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$400,000, as part of a $1.2 billion multiyear project. In field tests, the new Advanced Spectroscopic Portal monitors, or ASPs, "led to the determination that additional functional capacity is needed |
to meet the operational standards," a department spokeswoman announced. The announcement, which means the machines could take another year to reach U.S. ports, comes after more than a year of |
sparring between DHS officials and the Government Accountability Office over how effective the technology is as well as testing methods used to evaluate it. The debate over the new equipment |
has largely played out in congressional hearings. In September, Government Accountability Office officials argued that DHS testing was based on a "biased" methodology that allowed vendors an artificial edge during |
the evaluation of their radiation detectors, an allegation Homeland Security officials said was off base. Officials at the Belgian port of Antwerp, however, are moving ahead with deployment of the |
ASPs for use in secondary screening. "We're in the process of finalizing it now," Pascal Fias, a scientist working at the Antwerp port, said last week during an International Atomic |
Energy Agency-sponsored conference on nuclear trafficking here. In the Netherlands, Dutch customs officials are already using the ASP detectors in secondary deployments and expect to eventually use them as primary |
scanners, Fias said. Containers at ports are typically put through a two-phase scanning process. During the first phase, the shipping containers are sent through very sensitive detectors called plastic scintillators. |
Plastic scintillators can detect very low-level radiation emissions but are incapable of identifying the isotope emitting the energy. Due to their sensitivity, they can be triggered by innocuous cargo with |
trace levels of natural radiation like granite, kitty litter or bananas. In one instance a load of blueberries set off Belgian alarms. The fruit exhibited trace levels of cesium contamination, |
a legacy from Chernobyl, Fias said. If the primary detectors discover the presence of radiation, the shipping container is then sent through a secondary screening where customs officials use hand-held |
devices to determine the nature of the source. After the latest round of GAO criticism of the DHS technology vetting process, Homeland Security officials suggested the ASP detectors would first |
be deployed in secondary locations and testing would continue before replacing the plastic scintillators. While Belgian port officials have no plans to shift the ASP to a primary detection deployment |
- they say they have the plastic scintillators and might as well use them - the new technology is perfect for secondary screening, they say. "For the second phase, it |
makes a lot of sense to use the ASP," Fias told Global Security Newswire, calling the technology currently "the best on the market." Without the ASP detectors, custom officials must |
use a small, hand-held scanner to assess the entire shipping container. That is a small scanner and a large box, a combination that has led to complaints from customs officials |
at the port, Fias said. By contrast, the ASP scanners are "basically a very, very big detector that can scan the whole of the container," he said. Replacing primary scanners |
with the new technology requires any new device to be at least a sensitive as the plastic scintillators, Fias notes, a more challenging bar to meet. The goal with these |
detector upgrades, both domestically and abroad, is not necessarily increasing the level or radiation detection at ports, but rather smoothing the flow of commerce and making sure current detection regime |
is not disruptive. U.S. officials have repeatedly said the goal is to lower the number of false alarms at large ports such as Los Angeles/Long Beach. That port, the nation's |
busiest, has about 500 radiation alerts a day, and DHS officials suggest the new technology could plunge that number to less than 30. "We want to have a low economic |
impact. Time is money, certainly in a port," Fias said of Antwerp. "Only 1 in 10,000 containers are delayed for more than a few hours or days." He expects the |
Beyond simple math and grouping (like "(x+2)(x-4)"), there are some functions you can use as well. Look below to see them all. They are mostly standard functions written as you might expect. You can also use "pi" and "e" as |
their respective constants. Please note: You should not use fractional exponents. For example, don't type "x^(1/3)" to compute the cube root of x. Instead, use "root(x,3)". When you want a quick graph of a function, you can just go to |
The pristine waters off Kona, Hawaii, teem with big game and spawn many exciting fish tales. But this tale is unlike any other, a mystery involving a giant slender fish discovered on the surface minus its head and tail, making it nearly impossible to identify. Sea Strike Capt. Dale Leverone poses with giant headless my... |
Hawaii. In below image, first mate Jack Leverone lies beside the 7-foot-long denizen. Credit: the Leverones The case may never be solved because scientists have little to go on besides the photos accompanying this post, and because the fishermen filleted the carcass and tossed it overboard. The only thing that appears ... |
a species that resides at great depth, and is rarely encountered by humans. The best guess, and some might have already ventured this theory, is that this was an oarfish. Oarfish are long and slender prehistoric-looking fish believed to have spawned tales of sea serpents among ancient mariners. That’s what Capt. Dale L... |
the 7-foot-long ribbon-like fish, initially believed. That’s also what Jon Schwartz supposed. Schwartz, a fishing photographer and friends of the Leverone family, spent an entire day last week trying to solve this mystery, and blogged about his detective work. His title: “Giant Headless Mystery Fish Baffles Fishermen a... |
their heads, and the headless fish did not have a detectable dorsal fin. “I thought it was a car bumper, but then I remembered they don’t float,” first mate Jack Leverone told Schwartz. Schwartz contacted Jim Rizzuto, a veteran fishing writer in Hawaii, and Rizzuto suggested it could be a Hawaiian ridge scabbardfish, w... |
rare. But scabbardfish do not get nearly this long, so it was crossed off the list. Schwartz plunged into Wikipedia and found a species called beltfish, which are long and thin, and a photo of a bunch of them at a fish market in Japan. Not a probable match. Schwartz also contacted two NOAA marine biologists, who could ... |
a positive ID. I decided to probe on my own and contacted Perry Hampton, vice president of animal husbandry at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, Calif. Hampton said the photographs “do not show enough detail to make a determination” but added: “Despite the apparent lack of red dorsal fin it is hard to come up ... |
other species other than an oarfish,” based on the size of the specimen. “The most prominent part of an oarfish’s dorsal fin are the first few spines near the head,” he added. “It is possible that these things were lost along with the head. The rest of the dorsal fin runs the length of the body but usually lays flat |
in a recessed channel along the fish’s back unless it is alarmed.” So the headless mystery fish could very well have been an oarfish, but the world may never know for sure. Just as it will never know what kind of shark or other predator chomped off its head and tail, leaving the rest for the Leverones. They had planned |
to eat the headless mystery fish, but when they cooked it the flesh turned gelatinous, so they passed. More on GrindTV NATURE – Facebook friends capture amazing baby whale, seal footage on same day SHARKS – Scary moments for divers during up-close tiger shark encounter FISHING – Bluefin tuna sells for record $1.76 mill... |
In response to growing demand from western U.S. and Canadian outdoor fruit and berry producers, Biobest is developing a native western bumblebee for outdoor pollination. Bumblebees are important pollinators of many cultivated crops. By pollinating our fruits and vegetables, they not only help deliver our healthy meals,... |
vital to overall food security. Bumblebees have the edge when it comes to effective pollination. They produce their own heat, which in combination with their furry coats enables them to fly early in the season when it is still far too cold for honeybees and other insects. Unlike honeybees, they |
also buzz or shake flowers to collect pollen, which assures effective pollination. The use of bumblebees has allowed growers to produce higher-yielding, better-quality and safer crops. In food crops like greenhouse tomatoes, bumblebees have for many years successfully replaced physical pollination or chemicals previous... |
demand for bumblebees to help guarantee crop yield has increased in recent years as honeybees and other natural pollinators have declined, but because native western species have not been available commercially, western U.S. and Canadian growers of field crops like berries, top fruit and canola have been at a disadvant... |
unable to share in the many benefits these pollinators offer. Biobest recognizes the ecological and economic benefits of using native species for pollination. Having pioneered the use of bumblebees for crop pollination, Biobest has now developed a native western bumblebee species especially for the western U.S. and Can... |
been successful in rearing a range of native western bumblebee species, allowing them to select the right candidate for the western U.S. market. The company says that only the species that proves most successful in crop pollination will be launched for use in its native territory. Biobest expects to begin |
Fire ants can present a real problem for home owners. Almost every yard in our area has fire ants. Although they do not cause damage to the turf or other plant material, they can inflict painful stings. When their mounds are disturbed, the ants become aggressive and will attack anything |
that disturbs their mounds. An unsuspecting victim can be quickly covered with ants. The stings are usually just irritating and painful. However, some people are highly allergic and can become very ill with just one sting. Fire ants were accidentally introduced into the United States from South America through the |
port of Mobile, Ala., in the 1930s and they arrived into Georgia in the 1950s. At present, the ants are present in all counties except for some in the mountains. Human activity has helped spread the ants through shipments of ant infested nursery stock, soil, sod or other such material. |
They do not do as well in colder climates, which have slowed their spread northward. States in the western part of the country are trying to control the spread of fire ants through inspections of incoming agricultural products from infested areas and quarantines. The total elimination of fire ants from |
an area is not feasible. However, temporary measures can be initiated to control fire ant infestations. But the controls must be used continuously or the ants will return. Many situations exist that do not require the treatment of fire ants, like areas were little or no human activity occurs. However, |
in high traffic areas, such as lawns and garden areas, control of fire ants is a must. Killing the queen is very important in controlling fire ants. The queen stays in the mound and continues to reproduce while other ants build the mound and forage for food to feed the |
colony. Killing the foraging ants without killing the queen will not destroy the mound. There are basically three methods of treating fire ants. The first way is to broadcast fire ant bait such as Amdro, Logic, and several other brands on and around the mound while the ants are foraging. |
The ants think the bait is food when it actually is a poison. It goes down to the queen and gets rid of the colony over time. The second method is to treat the individual mounds with an insecticide drench, such as acephate, carbaryl (Sevin) and several others. The mound |
drenches use a small amount of the active poison ingredient mixed with water and poured upon the mound. Some times the "two step" method is used. The fire ants are treated with bait broadcasted into the area and then, seven days later, the mounds are drenched with the appropriate insecticide. |
A third method is broadcast applications of granular insecticides. The products are not baits. The products, such as fipronil (Over 'n Out, Chipco, TopChoice), can reduce the fire ant population substantially over time. However, these products only work where they have been directly applied to. Remember, when using che... |
follow all label directions and safety precautions. One home method is to use boiling hot water. A couple of applications can kill a fire ant mound. However, each mound has to be treated individually and there is the risk of the applicator being scalded by the water. Never use gasoline |
to try to burn mounds. Besides the risk of setting yourself and the surrounding property on fire, the gasoline will kill the turf and can sterilize the soil. Some "home made remedies" such as grits, are totally useless in controlling fire ants. Fire ants are a big problem and will |
Staff Photo: Jason Braverman Girl Scouts Kennedy Watson, from left, Leah Royes and Kaitlyn Hamlette, of troop 4525 in Snellville, draw signs to promote cookie sales. Lemon-wedge cookies dusted with powdered sugar and filled with lemon zest flavor The shortbread cookie Oatmeal cookies with peanut butter filling Vanilla ... |
topped with peanut butter then completely covered in chocolate Thin wafer covered in a peppermint chocolate 1912 — On March 12, 1912, founder Juliette Gordon Low gathered 18 girls to register the first troop of American Girl Guides. It was renamed Girl Scouts the following year. 1920s — The first Girl Scout Troops on F... |
South are making steady progress toward breaking down racial taboos.” 1960s — The social unrest of the 1960s was reflected in organization actions and Girl Scout program change, including introduction in 1963 of four program age–levels for girls: Brownie, Junior, Cadette and Senior Girl Scouts. 1970s — Girl Scouts cont... |
of a health and fitness national service project in 1994 and the GirlSports initiative in 1996. 2000s — Grants from Fortune 500 companies such as Lucent Technologies, Intel and Lockheed Martin supported science and technology exploration programs for girls. 2012 — Girl Scouts of the USA has declared 2012 the Year of th... |
their leadership potential and a commitment to creating a coalition of like-minded organizations and individuals in support of balanced leadership in the workplace and in communities across the country. SNELLVILLE -- It's that time of year. Across Gwinnett -- and the nation -- young girls dressed in green, brown, tan a... |
by the boxes and they have a new cookie this year, the Savannah Smiles. Haven't heard of it? It's the latest creation to celebrate the organization's 100th anniversary. The girls from Troop No. 4525 in Snellville, just like millions of other girls, are bound and determined to sell their cookies to anyone who will buy a... |
is exciting to me because I started out as a Girl Scout with my sister in Brooklyn, N.Y.," Troop Co-leader Qualena Odom-Royes said. "Now being able to share it with Leah (my daughter) and these other girls is exciting and wonderful." The troop worked on posters to advertise their confectionery sweets and set individual... |
childhood exuberance, Jocelyn Spencer, 8, decided on 81,000 boxes. "I'm going to get everyone in my family to sell cookies," she said. And she's not the only one aiming big. The other girls in the troop set goals in the hundreds. "I'm going to try to raise 400 because I really want all of the prizes," Kennedy Watson, 8... |
Girl Scout Cookies In Recipes Try using Girl Scout Cookies as part of fun recipes In addition to the usual cookies, Girl Scouts of the USA has introduced its latest creation, the Savannah Smiles, to commemorate its 100th year. These celebratory baked goods were created in honor of Girl Scouts founder Juliette Gordon Lo... |
in taste to past customer favorites with bursts of lemon flavor. The cookie is shaped like a wedge, covered in powered sugar and filled with lemon crisps. "The Savannah Smiles is actually closer to the original cookies made for the Girl Scout sales. It was one of the first varieties out there," Troop Co-leader Adrienne... |
such a new addition to the Girl Scouts, the troops and their leaders haven't gotten to taste-test the lemon flavored treat. "I really want to try the new cookie," Kaitlyn Hamlette, 6, said. "I like lemony stuff, so I really want to try it." Ada Hamlette of Loganville, Kaitlyn's mother added, "Everyone is excited about ... |
want to try them. They look like they'll be delicious." To boost the Savannah Smiles' sales, Troop No. 4525 thought of a strategic marketing approach: Give out free samples while selling boxes around the county. "I want to give a box of milk to everyone who eats a sample," Spencer said. Cole chimed in, "Maybe we can ge... |
donate some milk." Your hips may be mad that you bought the cookies, but your heart won't feel the same. All of the proceeds from Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta's fundraising activities, including the cookie drive, stay in the council to serve the girls and volunteers in many ways. The money delivers programs to 41,500... |
territory, trains more than 18,000 adult member volunteers, provides approximately $52,000 in scholarships for higher education and so much more. The Girls Scouts of the USA haven't started selling their cookies online yet, but could in the next few years. The organization recommends never buying Girl Scout Cookies on ... |
There is no guarantee of freshness or authenticity. To keep up with a technological age, the organization is using its website to help buyers easily find troops to purchase from in the area. Starting Feb. 17, the public can use the Cookie Locator, a program set up to help locate girls selling in your neighborhood by en... |
Become a fan of h2g2 Daniel Boone, a legendary American frontiersman, was once quoted as saying, 'I ain't never been lost, but I may have been confused once or twice'. With all respect to Mr Boone - who was born in Pennsylvania, incidentally - it's incredibly easy to get lost and confused in the forests and mountains o... |
the course of the state's 300-plus year recorded history, many people have gotten lost and confused. And they've lost plenty of things while stumbling around in the Pennsylvania woodlands - including a surprising amount of gold and silver. Late in the 1690s, a group of French Canadians, led by Louis Frontenac, departed... |
up the Mississippi River to the Ohio River turn-off. They then went up the Ohio to the location of present-day Pittsburgh and took the left fork up the Allegheny River. On their rafts were kegs filled with gold coins destined for the Royal Governor of Canada's treasury. Upon reaching present-day Potter County, Pennsylv... |
of coins made the going slow. Fearing an English or Indian attack, they decided to bury the treasure just north of the location of present-day Coudersport. They marked their cache of gold with a cross chipped onto a rock. Seneca Indians are said to have seen the cross on the rock, but left it alone because they feared ... |
had special mystical significance. In time, the marker wore off the stone and the Indians were unable to remember where it was located. The Frenchmen never returned for their gold and to this day it has never been found. The Counterfeiter's Gold Then there's the story of Cyrus Cole who, in the early 1900s, lived by him... |
near the swamps outside Eldred in McKean County, Pennsylvania. Cole was something of a bum, surviving by picking berries and trapping muskrats yet, strangely, he was never short of cash. The United States Secret Service had agents investigating an influx of counterfeit silver half dollars and gold coins in the area, bu... |
they got an anonymous tip that Cole was the mastermind behind the counterfeiting ring. Armed with a search warrant, the agents searched Cole's shack and found some evidence, but not enough for a conviction. They searched the swamp for evidence of the minting equipment, but came up empty-handed. Legend has it that Cole ... |
gold and silver profits somewhere on the high ground near Eldred. None of it has ever been recovered. Civil War Gold In 1863, during the American Civil War1, a Union Army lieutenant was ordered to escort a wagon that had been fitted with a false base. This disguised compartment contained 26 gold bars each weighing 50 p... |
to travel from Wheeling, West Virginia, north through Pennsylvania and then south to Washington, DC - the idea behind this route was to avoid any possible encounter with Confederate forces. In the early stages of the journey, the lieutenant was sick with fever. During a fit of delirium, he blurted out the fact that the... |
gold. After his fever broke, the expedition left St Marys, Pennsylvania, heading for Driftwood where they were to build a raft and float down the Susquehanna River to Harrisburg. They never made it, vanishing somewhere in the forests of Cameron and Elk counties. Two months later, the party's civilian guide stumbled int... |
Marys, the last known location of the convoy. Army investigators interrogated the guide for days and heard that bandits ambushed the group, killing all the soldiers and taking the gold. The Army did not believe this story. Pinkerton2 detectives were hired to search the area, but all they found were some dead mules in t... |
present-day Route 55 in Elk County. In the early 1870s, human skeletons which were believed to be those of the soldiers were found in the same area. The guide was drafted into the army and assigned to a fort in the west. A heavy drinker, when he was drunk he would claim to know where the gold was hidden. But |
when he sobered up, he disavowed all knowledge of the treasure's location. Local rumour has it that during the past 50 years the modern US Army has sent several teams into the area around Dent's Run searching for the gold. Despite these alleged ongoing searches, the gold has never been recovered. During the American Ci... |
Union convoy heading from West Virginia to the Philadelphia Mint. The convoy's treasure - some 15 tons of silver bars - was stolen and hidden inside a cave north of Uniontown, Pennsylvania. The rebels sealed the mouth of the cave and never returned for the booty. Some say it's still out there waiting to be discovered. ... |
treasure ship sank off the Bahamas. A hundred and thirty years later a British captain named 'Blackbeard'3 found the treasure and recovered several tons of silver. Blackbeard sailed into Baltimore harbour intending to transfer the silver to a British warship for transport to London. Fearing that the ship would be follo... |
silver overland by wagon to Canada where it would be loaded into a convoy of strong ships. By the time Blackbeard reached Renovo, Pennsylvania, the War of 18124 had begun and Blackbeard, fearing that the silver would fall into USA hands, buried the treasure in the mountains outside Emporium in McKean County near presen... |
the silver and rumour has it that it is still there today. Robber Lewis' Lost Booty David 'Robber' Lewis made a reputation for himself in the early 1800s, robbing the rich and giving to the poor. He was captured in 1820 and on his deathbed, he confessed to all his crimes and told his jailers of three caches of gold |
he had hidden in Pennsylvania: One, containing $10,000 in gold, is said to have been hidden in a small cave along the Juniata River near Lewistown, Pennsylvania. Lewis returned for the cache and couldn't find it because the river had flooded and washed away his trail markers. A second cache is purported to be buried al... |
the caves he used as a hide-out. The third, reportedly containing $20,000, is buried in the hills outside of Bellefonte. During his last imprisonment, Lewis is said to have taunted his jailers by telling them that he could see the cache from the jail. None of these caches have ever been recovered. Cash at Kinzua In the... |
robbed a bank in Emporium, Pennsylvania, making off with $40,000 in cash. Apparently, he got lost and wound up in the village of Hazel Hurst where he collapsed. Not having a good day, our man died of 'exhaustion' a short time later, but not before confessing that he had buried the loot north-east of Kushequa within sig... |
railroad bridge. The money has never been recovered. The Belsano Train Robbery On 11 October, 1924, a train carrying a safe containing a payroll of $33,000 was robbed just outside the Cambria County, Pennsylvania town of Belsano. During the course of the robbery, one of the men who was guarding the safe was shot and ki... |
states joined the manhunt for Michelo Bassi and Anthony Pezzi and the murderous duo were apprehended two weeks after the robbery in Terre Haute, Indiana. Each had a gun and $3,000 in cash. The men were convicted of first degree murder and in February 1925, they were executed in the state's electric chair. The safe and ... |
was never recovered. Legend has it that it may be buried or hidden near the site of the robbery. The Lost Cave of Silver Somewhere in the Allegheny National Forest to the west of the town of Tionesta, Pennsylvania is a cave reputed to be full of silver. During the late 1700s, a white settler named Hill got lost and |
sought shelter in a cave for the night. Inside the cave he saw veins of silver running everywhere through the walls and ceiling. In the floor was a great pit filled with pure silver. When he managed to find his way home, he was unable to find his way back to the cave. Hill's story was backed up by an |
early entrepreneur who traded liquor with the indigenous Indians in exchange for furs and silver. When he asked them where they got all their silver, legend has it that they blindfolded him and took him to a cave matching the one described in Hill's story. Pure silver was found in Indian burial grounds near Irvine, War... |
miles upstream from Tionesta. However, the Cave of Silver has never been found. Other Lost Treasures An aeroplane carrying a quarter-million dollars in cash crashed near Mount Carmel in 1948. The money was thrown out of the plane just prior to the crash and was never found. Bandit Michael Rizzalo stole a $12,000 payrol... |
have buried it in a tin box somewhere on Laurel Run Mountain, just outside the town of Wilkes-Bare. The money is supposed to still be there today. In 1775, a gang of Tories5 hid $100,000 in gold coins in the Wernersville area. The loot was never recovered. A Handy Tip When visiting Pennsylvania, don't forget to pack yo... |
Schopf, J. William Adult Nonfiction QH325 .S384 1999 Summary: One of the greatest mysteries in reconstructing the history of life on Earth has been the apparent absence of fossils dating back more than 550 million years. We have long known |
that fossils of sophisticated marine life-forms existed at the dawn of the Cambrian Period, but until recently scientists had found no traces of Precambrian fossils. The quest to find such traces began in earnest in the mid-1960s and culminated in |
one dramatic moment in 1993 when William Schopf identified fossilized microorganisms three and a half "billion years old. This startling find opened up a vast period of time--some eighty-five percent of Earth's history--to new research and new ideas about life's |
beginnings. In this book, William Schopf, a pioneer of modern paleobiology, tells for the first time the exciting and fascinating story of the origins and earliest evolution of life and how that story has been unearthed. Gracefully blending his personal |
story of discovery with the basics needed to understand the astonishing science he describes, Schopf has produced an introduction to paleobiology for the interested reader as well as a primer for beginning s Question about returns, requests or other account |
Most of the causes of dementia cannot be prevented. Good personal health habits and medical care, however, can prevent some types of dementia. Here are some things you can do: Dementia caused by stroke - Monitor and control your blood pressure, exercise every day, and eat a balanced diet with |
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