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again, but the water I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up to eternal life” (John 4:13-14).
The hymn writer expresses this so well. Anne Ross Cousin wrote:
O Christ he is the fountain, the deep, sweet well of love;
the streams on earth I’ve tasted more deep I’ll drink above.
There to an ocean fullness His mercy doth expand,
and glory, glory dwelleth in Immanuel’s land.”29
1 “Rain,” in Dictionary of Biblical Imagery, eds., Leland Rykken, James C. Wilhoit, Tremper Longman III (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1998), 694.
2 Mark D. Futato, “gšm,” in New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, ed. Willem A. VanGemeren (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1997) 1: 900.
3 Mordecai Cogan, I Kings, Anchor Bible (New York: Doubleday, 2001), 425.
4 Francis L. Andersen, Job, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove: InterVarsity: 1978), 278.
5 Michael David Coogan, ed., Stories from Ancient Canaan (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1978), 41.
6 As a sidelight, the Lord’s victory over the Canaanite god Baal vindicated his prophet Elijah, for, “Elijah was shown to be the true prophet, while Baal’s prophets were put to death.” See further, Richard D. Patterson in “1 Samuel-2 Kings,” The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, eds. Tremper Longman III, and David E. Garland, Rev. ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009), 3:769. James points out that God’s answer to Elijah’s prayer stands as an example of the power of the pure prayer of faith (James 5:17-18).
7 Richard D. Patterson, Hosea (Richardson, TX: Biblical Studies Press, 2009), 139.
8 John N. Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah: Chapter 1-39, The New International Commentary on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986), 488.
9 Gary B. Smith, Isaiah 1-39, The New American Commentary, ed. E. Ray Clendenen (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2007), 454.
10 Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1955), 3:191.
11 E. W. Shurtleff, “Lead On, O King Eternal.”
12 See the helpful comments on Psalm 133 by Konrad Schaefer, Psalms, Berit Olam, ed. David W. Cotter (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2001), 315-16.
13 Leslie C. Allen, Psalms 101-150, Word Biblical Commentary, ed. John D. W. Watts (Waco: Word, 1983), 215.
14 See further the helpful comments of Willem A. VanGemren, Psalms, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, eds.
Tremper Longman III and David E. Garland, Rev. ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008), 5:937. On a human level a king’s favor is also likened to “dew on the grass” (Prov. 19:12).
15 Patterson, Hosea, 65.
16 See, for example, H-J Zobel, “mâ?âr; geðem; zerem,” in Theological Dictionary of The Old Testament, eds G Johannes Botterweck, Helmer Ringren, and Heinz Jose Fabry (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 8:250-52. Such a conclusion for zerem is warranted by the fact that both noun and verbal forms of the underlying Hebrew root are uniformly accompanied by other terms expressing the seriousness of the situation.
17 Futato , “gešem,” 901.
18 Except where a particular emphasis is to be noted, the distinctive nature of the Hebrew words will not be discussed. It should be noted that the two more commonly occurring Hebrew roots both occur in the Elijah account.
19 Richard D. Patterson, “Joel,” in Daniel-Malachi, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, eds. Tremper Longman III and David E. Garland, Rev. ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008), 8:334.
20 God could also cast hailstones against the enemies of God’s people as part of his arsenal as the Divine Warrior (e.g., Josh. 10:10-11; Ps. 18:12). For the motif of the Divine Warrior, see Tremper Longman III and Daniel G. Reid, God Is a Warrior (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995).
21 George L. Klein, Zechariah, The New American Commentary, ed. E. Ray Clendenen (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2008), 287.
22 Stephen R. Miller, Daniel, The New American Commentary, ed. E. Ray Clendenen (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1994), 204.
23 Alan F. Johnson, “ Revelation,” in Hebrews-Revelation, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, eds. Tremper Longman III and David E. Garland, Rev. ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006), 13:605.
24 It is interesting to note that the angel of the Lord, which appeared at the tomb of the risen Christ, is described as having clothes that were “white as snow” (Matt. 28:2).
25 Dew or rain often is attested in literary works. One striking example of both being used together occurs in the English devotional poet George Herbert’s classic work entitled “The Temple” in the portion called The Church,
in the section designated The Flower:
And now in age I bud again,
After so many deaths I live and write;
I once more smell the dew and rain,
And relish versing: O my only light,
It cannot be
That I am he
On whom thy tempests fell all night.
These are thy wonders, Lord of love,
To make us see we are but flowers that glide’
Which when we once can finde and prove,
Thou hast a garden for us, where to bide,
Who would be more,
Swelling through store,
Forfeit their Paradise by their pride.
26 Barker, “Micah,” 103-04.
27 For added emphasis Moses includes two additional words for rain to underscore the positive and beneficial effects of godly instruction.
28 For further scriptural teaching with regard to various forms of water, see Richard D. Patterson, “The Scriptural Use of an Archetype: Water,” Biblical Studies Press, 2009.
29 Anne Ross Cousin, “The Sands of Time Are Sinking.”
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African-American literature is the body of literature produced in the United States by writers of African descent. It begins with the works of such late 18th-century writers as Phillis Wheatley. Before the high point of slave narratives, African-American literature was dominated by autobiographical spiritual narratives. African American literature reached early high points with slave narratives of the nineteenth century. The Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s was a time of flowering of literature and the arts. Writers of African-American literature have been recognized by the highest awards, including the Nobel Prize to Toni Morrison. Among the themes and issues explored in this literature are the role of African Americans within the larger American society, African-American culture, racism, slavery, and equality. African-American writing has tended to incorporate oral forms, such as spirituals, sermons, gospel music, blues, or rap.
As African Americans' place in American society has changed over the centuries, so, has the focus of African-American literature. Before the American Civil War, the literature primarily consisted of memoirs by people who had escaped from slavery; the genre of slave narratives included accounts of life under slavery and the path of justice and redemption to freedom. There was an early distinction between the literature of freed slaves and the literature of free blacks who had been born in the North. Free blacks had to express their oppression in a different narrative form. Free blacks in the North often spoke out against slavery and racial injustices using the spiritual narrative. The spiritual addressed many of the same themes of slave narratives, but has been largely ignored in current scholarly conversation.
At the turn of the 20th century, non-fiction works by authors such as W. E. B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington debated whether to confront or appease racist attitudes in the United States. During the American Civil Rights movement, authors such as Richard Wright and Gwendolyn Brooks wrote about issues of racial segregation and black nationalism. Today, African-American literature has become accepted as an integral part of American literature, with books such as Roots: The Saga of an American Family by Alex Haley, The Color Purple (1982) by Alice Walker, which won the Pulitzer Prize; and Beloved by Toni Morrison achieving both best-selling and award-winning status.
In broad terms, African-American literature can be defined as writings by people of African descent living in the United States. It is highly varied. African-American literature has generally focused on the role of African Americans within the larger American society and what it means to be an American. As Princeton University professor Albert J. Raboteau has said, all African-American study "speaks to the deeper meaning of the African-American presence in this nation. This presence has always been a test case of the nation's claims to freedom, democracy, equality, the inclusiveness of all." African-American literature explores the issues of freedom and equality long denied to Blacks in the United States, along with further themes such as African-American culture, racism, religion, slavery, a sense of home, segregation, migration, feminism, and more. African-American literature presents the African-American experience from an African-American point of view. In the early Republic, African-American literature represented a way for free blacks to negotiate their new identity in an individualized republic. They often tried to exercise their political and social autonomy in the face of resistance from the white public. Thus, an early theme of African-American literature was, like other American writings, what it meant to be a citizen in post-Revolutionary America.
Characteristics and themes
African-American literature has both been influenced by the great African diasporic heritage and shaped it in many countries. It has been created within the larger realm of post-colonial literature, although scholars distinguish between the two, saying that "African American literature differs from most post-colonial literature in that it is written by members of a minority community who reside within a nation of vast wealth and economic power."
African-American oral culture is rich in poetry, including spirituals, gospel music, blues, and rap. This oral poetry also appears in the African-American tradition of Christian sermons, which make use of deliberate repetition, cadence, and alliteration. African-American literature—especially written poetry, but also prose—has a strong tradition of incorporating all of these forms of oral poetry. These characteristics do not occur in all works by African-American writers.
Some scholars resist using Western literary theory to analyze African-American literature. As the Harvard literary scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. said, "My desire has been to allow the black tradition to speak for itself about its nature and various functions, rather than to read it, or analyze it, in terms of literary theories borrowed whole from other traditions, appropriated from without." One trope common to African-American literature is Signification. Gates claims that signifying “is a trope in which are subsumed several other rhetorical tropes, including metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, and irony, and also hyperbole an litotes, and metalepsis.” Signification also refers to the way in which African-American “authors read and critique other African American texts in an act of rhetorical self-definition”
Early African-American literature
African-American history predates the emergence of the United States as an independent country, and African-American literature has similarly deep roots.
Lucy Terry is the author of the oldest known piece of African-American literature, "Bars Fight". Terry wrote the ballad in 1746 after an Indian attack on Deerfield. She was enslaved in Deerfield at the time of the attack. The ballad was first published in 1854, with an additional couplet, in The Springfield Republican and in 1855 in Josiah Holland’s History of Western Massachusetts.
The poet Phillis Wheatley (1753–84) published her book Poems on Various Subjects in 1773, three years before American independence. Wheatley was not only the first African American to publish a book, but also the first to achieve an international reputation as a writer. Born in Senegal, Wheatley was captured and sold into slavery at the age of seven. Brought to America, she was owned by a Boston merchant. By the time she was sixteen, she had mastered her new language of English. Her poetry was praised by many of the leading figures of the American Revolution, including George Washington, who thanked her for a poem written in his honor. Some whites found it hard to believe that a Black woman could write such refined poetry. Wheatley had to defend herself in court to prove that she had written her work. Some critics cite Wheatley's successful defense as the first recognition of African-American literature.[dead link] As a result of the skepticism surrounding her work, Poems on Various Subjects offers its reader several introductory documents designed to authenticate Wheatley and her poetry and to substantiate her literary motives.”
Another early African-American author was Jupiter Hammon (1711–1806?). Hammon, considered the first published Black writer in America, published his poem "An Evening Thought: Salvation by Christ with Penitential Cries" as a broadside in early 1761. In 1778 he wrote an ode to Phillis Wheatley, in which he discussed their shared humanity and common bonds.
In 1786, Hammon gave his "Address to the Negroes of the State of New York". Writing at the age of 76 after a lifetime of slavery, Hammon said: "If we should ever get to Heaven, we shall find nobody to reproach us for being black, or for being slaves." He also promoted the idea of a gradual emancipation as a way to end slavery. Hammon is thought to have been a slave until his death. In the 19th century, his speech was later reprinted by several abolitionist groups.
William Wells Brown (1814–84) and Victor Séjour (1817–74) produced the earliest works of fiction by African-American writers. Séjour was born free in New Orleans and moved to France at the age of 19. There he published his short story "Le Mulâtre" ("The Mulatto") in 1837. It is the first known fiction by an African American, but as it was written in French and published in a French journal, it had apparently no influence on later American literature. Séjour never returned to African-American themes in his subsequent works.
Brown, on the other hand, was a prominent abolitionist, lecturer, novelist, playwright, and historian in the United States. Born into slavery in the South, Brown escaped to the North, where he worked for abolitionist causes and was a prolific writer. Brown wrote Clotel; or, The President's Daughter (1853), considered to be the first novel written by an African American. It was based on the persistent rumor that president Thomas Jefferson had fathered a daughter with his slave Sally Hemings. The novel was first published in England.
The first African-American novel published in the United States was Harriet Wilson's Our Nig (1859). It expressed the difficulties of lives of northern free Blacks. Our Nig was rediscovered and republished by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., in the early 1980s. He labeled the work fiction and argued that it may be the first novel published by an African-American. Parallels between Wilson's narrative and her life have been discovered. This has led some scholars to argue that the work is in fact autobiographical. Despite these disagreements, Our Nig is a literary work which speaks to the difficult life of free blacks in the North who were indentured servants. Our Nig is also a counter-narrative to the sentimental novel and mother-centered novel of the 19th century.
Another recently discovered work of early African-American literature is The Bondwoman’s Narrative, which was written by Hannah Crafts between 1853 and 1860. Crafts was a fugitive slave. If it was written in 1853 then it would be the first African-American novel written in the United States. The novel was republished in 2002 with an introduction by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. The work was never published during Crafts' lifetime. Some speculate this occurred because she did not have entry into the publishing world. The novel situates itself between slave narratives and the sentimental novel. Crafts' novel is important because it rethinks the genre of the slave narrative. There is some evidence that the narrative was serialized and bears resemblances to Charles Dickens' style.– Many critics are still attempting to decode its literary significance and establish its contributions to the study of early African-American literature.
A genre of African-American literature that developed in the middle of the 19th century is the slave narrative, accounts written by fugitive slaves about their lives in the South and, often, after escaping to freedom. They wanted to describe the cruelties of life under slavery, as well as the persistent humanity of the slaves as persons. At the time, the controversy over slavery led to impassioned literature on both sides of the issue, with novels such as Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) by Harriet Beecher Stowe's representing the abolitionist view of the evils of slavery. Southern white writers produced the "Anti-Tom" novels in response, purporting to truly describe life under slavery, as well as the more severe cruelties suffered by free labor in the North. Examples include Aunt Phillis's Cabin (1852) by Mary Henderson Eastman and The Sword and the Distaff (1853) by William Gilmore Simms.
The slave narratives were integral to African-American literature. Some 6,000 former slaves from North America and the Caribbean wrote accounts of their lives, with about 150 of these published as separate books or pamphlets. Slave narratives can be broadly categorized into three distinct forms: tales of religious redemption, tales to inspire the abolitionist struggle, and tales of progress. The tales written to inspire the abolitionist struggle are the most famous because they tend to have a strong autobiographical motif. Many of them are now recognized as the most literary of all 19th-century writings by African Americans, with two of the best-known being Frederick Douglass's autobiography and Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs (1861).
Jacobs (1813–1897) was born a slave in Edenton, North Carolina and was the first woman to author a slave narrative in the United States. Although her narrative Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl was written under the pseudonym "Linda Brent", the autobiography can be traced through a series of letters from Jacobs to various friends and advisors, most importantly to Lydia Maria Child, the eventual editor of incidents. The narrative details Jacobs' struggle for freedom, not only for herself but for her two children. Jacobs' narrative occupies an important place in the history of African-American literature as it discloses through her firsthand example the special injustices that black women suffered under slavery.
Frederick Douglass (c. 1818–95) first came to public attention in the North as an orator for abolition and as the author of a moving slave narrative. He eventually became the most prominent African American of his time and one of the most influential lecturers and authors in American history.
Born into slavery in Maryland, Douglass eventually escaped and worked for numerous abolitionist causes. He also edited a number of newspapers. Douglass' best-known work is his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, which was published in 1845. At the time some critics attacked the book, not believing that a black man could have written such an eloquent work. Despite this, the book was an immediate bestseller. Douglass later revised and expanded his autobiography, which was republished as My Bondage and My Freedom (1855). In addition to serving in a number of political posts during his life, he also wrote numerous influential articles and essays.
Early African-American spiritual autobiographies were published in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Authors of these narratives include James Gronniosaw, John Marrant, and George White. William L. Andrews argues that these early narratives "gave the twin themes of the Afro-American 'pregeneric myth'—knowledge and freedom—their earliest narrative form". These spiritual narratives were important predecessors of the slave narratives which proliferated the literary scene of the 19th century. These spiritual narratives have often been left out of the study of African-American literature because some scholars have deemed them historical or sociological documents, despite their importance to understanding African-American literature as a whole.
African-American women who wrote spiritual narratives had to negotiate the precarious positions of being black and women in early America. Women claimed their authority to preach and write spiritual narratives by citing the Epistle of James, often calling themselves "doers of the word". The study of these women and their spiritual narratives are significant to the understanding of African-American life in the Antebellum North because they offer both historical context and literary tropes. Women who wrote these narratives had a clear knowledge of literary genres and biblical narratives. This contributed to advancing their message about African-American women’s agency and countered the dominant racist and sexist discourse of early American society.
Zilpha Elaw was born in 1790 in America to free parents. She was a preacher for five years in England without the support of a denomination. She published her Memoirs of the Life, Religious Experience, Ministerial Travel and Labours of Mrs. Zilpha Elaw, an American Female of Colour in 1846, while still living in England. Her narrative was meant to be an account of her spiritual experience. Yet some critics argue that her work was also meant to be a literary contribution. Elaw aligns herself in a literary tradition of respectable women of her time who were trying to combat the immoral literature of the time.
Maria W. Stewart published a collection of her religious writings with an autobiographical experience attached in 1879. The publication was called Meditations from the Pen of Mrs. Maria W. Stewart. She also had two works published in 1831 and 1832 titled Religion and the Pure Principles of Morality and Meditations. Maria Stewart was known for her public speeches in which she talked about the role of black women and race relations. Her works were praised by Alexander Crummell and William Lloyd Garrison. Stewart's works have been argued to be a refashioning of the jeremiad tradition and focus on the specific plight of African Americans in America during the period.–
Jarena Lee published two religious autobiographical narratives: The Life and Religious Experience of Jarena Lee and Religious Experience and Journal of Mrs. Jarena Lee. These two narratives were published in 1836 and 1849 respectively. Both works spoke about Lee's life as a preacher for the African Methodist Church. But her narratives were not endorsed by the Methodists because a woman preaching was contrary to their church doctrine. Some critics argue that Lee's contribution to African-American literature lies in her disobedience to the patriarchal church system and her assertion of women's rights within the Methodist Church.
Nancy Prince was born in 1799, in Newburyport, Massachusetts, and was of African and Native American descent. She turned to religion at the age of 16 in an attempt to find comfort from the trials of her life. She married Nero Prince and traveled extensively in the West Indies and Russia. She became a missionary and in 1841 she tried to raise funds for missionary work in the West Indies, publishing a pamphlet entitled The West Indies: Being a Description of the Islands, Progress of Christianity, Education, and Liberty Among the Colored Population Generally. Later, in 1850, she published A Narrative of the Life and Travels of Mrs. Nancy Prince. These publications were both spiritual narratives and travel narratives. Similar to Jarena Lee, Prince adhered to the standards of Christian religion by framing her unique travel narrative in a Christian perspective. Yet, her narrative poses a counter narrative to the 19th century's ideal of a demure woman who had no voice in society and little knowledge of the world.
Sojourner Truth (1797–1883) was a leading advocate in both the abolitionist and feminist movements in the 19th century. Born Isabella to a wealthy Dutch master in Ulster County, New York, she adopted the name Sojourner Truth after forty years of struggle, first to attain her freedom and then to work on the mission she felt God intended for her. This new name was to "signify the new person she had become in the spirit, a traveler dedicated to speaking the Truth as God revealed it". Truth played a significant role during the Civil War. She worked tirelessly on several civil rights fronts; she recruited black troops in Michigan, helped with relief efforts for freedmen and women escaping from the South, led a successful effort to desegregate the streetcars in Washington, D.C., and she counseled President Abraham Lincoln. Truth never learned to read or write but in 1850, she worked with Oliver Gilbert, a sympathetic white woman, to write the Narrative of Sojourner Truth. This narrative was a contribution to both the slave narrative and female spiritual narratives.
After the end of slavery and the American Civil War, a number of African-American authors wrote nonfiction works about the condition of African Americans in the United States.
Among the most prominent of these writers is W. E. B. Du Bois (1868–1963), who had a doctorate in sociology from Harvard University, and was one of the original founders of the NAACP in 1910. At the turn of the century, Du Bois published a highly influential collection of essays entitled The Souls of Black Folk. The essays on race were groundbreaking and drew from Du Bois's personal experiences to describe how African Americans lived in rural Georgia and in the larger American society. Du Bois wrote: "The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color-line", a statement since considered prescient. Du Bois believed that African Americans should, because of their common interests, work together to battle prejudice and inequity. He was a professor at Atlanta University and later at Howard University.
Another prominent author of this period is Booker T. Washington (1856–1915), who in many ways represented opposite views from Du Bois. Washington was an educator and the founder of the Tuskegee Institute, a historically black college in Alabama. Among his published works are Up From Slavery (1901), The Future of the American Negro (1899), Tuskegee and Its People (1905), and My Larger Education (1911). In contrast to Du Bois, who adopted a more confrontational attitude toward ending racial strife in America, Washington believed that Blacks should first lift themselves up and prove themselves the equal of whites before asking for an end to racism. While this viewpoint was popular among some Blacks (and many whites) at the time, Washington's political views would later fall out of fashion.
Elizabeth Keckley (1818–1907) was a former slave who managed to establish a successful career as a dressmaker who catered to the Washington political elite after obtaining her freedom. However, soon after publishing Behind the Scenes; or, Thirty Years as a Slave and Four Years in the White House, she lost her job and found herself reduced to doing odd jobs. Although she acknowledged the cruelties of her enslavement and her resentment towards it, Keckley chose to focus her narrative on the incidents that "moulded her character", and on how she proved herself "worth her salt".Behind the Scenes details Keckley's life in slavery, her work for Mary Todd Lincoln and her efforts to obtain her freedom. Keckley was also deeply committed to programs of racial improvement and protection and helped found the Home for Destitute Women and Children in Washington, D.C., as a result. In addition to this, Keckley taught at Wilberforce University in Ohio.
Josephine Brown (1839–?), the youngest child of abolitionist and author William Wells Brown, wrote a biography of her father, Biography of an American Bondman, By His Daughter. Brown wrote the first ten chapters of the narrative while studying in France, as a means of satisfying her classmates' curiosity about her father. After returning to America, she discovered that the narrative of her father’s life, written by him, and published a few years before, was out of print and thus produced the rest of the chapters that constitute Biography of an American Bondman. Brown was a qualified teacher but she was also extremely active as an advocate against slavery.
Although not a US citizen, the Jamaican Marcus Garvey (1887–1940), was a newspaper publisher, journalist, and activist for Pan Africanism who became well known in the United States. He founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA). He encouraged black nationalism and for people of African ancestry to look favorably upon their ancestral homeland. He wrote a number of essays published as editorials in the UNIA house organ, the Negro World newspaper. Some of his lecture material and other writings were compiled and published as nonfiction books by his second wife Amy Jacques Garvey as the Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey Or, Africa for the Africans (1924) and More Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey (1977).
Paul Laurence Dunbar, who often wrote in the rural, black dialect of the day, was the first African-American poet to gain national prominence. His first book of poetry, Oak and Ivy, was published in 1893. Much of Dunbar's work, such as When Malindy Sings (1906), which includes photographs taken by the Hampton Institute Camera Club, and Joggin' Erlong (1906) provide revealing glimpses into the lives of rural African Americans of the day. Though Dunbar died young, he was a prolific poet, essayist, novelist (among them The Uncalled, 1898 and The Fanatics, 1901) and short story writer.
Other African-American writers also rose to prominence in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Among these is Charles W. Chesnutt, a well-known short story writer and essayist.
Frances E. W. Harper (1825–1911) wrote four novels, several volumes of poetry, and numerous stories, poems, essays and letters. Born to free parents in Baltimore, Maryland, Harper received an uncommonly thorough education at her uncle, William Watkins' school. In 1853, publication of Harper’s Eliza Harris, which was one of many responses to Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom’s Cabin, brought her national attention. Harper was hired by the Maine Anti-Slavery Society and in the first six weeks, she managed to travel to twenty cities, giving at least thirty-one lectures. Her book Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects, a collection of poems and essays prefaced by William Lloyd Garrison, was published in 1854 and sold more than 10,000 copies within three years. Harper was often characterized as "a noble Christian woman" and "one of the most scholarly and well-read women of her day", but she was also known as a strong advocate against slavery and the post-Civil War repressive measures against blacks.
The Harlem Renaissance from 1920 to 1940 was a flowering of African-American literature and art. Based in the African-American community of Harlem in New York City, it was part of a larger flowering of social thought and culture. Numerous Black artists, musicians and others produced classic works in fields from jazz to theater; the renaissance is perhaps best known for the literature that came out of it.
Among the most renowned writers of the renaissance is poet Langston Hughes. Hughes first received attention in the 1922 publication The Book of American Negro Poetry. Edited by James Weldon Johnson, this anthology featured the work of the period's most talented poets (including, among others, Claude McKay, who also published three novels, Home to Harlem, Banjo and Banana Bottom and a collection of short stories). In 1926, Hughes published a collection of poetry, The Weary Blues, and in 1930 a novel, Not Without Laughter. Perhaps his most famous poem is "The Negro Speaks of Rivers", which he wrote as a young teen. His single, most recognized character is Jesse B. Simple, a plainspoken, pragmatic Harlemite whose comedic observations appeared in Hughes's columns for the Chicago Defender and the New York Post. Simple Speaks His Mind (1950) is perhaps the best-known collection of Simple stories published in book form. Until his death in 1967, Hughes published nine volumes of poetry, eight books of short stories, two novels and a number of plays, children's books and translations.
Another notable writer of the renaissance is novelist Zora Neale Hurston, author of the classic novel Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937). Although Hurston wrote 14 books that ranged from anthropology to short stories to novel-length fiction, her writings fell into obscurity for decades. Her work was rediscovered in the 1970s through a 1975 article by Alice Walker, "In Search of Zora Neale Hurston", published in Ms. magazine. Walker found in Hurston a role model for all female African-American writers.
While Hurston and Hughes are the two most influential writers to come out of the Harlem Renaissance, a number of other writers also became well known during this period. They include Jean Toomer, author of Cane, a famous collection of stories, poems, and sketches about rural and urban Black life, and Dorothy West, whose novel The Living is Easy examined the life of an upper-class Black family. Another popular renaissance writer is Countee Cullen, who in his poems described everyday black life (such as a trip he made to Baltimore that was ruined by a racial insult). Cullen's books include the poetry collections Color (1925), Copper Sun (1927), and The Ballad of the Brown Girl (1927). Frank Marshall Davis's poetry collections Black Man's Verse (1935) and I am the American Negro (1937), published by Black Cat Press, earned him critical acclaim. Author Wallace Thurman also made an impact with his novel The Blacker the Berry: A Novel of Negro Life (1929), which focused on intraracial prejudice between lighter-skinned and darker-skinned African Americans.
The Harlem Renaissance marked a turning point for African-American literature. Prior to this time, books by African Americans were primarily read by other Black people. With the renaissance, though, African-American literature—as well as black fine art and performance art—began to be absorbed into mainstream American culture.
Civil Rights Movement era
A large migration of African Americans began during World War I, hitting its high point during World War II. During this Great Migration, Black people left the racism and lack of opportunities in the American South and settled in northern cities like Chicago, where they found work in factories and other sectors of the economy.
This migration produced a new sense of independence in the Black community and contributed to the vibrant Black urban culture seen during the Harlem Renaissance. The migration also empowered the growing American Civil Rights movement, which made a powerful impression on Black writers during the 1940s, '50s and '60s. Just as Black activists were pushing to end segregation and racism and create a new sense of Black nationalism, so too were Black authors attempting to address these issues with their writings.
One of the first writers to do so was James Baldwin, whose work addressed issues of race and sexuality. Baldwin, who is best known for his novel Go Tell It on the Mountain, wrote deeply personal stories and essays while examining what it was like to be both Black and homosexual at a time when neither of these identities was accepted by American culture. In all, Baldwin wrote nearly 20 books, including such classics as Another Country and The Fire Next Time.
Baldwin's idol and friend was author Richard Wright, whom Baldwin called "the greatest Black writer in the world for me". Wright is best known for his novel Native Son (1940), which tells the story of Bigger Thomas, a Black man struggling for acceptance in Chicago. Baldwin was so impressed by the novel that he titled a collection of his own essays Notes of a Native Son, in reference to Wright's novel. However, their friendship fell apart due to one of the book's essays, "Everybody's Protest Novel," which criticized Native Son for lacking credible characters and psychological complexity. Among Wright's other books are the autobiographical novel Black Boy (1945), The Outsider (1953), and White Man, Listen! (1957).
The other great novelist of this period is Ralph Ellison, best known for his novel Invisible Man (1952), which won the National Book Award in 1953. Even though he did not complete another novel during his lifetime, Invisible Man was so influential that it secured his place in literary history. After Ellison's death in 1994, a second novel, Juneteenth (1999), was pieced together from the 2,000-plus pages he had written over 40 years. A fuller version of the manuscript will be published as Three Days Before the Shooting (2008). Jones, Edward, The Known World, 2003 Carter Stephen, New England White 2007 Wright W.D. Crisis of the Black Intellectual, 2007
The Civil Rights time period also saw the rise of female Black poets, most notably Gwendolyn Brooks, who became the first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize when it was awarded for her 1949 book of poetry, Annie Allen. Along with Brooks, other female poets who became well known during the 1950s and '60s are Nikki Giovanni and Sonia Sanchez.
During this time, a number of playwrights also came to national attention, notably Lorraine Hansberry, whose play A Raisin in the Sun focuses on a poor Black family living in Chicago. The play won the 1959 New York Drama Critics' Circle Award. Another playwright who gained attention was Amiri Baraka, who wrote controversial off-Broadway plays. In more recent years, Baraka has become known for his poetry and music criticism.
It is also worth noting that a number of important essays and books about human rights were written by the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement. One of the leading examples of these is Martin Luther King, Jr's "Letter from Birmingham Jail".
Beginning in the 1970s, African-American literature reached the mainstream as books by Black writers continually achieved best-selling and award-winning status. This was also the time when the work of African-American writers began to be accepted by academia as a legitimate genre of American literature.
As part of the larger Black Arts Movement, which was inspired by the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements, African American literature began to be defined and analyzed. A number of scholars and writers are generally credited with helping to promote and define African-American literature as a genre during this time period, including fiction writers Toni Morrison and Alice Walker and poet James Emanuel.
James Emanuel took a major step toward defining African-American literature when he edited (with Theodore Gross) Dark Symphony: Negro Literature in America (1968), a collection of black writings released by a major publisher. This anthology, and Emanuel's work as an educator at the City College of New York (where he is credited with introducing the study of African-American poetry), heavily influenced the birth of the genre. Other influential African-American anthologies of this time included Black Fire: An Anthology of Afro-American Writing, edited by LeRoi Jones (now known as Amiri Baraka) and Larry Neal in 1968; The Negro Caravan, co-edited by Sterling Brown, Arthur P. Davis and Ulysses Lee in 1969; and We Speak As Liberators: Young Black Poets - An Anthology, edited by Oorde Coombs and published in 1970.
Toni Morrison, meanwhile, helped promote Black literature and authors when she worked as an editor for Random House in the 1960s and '70s, where she edited books by such authors as Toni Cade Bambara and Gayl Jones. Morrison herself would later emerge as one of the most important African-American writers of the 20th century. Her first novel, The Bluest Eye, was published in 1970. Among her most famous novels is Beloved, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1988. This story describes a slave who found freedom but killed her infant daughter to save her from a life of slavery. Another important novel is Song of Solomon, a tale about materialism, unrequited love, and brotherhood. Morrison is the first African American to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.
In the 1970s novelist and poet Alice Walker wrote a famous essay that brought Zora Neale Hurston and her classic novel Their Eyes Were Watching God back to the attention of the literary world. In 1982, Walker won both the Pulitzer Prize and the American Book Award for her novel The Color Purple. An epistolary novel (a book written in the form of letters), The Color Purple tells the story of Celie, a young woman who is sexually abused by her stepfather and then is forced to marry a man who physically abuses her. The novel was later made into a film by Steven Spielberg.
The 1970s also saw African-American books topping the bestseller lists. Among the first to do so was Roots: The Saga of an American Family by Alex Haley. A fictionalized account of Haley's family history—beginning with the kidnapping of his ancestor Kunta Kinte in Gambia through his life as a slave in the United States— Roots won the Pulitzer Prize and became a popular television miniseries. Haley also wrote The Autobiography of Malcolm X in 1965.
Other important writers in recent years include literary fiction writers Gayl Jones, Rasheed Clark, Ishmael Reed, Jamaica Kincaid, Randall Kenan, and John Edgar Wideman. African-American poets have also garnered attention. Maya Angelou read a poem at Bill Clinton's inauguration, Rita Dove won a Pulitzer Prize and served as Poet Laureate of the United States from 1993 to 1995, and Cyrus Cassells's Soul Make a Path through Shouting was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1994. Cassells is a recipient of the William Carlos Williams Award. Natasha Trethewey won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry with her book Native Guard. Lesser-known poets such as Thylias Moss also have been praised for their innovative work. Notable black playwrights include Ntozake Shange, who wrote For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf; Ed Bullins; Suzan-Lori Parks; and the prolific August Wilson, who won two Pulitzer Prizes for his plays. Most recently, Edward P. Jones won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Known World, his novel about a black slaveholder in the antebellum South.
Young African American novelists include David Anthony Durham, Tayari Jones, Kalisha Buckhanon, Mat Johnson, ZZ Packer and Colson Whitehead, just to name a few. African-American literature has also crossed over to genre fiction. A pioneer in this area is Chester Himes, who in the 1950s and '60s wrote a series of pulp fiction detective novels featuring "Coffin" Ed Johnson and "Gravedigger" Jones, two New York City police detectives. Himes paved the way for the later crime novels of Walter Mosley and Hugh Holton. African Americans are also represented in the genres of science fiction, fantasy and horror, with Samuel R. Delany, Octavia E. Butler, Steven Barnes, Tananarive Due, Robert Fleming, Brandon Massey, Charles R. Saunders, John Ridley, John M. Faucette, Sheree Thomas and Nalo Hopkinson being just a few of the well-known authors.
Finally, African-American literature has gained added attention through the work of talk-show host Oprah Winfrey, who repeatedly has leveraged her fame to promote literature through the medium of her Oprah's Book Club. At times, she has brought African-American writers a far broader audience than they otherwise might have received.
While African American literature is well accepted in the United States, there are numerous views on its significance, traditions, and theories. To the genre's supporters, African American literature arose out of the experience of Blacks in the United States, especially with regards to historic racism and discrimination, and is an attempt to refute the dominant culture's literature and power. In addition, supporters see the literature existing both within and outside American literature and as helping to revitalize the country's writing. To critics[who?], African-American literature is part of a Balkanization of American literature. In addition, there are some within the African American community who do not like how their own literature sometimes showcases Black people.
Refuting the dominant literary culture
Throughout American history, African Americans have been discriminated against and subject to racist attitudes. This experience inspired some Black writers, at least during the early years of African-American literature, to prove they were the equals of European-American authors. As Henry Louis Gates, Jr, has said, "it is fair to describe the subtext of the history of black letters as this urge to refute the claim that because blacks had no written traditions they were bearers of an inferior culture."
By refuting the claims of the dominant culture, African-American writers were also attempting to subvert the literary and power traditions of the United States. Some scholars assert that writing has traditionally been seen as "something defined by the dominant culture as a white male activity." This means that, in American society, literary acceptance has traditionally been intimately tied in with the very power dynamics which perpetrated such evils as racial discrimination. By borrowing from and incorporating the non-written oral traditions and folk life of the African diaspora, African-American literature broke "the mystique of connection between literary authority and patriarchal power." In producing their own literature, African Americans were able to establish their own literary traditions devoid of the white intellectual filter. This view of African-American literature as a tool in the struggle for Black political and cultural liberation has been stated for decades, perhaps most famously by W. E. B. Du Bois.
Existing both inside and outside American literature
According to Joanne Gabbin, a professor, African-American literature exists both inside and outside American literature. "Somehow African American literature has been relegated to a different level, outside American literature, yet it is an integral part," she says. She bases her theory in the experience of Black people in the United States. Even though African Americans have long claimed an American identity, during most of United States history they were not accepted as full citizens and were actively discriminated against. As a result, they were part of America while also outside it.
Similarly, African-American literature is within the framework of a larger American literature, but it also is independent. As a result, new styles of storytelling and unique voices have been created in relative isolation. The benefit of this is that these new styles and voices can leave their isolation and help revitalize the larger literary world (McKay, 2004). This artistic pattern has held true with many aspects of African American culture over the last century, with jazz and hip hop being just two artistic examples that developed in isolation within the Black community before reaching a larger audience and eventually revitalizing American culture.
Since African-American literature is already popular with mainstream audiences, its ability to develop new styles and voices—or to remain "authentic," in the words of some critics—may be a thing of the past.[dead link]
Balkanization of American literature
Some conservative academics and intellectuals argue that African-American literature exists as a separate topic only because of the balkanization of literature over the last few decades, or as an extension of the culture wars into the field of literature. According to these critics, literature is splitting into distinct and separate groupings because of the rise of identity politics in the United States and other parts of the world. These critics reject bringing identity politics into literature because this would mean that "only women could write about women for women, and only Blacks about Blacks for Blacks."
People opposed to this group-based approach to writing say that it limits the ability of literature to explore the overall human condition. Critics also disagree with classifying writers on the basis of their race, as they believe this is limiting and artists can tackle any subject.
Proponents counter that the exploration of group and ethnic dynamics through writing deepens human understanding and previously, entire groups of people were ignored or neglected by American literature. (Jay, 1997)
The general consensus view appears to be that American literature is not breaking apart because of new genres like African-American literature. Instead, American literature is simply reflecting the increasing diversity of the United States and showing more signs of diversity than before in its history (Andrews, 1997; McKay, 2004).
African American criticism
Some of the criticism of African-American literature over the years has come from within the community; some argue that Black literature sometimes does not portray Black people in a positive light and that it should.
W. E. B. Du Bois wrote in the NAACP's The Crisis on this topic, saying in 1921, "We want everything that is said about us to tell of the best and highest and noblest in us. We insist that our Art and Propaganda be one." He added in 1926, "All Art is propaganda and ever must be, despite the wailing of the purists." Du Bois and the editors of The Crisis consistently stated that literature was a tool in the struggle for African-American political liberation.
Du Bois's belief in the propaganda value of art showed when he clashed in 1928 with the author Claude McKay over his best-selling novel Home to Harlem. Du Bois thought the novel's frank depictions of sexuality and the nightlife in Harlem appealed only to the "prurient demand[s]" of white readers and publishers looking for portrayals of Black "licentiousness." Du Bois said, "'Home to Harlem' ... for the most part nauseates me, and after the dirtier parts of its filth I feel distinctly like taking a bath." Others made similar criticism of Wallace Thurman's novel The Blacker the Berry in 1929. Addressing prejudice between lighter-skinned and darker-skinned Blacks, the novel infuriated many African Americans, who did not like the public airing of their "dirty laundry."
Many African-American writers thought their literature should present the full truth about life and people. Langston Hughes articulated this view in his essay "The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain" (1926). He wrote that Black artists intended to express themselves freely no matter what the Black public or white public thought.
More recently, some critics accused Alice Walker of unfairly attacking black men in her novel The Color Purple (19xx). In his updated 1995 introduction to his novel Oxherding Tale, Charles Johnson criticized Walker's novel for its negative portrayal of African-American males: "I leave it to readers to decide which book pushes harder at the boundaries of convention, and inhabits most confidently the space where fiction and philosophy meet." Walker responded in her essays The Same River Twice: Honoring the Difficult (19xx).
Robert Hayden, the first African-American Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, critiqued the idea of African American Literature saying (paraphrasing the comment by the black composer Duke Ellington about jazz and music), "There is no such thing as Black literature. There's good literature and bad. And that's all."
Kenneth Warren's "What Was African American Literature?" argues that black American writing, as a literature, began with the institution of Jim Crow legislation and ended with desegregation. In order to substantiate this claim, he cites both the societal pressures to create a distinctly black American literature for uplift and the lack of a well formulated essential notion of literary blackness. For this scholar, the late 19th and early 20th century de jure racism crystallized the canon of African American literature as black writers conscripted literature as a means to counter notions of inferiority. During this period, “whether African American writers acquiesced in or kicked against the label, they knew what was at stake in accepting or contesting their identification as Negro writers.” He writes that “[a]bsent white suspicion of, or commitment to imposing, black inferiority, African American literature would not have existed as a literature” Warren bases part of his argument on the distinction between "the mere existence of literary texts" and the formation of texts into a coherent body of literature. For Warren, it is the coherence of responding to racist narratives in the struggle for civil rights that establishes the body of African American literature, and the scholar suggests that continuing to refer to the texts produced after the civil rights era as such is a symptom of nostalgia or a belief that the struggle for civil rights has not yet ended.
In an alternative reading, Karla F.C. Holloway's "Legal Fictions" (forthcoming from Duke University Press, 2014) suggests a different composition for the tradition and argues its contemporary vitality. Her thesis is that legally cognizable racial identities are sustained through constitutional or legislative act, and these nurture the "legal fiction" of African American identity. "Legal Fictions" argues that the social imagination of race is expressly constituted in law and is expressively represented through the imaginative composition of literary fictions. As long as US law specifies a black body as "discrete and insular," it confers a cognizable legal status onto that body. US fictions use that legal identity to construct narrativess--from neo-slave narratives to contemporary novels like Walter Mosley's "The Man in My Basement." that take constitutional fictions of race and their frames (contracts, property, and evidence) to compose the narratives that cohere the tradition.
- Jerry W. Ward, Jr., "To Shatter Innocence: Teaching African American Poetry"], in Teaching African American Literature, ed. by M. Graham, Routledge, 1998, p. 146.
- Peterson, Carla (1995). Doers of the Word: African-American Women Speakers and Writers in the North (1830–1880). New York: Oxford University Press. p. 4.
- Darryl Dickson-Carr, The Columbia Guide to Contemporary African American Fiction, New York: Columbia University Press, 2005, pp. 10 to 11.
- Katherine Driscoll Coon, "A Rip in the Tent: Teaching African American Literature"], in Teaching African American Literature, ed. by M. Graham, Routledge, 1998, p. 32.
- Valerie Sweeney Prince, Burnin' Down the House: Home in African American Literature, New York: Columbia University Press, 2005.
- Drexler, Michael (2008). Beyond Douglass: New Perspectives on Early African-American Literature. Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press. p. 69.
- Dickson-Carr,The Columbia Guide, p. 73.
- Radhika Mohanram and Gita Rajan, English Postcoloniality: Literatures from Around the World, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1996, p. 135.
- Ward, Jr., "To Shatter Innocence", p. 146.
- Henry Louis Gates, Jr., The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of African American Literary Criticism, New York: Oxford, 1988, page xix.
- Henry Louis Gates Jr. “The Blackness of Blackness,” Literary Theory: An Anthology 2nd Ed, Blackwell publishing p 988.
- Henry Louis Gates Jr. “The Blackness of Blackness,” Literary Theory: An Anthology 2nd Ed, Blackwell publishing, p. 992.
- Adams, Catherine; Pleck, Elizabeth (2010). Love of Freedom. New York: Oxford University Press. p. Kindle Location 1289.
- [dead link]Ellis Cashmore, review of The Norton Anthology of African-American Literature, Nellie Y. McKay and Henry Louis Gates, eds., New Statesman, April 25, 1997 (accessed July 6, 2005).
- Gates, Henry Louis (1997). The Norton Anthology of African American Literature. New York: W.W. Norton. p. 214.
- An address to the Negroes in the state of New-York, by Jupiter Hammon, servant of John Lloyd, Jun, Esq; of the manor of Queen's Village, Long-Island. 1778.
- Victor Séjour, Philip Barnard (translator). "The Mulatto." In Nellie Y. McKay, Henry Louis Gates (eds), The Norton Anthology of African American Literature Second edition, Norton, 2004. ISBN 0-393-97778-1
- Ferguson, Moira (1998). Nine Black Women: An Anthology of Nineteenth-Century Writers from the United States, Canada, Bermuda and the Caribbean. New York: Routledge. p. 118.
- Ferguson, Moira (1998). Nine Black Women: An Anthology of Nineteenth-century writers from the United States, Canada, Bermuda and the Caribbean. New York: Routledge. p. 119.
- Stern, Juila (September 1995). "Excavating Genre in Our Nig". American Literature. 3 67 (3): 40. doi:10.2307/2927939.
- Gates, Henry Louis (2004). In Search of Hannah Crafts. New York: BasicCivitas. pp. 3–4.
- Gates, Henry Louis (2004). In Search of Hannah Crafts. New York: BasicCivitas. p. xi.
- Gates, Henry Louis (2004). In Search of Hannah Crafts. New York: BasicCivitas. pp. 6–7.
- Andrews, William (1986). Sisters of the Spirit. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. p. 1.
- Peterson, Carla. Doers of the Word. p. 5.
- Peterson, Carla. Doers of the Word. p. 3.
- Andrews, William (1986). Sisters of the Spirit. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. p. 2.
- Foster, Frances Smith (1993). Written By Herself: Literary Production by African American Women, 1746-1892. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. p. 84.
- Foster, Frances Smith (1993). Written By herself: Literary production By African American Women, 1746–1892. Bloomington: Indiana University press. p. 85.
- Peterson, Carla. Doers of the Word. p. 57.
- Peterson, Carla. pp. 66–67. Missing or empty
- Ferguson, Moira. p. 148. Missing or empty
- Peterson, Carla. Doers of the Word. p. 74.
- Ferguson, Moira. Nine Black Women. p. 172.
- Foster, Frances Smith. Written by Herself. p. 85.
- Foster, Frances Smith. Written by Herself. p. 86.
- Gates, Henry Louis (1997). The Norton Anthology of African American Literature. New York: W.W. Norton. p. 245.
- Du Bois, W.E.B. The Souls of Black Folk, Penguin Books, 1996, p. 10.
- Gates, Henry Louis (1997). The Norton Anthology of African American Literature. New York: W. W. Norton. p. 365.
- Gates, Henry Louis (1997). The Norton Anthology of African American Literature. New York: W.W. Norton. p. 491.
- David M. Katzman, "Black Migration," in The Reader's Companion to American History, Houghton Mifflin Co. (accessed July 6, 2005); James Grossman, "Chicago and the 'Great Migration'," Illinois History Teacher 3, no. 2 (1996), (accessed July 6, 2005).
- Ronald Roach, "Powerful pages—unprecedented public impact of W.W. Norton and Co's Norton Anthology of African American Literature," Black Issues in Higher Education, September 18, 1997 (accessed July 6, 2005).
- James A. Emanuel: A Register of His Papers in the Library of Congress, prepared by T. Michael Womack, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., 2000. Accessed May 6, 2006.
- "The Other Ghost in Beloved: The Specter of the Scarlet Letter" by Jan Stryz from The New Romanticism: a collection of critical essays by Eberhard Alsen, page 140.
- Quote from Marjorie Pryse in "The Other Ghost in Beloved: The Specter of the Scarlet Letter" by Jan Stryz from The New Romanticism: a collection of critical essays by Eberhard Alsen, page 140.
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- "Coup of the Century", James Madison University (accessed July 6, 2005).
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- Theodore O. Mason, Jr., "African-American Theory and Criticism," Johns Hopkins Guide Literary Theory & Criticism; American Literature, College of Education, Cal State San Bernardino; Stephanie Y. Mitchem, "No longer nailed to the floor," Cross Currents, Spring 2003;.
- John Lowney, "Haiti and Black Transnationalism: Remapping the Migrant Geography of Home to Harlem," African American Review, Fall 2000 (accessed July 6, 2005).
- Frederick B. Hudson, "Black and Gay? A Painter Explores Historical Roots," The Black World Today, April 25, 2005.
- Michael E. Muellero, "Biography of Alice Walker", Contemporary Black Biography 1; Jen Crispin, review of The Color Purple, by Alice Walker. (accessed July 6, 2005)
- Biography of Robert Hayden (accessed August 25, 2005).
- Kenneth Warren. What Was African American Literature? Harvard University Press: 2011 p 8.
- Kenneth Warren. What Was African American Literature? Harvard University Press: 2011 p 15.
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- Andrews, W., Foster, F., and Harris, T. (Editors).The Oxford Companion to African American Literature. Oxford, 1997.
- Brodhead, R. "An Anatomy of Multiculturalism". Yale Alumni Magazine, April 1994. Excerpted here.
- [dead link] Cashmore, E. "Review of the Norton Anthology of African-American Literature" New Statesman, April 25, 1997.
- [not in citation given]Dalrymple, T. "An Imaginary 'Scandal'" The New Criterion, May 2005.
- Davis, M., Graham, M., and Pineault-Burke, S. (Editors). Teaching African American Literature: Theory and Practice. Routledge, 1998.
- Gates, H. The Trials of Phillis Wheatley: America's First Black Poet and Her Encounters With the Founding Fathers Basic Civitas Books, 2003
- Gilyard, K., and Wardi, A. African American Literature. Penguin, 2004.
- [not in citation given] Greenberg, P. "I hate that (The rise of identity journalism)". Townhall.com, June 15, 2005.
- Groden, M., and Krieswirth, M. (Editors). "African-American Theory and Criticism" from the Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism.
- Grossman, J. "Historical Research and Narrative of Chicago and the Great Migration".
- Hamilton, K. "Writers' Retreat: Despite the proliferation of Black authors and titles in today's marketplace, many look to literary journals to carry on the torch for the written word". Black Issues in Higher Education, November 6, 2003.
- Jay, G. American Literature and the Culture Wars. Cornell University Press, 1997. Excerpted here.
- Lowney, J. "Haiti and Black Transnationalism: Remapping the Migrant Geography of Home to Harlem" African American Review, Fall, 2000.
- McKay, N., and Gates, H. (Editors). The Norton Anthology of African American Literature, Second Edition. W. W. Norton & Company, 2004.
- Mitchem, S. "No Longer Nailed to the Floor". Cross Currents, spring, 2003.
- Nishikawa, K. "African American Critical Theory." The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Multiethnic American Literature. Ed. Emmanuel S. Nelson. 5 vols. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2005. 36-41.
- Nishikawa, K. "Crime and Mystery Fiction." The Greenwood Encyclopedia of African American Literature. Ed. Hans Ostrom and J. David Macey, Jr. 5 vols. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2005. 360-67.
- Roach, R. "Powerful pages: Unprecedented Public Impact of W.W. Norton and Co's Norton Anthology of African American Literature". Black Issues in Higher Education, September 18, 1997.
- [dead link] Scott, D. "Harlem shadows: Re-evaluating Wallace Thurman's The Blacker the Berry". MELUS, fall-winter, 2004.
- John Callahan, Ph.D., In the African-American Grain: Call and Response in Twentieth-Century Black Fiction, University of Illinois Press, reprint ed., 2001. ISBN 0-252-06982-X
- Dorson, Richard M., editor
- Piacentino, Ed. "Seeds of Rebellion in Plantation Fiction: Victor Séjour's 'The Mulatto'". Southern Spaces. August 28, 2007.
- African American Literature Book Club
- American Slave Narratives: An Online Anthology
- A Brief Chronology of African American Literature
- African American Women Writers of the 19th Century
- Complete text of classic African American books and essays
- "Famous Writers Section", Mr. Africa Poetry Lounge
- North American Slave Narratives
- Black Writers Conference
- African American Literatures and Cultures Institute of The University of Texas at San Antonio
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Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
- Anything that intercepts another
- A fast, maneuverable fighter aircraft designed to intercept and destroy enemy aircraft before they can attack
- A guided missile designed to intercept and destroy enemy missiles
- In Architecture / Engineering, A device to trap, remove, or separate deleterious, hazardous, or undesirable matter (such as oil, grease, gasoline, sand, and sediment) from normal waste conveyed through it, permitting normal sewage or liquid wastes to discharge into the disposal terminal by gravity.
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What are ESDs?
ESDs link local public and private schools with state and national educational resources. ESD programs allow districts to eliminate duplication of services, realize significant savings and receive special programs that might otherwise be unavailable to them. Washington's nine ESDs are similar to regional support systems in other states struggling to stretch limited dollars over demands for ever-increasing services. Nationwide, the value of regional service agencies has been emphasized by their inclusion in reauthorization language of federal school mandates and funding.
Purpose of ESDs
Educational Service Districts are established by laws of the State of Washington (RCW 28A.310) as regional agencies responsible for:
- Providing cooperative and informational services to local school districts,
- Assisting the State Superintendent of Public Instruction and State Board of Education in the performance of their respective statutory and constitutional duties, and
- Providing services to school districts to assure equal educational opportunities for all students.
History of the ESDs
Washington’s education system is divided geographically into nine regions, each served by an educational service district, or ESD. The nine ESD regions have evolved through a series of legislative directives. Prior to 1969, each of Washington’s 39 counties housed an education office that was responsible for meeting the needs of local school districts. In 1969, the Washington State Board of Education created a statewide system of intermediate school districts, or ISDs, that would replace the individual county offices. That year, the state board established fourteen ISDs. In 1972, the state board reviewed the needs of each geographic region, and reduced the number of ISDs from fourteen to twelve. In 1975, the ISDs were renamed educational service districts, or ESDs—the name they still carry today. In 1977, the state board further reduced the number of ESDs from twelve to the current nine.
Educational Service District 123 Defining Events
The Educational Service District 123 Board of Directors
has identified the following as defining events in the history of ESD 123.
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< Browse to Previous Essay | Browse to Next Essay >
Tacoma City Council approves Chinese Reconciliation Resolution on November 30, 1993.
HistoryLink.org Essay 4132
: Printer-Friendly Format
On November 30, 1993, the Tacoma City Council approves the Chinese Reconciliation Resolution (Resolution 32415) to make amends for the 1885 expulsion of the entire Chinese community in Tacoma by the mayor and other leading citizens. This event occurred on November 3, 1885, in the context of an economic downturn. It was preceded by months of mass meetings and bigoted rhetoric in the newspapers and elsewhere. The day after the Chinese were forced to leave, their houses were burned to the ground.
Dr. David Murdoch, who moved to Tacoma with his wife in 1982, initiated the reconciliation project. In 1992, he joined with city councilman Robert Evans, former State Representative Art Wang (D-Tacoma), and community activists to initiate the process of making amends.
As part of the reconciliation process, a Chinese Commemorative park and international pavilion will be built at the former National Guard site on Commencement Bay, not far from the early Chinese settlement that was forced to leave. The cost is estimated at $6 million and the architect is J. A. Brennan and Associates in association with Joe Y. Wai Architect Inc.
The Chinese Reconciliation Project Foundation was founded in 1994. Their objective is to promote peace and harmony in Tacoma's multicultural community, to educate the community and establish historical memory, to build the Chinese commemorative park for the use of the community, to set a reconciliation example for other communities across the country that have encountered similar events, and finally to explore and celebrate cultural diversity as well as our common humanity.
As of 2004, the site on Commencement Bay had been acquired and the design plans had been completed. Groundbreaking took place on August 19, 2005.
City of Tacoma website (economic development/Major Projects) (http://www.ci.tacoma.wa.us/econdev/MajorProjects); Chinese Reconciliation Project Foundation Website (http://crpftacoma.org).
Note: This essay was updated on November 30, 2004 and again on April 18, 2006.
Travel through time (chronological order):
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What causes morning sickness in pregnancy?
As many pregnant women know, the bouts of nausea and vomiting that are commonly called "morning sickness" can happen any time of day. An estimated 60 to 80 percent of women experience this symptom of early pregnancy, which may be caused by hormonal changes and can be aggravated by stress or fatigue. For most women, the nausea and vomiting fade by the 17th week of pregnancy. In rare cases, a pregnant woman will experience morning sickness well past this point. Even more rare is hyperemesis gravidarum, a very severe form of morning sickness that prevents a pregnant woman from keeping in the fluids or nutrition she needs. This condition requires medical treatment.
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For some, it’s a time of decline and decay, of frenzied wood gathering and other dour preparations for the upcoming days of winter. But for many, myself included, fall is the most invigorating season of all.
Some think that spring is the prime time for wildflowers; yet, the fall wildflower season is equally spectacular — and perhaps even more varied and interesting. Joe Pye weed, iron weed, cardinal flower, goldenrods, various woodland orchids, gentians, and others are just some of the showy species associated with the fall months. But the quintessential fall wildflower is surely the aster.
Here in the Smokies region there are 30 or so asters. These can often be difficult to identify down to the species level. The best non-technical field guides for this purpose, in my opinion, are Lawrence Newcomb’s Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide (Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1977), supplemented by Richard M. Smith’s Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1998) and Jack B. Carman’s Wildflowers of Tennessee. (Tullahoma TN: Highland Rim Press, 2001).
Don’t become too frustrated if — even after consulting these and other sources — you can’t make a final decision as to the precise species you’re attempting to identify. In this regard, Jim Horton, now retired after a distinguished career as a botanist at Western Carolina University, observed in The Summer Times (Tampa: Cider Press, 1979) that, “The asters form a nearly continuous series of variant forms. This means that while any two aster plants may be quite different from each other and may obviously belong to different species, it is possible to find ... plants that are transitional between one variant and the next.” In other words, even the experts can’t always determine which species of aster they’re trying to identify. It’s my experience that the same observation can be made in regard to goldenrods.
When one hears the name “aster,” he or she usually conjures up an image of a purplish-blue flower with a disc shape. But more than a few aster species bear small white flowers. Several of the white-flowered aster species blossom by early September.
Accordingly, Donald and Lillian Stokes, in their informative book A Guide to Enjoying Wildflowers (Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1985), noted that, “The name ‘aster’ comes from the Greek word for ‘star,’ but the small-white-flowered species, called frost asters, should have been named after the Milky Way. They bear such an abundance of tiny blossoms among roadside grasses that they look like the mass of stars you see strewn across the sky on a clear night. In fact, one legend says that asters are a result of a god scattering stardust across the land.”
Long ago, I was discussing fall wildflowers with an elderly woman on her farm near Sylva. She kept referring to a group of flowers she was particularly fond of that she knew as “Farewell to Summer.” Curious as to exactly what she was talking about, I asked her to show me some.
“Sure enough,” she said. I followed her into the garden behind her home, where she pointed to a beautiful stand of large-leaved asters (Aster macrophyllus) in full bloom that, she advised me, her husband had transferred from the wild into their garden when they were married.
“When they bloom, you know fall’s a-coming,” she said.
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The Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Turkish: Sultanahmet Camii) is an historical mosque in Istanbul, the largest city in Turkey and the capital of the Ottoman Empire (from 1453 to 1923). The mosque is popularly known as the Blue Mosque for the blue tiles adorning the walls of its interior.
It was built from 1609 to 1616, during the rule of Ahmed I. Like many other mosques, it also comprises a tomb of the founder, a madrasah and a hospice. While still used as a mosque, the Sultan Ahmed Mosque has also become a popular tourist attraction.
The design of the Sultan Ahmed Mosque is the culmination of two centuries of both Ottoman mosque and Byzantine church development. It incorporates some Byzantine elements of the neighboring Hagia Sophia with traditional Islamic architecture and is considered to be the last great mosque of the classical period. The architect has ably synthesized the ideas of his master Sinan, aiming for overwhelming size, majesty and splendour. It has 6 minarets along with 8 domes and 1 main one.
The façade of the spacious forecourt was built in the same manner as the façade of the Süleymaniye Mosque, except for the addition of the turrets on the corner domes. The court is about as large as the mosque itself and is surrounded by a continuous vaulted arcade (revak). It has ablution facilities on both sides. The central hexagonal fountain is rather small in contrast with the dimensions of the courtyard. The monumental but narrow gateway to the courtyard stands out architecturally from the arcade. Its semi-dome has a fine stalactite structure, crowned by a small ribbed dome on a tall tholobate.
A heavy iron chain hangs in the upper part of the court entrance on the western side. Only the sultan was allowed to enter the court of the mosque on horseback. The chain was put there, so that the sultan had to lower his head every time he entered the court in order not to get hit. This was done as a symbolic gesture, to ensure the humility of the ruler in the face of the divine.
The six minarets were a matter of contention and a first, since four minarets were the common maximum. Only after one more minaret was added to the Masjid al-Haram, Grand Mosque, in Mecca was the six minarets issue settled.
At its lower levels and at every pier, the interior of the mosque is lined with more than 20,000 handmade ceramic tiles, made at Iznik (the ancient Nicaea) in more than fifty different tulip designs. The tiles at lower levels are traditional in design, while at gallery level their design becomes flamboyant with representations of flowers, fruit and cypresses. More than 20,000 tiles were made under the supervision of the Iznik master potter Kasap Haci and Baris Efendi from Avanos (Cappadocia). The price to be paid for each tile was fixed by the sultan’s decree, while tile prices in general increased over time. As a result, the quality of the tiles used in the building decreased gradually. Their colours have faded and changed (red turning into brown and green into blue, mottled whites) and the glazes have dulled. The tiles on the back balcony wall are recycled tiles from the harem in the Topkapı Palace, when it was damaged by fire in 1574.
The upper levels of the interior are dominated by blue paint. More than 200 stained glass windows with intricate designs admit natural light, today assisted by chandeliers. On the chandeliers, ostrich eggs are found that were meant to avoid cobwebs inside the mosque by repelling spiders. The decorations include verses from the Qur’an, many of them made by Seyyid Kasim Gubari, regarded as the greatest calligrapher of his time. The floors are covered with carpets, which are donated by faithful people and are regularly replaced as they wear out. The many spacious windows confer a spacious impression. The casements at floor level are decorated with opus sectile. Each exedra has five windows, some of which are blind. Each semi-dome has 14 windows and the central dome 28 (four of which are blind). The coloured glass for the windows was a gift of the Signoria of Venice to the sultan. Most of these coloured windows have by now been replaced by modern versions with little or no artistic merit.
The most important element in the interior of the mosque is the mihrab, which is made of finely carved and sculptured marble, with a stalactite niche and a double inscriptive panel above it. The adjacent walls are sheathed in ceramic tiles. But the many windows around it make it look less spectacular. To the right of the mihrab is the richly decorated minber, or pulpit, where the Imam stands when he is delivering his sermon at the time of noon prayer on Fridays or on holy days. The mosque has been designed so that even when it is at its most crowded, everyone in the mosque can see and hear the Imam.
The royal kiosk is situated at the south-east corner. It comprises a platform, a loggia and two small retiring rooms. It gives access to the royal loge in the south-east upper gallery of the mosque. These retiring rooms became the headquarters of the Grand Vizier during the suppression of the rebellious Janissary Corps in 1826. The royal loge (hünkâr mahfil) is supported by ten marble columns. It has its own mihrab, that used to be decorated with a jade rose and gilt and one hundred Qurans on inlaid and gilded lecterns.
The many lamps inside the mosque were once covered with gold and gems. Among the glass bowls one could find ostrich eggs and crystal balls. All these decorations have been removed or pillaged for museums.
The great tablets on the walls are inscribed with the names of the caliphs and verses from the Quran, originally by the great 17th-century calligrapher Ametli Kasım Gubarım, but they have frequently been restored.
Pope Benedict XVI’s visit and silent meditation
Pope Benedict XVI visited the Sultan Ahmed Mosque on 30 November 2006 during his visit to Turkey. It marks only the second papal visit in history to a Muslim place of worship. Having removed his shoes, the Pope paused for a full two minutes, eyes closed in silent meditation, standing side by side with Mustafa Çağrıcı, the Mufti of Istanbul, and Emrullah Hatipoğlu, the Imam of the Blue Mosque.
The pope “thanked divine Providence for this” and said, “May all believers identify themselves with the one God and bear witness to true brotherhood.” The pontiff augured that Turkey “will be a bridge of friendship and collaboration between East and West”, and he thanked the Turkish people “for the cordiality and sympathy” they showed him throughout his stay, saying, “he felt loved and understood.”
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Post Traumatic Amnesia (PTA)
Disclaimer: This information sheet is for education purposes only. Please consult with your doctor or other health professional to make sure this information is right for your child.
What is PTA?
When a child/young person is `waking up' after coma, they may present in a confused or disorientated state. This period is referred to as posttraumatic amnesia (PTA) and is one of the stages of recovery after a traumatic brain injury.
PTA can last for hours, days or weeks depending upon the severity of the brain injury. When a child/young person is in PTA, they are unable to remember day-to-day events that have occurred, such as who came to visit them in hospital. They usually can remember up to the time of injury but have problems remembering what happened afterwards. Children/young people in PTA are often confused and disorientated which means they may not know where they are or what time of day it is. Most children/young people come out of PTA, even in the most severe cases.
What to do to help your child in PTA
It is important that when a child/young person is in PTA that they are in an environment where they are not over stimulated. They may not be able to cope with too much noise or activity. For this reason, it may be necessary to limit the number of visitors to one or two at a time. If they are agitated or restless and at risk of climbing out of bed, it may be necessary for their mattress to be on the floor whilst in hospital.
The positive aspect of PTA is that the child/young person will usually not remember much of what has happened to them during this time. Little pockets of memory may surface but most of this time will not be remembered.
How do you test PTA?
There are a number of ways of measuring the length of posttraumatic amnesia. At The Children's Hospital at Westmead, the Westmead PTA Scale is used. The scale is used for children 8 years and over. The scale consists of 7 orientation questions and 5 memory items.
When a child/young person is out of PTA the rehabilitation team will commence other assessments to see what specific changes have occurred following the brain injury. Treatments that involve more memory capacity can commence once a child is out of PTA.
The Children's Hospital at Westmead
Cnr Hawkesbury Rd & Hainsworth St, Westmead
Locked Bag 4001, Westmead, 2145
Tel: (02) 9845 2132 - Fax: (02) 9845 0685
© The Children's Hospital at Westmead - 1997-2013
This document was updated on Thursday, 11 January 2006
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From Cairo and Benghazi to Madison, Albany and Washington, it’s hard to keep up with all that is going on at this unique moment in history. Here in the United States, politics is being driven by a new anti-investment, pro-pollution majority in the House of Representatives and statehouses in Wisconsin, Ohio, and elsewhere. Negotiations between the House, Senate and White House on the new federal budget will reach a critical juncture in the next 14 days.
The House of Representatives, on February 19, passed a spending bill by a vote of 235-189 that not only cuts dramatically from investments in clean energy, but blocks the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from addressing dangerous carbon pollution and cuts the agency’s budget in ways that will cripple critical programs to protect public health. Amendments were passed which prevent the EPA from carrying out its mission to protect the air we breathe. According to a summary from the US Climate Action Network, these include:
Amendment #165 sponsored by Rep. Carter (R-TX), would prevent the EPA from enforcing new standards to cut air pollution from cement plants. The amendment passed 250-177. As a consequence, the EPA would not be able to protect the public from mercury – 16,000 pounds a year of it – and other toxic emissions in the air we breathe, potentially leading to 1,500 heart attacks, 17,000 cases of aggravated asthma and 2,500 premature deaths every year.
Amendment #466 offered by Rep. Poe (R-TX), passed 249-177. It would prevent the EPA from setting any limits on emissions of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, sulfur hexafluoride, hydrofluorocarbons, or perfluorocarbons.
Amendment #84 offered by Rep. Pompeo (R-KS), passed 239-185. It would shut down the EPA greenhouse gas registry. This amendment would prevent EPA from collecting basic data from large emitters on how much carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping pollutants are being released into the air.
It’s really quite clear. What are being described as “job killing regulations” are really measures that protect public health and open the door to job creating investments that will allow the United States to compete in the clean energy future. More than ever, it’s time to stand up to the fossil fuel industry – especially the oil and coal interests – that are trying to keep us mired in the past.
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The Streets of Grand Forks
Grand Forks was one of the first cities in North Dakota with paved streets. Fueled by high wheat prices and expanded production of the so-called “Second Boom” in North Dakota, communities like Grand Forks had the resources to provide improved amenities for their populations in the first decades of the 20th century. They paved the streets with a material called Granitoid which is apparently a kind of concrete that uses Granite as an aggregate and stamped it with a cobble-stone like pattern. Today there is a vigorous campaign to preserve sections of this granitoid pavement. (More on this next week!)
Prior to the use of grantitoid, the streets of Grand Forks were paved with wood blocks some of which must have remained in use until the mid-20th century. Very little of this wood paving remains. Apparently during Grand Forks’ frequent flood sections of it would simply float away! There is a one good example of it, however, located on the west side of the Grand Forks Community Church (formerly, I believe the Presbyterian Church). The blocks were placed in a sand bedding vertically (rather than horizontally as in medieval corduroy roads) creating a kind of wood cobble.
I’ve created a Google Earth .kmz file so you can see this pavement’s location and embedded these photographs in it as well. You can download it here and view it in Google Earth.
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at Imperial College London have made the most accurate measurement yet of the shape of the humble electron, finding that it is almost a perfect sphere, in a study published in the journal Nature today.
The experiment, which spanned more than a decade, suggests that the electron differs from being perfectly round by less than 0.000000000000000000000000001 cm. This means that if the electron was magnified to the size of the solar system, it would still appear spherical to within the width of a human hair.
The physicists from Imperial's Centre for Cold Matter studied the electrons inside molecules called Ytterbium Fluoride. Using a very precise laser, they made careful measurements of the motion of these electrons. If the electrons were not perfectly round then, like an unbalanced spinning-top, their motion would exhibit a distinctive wobble, distorting the overall shape of the molecule. The researchers saw no sign of such a wobble.
The researchers are now planning to measure the electron's shape even more closely. The results of this work are important in the study of antimatter, an elusive substance that behaves in the same way as ordinary matter, except that it has an opposite electrical charge. For example, the antimatter version of the negatively charged electron is the positively charged anti-electron (also known as a positron). Understanding the shape of the electron could help researchers understand how positrons behave and how antimatter and matter might differ.
Research co-author, Dr Jony Hudson, from the Department of Physics at Imperial College London, said, "We're really pleased that we've been able to improve our knowledge of one of the basic building blocks of matter. It's been a very difficult measurement to make, but this knowledge will let us improve our theories of fundamental physics. People are often surprised to hear that our theories of physics aren't 'finished', but in truth they get constantly refined and improved by making ever more accurate measurements like this one."
The currently accepted laws of physics say that the Big Bang created as much antimatter as ordinary matter. However, since antimatter was first envisaged by Nobel Prize-winning scientist Paul Dirac in 1928, it has only been found in minute amounts from sources such as cosmic rays and some radioactive substances.
Imperial's Centre for Cold Matter aims to explain this lack of antimatter by searching for tiny differences between the behaviour of matter and antimatter that no-one has yet observed. Had the researchers found that electrons are not round it would have provided proof that the behaviour of antimatter and matter differ more than physicists previously thought. This, they say, could explain how all the antimatter disappeared from the universe, leaving only ordinary matter.
Professor Edward Hinds, research co-author and head of the Centre for Cold Matter at Imperial College London, said: "The whole world is made almost entirely of normal matter, with only tiny traces of antimatter. Astronomers have looked right to the edge of the visible universe and even then they see just matter, no great stashes of antimatter. Physicists just do not know what happened to all the antimatter, but this research can help us to confirm or rule out some of the possible explanations."
Antimatter is also studied in tiny quantities in the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Switzerland, where physicists hope to understand what happened in the moments following the Big Bang and to confirm some currently unproven fundamental theories of physics, such as supersymmetry. Knowing whether electrons are round or egg-shaped tests these same fundamental theories, as well as other theories of particle physics that even the Large Hadron Collider cannot test.
To help improve their measurements of the electron's shape, the researchers at the Centre for Cold Matter are now developing new methods to cool their molecules to extremely low temperatures, and to control the exact motion of the molecules. This will allow them to study the behaviour of the embedded electrons in far greater detail than ever before. They say the same technology could also be used to control chemical reactions and to understand the behaviour of systems that are too complex to simulate with a computer.
Explore further: Error sought & found: State-of-the-art measurement technique optimised
More information: Improved measurement of the shape of the electron, Nature 473, 493496 (26 May 2011) doi:10.1038/nature10104 www.nature.com/nature/journal/v473/n7348/full/nature10104.html
The electron is predicted to be slightly aspheric, with a distortion characterized by the electric dipole moment (EDM), de. No experiment has ever detected this deviation. The standard model of particle physics predicts that de is far too small to detect, being some eleven orders of magnitude smaller than the current experimental sensitivity. However, many extensions to the standard model naturally predict much larger values of de that should be detectable. This makes the search for the electron EDM a powerful way to search for new physics and constrain the possible extensions. In particular, the popular idea that new supersymmetric particles may exist at masses of a few hundred GeV/c2 (where c is the speed of light) is difficult to reconcile with the absence of an electron EDM at the present limit of sensitivity. The size of the EDM is also intimately related to the question of why the Universe has so little antimatter. If the reason is that some undiscovered particle interaction breaks the symmetry between matter and antimatter, this should result in a measurable EDM in most models of particle physics. Here we use cold polar molecules to measure the electron EDM at the highest level of precision reported so far, providing a constraint on any possible new interactions. We obtain de = (−2.4 ± 5.7stat ± 1.5syst) × 10−28e cm, where e is the charge on the electron, which sets a new upper limit of |de| < 10.5 × 10−28e cm with 90 per cent confidence. This result, consistent with zero, indicates that the electron is spherical at this improved level of precision. Our measurement of atto-electronvolt energy shifts in a molecule probes new physics at the tera-electronvolt energy scale.
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Respondents to the 2004 ARC incubator survey were asked several questions related to the finances of their programs. One question pertained to their overall operating budget, while other questions focused on the level and source of operating subsidies.
The average (mean) annual operating budget for an Appalachian incubator is just less than $290,000. In comparison, the average annual operating budget among respondents to NBIA's 2002 State of the Incubation Industry study was about $365,000. The range of annual operating budgets in the 2004 ARC survey is dramatic; it goes from a low of $15,000 to a high of $1.7 million.
To be consistent with the exclusion of five large incubators from the earlier calculation of the average-sized Appalachian incubator, a similar analysis was prepared that excluded the operating budgets from the same set of incubators. This yielded an average Appalachian incubator annual operating budget of just less than $273,000.
A final, and perhaps more useful, analysis was completed that excluded the responses from incubators whose annual budgets were either two standard deviations greater or less than the mean. This process removed the incubators with the five largest budgets. The resulting average operating budget came to slightly more than $219,000 for the group, with a range of $15,000 to $761,000.
As illustrated in Table 8, it appears that Appalachian incubators have considerably smaller operating budgets than do incubators nationally. Some of the difference might be explained by a lower cost of living in Appalachia relative to the nation as a whole. However, it is believed that at least part of the difference indicates that Appalachian incubators are less likely to generate operating revenues to cover their operating budgets. This theory can be tested by reviewing the 2004 ARC survey responses regarding operating subsidies, below.
Survey respondents were asked three questions relative to subsidization of their programs:
Figure 11. Financial Status of Appalachian Incubators
Figure 12. Percentage of Self-Sustaining Appalachian Incubator Budgets from Outside Sources
After eliminating those incubators that are self-sustaining (20 percent) and self-sufficient (28 percent), the remaining 52 percent of Appalachian incubators require an insecure source of funding to maintain operations. The responses of these incubators that are neither self-sufficient nor self-sustaining indicate that, on average, they receive a subsidy of 53 percent of their operating budget from unreliable external sources (see Figure 13).
Figure 13. Percentage of Budget from Unreliable Sources in Appalachian Incubators That Are Not Self-Sufficient or Self-Sustaining
Both good and bad news can be derived from the analysis of these results. First the good news:
Now the bad news:
Simply put, about half of Appalachian incubators are at risk of closure because of their heavy dependence on unreliable funding sources. While one might argue that this is an overstatement of the situation, since the 53 percent represents an average subsidy requirement of these non-self-sustaining, non-self-sufficient incubators, Figure 14 paints a clearer picture of the problem by showing the range of subsidies as a percentage of an incubator's budget. The data suggest that perhaps 10 of these at-risk incubators are in the survivability range (requiring a subsidy of 25 percent or less), while another 27 are at greater risk, with subsidy requirements ranging from 26 percent to 100 percent of their operating budgets. It is also worth noting that anecdotal evidence suggests that incubator managers can be unrealistically optimistic about the stability and longevity of certain governmental funding sources.
Figure 14. Percent of Budget from Subsidy
Another potential source of the operational funding difficulties was identified when respondents provided information about the structure of their rental rates. Figure 15 shows that 57 percent of respondents said their rental rates were below market, while only 5 percent indicated that they had above-market rates. It is difficult, if not impossible, for a business incubator to achieve financial self-sustainability, much less self-sufficiency, if it does not charge at least market rate for the space that it leases.
Figure 15. Rental Rates in Appalachian Incubators
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How to Create a Works Cited or References List
What Does an APA Style References List Look Like?
APA style research documents include a references list titled "References," which is placed at the end of the document on a separate page. The references list contains publication information for all the sources that were cited within the document, with the exception of personal communication. Personal communication refers to sources such as correspondence, email messages and interviews, and these sources are only cited within the text of the document, not on the References page. Below, you can see examples from student writer Aaron Batty's APA style references list (created for his Web site, "One China ..."?). Aaron's References List does not include every type of publication that you might need to document in your paper. For more information on citing other types of books, conference proceedings, and dissertations, see your textbook or visit Diana Hacker's Research and Documentation Online.
Borthwick, M. (1998). Pacific century: The emergence of modern Pacific Asia (2nd ed.). Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
China and Taiwan at odds on talks. (2000, March 20). Reuters. Retrieved March 20, 2000, from http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/late/20cnd-taiwan.html
Democratic Progressive Party. (1999). White paper on China policy for the 21st century. Taiwan Documents Project. Retrieved June 4, 2000, from http://newtaiwan.virtualave.net/dpp01.htm
Eckert, P. (2000, April 8). China lashes out at new Taiwan government. Reuters. Retrieved April 8, 2000, from http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000408/ wl/china_taiwan_3.html
Eckholm, E. (2000, March 11). China, citing tensions, asks U.S. to end Taiwan arms sales. The New York Times, p. A4.
Eckholm, E., & Myers, S. L.. (2000, March 1). Taiwan asks U.S. to let it obtain top-flight arms. The New York Times on the Web. Retrieved March 12, 2000, from http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/asia/030100china-us-taiwan.html
Fang, L. (1990). The Chinese amnesia (P. Link, Trans.). In M. Borthwick (Ed.), Pacific century: The emergence of modern Pacific Asia (2nd ed.), (pp. 415-416). Boulder, CO: Westview Press
H.R. 166, 106th Cong., 1st Sess. (1999). Taiwan Documents Project. Retrieved March 13, 2000, from http://newtaiwan.virtualave.net/hconres166.htm
Joint communiqué on arms sales to Taiwan. (1982). Taiwan Documents Project. Retrieved March 13, 2000, from http://newtaiwan.virtualave.net/ communique03.htm
Montagnon, P., & Dickie, M. (1999, March 1). Lee Teng-hui: The unrepentant leader. Financial Times. Retrieved April 4, 2000, from http:// www.oop.gov.tw/ft/vtopic-2.html
Mutual defense treaty between the United States of America and the Republic of China. (1954). Taiwan Documents Project. Retrieved March 13, 2000, from http://newtaiwan.virtualave.net/mutual01.htm
Olivier, B. V. (1996, September 29). Ancient Asian history. Lecture presented at Colorado State University, Fort Collins.
People's Republic of China, Taiwan Affairs Office. (2000). The one-China principle and the Taiwan issue. Taiwan Documents Project. Retrieved March 12, 2000, from http://newtaiwan.virtualave.net/white.htm
Treaty of Shimonoseki. (1895). Taiwan Documents Project. Retrieved March 15, 2000, from http://newtaiwan.virtualave.net/shimonoseki01.htm
United Nations. (1999). Official proposal for the U.N. General Assembly to study R.O.C. participation in the United Nations. Taiwan Documents Project. Retrieved March 13, 2000, from http://newtaiwan.virtualave.net/ un1999.htm
U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. (1999). Taiwan. CIA World Factbook 1999. Retrieved March 13, 2000, from http://www.odci.gov
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160,000-year-old fossilized skulls uncovered in Ethiopia are oldest anatomically modern humans
|Media contact info, images, and video:|
|• NOTE: To set up an interview with Tim White, e-mail him at firstname.lastname@example.org. He will respond promptly to reporters on deadline. His phone, (510) 642-2889, has no answering machine.|
• VIDEO: An 11-minute video taken in the field and in the National Museum of Ethiopia shows the skulls, their excavation and reconstruction, and includes interviews with Berhane Asfaw and Yonas Beyene. The video can be previewed online. Broadcast-quality Beta dubs can be obtained by calling Media Relations at UC Berkeley: (510) 642-3734.
BERKELEY - The fossilized skulls of two adults and one child discovered in the Afar region of eastern Ethiopia have been dated at 160,000 years, making them the oldest known fossils of modern humans, or Homo sapiens.
The skulls, dug up near a village called Herto, fill a major gap in the human fossil record, an era at the dawn of modern humans when the facial features and brain cases we recognize today as human first appeared.
The fossils date precisely from the time when biologists using genes to chart human evolution predicted that a genetic "Eve" lived somewhere in Africa and gave rise to all modern humans.
"We've lacked intermediate fossils between pre-humans and modern humans, between 100,000 and 300,000 years ago, and that's where the Herto fossils fit," said paleoanthropologist Tim White, professor of integrative biology at the University of California, Berkeley, and a co-leader of the team that excavated and analyzed the discovery site. "Now, the fossil record meshes with the molecular evidence."
"With these new crania," he added, "we can now see what our direct ancestors looked like."
"This set of fossils is stupendous," said team member F. Clark Howell, UC Berkeley professor emeritus of integrative biology and co-director with White of UC Berkeley's Laboratory for Human Evolutionary Studies. "This is a truly revolutionary scientific discovery."
Howell added that these anatomically modern humans pre-date most neanderthals, and therefore could not have descended from them, as some scientists have proposed.
The international team is led by White and his Ethiopian colleagues, Berhane Asfaw of the Rift Valley Research Service in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Giday WoldeGabriel of Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. The results of the find will be reported in two papers in the June 12 issue of the journal Nature.
The research team also unearthed skull pieces and teeth from seven other hominid individuals, hippopotamus bones bearing cut marks from stone tools, and more than 600 stone tools, including hand axes. All are from the same sediments and, thus, the same era.
"These were people using a sophisticated stone technology," White said. "Using chipped hand axes and other stone tools, they were butchering carcasses of large mammals like hippos and buffalo and undoubtedly knew how to exploit plants."
They lived long before most examples of another early hominid, the neanderthal, or Homo neanderthalensis, proving beyond a reasonable doubt, White said, that Homo sapiens did not descend from these short, stocky creatures. More like cousins, neanderthals split off from the human tree more than 300,000 years ago and died out about 30,000 years ago, perhaps driven to extinction by modern humans.
"These well-dated and anatomically diagnostic Herto fossils are unmistakably non-neanderthal," said Howell, a co-author of the Homo erectus paper that details the hominids and an expert on early modern humans. "These fossils show that near-humans had evolved in Africa long before the European neanderthals disappeared. They thereby demonstrate conclusively that there was never a neanderthal stage in human evolution."
Because the Herto fossils represent a transition between more primitive hominids from Africa and modern humans, they provide strong support for the hypothesis that modern humans evolved in Africa and subsequently spread into Eurasia. This hypothesis goes against the theory that modern humans arose in many areas of Europe, Asia and Africa from other hominids who had migrated out of Africa at a much earlier time.
The fossil evidence, said Asfaw, "clearly shows what molecular anthropologists have been saying for a long time - that modern Homo sapiens evolved out of Africa. These fossilized skulls from Herto show that modern humans were living at around 160,000 years ago with full-fledged Homo sapiens features. The 'Out of Africa' hypothesis is now tested, ... (and) we can conclusively say that neanderthals had nothing to do with modern humans. They went extinct."
The fossil skulls
The three fossil skulls remain in Ethiopia, but replicas made from them were compared by the research team with many examples of neanderthal and earlier hominid skulls, as well as those of modern humans. Many of the modern human comparison skulls came from a worldwide sample of skeletal remains in the collection of UC Berkeley's Hearst Museum of Anthropology.
The most complete of the three new fossil skulls, probably that of a male, is slightly larger than the extremes seen in modern Homo sapiens, yet it bears other characteristics within the range of modern humans - in particular, less prominent brow ridges than pre-Homo sapiens and a higher cranial vault. Because of these similarities, the researchers placed the fossils in the same genus and species as modern humans but appended a subspecies name - Homo sapiens idaltu -to differentiate them from contemporary humans, Homo sapiens sapiens.
Idàltu, which means "elder" in the Afar language, refers to the adult male's antiquity and individual age. The man, though probably in his late 20s to mid-30s, had heavily worn upper teeth and a brain size slightly larger than average for living people.
Scientists tracking evolution through changes in mitochondrial DNA, which is passed from mother to daughter, have estimated that humans derive their mitochrondrial genes from an ancestral mother nicknamed "Eve" who lived in Africa about 150,000 years ago. Other scientists studying the male Y chromosome have reached similar conclusions. The new Herto fossils are from a population living at exactly this time.
"In a sense, these genetic findings were impossible to seriously test without a good fossil record from Africa," said White. "Back in 1982, when Becky Cann and Allan Wilson of UC Berkeley were using molecules to study evolution, they concluded that the common ancestors of all modern humans lived in Africa 100,000 to 200,000 years ago. For the last 20 years we've been looking for good, well-dated fossil evidence of that antiquity."
Previously found fossils were younger, from sites scattered around Africa, often poorly dated and incomplete. These include fossil skull fragments from Klasies River Mouth in South Africa, dating from about 100,000 years ago, and Middle Eastern fossils from Qafzeh and Skhul dating from 90,000 to 130,000 years ago. Ethiopia has yielded some modern human fossils, including those from Omo, which are approximately 100,000 years old, and the Aduma fossil finds of the Middle Awash, which date from about 80,000 years.
While these previous discoveries appear also to be Homo sapiens, the new finds from Herto are older, well-dated and more complete without sharing characteristics of more primitive human ancestors such as Homo erectus or the neanderthals.
The fossil-rich site was discovered on Nov. 16, 1997, in a dry and dusty valley bordering the Middle Awash River near Herto, a seasonally occupied village. During a reconnaissance, White first spotted stone tools and the fossil skull of a butchered hippo emerging from the ground. When the team returned to intensively survey the area 11 days later, they discovered the most complete of the adult skulls protruding from the ancient sediment. It had been exposed by heavy rains and partially trampled by herds of cows.
A portion of the large adult's left front cranium (the braincase) had been crushed and scattered, but the team was able to excavate the rest of the skull, minus the lower jaw, and reconstruct it.
The child's skull, found nearby, was fragmented and scattered from having been exposed for many years. The team recovered most pieces of the cranium, more than 200 in all, from a 400 square-foot area, and Asfaw painstakingly pieced them together over a period of three years.
Based on the presence of unerupted teeth, the skull is that of a child of six or seven. Interestingly, this skull and a second adult's, too fragmentary to reconstruct, showed cut marks pointing to ancient mortuary practices, White said. The child's skull bore marks indicating that, after death, the muscles had been cut from the base of the skull. The rear of the cranial base was broken away and the edges polished, and the entire cranium was worn smooth as if by repeated handling. The second adult skull showed parallel scratches around the perimeter of the skull apparently made by a stone tool repeatedly drawn across the skull's surface in a pattern different from that created during defleshing, as for food. Even the nearly complete adult skull had a few cut marks.
The mortuary rituals of the Herto people differ from those of earlier hominids, some of whom cut flesh from skulls but apparently did not polish or decorate them with scratch marks. Modifications like those seen in the Herto skulls have been recorded by anthropologists from societies, including some in New Guinea, in which the skulls of ancestors are preserved and worshipped.
The Herto skulls were not found with other bones from the rest of the bodies, which is unusual, White said, leading the researchers to infer that the people "were moving the heads around on the landscape. They probably cut the muscles and broke the skull bases of some skulls to extract the brain, but why, whether as part of a cannibalistic ritual, we have no way of knowing."
The team also recovered more than 640 stone artifacts, though they estimate that the entire Herto area contains millions of such artifacts: hand axes, flake tools, cores, flakes and rare blades. Renowned African prehistorian J. Desmond Clark of UC Berkeley analyzed many of them before his death in February of last year. Clark and colleagues Dr. Yonas Beyene of Ethiopia's Authority for Research and Conservation of the Cultural Heritages and Dr. Alban Defleur of Marseilles, France, concluded that the stone tools were transitional between the Acheulean period, characterized by a predominance of hand axes, and the later flake-dominated Middle Stone Age.
"The associated fossil bones show clearly that the Herto people had a taste for hippos, but we can't tell whether they were killing them or scavenging them," said Beyene. "These artifacts are clues about the ancestors who made them."
Ancient lake shore
The early humans at Herto lived along the shores of a shallow lake created when the Awash River temporarily dammed about 260,000 years ago. The lake contained abundant hippos, crocodiles and catfish, while buffalo roamed the land.
The sediments and volcanic rock in which the fossils were found were dated at between 160,000 and 154,000 years by a combination of two methods. The argon/argon method was used by colleagues in the Berkeley Geochronology Center, led by Paul R. Renne, a UC Berkeley adjunct associate professor of geology. WoldeGabriel of Los Alamos National Laboratory and Bill Hart of Miami University in Ohio used the chemistry of the volcanic layers to correlate the dated layers.
The Middle Awash team consists of more than 45 scientists from 14 different countries who specialize in geology, archaeology and paleontology. In this single study area, the team has found fossils dating from the present to more than 6 million years ago, painting a clear picture of human evolution from ape-like ancestors to present-day humans.
"The human fossils from Herto are near the top of a well-calibrated succession of African fossils," White said. "This is clear fossil evidence that our species arose through evolution."
The work was funded by the National Science Foundation and the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics at Los Alamos National Laboratory, in combination with the Hampton Fund for International Initiatives of Miami University and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.
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Peter Andreas Grünberg
Grünberg, Peter Andreas (pāˈtər ändrāˈäs grünbĕrkˈ) [key], 1939– German physicist, b. Pilsen, Germany (now Plzeň, Czech Republic). After receiving his Ph.D. at the Darmstadt Univ. of Technology in 1969, he was a postdoctoral fellow of the National Research Council of Canada at Carleton Univ. in Ottawa. Grünberg joined the Institute of Solid State Research at Research Centre Jülich in Germany in 1972, where he became a leader in the field of thin-film and multilayer magnetism. This led to his discovery in 1988 of giant magnetoresistance (GMR), so called because tiny changes in a magnetic field produce large changes in electrical resistance. For this discovery, which led to the development of spintronics, he shared the 2007 Nobel Prize in physics with Albert Fert, who had independently discovered the same effect.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Physics: Biographies
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The case study indicates that the long-distance cable logging system can be considered to be the most suitable option for commercial timber harvesting based on sustainable forest management in steep mountainous terrain of Bhutan.
First introduced by several Swiss and FAO supported projects, there has been a tradition of long-distance cable logging in Bhutan for about 25 years. Consequently, there is a number of cable cranes and the skill for operating and rigging such cable systems. These skills are readily available through either FDC directly or a number of contractors who have purchased the necessary equipment following FSD's and FDC's programmes of privatizing timber harvesting.
The following cable crane systems can be distinguished:
Traditionally, long-distance cable cranes are used only in their gravity version in Bhutan with an open-end mainline and the winch on top. For gravity operation a minimum gradient of about 20 percent for the skyline is required to allow downhill movement of the carriage. Since the mainline cable is spooled on the drum of the winch, the operating distance of the system is determined by the capacity of the winch drum which can hold about 1 700 m of cable in the case of the Gantner single drum sledge winch used at the study sites.
Using the same type of single drum sledge winch, the all-terrain system uses an “endless mainline” where the mainline is simply slung around a parabolic disk which is clamped to the winch drum. The mainline taken through the carriage is fixed with its ends to either side of a tender running a certain distance behind the carriage. In this way, the mainline which is guided by pulleys at the side of the corridor becomes a circumferential cable which moves the carriage and the tender into one or the other direction, depending into which direction the winch drum is turned (Roetzer, 1996).
Photo 25. Single drum sledge winch used at the Korila site for long-distance cable logging in gravity operation with an open-end mainline and the winch on top
In the all-terrain version, the winch can be set up at any place along the corridor and the logging operation becomes less dependent on terrain conditions. Harvesting can be extended to areas otherwise inaccessible for commercial timber harvest because of winch transport difficulties caused by irregular terrain and rivers.
The use of long-distance cable cranes in the all-terrain version is considered a prospective option for Bhutan contributing to the economic viability of forest management projects in FMUs with difficult terrain conditions for cable logging.
The main silvicultural technique applied in Bhutan's mountain forests is traditional strip-wise clear-felling for timber extraction by gravity cable cranes and subsequent replanting with indigenous species of commercial interest. After the cable way has been located by the forest engineer and support, anchor and end-mast trees have been marked in the field, about 30 m of forest on each side of the cable way are clear-felled. This way, the cleared forest area per crane set-up varies between 3.5 to 8.0 ha depending on corridor length (700–1 300 m).
To facilitate high productivity in timber extraction and to avoid damage to natural regeneration, trees should be felled in such a way that they point to the cable in a fishbone pattern. Felling and bucking is normally done by contracted crews using chain saws.
Since, in general, the felling crew is not involved in logging operations, the chainsaw operators are often not aware of the requirements of the subsequent timber extraction process for facilitation of smooth and efficient logging operations. Therefore, close supervision of the felling crew by local staff should ensure that:
directional felling is applied according to the recommendations of the responsible planning engineer;
bigger branches are cut if large tree crowns are expected to cause problems for the extraction crew;
bucking is in line with the regional grading rules to reduce wood waste.
Due to the heavy weight of trees when harvesting in primary, often over-mature forest, the assortment method is applied where trees are cut into length at the felling site. This also facilitates fully suspended loads during transport by the carriage.
Set-up of the gravity cable crane
After felling has been completed at the operation site, the long-distance cable crane will be set-up. As mentioned earlier, the cable winch has to be placed at the highest point of the corridor where logging operation always starts. The winch mounted on a sledge pulls itself up to the place of set-up with its mainline. In very difficult terrain the winch might be dismantled and pulled up by animals. While the winch operator is working to position and to ready the winch, the other crew members will set-up the skyline.
The skyline has to be mounted at a sufficient height to ensure that the load is always fully suspended when transported along the skyline. This avoids the load hitting the ground which causes additional tension to the skyline and creates soil disturbances perpendicular to the contour lines often associated with erosion.
Since the set-up of the cable crane could not be observed by work and time studies at the Korila nor at the Helela logging site, no hourly-based performance can be stated. However, the set-up and take-down times performed by the six members of the cable crew varied between ten days for the Korila logging site and seven days for the Helela logging site according to the information provided by the respective cable crew leader.
The extraction process by means of long-distance cable crane in gravity operation, as found at the Korila and Helela logging sites is described in detail below.
Photo 26. Due to the heavy weight of trees the assortment method was applied to ensure that the load was fully suspended during transport by the carriage
The cable crew normally consists of six members, the supervisor, the winch operator, three labourers at the felling site and one labourer at the landing. The supervisor normally is also trained to operate the winch. The whole logging operation is radio-controlled. One radio stays with the winch operator, another with the labourers at the felling site and one with the labourer at the landing site. All crew members can follow at anytime the ongoing extraction process.
When the empty carriage arrives at the felling site, the winch operator is told by radio where to stop the carriage and to release the hook. One labourer pulls the line out to the logs where a choker has been set. Depending on the size of the logs, up to four logs were transported in a single work cycle.
After the logs have been attached and all labourers have left the area of danger, the winch operator is told to pull in the line. Adjustment of chokers which might be required for extraction is carried out after the mainline has not only been stopped but also released. Obstacles such as tree crowns, stumps, etc., where logs have been tangled during lateral inhaul are cause for adjustment.
Photo 27. At the Helela site the forest road served as landing area
Working with two sets of choker cables improves logging productivity. The labourers at the felling site prepare the next load by setting the chokers while the previous load is transported to the landing.
At the Korila study site the logging operation was controlled by giving hand signs as the radio was out of order the day when the time and work studies were carried out. This was only possible since the corridor and the landing were within sight of the winch operator due to favourable terrain conditions. Otherwise the operation would have had to be stopped immediately after break down of the radio communication for safety reasons.
The following general observations were made either at the Korila or Helela logging site which are not in line with appropriate harvesting practices:
lack of safety equipment such as the use of helmets, gloves and boots for the labourers at the felling site and landing, and appropriate ear protection gear for the winch operator;
obstacles such as large tree crowns had not been cut and sometimes caused serious problems during the extraction process where the supports were at risk of failure due to increased tension;
supports had not been established so that heavier logs hit the ground due to deflection of the skyline, even though using the assortment method.
As at the felling site, the winch operator is told via radio the best position to stop the carriage. The labourer at the landing site unhooks the chokers and attaches the choker cables used in the previous work cycle to the hook. While the empty carriage moves to the felling site, the chokers are removed from the logs and log data recorded.
At the Korila logging site the landing was located on the uphill side of the mid-slope road. Since the logging site had almost been finished when the studies were carried out, only data on uphill logging with long-distances for transport along the skyline could been gathered. In contrast, at the Helela site only downhill logging occurred since the forest road which was used as landing area, crossed the skyline at the bottom of the clear-felled corridor.
The disadvantages of using a minor road as log landing area where the log pile cannot be bypassed are obvious. The road is blocked when timely log hauling cannot be assured. If the cable unit cannot be transported to the next corridor then operation on the nearby corridor is delayed. High non-operating times of the cable unit not only jeopardize the economic viability of a logging job but might also effect the loggers as they often depend on the income from logging to earn a living.
Photo 28. Log loading carried out manually becomes a time-consuming process when logs cannot be rolled horizontally onto the dump truck
The subsequent log hauling is carried out by means of dump trucks without any special equipment or adaptation for log loading or hauling purposes. The loading is carried out manually by up to six labourers. When logs cannot be rolled horizontally onto the dump truck (Photo 28), as at the Korila logging site, this becomes a time-consuming process. Even if the log pile does not obstruct vehicle passage, unnecessary storage time of logs must be avoided due to climate conditions and danger of deterioration in most areas of Bhutan.
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Archive for open source system
Hey Facebookies, since how long have you been Facebooking? Well to be precise, Facebook has been there for you since eight years but have you ever wondered how Facebook works? What’s behind that fancy curtain? OK! Its not a ‘How-To guide’ to use Facebook but we are talking about its architecture.
Have you ever been curious about whats lying behind Facebook? And how Facebook really works? Then lets talk some tech now.
How Facebook Works In Spotlight?
Facebook utilize lots of services and programming languages to work. To be precise, Facebook servers use LAMP with Memcache. Hey, we are not talking about the table lamps! Basically LAMP stands for Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP. Its understood that you need more explanation on those complex terms if you are not a techie.
Linux & Apache
If you are fortunate enough to see that black dolphin logo ever on WWW then you certainly know Linux. Well, its an open-source UNIX-like kernel for ‘Operating Systems’ and why Facebook use Linux is because of its high security and its ease of customization according to needs. Apache is considered as the best and most popular HTTP server – No wonder why Facebook use Apache.
Ok! so far we know that Facebook works using Linux OS and Apache servers. What about the database where huge amounts of data, including the Facebookies personal data, is stored? This is where MySQL makes entry because its reliable and speedy as well.
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IUDs And Implants Are Best Forms Of Birth ControlMain Category: Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 22 Sep 2012
Intrauterine devices (IUDs) and implants should be given to adolescents who are sexually active as a reliable method of birth control, as recommended by The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (The College).
An IUD is a long-acting reversible contraception (LARC). There are two types available in the U.S. - a non-hormonal copper IUD called ParaGard and a hormonal IUD, Mirena. In the UK, 10 different forms of copper IUDs are available
Copper IUDs are T-shaped, which helps to hold the device in place near the top of the uterus. They work by stopping sperm movement, making it impossible for them to combine with an egg. These IUDs are basically natural spermicides.
Hormonal IUDs (Mirena) reduce and/or prevent bleeding during menstrual cycles, unlike the copper ones which increase bleeding.
A 2011 study said that IUDs may reduce the risk of cervical cancer. According to the recent report, around 42% of girls between the ages of 15 and 19 from the U.S. are sexually active, and IUD and implants are the most successful contraceptives for avoiding abortion and unwanted pregnancies.
Most teens who are having sex use birth control methods that are sometimes not effective, such as withdrawal, which is dangerous, and condoms that may break. Birth control pills are safe contraceptives, however, many adolescents take them incorrectly, i.e., not every day.
8 out of every 10 pregnancies that occur among teens are not planned, which highlights the important need for effective and reliable contraceptives.
In May of 2012, a study involving 334 women was published in New England Journal of Medicine. 156 of these women became pregnant due to failed contraception -133 on the pill, patch or ring, and only 21 using IUDs, indicating that IUDs are far superior to any other method of birth control.
IUDs and implants have pregnancy rates of less than 1% per year, meaning that they are extremely effective. In addition, most patients who use these methods are happy with their experiences and continue to use them.
Adolescents may prefer IUDs and implants because unlike the pill, which has to be taken every day, they are long-lasting and take away the risk of unplanned pregnancy. The College says that IUDs and implants can be used right after a woman has a baby or gets an abortion, with no risk factors. Bad outcomes are very rare with these types of contraceptives.
The experts note that condoms should still be worn even if a teen is using IUDs or implants, because they do not protect against sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).
Written by Christine Kearney
Copyright: MediLexicon International Ltd
Original article posted on Medical News Today.
Articles not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today
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Osteopathy uses ‘hands-on’ techniques to influence the way the body works. By manipulating the muscles, tendons, joints, connective tissue and ligaments, treatment can provide relief to the musculoskeletal system, the nervous system, and also the circulatory, respiratory and immune systems of the body. In this way, it is seen as a form of manual medicine which can influence all systems of the body towards a more efficient and holistic state of health. The osteopath will use highly developed skills of palpation (feeling) to find areas of stress, strain or weakness in the body and after making a diagnosis, treat specific areas relating to your complaint. The techniques employed are safe, gentle and effective.
Most people come to see osteopaths because they are in physical pain. Headaches, backaches, neck pain and sporting injuries are the most common complaints that osteopaths treat. Osteopathic treatment is for everyone from young to old, to all family members and can help with a wide and varied range of conditions including:
Osteopathic Practice is statutorily regulated by The General Osteopathic Council (GOsC) (Osteopath’s Act 1993).
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Ulcerative colitis is a chronic inflammatory disease of the large intestine (also known as the large bowel or colon). The most common symptoms are bloody diarrhea and abdominal pain Figure 01. Ulcerative colitis involves periodic inflammation and loss of tissue (ulceration) of the lining of the large intestine. The condition produces frequent bouts of urgent, bloody diarrhea, and sometimes with abdominal cramping. It usually begins in childhood or early adulthood, and is characterized by periods of exacerbations and remissions. During remissions, the person may feel well and be free of symptoms.
Ulcerative colitis shares many common characteristics with Crohn’s disease, another inflammatory bowel disease. About 15% of patients with inflammatory bowel disease have features of both conditions, and cannot be clearly diagnosed with one or the other.
Figure 01. Anatomy of the digestive system
The more the bowel is inflamed, the more severe the disease. The inflammation and ulceration of ulcerative colitis is present in the rectum, and may spread up through the large intestine in a characteristically continuous manner. Disease severity depends in part on how much of the intestine is affected. If disease is confined to the rectum (proctitis), symptoms are often relatively minor. Proctosigmoiditis is the term used when both the rectum and sigmoid colon are involved. Those who have disease in the entire colon (pancolitis) usually have the most severe symptoms.
Colitis can be a serious disease requiring hospitalization, surgical removal of the colon, and an increased risk of colon cancer. Because colitis usually begins in young adulthood, it can disrupt a person’s education, career goals, and social life. Although it is not considered to be a fatal disease, it can cause serious anemia, malnutrition, and disability during prolonged attacks, and sometimes requires hospitalization. Although effective medicines can help most people keep the disease in check, for some, the colon must eventually be removed for relief.
Two of the most dangerous complications of ulcerative colitis are holes (perforations) in the intestine and a condition known as toxic megacolon, in which the colon becomes expanded (distended) and is in immediate danger of perforation. Both perforation and toxic megacolon are medical emergencies that must be treated at once, usually by removal of part or the entire colon.
Ulcerative colitis also brings the long-term risk of colon cancer. Patients are advised to undergo periodic screening with colonoscopy on a schedule determined by the extent and duration of their disease. During a colonoscopy the doctor inserts a long and flexible lighted tube, an endoscope, into the anus to see if there is inflammation, bleeding, or ulcers on the colon wall. In screening for cancer and pre-cancerous changes, the doctor will do a number of biopsies—that is, take samples of tissue from the lining of the colon to examine under a microscope. Some people opt to have their colon removed to prevent cancer from developing.
A small percentage of patients with ulcerative colitis also have inflammation in other parts of their body. Less than 5% of patients with ulcerative colitis also have primary sclerosing cholangitis, an inflammatory disease of the biliary tract that delivers bile (a digestive fluid) from the liver to the intestines. The skin, joints, and eyes are also sometimes affected.
The precise reason some people develop ulcerative colitis is not understood. Colitis results from an abnormal immune response, perhaps to substances in food. Ulcerative colitis has been blamed on genetic factors, bacteria, viruses, stress, and diet, but no theory offers a clear-cut explanation of the disease. It tends to run in families, and is more common in certain ethnic groups, indicating that genetics are at least partially responsible.
Whatever the reason, the body mounts an inflammatory response in the colon as if a foreign invader, such as a bacterium, a virus, or an allergen, were present. The abnormal response may continue even after the provoking agent is no longer present.
People with ulcerative colitis may be considerably emotionally distressed, leading some to suspect that stress is a primary cause of the disease. There is no evidence, however, that psychological factors cause the disease. Instead, most experts believe that emotional stress is an understandable and common response to a problem that frequently recurs beyond one’s control.
Ulcerative colitis is characterized by frequent, urgent bouts of bloody diarrhea. Ulcerative colitis involves periods of frequent diarrhea, which may come on so suddenly that making it to the bathroom in time may not always be possible. Usually only small amounts of bloody stool are passed at a time. The amount of diarrhea and blood vary with the extent of the disease. If the disease is only in the rectum, the person may in fact feel constipated, with firm, infrequent stools accompanied by bloody mucus.
Cramping pain is another common symptom during flare-ups. Some people experience nausea. With severe disease, weight loss and extreme fatigue due to nutrient and blood loss may develop. Some people also have inflammation in places other than their intestines, and may develop skin lesions, pains in the joints, and eye irritation.
Fever, vomiting, severe pain, and debility are the most worrisome symptoms, and may require immediate hospitalization for evaluation of dehydration, malnutrition, or a perforation in the intestine. One of the most severe complications of ulcerative colitis is toxic megacolon, a condition in which the entire colon becomes extremely distended and stops functioning. This condition almost invariably requires immediate surgical removal of the colon.
Table 1. Symptoms of Ulcerative Colitis
Periodic bouts of Urgent diarrhea with visible blood Cramping pain Nausea Weight loss Fatigue In some cases Skin lesions Joint pains Itchy or irritated eyes Symptoms requiring immediate medical evaluation Fever Severe pain Vomiting Severe debility
Ulcerative colitis usually appears before age 30. People of European Jewish descent have the highest incidence. Ulcerative colitis usually strikes in young adulthood, but may begin in childhood. It sometimes runs in families. People of Ashkenazi (European) Jewish descent are affected more than any other group.
Diagnosis consists of a physical exam, tests to rule out infectious causes, visualization of the intestine, and biopsies (when a physician examines tissue samples under a microscope) to detect tell tale signs of the disease. A thorough physical examination with a family doctor is done in addition to blood tests and stool samples to look for parasites and other infectious agents.
If no infectious causes are evident, the doctor may do more invasive diagnostic tests on the colon, including a barium enema, in which the colon is filled with a chalky solution (barium) that shows up on x-rays; and flexible sigmoidoscopy, which involves inserting a flexible tube with a light into the anus and examining the rectum and sigmoid colon. Small tissue samples can be taken of suspicious areas and sent to a pathologist to examine microscopically. In this way, the doctor can determine if there is evidence of ulcerative colitis or other problems, such as Crohn’s disease (another inflammatory bowel disease), diverticular disease (involving abnormal outpouchings of the colon), or colon cancer.
Complete colonoscopy is considered the “gold standard” of diagnosing the problem, but is best performed during remission of the disease. It is similar to flexible sigmoidoscopy but allows the visualization and tissue sampling of the entire colon, enabling the doctor to determine the extent of the problem. Colonoscopy is also periodically performed to monitor ulcerative colitis and check for early signs of cancer.
The diagnosis and treatment of ulcerative colitis usually involves a team of health care providers, including the patient’s primary-care doctor, a gastroenterologist (a doctor who specializes in disorders of the digestive tract), and possibly a surgeon. A dietitian and counselor can also be helpful.
Prevention and Screening
- The Power of ProbioticsProbiotics and other supplements have been hyped as remedies for digestive problems. But do they really work, and can some make your symptoms worse?
- Top Ten Fast Facts About PPIsWhen it comes to this popular class of medications, here's what you need to know.
- Do Over-the-Counter Proton Pump Inhibitors Work?You might wonder why you need a prescription if many PPIs are available over the counter. Get the answers to this and other questions about OTC PPIs.
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ANIMAL RESEARCH T A K E S LIVES
- Humans and Animals BOTH Suffer
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contents | index
It is the vivisectionists' current assertion, which crops up loud and strong evermore frequently now that they are openly coming out in defence of their trade, and therefore in defence of the future of their dubious existence, that without vivisection most of us would be dead. But medical evidence is becoming increasingly abundant proving beyond doubt that exactly the reverse is applicable. That far from saving mankind, vivisection, which cannot even produce a cure for the common cold, is destroying it. Medical evidence supporting this statement is so prolific it will be dealt with in a separate section and even as this article is being written some readers will be viewing 60 Minutes on T.V. 3, September 22 1991 which at this moment is screening the dangers of Valium, Lithium, Halcion and other profitable benzodiazapines which are said to be "destroying the lives of thousands of New Zealanders".
Pages 5, 10 and 17 of ARSL respectively make unreferenced claims that:
The first thing that strikes the novice when investigating the "discovery" of insulin is that in all the photographs of the tens of thousands of agonised dogs which had their pancreases extirpated towards this end, the animals are crudely propped, tied, or even hanging or slung, upright. This is because every animal on Earth, with the exception of man, is horizontal, making pressure-points, structure and other variables so overwhelming that any attempt to extrapolate conditions is a game of chance. Criticism of this total lack of similarity between the horizontal animal and the vertical human-being crops up repeatedly from many medical doctors and it is essential that the importance of this fundamental is understood.
During the 1920s, the dog experiments performed by scientists Banting and Best were strongly criticised as:
"... a wrongly conceived, wrongly conducted, and wrongly interpreted series of experiments."
(Dr F. Roberts, "Insulin", British Medical Journal, 1922.)
Readers are also directed to the clinical work of an American pathologist Dr Moses Barron, who published an article based on the autopsy of a patient who had died of pancreatic lithiasis, in which he says:
"The scientists Banting and Best were incorrectly credited with the discovery of insulin."
(Dr M. Barron, "The Relation of the Islets of Langerhans Diabetes with Special Reference to Cases of Pancreatic Lithiasis", Surgery, Gynaecology and Obstetrics, November 5 1920.)
Further, in Clinical Medical Discoveries, Medical Historian M. Beddow Bayly, M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., says that the association of diabetes with degenerative changes in the Beta cells in the pancreas was a well-recognised clinical discovery long before animal experiments in this connection were contemplated. "The means of separating from the pancreas the active principle, which Professor Schafer, a renowned physiologist had already in 1915 designated insulin", was, says Dr Beddow Bayly, "repeated by Banting who demonstrated it on a medical colleague who suffered from the disease. However the numerous experiments made by Banting on thousands of dogs proved nothing of value to human medicine, since, as is scientifically recognised, the dogs were not suffering from diabetes... The discovery, isolation and application of insulin was a clinical one."
The reader is directed to Chapter 10 Heart Surgery, and the evidence given by veterinarian Brandon Reines, Surgeon Dr Moneim Fadali and Hans Ruesch, all of whom emphasise the inability to extrapolate conditions or circumstances between dog and man. Further many doctors say that Banting's dogs suffered, not from diabetes, but from stress, a statement that no-one who has viewed the photographs of his unanaesthetised, depancreatised victims would argue, a condition which is said to be similar to diabetes, which from the vivisectors' point of view was a convenient one since it ensured, with the duplicity of the pro-vivisection alliance, his legitimised and relentless work on their crucifixion.
This uncompromising statement coincides with that of Doctors N. Robinson and J. Fuller in New Scientist, November 15 1984, page 23, who said that families developing diabetes had been exposed to higher levels of stress than those who have not. "It is known", they say, "that obesity, drugs, chemicals, heredity, great grief, anger, fright and extreme emotional states can cause diabetes".
Though the highly criticised animal-based insulin is now replaced by new oral preparations of pure chemicals it is no less criticised by many medics, to name a few:
In New Scientist, March 18 1982, doctors say they believe insulin could be responsible for the high levels of blindness in diabetics. Massive available data shows that diabetes is preventable through appropriate diet. That the highest incidence of the disease is in the United States, which consumes an average of 35 percent animal fats and meat, the lowest in Japan which diet contains an average of five percent, and that when the Japanese take to American eating habits they developed diabetic problems. One of the well-worn favourites of the exponents of vivisection when tub-thumping supposed examples of the benefits of their grotesque and obvious fraud, is the discovery of insulin to administer to diabetic patients. Yet more people per capita are dying of diabetes today than in 1900 - twentytwo years before the discovery of insulin. (For more comprehensive statistics refer Hans Ruesch, Slaughter of the Innocent.)
Even a cursory investigation reveals easily obtainable facts exposing that treatment with insulin merely effaces the symptoms and masks the true cause of the patient's ailment. That insulin has brought more damage than benefits, has killed more people, especially among the old, through insulinic shock, than it has saved, and that it has shortened more lives than it has lengthened. All that is needed is a little patience, a little time, a little determination... to prove ARSL wrong on every count.
Pursuing the important role of diet in the prevention of diabetes in The Health Revolution Ross Horne writes:
"Referring to the Pritikin Longevity Centre's diet and exercise programme, Dr James Anderson of the University of Kentucky Medical Centre, said: 'With this kind of approach, diet only, 80 percent of the diabetics in this Country could be normal in thirty to ninety days.' In a report made public before the American Chemical Society, Dr Michael Somogyi of the Jewish Hospital of St. Lexies, pointed out that a study of 4,000 diabetic cases conducted by him and his associates over a period of fourteen years, revealed that virtually all adult victims of diabetes can be restored to normal health without insulin injections."
As diabetes can be prevented and controlled by diet there is also much evidence that the escalation of the disease can be related to the amount of sugar we consume. In 1972 Dr Banting himself pointed out:
"The incidence of diabetes has increased proportionately with the per capita consumption of sugar."
(F.G. Banting, Strength and Health magazine, 1972.)
This is certainly borne out in the following table showing Danish consumption of sugar in relation to that country's incidence of diabetes:
|DATE||AMOUNT OF SUGAR P.A.||DIABETES DEATHS|
|1880||29 lbs||1.8 per 100,000|
|1911||82 lbs||8.0 per 100,000|
|1934||113 lbs||18.9 per 100,000|
(W. Dufty, Sugar Blues, Warner Books, 1975.)
And in an article "You are all Sanpaku" by Nyoiti Sakurazawa:
"Sugar is the greatest evil that modern industrial civilisation has visited upon the countries of the Far East and Africa."
In the 1960s an eight year study to compare the progress of patients suffering from diabetes was carried out in the U.S.A. by the university group diabetic programme. "The trials used insulin, oral drugs, placebo and diet. The group found that after five years none of the drugs, including insulin, had any effect at all as the body had got used to them... but that the diet treatment worked well." During the survey the following drugs were withdrawn because they were causing heart disease - even killing the patients:
This survey is the most comprehensive and meticulously controlled study of the use of insulin ever published. It is reported in the following:
|"Since the introduction of diabetes drugs in the 1950s the international death rate for diabetics in the past twenty years have risen in England, Wales, Germany, Japan, and Israel, probably because of the use of insulin."|
(R. Warner, Public Citizens Health Research Group, Washington D.C., U.S.A.)
Significantly Dr Banting, according to a book entitled Deadly Allies by John Bryden (McClelland Stewart) progressed from his merciless extirpations of the pancreases of thousands of man's best friend to even higher things, when in 1940 he graduated to vivisection in the noble field of biological warfare. Among his other legacies to mankind are his infected bullets; the rearing of disease-carrying insects; and the aerial spraying of deadly bacteria.
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contents | index
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The Newick Standard for representing trees in computer-readable form makes use of the correspondence between trees and nested parentheses, noticed in 1857 by the famous English mathematician Arthur Cayley. If we have this rooted tree:
then in the tree file it is represented by the following sequence of printable characters:
The tree ends with a semicolon. The bottommost node in this tree is an interior node, not a tip. Interior nodes are represented by a pair of matched parentheses. Between them are representations of the nodes that are immediately descended from that node, separated by commas. In the above tree, the immediate descendants are B, another interior node, and D. The other interior node is represented by a pair of parentheses, enclosing representations of its immediate descendants, A, C, and E. In our example these happen to be tips, but in general they could also be interior nodes and the result would be further nestings of parentheses, to any level.
Tips are represented by their names. A name can be any string of printable characters except blanks, colons, semcolons, parentheses, and square brackets.
Because you may want to include a blank in a name, it is assumed that an underscore character ("_") stands for a blank; any of these in a name will be converted to a blank when it is read in. Any name may also be empty: a tree like
is allowed. Trees can be multifurcating at any level.
Branch lengths can be incorporated into a tree by putting a real number, with or without decimal point, after a node and preceded by a colon. This represents the length of the branch immediately below that node. Thus the above tree might have lengths represented as:
The tree starts on the first line of the file, and can continue to subsequent lines. It is best to proceed to a new line, if at all, immediately after a comma. Blanks can be inserted at any point except in the middle of a species name or a branch length.
The above description is actually of a subset of the Newick Standard. For example, interior nodes can have names in that standard. These names follow the right parenthesis for that interior node, as in this example:
To help you understand this tree representation, here are some trees in the above form:
The Newick Standard does not make a unique representation of a tree, for two reasons. First, the left-right order of descendants of a node affects the representation, even though it is biologically uninteresting. Thus, to a biologist
is the same tree as
which is in turn the same tree as
and that is the same tree as
In addition, the standard is representing a rooted tree. For many biological purposes we may not be able to infer the position of the root. We would like to have a representation of an unrooted tree when decribing inferences in such cases. Here the convention is simply to arbitrarily root the tree and report the resulting rooted tree. Thus
would be the same unrooted tree as
In spite of this limitation of nonuniqueness the readability of the resulting representation (for trees of modest size) and the ease of writing programs that read it have kept this standard in widespread use.
Its competitors include the NEXUS standard for trees (part of the more general NEXUS standard for phylogeny data sets). However the NEXUS representation of trees is based on the Newick standard -- inside the NEXUS TREES Block you will find ... Newick trees.
A less Newick-based standard is the PhyloXML standard, which is an XML representation using nesting the <CLADE> ... </CLADE> tag pairs instead of parentheses.
The Newick Standard was adopted 26 June 1986 by an informal committee meeting convened by me during the Society for the Study of Evolution meetings in Durham, New Hampshire and consisting of James Archie, William H.E. Day, Wayne Maddison, Christopher Meacham, F. James Rohlf, David Swofford, and myself. (The committee was not an activity of the SSE nor endorsed by it). The reason for the name is that the second and final session of the committee met at Newick's restaurant in Dover, New Hampshire, and we enjoyed the meal of lobsters. The tree representation was a generalization of one developed by Christopher Meacham in 1984 for the tree plotting programs that he wrote for the PHYLIP package while visiting Seattle. His visit was a sabbatical leave from the University of Georgia, which thus indirectly partly funded that work.
There has been no formal publication of the Newick Standard.
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Career as a wandmaker
Geraint took up the family business in London, studying further into wandlore and becoming an accomplished wandmaker. He considered it an honour to match a witch or wizard with a wand made from the wood of the cypress tree because it indicated he had met someone who was going to die heroically, and left that fact in his writings.
- "Geraint" is a name of unknown origin, possibly a Welsh form of the Late Roman name "Gerontius" deriving from Greek γερων (geron), meaning "old man". Geraint was the name of a figure various Welsh legends. He was also incorprorated into later Arthurian tales as one of the knights of the Round Table and the husband of Enid.
- Pottermore (Mentioned only)
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- crypt(word, salt) -> string
word will usually be a user's password. salt is a 2-character string
which will be used to select one of 4096 variations of DES. The characters
in salt must be either ".", "/", or an alphanumeric character. Returns
the hashed password as a string, which will be composed of characters from
the same alphabet as the salt.
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Who would have thought that a suffrage parade would attract mass attention in 2012? This happened in the UK recently when descendants of suffragettes and others marched at the Olympic opening ceremonies. It’s not the best video (see link below) possible, but it gives a feel for how it must have been for the suffrage marchers. It’s not surprising that the event was a life-changing experience for most, propelling them to future involvement in the political process, just as their grandmothers and great grandmothers were involved.
Take a look at some of these articles from the UK. English women are also planning to continue with the suffrage theme and march on Parliament in October 2012 to draw attention to the backsliding relative to women’s rights!
This isn’t the first time when protestors have showed up dressed as suffragettes. Check out this example in the UK in 2010.
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Professor Bottero on gods "dying of violent means" in Mesopotamian myths, and their descent into an underworld to await a resurrection to aid their human adorers , motifs of the Ancient Near Eastern world, anticpating by several hundred years similar motifs appearing in Christianity's teachings (somewhat like Christ's violent death, descent into Hell and ressurection for his adorers):
"The death of a god, of which we find only a few documented examples, was always violent and intentional. In Atrahasis the (minor) god We is deliberately immolated by his peers in order to allow a "superior" element to be introduced into human nature. And the same is true of the rebellious god Qingu in the Epic of Creation. But "death" could also be of only analogous importance. Like "deceased" humans (de-functi), that is, those who have become inactive once their "function" in life on earth had been accomplished, the gods to whom religious vicissitude had ceased to attribute an active role...were imagined to have been assigned, like us, to an infernal retirement. They were withdrawn from their interventions, which were then transferred to other members of the divine personnel, and were "dead" to the devotion of humans, even if, unlike the latter, they sluggishly conserved their supernatural perogatives, ready to come back to life if only their adorers would need them once again."
(pp. 61-62. Jean Bottero. Religion in Ancient Mesopotamia. University of Chicago Press. 2001. Bottero is Emeritus Director of l'Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, quatrieme section, Paris, France)
Heidel also noted that in some Mesopotamian creation myths of mankind by the gods that man was created of the flesh and blood of a slaughtered minor god mixed with clay. Man was made to end the toil of the lesser earth dwelling gods, permitting them eternal rest from toil, which consisted of growing, harvesting and presenting food and drink to the heaven-dwelling gods.
"Enki opened his mouth and said to the great gods ...Let them slay a god...with his flesh and blood mix clay. God and Man...united (?) in the clay."
(p. 67. Alexander Heidel. The Babylonian Genesis, the Story of Creation. [2d edition], University of Chicago Press. 1942, 1951, reprint 1993)
Heidel notes another creation account, detailing that man was made to serve the gods, keep their bellies full:
"Let us slay (two) Lamga gods. With their blood let us create mankind. The service of the gods be their portion, for all times. To maintain the boundary ditch, to place the hoe and basket into their hands...to raise plants in abundance...to fill the granary...to celebrate the festivals of the gods...to pour out cold water in the great house of the gods...that they should increase ox, sheep, cattle, fish and fowl, the abundance of the land..."
(p. 70. Alexander Heidel. The Babylonian Genesis, the Story of Creation. [2d edition], University of Chicago Press. 1942, 1951, reprint 1993)
Bottero cites a Mesopotamian hymn mentioning that at night the gods and goddesses retire to their heavenly bedchambers to sleep:
""The gods and goddesses of the country-
Shamash, Sin, Adad and Ishtar-
have gone home to heaven to sleep,
they will not give decisions or verdicts (tonight).
Night has put on her veil...
Shamash the just judge, the father of the underprivileged.
has (likewise) gone to his bedchamber."
(p.185. Jean Bottero. Religion in Ancient Mesopotamia. Chicago. University of Chicago Press. 2001)
The Psalmist appears to be accusing God of sleeping, and ignoring the plight of his people, he asks God to awake, rise up, and save his people from their oppressors:
Psalm 44:11-26 RSV
"Thou hast made us like sheep for slaughter, and hast scattered us among the nations...Rouse thyself! Why sleepest thou, O Lord? Awake! Do not cast us off for ever! Why dost thou hide thy face? Why dost thou forget our affliction and oppression?...Rise up, come to our help! Deliver us for the sake of thy steadfast love! "
When Innana/Ishtar descended into the underworld to visit her sister, who was its queen, she paid for her temerity with her life. She was KILLED by her sister and her naked FLESHLY CARCASS was hung on a stake. Her "father" Enki (Ea) at Eridu in Sumer (modern Iraq) after three days and three nights sends a sexless being called Asusunamir into the underworld to restore to life Inanna/Ishtar's fleshly carcass. Asusunamir brings "bread of life and water of life" from Eridu and sprinkles them on Ishtar, she is brought back to life and in her FLESHLY body she ascends out of hell, with her clothes restored to her to live once again at the Sumerian city of Unug, also called Uruk and Kullab. The Sumerians called the uncultivated plain about their cities edin/eden, so, in a sense, when Inanna/Ishtar is restored back to fleshly-life to dwell at Uruk where she has a city-garden, she is taking up residence_in_ her city-garden surrounded by edin/eden and in Christian myth the restored dead will also dwell with God in a Garden of Eden in a city called Jerusalem. (cf. pp. 80-84. "The Descent of Ishtar to the Nether World." James B. Pritchard, editor. The Ancient Near East, An Anthology of Texts and Pictures. Princeton University Press. 1958)
The Mesopotamian myths do mention some humans, however, who do not experience death, notably, Utnapishtim and wife (along with his pilot), he is the Mesopotamian equivalent of Noah and the Ark. After the flood which destroyed all mankind (except those on the Ark) these three people are placed in a wonderous garden called Dilmun, evidently located in the marshlands of southern Mesopotamia, at the mouths of the Tigris and Euphrates river and there they live for all eternity, lying about on their backs, not having to endure the back-breaking toil the gods have ordained for the rest of mankind! That is, Utnapishtim, wife and pilot --IN THE FLESH-- never die! (cf. pp. 24-35. "The Odyssey of Gilgamesh." Fred Gladstone Bratton. Myths and Legends of the Ancient Near East. New York. Barnes & Noble. , 1993)
Bottero on Utnapishtim's immortality:
"Just as one might speak of the death of a few gods, so endless life was sometimes granted to a few humans, as we see in the Epic of Gilgamesh, in which the survivors of the Flood, Utnapishtim and his wife, were made immortal by the gods and existed all alone until the end of the world."
(p.62. Jean Bottero. Religion in Ancient Mesopotamia. University of Chicago Press. 2001)
Now in Mesopotamian myths, everyone else dies, but although the flesh dies, the individual still exists in the underworld as a "dis-embodied" spirit-being, and can be be summoned up from that world on rare occasions. Gilgamesh is allowed to see and speak to his dead friend Enkidu and in the Bible King Saul is allowed to speak to the dead prophet Samuel through the efforts of the Witch of En-Dor (I Sam 28:3-19).
Wolkstein and Kramer on the Sumerian notion about death being ONLY of the fleshly body (Speaking about the death of Inanna/Ishtar and of mankind), suggesting for me, that to be restored to life, the Flesh must be brought back to life and resurrected from the grave to live once again upon the earth's surface:
"The fate Inanna has chosen is the same that awaited every mortal Sumerian. However, from archaeological evidence and literary texts, it does not seem that the Sumerians believed death was the end. For them, death marked the separation of the body from the spirit. The body was buried in the ground; the spirit moved on to a different realm in the Kur...the Sumerians believed that although no one returns from the underworld, death is not completely final. The body disintegrates, yet the transformed spirit is still recognizable."
(p. 159. Diane Wolkstein & Samuel Noah Kramer. Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth, Her Stories and Hymns From Sumer. New York. Harper & Row, Publishers. 1983. ISBN 0-06-090854-8 pbk)
The bottom line in all these myths is that the Gods existed _IN THE FLESH_, just as human flesh experiences hunger and needs earthly food to sustain this flesh, so too the gods need their fleshly bodies to be sustained by earthly food in the form of sacrifices. The gods fleshly bodies, like human bodies, tire and need rest and sleep; their fleshly bodies can be slain, and die. All mankind also exists in the flesh, and all flesh dies.
As noted above by Wolkenstein and Kramer the dead still "live" in the form of disembodied "spirits" in the underworld. To be "restored to life" in Mesopotamian belief is to once again possess a body of flesh and dwell upon the earth's surface.
Restoration to life, as in the example of Inanna/ Ishtar, is a "restoration to life" of THE FLESH which then lives upon the earth's surface! Here, we have the reason why man, to be "restored to life" in the Old Testament (Ezekiel's dry bones Ez 37:1-14) _and_ New Testament (Rev 20:6), has to be brought "back to life" IN A FLESHLY BODY and live once again on the earth's surface at Jerusalem.
It would take Christianity almost 300 years to triumph over the religious beliefs of the Hellenized world. Why so long? One reason was that the Greeks despised the flesh as corrupt and saw it as a tomb imprisoning an immortal soul seeking to escape and return to its heavenly father, as enunciated by Plato. The Christian notion of the dead being restored to corrupt, fleshly bodies, apparently an Ancient Near Eastern Mesopotamian notion, was "abhorrent" to Hellenistic Greek thinking.
Jean Bottero. Religion in Ancient Mesopotamia. Chicago. University of Chicago Press. 2001.
Fred Gladstone Bratton. Myths and Legends of the Ancient Near East. New York. Barnes & Noble. , 1993.
Benjamin R. Foster. From Distant Days, Myths, Tales and Poetry of Ancient Mesopotamia. Bethseda, Maryland. CDL Press. 1995.
Alexander Heidel. The Babylonian Genesis, the Story of Creation. [2d edition], University of Chicago Press. 1942, 1951, reprint 1993.
Othmar Keel. The Symbolism of the Biblical World, Ancient Near Eastern Iconography and the Book of Psalms. New York. The Seabury Press. A Crossroad Book. 1978 [originally published in 1972 as Die Welt der alterorientalischen Bild-symbolik und das Alte Testament: Am Beispiel der Psalmen. Benziger Verlag Zurich Einsiedeln Koln und Neukirchener Verlag Neukirchen).
James B. Pritchard, editor. The Ancient Near East, An Anthology of Texts and Pictures. Princeton University Press. 1958.
Diane Wolkstein & Samuel Noah Kramer. Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth, Her Stories and Hymns From Sumer. New York. Harper & Row, Publishers. 1983.
Why a Resurrection of Flesh and Blood?
(The Pre-biblical origins of a restoration from death)
Please click here for this website's most important article: Why the Bible Cannot be the Word of God.
For Christians visiting this website _my most important article_ is The Reception of God's Holy Spirit:
14 August 2003
Revisions and Updates through 01 June 2008
Christianity stresses that all the dead will be resurrected to life in reconstituted bodies of flesh and blood, be judged, and those who lead exemplary lives in Christ will obtain immortality while the sinners will go through a "second death." (Rev 20:6,14). Where are these ideas coming from? This brief article attempts to trace the "pre-biblical origins" of this concept.
Most individuals acquainted with the Old Testament recall Daniel mentioning a resurrection of the dead (Dan 12:2) and also a vision of Ezekiel's (Ez 37:1-14) where he sees a valley of bones of dead Israelites, whom God brings back to life by reconstituting their bodies, rebuilding sinew and flesh upon their "dry" bones, and then causing a wind to enter them, restoring breath to them.
We are told that Adam sinned and died and so it is for all mankind. All flesh perishes. Whence these notions?
The origins lie in ancient Mesopotamian beliefs which predate the Bible by some three thousand years. According to these myths the gods made man to be their slave to toil on earth for them, growing food to feed them, so that they themselves no longer have to toil on the earth for their food. Surprisingly these myths reveal that the gods can die and possess fleshly bodies! They can experience hunger, fatigue, a need to to rest, and a need to sleep. According to one myth a rebel god is slain, his FLESH is ground up and mixed into clay, creating mankind at Nippur. This myth stresses that the animating life force in man, his heartbeat, is to remind man that a god's spirit of "ghost" dwells within man, so a god's shed blood "animates" or gives "life" to the clay that is man. How appropriate that later Christian myths have a god's shed blood giving life to man making posible his restoration to life from death, Christ being slain to redeem man from death's power.
Professor Foster notes how the Igigi gods on earth were forced to toil ceaselessly to provide food for the Annuna (Annunaki) gods at Nippur in ancient Sumer. Their constant "clamor" over this injustice disturbs the rest and sleep of the Annuna gods, who decide to have man created of a slain rebel Igigi god and this god's "flesh and blood ground into the clay" to make man who will be a "slave to the gods," permitting all the gods, Igigi and Anunnaki, to enjoy an eternal rest and freedom from earthly toil. Man will clear the irrigation ditches, grow and harvest the food needed by the gods and present this food to them via sacrifices in the temples. That is to say, man was created to keep the gods' bellies full and relieve them of toil, so they they might enjoy an eternal rest from their labors. In other words the gods obtained their eternal Sabbath Rest from earthly toil by creating man to work in their place to provide them with life's necessities: food, clothing and shelter. The god's city-gardens have fruit trees and are surrounded by an uncultivated land called in Sumerian edin/eden. Thus man was created by the gods to toil forever in the gods' gardens in edin/eden making possible the gods' eternal Sabbath Rest from toil.
"They slaughtered Aw-liu, who had the inspiration, in their assembly.
Nintu mixed clay with his flesh and blood.
That same god and man were thoroughly
mixed in the clay.
From the flesh of the god [the] spirit remained.
It would make the living know its sign,
Lest he be allowed to be forgotten, [the] spirit remained.
After she had mixed that clay.
She summoned the Anunna, the great gods.
The Igigi, the great gods, spat upon the clay.
Mami made ready to speak,
And said to the great gods,
"You ordered me the task and I have completed it !
"You have slaughtered the god, along with his inspiration.
I have done away with your heavy forced labor,
I have imposed your drudgery on man.
You have bestowed (?) clamor on mankind."
(p.59. "Gods and their deeds." Benjamin R. Foster. From Distant Days, Myths, Tales and Poetry of Ancient Mesopotamia. Bethseda, Maryland. CDL Press. 1995. Foster is a Professor of Assyriology at Yale University)
Below, a cylinder sealing showing, what _I understand_ to be captive gods being led to a slaughter. The fiery god with flames erupting from his back on the viewer's far left, appears to be slashing the throat of a captive god with a knife, whose arms are extended before him in a submissive manner, the next god, looking over his shoulder appears to have his hands bound before him, the next possesses a monster head and is held by the arm by a god possessing a fiery body, with flames erupting from his back (cf. figure 53. p. 54. Othmar Keel.
The Symbolism of the Biblical World, Ancient Near Eastern Iconography and the Book of Psalms. New York. The Seabury Press. A Crossroad Book. 1978 [originally published in 1972 as Die Welt der alterorientalischen Bild-symbolik und das Alte Testament: Am Beispiel der Psalmen. Benziger Verlag Zurich Einsiedeln Koln und Neukirchener Verlag Neukirchen).
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Shared the 2009 Nobel Prize in medicine for the discovery of telomeres.
"There was something completely different about the DNA ends."
In the 1930s, the American geneticist Hermann Muller first noticed that the ends of chromosomes had some sort of unique property that helped them maintain their genetic integrity. In experiments with fruit flies irradiated with X-rays, he observed many animals with genetic abnormalities, but he never found flies with mutations in the chromosome tips. “The terminal gene must have a special function, that of sealing the end of the chromosome, so to speak,” Muller told attendees of a 1938 lecture at the Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory in Massachusetts. “And that for some reason, a chromosome cannot persist indefinitely without having its ends thus sealed.” He thus named these ends telomeres, from the Greek words telo, meaning “end,” and mere, meaning “part”.
Thanks to the work of Jack Szostak and his colleagues, scientists now know that Muller was only partially correct. (Still, not a bad hypothesis given that Muller’s lecture came 15 years before the discovery of DNA.) Telomeres do stabilize the ends of chromosomes, but, instead of active genes, telomeres contain a string of highly repeated DNA sequences that act as disposable buffers to prevent vulnerable chromosomes from deterioration.
During cell division, enzymes that duplicate DNA cannot reach all the way to the ends of chromosomes. If cells divided without telomeres, necessary genetic information would get lopped off with each round of division. Fortunately, telomeres are nonsense DNA that do not encode essential proteins, so there are no immediate consequences when telomeric sequences are lost. Yet this telomere shortening can eventually lead to cancer or even cell death — which explains why telomeres have been linked to the ageing process.
To maintain telomeres in rapidly growing cells, however, cells contain an enzyme called telomerase that can synthesize telomeric DNA directly onto chromosome ends. In this way, the original length of the telomere sequence is restored, which in turn helps keep chromosomes intact longer. This function has also earned telomerase the nickname ‘the immortalizing enzyme’.
Illustrations and layout: Annika Röhl, Bengt Gullbing, courtesy of The Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine at Karolinska Institutet.
ACTIVITYhas 1 activity for you to try in the Activities section.
- A simple solution of soap in water can give hints to the structure of primitive cell membranes in early forms of life on Earth.
Ten years from now we'll be learning more and more about earth-like planets orbiting sun-like stars elsewhere in our galaxy. Some of these will be relatively close to us, say within 100 light years or so. Students studying astronomy will be figuring out ways of learning more about these other planets, trying to see if they could support life, or even trying to get evidence that there is (or isn't) life out there. Students studying planetary sciences will be modeling these alien earths, trying to understand their environments, and students studying chemistry will be trying to figure out what clues to look for in the atmospheric chemistry of these distant earths. Perhaps some adventurous students will even be thinking about how we might send robotic missions to investigate other solar systems and send information about them back home to us.
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3.3 Grading & Quality Standards
The grades and grade names for table grapes are Canada No. 1 and Canada Domestic. All table grapes sold in Ontario must be properly packed to the grade standards and marked accordingly.
National Wine Standards - The CWI led the process that developed the first Canadian national quality standard for wine in 1996 and the CVA is continuing to work closely with federal, provincial, and industry authorities in seeking further quality...
Setting the standard for Ontario's premium wines. VQA is recognized as a symbol of quality for some of the finest wines produced in Ontario.
All British Columbia wines bearing the VQA symbol must be made from 100% BC grown grapes. The wines are screen by a professional tasting panel and wines found faulty cannot be sold as VQA wines.
Details of quality programs in BC.
Overview of the program that regulates and promotes safety and quality of Canadian food.
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Moving from Talking with Pictures to Speaking with
Words and Sound
It often becomes obvious that a nonverbal
student becomes frustrated when he/she wants to convey a message and the
appropriate vocabulary is not available on his/her manual communication
board(s). Also, the board(s) become limited in the amount of information
they can convey when they are filled with pictures. Pictures are often
used to convey only a single message. Words, on the other hand, can be
strung together to form more complete sentences and complex thoughts, as
well as enhance literacy skills. I find it absolutely necessary to move
the student from pictures to words (or a combination of both) on manual
communication boards to eventually an electronic voice output device. When
the student is ready for a device that has voice output - a whole new world
has opened up for them - they can now "speak" so others can hear them.
While using manual communication boards, they have to make sure that they
have the attention of a communicative partner focused on their board. This
is not always easy to do, especially in a classroom. (Some electronic voice
output devices have the ability to change the voice in order to match that
of a speaking child the user's age as well as change to more mature voices
as the student ages.)
Goals and Objectives:
a) To determine the necessary, frequently used vocabulary on
a student's manual communication board(s) and develop an assessment tool
b) To replace Mayer-Johnson picture symbols with words on student's
c) To move the student from manual communication boards to an
The assessment process should be on-going as
the needs (vocabulary) of the student changes with time. Speech services
are provided during 30 - 45 minute intervals from 2 - 3 times per week.
It is suggested that this assessment should be done at least once during
Prerequisite Knowledge and Skills:
The student has demonstrated
ease, frequent and appropriate use and a comfort level in using his/her
manual communication boards.
Speech therapy room or classroom.
Interdisciplinary Areas: Reading, Communication, ESL
- Teacher created assessment: Data sheet created
in ClarisWorks assessing the students ability to match words and pictures
and identify words without the pictures. See attachment
- Strips of Mayer-Johnson picture symbols (without the words), laminated
and cut. [These pictures and words should be taken from the student's preexisting
manual communication board(s) so they are familiar to the student - logs
have been kept to determine the most frequently used vocabulary. Log created
in ClarisWorks. See attachment #2]. The size should
be 1 - 2 inches depending on the visual abilities of the student. Strips
of the corresponding words, laminated and cut.
- A thin strip of (hard) velcro should be placed behind each picture
at the top. A thin strip of (soft) velcro should be placed above each word
at the top.
- Ask the student to give a requested word by lifting
it off the picture. (The student is initially allowed to look under the
words at the pictures if necessary).
- Ask the student to match the word to the picture by velcroing (putting)
the word back on the picture.
- Ask the student to give the requested word. This time the words
should not be near the pictures but arranged on the table randomly.
** The therapist or teacher is recording the data throughout this activity. See
Homework: A ditto will be sent home in which the student has
to draw a line from the word to the picture using that day's assessed vocabulary.
Homework created in ClarisWorks using Mayer-Johnson picture symbols from
Boardmaker. See attachment #3
- At the beginning of the next speech
session the student will be asked to give requested words as part of a
- The speech therapist will convert the "old" communication board
to one filled of words as the student masters them.
- Once the student has developed ease with his/her new communication
board - a referral will be made for an electronic voice output device.
Most schools have programmatic devices in which students share them in
the classroom and throughout daily activities. These devices should be
used as part of the initial assessment. [An initial assessment must be
done in order to determine what type of device is appropriate. Different
states and schools have different procedures regarding referral and assessment
of devices. For helpful hints to get started you can contact me.]
It is important to have all staff members working
with the student (classroom teacher, paraprofessionals, OT, PT, coverage
teachers, and administration) as well as the student's parents and close
family members as involved as much as possible. Input from different professionals
and family members can only enhance the student's achievement and success.
When your student finally gets an electronic voice
output device don't be surprised if you find yourself telling the student
"Shh, it's time for quiet." The
excitement is overwhelming once the student learns he/she finally has
a voice and he/she wants you to hear it!
Success in learning and using these devices is also determined when
the student turns from having mostly adults as their primary communicative
partners to seeking out other students in their classes as well as peers
in the general education settings. The logs from home also help the therapist
and teacher see how their language blossoms from the usual requests for
food or toys to more socially appropriate and needed expressions. For example,
a child who has never been able to verbally tell her mother that she loves
her is now able to do so by activating one "button" or "cell" on
her device: "Mommy, I love you!" Many parents have reported that
such phrases as these bring tears to their eyes because they have longed
for their child to "speak" for so many years. That alone makes it worth
all of the time and effort that everyone involved has contributed!
A communication board
is a means of communication used by individuals who are nonverbal, unintelligible,
recovering from strokes, or those who cannot verbally convey
their wants, needs, etc. The boards usually consist of one or more of the
following: picture symbols combined with words, words alone, the alphabet, and
numbers. The individual using a communication board points to the message they
want to convey and for those physically impaired, a switch, light/head pointer,
etc. is designed to meet their needs.
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When I first heard about the discovery of a potential obesity gene on the news, I ignored it. After all, a gene only codes for a single protein, and there are about 25,000 genes of which nearly 1,000 seem to be associated with obesity. Nonetheless, I decided to read the research paper in its pre-publication form (1). Even though it is an incredibly scientifically dense paper, rich in genetic jargon, it finally did it begin to make sense.
The protein for which the gene in question codes is called a transcription factor. Transcription factors are the key players in the process of transferring hormonal signals from the surface of the cell to ultimately generate the gene expression of new proteins. As I explained in my book, “Toxic Fat,” nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) is the transcription factor that turns on the genetic expression of more proteins that leads to cellular inflammation (2).
The transcription factor in this article, known as KLF14, seems to be related to turning on the metabolic responses that lead to insulin resistance, obesity and metabolic syndrome.
Transcription factors have been around for hundreds of millions of years, and they have been highly conserved by evolution because they work so effectively to fine tune gene expression. This might be expected since they are the key players in turning genes “off” and “on” inside the cell. Since they have been around for a long time, this also means that there are natural compounds (usually nutrients) that are instrumental in controlling their activity. For NF-kB (the master regulatory switch for inflammation), it is known that leukotrienes derived from arachidonic acid activate this transcription factor (3,4), whereas omega-3 fatty acids and polyphenols inhibit its activation (5-7). It is very likely the same nutrients may do the same for the activity of the KLF14 transcription factor. From an evolutionary point of view this makes common sense since in less developed organisms (like the fruit fly), the control of fat, metabolism and immunity are found in a single organ known as fat bodies (8).
As I have pointed out in my books, increased cellular inflammation is the first step toward metabolic dysfunction. This is why any decrease in nutrients like omega-3 and polyphenols or any corresponding increase in nutrients like arachidonic acid may be common nutrient control points that dramatically influence our future health. Obviously, as the balance of these nutrients change, their effects on various transcription factors will amplify their impact on gene expression.
A more ominous implication from this study is that the gene mutations that gave rise to increased insulin resistance came only from the mother. This may be the link to understand how fetal programming transmits epigenetic information from one generation to the next. The combination of fetal programming with radical changes in the human diet may well prove to be a deadly combination for our future health and longevity.
- Small KS, Hedman AK, Grunberg E, Nica AC, Thorleissson G, Kong A, Thersteindottir U, Shin S-Y, Richards HB, soranzo N, Ahmadi KR, Lingren C, Stefansson K, Dermitzakis ET, Deloukas P, Spector TD, and Mcarthy MI. “Identification of an imprinted master trans regulator at the KLF14 locus related to multiple metabolic phenotypes.” Nature Genetics doi 10:1038/ng/833 (2011)
- Sears B. “Toxic Fat.” Thomas Nelson. Nashville, TN (2008)
- Sears DD, Miles PD, Chapman J, Ofrecio JM, Almazan F, Thapar D, and Miller YI. “12/15-lipoxygenase is required for the early onset of high-fat, diet-induced adipose tissue inflammation and insulin resistance in mice.” PLoS One 4: e7250 (2009)
- Chakrabarti SK, Cole BK, Wen Y, Keller SR, and Nadler JL. “12/15-lipoxygenase products induce inflammation and impair insulin signaling in 3T3-L1 adipocytes.” Obesity 17: 1657-1663 (2009)
- Denys A, Hichami A, and Khan NA. “n-3 PUFAs modulate T-cell activation via protein kinase C-alpha and -epsilon and the NF-kappaB signaling pathway.” J Lipid Res 46: 752-758 (2005)
- Zwart SR, Pierson D, Mehta S, Gonda S, and Smith SM. “Capacity of omega-3 fatty acids or eicosapentaenoic acid to counteract weightlessness-induced bone loss by inhibiting NF-kappaB activation.” J Bone Miner Res 25: 1049-1057 (2010)
- Romier B, Van De Walle J, During A, Larondelle Y, Schneider YJ. “Modulation of signaling nuclear factor-kappaB activation pathway by polyphenols in human intestinal Caco-2 cells.” Br J Nutr 100: 542-551 (2008)
- Hotamisligil GS. “Inflammation and metabolic disorders.” Nature 444: 860-867 (2006)
Nothing contained in this blog is intended to be instructional for medial diagnosis or treatment. If you have a medical concern or issue, please consult your personal physician immediately.
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|7 March 2011|
|12 March 2012|
|Species Trees 2012|
*BEAST works as an extension of the popular phylogenetic software package BEAST. Because of this, you should familiarize yourself with the tutorial on divergence time estimation to learn the basic ins and outs of using this suite of software.
To set up a *BEAST analysis, open BEAUTi and import your alignment files just like you would for a divergence time analysis. Once this is done we need to tell BEAUTi to employ the multispecies coalescent by clicking the check box in the top left corner.
Doing this results in a couple of things. First, the program will take you to the traits panel where you need to assign each of the sequences to one of the species in your analysis. BEAUTi has some nice tools to try to guess the species names from the tip names. Select "guess trait values" to use these.
After assigning each tip to a species, head back to the partitions pane. Notice that the program has made some changes to the way that the model is set up. First, the site models are now unlinked. We would do this anyway for a standard partitioned analysis, as this accounts for the different base frequencies and substitution rates that occurs in each of our genes. We have also unlinked the clock model among the different genes. We do this because now we are looking to estimate separate coalescent histories for each of the gene partitions. Our information about the probability of the species tree largely comes from the timing of coalescent events, which of course vary from gene to gene. Finally, we have also unlinked the tree model for each partition.
We can set up our site models and clock models in a similar way to how we did things in the divergence time analysis. However, there is a difference in the tree priors. We need to set a prior on the distribution of species tree branching times using the birth-death or Yule models (like before). We also need to specify a model on population size along each of the branches in the species tree. Finally, we must tell BEAUTi where each of the genes came from (Autosomal, mitochondrial, etc.).
Under the priors pane, most of the priors should look familiar and can be set in similar ways as we did in the divergence time tutorial. The one type of prior that we have not yet seen is the species.popMean hyperprior on the gamma distributed population sizes. We can leave this set at 1/x for now.
Following this, we can set up markov chain in the MCMC pane and export our file. As with all other bayesian analyses, it is exceedingly important to run the chain several times, assess MCMC performance, and examine the effect of our priors. In practice, the multispecies coalescent model often does not mix as well as simpler analyses, so careful attention to these issues is particularly important.
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Degraded coastal wetlands contribute to climate change
11 April 2011 | News story
Drainage and degradation of coastal wetlands emit significant amounts of carbon dioxide directly to the atmosphere and lead to decreased carbon sequestration, a new report has found.
The report, written in partnership with the World Bank, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and wetland specialists ESA PWA, calls for coastal wetlands to be protected and incentives for avoiding their degradation and improving their restoration to be included into carbon emission reduction strategies and in climate negotiations.
“For the first time we are getting a sense that greenhouse gas losses from drained and degraded coastal wetlands may be globally significant and that drained organic-rich soils continuously release carbon for decades,” says Stephen Crooks, Climate Change Services Director at ESA PWA - the consulting firm which looked at 15 coastal deltas worldwide for the report. “Emissions will increase with ongoing wetland losses.”
The report highlights the current rates of degradation and loss of coastal wetlands which are up to four times those of tropical forests. Destruction of about 20% of the world's mangroves, an area of 35,000 square kilometres in the last 25 years or four times the New York City metropolitan area, has led to the release of centuries of accumulated carbon. This has also disturbed natural protection against storm surges and other weather events.
“We must work with nature to reduce greenhouse gas emissions but also restore the ability of nature to take carbon out of circulation,” says Carl Gustaf Lundin, Director of the IUCN Global Marine and Polar Programme. ”CO2 emissions from lost or degraded coastal wetlands are sufficiently large to warrant amendment of national and international climate change policy frameworks to promote restoration.“
Of the 15 coastal deltas studied for the report, seven were found to have released more than 500 million tons of CO2 each since the wetlands were drained, mostly in the past 100 years. By comparison, Mexico’s carbon dioxide emissions for 2007 were just over 470 million tonnes.
Mangroves, tidal marshes and sea-grass meadows remove carbon from the atmosphere and lock it into the soil, where it can stay for millennia. Unlike terrestrial forests, these marine ecosystems are continuously building carbon pools, storing huge amounts of “blue carbon” in the sediment below them. When these systems are degraded due to drainage or conversion for agriculture and aquaculture, they emit large and continuous amounts of CO2 to the atmosphere.
“Protecting these coastal ecosystems and the blue carbon they store can be a win-win for communities,”
says Marea Hatziolos, Senior Coastal and Marine Specialist at the World Bank. “Shoreline protection and increased fisheries productivity are among the co-benefits provided by healthy coastal wetlands—contributing to community resilience while sequestering CO2. If wetlands conservation can be linked to carbon markets, communities have a way to pay for conservation which will generate local and global benefits.”
Managing coastal ecosystems for the range of services they provide can complement existing approaches to nature-based solutions to reduce the effects of climate change, according to the report. Such investments have the potential to link to REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation, including conservation and sustainable management of forests) and other carbon financing mechanisms, provided that protocols on accounting, verification and reporting of net carbon uptake can be agreed.
For more information , please contact:
Borjana Pervan, IUCN Media Relations Officer, t +41 798574072, e firstname.lastname@example.org
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(En español: Nefropatía)
Having diabetes for many years can damage small blood vessels throughout a person's body. This can affect several organs, including the kidneys. It is more likely to happen if a person's diabetes isn't well controlled. Kidney disease caused by diabetes is called diabetic nephropathy.
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Entering the Value_if_true Argument
The Value_if_true argument tells the IF function what to do if the Logical Test is true.
In this tutorial we are testing to see if the data in cell E6 is less than $30,000. If it is, we want the IF function to use a formula to multiply the employee's annual salary in cell E6 by the deduction rate of 6%, which is located in cell E3.
Relative vs Absolute Cell References
After we complete the IF function in cell F6 we will be copying it to cells F7 to F10 to find out the deduction rate for the other employees in our data sample.
Normally, when a function is copied to other cells the cell references in the function change to reflect the function's new location. These are called relative cell references and they make it easier to use the same function in multiple locations.
Occasional, however, having cell references change when a function is copied will result in errors.
To prevent these errors, the cell references can be made Absolute which stops them from changing when they are copied. Absolute cell references are created by adding dollar signs around a regular cell reference, such as $E$3.For this tutorial we will enter the deduction rate located in cell E3 as an absolute cell reference into the Value_if_true line of the dialog box.
Adding the dollar signs is easily done by pressing the F4 key on the keyboard after the cell reference has been entered into the dialog box.
- Click on the Value_if_true line in the dialog box.
- Click on cell E3 in the worksheet to add this cell reference to the Value_if_true line.
- Press the F4 key on the keyboard to make E3 an absolute cell reference ( $E$3 ).
- Press the asterisk ( * ) key on the keyboard. The asterisk is the multiplication symbol in Excel.
- Click on cell E6 to add this cell reference to the Value_if_true line.
- Note: We will not make E6 into an absolute cell reference because we want it to change when the function is copied.
- The completed Value_if_true line should read: $E$3 * E6.
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Many patients who have diabetes, think of it as a disease whereby the primary problem is difficulty in properly metabolizing glucose. In fact, this is correct. However, the effects of diabetes are more widespread than simply a “sugar problem”. In fact, diabetes is really a disease that affects the blood vessels throughout the body and damages the normal circulation of the body. That is why diabetics have problems with the circulation to their legs, kidneys, heart, brain and eyes-especially the very small blood vessels of the eye found in the retina. When diabetes begins to affect the small blood vessels in the retina, it is called Diabetic Retinopathy.
About Diabetic Retinopathy
Diabetic Macular Oedema
The first effect of diabetes on the retina is to cause the blood vessels to begin to leak. These “leaky” blood vessels result in a complication called diabetic macular oedema or retinal swelling. Since this swelling occurs in the central visual area of the retina-the macula-macular oedema causes vision loss. To diagnose macular oedema, it may be necessary to have a fluorescein angiogram. A fluorescein angiogram is performed by taking a series of photographs of the retina after a special dye has been injected into a vein in your arm in order to carefully observe the circulation and the integrity of the blood vessels. By using this diagnostic test, it is possible to determine the extent and the location of blood vessel leakage. Fortunately, leaking retinal blood vessels can often be treated by sealing them with a laser. With careful laser treatment it is possible to reduce the swelling and prevent further vision loss. Sometimes, it is possible to have macular edema but still retain normal vision. Nonetheless, a diagnosis of macular oedema indicates the beginning of leaking retinal blood vessels.
Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy
In the progression of diabetic retinopathy, the normal retinal blood vessels begin to close. The closure of the retinal blood vessels results in a condition called retinal ischemia Retinal ischemia is a condition in which the retina is being deprived of adequate oxygen and nourishment to maintain its normal health. In order to attempt to compensate and overcome this decreased circulation, the retina responds by growing new, but abnormal blood vessels. The response of the retina to grow new blood vessels is called neovascularisation. Unfortunately, new blood vessel growth or neovascularisation is comprised of blood vessels that are very fragile and can break quite easily. The condition whereby retinal neovascularization exists is called proliferative diabetic retinopathy. Since these abnormal vessels are quite fragile, if left untreated, they often lead to a severe loss of vision due to haemorrhaging, scar tissue formation, and finally retinal detachment. Proliferative diabetic retinopathy is treated with either laser treatment or laser treatment combined with a surgical procedure called vitrectomy, which is performed to remove the vitreous that may be filled with blood and /or scar tissue. In some instances, it is possible to have proliferative diabetic retinopathy and neovascularization and still have good vision. However the maintenance of good vision requires treatment of the neovascularisation.
Diabetic Eye Examinations
In order to maintain good vision and avoid the complications of diabetic retinopathy, it is necessary for diabetics to have a comprehensive eye exam at least once a year to detect the presence of diabetic retinopathy in its earliest stages. The use of “screening photographs”, even with a dilated pupil, is not a substitute for a comprehensive eye examination by an optometrist and this is available nationally, at no cost to the patient, to all diabetic patients under the NHS GOS Eye Service.
Photographs alone have the limitation of only capturing a selected number of “fields” or views and even with expert photographic readers may only produce a sensitivity of detection of diabetic retinopathy of 38% as compared to the preferred method of a dilated retina exam by an optometrist. In addition, “photographic screening” will not detect other significant eye problems such as glaucoma and cataracts, which may also be complications of diabetic eye disease.
We recommend yearly eye examinations, available at any registered Optometrist and free of charge to all diabetic patients. This is in addition to the diabetic retinopathy screening programme established in your area and again, available with registered providers and at no cost to the patient.
Early Treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy
It is quite important for all diabetics to obtain regular eye exams because early and aggressive treatment of diabetic retinopathy has been proven to be extremely successful in prolonging vision and preventing severe vision loss. Federally funded, large scale, multi-centre, controlled studies, such as the Early Treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) have given us treatment guidelines indicating which patients may benefit from laser treatments to preserve vision and delay progression of vision loss. The studies have found that with early laser treatment, patients with diabetic retinopathy were only 50% as likely to progress and lose further vision.
Diabetes and Overall Health
It is important for diabetics to maintain their overall health. Staying healthy and controlling your blood glucose helps maintain the circulation in your heart, kidneys and eyes. Lowering the key vascular disease risk factors by controlling high blood pressure, not smoking, exercising regularly, reducing dietary fat intake and lowering cholesterol and triglycerides. Always follow your physician’s instructions carefully.
If you are diabetic or are glucose intolerant, and you wish to have a thorough diabetic eye examination, we invite you to call The Cheshire consulting centre today and arrange an appointment. We will be pleased to provide your examination, consultation and answer all of your questions about diabetic eye problems.
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Treta Yuga 1
8000 BC to 5000 BC
Duration of Treta Yuga 1 was 3000 years. If we follow the ratio 1:1:1:1 instead of the ratio 4:3:2:1, its duration can as well be 1000 years. In this case Treta Yuga 1 would become the period from 4000 BC to 5000 BC. If we take the average of the ratios, then the duration of this Yuga becomes 2000 years. Then Treta Yuga 1 would become the period from 4500 BC to 6500 BC. Below are some of the events occurred in this Yuga.
Marutta is mentioned as an Ikshwaku king probably a northern branch of Ikshwakus whose territories lied close to Himalayas to the north of [Ayodhya. The lineage of Marutta is mentioned at Mbh.14.4 as follows:- Manu > Prasandhi > Kshupa > Ikswaku > Vinsa > Vivinsa > Khaninetra > Suvarcha > Karandhama > Avikshit (had an Angira priest)> Marutta. Karandhama is mentioned as born at the beginning of Treta Yuga. He was a very powerful king. After Kurukshetra war, the Pandava king Yudhisthira enriched the empty treasury by mining the ruins of Marutta's kingdom in the Himalays. He obtained from there gold and other costly metals.
Saraswati Dry Up
First Phase of Dry Up: 5500 BC to 5000 BC
Shift of Population
Mbh.3.85:- It hath been said that in the Satya-Yuga (Krita-Yuga) all the tirthas were sacred; in the Treta, Pushkara alone was such; in Dwapara, Kurukshetra; and in the Kali-yuga, the Ganga alone is sacred.
All tirthas (sacred waters) indicate the whole of the southern Saraswati river system and the wet climate in this region (which now has turned to the Thar_Desert in Rajastan). During the end of Treta Yuga1 (5000 BC), the wetness of this region shrunk to a small area surrounding the Pushkara (Pushkar) lake. During Dwapara Yuga (5000 BC to 3000 BC) people lived in Saraswati river basin completely migrated to Kurukshetra in Hariyana where Saraswati and one of its tributary Dhrisadwati still flowed. During Kali Yuga, even this northern remnant of Saraswati in Kurkukshetra region (Hariyana) dried up. Dhrisadwati too dried up. Thus in Kali Yuga people depended solely on Ganga river. Thus the migration of people from Saraswati to Ganga became fully complete in Kali Yuga1 (3000 BC to 2000 BC).
Desert mentioned in Ramayana
Passages like the above one in Mahabharata indicate that the dry up of Saraswati occurred during Treta Yuga itself, probably towards the end of Treta Yuga. This would make the drying up of Saraswati to occur in 5500 BC to 5000 BC. Thus Rama who lived during this period too might have witnessed it. Interestingly in Ramayana there is a passage where Rama is mentioned as forming the wet region named Puskara, (by creating a fresh water source there) in the midst of a desert (Maru-kantara) that lied to the north of Lavana-sagara the salt-ocean (identified to be Sea). Thus this is referring to the dry region that lied to the east of Saraswati river as it merged with Arabian sea.
Vishwamitra's life in Desert
Vishwamitra was a contemporary of Parasurama and Dasarathi Rama. The following passage mentions about a terrible drought that occurred during the life of Viswamitra. Mbh.12.206:-
Towards the end of Treta and the beginning of Dwapara, a frightful drought occurred, extending over twelve years. Then there was no rain. The planet Vrihaspati (Jupiter) was retrograde and Moon was at its southernmost point. Not even could a dew-drop be seen, what need then be said of clouds gathering together? The rivers all shrank into narrow streamlets. Everywhere lakes and wells and springs disappeared.
Water having become scarce, the places set up by charity for its distribution became desolate The Brahmanas abstained from sacrifices and recitation of the Vedas. They no longer uttered Vashats and performed other propitiatory rites. Agriculture and keep of cattle were given up. Markets and shops were abandoned. Stakes for tethering sacrificial animals disappeared. People no longer collected diverse kinds of articles for sacrifices. All festivals and amusements perished. Everywhere heaps of bones were visible and every place resounded with the shrill cries and yells of fierce creatures The cities and towns of the earth became empty of inhabitants.
Villages and hamlets were burnt down. Some afflicted by robbers, some by weapons, and some by bad kings, and in fear of one another, began to fly away. Temples and places of worship became desolate. They that were aged were forcibly turned out of their houses. Kine and goats and sheep and buffaloes fought for food and perished in large numbers. The Brahmanas began to die on all sides. Herbs and plants were dried up. The earth became shorn of all her beauty and exceedingly awful like the trees in a crematorium. In that period of terror, when righteousness was nowhere, men in hunger lost their senses and began to eat one another.
These passages clearly indicate a drought like situation. The 12 year period mentioned in this passage could be one of the peek periods of drought. The geography closely matches with the dried up Saraswati river basin in Rajasthan. However some passages which mention about stakes for tethering sacrificial animals, markets, shops and temples and places of worship seems to be later addition probably occurred later in the (250 BC) Treta-Dwapara junction of Chatur Yuga-2 which will be discussed in next article. There was a global level drought situation in peaking at 257 BC and spanning around 12 years.
These could as well be the sacrificial stakes, markets, shops, temples and places of worship of tribes who flourished on the Saraswati valley, the remnants of which we now see as the archeological sites in this region. A Saraswata king too is mentioned at Mbh.3.129.
Sage Saraswata in Desert
At Mbh.9.49 too we finds mention of this twelve year drought. During this period too the Vedic tradition was disrupted. Sage Saraswata is here mentioned as reviving the Vedic tradition by teaching Vedas to Brahmanas who had lost the knowledge of Vedas due to constant migrations from the drought affected areas. Saraswatas were an ancient tribe who lived on the banks of Saraswati since Krita Yuga. They had kings and sages among them. Sage Angira who was the founder of the Angira clan of Sages too is mentioned as belonging to the Saraswata tribe at Mbh.3.83.
Subsequent phases of Saraswati dry up
It seems that the drying up of Saraswati was due to multiple factors including drought phases lasting for twelve or more years as well as due to neotectonism in north west India that lead to the rise of Aravali mountains disrupting the Saraswati river system in the south. Tectonic activity also caused rise of Delhi-Haridwar ridge that cut rivers that fed Dhrisadwati and Saraswati. Subsequently Saraswati drifted it course to west. Yamuna that fed Saraswati moved to east and joined Ganga. Satadru which also fed Saraswati drifted and completely joined with Sindhu. Thus the Saraswati river started drying. The time period for this dry up is variably kept between 5000 BC to 3000 BC. It is possible that the initial dry up occurred during 5500 BC to 5000 BC period. After that the river might have flowed with water for some time and dried up again. This cycle might have repeated many times, starting towards the end of Treta Yuga. This continued in the whole of Dwapara Yuga (5000 BC to 3000 BC) and the river disappeared completely by the start of Kali Yuga (3000 BC).
Search for Ganga
During the period when Saraswati started drying up (5500 BC), Saraswati region was ruled by an Ikshwaku king named Sagara mentioned as son of Jadu. Many of Sagara's sons established kingdoms all around Saraswati river basin, especially in the southern course of Saraswati. Due to the drying up of Saraswati and the prolonged drought, their kingdoms perished. Destruction of Sagara's sons is attributed to the anger of a sage nemed Kapila, a Saraswata sage belonging to the Vedic traditions that existed on the banks of Saraswati. This myth was created probably because people did not like these rulers. The people of these kingdoms might have attributed the reason for drought and the subsequent decline of the kingdoms upon these sons of Sagara. Sagara indeed had a son named Asamanjas who was rejected by people. Asamanjas used to drawn children of citizen in Sarayu river. This Sarayu was a tributary of Saraswati or a portion of Saraswati river itself.
Asamanjas had a son named Ansuman. Sagara installed Ansuman in throne as his successor. Ansuman had a son named Dilipa. His territories probably lied around the northern course of Saraswati (in Hariyana). He searched for a mighty river to re-established the impoverished Ikswaku kingdom of Saraswati valley and finally found river Ganga as suitable for future settlements. Dilipa could not however establish his kingdom in Ganga river valley. It was his son Bhagiratha who finally established the Ikshwaku kingdom on the banks of Ganga and its tributaries. This is the historical fact hidden in the myth of Bhagiratha's search for Ganga. This is how the Ikshwakus migrated from the Saraswati river basin as it turned into a desert and established themselves at Ganga river basin on the banks of Ganga and its tributaries. The city of Ayodhya was then established on the banks of one of the tributaries of Ganga. The Ikshwaku's renamed this river as Sarayu, in memory of Saraswati or the ancient Sarayu.
Born : approximately in 5200 BC
The following references places the life time of Parasurama (the Rama with the weapon named Parasu) towards the end of Treta Yuga:- Mbh.1.2:- In the interval between the Treta and Dwapara Yugas, Rama the son of Jamadagni great among all who have borne arms, urged by impatience of wrongs, repeatedly smote the noble race of Kshatriyas. Mbh.12.339:- In the Treta age I shall take birth as Rama in the race of Bhrigu, and exterminate the Kshatriyas who will become proud of their strength and possessions.
Military and Ascetic nature of Parasurama
Parasurama's lineage is traced to Richika believed to be the same as the Rishika tribe who at some period in history lived to the north of [[Kashmir. Arjuna in his northern military campaign encountered Rishikas along with the Lohas (Leh). Tracing his lineage further we get that his ancestry is traced to the ancient sage named Bhrigu. Hence Parasurama is also called a Bhargava. Rishikas seems to be a branch of Bhargavas, who were militarily active though they were also a tribe of sages. Arjuna's battle with them attests their military prowess. During the time of Parasu-Rama's father Jamadagni or even before him they migrated to the Gangatic plains and finally settled in Haihaya kingdom ruled by a king named Kartavirya Arjuna. This king appears in the lineage of Yadava kings but whether he really was a Yadava is questionable. During this period there were widespread violence between Kshatriya rulers like Kartavirya Arjuna and tribes like the Bhargavas who were considered as Brahmanas. Jamadagni was a victim of this Kshatriya violence. Parasurama revenged the wrongs of the Kshatriyas committed upon his father by annihilating many Kshatriya rulers. He was well versed in archery and other weaponry. However the major weapon he used was battle-axe (Parasu) which gave him the name Parasu-Rama. He got it probably from the Rishikas (mythologically from Lord Siva, whose abode Kailasa too is in north, close to the kingdom of the Rishikas). There was also another tribe named Parasikas. It is not clear if they too used the weapon Parasu (battle-axe).
Parasurama was probably assisted by a Bhargava army that consisted of Rishikas and Parasikas with an infantry division that predominantly used battle-axes (Parasu) as the main weapon. Such an army will be formidable to the conventional army of the Kshatriyas who used bows and arrows as their main weapon and used chariots as their main vehicle for achieving velocity and quick movements in battles. It would be much like the Phalanx formation of the Greek armies. This might have given victory to Parasurama against many Kshatriya armies. Legends in Mahabharata and other texts indicates that Parasurama won twenty-one wars against Kshatriyas. There is a possibility that these twenty-one wars were spread in generation starting from Bargava Aurva a predecessor of Parasurama and yet another hero who revolted against the oppressive deeds of Kshatriya rulers.
As an end result, Parasurama became a much dreaded person among the royal houses of Kshatriyas. Parasurama, the son of Jamadagni (aka the first Parasurama) was a contemporary of Aja the Ikshwaku king at Ayodhya. He also challenged Dasarathi-Rama (of Ramayana fame) who was the grandson of Aja and son of Dasaratha. But then he was old and weak and could not impress Dasarathi-Rama. After the encounter with Rama of Ayodhya, Parasurama choose to retire from military life and became an ascetic like his forefathers.
Like I mentioned earlier many Parasuramas fused into one. It is impossible for the same Parasurama who gave up weapons and became an ascetic (after encountering Dasarathi-Rama), towards the end of Treta Yuga to reappear again towards the end of Dwapara Yuga and teach military science to Bhishma and Karna, the two great warriors of Kurukshetra war (of Mahabharata fame) and to engage in a dual fight Bhishma in his prime youth. These were two different Parasurama's in the lineage of the first Parasurama. The impact of the first Parasurama was so great that anybody in his (Bhargava) lineage, wielding a battle-axe would be termed as a Parasurama (or as a Bhargavarama). In course of time they all became son of Jamadagni and thus their histories fused together to look like the history of a single Parasurama who lived like an immortal!
Born: approximately in 5100 BC
Mbh.12.339:- Towards the close of Treta and the beginning of Dwapara, I shall take birth as Rama, the son of Dasaratha in Ikswhaku's royal line.
Rama leaves Ayodhya
The above mentioned narration clearly indicate that Rama, the son of Dasaratha, was born towards the end of Treta Yuga. He was probably a youth when Parasurama was in his old ages. He was also known as Raghava Rama due to his forefather Raghu who was a famous king. From the epic Ramayana (Rama's travels), we comes to know that Rama traveled far and wide due to various reasons. Leaving Ayodhya (Ayodhya in Faisabad, Uttar Pradesh) he followed the southern route formerly traversed by sage Agastya. His first settlement was Chitrakuta (Chitrakut), a hilly terrain in the boarder of Uttar_Pradesh and Madhya_Pradesh. Then he traveled further south, crossed Vindhya mountains and entered into peninsular India.
Rama's southern journey
Here he lived at Panchavati, which was then mostly covered by forests and was called Dandakaranya, the forests of Dandaka. Remnant of the name Dandakaranya forest is now seen in Dantewada, the southern most district of Chattisgad. Panchavati is popularly identified with Nasik in Maharashtra. Another strong candidate is Bhadrachalam in Andhra_Pradesh. This location is probable if we consider that Rama, deprived of his right to throne by his step-mother Kaikeyi, went to live in his mother's kingdom viz. Dakshina Kosala. This kingdom lied to the north of Bhadrachalam in Chattisgad and western parts of Orissa. While living in Panchavati Rama encountered Rakshasa rulers like Khara, who reigned at Janasthana in this region under Ravana the emperor of the Rakshasas. Ravana had his capital at Lanka (Srilanka). The whole of the eastern coastal region of southern-India as well as the Godavari river basin was under his direct or indirect rule. Rama's wife Sita was abducted by Ravana. Rama, in search of his wife met kings of the Vanara tribe like Sugriva and Vanara leaders like Hanuman in their kingdom named Kishkindha (identified to be the regions around the Tungabhadra dam and Hampi in Karnataka). With the help of Vanara army Rama marched to Pandya kingdom (southern Tamilnadu and finally reached Lanka (Srilanka). After defeating Ravana and regaining Sita, Rama returned to Ayodhya.
- http://historicalrama.org/ - Historical Rama
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Publication: Research - peer-review › Journal article – Annual report year: 2011
We present the case of degradation of organic solar cells by sunlight concentrated to a moderate level (similar to 4 suns). This concentration level is not enough for sufficient acceleration of the photobleaching or trap-generation in the photoactive layer and therefore such short treatment (100 minutes) does not affect the short-circuit current of the device. However, a significant degradation of V-OC and FF has been recorded by measurements of the cell current-voltage curves with a variation of light intensity, for the devices before and after the treatment. The same degradation was found to occur after short application of forward voltage biases in the dark. This kind of degradation is found to be repairable, and could even be prevented by simple electrical treatment (short pulses of the reverse bias). Moreover, even the fresh cells can be improved by the same process. Generation and degeneration of shunts in ZnO hole-blocking layer as underlying physical mechanisms for the cell degradation and restoration, respectively, can explain the results.
|Citations||Web of Science® Times Cited: 7|
- Polymer solar cells
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IC is an abbreviation for:
Find a translation for IC in other languages:
Select another language:
What does IC mean?
- a suffix forming adjectives from other parts of speech, occurring orig. in Greek and Latin loanwords (metallic; poetic; archaic; public) and, on this model, used as an adjective-forming suffix with the particular senses “having some characteristics of” (opposed to the simple attributive use of the base noun) (balletic; sophomoric); “in the style of” (Byronic; Miltonic); “pertaining to a family of peoples or languages” (Finnic; Semitic; Turkic).
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A traveling exhibition opened at the New York State Museum
showcasing the works of a legendary group of photographers who documented the lives and struggles of Americans enduring the Great Depression.
This Great Nation Will Endure, open through March 14, 2010, features more than 150 images of America taken between 1935 and 1942 by the legendary photographic unit of the Farm Security Administration (FSA). This remains the largest documentary photography project ever undertaken. The photographs include some of the most familiar and powerful images of the nation to emerge from the Depression era. Many have reached iconic status in American culture.
Curated and designed by staff at the Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) Library and Museum in Hyde Park, the exhibition features images from every region of the nation, culled from the enormous FSA photography collection (numbering tens of thousands of images) at the Library of Congress. Included are photographs taken during the 1930s and 1940s by Dorothea Lange, Gordon Parks, Ben Shahn, Walker Evans, Arthur Rothstein, Carl Mydans, Russell Lee, John Vachon, Marion Post Wolcott and Jack Delano.
The FSA was a New Deal agency created by President Roosevelt in 1937 to help American farmers and farm laborers who were confronting economic depression and natural disaster, including the ecological disaster known as the Dust Bowl. It developed out of an earlier agency called the Resettlement Administration (RA) for which its director, Rexford Tugwell, had established a publicity department to document rural poverty and government efforts to alleviate it. That department included a photographic unit called the Historical Section, administrated by former Columbia University economics instructor, Roy Stryker. To accomplish the agencys goals, Stryker enlisted a group of men and women who today comprise a virtual Whos Who of 20th-century documentary photography. The RA and its Historical Section were merged into the newly created FSA in 1937. Many of its photographers later forged careers that helped define photojournalism at magazines like Life and Look.
Most of the photographs in the exhibition depict rural life and hardships but they also include many images of town and city life. The FSA created a very diverse record of American life during the 1930s and early 1940s, including images of hardship, endurance, hope, recovery, migration, recreation and community life. The photographs provide visual affirmation of President Roosevelts bold assertion in his first inaugural address, delivered at the lowest point of the Great Depression: This great nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper
the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
The exhibition also includes a specially commissioned, short documentary film that explores the work of four of the most prominent FSA photographers. There also is a soundtrack of folk music sung by migrant workers that was recorded in migrant worker camps in California in 1940-41. An interactive computer program allows visitors to explore entire series of images shot by FSA photographers during individual photo assignments. Also featured is a short silent video that depicts the ways in which FSA photography was used in newspapers and magazines of the 1930s and 1940s.
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South African satellite mosaics, the Taj Mahal sinking, and Dubai’s impressive night lights
We update our syndicated feed daily with content relevant to Earth Observation. You can subscribe to our RSS feed here. We also recommend checking back regularly.
For our second Best Of Syndication, we again take a look around the world with some of our favorite syndicated posts from striking images of the Japanese tsunami damage, to the incredible city lights of Dubai, to the health implications of a mild winter and its effects on mosquito populations.
Architects Fear Taj Mahal is Slowly Sinking – Originally Published by BBC News.
Agra, India’s famed Taj Mahal – a token of love built in the 1600′s – might be slowly sinking. As the Yamuna River slowly dries up, the building’s foundations are being compromised as the soil it rests upon derives much of its strength from soil moisture provided by the river.
Southeast Asia Shrouded by Smoke – Originally Published by NASA Earth Observatory.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured amazing images of much of Northern Thailand smothered with smoke from forest and agricultural fires. The same day, the Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on NASA’s Earth Observing 1 (EO-1) satellite brought us an even closer look at one of the numerous fires.
Mild Winters May Shift Spread of Mosquito-borne Illness – Originally Published by Science News.
The Culex erraticus mosquito carries eastern equine encephalitis – an uncommon but lethal disease – and it appears that the severity of the previous winter determines how soon the insects switch from feeding on birds to feeding on mammals. Severe winters seem to push the switch back, while mild winters usually meant an earlier switch.
Closeup of Tsunami Damage, Rikuzentakata – Originally Published by NASA Earth Observatory.
One year after the devastating tsunami in Japan, NASA Earth Observatory takes us back to impressive images taken by the Worldview-2 satellite showing the destruction in Rikuzentakata in Northeastern Japan.
Shark Feeding Frenzy Off Australian Coast – Originally Published by The Guardian.
The crew of a sea rescue helicopter caught amazing video footage of a shark feeding frenzy off the coast of Perth, Australia. The sharks are feeding on tuna, who are themselves feeding on smaller fish, while sea birds dive for the scraps.
City Lights of Dubai, United Arab Emirates – Originally Published by NASA Earth Observatory.
Dubai at night ranks among the favorite areas for astronaut photography. With its collection of man-made islands in the Persian Gulf offering striking imagery from space, it’s no wonder.
South Africa 2011 Satellite Imagery Mosaic Now Available – Originally Published by Engineering News.
The South African National Space Agency (Sansa) has released the latest edition of its mosaic of satellite imagery encompassing all of South Africa. Comprised of 952 images, the mosaic can be used for any of a number of purposes including but not limited to urban planning, agriculture, and forestry monitoring.
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Pathinettapadi (18 divine steps) to the sanctum sanctorium is divine in all aspects. The first three steps depict "Bhoomi, Agni, Vayoo & Akash", 6 to 9 steps for Karmendriya, 10 to 15 for Jhanandriya, 16th for mind 17th Intelligence and 18th Jeevathma Bhava. Those who cross all these steps are believed to achieve "Punyadarshan". The steep steps are so important and holy that no one can climb them without fasting for 41 days and carrying the holy irrumudi on ones' head.There are many mythological stories associated with the holy Patinettampadi. Some believe the eighteen steps denote the 18 puranas. Some say that 18 weapons with which Lord Ayyappa destroyed the evil denotes the 18 steps. Others are of the belief that the first five steps denotes the indriyas (eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin). The next eight steps signifies the ragas (tatwa, kama, krodha, moha, lobha, madha, matsraya, and ahamkara. The next three steps signifies the gunas (satwa, rajas and thamas). The seventeenth and the eighteenth denotes vidhya and ignorance.
The Patinettampadi can be used only twice - once for ascending the temple and once for descending below leaving the hill. Before ascending or descending the steps, pilgrims break coconut as an offering to the steps. One needs to have the sacre Irumudi on head while going up or down the 18 steps. While descending the steps the devotees climb down backwards facing the sanctum sanctorum.
One who climbs the Patinettampadi for 18 times shall plant a sapling of coconut in Sabarimala.
Built on a plateau about 40 feet high, the Ayyappan temple commands a lofty view of the mountains and valleys all around. The ancient temple has been rebuilt after a fire in 1950. Within the confines of the sanctum sanctorium with a copper-plated roof and four golden finials at the top, two mandapams, the belikalpura which houses the altar, the flag-staff replacing the earlier stone image of the deity, sits a beautiful idol of Ayyappa in panchaloha, an alloy of five metals, about one and a half feet tall.
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Tips for Kids with Pulmonary Hypertension
Here are some ideas from kids with pulmonary hypertension who have found creative ways to have fun while living with PH. If you have a tip you’d like to share with other PH kids, email it to Kids@PHAssociation.org and you might see it here!
How to make the hospital fun
Dread hospital visits? Here are tips from other kids who have PH:
Kathleen, age 13, suggests:
- Invite friends to visit you in the hospital
Jocelyn, age 13
- Do fun activities, like crafts
- Bring a friend to hang out with between medical tests
- Play games while you wait
- Keep your hair looking nice by braiding it before a hospital stay
Anna, age 11, suggests:
- Do what's fun for you - fun is different for everyone!
- Draw pictures
- Read a good book
- Play games like 20 questions or Pictionary
- Catch up on some sleep
How to miss school without falling behind
Ideas from other kids with PH:
- Get an extra set of books so you don't have to carry yours to and from school. - Kathleen, age 13
- Meet with all your teachers at the beginning of the year to explain PH. - Danielle, age 15
- I am homeschooled now because going to school full time was too tiring. I like being homeschooled because I can work on what I want when I want. - Kendra, age 11
Here are some more suggestions:
- Have your parents put in a homework request as soon as you begin to miss school.
- Make a schedule of when your assignments are due. Print out a calendar and mark due dates so you can easily see them and keep track, even when you're absent.
- Get your friends to send you class notes every day.
- Have teachers identify what tests can be made up.
- If you feel well enough, keep up on your reading.
- If you're not ready to take a test — because you’ve missed classes for appointments or fallen behind in your homework during illness — don't take it. Explain to your teacher that you need a few more days to prepare. Do this with respect, and always be nice. Don’t take advantage of this. Be responsible! If needed, get your parents involved or speak with your principal.
How to play sports (without overdoing it)
Advice from PH Pediatricians
- Talk to your doctor before starting a new sport
- If one sport doesn’t work for you, try another!
- Know when to call your own time-out – if you feel tired or feel symptoms coming on while playing a sport, take a break
- Make sure you’re staying hydrated!
Advice from PH Athletes
Isaiah, age 8
"I think that if PH kids are able to play sports, I really believe that they should try it out. Sports are a part of every normal kid’s life and PH kids should be able to live a normal life even though they have this disease. From my experiences playing sports, just going out on the field to play makes me feel great, knowing that I have accomplished so much and that I feel just like any other kid out there with me." - Sam, age 14
Camille, age 16, says:
- Participate in those sports that aren’t too strenuous
- Make sure you feel comfortable doing the sport or activity
Danielle, age 10, suggests:
- Play hockey, soccer and take yoga classes – I haven’t had any shortness of breath with these
- Even if it’s difficult to win, play just for the enjoyment of the game
- Even though I have PH, it hasn’t stopped me from doing sports that I like to do
These tips are compiled from Pathlight articles by PH patient Camille Frede in 2007 and 2008.
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Two hemoglobin mutations, including one that causes sickle cell anemia, may protect people from severe malaria by gumming up the cellular machinery the parasite uses to transmit deadly proteins to the cell surface. The findings, published today (November 10) in Science Express, suggest potential ways to fight the deadly disease.
“It’s a great study,” said Rick Fairhurst, who studies malaria pathogenesis and immunity at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and was not involved in the study. “It really takes us a huge, giant leap forward.” By showing what mutations enable cells to avoid the deadliest consequences of malaria, the research may also point to potential treatment targets, he added.
For decades, researchers have known that people who carry a gene for sickle cell anemia are highly resistant to dying from malaria. Research has shown that it is the mutation to one of their hemoglobin genes, which codes for the oxygen-transporting protein in red blood cells, that was responsible for the fortuitous effect, and that other mutations in that same gene were also protective. But despite years of research, no one knew why.
Fairhurst and his colleagues published a paper showing that compared to normal cells, red blood cells carrying two hemoglobin mutations had lower surface concentrations of a virulent, sticky protein produced by the malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. The protein, which is normally shuttled from the parasite’s protein making factory inside the cells to the cell surface, prevents the body from clearing infected blood cells. But in the blood cells with mutated hemoglobin, that didn’t seem to happen—the parasite proteins never made it to the surface of the cells.
To find out why, parasitologist Michael Lanzer of Heidelberg University in Germany and his colleagues flash froze red blood cells with and without the mutations and used electron microscopy to visualize the cells before and after infection.
They found that uninfected cells contained short pieces of actin that help keep the membrane skeleton rigid. After infection, in normal cells, long actin filaments appeared, linking a cellular component made by the parasite called the Maurer’s cleft, which looks a bit like a stack of pancakes, to the cell membrane. “We concluded that the parasite mines that actin from the membrane skeleton of the host, and uses this mined actin to generate actin filaments of its own design,” Lanzer said—namely to transmit the proteins to the outside surface of the red blood cell.
By contrast, in cells with mutated hemoglobin, the Maurer’s cleft looked more like a big blob and the disordered actin filaments did not connect the cleft to the cell membrane. Somehow, it seemed, the mutations were preventing the parasite from setting up its protein factory effectively, thereby reducing protein transport outside the cell.
The team also took a closer look at the hemoglobin, and found that the difference between the mutated and wild-type cells was that mutated forms were more easily oxidized. When they placed actin filaments in the presence of both the normal and mutated copies of hemoglobin, the researchers found that mutated forms of hemoglobin led to shorter actin chains than wild-type hemoglobin. Actin placed with oxidized hemoglobin similarly failed to form long chains, suggesting that oxidation was indeed responsible for the difference in the parasite’s protein machinery seen in cells with mutated and normal hemoglobin.
Taken together, the findings suggest that the hemoglobin mutations blunt the deadliness of malaria because the oxidized hemoglobin inhibits actin reorganization, thereby preventing the malaria parasite from shuttling its proteins to the surface red blood cells, Lanzer said.
Future work should confirm that the same effects are seen in cells that carry only one copy of the mutated hemoglobin, since the vast majority of people who carry these mutations and have a survival advantage against malaria are heterozygous for the mutated hemoglobin, Fairhurst said.
Understanding how the body gets around malaria’s deadliness could guide the design of drug therapies, he added, for instance by finding small molecules that inhibit the parasite’s protein trafficking machinery.
“Mother Nature had 10,000 years or so to mutate the genome in ways that would actually protect against death,” Fairhurst said. “We want to use these mutations to teach us something about how you protect children.”
M. Cyrklaff, et. al, “"Hemoglobins S and C interfere with Actin Remodeling in Plasmodium falciparum-Infected Erythrocytes," Science Express, doi:10.1126/science.1213775, 2011.
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<urn:uuid:34868bf5-ee2a-4c5a-bb31-0d29d4f641e4>
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/31379/title/How-Blood-Cells-Thwart-Malaria/
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en
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In areas where hurricanes can strike, it's a good idea to have a closet or an area set aside for storm preparedness storage. There, you can keep items you'll need in case disaster strikes suddenly or you need to evacuate.
It's also important to know the difference between a watch and a warning, and when they are issued for tropical storms and hurricanes.
A hurricane warning means hurricane conditions -- sustained winds above 73 mph -- are expected somewhere within the warning area, and it is time to finish preparation to protect people and property. "Because hurricane preparedness activities become difficult once winds reach tropical storm force, the hurricane warning is issued 36 hours in advance of the anticipated onset of tropical-storm-force winds" -- 39 to 73 mph, the National Hurricane Center says.
A hurricane watch means hurricane conditions are possible in the watch area, and are issued 48 hours before the anticipated onset of tropical-storm-force winds.
A tropical storm warning means tropical-storm-force winds are expected somewhere in the designated area within 36 hours. A tropical storm watch means such conditions are possible within 48 hours.
Here are recommendations on what to do before a storm approaches:
-- Download an application to your smartphone that can notify people where you are, and if you need help or are safe. The Red Cross has a Hurricane App available in the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. A First Aid app is also available.
-- Use hurricane shutters or board up windows and doors with 5/8 inch plywood.
-- Bring outside items in if they could be picked up by the wind.
-- Clear gutters of debris.
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en
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The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its annual report on union membership last week. Union density – the percentage of workers who belong to unions – is now down to 11.3%, far below its historic high of around 35% in 1955. This is bad news for workers – unions are still one of the only ways workers can get any job security or protection against ‘at-will’ employment. And despite unions’ losing power over the past several decades, unionized workers are still far more likely than non-unionized workers to receive health benefits, a pension, and paid days off. And on average, unionized workers make more than 27% more than non-union workers.
But falling union density is also bad for the economy overall. The labor movement was a major force behind winning many of the benefits union and non-union workers enjoy today, from public education to social security to overtime pay laws. Labor unions can stabilize labor markets, decrease inequality, and positively affect growth. Futhermore, as even conservatives have noted, labor unions represent a fundamental plank in a true democracy. As more states move to outlaw collective bargaining for public sector workers, we might remember the words of none other than Ronald Reagan, who remarked in 1980: “Where unions and collective bargaining are forbidden, freedom is lost.”
There is no doubt that many unions have played a role in their own decline. The U.S. labor movement has suffered from racism, sexism, and nationalism – and many leaders have failed to recognize fundamental changes in the economy as they were happening. Some chose to have faith in an old way of doing things, either fearing change or unwilling to take risks. But much of the decline in union density comes from forces beyond the control of union members or leaders. “Union-avoidance” consulting has grown into a multi-billion international industry over a few decades, and employers now have a sophisticated arsenal of tools to break unions or keep them out. As trade policy and financial regulations have shifted, they have given more power to employers in place of workers. Labor law, weak to start with, is often not enforced – allowing employers to violate it frequently with little penalty. And now, the attacks that private sector unions saw in the 1980s and 1990s have come to the public sector. Given that the majority of all union members now work in the public sector, it is likely we could see an increasingly rapid decline in union density, as entire states wipe away worker freedoms with the stroke of a pen.
Are unions destined to become obsolete? For many reasons, the future seems bleak. But recently, we’ve seen more signs of life from workers who are willing to stand up to their employers to demand living wages, fair treatment and respect – from non-union Walmart workers to fast food workers to already-unionized but increasingly militant teachers in Chicago. Increasing union membership will take more than a small victory here and there, but despite the BLS numbers, it is too early to give up on the labor movement. As long as we live in an employment-at-will “free market,” unions – while flawed – are the best hope workers have.
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://backtofullemployment.org/2013/01/30/is-it-time-to-give-up-on-unions/
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Tue February 28, 2012
Is The Voting Rights Act Endangered? A Legal Primer
The roiling legal battles over election laws passed in various states have potentially far-reaching consequences: the fate of a key section of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
The landmark legislation requires the Justice Department to "pre-clear" any changes to election laws in some or all parts of 16 states, mostly in the South, because of their histories of racially discriminatory voting practices. The Justice Department recently used the mandate to block a voter identification law in South Carolina on grounds that it would harm minority voter turnout.
South Carolina has filed a federal lawsuit to overturn the decision, and legal observers believe the case has a strong chance of reaching the Supreme Court, where justices would be asked to rule on the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act.
Texas, another "pre-clearance" state, has asked the Supreme Court to rule on its redistricting plan. A challenge of the Act brought by Shelby County, Ala. — which recently lost a ruling in federal district court — also could be headed to the High Court.
Each jurisdiction argues that its election processes no longer inhibit minority voters. NPR asked three legal scholars to weigh in, and they agreed that minority voters still need the protections of the Voting Rights Act. But its survival, they said, faces a real threat given a Supreme Court now openly skeptical of the law.
Mark Tushnet, a professor at Harvard Law School; Kareem U. Crayton, a professor the University of North Carolina School of Law; and Michael J. Pitts, a professor at Indiana University's Robert H. McKinney School of Law, answer five of the most pressing questions.
1. Why is the Voting Rights Act facing so many legal threats now?
"Conservative Republicans have been aggressive about the unconstitutionality of [the law] for a while. That's part of their party-building strategy in the South," says Tushnet, a constitutional law scholar and specialist in civil rights law, who served as a law clerk to late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. The timing of the more recent lawsuits, Tushnet says, is owed "to conservative composition of the Supreme Court."
A pivotal Supreme Court ruling in 2009 suggested the mandate — known in legal circles as Section 5 of the law — may no longer be constitutional. "In part due to the success of that legislation, we are now a very different Nation," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion.
Roberts also said continued enforcement "must be justified by current needs." Opponents welcomed the Roberts opinion as a sign of the court's new willingness to reconsider the constitutionality of one of the civil rights movement's greatest achievements.
"This has all the subtlety of a cymbal crashing," says Crayton, who served as legal counsel to the congressional black, Hispanic and Asian Pacific American caucuses, which jointly filed an amicus brief in the 2009 case defending the Voting Rights Act. "[Roberts] wrote the outline for the briefs that are being submitted now in these cases."
2. If the law has been so successful, why overturn it? Or has it become a would-be victim of its own success?
"This," Tushnet says, "is a complicated legal question." Plaintiffs say the Voting Rights Act unfairly applies only to selected jurisdictions rather than the entire nation. Taking up their side of the argument, Tushnet explains: "Indiana has a voter ID law, but Indiana isn't a covered jurisdiction. If there's reason to worry about the impact of voter ID laws on minorities in South Carolina, which is covered by the law, there's probably reason to worry about it in Indiana."
Tushnet also notes "the atmospherics of President Obama's election. ... For those who feel that this is an advantageous time [to challenge the law], it seems inappropriate to think there is pervasive prejudice against minorities in a nation that has elected a minority president."
The pressing legal question, Tushnet says, "is whether there is enough contemporary evidence that there are still enough problems" blocking minority voters' access to the polls. Most data show strong increases in minority voter registration and election turnout since the 1960s, in the South and nationally.
The Pew Research Center says the 2008 elections included the most diverse electorate in U.S. history, as non-whites made up nearly 24 percent of all voters. The share of white voters slid to 76.3 percent from 79.2 percent in 2004. Black turnout reached a record 65.2 percent in 2008, compared with 55 percent in 1988, according to the Pew study.
Driven by Barack Obama's presidential campaign, blacks turned out at the same rate as whites for the first time. Also in 2008, the voting rates of both Asian-Americans and Hispanics increased by roughly 4 percentage points from 2004, according to the Census Bureau.
3. Given the increased participation of minority voters, why should the federal government continue to provide them special protection?
"The fact that you see overall voting increases doesn't mean there aren't problems in specific jurisdictions," Tushnet says. He offers a fictional example: "Expanded access in Atlanta doesn't tell you if there are problems in, say, rural Georgia counties."
Even if circumstances for minorities have truly improved, Congress believes they haven't improved enough. In 2006, lawmakers voted to extend the Voting Rights Act for another 25 years.
Congress reviewed 15,000 pages of documents, including some 421 voting changes proposed in local jurisdictions that were denied by the Justice Department over 24 years. Crayton says Congress also considered other factors, such as "the continued presence of race-based voting decisions, driving white voters in some jurisdictions to not support candidates that non-whites prefer."
Crayton says such behavior has prevented "voting coalitions across races," providing "lots of evidence that this [federal protection] is still needed. ... African-Americans have been voting for white candidates for a long time, partly because they were the only candidates available. But white voters haven't built up the same record."
4. Does the conservative makeup of the Supreme Court improve the chances that voter protections will be overturned?
Pitts suggests the strong bipartisan congressional support for the 2006 extension may have set the bar too high for court intervention.
Then there's the import, and potential fallout, of overturning a landmark act of Congress. "This is widely known as one of the most successful civil rights laws in history, and to read the headlines the next day saying 'Supreme Court Strikes Down Voting Rights Act' — that headline maybe isn't one the justices want to read," says Pitts, who worked as a trial attorney in the Voting Section of the Justice Department under George W. Bush.
Instead, Pitts sees the court possibly weakening the law incrementally, in multiple cases that might arise over some years: "Tweaking it in such a way that makes it less onerous for governments to comply with Section 5. Some have referred to it as death by a thousand cuts."
5. What if the Supreme Court eventually does strikes it down? Would American elections change?
"Wow," Crayton says. "Well, that has serious legal and political implications, obviously." He says it would have any number of consequences for the presidential, congressional and state elections, particularly if the court hears the case this year.
Crayton cited the court's role in the 2000 Florida recount as a cautionary tale: "If you are of the thought that the Supreme Court shouldn't be mucking around in electoral politics, this would be your case to fight. Communities would be mobilized."
He believes court action also would compromise redistricting maps for many states: "It would raise the question of whether states that have had to comply with federal oversight would rethink their redistricting plans."
Tushnet predicts "a falling-off of minority participation in rural areas" and more states adopting voter identification laws. However, he says, "it wouldn't go back to the world of widespread effective disenfranchisement because there's enough political power in the African-American community to keep things from getting too bad."
Pitts says some "backsliding" might occur in contests for lower offices: "The one minority member of the five-member school board somewhere might be redistricted out of office. Then it becomes much harder to undo that through litigation, rather than Section 5 holding things in place."
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en
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Head and body length is 140-180 mm. There is no external tail. Adult weight ranges from 110 to 250 grams. Coloration is variable, ranging from an almost white condition to a very dark color resulting from more intense melanin deposition in the spines. Upper parts are covered with dense, sharp, and bristly spines that extend from the forehead to the tail. The muzzle, limbs, and underparts are covered with scanty soft hair. There are many whiskers on the face and their five-toed feet have claws. Females have 4 - 6 pairs of mammae. They have 32 teeth. Sexes cannot be differentiated externally.
GEOGRAPHICAL RANGE AND HABITAT:
Arid parts of southern and southwestern Madagascar, such as dry forests, scrub, cultivated areas, dry coastal regions and semi-desert.
Forages in the trees and on the ground for a variety of animal food in the wild. Captives eat insects, cat chow and occasionally some produce.
LIFE CYCLE/SOCIAL STRUCTURE:
Nocturnal. Goes into a state of torpor for 3-5 months during the dry season when food is scarce. Dens in tree cavities and the location of its nests indicates considerable arboreal ability. They exhibit social tolerance; occasionally several adults have been found estivating together. Males may be highly aggressive toward one another however. Communication is by tactile, chemical, and a few auditory signals. Mating takes place in October when the adults emerge from torpor and births take place in December or January. (Prior to giving birth and while raising young, the female no longer tolerates the male in her nest.) Gestation lasts 42-49 days. Litters usually contain five to seven young. The young weigh about 8 grams at birth, open their eyes by their 9th day, and are independent at 30-35 days. They are sexually mature after they complete their first dry season torpor. Maximum recorded life span in captivity is 13 years.
For defense, this animal will roll into a protective ball of spines that point in every direction. A well developed panniculus carnosus muscle underlies the skin which causes the spines to erect when it rolls into ball. Sharp toenails and agility help them in their arboreal existence.
Tenrecs constitute a diverse group of insectivores confined to the island of Madagascar. In habits and outward appearance they resemble hedgehogs, moles, shrews, and muskrats. The male is stimulated by the odor of the female during the mating season to produce a milky white substance from glands near the eyes. Our tenrec has had this secretion even without the presence of a female, perhaps due to excitement. When our tenrec sleeps, his body temperature drops and he feels very cool to the touch. Evidently they have a daily period of energy-saving torpor even when they are not estivating.
1 Male. This animal is used in our Education Zoomobile program and is not not viewable by the public.
STATUS IN WILD:
Not listed as endangered.
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11 Ways to Help Your Child Prepare for Testsby Lindsay Hutton
To help children prepare adequately for tests (whether teacher-made or standardized), you can do several things to provide support and create a positive test-taking experience.
1 of 12
Study the Material
The best way to prepare for tests is to study, know the work, and take the right courses.
Next: Help Your Child Relax
More on: Testing
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http://school.familyeducation.com/educational-testing/teaching-methods/37499.html
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| 0.85403
| 88
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Discussion of all aspects of cellular structure, physiology and communication.
for example , the ammount of sodium/natrium ion inside the cell must always be smaller than outside of the cell (sorry for the bad biology language ..) , cell membrane will make sure that these condition will not change , it does need ATP
I think...... please correct me if I'm wrong ...
Yes it needs ATP, because Na is more concentrated out the cell than in; to maintain concentration cell must expel ions agains theri gradient and this proces needs ATP.
too add on to the cell membranes list of its use, it is made up of proteins and fats therefore its helps the cell stay durable for its time of use.
WOW U SOUND CONFUSED. BUT ITS COO CUZ ITS SIMPLE. U MUST BE TALKING ABOUT THE SODIUM PUMPS IN OUR CELL MEMBRANES. ON OUR CELL MEMBRANES WE HAVE THIS TUBES THAT ARE CIRCULAR CALLED GLOBULAR PROTEINS THOSE ARE THE ACTUAL GATES FOR SODIUM AND POTASSIUM EXCHANGE. FOR EVERY 3 SODIUMS INSIDE THE CELL IS EXCHANGED FOR 2 POTASSIUM IN EXTRACELLULAR FLUID. THEN VICE VERSA. ATP IS NEEDED TO ACTIVATE THE OPENING OF THE GLOBULAR PROTEIN (WHICH IS LOCATED ON OUR MEMBRANE). FATS HOLD THESE PROTEINS TOGETHER FORMING THE CELL MEMBRANE.
1. semi-permeable property
2. hydrophobic properties
3. regulation (vacuola contractile)(mm.. Energies are needed)
4. the lipid bilayer structure (hei.. thanks poison )
5. a place for the "sensory part"(u know just like at limfosit T and ..hei there are so much to mentioned here)-this make cell take response(s) on thing(s) out side there.
6. mm.. a place where metabolic processes take place (hei there are ATP,GTP,CTP,TTP...UTP(?))
7. .....(lost of word)
Also, the cell membrane is important in the Na+/K+ pump. This uses Na+ to generate a gradient by which i believe ATP can be formed. Also, it is important in the membrane certain organelles in order to create a proton pump which I know is used to generate ATP.
Believe you me, Biology is probably the most complicated science in the world, only because everything changes and adapts to its environment, and we have to find out why. It takes nerve and will, but beyond that, Biology is probably also the most interesting and fun science in the world. For me, it's between chemistry and biology, but that's only because I want to go into the field of Forensic Analyzing(If you watch CSI, you know "Greg", the lab guy, that's what I want to do, because he's the one that actually solves the crimes) DON'T WORRY, Biology comes with time, just give it a good effort and it should all come to you easily after that!!!
Saying that any two humans are exactly alike is like saying republicans have morals
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<urn:uuid:9b5851ba-f9b3-4f65-b369-85b9eec5929b>
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://www.biology-online.org/biology-forum/post-18786.html
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en
| 0.880028
| 711
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vi stands for Visual Editor. Vim is Vi Improved :)
vi(1) is a text editor that comes with the original Unix system as well as pretty much every other flavour, variation or clone of it known to mankind. They're all the same, except for when they're different (see below). vi(1) is rather unique among text editors because it explicitly operates in "modes", of which it knows three:
The default mode is normal. While this makes more sense than defaulting to insert mode, most people find it confusing that you can't just start hacking text into a file as soon as the editor loads, and thus get scared away from vi(1) after their first encounter. It has to be noted, however, that while it may not seem so on the surface, the concept of modes is inherent in every editor, if only implictly. In Emacs f.ex, you can think of pressing [Ctrl] as "entering normal mode": as long as you hold that key, you can enter command shortcuts. Once you let go (and optionally enter some command or whatever), you're "back in insert mode". GUI text editors work much the same way: once you activate a menu, keystrokes get interpreted as menu navigation - essentially command shortcuts -, and no longer as text input. You get back to "input mode" by leaving the menus.
So when you get down to it vi(1) doesn't work much different from any GUI editor except perhaps for the lack of displayed drop down menu. And unlike any GUI editor, it has a CommandLine with a vocabulary that leaves little to be desired once you've memorized a handful of the commands.
Another thing to remember is that as opposed to Emacs, even the bog standard vi(1) offers a huge pile of useful bindings out of the box. You don't need to synchronize DotFiles across machines or spend a lot of time setting things up to achive an environment close to what your very own configuration feels like, even if you may still want to in order to do an extended amount of work. You can immediately work productively on any random machine a vi(1) is installed on (which means everywhere).
Since vi(1) isn't free and limited in various annoying ways, Bram Moolenar created Vim, which adheres to the interface and usage philosophy of its ancestor but has many more features. It also has a GUI version called gvim which is a thin GUI shell around Vim offering menus, a toolbar and popup dialogs.
A notable addition in Vim is arrow key navigation (rather than having to use the [h] [j] [k] [l] keys as in original vi(1)) - even in insert mode, where you traditionally can't navigate at all (except using backspace, if you are inclined to call that "navigation"). Some other vi(1) clones that allow arrow key navigation stick closer to the original by interpreting arrow keys in insert mode as a request to change to normal mode or even to insert the control codes into the file you're editing.
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<urn:uuid:b415092e-cd87-45e3-9b7a-74571607dbd0>
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://www.wlug.org.nz/Vim
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St. Giles?s Church. was a place frequently assigned in bills for the payment of money. The transept, called at times the Assembly aisle, was the scene of Jenny Geddes? famous onslaught with her faZdstuZe, on the reader of the liturgy in 1637. The erection of Edinburgh into an episcopal see in 1633, under Bishop William Forbes Gwho died the same year), and the appointment of In 1596 St. Giles?s was the scene of a tumultuous dispute between James VI. and the leaders of the Church party. The king was sitting in that part of it which the Reformers named the Tolbooth Kirk, together with the Octavians, as they were styled, a body of eight statesmen into whose hands he had committed all his financial affairs and patronage. The disturbance from which the king felt THE LANTERN AND TOWER OF ST. GILES?S CHURCH. St. Giles to be the cathedral of the diocese, led-in its temporary restoration internally-to something like what it had been of old; but ere the orders of Charles I. for the demolition of its hideous galleries and subdivisions could be carried out, all Scotland was in arms, and the entire system of Church polity for which thesechanges were designed, had come to a violent and a terrible end. This transept was peculiarly rich in lettered gravestones, all of which were swept away by the ruthless improvers of 1829, and some of those were used as pavement round the Fountain Well. himself to be in peril, arose from an address by Balcanqual, a popular preacher, who called on the Protestant barons and his other chance auditors to meet the ministers in ?? the little kirk,? where they, amidst great uproar, came to a resolution to urge upon James the necessity for changing his policy and dismissing his present councillors. The progress of the deputation towards the place where the king was to be found brought with it the noisy mob who had created the tumult, and when the bold expressions of the deputation were seconded by the rush of a rude crowd-armed, of course
PLAN OF ST. GILE'S CHURCH, PRIOR TO THE ALTERATIONS IN 1829.
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<urn:uuid:2a42ff5f-1e28-482d-b1a7-b6b3baf6614d>
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http://edinburghbookshelf.org.uk/volume1/page157.html
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a) What happened if fluid
frictiondoes not exist in the Sea?
b) In which type of frames Newton’sLaws are
c) Can we say that a reference
frameattached to the surface of the earth is an inertial
referenceframe? Give your argument.
d) It is often said that Newton’sfirst and
second laws imply that it is impossible to use the lawsof mechanics
to tell if you are standing still or moving with aconstant velocity
Q.2:. A 6-kg box on a frictionless horizontal surface
isattached to a horizontal spring with a force constant of 800N/m.
Ifthe spring is stretched 4 cm from its equilibrium length, what
isthe acceleration of the box?
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<urn:uuid:790412e4-3543-4527-bfb4-7c901499c576>
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://www.chegg.com/homework-help/questions-and-answers/q1-happened-fluid-frictiondoes-exist-sea-b-type-frames-newton-rsquo-slaws-applicable-c-say-q543452
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Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals, has published an article showing that vitamin D intake can lower stress fracture risk in girls, especially in regards to injuries caused by high impact style activities.
Stress fractures are a common injury, often related to sports or physical activity. Essentially, the damage occurs when the bone is not able to withstand the pressure and force it is put under. They can also develop over time from repeated impact that might not initially cause any noticeable injury, but after multiple stress episodes become something of a problem to the bone structure.
Vitamin D appears to have been particularly important in maintaining healthy bones, able to withstand high impact events, particularly in those girls involved in an hour or more per day of high stress activity.
The authors of the study noted, "there was no evidence that calcium and dairy intakes were protective against developing a stress fracture or that soda intake was predictive of an increased risk of stress fracture or confounded the association between dairy, calcium or vitamin D intakes and fracture risk."
The authors conclude that their findings support the Institute of Medicine's recent increase in the recommended dietary allowance for vitamin D for adolescents from 400 IU/d to 600 IU/d.
Source: Medical News Today
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About Jim Liebelt
Jim is Senior Writer, Editor and Researcher for the HomeWord Center for Youth and Family at Azusa Pacific University. Jim has over 25 years of experience as a youth and family ministry specialist, and has been on the HomeWord staff since 1998. He has served over the years as a pastor, author, youth ministry trainer, adjunct college instructor and speaker. Jim’s culture blog and parenting articles appear on HomeWord.com. Jim is a contributing author of culture and parenting articles to Crosswalk.com. Jim and his wife Jenny live in Olympia, WA.
Recently by Jim Liebelt
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- Bullying By Siblings Just As DamagingTuesday, June 18, 2013
- Eighty-Three Percent of Teens Have Unsupervised Access to Prescription MedicationsMonday, June 17, 2013
- What's Hot? 6/14/13Friday, June 14, 2013
- Teens Prefer Mall Shopping Over OnlineThursday, June 13, 2013
Recently on Crosswalk Blogs
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The Geography of Young People
Morally Contested Spaces
Published July 5th 2001 by Routledge – 232 pages
Series: Critical Geographies
This book traces some of the changing scientific and societal notions of what it is to be a young person, and argues that there is a need to rethink how we view childhood spaces, child development and the politics of growing up. The book challenges popular myths that evoke general notions of childhood as a natural stage in the development towards adulthood. In addition, the book argues that new theories need to articulate the interdependent relations between material societal transformations and the social constructions of childhood.
This book is likely to be a key text for those interested in studying, teaching and researching the geographies of childhood. - Progress in Human Geography
'A useful book for anyone interested in exploring the psychoanalytic and feminist theories which challenge general notions of childhood' - Gender, Place & Culture
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An estimation of the galaxy's span resulted in a conclusion of 150,000 light years, which is slightly larger than the Milky Way.
The Cartwheel galaxy shows non-thermal radio and optical spokes, but they are not the same spokes.
The galaxy was once a normal spiral galaxy like the Milky Way before it apparently underwent a head-on collision with a smaller companion approximately 200 million years ago (i.e., 200 million years prior to the image). When the nearby galaxy passed through the Cartwheel Galaxy, the force of the collision caused a powerful shock wave through the galaxy, like a rock being tossed into a sandbed. Moving at high speed, the shock wave swept up gas and dust, creating a starburst around the galaxy's center portion that were unscathed. This... Read More
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Hallo, eco-conscious viewers, and welcome to today’s Planet Earth: Our
Loving Home. The United Nations has declared 2010 the International
Year of Biodiversity,and on today’s program we’ll explore the impact
of livestock raising on the planet’s flora and fauna.
is home to countless species, which all cooperate with one another to
maintain the health of the biosphere. We human beings are also part of
the global ecosystem and our lives and survival are closely related to
those of other species.Dr. Lovejoy (m):
We human beings are living things; we came into existence and
evolved in living systems as part of the ecological systems. Every
time we reduce the amount of biodiversity, we basically impoverish our
own future. HOST:
Dr. Thomas Lovejoy of the United States has enjoyed a long and
distinguished career having served as the Chief Biodiversity Advisor to
the World Bank, the Executive Vice President of the World Wildlife Fund
– US, and as the Senior Advisor to the President of the United Nations
Foundation. Currently he serves as the Heinz Center Biodiversity Chair.
Center is a prestigious environmental policy institute in the USA. Dr.
Lovejoy created the idea of “debt-for-nature swaps” between nations. Dr. Lovejoy (m):
The idea of debt-for-nature swaps is to actually turn the idea of debt
around, and say is there a way that forgiving debt can actually make
conservation and better environmental management take place.
it’s basically a matter of forgiving debt in one currency, in return
for the country in question devoting its own currency for conservation
and environmental projects. And nobody knows how much of it’s been done
because there’s no central register, but clearly at least a few billion
dollars worth have taken place and
invested in conservation, literally all around the world.
HOST: As part of his important work, Dr. Lovejoy is sounding the alarm that global biodiversity is facing unprecedented threats.
For more information regarding Dr. Thomas Lovejoy,please visit www.heinzctr.org
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The Global Game Changers believe that you don’t have to be bitten by a spider to be a superhero.
Instead, you become a superhero by making the world a better place. And the key to encouraging your child to become a superhero and a life-long philanthropist is a simple equation that every child should complete for themselves: My Talent + My Heart = My Superpower!
By encouraging each child to combine their individual talent with what they care about, you can make giving back an integral part of their lives. Hopefully it will become as natural for them as nature itself.
Engaging kids in environmental and green activities is a great way to start to develop their philanthropic interests and inspire them to become part of the GGC movement to “Ignite Good!” and use their superpowers to give back and make the world a better place. Begin with talking to them about the planet and solar system.
Explain that it has been around for thousands of years and has undergone a lot of change as mankind and the way that we live have evolved. As a result, sometimes we cannot see the consequences of our actions, whether positive or negative, for many years. So, it is very important to be educated about life choices you make in order to fully evaluate their potential impact in advance.
Here are five tips for how you can use the environment and green activities to provide your kids a personal experience with philanthropy. Using the right tools to start their quest to Ignite Good! can insure a lifetime commitment to giving back.
- Connect to “green” philanthropy through technology. Technology is an integral part of kids’ lives today. Use that tool to connect philanthropy and the environment together for your child. Visit “green” websites together and discuss their content and ask your child what they could do to help. Try to find visually strong and interactive sites that allow for a direct connection that show kids fun ways they can connect “doing good” with saving the earth. They will provide a stronger impact.
- Little things and little people can make a difference. Make sure your child knows they have the power to make a difference and that their actions matter. As an example, show them the impact of recycling. Explain that trees produce oxygen for us to breathe and millions of plants provide life-saving medicines. Even things that seem insignificant or ugly play an important role. Small things matter, and small people matter. Recycled newspapers can save trees, and recycled plastics are used to create something completely different – like fabric. Agree on recycling activities that your child wants to do to help our planet. Discuss why that particular recycling activity is important to them personally. Help them to understand how the environment would be affected adversely if they didn’t get involved.
- Caring for our planet is important, just like caring for people. Caring about people is an action that produces easily identifiable results for a child. Feeling empathy and sharing heart are feelings that the producer and the receiver share in addition to a tangible philanthropic action. It is more difficult for a child to see and feel the results of their good deeds when it comes to caring about the planet. Suggest ways that they can connect both. Collect used books and have a book fair to sell them to donate the proceeds to a charitable initiative that is important to your child. This activity teaches kids how they can promote the importance of reading/literacy and use helping the environment by “recycling” the books to buy food for the hungry, buy musical instruments for an arts organization, or help a rescue effort, whatever they feel passionate about.
- Eat green and be green. Plant a family or neighborhood garden. Use the activity to teach your child how a healthy environment also promotes a healthy life through eating well and engaging in physical activity.
- Waste not; want not! Lessons learned by being philanthropic translate to personal and professional life lessons. For instance finding ways to conserve water helps the environment and teaches your child not to be wasteful. Give your dog a bath or wash your car in an area of your yard that is dry and needs to be watered. Develop basic habits of turning off lights when you are aren’t in a room, making sure the water faucet is completely turned off when finished using and walking or riding bikes instead of driving when possible. Visit kid-friendly sites like http://www.discoverwater.org/use-water-wisely/ to help your child understand why it is important to conserve and respect our natural resources.
Engaging in philanthropy will make your child a better person and a better citizen their entire life. Using these tips, you can show your kids that the power to make a difference lies within them and that they can have fun doing it. Help them to fill in their own equation, “My Talent + My Heart = My Superpower!”
The hope is to inspire a young generation of givers who can answer the questions: what’s your favorite way of giving back, what talents do you have that can help others and what charitable initiatives are you passionate about just as easily as they could tell you their favorite sport, school subject or on-line game.
Jan Helson is CEO of Pixel Entertainment and creator of the Global Game Changers brand. For more great ways to educate your kids about philanthropy, check out the Global Game Changers website: www.theglobalgamechangers.com. On it, kids have the opportunity to learn about different types of charities, tell their own stories of what they do to “Ignite Good,” learn about other kids and what they are doing to make the world a better place, play fun games, and even use their points to help The Global Game Changers Superhero Alliance decide where to donate money each month!
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Wind Energy Systems
Other than the solar energy, wind energy is also one of the widely used alternative renewable energy in the modern era. Many countries are focusing on harvesting wind energy to help fulfill the electricity demand from the countries, as it is one of the easiest systems to incorporate into the alternative energy system other than solar energy. As a result, almost everyone will be able to install their own personal wind energy system in the backyard to help being more energy conservative and saving a lot of money in the energy bills.
Indeed a small wind energy system can be installed in your house to help fulfilling your electrical energy need. The wind energy system works by collecting the wind energy from the wind turbine. In which the wind turbine will connect to an energy collector that will collect the electrical energy and transfer into a common electrical voltage to use in your electrical appliances. As a resulted, it will minimize your electrical bills dramatically. Furthermore, the excess electricity produced from the wind turbine in your backyard will be transfer back to the utility company that is powering your house and sold back to the company.
Anyways, depending on your neighborhood, you might need to consider different sort of wind energy system; either a standalone system or a grid connected system. For a standalone wind energy system, you might only want to consider if you live in a place with an average wind speeds of about 9 miles per hour annually, and there is no grid connection in your region or only be able to get it from an expensive extension for running the power line. Whereas if you live in the region with wind speed that is about 10 miles per hour annually, and that your electricity cost is way above the ceiling in your region. Then you might want to consider going for a grid connected wind energy system.
Wind energy system is the best option for those who are interest to be energy independence rather than dependence from the utilities company, which will eventually lower your cost in energy gills. Furthermore, the wind energy system is also best for those who wish to reduce the impact on environment from using electricity. Similar to all of the renewable energy, producing wind electrical energy require no emission. As a result, wind energy system has no negative impact to our environment and making the earth a better place to live.
North American Palladium
The North American Palladium is a mining company whose home office is in Toronto Canada. This company is involved in the exploration of not only Palladium but also, other metals such as, gold, nickel, copper, and platitinum. The company formed in 1968 and was known as...
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How Exactly Does Spam Work?
Spam is the practice of sending unwanted, unsolicited emails to a large number of people. Unfortunately, it is becoming a common practice of small businesses and internet marketers trying to sell their products or services. It is estimated that the average computer’s email box is filled with at least 30% spam. As a result, there is a rather large demand calling for anti-spam software and filters to become more available to help alleviate the problem.
The bad news about spam is that it is relatively easy to do. All a spammer needs to do is collect a great number of email addresses and/or website addresses and advertisements can then be sent to email boxes or posted as comments on blogs or forums. Because spammers usually deal with large numbers of emails, they have now resorted to automated spam software programs to harvest new email addresses and websites for them and send the actual spam ads for them. Spam takes many many forms, and it has become a continual annoyance for many people.
In recent years, many people have sought the use of spam blockers which send the unwanted emails back to the spammer. If the blocker is a filter, it will send the suspicious email to a temporary folder. It is up to the recipient to delete it or accept the email as legitimate. Spam can also fill up websites, blogs, forums, social networks, and even instant messaging programs. With the inception of the iPhone, smart phones, and SMS text messaging, the problem is now extended to the mobile phone industry.
What is even more troublesome for us but beneficial to spammers is that there are no overhead costs to what they do, and the opportunity to become a spammer is very simple. Some spammers even have software that is customized to get around some of the most stringent security measures. Sometimes, all they need to do is reword a headline or misspell a word and the emails or comments look legitimate to most spam filters. The only disadvantage that spammers is have is their need to maintain a large email list; other than that, spamming is extremely easy and can be done with the click of a mouse.
Spamming is against the law in many areas, and it is also frowned upon by many companies and advertising websites. Spammers get around this by using “ghost” computers, or “zombies,” which are pre-programmed to deliver their ads for them. All that they need to do is get around all the security measures in place. Once this is done, they use the ghost computer to send their spam emails.
Sometimes, spammers will hijack someone else’s email address and send their emails from there. The problem with this is that someone may be accused of spamming and not even know it, as their email is being controlled by another individual. In this scenario, the hijacked email address may be banned as a result, or their ISP may disallow them service. This can be a huge nuisance, as there are hefty fines – even jail sentences – involved with spamming.
Spammers are always figuring out new ways to bother us. Sometimes their email subject lines will simply say, “Howdy!” Unfortunately, spam filters will not catch such simple subject lines, and they make it through to the inbox.
In closing, spam is undeniably easy for rogue computer users to get into. However, more computer users are safeguarding themselves with powerful filters and white/blacklists to allow only those they want to email them. Spammers cannot conquer these blacklists often, and this added protection for computer users offer peace of mind and save them a lot of time from cleaning out their inbox.
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Carleton College Cowling Arboretum
About the Arb
The "Arb"consists of approximately 880 acres (360 hectares) of land adjacent to the College and was created under the leadership of President Donald J. Cowling and Professor Harvey E. Stork in the 1920s. Professor Stork and Superintendent of Grounds D. Blake Stewart ("Stewsie") were responsible for much of the early development of the Arb, and their influences can still be seen and felt in many places. Stork and Stewsie were remarkable land managers, and it can be argued that they were among the nation's first restoration ecologists. In particular, their planting of upland forest trees and wildflowers in the Upper Arb (Stork Forest) decades ago is now coming to impressive maturity.
[English class at McKnight]
The Arb is used extensively as an outdoor classroom by a number of Carleton courses, especially in Biology and Geology. Students are able to carry out observations and experiments in a natural setting within walking distance of the campus, an invaluable asset for classes with a field component. It is also used by other educational institutions at levels from pre-school to graduate school, as well as for professional research programs.
The Arb has been a State Game Refuge for decades, and it serves a valuable role in providing habitat for species of diverse natural communities. As ecological restoration proceeds in the coming decades, the conservation value of the Arb will be substantially increased. Small populations of two rare turtles are found in the Arb: wood turtles (Clemmys insculpta, a threatened species in Minnesota) and Blanding’s turtles (Emydoidea blandingii, a species of special concern). Two threatened plant species were discovered in the Arb in the 1990's: ovate-leaved skullcap (Scutellaria ovata) and kitten-tails (Besseya bullii). Other rare species may remain undiscovered.
The most common recreational use of the Arb is by casual visitors who come to walk, run, ski, fish, or simply enjoy being outdoors. There are occasionally organized athletic events in the Arb, and both Carleton and St. Olaf teams, as well as the Northfield public schools, use the Arb as a training facility for cross-country running and skiing.
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1 World Solar are experienced professional PV installers accredited under the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS). This means the PV system we install will benefit from the Feed in Tariff, for every kWh of electricity generated.
We supply and install a large range of PV panels for householders, commercial and farmers. Using our extensive design experience we can identify which PV panel and inverter best fits your requirements. We have mounting systems and inverters to suit all situations, including roof mounted, roof integrated, flat roof, wall mount and ground mount.
Each product offers a balance of economic and environmental benefits, from reducing electricity bills to lowering the impact on the environment. The innovative technology and the flexible design mean that our systems can be retrofitted onto existing roofs, or incorporated as part of the building envelope at construction stage.
What is PV?
Photovoltaic (PV for short) literally means turning ‘photons’ of light into ‘volts’ of electricity. PV panels contain semi-conductors such as silicon, which convert solar radiation into electricity. The electricity produced can be used to run appliances and lighting and can also be fed into the national grid.
The majority of the systems we install consist of simply mounting the panels onto an existing roof. They are mounted on an aluminium frame and then wired into an inverter which converts the electricity from DC into AC, at 230volts AC, compatible with the domestic electricity supply. This electricity supply feeds the house first of all, and then any surplus electricity is exported to the National Grid, not wasted.
Apart from the obvious financial and environmental benefits, there are many other benefits to installing a PV system in your home including:
- No maintenance as there are no moving parts to go wrong, the panels are self-cleaning and generally last in excess of the usual 25 year guarantee.
- Systems are noiseless and 100% emission-free.
- Planning is generally not an issue, as they are classed as a ‘permitted development’ in most locations.
- Solar PV systems do not need direct sunlight to produce electricity, and in fact operate more efficiently at lower temperatures.
- Having your own power source means protection against rising energy prices.
- Adds value to your property when you come to sell it.
Once installed on your roof the system immediately begins generating electricity, which flows into your electrical system to power your lights and appliances. Your property remains connected to the national grid, and when you are generating more electricity than you are using the excess flows into the grid. When your system is not generating enough electricity at night, you draw from the grid as normal.
Apart from the attractive PV modules on your roof, and the drop in your electricity bill, you will not notice any difference. Most people enjoy monitoring what their solar electric systems produce and often start using a less electricity because of their new awareness.
- A south facing roof can have panels mounted onto the roof to maximise the energy capture or panels can be mounted in your garden using mounting structures that enable the panels to be angled and orientated in the most optimal direction.
- A solar photovoltaic system can be mounted onto most types of property to help power your home and reduce your use of carbon based fuels.
- In a new build or renovation application the roof material itself can comprise of solar tiles offering the best possible appearance.
Feed In Tariff
Our installations qualify for the Feed-In Tariff scheme, a government-backed renewable electricity incentive whereby payments are made to energy users who generate their own electricity from renewable energy sources, such as solar power. The scheme guarantees a minimum payment for all electricity generated by the installation and a separate payment for the electricity exported to grid. These payments are in addition to the bill savings made by using the electricity generated on-site.
Once you have a PV installed you should experience a monthly reduction in your electricity bill in addition to the income from your Feed-In Tariff.
CLICK HERE FOR FREE BUDGET QUOTE
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Honey bees hurting
Imagine having 1/3 of your corn and soybean yields erased every year.
That's exactly what's been happening to honey bee producers in the Midwest, according to a report from University of Illinois ag economist Kathy Baylis. The region's honey bee population has been devastated by myriad pests and diseases, and the current trend has the potential to start chipping away at the yields for crops that rely on bees for pollination.
"Many U.S. beekeepers lost an average of a third of their colonies over the past five winters. For some producers, these losses are much worse. While a quarter of commercial producers, defined as those with more than 500 colonies, have losses in the acceptable range of below 15%, another quarter have losses greater than 50% -- a devastating cost," Baylis says in a university report. "These losses not only affect the beekeepers themselves. Many crops that rely on pollination, like California almonds, have been struggling to find enough colonies to pollinate their crops. For those Illinois farmers who grow crops like pumpkins, bees and other pollinators are vital."
The dangers to honey bee colonies range from insect pests to diseases, the latter of which has specialists scratching their heads as to why and how they're causing such ruin in affected colonies.
"Many people may have heard about colony collapse disorder (CCD) – the mysterious ailment where beekeepers find that a colony has completely disappeared, with no dead bees to indicate what happened," Baylis adds. "But often colonies die from more conventional pests, such as varroa mites and nosema, and bacterial diseases like American Foulbrood. While many producers use conventional treatments for these pests, beekeepers vary greatly in their pest management approaches, and we’d love to have a better idea about what works and where."
Looking ahead, Baylis says specialists nationwide are working to nail down possible remedies to the most common bee colony diseases and pests, as well as best practices for farmers raising honey bees.
"Some of the surveys planned by the Partnership include the continuation of the colony winter loss survey, an annual survey of management practices and a survey of pollinator availability. Other surveys will focus on determining colony mortality, parasite loads and socioeconomic factors," Baylis says. "The idea is to then use statistical tools common to Epidemiology and Economics to identify common management practices and develop best practices on a regional and operationally appropriate level."
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EAST OF THE CAPE Conserving Eden
The story of East of the Cape: Conserving Eden is one about nature and people in a region located on the south-eastern coast of Africa where nature’s diversity is manifest: rainforest, Karoo, fynbos, grassland and savannah are juxtaposed in complex and intriguing ways. This region is also home to thicket, a Lilliputian forest of great antiquity that harbours the ancient stock of many plant lineages found in southern Africa’s contemporary ecosystems. 'Eden' is also home to a diversity of human cultures, each of which left its mark. From some 150 000 years ago to the present day, the footprint of Eden’s inhabitants has become progressively heavier. For the past 150 years, since the onset of South Africa’s industrial age, a growing population and increasing demands on nature have ravaged 'Eden', especially its thicket. But just as people have been the cause of this degradation, so too can they provide the solution. In East of the Cape, authors Richard Cowling and Shirley Pierce present a blueprint for conservation that seeks to engender a culture of managing natural resources wisely and safeguarding nature and its services for a sustainable future.
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Create out-of-focus highlights from scratch with a little help from Photoshop CS6’s new time-saving shortcuts, in this easy to follow, four-step tutorial.
Bokeh is a Japanese word that translates as blur or haze. In photography it is used to refer to the quality of the area beyond your depth of field that is out of focus.
The look of the bokeh effect is down to a number of factors, including the lens you’re using, your chosen aperture and how far your subject is from the background. In this tutorial, we explain how to use the time-saving shortcuts in Photoshop CS6 to create out-of-focus highlights in four easy steps.
01. Make a circle
Make a new document (File>New) and fill it with black. Create a new layer, then grab the Elliptical Marquee tool, hold down Shift and drag a circular selection. Go to Select>Modify> Feather. Set Radius 10px and then hit OK. Choose a bright foreground colour then hit Alt+Backspace to fill the circle.
02. Make quick copies
Grab the Move tool and check ‘Show Transform Controls’. Hold Alt and drag the circle to make a copy. Repeatedly Alt-drag the circles around to make more copies while varying colour and size. Press Cmd/Ctrl+U and adjust the Hue slider to change colours. Hold Shift and drag the corner of the bounding box to resize.
03. Add variety
For more variation, highlight different layers and hit 1-9 to quickly set a layer Opacity between 10-90%. Also, go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur, set Radius 10px and hit OK. Hit Cmd/Ctrl+F to repeat the blur effect on other circles.
04. Group and dupe
Shift-click from top to bottom to highlight all the circle layers then choose Blend Mode: Linear Dodge (Add). Press Cmd/Ctrl+G to group the layers together, then hit Cmd/Ctrl+J to duplicate the group. Grab the Move tool, click the bounding box, then position and resize the new group. You can make further copies to build up the effect.
This tutorial first appeared in Practical Photoshop magazine, the number one magazine for lovers of photography and image-editing. Whether you're looking for digital darkroom tips, or want to get creative, you should definitely check it out!
Now check out our massive list of 101 Photoshop tutorials!
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Fact: Over the last 25 years, rainfall in the western Australia city of Perth fell 20%.
The flow of water into Perth’s reservoirs fell 75%.
And Perth--a beautiful city, with much of the casual, creative attitude of San Francisco--became the developed-world city that came closest to simply running out of water.
In places that are experiencing climate change, there’s no debate about whether it’s “real” or not, like the debate we seem to enjoy having here in the U.S.
Where climate change is happening every day, its consequences are obvious, devastating--and often costly.
Perth had to scramble to both reduce water use and to find a solution to its sudden water shortage. Perth residents have, in the last five years, cut their per-person water use by 20%, saving an amount of water equivalent to that usually churned out by a large, expensive desalination plant. Perth has still had to construct a large, expensive desalination plant--the first of a half-dozen either finished or under construction across Australia. That nation has struggled to adapt to an era when (recent flooding notwithstanding) water disappeared from the places people had been collecting it for a century.
Perth’s desal plant now supplies about 20% of the city’s water, and officials consider it the city’s “climate independent” source of water. It is supplied with electricity using a wind farm, so the solution to climate-caused water scarcity didn’t make that scarcity even worse.
Why should we care about climate change in Perth?
Yesterday, the U.S. Interior Department released a report predicting that climate change could cut stream and river flows in the Western U.S. by 8 to 20%, in river basins that supply water to almost one in 10 Americans.
Those western states--Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Arizona--are already parched after a decade of lower flows than we’ve come to expect. At the same time, they are located in some of the fastest growing regions in the U.S.
Modestly reduced rainfall often translates into dramatically reduced flows to humans, because dry ground absorbs water much more quickly, and because rain often ends up falling in places where we haven’t set up reservoirs.
The Interior report also predicts a temperature increase in the Western U.S. of five to seven degrees and reduced April 1 snow pack levels throughout the region. The April 1 snow pack is a standard way to gauge seasonal river flows.
The results could be devastating for water supplies from Denver down to Tucson and Las Vegas--it could change the water culture of those communities, and also their budget priorities.
That’s why we should pay attention to the lessons of Perth. It took water professionals and elected officials years to realize that water availability was changing. Once the problem really sank in, it was a crisis, and leaders had to scramble--water became a hot political issue, and smart decisions got hard to make. (One candidate for state premier suggested building a canal to supply water to Perth that would have been the equivalent of supplying water to Las Vegas by building a canal from Niagara Falls.)
In just the last five years, relative to population, Australians have had to spend the equivalent of half of President Obama’s stimulus program, just on water and water systems. The cost of the desalination plants alone comes to $14 billion--$646 for every man, woman and child of Australia, just on desal plants.
We have plenty of warning about what’s happening to water sources in the U.S., plenty of time to make good decisions that don't require crisis-level spending.
There will be no satisfaction in looking back from 2051 and seeing that the Interior Department’s 2011 report was correct.
Adapted from The Big Thirst: The Secret Life and Turbulent Future of Water, to be published in April by Free Press / Simon & Schuster. © 2011, Charles Fishman.
Read the feature from Fast Company's April issue.
Read more from The Big Thirst on FastCompany.com.
[Image: Flickr user Ellen van den Berg]
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Chinese Supercomputer Claims World Speed Record
While most Americans still associate China with cheap, knockoff electronics, the Middle Kingdom's indigenous computer industry has advanced so far that they now host the world's fastest supercomputer. The Tianhe-1A is 1.4-times faster than the previous record holder, and is the first computer to claim the speed title that wasn't built in the USA, USSR or Japan.
According to the New York Times, the Tianhe-1A performs 2.5 petaflops per second , with a flop equaling 10^15 mathematical calculations. Chinese scientists assembled the Tianhe-1A from American-made chips from companies like Intel and Nvidia, but networked those chips into a single computer with proprietary software.
Although the scientists assembled the computer under a joint Ministry of Education/Ministry of National Defense program, the exact use of the Tianhe-1A remains a mystery. Many supercomputers are used to solve complex problems relating to physics, economics or defense, while others are used in business applications.
Currently, a number of US institutions are working on assembling even faster systems, but due to the time and complexity involved in making the fastest machine known to man, the Tianhe-1A will get to retain its title for at least the next few years.
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Parastic worms or ‘helminths’ are worms that have a lifecycle that involves living in a human host
Nothing turns the stomach more of the traveller to distant lands than the thought of enormous worms living for years in your intestine without you knowing it. Yet this is the case for billions of people around the world including many of us in hyper-sanitary North America and Europe.
Worldwide, an estimated one to one and a half billion people are infected with an average of seven 15–60 centimetre long Ascaris lumbricoides roundworms while another 600–800 million people have hookworms. Perhaps two billion people have the tiny pinworm living in their bowel and millions of others have various beef and fish tapeworms in their intestines, some of which can reach 10–20 metres in length.
Unlike their microbial parasitic counterparts, helminthes (parasitic worms) are only microscopic in the egg or larvae stage, with most oval-shaped eggs measuring in the 25 micron by 30 micron to 50 micron by 150 micron range.
North America and northern Europe are relatively free of most types of parasitic worm species with a few notable exceptions. The knowledge that parasitic worm eggs are not naturally found in North American and northern European waterway may add to your peace of mind. Nevertheless, raw sewage and waterways polluted with sewage often contain enormous numbers of eggs from infected individuals, particularly in areas frequented by tourists.
Fortunately, only a few types of eggs can infect humans without intermediary hosts that are not indigenous to North America and Europe. This means that water in wilderness areas, and to a lesser extent in more frequented recreational areas, can be considered generally free of parasitic worm eggs and larvae.
Even if eggs or larvae are present, they are easily filtered or destroyed by heat. The greatest threat in North America and Europe is from worms that produce eggs that can infect humans immediately after being passed in the faeces, without needing an intermediary host or specific soil conditions.
There are also several worm parasites that infect animals, such as dogs, which can live in humans but die without maturing or reproducing. Since parasitic worms are rarely acquired from drinking water in North America and Europe and realtively easily dealt with while travelling outside of these areas this section contains only be a brief summary of waterborne parasitic worms.
Biologists divide helminthes into the two main categories of platyhelminths (flatworms), which includes the subdivisions of cestodes (tapeworms) and trematodes (flukes), and nematodes (roundworms).
Humans get worm infections in two ways. The first is via oral ingestion of eggs in undercooked meat or fish, or in food and water, or from hands and objects contaminated with eggs.
The second method involves certain types of microscopic larvae burrowing through the skin in body parts exposed to contaminated soil or water—conditions not found in North America and Europe.
As with microbial parasites, the faeces of people infected with intestinal worm parasites can contain an enormous number of microscopic eggs. For example, each Ascaris lumbricoides worm produces over 200,000 eggs per day, which are shed in the host’s faeces. Eggs can remain viable for long periods of time. Eschinoccus granulosus (dog tapeworm) eggs are infectious for up to one year and Ascaris lumbricoides eggs can remain infectious for up to nine years.
Infectious Dose and Reservoirs
In theory, infection can start after ingesting one egg. Human parasitic worms are generally restricted to humans with occasional crossovers from other mammals. Many types of helminthes live in people, in North America, but only a small number can reproduce effectively because of unfavourable environmental conditions. For example, all trematodes—intestinal, liver, lung and blood flukes—require specific species of freshwater snails to complete their lifecycles before they can infect humans. These snails do not live in North America and Europe.
Taenia (Beef and Pork Tapeworms)
Two versions of Taenia infect humans. The larvae of T. solium are found in pigs, and T. saginata live in cattle. Humans get infected by eating raw or undercooked flesh from animals that have infective cysticerci (larvae) imbedded in their flesh.
While Taenia can exceed 20 metres in length in the human intestine they have only a minimal effect on infected people. There is also the possibility that the round, 35–40 micron diameter T. solium eggs might hatch into cysticerci in humans. Because cysticerci cannot develop in the flesh of humans they die in bodily tissues, including the brain, and are calcified by the body within a year. Known as cysticercosis, this syndrome can be acquired by ingesting eggs passed in human faeces.
Humans get infected with Echinococcus granulosus only by accident. Normally the worm’s lifecycle involves a larvae stage in sheep, goats, cattle or horses and an adult phase in dogs. Generally only humans who work closely with sheep and dogs, such as sheep ranchers, get infected. Echinococcus granulosus eggs are roundish in shape and 35–40 microns in diameter.
Hymenolepis nana is the most common tapeworm in humans, particularly in Asia. Mature worms measure only 1.5–4 centimetres long and Hymenolepis nana are the only tapeworms that do not require intermediary hosts before infecting humans.
Most eggs released by the worms in the ileum of the intestine are capable of hatching and reinfecting the already infected host. Oval-shaped 30 micron by 45 micron eggs are passed in the faeces and can survive up to two weeks. Given the concentration of this parasite in Asia and the short survival period of eggs, North American and European water outside of urban or recreational areas frequented by Asia tourists is probably egg free. Water within Asia has a considerably higher probabilty of containing the eggs.
Diphyllobothrium latum is a fish tapeworm common in Scandinavia and northern North America. Humans contract it by eating infected raw or undercooked fresh water fish.
Adult worms are several metres long and release oval-shaped 45 micron by 65 micron eggs in the host’s faeces. Eggs hatch in fresh water and infect fresh water copepods, which are then eaten by fish. The larvae develop in the fish, and if infected fish are eaten raw or in an undercooked state, the larvae can develop into mature egg-producing adults, in the human intestine.
These flukes are common in East Asia in humans and pigs, and produce eggs in the 80 micron by 140 micron range.
The eggs of the most common intestinal fluke, Fasciolopsis buski, are passed in the faeces and hatch into larvae in fresh water where they infect particular snails and develop into cercariae. The cercariae then escape and become encysted as metacercariae on aquatic vegetation such as water caltrop or water chestnut, which are eaten by humans.
The metacercariae encyst in the human intestine and eventually develop into seven centimetre long flukes that attach themselves to the intestinal wall. Similar intestinal flukes include Heterophyes and Metagonimus.
Fasciola hepatica are parasitic liver flukes of the bile ducts that are found in sheep, cattle, and often humans. They produce eggs in the 80 micron by 140 micron range, which eventually hatch into larvae that are ingested on contaminated watercress. Once they reach the intestine, they encyst before hatching into tiny flukes that penetrate the intestinal wall, reach the liver, and finally take up residence in the bile ducts. Eggs are passed via the faeces and the cycle continues. Other liver flukes with similar lifecycles include Clonorchis sinensis, Opisthorchis felineus and Opisthorchis viverrini.
Paragonimus westermani are lung flukes usually isolated in East Asia, West and Central Africa, and Central and South America.
Humans acquire the fluke by eating larvae encysted in fresh-water crabs and crayfish that are raw or undercooked. After ingestion, the larvae encyst in the small intestine and penetrate the gut wall before migrating to the lungs. Adults grow in the lungs within fibrous cysts to about one and a half centimetres long. Oval-shaped 35 micron by 85 micron eggs are coughed up in sputum, and are spit out or are swallowed to eventually pass in the faeces.
In fresh water, the eggs hatch to release miracidia that enter a particular snail where they develop into cercariae. The cercariae then escape into the water and penetrate the flesh of fresh water crabs or crayfish, where they await ingestion by humans.
Schistosomes (Blood Flukes)
An estimated 200–300 million people, primarily in Africa, South America and East Asia, are infected with this fluke which causes up to 1.5 million deaths annually. Three species of schistosomes infect humans. The fluke is pervasive in areas such as the Nile River delta and other common traveller destinations in Africa and Asia.
The adults exist as thin threadlike worms in the abdominal veins of humans and a few domestic animals. Eggs are laid in the capillaries that drain the intestine and most eggs pass into the intestine or bladder and are excreted in the faeces or urine with a small amount of blood. With severe infection, blood loss can be extreme and is easily visible in the urine and faeces.
Some eggs are carried in the blood to the liver or lungs, depending on the species, and become encased in a fibrous granuloma. Eggs passed from the body hatch in fresh water and infect particular snails before being released as 80 micron by 200 micron cercariae.
The cercariae eventually infect humans by burrowing through the skin of people standing in or handling infected water and the cycle continues. In North America and Europe, duck schistosomes commonly penetrate and die in the skin of people, causing the well-known ailment ‘swimmer’s itch.’
Ascaris lumbricoides live in 20% of the world’s population with the average infected human carrying seven worms. Infection is usually limited to tropical areas but can occur anywhere an infected person deposits untreated faeces so infection is common. The worm’s oval-shaped, 30 micron by 60 micron eggs are tough and can survive months or years in the environment while they await ingestion by a human host.
Once eaten, Ascaris lumbricoides eggs hatch in the intestine. Larvae breach the intestinal wall and are carried to the lungs in the blood stream. In the lungs, they enter the alveolar spaces and begin to mature before being coughed up and swallowed. Once in the intestine for the second time, the worms mature into adults that resemble 15–60 centimetre long earthworms. Adult worms live for one to two years.
Trichuris trichiura simply hatch in the intestine and penetrate the colon wall where they mature. The worms then re-enter the large intestine, with their tails remaining in the lumen, where they lay 20 micron by 50 micron eggs that pass out in the faeces. The worms live for several years.
Ancylostoma duodenale, Necator americanus (Hookworm) and Strongyloides stercoralis
These roundworms live in humans in warm tropical areas and produce eggs in the 30 micron by 60 micron size.
Eggs in the case of Ancylostoma duodenale and Necator americanus and larvae in the case of Strongyloides stercoralis, are passed in the faeces and develop into infective larvae in warm moist soil. The larvae then burrow through any human flesh that comes into contact with infected soil including bare feet.
The larvae enter the bloodstream and are carried to the lungs. In the lungs, they break into the alveolar spaces and are coughed up and swallowed.
Back in the intestine, the larvae grow into egg-producing adults. Strongyloides stercoralis larvae often migrate from the intestine, through body tissues, causing inflamation and often reinfecting the host. In these cases, infection can continue for a decade or more and, in immunocompromised people, the end result can be complete tissue infestation and death by septicaemia.
Enterobius vermicularis (Pinworm)
Enterobius vermicularis are known popularly as pinworms or threadworms. These tiny one to two centimetre worms are common worldwide, especially in children.
Adult worms live in the lumen and squirm out of the anus when the infected person is resting, usually at night, and lay thousands of 25 micron by 50 micron eggs on the skin surrounding the anus.
The light eggs are easily ingested from bedding lint from under the fingernails of the infected person who scratches the irritated area or from door handles, furniture, recreational equipment or other objects handled by the infected person. Once eggs are swallowed they quickly develop into adults that continue the cycle.
Trichinella spiralis infect some rodents, hyenas, polar bears and occasionally humans who have eaten raw or poorly cooked meat including pork.
These roundworms live for six to eight weeks in the intestine where the females pass large numbers of 6 micron by 100 micron larvae that burrow through the intestinal wall and enter the bloodstream. Once in the blood, they are carried to voluntary muscles where they encyst and die as they are calcified by the body. Larvae that escape in faeces can be reingested and mature in animal and human hosts.
Among these parasitic worms are members of the genera Wuchereria, Brugia, Onchocera, Loa and Dracunculus (Guinea worm).
All of these parasites are restricted by environmental considerations to areas in Central and South America, Southeast Asia, Central Africa, parts of the Middle East, India, the West Indies and South Pacific islands.
People become infected when 7 micron by 200 micron microfilariae get into the bloodstream via the bite of mosquitoes or blackflies. Only Dracunuculus, which are found in West Africa, parts of the Middle East and India, are transmitted by drinking water that contains small fresh water crustacea that act as an intermediary host.
Nematodes with Non-Human Hosts
Several round worms that infect non-human mammals can infect humans and die without reproducing.
Most importantly, the larvae of Ancylostoma braziliensis (dog hookworms) can penetrate the human skin and migrate for several months beneath the skin, causing allergic reactions, before dying.
The eggs of Toxocara canis, which are similar to those produced by its close relative Ascaris, are common in dogs and cats and sometimes hatch in humans. The larvae can migrate around the body before dying in an immature state.
Soil in parks, playgrounds and beaches that is contaminated with dog faeces is the most common source of this canine parasite.
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Social influence occurs when one's emotions, opinions, or behaviors are affected by others. Social influence takes many forms and can be seen in conformity, socialization, peer pressure, obedience, leadership, persuasion, sales, and marketing. In 1958, Harvard psychologist, Herbert Kelman identified three broad varieties of social influence.
- Compliance is when people appear to agree with others, but actually keep their dissenting opinions private.
- Identification is when people are influenced by someone who is liked and respected, such as a famous celebrity.
- Internalization is when people accept a belief or behavior and agree both publicly and privately.
Morton Deutsch and Harold Gerard described two psychological needs that lead humans to conform to the expectations of others. These include our need to be right (informational social influence), and our need to be liked (normative social influence). Informational influence (or social proof) is an influence to accept information from another as evidence about reality. Informational influence comes into play when people are uncertain, either because stimuli are intrinsically ambiguous or because there is social disagreement. Normative influence is an influence to conform to the positive expectations of others. In terms of Kelman's typology, normative influence leads to public compliance, whereas informational influence leads to private acceptance.
Social Influence is a broad term that relates to many different phenomena. Below are some major types of social influence that are being researched in the field of social psychology. For more information, follow the main article links provided.
Kelman's varieties
There are three processes of attitude change as defined by Harvard psychologist Herbert Kelman in his 1958 paper in the Journal of Conflict Resolution. The purpose of defining these processes was to help determine the effects of social influence: for example, to separate public conformity (behavior) from private acceptance (personal belief).
Compliance is the act of responding favorably to an explicit or implicit request offered by others. Technically, compliance is a change in behavior but not necessarily attitude- one can comply due to mere obedience, or by otherwise opting to withhold one’s private thoughts due to social pressures. According to Kelman’s 1958 paper, the satisfaction derived from compliance is due to the social effect of the accepting influence (i.e. people comply for an expected reward or punishment-aversion).
Identification is the changing of attitudes or behaviors due to the influence of someone that is liked. Advertisements that rely upon celebrities to market their products are taking advantage of this phenomenon. The desired relationship that the identifier relates with the behavior or attitude change is the “reward”, according to Kelman.
Internalization is the process of acceptance of a set of norms established by people or groups which are influential to the individual. The individual accepts the influence because the content of the influence accepted is intrinsically rewarding. It is congruent with the individual’s value system, and according to Kelman the “reward” of internalization is “the content of the new behavior”.
Conformity is a type of social influence involving a change in behavior, belief or thinking to align with those of others or to align with normative standards. It is the most common and pervasive form of social influence. Social psychology research in conformity tends to distinguish between two varieties: informational conformity (also called social proof, or "internalization" in Kelman's terms ) and normative conformity ("compliance" in Kelman's terms).
In the case of peer pressure, a person is convinced to do something (such as illegal drugs) which they might not want to do, but which they perceive as "necessary" to keep a positive relationship with other people, such as their friends. Conformity from peer pressure generally results from identification within the group members, or from compliance of some members to appease others.
Conformity is sometimes in appearance only - publicly appearing to conform (compliance) or it may be a complete conformity that impacts an individual both publicly and privately (conversion).
Compliance (also referred to as acquiescence) demonstrates a public conformity to a group majority or norm while the individual continues to privately disagree or dissent, holding on to their original beliefs or an alternative set of beliefs differing from the majority. Compliance appears as conformity but there is a division between the public and the private self.
Conversion includes the private acceptance that is absent in compliance. The individual’s original behaviour, beliefs, or thinking changes to align with that of others (the influencers) both privately as well as publically. The individual has accepted the behavior, belief or thinking, internalizing it and making it their own. Conversion may also refer to individual members of a group who move from their initial (and varied) positions to the same position which differs from any of the initial positions. The resulting group position may be a hybrid of various aspects of individual initial positions or it may be an alternative independent of the initial positions reached through consensus.
What appears to be conformity may in fact be congruence. Congruence occurs when an individual’s behavior, belief or thinking is already aligned with that of the others and there is no change.
In situations where conformity (including compliance, conversion and congruence) is absent, there are non-conformity processes such as independence and anti-conformity. Independence (also referred to as dissent) involves an individual, through their actions and/or inactions, or the public expression of their beliefs or thinking, being aligned with their personal standards but inconsistent with that of other members of the group (either all of the group or a majority). Anti-conformity (also referred to as counter-conformity) may appear as independence but lacks alignment with personal standards and is for the purpose of challenging the group. Actions as well as stated opinions and beliefs are often diametrically opposed to that of the group norm or majority. The underlying reasons for this type of behavior may be rebelliousness/obstinacy or it may be to ensure all alternatives and view points are given due consideration.
Minority influence
Minority influence takes place when a majority is influenced to accept the beliefs of behaviors of a minority. Minority influence can be affected by the sizes of majority and minority groups, the level of consistency of the minority group and situational factors (such as the affluence or social importance of the minority). Minority influence most often operates through informational social influence (as opposed to normative social influence) because the majority may be indifferent to the liking of the minority.
Self-fulfilling prophecy
A self-fulfilling prophecy is the prediction that directly or indirectly causes itself to become true, due to a positive feedback between belief and behavior. A prophecy declared as truth (when it is actually false) may sufficiently influence people, either through fear or logical confusion, so that their reactions ultimately fulfill the once-false prophecy. The term is credited to sociologist Robert K. Merton and is defined in his book Social Theory and Social Structure.
Reactance is the adoption or a view contrary to the view that they are being pressured to accept, perhaps due to the perceived threat to behavioral freedoms. This behavior has also been called anticonformity. While the results are the opposite of what the influencer intended, this reactive behavior is the result of social pressure. It is notable that anticonformity does not necessarily mean independence. In many studies, reactance manifests itself in a deliberate rejection of an influence, even when the influence is clearly correct.
Obedience is a form of social influence that derives from an authority figure. The Milgram Experiment, Zimbardo’s Stanford prison experiment, and the Hofling hospital experiment are three particularly well-known experiments on obedience, and they all conclude that humans behave surprisingly obedient in the presence of perceived legitimate authority figures.
Persuasion is the process of guiding oneself or another toward the adoption of some attitude by some rational or symbolic means. Robert Cialdini defined six “weapons of influence”: reciprocity, commitment, social proof, authority, liking, and scarcity. These “weapons of influence” attempt to bring about conformity by directed means. Persuasion can occur through appeals to reason or appeals to emotion.
Many factors can affect the strength of social influence.
Social impact theory
- Strength: The importance of the influencing group to the individual.
- Immediacy: Physical (and temporal) proximity of the influencing group to the individual at the time of the influence attempt.
- Number: The number of people in the group.
Cialdini's "Weapons of Influence"
- Reciprocity: People tend to return a favor.
- Commitment and Consistency: People do not like to be self-contradictory. Once they commit to an idea or behavior, they are averse to changing their minds without good reason.
- Social Proof: People will be more open to things they see others doing. For example, seeing others compost their organic waste after finishing a meal may influence them to do so as well.
- Authority: People will tend to obey authority figures.
- Liking: People are more easily swayed by people they like.
- Scarcity: A perceived limitation of resources will generate demand.
Social Influence is strongest when the group perpetrating it is consistent and committed. Even a single instance of dissent can greatly wane the strength of an influence. For example, in Milgram's first set of obedience experiments, 65% of participants complied with fake authority figures to administer "maximum shocks" to a confederate. In iterations of the Milgram experiment where three people administered shocks (two of whom were confederates), once one confederate disobeyed, only 10% of subjects administered the maximum shocks.[dead link]
Those perceived as experts may exert social influence as a result of their perceived expertise. This involves credibility, a tool of social influence from which one draws upon the notion of trust. People believe an individual to be credible for a variety of reasons, such as perceived experience, attractiveness, knowledge, etc. Additionally, pressure to maintain one's reputation and not be viewed as fringe may increase the tendency to agree with the group, known as groupthink. Appeals to authority may also especially affect norms of obedience. The compliance of normal humans to authority in the famous Milgram experiment demonstrate the power of perceived authority.
Those with access to the media may use this access in an attempt to influence the public. For example, a politician may use speeches to persuade the public to support issues that he or she does not have the power to impose on the public. This is often referred to as using the "bully pulpit". Likewise, celebrities don't usually possess any political power but are familiar to many of the world's citizens, and therefore possess social status.
Power was found to be one of the most effective reasons as to why an individual feels the need to follow through with what another says to them. If someone of more authority or someone that is believed to be more powerful than the other is an icon or most "popular" within a group, they have the most control over influencing others. For example, in a child's school life, if there are those people who seem to control the perception of the other students at school, then they are most powerful in having a social influence over the other children.
Culture appears to play a role in willingness to conform to a group. Stanley Milgram found that conformity was higher in Norway than in France. This has been attributed to Norway's longstanding tradition of social responsibility, as compared to France's cultural focus on individualism. Japan likewise has a collectivist culture and thus a higher propensity to conform; however, in a 1970 Asch-style study, it was found that, when alienated, Japanese students would be susceptible to anticonformity (giving answers that were incorrect even when the group had coincided on correct answers) one third of the time- significantly higher than has been seen in replications of Asch studies before.
While gender does not significantly affect likelihood to conform, gender roles will in the right conditions. For example, studies from the 1950s and 1960s concluded that women were more likely to conform than men. However, in a 1971 study it was found that there was experimenter bias involved (all of the researchers were male). Studies thereafter found that likelihood to conform was close to equal and that, furthermore, men would conform more often on feminine topics, as women would conform more often on masculine topics- ignorance on a subject can lead to deferral to "social proof".
Emotion and disposition may affect likelihood of conformity or anticonformity. In 2009, a study concluded that fear increases the chance of agreeing with the group, while romance or lust increases the chance of going against the group.
Musicological Influence
"Music" and the study of "Musicology" is an art from that is constantly evolving, for it is always in a state of motion through the influence of other composer, genres or time periods. This can be done through specific techniques, through a replication of complete phrases or it can be heard through the overall theme. Lectures from "Cardiff University" David Beard and Kenneth Gloag define influence from a musicological standpoint as follows.
“influence is interpreted as a consequence of similarity or resemblance…” (p. 91)
They continue to give examples of influence and compare the works of two composers.
• Author Kevin Korsyn describes influence through the discussion of "intertextuality". He goes further by explaining that the model to help map out influence as a term deals completely with the relationship between musical works and ideas. EX: "Johannes Brahms" Op. 4, 1851 and "Frederic Chopin" Op. 31, 1837 two of their musical compositions in the form of a "scherzo". Brahms scherzo resembles the theme of Chopin at the opening, which Korsyn classifies as a type of imitation.
• Author Joseph Straus delves further into the term influence touching upon the idea of modernism. Composers like "Bartok", "Berg", "Schoenberg", "Stravinsky" and "Webern" have ties to genres and different techniques of the past through tones and various tonal traditions. EX: "Alan Berg"’s Violin Concerto (1935) represents modernism in a very direct way through its use of serialism and “strong echoes of the tonal past” (p. 92)
Social structure
Social networks
A social network is a social structure made up of nodes (representing individuals or organizations) which are connected (through ties, also called edges, connections, or links) by one or more types of interdependency (such as friendship, common interests or beliefs, sexual relations, or kinship). Social network analysis uses the lens of network theory to view social relationships. Social network analysis as a field has become more prominent since the mid-20th century in determining the channels and effects of social influence. For example, Christakis and Fowler found that social networks transmit states and behaviors such as obesity, smoking, drinking and happiness.
See also
- "Qualities of a Leader - Online Leadership Guide - Personal MBTI Type Analysis". qualities-of-a-leader.com. December 26, 2011. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
- Kelman, H. (1958). Compliance, identification, and internalization: Three processes of attitude change. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 1, 51-60.
- Deutsch, M. & Gerard, H. B. (1955). A study of normative and informational social influences upon individual judgment. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 51, 629-636.
- Aronson, Elliot, Timothy D. Wilson, and Robin M. Akert. Social Psychology. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2010. Print.
- Forsyth, D. R. (2010, 2006). Group Dynamics. Belmont: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
- Moscovici, S. and Nemeth (1974) Minority influence. In C. Nemetn (ed.), Social psychology: Classic and contemporary integrations (pp. 217-249), Chicago: Rand McNally
- Wood, W., Lundgren, S., Ouellette, J., Busceme, S., & Blackstone, T. (1994). "Minority Influence: A Meta-Analytic Review of Social Influence Processes". Psychological Bulletin. Vol 115, No 3. Page 323-345.
- Merton, Robert K (1968). Social Theory and Social Structure. New York: Free Press.
- Brehm, J. W. (1966). A theory of psychological reactance. Academic Press
- Frager, R. (1970). Conformity and anti-conformity in Japan. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 15, 203-210.
- Cialdini, Robert B. (2001). ‘‘Influence: Science and practice (4th ed.)’’. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. ISBN 0-321-01147-3
- Latané, B. (1981). The psychology of social impact. American Psychologist, 36, 343-356.
- Sussman, R., & Gifford, R. (2013). Be the Change You Want to See: Modeling Food Composting in Public Places. Environment & Behavior, 45, 323-343, DOI: 10.1177/0013916511431274.
- Milgram, Stanley (1963). "Behavioral Study of Obedience". Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 67 (4): 371–378. doi:10.1037/h0040525. PMID 14049516.[dead link] Full-text PDF.
- Ivory Tower Unswayed by Crashing Economy. New York Times.
- C. Mugny; L Souchet; C Codaccioni; A Quiamzade (2008). Social Representation and Social Influence. 53 (2), pg 223-237.
- Blass, T. (2004). The man who shocked the world: The life and legacy of Stanley Milgram. New York: Basic Books.
- Sistrunk, Frank; McDavid, John W.; Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol 17(2), Feb, 1971. pp. 200-207.
- EurekAlert. (2009). Fear or romance could make you change your mind, U of Minnesota study finds.
- N.A. Christakis and J.H. Fowler, "The Spread of Obesity in a Large Social Network Over 32 Years," New England Journal of Medicine 357(4): 370-379 (July 2007)
- N.A. Christakis and J.H. Fowler, "The Collective Dynamics of Smoking in a Large Social Network," New England Journal of Medicine, 358(21): 2249-2258 (May 2008)
- Gina Kolata, "Study Finds Big Social Factor in Quitting Smoking," The New York Times, May 22, 2008.
- J.N. Rosenquist, J. Murabito, J.H. Fowler, and N.A. Christakis, "The Spread of Alcohol Consumption Behavior in a Large Social Network," Annals of Internal Medicine 152(7): 426-433 (April 2010)
- J.H. Fowler and N.A. Christakis, "The Dynamic Spread of Happiness in a Large Social Network: Longitudinal Analysis Over 20 Years in the Framingham Heart Study," British Medical Journal 2008; 337: a2338
Further reading
- Cialdini, Robert B. (2001). ‘‘Influence: Science and practice (4th ed.)’’. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. ISBN 0-321-01147-3.
- Ellul, Jacques. Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes. Trans. Konrad Kellen & Jean Lerner. New York: Knopf, 1965. New York: Random House/ Vintage 1973
- Hogan, Kevin (2004) The Science of Influence: How to Get Anyone to Say "Yes" in 8 Minutes or Less! (ISBN 978-0-471-67051-3 ).
- Kaiser, C., Kröckel, J., Bodendorf, F. (2010): "Ant-Based Simulation of Opinion Spreading in Online Social Networks[dead link]". Proceedings of the 2010 IEEE/WIC/ACM International Conference on Web Intelligence and Intelligent Agent Technology, pp. 537–540.
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“Masking” is a tool used for selectively showing and hiding contents of layers. Mask layers are used all over in entertainment media, whether it be for film, AAA videogames, interactive web media, or in our case, a zombie shoot-em-up, whack-a-mole style flash game!
Just to prove the point, I saw the official trailer for Hanna (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRUx88vRjIk) not to long ago, and a perfect example of masking can be found at about 0:15 seconds in to the clip. It is what allows us to go from this:
Pretty cool, eh?
Now lets do the masking in our zombie flash game.
As a teaser, here’s what the final zombie flash game looks like (HINT: Click to shoot the zombies!):
The most important thing to note in this game is the way our zombies "pop up" from behind the clutter in our flash graveyard scene.
We have got the zombie characters popping up from behind gravestones, trees, cliffs, and bridges. The weird and cool thing about it though, is that all those hiding spots are part of one single background image, we are just ‘tricking’ the player in to thinking they’re actually coming from behind the scenery, via a flash mask layer.
Following below are the steps to make this flash masking happen:
- Create a new layer in your game or flash file, name it what you like, and then right click and check off the “Mask” option. The little thumbnail should now look like a blue-green checkerboard to indicate it has switched modes. It will look exactly as it does in this picture along the right:
- Now, inside the masked layer, color does not matter. All that you need to know is that anything solid or colored in will allow things to appear from below. Transparent parts of the image are the parts that do NOT shine through and do NOT allow visibility from the lower layers.
- What I typically do is fill the entire masked scene in with a bright red box, and the parts that I want to hide (such as the gravestone, bridge, trees, etc.. in my zombie flash game), I erase the red from. I do each object, step by step, until I am left with something that looks like the image below:
- Once the mask layer is drawn and ready, we have to show it which other pieces and parts we want to be masked behind.
- In my game, I’ve got 8 instances of zombies on the screen (z1-z8), and all of the are in one layer I called “zombies” All I had to do was left-click on that
“zombie” layer title, drag it over to the “mask” layer until the marker indicated that I could drop them in as a sub-tab below, and release the mouse button. The final result should look something like this:
- And that’s it! Now anything you do with your zombies (or whatever other movieclips you are working with in flash), they will always mask against the background. No matter what position the zombies are tweened to, they will not appear behind the bridge, gravestones, or trees. No actionscript was required for the creation of this mask either, which makes it even easier.
Once final piece regarding flash masks, you can also use gradients for a blended effect. If you mask is semitransparent, the object below it will be as well. This is great to use if you are designing some reflection or fog effect in flash and want your characters and movieclips to fade in, or out to the distance.
If I get enough requests or approvals, I am considering making a multi-set flash cove tutorial covering the creation of a full zombie shooter flash game. This would include all source code and designs above, in addition to scoring, zoom and sniper effects in flash, ammunition, sound effects, and a whole bunch of other things to make a fully-polished web flash game. Let me know if you guys are interested either through the comments or by email at firstname.lastname@example.org. Thanks for listening!
-Dave at the flash cove (flashcove.net)
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It's a good news for those suffering from spinal cord paralysis. Northwestern University scientists have developed a brain-computer interface that can successfully replace the functions of spinal cord and help people once again use their previously paralyzed limbs in daily life. Supported by National Institutes of Health in this pursuit, the invention gives a ray of hope to about 130000 people who sustain spinal cord injuries every year with about 50 percent of them getting completely paralyzed below neck. Scientists performed a number of tests to check the effectiveness of the technique. Surprisingly, it improved the grasping precision significantly and allowed voluntary adjustment of force and strength.
The study was conducted on a rhesus monkey whose arm was temporarily paralyzed with an anesthetic. It comprises of the brain-computer interface, which is wired directly into 10o neurons in motor cortex along with a functional electrical stimulation (FES) device, which is wired into subject's paralyzed body part ( subject's arm in this case). As soon as the monkey tried to move his hand the neurons get activated, which in turn send data to the brain-computer interface. The interface predicts, which muscles to move with what force and passes this information to FES. FES activates the desired body part and this gives the required movement.
Currently, the system can perform only basic body movements such as lifting arm, opening hand etc. The movements in human body are much more complex and according to scientists they need to go through the process of motor learning to be able to use the device.
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|This article does not cite any references or sources. (December 2009)|
|Look up mound in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.|
A mound is a general term for an artificial heaped pile of earth, gravel, sand, rocks, or debris. The most common use is in reference to natural earthen formation such as hills and mountains, particularly if they appear artificial. The term may also be applied to any rounded area of topographically higher elevation on any surface. Artificial mounds have been created for a variety of reasons throughout history, including ceremonial (platform mound), burial (tumulus), and commemorative purposes (e.g. Kościuszko Mound).
North American archaeology
In the archaeology of the United States and Canada, the term "mound" has specific and technical connotations. In this sense, a mound is a deliberately constructed elevated earthen structure or earthwork, intended for a range of potential uses. In European and Asian archaeology, the word "tumulus" may be used as a synonym for an artificial hill, particularly if the hill is related to particular burial customs.
While the term "mound" may be applied to historic constructions, most mounds in the United States are pre-columbian earthworks, built by Native American peoples. Native Americans built a variety of mounds, including flat-topped pyramids or cones known as platform mounds, rounded cones, and ridge or loaf-shaped mounds. Some mounds took on unusual shapes, such as the outline of cosmologically significant animals. These are known as effigy mounds. Some mounds, such as a few in Wisconsin, have rock formations, or petroforms within them, on them, or near them.
While these mounds are perhaps not as famous as burial mounds, like their European analogs, Native American mounds also have a variety of other uses. While some prehistoric cultures, like the Adena culture, used mounds preferentially for burial, others used mounds for other ritual and sacred acts, as well as for secular functions. The platform mounds of the Mississippian culture, for example, may have supported temples, the houses of chiefs, council houses, and may have also acted as a platform for public speaking. Other mounds would have been part of defensive walls to protect a certain area. The Hopewell culture used mounds as markers of complex astronomical alignments related to ceremonies.
Mounds and related earthworks are the only significant monumental construction in pre-columbian Eastern and Central North America.
Mounds are given different names depending on which culture they strive from. They can be located all across the world in spots such as Asia, Europe and the Americas. "Mound builders" have more commonly been associated with the mounds in the Americas. They all have different meanings and sometimes are constructed as animals and can be clearly seen from aerial views.
Archaeology elsewhere
Mound, as a technical term in archaeology, is not generally in favor in the rest of the world. More specific local terminology is preferred, and each of these terms has its own article (see below).
Mound types
- Effigy mound
- Kofun (Japanese mounds)
- Platform mound
- Tell (also includes multi-lingual synonyms for mounds in the Near East)
- Tumulus (Barrow)
See also
|Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Mound.|
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Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, New York has become the center of an epidemic of fear and anxiety that has spread throughout the Western world. Just as these emotions can spread contagiously throughout a society, they likewise spread within and can gain control of our minds.
THE HIDDEN FACE OF FEAR analyzes how our brains, on both a conscious and unconscious level, mentally process and physiologically respond to fear and anxiety, especially through a region of the brain called the amygdala, describes the social mechanisms of learning fear, coping strategies for dealing with fear, and explains how disorders such as post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can be treated.
The film features interviews with some of the world's leading experts on fear and memory, including neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux, Nobel Prize-winning neurobiologist Eric R. Kandel, neuropsychiatrist David Silbersweig, and other psychologists and neuroscientists at New York University's Center for the Neuroscience of Fear and Anxiety.
Through profiles of several New Yorkers being treated for PTSD and panic disorder, THE HIDDEN FACE OF FEAR reveals the traumatic impact of 9/ll and how the brain's fear circuitry might be modified through the combined efforts of psychologists and neuroscientists.
★★★ “A fascinating glimpse into a challenging aspect of neuroscience studies. Recommended.” —P. Hall, Video Librarian
Grand Jury Award, Best Italian Documentary, 2009 Rome Docscient Festival
Milan Vedere la Scienza Festival 2008 Giornate Europee del Cinema e dell'Audiovisivo
2008 DocOuest: Rencontres documentaires
2008 Pariscience: Paris International Science Film Festival
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Aurora Clark, an associate professor of chemistry at Washington State University, has adapted Google's PageRank software to create moleculaRnetworks, which scientists can use to determine molecular shapes and chemical reactions without the expense, logistics and occasional danger of lab experiments.
"What's most cool about this work is we can take technology from a totally separate realm of science, computer science, and apply it to understanding our natural world," says Clark.
Clark and colleagues from the University of Arizona discuss the software in a recent online article in The Journal of Computational Chemistry. Their work is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's Basic Energy Sciences program.
The software focuses on hydrogen bonds in water, earth's most abundant solvent and a major player in most every biological process.
In living things, water can perform key functions like helping proteins fold or organizing itself around the things it dissolves so molecules stay apart in a fluid state. But the processes are dazzlingly complex, changing in fractions of a second and in myriad possible forms.
Much like the trillion-plus Web domains on the Internet.
Google's PageRank software, developed by its founders at Stanford University, uses an algorithm—a set of mathematical formulas—to measure and prioritize the relevance of various Web pages to a user's search. Clark and her colleagues realized that the interactions between molecules are a lot like links between Web pages. Some links between some molecules will be stronger and more likely than others.
"So the same algorithm that is used to understand how Web pages are connected can be used to understand how molecules interact," says Clark.
The PageRank algorithm is particularly efficient because it can look at a massive amount of the Web at once. Similarly, it can quickly characterize the interactions of millions of molecules and help researchers predict how various chemicals will react with one another.
Ultimately, researchers can use the software to design drugs, investigate the roles of misfolded proteins in disease and analyze radioactive pollutants, Clark says.
"Computational chemistry is becoming the third leg in the stool of chemistry," the other two being experimental and analytical chemistry, says Clark. "You can call it the ultimate green chemistry. We don't produce any waste. No one gets exposed to anything harmful."
Clark, who uses Pacific Northwest National Laboratories supercomputers and a computer cluster on WSU's Pullman campus, specializes in the remediation and separation of radioactive materials. With computational chemistry and her Google-based software, she says, she "can learn about all those really nasty things without ever touching them."
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NEW YORK (AP) -- There is wonder in numbers, and the curators of a new museum in New York City hope to prove it.
The National Museum of Mathematics opened to the public Saturday in Manhattan.
The museum is aimed at kids aged 8 to 13, and curators have given the place a playground feel.
The 40 exhibits include a "wall of fire" made up of laser lights that teaches kids about geometry and a square-wheeled tricycle that still manages to produce a smooth ride thanks to a wavy track.
Founder Glen Whitney says the idea is to show people the "fun, beautiful" things done with mathematics.
The museum occupies the first two floors of an office tower across from Madison Square Park.
Tickets are $15 for adults and $9 for children.
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Sankt Wendel is a Kreis (district) in the north of the Saarland, Germany. Neighboring districts are Trier-Saarburg, Birkenfeld, Kusel, Neunkirchen, Saarlouis, and Merzig-Wadern.
The district was created in 1834 when Prussia bought the Lichtenberg area from Saxony-Coburg. After the World War I, the Saar area came under special rulership of the League of Nations, and thus the Sankt Wendel district was split into two parts. The northern part, the Restkreis Sankt Wendel, was merged into the district Birkenfeld, the southern part stayed in the Saarland in its reduced size.
The district is located in the Saar-Hunsrück natural area, a hilly area with elevations between 200 and 600 meters. The main river in the district is the Nahe. The Bostalsee is the biggest tourist lake in the south-west of Germany, covering an area of about 1.2 km².
Coat of arms
||The blue lion represents the counts of Veldenz, a branch of the Wittelsbach family. The silver lion is taken from Nassau-Saarbrücken. The two counties had the most important possessions in the districts. The shield in the middle show a fleur-de-lis taken from the city Sankt Wendel, in the colours taken from the Lorraine.
Towns and municipalities
Media related to Landkreis Sankt Wendel at Wikimedia Commons
Coordinates: 49°30′N 7°10′E / 49.5°N 7.17°E
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BRITISH COLONIAL style has become very popular in the last few years; mahogany furnishings, tropical prints, bamboo and rattan, and such design elements as monkeys, palm trees, ticking stripes, leather and wicker have invaded our homes. However, many consumers have no idea what British Colonial style is, or where it came from. Yet this style has an interesting story to tell.
At one time, about a hundred and fifty years ago, the saying was that “the sun never set on the British Empire.” Under Queen Victoria, the British colonized the world, from India to the West Indies and many places between. Stationed overseas for years, British citizens melded the traditional furnishings from home with the craftsmanship of the locals they governed. Local customs and weather also influenced elements of the style. The Victorians were inveterate collectors; they returned to England with many of the things they had acquired, bringing wicker and bamboo furnishings, Chinese porcelain and rugs to the great houses back home. Explorers and botanists, hired by the queen, collected samples and published prints of the exotic plants and animals they found. A collection that spanned the globe demonstrated the wealth and well-traveled sophistication of the returned expatriate.
Some furnishings were created specifically for travel. Called campaign furniture, these pieces often folded up into trunks or broke down into pieces to be easily packed and moved. Officers’ tents were furnished with beautiful collapsible bed frames, folding mahogany chairs, and writing tables and liquor cabinets installed into steamer trunks. Many trunks had fitted interiors to hold china, glass and silver. Collapsible cups were made of metal or cow’s horn. In the days before paper plates and cups, workaday items were often made of sturdy pewter, shell, bone and tortoiseshell. While original examples of these pieces are expensive today, many are being reproduced and make interesting, even whimsical, additions to our homes. Look for cups made of horn, silver with bone handles, tortoise patterned glass, leather-bound books and letter-writing boxes. They bring to mind the romance of travel, and the leisurely pursuits we have all but abandoned, such as letter-writing and cocktails at sunset.
British expatriates were influenced by the climate and customs of the places they visited, too. The word bungalow, for instance, is an Indian word for a small one and a half story mountain house the wealthier class in India used to escape the summer heat. They had peaked roofs, heavy beams, and porches to catch the breeze. Imported back to England, the bungalow style was perfect for cottages by the sea. When it migrated to America at the end of the nineteenth century, the bungalow was adopted as the perfect small family home. Who would have thought that the quintessential American home actually originated in India? Today the idea of the bungalow conjures up images of summers at the shore, or the charm of sitting on the front porch.
The English also adopted fabrics, such as lighter cottons and linens, in the tropical places they were grown. Curtains of linen were made with ties at the top, so they could be tied to the tent frames to create rooms within the campaign tents, and easily removed for packing. Linen or mattress ticking slipcovers covered the heavy furnishings and protected them from the dust that filtered in through open windows in the heat. Interiors in the tropics were light and airy, punctuated by the occasional floral chintz or mahogany chest from England; linen and cotton clothing replaced wool. Look at the interiors and costumes in the film “Out of Africa” and you’ll really see the style. If you truly want a British Colonial or West Indies style interior, keep in mind that they didn’t have heavy chenille fabrics or the massively oversized furniture we have today. Furniture was small scale, slipcovers were often used, and dark persian rugs were often replaced by more tribal designs such as kilims, or by sisal and seagrass matting. Mosquito netting draped around beds, and bamboo shades often covered windows. You might see a selection of fabrics like these:
On the islands, traditional British furnishings were initially imported; pattern books were also brought, and local craftsmen commissioned to copy the European style furnishings in local woods. Mahogany was commonly used and the earliest colonial antiques can be spotted by their use of the largest, oldest boards as the virgin forests were cut in the New World. Honduran, West Indian, and Barbadian craftsmen, not being as highly trained, simplified the English furnishings to create the less ornate pieces we know today as British Colonial style. Interiors on the islands often adopted the local use of bright color, so it is not uncommon in a historic tropical home to see bright coral or cobalt blue walls setting off the mahogany furniture. This look has also been referred to as West Indian style. It incorporates a much more casual look, perhaps with pine flooring, grass matting, and large bright tropical printed fabrics on the furniture, with the colonial mahogany pieces dominating each room. Fabrics printed for the English marketplace, with a tropical flair, complete the look:
As you can see, British Colonial style encompasses a wide range of design elements and furnishings, from the Caribbean to the Far East, India, Africa and even Hong Kong. All share the influence of far-flung places conquered by the British as they marched around the globe – importing their culture and shipping exotic finds home. It appeals to our sense of the exotic, of adventure, and of romance — a home decorated in the true British Colonial style adds an air of romance and sophistication to today’s casual lifestyle. You can find out more about this interesting style in these books:
© March 2004 Kerry Ann Dame; may not be reproduced without permission.
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By Nina Chestney
LONDON (Reuters) - There will be an unexpected sight high in the skies over the British county of Norfolk next month: a huge balloon attached to the ground by a giant hosepipe.
It isn't obvious, but it is the first small step in an experiment which aims to re-create the cooling effect of erupting volcanoes on the earth's atmosphere.
Scientists and engineers from the universities of Bristol, Cambridge and Oxford are behind the three-year 1.6 million pound
($2.5 million) project called Stratospheric Particle Injection for Climate Engineering (SPICE).
The scheme will assess the feasibility of so-called solar radiation management (SRM) by mimicking volcanoes when they erupt. Eruptions can both warm and cool the Earth's climate, depending on how sunlight interacts with volcanic material.
SRM works on the assumption that some eruptions expel particles into the upper atmosphere, bouncing some of the sun's energy back into space and thereby cooling the earth.
"In 1991, a large eruption at Mount Pinatubo injected around 18 million tonnes of SO2 (sulphur oxide) to a 30-km altitude," project leader Matt Watson told reporters.
"That had the effect of cooling the global climate by around half a degree over two years."
KILOMETRES OF HOSEPIPE
Next month's experiment, to be held at a disused airfield in Sculthorpe in north Norfolk, will pump water through a 1-km hosepipe into an air balloon to test the engineering design and the effects of wind.
If there are no hiccups, the team aims to do more 1-km tests next year. It will also work on calculating and designing a potential full-scale balloon project, which would pump sulphates and aerosol particles instead of water.
That would require a 20-km pipe strong enough to pump sulphates to a balloon the size of Wembley football stadium -- at twice the height of a commercial aircraft flight.
However, the size of the balloon and strength of the pipe required are serious engineering challenges.
"Even manufacturing a hose 1 km in length is a challenge, but we are talking about a hose stronger than any built before," said Chris Walton, SPICE project trials advisor.
Some countries are exploring geo-engineering solutions as a way to control climate change by cutting the amount of sunlight hitting the earth or by capturing greenhouse gases.
Potential schemes include using artificial trees to soak up carbon dioxide, using mirrors in space to cut the amount of sunlight reaching the earth or capturing CO2 from power stations and burying it under ground.
Supporters say such solutions could be a relatively fast way to control the climate if there was an abrupt change, such as the sudden loss of Arctic ice.
Detractors say the impact of mimicking or manipulating nature on a large scale is not yet fully known and such projects might deflect resources and attention from proven technologies.
Most of these solutions are still far from being established at large scale.
"With strong government support and in an emergency situation...the fastest we could deploy this system is two decades," Watson told Reuters, adding that a minimum 10 to 20 balloons globally would be needed to reduce atmospheric temperature by 2 degrees.
(Editing by William Hardy)
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Compound Fractions Help
Remember what a fraction is—the division of the numerator by the denominator. For example, is another way of saying “15 ÷ 3.” A compound fraction, a fraction where the numerator or denominator or both are not whole numbers, is merely a fraction division problem. For this reason this section is almost the same as the section on fraction division.
Compound Fractions Practice Problems
Practice problems for this concept can be found at: Algebra Fractions Practice Test.
Add your own comment
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1 August 2006
Ethernet arose from Aloha Net
By John Rinaldi and Perry Marshall
Ethernet is the worldwide de facto standard for linking computers together.
Ethernet connects hundreds of millions of computers and smart devices across buildings, campuses, cities, and countries. Cables and hardware are widely available and inexpensive (dirt cheap in the case of ordinary office-grade products), and software is written for almost every computing platform.
Ethernet is now a hot topic in automation, where industry-specific networks have dominated: Profibus, DeviceNet, Modbus, Modbus Plus, Remote I/O, Genius I/O, Data Highway Plus, Foundation fieldbus, and numerous serial protocols over the electrical standards of EIA RS-232, RS-422, and RS-485.
In some cases, Ethernet is displacing these networks. In nearly all cases, Ethernet works in demanding installations alongside them.
Ethernet originated at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center in the mid-1970s. The basic philosophy was any station could send a message at any time, and the recipient had to acknowledge successful receipt of the message.
It was successful, and in 1980, the DIX Consortium (Digital Equipment Corp., Intel, and Xerox) formed and issued a specification. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) took it over and in 1983 issued the Carrier Sense, Multiple Access/Collision Detect (CSMA/CD) specification, their stamp of approval on the technology.
Ethernet has since evolved under IEEE to encompass a variety of standards for copper, fiber, and wireless transmission at multiple data rates.
Ethernet is an excellent transmission medium for data, but by itself falls short of offering a complete solution. A network protocol is also necessary to make it truly useful, and what has evolved alongside of Ethernet is TCP/IP.
From both a historical view as well as in today’s industrial world, the TCP/IP plus Ethernet marriage is a key combination, without which, neither would have survived.
The many formats and nomenclature of Ethernet cabling is a rather unfriendly shorthand terminology. IEEE’s Ethernet naming convention works like this:
The first number (10, 100, 1000) indicates the transmission speed in megabits per second.
The second term indicates transmission type: BASE = baseband, BROAD = broadband.
The last number indicates segment length. A 5 means a 500-meter segment length from original Thicknet.
In the newer standards, IEEE used letters rather than numbers. The T in 10BASE-T means Unshielded Twisted- Pair cables. The T4 in 100BASE-T4 indicates four pairs of Unshielded Twisted-Pair cables.
Packet communications key
During the 1970s, a Harvard graduate student named Robert Metcalfe read a paper about something called Aloha Net. It was a radio system used in the Hawaiian Islands to send small messages, also called data packets, between islands.
A key feature of this network was anyone could send messages at any time. If no acknowledgement as to receipt came, the message would retransmit.
Metcalfe reasoned correctly that with some mathematical enhancements to the system, the efficiency of the Aloha Net could drastically improve.
The packet communications network he designed became the worldwide standard we know today as Ethernet. It is also IEEE Standard 802.3; it retains today the elegance and simplicity of the original Aloha Net.
Above is a simplified diagram of the contents of an Ethernet packet. It contains two address fields, some data, and a field that verifies correct reception of the packet.
The first two fields are unique 48-bit addresses of the sending computer and the destination computer. These addresses are not the familiar 192.168.0.10 type addresses we often see but are addresses assigned by the manufacturers of the physical Ethernet cards.
Every manufacturer producing Ethernet hardware has, by assignment, a series of 48-bit addresses.
Known as the Media Access Control (MAC) address, the manufacturers of Ethernet interface cards must ensure they use only the addresses in their series and use it only once. That way, no two computers in the world can have the same address.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
John Rinaldi (jsr@rtaautomation. com) is the president of Real Time Automation. Perry Marshall (info@ perrymarshall.com) is a networking consultant. They wrote the handbook Industrial Ethernet, ISA Press, 2005.
Baseband is a transmission method in which the entire bandwidth (the rate at which information travels through a network connection) is used to transmit just one signal. Baseband is a cheaper method than broadband and is typically used for shorter distances of transmission.
Broadband refers to data transmission where multiple pieces of data transmit simultaneously to increase the effective rate of transmission. In network engineering, it is where two or more signals share a medium.
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American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A large mongoose (Herpestes ichneumon) of Africa and southern Europe, having a gray coat and black tail tufts. Also called Egyptian mongoose.
- n. The ichneumon fly.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A carnivorous mammal, a kind of mungoose (Viverra ichneumon of Linnæus, now known as Herpestes ichneumon), found in Egypt, belonging to the subfamily Herpestinæ and family Viverridæ. It is of slender form, somewhat like that of the weasel tribe. The body is about 19 inches long, and of a grizzled brownish and yellowish color, due to the annulation of the hairs with different shades; the muzzle and paws are black, and the tail is tufted. It feeds on various small mammals, reptiles, or other animals, and has long been noted for devouring crocodiles’ eggs, on which account it was held in great regard by the Egyptians. It is easily domesticated, and is useful in destroying vermin. Also called
- n. [capitalized] A genus of herpestine viverrine mammals, containing the species I. pharaonis. See Herpestes.
- n. In entomology:
- n. [capitalized] A Linnean genus of hymenopterous insects, formerly including most of the pupivorous or parasitic hymenopters, now restricted to certain species of ichneumon-flies which are regarded as typical of the genuine Ichneumonidæ.
- n. A species of the genus Ichneumon or family Ichneumonidæ; an ichneumon-fly; a cuckoo-fly.
- n. The Egyptian mongoose, Herpestes ichneumon, found in Africa and southern Europe.
- n. The ichneumon wasp.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Zoöl.) Any carnivorous mammal of the genus Herpestes, and family
Viverridæ. Numerous species are found in Asia and Africa. The Egyptian species (Herpestes ichneumon), which ranges to Spain and Palestine, is noted for destroying the eggs and young of the crocodile as well as various snakes and lizards, and hence was considered sacred by the ancient Egyptians. The common species of India (Herpestes griseus), known as the mongoose, has similar habits and is often domesticated. It is noted for killing the cobra.
- n. (Zoöl.) Any hymenopterous insect of the family
Ichneumonidæ, of which several thousand species are known, belonging to numerous genera.
- n. northern African mongoose; in ancient times thought to devour crocodile eggs
- From Latin ichneumon, from Ancient Greek ἰχνεύμων (ikhneúmōn, "tracker")’, from ἴχνος (íkhnos, "track, footstep"). (Wiktionary)
- Latin ichneumōn, weasel, ichneumon fly, from Greek ikhneumōn, from ikhneuein, to track, from ikhnos, track. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
“Now, _why_ should not the gray Indian mongoose (formerly called the ichneumon, _ (Herpestes griscus_)) destroy poultry in India, as it does elsewhere?”
“And when the hydrus, which is a kind of ichneumon, perceives this, it penetrates into its mouth, which the bird has caused to open, and descends into its stomach, where it devours its entrails, and then comes forth again.”
“Go back to Aristotle, and we may listen to him again while he talks of many other kindred insects: of the humble-bee and its kind, of the mason-bee with its hard round nest of clay, of the robber-bees, and of the various wasps and hornets; or (still more curiously and unexpectedly) of the hunter-wasp or 'ichneumon', and how it kills the spider, carries it home to its nest, and lays its eggs in its poor body, that the little wasp-grubs may afterwards be fed.”
The Legacy of Greece Essays By: Gilbert Murray, W. R. Inge, J. Burnet, Sir T. L. Heath, D'arcy W. Thompson, Charles Singer, R. W. Livingston, A. Toynbee, A. E. Zimmern, Percy Gardner, Sir Reginald Blomfield
“They say there is no creature in nature, however seemingly malign, which doesn't have a benign impact somewhere the ichneumon wasp would seem to come close.”
“The ichneumon fly, for example, uses spiders and aphids to host its young.”
“The legendary cruelty of ichneumon wasps also the related digger wasps and tarantula wasps is a leitmotif which will recur in the final two chapters of the book.”
“This may be a misunderstanding of the mythical conflict between the sun god Ra in the form of an ichneumon and Apophis in the form of a crocodile or a snake. see link.”
“The ichneumon fly is parasitic in the living bodies of caterpillars and the larvae of other insects.”
“Of the larger mammals there are large populations of wild boar Sus scrofa, and introduced wild water buffalo Bubalus bubalis; also a number of crested porcupine Hystrix cristata (LR), jackal canis aurea, genet Genetta genetta, Egyptian mongoose Herpestes ichneumon, wild cat Felis sylvestris lybica; and four species of bat.”
“Marsh (Atilax paludinosus) and large grey mongoose (Herpestes ichneumon), as well as the spotted-necked (Lutra maculicollis) and Cape clawless otter (Aonyx capensis) inhabit the river courses and valleys of the ecoregion, although the Cape clawless otter often wanders far from permanent waters in search of new feeding grounds.”
These user-created lists contain the word ‘ichneumon’.
brutal and hideou..., a hoarse and inhu..., an extraordinary ..., we hear nothing o..., idiot of the cret..., wild men and beas..., wrinkled-faced ol..., man-crocodiles, the grotesqueness..., the heinous sin o..., a maiden tribute ..., ichneumon and 16 more...
Bizarre stuff found there. Note that archaic terms are occasionally not spelled the way we spell them today; in these cases I've tried to link to the modernized spelling (where known) on the word p...
An excerpt from Jubilate Agno, written by Christopher Smart between 1759 and 1763 during his confinement for "lunacy" at St. Luke's Hospital in Bethnal Green, London.
For I will...
Words gathered while reading Speak, Memory by Vladimir Nabokov.
Looking for tweets for ichneumon.
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A recent meta-analysis by Roberts, Walton and Viechtbauer published in Psychological Bulletin demonstrate that personality traits change over time. Some things that change over time includes our social interactions, they find, as well as our emotional stability. It would be most interesting to see how these findings relate to our normal sense of self, i.e. our feeling that we are the same person over time.
Here is the abstract:
Patterns of mean-level change in personality traits across the life course: a meta-analysis of longitudinal studies.
Roberts BW, Walton KE, Viechtbauer W in Psychol Bull. 2006 Jan ; 132(1): 1-25
The present study used meta-analytic techniques (number of samples = 92) to determine the patterns of mean-level change in personality traits across the life course. Results showed that people increase in measures of social dominance (a facet of extraversion), conscientiousness, and emotional stability, especially in young adulthood (age 20 to 40). In contrast, people increase on measures of social vitality (a 2nd facet of extraversion) and openness in adolescence but then decrease in both of these domains in old age. Agreeableness changed only in old age. Of the 6 trait categories, 4 demonstrated significant change in middle and old age. Gender and attrition had minimal effects on change, whereas longer studies and studies based on younger cohorts showed greater change. ((c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).
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He replied next day, refusing to receive them.
Dec. 31.—South Carolina adopted an oath of
abjuration and allegiance, and sent Commission
ers to tho other Slave States, with a view to the
formation of a Southern Confederacy.
Jan. 2, 1861.—Governor Ellis, of North Caroli
na, took possession of Fort Macon, at Beaufort,
the works at Wilmington, and the United States
Arsenal at Fayotteville Georgia troops in pos
session of Forts Pulaski and Jackson, and the
United States Arsenal at Savannah.
Jan. 3.—Florida State Contention met at Tal
lahassee South Carolina Commissioners wrote
an insulting letter to the President, and went
Jan. 4.—Fast-day, by proclamation of the Pres
ident : it was generally observed in the Free and
the Border Slave States, but disregarded in the
South Fort Morgan, at the mouth of Mobile
Bay, and the United States Arsenal in Mobile,
seized by order of Governor Moore, of Alabama
South Carolina"Convention appointed seven
delegates to " the General Congress of the Se
Jan. s.—Steamer Star of the West sailed from
New York with supplies and reinforcements for
Fort Sumter Governor Hicks, of Maryland,
published a strong Union address to the people
South Carolina Convention adjourned, sub
ject to a call by the Governor.
Jan. 7. —Meeting of the Alabama State Conven
tion Meeting of the Mississippi State Conven
tion Meeting of the Tennessee Legislature......
Meeting of tho Virginia Legislature Senator
Toombs, of Georgia, made a violent Secession
speech in the Senate.
Jan. B.—Jacob Thompson, Secretary of the
Interior, resigned, after treacherously betraying
the sailing of the Star of the West to reinforce
Jan. 9.—Star of tbe West rr~ Charleston,
and was fired upon and drtVen back to sea by
rebel batteries Mississippi Convention passed
a Secession ordinance, 84 to 15.
Jan. 10. —Florida Secession ordinance passed,
62 to 7.
Jan. 11.—Alabama Secession ordinance passed,
61 to 39 Philip F. Thomas, Secretary of the
Treasury, resigned, and John A. Dix, of New
York, appointed in his place United States
Arsenal at Baton Rouge, Forts Philip and Jack
son, below New Orleans, and Fort Pickens, on
Lake Pontchartrain, seized by order of the Gov
ernor of Louisiana Legislature of New York
voted to tender the whole military power of the
State to the President for the support of the Con
Jan. 13.—Virginia State Legislature adopted
the bill calling a State Convention Commo
dore Armstrong surrendered the Pensacola Navy
Yard, and Fort Farrancas, to the Florida troops;
Lieutenant Slemmer, in command of Fort Pick
ens, refused to obey Armstrong's order, and
saved that important fortress to the Union.
Jan. 14.—South Carolina Legislature declared
that any attempt to reinforce Fort Sumter would
be an act of war.
Jan. 16.—The Crittenden Compromise practi
cally voted down in the United States Senate, by
the adoption of Mr. Clark's substitute, that the
Constitution is good enough, and Secession ought
to be put down Arkansas Legislature voted
to have a Convention Missouri Legislature
voted to hold a Convention Major-General
Sandford, of New York City, tenderecfto the
President the services of the First Division of
7,000 men ior any service which may be re
quired Colonel Hayne, iv tbe name of Gov
ernor Pickens, demanded of the President the
surrender of Fort Sumter; the President refused
to receive him in any official capacity.
Jan. 18.—Massachusetts Legislature tendered
to the President all the power of the State to sup
port the Federal Government Virginia Legis
lature appropriated $1,000,000 for the defense of
Jan. 19.—Georgia Secession ordinance adopted,
208 to 89; Alexander H. Stephens and Herschel
V. Johnson voted in the negative Tennessee
Legislature called a State Convention.
Jan. 21.—Alabama members of Congress re
signed Jefferson Davis took leave of the
Senate, in consequence of the secession of his
Jan. 22.—Sherrard Clemens, of Virginia, made
a strong Union speech in Congress.
Jan. 23.—Georgia members of Congress re
signed Emerson Etheridge, of Tennessee, in
a speech in Congress, declared Secession to be
rebellion, and to be put down at any cost.
Jan. 24.—Arsenal at Augusta, Georgia, seized
by the State.
Jan. 25.—Correspondence between Governor
Brown, of Georgia, and Mayor Wood of New
York, about seizure of arms by tho New York
police Rhode Island Legislature repealed the
Personal Liberty bill.
Jan. 26.—Louisiana Convention adopted a Se
cession ordinance, 113 to 17.
Jan. 28.—Texas State Convention met at Aus
Jan. 30.—North Carolina Legislature submitted
the Convention question to a vote of the people
—the first recognition in all the South that the
people had any right to a voice in the matter
Ex-Secretary Floyd indicted by a Grand Jury
for malfeasance and conspiracy Revenue
cutters Cass, Captain J. J. Mo»*»»w>n 4 a_<_ McClel
land, Captain Breshwood, surrendered to the
Louisiana authorities by their commanders.
Feb. I.—Mint and Custom House at New Or
leans seized by tho State authorities Texas
Convention passed a Secession ordinance, 166 to
7, subject to a vote of tho people.
Feb. 4.—The Rebel Delegates mot at Montgom
ery, Alabama, to organize a confederate govern
ment—Ho well Cobb was_hosen chairman The
Peace Congress met at Washington, ex-President
Feb. B.—Colonel Hayne, commissioner from
South Carolina, unable to get recognition, finally
left Washington The Montgomery Convention
adopted a Provisional Constitution Governor
Brown, of Georgia, seized New York ships in
Savannah Harbor, in retaliation for the seizure
of arms in New York. The ships were released
on the 10th Little Rock Arsenal surrendered
Feb. 9.—Jefferson Davis and Alexander H.
Stephens elected Provisional President and Vice
President at Montgomery.
Feb. 11.—President Lincoln started for Wash
Feb. 13.—Electoral vote counted—Lincoln and
Hamlin officially declared elected.
Feb. 18.—Jefferson Davis inaugurated Presi
dent of the Confederate States of America.
Feb. 19.—Enthusiastic reception of President
Lincoln in New York City Fort Kearney,
Kansas, taken by the Secessionists; soon after
Feb. 21.—Jeff. Davis appointed his Cabinet —
Toombs, Sec. State ; Memminger, Treasury, and
L. P. Walker, War Governor of Georgia made
another seizure of New York vessels.
Fob. 22.—President Lincoln's night journey
from Harrisburg to Washington, in order to pre
vent an anticipated outrage in Baltimore.
Feb. 25. —News received of the surrender and
treason of Major-General Twiggs in Texas.
Feb. 26.—Captain Hill refused to surrender
Fort Brown, Texas, under Twiggs's order.
Feb. 27.—Peace Congress submitted to the
Senate their Plan of Pacification.
Feb. 28.—Vote on Corwin's report from th*
committee of 33 :—the resolutions-adopted—l3f
March I.—General Twiggs expellod from thfr
March 2.—Revenue cutter Dodge surrendered
to the Rebels at Galveston.
March 4. —Inauguration of Pres't Lincoln
Texas State Convention declared that State out
of the Union.
March s.—General Beauregard ordered to take
command of the rebels at Charleston.
March 6. —Fort Brown surrendered by special
March 18.—Supplies cut off from Fort Pickens,
March 22.—Dr. Fox, of the Navy, visited
Major Anderson, as special messenger of Gov
March 25.—Colonel Lamon, Government mes
senger, had an interview with Governor Pickens
and General Beauregard.
March 28.—Vote of Louisiana on Secession
published—For, 20,448; Against, 17,296.
March 30.—Mississippi Convention ratified the
Confederate Constitution—7B to 7.
April 3.—Long Cabinet meeting on Fort Sum
ter business Great activity in the Navy De
partment Rebel battery on Morris Island fired
into a schooner—nobody hurt South Carolina
Convention ratified the Confederate Constitution
April 4. —Virginia Convention refused, 89 to
45, to submit a Secession ordinance to th«
April 7.—General Beauregard notified Major
Anderson that intercourse between Fort Sumter
and the city would no longer be permitted
Steam transport Atlantic sailed from New York
with troops and supplies.
April 8. —Official notification given that sup
plies would be sent to Major Anderson, by force
—if necessary State Department declined to
recognizo the Confederate States Commissioners.
April 9.—Steamers Illinois and Baltic sailed
from New York with sealed orders.
April 10.—Floating battery of the rebels at
Charleston finished and mounted Large
numbers of troops sent to the various fortifica
April 11.—Fears of the seizure of Washington.
Troops posted in the Capitol—oath of fidelity ad
ministered to the men Confederate Commis
sioners left Washington, satisfied that no recog
nition of their government would take place
under President Lincoln Beauregard demands
of Major Anderson the surrender of Fort Sum
ter. Tho Major declined Bids for Treasury
Notes opened—whole amount taken at a premi
Aril 12.— Actual Commencement of War.—Bom
bardment of Fort Sumter began at 4.30 a. m.,
and continued all day ; partially suspended at
nightfall. Tho rebels had in action 17 mortars,
and 30 large guns, mostty columbiads. The reb
els fired at intervals all night; Sumter was si
lent Pennsylvania Legislature voted $5.0,000
to arm the State Fort Pickens reinforced.
[continued next week.]
xml | txt
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|
en
| 0.867207
| 2,250
| 2.671875
| 3
|
Ernest Friedrich Schumacher’s essay “Buddhist Economics” was first published in 1966 in the book ASIA: A HANDBOOK. In 1973 it was included in Schumacher’s book SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL: ECONOMICS AS IF PEOPLE MATTERED. This 47 year old essay jewel contains much wisdom for how we need to refocus our economy if we want to have a healthy and prosperous world. What follows are some of the core concepts from the essay.
We need to admit that our current economic system based on unlimited exponential growth on a finite planet has reached the end of its useful life, and that it continued use is causing serious problems for our State and our Planet.
We need to revise our view of work to see that its true value comes from the following three functions:
1. allowing people to utilize and develop all their skills and talents;
2. enable them to overcome ego-centeredness by joining together with other people in a common task;
3. and to bring forth the goods and services needed for our communities to thrive.
We need to realize that using local resources to satisfy local needs is to most efficient way to a sustainable future.
We need to adopt an environmental ethic where we no longer view our “natural resources” as simply means to create more goods and services - and instead start to embrace the reality that we are completely dependent on and part of the ecosystems that sustain us.
We need to significantly reduce our energy consumption, phase out the use of non-renewable energy sources and transition to the use of renewable energy sources.
These five ideas will go a long way in guiding us to a sustainable future.
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://ecologicalleadership.blogspot.com/2013/01/buddhist-economics.html
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en
| 0.947264
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| 2.609375
| 3
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Pesticide drift is all too common in places where agricultural and residential areas intersect.
Even the most careful, responsible pesticide sprayer cannot control what happens to pesticide droplets once they are released from his plane or tractor. And when conditions are right, these droplets can end up settling on someone’s yard, on another farmer’s crops, or on the skin of someone who happens to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. This type of drift - when a pesticide application misses it’s target - is called spray drift and is what most people think about when they hear the phrase “pesticide drift.” It’s common, it’s dangerous, and it’s what existing regulations try to prevent.
95% - 98% of applied pesticides miss their target, reaching nearby people and wildlife, waterways, soil and air.Source: Miller GT (2004), Sustaining the Earth, 6th edition. Thompson Learning, Inc. Pacific Grove, California. Chapter 9, Pages 211-216.
Another kind of drift that’s also common and dangerous, but largely ignored is called volatilization drift. This type of drift happens when pesticides slowly evaporate into the air from out of the soil or off of a crop after application, and it can take place for several days following an application.
Fighting pesticide drift has been one of PAN’s main areas of focus for the last several years. The EPA's December 2009 recognition and investigation of volatilization drift is a direct result of our field work and advocacy.
Spray drift is an ongoing problem wherever pesticides are used—in agriculture, in forestry, and even in homes and gardens. Sometimes the spray drift blows in from some distance away. Other times people are sprayed directly, like when a reckless applicator fails to turns off his sprayer when he reaches the edge of the field.
Spray drift doesn’t need to settle directly on people to do damage. Children can be exposed to pesticides when playing in a field or on a playground that has been previously drifted on. We thought the tractor wouldn’t get us, but it did... My head hurt, I wanted to throw up. - Nancy Lada, 10-year-old drift victim And around the country, agricultural commissioners and state departments of agriculture routinely investigate cases of crop damage, in which a grower’s crops are harmed or even ruined because a crop duster sprayed the wrong field, or pesticide mist drifted in from a neighbor. Organic growers are particularly susceptible since any pesticide contamination can make their crop unsellable and jeopardize their certification.
While less recognized than spray drift, volatilization drift is no less dangerous. Volatilization happens when a pesticide is applied to a field and then hours or even days later, the pesticide vaporizes from the surface of plants or out of the soil, and that invisible vapor cloud moves offsite.
Fumigant pesticides are particularly prone to this type of drift, as these chemicals are often gases or very volatile liquids, and they are applied at very high rates (typically hundreds of pounds per acre). The fact that most fumigant pesticides are also extraordinarily toxic makes this problem even worse. Scarcely a year goes by without an incident in which dozens or even hundreds of people are made ill when a volatilized pesticide cloud drifts out of fumigated field.
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://www.panna.org/print/336?quicktabs_1=0
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en
| 0.950232
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| 3.21875
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Phosphates are minerals that are combined with phosphorus and oxygen. Apatite is common in various places in Kentucky.
Crystal system: hexagonal. Fracture: conchoidal. Color: red, brown, white. Hardness: 5.0. Luster: opaque or semitransparent. Specific gravity: 3.1.
Apatite, also called collophane, occurs in peridotites in eastern and western Kentucky. A microcrystalline variety of collophane found in central Kentucky is dark reddish brown, porous, and occurs in phosphatic beds, lenses, and nodules in the Tanglewood Member of the Lexington Limestone in northern Woodford County. Some fossils in the Tanglewood Member are coated with phosphate. Beds are generally very thin, but occasionally several feet thick. The Woodford County phosphate beds were mined during the early 1900's.
Crystal system: monoclinic. Color: blue. Hardness: 2. Specific gravity: 2.68. Vivianite commonly occurs in radiating small aggregates or earthy masses. It is rare, though () reported in Floyd County. It is possible that this mineral could occur in geodes, nodules, or fossil cavities in the phosphate beds of central Kentucky.
Crystal system: hexagonal. Cleavage: occurs in rounded or barrel-shaped crystals. Color: light green to brown. Hardness: 4. Specific gravity: 7.0.
Pyromorphite is a rare lead phosphate that can occur in oxidized lead deposits and has been reported at the Big Four Mines and Dike Eaton areas in the Western Kentucky Fluorspar District.
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://www.uky.edu/KGS/rocksmn/phosphates.htm
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|
en
| 0.938599
| 342
| 3.8125
| 4
|
Human capital: what it is and why people invest it
Jossey-Bass, 1999.03.19. - 251 oldal
Many companies say that their employees are their most important assets. Few do justice to the idea; fewer still understand that the worker-as-asset metaphor is outdated and misguided. Shifting labor markets have taught managers this lesson: as workers gain power in negotiating the terms of employment, they behave less like assets, and more like free-agent owners of investable capital. Their capital is the ability, behavior, effort, and time they contribute to a company. Like players in any market, they expect a healthy return on their investment. In Human Capital, author Thomas O. Davenport explores this worker-as-investor notion, describing what it means to both employer and employee. He explains how companies who treat workers as investors can attract, develop, and retain people who get so much value from the organization--and give so much back in return--that they create a competitive advantage. Davenport describes the practices of companies that recognize the importance of human capital and know how to build it and direct it to areas critical for marketplace success. Drawing from research and personal experience, he provides guidance for managers who must implement successful human capital programs. And individual employees who read the book will come away with ideas for getting the most out of work by cultivating their human capital and maximizing the return on its investment. The race for human capital has already begun. Companies who want to win must craft and deliver a return-on-investment array that attracts the most talented, creative, motivated workers in the market. Human Capital can help executives and managers build organizations worthy of investment by people whose human capital means the difference between success and failure in a competitive world.
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://books.google.hu/books?id=BUHtAAAAMAAJ&q=Cypress+Semiconductor&dq=related:ISBN0684850249&hl=hu&source=gbs_word_cloud_r&cad=6
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en
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Waste Forms Technology and Performance: Final Report (2011)Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board
Each report is produced by a committee of experts selected by the Academy to address a particular statement of task and is subject to a rigorous, independent peer review; while the reports represent views of the committee, they also are endorsed by the Academy. Learn more on our expert consensus reports.
The Department of Energy's Office of Environmental Management (DOE-EM) is responsible for cleaning up radioactive waste and environmental contamination resulting from five decades of nuclear weapons production and testing that are stored at over 100 sites across the United States. A major focus of this program involves the retrieval and processing of stored waste to reduce its volume and incorporate it into suitable waste forms to facilitate safe handling and disposal. Waste forms immobilize radioactive and hazardous constituents of wastes in a stable, solid matrix. This report was produced to assist DOE in making decisions for improving current methods for processing radioactive wastes and for selecting and fabricating waste forms for disposal.
The ultimate goal of DOE-EM is to protect human health; therefore, the report concludes that waste form development and selection decisions are best made in a risk-informed, systems context that considers: how the waste form will be produced; in what disposal environment it will be emplaced; and how the waste form will function with other barriers in the multi-barrier disposal system to protect public health. Because the scheduled cleanup program will not be completed for several decades, there is time for DOE-EM to use the many recent advances in waste form science and technology to guide future waste form selection decisions.
Identifying, developing, and utilizing state-of-the-art science and technology on waste forms will require that DOE: actively engage with governmental, academic, and industrial organizations that are researching, developing, and implementing these technologies; develop and/or expand intellectual capital, both within DOE-EM and in external contractor staff, to identify and transfer this knowledge and technology into the cleanup program; have access to appropriate resources.
- Two essential characteristics of waste forms govern their performance in disposal systems: (1) capacity for immobilizing radioactive or hazardous constituents; and (2) durability.
- On regulatory and legal factors: U.S. laws, regulations, and other government directives and Agreements under which DOE-EM operates are not all based on technical factors, and none establish specific requirements for waste form performance in disposal systems. Performance requirements have been established for disposal systems as a whole to meet human health-protection standards; however, waste forms are just one of several engineered barriers in such systems and do not have any subsystem performance requirements. The lack of waste form-specific performance requirements gives DOE-EM flexibility in selecting waste forms for immobilization and disposal of waste in consultation with regulators and other Agreement stakeholders.
- On scientific and technical factors: Scientific and technical considerations have underpinned some waste form selection decisions in the past. Looking forward, DOE-EM has substantial opportunities to use advances in waste form science and technology since these original decisions were made to guide future waste form selection decisions.
- On tests: Waste form tests are used for three purposes: (1) to ensure waste form production consistency; (2) to elucidate waste form release mechanisms; and (3) to measure waste form release rates under a range of conditions. Information on release mechanisms and rates can be used to model waste form behavior in near-field environments over time scales of interest for disposal (103 - 106 years). Tests have been developed and qualified for some waste form materials. There is a need to demonstrate the application of current tests to new waste forms if they are to be used in the DOE-EM cleanup program.
- On models: Models of waste form performance are used to estimate the long-term (103 - 106 years) behavior of waste forms in the near-field environment of disposal systems. There is a need to improve these models to capture the full complexity of waste form-near-field interactions.
- Opportunities exist to adapt more efficient waste form production methods to DOE-EM waste streams to reduce costs, expedite schedules, and reduce risks.
- Opportunities exist to develop new waste forms for immobilizing DOE-EM waste streams to reduce costs, expedite schedules, and reduce risks. For examples actinides and/or fission products could be immobilized in glass-ceramic materials; crystalline ceramics (e.g., pyrochlore, murataite, garnet, and apatite); metal-organic frameworks; and mesoporous materials.
- No single waste form is suitable for all EM waste streams or suitable for all disposal environments. Consequently, DOE-EM would benefit from having a "toolbox" of waste forms available for different waste streams and disposal environments. However, compatibility of the waste form with its intended disposal environment is not the only important consideration when making a selection decision, as explained in the following overarching findings.
- OVERARCHING FINDING 1: Waste forms are a central component of the DOE-EM waste management system whose ultimate goal is to protect public health. Consequently, waste form development and selection decisions are best made in a risk-informed systems context by considering, for example: how the waste form will be produced; what disposal environment it will be emplaced in; and how the waste form will function with other barriers in the multi-barrier disposal system to protect public health.
- OVERARCHING FINDING 2: Because the currently scheduled DOE-EM cleanup program will not be completed for several decades, there is time to advance and apply scientific understanding of waste form properties and behavior. Materials, processing technologies, and computational methods are under constant development; these developments could lead to improvements in current DOE-EM cleanup operations as well as new and innovative applications in future cleanup and nuclear fuel cycle programs.
- OVERARCHING RECOMMENDATION: DOE-EM should enhance its capabilities for identifying, developing where appropriate, and utilizing state-of-the-art science and technology on waste forms, waste form production processes, and waste form performance. This will require active engagement with governmental, academic, and industrial organizations that are researching, developing, and implementing these technologies; development and/or expansion of intellectual capital, both within DOE-EM and in external contractor staff, to identify and transfer this knowledge and technology into the cleanup program; appropriate resources to support these capabilities.
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Origin Of Species 2E Abridged Pa, by Darwin,Charles
- ISBN: 9780393978674 | 0393978672
- Cover: Textbook Paperback
- Copyright: 3/17/2002
$17.67 Save 4%!
New Copy: Usually Ships in 3-5 Business Days
$17.67 Save 33%!
Used Copy: Usually Ships in 3-5 Business Days
In The Origin of Species (1859) Darwin challenged many of the most deeply-held beliefs of the Western world. Arguing for a material, not divine, origin of species, he showed that new species are achieved by "natural selection." The Origin communicates the enthusiasm of original thinking in anopen, descriptive style, and Darwin's emphasis on the value of diversity speaks more strongly now than ever. As well as a stimulating introduction and detailed notes, this edition offers a register of the many writers referred to by Darwin in the text.
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://www.biggerbooks.com/origin-species-2e-abridged-2nd/bk/9780393978674
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en
| 0.843092
| 197
| 2.734375
| 3
|
America in the Age of the Titans
The Progressive Era and World War I
Publication Year: 1988
Detailing the events of the Progressive Era and World War I (1901-20), America in the Age of the Titans is the only interdisciplinary history covering this period currently available. The book contains the results of research into primary sources an drecent scholarship with an emphases on leading personalities and anecdotes about them. Sean Dennis Cashman's sequesl to America in the Gilded Age gives special attention to industry and inventions, and social and cultural history. He covers developments in science, technology, and industry; the Progressive movement and the presidencies of Theodore Roosevelt, immigration, the new woman, and labor, including the Industrial Workers of the World and the Great Red Scare; the transportation and communications revolution in radio and motion pictures; the cultural contribuation of artists, architects, and creatice writers; and America's foreign policies across the world. Written in a lively, accessible style with over sixty illustrations, this book is an excellent introduction to these momentous years. It provides an assessment of the contributions of the titans - political, scientific, and industrial.
Published by: NYU Press
Download PDF (197.5 KB)
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THIS BOOK is intended as a general, interdisciplinary history of the United States from the accession of Theodore Roosevelt to the presidency in 1901 to the rout of Woodrow Wilson's foreign policy in 1920. It charts the course of domestic...
Download PDF (1.0 MB)
THE UNITED STATES in the opening years of the twentieth century experienced an age of titans. The most significant were the three political giants of twentieth-century America, Presidents Theodore Roosevelt (1901-9), Woodrow Wilson (1913-21), and, after...
1. Inventing America: Expanding Industry
Download PDF (8.7 MB)
THE MOST spectacular building of the Pan American Exposition at Buffalo in the summer of 1901 was the central Electric Tower. It stood at the head of the Court of Fountains, rising 375 feet, "the high C of the entire architectural...
2. Bear Necessities: Theodore Roosevelt and the Square Deal
Download PDF (14.2 MB)
THEODORE ROOSEVELT'S accession to the presidency, albeit in tragic circumstances, signaled the end of the Gilded Age of 1865-1901 and the opening of the Progressive Era of 1901-17. It seemed that progress, whether in inventions...
3. The New Nationalism and the New Freedom: The Triumph of Woodrow Wilson
Download PDF (8.6 MB)
THE FRIENDSHIP of Roosevelt and Taft had determined the presidency for one term; their estrangement determined it for two. For some time the growing rift between Roosevelt and Taft had been deepening inexorably...
4. A Future out of the Past: The New Immigration
Download PDF (12.5 MB)
ON DECEMBER I0, 1910, the Metropolitan Opera gave the world premier of an opera by the most famous living Italian composer, Giacomo Puccini. The Girl of the Golden West was a romantic melodrama set in a gold-mining camp...
5. Labor in the Progressive Era
Download PDF (8.4 MB)
IN THE opening scene of his film The Bank, Charlie Chaplin demonstrated the gulf between capital and labor. He strode purposefully into a bank and across to the safe. Having carefully dialed the correct combination, he opened the door...
6. The New Woman
Download PDF (8.0 MB)
WHEN NORA slams the door of a doll's house shut at the end of Henrik Ibsen's play, the bang signals the advent of a new woman. The new, assertive woman of the rising middle class was not content to be toy or drudge to her husband...
7. History Written in Lightning: The Transportation Revolution of Henry Ford and the Wright Brothers
Download PDF (9.3 MB)
"HISTORY WRITTEN in lightning" was Woodrow Wilson's comment on D. W. Griffith's film, The Birth of a Nation (1915). His remark also rings true for the way science and technology were extending American industry and manufacturing...
8. Words Without Pictures; Pictures Without Words: Radio and Movies
Download PDF (10.4 MB)
RADIO BROADCASTING is the transmission and reception of communication signals made up of electromagnetic waves traveling through the air and used in programs broadcast for public information, education, and entertainment...
9. On the Rise: Architecture and Skyscrapers
Download PDF (10.1 MB)
THE DISTINCTIVE skyline of Manhattan with its towering skyscrapers has become a metaphor for modern American cities. The skyscraper itself, a tall building based on a steel frame, has become the most indigenous...
10. American Art Comes of Age and Goes to Pieces
Download PDF (9.7 MB)
CONFLICT BETWEEN old and new has been part of the very fabric of America, and the American worlds of art and literature in the twentieth century have been no exception. American painting and American literature...
11. Pacific Overtures? Imperialism and Realpolitik
Download PDF (7.7 MB)
ONE OF the clearest signs that the twentieth century would be the American century was the great overseas expansion of the United States. This was not simply a matter of acquiring land, whether as colonies, dependencies, or protectorates...
12. It's a Long Way to Tipperary: America and World War I
Download PDF (11.7 MB)
THE ASSASSINATION of Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro- Hungarian throne, by a Serbian nationalist in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia, on Sunday, June 28, 1914, led to a great war because the incident and its sequels...
13. The Lost Peace: The Eclipse of Woodrow Wilson
Download PDF (8.1 MB)
THE OMENS for an Allied victory were not good in 1917. Britain was being starved of food by submarines that were also destroying its ships. The French army launched an assault on the western front that failed and this led...
Download PDF (349.6 KB)
Download PDF (4.7 MB)
Download PDF (5.3 MB)
Page Count: 622
Publication Year: 1988
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://muse.jhu.edu/books/9780814723586
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en
| 0.866854
| 1,348
| 2.640625
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Mahaguthi, Craft With a Conscience markets the handicrafts of more than 1,000 Nepali artisans working in 150 workshops, through a network of three stores in Nepal and various fair trade organizations in Europe, Japan and North America. Most of the artisans are from remote and mountainous areas; among them 85 percent are women who use traditional craft skills while working in their own home. Mahaguthi's focus is to promote the well-being of artisans, to provide employment and to embrace and promote the principles of fair trade. Artisans receive medical and education allowances, paid leave and maternity leave. A significant portion of Mahaguthi's profit goes to Tulsi Mehar Mahila Ashram, a shelter home for women and children focusing on rehabilitation. Mahaguthi focuses on promoting microenterprises.
Mahaguthi's parent organization, Nepal Charkha Pracharak Gandhi Smarak Mahaguthi, meaning literally "the promotion of the spinning wheel and Gandhi Memorial Trust," was founded in 1926 with the objective of making the poor self-reliant, introducing community development and encouraging social reform. It was established to work with "untouchable" caste members. The founder was exiled to India and worked with Mahatma Gandhi before returning to Nepal to do rehabilitation work with women and their children. Mahaguthi began marketing crafts in 1984 to support a program for destitute women and children. Mahaguthi is a founding member of Fair Trade Group Nepal, member of International Fair Trade Association (IFAT) and of Asia Fair Trade Forum.
Ten Thousand Villages purchases ceramics, jewelry, wood carving, scarves, metal items and singing bowls from Mahaguthi. Ten Thousand Villages has purchased products from Mahaguthi since 2000.
- Artisan Products
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://www.tenthousandvillages.com/catalog/product/view/id/6147/s/5909/category/409/
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en
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Japan issues tsunami alert after 7.4-magnitude quake (Second Lead)April 7th, 2011 - 10:37 pm ICT by IANS
Tokyo, April 7 (IANS) A tsunami alert alert was issued after a 7.4-magnitude undersea quake jolted the Miyagi prefecture in northeastern Japan late Thursday. There was no immediate word of damage or casualties, Xinhua reported.
The quake occurred at 23.32 p.m. Thursday, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. It issued a tsunami alert after the quake. The epicentre was located 40 km under the sea.
The tremor was also felt in Tokyo.
The quake has not caused any major problems at the nuclear power plants in nearby Fukushima prefecture, the Tokyo Electric Power Co. said.
The US Geological Survey said the quake occurred at 38 degrees north latitude and 142 degrees east longitude.
The region has been devastated by a 9-magnitude quake March 11 followed by a tsunami that left thousands of people dead and missing and crippled a nuclear plant.
- Japan issues tsunami alter after 6.8-magnitude quake - Aug 19, 2011
- Tsunami alert issued after 7.4-magnitude quake rattles Japan (Lead) - Apr 07, 2011
- Magnitude-7 quake hits Japan (Lead) - Jan 01, 2012
- Strong quake jolts northeast Japan, tsunami warning lifted (Second Lead) - Mar 28, 2011
- Tsunami warning issued after quake hits Japan (Lead, Changing dateline) - Jul 10, 2011
- Magnitude 6.5 quake hits off coast of Japan, tsunami warning issued (Lead) - Mar 28, 2011
- 6.4 Earthquake hits off Japan's east coast - Jun 18, 2012
- Moderate quake hits Japan - Apr 02, 2012
- Tsunami warning lifted in quake-hit Japan (Second Lead) - Apr 11, 2011
- Japan seabed shifted 24 metres after quake - Apr 07, 2011
- Japan quake toll may cross 10,000, no nuclear meltdown (Second Intro Roundup) - Mar 14, 2011
- Strong quake hits Japan - Mar 27, 2012
- Several strong quakes rocks northeastern Japan - Mar 23, 2011
- Japan faces nuclear fallout, quake toll may be 10,000 (Intro Roundup) - Mar 13, 2011
- 7.4-magnitude quake jolts Japan - Apr 07, 2011
Tags: casualties, east longitude, electric power co, epicentre, fukushima prefecture, japan meteorological agency, magnitude quake, march 11, miyagi prefecture, north latitude, northeastern japan, nuclear plant, nuclear power plants, tokyo electric, tremor, tsunami, tsunami alert, us geological survey, xinhua
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http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/uncategorized/japan-issues-tsunami-alert-after-74-magnitude-quake-second-lead_100523383.html
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en
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| 2.609375
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Each amino acid consists of an alpha carbon atom to which is attached
|Arginine||Arg||R||free amino group makes it basic and hydrophilic|
|Asparagine||Asn||N||carbohydrate can be covalently linked ("N-linked) to its -NH|
|Aspartic acid||Asp||D||free carboxyl group makes it acidic and hydrophilic|
|Cysteine||Cys||C||oxidation of their sulfhydryl (-SH) groups link 2 Cys (S-S)|
|Glutamic acid||Glu||E||free carboxyl group makes it acidic and hydrophilic|
|Glycine||Gly||G||so small it is amphiphilic (can exist in any surroundings)|
|Histidine||His||H||basic and hydrophilic|
|Lysine||Lys||K||strongly basic and hydrophilic|
|Proline||Pro||P||causes kinks in the chain|
|Serine||Ser||S||carbohydrate can be covalently linked ("O-linked") to its -OH|
|Threonine||Thr||T||carbohydrate can be covalently linked ("O-linked") to its -OH|
|Tryptophan||Trp||W||scarce in most plant proteins|
|Tyrosine||Tyr||Y||a phosphate or sulfate group can be covalently attached to its -OH|
Humans must include adequate amounts of 9 amino acids in their diet. These "essential" amino acids cannot be synthesized from other precursors. However, cysteine can partially meet the need for methionine (they both contain sulfur), and tyrosine can partially substitute for phenylalanine.
|Methionine (and/or cysteine)|
|Phenylalanine (and/or tyrosine)|
Two of the essential amino acids, lysine and tryptophan, are poorly represented in most plant proteins. Thus strict vegetarians should ensure that their diet contains sufficient amounts of these two amino acids.
19 of the 20 amino acids listed above can exist in two forms in three dimensions. Link to a discussion.
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Table of Contents
A wiki is a Web-based application that allows people to add, remove, edit and change content through a browser. The ease of interaction makes wikis an effective tool for collaboration. Wikis can be considered a content management system. This PIUG wiki uses Confluence software developed by and licensed from Atlassian. More information is available via these links:
- Video by Atlassian: Confluence overview (00:06:05)
How-to-do-it Confluence tutorials
- Confluence User Guide
- Notation Guide - the place to go for all notation help including:
- Text Formatting
- Text Breaks
- Advanced Formatting
- Confluence Content
- External Content
- Miscellaneous (emoticons, escape special character)
- Working with pages overview
- Creating new pages
- Adding a page using a template
- Editing an existing page
- Working with page families - changing a parent page, creating children, viewing page families, etc.
- Organizing pages hierarchically(parents and children): This is particularly useful if you want to group related content, for example, chapters in a user guide/manual, committee material, topical expertise, etc.
- Page restrictions (security for viewing/editing pages) may be placed on a single page or a group of pages. If security is placed on the parent page, all children inherit the security placed on its parent page.
- Attaching files to pages
- Adding, or inserting, images on your pages.
- Displaying images attached to your page, from another page, or from an external Web source.
- Creating a gallery of images.
- Links overview
- Adding an internal link
- Adding a link to an external website
- Creating alternative display names vs. URL link name
- Microsoft Office Add-in for Confluence Wiki (to convert Word documents to Wiki) - Convert & upload Word and Excel documents (http://www.hiason.com.au/, $40 individual license including 1st year maintenance)
Helpful hints for new users to PIUG Wiki
- You only have to create a user account once. For wikispaces that are closed, you will need to request access from the space or wiki administrator.
- Icons used by Confluence: For example, an external link is indicated by a green arrow that points to the right after a link.
- Tips for navigating around wikis -- See this example slideshow for display of wiki navigation methods.
- Adding a profile picture
- Adding a personal space - note that personal spaces are only available to current PIUG members. Non-members may consider joining PIUG via the PIUG membership page.
Consistency and standards
- Add a table of contents at the top of to help users navigate content to major headings/subheadings. For example:
- Use wiki headings and subheadings to group major ideas (e.g., h1, h2, h3, etc.)
- Write for the Web. Keep ideas on target and in digestable chunks.
- White space is okay.
- Integrate images and rich media to enhance message and content.
- Add labels to categorize content. These labels can be used a variety of ways including an ability to create a dynamic search for our wiki visitors.
- Create clean URLs. Example:
- Long links are ugly. So, instead of this: http://wiki.piug.org/display/PIUG/Ask+PIUG+Leadership+Forum
- Make your links actually link to the page but add a more descriptive/informative title: Ask PIUG Leadership Forum
- Book Lust Wiki (Wiki application: Wetpaint) - A community for people who love books powered by Wetpaint
- Corporate Libraries, Environmental Scan, FedLink Survey (Wiki application: PBwiki) - FLICC/FEDLINK wikis. Examples of good organization and presentation of content.
- CUA SLIS Comps Study Wiki (Wiki application: Wikidot) - Study guide to help Catholic University students study for their comprehensive exams.
- Executive Travel (Wiki application: Wetpaint) - American Express launched a wiki for business travelers to share personal experiences and find tips.
- LexisNexis Wiki for Higher Education (Wiki application: MediaWiki) - Site is to facilitate Academic research in the social sciences using primary sources, news, government information, statistics, business, and legal sources. The wiki is accessible to all, but can only be edited by registered and approved contributors.
- National Institutes of Health (Wiki application: Confluence) - Nice example of how an organization such as NIH is using their wiki for internal and external collaboration.
- Regional Knowledge Resource Kit (Wiki application: MediaWiki) - online resource for learning and developing skills in managing information and knowledge for regional natural resource management.
- Special Libraries Association (Wiki application: Confluence) - Special Libraries Association wiki that includes tiered access to content: view only for non-members; resources for members to collaborate on, and board/committee member areas.
- Sustainable Indiana 2016 (Wiki application: Wetpaint) - A community for people building a site that includes information about organizations and projects in Indiana that are incorporating sustainable principles.
- WikiAnswers, a service from Answers.com (Wiki application: Proprietary) - Collaborative question and answer site.
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