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at Massachusetts Institute of Technology are working on an even more automated solution. They want to set up a system that would give bullying victims coping strategies, encourage potential bullies |
to stop and think before posting something offensive, and allow onlookers to defend victims, said Henry Lieberman. Lieberman's students Birago Jones and Karthik Dinakar are working on an algorithm that |
would automatically detect bullying language. The research group has broken down the sorts of offensive statements that commonly get made, grouping them into categories such as racial/ethnic slurs, intelligence insults, |
sexuality accusations and social acceptance/rejection. While it's not all of the potential bullying statements that could be made online, MIT Media Lab scientists have a knowledge base of about 1 |
million statements. They've thought about how some sentences, such as "you look great in lipstick and a dress," can become offensive if delivered to males specifically. The idea is that |
if someone tries to post an offensive statement, the potential bully would receive a message such as "Are you sure you want to send this?" and some educational material about |
bullying may pop up. Lieberman does not want to automatically ban people, however. "If they reflect on their behavior, and they read about the experience of others, many kids will |
talk themselves out of it," he said. Lieberman and colleagues are using their machine learning techniques on the MTV-partnered website "A Thin Line," where anyone can write in their stories |
of cyberbullying, read about different forms of online disrespect, and find resources for getting help. The researchers' algorithm tries to detect the theme or topic of each story, and match |
it to other similar stories. They're finding that the top theme is sexting, Lieberman said. "We're trying to find social network sites that want to partner with us, so we |
can get more of this stuff out into the real world," Lieberman said. Turley and Rigal, who is now a freshman at Columbia University, are currently promoting the idea of |
having a "bully button" on Facebook so that people can formally report cyberbullying to the social network and have bullies suspended for a given period of time. They haven't gotten |
a response yet, but they're hopeful that it will take off. In the meantime, Turley is feeling a lot safer in school than he used to. "Times have changed definitely, |
where people are becoming slowly more aware," he said. "At my school, at least, I'm seeing a lot less bullying and a more acceptance overall. People just stick to their |
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Symptoms of ADHD The symptoms of ADHD include inattention and/or hyperactivity and impulsivity. These are traits that most children display at some point or another. But to establish a diagnosis of ADHD, sometimes referred to as ADD, the symptoms should be inappropriate for the... |
of adults diagnosed with the disorder had it as children. When ADHD persists into adulthood, symptoms may vary. For instance, an adult may experience restlessness instead of hyperactivity. In addition, adults with ADHD often have problems with interpersonal relationships and employment. |
A NEW Monash University study aims to tackle rural obesity in young women.Monash University women's health researcher Cate Lombard is leading the study, which is set to focus on preventing weight gain rather than treating obesity. The large-scale research is |
targeting 900 women aged between 18 and 50 living in 42 small rural communities across Victoria. And will focus on participants changing their lifestyle and developing a low-cost program that helps women avoid putting on weight. It's estimated 60 per |
cent of Australian women are overweight and those in their 20s and 30s are gaining weight faster than other age groups. "They are often unaware that their yearly weight gain is having a major impact on their health," Dr Lombard |
For Further Information Contact: Channel Islands Field Station 1901 Spinnaker Drive Ventura, CA 93001-4354 Phone: (805) 658-5753 FAX: (805) 893-8062 The Southern California Bight and its offshore islands are a unique natural resource with many sensitive and endemic plants and animals. This area is also an expanding urb... |
for scientifically guided management. The Channel Islands Field Station has cooperative agreements with Channel Islands National Park in Ventura, Calif., and the University of California, Santa Barbara, that facilitate collaboration between field station scientists and university and park biologists. The linkage with t... |
temperate marine species. Channel Islands National Park provides access to the habitats of several rare and endemic plant species suffering from the impacts of exotic weeds and feral animals. The national park also has a wealth of marine resources in need of study and management. Field station biologists analyze data c... |
at the Channel Islands Field Station conduct research on the ecology and conservation biology of sensitive plants and animals at the Channel Islands and along California's coast. In doing so, the field station supports information needs of the National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and other state and f... |
of Fish and Game. Some examples of ongoing research in plant ecology include rare plant demography, effects of grazing by feral animals on native plant communities, restoration ecology, and the distribution of invasive exotic weeds. Examples of research in marine ecology are restoration strategies for the nearly extirp... |
The study is taking place to help find the causes of common behaviour problems and diseases of cats - eg obesity & hyperthyroidism - as the causes of these conditions are poorly understood. How is information collected? Information is collected |
via four questionnaires when kittens are aged eight to16 weeks, six, 12 and 18 months of age. The data will be analysed to see what extent certain characteristics eg obesity are associated with management - eg diet, lifestyle and other |
factors eg breed. What are the benefits? The researchers aim to provide guidance to practitioners, owners and the cat community at large, to improve the health and welfare of cats. In order to do this, they need the help of |
kitten owners and hope to enrol 900 kittens by December 2011 to ensure robust statistical results. Study progress to date... Between March and September 2011, 588 kittens registered on the study – a fantastic response and thank you to everyone |
who has already enrolled! Not surprisingly, the most commonly registered cat breed was found to be the moggy/mixed breed/domestic short hair. How to get involved: Can you help by spreading the word to kitten owners, cat breeders or anyone with |
a kitten? If so, please contact the ‘Bristol Cat’ study team at the University of Bristol, using the details below, to request a poster to display and a supply of flyers to pass on to kitten owners. Alternatively, if you |
have a kitten between eight and 16 weeks of age, please log-on to the study website and complete a questionnaire. The researchers are also keen to hear from owners of more than one kitten. Full details about the study can |
| Woodruff plant in flower| Woodruff plant in flower | Galium odoratum| Woodruff (Galium odoratum) is a herbaceous perennial plant in the family Rubiaceae, native to Europe, North Africa and western Asia. It grows to 30-50 cm (12-20 ins.) long, often lying flat on the ground or supported by other plants. The plant is a... |
Breath. "Master of the woods" is probably a translation of the German name Waldmeister. Names like "Sweetscented bedstraw", "Cudweed" and "Ladies' Bedstraw" should be avoided; the former two properly refer to Galium triflorum, the latter to Galium verum. The leaves are simple, lanceolate, glabrous, 2-5 cm long, and bor... |
white with four petals joined together at the base. The seeds are 2-4 mm diameter, produced singly, and each seed is covered in tiny hooked bristles which help disperse the seed by sticking temporarily to clothing and animal fur. This plant prefers partial to full shade in moist, rich soils. In dry summers it needs fre... |
the rooted stems, or digging up of the barely submerged perimeter stolons. Woodruff, as the scientific name odoratum suggests, is a strongly scented plant, the sweet scent being derived from coumarin.This scent increases on wilting and then persists on drying, and woodruff is used in pot-pourri and as a moth deterrent.... |
or "Maibowle" in German), beer (Berliner Weisse), brandy, sausages, jelly, jam, a soft drink (Tarhun), ice cream, and a herbal tea with gentle sedative properties. High doses can cause headaches, due to the toxity of coumarin. Very high doses of coumarin can cause vertigo, somnolence or even central paralysis and apnoe... |
In the Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination exhibit, Luke Skywalker's Landspeeder is on display for the first time. Click on image for full size Courtesy of Landspeeder image © |
2006 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM Photo: Dom Miguel Photography Star Wars Exhibition Brings Reality to Fantasy News story originally written on April 16, 2008 A new museum exhibit shows that |
some of the robots, vehicles and devices from the Star Wars films are close to the types of things scientists have developed to use in space. The exhibition--at the Science |
Museum of Minnesota in St. Paul, Minn., from June 13 until August 24--showcases landspeeders, R2D2 and other items from the Star Wars films. Visitors will learn how researchers today are |
pursuing similar technologies. The exhibit developers were surprised and excited to learn that many of today's scientists were inspired by the fantasy technologies they saw in the Star Wars movies. |
One of the goals of the exhibit is to be an inspiration for the kids will be the next set of future scientists. The exhibit contains film clips, props, models |
and costumes. Visitors are encouraged to participate in hands-on exhibits and activities. Shop Windows to the Universe Science Store! Our online store includes fun classroom activities for you and your |
students. Issues of NESTA's quarterly journal, The Earth Scientist are also full of classroom activities on different topics in Earth and space science! You might also be interested in: Scientists |
have learned that Mount Hood, Oregon's tallest mountain, has erupted in the past due to the mixing of two different types of magma. "The data will help give us a |
better road map to what a future...more The Earth's mantle is a rocky, solid shell that is between the Earth's crust and the outer core, and makes up about 84 |
percent of the Earth's volume. The mantle is made up of many distinct portions or...more Some geologic faults that appear strong and stable, slip and slide like weak faults, causing |
earthquakes. Scientists have been looking at one of these faults in a new way to figure out why. In theory,...more The sun goes through cycles that last approximately 11 years. |
These solar cycle include phases with more magnetic activity, sunspots, and solar flares. They also include phases with less activity. The...more Studying tree rings doesn't only tell us the age |
of that tree. Tree rings also show what climate was like for each year of a tree's life, which means they can tell us about climates of the past and |
about...more Earth's first life form may have developed between the layers of a chunk of mica sitting like a multilayered sandwich in primordial waters, according to a new hypothesis. The |
mica hypothesis, which was...more Acid rain plays a small role in making the world's oceans more acidic. But new research has found that acid rain has a much bigger impact |
This photograph shows the stones of Stonehenge up close. Stonehenge is the most well known megalithic structure. Click on image for full size Image courtesy of Corel Photography What are Megaliths? Have you ever seen a megalith? Maybe you have and you just didn't know it! A megalith is made of huge stones. They were pu... |
Sometimes the stones look like a stone fort and sometimes they are just rocks that have been stood on end. Other megaliths look like big mounds of rocks, but those mounds have secret chambers inside of them! Megaliths can be found all over. They are in Europe, Russia, the Americas, Africa, and Asia. Some megaliths were... |
present-day road signs. Some were probably ancient sites of worship. Still others were graveyards. And others might have been astronomy observatories. We do know that these structures must have been really important to the people who built them! Some of the megaliths are almost 7,000 years old. That means that 7,000 ye... |
180 tons in weight around. They did that without cranes or trucks or even simple horse-drawn carts! The most famous megalithic site is Stonehenge in England. But there are other cool ones too. Take a look at Newgrange of Ireland, Balnuaran of Clava in Scotland, Pentre Ifan in Wales, the stones of Fossa in Italy and the... |
France. Shop Windows to the Universe Science Store! The Summer 2010 issue of The Earth Scientist , available in our online store , includes articles on rivers and snow, classroom planetariums, satellites and oceanography, hands-on astronomy, and global warming. You might also be interested in: Ancient people all over t... |
graveyards for these people. In Wales, there are some stones named Pentre Ifan that mark a grave. There is...more The stones of Carnac, France, are very famous because there are a lot of them and because they are so old! The oldest stones found in Carnac are from about 4,500 B.C. That's older than the stones at Stonehe... |
have heard of the lake called Loch Ness, where people think they've seen the Loch Ness monster. Near Loch Ness there are three giant stone tombs you may not have heard of...they are called the...more There are over 900 rings of stone located in the British Isles. The most famous of these stone rings is Stonehenge. Ston... |
Stonehenge is a mysterious sight. There's these huge stones...more The stone rings and tombs of England and France are very famous. But, there are also stone structures in Italy. There are some neat stones in Fossa, Italy. They are standing stones. These stones form circles...more Simple astronomy was probably practice... |
especially observe the movement of the Sun and Moon across the sky. Stonehenge actually lines up...more Man has always observed the sky. By watching the Sun and Moon, early man could tell what season was coming next. They had to know this to be able to farm and hunt. Archeoastronomy started in the 1960's...more |
Although there have been relatively few major incidents – such as a blade flying off in North Dakota last year –a lot more come under the category of falls and electric shocks such as those caused by arc flashes. According to Wally Tinsley, lead power systems engineer at diversified power management company Eaton Corp,... |
farms in one year. Understandably, the industry is giving far more attention to safety. OSHA and the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) have formed an alliance to improve safety standards. Its purpose is to develop consensus on standardising safety practices, to ensure compliance and to establish training programm... |
OEMs have joined the AWEA Safety Committee. And with good reason – a rise in accidents could lead to soaring insurance costs and expensive worker's compensation claims. And a poor safety record would fan the fire of the anti-wind lobby. "The safe operation of wind turbines will be a significant factor in promoting the ... |
safety expert at US utility Duke Energy's wind energy production division in Charlotte, North Carolina. "As companies recognize hazards, they have worked together to reduce or eliminate that hazard. This has allowed the overall safety of the wind industry to continue to improve." While OHSA efforts will cover the spect... |
rescue procedures. An arc flash is essentially the release of electrical energy due to an electric arc. It has the potential to cause serious injury or even death. "Arc flash is a concern for wind turbines due to the limited area in the base of the tower and nacelle, as well as when operating pad mount transformers," s... |
area within the tower would confine any energy produced to that area and to any individuals within the tower." What is to be done about arc flash? Tinsley highlights the importance of an arc flash hazard assessment to isolate trouble spots so mitigation measures can be instituted. Possible areas of high risk include sq... |
"A smart way to mitigate arc flash hazard is through remote access and remote switching," says Tinsley. Vander Velde concurs. His company has adopted a remote operator design for some of its wind-related electrical equipment to allow the employees to reduce the need to go inside the tower. "We have also developed compu... |
Velde. Training is another important facet of any safety programme related to arc flash. Duke Energy, for instance, requires National Fire Protection Association's NFPA 70E training, a standard to promote electrical safety in the workplace, to along with an employee qualification programme. There is also plenty of arc-... |
for employees to recognize the need for it. By the very nature of the business, most accidents are likely to happen off the ground. So what do you do when a worker is injured a hundred metres up? "OSHA requires that employers not only protect works from fall hazards, but also have a rescue plan in place for workers who... |
a fall arrest system," says Kevin Denis, training manager at Gravitec Systems Inc. of Poulsbo, Washington, a company that provides fall protection equipment and equipment. "Although there is a regulatory requirement for the employer to provide rescue, there are no specific guidelines for wind industry rescue programmes... |
for rescue. This begins with personal protective equipment such as hard hats, gloves and safety harnesses and continues into good housekeeping practices like not cluttering up the nacelle with tools, replacement parts or personal items. Another step in at-height safety is teaching workers to evacuate dangerous areas un... |
For example, a worker may already be suspended below the hub to do blade repair/inspection when high winds make a rapid descent imperative. In those cases, competence is called for in using the various descent control devices available on the market. Standards are also evolving concerning what is known as high-angle re... |
where rescuers are dependent upon ropes. This might involve other wind technicians or emergency personnel and a variety of safety systems. Denis stresses the need for the writing of proper procedures for every wind farm including a fall protection code that clearly outlines the required action for all possible events. ... |
rescue of employees in the event of a fall or shall assure the self-rescue capability of employees." The only way to ensure this is by establishing effective training programmes for new and existing employees. "Even though the incidents are infrequent, the potential for high angle rescue is a concern for everyone," say... |
in a high angle rescue system." Medical help at height Some go beyond high angle rescue training and require additional emergency management training such as support for injuries that occur in remote areas. Duke Energy reports great success with the implementation of an Elevated Emergency Management (EMM) programme. Ea... |
include off site personnel. This drill is to practice emergency response skills as well as assess existing levels of knowledge. During one of the first such drills, several wind technicians said they felt they needed more emergency medical treatment training. That led to a new safety programme involving one of Duke's w... |
called Tech Safety Lines of Carrollton, Texas that supplies rescue training and equipment. This team worked together to develop training to address a range of injuries. The company now provides annual EMM retraining for all employees. This programme deals with such situations as victims being suspended in their harness... |
call a medic. But what if you are 50 miles from the nearest doctor and in a location that can only be accessed along a dirt track? And in any case, rural emergency response teams do not typically have the training or tools to reach a patient dangling from a rotor. "Emergencies involving a post-fall suspended victim get... |
larger percentage of up-tower injuries involve soft-tissue or bone and joint injuries," says Brent Wise, a partner at Tech Safety Lines. "Victims suspended in their harness need relief and lowering as quickly as possible, however many up-tower accidents would benefit greatly from medical care before being assisted to g... |
their procedures for responding to an emergency aloft. A fellow worker might overlook what might be indistinct signs of a serious internal injury such as a broken arm. "The fractured bone could potentially puncture an artery in the process of a haphazard evacuation attempt — making a relatively serious but manageable i... |
EMM programme are able to: ensure scene safety for both the rescuer and the victim; prioritise care for life-threatening injuries; recognize and care for traumatic injures including burns, severe bleeding, electrocution, and amputation; apply moldable splints for injured bones and joints; apply patient packaging and st... |
help is most likely remote if not altogether unavailable up-tower," says Wise. "Each climber should be capable of assessing a medical event, providing appropriate treatment, and stabilising the injured member until turned over to a medical professional." The subject of "packaging" was continually stressed by Duke and T... |
the ground. Tech Safety Lines recommends a device known as a Spec-Pak, which is a combination of a Class III harness and a backboard. It is designed to immobilise a victim and facilitate evacuation with minimal disruption of care. Wind turbine design Worker comfort is not necessarily a priority in wind turbine design. ... |
day in tight spaces. Additionally, many of the components are heavy and have to be lifted in awkward positions. This is added to the repetitive motion of climbing ladders. "Ergonomics is a very prominent issue within wind turbines," says Vander Velde. "Further studies need to be done in order to determine what action s... |
US, expect that the next generation of wind turbines will be called upon to improve ergonomics and provide greater built-in safety mechanisms and practices. And older models will probably be required to retrofit improvements or risk being phased out. Having a wind safety programme is one thing, but it is quite another ... |
and quicker to do without a harness or don the required electrical gear to avoid arc flash. So how do you get around the urge to cut corners or ignore safety rules for a quick trip up top to perform a two-minute maintenance task? Todd Karasek, Vice President of EHS at Suzlon Wind Energy Corp, sums it up nicely. "The ov... |
are procedures can sometimes cause staff to ignore the rules or be slow with compliance," he says. "In many cases, complying with safety procedures is difficult, inconvenient, slow and uncomfortable." His solution is to lay out clear consequences both positively and negatively. This goes beyond just saying that followi... |
The way to make such a programme work is to concentrate on the positive. "Catch them doing something right," says Karasek. "Concentrate on recognizing the right behaviours." But where there is a carrot, there must also be a stick. In this case, Suzlon has created a series of levels of safety violation which have differ... |
written reprimands all the way up to suspension and even termination. Failure to wear arc flash-protective equipment or working under the influence of drugs or alcohol, for example, are grounds for dismissal. This article originally appeared in Wind Stats magazine |
1516: Two Bavarian dukes issue a decree that limits the ingredients used in brewing beer to barley, water and hops. Referred to today as the Reinheitsgebot (purity ordinance), the decree has come to be known as a beer-purity law that |
was intended to keep undesirable or unhealthy ingredients out of beer. But the original text doesn’t explicitly state the reasoning behind the regulation. An English translation of the decree simply states,”We wish to emphasize that in future in all cities, |
markets and in the country, the only ingredients used for the brewing of beer must be barley, hops and water.” In fact, the main intent of the decree had more to do with bread than beer. “The government simply didn’t |
want people using valuable grains for beer,” said historian Maureen Ogle, author of Ambitious Brew: The Story of American Beer. “I think it was really just an attempt to keep beermakers from infringing on the territory of people who made |
bread.” Ensuring cheap bread was critical in times of food scarcity, a real problem for 16th-century Bavaria. While barley is not very digestible and consequently does not make for good eating, grains like wheat and rye are great for bread. |
The Bavarian leadership wanted to head off competition for those grains, in order to keep the price of food down. An unintended side effect of the regulation may have been a purer brew, but Ogle suspects the idea that purity |
motivated the rule may have germinated after World War II, when Germany’s economy was struggling. “After the war, they were looking for ways to bolster their economy, and one thing they could do is export beer,” Ogle said. “My educated |
guess is it’s directly connected to this drive.” The beer-purity angle probably really took hold in the United States in the 1960s as craft brewing was becoming more popular, Ogle said. The Reinheitsgebot is still discussed on beer blogs today. |
“If here had been no craft-beer movement, there wouldn’t be anybody sitting around talking about this law today,” she said. The name Reinheitsgebot did not appear in print until 1918, and wasn’t applied beyond Bavaria until 1871 when the German |
Empire was formed. According to the German Beer Institute, the law became an official part of the tax code in 1919 — despite the protestations of brewers — when Bavaria refused to join the Weimar Republic unless the law was |
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