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- You are here
- The Year 8 Options
- GCSE History
Studying the past may brighten your future!
Do you know why the conflicts currently happening in the world even started? Do you know why some countries are friends and others are enemies? Why is it people say that history is repeating itself when certain things happen? Studying History can give you answers to these big questions.
Studying history GCSE will give you the chance to learn how the 20th century has been shaped by conflict, extremism and inspiring individuals. You will get the chance to study fascinating and important turning points of the past 100 years, and see how people view these events in very different ways.
Over the two years you will learn about how Hitler turned Germany in to a country of fear, secrecy and control; about how the world was on the brink of World War Three; about how 20th century Britain has been influenced by popular culture, technology and war and how Martin Luther King’s dream has helped transform modern America.
History GCSE will help you do just that!
Students at GCSE undergo a rigorous curriculum involving a variety of modules including:
- Unit 1 International Relations 1945-1991
- Unit 2 Germany 1918-1939
- Unit 3 20th Century Britain
- Unit 4 Government and protest in America 1945-1975
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Glossary -- Indonesia
- Refers to people who are nominally Muslim and who, in fact,
are followers of kebatinan (q.v.). The word is
derived from the Javanese abang, which means "red."
- Asian Development Bank
- Established in 1967, the bank assists in economic development
and promotes growth and cooperation in developing member
countries. The bank is owned by its forty-seven member
governments, which include both developed and developing
countries in Asia and developed countries in the West.
- Association of Southeast Asian
- Founded in 1967 for the purpose of promoting regional
stability, economic development, and cultural exchange. ASEAN's
founding members were Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Singapore, and Thailand; Brunei joined ASEAN in 1984.
- Bahasa Indonesia
- The Indonesian national language, also known as Indonesian;
an Austronesian language reported to be modelled on Riau Malay
and 80 percent cognate with Standard Malay.
- Confrontation (Konfrontasi)
- Indonesia's 1963-66 effort to disrupt the new state of
Malaysia, which Indonesian leaders regarded as a front for a
continued British colonial presence in Southeast Asia.
- Consultative Group on Indonesia
- Formed after the March 1992 demise of the Inter-Governmental
Group on Indonesia (IGGI; q.v.). Except for the
Netherlands, the membership is the same as IGGI.
- fiscal year (FY)
- April 1 to March 31.
- Food and Agriculture Organization
- A United Nations specialized agency established in 1945 to
raise living standards and increase the availability of
- Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor (Frente
Revolucionária do Timor Leste Independente); a guerrilla movement
seeking the independence of East Timor. Fretilin was established
- General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
- Negotiated in 1947 among twenty-three original signatories
who were members of the United Nations Economic and Social
Council and went into effect January 1, 1948, as an interim
arrangement pending the ratification of the proposed
International Trade Organization. GATT functions as a
multilateral treaty aimed at promoting the expansion of
international trade on a nondiscriminatory basis. As of 1992, 101
nations, including Indonesia, had acceded to the GATT.
- Golongan Karya (Functional Groups); the ruling political
parties; a federation of groups within society, such as peasants,
workers, and women.
- gross domestic product (GDP)
- The value of domestic goods and services produced by an
economy in a given period, usually a year. Only output of goods
for final consumption and investment is included, as the value
added by primary or intermediate processing is assumed to be
represented in the final prices.
- gross national product (GNP)
- Gross domestic product (q.v.) plus income from
overseas investments and wages minus earnings of foreign
investors and foreign workers in the domestic economy.
- Group of Fifteen
- Group of Third World countries that participated in the
Conference on International Economic Cooperation, held in several
sessions between December 1975 and June 1977; it has continued to
meet and add additional members since 1977. The group in 1992
included nineteen members: Algeria, Argentina, Brazil, Cameroon,
Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria,
Pakistan, Peru, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Yugoslavia, Zaire, and
- Group of Seventy-seven
- Established in October 1967 with the aim of promoting
economic cooperation among developing countries. Indonesia was
among the seventy-seven original members. Despite the name, which
persists, by 1992 there were 123 members.
- Inter-Governmental Group on Indonesia
- An international group of lenders established in 1967 by the
Netherlands to coordinate multilateral aid to Indonesia. The
other members included the Asian Development Bank, International
Monetary Fund (q.v.), United Nations Development
Programme, World Bank (q.v.), Australia, Belgium,
Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, New Zealand,
Switzerland, and the United States. In March 1992, Indonesia
announced that it was rejecting further IGGI aid as long as the
Netherlands chaired the organization. IGGI was replaced by the
Consultative Group on Indonesia (q.v.).
- International Monetary Fund
- Established along with the World Bank in 1945, the IMF is a
specialized agency affiliated with the United Nations and is
responsible for stabilizing international exchange loans to its
members when they experience balance of payments difficulties.
- An amalgam of animist, Hindu-Buddhist, and Islamic
(especially Sufi) mystical elements that combine to form Javanese
mysticism. As a body of belief, kebatinan is officially
recognized in the 1945 constitution and is administered by the
Department of Education and Culture rather than by the Department
of Religious Affairs. Also known as kejawen, agama
Jawa, or Javanism.
- Nonaligned Movement
- Established in September 1961 with the aim of promoting
political and military cooperation apart from the traditional
East and West blocs. Indonesia was among the original members; as
of 1992, there were 101 members, 9 observers, and 12 "guests."
Indonesia was elected to chair the Nonaligned Movement from 1992
- Organization of the Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC)
- Founded in Baghdad, Iraq, on September 14, 1960, the
organization aims to coordinate petroleum policies of its member
countries: Algeria, Ecuador, Gabon, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq,
Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab
Emirates, and Venezuela. Indonesia joined OPEC in 1962.
- Outer Islands
- Term used by some sources to refer to all islands of the
Indonesian archipelago other than Java and Madura. Other sources,
however, use the term to refer to all islands except Java,
Madura, Bali, and Sumatra; still others say except Java and Bali
or exclude Java, Madura, and Bali. The term as translated from
Dutch--buitengewesten--means outer terroritories or
regions while a similar term from Bahasa Indonesia
(q.v.)--tanah seberang--means land (or lands)
over there, or across the seas. The term is sometimes considered
pejorative by those people living on the islands indicated.
- The state philosophy based on five interrelated principles:
belief in one supreme God; just and civilized humanitarianism;
nationalism as expressed in the unity of Indonesia; popular
sovereignty arrived at through deliberation and representation or
consultative democracy; and social justice for all the Indonesian
people. The Pancasila was announced by Sukarno on June 1, 1945.
From Sanskrit: panca (five) and sila
- Literally, an indigene, or native. In the colonial era, the
great majority of the population of the archipelago came to
regard themselves as indigenous, in contrast to the nonindigenous
Dutch and Chinese (and, to a degree, Arab) communities. After
independence the distinction persisted, expressed as a dichotomy
between elements that were pribumi and those that were
not. The distinction has had significant implications for
economic development policy.
- Repelita (Rencana Pembangunan Lima
- A five-year economic development plan: Repelita I (FY 1969-
73), Repelita II (FY 1974-78), Repelita III (FY 1979-83),
Repelita IV (FY 1984-88), and Repelita V (FY 1989-93).
- rupiah (Rp)
- Basic unit of currency. The exchange rate was fixed at Rp415
to US$1 from 1971 to 1978, when the rupiah was devalued to Rp625.
Thereafter, the rate has floated slightly, although two major
devaluations occurred in 1983 and 1986, bringing the exchange
rate to Rp1,641 at the end of 1986. A policy of more gradual
depreciation at about 5 percent per year has been followed
through 1992. In November 1992, the exchange rate was valued at
Rp1,881 per US$1, or Rp1 = US$.00018. The rupiah is made up of 5,
10, 25, 50, and 100 coins and 100, 500, 1,000, 5, 000, and 10,000
- Orthodox Muslims. In the Javanese context, the
santri are also sometimes referred to as
putihan (white ones), an allusion to their purity,
especially as contrasted to abangan (q.v.)
- sharia (Arabic; syariah in
Bahasa Indonesia, q.v.)
- Islamic canon
law. Among Shia (q.v.) Muslims the sharia includes the
Quran and the authenticated sayings of the Prophet
(hadith) and the Twelve Imams.
- Shia (or Shiite)
- A member of the smaller of two great divisions of Islam. The
Shias supported the claims of Ali and his line to presumptive
right to the caliphate and leadership of the Muslim community,
and on this issue they divided from the Sunnis (q.v.) in
the first great schism of Islam. Later disagreements have
produced further schisms among the Shias. Shias revere twelve
imams, most of whom are believed to be hidden from view.
- Comes from suf, the Arabic word for "wool." The term
derives from the practice of wearing a woolen robe, a sign of
dedicating oneself to the mystical life, known in Islam as
becoming a Sufi. Sufis, who seek mystical union with God, have
been condemned by some Sunni (q.v.) legal schools.
- Comes from sunna meaning "custom," giving
connotation of orthodoxy. A member of the two great divisions of
Islam, the Sunnis supported the traditional method of election to
the caliphate and accepted the Umayyad line. On this issue, they
divided from the Shia (q.v.) discipline in the first
great schism within Islam.
- transmigration program
- A voluntary rural resettlement plan
that seeks to move large numbers of Javanese to Indonesia's
underpopulated Outer Islands (q.v.).
Transmagrasi in Bahasa Indonesia (q.v.).
- value-added tax
- A tax levied on the value added income of a firm, defined as
the difference between total sales revenue and costs of
intermediate inputs, such as raw materials, used in the
- Literally, "shadow." A dramatic form in several major
variations, in which puppets or human performers, and sometimes
both, portray gods, heroes, villains, and other characters in
literary epics. The wayang kulit is shadow theater using
highly decorated flat leather puppets.
- World Bank
- Informal name used to designate a group of four affiliated
international institutions: the International Bank for
Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the International
Development Association (IDA), the International Finance
Corporation (IFC), and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee
Agency (MIGA). The IBRD, established in 1945, has the primary
purpose of providing loans at market-related rates of interest to
developing countries at more advanced stages of development. The
IDA, a legally separate loan fund but administered by the staff
of the IBRD, was set up in 1960 to furnish credits to the poorest
developing countries on much easier terms than those of
conventional IBRD loans. The IFC, founded in 1956, supplements
the activities of the IBRD through loans and assistance designed
specifically to encourage the growth of productive private
enterprises in the less developed countries. The MIGA, founded in
1988, insures private foreign investment in developing countries
against various noncommercial risks. The president and certain
officers of the IBRD hold the same positions in the IFC. The four
institutions are owned by the governments of the countries that
subscribe their capital. To participate in the World Bank group,
member states must first belong to the International Monetary
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What Is Slow Food > Slow Food USA Blog
Posted on Tue, April 16, 2013 by Slow Food USA
On the edge of San Francisco’s Mission District is Sanchez College Preparatory School, an elementary school that is working to address issues of hunger, poor nutrition, and deteriorating health within one of the city’s most affected populations.
Originally posted by Raymond Isola and John & Lolita Casazza for EdibleSchoolYard.org in March 2013.
On the edge of San Francisco’s Mission District is Sanchez College Preparatory School, an elementary school that is working to address issues of hunger, poor nutrition, and deteriorating health within one of the city’s most affected populations. The school has a child development center that has established a unique community-based program to improve nutrition and health habits for its 300 students and their families.
Sanchez School reflects the make-up of its neighborhood with a diverse population of students: 80 percent are Latino, with the remaining 20 percent of Filipino, other Asian, African-American, and European decent. Of the 82 percent of the students who qualify for the school lunch program, many of their families are considered low-income. What we are learning is that better diets equate to improved health, which can be correlated to more regular school attendance and increased learning.
A study in 2010 entitled Hunger In America found that “children from food insecure households are likely to be behind in their academic development compared to children from food secure families.” Given these findings and a deep understanding of the student population at Sanchez School, leaders of the school community sought to create a community education center to offer a proactive strategy for improving student and family nutritional knowledge and habits, while also improving student academic performance.
This vision deepened during a visit to Sanchez School by Carlo Petrini, founder of Slow Food International. Mr. Petrini and Dr. Isola, the former principal of Sanchez College Preparatory School, developed a School Community Development tool that incorporated three main goals:
One of the first actions taken was to develop a Green Schoolyard Master Plan as part of a voter-approved, bond-funded project where parents, students, staff, and the community at large would help to design a hands-on learning model. This model would offer more open space and an outdoor learning environment for all children at school.
With the help of organizations like Slow Food San Francisco, INKA Biospheric Systems, Bi-Rite Market, Education Outside and others, the once underutilized areas on campus became active areas with a school garden and greenhouse. The landscape included multiple beds of greens, herbs, flowers, and vegetables; a compost bin; an earth bed to play in and explore for insects and worms; and a state of the art vertical garden. Based on the school master plan, a large section of asphalt was taken out and two obsolete portable classrooms were removed to make room for a teaching garden and natural outdoor play environment.
A full-time green schoolyard specialist was hired through a grant. This specialist co-taught with the science teacher to incorporate the students’ garden learning into the science curriculum being taught by classroom teachers. The students also learned about recycling and composting. These combined learning experiences helped students develop environmentally responsible stewardship behaviors that are connected to ecological values within the context of the school’s daily operation. As students worked on building beds, they were visited by Apolinar Yerena, a local strawberry farmer and Mexican immigrant who shared his knowledge of strawberries as he planted them with students. Eventually these strawberries became a popular fruit for the students to eat and make sorbet with.
Soon the larger school community started to take interest in the greening project. Mothers who grew up in the Mexican and El Salvadoran countryside commented that their children, who live in the city, had the opportunity to experience what they had lived growing up in their far away countries. In the spirit of continuing to build community, Sanchez School constructed an outdoor meeting space and peace garden right in the middle of the playground that included native plants, a cobb bench, tiled murals, and large rocks where the students could play and relax. This collaboration was an effort between the school staff, the Sanchez Neighborhood Association, and the student council. There is also a sculpture garden on the west side of the school building that community members can see on a walk through the neighborhood.
To complete the garden project, Sanchez School formed a partnership with the San Francisco Food Bank in 2008. By then, Sanchez School had built a learning space and enacted a curriculum, but still desired more structured participation from parents and the community as a whole. This partnership with the food bank would allow students and families to have greater access to healthy food directly at the school. A weekly food pantry of seasonal food would be provided for 80 families along with nutritional snacks for the students during the school day. Parents would be responsible for organizing an equitable distribution system at the pantry — a responsibility they continue to oversee to this day. The staff from the San Francisco Food Bank also continues to be active partners by providing parents weekly cooking classes and bilingual recipes.
These classes and recipes help parents become familiar with foods they are sometimes unaccustomed to preparing. They also have the opportunity to learn how to cook these foods at home — knowledge that increases their cooking confidence and provides their families with a balanced and nutritious diet every day.
Has this community development tool been successful?
Only time will tell as it continues to evolve, but we are clearly seeing stronger school community relationships amongst people living and working in the neighborhood, an increased awareness about the school garden project, and improvements made to eating habits and student performance.
In the spring of 2012, the California Department of Education’s learning goal was a five-point academic performance index growth on the California Standards Test. Sanchez students exceeded this goal with 68 points academic progress, more than 13 times the expectation. In science, taking the most recent three-year average, fifth graders at Sanchez performed at the 59 percent proficiency level, just below the average for their peers in SF Unified School District, demonstrating a 62 percent proficiency, just above the state average of 58 percent. Comparing Sanchez School to several elementary schools with similar student populations, the average science proficiency levels at these schools hovered around 25 percent.
Sanchez School’s level of science proficiency is impressive given that it is a high-poverty school with a dramatic over representation of students learning English as second language with identified learning disabilities. Sanchez School parents are very supportive of the hands-on approach to learning in an outdoor classroom and view this education as a way for their children to develop science knowledge and healthy eating habits. Our hope is that other school communities adopt a similar tool to raise awareness about the important place that outside education has in the learning process and students’ ability to thrive, because a nutritious and healthy lifestyle is certainly connected to academic learning within green, vibrant spaces.
Dr. Raymond R. Isola is the former principal at Sanchez School Elementary for thirteen years. Currently, Dr. Isola is writing a book with Jim Cummins, who is professor and lead researcher at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto in Canada. John and Lolita Casazza are current San Francisco Slow Food Board members.
Posted on Mon, August 27, 2012 by Tim Smith
The Japanese bento box is a cultural food tradition that is perfect for packing a lunch, but also packs flair and color that kids love!
Written by and originally featured on The Huffington Post’s Kitchen Daily
We all know school cafeteria school lunch isn’t something to look forward to, and mom’s packed lunches aren’t always the cat’s meow, either. But imagine a lunch so great that it would be the envy of the entire cafeteria. The Japanese bento box, compartmental by nature, is the perfect box to pack lunch in. Not only that, but there’s a tradition in Japan of decorating the food in a bento box to look pleasing to the eye (called “kawaii”)—which, of course, is perfect for kids.
These bento box lunches from our blogger friends are designed for kids. Okay, so they may require some extra time to assemble, but at least you know your kids are eating a healthy lunch made with love and care (let’s hope they’re not trading them for bags of chips). Kids deserve a better, more fun school lunch and these bento boxes guarantee just that.
What do you think of bento box lunches packed for kids? Let us know in the comments.
Posted on Wed, August 22, 2012 by Slow Food USA
Back to school time! The biggest change most students will see will be on cafeteria trays. Check out these 15 innovative ways schools are making lunches healthier.
Written by Seyyada A. Burney, Nourishing the Planet
As summer draws to a close, it’s time for kids to go back to school. Sadly, this often means a return to terribly unhealthy school lunches filled with fried chicken, pizza pockets, sugary drinks, and high-calorie snacks. School food can jeopardize the health and well-being of America’s next generation, but fortunately, it’s also the best place to start addressing the obesity epidemic—one in three children is obese or overweight, increasing the risks of osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and liver problems later in life. This needs to change.
The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) feeds 32 million kids every year and is expanding rapidly as more families qualify for free or reduced-price meals. These lunches represent the primary source of nourishment for many children, but few schools have the facilities or the know-how to prepare fresh food—only the ability to reheat froze, processed foods high in sodium and fat. Even cafeterias that serve more fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole grains are often forced to subsidize programs using vending machines and snack bars loaded with sugar and high fructose corn syrup due to fiscal deficits and a lack of student interest.
Posted on Fri, August 10, 2012 by Slow Food USA
Back to school time. Planning on picking up an apple for your teacher’s desk? Ever wonder where this tradition came from? Have you thought about what apple to bring? Read on…
Written by Kelley McCrudden, Slow Food USA intern
The origin of gifting an apple on the first day of school is a bit of a mystery. Many believe the practice stems from the role of the apple as a divine food or source of immortality from ancient Greek mythology, while others link the apple to the lesson of right and wrong through the story of Adam and Eve. Some say it began in early colonial America when teachers were paid with the fruit and other foods in exchange for lessons. Provided that apples were some of the hardiest fruits grown in New England- often stored in cellars through the winter months- apples may have naturally become the most prevalent form of compensation.
Regardless of which story you choose to believe, it’s easy to see that giving an apple away is a smart decision. Not only are apples a healthy (only 80 calories) and a tasty treat, they are in season this time of year and will be coming to grocery stores throughout the country in mass quantities.
Posted on Wed, April 18, 2012 by Slow Food USA
A high school science project becomes a community mission for local food; leads to a cafeteria rooftop greenhouse and the community’s first produce market.
Written by Kate Soto, Slow Food USA member who can also be found at her blog, DomestiKating
Humboldt Park is one of Chicago’s 77 neighborhood areas, just west of trendy Wicker Park. It’s known for its beautiful 207-acre park, as well as its deeply rooted Puerto Rican community. Every June, thousands descend upon California and Division Streets to celebrate the Puerto Rican People’s Parade, where you can buy corn and arepas and any number of delicious foods. Yet, this neighborhood, comprised of a community with strong ties to cuisine, is considered a food desert.
The term food desert has been buzzing around Chicago since Mayor Emanuel declared it one of the key issues of his tenure. Approximately 40 percent of the city lives in a ‘food desert’, characterized by a lack of access to fresh, healthy food and grocery stores. These areas happen to occur exclusively in low-income African-American and Latino neighborhoods—like Humboldt Park.
Long before Mayor Emanuel took office, groups had been exploring the implications of food deserts on health and community. In 2006, Mari Gallagher produced a notable report examining their negative impact on public health. Around the same time, Sinai Urban Health Institute did a study that identified Humboldt Park’s obesity rate as considerably higher than the city average: 50 percent of Humboldt Park’s children were found to be obese.
Posted on Mon, November 14, 2011 by Slow Food USA
An inspiring example of what Slow Food members are doing all over the country, and a great way to protect yourself from the winter blues.
by Slow Food USA intern Becca Chelton
At this time of year we are right in the middle of the harvest, and we will soon have a long winter to get through. However, it’s never too soon to start looking forward to the spring, especially if you have a new school garden to plan. One Slow Food NYC member has a new school garden project in the works that will bring a much needed school farm to Brownsville, Brooklyn. It’s an inspiring example of what Slow Food members are doing all over the country, and a great way to protect yourself from the winter blues. The project is being spearheaded by Nora Painten, who spent this summer running a very successful summer garden program for the local children. Seeing the overwhelming support of the community inspired Nora to start a new farm in a vacant lot near Public School 323.
“I was working in Brownsville this past summer, and every day I would bike past a lot of vacant lost, but this one stood out because it was big and sunny, so I looked it up and it turns out that it was owned by the city. I wasn’t totally sure that I would be this supported and encouraged, but since I have, it’s been moving really fast and snowballing. There is a public school about half a block away, which I had never noticed, but once I found the space and started looking into the school, it was just the perfect marriage of ideas.”
Nora’s plans include a new water system (as there is currently no water running to the property), growing beds, and fencing. These three basic elements will allow them to start sowing seeds, planting flowers, fruit trees and perennials, and installing a chicken coop.
If everything goes according to plan, classes will start in May 2012. Teachers of all subjects can teach aspects of their curriculum in the garden. A core group of older students will become garden stewards, who help tend it over the summer and distribute fresh food throughout the community. This project is just one example of how an individual member can make a huge difference to a community in need. Nora spoke to us about how she got inspired.
“The most important part of the project is to bring food education and fresh produce into a neighborhood where there is very little of that. Diabetes and other health problems can be avoided by a decent food education. I think it’s important to consider all neighborhoods in NYC when thinking about greening cities and gardens. Often it’s done in places where people can afford to spend time thinking about these things. It’s about getting to all kids early and turning them into life long healthy eaters. If they become healthy eaters as kids, that turns into demand and buying power at the farmers market and for local food products.”
Posted on Mon, October 24, 2011 by Slow Food USA
Congress is planning dramatic cuts to the American budget and anything and everything is on the chopping block. The agricultural sector is likely to take a big hit but will the special Congressional “super committee” make positive change or keep pandering to Big Ag?
That’s no way to balance a budget: that’s a recipe for disaster.
Posted on Wed, October 12, 2011 by Slow Food USA
This week is National School Lunch Week, to celebrate we’re asking you, “How can we can we create a better school food system?” Answer to win a free copy of Nourish Short Films: 54 Bite-Sized Videos About the Story of Your Food.
This week, October 10-14th, is National School Lunch Week, a time to raise awareness about the importance of school meals in children’s health and our food system.
This month, Nourish, an educational initiative designed to open a meaningful conversation about food and sustainability, particularly in schools and communities, is showcasing perspectives on school lunch, from farm to school programs to parent activism. In this new video from Nourish Short Films: 54 Bite-Sized Videos About the Story of Your Food, food journalist Michael Pollan advocates for a better menu for America’s children.
In addition to Michael Pollan, the Nourish short films features segments with Jamie Oliver, Alice Waters, Bryant Terry, and other voices of the food movement, and such topics as “Edible Education,” “Grow, Cook, Learn,” and “Youth Making Change.” Our own Josh Viertel remarked that, “These short films bring to life a vision of a world where food is good for the people who eat it, good for the people who grow and pick it, and good for the planet.”
To celebrate National School Lunch Week, we’re giving away one of these free Nourish Short Films DVDs! But we want to hear from you first. Leave a comment below in answer to the question, How can we can we create a better school food system? We will select a winner at random, so there are no right answers, but send us your answers now – the contest will close on Sunday October 16th.
Posted on Mon, September 12, 2011 by Intern
Slow Food NYC has gotten its hands dirty in school gardens throughout the city with its Urban Harvest program. This summer they took those organizing skills to South Africa to partner with a local school to build a garden that gets more fresh fruits and veggies into the cafeteria.
by interns Sasha Hippard and Alaena Robbins
Artworks for Youth, a volunteer driven not-for-profit based out of New York City, provides year-long after school art instruction to under-served students across South Africa. Last year, they became interested in starting school gardens due to a necessity they saw when the school district could no longer feed a meal to the children during the day. Instead of just continuing to provide meals to the students, Artworks for Youth approached Slow Food NYC’s chapter leader Sandra McLean to take on a garden project at one of the South African schools. Sandra’s mission was to travel to Joe Slovo primary school, located in the Joe Slovo township, and help develop a school “feeding garden” that would serve both educational as well as practical purposes. With the help of $800 from fundraising and anonymous matching donor, Sandra was able to get to South Africa and collect the supplies needed to get the project started.
Posted on Mon, August 15, 2011 by Intern
Participants of the Willamette Food and Farm Coalition’s Farm to School project make frequent trips to local farms to learn and see first hand where their food comes from.
by intern Sasha Hippard
The Willamette Food and Farm Coalition’s Farm to School project just finished their spring season with great success! Through lessons both on the farm and in the kitchen, students left with an increased knowledge of where their food comes from, how to prepare it, and the benefits of eating local and healthy ingredients.
The Willamette Food and Farm Coalition is a community based non-profit based in Lane County, Oregon. They represent a diverse group of stakeholders in the local food systems, from farmers and producers to restaurateurs and consumers. The Farm to School project is aimed at educating Lane County kids about where their food comes from and working to incorporate locally grown produce into the meals served in schools.
As participants of the Farm to School project, students make frequent trips to local farms to learn and see first hand where their food comes from. However, thanks to the recent Anolon donation which included veggie peelers, cooking pots and pans, measuring cups, spoons, and spatulas, students can take this experience one step further. Not only can students see where their food comes from, but learn how to use it as well. From the farms, fresh fruits and veggies are harvested, and eggs gathered. Once in the classroom, students get busy cooking in small groups. By cooking up a snack with the food they’ve harvested themselves, students not only learn valuable lessons on food production and farming, but also tasty ways to use the ingredients they just saw produced.
With help from adult volunteers, kids have whipped up corn cakes with fresh strawberries, green salad with veggies and home-made ranch dressing, and scrambled eggs with sautéed greens. In the fall, the groups will return to the farms to harvest. Plans are being made to extend the repertoire of recipes further and make things like fresh salsa, potatoes with leeks and broccoli, and veggie soup with noodles. Yum.
Having good cooking supplies makes cooking fun and easy and connects kids to the source of their food to inspire healthy eating habits. The next master chef or revolutionary organic farmer just might come from this group of inspired (and full) kids!
Slow Food International also runs a publishing company, Slow Food Editore, which specializes in tourism, food and wine. The library now contains about 40 titles and houses Slow, the award-winning quarterly herald of taste and culture, available in five languages: Italian, English, French, German and Spanish.
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The idea that a full moon is connected with lunacy (violence, aggression, sleepwalking and general craziness) is probably as old as language, but is born anew with every generation. In fact, “lunacy” comes from the latin word luna, meaning moon. A full moon is also supposed to send pregnant women into labor and make nursing home residents more agitated. According to ancient philosophers, the moon affects human behavior and health by its gravitational pull on body fluids.
Scientists have investigated these and other lunar notions—and repeatedly debunked them. They have been unable to substantiate any links between phases of the moon and bizarre, murderous or suicidal behavior, various medical conditions or birth rates. And as astronomers and physicists will tell you, the gravitational pull of the moon on humans is virtually nil. (The moon influences tides in large bodies of water, but not water in our bodies.)
It seems, however, as if some of these researchers may have done their studies under the influence of a full moon. For instance, a paper published in the Journal of Emergency Medicine back in 1987 claimed to find that 80 percent of randomly selected nurses and 64 percent of doctors in emergency rooms in unnamed hospitals believed that lunar cycles affect mental health. The paper also noted that 92 percent of these nurses said they should be paid extra—“lunar pay differentials”—during a full moon. It’s probably safe to assume that the author’s tongue was firmly in his cheek when he wrote this.
Even so, those statistics were prominently cited in a new study in the journal General Hospital Psychiatry. It looked for correlations between phases of the moon and psychological problems (such as panic attacks, anxiety or mood disorders and suicidal thoughts) by examining records from the emergency rooms of two major Canadian hospitals. Once again, the researchers found no lunar connections. They warned health care professionals to abandon unfounded beliefs about the moon’s effect on their patients, which could become “self-fulfilling prophecies.”
Talk about lunacy!
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Guadalquivir RiverArticle Free Pass
Guadalquivir River, Spanish Río Guadalquivir, Arabic Wadi Al-Kabīr (“Great River”), major watercourse of southern Spain. Rising in the mountains of Jaén province, it flows in a generally westward direction for 408 miles (657 km), emptying into the Atlantic Ocean at Sanlúcar de Barrameda, on the Gulf of Cádiz. It drains an area of 22,318 square miles (57,803 square km).
The Guadalquivir is among the longest rivers in Spain (along with the Ebro, the Tagus, and the Guadiana), and it has several distinctive characteristics. Its natural environment is one of the richest and most varied areas of plant and animal life in Europe. Its irrigative capacity, particularly in its wide and fertile plain, supports the rich agriculture of Andalusia, and engineering improvements have aided the industrialization of towns along its course.
The Guadalquivir rises almost 5,250 feet (1,600 metres) above sea level, in southern Jaén province, to the north of the Sierra Nevada fronting the Mediterranean Sea. It then flows northward for about 30 miles (48 km), running through a narrow valley. After emerging from the reservoir of El Tranco de Beas, it follows a westerly and southwesterly trend for the remainder of its course. Between the cities of Andújar and Montoro, the river cuts a widening plain. After passing the city of Córdoba, the Guadalquivir irrigates the fruitful regions of Posadas and Lora del Río before reaching Sevilla. From there the river meanders lazily across a hot coastal plain, traversing the swamps of Las Marismas, the largest in Spain, before reaching its mouth at the eastern end of the Gulf of Cádiz.
The drainage basin of the Guadalquivir encompasses one of the greatest floral resources of Europe, containing representatives of half of the continent’s species of plant life, together with nearly all those of the North African region. The surrounding mountains are covered largely by forests of pine and oak, but more than a third of the total surface is olive groves. In addition, cereals (wheat and barley) and viticulture support the regional agriculture.
Fauna is as varied as the plant life, with animals representing a great variety of European and North African species. In the mountains wild boar, goat, fallow deer, chamois, partridge, and many other animals are found, making the area one of the great European hunting regions. Fish, notably trout and barbels, are found throughout the Guadalquivir, its reservoirs, and its approximately 800 tributaries. Its main tributary, the Genil River, originates in the Sierra Nevada and flows into the Guadalquivir River at Palma del Río.
What made you want to look up "Guadalquivir River"? Please share what surprised you most...
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Joined: 16 Mar 2004
|Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2009 9:11 am Post subject: Cell Slicing Method Cuts Solar Power Waste
|University of Utah engineers have devised a new way to slice thin wafers of the chemical element germanium for use in the most efficient type of solar power cells. They say the new method should lower the cost of such cells by reducing the waste and breakage of the brittle semiconductor.
Wafer of the element germanium, a semiconductor that is used as the bottom layer of highly efficient solar power cells. University of Utah engineers have devised a new way of cutting the wafers so that less of the expensive material is wasted during the cutting process. The method may reduce the cost of germanium-based solar cells and make them more economical to use on Earth. Because of their high cost, they now are used mainly on spacecraft.
The expensive solar cells now are used mainly on spacecraft, but with the improved wafer-slicing method, "the idea is to make germanium-based, high-efficiency solar cells for uses where cost now is a factor," particularly for solar power on Earth, says Eberhard "Ebbe" Bamberg, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering. "You want to do it on your roof."
Dinesh Rakwal, a doctoral student in mechanical engineering, adds: "We're coming up with a more efficient way of making germanium wafers for solar cells - to reduce the cost and weight of these solar cells and make them defect-free."
Bamberg and Rakwal are publishing their findings in the Journal of Materials Processing Technology. Their study has been accepted, and a final version will be published online late this month or in early October, and in print in 2009.
Brass-coated, steel-wire saws now are used to slice round wafers of germanium from cylindrical single-crystal ingots. But the brittle chemical element cracks easily, requiring broken pieces to be recycled, and the width of the saws means a significant amount of germanium is lost during the cutting process. The sawing method was developed for silicon wafers, which are roughly 100 times stronger.
The new method for slicing solar cell wafers - known as wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM) - wastes less germanium and produces more wafers by cutting even thinner wafers with less waste and cracking. The method uses an extremely thin molybdenum wire with an electrical current running through it. It has been used previously for machining metals during tool-making.
Germanium serves as the bottom layer of the most efficient existing type of solar cell, but is used primarily on NASA, military and commercial satellites because of the high expense - raw germanium costs about $680 per pound. Four-inch-wide wafers used in solar cells cost $80 to $100 each, and the new cutting method may reduce the cost by more than 10 percent, says Grant Fines, chief technology officer for germanium wafer-maker Sylarus Technologies in St. George , Utah .
"Anything that can be done to lower this cost ultimately will lower the cost of solar power per kilowatt-hour, which is beneficial," and will encourage wider use of solar power, he adds. "That's why this technology Ebbe has come up with is very intriguing."
Sylarus is considering using the new method, but must determine if it can be scaled up so wafers can be mass-produced in a commercially viable manner, Fines says.
Bamberg 's method would "reduce the amount we have to recycle and increase the yield," he adds. "It has the potential to give good savings, which helps enable this technology here on Earth."
A patent is pending on a way of using the new method so that multiple, parallel electrically charged wires are used to cut germanium wafers - a mass-production method Bamberg compares with an egg slicer.
Bringing High-Efficiency Solar Cells Down to Earth
Germanium is a semiconductor at the bottom of "multijunction" solar cells. Above it are layers of gallium-indium-arsenide and gallium-indium-phosphide. The layers work together to capture different wavelengths of sunlight, and the germanium also serves as the substrate upon which the solar cell is "grown."
When sunlight hits a solar cell, the energy is converted to a flow of electrons in the cell, namely, electricity.
Silicon-based solar cells on Earth have maximum efficiency of 20 percent, Fines says. In space, germanium solar cells typically convert 28 percent of sunlight into electricity, but on Earth where solar concentrators are used, they can convert more than 40 percent of sunlight into electricity, and their efficiency theoretically exceeds 50 percent, he adds.
Despite the greater efficiency of germanium-based solar cells, a 2005 survey found that 94 percent of solar cells made for non-space uses were silicon-based because silicon is much cheaper and less fragile than germanium, the Utah researchers say.
Bamberg says germanium-based solar cells are used on most spacecraft because they are more efficient and lighter than silicon-based solar cells. By making it more attractive economically to use efficient germanium solar cells on rooftops, the weight and size of solar panels can be reduced "so it doesn't bother you aesthetically," he adds.
The new method may make germanium-based solar cells competitive with less efficient but less expensive silicon-based solar cells for uses on Earth, says Bamberg .
Less Waste, More Wafers
In the new method, the molybdenum wire essentially is an electrode, and it is connected to a pulsed power supply that charges the wire during the cutting process.
A cylinder-shaped germanium ingot rests on a horizontal support, and the wire is lowered into the ingot as new wire is pulled continually from a supply spool to replace the cutting wire as it wears. Thin, synthetic oil is injected along the wire, both to increase the electrical charge on the wire and to flush away material that melts during the cutting process.
The process is slow. Wire electrical discharge machining takes 14 hours to cut a single wafer. Bamberg says the electrified wire method has to be done gently to avoid cracking the germanium, but he hopes to increase the speed to the six hours it now takes to cut a wafer using a wire saw.
Wire saws made of brass-coated steel have a thickness of about 170 or 180 microns (millionths of a meter). The Utah researchers used molybdenum wire 75 to 100 microns thick, a bit thicker than a human hair. Less germanium is wasted during the slicing process because the electrified cutting wire is thinner.
The study found that a 100-micron-thick electrified wire significantly reduced the waste and increased the number of wafers that could be made from a germanium ingot, but a thinner 75-micron-wide wire did even better.
"At the current standard wafer thickness of 300 microns, you can produce up to 30 percent more wafers using our method" with a 75-micron-wide wire, Bamberg says. "Since we produce them crack free, we can also make them thinner than standard techniques. So if you go down to a 100-micron-thick wafer, you can make up to 57 percent more wafers [from the same germanium ingot]. That's a huge number."
Making the wafers thinner will reduce their cost because more can be made from the same ingot, he adds.
The new study found that the "kerf" - which is the amount of germanium wasted during the slicing process - was 22 percent less when a 75-micron diameter electrified wire was used to cut the wafers, compared with the conventional wire saw method. The researchers cut 2.6-inch-diameter wafers with a thickness of 350 microns.
The study also showed less germanium was wasted not only using the smaller wire size, but also if the charge on the electrified wire was lower.
The study was funded by the National Science Foundation, University of Utah Research Foundation and Sylarus Technologies.
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Duodenal atresia is a condition in which the first part of the small bowel (the duodenum) has not developed properly. It is not open and cannot allow the passage of stomach contents.
The cause of duodenal atresia is unknown, but it is thought to result from problems during an embryo's development in which the duodenum does not normally change from a solid to a tube-like structure.
Duodenal atresia is seen in more than 1 in 10,000 live births. Approximately 20-30% of infants with duodenal atresia have Down syndrome. Duodenal atresia is often associated with other birth defects.
An abdominal x-ray may show air in the stomach and first part of duodenum, with no air beyond that. This is known as the double-bubble sign.
A tube is placed to decompress the stomach. Dehydration and electrolyte abnormalities are corrected by providing fluids through an intravenous tube. An evaluation for other congenital anomalies should be performed.
Surgery to correct the duodenal blockage is necessary, but is not an emergency. The surgical approach will depend on the nature of the abnormality. Associated problems (such as those related to Down syndrome) must be treated as appropriate.
Recovery from the duodenal atresia is expected after treatment. Untreated, the condition is deadly.
After surgery, there may be late complications such as:
Call your health care provider if your newborn is feeding poorly or not at all, vomiting (not simply spitting up), not urinating or stooling, or if the vomit is green.
There is no known prevention.
Wyllie R. Intestinal atresia, stenosis, and malrotation. In: Kliegman RM, Behrman RE, Jenson HB, Stanton BF, eds. Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics. 18th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier; 2007:chap 327.
Updated by: Neil K. Kaneshiro, MD, MHA, Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, University of Washington School of Medicine. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.
The information provided herein should not be used during any medical emergency or for the diagnosis or treatment of any medical condition. A licensed physician should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any and all medical conditions. Call 911 for all medical emergencies. Links to other sites are provided for information only -- they do not constitute endorsements of those other sites. Copyright 1997-2013, A.D.A.M., Inc. Duplication for commercial use must be authorized in writing by ADAM Health Solutions.
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Save the Harpy eagle
Rare, powerful and majestic, the harpy eagle symbolises nature’s precious patrimony that we must protect.
These birds are diminishing in numbers due to trafficking, poaching and the destruction of their natural habitat: forests.
The shooting of one harpy eaglet significantly threatens the survival of the species, given that adult harpy eagles produce only one offspring every three to four years.
The region of our operations is located south of the Amazonian forest and covers 6 Brazilian States: Mato Grosso, Para, Tocantins, Maranhão, Piaui, and Bahia.
In the field, Nordesta is developing a vast environmental awareness program through a number of long-term actions.
It is essential to reach the inhabitants of rural areas who are in direct contact with nature, such as small farmers and their families or teachers and their students. In order to do this we reach out to inform and educate these people, as well as offering them economic support, because most of them live in a state of great poverty.
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Yellowknife, home to the 2008 Arctic Winter Games, is the capital city of the Northwest Territories in Canada, just 500 km south of the Arctic Circle. It lies on the shores of the Great Slave Lake, west of the Yellowknife River, in the Mackenzie District.
The city has a semi-arid sub artic climate, with an average temperature of 26°C. As it lies in the rain shadow of mountains in the west, it receives less than 300 mm of precipitation in a year. January and February are the coldest, snow-filled months with the thermometer settling at –40°C.
Yellowknife has a population of nearly 20,000 people. It gets its name from the Yellowknives tribe that used to be widespread in the region. The city has a flourishing diamond and gold mining industry which has substantially contributed to its commercial revenue.
Your contribution can be useful for other tourists
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You are here:
- Home »
- Primer for First Timers
Primer for First Timers
The information provided below is intended for educational purposes. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional eye examination.
Presbyopia makes it difficult for people over age 40 to see clearly to read or do close work. It occurs as the lens in the eye begins to lose some of the elasticity needed to focus on near objects. Presbyopia is not a disease and is simply a normal part of the aging process.
- The need to hold reading materials further away to focus
- Headaches or tired eyes after close-up work
- Blurred vision at normal reading distance
- Require more light to see clearly
- Cornea: a clear covering over the front of the eye
- Iris: the colored part of the eye surrounding the pupil
- Pupil: the black hole in the middle of the iris; it gets smaller in bright light and larger in dim light
- Lens: the part of the eye that allows you to focus
- Retina: a thin layer of nerves on the back of the eye that detects light; it is similar to the film in a camera
- Optic Nerve: a bundle of nerves going from the eye to the brain
- Single Vision Full Readers
- Full frames provide uniform magnification over the entire lens.
- See all Single Vision Full Frames
- Single Vision Half Readers
- Half Frames allow you to glance over the top of the frame for clear distance vision.
- See all Single Vision Half Frames
- The upper portion of the lenses are clear. Lowering your eyes to the bifocal segment provides magnification for reading.
- See all Bifocals
- Progressive No-Line Bifocals
- The upper portions of the lenses are clear. As you lower your eyes the magnification increases gradually allowing you to see better at different close up distances.
- See all Progressive No-Line Bifocals
- Sun Readers
- The tinted upper portion of the lenses are clear. Lowering your eyes to the bifocal segment provides magnification for reading. UV protection.
- See all Sun Readers
- Computer Style Progressive
Computer Lenses, sometimes referred to as Office or Occupational Lenses, make it easy for your eyes to move back and forth between near vision tasks like computer work and reading printed material.
Computer lenses are a specialty type of progressive lens designed for today's world. Like any progressive lenses, they eliminate the need for multiple pairs of glasses. But more important, they give your eyes the focal length they need as they need it, greatly reducing eye strain.
1. Select your normal reading magnification power and the lens will do the rest. The upper portion of these lenses allow for intermediate range viewing, perfect for computer, not to mention tasks like, cooking, sewing, following sheet music, drafting or reading blueprints, and many more uses.
2. As you lower your focus to the bottom portion of the lens, the lens acts like any reading lens, making it easy to read cellphone screens, pill bottles, newspapers, or the latest best sellers. The included high quality Anti-Reflective Coating reduces eye strain even more, allowing you to enjoy your work and hobbies.
- See all Computer
- See all Computer
- 1003 Dragon Street
- Dallas, Texas 75207
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Each year, PSD is required by state law to create a Unified Improvement Plan that details how the school district is going to improve student achievement. This plan addresses state and federal requirements in Colorado's Accountability Act and the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
Three task forces, that were created in the wake of the Comprehensive Assessment for District Improvement (full report) or (summary), continue to work to address the original academic improvement strategies approved by the Board of Education in January 2011.
The heart of the Unified Improvement Plan is the strategic actions the district will perform in order to educate students and reduce achievement gaps.
PSD's three task forces are:
1) Initiative Management (Task Force 1): Design and implement a collaborative process to prioritize, deploy, and monitor district initiatives. This Task Force concluded its work with the resurrection of the Site Based Decision Making Council in 2011. The council was disbanded with changes to the Site Based Decision Making policy in 2013.
2) Teaching and Learning Framework (Task Force 2): Establish a collaborative process for defining and adopting non-negotiable learning outcomes for all students based on new state standards in core content areas. Members from this Task Force are part of Strategy #1 for the 2013 UIP.
3) Best Practices (Task Force 3): Establish a process for identifying and implementing specific evidence-based strategies and resources to effectively address student achievement gaps and align intervention and support materials with universal expectations. Members from this Task Force now comprise the Strategy #2 team.
Unified Improvement Plan process began spring 2010
The process for developing the PSD Unified Improvement Plan begins each summer when the district receives the first wave of test results from the state. The District Accountability Committee (DAC) is a staff and community committee that represents the various stakeholders in the district improvement planning process. The DAC reviews and makes recommendations to the Unified Improvement Plan. The Board of Education approves the Unified improvement plan in January of each year.
Schools submit school improvement plans
Each winter, each building's School Accountability Committee works on a school improvement plan for their specific school. These plans are reviewed by the PSD assistant superintendents of elementary and secondary schools and then uploaded to the state each spring. The DAC helps review the school improvement plans to gain a deeper understanding of the performance trends of the schools.
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Although many people overlook them, moths are numerous and widespread, with over 2,500 species in Britain living in a wide range of habitats. They are a major part of our biodiversity and play vital roles in the ecosystem, affecting many other types of wildlife.
Both adult moths and their caterpillars are food for a wide variety of wildlife, including other insects, spiders, frogs, toads, lizards, shrews, hedgehogs, bats and birds. Night-flying adult moths form a major part of the diet of bats. Many birds eat both adult moths and their caterpillars, but the caterpillars are especially important for feeding the young. Some of Britain's favourite garden birds rely on caterpillars to rear their nestlings, with our blue tit chicks alone needing an estimated 35 billion a year!
Moth caterpillars have a great impact on plants by eating their leaves. This had led to many types of plant evolving special chemicals to make them less appealing to caterpillars and limit the damage. But moths also benefit plants by pollinating flowers while feeding on their nectar, and so help in seed production. This not only benefits wild plants but also many of our food crops, which depend on moths as well as other insects to ensure a good harvest.
Moths also play a vital role in telling us about the health of our environment, like the canary in the coalmine. Since they are so widespread and found in so many different habitats, and are so sensitive to changes, moths are particularly useful as indicator species. Monitoring their numbers and ranges can give us vital clues to changes in our own environment, such as the effects of new farming practices, pesticides, air pollution and climate change. To find out about moths and climate change, use the link on the left.
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President Bush Signs Executive Order on Efficiency, Renewable Energy
January 31, 2007
President Bush signed an executive order on January 24th that mandates an increased use of energy efficiency and renewable fuels throughout the federal government. Executive Order 13423 calls for federal agencies to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by cutting their energy intensity 30 percent, relative to their energy use in 2003, by 2015. Agencies must meet most of their electronic product needs with Energy Star devices, and must enable the energy-saving features on computers and monitors. New building construction and renovations must meet the Guiding Principles for Federal Leadership in High Performance and Sustainable Buildings, which include a target energy use of 30 percent below the average building performance for new buildings and a target that's 20 percent below the average for renovations. By 2015, 15 percent of each agency's building inventory must meet these Guiding Principles, which a number of federal agencies agreed to in early 2006. See the 2006 Memorandum of Understanding (PDF 190 KB), which includes the Guiding Principals, on the Energy Star Web site. Download Adobe Reader.
The executive order also emphasizes a cut in petroleum use for federal fleets of vehicles. Agencies that operate fleets of at least 20 motor vehicles are required to reduce their fleet's total consumption of petroleum products by 2 percent annually through 2015, while increasing their consumption of non-petroleum-based fuel by 10 percent per year. Agencies are also required to use plug-in hybrid vehicles when they become commercially available at a cost comparable to other vehicles, including operational costs over the life of the vehicle.
The order also mandates that at least half of any agency's required supply of renewable energy be provided by facilities placed in service since 1999. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 requires federal agencies to draw on renewable energy for 3 percent of their electricity use from this fiscal year (FY) through FY 2009, 5 percent for FY 2010 through FY 2012, and 7.5 percent thereafter. In addition, the order includes a general requirement for procuring biobased and energy-efficient products, and includes a number of other environmental goals, such as reduced water consumption, increased recycled content in purchased items, minimized use of toxic and hazardous materials, and reduced environmental impacts from electronic products. See the executive order on the White House Web site.
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Railroad officially arrived at Temuco the very first day of 1893. It is believed that the first locomotive depot was located a few meters to the north of the present one, in lots handed over to the State Railroad Company by mapuche people. Temuco turned into an important railroad center, where long-run trains changed locomotives. That depot also housed the locomotives of the trains covering the branch lines to towns such as Carahue, Cunco and Cherquenco. During the first decades of this century, complex locomotive repair and maintenance works were perfommed in the Temuco locomotive depot. After the San Bernardo Machine Shop started operating in 1920, the Temuco depot kept on doing uncomplicated repairs.
By 1930, the insufficiency of the original depot became ever so evident, so the construction of a new one -that existing at present- was decided. The construction was made in two stages, between 1937 and 1941; at first, the new depot complemented, without replacing, the old one. Until 1954, only steam locomotives were serviced in Temuco; from that year on, diesel machines started being repaired. By 1980, the permanent allocation of the complex consisted in two type 56 steam locomotives, eleven type 57, one type 58, nine type 70, and fourteen type 80.
In 1982, the State Railroad Company's management ordered the constitution of a steam-drive reserve fleet with base in Temuco. On account of this, during the following years, tens of locomotives there housed were repaired. The fireboxes of the last locomotives went out definitively by the end of 1983, fact which, in turn, signaled the end of the locomotive depot's normal operation. The precincts kept on being used for doing minor repairs and for the remarshall of diesel locomotives, type D-16000 and others, and as operational base for tracks maintenance works. The Temuco depot was the steam locomotives operational base that ceased to operate later in the country.
The locomotive depot and the rolling stock it houses are property of the State Railroad Company. It occupies an area of about 19 hectares, one kilometer to the north of the Temuco Railroad Station. It is a railroad complex whose essential component is the round, roofed depot
made of concrete. It has 34 tracks su rrounding a 27 meters long tu rntable . capable of rotating a type 80 locomotive, with tender, weighing over 160 tons. Near to the round depot there are a repair workshop, administrative offices, dressing rooms for the personnel, a large coal elevator for charging fuel into the locomotives' tenders, a coal deposit, and a coach repair shop.
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Permanent URL to this publication: http://dx.doi.org/10.5167/uzh-60882
Hansen, D M; Donlan, C J; Griffiths, C J; Campbell, K J (2010). Ecological history and latent conservation potential: large and giant tortoises as a model for taxon substitutions. Ecograph, 33(2):272-284.
PDF - Registered users only
Starting in the late 1970s, ecologists began unraveling the role of recently extinct large vertebrates in evolutionary ecology and ecosystem dynamics. Three decades later, practitioners are now considering the role of ecological history in conservation practice, and some have called for restoring missing ecological functions and evolutionary potential using taxon substitutes – extant, functionally similar taxa – to replace extinct species. This pro-active approach to biodiversity conservation has proved controversial. Yet, rewilding with taxon substitutes, or ecological analogues, is now being integrated into conservation and restoration programmes around the world. Empirical evidence is emerging that illustrates how taxon substitutions can restore missing ecological functions and evolutionary potential. However, a major roadblock to a broader evaluation and application of taxon substitution is the lack of practical guidelines within which they should be conducted. While the International Union for Conservation of Nature's reintroduction guidelines are an obvious choice, they are unsuitable in their current form. We recommend necessary amendments to these guidelines to explicitly address taxon substitutions. A second impediment to empirical evaluations of rewilding with taxon substitutions is the sheer scale of some proposed projects; the majority involves large mammals over large areas. We present and discuss evidence that large and giant tortoises (family Testudinidae) are a useful model to rapidly provide empirical assessments of the use of taxon substitutes on a comparatively smaller scale. Worldwide, at least 36 species of large and giant tortoises went extinct since the late Pleistocene, leaving 32 extant species. We examine the latent conservation potential, benefits, and risks of using tortoise taxon substitutes as a strategy for restoring dysfunctional ecosystems. We highlight how, especially on islands, conservation practitioners are starting to employ extant large tortoises in ecosystems to replace extinct tortoises that once played keystone roles.
|Item Type:||Journal Article, not refereed, original work|
|Communities & Collections:||07 Faculty of Science > Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies|
|DDC:||570 Life sciences; biology|
590 Animals (Zoology)
|Uncontrolled Keywords:||INDIAN-OCEAN; GEOCHELONE-CARBONARIA; GOPHER TORTOISES; NORTHWESTERN BRAZIL; MITOCHONDRIAL-DNA; SANTIAGO ISLAND; CURIEUSE-ISLAND; SEED DISPERSAL; PINTA ISLAND; FERAL GOATS|
|Deposited On:||12 Mar 2012 14:57|
|Last Modified:||18 Oct 2012 04:43|
|Other Identification Number:||IDS: 614PU|
|WoS Citation Count:||12|
Users (please log in): suggest update or correction for this item
Repository Staff Only: item control page
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Last year we reported on a new way of gathering power from wastewater, one that combined power generating from salinity gradients between salt and freshwater, and that produced by waste-eating bacteria, to create a self-sustaining power supply. But what happens if you're somewhere inland, where there isn't any saltwater to be had?
The same group of researchers have now published a way of getting around that hurdle, too. Rather than rely on saltwater, they use ammonium bicarbonate (NH4HCO3) solution, which has the ability to be constantly regenerated with low levels of heat, such as those that are produced naturally when wastewater is treated. With this technique, electricity is directly generated by the bacteria and voltages are increased by the salinity gradient.
The salinated water and the wastewater never actually meet, and the bacteria eats through some of the organic material in the sewage, rendering it cleaner. Yeah, it needs further processing, but every kilogram of organic material that goes through produces 0.94 kilowatt-hours of energy, and 35% of the organic matter is removed. There's even evidence to say that the material that remains in the water can be used to generate methane for further use.
A sewage treatment process that can work anywhere, cleans the water, and can generate power. Where do we sign up?
Image from IEEE Spectrum.
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| 0.959745
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| 3.734375
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Mechanical Elements of Reports
This resource is an updated version of Muriel Harris’s handbook Report Formats: a Self-instruction Module on Writing Skills for Engineers, written in 1981. The primary resources for the editing process were Paul Anderson’s Technical Communication: A Reader-Centered Approach (6th ed.) and the existing OWL PowerPoint presentation, HATS: A Design Procedure for Routine Business Documents.
Contributors:Elizabeth Cember, Alisha Heavilon, Mike Seip, Lei Shi, and Allen Brizee
Last Edited: 2013-03-11 11:43:19
The mechanical elements of your report are largely included to make sure your information was useful and accessible as possible for your readers. It is especially important to incorporate the HATS methodology (headings, access, typography, spacing) when designing your mechanical elements, as that will make your documents easier to read, and it will give your documents a professional appearance.
Title or Cover page
The title or cover page includes the title, the name of the person authorizing the report, the name of the author(s), the name and address of the institution or company issuing the report, and the date.
Letter of transmittal
The letter of transmittal explains why the report was prepared and its purpose, mentions the title and the period of work, and states the results and recommendations. The letter of transmittal may be separate from the report, but it is usually bound into the report immediately before the table of contents.
Evaluating a letter of transmittal
- Does it achieve the purpose of a letter of transmittal?
- Does it offer enough specific information?
- Is it well written?
The acknowledgments section includes material which is irrelevant to the actual report but is required for the record or for acknowledgment purposes. The acknowledgments may include, for example, the names of people who made technical contributions, notices of permission to use copyrighted materials, and so on.
Table of contents
The table of contents contains a guide to the contents of the whole report. It lists the preliminary pages such as the letter of transmittal and the acknowledgements, and it includes all headings and subheadings used in the report, exactly as they appear in the report.
The table of contents also includes the page numbers for all parts. Use lower case roman numerals (i, ii, iii, etc.) for all preliminary pages and arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, etc.) for all pages in the body of the report, starting with page 1 for the introduction of the body.
Lists of tables and figures
In some situations, especially if the report contains only a few figures and tables, all of the figures and tables, with their complete titles, are listed in the table of contents. In that format, tables and figures are listed separately even though they are mixed together in the report.
In most situations, tables and figures are listed on separate pages, with the figures and their complete titles listed on one page and the tables and their complete titles listed on a separate page. If you follow this format, list the headings for each page in the table of contents.
Graphics are all the tables and figures used in a report as visual aids for the reader. They are useful, important parts of a report and must be accurate. They should also be clear so the reader can interpret them easily. Tables are all lists of data presented in rows and columns. Place the numbers and titles above the tables. Figures are any other visual presentations. Place the numbers and titles below the figures.
When tables or figures are discussed in the text, cite their numbers and the pages on which they appear. Either number them consecutively through the report or number them according to the section in which they appear (2.1, 2.2, 2.3, etc.). Put all units in the tables, and don’t make the tables too long. If necessary, break them up into several short tabulations. This will help your tables be more visually appealing and will encourage your readers to look at them.
Types of illustrations:
- Line graphs—for representing continuous processes
- Bar graphs—for representing absolutes
- Pie graphs—for showing percentages
- Flow charts—for illustrating stages in a process
- Schematics—the same as flow charts, but usually used for illustrating more abstract concepts
References are used to cite your sources and give credit to the written work of others that you have read and used. When you refer to these published works in the text of your report, you can choose one of several formats. See the following handouts on the Purdue OWL for more information on references.
Attachments or appendices
An appendix is like a storage warehouse, the place to put material that needs to be included in the report, but is not essential. Putting material (such as raw data, processed data, analytical procedures, details of equipment, etc.) at the end keeps the report from being buried in a mass of detail, but keeps all that detail available if needed by any of your various readers. Each appendix is numbered or lettered consecutively and given a title.
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Ashe County, North Carolina
|Ashe County, North Carolina|
Location in the state of North Carolina
North Carolina's location in the U.S.
427 sq mi (1,106 km²)
1 sq mi (3 km²), 0.15%
57/sq mi (22/km²)
Native Americans used to live in Ashe County. Pieces of broken pottery, arrowheads, and other Native American things have been found in the county.
In 1849, the southwestern part of Ashe County was combined with parts of Caldwell County, Wilkes County, and Yancey County to make Watauga County. In 1859, the eastern part of Ashe County became Alleghany County.
Cities and towns [change]
These cities and towns are in Ashe County:
Connected counties [change]
These counties are connected to Ashe County:
- Grayson County, Virginia - north
- Alleghany County, North Carolina - east
- Wilkes County, North Carolina - southeast
- Watauga County, North Carolina - southwest
- Johnson County, Tennessee - west
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Every day, twice a day, over 800 weather balloons are launched around the world at exactly the same time. The data transmitted from these radiosondes is received by government agencies and shared with climatologists and meteorologist to develop climate models and predect the weather. Near [Carl]‘s native Auckland, a weather balloon is launched twice a day, and since they transmit at 403 MHz, he decided to use a USB TV tuner to receive data directly from an atmospheric probe.
The hardware portion of this project consisted of building a high gain antenna designed for 162 MHz. Even though the radiosonde transmits at 403 MHz, [Carl] was easily able to receive on his out-of-band antenna.
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Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Lower Township, New Jersey
According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of 80.5 km² (31.1 mi²). 73.1 km² (28.2 mi²) of it is land and 7.4 km² (2.8 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 9.17% water.
As of the census2 of 2000, there are 22,945 people, 9,328 households, and 6,380 families residing in the township. The population density is 313.9/km² (813.0/mi²). There are 13,924 housing units at an average density of 190.5/km² (493.4/mi²). The racial makeup of the township is 96.26% White, 1.39% African American, 0.23% Native American, 0.53% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.65% from other races, and 0.92% from two or more races. 1.88% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There are 9,328 households out of which 28.2% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.9% are married couples living together, 11.7% have a female householder with no husband present, and 31.6% are non-families. 27.2% of all households are made up of individuals and 15.0% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.43 and the average family size is 2.95.
In the township the population is spread out with 23.7% under the age of 18, 6.1% from 18 to 24, 25.1% from 25 to 44, 24.4% from 45 to 64, and 20.7% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 42 years. For every 100 females there are 90.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 85.2 males.
The median income for a household in the township is $38,977, and the median income for a family is $45,058. Males have a median income of $35,201 versus $24,715 for females. The per capita income for the township is $19,786. 7.7% of the population and 5.3% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 10.3% of those under the age of 18 and 5.3% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.
The contents of this article is licensed from www.wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click here to see the transparent copy and copyright details
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What's At Stake?— Why Computers Matter
to Your Child
The information age is arriving
at lightning speed. Children and young people are among
the most active citizens of the new era, and are often
first in their family to
the new media. Some parents and other guardians of young
people are enthusiastic about the new technologies; others
hope these changes will just go away.
However, there is little doubt that computers
are here to stay and that they're changing the way young people
learn, play, and get ready for their work life.
- In the year 2000, an estimated 60 percent
of new jobs in America require technological skills and
- In the early 1990s, workers with computer
skills earned 10-15% more than workers without such skills.2
And children are increasingly using new
technologies in their schools, libraries, homes, and communities.
- Estimates show that in May 1997, nearly
10 million children were online either at home, at school,
or in the community-a five-fold increase from fall 1995.3
- For the 50 million children now in U.S.
elementary and secondary schools, 27% of classrooms have
Internet access and 78% of schools have some kind of access
to the Internet.4
In addition, parents understand that computer
skills are important. In fact, 89% of parents believe computer
skills are important to educational success.5
But parents face uncharted territory, and
the technologies are evolving so quickly it seems hard to
get a handle on what this new territory really is. One parent
"...it's like being illiterate in
a world of readers. We don't know enough about what's out
there to know what to be concerned about."
In addition, not all parents can afford
a computer in the home, and not all schools are yet integrating
technology into learning-creating a gap between children who
are prepared for information-era jobs and those who aren't.
How can a parent teach, when there's so
much to learn? This new challenge may seem unlike any other
you've faced before as a parent. But, in fact, many of the
answers lie in common sense, some basic experience, regular
vigilance, and sensible guidelines for children.
How Parents Can Help
Make sure your child's school has the appropriate
technology and uses it to enhance learning.
Make sure your child is involved in fun,
useful, and safe activities online.
In the Community
Make sure that the education and technology
needs of all children are being met. Contact your library,
school board, city council, and your county, state, and federal.
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Welcome to the school section of iFace. You can read here what other young people with disfigurement think about school - good and bad - and how they deal with difficult situations (check out the forum for loads of great advice on how to beat the bullies). We'd like to hear from you too. Click on the 'add your story' button at the
bottom of the green box on the right and send us an email - you can suggest new forum posts and FAQs too.
Note: Unfortunately, Changing Faces is currently unable to continue to provide its discussion forums. We are looking into alternatives to put in place as quickly as possible.
In the meantime, why not check out discussion forums on Facebook?
Young People Tackling Bullying
The Young Peoples Council combat bullying strategy was designed for young people with disfigurements by young people with disfigurements.
Who and what is the strategy for?
This was designed by the Young People’s Council (The YPC) at the charity Changing Faces, all the young people in this council have some type of disfigurement. The group developed this strategy for all young people with disfigurements who may feel they are being bullied in some way by another individual there is also some additional information for parents at the end. All the information provided here has been developed from the YPC’s own personal experiences of bullying which they have encountered throughout their life living with a disfigurement.
What is Bullying?
Bullying is when an individual intentionally does or says things repetitively to hurt someone. Bullying can happen in many ways.
Different types of bullying?
Verbal Bullying: this is when another person starts name calling or makes verbal remarks that are hurtful towards others.
Physical bullying: this includes any intentional physical contact that would hurt or injure a person like hitting, kicking, punching,
Cyber Bullying: is done by sending hurtful messages or pictures by the use of social networking sites such as Facebook, bebo, twitter and also by mobile phone such as text messages.
Social alienation: is when a bully excludes someone from a group on purpose.
Indirect bullying: includes spreading rumors or stories about someone, telling others about something that was told to you in private, and excluding others.
Intimidation: is when a bully threatens someone else and frightens that person enough to make him or her do what the bully wants.
What’s the YPC’s Goal for writing this combat bullying strategy;
The goal of this strategy was to have an effective set of guidelines and advice designed by young people who have disfigurements and have experience different situations when they themselves felt they were bullied. The YPC also wants to highlight the reality of bullying and that it’s such a common issue among many young people. The techniques outlined in this strategy have being tried and tested in many different bullying situations and have being proven to work.
So why not give some of them a go!
Places where bullying can take place:
School ,college ,work / work experience, social clubs, sports teams, the gym, bars, nightclubs, public transport, internet, school trip away, hospital ward, shops, cinema, swimming pool, play ground, local music group, hairdresser, restaurants or cafés.
Its important to note that bullying can happen anywhere in society!
Different types of bullying that the YPC have encountered throughout their life
Many of the YPC members have stressed that they have encountered different types of bullying in all the places listed above. Some have them have encountered name calling and social exclusion from various social groups; others have felt that they have being victims of peer pressure within their own friends groups. Other members of the YPC have also highlighted that they were bullied on a school trip away.
Another young person in the YPC has also described a situation when they themselves felt they were not quite ready to start going out to nightclubs or bars and friends kept making comments about it.
A lot of the YPC felt they were bullied in both primary and secondary school, they have encountered name calling, exclusion from groups, bullying from teachers, intimidation, and isolation during lunch hour. In some cases people indicated they were left out of class room activities by others.
A personal account of bullying from one YPC member
I am a burns survivor, so I have a facial disfigurement, I would describe myself as a very confident person but I too have experienced bullying throughout my childhood and teenage years.
When I was in primary school I was a victim of bullying for many years, I can recall now how I suffered name calling and exclusion from my peer group. The other students in my class used to run off and hide from me or pass around notes in the class room about me. I was never aloud in on the big secret they were telling one another, it was for their ears only never mine and as a young girl I felt very left out.
As I think back to my teenage years, I used to attend horse riding lessons I loved it and worked my way up through the different stages at the horse riding school and finally reached the advance level. There was also a down side to horse riding lessons as well; I was always made to feel excluded from the groups of other young people attending the riding school. They were always in their own little groups and they would never invite me to sit with them or just chat for a while, I was always left out and that was the main reason I stopped horse riding, and to this day I have never went back.
I’m now 21 years old and in my fourth year of university, studying for a BA in Social science I already have a very good degree in Social studies and I just love college life so I managed to get over my bullying. So there is light at the end of the tunnel. I didn’t do what I should have done to try and end my bullying so don’t make my mistake, GET HELP!!
By Kellie O’ Farrell a proud burn survivor.
Where to seek help if you feel you are being bullied
1. Speak to the charity Changing Faces who provide support services for people with disfigurements.
2. Speak to a teacher in school who you feel ok talking to.
3. Speak to your year head
4. Speak to the principal of your school
5. If you are being bullied in work you should tell your manager, and if that doesn’t work ask to speak to the owner or boss directly it’s everyone’s right, so don’t be shy. If you cannot speak to your boss or they may be the person doing the bullying then contact Changing Faces for support.
6. If you are being bullied while using public transport tell someone who is in charge on that journey or contact the company that provides that service or contact Changing Faces.
7. If you are being bullied in college/ university contact the student’s services officer or the head of your course.
8. If you are experiencing bulling on the internet tell a parent or other adult, make sure you only accept emails and messages from people you know,, report the bullying to the website, keep evidence of the bullying, don’t reply to nasty messages. You may need to think about having a period of time where you stop using your social networking account.
9. If you are being bullied in your social club or by other members that are part of the same team as you, tell the person in charge.
10. If you are out in a night club or bar and you are being bullied by an individual or a group get in contact with the manger and have the person or group removed. As you are not the one causing harm you have every right to stay with your friends and enjoy yourself
11. Most of all please tell your parents or a good friend , it so important to talk about bullying with other people .So don’t keep it to yourself, talk about it don’t be alone its always good to have support from the people we care about.
Some Techniques used by the YPC members to stop or prevent bullying
o Stay Positive
o Try and surround yourself with friends
o Talk about it
o Get Counseling
o Use a diary to write your feelings down
o Use a stress ball for relaxation
o Avoid the bully if you can
o Don’t put a downer on yourself
o Walk way if a situation is getting out of hand as you may be in danger
o Don’t show the bullies that they are getting the better of you
o Be out spoken in the class room and make everyone hear what you have to say if you are being excluded from class room activities
o Be very confident
o Walk tall and proud
o Have full faith in your own skills and abilities
o See your own self worth
o If someone makes a smart comment to you just make one back, but make it a better one
o Never hit anyone unless its self defense
o If you are verbally standing your ground with the bully don’t get angry, try and be cool and collected so you can out smart them with your answers so they know there is no messing with you. Bullies always look for easy targets
o Tell someone who can help you; this is the key to stopping bullying.
o Have words or phrase ready to say to the bully when someone makes a comment about your appearance, Something smart like “ You’re no oil painting yourself so I don’t know how you can talk” Or “have you looked in the mirror lately yourself” Try and keep calm with no bad language but be careful don’t make the bully too angry. If this happens its best to walk away
o Join clubs outside school or after school activities to gain confidence and meet different people
Some personal messages from our Young peoples Council
“Your not alone we all have encountered bullying”
“You’re the bigger and better person”
“There is not just one method to stop bullying”
“Don’t give in”
“Remember all the great things that people have said about you and believe them”
“Stay strong you can do this”
“People can be ignorant, prove them wrong”
“Don’t let the bullies win, you should”
“Keep going you will get here in the end!”
Remember we are all united against bullying. We know it should not happen but it does, you will beat bullying and life will get better. What happens in life makes us all stronger. So on behalf of the YPC best of luck and we hope our advice helps, you can do it!
If you are 12 or older and want to join the YPC please contact Emily at Changing Faces!
Email: firstname.lastname@example.org Tel: 0845 4500 275
If you or your parent would like further support with issues at school or college then do contact us at Changing faces on 0845 4500 275 / email@example.com
If you want to talk through how you are feeling then contact one of our Children and Young People’s Specialists on 0845 4500 275 / firstname.lastname@example.org
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If a student learns about writing an equation to describe a picture or a pattern, it will help him or her understand how graphs and equations work and how they apply to the real world. Writing an equation requires students to understand how to interpret graphs, and it helps to understand functions, function notation and how to connect graphs , tables and equations.
A really important skill to have in math is being able to recognize and describe patterns. Sometimes patterns are given to you in numbers and that's something that you work on with your algebra skills. Sometimes patterns are given to you just with pictures and you guys can write an equation to describe a pattern of pictures without even knowing any fancy schmancy algebra. So that's the thing I want you to be practicing.
One thing you want to look for when you're given a set of pictures is which piece of the picture stays the same all the time and then which piece of the picture is changing. If you can keep those things straight in your head, you'll be able to figure out how to write an equation to describe the number of boxes or triangles or how to describe the changing patterns that's given to you in a picture.
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Berkeley Scientists Join Team to Create Better Battery
A team of scientists from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory are joining a project to build better batteries for electric cars and energy storage.
The effort will bring together scientists and companies working on breakthrough battery technologies nationwide.
Argonne National Lab near Chicago will lead the $120 million program funded by the Department of Energy.
Lawrence Berkeley's Venkat Srinivasan says the new research will look at ways to dramatically increase the amount of energy a battery can hold, far beyond the technology used in electric cars today.
"These three different ways of storing energy," Srinivasan explains, "will involve materials that have nothing to do with lithium moving back and forth. And we think that these systems can help us get to energy densities and costs that are dramatically different than what we are doing today."
Srinivasan expects breakthroughs from the research to show up in the marketplace within five years.
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July 17, 2010 Previously, determining athletes at high-risk for ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) injuries required expensive and complex laboratory-based motion analysis systems, such as those used in creating video games. But a new study, presented at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine's (AOSSM) Annual Meeting, offers physicians a low-cost, in-office, tool to help identify athletes at increased risk.
"ACL injuries are devastating to athletes, and the risk factor for female athletes is much higher," said Greg Myer, sports biomechanist at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital. "In an earlier study, we used motion analysis systems to measure and calculate torques on ligaments which accurately predicted which athletes are high-risk, but this method was expensive, labor intensive and required sophisticated equipment. So in this study, we looked for a low-cost, in office, simpler method to predict which athletes are high-risk."
Unfortunately, women are two to eight times more likely to injure their ACL than men, according to recent studies. Researchers believe this may be due to differences in hormone levels on ligament strength and stiffness, neuromuscular control and fatigue, lower limb biomechanics, ligament strength, as well as a difference in neuromuscular control in women when landing jumps (women appear to have less hip and knee flexion or bending and land more knock kneed than men.)
The good news, according to Myer, is that those athletes who have the higher risk factors of increased knee torques or load are those who also benefit the most from the remedy of neuromuscular training in jumping, posture and building landing strength.
The simpler, lower-cost measure to predict high-risk athletes for ACL injury provides the next critical step to bridge the gap between expensive in-laboratory identification of injury and identification of these injuries in the doctor's office. The simplified method, which can be done in the doctor's office combines measuring the tibia or shin bone with a standard measuring tape and an athlete's weight in combination with motions of the knee during landing captured with standard camcorders. These simple factors can quickly identify young females who demonstrate a primary risk for ACL injury. The in-office method strongly correlated to the expensive laboratory method with variables that ranged from 0.87 to 0.98.
"This method may be used as a training camp protocol in partnership with team clinicians or set up and run in the athletic training setting," said Myer. "Current evidence indicates that athletes identified as high-risk for ACL injury using this approach are more responsive to neuromuscular training aimed at reducing this risk factor. This tool can also be used to get high-risk athletes into appropriate interventions to further reduce their potential of injury risk which may increase both the efficacy and efficiency of future interventions aimed to prevent ACL injury in female athletes."
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Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
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There are two important aspects to consider when looking for potential B cell epitopes. The first is the primary amino acid sequence of the protein and the second is the conformational structure of the protein. The surface of a protein is not a simple string of amino acids, but a complex of loops and folds determined by the interaction between side chains of the residues.
B cell epitopes consist of groups of amino acids that lie close together on the protein surface and that determine antigenicity1.
There are two main classifications of B cell epitopes:
Conformational epitopes are thought to form the majority of strong antibody binding epitopes on most proteins. However numerous conformational epitopes may also be recognizable as linear epitopes. Linear B cell epitopes typically vary from 5 to 20 amino acids in length.
(The term 'Functional Epitope' may sometimes be used to refer to elements of a protein which are essential for antibody binding but which do not actually contact the antibody. On these pages we will define an epitope as only the region contacted by an antibody.)
This makes B cell epitopes more difficult to identify than T cell epitopes, which are wholly determined by their amino acid sequence.
Epitope Mapping Methods
When the 3-D structure of a protein is known, or can be modelled based on the established structure of a closely related protein, the structure can be used in an algorithm based approach to predict surface epitopes. Despite advances in crystallographic methods, a relatively small proportion of protein structures have been established, and structures obtained are usually those of small soluble proteins which are easily crystallized. For very small proteins, or domains of larger proteins, NMR structure may be available for mapping, and for very large assemblies (such as viruses), electron microscopy can be used to identify approximate contact regions.
The majority of B cell epitope mapping experiments make use of linear peptide fragments from
antigenic proteins. These peptides can be homologous enough to parts of
the whole antigen in order to allow antibody binding.
Functional Approaches: Technologies
Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) is still the basis of much physical epitope mapping, and remains a very useful technology. The binding of whole proteins, protein fragments or peptides to an antibody can be quantitated, so that epitopes can be identified.
For a higher throughput approach, and even more accurate measurement of relative binding, peptide microarrays are increasingly being used. The basic technology is similar, but using microarray hundreds or even thousands of slide-immobilized peptides or proteins can be screened at once, in a very short space of time.
Functional Approaches: Strategies
An overlapping peptide library can be generated to isolate the candidate antibody-binding region of a protein, or even an entire protein. B cell epitopes do not have a defined length and can vary from 5 to 20 amino acids in length. One approach would be to set a defined peptide length, e.g. 15-mer, and to generate a library of peptides with a uniform overlap e.g 3 amino acids. In this way 'hot-spot' areas of the protein can be identified and the optimal epitope can be found and defined using further experiments with more closely overlapping peptides, or an alanine scanning mutant peptide library.
The great advantage of peptide libraries is that the whole antigen does not need to be available. In cases such as high category biohazard viruses, this is even more of a benefit, as researchers are able to understand their proteins without putting themselves at risk.
Peptide libraries are increasingly easy to generate, particularly using technologies such as ProImmune's PEPscreen® platform. Peptide libraries can be manufactured with a tag to allow for plate or array immobilisation. Arrays in particular are very amenable to use with peptide libraries, as both facilitate a high-throughput approach.
Phage display can be used to express sequences derived from DNAse digestion, to generate a random peptide library. Clones expressing antigens which bind test antibody can then be sequenced, and the protein sequence of the antigen elucidated. This method is labour- intensive, but requires minimal knowledge of the starting proteome, so, for example, whole viruses can be investigated without knowledge of which of their coded proteins are expressed.
For low resolution mapping, competition can be very useful. In a typical experiment an antigen would be incubated with two antibodies sequentially, to see if they recognized the same (in which case the second would be unable to bind) or different (in which case both would bind) regions of the target.
For higher resolution mapping, peptide inhibition can be used to validate epitopes. Competing peptide or whole-protein is titrated in to a binding assay experiment, to compete with binding of antibody to plate-immobilized antigen. After washing, antibody bound to competing peptide is lost, and the signal from plate-coupled antigen bound to antibody will be reduced, confirming the specificity of binding. An irrelevant blocking peptide will have no competitive effect on the antigen binding. This is quite a time-consuming process if it is repeated for every potential epitope, so it is best used as a confirmatory strategy.
Protection of the antibody-bound antigen from acetylation, or partial protelytic digestion ("protein footprinting"), followed by sequencing of the products by mass spectrometry or N-terminal microsequencing, can be used to identify antibody-bound regions of a protein.
Partial proteolytic digestion of a protein antigen , followed by denaturation and Western blotting with the test antibody, can be used to pull out linear epitopes, and again these can be identified by sequencing or spectrometry. Denaturing versus native gel electrophoresis, followed by western blotting with the test antibody, can be a reliable way of testing whether an antibody recognizes a linear or conformational epitope.
The data generated from ELISA protocols depends upon the quality of the antibody that is being tested. The clearest results are obtained from monoclonal antibodies which, by their very nature, respond to only one epitope. With polyclonal antibodies, there is the possibility that antibodies that bind to specific peptides may be recognizing denatured antigen or cross-reacting with an unrelated antigen. Serum samples, which can contain multiple antibodies, often give very weak signals and may give responses to several peptides. Whilst the data generated from experiments with polyclonal antibody or serum samples may initially be confusing, this information can provide a good indication of the best areas of the antigen on which to carry out further investigations.
Download a free guide to B cell Epitope Mapping
Contact us to discuss your project in more detail
USA & Canada: (toll free) +1 888 505 7765
All other countries: +44 (0)870 042 7279
1. Epitope Mapping: B-cell Epitopes GE Morris www.roitt.com/elspdf/Epitope_mapping.pdf
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Want to stay on top of all the space news? Follow @universetoday on Twitter
Liquid water may have been discovered by the late Phoenix Mars Lander. This astonishing (and controversial) claim comes from some very intriguing images of the lander’s leg shortly after Phoenix landed on the Red Planet last year. The series of black and white images appear to show droplets of water hanging off the robot’s bodywork in the shade; it seems possible that the water droplets were splashed from the surface during Phoenix’s rocket-assisted landing. Far from being static blobs, they appear to grow, much like water droplets here on Earth as water vapour is absorbed from the atmosphere.
But wait a minute, isn’t the Martian atmosphere too thin and too cold to accommodate liquid water? That’s where the perchlorate comes in…
If liquid water has been found to exist on the surface of Mars, there will be huge implications for our understanding of the planet. Most tantalizingly, liquid water, on or near the planet’s surface, could aid the survival of microbial life, reinvigorating the search for extraterrestrial life on out interplanetary neighbour. But on a planet where the atmospheric pressure is 100 times less than on Earth, and temperatures reached a maximum of -20° Celcius during the Phoenix mission, why isn’t this “liquid water” candidate frozen?
The perchlorate discovery in the Martian soil was announced by the Phoenix team in August 2008, after an explosion of intense Internet conjecture caused by the “potential for life” announcement by an Aviation Week article days earlier. It turned out that the Phoenix instrumentation had found quantities of a toxic chemical called perchlorate known to be a hindrance to life as we know it. Although follow-up reports were slightly more positive about the presence of the chemical (a possible energy source for microbial life), the mood was fairly sombre. On a planet as unforgiving as Mars, any bad news is a severe knock for the hope of finding life.
However, regardless of perchlorate’s toxic effects on life, it may be helping out another one of life’s resources to stay in liquid form. If perchlorate is dissolved in significant quantities, water could remain as a liquid down to temperatures as low as -70°C. So could it be that the dissolved perchlorate salt is acting as a very impressive anti-freeze?
Nilton Renno from the University of Michigan and Phoenix team member, thinks it could be. “According to my calculations, you can have liquid saline solutions just below the surface almost anywhere on Mars,” he said.
Renno’s team carried out a series of laboratory experiments and found that the lander’s thrusters would have melted the top millimetre of ice in the regolith. The resulting water droplets may have been splashed onto the landers leg. If the concentration of perchlorate was high enough, the water could have remained in a liquid state during the Mars daytime. As time progressed, atmospheric water vapour may have been absorbed, hence the growing and shifting blobs of liquid on the leg. There is also the possibility that the droplets were splashed from pools of perchlorate-rich water already in a liquid state on the surface.
However, not everyone is convinced. Fellow Phoenix team member Michael Hecht from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, thinks that the photographs actually show water ice, not liquid water. The “frost” changed shape as vapour from the air coalesced and froze to the leg. Renno points out that this is unlikely as any ice on the leg would be more likely to sublime, rather than grow, but Hecht believes this could happen if the leg was colder than its surroundings.
Renno’s team will be continuing tests on samples of perchlorate-rich water under Mars-like conditions for the next few months to understand the dynamics of water under these extreme conditions. What makes this even more interesting is that some microbial life on Earth has the ability to survive in very salty fluids, perhaps microbial alien life on Mars evolved in a similar environment where there were pools of liquid water maintained at extremely low temperatures by high concentrations of perchlorate salt…
Source: New Scientist
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Why does Japan sell meat from research whaling?
Most of the whales captured by Japanese research whalers can expect some of their tastier portions to come face-to-face with a dinner plate in the not-too-distant future. Critics point their fingers at this practice, deeming the scientific permitting process a thinly veiled excuse for overt commercial fishing operations. But the fact is that whalers, whatever their true motivation, are required by law to make as much use of their ostensible research subjects as they can.
The Law of the Sea
The International Whaling Commission, which dictates whaling regulations worldwide, set this rule in the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, drafted in 1946. It took until 1986 to restrict legal whaling practices to scientific and limited aboriginal whaling, but even back in the '40s, the IWC wanted to make one thing perfectly clear: If you're going to catch whales, don't let them go to waste.
It did not, however, feel the need to put this command into crystal clear language, judging by the cryptic passage in question:
"Any whales taken under these special permits shall so far as practicable be processed and the proceeds shall be dealt with in accordance with directions issued by the overnment by which the permit was granted."
So, after the Japanese whalers make off with all the whale organs they intend to study (ear plugs, ovaries, the stomach and that sort of thing), they do their best to sell the rest, fulfill the terms of the commission's rules and, ideally, turn a profit while they're at it.
Show Me the Money
So where do the profits from the whale meat sales go? Well, it's pretty much a closed loop. Most of the profits help foot the bill for more whaling. In 2001, for example, whale meat totaling 1,803 metric tons was sold after the season ended, and 70 metric tons went unsold, according to the Independent. That might seem like a lot, but when you consider that in 1962 — a peak year for whale hunting — some 230,000 metric tons of meat made its way into hungry Japanese tummies, it helps put things into perspective. While the Japanese still hunt whales, they do so with much less zeal than they did in the past.
And when it comes to actual money, according to Japan Today and Makoto Ito, the managing director of Kyodo Senpaku (the company that performs the whale hunts), the entire whaling operation doesn't really turn much of a profit. He said it costs between about $65 to $75 million a year — with the government kicking in about $5 million and the rest funded by whale meat sales. They claim to barely break even.
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April 20, 2011
Now read this post carefully, because there will be a quiz at the end. Let’s begin with a history lesson.
Earth Day was first celebrated on April 22, 1970 in cities and university campuses all over the United States. Founded by Wisconsin Sen. Gaylord Nelson, Earth Day began as a series of teach-ins at university campuses, as well as demonstrations to promote much-needed environmental reform. It was a time when the right set of conservation winds were blowing. Air pollution was being linked to disease. Fish kills occurred in the Great Lakes. A river in Ohio, oozing with oil and contaminants, suddenly burst into flames. An oil platform off the coast of Santa Barbara exploded and 100,000 barrels of crude oil seeped into the California channel killing thousands of sea birds and marine mammals.
More than 20 million people participated in the first Earth Day celebration, and it is now recognized in more than 175 countries and by 500 million people. The day also commemorates all those conservation-minded forerunners and founders of environmental activism.
There are dozens of these early environmental stewards within the collections of the National Portrait Gallery. With the museum staff’s help, we’ve compiled a list of just a few of the early supporters found there.
But this week, there’s a twist to our Wednesday List. It’s a quiz. (Answers will appear tomorrow). Test your Earth Day knowledge and tonight, head to the National Portrait Gallery for “Pop Quiz: Earth Day Challenge.” More details can be found after the questions.
- When I was in the U.S. Senate, I sponsored bills such as the 1965 Water Quality Act, supported the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency and spoke at the first Earth Day celebration. Who am I?
- As the second woman ever to be hired by the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries (now the Fish and Wildlife Service) my book about environmental problems caused by pesticides inspired the title of a current Smithsonian American Art Museum exhibition called “A Fable for Tomorrow.” Who am I?
- I was an author in the mid-20th century and won a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1972. I helped launch the modern environmental movement through my writings for a campaign to prevent dams, which would have changed forever the landscape of Dinosaur National Monument. Who am I?
- My ideas about simple living as described in my most famous book about my cabin on the bank of a pond have inspired activists and laid the groundwork for what we consider environmental ethics today. Who am I?
- I was an advocate for sustainable agriculture in the early 20th century. I am most known for my research into the growth and use of peanuts as an alternative to cotton crops. Who am I?
To further test your knowledge, this evening visit the National Portrait Gallery and take the quiz at 6:30 p.m. in the Robert and Arlene Kogod Courtyard. It can be played individually or in groups of up to 6 people and the rule is you have to employ “Brain Power” —not Google—to answer the questions. Prizes will be awarded to the person or team with the most correct answers. (ATM is not offering any prizes, by the way.)
ANSWERS, after the jump: (More…)
April 15, 2011
On April 15, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln died from a gunshot wound he’d suffered the night at before at Ford’s Theatre in Washington D.C. The assassin John Wilkes Booth fled the scene.The events following the assassination have been studied endlessly by historians and is the subject of today’s wide release of Robert Redford’s The Conspirator.And though we know more now about the circumstances of that night than ever before, there still remains a sense of intrigue about the conspiracy to kill the president.
“It is the sort of tragedy that is embedded in American history,” says Harry Rubenstein, curator of political history at the American History Museum. Because Lincoln was so close to celebrating victory, his death, says Rubenstein, was all the more poignant and terrible.
At the National Museum of American History, in the exhibit Abraham Lincoln: An Extraordinary Life, visitors will encounter a number of artifacts from the night and the days directly following the assassination.
A simple gold embossed coffee cup is on view. It was left on windowsill at the White House by the President just before he left to attend the theater.
A bloodstained cuff is one of the more gruesome objects, it was worn by lead actress Laura Keene who rushed to the president’s side at the theater that night to give him water. The actress saved the dress and preserved it throughout her life and eventually her family donated it to the Smithsonian.
Also on view are the surgical instruments used by a still unknown physician in the autopsy that was conducted at the White House. The instruments were given to a young doctor that assisted in the procedure, Alfred D. Wilson, preserved by his family and then later donated to the Medical Society of the County of Kings in Brooklyn, New York.
Another chilling reminder are the prison hoods and shackles worn by the imprisoned conspirators. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton ordered the prisoners to wear the hoods at all times. In 1903, the War Department transferred the hoods, shackles and prison key to the Smithsonian.
The book accompanying the exhibit, Abraham Lincoln: An Extraordinary Life by Harry Rubenstein, can be purchased here. The exhibition is on view through May 30.
April 8, 2011
It’s official: giant anteater Mirapi has chosen a name for her male cub. Everyone give a big Smithsonian welcome to Pablo!
At a naming ceremony yesterday at the National Zoo, three decorated flowerpots contained “enrichment objects,” or rather, delicious foods that anteaters love to eat—a grapefruit, a mango, and a hard-boiled egg. Each pot was set next to a stake bearing one of three names—Demetrio, Pablo and Fausto. At 10:30 a.m. after a small audience of children and families had gathered, Pablo’s mother Maripi emerged from the indoor enclosure with her then unnamed baby anteater riding on her back.
Though Pablo is only five months old, when he lies sprawled across Maripi’s back, his snout is almost as long as his mother’s. As the children coached Maripi to head toward their favorite names, it was clear that mother anteater wasn’t going to make her decision too hastily.
Despite the audience, she took a long walk around the entire perimeter of her yard, sniffing along the way. Curiously, she inspected the three flowerpots. Each was decorated with tiny drawings of ants. Maripe seemed to enjoy the suspense as she walked away from the pots as if deliberating. Finally, she returned to the pot labeled “Pablo.”
And that’s how the baby got its name.
Born on December 7, 2010, the little guy has been waiting for weeks to be named. The process started with five names chosen by staff members in early March. After weeks of viewer voting on the National Zoo’s web site, three final names were chosen: Demetrio, Pablo and Fausto.
Each of the names hail from Central and South America, where giant anteaters range across grassland savannas and wetlands. The animals use their keen sense of smell to find anthills and termite mounds. They use their strong claws to tear them open and they use their saliva-covered, two-feet-long tongues to gather prey. The giant anteaters at the National Zoo feed mostly on a prepared insectivore chow and receive fruit and hard-boiled eggs as treats.
April 5, 2011
It’s all about timing at the Insect Zoo at the National Museum of Natural History. When I heard that visitors could witness tarantula feedings there, I wanted to get it on video. (I am a journalism student studying this semester at the George Washington University Semester in Washington program, where I am learning video, photo and web production and I am interning here at Smithsonian.com).
When I went to meet with the Insect Zoo’s manager, Nate Erwin, I thought that he would feed a tarantula or two and we would get it on camera, simple as that. Not so. Tarantulas, it turns out, can be temperamental. They can be picky. And they don’t simply eat because we are pointing a camera at them.
The first day that we filmed in the “rearing room” of the Insect Zoo, none of the tarantulas wanted to be the star of our video. Nate Erwin would introduce a cricket into the tarantula’s cage and coax the cricket towards the spiders’ mouths. The crickets hardly seemed phased by their own peril. I saw the creatures terrifying set of fangs, which were almost as big as the crickets’ bodies. They sat there cricket and spider, each oblivious to the other. Lucky for the crickets, the first two spiders weren’t hungry. (You can lead a spider to a cricket, but you can’t make him eat.)
I was beginning to give up after filming a Goliath birdeater, which is the largest species of tarantula. It ignored a huge cockroach lunch (This species not used is in live feeding demonstrations in the museum.)
Finally, a gorgeous Mexican Red Knee tarantula nicknamed “Ramona” stepped up to become the star of our video when she dutifully ate lunch. My video project was now done.
Check out the star of our show, Ramona, who feeds in her cage at the museum on Sunday at 11:30 A.M. Live tarantula feedings take place year-round on Tuesday to Friday at 10:30, 11:30 and 1:30, and at 11:30, 12:30 and 1:30 on Saturday and Sunday.
March 11, 2011
We all know the saying “like mother, like daughter” but for third-generation Pueblo artist Margarete Bagshaw the phrase may as well be “like mother, like daughter, like grand daughter.” Following in the footsteps of her mother, Helen Hardin (1943-1984), and grandmother, Pablita Velarde (1918-2006), Bagshaw is part of a multi-generational female painting dynasty. Born in New Mexico, Bagshaw grew up surrounded by her mother and grandmother’s artwork, though she didn’t start producing her own works until the 1990s. Her family’s legacy of artwork can be viewed exclusively at Golden Dawn Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
This Saturday, March 12, Bagshaw will be speaking about her work and participation in the National Museum of the American Indian’s exhibition, Vantage Point: The Contemporary Art Collection. This past week in an email exchange, I weighed in with the artist about family, legacy and and growing up under the influence of strong, independent women.
What is it about working across generations that brings new beauty and life to your artwork?
I have a very deep and sincere respect for my mother and grandmother’s lives and the work they did. When I paint my own compositions, I can connect with their independence, strength and creativity. If I choose to reference something from their paintings in something of mine, as in my “Mother Line” series, it is like hearing their message, but interpreting it my own way.
Tell us a story about you and your mother and your grandmother?
When I was very little, until I was about 8 years old, the three of us were inseparable. If I wasn’t with one, I was with the other one. We lived close to Grandma so I could walk home to her house from school, so that’s what I did every day. One day my Mom showed up to get me and a friend asked me who that lady was… I told her it was my sister! Looking back, I really felt that grandma was our mother; we all answered to her and as long as she was around we were safe and secure. My mom was young and much better looking than anyone else’s mom… So they believed me!
When women come together to celebrate their history and legacy this month, what is your take home message?
Remember the women before you who broke boundaries, lost there lives, fought for justice, went against the grain, challenged authority! Remember it was women who gave birth and raised men who became noble leaders. Look in the mirror and know that women are thinkers, intellectuals, healers and progressive people. As my grandmother, Pablita Velarde, used to say, “I’m not going to let some man tell me what I can and can’t do. Half the time they don’t know what they’re talking about! Besides… I make more money and work harder then most of them do!”
Margarete Bagshaw’s lecture and discussion is on Saturday, March 12 at 2 PM at the National Museum of the American Indian on the fourth floor in room 4018. Vantage Point: The Contemporary Art Collection is on view on the third floor in the Richard West Jr. Contemporary Arts Gallery.
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|Scientific Name:||Procellaria aequinoctialis|
|Species Authority:||Linnaeus, 1758|
|Taxonomic Notes:||Procellaria aequinoctialis (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993) has been split into P. aequinoctialis and P. conspicillata following Brooke (2004).|
|Red List Category & Criteria:||Vulnerable A4bcde ver 3.1|
|Reviewer/s:||Butchart, S. & Symes, A.|
|Contributor/s:||Barbraud, C., Bugoni, L., Colabuono, F., Cooper, J., Croxall, J., Martin, T., Phillips, R., Robertson, C. & Taylor, G.|
This species is classified as Vulnerable because of suspected rapid declines, although almost no reliable estimates of historical populations exist. Very high rates of incidental mortality in longline fisheries have been recorded in recent years; the probability that these circumstances will continue and its susceptibility to predation and the degradation of breeding habitat indicate that a rapid and on-going population decline is likely.
Procellaria aequinoctialis breeds on South Georgia (Georgias del Sur), Prince Edward Islands (South Africa), Crozet Islands, Kerguelen Islands (French Southern Territories), Auckland, Campbell and Antipodes Islands (New Zealand), and in small numbers in the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas). Recently revised population estimates give a global population of c.3 million individuals. This is based on estimates of 773,150 breeding pairs on South Georgia in 2007 (ACAP 2012), 23,600 breeding pairs (9,800 to 36,800) on Crozet (Barbraud et al. in litt. 2008), 186,000-297,000 pairs on the Kerguelen Islands (Barbraud et al. 2009), at least c.100,000 on Disappointment (Auckland) in 1988 (ACAP 2012), 10,000 on Campbell in 1985 (ACAP 2012) and 58,725 on the Antipodes in 2011 (ACAP 2012). At least 55 pairs breed on the Falkland Islands, on Kidney Island, New Island and Bottom Island (Reid et al. 2007). On Bird Island (South Georgia), the population has apparently decreased by 28% over 20 years (Berrow et al. 2000), while in Prydz Bay (Antarctica), the number of birds at sea decreased by 86% during 1981-1993 (Woehler 1996). The species forages north to the subtropics and south to the pack-ice edge off Antarctica (Berrow et al. 2000, Catard et al. 2000, Phillips et al. 2006), and is distributed widely in all southern oceans (Croxall et al. 1984).
Native:Antarctica; Argentina; Australia; Brazil; Chile; Falkland Islands (Malvinas); French Southern Territories (the); Heard Island and McDonald Islands; Madagascar; Mozambique; Namibia; New Zealand; Peru; Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha; South Africa; South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands; Uruguay
Present - origin uncertain:Bouvet Island; Ecuador
|Range Map:||Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.|
|Population:||A global population of 1,200,000 breeding pairs, down from 1,430,000 pairs in the 1980s, is estimated based on figures from 1985-2011. This equates to an estimated global population of c.3 million mature individuals, based on the estimated number of breeding pairs extrapolated according to a ratio from Brooke (2004).|
|Habitat and Ecology:||Behaviour It is a burrow-nesting annual breeder, laying in mid-October to mid-November (ACAP 2009). Chicks usually fledge in late April (Barbraud et al. 2009). Outside the chick-rearing period, White-chinned Petrels breeding on South Georgia travel to Patagonian Shelf waters to feed (Phillips et al. 2006). Satellite tracking and ring recoveries from birds on Crozet Islands show that they spend the non-breeding season off the coasts of South Africa and Namibia (Barbraud in litt. 2008). Individuals from the Kerguelen Islands also winter off the coasts of South Africa and Namibia over the Benguela Current (Péron et al. 2010a). Diet White-chinned Petrels feed on cephalopods, crustaceans and fish (Berrow et al. 1999, Catard et al. 2000, Delord et al. 2010) and fisheries processing waste or discarded longline baits. Cephalopods were found to comprise the greatest component of the diet in one study (91% occurrence, 92% number, 90% mass) (Colabuono and Vooren 2007). Foraging range Birds range widely when searching for food resources, travelling up to 8,000 km on feeding forays in the breeding season (Berrow et al. 2000, Catard et al. 2000, Phillips et al. 2006, Delord et al. 2010a). Individuals breeding at the Crozet and Kerguelen islands display a bimodal foraging strategy, conducting either short trips to the surrounding shelf or long trips ranging from subtropical waters in the north to Antarctic waters in the south (Catard et al. 2000). Individuals breeding at the Kerguelen Islands target the seasonal ice zone where melting sea ice is gradually broken into floes and forage almost exclusively in open water (Péron et al. 2010b).|
P. aequinoctialis constitute the majority of bird bycatch in Southern Ocean longline fisheries. It is one of the commonest species attending longline vessels off south-east Brazil during winter (Olmos 1997, Bugoni et al. 2008) and off Uruguay (Jiménez et al. 2009), and constitutes virtually all the recorded seabird bycatch from the Namibian hake fishery (Barnes et al. 1997, Petersen et al. 2007). In South Africa, White-chinned Petrels constitute 10% and 55% of the bycatch in pelagic and demersal longline fisheries respectively (Petersen et al. 2007). Prior to the introduction of bird streamer lines as a vessel permit condition in August 2006, approximately, 10% of the 18,000 birds killed annually in the South African hake trawl fishery were White-chinned Petrels (Watkins et al. 2007). In the Indian Ocean, between 2001 and 2003 the legal longline fishery for Patagonian toothfish Dissostichus eleginoides killed c.12,400 P. aequinoctialis per year (Delord et al. 2005). Following the introduction of mitigation measures this figure dropped to approximately 2,500 birds in the 2005-2006 season (CCAMLR 2006), and to 740 birds in the 2008-2009 season (CCAMLR 2010). In addition, an estimated 31,000-111,000 and 50,000-89,000 seabirds in 1997 and 1998 respectively, c.60% of which were P. aequinoctialis, were thought to be killed by IUU vessels (CCAMLR 1997, 1998). In recent years (2006) this figure has fallen to 4,583 seabirds in total (CCAMLR 2006). It is the second most common species caught in the Argentinean longline fleet, with an average capture rate for the period 1999-2003 of 0.014 ± 0.09 individuals per 1,000 hooks (Laich and Favero 2007). During autumn-winter most captures took place in the north of the Patagonian Shelf, whereas in spring-summer most were to the south, between 45-50 degrees South (Laich and Favero 2007). In the Australian Fishing Zone, more than 800 are potentially killed annually (Gales et al. 1998) and, in New Zealand between 2003 and 2005, 14.5% of all the seabirds caught in trawl and longline fisheries and returned for autopsy were P. aequinoctialis (Baird and Smith 2007). Barbraud et al. (2009) estimated that any additional source of mortality that approaches 31,000 individuals would result in a population decline at the Kerguelen Islands. Although only 30% of this number are killed in local waters, and even fewer are now killed due to the implementation of mitigation measures, more than 31,900 White-chinned Petrels are estimated to be killed each year by demersal longline fishing in the Benguela Current marine ecosystem where individuals from the Kerguelen Islands spend the winter. This may mean that the population at the Kerguelen Islands is decreasing, although the additional presence of non-breeders from the Crozet Islands at the Benguela Current means that further research is required to confirm the population decline (Barbraud et al. 2009). Dillingham & Fletcher (2011) estimated that the potential for the world population to sustain additional mortality was 15,000 individuals. Rats (Rattus rattus and R. norvegicus) are significant predators at some breeding sites, such as Crozet (Jones et al. 2008), and cats predate nests at Kerguelen (Barbraud in litt. 2008). At South Georgia, breeding habitat is extensively degraded owing to erosion by expanding populations of Antarctic fur seal Arctocephalus gazella (Berrow et al. 2000). Introduced reindeer Rangifer tarandus also degrade breeding habitat on South Georgia (Poncet 2007). Although no adverse effects have been proven until recently, there are now reports of relatively high frequencies of plastic ingestion (Ryan 2008, Colabuono et al. 2009), as well as the occurrence of persistent organic pollutants (Colabuono et al. 2012) in this species.
Conservation Actions Underway
CMS Appendix II ACAP Annex 1. Population monitoring and foraging ecology studies are being undertaken at South Georgia, Crozet, Prince Edward and Kerguelen (Poncet 2007). Several breeding sites are in protected areas. Conservation Actions Proposed
Continue and extend monitoring studies. Where feasible, eliminate alien predators and reindeer from breeding islands. Promote adoption of best-practice mitigation measures in all fisheries within the species's range, including via intergovernmental mechanisms such as ACAP, FAO, and Regional Fisheries Management Organisations such as CCAMLR. Implement plans to remove rats and reindeer from South Georgia (R. Phillips in litt. 2012). Develop and implement plans to remove pigs from Auckland Island, rats, cats and reindeer from Kerguelen, and rats from Ile de la Possession, Crozet (R. Phillips in litt. 2012).
|Citation:||BirdLife International 2012. Procellaria aequinoctialis. In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 20 May 2013.|
|Feedback:||If you see any errors or have any questions or suggestions on what is shown on this page, please fill in the feedback form so that we can correct or extend the information provided|
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PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
Contact: Edward "Skip" McNevin
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEFebruary 1, 1996
PLANETARY IMAGES AVAILABLE AT NEW WEB SITE
One of the world's most popular photo collections -- images
of the planets produced by the U.S. space program -- goes online
in a central location today as part of a joint project between
NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
NASA's Planetary Photojournal, accessible on the Internet
via the World Wide Web, enables access to NASA's archive of
planetary images for viewing and use by the public, scientists,
educators and publishers.
"This Web site opens a fresh window on the planets and what
we have learned from them," said Wesley T. Huntress Jr., NASA
associate administrator for space science. "Communication is the
final and probably the most important step in the scientific
process. Using some of the same computer technology that helps
us generate new discoveries, this partnership with the USGS will
allow us to share this knowledge with people everywhere."
"The new system currently provides access to images residing
in collections at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and at the USGS,
Flagstaff, AZ, along with captions and other information such as
mapping data," said Sue LaVoie, a member of the development team
at JPL. The site features thumbnail and browse-size versions of
the images for viewing and provides user-friendly digital
downloading of images in a variety of formats and sizes.
Access is provided not only to the most popular images but
to the entire primary image data sets from various space
missions, LaVoie added. Links are provided to commercial vendors
for ordering hard copies of photographs, slides, CD-ROMs and
other imaging data products from the collection.
Other links in the new system allow users to jump to and
browse other space image data collections, LaVoie said. Pointers
and links to other sites, such as space mission home pages, also
New images released from NASA missions will be placed on the
system in parallel with release to the news media.
The URL for the new NASA Planetary Photojournal is:
At JPL, the Planetary Photojournal development team was led
by LaVoie and included Eric DeJong, Elizabeth Duxbury, Myche
McAuley, Edward McNevin III and Jurrie van der Woude, while the
USGS team was led by Larry Soderblom and included Eric Eliason
and Haig Morgan.
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Responding to Haiti tragedy, UN peacekeepers
exemplified dedication and professionalism
More than 124,000 peacekeepers are now deployed in 15 operations worldwide, clear evidence of global respect for, dependence on and confidence in United Nations peacekeeping operations.
The international community counts on its Blue Helmets to protect the vulnerable in some of the world's most dangerous places, but their service comes at a high cost--throughout UN peacekeeping’s more than 60-year history, violence, accidents and disease have cost the lives of more than 2,700 individuals working in hot spots around the world, from the Middle East to the Balkans, Africa and beyond.
The United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) was working with the Haitian authorities to support political stability, promote human rights and bolster security when a massive earthquake struck the country on 12 January. More than 230,000 Haitians lost their lives in one of that nation's darkest days. Additionally, 101 UN personnel, including 96 peacekeepers, were killed. It was the deadliest natural disaster to ever strike Haiti and the biggest single loss of life in the history of UN peacekeeping. For the peacekeepers, the tragedy was colossal. The collapse of MINUSTAH’s Headquarters took the lives of the mission’s chief, Hédi Annabi and his deputy, Luiz Carlos da Costa, as well as its police commissioner Douglas Coates, who were attending a meeting with a visiting Chinese delegation. Nearly one hundred more UN military, police and civilian personnel from around the world and Haiti itself also perished at the Headquarters and other UN facilities in the capital. A total of 29 UN Member States lost uniformed or civilian personnel in the disaster. Brazil, which has played a strong leading role in the peacekeeping mission since its inception in 2004, lost 20 of its nationals, more than any other troop or police contributing country.
Despite these tremendous losses, the UN peacekeepers knew that their vital work to restore stability was even more urgent amid the chaos. The mission adjusted and recalibrated. The peacekeepers immediately started the somber work of looking for survivors and recovering the remains of those who perished, while at the same time reconstructing the mission and planning and implementing a strategic response to the disaster.
Since the quake, MINUSTAH has continued to work hard to help stabilize Haiti and the professionalism, dedication and courage shown by the ‘blue helmets’ in Haiti since then is just one of many examples of UN peacekeeping helping countries overcome conflict and tragedy. The peacekeepers in Haiti, and their colleagues serving worldwide, are the personification of one of the most important functions of the United Nations – maintaining international peace and security. On a more human level, their works gives people from conflict-torn countries hope for a better, safer and more secure future. For this, they rightly deserve the recognition they receive today -- the eighth annual International Day of UN Peacekeepers.
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Hypertension is a medical term for continually high blood pressure. There are many different types of Hypertension that vary from mild to very sever and fatal. One severe type is Malignant Hypertension. Besides being severe by itself, Hypertension leads to heart attacks, strokes, and kidney failure. Physicians believe that if a person's reading for blood pressure is over 150/95, this indicates that the person has Hypertension.
In most cases, Hypertension doesn't produce any symptoms until more dangerous complications occur. For example, Hypertension can cause a heart attack by making the heart work harder. If the heart is forced to work harder, the kidneys may not get enough blood which in turn, causes kidney failure. Hypertension can also lead to Arteriosclerosis. If it isn't controlled, Hypertension will increase the risk of heart attack, stroke, and kidney problems. It will also damage arteries and strain the heart.
About 10% of all Hypertension cases are caused from other illnesses like overactive adrenal glands or kidney disease. Physicians aren't able to determine the other 90% or the cases. These cases are called Essential Hypertension. Having too much stress, obesity, eating too much salt, or smoking will help Hypertension develop. These things also may make Hypertension worse if a person already has Hypertension. People whose parents suffer from Hypertension are more likely to develop Hypertension themselves rather than people whose parents didn't suffer from Hypertension.
EVERYONE should have their blood pressure checked frequently, even if a person's parents don't suffer from Hypertension. In mild cases, Hypertension can be controlled by avoiding salty foods, reducing weight, and getting more exercise. In almost all other cases, Physicians treat Hypertension with drugs and medications that reduce the secretion of rennin and aldosterone. In more serious cases, like heart attacks, can be prevented by treating high blood pressure before it gets too high.
Home Page Cardiovascular Cancer COPD Bibliography
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Cropland expansion increases biodiversity loss – New UNEP report
Business News of Saturday, 19 January 2013
An increase in the amount of land being used for crops is one of the main reasons for the continuing loss of biodiversity and threatens to undermine attempts to meet international environmental goals.
This is according to a new report involving scientists from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) made available to the Ghana News Agency in Accra on Friday.
The report entitled: “Crop Expansion and Conservation Priorities in Tropical Countries”, details how land, which is often rich in biodiversity, is being converted or set aside for crops like rice and maize in some 128 tropical countries.
The study warns that such trends, if continued, could derail progress towards meeting the Aichi Biodiversity Targets – a set of 20, time-bound measurable targets aimed at halting global biodiversity loss by the middle of the century.
It highlights the urgent need for more effective sustainability standards and policies to address production and consumption of tropical commodities, including robust land-use planning.
The establishment of new protected areas, projects to support forests (such as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation, or REDD+) in places agriculture has not yet reached, and the reduction or elimination of incentives for land-demanding bio-energy feed stocks.
It also warns that areas of high biodiversity value may also be vulnerable to similar land conversion patterns in the future; these include priority conservation areas such as Frontier Forests and High Biodiversity Wilderness Areas, which have previously been identified as having ‘low vulnerability’.
According to the report there are also many other smaller areas which are important for biodiversity and which have high cultivation potential, such as on the fringes of the Amazon basin, in the Paraguayan Chaco, and in the savannah woodlands of the Sahel and East Africa.
Researchers from UNEP’s World Conservation Monitoring Centre and the Cambridge Conservation Initiative analyzed data on crop distribution and expansion, assessed changes in area of main crops, and mapped overlaps between conservation priorities and cultivation potential.
They found that cropland in tropical countries expanded by around 48,000 km² per year from 1999 to 2008; with rice being the single crop grown over the largest area, especially in tropical forest habitats.
According to the report countries which added the greatest area of new cropland were Nigeria, Indonesia, Ethiopia, Sudan and Brazil.
It said soybeans and maize are the crops which expanded most in absolute area; while other crops with large increases included rice, sorghum, oil palm, beans, sugar cane, cow peas, wheat and cassava.
UNEP will launch later this month a campaign against food waste, which also aims to lessen the pressure on land as yet unused for agriculture.
The report has been published in the run-up to the first plenary meeting of the newly-created Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) in Bonn, Germany from 21 to 26 January 2013.
IPBES, which was established in April 2012, creates a mechanism recognized by both scientific and policy communities to synthesize, review, assess and critically evaluate relevant information and knowledge generated worldwide.
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Tip of the Month: Install light switches at the top and bottom of stairs.
Why is falls prevention so important?
- Nationally, 1 in 3 older adults fall each year and 1 in 10 falls result in hospitalization; if Tompkins County mirrored this trend, this would be an estimated 3,369 people having falls each year
- Falls are the top reason the Emergency Medical Services are called; in 2011, falls resulted in 12.7% of all calls to EMS
- Tompkins County (9.2%) has a higher percentage of adults 65+ who had falls that resulted in injuries when compared to the rest of upstate New York (4.7%)
- Tompkins County residents with disabilities report more falls and experience more injuries when they do fall
- Tompkins County residents 60+ have medical conditions which make them at particular risk of falling:
- Arthritis: 58%
- Foot problems: 26%
- Osteoporosis: 20%
But falls are not an unavoidable part of growing older, older adults everywhere are discovering they can control their risk of falling. Below are resources that can help you reduce your risk of falling, continue the activities that you enjoy, and help maintain your independence!
Click here to read the final report and summary of this program.
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Lasers, Cameras and Particle Detectors: Mars Rover’s Super High-Tech Science Gear
- 11:55 AM
- Categories: Space
Assuming it safely passes through its terrifying and complex descent sequence, NASA’s newest rover, Curiosity, should get its wheels on the Martian surface in just two short days, at 10:32 p.m. Pacific on Aug. 5. The size of a small SUV, Curiosity is packed with 10 state-of-the-art instruments that will allow it to answer questions about Mars’ wet history, current atmosphere and climate, and the possibility of ancient or contemporary life.
Curiosity represents a scientific and engineering leap over the previous rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, and its nuclear-powered battery will allow it to rove day and night. Over the course of its two-year initial mission, the probe will climb up a 3-mile-high mountain in the middle of Gale Crater, poking, prodding, and drilling into the soil and rocks.
Here we take a closer look at the individual instruments that will help Curiosity make the next breakthrough discoveries about the Red Planet.
From the moment the rover hits the Martian atmosphere it will start taking data. Studded in 14 locations around the probe’s heat shield are devices known as the Mars Science Laboratory Entry Descent and Landing Instrument (MEDLI). This equipment will provide information about Mars’ atmosphere and the dynamics of the rover’s descent, analyzing Curiosity’s trip to the surface and providing information helpful in designing future Mars missions.
Additionally, a special camera, the Mars Descent Imager (MARDI) will be watching the view as the ground rushes up at Curiosity. By taking high-resolution color video during the probe’s landing sequence, MARDI will provide an overview of the landscape during descent and allow geologists back on Earth to determine exactly where Curiosity lands.
Possibly the coolest Curiosity instrument is the ChemCam, which uses a laser beam to shoot rocks (and maybe a Martian or two) in order to vaporize a small sample. A spectrograph will then analyze the vapor, determining the composition and chemistry of the rocks. Situated on Curiosity’s head, ChemCam can shoot up to 23 feet and should provide unprecedented detail about minerals on the Martian surface.
The Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) instrument will look at various minerals on the Martian surface. Specific minerals form in the presence or in the absence of water, revealing the history of an area and helping scientists to understand whether or not liquid existed there. Curiosity will drill into rocks to obtain samples for CheMin, pulverizing the material and transporting it into the instrument’s chamber. CheMin will then bombard the sample with X-rays to determine its composition.
The Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS) will be Curiosity’s weatherman, providing data about daily atmospheric pressure, wind speed, humidity, ultraviolet radiation, and air temperature. REMS will sit on Curiosity’s neck and also help assess long-term seasonal variation in Mars’ climate.
The Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) sits the end of Curiosity’s arm, allowing the rover to place it right up against rocks and soil. It will then shoot X-rays and alpha particles (essentially Helium nuclei) at the materials to identify how they formed.
The Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) is one of the most important instruments and the reason that Curiosity can be called a mobile laboratory. Taking up more than half of the rover’s body, SAM contains equipment found in top-notch labs on Earth: a mass spectrometer to separate materials and identify elements, a gas chromatograph to vaporize soil and rocks and analyze them, and a laser spectrometer to measure the abundances of certain light elements such as carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen – chemicals typically associated with life. SAM will also look for organic compounds and methane, which may indicate life past or present on Mars.
The other experiment important in Curiosity’s search for Martian habitability is the Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN) instrument, which will look for water in or under the Martian surface. Water, both liquid and frozen, absorbs neutrons differently than other materials. DAN will be able to detect layers of water up to six feet below the surface and be sensitive to water content as low as one-tenth of a percent in Martian minerals.
Curiosity has plenty of eyes to take in the view on the ground. Perched atop its head is the MastCam, two cameras capable of taking color images and video, as well as stitching pictures together into larger panoramas. One of these two cameras has a high-resolution lens, allowing Curiosity to study the distant landscape in detail.
The Mars Hand Lens Images (MAHLI) instrument will provide close-up views of rocks and soil samples near the rover. MAHLI sits at the end of Curiosity’s long, flexible arm, and can image details down to about 12.5 micrometers, roughly half the diameter of a human hair. The instrument will also be able to see in ultraviolet light, which will come in handy during night exploration and funky psychedelic parties.
Rounding out Curiosity’s cameras are the hazard-avoidance Hazcams and navigation Navcams. The Hazcams will watch underneath the rover to prevent it from crashing into any large objects while the Navcams will be mounted on the rover’s mast to help it steer. Both camera sets will be capable of taking stereoscopic 3D images.
Future Mars missions may rely on data from the Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD). The first instrument that Curiosity fires up when it lands on Mars, RAD will measure radiation at the Martian surface, determining how plausible it is that microbes exist there. One of RAD’s main selling points is its ability to assess how safe or dangerous the Martian surface would be to future human explorers, calculating the radiation dose future astronauts may receive.
Images: 1) & 2) NASA/JPL-Caltech. 3) NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/J.-L. Lacour, CEA.
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- n. Plural form of foible.
“In 1866, as Concord was putting up its stone tribute to the war dead, John Hay — a kind of mini-Seward in his merriment and sophisticated tastes — concluded, not implausibly, that "Lincoln with all his foibles is the greatest character since Christ.”
“For, let it not be forgotten that the Hindu regards what we call our foibles of petulance, arrogance, and intolerance, with the same disapprobation and disgust as we do their more frequent violation of the seventh, eighth, and ninth commandments of the Decalogue.”
“One of the reasons that I frequently write on humanity's foibles is because about eight months back, I got a big horse's kick to the head that told me that I needed to change my life.”
“It will be important to feel our way through it, and realize that the power we have to learn about each others’ lives and minds and feelings and foibles, is just the beginning of the changes the new environment is bringing about.”
““Marusek, showing a potentially volatile synergy of technology and human foibles, is a writer who gives the impression that he’s been to the future, seen it work, and has come back to tell us all about it.””
“His foibles are a boon for the TV talking heads, and since there's nobody to put them in check, it's easy to ramble on about what Tiger should be doing, how he's only going to get one chance to make his come back, and how he has to make the BIG apology.”
“She inherited such of her father's virtues as compose the proper ornament of her sex; and with regard to what are termed the foibles of great souls, her highness had in no wise degenerated.”
“When I am far away and something recalls my foibles and my faults, remember that in spite of them, my heart was true to you; that I have but one wife and one darling boy to whom my heart clings as its anchor and to whom it will continue to cling while I live.”
“But the proposal caught Edouard on his foible, his vanity, to wit; and our foibles are our manias.”
“R. was not happy, but knows my little 'foibles' and agreed to take J. and get the book.”
These user-created lists contain the word ‘foibles’.
Nouns that are common in plural form but are non-existent or rarely used in singular form.
All my favourite words that I come across!
The path meanders through the vineyards
Just a bunch of words I like and wish I used more often in everyday speech.
Looking for tweets for foibles.
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The three simple relative pronouns, who, which, and that frequently have an antecedent expressed in the sentence. This antecedent may be a noun or a pronoun.
He who works hard will succeed.
The bear that mauled the campers was killed by park rangers.
The secretary will follow through with anything that you give her.
Unlike personal pronouns, a relative pronoun is most often in the same sentence with its antecedent, which usually comes immediately before the pronoun.
Note. Which can have an entire statement as an antecedent if the connection is clear: as, “The enemy position was uncertain, which made troop deployment all the more dangerous.” This sort of construction, though often discouraged, is often used by good writers. Often, in order to avoid this form of reference, a noun that sums up the whole statement is substituted as the antecedent: “The enemy position was uncertain, a situation that made troop deployment all the more dangerous.”
PERSON, NUMBER, AND GENDER
A relative pronoun agrees with its antecedent in person, number, and gender. The relative pronoun itself doesn’t change form for these different properties. It is necessary, however, to know the person and number of the relative in order to use the correct form of the verb with it. The form of the verb will be the same as used with the antecedent.
I who am the oldest will retire first.
They who are present will have to get the job done.
In the first sentence the antecedent is I, which is in the first person, singular number; the relative therefore is also in the first person, singular, and requires the verb am. In the second sentence, the antecedent they is in the third person, plural number, so the relative requires the verb are.
Gender has no effect on the use of the pronoun or the form of the verb.
CASE AND USE
The simple relative pronouns have the following case forms, which are the same for both singular and plural forms.
(of which) (whose)
Who is the only simple relative pronoun that changes form for the different cases.
Which has the same form for both the nominative and the objective cases. It has no regular form for the possessive case; the phrase of which is used instead. Sometimes whose, the possessive case of who, is employed as the corresponding form of which. We may therefore say either “South America has hundreds of indigenous languages, the majority of which have not been studied,” or “The law, whose constitutionality was upheld, is now in effect.”
That does not change form and has no possessive form.
The case of the relative pronoun does not depend upon the case of the antecedent; it is determined by the use of the pronoun in the clause which it introduces.
I met him who was just hired.
I met him whom you mentioned.
I met him of whom they spoke.
I met him whose business folded.
In the above sentences, the personal pronoun him is in the objective case because it is the object of the verb met. In the first sentence, the relative pronoun who is in the nominative case because it is the subject of the verb was in its own clause. In the second and third sentences, whom is in the objective case because it is used as the object of the verb mentioned and the object of the preposition of, respectively. In the fourth sentence, whose is in the possessive case because it indicates possession of business, a word in its own clause.
The Nominative Case is used with the subject of a verb.
This is the student who failed my class.
I found my wallet, which I’d lost.
He got on the plane that was doomed to crash.
The Objective Case is used:
(1) With the direct object of a verb.
He is the guy whom they accused of stealing the money.
She mailed the Christmas cards, which she’d written the previous day.
People are judged by the words that they use.
(2) With the object of a preposition.
He had a meeting with the CIA agent from whom he’d bought the documents.
This is the book to which they referred.
She hit everything that she aimed at.
The Possessive Case is used to denote possession.
The pirates surrounded the ship whose captain had fallen overboard.
Note. Compound Relative Pronouns may also be used as predicate nouns in the nominative case, “Whoever the chef was, he knew how to cook a great lasagna.”
Copyright © 2012 Thomas Fasano.
Your English Class™ trademark is the property of Thomas Fasano.
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Primary Education - The Nyaka Model
The Nyaka AIDS Orphans Project Primary Education Model is award-winning. It is one of 4 schools in Uganda selected to partner with the International School of Uganda on a program developed by Harvard University to improve the way children learn.
Date opened: October, 2001
Location : Village of Nyakagyezi, Kanungu District (map it)
About Nyaka: In August of 2001, two acres of land were purchased to build a school. Construction began in October of that same year. Nyaka began with two classrooms in levels Primary 1 and Primary 2. Today, Nyaka is educating students preschool age through Primary 7.
Date opened: February, 2009
Location: Village of Nyakishenyi, Rukungiri District, (map it)
About Kutamba: This very remote and rural area is even poorer and more destitute than the Kanungu District. In 2007, a student named Hilary walked 50km to ask us to assist him and others attain an education, and Kutamba was born! This school was designed and built with help from Architecture for Humanity and is considered one of the best constructed schools in Western Uganda. It continues to grow with strong support and oversight from its local management committee and community.
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More than two thirds of the world's surface is covered by oceans, which have the largest share of global biodiversity. Approximately less than 1% of marine organisms are known so far. These underexplored marine organisms could be resources for e.g. novel enzymes, biopolymers, biological active natural products and biomaterials with applications in food sector, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industry, in industrial processes as well as in the field of sustainable energy production. The global market for marine biotechnology products is estimated at 2.8 billion euros. The cumulative rate of growth is calculated conservatively at 4-5%.1
Aquaculture production in the Baltic Sea Region is rather low due to unfavourable natural conditions. The limited space available for new activities, especially in the coastal zone, calls for new management initiatives that combine open systems in the Baltic Sea waters with land-based “In-house farming”. The establishment of an environment-safe, sustainable aquaculture industry based on closed-cycle technology can create new jobs. Aquaculture in the traditional way is often a part-time occupation, as a result of the variations in seasonal resource availability. With closed-cycle technology it is possible to establish a seasons-independent breeding system.
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After Hosni Mubarak’s reign finally ended there was the immediate concern that the army would work with the Muslim Brotherhood to hold early elections that would help them consolidate power. And of course, that is exactly what happened. But it seemed not only expected but inevitable, because Mubarak’s legacy was a barren political environment in which only the Brotherhood had the organization and manpower to step into the vacuum.
One (fair) criticism of the Bush administration’s efforts to promote democracy is that it relied too much on elections when the institutions of civil society were not yet in place. That was the case when the Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsi became president and he had no civil society to compete with. And he, unsurprisingly, would like to keep it that way. Today an Egyptian court handed down a guilty verdict to at least 16 Americans among 43 NGO workers accused of subverting the government. The New York Times reports:
As the Cold War began taking shape early in the Truman administration, famed containment advisor George Kennan argued for a middle way between the strident anti-Communism forming on the right and the strategy of appeasement advocated for by the American left. Kennan believed power and psychology, not ideology, were what motivated Soviet behavior, and this required patience from the U.S. “Since world hegemony was impossible in Kennan’s interpretation of history, so, too, was Communist hegemony after World War II,” explains Elizabeth Edwards Spalding.
Kennan had made two very significant mistakes here–mistakes that proved less costly thanks to Harry Truman’s better judgment. First, as we now know, ideology indeed played a major role in Stalin’s policymaking decisions. Second, and more seriously from a policy standpoint, allowing Communism to expand until it reached its own limits and discredited itself would have meant consigning millions of people worldwide to suffer under the experiment. We didn’t have to test Stalinism further to know whether it had to be opposed.
Although there are obviously major differences between the centralized Communist movement radiating out from an empire that covered one-sixth of the world’s land mass and today’s rising tide of Islamism, there are still relevant lessons in Kennan’s mistakes. Western leaders shouldn’t fool themselves about the political ideology of Islamism, and they shouldn’t preach patience to those living under tyranny. And the case of Egypt would be a good place to start learning and applying those lessons.
The Islamic world’s rampant Jew-hatred, as I noted last week, is often simply ignored by the journalists and academics who should be bringing it to public attention. But no less troubling is the fact that on the rare occasions when they do report it, they frequently try to explain it away. These “explanations” offer little insight into the actual sources of Muslim Jew-hatred. But they offer a very disturbing insight into opinion leaders’ motives in concealing this hatred.
A good example is an article published by the New York Times in January that described two cases in which Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi made virulently anti-Semitic remarks. In one, he said Egyptians should “nurse our children and our grandchildren on hatred” for Jews and Zionists; in another, he described Zionists as “these bloodsuckers who attack the Palestinians, these warmongers, the descendants of apes and pigs.”
Western opinion leaders too often ignore the Islamic world’s rampant Jew-hatred, argues a new book reviewed recently in The Jerusalem Report. It’s unfortunate that Tibor Krausz’s review is behind a paywall, since it’s a must-read for anyone who doesn’t plan to read the full book: In example after chilling example, it demonstrates the depth and extent of this Jew-hatred, while also showing that it has nothing to do with Israel’s “occupation of Palestine.” In a televised sermon in 2009, for instance, Egyptian cleric Muhammad Hussein Ya’qub said, “If the Jews left Palestine to us, would we start loving them? Of course not … The Jews are infidels not because I say so but because Allah does… They aren’t our enemies because they occupy Palestine; they would be our enemies even if they had not occupied anything.”
But what moved Neil Kressel, a professor of psychology at William Patterson University, to write The Sons of Pigs and Apes wasn’t merely the existence of this hatred; rather, Krausz noted, it was his dismay over “what he sees as a blind spot — ‘a conspiracy of silence’ — among Western academics, policymakers and journalists about the extent of Muslim anti-Semitism.” Policymakers may not actually belong in this list; I suspect many are genuinely ignorant about this hatred. But if they are, it’s because of this “conspiracy of silence”: The journalists and academics whose job it is to inform them consistently fail to do so.
I was surprised to hear recently from deploying U.S. troops that among their deployment plans was participation in Bright Star, the once-annual U.S.-Egypt military exercise delayed as a result of the political turmoil that led to Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak’s ouster. In February, CENTCOM commander General James Mattis and U.S. Ambassador Anne Patterson met to discuss the resumption of Bright Star with Egyptian Defense Minister Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi’s appointee.
In recent weeks, Sisi has apparently been turning a blind eye as the Muslim Brotherhood sends its own as cadets into Egypt’s military academy in an effort to change the army’s character. The army has also proven itself ineffective as Islamists target Christians in what might best be described as pogroms.
Assurances about the benign intent of the Muslim Brotherhood have been the coin of the realm in Washington in the past year as the Obama administration justified its continued embrace of the Egyptian government. But even though we are still being told that there is no alternative to engagement with Mohamed Morsi’s regime, the escalation of anti-Christian violence ought to shock Americans into the realization that they are subsidizing a regime bent on oppressing religious minorities.
The siege of the Christian Cathedral in Cairo was condemned by Morsi, who told the sect’s pope in a phone call that he considered “any aggression against the cathedral an aggression against me personally” and then ordered an investigation into the incident. But the source of the trouble isn’t a mystery. As the New York Times reports, uniformed police and security personnel joined Muslim mobs as they attacked the sacred site in fighting that left four Christians dead. Christians are connecting the dots between the Brotherhood’s sectarian agitation and drive for total power and the growing number of attacks on them. While Morsi tries to give his movement what an American bureaucrat might call “plausible deniability,” Islamist street thugs are under the understandable impression that they have the approval of the movement that has seized control of the country when the police join their depredations rather than stop them. The only mystery is how long it will take for a U.S. government that is still sending nearly $2 billion a year to Egypt’s government, as well as military equipment, to understand that it can’t pretend to talk about supporting the goals of the Arab Spring’s pro-democracy protesters while backing Morsi.
The contradictions at the heart of the Obama administration’s approach to the Middle East are approaching the level of parody. For the past four years under Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, we were constantly told that protecting the rights of women was an integral element in U.S. foreign policy. That was laudable, yet the same State Department that touted its feminist bona fides to the press was also the champion of engagement with the Muslim Brotherhood government of Egypt. While the administration has dug in its heels on their policy of continuing to shower Mohamed Morsi’s regime with U.S. taxpayer dollars, there doesn’t seem to be any more pushback against Egypt’s policy toward women than its attempts to crush political opponents or its anti-Semitism.
An article in today’s New York Times that discusses the Brotherhood’s policies toward women illustrates the raging hypocrisy of the American stand on Egypt. There was never much doubt about the misogyny that is at the heart of the Islamist group’s worldview, but by issuing a public critique of a proposed United Nations declaration opposing violence against women, they have elevated the topic to one of international significance. The regime’s stance on women is scaring Egyptian moderates and liberals who are rapidly losing any hope that the toppling of Hosni Mubarak’s government would usher in an era of democratic reform. But the specter of the most populous Arab state’s government moving slowly but surely toward an Iran-style theocracy is an ominous development for the rest of the region. Indeed, this makes it clear that what President Obama is doing in Egypt is nothing less than a U.S.-subsidized war on women.
I wrote earlier today about the way Vice President Biden seemed to take the United States half a step closer to an eventual confrontation with Iran in his speech to the annual AIPAC conference. Also noteworthy was the absence of any criticism of Israel’s presence in the West Bank or settlements. Biden extolled the two-state solution for the conflict with the Palestinians, but as has been the case with the Obama administration since the start of the 2012 presidential campaign, there was an effort to steer clear of any real argument with Israel and its supporters on the peace process. But as much as Biden seemed anxious to agree with the pro-Israel community on a host of issues, such as isolating Hezbollah and treating it as a terrorist organization, there was one point of real disagreement with many of the Jewish state’s supporters.
While surveying the Middle East and denouncing threats to Israel, Biden insisted that the Obama administration’s embrace of the Muslim Brotherhood government in Egypt was not the mistake that many critics have claimed:
We’re not looking at what’s happening in Egypt through rose-colored glasses. Again, our eyes are wide open. We have no illusions about the challenges that we face, but we also know this: There’s no legitimate alternative at this point to engagement.
Only through engagement — it’s only through engagement with Egypt that we can focus Egypt’s leaders on the need to repair international obligations — respect their international obligations, including and especially its peace treaty with Israel. It’s only through active engagement that we can help ensure that Hamas does not re-arm through the Sinai and put the people of Israel at risk. It’s only through engagement that we can concentrate Egypt’s government on the imperative of confronting the extremists. And it’s only through engagement that we can encourage Egypt’s leaders to make reforms that will spark economic growth and stabilize the democratic process. And it’s all tough, and there’s no certainty.
While the concerns that Biden raises about the possibility that the Morsi government will break the treaty with Israel are real, his insistence that there are no alternatives to coddling the Brotherhood with arms sales and a virtual blank check to continue its quest for total power in Egypt is wrong. So, too, is his belief that making nice with the Islamists is altering their behavior.
While Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi was in Germany today hoping to attract European investors to put their money in his country, the situation in many cities throughout the most populous Arab country continued to deteriorate. Violence continued, not only in the area around Cairo’s Tahrir Square where the demonstrations that toppled Hosni Mubarak started two years ago, but also in cities along the Suez Canal. Opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei called upon Morsi to hold a national dialogue and to form a government of national unity, but there is no indication that the Muslim Brotherhood leader will budge from his determination to hold onto total power.
Meanwhile, the Obama administration, which has been bragging to the press about Egypt being one of its foreign policy accomplishments, is standing aloof from a situation that the head of the Egyptian military said had brought the country to the edge of collapse. While the president may pride himself for helping to hasten the end of the Mubarak dictatorship and pressured the country’s military not to interfere with the Brotherhood’s drive to take control of the country, he seemed to have gone silent just at the moment when the secular opposition there needs him to speak up. Why?
Nobody could have seriously expected President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to be pushed to explain their record of foreign policy failures in their joint interview on “60 Minutes” last night. With presidential sycophant Steve Kroft asking the questions there was little probing other than about their personal interrelations and the obligatory question about 2016 (which reminded us that the only real loser in the interview was Vice President Joe Biden who, despite being the adult in the White House when it comes to getting things passed through Congress, was sent the clear message that he is still an also-ran as far as the president is concerned). But there was one real nugget of information about the future of American foreign policy that the president let slip, and it actually deserves more attention than the titillating details about the Obama-Clinton alliance.
The real headline out of the interview ought to center on the following remark by the president in response to a rather soft question about his “lead from behind” strategy in the Middle East:
President Obama: Well, Muammar Qaddafi probably does not agree with that assessment, or at least if he was around, he wouldn’t agree with that assessment. Obviously, you know, we helped to put together and lay the groundwork for liberating Libya. You know, when it comes to Egypt, I think, had it not been for the leadership we showed, you might have seen a different outcome there.
Let me get this straight. President Obama is not merely bragging about a conflict in Libya that led to chaos not only in that country that produced the murders of four Americans including our ambassador. He is also saying that he thinks he positively impacted the outcome of the power struggle in Egypt over the last two years and actually thinks his “leadership” helped create a situation about which we are happy. So what he’s telling us is that he’s not merely pleased with what he did or didn’t do, but that he thinks the current situation in Cairo in which the most populous Arab country is now run by a Muslim Brotherhood government led by a raving anti-Semite is a good thing about which he can brag on national TV.
Earlier this month, remarks from Egypt’s President Mohamed Morsi surfaced showing the president referring to Israelis as “bloodsuckers” and “the descendants of apes and pigs,” in addition to calling President Barack Obama a liar. The wide publication of Morsi’s inflammatory comments led to an uncomfortable meeting with a U.S. congressional delegation as discussion about further American aid to Egypt was addressed. During the meeting, and at a press conference afterwards, Morsi stated that the slurs were “taken out of context,” according to the New York Times. The Times neglected to report if there were any questions from members of the press present asking Morsi explain the full context of the remarks.
What is more laughable: Morsi claiming that he was somehow taken out of context or the media’s quiet acceptance of his claims? Those present instead decided to brush off the remarks, with further aid promised to the Muslim Brotherhood government. The New York Times reported:
The BBC has finally issued a correction on a story that downplayed the video of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi making anti-Semitic comments in 2010. The original article said that Morsi was talking about “settlers” when he used the term “descendants of apes and pigs,” when he was clearly referring Israeli Jews in general:
Correction 17 January 2013: This report was amended to take out the reference to settlers from the comments made by the Egyptian president.
The media has been so invested in the narrative that Morsi is a moderate that it apparently feels the need to downplay his comments. Unfortunately for them, it’s getting harder to do. The Middle East Media Research Institute has released another video of Morsi making anti-Semitic remarks in 2010. In the new video, the Muslim Brotherhood leader loudly rants about the “lies” in Obama’s famous Cairo address, and calls on supporters to raise their children to hate Jews.
The truth about the disgusting anti-Semitism that is at the core of the belief system of the Muslim Brotherhood government of Egypt is finally gaining the attention it deserves. As we wrote yesterday, the belated coverage given by the New York Times yesterday puts the Obama administration’s embrace of the regime of President Mohamed Morsi in an extremely unflattering light. But when put on the spot about the video in which Morsi employed a standard Islamic epithet for Jews calling Israelis “the descendants of apes and pigs,” the White House and the State Department both condemned the Egyptian president’s statements, as did the Times in an editorial. But when a delegation of visiting U.S. senators confronted Morsi today over his hate speech, they got the sort of answer that ought to make Congress as well as the administration reconsider the continuation of the massive aid package that Egypt receives.
According to Reuters, Morsi told a group of senators, including John McCain and Richard Blumenthal, that his remarks were taken out of context. What conceivable context could justify this sort of hate? Morsi said his comments should be understood as an understandable response to Israel’s counterattack against terrorist rocket fire from Gaza. In other words, in the view of Egypt’s president an Israel willing to defend itself against the rocket attacks launched by the Muslim Brotherhood’s Hamas ally is excuse for any sort of vile slander against the Jewish people or the United States. That may make sense in an Egyptian political culture in which anti-Semitism has become so drilled into the minds of the people by groups like the Brotherhood as to be unexceptionable. But it can only be a reminder to Americans that while we desire friendship with the Egyptian people, there can be no question of further American subsidies for a regime that is built on hate.
The New York Times reported last week that Russia finally seemed to be ready to give up on Bashar al-Assad. Russia, the report noted, “was making contingency plans to evacuate its citizens from the country, the Kremlin’s last beachhead in the Middle East.” But in the world of aspiring great power politics, “last beachheads” usually become gateways to the next beachhead. In danger of losing its influence in the region, and aware that Mohamed Morsi’s Egypt isn’t especially picky about his allies, Russia is seeking closer ties with Egypt.
There’s a problem, however. “How come you are asking to have a strong relationship with us while you see [us] as a terrorist group?” Mahmoud Ghozlan recently asked Russia’s ambassador in Cairo. Ghozlan is a spokesman for Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood–an organization outlawed as a terrorist group in Russia due to its history of aiding and egging on the Islamist rebels in the North Caucasus. In only the latest example of the Muslim Brotherhood’s newfound respectability on the world stage just by virtue of taking power in Egypt, Russia may let bygones be bygones:
Over at CNN, I speculate on what Iraqi President Jalal Talabani’s incapacitation or death might mean for Iraq. Talabani was a colorful figure and, while the eulogies will be glowing, he certainly had a dark side. Talabani was pro-American to Americans, pro-Iranian to Iranians, and even pro-Turkish to the Turks. He had the opportunity to be a democrat, but as recently as 2009 was ordering Kurdish security forces to kill certain rivals in the upstart Gorran Party. Files that emerged from Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party headquarters also show that Talabani often collaborated with the Iraqi leader prior to his overthrow, and that, according to Kurdish press and those with firsthand knowledge of the files, many close aides—including his former chief of staff—were at one time on Saddam’s payroll.
During the Kurdish Civil War (1994-1997), Talabani worked hand-in-hand with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Talabani’s case highlights how the Iran link is not limited to Iraqi Shi’ites: Qods Force commander Qasim Suleimani was a frequent visitor to Talabani’s Baghdad compound.
Whatever his faults and whatever happens next, one thing will be clear in hindsight: Talabani’s role as president was crucial in stitching together a broad-based Iraqi government. Personality matters, and Talabani’s gregarious and energetic personality helped. He could laugh at himself, and crack a joke to neutralize tension that threatened to boil over and consume all around him.
Last week, I lauded Rafiullah Kakar, Baluchistan’s first Rhodes Scholar in 40 years, and argued that his trajectory shows the value of offering deserving students from the developing world the opportunity to study in the United States. Indeed, such programs tend to pay higher dividends than many of the multi-billion dollar follies in which the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) engage.
One commenter disagreed, noting that Muslim Brother Sayyid Qutb, Egyptian dictator Mohamed Morsi, Vietnamese communist leader Ho Chi Minh, and Cambodian madman Pol Pot had each studied in the West. One could also add Bashar al-Assad to the list.
In response, Joe Dondelinger, Rafi’s adviser in South Dakota and his recommender for the Rhodes, writes in:
If there is anything that the current situation in Egypt teaches, it is how hard it is to create a functioning liberal democracy after decades of oppression. It is, in fact, a lot harder than simply having an election. Because after the voting, it is imperative for the winners to show respect for the losers and not simply try to consolidate all power in their own hands while trying to crush the opposition.
By that standard, Mohamed Morsi is failing as Egypt’s new president. In recent weeks he has tried to claim for himself powers that are above even judicial review, and now he is trying to ram through a new constitution, which is to be voted on mere weeks after being drafted in a secretive process declared invalid by the opposition. When Egyptians opposed to this power grab have taken to the streets they have been met by thuggish Muslim Brotherhood supporters and violence has broken out.
With tanks deployed in the streets of Cairo, following clashes that have left at least half a dozen people dead, it is obvious that the political turmoil which forced Hosni Mubarak out of office has returned. Mohamed Morsi, Mubarak’s successor, has no one to blame but himself for these street clashes. They are a direct response to what is widely seen as his extra-constitutional grab for power and his tendency to demonize his opponents in inflammatory language by claiming they are former regime stooges.
Morsi’s process of consolidating authority is set to continue in just nine days’ time if the referendum he has scheduled on a hastily cobbled together new constitution is still held. The constitution, based on the existing one that justified decades of dictatorial rule, is full of amorphous language that secularists and Coptic Christians fear could inaugurate a new tyranny by the Muslim Brotherhood. It certainly does nothing to change the military’s unaccountable position, outside of political control—something that can be good or bad depending on whether the military sees its role as shepherding in secular democracy (as in Turkey) or serving as enforcers for the Islamists in power (as in Iran).
In the third presidential debate, President Obama highlighted his administration’s policy toward Egypt to buttress his foreign policy legacy. He said: “In Egypt we stood on the side of democracy. In Libya we stood on the side of the people. And as a consequence there is no doubt that attitudes about Americans have changed.” But in fact at the time, the latter statement wasn’t true, and by now the former appears to have evaporated as well. In June, months before Obama bragged about Egyptians’ opinion of the U.S., Pew released the findings of its poll on global attitudes toward America. It found that opinion of the U.S. in the age of Obama had returned to its low point, and that Egyptians overwhelmingly, according to Pew, wanted Obama to be a one-term president.
It is unlikely that with the president’s virtual silence over Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi’s power grab those numbers will improve much. In the latest of several days of protesting, Egyptians chanted at Morsi: “Shave your beard, show your disgrace, you will find that you have Mubarak’s face!” Funny, yes–but it shouldn’t be disregarded as a joke. In fact, as the realist approach to the region lay in ruins around the Middle East, the Obama administration may be making the very same blunders in pursuit of the mirage of stability in the desert.
Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi may be backing down a bit on his attempt to seize dictatorial powers. The Muslim Brotherhood leader agreed to a limited compromise on his assertion of supremacy over the courts in which he would allow the judiciary to exercise review over his edits. This development testifies to the strength of the protests against Morsi’s attempt to acquire as much power as Hosni Mubarak had during his reign in Cairo. But even if Morsi’s putsch is contained for the moment, there is little doubt that he is determined to neutralize any possible competition for control over the country. This is, by any objective measure, a real defeat for an Obama administration that has publicly embraced Morsi and the Brotherhood and publicly disparaged his authoritarian predecessor. It is especially embarrassing since just last week President Obama was heaping praise on Morsi for his role in brokering a cease-fire between Hamas and Israel, even though it was the Egyptian’s support for Hamas that helped foment the crisis.
But perhaps the most telling thing about the way Egypt is heading back down the road to dictatorship is the relative silence from Morsi’s new buddy in the White House and the State Department. At today’s White House press briefing, spokesman Jay Carney stayed clear of anything that could possibly be considered criticism of Morsi or the Brotherhood’s power grab, saying merely: “We have some concerns about the decisions and declarations that were announced on November 22.” Carney also denied that the president felt “betrayed” by the way Morsi used Washington’s fulsome praise for him as a platform from which he sought to expand his ability to rule by fiat. Given the way the administration dumped Mubarak and then publicly scolded and threatened the Egyptian military when it tried to act as a brake on the Brotherhood’s drive for hegemony, the White House’s unwillingness to say anything more than that speaks volumes about the way Morsi is viewed in Washington these days.
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The Evolution Deceit
Death does not occur by chance. As is the case with all other incidents, it happens by God's decree. Just as the birth date of a man is predestined, so also is the date of his death right down to the very last second. Man rushes towards that last moment, rapidly leaving behind every hour, every minute granted to him. The death of everyone, its location and time, as well as the way one dies are all predetermined.
Despite this, however, the majority of people assume death to be the last point of a logical sequence of events, whereas its actual reasons are known only to God. Everyday death stories appear in newspapers. After reading these stories, you probably hear ignorant comments like: "He could have been saved, if necessary precautions had been taken" or "He would not have died, if so and so had happened." Not a minute longer or less can a person live, other than the time determined for him. However, people, who are remote from the consciousness granted by faith, view death as a component of a sequence of coincidences. In the Qur'an, God warns believers against this distorted rationale which is peculiar to disbelievers:
You who have faith! Do not be like those who disbelieve and say of their brothers, when they went on journeys or military expeditions, 'If they had only been with us, they would not have died or been killed.' God will cause them to regret their words. It is God Who ordains life and death. God sees what you do. (Surah Al 'Imran: 156)
Assuming death to be a coincidence is sheer ignorance and imprudence. As the verse above suggests, this gives great spiritual anguish and irresistible trouble to man. For disbelievers or those failing to have faith in the Qur'anic sense, losing a relative or a loved one is a cause of anguish and remorse. Attributing death to bad luck or negligence, they think there could be some leeway to avoid death. This is the rationale which indeed adds to their grief and regret. This grief and regret, however, is nothing but the torment of disbelief.
Nevertheless, contrary to the received wisdom, the cause of death is neither an accident, nor a disease nor anything else. It is surely God Who creates all these causes. Once the time granted to us terminates, our life ends for these apparent reasons. Meanwhile, none of the material resources devoted to saving one from death will bring another breath of life. God underscores this divine law in the following verse:
No self can die except with God's permission, at a pre-determined time... (Surah Al 'Imran: 145)
A believer is aware of the temporary nature of the life of this world. He knows that our Lord, Who gave him all the blessings he has enjoyed in this world, will take his soul whenever He wills and call him to account for his deeds. However, since he has spent his entire life to earn God's good pleasure, he does not worry about his death. Our Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) also referred to this good character in one of his prayers:
Jabir ibn Abdullah narrated, "When God's Apostle (peace be upon him) commenced the prayer he recited: God is the Greatest; then said: Verily my prayer, my sacrifices, my life and my death are for God, the Lord of the worlds." (Al-Tirmidhi, 262)2009-07-29 15:06:42
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Canada's #IdleNoMore marches on
Canada's #IdleNoMore marches onCanadian indigenous movement receives global support on day of action.
The Canadian indigenous rights movement known as "Idle No More" held a global day of protest on Friday as Prime Minister Stephen Harper met with First Nations chiefs in Ottawa.
The protests, which have been going on since December, were initially sparked by a controversial bill that opponents say would erode indigenous land and treaty rights. The movement has since grown into a wider call for the Canadian government to also address disproportionate poverty rates among aboriginal groups as well as environmental and sovereignty rights.
But indigenous leaders in Canada have been divided over the meeting with Harper. One prominent figure, Chief Theresa Spence (@ChiefTheresa), has been on hunger strike since December 11 and said she would not agree to a meeting unless Canada's Governor General is also present.
Along with protests across Canada, support for "Idle No More" has also poured in from around the world. Below is a map of events planned for Friday:
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skip to page content
- The context in which this codex was created is unknown, but its purpose clearly is to tell the story of the Otomi people of Huamantla. The center of the painting depicts the migration of a group of Otomi from Chiapan, in the present-day state of Mexico, to Huamantla, which is located in present-day Tlaxcala state. The migration, which took place in the Post-Classical period, was undertaken under the protection of the goddess Xochiquétzal and of Otontecuhtli, lord of the Otomi and of fire. The glosses contain the names of the leaders who led the migration. In the depiction of Teotihuacan (location of the large pyramids of the Classical period), the pyramids are shown covered in vegetation, i.e., abandoned. In the 16th century, Otomi culture appears to have been permeated with Nahua material culture, language, and mythology; alongside the pyramids is a representation of the Nahua myth of the birth of the sun. The second pictographic group, added above the first by another artist, uses less space and a smaller scale to show the participation of the Otomi in the conquest of Mexico and the lives of the Otomi under Spanish domination.
Title in Original Language
Type of Item
- Large format cartographic-historical codex, painted on thick pieces of amatl paper. When complete it measures approximately 8.50 X 1.90 meters.First fragment, 47 X 114 centimeters. Second fragment, 154 X 92 centimeters. Third fragment, 187 X 95 centimeters. Fourth fragment, 189 X 91 centimeters. Fifth fragment, 242 X 95 centimeters. Sixth fragment, 50 X 178 centimeters.
- The codex first belonged to Mexican scientist Antonio de León y Gama (c.1735-1802), then it became part of Lorenzo Boturini’s collection (Sondrio, Italy c.1702 to 1755), who identified many of the inscriptions. It is a document developed during the early colonial period containing pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican writing and pictographs. It contains glosses in Nahuatl written in the Latin alphabet, which were deciphered by the Mexican anthropologist Luis Reyes, and which are now mostly erased.
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Delete Key Awards Finalist #2 – From The Intellectual Devotional: Revive Your Mind, Complete Your Education, and Roam Confidently With the Cultured Class by David S. Kidder and Noah D. Oppenheim:
“The novel’s narrator, Ishmael, decides to seek relief from a midlife crisis by joining the crew of a whaling ship.”
Honorable mentions to:
“Miguel de Cervantes [sic] Don Quixote (Part I, 1605; Part II, 1615] is arguably the most prominent cultural landmark of the Spanish-speaking world.”
“Pride and Prejudice (1813) is arguably the most popular work of the British novelist Jane Austen.”
“Though history has produced many great novelists, arguably none is held in higher esteem than Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910).”
“A midlife crisis”? Don’t we see enough of this modern cliché in novels about men who suddenly start using designer hair gel? Do we need to start applying it retroactively? How do we know that Ishmael didn’t just forget to take his Paxil?
There is arguably a place for “arguably” in the English language, particularly in academic books. But who, exactly, is going to “argue” with the statement that Don Quixote is the greatest book written in Spanish? Or that Pride and Prejudice is Austen’s most popular novel? In a book about how to “roam confidently with the cultured class,” these timid passages read like the work of intellectual wimps.
The 2008 Delete Key Awards finalists are being numbered but announced in random order from No. 10 to No. 1.
© 2008 Janice Harayda. All rights reserved.
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What Is Epilepsy?
Epilepsy is a brain disorder that causes recurrent, unprovoked seizures. A seizure occurs when abnormal electrical activity affects the brain. The abnormal electrical activity during epileptic seizures can cause a wide variety of symptoms, ranging from mild movements or sensations that the patient can remember later, to severe generalized seizures with stiffening, shaking, prolonged confusion and loss of memory.
Seizures vary in severity and duration, but typically last from a few seconds to a few minutes. Often, seizures are associated with alterations in perception and memory. If left uncontrolled, seizures are very disruptive to everyday life, interfering with a person’s ability to work, travel and live independently.
More than 3 million Americans are affected by epilepsy and other seizure disorders. According to the Epilepsy Foundation, epilepsy is the third most common neurological disorder in the U.S., behind Alzheimer’s disease and stroke.
Diagnosis and Evaluation for Epilepsy
The Comprehensive Epilepsy Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of adults with epilepsy. The Joint Commission has certified Barnes-Jewish as an Epilepsy Center of Excellence--one of the first three in the nation to receive this recognition. Our team of epilepsy specialists--including neurologists, neurosurgeons, neuropsychologists and epilepsy nurses--offer a depth of expertise not found in other centers in the region.
Epilepsy actually includes several types of seizure disorders. For the most effective treatment, it is important to uncover the specific type of epilepsy or seizure disorder each patient is experiencing. Our diagnostic expertise allows us to differentiate among the different types of epilepsy, including:
- temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE)
- neocortical epilepsy
- juvenile myoclonic epilepsy
- Lennox-Gastaut syndrome
- symptomatic epilepsy (brought on by tumor, injury or previous stroke)
- absence epilepsy (more common in children than adults)
Patients seen at the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center include those who:
- have experienced a first seizure
- question the diagnosis or cause of their seizures
- are newly diagnosed with seizures
- have seizures that haven’t responded to conventional anti-epileptic medications
- are interested in participating in research using investigational anti-epileptic medications if conventional anti-epileptic medicaitons have been ineffective
- have seizures that are controlled, but are experiencing adverse effects from anti-epileptic medication
- want a second opinion, or need additional education and counseling regarding epilepsy
- are women with epilepsy who have concerns regarding their care including contraception and/or pregnancy
Some important tools for diagnosing and evaluating response to treatment are EEG (electroencephalography) and brain imaging. Another important tool, continuous video EEG, combines video monitoring with EEG data, providing a wealth of information to neurologists as they plan the most appropriate treatment for each patient. Video EEG can take several days to complete and is done in the specially-equipped epilepsy monitoring unit (EMU) at Barnes-Jewish Hospital.
Our goal is the best control of seizures so that our patients may reach their full potential. Services include education, medical management and surgical treatment for seizures.
Of all neurological disorders, epilepsy remains one of the most treatable. When seizures don’t respond to medication or other treatments, the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center offers hope. Often, patients who were diagnosed elsewhere come to us for re-evaluation. Our advanced neurodiagnostic testing allows us to reach a more accurate diagnosis, leading to more focused and effective treatment recommendations.
Treatment options include clinical trials of new anti-epileptic medications, which offer a chance at seizure control when other anti-epileptic medications are ineffective. Epilepsy surgery also is a good treatment option for many patients. When seizures begin in a localized area of the brain and medication and other treatments have failed, epilepsy surgery can result in complete control of seizures.
Our center has vast experience in treatment of epileptic seizures with surgery, as Washington University was one of the first medical centers in the United States to use brain surgery on a regular basis to successfully treat patients with seizure disorders not controlled with medications.
Visit Washington University School of Medicine Department of Neurology for more information on the Adult Epilepsy Program.
For a referral to a Washington University neurologist or neurosurgeon at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, call
. Patients may be self-referred or referred by a physician.
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Read a Banned Book
newspaper article for the Dyersville Commercial
Do you believe in the freedom to choose what you read? Then you just might be surprised to discover that some people think your favorite book shouldn’t be available in the public library or at the local school. Since 1990, the American Library Association's (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) has recorded more than 11,300 book challenges since 1982. A challenge is a formal, written complaint requesting a book be permanently removed from library shelves or school curriculum. About three out of four of all challenges are to material in schools or school libraries, and one in four are to material in public libraries. OIF estimates that less than one-quarter of challenges are reported and recorded.
It is thanks to the commitment of librarians, teachers, parents, and students that most challenges are unsuccessful and reading materials like “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”, “The Giver”, the Harry Potter series, and works by Shel Silverstein remain available.
The most challenged and/or restricted reading materials have been books for children. However, challenges are not simply an expression of a point of view; on the contrary, they are an attempt to remove materials from public use, thereby restricting the access of others. Even if the motivation to ban or challenge a book is well intentioned, the outcome is detrimental. Censorship denies our freedom as individuals to choose and think for ourselves. For children, decisions about what books to read should be made by the people who know them best—their parents!
In support of the right to choose books freely for ourselves, the ALA and James Kennedy Public Library are sponsoring Banned Books Week, September 30-October 6, 2012, an annual celebration of our right to access books without censorship. This year's observance commemorates the most basic freedom in a democratic society—the freedom to read freely—and encourages us not to take this freedom for granted.
Since its inception in 1982, Banned Books Week has reminded us that while not every book is intended for every reader, each of us has the right to decide for ourselves what to read, listen to or view. The JKPL and thousands of libraries and bookstores across the country will celebrate the freedom to read by participating in special events, exhibits, and read-outs that showcase books that have been banned or threatened.
The JKPL will be hosting an interactive display of banned and challenged books inside the library. We will also be hosting a First Amendment Film Festival, (October 1-4) where we will show the following four movies that deal with censorship and violation of First Amendment rights: “Storm Center”; “The Front”; “Good Night, and Good Luck”; and “Fahrenheit 451.” Please call the library or check the website for dates and times.
American libraries are the cornerstones of our democracy. Libraries are for everyone, everywhere. Because libraries provide free access to a world of information, they bring opportunity to all people. Now, more than ever, celebrate the freedom to read @ your library! Read an old favorite or a new banned book this week.
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Make Clay Letters
What you need:
What you do:
1. Write a few letters of the alphabet on a piece of paper, at least three inches tall.
2. Roll lumps of clay into long, thin pieces.
3. Help your child form the strips of clay into letters, using the written letters as a guide.
Why it works:
Your child becomes familiar with creating the shapes of letters.
More on: Reading and Language Arts
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Podcasts & RSS Feeds
Most Active Stories
Tue March 15, 2011
Michigan girl scouts take on saving endangered species in Asia
Two Ann Arbor teens are trying to save Orangutans on the other side of the globe from becoming extinct. Orangutans have become an endangered species because of poaching and the rainforests they live in are being destroyed.
15-year olds Rhiannon Tomtishen and Madison Vorva became friends 4 years ago through Girl Scouts. Tomtishen says it their mission started when they decided to work together to earn a bronze award.
“It was sort of selfish. I did want to wear that nice shiny pin on my Girl Scout vest.”
Tomtishen says they were inspired by researcher Jane Goodall. Instead of researching gorillas, they chose the endangered orangutan.
Orangutans’ habitat is in the rainforest in Asia. Ecologist Doug Boucher says the primates have fewer and fewer places to live as the forest is cut down.
“We traditionally think of deforestation as being done by peasant farmers, you know, cutting down a couple of acres of forest to plant their crops but in fact that’s not the case anymore.”
Boucher says big commercial farmers are using the land more and more to near the Amazon rainforest to raise cattle and grow soybeans; and in Asia to grow oil palm trees.
Oil palm trees have a high yield compared to olive trees, corn, or other vegetable oil. You can find it in bath and beauty products as well as thousands of processed foods.
Rhiannon Tomtishen recalls when they looked at the ingredient label and discovered palm oil is in girl cookies.
“We felt motivated to continue this project and I think we also felt that because we were girl scouts and because this was an issue in Girl Scout cookies, we thought we were going to be able to make a change.”
So far, the teens have not been able to persuade Girls Scout of America to get the palm oil out of their cookies. They have, however, been successful with Battle Creek-based cereal maker Kellogg’s.
Kellogg’s owns one of the two companies that makes Girl Scout cookies. Kellogg’s announced they’d begin purchasing green palm certificates. The certificates give farmers who don’t cut down rainforests extra money. At this point you can’t buy sustainable palm oil because it’s all gets mixed together before getting to buyers.
Tomtishen and Vorva have stopped eating girls scout cookies and refuse to sell them.
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Creeping Charlie, ground ivy or gill-over-the-ground (Glechoma hederacea)
Appearance: Perennial herbaceous plant with creeping square stems (indicates member of the mint family) that grow about 2' long, flowering stems are erect.
Leaves: Opposite, long stalked and bluntly toothed, bright green and shiny with palmate veins.
Flowers: Light blue to bluish-purple, tubular, directed to one side of the stem. They bloom from April to June.
Seeds: Small flat nutlets.
Roots: Roots grow from each leaf node that creeps along the soil surface spreading vegetatively as well.
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A peptide known to play a role in anxiety is overly plentiful in a mouse model of the inherited neurological disorder Rett syndrome and appears to underlie the anxiety-like behavior in these mice, said researchers from Baylor College of Medicine in a report that appears online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The finding could provide a clue to treatment for this symptom.
“This is one of the first symptoms that we can link to a molecular cause,” said Dr. Huda Zoghbi, professor of pediatrics, neurology and molecular and human genetics at Baylor College of Medicine and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. “Rett affects many parts of the nervous system, and patients have many symptoms; but we don’t know if they happen all at once or if there is a cascade of events.”
If the latter is true, then physicians might be able to intervene by halting or limiting the effect of the first symptoms to prevent secondary effects such as those that occur due to chronic anxiety.
The mouse model of Rett was developed in Zoghbi’s laboratory where scientists also found that a mutation in the gene MeCP2 (methyl-CpG-binding protein 2) causes the disorder. Between the ages of six and 18 months, children with this disease become mentally retarded, wring their hands, have difficulty walking and breathing, and suffer from anxiety. The severity of the symptoms varies with the person.
“MeCP2 is a master regulator of other genes, like a foreman in a factory,” said Bryan E. McGill, a BCM M.D./Ph.D. student studying in Zoghbi’s laboratory. “Considered by itself, it cannot tell you about the molecular changes that lead to the phenotype (symptoms) we see in the children. Our goal has been to find the intermediaries in the process. We want to know what other genes MeCP2 is controlling. Then we have a better understanding of the molecular basis of the phenotype we see in children.”
In their work, they found that CRH (corticotropin-releasing hormone) plays a critical role in the stress response that produces anxiety in these children, governing in part the production of stress hormones. In humans, the major one of these is cortisol. In mice, it is corticosterone.
They chose anxiety because it has been well studied, and its molecular basis is partially understood. They found that the Rett mice suffered from serious anxiety and that in a stressful situation, they produced 1.5 times the amount of corticosterone produced by normal mice.
They propose that normally, MeCP2 acts like a rheostat that controls CRH and thus the stress response, depending on the need of the situation. CRH kicks the response up. When MeCP2 is mutated, this process is less controlled.
Currently, some anti-anxiety drugs are being developed that block the receptor for CRH on the cell. McGill, Zoghbi, and their colleagues are studying the effect of these drugs on the animals with the mutated MeCP2 gene.
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Carbohydrate is an essential nutrient that is an excellent source of energy (measured as calories) for the body and is the preferred fuel for the brain and nervous system. All forms of carbohydrate increase a person's blood sugar level, depending on the amount of carbohydrate in the food.
Carbohydrate comes in two forms: starch and sugar.
eMedicineHealth Medical Reference from Healthwise
To learn more visit Healthwise.org
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The Northern Areas of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir
The Northern Areas in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) have been split into five districts: Gilgit, Baltistan, Diamir, Ghizer and Ghanche. A population of 1.5 million inhabits a vast area of 72,495 square kilometers. Sparsely populated as the area is, the ethnic groups are varied – Baltees, Vashkuns, Mughals, Kashmiris, Pathans, Ladakhis and Turks, speaking a multiplicity of languages, including Balti, Shina, Brushaski, Khawer, Wakhi, Turki, Tibeti, Pushto and Urdu.
The sect-wise breakdown of population in the Northern Areas is:
Gilgit – 60% Shia, 40% Sunni;
Hunza –100% Ismaili;
Nagar – 100% Shia;
Punial – 100% Ismaili;
Yasin – 100% Ismaili;
Ishkoman –100% Ismaili;
Gupis – 100% Ismaili;
Chilas – 100% Sunni;
Darel/Tangir – 100% Sunni;
Astor – 90%Sunni, 10% Shia;
Baltistan – 98% Shia, 2% Sunni.
The Northern Areas are the only region in Pakistan whose status is not specified in the Constitution. While Kashmir is mentioned as a disputed territory, the Northern Areas find no mention in the relevant schedule, nor do they have an autonomous or constitutional status of their own. The people of the Northern Areas are, consequently, not citizens of Pakistan within the meaning of the Constitution and do not enjoy any fundamental, legal, political or civil rights guaranteed by the Constitution. The region is also out of bounds to foreigners and journalists, except for occasional tightly controlled guided tours selectively organised by the Army or the intelligence agencies. The Northern Areas have thus been under virtual Martial Law for over five decades. Under the existing Frontier Crime Regulations (FCR), framed during the colonial era, every resident of the region has to report regularly to local intelligence personnel and all movements from one village to another have to be reported to the authorities.
In the aftermath of partition, these areas were declared to be part of the disputed territory of Jammu & Kashmir State so that whenever a plebiscite was held, their votes would go in favour of Pakistan. In 1963, Pakistan unilaterally ceded a sizeable chunk of Gilgit and Baltistan to China, which has long had territorial claims in the area. Under the so-called Sino-Pakistan 'boundary agreement' of 1963, Pakistan illegally ceded 5,180 sq km of Territory to China in Aksaichin in order to facilitate China to build the Karakorum Highway providing overland link between Beijing and Karachi. This highway passes through Kashmir territory and has been constructed illegally without the permission of India. This includes a portion of Hunza territory of the erstwhile Gilgit Agency of the State of Jammu and Kashmir.
Over the years, especially after the Shimla Agreement in 1972, successive Pakistani Governments have sought to amalgamate these areas into Pakistan by declaring them "federally administered territories". The ‘Azad Kashmir’ (PoK) Governments, on the other hand, have been arguing ever since 1950 that Gilgit and Baltistan were a part of Kashmir and should thus be incorporated into ‘Azad Kashmir’.
On being petitioned on the status of the Northern Areas, the ‘Azad Kashmir’ High Court passed a verdict in March 1993 criticizing the unrepresentative and arbitrary administrative system and denial of fundamental rights in the Northern Areas. It directed the ‘Azad Kashmir’ Government to immediately assume administrative charge of the region and asked the Government of Pakistan to assist the ‘Azad Kashmir’ government in this task. The Pakistan Government appealed in the Supreme Court, which, in a judgment passed on September 14, 1994, stated that " the Northern Areas are part of Jammu & Kashmir state but are not part of "Azad Kashmir" as defined in the "Azad Kashmir" Interim Constitution Act, 1974".
Until 1994, the people of the Northern Areas had no elected assembly, or even a municipal council, and no representation in the Federal National Assembly. In October 1994, the Federal Government allowed the political parties of Pakistan, but not of ‘Azad Kashmir’, to extend their activities to the Northern Areas.
The first party-based elections to a 26-member council called the Northern Areas Executive Council, were held in October 1994, and it was announced on March 31, 1995, that its members would have the same status, emoluments and privileges as the members of the North West Frontier Province Legislative Assembly. But the council had no legislative authority, only advisory powers. The real power continued to be vested in the Ministry of Kashmir and Northern Areas Affairs headed by a Joint Secretary to the Government of Pakistan based in Islamabad, which exercised supreme control in all matters. Pakistanis man the civil, police and security services. There is no right of appeal against the judgments of the judicial commissioner.
Following a verdict of the Supreme Court of Pakistan in March 1999 recommending the extension of legislative, financial and administrative powers as well as an independent judiciary with writ jurisdiction, the first Northern Areas Legislative Council was elected in 2000. Under the new legal framework order, it was granted powers to legislate on local matters and impose local taxes. But the superstructure of the Northern Areas administration was left unchanged so that Pakistan's Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs continues to be its chief executive.
When the rest of Pakistan voted for a new civilian government in October 2002 elections, the Northern Areas remained outside the political process.
The Pakistani administration has also been involved in efforts to alter the demographic profile of the region, reducing the indigenous people to a minority. In the Gilgit and Skardu areas, large tracts of land have been allotted to non-locals, violating the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP) resolutions and the J & K State Subject Rule. Other outsiders have purchased substantial stretches of land since they are, by and large, economically better off than the locals. As of January 2001, the old population ratio of 1:4 (non-locals to locals) in these areas had been transformed to 3:4. The rapid induction of Punjabi and Pakhtoon outsiders has created a sense of acute insecurity among the locals. The region is also deprived in terms of education and infrastructure, and there is only a negligible presence of daily newspapers, radio or TV stations.
Northern Areas Structure of Governance
The Northern Areas have the status of a Federally Administered Area. The chief executive authority for the region is vested in the Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs, Northern Areas, States and Frontier Regions. Assisting him is a Deputy Chief Executive who is appointed by the Chief Executive from amongst the members of the Northern Areas Legislative Council, who shall be elected by majority vote by the members of the Council. The Deputy Chief Executive enjoys the status of a Minister of State. Advisors, who are appointed by the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Deputy Chief Executive, from amongst the members of the Northern Areas Legislative Council, assist the Deputy Chief Executive. The Advisors are entitled to the status of a Provincial Minister.
The principal civil servant in the Northern Areas is the Chief Secretary, and Secretaries head the departments. "Government" is defined by the Northern Areas Rules of Business, 1994, as meaning the Chief Executive, the Deputy Chief Executive and the Chief Secretary, Northern Areas.
Northern Areas Legislative Council
The Northern Areas Legislative Council is headed by the Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs, Northern Areas, States and Frontier Regions and it meets only when the Minister convenes it.
Each district has a court of District and Sessions Judge. There are ten civil judges also exercising the powers of judicial magistrates. There is a Chief Court, comprising of one Chairman and two members, which acts the court of appeal from the decisions of the District and Sessions Judge. The Northern Areas Council Legal Framework Order, 1994, provides for the Court of appeals as the apex court of the Northern Areas, and provides for its establishment as soon as possible. Such a Court of Appeals has so far not been set up, and the decision of the Chief Court is, consequently, final. The Northern Areas have thus remained deprived of a High Court and of the facility of writ petitions against arbitrary state action. The people of the region cannot, moreover, appeal to the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
Since 1988, the Northern Areas has witnessed sectarian violence that has claimed a number of lives. Unlike the rest of Pakistan, the Northern Areas have a Shia majority. The Pakistani establishment has long supported an anti-Shia programme in this region. A local insurrection broke out in Gilgit in May 1988 and in order to suppress the rebellion, the Special Services Group of the Pakistani Army based in Khapalu was dispatched. Pervez Musharraf, then a young Brigadier, was in charge of the operations, in which Musharraf used Sunni tribal irregulars to execute a brutal pogrom against the locals. Truckloads of Sunni tribals were sent in from the Afghan border to the region, and they indulged in anti-Shia brutalities unprecedented in Pakistan’s history. After eight days of ceaseless violence, the Army ‘stepped in’ to restore peace. Later on, the Shia population was further alarmed when large numbers of Sunnis were brought in from Punjab and the NWFP to settle down in Gilgit, radically altering the demographic profile of the area.
The anti-Shia pogrom resurfaced in 1993, when sectarian riots started again in Gilgit, leading to the death of 20 Shias. The ill-fated Kargil intrusions of 1999 into the Indian State of Jammu & Kashmir added to the discontent in the region. 73 per cent of the Northern Light Infantry (NLI) of the Pakistan Army, which was primarily used for these incursions and suffered the maximum casualties, is drawn from the Shia sect hailing primarily from the Northern Areas. The Shia soldiers were pushed into the suicidal mission, and later reportedly disowned by their own Army.
Year 2003 saw trouble brewing in the Northern Areas over the Islamic textbooks that the Pakistan Ministry of Education has issued as part of the curriculum for the schools in the region. According to Shia community leaders, the textbooks promote Sunni thought and values and are an attempt to promote sectarian hatred between the two sects. Almost everyday, hundreds of primary and secondary school students boycott classes and stage protest rallies in Gilgit.
The Northern Areas remain one of the most neglected and poorest parts of Pakistan. In 1981, the female literacy rate in the region was just three percent and the male literacy rate was 14.7 percent (well below the then national average of 26 percent). In the 1995 national achievement surveys, children and teachers in the Northern Areas scored the lowest in the country, and it was the only region in which girls scored lower than boys, reflecting serious gender equity issues. There is no industry to speak of except a few brick kilns. According to an article on the World Bank website, "Over 90 percent of the region’s 800,000 people live in small villages scattered along valleys carved by glacial streams and rivers. Subsistence agriculture is the norm and access to basic social services is often limited or unavailable. Roads are few, with one highway as virtually the only link to the rest of Pakistan."
The Pakistani Government has reportedly set up only 12 high schools and two regional colleges in the Northern Areas, with no post graduate facilities. Very few locals are able to secure government jobs, and when they do, they are paid 25 per cent less than non-native entrants from Pakistan's Punjab province. There are no local dailies, or local radio or television stations. According to the most recently available data, there is just one doctor for 6,000 people. Piped water supply is virtually non-existent. And two thirds of the population must do without electricity in an area where winters are extremely harsh.
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A team of astronomers that includes the University of Hawaii’s Nader Haghighipour has announced the discovery of a planet that could have liquid water on its surface.
This artist's conception shows the inner four planets of the Gliese 581 system and their host star, a red dwarf star only 20 light-years away from Earth. The large planet in the foreground is the newly discovered GJ 581g, an Earth-size planet that orbits in the star's habitable zone. Artwork by Lynette Cook.
The planet, which is probably 30 percent larger than Earth, was discovered using one of the telescopes of the W. M. Keck Observatory on Mauna Kea. It orbits a relatively small star, Gliese 581, that is 20 light-years from Earth in the constellation Libra.
“By determining the orbit of this planet, we can deduce that its surface temperature is similar to that of Earth,” said Haghighipour. This means that at least some of any water on the surface of the planet and in its atmosphere will be in liquid form rather than ice or vapor. The discovery of liquid water in space is an important step in the search for extraterrestrial life.
The team estimates that the new planet, called Gliese 581g, has a mass three to four times that of Earth, and orbits its star in just under 37 Earth days. Its mass indicates that it is probably a rocky planet with enough gravity to hold on to its atmosphere. It is one of six known planets orbiting the star.
To discover the planet, the team looked for the tiny changes in the star’s velocity that arise from the gravitational tugs of its planets. They used 238 separate observations of Gliese 581 taken over a period of 11 years.
Haghighipour said that the team is keeping tabs on many nearby stars using the Keck Observatory. “As we collect more and more data about how these stars are moving, we expect to find many more planets with potentially Earth-like conditions,” he said. He noted that to learn more about the conditions on these planets would take even bigger telescopes, such at the Thirty Meter Telescope planned for Mauna Kea.
The team that made the discovery is led by Steven Vogt of the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) and Paul Butler of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. Other team members include UCSC associate research scientist Eugenio Rivera, and Gregory Henry and Michael Williamson of Tennessee State University.
This research was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, NASA, and the NASA Astrobiology Institute.
Filed under: Blogs | Tagged: Astronomy, Carnegie Institution for Science, Earth, Gliese 581, R. Paul Butler, Red dwarf, University of California Santa Cruz, W. M. Keck Observatory | 1 Comment »
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Arrhythmia refers to a change from the normal sequence of electrical impulses that causes abnormal heart rhythms. These may be completely harmless or life-threatening. Some are brief and cause only a temporary pause or premature beat; however, they can also last longer which may cause the heart rate to be too slow or too fast. If the rhythm is erratic, the heart pumps less effectively. A heart rate of 100 beats per minute is considered fast (tachycardia); whereas, a rate of less than 60 beats per minute is considered slow (bradycardia).
Arrhythmia may occur when the heart’s natural pacemaker develops an abnormal rate or rhythm, the normal conduction pathway is interrupted, or another part of the hear takes over as pacemaker. In some conditions almost all heart tissue can start an impulse of the type that can generate a heartbeat, because cells in the heart's conduction system can fire automatically and start electrical activity. This activity can interrupt the normal order of the heart's pumping activity. Secondary pacemakers elsewhere in the heart provide a "back-up" rhythm when the sinus node doesn't work properly or when impulses are blocked somewhere in the conduction system.
What are the symptoms of arrhythmia?
Symptoms of arrhythmia, Atrial or SVT can include:
- light headedness
- rapid heartbeat or palpitations
- chest pain (angina), and/or shortness of breath
- in extreme cases, may cause unconsciousness or cardiac arrest
What if I am diagnosed with arrhythmia?
Some arrhythmias may be considered harmless and can be left untreated. However, if your physician diagnoses you with an arrhythmia, further testing may be necessary. A determination needs to be made on whether the arrhythmia, irregular heartbeat, is abnormal or merely reflects the heart's normal processes. If considered clinically significant or puts you at risk for more serious arrhythmias or complications of arrhythmias in the future then a treatment plan may be required in order to prevent blood clots from forming to reduce stroke risk. Treatment may be used to control your heart rate within a relatively normal range, restore a normal heart rhythm (if possible), treat the underlying heart disease/condition that may be causing arrhythmia, and reduce other risk factors for heart disease and stroke.
Additional treatment for arrhythmia include: medication, defibrillation, ablation, and pacemaker insertion.
Arrhythmia Treatment Center
One of the top centers in the United States, the Arrhythmia Treatment Center in Memphis, Tennessee includes use of the Automatic Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (AICD). The center is led by Dr. James Porterfield, named one of the Best Doctors in America for Cardiovascular Disease. Dr. Porterfield was also awarded the designation of Fellow of the Heart Rhythm Society. This is the highest category of membership and is based on research, published articles and contributions to the field of cardiology.
Methodist University Hospital’s Cardiovascular Institute is dedicated to the research and clinical care of Arrhythmia (irregular heartbeats). Through the collaborative efforts with the leading Cardiologists and Electrophysiologists in Memphis, we provide state-of-the-art clinical and investigational therapy for patients with complex atrial and ventricular arrhythmias. Procedures incorporate the latest technologies including radiofrequency, laser catheter ablation, and other heart arrhythmia treatments.
To find a cardiologist or electrophysiologist in Memphis, Tennessee, please use our physician locator or call 888.777.5959.
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See also the
Dr. Math FAQ:
probability in the
Browse High School Probability
Stars indicate particularly interesting answers or
good places to begin browsing.
Selected answers to common questions:
Odds vs. probability.
- Johnny Carson's Birthday Problem [04/03/2002]
Carson picked people at random. Why didn't the probability work out?
- The Law of Large Numbers [02/08/2001]
Can you give me a brief explanation of the law of large numbers?
- Law of Large Numbers and the Gambler's Fallacy [05/07/2001]
Should you get the same total, on average, when you make three throws of
three dice each as when you throw nine dice at once? Also, can you
explain the Law of Large Numbers and the Gambler's Fallacy?
- Law of Random Numbers [12/22/1997]
I've recently been debating over the lottery...
- Let's Make a Deal Probability [06/01/1999]
In "Let's Make a Deal," does Monty's showing you a door, or his knowing
which door the prize is behind, affect the probability?
- Letters and Envelopes - the Inclusion-Exclusion Principle [03/27/1999]
What is the probability that no rabbit will escape into its own hole?
- Lifespan Probability [03/26/1999]
The probability that a general population will live past 85 is estimated
to be 5.4 percent...
- Line through a Disc, Terminating Zeros [12/03/1997]
1. A circular disc contains 2 billion randomly situated points. Can a
straight line pass through the disc and have exactly 1 billion points on
each side? 2. Find the terminating zeros in the standard numeral 580!
- Listing Sample Spaces [02/13/2003]
An urn contains 2 red, 2 black and 1 green ball, from which a sample
of two is chosen without replacement. Determine a sample space of
equally likely outcomes and assign probabilities.
- Lost Town and Finder's Town: Bayesian Probability [04/27/1999]
A man is lost in the mountains... what's the probability that he's
wandered into Lost Town? Finder's Town?
- Lottery Permutations [5/16/1996]
Determine the number of unique permutations of a lottery where you pick 6
numbers out of 49, and numbers may not repeat...
- Lottery Probability [01/23/1998]
Let's say that Monday's winning numbers were 1,2,3,4,5, and 6. Is the
probability that those winning numbers will come up again the same?
- Lottery Strategy and Odds of Winning [04/27/2000]
Are my odds of winning the lottery the same whether I choose the same
numbers each time or whether I choose different numbers?
- Lung Cancer and Smoking [10/20/2001]
Medical researchers know that the probability of getting lung cancer if a
person smokes is .34. The probability that a nonsmoker will get lung
cancer is .03. If 11% of the population smokes, what is the probability
that a person with lung cancer will have been a smoker?
- Making a Conditional Probability Chart [05/17/2000]
In a group of patients screened for lung cancer, 10% have the disease. Of
those who have lung cancer, 93% are smokers. Of those who do not have
lung cancer, 28% are smokers. If a person selected from this group is a
smoker, what is the probability that the person has lung cancer?
- Marbles and Dice [08/07/1997]
What is the probability that from three black and one red marble in a
jar, one red and one black marble will be picked without replacing the
marbles? Two ordinary dice are thrown. What is the probability that the
sum will be six or at least one of the two faces will be odd?
- A Markov Chain Example [07/01/1998]
We are given P pots with N balls each and take B balls out of them, where
B < N. On average, how many pots do we touch?
- Mathematical Card Trick [04/07/2002]
Take a deck of 52 cards. Shuffle; flip over the top card and count
from that number to King. Do this until you can no longer count to a
King. Excess cards become 'dead cards.'
- Math in Card Games [10/06/2000]
How is math involved in creating and playing card games?
- M Balls in N Boxes [01/24/2002]
Suppose we put m balls into n boxes. What is the expected number of empty
- Mean and Standard Deviation [03/01/1999]
Prove that the mean (u) and standard deviation (s) for a binomial
distribution are np and the square root of (npq).
- Measuring the Randomness of a Shuffled Deck [12/19/2003]
I'd like to compare how well humans and computer programs can shuffle
a deck of cards, but I need some way to measure the randomness of a
shuffle. How can I do this?
- Moment-generating Function of a Binomial Random Variable [10/27/1999]
How can I find the moment-generating function (MGF) of a binomial random
- Moment Generating Functions [06/20/1998]
Can you help me with the following proofs on moment generating functions?
- Moment Generating Functions [03/30/1999]
What can be established about the sum of negative binomial random
- Monkeys Typing Shakespeare: Infinity Theory [08/05/1998]
Would an infinite number of monkeys typing at random eventually produce
the entire works of Shakespeare?
- Monte Carlo Method and Computer Simulation [04/04/2002]
What is the Monte Carlo method? I know it's for estimating
probability, but what is the point of it?
- Monty Hall Logic [03/09/2001]
Are there in fact four options? Aren't there three choice points, not
- Monty Hall Strikes Again [11/2/1994]
There are three cups, one of which is covering a coin. I know the
whereabouts of the coin, but you don't. You pick a cup, and I take one of
the remaining cups, one which DOESN'T contain a coin. Both you and I know
the cup I pick doesn't contain a coin. You then have the option to swap
your cup with the third, remaining cup, or keep your first choice. What
is the probability of the coin being in the cup if you keep your first
choice, or if you decide to swap them?
- More Living or Dead? [08/14/1997]
Are there more people living now than have ever died?
- Most Desirable Properties in Monopoly [02/16/2001]
What are the most desirable properties on a Monopoly board? How can we
calculate the overall probability of landing on a given property?
- Most Frequently Rolled Number [10/27/1999]
What sum would be rolled most often if two dice, each numbered -3, -2, -
1, 0, 1 and 2, were rolled 100 times?
- Multiple Choice Test: Binomial Probability [08/05/1997]
A multiple choice test consists of 9 questions with 5 choices for each
- Multiple Choice Tests [05/06/1997]
If you have a test with 6 questions and 4 possible answers to each
question and you guess all answers, what is the probability of getting
all 6 questions right?
- Multiple Regression vs. ANOVA [09/20/1999]
What is the difference between multiple regression and ANOVA (ANalysis Of
- Murder Rate Probability [01/12/1998]
If a Midwestern town has a murder rate of 11 murders per year, what are
the chances that 3 of them will occur on the same day?
- NCAA Lottery Formula [08/27/1997]
I have forgotten the formula for this probabilities/odds question about
- Neighboring Cards [02/18/1997]
If you pick any two cards and then go look for them in the deck, what is
the probability that you will find them next to each other?
- Nickel Landed on Edge [10/11/2002]
What are the odds of throwing a coin and having it land on edge?
- Normal Distribution [6/24/1996]
In six successive independent 'triple jumps' what is the probability that
at least one total distance will exceed 18 meters?
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| 1,892
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Any parent will tell you that one of the most annoying habits young children have is their penchant for the "Why Game." In this game, the child observes something and demands that the parent explain it. "Why is the sky blue?" is the classic example. But more bizarre questions often pop up, such as "Why doesn't the week start with the weekend?" or, "How does my brain know what my name is?"
These questions are irritating not only because they are time-consuming, but also because they often show us the limits of what we ourselves know. We don't like being reduced to the answer "Just because." Nonetheless, we encourage our children to ask such questions because we realize that they help to develop intelligence and curiosity.
How much time do you remember taking in school to ponder such questions? If you are like most people, your answer will be "Not much." Why? Student-teacher ratios of thirty-to-one make it impossible to consider everybody's questions, but they don't make it impossible to consider anybody's. Why don't teachers take more time to sit and wonder with their students about the questions the students have about their world? If adults in their role as parents consider the Why Game worthy of time because it helps their own children to develop, why don't adults adopt the same approach in their role as teachers?
The answer is not that teachers consider students' questions to be unimportant. It is that teachers consider such questions to be less important than all the other stuff curriculum development boards have crowded into the classroom agenda, such as the names of all 50 states, or the structure of the periodic table, or the Pythagorean theorem.
A teacher of third-grade geography, fifth-grade math, or seventh-grade social studies just does not have time to sit and wonder with the class why weekends don't start the week. Teachers have a long, predetermined path from which they cannot stray if they are to reach the required destination. Further, such open-ended questioning admits of the possibility that the teacher might not know the answer. Not knowing the answer is both possible and perfectly acceptable from an educational perspective, but it is not at all acceptable in a world where the teacher is the ultimate authority.
Asking the Right Questions
Where am I in the content of the book?
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| 0.971907
| 472
| 2.6875
| 3
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To mitigate the effects of climate change and to meet increasing human demand for energy and food, a range of renewable energy sources are being promoted at global level despite our poor understanding of their potential ecological consequences. I plan to provide a spatial planning tool for prioritizing energy – environment land allocation in Western North America, using the case of small hydropower projects (Run-of-River, RoR) in British Columbia, Canada. Individual RoR projects are expected to have only modest ecological footprints, but widespread implementation of such projects (e.g., several thousands of potential locations have been identified in British Columbia alone) has the potential to lead to substantial cumulative effects in both aquatic and terrestrial environments. I will develop spatially-explicit cumulative impact models to evaluate whether or not opportunities for (1) conserving biodiversity and ecosystem services and (2) production of renewable energy can occur simultaneously. This approach will integrate the economics of power production (costs, revenue, power capacity), and the physical impacts of RoR on species and ecosystems, and articulate the tradeoffs that may exist between biodiversity conservation and renewable energies under different development scenarios. The key result will be a prioritization of watersheds that achieve both conservation and power production goals based on economic potential, ecological integrity, or both. This project will provide a flexible spatial planning tool that can be used directly by resource managers and conservation practitioners to strategically locate renewable energy projects so that biodiversity protection is not compromised.
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Animal Behavior: Orientation and Navigation
Animal behaviors often involve the relationship between an individual and its environment. Such behaviors, ranging from movement to synchronization with daily, monthly, and yearly environmental cycles, require that an animal be able to observe aspects of its environment and respond appropriately to them.
Movement, the simplest example of an animal's interaction with its environment, falls into two general categories, kinesis and taxis. Kinesis refers to random, undirected movement, while taxis refers to movement in relation to a stimulus. Taxis is stimulus dependent: different stimuli produce different types of taxis. Some common types of taxis include phototaxis (a reaction to light), chemotaxis (reaction to chemicals), and magnetotaxis (reaction to magnetism). Movement toward a stimulus is called positive taxis and movement away from a stimulus is called negative taxis.
Circadian rhythms and other cyclical behaviors are more complex examples of behavior tuned to the environment. In general, cyclical behaviors are regulated by endogenous time-keeping mechanisms, called biological clocks, which are in turn regulated by external environmental stimuli that act to set the internal clock. Such stimuli are known as Zeitgebers and can include patterns of light and darkness and temperature variations.
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Air monitoring / Air pollution / Air quality / Air quality management / Alternative technologies / Amalgams / Animals / Aquatic animals / Aquatic ecology / Aquatic organisms / Assessment / Atmospheric chemistry / Automobile industry and trade / Automobiles / Automobiles - Lighting / Automobiles - Parts / Batteries / Best management practices / Bioaccumulation / Biochemistry / Biological systems / Biology / Blood / Citizen participation / Clean Air Act / Clean Water Act / Coal / Combustion / Commercial buildings / Community leadership / Community organization / Consumers / Cross-media pollution / Dairy industry / Demolition / Dental amalgams / Dentistry / Deposits / Discharge / Dose-response relationship (Biochemistry) / Drinking water / Education / Educational institutions / Electric power / Electric power plants / Electronic apparatus and appliances / Emission control / Emissions / Environmental exposure / Environmental health / Environmental impact analysis / Environmental modeling / Environmental monitoring / Environmental policy / Exposure / Exposure assessment / Federal government / Fluorescent lighting / Food contamination / Freshwater fishes / Gages / Government information / Great Lakes Region / Hazardous waste / Hazardous waste management / Health / Health effects / Hospitals / House construction / Housholds / Incentives / Incineration / Incinerators / Industrial buildings / Infants / Inorganic compounds / Labeling / Laboratories / Land disposal / Landfills / Laws and legislation / Leaching / Lighting / Local government / Manometer / Manufacturers / Manufacturing processes / Massachusetts / Medical instruments and apparatus / Medical waste / Mercury / Michigan / Municipal government / Municipal waste / Neurotoxic agents / New Jersey / New York (N.Y.) / Nonpoint source pollution / Occupational safety and health / Organic chemicals / Point source pollution / Pollution prevention / Power plants / Preservatives / Pressure gauges / Product safety / Products / Public buildings / Public utilities / Publicly owned treatment works / Pumping stations / Purchasing / Recycling (Waste, etc.) / Reduction / Reporting / Research / Risk assessment / Risk communication / Seafood / Solid waste / Source reduction (Waste management) / South Carolina / Spills and accidents / State governments / Technical reports / Temperature control / Thermometers / Toxic release inventory / Toxicity / Toxicity testing / United States. Environmental Protection Agency / Valves / Vaporization / Washington (State) / Waste / Waste collection / Waste management / Watersheds / Wildlife
Alphabetical Listing of Reference Documents by Title
NOTE: [PDF] links require Acrobat Reader from Adobe.
Environmental Release of Mercury from Broken Compact Fluorescent Lamps
Abstract: This article presents an original study on the releases of mercury (Hg) from broken compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) under various environmental conditions. Results provide useful implications in guiding the handling and treatment of CFLs during and after use.
Source: Environmental Engineering Science
Integrating Multi-media Measurements of Mercury in the Great Lakes Region
Abstract: The purpose of the collaborative project for "Integrating Multimedia Measurements of Mercury in the Great Lakes" is to facilitate the accessibility of environmental mercury data. The project will compile a wide variety of mercury data for the Great Lakes region and analyze these data to address key questions about environmental mercury contamination and the exposure and effects on fish and wildlife.
Source: Biodiversity Research Institute (BRI)
Mercury in the Environment
Abstract: A comprehensive source of information for environmental managers, health professionals, scientists, and the interested public, Mercury in the Environment summarizes mercury cycling and transport and dynamics in terrestrial, aquatic, and atmospheric environments and exposure and effects in humans and wildlife.
Mercury Poison Linked to Autism
Abstract: A Swinburne University survey of 522 Australian survivors of pink disease - a form of mercury poisoning common in the early 20th century - found that one in 25 of their 398 grandchildren aged six to 12 had an autism spectrum disorder. The prevalence is six times higher than the one in 160 diagnosed in the general population.
Source: The Age
Mercury, elemental (CASRN 7439-97-6)
Abstract: Health assessment information on elemental mercury based on a comprehensive review of chronic toxicity data.
Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Seafood Choices: Balancing Risks and Benefits
Abstract: This report explores the decision-making process for selecting seafood by assessing the evidence on availability of specific nutrients from seafood compared to other food sources to obtain the greatest nutritional benefits.
Source: National Academies of Sciences
What You Need to Know about Mercury in Fish and Shellfish: 2004 EPA and FDA Advice
Abstract: By following the recommendations for selecting and eating fish or shellfish, women and young children will receive the benefits of eating fish and shellfish and be confident that they have reduced their exposure to the harmful effects of mercury.
What You Need to Know About Mercury in Fish and Shellfish: Advice for Women Who Might Become Pregnant, Women Who Are Pregnant, Nursing Mothers, Young Children
Abstract: Provides facts and safety tips for pregnant women and mothers about the consumption of mercury-containing fish.
Source: U.S. Food and Drug Administration and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
The Topic Hub™ is a product of the Pollution Prevention Resource Exchange (P2Rx)
The Mercury Topic Hub™ was developed by:
Hub Last Updated: 12/4/2012
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Many diseases are silent and difficult to detect, but digestive
dysfunction usually announces itself loudly and odorously through burps and
flatulence, uncomfortably with distention, heartburn, cramps or nausea,
messily through diarrhea and bleeding, or difficultly with constipation. It is
hard to ignore digestive problems, although many people tolerate a low level of
indigestion without seeking treatment or changing their eating habits. They may
pop a Tums or R-O-L-A-I-D-S, but rarely do these really spell relief. Its only
when some of these symptoms become extreme, or the results of indigestion and
poor assimilation begin to affect general health that most people are willing
to do something about their digestion.
What can you do to improve your digestion? There are many simple
things you can do for yourself. Here are some basic guidelines that are sure to
make a difference for you.
1. Just eat. Put your attention on the process of eating. Don't
read, drive, talk on the phone, work or make love while eating if you can
avoid it. Take time to have a meal, rather than catch your food on the run.
When your attention is on the eating process, digestion isn't a distraction,
it's the main event. Try eating in silence and you'll be amazed at how
different your food tastes.
2. Eat slowly. This allows time for the signals from the senses to get
to the brain and stimulate the production of digestive enzymes, muscular
contractions and other processes necessary for digestion, before the food
arrives. Pavlov's dogs salivated before the food arrived when their senses told
them by association that the food was coming. Take time to look at, smell and
savor your meals.
3. Chew well. Chew your food until it is liquid before swallowing.
Chewing shreds fibers, mashes and macerates food and mixes it with saliva.
If the food is not chewed properly, carbohydrate digestion is impeded and
digestion may take much longer because the food does not have sufficient
surface area exposed to the digestive juices for digestion to occur
efficiently. Carnivores who often bolt their meet whole, without chewing, have
much stronger digestive juices than human beings do, but for people, chewing
is very important.
4. Don't wash your food down. Too much liquid with your
meals may dilute the digestive juices you need. Try to drink liquid before your
meals so you won't feel thirsty during the meal. Cold or iced drinks may
interfere with digestion according to Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine. A little
liquid with the meal may not interfere with digestion and a glass of warm water
with lemon juice l/2 hour before a meal may promote secretion of hydrochloric
5. Don' t eat too much. Yoga recommends eating two double handfuls of
food, two double handfuls of liquid, and leaving the stomach one third empty at
the end of a meal. Stuffing yourself doesn't allow room for mixing the food,
and overloads the whole system.
6. Observe food combining principles. According to food combining
theory, starches and proteins don't mix nor do fruits and vegetables. This
theory claims that sweet fruits and proteins are also a bad combination and
that melons should be eaten alone or left alone. When you eat them together,
indigestion may occur. Consult a food combining chart, or read Fit for Life
for the details. Eating too many combinations at a meal, the smorgasbord or
potluck syndrome, is, for many, a prescription for digestive disaster.
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One of the Gorgons, and the only one who was mortal. Her gaze could turn whoever she looked upon to stone. There is a particular myth in which Medusa was originally a beautiful maiden. She desecrated Athena's temple by lying there with Poseidon. Outraged, Athena turned Medusa's hair into living snakes.
Medusa was killed by the hero Perseus with the help of Athena and Hermes. He killed her by cutting of her head and gave it to Athena, who placed it in the center of her Aegis, which she wore over her breastplate.
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Women Nobel Prize Winners for Literature
3 of 13
Sigrid Undset (1928)
Sigrid Undset was a Norwegian novelist. Her early novels of contemporary life, among them Jenny (1911), were frank and realistic works in which she described women's struggles for selfhood in a male-dominated society, but nonetheless strongly upheld traditional social structures. Her writing, always powerfully ethical, deepened in religious intensity after her conversion (1924) to Roman Catholicism. Undset is most famous for her historical novels dealing with universal human problems.
Fun Fact: Poverty forced her to do secretarial work for a time (1898-1908).
Source: Columbia Encyclopedia. Photo: Library of Congress.
Next: Pearl Buck (1938)
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Locomotion: The Case for a Designer
Organs and various systems of the human body demonstrate incredible design and complexity. However, those organs and bodily systems would be unable to function without the supportive network of connective tissue. Consider how ineffective the circulatory system would be without a rigid framework to maintain support. Gravity would reduce the human body to a mere mass of tissue, making normal circulation impossible. Soft tissues, such as organs, must be held in place and protected in order to function properly. The connective tissues responsible for these important tasks are bone, cartilage, fatty (adipose) tissue, and other fiber-bearing tissues.
The muscular system works in conjunction with the bones. Tiny muscle cells combine in orchestrated fashion to form muscle fibers, which can produce action by synchronized contraction (See Figure 4). Muscles of the human body range in size from large muscles in the legs to tiny muscles that control the iris of the eye. The entire system, which works in conjunction with the skeletal system, is dependent on the nervous system for input and regulation. Both of these systems also depend on the circulatory and respiratory systems for oxygen and nutrients.
Without all of these systems working together the human body would not function properly. The question then arises: from whence did these supportive features originate? And who arranged the seamless connectivity between all of the body’s systems? Evolutionists maintain that the human body is not intelligently designed. However, the inspired psalmist observed: “Know that the Lord, He is God: it is He who has made us” (100:3). In this final segment on the intelligent design of the human body, consider that all of the complex systems are needed in order for individuals to maintain their normal walk of life. These complex systems cannot be explained by evolutionary theory.
Evolutionists defend their theory using the fossil record, often ascribing enormous significance to miniscule bone fragments. Tiny variations in bone structure often result in claims for an entirely new species of “fossil man.” But what knowledge do we possess about skeletal bone in the first place? The story often told by evolutionists is that bony structures first evolved in fish known as Agnathans. Most evolutionists contend that these jawless fish were the first vertebrates—supposedly living 500 million years ago. One such scenario alleges: “The most efficient way to swim was to wriggle from side to side. This style of motion was made more effective by having hard parts inside the body. These hard parts began as fluid-filled spaces which later accumulated minerals to take the form of bones” (Stewart, 2005). These fluid-filled spaces just “accumulated minerals to take the form of bones”? Certainly sounds easy enough. But this simplistic (textbook-like) description in no way mirrors the complex protein cascade known to occur. Today we recognize that the formation and maintenance of bone tissue is an enormously complex process that entails at least four specific types of bone cells. In addition, skeletal tissue requires various minerals, vitamins, hormones, and input from other systems of the body, such as oxygen, water, and nutrients from the circulatory and digestive systems. Its interdependence with other systems places the skeletal system in an interesting chicken-or-egg scenario. Without the circulatory system and digestive system in place, bone formation could not take place. However, those systems require the rigid framework of the skeletal system for support, protection, and locomotion. A loss of any of these vital components would result in physiological abnormalities of the skeletal system and negatively affect other body systems.
For instance, a lack of Vitamin D results in a condition called “rickets.” As Howard Glicksman noted:
Vitamin D has many functions within the body but the most important...is its ability to tell the digestive system to absorb calcium. If the body doesn’t efficiently absorb calcium then there won’t be enough raw material for the bone cells to use when they try to form bone. How do we know this? Well, modern medicine is very familiar with various forms of Vitamin D deficiency syndromes which can cause severe disability and even death. Therefore, by extrapolation we’ve come to realize that if there were a total absence of Vitamin D activity in the body, we would not be able to survive (2003).
Bones are dependent on Vitamin D, which is obtained from both food and sunlight, which allows calcium to be absorbed. The irony is that Vitamin D is not very soluble in blood serum, so a protein transporter is needed. This transporter protein is manufactured in the liver, and allows Vitamin D to be carried to the intestinal tract, allowing intestinal cells to absorb calcium, which is used in the manufacture of bones. However, before it can be used in the absorption of calcium, Vitamin D must become activated by enzymes in the liver and kidney. This precise pathway must be followed in a critical step-by-step fashion in order for calcium to be present for the formation of bones. Did the liver create the protein transporter first or the enzyme to help activate the Vitamin D? As Glicksman observed:
What good would it be for the liver to be able to start the activation process of Vitamin D if it hadn’t first produced the Vitamin D transport protein so that the Vitamin D could come to the liver in the first place? And what good would it be if the Vitamin D transport protein was able to transport Vitamin D, but the liver couldn’t start the activation process? And when did the kidney develop its ability to apply the final activating step without which Vitamin D activity in the body would be so reduced that intestinal absorption of calcium would be seriously hampered to the point of certain death? (2003).
So how were those “early fish” able to orchestrate such a precise pathway in just the right manner? Why would they go through the trouble in the first place? Would it even be statistically possible to grow living bone through a series of random chance events? The answer is a resounding no!
Figure 1: Human femur, left leg, ventral aspect
The human body is composed of 206 bones ranging in size from long bones such as the femur of the leg (see Figure 1), to tiny bones such as those found within the inner ear (Van de Graaff and Fox, 1989, p. 205). At birth, the human skeleton contains approximately 270 bones, 64 of which fuse together as ossification takes place during normal growth. The word “skeleton” is derived from the Greek word skeletos, which means “dried up” (see Oxford Companion..., 2001, p. 622). Because of that “dried up” appearance, many people consider bone to be simple inorganic deposits of calcium and phosphorus. Yet, there is an active living component involved in bone as well. As David Cannatella noted: “Bone is a composite of inorganic calcium phosphate crystals (hydroxyapatite) and organic collagen fibers. The mineral content of a bone like the mammalian femur is about 67%. The mineral gives rigidity and the collagen resists tension” (2001). The living portion of bone is able to manufacture blood cells from within its marrow. A close inspection of the functions of bones quickly reveals they are far from just a dead deposit of minerals.
Functions of Bone
Body Movement—Probably one of the first attributes that comes to mind when one thinks of the skeletal system is its contribution to human locomotion. Biped mobility is uncommon in the animal world, and the human body appears to have been made for its upright stance (see Figure 2). As Van de Graaff and Fox noted: “Bones serve as anchoring attachments for most skeletal muscles. In this capacity, the bones act as levers with the joints functioning as pivots when muscles contract to cause body movement” (1989, p. 207). Miller and Goode went one step further in ascribing admiration to the complex lever action. They remarked:
When our muscles move us about, they do it by working a series of articulated levers that make a most efficient use of every ounce of muscular motive power. The levers are the bones of the body’s framework, fitted together with the neatness of jigsaw pieces and hinged by joints that must win the admiration of any mechanic (1960, p. 25, emp. added).
In addition to lever action, consider the various joint actions the skeletal system facilitates. The human body contains gliding, hinge, pivot, condyloid, saddle, and ball-and-socket joints (Oxford Companion..., p. 413), which allow a full range of movements. Also, the coccyx flexes anteriorly act as a shock absorber (Van de Graaff and Fox, p. 234). Levers, hinged joints, and shock absorbers? These sound like engineering feats. The question should be raised: Who was the ultimate Engineer who designed these actions?
Figure 2: Computer—generated representation of the human skeleton in action
Support—Consider how ineffective other bodily systems would be if they could not rely on the rigid framework of the body’s skeletal system. Wayne Jackson compared the human skeletal system to the “interior framework of a house” (2000, p. 21). Imagine trying to hang drywall or build a sturdy roof without the proper framework. In his book Body by Design, Alan Gillen observed: “Our skeletal frames are more than just scaffolding that holds us erect; they serve as the structures upon which we hang all that we are. Our bones are the anchors to which muscles attach, and they act as the levers and fulcrums for our daily activities” (2001, p. 41). Most of the density and strength of the skeletal system results from the inorganic components. Consider that the skeletal system must be able to bear the weight of the entire body (even during periods of stress or locomotion). These attributes are due to the composite matrix that makes up bone.
Protection—In order to provide protection (as well as support and locomotion) bones must possess the strength of steel. Nevertheless, the weight of steel would be a huge drawback in locomotion. Therefore, bone must be extremely strong, yet, lightweight. The National Space Biomedical Research Institute noted: “The collagen fibers and calcium salts together make bone almost as strong as steel, but much lighter. Unlike steel, bone can repair itself when broken with the help of bone-forming cells (osteoblasts) and bone digesting cells (osteoclasts)” (“Muscles and Bones,” 2000, emp. added). Able to repair itself? Does this property sound like something that originated from a lifeless, Big Bang explosion? Most definitely not! As the Center for Disease Control explained:
When your body makes new bone tissue, it first lays down a framework of collagen. Then, tiny crystals of calcium from your blood spread throughout the collagen framework. The hard crystals fill in all the nooks and crannies. Calcium and collagen work together to make bones strong and flexible (see “Healthy Bones...,” n.d.).
Laying a framework indicates organization and purposeful activity. This complex process is accomplished by the composite integration of both organic and inorganic tissues—something evolution cannot explain.
The brain, the central processing unit of the body, is housed in a protective covering known as the cranium. Soft organs such as the lungs, heart, liver, and spleen, are housed within the safe confines of the rib cage. The pelvic viscera also are housed in a safe cavity surrounded by the bony pelvic girdle (Moore, 1992, p. 243). An unbiased observer recognizes this special protection as the product of careful design.
Figure 3: Cross section of exposed bone marrow at the head of the human femur
Hemopoiesis—At birth, humans produce red blood cells in the spleen and liver. Interestingly, this production of blood cells shifts to bones as humans develop and mature. The platelets, along with red and white blood cells, all are synthesized in the red blood marrow of bones (see Figure 3). This is one reason many diseases are currently being fought with bone marrow transplants—in hopes that this new tissue will be able to combat specific conditions. However, the production of these cells is not haphazard on some “assembly line.” As Bruce Alberts and his colleagues noted: “Thus blood cell formation (hemopoiesis) necessarily involves complex controls in which the production of each type of blood cell is regulated individually to meet changing needs” (Alberts, et al., 1994, p. 1164, emp. added). Those “controls” indicate a feedback loop with an elaborate series of steps involved in the production of blood cells—a scheme which is better explained by the Creation model.
In discussing the ability of bone marrow to make blood cells, Van de Graaff and Fox observed: “...[A]s bones mature, the bone marrow assumes the performance of this formidable task. It is estimated that an average of one million red blood cells are produced every second by the bone marrow” (p. 207). So exactly how can evolutionists explain the origins of the circulatory system, which is dependent on bones for the manufacture of blood cells, while the skeletal system could not have come into existence without nutrients from the circulatory system?! As Van de Graaff and Fox noted: “The development of bone from embryonic to adult size depends on the orderly processes of mitotic divisions, growth, and the structural remodeling determined by genetics, hormonal secretions, and nutritional supply” (p. 214, emp. added). The only logical conclusion is that the design from these two complex systems required a Designer and Creator.
Mineral Storage—Another important function of the skeletal system is the storage of inorganic material (minerals) that are essential for other bodily functions. When humans ingest calcium and phosphorus, approximately 90% of those minerals are stored in bones and teeth. These minerals give bones their rigidity. However, these minerals pose a serious problem for evolutionists. The vertebral skeleton is composed of calcium phosphate rather than calcium carbonate that is found in invertebrates (Ruben and Bennett, 1987, 41:1187). How did vertebrates evolve this different composition of mineral storage?
Multiple functions, and yet the skeletal system performs each of these tasks seamlessly on a daily basis. As Brand and Yancey observed: “Perhaps an engineer will someday develop a substance as strong and light and efficient as bone, but what engineer could devise a substance that, like bone, can grow continuously, lubricate itself, require no shutdown time and repair itself when damage occurs?” (1980, p. 91).
In addition to multiple functions, there are also four different bone cell types that have been identified: osteoblasts, osteocytes, osteoclasts, and undifferentiated bone mesenchymal cells (see “Bone Morphology,” 2006). Glicksman described the complexity and dependency of these four cell types:
The bone-forming cell is able to put down a firm mesh consisting of protein in which it then deposits crystals containing calcium phosphate. The bone breakdown cell is able to undue [sic] what the bone-forming cell accomplishes. They are constantly working together to develop and remodel the bone. In addition, there are two other bone cells that help the bone-forming and bone breakdown cells survive by separating them from the bone marrow and the body’s circulation and help them obtain water, nutrients and oxygen from the bloodstream. Remember, every cell in the body requires these basic components to live. So the bone cells themselves are dependent on the systems in the body that provide them with these vital necessities for life. Systems such as the gastrointestinal tract for absorbing water, calcium and the raw materials for protein mesh formation and energy production, the lungs and red blood cells for bringing in needed oxygen, and finally, the heart and the circulation for bringing all of these necessary components for survival and function to the site for bone formation” (2003, italics in orig.).
Did the osteoblasts (bone forming cells) evolve first, or the osteoclasts (bone erosion cells)? Both are needed for bone formation and maintenance.
Necessary, but dependent—this is one of the best descriptions of the human skeletal system. Without it, life could not function as we know it. But its very existence is dependent on the circulatory system, digestive system, muscular system, and nervous system. This dependency excludes any possibility of a step-by-step, evolutionary development. In the concluding remarks about the skeletal system, Van de Graaff and Fox observed: “In summary, the skeletal system is not an isolated body system. It functions with the muscle system since it stores the calcium needed for muscular contraction and provides an attachment for muscles as they span the movable joints. The skeletal system serves the circulatory system by producing blood cells in protected sites” (p. 207). Truly, the skeletal system is overwhelming evidence for an Intelligent Designer.
Muscles attached to bones are the driving force behind the skeletal system. The coordinated efforts of skeletal muscles allow the body to move in a variety of ways. The human body contains more than 600 muscles (see Netter, 1994), each of which is made up of millions of muscle cells. The primary function of muscles is to produce force and cause motion. This motion may come in the form of locomotion of body parts or internal movements such as heart beats or digestion. These efforts are accomplished between cross bridges using a “contractile system involving actin and myosin,” (Alberts, et al., 1994, p. 1175), two different kinds of filaments.
There are two main classifications of muscles in the body: voluntary and involuntary
(Oxford Companion..., 2001, p. 481). Most of the muscles in the extremities (arms and legs) are controlled voluntarily, whereas many muscles within the abdomen (i.e., heart, walls of the digestive system, etc.) are involuntary. These two distinct classes of muscle require different nervous innervation. Additionally, muscle tissue can be divided into six distinct types: smooth, fast skeletal, slow skeletal, and cardiac muscle for vertebrates and striated and smooth muscle tissues for invertebrates (Oota and Saitou, 1999, 16:856). Why did vertebrates evolve two additional muscle types? Do we have animals or fossils that demonstrate this transition? The evolutionary theory is unable to answer these questions.
Figure 4: Actin and myosin filaments in the muscle fibers of the triceps muscle of the arm. Changesin conformation of myosin heads lead to interaction with actin filaments causing muscle contraction.
Smooth muscles, also described as involuntary muscles, are commonly found within the walls of organs and structures such as the esophagus, stomach, intestines, bronchi, uterus, ureter, bladder, and blood vessels. “These muscles contract to shorten or reduce the capacity of hollow organs and tubes.”
Cardiac muscle is also an “involuntary muscle,” but it is a specialized kind of muscle found only within the heart. When this muscle type contracts it reduces capacity, ejecting blood out of the heart.
Skeletal muscles, or “voluntary” muscles, are commonly anchored by tendons to bones and are used to affect skeletal movement such as locomotion. When these muscles contract they “move parts of the body via their attachments to bones, or produce tension to oppose stretch or even allow controlled lengthening” (Oxford Companion..., 2001, p. 481).
The production of each muscle type is dependent on the fusion of myoblasts (precursors of skeletal muscle cells) in the presence of specific growth factors. Alberts and his colleagues described this process: “Each skeletal muscle is a syncytium and develops by the fusion of many myoblasts. Myoblasts are stimulated to proliferate by growth factors such as FGF, but once they fuse, they can no longer divide” (1994, p. 1179). How could primordial goo have recognized the need for, and manufactured, different types of muscles?
Functions of Muscular Tissue
The three muscle types found in the human body help the muscular system perform four main functions:
Motion—The most obvious role the muscular system plays is contraction to cause motion. The body has been designed to have antagonist pairs of muscles (i.e., flexors and extensors—See Figure 5). This dual action allows a bone to be pulled in one direction using flexor muscles, and then extensors return it to its normal state using extensors. As Miller and Goode explain: “A muscle cell performs the functions of both the spark and the piston; the cell itself splits a molecule of fuel and also exerts the resulting physical power” (1960, p. 23). The “spark plug and piston” analogy is the equivalent of describing the Grand Canyon as “a big hole.” Authors of most medical cellular textbooks devote an entire chapter to the action of actin filaments in the cell in conjunction with myosin to produce muscular contraction. Consider the following summary by Alberts, et al.:
Muscle contraction is produced by the sliding of actin filaments against myosin filaments. The head regions of myosin molecules, which project from myosin filaments, engage in an ATP-driven cycle in which they attach to adjacent actin filaments, undergo a conformational change that pulls the myosin filament against the actin filament, and then detach [see Figure 4—BH]. This cycle is facilitated by special accessory proteins in muscle that hold the actin and myosin filaments in parallel overlapping arrays with the correct orientation and spacing for sliding to occur. Two other accessory proteins—troponin and tropomyosin—allow the contraction of skeletal and cardiac muscle to be regulated by Ca2+ (1994, p. 858).
Figure 5: Example of muscle flexion and extension
Surely, one cannot consider the complexity of this contractile system on both the macroscopic and microscopic levels without realizing the statistical impossibility of all of these proteins assembling by random chance. But, in addition to this complicated cascade, evolutionists also must explain why invertebrates possess a form of actin different from that of vertebrates. Vandekerckhove and Weber described their research, noting: “The results show that most, if not all, invertebrate muscle actins are homologous to each other and to the isoforms recognized as vertebrate cytoplasmic actins. In contrast the actin forms typically found in muscle cells of warm-blooded vertebrates are noticeably different from invertebrate muscle actins and seem to have appeared in evolution already with the origin of chordates” (Vandekerckhove and Weber, 1984, 179:391, emp. added). Identifying a new form of actin and speculating where it fits in the evolutionary tree of life does little to explain how and why this new form arose in the first place. Could it not be that vertebrates were created from the beginning with a different form of actin?
Body Support and Posture—One of the most often overlooked sets of muscles in the body is the deep erector spinae muscles of the back. While the bony skeleton provides a rigid framework for the body, without these skeletal muscles, upright posture would be unattainable. Many muscles work in concert to counter the effects of gravity.
Heat Production—One of the least considered roles that muscles play is thermoregulation. (Metabolism, which is the conversion of sugar into energy, releases heat as a byproduct.) Muscles constitute approximately 40% of the body’s mass (Van de Graaff and Fox, p. 291), and therefore are critical in the production of heat. Consider the physiological difficulties that would result if the body was unable to maintain a temperature necessary for the growth and proliferation of cells.
Respiration—The external intercoastal muscles that span the rib cage play a vital role in conjunction with the muscular diaphragm in respiration. When individuals are intubated with a breathing tube, they often are given a drug that temporarily paralyzes the diaphragm, allowing doctors to insert the breathing tube and put the patient on a ventilator. As Van de Graaff and Fox noted:
During normal, relaxed inspiration, the important muscles are the diaphragm, and the external intercoastal muscles. A contraction of the dome-shaped diaphragm downward causes a vertical increase in thoracic dimension. A simultaneous contraction of the external intercostals produces an increase in the lateral dimension of the thorax (p. 324).
These muscles are vital to respiration, and yet they are dependent on oxygenated blood, which comes from the circulatory and respiratory systems. Can evolutionists present a step-by-step scenario that allows these two systems to “evolve” without the other system being in place? A close inspection reveals that both systems are needed (along with actin and myosin, ATP, etc.) for life. So exactly how did all of these systems come together to allow for proper respiration? The evidence unequivocally points to a Designer!
Human locomotion is dependent on interactions between numerous bodily systems. The human skeletal system was designed to be able to withstand a variety of movements while carrying the weight of the entire body. The detailed complexity of muscle contraction, bone formation, and biped locomotion demands a designer. Special skeletal facets are needed for precise muscle attachment. A vast network of blood supply and various minerals are required to maintain bone growth and density. Given the intense complexity, the only possible explanation is that a Master Orchestrater formed this entire system.
Today, a large percentage of the population places their faith in science. It has become a modern-day Baal that many worship—either consciously or subconsciously. Christianity has been cast as an “activity” for uneducated imbeciles, and is attacked from every angle in our society. The mainstream media delights in reminding society about the battle between science and religion, often portraying Bible-believing Christians as ignorant and uniformed.
However, the media has painted a war that does not exist. The concepts of science and God are not in conflict—as God is the author of science. The two fit like a hand in a glove. The very definition of “science” is having knowledge or obtaining knowledge about a specific area. The more one truly learns about the inherent design and complexities of this world, the more one realizes the necessity of the Intelligent Designer. When the human body is given full consideration, the only rational conclusion is that it is the product of a Higher Power. Real science is like a beacon that points back to Jehovah God.
Consider how many animals can gather together to sing a song that was composed by an individual who obtained pen and paper, wrote musical notes to be sung in harmony, and words to tell a meaningful story. Surely we cannot overlook the uniqueness of man.
A rigorous examination of the human body provides conclusive evidence of the impossibility of it coming into existence by chance. The body’s numerous systems depend on one another in order to sustain life. The simultaneous evolution of numerous bodily systems is a statistical impossibility. As yet, evolutionists have been unable to explain the very existence of life. As Dr. Klaus Dose, Director for the Institute for Biochemistry at Johannes Gutenberg University, admitted:
More than 30 years of experimentation on the origin of life in the fields of chemical and molecular evolution have led to a better perception of the immensity of the problem of the origin of life on Earth rather than to its solution. At present all discussions on principal theories and experiments in the field either end in stalemate or in a confession of ignorance (1988, 13:348).
A fair-minded individual searching for the truth can be sure that the human body was designed by an intelligent Designer. That intelligent Designer is the one, true, living God.
Alberts, Bruce, Dennis Bray, et. al, (1994), Molecular Biology of the Cell (New York, NY: Garland Publishing), third edition.
“Bone Morphology” (2006), Encyclopedia Britannica, [On-line], URL: http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-41884.
Brand, Paul and Phillip Yancey (1980), Fearfully and Wonderfully Made (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan).
Cannatella, David (2001), “Skeleton: The Skull,” [On-line], URL: http://www.lifesci.utexas.edu/courses/bio478L/LecturesPDF/skull.pdf.
Dose, Klaus (1988), “The Origin of Life; More Questions Than Answers,” Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, 13:348-356.
Gillen, Alan (2001), Body By Design (Green Forest, AR: Master Books).
Glicksman, Howard (2003), “Hamlet Meets Modern Medical Science,” [On-line], URL: http://www.arn.org/docs/glicksman/eyw_031104.htm.
“Healthy Bones: How to Make Strong Bones,” (no date), Center for Disease Control, [On-line], URL: http://www.cdc.gov/powerfulbones/boneup/h owdo_print.html.
Jackson, Wayne (2000), The Human Body—Accident or Design? (Stockton, CA: Courier Publications).
Miller, Benjamin and Ruth Goode (1960), Man and His Body (New York, NY: Simon and Schuster).
Moore, Keith L. (1992), Clinically Oriented Anatomy (Philadelphia, PA: Williams and Wilkins).
“Muscles and Bones,” (2000), National Space Biomedical Research Institute, [On-line], URL: http://www.nsbri.org/Education/MuscleUnit.pdf.
Netter, Frank H. (1994), Atlas of Human Anatomy (Summit, NJ: Ciba-Geigy).
Oota, Satoshi and Naruya Saitou (1999), “Phylogenetic Relationships of Muscle Tissues Deduced from Superimposition of Gene Trees,” Molecular Biology and Evolution, 16:856–867.
Oxford Companion to the Body (2001), ed. Colin Blakemore and Shelia Jennett (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press).
Ruben, John A. and Albert A. Bennett (1987), “The Evolution of Bone,” Evolution, 41: 1187-1197, November.
Stewart, Robert Charles (2005), “The Story of Human Evolution,” Shattering the Sacred Myths, [On-line], URL: http://www.evolutionary-metaphysics.net/evolution_of_humankind.html.
Van de Graaff, Kent M. and Stuart Ira Fox (1989), Concepts of Human Anatomy and Physiology (Dubuque, IA: Wm. C. Brown).
Vandekerckhove, J., and K. Weber (1984), “Chordate Muscle Actins Differ Distinctly From Invertebrate Muscle Actins. The Evolution of the Different Vertebrate Muscle Actins,” Journal of Molecular Biology, 179:391-413, November 5.
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Arterial thrombosis is a condition involving the formation of blood clots in the legs. In susceptible individuals, prolonged periods of immobility (such as travel in a car, train, or airplane, or even sitting at your desk) can increase the risk of the formation of clots. If the clot breaks free and travels to the lungs or heart, it can be fatal.
There have been reports in the news about a relationship between Arterial Thrombosis and air travel. Currently, the Aerospace Medical Association advises that science has not established a direct, scientific link between Arterial Thrombosis and air travel. The World Health Organization plans to begin a study on the matter but currently advises that the risk of developing Arterial Thrombosis during travel is very small unless there are pre-existing risk factors. Some literature suggests that the exercises shown below, combined with some of the tips above, may decrease the risk of Arterial Thrombosis. If you have any concerns about arterial thrombosis, or your susceptibility to it, please consult your doctor.
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Constitutional Nuggets: What the Constitution Really Meant About …
This page gives you quick summaries—without any political agenda and without regard to what the courts have ruled—about the Constitution’s meaning on controversial subjects. You might not like all the answers provided below (it would be odd if everyone agreed with every part of the Constitution all the time!), but the answers are honest and based on thorough objective research. For more info on these and other issues, see Rob Natelson’s handbook The Original Constitution: What It Actually Said and Meant (2d ed., 2011).
Advice and Consent: The Senate’s power to advise and consent does not mean the President must consult the Senate in advance of recommending an appointment or a treaty. During the Founding Era, the term “advise” in this setting meant “to deliberate,” “to take under advisement.” Once the President has made a recommendation, the Senate may deliberate on it and decide whether to consent. See The Original Constitution: What It Actually Said and Meant (2d ed., 2011).
Amendment: The Constitution provides for amendment using state and federal legislatures (without executive vetoes) and state and federal conventions. The conventions are all limited, one-time-only assemblies. Amendments can be proposed either by Congress (2/3 vote of each house) or by a Convention for Proposing Amendments. All amendments have to be ratified by 3/4 of the states. Congress decides whether ratification is by state legislatures or state conventions.
Like the other two kinds of conventions authorized by the Constitution, a Convention for Proposing Amendments is a limited-purpose body and not a “constitutional convention” or “con-con” as often claimed. Congress must call a Convention for Proposing Amendments when directed to do so by 2/3 of state legislatures, and the convention commissioners (delegates) are agents of their respective state legislatures. Thus, the state legislatures can limit the convention’s agenda, but must leave to the convention the actual writing of any amendments. All proposed amendments, whether proposed by Congress or Convention, must be approved by 3/4 of the states. See Founding-Era Conventions and the Meaning of the Constitution’s “Convention for Proposing Amendments” ___ Fla. L. Rev. ___ (2013) (forthcoming); Proposing Constitutional Amendments by Convention: Rules Governing the Process, 78 Tenn. L. Rev. 693 ( 2011); James Madison and the Constitution’s “Convention for Proposing Amendments,” 45 Akron L. Rev. 431 (2012); Amending the Constitution by Convention: Practical Guidance for Citizens and Policymakers (Independence Institute, 2012); Amending The Constitution by Convention: Lessons for Today from the Constitution’s First Century (Independence Institute, 2011) and Amending the Constitution by Convention: A More Complete View of the Founders’ Plan.
Campaign finance. The original Constitution gave Congress very little power to regulate presidential elections, only limited power to regulate congressional elections, and virtually no power to regulate campaigns. Article I, Section 4 (the Times, Places and Manner Clause) is cited to justify congressional authority to regulate campaigns, but the Clause was not that broad. Authority over campaigning was left to the states. See The Original Scope of the Congressional Power to Regulate Elections, 13 U. Pa. J. Const. L. 1 (2010).
Commerce: The Constitution empowered to regulate “Commerce” with foreign nations, among states, and with Indian tribes. “Commerce” means mercantile trade in goods and services and some related categories such as navigation, commercial finance, and cargo insurance. ”Commerce” does not include manufacturing, agriculture or other land use, criminal law, the court system, social services, or non-economic activity. Generally, the Constitution does not empower Congress to regulate commerce wholly within states. See The Legal Meaning of “Commerce” In the Commerce Clause, 80 St. John’s L. Rev. 789 (2006). Under the Necessary and Proper Clause Congress sometimes has power to regulate activities that, while not “Commerce,” are intimately connected but subordinate to foreign, interstate, or Indian commerce. (See below.)
Due Process Clauses: At the time of the Founding, the statement that the government could not deprive a person of “life, liberty, or property without due process of law” simply meant the state had to follow pre-existing law when proceeding against a person. Some argue that the meaning changed during the 19th century to provide broader protection against state action under the 14th Amendment. See The Original Constitution: What It Actually Said and Meant (2d ed., 2011).
General Welfare: The General Welfare Clause did not confer on Congress any power. It was a limitation on the taxing power granted by the same clause. The general welfare language limited congressional taxes to those whose revenue was dedicated to national (not sectional), general interest (not special interest) purposes. The current belief that the general welfare clause grants Congress power to spend for almost any purpose is based largely on a misunderstanding of 18th century English. See The General Welfare Clause and the Public Trust: An Essay in Original Understanding, 52 U. Kan. L. Rev. 1 (2003); Judicial Review of Special Interest Spending: The General Welfare Clause and the Fiduciary Law of the Founders, 11 Tex. Rev. L. & Pol. 239 (2007).
Impeachment: Properly speaking “impeachment” refers only to indictment by the House of Representatives. Once the House charges an official under a “bill of impeachment,” the matter is then tried by the Senate. Only executive and judicial officers, not members of Congress, can be impeached. Historically, the grounds for impeachment are the same grounds that would cause removal of a private trustee for breach of trust—dishonesty, breaking an important law, negligence, disloyalty, etc. Commission of a crime is not necessary, but mere political differences are not sufficient. See The Original Constitution: What It Actually Said and Meant (2d ed., 2011).
Indian Affairs: The Constitution granted to the federal government only limited authority over Indian affairs, and current Supreme Court interpretation of congressional power over Indians is clearly erroneous. Properly construed, the Constitution grants Congress authority to regulate “Commerce” (what used to be called the “Indian trade”) with tribes, and the President and Senate can assume broader powers by treaty, if a tribe consents. Otherwise, interactions with tribes and individual Indians are a matters within the state sphere. See The Original Meaning of the Indian Commerce Clause, 85 Denver U. L. Rev. 201 (2007).
Land: The federal government is entitled to hold “Territory” (land outside of state boundaries), enclaves (land acquired within state boundaries by state consent for enumerated purposes), and “other Property” (land acquired within state boundaries but without state consent for enumerated purposes). Federal power over enclaves is broader than over “other Property.” Contrary to 20th century court decisions, the Constitution did not authorize the federal government indefinitely to retain land for non-enumerated purposes. See Federal Land Retention and the Constitution’s Property Clause: The Original Understanding, 76 U. Colo. L. Rev. 327 (2005).
Money: The Constitution grants Congress power to “coin Money and regulate the Value thereof.” This includes not just metallic coins, but money in any medium, including paper. ”Regulate the Value” means primarily to fix legal tender laws. States are prohibited from coining money or making anything but gold or silver coin a legal tender. See Paper Money and the Original Understanding of the Coinage Clause, 31 Harvard J.L. & Pub. Policy 1017 (2008).
Necessary and Proper Clause: This clause was based on very similar provisions common in 18th century legal documents, which in turn were based on earlier English documents written in Latin.
The Necessary and Proper Clause had no force of its own. The “necessary” part assured the reader that the listed powers of Congress included others that were “incidental.” An incidental power had to be less “worthy” (important) than its principal power and either customary or reasonably necessary to its exercise. For example, when exercising a “necessary” power, Congress could not assume control of all manufacturing on the ground that doing so was “incidental” to its power over interstate commerce. (Current Supreme Court decisions to the contrary are based on inadequate historical and legal research.)
This use of “necessary”—that is, to require a customary or other close connection between implied and stated powers— may derive in part from one of the Latin meanings of “necessarius:” a close family member or associate.
The “proper” part of the Clause incorporated the Founding-Era understanding that government was a public trust, and that laws must be in keeping with that trust. A law that, for example, was not reasonably impartial among citizens was not “proper.” See The Origins of the Necessary and Proper Clause (with Lawson, Miller & Seidman) (Cambridge University Press 2010); Tempering the Commerce Power, 68 Mont. L. Rev. 95 (2007); The Agency Law Origins of the Necessary and Proper Clause, 55 Case W. Res. L. Rev. 243 (2004).
Although Chief Justice Roberts’ opinion in the ObamaCare case upheld the individual mandate as a tax, his treatment of the Necessary and Proper Clause may signal the beginning of a return to the original meaning of that provision.
Original Intent/Understanding/Meaning: Original intent is the intent of the Constitution’s drafters. Original understanding is what the ratifiers understood the Constitution to mean. Original meaning (or original public meaning) is what it would have meant to an engaged person at the time it was ratified. The rule at the Founding was that the Constitution would be interpreted according to its original understanding; if one could not recover the original understanding because the evidence was sparse or mixed, original meaning controlled. Original intent serves as evidence of original meaning or original understanding. Usually, but not always, all three categories provide the same answer. See The Founders’ Hermeneutic: The Real Original Understanding of Original Intent, 68 Ohio St. L.J. 1239 (2007).
Privileges and Immunities: Like “necessary and proper,” this was a common phrase in legal documents at the time of the Founding, and it had a specific meaning. “Privileges and immunities” were not natural rights, but only benefits given by government. The Privileges and Immunities Clause said that if a state granted a benefit to citizens merely by virtue of their citizenship, then it had to extend the benefit to visitors from out of state. Examples included access to the courts and habeas corpus. Because “privileges and immunities” did not include what the Founders called “natural rights,” this clause does not protect such liberties as freedom of religion, the right to self defense, or even the right to travel. Instead, those rights are partially protected in other sections of the Constitution.
Some people claim the meanings of “privileges” and “immunities” changed during the 19th century, with the result that the “privileges or immunities clause” of the 14th amendment is broader than the Privileges or Immunities Clause in the original Constitution. See The Original Meaning of the Privileges and Immunities Clause, 43 Ga. L. Rev. 1117 (2009).
Religion: The Constitution created neither a secular nor a Christian nation. It created a theistic nation—i.e., one based on a non-sectarian belief in God. Those holding federal or state office were required to take oaths or affirmations, and the validity of those oaths and affirmations required belief in God. The First Amendment guaranteed freedom of religion to all theists and equal treatment of all religions. It did not prevent discrimination against (or for) atheism or agnosticism. See The Original Meaning of the Establishment Clause, 14 Wm. & Mary Bill Rights J. 73 (2005).
For more information on these and other issues, see Rob Natelson’s handbook, The Original Constitution: What It Actually Said and Meant (2d ed., 2011)
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In mid-March 2012, middle school students took this picture of our planet from the far side of the Moon. The students accomplished this feat thanks to MoonKAM—Moon Knowledge Acquired by Middle school students—an education and outreach program of NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission.
More than 2,700 schools in 52 countries signed up to participate in the MoonKAM program, and tens of thousands of students submitted requests to the MoonKAM Mission Operations Center. The requests were relayed to cameras on the GRAIL spacecraft, which targeted the areas requested by the students and sent the pictures back to Earth. The first batch of MoonKAM shots, including this one, was acquired March 15–18, 2012.
With Earth in the distant background, this image shows the far side of the lunar surface, including the De Forest Crater. Situated near the Moon’s southern pole, De Forest Crater receives sunlight at an oblique angle that leads to deep shadows.
The GRAIL mission was launched in 2011 to develop a detailed map of the Moon’s gravity field. Using twin spacecraft flying in formation, GRAIL operates on the same principle as the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) that observes Earth. Small changes in the distance between the spacecraft enable scientists to measure the gravitational field. Researchers hope to improve our understanding of the Moon’s gravity—by 100 times on the near side and 1,000 times on the far side.
The MoonKAM Project is led by Sally Ride—America’s first woman in space—in collaboration with undergraduate students at the University of California in San Diego.
- Grail-MoonKAM. (2012) Accessed March 29, 2012.
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (2008) About GRAIL. Accessed March 29, 2012.
- NASA Photojournal. (2012, March 22) MoonKAM Looks Homeward. Accessed March 29, 2012.
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Many of these traditionally eastern therapies can be used safely by gaining a better understanding of the herb/spice that will be used as a therapy. It can also be a good idea to consult a specialist in alternative medicine. There is a good website called Natural Medicine Comprehensive Database that was created as an evidence-based resource site for natural medicines. If you are taking or planning on taking an herbal or spice supplement this would be a great place to evaluate its safety and effectiveness.
Two spices that are usually thought of for cooking have recently been marketed for their healing potential. These two spices are cinnamon and nutmeg. Cinnamon is used in Chinese medicine to control blood sugar and treat cold and flu symptoms. In recent research, cinnamon has been found to decrease blood sugar, triglyceride levels, and cholesterol in Type II diabetics. The amount of cinnamon thought to give added health benefits is about 1 teaspoon per day. Cinnamon also has been shown to have an anti-clotting effect on blood which can be important in decreasing a person's risk for heart disease. It is used to prevent nausea and vomiting. Nutmeg has been found to have similar health benefits as cinnamon in that it has been shown decrease nausea. It has been used as an antidiarrheal and to decrease stomachaches.
If you plan on using cinnamon, nutmeg or any other herb/spice for the potential health benefits, make sure to consult your physician before adding them to your daily routine. Many people do not realize that herb/spice supplements interact with prescription medication and over the counter medication which can cause serious health risks. Since these supplements are not regulated it is best to find a reputable company that is known for their high standards of producing quality products. This will better insure that other ingredients not on the label will not make its way into the supplement. There are some volunteer programs that supplement companies choose to participate in to make sure they are producing quality products. One such site is http://www.usp.org/USPVerified/dietarySupplements/. If you are taking any type of dietary supplement with would be another great reference site.
Grete R. Hornstrom is a Clinical Dietitian who is currently specializing in pediatric care. She holds a Bachelors of Science in Physical Education with a concentration in Exercise Science from Kent State University, a Master of Arts in Wellness Management from Ball State University, and a Master of Science in Dietetics from Ball State University. She has worked with overweight children and adults, recreational and elite athletes, chronically ill children, and every day people on developing nutrition plans and healthy lifestyle changes. In addition she has worked with recreational teams, high school teams, and college teams educating them on the importance of nutrition and performance. She has completed one marathon and three half marathons in the last two years. Her newest sport of choice is cycling.
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Ben Kerschberg, Contributor
Fascinated by the intersection of Law & Technology.
Guest Post by Lauren Fisher
The global disparity with respect to data that fuels crowdsourcing requires action. While the West does its best to tackle the immense flow ofdata in various contexts (e.g., manufacturing, supply chain management, electronic discovery), in developing countries, entire societies are completely cut off from this exchange of information.
In a complete overhaul and modernisation of the global structures that have seen first world societies flourish while others struggle to survive day to day, data now stands to be the great leveller and democratizer. In the West we are handing over data to the Googles and Facebooks of this world in exchange for services, but the communities in developing regions that stand to benefit the most from an open information network are unable, as a result of lack of technological means, to take part in this exchange at all.
If you’re reading this article, chances are you are one of the privileged few (yes, few) benefiting from digital technology. Unfortunately, as much as we might think that the digital revolution has arrived, the fact is that it has only arrived for some. You probably wake up in the morning and check your email on your BlackBerry, or flip open your laptop to scan the news. By the year 2030, however, there will still be 900 million people in the developing world who won’t have the means to turn on a light.
Modern technology, one of the most powerful catalysts for social change and quality living conditions, has yet to reach mass penetration across the globe. We still have a long way to go before developing countries gain access to the technology that will allow them to tackle daily hardships, many of which are unnecessary now that we have the technology to effectively alleviate them.
For citizens in the West, this open exchange of data, including crowdsourcing technologies, means we can scan through hundreds of user reviews on a single hotel on Trip Advisor, or search for nearby bars with user-submitted images on a mobile location service. We can do all this in real time. But these are fairly minor benefits of open data – small improvements to the comfortable life we already enjoy and insignificant compared to the manner in which the West leverages Big Data by combining it on a large scale with business analytics. Place this same crowdsourcing technology in developing regions and these luxurious benefits become fundamental game changers. Replace local bars with searching for the nearest local hospital that has the vital medical service one needs, or mapping local breakouts of violence and riots in post-election Kenya.
This exists, for example, in the form of Ushahidi, a crowdsourcing platform that was borne out of those riots and aims to gather and verify local informal reports crowdsourced through email, SMS, or social platforms to ensure people have access to the information they need. This can range from the location of the nearest medical supplies to which areas of town to avoid due to severe outbreaks of violence.
It exists in the form of Medic Mobile, a new initiative that aims to transform healthcare in the developing world through simple SMS. The reality for many people in remote regions of developing nations is a 100-mile trek by foot or oxcart to see the nearest doctor. So Medic Mobile has equipped over 100 community health workers with mobile devices to enable them to treat patients more effectively and keep up health and safety advice between appointments. The outcome is that through simple mobile technology, Medic Mobile in six months has doubled the number of patients treated with Tuberculosis in rural Malawi. It has achieved this by increasing the flow of data through mobile networks. Medical professionals are able to supply patients with information on medical supplies and improved safety advice that they, in turn, are able to access through mobile technology and external information sources.
The people that need to supply and receive the data must have the means to do so. Mobile technology is the key. Increasingly cheap handsets, ease of distribution, and the speed of both sending and receiving information make it the single most important way to connect communities in developing regions.
We are starting to make progress. In some regions, access to mobile devices already exceeds access to electricity. As highlighted by Practical Action, only 15% of the population of Kenya has access to electricity, yet the penetration of mobile phones is over 50%. The reach of mobile communication is vast and it facilitates communication between communities, allowing access to information to extend beyond those in their immediate vicinity, whether through phone calls, SMS or even mobile Internet.
When given the technology they need, developing regions flourish. Medic Mobile also runs a text messaging service to support patients in Kenya living with HIV by sending out frequent health advice. They can do this because they, in turn, are able to access the flow of medical data in networks, by being connected themselves. Nurses use their mobile devices as a reference point to access information and groups of farmers can even use simple SMS technology to share information that can help them improve their crops. This is the fundamental flow of data in action – individuals volunteering information that combines collectively to create a bank of data that helps entire communities. We now need to ensure that more and more groups have access to this vital technology.
Data in action
History has taught us that the flow of data—opening up communication channels—is a societal net positive. Compare the much-needed digital revolution in developing regions now to the newspaper revolution in the 1970s-90s in rural India. Whereas in 1976 there was approximately one newspaper available for every 80 citizens in the most remote regions, by 1996, through the arrival of new printing technology and an overhaul of newspaper institutions, this figure had risen to one newspaper for every 20 citizens. The result was a more open dialogue, educated citizens, a society more amenable to democracy and, most important, more jobs in small villages. The same thing now needs to happen on a bigger scale.
How Crowdsourcing Is Tackling Poverty
We are starting to hear the whispers of a digital revolution in developing regions, all enabled by public access to data. NextDrop, a project
that started in a classroom at U.C. Berkeley, focuses on crowdsourcing through mobile technology to transform the way people access water. It is not uncommon for people in remote or poor regions to make an arduous trek to the local water source, where often they won’t know how long they have to wait before the limited supply is turned on for a short amount of time. Yet many of these people own mobile phones. Through an astonishing application of mobile technology, NextDrop allows utility workers to place a call to NextDrop’s system, alerting people when they have turned on the water supply. Residents who use the service are sent a text message that alerts them 30-60 minutes in advance that the water supply will be turned on. This means that people only need make the trip when they know water will be waiting for them at the end. Mobile Internet won’t work in this case, but SMS does on the extremely inexpensive handsets people in these regions already own.
This is, essentially, crowdsourcing the supply of water – the application of a relatively simple Western concept with profound effects in the developing world. This quintessential application of technology to poverty needs to be replicated far and wide and with similar—yet unique—initiatives.
When one starts to look at the power of crowdsourcing in developing regions, there is optimism in a nascent paradigm shift of the realities of a poverty-stricken community. Data flow has the power to effect change, not only politically and socially, but on more fundamental levels such as living standards and sheer survival. We are well used to the benefits of digital technology to share and collate data. We can review local health services based on what actual patients say through forums or dedicated websites. For years now we have been able to use Google flu trends to allow us to prepare for flu outbreaks, either in the home or in the emergency room.
When those services are placed in those areas that need them most, the potential is somewhat overwhelming. By supplying someone in a developing region with the physical means to access data, one not only automatically brings them into the loop of communication, but also introduces them into a whole new business infrastructure powered by crowdsourcing methodologies.
Cloud Factory, which launched at TechCrunch Disrupt in 2011, demonstrates how this can really work. Based in Kathmandu, Nepal, the service works along a similar concept as Mechanical Turk, which allows one to crowdsource employees through posting individual tasks. Companies that take part upload an ‘assembly line’ of jobs that are then posted out to Cloud Workers based predominantly in Nigeria, South Africa, Saudi Arabia and Nepal. They are focused on training workers in developing regions and running ‘microloan’ initiatives that enable participants to fund their own training while becoming completely self-sustainable. Their mission is to use technology to change the way the world works, so they use the concept of crowdsourcing to connect the people who have jobs to be done with the people who, given the right training, can get them done.
The power of services like Cloud Factory or NextDrop relies on the devices to which people have access. This is where the challenge lies. While we see penetration of mobile devices in some developing regions, the outlook is not as promising in a wider context. Estimated figures for 2011 show mobile cellular subscriptions in Europe and the Americas are at 119.5% and 103% per 100 people, respectively. (In some cases, respondents owned more than one mobile device.) In Africa, however the mobile subscription rate is 53%. In developing nations overall it is at 78.8%. Those who need mobile technology for survival too often do not have it. This is our challenge.
If digital technology comes low down the pecking order in tackling poverty, then enterprise comes even lower. But if we really aim to tackle poverty and democratise the world through the advancements of modern technology, then we must also facilitate entrepreneurship to allow small businesses in these regions to flourish and trade not only locally, but on a global scale.
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Keystone pipeline’s path cuts across Indian country, historyCUSHING, Okla. — In energy circles, the town of Cushing is well known as the hub used by New York oil traders to set the benchmark price for all U.S. crude oil. Row after row of giant oil storage tanks are lined up around a moribund downtown and a shopping strip. At the edge of town stands a sign made of white pipes declaring: “Pipeline Crossroads of the World.”
By: Steven Mufson , The Washington Post
CUSHING, Okla. — In energy circles, the town of Cushing is well known as the hub used by New York oil traders to set the benchmark price for all U.S. crude oil. Row after row of giant oil storage tanks are lined up around a moribund downtown and a shopping strip. At the edge of town stands a sign made of white pipes declaring: “Pipeline Crossroads of the World.”
This is also where TransCanada’s existing Keystone pipeline ends and the southern leg of its new Keystone XL pipeline will begin.
Less well known is the fact that Cushing sits in the Sac and Fox Nation, part of a patchwork of land belonging to Oklahoma’s 38 tribes, each with sovereignty over its own affairs and land.
TransCanada’s plan to dig a trench and bury part of its $7 billion, 1,700-mile Keystone XL pipeline right through this land has unearthed a host of American Indian opposition, resentments and ghosts of the past. Winning support in Indian country is one of the last hurdles for the project, which is touted as a key to North American energy security. The question is whether gaining tribal support is a courtesy, as the company puts it, or a legal obligation.
Under Chief Black Hawk, the Sac and Fox tribe, originally from the Great Lakes region, fought bloody skirmishes in the 1800s against other tribes and federal troops. Ultimately, the tribe signed a series of treaties that pushed it to Illinois, then Iowa, then Kansas and finally in the 1870s to the Indian Territory — now known as Oklahoma.
Along the way, many of its members died of smallpox and other hardships.
George Thurman, chairman of the Sac and Fox Nation and a descendent of Black Hawk, is worried that the pipeline could dig up unmarked graves or other sacred archaeological sites even on private lands.
“There are mass graves where people were buried after dying of smallpox,” Thurman said over lunch at Rudolpho’s Mexican Restaurant in a strip mall on Cushing’s East Main Street. “There could be another buried out there.”
His aide for cultural and historic preservation, Sandra Massey, added: “How many times do we have to move? Our dead are never at rest.”
Nothing is clear-cut about the web of laws regarding American Indians.
“There is no legal obligation to work with the tribes,” said Lou Thompson, TransCanada’s top liaison with American Indians. “We do it because we have a policy. We believe it’s a good, neighborly thing to do.” He said the pipeline “is not passing through any tribal lands.”
But many American Indians in the United States — and their lawyers — insist that there are legal obligations under 19th-century treaties that affirmed sovereign status of American Indian tribes, which do not pay state or federal taxes and which have their own governing councils and police forces.
Moreover, the more recent National Historic Preservation Act and the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990 both provide for the protection of Indian burial sites and artifacts. “When it comes to jurisdiction, it’s a tough question to answer,” said Jennifer Baker, a Colorado-based lawyer who has worked closely with South Dakota tribes. “History has developed so that legal truths get overshadowed by factual realities, and judges tend to mold the law to reflect factual realities.”
Tribal land issues
A key reality is this: Even after Trans-Canada has secured the right to build from federal and state officials, it still could run into a hitch on — or near — tribal land.
TransCanada is trying to hammer out issues with Oklahoma and Texas tribes without a fight, so it can get on with digging. The company met with tribal leaders on July 11 at the Caddo Nation headquarters in Binger, Okla., and again on Aug. 3 at the Choctaw Inn, a hotel in Durant near the Choctaw tribe’s headquarters and one of its seven casinos. Another meeting is set for Tulsa.
TransCanada has flown some tribal leaders to Calgary to tour the company’s operations center where banks of computers monitor thousands of points along existing pipelines. And it has trained members of the Alabama Coushatta tribe from south Texas to act as monitors during construction in case Indian remains or artifacts turn up on the tribe’s stretch of the pipeline.
“We walk the entire pipeline route and identify sites and alter the route of our pipeline to avoid those sites,” said Thompson of TransCanada.
He said that the company also has asked the tribes to conduct their own studies of sensitive sites. “Sometimes there are areas very significant to the tribes that don’t bear any physical evidence,” Thompson said. “It might be used to hold ceremonies, but if you walked there you wouldn’t see any evidence.”
Thompson’s efforts have new impetus. In July, TransCanada received the permits it needs to build the Keystone XL’s southern leg, which will run from Cushing to Port Arthur, Texas, and the company already has started work.
In South Dakota, TransCanada threaded its way in between the seven major reservations that cover about 16 percent of the state. The Keystone XL would enter the northwest corner of South Dakota from Montana then move diagonally. It would run southwest of the Cheyenne River Sioux Indian Reservation and north of the Pine Ridge Reservation of the Oglala Lakota. It would narrowly miss the Rosebud Indian Reservation, and travel south of the Crow Creek and Lower Brule.
“It’s not necessarily by design,” Russ Girling, TransCanada’s chief executive, said in an interview. “When you build a pipeline . . . the least environmental disturbance is a straight line from A to B.”
A history of broken promises, and treaties, has fueled opposition, especially in South Dakota. Last October, a group of Indians were ejected from a speech by President Obama after shouting that the president should respect the tribes and stop the pipeline.
On Feb. 18, the Black Hills Sioux Nation Treaty Council demanded that Obama and Congress prevent construction of the Keystone pipeline
“The Great Sioux Nation hereby directs President Barack Obama and the United States Congress to honor the promises of the United States made through the 1851 and 1868 Fort Laramie treaties by prohibiting the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline and any future projects from entering and destroying our land without our consent,” said a resolution approved by all seven delegations.
The Fort Laramie treaties ceded all of South Dakota west of the Missouri River to the Lakota tribes, or Sioux. While legislation has reduced the size of that reservation, the treaties were never revoked. Baker, the lawyer, says they should still be considered in force.
Moreover, while the pipeline doesn’t cross current reservation boundaries in South Dakota, it runs across rivers and water pipelines that do.
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Blend: Combine ingredients until smooth and uniform in flavor, texture, and color.
Boil: Cook food in a liquid and get it hot enough so there are bubbles rising all over and breaking at the surface.
Carve: 1. Cut or slice cooked meat, poultry, fish, or game, into serving-sized pieces. 2. Cut a design into PZ Kut or other carving rubber to form a stamp.
Chop: Even smaller than diced, and don’t worry about what shape it is.
Chop Finely: Smaller than “chop”.
Cream: Mash the sugars and butter or shortening together with a mixer or the back of a spoon. The idea is to add air to the mixture, and make the other ingredients mix in better.
Cube: Cut into square pieces approximately 1/2” on each side.
Dice: Cut into square pieces approximately 1/4 - 1/8” on each side.
Fold: Gently stir ingredients together with a rubber spatula so the whipped ingredient doesn’t collapse.
Full Boil: See “Rolling Boil”.
Mince: About the same as “chop finely”.
Mix: Stir ingredients together until they are thoroughly combined.
Pare: Peel the skin off a fruit or vegetable.
Puree: Process or mash a food until it is as smooth as possible; turn it into baby food, basically.
Rolling Boil: Boiling fast enough that the bubbles don’t go away when you stir it.
Sautee: Cook same size pieces of food in a little oil in the bottom of an uncovered frying pan, with fairly high heat.
Sift: Put the ingredients through a sifter to remove lumps and add air.
Simmer: Cook food in liquid as hot as you can get it without it actually boiling. There may be a few small, random bubbles.
Slice: 1. Cut food into flat, thin pieces. 2. Miss the PZ Kut while carving, and cut your finger.
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Games and Activities
If you're looking for material to enhance the park experience, look no further! BC Parks has put together a wide variety of resources for all age groups. These materials can be used in the classroom, at home, or in the parks!
Click on the buttons below to browse the BC Parks selection of resources. Cliquez ici pour voir le livret d’activités en français.
Where did Jerry the Moose come from?
Jerry the Moose is based on a real, extraordinary moose who was born in Endako (near Burns Lake) and was orphaned as a small calf. A park officer found the little orphaned moose and took care of him through the summer, fall and winter of 1960. Then, when a moose researcher found out about Jerry, Jerry was moved to Wells Gray Provincial Park so he could become the subject of an important scientific study for the next two years. Jerry helped this scientist understand what the moose’s favourite food was, how much he ate, how fast he, and specifically his antlers, grew.
Jerry spent most of his days sleeping and eating. During his first summer, Jerry gained an amazing five pounds (2.25 kg) a day! The parks crew at the time had to go into the backcountry to find Jerry’s meals. Apparently, Jerry’s favourite food was Falsebox, which was one of the less common plants and therefore the most difficult to find. Luckily, he also liked willow and aspen, which were more plentiful. In the summer, Jerry ate mostly leaves and ate, on average 300 pounds (136 kg) of food a day! In the winter, he mostly ate woody material and averaged only 20 pounds (9 kg) of food a day.
Jerry became very popular as he would always came running when he saw a person. He would trot alongside visitors, while giving soft grunts. So when the research concluded Jerry needed a new home. The Calgary Zoo was interested and Jerry lived out his life there, charming zoo visitors.
Jerry the mascot debuted at Expo 86 for BC Parks’ 75th anniversary celebrations and has made regular visits to B.C. parks and at special events, educating park visitors about parks.
Jerry's Activity Booklet
Jerry has an activity booklet for kids to enjoy.
These games are a great way to get kids excited about parks at home, in the classroom, or on the car ride there!
- Crossword Puzzles
- Spot the Difference
- Word Search
Colouring activities are a great way to keep kids entertained on a camping trip, and there's nothing more fun than colouring in a drawing of Jerry the Moose, the BC Parks mascot.
The "Jerry’s Rangers" program is an environmental education program for children aged five through twelve, run by BC Parks interpreters. As a fun and educational way to encourage your kids to become stewards of the environment, you can download Jerry’s Promise and have your children sign it, or use it as discussion points before taking your kids or students into a BC Park.
Jerry's Rangers Promise:
- To help keep parks clean.
- Not to bother park visitors.
- To always tell someone where I am going and when I will return.
- Not to pick plants or hurt animals.
- To keep pets on a leash.
- To never play with fire.
- Not to be too noisy.
- To obey all safety rules.
- Not to take anything that belongs to the park.
- To have a great time in BC Parks!
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Surely the obvious but unstated conclusion of your report on food production is that the most effective means of increasing yields is to replace large farms with small ones (18 May, p 31)?
You cite Miguel Altieri's work showing the advantages of mixed cropping, which being easier on smaller units ensures that "small farms all over the world tend to produce better yields than larger ones". The box on urban farming (p 41) noted that: "The highest productivity was on the smallest plots, even though most farmers didn't use yield-boosting chemicals."
There is plenty of other evidence showing that farm size is the key determinant of output per hectare. Shouldn't the priority of all those who wish to feed the world be to call for a redistribution of tenure, otherwise known as land reform?
To continue reading this article, subscribe to receive access to all of newscientist.com, including 20 years of archive content.
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The armored catfishes of the family Callichthyidae are at once distinctive and aquarium-utilitarian, in service for decades as mere "picker-uppers" for all sorts of freshwater aquarium systems. The family comprises some eight genera of about 171 species (with many more to come if humans can resist destroying them, their South American to Panama habitats...). Modern taxonomic schema divide Callichthyids into two subfamilies (the Corydoradinae with their snout areas compressed or rounded, the genera Brochis and Corydoras; and the Callichthyinae whose members snouts are depressed).
Their body armor consists of two rows of overlapping plates on either side. Internally, their swim bladders (though they live on the bottom) are encased in bone. They have small, ventral mouths with one, two or three pair of well-developed barbels. A very important, practical characteristic is the presence of a stout spine in the anterior dorsal, pectoral and adipose fins. (painful for sticking in aquarists hands and a real seller of new aquarium nets).
These are social animals, that do best kept with members of their own kind... Most losses are due to injury, insults accumulated in collection, holding, shipping.... and secondarily in the lack of proper circumstances in their captive accommodations. Callichthyids need some purposeful feeding of proteinaceous foods, warm waters... Other causes of poor health, lack of reproduction are often water-quality related
Callichthyid Genera: (see www.FishBase.com for a/the most up-to-date taxonomy)
Aspidoras: Sixteen valid species. Look like tubular, elongated Corydoras species.
Brochis: Three species. Resemble stockier versions of Corydoras spp.
Callichthys: Two species, most often seen is Callichthys callichthys. Resemble chunky, drawn-out Dianema/Porthole species with a terminal mouths.
Corydoras: the "super-genus" of the family with some 140 and counting species. Northern South America and Trinidad.
Dianema: Two species, Amazonian.
Hoplosternum: Three (current) species. Some of this genus' members have recently been moved to the genera below.
Lepthoplosternum: Four species previously listed as Hoplosternum.
Megalechis: Two species of former "Hoplo's".
Of healthy stocks is number one critical with this family, especially the genera other than Brochis and Corydoras (though these have their problem species, conditions too). Many Callichthyids are lost due to the vagaries of harsh collection, handling and shipping... For an importer of large numbers of these fishes, or a specialist trying new, expensive stocks I offer my input for reducing initial mortality: On arrival, match the temperature, pH, of the shipping water, slowly (as in a drip line) replace all the water a few volumes if time allows with new, overflowing to waste... Once ammonia is undetectable (yes, this may take hours), change out all the water at once by carefully grasping the bag at the top and pouring out the liquid (leaving the Cats in the bag so to speak). Place them in a tank of adequate volume (enough space for all to settle on the bottom), and add 3-4 teaspoons of non-iodized salt per ten gallons of seawater (Yes, I'm aware that these fishes live in nearly sodium free waters in the wild). Add a double dosage of malachite green and a triple dosage of methylene blue and a couple of airstones for circulation and aeration. A few (four to six) hours later, change out eighty percent of the water, replenishing the salt/water removed with new. Continue to change half the water out daily, more frequently should ammonia approach 1.0 ppm. If you have large losses within a day, dose the system with one mil per ten gallons of 37% formaldehyde (increase aeration), and change out the water as before (80% after 4-6 hours have passed).
For "end-users" (hobbyists) I STRONGLY encourage the timely waiting of a good two weeks before purchasing any "newly arrived" Callichthyids at your dealers... This time span will allow for "mysterious losses" including improper handling/acclimation and the possibility of parasite-losses from wild-collected specimens. Perhaps it should go without stating (here I go) that captive produced specimens are vastly superior. Can't tell if the ones offered are wild/tank-raised? Ask your dealer... they don't know? Get thee to other sources. Also, look at the top of the animals' heads... wild ones very often bear the scars, rub-marks from captivity/shipping.
Collecting Your Own:
Can be done rather handily if you happen to be most anywhere in South America or Trinidad. Do some investigating into the law of the land you're traveling to, read in the hobby magazines how others have "done it", and pack up suitable clothing, nets, bug-spray...
Though often found in slow to no moving waters/drying pools in the wild, Callichthyids revel in medium to brisk waters in captivity. Additionally a soft, smaller diameter "more spherical" substrate (not flat and sharp like silica or volcanic rock/sand.) sand bottom suits them. You will often find newly-imported and mis-kept specimens with bloody, petecchial markings on their undersides... much of this is due to rough handling, appalling shipping conditions, but just as well, coarse substrate and unsuitable water quality can produce the same result.
Armored Callichthyid cats need clean water of low metabolite load to be healthy, at their appearance, reproductive best. For the whole family temperature tolerance/preference spans 10-32 C. (about 50-90F.), but you will have to do some investigating here by species. Slightly acidic to alkaline waters (about pH 6-8) are fine for most, barely acid to neutral being ideal for many. Hardness of their waters can be of critical importance in acclimating/saving fresh imports... and inducing spawning, preserving gametes and young. Many aquarists simply keep their South American Catfishes in too-hard water.
Understand the basics of water chemistry and physics, meet these fishes halfway in their requirements, desires, and you will have them for years in good health.
Needs to be complete (mechanical/physical, biological and chemical), with added aeration for the species that are bubble-nest breeders. Outside power filters are favored over in-tank types as these are easier to maintain, and manipulate for periodic addition of activated carbon. The trusty undergravel filter can be a nuisance here, with softer waters losing pH rapidly right on the bottom where these demersal fishes live. Do regular water changes with gravel-vacuuming if you utilize U/G or not.
Callichthyids do not enjoy (or experience in nature) bright light. Subdued arrangements are best provided with the use of live plants (plastic if not), with some drift wood, rock work adding relief and play spaces. Make sure that all these hiding/play spaces are wide enough to allow the Callichthyids to get out easily. Many fishes are lost each year to getting stuck in "castles" and such.
About jumping out. They can... though these armored cats look like miniature tanks (they are), they're more than capable of launching themselves out of uncovered systems... keep your top completely covered. And, should you prove remiss in this duty, don't necessarily toss out that partly dehydrated specimen, do place it back in system water... as these fishes are slow to dry out to the point of death.
Tankmates for this family's members are easy to find. They are generally benign to all but the smallest, slowest fishes, and do not actively seek out fishes as food. Reciprocally, due to their body armor, leading spines on fins, they're generally left alone by most all predaceous fishes... however, beware of mis-matching them with very large fish-eating fishes, particularly ones that come from waters in non-native waters.
The fact that most are actively shoaling social species cannot be overly emphasized. In the wild, Callichthyids are invariably found in groupings of their own species, and are a joy to behold kept this way in aquariums.
Putting in new Callichthyids is easy enough. Researching the commonly kept species can be done in books, the internet, and aiming for something within their range of water conditions is fine... with either a drip acclimation protocol or water mixing approach.
As has been mentioned these fishes possess substantial fin spines in their dorsal, pectoral and adipose fin anteriors. Substantial, and painful to get punctured by... The pectoral fins can be locked into position and along with the dorsal very frequently get hung up in aquarium netting when moving Callichthyids... You can likely avoid the hassle of cutting up your nets (don't pull on the fish!), by either using a net to guide the intended catch into a plastic specimen container underwater, or by utilizing a very fine meshed net (like the ones used for straining out baby brine shrimp). Learned, practiced folks in the trade even use just their bare hands.
One other pertinent note for folks in the industry re handling these fishes, concerning their ancillary (branchial and intestinal) breathing mechanisms. Like labyrinth fishes (e.g. the Gouramis), the Callichthyids should be "bagged" with half oxygen (at most) as they will damage themselves from breathing a too-rich mixture if sealed in pure oxygen and water.
Only the smallest of fish fry and young are of interest to Callichthyid Catfishes as food. Conversely, only the meanest and/or dumbest of predatory piscivorous fishes will try to eat them (though I have seen more than one co-mortality of an erstwhile Cory eater dead with a couple of puncture wounds abdominally).
Of the many interesting notes that might be offered, the fact that many of these fishes are aerial respirators, even short-distance land-travelers should be mentioned. Portions of the gastro-intestinal apparatus are useful as ancillary breathing apparatus, and you will find yours making periodic forays to the surface to
gasp in air. In times of need, they can/do utilize this ability and pectoral spines to inch-along to deeper water in the wild.
Reproduction, Sexual Differentiation/Growing Your Own:
Many species of this family have been successfully bred and their young reared in captivity. Sexing is easy with most. A view from above reveals "beamier" females, particularly wider at the junction of their pectoral fins and the body. Longer unpaired fins, differences in markings are obvious sexual differences in some species as well, particularly near/during breeding condition. Hoplo's can be sexually differentiated on the basis of their body plates on the undersides of their bodies. If you can get a very close look, these fishes' anal pores are often different, with the females being larger, more blunt during egg laying.
Members of the genera Callichthys, Cataphractops, Dianema and Hoplosternum are bubble-nest builders, making their own spawning sites just under the surface with a mix of bubbles of air, plant parts and detritus and a mouth secretion, usually by the male. Females form a ball of eggs which are fertilized and swims them up into the nest. Both parents guard the eggs, developing young for about four weeks.
Aspidoras species are somewhat "intermediates" in laying their eggs in plants or tank sides in captivity with more than one male involved.
Egg layers (Corydoras, Brochis) are group-spawners, with hobbyists using two or three males per ripe female. Adhesive eggs are laid and fertilized by all in a type of elaborate swim/dance. There is no parental care afterward, with some spawners eating their own eggs if not separated. Hence, some culturists remove the parents, others their fertilized eggs and treat them variously to ensure development. Young hatch out in 3-5 days depending on species/conditions, and absorb their egg sacs in 2-3 days after.
Many writers/breeders endorse ideas like conditioning spawners with copious feedings (small amounts more frequently), changing half the water with pre-made, elevating or lowering temperature... and water depth (to more shallow) to induce spawning behavior... given good conditions, enough individuals most all species will spawn in captivity.
Much good information on individual species reproduction, husbandry is to be found in hobbyist literature. See the scant bibliography below as an introduction. There is need for a steady supply of these fishes in the ornamental hobby, and I know of several people who "support their pet-fish habit" with their culture.
Feeding/Foods/Nutrition: Types, Frequency, Amount, Wastes
Corydoras et al. are more carnivorous than omnivores... eating mainly insect larvae, worms, and crustaceans in the wild. Do bear this in mind, and don't simply treat these fishes as "scavengers", or happy with what dried, flake foods may fall their way. They will not prosper. Give them at least twice daily meaty foods that you are sure are getting to them. Fresh, frozen/defrosted, pelleted, freeze-dried formats are available which serve this purpose.
Disease: Infectious, Parasitic, Nutritional, Genetic, Social
Callichthyid Cats are host to numerous worm group, protozoan and infectious agents as new imports, and should go through at minimum, a two week preventative treatment/quarantine period before further distribution. As aquarist's holdings these fishes, though armored are definitely susceptible to "ich" and other parasitic and microbial disease. Without exception, their susceptibility to such assaults in environmentally linked. That is, poor and/or unsuitable water conditions, lack of nutrition are at base in their loss of vitality, likelihood of loss from indirect pathogenic disease.
As a group they are treatable with commonly employed medicants, including salts.
As a brief introduction to this family, a testament to their beauty and utility, attempt to dispel rumors re their care, encouragement to have you try their keeping, breeding, I hope that this will be some catalyst to your better consideration/appreciation of these fine fishes. We need just these sorts of "small reminders" of the aquatic parts of South America to chide our understanding of what can be lost there, and what can be gained and preserved in our care.
Catfishes on the Internet:
Planet Catfish: http://www.planetcatfish.com/core/index.htm
Catalogue of the Callichthyidae: http://www.pucrs.br/museu/callichthyidae/callicat.htm
Axelrod, Herbert R. 1965. Having trouble identifying Corydoras? TFH 3/65.
Burgess, Warren E. 1982. Corydoras & Co., pts.1-3. TFH 7,8,10/82.
Burgess, Warren E. 1989. An Atlas of Freshwater and Marine Catfishes. Tropical Fish Hobbyist Publications. NJ, USA. pp. 786.
Burgess, Warren E. 1997. Corydoras coriatae, a new species of Callichthyid Catfish related to Corydoras fowleri. TFH 4/97.
Chefalo, Pat. 1995. Hoplo mad! FAMA 4/95.
Edwardes, Mike. 2000. The Corydoras conundrum. On a revised taxonomy of the Genus Corydoras. TFH 6/2000.
Falcione, Peter. 1991. On Fish: A very good question (on preventing losses, treatment of Corydoras from the wild) Pets Supplies Marketing. 4/91.
Finley, Lee. 1982. Brochis multiradiatus (Orces-Villagomez), the Long Nosed Brochis. FAMA 11/82.
Finley, Lee. 1995. Covering Corys. The aquarium literature on catfish continues to increase. AFM 2/95.
Finley, Lee. 1996. Brochis multiradiatus, the Long-nosed Brochis. TFH 3/96.
Finley, Lee. 1996. A new look at Brachyrhamdia. TFH 5/96.
Finley, Lee. 1997. On the Corydoras species described in aquarium literature. An annotated list. TFH 6/97.
Fuller, Ian. 1983. Spawning Corydoras barbatus (Quoy & Gaimard 1824). FAMA 12/83.
Glass, Spencer. 1997. Keeping and spawning Corydoras panda. TFH 7/97.
Goldstein, Robert J. 1991. Breeding the Callichthyid catfishes. AFM 10/91.
Gosline, William A. 1940. A revision of the neotropical Catfishes of the family Callichthyidae. Stanford Ich. Bull. v.2, no.1, pp.1-29.
Gypser, Klaus-Henning. 1978. Rarely encountered- Corydoras pygmaeus and C. hastatus. Aquarium Digest International 3(1978), #21.
Howe, Jeffrey C. 1994. Original Descriptions: Corydoras breei Isbrucker and Njissen 1992. FAMA 7/94.
Jockel, Silvan. Undated. The amazing spawning behaviour of the Pygmy Corydoras, Corydoras pygmaeus. Aquarium Digest International #37.
Johnson, Don S. 1985. The curious Corys and their kin. FAMA 10/85.
Kahl, Burkard. 1972. Armored Catfishes. Aquarium Digest International 1:1, 72.
Langhammer, James K. 1988. The miniature Corydoras Catfishes. GDAS (hobbyist bull.) 4/88.
Maurus, Walt. 1992. The Piscatorial Verbiphile. The Family Callichthyidae. FAMA 2/92.
Nelson, Joseph. 1994. Fishes of the World, 3d ed. John Wiley & Sons, the World. pp.600.
Njissen, H and I.J.H. Isbrucker. 1976. A new Callichthyid Catfish, Corydoras gracilis, from Brazil. (Pisces, Siluriformes, Callichthyidae). TFH 9/76.
Padovani, Gian. 1986. The collectable Corydoras, pts. 1,2. FAMA 9,10/86.
Pinkerton, Alan. 1987. Corydoras habrosus- A dwarf species from Venezuela. An in-depth account of the spawning of an attractive dwarf Corydoras. TFH 2/87.
Pinkerton, Alan. 1988. Breeding Corydoras haraldschultzi. TFH 8/88.
Repanes, Nick and Marcia. 1978. Spawning the Albino Corydoras. FAMA 2/78.
Sands, David. 1979. Corydoras: Neglected by never alone. FAMA 2/79.
Sands, David. 1988. The challenge of breeding Brochis. TFH 7/88.
Sands, David Dean. 1989. Family Callichthyidae, seven parts. FAMA 1/89-5/90
Sands, David 1992. Corydoras aquarium hybridization. A discussion based on the cross-breeding of two catfishes from Colombia and Brazil by Jim and Christine Wylie of Scotland. FAMA 1/92.
Sands, David. 1995. Four new Corydoras (Callichthyidae) species from Upper Negro River tributaries and a range extension with a discussion of C. bicolor Njissen & Isbrucker. FAMA 5/95.
Sands, David. 1999. Genetics in Corydoras, a review of existing literature. Introduction, pts. 1-3 . TFH 1-3/99.
Schreiber, Roland. 1994. The king of the Corys, Corydoras barbatus. TFH. 10/94.
Stanco, Philip. Breed a Cory. Corydoras species are among the most rewarding small catfishes available to the hobbyist. The author outlines a sure-fire program for successful breeding of these little scavengers. TFH 12/87.
Tavares, Iggy. 1998. The Bronze Catfish. FAMA 11/98.
Vires, Larry. 1998. Those captivating Corydoras. Breeding them is easier when you know what you need. AFM 7/98.
Volkart, Bill. 1989. Breeding the Corydoras Cats. FAMA 3/89.
Wheeler, Stu. 1978. Panzerwels and paleatus. The Catfish family Callichthyidae. FAMA 2/78.
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SAN DIEGO (CBS 8) - It's rockfish season and wildlife conservationists are coming up with new ways to save the lives of fish that are caught by accident.
The waters off San Diego are home to many protected deep water fish that are killed by the change in pressure when they are brought to the surface.
Their eyes pop out of their heads and they float like balloons, unable to sink back to their natural depths.
Conservationists are offering several devices that are designed to safely clamp onto the fish, and release them far below the surface where they belong.
"We've been trying to get these devices out on every sport boat. These are tools that are made to make the fish go down. Their eyes go back in their head. And swim off and be a happy fish again," said NOAA Fishery Biologist John Hyde.
Some of the fish that have been released with the devices are being monitored to see if they actually survive long enough to reproduce.
If the devices are successful, it could lead to year-round rock fishing.
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Back in the old days, there were no such things as USB flash drives, portable hard drives and WiFi. To transfer data from one computer to another, you had to load your data onto floppy disks. Many people have fond memories loading basic programs, documents and scanning photos onto these disks to bring to class or to a friend or family members house. Many times we may have long lost data on these disks that would be cool to see again.
The first thing to notice about your disks is the size. Floppy disks came in different shapes and sizes, and eventually fell on the standard 3.5in floppy we’ve all seen. The floppy disk drive (FDD) was invented at IBM by Alan Shugart in 1967. The first models of floppy drives used an 8-inch disk, which was actually floppy, and not rigid like later models. The 8-inch floppy soon evolved into the 5.25-inch disk that was used on the first IBM Personal Computer in August 1981. the 5.25-inch disk held only 360 kilobytes compared to the 1.44 megabyte capacity of the 3.5-inch diskette. Most likely, you’re going to find you have the 3.5in variety.
Computers these days rarely come with a floppy drive anymore, as it’s essentially been replaced by the USB flash drives and memory cards. If you still have a computer with a floppy drive, then you’re in business, just pop your disks in there and drag and drop your old files onto your computer.
If you don’t have a computer with a floppy drive still available, then the only way to get the data off of your disks is to either purchase a USB floppy drive, or take it through our data extraction services. Keep in mind that these disks hold about 1.4MB of data, and has extremely low transfer speeds compared to what you’re used to.
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AdviceAn advice is a hint, suggestion or counsel given to you by someone.
In constitutional law Advice is a frequently binding instruction issued to a constitutional office-holder or institution. For example, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom formally appoints Ministers of the Crown on the advice of the British Prime Minister.
In some cases, whether the advice is mandatory or advisory depends on the context and authority of the person offering advice. Hence in normal circumstances when the President of Ireland is advised to dissolve Dáil Éireann (the House of Representatives), by the Taoiseach (prime minister) he or she must do so. However, where in the words of the Irish Constitution a taoiseach has "ceased to retain the support of a majority in Dáil Éireann"1 (ie, lost the House's confidence) the President had the option of refusing to follow that advice.
To indicate that what is being received is not merely an informal suggestion but a formal constitutional instruction which potentially may be obligatory to follow, some though not all constitutional writers capitalise the word, writing it as Advice.
In aspect-oriented programming an advice is a piece of code executed when a join point is reached, that is associated with the pointcut of the advice.
In complexity theory, an advice is a string with extra information used by Turing machine or other computing device. See advice (complexity theory).
- Article 13.2.2. of Bunreacht na hÉireann (1937)
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Ask Sister Rossetta
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America's oldest Internet guru tells it like it is.
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Humorous advice for trailer trash.
Advice on life, love, travel and other topics.
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Humorous quotes and strange advice for everyday life.
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An un-trained, un-qualified idiot who will be of no help whatsoever.
Pose humorous, stupid, technical or profound questions for discussion.
Miss Abigail's Time Warp Advice
Old advice for contemporary dilemmas, covering the age-old topics of dating, love, living together, puberty, marriage, sex, etiquette, housekeeping, and even home repairs.
Includes advice column, letters, information about their book, profile, rhetorical questions and links.
The truth about life's big mysteries and senseless little annoyances.
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An illustrated guide to ass-kissing, take on online quiz to see if you are enlightened, or discover the truth about men.
Mr. Joel's Hollywood Beauty Tips
Mr. Joel of Hollywood offers humorous Hollywood gossip, beauty tips, and sexual advice to women.
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Advice to laugh at, learn from or scoff at.
Interact with pop culture, fictional characters, and weird stuff.
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How To Become a Successful Super Villain
A step-by-step guide to world domination.
Visitors can ask questions from this possibly fictional redneck.
Featuring somewhat tongue-in-cheek safety advice.
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Warped advice from an inebriated agony aunt.
Forum offering humorous advice on life and relationships. Free membership.
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Old lady gives offensive advice on relationships, medicine, psychology and knitting.
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Sister Mary of the Jolly Roger addresses the cares and concerns of visitors with insane advice.
Hundreds of dumb questions and answers.
Questions about women, relationships, and the random weirdness of our world.
Advice from Taco on relationships, sex, or just about anything under the sun.
Offers advice on any subject to anyone for free.
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A tangoing, frolicking, peanut spitting llama who is here to help you with your problems.
Inaccurate and doubtful advice offered on almost any topic.
Sometimes serious, and sometimes humorous answers to seemingly trivial questions covering all mannger of topics.
Ask any question for a humorous and sometimes correct answer.
My Magic Baby
Seek answers to difficult questions from a baby in a hat.
Odd advice for strange people.
Get answers directly from the omnipotent King of the Gods, Zeus.
Badly thought out advice. Read an archive of visitor's problems and see the suggested poor solutions.
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Submit your dumb question here. No question too dumb. Lots of dumb answers, too.
Free advice from romance to jobs. Free greeting cards, and links.
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Social commentary and humorous advice that focuses on fashion. Submit your social questions.
Free analysis on subjects of your choice. Includes forum and message boards.
The Bastards Handbook
Guidance on how to be unpleasant.
Shut Up and Date
Relationship advice for men from a charismatic romance professional.
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Jim and Tim explore implausible uses of the sticky gray stuff in books and appearances on stage and television. Drop-down list with dozens of use categories.
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Uncommon advice for those who find themselves in extraordinary circumstances.
Advice on relationships and moral dilemmas.
Offers advice with straight-forward answers and humor.
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Irrelevant answers to your most important questions.
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All manner of advice for those who don't need to know.
Utterly useless advice from a completely unqualified guy.
The Macking Manual
A guide for the young macks out there, the players, and the veterans.
The Son of God operates this advice driven search engine.
The Bitter Single Guy's Relationship Advice Site
Real advice with a fun twist from a guy who's been dumped too many times.
Sage advice from the enlightened one.
Humorous relationship advice, consumer information, and celebrity revenge.
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Advice and tips to help the stupid cope with life.
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Resolve issues with lovers, friends or family by taking them to court, or join a jury and pry into the affairs of others. Most features require registration.
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Humorous relationship advice and guest columnists.
Get personal advice from a very angry person.
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Answers to questions of cosmic importance.
Agony Aunt to the South London underworld. Contact her first on issues that concern loved ones, or to organise hits on same.
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Funny answers to questions submitted to "The Big Brain".
The truest facts that you never knew until now. Read the thoughts of a flawless genius. Marvel at the truth behind things you have always pondered.
Married to Mommy
The "Professors of Matrimony" explore the marital metamorphosis of women into their mothers.
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A previous, more taxonomic, approach to dinosaur ichnology focused on the collection and study of "museum grade" footprints which were used to identify dinosaur species and some of the individual dinosaur's physiological characteristics, such as size and mass.
Studies of the Broome dinosaur track way by palaeontologists McCrea, Lockley et al (2011), and Thulborn (2012), point to an emerging trend, the study of dinosaur interactions.
"Even poorly preserved prints can be useful for census purposes and for analysing foot/sediment interactions," says Indiana-Purdue University palaeontologist Prof James O. Farlow in his peer-review of the McCrea paper.
The Broome trackway was once an early Cretaceous shoreline, frequented by at least 15 dinosaur species that regularly walked in the moist intertidal sands and estuarine mud.
When conditions were right these solidified into sandstone, preserving footprints for posterity along much of the Dampier Peninsula's west coast.
The sandstone would then often be covered by further layers of sand on which dinosaurs, in turn, would leave more tracks.
As a result the Broome sandstone often comprises several layers of sediment, each containing underprints or "ghost prints".
"The patterns of deformation created by sauropods traversing thinly-stratified lagoonal deposits of the Broome Sandstone are unprecedented in their extent and structural complexity," Dr Thulborn says in his paper.
"The stacks of transmitted reliefs … beneath individual footfalls are nested into a hierarchy of deeper and more inclusive basins and troughs which eventually attain the size of minor tectonic features.
"Ultimately the sauropod trackmakers deformed the substrate to such an extent that they remodelled the topography of the landscape they inhabited.
"Such patterns of substrate deformation are revealed by investigating fragmentary and eroded footprints, not by the conventional search for pristine footprints on intact bedding planes.
"For that reason it is not known whether similar patterns of substrate deformation might occur at sauropod track-sites elsewhere in the world."
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Glossary of Terms
Bellows - a popular accessory to help boost combustion in wood fires, feeding air to the flames as it is forced out of an expandable bladder. Though unnecessary for a gas hearth where the combustion level is easily controlled with the turn of a knob, bellows' lovely finish in attractive blends of fine woods with vinyl or leather makes them a decorative accessory.
BTUs - British Thermal Unit, the primary heat measurement unit used by the hearth industry. It is the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of 1 lb. of water by 1 degree F.
Catalytic Combustor - a device used on some wood stoves to increase combustion efficiency by lowering flue gas ignition temperatures.
Clearance - the distance required by manufacturers and building codes between stove, connector pipe or chimney and any combustible materials.
Creosote – deposits of condensed wood smoke in the chimney and connector pipe resulting from incomplete combustion. It can ignite and cause a chimney fire.
Direct Vent – an appliance with a sealed, specifically designed venting system, that draws combustion air from outdoors and exhausts its combustion products to the outdoors, eliminating the need for a standard chimney system. A glass panel in direct vent units is critical to keeping the combustion system sealed from the home.
Emissions – unburned gases and particles as a result of incomplete combustion.
EPA Regulations - government regulations of wood-burning appliances mandating that products sold after July 1, 1992, emit no more than 4.1 grams of particulate matter per hour for catalytic-equipped units and no more than 7.5 grams for non-catalytic-equipped units.
Firebacks - protect fireplace masonry and mortar, shielding them from extreme heat of the flames. Cast-iron firebacks store heat from the fire and radiate it into the room after the fire has died down. Firebacks work just as well in a modern gas fireplace as they do in a traditional wood burning one.
Fireplace Inserts - heating units that retrofit into an existing fireplace (masonry or factory-built). They burn wood, gas or wood pellets and offer superior efficiency.
Flue – the passageway in a chimney for conveying gases to the outdoors.
Freestanding Stove - a heating appliance normally on legs or a pedestal.
Gas Logs – an open flame appliance with ceramic or ceramic fiber logs placed over a burner to provide dramatic realism of a traditional flame. Manufactured log sets have a burner that uses either natural gas or propane.
Glass Doors – doors attached to a fireplace to close off the opening of the hearth from the home to prevent heat from escaping up the chimney and prevent cold air from entering the home when the fireplace is not being used.
Grate – a metal frame used to hold and contain burning fuel in a fireplace.
Hearth - traditionally refers to the floor of a fireplace on which a blaze is built. Today it is also used to refer to all the devices and equipment used in connection with the fireplace and the stove industry.
Heat Shield - a noncombustible protector used around appliances, smoke pipes or chimneys to protect combustibles from heat sources.
Hopper - a container attached to an appliance in which fuel, either coal, nuggets or wood pellets, is stored and from which the fuel is fed to the burner.
Island Fireplace - a fireplace that has four sides of glass, for viewing from any angle.
Kindling - thin, dry wood used to start a fire.
Liquid Propane - liquefied petroleum gas, available in cylinders, for home use.
Mantle - an ornamental facing surrounding the fireplace or simply a shelf above a fireplace.
Metal Liner - used primarily with fireplace inserts and placed inside an existing chimney (usually masonry) to reduce the diameter of the flue for more rapid exit of smoke and combustion gases. Also used when an existing chimney is unlimited or deteriorating.
Natural draft (B-vent) Appliances - a gas-burning appliance that takes in combustion air from the home and vents byproducts of combustion outside the home.
Natural Gas - clean-burning fossil fuel transported to homes via an extensive pipeline network.
Pellets - are made of 100% compressed wood sawdust with no additives. A renewable fuel source made from sawdust or wood chips otherwise destined for landfills.
Peninsula Fireplace - a fireplace that has three sides of glass.
Seasoned - refers to cordwood that has been allowed to dry before burning. Seasoning generally takes six to 12 months. Wood burns much more efficiently when its moisture content has been reduced.
Unvented or Vent-Free Appliance - an appliance that draws combustion air from inside the home. The appliance is designed to burn so efficiently that it eliminates the need for venting.
Zero-Clearance Fireplace - a factory-built fireplace that is constructed so that it can be placed, safely, with close clearances to combustible materials.
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FRACTIONS: Jog, Tempo, Sprint|
Formula for Success
Learning is more fun when you combine it with writing and art, but add running and you create a learning experience that kids will never forget.
- Carol Goodrow
Teaching fractions to first graders is challenging in itself but this year we had to teach more than "parts of a pizza". We had a new skill to learn which involved parts of a group or set.
So we decided that the quickest way to learn something new would be to create a running game. Today 'Jog, Tempo, Sprint' was born.
Here's what we did. First each child drew a set of two, three or four objects.
Then the child turned the picture into a representation of the fractions: 1/2, 1/3, or 1/4, by drawing an arrow to one of the set or circling one of the set, to show the numerator of one or to show that we are talking about 1 of the set. This was the new learning for a child - that a whole object can be a fraction of a set of objects.
For older children you could show 2/4 by drawing 4 flowers and circling (or drawing arrows to) 2 of them. You could show 3/4 by drawing 4 stars and circling (or drawing arrows to) 3 of them.
This part was not as easy as it seems. The kids had to follow directions and if they didn't make a clear picture that others could understand, they had to redo their pictures.
Next they made the pink cards.
On one side of the pink card the student wrote a fraction and on the other side each student printed ( in their very best printing, of course) either, "Sprint, Tempo, or Jog."
Later in the day we played the game.
Here is how we played according to the kids. A collage of their journal writings follows. We played "Finding Fractions". You play outside. The teacher puts the yellow cards with the pictures on 6 clipboards (it was windy so we needed to clamp the cards down).
Then she puts the clipboards all around the blacktop.
Next, the teacher gives you a pink card. There's a fraction and one of the words, "Sprint, tempo, and jog." You have to do the kind of running that the card tells you and you have to look for a picture that matches the fraction.
After you find it, you sprint, tempo run or jog back to the teacher. She checks it and you get to go again.
Some kids got to be "runners". They got to take the yellow cards back to the clipboards and clamp them on.
It was a lot of fun. I wish we can do it again. It was easy for me the first time. I got to do two sprints and one tempo run.
We stretched before we played the game today.
The kids loved this game and they knew their fractions. Almost everyone retrieved a picture that matched the fraction.
A game like this also makes kids keep running. No one tired for the half hour we played the game and they cheered andjumped for joy when they received a card that said, "SPRINT!"
A Windy Day!
Another note by the editor (teacher): This game worked so well for many reasons: the kids love to run, they particularly love to sprint short distances and they had invested a lot in the game by creating it, as well as by making the materials, but there was another important reason why it went so well. They followed the rules which were:
1. Be careful while you run. Don't get too close to another runner. Watch where you are going!
2. When you get to a clipboard, you must clamp the cards you are not using back on when you are finished.
3. If someone else is at that clipboard, you must wait until they are completely finished clamping the cards back on, before you look for your card.
4. Do the kind of running that the pink card says. Be a good sport if you get 'jog' and you really wanted to do a tempo run. You'll get lots of turns so make sure that you are playing fair.
This was a game without a winner. The kids just had fun playing. In fact not one kid even asked, "Who won?" It was just a great day for all that they will always remember.
If you have a running game you play, please share it with us. We'd love to hear all about it. Also, if you play or adapt our game, please share your version of our fun, fun running game.
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First Aid for Your Pet
In an emergency, first aid is not a substitute for veterinary
However, before you are able to get your pet to a veterinarian, knowing
some basic first aid can help. Always seek veterinary care following
Give us a call @ (607)336-PETS (7387) 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
- Bite Wounds
Approach the pet carefully to avoid getting bitten. Muzzle the animal
if necessary. Check the wound for contamination or debris. If significant
debris is present, then clean the wound with large amounts of saline,
hydrogen peroxide or balanced electrolyte solution. If these are not
available, then regular water may be used. Wrap large open wounds to
keep them clean. Apply pressure to profusely bleeding wounds. Do not
use a tourniquet. Wear gloves when possible.
Bite wounds often become infected and need professional care. Call
Apply firm, direct pressure over the bleeding area until the bleeding
stops. Hold the pressure for at least 10 straight minutes (continually
releasing the pressure to check the wound will hamper the clotting).
Avoid bandages that cut off circulation. If you have trimmed a toe
nail too short, direct pressure in the nail bed with a cotton-tipped
applicator will work. Also can pack nail tip with a little flour
or better to keep some clotting powder on hand for this purpose
for purchase here or at many pet supply stores.
- Breathing Stops
Check to see if the animal is choking on a foreign object. If an
animal is not breathing, place it on a firm surface with its left
Check for a heartbeat by listening at the area where the elbow touches
the chest. If you hear a heartbeat but not breathing, close the animal's
mouth and breathe directly into its nose--not the mouth--until the
chest expands. Repeat 12 to 15 times per minute. If there is no pulse,
apply heart massage at the same time. The heart is located in the
lower half of the chest, behind the elbow of the front left leg.
hand below the heart to support the chest. Place other hand over
the heart and compress gently. To massage the hearts of cats and
tiny pets, compress the chest with the thumb and forefingers of one
hand. Apply heart massage 80-120 times per minute for larger animals
and 100-150 per minute for smaller ones. Alternate heart massage
Please note: Even in the hands of well-trained veterinary health
professionals, the success of resuscitation is very low overall.
Success may be slightly
higher in the cases of drowning or electrical shock.
- Burns (chemical,
electrical, or heat, including from a heating pad)
Flush the burn immediately with large amounts of cool, running water.
Apply an ice pack for 15-20 minutes. Do not place an ice pack directly
on the skin. Wrap the pack in a light towel or other cover. If the
animal has large quantities of dry chemicals on its skin, brush them
off. Water may activate some dry chemicals.
Animals may show symptoms such as difficulty breathing, excessive
pawing at the mouth, blue lips and tongue Be sure to protect yourself
as the animal, as the pet will likely be frantic and may be more
likely to bite. If the pet can still partially breathe, it's best
the animal calm and get to a veterinarian as quickly as possible.
Look into the mouth to see if foreign object in throat is visible.
can, clear the airway by removing the object with pliers or tweezers,
being careful not to push it farther down the throat. If it is lodged
too deep or if the pet collapses, then place your hands on both sides
of the animal's rib cage and apply firm, quick pressure. Or place
the animal on its side and strike the side of the rib cage firmly
the palm of your hand three or four times. Repeat this procedure
until the object is dislodged or you arrive at the veterinarian's
- Diarrhea and or straining
Withhold food for 12-24 hours, but not water. Usually pets that appear
to be straining are sore from diarrhea rather than from constipation.
Your veterinarian can help you decide which it is and what will help.
Trying at-home treatments without knowing the real cause can just
make things worse.
Your pet may have symptoms such as pain, inability to use a limb,
or a limb at an odd angle
Muzzle the pet and look for bleeding. If you can control bleeding
without causing more injury, then do so. Watch for signs of shock.
DO NOT TRY
TO SET THE FRACTURE by pulling or tugging on the limb. Contact your
veterinarian immediately. When transporting support the injured part
as best you can.
Your may may show symptoms such as rapid or labored breathing, vomiting,
high body temperature, and collapse. Place the animal in a tub of
cool water (not ice cold water). Or, gently soak the animal with
hose or wrap it in a cool, wet towel. Do not overcool the animal.
Stop cooling when rectal temperature reaches 103 degrees Fahrenheit.
This can cause symptoms such as vomiting, convulsions, diarrhea,
salivation, weakness, depression, and/or pain depending on what
the poison is and
how your pet was exposed.
Record what the pet ingested and how much. Immediately call your
veterinarian or poison control center. Do not induce vomiting. In
case of toxins or
chemicals on the skin from oils, paints, insecticides and other contact
irritants, request directions on if and how to wash the toxin off.
Move the pet away from any objects that could be harmful during the seizure.
Use a blanket for padding and protection. Do not put yourself at risk
by restraining the pet during the seizure. Time the seizure. They usually
last only 2 to 3 minutes. Afterwards, keep the animal calm and quiet.
This causes irregular breathing, dilated pupils, and pale mucous membranes
Shock may occur as a result of a serious injury or fright. Keep the animal
gently restrained, quiet, and warm, with the lower body elevated.
Withhold food for 12-24 hours. Give the pet ice cubes for two hours
after vomiting stops, then slowly increase the amount of water
given over a 24-hour period.
If you need to muzzle your pet: Use a strip of soft cloth, rope, necktie,
or nylon stocking. Wrap around the nose, under the chin and tie behind
the ears. Care must be taken when handling weak or injured pets. Even
normally docile pets will bite when in pain. Allow the pet to pant after
handling by loosening or removing the muzzle. Do not use a muzzle in
a case of vomiting. Cats and small pets may be difficult to muzzle. A
towel placed around the head will help control small pets.
If your pet can't walk: A door, board, blanket, or floor mat can be
used as a stretcher to transport injured or weak animals.
If your pet's emergency is not covered here, please call Pet Street
Station Animal Hospital immediately (607) 336-PETS (7387)
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The Eyalet (or Beylerbeylik) of Sidon (Ottoman Turkish: ایالت صیدا; Eyālet-i Ṣaydā) was an eyalet of the Ottoman Empire. In the 19th century, the eyalet extended from the border with Egypt to the Bay of Kesrouan, including the Plain of Falastin (the Israeli coastal plain), the Jezreel Valley, and the hilly region of Galilee.
Ottoman rulers considered creating the Province as early as 1585. The districts of Beirut-Sidon and Safed (encompassing much of the Galilee) were united under the rule of Ma'nid Emir Fakhr-al-Din ibn Maan. The Province was briefly created during Fakhr-al-Din's exile in 1614-15, and recreated in 1660. The province continued to be subordinated in some ways, both in fiscal and political matters, to the Damascus province out of which it was created.
Despite conflicts in the 1660s, the Maan family "played the leading role in the management of the internal affairs of this eyalet until the closing years of the 17th century, perhaps because it was not possible to manage the province-certainly not in the sanjak of Sidon-Beirut-without them." The Maans were succeeded by the Shihab family in ruling Sidon-Beirut from the final years of the 17th century through the 19th century. The Maans were first recognized as "emirs" in 1592 when Fakhr al-Din Maan was made (honorary) governor of the sancak of Safad, and both the Maans and the Shihabis were recognized by the Ottomans as incumbents of an only vaguely defined, only implicitly "Druze" emirate. They never actually exercised any administrative function beyond that of multazim (tax farmer) over several mountain districts in the eyalet of Sidon (the Shuf). In 1763 the Shihabis were also invested with tax farms in the eyalet of Tripoli that had formerly been held by the Shiite Hamada family, which marks the beginning of the "emirate"'s sovereignty over the whole of Mt Lebanon.
19th century
As part of the Egyptian–Ottoman War (1831–1833), Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt took Acre after a severe siege on May 27, 1832. The Egyptian occupation intensified rivalries between Druzes and Maronites, as Ibrahim Pasha openly favoured Christians in his administration and his army. In 1840, the governor of Sidon moved his residence to Beirut, effectively making it the new capital of the eyalet. After the return to Ottoman rule in 1841, the Druzes dislodged Bashir III al-Shihab, to whom the sultan had granted the title of emir.
In 1842 the Ottoman government introduced the Double Qaimaqamate, whereby Mount Lebanon would be governed by a Maronite appointee and the more southerly regions of Kisrawan and Shuf would be governed by a Druze. Both would remain under the indirect rule of the governor of Sidon. This partition of Lebanon proved to be a mistake. Animosities between the religious sects increased, and by 1860 they escalated into a full-blown sectarian violence. In the 1860 Lebanon conflict that followed, thousands of Christians were killed in massacres that culminated with the Damascus Riots of July 1860.
Following the international outcry caused by the massacres, the French landed troops in Beirut, the Ottomans abolished the unworkable system of the Qaimaqamate and instituted in its place the Mutasarrifate, a confessionalist system that is a direct predecessor of the political system that continues to exist in Lebanon to this day. The new arrangement ended the turmoil, and the region prospered in the last decades of the Ottoman Empire.
Governors of the eyalet:
- different Ottoman governors (1660 - 1772) (see Mehmed Sureyya, Sicill-i Osmani)
- `Umar az-Zahir bin `Umar az-Zaydani (1772 - 1775)
- Ahmad Pasha al-Djazzar (1775 - 1804)
- Süleyman Pasha (1804 – 1809)
- Ismail (18.. – 18..)
- Abdullah Pasha (1820 - 1831)
- Egyptian rule (27 May 1832 - 10 October 1840)
- Köse Ahmed Zekeriya Pasha (November 1840 - March 1841)
- Eneste/Haseki Mehmed Selim Pasha (March 1841 - December 1841)
- Mehmed Izzet Pasha (December 1841 - July 1842)
- Mustapha Pasha (1842)
- Selim Pasha (1842)
- Ömer Pasha (Mihaylo Lattas) (1842 - 7 December 1842)
- Ayasli Asad Mehmed Muhlis Pasha (August 1842 - 9 April 1845)
- Yozgatli Mehmed Vecihi Pasha (9 April 1845 – January 1846)
- Mühendis Mehmed Kamil Pasha (January 1846 - September 1847)
- Mustafa Sherifi Pasha (September 1847 - July 1848)
- Serhalifizade Vamik (Femiq) Salih Pasha (August 1848 - September 1851; 1st time)
- Pepe Mehmed Emin Pasha (September 1851 – September 1852)
- Serhalifizade Vamik (Femiq) Salih Pasha (September 1852 - March 1855; 2nd time)
- Mahmud Nedim Pasha (March 1855 - December 1855)
- Serhalifizade Vamik (Femiq) Salih Pasha (December 1855 - July 1857; 3rd time)
- Arnavud Mehmed Kurshid Pasha (June 1857 – 17 July 1860)
- Fuad Pasha (17 July 1860 - 9 June 1861)
- Charles-Marie-Napoléon de Beaufort d'Hautpoul (16 August 1860 - 5 July 1861; de facto as part of the French expedition in Syria)
- Kaysarli Ahmad Pasha (August 1860 – February 1863)
- Mehmed Kabuli Pasha (February 1863 - February 1864)
- Mehmed Kurshid Pasha (February 1864 – April 1865)
Administrative divisions
Sanjaks in the early 19th century:
- Sanjak of Acre
- Sanjak of Beirut
- Sanjak of Sidon
- Sanjak of Tyre
- Sanjak of Nablus
- Sanjak of Nazareth
- Sanjak of Tabariah
See also
- Macgregor, John (1850). Commercial statistics: A digest of the productive resources, commercial legislation, customs tariffs, of all nations. Whittaker and co. p. 12. Retrieved 2013-02-25.
- "Some Provinces of the Ottoman Empire". Geonames.de. Retrieved 25 February 2013.
- McLeod, Walter (1858). The geography of Palestine. Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, & Roberts. p. 52. Retrieved 2013-02-25.
- Winter, Stefan (2010-04-30). The Shiites of Lebanon under Ottoman rule, 1516-1788. Cambridge University Press. p. 120. ISBN 978-0-521-76584-8.
- Kais Firro (1992). A History of the Druzes. BRILL. p. 45. ISBN 978-90-04-09437-6. Retrieved 2013-02-25. "the sanjaq of Ṣafad, which was part of this province, remained under the suzerainty of Druze amīrs until 1660, when the Ottomans reorganized the province."
- Abu-Husayn, Abdul-Rahim (1992). "Problems in the Ottoman Administration in Syria During the 16th and 17th Centuries: The Case of the Sanjak of Sidon-Beirut". International Journal of Middle East Studies 24 (04): 665–675 . doi:10.1017/S002074380002239X. Retrieved 2011-04-11.
- Gabor Agoston; Bruce Alan Masters (2009). Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire. Infobase Publishing. p. 9. ISBN 978-1-4381-1025-7. Retrieved 2013-02-25.
- Gabor Agoston; Bruce Alan Masters (2009). Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire. Infobase Publishing. p. 330. ISBN 978-1-4381-1025-7. Retrieved 2013-02-25.
- Gabor Agoston; Bruce Alan Masters (2009). Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire. Infobase Publishing. p. 87. ISBN 978-1-4381-1025-7. Retrieved 2013-02-25.
- World Statesmen — Lebanon
- System of universal geography founded on the works of Malte-Brun and Balbi — Open Library (p. 647)
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Kids Crafts Easter Bonnets
Kids crafts Easter bonnets are so much fun to make. Once they are done you can attend the Easter parade, bonnet and all.
- White glue (PVA)
- Pair of scissors
- Crepe or tissue paper in different colors (including green)
- Thin garden wire
- Cotton wool balls
- Sticky tape
- Cut a circle out of card, about 14 inches (35cm) across.
- Paint it so that it looks like a straw bonnet.
- Draw a smaller circle in the middle and draw four lines that cross each other in the center, inside of that circle.
- Cut along these lines and bend up.
- Make lots of paper flowers, keeping the stems short.(see below)
- Glue the paper flowers all around the brim of the hat, overlapping them to hide the stems.
- To Make The Paper Flowers:
- Cut a piece of thin garden wire about 4inches - 6inches (10-15cm) long.
- Tape a cotton wool ball to the one end of the wire.
- Cut a small square of black crepe or tissue paper and tie it over the cotton wool.
- Cut a long strip of colorful crepe or tissue paper, about 2.4inches (6cm) wide.
- Fold it over about eight times to make a concertina.
- Download these petal shapes and print it out.
- Cut out to make eight petals.
- Using the PVA sparingly, glue each petal just below the cotton wool ball, overlapping them slightly.
- You might need to let the glue dry between each petal.
- Cut a long, thin strip of green crepe or tissue paper.
- Glue one end to the top of the stem, then wind it tightly down like a bandage.
- Glue or sticky tape the other end at the bottom.
- Once the glue has dried properly, gently pull back the edges of the petals.
- You are now ready to attend the Easter parade, bonnet and all.
Return from Kids Crafts Easter Bonnets to Easter Crafts
Return from Kids Crafts Easter Bonnets to New Kids Crafts Homepage
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Oscar picked 12 apples. He gave 1/3 of the apples to Gil and 1/3 of the apples to Becky. How many apples did each of them?
Science due tmrw
Which simple machine does not change the direction of a force?
Clueless in calculus
Let f be the function be defined by f(x)=5^((2x^2)-1)^(1/2) A) is f an even or odd function? Justify answer. B) find the domain of f. C) find the range of f. D) find f'(x)
Math Pre Cal
Find the values of the trigonometric functions of è from the information given. cot è = 1/2 , sin è < 0
How fast is a city on the earth's equator (such as Singapore) moving due to our planet's daily spin on its axis?
A test car travels in a straight line along the axis. The graph in the figure shows the car's position as a function of time
if 3/5 of a group of children were girls, and there were 24 girls, how many children were in the group?
Solve this proportion- 4/x+3=8/10
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!!!! I appreciate it very much! I worked on this for no lie, 30 minutes or so and could never get an answer that was one of the choices! Thank you soooooo much!
A car travels on a highway at an average speed of 65 miles per hour. What was the speed in feet per second? (Remember- 1 mile=5280 feet)
For Further Reading
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| 0.936641
| 352
| 2.765625
| 3
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Born in slavery in Mississippi, James Monroe Trotter was educated in Ohio and became a schoolteacher. In June 1863 he and his friend William H. Dupree traveled to Boston to enlist in the 55th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. Both were commissioned second lieutenants in 1864 but had to wait a year for official recognition. Trotter was one of most prominent spokesmen in the dispute over equal pay for African American soldiers.
After the war, Trotter and Dupree returned to Ohio, married sisters Virginia and Maria Elizabeth Isaacs, and moved to Boston where they obtained good positions in the U.S. Postal Service. In 1878 Trotter published a groundbreaking survey of African American music. His distinguished war record and support of the Democratic Party led to appointment as District of Columbia Recorder of Deeds in 1887, the highest government office open to blacks. Trotter’s passionate commitment to equality inspired his famous son, William Monroe Trotter.
"Make a difference"
Peggy Preacely describes her involvement in the civil rights movement, in the tradition of her Trotter and Craft ancestors.
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- Stay Informed
- About Us
- Upjohn Grants & Awards
- For the Media
- West Michigan
- EMSD / Michigan Works!
How Do We Spend Our Time? Evidence from the American Time Use Study
Jean Kimmel, Editor
First Chapter | Table of Contents
188 pp. 2008
$40.00 cloth 978-0-88099-338-8
$15.00 paper 978-0-88099-337-1
Economists have long been interested in the analysis of how people decide to spend their time. Up until recently, however, studies of this nature were limited by a lack of high-quality time-use data.
In 2003, after years of study and preparation, the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics initiated the annual American Time Use Survey. This survey is derived from a selected subsample of the outgoing rotation group of the Current Population Survey. Respondents report how they spend their time (in 15 minute intervals), with whom, and where. These detailed data open a window on how Americans spend their time and afford economists the opportunity to gain a better understanding of everyday life.
This book offers contributions from a number of noted economists who exploit this new source of data to reveal findings that have numerous implications for the U.S. labor market. The authors examine topics such as child care, housework, household production and consumption, and shift work. In each case, the focus is on the value of time and how time spent on one activity instead of another represents value gained for the first activity and value lost for the second.
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10th Connecticut Regiment Infantry
|10th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry|
|Active||September 1861 – August 1865|
|Disbanded||August 25, 1865|
The 10th Connecticut Regiment Infantry was one of Connecticut's most successful civil war regiments, compling an exemplary record of service in the Union Army. The 10th Regiment saw action in the coastal campaign during the early years of the war, which culminated with the siege of Charleston. The 10th went on to fight the trench battles of Richmond, earning praise from Union generals and Ulysses S. Grant. The 10th was active at the war’s very end, when they blocked Robert E. Lee’s attempt to escape from Virginia. And, the 10th was present at Appomattox Court House when Lee surrendered to Grant. All told, the 10th regiment fought in twenty three battles and at least as many skirmishes.
Formation of the Regiment
The 10th Connecticut Regiment Infantry was originally formed from the 10th Connecticut Volunteers. After the Union loss at the first Battle of Bull Run, in the summer of 1861, volunteers poured into the Union army ranks. In September, members of the 10th regiment started arriving at Camp Buckingham in Hartford. Members of the 10th regiment came from Connecticut towns large and small, including, Hartford, New Haven, Derby, Manchester, Sprague, New London, Stamford and Greenwich. After a few months at Camp Buckingham, the 10th regiment headed down to Annapolis, M.D. for additional training before joining General Burnside’s North Carolina Expedition to blockade vital Confederate ports.
Battle of Roanoke Island (February 1862)
One of the first objectives for Burnside’s expeditionary force was to capture Roanoke Island in North Carolina. After a harrowing sea voyage through a violent storm, during which hundreds of Connecticut soldiers perished due to illness, the Tenth was put ashore on the North Carolina coast.
The two day battle for Roanoke Island started with Union gunboats bombarding the Confederate positions. The Tenth faced a daunting task trying to dislodge the 3,000 enemy defenders. Captain Pardee of the Tenth wrote, "They had three pieces of artillery fronting and commanding this clearing; and large numbers of riflemen perched in trees, behind the turfed walls and under all possible covers."
The Tenth along with the other Connecticut units made a determined advance and completely routed the Confederates. After the victory, the Tenth was recognized for their bravery and excellent soldierly actions by commanding General John G. Foster. The Tenth also won praise from their comrades in the 8th Connecticut Volunteers, being written about as "the gallant Connecticut Tenth".
Battle of Newbern (March 1862)
After taking Roanoke Island, the next Union objective was to move up the Neuse River and attack a Confederate position at Newbern, North Carolina, a strategic coastal town, west of the Outer Banks.
On the morning of March 13, General Burnside ordered the entire brigade to advance on the Confederate position. The Confederates had established a long line of impressive defensive fortifications manned by 7,000 soldiers and a large number of heavy artillery.
Here, a heavy and sustained rifle fire from the Tenth Connecticut weakened parts of the Confederate line. This allowed the 8th Connecticut and 4th Rhode Island troops to charge and begin the rout of the enemy forces. Newbern was soon under Union control.
In his report, General Foster praised the men of the Tenth, writing, "...(the Tenth) advanced..., in line of battle, fired with the most remarkable steadiness,..., giving and taking the most severe fire."
Action at Rawls Mills (November 1862)
The Tenth remained in Newbern all throughout the summer of 1862. The next action for the Tenth came in November 1862, when the regiment was ordered to attack a rebel supply route near Rawls Mills, N.C. The Tenth was out in front of the Union troops, the first to take fire in leading the advance. Rebel troops were pushed back repeatedly as the Union troops marched through Williamston and continued on to capture Rainbow Fort on the Roanoke River. Two weeks later, the Tenth was back in Newbern having accomplished their mission.
Battle at Kinston (December 1862)
In December 1862, the Tenth moved out of Newbern to support General McClellan’s attack on the Confederate capital of Richmond and to cut off the Wilmington Railroad. The first encounter with the Confederate forces was near the Kinston Bridge over the Neuse River.
The advance of the first two lines of Union troops was halted by the Confederate resistance and swamp terrain. Here, General Foster called on the Tenth to make a breakthrough. The Tenth pressed the attack through a hailstorm of bullets. They charged the Confederate positions, and, after half an hour of murderous, close-range, rifle-exchanges, the Tenth gained the upper hand.
The Confederate lines collapsed. As they retreated, the Confederate troops set fire to the strategic Kinston bridge. Undeterred, the Tenth managed to douse the flames, capture the bridge and drive off the enemy forces. In this battle, the Tenth captured 100 Confederate soldiers and all of the Confederate artillery.
This had been the most difficult fighting that the Tenth had experienced, thus far. The losses were large, both in officers and enlisted ranks. Of the three hundred and sixty officers and men sent into action, over a third were killed in action or died within four days of the battle. General Foster again hailed the Tenth as the "bravest among the brave".
Battle of Goldsboro Bridge (December 1862)
The Tenth was given no time to rest. The regiment moved on toward the town of Goldsboro, North Carolina Again the Tenth was at the front of the Union force. At Goldsboro the regiment destroyed Confederate railroad tracks and a burned a railroad bridge. With the mission accomplished, the Tenth returned to Newbern, having absorbed one fourth of all Union losses in this expedition.
Assault on Fort Wagner (July 1863)
During 1862, despite the Union Army advances along the Carolina coast, the Confederacy had largely succeeded in defending its territory, beating back the stronger Union forces with superior battlefield leadership. At the beginning of 1863, the Union Army was still in search of a major, morale-boosting victory.
The Tenth finally moved out of Newbern, North Carolina, in January 1863. The regiment was ordered to St. Helena Island, South Carolina, near Charleston. The Union blockade of Charleston harbor was effective, but the city remained in Confederate hands.
In early July, the Tenth was ordered to join a large-scale assault on Fort Wagner, situated on nearby Morris Island.This was part of the second Union attempt to capture Charleston. The Tenth’s main role in the assault was a successful diversionary action. The main attack force consisted of the African American troops of the 54th Massachusetts and the 6th Connecticut (as depicted in the motion picture Glory).
The attack on Fort Wagner did not initially succeed, although Union forces did breach the fort’s defenses. After the attack, Union soldiers spent months digging trenches parallel to the Confederate lines. This tactic eventually proved a successful strategy as the Confederate troops abandoned Fort Wagner in early September.
Down the Atlantic coast to St. Agustine, Florida
In late October 1863, the Tenth was ordered down the Atlantic coast for rest and recuperation in St. Augustine, Florida. The men of the Tenth were able to regain their strength at St. Augustine, but the enemy was always nearby. In fact, twenty two soldiers of the regiment were captured and one soldier was killed during a Confederate ambush. The men of the 10th were escorting a wood chopping detail near the base when the Confederates attacked.
On the James River, City Point and Bermuda Hundred (May 1864)
During February 1864, Connecticut veterans of the war were given furloughs. Veterans of the Tenth arrived in New Haven on February 19 and then travelled to Hartford. They were warmly received and praised by town and state leaders. Veterans of the Tenth re-enlisted for another three years and new recruits joined the regiment.
In May 1864, men of the Tenth Connecticut were back on the front line. The regiment was assigned to the Tenth Corps in the Army of the James. Their first mission was to take the strategic riverfronts at City Point and Bermuda Hundred in Virginia. The 10th regiment and accompanying Union troops accomplished this mission by moving quickly up the James River, surprising the Confederate forces, and landing unopposed.
Battle of Fort Darling (Drewry’s Bluff) (May 1864)
The next objective of the Union force was a march toward Richmond to encircle the Confederate capital. In their path stood Fort Darling, a strong defensive position on the James River, near Drewry’s Bluff and just south of Richmond.
The assault on Fort Darling did not succeed. However, the Tenth fought bravely, mainly in rearguard action, protecting other Union regiments. Despite this setback, Union troops continued on toward Richmond.
Repelling an attack on the march to Richmond
In early October, the advancing Union army was suddenly counterattacked by Confederate cavalry and infantry units. The Tenth fended off the attack despite fighting with an exposed flank, as an adjacent New York regiment turned and ran when the Confederates charged.
General H.M. Plaisted, commander of the Tenth Army Corps, wrote of the Tenth Connecticut, "In my opinion, the conduct of the Tenth Regiment, when the troops on its right broke and fled, saved the Army of the James."
Battle for Fort Gregg (April 1865)
By early April 1865, Union forces were at the outer defenses of Petersburg. The Tenth was now poised to attack Fort Gregg, an intimidating defensive position, consisting of well constructed trenches and earthworks, backed up by many artillery pieces. On April 2 the Tenth, supported by the 100th New York, advanced toward Fort Gregg, facing murderous cannon and rifle fire. Many of the Tenth fell far short of their objective. But, the main body of the regiment reached the fort, and there began fierce hand-to-hand combat. The Connecticut flag was first to be placed on the parapet of the fort, and after the brutal struggle, the Tenth Connecticut emerged victorious. Victory came at a high cost; half of the Tenth’s assault force were either killed or wounded. After the battle, Major General John Gibbon, presented to the Tenth Connecticut, an ornate bronze eagle, resting on a globe to place atop the Connecticut state flag. This distinction went to the men of the Tenth for "...for gallant conduct in the assault on Fort Gregg...".
Appomattox Court House (April 1865)
The men of the Tenth were pressed into action once again in pursuit of the retreating Robert E. Lee. Lee withdrew from Richmond to Danville, Virginia and looked to link up with General Johnston’s army in North Carolina. At dawn, on April 9, Lee tried to break through Union lines near Appomattox Station, 100 miles west of Richmond. After an initial surge forward by the Confederate troops, the Tenth and First Connecticut Cavalry blocked Lee’s escape. The war lost, Lee signed the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, just hours later, at Appomattox Court House. The 10th Connecticut was present.
Record and legacy
The Tenth Connecticut was mustered out of the Union Army on August 25, 1865. During the four year war, the Tenth Connecticut saw service from 2,124 men. These men fought in 23 battles and at least as many skirmishes. Fifty seven men were killed in action. Fifty nine died of wounds and one hundred fifty two died of disease. The Tenth was one of the top 300 Union regiments in the Civil War (out of over 1,700), according to historian William F. Fox.
- Connecticut for the Union! Connecticut Civil War documentary film clip and photoshows
- Croffut & Morris 1869, p. 126.
- Croffut & Morris 1869, p. 824.
- Mead 1990, p. 80.
- Croffut & Morris 1869, pp. 163–164.
- Croffut & Morris 1869, p. 165.
- Croffut & Morris 1869, pp. 166–167.
- Croffut & Morris 1869, p. 166.
- Croffut & Morris 1869, p. 167.
- Mead 1919, p. 227.
- Croffut & Morris 1869, pp. 170–173.
- Croffut & Morris 1869, p. 172.
- Croffut & Morris 1869, p. 173.
- Croffut & Morris 1869, p. 174.
- Croffut & Morris 1869, p. 342.
- Croffut & Morris 1869, pp. 343–344.
- Croffut & Morris 1869, p. 343.
- Croffut & Morris 1869, p. 344.
- Croffut & Morris 1869, p. 345.
- Croffut & Morris 1869, pp. 345–346.
- Croffut & Morris 1869, p. 347.
- Croffut & Morris 1869, pp. 342–348.
- Croffut & Morris 1869, p. 513.
- Croffut & Morris 1869, p. 523.
- Croffut & Morris 1869, p. 528.
- Croffut & Morris 1869, pp. 541–552.
- Croffut & Morris 1869, pp. 548–549.
- Croffut & Morris 1869, pp. 670–671.
- Mead 1919, p. 236.
- Croffut & Morris 1869, pp. 786–789.
- Croffut & Morris 1869, p. 787.
- Croffut & Morris 1869, pp. 792–795.
- Croffut & Morris 1869, p. 784.
- Croffut, William Augustus & Morris, John, M. (1869). The Military and Civil History of Connecticut during the war of 1861-1865. New York: Ledyard Bill.
- Mead, Edgar T. (1990). Greenwich Grows Up. Historical Society of the Town of Greenwich. ISBN 978-0-9612540-5-6.
- Mead, Spencer P. (1919). Ye Historie of ye Town of Greenwich, County of Fairfield, State of Connecticut. New York: The Knickerbocker Press.
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Political science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state,nation, government, and politics and policies of government. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior, culture. Political scientists "see themselves engaged in revealing the relationships underlying political events and conditions, and from these revelations they attempt to construct general principles about the way the world of politics works." Political science intersects with other fields; including economics, law, sociology, history, anthropology, public administration, public policy, national politics, international relations, comparative politics, psychology, political organization, and political theory. Although it was codified in the 19th century, when all the social sciences were established, political science has ancient roots; indeed, it originated almost 2,500 years ago with the works of Plato and Aristotle.
Political science is commonly divided into five distinct sub-disciplines which together constitute the field:
Political theory is more concerned with contributions of various classical thinkers such as Aristotle, Niccolo Machiavelli, Cicero, Plato and many others. Comparative politics is the science of comparison and teaching of different types of constitutions, political actors, legislature and associated fields, all of them from an intrastate perspective. International relations deals with the interaction between nation-states as well as intergovernmental and transnational organizations.
Political science is methodologically diverse and appropriates many methods originating in social research. Approaches include positivism, interpretivism, rational choice theory, behavioralism, structuralism, post-structuralism, realism, institutionalism, and pluralism. Political science, as one of the social sciences, uses methods and techniques that relate to the kinds of inquiries sought: primary sources such as historical documents and official records, secondary sources such as scholarly journal articles, survey research, statistical analysis, case studies, experimental research and model building.
Political scientists study matters concerning the allocation and transfer of power in decision making, the roles and systems of governance including governments and international organizations, political behavior and public policies. They measure the success of governance and specific policies by examining many factors, including stability, justice, material wealth, and peace. Some political scientists seek to advance positive (attempt to describe how things are, as opposed to how they should be) theses by analyzing politics. Others advance normative theses, by making specific policy recommendations.
Political scientists provide the frameworks from which journalists, special interest groups, politicians, and the electorate analyze issues. According to Chaturvedy, "...Political scientists may serve as advisers to specific politicians, or even run for office as politicians themselves. Political scientists can be found working in governments, in political parties or as civil servants. They may be involved with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) or political movements. In a variety of capacities, people educated and trained in political science can add value and expertise to corporations. Private enterprises such as think tanks, research institutes, polling and public relations firms often employ political scientists." In the United States, political scientists known as "Americanists[disambiguation needed]" look at a variety of data including constitutional development, elections, public opinion and public policy such as Social Security reform, foreign policy, US Congressional committees, and the US Supreme Court — to name only a few issues.
"As a discipline" political science, possibly like the social sciences as a whole, "lives on the fault line between the 'two cultures' in the academy, the sciences and the humanities." Thus, in some American colleges where there is no separate School or College of Arts and Sciences per se, political science may be a separate department housed as part of a division or school of Humanities or Liberal Arts. Whereas classical political philosophy is primarily defined by a concern for Hellenic and Enlightenment thought, political scientists are also marked by a great concern for "modernity" and the contemporary nation state, along with the study of classical thought, and as such share a greater deal of terminology with sociologists (e.g. structure and agency).
Most United States colleges and universities offer B.A. programs in political science. M.A. or M.A.T. and Ph.D. or Ed.D. programs are common at larger universities. The term political science is more popular in North America than elsewhere; other institutions, especially those outside the United States, see political science as part of a broader discipline of political studies, politics, or government. While political science implies use of the scientific method, political studies implies a broader approach, although the naming of degree courses does not necessarily reflect their content. Separate degree granting programs in international relations and public policy are not uncommon at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Master's level programs in political science are common when political scientists engage in public administration.
Modern political science
Because political science is essentially a study of human behavior, in all aspects of politics, observations in controlled environments are often challenging to reproduce or duplicate, though experimental methods are increasingly common (see experimental political science). Citing this difficulty, former American Political Science Association President Lawrence Lowell once said "We are limited by the impossibility of experiment. Politics is an observational, not an experimental science." Because of this, political scientists have historically observed political elites, institutions, and individual or group behavior in order to identify patterns, draw generalizations, and build theories of politics.
Like all social sciences, political science faces the difficulty of observing human actors that can only be partially observed and who have the capacity for making conscious choices unlike other subjects such as non-human organisms in biology or inanimate objects as in physics. Despite the complexities, contemporary political science has progressed by adopting a variety of methods and theoretical approaches to understanding politics and methodological pluralism is a defining feature of contemporary political science. Often in contrast with national media, political science scholars seek to compile long-term data and research on the impact of political issues, producingin-depth articles breaking down the issues
The advent of political science as a university discipline was marked by the creation of university departments and chairs with the title of political science arising in the late 19th century. In fact, the designation "political scientist" is typically for those with a doctorate in the field. Integrating political studies of the past into a unified discipline is ongoing, and the history of political science has provided a rich field for the growth of both normative and positive political science, with each part of the discipline sharing some historical predecessors. The American Political Science Association was founded in 1903 and the American Political Science Review was founded in 1906 in an effort to distinguish the study of politics from economics and other social phenomena.
Behavioral revolution and new institutionalism
In the 1950s and the 1960s, a behavioral revolution stressing the systematic and rigorously scientific study of individual and group behavior swept the discipline. A focus on studying political behavior, rather than institutions or interpretation of legal texts, characterized early behavioral political science, including work by Robert Dahl, Philip Converse, and in the collaboration between sociologist Paul Lazarsfeld and public opinion scholar Bernard Berelson.
The late 1960s and early 1970s witnessed a take off in the use of deductive, game theoretic formal modeling techniques aimed at generating a more analytical corpus of knowledge in the discipline. This period saw a surge of research that borrowed theory and methods from economics to study political institutions, such as the United States Congress, as well as political behavior, such as voting. William H. Riker and his colleagues and students at the University of Rochester were the main proponents of this shift.
Political science in the Soviet Union
In the Soviet Union, political studies were carried out under the guise of some other disciplines like theory of state and law, area studies, international relations, studies of labor movement, "critique of bourgeois theories" etc. Soviet scholars were represented at the International Political Science Association since 1955 (since 1960 by the Soviet Association of Political and State Studies). In 1979 11th World Congress of IPSA took place in Moscow. Until the late years of the Soviet Union, political science as a field was subjected to tight control of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and was thus subjected to distrust. Anti-communists accused political scientists of being "false" scientists and of having served the old regime.
After the fall of the Soviet Union, two of the major institutions dealing with political science - the Institute of Contemporary Social Theories and the Institute of International Affairs - were disbanded, and most of their members were left without jobs. These institutes were victims of the first wave of anti-communist euphoria and of in many ways unfounded ideological attacks, despite many of the people working in these institutes being competent scientists with a proficient knowledge of political science, and some of them having played an important role in reforming the Communist Party. Today the Russian Political Science Association unites professionals-political scientists from in Russia.
Recent developments
In 2000, the Perestroika Movement in political science was introduced as a reaction against what supporters of the movement called the mathematicization of political science. Those who identified with the movement argued for a plurality of methodologies and approaches in political science and for more relevance of the discipline to those outside of it.
Evolutionary psychology theories argue that humans have evolved a highly developed set of psychological mechanisms for dealing with politics. However, these mechanisms evolved for dealing with the small group politics that characterized the ancestral environment and not the much larger political structures in today's world. This is argued to explain many important features and systematic cognitive biases of current politics.
Most political scientists work broadly in one or more of the following five areas:
- Comparative politics, including area studies
- International relations
- Political philosophy
- Public administration
- Public law
Some political science departments also classify methodology as well as scholarship on the domestic politics of a particular country as distinct sub fields. In the United States, American politics is often treated as a separate subfield.
In contrast to this traditional classification, some academic departments organize scholarship into thematic categories, including political philosophy, political behavior (including public opinion, collective action, and identity), and political institutions (including legislatures and international organizations). Political science conferences and journals often emphasize scholarship in more specific categories. The American Political Science Association, for example, has 42 organized sections that address various methods and topics of political inquiry.
Political science as a separate field is a relatively late arrival in terms of social sciences. However, the term "political science" was not always distinguished from political philosophy, and the modern discipline has a clear set of antecedents including also moral philosophy, political economy, political theology, history, and other fields concerned with normative determinations of what ought to be and with deducing the characteristics and functions of the ideal state.
The antecedents of Western politics can be traced back to the Socratic political philosophers, Plato (427–347 BC), Xenophon (c. 430–354 BC), and Aristotle ("The Father of Political Science") (384–322 BC). These authors, in such works as The Republic and Laws by Plato, and The Politics and Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle, analyzed political systems philosophically, going beyond earlier Greek poetic and historical reflections which can be found in the works of epic poets like Homer and Hesiod, historians like Herodotus and Thucydides, and dramatists such as Sophocles, Aristophanes, and Euripides.
During the height of the Roman Empire, famous historians such as Polybius, Livy and Plutarch documented the rise of the Roman Republic, and the organization and histories of other nations, while statesmen like Julius Caesar, Cicero and others provided us with examples of the politics of the republic and Rome's empire and wars. The study of politics during this age was oriented toward understanding history, understanding methods of governing, and describing the operation of governments. Nearly a thousand years elapsed, from the foundation of the city of Rome in 753 BC to the fall of the Roman Empire or the beginning of the Middle Ages. In the interim, there is a manifest translation of Hellenic culture into the Roman sphere. The Greek gods become Romans and Greek philosophy in one way or another turns into Roman law e.g. Stoicism. The Stoic was committed to preserving proper hierarchical roles and duties in the state so that the state as a whole would remain stable. Among the best known Roman Stoics were philosopher Seneca and the emperor Marcus Aurelius. Seneca, a wealthy Roman patrician, is often criticized by some modern commentators for failing to adequately live by his own precepts. The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, on the other hand, can be best thought of as the philosophical reflections of an emperor divided between his philosophical aspirations and the duty he felt to defend the Roman Empire from its external enemies through his various military campaigns. According to Polybius, Roman institutions were the backbone of the empire but Roman law is the medulla.
With the fall of the Western Roman Empire, there arose a more diffuse arena for political studies. The rise of monotheism and, particularly for the Western tradition, Christianity, brought to light a new space for politics and political action. Works such as Augustine of Hippo's The City of God synthesized current philosophies and political traditions with those of Christianity, redefining the borders between what was religious and what was political. During the Middle Ages, the study of politics was widespread in the churches and courts. Most of the political questions surrounding the relationship between church and state were clarified and contested in this period. The Arabs lost sight of Aristotle's political science but continued to study Plato's Republic which became the basic text of Judeo-Islamic political philosophy as in the works of Alfarabi and Averroes; this did not happen in the Christian world, where Aristotle's Politics was translated in the 13th century and became the basic text as in the works of Saint Thomas Aquinas.
During the Italian Renaissance, Niccolò Machiavelli established the emphasis of modern political science on directempirical observation of political institutions and actors. Machiavelli was also a realist, arguing that even evil means should be considered if they help to create and preserve a glorious regime. Machiavelli therefore also argues against the use of idealistic models in politics, and has been described as the father of the "politics model" of political science. Later, the expansion of the scientific paradigm during the Enlightenment further pushed the study of politics beyond normative determinations.
The works of the French philosophers Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot to name a few are paragon for political analysis, social science, social and political critic. Their influence leading to the French revolution has been enormous in the development of modern democracy throughout the world.
Like Machiavelli, Thomas Hobbes, well known for his theory of the social contract, believed that a strong central power, such as a monarchy, was necessary to rule the innate selfishness of the individual but neither of them believed in the divine right of kings. John Locke, on the other hand, who gave us Two Treatises of Government and who did not believe in the divine right of kings either, sided with Aquinas and stood against both Machiavelli and Hobbes by accepting Aristotle's dictum that man seeks to be happy in a state of social harmony as a social animal. Unlike Aquinas' preponderant view on the salvation of the soul from original sin, Locke believed man comes into this world with a mind that is basically a tabula rasa. According to Locke, an absolute ruler as proposed by Hobbes is unnecessary, for natural law is based on reason and equality, seeking peace and survival for man.
The new Western philosophical foundations that emerged from the pursuit of reason during the Enlightenment era helped pave the way for policies that emphasized a need for a separation of church and state. Principles similar to those that dominated the material sciences could be applied to society as a whole, originating the social sciences. Politics could be studied in a laboratory as it were, the social milieu. In 1787, Alexander Hamilton wrote: "...The science of politics like most other sciences has received great improvement." (The Federalist Papers Number 9 and 51). Both the marquis d'Argenson and the abbé de Saint-Pierre described politics as a science; d'Argenson was a philosopher and de Saint-Pierre an allied reformer of the enlightenment.
Non-Western history
In ancient India, the antecedents of politics can be traced back to the Rig-Veda, Samhitas, Brahmanas, the Mahabharata and Buddhist Pali Canon. Chanakya (c. 350–275 BC) was a political thinker in Takshashila. Chanakya wrote the Arthashastra, a treatise on political thought, economics and social order. It discusses monetary and fiscal policies, welfare, international relations, and war strategies in detail, among other topics. The Manusmriti, dated to about two centuries after the time of Chanakya is another important Indian political treatise.
Ancient China was home to several competing schools of political thought, most of which arose in the Spring and Autumn Period. These included Mohism (a utilitarian philosophy), Taoism, Legalism (a school of thought based on the supremacy of the state), and Confucianism. Eventually, a modified form of Confucianism (heavily infused with elements of Legalism) became the dominant political philosophy in China during the Imperial Period. This form of Confucianism also deeply influenced and were expounded upon by scholars in Korea and Japan.
In Persia, works such as the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam and Epic of Kings by Ferdowsi provided evidence of political analysis, while the Middle Eastern Aristotelians such as Avicenna and later Maimonides and Averroes, continued Aristotle's tradition of analysis and empiricism, writing commentaries on Aristotle's works. Averroe did not have at hand a text of Aristotle's Politics, so he wrote a commentary on Plato's Republic instead.
See also
- Outline of political science - structured list of political topics, arranged by subject area
- Index of politics articles - alphabetical list of political subjects
- Political lists - lists of political topics
- Outline of law
- Index of law articles
- Process tracing
- Oxford Dictionary of Politics: political science
- Political Science. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1999-02-22). Retrieved on 2010-11-13.
- Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: political science
- Stoner, J. R. (22 February 2008). "Political Science and Political Education". Paper presented at the annual meeting of the APSA Teaching and Learning Conference (APSA), San José Marriott, San José, California. Retrieved 2011-10-19. "... although one might allege the same for social science as a whole, political scientists receive funding from and play an active role in both the National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities [in the United States]." <http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p245585_index.html>.
- See, e.g., the department of Political Science at Marist College, part of a Division of Humanities before that division became the School of Liberal Arts (c. 2000).
- Politics is the term used to refer to this field by Brandeis University; Cornell College; University of California, Santa Cruz; Hendrix College; Lake Forest College; Monash University; Mount Holyoke College; New York University; Occidental College; Princeton University; Ursinus College; and Washington and Lee University. Government is the term used for this field by Bowdoin College; Colby College; Cornell University; Dartmouth College; Georgetown University; Harvard University; Smith College; Wesleyan University; the College of William and Mary; the University of Sydney; the University of Texas at Austin; the University of Ulster; the University of Essex; Victoria University of Wellington, which has both a "School of Government" and a separate "Political Science and International Relations Programme"; and the London School of Economics and Political Science. Politics and government is the term used by the University of Puget Sound. Government and politics is used by the University of Maryland, College Park.
- Vernardakis, George (1998). Graduate education in government. University Press of America. p. 77. ISBN 0-7618-1171-0. "...existing practices at Harvard University, the University of California at Berkeley, and the University of Michigan."
- Druckman, James; Green, Donald; Kuklinski, James et al., eds. (2011). Cambridge Handbook of Experimental Political Science. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-17455-8.
- Lowell, A. Lawrence. 1910. "The Physiology of Politics." American Political Science Review 4: 1-15.
- Political Science in Russia: Institutionalization of the Discipline and Development of the Professional Community
- Chronicle of Higher Education 2001[dead link]
- Michael Bang Petersen. "The evolutionary psychology of mass politics". In Roberts, S. C. (2011). Applied Evolutionary Psychology. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199586073.001.0001. ISBN 9780199586073.
- APSA Organized Sections | APSA
- Aabriel Abraham (2002). Ventures in political science. Lynne Rienner Publishers. p. 29. ISBN 1-58826-055-0. "Polybius attributes the remarkable growth and power of Rome to its political institutions."
- Muhsin, Mahdi (2001). Alfarabi and the foundation of Islamic political philosophy. p. 35. ISBN 0-226-50186-8. "...a combination of Plato and Plotinum, could do much more to clarify political life as it then existed..."
- Lane, Ruth (1996). Political science in theory and practice: the 'politics' model. M. E. Sharpe. p. 89. ISBN 1-56324-939-1. "Discussion then moves to Machiavelli, for whom the politics model was not an occasional pastime..."
- Gay, Peter (1996). The enlightenment 2. W. W. Norton & Co. p. 448. ISBN 0-393-31366-2. "The men of the Enlightenment sensed that they could realize their social ideals only by political means."
Further reading
- The Evolution of Political Science (November 2006). APSR Centennial Volume of American Political Science Review. Apsanet.org. 4 February 2009.
- Goodin, R. E.; Klingemann, Hans-Dieter (1996). A New Handbook of Political Science. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-829471-9.
- Klingemann, Hans-Dieter, ed. (2007) The State of Political Science in Western Europe. Opladen: Barbara Budrich Publishers. ISBN 978-3-86649-045-1.
- Schramm, S. F.; Caterino, B., eds. (2006). Making Political Science Matter: Debating Knowledge, Research, and Method. New York and London: New York University Press. Making Political Science Matter. Google Books. 4 February 2009.
- Roskin, M.; Cord, R. L.; Medeiros, J. A.; Jones, W. S. (2007). Political Science: An Introduction. 10th ed. New York: Pearson Prentice Hall. ISBN 978-0-13-242575-9 (10). ISBN 978-0-13-242575-9 (13).
- Tausch, A.; Prager, F. (1993). Towards a Socio-Liberal Theory of World Development. Basingstoke: Macmillan; New York: St. Martin's Press.
- Oxford Handbooks of Political Science
- Noel, Hans (2010) "Ten Things Political Scientists Know that You Don’t" The Forum: Vol. 8: Iss. 3, Article 12.
- Zippelius, Reinhold (2003). Geschichte der Staatsideen (=History of political Ideas), 10th ed. Munich: C.H. Beck.ISBN 3-406-49494-3.
|Wikibooks has a book on the topic of: Political Science|
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Political science|
- International Political Science Association
- International Studies Association
- IPSAPortal : Top 300 websites for Political Science
- International Association for Political Science Students
- American Political Science Association
- Midwest Political Science Association
- European Consortium for Political Research
- Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies. "Political Science Department which offers MA and PhD programmes"
- Dalmacio Negro, Political Science Emeritus Professor at CEU San Pablo University, Madrid (SPAIN)
- Political Studies Association of the UK
- PROL: Political Science Research Online (prepublished research)
- Truman State University Political Science Research Design Handbook
- A New Nation Votes: American Elections Returns 1787–1825
- Comparative Politics in Argentina & Latin America: Site dedicated to the development of comparative politics in Latin America.
Paper Works, Articles and links to specialized web sites.
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From the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab
NASA Satellites Detect Pothole on Road to Higher Seas
An Update from NASA’s Sea Level Sentinels:
Like mercury in a thermometer, ocean waters expand as they warm. This, along with melting glaciers and ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica, drives sea levels higher over the long term. For the past 18 years, the U.S./French Jason-1, Jason-2 and Topex/Poseidon spacecraft have been monitoring the gradual rise of the world’s ocean in response to global warming.
While the rise of the global ocean has been remarkably steady for most of this time, every once in a while, sea level rise hits a speed bump. This past year, it’s been more like a pothole: between last summer and this one, global sea level actually fell by about a quarter of an inch, or half a centimeter.
So what’s up with the down seas, and what does it mean? Climate scientist Josh Willis of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., says you can blame it on the cycle of El Niño and La Niña in the Pacific.
Willis said that while 2010 began with a sizable El Niño, by year’s end, it was replaced by one of the strongest La Niñas in recent memory. This sudden shift in the Pacific changed rainfall patterns all across the globe, bringing massive floods to places like Australia and the Amazon basin, and drought to the southern United States.
Data from the NASA/German Aerospace Center’s twin Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (Grace) spacecraft provide a clear picture of how this extra rain piled onto the continents in the early parts of 2011. “By detecting where water is on the continents, Grace shows us how water moves around the planet,” says Steve Nerem, a sea level scientist at the University of Colorado in Boulder.
So where does all that extra water in Brazil and Australia come from? You guessed it–the ocean. Each year, huge amounts of water are evaporated from the ocean. While most of it falls right back into the ocean as rain, some of it falls over land. “This year, the continents got an extra dose of rain, so much so that global sea levels actually fell over most of the last year,” says Carmen Boening, a JPL oceanographer and climate scientist. Boening and colleagues presented these results recently at the annual Grace Science Team Meeting in Austin, Texas.
But for those who might argue that these data show us entering a long-term period of decline in global sea level, Willis cautions that sea level drops such as this one cannot last, and over the long-run, the trend remains solidly up. Water flows downhill, and the extra rain will eventually find its way back to the sea. When it does, global sea level will rise again.
“We’re heating up the planet, and in the end that means more sea level rise,” says Willis. “But El Niño and La Niña always take us on a rainfall rollercoaster, and in years like this they give us sea-level whiplash.”
h/t to WUWT reader “Pete”
[UPDATE by willis]
I trust that Anthony won’t mind if I expand a bit on this question. NASA adduces the following map (Figure 2) showing where they claim the water went.
Figure 2. GRACE satellite changes in land water. Note that for all of the screaming about Greenland melting … it gained ice over the period of the year. In any case, red and blue areas are somewhere near equal, as would be more apparent if they didn’t use a Mercator projection that exaggerates the blue area in the Northern hemisphere.
The sea level was going up at about 3 mm per year. In the last year it fell about 6 mm. So that’s a change of about a centimetre of water that NASA says has fallen on land and been absorbed rather than returned to the ocean. But of course, the land is much smaller than the ocean … so for the ocean to change by a centimetre, the land has to change about 2.3 cm.
To do that, the above map would have to average a medium blue well up the scale … and it’s obvious from the map that there’s no way that’s happening. So I hate to say this, but their explanation doesn’t … hold water …
I suspected I’d find this when I looked, because in the original press release the authors just said:
“This year, the continents got an extra dose of rain, so much so that global sea levels actually fell over most of the last year,” says Carmen Boening.
When people make claims like that, with no numbers attached, my Urban Legend Detector™ goes off like crazy … and in this case, it was right.
Best to all, thanks to Anthony.
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When you do a search on the Internet, you get all kinds of results. Some of the sites may be official sites, recognized reference sites, full-text documents, etc. Others may be personal pages, commercials, silly sites, or even hoaxes. You need to be able to evaluate the information you get from the Internet.
Remember : Anyone can publish a website on the Internet
and there really isn't anyone to monitor that information being published
it is accurate or even true. So how do you evaluate a website?
Check the Source
What is the domain name? The ending of the domain name is a clue to what kind of site it is:
.com for business and commercial
.edu for educational websites for colleges or universities (www.harvard.edu)
.gov for governmental websites (www.nasa.gov)
.mil for U.S. military websites (www.navy.mil)
.net for network access provider websites (www.netscape.net)
.org for non-profit organizational websites (www.nassaulibrary.org)
In general, you can generally rely on websites with
.edu, .gov, or .mil extensions. Websites with .net, .org and .com extensions
may not be as reliable and need further evaluation.
The author's name and credentials should be clearly stated on the website. Are the credentials relevant to the information provided on the website? Or is the website someone's personal page? Or is the website really a commercial to sell something?
For example, http://www.lordoftherings.net/
is the official website for the movie, "The Lord of the Rings" created
by New Line Cinema. So, you can probably rely on the information provided
at this site regarding the movie production, actors, etc. On the other
links to a website created by a fan of "The Lord of the Rings." The information
may be accurate, but you can't be sure. Then there is http://www.lordoftherings-toys.com/.
This is the website for a company that sells Lord of the Rings collectibles.
Depending on your interest, you may select one website versus another.
If the website was published a while ago and is no longer current, factual or statistical information on the website may be inaccurate or misleading.
When was the page updated last? Look at the homepage of the website to see when the site was last updated.
Check individual pages to see if they have been updated at different times.
For example, Valley Stream Memorial Junior High
School has a web page at http://home.pb.net/~vsmem/.
Unfortunately, it hasn't been updated since 1998. So it's not very useful
to someone interested in the school today. In Spring 2002, Valley
Stream Central High School District launched a new website at http://www.vschsd.org,
but the old web page for Memorial is still on the Internet to mislead unsuspecting
For example, the Librarians' Index to the Internet (http://www.lii.org/) indicates:
Copyright © 2001-2002, Librarians'
Index to the Internet, lii.org. All rights reserved.
Maintained on the Berkeley Digital Library SunSITE
Funded by the Library of California through the Library of California Board.
Additional grant funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services
through the Library Services and Technology Act administered by the California State Librarian.
The website publishing information indicates that
this is probably an authoritative site.
Don't accept everything that you read just because you find it on the Internet. Some websites are deliberate frauds and hoaxes. An example of a website that is a hoax is the "Mankato, Minnesota Home Page" (http://lme.mankato.msus.edu/mankato/mankato.html). Without reading the Disclaimer at the very bottom of the home page, the unsuspecting Internet surfer might not realize that this home page is a fake.
Check for bias and objectivity on the website. Is the website created someone who has something to gain or sell? Usually websites published by government or non-profit agencies tend to be more objective than those sponsored by special interest groups or commercial organizations.
For example, if you were looking for information
on an automobile, the information you find on the auto manufacturer's website
will be very complimentary about the automobile. You would probably find
nice color photographs of the car, with positive comments from dealers
or customers, etc. However, if you went to a consumer website and searched
for information about the same automobile, you might find information about
consumer complaints, recalls, safety reports, etc. So you must be prepared
to consider the author of the website when you evaluate the information
Does the information you find on the website seem accurate? There are fifty states in the United States, so if a website says there are fifty-one, try another website!!!
Does it match information you have found in other
sources? After searching several websites on a topic, you will probably
find that there is a lot of repetition of information. If five websites
indicate that Joe Torre is the manager of New York Yankees, but a sixth
website indicates he is the manager of the New York Mets, I would avoid
using any information from that website.
A website might indicate the last date it was updated, but you really don't know what was updated. So you may need to evaluate the content of the website to determine its currency.
For example, many websites have needed to be updated
due to the destruction of the World Trade Center on 9/11. So if you are
looking at a website of businesses in NYC and companies that were in the
WTC are still listed, the website is not up-to-date.
Many websites are professionally designed with sound, animation, etc. Unfortunately, all the glitz on some websites may slow down the speed in which you can use the website, so you might want to use another website which is easier and faster, but not as pretty. In some cases, you need to download additional programs to get the plug-ins to work, and this can be nuisance.
Some websites that are sponsored by companies have advertisements throughout the website. Animated banners run across the top ; pop-up windows appear whenever you roll your mouse over an image. All this can be distracting and interfere with your searching of the website.
Check the links on the website. If there are too
many broken links, the website may not be up-to-date or just a waste of
For further information on evaluating websites,
check out "Evaluating
Web Resources" (http://www2.widener.edu/Wolfgram-Memorial-Library/webevaluation/webeval.htm)
from the Wolfgram Memorial Library or "Evaluating
Internet Resources" (http://library.albany.edu/internet/evaluate.html)
prepared by the University of Albany Libraries. The University of California
at Berkeley Library offers a good tutorial on evaluating web pages, "Evaluating
Web Pages: Questions to Ask & Strategies for Getting the Answers"
© Henry Waldinger Memorial Library,
2002 - Updated : July 27, 2002.
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Developmental delays are certainly concerning to parents, but they are not all that uncommon. In fact, the most common cause of developmental delays is a premature baby, which many parents experience.
“If a child is born prematurely, he may not meet the milestones that his or her chronological age suggests,” says Diane Paul, PhD, the director of clinical issues in speech language pathology for the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). “It's normal for preterm babies to need as much as a year or two to catch up to their peers.”
Another common cause of developmental delay is hearing loss or impairment, which affects 1 to 3 of every 1,000 children born. And of course, there are more serious developmental disabilities, such as autism, cerebral palsy, and other intellectual disabilities.
Developmental delays such as premature birth or hearing impairment can cause a number of early setbacks for a child, and one of those is delays in speech and language. A premature baby, for example, is actually physically and emotionally younger than his chronological age, so he may develop skills like speech later than other children his age.
When it comes to hearing loss, it’s no surprise that a child who has difficulty hearing will also have difficulty speaking. “When left undetected, hearing loss of any degree, including mild bilateral (in both ears) and unilateral (in one ear), can adversely affect speech, language, and academic and psychosocial development,” says Dr. Paul.
Improving Speech in Children With Developmental Delays
The best approach to improving speech in children with developmental delays is to catch the problem early through careful monitoring and then begin to address it right away. “Speech language pathologists will often evaluate the preterm child based on his adjusted age (counting from his birth date) until age two,” says Paul.
In fact, even before a child begins speaking, you can look for some clues that speech might become a challenge later on. “If a child seems to have trouble using eye gaze and gestures to get what he wants or if he doesn't babble or use other sounds, he may be at risk for a speech or language delay,” says Paul. “Other red flags include a child's lack of comprehension of what you say or his inability to use objects. Even if a child does well with these tasks but still has trouble with sounds and words, he may need help.”
For a baby with hearing impairment, treating the hearing problem often helps with speech development, as well. “Children with hearing impairments need to be followed and treated from birth,” says Diane Bahr, a speech language pathologist and author of Nobody Ever Told Me (or My Mother) That: Everything from Bottles and Breathing to Healthy Speech Development. “Hearing is essential for speech development. Many of these children are now given cochlear implants to perceive sounds, but they also require speech training to acquire speech.”
Must-Reads in Speech Challenges
The Outlook for Children With Developmental Delays
When it comes to overcoming the speech and language issues related to developmental delays, the prognosis really depends on the severity of the initial problem. As a general rule, however, speech problems that are related to muscle control will require more extensive therapy than those that do not.
“Those delays that don’t have a physical component tend to improve faster,” says Kathryn Thorson Gruhn, a speech language pathologist and author in private practice in North Carolina. “If the child has developed adverse feelings about his speech, self-esteem issues and poor interaction with peers and family, the child’s communication attempts may become more difficult. When a child with a developmental delay understands that language gives him a sense of control, therapy can end quite quickly.”
Regardless of the cause, the key to successful treatment is to catch the problem early and begin to address it immediately. “The earlier speech and language disorders are identified and treated, the better, regardless of the cause,” says Paul.
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Spring peepers are found in wooded areas and grassy lowlands near ponds and swamps in the central and eastern parts of Canada and the United States. These loud amphibians are rarely seen, but as temperatures begin to rise in March and April, the males certainly are heard. Their peep… peep… peep creates an other-worldly whistling sound that, to many, is the first sign of spring
Spring peepers (Pseudacris crucifer) are tan or brown in color with dark lines that form an X on their backs. They grow to about 1.5 inches (3.8 centimeters) in length, and have large toe pads that act as suction cups for climbing.
They are nocturnal creatures, hiding from many predators during the day and emerging at night to feed on ants, beetles, flies, and spiders.
When the warmer weather arrives, male frogs attempt to attract a mate with a spring serenade. The frogs normally perform in trios. The one who starts each round usually has the deepest voice. The "vocal sacs" under their chins allow the frogs to “sing.” They pump the sacs full of air until they look like a full balloon, then let out a loud "peep" while discharging the air. They “peep” about once every second. These chirps can often be heard as far as a half-mile away.
After a female and male peeper mate, the female lays her eggs in water and spends the remainder of the year in the forest. During the winter, they hibernate under logs or behind loose bark on trees. The music dies down during the cold months, but the chirps of peepers will soon be heard again, sounding the coming of spring.
Text by Lyssa White
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The concept of ki is one of the most difficult associated
with the philosophy and practice of aikido. Since the word "aikido"
means something like "the way of harmony with ki," it is hardly
surprising that many aikidoka are interested in understanding just what
ki is supposed to be. Etymologically, the word "ki"
derives from the Chinese chi. In Chinese philosophy, chi was
originally supposed to be that which differentiated living and
non-living things. But as Chinese philosophy developed, the concept of
chi took on a wider and wider range of meanings and applications. On
some views, chi was held to be the most basic "stuff" out of which all
things were made. The differences between things depended not on some
things having chi and others not, but rather on a principle (li,
Japanese = RI) that determined how the chi was organized and functioned
(the view here bears some similarity to the ancient Greek matter-form
Modern aikidoka are less concerned with the historiography of the
concept of ki than with the question of whether or not the term
"ki" denotes anything real, and, if so, just what it does denote.
There have been some attempts to demonstrate the objective existence of
ki as a kind of "energy" or "stuff" that flows within the body
(especially along certain channels, called "meridians"). So far,
however, there have been no reputable studied published in peer-reviewed
scientific journals that substantiate such claims. This does not, of
course, settle the question decisively against the existence of
ki, but, just yet, the evidence does not support existence claims
There are a number of aikidoka who claim to be able to demonstrate
the (objective) existence of ki by performing various sorts of
feats. One such feat that is very popular, is the so-called
"unbendable arm." In this exercise, one person, A, extends her arm,
while another person, B, tries to bend her arm. First, A makes a fist
and tightens the muscles in her arm. B is usually able to bend the arm.
Next, A relaxes her arm (but leaves it extended) and "extends
ki" (since "extending ki" is not something most newcomers
to aikido know precisely how to do, A is often simply advised to think
of her arm as a fire-hose gushing water, or some such similar metaphor).
This time, B finds it (far) more difficult to bend the arm. The
conclusion is supposed to be that it is the force/activity of ki
that accounts for the difference. However, there are alternative
explanations expressible within the vocabulary or scope of physics (or,
perhaps, psychology) that are fully capable of accounting for the
phenomenon here. In addition, the fact that it is difficult to filter
out the biases and expectations of the participants in such
"experiments" makes it all the more questionable whether they provide
reliable evidence for the objective existence of ki.
Not all aikidoka believe that ki is a kind of "stuff" or
"energy." For some aikidoka, ki is an expedient concept --- a
blanket-concept that covers intentions, momentum, will, and attention.
If one eschews the view that ki is a stuff that can literally be
extended, to extend ki is to adopt a physically and
psychologically positive bearing. This maximizes the efficiency and
adaptability of one's movement, resulting in stronger technique and a
feeling of affirmation both of oneself and one's partner.
Irrespective of whether one chooses to take a realist or an
anti-realist stance with respect to the objective existence of
ki, there can be little doubt that there is more to aikido than
the mere physical manipulation of another person's body. Aikido
requires a sensitivity to such diverse variables as timing, momentum,
balance, the speed and power of an attack, and especially to the
psychological state of one's partner (or of an attacker).
In addition, to the extent that aikido is not a system for gaining
physical control over others, but rather a vehicle for self-improvement
(or even enlightenment), there can be little doubt that
cultivation of a positive physical and psychological bearing is an
important part of aikido. Again, one may or may not wish to describe
the cultivation of this positive bearing in terms of ki.
The Aikido Primer
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The Traditions of the Hopi, by H.R. Voth, , at sacred-texts.com
Alíksai! At a certain place the Navaho were living. They were going to have a dance at some place towards the north, so they gathered together their ponies and early in the morning they dressed up. The women did not have calico dresses, but wore blue dresses with red borders and silver belts. So when they were all dressed up they mounted their ponies and went to the dance. There were a great many of them. A very heavy dust rose from all their ponies as they traveled on. They went to a place in the large canyon, somewhat north of where Fort Defiance now stands. Towards evening they arrived at the place where the dance was to be. It was in a very deep canyon. They had to go down a steep, dangerous, zigzag trail. The Navaho lived well there; they had good homes and near by some peach orchards. During the night they had their dance. They had prepare-d a great deal of food of different kinds of meat, and thus they were eating, and during the night they had their Katcina dance. There were a great many Katcinas that had masks on. The people were camped in a circle and had camp-fires, and in the center of the circle was the dance. When they were performing the fifth dance a light was seen in the distance and a big star was rising that came down and fell down near the line of dancers, right in front of the head dancer.
The Navaho are very much afraid of something happening, so when his star fell down they all jumped on their ponies and began to scatter. Hereupon a great noise was heard west of the camp. The Oraíbi had arrived to make a raid on the Navaho, but not the Oraíbi from the present village. They then lived a little farther west, where there are some ruins now (the name of which the narrator cannot give). A great battle then ensued, but the Navaho were driven back out of the canyon, because they tried to protect their wives and children.
The Hopi followed them, shooting principally with reed arrows, and killing a great many of them. Only a few finally escaped to their homes, and that is the reason why the Navaho, when they have a dance now, always put out some watchers to look out for intruders.
266:1 The Navaho, it seems, had used poisoned arrows. The Hopi say that the way the Navaho prepared these arrows was as follows: They would suspend a rattlesnake and place a vessel under it, into which the putrid matter from the decaying rattlesnake dropped. They would mix with this matter poison that they had extracted from the fangs of the rattlesnakes, and with this stuff they would poison their arrows. But the Hopi say that in that battle it often happened that the Hopi would procure the bows and arrows of slain Navaho, and thus shoot their enemies with those poisoned arrows, so that the Navaho were paid back in their own coin, and the Hopi repeat in this connection that a great many Navaho died from these poisoned arrows because their bodies were entirely unprotected, while the bodies of the Hopi were well wrapped with buckskins, which furnished a good protection against the arrows.
266:2 Told by Kúhkuima (Shupaúlavi).
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England & Wales 1851 Census
About the 1851 census for England, Wales and Scotland
The 1851 census was taken on 30 March and gave the total population as 20,997,889.
Data included in the 1841 census:
Names - the surname and first name, and sometimes the middle name or initial
Born (county) - name of county given
Born (country) - name of country given
Relationship to head of household
Condition of marriage
Disability - "blind, deaf-and-dumb, imbecile or lunatic"
Additionally, where the 1891 and 1901 census was taken in Wales, the census included a question on the language spoken
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Eliza Ann Grier (1864-1902)
Little is known about Grier's life. She was born in 1864, during the Civil War (1861-65), in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, to Emily and George Washington Grier. In 1884 she enrolled in the Normal Department at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. She worked her way through school, alternating years between course work and jobs, yet remained active in extracurricular activities, including serving in 1890 as president of the Young Ladies Lyceum.
After graduating from Fisk in 1891, Grier moved to Augusta, Georgia, where she taught at the Haines Normal and Industrial Institute, founded by Lucy Craft Laney. Soon after arriving at Haines, Grier was accepted into the Woman's Medical College in Pennsylvania (later part of Drexel University College of Medicine), where she began her studies in 1893. Once again, she worked to support her educational pursuits and persevered through financial hardships. When she graduated in 1897, Grier was one of a small but growing number of African American female physicians in the United States. Later that year, she made national news when she became the first African American woman to apply for and be granted a license to practice medicine in Georgia.
Grier and other black physicians of this era, including Atlanta physician and pharmacist Henry Rutherford Butler, were confronted with a system of segregation and Jim Crow laws. In response, they built hospitals, formed professional societies, and created educational institutions to support themselves as well as their communities. Grier, despite overwhelming difficulties, remained determined and engaged in opportunities to improve health and hygiene standards for African Americans in the rural South. She lived in Atlanta and in Greenville, South Carolina, during the four years after graduating from medical school and struggled to build a private practice. She also supplemented her income with teaching and maintained connections to the Hospital and Training School for Nurses in Charleston, South Carolina.
In 1901 Grier was among the 200 attendees of the Tuskegee Negro Conference, which included such nationally recognized leaders as W. E. B. Du Bois. Around this time she relocated to Albany, Georgia, where her brother Dr. R. E. Grier also practiced medicine.
Grier died in 1902 and is buried in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Ruth J. Abram, Send Us a Lady Physician: Women Doctors in America, 1835-1920 (New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 1985).
Darlene Clark Hine, Hine Sight: Black Women and the Re-construction of American History (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1997).
Steven J. Peitzman, A New and Untried Course: Woman's Medical College and Medical College of Pennsylvania, 1850-1998 (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2000).
Susan Wells, Out of the Dead House: Nineteenth-Century Women Physicians and the Writing of Medicine (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2001).
Wesley Chenault, Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History
A project of the Georgia Humanities Council, in partnership with the University of Georgia Press, the University System of Georgia/GALILEO, and the Office of the Governor.
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Dealing with imminent or
actual major events
Crisis management is a process for dealing with the threat, onset and
ongoing consequences of imminent or actual major events that have the
potential to harm the organization, its stakeholders or the general
public. A crisis usually results in a period where normal operations
can not be continued in full and this period can be referred to as a
period during which abnormal operations prevail.
Crisis management or organizational resilience planning
Crisis management planning describes the process where preparation is made for responding to and handling a potential crisis. A potential crisis can be identified during a risk analysis process where hazards and threats are analyzed and impact and consequences are assessed. Crisis management planning is an important management process as it not only identifies possible disruptive events but enables the management, supported as necessary by qualified specialists, to develop suitable strategies for reducing the likelihood of those events occurring, reducing the frequency of these events, reducing the likely impact from those events, increasing the effectiveness of continuity plans and increasing the level of protection against these events. This process is also known as organizational resilience whereby risks are identified and measured, suitable strategies devised and costed and cost effective risk treatment projects are introduced in order to avoid the more serious consequences and implications of these risks.
Open and consistent communication
The credibility and reputation of an organization is heavily influenced by the perception of their responses during crisis situations. There should be open and consistent communication throughout the hierarchy to contribute to a successful crisis communication process whilst protecting critical and sensitive data provided such protection it does not result in increasing the risk of causing injuries.
Framework for crisis management response
Crisis management activities should provide a framework for a structured response to both the reality and perception of an imminent or actual crisis; establishes the triggering of any necessary response mechanisms; and covers the communication and notification that needs to occur within the immediate response phase of emergency management scenarios. Crisis management involves dealing with threats after they have become imminent or have occurred. This management discipline consists of skills and techniques required to identify, assess, understand, and cope with serious situations, especially from the moment each situation first occurs to the point that recovery procedures start.
Crisis management phases
The first stage of crisis management can involve emergency management activities that require timely and decisive action such as evacuating an area of danger, calling the emergency services, or treating injuries. Where the disruptive event is likely to seriously impact on the business operations then a suitable continuity plan is likely to be triggered.
Coverage in the Organizational Resilience software
The ASIS Organizational Resilience Software provides a significant amount of functionality that supports crisis management planning and handling of disruptive events. The software has separate functions for incident management planning that focuses on the emergency management stage, the repair or replacement of affected assets or resources, recovery of affected components and the returning of operations to normality. The software has a further area for the continuity planning which concentrates on preparing for continuation of critical operational processes as far as possible in an attempt to meet contractual or other obligations during abnormal working conditions.
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Investigator: Greg Duncan
Funding: Spencer Foundation
This research focuses on school readiness by assessing the impact of school-entry achievement, attention, and socio-emotional skills on learning-related behaviors, utilizing existing data sets. Findings to date indicate that children entering kindergarten with elementary math and reading skills are the most likely to do well in school later, even if they have various social and emotional problems. Controlling for IQ, family income, gender, temperament, type of previous educational experience, and whether children came from single- or two-parent families, mastery of early math concepts when entering school was the strongest predictor of future academic success.
Other findings in this project indicate that ill-behaved boys and girls from either rich or poor families learn just as much as their better behaved or more socially adjusted peers-provided that they come to school with the prerequisite academic skills.
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http://www.gse.uci.edu/research/achieve_attent_behave.php
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| 0.950558
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Silicon Valley 2.0?
As the AP reports, "So many valley companies, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs are rushing into the burgeoning solar industry that it's inviting comparisons to the early expansion of the microchip industry more than two decades ago."
Currently, less than one percent of the world's electricity comes from solar and Japan and Germany are the early leaders in the nascent industry. But that could change quickly given the Golden State's ambitious new global warming legislation, which aims to slash greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2020, and its "Million Solar Roofs" program, which offers cash incentives for consumers to adopt solar power.
But while the solar revolution could well occur Silicon Valley, it may not hinge on the area's namesake material. Polysilicon, already expensive, has also grown scarce as the demand for photovoltaics climbs. Experts say the future of solar power probably lies in less expensive (and, as yet, less efficient) alternatives such as electrically conductive plastics, carbon nanotubes and dye-sensitized solar cells that attempt to mimic photosynthesis.
Whichever technologies win out in the end, venture capitalists see the solar field as fertile ground. As one source tells the AP, "We all see that green is gold."
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A U.S. senator says there could possibly be a link between a chemical in sunscreen and skin cancer. He's demanding the FDA reveal its findings about the study.
Senator Charles Schumer says the Food and Drug Administration has been reviewing data about the potential health risk of the chemical "retinyl palmitate" since July of last year. He's calling on the FDA to give its evaluation of the data immediately.
The democrat says consumers deserve to know if a chemical in their sunscreen causes cancer.
"Millions of Americans use sunscreen to keep themselves and their families protected from the dangers of too much sun," Senator Schumer said. "If the product they are using does more harm than good, everyone has the right to know and the FDA has to take action.'
Retinyl Palmitate, a Vitamin A derivative, is found in hundreds of of the most popular sunscreen products in stores.
One study found that tumors and lesions developed up to 21 percent faster in lab animals coated with the chemical.
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