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Panel sees ethanol as expensive, inefficient
The food versus fuel debate found a new audience Tuesday at the Global Financial Leadership Conference in Naples, Florida sponsored by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
The consensus of a panel of experts was that more use of biofuels affects food.
“Ethanol is driving up food prices. The only question is how much,” said Ian Goldin, former vice president of the World Bank and now director of Oxford University’s Oxford Martin School.
One study projects a 42% increase in coarse grain prices over five years, Goldin said, citing a report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the Food and Agricultural Organization of the U.N. John Hofmeister, Former President, Shell Oil Company and Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Citizens for Affordable Energy
John Hofmeister, former president of Shell Oil Company and founder of Citizens for Affordable Energy shares that view and mentioned a Rice University Study that says federal subsidies for ethanol cost taxpayers the equivalent of $1.95 a gallon over the cost of a gallon of gasoline.
“The idea of using food for fuel is to me a non sequitur,” Hofmeister said. “Having said that, I believe there’s a role for biomass to be used in the fuel supply system.”
Algae might be a good technology for replacing some diesel fuel, he said. And other crops might make good sources of biomass for fuel. But Hofmeister sees using corn for fuel as a moral issue.
“I think this is a rich-poor issue,” he said. More affluent consumers can adust to higher prices, but “when you’re at the marginal end of the economy, you feel it immediately.”
Goldin was even more blunt.
“I think we should be clear in our minds that this causes people to die of starvation,” he said.
Nor does Goldin see strong environmental benefits. Using ethanol lowers the carbon footprint of fuels by 3% to 4%, he said, and it causes more carbon output if it’s produced on land taken from tropical rainforests.
It also doesn’t isn’t economically viable, he said, because it depends on subsidies of about $7 billion a year in the U.S. Europe spends about $5 billion a year to support biofuels, mainly biodiesel.
“This is a lawyer's and lobbyist's dream come true,” he said. “It doesn’t make sense for anyone that believes in market forces.”
The exact impact of ethanol on food prices is hard to pin down, said a third panelist, Tim Gallagher, executive vice president of grains and biofuels for Bunge North America.
“Markets find a balance. Does it have an impact on prices? Certainly it does,” he said.
New mandates for biofuel use in the 2007 energy bill caused a shock to the food pricing system but the markets have since adjusted, he said.
He agreed with the others that politically popular government mandates are supporting biofuels.
“Those things are realities and frankly they’re probably not going away very soon,” Gallagher said.
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Sample Verbal Questions- Directions for next 5 sample verbal questions: For each of the verbal questions given below select the best option from the answers given.
1. In 1988, 50 people with emotional disturbances underwent hypnosis to be cured of their mood swings. A follow up survey in 1993 revealed that five had fairly stable emotional conditions at the time of the survey. These five subjects can therefore serve as models of the types of people for whom hypnosis is likely to be successful. Which of the following, if true, casts the most doubt on the suitability of those five subjects as models in the sense described?
(A) The five subjects have very different personalities and backgrounds.
(B) Since 1988, the five subjects have experienced dramatic mood swings interspersed with periods of relative stability.
(C) Those people who were still suffering from unstable emotional conditions at the time of the 1993 survey had shown no improvement since 1988.
(D) Many psychologists are less concerned about a patient’s mood swings than about the patient’s willingness to express his or her problems and fears.
(E) The emotional condition of most of the 45 subjects who were still unstable at the time of the 1993 survey had actually worsened since 1988.
2. The cause of the peculiar columnar growth pattern displayed by junipers growing near burning underground veins of lignite coal has never been convincingly explained. Until recently, the accepted theory posited that the abundance of carbon monoxide in the local atmosphere caused the columnar growth. However, a new theory holds that the cause is the persistent heat present near these underground fires which, while not intense enough to inflame the trees, can nonetheless change their normal growth pattern.
The existence of which of the following would provide the strongest support for the new theory?
(A) A columnar juniper growing in an atmosphere of intense heat and an absence of carbon monoxide
(B) A normal juniper growing in an atmosphere of intense heat and an absence of carbon monoxide
(C) A columnar juniper growing in an atmosphere of normal heat and a high concentration of carbon monoxide
(D) A normal juniper growing in an atmosphere of intense heat and a high concentration of carbon monoxide
(E) A columnar juniper growing in an atmosphere of intense heat and a high concentration of carbon monoxide
Read the rest of this entry »Tags: CAT verbal Questions, sample verbal questions, verbal questions, verbal questions for cat
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- Allergic reactions caused by prolonged exposure to latex
- Bladder, bowel and kidney problems
- Eye problems
- Hydrocephalus (excess fluid on the brain)
- Learning disorders
- Skin problems
- Tethered spinal cord
- Social skills deficits
- Weight gain/obesity
- Depression and other psychological / psychiatric issues
It is likely that a child born with spina bifida will require numerous surgeries over the course of his/her life. Frequent hospitalizations require a great commitment of time, finances and energy on the part of the family and/or caregiver and can have quite an emotional impact on the family. There are local and national support groups available to parents and caregivers and the Spina Bifida Association of Western PA can offer suggestions for additional support.
Just as surgeries and hospitalizations impact families, they also take a physical and emotional toll on the individual with spina bifida. A loving and supportive family is only one critical factor in the emotional development and well being of a child born with spina bifida. Interaction and socialization with peers apart from a family setting is equally vital to his/her development. Camps and retreats specifically created for individuals with spina bifida, such as those offered year-round by the Spina Bifida Association of Western PA, provide an encouraging, supportive environment where children can make friends and learn how to care for themselves. Sometimes attending a camp or retreat is the first exposure a child has to others with the same challenges as him/her.
Common Physical Characteristics
Because of surgery performed to repair the spinal cord, individuals with spina bifida are often short in stature. Limited mobility and lower metabolic rate due to the condition often result in a greater likelihood of obesity.
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|Anarchism in culture|
|Anarchism by region|
Anarchism is a political theory which aims to create anarchy, "the absence of a master, of a sovereign." (Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, What is Property, p. 264) In other words, anarchism is a political theory which aims to create a society within which individuals freely co-operate together as equals. As such anarchism isn't social chaos and a return to the "laws of the jungle."
This process of misrepresentation is not without historical parallel. For example, in countries which have considered government by one person (monarchy) necessary, the words "republic" or "democracy" have been used precisely like "anarchy", to imply disorder and confusion. Those with a vested interest in preserving the status quo will obviously wish to imply that opposition to the current system cannot work in practice, and that a new form of society will only lead to chaos. Or, as Errico Malatesta expresses it:
"since it was thought that government was necessary and that without government there could only be disorder and confusion, it was natural and logical that anarchy, which means absence of government, should sound like absence of order." [Anarchy, p. 12].
"Change opinion, convince the public that government is not only unnecessary, but extremely harmful, and then the word anarchy, just because it means absence of government, will come to mean for everybody: natural order, unity of human needs and the interests of all, complete freedom within complete solidarity." [Ibid., pp. 12-13].
|anarchism is a popular tag and you can find media on this topic on||Tag|
The meaning of anarchism
| Echo of Freedom, Radical Podcast has a podcast related to this aticle|
Hello, World! Anarchism, and I
To quote Peter Kropotkin, anarchism is "the no-government system of socialism." [Kropotkin's Revolutionary Pamphlets, p. 46]. In other words, "the abolition of exploitation and oppression of man by man, that is the abolition of private property [i.e. capitalism] and government." [Errico Malatesta, '"Towards Anarchism,"' in Man!, M. Graham (Ed), p. 75]
Anarchism, therefore, is a political theory that aims to create a society which is without political, economic or social hierarchies. Anarchists maintain that anarchy, the absence of rulers, is a viable form of social system and so work for the maximisation of individual liberty and social equality. They see the goals of liberty and equality as mutually self-supporting. Or, in Bakunin's famous dictum:
"We are convinced that freedom without Socialism is privilege and injustice, and that Socialism without freedom is slavery and brutality." [The Political Philosophy of Bakunin, p. 269]
- Collection of critical articles
- Objections to Anarchism Objections and rebuttals, from The Dandelion 1977-79
Freenet links
- Note: These freesite links cannot be viewed without prior set up. For explanation on how to set up a connection see ways to view a freesite.
- localhost is assumed as the base for the freesite
|This article incorporates text from An Anarchist FAQ ||@-faq|
|This article contains content from Wikipedia. Current versions of the GNU FDL article Anarchism on WP may contain information useful to the improvement of this article||WP|
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FRIDAY, December 16, 2011 (Health.com) — Louisiana health officials are warning residents not to use nonsterilized tap water in neti pots after the deaths of two people who exposed their brains to a deadly amoeba while flushing out their nasal passages.
The amoeba, Naegleria fowleri, can be found in lakes and ponds as well as in contaminated lukewarm tap water. The organism doesn’t pose a threat when ingested, but if it becomes lodged in a person’s nose it can end up in the brain and cause an infection.
The infection, lethal in 95% of cases, triggers an array of symptoms that resemble those of bacterial meningitis, including vomiting, headaches and sleepiness. As it progresses, it can cause changes in a person’s behavior and lead to confusion and hallucinations. It usually causes death within one to 12 days, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals issued its warning after a 51-year-old woman in DeSoto Parish died after rinsing her sinuses with a neti pot, a small vessel used to pour warm water into one nostril and out the other. Earlier this year, a 20-year-old man near New Orleans died after contracting the infection in the same way.
“Tap water is safe for drinking, but not for irrigating your nose,” said Dr. Raoult Ratard, Louisiana state epidemiologist in a statement. Ratard urged neti-pot users to fill the pots only with distilled, sterile, or previously boiled water, and to rinse and dry them after each use.
The infection, known as primary amebic meningoencephalitis, is extremely rare. In the previous decade, just 32 cases have been reported in the United States, according to the CDC. Only one person is known to have survived.
Deaths involving neti pots are even more rare. Most deaths from the amoeba, including three last summer, occur in Southern states during the summer, when people swim in warm freshwater where Naegleria fowleri lurks.
CNN’s Madison Park contributed to this report.
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Electoral College critics point out the elections of 1824, 1876, and 1888 in their arguments to prove the system doesn't work. In those three elections the candidate who won the Electoral College vote, did not win the popular vote. Besides forgetting the 50 other elections where the Electoral College agrees with the popular vote, critics conveniently ignore the factors that caused these three situations.
1824 - Adams vs Jackson
THE CRITICS CHARGE: In this election, critics point out that Andrew Jackson won both the electoral vote and the popular vote, but the House of Representatives circumvented the will of the people and chose John Quincy Adams as President.
BACKGROUND: In this election four men, all from the same party, were running for President. Each was popular in a different section of the country: Adams in the Northeast, Jackson in the South/Southwest, Crawford in the South/Mid-Atlantic, and Clay in the West. When the votes were counted, Jackson had won the most electoral and popular votes, but had failed to carry a majority of electoral votes. It fell upon the House of Representatives to choose the president from among the top three electoral vote getters: Jackson, Adams, and Crawford. With Clay throwing his support to Adams (who is rumored to have done so for a cabinet post), Adams carried the vote on the first ballot and was named President.
WHY THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE SHOULDN'T BE BLAMED: The critics ignore the fact that the popular vote was not a true indicator of the will of the people in 1824. In fact, popular vote totals weren't even kept for elections before this one. Hardly any state had all four candidates on the ballot; most didn't have three. And six states didn't even have a public vote! Their legislatures chose the electors. This included New York, the largest state at the time, where Adams certainly would have been able to cut into or eliminate Jackson's popular vote lead.
CONCLUSION: To say the Electoral College failed in 1824 is incorrect, because this was not a campaign where the candidates went after the popular vote; this campaign was fought for electoral votes.
1876 - Hayes vs Tilden
THE CRITICS CHARGE: In this election, critics say the system failed because even though Samuel Tilden had a substantial lead over Rutherford B. Hayes in the popular vote, he still lost by one electoral vote.
BACKGROUND: On election night, it appeared that Tilden would win. He led the popular vote 51% to 48%, and led in the Electoral College vote 184-165 with 20 votes still undecided. Tilden only needed one vote to win; Hayes needed all 20. Both parties claimed the disputed votes (Florida's 4 votes, Louisiana's 8 votes, South Carolina's 7 votes, and 1 of Oregon's 3 votes). An Electoral Commission was set up by Congress, who awarded all 20 votes, and the presidency, to Hayes
WHY THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE SHOULDN'T BE BLAMED: The 1876 election was filled with so many irregularities, that blaming the Electoral College seems ridiculous. First off, Colorado had just joined the union and decided they didn't have enough money to hold an election so their legislature just sent three electoral votes for Hayes. Secondly, fraud abounded in the states of Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina. Democrats intimidated blacks in order to keep them from voting, and Republicans, backed by armed troops, got as many blacks as possible to vote, as many times as they could. It's impossible to say who would have legitimately won these states, but most scholars agree Tilden would have won Louisiana and Florida, and Hayes would have won South Carolina. Lastly, the Electoral Commission set up by Congress is not part of the normal Electoral College system. It was composed of 8 Republicans and 7 Democrats who voted along political lines to give all the votes to Hayes. It turns out that the Republicans had secretly made a deal with the Democrats. If the Democrats would accept the results of the Electoral Commission, the Republicans would end Reconstruction in the South.
CONCLUSION: To say the Electoral College failed in 1876 is incorrect, because without the rampant fraud in the South OR without a biased Electoral Commission that voted on partisan lines the popular vote winner, Tilden, probably would have won the electoral vote as well.
1888 - Harrison vs Cleveland
THE CRITICS CHARGE: In this election, critics believe they have their best case against the Electoral College. Grover Cleveland won the popular vote while Benjamin Harrison won the electoral vote. Since no major issues of fraud, voter irregularities, or Congressional meddling is alleged, this is a straight up case of the system being wrong.
BACKGROUND: The main issue, if not the only issue, in the campaign was the tariff, brought to the forefront by the incumbent president Cleveland. He proposed lowering it, widely favored in the South; Harrison wanted to keep higher tariffs, widely favored in the North. One of the most civil and boring elections in history was also one of the closest. Cleveland had only a 0.8% lead over Harrison in the popular vote.
WHY THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE SHOULDN'T BE BLAMED: While this may be the critics best example to show the Electoral College is flawed, supporters would say this election shows why the system works. The Electoral College system encourages candidates to make their appeal as broad as possible in order to win. Cleveland basically ran a campaign based on one issue supported by a single region of the country and ran up the vote in that region, thereby padding his popular vote. In the six southern states of Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas, Cleveland received over 65% of the vote. In those six states Cleveland beat Harrison by 425,532 votes. In the other 32 states combined, Harrison beat Cleveland by 334,936 votes.
CONCLUSION: To say the Electoral College failed in 1888 is to not understand how the system works. The Electoral College prevents one region of the country voting as a block from unduly directing the outcome of the election to the rest of the country. The real reason Cleveland won the popular vote (by only 90,536 out of 11,379,131votes cast) but lost the election was because of unusually high support in a single region of the country.
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STATEWIDE - A hurricane is a type of tropical cyclone, the generic term for a low pressure system that generally forms in the tropics. A typical cyclone is accompanied by thunderstorms, and in the Northern Hemisphere, a counterclockwise circulation of winds near the earth's surface.
All Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coastal areas are subject to hurricanes or tropical storms. Parts of the Southwest United States and the Pacific Coast experience heavy rains and floods each year from hurricanes spawned off Mexico. The Atlantic hurricane season lasts from June to November, with the peak season from mid-August to late October.
Hurricanes can cause catastrophic damage to coastlines and several hundred miles inland. Winds can exceed 155 miles per hour. Hurricanes and tropical storms can also spawn tornadoes and microbursts, create storm surges along the coast, and cause extensive damage from heavy rainfall.
Hurricanes are classified into five categories based on their wind speed, central pressure, and damage potential (see chart). Category Three and higher hurricanes are considered major hurricanes, though Categories One and Two are still extremely dangerous and warrant your full attention.
|Scale Number |
|Sustained Winds |
|Damage ||Storm Surge|
|1 ||74-95 ||Minimal: Unanchored mobile homes, |
vegetation and signs.
|2 ||96-110 ||Moderate: All mobile homes, roofs, |
small crafts, flooding.
|3 ||111-130 ||Extensive: Small buildings, low-lying |
roads cut off.
|4 ||131-155 ||Extreme: Roofs destroyed, trees |
down, roads cut off, mobile homes
destroyed. Beach homes flooded.
|5 ||More than 155 ||Catastrophic: Most buildings |
destroyed. Vegetation destroyed.
Major roads cut off. Homes flooded.
|Greater than 18 feet|
Hurricanes can produce widespread torrential rains. Floods are the deadly and destructive result. Slow moving storms and tropical storms moving into mountainous regions tend to produce especially heavy rain. Excessive rain can trigger landslides or mud slides, especially in mountainous regions. Flash flooding can occur due to intense rainfall. Flooding on rivers and streams may persist for several days or more after the storm.
Between 1970 and 1999, more people lost their lives from freshwater inland flooding associated with land falling tropical cyclones than from any other weather hazard related to tropical cyclones.
Source: Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
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Garlic (Allium sativum) is a perennial vegetable that belongs to Allium family, a class of bulb-shaped plants, which also includes onions, chives, leeks, shallots, and scallions.
Garlic is native to central Asia and has long been a staple in the Mediterranean region, as well as a frequent seasoning in Asia, Africa, and Europe.
Garlic has been used throughout its history for both culinary and medicinal purposes. The key medical ingredient in garlic is allicin, which is known to have anti-viral, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and anti-oxidants properties. Here are top ten health benefits of garlic:
- Prevent Cancer
Several human studies show that eating garlic regularly reduces the risk of esophageal, stomach, and colon cancer. Researchers believe that there are many factors in the ability of garlic to fight cancer. One factor is a compound found in garlic – allyl sulfur. Allyl sulfur is known can inhibit the growth of different types of cancer-especially skin and breast cancer.
- Cardiovascular benefits
Some early investigational studies in humans have suggested possible cardiovascular benefits of garlic. Garlic lowers cholesterol and triglyceride levels in the blood, inhibit platelet stickiness and increase fibrinolysis which results in a slowing of blood coagulation. Research shows that garlic prevents the buildup of plaque in arteries, and even lowers it.
- Reduce blood pressure
The relationship between garlic and high blood pressure has been investigated scientifically, and it has been regarded as an effective remedy for lowering blood pressure. It reduces spasms of the small arteries and also slows down the pulse rate and modifies the heart rhythm.
- Cure Diabetes
Garlic contains a chemical compound called allicin. Allicin combines with vitamin B1 (thiamine) help to stimulate the pancreas to release insulin. Garlic can be very beneficial in treating people with type 2 diabetes.
- Fight Cold and Flu
A study on 150 people has shown that garlic can help prevent and treat the common cold. In the study, the participants received either garlic supplements or placebo for 12 weeks during “cold season”. Those who received the garlic had fewer colds than those who received placebo. Plus, when confronted with a cold, the symptoms disappeared more quickly among those receiving garlic compared to those receiving placebo.
- Boost immune system
Garlic is a powerful immune booster that stimulates the multiplication of infection-fighting white blood cells, increase natural killer cell activity, and enhance the efficiency of antibody production. Immune-boosting properties of garlic seem to be due to its sulfur-containing compounds, such as allicin and sulfides.
- Aid in digestion
Garlic is one of the most beneficial foods for digestive system. It eliminates noxious waste matter in the body, stimulates peristaltic action and secretes digestive fluids.
- Remedy for Acne
Garlic is also one of the oldest home remedies for acne. Gently rub the affected areas with raw garlic for several times a day. Garlic is also known to cure persistent form of acne. The external use of garlic helps to clear the acne scars, skin spots, and boils. The key point is gentleness. Any harshness will even worsen the lesion. Acne can further be cured by eating three seeds of raw garlic per day for a month.
- Protect against allergies
Garlic is known to have antiviral properties, which help the body fight against allergies. Simply take one tablet of garlic supplements per day for two or three weeks before the usual allergy season begins.
- Maintain healthy eyes
Garlic contains sulfur, which is necessary for producing glutathione, an antioxidant that helps the eye lens. Garlic may contribute to maintain blood circulation and keep eyes healthy.
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This information is addition information and a shorter version of my previous article called The Moors Of Early Jamaica. Some of our history is hidden in names, titles, tags such as Blackamoors, the word Moor spelled in many variations, Free Negros/Blacks/Colored, Black Indians, the 1828 Webster definition of American, West Indian, Muslim, Mohammadians, Moslem.
Also thanks to the sister from Canada that runs Ebony Intuition, check her blog out.
Source: Crescent Magazine formally known as muslimedia.com
Unearthing the buried legacy of African Muslims in America
AFRICAN MUSLIMS IN ANTEBELLUM AMERICA: TRANSATLANTIC STORIES AND SPIRITUAL STRUGGLES. By Allan D. Austin. 1997. New York and London: Routledge. Pp: 194
By Yusuf Progler
The Muslim legacy in African American history is receiving a lot of scholarly and popular attention lately. Even Hollywood has had to include Muslim characters in its historical reconstructions. But this was not always the case. Though Muslim historians have written for decades about the Islamic identity of Africans kidnapped into American slavery, mainstream historians ignored or downplayed this research in their work.
Then, in the early 1970s, when prominent American historians rejected out of hand novelist Alex Haley's assertion that the lead character in his acclaimed work Roots was a Muslim, a young professor of English and Afro-American Studies became intrigued and embarked on his own research into African American Muslim history. That was over 20 years ago, and since then Allan D. Austin has become a respected scholar in the field, recently serving in the Dubois Institute at Harvard for his work.
Austin's original research led to the ambitious and oft-cited reference work, African Muslims in Antebellum America: A Sourcebook (1984). But that volume soon went out of print and became a hard to find item. It also suffered from poor translation of Arabic documents, and some confusion with respect to Islamic doctrines. However, the original work did attract a number of Muslim historians and enthusiasts to Austin's cause.
Since the publication of the sourcebook, many people have helped unearth additional sources for African American Muslim history, and have improved the translation of Arabic documents and aided Austin's overall understanding of Islam. The author thanks in particular Muhammad al-Ahari of Chicago, as 'an indefatigable tracer of lost Muslims.' The present volume, newly extracted and bridged from the original sourcebook, is a long awaited and carefully updated return to print of Austin's valuable research.
Austin begins by discussing obstructions to knowledge of African Muslims in the Americas. From literature and history, to missionary polemics, there seems to have been a collective denial about the presence of African Muslims. Part of this is due to the way in which African Muslim histories and lives were intertwined with other aspects of American history.
The presence of Muslims in the slave population challenged and confused white slave owners, who had constructed a paternal and self-serving image of Africans as without religion, culture, or language. This is not to suggest that Africans had none of these attributes - quite the contrary - but that Muslim expressions of what was considered to be 'civilization' were uncomfortably similar to white norms.
Muslims had a literary tradition and believed in Holy Books, and they knew Biblical stories of Jesus and Moses (upon them both be peace), which were recognized by Christian captors. Yet, Muslims also had the Qur'an, which was in a non-European language, and which superseded the Bible, so many whites could not see Islam as anything but a Christian heresy.
Despite these prejudices and obstructions, knowledge of African Muslims has survived. A growing collection of Arabic documents provides the most solid evidence for the presence of African Muslims in the Americas. Buried in archives and libraries for decades, many of these valuable documents are now seeing the light of research.
Ranging from letters and autobiographical statements, to personal reflections and quotations from the Qur'an, African Muslims made ample use of their literary tradition while in American captivity. Sometimes, their ability to write Arabic was seen as a novelty by whites, who on occasion asked slaves and freedmen to reproduce the exotic looking twists and turns of Arabic script.
In other instances, Africans in captivity wrote eloquent letters in Arabic to Muslim rulers overseas, asking to be manumitted from their Christian owners. While many of these Arabic documents were no doubt intercepted, lost or destroyed, many others have survived, and Austin reproduces several of them in photographs and in translation. And, as similar work continues, more will likely be found.
Being recognized as a Muslim in American slavery had its difficulties, and this must have provoked many Muslim slaves into hiding their faith to protect their skin. Still, many persisted and there are some ironic cases on record. In one notable instance, the cruel son of a white slave owner constantly tormented a Muslim slave as he bowed in prayer. When the Muslim got an eye infection from dirt kicked in his face, a doctor who treated him took an interest in his story, which eventually led to his repatriation to Africa. Other Christian slave owners and missionaries incessantly tried to convert Muslims to their Christian faith, sometimes even providing Bibles in Arabic in the hope that Muslims would make the switch to a new faith in the same language.
But many Christians did not know anything about Arabic. In one case, missionary zeal in converting an African Muslim, coupled with ignorance of Arabic, led to an interesting example of the subversive use of language. After working with his Muslim charge on Christian doctrine, a white man asked that the Christian Lord's Prayer be written in his native African tongue. The Muslim, Abdul Rahman, wrote several lines in Arabic. The Christian then wrote that he witnessed the 'foregoing copy of the Lord's Prayer' on December 1828, and then filed the letter away. But many decades later, when someone who knew the Arabic read it, the letter was revealed to contain the 'Fatihah.' Abdul Rahman had duped his Christian interlocutor.
In addition to their language, Muslims were often known by their names: Abdul Rahman, Ayyub Sulayman, Abu Bakr Siddiq, Muhammad Ali, and Salih Bilali, to name only a few. While many Muslims were given Christian names by their owners, as was general practice in slave America, and while others must have dropped their Muslim names in dissimulation, Christians also seem to have used the Biblical spelling of Muslim names. So, for example, we find Ayyub Sulayman referred to as Job Solomon.
Austin notes that this name-switching may be a factor in further identifying African Muslims in the historical record. He suggests, for instance, that a slave name like Bailey could have been a corruption of Bilali, which in this case is significant, since famed African American abolitionist Frederick Douglas's full name included Bailey. Reading through the chapters with this in mind, one wonders if a name like Ben Sullivan was from Ibn Sulayman.
Other Muslims are recognizable by their actions, with slave owners and descendants of slaves noting and recalling many practices and habits of Black men and women which suggest that they were Muslims. For example, a plantation owner in Georgia noticed that each morning at dawn, one of his slaves would bow down facing East. On other occasions, practices resembling ablution and fasting suggest a Muslim presence.
During the 1930s, descendants of slaves on the Georgia Sea Islands recalled their ancestors as praying on mats and using beads in prayer. While the jihad tradition of West Africa played an important role in slave rebellions in Brazil, few researchers seem to have noticed that this might have been a factor in North America. Even so, some sources suggest that the Amistad slave ship revolt included Muslim participants.
In the 1970s, a group of musicologists traced Black musical traditions to Qur'anic recitation and to the music of West African Muslims. In short, there remains much material to be mined, and Austin's work ought to be seen as a beginning, as an invitation into the study of what will continue to be a rich legacy.
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A four-week seminar for sixteen school teachers to examine the abolitionist movement from the time of the American Revolution to the aftermath of the Civil War.
Project director Richard Newman (history, Rochester Institute of Technology) leads a project on the development of American abolitionism. During the first week, the seminar covers moderate strategies for gradual emancipation in the years following the American Revolution; the second week looks at the role of African-American abolitionists, such as James Forten, David Walker, and David Ruggles. The third week deals with the radicalization of abolitionism in the decades before the Civil War, the rise of abolitionist political parties, debates over the uses of violence, and the expanding participation of women reformers. In the final week, participants investigate the role of abolitionists during the Civil War era, including emancipation in the South, struggles for racial justice in the North, and precedents for the modern Civil Rights movement. The program includes seminar sessions, primary source discussions, site visits in Philadelphia and Gettysburg, and teacher presentations on specific historical sources. The readings are drawn from a large list of primary sources, including documents housed at the Library Company of Philadelphia and the neighboring Historical Society of Pennsylvania, as well as from writings by such leading historians as Gary Nash, John Stauffer, Patrick Rael, Ira Berlin, and Steven Hahn, among others. Four outside historians visit the seminar: Maurice Jackson (Georgetown University), Erica Armstrong Dunbar (University of Delaware), Elizabeth Varon (University of Virginia), and James Oakes (City University of New York Graduate Center).
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Parents-to-be can now safely determine their baby's gender, father, and certain chromosomal abnormalities during the first trimester.
In just the past few of years, it has become possible for parents to determine the sex and paternity of their fetus during their first trimester with a maternal blood test. And now another blood test is able to detect five chromosomal abnormalities in fetuses as early as 9 weeks. According to the much-anticipated data published last week, it is able to do so with 99.92 percent accuracy.
Now that the ability to safely determine a fetus's gender or paternity so early on is a reality, it's in the process of being refined by companies like Natera, which has had prenatal paternity tests on the market since last August and hopes to have the chromosome test commercially available this year.
The innovations stem from the discovery, in 1997,
that a pregnant woman's blood contains trace amounts of her fetus's DNA, which can be extracted and, thanks to the mapping of the human genome, used to
predict a wide variety of traits and conditions tied to the baby's genetic makeup. Many such predictions -- like the ones that could lead to "designer
babies" -- are, for the moment, theoretical. But, as Jonathan Sheena, Natera's chief technology officer, explains, once a genetic link has been found for
something, there's no reason why tests shouldn't be able to detect it.
Sex-selective abortion is the first consequence of such technology to already become a reality, as reflected by the changing gender ratio in China and India. While tests for chromosomal abnormalities aren't intended for the sole purpose of determining gender, the presence of a Y-chromosome is hard to miss when you're looking at DNA -- parents are typically given the opportunity to opt out from receiving this information.
The House of Representatives declined to outlaw sex-selective abortion in the U.S., but a particular fear here may in fact stem from the ability to screen for disease and disability. In a 2004 survey of American opinion surrounding genetic testing from the Genetics and Public Policy Center, the most commonly cited societal implication of concern to the respondents was the potential of discrimination against the disabled. The possibility of a sex-ratio imbalance was much lower down the list.
It may be a slippery slope, but it will be hard to argue that this newest information won't be safely in the green zone. Of the five chromosomal abnormalities detected by the test, two -- trisomy 18, also known as Edwards syndrome, and trisomy 13, also known as Patau syndrome -- have extremely low survival rates. Half of the fetuses with Edwards syndrome that are carried to term do not survive beyond the first week of life. Eighty percent of infants with Patau syndrome don't make it past their first year. Early testing allows parents more time to be prepared for this tragic outcome.
Down syndrome (trisomy 21) and Turner syndrome (monosomy X), on the other hand, are not at all death sentences. Although characterized by a variety of
physical and mental challenges, advocacy groups have gone a long way toward helping people
understand that these conditions do not prevent people from having long and fulfilling lives. Some have expressed outrage
over the Affordable Care Act's requirement of insurers to cover prenatal genetic testing as "preventative care" for women, making the fair, if mostly
semantic point that the only way you can "prevent" Down syndrome is through abortion. Concern over bias against babies with Down syndrome is
understandable. But since it is by far the most common of chromosomal abnormalities, with the incidence rate rising to 1 in 100 births for mothers who get
pregnant at age 40, it's already something that parents are aware of as a potential risk. With that in mind, it's difficult to argue against the pragmatism of granting them access to as much information as possible.
The fifth abnormality, an extra X-chromosome in males, is accompanied physically by what are better described as characteristics than symptoms, and though it also associated with a degree of language impairment, many men go through life not even knowing that they have the condition. Awareness, in this case, will only ensure that children get early intervention where before they may never have been diagnosed. And while a blood test can let parents know, early and accurately, if their baby's DNA contains any of these chromosomal abnormalities, it is unable to tell them the clinical consequences of their genetic makeup -- with the more wide-ranging conditions, there's no way of knowing how a specific child will be affected.
MORE ON GENETICS
- Should We Patent Our DNA? A Lesson From the History of Radio
- Do Genes Really Augur Your Future?
- The Limits of Genetic Testing
Ethical issues may just be beside the point here, though. Natera doesn't see its test as a potentially abortion-informing agent, because unlike amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling (CVS), it is unable to give a definitive diagnosis. Instead, it's a way of safely screening for the possibility of these diagnoses so that woman know whether they should undergo the more invasive tests (which could, theoretically, inform abortions). The accuracy of those tests comes with the risk of miscarriage, and the only other option for women before the advent of blood screening was a safe but unreliable hormone test.
"We don't believe that's a
choice that women should have to make in the 21st century," said
Sheena. Other blood screening tests currently available, he said, have a 5
percent rate of false positives and a 15 percent rates of false
Pricing information for this newest test -- which will undoubtedly affect how influential it will be -- hasn't been released yet, but a similar test, MaterniT21, retails at $1,933. According to a representative, most insurers don't claim to cover the test, but those with health insurance won't pay more than $235 out of pocket for it.
As Conor Friedersdorf wrote last week, a moral calculus comes along with increased access to information. But if this technology becomes widely available and affordable, the most important impact will be making it safer and easier for parents to know exactly what they're dealing with. If anything, it will provide more time for the ethical deliberations that come later.
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H264 also means H.264/MPEG-4 Part 10 or AVC (Advanced Video Coding), a standard for video compression. The final drafting work on the first version of the standard was completed in May 2003.
H.264/MPEG-4 AVC is a block-oriented motion-compensation-based codec standard developed by the ITU-T Video Coding Experts Group (VCEG) together with the ISO/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG). It was the product of a partnership effort known as the Joint Video Team (JVT). The ITU-T H.264 standard and the ISO/IEC MPEG-4 AVC standard (formally, ISO/IEC 14496-10 - MPEG-4 Part 10, Advanced Video Coding) are jointly maintained so that they have identical technical content.
H.264 is used in such applications as players for Blu-ray Discs, videos from YouTube and the iTunes Store, web software such as the Adobe Flash Player and Microsoft Silverlight, broadcast services for DVB and SBTVD, direct-broadcast satellite television services, cable television services, and real-time video conferencing.
The H.264 video format has a very broad application range that covers all forms of digital compressed video from low bit-rate Internet streaming applications to HDTV broadcast and Digital Cinema applications with nearly lossless coding. With the use of H.264, bit rate savings of 50% or more are reported. For example, H.264 has been reported to give the same Digital Satellite TV quality as current MPEG-2 implementations with less than half the bitrate, with current MPEG-2 implementations working at around 3.5 Mbit/s and H.264 at only 1.5 Mbit/s. To ensure compatibility and problem-free adoption of H.264/AVC, many standards bodies have amended or added to their video-related standards so that users of these standards can employ H.264/AVC.
Both the Blu-ray Disc format and the now-discontinued HD DVD format include the H.264/AVC High Profile as one of 3 mandatory video compression formats. Sony has also chosen this format for their Memory Stick Video format.
HD Video Converter Factory Pro is the powerful video converter support the popular video converting work. Furthermore, the software also support convert videos with HD standard. It could ensure the least loss of video quality. The one is worth trying.
AVI MP4 MKV Video 3GP FLV MP3 Aspect Ratio 1920*1080 H264 MPEG-4 AVC AVCHD DTS TS FFDShow AAC HD Video Resolution QuickTime Video Encoder Audio BitRate Video BitRate Audio Channels Frame Rate Sample Rate Video Profile iPad iPod PSP iPhone Android Symbian NTSC BlackBerry Nokia Flash FLV SWF YouTube WMV TS Video Editor Video Converter
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Whitewater Slalom is a competitive sport where the aim is to navigate a canoe or kayak through a course of gates on river rapids in the fastest time possible.
White-water slalom racing started in Europe and in the 1940s, the International Canoe Federation was formed to govern the sport. The first World Championships was held in 1949 in Switzerland. Since then they have been held every two years.
In the early 1960’s slalom boats were made of fibreglass and nylon, this made them quite heavy - usually over 30 pounds. With the advent of carbon-Fibre and Kevlar construction in the early 1970s, the boats became much lighter and faster.
From 1949 to 1977 all World Championships were held in Europe. The first World Championship held in North America was held at Jonquiere, in Quebec, Canada in 1979.
Each slalom gate consists of two poles hanging from a wire strung across the river. There are 18- 25 numbered gates in a course and they are coloured as either green (downstream) or red (upstream), indicating the direction they must be negotiated.
Upstream gates are placed in an eddy, where the water is flat or moving slightly upstream; the paddler makes the 'breakout' and paddles upstream through the gate.
Slalom courses can take anything from 80 to 200 seconds to complete depending on the level of competition, difficulty of course, degree of water turbulence and ability of the paddler. Each competitor has two runs on the course and the final result is based either on the faster run (in smaller races or lower division races) or the sum of the two runs (in National and Olympic competitions).
If the competitor's boat, paddle or body touches either pole of the gate a time penalty of two seconds is added. If the competitor misses a gate completely, displaces it by more than 45 degrees, goes through the gate upside-down, or goes through it in the wrong order, a 50 second penalty is given.
Slalom courses are usually on grade 2 to grade 4 white-water. Some courses are technical, containing many rocks. Others are on stretches containing fewer rocks and larger waves and holes.
Slalom canoeing made its Olympic debut in 1972 in Augsburg, W. Germany. It was not seen again until 1992 in Seu d'Urgell as part of the Barcelona games. Since then, slalom paddling has been a regular at the Olympics
There are now four Olympic Medal events:
C-1 (canoe single) Men
C-2 (canoe double) Men
K-1 (kayak single) Men
K-1 (kayak single) Women
Development of Boats
In the 1960s and early 1970s, boats were made of heavy fiberglass and nylon. The boats were high volume and weighed over 30 pounds.
In the early 1970s kevlar was used and the boats became lighter as well as the volume of the boats was being reduced almost every year as new designs were made. The I.C.F also reduced the width of the boats in the early 1970s.
The gates were hung about 10 cm above the water. When racers began making lower volume boats to sneak underneath gates, the gates were raised in response to fears that new boats would be of such low volume as to create a hazard to the paddler. Their low volume sterns allow the boat to slice through the water in a quick turn, or 'pivot'.
Typically, new slalom boats cost between £900 and £1600 (or £650 onwards for the cheapest constructions in fibreglass). Usually boats are made with carbon fibre, kevlar, and fiberglass cloth, using epoxy or polyester resin to hold the layers together. In recent years, the minimum length of these boats were reduced from 4 meters down to 3.5 meters, causing a flurry of new, faster boats which are able to navigate courses with more speed and precision.
VKC has 10 slalom boats for you as members to use to train or race or simply have a go in a different type of boat.
VKC has four spots to practice canoe slalom in Bedford.
Double Train Bridges:
There are about 10 slalom gates set up on lines on the left and right hand channels of the river on the flat water.
Outside the club we have around 6 gates strung up on the flat water on river left side of the island.
When Duckmill Sluices are open we sting slalom gates up across the river for a bit of white water gate work.
CASC Cardington Artificial Slalom Course
Very few times a year Cardington slalom course is open to the public and for events with the option to put slalom gates on it.
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Book IX, Chapter 3
Of the Effect Upon Individuals and Classes
When it is first proposed to put all taxes upon the value of land, and thus confiscate rent, all land holders are likely to take the alarm, and there will not be wanting appeals to the fears of small farm and homestead owners, who will be told that this is a proposition to rob them of their hard-earned property. But a moment's reflection will show that this proposition should commend itself to all whose interests as land holders do not largely exceed their interests as laborers or capitalists, or both. And further consideration will show that though the large land holders may lose relatively, yet even in their case there will be an absolute gain. For, the increase in production will be so great that labor and capital will gain very much more than will be lost to private land ownership, while in these gains, and in the greater ones involved in a more healthy social condition, the whole community, including the land owners themselves, will share.
In a preceding chapter I have gone over the question of what is due to the present land holders, and have shown that they have no claim to compensation. But there is still another ground on which we may dismiss all idea of compensation. They will not really be injured.
It is manifest, of course, that the change I propose will greatly benefit all those who live by wages, whether of hand or of head—laborers, operatives, mechanics, clerks, professional men of all sorts. It is manifest, also, that it will benefit all those who live partly by wages and partly by the earnings of their capital—storekeepers, merchants, manufacturers, employing or undertaking producers and exchangers of all sorts from the peddler or drayman to the railroad or steamship owner—and it is likewise manifest that it will increase the incomes of those whose incomes are drawn from the earnings of capital, or from investments other than in lands, save perhaps the holders of government bonds or other securities bearing fixed rates of interest, which will probably depreciate in selling value, owing to the rise in the general rate of interest, though the income from them will remain the same.
Take, now, the case of the homestead owner—the mechanic, storekeeper, or professional man who has secured himself a house and lot, where he lives, and which he contemplates with satisfaction as a place from which his family cannot be ejected in case of his death. He will not be injured; on the contrary, he will be the gainer. The selling value of his lot will diminish—theoretically it will entirely disappear. But its usefulness to him will not disappear. It will serve his purpose as well as ever. While, as the value of all other lots will diminish or disappear in the same ratio, he retains the same security of always having a lot that he had before. That is to say, he is a loser only as the man who has bought himself a pair of boots may be said to be a loser by a subsequent fall in the price of boots. His boots will be just as useful to him, and the next pair of boots he can get cheaper. So, to the homestead owner, his lot will be as useful, and should he look forward to getting a larger lot, or having his children, as they grow up, get homesteads of their own, he will, even in the matter of lots, be the gainer. And in the present, other things considered, he will be much the gainer. For though he will have more taxes to pay upon his land, he will be released from taxes upon his house and improvements, upon his furniture and personal property, upon all that he and his family eat, drink and wear, while his earnings will be largely increased by the rise of wages, the constant employment, and the increased briskness of trade. His only loss will be, if he wants to sell his lot without getting another, and this will be a small loss compared with the great gain.
And so with the farmer. I speak not now of the farmers who never touch the handles of a plow, who cultivate thousands of acres and enjoy incomes like those of the rich Southern planters before the war; but of the working farmers who constitute such a large class in the United States—men who own small farms, which they cultivate with the aid of their boys, and perhaps some hired help, and who in Europe would be called peasant proprietors. Paradoxical as it may appear to these men until they understand the full bearings of the proposition, of all classes above that of the mere laborer they have most to gain by placing all taxes upon the value of land. That they do not now get as good a living as their hard work ought to give them, they generally feel, though they may not be able to trace the cause. The fact is that taxation, as now levied, falls on them with peculiar severity. They are taxed on all their improvements—houses, barns, fences, crops, stock. The personal property which they have cannot be as readily concealed or undervalued as can the more valuable kinds which are concentrated in the cities. They are not only taxed on personal property and improvements, which the owners of unused land escape, but their land is generally taxed at a higher rate than land held on speculation, simply because it is improved. But further than this, all taxes imposed on commodities, and especially the taxes which, like our protective duties, are imposed with a view of raising the prices of commodities, fall on the farmer without mitigation. For in a country like the United States, which exports agricultural produce, the farmer cannot be protected. Whoever gains, he must lose. Some years ago the Free Trade League of New York published a broadside containing cuts of various articles of necessity marked with the duties imposed by the tariff, and which read something in this wise: "The farmer rises in the morning and draws on his pantaloons taxed 40 per cent. and his boots taxed 30 per cent., striking a light with a match taxed 200 per cent.," and so on, following him through the day and through life, until, killed by taxation, he is lowered into the grave with a rope taxed 45 per cent. This is but a graphic illustration of the manner in which such taxes ultimately fall. The farmer would be a great gainer by the substitution of a single tax upon the value of land for all these taxes, for the taxation of land values would fall with greatest weight, not upon the agricultural districts, where land values are comparatively small, but upon the towns and cities where land values are high; whereas taxes upon personal property and improvements fall as heavily in the country as in the city. And in sparsely settled districts there would be hardly any taxes at all for the farmer to pay. For taxes, being levied upon the value of the bare land, would fall as heavily upon unimproved as upon improved land. Acre for acre, the improved and cultivated farm, with its buildings, fences, orchard, crops, and stock, could be taxed no more than unused land of equal quality. The result would be that speculative values would be kept down, and that cultivated and improved farms would have no taxes to pay until the country around them had been well settled. In fact, paradoxical as it may at first seem to them, the effect of putting all taxation upon the value of land would be to relieve the harder working farmers of all taxation.
But the great gain of the working farmer can be seen only when the effect upon the distribution of population is considered. The destruction of speculative land values would tend to diffuse population where it is too dense and to concentrate it where it is too sparse; to substitute for the tenement house, homes surrounded by gardens, and fully to settle agricultural districts before people were driven far from neighbors to look for land. The people of the cities would thus get more of the pure air and sunshine of the country, the people of the country more of the economies and social life of the city. If, as is doubtless the case, the application of machinery tends to large fields, agricultural population will assume the primitive form and cluster in villages. The life of the average farmer is now unnecessarily dreary. He is not only compelled to work early and late, but he is cut off by the sparseness of population from the conveniences, and amusements, the educational facilities, and the social and intellectual opportunities that come with the closer contact of man with man. He would be far better off in all these respects, and his labor would be far more productive, if he and those around him held no more land than they wanted to use. While his children, as they grew up, would neither be so impelled to seek the excitement of a city nor would they be driven so far away to seek farms of their own. Their means of living would be in their own hands, and at home.
In short, the working farmer is both a laborer and a capitalist, as well as a land owner, and it is by his labor and capital that his living is made. His loss would be nominal; his gain would be real and great.
In varying degrees is this true of all land holders. Many land holders are laborers of one sort or another. And it would be hard to find a land owner not a laborer, who is not also a capitalist—while the general rule is, that the larger the land owner the greater the capitalist. So true is this that in common thought the characters are confounded. Thus to put all taxes on the value of land, while it would be largely to reduce all great fortunes, would in no case leave the rich man penniless. The Duke of Westminster, who owns a considerable part of the site of London, is probably the richest land owner in the world. To take all his ground rents by taxation would largely reduce his enormous income, but would still leave him his buildings and all the income from them, and doubtless much personal property in various other shapes. He would still have all he could by any possibility enjoy, and a much better state of society in which to enjoy it.
So would the Astors of New York remain very rich. And so, I think, it will be seen throughout—this measure would make no one poorer but such as could be made a great deal poorer without being really hurt. It would cut down great fortunes, but it would impoverish no one.
Wealth would not only be enormously increased; it would be equally distributed. I do not mean that each individual would get the same amount of wealth. That would not be equal distribution, so long as different individuals have different powers and different desires. But I mean that wealth would be distributed in accordance with the degree in which the industry, skill, knowledge, or prudence of each contributed to the common stock. The great cause which concentrates wealth in the hands of those who do not produce, and takes it from the hands of those who do, would be gone. The inequalities that continued to exist would be those of nature, not the artificial inequalities produced by the denial of natural law. The non-producer would no longer roll in luxury while the producer got but the barest necessities of animal existence.
The monopoly of the land gone, there need be no fear of large fortunes. For then the riches of any individual must consist of wealth, properly so-called—of wealth, which is the product of labor, and which constantly tends to dissipation, for national debts, I imagine, would not long survive the abolition of the system from which they spring. All fear of great fortunes might be dismissed, for when every one gets what he fairly earns, no one can get more than he fairly earns. How many men are there who fairly earn a million dollars?
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God's Design for Life
by Debbie and Richard Lawrence. (2009)
FREE GROUND SHIPPING
Included in this set:
• Heat and Energy (student book)
• Machines and Motion (student book)
• Inventions and Technology (student book)
• Teacher's Manual
• CD with student supplement worksheets and tests for each student book
Have fun with electricity, magnetism, and light; learn about machines and technology with hands-on activities and experiments. This fascinating series for grades 3 through 8 covers studies in motion, energy, and technology. 105 lessons. Full-color.
Elementary and middle schoolers will love the exciting, easy-to-understand, and easily taught lessons in the God's Design textbooks by Debbie and Richard Lawrence. All twelve books in the God's Design series are very comprehensive, richly illustrated, and cover material that is often left out of other curricula. You'll love the flexibility of this popular series, which is designed to be used with students ranging from first through eighth grade...all at the same time!
Best of all, God's Design textbooks help you teach science from a biblical, creationist perspective, emphasizing God's handiwork in the world around us. Using the God's Design curriculum from AiG will help strengthen your student's faith by showing how science consistently supports the Bible's written record. Students will learn to think critically and logically examine arguments presented by all sides in the creation/evolution debate.
As homeschool parents who are also trained electrical engineers, Debbie and Richard Lawrence have designed each lesson with ease and excellence in mind. Each lesson begins with a "read-aloud" section that covers the basic material and is followed by a fun hands-on activity that involves your child and reinforces what you just read. Each lesson ends with review and application questions. In addition to the lessons (35 per text), God's Design books contain special feature articles that examine the lives of scientists throughout history who have contributed to the subject. Other articles contain fun facts. Finally, each book has a unit project that ties all of the lessons together and reinforces what the student has learned. Good science couldn't be more fun!
About the authors
Born out of the concern of a mom and dad for their own children, Debbie and Richard Lawrence spent years developing this complete science curriculum out of their own homeschooling experiences.
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Study finds the bulk of shoes’ carbon footprint comes from manufacturing processes.
A major unsolved problem in medicine is the inability to regenerate nerve cells damaged by injury or disease. Efforts to understand the complex interactions that promote nerve cell growth and survival-focusing primarily on isolated nerve cells in culture-have produced limited and often conflicting results.
In the March 10 issue of Nature, scientists from the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research and MIT report a new approach to the problem.
Using new gene transfer technologies, they have created the first animal model completely lacking one of the four known neurotrophin molecules (a family of substances that promote survival and differentiation of various nerve cell populations). This model will greatly advance understanding of nerve cell development and also should be useful in evaluating potential treatments for human neurological diseases.
Dr. Patrik Ernfors, Dr. Kuo-Fen Lee, and Dr. Rudolf Jaenisch of the Whitehead Institute have developed a mouse strain with a specific mutation in the gene encoding brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF.
Previous studies by other researchers have shown that BDNF can prevent the deaths of certain populations of neurons in culture and rescue motor neurons in newborn laboratory animals. Based on this information, some scientists have proposed using recombinant human BDNF to treat motor neuron diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease).
"The new animal model will provide a system for assessing the potential success of such therapies," says Dr. Jaenisch, a member of the Whitehead Institute and professor of biology at MIT. "Already, it has shown us that some early assumptions about BDNF function may be incorrect."
For example, studies showing that BDNF could rescue motor neurons in newborn animals led to speculation that BDNF might influence motor neuron survival during development. However, the new BDNF mutant mice do not have any obvious defects in motor neuron development.
Dr. Ernfors and his colleagues suggest two possible explanations for these results. Either the earlier studies did not give an accurate reflection of the role of BDNF during development-new gene knock-out strategies offer a much more precise way of assessing gene function in the intact animal than traditional methods-or other neurotrophins in the mutant mice are compensating for the loss of BDNF.
Future studies of the new mouse strain will help scientists unravel this important puzzle. The ultimate goal is to understand how different neurotrophins interact during neural development to produce an intact embryo, and then learn to recreate those interactions to heal or rescue damaged nerve cells later in life.
The BDNF mutant mice do show specific defects in sensory neurons, the cells that transmit information from sensory organs such as the skin and tongue back to the brain. Perhaps the most dramatic example of this problem is the failure of the organ in the inner ear that controls balance. The mutant mice have severe balance problems because they do not have nerve cells capable of providing information to the brain about the position or state of motion of the head.
The Whitehead researchers developed this important new model for studying neurological disease using advanced transgenic technologies. Dr. Ernfors and his associates inserted a mutant BDNF gene into mouse cells in culture (embryonic stem cells) and then injected the altered cells into very early mouse embryos. Some of the resulting animals had the capacity to pass the mutant BDNF gene to their offspring; within two generations, the researchers had animals carrying two copies of the mutant gene in every cell.
This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health. In addition, Dr. Ernfors is supported by a fellowship from the Swedish Medical Research Council and Dr. Lee by a fellowship from Amgen, Inc. Dr. Ernfors is a postdoctoral fellow at the Whitehead Institute and Dr. Lee is a postdoctoral associate.
A version of this article appeared in the March 16, 1994 issue of MIT Tech Talk (Volume 38, Number 26).
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Miyuki Delica beads and seed beads all begin with transparent or opaque glass. The glass is treated in a variety of ways to take one base color and end with a limitless array of finished beads. The beads are etched with acid, painted, lined with metal, coated with metal, coated with other glass and shaped in a variety of ways. The following examples show some of the standard categories of finishes that Miyuki uses as well as the abbreviations that identify them.
There aren't as many colors of beads as it seems. Miyuki starts with a fairly small range of transparent glass colors and opaque colors. By applying different finishes and coatings to these base colors of glass, they are able to produce hundreds of different beads.
TR = Transparent
See-through glass bead, with no additional finish.
F = Frosted (matte)
A dull finish on a glass bead, so that it is not shiny.
FR = Frosted rainbow (matte AB)
A matte transparent bead with an aurora borealis finish.
S = Silverlined
A silver lined center to the bead which shines through the glass.
S/L = Matte Silverlined
A frosted glass outside the silver lining of the bead.
An aurora borealis finish over the silverlined bead.
AB or R = Aurora Borealis
A rainbow multicolored finish on a transparent bead.
SF = Semi Frosted (half-matte)
A lighter matte finish, halfway from shiny to matte.
SPKL = Sparkling
A shimmering finish in the same color as the glass.
OP = Opaque
A solid shiny nontransparent colored glass bead.
A solid glass bead with a matte finish.
Matte Opaque AB
A solid glass bead with a matte aurora borealis finish.
A shiny finish that gives the bead extra shine. Often a gold luster.
L or LT = Light
A light version of one color shown in a metallic finish.
D = Dark
A dark version of one color shown in a metallic finish.
An opaque reflective metallic finish.
A dull metallic finish, sometimes with a patina.
The new durable galvanized finish is super durable.
Flecked with earth tones to create a marbled finish.
Using 11-401FR as an example, we see that "11" is the bead size: 11/0, "401" is Miyuki's number for black seed beads, "F" tells you it's "frosted" or "matte", so not shiny. and the "R" tells you it has a "Rainbow" or "Aurora Borealis (AB)" finish.
On shiny beads, the AB finish adds a rainbow shimmer. On matte beads the AB finish usually changes the appearance from a single color to multi-color. So our example started out as shiny opaque black (11-401), then was matted (11-401F), and finally had the AB coating applied which changed the dull black to a multi-hued bead (11-401FR). As the picture below shows, the FR coating can completely transform the appearance.
An additional type of bead is made by applying paint to the inside of the bead holes. This is usually done using clear glass beads and is called color-lining. Since paint colors may not be possible to duplicate as colors of glass, this provides another way to expand the bead palette. Yet another effect is possible by making color-lined beads with colored glass. The image belows shows examples of both styles:
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Gaiseric (gĪˈsərĭk) [key] or Genseric gĕnˈsərĭk, jĕnˈ–, c.390–477, king of the Vandals and Alani (428–77), one of the ablest of the barbarian invaders of the Roman Empire. He led (429) his people from Spain into Africa, possibly at the request of Boniface, and quickly subdued a large territory, which was later (435) ceded to him by treaty. He took Carthage in 439, sent a fleet to raid Sicily in 440, and gained recognition of his independence in 442. He then dispossessed many Roman landowners and persecuted the Roman Catholic clergy, meanwhile gaining control of the Mediterranean through his pirate fleets. In 455 he sacked Rome. In 460 he caused the failure of an expedition sent against him by Majorian, and in 468 he undermined a similar attempt by Leo I. By the time of his peace (476) with Zeno, his lands included Roman Africa, Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, and the Balearic Islands.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
More on Gaiseric from Fact Monster:
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Ancient History, Late Roman and Byzantine: Biographies
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Iceland has become the first western european country to recognise Palestine as an independent state.
The Icelandic parliament said in a statement on its website that it had passed a motion with 38 of 63 votes in favour of a resolution to recognse Palestine "as an independent and sovereign state" based on borders predating the six-day war of 1967.
"Iceland is the first country in western europe to take this step," Ossur Skarphedinsson, the minister for foreign affairs, told RUV, the Icelandic national broadcasting service. He said the vote had given him the authority to make a formal declaration on the government's behalf, but before doing so he would discuss the move with other Nordic countries.
The resolution, which coincided with the UN's annual day of solidarity with the Palestinian people, recognised the Palestine Liberation Organisation as the legal authority for a Palestinian state and urged Israel and Palestine to reach a peace agreement.
The vote comes shortly after the Palestinians successfully gained admission to the UN's cultural agency, Unesco. Iceland was among 11 European Unesco members to support the move.
However, the suspected failure to win the required support of nine of the security council's 15 members, and a promise from the US that it would veto any council resolution endorsing membership, threatens to stall the move for full UN membership.
In a message to the UN on Tuesday, the Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, reaffirmed Palestine's bid for membership, saying it should complement peace negotiations provided Israel was prepared to negotiate on the basis of 1967 borders.
In a message read out by Palestinian UN observer Riyad Mansour, Abbas said Palestine's decision to apply to join the UN "is our legitimate right" based on the 1947 UN resolution to partition Palestine into two states.
Icelandic MP Amal Tamimi, who was born in Palestine, welcomed her parliament's move as a first step.
"I hope that more countries will follow suit," she said.
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Listen to This Information
Assistance and Comfort
What is healthy weight loss?
It's natural for anyone trying to lose weight to want to lose it very quickly. But evidence shows that people who lose weight gradually and steadily (about 1 to 2 pounds per week) are more successful at keeping weight off. Healthy weight loss isn't just about a "diet" or "program". It's about an ongoing lifestyle that includes long-term changes in daily eating and exercise habits.
To lose weight, you must use up more calories than you take in. Since one pound equals 3,500 calories, you need to reduce your caloric intake by 500—1000 calories per day to lose about 1 to 2 pounds per week.1
Once you've achieved a healthy weight, by relying on healthful eating and physical activity most days of the week (about 60—90 minutes, moderate intensity), you are more likely to be successful at keeping the weight off over the long term.
Losing weight is not easy, and it takes commitment. But if you're ready to get started, we've got a step-by-step guide to help get you on the road to weight loss and better health.
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How to Use the Context
After July 4, 1776, the people of the American colonies found it increasingly difficult to avoid a critical decision. They could continue to consider themselves Englishmen, loyal to the mother country, or they could join those who saw separation from Great Britain as the only way to maintain their liberties. These decisions bitterly divided colonies, towns, and even families. Those who chose the first path were called Loyalists by their friends and Tories by their enemies. The second group called themselves Patriots, but their enemies referred to them as Rebels.
Most sources suggest that of the approximately 2.5 million people living in the American colonies at that time, 20 to 30 percent were Loyalists. Another 20 percent were enslaved Africans (few of whom were allowed to participate in this war) and another 300,000 to 400,000 did their best to remain neutral. Those supporting independence probably counted for less than half of the people of the colonies.
At the end of 1776, it was far from clear that the Patriots would succeed in achieving the independence they had claimed earlier that year. Although the British were forced out of Boston in March, the newly-formed Continental Army under Gen. George Washington lost the port of New York in the fall, barely escaping total defeat. Victories at Trenton, New Jersey, in December and Princeton, New Jersey, in January seemed to stop the downward spiral.
1777 was a critical year. The British planned a major northern campaign designed to split the rebellious colonies in two. During the summer, Gen. John Burgoyne led his army, which included thousands of professional British and German soldiers and American loyalists, down the Lake Champlain-Hudson River corridor toward Albany with apparent ease. In August, however, things began to go wrong for the British. American militiamen routed a British force trying to capture provisions stockpiled at Bennington, Vermont. What seemed like a small defeat here at the Battle of Bennington in New York near the border between New York and the new Republic of Vermont cost Burgoyne 10 percent of his army and critical time. In October, the British campaign ended in humiliating defeat at Saratoga in New York, when Burgoyne was forced to surrender his entire army.
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The Power Split Device
The power split device is the heart of the Toyota Prius. This is a clever gearbox that hooks the gasoline engine, generator and electric motor together. It allows the car to operate like a parallel hybrid -- the electric motor can power the car by itself, the gas engine can power the car by itself or they can power the car together. The power split device also allows the car to operate like a series hybrid -- the gasoline engine can operate independently of the vehicle speed, charging the batteries or providing power to the wheels as needed. It also acts as a continuously variable transmission (CVT), eliminating the need for a manual or automatic transmission. Finally, because the power split device allows the generator to start the engine, the car does not need a starter.
The power split device is a planetary gear set (below). The electric motor is connected to the ring gear of the gear set. It is also directly connected to the differential, which drives the wheels. So, whatever speed the electric motor and ring gear spin at determines the speed of the car.
The Prius planetary gear set
The generator is connected to the sun gear of the gear set, and the engine is connected to the planet carrier. The speed of the ring gear depends on all three components, so they all have to work together at all times to control the output speed.
When you accelerate, initially the electric motor and batteries provide all of the power. The ring gear of the power split device is connected to the electric motor, so it starts to spin with the motor. The planet carrier, which is connected to the engine, is stationary because the engine is not running. Since the ring gear is spinning, the planets have to spin, which causes the sun gear and generator to spin. As the car accelerates, the generator spins at whatever speed it needs to in order for the engine to remain off. You can see all of this below:
Watch the Prius' power split device
as the car accelerates from 0 to 30 mph.
Once you reach about 40 mph (64 kph), the gasoline engine will turn on. The generator suddenly changes speed, causing the planet carrier to turn and start the engine. Once the engine is running, it settles into a constant speed while the generator varies its speed to match the output speed with the electric motor. If you are really accelerating hard, the motor will draw extra power from the batteries. Once you are up to freeway speed, the car will move under a combination of gas and electric power, with all of the electricity coming from the generator.
Like the Insight, the Prius never needs to be recharged; the onboard generator automatically maintains the proper level of charge in the batteries.
Both the Honda and the Toyota have long warranties on their hybrid components. The Insight has an eight-year/80,000-mile warranty on most of the powertrain, including batteries, and the Prius has an eight-year/100,000-mile warranty on the battery and hybrid systems. The motors and batteries in these cars typically don't require any maintenance over the life of the vehicle (however, if you do have to replace the batteries after the warranty expires, it will likely cost you several thousand dollars). The engine doesn't require any more maintenance than the one in any other car, and because both hybrids have regenerative braking, the brake pads may even last a little longer than those in most cars.
Achieving hybrid power is certainly more complex than using straight gasoline power or straight electric power. In the next section, we'll examine why hybrid technology is so desirable, both for consumers and for car makers.
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However, a number of less attractive features await those traveling to
China. For one, DailyTech chronicled how China plans to snoop
on the internet use of its guests and plans to follow a similar
site-blocking policy in its press internet areas as it does with its own
national internet networks. However, perhaps the greatest concern to
athletes and fans attending the games alike is China's monumental pollution
China leads the world as the largest
carbon polluter. However, it’s the other types of pollution that make
up the thick Chinese smog that have health experts concerned. Among them
is the emission of nitrogen dioxide, which China leads the world in, according
to satellite photos taken by the European Space Agency in 2005. NO2
is a toxic gas that causes a variety of respiratory problems, even at low
levels of inhalation.
As weather plays a major role in the drifting clouds of smog which circulate
around China eventually
making their way to the U.S. or elsewhere, China hopes to synthetically
control the weather with antiaircraft
guns and rocket launchers to prevent rain. Now China has revealed an
even more dramatic, though less strange, plan to try to protect the games
against pollution in case of stagnant air.
Stagnant air is the biggest threat to the games as it traps the smog over urban
areas. The many photos of Beijing, where the games will be held showing
thick smog are taken under such conditions. This contrasts with the clean
blue skied look when air is circulating at a faster pace, bringing in clean air
to mix with the polluted air.
A key factor to alerting to such conditions is accurate prediction. If
such stagnant conditions are predicted to occur within 48 hours, under the new
plan China will halt all construction projects nationwide and further reduce
the number of vehicles on the streets. China hopes these efforts will
produce a temporary reduction in air pollution that will prevent the Summer
Games from becoming the "Smog Games". The Chinese Environmental
Ministry formulated the new plan with the help of the cities of Beijing and
Tianjin and Hebei province. It was announced last Thursday at a press
Still, some fear the efforts won't be enough. Lo Szeping of Greenpeace
states, "Beijing's air quality is probably not yet up to what the world
will be expecting from an Olympic hosting city."
While some may not trust the advice of Greenpeace, many prestigious doctors
have warned that high levels of pollution will hurt athletes'
performance. They say endurance sports like distance running will be hit
especially hard. This is due to the fact that endurance athletes breathe
in far more air -- for example marathoners breathe 10 times as much air in a
given period as a normal person.
Malcolm Green of the British Lung Foundation says there can also be significant
health risks, aside from poor performance and visibility. He states,
"Pollution goes down into the lungs. It can cause inflammation, it can
cause people who have asthma to get asthma episodes, and so, generally, it is
not very helpful to athletes."
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is warning that the brew of nitrogen
dioxide and other chemicals in China's air may cause eye, nose, and throat
irritation, and may cause impaired lung function and increased respiratory
Some athletes have refused to compete on the world's largest stage due to the
risks to their health. Haile Gebrselassie, a world-record holding
Ethiopian distance runner and heavy favorite chose not to attend the
games. He suffers from asthma and is fearful that the pollution could
have a dire impact on his health.
Other athletes are coming but looking for ways to protect themselves against
the pollution. Many are considering wearing masks. Jarrod
Shoemaker, a U.S. triathlete, has taken to wearing a mask in training to
prepare for this. He states, "This past year, I wore a mask all the
way up to the race and after the race to see if it would work, and I felt
perfectly normal, perfectly fine. So I definitely think it worked and
that's my plan again for this year."
Ultimately that may become the reality athletes are faced with as China efforts
seem to have little immediate impact. In a move labeled by some as
draconian, the Chinese shut down temporarily a number of factories, and
construction sites last week. It also effectively cut the number of cars
on Beijing streets by half -- only allowing odd-numbered license plates one day
and even number ones the next. Unfortunately, the efforts showed no
immediate impact on air pollution levels, as China's much of China's yearly
output still hangs in the sky.
In fact, due to atmospheric conditions, this week air quality in Beijing
dramatically worsened. The city was blanket in thick smog, which choked
citizens and visitors and blocked out sunlight. Rain helped to clear the
smog early this week, and meteorologists are hopeful that the weather patterns
may clear much of the smog in time for the opening ceremony on August 8.
While the emergency plan will not close all factories, it will call for 105
factories in Beijing and more than 106 others outside the city, to additionally
be closed. Also, only license plates with a number ending in the same
number as the ending number of the day of the month would be allowed.
This would effectively cut traffic by a factor of ten. The odd/even
driving day plan would also be put in effect in the city of Tianjin and the
province of Hebei.
Some argue that the efforts are not enough. Others argue that the efforts
are too punitive and that no environmental concerns should stand in the way of
free business operation. Chinese officials, though, believe the plan is
just right and remain optimistic that their efforts will be enough to curb
pollution at the games. Says Du Shaozhong of China's Environment
Protection Bureau, "We are still optimistic that during the Olympics we
can reduce pollution well below our target thresholds."
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Jan. 14, 2013 Functionally deaf patients can gain normal hearing with a new implant that replaces the middle ear. The unique invention from the Chalmers University of Technology has been approved for a clinical study. The first operation was performed on a patient in December 2012.
With the new hearing implant, developed at Chalmers in collaboration with Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg, the patient has an operation to insert an implant slightly less than six centimetres long just behind the ear, under the skin and attached to the skull bone itself. The new technique uses the skull bone to transmit sound vibrations to the inner ear, so-called bone conduction.
"You hear 50 percent of your own voice through bone conduction, so you perceive this sound as quite natural," says Professor Bo Håkansson, of the Department of Signals and Systems, Chalmers.
The new implant, BCI (Bone Conduction Implant), was developed by Bo Håkansson and his team of researchers. Unlike the type of bone-conduction device used today, the new hearing implant does not need to be anchored in the skull bone using a titanium screw through the skin. The patient has no need to fear losing the screw and there is no risk of skin infections arising around the fixing.
The first operation was performed on 5 December 2012 by Måns Eeg-Olofsson, Senior Physician at Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, and went entirely according to plan.
"Once the implant was in place, we tested its function and everything seems to be working as intended so far. Now, the wound needs to heal for six weeks before we can turn the hearing sound processor on," says Måns Eeg-Olofsson, who has been in charge of the medical aspects of the project for the past two years.
The technique has been designed to treat mechanical hearing loss in individuals who have been affected by chronic inflammation of the outer or middle ear, or bone disease, or who have congenital malformations of the outer ear, auditory canal or middle ear. Such people often have major problems with their hearing. Normal hearing aids, which compensate for neurological problems in the inner ear, rarely work for them. On the other hand, bone-anchored devices often provide a dramatic improvement.
In addition, the new device may also help people with impaired inner ear.
"Patients can probably have a neural impairment of down to 30-40 dB even in the cochlea. We are going to try to establish how much of an impairment can be tolerated through this clinical study," says Bo Håkansson.
If the technique works, patients have even more to gain. Earlier tests indicate that the volume may be around 5 decibels higher and the quality of sound at high frequencies will be better with BCI than with previous bone-anchored techniques.
Now it's soon time to activate the first patient's implant, and adapt it to the patient's hearing and wishes. Then hearing tests and checks will be performed roughly every three months until a year after the operation.
"At that point, we will end the process with a final X-ray examination and final hearing tests. If we get good early indications we will continue operating other patients during this spring already," says Måns Eeg-Olofsson.
The researchers anticipate being able to present the first clinical results in early 2013. But when will the bone-conduction implant be ready for regular patients?
"According to our plans, it could happen within a year or two. For the new technique to quickly achieve widespread use, major investments are needed right now, at the development stage," says Bo Håkansson.
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Biblical Repentance/The Meaning of Repentance
From Gospel Translations
You see then, sinful man stands as a rebel against God’s government and authority. This is why our Lord Jesus came on the scene preaching, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mat 4:17). He commands every sinner to lay down his arms of rebellion and hoist the white flag of surrender to enter the Kingdom of God. In other words, a sinner has to change his mind about sin.
This is exactly what it means to repent: a change of mind about sin and about God, which results in turning from sin to God.
The Biblical vocabulary for repentance is truly rich. The theme of repentance is found throughout the en-tire Bible and its idea is expressed even when the word itself is not used. In the Old Testament, two Hebrew words, the verbs nacham and shub, are often translated as repent. The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament by Koehler, Baumgartner, Richardson, and Stamm says nacham means “to be sorry, come to regret something, to repent” as in Job 42:6, “Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” In their Commentary on the Old Testament, Keil and Delitzsch remark, “Nacham is the exact expression for metanoeo, the godly sorrow of repentance not to be repented of. He repents (sitting) on dust and ashes after the manner of those in deep grief.” Regarding shub, which means “to turn,” the Theological Wordbook of the OT says, “The Bible is rich in idioms describing man’s responsibility in the process of repentance. Such phrases would in-clude the following: ‘incline your heart unto the Lord your God’ (Josh 24:23): ‘circumcise yourselves to the Lord’ (Jer 4:4); ‘wash your heart from wickedness’ (Jer 4:14); ‘break up your fallow ground’ (Hos 10:12) and so forth. All these expressions of man’s penitential activity, however, are subsumed and summarized by this one verb shub. For better than any other verb it combines in itself the two requisites of repentance: to turn from evil and to turn to the good.” They conclude by saying, “To be sure, there is no systematic spelling out of the doctrine of repentance in the OT. It is illustrated (Ps 51) more than anything else. Yet the fact that people are called “to turn” either “to” or “away from” implies that sin is not an ineradicable stain, but by turning, a God-given power, a sinner can redirect his destiny. There are two sides in understanding conversion, the free sover-eign act of God’s mercy and man’s going beyond contrition and sorrow to a conscious decision of turning to God. The latter includes repudiation of all sin and affirmation of God’s total will for one’s life.”
In the New Testament, three Greek words express repentance: the verbs metanoeo, metamelomai, and the noun metanoia. 1) According to the Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament by Friberg, Friberg, and Miller, metanoeo is used “predominately of a religious and ethical change in the way one thinks about acts: repent, change one’s mind, be converted (Mat 3:2).” It can also express an emotional element: “as feeling re-morse regret, feel sorry (Luk 17:3, 4).” 2) A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testamen and Other Early Christian Literature by Arndt, Gingrich, Danker, and Bauer says that metamelomai means to “feel regret, re-pent.” The Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains by J.P. Louw and E.A. Nida says of metamelomai “to change one’s mind about something, with the probable implication of regret—‘to change one’s mind, to think differently.’” 3) “Metanoia means “a change of mind that leads to a change of behavior.” Louw and Nida say of metanoeo and metanoia, “To change one’s way of life as the result of a com-plete change of thought and attitude with regard to sin and righteousness—‘to repent, to change one’s way, repentance.’ metanoeo: ‘And they went out, and preached that men should repent’ (Mar 6:12). metanoia: ‘not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?’ (Rom 2:4). Though in English a focal compo-nent of repent is the sorrow or contrition that a person experiences because of sin, the emphasis in metanoeo and metanoia seems to be more specifically the total change, both in thought and behavior, with respect to how one should both think and act.” The importance of these definitions is that while the primary emphasis in re-pentance is on the change of mind that leads to a change of behavior, one cannot rule out the emotional element of regret or remorse.
What Repentance Includes
Therefore, to repent is a change of mind about sin and about God, which results in turning from sin to God. And what a turning it is! Repentance affects the whole life of a sinner.
Repentance includes a sinner taking the blame for his sinful condition before God and siding with Him against himself. A penitant blames no one else for his condition, but rather condemns himself under God’s eternal wrath because he deserves it.
Repentance includes sorrowing for sin. 2 Corinthians 7:10 says that “godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of.” And Matthew 5:4 says, “Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be com-forted.”
Repentance leads to confessing sin. Hiding nothing, a sinner owns his sins and pours out his sinful heart to God.
Furthermore, repentance leads to forsaking sin. A repenting sinner determines not to return to it. So in Bib-lical repentance, a convicted and convinced sinner takes his place before God as justly condemned. He hates his sin, longing to be free from it. He sorrows over sin, determining not to return to it. And he shows that his repentance is real by walking in the pathway of righteousness and true holiness. “Bringing forth fruits for re-pentance” is evidence that a radical change has taken place in our lives (Mat 3:8).
Repentance and Judgment
In Acts 17:30 we read these words, “The times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent.” God says all men—not just the Gentiles, but all men, which includes every tongue, nation, tribe and people. And in v.31 we find out why God has commanded all men everywhere to re-pent: judgment is coming! “Repent!” God says, “The King is coming in judgment! Repent, if you value your never-dying soul!” Why? “Because he hath appointed a day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained [Jesus Christ]; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.” Yes, God commands that all men everywhere repent and bring forth fruit suit-able for repentance which is a holy life, or He will meet you in judgment without mercy!
You see, God is sovereign in his salvation. He alone sets the terms by which He receives rebellious sinners into His kingdom. His Word does declare that He is loving, kind, merciful and gracious; but He is also holy and righteous. Therefore, He commands men to repent. Unless a rebellious sinner repents and believes the Gospel, there is no forgiveness. But praise His precious name; it is to this kind of sinner that He will look! The Lord says in Isaiah 66:2, “To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trem-bleth at my word.” Also, Psalm 51:17 tells us, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.”
Praise the Lord! He will never turn away a repentant, believing sinner. Christ came to seek and to save just this type of sinner. Listen to Isaiah 55:6-7: “Seek ye the LORD while He may be found, call ye upon Him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD; and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” You will note in these verses there is again a command for forsaking our way and turning unto God. Forsake your way and turn to God!
Repentance Is Perpetual
I must stress yet another truth: Biblical repentance is perpetual—God’s child will repent till God takes him home. Repentance is a lasting mindset, a continuing abhorrence of evil.
Oh how many precious souls have been damned right here! They seem to embrace repentance for a while. They give up their old companions and leave their places of sin—the bar, the dance floor, the harlot’s house. They seem to embrace Christ. They even preach, teach, and witness for Him. But because they are “stony-ground hearers” (Mar 4:5, 6; 16, 17), they only endure for a while. They begin to grow cold, gradually return-ing to their former ways. They go back to sin, back to what they had renounced. One by one they pick up the old sins and companions and return to the world. You see, their repentance was not perpetual: it did not spring from the new birth, but from the flesh. The Word of God describes them:
“For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Sav-ior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire” (2Pe 2:20-22).
In so many cases, going back is slow. Few go back all at once! First, they long for “liberty”: they search the Word of God to find out what liberty they have, so they can live as close to the world as possible. Then slowly they go back to this sin and that sin. Finally, they no longer have a witness for Christ, but only an outward pro-fession of faith. Sin doesn’t bother them anymore. They neither hate it nor cry against it. They tell themselves that God no longer wants them to repent and hate sin. They think they’re in the way of life, yet sin doesn’t bother them anymore! So they turn back to those sins from which they had once turned saying, “We now have liberty to walk in these ways!” But oh, my friends, this is not liberty, but license to do what you’ve always wanted to do, license to walk in sin without restraint! You’ve played with fire and your heart is now hardened by the deceitfulness of sin! (Heb 3:12)
Again I warn you, beware of repentance that does not continue! If it is not true Biblical repentance, your heart will again be satisfied with the garbage of the world: “He feedeth on ashes; a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?” (Isa 44:20). So never forget: true repentance is perpetual. If you are truly converted, you will hate and forsake your sins for the rest of your life. And you will long to be holy, to be like Christ, and to please God. I ask, “Have you ever possessed the true Biblical repentance that God commands of all men?”
Repentance Is a Gift
Now I must quickly add that repentance is a gift of grace worked in the heart by the power of God the Holy Spirit. Acts 11:18 tells us: “Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.” The Holy Spirit shows us our sinful condition before God and makes us willing to renounce our hatred of God and His authority. And by His grace He gives us a desire to walk with Him in newness of life and holiness.
As we have already seen, God commands us to repent because you and I are rebels against God by nature. Every man outside of Christ is a rebel against the Throne of God (Rom. 8:7). Because of our sinful nature we have determined to live our lives apart from God. So we must radically change our minds about living inde-pendently of Him. This displays itself in our crying after God to be Lord and Ruler of our lives!
Because we have spit in His face, blasphemed His name, bowed down to the gods of gold and pleasure, spent His Day as we pleased, and walked in pride and arrogance against Him, God commands us to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. We must change our minds about pride and arrogance, about covetousness and worldly pleasure, and about walking in our way. We must cry out to Him to work His love and holiness in us.
Yes, my friends, because we have not loved Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and have lav-ished our love on self and the world, God commands us to repent, trusting the Lord Jesus for the remission of our sins. For you see, true repentance takes self off the throne and enthrones Christ as Lord over every area of life.
Study Questions The Meaning of Repentance
1. What does God command every sinner to do?
2. a. How would you have defined “repentance” before taking this course?
b. How does the author define “repentance”?
3. Please carefully read the paragraph about the Old Testament words for “repentance.”
a. What does nacham mean?
b. What does shub mean?
c. Read Psalm 51. Briefly, how would you describe repentance based on this Psalm?
d. Finish this quotation: “There are two sides in understanding conversion, 1) the free sovereign act of God’s mercy and 2) man’s going beyond contrition and sorrow to a __________________ ____________________ ______ ______________ to God.”
4. Please carefully read the paragraph about the New Testament words for “repentance.”
a. Describe the basic overall meaning of the three Greek words which are translated into English as “re-pent.”
b. What is the more specific emphasis in metanoeo and metanoia that goes beyond mere “sorrow… that a person experiences because of sin”?
What repentance includes
5. In your own words, what are the four additional descriptions of true repentance (i.e., what does repentance include or lead to)?
Repentance and judgment
6. Why does God command “all men everywhere to repent”?
7. Write the key point and reference for each of these verses.
a. Isaiah 66:2
b. Psalm 51:17
8. Read Isaiah 55:6-7. Fill in the phrase in these verses which answers each of the following questions.
a. Why should you seek the Lord now?
b. What is the wicked and unrighteous man commanded to do?
c. What does God promise to do?
9. Making It Personal
a. Do you consider yourself wicked or unrighteous? Why or why not?
b. If so, what does God command you to do in Isaiah 55:6-7?
Repentance is perpetual
10. What is meant by “stony-ground hearer” (from Mark 4:5-6, 16-17)?
11. Briefly, describe the process phrased as “going back is slow.”
12. What is the meaning of the statement “Biblical repentance is perpetual” (in your own words)?
Repentance is a gift
13. In this section and in footnote 8, what are the Scriptures which tell us that biblical repentance is a gift of God? Write for each the key phrase and reference.
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Stem Cell Therapy
Stem cells are primitive cells present in almost every tissue that have the ability to differentiate into different types
of tissue. There are basically two types of stem cells that can be utilized: embryonic and adult stem cells. The source of
embryonic stem cells is the inner mass of the embryo, so that in the process of recovering the cells, the embryo is destroyed.
These cells have the ability to differentiate into all tissues (toti-potent). When used in clinical situations, the use of
embryonic stem cells introduces foreign DNA, so some form of immunosuppression would be necessary. Experimentally, embryonic
stem cells are unpredictable and can form teratomas in-vivo. The source of adult stem cells is any adult tissue. These cells
can differentiate into many, but not all tissues (multi-potent). The tissues that are of most interest to equine practitioners
include bone, muscle, tendon, and ligament. These cells have never been seen to form teratomas or tumors in vivo.
Stem cell therapy has been coined "regenerative medicine" because the goal is to regenerate tissue and provide tissue homeostasis,
rather than just healing by fibrosis. Tissue regeneration should maximize the strength, range of motion, and performance of
the tissue. At the same time regeneration of tissue reduces scarring, pain, and re-injury. Regenerative medicine supplies
the three major components necessary for tissue repair: regenerative cells, extra-cellular matrix, and growth factors. The
regenerative cells also recruit other cells necessary for tissue healing.
The two major sources of adult stem cells include bone marrow and adipose tissue, although muscle, skin, brain and other tissues
contain adult stem cells. It is estimated that 1 in 50 cells (2%) in adipose tissue are stem cells, whereas 1 in 100,000 cells
(0.001%) in bone marrow are stem cells. In addition to the high percentage of stem cells in adipose tissue, fat tissue is
easy to access in the horse, is a renewable resource, and because fat floats, it is easy to separate the cells. In addition
to providing mesenchymal stem cells, adipose tissue can also provide endothelial precursor cells, growth factor producing
cells, B and T lymphocytes, macrophages, natural killer cells, preadipocytes, fibroblasts, smooth muscle cells, and endothelial
cells. It is not known what role these other cells play in tissue regeneration. Currently, the FDA does not regulate the use
of autologous adipose derived stem cells if they are minimally manipulated. Culturing of stem cells to propagate a cell line
is not considered minimally manipulating cells so therefore is regulated by the FDA.
The potential uses for stem cell therapy in equine medicine include soft tissue disorders (tendon/ligament), osteoarthritis,
osteochondrosis, fractures, or other degenerative processes such as laminitis. In my practice, I will use adipose derived
stem cell therapy primarily for tendon, suspensory, or suspensory branch lesions. I have used these cells for other indications
including osteoarthritis, navicular disease, and osteochondrosis, but the results are not as favorable for bone or joint problems
as they are for soft tissue disorders.
Fat tissue can be harvested from any site on the horse, but lateral to the tail head seems to be most appropriate. This can
be readily done through a small lipectomy incision in the standing animal with local anesthesia. This is the most consistent
method of collecting fat, but will leave a scar and a small depression at the surgical site. If cosmetics are of major concern,
the inguinal area is also rich in adipose tissue, but this requires general anesthesia. More recently, I have been performing
liposuction at the tail head using liposuction cannulas designed for human patients. This technique is most appropriate for
horses having at least 1 cm of tail head fat as measured by ultrasound. Liposuction is performed bilaterally through very
small punctures in the skin, so the post operative cosmetic outcome is excellent. I use ultrasound to guide my liposuction
cannulas so that the contamination with muscle tissue is minimized.
The tissue is sent overnight on ice to the laboratory, where the fat is digested, leaving regenerative cells and their supporting
cells and matrix. The dose volume can be requested based on the lesion being treated. Typically, a dose of approximately 5
million cells are recommended to treat a single lesion. If a large quantity of cells is recovered, additional doses can be
frozen for later use. The turnaround time from fat harvest to arrival for injection is 3 days. When the cells arrive, they
are typically injected into the desired lesion using ultrasound guidance following aseptic preparation of the area. Depending
on the site and condition, I often combine the stem cells with platelet rich plasma at the hospital just prior to injecting.
The aftercare is minimal, as the cells are autologous so there is no detectable tissue reaction. Follow-up examinations and
rehabilitation are tailored to the individual and problem being treated.
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Adrian III was pope from 884 to 885. He was born at Rome. He died in 885, at Modena, on a journey to Worms, in modern Germany.
His brief pontificate came during troubled times. He died en route to the Diet of Worms after being summoned by the Frankish King Charles III, The Fat, to settle the succession to the empire and discuss the rising Saracen power. The motives for his veneration are practically unknown, but he was noted for having aided the Romans during a famine. His cult was confirmed in 1891, and his feast day is 8th July.
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bcagle on Family Tree Circles
Journals and Posts
History divides the early Aryan peoples info five groups - one of these groups, the Celtic, was made up of Gauls, Britons, Scots-Irish, and Picts. The Irish, Welsh, Scotch-Highlanders and the Britons of Brittany, in France, are the present-day representatives of the ancient Celts.
The name McALPIN is Celtic; the prefix Mac, Mc, or M signifies 'of' or 'son of' so the name, originally "ALPINE" means Son of Alpine, Alpine of course, meaning 'of the hills' - or Alps.
Genealogists say that the progenitor of the McALPIN clan crossed over from Ireland to the Highlands of Scotland with the Dalriadic Scots. Authorities generally agree that the clan was one of the oldest in the Highlands, and that out of it grew a number of other clans that had their origin in fiven names: as McGREGOR, "Son of Gregor" , who was a son of Kenneth Mc Alpin: McKINNON (with variations McKINNEY, McKINNING, McKINVEN, and others) , founded by a chieftain named FIGNON, who was a grandson of GREGOR.
The Gaelic form of the modern name McKINNON, was "MHIC FHIONGHAIN"; the variations, McKINNEY and McKINNING developed in the Lowlands, among members of the clan who settled there.The traditional home of the McALPINS waws Dunstaffnage, near Oban, Argyllshire.
The ancient crest was a boar's head, (a crowned head became the crest after the Clan was made the royal one).
The emblem was a pine tree, the Gaelic motto and war-cry , "Cuimhnich Bas Ailpein," meant "Remember the death of Alpine." The Alpine alluded to was a chieftain or "king" of the Clan, and who was murdered by Brudus, after the dereat of the Scots by the Picts,near Dundee in 834.
Description of Tartan: The Clan plaid was a combination of inconspicuous colors, against a background of greenish-grey and was probably chosen in the days of Clan warfare for reasons of strategy and safety. It is said that the colors blend perfectly with the colors of teh hearther and this made it easy for the warriors to hide themselves in the hearther on the hill-sides almost under the feet of the enemy. Sir Walter Scott mentions this in foot-notes to "The Lady of the Lake," used as a text-book.
In the eighth century, the Picts were the chief power in Scotland, but thier political organization resembled a rude confederacy rather than a regularly constituted governmane. They were a number of Celtic tribes which, sometimes, in great emergencies, combined for the common defense of the country. Besides the feuds incidental to tribal communities, the Picts, the Scots, the Britons and eventually, the Saxons and the Danes, or Norsemen, carried on intermittent warfare with one another. The struggle among the clans continued until a complete nationality was formed.
In 839 the Danes invaded the territory of the Picts and defeated them. Two years later, the first centralized government was organized, by the Scots, in Argyle, under Kenneth McALPIN, as king.
---There is more which includes a list of rulers. This passage is from a very small book on the McAlpin family written by Annie Hutchison, no date found but it appears to be quite old, circa early 1920's I would estimate.
If you find, or inherit, a box full of old letters and snippits of papers, don't rush threw them. They may contain some interesting tidbits about family members that can lead you up a new limb or out to the tip of existing ones. Below is a jewel I almost tossed because it was so yellow you could barely read it. But, I took many hours and transcribed it. When I come back to read it, I am surprised at how much information it actually contains. Enjoy this little piece of my family's history.
Note: The Rounder was a letter that was sent out and passed from one family to the next. Each family would add their news and send it on.
"Birds" was the pet name my ggrandfather used for his children's families (my grandmother)and likewise "ducks". Interesting that this farm family used animals as 'pet names' quite often.
Dodgeville, Wis. May 13, 1917
The Rounder came yesterday and Charley brought it
home just as I got home from a twenty mile ride over
rough roads, so tired that I could hardly sit up. But I
did sit up and take notice of every letter in the pack.
I sat down by my fire and read and read and when I
finished I found my face wet with tears. This rounder
has been a long time on its toad and has hatched several
chickens on its route. I vote tha Lethe and Irene beat
us all to a stand still, when it comes to writing an
interesting letter. Father's letter sent me back to old
times. Uncle John LeVake and I used to go over there to
see the girls and there is where he got acquainted with
the girl he afterwards married. We used to walk down
the river on the ice. It was only twelve or fifteen
miles and as far back again, but what did we care for
that. Maybe none of you ducks son't know where that
It was at old Richland City. The Old Academy was
afterwards moved to Spring Green and it is now a
dwelling house. Professor Silsby that father speaks of
afterwards went into the Army as Captain of heavy
artillery, and after the war published a newspaper at
Selma Alabama and I believe died there. I went to that
school the next year with the girls. Nearly all my
class went into the army and some of them distinguished
themselves, and many of them lie now in soldier's
graves. Uncle John LeVake was the last one of the old
settlers of the valley and the last old soldier there
out of 37 who went from the town of Wyoming. Some are
still alive but they live now in other places. *****Well
I had to stop just now to take Bobby a ride down the
walk as Rob is dressing for church. She takes him over
to his grandmother's while she goes to church. Lethe's
boy is somne smart boy, but you all must remember thathe
is a whole lot older than our Bob and don't weigh as
much by 2 or 3 pounds. So don/t run away with the idea
that he is the whole cheese in the baby show. Ask Andy.
He has seen them both lately and if he don't say that
considerin' all the circumstances and the chance he had
that our Bob is in the show to stay yet awhile. Oh i
could spin yarns for an hour yarn about with her but
postage is going to be raised soon and I do not want to
break the bunch. One thing I will say and nobody can
prove to the contrary, our Bob knows O and can point it
out on a Quaker Oats boc. That Sawyer county kid can't
tell O from a pig's tail. Ajiamo has it about right
about women folks finding a hob for a man around the
house. I never was out of a job since I got married.
The kid's round robin get around about twice to your
once and keeps me busy guessing riddles and doing the
stunts that Helen Hones thinks up. I hope she does not
run away with the idea she is a poet. There is no money
in that and it does not help mother much. Poetry is all
right in its place but I would rather be able to write
such a letter as Lethe or Irene can write that be able
to write all the poetry in the world. As father says in
his letter, a good conversationalist is the rarest thing
in the world. My last stry in the Chronical got micxed
up in the mill some way and the printers made hash of
it. I have to take a lot of kidding about it. People
that have been reading them ask me what kind of dope I
smoke. I son't wonder. The printers make my story that
was all paged and arranged so I thought they could not
get it mixed,sound like the ravings of delirium I am
going to tell the editor that when he gets over his
drunk I will lwt him have another, and not before. They
don't cost the paper anything snd the trouble to keep
them straight should be raken. A short story is as much
a work of art as a building, and to put the windows
where the door should be and the roof in the cellar
would be as sensible as to cut a story in the wrong
place and print it hindside before.
My garden is all up but corn and potaotes. My tomatoe
plants in the box in my window are turning yellow from
some cause after all my care of them. I guess I
willhave to buy some after all. I have soil in my
garden and my neighbor's garden as fine as dust. The
neighbor is complaining that he can find nothing to hoe.
I don't intend he shall unless he hoes plain dirt. I
would like to get a whack at Beula's garden with my
garden plow. Several of the neighbors have bought themn
a plow like mine and threw away their old planet Juniors
hoes and rakes. So I won't find so much to do as usual,
and I'm afraid I will run out of work which would be a
calamity. Some times when I see those old differs
sitting around on boxes down town I envy them their
ability to take it easy, and then when I see the
expression on their faces and listen afor a moment to
their whining pessimistic talk I thank my lucky stars
that I am not built that way, and glory in my tasks even
if they weary me. I am well and as contented as can be
besides having all my real want supplied.
The ancient Gander, (mistakes are as copied from copy
of original letter.)
First, let me apologize for my infrequent visits to this forum. I have been up to my eyeballs in genealogy as well as maintaining several other websites and writing books. BUT, as we have some new information I have re-registered at Ancestry.com and am updating my files. Look for Millerfull2011 (tree/31758862/family) for the most recent updates there.
Richard F. Scott (my eldest son) and his wife Leah Noem Scott, now have a new daughter, Livia Scott. She was born in mid-June and is an absolute baby-doll. Growing like the leaves on a young tree. LOL.
We now have word that my nephew, Brandon Jones, son of my 2nd sister, Cynthia and Wayne Jones (div) is expecting his first child in August 2012. We wish them well.
Martha Jane 'Peter" Miller Wesley McArther is still with us and holding to her promise to reach 90. However, we said goodbye to my mother, Anne Elschner Miller on 12 Dec 2008, My Uncle Jack Miller on 10 Oct 2009, and my cousin, Peter's son, Doug Wesley, in Feb 2009.
I think that about updates most of what was missing (I hope). I have also begun researching Cindy's ex-husband's "Jones" family at his request so his information is now included. Additionally, the Cagle line is growing as well as I research my husband's family.
Have a wonderful Christmas season everyone. I'll be back in January with more info, I hope.
Do you have a bunch of old (35mm) photo negatives that you have discovered in the course of your research? The cost to have those old negatives printed can mount up very quickly, as I'm sure anyone who has begun to have some printed, will attest. So, what is the alternative?
I discovered that with a relatively inexpensive scanner and photo editing program, you can make digital "prints" that you can save and share. While these are not of the quality of a professionally produced print, they allow you to decide which negatives are viable or desirable for reproduction.
Here is the process:
1.Place the negative on the scanner bed and cover with a clean sheet of white paper. I like to use a glossy cardstock as it seems to give a better 'read' of the images on the film.
2.Scan the film to your computer and open in your photo editor. A really good one for under $100 is Paint Shop Pro. It is easy to use and has all the features of most of the more expensive software.
3. Now you have the image you want to do a reverse. Basically you do a negative image of the negative, which gives you a dark positive. (This process depends on your software but is usually a one or two click operation)
You should save the negative before commiting the changes, just in case.
4. Lighten the photo by adjusting contrast and brightness until you have an image that you can easily recognize. Save it as a copy of the original file. I use a -b appended to the original filename.You can now print or post the image.
This process, while not a replacement for standard print, allows you to send a copy to others for identification, or share copies for fun and info. My aunt was thrilled to get some copies of her family that she had thought wer long lost, and offered to have real prints made, in addition to offering invaluable identificaiton of people in the photo.
I hope this gives some of you a chance to "see what you've got" without the added expense. After all, these days it is imperative that we put our money to our research, especially when on tight budgets.
In today's uncertain world, when a disaster could strike at any time, those of us who have amassed a collection of notes, documents, photos, and perhaps even recordings and historical items, must take steps to insure their safe survival.
I learned this lesson the hard way a couple of years after I began my genealogical journey.
My uncle who, at the time, was dying of cancer, agreed to tape record as much info about the family as he could remember. He dutifully sent me a cassett tape about once a week for several months. I soon had quite a collection. David Miller (my uncle) had been a prize winning journalist, so he was very good at including trackable details and often included substantiating documents.
Oh, I was very careful to store the tapes in a cool, dry place and to preserve all the documents. But....
One day a tornado came through and it left a muddy, tumble of destroyed tapes (and a lot of ruined photos) behind. Imagine my horror and distress. A lifetime of memories gone, irreplacable as Uncle David was now gone. But...
The genealogy gods smiled because I had dilligently transcribed each and every tape and stored the transcriptions in a different form and in a seperate place. Although I can no longer listen to my Uncle tell his stories, at least I still have the stories, written down and ready to share.
That tornado taught me the importance of planning and copy. I hope none of you ever faces loosing your priceless records, but to insure the information they contain continues on, PLEASE, make backup copies of notes, digital copies of photos and tapes, and store them somewhere other than with the originals. Your research is priceless and future generations will applaude you for passing down the family traditions.
For help and information on preserving paper documents go to
Preserving my Heritage
For information on preserving photos see Expert Give Tips for preserving photos
You can also find out about preserving sounds from
Library of Congress-Preservation
Good luck with your research
Allycat mentioned the importance of recording source information, in one of her journal articles. This is vital for the serious genealogy researcher.
One of the systems I have found useful is a database of index cards.
I sort by type of record. On each card I list where the record is located in my files (I give each record a number), any identifying numbers or stamps on the document, WHO the document refers to and the number of that person in the database, and notes which include cause of death (if given) parents,places, or anything else such as internet location (if it is a scan of a document, etc.)
I also have a file box of large index cards on which I list names under locations, and by year. This is great help when you begin to traverse through centuries and across countries.
I also scan all documents to my computer and once a month I make a backup CD with all images. (Never know what might happen. I had a flood once and lost several albums and file folders of info. Thank the Lord I had scanned copies).
Hope this helps someone.
During the early days of my research, like any new genealogist, I bombarded all family members with requests for information. I was quite lucky. Most responded with more than I ever could have asked for in a Q & A session. It appears I am not the only family member with a penchant for family memories. Here is an excerpt from a very long missive I received from my uncle, Jack Miller (27 June 1930 - 10 October 2009). While Jack msy be gone, his memories will live on through this and his other letters, stories, and of course his life's work and the many publications he produced.
I have added additional details within the [brackets]
I(Jack) entered the service on July 25th, 1947, about six weeks after leaving high school, and a month after turning 17.
I met D.D. [Dorothy Dora Sundin 1932 -2004] on March 18th, 1953 and nine days later was whisked away to Pilot Training in San Antonio, Texas from New Jersey.
Meanwhile, we’d become engaged, and kept up a whirlwind romance by mail until I was transferred to Kinston Air Base in North Carolina. I had four days to drive the trip, so naturally took the ‘short route’ from Texas via New Jersey, driving all night, spending two days there, and driving all night to make it just in time. We met one more time over Labor Day weekend in Richmond, VA where her parents and sister, Joan, drove down and I drove up.
We decided to get married after the Air force started to transfer me to West Texas to finish up my pilot training in Bombers. We married in secret (at least from the service). Ninety two guests were at the New Jersey wedding including Mrs. Maiden from Vermont, Mother from Valdosta, Pete and Frank from Marietta.
I returned from our honeymoon at the NJ shore (in December yet), only to pass out on my first solo acrobatic flight. D.D. had relocated to Kinston where she shared a room with another girl whose husband also had to live on base. We sang in the choir to get Saturday nights off (until 10pm) and formed a drum & bugle corps to get Wednesday nights in town to see our brides.
During that time I made $59 per month , and lived on it! I first met your [Barbara] mom (Anne Elschner, Miller [1927 - 2008]) at Kinston where she and Tad [Frank Miller 1929 - 1973] came to visit in his 1936 Mercedes Benz when they first came back to the USA from Germany. I spent the remainder of my time in service as an enlisted man, 20 years, 2 months and 11 days in all.
I left as a Senior Master Sergeant (E-8 pay grade) and retired from Italy. Went through basic training at Lackland AFB in San Antonio, Texas where I also trained as a Cadet. I was on the ground crew of the first airplane that ever went completely around the world non-stop. I spent seven years living overseas out of 20, and 11 years in schools, graduating from the University of Omaha with a bachelor’s degree in 1965.
I’m the only one of my generation in the family who actually graduated from college even though both mother and dad had graduated together with most of my uncles and aunt Fern.
Learn more about our family at MY Family Genealogy Site
Uncle David was a noted journalist and a priceless asset in my research. His memory was phenomenal and his journalistic expertise was inspirational. He became my mentor in those early days and I learned so much from him. His encouragement spurred me to embrace writing and genealogy research in a way I probably would not have had he not been involved. David Miller 1926 - 1988.
David was really the bright one in the family. About 180 IQ. Total recall.
He knew it and it showed. Breezed through school.
Had a bevy of kooky cronies who did all sorts of intellectual things. When he was 12 he made his own nitrogen gas, inflated about 100 balloons and was charting weather patterns and prevailing winds all over the nation just out of curiosity.
By the time he was 15 he quit high school, having aced all the courses he needed. Without a diploma (they refused to give him one) he sneaked into a private college (Emory at Oxford, GA) for a semester, then transferred his credits to the University of Ga which he also quit at the age of 17 for the same reason (and because Wayne died that year).
He was a sigma Chi. At the age of 18, after 11 months service, he returned to Albany (at the same time as I was working as a Bell Hop at Radium Springs).
He met Merri Hall at the Albany Herald. He was a Telegraph Editor – handling all wire service information, but because she was 25, he convinced her he was the same age. She was a proof reader. They were married on July 5th 1947.
Mother and I attended, and they had a party at Radium Springs after the ceremony. It was a home wedding. Mother was miffed because Merri was a divorcee, and said so. Irene was ‘persona non grata’ with Merri thereafter. Merri had a five year old precious son, George.
His two uncles, Billy and Norton were his idols, having returned from the war with impressive combat records. David and Merri had little influence on him. He joined the army and spent 20 years in it.
He and Merri visited us in Italy in 1966. At that time he was stationed in Germany at a base called Dortmund Gemund. He was in the missile field. Returning from service, he relocated in West Texas near his Uncles. He was fond of guns. David adopted him as a child, but they never did get along well as adults.
POSTSCTIPT: I was able to meet George as an adult. He was married and worked as a corrections officer. He was friendly and seemed genuinely happy to reunite with his Miller family.
Here are some more of the 'memories' my uncle Jack shared through his letters. Tad, was my father, Frank MILLER (1927 - 1973). These stories are especially precious as we lost our father so early in life. My gratitude to Jack and my other aunts and uncles is endless.
Tad and I were only 10 months apart. I was born on June 27, 1930 and Tad on August 18 1929. Mother had five children in 4 months(June, September, August )in only 5 years.
Go-Go (Ruth Josephine) was born in early September 1926. There were ten months between Tad (1929)and me (Jack - 1930), twelve months from him to Pete (1928), eleven months from Pete to David (1927), ten months from David to Go- Go (1926). (ascending order) It was competitive to say the least.
The week that Pete was born, Go-Go died of some rare disease. David never contracted it, and mother had Pete.
She was quite a gal when it came to tough going. So we never had more than four kids at one time in the family. We were quite well off when we lived in New York and Connecticut. We had live-in servants, first William and Mary, and elderly couple who lived in servant’s quarters on the grounds of what we call the O’Niel house. (It is still standing and in good shape. I visited it last November on the old Norwalk Road just outside of New Canaan)
As Tad and I grew up, we found ourselves dating the same girls. In fact, we had a schedule on the back of our door when Tad first lived in Ashley St. in 1946-47. He was out of school, but I was still in High School. We both dated high school seniors and college freshmen and made up a chart so we weren’t competing over the same girl at the same time.
Learn more about the adventures of our family at FamilyGenealogy, My family site
Irene Rogers [1900 - 1978] was my father's [Frank miller 1929 - 1973] mother and my grandmother. She was a unique individual and one we were fortunate to be able to know. From flapper to church leader, her life was full and her memory is with us all. Here are some of Jack's [1930 - 2009]memories of his mother.
Irene Rogers Miller Went to William Woods College somewhere in Missouri.
Summers she went to a summer camp where Wayne Miller [1896 -1945] met her at Lake Geneva, near Delaven, Wisconsin, where there are still lots of far-removed cousins.
I think she was a liberal arts major, but can’t be certain. She was a flapper. Pictures make her look like a plump Clara Bow.
She graduated with a BA – must have been around 1922 or so. Married Wayne on June 10th 1926. It was his second marriage after leaving his first wife and two children.
She and Wayne had spent several years prior to WWI as a team of Evangelists (Methodists). He was an ordained Minister, but lost the way as a result of four months service in the army from about June to November 1918.
After Wayne died, Irene got a job as a secretary connected with the new Boys’ Club in Valdosta, working in the old city hall building on Hill Avenue, south of Ashley St. Then she got involved in fund raising for the new Boys Club. She worked there until about 1952 or so.
Meanwhile, she took in boarders overflowing from the Pines Camp Motel next door to our house at 1510 N. Ashley Street. She’d bought it with Dan’s insurance money in 1945 for about $4500.00 total. It had been built in 1942 for $2500.00 as part of the early GI housing for people on Moody Field Air Base. It was only 2 blocks from our old house at 306 E. College St. which we’d been renting since Dec 4, 1941, but were forced to buy during the war.
When Wayne died, we had a 1941 four door Chevy Master Deluxe which we’d bought for $1200.00 from Lee and Laura Maiden, a couple of Vermonters stationed at the base during the war. Laura is now 82(1990) and visits her son, Norman, in Ocala. I saw her in November. Irene had to sell the car to stay afloat, but chanced on about the only 1950 Ford Anglia in the USA.
That was that funky little old black car in which the head liner in the roof kept coming down on everyone. It was a menace – almost matching her lack of driving ability. [I , Barbara, remember that car as a playhouse' parked under the grape arbor in Irene's back yard. It was used as a 'green house' during the spring and summer months]
Then she bought a 1965 Chevelle – her green car. Which lasted the rest of her life. In 1955 Irene made a trade of the Land Beneath Her House on Ashley St. in return for a Duplex and a separate house on Alden Avenue, just off Ashley St. plus a vacant lot at 2425 University Drive, plus she made the developer who traded her out of her house, move her old house onto the new lot.
By that time we’d all left home. I was just about the only person who lived any length of time in the Ashley St. house.
Tad and I (Jack) spent the school year, 1945-46, at Gordon Military College in Barnesville near Atlanta.
Pete went off to college in the dorm at Georgia State College for Women (GSWC) about four blocks from the house on Patterson St.
David went into the Navy, landing at Quonset Point, RI as Editor of the Quonset Point NAS base paper.
I spent my junior year in that house.
Tad returned for brief periods, but couldn’t stand taking orders from Mother, so lived with Botie Chitty in a rented room much of the time.
Pete was married to Frank on June 29, 1946 so was soon gone.
I left on June 9th, 1947 for a job at Raduim Springs in Albany. I was 16. I worked the prior summer in Atlanta at 15.
Read more about our family at My Family Genealogy Si8te
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Pericarditis is an inflammation of the dual layered thin sac that lines your heart, known as the pericardial sac or pericardium. Pericardial sac inflammation often occurs on the heals of an upper respiratory infection.
The most common symptom of paricarditis is sharp chest pain. The sharpness of the pain may worsen with a deep breath or when lying down. While, leaning forward may offer some relief of the pain in your chest.
Other symptoms that can be caused by pericarditis include:
- dry cough
- anxiety feeling
- eye hemorrhage
- lower extremity edema
- breathing difficulty increase when supine
In some cases, pericarditis is caused by other health conditions, such as:
- heart attack
- kidney failure
- cancer, leukemia
- chest, esophagus, heart trauma
- autoimmune disorders ~ lupus, sarcoidosis, scleroderma, rheumatoid arthritis
Standard treatment is usually taking OTC nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and painkillers, for instance ibuprofen, aspirin and acetaminophen. Antibiotics are not prescribed unless a bacterial infection is the likely cause of your sharp chest pain pericardium inflammation.
Pericarditis typically clears up on own within a month or so. However, if your inflammation is to such an extent that it causes a heart functioning issue, then pericardial sac fluid drainage may be required.
Pericarditis can be chronic or recur. And pleurisy might accompany your sharp chest pain causing pericarditis.
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The InSight lander will be able to bore beneath Mars' surface to extract information about how the planet formed (Photo : NASA)
NASA is wasting no time in exploring this solar system. The Mars Curiosity rover just landed on the Red Planet's surface, and NASA is already looking forward to sending more probes out into our solar system. A just-approved mission named InSight plans on getting another terrestrial planet explorer on Mars by as early as 2016.
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NASA's InSight mission is scheduled for a March 2016 launch and a September 2016 arrival date on Mars.
While the Mars Curiosity rover will be limited to surface expenditures only, InSight, on the other hand, aims to dig a little deeper.
"By using sophisticated geophysical instruments, InSight will delve deep beneath the surface of Mars, detecting the fingerprints of the processes of terrestrial planet formation, as well as measuring the planet's "vital signs": Its "pulse" (seismology), "temperature" (heat flow probe), and "reflexes" (precision tracking)," says NASA's mission webpage.
NASA is hoping that by studying the interior of Mars, they can gain more insight into planet formation.
"It happens that Mars is in the "sweet spot" - big enough to have undergone most of the early processes that fundamentally shaped the terrestrial bodies (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Earth's Moon and Mars), but small enough to have retained the signature of those processes for the next four billion years (unlike Earth)," says the InSight press release.
Mars is also less geologically active than Earth, so its insides are better preserved than Earth's.
"InSight's instruments will be designed to pick up any seismic activity rumbling through the planet; take note of any meteor impacts on the surface; burrow as much as 16 feet deep to study how heat flows underground; and measure how Mars' two moons exert tidal forces on the planet, causing it to stretch one way or another," according to Los Angeles Times science writer Amina Khan.
The InSight mission proposal beat out two other mission proposals: one to Saturn's moon Titan, and another one that planned on landing a spacecraft on a comet.
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|Creator:||Hatfield, Edward A.|
|Title:||Christian Methodist Episcopal Church (CME Church)|
|Date:||2007 Nov. 8|
Encyclopedia article about the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church (CME Church), formerly the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church, which is a historically African American denomination with more than 800,000 members in the United States. Formed in 1870 in Jackson, Tennessee, as a separate black denomination by the Methodist Episcopal Church South, the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church was the first African American denomination established in the South. In 1956 the name change to the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church not only signaled the church's repudiation of Jim Crow-era racial subordination but also highlighted a more ecumenical emphasis on religious, rather than racial, identity. Thereafter, the church became more active in the civil rights movement. Church polity and theology are consistent with other major American Methodist denominations, and the church participates in such ecumenical organizations as the National Council of Churches. The CME Church supports four colleges, including Paine College in Augusta, Georgia, and maintains missions in Ghana, Haiti, Jamaica, Liberia, and Nigeria.
The Civil Rights Digital Library received support from a National Leadership Grant for Libraries awarded to the University of Georgia by the Institute of Museum and Library Services for the aggregation and enhancement of partner metadata.
|Subjects:||Hollowell, Donald | Johnson, Joseph A. | Robinson, Ruby Doris Smith, 1941-1967 | Christian Methodist Episcopal Church | Christian Methodist Episcopal Church--Political activity | African American churches | Churches--United States | African Americans--Religion | African American universities and colleges | African American universities and colleges--Georgia--Augusta | Universities and colleges--United States | Universities and colleges--Georgia--Augusta | Paine College | National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America | Methodist Church--United States | Methodists--United States | African American Methodists | Ecumenical movement--United States | Interdenominational cooperation--United States | Church--Unity | Social problems--United States | Social justice--United States | Social action--United States | Political participation--United States | African Americans--Politics and government | Social participation--United States | Community life--United States | United States--Politics and government--20th century | United States--Social conditions--20th century | United States--Race relations--History--20th century | Race relations | National Association for the Advancement of Colored People | Civil rights--United States | Civil rights--Georgia | African Americans--Civil rights | African Americans--Civil rights--Georgia | Church work--United States | Politics, Practical--United States | Theology, Practical--United States | United States | Southern States | Georgia | Augusta (Ga.) | Richmond County (Ga.) | Atlanta (Ga.) | Fulton County (Ga.)|
|Collection:||New Georgia Encyclopedia|
|Institution:||New Georgia Encyclopedia|
|Contributors:||New Georgia Encyclopedia (Project) | Georgia Humanities Council | University of Georgia. Press | Merrill-Hall New Media | GALILEO (Georgia statewide project)|
|Online Publisher:||[Athens, Ga.] : Georgia Humanities Council and the University of Georgia Press | 11/8/2007|
|Rights and Usage:|
If you wish to use content from the NGE site for commercial use, publication, or any purpose other than fair use as defined by law, you must request and receive written permission from the NGE. Such requests may be directed to: Permissions/NGE, University of Georgia Press, 330 Research Drive, Athens, GA 30602.
Cite as: "[article name]," New Georgia Encyclopedia. Retrieved [date]: http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org.
Forms part of the New Georgia Encyclopedia.
|Persistent Link to Item:||http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-3665&sug=y|
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- Life & Style
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Let me introduce you to my innovative scientific project “SPARKS”. sparks is a portable oven cum roaster which do not consume electricity(power) for warming the food items and thus provide anytime oven facility to its owner.
Before I start explaining the concept, let us first try to understand the basics of oven. Oven is a device which restricts the escaping of heat and directs it towards a substance in order to raise its temperature. Usually an oven works on electricity. Now a days we have microwave ovens which using the microwaves, raise the temperature of water/liquid bubble inside the uncooked food items and thus help in baking/roasting/cooking of food. An oven comprises of a chamber where heating is done.
Few years back, a guy had invented a portable ready to use hot coffee can. In this can he had used the basic principles of chemical reaction between Cao & H2O to heat the coffee. What actually happen in this coffee can is that…when we press a button embedded over the can, a certain quantity of Cao & H2O combines chemically in order to raise the temperature inside the can up to 60c. As a result the coffee get heated up and we conserve it.
My oven is base on this very same chemical reaction that can be used to raise the temperature inside the cooking chamber in order to warm up the food item.
In every exothermic reaction certain amount of heat is produced, which if properly used may raise the temperature of the things in surrounding as high as 250c in case of very common chemicals and in 1000s c in case of heavy metals/chemicals.
Spark will comprise of a metallic non-corrosive near vacuum rectangular frame
This can be imagined to be something like a cubical flask. Just like a tea/coffee flask prevents the escape of heat for long, similarly the chamber of sparks will be designed to keep the heat produced inside the reaction chamber for as long as possible. Remember this is the outer chamber.
Surrounded by the chemical or reaction chamber, is the heating chamber of cooking chamber. The wall of the cooking chamber is made of the substance that get heated very soon i.e. good conductor of heat. This is for the reason that as soon as the chemical reaction occurs in the reaction chamber the raise in temperature inside the reaction chamber should directly heat the cooking chamber in minimum time period. The cooking chamber is suspended in between the chemical chamber through proper support and tightens. We can imagine this arrangement similar to the microwave/ordinary oven which has on out insulating frame/cover and a conducting frame inside.
At the top of this oven there will be two small tanks one filled with Cao and other with H2O there will be a network of pipe lines and regulators insuring the proper release of these chemicals inside the reaction chamber. There will be a gas/CO2 outlet and waste outlet to ensure proper and continuous reaction inside the reaction chamber.
The following reactions will take place inside the reaction chamber namely:
CaO + H2O > Ca(OH)2 + H2O + CO2 ^
Ca(OH)2 + H2O + CO2 > CaCo3 ^
When the reaction is complete, the temperature inside the reaction chamber will rise rapidly leading to rise in temperature inside the cooking chamber. After the work the waste outlet will let open to allow to waste to move out. The gas regulator will ensure that excess amount of the CO2 must get released to avoid any accident/leakage.
This is just a brief idea about my project. The amount of chemicals used and rise in temperature depends upon the size of the oven and other condition which is needed to be worked out. Moreover I am not claiming that my innovative idea may prove very useful to the society, I am just try to convince the crowd that we have some other alternatives as well.
I hope you liked my project. Your suggestions are most welcome!
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This one is by request, but it does intrigue me, and no, I will not be attempting to define "irregardless".
In fact, this comparison is really regard v. respect, since both words contain modifiers for the negative ("ir" and "less"). Regard has a complicated etymology. Regard originally derives from Indo-Europen "wer", through Middle English "warde" (and its variant spellings) through German "warten" to Old French "garder" for "to watch". Regard, then, literally means "to watch again", however, figuratively, it means "to pay attention to" as it derives from to the idea of watching again and again being that you don't stop watching, or paying attention. The word evolved into "to think highly of and/or with a particular feeling" as if when you are truly paying attention it is because you would think highly of the person or have a particular feeling that would inspire the attention. Therefore, regardless naturally means inattentive or unmindful.
In contrast, respect comes from the Latin "specere" for "to look", and thus, respect means "to look at or consider again" and by extension, finally, to mean "deference". Therefore, irrespective means without a second look or thought.
So, the real issue is given the closeness of the etymologies, how does respect differ from regard? Regard has its origin from watching with a purpose, hence the evolution through guarding and paying attention and imbuing the watching with a higher sense of worth, while respect is just looking with no purpose, and then as a result of what you see, paying closer attention and giving the look higher worth. The intent of the initial observation is different, leading to a different purpose for observing, although quite probably leading to the same type of ultimate observation. However, there is a separate distinction through the implied usage. Regard looks at the physical characteristics, again, the reason for guarding or watching. Respect looks at a quality of a person, the reason for giving a second look. Now, a quality of a person may be a physical characteristic (a pretty smile, a scar), but it was not the reason for having to watch the person. Therefore, we give regard to pedestrians at a crosswalk, and we give respect to the police car stopped on the side of the road. The pedestrians are a group of people who need protection against traffic and therefore give continual watching to, while we have no particular interest in the police car except for what the officer may subsequently decide to do which could affect us, therefore, we pay more attention until its relevance is moot. We regard beauty as an asset, and at some point we hope that others will respect the person for more than pretty looks. To take some common and easy ones, we are told to respect our elders, implying that we would not give such notice on first glance, but we should look deeper to find something worthwhile and therefore, worthy of deference. We don't regard our elders. That just sounds odd (like a malapropism), unless they are feebleminded and need elder care. Then, it's appropriate.
When we return to regardless v. irrespective, however, these words are generally used on a meta-level to regard v. respect, as in the fact or quality of what should be regarded or respected. Regardless of the fact that it was physics exam, the student answered the essay questions with dissertations on economic philosophy. True story. Irrespective of his desire to maintain his 4.0 GPA in economics, he submitted the essay for the physic professor to grade. Regardless has the idea of ignoring something to which you should have paid attention, while irrespective is dismissing something to which you had no need to pay attention. Regardless of the weather, my friend and I go walking every morning (almost true, but not due to the weather). Irrespective of his 7 y.o. daughter's whining, he goes to work every day. Ok, that might be a little harsh. Depending on the parent, it could just as easily have read, regardless of his 7 y.o. daughter's whining, he goes to work every day. So, depending on the person and the societal norms of what we should "regard", and even just cautious politeness, regardless has a broader usage. Irrespective, then, is almost flippant, as well, the lawyer in me prefers "notwithstanding" as a more generic, and perhaps obscure substitute. Irrespective of the judge's counseling, Plaintiff's counsel proceeded to attack the witness's credibility on his extra-marital affair. Only Plaintiff's counsel would actually presume to defy a judge so blatantly. For the rest, it would be regardless of the judge's counseling, the attorney continued to zealously represent her client by cross-examining the witness on his extra-marital affair to attack his loss of consortium damages.
So, irrespective (or perhaps regardless, as you see fit) of what you think of my analysis, perhaps we should work to err more on the side of regardless.
Ed note: I started this comparison over a month ago, but it took some time to really process the subtle differences, and I couldn't extract myself to work on any other words until I finished it, hence the extreme delay. Again, thank you for your patience. Hopefully, other words will not create such obstacles...
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Giving elephants good memories
Boon Seuhm, a 68 year-old elephant, at the Elephantstay in Thailand.
TEXT OF STORY
KAI RYSSDAL: Tomorrow's going to be a big day in Thailand. Former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra is expected to return to Bangkok from exile. He was ousted in a coup two years ago, amid accusations of corruption.
Out in the Thai jungles, a business tycoon is trying to bring back domesticated elephants. For generations they were used to haul timber, but they were left essentially unemployed when Thailand banned logging twenty years ago.
Jocelyn Ford reports on how to make elephants relevant in a modern-day economy.
JOCELYN FORD: Loong Sup is 70, semi-retired and has a lot of patience. Today, she is waiting for American tourist Lawrence Goodrich to figure out how to give commands in the Thai language, while sitting on her neck.
MICHELLE REEDY: Tap her on the head and say "jem."
LAWRENCE GOODRICH: Say what? Jem? What does that mean?
It means remember, remember me, but Lawrence can't remember the most important command.
LAWRENCE GOODRICH: How do you say "stop?"
Loong Sup is part of an elephant lover's experiment to create a cradle-to-grave social security system for the endangered species. The old elephants help pay for their keep by attracting tourists to the 12 acre eco-attraction called "Elephantstay." The tourists pay $100 to stay overnight and feed, bathe and develop a personal relationship with the retired elephants, and they get to play with rambunctious babies. The babies get a kick out of butting tourists with their heads.
TOURIST: Oh you're so cute.
But the effort, launched by Thai entrepreneur and philanthropist Laithongrien Meepan, is a costly one. Consider how much an elephant eats every day.
EWA NARKIEWICZ: Nearly 200 kilos, you know they just won't go on a diet.
Ewa Narkiewicz is one of the two Australians Meepan asked to launch the retired elephant program. In the old days domestic elephants could feed in the jungle, but there's not enough jungle left, so Meepan purchases pineapple and hay. With 90 elephant mouths, that adds up to $42,000 a month, and that's where our American tourists come in.
REEDY: Are you feeling stable up there?
LAWRENCE GOODRICH: Uh, a little bit.
Lawrence and his wife Darcy had done the tourist ride thing before. You know, when you sit in a box-chair perched on an elephant's back. Darcy says they wanted something more.
DARCY GOODRICH: I guess what I'm looking for here is a real personal experience, I guess, with the elephant this time.
The couple paid a total of $600 to spend three days and two nights at Elephantstay. They're among 400 tourists who've signed up since the program was launched one and a half years ago. Former Melbourne zookeeper Michelle Reedy says Meepan asked her to move to Thailand to help make his vision for the species a reality.
REEDY: His vision is to make the elephants self-sustaining. He's been trying to do that with making work for different elephants, like, you know, the tourist rides in town, training elephants for movies.
But Meepan has yet to work out the economics. He currently subsidizes the elephant village with about $200,000 a year from his other businesses. Darcy is eager to do her bit to save the species, and plans to recommend Elephantstay to her friends back in Washington D.C., but she has a disclaimer.
DARCY GOODRICH: The other part of, or not so glamorous part of taking care of an elephant is cleaning up after them, 350 pounds of food a day and 50 gallons of water, and that goes through the elephant and out, so that's a lot of cleanup. That's the poop of the scoop.
In Ayutthaya, Thailand, I'm Jocelyn Ford for Marketplace.
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Tampa, FL (Aug. 11, 2009) -- A 65-year-old women goes into the hospital for routine hip surgery. Six months later, she develops memory loss and is later diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease. Just a coincidence? Researchers at the University of South Florida and Vanderbilt University don't think so. They suspect that the culprit precipitating Alzheimer's disease in the elderly women may be a routine administration of high concentrations of oxygen for several hours during, or following, surgery – a hypothesis borne out in a recent animal model study.
Dr. Gary Arendash of the Florida Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at USF and Dr. L. Jackson Roberts II at Vanderbilt University used mice genetically altered to develop abnormal levels of the protein beta amyloid, which deposits in the brain as plaques and eventually leads to Alzheimer's-like memory loss as the mice age. They found that young adult Alzheimer's mice exposed to 100-percent oxygen during several 3-hour sessions demonstrated substantial memory loss not otherwise present at their age. Young adult Alzheimer's mice exposed to normal air had no measurable memory loss, and neither did normal mice without any genetic predisposition for Alzheimer's disease.
The authors suggest that people genetically predisposed to Alzheimer's disease or with excessive amounts of beta amyloid in their brains are at increased risk of developing the disease earlier if they receive high concentrations of oxygen, known as hyperoxia. Their study is published online this month in NeuroReport.
"Although oxygen treatment beneficially increases the oxygen content of blood during or after major surgery, it also has several negative effects that we believe may trigger Alzheimer's symptoms in those destined to develop the disease," said USF neuroscientist Arendash, the study's lead author. "Our study suggests that the combination of brain beta amyloid and exposure to high concentrations of oxygen provides a perfect storm for speeding up the onset of memory loss associated with Alzheimer's Disease."
While postoperative confusion and memory problems are common and usually transient in elderly patients following surgery, some patients develop permanent Alzheimer's-like cognitive impairment that remains unexplained. Recent studies have indicated that general anesthesia administered during surgery may increase a patient's risk of Alzheimer's disease, but the laboratory studies did not use animals or people predisposed to develop the disease.
"Postoperative memory loss can be a fairly common and devastatingly irreversible problem in the elderly after major surgical procedures," said Roberts, an MD who holds an endowed chair in Pharmacology at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. "There has been much speculation as to the cause of this memory loss, but the bottom line is that no one really knows why it happens. If all it takes to prevent this is reducing the exposure of patients to unnecessarily high concentrations of oxygen in the operating room, this would be a major contribution to geriatric medicine."
The USF-Vanderbilt study looked at 11 young adult mice genetically modified to develop memory problems as they aged, mimicking Alzheimer's disease. After behavioral tests confirmed the mice had not yet developed memory impairment at age 3 months – about age 40 in human years – the researchers exposed half the Alzheimer's mice to 100-percent oxygen for three hours, three times over the next several months. The protocol was intended to replicate initial and supplemental exposures of elderly patients in hospital operating rooms and recovery suites to high concentrations of oxygen. The other half of the mice were exposed to 21-percent oxygen, the concentration of oxygen in typical room air.
When researchers retested the mice after the final gas exposure, they found that Alzheimer's mice exposed to 100-percent oxygen performed much worse on tests measuring their memory and thinking skills than the Alzheimer's mice exposed to normal room air. In fact, the Alzheimer's mice exposed to room air demonstrated no memory loss. Moreover, exposure of young adult mice without beta amyloid protein deposited in their brains to 100-percent oxygen did not adversely affect their memories. This is consistent with studies in humans showing that exposure of young adults to high concentrations of oxygen has no harmful effects on memory.
The researchers also demonstrated that even a single 3-hour exposure to 100-percent oxygen caused memory deficits in the Alzheimer's mice. Furthermore, when they examined the brains of these mice, they found dramatic increases in levels of isofurans, products of oxygen-induced damage from toxic free radicals. The increase was not present in the brains of normal control mice exposed to the single hyperoxia treatment.
How might high concentrations of oxygen hasten memory impairment in those destined to develop Alzheimer's disease? The researchers suggest the striking increase of isofurans during surgery may be one triggering mechanism, particularly in cardiac bypass surgery where very high blood oxygen levels are routinely attained and permanent memory loss often occurs months after the surgery. Secondly, exposure to high concentrations of oxygen prompts abnormal swelling of brain cell terminals that transmit chemical messages from one brain cell to another and may further disrupt already frayed nerve cell connections in those at risk for Alzheimer's. Third, high concentrations of oxygen combined with beta amyloid plaques constricts blood vessels and decreases blood flow to the brain more than either one alone.
The authors caution that the study in mice may or may not accurately reflect the effects of hyperoxia in human surgery patients.
"Nonetheless, our results call into question the wide use of unnecessarily high concentrations of oxygen during and/or following major surgery in the elderly," Roberts said. "These oxygen concentrations often far exceed that required to maintain normal hemoglobin saturation in elderly patients undergoing surgery."
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Author: Timothy C. Hain, MD
Last edited: 10/2012
- What is Autoimmune Inner Ear Disease?
- What Causes Autoimmune Inner Ear Disease?
- How is Autoimmune Inner Ear Disease Diagnosed?
- How is Autoimmune Inner Ear Disease Treated?
- Research Studies on Autoimmune Inner Ear Disease
Autoimmune inner ear disease (AIED) is a syndrome of progressive hearing loss and/or dizziness that is caused by antibodies or immune cells which are attacking the inner ear. In most cases, there is reduction of hearing accompanied by tinnitus (ringing, hissing, roaring) which occurs over a few months. Variants are bilateral attacks of hearing loss and tinnitus that resemble Meniere’s disease, and attacks of dizziness accompanied by abnormal blood tests for antibodies. About 50% of patients with AIED have symptoms related to balance (dizziness or unsteadiness).
The immune system is complex and there are several ways that it can damage the inner ear. Both allergy and traditional autoimmune disease such as ankylosing spondylitis, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), Sjoegren’s syndrome (dry eye syndrome), Cogan’s disease, ulcerative colitis, Wegener’s granulomatosis, rheumatoid arthritis, scleroderma, and psoriatic arthritis (Srikumar et al 2004) can cause or be associated with AIED. Another multisystem disease, Bechet’s, commonly has audiovestibular problems. Allergy is traditionally suspected to be food related, but there is presently no agreement as to the importance of food allergy.
AIED is rare, probably accounting for less than 1% of all cases of hearing impairment or dizziness (Bovo et al 2009). The precise incidence is controversial.
The cause of AIED is generally assumed to be related to either antibodies or immune cells that cause damage to the inner ear. There are several theories as to how these might arise, analogously to other autoimmune disorders:
- Bystander damage: Damage to the inner ear causes cytokines to be released which provoke (after a delay)
additional immune reactions. This theory might explain the attack/remission cycle of disorders such as Meniere’s disease.
- Cross-reactions: Antibodies or rogue T-cells cause accidental inner ear damage because the ear shares common antigens with a potentially harmful substance, virus, or bacteria that the body is fighting off. This is presently the favored theory of AIED. CTL2 has recently been reported to be a target antigen in AIED (Kommareddi et al 2009).
- Intolerance: The ear, like the eye, may be only a partially immune privileged locus. This means that the body may not know about all of the inner ear antigens, and when they are released (perhaps following surgery or an infection), the body may wrongly mount an attack on the “foreign” antigen. In the eye, there is a syndrome called sympathetic ophthalmia, where following a penetrating injury to one eye, the other eye may go blind. This theory is not presently in favor for the ear.
- Genetic factors: GGenetically controlled aspects of the immune system may increase or otherwise be associated with increased susceptibility to common hearing disorders, such as Meniere’s disease. A systematic review of literature from 1861 to 2011 concluded that up to one-third of Meniere’s disease cases can be linked to immunological causes based on clinical data and positive response to steroids. Genetic factors can also have a positive effect on hearing (Greco et al 2012). Gazquez and associates reported that Meniere’s disease patients with the allelic variant MICA*4, a major histocompatibility complex (MHC), had a slower progression of hearing loss than those with a different MHC. In confirmed cases of autoimmune-related sudden hearing loss, the most prominent inner ear protein, cochlin, can produce T-cell responsiveness, and has been implicated as the antigen responsible for inflammation and damage to the inner ear (Baek et al 2006). These data suggest that more of Meniere’s disease and other progressive syndromes may be caused by immune dysfunction than is presently generally thought.
- Bilateral progressive hearing lossor progressive vestibular(balance) loss
- Audiometry documenting progressive bilateral sensorineural hearing loss
- ABR (if hearing is good enough),
or otoacoustic emission testing
- Rotatory chair test
- ECOG (electrocochleography)
- Blood tests for general autoimmune disease
- ANA (for lupus)
- Erythrocyte sedimentation rate
- Rheumatoid factor
- Complement C1Q
- Smooth muscle antibody
- Thyroid disease [thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), anti-microsomal
- Anti-gliadin antibodies (for Celiac disease)
- Anti-neutrophyil cytoplasmic antibody
- Antiendothelial cell antibody
- Antiphospholipid/anticardiolopin antibody
- human leukocyte antigens (HLA) testing
Doctors may order some or all of these tests, which are not specific for AIED but may give evidence of autoimmune disease in the patient (Garcia-Berrocal et al 2005).
- Blood tests for specific inner ear disorders
- Anti-cochlear antibody test
- Lymphocyte transformation assay
- Immunofluorescence of animal cochlea (research only)
These antibodies are not present in all patients with AIED, and may be present in some patients without evidence of hearing loss.
- Blood tests for disorders that may imitate AIED
- Lyme titer
- Diabetic testing
- Response to oral steroid therapy (Ruckenstein, 2004)
The diagnosis is based on history, findings on physical examination, blood tests, and the results of hearing and vestibular tests. As auditory neuropathy can present with a progressive bilateral sensorineural hearing loss, ABR testing should be done in persons with enough hearing for the test to be practical. Otoacoustic emission tests can be done in those in whom ABR testing cannot be done due to severely impaired hearing. ECOG (electrocochleography) testing may also be useful.
While specific tests for autoimmunity to the inner ear would be desirable, as of 7/2012, there are none that are commercially available and proven to be consistently useful. This is an area that is evolving rapidly however. It is generally felt that anti-cochlear antibody (also called anti-HSP70) blood tests are not sensitive or specific enough to be very useful. Antibodies to HSP-70 can also be found in Lyme disease, ulcerative colitis, cancers and in about 5% of healthy individuals. One study suggested that all anti-HSP tests are directed against the wrong substrate (Yeom et al 2003).
Whether this is true or not, because of the poor specificity of anti-HSP 70 testing, diagnosis is generally based on evidence from broader tests of autoimmunity or a positive response to steroids. Immunofluorescence of supporting cells of guinea pig organ of Corti has also been shown to correlate with disease and steroid responsiveness. According to Gray and others, immunofluorescence is more sensitive and specific (86%, 41%) than is Western Blot (59%, 29%) (Gray and others, ARO abstracts, 1999, #246). The specificity of both tests to us seems unacceptably low.
Although there are some individuals with AIED who appear to have primarily a bilateral vestibular presentation (dizziness, ataxia, oscillopsia), very little is known about mechanism as well as whether or not blood tests are useful in this population. This might be an interesting topic for additional research (see below).
As there are presently no specific tests for AIED, a common approach is to look for other evidence for autoimmune involvement. A large number of these are listed above, and the search is successful between 20 and 30% of the time. It is not generally felt that persons with AIED need every one of these blood tests. Generally a sed-rate and ANA are done in all. The others are selected based on clinical suspicion.
There are also conditions that resemble autoimmune disorders, which it is sometimes prudent to exclude (see above). Generally an FTA (to rule out syphilis infection) is done in all instances where there is a reasonable suspicion of AIED and other tests are done based on clinical suspicion.
Treatment for AIED seems to be rapidly changing. We recommend that you do not rely on the information here as current, as it seems quite possible that there may be advances since this page was last updated.
There are several protocols for treatment of AIED. In cases with a classic rapidly progressive bilateral hearing impairment, a trial of steroids (prednisone or dexamethasone) for four weeks may be tried. This treatment is inexpensive, but if effective, it is difficult to maintain because of steroid side effects.
- Cyclophosphamide (Cytoxan)
In persons with response to steroids, in most cases a cytotoxic chemotherapy type of medication such as Cytoxan or Methotrexate will be used over the long term (Alexander et al 2009, Sismanis et al 1994, Sismanis et al 1997). Studies have questioned the effectiveness of methotrexate in AIED (Ruckenstein 2004). These agents are associated with considerable toxicity, which limits their use.
Small trials found enoxaparin (low molecular weight heparin) and rituximab to be beneficial in patients with AIED (Cohen et al 2011, Mora et al 2005). Larger trials are necessary before these therapies can be widely practiced. Enoxaparin affects the clotting system of the blood, and may place patients at increased risk of bleeding.
Transtympanic delivery of medication may provide better penetration of drug molecules into the inner ear. Transtympanic administration of steroids has been shown to improve hearing and balance symptoms in AIED in a small study (Garcia-Berrocal et al 2006). Larger trials are needed to determine the true effectiveness of oral and transtympanic drug delivery (Alles et al 2006, Rauch 2004).
Etanercept (Enbrel), an anti-TNF drug, is emerging as a promising agent for treatment of AIED (Rahman et al 2001). It is given as an injection twice a week. Transtympanic application of Enbrel was effective in a pilot study in steroid-dependent patients and when used in combination with methylprednisone (Van Wijk et al 2006). Enbrel is presently very expensive and in short supply, and the lack of large studies of its use in AIED presently limit clinician enthusiasm for its use. Nevertheless, it presently appears to be the most promising agent.
It has also been reported recently that plasmapheresis may be beneficial in AIED (Bianchin et al 2010). Plasmapheresis is expensive, must be done periodically (usually monthly), and intrinsicially it is only suitable to disorders mediated by antibodies.
Cochlear implantation can be successful in AIED, and is may be indicated when there is acquired bilateral deafness.
In addition, attempts have been made in animals to treat variants of AIED with oral antigen administration (Cai et al 2009). We know of no similar efforts in humans.
Cell and gene therapy
Cell therapy involves transplantation of individual stem cells capable of developing into inner ear cells in the ear canal. Gene therapy is the introduction of new genes into native cells, allowing the cells to produce new proteins that improve their ability to function. Several laboratories have researched the possibility of cell or gene therapy to replaced damaged ear cells in AIED. Laboratory tests with animal models are promising, but much more research is needed to determine the effectiveness and safety of cell and gene therapies (Nakagawa & Ito 2004, Pau & Clarke 2004, Zhou et al 2012, Zhou et al 2011).
As of July 2012, a visit to the National Library of Medicine’s search engine, PubMed, revealed 497 research articles concerning AIED disease published since 1964 with eleven of these published in the last year. In spite of this moderate effort by the medical research community, AIED disease remains a chronic, incurable disorder that causes progressive disability to both hearing and balance. At the American Hearing Research Foundation (AHRF), we have funded basic research on similar disorders in the past, and are interested in funding research on AIED in the future. We are particularly interested in projects that might lead to methods of stopping progression of hearing loss and the disabling attacks of dizziness. Get more information about contributing to the AHRF’s efforts to detect and treat acoustic neuroma.
- Alexander TH, Weisman MH, Derebery JM, Espeland MA, Gantz BJ, et al. 2009. Safety of high-dose corticosteroids for the treatment of autoimmune inner ear disease. Otology & neurotology : official publication of the American Otological Society, American Neurotology Society [and] European Academy of Otology and Neurotology 30: 443-8
- Alles MJ, der Gaag MA, Stokroos RJ. 2006. Intratympanic steroid therapy for inner ear diseases, a review of the literature. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 263: 791-7
- Baek MJ, Park HM, Johnson JM, Altuntas CZ, Jane-Wit D, et al. 2006. Increased frequencies of cochlin-specific T cells in patients with autoimmune sensorineural hearing loss. J Immunol 177: 4203-10
- Bianchin G, Russi G, Romano N, Fioravanti P. 2010. Treatment with HELP-apheresis in patients suffering from sudden sensorineural hearing loss: a prospective, randomized, controlled study. The Laryngoscope 120: 800-7
- Bovo R, Ciorba A, Martini A. 2009. The diagnosis of autoimmune inner ear disease: evidence and critical pitfalls. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 266: 37-40
- Cai Q, Du X, Zhou B, Cai C, Kermany MH, Yoo T. 2009. Induction of tolerance by oral administration of beta-tubulin in an animal model of autoimmune inner ear disease. ORL; journal for oto-rhino-laryngology and its related specialties 71: 135-41
- Cohen S, Roland P, Shoup A, Lowenstein M, Silverstein H, et al. 2011. A pilot study of rituximab in immune-mediated inner ear disease. Audiology & neuro-otology 16: 214-21
- Garcia-Berrocal JR, Ibanez A, Rodriguez A, Gonzalez-Garcia JA, Verdaguer JM, et al. 2006. Alternatives to systemic steroid therapy for refractory immune-mediated inner ear disease: A physiopathologic approach. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 263: 977-82
- Garcia-Berrocal JR, Trinidad A, Ramirez-Camacho R, Lobo D, Verdaguer M, Ibanez A. 2005. Immunologic work-up study for inner ear disorders: looking for a rational strategy. Acta oto-laryngologica 125: 814-8
- Greco A, Gallo A, Fusconi M, Marinelli C, Macri GF, de Vincentiis M. 2012. Meniere’s disease might be an autoimmune condition? Autoimmunity reviews
- Kommareddi PK, Nair TS, Vallurupalli M, Telian SA, Arts HA, et al. 2009. Autoantibodies to recombinant human CTL2 in autoimmune hearing loss. The Laryngoscope 119: 924-32
- Mora R, Jankowska B, Passali GC, Mora F, Passali FM, et al. 2005. Sodium enoxaparin treatment of sensorineural hearing loss: an immune-mediated response? The international tinnitus journal 11: 38-42
- Nakagawa T, Ito J. 2004. Application of cell therapy to inner ear diseases. Acta oto-laryngologica. Supplementum: 6-9
- Pau H, Clarke RW. 2004. Advances in genetic manipulations in the treatment of hearing disorders. Clinical otolaryngology and allied sciences 29: 574-6
- Rahman MU, Poe DS, Choi HK. 2001. Etanercept therapy for immune-mediated cochleovestibular disorders: preliminary results in a pilot study. Otology & neurotology : official publication of the American Otological Society, American Neurotology Society [and] European Academy of Otology and Neurotology 22: 619-24
- Rauch SD. 2004. Intratympanic steroids for sensorineural hearing loss. Otolaryngologic clinics of North America 37: 1061-74
- Ruckenstein MJ. 2004. Autoimmune inner ear disease. Current opinion in otolaryngology & head and neck surgery 12: 426-30
- Sismanis A, Thompson T, Willis HE. 1994. Methotrexate therapy for autoimmune hearing loss: a preliminary report. The Laryngoscope 104: 932-4
- Sismanis A, Wise CM, Johnson GD. 1997. Methotrexate management of immune-mediated cochleovestibular disorders. Otolaryngology–head and neck surgery : official journal of American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery 116: 146-52
- Srikumar S, Deepak MK, Basu S, Kumar BN. 2004. Sensorineural hearing loss associated with psoriatic arthritis. The Journal of laryngology and otology 118: 909-11
- Van Wijk F, Staecker H, Keithley E, Lefebvre PP. 2006. Local perfusion of the tumor necrosis factor alpha blocker infliximab to the inner ear improves autoimmune neurosensory hearing loss. Audiology & neuro-otology 11: 357-65
- Yeom K, Gray J, Nair TS, Arts HA, Telian SA, et al. 2003. Antibodies to HSP-70 in normal donors and autoimmune hearing loss patients. The Laryngoscope 113: 1770-6
- Zhou B, Kermany MH, Cai Q, Cai C, Zhou Y, et al. 2012. Experimental autoimmune hearing loss is exacerbated in IL-10-deficient mice and reversed by IL-10 gene transfer. Gene therapy 19: 228-35
- Zhou Y, Yuan J, Zhou B, Lee AJ, Ghawji M, Jr., Yoo TJ. 2011. The therapeutic efficacy of human adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells on experimental autoimmune hearing loss in mice. Immunology 133: 133-40
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Date: Tue, 17 May 2005 12:32:55 -0400
Author: "Larry Hess"
Subject: Fw: Physics question
This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
Can anyone help me with the following? Thanks in advance
Here is what my Physics students would like to do.
I have a small horse treadmill, and(somehow), we would like students to "ru=
n" on the treadmill, and in front of them have a large circular dial that w=
ould indicate their horsepower. ie...faster they run, the more horsepower =
indicated. Each student's mass would be the same, "g" is constant, and the=
ir height above the ground would remain the same. Only the treadmill speed =
would change. How would we convert this to horsepower ?, and also, I assum=
e we could .by belt, or cog gear, rig up a dial of some type; but calibrati=
ng it from speed of foot movement to conversion of horsepower is puzzling.=
Can this be done? Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
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Make a transverse cut through the testis and examine its internal architecture . Just deep to the visceral tunica vaginalis, which covers the anterolateral surface of the testis, identify the thick fibrous white capsule, called the tunica albuginea, which encircles the testis.
Identify the fibrous bands called septae that radiate from the posterior aspect of the testis, called the mediastinum testis. These septae divide the testis into the lobules. The spermatozoa-forming seminiferous tubules are contained within these lobules.
Links and References:
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Help with pest identification
© Frances Michaels
It can be very frustrating to know that your plants are being eaten or damaged but not have any idea what
the problem is.
- First of all it helps if you can catch whatever it is 'in the act'. Look carefully at the plant,
including under the leaves and in the the mulch around the base of the plant. Keep in mind that some
insects move quickly to vacate the premises, after all, they don't want to end up as someone's dinner and
so are ready to take evasive action when the plant is disturbed. Some insects try very hard to camouflage
themselves as part of the plant, running your fingers lightly along the underside of a leaf may trigger
the culprit to reveal themselves. Try taking a good torch and checking the plants at night, move quietly
to reduce the chances of the 'midnight muncher' making off before you spot them.
- Once you have caught the possible culprit, accurate identification is important. We recommend the book
What Garden Pest or Disease is That? by Judy McMaugh,
as there is an excellent colour photograph of each pest and disease. Another very useful book is Jackie
French's Natural Control of Garden Pests.
- Try to check whether there are any natural enemies present, feeding on the pest such as lizards, frogs
and birds. Learning to recognise the many 'good bugs' is useful and interesting and prevents you from
accidentally wiping them out.
- Then you need to decide what to do. When is a pest not a pest? Small numbers of pests can be useful in
attracting predators and keeping them in your garden, ready to respond to any sudden pest increase. If
ladybeetle larvae are present happily munching aphids, destroying the aphids will simply starve the
ladybeetles. So the next step is deciding what level of damage you can tolerate and if you are going to
control a pest. Our personal view is that if a pest is going to stop us harvesting a fruit or vegetable
then we will do something about it but a few chewed leaves are not a problem in a home garden.
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Also known as: Cyclopentadiene dimer
Chemical reference number (CAS): 77-73-6
WHAT IS DICYCLOPENTADIENE?
Dicyclopentadiene is a man-made substance produced by heating crude oil products.
Its a colorless, waxy, flammable solid or liquid, with a camphor-like odor. As
dicyclopentadiene enters the air, it breaks down quickly into simpler, less-toxic
chemicals. However, it can stay unchanged for a long time in soil and in water.
Dicyclopentadiene is not a common ingredient of products used in homes. It is used to
make bug sprays, paints, and varnishes. Most dicyclopentadiene in the environment results
from industrial processes and from improper waste disposal.
HOW ARE PEOPLE EXPOSED TO DICYCLOPENTADIENE?
Most people are exposed to dicyclopentadiene at work or when the chemical enters the
Drinking/Eating: People may be exposed by drinking contaminated water.
People who handle contaminated soil may be exposed when they eat or touch their mouths
with dirty hands.
Touching: People may be exposed if they handle the chemical or
contaminated soil or water. Although the chemical may irritate the skin, it does not
easily pass through the skin.
Breathing: Air may be contaminated near industries where its
used or in places where it is improperly disposed. If home water supplies are
contaminated, people could inhale the chemical while washing, bathing or cooking.
DO STANDARDS EXIST FOR REGULATING DICYCLOPENTADIENE?
Water: Currently there are no state or federal drinking water
standards for dicyclopentadiene. Until a health-based standard is developed, people should
avoid using water that contains any detectable level of dicyclopentadiene for drinking or
for preparing food.
If you have very high levels of dicyclopentadiene in your water supply, you should
avoid washing, bathing, or using the water for other purposes. Contact your local public
health agency for more information about your situation.
Air: No standards exist for the amount of dicyclopentadiene allowed in
the air of homes. We use a formula to convert workplace limits to home limits. Based on
the formula, we recommend levels of dicyclopentadiene be no higher than 0.1 part per
million (ppm) in indoor air. Most people can smell dicyclopentadiene when levels reach
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources regulates the amount of dicyclopentadiene
that can be released by industries.
WILL EXPOSURE TO DICYCLOPENTADIENE RESULT IN HARMFUL HEALTH EFFECTS?
The following symptoms may occur immediately or shortly after exposure to high levels
of dicyclopentadiene in air:
- Irritation of eyes, nose, and throat
- Temporary changes in kidney and lung functions
- Headache and loss of balance
- Convulsions at very high levels
The following health effects can occur after several years of exposure to
of reproductive effects. High level dietary exposure did not increase miscarriages or
birth defects in exposed fetuses.
Organ Systems: Kidney, lung, and nervous system damage may occur after
exposure to lower levels over a long period of time. Individuals who smoke may be more
sensitive than nonsmokers to the effects of dicyclopentadiene on the lungs.
Cancer: It is not known if dicyclopentadiene causes cancer.
In general, chemicals affect the same organ systems in all people who are exposed.
However, the seriousness of the effects may vary from person to person. A person's
reaction depends on several things, including individual health, heredity, previous
exposure to chemicals including medicines, and personal habits such as smoking or
It is also important to consider the length of exposure to the chemical; the amount of
chemical exposure; and whether the chemical was inhaled, touched, or eaten.
CAN A MEDICAL TEST DETERMINE EXPOSURE TO DICYCLOPENTADIENE?
If you develop symptoms after youve been exposed to
dicyclopentadiene, or if you
suspect that you may have been exposed to high levels of this chemical, a doctor can use
tests of your lungs, kidneys and nervous system to assess possible damage.
Seek medical advice if you have any symptoms that you think may be related to chemical
(P-44600 Revised 12/2010)
This fact sheet summarizes information about this chemical and is not a complete
listing of all possible effects. It does not refer to work exposure or emergency
Back to Toxic Chemical Fact Sheet
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- Health Library
- PetMD U
The American Bulldog has a very sturdy and muscular build, weighing anywhere from 60 to 120 pounds at a height of 20 to 28 inches. This breed has a large head with strong jaws with ears that may be cropped, semi-prick, rose or drop. The coat is short and soft coming in any variation of colors, although solid black, blue, merle or tricolor is undesirable.
Although a larger breed, the American Bulldog is a very gentle and loving breed that loves children. The American Bulldog is brave and protective and is best when trained at a young age.
The short fine coat requires little grooming and the American Bulldog will do okay as an apartment pet as long as it gets sufficient outdoors exercise.
The American Bulldog generally lives about 10 to 16 years and is considered a healthy breed. Some genetic issues common to the breed include neuronal ceroidlipofuscinosis, lchthyosis, disorders of the kidney and thyroid, ACL tears, hip and elbow dysplasia, cherry eye, entropoin, ectropion and bone cancer.
An older version of the Bulldog originated in England and was used as a work dog catching cattle and guarding property until it became the breed of choice in a brutal sport known as bull baiting. By the end of World War II, the breed was almost extinct, however, a few devote breeders decided to revive the American Bulldog.
Two different lines of Bulldogs appeared during this growth period; however, most of today’s American Bulldogs are a cross between the two. The American Bulldog was recognized by the United Kennel Club in 1999.
The turning out of the eyelid
A condition in which growth and development are not up to normal standards
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July 18, 2012
Washington, D.C. -- In the U.S., 1 out of every 4 people living with HIV is a woman. Further, it is estimated that 30% of women living with HIV experience post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) linked to violence and trauma compared to 5.2% in the general population, according to a recent UCSF meta-analysis of almost 6,000 women living with HIV. How does this impact the HIV epidemic in the United States? New data shows that intimate partner violence is a disproportionately high cause of death for HIV-positive women in the U.S.
On March 30, 2012, President Obama released a memorandum establishing a federal interagency workgroup to address the intersection of HIV/AIDS, Violence Against Women and Girls, and Gender-related Health Disparities. Now, advocates say, it's time for action.
"Women are dying unnecessarily," says Gina Brown, a woman openly living with HIV and resident of New Orleans, LA, who will speak at Monday's press conference. "They can live with HIV, but are dying from the effects of violence in their homes and communities. HIV policies and programs must prevent and address the effects of gender-based violence that weave through women's lives."
U.S. Positive Women's Network, a national membership body of women living with HIV, is a proud AIDS 2012 U.S. community partner. We invite you to attend our press conference on Monday, July 23 from 10-10:45 a.m. in the Media Center's Press Conference Room 3.
The press conference will feature breaking new research that will be released at AIDS 2012 on the impact of violence on women's health outcomes, solutions from women openly living with HIV, and a call to action for U.S. federal decision-makers from nationally-recognized advocates on HIV and violence against women. Speakers include:
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Drug-Resistant Bacteria Persist in Chicken
BALTIMORE Antibiotic-resistant bacteria continued to be found in chickens bought at area supermarkets a year after two large poultry producers stopped using an antibiotic blamed for creating the resistant strains, Johns Hopkins researchers report.
The researchers say the findings suggest antibiotic-resistant bacteria may persist in the poultry industry after the use of the antibiotics, known as fluoroquinolones, has stopped and may contaminate more poultry than previously thought.
However, one of the producers and a researcher not involved with the study said it did not show whether the amount of bacteria found presented a health risk. Whether the resistant strains were naturally present or use of the antibiotic caused the resistant strains to be present in the samples also was not clearly shown, the two said.
In 2000, the Food and Drug Administration proposed banning the two fluoroquinolones used in poultry. Abbott Laboratories of Abbott Park, Ill., agreed immediately to pull its version, Sara Flox, off the market, but Pittsburgh-based Bayer Corp. is appealing the decision and the FDA commissioner is considering the case involving Bayer's product, Baytril.
The bacteria, campylobacter, is responsible for 2.4 million cases of food-borne illness per year in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The antibiotic-resistant form of the bacteria is especially troubling because the fluoroquinolone family of antibiotics includes the popular drug Cipro, and fluoroquinolones are a leading treatment for food poisoning from campylobacter, found mostly in raw chicken.
In February 2002, Perdue Farms Inc. of Salisbury, Md., and Tyson Foods Inc. of Springdale, Ark., stopped using fluoroquinolone antibiotics for flock-wide treatment.
The researchers said they bought chicken produced by Perdue, Tyson, and two antibiotic-free producers from Baltimore-area supermarkets between February 2003 and May 2003, buying three packages each a total of seven to eight times.
The researchers used two different methods to test for the bacteria. In one, samples were placed in a growth medium to see if colonies of the bacteria would form. In the other, the medium contained fluoroquinolone, which the researchers said enhanced the sensitivity of the testing for resistant bacteria.
Using the plain growth medium, campylobacter was detected on 84 percent of the chicken tested, and fluoroquinolone-resistant strains were detected on 17 percent. When the fluoroquinolone medium was used, resistant strains were detected on 40 percent of the chicken tested.
By brand, resistant bacteria were found in 33 percent of Tyson chicken sampled, 96 percent using the fluoroquinolone medium; and 19 percent of Perdue chicken, 43 percent using the antibiotic medium.
Levels in the two antibiotic-free producers were much lower. Resistant bacteria were found in 13 percent of samples from one producer using either testing method, and in 5 percent from the other producer using the antibiotic medium. Resistant bacteria were not found using the regular medium in that brand.
"I think the message to the consumer is that they should choose their brand of chicken carefully," said study author Lance Price. "And they should consider the use of clinically important antibiotics and antimicrobials in food animal production to be a potential threat to their safety."
Tyson noted the sample size was small and limited to one area of the country, did not measure the amount of bacteria present, and included species of campylobacter that may be naturally resistant to the antibiotics without having been exposed to them.
Price said if natural immunity was responsible, "you would expect all the products to come out the same, but that's not the case."
Perdue said it did not have any information on the origin of the samples, and "cannot comment on the conclusions regarding antibiotic resistance."
Perdue said less than 1 percent of its flocks receive any antibiotics, which are limited to the "humane treatment of ill or at-risk chickens, treating as few birds as possible, and prescribing that treatment no longer than deemed medically appropriate by a poultry veterinarian.
"Perdue does not use antibiotics for the purpose of growth promotion nor do we use any antibiotics continuously for any reason whatsoever," according to a statement the company issued.
Randall Singer, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Minnesota, said the study did not show how much bacteria was present in each sample, and thus did not show whether the bacteria presented a health risk.
Singer, a member of two FDA panels on campylobacter and fluoroquinolone use in poultry, said other studies have shown the resistant strain is more successful, even when antibiotics are not present, and therefore could be more likely to be present naturally.
"Clearly, there is a background level of fluoroquinolone-resistant campylobacter, and when you want to compare retail meat products, especially on a small scale like this study, there could be many reasons," Singer said.
Source: Associated Press
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Each day, more than 25,000 students log onto the district's new Internet system known as Grapevine. It links students with teachers, and teachers with parents. Other students "meet" online for group projects or participate in virtual study halls through a related networking site called Edmodo. These are among the new tools Lodi Unified School District is using to engage students in learning.
"You can see that our school is a very high-tech school," Christa McAuliffe Middle School eighth-grader Cyndy Hong Nguyen said in an e-mail sent through Grapevine.
"In our school we like to use computers and laptops as a faster way of communicating, sharing ideas and talking to each other when we are on (school) break. We communicate by grapevine Gmail accounts and sometimes we also communicate by Edmodo, a website where students of the same class or same period can talk and ask about school problems and homework."
School board members recently heard a report from Assistant Superintendent Art Hand on ways the district is improving student achievement through the use of technology.
At the Oct. 26 study session, trustees participated in interactive demonstrations with students from Live Oak Elementary, Lodi High and Christa McAuliffe Middle schools. Following the report, the board directed staff to move forward with forming a broad-based committee, seeking stakeholders from the community, teachers, students and staff.
One teacher referred to it as an extreme technology makeover. While technology is used in the classroom, it is not currently integrated into the mainstream district curriculum like Snider and other teachers have been doing.
The goal is to allow students access to learning anytime, any place — and ultimately to raise student achievement.
Trustee Calvin Young has had Snider's ear for months. He and fellow trustee Bonnie Cassel have met informally with other potential stakeholders.
"It's important because now, especially as we look at our fiscal challenges, we have to be more cost-effective in how we deliver our educational services. More importantly, we have to deliver educational materials differently," Young said, adding that students receive information differently than 20 or even 10 years ago.
"They're much more tech-savvy. We have to deliver it in a medium that they can absorb better and engage them in the classroom and after classroom time."
Hand, too, said it is important to deliver education in a format familiar to the digital native generation now in school. School-age children have never known life without the Internet or cell phones.
"We have seen examples of technology innovations that include the use of iPods, iPads, notebook computers and advanced SMARTBoard technology used by school districts around the nation," Hand said of popular technology gadgets.
"Our goal is to create an approach to education that integrates technology into curriculum delivery in ways that we have not done before," Hand said. "We have only begun to see what might be available to us in the future."
Google docs, Edmodo
Grapevine is an Internet-based cloud computing domain powered by Google Apps. Once logged on, users can share resources, software and information.
"This means that students and educators can engage in learning anytime, anywhere," said Martha Snider, who teaches social students at Christa McAuliffe Middle School.
Once logged onto a computer, a student goes to the grapevine.lodiusd.org portal site and logs onto the district-assigned user account.
Besides an online document creation portion, students and educators can create websites and view curriculum video clips, according to Snider, who regularly uses Grapevine as a teaching tool.
The grapevine.lodiusd.org portal provides the environment for students to build "personal learning networks" that will serve them from kindergarten through high school graduation and beyond. Inside a student's account will be a higher education work portfolio, learning contacts and resources.
It also has a calendar feature allowing students to organize day-to-day events and separate sections to create and control personal websites.
Grapevine, however, is secure for students as outsiders cannot log into it or send communication through it.
Snider's students use Edmodo daily, even during last month's two-week break when they told each other about their time apart. "I sent posts from Hawaii," the teacher said.
"A student who has moved to the Philippines is alive and well; Edmodo has made his transition smoother by being able to stay in touch with his 'short' lifelong friends and former teachers."
Snider's students also use a program called "Google docs" that enables them to do assignments on the go. In the past, assignments started at school would have to be saved on a flash drive and taken home or to another computer for completion.
Students have said not only can that be time-consuming, but not everyone has a flash or thumb drive. Plus, Snider said, those portable drives did not always work within the school network. And, sometimes, the use of USB drives brought in viruses and caused other problems for the districts.
"For students, too many times, the files were not compatible and unnecessarily caused late work. More horrible for students was when their work was lost on our network. All of these issues have been greatly diminished, if not eliminated, by the Grapevine," she added.
"As you can see, this is very helpful for students, and this should be used at schools everywhere," eighth-grader Carlissa Shipp said.
Using this system, Matthew Pruitt, also in Snider's eighth-grade pre-advanced placement history class, was recently able to communicate online with his peers on a group project on American history using the Edmodo program.
"We were able to collaborate with each other on the whole project when each had a different section, and could have done it either on paper or on the computer," he said.
"Since we could collaborate through Google docs, we had uniform style, format and substance. We were able to instantly correct grammatical and spelling errors."
In the past, he has also created class presentations at home before sending them via the Internet to the classroom for fellow students.
C'Andrel Smith, too, has used Grapevine to create Google docs and, if necessary, to watch educational videos that others have uploaded. He believes the new Internet system allows students to be faster and more efficient by completing their assignments electronically.
Eighth-grade student Taylor Misa said that because of Grapevine, she doesn't need to worry if she starts a long assignment in class and can't finish. "Once I get home, I can get on my laptop and sign in to Grapevine again and finish it," she said, adding that she is also glad to have access to Edmodo.
"This website lets me talk to other students in my classes if I do not understand a question or I am currently unable to attend school that day. So I can ask people that are in my classes what we had to do for homework. It also is a great tool to use to enrich my studying habits."
Snider, among the first of the district's teachers to use Internet-related tools to teach, also uses her laptop to communicate from school board meetings with students sitting at home on their computers.
Not only can she post messages to be viewed later, but she can interact with students online at the same time. It is also used during school hours. Unlike similar sites where participates post comments, with this, the teacher is in total control of who participates and when.
She also held the first online study hall in September.
"Parents like it because there's a teacher watching for mischief, unlike MySpace and Facebook. Moreover, the grown-ups like knowing that the homework is getting done while the student is online," she said.
She is planning further online study halls to prepare for tests and check on projects.
"Mrs. Snider moderates the study halls so that the students stay on-subject," Pruitt said, adding that the teacher's after-hours accessibility is also useful when questions arise while working on out-of-class assignments.
Seeing things differently
Live Oak Elementary fourth-grade teacher Sonja Renhult's students are working more with hardware.
To conduct daily lessons, she uses a SMARTBoard and Sentio response system, an on-desk clicker that allows students to answer questions.
"They know right away after I stop the assessment what their grade is. They want to do better because they know what they need to work on," she said, adding that she also never needs to grade another paper herself. "The computer does it for me."
In her second year of using the Internet for schoolwork, Snider has already seen the results. "Grapevine and Edmodo have our students engaged far beyond the traditional school day. This engagement translates into higher test scores in all subject areas," she said.
The teacher attended a summer conference where she learned of Edmodo. She introduced the program to fellow teaching staff at Christa McAuliffe the day before school started. By mid-September, Jorge Benuto and David Taylor trained staff on using the site's library, calendar and assignment features, she said, adding that several teachers have joined her in doing online study halls one or two evenings a week.
The sharing websites can also be used for teacher collaboration to share information quickly.
SMARTBoards already installed in a number of district classrooms at Title 1 schools are similar to white boards, but are interactive. Lessons are projected onto them to allow both the teacher and the students to write on them, and like computers, they also store the lessons.
Renhult admits she's spoiled by the technological gadgets she started integrating this time last school year. "I could certainly teach without technology, but it would be like starting the day without coffee."
She said her students get excited about the lesson because if they know the answer, they want to go up and use the SmartBoard's special markets. "The fact that they can pick their own color thrills them, or the fact that they can write with their finger."
"It basically makes kids excited about what they're learning, and they want to get involved," Renhult.
Young, who said he has always had an interest in technology and doing things differently, said charter schools and other districts are already making substantial inroads in e-learning, also known as distance learning or delivering education virtually.
"We need to be competitive and step up to provide these services to our students to help them learn."
It's also about money. An average new textbook costs $85 to $150, and the district must make available one for every student to use in the classroom and at home — and some are never returned, to the tune of half a million, according to Young.
Online textbooks alone could save money.
Although he was not re-elected, Young has asked to remain involved with the district's progress as a community member. "Just like many things, you need a champion to promote them. I will continue to be a champion in the community, and I know Martha will be in the teaching arena," he said.
"It is a paradigm shift, but one we need to do in order to remain competitive with the charter schools that are out there and improve the learning environment for students.
"If we don't jump on this bandwagon, we're going to fall behind. We already are."
Contact reporter Jennifer Bonnett at firstname.lastname@example.org.
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Year One Curriculum
705.700 Individual and Group Dynamics
Individual and group dynamics are at the core of evidence-based management practices. Leaders direct individuals and groups and the interaction that occurs among multiple groups toward accomplishment of a mission or purpose. Additionally, they need to understand self leadership involving personal resilience as well as methods of building cultures of resilience. Knowing how groups and followers function is essential to sound decision making, implementing new concepts, changing direction, solving problems, and motivating others. Students dissect modern theories and research in individual and group dynamics. They identify and fit accepted principles of dynamics to their current work environment, respecting the uniqueness of their organization. They differentiate small and large group dynamics and dissect the role of group leader, focusing on issues such as boundaries, group identity, cohesion, conflict, power, group recognition, and intergroup alliances.
705.750 Case Studies in Leadership
Learning through the experience of others is one of the best tools in a leader’s toolbox to build personal skills and organizational strength. Case studies from the public and private sector provide an opportunity for students to examine how organizations work and how managers deal with complex issues in policy making, human resources, resource allocation, field operations, marketing their organization, and more. Through the application of leadership principles learned in previous classes and new ones offered in this course, students critique and debate approaches and solutions to a series of cases. Through reading and analyzing case studies, participating in class discussions, and interacting with guest lecturers, students identify strategies for solving problems faced by individuals and organizations. Students identify and present examples drawn from their own experience relevant to the case studies. Students gain and demonstrate critical thinking skills as they apply their expertise to solving the cases presented in class.
705.605 Ethics, Integrity, and the Responsibility of Leaders
Confronted with moral dilemmas every day, people make critical decisions based on their beliefs, which incorporate their core values. Understanding how values are formed and applied is essential to leaders who must guide and assess employees’ integrity and ethical behavior every day. Through readings, case studies, and discussion, students probe how executives and supervisors resolve ethical dilemmas. They discover ways to develop and gain employee input to and support for agency and unit values. In addition, students examine the forces that currently guide professional and organizational behavior, such as the Constitution of the United States, judicial opinion, and religious doctrine.
705.718 Strategic Planning for Leaders
A strategic plan sets a steady course for an organization, allowing it to endure changes in administration, shifts in demand for service, political influence, fiscal fluctuation, and more. Setting the course of action through strategic planning is relevant to every organization, regardless of size, discipline, or task. Through readings and discussion, students develop an individualized approach to strategic planning based on experience and needs within their own agencies. Students apply an array of techniques to assess, modify, and present strategic plans and motivate others to participate in the strategic planning process. They learn to incorporate strategic plans into their day-to-day functions. Students employ a variety of techniques to involve and motivate employees to participate in the strategic planning process and implement the plan once it is established.
705.732 Applying Research: Access, Methods and Accountability
At a time when new information emerges every day, with greater speed and at a greater volume than any time in history, knowing how to find and apply research is one of a leader’s most important skills. Technology gives today’s leader’s incredible access to raw data, intelligence analysis, best and promising practices, organizational histories, and much more. It is incumbent on leaders to wade through this information quickly and efficiently to determine its accuracy and relevance and, then, they guide others to use it. Students experiment with and apply a variety of methods designed to help them identify and assess existing research, policies, organizational studies, government data, scholarly journals, and popular articles. They apply the findings of their research to conducting agency, unit, policy, and program assessments and convey findings in practical ways to employees, executives, political leaders, and others.
705.620 Managerial Economics
All organizations are driven by or conform to economic realities. In a period of tight budgets and public demand for fiscal accountability, leaders must know how to apply basic economic theory to strategy, decision making, and problem solving. They must know how to assess demand for services and apply scarce resources to meeting these demands, and they must do so within the constraints of a budget over which they may have only limited control. Students apply techniques of demand analysis, benefit-cost analysis, and forecasting and learn ways to influence decision making and the budget process. They apply their understanding of economics to establishing, modifying, or sustaining the strategic and daily operational approaches and tactics of their immediate work group.
705.712 Project Management: Leading Projects to Successful Outcomes
Leaders manage projects and project teams every day. They form expectations, optimize stakeholder involvement, and integrate needed change into existing environments. They develop tasks, assign responsibilities, and track progress. Achieving intended, high quality outcomes through effective project management is both science and art. Students apply the seven-step project management life cycle – initiating, planning, organizing and staffing, implementing, measuring and assessing, controlling, and close-out – to routine, exceptional, unit, and agency-wide projects. They focus on essentials such as assessing capability to deliver, defining individual and team workload, budgeting, communicating, scheduling tasks, and monitoring progress. Students plan the role of managers, supervisors, and team members in a variety of projects. They have the opportunity to focus on projects they bring to the class from their own organization.
Year Two Curriculum
705.625 Statistics for Leaders: Measuring What Matters
Statistics are part of life for most leaders. Leaders are judged against them, use them to showcase successes, and rely on them to justify needs. They rely on statistics for quantitative reasoning, to pinpoint concerns and formulate action. They routinely use statistical reports to convey agency and unit activities and support or challenge change. They make decisions based on them and, as such, need to understand and use them well. Students apply various analytical tools – random variables and probability distributions, hypothesis testing, statistical sampling, statistical quality control, nonparametric statistics, and regression analysis – to real world situations. They connect statistical analyses to planning, program and project assessment, managerial reporting, budgeting, and quality control.
705.635 Leadership and Organizational Behavior
Effective leaders routinely take the pulse of their organization and know what it means. They develop a “sixth sense” about what works and what does not. Students assess how leaders influence organizational behavior and the various systems – individual, group, and culture – that contribute to the successful operation of today’s multifaceted service agencies. Through readings, case studies, and simulations, students compare organizational behaviors – including internal communication, quality control and marketing – to activities in their own agencies. Students employ proven and innovative approaches to assessing organizations and developing ways to accomplish defined goals and tasks. They are exposed to the Executive Core Qualifications (ECQ’s) required of the Senior Executive Service in the federal government.
705.715 Global Perspectives
Advances in technology, the economic growth of some of the world’s largest countries, war, the delivery of acts of terror, genocide, threat, economic upheaval, and other factors have changed the way in which leaders think and act. Insulated communities, professional parochialism, and organizational silos and fragmentation are giving way to inter-jurisdictional cooperation, professional collaboration, and global thinking. Today’s leaders face challenging issues, heavily influenced by the decisions and actions of people in other cities, counties, states, and nations. Students identify how they are influenced by activities playing out on the global stage and recognize that knowledge of global issues is both essential and empowering. They apply the lessons of history and an awareness of the blending and clashing of cultures to contemporary issues and decision making.
705.745 Information Technology for Leaders
Leaders influence and are influenced by rapidly changing technology, but technology is changing with such speed that it is difficult for many of them to remain current. Technology is transformational and connected to significant changes in interpersonal communication, shopping, war, evidence, news, intelligence, liability, and much more. Leaders drive the technology that is applied to data analysis, planning, information security, personnel management, personnel safety, internal and external communication, fiscal accountability, and routine and emergency communication. Students cite strengths, opportunities, weaknesses, and vulnerabilities associated with modern application of technology. They discuss and debate the current and future potential for technology in the workplace, as a tool to advance the well being of people and communities, and as a vehicle for harm and disruption. Students focus on information sharing and analysis, telecommunication, and linking networks and systems. They apply technology to assessing needs and solutions, determining the best application and deciding when it reaches the point of overkill. They learn, too, how to judge technology-related information given to them by employees, vendors, and others.
705.615 Leading and Managing Change
Change is inevitable and a constant for many individuals and organizations. Budget, demand for services, resource allocation, labor agreements, and politics are among many factors that influence change, but may not be within an executive’s control. Change can be received well and perceived as essential to progress, growth, and excellence in the delivery of services. It also may be perceived as negative, imposing, and the cause of organizational decline. Knowing how to manage change well is the responsibility of every leader. Students scrutinize planned and unanticipated change. They discuss and debate current literature and processes for managing change. Focusing on change that has occurred in their own organizations, students consider its affect on resources, employees, and people’s satisfaction with the delivery of service. Students delve into the power, role, and influence of leaders as change agents and apply the lessons learned to their current work environment
705.608 Human Resource Management: People and Productivity
Competence in managing human resources is a primary attribute of successful leaders. The overall work environment is contingent, in great part, on how leaders administer employees, contractual workers, and others. A leader’s reputation and future can be made or broken based on how routine and extraordinary human resources issues are managed. Students apply fundamentals of human resource management to contemporary organizations, focusing on issues such as human resources law, workforce development, recruitment, selection, appraisal, promotion, retention, diversity, employee recognition, and more. They compare human resources programs and activities within their own organization to modern and widely accepted practice. Students discuss a myriad of employee concerns such as internal communication, bias, sexual harassment, obvious and subtle intimidation, and workplace violence.
705.719 Crisis Mitigation, Management and Communication
If not managed well, a critical incident or series of critical incidents can pose significant threat to a community and an organization’s well being. It can establish, sustain, or destroy a leader’s reputation and survival. Effective prevention, mitigation, recovery, and restoration are contingent on a leader’s ability to develop crisis management and contingency plans, assess a situation, direct and motivate individual or multi-agency response, and communicate well to all involved. This course is built on the belief that a leader in a crisis is a leader in routine day-to-day matters, as well. Students review and evaluate current crisis management theory and practice. They draw on their experience to assess high profile situations and apply lessons learned to their own organizations and work environments.
705.820 Current Issues in Leadership: Capstone
Leaders today are tasked with effectively and efficiently responding to a rapidly changing political, social, strategic, operational, and technical environment. They guide a contemporary workforce that imposes new expectations and demands on its leaders. As a culminating course, students discuss the major issues that recurred throughout the entire curriculum and the creative solutions they developed to deal with these issues. The knowledge gained in previous courses of study, combined with new learning, provides a foundation for students to embrace proven traditional approaches and develop innovative methods to lead their personnel and organizations well into the future. Students participate in individual, group, and class projects to establish a course of action to pursue as they embark from the program.
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Types of Rosé Wine
A Rosé is a wine made from red wine grapes, and is sometimes called a blush wine.
The biggest difference between a red wine and a rosé is the amount of time that the wine stays in contact with the grape skins. For a rosé, it is normally only a couple of hours to a couple of days. The result is a lighter colored, lighter wine. Rosés can range from pink or light orange, to darker, fuller pinks and salmons.
Blush wines, many of which are from California, are produced through a different process called bleeding. This process involves making a white wine and then bleeding juice off the top of a red wine, which condenses the red and causes the white to blush. These are typically sweeter, less dry wines.
Rosé wines are often enjoyed in the summertime or early fall and can be paired with a wide variety of foods as their flavours vary from light and crisp to heavy and full-bodied.
The grapes most likely used in making a rosé include:
1. Grenache: typically features aromas of berries, such as strawberry and blackberry.
2. Pinot Noir: has scents of strawberry and cherry.
3. Gamay: produces a fruity flavor, with hints of berries, vanilla and sometimes oak.
4. Cabernet Franc: often with aromas of berries and green bell pepper.
Tavel is an area in the South of France where the wineries combine Mourvedre grapes and Cinsault grapes to make rosé. In fact, Tavel is an appellation for rosé wine, which means that no other wine than a rosé can claim this region as an appellation. Mourvedre tastes of berries and is the main grape in France's southern region. Cinsault tastes of strawberries and is said to be an excellent blending grape.
Because the White Zinfandel is not made like a traditional rosé wine, there is debate regarding whether it should be classified as a rosé wine. Winemakers take away most of the liquid from a red wine, creating a more concentrated red. The liquid that is removed, which is less tannic and much lighter, is rebottled and sold as white zinfandel.
Serving Rosé Wine
The lighter a rosé is, the more chilled it should be, but it never should be served as cold as a white wine. Alternatively, the darker it is, the warmer it should be served, but, again, it never should be served as warm as you would a red wine. Clear as mud?
One thing is clear, on a warm, sunny day there are few wines more refreshing than a bottle of rosé. It's perfect with almost any type of meal: brunch, picnics, appetizers, BBQs, and even fancy dinner parties. When serving rosé with cheese, look for cheese that will pair well with the bracing acidity and subtle berry flavors that are typical of a dry rosé (such as goat, feta, or rocchetta). Try combining it with a simple baguette with butter and prosciutto, pâtes au pistou, or braised rabbit and lamb.
And think pink!
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1 portrait of Nicholas Kratzer
- Tudor and Jacobean Portraits Database
after Hans Holbein the Younger
oil on panel, late 16th century (1528)
32 1/4 in. x 25 1/2 in. (819 mm x 648 mm)
Click on the links below to find out more:
New Date: After 1585.
Key findings: This painting dates from the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century. It is a very competently painted version.
This painting was purchased at Christies on 23 March 1979, lot 123. It is known to have been in the possession of Andries de Loo in 1604. From there it passed into the possession of Sir Walter Cope, the builder of Holland House. It was inherited by his son-in-law, Henry Rich, 1st Earl of Holland and became part of the collection of the Earl of Holland and Warwick at Holland House. Mrs. Addison, the daughter of the Countess of Holland and Warwick, owned the painting in 1735. The painting later belonged to the Eyre family and thence by inheritance to the 8th Viscount Galway. The Gallery purchased it from Lady Galway of Serlby Hall after it had featured in the Thomas More exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in 1977-8.
Notes on likely authorship
The handling indicates that the painting was produced by a highly competent English or Anglo-Netherlandish painter. Susan Foister has commented that the underdrawing is quite different from Holbeins own drawing but is a careful record of the details in the portrait, and she has suggested that the painter may have been working directly from the original work.
Commentary on painting style, technique
The composition is skilfully balanced in terms of tonal range the blacks, browns and greys all complement each other. Red and yellow pigments are used to enhance this effect, with a glimpse of vermilion red at Kratzers neck and bright yellow highlights on the instruments. The grey colour of the background is made up of black with red and yellow ochres. There is a darker red border surrounding the painting.
Different kinds of brushstrokes have been used to evoke different textures in the painting. Fine brushstrokes in a variety of colours have been used to depict the individual hairs of the eyebrows. The eyelashes are described with brushstrokes being pulled through wet flesh paint. Very fine brushstrokes are used in the flesh areas, some only visible with magnification. Fine black brushstrokes have been used to soften the outline of the hat into the hair. The details and highlights of the instruments describe the texture of wood and metal.
Justification for dating
The portrait is dated to 1528 on the inscription on the letter because it is a direct copy of Holbeins original painting. Analysis of the first board (board A) through dendochronology identifies the date of the last tree ring to be AD1577, giving a conjectural usage date of AD1585-1617.
Drawing and transfer technique
There is fine underdrawing visible through the paint surface at high magnification, which has a sparkly appearance. The underdrawing is mainly underneath the flesh paint and some of the instruments. There is also thicker underdrawing, probably in a carbon-based medium, marking the reddish brown border round the painting. There is also underdrawing under the words on the letter.
The underdrawing in the face is careful, most likely following a tracing or pattern, and the paint closely follows the underdrawn lines. There are fine drawn details for the eyebrows and the knuckles. There are fine drawn outlines for the instruments on the table, but there are also some more sketchy lines in the drawing for the edges of the document and the rounded end of the ruler, showing some searching for the line. Incised lines can be seen below the words on the letter, made at drawing stage. The position of the letter was changed at painting stage as it does not follow the lines of the underdrawing.
Relevance to other known versions
The original portrait by Holbein is now in the Louvre, Paris. It is painted on oak panel and dated 1528. Although there is no surviving preparatory study for this portrait, underdrawing revealed that there have been some alterations made to the left eye and the objects on the table (Foister, 2004, p. 60).
- Another version came up for sale at Christies on 25 October 1990, lot 41.
Chamberlain, Arthur Bensley, Hans Holbein the Younger, 2 vols., 1913, I, p. 328
Foister, Susan, Holbein's Ambassadors: Making and Meaning, The National Gallery, 1997
Foister, Susan, Holbein in England, 2004
Foister, Susan, 'Nicholas Kratzer' in Starkey, David, ed., Henry VIII: A European Court in England, National Maritime Museum, 1991a, p. 70 (no. V.13)
Foister, Susan, 'Workshop or Followers? Underdrawing in Some Portraits Associated with Hans Holbein the Younger' in Proceedings of the 9th Louvain-la-Neuve Colloque sur le dessin sous-jacent dans la peinture, 1991b, pp 113-124
Ganz, Paul, The Paintings of Hans Holbein, 1950, p. 48
Scharf, George, A List of the Most Noteworthy Pictures in the National Portrait Exhibition at South Kensington, Victoria & Albert Museum, 1866, (no. 2)
Trapp, Joseph Burney, 'The King's Good Servant', Sir Thomas More, National Portrait Gallery, 1977-78, p. 95 (no. 187)
Walpole, Horace, Anecdotes of Painting in England, 1849, p. 126
Christie's, Friday 23rd March 1979, p. 82 (lot. 123)
Exhibition of the Royal House of Tudor, The New Gallery, 1890, p. 45 (no. 129)
Compare Images (what's this?)
Compare high-resolution images against the painting - mainly x-ray and infra-red photography images, but sometimes UV or raking light images - side by side with the ability to zoom in on details.
The panel has a convex warp and is thin for its size. There is slight movement in the panel when being handled. The paint layers are in good condition overall. There are small areas of wear in the paint surface, for example in the lettering and at the edge of collar where the underdrawing has been exposed. There are very small areas of damage and loss around the edges of the panel, likely to be caused by framing and handling. The most recent varnish and retouchings are in good condition and overall the panel has a good visual appearance. There are areas of loss along the right-hand join which are visible in x-ray and have been filled and retouched. There are numerous retouchings in the background.
Number of boards: 3
Panel Orientation: Vertical
Panel condition observations
In the records for the sale of this picture in 1979 there is a written note recording the condition of the panel: 'curling like anything - almost as if painted on a cylinder'. But there is no mention of structural treatment in the 1979 condition report. The panel has a vertical convex warp. Although in a stable condition there is very slight movement in the right-hand join. There is no cradle or other supports on the reverse of the panel. The reverse is in a good condition with no evidence of having been thinned. There are three seals and two paper labels on the reverse. The largest paper label is a letter regarding the provenance of the painting. However, the paper has degraded and parts of it are now lost. There are also fragments of patterned paper attached to strips of canvas running in a horizontal line in the upper half of the panel. It is unclear why this has been attached to the reverse. The paper label was removed and is to be preserved in the archive.
An examination of tree rings, which can help to provide the earliest possible felling dates for the wood used for the panel. The technique can also indicate the geographical origin of the wood.
Number of boards: 3
Last date of tree ring: 1577
The panel is made of three boards in vertical alignment, labelled A to C from the left (from the front). Board A has a fairly straight grain and matched sequences for eastern Baltic reference data. Boards B and C are markedly different from board A, as the grain is not as straight, and these boards do not match against any reference data. The date for the last heartwood tree ring for Board A was found to be 1577. As there is no sapwood present a terminus post quem date can be applied to the panel, and adding the minimum expected number of sapwood rings suggests that the tree used for this board was felled after 1585. Board A was 270 mm wide at its lower end, which is within the typical range for boards used in panel paintings. As this picture is undated and board A is unlikely to have been significantly trimmed, it is suitable to apply an Eastern Baltic 8-40 year LEHR- usage range to this panel; this gives a conjectural usage-date range of 1585-1617.
A technique used to identify changes in composition beneath the surface of the paint layers and to understand the physical structure of a panel or canvas.
Broad brushstrokes can be faintly seen across the panel indicating that a thin white priming layer, containing lead white, has been applied. The wood grain of the panel can be clearly seen (see x-ray mosaic 01). As expected with closely produced copies, there do not appear to be any pentimenti. The x-ray shows the panel's good condition: there is hardly any damage and just a few losses along slight openings in the joins. At the top-left corner there is a diagonal crack in the panel with associated paint loss. Around the edge of the panel are regular holes which have been filled and retouched. These are likely to be nail holes from a previous fixing or framing device. The paint in the face has been highly worked and in x-ray small brushstrokes can be seen, particularly around the cheeks, indicating the modelling of the flesh. The hands have been painted in a more straightforward way and there is little working in the areas of highlight. On the reverse of the painting are several seals which can be seen in x-ray. There are also strips of patterned paper attached to canvas pieces on the reverse. These show up very clearly in x-ray but what they are remains unclear.
A technique used to observe the layers beneath the paint surface which can reveal underdrawing and changes to the initial design.
Susan Foister's catalogue entry for the National Maritime Museum exhibition Henry VIII: A European Court in England, to which this painting was lent, comments that 'the underdrawing is a careful record in chalk of details present in the finished painting, like shadows in the face and hands. It is quite different from Holbein's own fluent brush drawing and suggests a painter working close to Holbein and direct from the original finished portrait'. (Foister, 1991a, p. 70).
Susan Foister has also described the drawing as being hesitant in the objects on the table, but more confident in the hatching on the face. She also observed a fine arch to the eyebrow, and feathery strokes. It was noted that hatching is not characteristic of Holbein's drawing (Foister, 1991b, pp. 113-24).
Observations from IRR carried out in 2008
The underdrawing is fine and light (see IRR mosaic 01, IRR mosaic 02 and IRR mosaic 03). There are darker, thicker lines of underdrawing marking out the area for the red ochre border. This may be a dry carbon-based medium.
The clearly drawn outlines for the elements of the composition can be seen with infrared reflectogrpahy. Most of the painting follows these outlines, except the document on the table where the position and angle was changed, and moved a little further to the left than in the underdrawing. The rounded top of the ruler is painted further to the left than in the underdrawing, in order to correspond with the change in the position of the edge of the document. The underdrawing in the face is careful, most likely to be following a tracing or pattern, and the paint closely follows the underdrawn lines. There are fine drawn details for the eyebrows and the knuckles. There are fine drawn outlines for the instruments on the table, but there are also some more sketchy lines in the drawing for the edges of the document and the rounded end of the ruler, showing some searching for the line.
Investigation into microscopic pigment samples or samples of other media in order to help with dating, to reveal the order of the paint layers and help to understand the painting techniques used.
Paint samples were taken to analyse the pigments and layer structure of the painting in January 2009.
Sample 3: The brown is a mixture of plant black, red ochre, yellow ochre and possibly smalt.
The red was mixed into the black to vary the tone and create modelling. The yellow ochre is in the normal rounded form.
Sample 4: The black of the collar is bone black, with rounded and softer particles than plant black. It lies over or next to the brown paint and is a mixture of two paints. A little red lake could be seen in the dispersion, perhaps mixed in to give a cooler tone.
Sample 3b: The intense black is bone black. There are traces of lamp black but it is difficult to be sure that these are original.
Instruments on the shelf
Sample 1b: Red cord on the cylinder dial was identified as dry process vermilion.
Sample 2b: The black marks on the semicircular dial were identified as bone black.
Sample 5: Yellow highlights on the semicircular dial are a mixture of yellow ochre, a little yellow lake, traces of black, and what appears to be some artificial yellow: but this is not obviously lead-tin yellow on the surface and may simply be lead white with yellow lake.
Sample 2: The dull greenish grey of the upper-left background contains quite fine plant black, with yellow ochre and lead white.
Sample 4b: The fawn colour of the background appeared to be a mixture of yellow and red ochres with some black, and it also seems to contain some smalt, but this was not verified.
Sample 6: The sample shows a white chalk ground. Staining revealed protein in the mixture which confirms the presence of size. There is a pale priming layer over this, made with lead white, traces of orange red lead and lamp black. A very large lead soap can be seen pushing up into the red ochre paint above. Although there are some slight indications that some lead soaps may be formed from red lead, it seems most likely that, as the lead soap craters are present over the entire picture surface, the lead soaps are formed from white lead.
The red ochre of the top layer is moderately finely ground and has the rod-shaped particles noted in ochres of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Some yellow and a little white lead are also present in the mixture. The rod-like red ochre particles are clearly visible in dispersions.
An examination of the construction of paint layers, glazes and condition often using a microscope. This method provides important evidence concerning an artist’s technique and paint handling and can reveal a specific artist’s characteristic painting style.
Painting style and method
The balance of tone in the composition is skillfully managed. The brown, black and grey areas are carefully modulated. Different red and yellow pigments are used for various effects, with some bright red accents, such as the glimpse of red garment at the neck and the red cord upper left, and with yellow highlights on the tools and instruments.
The panel has a thick chalk ground layer. Over this there is a priming layer containing lead white, traces of red lead and lamp black. Under the microscope, unusually small lead soaps can be seen all over the surface of the painting. These appear to be migrating up from the priming layer (see Paint sampling). The lead white used is very fine.
Underdrawing and incised lines
Sparkly particles of underdrawing can be seen under passages of flesh paint as well as under some of the instruments (see micro 03, micro 04, micro 07, and micro 11). Darker, thicker underdrawing can be seen marking out the reddish brown border around the painting - this has possibly been drawn with a dry, carbon medium (see micro 09). Underdrawing can also be seen under the words on the letter, possibly in a more fluid medium (see micro 16). Incised lines have been used to mark the position of the written script (see micro 17). Incised lines can also be seen in the dials on the shelf in the upper-left corner of the painting (see micro 19). Incised lines can be seen with raking light below the words on the letter. These extend beyond the painted edge of the letter and this indicates that the incised lines were made in the surface of the ground at the same time as the underdrawing was made. The position of the document on the table was changed at the painting stage, and does not follow the outlines of the underdrawing. It was moved upwards and the angle of its position on the table was changed.
Paint layer structure
The flesh seems to have been painted after the black of the coat collar, as it can be seen to overlap this in some areas under the microscope. The painter makes use of very fine, diagonal brushstrokes to soften the outlines of some areas of flesh. These can be seen with the naked eye in the area of the temple against the hair (see micro 06). Under the microscope similar diagonal marks have been used on the left side of the mouth. The marks have been made into wet paint and are not visible with the naked eye. Very fine texture has also been used in other areas of flesh paint, particularly in the highlights. More diagonal marks have been painted under the mouth in red (see micro 11). The line of the mouth has been emphasised with a very liquid line, rich in oil medium, of black paint.
Eyes and eyebrows
Very fine details have been used to execute these features. Fine brushstrokes in a variety of colours have been used to depict the individual hairs of the eyebrows (see micro 20). Care has been taken over the gradation of the colours in the iris and the highlight has been carefully applied. The eyelashes are described with brushstrokes being pulled through wet flesh paint, creating softly blended wet-in-wet strokes (see micro 01).
Fine black brushstrokes have been used to soften the outline of the hat into the hair (see micro 18). Although these strokes are made wet-in-wet with the brown paint they do not seem to have been pulled down from the black paint of the hat as has been seen on copies of Henry VIII (see micro 17). Instead it is closer in style to the softening seen on the fur collar of Thomas More (NPG 4358). The hair that hangs around the sitter's face has been blocked in with a dry, brown underpaint. A more liquid, opaque brown paint has been applied on top with individual hairs depicted in black and white. Wet-in-wet blending is also evident in this area, adding to the overall texture of the hair (see micro 13).
Coat, collar and cuffs, and hat
The brocade pattern of the black collar has been achieved by painting a darker paint for the pattern over a grey underlayer. The coat is tied up with a lace, and grey highlights are depicted with comma-like marks - very similar to those seen on the tassels of NPG 4358. The same grey colour and marks can be seen on the cuffs. A dense black paint, similar to that used for the pattern of the undershirt can be seen on the very edges of the cuff. The black in the dark costume appears to be plant black (rather than bone black as found in other parts). Red ochre, rather than vermilion, is the main red mixed into the brown of the sitter's costume to vary the tone. Yellow ochre was also found in the browns, in its normal rounded form. The rounded and softer particles of the black in the collar suggest that it is bone black. A little red lake has been found, mixed with the black to give a cooler tone. The intense black of the hat appears to be bone black, with rounded particles. There are also traces of lamp black but it is difficult to determine whether these are original (see Paint sampling).
Instruments and table top
The details and highlights of the instruments describe the texture of wood and metal. The metal screw section of the divider hanging on the back wall has been blocked in with a simple, straight line of brown paint. The coiled edges of the screw have then been painted over this in a semi-transparent medium-rich paint and highlights applied on top (see micro 05). The outlines of the divider have been emphasised with a black outline in places. This appears to have been applied as the last layer. The highlight on the wooden handle of the bradawl (a tool used to make indentations in wood or other materials) on the table has been applied quite thickly, in a similar way to impasto found on Poyntz's hat decoration (NPG 4952) (see micro 07, micro 08, micro 09 and micro 10).
There is no indication of underdrawing for the symbols, numbering and lines on the dials, but there may be some underdrawing visible on the dial held in the sitter's left hand. The paint is brown and has the same crumbly texture as the paint used for the wording of the letter. The black used for the marks on the cylinder dial on the shelf has the rounded particles of bone black. The red cord on the cylinder dial has been painted very finely. A dark black line is painted under a dark, translucent red with bright red highlights. The vermilion red of the cord is a deliberately bright element in the composition and is much more vivid than the red ochre of the border. The yellow highlights are also bright, made with a mixture of yellow pigments (see Paint sampling). The brown paint of the table has been painted around the objects and sitter's hands.
Background and Border
The background colour behind the instruments is a dull grey/green colour with large particles of black and dull red/orange coloured particles - this appears to be a mixture of yellow and red ochres, some black and possibly some smalt (see Paint sampling). The upper-left shadow behind the instruments is a mixture of black, yellow ochre and white.
There is a dull red framing border round all edges of the painting. This border contains finely ground red ochre, and some yellow ochre and lead white. The red ochre has rod-shaped particles of the type noted several times in sixteenth and seventeenth-century ochres.
Order of construction
- Chalk ground
- Pale warm grey priming layer
- Underdrawing, Incised lines made in the surface
- The upper paint layers were applied in a relatively straight forward manner. The elements of the composition were painted first with some blending and modulations in tone, and then details and highlights
- Some flesh was painted after the black of the collar
- The brown paint of the table was evidently painted after the objects on the table and the sitter's hands were painted
- A final painted outline was applied in several areas, for example around the dividers
Lead white, bone black, plant black, vermilion, red lake, earth pigments, red ochre, yellow ochre, yellow lake, possibly lead-tin yellow, smalt
Changes to composition/pentimenti
The angle of document on the table was changed at the painting stage (see above).
A method which helps to reveal past restoration and the extent of varnish layers.
Numerous retouchings in the upper half of the background show up dark under ultra violet light (see UV 01). The retouchings cover up abrasion in this area of paint. Other retouchings are visible under ultra violet light in the costume, around the edges of the panel and along the right-hand panel join. There are also areas of highly fluorescing material which appear as a series of small dots around the dials in the upper-left corner and also in the lower-right corner near the edge. In normal light these areas appear as small raised areas of paint and are presumably old retouchings in a different medium. The face is in very good condition with only a very few retouchings in the brightly fluorescing medium. In the dark coat and hat a fluorescing coating is visible with a very brushy appearance and random application. This is likely to be a varnish layer and as it is not continuous across the surface it seems likely that it is an old varnish and that the painting could have been cleaned selectively.
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Professors Basu, Neilson, Onas, Gallagher and Royce
The fundamental laws of buoyancy, stability, and strength are fully considered, as these have universal application to all kinds of ships and floating structures. The study of naval architecture is begun in the Freshman year in order to familiarize the student as early as possible with ship and shipbuilding terms, technical facets of ship analysis and design, shipyard arrangements and general methods of ship construction. Major subjects covered are hydrostatics, stability, ship structure, ship dynamics, resistance, and propulsion. Knowledge gained is subsequently applied in the design courses.
Owing to the wide variety of types and sizes of ships in service at the present time, it is inevitable that a certain amount of specialization is necessary for their design and construction. It is the aim of the courses to cover the fundamentals of naval architecture in the time available, so that the specialized study of any one of a number of particular types or classes of ships may be left to the individual who, after graduation, is especially concerned with them.
INTRODUCTION TO NAVAL ARCHITECTURE (NA I)
This course presents an overall introduction to the marine industry. The terminology and the technologies of naval architecture are presented. Graphic techniques, which form the basis for the naval architect's understanding of ship form and lines drawing, are introduced. The broad spectrum of ship types - from sailing yachts and tugs to mammoth tankers and aircraft carriers, from submarines to air cushion vehicles - are described. Basic principles of hull structure are introduced, and from this a consideration of how to build ships is presented. The final part of the course is a direct preparation for the first winter work period. Two hours of lecture and two hours of lab per week in the first semester.
SHIP STATICS (NA II)
This introductory course in hydrostatics of ships covers buoyancy, weights, metacenters and stability at small and large angles of heel and trim. Stability after damage, and hydrostatic considerations in drydocking and grounding are treated. In the project part of the course, curves of form are calculated for a small vessel with much of the work done on a computer. Cross curves of stability are also calculated for the same hull form. Two hours of class and two hours of lab per week in the first semester.
SHIP RESISTANCE AND PROPULSION (NA III)
The components of a ship's resistance and the effects of important hull parameters are discussed as well as the special problems of bulbous bows and hull appendages. Full-scale prediction of ship resistance by means of model tests, standard series and regression analyses are examined and criticized. Wake fraction, thrust deduction and propulsive coefficient are presented. Both the screw propeller and water jet are considered as a propulsion device. Two hours per week of lecture and a two hour laboratory every week in the first semester.
SHIP STRUCTURES (NA IV)
The course covers ship structural analysis and design using analytical and finite element techniques. Longitudinal strength of the hull and the design of a midship section are discussed. Hull girder bending and torsion are studied in detail. Shear flow in a typical ship cross section is calculated. Bending and buckling of stiffened and unstiffened panels are presented. Concepts of fatigue are discussed and material properties important in structural design are reviewed. Projects are done using analytical as well as finite element methods. Two hours of class and two hours of laboratory per week in the second semester.
SHIP DYNAMICS (NA V)
In this course, the student applies knowledge of basic mathematics, dynamics and hydrodynamics to the study of ship performance in the areas of seakeeping and maneuvering. The equations of motion are developed for seakeeping, and expressions for wave excitation force, damping and added mass are developed, based on strip theory and deep-water wave velocity potential theory. The response of a ship to ocean waves is treated, first to a single wave train and then to a wave spectrum using linear superposition principles. Calculations are compared to scale model test results. Seakeeping criteria are discussed, including critical vessel responses such as roll, deck wetness, slamming, and impact loads. The equations of motion for maneuvering are developed. Analytical and experimental methods of determining coefficients are presented. Rudder design, steering, course keeping, and maneuvering stimulation are studied. Considerations related to design and operations are discussed. Two hours of class and two hours of laboratory per week in the first semester.
PROPULSOR DESIGN (NA VI)
This course concentrates on the theory and design of the screw propeller for ship propulsion. Lifting line and lifting surface representations are used to design blade sections of a propeller for the ship developed in the preceding ship design courses. Cavitation and blade strength are checked, and the propeller drawing is prepared with the aid of computer graphics. Modes of ship hull vibration, propeller-induced exciting forces, and methods of reducing hull vibrations are considered. Other propulsors are discussed for comparison. Three hours per week in the second semester.
MARINE TRANSPORTATION (NA VII)
This course gives an overview of marine transportation systems, including tankers, breakbulk, drybulk and container lines from a business standpoint. The fundamentals of maritime economics and financial management are presented, including a fleet analysis based on the ship design project begun in the Ship Design I course. Case studies and a research paper are used as the primary learning tools. Management techniques and linear programming are included. Three hours per week of class in the second semester.
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Biggest Snake In The World 55 Feet Long
55 Feet Long Huge Snake Found In Malaysia And Other Huge Snakes!
Let’s have a look at the world’s biggest snake caught in Malaysia and other extremely huge snakes from all over the world. Boas, anacondas and pythons… all extremely dangerous and more importantly, very, very BIG! Apart from this 55 feet long giant snake found in Malaysia, we’ll talk about some of the largest snakes in the world, so have a look.
The most shocking picture of a huge snake has gotten everyone trembling with both fear and amazement. Fortunately, at the time this picture was taken, the giant beast was already dead… but, unfortunately, the people who took the picture testified that apart from this humongous snake, there was also another one, larger in size, which managed to get away.
How did they come across the world’s biggest snake?
Well, while tearing down the forest to make room for a new high-way, the construction workers accidentally injured the huge snake. When they got off the CAT to see what they had hit, they were petrified to see the largest snakes ever. They snakes managed to crawl away, but just a few feet upfront, the workers found the injured snake dead, and the other gone.
The beast was a 55 feet long boa (16.7 meters), it weighed 300 kilograms and its age was estimated to 140 years. The bulldozer operator who accidentally killed the snake woke the beasts up when he was trying to break a mound of earth. Unfortunately, reports say that the worker was so scared and shocked of the blood and the huge snake that he had a heart attack on the way to the hospital, and passed away later that day.
This discovery just goes to show us that nature always finds something new to surprise us with, and that different movies like “Anaconda”, may not be that far off from the truth. This monster makes the computer generated snakes in the movie seem like little babies…
Titanoboa The Largest Snake EVER
Surprisingly or not… the largest snake to ever roam the earth is a species suggestively titled the Titanoboa. This huge critter wasn’t as long as the previous case, but it was much, much bigger. It was 48 feet long, and weighed an estimated one-and-a-half tons! No, there’s no error in that weight… Luckily for us, this species of monster snakes roamed the earth sixty million years ago, in the mysterious era after the extinction of the dinosaurs.
Scientists believe that this colossal species of snakes once ruled the world and thanks to some awesome archaeological unearthing at an open-pit coal mines at Cerrejon in La Guajira, Colombia, a full skeleton of such a large constrictor was found and scientists could once again bring it back to life at the Smithsonian.
Watch a few videos of the huge Titanboa snake below:
And below is a behind the scenes video of how the huge snake was brought back to life:
Borneo river Giant Snake
Now, did you think these two snakes are huge and scary? Well, what if we were to tell you that their size pales in comparison to a snapshot of a 100 feet long snake which was spotted in the Baleh river, Borneo. This areal photo shows a gigantic snake swimming in the river and since it surfaced, it caused a lot of panic and fear amongst the locals. Whether you believe the photo to be real or not is entirely up to you… but if it is indeed true, we might be in for a huge surprise any day now.
49 feet long Snake In Indonesia
Were you thinking of taking a trip to Indonesia any time soon? Well, maybe you should ponder on that idea some more… Locals captured a 49 foot giant snake which weighed 990 pounds. The humongous reptile is officially the longest snake ever kept in captivity (more specifically at the zoo in Curugsewu village on the Indonesia’s main island of Java)
Local government officials declared that the python measured 48 feet 8 inches and weighed in at 983 pounds. So far, The Guinness Book of World Records confirms that the longest snake ever captured is just 32 feet long, while the heaviest snake kept in captivity is a Burmese Python from Gurnee, Ill, and it weighs 402 pounds.
|Add to favorites|
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|Sep24-12, 04:05 AM||#1|
Difference between SAED pattern and XRD Pattern
Hello every one!
Why in SAED pattern some reflection are present but not in the powder XRD pattern? For example in my particular experiment FeCo bcc alloy nano structures, the XRD pattern contains only three reflection (110), (200) and (211). But in SAED pattern there are , reflection of (111), (100), (122), (211), (110) and (200).
Please explain why it is so?
Thanks a lot in advance
|Sep25-12, 05:51 AM||#2|
Multiple scattering is very very common in electron diffraction, but much less in x-ray diffraction (especially powder XRD).
(100), (111) and (221) are forbidden for BCC and therefore do not show up in normal x-ray diffraction.
FeCo can order in a B2 (CsCl-type) structure with Fe at the corner and Co in the center (or vice versa, same structure).
Then the structure is simple cubic and these reflections are allowed (but weak). Multiple scattering will amplify the intensity of these weak reflections, i.e. they would show more strongly in electron diffraction than x-rays.
This order is enhanced at surfaces (see article cited below). Nanoparticles being almost entirely surface, one would expect such order to be present. If you have access to a synchrotron, then trying an anomalous scattering experiment at the Fe or Co K-edge could be intresting.
|Sep25-12, 05:56 AM||#3|
Thank you very much Quak, I have understand it now clearly,
Also the article you suggested is very interesting, Once again thanks.
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http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?p=4087780
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Polar bear skin is black and the fur is not white at all. Each individual hair is a clear hollow tube called guard hair and looks white because of reflected light. The bear’s thin undercoat is not hollow. Like the guard hair it is colorless. This optical illusion provides good hunting camouflage in the snow and pack ice.
Polar bears fur is oily making it water repellent. This keeps the hairs from being matted down and makes it easy for bears to shake any water and ice free after swimming. Fur even grows on the bottom of their paws. This helps to protect against cold icy surfaces and creates good traction on ice. In addition, the soles of their feet have small bumps and cavities that create suction for added grip.
The polar bear has a subcutaneous fat layer much like blubber. This fat layer helps the bear retain body heat and its low density allows the bear to float in the water while swimming. Summer months are spent hunting food to build up that layer of fat to sustain the long Arctic winter nights. When a polar bear is at rest its internal temperature is a toasty 98 degrees Fahrenheit.
Another interesting adaptation is that polar bears have slightly webbed toes which help them swim. Polar bears have been observed swimming 100 miles at a stretch. Climate change is forcing the polar bear to swim farther and use more energy to hunt prey. As with Antarctica, the summer sea ice is breaking up earlier in spring and freezing later in the fall. Arctic ice has decreased by more than a half million square miles over the past 25 years.
If you like this blog post please let us know by clicking the like button, and pass it on to your friends.
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Saturday 31st March 1990 seen the largest of several recent poll tax riots/protests take place, in London.
Many believe this was the beginning of the end for Tory leader, Thatcher, who stood down as PM later
that year. Thatcher and her Tory government used Scotland, as usual, as a guinea pig and imposed the
Community Charge (Poll Tax) on Scotland, one year ahead of the rest of the UK.
Thatcher was replaced by Major and he immediately changed the name of the tax to Council Tax.
It was supposed to be based on "the ability to pay" but that turned out to be the usual Westminster lies.
This "new tax" did not take into account, a persons income but it did take into account the value of a
persons property. This Council Tax is STILL a burden around the necks of most Scots today.
EXACTLY 22 years later, to this very day, we still have this Tory Tax and we still have a Tory government
at Westminster. A Tory government that Scotland, yet again, did not vote for.
The only way of making sure that Scotland gets what Scotland votes for is to vote for Independence.
BTW: This was posted on Saturday 31st March 2012 (BST) @12.56am (and not Fri 30th @11.56pm).
Just to clarify any confusion that may arise.
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Reply to comment
Think drug-induced hallucinations, and the whirly, spirally, tunnel-vision-like patterns of psychedelic imagery immediately spring to mind. But it's not just hallucinogenic drugs like LSD, cannabis or mescaline that conjure up these geometric structures. People have reported seeing them in near-death experiences, as a result of disorders like epilepsy and schizophrenia, following sensory deprivation, or even just after applying pressure to the eyeballs. So common are these geometric hallucinations, that in the last century scientists began asking themselves if they couldn't tell us something fundamental about how our brains are wired up. And it seems that they can.
Computer generated representations of form constants. The top two images represent a funnel and a spiral as seen after taking LSD, the bottom left image is a honeycomb generated by marijuana, and the bottom right image is a cobweb. Image from , used by permission.
Geometric hallucinations were first studied systematically in the 1920s by the German-American psychologist Heinrich Klüver. Klüver's interest in visual perception had led him to experiment with peyote, that cactus made famous by Carlos Castaneda, whose psychoactive ingredient mescaline played an important role in the shamanistic rituals of many central American tribes. Mescaline was well-known for inducing striking visual hallucinations. Popping peyote buttons with his assistant in the laboratory, Klüver noticed the repeating geometric shapes in mescaline-induced hallucinations and classified them into four types, which he called form constants: tunnels and funnels, spirals, lattices including honeycombs and triangles, and cobwebs.
In the 1970s the mathematicians Jack D. Cowan and G. Bard Ermentrout used Klüver's classification to build a theory describing what is going on in our brain when it tricks us into believing that we are seeing geometric patterns. Their theory has since been elaborated by other scientists, including Paul Bressloff, Professor of Mathematical and Computational Neuroscience at the newly established Oxford Centre for Collaborative Applied Mathematics.
How the cortex got its stripes...
The visual cortex: the area V1 is shown in red. Image: Washington irving
In humans and mammals the first area of the visual cortex to process visual information is known as V1. Experimental evidence, for example from fMRI scans, suggests that Klüver's patterns, too, originate largely in V1, rather than later on in the visual system. Like the rest of the brain, V1 has a complex, crinkly, folded-up structure, but there's a surprisingly straight-forward way of translating what we see in our visual field to neural activity in V1. "If you imagine unfolding [V1]," says Bressloff, "You can think of it as neural tissue a few millimetres thick with various layers of neurons. To a first approximation, the neurons through the depth of the cortex behave in a similar way, so if you compress those neurons together, you can think of V1 as a two-dimensional sheet."
An object or scene in the visual world is projected as a two-dimensional image on the retina of each eye, so what we see can also be treated as flat sheet: the visual field. Every point on this sheet can be pin-pointed by two coordinates, just like a point on a map, or a point on the flat model of V1. The alternating regions of light and dark that make up a geometric hallucination are caused by alternating regions of high and low neural activity in V1 — regions where the neurons are firing very rapidly and regions where they are not firing rapidly.
To translate visual patterns to neural activity, what is needed is a coordinate map, a rule which links each point in the visual field to a point on the flat model of V1. In the 1970s scientists including Cowan came up with just such a map, based on anatomical knowledge of how neurons in the retina communicate with neurons in V1 (see the box on the right for more detail). For each light or dark region in the visual field, the map identifies a region of high or low neural activity in V1.
So how does this retino-cortical map transform Klüver's geometric patterns? It turns out that hallucinations comprising spirals, circles, and rays that emanate from the centre correspond to stripes of neural activity in V1 that are inclined at given angles. Lattices like honeycombs or chequer-boards correspond to hexagonal activity patterns in V1. This in itself might not have appeared particularly exciting, but there was a precedent: stripes and hexagons are exactly what scientists had seen when modelling other instances of pattern formation, for example convection in fluids, or, more strikingly, the emergence of spots and stripes in animal coats. The mathematics that drives this pattern formation was well known, and it now suggested a mechanism for modelling the workings of the visual cortex too.
...and how the leopard got its spots
The first model of pattern formation in animal coats goes back to Alan Turing, better known as the father of modern computer science and Bletchley Park code breaker. Turing was interested in how a spatially homogeneous system, such as a uniform ball of cells making up an animal embryo, can generate a spatially inhomogeneous but static pattern, such as the stripes of a zebra.
Turing hypothesised that these animal patterns are a result of a reaction-diffusion process. Imagine an animal embryo which has two chemicals living in its skin. One of the two chemicals is an inhibitor, which suppresses the production of both itself and the other chemical. The other, an activator, promotes the production of both.
Initially, at time zero in Turing's model, the two chemicals exactly balance each other — they are in equilibrium, and their concentrations at the various points on the embryo do not change over time. But now imagine that, for some reason or other, the concentration of activator increases slightly at one point. This small perturbation sets the system into action. The higher local concentration of activator means that more activator and inhibitor are produced there — this is a reaction. But both chemicals also diffuse through the embryo skin, inhibiting or activating production elsewhere.
For example, if the inhibitor diffuses faster than the activator, then it quickly spreads around the point of perturbation and decreases the concentration of activator there. So you end up with a region of high activator concentration bordered by high inhibitor concentration — in other words, you have a spot of activator on a background of inhibitor. Depending on the rates at which the two chemicals diffuse, it is possible that such a spotty pattern arises all over the skin of the embryo, and eventually stabilises. If the activator also promotes the generation of a pigment in the skin of the animal, then this pattern can be made visible. (See the Plus article How the leopard got its spots for more detail.)
Turing wrote down a set of differential equations which describe the competition between the two chemicals (see the box on the right), and which you can let evolve over time, to see if any patterns emerge. The equations depend on parameters capturing the rate at which the two chemicals diffuse: if you choose them correctly, the system will eventually stabilise on a particular pattern, and you can vary the pattern by varying the parameters. Here is an applet (kindly provided by Chris Jennings) which allows you to play with different parameters and see the patterns form.
Patterns in the brain
Neural activity in the brain isn't a reaction-diffusion process, but there are analogies to Turing's model. "Neurons send signals to each other via their output lines called axons," says Bressloff. Neurons respond to each other's signals, so we have a reaction. "[The signals] propagate so quickly relative to the process of pattern formation, that you can think of them as instantaneous interactions." So rather than diffusion, which is a local process, we have instantaneous interaction at a distance in this case. The roles of activator and inhibitor are played by two different classes of neurons. "There are neurons which are excitatory — they make other neurons more likely to become active — and there are inhibitory neurons, which make other neurons less likely to become active," says Bressloff. "The competition between the two classes of neurons is the analogue of the activator-inhibitor mechanism in Turing's model."
Stripy, hexagonal and square patterns of neural activity in V1 generated by a mathematical model. Image from , used by permission.
Inspired by the analogies to Turing's process, Cowan and Ermentrout constructed a model of neural activity in V1, using a set of equations that had been formulated by Cowan and Hugh Wilson. Although the equations are more complicated than Turing's, you can still play the same game, letting the system evolve over time and see if patterns in neural activity evolve. "You find that, under certain circumstances, if you turn up a parameter which represents, for example, the effect of a drug on the cortex, then this leads to a growth of periodic patterns," says Bressloff.
Cowan and Ermentrout's model suggests that geometric hallucinations are a result of an instability in V1: something, for example the presence of a drug, throws the neural network off its equilibrium, kicking into action a snowballing interaction between excitatory and inhibitory neurons, which then stabilises in a stripy or hexagonal pattern of neural activity in V1. In the visual field we then "see" this pattern in the shape of the geometric structures described by Klüver.
Symmetries in the brain
In reality, things aren't quite as simple as in Cowan and Ermentrout's model, because neurons don't only respond to light and dark images. Through the thickness of V1, neurons are arranged in collections of columns, known as hypercolumns, with each hypercolumn roughly responding to a small region of the visual field. But the neurons in a hypercolumn aren't all the same: apart from detecting light and dark regions, each neuron specialises in detecting local edges — the separation lines between light and dark regions in a part of an image — of a particular orientation. Some detect horizontal edges, others detect vertical edges, others edges that are inclined at a 45° angle, and so on. Each hypercolumn contains columns of neurons of all orientation preferences, so that a hypercolumn can respond to edges of all orientations from a particular region of the visual field. It is the lay-out of hypercolumns and orientation preferences that enables us to detect contours, surfaces and textures in the visual world.
Connections in V1: Neurons interact with most other neurons within a hypercolumn. But they only interact with neurons in other hypercolumns, if the columns lie in the direction of their orientation, and if the neurons have the same preference. Image from , used by permission.
Over recent years, much anatomical evidence has accumulated showing just how neurons with various orientation preferences interact. Within their own hypercolumn, neurons tend to interact with most other neurons, regardless of their orientation preference. But when it comes to neurons in other hypercolumns they are more selective, only interacting with those of similar orientations and in a way which ensures that we can detect continuous contours in the visual world.
Bressloff, in collaboration with Cowan, the mathematician Martin Golubitsky and others, has generalised Cowan and Ermentrout's original model to take account of this new anatomical evidence. They again used the plane as the basis for a model of V1: each hypercolumn is represented by a point on the plane, while each point in turn corresponds to a hypercolumn. Neurons with a given orientation preference (where is an angle between 0 and ) are represented by the location of the hypercolumn they're in, together with the angle , that is, they are represented by three bits of information, . So in this model V1 is not just a plane, but a plane together with a full set of orientations for each point.
If two elements (x,y,θ) and (s,t,θ) interact, then so do the elements of the same orientation at (x+a,y+b) and (s+a,t+b), and the elements of orientation -θ at (x,-y) and (s,-t).
In keeping with anatomical evidence, Bressloff and his colleagues assumed that a neuron represented by interacts with all other neurons in the same hypercolumn But it only interacts with neurons in other hypercolumns, if these hypercolumns lie in their preferred direction : on the plane, draw a line through of inclination Then the neurons represented by interact only with neurons in hypercolumns that lie on this line, and which have the same preferred orientation .
This interaction pattern is highly symmetric. For example, the pattern doesn't appear any different if you shift the plane along in a given direction by a given distance: if two elements and interact, then the elements you get to by shifting along, that is and for some and , interact in the same way. In a similar way, the pattern is also invariant under rotations and reflections of the plane.
A lattice tunnel hallucination generated by the mathematical model. It strongly resembles hallucinations seen after taking marijuana. Image from , used by permission.
Bressloff and his colleagues used a generalised version of the equations from the original model to let the system evolve. The result was a model that is not only more accurate in terms of the anatomy of V1, but can also generate geometric patterns in the visual field that the original model was unable to produce. These include lattice tunnels, honeycombs and cobwebs that are better characterised in terms of the orientation of contours within them, than in terms of contrasting regions of light and dark.
What's more, the model is sensitive to the symmetries in the interaction patterns between neurons: the mathematics shows that it is these symmetries that drive the formation of periodic patterns of neural activity. So the model suggests that it is the lay-out of hypercolumns and orientation preferences, in other words the mechanisms that enable us to detect edges, contours, surfaces and textures in the visual world, that generate the hallucinations. It is when these mechanism become unstable, for example due to the influence of a drug, that patterns of neural activity arise, which in turn translate to the visual hallucinations.
Bressloff's model does not only provide insight into the mechanisms that drive visual hallucinations, but also gives clues about brain architecture in a wider sense. In collaboration with his wife, an experimental neuroscientist, Bressloff has looked at the connection circuits between hypercolumns in normal vision, to see how visual images are processed. "People used to think that neurons in V1 just detect local edges, and that you have to go to higher levels in the brain to put these edges together to detect more complicated features like contours and surfaces. But the work I have done with my wife shows that these structures in V1 actually allow the earlier visual cortex to detect contours and do more global processing. It used to be thought that you process more and more complex aspects of an image as you go higher up in the brain. But now it's realised that there is a huge amount of feedback between higher and lower cortical areas. It's not a simple hierarchical process, but an incredibly complicated and active system it will take many years to understand."
Practical applications of this work include computer vision — computer scientists are already building the inter-connectivity structures that Bressloff and his colleagues played around with into their models, with the aim of teaching computers to detect contours and textures. On a more speculative note, Bressloff's research may also one day help to restore vision to visually impaired people. "The question here is if you can somehow stimulate part of the visual cortex, [bypassing the eye], and use that to guide a blind person," says Bressloff. "If one can understand how the cortex is wired up and responds to stimulation, perhaps one would then have a better way of stimulating it in the right way."
There are even applications that have nothing at all to do with the brain. Bressloff applied the insights from this work to other situations in which objects are located in space and also have an orientation, for example fibroblast cells found in human and animal tissue. He showed that under certain circumstances these interacting cells and molecules can line up and form patterns analogous to those that arise in V1.
People have reported seeing visual hallucinations since the dawn of time and in almost all human cultures — hallucinatory images have even been found in petroglyphs and cave paintings. In shamanistic traditions around the world they have been regarded as messages from the spirit world. Few neuroscientists today would agree that spirits have anything to do with it, but as messengers from a hidden world — this time the hidden world of our brain — these hallucinations seem to have lost none of their potency.
Bressloff's work on visual hallucinations is summarised in the paper What geometric visual hallucinations tell us about the visual cortex (). A more detailed description can be found in the paper Geometric visual hallucinations, Euclidean symmetry and the functional architecture of striate cortex ().
About this article
Paul Bressloff was interviewed by Marianne Freiberger, co-editor of Plus, in August 2009.
Paul Bressloff graduated with a degree in physics from Oxford 1981 and completed a PhD in string theory at King's College London in 1988. He then spent five years as a research Scientist at GEC-Marconi Hirst Research Centre, where he worked on dynamical systems theory and neural networks. In 1993 he joined the Department of Mathematical Sciences at Loughborough University, where he built up a group in mathematical biology and became Professor of Applied Mathematics in 1998. Tenured Full Professor at the University of Utah he built up a group in mathematical neuroscience between 2001 and 2009. He returned to the UK in July 2009 to take up an appointment as a University Research Professor in Mathematical Neuroscience at the University of Oxford. He has also been awarded a Royal Society Wolfson Merit Award (2009-2014).
Bressloff has spent the past 20 years working at the multidisciplinary interface between applied mathematics, theoretical physics and neuroscience. The main focus of his work is to understand how the brain functions as a complex dynamical system at multiple spatial and temporal scales in healthy and diseased brains. He has published more than 120 papers in research journals and co-authored one book. He has mentored ten PhD students and four postdocs.
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Home > Solution > Construction > Cement Grinding Mill
Cement Grinding Mill
Cement Grinding Mill Introduction
In lots of varieties of cement, silicate cement is the type of cement with all the most fundamental and the most amount in application. Interior decoration, this kind of cement is usually the preferred. Moreover, white cement and colored cement can also be utilised in the decoration. A cement grinding mill may be the gear employed to grind the really hard, nodular clinker from the cement kiln in to the fine grey powder which is cement. Cement grinding mill, also known as cement mill is made use of for grinding raw materials of cement in the cement grinding processing.
Current Types of Cement Grinding Mills
As to the optimization of cement grinding mill, we have to find the current types of cement grinding mills. Nowadays, common cement grinding mills include the ball mill, LM series vertical cement mill, Raymond mill, etc. Each of the cement grinding mill has its advantages and disadvantages, so cement producers should make the most of their advantages and keep clear of the disadvantages, which is also the important principle of the optimization of cement grinding mills.
Ball mill is widely applied in cement industry, new building materials, fire-resistant materials, fertilizer, porcelain and glass industry for grinding iron ore, gold ore, concrete, slag, zinc, copper ore, tantalite, etc. It has two ways of grinding: dry process and wet process. The hollow axis adopts the cast steel, and the lining can be replaced. The big rotary gear is forged from cast rolling gears. The barrel body is inlaid with wearable plates, so ball mill has long serve life. The ball mill runs steadily and efficiently.
LM series vertical mill can be widely used in cement making, power, metallurgy, chemical and nonmetalliferous ore industries. It can be used as coal mill, cement mill, iron ore mill, tantalite mill, copper ore mill, manganese mill, etc. This series vertical grinding mill used to grind lumpy, granular and powdery materials to the required size.
Raymond mill can produce powder from more than 280 kinds of non-flammable and non-explosive mineral materials with Mohs hardness below 7 and humidity below 6%, such as barite, limestone, quartz, calcite, granite, porcelain clay, basalt, gypsum, trona etc. The final size is between 613 micron and 440 micron.
Cement Grinding Mill Manufacturer
Zenith is usually a popular cement grinding mill machine manufacturer in China. Zenith has a long tradition in cement grinding mill plant and mining equipment. Zenith has the people today, technologies, knowledge, and item help services to assist you maximize the efficiency of your cement grinding plant inside the mining procedure. We also deliver buyers the cement grinding plant to all the consumers. Zenith gives good quality equipment and top quality solutions essential to maximize the return on your beneficiation plant investment. We will work with you from initial conception via the life in the project.
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Byron nuclear reactor shut down after power loss
January 30, 2012 (BYRON, Ill.) (WLS) -- A nuclear reactor at a northern Illinois plant shut down Monday after losing power, and steam was being vented to reduce pressure, according to officials from Exelon Nuclear and federal regulators.
Unit 2 at Byron Generating Station, about 95 miles northwest of Chicago, shut down at 10:18 a.m., after losing power, Exelon officials said. Diesel generators began supplying power to the plant, and operators began releasing steam to cool the reactor from the part of the plant where turbines are producing electricity, not from within the nuclear reactor itself, officials said.
The steam contains low levels of tritium, a radioactive form of hydrogen, but federal and plant officials insisted the levels were safe for workers and the public.
"They're normal releases that we allow and this is an abnormal release, but it's still far below any limits that we have," U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokeswoman Viktoria Mitlyng told ABC7. "There is no threat to the public."
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission declared the incident an "unusual event," the lowest of four levels of emergency. Commission officials also said the release of tritium was expected.
Exelon Nuclear officials believe a failed piece of equipment at a switchyard caused the shutdown. The switchyard is similar to a large substation that delivers power to the plant from the electrical grid and that takes power from the plant to the electrical grid. Officials were still investigating the equipment failure.
Mitlyng said officials can't yet calculate how much tritium is being released. They know the amounts of tritium are small because monitors around the plant aren't showing increased levels of radiation, she said.
Tritium molecules are so small that tiny amounts are able to pass from radioactive steam from the reactor into the water used to cool the turbines and other equipment outside the reactor. The steam that was being released was coming from the turbine side.
The amount of releasing steam helps "take away some of that energy still being produced by nuclear reaction but that doesn't have anywhere to go now." Even though the turbine is not turning to produce electricity, she said, "you still need to cool the equipment."
"It's not unusual to lose off-site power. I don't know if we've had this situation before, but nuclear power plants have often lost power. So it's not uncommon to happen at plants in the country. We prepare for this with simulators, so it's something we train for," said Exelon spokesman Paul Dempsey.
Tritium is relatively short-lived and penetrates the body weakly through the air compared to other radioactive contaminants.
Candace Humphrey, Ogle County's emergency management coordinator, said county officials were notified of the incident as soon as it happened and that public safety was never in danger.
"It was standard procedure that they would notify county officials," she said. "There is always concern. But, it never crossed my mind that there was any danger to the people of Ogle County."
Unit 1 was operating normally while engineers investigate why Unit 2 lost power, which comes into the plant from the outside power grid, Mitlyng said. Smoke was seen from an onsite station transformer, she said, but no evidence of a fire was found when the plant's fire brigade responded.
Mitlyng said Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspectors were in the control room at Byron and in constant contact with the agency's incident response center in Lisle, Ill.
Residents are not worried about their safety.
"I hope everything is all right," said Matt Lesher. "I have lived here since I was four. This is the first time I've heard anything."
"My husband works there," said Kristin Sible. "I think we are fine."
In March 2008, federal officials said they were investigating a problem with electrical transformers at the plant after outside power to a unit was interrupted.
In an unrelated issue last April, the commission said it was conducting special inspections of backup water pumps at the Byron and Braidwood generating stations after the agency's inspectors raised concerns about whether the pumps would be able to cool the reactors if the normal system wasn't working. The plants' operator, Exelon Corp., initially said the pumps would work but later concluded they wouldn't.
The two nuclear generators in Byron went on line back in 1985 and 1987. According to the company's website, the plant can provide enough electricity to power nearly two million homes.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Almost everyday, someone sends me an e-mail, or posts a question on our message board concerning security clearances in the military. What is a security clearance? What do they look at? What can keep me from getting a security clearance? How far back to they investigate? How long is a security clearance valid?
What is a Security Clearance?
The military possesses information and technology which could be helpful to our enemies. The unauthorized release of this information can compromise our nation's national security. Unauthorized release can cause battles/wars to be lost, missions to be ineffective, and can result in the death or injury of military and civilian personnel.
A security clearance investigation is an inquiry into an individuals loyalty, character, trustworthiness and reliability to ensure that he or she is eligible for access to national security information. The investigation focuses on an individuals character and conduct, emphasizing such factors as honesty, trustworthiness, reliability, financial responsibility, criminal activity, emotional stability, and other similar and pertinent areas. All investigations consist of checks of national records and credit checks; some investigations also include interviews with individuals who know the candidate for the clearance as well as the candidate himself/herself.
In the military, all classified information is divided into one of three categories:
CONFIDENTIAL: Applied to information or material the unauthorized disclosure of which could be reasonably expected to cause damage to the national security.
SECRET: Applied to information or material the unauthorized disclosure of which reasonably could be expected to cause serious damage to the national security.
TOP SECRET: Applied to information or material the unauthorized disclosure of which reasonably could be expected to cause exceptionally grave damage to the national security.
In addition to the above, some classified information is so sensitive that even the extra protection measures applied to Top Secret information are not sufficient. This information is known as "Sensitive Compartmented Information" (SCI) or Special Access Programs (SAP), and one needs special "SCI Access" or SAP approval to be given access to this information.
"For Official Use Only" is not a security classification. It is used to protect information covered under the Privacy Act, and other sensitive data.
Who requires a Security Clearance?
Basically, anyone who requires access to classified information to perform their duties. If your job requires you to have access to CONFIDENTIAL information, you would require a CONFIDENTIAL Security Clearance. If your job requires you to have access to SECRET information, you would require to have a SECRET Security Clearance, etc. For military personnel, two things determine the level of security clearance required; your MOS/AFSC/Rating (Job), and your assignment.
Many military jobs require access to classified information, regardless of where one is assigned. In other cases, the job itself may not require a Security Clearance, but the particular location or unit that the person is assigned to would require giving access to classified information and material.
For example, when I first enlisted into the Air Force into the Aircrew Life Support AFSC, the job required a SECRET clearance level. A few years later, however, I was considered for an assignment to a unit which required me to have a TOP SECRET clearance with SCI. Even before I knew I was being considered for the assignment, the Air Force initiated a TOP SECRET/SCI background check.
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Wild animals, from local birds and fauna to exotic safari animals, have always captured our fascination and imagination. We love eavesdropping on them in their natural environments, whether in person or through documentaries, and we admire them for their independence and survival instincts. But wild animals have also bourn the brunt of human violence and greed, through our endless expansion into and destruction of their habitats, as well as severe hunting tactics and harvesting campaigns.
not one sparrow echoes the environmental and creation care movements in calling for much greater protection of ecosystems and species groups. But at the same time we want to add to those causes a sensitivity to the value of every individual creature, no matter how small or supposedly insignificant in and of itself. We want to see an end to hunting, trapping and fishing which is inhumane or unnecessary, and we even hope to see humans become more active caretakers of animals in the wild.
see our conservation resource pg ...
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Black fever, also known as visceral leishmaniasis (VL), is the second-largest parasitic killer in the world (after malaria), responsible for an estimated half-million deaths worldwide. Roughly 90 percent of black fever cases worldwide are found in Bihar State in India and in Bangladesh, Nepal, Sudan and northeastern Brazil. Because these populations are so poor, new drugs are slow to emerge and much of the basic research into potential drug targets takes place in universities, funded by charitable organisations. The Institute for OneWorld Health charity is developing the drug paromomycin, which they claim will be effective and cheap. A treatment with paromomycin will cost about $10. The drug had originally been identified in th 1960's, but had been abandoned because it would not be profitable, as the disease mostly affects poor people.
Dr. Hale and her husband, Dr. Ahvie Herskowitz put up $100,000, signed a $315,000 promissory note, used the ground floor of their house as offices, and worked without pay for two years. The idea of a nonprofit drug company struck many as folly when Dr. Victoria Hale, a former Genentech executive and Food and Drug Administration official, founded OneWorld Health in 2001. The Gates foundation, which at the time was primarily underwriting vaccines and other preventive strategies, eventually offered a grant of $4.2 million that grew to $47.2 million for the development of paromomycin. Dr. Hale also got help from others, including the Skoll Foundation, which has provided financing to underwrite salaries for new senior executives. If approval is granted as expected this fall, it will be the first time a charity has succeeded in ushering a drug to market.
Source article from New York Times
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A witticism is a remark that is amusingly clever in perception or expression. Robert Hartwell Fiske coined the term dimwitticism in his book, The Dimwit’s Dictionary, to describe the opposite: dull expressions that provide no insight. This is a great example of observations and judgments on style and usage. His judgements are sometimes harsh, but in his apologetic preface, he makes a point that underlies the motivation for this whole book and particularly this chapter on the ugly side of our language:
Few of us are able to learn well by pedantic and rote methods. But if I disturb or annoy a person, is he not more likely to remember what bothered him; is he not more likely to retain what was said; is he not more likely to learn?
Fiske lays out fourteen different classes of dimitticisms, many of which overlap with my treatment on annoying usage. If you enjoyed chapter, you should get Fiske’s book. He employs an effective style and memorable word selection. Here are his categories and a few examples. Note his use of alliteration in the category names.
- Foreign phrases: persona non grata ; raison d’etre ; fait accompli ; joie de vivre
- Grammatical gimmicks: anyway; something or other; everything like that; stuff, things
- Ineffectual phrases: it has come to my attention; it is important to realize; it is interesting to note
- Inescapable pairs: aid and abet; pure and simple; closely allied; valuable asset; delicate balance
- Infantile phrases: not in a million years; in no way, shape or form; without further ado
- Moribound metaphors: thrown under the bus; light at the end of a tunnel; a new ballgame; above par
- Overworked words: amazingly; awesome; basically; crisis; mindset; significant; very;
- Plebian statements: there are no words to describe; he is boring; what can you do?
- Popular prescriptions: actions speak louder than words; money isn’t everything; forgive and forget
- Quack equations: it is what it is; more is better; perception is reality; seeing is believing
- Suspect superlatives: perfectionist; area of expertise; great; pursuit of excellence, best and brightest
- Torpid terms: cautiously optimistic; utilize; significant other; proactive; incumbent upon
- Withered words: albeit; behoove; ergo; amonst; unbeknownst; verily; wherein;
- Wretched redundancies: consensus of opinion; just recently; past experience; in terms of; is because
Occasionally, there are good reasons to use dimwitticisms. If you observe that you use them more than occasionally in your own speech and writing patterns, then you are probably annoying more people than you think. The first step to improvement is observing and noticing.
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Tests by Boeing that were approved by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) before the 787 Dreamliner was certified to fly showed minimal danger of smoke, let alone fire -- and the FAA should find out why, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said today.
The battery fire that grounded Boeing's Dreamliner back in January was started in one of eight battery cells that make up the lithium-ion battery used to power the plane when all other power sources fail, NTSB investigators said at a news conference today.
The single cell showed signs of short circuiting that led to thermal runaway -- a chemical reaction during which a rising temperature leads to increasingly higher temperatures, and spread to the rest of the battery, the board reported.
The NTSB has ruled out external short circuiting as a cause for the problems.
"Boeing has indicated that these tests that were conducted prior to certification showed no evidence of cell-to-cell propagation or fire in the battery," Deborah Hersman, chairwoman of the NTSB, said today in Washington. "However, our investigative findings with respect to the event battery show that when a short circuit did occur, it resulted in cell-to-cell propagation in a cascading manner and a fire."
The certification tests by Boeing found that the likelihood of "smoke emission" from one cell and then a spread to other areas would occur in less than one out of every 10-million flight hours. The 787 currently has only 100 thousand flight hours, and already there have been two smoke events -- one resulting in a fire.
"We have seen two events on two aircraft less than two weeks apart," Hersman said. "And so we know that some of the assumptions that were made to make sure that they didn't have a smoke event were not met, much less a fire event."
Hersman added that it is not unusual to have an operator conducting the testing -- both Boeing and the battery manufacturer, GS Yuasa of Japan.
But the NTSB said Boeing failed to mitigate the hazards and must review not only the battery problem but its testing that provided false conclusions.
"The assumptions used to certify the battery must be reconsidered," Hersman said. "As we move forward, we will begin testing of some of the batteries that have been removed from the 787 fleet from the field. The NTSB will also examine the safety certification process used by both the FAA and Boeing for the 787 battery design and determine why the hazards identified in this investigation were not mitigated."
Boeing suggested in a prepared statement that it is eager to work with the FAA to address the problem.
"The 787 was certified following a rigorous Boeing test program and an extensive certification program conducted by the FAA," the company said. "We provided testing and analysis in support of the requirements of the FAA special conditions associated with the use of lithium ion batteries. We are working collaboratively to address questions about our testing and compliance with certification standards, and we will not hesitate to make changes that lead to improved testing processes and products."
Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and FAA Administrator Michael Huerta released a joint statement following the NTSB press conference saying the testing of the battery to find the "root cause" of the incident should be determined before "reaching conclusions about what changes or improvements the FAA should make going forward."
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July 16, 2012
Map lovers, rejoice! The United States Geological Survey, headquartered in Reston, Virginia, is about to complete a massive project to digitize its cache of approximately 200,000 historic topographic maps, previously available only in print or in some cases out-of-print, meaning that people searching for a special old topo had to go to the archive in Virginia to take a look.
Who cares? Geographers, geologists, hydrologists, demographers, engineers and urban planners, to be sure. Also people interested in local history and genealogy, says the USGS. And, if you ask me, travelers who want not only detailed maps for pursuits like walking and biking, but information about what a place looked like in the past. For instance, the course of rivers before impoundment by dams, villages that have grown into cities, vast empty spaces in the West now crossed by superhighways, mountain ranges reconfigured by volcanic eruption.
Some of the oldest maps in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection show the Chicago Loop in 1929; Tooele Valley, Utah, in 1885; New Bedford, Massachusetts, in 1888; Colorado’s Mosquito Mountains in 1886. When taken as a whole, the collection can be considered a National Map, a cartographic library of “last resort,” says archive manager Greg Allord, containing hard-to-find maps when all other sources fail. Allord says that scanning is now complete, though processing may take until September and some maps found in other libraries will eventually be added.
Meanwhile, it doesn’t take much computer-savvy to search the collection by state, scale or original map name. I just tried it, successfully downloading and printing a 1886 topo map of the Escalante River watershed in southern Utah. What will I do with it? I don’t quite know, but it’s free because the collection is in the public domain and making it broadly accessible is part of the program’s mandate.
A few definitions may be useful for laypeople who want to try it out: A topographical map shows physical features and elevations, usually with contour lines. Topo mapping done by the USGS generally divides the country into quadrants, or quads, bounded by two lines of longitude and two lines of latitude; the most popular are 1:24,000 in scale (one inch on the map representing 2,000 feet on the earth surface), available in sheets that show 64 square-mile areas.
Since the advent of digitized maps, new words have been added to the cartographic lexicon like georeferencing (a method of adapting old map information to contemporary computer-based geography, a study now known as Geographic Information System or GIS) and metadata (background map information, sometimes part of the legend), not to mention technical computer terms like Bagit, TIFF, GeoPDF—but let’s not even try to go there.
There was, of course, no such thing as georeferencing when the USGS was created by Congress in 1879, chiefly to locate and describe potential mineral resources in great swatches of the country that hadn’t been closely studied. By then the government had funded several surveys, marking what Clarence King, the first director of the USGS, saw as a turning point, “when science ceased to be dragged in the dust of rapid exploration and took a commanding position in the professional work of the country.”
John Wesley Powell, the great Colorado River explorer and second director of the USGS (1881-94), believed it was impossible to convey geological information without a topographic component, though he came under fire from Congress for the added expense it entailed. As a result, topographical surveying has long been intimately connected to geology in the U.S. (unlike Britain, which has separate divisions for topographical and geological mapping) and the USGS is part of the Department of the Interior. The oldest maps in the USGS collection come from Powell’s time.
It’s fitting to note that the Smithsonian Institution was a supporter of Powell’s surveying expeditions; indeed, he went on from the USGS to serve as director of the Bureau of American Ethnology, later folded into the Smithsonian Office of Anthropology. And even now the connection remains strong with the USGS and the Smithsonian cooperating on the Global Volcanism Program, which publishes a Weekly Volcanic Activity Report detailing geothermic events that may someday require new topos.
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camp complex of Auschwitz-Birkenau was the largest killing center in
Nazi-occupied Europe. Located in Southern Poland, on the outskirts of the
town of Oswiecim, it consisted of the original camp, Auschwitz I, and the
much larger second camp of Birkenau (Brzezinka), 2 miles away, plus over
40 sub-camps [link], the largest of which was Buna (Monovitz) [link].
photograph taken by the CIA in June 1944 shows the two camps.
(The color overlay
added by us.)
The camp was
established in 1940, less than a year after Germany occupied Poland in
WWII, and grew over the next few years into an entire complex providing
slave labor for the German industrial facilities in the area. In 1942,
it became the largest death camp, carrying out Hitler's "final solution" -
the plan to systematically kill all Jews in Europe.
It is estimated that between 1.1 and 1.5 million people died here. At its peak, Auschwitz I held as many as 20,000
prisoners at a time, Birkenau 90,000 and Buna 10,000. Historians estimate
that among the people sent to Auschwitz there were at least 1,100,000 Jews
from all the countries of occupied Europe, over 140,000 Poles (mostly political
prisoners), approximately 20,000 Gypsies from several European countries,
over 10,000 Soviet prisoners of war, and over ten thousand prisoners of
other nationalities. The majority of the Jewish deportees died in the gas
chambers immediately after arrival. Of the estimated 400,000 people who were placed in the main concentration camp or one of the sub-camps, less than half survived.
The camp continued
operation till its liberation by the Soviet Army in January 1945.
For more information
about the history of Auschwitz, visit this [link]
on the Auschwitz Museum website.
stairs in Auschwitz I show the wear of some 25 million visitors.
site is managed by the Auschwitz-Birkenau
State Museum in Poland which, in addition to maintaining the
camps and providing visitor support, is also a very large research
and publications center. Over 25 million people have visited the
Auschwitz Museum since its establishment in 1947.
tour of both camps tries to give viewers a first-hand experience of visiting
the actual sites. The photographs were taken in 2003 and 2004, by Alan
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Five innovative groups around the world just hit a $10 million payday. Google recently announced the winners in their Project 10^100, a global search for ideas that would ‘help the world the most’. While finalists were decided by Google employees, the ultimate winners were chosen by popular vote on the internet. Dean Kamen’s FIRST robotics competition will receive $3 million. The Khan Academy, which provides free educational videos on YouTube, is set to receive $2 million, as is the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences and Public.Resource.Org. Shweeb will get $1 million to pursue their human powered monorail technology. By funding these groups, Google hopes to inspire meaningful change around the globe. Watch the video below to catch clips of each institution. These are all great choices, which makes me wonder if we’ll see more philanthropy based on popular vote in the future.
Project 10^100 took roughly 154,000 submissions for ideas and used more than 3000 Google employees to narrow them down to 16 finalists. Those ideas were then voted on via the internet back in 2009. The five winning ideas were “Provide quality education to Africa.” “Drive innovation in public transportation.” “Enhance science and engineering education.” “Make educational content available online.” and “Make government more transparent.” 10^100 spent the last year finding innovative groups to match with these ideas.
I don’t know much about the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Shweeb, or Public.Resource.org, but we’ve covered both FIRST and the Khan Academy before. These institutions can do a lot with a few million dollars. The Khan Academy was already very streamline – Khan himself was really the only employee – and this funding could mean a massive expansion in what school lessons it offers. I’m sure the other groups will likewise do great things with their prizes. (I’m really curious to see if Shweeb’s bike-like monorail pods will turn out to be anything but a pipe dream.) Congratulations to all five winners and kudos to Google and the Project 10^100 for putting money in the hands of people dedicated to improving the world.
When does the next round of submissions start?
[image credit: Google/Project 10^100 ]
[video credit: Google]
[sources: Project 10^100]
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The Wallace Collection, London
5 July 2013
Call for papers: deadline 15 January 2013
Now one of the world’s best-known museums, the Louvre was once a vast artistic and cultural centre of a different kind. The Louvre before the Louvre will delve into the fascinating but little known period of the Louvre’s history from 1643 to 1793, exploring the role this space played in the histories of art production and artistic sociability in early modern Paris.
Even before Louis XIV moved the Court from the Louvre to Versailles in 1682, the Louvre had already become the centre of artistic, creative, and intellectual energy in Paris. Artists and artisans of all trades – from watch-makers to history painters – were given lodgings and studio space in the same wings and corridors that accommodated cultural organs like the Menus Plaisirs du Roi (responsible for state festivities and spectacles), the royal printing press, and the royal academies (Painting and Sculpture, Architecture, Inscriptions, Science, and the Académie Française). As the palace expanded over the next two centuries, the Louvre complex (the building and surrounding streets) came to be dominated by this growing community of artists, artisans, men of letters, and their aristocratic patrons, inhabiting this space and living out their daily lives together.
The Louvre before the Louvre will reconstruct and re-evaluate this space of artistic sociability. As dust billowed and paint dripped in artists’ studios, theoretical debates were thrashed out in the academies, and groundbreaking technologies were designed in artisans’ workshops, the Louvre became a fertile ground for collaboration, the results of which are evident in many objects (e.g. by Boulle, Oppenordt, Oeben, Boucher, Oudry, Girardon, Coysevox, to name a few) now in the Wallace Collection where this conference will take place.
Seeking a more intimate understanding of the artistic and intellectual ‘neighbourhood’ of the Louvre and its effect on art and design in the period, we invite papers that explore the Louvre’s rich history, art, material objects, spaces, and social interactions during the 17th and 18th centuries. Suggested topics may include but are not limited to:
- Artistic and intellectual circles (the workings of the Royal Academies & their academicians)
- Living in the Louvre (artists’ logements/studios; social order & daily life; professional/social interactions; individual and collaborative practice)
- Form and function of Louvre spaces (key sites: Galerie d’Apollon, Salon Carré, Grande Galerie, theatres, chapels, etc)
- Patronage Networks (patrons and collectors in the Louvre)
- Decoration & Display (furnishing and decoration by Louvre inhabitants; displays of collections; exhibitions)
- Louvre Experiences (written and visual descriptions of life in the Louvre)
- Finding boundaries – where did the artistic communities of the Louvre begin and end? How did one ‘belong’ to the Louvre community? What did it mean to do so?
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A Good Start: Suggestions for Visual Conversations with Deaf and Hard of Hearing Babies and Toddlers
Section IV: Gradually Modify Your Communication to Make Your Baby's Transition to Language Easier
It has been known for many years that hearing parents of hearing babies use short and simple sentences with their babies between about 9 and 15 months of age (Bremner, 1988). This is when babies start to show that they understand language, and most babies themselves begin to produce language. Without really thinking about it, their parents give them a "model" of language that is easy to understand and easy to learn. Then, when the babies begin to talk more, parents gradually move onto more complicated language.
The same general pattern has been noticed among deaf parents. When their deaf babies begin to understand signed language, deaf mothers start producing very short, simple, signed phrases and sentences. Research at Gallaudet University (and in Australia and the United Kingdom) shows that many deaf mothers produce mostly one- and two-sign phrases when their babies are about 12 months old (Mohay, 2000; Spencer & Lederberg, 1997; Harris, Clibbens, Chasin, & Tibbitts, 1989; Kantor, 1982; Kyle, Ackerman, & Woll, 1987).
As children begin to use language themselves, parents don't need to produce many long sentences. It seems more important for the parents' language to follow the child's interest and that the language be produced where the child can see it. Of course, deaf mothers begin to use more and longer signed sentences after their children show that they understand more — and when the children themselves begin to produce more than one word or sign in a single phrase. However, in the early stages of a child's understanding and expression of language, hearing parents should feel comfortable signing short (even one-sign) sentences to the children.
Like hearing parents with hearing babies, deaf mothers repeat signs and short sentences again and again. This gives the babies several chances to notice them and recognize the language patterns. Babies seem to find repeated language interesting. Deaf mothers also tap on objects, point, use interesting facial expressions, and use other strategies (discussed throughout this document) to help their babies see and pay attention to language.
Hearing parents can use fingerspelling occasionally with young deaf and hard of hearing children. Although at first glance it seems fingerspelling would be difficult for children, researchers report that deaf parents use it — even with babies (Erting, Thumann-Prezioso, & Benedict, 2000). Researchers even think that occasional short fingerspelled words might give a child a first step toward learning about letters — and this can help later in learning to read.
One hearing father who participated in my research told me a story about the way his deaf daughter showed her parents that it was all right to fingerspell to her. This child had a deaf teacher, who must have fingerspelled to her in her intervention program. But the parents had not seen this; they both thought it foolish to fingerspell to a young child. Surely it would be too hard to understand. One day, when their daughter was less than 3 years old, they noticed her standing in back of their car. She was looking carefully at the metal letters that spelled out its name. Then they saw her little fingers move: V-O-L-V-O, she spelled slowly and carefully. Once they got over their initial shock, they decided that fingerspelling wasn't too hard for her after all!
One strategy deaf mothers use often — waiting for a child to look up before signing to them — means that deaf mothers tend to send fewer language messages to their babies than hearing mothers do in the same amount of time. Still, the signed language skills of deaf babies with deaf signing parents develop as quickly as the spoken language of hearing children (Spencer & Lederberg, 1997).
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The Importance of Being Earnest
Thursday, November 17, 2011, 7:00pm
A trivial comedy for serious people, this play by Oscar Wilde, performed by Aquila, pokes fun at institutions such as marriage in a satire of Victorian ways.
Aquila Theatre offers a delightful and tantalizing production of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, promising to overflow with humor, elegance and romantic comedy. Since its first performance on February 14th 1895, Wilde's masterpiece has become a respected piece of literature and has delighted audiences with its wit and wisdom.
The Importance of Being Earnest tells the tale of Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff, both young men who have taken to bending the truth to add a dash of excitement to their lives. Jack has invented an imaginary brother, Ernest, whom he uses as an excuse to escape from his dull home in the country in order to frolic in town. Algernon has an imaginary friend, Bunbury, who provides a convenient and frequently used method of taking adventures in the country. However, their deceptions eventually cross paths, resulting in a series of hilarious discoveries that threaten to spoil their romantic pursuits.
Earnest is full of insights into the flamboyant lifestyle of the fashionable British upper classes and as Algernon admits, "If I am occasionally over dressed, I make up for it by being always immensely over educated." The New York Times has described Aquila’s productions as “Gleefully engaging…almost unbearable fun…directed with inspiration and a beautiful use of physical humor” while The New Yorker has raved “Beautifully spoken, dramatically revealing and crystalline in effect.”
Crammed full of larger than life characters and memorable satirical humor, Aquila's creative staging and sparkling flare for language make this production one not to be missed.
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For the following exercises, use the incremental development methodology to implement the program. For each exercise, identify the program tasks, create a design document with class descriptions, and draw the program diagram. Map out the development steps at the start. Present any design alternatives and justify your selection. Be sure to perform adequate testing at the end of each development step.
The word game Eggy-Peggy is an example of encryption. Encryption has been used since ancient times to communicate messages secretly. One of the many techniques used for encryption is called a Caesar cipher. With this technique, each character in the original message is shifted N positions. For example, if N = 1, then the message
I d r i n k o n l y d e c a f
J ! e s j o l ! p o m z ! e f d b g
The encrypted message is decrypted to the original message by shifting back every character N positions. Shifting N positions forward and backward is achieved by converting the character to ASCII and adding or subtracting N.
Write an application that reads in the original text and the value for N and
displays the encrypted text. Make sure the ASCII value resulting from encryption falls between 32 and 126. For example, if you add 8 (value of N)
to 122 (ASCII code for ‘z’), you should “wrap around” and get 35.
Write another application that reads the encrypted text and the value
for N and displays the original text by using the Caesar cipher technique. Design a suitable user interface.
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Box art for Quake 4. Source: ==Rationale== It is believed that the use of this image qualifies as fair use in the article Quake 4 because: ...
Found op http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_chestnut
The earth-nut (Bunium flexuosum) is an umbelliferous plant common in woods and fields in Britain. The leaves are ternately divided, and the small white flowers are in terminal umbels. The tuber or nut is about 12 cm below the surface, at the termination of a long slender root. It is brown, the size ...
Found op http://www.probertencyclopaedia.com/browse/BE.HTM
Tyzenhauzai Palace in Vilnius, Lithuania. Picture taken by myself ( User:DeirYassin ). Contact me if you would want to use it somewhere. ...
Found op http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth-nut
[n] - a common European plant having edible tubers with the flavor of roasted chestnuts
Found op http://www.webdictionary.co.uk/definition.php?query=earthnut
Earth'nut` noun (Botany) A name given to various roots, tubers, or pods grown under or on the ground ; as to: (a) The esculent tubers of the umbelliferous plants Bunium flexuosum and Carum Bulbocastanum . (b) The pea...
Found op http://www.encyclo.co.uk/webster/E/3
<botany> A name given to various roots, tubers, or pods grown under or on the ground; as to: ... The esculent tubers of the umbelliferous plants Bunium flexuosum and Carum Bulbocastanum. ... The peanut. See Peanut. ... Source: Websters Dictionary ... (01 Mar 1998) ...
Found op http://www.mondofacto.com/facts/dictionary?earthnut
noun a common European plant having edible tubers with the flavor of roasted chestnuts
Found op http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=earthnut
• (n.) The esculent tubers of the umbelliferous plants Bunium flexuosum and Carum Bulbocastanum. • (n.) A name given to various roots, tubers, or pods grown under or on the ground • (n.) The peanut. See Peanut.
Found op http://thinkexist.com/dictionary/meaning/earthnut/
(Conopodium majus), European plant of the carrot family (Apiaceae), so called because of its edible tubers. It grows in woods and fields in the ...
Found op http://www.britannica.com/eb/a-z/e/3
Earth Nut == See also == == Earth Nut == Early Europeans called the common potato the "Earth Nut" when they first tried it. ...
Found op http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthnut
[disambiguation] Cleo Pattern Cambridge Glass Company ...
Found op http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthnut_(disambiguation)
1) Earth-ball 2) Fungus 3) Truffle
Found op http://www.mijnwoordenboek.nl/EN/crossword-dictionary/earthnut/1
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New Blow for Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid Theory
The popular theory that the Chicxulub crater holds the clue to the demise of the dinosaurs might not be correct after all, according to a paper to be published in the Journal of the Geological Society on April 27, 2009.
News story originally written on April 27, 2009
The crater, discovered in 1978 in northern Yucatan and measuring about 180 kilometers (112 miles) in diameter, was caused by a massive extra-terrestrial impact. Particles from the impact have been found just below the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) boundary, which is a geological feature that dates to the time at which the dinosaurs and many other species suddenly became extinct. This finding has made many scientists hypothesize that the impact at Chicxulub must have helped cause the dinosaursí demise.
However, new research by teams at Princeton University in New Jersey and the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, uses evidence from Mexico to suggest that the Chicxulub impact predates the K-T boundary by as much as 300,000 years.
The study found that there are four to nine meters of sediments separating the two events, and in these sediments they also found evidence that the Chicxulub impact probably didnít cause mass extinctions after all. At one study site, the researchers found 52 species present in sediments below the impact particle layer, and counted all 52 still present in layers above the particles, showing that not a single one of these species went extinct as a result of the Chicxulub impact.
The scientists suggest that the massive volcanic eruptions at the Deccan Traps in India may be responsible for the dinosaursí extinction, since they would have released huge amounts of dust and gases that could have blocked out sunlight and brought about an increased greenhouse effect.
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Used to be, a little milk gave you all the vitamin D you needed. Now you'd have to chug a lot of it to get the daily dose suggested by the Institute of Medicine. But many docs say the new guidelines, which rose from 200 international units (IU) to 600 IU, still fall short. "It's a step in the right direction," says Michael F. Holick, Ph.D., M.D., director of the Vitamin D, Skin, and Bone Research Laboratory at the Boston University School of Medicine. "But essentially every tissue in your body needs vitamin D; 600 IU is just too low." The nutrient affects some 2,000 genes and could amp up your immunity to fight off everything from depression to cancer. Plus, many women are D-deficient, says Sarfraz Zaidi, M.D., author of The Power of Vitamin D. Based on new research, you should get 1,000 to 2,000 IU a day. WH waded through the science to find out how taking enough of the so-called super vitamin may help cut your disease risk.
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The day's lections raise the theme of marriage: the First Lesson with the metaphor of God's People as married to the land, and the Gospel Lesson with its setting at a marriage festival, "The Wedding of Cana." Marriage, as the most basic of covenant relationships, points beyond itself to the more general theme of covenant as what God offers us for true freedom.
We might ask: what is the purpose of marriage? Is it solely for the benefit of the couple? Girardian anthropology teaches us that, in the context of social relations which are dominated by scapegoating tendencies, covenant relationships seem to benefit the covenanting parties over against other groups. St. Paul talks about the Law corrupted by the power of sin. Law is a covenantal relationship that becomes corrupted by the power of sin, i.e., the victimage mechanism, so that it becomes yet another way to divide among peoples. Marriage is similarly corrupted.
But that's not what covenant relationship is intended to be. The way in which I might most simply ask about this is: Is marriage more of an "us against the world" relationship, or an "us for the world" relationship? The power of sin pushes us more toward the former, and God is persistently inviting us to live the latter. In Jesus Christ, we come to know that God so loved the world that he gave his only Son. In covenant relation with God through Jesus Christ, we are for the world.
Link to the outline of a sermon on the theme of what makes for "Celebrating Holy Communion."
1. James Alison, Raising Abel, p. 189. In a section entitled "Images that Run Together," Alison notes the coming together of two major images, the risen victim, or Lamb of God, and the wedding banquet. He writes:
Throughout these pages there have been two imaginative poles, two principal images, which have given us hints for the understanding of something of the things that are above on which we are to fix our minds: the vision of the open heaven with the risen victim -- the slaughtered lamb standing or seated at the right hand of God -- and the wedding banquet. In fact these two images permeate the whole apostolic witness: shortly after John the Baptist points Jesus out as the Lamb of God, and shortly after Nathanael is promised that he will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man, Jesus works his first sign, in Cana of Galilee. The sign is that the bridegroom of Israel has arrived, and the one who was an abandoned and repudiated woman is beginning to be able to enjoy a wedding banquet where flow a wine and a rejoicing quite unthinkably greater than that imagined by those who had made the wedding preparations. (Cf., Isaiah 62:1-5; that this interpretation is according to the mind of the Church can be seen by looking at the readings for the second Sunday of the year in cycle C, where the Isaiah passage and the wedding at Cana are juxtaposed.) I do not need to mention the number of times that Jesus speaks of the kingdom in terms of a wedding banquet in the synoptic Gospels, for we have looked at several of those passages.
What is indeed interesting is the running together of these images in the book of Revelation, the book where all is centered around the heavenly vision of the slaughtered lamb. Let us look at the passage:And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord our God, the omnipotent, has begun to reign! Let us rejoice and leap for joy and give God the glory! For the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride is made ready for him, it has been given her to dress in resplendent pure linen (and the linen is the works of justice of the saints). Then [the angel] said to me: "Write: blessed are those who are invited to the wedding banquet of the lamb." And he said "These are true words of God." (Rev. 19:6-9)The two images flow into one alone: the wedding banquet of the lamb. And this confluence of images has as its effect precisely that we should learn to imagine the things that are above, that we should allow ourselves to be nurtured by this imagination which will empower us to re-create that wedding banquet. On the one hand we have the gratuity of the invitation made to good and bad alike, allowing us to stand loose from concern about how appropriate our participation might be, because the invitation, and it is insistent, comes from One who delights in us just as we are. On the other hand this same standing loose, this same unconcern, gets through to us in the degree to which we allow ourselves to be possessed by the news that God is entirely without violence, is utterly vivacious, creative, effervescent, that we are empowered for the construction of a story of life in flexible imitation of the risen victim. This is a story which we construct in hope, and by which we construct hope, creating belief, in the midst of the crushing darkness of the dominion of death. That is, the apostolic witness itself shows clearly that the inner dynamic which runs through it reaches maturity precisely in this fusion of images which come together to form a single vision of heaven.
But there is more: the banquet is not only a banquet, but it is a wedding banquet, and the guests also constitute the bride. That is, the rejoicing is not only that of guests, but of one being married, and here is where the image of heaven is, without any shame, marital. The wedding which is celebrated includes the completely loving interpenetration of bride and groom, in a relationship which makes of them one thing, a relation of infinitely creative fecundity, freed, of course, from all the tensions, rivalries and complications which surround and diminish our experience and living-out of things erotic. Paul points this out when he explains marriage in Ephesians 5, comparing the conjugal relationship to that between Christ and the Church, but please notice that he doesn't start from the conjugal relationship in order to explain heaven, but it is the heavenly relationship, that of heavenly self-giving and interpenetration in love, which is his starting point so as to understand the earthly reality of marriage. It seems to me that this image is also to nourish our hope-fired imaginations: it is the story of the ugly duckling, of Cinderella, made, much to her surprise, capable and worthy of a relationship of loving exchange with her swan, her prince, quite beyond her expectations. When Paul says that, at the end, everything will be subdued to Christ, who will be submitted to God, "so that God may be all in all" (1 Cor. 15:28), it is to be understood within this interpenetrative vision. Since we are formed from within entirely by the Other who has called us into existence, since "the other is consubstantial with the consciousness of the 'self,'" (1) at the end we will be entirely possessed by the God who possesses pacifically in an interchange that is ever more fecund and creative. We will be married participants, all our desires fulfilled, in that effervescent creative vitality. (pp. 189-191)
1 Corinthians 12:1-11
1. Raymund Schwager, Jesus in the Drama of Salvation, p. 216. We cited this section last week on "The Revelation of the Holy Spirit and the Trinity" (pp. 209-217). The climax of this argument is the notion of a reciprocal bestowal of love between the Father and Son such that it is constitutive of another person, the Holy Spirit, whose mission is "to unite people with Christ and with one another" -- which is the point at which Schwager cites 1 Cor. 12:4-13 as illustrative. Here is a larger context for that citation:
Thanks to the clear perception of several distinctions within God himself, the question about the one origin (unica spiratio) of the Holy Spirit from the reciprocal love between Father and Son can be more easily approached. Since what the Son gives back to the Father is distinct from the principle by which he is a person, he can distinguish his love from himself and let go of it. It is not identical with him in an undifferentiated way; it is in fact not even the fruit of his own person alone, for it is attracted by the other side, by the generous goodness of the Father. The Father too distinguishes his love for the Son from the principle by which he generates and constitutes him. He too, then, can let go of his love as his own. Here again, it is not merely the fruit of his own working, for it is related to the Son, insofar as he is already constituted and it is attracted by his thankfulness. The reciprocal love is therefore not put together from the Father's own love and the Son's own love, but both let go of their love as their own, so that it becomes one common love. The Father loves the Son on account of his thankfulness, but the Son is thankful because he sees the love of the Father. Thus the Holy Spirit is the free-moving love itself. (2) The reciprocal love between Father and Son can therefore be freely active and become its own person, because both let go of it as their own.You may also link to the entire context of this section on "The Revelation of the Holy Spirit and the Trinity" (pp. 209-217).
In the history of salvation, something common and moving freely between Father and Son is seen first of all in the message of the kingdom of God at hand. Jesus announces it entirely as the kingdom of his Father and at the same time speaks completely in his own name ("Amen, I say to you"). The word of proclamation belongs entirely to both and at the same time is detached from both: "Everything is given over to me by my Father; no one knows the Father, only the Son and that one to whom the Son wants to reveal him" (Matt. 11:27). This word, which arises completely from the reciprocity of the Father and Son and speaks of it, originates from within their intimacy and is addressed to other, human hearers. The word of proclamation shows itself thus as the first figure in salvation history by which reciprocal love (Holy Spirit) becomes manifest.
Full reciprocity and commonality is revealed even more clearly in the last three acts of the drama. The Son gives himself to the Father in dying, the latter answers in the resurrection, and both together send out the Spirit. Thus the three different forms of bestowal are already repeated within each act, even if in a differing way. The Son can only entrust himself completely in dying because he is already gripped in his depths by the God who is not a God of the dead but of the living (Mark 12:26ff. and parallels). It is precisely in the act of surrender to the Father, which includes the Father's communication to him, that the Spirit springs up for humankind ("streams of living water" [John 7:37-39; 19:34-37]). Even the resurrection is not a one-sided deed of the Father, for by it he answers the Son who "with loud cries and tears offered up prayers and supplications to him who was able to save him from death" (Heb. 5:7). The immediate common fruit of the request on the part of his Son become man and of the heeding of the heavenly Father is the pneumatic body of the risen one as "life-giving spirit" (1 Cor. 15:44ff.), which is communicated to humankind (Acts 1:2; 2:33).
The model of reciprocal bestowal proves, then, well suited to bringing out the innermost dimensions of the dramatic salvation event. At the same time it becomes clear how reciprocal love flows into such an event of release that we can no longer speak of two acts in opposing directions, from Father to Son and from Son to Father. Each one lets go of his love as his own in favor of the other, so that this love can be constituted as the one common love and can become a person.
Because the Son himself is, at one and the same time, receiving and actively letting go and because the Holy Spirit is pure letting go, the Father is able to communicate himself through them to creatures without the distinction between creator and creature being abolished. Communication takes place at the level of these persons and their free existence and not at the level of the one essential being. Since, further, the Holy Spirit according to his entire personal character is reciprocal love, letting go of itself, it is to him that the mission in salvation history falls: to unite people with Christ and with one another. This throws light on the statement that he creates the one body with many members (1 Cor. 12:4-13). His particular nature makes it also comprehensible that Christ can live as the most inner being in the faithful: "I have been crucified with Christ; no longer do I live, but Christ lives in me" (Gal. 2:19ff.).
We next ask, in whom does the Spirit work? Here there arises a problem which can show up again the consequences of the two complementary trinitarian models. If one thinks in a linear way from the viewpoint of the procession and mission model, then it is natural to suppose that the Holy Spirit only unites those people with Christ who have already heard of the crucified and risen one and believe in him (for the Son precedes the Father). That axiom with such difficult consequences, "outside the church no salvation," seems to go together with this view. In distinction to this, we have seen that one must speak of Christ already on the cross identifying with all humans. This is essentially brought about by the Spirit. (Jesus in the Drama of Salvation, pp. 214-216.)
2. James Alison, "On learning to say 'Jesus is Lord': a 'Girardian' confession"; based on his address to the 2000 COV&R meeting in Boston, this essay is now chapter seven in his book Faith Beyond Resentment. I share the opening section that uses 1 Cor. 12:1-3 as a point of departure:
a tale of two spirits
3. Robert Hamerton-Kelly, Sacred Violence, pp. 179-180. Link here for the whole section "The Church as a Structure of Agape Based on the Imitation of Christ Crucified," pp. 174-182.Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were heathen, you were led astray to dumb idols, however you may have been moved. Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says 'Jesus be cursed!' and no one can say 'Jesus is Lord' except by the Holy Spirit. (1 Cor. 12:1-3)The whole of what I want to say is in this passage. Many of us are used to a cheap reading of these words. All we need to do is avoid saying 'Jesus is cursed,' which it wouldn't occur to most of us to want to say anyhow, and instead to say, or to sing, repetitively and maybe obsessively, 'Jesus is Lord.' This would be a way of proving to ourselves that we have the Holy Spirit, and are on the right side.
Now of course, this is nonsense. The devil can quote Scripture, and Paul is proposing for us something much more dense than a merely verbal test of our orthodoxy. This passage suggests that there are two forms of cultural life at work. In one of these, people are moved by spirits which incline us to dumb idols, and which issue forth in someone being cursed. This is the cultural world in which social belonging and religion lead people to maintain their group unity by fixing on someone or some group who can be thrown out, anathematised, cursed. The semi-conscious group dynamic of ganging up against someone -- the 'however you may have been moved,' with Paul's implication that there are evil spirits at work here -- leads to a sense of unity. And the unity needs 'the cursed one' to be able to maintain itself.
Paul is suggesting that there are some people who have been trapped into understanding Christ's death and resurrection from within that cultural mentality, making of Jesus the 'cursed one' which the group needs to maintain its unity and its sense of goodness.
The other form of cultural life, which moves beyond being trapped, knows that no form of social and cultic belonging can survive the perception that our victim was in fact God himself, present in Jesus.
When our expulsion of him was revealed for what it was, at the resurrection, far from our being given a superior crutch by which to keep our world of moral and social order intact, what we received turned out to be the explosion of our cultural order, a major question mark over any of our attempts to shore up social unity, and the beginning of an entirely new way of human being-together, gradually constructed without the need for a sacrificial victim.
Now it would be easy enough to demonstrate that for far too long, Christianity in both its Protestant and Catholic 'orthodoxies' has relied on an explanation of salvation which does in fact fall straight back into saying, with many a polite circumlocution: 'Jesus is cursed.' All the bastardised Anselmian substitution theories which tend to underlie seemingly attractive presentations of the Christian faith in fact turn on God cursing Jesus so that we can be 'saved.' Jesus as cursed comes to be the necessary bit of the formula which allows the sleight of hand by which salvation is proclaimed without making any real difference to the social and moral enclosure within which we live. Cursed Jesus is simply the guarantor of an independent and pre-understood definition of good and evil into which we are required to fit as best we may.
I mention this en passant, rather than trying to argue with it. It is one of those things which cannot really be argued against. For those who hold it, it has a dangerously sacred status. For those who have moved beyond it, it needs no arguing against.
What I am interested in is something different. I am interested in sharing with you what I hope you will agree to call an experience of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit which allows the words 'Jesus is Lord' to become not a slogan, but a gasp at the three-dimensional wonder of Yahweh in our midst as one of us, with all the mystery of the Lord's vulnerable revelatory power intact. (pp. 147-149)
4. Robert Hamerton-Kelly, sermon
from January 18, 2004 (Woodside Village Church).
5. Brian McLaren suggests that for Paul Body of Christ is
somewhat akin to Jesus' Kingdom of God, especially when we
understand that our phrase "body politic" had synonyms in the
Roman Empire. He explains in The
Secret Message of Jesus:
As we began to see in the preceding chapter, Paul — himself a boundary crosser — does much to translate Jesus’ originally Jewish message so that non-Jews from around the Roman Empire can understand it as a live spiritual alternative.In his book on evangelism or "spiritual friendship," More Ready Than You Realize, McLaren summarizes in Chapter 17 with eight "factors." The third factor revolves around the Body of Christ:
For example, the empire of Rome was frequently depicted as the body politic, and Caesar was head of the body. Paul picks up the image and speaks of the body of Christ, with Christ as head.
Even Paul’s oft-repeated language of Jesus being Lord resonates with kingdom language: the “pledge of allegiance” in the Roman Empire was (in Greek) Caesar ho Kurios — Caesar is Lord. To say Jesus is Lord is to declare one’s allegiance to a different empire or kingdom, which is one reason that the early Christians were persecuted: not for their religious beliefs but for their lack of patriotism and national loyalty in refusing to say the expected “pledge of allegiance” to Caesar.
When you read Paul not just looking for overt kingdom references, but with this more general kingdom-consciousness in mind, his letters begin to sizzle and boil with resonance. Instead of the kingdom message of Jesus being downplayed, we realize it’s there in powerful, unmistakable ways — but translated into different imagery. (pp. 96-97)
3. The Communal Factor: Expect conversion to normally occur in the context of authentic Christian community, not just in the context of information.In his book on spirituality, Naked Spirituality, the Body of Christ plays a prominent role in helping to introduce the topic. When postmodern folks speak about spirituality, McLaren suggests that they are pointing to four characteristics:
Spiritual friendship isn’t just about you. You are part of something bigger, something Paul called “the body of Christ.” In a real way, Jesus is still here in the flesh, but now, instead of looking at the world through one pair of eyes, he sees through millions, and instead of touching and smiling and laughing and crying and welcoming and listening through two eyes and hands and ears, Jesus does so through one body composed of thousands and thousands of us. So one of the best things you can do for your friends who don’t yet know and love Jesus is to introduce them to your other friends who do.
Jesus said that the love your unconvinced friends observe between you and your fellow disciples will be the most telling evidence possible for his legitimacy. They will sense his Spirit alive in you all, and — Paul put it this way (in 1 Corinthians 14) — they will fall down on their faces and say, “God is really among you!” (pp. 141-42)
The truth is that these four characteristics of spirituality are also at the heart of true religion, as the etymology, or origin, of the word “religion” makes clear. The root of the word is “lig-,” which you see in the word “ligament.” It means to connect, to join together, to unite, to bring everything together in one body or one wholeness. And of course “re” means “again.” So you might say that good religion is about connecting us together again. Most deeply, it is about binding us together into one body with God, acknowledging that different religious denominations and families have differing ways of describing and relating to God.* It is also about bonding and uniting us again with one another and with all creation — the trees and the mountains and the animals, with the stars and space and wind. In this light, true religion and naked spirituality are two names for the same thing: seeking vital connection. And seeking vital connection, it turns out, is another name for love. So, we might say, both spirituality and religion are, at their best, two names for “love.” (pp. 14-15)There is an endnote (marked by the *) which brings us back to The Secret Message of Jesus and the Body of Christ:
It’s interesting that two of the key metaphors in the New Testament seek to capture this connection. Jesus’s term “kingdom of God” (which I explore at length in my book The Secret Message of Jesus [Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2006]) portrays a connection or community that includes God and creation. This beautiful whole is, in this way, bigger than either God alone or creation alone and comprises both. Similarly, Paul’s term “body of Christ” connects God-in-Christ and humanity-in-creation, bringing them into a larger communion — again not a simple union or fusion where one is absorbed in or reduced to the other, but where one and the other experience an “at-one-ment,” a “one-anotherness,” in which otherness remains, but doesn’t divide. (note 5 on p. 14, with the note itself on p. 252)
6. Richard Rohr, Things
Hidden. In his book on reading Scripture, that is so
much a Girardian reading that he titled it after Girard's own magnum
opus, Chapter 10 on "Mutual Indwelling" uses Paul's Body of
Christ as one of its core teachings. He writes,
The whole movement of the Bible is toward ever-greater Incarnation and embodiment, until the mystery of mutual indwelling is finally experienced and enjoyed even here in this world and this life. It then becomes the banquet that we call eternal life or heaven. For Christians, Jesus, the Christ, is the ultimate symbol of this divine goal, pattern and embodiment: “When Christ is revealed, and he is your life, you will be revealed in all your glory with him” (Colossians 3:4). Henceforth we know our true and lasting life in the new “force field” that Paul calls the Body of Christ and not in individual or private perfection. It becomes more important to be connected than to be privately correct.He ends the chapter and the book with reflections on the Eucharist (including one of my favorite Gil Bailie moments where he elaborates on the meaning of the actions in blessing the elements) that climaxes with this poem from Symeon the New Theologian (949-1022), Hymn 15 in his Hymns of Divine Love:
Paul’s notion of the body of Christ has a material and cosmic character to it, and begins in this world (which is why we believe in the resurrection of the body and not just the soul). Yes, there is “a new heaven” but there is also “a new earth” (Revelation 21:1). What more fitting meaning could the “Second Coming of Christ” have except that humanity becomes “a beautiful bride all dressed for her husband?” (Revelation 21:3). Union is finally enjoyed, and God’s win-win story line has achieved its full purpose. What a hopeful end to history! What an apokatastasis, or “universal restoration” (Revelation 3:21)! What a victory for God — and for humanity!
What the full biblical revelation has given us is the history within the history, the coherence inside of the seeming incoherence. If you don’t get this inner pattern, then religion becomes simply aimless anecdotes — just little stories here and there, with no pattern or direction. They come from no place and there is no place they are going. You have to know where the text is heading, or you do not know how to “thin slice” and look through the appropriate lenses.
What we are saying is that the clear goal and direction is mutual indwelling, where “the mystery is Christ within you, your hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). In this mutual indwelling you no longer live as just you, but you live in a larger force field called the body of Christ (Galatians 2:20). As Charles Williams said, the “master idea” of Christianity is co-inherence. But it takes a long time to allow, believe, trust and enjoy such wonder.
Only in the final chapter of the Bible can it say, “Now God lives among humans, they have become God’s people, and he has become their God” (Revelation 21:3). Only at the end does the New Jerusalem descend from heaven to earth. (pp. 211-13)
We awaken in Christ’s body,7. N. T. Wright, Simply Christian, in the penultimate chapter on "Believing and Belonging, Wright brings in the Body of Christ in commenting,
As Christ awakens our bodies
There I look down and my poor hand is Christ,
He enters my foot and is infinitely me.
I move my hand and wonderfully
My hand becomes Christ,
Becomes all of Him
I move my foot and at once
He appears in a flash of lightning.
Do my words seem blasphemous to you?
— Then open your heart to him.
And let yourself receive the one
Who is opening to you so deeply.
For if we genuinely love Him,
We wake up inside Christ’s body
Where all our body all over,
Every most hidden part of it,
Is realized in joy as Him,
And He makes us utterly real.
And everything that is hurt, everything
That seemed to us dark, harsh, shameful,
maimed, ugly, irreparably damaged
Is in Him transformed.
And in Him, recognized as whole, as lovely,
And radiant in His light,
We awaken as the beloved
In every last part of our body. (pp. 219-20 in Things Hidden)
Many people today find it difficult to grasp this sense of corporate Christian identity.We have been so soaked in the individualism of modern Western culture that we feel threatened by the idea of our primary identity being that of the family we belong to — especially when the family in question is so large, stretching across space and time. The church isn’t simply a collection of isolated individuals, all following their own pathways of spiritual growth without much reference to one another. It may sometimes look like that, and even feel like that. And it’s gloriously true that each of us is called to respond to God’s call at a personal level.You can hide in the shadows at the back of the church for a while, but sooner or later you have to decide whether this is for you or not. But we need to learn again the lesson (to take St. Paul’s image of the Body of Christ) that a hand is no less a hand for being part of a larger whole, an entire body. The foot is not diminished in its freedom to be a foot by being part of a body which also contains eyes and ears. In fact, hands and feet are most free to be themselves when they coordinate properly with eyes, ears, and everything else. Cutting them off in an effort to make them truly free, truly themselves, would be truly disastrous.In Surprised by Joy, in the last chapter on "Reshaping the Church for Mission 2," Wright is steering a middle course with a theology of the Eucharist from the perspective of a theology of new creation. The body of Christ in the Eucharist provides necessary foundation to Paul's "body of Christ" in 1 Corinthians 12. Wright writes,
In particular, it would deny the very purpose for which the church was called into being. According to the early Christians, the church doesn’t exist in order to provide a place where people can pursue their private spiritual agendas and develop their own spiritual potential. Nor does it exist in order to provide a safe haven in which people can hide from the wicked world and ensure that they themselves arrive safely at an otherworldly destination. Private spiritual growth and ultimate salvation come rather as the byproducts of the main, central, overarching purpose for which God has called and is calling us. This purpose is clearly stated in various places in the New Testament: that through the church God will announce to the wider world that he is indeed its wise, loving, and just creator; that through Jesus he has defeated the powers that corrupt and enslave it; and that by his Spirit he is at work to heal and renew it.
The church exists, in other words, for what we sometimes call “mission”: to announce to the world that Jesus is its Lord. This is the “good news,” and when it’s announced it transforms people and societies. Mission, in its widest as well as its more focused senses, is what the church is there for. God intends to put the world to rights; he has dramatically launched this project through Jesus. Those who belong to Jesus are called, here and now, in the power of the Spirit, to he agents of that putting-to-rights purpose. The word “mission” comes from the Latin for “send”: “As the father sent me,” said Jesus after his resurrection, “so I am sending you” ( John 20:21).
We shall consider presently what that means in practice. But first, notice this. From the very beginning, in Jesus’s own teaching, it has been clear that people who are called to be agents of God’s healing love, putting the world to rights, are called also to be people whose own lives are put to rights by the same healing love. The messengers must model the message. That’s why, though the reason for God’s call of the church is mission, the missionaries — that is, all Christians — are themselves defined as people who have themselves been made whole. (pp. 203-204)
In between the quasi-magic ritual, on the one hand, and the bare memory, on the other, a more historically grounded view reminds us of how the Jewish sacred meals (not least the Passover, from which the Eucharist takes its point of origin) were thought to function. To this day, when Jews celebrate Passover they don’t suppose they are essentially doing something different from the original event. “This is the night,” they say, “when God brought us out of Egypt.” The people sitting around the table become not the distant heirs of the wilderness generation but the same people. Time and space telescope together. Within the sacramental world, past and present are one. Together they point forward to the still-future liberation.
What happens in the Eucharist is that through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, this future dimension is brought sharply into play. We break this bread to share in the body of Christ; we do it in remembrance of him; we become for a moment the disciples sitting around the table at the Last Supper. Yet if we stop there we’ve only said the half of it. To make any headway in understanding the Eucharist, we must see it as the arrival of God’s future in the present, not just the extension of God’s past (or of Jesus’s past) into our present. We do not simply remember a long-since dead Jesus; we celebrate the presence of the living Lord. And he lives, through the resurrection, precisely as the one who has gone on ahead into the new creation, the transformed new world, as the one who is himself its prototype. The Jesus who gives himself to us as food and drink is himself the beginning of God’s new world. At communion we are like the children of Israel in the wilderness, tasting fruit plucked from the promised land. It is the future coming to meet us in the present.
This perspective is a far more helpful way to talk about the presence of Christ in the Eucharist than trying to redefine the old language of transubstantiation. The problem with the old language was not that it was the wrong answer but that it was the right answer to the wrong question. It was right to insist on the true presence of Christ but wrong to explain that presence in terms of the philosophies of the time, the Aristotelian distinction between substance and accident, and the supposed power of the priest to alter the “substance” (the inner, invisible reality of an object like a piece of bread) while leaving the “accidents” (its outward properties like weight, color, chemical makeup) apparently untouched. That was one way of saying what needed to be said in language that some people in the Middle Ages could understand, but it has produced all kinds of misunderstandings and abuses.
A far better way is provided by the New Testament’s language about new creation. Take Romans 8 as a good starting point: creation is groaning in travail as it waits for redemption. But one part of the old creation has already been transformed, is already liberated from bondage to decay, namely, the body of Christ, the body that died on the cross and is now alive with a life that death can’t touch. Jesus has gone ahead into God’s new creation, and as we look back to his death through the lens he himself provided — that is, the meal he shared on the night he was betrayed — we find that he comes to meet us in and through the symbols of creation, the bread and the wine, which are thus taken up into the Christ story, the event of new creation itself, and become vessels, carriers, of God’s new world and the saving events that enable us to share it.
Within this framework, that of a true Easter understanding of creation and new creation, we can understand the Eucharist most fully as the anticipation of the banquet when heaven and earth are made new, the marriage supper of the Lamb. (Some liturgies have tried to express this but sadly have often collapsed back into mere talk of heaven, which is precisely not the point.) It is the breaking in of God’s future, the Advent future, into our present time. Every Eucharist is a little Christmas as well as a little Easter.
This is not magic. Magic seeks to gain by cunning, and for personal power or pleasure, what God gives by grace, to faith, to promote holiness and love. The resurrection of Jesus and the promise of a world made new provide the ontological, epistemological, and above all eschatological framework within which we can understand the Eucharist afresh. Let us not rob ourselves of the hope that comes forward from God’s future to sustain us in the present. God’s new world has begun. If we don’t see it breaking into the present world, we are denying the energizing foundation of Christian life. (pp. 274-76)
1. Gil Bailie, "The Gospel of John," tape #2. Link to my notes and transcription of this lecture on John 2; here are the notes specifically about the Wedding at Cana (2:1-12):
Jesus responds to his mother's request in what appears to be a cold an aloof way. His hour has not come. Nevertheless, the stewards are instructed to what he asks them.2. James Alison, Raising Abel, p. 189; same as above for the First Lesson.
The six stone jars used for the Jewish rites of purification are of a size more suitable to the temple than for a home in Cana. In any event, they refer to a very prominent part of Jewish life in the first century. They were pre-occupied with the problem of impurity.
This story, then, is really about the collision between the ministry of Jesus and the conventional religion of his time. We could say, lest we think this has something to do with the Jewishness of this religion, that there is always a collision between the ministry of Jesus, or the spirit of the Paraclete that Jesus left us, and the conventional religions of the time. This is paradigmatic collision.
The stone jars are not for wine, but for ritual washing. And note they need filling; they are depleted. Jesus is not rejecting the jars and what they stood for; he is filling them. You could say that he is filling the rituals with meaning and then transforming them.
Three notes in passing: (1) the gentleness of this transition from one dispensation to another. Not a rejection, but filling it and transforming it. A continuity and a discontinuity at the same time. (2) The devout Jews of the time were habituated to these rituals and clung to them, not only because they order life but also because it gave them an identity. So when Jesus begins to offer an alternative, he runs into the fundamental human phenomenon of our clinging to such rituals. (3) This all takes place in furtherance of a marriage. That is to say, the daring boldness of permanent, life-long commitment. The root of the word "troth" is the root of the word "truth." We discover truth in troth.
"Destroy this Temple," replied Jesus, "and I’ll raise it up in three days." "It’s taken forty-six years to build this Temple," responded the Judaeans, "and are you going to raise it up in three days?" But he was speaking about the "temple" of his body. (John 2:19-21)The Wedding at Cana introduces this theme through Jesus' replacement of water in the ritual jars with wine. The purification process controlled by the Temple authorities is being liberated by Jesus for truly life-giving possibilities. And the notion of a "sign" itself glimpses this whole process. Wright writes,
The word [John] uses for "clue" is "sign" (verse 11). He is setting up a series of signposts to take us through his story. The signs are all occasions when Jesus did, you might say, what he’d just promised Nathanael that he would do. They are moments when, to people who watch with at least a little faith, the angels of God are going up and coming down at the place where Jesus is. They are moments when heaven is opened, when the transforming power of God’s love bursts in to the present world. ... The whole point of the "signs" is that they are moments when heaven and earth intersect with each other. (That’s what the Jews believed happened in the Temple.) (John for Everyone, p. 21)All signs point to the intersection of heaven and earth through the death and resurrection of Christ. And where will the presence of God remain on earth after Jesus ascends? In the Body of Christ, the Church, as the Paraclete comes to reside with followers of Christ. The dwelling places that Jesus prepares for us (John 14) is the new mode of God's presence on earth in God's people through the Spirit. God dwells in us as we dwell in God. This cannot all happen without Jesus being lifted up, beginning on the Cross and continuing in the Resurrection and Ascension. Only the truth that comes through Jesus letting himself be sacrificed to our scapegoat mechanism brings God's presence among us in its full truth as Love, not wrath.
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1. J-M Oughourlian, Un mime nommé désir (Paris: Grasset 1982), p 58.
2. "Its substance can be stated quite simply: the Holy Spirit is the mutual love of the Father and the Son. Notice that it is not said that the Holy Spirit is the result or term of this mutual love. He is the love itself" (Coffee , 471).
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Weird as it seems, this summer’s scary news stories about drought and global water crisis took a load off my shoulders – and allowed me to come clean with a dirty secret I’ve kept from neighbours and friends for almost 20 years.
It goes back to an article I wrote during the early 1990s about composting toilet manufacturer Abby Rockefeller, who taught me that water could be put to higher uses than moving human sewage – black water, it’s sometimes called – through pipes to be flung into the nearest river or lake. Rockefeller was equally passionate about the ‘grey water’ from sinks and bathtubs. Her idea was to separate out grey water to irrigate gardens, from black water that could be converted to fertilizer, thereby keeping both out of the sewage pipes and lakes. As with regular garbage, resources only get wasted as garbage when they’re commingled – whence Rockefeller’s slogan that ‘waste is a verb, not a noun’.
Ever since that interview, I’ve been sneaking down early in the morning or late at night to pour rinse water from cleaning cans and pots on my three-by-four-metre front garden. ‘It’s a scientific experiment,’ I’d explain whenever neighbours caught me in the act.
Actually, my 20-year experiment shows that a wild garden with two bushes and one fast-growing oak can thrive on the combination of rain and grey water, with no need for a garden hose. The water is poured directly over plant roots, so there’s no loss to evaporation. And the film of cleaning liquid and food particles – harmful as sewage because they feed algae in lakes and consume oxygen that fish need – break down as nutrients in the soil. Plus, avoiding water from the hose is appreciated by plants, which like their water soft and free of municipal chlorine and fluoride.
To get back to this season’s water crisis, it’s the rich opportunities for reuse and recycling – not the scarcity – that should focus municipal debate about water. Actually, conserving or cutting back on water use is only a drop in the bucket of the water cycle-based strategy that’s needed.
Most cities have plenty of water to go around, when the water goes through a full water cycle. Indeed, including plant watering as part of the water cycle is one reason why agriculture in cities is such a natural, and why, in some cases, city gardens are better than rural farms for growing water-intensive crops such as fruits and vegetables. After all, the reason cities have so much waste is that they have no valuable place to put their under-appreciated resources.
Beyond conservation are a series of opportunities to wring benefits from the priority uses of household and workplace water, and then return them to the water cycle in as good shape as possible.
A case study of bio-mimicry
To expand on my little experiment, we could start by capturing rain water on the roof and using it for dishwater – a nice trick because rain water is soft and needs less soap. Once used as dishwater, the grey water could be piped to the garden, where the piping hot water would not only fertilize plants but carry the heat from the dishwater to warm the soil and add some season extension to the garden in early spring and late fall – thereby creating a hospitable environment for a wide range of fruits and vegetables valued in a multicultural city. Some of the water that formerly would have been used for the dishwashing machine or garden hose could be diverted to aquaculture – small neighbourhood fisheries for tilapia and other species that tolerate still waters – which supplies lean protein for humans and nutrient-rich water for yet more garden plants. Filtered clean by plants and soil, that water would fall to the water table and then be returned to the water cycle.
Urban agriculture and aquaculture help the water cycle work the same way they do in nature. It’s a case study of bio-mimicry.
Cities have many other ways to use water, and the heat or cool it carries at different stages, resourcefully. Toronto, for example, keeps many of its downtown office towers cool with ‘deepwater cooling’, cold water from deep in Lake Ontario piped through office buildings to keep them cool, thereby providing a low-cost form of solar air-conditioning.
Alternatively, green roofs, as mandated for large buildings in Toronto, capture rain water, keeping it out of the sewers and saving it for plants that evaporate the water on hot summer days, thereby cooling the city, again thanks to low-cost solar power. A lot better than letting rain fall aimlessly into sewers, usually ending up as swill, full of the flotsam and jetsam of city streets, which is often dumped untreated in lakes and rivers.
Sometimes green infrastructure comes as cheap as a law protecting near-city green belts, rich with swamp and other all-natural soil and earth filters and regulators of water. Economists Sara Wilson and Michelle Molnar, reporting on Toronto’s green belt for the David Suzuki Foundation last May, estimated that regional marshes and forests save typical households over $380 a year in residential water treatment bills.
Problem or opportunity?
In all likelihood, advancing global warming will bring drought more often to areas that have seldom faced it over the last few thousand years. Such droughts will more frequently afflict dryland areas that have long served as ‘breadbaskets’ of the world, at the very moment in history when expanding human populations most require the staple crops that they have produced. Anxiety about this has led many, such as Inter Press Service food analyst Stephen Leahy, to worry about what will happen to a world that requires the equivalent irrigation of 20 Nile or 100 Colorado Rivers a year.
I do not want to minimize the need to conserve water. At the same time, it’s still possible, especially in cities, to see the problem of water shortage as a series of opportunities disguised as a problem, as the old saying goes.
The real problem is more of our own making than that of the climate. We have governments that treat water and food in separate ministries and departments, though neither can exist without the other. Food cannot grow without water. Likewise, the water cycle cannot exist without plants and animals that use both its liquid asset and the heat or cool it carries.
Cities offer the most visible opportunities for bringing those two essential resources – the food cycle and the water cycle – together for their own mutual benefit and ours. That is the context in which reuse and recycling of water will thrive.
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GIRFEC: Planning, Action and Review
Use the well-being indicators to plan, take action and review. Where necessary develop a plan that incorporates all elements of involvement to meet a child’s needs. When two or more agencies are involved, action coordinated by a Lead Professional. Review the outcome of the plan with the child, young person and family.
- There are inter-relationships between the segments
- To be successful learners, confident individuals, effective contributors and responsible citizens, a child’s well-being should be considered as set out in the eight indicators: safe, healthy, achieving, nurtured, active, respected, responsible and included
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The measured color and intensity of reflections from a small, uniform surface element with no inherent light emission or opacity depend on three functions: the spectral power distribution of the illuminant, I(λ); the spectral reflective properties of the surface material, R(λ); and the spectral sensitivities of the imager, S(λ).
The signal power measured by a detector can be expressed as:
In order to get a color image, the human eye, as well as photographic and video equipment, uses multiple adjacent sensors with different spectral responses. Human vision relies on three types of light-sensitive cone cells to formulate color perception. In developing a color model based on human perception, the International Commission on Illumination (CIE) has defined a set of three color-matching functions, ¯x(λ), y¯(λ) and z¯(λ). These can be thought of as the spectral sensitivity curves of three linear light detectors that yield the CIE XYZ tristimulus values Px
, and Pz
, known collectively as the “CIE standard observer.”
Digital image sensors predominantly use two methods to measure tristimulus values: a color filter array overlay above inherently monochromatic photodiodes; and stacked photodiodes that measure the absorption depth of photons, which is proportional to wavelength λ.
However, neither of these methods creates spectral responses similar to those of the human eye. As a result, color measurements between different photo detection and reproduction equipment will differ, as will measurements between image sensors and human observers when photographing the same scene—the same (Iλ) and (Rλ).
Thus, the purpose of camera calibration is to transform and correct the tristimulus values that a camera or image sensor measures, such that the spectral responses match those of the CIE standard observer.
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About the Study
| How Does This Affect You?
Weight loss is of major interest for both medical and marketing reasons. Medically speaking, being overweight or obese can increase risk of heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and others illnesses. Medical concerns and increasing rates of obesity in the general population have driven the market to create many diet options. One popular type of diet method is the meal replacement plan. With meal replacement plans, you replace the food you would normally eat with prepackaged meals, shakes, and/or bars. By using these replacements, these plans help you control your caloric intake and consume adequate levels of important nutrients. The Medifast meal replacement program is one such plan.
Researchers from Medifast research and development in Maryland examined the benefit of a meal replacement diet plan compared to a low-calorie diet with meals chosen and provided by the dieter. The research found that the meal replacement plan may increase weight loss in patients that continued with the diet.
About the Study
The randomized trial included 90 obese adults. The participants were assigned to either portion-controlled meal replacements or a diet guided by the USDA food guide pyramid (exact meals were made and determined by individuals). The meal replacement plan provided five meal replacements and recommended a total of 800-1,000 calories per day. Participants in the participant-controlled plan created their own meals aiming for a total of 1,000 calories per day. These plans were followed for 16 weeks and then the patients entered a 24 week maintenance phase. In the maintenance phase, both groups continued to either eat the meal replacement options or participant-controlled foods, but they were allowed to increase the amount of calories.
After the initial 16 weeks:
- The meal replacement group had greater weight loss—29.7 lbs (13.5 kg) compared to 14.3 lbs (6.5 kg) in the participant-controlled program.
- More participants in the meal replacement group lost 5% or more of their weight than the food-based program.
After 24 weeks of maintenance (40 weeks total):
- The meal replacement group regained an average of 10.5 lbs (4.8 kg).
- Those on the food-based plan regained an average of 1.7 lbs (0.8 kg).
- More participants in the meal replacement group maintained at least 5% weight loss from their starting weight.
Of the total participants who entered the trial, 53% completed 16 weeks of the trial and 51% completed 40 weeks. The results listed above only included the participants who remained in the study.
How Does This Affect You?
The study was a randomized trial, which is considered a very reliable study method. However, there were some problems in this study. First, there was a high number of people who did not complete the study. When a lot of people do not finish a study, it decreases the reliability of the results. Also, the weight loss seen in the above numbers were only seen in patients who continued the diet to the end. The weight loss numbers do not include what happened to the almost 50% of patients who did not complete the study. Both of the diets being compared were very low calorie, and it appears that they were hard to continue for the study period. Also, the counselors working with the participants knew which diet the participants were on. Since the counselors were aware of which participant had which diet, they may have influenced the outcomes for either group. This study was conducted by Medifast, the company that makes the meal replacement product used, which can also add some suspicion to the results.
Your individual goals, preferences, and health should all be taken into consideration when choosing a diet plan. A diet plan that provides pre-made meals can be a convenient way to help you get your nutrition and stay on your diet, but becoming too dependent on pre-made meals may lead to problems when you move back to your "normal" diet. You are also more likely to succeed if the diet is not based on extremes. For example, the diets here had very low calorie levels for the first 16 weeks. The high dropout rates from both diet groups were likely due to the severe calorie limititations. Avoiding diets with any extremes may make it easier for you to stay on the diet and maintain your weight loss. Talk to a dietitian or your doctor to help you sort through different diet options and create a plan that can help you lose weight and get the proper nutrients.
Davis LM, Coleman C, Kiel J, et al. Efficacy of a meal replacement diet plan compared to a food-based diet plan after a period of weight loss and weight maintenance: a randomized controlled trial. Nutr J. 2010 Mar 11;9:11.
Last reviewed June 2010 by Brian P. Randall, MD
Please be aware that this information is provided to supplement the care provided by your physician. It is neither intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. CALL YOUR HEALTHCARE PROVIDER IMMEDIATELY IF YOU THINK YOU MAY HAVE A MEDICAL EMERGENCY. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider prior to starting any new treatment or with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
Copyright © EBSCO Publishing. All rights reserved.
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There’s a pretty unromantic reason why the Renaissance sprouted up in Florence – it’s the place where modern banking was born.
We like to think of art as a spiritual, sensitive calling, far removed from the ruthless desire for filthy lucre. But Botticelli, Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci needed money as much as the rest of us – as a new exhibition in the Palazzo Strozzi reveals. If you are planning an autumn break here, it’s a good way to get a grip on Florence and its history.
During the Renaissance, the city was literally the golden source of money. The florin – the little gold coin that takes its name from Florence, minted there from 1252 – was the most trusted currency in Europe. On the back of the florin, banker dynasties flourished in the city for three centuries.
The city you stroll through today was largely built by those bankers. Santa Maria Novella, constructed to a revolutionary classical design in 1461 by the architect Leon Battista Alberti, was paid for by the Rucellai banking family.
Palazzo Strozzi itself was commissioned in 1489 by the banker Filippo Strozzi (ancestor of Prince Girolamo Strozzi, who was always so hospitable to the Blairs on their summer holidays). The Strozzi is the city’s grandest Renaissance palace, with hulking cornices, fortress-like rusticated walls and its own internal piazza. It now has its own café, too, as well as a modern art gallery, the Strozzina, in the old wine cellars.
Bankers also paid for the art and sculpture that filled these palazzi and churches – often in a search for absolution from the terrible sin of usury, or lending money for interest.
The exhibition has several Botticellis paid for by repentant bankers. They aren’t as well known as Primavera or The Birth of Venus – which you can see down the road at the Uffizi, behind the massed crowds (visit at the last timed entrance slot, 4.45pm, to enjoy the gallery at its emptiest) – but Botticelli’s Madonnas in the Strozzi are just as stirringly characteristic of the artist’s ideal of womanhood, with their gold-tinted ringlets, green eyes and butter-wouldn’t-melt expressions.
The kings of 15th-century Florence banking – and Botticelli’s most generous sponsors – were the Medicis. You could spend days looking at art and buildings paid for by the Medicis alone. Their tombs were carved by Michelangelo in the Sagrestia Nuova of San Lorenzo church, itself designed by Brunelleschi and commissioned by the Medicis. Medici florins also paid for the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi and the Boboli Gardens behind the Palazzo Pitti.
Another exhibition, at the Uffizi, explains the relationship between the Medici, the city they controlled and the artists they patronised.
The Uffizi is now one of the world’s great galleries – it’s so stuffed with Medici commissions that Caravaggio’s Bacchus was only found in a storeroom in 1916, lost for so long in the embarrassment of riches. The Uffizi began life in 1560 not as a public gallery, though, but as yet another Medici pile – the Palazzo degli Uffizi, “the Palace of the Offices”, where Cosimo Medici oversaw the city’s guilds and government departments and kept his best pictures.
The palace was designed by Giorgio Vasari (1511-74), the painter and architect who decorated much of the neighbouring Palazzo Vecchio. He is best known, though, as the first Italian art historian, thanks to his book, The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors and Architects. It’s a gossipy, extremely pro-Florence book — with Michelangelo in particular praised to the heavens – but it was, and is, extremely influential, not least as the first book to call the Renaissance the Renaissance, or the Rinascita.
Looking at some of Vasari’s rather amateurish paintings in the show, you can see why he turned to writing. The architecture of the Uffizi, too, seems pedestrian in comparison with the sprightly palazzi next door, in Piazza della Signoria. The U-shaped Uffizi is rather odd-looking, turned inside out on itself, with its two classical facades staring across at each other all the way down to the Arno.
Still, Vasari had a lot to contend with. Having to build on unstable, sandy ground, he used an ingenious iron skeleton – a very early structural use of the material – to stop the Uffizi falling into the river. As both exhibitions show, Florence’s light, airy beauty is secretly built on metal, precious or otherwise.
- Harry Mount stayed at the Hotel Il Salviatino (www.salviatino.com), where double rooms cost from about £150 per person per night). Check availability at Hotel Il Salviatino.
- Money and Beauty – Bankers, Botticelli and the Bonfire of the Vanities is at the Palazzo Strozzi (www.palazzostrozzi.org), until January 22, 2012. Entrance: €10 (£8.60).
- Vasari, the Uffizi and the Duke is at the Uffizi Gallery (www.uffizi.org) until October 30. To avoid queues, it’s best to book tickets on the website. The price of the exhibition is included in the gallery admission charge of ¤21 (£18).
- British Airways (www.ba.com) has twice-daily flights to Florence from Gatwick (the flight is operated by Meridiana).
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Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Having the same or very similar phenomena; specifically.
- In phenology, having the same dates of sprouting, budding, flowering, fruiting, ripening, etc.
- In terrestrial magnetism, having the same magnetic declination, inclination, force, secular variation, diurnal variation, etc.
- In meteorology, having the same frequency of cloudy or rainy weather, or similar atmospheric conditions in general.
Sorry, no example sentences found.
‘isophenomenal’ hasn't been added to any lists yet.
Looking for tweets for isophenomenal.
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To execute code using a dataflow model, LabVIEW synchronizes logic on the FPGA. By default, LabVIEW FPGA places a register between logic functions on the block diagram to maximize the propagation time available for each operation to execute.
|Note You do not need to understand every aspect of timing to use the LabVIEW FPGA Module, but understanding what LabVIEW objects effect FPGA timing can help you build more efficient FPGA VIs.|
Propagation delay is the time it takes a signal to travel from one register to the next. The combinatorial path is the collection of logic and wiring that a signal encounters from one register to the next.
Because registers update every clock cycle, the propagation delay must not exceed the clock cycle. Propagation delay consists of two components, logic delay and routing delay. Logic delay, which is a function of the number and type of logic gates the signal traverses, often represents the most significant component of propagation delay. Routing delay, which is a function of the length of the wire path the signal traverses, is generally small, because the FPGA compiler attempts to cluster the components of a combinatorial path as tightly as possible on the FPGA. However, as the FPGA VI approaches the size limits of the FPGA, the physical separation between functions increases, and routing delay can become a significant component of the total propagation delay between two registers. The FPGA compiler returns a timing error if the propagation delay between any two registers exceeds the FPGA clock rate. This timing error is known also as a time constraint or period constraint violation.
|Note The actual logic delay for a given function varies by target. The actual routing delay varies each time you compile an FPGA VI.|
The LabVIEW FPGA Module is designed to produce circuits that can run at a clock rate of at least 40 MHz outside the single-cycle Timed Loop. A 40 MHz clock rate corresponds to a 25 nanoseconds clock cycle. To prevent the propagation delay between two registers from exceeding 25 ns, most LabVIEW functions include an output register and thus require a full clock cycle to execute. If the propagation delay between two registers exceeds 25 ns, the FPGA VI cannot compile at the 40 MHz default clock rate.
For example, suppose function A requires a 6 ns logic delay and function B requires a 14 ns logic delay. If you wire functions A and B in sequence without a register between them, the total logic delay is 20 ns, which leaves 5 ns for routing delay if you want the functions to compile at the 40 MHz default clock rate. Depending on how the FPGA compiler routes the wires between the functions, the routing delay might or might not exceed 5 ns, as shown in Scenarios 1 and 2 below.
In Scenario 1, the design meets the timing constraints of a 40 MHz clock. In Scenario 2 the design does not meet the timing constraints of a 40 MHz clock and produces a timing violation error when you try to compile the FPGA VI. In contrast, Scenario 3, below, illustrates a register between the two functions. This register placement results in two separate propagation delays. Each of these separate propagation delays can easily compile at 40 MHz, even if the routing delay is long.
When a function is not in a single-cycle Timed Loop, the FPGA compiler places registers at regular intervals between the logic levels in a function to break up the logic into portions that can execute at the default FPGA clock rate. When a function that includes internal registers, such as the Memory Method Node, runs on the FPGA, the function takes as many clock cycles to execute as the number of registers in the function.
When you need logic to execute with lower latency at the same clock rate, you can use the single-cycle Timed Loop. When you place a function inside a single-cycle Timed Loop, the compiler does not include an output register for the function so the single-cycle Timed Loop can execute within one clock cycle. Some functions, such as the Scaled Window or FFT Express VI, take multiple clock cycles even when these functions are located in single-cycle Timed Loops. You can use handshaking to schedule the timing of data for these functions.
If the propagation delay within a single-cycle Timed Loop exceeds the clock cycle, the Timing Violation Analysis window tells you which single-cycle Timed Loop failed to meet timing requirements. In some cases, you can reduce the length of a combinatorial path by using Feedback Nodes or shift registers to implement a pipelined design.
|Note If you are using the High Throughput Math functions in a single-cycle Timed Loop, you can add internal registers to reduce the length of the combinatorial path between the functions.|
Every FPGA target contains a limited number of flip-flops. Because registers use flip-flops, the number and type of registers used by an FPGA VI can determine whether the FPGA VI fits on the FPGA target. In general, the number of flip-flops used by a register corresponds to the width of the data type. For example, a Boolean register needs only one flip-flop to store data while an I64 register requires 64 flip-flops to store data.
For most users, the limited number of flip-flops on an FPGA is not a problem. However, if you run into space limitation on the FPGA, you need to optimize the FPGA VI for size.
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The mark set to bound a race, and to or around which the constestants run, or from which they start to return to it again; the place at which a race or a journey is to end.
The final purpose or aim; the end to which a design tends, or which a person aims to reach or attain.
A base, station, or bound used in various games; in football, a line between two posts across which the ball must pass in order to score; also, the act of kicking the ball over the line between the goal posts.
The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education. Martin Luther King, Jr.
You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream. C. S. Lewis
Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable... Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude. Thomas Jefferson
Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal. Martin Luther King, Jr.
goal in Afrikaans is oogmerk, doel
goal in Dutch is doelstelling, doel, wit, doelwit, honk
goal in French is but, dessein, dgssein
goal in German is Zielpunkt, tor
goal in Italian is scopo, proposito, stolto, traguardo
goal in Portuguese is alvo, objetivo
goal in Spanish is fin, conato, meta
Share with your Friends
Everyone likes a good quote - don't forget to share.
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Learn Computer Programming and Earn a Degree Online
Do you love technology, have a strong mathematics background and enjoy telling a computer what to do? If you have the computer bug, perhaps a degree in computer programming is right for you. Although this field has enjoyed bountiful success and endless employment opportunities in the past, things are now slowing down and picking up a job based on self-learned skills is no longer a piece of cake.
The U.S. Department of Labor projects that programmers will need at least a Bachelor’s degree in computer programming to remain competitive in the top positions in their sector. But no need to worry, you can get that competitive edge needed to land your dream computer programming job by starting work towards an online computer programming degree today!
YOUR ONLINE COMPUTER PROGRAMMING DEGREE
While a degree in computer programming might be more important now than in years past, it is also easier to get your degree than ever before. Many talented individuals cannot afford to put their lives on hold in order to attend traditional classes at a university or college. With an online degree, you can keep your current job, enjoy time with your family and learn computer programming from the comfort of your own home!
Your online computer programming degree also allows for 24-hour access to professors and professional computer scientists working for top U.S. companies. They are ready to answer any questions you might have along the way. There are many provided resources for online degree candidates as they learn computer programming.
WHAT TO EXPECT FROM YOUR COMPUTER PROGRAMMING DEGREE
Computer programming students first learn the basic theory and concepts behind programming. Once this background knowledge is absorbed, students are given specific coursework that allows them to immediately begin working with various programming languages. Courses are available in a number of additional areas related to computer programming, including:
- Beta testing
- Software game development
- Software engineering methodologies
- Operating systems
- Web applications
- Multi-player web games
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This paper reflects the research and thoughts of a student at the time the paper was written for a course at Bryn Mawr College. Like other materials on Serendip, it is not intended to be "authoritative" but rather to help others further develop their own explorations. Web links were active as of the time the paper was posted but are not updated.
2000 First Web Report
For the majority of this class I have been a fence-sitter with 'mystical' leanings. However when I decided to do my paper on smoking, I found in the phenomina of addiction a very strong argument for our brain=behavior hypothesis. In the following essay, I will describe the biological effects of nicotine on the Central Nervous System and some of the resulting behavioral effects. Afterwards I will present thoughts as to why I believe addiction is a very important point to be considered in the question we've been asking since the first day of class.
When an individual smokes a cigarette, the nicotine travels to the brain where it binds to nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, causing them to fire action potentials (2). This in turn causes the release of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens (2). Professor Gaylord Ellison in the department of psychology at UCLA, while testing the effects of drugs on rats found that nicotine is destructive to the part of the brain (called the fasciculus retroflexus) that determines the levels of dopamine and seretonin in an organism. "Dopamine controls movement, emotional response, and the ability to experience pleasure and pain, while seretonin regulates a person'a mood" (4). When nicotine binds with nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, the resulting release of dopamine increases its concentration from what would normally be found in the brain, thus producing a pleasurable effect on the smoker. When nicotine binds with these acetylcholine receptors it slows down their natural rate of deterioration (being proteins, they are constantly breaking down as new ones are being made), but the rate at which new ones are produced remains unchanged. This leads to an overall increase in the number of receptors.(3).
Over time and with constant exposure, the nicotine will begin to act as an antagonist, desensitizing the receptors it once activated. Thus a smoker will have to smoke more and more to try and achieve the same pleasurable effects.(3).
The half-life of nicotine in humans is two hours. Thus, a person who smokes regularly will be constantly exposed to the substance untill he goes to sleep at night and his neurons have a chance to recover, or if he for some other reason abstains from smoking for long periods of time. Tests were conducted at Baylor College Of Medicine that compaired (among other things) the effects on relevant neurons of a pressure injection of nicotine comparable to the amount received when a cigarette is smoked, with the effects seen on those neurons when the nicotine was applied constantly over time. In the first instance, the application of nicotine, ". . .caused a depolarization of the resting membrane potential. After 1 min in 0.5 M nicotine, the neuron fired continuous action potentials that were no longer influenced by the pressure injections of ACh, as would be expected if most of the nAChRs were desensitized" (2). However, when the nicotine was introduced for a period of nineteen minutes, after the first five minutes, ". . .the currents activated by pressure injection of ACh were more strongly desensitized, and the baseline current decreased nearly to its original pre-nicotine position" (2). This shows that the long exposure to nicotine that most smokers experience can severely desensitize nicotonic acetylcholine receptors.
People who are addicted to cigarettes show behavioral patterns that are often contrary to those they would chose to exhibit. A big part of the discussion on whether brain=behavior has been the issue of free will. We all must eat, drink, sleep, and breathe; these are behaviors dictated by the brain as a result of the body's needs. If we want to survive, we have relatively little choice in these matters. However, no one needs to smoke to survive. If we define free will as the ability, when given more than one option or course, do choose and enact the option you want, then the choice to smoke or not to smoke should be a matter of free will. For a smoker however, this is not the case. I live in a smoking dormitory, and have heard numerous times the exclamations of friends swearing that they are going to quit smoking - I usualy see them lighting up before the end of the day.
Typically, the first cigarette smoked after waking is the most enjoyable because, as was stated earlier, neurons have had a chance to recover somewhat from their usual onsaught of nicotine. It is estimated that at least eight hours of sleep are required to allow for this recovery (1). ' "A person trying to quit has to get out of bed without that cigarette, and we have been getting a lot of anecdotal material telling us that people just can't" Dain said' . Their altered nuerons that have resulted from regular smoking have become used to functioning with constant nicotine bound to their receptors. Without the nicotine they cannot function smoothly. Of the 30% of smokers who try to quit each year, only about 3% succeed (3). But even a smoker does not need nicotine to survive. I found no evidence of people having died from nicotine withdrawl. So if neuron functions can win out over free will - if matter can win out over "mind" - then this leads me to believe that the brain really does dictate behavior. Though 30% of smokers may desire to quit, the functioning of their neurons will not allow them to.
2) , Dani, John A., DeBiasi, Mariella, Pidoplichko, Volodymyr I., Williams, John T. (1997) Nicotine activates and desensitizes midbrain dopamine neurons. Nature. 390(6657): 401-404
3) , Ember, L.R. (1994) The Nicotine Connection. Chem. Eng. News 72(48):8-18
4)The Daily Bruin, Article on nicotine brain targeting
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by Karen Weston Gonzales, Park Ranger
As snow flurries fly across the Whetstone Mountains and San Pedro Valley during March, Kartchner Caverns State Park rangers thoughts begin to turn to warm, furry, little creatures that fly the summer night skies here.
Eagerly anticipating the return of a small colony of myotis velifer, or the common cave bat, rangers here at Kartchner scan the evening sky, hoping to catch a glimpse of the first tiny bats returning to their summer home. Though nobody knows for sure where the colony spends their winter, we suspect they may hibernate in caves located high in the Huachuca mountains, only about 40 miles away from their summer home.
About 1,500 bats live in part of Kartchner Caverns for part of the year.
Based upon a tip supplied by a caver friend, Steve Willsey, a ranger at Kartchner, hiked up to a cave at 8,000 feet in the winter of 2004. With Willsey was Ricky Toomey, former science manager of State Parks, Ginger Nolan, cave manager, and Ronnie Sidner, a bat researcher. What the group found, after a 130-foot rappel into the deep, cold cave, was a hibernating colony of about 2-3,000 myotis velifer. That’s a significant find.
“Ronnie told us that was the largest known myotis velifer hibernaculum found west of the Mississippi,” Willsey said. Willsey added that they only briefly observed the hibernating colony, careful to not disturb the bats’ hibernation, knowing that if they did, the bats could perish. Insecteating bats that live in temperate zones survive winters only by either flying to warmer regions where insects are still available, or by hibernation.
According to Bats of the United States by Michael J. Harvey, J. Scott Altenbach and Troy L. Best, a bat’s body temperature during hibernation is reduced from more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit to 40-60 degrees, and the heart rate decreases from more than 1,000 beats per minute to only one beat every four or five seconds, allowing hibernating bats to survive on only a few grams of stored fat during the winter months. A bat can lose up to half their weight during hibernation.
To achieve such a state of torpor, a hibernating bat must find a cave that maintains a winter temperature of about 38-40 degrees Fahrenheit. Willsey said he believes the myotis velifer colony that lives in the Big Room section of Kartchner Caverns during the summer months may be among the hibernating bats they found in the cold cave, but because there were more than 1,000 (the average size of the Kartchner colony), that bats from other colonies may be sharing that cave.
Willsey adds that one day he hopes funding will be available to track the Kartchner colony to see if indeed they are among the larger colony sharing the hibernaculum in the Huachucas.
Rangers at Kartchner have been counting the park’s bats each summer, and the last seven year’s worth of data show that the colony is maintaining its population and maybe even increasing. In 2001, the count was about 900. The following year it jumped to about 1,600, and then all the way up to 1,800 in 2003. That was the year the Big Room tour opened to the public, in November, after the colony had migrated away.
The next year the count was down to a little more than 1,000, but it has been on the upswing ever since. In 2005, there were more than 1,400. In 2006 there were more than 1,600, and in 2007 the year’s count topped out at 1,686.
Cave Unit staff count the bats once a week by climbing down into the sinkhole, the only natural entrance to the cave, at twilight, with a hand-held counter. As the bats leave their home that night, the rangers count each one they see. Cave Manager Ginger Nolan said that the colony’s population fluctuates with the amount of rain the region receives each year because rainfall affects the insect population, and “When we’ve got bugs, we’ve got bats.”
Along with all the rangers at Kartchner, Nolan eagerly anticipates the return of the bats to the Big Room. Rangers at other state parks may feel their first wave of Spring Fever with the first blooming cacti and wildflowers, but rangers here at Kartchner feel that flutter of excitement with the arrival of Spring best when they see the bats returning home.
On April 15, Cave Unit staff close all the doors to the Big Room, turn out the lights, and even pull out the plugs, to be sure no lights come on in there during the summer months. They will not enter that part of the cave until late September, after the bats have migrated away. The Big Room re-opens to the public on October 15.
During the summer months, the colony of bats is busy giving birth, raising their pups, teaching them to fly, echolocate, and how to hunt. As we continue to share the beauty of the Rotunda and Throne rooms of Kartchner Caverns with the public (bats no longer roost in that area of the cave, though they once did, thousands of years ago), the Big Room belongs only to the bats during the summer. And rightly so.
The rangers at Kartchner feel good about honoring the privacy of a colony of bats, knowing these creatures are continuing their life cycles here; life cycles that have existed for thousands of years.
“I love it when the bats are here,” says Nolan, “It shows us that the cave is healthy and maintaining its biological purpose.”
- Alamo Lake
- Buckskin Mountain
- Cattail Cove
- Lake Havasu
- River Island
- Yuma Quartermaster Depot
- Yuma Territorial Prison
- Dead Horse Ranch
- Fort Verde
- Red Rock
- Riordan Mansion
- Slide Rock
- Verde River Greenway
- Boyce Thompson Arboretum
- Fool Hollow Lake
- Lost Dutchman
- Lyman Lake
- Tonto Natural Bridge
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Bio Facts: Mantella, Bronze-backed
Western and southwestern Madagascar
Subtropical or tropical dry forests, dry savanna, moist savanna, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, rivers, freshwater marshes, intermittent freshwater marches, rural gardens, heavily degraded former forest, ponds, and canals and ditches from sea level up to 2,952 ft (900 m)
Adult length: about 1.2 in (30 cm); coloration: back yellowish to reddish or light brown, usually with diamond shaped markings; strong border between dorsal coloration and the blackish flanks; light frenal stripe along the upper lip usually until snout tip; ventral coloration black with blue spots, which are extended onto the throat; upper half of the iris golden; tibiotarsal articulation mostly reaches the eye.
In the wild, they eat small flies, ants, beetles and other small insects; in the Zoo, they are fed small crickets and fruit flies.
IUCN – Least Concern; CITES – Appendix II
It is a terrestrial species. Breeding occurs in permanent and temporary still waters. The eggs are laid on land near water, and the larvae develop in temporary and permanent pools, and sometimes in brooks.
Calling and foraging both during day and night. Calls are a series of short double-click notes.
The genus Mantella has many similarities with the South American poison dart frogs. They are small, secrete alkaloid toxins, and are aposematically colored (having warning coloration to alert potential predators to toxicity).
Mantellas are in the Anuran suborder Neobatrachia, which literally means “new frogs” (from the Hellenic words “neo”, meaning “new” and “batrachia” meaning “frogs”). This suborder is the most advanced and apomorphic (a characteristic believed to have evolved within the tree) of the three anuran orders alive today. It is also by far the largest of the three; its more than 5,000 different species make up over 96% of all living anurans.
Listed as Least Concern in view of its wide distribution, tolerance of a broad range of habitats, presumed large population, and because it is unlikely to be declining fast enough to qualify for listing in a more threatened category.
It is an adaptable species, and there are few, if any, habitat-related threats, though it might be impacted by fires and by overgrazing by livestock. It is has been suggested that over collecting for commercial and private purposes is a threat, but it is only traded in low numbers.
Jacksonville Zoo History:
This species was first added to the Jacksonville Zoo’s animal collection in 2009.
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Feats of Clay: Carved, Etched and Incised Pottery of Santa Clara Pueblo
When you’re working with materials as old as earth, as potters do, it’s no surprise to find that “new” ideas for designing and adorning clay vessels have already been tried, often hundreds of years ago. Still, every master potter takes these new-old ideas and gives them a distinctive, creative twist.
Such is the case with carved pottery of the Southwest. While credit for popularizing deeply carved, finely etched and incised designs in the surfaces of pots is given to certain Pueblo potters in the 20th century, polychrome and blackware shards dating back to the mid-1600s have been found to contain etched designs. “As long as people have been working with clay, they’ve been thinking about different clay techniques,” notes Anthony Chavarria (Santa Clara Pueblo), curator of ethnology at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture in Santa Fe.
Direct antecedents of today’s carved pottery can be found in pieces from the late 1800s, when potters made impressions in the clay walls with their fingers. They pressed outward from inside the vessel, or inward from the outside, to create a convex or concave design. Often these were single designs, such as the bear paw. Other pots were shaped with the impression of vertical ribs, inspired by the natural forms of pumpkins and melons.
Beginning in the 1920s, a Santa Clara Pueblo potter named Serafina Tafoya (1863–1949) took the technique of hand-impressing one step further by gouging and then smoothing bear paw and water serpent designs. This led to the development of deeper and more clean-edged carving, with the carved designs at first limited to a wide band around the midsection of the pot.
Serafina Tafoya stands at the crown of a family tree representing one of the most influential families in Santa Clara pottery. Her descendants include such renowned potters as Margaret Tafoya, Camilio (Sunflower) Tafoya, Christina Naranjo, Joseph Lonewolf, Grace Medicine Flower, Toni Roller, Mela Youngblood and her children Nathan and Nancy Youngblood, and Tammy Garcia, among many others. Serafina’s granddaughter Teresita Naranjo was among the first to expand the area of carving to cover more of the entire vessel.
In the late 1960s, San Ildefonso Pueblo potters Popovi Da (son of the legendary Maria Martinez) and his son, Tony Da, began etching fine designs on their pots. This method, known as sgraffito, quickly became popular through the work of Santa Clara potters Joseph Lonewolf and his sister, Grace Medicine Flower. Santa Clara potter Jody Folwell took sgraffito in a new direction in the late 1970s by etching designs after firing, rather than before. This creates a slightly harder surface to etch and allows for more diversity in surface treatment.
Another age-old carving style, that of incising straight lines, was revived in the 1930s by potters at Okay Owingeh (San Juan Pueblo) and elsewhere. Today artists such as Jody Naranjo of Santa Clara use fine incising to create background patterns. Nancy Youngblood gained acclaim with deeply carved versions of melon pots. Similarly, dozens of masterful potters over the years have brought their own sensibilities, innovations and exciting new directions to the art while continuing to employ the ancient methods of gathering and preparing clay, coil-building and hand-polishing pots, and firing in outdoor firing pits. Here is a look at five potters whose work combines the best of the old and new in the field of carved pottery.
To Read More, BUY THIS ISSUE
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Ecology and Phylogenetics-New Views of Earth’s Biodiversity
Patterns in nature are in everything from ocean currents to a flower’s petal.
Scientists are taking a new look at Earth patterns, studying the biodiversity of yard plants in the U.S. and that of desert mammals in Israel, studying where flowers and bees live on the Tibetan plateau and how willow trees in America’s Midwest make use of water.
They’re finding that ecology, the study of relationships between living organisms and their environment, and phylogenetics, research on evolutionary relationships among groups of organisms, are inextricably intertwined.
Results of this tale of two fields are highlighted in a special, August 2012 issue of the journal Ecology, published by the Ecological Society of America (ESA). Most of the results reported are funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
The issue will be released at the annual ESA meeting, held this year from August 5-10 in Portland, Ore.
Melding information from ecology and phylogenetics allows scientists to understand why plants and animals are distributed in certain patterns across landscapes, how these species adapt to changing environments across evolutionary time–and where their populations may be faltering.
“To understand the here and now, ecologists need more knowledge of the past,” says Saran Twombly, program director in NSF’s Division of Environmental Biology. “Incorporating evolutionary history and phylogenies into studies of community ecology is revealing complex feedbacks between ecological and evolutionary processes.”
Maureen Kearney, also a program director in NSF’s Division of Environmental Biology adds, “Recent studies have demonstrated that species’ evolutionary histories can have profound effects on the contemporary structure and composition of ecological communities.”
In the face of rapid changes in Earth’s biota, understanding the evolutionary processes that drive patterns of species diversity and coexistence in ecosystems has never been more pressing, write co-editors Jeannine Cavender-Bares of the University of Minnesota, David Ackerly of the University of California at Berkeley and Kenneth Kozak of the University of Minnesota.
“As human domination of our planet accelerates,” says Cavender-Bares, “our best hope for restoring and sustaining the ‘environmental services’ of the biological world is to understand how organisms assemble, persist and coexist in ecosystems across the globe.”
Papers in the volume address subjects such as the vanishingly rare oak savanna ecosystem of U.S. northern tier states, revealing an ancient footprint of history on the savanna as well as how it has fared in a 40-year fire experiment.
Other results cover the influence of ecological and evolutionary factors on hummingbird populations; habitat specialization in willow tree communities; growth strategies in tropical tree lineages and their implications for biodiversity in the Amazon region; and the characteristics of common urban plants.
“The studies in this issue show that knowledge of how organisms evolve reveals new insights into the ecology and persistence of species,” says Cavender-Bares.
Plants in urban yards, for example, are more closely related to each other–and live shorter lives–than do plants in rural areas, found Cavender-Bares and colleagues.
Their study compared plant diversity in private urban yards in the U.S. Midwest with that in the rural NSF Cedar Creek Long-Term Ecological Research site in Minnesota.
Cities are growing faster and faster, with unexpected effects, says Sonja Knapp of the Hemholtz Center for Environmental Research in Germany, lead author of the paper reporting the results.
“Understanding how urban gardening affects biodiversity is increasingly important,” says Cavender-Bares. “Urbanites should consider maintaining yards with a higher number of species.”
In the special issue, researchers also look at topics such as what determines the number of coexisting species in local and regional communities of salamanders. Kenneth Kozak of the University of Minnesota and John Wiens of Stony Brook University report that variation in the amount of time salamanders occupy different climate zones is the primary factor.
Evolution of an herbaceous flower called goldfields, and how that led to the plant’s affinity for certain habitats, is the subject of a paper by David Ackerly, Nancy Emery of Purdue University and colleagues. Emery is the paper’s lead author.
In all, 17 papers combine ecology and phylogenetics to offer new answers to long-standing questions about the patterns and processes of biodiversity on Planet Earth.
Integrating Ecology and Phylogenetics
A special issue of the journal Ecology
Integrating ecology and phylogenetics: the footprint of history in modern-day communities
Jeannine Cavender-Bares, David D. Ackerly, Kenneth H. Kozak, Co-Editors
Synthesizing phylogenetic knowledge for ecological research
Jeremy M. Beaulieu, Richard H. Ree, Jeannine Cavender-Bares, Nicholas Deacon, George D. Weiblen, and Michael J. Donoghue
Assessing the effects of spatial contingency and environmental filtering on metacommunity phylogenetics
Pedro R. Peres-Neto, Mathew A. Leibold and Stephane Dray
Phylogenetic species-area curves
Matthew R. Helmus and Anthony R. Ives
Phylogenetic tree shape as a predictor of niche segregation
Jonathan Davies, Natalie Cooper, Jose Alexandre Felizola Diniz Filho, Gavin H. Thomas, Shai Meiri
Shocks to the system: Community assembly of the oak savanna in a 40-year fire frequency experiment
Jeannine Cavender-Bares and Peter B. Reich
Demographic drivers of successional changes in phylogenetic structure across life history stages in plant communities
Natalia Norden, Susan Letcher, Vanessa Boukili, Nathan Swenson, and Robin Chazdon
Phylogenetic and functional characteristics of household yard floras and their changes along an urbanization gradient
Sonja Knapp, Lucy Dinsmore, Cinzia Fissore, Sarah Hobbie, Ina Jakobsdottir, Jens Kattge, Jennifer King, Stefan Klotz, Daniel C. Laughlin, Joseph P. McFadden, and Jeannine Cavender-Bares
Untangling the influence of ecological and evolutionary factors on trait variation across hummingbird assemblages
Catherine H. Graham, Juan L. Parra, Boris A. Tinoco, F. Gary Stiles, Jim A. McGuire
Phylogenetic and functional alpha and beta diversity in temperate and tropical tree communities
Nathan G. Swenson, David L. Erickson, Xiangcheng Mi, Norman A. Bourg, Jimena Montana-Forero, Xuejun Ge, Robert Howe, Jeffrey K. Lake, Xiaojuan Liu, Keping Ma, Nancai Pei, Jill Thompson, Maria Uriarte, Amy Wolf, S. Joseph Wright, Wanhu Ye, Jinlong Zhang, Jess K. Zimmerman and W. John Kress
Phylogenetic signal and phenotypic plasticity in traits under variable competitive regimes
Jean H. Burns and Sharon Y. Strauss
Habitat specialization and the role of trait lability in structuring hyper-diverse willow communities
Jessica Savage and Jeannine Cavender-Bares
Niche evolution and habitat specialization in Lasthenia
Nancy C. Emery, Elisabeth J. Forrestel, Ginger Jui, Michael Park, Bruce G. Baldwin and David D. Ackerly
Phylogeny, ecology and the origins of climate-richness relationships
Kenneth H. Kozak and John J. Wiens
Floral diversity and community structure in Pedicularis (Orobanchaceae)
Deren A. R. Eaton, Charles B. Fenster, Joe Hereford, Shuang-Quan Huang, Richard H. Ree
Herbivory, growth strategies and habitat specialization in four tropical tree lineages: Implications for Amazonian Beta-Diversity
Greg P.A Lamarre, Christopher Baraloto, Claire Fortunel, Nallarett Davila, Italo Mesones, Julio Grandez Rios, Marcos Rios, Elvis Valderrama, Paul Fine
Predicting the impact of tropical rain forest conversion on insect herbivore abundance from plant traits and phylogeny
Timothy J. S. Whitfeld, Vojtech Novotny, Scott E. Miller, Jan Hrcek, Petr Klimes, and George D. Weiblen
Phylogenetic diversity promotes ecosystem stability
Marc W. Cadotte, Russell Dinnage, David Tilman
On The Net:
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Flying Saucers Turn 64! A Look Back at the Origin of UFOs
Promotional poster for the 1950 film 'The Flying Saucer.'
CREDIT: Colonial Productions
On June 24, 1947, an amateur pilot named Kenneth Arnold was flying a small plane near Mount Rainier in Washington state when he saw something extraordinarily strange. Directly to his left, about 20 to 25 miles north of him and at the same altitude, a chain of nine objects shot across the sky, glinting in the sun as they traveled.
By comparing their size to that of a distant airplane, Arnold gauged the objects to be about 45 to 50 feet wide. They flew between two mountains spaced 50 miles apart in just 1 minute, 42 seconds, he observed, implying an astonishing speed of 1,700 miles per hour, or three times faster than any manned aircraft of the era. However, as if controlled, the flying objects seemed to dip and swerve around obstacles in the terrain.
When the objects faded into the distance, Arnold flew to Yakima, Wash., landed and immediately told the airport staff of the unidentified flying objects he had spotted. The next day, he was interviewed by reporters, and the story spread like wildfire across the nation.
"At that time there was still some thought that Mars or perhaps Venus might have a habitable surface," Robert Sheaffer, an author of UFO books (and a skeptic), told Life's Little Mysteries. "People thought these UFOs were Martians who had come to keep an eye on us now that we had nuclear weapons."
As time would prove, this was but the first of many outlandish theories behind visits of an extraterrestrial nature. The era of UFO sightings had begun.
Arnold's sighting was "such a sensation that it made front page news across the nation," UFO-logist and author Martin Kottmeyer wrote in an article ("The Saucer Error," REALL News, 1993).
"Soon everyone was looking for these new aircraft which according to the papers were saucer-like in shape," Kottmeyer continued. "Within weeks hundreds of reports of these flying saucers were made across the nation. While people presumably thought they were seeing the same things that Kenneth Arnold saw, there was a major irony that nobody at the time realized. Kenneth Arnold hadn't reported seeing flying saucers." [10 Alien Encounters Debunked]
In fact, Arnold had told the press that the objects had flown erratically, "like a saucer if you skip it across the water." They were thin and flat when viewed on edge, he said, but crescent-shaped when viewed from the top down as they turned. Nonetheless, a reporter named Bill Bequette of the United Press interpreted Arnold's statement to mean that the objects he saw were round discs. According to Benjamin Radford, UFO expert and deputy editor of the Skeptical Inquirer, "It was one of the most significant reporter misquotes in history."
"The phrase 'flying saucers' provided the mold which shaped the UFO myth at its beginning," Kottmeyer wrote. UFOs took the form of flying saucers, he noted, in artist's renderings, hoax photos, sci-fi films, TV shows and even the vast majority of alien abduction and sighting reports for the rest of modern history, up until the present day.
"Bequette's error may not prove to be the ultimate refutation of the extraterrestrial theory for everyone. But it does leave their advocates in one helluva paradox: Why would extraterrestrials redesign their craft to conform to Bequette's mistake?" Kottmeyer wrote. [Could Extraterrestrials Really Invade Earth, and How?]
For the birds
Though he didn't see flying saucers, most of Arnold's contemporaries believed that he really had seen something that day. The Army report on the sighting states: "[If] Mr. Arnold could write a report of such a character and did not see the objects he was in the wrong business and should be engaged in writing Buck Rogers fiction." His account was very convincing.
So if he did see something, what was it exactly?
One theory holds that it was a fireball — a meteor breaking up upon entry into the atmosphere. If a meteor hit the atmosphere at a shallow angle to the Earth, its pieces would approach the surface traveling almost horizontally. Furthermore, the pieces of meteor would travel in a chain like the one Arnold saw, would shine very brightly, and would travel at thousands of miles per hour.
But most historians think the objects weren't from outer space at all: "It was probably pelicans flying in formation," Sheaffer said. "Probably Arnold misjudged the distance and thought they were huge objects at a great distance but they were actually much closer."
After all, the boomerang shape that Arnold drew in a picture of the objects he had seen looks very much like a bird with its wings outstretched.
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Posted by Claudia Grazioso on July 11, 2011
“Ten toes. Ten fingers!” I’ve heard more than a few doctors say that when a baby is first born. And even though we all have ultrasounds these days, it is still a relief — especially when you are reeling from post-labor hormone rushes. Moms like to hear it. But sometimes that’s not exactly the case. If you’re in this situation, don’t panic. There are many options and ways to treat limb defects.
“Limb defects” is, obviously, a term that applies to a wide-ranging variety of congenital birth defects that affect the appearance and functionality of a child’s limbs. It applies to any malformation of a limb that occurred while the child was in utero. Some of the most common limb defects are the complete or partial absence of a limb, a failure of limbs to properly separate (for example, excess “webbing” between fingers and toes), the growth of extra fingers or toes, or the undergrowth or overgrowth of a limb.
No one is entirely certain what causes limb defects, but some doctors believe that the risk is elevated if the mother has taken certain medications during pregnancy or has been exposed to certain chemicals or viruses. Clubfoot, one of the most common congenital birth defects, is a limb defect that has been linked to SSRI (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor) antidepressants. Additionally, other studies have concluded that exposure to pesticides during pregnancy can increase the risk of congenital limb defects. While most risk is associated with long-term exposure, it is recommended that expectant mothers do their best to avoid pesticides, as they are toxic. Some studies have shown that the risk to the fetus from pesticide exposure is the greatest very early on in pregnancy, from about the third week to the eighth week. You don’t have to work yourself up into a sweat over it, but it’s not a bad idea to avoid using pesticides in and around your home during pregnancy, especially in the first trimester.
Because there are so many different kinds of limb defects, there is no single treatment approach. But doctors will usually take into account the child’s age, their general health and the severity of the defect. They will also want to discuss the goal of the corrective approach they will take. Usually, the hope is to allow the child to develop as normally as possible, and learn independence and the ability to care for him or herself. Cosmetic considerations will also most likely be discussed. The most common treatment options are surgical procedures, the use of splints or braces (commonly used in the treatment of clubfoot), physical therapy or possibly even prosthesis.
So relax. Even if you didn’t hear the off-the-cuff “Ten fingers, ten toes!” you still have a lot of treatment options and choices.
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Wikipedia brings a new resource to students
Everton Bailey, Staff Writer
October 23, 2006
Filed under Uncategorized
Wikipedia.com, a popular online encyclopedia that thrives on contributions from the average person, recently established a subsection called Students Wikia.
The purpose of this “Wiki” (a site network under the Wikipedia umbrella) is for “all university and school student communities to share information that they think is necessary,” according to the Web site.
This information, which could range from news about events on and off campus to a breakdown of the history of the town a campus is located in, is given by students of these respective universities.
“I’ve made it my mission to present people with a completely open forum to build communities based on their interests and passions,” stated Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales in a press release. “I am inviting all those individuals who share the same enthusiasm that I do for growing communities to help lead the charge in developing Wikis for their universities.”
Tristan Harris, founder of a Wikia for Stanford University, stated that while traditional resources for prospective and current students like a university’s official Web site can be good for “information gathering at the surface level… For students looking for current, under-the-radar tips and tricks that only other students would know, Wikis are the way to go,” according to the Students Wikia Web site.
Wikipedia, launched in the late fall of 2004, has since amassed over 2,000 different “Wikia” available in over 45 languages. Students Wikia has been around since early 2005 and many universities across the country have taken advantage of this unique online resource and have “Wikis” of their own. NYU, Duke, University of Virginia and UCLA are just a few of over 40 national institutes who have “mini Wikis” courtesy of members of their respective student body.
There has been some concern over the accuracy of facts posted, both on Students Wikia and other Wikipedia sites.
“It can be helpful if the student (reviewer) is honest,” said freshman Tori Stein, “but at the same time, they could be biased or [provide false information].”
Because of these issues, only users registered with Students Wikias can post facts.
Although St. John’s does not yet have its own “mini-Wiki,” students have responded positively to the idea.
“It appears this site has found a productive way to bring students together,” said freshman Bryan Upshur. “Compared to Myspace and Facebook, it’s a lot more informative and helpful to the college community.”
“This website provides a variety of information for both potential and current students from different universities nationwide,” agreed freshman Jasmin Noel. “Student Wikipedia is a great way to take a closer look and explore different aspects of the college experience.”
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Geology Major Guide for 2008-2009
What is Geology
Geology is the study of the physical composition, environments, and natural processes of the Earth and other planetary bodies. Geologists are an eclectic bunch -- climbing volcanoes to study their composition, measuring the violent shaking of earthquakes, investigating how mountain ranges form, examining climate trends in both the present and the ancient past, learning to keep our air and water clean, exploring for new mineral and hydrocarbon resources, and unraveling the origin and evolution of life.
Why study Geology? A student might take one of two viewpoints about the study of the Earth. The first is simply the desire to understand the way the Earth works: the origin of the mountains and the seas. The diversity and evolution of life, the birth of the planets. The quest for knowledge is exhilarating!
A second viewpoint can be summarized by a statement made by the historian Will Durant, “Civilization exists by geological consent, subject to change without notice.” We live on the Earth, use its resources, and cope with its upheavals. With the discovery of the accessibility, diversity, and utility of the minerals of the Earth’s crust, geological awareness became interwoven with cultural advancement. Today, we seek safeguards against natural threats from earthquakes, landslides, and volcanic eruptions. We also have the power to befoul our environment. Many geologists try to find new mineral and energy resources. Others seek to minimize the effects of natural disasters on our lives. Some try to educate legislators and their constituents to form sound public policy. Other geologists help to clean up waste sites that were thoughtlessly developed.
These viewpoints are not mutually exclusive -- a great testament to the diversity of the geosciences is that most geologists are interested in both!
Career Opportunities in Geology
Career opportunities in the Geosciences are as varied as the science. Currently in the United States, there are over 120,000 people employed as geoscentists in industrial, educational, and government realms, and numerous more are employed overseas. The broad scientific and technological background of geoscientists, in particular, makes them premier hires in the industrial sector, where most geologists are employed by companies dedicated to environmental issues, water resource management, petroleum and mineral exploration, and geotechnical engineering. A strong scientific background is also favored by postgraduate programs that specialize in environmental law and policy.
Geoscientists are also employed by private consulting and research firms, national laboratories (e.g. Oak Ridge, Lawrence Livermore, and Los Alamos National Laboratories), and by local, state, and federal government agencies (e.g. U.S. Geological Survey, Bureau of Land Management, Environmental Protection Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Department of Energy, etc.).
Employment in the educational realm spans college-level instruction and research, K-12 teaching in public and private schools systems, museum education, and public outreach. In particular, a nationwide shortage of science-educated elementary and secondary school teachers will assure a strong job market for K-12 teachers for years to come.
Salary Trends in Geology
As with all professions, starting salaries vary with the employment sector, level of education, and years of experience. Although many jobs are available for students with only a Bachelor’s degree in the geological sciences, many positions for geoscientists, particularly in industry, favor the Master’s degree. Recent statistics from the US Department of Labor show that average salaries for all degree levels range as follows: 0–2 years experience – $25,000 to $60,000; 3–5 years experience – $40,000 to $70,000; 6–9 years experience – $50,000 to $80,000; 10–14 years experience – $60,000 to $90,000; 15–19 years experience – $70,000 to $100,000; greater than 20 years experience – $80,000 to $120,000. Variation in salary also reflects managerial skills, technological skills, verbal and written communication skills, flexibility of expertise and interest, and willingness to relocate, travel, or participate in domestic and/or overseas field excursions.
High School Preparation
Many students entering college have had little exposure to the geological sciences. Because the geosciences are extraordinarily interdisciplinary, however, this lack of exposure to the Earth and Planetary Sciences is rarely a disadvantage to incoming college freshman. The best preparation for a college career in the geosciences is a broad background in the physical, biological, and mathematical sciences, which will foster analytical, reasoning, and problem solving skills. High school students should try to take as many courses as possible in mathematics, chemistry, biology, and physics. High school students should also concentrate on their verbal and written communication skills. Communication of scientific results to other researchers and to the general public is also a critical aspect of any scientific career. Students might also consider taking courses in topics as varied as computer programming and photography in art. Computer skills are becoming a mainstay of many different careers, and photography in art courses teach critical observation skills vital to geoscientists.
Outside of school, future geoscientists frequently spend their time in nature: traveling, hiking and camping, orienteering, mountain climbing, kayaking, participating in environmental and nature preservation activities, and volunteering in local museums and nature centers.
How to Major in Geology
To progress into the major, students must take 2 courses from Geology 101102-103, as well as Chemistry 120-130.
Requirements for Geology
Geology requires a broad background in the physical sciences. Co-requisite requirements include Math 141 and 142, and 3 courses from Biology 130 and 140 and Physics 135 and 136.
Upper-division requirements include Geology 310, 320, 330, 340, 370, 380 (24 hours), a minimum of 5 hours of an approved field camp, and 9 elective hours at the 400-level or above. We encourage students to participate in undergraduate research (Geology 493). A maximum of 3 hours of Geology 493 may count towards the major.
Students with 5 upper-division Geology courses and a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0 are encouraged to pursue an honors concentration, which includes completion of 3 hours of Geology 491, 492, or 493 beyond the normal major requirements, submission of a written thesis, and oral presentation of thesis results.
A minor in Geology consists of 2 of Geology 101-102-103, and an additional 16 hours at the 200-level or above. A maximum of 6 hours at the 200-level and 3 hours of Geology 493 may count towards the minor.
Special Programs, Co-ops, and Internships
There are many opportunities in the geosciences for undergraduate students to participate in special programs, co-ops, and internships. These programs help students develop their interests in the geosciences, offer practical field and laboratory experience, and provide invaluable contacts and experience for the future.
Within the Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences, we strongly encourage all students to participate in undergraduate research opportunities. These opportunities allow students to participate directly in geoscience research for periods of 3 months to a year or more and can be done for undergraduate credit (Geology 493) or for pay. Following their research, students frequently present the results of their research at regional or national conferences.
Research opportunities are also available outside of the department. These opportunities include summer research internships at national laboratories, government agencies, national parks, and in the industrial sector. Research opportunities are typically announced in the department as they become known, and there are several internet sites that provide links to these special programs:
Highlights of Geology
The Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences prides itself on a student-friendly atmosphere. Major classes are small (typically 15 students), there are opportunities (through undergraduate research and 400-level electives) to tailor the program to personal interests, and students have many opportunities to get to know their professors on a one-on-one basis. We encourage undergraduate participation in departmental activities -- everything from interacting with graduate students, to participating in departmental seminars, brown-bag lunches, barbecues, and parties. The department provides undergraduates with in-house computer services, a study lounge, and access to conference/ workshop travel grants and more than $3000 in awards and scholarships that are presented each Spring.
To facilitate undergraduate involvement in the department, EPPSA, the Earth & Planetary Sciences Student Association, has both graduate and undergraduate officers. EPPSA typically arranges weekend excursions (spelunking, white-water rafting, visits to local geologic sites, etc.), encourages student involvement in community activities (McClung Museum, Knoxville Gem and Mineral Society, Eastern TN Geological Society), plans several departmental parties per year (Fall BBQ, Halloween Party, Spaghetti Supper, Spring Pig Roast), and produces the annual Spaghetti Supper Movie, in which students display their creativity while mercilessly making fun of their professors.
"Ready for the World” is part of a long-range plan to transform the UTK campus into a culture of diversity that best prepares students for working and competing in the 21st century. Thus students are encouraged to actively participate in the diverse cultural programs offered on campus. Some of these events include the guest lecture series, cultural nights at the International House, and international film screenings. Visit the Center for International Education website (http://web.utk.edu/~globe/about.shtml) or the Ready for the World website (http://www.utk.edu/readyfortheworld/) for more information on upcoming cultural programs and activities.
Students are also encouraged to develop a global perspective within their academic program through study abroad. Visit the Programs Abroad Office website (http://web.utk.edu/~globe/pao/) for information on study abroad opportunities.
Learn more about UT's Ready for the World initiative to help students gain the international and intercultural knowledge they need to succeed in today's world.
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|Geology 101 or 102 or 103 (choose two)||8|
|Sophomore Year||Credit Hours|
|Junior Year||Credit Hours|
|Foreign Language and/or General Electives||8|
|Physics 135 or Physics 221||4|
|Geology (major-field camp)||5|
|Senior Year||Credit Hours|
|Geology (major 400-level or above)||9|
|Communicating Through Writing||3|
|GRAND TOTAL (minimum)||120|
For More Information
Dept. of Earth & Planetary Sciences
1412 Circle Drive
The University of Tennessee
Knoxville, TN 37996
The information on this page should be considered general information only. For more specific information on this and other programs refer to the UT catalog or contact the department and/or college directly.
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- Provide the right information on disability to the right people at the right time to facilitate a positive action
- Set a national agenda for participation of persons with disability in nation building
Information is a powerful tool. It can lead to self-advocacy and empowerment, if used intelligently. This is what we firmly believe in at Disability News and Information Service (DNIS) - a fortnightly news service on the Indian disability sector.
Disabled people account for a whopping 6 percent of India's total population. Deprived of basic rights, they are often ignored when our country planners look into new changes in critical sectors like health, education, transport and commerce.
For far too long, disability in India has been viewed as a thing of charity rather than as a human rights issue. Although as a cultural trait charity may seem well meaning, it creates a dependency syndrome - humiliating indeed for an individual's self esteem.
DNIS aims to empower persons with disabilities by making them, their family members and the society at large aware of their rights.
With disability rapidly emerging as a rights movement in the country, DNIS aims to set a national agenda for the policy makers, by disseminating information and creating awareness about the rights of disabled people.
Our aim is to mobilise NGOs, politicians, media, parents, disabled people, educationists, lawyers, architects, designers, town planners, and other civic bodies to create a disabled-friendly and barrier-free society.
We urge your participation by bringing important issues to our attention, by disseminating information you receive from us and by guiding our initiatives through your valuable suggestions.
DNIS is produced and managed by:
National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People
- Concept Note (76 KB)
- Nomination Form - Corporates / Organisations (78 KB)
- Nomination Form – Individual (80 KB)
- List of Awardees 2012 :NCPEDP MPHASIS Universal Design Awards (11.4 MB)
- List of Awardees 2011 :NCPEDP MPHASIS Universal Design Awards (864 KB)
- List of Awardees 2010 :NCPEDP MPHASIS Universal Design Awards (623 KB)
SHELL HELEN KELLER AWARDS
NCPEDP-Shell Helen Keller Awards 2012
New Disability Law
Disability News and Information Service is produced and managed by:
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Good job bringing this to light. People won't realise how huge the problem is and municipalities are woefully ill equipped to...
Agreed; mining can never be sustainable, but then how do you get the metals to make all the things you need in the course of...
Very good piece.
a garden that also cleans your wastewater -- this is what researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology (iit), Mumbai, have in store for residential colonies and industrial complexes. "Our method, called soil biotechnology (sbt), treats wastewater in a manner similar to what happens in the nature," says H S Shankar, the lead researcher, who is a professor with iit's department of chemical engineering. Unlike most biological wastewater treatment technologies that are dependent upon water, sbt uses soil as the medium to treat human waste. "Both water and soil comprise dead carbon, but unlike soil, there isn't enough oxygen in the water to treat the waste adequately," explains Shankar. Moreover, chemical oxygen demand (cod), whose high value is indicative of poor water quality, decreases faster in soil than in aquatic environment.
In a typical sbt treatment plant, wastewater is diverted into a cemented pit called tank 1 (see diagram: Cheap and better). A small area in the centre of the tank is enclosed by a wire mesh to keep the debris out. The water collected in the central part is pumped into a nearby plot, which has a membrane lining at the bottom to prevent water from seeping into the ground. Instead of letting the wastewater flow all over the plot, it is sprinkled into beds marked 1; these consist of layers of gravel to remove the suspended and organic particles from the wastewater. From these beds, the water flows into another pit called tank 2. Thereafter, it is again pumped into the plot for secondary treatment. This time, it is sprinkled on beds marked 2, whose top layer is covered by creepers and shrubs to fix the nitrogen of the wastewater. A culture of microorganisms is introduced in the underlying layers of the beds to remove the dissolved substances from the water. "The culture consist of bacteria and earthworm; the bacteria consume the organic matter in the wastewater, and their number is regulated by the earthworms," tells B R Pattanaik, one of the iit researchers. The process of secondary treatment is repeated for four to five hours. "As a result of such thorough treatment, the quality of the water is very good; it is then pumped through an underground pipeline for irrigation," informs Pattanaik.
There are seven such treatment plants in Mumbai. Three more are coming up -- one in Mumbai and two in Gujarat. In Mumbai's Western Naval Command colony, where such a plant has been in use since 2001, a 500-square metre plot is cleaning 50 cubic metres of water per day. If there is a space constraint, as is the case in many areas, then the depth of the beds can be increased and the composition of the culture can be accordingly altered. The plot does not get waterlogged when it rains.
A sbt plant treating five cubic metres of wastewater per day needs an initial investment of Rs 2.45 lakh. Operational cost for such a plant is only Rs 20 per cubic metre, and it decreases significantly as the capacity of the plant is increased. When compared with other biotechnologies, its cost per person is very low. "For instance, in case of rapid infiltration and overland flow technologies, the cost is between about Rs 230-Rs 680 per person, but for sbt it is only about 70 paise to Rs 1 per person on an average," says Avinash Kadam, another researcher. The technology can also be used for cleaning the water of swimming pools, ponds and lakes. The researchers have filed an application to obtain a us patent for the method.
A community can easily manage the treatment plant. This, according to Shankar, is one of the biggest advantages of sbt. "If we have very mechanised and power-intensive technologies, communities will not be able to adapt them. This is the reason why water recycling is not very popular as of yet. Most of the times, water is treated merely to meet standards set by various regulatory bodies," says Shyam R Asolaker, associate professor, iit Mumbai.
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RIGHT after the big bang the Universe existed as a soup of free-roaming fundamental particles that didn't obey the normal rules of physics, scientists have confirmed at CERN, the European laboratory for particle physics near Geneva.
Particles such as protons and neutrons are actually made up of smaller fundamental components called quarks which cannot exist on their own. Quarks are kept tightly bound together by something called the strong force, which in turn is mediated by other particles called gluons.
But theory predicts that immediately after the big bang, conditions would have been so hot and dense that the strong force would break downsqueezing the quarks and gluons into a homogeneous soup. Only as the Universe expanded and cooled, would the quarks undergo a "phase transition" and condense into complex particles.
Physicists at CERN put this idea to the test by smashing lead ions into each other. This effectively re-enacted ...
To continue reading this article, subscribe to receive access to all of newscientist.com, including 20 years of archive content.
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Adding more fiber to a diet may help lower blood pressure and may help enhance healthy blood pressure levels. For the investigation, the researchers used a meta-analysis study, which combines information from many studies to look for trends that otherwise may not be noticed. The study evaluated data on 1500 adults in 25 studies. The researchers found that consuming between 7 and 19 g of fiber daily resulted in a reduction in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure.
"We performed a comprehensive analysis of data from 25 clinical trials, and all the data pointed to one strong conclusionadding fiber to a person's diet has a health effect on their blood pressure," according to lead author and medical student Seamus Whelton. He further explained why the researchers chose a meta-analysis study. "Analyzing a large number of studies lends strength to the conclusions of clinical trials that involved too few participants [individually] to show an effect of dietary fiber on blood pressure."
The researchers suggested that individuals incorporate fruits and vegetables into their diet in order to increase their intake of dietary fiber. They noted that additional changes in diet and exercise can help lower blood pressure and should be discussed with a physician.
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India and China race to the moon
Thought NASA was the only government body planning to tread those dusty lunar craters? Wrong. The world's most populous nations are eyeing them hungrily. "The moon has tremendous commercial potential," says Indian president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, the former head of his nation's 44-year-old space program. Indeed, the moon is full of minerals and helium-3, a possible future energy source. That's why India's Chandrayaan-1, a robotic spaceship, is scheduled to pay it a flying visit in September. The United States is so impressed with the mission, it's hitching a ride with a radar device that will scan for lunar ice. Not to be outdone, China's $2.6 billion space agency will launch the Chang'E-1 lunar orbiter next year too, part of its plan to put a taikonaut on the moon by 2017 - a year ahead of NASA.
A $100 PC hits the third world
If all goes according to Nicholas Negroponte's plan, there will be 10 million PCs in the hands of the planet's poorest children by the end of 2007. The $100 laptop, which technologist Negroponte and his MIT team have been working on for the better part of a decade, goes on sale in the spring. (Initially, the price will be $150.) Out of necessity, its various versions boast the most sophisticated low-energy computer tech ever seen - like a hand-crank power source and a chipset that consumes 13 percent of the normal wattage - and mesh networking so kids can share files without a server. Argentina, Brazil, Nigeria, and Thailand are lining up to buy them.
USB cuts the cable
There are more than 2 billion USB peripherals in the world - including, most likely, your printer, mouse, keyboard, and just about anything else attached to your computer. But what if they didn't have to be attached? That's the promise of Wireless USB, or WUSB, a new global standard that PC manufacturers will begin incorporating into their machines next year. Faster, easier to connect, and less power-consuming than Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, WUSB's ultra-wideband radio technology can deliver data at a hyperfast 480 megabits per second - the same as USB 2.0 - at a range of up to 10 meters. And WUSB-enabled machines can support as many as 127 connected devices simultaneously. That makes for a lot fewer cables on your desktop.
Ad-free news covers the globe
What if there were a cable channel that married the best of PBS and CNN - that is, 24-hour world news with a global network of correspondents, but paid for by viewers rather than advertisers? That's the idea behind Independent World Television and its flagship show The Real News, the brainchild of Canadian TV producer Paul Jay. Seeing a widespread distaste for dumbed-down, ad-filled news, Jay believes that just $250,000 in viewer subscriptions will let his channel break even. He already has the support of big names like Gore Vidal, who's been doing Hollywood fundraisers for IWT, as well as Phil Donahue and Naomi Klein. If all goes well, IWT expects to be the TV version of "citizen journalism," with contributions from the best of the blogosphere. The service will launch in November in 58 million households worldwide.
Solar panels slim down
With help from massive VC funding and subsidies from the state of California, the solar power industry is taking off. But as it scales up, solar is running into a problem: a shortage of silicon, also used for that other California commodity, computer chips. Enter thin-film solar panels, a technology that uses 1 percent of the silicon of regular panels - and is flexible enough to be printed on sheets that can be layered on top of, or sandwiched between, glass without being visible. Thin film has been around for a while, but production is expected to ramp up by 70 percent next year. Honda, Sharp, and Energy Conversion Devices (pictured) have all built production facilities to churn out the film. It's going to be a very sunny year.at a 2-year-old can use it.
The alarm clock goes open-source
It started out as a simple Internet-connected alarm clock, one you interact with by touching the screen or grabbing its "squeeze sensor." But the Chumby has already become much, much more than that. Among hackers and open-source advocates, it's probably the most anticipated gadget of 2007. That's because Chumby Industries was founded by a group of programmers, including game-console hacker Andrew Huang, who made the gadget eminently easy to develop for. (Call it the first Web 2.0 device.) So when the $150 coconut-size Chumby launches in the spring, with free service, it'll have an array of downloadable, hacker-created widgets. You can wake up with Google News and the latest photos from your friends' Flickr accounts or use Chumby as a remote control for your TV and MP3s. All this in an interface so squeezably simple that a 2-year-old can use it.
TV gets a better choice
For an activity that Americans spent $30 billion on this year, buying a new television offers lousy choices. Cathode-ray tubes look sharp but are too big and boxy. LCDs are kind of fuzzy and hard to see from an angle, and run the risk of dead pixels. Plasma screens are too pricey and heavy. That's why the market is wide-open for the arrival of SED TV in July. SED, or surface-conduction electron-emitter display - a technology developed jointly by Toshiba and Canon - combines the sharpness of a CRT (by firing electrons at a screen) with the slim form of an LCD or plasma. The Japanese companies have been working on SED TVs for a while, garnering plenty of buzz with prototypes at trade shows and waiting until the price came down enough for mass production. Early SEDs are expected to cost $10,000.
Condoms invade Viagra's turf
When Viagra first cleared the FDA hurdle in 1998, it was the butt of a thousand talk-show jokes. But that didn't stop it from becoming a $1.6 billion bonanza for parent company Pfizer. It meets a need, and that same need is moving Durex to launch a revolutionary condom, the CSD500, in late 2007. Its secret sauce: an "erectogenic compound" called Zanifil, patented by tiny U.K. company Futura Medical. Pending FDA approval, Zanifil will be the first Viagra-like chemical to be sold over the counter. But it has to be applied directly to the skin - hence the Durex partnership. If it accomplishes anything near Viagra's sales, Futura will be standing proud.
The DARPA Grand Challenge
After its teams successfully completed a robotic car race through the desert last year, the agency that gave us the Internet is moving the contest to a yet-to-be-announced urban environment.
A drink that burns more calories than it contains? Sounds like the holy grail of America's diet-conscious culture - and that's exactly what Coca-Cola and Nestlé are hoping their caffeinated green tea beverage will be when it hits store shelves.
Need more ways to lose money in Vegas? Is that slot machine too far? The Venetian will be the first casino to provide cell phones that guests can gamble on, thanks to new Nevada regulations.
Steve Jobs rarely announces products ahead of time, but with iTV - a $299 box that will stream video from your Mac, PC, or iPod to your TV - he couldn't contain himself. Analysts can't wait to see if this will be as revolutionary as the iPod.
If all goes well, EarthLink will have blanketed two major U.S. cities with wireless Internet by the end of 2007: San Francisco (with Google's help) and Philadelphia.
Yes, it's a toy. But this $250 hyper-realistic dinosaur, from the creator of Furby, is stuffed with 38 sensors that pick up motion, light, touch, and sound. If it catches on, Pleo could transform the toy industry.
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Potentially, there are many interpretations of the terms Occupational Overuse Syndrome (OOS), Stressors and Stress.
Definitions (not medical diagnosis):
Occupational Overuse Syndrome (OOS) - muscle or tissue damage characterized by discomfort and persistent pain in muscles, tendons and soft tissue in the upper body.
Workplace Stressors - demands from the environment, such as work-role demands and work pace, and perceptions of the environment, such as job control, job boredom and job ambiguity.
Occupational stress - a form of strain, a state of negative emotions and arousal experienced in relation to the work role.
Psychological distress - psychological ill-health involving a clinical condition with sustained symptoms of anxiety and depression.
Occupational Overuse Syndrome symptoms are influenced by multiple factors. Symptom development supports a complex model that includes physical work role demands, workplace culture, personality, and health behaviors.
Occupational stress does not predict Occupational Overuse Syndrome symptoms.
Symptoms were reported with high demands for physically repetitive work, computer use, reportedly poor ergonomic equipment, and an adversarial workplace culture (low supervisor support, low occupational health support, job insecurity, ambiguity and job boredom).
Occupational Overuse Syndrome symptoms are higher in Type A personality characteristics are also linked to workplace management concerns (rewarding competitive, hard driving work behavior where employees are expected to meet deadlines they find hard to keep and to work extra or long hours). Type A behavior, an external locus of control and the experience of goal loss (the perception that valued life goals, including career goals, cannot be attained), predicted higher distress levels.
Occupational Overuse Syndrome symptoms are higher for younger individuals, for non-English speaking backgrounds, women, and lower levels of health behaviors (Health behaviors such as poor exercise and lack of relaxation). Consider link for women’s lack of leisure time and domestic work responsibilities.
Perceived high occupational stress was best predictor of the psychological distress and concerns about an adversarial workplace culture
Intervention that include regularly relaxing and exercising reduced levels of occupational stress and psychological distress.
Occupational Overuse Syndrome Stressors and the Workplace Report. Comcare. Sydney, Australia, Australia Government 1-11, 1998. Reference ID: 6604
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As the body moves forward through the water a pressure wave builds up in front and, the faster the pace, the more effort is needed to overcome it. With EDS/HMS patients walking fast, using short precise steps is preferable, avoiding hyperextension at hip or knee. Emphasis should be placed on controlling the legs and not allowing "Wobble" at the hip of either the moving or standing leg. Tile lines are useful here, as the patient can concentrate on moving straight down the line, and not allowing any deviation to either side. As strengh and balance improve, speed can be increased and the hydropherapist can add turbulance, while encouraging the keeping of a straight course against the uneven flow of water.
Brisk sideways walking works hip abductors and adductors. Here the point to watch is that the patients pelvis and toes face sqaure on to the wall, so there is true abduction and adduction, not flexion, taking place at the hips. Small range, moving fast works best, and the ankle of the moving leg is everted as the leg is pushed out, inverted as it pulls in, to prevent passive overstraining of the ankles by flow of the water.
Hip flexors and extensors
A) Isometric. Standing chest deep in water, holding rail for balance. Swing one leg briskly backwards and forwards, in a small range, keeping the knee straight, but not hyperextended. Make sure there is no "wobble" on standing or moving the leg.
B) Static. Lying. fully supported, on bed, small ring around thigh. push down against resistance of float, hold for count of 10, and relax. To increase the work use a larger ring around thigh,a s moving the ring to the ankle to lengthen the lever, as would be usual will force the knee into hyperextension.
Knee flexors and extensors
A) Isometric. Standing chest deep in water, holding rail. Flex and extend one knee briskly, avoiding hypermobile range.
B) Static. Quads:-
Standing facing the wall, inclined at an angle of 45º, with float around ankle, and knee bent (Avoid forcible flexion of knee by float) Extend knee against float, hold for counts of 10, relax.
Sitting with one knee extended, and float around ankle (Again avoid forcible extension of knee by float) Bend knee against resistance of float, hold for count of 10, relax.
With the patient sitting up to her neck in the water, shoulder flexors and extensors, ab and adductors, elbows and wrists can be worked in the same way, using small range free exercises pushing strongly through the water, followed by static holds against the buoyancy of a float. Shoulder rotators can be worked with the patient sitting, elbows bent to 90º, and held into the waist, while the hands move in and out. Towards and away from the midline. As the shoulders become more stable it may be possible to use plastic hand paddles to increase the resistance. The ones with wide straps over wrists and hands are preferable, as they support the wrists in the flow of the water.
Cool down period
Many EDS/HMS patients have hypermobile cervical vertebrae, and are unhappy about using a head collar to float as it strains the neck. Always check this, but if they are comfortable in a collar, or confident enough t float without one, effective stabilising exercises can be done in floating. For example, with the patient supine in floats arms abducted, grasping paddles the physiotherapist fixes the hips, and pulls the patient backwards and forwards through the water. While the arm position does not alter. This technique can be adapted to other parts of the body, where the patient hold the join in a fixed position against the turbulence and drag created by the hydrotherapist.
Rhythmic stabilisations can also be performed, using annual resistance, in sitting and standing. The cool-down period could include balance work, such as slow walking, standing on one leg, and slow stepping up and down on small step, with the emphasis on control of the movement and balance. These exercises can be made more difficult by the physiotherapist adding turbulence
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What do Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, Hannibal Hamlin, and Millard Fillmore have in common? All are former vice presidents of the United States. Two are on Mount Rushmore; two are not.
Forty-seven men have occupied the office of vice president, and while they were in there, they did little other than serve as presiding officer of the Senate, their only constitutional mandate.
Vice presidents were chosen more for perceived vote-getting abilities than because of genuine credentials as public servants—which many had. Even so, an aura of veiled weirdness has hovered over the office for more than two centuries.
In 1788, the U.S. held its first presidential election under a flawed system: The man with the most electoral votes got to be president, and the man finishing second became vice president. President John Adams, elected following Washington in 1796, and Vice President Thomas Jefferson detested each other. Imagine George W. Bush with Al Gore as vice president or an Obama-Romney administration, and you’ll understand.
In 1800, Jefferson and Adams faced off—the first time two former vice presidents mutually sought the presidency. But Adams finished third while Jefferson and Aaron Burr tied with 73 votes each. Burr had agreed in advance to serve as Jefferson’s vice president, and that’s how things ultimately worked out.
Jefferson’s near-disaster led to the passage of the 12th Amendment, which required electors to cast separate votes for the two offices. This spared us, up to a point, acrimony between the two top office holders. Since the first vice president was elected in 1788, a motley of murderers, traitors, bribe takers, and outright crooks have paraded through the vice presidency. What’s more, during the 224 years between 1788 and 2012, the office has stood vacant on 18 occasions for a total of almost 38 years.
The nation survived not only those 18 vacancies but also the 10 and one-half vice presidents we examine below.
Our third vice president, Aaron Burr of New York, set the tone of lunacy that so often defines the office. Burr killed Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton in an illegal duel and got himself charged with murder in both New York and New Jersey. After leaving office, shady land deals in the western wilderness got him charged with treason. He was never convicted of either crime.
How do you get one-half of a vice president? John Tyler of Virginia did it this way. He was the “too” of the 1840 campaign slogan, “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too.” The “Tippecanoe” half of the ticket was William Henry Harrison who spoke for three hours at his rainy inauguration, caught pneumonia, and died 31 days later, making Tyler our shortest-serving vice president.
Incredibly, though the Constitution provided for a vice president, it did not state expressly that the vice president would assume the office of president following a chief executive’s death. A quick-acting Congress rectified this … in 1967.
Before even being elevated to the presidency, Tyler signaled his lack of interest in his elected position. In fact, immediately after Harrison’s inauguration, Tyler left Washington and didn’t return until he was summoned at the president’s death. On his return, Tyler resisted congressional attempts to name him “temporary” or “acting” president and served almost a full term as a no-asterisk president. In that post, however, he was unremarkable and historians have called him weak. He so alienated his party that he was denied its nomination for the election of 1844.
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Last name: Elson
This interesting surname has two possible origins. Firstly, it may be of English locational origin from Elson in Hampshire or Shropshire. The former was recorded as "Aethelswithetuninga" in the 948 Saxon Charters and is so called from the old English pre 7th Century female personal name "Aethelswith" (composed of the elements "aethel" meaning noble plus "swith", strong and "tun" meaning enclosure or settlement). The latter was recorded as "Elleston" in the Antiquities of Shropshire (1247) and derives from the old English personal name "Elli" plus "tun" (as before). The second possibility is as a patronymic form of "El", itself being a pet form of Ellis, deriving from the Hebrew "Eliyahu" meaning "Jehovah is God". The surname is first recorded in the latter half of the 14th Century (see below). In the modern idiom, the surname has many variant spellings including Elson, Ellson, Ellsom, etc.. The marriage of Mary Elsom and Richard Sawford took place at St. Dunstan's, Stepney on February 25th 1632 and Maria, daughter of Thomae and Margaretta Elsom was christened on October 26th 1662 at St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Westminster, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Ricardus Elson, which was dated 1379, in the "Poll Tax Returns of Yorkshire", during the reign of King Richard 11, known as "Richard of Bordeaux", 1377 - 1399. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.
© Copyright: Name Origin Research www.surnamedb.com 1980 - 2013
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What are the Roles of Largest Groups of Mammals
Mammals are air-breathing vertebrate animals that came, from the mammary glands that are functions in mothers with young. The word “mammal” is from the scientific name Mammalia derived from the Latin word mamma. There are about 5,000 species of living mammals. Unlike other class of animals, mammals have hairs in the body, have 3 middle ear bones, and they nourish their young with milk. All female mammals nurse their young born with their own milk, who lay from its sweet glands called the mammary glands. They feed their young born and stay with them until they develop well. They protect their young even if, it can cause their life. The largest Groups of Mammals are the placental group. Placental is a class of mammal who carry their young inside their body. This include the whales, dogs, cats, rats, deer, sheep’s, bears, seals, rabbits and even us the human species can be called as mammals.
There are other mammals that they call the marsupial. This class of mammal carried and nourishes the young’s in a pouch like the kangaroo and monkey. They protect them and teach them until the time to come that they are grown and ready to get out of the pouch. Only that human species are the highest group of mammals that live on earth. Most of the mammals possess specialized teeth. Human species are a bit different from the other mammals because they have the higher class of brain. There thinking ability is not like other animals. Not all animals can be part of the group of mammals. Only those animals that have a strong connection with their young can be class as mammals. Reptiles and birds are sometimes referred as a mammal like, but they are not mammals. In short that animal who lays egg is not a mammal.
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An omnibus bill is a proposed law that covers a number of diverse or unrelated topics. Omnibus is derived from Latin and means "for everything". An omnibus bill is a single document that is accepted in a single vote by a legislature but packages together several measures into one or combines diverse subjects.
Because of their large size and scope, omnibus bills limit opportunities for debate and scrutiny. Historically, omnibus bills have been used to pass controversial amendments. For this reason omnibus bills are considered anti-democratic.
In the United States examples include reconciliation bills, combined appropriations bills, and private relief and claims bills. Omnibus legislation is routinely used by the United States Congress to group together the budgets of all departments in one year in an omnibus spending bill. In Canada one famous omnibus bill became the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1968-69, a 126-page, 120-clause amendment to the Criminal Code of Canada, which dealt with issues as diverse as homosexuality, prostitution, abortion, gambling, gun control and drunk driving. In the Republic of Ireland the Second Amendment was an omnibus constitutional law, enacted in 1941, that made many unrelated changes to the state's fundamental law.
|This legislature-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.|
- "Omnibus bills in Hill history". Lorne Gunter (in English). Sun Media. 18 June 2012. Retrieved 18 June 2013.
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