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Andrew Wyeth's painting "Gemini Launch Pad" captures a 1960s workday at Cape Kennedy, Florida, as technicians prepare for a launch. The painting is one of more than 70 works commissioned by the NASA Art Program that is on display at a new exhibit at the National Air & Space Museum in Washington, D.C. [Andrew Wyeth/NASA/National Air & Space Museum/Smithsonian Institution]
On a clear Florida day in 1964, engineers were preparing for a new adventure in space: Project Gemini -- a craft that would carry two astronauts into space instead of one. Artist James Wyeth recorded the scene: the blockhouse mounding up like a concrete blister, the fire-engine-red gantry looming behind it against a hazy blue sky. And in the foreground, looking as though a child had abandoned it during an afternoon baseball game, a bicycle leans against the blockhouse -- a bit of low-tech serving the high-tech space program.
Wyeth's watercolor, "Gemini Launch Pad," is one of more than 70 works on display in an exhibit that's opening at the National Air & Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
The exhibit is titled NASA-Art: 50 Years of Exploration. All of its works were commissioned by NASA as part of its art program, which began in 1962.
The space agency was already recording its work in photographs, movies, and videos. But the agency also wanted to capture the space program in ways that film and videotape cannot. So it began commissioning artists to draw, paint, and sculpt their own impressions of the program.
Over the decades, the list of artists has included Norman Rockwell, Andy Warhol, and Annie Leibovitz. They've recorded launches and landings, the minutiae of the space business, and alien landscapes.
The art program continues today -- capturing the beauty, power, and mystery of space exploration in ways that no camera ever will.
Script by Damond Benningfield, Copyright 2011
For more skywatching tips, astronomy news, and much more, read StarDate magazine. | <urn:uuid:18c66df5-1889-4a84-a0b1-203bfd68bae2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://stardate.org/print/7802 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957523 |
NOISE AND HEARING LOSS PREVENTION
National Goals, Policies, and Standards
Occupational hearing loss is the most common work-related injury in the United States. Approximately 22 million U.S. workers exposed to hazardous noise levels at work, and an additional 9 million exposed to ototoxic chemicals. An estimated $242 million is spent annually on worker’s compensation for hearing loss disability. NIOSH recommends removing hazardous noise from the workplace whenever possible and using hearing protectors in those situations where dangerous noise exposures have not yet been controlled or eliminated.
National Goals on Workplace Hearing Loss Prevention
The National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA)
A national partnership program to stimulate innovative research and improved workplace practices.
NIOSH Program Portfolio: Hearing Loss Prevention
NIOSH’s planned program of research in occupational hearing loss.
Healthy People 2020
Science-based, 10-year national objectives for improving the health of all Americans.
National Standards and Policies on Workplace Hearing Loss Prevention
NIOSH Recommendations for a Noise Standard
The NIOSH recommended exposure limit (REL) for occupational noise exposure encompasses the provisions in Sections 1.1.1 through 1.1.4. The REL is 85 decibels, A-weighted, as an 8-hr time-weighted average (85 dBA as an 8-hr TWA). Exposures at and above this level are considered hazardous.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) permissible exposure limit (PEL)
The OSHA PEL for noise is 90 dBA, as an eight hour time-weighted average (TWA). The PEL is also referred to as a 100 percent "dose" noise exposure.
- National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
TTY: (888) 232-6348
- New Hours of Operation
- Contact CDC-INFO | <urn:uuid:c0119f90-0536-4a2f-ae6b-2a1cd4d94056> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/noise/about.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.871119 |
Feather picking is a common and frustrating problem in pet birds. Some pets nibble the ends off their feathers, while others tear their skin, creating large open sores. Any bird can feather pick, but Psittacine birds, such as African Grey Parrots and Cockatoos, are the most common pluckers.
Your pet's feather picking may start because of irritation from a medical condition and progress to obsessive-compulsive behavior. Or several problems may coexist. There are several common causes for this behavior.
Infection: Bacteria can attack skin and feather follicles, creating an itchy, painful problem your bird chews at to relieve. Pets with vitamin deficiencies from incomplete diets are at increased risk of infection. Some viral infections that specifically attack growing feathers, such as psittacine beak and feather disease and Polyomavirus infection, cause inflammation or abnormal feather eruption that irritates your bird's skin and triggers picking. Other more easily treatable conditions such as parasitic infestations can also cause a fierce itch. However, these parasite infestations are not commonly found in hand-raised birds.
Allergies: Just as in people, pollen, mold and certain foods occasionally trigger itchy allergies in birds. Your pet may resort to feather picking for relief. An allergic reaction to Giardia infections, an internal parasite found in some water supplies, can cause skin irritation in cockatiels.
Environmental Factors: Excessive heat or low humidity can make your bird's skin itchy and flaky. And stressful change, such as a new family member or pet, moving to a new house or moving the cage to a different room, may cause birds to pick their plumage.
Anxiety: Many birds normally live in flocks where they enjoy the sights and sounds of other birds. When you keep a solitary bird, you assume the role of the flock. So if you're nervous, upset or absent, your bird may feel anxious and respond by feather picking.
Attention Seeking: Many birds, like some children, crave any attention they can get. If they discover picking at their feathers brings you running or even just causes you to scold, they'll repeat the behavior to get your attention and your attention reinforces the behavior.
Boredom: Some pet birds might be just plain bored. Evolution has trained them to be wary of predators and to poke, prod and chew at everything in their environment as they forage for meals. It's perfectly natural for them to chew all day long. In the absence of a proper outlet, such as a chew toy, many turn to themselves.
Sexual Frustration: Normally, elevated hormone levels in sexually mature birds can make them irritable and anxious, especially during breeding season. So if possible, avoid environmental factors that stimulate breeding instincts including long periods of light exposure greater than 12 hours per day, nest boxes or toys your female may treat as eggs. Many environmental stimuli cannot be avoided so other methods must be used to avert the chewing behaviors.
Predisposition: Most birds groom each other in the wild on a daily basis, so solitary life may confuse and stress them. They may feel the urge to preen constantly and pick at their own feathers.
Hypothyroidism: Research suggests that low thyroid-hormone levels may cause poor feathering or feather loss, which resembles feather picking. Watch your bird carefully to see if the feathers are falling out on their own.
What You Can Do
First, visit your avian veterinarian to make sure a medical problem isn't the cause of the picking.
Information about your bird's environment, personality traits and where you purchased your pet may help unravel the cause behind the compulsive behavior. Be patient. Finding a medical condition that causes feather picking can be an extensive process. If your bird is physically healthy, there are many treatment options. But keep in mind that treating feather picking can be frustrating for the owner, veterinarian and patient alike.
Another person to work closely with is a qualified bird behavior specialist who has been scientifically trained in bird behavior. Be careful of those with no formal training as they may cause more harm than good. Work with your veterinarian and avian behaviorist to determine realistic expectations.
Learn about your bird's normal preening and molting behavior so you can recognize abnormal feather loss. Birds who pluck their feathers usually give themselves away. If your pet sports feathers only on hard-to-reach places, such as the head and neck, feather picking is likely the culprit.
Remove sources of stress and fear such as loud stereos, the family dog or bright lights at all hours of the day. Birds with separation anxiety may benefit from a softly playing radio or television for company while you're away.
Offer imaginative ways for your bird to forage by hiding food in hollow toys and cardboard tubes or attaching food to ropes or chains. Let your pet satisfy the urge to preen excessively by providing items that can be destroyed including whisk brooms, empty paper towel tubes, wooden sticks or rolled-up papers. There's a limitless supply of interactive toys to occupy your pet's time. Remember to alternate the toys to prevent boredom.
Don't give your bird attention while feather picking. Shower her with attention as often as possible, but never for inappropriate behavior. Remember, reward good behavior and ignore unwanted behavior. A behavior that is not rewarded, in some fashion, will generally extinguish itself. You may need to use these measures for the rest of your bird's life to keep your pet from a path of self-destruction.
Providing a home that can fulfill all the needs of these highly intelligent pets is a challenging task, and some birds will continue their self-destructive behaviors despite your best efforts. Patience and perseverance are your best weapons against your precious pet's disagreeable habit. | <urn:uuid:fbbd7fbb-580e-488c-b6eb-ffd7646ff4d7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.petco.com/Content/ArticleList/Article/12/4/2443/Feather-Picking.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946448 |
Whether it is via the auction of allowances or the taxation of carbon emissions, climate policy is increasingly being seen as a source of revenue into the national treasury. For example, the Australian carbon pricing mechanism will raise several billion dollars per annum in its fixed price period (currently $23 per tonne CO2) and EU member state revenues from the ETS have risen as power generators in particular now face full auctioning of allowances, rather than the mainly free allocation that has existed since the system started in 2005.
The issue that the collection of revenue raises is what to do with it. Government already has a long established process for this. Money flows into the national treasury, with spending set through the Budget process that occurs on an annual basis. The principal link between revenue collection and spending is the political agreement on the size of the deficit or surplus, otherwise the two are largely independent. But carbon revenue challenges this model. For example, although the EU ETS Phase III Directive doesn’t (nor can it) dictate how auction revenue should be spent by Member States, it does suggest that it is used as follows:
Member States shall determine the use of revenues generated from the auctioning of allowances. At least 50 % of the revenues generated from the auctioning of allowances referred to in paragraph 2, including all revenues from the auctioning referred to in paragraph 2, points (b) and (c), or the equivalent in financial value of these revenues, should be used for one or more of the following:
- to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including by contributing to the Global Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Fund and to the Adaptation Fund as made operational by the Poznan Conference on Climate Change (COP 14 and COP/MOP 4), to adapt to the impacts of climate change and to fund research and development as well as demonstration projects for reducing emissions and for adaptation to climate change, including participation in initiatives within the framework of the European Strategic Energy Technology Plan and the European Technology Platforms;
- to develop renewable energies to meet the commitment of the Community to using 20 % renewable energies by 2020, as well as to develop other technologies contributing to the transition to a safe and sustainable low-carbon economy and to help meet the commitment of the Community to increase energy efficiency by 20 % by 2020;
- measures to avoid deforestation and increase afforestation and reforestation in developing countries that have ratified the international agreement on climate change, to transfer technologies and to facilitate adaptation to the adverse effects of climate change in these countries;
- forestry sequestration in the Community;
- the environmentally safe capture and geological storage of CO2, in particular from solid fossil fuel power stations and a range of industrial sectors and subsectors, including in third countries;
- to encourage a shift to low-emission and public forms of transport;
- to finance research and development in energy efficiency and clean technologies in the sectors covered by this Directive;
- measures intended to increase energy efficiency and insulation or to provide financial support in order to address social aspects in lower and middle income households;
- to cover administrative expenses of the management of the Community scheme.
A new report out recently from the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) provides a detailed look at the current revenue recycling practices around the world. These include areas such as the following;
- Compensating trade exposed industries
- Support for lower income people to offset the carbon price.
- Support for Research and Development on low carbon technologies.
- Investing in low carbon / low emission projects and energy efficiency schemes.
- Adaptation to climate change.
ICMM have built the report around a core principle which they extol, namely “apply climate change related revenues to manage a transition to a low carbon future”. The report is excellent and well worth reading, but it does raise a very fundamental issue around the direct hypothecation of carbon revenue. This is isn’t just a governance issue though.
Australia serves as an interesting recent example. The decision to link the Australian ETS with the EU ETS followed by the precipitous drop in EU carbon prices has caused Australian government carbon revenue projections to be adjusted (down) accordingly. Recent headlines in Australia suggest that those relying on government support for various energy initiatives are now concerned about the certainty of that support and the overall level of it going forward. This concern stems from the fact that carbon revenue has been earmarked against certain objectives, such as in the categories listed above.
The alternative approach is to largely delink the collection of revenue and its use, which is the standard practice for most government expenditure. After all, why should we imagine that the collection of carbon revenue and the needs of the economy to make the transition to a much lower emission state should follow the same path. In the very early years, expenditure on R&D and demonstration projects (e.g. CCS, solar thermal etc.) may require funding far in excess of the available carbon revenue, which is often low at this stage as governments introduce a new tax at a modest level or give the bulk of the ETS allowances away for free. Further, at this time the need for guaranteed support for those first tentative investments is critical for long term deployment pathways.
Some years down the road carbon revenue may be very large and probably in excess of the transitional needs, which then argues for the bulk of the money to flow to general revenue. This will lead indirectly to reductions in other taxes, but the linkage would be unspecified. In this case, forcing the use of a large revenue stream on specific objectives may become a market distortion in itself. It is the job of the underlying mechanism (e.g. carbon tax, cap-and-trade, energy pricing) to drive deployment of a new set of energy technologies, not government against the need to spend earmarked revenue.
This is an issue that will likely run and run, assuming carbon prices ever recover to some meaningful level. The ICMM report is a useful contribution to the discussion and certainly gives an excellent overview of current practices. However, it does enter the discussion with the somewhat myopic view of ongoing hypothecation. | <urn:uuid:7cb33e19-bf12-4b63-ad03-8df4c26b8b02> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.shell.com/climatechange/category/cap-and-trade/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951915 |
← Honors Biology - Chapter 9 Export Options Alphabetize Word-Def Delimiter Tab Comma Custom Def-Word Delimiter New Line Semicolon Custom Data Copy and paste the text below. It is read-only. Select All metastasis spread of cancer cells beyond their original site cancer disease caused by disruption of the mechanisms that control the cell cycle and results in uncontrolled cell division that can cause death chemotherapy uses drugs to disrupt cell division radiation disrupts cell division so it can destroy cancer cells without destroying too many body cells diploid cell 46 chromosomes (1 pair from mother, 1 pair from father) haploid cell 23 chromosomes (1 from each homologous pair) independent assortment when homologous chromosomes line up in Metaphase I, they line up independently, which can lead to a lot of variation crossing over exchange of genetic information between homologous chromosomes that occurs during Prophase I and creates genetic recombination steps of mitosis interphase (G1, S, G2), prophase, metaphase, anaphase, telophase/cytokinesis G1 phase Cell grows. S phase Genetic material duplicates. G2 phase Cell prepares for mitosis. Prophase Chromosomes appear. Nuclear envelope breaks down. Metaphase Chromosomes line up along the center of the cell. Anaphase Chromatids separate. Telophase/Cytokinesis Nuclear envelope reforms and cells separate. cytokinesis in animal cells a ring of microfilaments in the cytoplasm contracts, like a drawstring bag, pinching the cell in 2 cytokinesis in plant cells a cell plate forms in a plant cell and eventually divides the cell in 2 mitosis produces 2 cells, cells produced are genetically identical, cells produced are diploid, no genes are exchanged meiosis produces 4 cells, cells produces are genetically different, cells produced are haploid, there is genetic exchange between homologous chromosomes malignant tumor masses of cells that result from the reproduction of cancer cells that can spread in your body to create tumors elsewhere benign tumor abnormal mass of normal cells that can sometimes cause health problems and can be completely removed by surgery type of diploid cell almost all the cells in your body type of haploid cell sex cells benefits of crossing over & independent assortment genetic diversity benefits of asexual reproduction -Example of organism easier and faster, don't have to make -Bacteria. benefits of sexual reproduction -Example of organism variations of genes can lead to adaptations -Animals, plants. | <urn:uuid:caa24b1c-de44-4465-bc36-3b55a9fc5d33> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://quizlet.com/3900347/export/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.887375 |
The Evolution Deceit
Let’s get the answer by starting with a journey from the moon: a celestial body which can be regarded as fairly big:
Earth... We live here
The Sun... Our star
Pollux… An Orange Giant
Archturus... A Red Giant
Aldebaran… A Red Giant
Ragil… A Blue Super Giant
Pistol Star… A Blue Hyper Giant
Antares A… A Red Super Giant
Mu Cephei… A Red Supergiant
VY Canis Majoris... A Red HyperGiant: known as the biggest star
The Size Of the Earth is 12,756 km.
This star is 1,975,000,000 km in diameter.
How can you imagine this size on your mind?
Imagine an airliner which goes with 900 km per hour and flying around this star.
Just one circuit of an airliner around this star would last exactly 1,100 years.
The size of the star on a picture which shows our galaxy is only as big as a spot on a piece of paper.
And our galaxy ... would be seen only as big as a spot in the vastness of the universe.
“Assuredly the creation of the heavens and the earth is a greater (matter) than the creation of men: Yet most men understand not.” (Surah Al-Ghafir, 57)2012-08-24 02:05:55 | <urn:uuid:d2d7e72f-debc-4357-9228-46b3a1fe287c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.evolutiondeceit.com/en/works/149133/How-big-can-the-floating-objects-be-on-the-space | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.875553 |
Zidovudine can cause serious, life-threatening side effects. These include lactic acidosis (buildup of acid in the blood), liver problems, and blood disorders, including severe anemia. Use of zidovudine for a long time can cause muscle weakness (myopathy).
Contact your health care provider right away if you have any of the following symptoms:
- Unusual breathing.
- Shortness of breath.
- Unusual bleeding or bruising.
- Unusual tiredness or weakness.
- Pale skin.
- Sore throat.
- Loss of appetite.
- Upset stomach.
- Dark-colored urine.
- Yellowing of your skin or the whites of your eyes (jaundice).
- Light-colored bowel movements.
- Muscle weakness.
- Lack of strength.
- Muscle pain.
- Pain in the upper right part of your stomach.
While taking zidovudine, it is important to keep all of your appointments with your health care provider.
What is zidovudine?
Zidovudine is a prescription medicine approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the following uses:
- Treatment of HIV infection in adults and children 4 weeks of age and older. When zidovudine is used to treat HIV infection, the medicine is always used in combination with other anti-HIV medicines.
- Prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV in pregnant HIV-infected women and their infants.
Zidovudine is a type of anti-HIV medicine called a nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI). NRTIs work by blocking HIV reverse transcriptase, an HIV enzyme. This prevents HIV from replicating and lowers the amount of HIV in the blood.
Zidovudine does not cure HIV/AIDS. Despite use of zidovudine to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV, some cases of HIV infection can still occur.
What should I tell my health care provider before taking zidovudine?
Before taking zidovudine, tell your health care provider:
- If you are allergic to zidovudine or any other medicines.
- If you have or have ever had liver or kidney disease.
- If you have or have ever had bleeding, anemia, or other blood problems.
- If you have or have ever had any disease or swelling of the muscle.
- If you have or have had any other medical conditions.
- If you drink alcohol or have a history of alcohol abuse.
- If you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. Despite use of zidovudine to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV, some cases of HIV infection can still occur. Whether exposure to zidovudine in the womb or after birth can harm a baby in the long term is unknown.
- If you are breastfeeding or plan to breastfeed. Do not breastfeed if you are infected with HIV or are taking zidovudine.
- About other prescription and nonprescription medicines, vitamins, nutritional supplements, and herbal products you are taking or plan to take. Zidovudine may affect the way other medicines or products work, and other medicines or products may affect how zidovudine works. Taking zidovudine together with certain medicines or products may cause serious and/or life-threatening side effects.
How should I take zidovudine?
Zidovudine comes in the following forms and strengths:
- 300-mg tablets (brand name: Retrovir).
- 100-mg capsules (brand name: Retrovir).
- 10-mg/mL syrup (brand name: Retrovir).
- 10-mg/mL concentrate for intravenous infusion (brand name: Retrovir).
Take zidovudine according to your health care provider’s instructions.
Take zidovudine tablets, capsules, and syrup with or without food.
Before use, zidovudine concentrate for intravenous infusion is diluted with dextrose (sugar dissolved in water). The diluted concentrate is given through a needle into a vein.
If you take too much zidovudine, contact your local poison control center (1-800-222-1222) or go to the nearest hospital emergency room right away.
For more information on how to take zidovudine tablets, capsules, and syrup, see the FDA drug label from DailyMed. (DailyMed is a federal website that includes the most recent drug labels submitted to FDA.) For more information on how to take zidovudine intravenous infusion, see the drug summary from MedlinePlus.
What should I do if I forget a dose?
If you are taking zidovudine by mouth (tablets, capsules, or syrup) and forget a dose, take the missed dose as soon as you remember it. But if it is almost time for your next dose, skip the missed dose and just take your next dose at the regular time. Do not take two doses at the same time to make up for a missed dose.
If you or your child is taking zidovudine by infusion, your health care provider may tell you to stop the infusion if you or your child has a mechanical problem (such as blockage in the tubing, needle, or catheter). If you have to stop an infusion, call your health care provider immediately so your therapy can continue after the problem is resolved.
What side effects can zidovudine cause?
Zidovudine can cause serious, life-threatening side effects. These include lactic acidosis (buildup of acid in the blood), liver problems, and blood disorders, including severe anemia. Use of zidovudine for a long time can cause muscle weakness. (See the WARNING above).
Other possible side effects of zidovudine include:
- Changes in the immune system (immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome).
- Changes in body fat (lipodystrophy).
Tell your health care provider if you have any side effect that bothers you or that does not go away.
These are not all the possible side effects of zidovudine. Ask your health care provider or pharmacist for more information on possible side effects of zidovudine.
How should zidovudine be stored?
- Store zidovudine tablets, capsules, and oral solution at 59°F to 77°F (15°C to 25°C). Protect zidovudine capsules from moisture.
- Once zidovudine concentrate for intravenous infusion is diluted, use the solution within 8 hours if stored at 59°F to 77°F (15°C to 25°C) or 24 hours if refrigerated at 36°F to 46°F (2°C to 8°C).
- Safely throw away zidovudine that is no longer needed or expired (out of date).
- Keep zidovudine and all medicines out of reach of children.
Where can I find more information about zidovudine?
More information about zidovudine is available:
Last Reviewed: September 13, 2012
Last Updated: September 13, 2012 | <urn:uuid:333f4101-b868-42dd-8639-870b6d47e247> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://aidsinfo.nih.gov/drugs/4/zidovudine/0/patient | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.851956 |
Secondary student views of global warming: beliefs actions and willingness to act
Skamp, KR, Boyes, E & Stanisstreet, M 2008, 'Secondary student views of global warming: beliefs actions and willingness to act', Proceedings of Environmental education up the track: hot topics for our community: 15th biennial National Conference of Australian Association for Environmental Education, Darwin, NT, 9-13 July, Australian Association for Environmental Education, Bellingen, NSW.
NSW secondary students’ views (n=500) about how useful various specific actions might be at reducing global warming, their willingness to undertake the various actions, and the extent to which these two might be linked were determined using a constructed questionnaire. The degree to which students were willing to act was often greater or less than might be expected from the extent to which they believed particular proenvironmental actions to be useful. The strength of the relationships, for each action, between students’ willingness to act and their belief that an action would be effective were explored. This suggested a measure of the potential effectiveness of education about that action. Where this relationship was weak altering belief about the usefulness of the action might not be expected to produce major changes in behaviour. Where the relationship was stronger environmental education could well be effective, especially if a large proportion of the population are not already willing to undertake that action.
This document is currently not available here. | <urn:uuid:2b5b5495-56f2-4e58-8c8f-1367a66ea99f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://epubs.scu.edu.au/educ_pubs/377/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951122 |
The First Professors House, now known as the Presidents House, was built in 1810 for faculty housing. The house, possessing a western and eastern wing, accommodated two professors’ families. Francis Lieber occupied the eastern wing during the first two years of his professorship, and James Thornwell resided there from 1837 to 1839. By 1853, the faculty tenants complained about the unsafe condition of the house: the walls were about to cave in because of water damage. Builder Clark Waring commenced in tearing the original house down in 1853 and finished constructing a more attractive and comfortable house on the original foundation in 1854. In the twentieth century, three of the college presidents extensively renovated the house, adding extra space and creating a single-family dwelling, among other alterations.
Contractor Thomas Wade constructed two brick kitchens, a wooden kitchen, and a wooden slave quarters in the 1840s behind the house. The wooden slave quarters and wooden kitchen disappeared long ago. One of the brick kitchens, a two-story building covered with ivy, was featured in an article of The State in 1937 as one of two slave quarters behind the First Professors House, but was razed soon afterward.
The second two-story brick kitchen / slave quarters is still extant on the eastern side of the garden at the current Presidents House. It was repaired during the 1970s renovation project of the Horseshoe. This structure is still in good condition and visible from the Horseshoe. It is the only extant outbuilding for slave accommodation on the University of South Carolina campus today. | <urn:uuid:de694160-7cc7-4bbb-8f3b-c7cf15e3e5d6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://library.sc.edu/digital/slaveryscc/first-professors-house-1810-presidents-house.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968003 |
A Reference Resource
Charles Curtis was born January 25, 1860, on an Indian reservation in North Topeka, Kansas. He was one-eighth Kaw Indian and is one of the few Native Americans to achieve such stature in U.S. politics. As a young man, he supplemented his income by working as a jockey in horse races and studied law on his own after he graduated from high school. He was admitted to the bar in 1881 and was elected county attorney in 1885. He married Anna Baird on November 27, 1884.
As county attorney, Curtis gained notice throughout the state for his zealous enforcement of recently passed Prohibition laws. He was reelected county attorney in 1886, but lost (by a single vote) a contest for the nomination to a vacant seat in the House of Representatives in 1889. In 1892, however, Curtis was elected to the House as a Republican despite the fact Kansas had voted for a Populist presidential candidate that year and elected a number of Populist candidates to the House. His surprise victory for the Republican Party captured the attention of party leaders.
After seven terms in the House, the state legislature chose Curtis to fill a vacant Senate seat in 1907. He won the seat on his own accord in 1914, the first election year in which senators were elected by popular vote instead of by state legislatures. Curtis's knowledge of Senate rules and his devotion to the party made him an ideal selection for the recently created position of party whip. As whip, Curtis was an important figure in the congressional opposition that doomed President Woodrow Wilson's attempts to secure U.S. entry into the League of Nations. When Majority Leader Henry Cabot Lodge died in 1924, Curtis inherited the position, which he held until he was nominated as vice president.
Curtis sought the presidential nomination in 1928 and hoped a deadlocked convention would allow him to win as a dark horse candidate. However, Herbert Hoover won the nomination and then offered the vice presidential nomination to Curtis, hoping that the senator from Kansas would balance the ticket and help Hoover overcome his unpopularity in farm states. Hoover easily won the presidential election with a margin of more than six million votes.
As vice president, Curtis was rarely consulted and had a distant relationship with Hoover. Their union was one of political convenience, and lingering hard feelings from their contentious battle for the 1928 nomination did little to foster a functional relationship. Curtis attended a few cabinet meetings but as a whole did not substantially affect policy during his tenure.
In the 1932 election, Curtis did little to help President Hoover's already slim election hopes. His insistence that the Depression was simply a natural economic fluctuation did not appeal to voters desperate for relief and jobs. Hoover was trounced in the election, receiving only 59 electoral votes to Franklin Roosevelt's 472. Curtis then retired from public life and practiced law in Washington, D.C., until his death on February 8, 1936. | <urn:uuid:36c9266e-70d6-4a92-874c-2d10b4d11a31> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://millercenter.org/president/hoover/essays/vicepresident/1840 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986989 |
They will kill today. They killed yesterday. And they will kill tomorrow.”
-Alison Anderson, Former Environment Minister, the Northern Territory, Australia, on the rise of crocodile attacks
A near perfect killing machine and one of the most feared animals on earth, the crocodile has honed its hunting techniques for 200 million years.
And although its jaws are its weapon, the crocodile’s success depends on patience and its ability to ambush prey.
“A crocodile will stalk a target for hours or even days if necessary, and an 18-foot, 2,000-pound crocodile can hide in two feet of water and never give itself away,” says Rob Carmichael, a reptile expert and founder of the Wildlife Discovery Center in Chicago.
“You can be close to shore and think you’re safe,” continues Carmichael. “But you’ll never see the attack coming. The crocodile explodes from the water, takes you under and you’re gone. It’s over in seconds.”
There are 23 species of crocodiles, including the Nile – found in Africa and Madagascar – and the saltwater or estuarine crocodile – found in West Asia, Southeast Asia, Oceania and Australia.
Both are notorious man-eaters.
The Nile croc can reach a maximum size of 20 feet and weigh up to 1,650 pounds.
The saltwater croc can reach 23 feet in length, weigh 3,000 pounds and exert a bite force of 5,000 pounds per square inch, compared to 400 pounds per square inch for a large great white shark.
Combined, Nile and saltwater crocodiles account for hundreds of deaths each year including the five extraordinary and heartbreaking attacks featured in this five-part story.
The details of the attacks are based on original interviews, newspaper stories, press conferences, police reports, court transcripts and the book Crocodile Attack in Australia (Swan Publishing 1988) by Hugh Edwards.
The victims, who range in age from 5 to 68, include two Americans, two Australians and one German.
“All of these attacks are absolutely horrific,” Carmichael says. “But as gruesome as they are, they’re not really the crocodile’s fault. The attacks are the result of people putting themselves in bad situations. The crocodile is just doing what it is engineered and wired to do. And it does it very well.”
1. 22 Hours In Hell
It was Sunday afternoon, Dec. 21, 2003.
Brett Mann, a 22-year-old mechanic, and two of his buddies, Ashley McGough and Shaun Blowers, both 19, were enjoying the beautiful outdoors.
The three men were riding 4-wheel ATVs in a flooded tropical wilderness about 50 miles southwest of Darwin, their hometown located on the northern border of Australia.
The childhood friends knew this piece of paradise well. They often visited to escape the monotony of city life.
Covered in mud, they decided to clean up on the banks of the fast-moving Finniss River before heading home. It was 4:30 p.m.
“We went down to the river and just had a bit of a bath, washing all our clothes and boots,” Shaun said later at a press conference. “Brett went out just a little bit farther and was washed away. We both jumped in and swam after him.”
After traveling in the current for more than half a mile, the trio searched for land. But a new problem developed.
“Ashley yelled out, ‘Croc! Croc! I’m not joking, there’s a croc. Head for a tree! Get out of the water!’” Shaun said at a press conference later.
“I didn’t see a croc, but swam to the nearest tree and climbed up into the first fork,” Shaun continued. ”I helped pull Ashley up into the same tree. I didn’t see Brett anywhere or hear him call out. I didn’t hear a call or a splash or anything.
“It wasn’t very long after we got into the tree, maybe two minutes later, that I saw a croc pop up with Brett in his jaws,” Shaun continued. “Brett wasn’t moving, he was lying face-down in the water and the croc was gripping him by the left shoulder…It went under the water with Brett and swam away. I did not see Brett again.”
About five minutes later, the “big, black and aggressive” crocodile returned to the base of the tree and stayed. Sometimes it surfaced. And its menacing grin sent a wave of terror through its two human prey – trapped, just out of reach.
As day turned into night and the temperature dropped, it was apparent the large reptile was waging a war of attrition that it had no intention of losing.
However, Shaun and Ashley, still in shock from seeing their friend in the jaws of this monster, were just as determined as their 13-foot adversary. They literally hung in there.
“Because we couldn’t see each other, because it was dark, I had my hand on Ashley’s foot,” Shaun said in a police statement. “Whenever we moved, we’d say, ‘I’m moving’, and just check in on each other and make sure we weren’t going to sleep. We were worn out from hanging on to the little tree, [which] was swaying all night because there was a lot of wind and rain.”
The two spent 22 hours clinging to that small tree in cold, dark and wet conditions while the killer saltwater croc waited patiently, just 15 feet below.
Finally, around 2:30 p.m. the next day, their nightmare was over. A search team found Shaun and Ashley and lifted them to safety by helicopter.
They had lost a battle, but won the war.
Despite an extensive search, Brett Mann and the crocodile were never seen again.
The exclusive five-part feature, Eaten Alive: Five Killer Croc Attacks, continues with Part Two: “Back Against The Wall,” the story of an American model who makes a split-second decision that determines the fate of two lives. | <urn:uuid:001a56c4-80a2-4eb5-a486-cb6392c55ef7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://shadowreports.com/tag/eaten-alive/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967514 |
Most Active Stories
Tue February 5, 2013
Michigan veggie crop relatively unscathed last year
LANSING, MI (AP)-- The Michigan Farm Bureau says the state's vegetable crops suffered only minor damage from bad weather last year, unlike the heavy losses to fruit, corn and hay.
The group says statistics released last week by the U.S. Department of Agriculture show that vegetable production in Michigan was down about 2 percent in 2012 from the previous year, while the combined value of the vegetable crop rose by 3 percent.
The numbers are based on harvests of a dozen consumer staples, such as asparagus, snap beans, cabbage, carrots, squash and tomatoes.
Statewide production of most vegetable crops decreased slightly, but celery and sweet corn output rose.
Fruit crops such as cherries and apples were devastated last year by an early spring thaw, followed by a deep freeze that killed buds. | <urn:uuid:0852bb51-f116-4e65-a4f6-88586e9d099d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wnmufm.org/post/michigan-veggie-crop-relatively-unscathed-last-year | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953197 |
- Historic Sites
September 1995 | Volume 46, Issue 5
For a sense of the continuity of the of the terrorist tradition in America, consider this actual sequence of events: The FBI smashes a dead-serious plot to overthrow the federal government and reveals that for more than a year the right-wing militias involved were undergoing army-style training, fired up by inflammatory talk radio. They Planned to use their bombs, rifles, and machine guns to wage guerrilla warfare on American cities, and they claimed friends and allies in government and the military. They aimed, in one reporter’s words, to ”bomb selected buildings, seize public utilities, blast bridges, terrorize Jews, appropriate Federal Reserve gold, assassinate fourteen Congressmen, and set up a dictatorship.” The goal: to remove all liberal and anti-Christian forces from government, not least the liberal President and his activist wife.
This happened in January 1940.
Americans have never needed instruction from abroad in launching the organized mayhem we call terrorism.
However you define it, terrorism has seldom been long absent from the American landscape. In this century we have endured attacks by anarchists and labor militants and ethnic-based nationalist groups. At mid-century, Puerto Rican groups carried out some spectacular actions, including a 1950 attack on President Truman’s home and a bloody 1954 assault on Congress. Cuban and Croat exile organizations have often been active on American soil. During the Vietnam years, the Weathermen and other leftist bodies undertook widespread bombing campaigns that peaked in 1969 and 1970.
But the longest tradition of political terrorism lies on the ultra-right. The original Ku Klux Klan, during Reconstruction, was probably the biggest, most successful terrorist movement in American history, systematically practicing assassination, random murder, and intimidation. Since then, a succession of armed militias has arisen to combat a federal government supposedly usurped by conspiracies opposed to American liberties and values, starting with the “shirt” groups and Christian Front of the thirties and continuing through the Minutemen and revived Klan of the sixties to the neo-Nazi militants who began to make their appearance in the eighties. Though the bombing in Oklahoma City represented a leap in scale, it was hardly new in introducing terrorism to America, in coming out of the radical right, or in expressing domestic rather than international grievances. Americans have never needed instruction from abroad in launching the organized mayhem that we call terrorism.
The rebels whose ambitious plans open this article belonged to an organization called the Christian Front. In the late 1930s ultra-right, fascist, and anti-Semitic groups flourished in the United States, and some were violent. Their threats of terrorism and armed insurrection, largely forgotten today, caused wide concern, and the crisis did not abate until it was replaced by the far more immediate dangers of the Second World War.
That past experience with terrorism holds real lessons, both about what drives people to such extreme actions and about what can counter them. The Christian Front terrorists of the late 1930s were motivated by ideas and concerns almost identical to those of today’s white-supremacy movements and armed militias. And then as now, the government took actions that backfired and may have actually increased support for the dissidents.
The Christian front was but one of several hundred ultraright and anti-Semitic organizations in 1930s America. Most were tiny, but a few had members in the thousands. The best known included the German-American Bund, which aped the military style and rhetoric of Nazi Germany, and the Silver Legion, or Silver Shirts, led by William Dudley Pelley. The Silver Shirts’ more than twenty thousand members, concentrated mainly in the West, trained openly for armed confrontation. Their field marshal Roy Zachary gained national renown in 1938 by announcing that if no one else was prepared to assassinate President Roosevelt, he’d do it himself. Zachary and Pelley became popular speakers for the far-right groups and clubs that sprang up all over the country in 1936 and 1937, amid the New Deal and a wave of labor unrest. In these organizations, few doubted that communism was simply a front for Jewish conspiracy, a belief fomented in that notorious forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion .
Probably the most dangerous group was the Christian Front, founded by the radio-show host Father Charles E. Coughlin. Coughlin was originally a supporter of the New Deal, but like many Catholics he was deeply affected by the Spanish Civil War. Many on the American far right saw the war, begun in 1936 when the right-wing armed forces of Spain rebelled against a democratically elected leftist coalition, as a life-and-death struggle between Christian civilization and Jewishbacked communism. By 1938 Coughlin was saying on his weekly radio show that the Jews had started the Russian and Spanish revolutions and would soon turn America’s cities into “another Barcelona.” He exhorted his listeners to arm, train, and organize a Christian Front against the Red Front.
This Christian Front was to be paramilitary, made up of platoons that would constitute a national militia some five million strong. The first Christian Front units assembled clandestinely in New York City in the summer of 1938; over the next year they spread to Boston, Philadelphia, Cleveland, and other major cities in the East and Midwest.
They engaged in street violence from the start, their members attacking Jewish-owned businesses and Jews in the streets. And Coughlin warned that that was only the beginning. Whenever the Front organized in a new place, New York activists like William Bishop showed up to tell recruits to train and arm under the guise of sporting or rifle clubs. At a Philadelphia meeting in 1939, Bishop urged members to procure machine guns.
The talk of weapons was more than just bluster. The Front claimed hundreds of supporters in the New York City and New York State police departments alone. Informants reported that the Front was obtaining ammunition from Fort Dix and other Army bases, where it was said to have the sympathy of senior military officers. It maintained a clandestine Revolutionary Council to coordinate military training and plan possible attacks.
The flavor of that underworld is captured in a brilliant exposé, Under Cover , published in 1943 by “John Roy Carlson,” the pseudonym of an Armenian-American journalist named Arthur Derounian. In 1939 Derounian, posing as an anti-Semitic reporter and organizer, undertook to infiltrate ultraright groups. He spent four years under cover testing the scale and seriousness of the militias, and he met many zealots who openly espoused armed conflict. Some boasted about gun-running activities. One said, “Jew hunting is going to be pretty good soon, and we are practicing.” Another predicted “the boys” would “dynamite Detroit, Pittsburgh, Chicago—paralyze transportation and isolate whole sections of the country…. A bloodbath is the only way out.”
Much of their talk was clearly fantastical, but Derounian also watched them in action. He visited the Midtown Sporting Club, in New York City, a cover for members of the Iron Guard, a parallel to the Christian Front. Iron Guard members, who used the Hitler salute, mapped “every arsenal, subway station, power house, police and gasoline station, public building …” to prepare for an armed rising. The club’s leader told Derounian: “I’d like to be able to pick up the paper someday and read ‘Grand Central Station Bombed,’ ‘The White House Blown to Bits,’ or ‘ Queen Mary Sunk at Her Dock.’”
That such threats were taken seriously is suggested by the security provisions made when the King and Queen of England visited America in 1939, a massive mobilization of police and military personnel that seems unremarkable by today’s standards but was astonishing at the time. Every bridge and culvert the royal train passed on its way from Niagara Falls to Washington, D.C., was under constant guard by officers who had been instructed to watch for rail sabotage and “for the throwing of a bomb or hand grenade by someone standing in a crowd or someone passing in an automobile … for someone sniping from a hillside with a rifle or someone in a crowd firing at the trains.” The fear of ultra-right terrorism climaxed in January 1940, when the leaders of the Christian Front were arrested in Brooklyn. Seven men, including Bishop, were charged with running a secret organized militia disguised as a sporting club. Newspapers showed photographs of their cache of weapons and ammunition. The Front was said to be in contact with both the German government and IRA terrorists planning attacks on British targets in North America. In the jittery atmosphere the arrests created, newspapers gave headline coverage to thefts of explosives in several states, suggesting that these might be connected with the radical right, and allegations followed that various accidents at industrial or defense plants had been the work of saboteurs from pro-Nazi groups.
Violent 1930s organizations like the Christian Front grew in a political soil that at first glance seems quite different from that of contemporary America. They could recruit easily from a population impoverished and demoralized by years of Depression, and anti-Semitism was far more widespread and accepted in an age that had yet to experience the Holocaust. But there are close analogies across time. The past two decades, like the thirties, have produced an extremist political culture that sees the American government and social order as so corrupt and dangerous it is the primary threat to the well-being of its citizens. The Coughlinites played particularly on anti-Jewish and pro-Axis sentiment, while the modern extreme right sees a wide range of threats to traditional values and social structure: affirmative action and desegregation; the transformation of the family and the relationship between the sexes; and the decline of old industrial and agricultural areas. In both cases, an especial peril has been that of uncontrolled immigration destroying forever the idealized white America of bygone days; just as the specter of mass Jewish immigration (“refujews”) stirred American anti-Semitism to new heights in 1938 and 1939, so has large-scale Asian and Hispanic immigration inflamed today’s far right. And extremists of both eras have been united in their anxiety over a loss of national sovereignty to international institutions and “one world” movements.
One thing that often distinguishes extremists from the merely disaffected is their sense of a hidden purpose underlying events: Bad things don’t just happen; they are somebody’s plan—and the bigger the evil, the more powerful the forces behind it. The primary villain in the thirties was the federal government, and it is again today, not only actively sinister in its own right but also used as a tool by clandestine financial interests. In the 1930s the supposed international forces undermining American society were Zionist, led by “President Rosenfeld” with his “Jew Deal.” Today’s far-right groups vary about who exactly is subverting America, but many subscribe to the old anti-Semitic scheme and recite the same familiar names of Jewish magnates and bankers.
The main villain then and now: the federal government, both sinister on its own and a tool of hidden interests.
By far the most influential text and manual for the modern revolutionary right is a 1978 novel, The Turner Diaries , written pseudonymously by a leader of the radical right, William L. Pierce. It presents a harrowing account of an imaginary racial war in the 1990s, in which white “patriots” led by a terrorist group called the Order orchestrate a bloody and ultimately successful revolution against the existing “Zionist Occupation Government.” The acronym ZOG has entered the vocabulary of the far right from the novel and has helped shape extremists’ concepts of their enemy. Though the term ZOG was unknown to the Coughlinites, it exactly catches their world-view. The Turner Diaries has so influenced real events that in the 1980s an actual group took the name the Order and began a two-year campaign modeled on the one in the book. In 1983 they even plotted a bomb attack against the very same federal office building destroyed this year in Oklahoma City. And the Oklahoma bombing itself bears a startling resemblance to a scene in the book where a truck bomb destroys FBI headquarters in Washington, killing hundreds. Among other things, the explosive used is identical, and so is the time of day.
Just as the militias of both eras have shared a powerful antiSemitic strain, so have they conformed in identifying themselves is “Christian.” In Coughlin’s day dozens of rightist outfits used “Christian” in their names, as many do today. But while the terminology is the same, the meaning has shifted. The kinds of Christians who followed Coughlin held relatively ordinary religious views; their more recent counterparts have been increasingly influenced by the Christian Identity movement. This sees white Northern Europeans—"Aryans"—as the authentic heirs of biblical promises and covenants, by virtue of their descent from the lost Tribes of Israel; Jews are false claimants to Hebraic status and are of the devil. These ideas were pioneered by Depression-era race theorists like Gerald L. K. Smith and his disciples, and they constitute a direct link between contemporary whitesupremacy extremism and the fringe thought of Coughlin’s day.
Viewing the government as the enemy is all the easier if the government actually carries out policies that can be claimed to pose a direct threat to the lives and safety of the population. Current antigovernment extremists have been inspired by the death and destruction at Waco in 1993 and other armed confrontations; the Waco siege was the chief stimulus for the growth of militias over the last two years, a uniquely powerful symbol because it specifically represented an apocalyptic confrontation between the government and a church—the ZOG destroying a Christian body.
In the late 1930s there were two comparable stimuli. The Spanish Civil War was viewed in terms quite as prophetic as Waco: a direct, murderous confrontation between the forces of religion and those of communism, a model for what might be inflicted on America. Then by 1939 the main obsession shifted to fear that the United States might be lured into World War II on the Allied side. Millions of Americans opposed involvement on constitutional and humanitarian grounds; extremists did so because it would consummate Roosevelt’s rise to dictator. Ultimately, hundreds of thousands of lives would be lost so that control of the country could be surrendered to Jewish interests. This bizarre view justified and even necessitated armed violence to preserve American society. As in the 1990s, rightist terrorism was upheld as national self-preservation.
In both eras access to weapons became a critical issue too. In the mid1950s Congress passed the first federal gun-control law, banning the private possession of automatic weapons and machine guns. This aroused nothing like the furor over recent restrictions on assault rifles, but then as now such federal controls were depicted as an attempt to disarm the American people so they could be tyrannized—and then as now one response was military-style training and organization. Infiltration of the armed services in order to obtain weapons and supplies was a recurrent theme in exposés of the Christian Front and its contemporaries, and since the 1980s modern paramilitary groups have been charged with the same thing. Once again The Turner Diaries presents a detailed account of how and why it should be done. All in all a very small step leads from the 1930s underworld described by John Roy Carlson to the 1980s and 1990s one represented by the Order in both its fictional and reallife manifestations.
If the violent extreme right of the 1930s was so similar to that of today, then we should be able to learn from that generation’s experience—from both its success in destroying the groups so thoroughly and its various failures as well. One important question to consider is whether extremism is best confronted or ignored. Today and in the 1930s alike, many people have held extremist views without the least likelihood of ever actually becoming violent. For a government, a critical goal is to ensure that those peacefully disaffected don’t progress to the next stage of active armed resistance. This can be a tough challenge. Following the Oklahoma City bombing, President Clinton won both praise and blame for his effort to associate the tragedy with a climate of hatred and suspicion fostered by the far right. This had the virtue of drawing attention to paramilitary and other groups that had been largely ignored in the mainstream press, but it could be dangerous as well.
In this context the 1930s offer mixed lessons. The Coughlinite movement arose in a comparable environment, inspired by a popular radio personality with a mass audience of loyal followers. Once Coughlin embarked on his anti-Jewish crusades, people began to feel he was actively encouraging intolerance and racial violence and started urging that his broadcasts be controlled or suppressed. These calls became overwhelming following Germany’s Kristallnacht attacks on Jews in November 1938, and stations in New York and other cities announced that they would refuse to carry his programs without first reviewing his scripts. But this permitted Coughlin to pose as a martyr, and his supporters found in the situation final proof that the media were under Red and Jewish control. They organized mass pickets of the offending radio stations and turned out thousands of demonstrators a week for months afterward; the rallies became the major source of recruitment for the growing Christian Front. In the end the attempt to fight hate speech served only to confirm the conspiracy theories of people already deeply suspicious of the government. It may have actually increased racist agitation.
If the violent extreme right of the 1930s was so similar to today’s, we should be able to learn from it.
Though that attempt to silence Coughlin was a disaster, the Roosevelt administration hoped to fare better with the arrest of his Christian Front followers, which might discredit the extreme right by portraying the whole anti-Semitic underworld as a realm of terrorists and their disciples. But problems soon arose. The political cost of putting a Catholic priest on trial made it impossible to prosecute Coughlin himself or any of the fire-eating antiSemitic clergy in the Brooklyn diocese. Even militants as outspoken as Bishop were difficult to convict, because seeking to overthrow the government is very hard to prove.
Once the Christian Front trial got under way, in early 1940, defense lawyers alleged that the whole case was a government frame-up and showed that at least one of the main activists was an FBI double agent. This raised the perennial problem of counterterrorist policing. Any law-enforcement agency worth its salt will try to find informants within potentially violent groups and plant agents who can forestall violent acts. But when such moles are revealed, defendants can argue that the agents were either provocateurs trying to entrap them or liars describing imaginary plots to please their superiors. The defense is likely to assert that the informant himself first suggested acts of violence or took seriously talk to which no one else gave any weight. Juries are often convinced by these arguments. Indeed, accusations about police informants have been the major source of controversy in the trial of Muslim fundamentalists accused of planning bomb attacks around New York City.
In 1940 the prosecutors seeking convictions against the Christian Front discovered that they faced an uphill struggle. They had to work with a hostile jury, which probably included some Coughlin sympathizers. The trial effectively collapsed by midyear, with the accused returning to a heroes’ welcome in Brooklyn. Coughlin himself, ecstatic, proclaimed, “God bless … the Christian Front!” and he redoubled his efforts until the outbreak of war permitted the government to close his newspaper and finally silence him. The failure of the trials damaged the administration as much as it strengthened the far right. It made the Justice Department much more cautious about pressing criminal charges against potential terrorist or subversive groups, and it raised public doubts about the seriousness of the charges and the conduct of the FBI. Some Republican congressmen dismissed the whole idea of armed militias as a red herring meant to ensure Roosevelt’s re-election in 1940.
Perhaps law-enforcement officials should bear this precedent in mind over the coming months, as prosecutors formulate charges related to the Oklahoma affair. American courts have always been willing to convict individuals of specific acts of terrorist violence, but only as long as the prosecutions didn’t appear to be political or attempt to use one incident to stigmatize a whole movement or subculture. The Christian Front trial was one of many in which juries simply refused to believe wide-ranging charges of sedition or revolutionary conspiracy, even when the evidence may have seemed overwhelming to a casual observer. Another example is the 1988 acquittals of the right-wing leaders accused of involvement with the Order’s terrorist schemes. The administration might want to cast the widest possible net in the wake of the Oklahoma City calamity, but past experience suggests that this would be counterproductive and even perilous.
Some thirty years ago Rlchard Hofstadter published his classic essay on what he called “the paranoid style in American politics.” He argued that a strand of conspiracy politics, defining events in terms of a constant struggle between good and evil, could be traced through all of American history. Successive generations have blamed the nation’s problems on villains ranging from Illuminati and Freemasons through Catholics, Communists, and Jews. Hofstadter’s analysis certainly applies to both the Coughlinites and the modern far right, but his account doesn’t address how often conspiracy theories have led to actual organized armed violence and active terrorism. Until recently, perhaps even until Oklahoma City, Americans tended to think of terrorism as a foreign menace that could somehow be excluded from our shores. But it has indeed happened here, on numerous occasions, and the perpetrators would often have described themselves as patriotic Christian Americans. Today’s militias are only the most recent manifestation of a long tradition. To stress that terrorism is no historical newcomer in this country is not to trivialize recent events but to appreciate what is in fact a powerful, if little understood, thread in American political history. | <urn:uuid:41f11d73-5927-4cce-81e8-b427c09daf78> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.americanheritage.com/content/home-grown-terror?page=show | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969037 |
Babelon was the first-generation high-altitude vehicle built by YUAA that launched on February 12, 2011. Unfortunately, the tracking systems failed shortly after launch. Ultimately, the lessons learned from Babelon were implemented into the design on the Horizon, YUAA’s second-generation vehicle.
Babelon housed all of its equipment in a Styrofoam box that was 0.5 inches thick. Styrofoam is an optimal choice for an encasing shell not only because it is both lightweight and sturdy but also because it is an excellent temperature insulator. Moreover, the payload was padded with foam and heated with several handwarmers. A 1500g Kaymont sounding balloon was attached to the top of the aircraft's parachute.
On board systems
Babelon featured a rugged Casio Exilim F1 Camera that took pictures every four seconds. A tiny spy videocamera was positioned downward to record the ascent. A prepaid Boost cell phone loaded with AccuTracking software was used to track the position of the vehicle. However, this tracking solution failed, and Babelon was not recovered. | <urn:uuid:3ecb5519-240c-42db-9491-4feb1c3b0147> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eng.yale.edu/yuaa/babelon.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974028 |
Strep throat is caused by Group A Streptococcus bacteria. It is the most common bacterial infection of the throat.
Pharyngitis - streptococcal; Streptococcal pharyngitis
Strep throat is most common in children between age 5 and 15, although anyone can get it.
Strep throat is spread by person-to-person contact with nasal secretions or saliva. It commonly spreads among family or household members. | <urn:uuid:7ae1ac8b-9505-4d0e-8d53-7c1b10a95dd6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.healthcentral.com/cold-flu/h/can-you-get-strep-throat-if-youve-never-had-it-before.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94984 |
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Page 80 6 Temporal and Spatial Scaling: An Ecological Perspective Over the past several years scientists have engaged in a wide array of investigations aimed at understanding the ecological consequences of climatic changes occurring over different temporal and spatial scales. Through these studies a great deal has been learned about the confounding methodological issues that arise when data characterizing climate impacts at one temporal or spatial scale are used to draw conclusions about potential impacts on a different scale. Such lessons are highly relevant to efforts to predict how disease pathogens and vectors will respond to climatic changes. In particular, insights from ecological studies can help us identify both the opportunities and the potential pitfalls of using studies of climate variability to predict disease impacts of long-term anthropogenic climate change. BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF OBSERVED CLIMATE VARIABILITY As discussed in Chapter 3, climate varies naturally on a wide range of temporal and spatial scales, and over the past century, the global climate has been gradually warming. Climate can also be manipulated under controlled experimental conditions to achieve variability at prescribed time scales. The following paragraphs provide an overview of the range of ecological phenomena that are observed to vary in response to these different forms of observed climate variability. There are numerous ecological changes associated with spatial climate gradients. For instance, associated with latitudinal and altitudinal climate gradients are dramatic changes in soil fertility, species composition, growth rates, and
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Page 81 timing of reproductive cycles. The ecological consequences of regular diurnal and seasonal climate variability are also well studied and relatively predictable. Day/night and summer/winter temperature differences strongly constrain ecological processes and the population dynamics of disease vectors. Both excessively cold nights/winters and excessively warm days/summers can limit the geographic ranges and reproductive rates of insects as well as affect the rates of microbial activity in soil and water. Examples of plant and animal adaptations to diurnal and seasonal climate variability abound, including migration, hibernation, nocturnality, reproductive cycles, torpor, and leaf shedding. The constraining effects of diurnal and seasonal climate variability on the geographic ranges and the growth and reproductive rates of organisms are intertwined because the hot extreme comes in summer daytime and the cold extreme in winter nighttime. Interannual to decadal scale climate variability results from coupled atmosphere-ocean processes, and possibly from sunspot cycles and other as yet unexplained driving forces. The ecological and health consequences of these variations can be considerable. For example, climatic variations associated with the ENSO, with multi-year droughts, and with multidecadal monsoon and hurricane cycles are known to correlate with vegetation productivity, bird-nesting success, abundance of insects, and numerous other ecological parameters (e.g., Levins et al., 1994; Tucker et al., 1991). On much longer time scales, the ecological changes caused by the “little ice age” and glacial-interglacial transitions and longer-term climate changes can be enormous, including huge range shifts or even extinction of species (Campbell and McAndrews, 1993; Davis and Zabinski, 1992; Webb, 1986). A wide variety of ecological trends are statistically associated with the long-term warming trend that has been occurring over the past century. These include earlier arrival of spring (as marked by biological events such as egg laying and vegetation flowering); bird, mammal, and amphibian population declines; and range shifts in butterflies, birds, and marine invertebrates (Brown et al., 1999; Crick and Sparks, 1999; Grabherr et al., 1994; Myeni et al., 1997; Parmesan, 1996; Thomas and Lennon, 1999). Evidence that these changes are actually caused by trends in climate is compelling in some cases (e.g., observed trends in plant-flowering phenology) and at least suggestive in most of the other cases. At many locations, nighttime and winter air temperatures during the past 100 years have increased more than have daytime and summer temperatures. These reductions in the amplitudes of diurnal and seasonal cycles represent potential influences on ecological phenomena, independent of any effects of a change in mean temperature. Organisms are generally more sensitive to temperature extremes than they are to mean temperature, and these amplitude changes could generate geographic-range shifts and altered population densities of a variety of species. The duration of extreme temperature episodes can in some cases be as ecologically important as the extreme temperatures reached during such episodes.
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Page 82 Climate can also be altered by deliberate experimental manipulation to learn about ecological responses to these alterations. Climate manipulation experiments can endure for periods from less than a year to over a decade. They can be carried out either in small laboratory chambers or in field plots of varying sizes. In these experiments, soil and/or air temperature are manipulated with the use of overhead heat lamps or heating wires in the soil or with passive devices that serve as small open-top greenhouses (Shen and Harte, 2000). In some field experiments precipitation is also manipulated, and in a few cases temperature increase is combined with an increase in ambient carbon dioxide concentration to more accurately simulate the conditions of future atmospheric conditions. Experiments of these types can affect the relative growth rates of plant species, the population of invertebrates, the timing of plant reproductive cycles, biogeochemical cycling rates, and the quantity of carbon stored in organic form in soil (Harte and Shaw, 1995; Saleska et al., 1999). CONFOUNDING INFLUENCES ON ECOLOGICAL FORECASTING By investigating how a target parameter such as disease vector abundance responds to observed climate variability, it may be possible to make reliable deductions about how that target parameter will respond to future anthropogenic global climate change (AGCC), either by direct statistical extrapolation of the observed relationship or by a more complex analysis based on a mechanistic understanding of these relationships. Here we discuss the factors influencing the validity of the conclusions drawn from such investigations and the opportunities that this approach to prediction provides. Our purpose is to provide a framework for evaluating the suitability of the different empirical and theoretical approaches that have been proposed to predict the impacts of AGCC. Mismatches in temporal scale impede efforts to predict. Ecological adaptations to glacial-interglacial and other long-term climate cycles occur on a time scale that is much longer than the time scales of concern for AGCC. Since climate is not the only environmental parameter that changes over these long time scales, ecological responses to AGCC are not necessarily predictable based on the insights gained from paleoclimatic investigations. For instance, factors such as soil quality constrain plant species composition and growth rates, and the mechanisms shaping soil quality operate over time scales that are relatively long compared to the time frame of AGCC. Thus, over sufficiently long time intervals, plant distributions are likely to correlate with climate change, but those correlations may not provide much insight into short-term responses of plants to AGCC. Attempts to deduce the potential impacts of AGCC based on the impacts of diurnal, seasonal, interannual, or decadal climate variability suffer from related problems, since in these cases the time frame is inappropriately short compared
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Page 83 to that characterizing AGCC. Many organisms' traits are genetically adapted to short-term diurnal and seasonal climate cycles and are not likely to provide reliable indication of responses to AGCC. For instance, ecological responses to the ENSO cycle may not always be indicative of responses on the time scale of AGCC. Changes in ecosystem productivity that are observed to accompany the ENSO cycle are, in part, constrained by the species composition of these ecosystems; and major transitions in species composition occur over century to millennial time scales, not in response to individual El Niño/La Niña events. Finally, extrapolation across these different time scales can be confounded by the fact that anthropogenic stresses on ecosystems such as land-use changes, resource exploitation, and population growth are likely to change more significantly over the course of decades to centuries than over seasonal to interannual time scales. Correlation in time does not imply causation. The problem of establishing causation besets efforts to deduce future responses to AGCC from observations of ecological responses to the past hundred years of climate change. The correlations between ecological and climatic time series could be coincidental if, for example, third-party factors such as land-use changes are simultaneously driving both climate and ecosystem change. Only manipulated climate change experiments provide an unambiguous way to distinguish causality from correlation; but such experiments are intrinsically limited to temporal and spatial scales that may be too small to provide reliable predictions. Correlation in space does not imply causality at AGCC time scales. By examining the spatial correlation between climate variations and ecosystem parameters, deductions can be made about how ecosystems will respond to changes in climate over time. The validity of those deductions, however, depends on two premises. The first is that the changes in ecological parameters along spatial gradients are actually driven by the associated climate gradients. The second, called the “space-for-time” assumption, is that the mechanisms of ecological change over time (on decadal to century time scales characteristic of AGCC) are sufficiently similar to the mechanisms that create ecological gradients resulting from spatial climate variability. Because the latter operate over much longer time scales (typically many centuries to millennia) than the former, and since climate is not the only environmental parameter that varies along spatial climate gradients, the space-for-time assumption is not necessarily valid, although it does appear to hold true in some cases. For example, experimental studies have shown that variations in plant phenology (timing of the reproductive cycle) along an elevational gradient in montane meadow habitat provide a remarkably accurate prediction of the phenological response of plants to manipulated climate warming (Price and Waser, 1998). On the other hand, the responses of a number of other ecological variables (including soil organic matter, plant productivity,
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Page 84 and species composition) to manipulated climate change were not well predicted by their patterns of change along spatial climate gradients (Dunne, 2000). Ecological and climatic phenomena are dependent on spatial scale. Because of the relatively small size of experimental field plots and laboratory chambers used for climate manipulation experiments, observed ecological responses may be quite different from those that would occur in large ecosystems. For example, studies of the influence of climate change on soil fertility and plant productivity on experimentally warmed plots of area about 10 m2 could not possibly capture the influence on plants and soil of changing populations of large herbivores. Linear extrapolation is often misleading in ecology. Ecological phenomena often depend on climate parameters in highly nonlinear ways, and thus the differences in magnitude between natural climate variability cycles and AGCC can confound efforts at prediction. The mismatch in time scales necessitates the application of reliable interpolation procedures to predict the effects of a relatively small change in temperature (AGCC) based on understanding of the effects of a larger change (e.g., a diurnal or seasonal cycle). For example, many insects in temperate or cold climates are active during daytime and go into nighttime cold-induced torpor. The dependence of insect nighttime activity rates on air temperature is not well characterized, but is thought to be a threshold relationship. Thus, it is unlikely that a simple linear interpolation of activity between day and night temperatures would yield reliable predictions of activity rates at the new nighttime temperatures resulting from AGCC (which would likely be intermediate between current day and night temperatures). For all of the reasons discussed above, ecological studies point to both pitfalls and possibilities in the use of observed climate variability data to forecast the effects of AGCC. Each type of dataset possesses shortcomings that reduce the opportunity to draw unambiguous conclusions. Were a combination of such datasets (e.g., from interannual variability, spatial gradients, and responses to experimentally manipulated climate) all to point to a single consistent conclusion about ecosystem response to climate variations, this would greatly enhance confidence in the predictions about responses to AGCC. Even when results from different kinds of measurement yield diverging predictions (because of differing spatial and temporal scales), the use of models that explicitly include scale-dependent mechanisms may allow reconciliation of the differing conclusions and provide the insight needed to draw defensible predictions. The types of scaling difficulties faced in the study of ecological changes are highly relevant to the study of infectious diseases, especially in cases where the transmission cycle is closely associated with ecological changes. For instance,
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Page 85 in the urban dengue system breeding occurs primarily in man-made containers, an “environment” that isn't expected to change significantly in response to climatic changes. Under these circumstances, responses to ENSO events or to artificially manipulated climate could provide reliable insight into the potential consequences of AGCC. In contrast, in the trypanosomiasis/tsetse fly system of sub-Saharan Africa, vector dynamics are critically influenced by natural ecosystems that are subject to uncertain change in the face of AGCC, and in this example there may be scaling problems inherent in using observed climate variability responses to anticipate AGCC responses. Malaria may present an “intermediate” example, since the environments that foster its transmission range from quasi-stable ecosystems (e.g., rice-growing regions) to more complex situations where vector dynamics are intimately tied to the natural environment.
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Water Filter Guide Water filter systems come in many shapes and sizes, using a variety of filter media. This guide provides a detailed description, pointing out the pros and cons of various water treatments for the kitchen, home, and bath.
Counter Top Water Filters Filter media configurations for portable counter top water filters.
Sense of Thirst Lost With Age As we exhale, with each and every breath, a drop of water evaporates from our lung tissues. Research shows how our bodies adapt to dehydration as we age.
Symptoms of Dehydration
How do we know if we're thirsty, what are the signs? Learn about the effects of exercising during warm weather, and salt imbalance issues of the elderly.
Treating water like a doctor's prescription may provide an affordable way to stay healthy.
Eight Cups of Water Per Day?
We've been told to drink water, but how much is the right amount?
Drinking Fluoride - Toxic Side Effects
Consider the effects of fluoride on brain function and the immune system.
Lead In Our Drinking Water
Old pipes in aging public infrastructure provide toxic point sources.
Well Water Contamination
Rural areas are not immune from groundwater toxic waste plumes.
Testing Our Water
Find out what's in our drinking water.
Hazardous Chlorination By-Products in Drinking Water
Chlorine helps protect against bacterial and viral infection, but what about it's carcinogenic effects on healthy tissues.
Why Filter Chlorine From Your Shower?
Steaming water forces chlorine into the air, then into the lungs during a hot bath. Breathing chlorine is not recommended.
Electrically charged water occurs in nature, and can be measured by a milli-volt meter. But this "charge" can be lost during treatment, storage and delivery of drinking water. Water ionizers work to replace this missing natural charge, that allows water to carry, and deliver alkaline minerals in drinking water.
Prevention of Diseases Dr. Shirahata presents evidence for the use of drinking water in the treatment of a wide range of diseases.
Understanding Reduced Water
Hidemitsu Hayashi, a medical doctor explains the effects of ionized drinking water, reduced by electrolysis.
Water Ionizer Research
Peer review process, uncovers the health effects of electrolyzed "ionized" water.
Continued research attempts to reveal the anti cancer effects of electrolyzed water.
Reducing Lung Cancer Researchers suggest how both free hydrogen electrons and magnesium may contribute to health effects of alkaline ionized water.
Clinical Applications Dr. Hayashi presents a range of health applications for the use of ionized water.
Frequently Asked Questions about ionized water, by Mark Kelly, Heartspring.net
Structured Water Research
Find out how water's flipping coordinates can arrange itself into various basic geometric shapes.
Japan Medical Congress
Addressing ionized water.
Alkaline water affecting food and beverages.
Effects on Stomach Acid
Drinking alkaline water, by Sang Whang.
Aging and Reverse Aging
by Sang Whang.
Passive Filter Media Materials used for "polishing" water's pH without the use of electricity.
Water Ionizers: A 20+ Year Perspective
Former water ionizer distributor, who started working in the industry over 20 years ago, speaks out about the water ionizer issues, and provides five reasons to consider when buying a water ionizer.
Water Ionizer Hazards
Research shows how the consumption of electrolyzed water, under certain circumstances, could fatally effect infant, and elderly health.
Ionizer Issues Interview
Dr. Mercola interviews a corporate executive about ionizer filtration, includes a review by Mark Kelly, Heartspring.net
Ionizer Testing from independant labs
Acidosis / Alkadosis - Disease Research Blood pH can vary widely from pH 6.5 to 7.5. Research shows how mild alkadosis is an optimal state for human health.
Mineral Water Health Effects
Also known as "hard water," contain calcium, and magnesium, two minerals that have been shown to offer positive health effects on bone growth.
Acid-Alkaline Balance health effects.
Growing Clean Air Three common house plant species are used to clean, and produce, enough air to supply a totally enclosed living environment.
Air Purifying Ionizers have been found to produce hazardous levels of ozone inside the home.
Page updated May 8 2013 | <urn:uuid:307e2301-931f-4ba4-b3b4-11eb034d44fe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://heartspring.net/water_filters_guide_home.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.877607 |
It's not because of a particular increase in alcohol consumption, or any type of actual increase in people who become alcoholics. It's because the American Psychiatric Association is coming up with a new definition of addiction that will see the number of people classified as alcoholics increase by that much.
The American Psychiatric Association writes and maintains the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM for sure. It's the go-to book that every mental health professional refers to when diagnosing a mental illness.
They're planning on releasing the 5th edition of the DSM next year, and one of the changes they're proposing is to expand the list of recognized symptoms for drug and alcohol addiction.
For example, if you often drink more than you intend and crave alcohol, you will be considered a mild addict. Under DSM-4, you needed to have more serious symptoms like missing your duties, being arrested or driving while drunk before you were diagnosed as an addict.
The result will be that an estimated 20 million people will be considered addicts, who now are just unhealthy users rather than abusers. They estimate that up to 40% of college students would fall under this definition!
This decision is drawing fire because it has huge implications beyond the simple diagnosis. For one, the DSM is what insurance companies use to decide what treatments they pay. If so many people are considered addicts, then health care costs could rise dramatically. | <urn:uuid:67e6151a-fc2b-4fb7-afc0-1eb96109e90a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.omg-facts.com/Science/US-Alcoholics-Might-Increase-By-60-Next/51237 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960004 |
Michael T. Loos
In most landscapes there are plants that survive periods of drought. Placing these plants in the garden reduces the need to supply extra water during periods of inadequate rainfall. While cacti and succulents may have a place in some drought-tolerant gardens, they are not the only alternatives. There are other choices available and appropriate for dry areas. With careful selection, planning and execution, drought-tolerant landscapes can be as pleasing as those needing heavy irrigation.
Select plants for the growing conditions in a given area when planning and designing the landscape. These growing conditions create microclimates. Define the microclimates. Create a site plan that groups plants according to similar water needs. Strive for three basic divisions: very low water zone, low water zone, and moderate water zone. Each area should be irrigated separately, according to specific water needs. Incorporate leaf size and color, bloom period, and size and shape of plant, to create visual interest.
Soil type, wind, and exposure to sun can create a dry microclimate in an area that receives heavy rainfall. Sandy, well-drained soil will dry out more quickly, while heavy clay soils are likely to remain moist much longer. Mixing humus into the soil will improve water-holding capacity of sandy soils and water penetration in clay soils. Sandy soils with humus will hold larger amounts of water. Clay soils amended with humus will absorb more water, reducing runoff. In locations with poor drainage and heavy soils, many drought-tolerant species may suffer during years with average or abundant rainfall. Wet winters and spring rains may also cause problems for some drought-tolerant plants growing in heavy soils.
Turfgrass requires more water than other plants in the landscape. By isolating turf from gardens, trees and shrubs, a gardener can separate irrigation zones and waste less water. Limit turf to areas that are regular in shape and easily irrigated. Cultivar selection should be appropriate to the climate, site, level of maintenance, intended use and reduced water consumption. Although coarse in texture and appearance, tall fescue mixes offer good heat and drought tolerance. Cut the grass at a height of 21/2 to 3 inches. Longer leaf blades help to shade and cool the ground, reducing evaporation from the soil and lessening the need to irrigate.
Efficient irrigation may mean including an irrigation system. The least efficient system is the sprinkler. It delivers a large amount of water in a short period, but loses excessive amounts of moisture to evaporation. Sprinklers are the only choice for turf areas. Low-volume trickle or drip irrigators and soaker hoses deliver moisture over a long period, losing little water due to evaporation or runoff. Check all systems regularly. An improperly calibrated, clogged or leaking system can waste a great deal of water. Carefully probe the root zone to help determine the moisture content in the soil. With some low-volume systems, the surface of the soil will not appear to be saturated, while the root zone will receive the proper amount of moisture.
In times of drought, utilizing recycled household or graywater helps ease water usage. Graywater should be free from oils, foodscraps and bleach. Mixing graywater and fresh water (half and half) is ideal. Graywater should not be used on root crops or potted plants or be a plant's sole source of water. In addition to graywater, saving rainwater from roofs in cisterns and rain barrels will lessen the need to use community or well water. The need for irrigating an area will depend on all the factors of culture and microclimate. Well established gardens will require less supplemental irrigation during drought than newly planted areas.
Properly mulching an area lowers the soil temperature and decreases the loss of moisture due to evaporation. In addition to creating texture in the landscape, organic mulches decay, adding nutrients to the soil. Appropriate depth of the mulch is important: 2 to 3 inches for trees and shrubs, and 1 to 2 inches for vegetables, annuals and perennials.
Carefully planned landscapes and sound cultural practices reduce water needs. Controlling weeds will lower moisture competition with other plants. Lessening competition will strengthen existing plants and make them less susceptible to disease, insects and drought. By carefully preparing and meeting plant requirements, a gardener can develop a landscape full of color and texture, while reducing water requirements.
This area is typically farthest from a source of water. Plants in this area must be chosen carefully, requiring little or no supplemental irrigation. Some of these plants may show problems in years of abundant rainfall.
Plants chosen for this area will require more water than that which is available naturally. During severe drought, supplementing the water supply will become necessary.
This zone will use the greatest ratio of water in the landscape. Keeping this area small will help limit water needs. It is possible to grow drought-intolerant plants in this area.
Hardiness may be microclimate dependent. This is not a complete list, but rather a sample of drought-tolerant species.
Many species (1) require well-drained soils and will not grow well in poorly drained, clay soils. Some species resistant to drought may perform more vigorously when grown in ideal conditions.
Reviewed by: Daniel K. Struve, Associate Professor, Horticulture T. Davis Sydnor, Professor, Horticulture
All educational programs conducted by Ohio State University Extension are available to clientele on a nondiscriminatory basis without regard to race, color, creed, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, gender, age, disability or Vietnam-era veteran status.
Keith L. Smith, Associate Vice President for Ag. Adm. and Director, OSU Extension.
TDD No. 800-589-8292 (Ohio only) or 614-292-1868 | <urn:uuid:eb09119a-df7a-4449-9310-a38e3f5ea665> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/1643.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.910994 |
Turtle Shells and Derivatives
Vei tayaki (1995) explained that the use of marine turtles in traditional occasions is unlimited where the number of tur tles exploited represents the success per catch per effort in a village setting.
A few studies have illustrated the use of marine turtles in Fiji. According to Guinea (1993), a tortoise industry was thriving in Fiji in the early 1940s. In 1998, Fiji became a signatory country to the Convention on International Trading of Endangered Wild flora and fauna (CITES). Fiji later enforced the Endangered and Protected Species Act (1998) and a second Turtle Moratorium (2004 -2008) after the first from 1995 - 2000. In September 2009, a third Moratorium was endorsed and is in effect from 2009 - 2018. These policies and associated regulations contribute to the implementation of Fiji’s commitments to CITES at local level and further enhances the protection and conservation of marine turtles.
A lack of dedicated research aimed at quantifying the illegal use of marine turtles in Fiji has been one of the many factors hindering informed decision making in the conservation and management of marine turtles. In response to this a survey initiated by the Department of Environment and monitored by the Institute of Marine Resources aimed to identify the efficacy of the legally binding regulations in place. The survey was initially conducted in December 2006 with a follow up assessment in April 2007. | <urn:uuid:ef323244-46b8-41d2-9706-232e8672e152> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wwf.panda.org/?197234/Turtle-Shells-and-Derivatives | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949369 |
ELECTRONIC STRUCTURES OF IONS
This page explores how you write electronic structures for simple monatomic ions (ions containing only one atom) using s, p, and d notation. It assumes that you already understand how to write electronic structures for atoms.
Important! If you have come straight to this page via a search engine, you should read the page on electronic structures of atoms before you go any further.
Working out the electronic structures of ions
Ions are atoms (or groups of atoms) which carry an electric charge because they have either gained or lost one or more electrons. If an atom gains electrons it acquires a negative charge. If it loses electrons, it becomes positively charged.
The electronic structure of s- and p-block ions
Write the electronic structure for the neutral atom, and then add (for a negative ion) or subtract electrons (for a positive ion).
To write the electronic structure for Cl -:
To write the electronic structure for O2-:
To write the electronic structure for Na+:
To write the electronic structure for Ca2+:
The electronic structure of d-block ions
Here you are faced with one of the most irritating facts in chemistry at this level! When you work out the electronic structures of the first transition series (from scandium to zinc) using the Aufbau Principle, you do it on the basis that the 3d orbitals have a higher energy than the 4s orbital.
That means that you work on the assumption that the 3d electrons are added after the 4s ones.
However, in all the chemistry of the transition elements, the 4s orbital behaves as the outermost, highest energy orbital. When these metals form ions, the 4s electrons are always lost first.
You must remember this:
Provided you remember that, working out the structure of a d-block ion is no different from working out the structure of, say, a sodium ion.
Note: The problem here is that the Aufbau Principle can only really be used as a way of working out the electronic structures of most atoms. It is a simple way of doing that, although it fails with some, like chromium or copper, of course, and you have to learn these.
There is, however, a flaw in the theory behind it which produces problems like this. Why are the apparently higher energy 3d electrons not the ones to get lost when the metal ionises?
I have written a detailed explanation of this on another page called the order of filling 3d and 4s orbitals. If you are a teacher or a very confident student then you might like to follow this link.
If you aren't so confident, or are coming at this for the first time, I suggest that you ignore it. Learn how to work out the structures of these atoms using the Aufbau Principle on the assumption that the 3d orbitals fill after the 4s, and learn that when the atoms ionise, the 4s electrons are always lost first. Just ignore the contradictions between these two ideas!
To write the electronic structure for Cr3+:
The 4s electron is lost first followed by two of the 3d electrons.
To write the electronic structure for Zn2+:
This time there is no need to use any of the 3d electrons.
To write the electronic structure for Fe3+:
The 4s electrons are lost first followed by one of the 3d electrons.
The rule is quite simple. Take the 4s electrons off first, and then as many 3d electrons as necessary to produce the correct positive charge.
Note: You may well have the impression from GCSE that ions have to have noble gas structures. It's not true! Most (but not all) ions formed by s- and p-block elements do have noble gas structures, but if you look at the d-block ions we've used as examples, not one of them has a noble gas structure - yet they are all perfectly valid ions. Getting away from a reliance on the concept of noble gas structures is one of the difficult mental leaps that you have to make at the beginning of A'level chemistry.
© Jim Clark 2000 (last modified August 2012) | <urn:uuid:683d63cc-5ab7-4fc8-8648-693f0a096a39> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.chemguide.co.uk/atoms/properties/ionstruct.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.916164 |
In carrying out research on all three areas, a large measure of scepticism is necessary with regard to the dates of births, marriages and deaths reported by family members before 1900. This is especially true for births; the ages given in census returns, for example, are almost always inaccurate, and round figures - 50. 60, 70, - should be treated with particular caution. The true date of birth is almost always well before the one reported, sometimes by as much as fifteen years. Why this should be so is a matter for speculation, but it seems unlikely that vanity or mendacity are to blame. It would appear more probable that, up to the start of this century, very few people actually knew their precise date of birth. Since, at least after middle age, almost no-one feels as old as they actually are, a guess will usually produce an underestimate. Whatever the explanation, charitable or otherwise, it is always wiser to search a range of the indexes before the reported date, rather than after.
[Click for larger image]
From 1864 to 1877 the indexes consist of a single yearly volume in each category - births, marriages and deaths - covering the entire country, and recording all names in a straightforward alphabetical arrangement. The same arrangement also applies to the non-Catholic marriages registered from 1845.
From 1878, the yearly volume is divided into four quarters, with each quarter covering three months and indexed separately.
This means that a search for a name in, for example, the 1877 births index involves looking in one place in the index, while it is necessary to check four different places in the 1878 index, one in each of the four quarters. From 1903, in the case of births only, the indexes once again cover the entire year, and only from this year also supply the mother's maiden surname.
In all three categories, each index entry gives
The "volume and page number" simply make up the reference for the original register entry, necessary in order to obtain a photocopy of the full information given in that entry. | <urn:uuid:deb22cfa-747a-428d-89cf-746a2c7f21b1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/browse/records/state/research.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950342 |
Efficient extraction method to collect sugar from sweet sorghum
1 Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA
2 Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA
3 Current address: Department of Biological Systems Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 223 LW Chase Hall, Lincoln, NE, 68583-0726, USA
Journal of Biological Engineering 2013, 7:1 doi:10.1186/1754-1611-7-1Published: 10 January 2013
Sweet sorghum is a domesticated grass containing a sugar-rich juice that can be readily utilized for ethanol production. Most of the sugar is stored inside the cells of the stalk tissue and can be difficult to release, a necessary step before conventional fermentation. While this crop holds much promise as an arid land sugar source for biofuel production, a number of challenges must be overcome. One lies in the inherent labile nature of the sugars in the stalks leading to a short usable storage time. Also, collection of sugars from the sweet sorghum stalks is usually accomplished by mechanical squeezing, but generally does not collect all of the available sugars.
In this paper, we present two methods that address these challenges for utilization of sweet sorghum for biofuel production. The first method demonstrates a means to store sweet sorghum stalks in the field under semi-arid conditions. The second provides an efficient water extraction method that can collect as much of the available sugar as feasible. Operating parameters investigated include temperature, stalk size, and solid–liquid ratio that impact both the rate of sugar release and the maximal amount recovered with a goal of low water use. The most desirable conditions include 30°C, 0.6 ratio of solid to liquid (w/w), which collects 90 % of the available sugar. Variations in extraction methods did not alter the efficiency of the eventual ethanol fermentation.
The water extraction method has the potential to be used for sugar extraction from both fresh sweet sorghum stalks and dried ones. When combined with current sugar extraction methods, the overall ethanol production efficiency would increase compared to current field practices. | <urn:uuid:9eb6aeba-ab10-44c9-a8b8-a36620ebadf2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jbioleng.org/content/7/1/1/abstract | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.899954 |
Today in History
October 05, 1921
Batter Up! The World Series Hits the Airwaves
WJZ, a Newark, New Jersey, station, broadcasts the World Series on the radio for the first time. The announcer, not actually present at the game, calls the game based on reports phoned or telegraphed to him. The Giants beat the Yanks 5 games to 3. Initially there is concern that broadcasting baseball games would keep people away from the stadium, but the game's popularity only increases as more Americans acquire radios and broadcasters become expert at conveying the drama and tension of the sport.
Today's Feature History Article
Major-league teams are turning to third-generation groundskeeper Roger Bossard to give them a winning edge
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13 July 2006
Excerpts from Roosevelt's Secret War: FDR and World War II Espionage, Joseph E. Persico, 2001.
On June 19 the President received an excited call from Francis Biddle, his attorney general. Six days before, Biddle told the President, "at 1:30 A.M. an unarmed Coast Guard patrolman near Amagansett, Montauk Point, Long Island, discovered two men placing material in a hole they had dug; one of them covered the patrolman with a gun, gave him $260 and told him to keep his mouth shut. I shall, of course, keep you informed." As J. Edgar Hoover's nominal boss, Biddle later recalled the FBI chief's demeanor while describing the plan to track down the rest of the saboteurs: "His eyes were bright, his jaw set, excitement flickering around the edge of his nostrils," Biddle remembered. The question now was how much to tell the public. Hoover wanted no announcement that might alert the men still at large. The President agreed, and the press was, for the moment, frozen out of the story.
FDR's longstanding preoccupation with sabotage now seemed validated. Biddle admitted, "1 had a bad week trying to sleep as I thought of the possibilities. The saboteurs might have other caches hidden, and at any moment an explosion was possible." [Saboteur] Dasch had, in fact, revealed that, along with their transportation and industrial targets, the Pastorius mission was supposed to spread terror by placing firebombs in department stores and delayed-action explosives in hotels and in crowded railroad stations.
On June 27, ten days after the Kerling team landed in Florida, the President, then at Hyde Park, took another call from Biddie. Hoover's G-men had seven of the saboteurs in custody and were about to arrest the last one. Nearly $174,000 of their Abwehr stake had been seized. FDR responded with the habitual geniality that Biddle, a stiff Philadelphia Main Liner, envied. "Not enough, Francis," Roosevelt said. "Let's make real money out of them. Sell the rights to Barnum and Bailey for a million and a half --- the rights to take them around the country in lion cages at so much a head." Now the tale could be told, and in the ensuing publicity, Coast Guardsman Cullen became a national hero. Hoover played the capture of the ring as a case solved by the FBI, making no public mention of the fact that Dasch had turned himself in and squealed on his comrades.
Three days after all eight saboteurs were in custody, FDR sent Biddle a memo making clear his expectations. "The two Americans are guilty of treason," he told the attorney general. "I do not see how they can offer any adequate defense. . . it seems to me that the death penalty is almost obligatory." As for the six German citizens, "They were apprehended in civilian clothes. This is an absolute parallel of the Case of Major [John] Andre in the Revolution and of Nathan Hale. Both of these men were hanged." The President hammered home his point once more: "The death penalty is called for by usage and by the extreme gravity of the war aim and the very existence of our American govemment." Biddle had never quite overcome his awe in dealing with FDR. Still, the nation's chief law enforcement official was troubled, finding himself trapped between the President's questionable pressure and his own reverence for the law. The Germans had been apprehended so quickly, Biddle recognized, that "they had not committed any act of sabotage. Probably an indictment for attempted sabotage would not have been sustained in a civil court on the grounds that the preparations and landings were not close enough to the planned acts of sabotage to constitute attempt. If a man buys a pistol, intending murder, that is not an attempt at murder." In a civilian court the Germans might at best be convicted of conspiracy, which Biddle estimated would carry a maximum sentence of three years. This outcome, he knew, would never satisfy Roosevelt.
FDR essentially took charge of the case. He told Biddle that he wanted the eight agents tried, not in a civilian court, but by a military tribunal, which he himself would appoint. They had forfeited any right to a civilian trial, as Roosevelt put it, because "[t]hese men had penetrated battlelines strung on land along our two coasts and guarded on the sea by our destroyers, and were waging battle within our country." They fell under the Law of War. A military tribunal would be quick, not subject to the protracted appeals procedures of civilian courts. It would not be hog-tied by the criminal courts' exacting rules of evidence. It could impose the death sentence, not as the civil courts required, by a unanimous verdict, but by a two-thirds vote. A military tribunal offered the advantages and the assured outcome that the President wanted. A civilian court was out of the question. FDR told Biddle, "I want one thing clearly understood, Francis: I won't give them up . . . I won't hand them over to any United States Marshall armed with a writ of habeas corpus. Understand!" Averell Harriman, FDR's special envoy to Moscow, had once described Roosevelt's "Dutch jaw -- and when that Dutch jaw was set you couldn't move him." Biddle practically felt the jaw's thrust, and dutifully followed the President's instructions. Conviction should be simple, Biddle promised FDR, since "[t]he major violation of the Law of War is crossing behind the lines of a belligerent to commit hostile acts without being in uniform."
The British, early in the war, had imposed the traditional penalty on captured spies and saboteurs, execution. Seven arrested German agents were hanged with numerous others awaiting the gallows within months of the war's outbreak. Then, in 1940, a thirty-year-old Scottish major, energetic, articulate, imaginative Thomas A. "Tar" Robertson, assigned to MIS, proposed a new approach. What use to Britain were German spies moldering in anonymous graves? he asked his superiors. Instead, make an offer to them, turn or die. Thus was born the Double Cross, or XX, operation whereby most captured spies chose turning to dying. Some became double agents and sent false information back to Germany under British control. In other cases, British radiomen mastered "the fist," the distinctive sending style of these agents, and convincingly transmitted Double Cross fabrications to Germany. Double Cross was a rousing success. Only one German spy is believed to have reached Britain during the war without being caught. The alternative of turning the eight captured Germans never entered FDR's head. Their deaths were to serve notice to the Nazis of the certain fate of any other spies and saboteurs sent to America.
On July 2 the President announced that the eight accused would stand trial before a military commission composed of seven generals, and they would be charged with violating the eighty-first and eighty-second Articles of War dealing with espionage, sabotage, and conspiracy. Court-appointed lawyers for the defendants made a game effort to move the trial to a civilian court, taking the constitutional issue all the way to the Supreme Court, but the justices backed the legality of a military tribunal. Biddle himself was to prosecute, an unusual move, having a civilian serve as prosecutor in a military proceeding. But FDR was taking no chances. The Army's Judge Advocate General was rusty and had not tried a case for over twenty years. FDR wanted his own man before the bar.
On June 8 the prisoners, held in the District of Columbia jail, were shaved by prison barbers, lest they put the razor to their own wrists or throats, and hustled into two armored vans guarded by gun-toting military police. Nine Washington motorcycle patrolmen roared alongside, escorting the vans to the Department of Justice. Enterprising vendors soon were doing a thriving business selling ice cream and hot dogs to the crowds that gathered outside the department's iron gate every day to gawk at the enemy. The trial was held in Assembly Hall # 1 on the fifth floor of the Justice Department, the windows shrouded by black curtains. As the trial opened, Hoover, sitting next to Biddle, fed pages of evidence to the attorney general. During a recess, one of the defendants asked the presiding general for a cigarette. The general responded stuffily that Army regulations made no provision for such a request. A disgusted Hoover took out a pack of cigarettes and handed it to the German.
In twenty-six days it was over. All eight were sentenced to death. The generals sent their verdict to the President. Roosevelt, acting, in effect, as the court of last resort, confirmed six of the death sentences, but commuted Burger's sentence to life and Dasch's to thirty years for their willingness to betray their comrades. August 8 was set for the executions, which would take place in the electric chair on the third floor of the District of Columbia jail. Eight weeks had elapsed from the night the first saboteurs had landed on Long Island.
On execution day, FDR was at Shangri-la [now Camp David] , the presidential hideaway in western Maryland's Catoctin Mountains. The President liked to sit in the small screened porch playing solitaire or gazing by the hour out at the Catoctin Valley, lost in his private thoughts. This evening, he gathered his guests around him in the living room -- Sam Rosenman and his wife, Dorothy, Daisy Suckley, Grace Tully, poet Archibald MacLeish and his wife, Ada. The First Lady was tied up in New York. The President settled into an easy chair and seemed in unusually fine fettle. He commenced his ceremonial role, mixing the cocktails. He was conceded to make a fine martini and an old-fashioned, though lately he had become enamored of a drink made of gin and grapefruit juice, which most guests found vile. As he mixed, he swapped jests with Rosenman and MacLeish while Daisy snapped photos.
Once more Rosenman was impressed by FDR's gift for shedding the cares of office after hours, as if flipping a switch somewhere inside himself The President began reminiscing about his days in the governor's office in Albany where Rosenman had served as his legal counsel, recalling stories of appeals for clemency on the eve of executions. Sam marveled at FDR's memory, down to dates, places, offenses, and names of the condemned in a dozen New York capital cases. The President then segued into an Alexandre Dumas story about a barber who, during the 1870 siege of Paris, supplied delicious beef while thousands were starving. Gleefully, FDR related how a number of the barber's clients had turned up missing, and the "veal" was suspected of originating in the barber's chair.
What prompted FDR's black humor this evening went unspoken until Dorothy Rosenman raised the subject. The six condemned Nazi saboteurs had been electrocuted beginning at one minute past noon. By 1:04 P.M., the work was completed, an average of ten and a half minutes per man. One witness reported that they had gone to their deaths stunned, as if in a trance. Where, Mrs. Rosenman asked the President, would the bodies be buried? He had not yet decided, FDR answered. His only regret was that they had not been hanged. He then launched into a story about an elderly American woman who died while visiting Moscow and had accidentally been switched in a casket meant for a deceased Russian general who was shipped back to the States. When her family complained, the Russian government cabled back, "Suggest you close the casket and proceed with the funeral. Your grandmother was buried in the Kremlin with full military honors." The saboteurs were subsequently buried in a potter's field near Washington.
Was the evening of gallows humor Roosevelt's true mood or intended to mask the hard decisions he had had to make about six human lives? Mrs. Rosenman's firsthand account describes nothing but Roosevelt's humor and relaxed manner, but then, he was a consummate actor. In any case, the country was with him. Telegrams poured into the White House mail room. One read, "It's high time that we wake up here in this country and show the world we are not a bunch of mush hounds." It was signed, "Mother who has three loyal sons in the Army." The Victory Committee of German American Trade Unionists telegraphed the President, "We endorse the imposition of the death penalty on any saboteur or traitor. We know that no loyal German American need have the slightest fear providing he obeys the laws of the country." On Ellis Island, the execution of the six Germans was observed differently. Adolph G. Schickert and Erich Fittkau, Germans interned there, held a meeting of other internees. They announced the death of their countrymen, called for two minutes of silence, and then led the singing of the rousing Nazi anthem, the "Horst Wessel Lied." | <urn:uuid:0c2d40dd-8bbc-434d-b4d7-b7d8d9daf67f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cryptome.org/prez-killer.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979991 |
37. The Friar reacheth Cambalech, and discourseth thereof, and of
the Great Caan's Palace there.
And departing thence, I passed on through many a city and many a town towards the east, until I came to that noble city CAMBALECH, an old city of that famous province of CATHAY.' The Tartars took the city, and then built another at a distance of half-a-mile, which they called TAYDO.
1 Khan-bcclig (Along., " The Khan's city"), the Cambalu of Marco, PEKING. The Chinese capital was still so called by the Turks in the time of P. Ricci, and may probably be called so to this day.
The city on this site was originally (multurn est vetus et antiqua, as Odoric says) the capital of the kingdom of Yan. B.c. 222, this was conquered by the Thsin sovereigns of China, and the city lost its importance. A.D. 936, it was taken by the Tartar Khitan, and became their " Nan-king" or
Southern Capital". In 1125, it fell to the Kin, ancestors of the Manchus, who gave it the name of Si-king or " Western Capital". In 1153, it received from the fourth Kin sovereign the name of Chung-tu or " Central Court". It seems also to have been known as Yen-king under this dynasty. It: was captured by Chinghiz in 1215, and in 1264 Kublai made it his chief residence. In 1267 he built a new city, three li to the north-east of the old one, to which was given the name of Ta-tu or " Great Court", called by the Mongols Daidu, the Taydo of Odoric and Taidu of Polo, who gives a description of its dimensions, the number of its gates, etc., similar to that in the text. The Chinese accounts give only eleven gates.
This city was abandoned as a royal residence on the expulsion of the Mongol dynasty in 1368, but re-occupied in 1421 by the third Ming Emperor, who built the walls as they now exist, reducing their extent and the number of the gates to nine. This is what is commonly called the Tartar city of the present day (called also by the Chinese Lau-chhing or "Old Town"), which therefore represents the Taydo of Odoric. The ruins of the older Yen-king or Chungtu were still visible in the time of the Ming, but they were embraced in the new southern city called Waichhing or Outer Town", the wall of which was built in 1554.
The circumference of the present Tartar city appears from the plans to be about fifteen miles. Martini speaks of it as having still twelve gates in his time, but he was almost certainly wrong. It has three on the south side, and two on each of the others. The circuit of the two cities together is about twenty-two miles according to the scale on the plan given by Pauthier, though Timkowski states it at forty versts, or 261 miles. But Odoric's dimensions may have been quite correct, for the Tartar city was larger, and there was a space of more than half-a-mile between the two. (Timkowski, i, 315, etc., etc.) | <urn:uuid:001c6964-333c-440a-9263-b85138998891> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://dsr.nii.ac.jp/toyobunko/III-2-F-b-2/V-1/page-hr/0401.html.ja | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984124 |
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What is a Home Energy Rating?
A home energy rating involves an analysis of a home's construction plans and onsite inspections. Based on the home's plans, the Home Energy Rater uses an energy efficiency software package to perform an energy analysis of the home's design. This analysis yields a projected, pre-construction HERS Index.
Upon completion of the plan review, the rater will work with the builder to identify the energy efficiency improvements needed to ensure the house will meet ENERGY STAR performance guidelines. The rater then conducts onsite inspections, typically including a blower door test (to test the leakiness of the house) and a duct test (to test the leakiness of the ducts). Results of these tests, along with inputs derived from the plan review, are used to generate the HERS Index for the home.
Unlike a Building Performance Audit or a weatherization assessment, a home energy rating is a recognized tool in the mortgage industry. Home energy ratings can be used in a variety of ways in the housing industry. Since a rating quantifies the energy performance of a home, the HERS Index provides an easily understandable means to compare the relative energy efficiency of different homes.
The HERS Index
The HERS Index is a scoring system established by the Residential Energy Services Network (RESNET) in which a home built to the specifications of the HERS Reference Home (based on the 2006 International Energy Conservation Code) scores a HERS Index of 100, while a net zero energy home scores a HERS Index of 0. The lower a home's HERS Index, the more energy efficient it is in comparison to the HERS Reference Home.
Each 1-point decrease in the HERS Index corresponds to a 1% reduction in energy consumption compared to the HERS Reference Home. Thus a home with a HERS Index of 85 is 15% more energy efficient than the HERS Reference Home and a home with a HERS Index of 80 is 20% more energy efficient.
U.S. Department of Energy’s EnergySmart Home Scale
The EnergySmart Home Scale (E-Scale) was developed by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for the National Builders Challenge. The E-Scale is based on RESNET’s HERS Index.
DOE has developed an E-Scale Interactive Tool to compare estimated cost and energy savings of new and existing homes.
Choosing a Rater
As in any trade, all raters are not the same. Raters have different experience, training and skills. You should not select a rater based solely on price. The following are issues to consider when choosing a home energy rater to work with:
- Find out what are the basic services the rater provides. RESNET has adopted a Rating Standards of Practice to define this.
- Determine what training and experience the rater requires to meet your needs. In addition to receiving a rating score, will you require design assistance, HVAC sizing calculations, or construction crew training? Be sure you know that the rater's skills meet your needs.
- Make sure that your rater carries proper insurance coverage. RESNET has arranged to provide affordable and comprehensive general liability and professional liability insurance coverage for raters. Make sure that the rater you hire is properly insured.
Benefits of Hiring a RESNET Member Rater
Choosing a RESNET rater member means that you are selecting someone you can trust to objectively provide you with a comprehensive analysis of the home's major energy systems and components.
RESNET rater members are trained and have demonstrated technical proficiency and have committed to maintain and improve their technical proficiency through continuing education.
Members are committed to conducting ratings in accordance with the RESNET Rating Standards of Practice; abiding by the RESNET Rating Code of Ethics, and disclose any financial interest in the home being rated. Through their membership to RESNET, member raters demonstrate their commitment to technical and ethical quality. | <urn:uuid:c2cfd2a2-4a83-4e80-9c53-eb3fda4b07eb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://folsomair.com/index.php?pr=Home_Energy | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929418 |
Why Los Angeles messes with
storms in the Rocky Mountains
by Allen Best
But does it work? That’s always been the question about cloud seeding, the technology pioneered in 1946—coincidentally with the brother of novelist Kurt Vonnegut as a principal figure – and now widely deployed across the West.
In Colorado alone, nearly $1 million was spent by cities, water districts and ski areas to seed clouds between Winter Park and Telluride. Most see the operations as a low-risk bet on augmenting snowfall in the so-so years. In drought years, typically there are few clouds to seed. In snowy years, it’s not needed.
If even modestly successful, the cost is low – just $1 per acre-foot, according to an operator who seeds clouds near Crested Butte, Colo.
A new study issued in December by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation more cautiously estimates costs ranging from $30 to $60 per acre-feet. At that rate, says the study, cloud-seeding could be one of the least expensive ways to narrow the gap between supplies of water in the Colorado River Basin and growing demands. Dramatically more expensive would be desalting brackish groundwater in Arizona, which the study estimated at $650 per acre-foot, or ocean water near Los Angeles, at $2,100 per acre-foot.
A ground-based cloud-seeding generator near Eagle, Colo., seeks to disperse silver iodide into clouds blowing toward Beaver Creek and Vail.
But even the federal government’s estimate for cloud seeding has almost no empirical basis, says a scientist involved with cloud-seeding research. “It’s pretty back of the envelope, more qualitative (than quantitative),” says Dan Breed, of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo.
Not enough pure research has been completed yet to assign a hard figure to the effects of cloud-seeding, says Breed.
Breed also remains skeptical that cloud-seeding could produce 300,000 acre-feet per year, on average, as the Bureau of Reclamation’s study estimates. That’s about as much water as is diverted from the Western Slope of Colorado to the Front Range in a poor year.
Eureka in Schenectady
The hallelujah moment for cloud-seeding occurred at the General Electric Research Laboratory in Schenectady, N.Y. There, Bernard Vonnegut, a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, found that silver iodide could serve as the nuclei, or seeds, around which water droplets condense.
Silver iodide remains the most common agent used to seed clouds. The chemical is put in a solution of acetone and combusted. The heat lifts the aerosol into upslope winds, which carry it toward targeted areas. Airplanes allow more effective seeding, but at much greater expense.
The longest-running program in the West occurs in the upper San Joaquin River Basin of California. There, Southern California Edison seeds clouds in a program that began in 1950. Long-standing programs have also existed in Nevada and Utah.
Colorado’s longest steadiest program began during the drought winter of 1976-77, with Vail Mountain as the intended recipient. The program has continued with just temporary lapses ever since.
Other programs in Colorado began after the dire drought of 2002. The efforts coalesced in the winter of 2011-2012 in a partnership of cities, ski areas and water districts pooling money to seed clouds to augment watersheds from Aspen to Grand Lake at elevations above 8,500 feet. Ski areas pay for efforts only through January, although other efforts continue through February and sometimes into March. Total cost of the program is $293,000.
Sites of cloud-seeding generators in Colorado during the 2012-2013 winter.
A parallel program uses two remotely operated generators to cloud-seed the Winter Park ski area from November through March.
But does it work?
The National Academy of Sciences, in a 2003 report, threw water on weather modification efforts altogether, although conceding “strong suggestions of positive seeding effects” from winter snowstorms, unlike summer storms.
Cloud-seeding advocates were indignant. Atmospheric modeling is extremely difficult, they pointed out, and the scientific establishment had not demanded the same high bar or proof for global warming theory.
Arlen W. Huggins, of the Desert Research Institute in Reno, Nev., points to work in Utah’s Wasatch Plateau as providing “some of the best physical evidence of seeding-induced precipitation increases.” He also credits research conducted in recent decades on Colorado’s Grand Mesa and in California’s Sierra Nevada.
But for randomized experiments, some of the best work —and only work – was done in the 1960s, in the area between Vail and Breckenridge. That work was supervised by Lew Grant, an atmospheric scientist who grew up in Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl. He followed that project with additional work at the research lab atop the Steamboat ski area in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
After seeding clouds with silver iodide there, Grant quit his work in weather modification and applied his energy full time to growing vegetables on a farm north of Fort Collins, Colo., without aid of chemicals. Later, the term “organic” came into vogue to describe that type of farming.
As for weather modification experiments, the federal government by then had gotten out of the game.
Randomly in Wyoming
Enter Wyoming’s State Legislature, which in 2006 appropriated money to begin what Huggins calls the “first fully randomized wintertime cloud seeding experiment to be conducted in the U. S. in more than 30 years.”
The experiments in Wyoming, as those in Colorado in the 1960s, are independent of any practical seeding efforts. The goal, says Barry Lawrence, of the Wyoming Water Development Commission, is to determine what role cloud-seeding may have in the state’s long-term water strategy.
Huggins says the Wyoming study stands on the shoulders of previous experiments, which defined the periods of storms that are seedable. “This greatly reduces the variability in precipitation among the randomized cases,” he explains. “From a scientific perspective, the study directly addresses the National Academy’s recommendation that further research was necessary to prove the efficacy of cloud seeding.”
The National Center for Atmospheric Research was chosen to design and oversee the study, and Breed was given responsibility as project manager and scientist.
Central to the experiment are two parallel mountain ranges, the Sierra Madre and Medicine Bow, set 40 to 50 miles apart, located southwest of Laramie, near the Colorado border. When storms carrying the appropriate level of precipitation approach, cloud-seeding generators are set off randomly, spewing silver iodide as high as 3,000 feet for as long as four hours.
Only one range is seeded per storm. The other mountain range serves as a control, with snowfall measured in both ranges after the storm.
“The randomization is needed because you’re looking for a small signal in a fairly large natural variability,” says Breed.
To gauge the effectiveness of seeding, however, weather conditions in the two mountain ranges must be similar. Only then can the apples be compared fairly.
Each mountain range has eight ground-based generators. Another 10 generators are located in the Wind River Range, between Pinedale and Lander, although the study there lacks the same randomized design.
One problem in the Wyoming research has been lack of clouds to seed. “We’ve had several drought winters, and last winter was just terrible,” says Breed. The winter had 15 storms suitable for seeding, far short of his hope for 30 to 40 per winter.
Conversely, the snowpack grew so rapidly two years ago that seeding operations had to be suspended.
For effective seeding, clouds must be cold, at least 25 degrees Fahrenheit, and wet. Even by late February, temperatures often rise too high for effective seeding, says Breed.
Therein lies a fundamental problem with cloud-seeding as a grand strategy for filling Lake Powell and other reservoirs in the arid Southwest. In drought years, the technique has little effect, and in wet years it can’t be done. Between the two extremes during the narrow band of mid-winter lies potential, but is it enough to make that much difference?
Can cloud-seeding help fill reservoirs of the Southwest, including Dillon (shown here in 2002)? Evidence suggests it’s a tool, but with only limited value. Photo/Allen Best
That is what the research in Wyoming intends to find out, but the answer has remained elusive. To have enough storms to achieve statistical significance, the program had to be extended longer than was originally planned, with a corresponding ballooning of the cost, now at $13.5 million. That extension produced some editorial harrumphing by the state’s leading newspaper, the Casper Star-Tribune, but legislators agreed to work through the 2013-2014 winter. A final report is expected in 2015.
So far, says Breed, results give “strong indications of positive effects” of seeding clouds, “but it’s still too early to say that with statistical confidence.”
Much is at stake, says Huggins. “It has the potential of putting the whole cloud seeding package together; i.e. confirming cloud seeding can increase wintertime precipitation and that this increase can be translated as a benefit to water resources.”
In other words, cloud-seeding would become more bankable.
Where LA puts its money
Cloud-seeding already has been proven effective enough to the satisfaction of 66 programs already in place in the West.
A major funder for several of these programs in the Metropolitan Water District, which delivers water to 18 million people in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The agency has spent $28,500 per year for the last eight winters for cloud-seeding efforts in the lower-basin states. But lower-basin water agencies spend $425,000 annually in the Colorado River headwaters.
“Traditional water projects cost $400 to $500 per acre-foot. We are looking at $10 to $20 per acre-foot (for water produced by seeding clouds),” explains Metropolitan Water’s Tom Ryan. “We wouldn’t be spending that sort of money if we didn’t think it was effective and valuable.”
Colorado’s Gunnison River Basin gets some of that money. Los Angeles and other water providers in lower-basins states foot roughly half the bill on a program that is capped at $95,000, less if there are insufficient clouds to seed.
The most substantial local commitment comes from the Upper Gunnison River Water Conservation District, this year at $26,500. “The cost is relatively modest for the return on investment,” says the district’s general manager, Frank Kugel. “Even if the program produces only 10 percent of the amount projected, it would result in very inexpensive water.”
Mt. Crested Butte, a municipality, also chips in $3,000, and Gunnison County $10,000.
Cloud-seeders emphasize that you can’t make snow from nothing. You need clouds.
“If you’re going to have 50 percent of snowfall naturally, and you get a 10 percent increase from cloud seeding, that would still result in a snowpack 55 percent of average,” explained Don Griffith, president of North American Weather Consultants, the firm that has seeded the clouds near Crested Butte for the last decade.
“There’s still a drought. It’s just going to be a little less dry than it would be naturally,” he told the Crested Butte News earlier this winter.
An elevated cloud-seeding generator in the Sierra Nevada of California.
Photo courtesy of Desert Research Institute.
Ski towns like more certainty of snow for obvious reasons. So would Las Vegas. With just four inches of natural precipitation per year, the gambling mecca is largely at the mercy of water flowing from upstream. The Southern Nevada Water Authority has already been actively engaged in discussions about funding desalination and many other techniques, mostly very expensive, for augmenting existing water supplies in the Colorado River Basin. Las Vegas is interested in any and every strategy to produce more water.
Cloud-seeding can probably be one of those strategies, says Breed, the NCAR scientist supervising the Wyoming experiment.
Breed cautions against expecting too much from cloud-seeding in Wyoming. “Every little bit helps. It’s not going to be huge (increase), but it will be a little bit.” And, he adds, cloud-seeding operations can be ramped up relatively quickly in years ahead, unlike some other efforts, such as desalination or, less clearly, imports of water into the basin from other sources, such as the Mississippi River.
Second fiddle to conservation
Indeed, that’s the bottom line of the Colorado River Basin Supply and Demand Study, which was issued in December. The Colorado River water has not reached the Pacific Ocean since the late 1990s, and only intermittently since the 1960s. The report examines a whole host of supply augmentation strategies – including, importing water to existing users from other sources, including a pipeline from the Mississippi River at Memphis to the Front Range of Colorado.
But even if pipelines to deliver water into Colorado or Utah from other, more water-plentiful basins could be done profitably, said Eric Kuhn, general manager of the Colorado River Water Conservation District, they’re still unlikely. At a water conference in Gunnison last summer, he was skeptical about any grand, silver-bullet solutions.
Breed also warned against expecting too much. “It is one small tool,” said Breed. “Conservation will be much more important. Cloud-seeding is important, but it is very small compared to all the other tools. It (produced water) is not a huge amount.”
But does it work? Yes, he thinks so.
This story was amended on May 7 to correct the money spent by the Metropolitan Water District for lower-basin cloud-seeding efforts. The correct figure, according to a district spokesman, is $28,500 per year for the last eight years.
This originally was published in the March issue of Mountain Town News, a newsmagazine distributed to subscribers. To inquire about rates and advertising opportunities, please contact me at firstname.lastname@example.org | <urn:uuid:f9d23929-f06c-414b-80fd-fe3036ff4188> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mountaintownnews.net/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954276 |
While researchers are still looking for interventions to alter the course of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), there is good news regarding detection of the disease.
A new study suggests magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can detect Alzheimer’s disease (AD) at an early stage, before irreversible damage has occurred.
With current estimates of 5.4 million Americans living with the disease, AD is a pervasive problem that is predicted to play a large role in health care costs of the future. Scientists predict the cumulative costs of care for AD could exceed $20 trillion over the course of the next 40 years.
As a result, there is growing interest in tests that could identify individuals at risk for AD at an early stage, when memory preservation may still be possible.
“One of the things that made our study novel was that we looked at patients who were cognitively normal at baseline, rather than people with mild cognitive impairment,” said lead author Gloria C. Chiang, M.D.
For the study, researchers looked at whether automated brain volume measurements on MRI could accurately predict future memory decline in elderly people with normal cognitive ability. They assessed 149 participants with an initial baseline MRI scan and a neuropsychological assessment.
Follow-up exams two years later showed that 25 of the 149 initially cognitively normal participants, or 17 percent, had memory decline.
Researchers looked at the temporal and parietal areas of the brain, with analysis of brain volume changes in both regions presenting an 81 percent accuracy rate in discriminating between cognitively normal people with and without memory decline.
“Previous models have included regions of the brain as isolated variables,” Chiang said. “Our study showed that volume loss in multiple regions that may be interconnected had a greater impact on memory decline. We found that automated temporal and parietal volumes identified those at risk for future memory decline with high accuracy.”
The study represents another step in the process of incorporating imaging into the diagnosis and management of Alzheimer’s disease, according to Chiang.
“We can see so much with MRI, but right now there’s no way to definitively diagnose AD with imaging,” she said. “The goal in the future is to have a screening device to monitor cognitive decline and diagnose AD.” | <urn:uuid:3c7d2339-e72b-481a-8a3c-8a9c0066c6d7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://psychcentral.com/news/2011/04/12/mri-may-detect-alzheimers-before-damage/25228.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95374 |
Publicizing the release of the 1940 U.S. Census data, LIFE magazine released photographs of Census enumerators collecting data from household members. Yep, Census enumerators. For almost 200 years, the U.S. counted people and recorded information about them in person, by sending out a representative of the U.S. government to evaluate them directly.
By 1970, the government was collecting Census data by mail-in survey. The shift to a survey had dramatic effects on at least one Census category: race.
Before the shift, Census enumerators categorized people into racial groups based on their appearance. They did not ask respondents how they characterized themselves. Instead, they made a judgment call, drawing on explicit instructions given to the Census takers.
On a mail-in survey, however, the individual self-identified. They got to tell the government what race they were instead of letting the government decide. There were at least two striking shifts as a result of this change:
- First, it resulted in a dramatic increase in the Native American population. Between 1980 and 2000, the U.S. Native American population magically grew 110%. People who had identified as American Indian had apparently been somewhat invisible to the government.
- Second, to the chagrin of the Census Bureau, 80% of Puerto Ricans choose white (only 40% of them had been identified as white in the previous Census). The government wanted to categorize Puerto Ricans as predominantly black, but the Puerto Rican population saw things differently.
I like this story. Switching from enumerators to surveys meant literally shifting our definition of what race is from a matter of appearance to a matter of identity. And it wasn’t a strategic or philosophical decision. Instead, the very demographics of the population underwent a fundamental unsettling because of the logistical difficulties in collecting information from a large number of people. Nevertheless, this change would have a profound impact on who we think Americans are, what research about race finds, and how we think about race today.
See also the U.S. Census and the Social Construction of Race and Race and Censuses from Around the World. To look at the questionnaires and their instructions for any decade, visit the Minnesota Population Center. Thanks to Philip Cohen for sending the link.Lisa Wade is a professor of sociology at Occidental College. You can follow her on Twitter and Facebook. | <urn:uuid:95c84ea9-3c88-4cfc-97b2-2aa66d4fc82c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2012/12/29/from-appearance-to-identity-how-census-data-collection-changed-race-in-america/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961831 |
Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act
The Morrill Land-Grant Acts are pieces of US legislation which allowed for the creation of land-grant colleges, which would be funded by the grant of federally-controlled land to each of the states which had stayed with the United States during the American Civil War.
The Morrill Act was first proposed by Representative Justin Smith Morrill of Vermont in 1857 and was passed by Congress in 1859, but it was vetoed by President James Buchanan. In 1861 Morrill resubmitted the act with the amendment that the proposed institutions would teach military tactics as well as engineering and agriculture. This reconfigured Morrill Act was signed into law by President Lincoln on July 2, 1862.
Under the act, each eligible state received a total of 30,000 acres (121 km²) of federal land, either within or contiguous to its boundaries, for each member of congress the state had as of the census of 1860. This land, or the proceeds from its sale, was to be used toward establishing and funding the educational institutions described above.
A second Morrill Act followed in 1890 aiming to include the former Confederate states in the program. This act also required each state to show that race was not an admissions criterion, or else to designate a separate land-grant institution for persons of color. Among the seventy colleges and universities which eventually evolved from the Morrill Acts are several of today's historically black colleges.
See also: National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, Hatch Act of 1887, Smith Lever Act of 1914 , US Department of Agriculture, USDA Cooperative State Research Service
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 | <urn:uuid:64f15d83-c8e9-432b-943f-539fedcb7e05> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.all-science-fair-projects.com/science_fair_projects_encyclopedia/Morrill_Act_of_1890 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972421 |
Not long ago, I spoke to a group of preservice teachers at the local university about technology integration in elementary, middle, and high school classrooms. The first question asked was, "What are the technologies you couldn't live without in the classroom?" My response—that I could successfully prepare my students without any technology in my classroom—always catches audiences off guard. "What's the point of 21st century teaching and learning," they'll ask, "if you don't have any technology in your room?"
This all-too-common perception that success in the 21st century is dependent on specific digital tools is flawed. Instead, those who will succeed in tomorrow's knowledge-driven workplace will be those who can solve problems creatively and think across domains. They will be able to create persuasive and engaging content and will be skilled communicators, fluid collaborators, and experts at managing information.
My point—a lesson I learned from Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach, one of my closest digital mentors—is that focusing on specific digital tools instead of on the instructional skills they're designed to support often leads to poor technology integration. Students sitting in high-tech classrooms armed with interactive whiteboards, iPads, and handheld video cameras but staffed by teachers who can't craft lessons that integrate the skills needed for success aren't any better off than their counterparts in unplugged classrooms. Good teaching trumps good tools every time.
What the most effective teachers have discovered, however, is that good tools can make learning more efficient. New technologies make it possible for learners to sift through information quickly, collaborate on shared content easily, and reach influential audiences with little effort. The trick is choosing tools that neatly align with the skills you're trying to teach. Two tools that I find align with essential skills are VoiceThread and Diigo.
Powerful Online Discussions
VoiceThread (http://voicethread.com) is a service that makes asynchronous conversations possible. Creators of VoiceThread conversations upload content—quotes, images, video clips—that serve as starting points for discussions. Then, users can come together around that content and add text, video, or voice comments to the conversation. Depending on the wishes of the person who creates the forum, these conversations can be open to the world or available by invitation only.
I use VoiceThread to extend conversations we've started in class. One of the most successful VoiceThread discussions that we've had centered around a collection of political cartoons exploring the world's response to genocide in Darfur. In response to one cartoon implying that the world's indifference to Darfur's genocide will allow it to continue indefinitely, one student shared the view that the United States shouldn't intervene, partly because "we don't know how." Another student built on that thinking with, "Suzy, I agree with you that people aren't sure how to help. But I also wonder if people want to take action but then are too busy to do anything about it." (See http://ed.voicethread.com/share/62276 for the complete discussion.) Another interesting conversation was built around a series of quotes and pictures connected to the concept of hatred. (See http://ed.voicethread.com/share/88781.)
I spend significant class time teaching students how to make productive contributions to ongoing conversations, skills language arts teachers have been integrating into their classrooms for ages. It's worth the time because VoiceThread conversations allow my students to join together any time, from any Internet-connected device. They ask questions of one another, challenge one another's thinking, and have their own thinking challenged time and again, modeling the intellectual give-and-take that defines the best learning experiences.
Because they're asynchronous, VoiceThread conversations enable students to polish their thinking before sharing ideas publicly. This lends a measure of safety often missing from classroom conversations. Students can focus their attention on the most motivating discussion threads. VoiceThread conversations enable me to engage students who are absent from class for long periods of time and to spot misconceptions students hold about concepts we're studying in class.
Diigo (www.diigo.com) is a social bookmarking and shared annotation service. Diigo enables users to tag, organize, and share information they discover online, and to highlight and annotate online articles. Other students who are using Diigo can see these annotations and read and comment on content together.
In my classroom, I turn to Diigo to motivate students to interact with nonfiction text. After setting up free, secure classroom groups and student accounts, I bookmark online texts about current events connected to our social studies or science curriculum. Then, I add a few highlights and annotations to each bookmarked article—a simple process done from a toolbar installed in any Internet browser—and mention the articles in class. Drawn by the social nature of reading together, my students start adding their own annotations to our online collection.
Often, sophisticated conversations develop. After reading an article about mining in Peru, students debated the ethics of the United States owning a company there. (See http://digitallyspeaking.pbworks.com/f/Handout_ReflectingonDiigoAnnotations.pdf.) Students ask and answer one another's questions and highlight bits of text they don't understand. They share opinions or make connections to other content that we're studying—and eventually bookmark new articles to share with their peers. Diigo provides my students the opportunity to interact with one another and with nonfiction text— essential skills that middle schoolers struggle with.
Although I'm not sure I could live without asynchronous discussion forums or shared annotation services in my classroom, I could live without VoiceThread or Diigo. Currently, they're the best free tools for exploring interesting content and having challenging online conversations, but I'd walk away from them tomorrow if something better came along. One of the characteristics of successful digital educators is a willingness to think beyond individual brands. Companies offering Web 2.0 services are constantly innovating and improving—or going out of business! The key to finding tools you can't live without is to think through the kinds of skills your students can't live without.
William M. Ferriter (@plugusin on Twitter) teaches 6th grade science in Raleigh, North Carolina, and blogs about the teaching life at The Tempered Radical (http://teacherleaders.typepad.com/the_tempered_radical). He is the coauthor of Teaching the iGeneration: Five Easy Ways to Introduce Essential Skills with Web 2.0 Tools (Solution Tree, 2010). His latest book, Essentials for Principals: Social Media, will be published by Solution Tree in spring 2011; 919-363-1870; email@example.com.
Click on keywords to see similar products: | <urn:uuid:9edf57ed-074b-4d07-b5e4-e8050260cd4d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/feb11/vol68/num05/Good-Teaching-Trumps-Good-Tools.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932737 |
Animal Model Provides Insight on Pathways Used for Adult Tissue Maintenance and Regeneration; System for Studying Relationship between Stem Cells and Cancer
September 17, 2008
In recent years, planarians have been recognized as a powerful model system in which to molecularly dissect conserved stem cell regulatory mechanisms in vivo. This research reveals that planaria are also a great model in which to study the molecular relationship between stem cells and cancer. The gene characterized in this study (PTEN) is one of the most commonly mutated genes in human cancers. As in human beings, genetic disturbance of the gene in planarians led to mis-regulation of cell proliferation resulting in cancer-like characteristics. These results indicate that some of the pattern control mechanisms that enable regeneration of complex structures may go awry in cancer.
Abnormal stem cell proliferation in planarians is induced by genetic manipulation of conserved cellular signaling pathways. These abnormal cells can be specifically targeted without disturbing normal stem cell functions that support adult tissue homeostasis and regeneration. Importantly, this type of analysis could not be achieved in more traditional adult invertebrate model systems such as the fruit fly Drosophila and the nematode C. elegans. This research will be published in the journal Disease Models & Mechanisms available online on August 30. According to the paper’s lead author, Dr. Néstor J. Oviedo, an Assistant Research Investigator in the Forsyth Center for Regenerative and Developmental Biology, this work provides new opportunities to expand knowledge of this regulatory molecule and the role it plays in cancer and tissue regeneration. “Our findings demonstrate that important signaling pathways regulating adult stem cell proliferation, migration and differentiation are evolutionarily and functionally conserved between planarians and mammals. Planarians are poised to not only advance the understanding of how diverse adult tissues are functionally maintained in vivo, but also will enhance our capabilities to identify, prevent, and remediate abnormal stem cell proliferation.”
Summary of Study The scientists have identified two genes, Smed-PTEN-1 and Smed-PTEN-2, capable of regulating stem cell function in the planarian Schmidtea mediterranea. Both genes encode proteins homologous to the mammalian tumor suppressor, phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome 10 (PTEN). Inactivation of Smed-PTEN-1and -2 by RNA interference (RNAi) in planarians disrupts regeneration, and leads to abnormal outgrowths in both cut and uncut animals followed soon after by death (lysis). The resulting phenotype is characterized by hyperproliferation of neoblasts (planarian stem cells), tissue disorganization and a significant accumulation of postmitotic cells with impaired differentiation capacity. Further analyses revealed that rapamycin selectively prevented such accumulation without affecting the normal neoblast proliferation associated with physiological turnover and regeneration. In animals in which PTEN function is abrogated, the HHMI/University of Utah and Forsyth researchers also detected a significant increase in the number of cells expressing the planarian Akt gene homolog (Smed-Akt). However, functional abrogation of Smed-Akt in Smed-PTENRNAi-treated animals does not prevent cell overproliferation and lethality, indicating that functional abrogation of Smed-PTEN is sufficient to induce abnormal outgrowths. Altogether, the data reveal roles for PTEN in the regulation of planarian stem cells that are strikingly conserved to mammalian models. In addition, the results implicate this protein in the control of stem cell maintenance during the regeneration of complex structures in planarians.
The PTEN molecules were originally identified and characterized in the laboratory of Dr. Alejandro Sanchez Alvarado, HHMI investigator and Professor of Neurobiology and Anatomy at the University of Utah School of Medicine. Dr. Sánchez Alvarado’s is the paper’s senior author. His laboratory is engaged in the identification of the molecular and cellular basis of animal regeneration. His laboratory’s work on planarians has led to the establishment of this organism as an important model system to study stem cells, regeneration and tissue homeostasis.
The Forsyth research team is led by Michael Levin, Ph.D., Senior Member of the Staff in The Forsyth Institute and the Director of the Forsyth Center for Regenerative and Developmental Biology. Through experimental approaches and mathematical modeling, Dr. Levin and his group examine the processes governing large-scale pattern formation and biological information storage during animal embryogenesis. The lab investigates mechanisms of signaling between cells and tissues that allow a living system to reliably generate and maintain a complex morphology. The Levin team studies these processes in the context of embryonic development and regeneration, with a particular focus on the biophysics of cell behavior.
This study was funded in part by grants from The National Science Foundation (www.nsf.org), National Institute of General Medical Sciences (http://www.nigms.nih.gov/), National Institute of Human Development and US Department of Transportation.
The Forsyth Institute is the world’s leading independent organization dedicated to scientific research and education in oral health and related biomedical sciences.
The University of Utah is among the top public research universities in the nation, with particular distinction in medicine, genetics and engineering.
BOSTON and SALT LAKE CITY ¾ Scientists from The Forsyth Institute, Boston, MA, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at the University of Utah School of Medicine have developed a new system in which to study known mammalian adult stem cell disorders. This research, conducted with the flatworm planaria, highlights the genetic similarity between these invertebrates and mammals in the mechanisms by which stem cell regulatory pathways are used during adult tissue maintenance and regeneration. It is expected that this work may help scientists pursue pharmacological, genetic, and physiological approaches to develop potential therapeutic targets that could repair or prevent abnormal stem cell growth which can lead to cancer. | <urn:uuid:c5a2b0cb-2be7-41b0-bade-c0c5041d3e5b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.forsyth.org/news/stories/21 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.913645 |
06/30/11 Portland, Ore.
Joe Gray, PhD, Associate Director for translational research for the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute, and Paul Spellman, PhD, of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory discuss findings
Discovery underscores how understanding the abnormalities that develop in the beginning stages of cancer can identify the root causes of the disease.
The study’s findings, which are published in the July edition of Cancer Discovery, are the result of a collaboration of scientists at the Oregon Health & Science University Knight Cancer Institute; the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the University of California, San Francisco; and the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology.
The researchers focused on assessing mutations involving TP53, a gene that normally prevents cells from becoming cancerous. By examining how additional copies of the mutant gene accumulated, they found that changes in TP53 occurred earlier in the disease’s progression than previously believed.
Cancers are the result of multiple mutations, but the ones that happen first set the stage for additional abnormalities.
- The full OHSU media release is available online | <urn:uuid:cdfdc650-9868-443e-a5da-6f0e8cc1c8c8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ohsu.edu/xd/education/schools/school-of-medicine/about/school-of-medicine-news/research-news/order-of-mutations-63011.cfm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.899171 |
Nationalism and the Moral Psychology of Community
Nationalism is one of modern history’s great surprises. How is it that the nation, a relatively old form of community, has risen to such prominence in an era so strongly identified with the individual? Bernard Yack argues that it is the inadequacy of our understanding of community—and especially the moral psychology that animates it—that has made this question so difficult to answer.
Yack develops a broader and more flexible theory of community and shows how to use it in the study of nations and nationalism. What makes nationalism such a powerful and morally problematic force in our lives is the interplay of old feelings of communal loyalty and relatively new beliefs about popular sovereignty. By uncovering this fraught relationship, Yack moves our understanding of nationalism beyond the oft-rehearsed debate between primordialists and modernists, those who exaggerate our loss of individuality and those who underestimate the depth of communal attachments.
A brilliant and compelling book, Nationalism and the Moral Psychology of Community sets out a revisionist conception of nationalism that cannot be ignored.
“A long-awaited and important book on the ethics of nationalism. The content is original and insightful, sustained throughout by Bernard Yack’s addressing of issue after issue, both in theoretical and practical terms, and doing so with enormous background knowledge of political theorists, past and present, and—crucially—with a sense of social reality.” | <urn:uuid:3cb18dda-c3c3-4541-8250-ce3191fc3f5c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/N/bo12893566.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930616 |
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A revival of classical aesthetics and forms, especially:
- n. A revival in literature in the late 17th and 18th centuries, characterized by a regard for the classical ideals of reason, form, and restraint.
- n. A revival in the 18th and 19th centuries in architecture and art, especially in the decorative arts, characterized by order, symmetry, and simplicity of style.
- n. A movement in music lasting roughly from 1915 to 1940 that sought to avoid subjective emotionalism and to return to the style of the pre-Romantic composers.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The character of being neoclassic; revival of classic style in art or literature.
- n. any of several movements in the arts, architecture, literature and music that revived forms from earlier centuries
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. a revival of the classical Greek and Roman style in art or literature.
- n. revival of a classical style (in art or literature or architecture or music) but from a new perspective or with a new motivation
“The highest expression of nineteenth century neoclassicism is seen in the wonderful mural, based on Dante's Divine Comedy, by Jacobo Gálvez and Gerardo Suárez on the dome of the Degollado Theater.”
“What this all led to, in a sense, was a movement that later was called neoclassicism, a kind of a going back to older forms, smaller forces, just cutting back, in general.”
“The works cover nearly three centuries, from the last years of the Renaissance around 1525 to the neoclassicism output in the 19th Century.”
“It was influenced by neoclassicism but reinterpreted with her colors and shapes in a unique and never outdated way.”
“He thinks she found them old-fashioned: too dynamic and passionate, in contrast to the restrained neoclassicism that was becoming fashionable in the 1770s.”
“Phoenix, Wolfgang Amadeus PhoenixAs we wrote behind in July, this is "retro cocktail hyper-focused upon a futuristic reimagination of postmodernism as good as neoclassicism as proletarian touchstones ... that we can dance to.”
“Modernity and classicism also meet in Theme and Variations, Balanchine's setting of Tchaikovsky that evokes the grandeur of imperial Russian ballet with the speed and dexterity of 20th-century American neoclassicism.”
“In their version of Go For Barocco, the tics and quirks of Balanchine's neoclassicism are beautifully captured, and completing the programme are a range of "mystery pas de deux".”
“In the 1920s and 1930s, American architects became increasingly interested in modernist design as an alternative to what they thought was unoriginal, formulaic Greek and Roman neoclassicism, still the preferred architectural language for federal architecture in Washington.”
“Composer Stefania de Kenessey is a leading figure in the revival of neoclassicism.”
These user-created lists contain the word ‘neoclassicism’.
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
With focus on non-classical styles, but not excluding terms of the latter.
This is a mix of new words I've read studying for the GRE verbal and words I use normally. I also check back on these words if I don't use them often enough.
Looking for tweets for neoclassicism. | <urn:uuid:15e94863-3320-43cc-b88a-6867bcf711b8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wordnik.com/words/neoclassicism | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94275 |
Five years ago on December 7, when Indonesian troops invaded, the people of Portuguese Timor were thrown out of the colonial frying pan into the neo-colonial fire. Today, the eastern half of this largest of the Lesser Sunda Islands in the Indonesian archipelago remains closed to the world-and is now an Indonesian province.
While the Indonesian military have fought a long and costly war to subdue Timorese nationalists, and stop-go diplomatic efforts from various quarters have failed to prick Jakarta’s conscience, the East Timorese have undergone unrelenting suffering with little or nothing to hope for if and when that suffering should end.
Estimates of the death toll vary wildly. In 1975 the official population was 680,000. About a year ago an official Indonesian figure put the population at an exact 522,433. This was quickly amended to 612,017, but both figures provide an indication of the horror which has come to East Timor.
In July this year an Australian aid agency worker, Catholic Father Pat Walsh, charged that Red Cross and Catholic Relief Services aid was getting only to areas under Indonesian control and, worse, some aid was being diverted to corrupt army officers.
In December 1975 a Community Aid Abroad official in Melbourne accused the Australian Government of connivingwith the Indonesian Government to ensure all foreign observers were out of Timor before Jakarta ordered its troops in. Nothing has happened in the intervening years to suggest that Australia has done anything but help Indonesia keep East Timor under wraps.
More recently the British Government has come under fire over its policy on East Timor. The British Campaign for an Independent East Timor (BCIET) charges that while the UK government `does not recognise Indonesian sovereignty’ over East Timor, it has consistently abstained on UN resolutions calling for an act of self-determination. It also criticises Britain and other Western governments, including the United States, for continuing to provide military aid to Indonesia. BCIET’s new booklet, Integration Never! East Timor’s Struggle Against Indonesian Aggression , argues that Jakarta, without the acquiescence of the West, could never have waged its war against East Timor. Withdrawal of Western support, it concludes, `would shake the Indonesian regime to its foundations and would compel it to heed world public opinion . . . ’ BCIET, it seems, has still to measure the Indonesian hide.
This first appeared in our award-winning magazine - to read more, subscribe from just £7 | <urn:uuid:b678e554-a8d5-4cc2-8d7b-3b3999412b1f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://newint.org/columns/currents/1980/11/01/colonialism/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95912 |
RIVM Report 607711009
76 pages | English | 2012
RIVM has derived environmental risk limits (ERLs) for three organotin compounds: dibutyltin, tributyltin and triphenyltin. These are the most widely used organotin compounds. Dibutyltin has several uses, for example in the plastic PVC and in printer toner. Tributyltin and triphenyltin are mainly used for wood conservation and as antifouling. Triphenyltin was also used as plant protection product for potatoes. The use as antifouling has been banned within Europe since 2003, and there is no authorisation anymore for the use of triphenyltin as plant protection product.
Intervention values for soil
The environmental risk limits have been derived because they are needed to determine intervention values for soil and groundwater. In case an intervention value is exceeded, the (polluted) soil will be considered for remediation. For this purpose, ERLs for groundwater and soil are required. ERLs for soil were not available and have been derived for this report. ERLs for water were already derived within other frameworks and have been adopted. ERLs for surface water and sediment are also reported in this report because they are related to soil and groundwater. In this way a complete overview of the available ERLs for each compound is given
The derived environmental risk limits for soil and groundwater
One of the derived ERLs is the Serious Risk Concentration (SRC). At this concentration, harmful effects for soil organisms are expected. The determined SRCs for soil are 28; 0.052 and 0.24 milligram per kilogram dry weight soil for dibutyltin, tributyltin and triphenyltin respectively. For groundwater, the SRCs are respectively 50; 0.046 and 0.40 microgram per liter.
Direct and indirect effects
The SRC is based on the annual average concentrations in soil, water and sediment. For this report, two routes of exposure have been examined: direct exposure of water or soil organisms, and indirect exposure of birds or mammals consuming water or soil organisms (food chain). Indirect exposure of humans where it concerns intervention values is evaluated in a separate report (Brand et al., 2012). | <urn:uuid:2bfa24da-ad3c-41f4-b4af-2fab934d347f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://rivm.nl/en/Library/Scientific/Reports/2012/juli/Environmental_risk_limits_for_organotin_compounds | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953313 |
Vitamin D, Sun, Skin Cancer
Centuries ago, when Vikings and other European seafarers took to the high seas for years at a time, they pioneered new trade routes and they mostly died of skin cancer. Native American Indians, living mostly outdoors, also mostly died of skin cancer.
You never heard that? Right. Because it didn't happen.
Here are a few things that really did happen:
Today, we have escalating rates of cancer and chronic disease. Many say hiding from the sun's rays, and living with the subsequent low levels of vitamin D, was one of the tickets to that train wreck.
- In the 1980s, dermatologists began warning about the dangers of sunlight. Their advertisements were heavily funded by the cosmetics and sun screen industry.
- In the 1980s the current triple childhood epidemics of asthma, diabetes, and autism quietly began. Rates of cancer and other chronic illnesses began to escalate.
- In 1989, the American Medical Association's Council on Scientific Affairs warned about the dangers of sun-exposure, advising mothers and children to "stay out of the sun as much as possible."
- In 1999, the American Academy of Pediatrics warned mothers to always keep infants out of direct sunlight, use sun-protective clothes, sun block, and make sure children's activities in general minimize sunlight exposure.
- In 2000, it was documented that rickets – vitamin D deficiency – is making a comeback in American children who drink less milk and more juice and sodas.
Let There Be Light
Mankind was designed to bask in the rays of the sun.
About 90 percent of the vitamin D in your body is made when your skin is exposed to sunlight. Only about 10 percent comes from food – butter, egg yolk, fish oil, and human milk.
Because people have been told to fear the sun, there is a widespread vitamin D deficiency today. Boston University researcher Michael Holick estimates that approximately 1 billion people worldwide are vitamin D deficient.
If you've been avoiding the sun, have you been getting enough vitamin D in your daily multi-vitamin? Probably not. Just 15-20 minutes in the summer sun produces a blast of 10,000-20,000 international units. Ancient humans spent all their time outdoors and got such doses. By contrast, the U.S. government recommends a mere 200 to 800 IU a day, depending on age – about what you get in two to six cups of fortified milk.
The government's recommendation is based on the effects of vitamin D on bone health and calcium absorption. It does not reflect the other vital biological functions of vitamin D – its roles in cancer prevention, regulation of blood pressure, insulin production, mental health, and regulation of immune function and cell growth.
Sunlight is the most efficient way to get vitamin D. And ancestry really makes a difference here. The figure above of 10,000-20,000 units of vitamin D from being outdoors applies to fair skinned adults sunbathing in the summer. Dark-skinned people require 10 times that exposure to make an equivalent amount. And considering how important vitamin D is to a baby's brain development, what happens to pregnant women who avoid the sun? They would have to drink 200 glasses of milk or take 50 prenatal multivitamins to equal 20 minutes in the sun. An autistic boy who plays inside the house, instead of outside, would have to take several thousand units of vitamin D to make up for what his skin would have produced had he played outside that day.
When it comes to getting vitamin D from a pill, the most useful form is the D3 – the form found in animal foods. Beware that many vitamin D and multivitamin supplements use the D2 form which the body has a harder time assimilating.
Vitamin D's Connection to Chronic Disease
Doctors have observed that where there is less sun, we see more cancer, flu, and even autism. And, there are more of these diseases in winter, which has less sunlight. There are also more of these diseases the further you get from the equator – the further you move away, the less sunlight there is.
1. The Diabetes Connection
Blood sugar is closely associated with your vitamin D level. Researchers in Australia added to the growing evidence that sun avoidance may have caused the epidemic of type 2 diabetes. The Australians' findings were straightforward and powerful. The higher your vitamin D level, the lower your blood glucose.
2. The Breast Cancer Connection
In 2007, researchers at the Moores Cancer Center at University of California, San Diego (UCSD), published research findings that women with higher levels of Vitamin D had lower levels of breast cancer. The researchers estimated that possibly half the cases of breast cancer and two-thirds of the cases of colorectal cancer in the United States could be prevented with higher levels of Vitamin D.
"For the first time, we are saying that 600,000 cases of breast and colorectal cancer could be prevented each year worldwide, including nearly 150,000 in the United States alone."
3. The Overall Cancer Connection
- study co-author Cedric F. Garland
The UCSD research team also reported links between low vitamin D levels and endometrial cancer (Feb 2007), and ovarian cancer (Oct 2006), and kidney cancer (Sept 2006).
In 2009, the UCSD team proposed a new model of cancer development that hinges on a loss of cancer cells' ability to stick together. The model differs substantially from the current model which suggests genetic mutations are the earliest driving forces behind cancer.
"The first event in cancer is loss of communication among cells due to, among other things, low vitamin D and calcium levels," said epidemiologist Cedric Garland, who led the work. "In this new model, we propose that this loss may play a key role in cancer by disrupting the communication between cells that is essential to healthy cell turnover, allowing more aggressive cancer cells to take over."
A recent Norwegian study found that vitamin D levels, calculated based on sun exposure, were linked to survival rates for cancer patients. Those who lived in sunnier, southern latitudes, and had higher vitamin D levels, were less likely to die from cancer than people in northern latitudes.
The Creighton University School of Medicine studied 1,179 postmenopausal, cancer-free women between 2000 and 2005 who took nearly three times the Recommended Daily Amount of vitamin D 3. Participants showed a dramatic 60 percent or greater reduction in cancer risk compared with women who did not get the vitamin.
"The findings are very exciting. They confirm what a number of vitamin D proponents have suspected for some time but that, until now, have not been substantiated through clinical trial," said principal investigator Joan Lappe, Ph.D., R.N., Creighton Professor of Medicine. "Vitamin D is a critical tool in fighting cancer as well as many other diseases."
It's known that vitamin D stimulates white blood cells to produce a powerful natural antibiotic called cathelicidin. Vitamin D has the capacity to turn on powerful antimicrobial genes.
Some of these genes make proteins that halt cancer by inducing apoptosis (programmed cell death), which destroys aberrant cells before they become cancerous, like adenoma cells in the colon and rectum. Other genes rein in out-of-control growth of cancer cells like those in the prostate. Vitamin D-expressed genes inhibit angiogenesis, the formation of new blood vessels that malignant tumors need to grow, as studies on lung and breast cancers show. Other genes inhibit metastases, preventing cancer that arises in one organ from spreading its cells to other parts of the body, such as in breast and prostate cancers.
4. Growing Healthy Children
In 2007, the Canadian Cancer Society made big news as it announced a national program to prevent cancer using vitamin D. The society now advises all Canadians to take 1000 IU of vitamin D daily. The Canadian Pediatric Society now recommends that pregnant women take 2,000 IU of vitamin D per day (10 times more than the 200 IU/day the National Institutes of Health recommends for pregnant women in the USA). According to the Canadian press, the Canadian Pediatric Society acted "to protect babies from a litany of illnesses later in life."
Others feel that even 4,000 IU/day is not enough for breast-feeding mothers to maintain adequate levels of vitamin D in their breast milk; that would take about 6,000 IU/ day.
5. The Autism Connection
Dr. John Jacob Cannell of the Vitamin D Council believes that falling levels of vitamin D in the last 20 years parallel the rise of the autism epidemic.
"The theory that vitamin D deficiency causes autism...has a plausible mechanism of action ... The very different effects estrogen and testosterone have on vitamin D metabolism may explain why boys are much more likely to get it than girls are. Lower vitamin D levels in blacks may explain their higher rates of autism...
Glutathione is the body's main detoxifing agent. It helps the liver remove chemicals that are foreign to the body, such as drugs and pollutants. Dr. Cannell makes a fascinating observation: If vitamin D levels are low, glutathione levels also may be low, thus children may not be able to detoxify the mercury, aluminum, formaldehyde and other ingredients in vaccines.
"Professor John McGrath and Dr. Darryl Eyles of the University of Queensland in Australia have repeatedly warned us that normal brain development depends on adequate amounts of activated vitamin D to orchestrate the cellular architecture of the brain ... Abnormal inflammation is associated with both autism and vitamin D deficiency. For example, autistic individuals show increases in cytokines (inflammatory mediators) that show a striking similarity to the immune processes regulated by vitamin D ...
"Vitamin D's role in increasing glutathione levels may explain the link between mercury and other heavy metals, oxidative stress, and autism."
6. Keeping Our Brains Healthy
Renowned UCLA researcher Bruce Ames, Ph.D., notes the wide distribution of vitamin D receptors throughout the brain, and underscores the role of the vitamin in maintaining brain health.
He emphasized that vitamin D appears to affect brain proteins responsible for learning and memory, motor control, and behavior. Inadequate vitamin D levels may impair cognition and give rise to behavior problems.
"We conclude there is ample biological evidence to suggest an important role for vitamin D in brain development and function," Ames said.
Why the Rise in Skin Cancer?
A number of researchers would point first to the imbalance of omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids in our diet – our grandparents ate cod liver oil high in omega 3s, and we eat French fries high in omega 6s. The research is piling up that omega 3 deficiencies are a far more significant risk factor for deadly skin cancers than sun exposure.
Studies, particularly a comprehensive review from the National Academy of Sciences, show that omega 3 fatty acids, including docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), can reduce the risk of skin cancer whereas omega 6 fatty acids such as arachidonic acid (AA) increase the risk.[14,15]
Processed foods tend to be full of partially hydrogenated oils – trans fatty acids – which stiffen your body's cells and block the flow of nutrition coming in and toxins passing out. Dr. Johanna Budwig, a seven-time Nobel Prize nominee, demonstrated that certain wavelengths of sunlight vibrate at the same frequency as chemical bonds in trans fats. Dr. Budwig believed this leads to early mutations that can become skin cancers. After studying thousands of blood samples, she discovered a key difference between the healthy and the ill was that healthy people had a higher content of omega 3 oils.
The National Academy of Sciences published a comprehensive review which showed that the omega 6:3 ratio is key to preventing the development of skin cancer; DHA was a more efficient inhibitor than EPA. An earlier Australian study showed a 40% reduction in melanoma for people who eat fish regularly. And this was without paying any attention to lowering the omega-6 fats which encourage cancer.
Nutritional deficiencies related to sunshine and health are not limited to omega 3s and vitamin D. One of the first signs of a niacin (B3) deficiency is photosensitivity. The term "redneck" originally described the bright red necks of eighteenth-and nineteenth-century niacin-deficient fieldworkers who got sunburned easily, and did not develop a protective tan. As author Dr. Eldon Haas explains:
"The American Indians processed corn using potash (which is highly alkaline) that makes the B vitamins in corn available for assimilation during digestion. But the American settlers, not understanding how to prepare corn (and too arrogant to follow the food preparation ways of the Indian "savages"), would simply grind up their corn and consume it as corn flour (corn meal). By the way, that's how most people eat corn today: as ground up cornmeal ingredients in chips and foods. It's no wonder so many modern Americans remain so deficient in B vitamins."
Perhaps that explains why the Melanoma Research Foundation reports that tanning bed use among people under the age of 30 can increase the risk of developing melanoma by up to 75 percent. Grab a fast food burger, fries, and soda – then hit the tanning booth. Intense sun exposure without enough vitamins and antioxidants on board is a prescription for trouble.
Sunscreens are another factor increasingly implicated in skin cancer because they promote vitamin D deficiencies – remember, vitamin D fights cancer. The rise in skin cancers over the last 25 years parallels the rise in use of sunscreen lotions, which block vitamin D-producing UVB rays. And many sunscreens contain potentially harmful ingredients that absorbed through the skin.
Working indoors where light is artificial may also account for the rise in skin cancer. A U.S. Navy study found that the most malignant melanoma was found not in people who worked in the sun, but with people who worked indoors under artificial light. They found that most of these skin cancers occur on areas of the body not even exposed to the sun. (Arch Environmental Health, 1990;45:261-267) A study published in The Lancet found that it was not sunlight that caused melanoma but rather fluorescent light that caused more than twice the melanoma risk. The study found that long exposure to sunlight actually "immunized" people from the later development of melanoma. (Lancet, 8/7/82, 290-293)
Not All Skin Cancers Are the Same
Skin cancer is responsible for perhaps less than two percent of all cancer deaths, accounting for about 11,000 of the 565,000 American cancer deaths recorded in 2006.
Nearly all skin cancer deaths stem from relatively rare malignant melanomas, which constitute about nine percent of all skin-cancer cases.
Basal cell carcinoma is the most common form of cancer, with about a million new cases estimated in the U.S. each year. Basal cells line the deepest layer of the epidermis. Basal cell carcinomas are malignant growths – tumors – that arise in this layer.
Basal cell carcinoma can usually be diagnosed with a simple biopsy and is fairly easy to treat when detected early. This cancer has an extremely low rate of metastasis, and although it can result in scars and disfigurement, it is not usually life threatening.
Doctors have noted that basal cell carcinomas often occur behind the ears, an area not generally affected by sunlight. President Richard Nixon had an inch-long basal cell carcinoma removed from behind his left ear.
Squamous cell carcinoma is the second most common form of skin cancer, with some 250,000 new cases per year estimated in the United States. It arises in the squamous cells that compose most of the upper layer of the skin.
Pre-cancerous patches of rough or scaly skin known as actinic keratoses are patches of damaged skin. If not addressed, some of this can develop into squamous cell skin cancer. Squamous cell cancer appears on the skin as small lumps or sore spots that don't heal properly. This is a superficial cancer, and non-life-threatening unless allowed to progress over many years. By treating keratoses, however, you may be able to head off squamous cells before they develop. At the Arizona Center for Advanced Medicine we use glycoalkaloids, natural compounds found in an Australian botanical known as the devil's apple plant. Historically, the use of glycoalkaloid-rich plants in addressing skin conditions goes back to the second century A.D.
Glycoalkaloids are thought to work by exploiting structural differences between healthy and damaged skin cells. As skin cells become damaged, the cell walls become more permeable, allowing glycoalkoloids to penetrate abnormal cells. Once inside the cell walls, glycoalkaloids release enzymes that break down the cells from the inside out. As the abnormal cells die, they're replaced by healthy skin cells, which don't absorb the glycoalkaloids, thus avoiding their destructive effects.
Of far greater concern is the skin cancer called melanoma. This is a very dangerous cancer, especially when it's not diagnosed early. Melanoma cannot be reversed with glycoalkaloids. Melanoma is usually associated with moles, so if you experience any irregularity in a mole - such as changing shape, color, or size – make an appointment immediately. Genetic and nutritional factors appear to play greater roles than sun exposure. Sunscreens do not appear to prevent melanomas.
Think Twice Before Slathering That Sunscreen
The active ingredients of sunscreen are many times less efficient than melanin at dissipating the sun's rays into nonreactive forms of energy. Sunscreens block your skin from producing the pigment melanin. This prevents your body from employing its natural defense against overexposure to sunlight – a tan. Sunscreens primarily block UVB waves, the wavelength that stimulates the skin's vitamin D production. Sunscreen with a sun protection factor (SPF) of 8 inhibits more than 95% of vitamin D production.
A team of researchers from the University of California-Riverside found sunscreen can do more harm than good once it soaks into the skin.
The research team found that three commonly used ultraviolet (UV) filters – octylmethoxycinnamate, benzophenone 3, and octocrylene – eventually soak into the deeper layers of the skin after application, leaving the top skin layers vulnerable to sun damage. UV rays absorbed by the skin can also generate harmful compounds called reactive oxygen species (ROS), which can cause skin cancer and premature aging. The researchers found that once sunscreen filters soak into the lower layers of skin, the filters react with UV light to create more damaging ROS.
The UC-Riverside team's research is the first to indicate that sunscreen filters – intended to protect the skin from UV damage – apparently end up promoting such damage instead.
In June, 2007, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) released an in-depth analysis of the safety and effectiveness of more than 700 name-brand sunscreens.
"Our review of the technical literature shows that some sunscreen ingredients absorb into the blood, and some are linked to toxic effects. Some release skin-damaging free radicals in sunlight, some act like estrogen and could disrupt hormone systems, several are strongly linked to allergic reactions, and still others may build up in the body or the environment. FDA has not established rigorous safety standards for sunscreen ingredients."
A March 2008 study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) revealed that 97% of Americans are contaminated with a widely-used sunscreen ingredient called oxybenzone that has been linked to allergies, hormone disruption, and cell damage. A companion study from the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine revealed that this chemical is linked to low birth weight in baby girls whose mothers are exposed during pregnancy. Oxybenzone is also a penetration enhancer, a chemical that helps other chemicals penetrate the skin. EWG's analysis of ingredient labels found oxybenzone in nearly 600 sunscreens and in lip balm, lipstick, moisturizers, and fragrance for women.
The FDA recently proposed to disallow manufacturer claims on bottles that using sunscreens prevents cancer. This came on the heels of a 2006 class action lawsuit filed in Los Angeles alleging that five of the leading U.S. makers of sunscreen lotions – including Coppertone, Banana Boat, Hawaiian Tropic – deceptively promote their products as protection from harmful sun rays. "Sunscreen is the snake oil of the 21st century," said attorney Samuel Rudman.[24,25]
Old News, New News
"Up until now we looked at vitamin D the way we look at an iceberg. Eighty-five percent of its function has been hidden, and we had no idea until two or three years ago," Robert Heaney, an endocrinologist at Creighton University in Nebraska told Forbes Magazine in 2008. "The field has just exploded."
Current research indicates vitamin D deficiency plays a role in causing some 17 kinds of cancer as well as heart disease, stroke, hypertension, autoimmune diseases, diabetes, depression, chronic pain, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, muscle weakness, muscle wasting, birth defects, and periodontal disease. Vitamin D regulates cells, systems, and organs throughout the body.
In double-blind, randomized controlled trials involving 2,426 older people, daily supplemental doses of vitamin D between 700 and 1,000 IU reduced the risk of falling by 19 percent, while doses below 700 IU per day showed no benefits. Researchers noted that muscle weakness is both an important risk factor for falls and a proven, prominent symptom of vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D stimulates synthesis of protein, the building material for muscle.
A 2008 study showed that adults in sunny southern Arizona are commonly deficient in vitamin D; more than a quarter of the adults tested had dangerously low blood levels of vitamin D. Those who had higher vitamin D levels developed fewer colorectal polyps.
In the largest study of possible links between vitamin D and respiratory infections, researchers reported in 2009 that people with the lowest blood vitamin D levels have significantly more recent colds or cases of the flu. The risks are even higher for those with chronic respiratory disorders, such as asthma and emphysema.
Once you realize the many connections that vitamin D makes to keep people healthy, you'd want to patent it to make bundles of $$$. If it were a drug, it would be a mega-blockbuster outselling all others. But it's a nutrient that cannot be patented. Your body makes it for free.
In February, 2008, the New York Times pointed out the lackluster response from the mainstream medical community.
"The so-called sunshine vitamin is poised to become the nutrient of the decade, if a host of recent findings are to be believed. Vitamin D seems to dampen an overactive immune system. The incidence of autoimmune diseases like Type 1 diabetes and multiple sclerosis have been linked to low levels of vitamin D.
As Dr. John Cannell of the vitamin D Council put it:
"The federal committee that establishes daily recommended levels of nutrients has resisted all efforts to increase vitamin D intake significantly, partly because the members are not convinced of assertions for its health-promoting potential and partly because of time-worn fears of toxicity."
"A child has never gotten into a vitamin D cabinet and gotten poisoned. That happened hundreds of thousands of times though with Tylenol or aspirin or other things ... This whole thing when you think about it is patently absurd. They refuse to change, they refuse to even look at the science."
The American Academy of Pediatrics broke ranks in 2008 and recommended that infants and adolescents take 400 IU daily. It didn't get much response. A 2010 study said most babies should take a daily vitamin D supplement. That was a big change for most parents and pediatricians. Even breast-fed and formula-fed babies don't get enough vitamin D, studies show. Although taking prenatal vitamins helped, more than 30% of moms who took them were still deficient. Getting lots of sunlight helped raise vitamin D levels in moms, but not in their newborns. The CDC found that only 5 to 13 percent of breast-fed infants were receiving at least 400 IU of vitamin D per day. Vitamin D is available in inexpensive drops. Problem is, the AAP's recommendations are still in the Old News category: sunlight is a hazard so keep infants out of direct sunlight and make sure they wear protective clothing and sunscreen. There is mention of the role of omega 3s.
In late 2010, the semi-official advisory body that sets the U.S. recommended daily allowances (RDAs) for nutrients issued updated recommendations. Assuming that a person gets virtually no vitamin D from sunshine, and that this person gets adequate amounts of calcium, the Food & Nutrition Board (FNB) of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommended the following:
This raises the recommended vitamin levels from 200 to 600 IU/day for most Americans. However, that is far lower than many doctors and major medical groups have been advocating. Many people were surprised that the committee failed to declare that higher blood levels of vitamin D help prevent heart disease, diabetes, cancers, auto-immune diseases, infections, osteoporosis, and depression and cognitive decline.
- Infants age 6 to 12 months: adequate intake, 400 IU/day; maximum safe upper level of intake, 1,500 IU/day
- Age 1-3 years: adequate intake, 600 IU/day; maximum safe upper level of intake, 2,500 IU/day
- Age 4-8 years: adequate intake, 600 IU/day; maximum safe upper level of intake, 3,000 IU/day
- Age 9-70 years: adequate intake, 400 IU/day; maximum safe upper level of intake, 4,000 IU/day
- Age 71+ years: adequate intake, 800 IU/day; maximum safe upper level of intake, 4,000 IU/day
Put another way, the IOM panel concluded that for 97% of the population, a blood level of 20 nanograms of vitamin D per milliliter is sufficient. Several major medical groups, including the Endocrine Society and the International Osteoporsis Foundation, have concluded that a level of 30 ng/ml is necessary for optimal bone health. Studies have also shown that at levels below 30 ng/ml, the body seeks calcium for everyday needs by leaching it from bones.
The new recommended daily dose of 600 IU is equal to just four minutes of mid-day full-body summer sun exposure. About thirty minutes of sunshine would produce approximately 4,000 to 5,000 IU of natural vitamin D in many American latitudes, which the new guidelines indicate may be an overdose. If this is true, nature seems to have goofed badly.
Dr. Michael Holick, a professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine who testified before the IOM committee, says there is no downside to increasing vitamin D. He recommends that adults take 2,000 to 3,000 IUs per day and notes that he had done studies giving subjects 50,000 IUs twice a month for six years and seen no harmful effects.
The Alliance for Natural Health states:
There is, unfortunately, a hidden agenda afoot. A pharmaceutical company is developing a patentable man-made vitamin D analog – yes, a synthetic drug version of vitamin D. And Glenville Jones, PhD, one of the committee members who determined the new vitamin D guidelines and who is quoted as saying that under these guidelines, most people ‘probably don’t have vitamin D deficiency’ and ‘We think there has been an exaggeration of the public’s interest in vitamin D deficiency,’ is an advisor for that same pharmaceutical company.
Also in late 2010, seven British health organizations, including Cancer Research U.K. and the National Osteoporosis Society, made a joint announcement that the population needs to get more sun. Reversing decades of warnings about the supposed dangers of sun exposure, Professor Rona Mackie, from the British Association of Dermatologists, told the BBC News: "Exposure of 10 to 15 minutes to the UK summer sun, without suncream, several times a week is probably a safe balance between adequate vitamin D levels and any risk of skin cancer."
Let the Sun Shine
In the early 1900s, most Americans lived a rural lifestyle and spent a lot of time outdoors. Today, most people simply aren't getting enough mid-day summer sun to make an adequate amount of vitamin D. Strike a balance. Remember: never get sunburned, that is key. If you have lots of antioxidants on board, you will not burn nearly as easily, by the way.
Sunscreen? It is certainly useful for preventing sunburn, which may be responsible for a small percentage of the relatively small number of fatal skin cancers that occur. But read up on toxic ingredients before you buy. And clothing is a time-honored way of covering up. It's free and less messy, too.
Almost everyone is deficient in D3. At the Arizona Center for Advanced Medicine, we always measure vitamin D3 levels at the initial visit, and supplement appropriately, since vitamin D is so important in so many different functions in the body - kind of like the chicken soup vitamin. Michael Holick feels that we should all have levels that measure greater than 50 in order to function properly. Most of us fall in the 20-30 range - which is considered "normal in allopathic medicine. Some 95% of us have those distressingly low levels of Vitamin D. No wonder we get so sick all the time. At the Center, we generally start people on 4000 IU per day, along with calcium and magnesium supplementation, and then monitor vitamin D and calcium levels periodically.
Of course, if you want to spend hours and hours in the sun, it will turn your skin dark and leathery, and you'll wind up looking like an Arizona lizard. But in moderation, vitamin D from the sun is excellent for your health. | <urn:uuid:2c465ce0-f7e8-4c27-99fc-174320389d5f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.arizonaadvancedmedicine.com/articles/skin_cancer.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942132 |
The National Stadium, also known as Bird’s Nest, is the main stadium of 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, which is located in Olympic Green Village, 8 kilometers from downtown Beijing. The stadium was mainly designed by the famous Swiss architects Jacques Herzog, Pierre de Meuron and Chinese architect Li Xinggang, which is a large steel-structure building and it’s known as the Bird’s Nest based on its distinctive design and shape. During Beijing Olympic Games, the opening ceremony, the closing ceremony, athletics, football and some other events were held in the Bird’s Nest. After the Olympic Games, the Bird’s Nest becomes a hot scenic spot and a large-scale venue of sports events and recreational activities, such as holding vocal concerts.
As a distinctive landmark sports building and Olympic heritage, the Bird’s Nest will play an important role in the development of the world’s buildings. The National Stadium covers a total area of 21 hectares, with the floor area of 258,000 square meters, which holds a capacity of 91,000 seats including 80,000 permanent seats and 11,000 temporary seats (have been removed already) with the international standard. The main building is 333 meters long from north to south and 296 meters wide from east to west, with the highest point of 68.5 meters and the lowest point of 42.8 meters.
Bird's Nest - The China National Stadium in Beijing
Architectural Concept (Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection)
The steel structure of the National Stadium is one of the world’s sports buildings with the largest span. The maintenance structure of its rooftop is a double membrane structure covered on the steel structure. The construction adopts advanced energy conservation design and environmental protection measures, including favorable natural ventilation, natural lighting, the entire recycling of rainwater, the use of renewable geothermal energy resources and the use of solar photovoltaic power generation technology. Beneath the football field, there are 312 Ground Source Heat Pump system wells which can supply heat (from the earth) to the stadium in winters and supply cold (from the earth) to the stadium in winters by burying heat exchange tube beneath, which saves much electric power. The rainwater collected by the system of recycling rainwater on the top of the stadium can be used to afforest, flush toilets, control fire or flush the runway, which can save much water resources. Thus, the Bird’s Nest is known as a large Green Building without any doubt.
Olympic Theme Attractions
The Olympic Torch –Auspicious Clouds
It gives the public a chance to get close to the Olympic Torch and know about the design idea and technology of Auspicious Clouds Torch. Besides, the great moments and touching scene happening during the torch relay will remind you of the unforgettable Olympic moments.
The Olympic Torch
The Olympic Media Area
Bird’s Nest has the largest stadium media center of Beijing Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. The stadium media center consists of the stand for media (including photographers and journalists), media workroom, mixed media area, press box and rest area for reporters.
Exhibition of Props Appearing at the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of at Olympics and Paralympics
In this exhibition, you can see the display of some of a few props used in the performance at the closing and opening ceremonies of Olympics and Paralympics, such as a seven-stringed plucked instrument, Fou which is a kind of percussion instrument used in ancient times, quant and bamboo slips.
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In defense of the Electoral College
By Robert S. Sargent, Jr.
Abolish the Electoral College. (Heading, New York Times editorial, Sunday, 8/29/04)
Once again there are calls from every quarter calling for the overhaul of the Electoral College system in favor of a nationwide popular vote. Briefly, the Constitution mandates that each state appoint a number of electors equal to the number of Senators and Representatives in that state. This college of electors meets in December and votes for President. These electors pledge to vote for one or another party's candidates, and except for Maine and Nebraska where a proportional method is used, the winner of the popular vote in each state receives all of the Electoral College votes. The arguments against this system can be compelling. As Steve Chapman in the Washington Times wrote, "There is something wrong with a system that lets the second place vote-getter claim victory."
In Business Week, on June 14, there were two articles (no byline) criticizing the Electoral College. One pointed out that if you are a Democrat in Texas, you may as well sit home on Election Day. The state is overwhelmingly Republican, and with the winner take all allocation, your vote is pretty much meaningless. The same would be true of a Republican living in Massachusetts. In a popular vote scenario, your vote would count as part of the whole no matter where you lived.
On August 11, in Timothy Noah's Slate "Chatterbox," he pointed out that small states have a disproportionate advantage because each state gets a number of electors that equals the total number of House seats plus two (Senate). And very large states have an advantage because of the winner-take-all allocation of electors. All of these distortions and criticisms would be fixed by a nationwide popular vote.
While these arguments can be persuasive, there are a lot of good arguments for keeping the system. In the August 21, L.A. Daily News, Robert Hardaway pointed out that, "In 1956 a Republican proposal to abolish the Electoral College was defeated after a vigorous defense by Sen. John F. Kennedy. He declared that ‘direct election would break down the federal system under which most states entered the union which provides a system of checks and balances that ensure that no area or group shall obtain too much power.' Kennedy observed that under the Electoral College, no candidate can be elected president who does not have substantial support in every region of the country."
Paul Greenberg, in another Washington Times column noted that, "At least the Electoral College confines fights over contested votes to decisive states…[S]uppose the presidential election hinged on disputed vote totals across the country…[For] those who thought the 2000 election was a confused mess…you ain't seen nothin' yet."
There's an argument for keeping the system I would like to submit that builds on Kennedy's argument: our tradition of seeing our political entities as geographical, rather than as majorities of total populations. We do not allow Representatives of one state to represent part of another state. On the Federal level, states are kept whole even if it doesn't comply with "one person, one vote" (as long as states are kept whole, with their different population mixes, a Representative of one state will inevitably represent more or less people than a Representative of another). Up until the Warren Court forced "one person, one vote" on the states in the 1960s, the states followed the example of the Federal government and didn't allow counties to be broken up. Since counties have different populations, geography was more important than proportional representation. If state constitutions reflect the will of the people, then the people would rather their political entity be the geographical county seat, not the "people" of the whole state. And at the Federal level, the Electoral College keeps geography as the primary entity. It's still state against state.
Just as the 17th Amendment was enacted in 1913 so that the "people" instead of the un-egalitarian state legislatures would choose Senators, and just as the primary system has come to dominate the political scene so that the "people" instead of the un-egalitarian political parties would choose nominees, I believe it's just a matter of time until the Constitution is changed so that the "people" instead of the un-egalitarian state Electors will choose our President. But be warned: The kind of government we live under will be radically changed. The two-party system will disappear. The winner-take-all system makes it extremely difficult for third parties to ever be successful, but with votes tallied up nation-wide, there will be big incentives for radical minority parties to emerge, preventing any candidate from capturing a majority of the votes. The result will be run-offs, and deals brokered between various parties, European style. Demands from radical minor parties will be met to create majorities.
To quote Greenberg again: "A straight popular vote for president is one of those bright, shiny ideas that, as good as they look in the abstract, have never been tested in reality. But it's an election year, and once again we're being told to drop this old antiquated system…in favor of the French model. How many Republics have the French had by now? Five? One loses count. We Americans are still on our first, in large part because we do not discard our institutions lightly." I hope my prediction of change is wrong and that we think long and hard before we discard this vital part of our Constitution.
Robert S. Sargent, Jr. is a senior writer for Enter Stage Right and can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.org.
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© 1996 - 2005, Enter Stage Right and/or its creators. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:cec935b2-d639-48ae-b2ef-49b9dd56d17f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.enterstageright.com/archive/articles/0904/0904defelec.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961415 |
The Picture Archive of the Austrian National Library is Austria’s biggest location of pictorial documentation. The holdings of the Archives unite three historical collections: the Portrait Collection, the Picture Archives, and the Imperial Family Fidei commis Library.
The Map Department administers about 290,000 maps, 45,000 geographic-topographic views, 800.000 picture postcards, 650 globes, 100 reliefs and models of fortresses, and about 81,000 volumes of technical literature and atlases.
The Department of Music of the Austrian National Library is Austria’s biggest musical archives, and at the same time a modern scholarly research library and the place where most valuable original musical manuscripts are kept.
The Austrian Literary Archives gathers lifetime and posthumous bequests of Austrian authors beginning with the 20th century (especially after 1945) and makes them available for scholarly research.
The Papyrus Collection with its 180.000 objects is one of the largest in the world. In October 2001 the Collection was included in UNESCO's list "Memory of the World" as a world documentation heritage site.
Since its founding in 1927 the Esperanto Museum has had a comprehensive library, which in 1990 received the title of Department of Planned Languages.
In April 2008 the “Department of Manuscripts, Autographs and Closed Collections” and the “Department of Incunabula, Old and Rare Books” were joined. Use of the holdings takes place in the Augustinian reading room.
The Central Archives of Austrian Folk Song, now a section of the Austrian National Library, contains documents of musical and poetic expression. It has many hand-written records of texts and melodies and possesses Austria’s biggest holdings of books and reviews on the topics of folk song, folk dance, and folk poetry. | <urn:uuid:7c512216-c037-4195-92c6-7076de92cd2c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.onb.ac.at/ev/collections.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930353 |
Work: A Story of Experience (Paperback)
|Author: Louisa May Alcott|
Louisa May Alcott grew up in Concord, Massachusetts, the daughter of Bronson Alcott, a well-known transcendentalist, philosopher, and educator. The family's home was a stop on the Underground Railroad, and Alcott's father insisted that she and her sisters always be clothed in linen because linen did not exploit the slaves who picked cotton. The Alcott sisters were educated at home, and were introduced to some of the great thinkers of the times including Emerson and Thoreau. To assist with the family finances, Louisa worked at various occupations from an early age, including sewing and teaching; her novel "Little Women" was published in 1868 and was wildly popular; it has never been out of print. As a result of her success, her family was freed forever from financial distress. Alcott never married; by the time of her death at age 55, she had written hundreds of stories, novels, poems, and essays. She is best known for her children's novels. "Little Women", her best-known book, was based on the life of her family. "Little Men" was written in 1871 specifically for the children of her sister Anna (Meg in "Little Women") after the death of their father.
"...Alcott locates true harmony in a female world where vanity and ambition are replaced by cooperation and mutual respect." - Joy S. Kasson | <urn:uuid:0ede9ad1-e507-47a1-8154-4769dfc2dc07> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rakuten.com/prod/work/211700506.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986751 |
A team of expert obstetricians and gynaecologists across the country have contributed from their vast experience and practical knowledge on congenital intrauterine infections. The infections are intimately related to the period of fetal organogenesis as established in research by Norman Gregg that a spectrum of neonatal and infant problems and sometimes a Sequelae developing much later have been traced back to intrauterine developments This book projects maternal infections that affect the unborn child. It includes the pregnancy outcome, problems, incidence, diagnosis, management and prevention The updates included in the book upgrade knowledge, clarify doubts, proffer the advances in perinatal medicine on this subject. It focuses on the issues that confound the obstetricians and neonatologists i.e. perinatal loss, infections morbidity and congenital anomalies. Section 1: Maternal Fetal Sequelae, 1. Clearing MisconceptionsPregnancy Complications and Miscarriage Due to Maternal Infections, 2. Outcome of Neonates Born with Congenital Infections, 3. Congenital Infections and Mental Retardation, 4. Intrauterine Infections: Ocular Manifestations, 5. Congenital Infections and Hearing Loss, 6. Effects of Genital Tract Infections and Pregnancy Outcome, Section 2: Problem-based Approach to MaternalFetal Management, 7. Avidity Testing to Pinpoint Timing of Maternal Infections during Pregnancy, 8. Prenatal Treatment of Toxoplasmosis, 9. Strategies for Management of Intrauterine Rubella Infection, 10. Decision Making in Intrauterine Cytomegalovirus Infection, 11. Streamlining Therapy of Pregnant Women with Genital Herpes, 12. Parvovirus B19Fetal Implications and Therapy, 13. Fetal Risk and Counselling in Chickenpox Mumps and Measles during Pregnancy, 14. Minimizing Risk of HIV Transmission to Fetus and Newborn, 15. TuberculosisStill a Problem for Mothers and Children in India, 16. Sexually Transmitted Disease in Pregnancy: Saving the Fetus, 17. Hepatitis in Pregnancy: Fetal/Neonatal Perspective, Section 3: Prenatal Diagnosis of Congenital Infection, 18. Laboratory Techniques for Prenatal Diagnosis of Maternal-Fetal Infections, 19. Role of Ultrasound in Prenatal Diagnosis of Congenital Infections, 20. Ultrasound Guided Procedures in Prenatal Diagnosis of Congenital Infections, Section 4: Consensus Opinion, 21. Screening Guidelines for Intrauterine Infections during Pregnancy in Indian Pregnant Women, 22. Impact of Health Education and Counselling in Prevention of Congenital Infections, Section 5:Illustrative Cases, 23. Illustrative CasesTORCH Infections.
- Dewey Decimal: 618
- Physical Description: 6.3"x9.4"x0.5"; 1.3 lb; 328 pages
- Edition Info: Paperback; 2009-08-01
- Education & Reference
- Medical Books -- Allied Health Professions -- Radiologic & Ultrasound Technology
- Medical Books -- Medicine -- Internal Medicine
- Medical Books -- Medicine -- Reference
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Bees represent a large and successful branch of the insect's family tree: more than 20,000 species have been described worldwide. Nearly all of these species use pollen and/or nectar from flowering plants as food for themselves and their offspring. Physical adaptations for this lifestyle include branched (or plumose) body hairs for catching and holding pollen, combs (scopae) and baskets (corbiculae) for collecting and carrying the pollen, and tongue-like mouthparts for sipping nectar from flowers. Some bees collect nectar and then convert it into honey. This process occurs in the bee's crop where sucrose in the nectar undergoes enzymatic conversion into glucose and fructose. The honey is regurgitated for storage or mixed with pollen and fed to developing larvae. Some bees have abdominal glands that secrete wax. This wax, alone or mixed with other substances, is often used for construction of the nest site.
Although most bees are solitary or subsocial, the family Apidae contains three distinct groups that exhibit eusocial behavior: these are commonly known as stingless bees, bumble bees, and honey bees. Despite their close phylogenetic relationship, entomologists suspect that social behavior arose independently (perhaps even more than once) within each of these groups.
< < Bee Social Register > > Reproductive
Queen - Fertile adult female.
Drone - Fertile adult male - develops from an unfertilized egg.
Unmated adult females - generally the daughters of the queen.
Bumble bees are large, fuzzy bees that typically nest in thick tufts of grass or in shallow underground cavities (e.g. old rodent burrows). About 300 species of eusocial bumble bees have been described worldwide but their distribution is almost entirely limited to temperate zones in the northern hemisphere. Colony structure is largely seasonal. Mated queens hibernate during the winter and emerge in early spring to build a small nest site containing a "honey pot" and several brood cells. After gathering a supply of nectar and filling her "honey pot", each queen lays a few eggs and "singlehandedly" rears her first brood -- all daughters. When these offspring become adults, they remain unmated, stay with the queen, and serve as the first members of the colony's worker caste. Thereafter, the queen does very little except lay eggs while her workers perform all tasks related to gathering food, enlarging the nest, and caring for the young.
Bumble bee colonies have a relatively primitive social structure. They rarely contain more than a few hundred workers and, other than size, there is usually little or no physical distinction between a queen and her workers. Caste determination appears to be based on food supply and the queen's aggressive behavior. Bumble bees have no system for communicating information about food location to other members of the hive. Novice bees evidently learn to forage effficiently through a process of "trial and error".
In late summer or early fall, aging queens begin to lose their social dominance. Some workers become more independent and start laying unfertilized eggs that will develop into males (drones). Late-emerging females may leave the nest, forage on their own, and eventually mate with a drone. These mated females overwinter in seclusion and emerge the following spring to be founding queens of new colonies.
Honey bees include the well-known European honey bee (Apis mellifera) as well as 8 other species of Apis that are native to Europe, Asia, and Africa. These bees usually nest above ground, often inside hollow trees. They construct vertical wax combs with individual hexagonal cells for storing honey and rearing brood. Each hive is "ruled" by a single queen whose only job is to lay eggs. Workers are adult females -- daughters of the queen. They perform all housekeeping chores within the hive, search for nectar and pollen, produce wax and honey, feed the young and protect the hive against enemies. Adult workers live for about six weeks (during the summer) but queens may last for several years. During cold winters, the bees cluster together, feeding on stored food reserves and sharing their body heat.
Social caste is determined mostly by the diet an individual bee receives during larval development. Normally, workers feed their larvae royal jelly (a nutrient-rich glandular secretion) for the first few days and then switch to a less-nutritious diet of bee bread (a mixture of honey and pollen). Larvae destined to become queens, however, are reared in special (larger) brood cells and fed a diet of royal jelly throughout the entire duration of larval development. Males (drones) develop from unfertilized eggs. Their only function is to mate with virgin queens.
A queen controls the social organization within her colony by means of a pheromone secreted from her mandibular glands. Workers lick this pheromone from the queen's body and pass it to nestmates during the exchange of food (trophallaxis). Queen pheromone maintains tranquility within the hive and inhibits ovarian development among workers. When the queen dies (or fails to perform adequately), she is replaced by a new queen reared from within the hive. Each colony, therefore, has the potential to be perennial, that is, to endure beyond the lifespan of the founding queen and her workers. Mature, healthy colonies may grow to include as many as 80,000 workers. However, before they reach this size, most large bee hives will "reproduce" by swarming. This is a process of colony division in which an established queen leaves (absconds) with a large group of workers to establish a new nest site, while a young queen and the remaining workers stay behind to occupy the old nest site.
Honey bees use a variety of signals to communicate with nestmates. An aggregation pheromone produced by Nasanov's gland (located near the tip of the abdomen) is used to attract nestmates and to mark a source of nectar or water. An alarm pheromone is released from mandibular glands when the colony is threatened. Scout bees who find a good nectar supply will recruit foragers by passing out samples of the nectar and "dancing" on the comb to indicate distance and direction to the source.
Stingless bees include about 300 eusocial species that are mostly tropical or sub-tropical in distribution. They are called "stingless bees" because the sting is reduced in size and rarely used for defense. These bees often nest in hollow trees or rock crevices. They collect nectar and pollen from flowers and store honey in large egg-shaped pots made of cerumen, a mixture of beeswax and plant resin. The honeypots are usually arranged in an irregular perimeter around a central brood comb that is constructed in horizontal layers.
Most species of stingless bees are relatively small (less than 1 cm in length) and live in colonies that contain one queen and 50-1000 workers. A few species, however, are as large as European honey bees and may have over 40,000 workers living together. Both queens and workers develop from fertilized eggs, but queen larvae have larger brood cells and receive more food than worker larvae. Males (drones) develop from unfertilized eggs (often laid by unmated workers). Most of the stingless bees form perennial colonies with the ability to replace the queen when she dies. Large colonies may divide by swarming, but workers usually build and provision a new nest before it will be occupied by a young queen and a group of workers from the old nest.
There is a wide range of social organization and communication among the species of stingless bees. Some produce low-frequency sound vibrations to alert nestmates to a new nectar source, others mark vegetation with an odor trail for recruits to follow, and still others enlist a group of foragers and guide them back to the food source. In tropical habitats, stingless bees have co-evolved with flowering plants since the Cretaceous period and these bees are now essential as pollinators for many native plants. Conservation efforts are needed to protect both the plants and the bees from habitat destruction. | <urn:uuid:8eb5469c-ff69-47ad-a594-968769f98712> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/course/ent425/tutorial/Social/bees.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953828 |
When you use Google products, the servers in our data centers do the work for you—around the clock and around the world. Our servers support many products at a time. That's "the cloud." By keeping our servers busy, we can do more with less—more searches, more Gmail, and more YouTube videos with fewer servers and less energy.
We’ve worked hard to minimize the environmental impact of these services so that when you use our products, you’re also being good to the environment.
How we do it
Our data centers use 50% less energy than the typical data center. We raise the
temperature to 80°F, use outside air for cooling, and build custom servers. We also
share detailed performance data to help move the entire industry forward.
See how we drive efficiency.
How others can do it
We've learned a lot in over ten years of designing and running our data centers.
We've outlined our best practices to help other data centers run more efficiently.
We also drive collaboration through industry summits and partnerships.
Read more on what we've learned.
Helping businesses save energy in the cloud
The cloud supports many products at a time, so it can more efficiently distribute resources among many users. That means we can do more with less energy—and businesses can too.
By switching to Google Apps (PDF), companies have reduced office computing costs, energy use, and carbon emissions by 65% to 90%. Additionally, businesses that use Gmail (PDF) have decreased their environmental impact by up to 98% compared to those that run email on local servers.
Because of our energy efficiency efforts, our cloud is better for the environment. This means businesses that use our cloud-based products are greener too.
What others are saying
“Google has one of the largest but also one of the greenest data center
infrastructures among the world’s companies.”
— Datacenter Dynamics
"Google has been an industry leader in releasing information about the energy
efficiency and power usage of its data centers, as well as strategies to recycle
water to reduce the impact of its facilities on local communities."
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Is Agriculture Ready to Feed 9 billion?
New farm crop technology is needed to stay ahead of demand.
Published: Jul 20, 2012
Note: The following item was written by Stan Howell, vice president, North America, Dow AgroSciences, and it offers his take on the challenges ahead.
One of my earliest memories is walking fields with a hoe as a nine year old boy, chopping weeds out of beans on my family's Indiana farm. It was hard work but had its advantages. It convinced me there surely had to be a better way to get rid of those weeds.
And in time there was. Even back then, modern herbicides were making farming more productive and less labor intensive. Then glyphosate-tolerant crops took things to a whole new level offering more economical weed control, fewer applications, less cultivation and significant environmental benefits.
My father was a real stickler about weed control and also about being a good neighbor. He didn't want herbicides drifting onto our neighbor's property. So when glyphosate-tolerant crops first came out, he put buffer strips around our fields that year. Turned out, we didn't need them, but he wanted to make sure there wouldn't be a problem.
Glyphosate was certainly a miracle product. But when glyphosate-tolerant crops first came out there was plenty of opposition. And that's no surprise. Breakthroughs in crop technology usually face some resistance at first.
When the first cast-iron plow was patented in 1797, people wouldn't buy it. They were afraid an iron plow would "poison" the soil and foster growth of weeds. Eventually, people sort out what's true, based on personal experience.
Today, agriculture stands at another crossroads. Overreliance on glyphosate has led to weed resistance, and a few critics now say herbicide-tolerant crops were a mistake. While it's true agriculture has learned a hard lesson from overreliance on a single tool, as someone who walked hours of beans as a boy I for one do not want to go back. And odds are, neither do you.
(Where would this country even find the labor to do all the work these earlier forms of agriculture required?)
New crop technology is urgently needed.
Last year, our planet's population reached seven billion people. By mid-century, there will be two billion more. Dietary shifts from rice and black beans in emerging nations to added animal protein are creating still further stress on the biosphere.
Meeting these increased dietary requirements is not just a moral imperative. Food security is a serious concern for stable international relations, even today. And this food security challenge must be met with essentially the same land now in production, unless we subject more limited, remaining habitat to the plow.
The farming I knew as a boy could not support our current population. Nor will the needs of tomorrow be met with today's practices: not without new technologies, some of which have not yet even been contemplated. Little did I know as a boy wondering about better ways to manage weeds that our world's future might one day hinge on how well we answered that question.
There will always be initial opposition to new crop technologies. But I am a great believer in pooled ingenuity and the ability of reasonable people to work together and constructively resolve their differences. In my lifetime alone, our nation's farmers have learned to produce 260 percent more food, with fewer farm inputs.
Do we have the resolve and the resourcefulness to do it again? I believe we do. But then again, we're going to have to.
Tomorrow is coming. And sooner than we think.
Permalink: Click here | <urn:uuid:6b0e2bfa-c933-453d-9422-ec99bbccbba3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://farmfutures.com/story-agriculture-ready-feed-9-billion-0-61689 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972484 |
Randolph J. Caldecott and the story of the Caldecott Medal
by Bankston, John
A biography of the nineteenth-century English illustrator of children´s books, for whom the Caldecott medal is named.
Look! I can read!
by Hood, Susan
A young girl demonstrates to her mother and father how well she has learned to read.
A to zoo : subject access to children´s picture books
by Lima, Carolyn W.
Need to find a picture book about fire trucks? This resource can help!
Babies in the library!
by Marino, Jane
This guide describes activities designed to promote fondness for the library and a love of language in babies as young as three months old.
Black Books Galore! guide to more great African American children´s books
by Rand, Donna
This easy-to-use, illustrated reference features 400 new listings, plus reading plans for historical events, major holidays, and seasons for young black readers. With easy-to-find listings organized by age level and indexed by title, topic, author, and illustrator, and more.
Under the chinaberry tree : books and inspirations for mindful parenting
by Reuthling, Ann
The women behind America´s beloved children´s book catalog share their wisdom about the joys of children´s literature and parenting | <urn:uuid:066b2ddf-c975-4c24-8b24-9cc7d779f40a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lvccld.org/library/hot_topics/more_p.cfm?guideID=31&age=5&subjectID=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.903506 |
Nanofilters can remove viruses from milk and nanomaterials could soon block cholesterol in canola oil from entering our bloodstream. They can alter the texture of ice cream. Tiny particles in chicken feed can latch onto Campylobacter jejuni and keep the bacteria from getting into our chicken nuggets. Tiny silica spheres could be used to detect the presence of the harmful E. coli 0157 bacteria in organic sprouts.
These nano-innovations have been heralded as a defining feature of the future of our food, but until yesterday, there had been little federal oversight, despite the toxicological risks associated with shrinking materials and adding them to the environment. Moreover, the information remains in the hands of food and agriculture companies.
Now, the Washington Post reports that the Environmental Protection Agency says it will consider adverse effects of nanotechnology in pesticides and the Food and Drug Administration offered draft guidelines on nanotechnology, essentially providing a definition for the industry. If nano-tech is really following genetically modified foods into our supermarkets, let’s hope this oversight improves significantly, and that the technology can better deliver on its philanthropic potential.
Image: FDA (via AOL). | <urn:uuid:4b496581-42c0-4318-9ddd-a570732d9914> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nanovip.com/tastes-like-nanotechnology.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.912669 |
What follows is a vocabulary to enable the reader to translate the English version of the article Babelling On from the previous section into pictograms. We assume the reader is familiar with the explanations given in the Introductory Guide, sections 1 to 43.
We explain here also some other pictograms related to the ones in the article.
Authority (eagle's wings) People with authority is shown under the wings of an eagle
Government (men sitting down around a table on a stand under the picto authority). The stand is a sign of pre-eminence.
Money (two coins together)
To pay (the picto money as a verb)
Cost (when money equals things) See the "x" mark
Price, selling price (when things equal money). See the "x"
To buy (money converted into things)
To sell (things converted into money)
Expensive (money bigger than things)
Country, Nation (a land with a national flag)
Region (a land with a national flag, but see the mark "x")
Generalization of a picto
Sometimes we want to give a general meaning to a picto. For instance, people relative to individual human beings. In these cases we put a circle or oval around the picto, so we have:
Person People Man Manhood
The oval or circle can be replaced by a small one on top of the picto: | <urn:uuid:0a680f39-07e7-44c2-b654-5f738e30e394> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pictopen.com/section45_1.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.872777 |
Today the students learned about Agent Modeling. Jenna taught the students how to use a program called Agent Sheets to create a model of the population of rabbits, wolves, and grass using the predator prey relationship. Gradually, the students made the rabbits eat the grass and reproduce while setting the growth of the grass. They were left with the task of editing the behavior of the wolf to eat the rabbits.
After the snack break Bob2 introduced the students to NetLogo, another agent modeling program. The students were given 30 minutes to experiment with a pre-made NetLogo model of their choice that they would then use to practice presentation do's and don'ts to prepare for their presentation days.
Doing presentations, the students were given critiques and helpful input during their presentations. For example:
Connect with the audience of all sides of the room
Use less fillers (i.e., Um, like, yeah)
Make sure to give a brief introduction about your topic
The students enjoyed the feedback that was given to them and are ready for next week's presentations.
After presentations were done, Bob 2 taught the students some basic codes in NetLogo to create turtles that move randomly on the screen. | <urn:uuid:cfd8da2a-051b-4bb7-96a4-cd7bb3400d7f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.shodor.org/succeed/workshops/archive2006/winter/ssp/overviews/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962458 |
Your child will discover furry and fuzzy animals in this gentle introduction to the wonderful world of mammals.
Journey through a rainbow of colors in the animal kingdom as your child discovers the many patterns and shades of the natural world.
Animals can move in ways people can only dream of--birds soar above the treetops, monkeys swing from branch to branch. Learn how gorillas knuckle-walk, snakes slither, and rabbits hop in this fun-filled exploration of animal movement.
We will find out how animals use their special senses to help them survive and compare their senses to our own.
Sizing the Seas
Explore aquatic life both big and small as we learn about creatures of the sea. Due to the nature of marine life, this program is only available at the Zoo. | <urn:uuid:fecf7125-f68c-4c49-b840-45d2a3de1f4d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.zoo.pgh.pa.us/Education/SchoolsandTeachers/FieldTrips/LearningAdventures/PreschoolPrograms | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.880128 |
The Royal Navy as Weather Observers
Sailors have been deeply concerned with the weather since ancient times: wind speed and direction, and estimates of ocean currents, were critical information for keeping track of the ship’s position. The Royal Navy records in the National Archives and the National Maritime Museum go back into the 17th century, and even the earliest logbooks contain descriptions of the weather of each day.
Most of the early records give only wind force and direction, but even in the eighteenth century some ships carried weather instruments (thermometer and barometer), and this became standard practice in the nineteenth century. Since then, every navy ship has recorded precise temperatures and pressures as a matter of routine, and this practice continues to today. This combination of obsession with the weather, a large number of ships supporting British interests all over the world, and exemplary record keeping and preservation, mean that the hundreds of thousands of historic naval logs which have survived to the present day have enormous potential to provide new information on how the weather changes and varies.
Old Weather is about turning that potential information into actual information. Paper records are great for long-term preservation, but for analysis and understanding we need computer-readable versions. Also, to find the interesting features and changes in the weather, the records need to be looked at by scientists. A lot of records requires a lot of scientists, and the large community of citizen scientists forming the Zooniverse could make a big difference.
[The above image is from the log of the Raven, for January 12 and 13, 1832] | <urn:uuid:0e0a0a3c-4282-4dae-ab9d-4bd1a475b906> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.oldweather.org/2010/10/11/the-royal-navy-as-weather-observers/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951375 |
A 101-m core drilled in 1974 at South Pole Station (90oS; 2800 m a.s.l.) was cut into 5218 samples for microparticle concentration measurements used to establish a 911-year record (Mosley-Thompson and Thompson, 1982). In addition, the core was cut into 1024 samples for 18O analyses made at the University of Copenhagen. As the 18O samples were cut to approximate annual increments they did not contribute to the establishment of the time scale which is based solely upon seasonal variations in dust concentrations. The estimated accuracy of the time scale is ± 90 years at 911 yr.B.P.
The South Pole and Siple records of dust and 18O reveal an anti-phase relationship between atmospheric conditions over the high East Antarctic Plateau and the Antarctic Peninsula area. During cold and dusty periods over East Antarctica, conditions are warmer and the atmosphere is less dusty in the Peninsula region. High resolution records from central West Antarctica are as yet unavailable to determine whether the climate in this region is synchronous with that over East Antarctica, or that in the Peninsula region, or whether it is totally different. High resolution records from central West Antarctica should be a high priority for future antarctic drilling plans.
Mosley-Thompson, E., and L.G. Thompson. 1982. Nine centuries of microparticle deposition at the South Pole. Quaternary Research, 17(1), 1-13.
Mosley-Thompson, E., P. D. Kruss, L. G. Thompson, M. Pourchet and P. Grootes. 1985. Snow stratigraphic record at South Pole: potential for paleoclimatic reconstruction. Annals of Glaciology, 7, 26-33.
Mosley-Thompson, E., K.R. Mountain and J.F. Paskievitch. 1986. Paleoclimatic ice core program at Siple Station. Antarctic Journal of the U.S., XVI(5), 115-117.
Palais, J. M., P. R. Kyle, E. Mosley-Thompson, and E. Thomas. 1987. Correlation of a 3,200 year old tephra in ice cores from Vostok and South Pole Stations, Antarctica. Geophysical Research Letters, 14(8), 804-807.
In November, 1992 an array of 235 poles in six lines, each 20 km long, centered on the SPS was installed for systematic, long-term monitoring of net accumulation. The network was established using standard surveying techniques which were verified using GPS (global positioning system). The lines are centered on the six grid directions (45o, 110o, 170o, 230o, 290o, and 350o), extend 20 km from the station, and contain poles (like that shown in the photograph) spaced 500 ± 1 m apart. When they were installed all pole heights (from the top of pole to the original snow surface) were 182.88 cm and all pole lengths were identical. The accumulation history from 1958 to 1994 are shown in the figure.
Mosley-Thompson, E., L.G. Thompson, J.F. Paskievitch, M. Pourchet, A.J. Gow, M.E. Davis and J. Kleinman. 1995. South Pole snow accumulation has increased in recent decades. Annals of Glaciology, 21, 131-138.
Back to the Antarctica Project Page | <urn:uuid:5b4c267d-0f67-4c0f-982c-0a40060fd58b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bprc.osu.edu/Icecore/SouthPole.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.883857 |
Iraq is cutting archaeological cooperation with the United States because the U.S. has not returned Iraq’s Jewish archives.
Iraqi Tourism and Archaeology Minister Liwaa Smaisim is pushing for the return of the archives that were removed from Iraq following the 2003 U.S. Operation Iraqi Freedom, according to the French news agency AFP.
Iraq was home to a large Jewish community prior to 1948 before most Iraqi Jews immigrated to Israel.
The archives, which were discovered in the flooded basement of Iraqi intelligence headquarters in Baghdad, include Torah scrolls, and Jewish law and children’s books. Seventy percent of the collection consists of Hebrew-language documents while 25 percent of the collection is in Arabic. The rest of the documents are written in other languages.
Smaisim, a member of anti-U.S. Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr’s movement told AFP that Iraq will “use all means” to retrieve the archives.
“One of the means of pressure that I used against the American side is I stopped dealing with the American (archaeological) exploration missions because of the case of the Jewish archives and the antiquities that are in the United States,” Smaisim told AFP. | <urn:uuid:378015c4-fa17-4c0b-9eef-38fb179b722f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://forward.com/articles/158444/iraq-cuts-us-arts-ties-over-jewish-archives/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958548 |
Public health in complex emergencies is an increasingly important area of work. Over the last decade experts have demonstrated priority actions, including how to measure the severity of a crisis and how to evaluate the effectiveness of humanitarian response. However, reproductive health – particularly ensuring care during childbirth – has only been recently recognized as a key gap and priority in these settings.
It is no coincidence that countries affected by humanitarian crisis and conflict are the riskiest for mothers and babies. Essential factors such as access to care before, during and after pregnancy in these settings are severely restricted.
The global health cluster that is lead by the World Health Organization has agreed on the Minimum Initial Service Package for reproductive health in crisis situations. The joint CDC and Save the Children Emergency Health and Nutrition toolkit establishes best practices around when and how to act to save the lives of women and their newborns.
Solange has just given birth to her 10th baby at the maternity clinic set up in the grounds of the largest displacement camp in Côte d’Ivoire, in the Western town of Duékoué. That month, 100 babies were born in this classroom turned into a makeshift maternity clinic. Photo: Laurent Duvilier / Save the Children.
July 16-17, 2012: Save the Children and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s International Emergency and Refugee Health Branch (IERHB) hosted an expert technical meeting on neonatal survival in humanitarian settings.
The meeting brought together technical experts in neonatal health, emergency health, and applied epidemiology to advance the technical depth and scale-up of evidenced based neonatal interventions in humanitarian settings.
During the two-day meeting, the dual perspectives provided by the development and humanitarian communities the recognized the urgent need to provide practical solutions for neonatal survival in emergencies. The issues discussed focused on identifying the ways and means to move forward with concrete solutions supported by a multi-disciplinary group of experts. | <urn:uuid:b29d1422-0c9b-4488-b6ff-edff4bb04c08> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.healthynewbornnetwork.org/topic/newborn-health-emergencies | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93996 |
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Linkology Animal Card Game
Recommended Age Group 8-12 yrs.
Shipping Weight: 3 lbs.
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Help students "link" animal facts to make important life science concept connections. This fast–paced card game asks players to match word and picture cards relating to animal attributes, reinforcing key scientific concepts and vocabulary. Easy-to-follow instructions allow for quick game play.
Extends life science studies of the animal kingdom
Engages students with vibrant real–life photos and key animal facts
Covers a variety of core concepts and content, including physical features, habitats, and the diets of mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians and insects
Great for school or family play!
Includes a deck of 100 self–checking photo and word cards
# For up to 6 players
# Grades 2+
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Terms and Conditions | <urn:uuid:e03c5232-448f-4b0f-ab4c-45375f24a070> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.alisonsmontessori.com/Linkology_Animal_Card_Game_p/sc180.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.738635 |
Charlie Needs a Cloak by Tomie dePaola. Prentice-Hall (1973); ISBN 0131283553; 32 Pages
"Charlie was a shepherd. He had a cozy house, a big hat, a crook, and a flock of fat sheep. But everyone said, "Charlie needs a cloak."
A hardworking shepherd named Charlie needs to replace his tattered, old red cloak. Beginning in the spring he shears his sheep and washes and cards the wool. Throughout the year, with the "help" of a particularly pesky sheep, he continues the process of making his cloak. He spins and dyes the yarn, weaves the yarn into cloth and sews the fabric. Finally, as winter sets in, Charlie is ready to tend his herd wearing his brand-new, beautiful red cloak.
This dePaola classic is still in print for several reasons. First of all, it's hilarious! The reason Charlie's cloak is tattered is because his silly sheep keep chewing on it. One of his sheep isn't very happy about getting sheared and spends the rest of the story trying to take his wool back. Then there's an illustrated side story of a little mouse that steals various items and places them in a tree stump. My son so enjoys pointing out the funny mouse! Another reason that this book is a classic is because it has educational value. The process of turning wool into cloth is one that most children probably don't understand. While the hand techniques Charlie uses aren't practiced much anymore, the book still provides a very interesting historical overview of the process and introduces children to terms such as shear and card. If your kids are like mine, they'll want to read it over and over again.
Tomie dePaola Website"Charlie Needs a Cloak" Storytelling Patterns [Arkansas Department of Human Services]
Captioned Media Program "Charlie Needs a Cloak" Lesson Plan
Weston Woods "Charlie Needs a Cloak" Viewing Activities
In the story, Charlie uses pokeweed berries (a.k.a. inkberry) to dye the wool yarn. As far as I know, we don't have any pokeweed plants nearby, plus all parts of the pokeweed plant are poisonous, making them a poor choice for a children's dyeing project. Because we wanted to match the books and dye our cloth red, we instead decided to try using cranberries for our natural dye. The kids used scraps of an old t-shirt and banded the fabric with rubber bands to make a tie-dye pattern. We boiled the cranberries in water and briefly submerged the banded cloth. The cranberry dye makes a dark reddish-pink color.
My daughter was disappointed the dye didn't make her cloth deep red like the color of the cranberries. Perhaps if we had let the cloth soak longer, the color would have been a little darker. I'm not sure how this dye would hold up to repeated laundering. Perhaps we'll have to try dyeing an actual t-shirt later this year using natural dye. If anyone has successfully dyed clothing with natural dye, please comment with any tips.
A Mommy's Adventures hosts the "stART" meme (Story + Art) each week. Add your kids craft post to the Kid's Get Crafty linky at Red Ted Art's Blog. Join in Read Aloud Thursday at Hope is the Word. Show off your ideas at ABC & 123 Show and Tell. Wrote a post about play? Join the It's Playtime party! Find more great book tie-ins at JDaniel4's Mom Read, Explore, Learn link-up.
I am an Amazon affiliate and may receive a very small commission for products purchased through my Amazon links. (View my full disclosure statement for more information about my reviews.) | <urn:uuid:adf169fd-9975-4979-8f56-757af06ada04> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.brimfulcuriosities.com/2011/05/charlie-needs-cloak-by-tomie-depaola.html?showComment=1306827188787 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958207 |
Ah, the sounds of Christmas: carolers at the door, a crackling fire, the rip of wrapping paper and ... the sharp chirp of the yellow-rumped warbler.
Ornithologists fanned out with military precision throughout the East Bay on Sunday for the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count. The tradition, started 113 years ago as an alternative to holiday bird shoots, puts bird lovers worldwide in the role of citizen scientists to collect vital data used by researchers to monitor climate change. Last winter during the two weeks near Christmas, more than 63,000 volunteers counted birds in 2,200 places around the globe.
Alameda birders gathered at dawn, armed with high-powered bird-spotting telescopes that cost more than a used car, "The Sibley Guide to Birds" and much adrenaline. They trekked along the shoreline, at the Least Tern sanctuary at the shuttered Alameda Naval Air Station, and near residential lagoons to peer over the water and into the trees.
"Is that a long-billed curlew?" Kim Wallace said as she bent over her scope at the Elsie Roemer Bird Sanctuary along the Alameda mudflats.
"A curlew! Hot shoot!" said Leah Norwood, running to her tripod-mounted scope to confirm the sighting.
Ideal spot for birders
Most curlews, like many of the shorebirds seen in California during winter, migrate from colder Arctic climates, making the Bay Area an ideal spot for bird watching.
The mudflats were so busy with flitting white sandpipers, it was impossible to count them all. The group estimated there were 2,000 Western sandpipers and 3,500 Dunlin sandpipers.
Diversity matters most
The birders cheered at spotting the snowy plover, a federally threatened species, and later, a black-crowned night heron in a tree near the Broadway Street Lagoon.
Diversity is more important than a high count because rare sightings indicate good Earth stewardship, said Leora Feeney, who has been organizing Alameda's Audubon bird counters since 1975.
The bird that is disappearing fastest from count lists in the East Bay, according to data analyzed by Bob Lewis of the Golden Gate Audubon Society, is the white-winged scoter. Christmas counters have noted a 95 percent decline in white-winged scoter sightings since 1974.
On the flip side, the common raven is the most prolific. It has seen a 1,258 percent increase over the same time period. One theory is that there are now 40 percent more humans in Alameda, which means more garbage - a buffet ravens find irresistible.
Right behind the common raven, the red-shouldered hawk increased by 978 percent, with sightings jumping from three hawks to 29.
Starling most common
The most common East Bay bird, by far, is the European starling - with more than 6,000 sightings since 1974. It's an invasive bird that draws grumblings from birders who take issue with its survival strategy - bullying other birds out of their nests and then taking the homes for themselves.
Everything that can be spotted in one day must be counted - even the rows of pigeons lined up on a telephone wire, which were completely ignoring a plastic barn owl secured to the pole. Or the multitudes of Canada geese lazily marching over a school soccer field, nipping at the soggy grass.
Excuse to get outdoors
It's a high point in the year for Audubon Christmas counter John Luther, who has logged 16,000 different birds in all 58 California counties over the past half century. The avian-obsessed are not unlike those who chase storms, he said.
"Bird watching is a great excuse to get outdoors and explore California," said the retired biology teacher. "I love trying to find rare birds. I'll get up at 2 a.m. and drive to San Diego if I hear of a new bird spotted there, and not even think twice."
-- For Audubon Christmas Bird Count historical data, visit sfg.ly/T0LnZj. | <urn:uuid:6b042f23-78f3-4fdf-8935-c6801ff6ce30> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Bird-watchers-gather-for-annual-count-4122414.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94864 |
Invaders from outer space 外星怪客入侵記
Mark and Kathleen had taken a trip to the countryside for a relaxing picnic. As usual, Mark had prepared banana and lettuce sandwiches, which Kathleen hated. “I can’t believe you can eat those things. They taste disgusting,” she said. Mark was just about to tell her how great they were, when he heard a loud noise in the sky above.
When he looked up he couldn’t believe his eyes. An alien spaceship, with flashing lights was making strange noises and hovering about 100m above them. “Quick, run behind that tree,” yelled Mark. They got behind the tree but it was too late — the aliens had already seen them. The door of the spaceship slid open and a transporter carrying four aliens, all armed with ray guns, started to fly towards them at high speed.
“Let’s get out of here!” Kathleen shouted, and they began to weave in and out of the bushes as gun shots exploded behind them. Mark turned his head just in time to see his banana and lettuce sandwiches explode into a ball of flames. He didn’t have time to worry about that though, because by now the transporter was right behind them.
“Put your hands in the air. We have you surrounded. Resistance is futile,” an alien voice said from the transporter. Mark and Kathleen put their hands up, and the aliens got out of their craft. The first alien looked like a giant slug and had mean green eyes. “We have come to conquer the earth,” said the alien. “You can’t do that. This is our home!” Kathleen shouted, just as a laser beam descended from the ship and began transporting them up to the mother ship…
(JOHN PHILLIPS, STAFF WRITER)
Write your own ending to the story! 寫下你的故事結局:
Idea 1: The aliens take Mark and Kathleen up to the mother ship where they meet the leader. What do they say to him? What does he look like?
Idea 2: When they get to the mother ship they find it’s empty. What do they do? Do they fly away in it? Where are the aliens?
Idea 3: The aliens want to take Mark and Kathleen back to their planet to conduct experiments on them! Do they escape? What else happens? | <urn:uuid:ce7f4c18-c79b-442b-909c-0f4cd3cedb3d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang/archives/2008/12/31/2003432468 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.820347 |
The Sherburne Nature Center and surrounding trail system is an outstanding educational resource serving the public at large as well as being home to many wildlife species. The trail system follows a path along a fantastic example of a northeastern deciduous forest environment and consists of many specific types of habitats.
The “Wild Meadow” habitat is home to a bounty of wildlife from countless plants and insect species to insectivorous birds taking advantage of the viable food sources. In the Spring and Early Summer the Woodcock can be heard calling its short buzzy “pent” at dusk. Milkweed plants as well as Thistle, Dogwood and Canadian Goldenrod can be found in abundance. Some species that are more rare and difficult to spot are Wild Cranberry and the incredible carnivorous Pitcher Plants usually associated with a wild bog.
“Vernal Pools” which are temporary bodies of water swell up in the spring allowing species like Spotted Salamander, Toads and Wood Frogs to lay their eggs.
The beaver pond creates an amazing example of a “Wetland Area” habitat and is home to many aquatic species like fish and the amphibious frogs. Reptiles like the Eastern Painted Turtle known locally as the “Sun Turtle” can be seen basking on logs and occasional Snapping Turtles and Northern Water Snakes can be spotted on the pond’s shallow banks. Some mammals that can be seen here are the Muskrat (also called the Water Hare) as well as the massive Beaver species which currently occupy the large beaver lodge located at the pond. Mink have been spotted along the brook feeding into the beaver pond.
The “Deciduous Forest” habitat consists of many species of trees including both hardwood and softwood with patches of conifer like the Eastern Hemlock can be found here. Futher back along the trails there are several Old Growth trees including examples of White Pine, Beech and Cherry. Deer and our Eastern Coyote (Coywolf) call the forest home as well as Foxes. Owls like the Screech and Barred Owl haunt the forest at night and Turkey often march through the forest and meadow during the day. Flying Squirrels make their homes in the cavities of trees and Fishers can be seen patrolling the area.
The Sherburne Nature Center allows for families to explore Mother Nature in all her amazing glory and is open all year from dawn to dusk.
– Mark Fraser | <urn:uuid:6db2a4a3-254e-49e0-b571-b4ec14e9d4f6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tyngsboroughma.gov/sherburne/wildlife | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96247 |
Considering the remarkable technological progress and the spread of social media in the last few years, it can be challenging to teach and involve students when using an old-fashioned lecture style. Shelving overhead projectors and boring PowerPoint slides, some professors have converted to “education 2.0”, integrating new tools and applications into their class format.
The Ecuadorian Journalist Albertina Navas wrote about her experience of teaching economics to non-economics students at the University of the Americas – UDLA (Quito) in the article La economía se hace más divertida con herramientas 2.0 (Economics gets more funny with 2.0 tools) posted on the blog Clases de Periodismo, a virtual school for journalist students from Latin America. To help familiarize her students with complicated economics definitions and formulas and to achieve active learning, she used digital tools such as Twitter, blogs, Pinterest, podcasts, YouTube, Google Docs, and goear, a service to stream and upload MP3s. Leaving space for creativity, students gave proof of enjoying the class and produced some interesting outcomes, like the video El rap de la inflación (The Inflation Rap) or this infographic about history of economics thought. Read more | <urn:uuid:b0053f9d-a30b-45a4-9b28-04127d0f7684> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.inomics.com/category/teaching-economics/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.857543 |
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Painting rooftops white can make a great impact on global warming.
U.S. Energy Secretary Stephen Chu, a Nobel Laureate, noted that basic changes can have a great impact at a climate change symposium in London last weekend.
"If you take all the buildings and make their roofs white and if you make the pavement more of a concrete type of color rather than a black type... it’s the equivalent of reducing the carbon emissions due to all the cars on the road for 11 years," said Chu.
Lighter colors reflect the energy of the sun so by consciously making such changes, or geoengineering, we can help curb emissions.
In fact, according to the research (.pdf) Chu referred to, white roofs and roads could mean a one-time reduction of 44 billion tons of carbon dioxide.
Something to think about next time you're painting the house or debating a black car versus a white one.
Click here to read more about geoengineering.
photo by Sarey used under Creative Commons license. | <urn:uuid:db4373cb-9cf0-4490-9f49-6e051ac8399d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://liveearth.org/zh-hant/comment/reply/3772 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918115 |
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Copyright © 1995-2008 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:78697863-3e15-4c1a-ad5c-d441d3649abd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.classzone.com/books/lnetwork_gr06/page_build.cfm?id=none&ch=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.753115 |
Bird is the ultimate illustrated guide to every species that regularly breeds in or visits Europe. Each species is covered in great detail. Up to 20 illustrations are provided of each species; males, females, juveniles; season by season; at rest and in flight. A colour photograph is provided of each bird in its natural habitat or exhibiting an aspect of its behaviour; a scale diagram shows how the bird compares to another commonly known species; a distribution map shows at a glance where the bird can be seen; similar species are compared to prevent common identification mistakes; and, fascinating facts provide a wider and richer portrait of the bird. No other book manages to do all this with such depth of research or such exquisitely beautiful illustrations.
The book includes a CD with files for iPod, Mac or PC: Notes, images and songs for 250 European birds.
Introduction, How to use this book, The parts of a bird, How this book was created, How to identify birds, The living bird, The families of birds, Bird habitats of Europe, What you need to watch birds, Useful contacts, Wildfowl; Grouse, Pheasants, and Partridges; Divers and Grebes; Shearwaters, Cormorants, and Gannets; Herons and Pelicans; Birds of Prey; Crakes and Rails; Waders; Gulls, Terns, and Auks; Sandgrouse, Pigeons, and Cuckoos; Owls; Swifts, Woodpeckers, and allies; Larks, Swallows, and Pipits; Wrens and allies; Thrushes and Chats; Warblers and Flycatchers; Tits, Treecreepers, and Nuthatches; Shrikes, Starlings, and Crows; Sparrows, Finches, and Buntings; Glossary, Index,
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Peter Hayman is one of the best-known and most authoritative ornithologists and bird artists in Europe, widely acclaimed for his uniquely meticulous approach to bird illustration. His previous books include the best-selling Birdwatcher's Pocket Guide, and Shorebirds of the World, and he has contributed to The Illustrated Guide to the Birds of Southern Africa, among many other books. Rob Hume has been Editor of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds' award-winning Birds magazine since 1989. He has written several ornithological books, including Discovering Birds, Observer's Birds, Focus on Birdwatching, and Birds by Character. For 10 years he was a member and Chairman of the national British Birds Rarities Committee that scrutinizes reports of rare birds in Britain, and in 1973 he discovered a new species for Britain, the American Ring-billed Gull. He lives in Bedfordshire. | <urn:uuid:f49b10ad-640b-4389-a565-fbcb879bf76c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nhbs.com/book_isbn_171130_ca_5.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94283 |
1. A property will be used as it was historically,
or be given a new use that maximizes the retention of
distinctive materials, features, spaces, and spatial
relationships. Where a treatment and use have not been
identified, a property will be protected and, if necessary,
stabilized until additional work may be undertaken.
2. The historic character of a property will be
retained and preserved. The replacement of intact or
repairable historic materials or alteration of features,
spaces, and spatial relationships that characterize
a property will be avoided.
3. Each property will be recognized as a physical
record of its time, place, and use. Work needed to stabilize,
consolidate, and conserve existing historic materials
and features will be physically and visually compatible,
identifiable upon close inspection, and properly documented
for future research.
4. Changes to a property that have acquired historic
significance in their own right will be retained and
5. Distinctive materials, features, finishes, and
construction techniques or examples of craftsmanship
that characterize a property will be preserved.
6. The existing condition of historic features will
be evaluated to determine the appropriate level of intervention
needed. Where the severity of deterioration requires
repair or limited replacement of a distinctive feature,
the new material will match the old in composition,
design, color, and texture.
7. Chemical or physical treatments, if appropriate,
will be undertaken using the gentlest means possible.
Treatments that cause damage to historic materials will
not be used.
8. Archeological resources will be protected and
preserved in place. If such resources must be disturbed,
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Discipline Policies Shift With Views on What Works
After millions of 'get tough' suspensions and expulsions, educators nationwide are looking for ways to assure safety while keeping students in school
If students aren't in school, they can't learn.
But if they are disruptive or violent, they may shortchange other students' chances at an education.
Attempted solutions to that unresolved school-discipline dilemma have yielded state and federal policies behind millions of out-of-school suspensions and expulsions during the past two decades.
The laws and policies have been applied to students wielding weapons and to those sporting a smart mouth or a cellphone. The so-called zero-tolerance approach to discipline, once reserved for the most serious of offenses, has prompted the suspensions and expulsions of students in possession of butter knives and theater-prop swords. The federal Gun-Free Schools Act, enacted in 1994, ushered in an era of tough punishment for low-level offenses.
Meanwhile, research and public positions by psychologists, physicians, and teachers' unions denounce such practices as harmful to students academically and socially, useless as prevention tools, and unevenly applied. Advocacy groups—backed by that research and by data collected by the U.S. Department of Education—say the discipline machinery has a disproportionate effect on students who are black, Latino, or male and those with disabilities.
Supporters of out-of-school suspension and expulsion counter that students have become more combative and disruptive, problems attributable at least in part to the deterioration of students' home lives. Out-of-school punishment shifts the weight of discipline to parents, they reason. When it comes to lesser offenses, they argue that ejecting students who don't take part in lessons means students on task can benefit fully from educational opportunities. If some groups of students appear to be disproportionately affected, it's not purposeful, they say, just a reflection of reality.
Despite some firm support for disciplinary practices that remove students from school, those opposed to the policies believe there has been no better time to capitalize on the tide countering them.
"Schools that are taking this on now are still fighting against the stream a little bit," says Russell Skiba, a professor in counseling and educational psychology at Indiana University in Bloomington. His Equity Project offers evidence-based information to educators and policymakers on equity in special education and school discipline. But "there's been some real momentum," he says.
"If we can shift to an understanding that schools are not going to get to the outcomes that they're desiring as far as academics until they get a handle on issues of school climate and discipline," says Skiba, "then I think we might see more resources flowing in that direction."
School discipline issues had a well-warmed seat in the spotlight long before federal legislation on the matter nearly two decades ago.
Back in 1982, for example, Principal Joe Clark of Eastside High in Paterson, N.J., became famous for suspending students en masse for disrespect, fighting, and vulgarity. His toughness later landed him on the cover of Time and made him the subject of a movie starring Morgan Freeman.
Clark was only a little ahead of his time. Pressure for schools to adopt what became known as zero tolerance—a term associated with Reagan-era anti-drug efforts—gained momentum in the early 1990s amid concern about national crime statistics and the perceived need to shelter schools from "super-predators," a supposed new class of particularly violent youths.
A watershed arrived with Congress' passage of the Gun-Free Schools Act, an initiative of U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California and then-Sen. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, both Democrats. President Bill Clinton signed the measure into law.
The law requires all schools that receive federal money to expel for a year students caught with firearms on campus. It echoed and amplified local school board policies that had cropped up in pockets, and the law is believed to be the catalyst for current practice: dismissal from school for much-lower-level misbehavior.
The 1994 Gun-Free Schools Act requires schools that accept federal money to expel for at least one year any student who brings any type of firearm onto campus. Since the law was passed, the number of expulsions nationwide demanded by the law has generally decreased. The law is often cited as the impetus for widespread use of out-of-school suspensions and expulsions for lesser offenses.
Since the law's 1994 passage, it has led to the expulsion of more than 25,000 students, federal Education Department records show.
Neither Feinstein nor Dorgan granted multiple requests from Education Week for comment on their legislation's legacy. Staff members for Feinstein instead offered her remarks from when the legislation was introduced.
"What kind of a nation is this when students must go to school in constant fear of being shot, stabbed, or attacked?" she said then. "What kind of a learning environment can there be when youngsters bring guns to school? How can we expect students to learn when so many resources are spent on metal detectors and safety personnel?"
Although she said in her speech that "mandatory suspension is not the only approach to addressing the problem of guns in schools," Feinstein was firm in her belief that expulsion would be a powerful deterrent.
Yet in the years since the adoption of the get-tough law, the nation has recorded some of its deadliest school violence, including shooting deaths at Westside Middle School near Jonesboro, Ark., in 1997, the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School in Jefferson County, Colo., and the killings at Red Lake High School in northern Minnesota in 2005.
Despite scant evidence that super-predators ever existed, "if you were to come out for prevention at that point, the odds were someone was going to say, 'What? Don't you believe in safe schools?' " says Skiba, a technical advisor to Quality Counts 2013. "Zero tolerance was a wonderful political sound bite through the early to mid-'90s. It wasn't a very data-driven discussion. It was a fear-driven discussion."
With safety at the forefront of policymakers' minds, they may have considered little else, says Daniel J. Losen, the director of the Center for Civil Rights Remedies at the Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles, based at the University of California, Los Angeles. That " 'it's in all our interest to have all our kids succeed'—I don't think that was part of [lawmakers'] thinking," says Losen, also a technical advisor for Quality Counts 2013.
Research connects suspension with dropping out, or at least with a decline in academic success.
A 2011 study of Texas students by the Council of State Governments Justice Center in Bethesda, Md., and the Public Policy Research Institute at Texas A&M University, in College Station, found that as nearly a million middle and high school students in the state moved from 7th to 12th grade, more than half were suspended or expelled at least once. Those students were more likely to repeat a grade or drop out of school than students not punished in the same way.
Losen and other critics of out-of-school suspension say they aren't asking for a full-scale ban on its use, though one coalition, the Dignity in Schools Campaign, has asked for a moratorium until schools implement workable alternatives.
"I don't think anyone is saying we should never, ever suspend a kid out of school," Losen says, but he does take issue with the frequency with which suspensions are used. "Look at the sheer volume. Some of the people resisting [changing the policies] think we're only kicking out the worst offenders. How can you be kicking out half the kids?"
Another point of contention: The penalties have been shown to disproportionately affect students whose academic achievement has historically lagged.
Data collected by the Education Department's office for civil rights from the 2009-10 school year, encompassing 85 percent of public school students nationwide, show that across all school districts included in the collection, black students were 3½ times more likely to be suspended or expelled than their white peers. In districts reporting expulsions under zero-tolerance policies, Hispanic and black students represented 45 percent of enrollment but 56 percent of students expelled under such policies.
An Education Week analysis of the same data found that while black students made up about 18 percent of students in the data set, they accounted for nearly 50 percent of students suspended more than once out of school. Of the roughly 20,500 students expelled that year without access to educational services, nearly 50 percent were black. And overall, one in every 10 students included in the data collection was suspended out of school at least once that year.
An analysis by Losen and his colleagues at the Civil Rights Project of the federal data found that one in six black students, one in 14 Latino students, and one in 20 white students of those in the data set were suspended at least once that school year.
But there's nothing disproportionate about the numbers, says Heather Mac Donald, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, a think tank in New York City that emphasizes free-market principles and greater individual responsibility.
"I just think that behavior is driving the discipline rates," Mac Donald says, citing crime statistics that show the rate of black teenagers who are either victims or perpetrators of homicide is higher than that for white and Latino teenagers. "It is completely fanciful to think that the types of crime rates that we're seeing among black youth on the streets do not affect how students are acting in class, how they're acting toward their teachers, toward their classmates."
She cited a greater breakdown in the nuclear family among African-Americans than other racial groups. For black boys growing up with no father figure, she says, key lessons on self-control are often absent. "To then hold the rest of the class hostage," she says, "and to say it's the school's fault, it's blaming the messenger."
Skiba counters that research doesn't support the idea that discipline is meted out based on higher rates of bad behavior among some racial groups. But it does show, he says, that black and Latino students are more likely than their white peers to be suspended for minor misbehavior than are their white peers.
Under the Obama administration, a number of school districts have been investigated for discipline rates for one group of students that far exceed their representation in the student body. Mac Donald decries that line of investigation; Losen applauds it. He argues that the past segregation of black students and students with disabilities is a reason for both groups' lopsided representation in discipline statistics.
When Congress worked on the 2004 renewal of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, one of the biggest sticking points was discipline, notes Lindsay Jones, the senior director of policy and advocacy services for the Council for Exceptional Children, in Arlington, Va.
At the core of the dispute was punishing students whose misbehavior was a manifestation of their disabilities. The revised law requires schools to ask detailed questions about an incident to determine the cause of a student's actions. Instead of issuing consequences when a student's disability is to blame, schools must adjust a student's education plan to address the behavior.
The question shouldn't be how to punish a student, Jones says, but "How could we have prevented this?"
Her organization supports legislation that would encourage the use of Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, or PBIS, including a bill that would infuse the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (currently the No Child Left Behind Act) with the approach, which emphasizes teaching students how to behave and rewarding positive behavior.
Although zero-tolerance policies and eye-popping numbers of suspensions and expulsions persist, shootings and other extreme instances of school violence remain rare: The most recent federal statistics available, from the 2006-07 school year, show the number of students expelled for having firearms on campus is lower than a decade earlier. Energy spent deterring potential gun-toting teenagers would be better directed at preventing disruptive behavior that teachers deal with every day, some school administrators say. That shift in emphasis, they say, could address far more common problems, including disrespect and fighting.
"Is it a crisis, a traumatic, horrible event, if a child brings a gun to school? Absolutely," says Laurie Barron, the principal of Smokey Road Middle School in Newnan, Ga. She is the National Association of Secondary School Principals' 2013 Middle School Principal of the Year.
"But how often does that happen?" she says. "We spend more time explaining to you what's going to happen if you bring a gun to school than what's going to happen if you do the right thing every day."
At her 750-student school, changes in recent years, including an emphasis on building relationships between teachers and students, have helped cut discipline referrals from an average of 120 a month four years ago to 20 now.
Schools in New Mexico and several other states are using a program called Elev8, which is tapped the moment a situation arises that might typically result in a suspension or other disciplinary consequence. The Elev8 model uses school-based health centers to provide mental-health and behavioral support for students, says Frank Mirabal, the director of the program in New Mexico.
The program also provides after-school activities for students, can connect families with medical and social services, and in some cases offers academic support. Suspensions in one Chicago Elev8 school dropped 80 percent in the 2009-10 school year, the organization says.
Wilson Middle School in Albuquerque, N.M., offers an even more powerful example. The year before Elev8 was implemented, there were 50 arrests of students on campus and in the neighboring community, Mirabal says. During Elev8's first year, there were four.
Exploring New Options
While schools continue to adopt strict discipline policies or enforce existing ones, expert voices opposing them have emerged, as have attempts to try alternatives.
A 2003 position statement by the American Academy of Pediatrics, based in Elk Grove Village, Ill., concluded that "out-of-school placement for suspension or expulsion should be limited to the most egregious circumstances. For in-home suspension or expulsion, the school must be able to demonstrate how attendance at a school site, even in an alternative setting with a low ratio of highly trained staff to students, would be inadequate to prevent a student from causing harm to himself or herself or to others."
In 2008, the zero-tolerance task force of the Washington-based American Psychological Association concluded that "ultimately, an examination of the evidence shows that zero-tolerance policies as implemented have failed to achieve the goals of an effective system of school discipline."
In addition, the federal departments of Education and Justice in 2011 jointly contracted with the Council of State Governments to draw up a national consensus document on school discipline approaches. New federal initiatives also have provided states with money to train teachers in classroom-management strategies in Hawaii, develop positive behavioral interventions in South Carolina, and infuse instruction in Michigan with social-emotional lessons.
Parents, students, and school administrators pressing for changes also are gaining traction. In June of last year, the Chicago school board voted to eliminate automatic 10-day suspensions for the worst school-based offenses. District codes of conduct that rely heavily on out-of-school suspension have been rewritten several times in the past few years in Baltimore and Philadelphia.
In Philadelphia, students have tried to disabuse school administrators of the notion that they are disruptive to escape class.
"Students generally want to be in school," says Hiram Rivera, the executive director of the Philadelphia Student Union. But inappropriate behavior may be a reaction to the schools themselves. "They don't want to be in underresourced schools," Rivera says, "or go to a school where all they're doing is test prep in crowded classrooms."
In late 2009, a fight at South Philadelphia High School, between Asian students who were English-language learners and black students, sent 13 people to the hospital. The fracas highlighted inequities in educational programming for the different groups on campus. The disparities and concerns about district disciplinary practices also were tackled by Youth United for Change, a Philadelphia group working on education issues. Reconfiguring the code of conduct cut expulsions in the district in the last two school years from 236 to 30.
But the groups look forward to this school year's data, which will show whether principals are handling smaller incidents such as dress-code violations and tardiness less aggressively than with an out-of-school suspension.
And with the start of 2013, Philadelphia is set to pilot alternatives, including restorative practices—which require students to repair harm caused by wrongdoing—in at least 10 schools and PBIS, in 10 others.
"Oftentimes, when people say we're against zero tolerance, people think we're against accountability. No," says Andi Perez, the executive director of Youth United for Change. "We think there's a better way to handle it."
Despite a will in some places, shifting away from heavy use of out-of-school suspensions can be cumbersome, takes broad staff buy-in, and doesn't provide the quick remedy a suspension offers for a student or staff member affected by student misbehavior.
In Clayton County, Ga., the school system collaborated with the local juvenile court, revised its code of conduct, hired additional safety personnel, and added surveillance equipment. It also implemented alternative disciplinary methods, provided gang-resistance education and training, instituted in-school suspension, and evaluated its professional-development offerings, all with the intent of improving student behavior and cutting suspension rates.
In the course of five years and all those endeavors, suspensions have dropped by less than half in the 52,000-student school district, says Tamera Foley, the district's executive director of teaching and learning.
"Every week, we're looking at discipline, how many incidents are out there, what are they for," she says. "We want to do everything possible to keep kids in schools," but there are still those among the staff, says Foley, who want students gone when they misbehave.
And alternative measures often come with a price tag. At one junior high school in Minnesota, adding Saturday school and evening social-skills classes for three years contributed to a sharp drop in the out-of-school suspension rate, but both options evaporated once a state grant that paid for them expired.
Political forces still play a role. In Louisiana, Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal signed a bill in 2010 that requires school districts to provide teachers with training in classroom management—a skill that can keep behavior issues from escalating or happening at all—but he vetoed a bill a year later that would have required school boards to define "willful disobedience," along with rules and guidelines for the suspensions issued for that offense. In California, Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown in 2012 signed a number of measures that aim to curb the use of out-of-school suspension, but also vetoed a measure tackling suspensions on the grounds of the unspecific "willful defiance."
Keeping students in school as much as possible will only serve schools well in the long run, anti-suspension advocates say. That message has sunk in for the superintendent of the Greenville public schools in Mississippi. Leeson Taylor, a graduate of the 5,700-student school system in an agricultural swath of the state's Delta region, says he is trying to adjust the district's approach to school discipline, with students' academic success in mind.
• 'Restorative Justice' Offers Alternative Discipline Approach
• Student Out for Months Over Cellphone Allegation
"We know that in April we'll have to do our high-stakes assessment. We have to have 95 percent attendance on that day," says Taylor, who became the district's chief in the summer of 2012.
This year, a portion of teachers' evaluations will be based on those test scores. "Would you rather have a child who you've taught be tested, or a child who's been absent because they've been suspended be assessed?" Taylor says.
He's had conversations with a number of principals about suspensions and supports the district's shift to placing highly qualified teachers at an alternative center for students who must be removed from school.
"Too many times, the solution is to remove the child from the [school] environment. That does not mean you've removed them from a learning environment," says Taylor. "They're just, instead, learning what the streets have to teach them."
Vol. 32, Issue 16, Pages 4-5, 7,9-11
Access selected articles, e-newsletters and more! | <urn:uuid:99220650-f394-4ad4-a78e-b760ba44e6ff> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2013/01/10/16policies.h32.html?tkn=TVVFTXriL7Q174g8d3WXhH0LKsjq30unWsgv&cmp=clp-edweek&intc=EW-QC13-EWH | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96995 |
A. The Universe
From the Big-Bang it is a rationally commonsensical conjecture that the gravitons, the smallest base primal particles of the universe, must be both mass and energy, i.e. inert mass yet in motion even at the briefest fraction of a second of the pre Big Bang singularity. This is rationally commonsensical since otherwise the Big would not have Banged, the superposition of mass and energy would not have been resolved.
The universe originates, derives and evolves from this energy-mass dualism which is possible and probable due to the small size of the gravitons.
Since gravitation Is the propensity of energy reconversion to mass and energy is mass in motion, gravity is the force exerted between mass formats.
All the matter of the universe is a progeny of the gravitons evolutions, of the natural selection of mass, of some of the mass formats attaining temporary augmented energy constraint in their successive generations, with energy drained from other mass formats, to temporarily postpone, survive, the reversion of their own constitutional mass to the pool of cosmic energy fueling the galactic clusters expansion set in motion by the Big Bang.
B. Earth Life
Earth Life is just another mass format. A self-replicating mass format. Self-replication is its mode of evolution, natural selection. Its smallest base primal units are the RNAs genes.
The genesis of RNAs genes, life’s primal organisms, is rationally commonsensical thus highly probable, the “naturally-selected” RNA nucleotides. Life began/evolved on Earth with the natural selection of inanimate RNA, then of some RNA nucleotides, then arriving at the ultimate mode of natural selection, self-replication.
C. Know Thyself. Life Is Simpler Than We Are Told
The origin-reason and the purpose-fate of life are mechanistic, ethically and practically valueless. Life is the cheapest commodity on Earth.
As Life is just another mass format, due to the oneness of the universe it is commonsensical that natural selection is ubiquitous for ALL mass formats and that life, self-replication, is its extension. And it is commonsensical, too, that evolutions, broken symmetry scenarios, are ubiquitous in all processes in all disciplines and that these evolutions are the “quantum mechanics” of the processes.
Human life is just one of many nature’s routes for the natural survival of RNAs, the base primal Earth organisms.
Life’s evolution, self-replication:
Genes (organisms) to genomes (organisms) to monocellular to multicellular organisms:
Individual monocells to cooperative monocells communities,“cultures”.
Monocells cultures to neural systems, then to nerved multicellular organisms.
Human life is just one of many nature’s routes for the natural survival of RNAs, the base Earth organism.
It is up to humans themselves to elect the purpose and format of their life as individuals and as group-members.
Dov Henis (comments from 22nd century)
An Embarrassingly Obvious Theory Of Everything | <urn:uuid:ac24848d-ad9d-4c27-8de2-d2930f6f4e8c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lofi.forum.physorg.com/Universe-energy-mass-life-Compilation_38561.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.88679 |
This chapter describes the air defense (AD) combat function, relates the tenets of Army operations to air and missile defense operations, and defines the mission of air defense artillery (ADA). It also provides vignettes of successful air and missile defense operations.
AIR AND MISSILE DEFENSE IN THE THREE-DIMENSIONAL BATTLE
1-1. This field manual provides the doctrinal foundation for Army air and missile defense operations in joint and multinational operations. Air defense is one of the seven combat functions, which include intelligence, maneuver, fire support, mobility and survivability, combat service support, and command and control. Air and missile defense forces provide protection from enemy air and missile attack. They prevent the enemy from separating friendly forces while freeing the commander to fully synchronize maneuver and firepower.
1-2. The air defense combat function contributes to joint theater counterair operations and to joint theater missile defense. Theater counterair operations protect the force and critical assets from attack by fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Theater missile defense protects the force and critical assets from attack by theater missiles, which include ballistic missiles, cruise missiles (CMs), and air-to-surface missiles (ASM). Air and missile defense includes both offensive and defensive actions.
1-3. The airspace of a theater is as important a dimension of joint operations as the terrain. Friendly forces use airspace for critical purposes including maneuver, delivery of fires, reconnaissance and surveillance, transportation, and battle command. Effective control and use of airspace directly influence the outcome of campaigns and battles. Commanders consider airspace and the apportionment of air power in planning and supporting their operations. They expect the enemy to contest their use of the airspace and must protect their forces from enemy observation and attack. Air and missile defense operations contribute to gaining and maintaining the desired degree of air superiority, provide force protection, and help win the information war.
1-4. Synchronization of ground operations with air operations is fundamental to the conduct of successful campaigns and battles. Friendly air forces, through such missions as counterair, air interdiction, and close air support, directly support the land campaign.
1-5. The Army's part in the theater campaign is diverse and requires a combined arms force. Air and missile defense forces protect the combined arms team, and other priority forces and assets by preventing enemy aircraft, missiles, and unmanned aerial vehicles from locating, striking, and destroying them.
AIR DEFENSE ARTILLERY MISSION
1-6. The mission of US Army Air Defense Artillery is to protect the force and selected geopolitical assets from aerial attack, missile attack, and surveillance.
1-7. ADA commanders allocate forces based on the supported commander's priorities. In addition, the mission is broadly written to include protection of critical assets, installations, and facilities along with joint and multinational forces when required.
1-8. Geopolitical assets are nonmilitary assets that US, allied, or host nation civil authorities nominate for air and missile defense protection. These assets could be political, religious, ethnic, historical, or territorial in nature. Since protection of geopolitical assets may not directly support military operations, integration of geopolitical assets into the air and missile defense priorities list must be done at the highest levels. Geopolitical assets may include the territory of the USA.
1-9. The threat is not limited to attack aircraft, helicopters, and ballistic missiles. The threat includes all aircraft, indirect fire surface-launched missiles, aerial surveillance platforms, large caliber rockets, and theater missiles. Chapter 2 provides more detail and information on the threat.
1-10. Successful air and missile defense is key to generating and sustaining combat power in force-projection operations. The ADA contribution to friendly efforts to counter threat reconnaissance, intelligence surveillance, and target acquisition efforts has gained greater emphasis. Current and future Army ADA capabilities, both active and reserve component, must synergistically combine with the AMD forces of other services to defeat the multifaceted threat. Army ADA participates in operations at all levels of war.
NATIONAL MISSILE DEFENSE OPERATIONS
1-11. National Missile Defense is a joint service program to develop a fixed, land-based system to protect the United States against limited, long-range ballistic missile attacks. The US Army Space and Missile Defense Command (USASMDC) has responsibility for publishing National Missile Defense (NMD) doctrine.
AIR DEFENSE IN RELATION TO ARMY TENETS
1-12. Air and missile defense operations are inherently joint operations, multicomponent, and embody Army doctrine. ADA forces are versatile, agile, and fight throughout the depth of the battlefield. Through aggressive planning and fully orchestrated execution, ADA allows the commander at any level to seize and maintain the initiative. Commanders integrate air and missile defense operations into campaigns fought at the operational level, and battles and engagements fought at the tactical level.
1-13. ADA units meet diverse mission requirements. They require discipline, high standards, and thorough preparation. Commanders need to shift focus, task-organize, and move from one role or mission to another quickly and efficiently. ADA units are multifunctional, able to defeat several different air threats while operating at the strategic, operational, and tactical levels.
1-14. Agility is as much a mental quality as a physical one. ADA units anticipate and counter enemy actions and react rapidly to changes in the situation. ADA forces must quickly change from offense to defense, entry operations to decisive operations, and counterair to theater missile defense. Concentrating coverage and fires, or screening the flanks from attack and surveillance, are tasks routinely accomplished by ADA units.
1-15. ADA systems see deep into enemy airspace to contribute to the commander's situation awareness and defeat air, missile, and surveillance threats at maximum range. They achieve defense in depth using a systems approach technique, which gives multiple opportunities to defeat the enemy aerial threat. Depth also includes staying power, which is the access to adequate resources to continue the fight.
1-16. Synchronization requires controlling the tempo of operations as well as weighting and shifting air and missile defense efforts. ADA units counter the entire aerial threat spectrum by integrating a system of systems. Commanders integrate their operations horizontally with all battlefield operating systems and vertically with both higher and lower ADA units.
1-17. ADA units take the initiative by participating in planning for both offensive and defensive counterair and theater missile defense operations. ADA commanders recommend enemy airfields, missile launch sites, command and control nodes, and logistics for deep attack. They contribute to winning the information war by destroying threat aerial reconnaissance platforms.
AIR DEFENSE IN FORCE PROTECTION
1-18. Commanders seek to apply overwhelming combat power to achieve victory with minimum casualties to their forces and assets. Combat power combines the elements of maneuver, firepower, protection, and leadership. Overwhelming combat power is the ability to focus sufficient force to ensure success and deny the enemy any chance of escape or effective retaliation. Commanders apply overwhelming combat power by bringing all combat elements to bear at the optimum time and place, giving the enemy no opportunity to respond effectively. Commanders integrate and coordinate a variety of functions with the elements of combat power. As a result, they convert the potential of forces, resources, and opportunities into actual capability through violent, coordinated action at the decisive time and place. They attempt to defeat the enemy's combat power by interfering with its ability to conduct reconnaissance, maneuver, and apply firepower.
1-19. While contributing to all four elements of combat power, ADA makes its greatest contribution to force protection. Protection conserves the fighting potential of a force so that commanders can apply it at the decisive time and place. It includes active and passive actions units take to preserve combat power and deny the enemy the ability to successfully attack the force. Force protection has five components:
1-20. The first component of force protection is air and missile defense operations. Offensive counterair and Theater Missile Defense (TMD) attack operations attempt to defeat or suppress enemy capabilities to launch air and missile attacks. Defensive counterair and TMD active defense destroy enemy aircraft and missiles that threaten the force.
1-21. The second component of protection combines operations security (OPSEC) and deception operations, to help keep the enemy from locating friendly units. Proper dispersion helps reduce losses from enemy fires, as does the use of camouflage, discipline, counter-reconnaissance, security operations, and fortified fighting positions. Air defense contributes to counter-reconnaissance by destroying UAVs and aircraft conducting reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition (RSTA) operations against the force. Frequent moves disrupt the enemy RSTA cycle. These measures help commanders protect their force from enemy observation throughout the conduct of operations.
1-22. The health and welfare aspect of force protection keeps soldiers healthy and maintains fighting morale. Commanders and leaders at all levels take care of their soldiers' basic health needs. They consider the welfare and spirit of soldiers as they build cohesion and unit esprit de corps.
1-23. Safety is the fourth component of protection and is a part of all operations. Commanders and leaders embrace safety as a principal element in all they do. Safety in training, planning, and operations is crucial to the preservation of combat power and continued successful operations.
1-24. The fifth component of protection is the avoidance of fratricide. ADA forces use both technical and procedural means to identify friendly aircraft. Compliance with airspace control measures by all friendly airspace users is essential. The primary mechanisms to reduce fratricide are air defense airspace control measures, detailed situational awareness, strong leadership, disciplined units, synchronized operations, and anticipation of risks.
1-25. A related imperative for air and missile defense operations is the issuance of early warning (EW) throughout the theater.
AIR DEFENSE COMBAT FUNCTION
1-26. Air defense is one of the seven combat functions that provide a structure for integrating and synchronizing critical combat activities in time, space, and purpose. At every echelon, commanders use the available battle command system to visualize, plan, direct, coordinate, adjust, and control the combat functions. The seven combat functions are:
1-27. The combat functions exist at all echelons of command. Successful operations occur when the combat functions interact horizontally and vertically. Horizontal interaction occurs when all combat functions interact at the same echelon to maximize combat power. Vertical integration occurs when higher and lower echelons within each combat function interact to synchronize operations. ADA commanders synchronize their operations by integrating them horizontally with other combat functions and vertically within the air defense combat function.
RELATIONSHIP OF theater AIR defense AND
theater MISSILE DEFENSE
1-28. Theater missile defense and theater air defense operations are highly related mission areas. Air targets are manned aircraft, cruise missiles, and UAVs, while TMD targets are comprised of theater missiles.
1-29. Aircraft demand extensive infrastructure support and generate great demands in terms of manpower and training. Aircraft require runways and sophisticated maintenance and support facilities to sustain operations. These static, lucrative targets are highly vulnerable to attack by the joint force. Mobile missile launchers are much less vulnerable, and are manned by fewer soldiers requiring significantly less training.
1-30. An aircraft threat has fixed nature aircraft-related support facilities, thus making the operational battlespace (opportunities to engage) much greater. Aircraft conducting operations against the force are exposed to defensive fires for tens of minutes, while missile engagement opportunities are measured in seconds.
1-31. The unique challenges posed by theater missile defense require a highly responsive C2 structure, which decentralizes engagement operations to the lowest level. By comparison, the requirement to avoid fratricide of friendly aircraft mandates strict, highly centralized control of theater air defense engagements.
1-32. World War II offered lessons about modern warfare that remain relevant 50 years later. Army divisions joined both joint and allied forces in the conduct of combined arms, force-projection operations supported by modern fighter aircraft and bombers. Enemy air forces were large, and highly capable, and had the potential to deliver both conventional and chemical munitions. They held US and allied forces at risk throughout the duration of the war. In addition to the air threat, the allies faced attack by surface-to-surface and cruise missiles. To counter the introduction of sizeable enemy air forces, the Army developed and fielded equally capable air defense forces. Early experiences at Kasserine Pass and in the Pacific taught the importance of air defense to force protection. By 1944, commanders routinely integrated air defense forces into Army operations at all echelons.
1-33. The Normandy campaign of June 1944, and the subsequent breakout, provides excellent examples of air defense operations in a force-projection scenario. Eleven battalions of antiaircraft artillery (AAA) supported the assaulting US divisions. As the beachhead expanded, additional AAA groups and brigades joined the assault forces to form a near-leak-proof defense. Though the Luftwaffe flew thousands of sorties against the forces and assets concentrated in the beachhead, the allies suffered no significant damage due to air attack. American antiaircraft artillery met the challenge by destroying more than 300 enemy aircraft.
1-34. Following bloody hedgerow fighting, American forces conducted a breakout in July 1944. The plan fully integrated and synchronized AAA with ground force operations. AAA again successfully protected the maneuver forces as they swept across France, destroying more than 300 German aircraft. As units moved forward, the allies captured new ports for use as forward logistics centers. The Germans made a determined effort to destroy the major port, Antwerp, using V-1 aircraft, the first cruise missiles. American air defenders rose to the challenge, destroying more than 70 percent of the missiles and keeping the port open throughout the five-month attack.
1-35. Operation OVERLORD is illustrative of the steps taken in a forced entry, force-projection operation. Air defense protected the force in the points of embarkation and throughout entry operations, expansion of the lodgment, and conduct of decisive operations. The threat posed by enemy aircraft and missiles, potentially armed with weapons of mass destruction, presaged the situation faced by US forces during a more modern force-projection operation.
1-36. Fifty years after the end of World War II, American forces once again were called upon to conduct force-projection operations against a modern mechanized army that was supported by large numbers of technologically advanced aircraft and ballistic missiles. As during World War II, air defense forces were fully integrated into operations at all echelons.
1-37. Seven days after Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990, Stinger teams and Vulcan squads from 2-52 ADA and 3-4 ADA were on the ground in Saudi Arabia, protecting the advance elements of XVIII Airborne Corps and the 82d Airborne Division. They were quickly followed by a Patriot battery from 2-7 ADA which provided air and missile protection for the aerial port of debarkation at Dhahran. During the buildup preceding the ground war, elements of 21 Army air defense battalions were deployed to protect US and coalition forces and assets in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Israel.
1-38. 11th ADA Brigade's Patriot batteries made history the night of January 18, 1991, when Alpha Battery, 2-7 ADA, protecting forces in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, recorded the first intercept of a ballistic missile in combat. As indicated by the debris from the BM that fell to the ground, the missile would have struck a village housing soldiers from VII Corps. Scud intercepts became a nightly event for the Patriot soldiers protecting coalition forces and the cities of Saudi Arabia and Israel. The fiery collisions of Patriot and Scud missiles were captured live by network television, and telecast worldwide to prime viewing audiences. The morale of the soldiers of the coalition, and the citizens of the United States, soared with each successful intercept.
1-39. Air defense units protected the divisions and corps in their tactical assembly areas, and were fully integrated into the maneuver units as they conducted breaching operations and attacked Iraqi divisions in Kuwait and Iraq. Patriot and Hawk batteries of TF 8-43 ADA and TF 2-1 ADA protected VII and XVIII Corps breach sites, and joined division ADA units in protecting the maneuver forces, fire support, logistics, and command and control elements throughout the attack. Stinger sections from 2-44 ADA participated in history's largest air assault on February 24th, when the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) attacked 150 miles into Iraq to seize Forward Operating Base Cobra. Vulcan crews from the mechanized and armored divisions destroyed numerous enemy infantry-fighting vehicles, killed and captured hundreds of Iraqi infantry, and reduced fortifications to piles of rubble. As a fitting end to the war, TF 8-43 ADA was given the honor of protecting Safwan Airfield, where coalition commanders received the surrender of the Iraqi armed forces on March 12, 1991. | <urn:uuid:83be071d-2d48-40d3-b00b-550360982ae8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fas.org/spp/starwars/docops/fm44-100fd/ch1.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927757 |
The Kings County Health Department announced today that the first human case of West Nile Virus in 2012 has been confirmed in Kings County.
In each of 2010 and 2011, there was 1 case in Kings County, 3 in 2009, and two in 2008. Seven cases were reported in 2007, which included one fatality. Since the county’s first human case in 2005, there have been a total of 47 West Nile Virus cases, including four deaths.
As of September 21, there were 147 human cases in 24 counties in California this year, including 6 fatalities in Fresno, Kern, Merced, Placer, and Sacramento Counties.
The Kings Mosquito Abatement District continues to detect West Nile Virus in mosquitoes collected throughout Kings County. As of September 21, 2012, 87 of these mosquito samples have tested positive for the virus.
According to the Kings County Health Officer, Dr. Michael Mac Lean, West Nile Virus will be a continuing presence in Kings County. Even when the mosquito infection rate is low, people can still be bitten by an infected mosquito.
He noted that the Kings Mosquito Abatement District provides highly professional and effective mosquito control services. Dr. Mac Lean commented that: “If people knew what I knew about West Nile Virus – they would be a lot more careful about avoiding mosquito bites.”
Dr. Mac Lean added that there is also much that residents can do to reduce the risk of WNV to themselves and the community. “It is crucial that people be aware of WNV and know the measures they can take to prevent mosquito breeding and to minimize their exposure to mosquitoes and reduce the chance of becoming infected.” | <urn:uuid:9648bb96-d0a0-4258-b926-55ed9c4a41d3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ksee24.com/news/local/First-Human-West-Nile-Case-of-Year-Reported-in-Kings-County-171404411.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970553 |
[Translation of a guest editorial from the Spanish publication La Nueva Tribuna for August 21. The writer is a Mexican political scientist.]
By César Morales Oyarvide
Guanajuato is a state in central Mexico, in the region known as El Bajío. Famous as the birthplace of independence – it was in the small town of Dolores that the armed struggle against the crown began – it has also been the birthplace of several movements of a reactionary nature, like sinarquismo, a proto-fascist political movement which developed from the cristero rebellion (1) and that was the enemy of the government that resulted from the Mexican revolution.
The bastion of the Partido Acción Nacional (PAN) since the 1991 accession, it was governed by Vicente Fox before he was president. When his successor, Carlos Romero Hicks, took power in 2001, he proceeded to change laws and policies, particularly on matters of sexual education and reproductive rights, with the aim of harmonizing them with the Roman Catholic notions of Guanajuato’s leaders and of the PAN. One example is the famous elimination from natural science textbooks of drawings showing male and female genitalia. Later, when the federal government responded to protests from several parts of the country by requiring Guanajuato to issue the students the original science books from the Public Education Secretariat, with drawings intact, some of these books were burned in a public square by Catholic citizens of Guanajuato.
During the administration of Romero Hicks there was also a determined campaign against the use of condoms and other contraceptives. Better publicized perhaps was his brother, Eduardo Romero Hicks, mayor of the state capital – famous for an alley known as “The Alley of the Kiss” – who in January, 2009, honored accepted custom by prohibiting kisses in public places, among other things, making them punishable by fines and even jail sentences.
As part of Romero’s efforts, in 2001 abortion, of any kind, was criminalized – voluntary or involuntary, spontaneous as a result of malnutrition or any other physical limitation or illness, regardless of whether the pregnancy resulted from rape by some malefactor or by some disciple of Marcial Maciel (2) – and was made punishable by 15 to 30 years in prison. According to the Guanajauto law, abortions are “homicide of a family member by injury to a product of gestation.”
The serious consequences of this nineteenth-century style government, which, in the words of Arnoldo Kraus, “has made vileness its flag, mediocrity its modus operandi, injustice its creed, and stupidity its way of life,” have surfaced in the form of six young indigenous poor women who are in prison for this new crime.
They aborted involuntarily ( probably because of the extreme poverty they live in, as does a large portion of the population of Mexico), they were turned in by relatives, neighbors or doctors and they are facing sentences of more than 25 years in jail. The oldest, at 26, has been a prisoner for nine years, that is, she was jailed when she was still a minor.
All of them are prisoners for no other reason than the religious prejudices that those who govern Guanajuato have made into law. They all have in common the fact that when they arrived at public hospitals gushing with blood and emotionally devastated, the doctors considered it their first duty to call agents of the Public Ministry to report them before giving them medical attention.
They all also share the frustration resulting from the impossibility of paying for access to justice, for a lawyer who will represent them and take their cases to the Supreme Court of the nation.
One of them, Susana Dueñas, suffers from “lack of intellectual resources, psychological disturbances and retardation and mental insufficiency.” This woman has been sentenced to five years by a judge who omitted the results of psychological tests that revealed her condition. “I did nothing to make the baby come… It’s just that that day my stomach and my back hurt and when I went to the bathroom the baby came,” the young woman said in her statement, made, of course, without the presence of a lawyer.
All this is now known by South Korean Kyung-wha Kang, United Nations deputy high commissioner for human rights, despite the fact that, as journalist Jaime Avilés reports, the public safety secretary for Guanajuato forced four of the prisoners to sign a document asking that they no longer to be interviewed by the press. A United Nations rapporteur is investigating the case.
Meanwhile, the state government of Guanajuato has not backed down one inch: the local police have been carrying out investigations in clinics and hospitals to find a pattern among pregnant women in the area of Apaseo with the goal of locating as soon as possible a woman who aborted a four-month-old fetus that was found on Friday in the municipal garbage dump in Apaseo el Alto so they can charge her criminally. On another front, their efforts are also being directed at the closing of an NGO called “Centro de los Adolescentes de San Miguel de Allende,” which serves as a school by professional midwives, with 20 years experience, dedicated to providing sexual education and distributing birth control to young people in rural communities in the area.
Faced with this, the federal administration of Felipe Calderón has remained totally silent; the National Human Rights Commission has once again demonstrated its ineffectualness and its reluctance to broach certain topics; and the Instituto de la Mujer Guanajuatense… well, you can’t expect much from an organization whose head, Luz María Villalpando, by profession an interior decorator, declared recently in an official setting that women with tattoos are responsible for the decadence and the loss of values of society, and for whom the best defense against family violence is the “Three Rs”: resignarse [resign themselves], reír [laugh] and rezar [pray], and who, according to a La Jornada correspondent, believes that at the moment they are being raped women secrete a spermicidal fluid that protects them against pregnancy, for which reason the charge that they have been impregnated through rape would necessarily be false.
Among other conventions, Mexico has signed the “Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.” And in fact, from the federal point of view, abortion is not considered a crime in the country if pregnancy results from rape, takes place by accident or through an imprudent act, if it puts the woman’s life at risk, occurs through nonconsensual insemination or if the fetus is deformed (data from the Secretariat of Health: every six hours a woman dies of pregnancy in Mexico, meaning the death of a pregnant woman at any stage of gestation or during birth or as long as 42 days after giving birth.)
Nevertheless, as journalist María Julia Mayoral of Prensa Latina has reported, in 18 of the 31 states of the country, women who interrrupt their pregnancies can be treated as criminals; there is punishment for them varying from fines to years in jail, with the addition that these sentences can be doubled or tripled if they have bad reputations, hide their pregnancies or become pregnant because of an “illegitimate union” or outside matrimony.
In some regions, legal reforms to “protect life from the moment of conception” serves as a prohibition against the use of contraceptive methods like the birth control pill or the intrauterine device.
While a few kilometers away, in the Federal District, a woman can control maternity freely and voluntarily, in Guanajuato, where, according to statistics from the Secretariat of Health, in the past four years there have been 53,400 pregnancies among women younger than 19, of which 1,580 were not even 15 when they became pregnant, she can go to jail for almost half her life. Of course, the probability of that happening increases in cases of women living in areas of extreme poverty, with no education and lacking in health services.
The message seems clear. In Guanajuato, but not just there, the ideology of some politicians and the Catholic creed carry more weight than the lives of women, their sexual and reproductive rights and the principle of secularism of the Mexican state.
Beyond the urgency and the relevance of these cases, and the fact that this kind of legislation will not keep abortions from happening but will force them to be practiced in secret under dangerously unhealthy conditions, besides adding to the weight of this difficult decision the threat of prosecution, I believe that the topic is part of a broader discussion, of what Foucault and his followers understand as “bio-politics.”
Political technologies that are not meant to reform the individual organism, to domesticate it, but that seek to regulate large-scale biological processses that affect a population and that possess their own intrinsic normativity (birth, death, morbidity, old age), a power that is coextensive with life and has been linked to eugenics as well as to racism and childhood vaccination…
But back to Guanajuato. The predicament of Araceli Camargo, Susana Dueñas, Yolanda Martínez, Ana Rosa Padrón, Ofelia Segura Frías and Liliana Morales, although it is the best known case, is not the only one. According to data by journalist Jaime Avilés, there are now 166 other women in Guanajuato also reported to the police by their doctors. Of them, 43 are under court jurisdiction awaiting criminal trial. Now that their existence and their suffering are known, we should not allow them to remain in jail. As someone has already said, it is not just a matter of the six young women prisoners, nor of those who are waiting their turn in this state of medieval backwardness, but of all Mexican women, and by extension of everyone.
In the face of this systematic violation of human rights by the state in the name of religious prejudice, free them now!
(1) The Cristero rebellion was an armed uprising by reactionary Catholic laity, with the tacit support of the clergy, against anti-clerical measures following the revolution. Centered in the states of Guanajuato and Jalisco, it lasted from 1926 to 1929.
(2) Marcial Maciel was a Mexican-born priest, founder the Legion of Christ and the Regnum Christi movements, who was convicted of abusing young boys sexually and of fathering up to six children, some of whom he also allegedly abused. | <urn:uuid:687cc608-022d-48fc-a236-f8e901edaced> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lo-de-alla.org/2010/08/mexico-25-years-in-prison-for-abortion/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967363 |
4-H Youth Development
4-H Youth Developement Eduator
What is 4-H?
4-H is the youth development phase of the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service.
4-H is “learning by doing”.
4-H is “involvement”. Youth, families, peers and communities actively participate in the learning process.
4-H creates a sense of belonging, involvement and support.
4-H allows members the opportunity to share thoughts and skills with others.
4-H encourages the growth and development of the citizens and leaders of tomorrow.
4-H unlocks doors and challenges minds.
4-H helps young people shine.
Volunteer leaders, teen leaders, Extension Educators and interested adults assist youth in acquiring knowledge, developing life skills and forming attitudes that will enable them to become self-directed, productive and contributing members of society.
The History of 4-H
Since its humble beginnings more than 100 years ago, 4-H has grown to become the nation’s largest youth development organization. The 4-H idea is simple: help young people and their families gain the skills they need to be proactive forces in their communities’ and develop ideas for a more innovative economy. That idea was the catalyst to begin the 4-H movement, and those values continue today.
As one of the first youth development organizations in America, 4-H opened the door for young people to learn leadership skills and explore ways to give back. 4-H revolutionized how youth connected to practical, hands-on learning experiences while outside of the classroom.
During the late 1800's, researchers at public universities saw that adults in the farming community did not readily accept the new agricultural discoveries being developed on university campuses. However, they found that young people were open to new thinking and would "experiment" with new ideas and share their experiences and successes with adults. In this way, rural youth programs became an innovative way to introduce new agriculture technology to their communities.
The seed of the 4-H idea of practical and "hands-on" learning came from the desire to make public school education more connected to country life. A. B. Graham started one such youth program in Clark County, Ohio, in 1902, which is considered the birth of the 4-H program in the United States. The first club was called "The Tomato Club" or the "Corn Growing Club". T.A. "Dad" Erickson of Douglas County, Minnesota, started local agricultural after-school clubs and fairs also in 1902. Jessie Field Shambaugh developed the clover pin with an H on each leaf in 1910, and by 1912 they were called 4-H clubs.
When Congress passed the Smith-Lever Act in 1914 and created the Cooperative Extension System at USDA, it included work of various boys' and girls' clubs involved with agriculture, home economics and related subjects, which effectively nationalized the 4-H organization. By 1924, these clubs became organized as 4-H clubs, and the clover emblem was adopted.
The Cooperative Extension System is a unique partnership of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) within the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the 109 land-grant universities (in every state and territory) and more than 3,000 county offices.
As a publicly funded, non-formal collaborative national educational network, Cooperative Extension combines the expertise and resources of federal, state, and local governments. Cooperative Extension is designed to meet the need for research, knowledge and educational programs that enable people to make practical decisions.
Through the local county and state offices, Extension staff provides research-based information, non-formal educational programs and technical advice directly to individuals, families and communities that enable them to be self reliant and improve their lives. Historically, these efforts have been described in various ways - as major projects, programs, areas or core programs. | <urn:uuid:229b4fbb-43f3-4a02-b0a1-74e4c5d031b8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://oces.okstate.edu/kingfisher/4-h-youth-development | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95595 |
USGS - VHP InSAR Research Group
Interferogram showing uplift about 3 miles west of South Sister; Interferogram by C. Wicks
This site provides mostly nontechnical information about InSAR, an exciting new remote-sensing technique used to study, among other things, volcanoes and earthquakes. InSAR stands for Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar. Satellites record images of the Earth's surface, and these images can be combined to show subtle movements of the ground surface, called deformation.
InSAR is a proven technique for mapping ground deformation using radar images from Earth-orbiting satellites. InSAR greatly extends the ability of scientists to monitor volcanoes because, unlike other techniques that rely on measurements at a few points, InSAR produces a spatially complete map of ground deformation with centimeter-scale accuracy without subjecting field crews to hazardous conditions on the ground. This project combines InSAR results with those from other geodetic techniques including the Global Positioning System (GPS), borehole sensors such as dilatometers and tiltmeters, and precise leveling to characterize ground deformation at volcanoes in space and time. The resulting data help to constrain models of the causes of volcanic unrest, which in turn aids in the assessment of short-term volcano hazards. More detail can be found by checking out the InSAR Fact Sheet: Monitoring Ground Deformation from Space by Rosalind L. Helz.
The Research GroupThe InSAR Research Group is composed of many scientists in various locations for the purpose of studying ground deformation. Find out who they are at the Group Members page. Learn more about what they do from information posted on the InSAR Research Results page.
Learn more about InSAR.
Other methods for monitoring ground deformation:
EDM | Tiltmeters | GPS
New InSAR Study of Aleutian Arc VolcanoesZhong Lu and Dan Dzurisin processed nearly 12,000 SAR images to produce about 25,000 interferograms for volcanoes in the Aleutian arc, which they analyzed for evidence of surface deformation at each of the arc's 52 historically active volcanoes. They concluded that magmatic, hydrothermal, tectonic, and thermoelastic (cooling) processes all play a role in causing surface deformation at Aleutian volcanoes. Only 13 of the 44 volcanoes where the InSAR observations were adequate showed no evidence of surface deformation of any kind during 1992-2010. Three of those 13 (Cleveland, Shishaldin, and Pavlof) erupted repeatedly without deforming. Surface deformation attributed to magmatic intrusions occurred beneath 21 of the volcanoes with adequate observations, and also in the Strandline Lake area north of Mount Spurr. Lu and Dzurisin attributed shallow-seated subsidence seen at 7 of the 44 well-observed volcanoes to thermoelastic contraction of young volcanic flows or to fluid loss from hydrothermal systems. The most likely cause of deeper-seated deflation at the Fisher, Emmons Lake, and Aniakchak calderas is volatile loss from crustal magma reservoirs. During the ~20 year study period, eruptions occurred at 17 of the 52 historically active Aleutian volcanoes, and InSAR detected some form of deformation at more than 80 percent of the 44 well-observed volcanoes. A book-length manuscript that discusses these results and their implications for magmatic systems beneath Aleutian volcanoes is currently in USGS review.
InSAR Evidence for Spokane FaultIn 2001 a sequence of earthquakes struck the city of Spokane Washington. Wicks et al. have used InSAR to show that the earthquakes occurred on a shallow thrust fault beneath the city of Spokane. The previously unknown fault, which the authors named the "Spokane Fault", presents a seismic hazard to Spokane that will require further study to better assess the potential.
Wicks, C.; Weaver, C.; Bodin, P.; and Sherrod, B., 2013, InSAR Evidence for an active shallow thrust fault beneath the city of Spokane Washington, USA, J. Geophys. Res. Solid Earth, 118, doi:10.1002/jgrb.50118.
- Find out a little more about each InSAR Group Member here.
- InSAR Fact Sheet: Monitoring Ground Deformation from Space by Rosalind L. Helz and Figures from the Fact Sheet
- Current update of Mt. St. Helens activity.
- Mt. St. Helens is at Alert Level NORMAL; Aviation Color Code GREEN. (Click here for info on these levels.)
- Extended research information can be found at the InSAR Research Results page.
- Check out the new personal pages for each InSAR Group Member.
- Email the Webmaster with any comments you want to share about the website. | <urn:uuid:ad1c6a55-83bd-4d55-9988-e4da489e4a7d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/activity/methods/insar/index.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.890823 |
Achievements in Public Health, 1900-1999: Changes in the Public Health System
Please note: An erratum has been published for this article. To view the erratum, please click here.
The 10 public health achievements highlighted in this MMWR series (see box) reflect the successful response of public health to the major causes of morbidity and mortality of the 20th century (1-11). In addition, these achievements demonstrate the ability of public health to meet an increasingly diverse array of public health challenges. This report highlights critical changes in the U.S. public health system this century.
In the early 1900s in the United States, many major health threats were infectious diseases associated with poor hygiene and poor sanitation (e.g., typhoid), diseases associated with poor nutrition (e.g., pellagra and goiter), poor maternal and infant health, and diseases or injuries associated with unsafe workplaces or hazardous occupations (4,5,7,8). The success of the early public health system to incorporate biomedical advances (e.g., vaccinations and antibiotics) and to develop interventions such as health education programs resulted in decreases in the impact in these diseases. However, as the incidence of these diseases decreased, chronic diseases (e.g., cardiovascular disease and cancer) increased (6,10). In the last half of the century, public health identified the risk factors for many chronic diseases and intervened to reduce mortality. Public efforts also led to reduced deaths attributed to a new technology, the motor vehicle (3). These successes demonstrated the value of community action to address public health issues and have fostered public support for the growth of institutions that are components of the public health infrastructure*. The focus of public health research and programs shifted to respond to the effects of chronic diseases on the public's health (12-17). While continuing to develop and refine interventions, enhanced morbidity and mortality surveillance helped to maintain these earlier successes. The shift in focus led to improved capacity of epidemiology and to changes in public health training and programs.
Quantitative Analytic Techniques
Epidemiology, the population-based study of disease and an important part of the scientific foundation of public health, acquired greater quantitative capacity during the 20th century. Improvements occurred in both study design and periodic standardized health surveys (12,18-21). Methods of data collection evolved from simple measures of disease prevalence (e.g., field surveys) to complex studies of precise analyses (e.g., cohort studies, case-control studies, and randomized clinical trials) (12). The first well-developed, longitudinal cohort study was conducted in 1947 among the 28,000 residents of Framingham, Massachusetts, many of whom volunteered to be followed over time to determine incidence of heart disease (12). The Framingham Heart Study served as the model for other longitudinal cohort studies and for the concept that biologic, environmental, and behavioral risk factors exist for disease (6,12).
In 1948, modern clinical trials began with publication of a clinical trial of streptomycin therapy for tuberculosis, which employed randomization, selection criteria, pre-determined evaluation criteria, and ethical considerations (19,21). In 1950, the case-control study gained prominence when this method provided the first solidly scientific evidence of an association between lung cancer and cigarette smoking (22). Subsequently, high-powered statistical tests and analytic computer programs enabled multiple variables collected in large-scale studies to be measured and to the development of tools for mathematical modeling. Advances in epidemiology permitted elucidation of risk factors for heart disease and other chronic diseases and the development of effective interventions.
Periodic Standardized Health Surveys
In 1921, periodic standardized health surveys began in Hagerstown, Maryland (12). In 1935, the first national health survey was conducted among U.S. residents (12,23). In 1956, these efforts resulted in the National Health Survey, a population-based survey that evolved from focusing on chronic disease to estimating disease prevalence for major causes of death, measuring the burden of infectious diseases, assessing exposure to environmental toxicants, and measuring the population's vaccination coverage. Other population-based surveys (e.g., Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, Youth Risk Behavior Survey, and the National Survey of Family Growth) were developed to assess risk factors for chronic diseases and other conditions (24-26). Methods developed by social scientists and statisticians to address issues such as sampling and interviewing techniques have enhanced survey methods used in epidemiologic studies (12).
Morbidity and Mortality Surveillance
National disease monitoring was first conducted in the United States in 1850, when mortality statistics based on death registrations were first published by the federal government (23,27). During 1878-1902, Congress authorized the collection of morbidity reports on cholera, smallpox, plague, and yellow fever for use in quarantine measures, to provide funds to collect and disseminate these data, to expand authority for weekly reporting from states and municipal authorities, and to provide forms for collecting data and publishing reports (15,23,27). The first annual summary of The Notifiable Diseases in 1912 included reports of 10 diseases from 19 states, the District of Columbia, and Hawaii. By 1928, all states, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico were participating in the national reporting of 29 diseases. In 1950, state and territorial health officers authorized the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) to determine which diseases should be reported to the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) (27). In 1961, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) assumed responsibility for collecting and publishing nationally notifiable diseases data. As of January 1, 1998, 52 infectious diseases were notifiable at the national level.
In the early 1900s, efforts at surveillance focused on tracking persons with disease; by mid-century, the focus had changed to tracking trends in disease occurrence (28,29). In 1947, Alexander Langmuir at the newly formed Communicable Disease Center, the early name for CDC, began the first disease surveillance system (27). In 1955, surveillance data helped to determine the cause of poliomyelitis among children recently vaccinated with an inactivated vaccine (28). After the first polio cases were recognized, data from the national polio surveillance program confirmed that the cases were linked to one brand of vaccine contaminated with live wild poliovirus. The national vaccine program continued by using supplies from other polio vaccine manufacturers (28). Since these initial disease surveillance efforts, morbidity tracking has become a standard feature of public health infectious disease control (29).
Public Health Training
In 1916, with the support of the Rockefeller Foundation, the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health was started (30,31). By 1922, Columbia, Harvard, and Yale universities had established schools of public health. In 1969, the number of schools of public health had increased to 12, and in 1999, 29 accredited schools of public health enrolled approximately 15,000 students (31,32). Besides the increase in the number of schools and students, the types of student in public health schools changed. Traditionally, students in public health training already had obtained a medical degree. However, increasing numbers of students entered public health training to obtain a primary postgraduate degree. In 1978, 3753 (69%) public health students enrolled with only baccalaureates. The proportion of students who were physicians declined from 35% in 1944-1945 to 11% in 1978 (28,31). Thus, public health training evolved from a second degree for medical professionals to a primary health discipline (33). Schools of public health initially emphasized the study of hygiene and sanitation; subsequently, the study of public health has expanded into five core disciplines: biostatistics, epidemiology, health services administration, health education/ behavioral science, and environmental science (30,34).
Programs also were started to provide field training in epidemiology and public health. In 1948, a board was established to certify training of physicians in public health administration, and by 1951, approximately 40 local health departments had accredited preventive medicine and public residency programs. In 1951, CDC developed the Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) to guard against domestic acts of biologic warfare during the Korean conflict and to address common public health threats. Since 1951, more than 2000 EIS officers have responded to requests for epidemiologic assistance within the United States and throughout the world. In 1999, 149 EIS officers are on duty.
Nongovernment and Government Organizations
At the beginning of the century, many public health initiatives were started and supported by nongovernment organizations. However, as federal, state, and local public health infrastructure expanded, governments' role increased and assumed more responsibility for public health research and programs. Today, public health represents the work of both government and nongovernment organizations.
Nongovernment organizations. The Rockefeller Sanitary Committee's Hookworm Eradication Project conducted during 1910-1920 was one of the earliest voluntary efforts to engage in a campaign for a specific disease (35). During 1914-1933, the Rockefeller Foundation also provided $2.6 million to support county health departments and sponsored medical education reform. Other early efforts to promote community health include the National Tuberculosis Association work for TB treatment and prevention, the National Consumers League's support of maternal and infant health in the 1920s, the American Red Cross' sponsorship of nutrition programs in the 1930s, and the March of Dimes' support of research in the 1940s and 1950s that led to a successful polio vaccine. Mothers Against Drunk Driving started in 1980 by a group of women in California after a girl was killed by an intoxicated driver and grew into a national campaign for stronger laws against drunk driving.
Professional organizations and labor unions also worked to promote public heath. The American Medical Association advocated better vital statistics and safer foods and drugs (17). The American Dental Association endorsed water fluoridation despite the economic consequences to its members (9). Labor organizations worked for safer workplaces in industry (4). In the 1990s, nongovernment organizations sponsor diverse public health research projects and programs (e.g., family planning, human immunodeficiency virus prevention, vaccine development, and heart disease and cancer prevention).
State health departments. The 1850 Report of the Sanitary Commission of Massachusetts, authored by Lemuel Shattuck (13,14), outlined many elements of the modern public health infrastructure including a recommendation for establishing state and local health boards. Massachusetts formed the first state health department in 1889. By 1900, 40 states had health departments that made advances in sanitation and microbial sciences available to the public. Later, states also provided other public health interventions: personal health services (e.g., disabled children and maternal and child health care, and sexually transmitted disease treatment), environmental health (e.g., waste management and radiation control), and health resources (e.g., health planning, regulation of health care and emergency services, and health statistics). All states have public health laboratories that provide direct services and oversight functions (36).
County health departments. Although some cities had local public health boards in the early 1900s, no county health departments existed (33). During 1910-1911, the success of a county sanitation campaign to control a severe typhoid epidemic in Yakima County, Washington, created public support for a permanent health service, and a local health department was organized on July 1, 1911 (33). Concurrently, the Rockefeller Sanitary Commission began supporting county hookworm eradication efforts (17,35). By 1920, 131 county health departments had been established; by 1931, 599 county health departments were providing services to one fifth of the U.S. population (33); in 1950, 86% of the U.S. population was served by a local health department, and 34,895 persons were employed full-time in public health agencies (37).
Local health departments. In 1945, the American Public Health Association proposed six minimum functions of local health departments (38). In 1988, the Institute of Medicine defined these functions as assessment, policy development, and assurance, and PHS has proposed 10 organizational practices to implement the three core functions (39,40). The national health objectives for 2000, released in 1990, provided a framework to monitor the progress of local health departments (41). In 1993, 2888 local health departments**, representing county, city, and district health organizations operated in 3042 U.S. counties. Of the 2079 local health departments surveyed in 1993, nearly all provided vaccination services (96%) and tuberculosis treatment (86%); fewer provided family planning (68%) and cancer prevention programs (54%) (42).
Federal government. In 1798, the federal government established the Marine Hospital Service to provide health services to seamen (15). To recognize its expanding quarantine duties, in 1902, Congress changed the service's name to the Public Health and Marine Hospital Service and, in 1912, to the Public Health Service. In 1917, PHS' support of state and local public health activities began with a small grant to study rural health (35). During World War I, PHS received resources from Congress to assist states in treating venereal diseases. The Social Security Act of 1935, which authorized health grants to states, and a second Federal Venereal Diseases Control Act in 1938 (13,14), expanded the federal government's role in public health (15,35). In 1939, PHS and other health, education, and welfare agencies were combined in the Federal Security Agency, forerunner of the Department of Health and Human Services. In the 1930s, the federal government began to provide resources for specific conditions, beginning with care for crippled children. After World War II, the federal role in public health continued to expand with the Hospital Services and Construction Act (Hill-Burton) of 1946*** (15). In 1930, Congress established the National Institutes of Health [formerly the Hygiene Laboratories of the Public Health Service] and the Food and Drug Administration. CDC was established in 1946 (29). Legislation to form Medicare and Medicaid was enacted in 1965, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency were organized in 1970.
Although federal, state, and local health agencies and services have increased throughout the century, public health resources represent a small proportion of overall health-care costs. In 1993, federal, state, and local health agencies spent an estimated $14. 4 billion on core public health functions, 1%-2% of the $903 billion in total health-care expenditure (43).
The public health infrastructure changed to provide the elements necessary for successful public health interventions: organized and systematic observations through morbidity and mortality surveillance, well-designed epidemiologic studies and other data to facilitate the decision-making process, and individuals and organizations to advocate for resources and to ensure that effective policies and programs were implemented and conducted properly. In 1999, public health is a complex partnership among federal agencies, state and local governments, nongovernment organizations, academia, and community members. In the 21st century, the success of the U.S. public health system will depend on its ability to change to meet new threats to the public's health.
Reported by: Epidemiology Program Office, Office of the Director, CDC.
* The government, community, professional, voluntary, and academic institutions and organizations that support or conduct public health research or programs.
** A local health department is an administrative or service unit of local or state government responsible for the health of a jurisdiction smaller than the state.
*** T = P.L. 79-725
Disclaimer All MMWR HTML versions of articles are electronic conversions from ASCII text into HTML. This conversion may have resulted in character translation or format errors in the HTML version. Users should not rely on this HTML document, but are referred to the electronic PDF version and/or the original MMWR paper copy for the official text, figures, and tables. An original paper copy of this issue can be obtained from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO), Washington, DC 20402-9371; telephone: (202) 512-1800. Contact GPO for current prices.**Questions or messages regarding errors in formatting should be addressed to email@example.com.
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Scully and Mulder investigate the death of Maria Dorantes, a migrant farm worker who was found in a field near the shanty town in which she lived. There were reports of a very bright flash of light followed by a yellow rain just as she was killed. Scully's examination of the body reveals that she died as a result of a massive fungal infection. The locals however are certain that the culprit is El Chupacabra, a mythical beast from Mexican folklore. They're also sure the beast is to be found in Eladio Buente, Maria's brother-in-law who was with her when she died. While Scully looks for a scientific explanation, Mulder believes the fungus may be alien in origin. Regardless, they must find Eladio before the fungus spreads. Written by
Did You Know?
The chupacabra is loosely translated to mean "goat sucker". Its legend is that it sucks the blood from farm animals. Recent research suggests that the legend of the chupacabra may derive from coyotes with severe parasitic infections. See more
Great album. Deeply flawed movie.
References Purple Rain | <urn:uuid:09942f11-95ab-4f75-8e60-71dab3b92d40> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0751109/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956152 |
Aug. 10, 2000 The popular notion that birds evolved from dinosaurs has come under assault recently with the discovery of fossil evidence of a feathered reptile that pre-dates birds. Now a researcher at the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture at the University of Washington and a Japanese colleague have found similarities in bone structure suggesting that birds did, in fact, evolve from a group of dinosaurs.
The research will be published in the Aug. 10 issue of the journal Nature.
The study shows that in a group of dinosaurs called coelurosaurs, the organization of bone canaliculi - submicron-sized channels that connect bone cells and blood vessels within the bone - form in a randomly branching network. The canaliculi take circuitous, meandering routes as they make connections between the bone cells and nutrient sources. That same pattern today is found only among birds. However, in a group of dinosaurs called ornithischians, which includes horned creatures such as Triceratops, the canalicular organization follows a much more regular pattern with very direct and parallel routes, a structure similar to that in modern mammals.
The work also sheds light on another controversy - whether dinosaurs had high metabolic rates like modern birds. The researchers found evidence that bundles of collagen fibers - which bind bone minerals together in much the same way that rebar binds concrete - have an irregular structure in both birds and coelurosaurs. The layers are thicker in some places and much thinner in others, and often they disappear completely before reforming. In modern vertebrates, this type of structure only occurs in bone that forms very rapidly, as it does in birds. In mammals, such bone formation happens only at young ages or in healing bone breaks, times when bone growth rates are highest. Otherwise, among vertebrates other than birds, collagen bundles show a much more uniform pattern, with little thickness variation from one part of a layer to another because the layers are growing more slowly.
"Right now, the thing that is closest to what we see in the bones of birds is in the bones of coelurosaurs," said John Rensberger, a UW geological sciences professor and curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Burke museum.
Rensberger and Mahito Watabe of the Hayashibara Museum of Natural Sciences in Okayama, Japan, made their comparisons using fossilized dinosaur bones collected from the Gobi Desert in China and from the Hell Creek geological formation in Montana.
The researchers sampled about 550 cross sections of bone, ground to a few microns thick and viewed through a microscope. Most of the cross sections were prepared by 35 students in a series of undergraduate research courses, who took 10 or more samples from each major bone collected from each species. The students, selected from among the top students in a course on dinosaurs that Rensberger teaches, spent some 3,000 hours on the work over three years.
The sheer volume of samples allowed the researchers to understand the variability among species, making it easier to draw conclusions from comparisons between species, Rensberger said. That was particularly important in making the observations of the differences in canaliculi and fiber bundles, since the information describing those structures in most vertebrates, and especially dinosaurs, has been limited.
Observations of some of the differences in modern species were recorded in a scientific paper published in German in 1906 and another published in Italian in 1947. But the references were very general, Rensberger said, because the scientists didn't have the breadth of data about variability in those bone structures.
"There aren't any textbooks that show this," he said.
The debate over bird evolution grew more heated in June when a team of Russian and U.S. researchers suggested a fossil of a small flying reptile with feathers, called Longisquama, came from 225 million years ago. That's about the time dinosaurs first appeared but 75 million years before the first birds. Longisquama was an archosaur, part of a group of reptiles from which dinosaurs, birds and crocodiles (birds' closest living relatives) are descended.
"It doesn't necessarily prove that birds had to derive from dinosaurs," Rensberger said of the new research. "But, at least from the data we've seen, that appears to be a logical conclusion."
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The Brisbane Times reports that Australian scientists have used a new supercomputer to simulate the movement of the virus that causes the common cold. The breakthrough opens up new targets for potentially life-saving drug treatments.
The deputy director of St Vincent’s Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne, Professor Michael Parker, said he and his team had been working with the pharmaceutical company Biota Holdings to understand the rhinovirus, in an effort to develop a new drug to treat it in vulnerable people.
If you consider a virus as an organism, this is the first simulation of a whole organism, which is pretty exciting,” he said. His team had used Melbourne’s synchrotron microscope to look at the three-dimensional structure of the virus and the supercomputer to show how the virus moves.
Read the Full Story. | <urn:uuid:ae183bc7-4c0e-414a-9196-c3979f07e58c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://insidehpc.com/2012/07/16/video-rhino-virus-movement-simulated-for-the-first-time/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960584 |
Europe and Asia, from Pacific sea in the western Europe to Atlantic sea in the eastern Asia, and from Mediterranean sea to the northern limits of conifer forests, in the northern part of the Caucasian Mountains, Mongolia, China, Korea, Japan.
Mainly the Norway spruce, occasionally the common fir, larch, Scots pine and other conifers.
Adults are 14-28 mm long, black. Elytrae are with whitish spots of hair that in case of females create bands across. Scutellum covered with yellowish dense pubescence divided in the middle by the hairless line. The egg is white, about 3.8 mm long. The larva is up to 45 mm long. The pupa is 20-26 mm long, with spines at the end of abdomen.
Adults fly from mid-June through September. Adults have maturation feeding on the bark of young shoots, branches and the upper part of stems. Newly hatched larvae feed under the bark, on the phloem, cambium and upper sapwood for the first 20-30 days. Then they bore into the wood up to 4 cm in depth. Larval galleries in wood are about 8 mm wide and 15 cm long. The larva molts 4 times. After overwintering, the larva constructs the pupal chamber of 40-50x13 mm in size. The pupal stage lasts 16-21 days. Adults exit through oval holes of 6-7 mm in diameter. This species has one generation per one, occasionally two years, but in the higher parts of mountains - even 3 years.
Monochamus sutor is a technical and physiological pest, which prefers mountain spruce forests weakened by abiotic and biotic factors. It lowers the value of the wood.
Control and preventive measures
Similar to Monochamus sartor
- Kolk A., Starzyk J. R., 1996: The Atlas of Forest Insect Pests
(Atlas skodliwych owadów lesnych) - Multico Warszawa, 705 pages. Original publication in Polish. English translation provided by Dr. Lidia Sukovata and others under agreement with The Polish Forest Research Institute. | <urn:uuid:5bde4ddc-4ad8-4df0-80ee-f8ec455371ef> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wiki.bugwood.org/Monochamus_sutor | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.908811 |
New Mexico Department of Game and Fish
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, OCT. 7, 2008:
INVASIVE 'ROCK SNOT' ALGAE FOUND IN UPPER PECOS RIVER
COWLES -- The Department of Game and Fish is urging anglers and others who visit the Pecos River Canyon to take measures to prevent the spread of an invasive species of algae that could present many problems for the Pecos River and other state waters.
The New Mexico Environment Department confirmed a bloom of Didymosphenia geminata in the Pecos River near Cowles in August. Commonly called "didymo," the single-celled alga's large, ugly growths on stream gravels have earned it the descriptive name, "rock snot." It is an aquatic nuisance species known to be transferred around the world on boats, fishing equipment and footwear.
Didymo can undergo explosive growth, creating massive algal blooms in the form of dense mats that can impact native algae and invertebrates -- the food base for native and sport fish. The alga can change water chemistry and hydrology and reduce hydroelectric power production. Its presence also can hurt tourist economies in infected areas.
There are no known health threats associated with eating fish caught in didymo-infested waters.
Native to northern Europe and Vancouver Island, Canada, didymo has spread to all but three U.S. states, Arizona, Nevada and Oregon. It appears to prefer habits low in nutrients and organic productivity, but can be found in freshwater streams, rivers and lakes. The apparent increase in invasiveness of didymo may be related to factors including inter-basin transfer by humans, climatic changes, altered grazing, and genetic changes.
This is the second aquatic invasive species known to exist in the Pecos River. Whirling disease, a protozoan parasite that attacks the spinal columns of trout, is found in the river's headwaters. Whirling disease also is known to "hitchhike" on unwashed fishing tackle and waders.
To help prevent the spread of didymo, anglers and others are urged to:
This discovery comes just as the Department of Game and Fish is leading a statewide effort to adopt a New Mexico Aquatic Invasive Species Management Plan. Strategies include creation of a New Mexico Invasive Species Council; laws against importing aquatic invasive species to the state; funding to combat the spread of invasive organisms; and monitoring known invasive species in the state.
Nationwide, aquatic invasive species cost $137 billion a year to offset their impacts and educate people about preventing their spread. The 100 or so aquatic invasive species posing threats to New Mexico water resources include quagga and zebra mussels and the New Zealand mudsnail. These species can grow unchecked in waters that contain no natural predators or diseases, while clogging pipes and damaging ecosystems.
For more information about invasive aquatic species, contact Brian Lang, (505) 476-8108 or firstname.lastname@example.org. To review the New Mexico Invasive Species Plan, please visit the Department of Game and Fish Web site, www.wildlife.state.nm.us. | <urn:uuid:cf7b8990-c27a-411f-bea6-73316a3cbf5e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wildlife.state.nm.us/publications/press_releases/documents/2008/100708rocksnot.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924756 |
Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
Established in 1915, during World War I, in The Hague, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) was created to achieve world disarmament, full rights for women, racial and economic justice, an end to all forms of violence, through peaceful means. WILPF’s goal was, and still is, to establish the political, social, and psychological conditions which can assure peace, freedom, and justice for all.
WILPF's foremothers rejected the theory that war was inevitable and defied all obstacles to their plan to meet together in wartime. They assembled more than 1,000 women from warring and neutral nations to work out a plan to end WWI and lay the basis for a permanent peace. Jane Addams of Chicago was the WILPF’s first president and was the first woman to win the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize. WILPF founders in 1915 maintained that peace is not rooted only in treaties between great powers or a turning away of weapons alone, but can only flourish on the bases of justice, freedom, non-violence, opportunity and equality for all. WILPF still organizes in the understanding that all the problems that lead countries to domestic and international violence are connected and that each problem needs to be addressed in order to achieve sustainable peace.
Since then, the WILPF has worked to establish peace on a range of levels through connections that it has established internationally. WILPF headquarters are located in Geneva, Switzerland and has a variety of sectional and branch offices in cities and towns around the world. Functioning on the international, national and local levels, the WILPF seeks to educate, inform and mobilize women for action to achieve its goal of establishing real peace. It organizes meetings, seminars and conferences to study issues and seek solutions to social, economic and political problems. It organizes campaigns to promote disarmament measures, to halt adventurism and interventions. It sends missions to countries in conflict and reports to its members and friends and to the United Nations on their efforts to bring about peaceful settlements.
The papers of the headquarters of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom in Geneva, Switzerland, came to the Archives, University of Colorado at Boulder Libraries starting in 1970, through the auspices of Professor Elise Boulding of the Sociology Department. Professor Boulding, a prominent peace activist and scholar, was a member and former officer of WILPF.
The WILPF archive is organized into four accessions. The first accession (1983), already available world-wide on microfilm, contains the files from 1915-1978. The Second Accession (2000) holds papers received between 1983 and 2000, but contains considerable overlapping files. The Third Accession contains materials received after 2000. The Swarthmore College Peace Collection Accessions holds international WILPF materials donated from their collection. In its entirety, this archival collection contains correspondence, Executive Committee meeting minutes, headquarters papers, Triennial Congress logistical and informational documents, circular letters and newsletters, official WILPF resolutions, case files, section files, country files, topical research materials, United Nations documentation, seminar and symposium papers, as well as a variety of non-WILPF and WILPF peace-related publications.
The WILPF collections have attracted considerable scholarship, and continue to elicit inquiry and draw visiting researchers to the Archives from around the world, such as Germany, Austria, Italy, Australia, France, the United Kingdom. International scholars, as well as American scholars have visited or inquired from dozens of universities, on the subjects Jane Addams, of institutional organization, internationalism, peace education, individual WILF luminaries, and the histories of national sections. | <urn:uuid:031f58c1-9d82-4827-8c0e-121b51b47310> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ucblibraries.colorado.edu/archives/collections/WILPF.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95437 |
Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Tide pools are areas on rocks by the ocean that are filled with seawater. Tide pools can either be small and shallow or large and deep. The small ones are usually found far back on the shore and the large ones are found nearer to the ocean.
Tide pools form when the ocean covers the beach twice a day during the tides. The plants and animals that live close to or on the beach are forced inland when the tide washes over them. These animals can survive in both wet and dry conditions. In the tide pools, the tides bring fresh oxygen and food to them. Between tides, some of the smaller pools become too warm and begin to dry up. In order to survive, the animals hide under rocks and seaweed.
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 | <urn:uuid:3682f4a5-c5a1-48d2-b7eb-e61a2c301509> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.all-science-fair-projects.com/science_fair_projects_encyclopedia/Tide_pool | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93121 |
The Prophet is the most famous work of the Lebanese-American poet and artist, Kahlil Gibran.
Translated into more than 50 different languages, it has sold over 100 million copies worldwide, and since its first publication in 1923, it has never been out of print.
In America it remains the best-selling book after the Bible.
This small book of 26 prose poems deals with the big questions of life - such as love, marriage, children, pain and death - delivered as sermons by a fictional wise man, Al Mustapha.
But whilst his words have been quoted in countless weddings and funerals, and inspired world leaders like Indira Gandhi, Gibran the man, remains an enigma to many people.
Who were the key influences on him?
How much of his own life experiences are in the book?
Why did he never marry, even though love was central to everything he wrote?
And what is the secret of The Prophet's enduring and universal appeal?
Ian Skelly visits Gibran's home village in the mountains of Lebanon, and retraces his steps to find out how a young boy, who was raised in poverty and received little formal education as a child, went on to become one of the most popular writers of the century.
Skelly speaks to Jean Gibran, who was married to Gibran's cousin and godson in Boston, about her husband’s memories of the poet.
He also discovers the events that shaped him and one key relationship which was to prove pivotal to his life and career.
And by going to Lebanon, Ian finds out why Gibran's voice resonates with the current turmoil in the Arab world. | <urn:uuid:76ea31fb-074a-4b82-a6e4-cc3fc66a9e6f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00r49dp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984227 |
Historical Background: In Peter’s day the Roman government displayed a general tolerance for all religions, including Christianity. The Church was under a divine commission to preach the gospel unto “all the world” (Mark 16:15), and it began by circulating the gospel message throughout the Roman Empire. Although the gospel was spread by peaceful means, the message proclaiming the coming of the risen Christ as the King of Kings was not a favorable message to the Roman monarchs.
In A.D. 64 a fire destroyed much of Rome. The emperor Nero was implicated in the tragedy despite his efforts to help those who became homeless because of it. In an effort to divert the blame, Nero pointed an accusing finger at the Christians. Soon the Saints throughout the empire were persecuted because of hatred and misunderstandings. This change from tolerance to hostility provoked great anxiety among the Saints. About the same time, Peter wrote to encourage the Saints in their sufferings and to remind them of the eternal reward for their faithfulness. Peter wrote this letter from “Babylon” (1 Peter 5:13), which probably means Rome (see Bible Dictionary, (“Babylon,” p. 618).
Unique Features: In this Epistle, Peter included some of the most revealing statements in the Bible about salvation for the dead. | <urn:uuid:d13310cd-f5d3-46ec-8434-08ddf9efe9f3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lds.org/manual/new-testament-teacher-resource-manual/the-first-epistle-general-of-peter/101?lang=eng | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961914 |
—Physicist Richard Feynman in the final report on the Challenger disaster Life has had to deal with environmental change, especially climate change, since the beginning of its existence on Earth. Species adjust or go extinct, and both have happened. For life-forms with our kinds of cells—eukaryotic, the kind with distinct organelles—the average existence of a species is about 1 million years, and, on average, one species goes extinct a year, at least of the species we have named and know, including those we know only from fossil records. Organisms adjust to environmental change in three ways, from fastest to slowest: behaviorally, physiologically, and genetically. Ecologist Larry Slobodkin used to demonstrate the first two playfully during a lecture by picking up a piece of chalk and tossing it to one of the students. The student would duck or catch the chalk, which Larry pointed out was the behavioral response, first and fastest, and then within 20 seconds would blush, the physiological adjustment, second fastest. These, he would explain, were not only relatively fast but used little energy in a population. If these failed to make a successful adjustment, a population's genetic makeup could change, with genes transmitted to the next generation that led to characteristics better adjusted to the changed environment, obviously a much slower adjustment. Individual mobile organisms migrate as an adjustment to climate. Plants and other non-mobile species adjust by having seeds or other propagules that move easily. Wind, water, and animals provide the major transportation. In any population there is a mixture of genetic types and, as Darwin explained a long time ago now, those better adapted to the current climate left more offspring than the less adapted, and over time a population evolved to fit the new climate. But this genetic adjustment took time, and since the climate is always changing, it could be that at any one time a population would be adjusting genetically to a climate that had been present but had passed or was passing. It was and is an eternal dance, populations never quite in perfect harmony with their present environment. If the rate of environmental change is too fast, populations cannot adjust and go extinct. Dealing with environmental change has always been part of being alive. Early man was part of this dance between life and environment. Homo erectus, the first of our kind who left Africa, would likely have migrated as a matter of course. They may not have thought of it as migration in our modern sense; they were going where the environment, including sources of food and water, was better. Environmental change and moving along with it were only natural. With the beginning of civilization and the construction of buildings that could last a long time, and with investments of time and effort in agricultural fields, as well as the discovery of specific sources of minerals and the building of mines to get them, people's lives changed in ways that led to a desire for constancy. Establishment of property rights and national boundaries (beginning with tribe-established land boundaries) augmented the need and desire for constancy of place and of environment. One can argue that it is our species that most needs and most desires constancy and has therefore formed worldviews that not only require environmental constancy but have turned it into a fundamental belief, a folkway, a series of myths. The more technologically and legally advanced a civilization, the greater the need and desire for environmental stability, for a balance of nature. Hence, our modern dilemma vis-à-vis climate change. Rather than claim the world is constant except for our sinful interference with it, we need to acknowledge and work out ways to live with environmental change. This can include doing our best to stop or slow that change, as we do in the short term with agricultural irrigation, stabilizing the "precipitation," so to speak. But the harder we work to force environmental constancy onto our surroundings, the more fragile that constancy becomes and the greater the effort and energy it takes. The use of groundwater for crop irrigation illustrates that fragility. Large aquifers that took many thousands of years to develop are being depleted for crop irrigation over comparatively short times—decades or centuries. A major example of this depletion is the Ogallala aquifer (also called the High Plains aquifer), stretching from South Dakota into Texas. It stores a huge amount of water and is the main water source in the area. Its use began in the 1940s. Today water is removed up to 20 times faster than it is naturally replaced. In southwest Kansas and the panhandle in western Texas, it is said that supplies may last only another decade. Lower Cimarron Springs, famous in the nineteenth century as a watering hole along the Santa Fe Trail, dried up decades ago due to pumping groundwater. Millions of dollars will be needed to find alternative sources. Achieving short-term stability at the cost of long-term fragility is a trade-off. It makes more sense, in retrospect, that the earliest civilizations, like Egypt and Persia, were established downstream on a river system whose flow varied year to year but was relatively constant compared to much of the rest of the surrounding lands. When I give talks about the discordant harmonies of nature and my changing views of global warming, a common response is "Why bother to point this out? Everybody believes in global warming, and doing something about it doesn't hurt anything and can only benefit." But in our real world, the choice to take one action means that other actions are not taken. We are well aware these days of the worldwide limits of capital and cash to do things, and we must choose carefully. There's the rub. One of the things missing from the global-warming debate is to put the issue of global warming within the set of major environmental problems and then establish priorities based on what can be done, what needs the most immediate action, and what is most important. In addition to possible effects on climate, major ways that human actions are decreasing overall biological diversity, include (not in an order of priority) habitat destruction; overharvesting of renewable living resources; chemical pollution; removal of groundwater; depletion of mineral resources necessary for life, especially sources of phosphate; and introduction of exotic species that harm other species and are undesirable from our point of view, and just plain inadvertently causing species to become threatened with extinction. These are here-and-now problems. Moreover, sometimes actions that the public is told will help mitigate or reduce global warming create or worsen other environmental problems. For example, in Indonesia, 44 million acres (18 million hectares) of tropical rain forests may have been cut down to plant palm trees to produce palm oil to be used as a biofuel. This is justified as being good for the environment because it is supposed to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and therefore reduce the rate of global warming. But this habitat destruction further endangers orangutans and Sumatran tigers, already threatened with extinction. While few, if any, knowledgeable environmental organizations will be fooled by the claim that this is going to be environmentally beneficial, the European Union and the government of Malaysia have been considering what to do about the biofuels from these plantations, taking the possibility seriously that using these to fuel cars and trucks in Europe will offset some of the greenhouse gas production by these vehicles and is therefore justified and on the whole environmentally sound. Singling out global warming from other environmental issues is a one-factor approach, which has been too common in environmental policy decisions. For example, as the Clean Water America Alliance points out, the use of water resources requires considerable energy, but water use and energy use are treated as separate issues most of the time in environmental policy analysis. Because global warming gets so much attention and so much funding, this single-factor approach is a particularly important aspect of this issue's policy analysis. In many cases, actions to help solve another environmental problem can also be beneficial in reducing undesirable effects of climate change. For example, as I discuss in Powering the Future: A Scientist's Guide to Energy Independence, moving away from fossil fuels toward wind and solar energy reduces the human contribution of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere while also reducing habitat destruction (from the mining of fossil fuels) and air, water, and ocean pollution (from the mining, processing, and burning of these fuels), benefiting biodiversity and human health and well-being. The same can be said for a move away from fission-based nuclear power plants, whose toxic substances last up to millions of years (the U.S. government is seeking a warning sign that will keep people away from nuclear waste dumps for 10,000 years). The politicization and ideology-driven beliefs about global warming, on both sides of the issue, prevent a calm, rational examination of where actions to mitigate global warming could fit into a set of priorities. Indeed, even making a claim that such prioritizing is possible leads to a change in viewpoints and will likely upset many who believe now that global warming is a present and future reality with disastrous effects. We need to be able to put the discussion within a rational context. Among other aspects of this context, we need, as Thomas Friedman wrote on September 14, 2011, in the New York Times, "to start taking steps, as our scientists urge, 'to manage the unavoidable and avoid the unmanageable.'" Not just about climate change, but in establishing an integrated, multifactor approach to our major environmental problems. Excerpt from The Moon in the Nautilus Shell: Discordant Harmonies Reconsidered, by Daniel B. Botkin. Oxford University Press, 2012. Copyright © 2012. Reprinted with permission. Follow Scientific American on Twitter @SciAm and @SciamBlogs. Visit ScientificAmerican.com for the latest in science, health and technology news.
© 2013 ScientificAmerican.com. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:658539f1-690f-4008-91e7-6d9e874e5b45> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ca.news.yahoo.com/used-climate-change-excerpt-150100813.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9612 |
Thu April 19, 2012
Land Lines: Betatakin
At Navajo National Monument up in northeast Arizona, soaring rock alcoves provided shelter for Pueblo people in the thirteenth century. Many alcoves also hold springs, lush with plants. Today on Land Lines, we visit a well-known site, Betatakin--set like a jewel in one of those alcoves.
"The name for this place is Talastima, place of flowers, or corn tasseling. This is where we came from," says Lloyd Masayumptewa, a Hopi and a park archeologist.
People lived here. Their voices and laughter echoed off the great arched ceiling. Over on that balcony, a woman grinds corn, scraping a basalt mano over a conglomerate metate. In the courtyard, a man sits crosslegged, shaping a log with his quartzite hammerstone. A turkey gobbles. Water drips from a spring on the back wall lush with plant life. Juniper smoke curls up and sweetens the air before it wafts out and on down Betatakin Canyon.
This alcove and its canyon are part of the maze of the Tsegi Canyon system, carved into the Shonto Plateau up in northeast Arizona. The walls are Navajo Sandstone, laid down almost two hundred million years ago. Rock made of clean, windborne sand grains cemented with calcite.
A dozen inches of precipitation fall on the Shonto Plateau each year. The moisture readily soaks into this permeable sandstone that serves as a giant underground sponge. The water flows down, meeting the impermeable Kayenta Formation. Then it flows horizontally, emerging as springs along the cliff faces. Ice freezes and thaws, and pries off small slabs. The alcove deepens and widens as whole boulders spall off.
The alcove is immense--370 feet across, a ceiling 450 feet high. Generous enough to hold a hundred and thirty-five rooms that fit perfectly into the natural curved opening. The sloping floor and vaulted ceiling follow crossbeds within the Navajo Sandstone.
The Betatakin alcove faces south and east, offering shade in summer, morning sun in winter, and protection from weather all year. Even with all these benefits, it was the life-giving springs that undoubtedly drew the Ancestral Puebloans to this spot.
"My birth-given name, Hopi name is Piivajouma" says Masayumptewa. "My Anglo name is Lloyd Masayumptewa. I am of the Coyote Clan. This is where a lot of our religious ceremonies were defined and then brought out to Hopi."
Ancestors of the Hopi people lived here. They farmed on terraces at the mouth of the canyon. They went to great effort to build this beautiful stone dwelling. Annual growth rings in the wood beams show that construction started here in A.D. 1250, and ended by 1286. So in less than fifty years, they were gone, probably for a combination of reasons -- unpredictable rainfall? Long-term drought? Fields lost to stream downcutting? Or prophesy to move on? Whatever the reasons, they went south to the Hopi mesas where Lloyd’s family lives today.
Betatakin’s main spring now flows a little less than a gallon a minute. The Southwest has been caught in a period of dryness for a decade, and less moisture has been feeding the sandstone aquifer. The springs--and the hanging gardens--appear to be drying out.
Water carved this canyon and sculpted the alcove. The alcove sheltered Pueblo people.
Rock – water – people. The mandala is no different for us than it was for them. They tried to cope with a long drought in the 1200s, as we cope now. And they knew that everyone lives in this country only with the permission--and the blessing--of the land and sky. | <urn:uuid:cad32b44-a708-428f-9649-13a10c76333f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://knau.org/post/land-lines-betatakin | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938535 |
With as many as a third of all shark species in the world facing some threat of extinction, the future of sharks has been in peril for some time now. This month, however, French Polynesia and the Cook Islands have taken a stand for sharks, creating adjacent shark sanctuaries covering 2.5 million square miles of ocean – an area nearly equal to the continent of Australia! With this move, French Polynesia and the Cook Islands join Palau, the Maldives, Honduras, the Bahamas, the Marshall Islands, and Tokelau as countries that have created shark sanctuaries, more than doubling the area worldwide now off-limits to shark fishing. This largest sanctuary in the world also bans the possession, sale, or trade of shark products within its boundaries.
On December 6, French Polynesia created the world’s largest shark sanctuary at 1.5 million square miles, and the neighboring nation of the Cook Islands followed suit on December 19 with its designation of its entire exclusive economic zone – an area equal to the size of Mexico at 756,000 square miles -- as dedicated shark sanctuary waters. “We are proud as Cook Islanders to provide our entire exclusive economic zone…as a shark sanctuary,” Teina Bishop, Cook Island minister of marine resources told BBC News.
Oceana’s new report, Ocean-Based Food Security Threatened in a High CO2 World ranks nations to show which are most vulnerable to reductions in seafood production as a result of climate change and ocean acidification. While seafood is currently a primary source of protein for more than a billion of the poorest people in the world, carbon dioxide emissions are causing the oceans to warm and become more acidic, threatening fisheries and the people who depend on them.
Rising ocean temperatures are pushing many fish species into deeper and colder waters towards the poles and away from the tropics, while increased acidity is threatening important habitats such as coral reefs and the future of shellfish like oysters, clams and mussels.
Many coastal and island developing nations, such as Togo, the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Madagascar and Thailand depend more heavily on seafood for protein and could suffer the greatest hardships because they have fewer resources to replace what is lost from the sea. For many developing countries, seafood is often the cheapest and most readily available source of protein, losing this resource could have serious impacts on livelihoods and food security.
The only way to address global ocean acidification and the primary path to ending climate change is by dramatically reducing carbon dioxide emissions. One of the first steps in this process should be to phase out all fossil fuel subsidies.
Some local measures may help make marine resources more resilient to the impacts of climate change and ocean acidification such as stopping overfishing, bycatch and destructive fishing practices such as bottom trawling, as well as establishing no take marine protected areas and limiting local pollution. But reducing carbon dioxide emissions is essential to make sure the oceans stay vibrant and productive for future generations.
To find the full ranking of nations’ vulnerability to climate change and ocean acidification check out our report: http://oceana.org/en/HighCO2World | <urn:uuid:fea9b4e5-3793-444f-a067-134481ed6a5b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://oceana.org/en/category/blog-free-tags/cook-islands | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934432 |
British scientists have developed a vaccination that is designed to remove all addictive properties of nicotine. Specifically, the pleasure your body associates with smoking would no longer be generated when you smoke a cigarette.
While human trials for the vaccine have yet to begin, tests on mice have proven to be successful. After a single dose, mice were found to be immune to nicotine addiction for their entire lifespan.
The vaccine contains a harmless virus, which is engineered to generate anti-nicotine antibodies upon administration. The virus works by selectively affecting cells in the liver.
Because the vaccine works by turning liver cells into antibody generators, it is expected to cost far less than prior vaccines, which required antibodies to be administered directly. Because older vaccines have required numerous administrations of these antibodies, they were believed to be less effective and more costly.
If human trials are successful, scientists believe that the vaccine could be administered to children, who have never tried a cigarette. This should prevent any recipients of the vaccine from ever deriving pleasure from smoking.
To read more about the vaccine, please visit Sky News. | <urn:uuid:c5ba164f-a720-41f8-82fa-c78286ed827e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://toxictortresourcecenter.com/2012/06/29/new-vaccination-designed-to-help-smokers-quit-and-prevent-non-smokers-from-starting/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952818 |
Website Detail Page
written by Larry Dukerich and Jane Jackson
This item is an educator's guide for teaching a unit on the topic of Newton's First and Third Laws. It is intended to give high school teachers support for developing a research-based module on inertia and interactions. It contains notes and procedures for two classroom demonstrations, one lab, and four work activities. The authors focus on how to help students transition from a descriptive model using kinematics to a causal model using dynamical laws of motion. The materials are aligned with teaching methodologies guided by Modeling Theory of Physics Instruction.
This item is part of a larger collection of resources and pedagogic materials developed by the Modeling Instruction project at Arizona State University.
SEE RELATED ITEMS BELOW for a link to the full collection and links to additional resources on this topic by the same authors.
This resource is part of a Physics Front Topical Unit.
Topic: Dynamics: Forces and Motion
Unit Title: Newton's First Law & Inertia
Beginning students can usually quote Newton's First and Third Laws, but struggle to understand what they really mean. This educator's guide, created by the respected Modeling Instruction project at Arizona State University, gives teachers in-depth support for developing a research-based unit on inertia and interactions. For more on the Modeling Instruction pedagogy, see the resource below.Link to Unit:
ComPADRE is beta testing Citation Styles!
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The Chicago Style presented is based on information from Examples of Chicago-Style Documentation.
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Modeling Instruction Program: Inertia and Interactions:
Is Part Of Modeling Instruction Program: Curriculum Resources
this is a link to the full collection of curriculum materials developed by the Modeling Instruction project.relation by Caroline Hall
Accompanies Modeling Instruction Program: Inertia Worksheet 1-Sketching Forces
This worksheet by the same authors was developed to be used after a brief introduction of Newton's First Law.relation by Caroline Hall
Accompanies Modeling Instruction Program: Inertia Worksheet 3-Forces and Interactions
This is a comprehensive set of homework questions designed for use after completion of a unit on inertia and Newton's Laws. It could also serve as a unit test.relation by Caroline Hall
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Is Part Of | <urn:uuid:50eba133-c843-4b77-a034-65d2e93751c4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.compadre.org/precollege/items/detail.cfm?ID=8432 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.892874 |
Smart Links refer to a special syntax used in the test suite which connect a particular part of a test script with a specific part of the Perl 6 specification.
Smart Links Example
A smart link looks like this in a test script:
After submitting this to the Subversion repository, after a few minutes a cron script will update a copy of the Specification which references these links. See the Math::Trig spec for an example.
Benefits of Smart Links
Smart links are especially valuable for a language that is in development. The help answer these important questions:
- Has this feature been tested? If you don't see references to tests from the spec, there's a possibility the feature is not only untested, but unimplemented!
- Are there duplicates tests for this feature? If you see more than one test script linked in one place, it's possible there are duplicate tests, and the tests suite can be simplified.
- Is there a spec for this feature? On the other hand, if you find a test without a smart link, it may simply not have one yet, or the feature may be unspec'ed. It was discovered that the basic function "say" did not have a formal definition through this kind of review.
Smart Linking Status
(generated using smartlinks.pl --check /.t from within ~/pugs/t/spec)
As of December 16th, 2008 we now have info: 659 smartlinks found and 0 broken in 411 test files (60 test files had no links).
As of September 11th, 2006, 263 test scripts have at least one smart link, but 349 do not.
How to get the Test Suite
The test suite currently lives in the pugs repository, run the following from your parrot download and you'll have the full test suite.
cd languages/perl6 && make t/spec
How to help with smart linking.
To help with this, you mostly just some motivation to help, and commit access
to the pugs tree. Ask for it on #perl6 if you don't have it.
perldoc util/smartlinks.pl explains the details. Here are practical tips to get started.
1. Review the complete list of files with no smart links:
grep -RL 'L<' t/* | $PAGER
2. Pick a directory that needs work. For example, in builtins/lists, 11 files need updated now.
3. Open these files
$EDITOR `grep -L 'L<' *.t`
4. Add at least one appropriate smart link, possibly using the online specification as a reference. The nice thing about working in one directory at one time, is that all of the smart links in the directory me be similar.
5. Check your smart links
~/pugs/util/smartlinks.pl --check *.t
Hopefully, you'll get some useful debugging feedback if there is a problem. You can also specify --fast if you don't want to update your local copy of Synopses at every run.
6. Commit your work!
Usually this is svk commit or svn commit.
Ask for help on the #perl6 IRC channel if you get stuck.
A simple script to help
Somewhere in your path create a file called check_links and chmod +x it:
~/pugs/util/smartlinks.pl --syn-dir ~/pugs/docs/Perl6/Spec --check $@
Then anywhere you want to test a set of files you can simply run
check_links --missing *.t
And it will list out all the files in the current directory with a .t extension that are missing smart links. This makes it much easier to work in a directory of tests and get a feel for what needs done.
Test files still needing links
(generated using smartlinks.pl --check --wiki /.t from within ~/pugs/t/spec) | <urn:uuid:86a49bcb-4788-43a1-8cf4-db8273a1afd4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.perlfoundation.org/perl6/index.cgi?smart_linking | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.778676 |
Sexual Assault is not only rape; it is ANY type of unwanted
sexual contact. Everyone has the right to decide what they do or
don't want to do sexually. Not all sexual assaults are violent
"attacks". Forcing or pressuring someone to do something they
don't want to do or don't consent to is sexual assault.
Sexual assault may include:
Unwanted touching, fondling, or groping
Forced sexual activities
Pressure to have sex
Sexual contact with someone who is very drunk, drugged,
unconscious or is unable to give a clear "yes" or "no"
Keeping someone from protecting themselves from unwanted
pregnancy or sexually transmitted infections (STIs)
Violence that does not involve physical contact
Threatening to find someone who will do what he or she
Verbal or sexual harassment
Threats of sexual violence
Learn more about the types of sexual assault here.
WEAVE offers a support group especially for teens who
have experienced sexual assault. For teens 13 and older
parent permission is not required, but preferred.
WEAVE also offers individual counseling services for
Are Not Alone. WEAVE Sexual Assault Advocates are
available 24-hours a day to survivors of sexual assault.
Advocates will accompany and support you through the medical
exam, law enforcement interview and investigation. | <urn:uuid:1669d836-f850-4d4e-8afd-b18ad2454b2e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.weaveinc.org/print/954 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.900949 |
Photo by SeaWorld, Inc.
Length: longest—blue whale Balaenoptera musculus is 70 feet (21 meters); shortest—Hector's beaked whale Mesoplodon hectori is 4.5 feet (1.4 meters)
Weight: blue whale—63 tons (64.4 tonnes); Hector's beaked whale—105 pounds (48 kilograms)
Life span: some species are thought to live more than 100 years
Gestation: 9 to 17 months, depending on species
Number of young at birth: 1
Size at birth: 1/4 to 1/3 the length of the mother
Age of maturity: males—4 to 35 years; females—4 to 28 years, depending on species
Conservation status: 11 species are endangered, including blue whale, sperm whale Physeter catodon, and humpback whale Magaptera novaeangliae.
Killer whales Orcinus orca are part of
the Cetacea order but share a taxonomic family with dolphins.
Unlike fish tails, which are flat-sided, whales' tails are perpendicular to their bodies, like an airplane's tail. Whales use their tails in an up-and-down motion to swim, whereas fish use a back-and-forth motion with their tails.
Baleen is made up of tough, flexible strands of keratin that hang down from the top of the whale's enormous mouth.
The blue whale is the largest mammal to have ever lived on Earth.
Gray whales Eschrichtius robustus make the longest migration of any whale, traveling from Alaska to the coast of Mexico. This is a round-trip journey of more than 12,000 miles (20,000 kilometers).
Listen to a humpback whale!
Mammals of the sea
Whales come in different sizes, but they all have smooth skin, flippers, and flat tails (called flukes) that propel them through the water. They give birth and nurse their young in the water and live their entire lives there. Their specialized noses and ears have adapted to life underwater. They have excellent vision and large, intelligent brains.
Whales are divided into two groups: toothed and baleen.
There are 69 species of toothed whales, including sperm whales Physeter catodon, beluga whales Delphinapterus leucas, and narwhals Monodon monoceros. Bottlenose dolphins Tursiops truncatus, and killer whales Orcinus orca are in this group as well. Toothed whales have one blowhole (adapted nostril) on top of the head that divides into two nostrils inside the head. They use echolocation to find food. These whales eat fish, octopus, squid, and crustaceans like shrimp.
There are 13 species of baleen whales, including the gray whale Eschrichtius robustus, blue whale Balaenoptera musculus, and humpback whale Megaptera novaeangliae. Baleen whales are much larger than most toothed whales and have a double blowhole on top of the head. Baleen whales gulp huge amounts of seawater, then strain out the water to catch the zooplankton (tiny animals) and krill (tiny shrimplike creatures) that they eat. Gray whales suck up mud from the ocean floor and strain out the small worms and crustaceans that live there. Scientists are still studying whether or not baleen whales use echolocation.
Toothed whales make sounds that travel underwater. The sound waves bounce off an object and then return to the whales as echoes. Submarines use the same method to navigate through the ocean. This echolocation allows the whale to find food or avoid predators, even in dark or murky water. Research has proved that the sounds come from deep inside their heads, not their throats as with other mammals. The sounds come from air vibrating through their complex nasal passages.
Down, down, down to the bottom of the sea
Whales have special adaptations for diving. They generally dive on a full breath of air. The air in their lungs is compressed by the sea's pressure as they dive. When they dive, their bodies use less oxygen by sending it to vital organs such as their brains, hearts, and lungs where it's needed most. Their heart rate slows down, and they can tolerate higher levels of carbon dioxide than humans. Sperm whales are champion divers, often diving more than 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) deep for more then one hour!
Whales make lots of different kinds of sounds, including trills, whistles, moans, and squeals. Whistles seem to be used mainly for communicating with other whales. Single male humpback whales make their famous whale songs during the winter mating season.
Human impact on whales
Humans have hunted whales, mainly for their blubber (oil), for thousands of years. Present-day whalers use the meat as well as the blubber. At first, small-scale hunting did not affect whale populations. But in the last 200 years, humans have built bigger ships and better equipment to hunt and kill larger whales in faraway oceans. Humans have hunted whales for their meat, baleen, oil, and hides. Whale hunting, pollution, and human development along oceans and rivers have seriously impacted some whale populations.
The good news is that not all whales are endangered. Of those that are endangered, some populations are at higher risk of extinction than others. One great success story is the gray whale, which was hunted to the brink of extinction twice, and now has completely recovered due to protection and conservation efforts. | <urn:uuid:39b4f0fe-32f4-4689-9656-9eaede5b2d7a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sandiegozoo.org/animalbytes/t-whale.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928261 |
Most offices have at least one water cooler and many of these have both a ‘chilled water’ and ‘boiling water’ function. So how much energy do they actually use?
The actual energy consumption of your water cooler will depend on how it is used, and how many people are using it. The only way to know the actual energy consumption of your water cooler is with a plug in energy consumption meter.
Power consumption of our office water cooler
Most office water coolers are using energy to keep water cool (and hot) continuously. This doesn’t make much sense unless the office is open 24 hours a day.
At the Steplight office we use a simple plug in appliance timer so that the water cooler is only on during office hours. The timer is set so that the water cooler will come on an hour before anyone arrives and turn off when everyone leaves. (Timers can be purchased from a hardware store for less than $20.00). We also have the hot water function turned off.
We ran some tests using Steplight’s appliance power meter to find the actual energy consumption of our water cooler (with and without the timer).
To get an accurate understanding of the water cooler’s energy consumption we need to run the test over a 24 hour period. This is because just like a fridge or washing machine, the water cooler won’t be using a fixed amount of electricity (it cycles on and off).
We’re a pretty small office of up to six people. In larger offices expect the savings to be much greater than below.
1. With timer, cold water only = 0.2 kWh/day
The water cooler used 0.2 kilowatt-hours in a 24 hour period, which equates to around 81 kilowatt-hours ($19.00) per year. The water cooler was using power for 2 hours and 15 minutes of the 24 hour period.
2. Without timer, cold water only = 0.3 kWh/day
The water cooler used 0.3 kilowatt-hours in a 24 hour period, which equates to about 109 kilowatt-hours ($26.00) per year. The water cooler was using power for 3 hours and 5 minutes of the 24 hour period.
3. With timer, cold and hot water = 1.9 kWh/day
The water cooler used 1.9 kilowatt-hours in a 24 hour period, which equates to about 693 kilowatt-hours ($166.00) per year. The water cooler was using power for 6 hours and 28 minutes of the 24 hour period.
4. Without timer, cold and hot water = 2.8 kWh/day
The water cooler used 2.8 kilowatt-hours in a 24 hour period, which equates to about 1022 kilowatt-hours ($245.00) per year. The water cooler was using power for 10 hours and 43 minutes of the 24 hour period.
What to do?
As shown above, using a timer switch is a simple and cost-effective change, no matter how much the cooler is used.
If you have a water cooler with a hot and cold option, consider deactivating the hot water option. This will yield the biggest savings. A kettle used only when needed would be a better option.
If you already have a fridge, why not switch the water cooler off completely, and a keep a filtered water pitcher in the fridge.
If you are still considering getting a water cooler then keep in mind the energy rating. Energy star qualified water coolers are about 50% more efficient than typical water coolers. To qualify for the energy star label, units that cool only must use less than 0.16 kilowatt-hours per day. Hot and cold units must use less than 1.2 kilowatt-hours per day. If you are leasing the water cooler, ask your supplier about energy efficient options.
Energy Rating Guides
When buying any new equipment a good site to check out is the E3 energy rating website. Unfortunately, it doesn’t rate water coolers yet. It does state that there are an estimated 450,000 water dispensers in use in Australia, consuming approximately 350 GWh of electricity every year (this includes bottled water and mains connected water). Since the market for these products is steadily increasing, annual energy consumption by water dispensers is projected to reach 570 GWh by 2020 without intervention.
And that’s just the humble water cooler!
If you’re interested in assessing energy usage yourself see our energy meters and monitors. Alternatively, we also offer business energy audits to professionally review your site’s energy consumption.
- Holly Lovell-Smith
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Dolphins along coast of Argentina could experience a significant loss of genetic diversity because some of the animals that accidently die when tangled in fishing nets are related. According to a new genetic analysis published this week in the journal PLoS One, Franciscana dolphins that die as by-catch are more than a collection of random individuals: many are most likely mother-offspring pairs. This result, which suggests reduced genetic diversity and reproductive potential, could have significant implications for the conservation of small marine mammals.
"It has always been assumed that dolphins could be entangled in fishing nets with family members, but this is one of the very few analyses to demonstrate this result," says Martin Mendez, a postdoctoral researcher at the Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics at the American Museum of Natural History who led the study. "When family members die as by-catch, a portion of genetic identity of a species is lost, and two important demographic elements of a population are removed: a reproductive female and the next generation."
Franciscana dolphins (Pontoporia blainvillei) have a range that hugs the Atlantic coast of Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina. This species is one of the world's smallest cetaceans and is a member of the river dolphin family, although it actually lives in coastal waters and estuaries. Females probably begin to have calves between two and five years and probably stay with each calf for some time. Because researchers estimate that between two and five percent of the Fransiscana population near Argentina becomes entangled in fishing nets from small-scale operations each year, the by-catch death rate has a significant impact on the population numbers. By-catch is the biggest impact to small cetacean populations world-wide.
"The by-catch in lost Franciscana dolphins is comparable to what the population produces in terms of offspring," says Pablo Bordino of Fundación Aquamarina in Buenos Aires, Argentina. "To know that Franciscana family groups are being caught in certain areas allows us to focus our conservation strategies to try to avoid this serious impact. The use of genetic information also gives us a new window into the ecology of this species."
In the current study, Mendez, Bordino, and colleagues looked at over 250 by-catch deaths among Franciscana dolphins over 10 years and found that most of the animals entangled in groups were genetic relatives.
"Like other highly cognitive species, the Franciscana dolphin likely relies on vital bonds among related animals to survive in a challenging environment," says Howard Rosenbaum, Director of the Wildlife Conservation Society's Ocean Giants Program. "Our genetic findings confirm that these bonds—especially between mothers and calves—make the Franciscana particularly vulnerable to bycatch mortality, a significant threat to the species in some areas of its range."
"People assume that by-catch is random, but there are related animals in the sample," says Mendez. "This analysis combining high-resolution genetic data would not have been possible a decade ago. We can now use these data to recover essential biological and ecological information, and translate that into management or conservation action."
In addition to Mendez, Bordino, and Rosenbaum , the authors include Randall S. Wells of the Chicago Zoological Society in Sarasota, Florida and Andrew Stamper of Walt Disney World Resorts at Lake Buena Vista, Florida. The research was funded by Fundación Aquamarina, Chicago Zoological Society, Ecohealth Alliance, Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund, and the Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics at the American Museum of Natural History.
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Indian Magna Carta Writ In Wampum Belts
Six Nations Shows Treaty Granting Them
Independent Sovereignty as Long as Sun Shines
By Howard McLellan, reprinted from The New York Times, June 7, 1925.
Some priceless wampum belts of the Six Nations of the Iroquois, hidden from white men's eyes since George Washington saw them at a treaty-making powwow, have been brought out of the "Long House" of Iroquois Council Fires on the Onondaga Indian reservation near Syracuse, N.Y., in an effort to ward off efforts to include the Indians in American citizenship. A group of eight belts on which are woven the hieroglyphic record of various treaties made by the Iroquois comprises the collection. One belt, made in 1550, is the only documentary evidence of the existence of the creation of the League of Iroquois Nations, a crude forerunner of the present League of Nations at Geneva.
It may seem odd that natives living in the midst of evidence of the opportunities that come with American citizenship should decline -- actually fight off -- a privilege for which most of the newcomers clamor.
But the aboriginal Iroquois, after centuries of association with the whites, still maintain a racial reverence for the political institutions of their forefathers and cling to their treaty rights of detachment and independence. Hundreds of haughty Iroquois, living on ancestral land in Western and Central New York, within a day's ride from Broadway, believe that to merge themselves in American citizenship would be an unforgivable insult to the Great Spirit of their elders. According to Indian interpretation, the records woven into the wampum belts preclude them from accepting our citizenship and guarantee their separateness forever.
Carried to Washington
In their official turns Peter Stuyvesant, Dutch Colonial Governor of New York; Sir William Johnson, British Colonial Indian Superintendent; George Clinton, first Governor after the outbreak of the Revolution, and George Washington saw the belts, after which they were put away with great ceremony. Three weeks ago Chief Jesse Lion [Lyon], hereditary Keeper of the Wampum and Iroquois Prime Minister, was directed at a Great Council Fire to take them out, dust them off and carry them to Washington. Ten Iroquois braves escorted Lion [Lyon] and the belts to the Capitol, where their Indian meaning was read to the chiefs of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
They laid particular emphasis on the Belt of the Treaty of Peace and Friendship, made in 1794, which, according to the reading, gave to "the Six Iroquois Nations and their Indian friends living with them, the perpetual right to live on their reservations in independent sovereignty, never to be disturbed."
This provision the conservative or pioneer Mohawks, Oneidas, Senecas, Cayugas, Onondagas and Tuscaroras, who comprise the Six Nations, construed to mean that they never could be eligible for, nor be impressed into, American citizenship, no matter how many bills Congress passed, not excluding the bill enacted last Fall when citizenship was conferred upon all native Indians in the United States. The progressive or modern Iroquois, who have adopted the white man's ways, did not join the mission to Washington, but remained on their reservation farms and fruit groves.
The conservative delegation registered their interpretation of the ancient belts at Washington and that was about all. The Bureau of Indian Affairs questioned the interpretation. Thereupon Chief Lion [Lyon], who is proud of the political astuteness of his tribe, the Onondagas, and glories in the fact that General Washington called the Onondagas "the Romans of the New World," carried the belts to Cornell University to submit them to their white friend, Sa-Go-Ye-Watha, for interpretation. Sa-Go-Ye-Watha is better known on the Cornell campus as Dr. Earl A. Bates, Director of Indian Extension at the college, and a chief in eleven Indian tribes. The Iroquois call him Sa-Go-Ye-Watha because "he stirs them up to plow and sow."
When Dr. Bates reached a hand for the belts which the Wampum Keeper had brought for his examination, Chief Lion [Lyon] dug into the folds of his blue silk shirt and produced photographs of the belts, handing these instead to Dr. Bates with the suggestion that the photographs would make inspection easier -- not that his native astuteness mistrusted his white friend, but because the Council at the Long House admonished him not to let the belts out of his possession. So Dr. Bates is studying photographic prints in lieu of the real wampum.
Deciphering the belts is a considerable undertaking. Each of the six larger ones contains hundreds of purple and white wampum pieces strung on buckskin. Each wampum piece has a meaning; every one must be counted and color and arrangement interpreted. The relation of one belt or token to the other, and to the whole, must be carefully studied to supply continuity to the record. The expert Iroquois wampum makers who shaped thick strips of clamshell into cylinders and then hollowed them with tiny and brittle stone drills were forty full moons -- or more than three and half years -- fabricating each belt.
The League of Nations, or Iroquois Confederacy Belt, begun in 1550, is the most ancient of the belts and a prize from the standpoint of the archaeologist. Museums have offered Lion [Lyon] large sums for it -- as much as $50,000 -- which, of course, he refused. It records the world's first League of Nations for peace established by Hiawatha, earliest chief of the Onondagas, whom tradition has raised to an Indian sainthood. Only five nations are represented on this belt. The wandering Tuscaroras had not yet returned to the Iroquois fold.
The Confederacy Belt was part of a collection used by the Iroquois in 1662 when their chieftains were sent to Norman's Kill, below Albany, to make covenant with the Dutch, who, to the Indians, represented "the whole Europeans." Two years later the Iroquois, using the same belt, made a treaty with the English, agreeing not to aid the New England Indians who had murdered a Mohawk chief.
The Belt of Law
The next oldest belt is the Belt of Law. Its two lines of purple wampum, running along the edge of the belt but separated by solid white wampum, established the law of the Indian and the law of the white man. One line represents white man's law; the other Indian's. They do not meet and are separated by "the rest of the world," or white wampum, indicating to the Indian that the two sets of law "must always run by themselves and never touch." The Iroquois say it guarantees their independence from the white man's world.
The original belt of the Six Nations, which announces the return of the lost Tuscaroras, was finished about 1714 and records that all previous treaties made by the Five Nations is binding upon the Sixth Nation. The Six Nations are presented by step-like purple wampum designs denoting the rise of each nation. At the lower left-hand corner of the belt is a similar design which appears incomplete. It represents the white man's nation just appearing on the Indians' horizon. Each step in the purple designs is linked together by a small bar as a token that each nation, tribe and family is bound to the other in the faithful observance of all covenants made by the Six Nations.
Of most importance to the pending citizenship controversy are the Belt of Peace and Friendship and the Belt of the Central Council Fire of Six Nations. They were completed in 1795 to mark the ratification of the Treaty of Peace and Friendship with the thirteen States -- the basic American treaty with the Iroquois by which the Indians ceded large territories in return for their independence and the right to live on their reservations and "hunt and fish over the entire country, that ceded as well as retained, as long as the sun shines, the grass grows green and water flows down hill" -- the Iroquois idea of eternity.
The political significance of the Belt of the Central Council Fire is indicated by its almost solid purple. It does, in fact, record the most important political step ever taken by the Six Nations. The old wampum makers worked overtime to get it ready. General Washington had foretold important events in the history of the new American nation, and by this belt the Six Nations hastened to cement its friendly relations with the new white Government known to the Iroquois as "the Great Council of Thirteen Fires." It symbolizes also the faith Iroquois politicians had in the infant nation and marks the disappearance of European nations from New England affairs.
Longest Belt of All
The longest belt made entirely of white wampum, and known as the Land Belt, describes the treaty provision which gave the Iroquois nations 65,000 acres in upper New York State for reservations. The solid white wampum means that the white man has no place on the Indian lands, but that the Indian has rights to hunt and fish everywhere. To this day Iroquois nationals roam the hills in and out of their reservations regardless of the white man's game season restrictions or license requirements. That is their ancient right under the Land Belt. Furthermore, the belt signifies that the reservations are not a political part of the United States and that the Indians on them are not wards of the State nor of the Federal Government, but "free children of the Great White Spirit," as independent and separate from the jurisdiction of the United States as any European nation.
The two remaining belts in the group, called Condolence Belts, are strings rather than belts. Though smaller than the others and representing less labor, they are almost as important. Technically they are perhaps more important, for they constitute the credentials which empowered the Council Fire to sit; they represent the legal authority for their deliberations, and describe in what manner a new chief may be selected and how a dead one must be buried -- rites of basic importance to the Six Nations.
It will be months before Dr. Bates of Cornell has finished his readings and translations of the political belts. More than three years were required to make each belt and it takes almost that long to read them -- a task which only a patient red man could thoroughly enjoy.
Source: Onondaga Historical Association Research Center
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Americans Stay Alert to Ageism
A South Florida senior citizen, 81 years young and healthy, was not allowed to adopt two Chihuahua puppies because of his "advanced age."
This story on the Internet is just one example of ageism–discrimination against people on the grounds of age. It is a basic denial of older people's human rights.
Robert N. Butler, M.D., a gerontologist, psychiatrist, and winner of a Pulitzer Prize, coined the term in 1968. He also founded the National Institute on Aging and led the International Longevity Center USA (ILC). A 2006 ILC report, "Ageism in America,” describes experiences of older Americans: "widespread mistreatment, ranging from stereotyping and degrading media images to physical and financial abuse, unequal treatment in the workforce, and denial of appropriate medical care and services."
With our aging population, ageism will impact a significant segment of society. By 2030, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that Americans 65 years of age and older will make up 20% of the population. Ageism can detrimentally affect older people's health, employment, and psychological wellbeing.
Ageism affects longevity. Yale School of Public Health professor Becca Levy and her colleagues found that older people with positive attitudes on aging lived 7.5 years longer than those with negative feelings. Data show that Americans are living longer. When Social Security was established in 1935, life expectancy was under 62 years while today it is 78 years.
Another critical issue affecting seniors' health is the dearth of geriatricians, physicians who specialize in treating the elderly. Today, there is about one pediatrician for every 1,300 children under 18 years of age in America. The statistic, according to the American Geriatrics Society, is one geriatrician for every 2,600 people age 75 years and older. Physicians trained in geriatrics will know the difference between symptoms of aging and those that can be treated.
"Elderspeak" can also negatively impact medical treatment. A University of Miami psychiatrist, Marc E. Agronin, M.D., used this example: Questions about medications being answered with, "Don't worry, dear. This is what the doctor ordered."
Because of the economic crisis, people are working longer. They are postponing retirement and competing against younger workers for lower-level positions. Laid-off older workers are out of work longer, studies found. David Certner, the chief legislative counsel for AARP, in a nytimes.com article, praised a recent Supreme Court decision in Meacham v. Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory that protects employees from age discrimination during layoffs. It supports the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) of 1967 that protects anyone 40 years of age or older. The law is enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The Associated Press reported that only one-fourth of the EEOC age cases are settled on behalf of the complainant. In the 1970s, political activists worked to make mandatory retirement obsolete. Yet, it's not uncommon for police officers and firefighters to retire in their late 50s.
Toni Calasanti, Ph.D., professor of sociology at Virginia Tech, wrote the lead story in a recent issue of the university's research magazine. "People want to keep passing for younger since being old affects social status," she said in an interview. "Ageism oppresses the people we will become." A Pew Research Center survey found that one-third of those between the ages of 65 and 74 years said they felt 10 to 19 years younger, and one-sixth of people 75 years and older said they felt 20 years younger.
Ageism may result in feelings of low self-esteem, stress, anxiety, guilt and helplessness. Dr. Butler wrote, "When the future is removed, as in the case of old age, it builds dissatisfaction, disappointment and depression." But as Dr. Butler, noted, older adults should live lives based on hope and positive expectations.
Here are some tips for staying active:
Keep moving – Participate in exercise, yoga, and dance classes
Stay involved – Volunteer at schools and hospitals and for the arts. Tackle causes to help society.
Connect with friends and family – Host a reunion. Find a long-lost soul mate.
Learn new things – Use computers and digital cameras. Be "crafty."
Work longer – Look into shared jobs, flextime and phased retirement.
Communicate more – Write or blog about life experiences and inspirations.
Dream – Never stop setting goals and looking ahead.
MSNBC broadcasted a story of a gentleman who always dreamed of crossing the Atlantic Ocean in a raft. At age 85 years, he and three friends landed in St. Maarten after the 2,800-mile journey. "What else do you do when you get on in years?" he asked a reporter.
Keep living and dreaming.
The attorneys at The Estate Planning & Elder Law Firm assist families with their estate, financial, insurance, long-term care, veterans' benefits, and special needs planning issues.
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Posted on ActiveRain as a community service. Character counts in Gaithersburg.
Hydrangea, Kentlands, Flowers IMG_2793
Photograph by Roy Kelley using a Canon PowerShot G11 camera.
Roy and Dolores Kelley Photographs
We represent home buyers and sellers as their exclusive agents in the Maryland suburbs of Washington DC.
Roy Kelley & Associates
Associate Broker, RE/MAX Realty Group
Client Assistance: 301-670-8996
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The Moscow Kremlin
The kremlin in the city of Moscow is known simply as the Kremlin. Triangular and surrounded by crenellated walls, it occupies 90 acres (36.4 hectares) in the historic core of Moscow. It is bounded on the south by the Moscow River and Kremlin quay, on the east by Red Square with Lenin's tomb, the Moscow Historical Museum, and St. Basil's Cathedral, and on the west and south by the old Alexander Gardens. The Kremlin's walls, built in the 15th cent., are topped on each side by seven towers (20 towers altogether); among these is the Spasskaya [of the Savior], with famous chimes, above the main gate.
In the center of the Kremlin is Cathedral Square, with the Uspenski [Assumption] Cathedral (late 15th cent. but containing rare icons of the 12th and 14th cent.), which was used for czarist state occasions, for the crowning of czars, and for the burial of church patriarchs; the Blagoveschenski [Annunciation] Cathedral (15th–16th cent.), which served as the private chapel for the czars' families; the Arkhangelski Cathedral (14th–17th cent.), which contains tombs of the czars; and the separate bell tower of Ivan the Great, c.266 ft (81 m) high, the golden cupola of which dominates the crosses, cupolas, and roofs of the other buildings.
On a pedestal adjoining the bell tower is the Czar Bell (cast in 1735), the world's largest bell, with a height of 20 ft (6.1 m) and a weight of 200 tons. The Czar Cannon, located nearby, was cast in 1586 and weighs 40 tons. Along the Kremlin walls are large palaces, including the 15th-century Granovitaya Palata (the throne and banquet hall of the czars); the 19th-century Oruzheinaya Palata (Armory), built as a museum for crowns, scepters, thrones, costumes, and armor; and the 19th-century Grand Palace (Rus. Bolshoi Dvorets ), rebuilt under the Communist regime and now housing the Russian parliament.
The Kremlin's architectural history may be divided into the three periods: the wooden Kremlin (founded in the 13th cent.), the Italian Renaissance Kremlin, and the modern Kremlin begun by Catherine the Great in the 18th cent. The Kremlin is almost the only part of Moscow that has escaped all of the city's numerous fires, including that of 1812, when Napoleon's headquarters were in Moscow. It suffered minor damage during the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. The Kremlin was the residence of the czars until Peter the Great transferred the capital to St. Petersburg in 1712. After 1918, when the capital was moved back to Moscow, the Kremlin was the USSR's political and administrative center; the word "Kremlin" was often used as a synonym for that government. It is now the seat of the government of Russia.
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A blood sample is needed. For information on how this is done, see: Venipuncture
How to prepare for the test
There is no special preparation needed for this test.
How the test will feel
When the needle is inserted to draw blood, some people feel moderate pain, while others feel only a prick or stinging sensation. Afterward, there may be some throbbing.
Why the test is performed
A positive test can confirm the diagnosis of PNH.
The Ham test can also be used to diagnose another rare disorder called congenital dyserythropoietic anemia.
A negative test is normal.
What abnormal results mean
Abnormal results may be due to:
Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria
Congenital dyserythropoietic anemia
What the risks are
There is very little risk involved with having your blood taken. Veins and arteries vary in size from one patient to another and from one side of the body to the other. Taking blood from some people may be more difficult than from others.
Other risks associated with having blood drawn are slight but may include:
Fainting or feeling light-headed
Hematoma (blood accumulating under the skin)
Infection (a slight risk any time the skin is broken)
The Ham test is increasingly being replaced by a newer test called flow cytometry.
Elghetany M, Banki K. Erythrocytic disorders. In: McPherson R, Pincus M, eds. Henry’s Clinical Diagnosis and Management by Laboratory Methods. 21st ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier; 2007:chap 31.
David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine; and Yi-Bin Chen, MD, Leukemia/Bone Marrow Transplant Program, Massachusetts General Hospital. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc. | <urn:uuid:c984456c-2b92-49a0-a71e-c8de287fd7ca> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mpmhealth.com/body.cfm?xyzpdqabc=0&id=761&action=detail&AEArticleID=003672&AEProductID=Adam2004_117&AEProjectTypeIDURL=APT_1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.870058 |
Book Description: In what is sure to become the standard account, Rothbard traces inflations, banking panics, and money meltdowns from the Colonial Period through the mid-20th century to show how government's systematic war on sound money is the hidden force behind nearly all major economic calamities in American history. Never has the story of money and banking been told with such rhetorical power and theoretical vigor. You will treasure this volume. From the introduction by Joseph Salerno: "Rothbard employs the Misesian approach to economic history consistently and dazzlingly throughout the volume to unravel the causes and consequences of events and institutions ranging over the course of U.S. monetary history, from the colonial times through the New Deal era. One of the important benefits of Rothbard's unique approach is that it naturally leads to an account of the development of the U.S. monetary system in terms of a compelling narrative linking human motives and plans that often-times are hidden, and devious, leading to outcomes that sometimes are tragic. And one will learn much more about monetary history from reading this exciting story than from poring over reams of statistical analysis. Although its five parts were written separately, this volume presents a relative integrated narrative, with very little overlap, that sweeps across three hundreds years of U.S. monetary history." | <urn:uuid:c98a0550-1a82-4e83-980e-8072733dd42d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.campusbooks.com/books/books/subjects/9780945466338_Murray-N-Rothbard-Rothbard-Murray-N_A-History-of-Money-and-Banking-in-the-United-States-The-.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953559 |
English Hindi Dictionary & Translation
What is the meaning of gotcha in Hindi?
Meaning of gotcha in Hindi is :
Definition of word gotcha
- Used to indicate understanding or to signal the fact of having caught or defeated another. (interjection)
- A game or endeavor in which one party seeks to catch another out, as in a mistake or lie. (noun)
Examples of word gotcha
- Besides, the term "gotcha question" is so out of fashion.
- Some people are criticizing last night's presidential debate, including Barack Obama, who likened it to what he calls gotcha games.
- The governor supporters say that's partly because she's been a victim of what they call gotcha journalism, and they say working class voters are firmly behind her regardless.
- The Governor attacks what she calls gotcha journalism in her latest sit - down interview, a new interview.
- I think that part of what we call gotcha journalism today -- the idea that the function of a reporter is to catch an official in a lie, in a some kind of minor misfeasance -- is partly the result of Watergate. | <urn:uuid:245717f7-e3df-4595-8b94-e31d00846bc9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.englishtohindi.in/meaning-of-gotcha-in-hindi.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941785 |
Cancer: Loss, Grief, and Bereavement
This patient summary on loss, grief, and bereavement is adapted from the summary written for health professionals by cancer experts. This and other credible information about cancer treatment, screening, prevention, supportive care, and ongoing clinical trials, is available from the National Cancer Institute. The passage from the final stage of cancer to the death of a loved one is different for everyone. This summary describes loss, grief, and bereavement, the stages of grief, and methods for coping with grief. This summary also includes sections on children and grief.
People cope with the loss of a loved one in many ways. For some, the experience may lead to personal growth, even though it is a difficult and trying time. There is no right way of coping with death. The way a person grieves depends on the personality of that person and the relationship with the person who has died. How a person copes with grief is affected by the experience with cancer, the way the disease progressed, the person's cultural and religious background, coping skills, mental history, support systems, and the person's social and financial status.
The terms grief, bereavement, and mourning are often used in place of each other, but they have different meanings.
Grief is the normal process of reacting to the loss. Grief reactions may be felt in response to physical losses (for example, a death) or in response to symbolic or social losses (for example, divorce or loss of a job). Each type of loss means the person has had something taken away. As a family goes through a cancer illness, many losses are experienced, and each triggers its own grief reaction. Grief may be experienced as a mental, physical, social, or emotional reaction. Mental reactions can include anger, guilt, anxiety, sadness, and despair. Physical reactions can include sleeping problems, changes in appetite, physical problems, or illness. Social reactions can include feelings about taking care of others in the family, seeing family or friends, or returning to work. As with bereavement, grief processes depend on the relationship with the person who died, the situation surrounding the death, and the person's attachment to the person who died. Grief may be described as the presence of physical problems, constant thoughts of the person who died, guilt, hostility, and a change in the way one normally acts.
Bereavement is the period after a loss during which grief is experienced and mourning occurs. The time spent in a period of bereavement depends on how attached the person was to the person who died, and how much time was spent anticipating the loss.
Mourning is the process by which people adapt to a loss. Mourning is also influenced by cultural customs, rituals, and society's rules for coping with loss.
"Grief work" includes the processes that a mourner needs to complete before resuming daily life. These processes include separating from the person who died, readjusting to a world without him or her, and forming new relationships. To separate from the person who died, a person must find another way to redirect the emotional energy that was given to the loved one. This does not mean the person was not loved or should be forgotten, but that the mourner needs to turn to others for emotional satisfaction. The mourner's roles, identity, and skills may need to change to readjust to living in a world without the person who died. The mourner must give other people or activities the emotional energy that was once given to the person who died in order to redirect emotional energy.
People who are grieving often feel extremely tired because the process of grieving usually requires physical and emotional energy. The grief they are feeling is not just for the person who died, but also for the unfulfilled wishes and plans for the relationship with the person. Death often reminds people of past losses or separations. Mourning may be described as having three phases, including the urge to bring back the person who died, disorganization and sadness, and reorganization.
Phases of a Life-Threatening Illness
Understanding how other people cope with a life-threatening illness may help the patient and his or her family prepare to cope with their own illness. A life-threatening illness may be described as having four phases, including the phase before the diagnosis, the acute phase, the chronic phase, and recovery or death.
The phase before the diagnosis of a life-threatening illness is the period of time just before the diagnosis when a person realizes that he or she may develop an illness. This phase is not usually a single moment, but extends throughout the period when the person has a physical examination, including various tests, and ends when the person is told of the diagnosis.
The acute phase occurs at the time of the diagnosis when a person is forced to understand the diagnosis and make decisions about his or her medical care.
The chronic phase is the period of time between the diagnosis and the result of treatment. It is the period of time when a patient tries to cope with the demands of life while also undergoing treatment and coping with the side effects of treatment. In the past, the period between a cancer diagnosis and death usually lasted only a few months, and this time was usually spent in the hospital. Today, people can live for years after being diagnosed with cancer.
In the recovery phase, people cope with the mental, social, physical, religious, and financial effects of cancer.
The final (terminal) phase of a life-threatening illness occurs when death is likely. The focus then changes from curing the illness or prolonging life, to providing comfort and relief from pain. Religious concerns are often the focus during this time.
The Pathway to Death
People who are dying may move towards death over longer or shorter periods of time and in different ways. Different causes of death result in different paths toward death.
The pathway to death may be long and slow, sometimes lasting years, or it may be a rapid fall towards death (for example, after a car accident) when the chronic phase of the illness, if it exists at all, is short. The "peaks and valleys" pathway describes the patient who repeatedly gets better and then worse again (for example, a patient with AIDS or leukemia). Another pathway to death may be described as a long, slow period of failing health and then a period of stable health (for example, patients whose health gets worse and then stabilizes at a new, more limiting level). Patients on this pathway must readjust to losses in functioning ability.
Deaths from cancer often occur over a long period of time, and may involve long-term pain and suffering, and/or loss of control over one's body or mind. Deaths caused by cancer are likely to drain patients and families physically and emotionally because they occur over a long period of time.
Anticipatory grief is the normal mourning that occurs when a patient or family is expecting a death. Anticipatory grief has many of the same symptoms as those experienced after a death has occurred. It includes all of the thinking, feeling, cultural, and social reactions to an expected death that are felt by the patient and family.
Anticipatory grief includes depression, extreme concern for the dying person, preparing for the death, and adjusting to changes caused by the death. Anticipatory grief gives the family more time to slowly get used to the reality of the loss. People are able to complete "unfinished business" with the dying person (for example, saying "good-bye," "I love you," or "I forgive you").
Anticipatory grief may not always occur. Anticipatory grief does not mean that before the death, a person feels the same kind of grief as the grief felt after a death. There is not a set amount of grief that a person will feel. The grief experienced before a death does not make the grief after the death last a shorter amount of time.
Grief that follows an unplanned death is different from anticipatory grief. Unplanned loss may overwhelm the coping abilities of a person, making normal functioning impossible. Mourners may not be able to realize the total impact of their loss. Even though the person recognizes that the loss occurred, he or she may not be able to accept the loss mentally and emotionally. Following an unexpected death, the mourner may feel that the world no longer has order and does not make sense.
Some people believe that anticipatory grief is rare. To accept a loved one's death while he or she is still alive may leave the mourner feeling that the dying patient has been abandoned. Expecting the loss often makes the attachment to the dying person stronger. Although anticipatory grief may help the family, the dying person may experience too much grief, causing the patient to become withdrawn.
Phases of Grief
The process of bereavement may be described as having four phases:
- Shock and numbness: Family members find it difficult to believe the death; they feel stunned and numb.
- Yearning and searching: Survivors experience separation anxiety and cannot accept the reality of the loss. They try to find and bring back the lost person and feel ongoing frustration and disappointment when this is not possible.
- Disorganization and despair: Family members feel depressed and find it difficult to plan for the future. They are easily distracted and have difficulty concentrating and focusing.
Most of the support that people receive after a loss comes from friends and family. Doctors and nurses may also be a source of support. For people who experience difficulty in coping with their loss, grief counseling or grief therapy may be necessary.
Grief counseling helps mourners with normal grief reactions work through the tasks of grieving. Grief counseling can be provided by professionally trained people, or in self-help groups where bereaved people help other bereaved people. All of these services may be available in individual or group settings.
The goals of grief counseling include:
- Helping the bereaved to accept the loss by helping him or her to talk about the loss
- Helping the bereaved to identify and express feelings related to the loss (for example, anger, guilt, anxiety, helplessness, and sadness)
- Helping the bereaved to live without the person who died and to make decisions alone
- Helping the bereaved to separate emotionally from the person who died and to begin new relationships
- Providing support and time to focus on grieving at important times such as birthdays and anniversaries
- Describing normal grieving and the differences in grieving among individuals
- Providing continuous support
- Helping the bereaved to understand his or her methods of coping
- Identifying coping problems the bereaved may have and making recommendations for professional grief therapy
Grief therapy is used with people who have more serious grief reactions. The goal of grief therapy is to identify and solve problems the mourner may have in separating from the person who died. When separation difficulties occur, they may appear as physical or behavior problems, delayed or extreme mourning, conflicted or extended grief, or unexpected mourning (although this is seldom present with cancer deaths).
Grief therapy may be available as individual or group therapy. A contract is set up with the individual that establishes the time limit of the therapy, the fees, the goals, and the focus of the therapy.
In grief therapy, the mourner talks about the deceased and tries to recognize whether he or she is experiencing an expected amount of emotion about the death. Grief therapy may allow the mourner to see that anger, guilt, or other negative or uncomfortable feelings can exist at the same time as more positive feelings about the person who died.
Human beings tend to make strong bonds of affection or attachment with others. When these bonds are broken, as in death, a strong emotional reaction occurs. After a loss occurs, a person must accomplish certain tasks to complete the process of grief. These basic tasks of mourning include accepting that the loss happened, living with and feeling the physical and emotional pain of grief, adjusting to life without the loved one, and emotionally separating from the loved one and going on with life without him or her. It is important that these tasks are completed before mourning can end.
In grief therapy, six tasks may be used to help a mourner work through grief:
- Develop the ability to experience, express, and adjust to painful grief-related changes.
- Find effective ways to cope with painful changes.
- Establish a continuing relationship with the person who died.
- Stay healthy and keep functioning.
- Re-establish relationships and understand that others may have difficulty empathizing with the grief they experience.
- Develop a healthy image of oneself and the world.
Complications in grief may come about due to uncompleted grief from earlier losses. The grief for these earlier losses must be managed in order to handle the current grief. Grief therapy includes dealing with the blockages to the mourning process, identifying unfinished business with the deceased, and identifying other losses that result from the death. The bereaved is helped to see that the loss is final and to picture life after the grief period.
Complicated grief reactions require more complex therapies than uncomplicated grief reactions. Adjustment disorders (especially depressed and anxious mood or disturbed emotions and behavior), major depression, substance abuse, and even post-traumatic stress disorder are some of the common problems of complicated bereavement. Complicated grief is identified by the extended length of time of the symptoms, the interference caused by the symptoms, or by the intensity of the symptoms (for example, intense suicidal thoughts or acts).
Complicated or unresolved grief may appear as a complete absence of grief and mourning, an ongoing inability to experience normal grief reactions, delayed grief, conflicted grief, or chronic grief. Factors that contribute to the chance that one may experience complicated grief include the suddenness of the death, the gender of the person in mourning, and the relationship to the deceased (for example, an intense, extremely close, or very contradictory relationship). Grief reactions that turn into major depression should be treated with both drug and psychological therapy. One who avoids any reminders of the person who died, who constantly thinks or dreams about the person who died, and who gets scared and panics easily at any reminders of the person who died may be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Substance abuse may occur, frequently in an attempt to avoid painful feelings about the loss and symptoms (such as sleeplessness), and can also be treated with drugs and psychological therapy.
Children and Grief
In the past, children were thought to be miniature adults and were expected to behave as adults. It is now understood that there are differences in the ways in which children and adults mourn.
Unlike adults, bereaved children do not experience continual and intense emotional and behavioral grief reactions. Children may seem to show grief only occasionally and briefly, but in reality a child's grief usually lasts longer than that of an adult. This may be explained by the fact that a child's ability to experience intense emotions is limited. Mourning in children may need to be addressed again and again as the child gets older. Since bereavement is a process that continues over time, children will think about the loss repeatedly, especially during important times in their life, such as going to camp, graduating from school, getting married, or giving birth to their own children.
A child's grief may be influenced by his or her age, personality, stage of development, earlier experiences with death, and his or her relationship with the deceased. The surroundings, cause of death, family members' ability to communicate with one another and to continue as a family after the death can also affect grief. The child's ongoing need for care, the child's opportunity to share his or her feelings and memories, the parent's ability to cope with stress, and the child's steady relationships with other adults are also other factors that may influence grief.
Children do not react to loss in the same ways as adults. Grieving children may not show their feelings as openly as adults. Grieving children may not withdraw and dwell on the person who died, but instead may throw themselves into activities (for example, they may be sad one minute and playful the next). Often families think the child "doesn't really understand" or has "gotten over" the death. Neither is true; children's minds protect them from what is too powerful for them to handle. Children's grieving periods are shortened because they cannot think through their thoughts and feelings like adults. Also, children have trouble putting their feelings about grief into words. Instead, his or her behavior "speaks" for the child. Strong feelings of anger and fears of abandonment or death may show up in the behavior of grieving children. Children often play death games as a way of working out their feelings and anxieties. These games are familiar to the children and provide safe opportunities to express their feelings.
Children's Grief and Developmental Stages
Children at different stages of development have different understandings of death and the events near death.
Infants do not recognize death, but feelings of loss and separation are part of developing an awareness of death. Children who have been separated from their mother may be sluggish, quiet, unresponsive to a smile or a coo, undergo physical changes (for example, weight loss), be less active, and sleep less.
Age 2-3 years
Children at this age often confuse death with sleep and may experience anxiety as early as age 3. They may stop talking and appear to feel overall distress.
Age 3-6 years
At this age children see death as a kind of sleep; the person is alive, but only in a limited way. The child cannot fully separate death from life. Children may think that the person is still living, even though he or she might have been buried, and ask questions about the deceased (for example, how does the deceased eat, go to the toilet, breathe, or play?). Young children know that death occurs physically, but think it is temporary, reversible, and not final. The child's concept of death may involve magical thinking. For example, the child may think that his or her thoughts can cause another person to become sick or die. Grieving children under 5 may have trouble eating, sleeping, and controlling bladder and bowel functions.
Age 6-9 years
Children at this age are commonly very curious about death, and may ask questions about what happens to one's body when it dies. Death is thought of as a person or spirit separate from the person who was alive, such as a skeleton, ghost, angel of death, or "bogeyman." They may see death as final and frightening but as something that happens mostly to old people (and not to themselves). Grieving children can become afraid of school, have learning problems, develop antisocial or aggressive behaviors, become overly concerned about their own health (for example, developing symptoms of imaginary illness), or withdraw from others. Or, children this age can become too attached and clinging. Boys usually become more aggressive and destructive (for example, acting out in school), instead of openly showing their sadness. When a parent dies children may feel abandoned by both their deceased parent and their surviving parent because the surviving parent is grieving and is unable to emotionally support the child.
Ages 9 and older
By the time a child is 9 years old, death is known to be unavoidable and is not seen as a punishment. By the time a child is 12 years old, death is seen as final and something that happens to everyone.
TABLE 1. Grief and Developmental Stages
|Age||Understanding of Death||Expressions of Grief|
|Infancy to 2 years||Is not yet able to understand death||Quietness, crankiness, decreased activity, poor sleep, and weight loss; Separation from mother causes changes|
|2-6 years||Death is like sleeping||Asks many questions (How does she go to the bathroom? How does she eat?); Problems in eating, sleeping, and bladder and bowel control; Fear of abandonment; Tantrums; Dead person continues to live and function in some ways; Magical thinking (Did I think something or do something that caused the death? Like when I said I hate you and I wish you would die?); Death is temporary, not final;
Dead person can come back to life|
|6-9 years||Death is thought of as a person or spirit (skeleton, ghost, bogeyman)||Curious about death; Asks specific questions; May have exaggerated fears about school; Death is final and frightening; May have aggressive behaviors (especially boys); Some concerns about imaginary illnesses; Death happens to others, it won't happen to ME; May feel abandoned|
|9 and older||Everyone will die||Heightened emotions, guilt, anger, shame;
Increased anxiety over own death; Mood swings; Death is final and cannot be changed; Fear of rejection; not wanting to be different from peers; Even I will die; Changes in eating habits; Sleeping problems; Regressive behaviors (loss of interest in outside activities); Impulsive behaviors; Feels guilty about being alive (especially related to death of a brother, sister, or peer)|
In American society, many grieving adults withdraw and do not talk to others. Children, however, often talk to the people around them (even strangers) to see the reactions of others and to get clues for their own responses. Children may ask confusing questions. For example, a child may ask "I know grandpa died, but when will he come home?" This is a way of testing reality and making sure the story of the death has not changed.
Other Issues for Grieving Children
Children's grief expresses three issues:
- Did I cause the death to happen?
- Is it going to happen to me?
- Who is going to take care of me?
Did I cause the death to happen?
Children often think that they have magical powers. If a mother says in irritation, "You'll be the death of me" and later dies, her child may wonder if he or she actually caused the mother's death. Also, when children argue, one may say (or think), "I wish you were dead." Should that child die, the surviving child may think that his or her thoughts actually caused the death.
Is it going to happen to me?
The death of another child may be especially hard for a child. If the child thinks that the death may have been prevented (by either a parent or a doctor) the child may think that he or she could also die.
Who is going to take care of me?
Since children depend on parents and other adults to take care of them, a grieving child may wonder who will care for him or her after the death of an important person.
Grieving Children: Treatment
A child's grieving process may be made easier by being open and honest with the child about death, using direct language, and incorporating the child into memorial ceremonies for the person who died.
Explanation of death
Not talking about death (which indicates that the subject is off limits) does not help children learn to cope with loss. When discussing death with children, explanations should be simple and direct. Each child should be told the truth using as much detail as he or she is able to understand. The child's questions should be answered honestly and directly. Children need to be reassured about their own security (they often worry that they will also die, or that their surviving parent will go away). Children's questions should be answered, making sure that the child understands the answers.
A discussion about death should include the proper words, such as "cancer," "died," and "death." Substitute words or phrases (for example, "passed away," "he is sleeping," or "we lost him") should never be used because they can confuse children and lead to misunderstandings.
Planning memorial ceremonies
When a death occurs, children can and should be included in the planning and participation of memorial ceremonies. These events help children (and adults) remember loved ones. Children should not be forced to be involved in these ceremonies, but they should be encouraged to take part in those portions of the events with which they feel most comfortable. If the child wants to attend the funeral, wake, or memorial service, he or she should be given in advance a full explanation of what to expect. The surviving parent may be too involved in his or her own grief to give their child full attention, therefore, it may be helpful to have a familiar adult or family member care for the grieving child.
References and resources for grieving children
There are many helpful books and videos that can be shared with grieving children:
- Worden JW: Children and Grief: When a Parent Dies. New York: The Guilford Press, 1996.
- Doka KJ, Ed.: Children Mourning, Mourning Children. Washington, DC: Hospice Foundation of America, 1995.
- Wass H, Corr CA: Childhood and Death. Washington, DC: Hemisphere Publishing Corporation, 1984.
- Corr CA, McNeil JN: Adolescence and Death. New York: Springer Publishing Company, 1986.
- Corr, CA, Nabe CM, Corr DM: Death and Dying, Life and Living. 2nd ed., Pacific Grove: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company, 1997.
- Grollman EA: Talking About Death: A Dialogue Between Parent and Child. 3rd ed., Boston: Beacon Press, 1990.
- Schaefer D, Lyons C: How Do We Tell The Children?: Helping Children Understand And Cope When Someone Dies. New York: Newmarket Press, 1988.
- Wolfelt A: Helping Children Cope with Grief. Muncie: Accelerated Development, 1983.
- Walker A: To Hell with Dying. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1988.
- Williams M: Velveteen Rabbit. Garden City: Doubleday, 1922.
- Viost J: The Tenth Good Thing About Barney. New York: Atheneum, 1971.
- Tiffault BW: A Quilt for Elizabeth. Omaha: Centering Corporation, 1992.
- Levine J: Forever in My Heart: A Story to Help Children Participate in Life as a Parent Dies. Burnsville, NC: Rainbow Connection, 1992.
- Knoderer K: Memory Book: A Special Way to Remember Someone You Love. Warminster: Mar-Co Products, 1995.
- de Paola T: Nana Upstairs and Nana Downstairs. New York, NY: GP Putnam's Sons, 1973.
Culture and Response to Grief and Mourning
Grief felt for the loss of a loved one, the loss of a treasured possession, or a loss associated with an important life change, occurs across all ages and cultures. However, the role that cultural heritage plays in an individual's experience of grief and mourning is not well understood. Attitudes, beliefs, and practices regarding death must be described according to myths and mysteries surrounding death within different cultures.
Individual, personal experiences of grief are similar in different cultures. This is true even though different cultures have different mourning ceremonies, traditions, and behaviors to express grief. Helping families cope with the death of a loved one includes showing respect for the family's cultural heritage and encouraging them to decide how to honor the death. Important questions that should be asked of people who are dealing with the loss of a loved one include:
- What are the cultural rituals for coping with dying, the deceased person's body, the final arrangements for the body, and honoring the death?
- What are the family's beliefs about what happens after death?
- What does the family feel is a normal expression of grief and the acceptance of the loss?
- What does the family consider to be the roles of each family member in handling the death?
- Are certain types of death less acceptable (for example, suicide), or are certain types of death especially hard to handle for that culture (for example, the death of a child)?
Death, grief, and mourning spare no one and are normal life events. All cultures have developed ways to cope with death. Interfering with these practices may interfere with the necessary grieving processes. Understanding different cultures' response to death can help physicians recognize the grieving process in patients of other cultures.
To Learn More
For more information, U.S. residents may call the National Cancer Institute's (NCI's) Cancer Information Service toll-free at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-
422-6237) Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Deaf and hard-of-hearing callers with TTY equipment may call 1-800-332-8615. The call is free and a trained Cancer Information Specialist is available to answer your questions.
Web sites and Organizations
The NCI's Cancer.gov Web site provides online access to information on cancer, clinical trials, and other Web sites and organizations that offer support and resources for cancer patients and their families. There are also many other places where people can get materials and information about cancer treatment and services. Local hospitals may have information on local and regional agencies that offer information about finances, getting to and from treatment, receiving care at home, and dealing with problems associated with cancer treatment.
The NCI has booklets and other materials for patients, health professionals, and the public. These publications discuss types of cancer, methods of cancer treatment, coping with cancer, and clinical trials. Some publications provide information on tests for cancer, cancer causes and prevention, cancer statistics, and NCI research activities. NCI materials on these and other topics may be ordered online or printed directly from the NCI Publications Locator. These materials can also be ordered by telephone from the Cancer Information Service toll-free at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237), TTY at 1-800-332-8615.
The NCI's LiveHelp service, a program available on several of the Institute's Web sites, provides Internet users with the ability to chat online with an Information Specialist. The service is available from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Eastern time, Monday through Friday. Information Specialists can help Internet users find information on NCI Web sites and answer questions about cancer.
For more information from the NCI, please write to this address:NCI Public Inquiries Office, Suite 3036A, 116 Executive Boulevard, MSC8322 Bethesda, MD 20892-8322
PDQ is a comprehensive cancer database available on Cancer.gov.
PDQ is the National Cancer Institute's (NCI's) comprehensive cancer information database. Most of the information contained in PDQ is available online at Cancer.gov, the NCI's Web site. PDQ is provided as a service of the NCI. The NCI is part of the National Institutes of Health, the federal government's focal point for biomedical research.
PDQ contains cancer information summaries.
The PDQ database contains summaries of the latest published information on cancer prevention, detection, genetics, treatment, supportive care, and complementary and alternative medicine. Most summaries are available in two versions. The health professional versions provide detailed information written in technical language. The patient versions are written in easy-to-understand, nontechnical language. Both versions provide current and accurate cancer information.
The PDQ cancer information summaries are developed by cancer experts and reviewed regularly.
Editorial Boards made up of experts in oncology and related specialties are responsible for writing and maintaining the cancer information summaries. The summaries are reviewed regularly and changes are made as new information becomes available. The date on each summary ("Date Last Modified") indicates the time of the most recent change.
PDQ also contains information on clinical trials.
Some patients have symptoms caused by cancer treatment or by the cancer itself. Patients who have symptoms related to cancer treatment may want to take part in a clinical trial. A clinical trial is a study to answer a scientific question, such as whether one method of treating symptoms is better than another. Trials are based on past studies and what has been learned in the laboratory. Each trial answers certain scientific questions in order to find new and better ways to help cancer patients. During supportive care clinical trials, information is collected about new treatment methods, the risks involved, and how well they do or do not work. If a clinical trial shows that a new treatment is better than one currently being used, the new treatment may become "standard."
Listings of clinical trials are included in PDQ and are available online at Cancer.gov. Descriptions of the trials are available in health professional and patient versions. Many cancer doctors who take part in clinical trials are also listed in PDQ. For more information, call the Cancer Information Service 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237); TTY at 1-800-332-8615.
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