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October 25, 2012
Contact: John Ascenzi, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, 267-426-6055 or firstname.lastname@example.org
Obese teenagers who don’t get the proper amount of sleep may have disruptions in insulin secretion and blood sugar (glucose) levels, say pediatric researchers. Their study suggests that getting a good night’s sleep may stave off the development of type 2 diabetes in these adolescents.
“We already know that three out of four high school students report getting insufficient sleep,” said study investigator Dorit Koren, MD, a pediatric endocrinologist at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “Our study found to keep glucose levels stable, the optimal amount of sleep for teenagers is 7.5 to 8.5 hours per night.” She added that this is consistent with research in adults showing an association between sleep deprivation and increased risk of type 2 diabetes.
The study appears online today in the journal Diabetes Care.
The researchers studied 62 obese adolescents with a mean age of 14 years at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Over one and a half days, the children, who were white, African American and Hispanic teenagers, underwent glucose testing and an overnight sleep study. In addition to measuring total sleep time, the scientists studied “sleep architecture,” analyzing stages of sleep such as slow-wave “deep” sleep and rapid eye movement (dream) sleep.
The optimal sleep duration was neither too little nor too much, said Koren; both insufficient and excessive sleep were linked to higher glucose levels. While sleep stages did not predict glucose levels, lower duration of N3 (“deep” sleep) correlated with decreased insulin secretion.
The current study was the first to associate sleep duration with glucose levels in children and to report a link between N3 sleep and insulin secretion.
“Reduced insulin secretion may lead to the higher glucose levels that we found in subjects who had insufficient sleep,” said Koren. “We will seek to confirm these findings with home-based studies of sleep patterns in obese teenagers. In the meantime, our study reinforces the idea that getting adequate sleep in adolescence may help protect against type 2 diabetes.”
Funding support for the study came from the Pennsylvania State Tobacco Settlement Fund and the National Center for Research Resources, (part of the More information
National Institutes of Health). Koren’s co-authors were Lorraine E. Levitt Katz, M.D., Paul R. Gallagher, MA, Robert I. Berkowitz, MD, and Lee J. Brooks, MD, all of Children’s Hospital; and Preneet C. Brar, MD, of New York University School of Medicine. Koren, Levitt Katz, Berkowitz and Brooks are also from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
“Sleep Architecture and Glucose and Insulin Homeostasis in Obese Adolescents,” Diabetes Care, published online Sept. 20, 2011, to appear in November 2011 print edition.
Read the abstract | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30185000 |
Gone are the days when web browsers were simply tools to access the internet. Their basic function remains the same, but web browsers have improved so much that you can also do a lot of things other than using them for web browsing. Communication and the internet have become an important part in today’s society and web browsers have played a major role. In fact, the internet would not become what it is now if not for the development of web browsers.
Two of the most popular web browsers today are Google Chrome and Firefox. Both web browsers have evolved over time and both of them are free to download and use. There are other popular web browsers but it is safe to say that Chrome and Firefox are the two most popular web browsers today.
Everybody has a preferred web browser. Those who are on the internet for extended periods of time may even have a web browser that they have learned to trust.
What makes a web browser popular?
In the early days when the most popular web browser was Internet Explorer, mostly because it was the only one available for Windows based computers, browsing the internet was a bit difficult. Internet Explorer was plagued with problems that made it crash every so often.
Internet connections weren’t that fast during those times. The only way to connect to the internet was through a dial-up connection, unless you worked for an internet service provider or a large company. Ordinary people had to make do with a dial-up connection if they needed to get on the internet.
Slow internet connections sort of played down the faults of Internet Explorer, but this did not prevent others from developing web browsers to compete with IE. Mozilla was one of the first browsers to compete with IE and it really did give IE a run for its money.
Web browsers need to keep up with faster internet connections
When DSL home connections became popular and internet connection speeds became a whole lot faster, the importance of a reliable web browser became really evident. IE was left behind by a bunch of other web browsers. Google, which was initially just a search engine tool, came up with its own web browser called Google Chrome and the battle of web browsers began.
Faster internet connection speeds meant that web browsers needed to be able to open web pages faster as well. People no longer wanted to wait for web pages to come up and IE which had an awful reputation seemed to disappear in the background.
The first thing that people look for in a web browser is its ability to open web pages quickly. When Chrome was released, it easily got the reputation of being the fastest web browser. However, Firefox was not far behind and the latest release of Firefox can easily match Chrome’s speed in opening web pages.
Ease of Use
Another factor that people look for in web browsers is its ease of use. Some people think that the Firefox design is simple but a bit too simple. Chrome has managed to combine simplicity with functionality perfectly. It is simple and easy to use, yet a bit better designed than Firefox.
The internet would have limited functionality if you weren’t able to download files from it. File downloading is an area where Firefox takes the lead. Firefox has a fast file downloading time and in addition to this, it can also resume file downloads from where it was interrupted. This is was an ability that Chrome initially did not have, but Chrome extensions are now available that can resume an interrupted file download. Unfortunately, a lot of people have already learned to trust Firefox when it came to file downloading.
Security is a major factor when it comes to web browsing. Chrome leads in this area, but you should not think that Firefox is not secure. Firefox is also a secure web browser even if Chrome leads in security.
As mentioned earlier, web browsers have evolved from just being simple browsing tools into browsing tools that we can use to do many other tasks as well on the internet.
Apps and extensions are the way that web browsers have evolved. Both Chrome and Firefox have a lot of apps and extensions that you can choose from. In this area, Chrome and Firefox are pretty much the same.
If you’re looking for the best web browser, it would be difficult to say that Chrome is better than Firefox or the other way around. Both Chrome and Firefox are excellent web browsers. It really just boils down to which browser you have learned to trust over the years. Some people have learned to trust Chrome even though Firefox has been around longer. Firefox enthusiasts have stuck with this web browser over the years. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30187000 |
Though the chemistry and industrial processes for coal gasification were developed early in the 20th century by European scientists, Chinese engineers have recently developed a number of technical advances. And more efficient processes means using less coal to produce more chemicals.
Near Xilinhot, in eastern Inner Mongolia, China is testing a gasification process that doesn’t need a plant at all, but instead collects hot gases produced from an underground coal seam that was deliberately set on fire. The experimental “in-situ” coal-gasification practice has proven so efficient—using less coal and saving the water needed for coal mining and processing—that China has approved three additional demonstration projects across the northern and western regions.
Graphic by Season Schafer, Greg Hudson, Valerie Carnevale, Chelsea Kardokus, and Vicki Rosenberger, undergraduate students at Ball State University. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30192000 |
Taking Research Notes
How valuable is your time?
You work for hours and hours, sorting through databases, following one idea after another. You find information that's good and some that's not-so-good.
A week later you come back to your project. Where did you find the good stuff? What database were you using? What words did you put in? What was that great book the librarian showed you?
Keeping research notes will save you time.
Repeat: Keeping research notes will save you time!
After completing this tutorial, you should be able to:
- Identify the kinds of information that should be recorded.
- Identify a variety of techniques for keeping track of research. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30201000 |
Isolation of Genomic DNA from Plant using Magnetic Beads—NucleoMag 96 Plant
NucleoMag 96 Plant is designed for the rapid parallel purification of genomic DNA from plant tissues in a 96-well format. After lysis of the sample, genomic DNA is selectively bound to the NucleoMag Beads. Contaminants are washed away and the DNA can be eluted from the beads under low-salt conditions. Since the magnetic bead technology provides a closed system (no transfer of sample from one well to another is necessary during the preparation), the risk of cross-contamination is greatly reduced. The NucleoMag technology can be easily adapted to common laboratory automation platforms. It can be used either with static-pin separators (e.g., NucleoMag SEP) or magnetic separators integrated into robotic workstations. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30212000 |
Will This Decade Be More Grim Than the 1930s?
The problem, from its neighbors' point of view, with a unified Germany is that its increased relative economic might and strategic importance casts a giant shadow across Europe, relatively diminishing the global status and economic competitiveness of all other European countries.
The issue from a German perspective is that a unified Germany has enormous latent potential simply waiting to be unleashed to increase the gap between what the Fatherland sees as its rightful place and the rest of Europe.
In Imperial times, this conflict was expressed in terms of territorial ambitions, nationalistic fervor and military strength. WW I and WW II were the ultimate results of the failure to dress this in any form other than military combat.
British historian Alan John Percivale Taylor explained this better than anyone to my generation. Hopefully, we learned the diplomatic lessons and other than local conflicts (notwithstanding that some of which have seen appalling losses of life and acts of brutality), peace in most of Europe has prevailed since 1945.
Less clear is whether the economic lessons of the inter-war period (which certainly did so much to exacerbate the casus belli inherent in the Versailles Treaty) have been taken to heart.
The post-1918 global landscape abounded with economic imbalances. The "war to end all wars" concluded with a Soviet regime presiding over what had been the Russian Empire.
Germany came perilously close to a similar outcome following the Kaiser’s ignominious capitulation while the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires were being sliced and diced into nascent nations.
Both France and Britain were, like Germany, heavily indebted to the global provider of capital, America, whose main achievement until the latter part of the distant war had been the accumulation of enormous quantities of global gold reserves which allowed the U.S. dollar to call the shots to all other global currencies until 1971.
McKinsey’s study of the economic history of debt (serious students should absorb Rogoff and Reinhart’s “This time is different”) concludes that there are only four ways to deal with such an enormous build-up of debt:
This is the current U.S. strategy, based on the monetarist shibboleth that increasing money supply ultimately creates inflation. This theory has never succeeded (other than possibly one questionable instance in Chile) and has demonstrably failed.
The main monetarist theory apologist, Milton Friedman, (whose list of dangerous devotees is headed by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke) has excused the failures of monetarist policy by saying that all previous adherents failed because they didn’t do it enough. In other words, if something isn’t working then you need to do it more. In all previous crises, the markets imposed a limit to how far monetarist solutions could be pursued.
America is getting close to this point now – every injection of stimulus having a smaller and shorter-lived effect than its predecessor with some estimates now indicating that each $1 of stimulatory input results in only 12 cents of additional output. That doesn’t mean that the current monetarist ideologues are ready to abandon their strategy (it’s the only one they have) but the realization that the naked emperors of monetarism are naked is as imminent now as it was in 1932 when Hoover was forced to abandon the strategy.
As, of course, was his successor, Roosevelt, who added the firepower of what seemed to be unlimited leverage in a currency system that abandoned gold. The term "double-dip" was coined to describe the situation where recession/depression recurs because of the inability of central banks to maintain the effects of stimulatory output because of the law of diminishing returns.
In the inter-war period, the Weimar’s famous experiments with pursuing currency expansion to the ultimate extreme (to try to repay its war debts and the Versailles reparations) led to the famous hyperinflation where Marks became worth less than the actual cost of printing them. Mr. Bernanke’s complacent claims to be able to easily create inflation by harnessing the twin technologies of printing presses could well become his epitaph.
This is the current German/ECB/euro zone core prescription for Greece and its fellow "GIPSIs" (Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Italy) as well as being the UK coalition’s self-prescribed foul-tasting medicine. It’s understandable that there are huge scars on the German psyche following the Weimar period.
However, like the monetarist inflationary theories, the tail-chasing dog on an ever-downward spiral of trying to reduce debt while GDP is being destroyed has rarely, if ever, proven successful in major debt episodes. Inevitably it isn’t able to be pursued to its logical conclusion as people prove unwilling or unable to put up with it to that point.
Social Tensions Building Globally
As the FT pointed out last year, we should never forget that while hyper-inflation destroyed Germany's last shreds of self-esteem, it was the austerity imposed by Germany's creditors through the mechanisms of the Bank of International Settlements that led to the election of Hitler and the Nazi Party.
Social tensions are building globally – from jasmine riots to Arab Springs and from Tottenham Court Road to the recent euro zone election results. The results provide the glimmers of hope that some pressures can be released before austerity inevitably results again in self-appointed extreme dictatorships or military regimes.
War Event/Subsequent Peace Dividend
Ultimately, WW II did lead to the resolution of the 1929-1949 debt crisis. In that sense austerity did lead to the solution of the problem. I’ve previously described angela Merkel as Alaric, the 5th Century leader of the Goths who overthrew Athens and Rome by siege and starvation without a bullet needing to be fired in anger.
Globally, tensions between nations are on the rise again, as witnessed by the navies of China and the Philippines standing off over a tiny Pacific outcrop, Iran has raised stakes in the Straits of Hormuz over nuclear aspirations, Vladimir Putin's rhetoric and actions tend to be inflammatory, roguish nations continue to develop nuclear programs and the US has increased military presence in Asia Pacific.
Global nuclear conflagration ought to be totally unthinkable, but sadly it isn’t.
Nations default when they can’t pay. This happened in the 1930s and has started happening again today.
Default, whether outright (through debt repudiation) or de facto (currency/debt debasement) is rarely orderly (although Greece managed to live in default for over 50 percent of the last two centuries). It tends to happen when all other choices have been exhausted.
Whatever form it takes, if the conditions which led to the situation that caused it are changed, then it can be a base from which to achieve sustainable growth, cure dysfunctional banking and liquidate malinvestment, restoring social order at the same time.
This is what happened in South East Asia following the crises of 1997 and in Iceland after 2007.
What can we learn from our parents and grandparents? Answer given below in an economic formula:
(Santayana’s comments [those not learning the lessons of history are destined to repeat them] + Mark Twain’s "history doesn’t repeat, it rhymes" + Einstein’s definition of madness [doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results] + Hyman Minsky’s observations that trying to cure debt bubbles with more debt only ends in eventual catastrophe) = [I’ve said many times before that Liaquat Ali’s “Lords of Finance” should be compulsory in schools everywhere].
If we don’t learn lessons from 1930s parallels, there’s a very good chance that the outcomes of this decade might be > (grim than that one was).
The author is Paul Gambles, managing partner and group chief investment Officer, MBMG International. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30214000 |
The way we define things and how we name them determine how we view the world and, as a result, how we act and treat one another. Modern neuroscience shows that human perceive not the thing itself but a copy, an illusion created by the human brain, a copy that is as created by mental beliefs and attitudes as much as it is generated by energies in the physical world. Things are not as they appear, and how things appear can change over time.
A story I heard today on the radio show “This American Life” illustrates how powerful definitions are and what it can take to change them. “204: 81 Words,” covers the history of how the American Psychiatric Association (APA) decided in 1973 that homosexuality was no longer a mental illness. It’s about both the power of a family story and a social label, artfully and informatively told by National Public Radio reporter Alix Spiegel.
The story’s professional theme shows how the 81 words in American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) that defined homosexuality as a disease were replace by 204 that say it is not. For years, psychiatrists treated it as a disease to be cured, and psychoanalysts probed patients to see where the causes lay in family history.
I assume that “This American Life” host Ira Glass and his crew decided to rebroadcast the show, originally aired in 2002, because the forthcoming fifth edition of the APA’s manual, DSM-5, to be published in 2013, is now available for public comment. Comments are due April 20, 2010.
The story’s family theme focuses on the power of family stories. The reporter, Spiegel, is the granddaughter of a man who played an important role in revising the DSM description of homosexuality. Her family’s family story was more or less single-handedly responsible for the change. The granddaughter, in telling the history, found that the true story was much more complex and her grandfather’s role much less central, though still important.
I am not sure how Spiegel and her family changed through her telling of the story and the consequent shattering of the myth of her grandfather. I’d like to, for family stories provide a powerful organizing device for a family and the perception of its members. A change in the narrative generally changes the characters in the future, but his is not in Spiegel’s scope.
My personal interest centers on how things become named–more properly how people use language to designate aspects of human experience with words that have meanings upon which people act. “80 Words” recalled how appalled I am at the number of psychological experiences have been labeled diseases that should be treated by drugs.
About two years ago, I got into a cab on the way home from Midway airport and had a conversation with an extremely articulate and bright cab driver about philosophy, politics, and, of all things, drugs. When I mentioned that the drug seller’s on the streets of the city were not necessarily the biggest causes of the country’s drug problems, and my driver took that bait.
“Oh yeah, the real pusherboys work for the big drug companies,” he said.
“Makes the guys on the street seem like rank amateurs,” I replied in agreement.
Turned out we had both read an article in The Chicago Reader that week (2/14/08) called, “How Shy Became Sick.” That article and the book it profiles, Christopher Lane’s Shyness: How Normal Behavior Became a Sickness, provides a critical bit of history on the development of the psychological profession in recent years. It convinced me that if I had been in high school in the mid 90s rather than the mid 70s, I would have been on meds.
I would have been a very different person, and not for the better, though it occurs to me that I was on meds not sanctioned by the psychological profession. But that’s a different story.
“204: 81 Words” is well worth the hour it takes to play. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30224000 |
Census figures show that the percentage of Americans living in homes where languages other than English are spoken is on the rise. The country is becoming increasingly diverse, and it stands to reason that future generations will be exposed to more languages than those who came before us. (And research has shown that being bilingual is good for the brain.)
At the same time, the percentage of elementary and middle schools that offer foreign language courses has fallen significantly since 1997, according to a Missourian article from last year. In a country that is gaining diversity, some parents are responding by taking their own steps to expose children to foreign languages. For some people, that might mean checking out books in Spanish from the library. For others, it could mean enrolling their students in Columbia's schools that specialize in French and Chinese teaching.
We would like to hear from you about your experiences with and feelings about early childhood foreign language learning.
This project is part of the Missourian's partnership with the Public Insight Network. Learn more here. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30230000 |
Macrinus was Emperor of Rome from 217 - 218 A.D succeeding Caracalla after he was assasinated. Previously the praefect of the Praetorian guard, the protector of the Emperor, it is questioned whether or not he had a role in the murder of Caracalla. Nevertheless he became Emperor by self appointment and was later confirmed by the senate. The military gains that Caracallas made against the Parthian Empire were lost. When Macrinus tried to reduce the pay of the troops, a rival Emperor, Elagabalus was found who had the bloodline of Severus. Even though he was only a boy, powerful forces rallied around him. In a quick conflict, Macrinus was defeated and killed and Elagabalus took his place as Emperor. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30243000 |
WASHINGTON–The U.S. Helsinki Commission welcomed the Polish Parliament’s adoption today (July 29) of a resolution recognizing Romani victims of Nazi genocide and establishing August 2 as a remembrance day in Poland. Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski will participate in a remembrance event at Auschwitz on the 2nd.
Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04), Chairman of the U.S. Helsinki Commission said, “The vicious racism that led to the Nazi genocide against Roma seven decades ago continues to foster hatred and hate crimes against Roma. Recognizing, teaching, and remembering that painful history in a most dignified, solemn way is a critical part of combating bigotry against Roma today.”
“Throughout the OSCE region, including the United States, there is a crying need to better research, document, and convey information about the genocide of Roma," added Senator Ben Cardin (MD), the Commission’s Co-Chairman. “This month, I met with Father Patrick Desbois whose efforts documenting 800 WWII-mass grave sites in Ukraine and other areas has included the identification of 48 mass grave sites Roma. I commend him for this important work.”
Smith noted that even basic information about the Holocaust is sometimes incorrectly represented. “It is an historical error when news agencies reporting about the Auschwitz concentration camp in Nazi German-occupied Poland call it a ‘Polish concentration camp.’”
Cardin concluded by expressing regret that Germany has thus far failed to complete work on a memorial for Romani victims. “Last year, I wrote to the German Minister of Culture regarding long-delayed efforts to build a memorial in Berlin for Romani victims of the genocide. There has been negligible progress on that effort, and I hope the German government will exercise greater leadership to get this memorial built.”
During the Holocaust, approximately 23,000 Romani people were killed at the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp from many countries in Europe. Many Romani children died as the result of medical experiments performed by the notorious Nazi doctor Josef Mengele; others died from starvation, disease, and abuse. On the night of August 2-3, 1944, the “Zigeunerlager” (“Gypsy camp”) was liquidated and 2,897 Romani men, women, and children were killed in the gas chambers. The total number of Romani people murdered during the war is conservatively estimated at 500,000.
Poland recognizes January 27, the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, as Holocaust Remembrance Day. The United States delegation to the commemoration event at Auschwitz on August 2 will include Ambassador Ian Kelly, Head of Delegation to the OSCE, and Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues Douglas Davidson. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30265000 |
When we're sick we want a quick cure. So we go to the doctor and ask for an antibiotic.
Sometimes doctors give in to the pressure to prescribe an antibiotic, even though it's not going to work for every illness.
Every time a person takes antibiotics, sensitive bacteria are killed, but resistant germs may be left to grow and multiply. Repeated and improper uses of antibiotics are primary causes of the increase in drug-resistant bacteria, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.
Americans waste money every year purchasing antibiotics to fight the common cold and other viral infections, which antibiotics cannot cure. The drugs can cure bacterial infections.
The CDC says that $1.1 billion is spent annually on unnecessary adult upper respiratory infection antibiotic prescriptions. It is estimated that more than 50 percent of antibiotics are unnecessarily prescribed.
Antibiotic resistance has been called one of the world's most pressing public health problems, and the best way to combat it, the CDC says, is not to take the medications when it's not necessary.
Antibiotic resistance is leading to higher treatment costs, longer hospital stays and unnecessary deaths. The CDC estimates that nearly 100,000 people die from infections they pick up in the hospital every year. The vast majority are caused by bacteria that have developed resistance to the antibiotics used to treat them.
Overuse of antibiotics isn't only due to people overusing them.
There's also a big problem with too many antibiotics being used in animals that are part of the food supply.
"Doctors and patients need to be much more careful about how they use antibiotics if we're going to preserve their power," said Jean Halloran, Director of Food Policy Initiatives for Consumers Union. "But we also need to get smart about the overuse of antibiotics in food animals. It's time to stop the daily feeding of antibiotics to healthy food animals, which makes these life-saving medications less effective for people."
Some 80 percent of all antibiotics sold in the U.S. are used on food animals, mostly to make them grow faster or prevent disease in unsanitary conditions. As a result of large-scale use of antibiotics in livestock production, most of the bugs that are vulnerable to the antibiotics are eventually killed off, leaving behind superbugs that are immune to one or more of the drugs. These superbugs spread on the farm and beyond, contributing to antibiotic resistance in hospitals and our communities.
Antibiotic-resistant superbugs from the farm are causing serious illness and even death. Consumer Reports found in 2010 that two-thirds of the chicken samples it tested were contaminated with salmonella or campylobacter, or both, and that more than 60 percent of those organisms were antibiotic-resistant.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has asked drug companies and livestock growers to voluntarily eliminate growth promotion uses of antibiotics over the next three years. Consumers Union has called on the agency to restrict the use of antibiotics in food animals to the treatment of veterinarian-diagnosed sick animals only.
In June, Consumers Union launched its Meat Without Drugs campaign to encourage grocery stores to move away from selling meat and poultry raised on a steady diet of antibiotics. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30271000 |
Go to this Page for the form and instructions on
out the The Iowa Site Inventory Form.
The purpose of the "Section 106 Process" is to assure that no unnecessary harm comes to historic properties as a result of federal actions. It is also considered regulatory archaeology. Under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (as amended), federal agencies are required to take into account the effect of their proposed undertakings on properties listed in or eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. The federal agencies must allow the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation a reasonable opportunity to comment before proceeding with the project. The federal agencies are required to do this work before the expenditure of federal funds or the issuance of any licenses or permits. See the User's Guide on the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation web site.
The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation has established procedures for compliance with Section 106. These regulations are presented in 36 CFR Part 800. Once a federal agency has identified that it has an undertaking, the agency must define the undertaking's Area of Potential Effect. The Area of Potential Effect must include areas directly or indirectly impacted by the action. For example, the Area of Potential Effect for a natural gas pipeline would include not only the actual pipeline trench, but also includes the construction right-of-way, compressor stations, meter stations, staging areas, storage yards, access roads, and other ancillary facilities.
The agency needs to consider the full range of effects that might occur. For example, a construction project might cause vibration impacts to historical archaeological sites that contain structural remains. Note, too, that the Area of Potential Effect might be different for aboveground resources subject to visual or audible effects. For example, Effigy Mounds National Monument, with its setting high atop the bluffs, provides a spectacular view into the Mississippi River valley. Undertakings along the river can impact the view from Effigy Mounds; thus, agencies planning undertakings in the valley might need to include this property in the Area of Potential Effect.
Once the agency has defined the undertaking and the Area of Potential Effect, it is ready to begin Section 106 compliance.
The regulations outline a five-step process.
In Step 1, the regulations require that the federal agency "make a reasonable and good faith effort to identify historic properties that may be affected by the undertaking and gather sufficient information to evaluate the eligibility of these properties for the National Register." The regulations also specify that "efforts to identify historic properties should follow the Secretary's Standards (which are advisory) and Guidelines for Archeology and Historic Preservation" (36 CFR Part 800.4a(2)). Particularly, the identification efforts should be consistent with the Secretary of the Interior's Standards and Guidelines for Identification.
In accordance with 36 CFR Part 800.4a(1), the agency official shall:
The Federal agency has ultimate authority in making determinations on proposed undertakings under the National Historic Preservation Act; SHPO acts as a consulting party within the process and has no regulatory authority.
As part of the identification process, an agency may need to have an identification survey (Phase IA Reconnaissance survey or Phase I Intensive survey) conducted in the area of potential effect particularly if no information on historic properties is available for the area of potential effect and there appears to be a potential for historic properties to be located within the area of potential effect. This survey is conducted to identify cultural resources that exist within the proposed project area. The majority of cultural resources found are often determined to not be significant, and thus, no further work is needed on them.
However, Phase I surveys sometimes identify sites that are potentially eligible for listing on the National Register. Such a finding would necessitate additional archaeological investigations in the form of Phase II testing, which involves detailed research to determine the significance and integrity of the sites. If the Phase II testing results in finding National Register-eligible properties, then the project moves to Step 2 in the Section 106 process.
Step 2 involves carefully examining the project to determine whether it will have an effect on the identified historic properties. An effect occurs when "the undertaking may alter characteristics of the property that may qualify the property for inclusion in the National Register." If an effect is found, then the federal agency and the SHPO consult to determine whether the effect is adverse. An undertaking is considered to have an adverse effect when the effect on the historic property may diminish the integrity of the property's location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, or association.
If there is an adverse effect, then the agency and the SHPO consider ways to minimize the impact of the project on the resource. This is Step 3. A decision should be made about what to do with the historic property. There are various ways to minimize the impact to the identified historic property that are discussed in the Guidelines for Conducting Archaeological Investigations in Iowa. Re-designing the project to avoid the historic property may appear as one way of minimizing the impact but may actually delay the decision about what to do with the historic property.
Once the federal agency and the SHPO have consulted, the project moves to Step 4. At this step, the Advisory Council has the opportunity to comment on the undertaking. Once the Council's comments have been taken into account, the project moves to Step 5 and proceeds.
The federal agency is legally required to see that the Section 106 process is completed. If the agency does not fulfill its responsibilities, then any citizen or organization can pursue legal action to make the agency fulfill the requirements. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30273000 |
|glossary - Sustainable Development|
Page 7 of 9
Sustainability has become one of the core issues of development. This means that investment in economic growth is pursued in ways that consider a long-term perspective and do not endanger the living standards, options and opportunities of future generations. Originally it focused mainly on environmental dangers but in the context of late capitalism encompassing all sectors of life and the economy, cultural development has also been brought into the issue.
Based on the argument that development efforts have hitherto largely neglected cultural aspects, it has been suggested that the cultural indicators for policy agendas such as sustainable development, quality of life or human rights have also to be considered. Among the indicators identified are cultural diversity, the dynamics and vitality of the cultural sector, or the opportunities for cultural access and participation, which should work as key criteria for ‘cultural planning’, an operational and analytical framework targeted at bringing cultural considerations into all processes of planning and development.
In 1991 UNESCO created the World Commission on Culture and Development. In its Report ‘Our Creative Diversities’ (1995), it devoted a separate chapter to the interdependency of culture and development. Similarly, the Council of Europe Declaration on Cultural Diversity (2001) states that “sustainable development as defined in relation to cultural diversity, assumes that technological and other developments, which occur to meet the needs of the present, will not compromise the ability of future generations to meet their needs with respect to the production, provision and exchange of culturally diverse services, products and practices”.
Meanwhile, sustainability has already become a key criterion for funding in the EU (e.g. the Structural Funds). An area identified for action is cultural heritage. To avoid ‘sustainability’ being reduced to a hollow phrase or to an argument promoting mainly preservation and conservation would mean looking at heritage as an ongoing capacity: heritage – tangible and intangible – should be continual and enriched by what is currently being produced or happening in the cultural field. Heritage requires not only protection, but development. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30274000 |
CureSearch for Children's Cancer funds and supportstargeted and innovative children's cancer research with measurableresults, and is the authoritative source of information and resourcesfor all those affected by children's cancer.
A number of treatments are used for lymphoma in children, or non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). Treatment plans are tailored to the specific type of NHL and its stage. Not all patients will need all of these treatments, but it is important to know that most forms of NHL in children cannot be cured with surgery alone.
ChemotherapyChemotherapy is the standard treatment for non-Hodgkin lymphoma. It uses medications to kill cancer cells or to prevent them from multiplying and spreading. Chemotherapy drugs can be given by mouth or through a needle into the vein or muscle. The drugs go into the bloodstream so that they reach all parts of the body (systemic) to kill cancer cells throughout the body.
Radiation therapyRadiation therapy uses high-energy rays to kill cancer cells. Radiation is rarely needed in the overall therapy of children with NHL.
High dose chemotherapy or radiation therapy with stem cell transplantationIf the lymphoma comes back after successful treatment (relapse) or if the lymphoma does not respond to conventional treatments (refractory), higher dose chemotherapy with or without radiation followed by a stem cell transplant (rescue) may offer the best chance of cure. There are two types of transplant and the type used will depend on the specific type of lymphoma and other factors.
Monoclonal antibody therapyMonoclonal antibody therapy uses antibodies (proteins) made in a laboratory, which are able to recognize specific cancer cells by special “markers” on the cells. The antibodies attach to these markers, causing the cancer cells to die or preventing them from multiplying. Monoclonal antibodies are given intravenously in the same way chemotherapy is given. The use of monoclonal antibodies is being evaluated for effectiveness when used in conjunction with chemotherapy. One monoclonal antibody that has proven useful in the treatment of NHL in adult patients is rituximab.
Causes of Non-Hodgkin LymphomaResearchers currently DO NOT know what causes non-Hodgkin lymphoma and only a few risk factors for non-Hodgkin lymphoma are known for sure.
GenderBoys are two to three times more likely to develop non-Hodgkin lymphoma before age 20 compared to girls. For every two girls diagnosed, about five boys are diagnosed.
Race and ethnicityCaucasian children are about 40% more likely to develop non-Hodgkin lymphoma compared to African American children.
Children with impaired immune system are more likely to develop non-Hodgkin lymphoma than other children. For example, children with HIV (the cause of AIDS) or being treated to suppress the immune system after an organ transplant are more susceptible to NHL. Children with these conditions are more at risk for non-Hodgkin lymphoma, but they account for only a small fraction of cases. Also, children with defects in their body’s ability to repair gene mutations, such as ataxia telangiectasia or Fanconi anemia, are at increased risk to develop NHL.
Participate In Research StudiesResearchers are studying the causes of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. If there is a research study "open" in COG, and your child is "eligible" you may be asked to participate. It is also possible that you may be asked to participate in more than one study.
Whether an individual is eligible for a particular study may depend on age, year of diagnosis and other information. Researchers usually must limit their study to some of these characteristics to have a scientifically valid study. For example, a study might be restricted to patients diagnosed within certain years so the researchers can locate nearly all eligible families and avoid asking parents to recall events too far in the past.
Researchers investigating the causes of non-Hodgkin lymphoma usually will interview one or both parents by telephone. During the interview, parents are asked questions about their experiences and those of their child. The purpose is to gather information that may or may not influence the risk of cancer. The researchers don’t know whether these things influence risk. They are asking the questions to find out more. Sometimes, the researcher will ask for a small biological sample from you and your child, usually cheek cells, blood or hair. Researchers may also ask for samples of dust or water from your home. The researchers use the information from the interviews and the samples to study whether genes or exposures such as medications, radon and chemicals alone or together make some people more likely to develop cancer.
Researchers design various studies to improve treatment and advance the understanding of cancer and its causes. Clinical trials are carefully reviewed and must be approved through a formal scientific process before anyone can be enrolled. If there is a research study “open” that your child is “eligible for,” you may be asked to allow your child to participate. It is also possible that your child will be asked to participate in more than one study.
Whether an individual is eligible for a particular study may depend on age, location of the cancer, the extent of the disease and other information. Researchers usually must limit their study to some of these characteristics to have a scientifically valid study. Further, researchers must follow exactly the same restrictions throughout the study.
If your child is eligible to participate in one or more study, your doctor will discuss these with you during an initial treatment conference (also called informed consent conference). The doctor will describe the study, potential risks of participation, and other information you need to decide whether or not you would like your child to participate in the study. You always have the choice to participate or not in research studies.
If you do choose to have your child participate in a study, you doctor will explain what type of information you will receive about the results of the study. The overall results of the research study will be published to inform the public and other researchers. No study will publish any information that identifies an individual.
Visit the Clinical Trials section of this website to learn more about the various kinds of research studies. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30275000 |
ILLINOIS STATE ARCHIVES
Abraham Lincoln in Illinois
A Selection of Documents from the Illinois State Archives
AN ACT TO PERMANENTLY LOCATE THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS
February 7, 1837
Although a Senate bill, this piece of legislation was written by Abraham Lincoln and helped mark one of the major accomplishments of his state legislative career. It was part of the numerous maneuvers by Sangamon County legislators to move the state capital from Vandalia to Springfield.
Upon the organization of Illinois as a territory in 1809, Kaskaskia, located on the Mississippi River in southwestern Illinois, became the capital city. It continued as the capital when Illinois became a state in 1818. Illinois before the Civil War was generally settled from south to north. This meant the population center of the state continuously moved northward. In 1820, the state moved the capital to the town of Vandalia, which was farther north than Kaskaksia. However, the statute moving the capital called for it to be reviewed after twenty years.
Lincoln and eight other legislators represented Sangamon County, then a much larger area than it is today. The average height of these two senators and seven representatives was six feet tall, earning the delegation the nickname the "Long Nine." Going in to the tenth session of the Illinois General Assembly (1836-1838) Lincoln led this bipartisan delegation, which was determined to have the capital relocated to Springfield.
Stephen Douglas, who opposed moving the capital to Springfield, later said of the "Long Nine," that "They used every exertion and made every sacrifice to secure the passage of the bill." Indeed, they would later be accused of voting for building projects in other legislators' districts in exchange for the votes for Springfield as state capital.
This document calls for a joint House-Senate meeting to vote on the location of a new capital. The joint House-Senate vote actually took place February 28, 1837. It took four ballots before legislators selected Springfield. Its nearest rivals were Alton, Vandalia and Jacksonville.
Springfield continues to serve as the state capital. Shortly after the vote, on April 15, 1837, Lincoln moved to Springfield and joined the law firm of John Todd Stuart.
Points to Consider
Why would Vandalia only have been made a temporary capital city?
Why would the moving of the state capital be a major achievement for Lincoln?
Why would Lincoln move to Springfield after this bill was passed? | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30276000 |
Lyndon Johnson Sends George Ball to Cyprus, 1964
George Ball was one of America=s premier diplomats in the 1960s. He was under secretary of state in 1964 when he became involved in the Cyprus problem. This excerpt is from his memoir. It demonstrates very clearly how the United States regarded the ACyprus problem,@ mainly as a venue of superpower intrigue. The Americans were concerned about Cyprus becoming a AMediterranean Cuba,@ and their diplomacy was geared toward bringing Cyprus under control of NATO, possibly through Adouble enosis.@ This 1982 excerpt from Ball's memoir, The Past Has Another Pattern, is also valuable for insights into how high-level diplomacy was conducted.
Threat of Greek-Turkish War
Watching from Washington, we could see that open warfare was imminent. Since the Turkish Cypriote population was suffering the greater casualties, Turkey was on the verge of intervening. To defuse the situation, Sir Duncan Sandys, the British Secretary of State for the Commonwealth and Colonies, proposed a peace plan calling for, among other things, the establishment of a British-controlled neutral zone in Nicosia to keep the two communities apart. Though that temporarily stowed the fighting, the two communities remained at sword's point. The Turkish Cypriotes declared the constitution dead, implying that, since the two communities could not live together, partition was the only solution. Makarios demanded the abolition of the London-Zurich Accords and particularly their provisions for intervention by any of the three guarantor powers.
Cyprus was merely one more step in Britain's painful shedding of empire, and London no longer had the will or the resources to preside over such a quarrel. Thus I was not surprised when, on January 25, 1964, the British ambassador, Sir David Ormsby-Gore, called to tell me that Britain could no longer keep the peace alone and that an international force should be established on Cyprus as soon as possible. Such a force, the ambassador insisted, could be "broadly based" yet limited to detachments from NATO nations. The British needed, most of all, our diplomatic support and a United States contingent with supplies and airlift for the international force.
I stated emphatically that the United States did not want to get involved: we already had far too much on our plate. I was sick at heart at our deepening embroilment in Vietnam; at the same time, we faced mounting troubles in Panama, had an irksome involvement in the Congo, were disputing with the Soviets over Berlin, and foresaw mounting difficulties with Indonesia. But the British were adamant. They would no longer carry the Cyprus burden alone, even though involving the United Nations risked giving the Communist countries leverage in that strategically placed island. The United Nations would dither and the Turks would not wait; tired of continued outrages against Turkish Cypriotes, they would invade. Then we would have a full-scale war between two NATO allies in the eastern Mediterranean. Reports from Ankara were already indicating that the Turks considered their ultimate military intervention as almost inevitableCout of their hands and to be determined by events.
When I discussed the question with our UN ambassador, Adlai Stevenson, he responded with far more heat than I had expected. During the "troubles" he had stayed for three days in Archbishop Makarios's residence and he regarded his former host with total contempt. The Archbishop was, he said, a wicked, unreliable conniver who concealed his venality under the sanctimonious vestments of a religious leader; the only way to deal with Makarios, Stevenson assured me, was by "giving the old bastard absolute hell." In all the years I had known Adlai I had never heard him speak of anyone with such vitriol. "I have sat across the table from that pious looking replica of Jesus Christ," he said, "and if you saw him with his beard shaved and a push-cart, you would recall the old saying that there hasn't been an honest thief since Barabbas."
The United States Becomes Involved
I met with Secretary Robert McNamara at five that afternoon (January 25), and we reviewed the Cyprus problem in all its complexities. Though Bob was as unhappy as I at any broadening of our responsibilities, he was fully aware that an exploding Cyprus could not only endanger our Mediterranean position but undermine the whole southern flank of NATO. I discussed the matter later that evening with President Johnson. His reluctance came through loud and clear, but he quickly grasped the seriousness of the Cyprus problem and directed me to come up with an acceptable solution.
I told Bob McNamara that before committing ourselves to the combined force we should insist on three conditions: that the duration of the force be limited to three months, that the Turks and Greeks agree not to use their unilateral intervention rights for three months, and that they agree on a mediator who was not a representative of any of the guarantor powers but from another NATO European country. Finally, we would insist that the American contingent not exceed twelve hundred men, with the British agreeing to put in four thousand and the balance of ten thousand to come from other European nations. Meanwhile, David Bruce, our astute ambassador in London, was assuring me that we had no option but to participate; otherwise, no other country would take action, and the Turks would inevitably move. That advice was rein- forced when, that same day of January 28, 1064, Turkish Prime Minister Ismet Inonu told our ambassador in Ankara, Raymond Hare, that the Turks were going to invade unless we gave them some kind of an answer by the next morning.
In their anxiety to commit us, the British leaked my three conditions to the press prematurely, and I had to deal with an outraged President. Moreover, I was annoyed that Duncan Sandys, without telling me, had on February 3 tried out our Anglo-American proposal for a NATO force on Cypriote Foreign Minister Spyros Kyprianou, who was attending the London conference. When Kyprianou reported our proposal to Nicosia, Makarios rejected it out of hand. If we were to work with the British, actions had to be carefully coordinated without the premature exposure of our thinking.
Meanwhile, violence continued in Cyprus with hostages taken by each side; on February 4, a bomb exploded in our embassy in Nicosia. Since the situation had now reached a critical flash point, we clearly needed someone on the spot not accredited to any one of the five nations actively involved. Thus, on February 8, I flew to London. At the same time, a second level of activity was under way in New York, where Stevenson was valiantly resisting the efforts of the Cypriote ambassador to the United Nations to get a UN force appointed.
At this moment the respective positions of the parties were: The Turkish Cypriotes demanded partition and the right to govern their own community; they also insisted on preserving Turkey's right to intervene under the London-Zurich Accords, since otherwise the Turkish Cypriotes might be wiped out by their Greek Cypriote neighbors, who outnumbered them four to one. The Turkish government in Ankara supported the Turkish Cypriotes, while putting special emphasis on the preservation of Turkey's right to intervene by force. The Greek community on Cyprus wanted union with Greece (enosis), but, at least for tactical purposes, was demanding a fully independent Cyprus run by the Greek majority. The Greek government in Athens pressed for enosis.
Viewed from Washington, the issues were clear enough. Cyprus was a strategically important piece of real estate at issue between two NATO partners: Greece and Turkey. We needed to keep it under NATO control. The Turks would never give up their intervention rights or be deterred from invading by the interjection of a UN force which they would regard as an instrument of Soviet or Third-World politics and subject to manipulation by Makarios. My first and most urgent task was to coordinate our activities with the British and make sure that Duncan Sandys did not again act unilaterally. Makarios must be approached in person and not through his foreign minister, who, in his own right, had no authority.
Mission to the Center of Conflict
I had no illusions that I could easily shake Makarios out of his intransigence, but I had to try. If he finally turned us down, I planned to say to the guarantor powers: take the problem to the Security Council but understand that America will supply no component for any UN force. Though I recognized that this might trigger a Turkish invasion, I proposed to tell Makarios that, if he continued to block a solution that would eliminate Turkey's reason for intervening, we would not protect him from a Turkish move.
I made these points to Sandys when we met on February 9, 1964. I told him I was planning to go to Turkey, Greece, and Cyprus and described the strategy I would follow. He and I discussed all the solutions we could think of, including all permutations and combinations that might improve the plan's marketability. Since the President had lent me an airplane, I asked Sandys to make the tour with me, bill, presumably out of a desire to limit Britain's responsibility, he declined. Later that same night I saw Cypriote Foreign Minister Kyprianou and tried to sound him out on the Archbishop's real intentions.
I went first to Turkey to meet with Prime Minister Ismet Inonu. I had looked forward to the meeting not only because of its relevance to my mission but because of the Prime Minister's history and personality. Inonu, who in his early life had been known as Ismet Pasha, was a legendary figure. Chief of staff to Kemal Ataturk during the war against the Greeks in the early 1920s, he had taken the name Inonu from a village where he won two battles. Serving as Turkey's first Prime Minister from 1923 to 1937 and then, after Ataturk's death, as its President from 1938 to 1950, he had led in transforming Turkey into a modern state. Now at eighty, once again Prime Minister, he provided stability and strength to a nation beset with troubles.
A small wiry man, Inonu's quiet voice projected force and conviction. He did not try to conceal his deep worry about the direction of events on Cyprus. We must, he insisted, move swiftly: Turkish patience was running out. Given the excited state of public opinion, any overnight flare-up of killing on the island might force the Turkish military to intervene. Turkey would, of course, have an overwhelming military advantage. Not only was it far larger and better armed than Greece, but Cyprus was outside the range of Greek fighter planes. As I expected, Inonu was as direct in his approach as Makarios was devious. So long as nothing was done to impair Turkey's right of intervention to protect the Turkish Cypriote population, the Turkish government was prepared to go along with the Anglo-American proposal for a NATO force.
If I felt reassured that Turkey had a strong and responsible government, Greece had no government at all. Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis had resigned the year before, when King Paul had rejected his advice, and, since then, there had been a succession of caretaker governments. Though the caretaker Prime Minister, Ionnis Paraskevopoulos, received me courteously, he could make no commitments, saying only that the Greek government would probably approve any plan first approved by Makarios.
Meetings with His Beatitude
I arrived to find Nicosia an armed camp with barbed wire demarcating a so-called "green line" separating the Greek and Turkish communities. Access from one zone to another was restricted to designated check points. Jeeps containing British forces with tommy guns and Cypriote police roamed the area and patrolled the neutral zone that lay between the separate rolls of barbed wire.
On my first meeting with His Beatitude (as Archbishop Makarios was addressed) on February 12, I was accompanied by Joseph Sisco, the Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs; his deputy. Jack Jernagan; and Frazer Wilkins, the United States Ambassador to Cyprus. British interests were brilliantly represented by Sir Cyril Pickard, Assistant Under Secretary of State for the Commonwealth Relations Office, who was, at the time. Acting High Commissioner for Cyprus. Makarios received us on the porch of his residence, formerly the residence of the British colonial governor. Resplendent in the full regalia of his ecclesiastical office, he wore a tall black head-covering with a mantia in the rear, while about his neck was a gold chain, from which depended a large medallion known as a panagia. It contained a representation of Christ holding a book in his left hand while the fingers of the right hand were frozen in the gesture of giving blessing. Resting on the Archbishop's chest, the medallion symbolized a "confessor from the heart" to remind the wearer that he was always to have God in his heart. I saw few signs of that in the days that followed.
After the traditional tiresome pleasantries, the Archbishop led us to his study, where he went through an astonishing striptease, removing his gold chain, his head covering, and his robes until reduced to shirt sleeves. Newspaper pictures of the Archbishop, with his beard and clerical trappings, had given me an impression of a venerable ecclesiastic. Now I found myself facing a tough, cynical man of fifty-one, far more suited to temporal command than spiritual inspiration. (As I commented later to President Johnson, "He must be cheating about his age; no one could acquire so much guile in only fifty-one years.") Since he had spent some months in a seminary near Boston, he spoke only slightly accented English, and his conversation was marked by a whimsical, often macabre humor that both amused and appalled me. Of medium height, with eyes that peered through narrow eyelids, he seemed about to relish the fencing match in which we were to engage.
Our morning meeting was relatively calm and uneventful. As we explained our respective positions, Makarios gave nothing away. When we parted for lunch, he carefully rerobed, putting on all his paraphernalia for the photographers who assaulted us on the porch: when we returned for our afternoon meeting, he once again repeated his strip- tease.
I can describe the afternoon session only as "bloody." The Archbishop was unrelenting in repeating a litany he knew I would never accept. The whole matter must be submitted to the UN Security Council; and the United Nations must guarantee the political independence and territorial integrity of Cyprus. That meant, as I told my British colleague later, that Makarios's central interest was to block off Turkish intervention so that he and his Greek Cypriotes could go on happily massacring Turkish Cypriotes. Obviously we would never permit that.
Much to my delight, my British colleague, Sir Cyril Pickard, proved tough and resourceful. In the great tradition of British proconsuls, he was deeply dedicated to stopping the wanton killing and returning peace to the island. Nor did he bother with diplomatic politesse in expressing his contempt for the bloody-mindedness that Makarios and his government were displaying. After Pickard had denounced the Archbishop in devastating language for the outrages inflicted on the Turkish Cypriotes, I spent the next forty-five minutes telling off Makarios and his ministers. I spoke, as I telegraphed the President that night, "in a fashion remote from diplomatic exchanges," describing in lurid detail the consequences if he persisted in his cruel and reckless conduct. The Turks, I said, would inevitably invade, and neither the United States nor any other Western power would raise a finger to stop them. Though Makarios tried to conceal his discomfiture, I had the odd feeling as we left the room that, as I reported to the President, "even his beard seemed pale."
That night I conversed with the President and Secretary Rusk through the scrambledCand hence secureCteletype in the embassy, telling them that, in my view, a blow-up was exceedingly possible and that overwhelming pressure must be brought on Makarios "to frighten him sufficiently to consider some move to halt the killing."
Three or four vignettes of my Cyprus days stand out sharply in my memory. A massacre took place in Limassol on the south coast in which, us I recall, about fifty Turkish Cypriotes were killedCin some cases by bulldozers crushing their flimsy houses. As Makarios and I walked out of the meeting together on the second day, I said to him sharply that such beastly actions had to stop, that the previous night's affair was intolerable, and that he must halt the violence. With amused tolerance, lie replied, "But, Mr. Secretary, the Greeks and Turks have lived together for two thousand years on this island and there have always been occasional incidents; we are quite used to this." I was furious at such a bland reply. "Your Beatitude," I said, "I've been trying for the last two days to make the simple point that this is not the Middle Ages but the latter part of the twentieth century. The world's not going to stand idly by and let you turn this beautiful little island into your private abattoir." Instead of the outburst I had expected, he said quietly, with a sad smile, "Oh, you're a hard man, Mr. Secretary, a very hard man!"
At another point in our conversation on the second day, I spoke so heatedly at his apparent indifference to bloodshed that I heard myself saying, "For Christ's sake. Your Beatitude, you can't do that!"Crealizing as I spoke that it was scarcely an appropriate diplomatic reply, even to an irreligious ecclesiastic. Also on the second day, when we sat down around the table, he said, with obvious amusement, "I know you're a famous lawyer, Mr. Secretary. Mr. Spyros Kyprianou, my Foreign Minister, is also a lawyer and so is Mr. Glafkos Clerides, my Minister of Justice." Then he added with a chuckle, "I think I must be the only layman in the room."
On the third dayCand final morningCthe Archbishop and I had a quiet talk alone in his study. Rather whimsically, he said, "I like you, Mr. Secretary, you speak candidly and I respect that. It's too bad we couldn't have met under happier circumstances. Then, I'm sure, we could have been friends." A brief pause and then he said. "We've talked about many things and we've been frank with one another. I think it right to say that we've developed a considerable rapport. Yet there's one thing I haven't asked you and I don't know whether I should or not, but I shall anyway. Do you think I should be killed by the Turks or the Greeks? Better by the Greeks, wouldn't you think?"
"Well," I replied, "I agree that we've talked frankly to one another about many things and that we have established a rapport. But as to the matter you've just raised with me. Your Beatitude, that's your problem!"
One final incident during my stay in Cyprus sticks in my mind. Quite by accident while I was in Cyprus, British Prime Minister Sir Alex Douglas-Home, and British Foreign Secretary "Rab" Butler, were paying a working visit to President Johnson. Each night I carried on a long teletype conversation directly with them and Secretary Rusk. Late in the night of the second day, I teletyped that I wanted to make one final effort to get the Archbishop in line by offering a new variant of our proposal. After discussion back and forth in which both the President and Prime Minister took part, I received their blessing to go ahead. The next day, I played my final card but still could not budge Makarios. I sent a message around the diplomatic circuit advising of what I had done and received an angry rocket from Duncan Sandys, vehemently complaining that I had put forward a proposal that differed from those on which he and I had agreed. "I hope," he wired, "that such conduct will not be repeated." Apparently he was still smarting because I had rebuked him when he had put our proposals prematurely to Kyprianou.
I replied with a personal message that he had no basis for a sense of outrage. The proposal I made to His Beatitude was, I wrote, approved by the President of the United States and the Prime Minister of Great Britain, adding, "Should I seek higher authority?" Sandys replied promptly with a message apologizing for the "misunderstanding" and inviting me to lunch with him at his house Sunday in London. It was a pleasant lunch, and he and I have remained friends to this day.
Continued Efforts to Avoid Disaster
Convinced that only time and events could shake the Archbishop, I flew back to Ankara to see Inonu and tell the Turks that we had not given up; in going forward through UN channels we would make sure that the United Nations took no action derogating from their intervention rights under the Accords. Inonu reluctantly agreed but emphasized that if there were further serious violence on the island, Turkey would no longer stand still.
On the night of February 14, I flew to London intending to meet with my British colleagues the next morning. Because the embassy residence was filled with other visitors, my staff and I were housed in a West End hotel, the Grosvenor House. I was tired and disheartenedCso deeply concerned at the danger of an imminent Greek-Turkish war that I could not sleep. After several hours of fretting over the problem, I devised one last card to be played. At three in the morning, I aroused my staff and began to dictate. By six o'clock, with a draft in shape for final typing, I decided to walk over to the chancery and get ready for the day. On the way, I bought a copy of the Telegraph, which had my picture on the front page. When I reached the chancery, the marine guard refused to admit me. "You claim to be the Under Secretary of State, but how do I know?" Inspired, I showed him a copy of the newspaper. It proved an adequate laissez-passer.
I promptly telegraphed the President advising him of my proposal, which, I said, I was putting to the British solely as an idea of my own that did not in any way represent the views of my government. Makarios, I argued, would never agree to a peace-keeping force even half-way adequate to do the job, and, "if he does agree, it will only be after the Cypriotes have exhausted all pettifogging possibilities to try to get the Security Council to nullify the Turks' rights of intervention." "The Greek Cypriotes," I wrote, "do not want a peace-keeping force; they just want to be left alone to kill Turkish Cypriotes." Meanwhile, I emphasized, the Turks would not wait for a protracted Security Council hassle.
My new plan sought to create a peace-keeping force not requiring the consent of the Makarios government. To do that, the three guarantor powersCBritain, Greece, and TurkeyCshould take joint action to exercise the rights of intervention provided by the London-Zurich Accords. They should move forces into Cyprus simultaneously. Those forces would be broken into small units that would be billeted together. All patrols would be organized on the pattern followed in Vienna during the four-power occupation after World War IIConly this time, three, rather than four men in a jeepCand all operations would be conducted together. The force would stay in Cyprus until an effective international force, within the framework of the United Nations, had not only been created but was actually on the ground, or until a political settlement had "been reached and translated into a viable organic document."
There were, as I saw it, a number of advantages to the scheme. It would assure the Turks that their Cypriote community was protected while the UN proceedings plodded their weary way. It would avoid any suggestion of a partition and discourage communal massacres, since members of the two communities would not have to fear the intervention of a hostile force. The three powers could answer international criticism on the ground that they were acting under the terms of the treaty.
If the British went along with my scheme, I had no doubt that Inonu would accept it. But the British wanted above all to divest themselves of responsibility for Cyprus; my scheme would reinject them into the mess. As a result, I returned to the United States without anything clearly in place to stop the war.
Falling Back on the United Nations
When I reported to the President, he agreed that the United States had gone as far as we should to try to deflect a tribal conflict. Now our only available course was to work through the United Nations. On February 15, Britain and Cyprus requested an emergency session of the Security Council, and the debate opened on February 18. For the time being, the day-to-day action shifted largely to Ambassador Adlai Stevenson, although I retained the overall direction of strategy.
There is no point in recounting the wearisome maneuvering that went on during the UN proceedings. We wanted to install a UN force as quickly as possible, while assuring that the resolution did not nullify the intervention rights of the guarantor powers, since the Turks would not stand still for that. We sought also to keep the Soviet Union as far as possible out of the action.
After masterful politicking by Stevenson and our UN mission, the Security Council, on March 5, resolved to create a peace-keeping force and provided for the appointment of a mediator. Though we hailed the resolution as avoiding the immediate danger of a blow-up, none of us saw it as more than a temporary respite. The parties most directly interested interpreted the resolution in opposite ways: Makarios regarded it as foreclosing the Turkish right to intervene; the Turks saw it as preserving their intervention rights.
Weakness of Greek Government
Meanwhile, Greek politics took a discouraging turn. when, on February 19, seventy-six-year-old George Papandreou won a landslide victory. As head of the Center Union party, he had been in the opposition for half a century; he knew how to oppose but had neither taste nor talent for positive action. A hopelessly weak leader, he found it expedient to play along with Makarios and the advocates of enosis. To a large extent, as I saw it, he was under the influence of his son, Andreas Papandreou, for many years a professor of economics in several American universities, who was trying to gain a foothold in Greek politics by playing closely with the Communist bloc. Oddly enough, in spite of his venomously anti-American line, many of my American academic friends still defended him as an "old boy" former member of the professors' club.
Greece was seized with a spasm of anti-British and anti-American frenzy; our embassy in Athens was subjected to mass demonstrations, our Information Office windows smashed and pictures of Lyndon Johnson burned. The President telephoned me almost plaintively to ask "Why are those Greeks burning my picture?" as though he thought it a highly personal affront. Apart from injured feelings, he worried that such incidents might alienate the Greek-American vote in the forthcoming November elections.
Threat of Turkish Action
On March 13, the Turkish government announced that unless fighting on the island ceased, it would intervene immediately, and the United Press news ticker reported that Inonu had given the interested nations twenty-four hours to reply before he attacked. Meanwhile, Canada, which offered the best hope of providing peace-keeping troops, refused to move until assured that some other country would also contribute units. We put Stockholm under great pressure, and right after lunch I reported to the President that the Swedes would announce that afternoon that they would send a force to Cyprus. The plan was to notify the Canadians, whose parliament was meeting at 2:30, so Canadian troops could be in the air within the next twelve hours.
With that assurance, the Turkish government withdrew its demarche. A Finnish diplomat, Sakari S. Tuomioja, was appointed UN mediator, and within a few days, the UN peace-keeping force seemed on the way toward restoring order. Meanwhile, I enlisted Dean Acheson to undertake quiet mediation, primarily between Athens and Ankara. Not only was he a brilliantly skillful negotiator but he had personal prestige in the two capitals because of his central role in formulating the Truman Doctrine when the United States first came to the defense of Greece and Turkey in 1947. I called Acheson at his home in Washington on February 27; he came to lunch the following day, and I found him willing to consider a mission that would inevitably be complex, frustrating, and of indefinite duration. He knew the high stakes involved, because he fully understood the importance of stability on NATO's southern flank.
In spite of the arrival of the UN force, fighting again broke out. On April 13, Prime Minister Papandreou of Greece mischievously announced a campaign for self-determination for Cyprus, which would, of course, mean turning the island over to the Greek Cypriotes. When the UN mediator. Ambassador Tuomioja, returned in discouragement from talks with Greek, Turkish and Cypriote leaders, Secretary-General U Thant put forward his own peace plan. He also appointed an ex-President of Ecuador, Galo-Plaza Lasso, to undertake direct negotiations with the leaders of the two communities. Using the logic-chopping for which the UN is notorious, he distinguished Galo-Plaza's duties from those of Tuomioja on the grounds that Galo-Plaza would seek to restore order while Tuomioja sought a long-term solution.
Forestalling an Imminent Invasion
On Tuesday, June 2, Ruth and I were hosts at a reception for Prime Minister Eshkol of Israel and his wife. With Secretary Rusk in New Delhi for the funeral of Prime Minister Nehru, I was Acting Secretary. That night we received a "critic" message from our ambassador in Ankara, Raymond Hare, that the Turkish Security Council had decided to invade Cyprus. Turkish forces were already deployed in the Iskenderun area with the mission of establishing a "political and military beachhead" on Cyprus. By such a show of force, the Turks hoped to negotiate a satisfactory settlement.
The news came at an extremely awkward time. I was scheduled to leave the following eveningCJune 4Cfor a meeting with President de Gaulle in Paris, then go on for a Cyprus discussion with the British on Monday ending my trip at the closing sessions of the UNCTAD Conference in Geneva. Secretary Rusk returned on the morning of June 4 and undertook to prepare a message for the President to send Inonu, which, it was agreed, I would review before departing at 7:30 that evening. When I saw Rusk before leaving for the airport, he showed me a draft on which he was still working. "That," I said, "is the most brutal diplomatic note I have ever seen." Indeed, the Secretary, aided by Assistant Secretary of State Harlan Cleveland and his deputy, Joseph Sisco, had produced the diplomatic equivalent of an atomic bomb. "I think that may stop Inonu from invading," I said, "but I don't know how we'll ever get him down off the ceiling after that." The Secretary looked at me with a sweet smile. "That'll be your problem," he said. The letter stated:
Turkish military intervention, the letter continued, would lead to a clash with Greece. It would cause violent repercussions in the and wreck any hope of UN assistance in settling the island crisis. It would "lead to the slaughter of tens of thousands of Turkish Cypriotes." The letter continued,
Because this was certain to create an explosion in Ankara, I discussed with Secretary Rusk the desirability of my going straight to Ankara, but we agreed it would be awkward for me to break my appointment the next day with President de Gaulle. During the night, I telephoned to Washington once or twice from my plane to see if there had been any second thoughts.
After a long visit with de Gaulle I went on to London for a meeting on Monday with the British Foreign Secretary during which we discussed Cyprus, among other things. Then I flew to Geneva to address the UNCTAD Conference, which was just winding up three months of meetings with nothing accomplished. After my speech on Wednesday night. Dean Rusk telephoned to tell me that the President was worried about Cyprus and thought more should be done; Rusk would call me later. I knew we had arranged for General Lemnitzer to fly to Ankara as soon as we received the news of the impending invasion and I had learned that, after receiving the President's letter, Inonu had indefinitely postponed the invasion. But I was worried about the wounded state of our relations with the Turks. . .
[The next day] I met with Prime Minister Papandreou in Athens at seven. I did not expect much to come from that session and nothing did. He lacked the force to make hard decisions and the meeting confirmed my belief that he would be of little use in solving the Cyprus headache.
Still I tried hard to force him to face the reality of Greece's predicament. Cyprus had become a major threat to the peace of the world, and Greece had considerable responsibility for what had happened. Too much time had already been wasted. Now the matter must be settled definitively. I told Papandreou that I had talked not only with the British but with General de Gaulle, had taken soundings of the opinion of most of the NATO countries, and had found everywhere "a common anxiety to see the problem resolved rapidly." I then told Papandreou of the letter President Johnson had sent to Inonu, of which Papandreou had not heard. I left little room for nuances. This time disaster had been avoided only by the President's forceful intervention and his adamant insistence that there be no war between NATO allies. But, if Greece did not show greater cooperation, we would not take such a hard line again.
Papandreou seemed old, tired, and incapable of facing reality. The time, he maintained, was not propitious for a Cyprus settlement. That, I said, was completely wrong. Greece, he maintained, needed a Cyprus solution based on enosis. That, I replied, was total fantasy; Turkey would never accept it and Turkey was not only larger and militarily stronger than Greece but had a major logistical advantage in any conflict over Cyprus. Papandreou then contended that the "turbulence" over Cyprus resulted only from Turkey's invasion threats. I told him that, though I had heard all that before, it simply was not true. He was, I felt sure, too well acquainted with philosophy to believe such a simplistic explanation of a complex problem of causality. He knew better than to think that in attacking the Turkish minority, the Greek Cypriotes were merely responding to a fear of external intervention.
When I pressed him to undertake talks with Inonu, he shied away. Against all the evidence, he still seemed to assume that Greece could pursue its goal of enosis without danger of the Turks invading Cyprus, since he apparently took it for granted that the United States would always stand ready to thwart the Turks. Though I tried to convince him that that was dangerous nonsense, he seemed too feeble to grasp a fresh idea.
Before leaving, I asked Papandreou to visit President Johnson and he accepted, but we did not discuss dates. Although I was disappointed by his obtuseness, I did find his attitude toward Makarios more realistic. The Archbishop had, I gathered, alarmed responsible Greek opinion by his "flirtations with Moscow and Khrushchev." He had, Papandreou suggested, been a nuisance during the Cyprus crisis, and he implied that the Archbishop might be excluded from any negotiations aimed at settling it, which, of course, was exactly what I had in mind. Moreover, Papandreou acknowledged that other nations besides Greece and Turkey had an interest in peaceful settlement; the "major powers," he said, "must take a hand."
Meeting with Inonu
I left Athens late that night and arrived in Ankara about two in the morning. Before going to bed, I was briefed by our ambassador, Raymond Hare. An astute and experienced professional diplomat, he reported a conversation with a high Turkish official who had said, "We understand why it may have been necessary to administer a bitter pill, but we cannot understand why it had to have a bitter coating as well."
I was to meet with Foreign Minister Feridun Cemal Erkin at 9:oo A.M.; I was not looking forward to the appointment.
I liked the foreign minister; he was an experienced diplomat who could see the problem in its larger global context, but it was his job to express the views of his government and of the Turkish people at the sudden freshet of ice water we had dumped on them. I did my best but reserved my most effective arguments for Prime Minister Inonu.
Inonu received me correct but was far more reserved than when we had met previously. He was deeply troubled and personally hurt by the scolding he had received from the President. I reassured him regarding the warmth of America's friendship for Turkey and our desire to cooperate closely with the Turks in resolving a festering quarrel that could result in a major war. America, I told him, was not partial to the Greek side; indeed, we recognized that the Greek Cypriote majority had largely created the problem by terrorizing the Turkish Cypriotes. I made clear that we totally mistrusted Makarios. I then described in detail my talk with Papandreou and my disappointment that I had not persuaded him to stop calling for enosis, emphasizing the significance of what I took to be Papandreou's own increasing disenchantment with Makarios and his indication that Makarios need not be included in any negotiations. The Greek government, at long last, I said, is beginning to recognize that Makarios is an enemy of its longer-range interests.
Prime Minister Inonu replied in measured tones; my visit, I thought, had somewhat mollified him, and he seemed particularly interested in what I had just told him. America's attempt to promote a settlement based on strong principles was, he agreed, an encouraging development, but experience had shown that principles are sometimes abandoned when the time comes to translate them into concrete measures. He did, however, concede that, if I were correct in my appraisal of Papandreou's changed attitude towards Makarios, that was one of "the first rays of light in the dark situation."
After the meeting, Inonu took me aside to say that President Johnson's letter had, as he saw it, included "all the juridical thunderbolts that could be assembled. As a result, of course, he committed some errors and said some unjust things. Our foreign office will have to answer the thunderbolts." I interpreted this as reflecting Inonu's desire to warn us not to take their counter-reaction so seriously as to prejudice longer-term relations. We had unquestionably said harsh things to the Turkish government; as a matter of self-respect, they would have to say harsh things back. But we should not let that interfere with the friendship essential to both of us.
I was airborne again at 12:30, and I asked the pilot to take us non- stop to Washington, where we arrived at 5:30 that afternoon. During the entire thirteen hours, I dictated steadily to two secretaries and, by the time I arrived in Washington. I had a memorandum ready for the
President that not only gave a full report of my trip but recommended dial he immediately invite first Inonu and then Papandreou to Washington. Our only hope of a settlement now lay in bringing those two leaders together, so that they could reach an understanding that did not involve Makarios. If the President worked each of them over separately, we might he able to bring that about.
I was met at Andrews Field and taken directly to the President. It was June 11, 1964, when I returned to Washington. Within a few hours, we had invited Prime Minister Inonu to visit on June 22 and Prime Minister Papandreou, on June 24.
Visits of Two Prime Ministers
The two visits took place on schedule. As I expected, the President greatly liked Prime Minister Inonu, with whom he could talk straight-forwardly. If the Greek leader had shown anything like the same understanding, serious progress could have been made. But, as I had feared, the Papandreou visit came to little. Though we took the Greek Prime Minister to Mount Vernon on the President's launch, the Sequoia, and the President, Dean Acheson, and I all pushed him hard, he remained unresponsive. We were dealing with two old men. Though Inonu was at the time eighty-one years old and Papandreou seventy-seven, Inonu, with his brilliant past, seemed far the younger. Papandreou gave the appearance of flaccidity: a tired, slightly befuddled old man who could only repeat the banal slogans he had inherited when he took office and who seemed incapable of comprehending the larger issues.
The joint communique President Johnson and Prime Minister Inonu issued on June 23 had stated that the discussions proceeded from "the present binding effects of existing treaties." Now Papandreou, in a press conference, contradicted that assertion. The 1959 London-Zurich Accords were, he said no longer valid. Greece supported independence for Cyprus and its right to self-determination. It would not negotiate directly with the Turkish government because "no one is more competent to do that than the United Nations mediator."
Acheson Tries his Hand
Although Dean Acheson had for some time been helping me review all possible settlement plans, the time had now come to bring him directly into the negotiations so we could have a strong, forceful, and resourceful representative concentrating on the problem. I, therefore, suggested to Secretary-General U Thant of the United Nations on June 26 that the Greek and Turkish representatives be asked to meet with Acheson, who, I said, was almost a legendary figure in Greece and Turkey. As I feared, U Thant resisted the proposal on jurisdictional grounds,
since it implied that the United States might be taking the diplomatic initiative away from the United Nations. If we were to have such a meeting, it should certainly not be in America. Why not Geneva? Though I expressed reluctance, I had already thought of Geneva as a fall-back.
But his next stipulation was not so easy to accept. It would be necessary, he insisted, that UN Mediator Tuomioja, rather than Acheson, ask the Greek and Turkish representatives to meet with him at Geneva. When I protested that nothing could be accomplished without the presence of American authority represented by Acheson, he conceded that Acheson could establish himself near the site of the negotiations to be consulted to the extent that any of the participants wished. Though I protested that that was not a practical arrangement, U Thant showed the kind of Burmese stubbornness I had seen on other occasions. He feared a possible Soviet charge that the United States had taken over the negotiations and did not wish to give Makarios a basis for insisting that his government be represented at the Geneva talks.
I reported to the President that we would probably have to make do with this awkward improvisation; otherwise, the Secretary-General would refuse UN sponsorship, and the Greeks would never participate. Even in the wings, Acheson was such a strong personality that he could make his views felt.
I then met with Prime Minister Inonu, who was at the moment at the United Nations. As expected, he readily agreed to having the Turkish and Greek delegates meet with Acheson in Geneva but would not commit his government to refrain from a military solution if the talks should fail. Papandreou balked as usual. He would not agree to an American representative at the Geneva meeting. As a compromise, it was agreed that Acheson should go to Geneva and set himself up "in the next room or the next building" so as to be available for consultation. Papandreou reluctantly agreed to that formula.
At my urging, President Johnson sent further letters to Papandreou and Inonu, appealing to them to try to find a solution through negotiations. Papandreou responded with a childish tirade against the United States, asserting that Johnson's letter was an "ultimatum" of the same kind Greece had received from the Nazis in 1940. Since we espoused the principle of self-determination, why not support that principle on Cyprus? It was the tantrum of an excited old man out of his depth. Though he answered with harsh, almost hysterical, words, he ended by agreeing to send a delegate to Geneva.
Dean and Alice Acheson moved to Geneva. Before leaving, Dean and I canvassed every possible solution for the Cyprus problem: proposals for partition and resettlement, federal, confederal schemes and cantonal schemes, and even what we came to call "double enosis." Under this last arrangement, Greek Cypriotes would all be resettled in one part of the island and Turkish Cypriotes in another, while each sector would come under the sovereignty of its respective metropolitan power. During Acheson's stay in Geneva, he evolved one proposal that came to be known as the Acheson Plan. It took account of the successful population transfers that had been carried out after the Greek-Turkish resettlements in the early 1920s. It called for the union of Cyprus with Greece, cession of the Greek Dodecanese island of Kastellorizon to Turkey, resettlement and compensation of the Turkish Cypriotes wishing to emigrate, the creation of two enclaves on Cyprus for Turkish Cypriotes who wished to remain, and the establishment of a Turkish military base on Cyprus. Neither side, however, accepted the scheme.
Meanwhile, our intelligence had reported the growing antipathy between Makarios and General George Grivas, the famous leader of EOKA.. Though Grivas was, of course, a passionate advocate of enosis, he might, I thought, be easier to work with than Makarios, so we established an underground contact with Socrates Iliades, who was Grivas's lieutenant and director of the defense of Cyprus. Meanwhile, Grivas returned to Cyprus with a plan for enosis that provided protection for the Turkish Cypriotes remaining on the island and compensation for those wishing to leave. The fact that the Grivas Plan also called for the ouster of Makarios enhanced its attractiveness.
These schemes were all upset when Makarios encouraged the Greek Cypriotes to attack Turkish Cypriote villages. In retaliation, on August 7, four Turkish air force jets strafed the Cypriote town of Polis. The next day, thirty Turkish jets flew low over Greek Cypriote towns on the island's north coast. Finally, on August 9, Turkey sent sixty-four jets on another strafing and bombing foray against northwest Cyprus. The war was rapidly escalating.
In Washington, we set up a twenty-four-hour Cyprus command post, and I spent the following three nights sleeping in my office. Secretary Rusk would arrive early each morning and, in deference to his Georgian palate, we would have hominy grits for breakfast.
On Sunday, August 12, I instructed our ambassador in Athens, Henry Labouisse, to urge Papandreou to stop Makarios from further assaults on Turkish Cypriotes. We should press Papandreou to abandon "horse-trading or equivocation or passionate oratory" and act incisively to restore peace, making clear to him that Makarios was calling for military intervention by the Soviet Union and that it was "utterly essential" to keep the Russians, Egyptians, and other foreign troops out of Cyprus. At the same time, we warned Makarios that he would be publicly branded as a murderer if his units continued to harass the Cypriote Turks. Even Moscow had apparently been shaken by the course events were following, for on that same Sunday, August 12, Khrushchev sent word to Makarios that, while he sympathized with the Cyprus government, a cease-fire would be an "important contribution." With the Soviets offering him no assistance, Makarios grumpily accepted a UN call for a cease-fire, with Turkey following suit.
Our political talks were making little progress, and on August 18, Acheson telexed me that, in his view, the chances of obtaining a quick Greek-Turkish settlement on Cyprus were "about the same as the odds on Goldwater." We should, he advised, liquidate our efforts and let him come home, though he would continue to keep in touch with Greece and Turkey to prevent Cyprus from being transformed "into a Russian Mediterranean satellite."
I urged Acheson to stay on. To "liquidate" the Geneva operations would please Makarios and make him even more intransigent. If His Beatitude ever decided that the United States had grown indifferent, he would recklessly attack the Turkish Cypriotes, and the Turks would be forced to intervene. I pointed out to Acheson that his negotiating efforts had already yielded some useful results. They had persuaded Papandreou to negotiate with Turkey and to accept a Turkish base on Cyprus; they had even got General Grivas to consider such a base. At the same time, they had eased some of Turkey's initial demands.
Since there was a six-hour difference between the United States and Geneva, I followed the practice with Acheson of talking to him around 2:00 A.M. Washington time on a scrambled teletype in the operations center at the State Department, while he sat at the other end in the consulate in Geneva. That night, after a long session of arguing over the teletype, I ended my peroration to Acheson with "Aux armes, citoyens." If the Geneva enterprise must die, I contended, its burial should be conducted not "by an orthodox Archbishop but by the son of an Episcopal bishop," which, of course, meant Acheson. Acheson had tried with great skill and exceptional patience to settle a problem created by the wicked and the weak. A man of rare quality, I admired him enormously, and one of my most cherished possessions is a handwritten note commenting on something I had written. Sent two weeks before his death, it concluded with the cheering admonition: "Keep on making sense; you have the field to yourself."
End of the Crisis
In the end, the crisis momentarily subsided. Pressed by America and the United Nations and denied aid by the Soviets, Makarios's position was weakened, particularly with General Grivas challenging his hold over the island. A UN force was in place, and. for the time being, a precarious peace was maintained. That, of course, was not the end of the Cyprus story . . .
During my years in the State Department, Secretary Rusk and I worked on a completely alter ego basis' which meant that, when Rusk was away, he did not, as he made clear, "take the keys of his office with him." As Acting Secretary of State, I was in a position, when necessary, to move incisively, with the President's approval; Rusk established the same ground rules with my successor, Nicholas Katzenbach.
The importance of such an arrangement was disclosed in July 1974Cten years after the crisis I have just described. This time, unhappily, the United States failed to respond. Trying to run the State Department singlehandedly from an airplane. Secretary Kissinger knew nothing about Cyprus and did not bother to inform himself. As a result, he absent- mindedly let the Greek junta mount a coup in Cyprus that incited a Turkish invasion. When the Turks swarmed across the island, the Nixon AdministrationCunder pressure from the Greek lobbyCstopped arms shipments to Turkey and alienated the eastern anchor of our southern flank defense. As of this writing, 36 percent of Cyprus, including the most attractive tourist areas, remains under occupation by the Turkish army. Greece and Turkey are at sword's point and both are on uneasy terms with the United States and NATO. Makarios is dead, and the partition that might have solved Cyprus's problems has now been achieved by force and in a manner tragically unfair to the Greek Cypriotes.
The moral is clear: effective diplomacy for a great nation requires a constant high-quality institutional vigilance. That is not possible when all decisions are preempted by an individual virtuoso with a lust for travel.
About George Ball=s diplomacy, the British journalist Christopher Hitchens writes:
At every stage of the drama...the weakness and errors of Cypriots were exploited and compounded by external intervention.....Perhaps most of all it was true when the United states government, in the words of George Ball, >established an underground contact= with the terrorists of George Grivas, and did so in the name of protecting the Turks! In that incident, both ends were played against the middle and the manipulation of internal tensions was dovetailed with a great power calculation designed to abolish the nation=s independence. From that incident, also, stems the foreign involvement with Greek-sponsored subversion in Cyprus, which led to the coup and to the Turkish invasion.
- from Hostage to History: Cyprus from the Ottomans to Kissinger (1997 edition), page 159.
|Table of Contents Main Narrative Chronology| | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30277000 |
It's a long-shot safety campaign known in shorthand as "zero deaths."
Cutting the death toll to zero in crashes across all forms of transportation is an aggressive and perhaps unrealistic goal, but Illinois and more than half of the other states are working on it.
The long-sought target has been virtually achieved over the last four years by U.S. commercial aviation. Airlines operating in the U.S. have not suffered a fatal accident since the crash of a Colgan Air commuter jet near Buffalo, N.Y., on Feb. 12, 2009.
But over the same four-year period, more than 100,000 people have perished in wrecks on highways and other roads across America. The death toll has exceeded 32,000 people each year nationally in recent years and peaked at 43,510 in 2005, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Almost 1,000 fatalities occurred in Illinois in 2012.
Totally eliminating vehicle crashes is not practical, at least not unless technology ever reaches the point of removing driver behavior and human error from the equation, experts say.
So the immediate focus is on putting an end to crashes that lead to fatalities. The roots of the program can be traced to Sweden, where 16 years ago safety officials declared that zero crash deaths is the only morally acceptable goal.
The Illinois Department of Transportation adopted the goal of zero roadway fatalities in 2009 when it revised the state's strategic highway safety plan. About 30 states have established their own programs aimed literally at driving down the death toll to zero.
A new study by the University of Minnesota evaluating the effectiveness of zero-death programs found that the states that have worked the longest promoting the four "E's" of safety — enforcement, education, engineering and emergency medical services — have been the most successful at reducing crash fatalities.
Washington State in 2000 and Minnesota in 2003 were the first states to adopt the zero-fatality goal, the study said. Utah and Idaho also operate successful programs in which the study determined that a statistically significant fewer number of crash fatalities occurred after the zero-death initiatives were introduced.
"The evidence from our evaluation showed that active programs work," said Lee W. Munnich Jr., the study's lead researcher and director of the Center for Excellence in Rural Safety at the University of Minnesota. "One of the keys is to prioritize and delegate funds and get more engagement from different agencies to produce the biggest bang for the buck."
Targeting resources directly on the problem, whether it's beefed-up police enforcement in specific locations or redesigning roads to slow traffic where accidents are prevalent, has had the biggest effect on reducing fatalities, the researchers found.
"The toughest challenges are the behavioral ones, where drivers know they shouldn't be doing what they are doing, such as drinking and driving, but they do so anyway," Munnich said.
Raising the public's awareness about the costs to society caused by crashes that result in deaths and serious injuries will help drive down accidents, officials said.
"People say, 'Ah, you can't get there.' That is the response you always get" to the zero-deaths program, said John Webber, interim director of IDOT's traffic safety division.
"When we ask people what would be an acceptable goal statewide, people say less than 1,000 crash fatalities a year," Webber said. "But when it comes to their family, the answer is zero. If all families feel that way, then why is zero an impossible goal?"
As a starting point, reducing roadway carnage by half in the U.S. is considered an attainable mark by many traffic safety authorities. Illinois has accomplished that since the 1960s and '70s, the most recent period in which crash fatalities exceeded 2,000 annually in the state.
In those days, many drivers and their passengers didn't wear seat belts, if their vehicles were even equipped with the devices. Anti-lock brakes, air bags and life-saving crunch zones on vehicles did not exist.
Today, Illinois has work to do before crash deaths would be halved again, or reduced further toward the zero target.
In 2012, 962 people were killed in vehicle accidents in the state, up 44 deaths from 2011, according to IDOT. The numbers have been up and down over roughly the past decade, with the high point occurring in 2003, when 1,454 people died on the roads in Illinois.
The annual death totals have been below 1,000 since 2009, and state officials say part of the reason is that more drivers and passengers are buckling up.
However, driving in general, tracked by the number of vehicle miles traveled, has gone down in recent years, because of several key factors that include an escalation in gas prices and the pocketbook impact of the Great Recession on driving behavior, officials said.
The state seat-belt law has been toughened twice in the last 10 years. In July 2003, the law was amended to authorize police to stop a vehicle if the officer observes either the driver or front seat passengers not wearing a safety belt. Last year, the law was revised to require all occupants to wear a safety belt.
IDOT officials said an increase in the rate of seat-belt use — it's about 94 percent on average statewide — correlates directly with the reduction in crash fatalities. Accident investigations show that about half of the victims who died in crashes were not wearing their seat belts, officials said.
Males 16 to 34 years old represent a big portion of seat-belt law violators, especially in situations where alcohol is involved, authorities said. Targeting this group through police enforcement, particularly in the 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. period, and education, including the in-your-face running tally of crash fatalities that IDOT has been running on highway message boards since 2012, are part of the zero-death campaign, officials said.
"Those are the folks involved or dying in crashes these days," Webber said. "Getting them to buckle up is a start. But the real message is that there is no safe amount of alcohol because judgment, reaction and perception changes. Until we get drunk driving under control, we are not going to get to zero deaths."
Contact Getting Around at email@example.com or c/o the Chicago Tribune, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60611; on Twitter @jhilkevitch; and at facebook.com/jhilkevitch. Read recent columns at chicagotribune.com/gettingaround. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30280000 |
A Putnam County teacher is crediting the Newspapers in Education program for improved test scores.
In fact, a marquee at Poca Middle School expresses thanks to Charleston Newspapers.
Louann Godbey, eighth-grade West Virginia History teacher at Poca Middle, credits the NIE program for playing a role in a six-point increase in WESTEST scores from 2011 to 2012.
"I truly believe that our weekly newspaper sessions played a big part in helping my students achieve higher test scores," she said.
Each Wednesday, her students are given about 45 minutes to read the newspaper. Half of the time is to be spent reading section-front news articles.
Then they may move on to sports, cartoons or anything they enjoy reading.
"If I give assignments, I find they are reading for answers instead of content," she said. "I want them to enjoy the experience of reading the paper."
Newspapers are an excellent source for teaching West Virginia history and current events, she said.
Students look forward to the arrival of the newspapers, and she shares them with the seventh-grade teacher.
She added that Poca Middle has an excellent staff, achieved adequate yearly progress, and was named an exemplary school.
Renee Daly, NIE coordinator for Charleston Newspapers, said she often gets positive feedback from teachers who take advantage of the program, and others climb on board after learning about it.
"I got two new schools today," said Daly, who added that 34 schools throughout West Virginia are now getting newspapers through the program that was established 17 years ago. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30287000 |
The U.S. military originally had a virtual monopoly of certain communications channels. It was one of the few entities to be using internet, and it used many areas of the spectrum untouched by civilian communications. However, with the digital revolution and the expansion of civilians onto the internet and increasing using of the digital spectrum, the military is finding adapting to the deprivation of these bands difficult.
Last year during the bandwidth auction, the portion of the spectrum used by the B-2 bomber's Raytheon APQ-181 radar was accidentally sold to an obscure multinational organization according to Military.com. As a result, U.S. taxpayers will be footing the over $1B USD bill to replace the radar in the 20 remaining jets.
With users demanding video-ready smartphones, high-speed mobile internet, and other emerging applications, the military is finding that the spectrum is quickly disappearing, and it’s having trouble finding areas for its own sensitive technologies.
Other expensive losses abound. The Joint Tactical Information Distribution System, a costly system used to get AWACS targeting data to F-22 fighter jets has "limited supportability outside the continental U.S."
Another key issue is the steady creep of civilian communications into the spectrum used for flight-test telemetry. While there are workarounds to gather some additional information, telemetry data remains essential to testing both manned and unmanned aircraft and protecting pilots from failures.
Ultimately, more data takes more bandwidth -- an unalterable fact -- and to achieve higher frequencies more power is required. This places inherent limitations to the amount of data capable of being communicated over the spectrum.
Military designers are in a sticky situation as they can't compress their data, in many cases, like civilian applications. "This is not a cell phone,” said Darrell Ernst. "You can't ask the pilot to wait while you redial."
Ernst works for the Mitre Corp., a member of a U.S.-European delegation trying to raise international awareness of bandwidth issues, and estimates that by 2020 the Air Force will need 600 MHz of spectrum for telemetry data. Currently the only vacant spot suggested to them is the 5091 and 5150 MHz band. The Air Force is eager to occupy even this meager 59 MHz offer. States Mr. Ernst, "If [the flight-test community] can get in there and start using it, we can be established as the primary user and it will be hard for them to throw us out."
When it comes to the spectrum issues, there are few good answers, just more fears and doubts. As a final example of the industry problems, when the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) test program is flying two missions no other combat aircraft will be able to fly in the Western U.S. States Mr. Ernst, "They're the 600-lb. gorilla. They don't see that they have any reason to move, and they don't have the radios to do it." | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30293000 |
People with high-level spinal cord injuries typically lose control of their arms and legs meaning they can no longer get around without some sort of adaptive assistance device. Quadriplegics have long relied on a type of control system for electric wheelchairs called the sip-and-puff system.
This type of control system allowed the user to move forward and backwards in an electric wheelchair by sipping a straw or blowing into it. A group of researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology (GIT) has devised a new method of controlling a power chair for those who no longer had functionality in their arms and legs. The new system uses the patient’s tongue to control the chair or to control the mouse cursor on a computer screen.
Maysam Ghovanloo, an assistant professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at GIT said, "This clinical trial has validated that the Tongue Drive system is intuitive and quite simple for individuals with high-level spinal cord injuries to use. Trial participants were able to easily remember and correctly issue tongue commands to play computer games and drive a powered wheelchair around an obstacle course with very little prior training."
The clinical trial was conducted at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta and involved the attachment of a small magnet, roughly the size of a grain of rice, to the tongue of the patient with a tissue adhesive. The magnet was used as a tracer to allow the magnetic field sensors to register its movements. The users of the system wore sensors that look like headphones on the head to track the magnet.
The researchers say that the nerve that controls the tongue in patients with high-level spinal injury is typically not affected in the injury. Software translates the movement of the magnet into motion for the chair via wireless connectivity with a computer attached to the chair.
The chair motion can be controlled in a constant setting that allows the chair user to move along an arc or in a control method for new users that only allows one motion at a time. According to the researchers, the Tongue Drive system can be used to create as many movement commands as the user can comfortably remember. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30294000 |
In the fall of 2010, a number of high-profile suicides brought attention to the problem of bullying in schools. This year, the LGBT community worked to change laws and save lives.
After helping to push through policies in the Dallas and Fort Worth school districts, as well as a few others around the state, the LGBT community focused on passing statewide anti-bullying legislation in the 2011 session of the Legislature.
Equality Texas made the legislation a priority and a number of bills were introduced.
In February, Equality Texas hosted a Lobby Day. Several hundred people from around the state participated.
Among them were Fort Worth City Councilman Joel Burns, suicide victim Asher Brown’s parents — Amy and David Truong — and a group of 10 students from Youth First Texas.
Burns and the Truongs met with key legislators including members of the committees that would hear the bills.
The students from YFT spoke to their senators and representatives telling their own stories of being bullied.
Legislators not usually considered allies were visibly moved by stories of violence in schools in their hometowns.
Equality Texas board chair Anne Wynn, Executive Director Dennis Coleman and Deputy Director Chuck Smith spent the spring lobbying on behalf of the bills.
The organization arranged for the Truongs as well as the parents of Montana Lance and Jon Carmichael, two other Texas suicide victims, to testify at committee hearings.
As originally crafted, the bills specified categories that would be covered. National studies have shown that the more specific the law, the more effective it is in protecting LGBT students. When sexual orientation and gender identity are not specified, school staff often ignore anti-gay bullying. But to increase the chances that anti-bullying legislation would pass, several bills were combined and all references to specific groups, including sexual orientation and gender identity, were deleted.
The new anti-bullying “super bill” passed unanimously in the Senate and by a wide margin in the House — and was eventually signed by Republican Gov. Rick Perry.
Under the new law, for the first time, the bully rather than the victim can be transferred to another classroom or school. Parental notification rules were strengthened and protections added for the person reporting the bullying. The definition of bullying now includes electronic means, or cyberbullying. And every school district must adopt an anti-bullying policy, including any necessary procedures to address the prevention, investigation and reporting of incidents.
A second bill also passed that provides money for counseling services, which includes services for both the bully and the victim. School staff already receive training to recognize potential suicide risks. That training will be expanded to include victims of bullying.
Meanwhile, although the Dallas Independent School District approved an LGBT-inclusive anti-bullying policy last year, Resource Center Dallas and Lambda Legal accused some DISD officials of blocking its implementation.
RCD Executive Director and CEO Cece Cox along with Lambda Legal community educator Omar Narvaez addressed the DISD board about the problem in December.
Cox said she had gotten word from frustrated school district employees that principals were being instructed not to use the electronic reporting system that the board mandated. She said she would continue to track the district’s compliance with the policy in 2012.
— David Taffet
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition December 30, 2011. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30297000 |
Document Management with Oracle Text
June 12, 2003
A few years ago, many projects started using the multimedia capability of Oracle databases. Powerful procedures for handling image, audio, video and the text data in various formats are incorporated in the database kernel code; even the default database installation has multimedia objects installed. Storing, retrieving and searching the text from documents stored inside the Oracle database are the most common usage of multimedia database capabilities. This feature, incorporated into the product was formerly known as ConText, later known as interMedia Text (iMT) and with the database version 9.X, it is known as Oracle Text.
This article covers:
Document Index Type
Oracle Text is an extension to the Oracle database that allows searching specific words in the tables of documents, using standard SQL expressions. Oracle Text is integrated in a number of Oracle products such as Portal, iFS and Applications. Supported document types are text, HTML, DOC, XLS, PPT, PDF and XML documents. txt/HTML data content will be stored in the clob column and other formatted document content in the blob column. The content can "also" stored outside of database via BFILES. For any kind of data content, the text engine is used for indexing and retrieving.
Overview of the Oracle Text product development:
There are three different index types: Context, Catalog and Ctxxpath. They are used all for document indexing, but each has a different functionality.
Context index is a "domain" index used for fast retrieval of unstructured text.
DML processing on a Context index is deferred. The actual index updates do not take place until an index SYNC is performed.
Catalog (CTXCAT) index is an online, "catalog" index, efficient for searching between small, simple text fields and with queries using some structured criteria, (usually numbers or dates). This index type supports only a basic functionality provided in a Context index. A Catalog index has all the characteristics of the normal database index.
Ctxxpath index is a special index installed during an Oracle Text
install. This index uses Oracle Text code and can be created only on | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30300000 |
Definitions for safety factor
safety factor, factor of safety(noun)
the ratio of the breaking stress of a structure to the estimated maximum stress in ordinary use
The ratio of the maximum stress or load which something can withstand to the stress or load which it was designed to withstand under normal operation.
Use the citation below to add this definition to your bibliography:
"safety factor." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2013. Web. 24 May 2013. <http://www.definitions.net/definition/safety factor>. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30309000 |
Save the Children and Oxfam released a joint report today entitled "A Dangerous Delay: The Cost of Late Response to Early Warnings in the 2011 Drought in the Horn of Africa". The report argues that early warning systems performed, but decision makers did not respond to them. In an interview Justin Forsyth the head of Save the Children UK likened the situation to an alarm bell that had a very delayed effect. A lot of people were harmed by the delayed response and the cost of dealing with hunger and malnutrition was much higher than if it had been addressed earlier.
So why the delay? Using Forsyth's analogy, either policymakers did not hear the alarm, did not trust it, or although hearing and believing the alarm, they simply could not respond to it quickly enough. The report makes some good recommendations about amplifying the alarm (via the media and building up capacity of those to communicate the significance of the alarm up the decision chain). It also makes good recommendations about helping people respond to it more quickly once they believe it (emergency response funds, insurance, greater joint programming between development and humanitarian groups).
The one area that the report is relatively silent on is whether the policymakers believe the signals. The report focuses on the case where the signals were right and outlines the cost of ignoring them, but policymakers might argue: what about the costs of acting when the signals were wrong?
As researchers, we should be analysing, ex post, the frequency with which the early warning signals get it right. If we can attach a probability to the predictive power of the signals, then when the next signal goes off policymakers can better assess the risks of responding to a non crisis against the risks of responding late to an emerging crisis. In other words, how often will the signal get it right?
It's not pretty, but I would not be surprised if this is the kind of calculation that is often made. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30318000 |
The flu bug can bite your dog, too
If your dog begins to sniffle, cough and sneeze, get ready for some rough days ahead because those are signs that your pet may be coming down with the flu.
Like people, dogs also can be stricken and they even have their own highly contagious - and sometimes life-threatening - influenza virus, a leading veterinary expert says.
Story continues below
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Story continues here
About 80 percent of the dogs exposed to the virus become infected and develop flu-like symptoms, according to Cynda Crawford, a veterinarian at the University of Florida, who has studied the virus since its outbreak in 2004. Dogs lack a preexisting immunity, therefore canines of any breed, age or health status are susceptible.
"Fortunately, most dogs recover within two weeks without any further health complications," Dr. Crawford told MySetterSam.com. "However, some dogs progress to pneumonia, which is usually due to secondary bacterial infections. While the overall mortality rate for canine influenza is low, the secondary pneumonia can be life-threatening."
Treatment consists mainly of supportive care - including administering of antibiotics for secondary bacterial infections - while the virus runs its course, much like with human influenza, Dr. Crawford said. Dogs with pneumonia are likely to need intensive care in a hospital.
Pet parents who have dogs at high risk of contracting canine influenza - like those that spend time in shelters, boarding and training facilities, day care centers, dog shows, veterinary clinics, pet stores and grooming parlors - should consider getting their pets vaccinated, Dr. Crawford said.
"Although the vaccine may not prevent infection, efficacy trials have shown that vaccination significantly reduces the severity and duration of clinical illness, including the incidence and severity of damage to the lungs," Crawford states.
"In addition, the vaccine reduces the amount of virus shed and shortens the shedding interval," Dr. Crawford said. "This means that vaccinated dogs that become infected have less illness and are not as contagious to other dogs. These benefits are similar to those provided by influenza vaccines used in other species, including humans."
According to Dr. Crawford, who has been studying the canine virus since its discovery in 2004, canine influenza has been documented in 30 states and the District of Columbia. It can occur year-round.
A dog can get the virus by contact with infected dogs or by aerosols generated by coughing and sneezing, Dr. Crawford said. The virus can also contaminate kennel surfaces, food and water bowls, collars and leashes, and the hands and clothing of people who handle infected dogs.
"Fortunately, the virus is easily inactivated by washing hands, clothes and other items with soap and water," she said.
The vaccine, developed by Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health, recently received approval for use from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It is administered by subcutaneous injection in two doses, two to four weeks apart. The vaccine may be given to dogs age six weeks or older and can be given annually to ensure more comprehensive protection.
"We developed the vaccine in response to the growing problem of the disease," Christopher Pappas Jr., a veterinarian for Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health, states in a media release. "We are pleased that our expertise in respiratory disease and vaccines can help prevent costly outbreaks and keep dogs healthier."
The American Veterinary Medical Association, which in 2006 advocated the necessity of developing such a vaccine, lauded the news of the federal government's approval of the vaccine.
"The AVMA is pleased that the USDA has approved the use of a vaccine in dogs to help prevent the spread of canine influenza and to help keep dogs healthy," Lynne White-Shim, assistant director in the AVMA Scientific Activities Division, told MySetterSam.com.
"Shortly after the emergence of canine influenza, some people were not convinced that the disease existed and consequently did not believe a vaccine should be developed," Dr. White-Shim explained. "When AVMA examined the issue, we learned that the disease was sickening racing greyhounds and dogs in some shelters. Thus, AVMA has been an advocate for the development of an efficacious vaccine to protect those dogs at significant risk."Dr. White-Shim urges dog owners to consult with their veterinarians about whether their pet should be vaccinated. "As with all vaccinations, the veterinarian and dog owner should discuss individual disease risks to determine if the vaccine is recommended," she said.
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, in conjunction with the Morris Animal Foundation of Denver, has launched a study of canine influenza in hopes of better understanding the virus and developing treatments.
"Canine influenza is a newly emerging disease that does not discriminate by breed or age," ASPCA veterinarian Miranda Spindel states in a media release. "It is critical that we gain a better understanding of the transmission of CIV in order to limit its effects."
In addition to examining the spread of the virus among shelter dogs, the study will determine whether a rapid "bedside" test can be effectively used for screening dogs upon entering a shelter. If such a test were available, dogs could be tested and kept separate from the main shelter population and treated to help prevent the spread of the virus.
The study will try to determine how the virus changes over time, a process known as "genetic drift." As with human flu viruses, animal influenza viruses constantly evolve. New strains can develop that require new vaccines.
According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, dogs and other companion pets also can get flu viruses - like the H1N1 virus - from people. So far, four ferrets in Oregon and a cat in Iowa have gotten the H1N1 virus a short time after people in their households had the illness. No dogs have gotten the H1N1 virus.
Dr. Emilio DeBess, Oregon's public health veterinarian, says pet owners should take precautions to help reduce the spread of influenza between themselves and their pets.
"The key message is to protect your animals much like you protect your family," he states in a media release. "Wash your hands, cover your cough and your sneeze, and do your best to prevent contaminating objects your pet may come into contact with." | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30319000 |
High temperatures increase health risks for people with diabetes
(BPT) - For the nearly 26 million Americans living with diabetes, high temperatures and increased sun exposure can pose particularly dangerous health risks. During warm weather, experts caution that people with diabetes must take extra care to avoid serious, heat-related conditions.
"Heading to the beach, the pool or the park is a great way to cool down and stay in shape when the temperature rises, but people with diabetes may not realize the heat can place them at greater risk for serious, heat-related illness," says Dr. Deneen Vojta, senior vice president and chief clinical officer of UnitedHealth Group's Diabetes Prevention and Control Alliance (DPCA). "Diabetes actually impairs a person's ability to sweat, which means that hot, humid weather can dangerously reduce the body's regulation of blood sugar levels. That's why it is critical that people with this disease take proper precautions to avoid conditions like heat exhaustion and heat stroke."
Vojta offers seven simple tips that may help people with this disease to stay active, healthy and safe when temperatures are high:
1. Check your blood sugar levels often. Changes in activity and heat levels can affect your body's insulin needs.
2. Wear sunblock. Sunburn can tax your body and trigger increased blood glucose levels.
3. Stay cool. Take regular breaks from the heat in air-conditioned areas or designated cooling centers, if possible. Make sure to exercise in an air-conditioned place or exercise during early morning and evening hours when temperatures are cooler.
4. Keep medication and supplies cool and away from direct sunlight. Extreme temperatures and sunlight can have a damaging effect on diabetes medication such as insulin, causing the drug to break down or become less effective.
5. Stay hydrated. Dehydration stresses the body and affects glucose levels.
6. Avoid caffeine and alcohol in high temperatures. Both alcohol and caffeine have diuretic effects that can increase risks of dehydration.
7. Be alert for common signs of heat exhaustion. Signs of serious health-related illnesses can include: heavy sweating, paleness, muscle cramps, tiredness, weakness, dizziness, headache, nausea, vomiting and fainting.
Vojta advises that people with diabetes should be on the lookout for signs of heat exhaustion or heat stroke and seek medical attention right away if they experience symptoms.
Additional resources on managing and preventing diabetes can be found by visiting the websites of the American Diabetes Association (www.diabetes.org
) and the National Diabetes Education Program (ndep.nih.gov/resources
). UnitedHealth Group also offers a range of helpful tips and information on the disease at www.unitedhealthgroup.com/diabetes | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30320000 |
Now that you're comfortable using the MySQL client tools to manipulate data in the database, you can begin using PHP to display and modify data from the database. PHP has standard functions for working with the database.
First, we're going to discuss PHPs built-in database functions. We'll also show you how to use the PEAR database functions that provide the ability to use the same functions to access any supported database. This type of flexibility comes from a process called abstraction. Abstraction is the information you need to log into a database that is placed into a standard format. This standard format allows you to interact with MySQL as well as other databases using the same format. Similarly, MySQL-specific functions are replaced with generic ones that know how to talk to many databases.
In this chapter, you'll learn how to connect to a MySQL server from PHP, learn how to use PHP to access and retrieve stored data, and how to correctly display information to the user.
The basic steps of performing a query, whether using the mysql command-line tool or PHP, are the same:
Connect to the database.
Select the database to use.
Build a SELECT statement.
Perform the query.
Display the results.
We'll walk through each of these steps for both plain PHP and PEAR functions.
When connecting to a MySQL database, you will use two new resources. The first is the link identifier that holds all of the information necessary to connect to the database for an active connection. The other resource is the results resource. It contains all information required to retrieve results from an active database query's result set. You'll be creating and assigning both resources in this chapter. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30321000 |
Faeces, electric eels and fruit would power conceptual communities designed by Bartlett School of Architecture graduate Catrina Stewart.
The City Farmhouse project proposes housing communities on stilts above clusters of public toilets, where visitors would be required to donate faeces and urine on arrival.
Electricity would be generated from methane gas released when the harvested excrement is broken down.
Faeces and urine could also be used to produce compost and water for community gardens.
Streetlights would be powered by fruit acid and elevators would be powered by electric eels, kept as pets by residents.
Other recent architecture graduate projects include an upside-down skyscraper and a tower that shoots artificial bees into the air - see all our stories about this years graduate shows here.
Here are some more details from Catrina Stewart:
London City Farmhouse
The City Farmhouse project is a prototype that looks at forming new self-sufficient communities, which integrate agriculture and housing within the city of London.
The Farmhouses and vertical colour gardens will be open to the public, and will rely on its colours and visitors to achieve self-sufficiency.
Visitors and residents will be expected to make a donation of faeces and urine when they visit the building. These will be used to produce water, compost and electricity for the Farmhouses. Methane gas released by the waste produced in biogas digesters can then be used directly or to produce electricity.
Without its public toilets the community would not be able to survive. The more visitors the building can attract the more power, food and water will be produced. New public toilets will be erected across the borough in order to collect human waste to power the Farmhouses. New communities will begin to grow around the more popular public toilets, creating new Farmhouses.
The Farmhouse project explores the use of colour to attract people to the building and entice them into using the public toilets by using the same principles used for colour in marketing and advertising. Colours are therefore used less for their aesthetics and more for their functional properties.
Nothing in the Farmhouse is disposed of, everything is recycled and reused to fuel something else. Old and new technologies are used to harness energy and food from almost anything, animals are no longer used for their meat but rather as a source of energy.
Cows are farmed for their methane gas, electric eels are kept as pets to power the elevators in the building and fruits are used to to power the street lights. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30322000 |
Wikipedia reached the magical figure of 10 million articles on Wednesday, when an article about a 16th century goldsmith named Nicholas Hilliard was created on the Hungarian version of the site.
Wikipedia was launched in Jan. 2001 by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger and has since reached a landmark: It now boasts 10 million articles across the site that runs in 250 languages. It is the largest and fastest-growing reference site on the Internet.
You can tell WIkipedia's clout as soon as you try and do a Google search on almost anything; Google places high importance on Wikipedia results so whenever you search Wikipedia will almost always be in the top 10 search results.
Wikipedia through their Wikimedia Foundation made this announcement about reaching 10 million articles. They said the 10 millionth article was created at 5:07 p.m. PDT on March 26. The article is a short biography of 16th century English goldsmith and painter Nicholas Hilliard. It was created in Hungarian by a user named Pataki Marta.
Compared to Wikipedia, a regular encyclopedia (such as a 26 Volume Britannica Encyclopedia) has 29,800 articles and sells for $749. The biggest part ow Wikipedia is its English version which boasts more than 2.3 million articles. It's also free to use.
Wikipedia also recently secured $3 million in funding from Alfred P. Sloan foundation and $500,000 from Vinod Khosla and his wife Neeru. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30327000 |
The DLESE Reviewed Collection (DRC) provides access to resources that meet seven specific review criteria. The criteria are: high scientific accuracy, good pedagogical effectiveness, ease of use, clarity and completeness of documentation, motivating for learners, show robustness, and illustrate significance of content. Multiple pathways or review systems contribute to this collection and include the following collections: DWEL (Digital Water Education Library), Community Annotated Collection, GLOBE, NASA Earth Science Enterprise Reviewed Collection and JESSE (Journal for Earth System Science Education).
Collection is intended for:
Primary (K-2), Intermediate (3-5), Middle (6-8), High (9-12), College (13-14), College (15-16), Graduate / Professional, Informal, General public
Try searching on these terms (type in keyword box):
Educational theory and practice,
History and philosophy of science,
Mineralogy or petrology,
Reviews, Annotations, Evaluations.
Collection Scope and | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30337000 |
Area History of the Doan Brook
1796: First permanent settler came to the Cleveland area.
1799: Nathaniel and Sarah Doan and their six children settled beside the Doan Brook. This area became the ford on the main road between Buffalo and Cleveland; now it's the intersection of Euclid Avenue and East 105th Street).
1811: Jacob Russell, a Revolutionary war veteran, purchased 475 acres of land in the upper Doan Brook watershed. They return the following year to build a cabin, plant crops, and relocate their extended family of 20. It is now the intersection of South Park Boulevard and Lee Road.
1822: The North Union Shaker Community was started by Ralph Russell, JacobRussell's son, who had become a Shaker. The community, with as many as 300 members, originally occupied the area along Lee Rd. between Shaker Blvd. and South Park. The Shakers built the two Shaker Lakes, Lower Lake and Horseshoe Lake, on Doan Brook to power their sawmills, grist mills and woolen mill.
Early 1880s: Jephtha Wade, William Gordon, John D. Rockefeller, Laura Rockefeller, Nathan Ambler and other philanthropists donated land along Doan Brook to create the line of parks along the stream from Lake Erie to Horseshoe Lake in Shaker Lakes.
The Cleveland Parks Commission built roadways to connect the parks and commissioned architect Charles Schweinfurth to design bridges to carry streetcar lines across the lower park areas. Inner-city Cleveland residents and workers gain access to the parks.
May 1896: In all, almost 44,000 people are reported to have walked or driven along the brook in Rockefeller Park, showing the popularity of the park in this age.
19th Century: Doan's Corners and the North Union Shaker flourished. Much of the surrounding areas became farms and villages, including the Village of Glenville, located near the brook valley between Doan's Corners and Lake Erie.
1900: The Doan Brook watershed began to develop.
1930: Nearly the entire watershed in Shaker Heights, Cleveland Heights and Cleveland was developed.
1960: Citizens opposed and defeated the Clark and Lee Freeways extension plan. The freeway would have paved over Doan Brook and its parks from Lower Shaker Lake to Horseshoe Lake and beyond.
1970: Dike 14-dredge spoil disposal area at the mouth of Doan Brook began to be constructed by the Corps of Engineers.
1974: The cities of Cleveland Heights, Shaker Heights, and Cleveland with interested citizens form the Joint Committee on Doan Brook Watershed.
2000-2001: Partnership Transition Committee of the Joint Committee investigates different structures for the new organization. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30340000 |
Earth shattering secrets for building record setting and winning mousetrap cars and racers. Here you will find all the latest and greatest untold construction secrets so you can build your very own mousetrap vehicle.
The objective is to build a vehicle that is powered solely by a standard-sized mouse trap that will travel and stop closest to a finish line located 5-meters from the start line in the shortest amount of time.
By definition a vehicle is a device with wheels and/or runners. Launching a ball or another object from the mouse trap will be ruled illegal. The entire vehicle must leave the start line and travel as one unit.
1. The vehicle must be powered by a single Victor brand mouse trap
measuring: 1 - 3/4 inches X 3 - 7/8 inches.
2. The mouse trap cannot be physically altered except for the following:
- holes can be drilled only to mount the mouse trap to a frame
- the mouse trap's snapper arm may be cut and lengthened
3. The vehicle may not start with additional potential and/or kinetic energy other than what can be stored in the mouse trap's spring.
4. The spring from the mouse trap cannot be altered or heat treated.
5. The mouse trap's spring cannot be wound more than its normal travel distance or 180 degrees.
6. Vehicles must be self-starting.
7. The vehicles must steer itself and may not receive a push in any direction in order avoid a collision.
8. The timing of the vehicle will begin when any part of the vehicle passes over the start line and will ends when the vehicle comes to rest.
9. The distance from the target will be measured from the point of the vehicle that first passed the start line to the finish line or target.
10. The instructor has the final decision as to the appropriateness of any additional items that might be used in the construction of the vehicle.
RUNNING THE CONTEST
The course will be a smooth level floor such as a gymnasiums or a non-carpeted hallway. The winner will be that vehicle that has obtained the lowest score any of the three attempts. Any ties will be decided by a single run off between the tied vehicles.
The scoring will be the total of the time in seconds added to the distance from the finish line in centimeters.
Score=time(s) + distance from finish line(cm).
*Can't find what you're looking for? Ask Doc Fizzix » | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30341000 |
In 1811, Joseph Fourier, the 43-year-old prefect of the French district of Isere, entered a competition in heat research sponsored by the French Academy of Sciences. The paper he submitted described a novel analytical technique that we today call the Fourier transform, and it won the competition; but the prize jury declined to publish it, criticizing the sloppiness of Fourier's reasoning. According to Jean-Pierre Kahane, a French mathematician and current member of the academy, as late as the early 1970s, Fourier's name still didn't turn up in the major French encyclopedia the Encyclopdia Universalis.
Now, however, his name is everywhere. The Fourier transform is a way to decompose a signal into its constituent frequencies, and versions of it are used to generate and filter cell-phone and Wi-Fi transmissions, to compress audio, image, and video files so that they take up less bandwidth, and to solve differential equations, among other things. It's so ubiquitous that "you don't really study the Fourier transform for what it is," says Laurent Demanet, an assistant professor of applied mathematics at MIT. "You take a class in signal processing, and there it is. You don't have any choice."
The Fourier transform comes in three varieties: the plain old Fourier transform, the Fourier series, and the discrete Fourier transform. But it's the discrete Fourier transform (DFT) that accounts for the Fourier revival. In 1965, the computer scientists James Cooley and John Tukey described an algorithm called the fast Fourier transform, which made it much easier to calculate DFTs on a computer. All of a sudden, the DFT became a practical way to process digital signals.
To get a sense of what the DFT does, consider an MP3 player plugged into a loudspeaker. The MP3 player sends the speaker audio information as fluctuations in the voltage of an electrical signal. Those fluctuations cause the speaker drum to vibrate, which in turn causes air particles to move, producing sound.
An audio signal's fluctuations over time can be depicted as a graph: the x-axis is time, and the y-axis is the voltage of the electrical signal, or perhaps the movement of the speaker drum or air particles. Either way, the signal ends up looking like an erratic wavelike squiggle. But when you listen to the sound produced from that squiggle, you can clearly distinguish all the instruments in a symphony orchestra, playing discrete notes at the same time.
That's because the erratic squiggle is, effectively, the sum of a number of much more regular squiggles, which represent different frequencies of sound. "Frequency" just means the rate at which air molecules go back and forth, or a voltage fluctuates, and it can be represented as the rate at which a regular squiggle goes up and down. When you add two frequencies together, the resulting squiggle goes up where both the component frequencies go up, goes down where they both go down, and does something in between where they're going in different directions.
The DFT does mathematically what the human ear does physically: decompose a signal into its component frequencies. Unlike the analog signal from, say, a record player, the digital signal from an MP3 player is just a series of numbers, representing very short samples of a real-world sound: CD-quality digital audio recording, for instance, collects 44,100 samples a second. If you extract some number of consecutive values from a digital signal -- 8, or 128, or 1,000 -- the DFT represents them as the weighted sum of an equivalent number of frequencies. ("Weighted" just means that some of the frequencies count more than others toward the total.)
The application of the DFT to wireless technologies is fairly straightforward: the ability to break a signal into its constituent frequencies lets cell-phone towers, for instance, disentangle transmissions from different users, allowing more of them to share the air.
The application to data compression is less intuitive. But if you extract an 8x8 block of pixels from an image, each row or column is simply a sequence of eight numbers -- like a digital signal with eight samples. The whole block can thus be represented as the weighted sum of 64 frequencies. If there's little variation in color across the block, the weights of most of those frequencies will be zero or near zero. Throwing out the frequencies with low weights allows the block to be represented with fewer bits but little loss of fidelity.
Demanet points out that the DFT has plenty of other applications, in areas like spectroscopy, magnetic resonance imaging, and quantum computing. But ultimately, he says, "It's hard to explain what sort of impact Fourier's had," because the Fourier transform is such a fundamental concept that by now, "it's part of the language." | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30348000 |
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW:
Alcohol intoxication is a harmful physical condition caused when you drink more alcohol than your body can handle. It is also called ethanol poisoning, or being drunk.
AFTER YOU LEAVE:
You may be given medicine to manage the signs and symptoms of alcohol intoxication. Take your medicine as directed. Contact your primary healthcare provider if you think your medicine is not helping or if you have side effects. Tell him if you are allergic to any medicine. Keep a list of the medicines, vitamins, and herbs you take. Include the amounts, and when and why you take them. Bring the list or the pill bottles to follow-up visits. Keep the list with you in case of emergency.
Follow up with your primary healthcare provider as directed:
Write down your questions so you remember to ask them during your visits.
Limit or avoid alcohol:
Men should not have more than 2 drinks per day. Women should not have more than 1 drink per day. A drink is 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine, or 1½ ounces of liquor.
Do not drive or operate machines when you drink alcohol:
Make sure you always have someone to drive you when you drink alcohol.
Learn ways to manage stress. Deep breathing, meditation, and listening to music may help you cope with stressful events. Talk to your caregiver about other ways to manage stress.
For more information:
- Alcoholics Anonymous
Web Address: http://www.alcoholics-anonymous.org.
Contact your primary healthcare provider if:
- You need help to stop drinking alcohol.
- You have trouble with work or school because you drink too much alcohol.
- You have physical or verbal fights because of alcohol.
- You have questions or concerns about your condition or care.
Seek care immediately or call 911 if:
- You have sudden trouble breathing or chest pain.
- You have a seizure.
- You feel sad enough to harm yourself or others.
- You have hallucinations (you see or hear things that are not real).
- You cannot stop vomiting.
- You were in an accident because of alcohol.
© 2013 Truven Health Analytics Inc. Information is for End User's use only and may not be sold, redistributed or otherwise used for commercial purposes. All illustrations and images included in CareNotes® are the copyrighted property of the Blausen Databases or Truven Health Analytics.
The above information is an educational aid only. It is not intended as medical advice for individual conditions or treatments. Talk to your doctor, nurse or pharmacist before following any medical regimen to see if it is safe and effective for you. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30351000 |
How to Turn Your Garden into a Wildlife Habitat
Part of green living is creating a balance between human civilization and the animal world. By turning your garden into a place where wildlife can make homes, feed, and breed safely without danger from pesticides and other chemicals, you help undo the damage to the many species of garden birds, insects, mammals, and amphibians that were once very common in your area but are now thinned out due to changes in farming methods and disappearing natural habitat.
You may think all insects are unwanted visitors to your garden, but that’s not the case at all. A bug is your friend if it helps pollinate your plants or controls the population of bad bugs. For example, honey bees are nature’s great pollinators; dragonflies eat mosquitoes; and ground beetles feed on root maggots, caterpillars, and slugs.
Make your garden as varied as possible to attract as many species as possible:
Plants like roses, honeysuckle, and lavender each attract different insects like bees and butterflies. Fuchsia and geraniums encourage hummingbirds to visit. Find more information about which native plants from your area attract helpful critters by talking to your local garden store expert or by combing the Internet.
A woodpile encourages another set of garden dwellers. You may find frogs in the woodpile if it’s damp. And if it’s big enough to offer a safe place, a rabbit may move in.
A wildflower patch can encourage native insects (including butterflies) and birds to linger in your garden. Growing a wildflower patch can be as simple as planting a wildflower mix seed packet that’s available at garden stores.
A pond created from an old bath or basin draws everything from dragonflies and frogs to birds and snails.
Change the water in your pond regularly to prevent it from becoming a mosquito breeding ground, or use a mosquito dunk — a small tablet you drop into the water to kill mosquito larvae. The biological control versions of the dunks contain bacteria that destroy the larvae and are much better for the environment than chemical versions.
Hedges are great for attracting birds and insects and providing protected space for small animals to make their homes. Grow as many different hedge plants as possible together in your hedge because each different plant attracts different species.
Trees and shrubs that produce fruit, berries, and seeds are sources of food for your furry and feathered friends.
Boxes and feeders attract birds, bats, and bugs galore and provide cheap entertainment.
After you spend the time and money to make your yard welcoming to wildlife, don’t sabotage your efforts by using pesticides to control weeds. You may want to target weeds, but toxic weed killers can harm other species in the ecosystem. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30354000 |
We recognise that early childhood is key to young children’s development. By the age of 3 years 80% of their brain is developed and so it is important that the foundations of mathematical thinking, language and skills are supported from birth. So, how can we as practitioners (and parents) help children become confident in using and thinking about numbers and maths.
Follow and build on children’s interest – notice their interests and extend them. An example of this is seen in the Learning Story The Yoghurt Tubs which started when a bag of yoghurt tubs was brought into pre-school. Look at the story and see where the practitioner and children brought the activity.
Make sure that language and activities are integrated and embedded within the curriculum – in other words make the experience real and relevant for children. Remember, they learn best when they can connect or identify with ideas. In one of the Learning Stories a child asked ‘Can I bring Rainbow(a Teddy) on a trip?’ This started the children thinking about travel, distance, countries and led them on to making flags.
Equip and prepare the environment – Think about materials that engage or fascinate children, that stimulate their thinking and provide some element of challenge. Remember, mathematical thinking, language and activities happen in every area of the service
Tea sets, pots, pans and cooking containers – a great opportunity to match up cups and saucers (have enough for a group) to put lids on pots, to use baking implements such as measuring jugs and spoons, timers,pastry shape cutters
Dressing-up clothes and jewellery
Pencils and paper (making lists, taking orders)
Cash register and money
Empty boxes / packages of different sizes (organising the stock by size)
Large hollow blocks, ramps, boards
Lego , stickle bricks, interlocking train tracks
Tape measure, spirit level
Plastic plumbing pipes and connectors
Pictures of different buildings
Table Top Toy Area
Deck of card, jig-saws, floor puzzles, board games, games with dice,
Peg board, threading, sorting sets, sequencing games (dominos), mosaics,magnetic shapes and tiles
Creative Art Area:
Paint and a variety of brushes (chubby to fine)
Markers, crayons, chalk, pencils, charcoal, pastels
Paper – a variety of sizes, shapes, textures, colours (sugar, crepe, tissue, card, paper plates)
Used cards and magazines
Sellotape, glue, insulating tape
Different fabrics, buttons,sequins, collage materials
A water tray that allows 3 or 4 children play together
A sand tray that allows a number of children play together
Jugs, funnels, water wheels, water pump,
Sieve, moulds, spades, bucket/container
Items that float and sink
Assortment of items that are the same but different (stones of different shapes, weights and sizes)
Swings, slides (learn about movement, speed, force, push-pull), bikes and trikes (direction and speed), sand and water area (volume, displacement
Kites (wind, velocity), Skittles (number,force)
Taking and making opportunities to help children think logically and solve problems
Equipping the setting both indoors and outdoors with interesting open ended materials that offer possibilities for the children
Introducing mathematical language in very real contexts so that children have plenty of experience in understanding concepts of up and down; in and out; over and under; more and less and so on
Allowing time and space for children to think, process and ask questions
Encouraging thinking skills by asking real and relevant questions, in constructing, the question can be asked ‘how many wheels do you need to build the truck?’
For Maths Week 2012 we have been sharing ideas on promoting the following maths concepts in your service –
number, pattern, shape and space, and measuring and comparisons. We hope you find these find these useful in supporting positive attitudes and confidence in maths for the children in your care.
A very big THANK YOU to the children and staff at The ABC Club in Meath, and all the Learning Story participants, for the use of their photo’s, video’s and wonderful stories.
When early years educators have a sound knowledge of mathematics and the benefits of play, and the connections between them, there is great potential for early childhood experiences that extend young children’s mathematical understandings and attitudes.
Last but not least, an important part of mathematical play is that it should be fun! “We can influence young children’s keenness to learn mathematics by making the tasks we do of interest to them … by showing that we really think maths is important and fun”1
1Montague-Smith,Ann.Mathematics in Nursery Education.London:David Fulton Publishers, 2nd ed.2003 | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30359000 |
A Kid's Guide to Arab American History: More Than 50 Activities
Chicago Review Press
Publication date: January 2013
Digital Book format: PDF (Adobe DRM)
You save: $3.00 (21%)
Many Americans, educators included, mistakenly believe all Arabs share the same culture, language, and religion, and have only recently begun immigrating to the United States. A Kid’s Guide to Arab American History dispels these and other stereotypes and provides a contemporary as well as historical look at the people and experiences that have shaped Arab American culture. Each chapter focuses on a different group of Arab Americans including those of Lebanese, Syrian, Palestinian, Jordanian, Egyptian, Iraqi, and Yemeni descent and features more than 50 fun activities that highlight their distinct arts, games, clothing, and food. Kids will love dancing the dabke, constructing a derbekke drum, playing a game of senet, making hummus, creating an arabesque design, and crafting an Egyptian-style cuff bracelet. Along the way they will learn to count in Kurdish, pick up a few Syrian words for family members, learn a Yemeni saying, and speak a little Iraqi. Short biographies of notable Arab Americans, including actor and philanthropist Danny Thomas, singer Paula Abdul, artist Helen Zughaib, and activist Ralph Nader, demonstrate a wide variety of careers and contributions. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30365000 |
The original intent of this month’s column was to discuss fiber use in the smart grid, but I have found it is hard to define the smart grid. Some organizations involved in it are even dropping that name for “intelligent grid” or something similar.
One of The Fiber Optics Association directors has been working with a major utility on a training program, and one-third of the program will be about fiber optics. The rest encompasses all the electrical issues involved in generating and delivering reliable electrical power to users and how they actually consume electrical power.
Fiber optics are not new to utilities. When I was in the fiber optic test equipment business in the 1980s, my first utility customer was Nashville Electric Service. The utility was using multimode fiber to connect sensors and control equipment in substations over fiber to avoid the electrical interference and potential shock risk encountered with copper cables.
I don’t spend much time talking about sensors, but fiber optics have been used in sensors for high-voltage and large current circuits since the mid-1980s. The sensors are perfect for utilities as they operate by simply clamping them around the transmission wires and running fibers to monitoring equipment in the substation. The sensors also are capable of measuring large voltages and currents and have fast response time, all important for monitoring and controlling the utility grid.
A few years later, utilities and long-distance telephone companies (telcos) began cooperating on long-distance fiber optic links. Utilities had a valuable asset: rights-of-way, which telcos coveted. But the utilities needed communications between their facilities for voice communications and signals to control their power grid. On the other hand, telcos needed fiber optic links for their long-distance networks. By working together, the utility and the telcos both got their communications links and profited from the cooperation.
A major part of the growth of utility usage of fiber optics was optical power ground wire (OPGW), a high-voltage transmission cable with optical fiber in the center of it. It is, indeed, the perfect example of one of the advantages of optical fiber, its immunity to electrical interference. In one cable installation, power transmission and communications were both covered. Today, practically every large power transmission system uses OPGW. For example, the Sunrise PowerLink—San Diego Gas & Electric’s (SDG&E) 117-mile system under construction in Southern California—is using OPGW with 96 fibers inside the wire.
The installation of OPGW requires the skills of an electrical lineman capable of splicing high-voltage wires and the skills of an outside plant fiber optic installer to splice the fibers. Most splices are done on the ground, and splice closures are suspended from towers unless they are terminated inside regeneration huts or vaults along the right-of-way.
Besides sensing, substation controls and long-distance communications, a utility needs to monitor and control the power directly to the customer. And today, at least here in Southern California where I live, that involves not only delivering power to the customer but feeding the output of many customers’ photovoltaic solar-power systems (like my 2,500-watt systems on the roof) back into the grid. That means conversions to smart meters are another important piece of the power grid puzzle.
Some utilities, such as SDG&E, are using wireless meters that can be read by a truck driving by. Others have decided to connect customers with fiber, creating their own fiber to the home networks and either offering broadband services or using their network to deliver services for others. In some areas, this entails cooperation with telcos and CATV system operators and, in others, outright warfare.
Chattanooga, Tenn., is perhaps the best example of a utility broadband network. There you can get broadband at gigabit speeds, a first in the United States, beating out Google’s Kansas City network. The broadband network helped Chattanooga convince Volkswagen to locate a new plant there, creating thousands of new jobs.
When it comes to the smart grid, it’s impossible to generalize about the applications—or sometimes even define it. However, we can say it is a big field in the United States alone, with more than 2,000 electrical utilities combining their power into the national grid, and practically every communications technology is involved. Virtually every aspect of fiber optic technology is involved also-—sensing, communications and control, using all types of fiber in almost every application you can imagine.
For either the fiber tech or the electrical lineman interested in the smart grid, it is likely that there are areas where your expertise is required and many others where you need to learn more.
HAYES is a VDV writer and educator and the president of The Fiber Optic Association. Find him at www.jimhayes.com. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30367000 |
Capital Chips (Part 2)
This lesson printed from:
Posted July 30, 2002
Author: Council for Economic Education Technology Staff
Posted: July 30, 2002
Updated: June 10, 2009
Through the use of a historical timeline of the capital investments made by the company the resulting benefits will be examined. The benefits from the capital investments of Herr Foods, Inc. will be related to their effect on the standard of living. Then students will visit one of three websites, select an innovation/invention of their choice to analyze in terms of its impact on productivity and the standard of living. Finally, the teacher will select one invention/innovation from a designated website and have students analyze it in the same economic terms as the focus of this lesson and write an essay summarizing the innovation/invention.
Productivity is a measurement of output resulting from the use of productive resources or inputs. It refers to the amount of output per unit of input over a period of time. An increase in productivity may mean producing the same amount with fewer inputs, producing more output with the same inputs, or a combination of the two. Companies look for ways to maintain and increase the level of productivity in order to remain competitive while maintaining profits. One way of accomplishing this is through investing in capital goods such as machines, tools, and new ideas used in the production process. Technological improvements in capital goods are a leading cause of increase in productivity.
After completing the following activities, your students will develop a better understanding of the economics associated with productivity. In the first activity your students will explore the concepts that are connected to productivity. In the second activity your students will investigate the Herr's Potato Chips, a company that is constantly working at incorporating new techniques to satisfy the customer. Finally, in the third activity your students will use the Internet to search for inventors and inventions. Their task is to find an invention they would like to learn more about and learn how that invention improves its environment. After your students complete all three parts to this lesson they will find a series of questions that will explore what they have learned from Capital Chips about productivity.
Part 2 Introduction:
The students are going to take a tour of the Herr's Foods Inc in this lesson. Herr's Potato Chips have been on the market for the past 50 years. The company is constantly working at incorporating new techniques to satisfy the customer. The students' job will be to see how these new techniques improve the company and benefits the customer.
- Point out to the students that they will learn about some actual investments in capital resources that have increased productivity for one company in particular. They will learn how Herr's Foods, Inc. increased its productivity over the years through a variety of investments in capital resources.
- Divide the students into 10 groups. Assign each group a year (or point on the Herr's Foods timeline).
- Direct all groups to click on the first entry of the timeline and read it so that each group understands the beginnings of the Herr's Potato Chip factory business.
- Direct the students to click on the point on the Herr's timeline that corresponds to the date(s) that they were assigned.
- Tell the students to answer the following questions using the information they obtain from the timeline for the year assigned.
- What was the capital investment, new idea, or innovation that occurred during this time frame on the Herr's timeline?
- How did this change increase the productivity of the Herr's potato chip business?
- What was the impact of this change on the consumer, producer, and worker?
- Direct all groups to click on the last entry of the Herr's Foods timeline and explore it so that each group has an understanding of the progress Herr's Foods, Inc. has made.
- At the end of this part of the lesson involving Herr's Foods lesson (or at the end of the entire lesson), plan to have a variety of Herr's products for the students to enjoy.
The students have now applied the concepts from the previous activity to a real-life business. Next the students will get a closer look at an innovation or invention, to see how they can be used in a business. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30368000 |
Ed Geary speaks to the Historical Society about the Mountain Meadow Massacre.
The Emery County Historical Society recently presented the Mysteries of the Mountain Meadows Massacre at the Museum of the San Rafael.
"You cannot understand the Mountain Meadows Massacre without understanding the events that occurred in a time of intense invasion, anxiety," said Edward Geary, speaker at the historical society meeting.
Geary said, "The Army was on the plains before any announcement was made to the people of Utah. Mormon missionaries went past the Army and hurried on, bringing the news to Brigham Young on July 24. This was 10 years after the Mormons first arrived in the Salt Lake Valley. To commemorate that particular anniversary the people held a big party up in big Cottonwood Canyon and in the middle of the festivities riders came in with the announcement that an Army was on its way to Utah.
"Brigham Young and church leaders immediately adopted defensive postures. They sent parties out into eastern Wyoming to attack and burn supply trains. They were determined to keep the Army from arriving at a faster pace than was necessary. They succeeded in keeping them there until after the winter had closed the pass.
"Utah war is a complex topic. I am not going to try to go into that, except to say that it dominated peoples' lives. The LDS the church leaders were trying to marshal forces. They wanted people to be ready to go up and be willing to give their lives in the defense of their homes.
"There were a lot of hellfire sermons. Mormons today are probably about as patriotic as anybody. But if you'd been in Utah in 1857 you would've heard all kinds of sermons condemning the United States of America and the United States government. The sermons talked about how God was going to use the Mormons and to convert the Indians into the battle axes of the Lord to bring down that government so that the people of God could be established. These were some very intense sermons.
"If you lived in Cedar City at that time or other communities in southern Utah, you were in a community that is about six or seven years old. Very poor, people are still living in dugouts or willow shanties, barely subsisting, very isolated, when you have problems, you have to solve the problem yourself, because there is no one you can bring in within many days of driving a wagon or riding a horse.
"Now they hear that an army is coming to Utah. When we look back now and know how hard it was to move an army of 2,500 men across the plains a huge supply operation was necessary to keep them going and to move them along. But you did not know that if you lived in Cedar City in 1857. You just knew the soldiers were coming. They actually were sending people out into the passes east of Cedar City to watch out in case an army would come through those passes. They were also concerned that an army would be coming from California eastward as well as those coming West. So it was a time of intense tension.
"In the very midst of that tension in comes this long train of immigration that summer. There came in a party or a group of parties who had started in the spring from Arkansas. They were composed largely of people who were related to each other or were neighbors to each other.
"One group had as its leader a man by the name of Jack Baker who was a very dynamic man, a very successful land and slave owner in Arkansas. He was a man who had some violence in his history. Earlier in his life when he lived in Alabama he had a dispute with some neighbors in which he killed three men. As a result he had to move out of Alabama and moved to Arkansas. It was reported that he was staunch friend and a bitter enemy. He was not a man you wanted to cross. He was going to California to establish himself there, to buy ranch land. He had a large herd of Texas long horns. He had a well equipped party and probably had a substantial amount of gold, that he was taking to buy land with.
"Among these parties crossing the plains, there weren't very many better equipped than this one. There were other parties they interchanged with on the plains. Sometimes being together and sometimes splitting up. If you had a large party, you had to divide up from time to time to keep the grazing land available. Especially if you had a large herd of cattle.
"One other group was led by Alexander Fancher. A lot of people talked about Jack Baker as being a hard man to cross. Every report that you get, that I have seen, talking about Alexander Fancher, uses the word gentleman. He was a very well respected man and he was going to California with his family and a herd of cattle. He also had money to buy land. Fancher had made two earlier trips, driving cattle and selling them in California. Now he was moving his family there to become permanent settlers.
"This then is the group that enters the Salt Lake valley, right after July 24, right after this news and anxiety that an army was coming. They came expecting that in the largest last city, before they crossed the desert, on the way to California, that they would be able to resupply, where they would be able to buy grain for their horses and mules, that they would be able to restock themselves with ammunition and other things. They found that regulations had been put in place that made all of that impossible. No guns or ammunition were to be sold to anyone. More people were trying to buy guns from travelers that came through to build up their supply. Utah people were permitted to sell grain for people to eat but not for animals.
"Remember the two parties together had about 1,000 of cattle. They had not quite that many when they arrived in the valley, because there were some losses crossing the plains. This was a large herd of cattle. So imagine yourself here at this time. Most people used the ground outside the community for their milk cows and other domestic stock. At this late summer time you are saving your winter herd ground to get you through the winter. When along came these people with this great herd of about a 1,000 head of cattle and they turn them into your herd ground.
"Conflict was bound to happen and some did. The wagon train expected to spend two weeks or more in the Salt Lake valley resupplying themselves, waiting for the weather to get cooler on the desert before they went on. They found themselves obligated to move on after only two days. They were clearly not welcome. As the wagon train went down the state, at Provo they ran into conflict over the herd ground. The constable came out and threatened to arrest them for turning their animals into the community herding ground. That happened again when they came to Nephi and all along the way. It is human nature, when you find hostility, you tend to respond with some hostility and that is what happened.
"After the massacre the stories multiplied about how bad these immigrants were, the terrible things they said and things they did. They named their oxen after church leaders and would swear at them as they went through the towns. One man showed a gun and said this is the gun that killed Joe Smith.
"If you look closely at these immigrants, it is obvious that they probably had similar values to those of Utah, the majority of the party was made up of women and children. A third of the party was young children. Even some of the men, people who were keeping journals as the party passed through their community recorded going out and visiting with members of the party, they were gentlemen.
I have talked about Jack Baker and Alexander Fancher. There apparently had been a man in the party, if you look at the main participants among the immigrants, a man who is never named and is called the Dutchey. This probably means that he had a German accent. The story is that he joined the Baker and Fancher party at Ft. Bridger and wanted to go to California with them. He apparently was a very big man, very strong. He rode a big gray horse. He was extremely aggressive. He embarrassed the rest of the party by his readiness to contend and insult people.
"As a matter of fact, part of the people that come from Arkansas with the Baker party left the party and went to California through southern Idaho.
"Most California immigrants took the California trail that goes through southern Idaho, past the City Of Rocks and then down into Nevada and crossed the Humbolts to the west. They would deviate from that trail to come to Salt Lake for supplies and then go back north to the California trail.
"But when you get later in the season you are not sure you are going to get through the Sierras before the snow falls. Then it became more advantageous to take the southern route, which essentially follows the present route of Interstate Highway 15, through southern Utah and across the Mojave Desert. The Fancher/Baker party was the first party that year to take the southern route instead of the northern route. But the people that had come from Arkansas with that party decided to take the northern route from Salt Lake, because there had been so much contention in the Fancher Baker party.
"They also had a large number of young boys with the party for herding the cattle. These were boys in their late teens and early 20s who were away from home. Even today such boys are not on their best behavior, when they are traveling. It may well be that the problem was caused by a relatively small group.
"The first really serious problem came when they reached Corn Creek. This is the present site of the community of Kanosh in Millard County. At that time it was the headquarters of the Kanosh band of Indians. There the party camped on one bank of Corn Creek and a party came in from the south and camped on the other side. That second party included George A. Smith, who had just come back from a tour of southern Utah preaching hellfire and damnation to arouse people up against the invading army. Jacob Hamblin was also in that group, going to meet with Brigham Young in Salt Lake.
"The two parties met each other and had some exchanges and as the Baker/Fancher party left they had some conflicts with the Indians. The story is that they poisoned the springs and poisoned dead cattle, knowing that the Indians would come and salvage the dead cattle and eat them several Indians died as a result.
"It would be hard to poison a spring effectively with the toxins available at that period of time so that is dubious. The cattle, Walker, Turley and Weber purposed that the problem may have been anthrax. Because it was known that sometimes Texas Longhorns carried anthrax spores with them. The information about the illnesses and deaths in the Corn Creek area, fit the symptoms of anthrax. So it is possible.
"In any case the Indians are angry and follow the party for a considerable distance. The Kanosh Indians did not follow them as far as Mountain Meadows.
"When the Fancher/Baker party got into southern Utah a very isolated region, they already had a bad reputation. When they got to Parowan, a rural town, a fortified community, the party was not allowed to drive through town and had to make a new road around. For all practical purposes the town refused to deal with the immigrants. They went on to Cedar City where they were able to get some supplies. They bought 50 bushels of grain, they then took it to the grist mill to have it ground and they were accommodated, but not very charitably. The miller insisted that they trade a cow for grinding 50 bushels of wheat, which was an exorbitant price. They paid the price but were very bitter about it.
"Some young men, while the grist was grinding, discovered a distillery in town where a beverage known as sage brush whiskey was made. They sampled the beverage and then began behaving badly. So there was a lot of conflict between the party and the residents. One man lopped off the heads of two chickens, belonging to a widow in town, and threw them into his wagon. That did not increase their popularity.
"Eventually at the general store in town they could not get the supplies, (the store keeper later said we did not have the provisions they asked for), but they apparently believed the store had the provisions and just would not sell to the party. So they rode over to the home of Stake President Isaac C. Haight who was the manager of the store. There they called out questions. They then told him that they were going to California and as soon as they got there, they were going to send the soldiers there back to take care of these Mormons and that they would clean up this town. Haight took these threats very seriously.
"The party left Cedar City and within two days were in Mountain Meadows where they planned to stay as most parties taking that route did. This was the last place where you could feed your animals well before the difficult desert crossing.
"When you look at the time line, a series of events got out of hand. We have all had the experience of un-anticipated and unintended consequences. We make a decision, we do something, without realizing what is going to follow from that decision. That is human nature.
"But here we have that kind of a chain in a particularly disastrous form. Haight, as I said, was the most powerful man in town. He was the stake president. He was also the Major of the Militia and felt that he had been personally threatened and his community had been threatened. He decided that you cannot just let these people go Scott free. We have to chastise them in some way and that was the thing the church leaders had been preaching that summer. Mormons had to make alliances with the Indians. When the army came they wanted the Indians to be able to make a distinction between the Mormons and the Americans. The Mormons were their friends and the Americans were their enemy and be prepared to help. Well, OK, we will call out the Indians. The people in southern Utah lived side by side with the various Paiute bands. There were Paiute's in Cedar City, there were Paiute's in the hills around and in the other small communities.
"The Mormons knew Indians well. They had a lot of dealings with each other. Haight's idea at first was, we won't let these guys get away, we will sic the Indians on them and see what harm they can do. At the very least teach them a lesson.
"He called in John D. Lee who lived in the town of Harmony a few miles south. If you go down I-15 now, you know there is New Harmony over against the mountains on the west. The original Harmony was right in the middle of that valley. They finally moved it because the winds were too bad coming up and down the valley.
"Lee was an Indian Farmer. Indian Farmer was a government job where you were paid to teach the Indians how to farm. Trying to get them to adopt a life of farming. He had a lot of influence with the local people. Haight called Lee into Cedar City and they went out to the old iron works, which were now not operating, and laid on blankets all night and made their plans. The plan was that Lee would go and gather up the Paiute bands and take them to waylay the settlers. The idea was not to waylay them at Mountain Meadows where they were already camped, but farther south in the Santa Clara River Narrows where the wagons would have to go one after another. The Indians could hide in the brush and rocks and attack. That was the plan. I do not think Haight at this time had necessarily thought of wiping them out. Go out there, give them a hard time, if you could get some of their livestock, good. They could use cattle, and send them on their way so they will think twice before they take us on again.
"That was Lee's concept too. We will just go out and harass them. The Indians were gathered together. Lee and other men went out with the Indian tribes in substantial numbers to arrive in the Mountain Meadows area. Some estimates are as high as 600. But you could not have found 600 able bodied men from some of the pioneers. It would have been more like 150-200 men is the best estimate.
"Lee is there trying to manage them. The Indians all came in their war paint and they are all excited about having a raiding party. The Indians do not want to wait. These people get through feeding their stock and go down to where the Indians gathered and say why do we not do it here. Look how many of us there are. Their supposed plan was abandoned," Geary stated. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30372000 |
"Inexactness" or the "uncertainty" principle, as formulated by physicist Werner Heisenberg, is an end often seen as the beginning. It reflects T.S. Eliot's observation: "what she gives, gives with such supple confusions that the giving famishes the craving".
In 1927, Heisenberg showed that uncertainty is inherent in quantum mechanics. It is impossible to simultaneously measure certain properties—position and momentum. In the quantum world, matter can take the form of either particle or waves. Fundamental elements are neither particles nor waves, but can behave as either and are merely different theoretical ways of picturing the quantum world.
The profound beauty of Inexactness transects science, mathematics, method, philosophy, linguistics and faith.
Inexactness marks an end to certainty. In seeking to measure one property more precisely and accurately, the ability to measure the other property is undermined. The act of measurement negates elements of our knowledge of the system.
It undermines scientific determinism, implying that human knowledge about the world is always incomplete, uncertain and highly contingent.
Inexactness challenges causality. As Heisenberg observed: "'If we know the present, then we can predict the future', it is not the consequences, but the premise that is false. As a matter of principle we cannot know all determining elements of the present".
Inexactness questions methodology. Experiments can only prove what they are designed to prove. Inexactness is a theory based on the practical constraints of measurement.
Inexactness and quantum mechanics challenge faith as well as concepts of truth and order. They imply a probabilistic world of matter, where we cannot know anything with certainty but only as a possibility. It removes the Newtonian elements of space and time from any underlying reality. In the quantum world, mechanics are understood as a probability without any causal explanation.
Albert Einstein refused to accept that positions in space-time could never be completely known and quantum probabilities did not reflect any underlying causes. He did not reject the theory but the lack of reason for an event. Writing to Max Born, he famously stated: "I, at any rate, am convinced that He [God] does not throw dice." But as Stephen Hawking later remarked in terms that Heisenberg would have recognised: "Not only does God play dice, but…he sometimes throws them where they cannot be seen."
Allusive and subtle, the power of Inexactness draws on its metaphorical property which has allowed it to penetrate diverse fields such as art theory, financial economics and even popular culture.
At one level, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle is taken to mean the act of measuring something changes what is observed. But at another level, intentional or unintentionally, Werner Heisenberg is saying something about the nature of the entire system—the absence of absolute truths, the lack of certainty and the limits to our knowledge.
Inexactness is linked with different philosophical constructs. Nineteenth-century Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard differentiated between objective truths and subjective truths. Objective truths are filtered and altered by our subjective truths, recalling the interaction between observer and event central to Heisenberg's theorem.
Inexactness is related to linguistic philosophies. In the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, Ludwig Wittgenstein anticipates Inexactness arguing that the structure of language provides the limits of thought and what can be said meaningfully.
The deep ambiguity of Inexactness manifests itself in other ways: the controversy over the term itself and Heisenberg's personal history.
Heisenberg's principle is various referred to as Ungenauigkeit (meaning inexactness), Unschärfe (blurred or lacking clarity) or Unbestimmtheit (indeterminate). In translation, the ambiguity and differences in meaning are accentuated. Playwright Michael Franyn suggested: indeterminability. It was not until the publication of the 1930 English-language version of Heisenberg's textbook, The Physical Principles of the Quantum Theory that the term uncertainty (Unsicherheit) was used and widely adopted.
In 1941, during the Second World War, Werner Heisenberg and Niels Bohr, the Danish Physicist and his former teacher, met in occupied Denmark. In Michael Franyn's 1998 play Copenhagen, Margrethe, Bohr's wife, poses the essential question, which is debated in the play: "Why did he [Heisenberg] come to Copenhagen?"
The play repeats their meeting three times, each with different outcomes. As Heisenberg, the character, states: "No one understands my trip to Copenhagen. Time and time again I've explained it. To Bohr himself, and Margrethe. To interrogators and intelligence officers, to journalists and historians. The more I've explained, the deeper the uncertainty has become."
In his 1930 text The Principles of Quantum Mechanic. Paul Dirac, a colleague of Heisenberg, contrasted the Newtonian world and the Quantum one: "It has become increasingly evident… that nature works on a different plan. Her fundamental laws do not govern the world as it appears in our mental picture in any direct way, but instead they control a substratum of which we cannot form a mental picture without introducing irrelevancies."
There was a world before Heisenberg and his Inexactness principle. There is a world after Heisenberg. They are the same world but they are different. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30374000 |
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CFD TUTORIAL – RIGID BODY MODELING
If you want to get started with the rigid body modeling you should be aware of that the modeling setup, mesh displacement and rigid body motions are depended on the complexity of your system. Maybe a mesh displacement can be restricted to one domain, or a subdomain with sliding mesh is sufficient to model the rigid body? We will help you with these questions and will further recommend that you make a sketch of your system to decide which parts are needed to be moved, this will make the modeling of domains and interfaces in DesignModeler easier.
This tutorial will briefly show three different ways of how to use the Rigid Body 6DOF solver in CFX v.13. We hope this will be a good start if you want to begin using the final release of the CFX Rigid Body solver.
A rigid body is a solid object that moves through a fluid without itself deforming. Its motion is dictated by the fluid forces and torques acting upon it, plus any external forces as gravity and external torque. A rigid body is defined by a collection of 2D regions that form its faces. The rigid body itself does not need to be meshed. Mesh motion is used to move the mesh on the rigid body faces in accordance with the solution of the rigid body equations of motion.
3 examples of the Rigid Body solver will be presented in the following tutorial. The tutorial is not described in detail and will only work as a guidance of how to set up a simulation that includes a Rigid Body.
- Introduction to CFD with CFX
RIGID BODY EXAMPLE 1
The first example shows a free drop of a thin plate or hatch. The hatch is fixed at one axis and will have a rotational motion. We have modeled a simple plate and generated a surrounding fluid domain. The hatch is enclosed in a cylindrical domain to allow rotational motion of model. See illustration of the domains in Figure 1.The 2D wall boundaries which constitute the hatch surface define the rigid body.
See close view in Figure 2.
Figure 1. The computational domain consists of a box and a cylinder. The cylindrical domain encloses the Rigid Body, i.e. the hatch which is fixed at the x-axis. The walls, which constitute the hatch is visualized in green. A rotation of the modeled hatch will consequently rotate the cylinder.
Figure 2. The walls will define the Rigid Body. The hatch itself is not a domain.
The first thing we will do is to insert a Rigid Body dialog box
. To model the Rigid Body you need to specify the mass and the absolute values of the mass momentum of inertia for the rigid body with respect to a corresponding coordinate system - see Figure 3. Furthermore, you will need to define external force, torque or gravity if it is present. This can be set under the Dynamic setting tab. Mark of for the correct translational and rotational degree of freedom. A typical setup for a thin plate is shown in Figure 3 and 4. You can read about the Rigid Body User interface and the definition of these settings in the ANSYS v.13 Help Guide.
Figure 3. You need to set the total mass of the Rigid Body, and the location, in this case the plate walls named Body. In addition you need to calculate the Mass Moment Of Inertia of the Rigid Body object.
Figure 4. Define external forces. Gravity force is always present in drop cases. For this case the thin plate will only have one degree of freedom, which is a rotational degree about the x-axis.
When you have created your Rigid Body you can go on and define the Fluid Domain. In Basic settings shown in Figure 5 you will need to set Mesh Deformation to Region of Motion Specified. This is needed only in domains where the motion of the Rigid Body will have an influence on the mesh boundaries.
Figure 5. In the Basic Settings tab of the rotating domain, Region of Motion Specified needs to be activated.
For this case we have divided the computational domain into two parts. The inner cylindrical domain will undergo Mesh Deformation when the Rigid Body moves, while the outer rectangular domain will remain steady, the cylindrical domain will therefore be defined as a subdomain, see Figure 6 and Figure 7. The remaining now is to define how the 2D boundaries shall act.
Figure 6. Define the cylindrical domain as a Subdomain. The interface between the rotating and stationary domain will be handled by the sliding mesh feature.
Figure 7. The Subdomain will follow the Rigid Body motion.
The modeling of Mesh Deformation is an important component for solving problems with moving boundaries or moving subdomains. The motion might be imposed, or might be an implicit part of a coupled fluid-structure simulation.
For our case with a falling plate we want the mesh interface of the subdomain to slide on the interface to the rectangular and steady domain. To prevent the nodes on the subdomain interface to move relative to the local boundary frame we need to set the Mesh Motion of the Interface to Stationary. See Figure 8.
Figure 8. The interface nodes will move relative to the local boundary frame.
The Mesh Motion of the 2D wall boundaries which form the hatch surface, i.e. the Rigid Body, will follow the Rigid Body Solution. The same setting will be applied to the Subdomain as well, refer to Figure 7.
No special action is needed to set up the stationary domain, i.e. the rectangular domain. This domain can be modeled as usual. No consideration to Mesh Motion or the Rigid Body solver is necessary.
Set a proper time step for the transient analysis and you can start solving a Rigid Body motion. A movie of the falling hatch is shown below.
RIGID BODY EXAMPLE 2
In the previous example we presented a very simple case to describe the Rigid Body solver; one degree of freedom and Mesh Displacement with stationary nodes. The problem was solved by sliding mesh and GGI at the interfaces. In the next example we will model a buoy at the water surface by use of the Rigid Body solver. The modeling concept is shown in Figure 9.
Figure 9. Waves that are introduced in the domain will further influence the displacement of the buoy.
As for the hatch you’ll need to insert a Rigid Body and define its dynamics. See example in Figure 10. The buoy will have tree degrees of freedom, translation in x- and y direction and rotational about z-axis – see the Dynamics definition in Figure 11.
Figure 10. The Mass and Moment Of Inertia of the buoy needs to be defined.
Figure 11. Definition of Degrees of Freedom of the Buoy.
For this case we have two distinct mesh domains, however, we will introduce only one fluid domain. In the Domain Basic setting tab the multiphase of water and air is created and Mesh Deformation is activated. The free surface multiphase is modeled as usual.
The buoy will be moved in several directions which mean that the mesh nodes will be displaced. To allow mesh deformation you need to define the Mesh Motion on each boundary. The modeled domain is shown in Figure12.
Figure 12. Mesh domains.
The buoy surface is set to follow the Rigid Body motion, which means that the nodes will not be locally displaced. The Mesh Motion on the Fluid Fluid Interfaces between the two mesh domains are set to Conservative Interface Flux - by using this condition there is no constraint that attempts to keep the meshes on either side of the interface together. The motion of nodes in all domains adjacent to the interface influence, and are influenced by, the motion of the nodes on the interface. The definitions are shown in Figure 13 and Figure 14.
Figure 13. The 6DOF solver will predict the buoy behavior. The nodes will not be locally displaced.
Figure 14. The nodes on the domain interface will be displaced, this will in term skew the elements.
The Mesh Motion on the wall, symmetry and pressure outlets can be set to Unspecified – no constraints on mesh motion are applied to nodes. Their motion is determined by the motion set on other regions of the mesh. *
A transient simulation is prescribed and the motion of the Rigid Body and the resulting Mesh Displacement is visualized in in the following movie.
*A wave is introduced in the simulation – for this case the wave is induced by a specified displacement of walls. A description of how to model this displacement can be found in CFX v130 Tutorial 32.
RIGID BODY EXAMPLE 3
A third example is to put constrain on the Rigid Body and Mesh motion. As for the first example you may also here create a subdomain, see Figure 15. The subdomain will in this case follow the Rigid Body motion.
Figure 15. The buoy domain is defined as a subdomain in this Rigid Body example.
Furthermore, we will have to change the setting of the Fluid Fluid Interface to oppose sliding mesh between the interfaces. The Mesh Motion of the Fluid Interfaces are set as Rigid Body Motion, thus the mesh nodes of the subdomain will not move relative to the rectangular domain. The motion constrains of the interfaces are defined in Figure 16 and 17.
Figure 16. The motion constrains of the interface in the rectangular domain.
Figure 17. Mesh motion and Motion Constraints of the Interface of the Subdomain.
The resulting buoy motion with sliding mesh is shown in the movie below. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30377000 |
This story comes to us from NBC Latino.
Latino children are currently not enrolled in preschool programs in sufficient numbers, yet a new study finds that equalizing access to center-based preschool could close the Hispanic-white school readiness gap by 26 percent, according to findings in the current issue of The Future of Children, a joint Princeton/Brookings journal. The new issue focuses on “Literacy Challenges for the Twenty-First Century.”
As society becomes more information-based, argue the authors, successful “reading skills” go beyond being able to read technically. ”Almost all U.S. students can ‘read’ by third grade, if reading is defined as being proficient in basic procedural word-reading skills,” say the authors of a chapter on literacy patterns in U.S. children. But when assessing reading comprehension, “only about a third of U.S. students in middle school possess the knowledge-based competencies to ‘read’ in this sense,” the report says.
The Latino-white achievement gap has narrowed in the last few decades, say the researchers. The promising news is that while Latino children with limited English and less access to preschool start out with a Latino-white gap, the gaps narrow or stabilize after a few years. Moreover, in the Latino community, the size of the Hispanic-white gap varies. Reading scores are typically lower for Hispanics of Mexican or Central American origin and for first- or second-generation immigrant students or those who speak Spanish at home than for Cuban or Puerto Rican children or those who speak English at home.
What worries the researchers is that the socioeconomic literacy gap has widened. Students from low-income families enter high school with average literacy skills five years behind those of high-income students, says a chapter on literacy patterns. In fact a Brookings analysis found that if the “academic success rates of lower- and higher-income children were roughly equal at the end of elementary school, the lifetime incomes of children from lower-income families could grow about 8 percent, or roughly $83,000, over their careers.”
Correcting gaps and providing a strong basis for Latino students’ success in literacy and reading comprehension — regardless of socio-economic status — has to start at the lower grades, say the authors. One of the ways to narrow this gap, especially among Latino children, say the authors, is for children from non-English-speaking or low-income households to have access to high-quality pre-schools which provide parental education, home-visiting services, and high-quality center-based education and care.
Columbia University’s Jane Waldfogel and Katherine Magnuson found “equalizing access to center-based preschool, in which Hispanic children are significantly underenrolled, could close as much as 26 percent of the Hispanic-white gaps, with improvements in Head Start closing another 4–8 percent,” saying the role of early childhood education and care was very important in explaining Hispanic-white gaps in school readiness.
Other policy recommendations include improving the content of the reading in the primary grades, so students can learn about current events and start learning comprehension and analyses, teaching subject-specific literacy skills, as well as school reform initiatives, better educational ‘infrastructure’ (more data and curriculum and professional development for teachers), perhaps Common Core State Standards to insure learning goals, and most importantly, programs to attract the top college graduates to become teachers.
“Unless the United States can markedly improve the literacy skills of today’s minority children the labor force of the future will have lower literacy skills than the labor force of today,” say The Future of Children editors and authors.
Sandra Lilley is a reporter with NBC Latino.
All statements and opinions expressed on this blog are those of the individual contributors, and not of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation or NBC News. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30379000 |
One way to save Moore's Law from an unpleasant and industry-disrupting demise is for manufacturing process technology developers to make a series of changes at a given node – say 20-nm – but label each successive change with a smaller number.
In that way double patterning of deep immersion lithography can continue to produce chips that are in processes technologies that are labeled 16-nm, 14-nm, 10-nm and so on, thereby keeping Moore's law moving forward.
And as long as some feature on the chip can be measured at the
appropriate dimension it should be possible to find a way to justify the
label.[Get a 10% discount on ARM TechCon 2012 conference passes by using promo code EDIT. Click here to learn about the show and register.]
Of course, the IC die-area savings and cost advantages that we have become used to from previous process node transitions would not accrue with these forthcoming node transitions. However, as chip designers at the leading edge are becoming more interested in power savings than area savings as long as the successive process nodes produce ICs with lower power consumption all may be well. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30382000 |
July 25, 2012
| by Steven Castle
Much of the United States is mired in drought conditions, which is not only uncomfortable but is having an effect on food prices as crops in the Midwest remain parched. But how are drought and water shortages related to energy efficiency?
A New York Times article explains:
Our energy system depends on water. About half of the nation’s water withdrawals every day are just for cooling power plants. In addition, the oil and gas industries use tens of millions of gallons a day, injecting water into aging oil fields to improve production, and to free natural gas in shale formations through hydraulic fracturing. Those numbers are not large from a national perspective, but they can be significant locally.
All told, we withdraw more water for the energy sector than for agriculture. Unfortunately, this relationship means that water problems become energy problems that are serious enough to warrant high-level attention.
Woa! Half our water withdrawals cool power plants? Holy smoke! Or maybe a lot less smoke. Conventional coal plants are very thirsty, the Times reports, and coal still produces about 40 percent of our electricity.
What Can We Do?
You can do things to save water around your house, such as:
1. Use Energy Star-rated clothes and dishwashers. They use less electricity and less water, saving on electricity, water, and the fuel to heat water.
2. Use WaterSense-labeled showerheads and bathroom faucets that use less water (2 gallons per minute for showerheads and 1.5 gpm or less for faucets) Or buy an WaterSense-labeled aerator that fits on the end of the faucet. Some faucets even have motion sensors and are self-powered for hands-free use.
3. Use low-flow or dual-flush toilets, which flush different amounts of water for liquid and solid waste.
3. Invest in rainwater harvesting barrels or cisterns (for when it does rain).
4. Use hot water recirculators that send cool water in you home’s hot water pipes back to the water heater and replace it with warm water, so you don’t waste gallons of precious H2O waiting for the hot stuff.
5. Use an automated irrigation system, preferably using rain or moisture sensors or info from local weather services, so you don’t water when it’s raining.
Try not to use as much electricity! Adjusting the thermostat 1 or 2 degrees can result in 1 percent to 3 percent in energy savings. It doesn’t seem like much, but it can add up. Dim lights and invest in energy-saving and long-lasting LED lamps. Plug electronics into switchable surge suppressors or smart surge strips and switch them off when you’re not using them. This will save on vampire or phantom power, which electronics use when not on. (Most homes have 40 or power vampires.) Invest in lighting control, home control, smart and programmable thermostats (many can be remote-controlled by smartphones). Get an energy monitoring or management system to track your usage and see where you’re wasting electricity. There are many, many ways to save energy in your home. And they more you save, the less water a power plant must use to cool itself.
The water you save could be your own.
Steven Castle is Electronic House's managing editor. he has been writing about consumer electronics, homes and energy efficiency topics for two decades. He is also the co-founder of GreenTech Advocates | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30389000 |
Nearly 100 years later, a group of British and Australian adventurers have discovered why. They re-enacted Ernest Shackleton's journey to save his crew when their ship got stuck in Antarctica's icy waters.
Tim Jarvis and Barry Gray on Monday reached an old whaling station on the remote island of South Georgia, 19 days after leaving Elephant Island. Just as Shackleton did in 1917, Jarvis and his team sailed 800 nautical miles across the Southern Ocean in a small lifeboat and then climbed over crevasse-filled mountains in South Georgia.
The modern-day team of six used similar equipment and clothes. But the harsh conditions forced several of them to abandon their attempt along the way. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30394000 |
Most skin bumps, spots, growths, and moles are harmless. Colored skin spots, also called pigmented lesions (such as freckles, moles, or flesh-colored skin spots), or growths (such as warts or skin tags) may be present at birth or develop as the skin ages.
Most skin spots on babies will go away without treatment within a few months. Birthmarks are colored marks on the skin that are present at birth or develop shortly after birth. They can be many different sizes, shapes, and colors, including brown, tan, black, blue, pink, white, red, or purple. Some birthmarks appear on the surface of the skin, some are raised above the surface of the skin, and some occur under the skin. Most birthmarks are harmless and do not need treatment. Many birthmarks change, grow, shrink, or disappear. There are many types of birthmarks, and some are more common than others. For more information, see the topic Birthmarks.
Cause of skin changes
Acne is a common skin change that occurs during the teen years and may last into adulthood. Acne may be mild, with just a few blackheads (comedones), or severe, with large and painful pimples deep under the skin (cystic lesions). It may be present on the chest and back as well as on the face and neck. Boys often have more severe outbreaks of acne than girls. Many girls have acne before their periods that occurs because of changes in hormone levels. For more information, see the topic Acne.
During pregnancy, dark patches may develop on a woman's face. This is known as the "mask of pregnancy," or chloasma, and it usually fades after delivery. The cause of chloasma is not fully understood, although experts think that increased levels of pregnancy hormones cause the pigment-producing cells in the skin (melanocytes) to produce more pigment. You can reduce skin pigment changes during pregnancy by using sunscreen and staying out of the sun.
Actinic keratosis and actinic lentigines are types of colored skin spots that are caused by too much sun exposure. Although these spots are not skin cancers, they may mean that you have an increased chance of getting skin cancer, such as squamous cell skin cancer or a type of melanoma.
You may have an allergic reaction to a medicine that causes a skin change, or you may develop a skin reaction when you are out in the sun while you are taking a medicine (this is called photosensitivity). Rashes, hives, and itching may develop, and in some cases may spread to areas of your skin that were not exposed to the sun (photoallergy). For more information, see the topic Allergic Reaction.
Skin changes can also be caused by:
Common skin changes
Some common skin growths include:
Treatment of a skin change depends on what is causing the skin change and what other symptoms you are having. Moles, skin tags, and other growths can be removed if they become irritated, bleed, or cause embarrassment.
While most skin changes are normal and occur with aging, some may be caused by cancer. Skin cancer may start as a growth or mole, a change in a growth or mole, a sore that does not heal, or irritation of the skin. It is the most common form of cancer in North America.
Skin cancer destroys skin cells and tissues and can spread (metastasize) to other parts of the body. The three most common types of skin cancer are basal cell cancer, squamous cell cancer, and melanoma. See a picture of the ABCDEs of melanoma.
Causes of skin cancer include:
Kaposi's sarcoma is a serious form of skin cancer. It is often found in people who have an impaired immune system, such as people with AIDS. Blue-red raised bumps (nodules) may appear on the face, arms, and trunk and inside the mouth.
Early detection and treatment of skin cancer can help prevent problems. Treatment depends on the type and location of the growth and how advanced it is when it is diagnosed. Surgery to remove the growth will help determine what treatment will be needed. For more information, see the topics Skin Cancer, Melanoma and Skin Cancer, Nonmelanoma.
Check your symptoms to decide if and when you should see a doctor.
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Coughs, Age 11 and Younger
Coughing is the body's way of removing foreign material or mucus from the lungs and upper airway passages or of reacting to an irritated airway. Coughs have distinctive traits you can learn to recognize. A cough is only a symptom, not a disease, and often the importance of a cough can be determined only when other symptoms are evaluated.
For information about coughs in teens and adults, see the topic Coughs, Age 12 and Older.
A productive cough produces phlegm or mucus (sputum). The mucus may have drained down the back of the throat from the nose or sinuses or may have come up from the lungs. A productive cough generally should not be suppressed; it clears mucus from the lungs. There are many causes of a productive cough, such as:
A nonproductive cough is dry and does not produce sputum. A dry, hacking cough may develop toward the end of a cold or after exposure to an irritant, such as dust or smoke. There are many causes of a nonproductive cough, such as:
Coughs in children
Children may develop coughs from diseases or causes that usually do not affect adults, such as:
Many coughs are caused by a viral illness. Antibiotics are not used to treat viral illnesses and do not change the course of viral infections. Unnecessary use of an antibiotic exposes your child to the risks of an allergic reaction and antibiotic side effects, such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, rashes, and yeast infections. Antibiotics also may kill beneficial bacteria and encourage the development of dangerous antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
A careful evaluation of your child's health may help you identify other symptoms. Remember, a cough is only a symptom, not a disease, and often the importance of a cough can only be determined when other symptoms are evaluated. Coughs occur with bacterial and viral respiratory infections. If your child has other symptoms, such as a sore throat, sinus pressure, or ear pain, see the Related Topics section.
Check your child's symptoms to decide if and when your child should see a doctor.
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To learn more visit Healthwise.org
© 1995-2012 Healthwise, Incorporated. Healthwise, Healthwise for every health decision, and the Healthwise logo are trademarks of Healthwise, Incorporated.
Find out what women really need.
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Slideshow Pictures: Osteoarthritis -- Active Living From Day to Night
More Slideshows from eMedicineHealth
Watch and learn from these additional pictures slideshows.
Ride a Bike
Biking -- in a group or alone, outside or on a stationary bike -- builds stamina and balance with less impact on knees, hips, and other joints than walking or jogging. Recumbent and comfort bikes can provide relief for people who are uncomfortable on upright bikes. If you have a medical condition, check with your doctor before starting any new fitness program. Depending on your condition and health, some exercises may not be recommended.
Yoga is a gentle way to improve posture, balance, and coordination. Several early studies suggest yoga helps the physical functioning of people with arthritis and promotes relaxation. Look for a beginners' class and explain any physical limitations you have to the teacher. Once you're comfortable with the poses and breathing, you can also practice yoga at home.
Exercise in Water
Swimming, water walking, and other water-based exercises are ideal for relieving the pain and stiffness of arthritis. The resistance provided by water increases strength and range of motion, while its buoyancy supports the body's weight, reducing stress on joints. Water workouts can be as strenuous as swimming laps or as gentle as a game of tag in the shallow end.
Add Short Bursts of Activity
Physical activity in small amounts really adds up. Vacuuming or 10 minutes of pruning may be easier to incorporate into a busy day than an hour of exercise. Always try to use correct posture -- such as standing rather than stooping -- and let your larger joints handle as much of the work as possible. To track your activity, wear a pedometer and record how many steps you take each day.
Set a Goal
Commit to a greater level of training by signing up for a 5K walk, bike ride, or other organized event. Registering for an event increases your commitment and motivation to train. It may give you extra motivation to join events that support causes you may believe in, such as arthritis research. Be sure to give yourself enough time to train. Work backward from the event to set specific, realistic training goals.
Try Tai Chi
Studies suggest that tai chi, a traditional Chinese martial art, reduces pain and stiffness in many arthritis patients. Tai chi combines slow, gentle movements with a mental focus. It can be practiced in groups or alone. Participants in these studies also reported improved balance and lower levels of depression.
Maintain Sexual Intimacy
Pain from arthritis can affect every part of life, including sexuality. But a fulfilling sex life is possible. Plan for sexual activity during times when you feel rested, avoid cold temperatures, use pillows to support painful joints, and relax muscles and joints with massage. Communicate openly with your partner and strive for emotional and physical closeness.
Walk the Dog
Take your four-legged friend when you run errands on foot or head out for a lunchtime stroll. Walking the family pet around the block can deliver a low-impact, inexpensive workout. Walking can reduce stiffness, increase bone mass, increase energy, improve mood, and reduce anxiety. Try to accumulate at least 150 minutes a week. This could include 30 minutes of walking or any other moderate-intensity "lifestyle" activity, three to five days a week.
Take a Hike
At home or on vacation, hiking is an active way to explore the outdoors. Vary the trails you use, from short and strenuous to long and gentle. Activities like hiking are essential to managing the physical symptoms of arthritis, but they have other benefits, too. Exercise improves sleep and helps combat the stress and depression that can accompany arthritis.
Train for Strength
Strength training can protect and stabilize arthritic joints, improve functioning, and lessen pain. If joint movement is limited, isometric exercises that contract muscles without joint movement can be done. Aim for two or three sessions per week and build up repetitions and weight gradually. Check with an exercise specialist to make sure you are performing exercises correctly and safely.
More Reading on Osteoarthritis | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30400000 |
Family: Scolopacidae, Sandpipers view all from this family
Description ADULT In summer plumage, has beautifully patterned brown, black, and white feather markings on back and upper wings. Head, neck, and breast are streaked with brown, and underparts are mainly white, but with brown spots and barring on flanks. Bill is usually all-dark. In winter, looks more pale with gray-brown overall feathers on back, and upper wings marked with marginal white spots and scallops. Bill is pale at base. JUVENILE Similar to winter adult, but feathers on back have buffy marginal spots and breast has obvious dark streaking. Bill is paler at base.
Dimensions Length: 14" (36 cm)
Habitat Widespread and common breeding species in open, boggy, boreal forests. Long-distance migrant that winters from southern U.S. to South America. Usually found on coast (mudflats and lagoons) outside breeding season but, during migration, sometimes stages on lakes.
Observation Tips Distant birds can sometimes be identified with reasonable certainty because of their frenetic feeding habits. Close views allow separation from Lesser Yellowlegs: concentrate on relative body sizes, and bill size and shape.
Range Western Canada, California, Southeast, Northwest, Alaska, Rocky Mountains, Southwest, Florida, Plains, Eastern Canada, Great Lakes, New England, Mid-Atlantic, Texas
Voice Utters a strident tiu-tiu-tiu in flight. Song is a yodeling twee-ooo.
Discussion Robust, elegant wading bird. Extremely long, orange-yellow legs and long, relatively thick and slightly upturned bill make identification easy. However, confusion is possible with Lesser Yellowlegs, which is smaller and an altogether more dainty bird. Feeds primarily in shallow water, catching aquatic invertebrates and small fish, but equally at home on open mudflats. Often chases wildly, like a thing possessed, after prey. Seen from above in flight, all birds have mainly dark upperparts, with contrasting white rump and pale-barred tail. Typically rather wary and nervous. Sexes are similar. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30403000 |
World emissions increase, renewables mitigate
An estimated cumulative global total of 420 billion tonnes of CO2 were emitted between 2000 and 2011 due to human activities, including deforestation.
The rise in average global temperature to 2 degrees Celcius above pre-industrial levels - the target internationally adopted in UN climate negotiations - is possible only if cumulative CO2 emissions in the period 2000-2050 do not exceed 1,000 to 1,500 billion tonnes.
If the current global trend of increasing CO2 emissions continues, cumulative emissions will surpass this limit within the next two decades.
"Fortunately, this trend is being mitigated by the expansion of renewable energy supplies, especially solar and wind energy and biofuels," says the report released by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) and the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL).
The global share of these so-called modern renewables, which exclude hydropower, is growing at an accelerated speed and quadrupled from 1992 to 2011.
"This potentially represents about 0.8 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions avoided as a result of using renewable energy supplies in 2011, which is close to Germany's total CO2 emissions in 2011," the report 'Trends in global CO2 emissions' says.
Per capita emissions in China reach EU level
In China average emissions of CO2 increased by 9 percent to 7.2 tonnes per capita. China is now within the range of 6 to 19 tonnes per capita emissions of the major industrialized countries. In the European Union, CO2 emissions dropped by 3 percent to 7.5 tonnes per capita.
Economic growth in China led to significant increases in fossil fuel consumption driven by construction and infrastructure expansion. The growth in cement and steel production caused China's domestic coal consumption to increase by 9.7 percent.
The United States remain one of the largest emitters of CO2, with 17.3 tonnes per capita, despite a decline due to the recession in 2008-2009, high oil prices and an increased share of natural gas.
The top emitters contributing to the 34 billion tonnes of CO2 emitted globally in 2011 are in percents: China (29), the United States (16), the European Union (11), India (6), the Russian Federation (5) and Japan (4).
Emissions from OECD countries now account for only one third of global CO2 emissions - the same share as that of China and India combined
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My girlfriend is setting up her own business. It is something she had always wanted to do, but her being laid off in the wake of the current economic downturn – as we have come to call what might very well the new economic normality – kicked her into action. She is hardly the only one in this situation. All over the country there is a flurry of new business creations. In normal times, this would bode well for a country which has indeed coined the word "entrepreneur" but had forgotten it quite a long time ago. We are not in normal times however, and this unprecedented wave of entrepreneurship tells in fact of an deep economic insecurity which can only increase with the coming energy descent. It also announces the end of an economic arrangement which had shaped the western social landscape for nearly a century : the wage system.
Wage labor has become so common, so "normal" in today's society, that we have forgotten how marginal -– and despised -- it was before the Industrial Revolution. In agrarian societies wages were what farmhands, servants and journeymen got –- and for the last category it was considered temporary. All respectable working people were self employed, either owning or renting land or running a small – or even not so small – business. Living on wages was something you did when you had no other choice, and, socially speaking, that put you a mere step above a beggar or a slave. It is particularly revealing that in Latin, the word for wages has the same root as the word for prostitute.
There were, of course exceptions, but they were not seen as such. Journeymen lived on wages but, at least theoretically, it was, for them only a temporary step on the way to mastership and self-sufficiency. Civil servants and officers –- privates were seen, not without reason, as the scum of the society –- also received a salary, but considered themselves as servants of the king in a relationship reminiscent of the old vassalage system. In many countries they bought their offices, which emphasized the fact they could live without it, should the need arise.
It was not before the spread of the factory model during the XIXth century that the wage system ceased being marginal, and this evolution was bitterly opposed by large sections of society. As the late Christopher Lasch pointed out in The True and Only Heaven, one of the early labor movement's goals was to stop and reverse the move toward "wage slavery". Karl Marx is often quoted in that matter, but his archenemy, the anarchist Proudhon held similar views, even if he favored a social organization based upon small property and cooperatives. Both in Europe and America, the abolition of the wage system was a major theme in early socialism.
As the artisan model became restricted to a few professionals and farmers became a tiny minority, this theme lost its strength, however. Union's focus shifted to getting higher wages, better career prospects and working conditions. With the sweeping reforms enacted by European governments after WWII, the status of wage laborer became more and more comfortable, since, along with a relatively high income, it offered some security and the ability to plan long term. It had indeed become costly for a company to fire somebody without a very good reasons – the unions were ever watchful – and in France at least lay offs were subject to a prior authorization from the state.
The result was that wage labor became synonymous with job security and the ability to own a house and decently feed one's family.
This system began to unravel after the first oil shock, as companies looked for workarounds, so they could dispose of unneeded workers. Of course they found them –- ironically while in France a so-called socialist held the presidency. They began to resort to fixed term contracts and interim workers. Large firms, such as my home town's shipyard shifted their manpower to contract manufacturers, retaining only core employees. Ironically, but not without reason, this move out of "wage slavery" was, and is, as bitterly resisted by unions and left wing parties as the spread of the wage system had been in the XIXth century.
The ongoing collapse of the world economy has triggered a new step in this process. Many small businesses have gone under and most large companies are struggling. My home town's shipyard, as a contractor for which my girlfriend worked, is starved for work and is down to laying off a significant part of its core employees. The result was that a lot of people found themselves jobless – less than in America since a large part of the French manpower works for the State or one of its subsidiaries and is essentially unfirable, but quite a lot nevertheless.
Those people – the majority of whom with very specialized skills –- turned to business creation out of desperation, because they felt they had no other way to make a living. Many will fail, of course, and slip into permanent poverty – independent workers have no unemployment insurance in France. Others will eke out a living with a few underpaid contracts – something the government has made easier by creating a special "self-entrepreneur" status for small businessmen, which basically means they can dispense with any decent accounting provided they pay a 21% tax and have revenues smaller than 32.000€ a year. A few will thrive – I expect my girlfriend to be among them, of course –- but what will matter is that the wage system will have been dealt another blow.
As we advance further in the energy crisis and economic expansion becomes a thing of the past, we can expect wage labor to become increasingly restricted to a small core elite. Even the administration, the stronghold of job security, is no longer safe. Whole branches have been quietly sold out and while today's civil servants are sure to keep their job for life, barring some dramatic political upheaval, they will eventually retire, and they will be increasingly replaced by temporary workers or independent contractors.
Eventually, the bulk of the population will be self-employed, which, for most people will mean surviving hand-to-mouth by contracting either with whatever business remains or with local authorities ... until, at some point, some crisis will sweep both away, and with them the last remnants of the wage system. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30408000 |
Artificial Sweeteners May Contaminate Water Downstream Of Sewage Treatment Plants And Even Drinking Water
Sewage treatment plants fail to remove artificial sweeteners completely from waste water. What’s more, these pollutants contaminate waters downstream and may still be present in our drinking water. Thanks to their new robust analytical method, which simultaneously extracts and analyses seven commonly used artificial sweeteners, Marco Scheurer, Heinz-Jürgen Brauch and Frank Thomas Lange from the Water Technology Center in Karlsruhe, Germany, were able to demonstrate the presence of several artificial sweeteners in waste water.
Their findings are published online this week in Springer’s journal Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry.
A range of artificial sweeteners are commonly used in food and drinks, as well as drugs and sanitary products. The potential health risks of artificial sweeteners have been debated for some time. Until now, only sucralose has been detected in aquatic environments. Through the use of a new analytical method, the researchers were able to look for seven different artificial sweeteners (cyclamate, acesulfame, saccharin, aspartame, neotame, neohesperidin dihydrochalcone and sucralose) simultaneously, and show, for the first time, that a number of commonly used artificial sweeteners are present in German waste and surface water. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30413000 |
Point of View
The story is told in third-person omniscient narration, which gives the reader a god-like perspective, unrestricted by time or place, allowing the reader to look into the minds of the characters. The story focuses primarily on Mrs. Drover's perceptions. At times the narration switches to the first-person point of view, or the point of view of a certain character, and then reverts to third-person, to heighten the intensity of Mrs. Drover's feelings. This breaks the flow of the narrative and enables the reader to directly perceive her thoughts.
(The entire page is 526 words.)
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Register of the National Estate - archive
The Register of the National Estate was closed in 2007 and is no longer a statutory list. All references to the Register of the National Estate were removed from the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) on 19 February 2012.
The expiration or repeal of parts of the EPBC Act and the Australian Heritage Council Act 2003 relating to the Register of the National Estate does not diminish protection of Commonwealth heritage places.
These parts have been superseded by stronger ongoing heritage protection provisions under national environment law.
The Register of the National Estate (RNE) is now an archive of information about more than 13,000 places throughout Australia.
The RNE was originally established under the Australian Heritage Commission Act 1975 (repealed). Under that Act, the former Australian Heritage Commission entered more than 13,000 places in the register, including many places of local or state significance.
The Australian Heritage Commission Act 1975 provided a basic level of statutory protection for places in the RNE, limited to actions by the Commonwealth. Commonwealth agencies were required to avoid taking actions that would adversely affect places in the RNE, unless there was no feasible and prudent alternative.
In 1997 the Council of Australian Governments agreed that heritage listing and protection should be the responsibility of the level of government best placed to deliver agreed outcomes. It was agreed that the Commonwealth's involvement in environmental matters should focus on matters of national environmental significance, including World Heritage properties and places of national significance. Each state, territory and local government has a similar responsibility for its own heritage.
This led to the creation of two new heritage lists in 2003. Under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) the National Heritage List includes places of outstanding heritage value to the nation, and the Commonwealth Heritage List includes heritage places owned or controlled by the Commonwealth.
The protection of heritage places for which the Australian Government is responsible continues under the EPBC Act. The EPBC Act not only protects heritage from actions by the Commonwealth, it protects places in the National Heritage List, in the Commonwealth Heritage List, and on Commonwealth land. All proponents, not just the Commonwealth, are required to seek approval for actions that could have a significant impact on the heritage values of these places.
Closure of the Register
Following the 1997 agreement, there was a significant level of overlap between the RNE and heritage lists at the national, state and territory, and local government levels. In line with the 1997 agreement, the Australian Government has phased out the RNE as a statutory list. In 2003 the Australian Parliament passed legislation to repeal the Australian Heritage Commission Act 1975, which established the RNE,and to introduce a new system of heritage protection for nationally significant places under the EPBC Act and the Australian Heritage Council Act 2003. In 2006 the EPBC Act and the Australian Heritage Council Act 2003 were amended to freeze the RNE and to provide for a five-year phasing out of statutory references to the RNE.
As a result of these changes to legislation:
- On 1 January 2004 the responsibility for the RNE was transferred from the former Australian Heritage Commission to the Australian Heritage Council.
- On 19 February 2007 places could no longer be added to, or removed from, the RNE.
- On 19 February 2012 all references to the RNE were removed from the EPBC Act and the Australian Heritage Council Act 2003.
The RNE is maintained on a non-statutory basis as a publicly available archive and educational resource.
Protection of places in the Register
The existence of an entry for a place in the RNE does not in itself create a requirement to protect the place under Commonwealth law. Nevertheless, information in the register may continue to be current and may be relevant to statutory decisions about protection.
RNE places can be protected under the EPBC Act if they are also included in another Commonwealth statutory heritage list or are owned or leased by the Commonwealth. For example, RNE places owned or leased by the Commonwealth are protected from any action likely to have a significant impact on the environment.
In addition, places in the RNE may be protected under appropriate state, territory or local government heritage legislation.
Community Information Unit
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Tel: 1800 803 772 (freecall)
- Australian Heritage Week
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- Historic Shipwrecks Program factsheet
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Links to another web site
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Sea ice is frozen seawater that floats on the ocean surface. Blanketing millions of square kilometers, sea ice forms and melts with the polar seasons, affecting both human activity and biological habitat. In the Arctic, some sea ice persists year after year, whereas almost all Southern Ocean or Antarctic sea ice is "seasonal ice," meaning it melts away and reforms annually. While both Arctic and Antarctic ice are of vital importance to the marine mammals and birds for which they are habitats, sea ice in the Arctic appears to play a more crucial role in regulating climate.
Because they are composed of ice originating from glaciers, icebergs are not considered sea ice. Most of the icebergs infesting North Atlantic shipping lanes originate from Greenland glaciers.
Global Sea Ice Extent and Concentration: What sensors on satellites are telling us about sea ice
Sea ice regulates exchanges of heat, moisture and salinity in the polar oceans. It insulates the relatively warm ocean water from the cold polar atmosphere except where cracks, or leads, in the ice allow exchange of heat and water vapor from ocean to atmosphere in winter. The number of leads determines where and how much heat and water are lost to the atmosphere, which may affect local cloud cover and precipitation.
The seasonal sea ice cycle affects both human activities and biological habitats. For example, companies shipping raw materials such as oil or coal out of the Arctic must work quickly during periods of low ice concentration, navigating their ships towards openings in the ice and away from treacherous multi-year ice that has accumulated over several years. Many arctic mammals, such as polar bears, seals, and walruses, depend on the sea ice for their habitat. These species hunt, feed, and breed on the ice. Studies of polar bear populations indicate that declining sea ice is likely to decrease polar bear numbers, perhaps substantially (Stirling and Parkinson 2006).
Ice thickness, its spatial extent, and the fraction of open water within the ice pack can vary rapidly and profoundly in response to weather and climate. Sea ice typically covers about 14 to 16 million square kilometers in late winter in the Arctic and 17 to 20 million square kilometers in the Antarctic Southern Ocean. The seasonal decrease is much larger in the Antarctic, with only about three to four million square kilometers remaining at summer's end, compared to approximately seven to nine million square kilometers in the Arctic. These maps provide examples of late winter and late summer ice cover in the two hemispheres.
Monitoring sea ice
Passive microwave satellite data represent the best method to monitor sea ice because of the ability to show data through most clouds and during darkness. Passive microwave data allow scientists to monitor the inter-annual variations and trends in sea ice cover. Observations of polar oceans derived from these instruments are essential for tracking the ice edge, estimating sea ice concentrations, and classifying sea ice types. In addition to the practical use of this information for shipping and transport, these data add to the meteorological knowledge base required for better understanding climate.
Decline in Arctic sea ice extent
Passive microwave satellite data reveal that, since 1979, winter Arctic ice extent has decreased about 3.6 percent per decade (Meier et al. 2006). Antarctic ice extent is increasing (Cavalieri et al. 2003), but the trend is small.
Satellite data from the SMMR and SSM/I instruments have been combined with earlier observations from ice charts and other sources to yield a time series of Arctic ice extent from the early 1900s onward. While the pre-satellite records are not as reliable, their trends are in good general agreement with the satellite record and indicate that Arctic sea ice extent has been declining since at least the early 1950s.
In recent years, satellite data have indicated an even more dramatic reduction in regional ice cover. In September 2002, sea ice in the Arctic reached a record minimum (Serreze et al. 2003), 4 percent lower than any previous September since 1978, and 14 percent lower than the 1979-2000 mean. In the past, a low ice year would be followed by a rebound to near-normal conditions, but 2002 was followed by two more low-ice years, both of which almost matched the 2002 record. Taking these three years into account, the September ice extent trend for 1979-2004 declined by 7.7 percent per decade (Stroeve et al. 2005). The year 2005 set a new record, dropping the estimated decline in end-of-summer Arctic sea ice to approximately 8 percent per decade. Although sea ice did not set a new record low in 2006, it did fall below normal for the fifth consecutive year. In 2007, sea ice broke all prior satellite records, reaching a record low a month before the end of melt season. Through 2007, the September decline trend is now over 10 percent per decade. (For current sea ice trends, visit NSIDC's Sea Ice Index Cryospheric Climate Indicators.)
Combined with record low summertime extent, Arctic sea ice exhibited a new pattern of poor winter recovery. In the past, a low-ice year would be followed by a rebound to near-normal conditions, but 2002 was followed by two more low-ice years, both of which almost matched the 2002 record (see Arctic Sea Ice Decline Continues). Although wintertime recovery of Arctic sea ice improved somewhat after 2006, wintertime extents have remained well below the long-term average.
Decline in Arctic Sea Ice Thickness
Sea ice thickness has likewise shown substantial decline in recent decades (Rothrock et al. 1999). Using data from submarine cruises, Rothrock and collaborators determined that the mean ice draft at the end of the melt season in the Arctic has decreased by about 1.3 meters between the 1950s and the 1990s.
Estimates based on measurements taken by NASA's ICESat laser altimeter, first-year ice that formed after the autumn of 2007 had a mean thickness of 1.6 meters. The ice formed relatively late in the autumn of 2007, and NSIDC researchers had actually anticipated this first-year ice to be thinner, but it nearly equaled the thickness of 2006 and 2007. Snow accumulation on sea ice helps insulate the ice from frigid air overhead, so sparse snowfall during the winter of 2007-2008 might have actually accelerated the sea ice's growth.
Greenhouse gases emitted through human activities and the resulting increase in global mean temperatures are the most likely underlying cause of the sea ice decline, but the direct cause is a complicated combination of factors resulting from the warming, and from climate variability. The Arctic Oscillation (AO) is a see-saw pattern of alternating atmospheric pressure at polar and mid-latitudes. The positive phase produces a strong polar vortex, with the mid-latitude jet stream shifted northward. The negative phase produces the opposite conditions. From the 1950s to the 1980s, the AO flipped between positive and negative phases, but it entered a strong positive pattern between 1989 and 1995. So the acceleration in the sea ice decline since the mid 1990s may have been partly triggered by the strongly positive AO mode during the preceding years (Rigor et al. 2002 and Rigor and Wallace 2004) that flushed older, thicker ice out of the Arctic, but other factors also played a role.
Since the mid-1990s, the AO has largely been a neutral or negative phase, and the late 1990s and early 2000s brought a weakening of the Beaufort Gyre. However, the longevity of ice in the gyre began to change as a result of warming along the Alaskan and Siberian coasts. In the past, sea ice in this gyre could remain in the Arctic for many years, thickening over time. Beginning in the late 1990s, sea ice began melting in the southern arm of the gyre, thanks to warmer air temperatures and more extensive summer melt north of Alaska and Siberia. Moreover, ice movement out of the Arctic through Fram Strait continued at a high rate despite the change in the AO. Thus warming conditions and wind patterns have been the main drivers of the steeper decline since the late 1990s. Sea ice may not be able to recover under the current persistently warm conditions, and a tipping point may have been passed where the Arctic will eventually be ice-free during at least part of the summer (Lindsay and Zhang 2005).
Examination of the long-term satellite record dating back to 1979 and earlier records dating back to the 1950s indicate that spring melt seasons have started earlier and continued for a longer period throughout the year (Serreze et al. 2007). Even more disquieting, comparison of actual Arctic sea ice decline to IPCC AR4 projections show that observed ice loss is faster than any of the IPCC AR4 models have predicted (Stroeve et al. 2007).
Disclaimer: This article is taken wholly from, or contains information that was originally published by, the National Snow and Ice Data Center. Topic editors and authors for the Encyclopedia of Earth may have edited its content or added new information. The use of information from the National Snow and Ice Data Center should not be construed as support for or endorsement by that organization for any new information added by EoE personnel, or for any editing of the original content. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30418000 |
The first 2-3 years of life are so formative that the most fundamental and elementary ways that someone experiences and interacts with the world are set. Personality changes throughout life, but less and less so. How the child deals with separation from the mother and his or her own sense of self lays a foundation for all later development.
What qualities of being are required to move through the stages of development for the first 2-3 years of life? And what happens when some of these qualities are not fully present?
Basically, according to depth psychology the infant starts on a ‘merged with the mother state’ for the first 6 months or so. From there the baby begins a process of separating and individuating from the mother until 2-3 years old.
The merged state that the child starts with is like a childhood enlightenment. There is little sense of difference or separation. It has a blissful quality that is sometimes interrupted by physical and emotional needs. How these needs are dealt with sets an initial and immediate sense of how the world is basically or bodily. Safe, nourishing or not, at a very basic or bodily level.
The dominant quality and the quality required in this early stage is a type of blended merged love, where the mother’s psyche and body are shared with the infant. This makes entry into the world of conditions safe, gradual and generally pleasant.
If this merged love is not present or infrequently present or somehow dimmed then the baby will experience and begin to perceive the world in a less safe and positive way at the deep level of the body.
Next the child begins to differentiate themselves from the mother. The quality of strength is key here because he/she is separating themselves from the merged mother. Strength slowly begins to take over as the primary quality of experience, instead of the merged type of love. Ideally this is not strength in a contracted form, rather it is a bright uplifting yet relaxed feeling of capability.
If the merged state did not go well (needs were not met) then it is likely that ego has already taken on a more rigid and defensive structure. This naturally blocks out the natural feelings of goodness of reality because the child is more self focused toward a false self. It also sets the stage for the strength, which is needed to differentiate, to arise in an ‘egoic condition’. Additionally, trauma at this differentiation stage can cause the more rigid, being-blocking form of ego. Trauma at these early periods is particularly damaging for obvious reasons. Fundamental issues (around separation, survival, etc.) can centralize themselves in the blueprint for living which is being formed!
But let’s assume things go ideally in the merged state and differentiation happens ideally; the baby feels strong, able and happy. The next stage involves experiencing limitation, the limitations of his/her little body in the conditional world. If the mother, and to a lesser degree the father (most commonly) deals with the child’s attempt to remerge in a healthy supportive way, that both loves the child but encourages them to venture out strongly, then a quality of strength and ability will be added to a quality of merged safe love at the deep level of body.
If the attempt to remerge is not dealt with well the child will end up too merged with the parent or too separate and independent. If the parent clings to the child the child will stay more merged. If the parent rejects the child, then the child will be more separate. In either case the love quality of being or the strength quality of being is diminished to a type of enmeshment or separateness. In a typical “softy” or “meany” personality style.
Next the child individualizes and develops their own sense of individuality and personality. The primary quality here is individuality. This individuality is not based on egoic separateness ideally, but instead forms a unique personality that is fully connected to being. Any number of things can happen in this stage and cause the personality to become more contracted and further away from being. The contracted form of the individuality quality is something like the personality of ego (often called the false self).
Around four years old the child enters an Oedipal phase where each child develops a sense of their ‘boyness’ or ‘girlness’ and what this means. The child develops the ability to polarize love, and years later to romanticize love. This is furthered by the biological development. Freud was absolutely correct that a sexual self sense begins to form when a child realizes their gender and begins to integrate it into their personality. This sexual self sense, unless addressed, will underlie all romantic connections to follow. Of course, it will change and further events will influence one’s romantic ability, but one’s basic sense of one’s gender will underlie all of that.
Strength and love, as well as many other qualities become enhanced by these gender developments if they go well. Ideally the child has received the environmental support necessary to move through these stages while maintaining a connection to Being. In which case, one’s identity is in being, one’s individuality is an alive vibrant personality not a separateness, and one’s gender sense adds a thrill to life instead of some type of obsession or problem. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30423000 |
This release is available in French.
Your blood and the level of a hormone in your spit could reveal if you're on the point of burnout, according to research undertaken by Dr. Sonia Lupien and Robert-Paul Juster of the Centre for Studies on Human Stress of Louis-H. Lafontaine Hospital and the University of Montreal. In addition to professional and personal suffering, burnout puts distressed workers at further risk of physical and psychological problems if ignored. This is significant, as burnout, clinical depression, or anxiety related to the workplace affects at least 10% of North Americans and Europeans, according to estimates prepared by the International Labor Organization.
"We hypothesized that healthy workers with chronic stress and with mild burnout symptoms would have worse physiological dysregulations and lower cortisol levels – a profile consistent with burnout," Juster explained. Cortisol is a stress hormone involved in our bodies stress response and naturally as part of our body's daily rhythm. Cortisol levels are often high in people suffering from depression, while it tends to be low in cases of burnout. Too much cortisol can be as bad as too little when it comes to both mental and physical health.
Chronic stress and misbalanced cortisol levels can exert a kind of domino effect on connected biological systems. The term "allostatic load" represents the physiological problems or 'wear and tear' that ensue in these different systems related to risks for diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and immune problems. By looking at various factors such as insulin, sugar, cholesterol, blood pressure, and inflammation, an allostatic load index can be constructed and then used to detect problems before they occur. "The strength of the allostatic load model is its flexible inclusion of numerous biological systems that get strained by chronic stress. Complementary use of saliva samples and validated questionnaires allows us to go beyond measuring susceptibilities to, say, metabolic syndromes or heart problems, but also into the realm of mental health," Juster said.
The results of this first pilot study were obtained by testing thirty middle-aged participants. In addition to undergoing routine blood measures that assessed allostatic load, participants were instructed to collect saliva at home and during a laboratory paradigm. They also filled out questionnaires related to their current stress levels as well as symptoms of depression and burnout.
This research is part of a greater effort to develop personalized medicine in this field. Personalized medicine targets the customization of treatment according to the needs of the individual. "In an effort to advance person-centered approaches in prevention and treatment strategies, we have to investigate the biopsychosocial signatures of specific diseases," Lupien said. "For conditions like burnout where we have no consensus on diagnostic criteria and where there is overlap with symptoms of depression, it is essential to use multiple methods of analysis. One potential signature of burnout appears to be fatigued production of the stress hormone cortisol and dysregulations of the physiological systems that interact with this stress hormone."
Critically, people with burnout are often treated with anti-depressant medications that lower cortisol levels. If cortisol is already lower than it should be, this course of treatment could represent a therapeutic mistake. "The use of an allostatic load index gives researchers and clinicians a window to see how chronic stress is straining the person. In the future, we need studies that track people over time to determine whether this profile of low cortisol and physiological dysregulations is indeed burnout's autograph. If so, science will be one step closer to helping distressed workers before they burn out," Juster noted.
The research was published in Psychoneuroendocrinology and received funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Dr. Sonia Lupien is Scientific Director of Fernand-Seguin Research Centre of Louis–H. Lafontaine Hospital and is an associate professor with the Department of Psychiatry at Université de Montréal. Dr. Lupien is the Founder and Director of the Centre for Studies on Human Stress. She also holds a Senior Investigator Chair on Sex, Gender and Mental Health from the Canadian Institute of Gender and Health (IGH). Juster is affiliated with the Fernand-Seguin Research Centre of Louis-H. Lafontaine Hospital and the Centre for Studies on Human Stress. He's a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery at McGill University.
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30427000 |
Once upon a time there was a bookseller. His name was Frederic G. Melcher, and he knew in his heart that books for children were just as important as books for adults, if not more so. Why, he wondered, are they so often ignored? He thought and thought, and decided in the end that it didn't matter why; what mattered was that he did something to change all that.
He did. In 1921, he proposed the Newberry Award to the American Library Association, an award named for 18th-century English bookseller John Newbery and to be awarded to the most distinguished American children's book published the previous year. The Association's Executive Board approved the idea, much to the joy of children's librarians everywhere, and the first Newbery Award was given in 1922.
The express purpose of the medal was "To encourage original creative work in the field of books for children. To emphasize to the public that contributions to the literature for children deserve similar recognition to poetry, plays, or novels. To give those librarians, who make it their life work to serve children's reading interests, an opportunity to encourage good writing in this field."
Not only the winning books, but runner-up Newbery Honor Books, are included in the list of titles. Melcher's brainchild was the first children's book award in the world, and remains the measure all the others. He went on to initiate the Caldecott Award for best illustrated children's book, and together the Newbery and the Caldecott provide the standard for evaluating children's books in the United States and beyond. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30435000 |
Radiobiology Research Team
Our Research Focus
The Radiobiology Research Team performs research on the effects of ionizing and
non-ionizing radiation on living systems, identifies radiation hazards in the aviation
environment, and studies methods of protection from such hazards.
The CARI-6 computer program, developed at the FAA's Civil Aerospace Medical Institute,
calculates the effective dose of galactic cosmic radiation received by an individual (based on
an anthropomorphic phantom) on an aircraft flying the shortest route (a geodesic) between any
two airports in the world. The program takes into account changes in altitude and geographic
location during the course of a flight, as derived from the flight profile entered by the user.
- How CARI-6 Works
- Information on the latest version of CARI-6
- Download the latest version of CARI-6 (7 July 2004)
- How CARI-6M works and differs from CARI-6
- Information on the latest version of CARI-6M
- Download the latest version of CARI-6M (3 December 2001) | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30438000 |
In Kenya, there are an estimated 1.5 million people living with HIV/AIDS. Nyanza Province, in western Kenya, has been the most severely affected; it has the highest prevalence in the country at 14.9% compared to 7.1% countrywide.
FACES works collaboratively with the Kenya Ministry of Health and other local partners to support and strengthen local capacity for quality HIV prevention, care, and treatment services in Nyanza province and Nairobi. FACES works to provide family-centered, comprehensive, compassionate care, and build the foundation for long-term, sustainable treatment.
FACES is a University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) collaborative partnership. It was funded in September 2004 by the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Learn more about FACES’ Health and Support services, Education and Training programs, and Community Building initiatives. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30439000 |
Arcadelt, Jacob (yäˈkōp ärˈkädĕlt) [key], c.1505–1568, Flemish composer, b. Liège. He spent much of his time at the Papal court in Rome. After 1555 he was in Paris in the service of the duke of Guise. Arcadelt was one of many Netherlander composers who worked in Italy. He wrote Italian madrigals, French chansons, masses, and motets.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
More on Jacob Arcadelt from Fact Monster:
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Music: History, Composers, and Performers: Biographies | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30440000 |
What is Facts for Life?
Using Facts for Life
Safe Motherhood and Newborn Health
Child Development and Early Learning
Nutrition and Growth
Coughs, Colds and More Serious Illnesses
Emergencies: Preparedness and Response
PDF and Word versions Resources
Medicines, poisons, insecticides, bleach, acids and liquid fertilizers and fuels, such as paraffin (kerosene), should be stored carefully out of children's sight and reach. Dangerous substances should be stored in clearly marked containers and never in drinking bottles. Child-resistant closures, where available, should be used on the containers of poisonous products.
Poisoning is a serious danger to small children. Bleach, insect and rat poison, paraffin (kerosene) and household detergents can kill or permanently injure a child.
Many poisons can kill, cause brain damage, blind or permanently injure if they:
The key to preventing poisoning is to keep harmful substances out of children's reach. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30441000 |
- Health Advisories/Air Quality Index - Explanation of the air quality index chart and links to Ozone and air quality alert sites.
- Ozone - What is Ozone, good and bad Ozone, who is at risk?
Criteria Pollutants - EPA
criteria pollutants: ozone , carbon monoxide , nitrogen dioxide, sulfur
dioxide , lead , and particulate matter.
Air Quality Standards - The
National Ambient Air Quality Standards , as defined in Title 40 of the
Code of Federal Regulations, Part 50.
Radon - Radon gas can not be seen,
smelled or tasted, but it may be a health hazard in your home.
Additional Air Quality Information Sites
Air Quality Forecast
EPA Air & Radiation
EPA Air Now
Council of Governments Air Quality index
Washington, DC Area Real-Time Display
Clean Air Partners - Air Quality Resources | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30443000 |
Children spend as much as four and a half hours each day watching television and are influenced by the programming and advertising they see. In 2010, one out of every three American children was obese or overweight. As childhood obesity rises, there is an opportunity for the FCC to examine the impact of the media,children's television programming and advertising on this growing health concern.
While the direct relationship between food marketing and childhood obesity has yet to be established, the federal government can take several steps to help improve the media environment for our children and promote healthier lifestyles. In 2010, the FCC joined the White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity and released a report to the president, entitled "Solving the Problem of Childhood Obesity Within a Generation." The commission worked closely with the FTC, the FDA and HHS on the food marketing section of the report. For more information, visit the FCC's Parent's Place. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30449000 |
(Mimosa, Silk tree)
A large shrub or small tree, Albizia julibrissin is native to Iran to Japan. It is a fast-growing plant whose seedlings can become invasive. It can be seen growing in the wild in the southeastern U.S. and California in waste places, fields, and along roads.
However, its bipinnate, ferny leaves and fluffy pink flowerheads that cover the tree in summer make it a garden-worthy plant, as do the fragrance emitted by the flowers, which attract bees. Seed pods that resemble flat beans follow the flowers and persist into winter. Still, care should be used so that seeds from garden plants can't escape into the wild. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30458000 |
In a strange coincidence of biology, pregnant women think about visiting the bathroom roughly as often as the average man thinks about sex.
A fish belongs in water. The Eiffel Tower belongs in Paris. And stomach acid belongs in your stomach. Unfortunately, pregnancy hormones affect the sphincter that forms a barrier between the esophagus and stomach, allowing acids to percolate upward. The plot thickens as your growing uterus crowds your digestive organs. To help douse the fire:
- Eat smaller, more frequent meals.
- Chew your food thoroughly. Eat every bite as slowly as possible.
- Avoid spicy or greasy foods.
- Remain upright for at least an hour after eating.
- Keep your upper body as upright as possible when you sleep by propping yourself up with pillows or elevating the head of your bed.
- When heartburn strikes, have some milk or yogurt.
- Ask your doctor about taking calcium-based antacids.
4. Constipation and hemorrhoids
These two nuisances often work in tandem. Pregnancy hormones, abetted by certain vitamin and iron supplements and, sometimes, a nausea-inspired diet of crackers and milk, can make your digestive tract sluggish. Then constipation begets hemorrhoids, which can develop from straining. Your burgeoning uterus also may contribute to hemorrhoids by decreasing the amount of blood flow into and out of your pelvic region. To keep things moving:
- Drink plenty of fluids.
- Eat lots of whole grains, fruits and vegetables. Prunes, however unglamorous, really do work.
- Eat yogurt to aid digestion.
- Don’t delay when you get the urge to move your bowels.
- Avoid straining during bowel movements. Keeping your feet on a step stool or box will help.
- When hemorrhoids flare up, use flushable wipes instead of toilet paper, and sit in a shallow tub of very warm water.
- Do Kegel exercises regularly to increase blood flow to your pelvic area.
- Ask your doctor if a change in your iron supplement might help.
Pregnancy hormones loosen your joints, while your ballooning breasts and belly play havoc with your center of gravity. No wonder backaches are among pregnancy’s most common complaints. “There’s some controversy as to whether you can tone up a stretched muscle, so it’s important for women to start building their abdominal muscles [which support the back] early in pregnancy, before they get stretched out,” says fitness trainer and childbirth education specialist Bonnie Berk, R.N., founder of Motherwell Maternity Health and Fitness in Carlisle, Pa. Additionally:
- When possible, don’t stand or sit for prolonged periods.
- When you do stand or sit, rest one foot on a box, stool, low shelf or a couple of telephone books. In the kitchen, pull out a low drawer.
- If you sleep on your side (the left is preferable during pregnancy to allow for maximum flow of blood and nutrients to the placenta), keep your knees bent and put a pillow between them; tuck one under your abdomen, too, if it needs support. If you sleep on your back, use pillows to support your thighs and back.
- Get massages. (Make sure you find a qualified therapist.)
- Stick to flat-heeled, supportive shoes.
- Bend at the hips, not the waist, and lift with your legs bent so you’re not using your back.
- Do pelvic tilts.
- Berk’s tip for toning abs: Walk through water deep enough to cover your belly. “The resistance of the water helps tone the muscles,” she says.
- Consider a “belly bra” or other supportive device. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30464000 |
Many flying fears stem from a lack of understanding of aerodynamics, and how the aircraft stays in the air. In this article I’m going to explain the basics for you, to help you gain more knowledge on the subject and overcome your fear of flying.
It’s a common misconception that the aircraft’s engines keep the plane in the air, whereas it’s actually simple aerodynamics at work. A huge jet aircraft (such as a 435ton Boeing 747) can glide to safety with NO ENGINE POWER.
The probability of losing all engines on a commercial aeroplane is minuscule to say the least – but even in the unlikely event of it happening, you can still land perfectly safely.
So, why have engines?
The engines simply keep the aircraft in the air for a longer period of time – and provide the necessary thrust to take-off.
The basics of aerodynamics are split into these four forces;
Lift – Thrust – Weight – Drag
For a aircraft to fly straight, and at a constant speed, then thrust must be equal to drag, and lift must be equal to weight. Sounds slightly technical I know!
The lift is mainly provided by the wings, and it’s the lift that keeps the aircraft in the air. Whereas thrust is important to reach your destination, it only acts as a controller of speed (by compensating for the drag).
If thrust is less than the drag, the aircraft will slow, and descend. But, the wings are still providing lift, which in turn is keeping the plane airborne, therefore, the descent will be slow.
That is the basic explanation of how a huge jet aircraft can glide – even with complete engine loss.
Air is a Liquid? Not Quite..
Air behaves in a very similar way to water – and the mathematical relationships are identical. Therefore, flying is very similar to swimming. In fact, many aerodynamic tests are carried out underwater.
I hope that all makes sense. The reason I’m sharing this with you, is that your flying fear may be related to the fear of the aircraft falling out of the sky. Now you can be rest assured that this can not happen – even in the highly unlikely event of a complete loss of engine power.
I will be covering the excellent reliablility of modern jet engines in future articles, so stay tuned. I’ll also be covering aerodynamics in more detail soon…… | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30468000 |
Just as in humans, a dog's tumor can be either malignant or benign. The first step should be to determine which it is. Benign tumors are those that don't spread to surrounding tissues. These can generally be surgically removed without further problems. Malignant tumors are cancerous, and can quickly spread to surrounding areas. If detected early enough, surgical removal, followed by chemotherapy or radiation treatment, can save the dog's life. In some cases, depending on the location of the tumor, amputation of the limb may be necessary. Examine your pet frequently and check with the vet if you detect any unusual lumps, bumps, or swellings. Early detection gives you the best chance of saving your pet's life. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30483000 |
Carbohydrates provide the body with energy and are an essential part of the diet. People with diabetes (die-uh-BEET-eez) should make healthy choices about eating the right kind of carbohydrates. Simple carbohydrates are sugars found in foods like table sugar, honey, or syrup. Since they are converted into glucose rapidly and can cause the blood glucose level to soar, simple carbohydrates should be avoided, but always consult with your health care provider or dietitian on if or how to include them in your diet. Complex carbohydrates are found in breads, fruits, cereals, grains, and vegetables. These foods are a good source of fiber and slow the release of glucose into the bloodstream after a meal. In order to form a meal plan that best suits your nutritional needs, consult with your health care provider. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30485000 |
|When in doubt, tell the truth. - Mark Twain|
(January 19, 1994)
From Russia and from America comes a new information service called "Friends and Partners" -- one of the first information systems jointly developed by citizens of these two nations.
It is hoped that it will contribute towards better understanding between our nations by providing instruction on our countries and cultures, by providing a common base of information about issues affecting relations between our countries, and by providing a common 'meeting place' where folks can find and communicate with each other.
If you wish to visit, the following uniform resource locator (URL) will allow you to connect to the World Wide Web server:
What are the potential uses? Scientists should be able to use the service to find information about funding opportunities and exchange programs, access various databases and library resources, and locate potential colleagues and co-workers. Teachers and educators at all levels should be able to find and contribute interesting and up-to-date material to assist in their instruction -- making their courses more 'alive' and more pertinent to real world issues. Folks in business should be able to learn about the economic environment and opportunities in both countries as well as the rules and laws pertaining to conducting business. Artists from all fields (and their patrons) should be able to learn about, meet and work with each other. And people from all walks of life should be able to learn more about these two nations -- so closed off from one another for so many years.
The primary motivation of this service is to help introduce new friendships and partnerships between our peoples. It hopes to build upon the excellent work already being accomplished by our governments and by the various groups, centers, and institutes who have been working for so many years towards this same goal of cooperation and friendship.
Perhaps the only difference from other efforts is the intention to use the World Wide Web on the Internet as the method of communicating information. The World Wide Web was chosen because of its ability to handle mixed media (text, graphics, audio, etc.), the excellent graphic and non-graphic browsers available for free on the Internet, and its ability to 'integrate' information from all of the best Internet-based tools and utilities -- Listservers, Gophers, WAIS indexes, FTP archives, etc.
If you do not have a WWW browser, you can use our 'friends' account. Telnet to solar.ncsa.uiuc.edu. At the login: prompt, enter friends and press return (make sure to enter friends in all lower case). This will place you in a non-graphic WWW browser called 'Lynx' (on-line help is available). (Note: you must be emulating a vt100 terminal to use this method of access.)
We will soon be providing a 'mirror' of this server in Pushchino, Russia (near Moscow) on the computer of co-developer Natasha Bulashova. This will be perhaps the first information system of its kind in Russia. One of the most exciting developments underway in Pushchino is the development of a 'virtual network' of biological sciences information. This is being designed to be a global information resource on biological sciences research and will be offered soon as a part of this overall service. Efforts will soon begin to establish both servers in Russian and English languages.
We have established an electronic mailing list (listserver) to help facilitate communication for this project. Please feel most free to join by sending a message to email@example.com with the following text:
SUBSCRIBE FRIENDS Your nameThis is a moderated list with which one 'digest' of all postings will be sent to subscribers each day.
Please send us your comments, criticisms, suggestions (and offers of help! :-) ).
P.S. We hope to quickly broaden the scope of this server to incorporate information and communication with all of the newly independent states of the former Soviet Union. The information content of this server must reflect a much larger constituency than just our two nations and we should work towards that end. (but, of course, one step at a time . . . )
FIRST LISTSERV POSTING
|Files Transmitted During Summary Period||14910|
|Bytes Transmitted During Summary Period||80870101|
|Average Files Transmitted Daily||2130|
|Average Bytes Transmitted Daily||11552872|
|Domain||Accesses||Bytes||% Files||% Bytes|
|US Educational||7127||41853181||47.80||51.75 ****|
|**** Over 2,000 of these
accesses are from our own host machine -- reflecting
over 400 telnet sessions from all over the world for our special 'friends' account.
Weather information for Moscow and St. Petersburg has been updated (this should soon be done automatically each day).
Server statistics (including access by country) are now included as an option from the home page.
Current exchange rates for the Russian currency have been updated (on the economics/business page).
Notice of the The Financial / Economic Network has been added to the economics page as well as a description of the The Russian Graduate School of International Business. We have also added a link to a gopher server in Vienna, Austria at the University of Economics and Business Administration.
A hook to the World Wide Web server about the East-West International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction has been added to the Funding Opportunities page. This server also contains hooks to several other interesting resources.
A new section under "Education" is being prepared on The Alliance of Universities for Democracy. This is a consortium of over 70 universities devoted to "Enhancing the role of higher education in promoting democratic institutions, economic development, and common moral and social values."
We welcome the efforts of "The Alliance of Universities for Democracy" -- more information will appear soon -- look on the Education page.
Under the music section, we have had two very generous offers for some digitized music: from the University of Oregon, we are hoping to receive some ulaw files by the Irkutsk Philharmonic Society. From San Francisco, we will soon be posting some music played at the International Accordion Festival in Vilnius this past year. These audio files should be available for your 'listening pleasure' in a few more days.
From site eskimo.com, we will soon provide a WWW version of their excellent GlasNews newsletter.
We have received several generous offers of software, fonts, etc. for helping with the display and printing of Cyrillic text. We are planning to establish an ftp archive of such on our system with a hypertext reference from the F&P server.
We have had several suggestions and offers of help for telecommunications and computing assistance from various companies and from the International Science Foundation.
We received an offer from a school principal in the northeastern U.S. to begin work on an information 'exchange' program with Russian schools.
We have had offers from Vienna, Austria and from Moscow for the establishment of 'mirror' servers to help speed access to the material from Russia and from Central and East European sites. Natasha is actively working to establish a mirror server in Pushchino.
Dirk van Gulik is working to establish for us an interactive 'talk-room' (fascinating project -- you will see!)
We have received several offers to assist with such efforts as typing, transcription, and translation.
We have received several offers to provide us with photographs and slides for publishing on the server. The server should have much additional 'graphic' material in about a week.
We received a very generous offer from the City University of New York for material describing all aspects of computer-aided language activities and natural language processing (e.g., machine translation, text data- bases, language instruction -- native and foreign -- text analysis, and the linguistic dimensions of electronic communication).
We have received several notes from people who have made very open-ended offers of help.
Several more suggestions and offers of assistance will be summarized and posted here in the next digest.
Finally, in answer to a question we have seen a few times, there is
Once again, we thank each of you for your interest and hope
to hear from many as we begin our work together on this service.
Please write with your comments, criticisms, and suggestions
(and, of course, those offers of help).
Pushchino, Moscow Region
Greg Cole, Associate Director
National Center for Supercomputing Applications
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Once again, we thank each of you for your interest and hope to hear from many as we begin our work together on this service. Please write with your comments, criticisms, and suggestions (and, of course, those offers of help).
write to us
with your comments and suggestions.
F&P Quick Search
About Friends & Partners
ISOC '95 Paper
©1996 Friends and Partners | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30493000 |
Gardening Articles: Landscaping :: Lawns, Ground Cover, & Wildflowers
Lawn Grass (page 2 of 2)
by National Gardening Association Editors
These are found throughout the South. Often they are wide-bladed and coarse compared to the northern grasses. They put on vigorous growth during summer and go dormant and turn brown in winter. Golf courses and some homeowners keep lawns green by overseeding with annual rye grass toward the end of the growing season. Instead of being started from grass seed, lawns of warm-climate grasses are usually started from planting sprigs, plugs, or sod.
Bermuda grass. Durable and heat-loving, Bermudagrass is the most common of the warm-climate grasses. It does not do well in shade. Hybrid bermuda grass is very soft and fine-bladed and is therefore a common choice for golf greens in southern regions.
Centipedegrass. This grass makes a good lawn in hot areas, although it is lighter green in color and subject to drought damage because of shallow roots. It does well in poor soil.
St. Augustine grass. St. Augustine does well in shade and is fast-growing, but is subject to damage from chinch bugs. It prefers slightly alkaline soils over acid soils.
Zoysiagrass. This grass establishes slowly, but when it gets going forms a dense, wirey, fine-textured lawn and is resistant to heat and drought. It tolerates shade, where it grows slowly. Zoysiagrass is relatively free of diseases and insect problems. Many improved varieties are available.
If you have deep shade, steep banks, or other problem areas, it might be worth investigating the many ground covers that can be used in place of grass lawns.
Photography by Suzanne DeJohn/National Gardening Association. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30501000 |
Press Release: Adult Education x Dropouts = Lose-Lose
Problems that have been plaguing urban secondary schools may be shifting to adult education venues, according to a new study conducted by The Graduate Center, City University of New York, and commissioned by the U.S. Department of Education. Researchers from the Center for Advanced Study of Education (CASE) at The Graduate Center examined five urban adult education programs and discovered a rise in enrollment among 16-20 year-old high school dropouts along with increases in the difficulties those students brought. Overall, the results seem to indicate a lose-lose situation, with teenagers not getting the support services they need and adults being disrupted in their learning by needy teenagers.
An exploratory case study, the report was commissioned to examine a perceived trend in the increasing effect of high school dropouts on adult education and to see if that perception held up and warranted further concern. The results serve as an alert to policymakers that this trend must be more comprehensively identified, evaluated, and remedied.
The research focused on five adult education programs run by Local Education Agencies (LEAs), which were promised anonymity in return for their participation. The total current enrollment of 16 to 20 year-olds at the sites was estimated at 35,656, just short of 50% of the total enrollment of 71,981. Although individual sites had different periods and methods of tracking the numbers, they collectively reported a significant increase in 16 to 18 years olds, along with a rise in the percentage those high school age students represented of their total student population. In all cases, the students were primarily black and Hispanic, many scored low on standardized reading and mathematics tests, and most had either dropped out of or had been expelled from high school.
Interviews with teachers, administrators, and students revealed that many in the 16-20 year-old cohort were hard-working, motivated students. However, when compared with adult education students as a whole, the 16-20 year old students were perceived to be less motivated, more involved in drugs, more involved in gangs and fighting, more likely to exhibit behavior problems, more likely to manifest symptoms of learning disabilities and attention deficit disorder, and more often mandated to attend by courts and drug rehabilitation programs.
The net result of the increase enrollment of 16-20 year old students was a direct negative impact on the adult education programs, along with a need for greater and different resources to deal with what is generally characterized as a dropout population. Although it was not the intention to establish a causal link, the study did discuss a combination of factors contributing to the rise in teenage enrollment in adult education programs, including: a more flexible learning environment; increasingly more difficult secondary school graduation standards; students' behavioral difficulties in high school; an increase in referrals by the courts and drug rehabilitation agencies for GED instruction; high school student and counselor misperceptions about the nature of the GED; and more aggressive adult education marketing to a younger group because of reduced welfare-related adult enrollments.
In all, research areas the study investigated included:
Principal Investigators included: Bert Flugman, Ph.D., Director, Center for Advanced Study in Education, Graduate Center of the City University of New York; Dolores Perin, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Teachers College, Columbia University; and Seymour Spiegel, M.Ed., Project Director, Center for Advanced Study in Education, Graduate Center of the City University of New York. The study was funded by The Office of Vocational and Adult Education of the U.S. Department of Education.
- Relevant Federal, State, and Local Policies
- Changes in Adult Education Enrollment
- Qualitative and Quantitative Student Characteristics
- Reasons for Increased 16-20 Year-Old Enrollment in Adult Education
- Program Characteristics
- Program Effectiveness and Strategies
The complete study, including recommendations, at www.16to20AE.org.
The Center for Advanced Study in Education (CASE) conducts basic and applied research: 1) to broaden the knowledge and understanding of current urban educational policies and trends, 2) to improve the quality of educational practice in urban school districts, and 3) to provide research findings upon which local, state, and federal agencies can fashion educational and fiscal policy.
CASE also serves as a forum for the deliberation and analysis of educational policy issues, promotes interdisciplinary initiatives in seeking solutions to educational problems, and functions as a clearinghouse for educational research strategies and for the dissemination of research findings.
The Graduate Center is the doctorate-granting institution of The City University of New York. The only consortium of its kind in the nation, The Graduate Center draws its faculty of more than 1,600 members mainly from the CUNY senior colleges and cultural and scientific institutions throughout New York City.
Established in 1961, The Graduate Center has grown to an enrollment of about 3,900 students in 30 doctoral programs and six master's degree programs in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. The Graduate Center also houses 28 research centers and institutes, administers the CUNY Baccalaureate Program, and offers a wide range of continuing education and cultural programs of interest to the general public. According to the most recent National Research Council report, more than a third of The Graduate Center's rated Ph.D. programs rank among the nation's top 20 at public and private institutions.
Submitted on: JAN 1, 2004 | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30504000 |
What is Bankruptcy?
Bankruptcy is a legal procedure that provides a financial fresh start to people who cannot pay their debts. It is a serious step and should not be considered a quick fix for money woes. Bankruptcy should only be pursued as a last resort when all other attempts to solve financial problems fail.
There are three types of bankruptcy:
- Chapter 13 is for an individual who is temporarily unable to pay their debts and wants to pay them in installments over a period of time. You can usually keep your property, but you must earn wages or have some other source of regular income and you must agree to pay part of that income to creditors. A federal court must approve your repayment plan and your budget. A trustee is appointed and will collect the payments from you, pay your creditors, and make sure you abide by the terms of your repayment plan.
- Chapter 11 is primarily for the reorganization of a business. Under Chapter 11, you may continue to operate a business, but your creditors and the court must approve a plan to repay debts. No trustee is appointed unless a judge decides that one is necessary. If a trustee is appointed, the trustee takes control of your business and property.
- Chapter 7 is for debtors who cannot pay their debts. Under Chapter 7, you may be able to keep certain property and a trustee may take control of the remaining property of value and sell it to pay creditors.
Bankruptcy does not fix a bad credit history and it remains on your credit record for up to 10 years. It may be a roadblock to getting a mortgage or credit card. And, not all debt can be cleared up through bankruptcy. For example, you must still pay taxes, alimony, child support, student loans, and court fines.
Check with a financial counselor to find out if it's really necessary for you to file bankruptcy. Instead, you may be able to reach an agreement with your creditors. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30505000 |
I find this fascinating....
Stanford researchers' cooling glove 'better than steroids' – and helps solve physiological mystery, too
The temperature-regulation research of Stanford biologists H. Craig Heller and Dennis Grahn has led to a device that rapidly cools body temperature, greatly improves exercise recovery, and could help explain why muscles get tired.
By Max McClure
The rapid thermal exchange device, nicknamed 'the glove,' creates a vacuum to draw blood to the surface of the palms. Cold circulating water cools the blood, which returns to the heart and rapidly lowers the body's core temperature.
"Equal to or substantially better than steroids … and it's not illegal."
This is the sort of claim you see in spam email subject lines, not in discussions of mammalian thermoregulation. Even the man making the statement, Stanford biology researcher Dennis Grahn, seems bemused. "We really stumbled on this by accident," he said. "We wanted to get a model for studying heat dissipation."
But for more than a decade now, Grahn and biology Professor H. Craig Heller have been pursuing a serendipitous find: by taking advantage of specialized heat-transfer veins in the palms of hands, they can rapidly cool athletes' core temperatures – and dramatically improve exercise recovery and performance.
The team is finally nearing a commercial version of their specialized heat extraction device, known as "the glove," and they've seen their share of media coverage. But what hasn't been discussed is why the glove works the way it does, and what that tells us about why our muscles become fatigued.
For Heller and Grahn, the story starts, improbably, with a longstanding question about bears.
Black bears are extremely well-insulated animals, equipped with a heavy coat of fur and a thick layer of subcutaneous fat that help them maintain their body temperature as they hibernate through winter. But once spring arrives and temperatures rise, these same bears face a greater risk of overheating than of hypothermia. How do they dump heat without changing insulation layers?
Heller and Grahn discovered that bears and, in fact, nearly all mammals have built-in radiators: hairless areas of the body that feature extensive networks of veins very close to the surface of the skin.
Rabbits have them in their ears, rats have them in their tails, dogs have them in their tongues. Heat transfer with the environment overwhelmingly occurs on these relatively small patches of skin. When you look at a thermal scan of a bear, the animal is mostly indistinguishable from the background. But the pads of the bear's feet and the tip of the nose look like they're on fire.
These networks of veins, known as AVAs (arteriovenous anastomoses) seem exclusively devoted to rapid temperature management. They don't supply nutrition to the skin, and they have highly variable blood flow, ranging from negligible in cold weather to as much as 60 percent of total cardiac output during hot weather or exercise.
Coolers and vacuums
In humans, AVAs show up in several places, including the face and feet, but the researchers' glove targets our most prominent radiator structures – in the palms of our hands.
The newest version of the device is a rigid plastic mitt, attached by a hose to what looks like a portable cooler. When Grahn sticks his hand in the airtight glove, the device creates a slight vacuum. The veins in the palm expand, drawing blood into the AVAs, where it is rapidly cooled by water circulating through the glove's plastic lining.
The method is more convenient than, say, full-body submersion in ice water, and avoids the pitfalls of other rapid palm-cooling strategies. Because blood flow to the AVAs can be nearly shut off in cold weather, making the hand too cold will have almost no effect on core temperature. Cooling, Grahn says, is therefore a delicate balance.
"You have to stay above the local vasoconstriction threshold," said Grahn. "And what do you get if you go under? You get a cold hand."
Even in prototype form, the researchers' device proved enormously efficient at altering body temperature. The glove's early successes were actually in increasing the core temperature of surgery patients recovering from anesthesia.
"We built a silly device, took it over to the recovery room and, lo and behold, it worked beyond our wildest imaginations," Heller explained. "Whereas it was taking them hours to re-warm patients coming into the recovery room, we were doing it in eight, nine minutes."
But the glove's effects on athletic performance didn't become apparent until the researchers began using the glove to cool a member of the lab – the confessed "gym rat" and frequent coauthor Vinh Cao – between sets of pull-ups. The glove seemed to nearly erase his muscle fatigue; after multiple rounds, cooling allowed him to do just as many pull-ups as he did the first time around. So the researchers started cooling him after every other set of pull-ups.
"Then in the next six weeks he went from doing 180 pull-ups total to over 620," said Heller. "That was a rate of physical performance improvement that was just unprecedented."
The researchers applied the cooling method to other types of exercise – bench press, running, cycling. In every case, rates of gain in recovery were dramatic, without any evidence of the body being damaged by overwork – hence the "better than steroids" claim. Versions of the glove have since been adopted by the Stanford football and track and field teams, as well as other college athletics programs, the San Francisco 49ers, the Oakland Raiders and Manchester United soccer club.
The elegant muscle
But what does overheating have to do with fatigue in the first place?
Much of the lab's recent research can be summed up with Grahn's statement that "temperature is a primary limiting factor for performance." But the researchers were at a loss to understand why until recently.
In 2009, it was discovered that muscle pyruvate kinase, or MPK, an enzyme that muscles need in order to generate chemical energy, was highly temperature- sensitive. At normal body temperature, the enzyme is active – but as temperatures rise, some of the enzyme begins to deform into the inactive state. By the time muscle temperatures near 104 degrees Fahrenheit, MPK activity completely shuts down.
There's a very good biological reason for this shutdown. As a muscle cell increases its activity, it heats up. But if this process continues for too long, the cell will self-destruct. By shutting itself down below a critical temperature threshold, MPK serves as an elegant self-regulation system for the muscle.
"Your muscle cells are saying, "You can't work that hard anymore, because if you do you're going to cook and die,'" Grahn said.
When you cool the muscle cell, you return the enzyme to the active state, essentially resetting the muscle's state of fatigue.
The version of the device that will be made available commercially is still being tweaked, but the researchers see applications for heat extraction in areas more important than a simple performance boost. Hyperthermia and heat stress don't just lead to fatigue – they can become medical emergencies.
"And every year we hear stories about high school athletes beginning football practice in August in hot places in the country, and there are deaths due to hyperthermia," said Heller. "There's no reason why that should occur."
Craig Heller and Dennis Grahn have personal financial interests in the company that is developing the cooling glove as a commercial product. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30512000 |
The angel Gabriel interrupts Mary at her devotions and announces, "You shall conceive and bear a son, and you shall give him the name Jesus." (Luke 1:31) In an attitude of humility, Mary sits on the plain tiled floor, eyes downcast, and raises her hands in surprise. Gabriel, dressed in white with multi-colored wings, kneels and points towards the circular window above, indicating the presence of God. With his other hand he draws back the curtain of the canopy.
Dieric Bouts painted the scene in a lucid and spatially convincing setting. The room at the left is simply described: a barrel ceiling, a marble column with two steps leading up to the room, and a stained glass window. A mood of solemnity, suitable for prayer, pervades the scene. In this somber setting Bouts's use of bright red for the drapery seems unusual. It may signify the Passion, forecasting the death of Christ, or it may be purely decorative since Bouts used this color in other compositions.
The Annunciation belongs to a set of five paintings that originally constituted a polyptych representing scenes from the life of Jesus Christ. It was probably the upper left panel of an altarpiece that included paintings of the Adoration of the Magi, Entombment (upper right), Resurrection (lower right), and perhaps the Crucifixion in the center. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30514000 |
Electrical inductance sensors are non-contact devices that measure the inductance of an electrical component or system. They consist of a wire loop or coils and are relatively inexpensive. Inductance, the property of a circuit or circuit element to oppose a change in current flow, refers to the capacity of a conductor to produce a magnetic field. The standard unit of inductance is the Henry (H). Because the Henry is a large unit, electrical inductance sensors often measure inductance in microhenry (µH) or millihenry (mH) levels.
Electrical inductance sensors contain a nickel-iron core shaft that rotates within the coil around the material. The inductance measured by an electrical inductance sensor depends on the number of turns in the coil, the type of material around which the coil rotates, and the radius of the coil. With the rotation of the shaft, displacement occurs within the coil and generates inductance. This displacement produces signals that can be measured by an inductance meter and recorded. Most inductance meters are digital, hand held devices suitable for measuring inductance of very low value. The results of the inductance calculation can be plotted as a graph for future study.
Selecting electrical inductance sensors requires a careful analysis of product specifications and application requirements. Most electrical inductance sensors have a standard accuracy variance of less than 0.5% when measured on full scale. For best results, an electrical inductance sensor should be able to generate an output signal of at least 4-20 mA. Typically, a sensor’s measurement range is approximately 30% of the coil diameter. For high precision measurements, the thickness of the coil should be at least 0.025 inches (in.).
Electrical inductance sensors are used in many different applications. Some electrical sensors are used in the automotive industry and the power industry. Other electrical sensors are used in constructing planar transformers, generating electrical magnetic fields, and monitoring the inductance of an electrical component. Electrical sensors such as electrical inductance sensors are widely used for detecting the presence of electrical voltage in equipments, and defective grounds. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30521000 |
Please note that the Topic Hubs developed by this Center have been archived and are no longer being updated.
GLRPPR has converted several of its Topic Hubs to LibGuides, which allowed for integration of some social features. View the converted hubs, as well as other LibGuides related to pollution prevention and sustainability, in the University of Illinois' LibGuides Community.
Regulatory Integration: Browse by Keyword
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Alphabetical Listing of Reference Documents by Title
NOTE: [PDF] links require Acrobat Reader from Adobe.
Clean Energy-Environment Guide to Action [PDF]
Abstract: The Clean Energy-Environment Guide to Action identifies and describes 16 clean energy policies and strategies that states have used to meet their clean energy objectives. It describes how states are successfully expanding the role of clean energy in the U.S. energy system and shares the experience and lessons learned from successful state clean energy policies. EPA developed the Guide to Action to help states learn from each other as they develop their own clean energy programs and policies. State energy offices, public utility commissions, environmental regulators, other state policymakers, and their stakeholders can use the Guide to analyze and implement policies and programs that effectively integrate clean energy into a low-cost, clean, reliable energy system for their state. States participating in the Clean Energy-Environment State Partnership will use the Guide to Action to develop a Clean Energy-Environment State Action Plan for using new or existing policies and programs to increase the use of cost-effective clean energy. (PDF Format; Length: 361 pages)
Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Environmental Council of the States
Abstract: Environmental Council of the States (ECOS), is a national non-profit, non-partisan association of state and territorial environmental commissioners.
Source: Environmental Council of the States
Illinois EPA: Regulatory Integration
Abstract: This portion of the Illinois EPA Office of Pollution Prevention (OPP) web site provides an overview of OPP's efforts to work with the agency's regulatory programs to integrate P2 into their mainstream functions. Included are brief summaries of "special regulatory integration projects" in which OPP has partnered with regulatory programs on targeted efforts to promote P2 during inspection activities.
Source: Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Indiana Department of Environmental Management Pollution Prevention Regulatory Integration
Abstract: Goal: Develop, in coordination with the program offices, recommendations and make decisions on implementation for specific pollution prevention integration goals and projects for the permitting, compliance assurance and enforcement programs.
Source: IDEM OPPTA
Integrating P2 into the Permit Writing Process [PDF]
Abstract: This report from the Kansas SBEAP provides guidance for permit writers in promoting pollution prevention. (PDF Format; Length: 8 pages)
Source: Kansas Small Business Environmental Assistance Program (SBEAP) Pollution Prevention Institute (PPI)
Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
Abstract: This collaborative effort within the DNR?s assistance and regulatory units improves communication between businesses whose waste production is regulated by the DNR and its problem-solving resource units.
Source: Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
Is EPA's Performance Track Running Off the Rails?
Abstract: Since its creation in 2000 as a program that relaxes regulatory oversight on companies with exemplary environmental performance, the U.S. EPA?s Performance Track has come under fire for bending over backward in favor of polluters. When first enacted, Performance Track was touted as a voluntary means to improve habitat protection, water and energy use, and waste reduction?areas over which the EPA has little regulatory authority. But moves to abolish the reporting that could help improve pollution technologies, together with changes that might allow companies to break their promises, have placed Performance Track under scrutiny. Article by Janet Pelley.
Source: Environmental Science & Technology
Measuring Pollution Prevention (P2) Regulatory Integration: Review of Other States? Efforts and Recommendations for Action (2000) [PDF]
Abstract: This report, compiled by the Tellus Institute for the Ohio EPA, offers a review of the breadth and depth of the efforts by 11 state P2 programs to measure the progress of their P2 regulatory integration activities.
Source: Tellus Institute (for the Ohio EPA)
Michigan Clean Corporate Citizen (C3) Program
Abstract: This portion of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality web site describes the Clean Corporate Citizen (C3) Program and provides links to all related annual reports, application forms, and other documentation. The C3 program allows regulated establishments that have demonstrated environmental stewardship and a strong environmental ethic through their operations in Michigan to be recognized as Clean Corporate Citizens. The C3 program is built on the concept that these Michigan facilities can be relied upon to carry out their environmental protection responsibilities without rigorous oversight, and should enjoy greater permitting flexibility than those that have not demonstrated that level of environmental awareness. Clean Corporate Citizens who voluntarily participate in this program will receive public recognition and are entitled to certain regulatory benefits, including expedited permits.
Source: Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ)
Michigan Department of Environmental Quality: Regulatory Integration
Abstract: This portion of the Michigan DEQ Environmental Assistance Division web site provides an overview of the agency's regulatory integration efforts. Included are information on the agency's staff awards, P2 and drinking water, P2 integration tools, P2 financial assistance, and P2 field services, as well as issues of P2 Revue and related links.
Source: MIchigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ)
National Environmental Performance Track
Abstract: Designed to motivate and reward facilities that go beyond compliance with regulatory requirements to attain levels of environmental performance that benefit people, communities, and the environment.
Source: U.S. EPA
NY: First Lady Silda Wall Spitzer Announces Green Building Initiatives
Abstract: First Lady Silda Wall Spitzer and David D. Brown, Executive Director of the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY), today announced two important initiatives to promote the construction of green homes and State-owned buildings throughout the State. Building on her effort to encourage homeowners throughout the State to incorporate simple energy reduction features into their homes, the First Lady announced that the Administration will offer legislation that offers a direct incentive to homeowners who build or renovate homes that meet green building criteria. The amount of the incentive will be based on the size of the home, with a cap of $10,000 per home, and help offset the typical 5 percent increase in construction costs when "green" or "sustainable" features are incorporated. The Dormitory Authority announced that beginning in 2008, all new State construction projects and major renovations managed by the Dormitory Authority will meet LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards established by the United States Green Building Council. The LEED Green Building Rating System is an internationally recognized program for the design, construction, and maintenance of high-performance green buildings. LEED addresses all aspects of building construction and operation, including energy efficiency, land use, water conservation and re-use, indoor air quality, renewable energy, non-toxic landscaping practices, and recycling.
Source: Dormitory Authority of the State of New York
Ohio Environmental Protection Agency
Abstract: OH EPA uses innovation, quality service, and public involvement to ensure a safe and healthy environment for all Ohioans. Their mission is to protect the environment and public health by ensuring compliance & demonstrating stewardship.
Source: Ohio Environmental Protection Agency
Ongoing Efforts by State Regulatory Agencies to Integrate Pollution Prevention into their Activities
Abstract: While the vast majority of state P2 initiatives remain focused on providing non-regulatory assistance to industry, there is an increasing effort in many states to modify regulatory programs to incorporate P2 approaches.
Source: U.S. EPA, Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics
Pollution Prevention Regulatory Integration Case Studies [PDF]
Abstract: Case studies provided by individuals and organizations actively working to integrate P2 into core environmental regulatory programs. Includes state, national, and international projects.
Source: National Pollution Prevention Roundtable Pollution Prevention Integration and Innovation (P2I2) Workgroup
Pollution Prevention Success Stories
Abstract: This document highlights 26 P2 success stories spread over a wide spectrum. Included are examples of successful regulatory integration. Text version available at http://www.epa.gov/p2/docs/p2case.txt.
Source: US EPA
Small Business Assistance?Permit Primer (Wisconsin)
Abstract: The Permit Primer is an interactive web page that helps Wisconsin businesses determine which environmental permits and licenses they need. It also links users to pollution prevention tips, contacts, statutes and more. Includes sections on water supply, storm water, solid waste, hazardous waste, waterway and wetland permits, and air.
Source: Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
State Regulatory Innovations Laws?Comparison [PDF]
Abstract: Comparison of state laws that authorize regulatory innovation pilot projects. Brief overview & description of each law, requirements for environmental performance, stakeholder process, waiver authority & termination process.
Source: Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
Summary: Ohio EPA P2 Integration Activities (thru July 1999) [PDF]
Abstract: Annotated list of Ohio EPA P2 integration accomplishments and activities until July 1999. Serves as a baseline for measurement of P2 integration progress at Ohio EPA.
Source: Ohio EPA, Office of Pollution Prevention
Toxic Use Reduction Institute (TURI): Government Programs
Abstract: Policy research assesses, develops, and evaluates specific initiatives that public agencies can implement to reduce the use of toxic chemicals and the generation of toxic byproducts by industry and communities. The Institute also has worked with environmental agencies to help them more fully integrate pollution prevention into their public administration activities and operations.
Source: Toxic Use Reduction Institute (TURI)
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Cooperative Environmental Assistance (CEA)
Abstract: The CEA Bureau coordinates and integrates P2, waste reduction, and other voluntary approaches to environmental protection within WI DNR, and investigates and supports innovative, non-regulatory incentives to promote environmental protection.
Source: Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
Wisconsin Green Tier Program
Abstract: Building on the successes of the Environmental Cooperation Pilot Program, Green Tier creates co-benefits for businesses aspiring to differentiate themselves by systematically delivering superior environmental performance. Green Tier is based on a collaborative system of contracts and charters crafted jointly by participating businesses and the DNR. These contracts and charters streamline environmental requirements in many cases and encourage new environmental technologies.
Source: Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30523000 |
Encyclopedia Vol. 2
Appendix Part 1
FOSSILS AND STRATA
The only past evidence available to us of the evolution from one
species through transitional species to others is the fossil record in the sedimentary
*McLoughlin assures us that the proof of evolution is available, and
that it is to be found in the evidence in the rocks.
[After considering Archbishop Ussher's famous chronology as being a search for the
limits of time on our planet:] "Today we continue Archbishop Ussher's search, but we
now use a far more accurate source of information than his Bible. From the beginning of
its history, the earth has maintained a detailed geological journal . . " *J.
C. McLoughlin, Archosauria (1979), p. 1.
The case for evolution rests in the rocks.
"If evolution has taken place, there [on the rocks] will its mark be left: if
it has not taken place, there will be its refutation." H. Enoch, quoting
T.H. Huxley in Evolution or Creation, (1966), p. 51.
*Pierre Grass agrees.
"Naturalists must remember that the process of evolution is revealed only
through fossil forms. A knowledge of paleontology is, therefore a prerequisite; only
paleontology can provide the evidence of evolution and reveal its course or
mechanism." *Pierre Paul Grasse, Evolution of Living Organisms (1977), p. 4.
The evidence for the theory that counts will be evidence shown in the
"The really crucial evidence for evolution must be provided by the paleontologist
whose business it is to study the evidence of the fossil record." *W.E. Le
Gros Clark (1955), p. 7.
It can provide us with the only evidence available.
"Evolution, if it has occurred, can in a rather loose sense be called a historical
process; and therefore, to show that it has occurred, historical evidence is required . .
The only evidence available is that provided by the fossils." *W.R.
Thompson, Introduction to *Charles Darwin, Origin of the Species (1956 ed.).
But the truth is that the geological evidence is of little help to the evolutionary
"Geology, however, has been notably unforthcoming, and instead of
being the chief support of Darwin's theory, it is one of its moat serious
weaknesses." *Gertrude Himmelfarb, Darwin and the Darwinian Revolution
(1962), p. 330.
Facts supporting evolution are not to be found in the fossils, so faith
alone must suffice.
"The more one studies paleontology, the more certain one becomes that evolution
based on faith alone, exactly the same sort of faith which it is necessary to have when
one encounters the great mysteries of religion." *Louis Trenchard More, The
Dogma of Evolution (1925). [Dean of Graduate School of University of Cincinnati, and a
*Darwin's champion and "bulldog" admitted the total absence
of evidence from the strata for evolutionary theory.
"To say, therefore, in the admitted absence of evidence [for evolution], that I
have any belief as to the mode in which the existing forms of life have originated would
be using words in a wrong sense. . I have no right to call my opinion anything but an act
of philosophical faith." *Thomas Henry Huxley, Discourses Biological and
Geological (1896 ad.), pp. 256-257.
*Allen deplores the sorry state of historical geology, which encompasses both paleontology
(fossil study) and stratigraphy (strata study), which is supposed to
provide us with evidence from the past for the evolution of plants, animals, and man.
"Because of the sterility of its concepts, historical geology, which includes
paleontology and stratigraphy, has become static and unproductive. Current methods . . of
establishing chronology are of dubious validity. Worse than that, the criteria of
correlationthe attempt to equate in time, a synchronize the geological history of
one area with that of anotherare logically vulnerable. The findings of historical
geology are suspect because the principles upon which they are based are either
inadequate, in which case they should be discarded or reformulated. Most of us refuse to
discard or reformulate, and the result is the present deplorable state of our
discipline." *Robin S. Allen, "Geological Correlation anal
Paleoecology," Bulletin of the Geological Society of America, January 1948, p. 2.
A London anatomy professor summarizes it in this manner:
"Paleontology, or the study of fossils, provides the really crucial evidence
concerning the evolution of the Hominidae in the past. However extensive and compelling it
may be, the evidence for evolution based on the study of red living today can be only
indirect. . Direct evidence of evolution must depend on actual demonstration from the
fossil record of a succession of stages representing the transformation of ark ancestral
into a descendant type. . That evolution did occur can be scientifically established only
by fossilized representative samples of those intermediate types that have been postulated
on the basis of indirect evidence." *Michael Day, article, "Man,"
in Encyclopedia Britannica, vol. 11 (19n ed.), p. 420.
2. THE FOSSIL HUNTERS
Millions of fossil specimens have boon located, preserved, shipped to universities and
museums for study and categorization and then stored. How do men obtain and process
1 - Selecting the area to search. Fossil
seekerswhether they be amateur rock hounds, pebble puppies, or professional
paleontologists; first go to locations where larger quantities of fossils have been
discovered. For example, If one wants to find dinosaurs he will probably go to Colorado,
Wyoming, or Alberta, Canada. The best collecting areas are those places where wind, water,
or highway excavation has cut deep into the rocks and exposed large areas. In such paces,
one does not have to dig as far to find fossils.
2 - Beginning the search. .
Plants or invertebrate
(backboneless) animals will be found inside rocks, so the fossil
hunter split rocks open to locate them. To find the larger animals,
a search is made for fragments of bone which might be sticking out of
the ground. Then other bones must be found that match it The searcher
begins with larger tools, but switches to smaller ones when he comes
to the bones. Final cleaning of skeletons is done with small awls
and paintbrushes, 3. Protecting the finds In the field. As each bone
is uncovered, it is given a protective coating of shellac or a
quick-drying plastic. Then it is covered with strips of wet paper,
over which are wrapped strips of burlap dipped in plaster of Paris.
This forms a protective "jacket" Larger bones may be
strengthened by placing sticks inside the jacket. When the plaster has
hardened, the specimen is rolled over and a jacket is placed on the
3 - Protecting the finds in the field. As .
As each bone is uncovered, it is
given a protective coating of shellac or a quick-drying plastic. Then it is covered with
strips of wet paper, over which are wrapped strips of burlap dipped in plaster of saris.
This forms a protective "jacket." Larger bones may be strengthened by placing
sticks inside the jacket. When the plaster has hardened, the specimen is rolled over and a
jacket is places do the other side.
4 - Final work back in the museum. 4 - Final work back in the museum. Final work back in the museum.
Final work back in the museum. Upon arriving at the museum, it is then
fully uncovered, given a better cleaning, and plaster is added to fill out broken or
missing parts. The piece is then classified and either added to the already, huge fossil
stockpiles, or, if it is a particularly good specimen, it may be put on display.
Specimens for display are mounted. For a shelf mount, specimens are merely
cleaned and set on a shelf for people to look at. For a bas-relief mount, technicians
clean off the best side of the skeleton, strengthen the other side with plaster, and then
fasten the slab to the wall. For a free mount, each bone is removed from the rock,
cleaned, and strengthened. Then a small model is made to indicate the position of all the
bones in the finished mount. A steel framework is welded together, and the bones are
fastened to the outside of the framework, hiding the steel. Once completed, the skeleton
appears to stand by itself.
5 - Has it been worth it?
When you stop to think about it, millions of
man-hours and entire lives have been devoted to the urgent task of finding transitional
species. But it has been a total failure; all the paleontologists have found have been
distinct species. In addition, there is nothing inherent in the fossils or the strata by
which to date any of the rocks or their contents.
3. THE EXPERTS SPEAK
The scientists themselves recognize that the flaws !n the fossil evidence are simply
too great. The rocks and their fossils simply do not support evolutionary theory:
*Charles Darwin recognized in his time that the fossil evidence was lacking for the
origin of species and their transition from one species to another. But he said that later
fossil discoveries would vindicate his position. Yet a century of fossil exploration has
failed to do that.
"Darwin set aside most of the fossil evidence for evolution with the proposal
that it was massively incomplete. But there were polemic rather than scientific reasons
for this attitude because he insisted on gradualistic evolution which most fossils did not
substantiate. But the fossil record can no longer be set aside as woefully incomplete.
More than 100 years of study demand instead that the gradualistic concept be
reassessed." *J.B. Waterhouse, "The Role of Fossil Communities in the
Biostratigraphical Record and in Evolution," in *J. Gray and *A.J.
"Historical Biogeography, Plate Tectonics, and the Changing Environment" (1979),
in Proceedings of the 37th Annual Biology Colloquium (1979), P. 249-250.
So little paleontolgical evidence is available, that Darwinism has to be read into the
rocks,, not out of them!
"The record of the rocks is decidedly against evolutionists." *Sir
William Dawson, Geologist.
The fossilized record book declares that evolution is based on faith alone.
The more one studies paleontology, the more certain one becomes that
evolution is based on faith alone; exactly the same sort of faith which it is necessary to
have when one encounters the great mysteries of religion. The changes that are noted as
time progresses show no orderly and no consecutive evolutionary chain, and above all, they
give us no clue whatever as to the cause of variations. Evolutionists would have us
believe that they have photographed a succession of fauna and flora, and have arranged
them on a vast moving picture 51m. The evidence from paleontology is for discontinuity
[separate species]; only by faith and imagination is there continuity [evolution] of
variation." *Louis T. More, The Dogma of Evolution, also presented in a
series of lectures delivered at Princeton University.
The fossil evidence provides no particular evidence in support of
"The fossil record doesn't even provide any evidence in support of Darwinian
theory except in the weak sense that the fossil record is compatible with it; just as it
is compatible with other evolutionary theories, and revolutionary theories, and special
creationist theories and even ahistorical [nonhistorical] theories. " *David
B. Kitts, "Search for the Holy Transformation," Paleobiology, Vol. 5, Summer
1979, p. 353.
"No real evolutionist, whether gradualist or punctuationist, uses the fossil
record as evidence in favor of the theory of evolution over special creation."
*Mark Ridley, "Who Doubts Evolution?" New Scientist, Vol. 90, June 25,
1981, p. 831.
"But the facts of paleontology conform equally well with other
interpretations. . e.g., divine creation, etc., and paleontology by itself can neither
prove nor refute such ideas." *Dwight Davis, "Comparative Anatomy and
the Evolution of Vertebrates." in *Jepsen, *Mayr and *Simpson (sort. hors), Genetics,
Paleontology and Evolution (1949), p. 74.
"The fossil evidence could be consistent with the idea of a Great
Designer." *Carl Sagan, Cosmos (1980). P. 29.
Adherence to Darwin's theory has locked paleontologists into a position
which their research does not vindicate:
"Contrary to popular myths, Darwin and Lyell were not the heroes of true science .
. Paleontologists have paid an exorbitant price for Darwin's argument. We fancy ourselves
as the only true students of life's history, yet to preserve our favored account of
evolution by natural selection we view our data as so bad that we never see the very
process we profess to study." *Stephen Jay Gould, "Evolution's Erratic
Pace," Natural History, Vol. 88, May 1977, p. 12, 14. [Gould is a professor at
Harvard University teaching geology, biology, and the history of science.]
The fossil hunters have little hope that their profession will accomplish its task
within the foreseeable future.
"Likewise, paleontologists do their best to make sense out of the fossil record
and sketch in evolutionary sequences or unfossilized morphologies without realistic hope
of obtaining specific verification within the foreseeable future." *Donald
R. Griffin, "A Possible Window on the Minds of Animals," American Scientist,
Vol. 84, September-October 1978, p. 534.
The geologic column theory of evolution is supposed to show gradual
evolutionary progression of life forms, but it fails to do just that:
five-kingdom system may appear, at first glance, to record
an inevitable progress in the history of life that I have often opposed in these columns.
Increasing diversity and multiple transitions seem to reflect a determined and inexorable
progression toward higher things. But the paleontolgical record supports no such
interpretation. There has been no steady progress in the higher development of organic
design." *Stephen J. Gould, Natural History, 85(8):37 (1978).
Not only Christians, but scientistsand even
paleontologistsare coming to the conclusion that Darwin's theory is incorrect.
"Evolution . . is not only under attack by fundamentalist Christians, but is
also being questioned by reputable scientists. Among Paleontologist, scientists who study
the fossil record, there is growing dissent from the prevailing view of Darwinism."
*James Gorman, "The Tortoise or the Hare?" Discover, October 1980, p.
The facts written in the rocks are totally separate from the theories taught by
"So the geological time scale and the basic facts of biological change over
time are totally independent of evolutionary theory.
"In the years after Darwin, his advocates hoped to find
predictable progressions. In general, these have not been foundyet the optimism has
died hard, and some pure fantasy has crept into textbooks." *David M.
"Evolution and Me Fossil Record " in Science, July 17, 1981, p. 289.
Evolutionary theory is a false science, founded on assumptions based on assumptions.
"Through use or abuse of hidden postulates, of bolo, often ill-founded
extrapolations, a pseudoscience has been seated. It is taking root in the very heart of
biology and is leading astray many biochemists and biologists, who sincerely believe that
the accuracy of fundamental concepts has been demonstrated, which is not the case." *P.
Grasse, in The Evolution of Living Organisms (1977), p. 8.
The transitional forms are just not there.
"The extreme rarity of transitional forms in the fossil record persists as the
trade secret of paleontology. The evolutionary trees that adorn our textbooks have data
only at the tips and nodes of their branches; the rest is inference, however reasonable,
not the evidence of fossils." Op. cit., p. 14.
Only the fossil record can provide past evidence of evolution, and this
it does not do.
"Although the fossil record forms our only direct evidence of the course of
evolutionary. . history, it is notoriously incomplete." *J. W. Valentine,
"Phanerozoic Taxonomic Diversity: a Test of Alternate Models, " in Science,
If evolutionary theory had been correct, vast numbers of transitional
species ought to have been found.
"Even if a number of species were known to biology which were indeed perfectly
intermediate, possessing organ systems that were unarguably transitional in the sense
required by the evolutionary model of nature, to refute typology and securely validate
evolutionary claims would necessitate hundreds of thousands or even thousands [of
thousands] of different species, all unambiguously intermediate in terms of their overall
biology and the physiology and anatomy of all their organ systems." *Michael
Denton, in Evolution: A Theory in Crisis (1985), p. 117.
*Hoffman tells us that all the arguments among the fossil hunters may
have helped them understand what they are trying to accomplish, but it has not helped them
accomplish it. The task before them has been to provide evidence of evolution.
"All the recent paleobiological debates have, in my opinion, contributed much
to the conceptualization of paleobiological research itself, but nothing to evolutionary
biology. This is not to say that paleobiologists cannot contribute to evolutionary
biology. I contend only that they have not done so." *A. Hoffman,
"Paleobiology at the Crossroads: a Critique of some Modern Paleobiological Research
Programs," in Dimensions of Darwinism (1983), p. 241.
A leading expert on fossils suggests not only that transitional fossil
species are not existent, but that the theory being pursued is a will-of-the-wisp that is
little more than a scholastic myth:
"I conclude that instances of fossils overturning theories of relationship
based on Recent organisms are very rare, and may be nonexistent. It follows that the
widespread belief that fossils are the only or best means of determining evolutionary
relationships is a myth. Tracing how this myth came to be an article of faith among
biologists [an 'Idol of the Academy'] should be an interesting study in the sociology of
science; it seems to have followed, as an unquestioned corollary, from acceptance of
evolution." *Colin Patterson, "Significance of Fossils in Determining
Evolutionary Relationships," in Annual Review Ecology and Systematics (1981), p. 218.
The evidence is lacking for the theory that living forms all descended
from a common ancestor.
"The attempt to explain all living forms in terms of an evolution from a
unique source, though a brave and valid attempt, is one that is premature and not
satisfactorily supposed by present-day evidence." *G. Kerkut, in
Implications of Evolution (1977), p. 6.
Pitman provides us with an excellent summary of the problem:
"Cambrian rocks exhibit an explosion of life, so termed. All kingdoms and
subkingdoms are represented in the geologic record from here onward. So are all classes
except vertebrates, insects, moss corals, and the extinct trilobites and graptolites.
Divisions of the plant kingdom, except algae and fungi, appear later. No new phylum (a
division) has arisen for 350 million years, and there is a complete absence of
transitional series between any two phyla. In excess of 5,000 species adorn the Cambrian
layers." *Michael Pitman, Adam and Evolution (1984), p. 190.
Here is a companion statement:
"Evolution has to explain not only persistent species but persistent kinds. As
regards classification, all kingdoms and subkingdoms are represented from the Cambrian
onward. All classes of the animal kingdom are represented from the Cambrian onward except
insects (Devonian onward) and (perhaps) vertebrates and moss-corals from the Ordovician
[onward]. All phyla in the plant kingdom are represented from the Triassic onward except
bacteria, algae, (algae, with bacteria and fungi, occur from the pre-Cambrian onward);
mosses and horsetails (Silurian onward); diatoms (Jurassic onward) and flowering plants
(Cretaceous onward). As we noted earlier, orders and families (as well as kingdoms, phyla
and classes) appear suddenly in the fossil record, with no indication of transitional
forms from earlier types. The is the case even for most genera and species. Index-fossil
sequences such as micraster, ammonites and trilobites indicate only variation
('microevolution')." *Op. cit., p. 236.
The study of fossils reveals "vast stretches of little or no
change and one evolutionary burst that created the entire system."
"Increasing diversity and multiple transitions seem to reflect a determined
and inexorable progression toward higher things. But the paleontological record supports
no such interpretation. There has been no steady progress in the higher development of
organic design. We have had, instead, vast stretches of little or no change and one
evolutionary burst that created the entire system." *Stephen Jay Gould,
"The Five Kingdoms, "in Natural History, June-July 1976, p. 37.
When new species did appear, they appeared suddenly, and with no links
to previous species.
"New species almost always appeared suddenly in the fossil record with no
intermediate links to ancestors in older rocks of the same region." *S.J.
Gould, "Evolution's Erratic Pace," in Natural History, May 1977, p. 12.
Evolutionary theory is based on group preferences, rather than on any scientific data:
"I know that at least in paleoanthropology, data are still so sparse that
theories heavily influence interpretations. Theories have, in the past, clearly reflected
our current ideologies instead of actual data." *David Pilbeam,
"Rearranging our Family Tree," in Human Nature June:45 (1978). [Yale
Fossil experts well know that the evidence in the sedimentary rocks provides no defense
against the Creationist view that God created the world:
"No real evolutionist, whether gradualist or punctuationist, uses the fossil
record as evidence in favor of the theory of evolution as opposed to special
creation." *Mark Ridley, "Who Doubts Evolution?" in New Scientist,
90:830-831(1981). (Oxford University zoologist.)
UNIFORMITARIANISM VS. CATASTROPHISM
The theory of uniformitarianism teaches that "all things continue as they were
from the beginning" (2 Peter 3:4; read 2 Peter 3:3-7). This theory declares that all
past history has been just like our own time in regard to flooding, atmospheric
conditions, and orogenic (mountain building) activity. In contrast, Creationists hold to
the position that a massive cataclysm of immense proportions occurred only a few thousand
years ago. That crisis was the Genesis Flood, recorded in Genesis 8 to 9.
* Lyell was the first to widely champion the theory of
"Opposed to the line of thinking was Sir Charles Lyell (1797-1875), a
contemporary of Cuvier, who held that earth changes were gradual, taking place at the same
uniform slowness that they are today. Lyell is thus credited with the propagation of the
premise that more or less has guided geological thought ever since, namely, that the
present is the key to the past. In essence, Lyell's doctrine of uniformitarianism stated
that past geological progress operated in the same manner and at the same rate it does
today." *J. H. Zumberge, Elements of Geology, 2nd. Edition, (1963), p. 200.
The uniformitarian theory provides a neatly-wrapped package, inside of which is the
evolutionary geologic theory:
"This is the great underlying principle of modern geology and is known as the
principle of uniformitarianism . . Without the principle of uniformitarianism there could
hardly be a science of geology that was more than pure description." *William
Thornbury, Principles of Geomorphology (1954), pp. 16-17.
"Uniformitarian thinking compels us to recognize, in the record of the rocks,
the slow unfolding of diverse sequence of events whose full display is beyond our
comprehension." *W. Dickinson, "Uniformitarianism and Plate
Tectonics," in Science 174:107.
(We should here mention that there is a type of uniform pattern in
nature with which we can well agree: the unalterable laws governing the natural world.)
"Uniformitarianism is a dual concept. Substantive uniformitarianism (a
testable theory of geologic change postulating uniformity of rates of material conditions)
is false and stifling to hypothesis formation. Methodological uniformitarianism (a
procedural principle asserting spatial and temporal invariance of natural laws) belongs to
the definition of science and is not unique to geology." *Stephen Jay Gould,
"Is Uniformitarianism Necessary?" American Journal of Science, Vol. 263, March
1985, p. 223. (Harvard University.)
"Substantive uniformitarianism as a descriptive theory has not withstood the
test of new data and can no longer be maintained in any strict manner."
J. Gould, "Is Uniformitarianism Necessary?" in Journal of Paleontology, March,
1956, p. 227.
It has been admitted that one reason uniformitarianism was adopted was
as an attempt to explain geological evidence for the Genesis Flood in a totally different
"Frequently the doctrine of uniformitarianism is used fruitfully to explain
the anti-catastrophist viewpoint of history." *James W. Valentine, "The
Present is the Key to the Present," Journal of Geological Education, Vol. XIV, April
1986, p. 60.
"It is both easy and tempting.. to adopt a neocatastrophist attitude to the
fossil record . . This is a heady wine and has intoxicated paleontologists since the day
when they could blame it all on Noah's flood." *Derek V. Alter, The Nature
of the Stratigraphical record, p. 19.)Department of Geology and Oceanography, University
Cc" of Swansea, England.]
"Catastrophism is a fighting word among Geologists. It is a theory based on
divine intervention, and its adherents held that the history of the earth and life on it
were moved by a series of disasters inspired by God." *Newsweek, December
But there are other scientists who object, declaring that the
uniformitarian theory is totally inaccurate, when viewed in accordance with the facts:
"There are many other reasons why we should not blandly accept the doctrine of
uniformitarianism." *E. Haylmun, "Should We Teach
Uniformitarianism?" in Journal of Geological Education, 19 (1971) p. 36.
*Dunbar was perhaps the leading geologic authority of the 1950s. Here
is his statement:
"The uprooting of such fantastic beliefs [of the catastrophist] began with the
Scottish geologist, James Hutton, whose Theory of the Earth, published in 1785, maintained
that the present is the key to the past and that, given sufficient time, processes now at
work could account for all the geologic features of the globe. This philosophy, which came
to be known as the doctrine of uniformitarianism, demands an immensity of time; it has not
gained universal acceptance among intelligent and informed people." *C.O.
Dunbar, Historical Geology, 2nd Edition, (1960), p. 18.
There are simply too many flaws in the uniformitarian theory.
"The hurricane, the flood, or the tsunami may do more in an hour or a day than
the ordinary processes of nature have achieved in a thousand years." *Derek
V. Ager, The Nature of the Stratigraphical Record, p. 49.
In fact, there are serious-minded scientists today who believe that
catastrophic conditions have indeed occurred in the past.
Of late there has been a serious rejuvenation of catastrophism in geologic
thought. This defies logic; there is no science of singularities. If catastrophe is not a
uniform process, there is no rational basis for understanding the past. For those who
would return us to our Babylonian heritage of 'science' by revelation and possibility, we
must insist that the only justifiable key to the past is probability and the orderliness
of natural process; if uniformity is not the key, there is no key in the rational sense,
and we should pack up our boots and go home." *B. W. Brown, "Induction,
Deduction, and Irrationality in Geologic Reasoning, Geology, Vol. 2, September 1974, p.
There are scientists who are anxious to get rid of the uniformitarian
concept, declaring it to be foolishness:
Accepting the principle of the rare event as a valid concept made it even
more desirable to retire the term 'uniformitarianism. ' " *P.
"Significance of the Rare Event in Geology, " in Bulletin of the American
Association of Petroleum Geologists, 51 (1967) p. 2205.
"Substantive uniformitarianism as a descriptive theory has not withstood the
test of new data and can no longer be maintained in any strict manner." *S.
Gould, "Is Uniformitarianism Useful, "in Journal of Geological Education, 15
(1967) p. 150.
"Conventional uniformitarianism, or 'gradualism,' i.e., the doctrine of
unchanging change, is verily contradicted by all post-Cambrian sedimentary data and the
geotectonic histories of which these sediments are the record." *P.
"Uniformitarianism is a dangerous Doctrine, " in Paleontology, 30 (1956) p.
"The present is the key to the past" is the definition of
"The present is the key to the past . . No causes whatever have from the
earliest time . . to the present, ever acted, but those now acting: and they have never
acted with different degrees of energy from that which they now exert." *R.
Moors, The Earth We Live On (1911), pp. 145-146.
Even this standard definition of uniformitarianism is ridiculed by
It seems unfortunate that uniformitarianism, a doctrine which has so
important a place in history of geology, should continue to be misrepresented in
introductory texts and courses by 'the present is the key to the past,' a maxim without
much credit." *J. Valentine, "The Present is the Key to the Present,
" in Journal of Geological Education, 14 (1966) p. 59-60.
"The present does not provide a complete key to the past, for we cannot find
good samples today of all phenomena found in the ancient world." *Robert H.
Dots and "Roger L. Batten, Evolution of the Earth (1971), p. 210.
There are scientists who recognize that the uniformitarianism view is
too simplistic. For, indeed, how dare anyone try to specify what the world has been like
through all past time?
From a purely scientific point of view, it is unwise to accept
uniformitarianism as unalterable dogma.. (One) should never close his mind to the
possibility that conditions in past geological time were different than today."
H. Zumberge, Elements of Geology (1963), p. 201.
"In dealing with rocks formed when the world was less than half of its present
age, a strict adherence to the doctrine of uniformitarianism is considered
unjustified." *A. Y. Glikson, Early Precambrian Tonalite, in Earth Science
There is no scientific law which requires that uniformitarianism be
Actually, the assumption that process rates must be uniform is without
scientific backing. There is no scientific law which requires a natural event always to
proceed at a constant rate. A scientific law only describes an event under a fixed set of
conditions and as conditions vary, so does the rate. Conditions, not scientific law,
determine the rate of process." S. Nevins, "A Scriptural Groundwork for
Historical Geology, " Symposium on Creation II (1970), p. 88.
"Factors may exist which scientists have not yet discovered. To insist that
present rates or material conditions are average for all geological time rests entirely
upon uniformitarian assumption." Ibid.
Uniformitarianism is unproved, unprovable, and contrary to the evidence
"The very foundation of our science is only an inference: for the whole of it
rests on the unprovable assumption that all through the inferred lapse of time which the
inferred performance of inferred geological processes involves, they have been going on in
a manner consistent with the laws of nature as we now know them. We seldom realize the
magnitude of that assumption." *W. Davis, The Value of Outrageous Geological
Hypothesis, " Science 83; May 7, 1926; pp. 485-468.
There is simply too much data coming to light, for uniformitarianism to
[Noting the subtropical conditions earlier existing in North America, Europe,
Siberia, and Australia:] "If so, the present is not a very good key to the past in
terms of climate." *Robert H. Dolt and *Roger L Batten, Evolution of the
Earth (1971), p. 298.
There is evidence of massive geological catastrophes at some time in
"The diatomite fossil beds in Santa Barbara County, California, contain
striking evidence of a sudden catastrophe. Fish fossils are heavily matted together in
foot-thick layers so well preserved they retain a fish odor when a fragment is broken.
"There are many indications that the fish were suddenly trapped. The fossils show
wide open gasping mouths, fins widely spread, back fiercely arched, body twisted, and head
back. Many fossil fish are partly on end through bedding planes of the rock."
A. von Fange, "Time Upside Down," in Creation Research Society Quarterly, June
1974, p. 22 also see CRSQ, 6(3):129-135).
"Over an area of more than 10,000 sq. miles fish remains are found bearing
unequivocally marks of violent death. The figures are contorted, contracted, curved; the
tail in many cases is bent around to the head, the spines stick out, the fins are spread
to the full." *H. Miller, Old Red Sandstones, pp. 221.
Consider this violation of uniformitarian theory:
"The recent report of the discovery of a fossil skeleton of a baleen whale in
a diatomaceous earth quarry in Lompoc, California, should be of unusual interest to
" 'The whale is standing on end in the quarry and is being exposed gradually as
the diatomite is mined. Only the head and a small part of the body are visible as yet. The
modern baleen whale is 80 to 90 feet long and has a head of similar size [to the one just
discovered], indicating that the fossil may be close to 80 feet long.'
"No comment was made concerning the implications of such a unique discovery.
However, the fact that the whale is 'standing on end,' as well as the fact that it is
buried in diatomaceous earth, would strongly suggest that it was buried under very unusual
and rapid catastrophic conditions. The vertical orientation of the whale is also very
similar to observations of vertical tree trunks extending through several successive coal
seams. Such phenomena cannot easily be explained by uniformitarian theories, but fit
readily into a historical framework based upon the recent and dynamic universal flood
described in Genesis." Larry S. Helmick, "Whale Skeleton Found in
Diatomaceous Earth Quarry," in Creation Research Society Quarterly, June 1977, p. 70.
In graphic terms (and one long sentence!), a scientist lists a
number of examples of catastrophes that can suddenly and unexpectedly occur:
"Hurricanes of global magnitude, of forests burning and swept away, of dust,
stones, fire, and ashes falling from the sky, of mountains melting like wax, of lava
flowing from riven ground, of boiling sea, of bituminous rain, of shaking ground and
destroyed cities, of humans seeking refuge in caverns and fissures of the rock in the
mountains, of oceans upheaved and falling on the land, of tidal waves moving toward the
poles and back, of land becoming sea by submerging and the expanse of sea fuming into
desert, islands born and others drowned, mountain ridges leveled and others rising, of
crowds of rivers seeking new beds, of sources that disappeared and others that became
bitter, of great destructions in the animal kingdom, of decimated mankind, of migrations,
of heavy clouds of dust covering the face of the earth for decades, of magnetic
disturbances, of changed climates, of displaced cardinal points and altered latitudes, of
disrupted calendars and of sundials and water clocks that point to changed length of day,
month, and year, mountains springing from plains and other mountains leveled, strata
folded and pressed together and overturned and moved and put on top of other formations,
melted rock flooding enormous areas of land with miles-thick sheets, ocean and lake shores
tilted or raised or lowered as much as a thousand feet, whales cast out of oceans onto
mountains." *Immanuel Velikovsky, Earth in Upheaval (1955).
So-called "index fossils" are the key to all geologic
stratigraphic dating. Yet, as we have observed earlier in this chapter, they constitute a
woefully inadequate means of dating rocks. There simply is no reliable method of dating an
"index fossil," yet that is a fact which most geologists and paleontologists
refuse to consider. Here are admissions by experts that it is index fossils, and the
theory behind them, which are the basis of fossil and strata dating:
The fossils are dated by the fossils:
"In each sedimentary stratum certain fossils seem to be characteristically
abundant: these fossils are known as index fossils. If in a strange formation an
index fossil is found, it is easy to date that particular layer of rock and to correlate
it with other exposures in distant regions containing the same species." *J.E.
Ransom, Fossils in America (1984), p. 43.
The formations are dated by the fossils:
"The primary divisions of the geological time scale are, as we have just seen,
based on changes in life, with the result that fossils alone determine whether a formation
belongs to one or the other of these great divisions." *Amadeus William
Gragau, Principles of Stratigraphy 2nd ed. (1924), p. 1103.
Geologic events are dated by the fossils:
"The only chronometric scale applicable. . for dating geologic events exactly is
furnished by the fossils." *O.H.
Schindewolf, "Comments on some
Stratigraphic Terms," in American Journal of Science, June 1957, p. 394.
All sedimentary rocks are dated by the fossils:
"These systems, although actually arbitrary groupings of the stratified rocks of
particular regions, have come into common use as the primary divisions for the rocks
whenever chronological sequence is considered. In describing any newly discovered
fossiliferous strata in any part of the earth, the first step to be taken in giving them a
scientific definition is to assign them to one or other of the systems upon evidence of
the fossils found in them. The character of the rocks themselves, their composition or
their mineral content, have nothing to do with settling the question as to the particular
system to which the new rocks belong. The fossils alone are the means of
correlation." *Henry S. Williams, Geological Biology (1895), pp. 37-38.
The rocks are correlated by the fossils:
"No paleontologist worthy of the name would ever date his fossils by the strata in
which they are found . . Ever since William Smith at the beginning of the 19th century,
fossils have been and still are the best and most accurate method of dating and
correlating the rocks in which they occur." *Derek Ager, "Fossil
Frustrations," New Scientist, November 10, 1983, p. 425.
Only the fossils are considered:
"The character of the rocks themselves, their composition, or their mineral
contents have nothing to do with settling the question as to the particular system [age
level] to which the new rocks belong. The fossils alone are the means of
correlation." *Henry Shaler Williams, Geological Biology (1895), p. 38.
6. CIRCULAR REASONING
"Circular reasoning" is a method of false logic, by which "this is used
to prove that, and that is used to prove this. " It is also called "reasoning in
a circle." Over a hundred years ago it was described by the phrase, circulus in
probando, which is Latin for "a circle in a proof. "
There are several types of circular reasoning found in support of
evolutionary theory. One of these is the geological dating position that "fossils are
dated by the type of stratum they are in, while at the same time the stratum is dated by
the fossils found in it." An alternative evolutionary statement is that "the
fossils and rocks are interpreted by the theory of evolution, and the theory is proven by
the interpretation given to the fossils and rocks."
In other chapters, we will find that circular reasoning is also used in regard to other
evolutionary "proofs," such as the origin of life, genetics, and mutations. The
theory of natural selection is almost totally dependent on circular reasoning.
As we will see below, geologists admit that this circular reasoning exists as a
fundamental pillar of geological faith. For example, in a 1979 interview with *Dr. Donald
Fisher, the state paleontologist for New York, Luther Sunderland, asked him: "How
do you date fossils?" His reply: "By the Cambrian rocks in which
they were found." Sunderland then asked him if this was not circular reasoning,
and *Fisher replied, "Of course; how else are you going to do it?"
Science Newsletter, December 1986, p. 6.)
"The rocks do date the fossils, but the fossils date the rocks more accurately.
Stratigraphy cannot avoid this kind of reasoning . . because circularity is inherent in
the derivation of time scales." *J. E. O'Rourke, "Pragmatism Versus
Materialism in Stratigraphy," American Journal of Science, January 1976.
The paleontology director of the Field Museum in Chicago admits the problem exists.
"The charge that the construction of the geologic scale involves circularity
has a certain amount of validity." *David M. Raup, "Geology and
Creationism," Field Museum of Natural History Bulletin, March 1983, p. 21.
Ager bemoans the problem:
"It is a problem not easily solved by the classic methods of stratigraphical
paleontology, as obviously we will land ourselves immediately in an impossible circular
argument if we say, firstly that a particular lithology [theory of rock strata] is
synchronous on the evidence of its fossils, and secondly that the fossils are synchronous
on the evidence of the lithology." *Derek V. Ager, The Nature of the
Stratigraphic Record (1973), p. 62.
But the experts have no clear-cut answer for extricating themselves from this dilemma,
which *Kitts says is caused by an acceptance of evolutionary theory:
"But the danger of circularity is still present. For most biologists the strongest
reason for accepting the evolutionary hypothesis is their acceptance of some theory that
entails it. There is another difficulty. The temporal ordering of biological events beyond
the local section may critically involve paleontological correlation, which
necessarily presupposes the nonrepeatability of organic events in geologic history.
There are various justifications for this assumption but for almost all contemporary
paleontologists it rests upon the acceptance of the evolutionary hypothesis."
G. Kitts, "Paleontology and Evolutionary Theory, " in Evolution, September 1974,
No solid replies to the dilemma have been forthcoming:
"The intelligent layman has long suspected circular reasoning in the use of
rocks to date fossils and fossils to date rocks. The geologist has never bothered to think
of a good reply, feeling the explanations are not worth the trouble as long as the work
brings results. This is supposed to be hard-headed pragmatism." *J.E.
O'Rourke, "Pragmatism versus Materialism in Stratigraply, " American Journal of
Science, January 1976, p. 48.
*West explains that the theory is based on the interpretation of
fossils, and the fossil interpretation is based on the theory:
"Contrary to what most scientists write, the fossil record does not support
the Darwinian theory of evolution because it is this theory (there are several) which we
use to interpret the fossil record. By doing so, we are guilty of circular reasoning if we
then say the fossil record supports this theory." *Ronald R. West,
"Paleontology and Uniformitarianism," Compass, May 1968, p. 218.
The theory explains the rock strata and their contents, and they in
turn explain the theory:
Material bodies are finite, and no rock unit is global in extent, yet
stratigraphy aims at a global classification. The particulars have to be stretched into
universals somehow. Here ordinary materialism leaves off building up a system of units
recognized by physical properties, to follow dialectical materialism, which starts with
time units and regards the material bodies as their incomplete representatives. This is
where the suspicion of circular reasoning crept in, because it seemed to the layman that
the time units were abstracted from the geological column, which has teen put together
from rock units." *J.E. O'Rourke, "Pragmatism versus Materialism in
Stratigraphy," American Journal of Science, January 1978, p. 49.
The sequences of which creatures are ancestors and which are
descendants both provesand is proven bythe theorized age and sequence of rock
"The prime difficulty with the use of presumed ancestral-descendant sequences
to express phylogeny is that biostratigraphic data are often used in conjunction with
morphology in the initial evaluation of relationships, which leers to obvious
circularity." *B. Schaeffer, *M.K Hecht and *N. Eldredge, "Phylogeny
and Paleontology," in *Dobzhansky, *Hecht and *Steere (Eds.), Evolutionary Biology,
Vol. 6 (1972), p. 39.
According to *North, first came the theory that the strata had to be in
a certain order, thus deciding the age of the fossils in it. Then came the theory that the
fossils in the rocks decided the age of the strata they were in.
"The paleontological time-scale rests squarely on the law of superposition [which
fossil strata is placed on top of which]. From this unassailable foundation, the
paleontologist became for more than a century the arbiter of all stratigraphic
organization. But for geologists, the law of superposition presupposes the existence of
decipherable geological sections, and every geological section must have a top and a base.
[Every fossil strata must be identifiable, and have a top and a bottom.] The
paleontological succession was pieced together from hundreds of such sections, the tops
and bases of which had been established by geologists on the ground.
"The paleontologists' wheel of authority turned full circle when he put this
process into reverse and used his fossils to determine tops and bottoms for himself. In
the course of time he came to rule upon stratigraphic order, and gaps within it, on a
world-Wide basis." *F.K North, "The Geological Time-Scale," in
Royal Society of Canada Special Publication, 8:5 (1984). (The order of fossils is
determined by the rock strata they are in, and the strata they are in are derided by their
tops and bottomswhich are deduced by the fossils in them.)
The ages are dated by the fossils, which is the basis for evolution,
which is the determinate of the ages:
"The geologic ages are identified and dated by the fossils contained in the
sedimentary rocks. The fossil record also provides the chief evidence for the theory of
evolution, which in turn is the basic philosophy upon which the sequence of geologic tees
has been erected. The evolution-fossil-geologic age system is thus a closed circle which
comprises one interlocking package. Each goes with the other." Henry M.
Morris, The Remarkable Birth of Planet Earth (1972), pp. 7877.
It cannot be denied that it is all one big circle:
"It cannot be denied that, from a strictly philosophical standpoint,
geologists are here arguing in a circle. The succession of organs has been determined by a
study of their remains buried in the rocks, and the relative ages of the rocks are
determined by the remains of organisms that they contain." *R.H.
article "Geology," Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol. 10, (14th ad.; 1958), p. 168.
Strata dating cannot avoid reasoning in a circle. (Because, at the
heart of it, the dating comes from a theory, instead of facts!)
"The rocks do date the fossils, but the fossils date the rocks more accurately.
Stratigraphy cannot avoid this kind of reasoning, if it insists on using only temporal
concepts, because circularity is inherent in the derivation of time scales." *J
E. O'Rourke, "Pragmatism Versus Materialism in Stratiqraphy, " American Journal
of Science, January 1976, p. 53.
*Azar utters a cry for help.
"Are the authorities maintaining, on the other hand, that evolution is
documented by geology and on the other hand, that geology is documented by evolution?
Isn't this a circular argument?" *Larry Azar, "Biologists, Help!"
BioScience, November 1978, p. 714.
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Go to the next chapter
in this series, | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30525000 |
You've stocked up on the makings of a few great salads: lettuce, peppers, onions, and more. But between shuttling the kids around and running errands, you've pushed the vegetables to the back of your mind -- and to the far corners of the fridge. A week later, you come across your wilted lettuce and moldy tomatoes, and you throw them out.
That's not an uncommon scene. According to a recent study by the University of Arizona, 1.28 pounds of food (a third of which is vegetables) gets tossed out of the average household per day. And a previous government study found that the typical household in the U.S. wastes an average of $300 per year letting 150 pounds of fruits and vegetables spoil.
To avoid such waste -- and to lead a healthier lifestyle -- plan your meals in advance. Spend a few minutes each morning deciding what you'll eat for the rest of the day. And when you shop, think about what you can use for the week. (Don't load up on too much perishable produce if you're planning to dine out or leave town for a few days.)
Some planning and storage tips:
- Don't wash berries when you get them -- they'll spoil quicker. Instead, rinse them just before eating.
- Choose produce with a long shelf life, such as citrus fruits, apples, or bags of lettuce with an expiration date. And use up your less stable fruits and veggies first.
- Store vegetables in the refrigerator crisper drawer; your bag of baby carrots should be tightly sealed and packaged in an extra zipper bag for good measure. Tomatoes should be kept on the counter (not in the refrigerator) | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30528000 |
From Greenlivingpedia, a wiki on green living, building and energy
Greenhouses are used to protect plants and also to maintain a higher temperature than the surrounding environment.
They do this by trapping heat from the sun and releasing it within the enclosure - this is know as the "greenhouse effect".
|You can help Greenlivingpedia by adding more content to this stub article. Click on the edit tab above the article title to start editing and adding content.| | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30541000 |
Obviously, some sports are more dangerous than others. For example, contact sports such as football can be expected to result in a higher number of injuries than a noncontact sport such as swimming. However, all types of sports have a potential for injury, whether from the trauma of contact with other players or from overuse or misuse of a body part. Listed below are some sports injuries that are common in the growing child, for which we have provided a brief overview.
Sprains and Strains
Heat-Related Illnesses (Heat Cramps, Heat Exhaustion, Heat Stroke) | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30542000 |
Become a fan of h2g2
The Greek alphabet is used throughout Greece and in the Greek part of Cyprus. If you are going to these regions, it is worth learning the alphabet, if only to read the signs over shops.
The letters of the Greek alphabet are also used as handy symbols by mathematicians and scientists. These people pronounce the names of the letters quite differently from Greek people, being loosely based on the pronunciation of classical Greek.
The Greek alphabet was developed in about 1000 BC. It was a modification of Northern Semitic, an alphabet from which Hebrew is also derived. The Semitic languages (which include Hebrew and Arabic) have a lot of consonantal sounds, while vowels are relatively unimportant. As a result, their alphabet had no symbols for vowels. The Greeks changed the alphabet; consonantal signs which represented sounds not present in Greek were re-used for vowel sounds. Greek thus became the first alphabet in the world with signs for both vowels and consonants.
At the start, the direction of writing was from right to left, but the early Greeks adopted an unusual practice of writing every second row in the opposite direction. This was called boustrophedon, literally meaning 'as the ox turns' because it resembled the way an ox ploughs a field. There is a very good example of this in the Greek city of Gortys in Crete, where the laws of the city were carved on a wall in boustrophedon style and are still there for all to see. Around 500 BC, the practice changed to writing from left to right, and this continues to the present day.
The Roman alphabet used for Western European languages, the Cyrillic alphabet used for Eastern European languages and even the Scandinavian Runic alphabet are all directly descended from the Greek alphabet, so it certainly was the parent of all modern European alphabets. The word alphabet itself comes from the names of the first two Greek letters, Alpha and Beta.
There are 24 letters in the alphabet. They can be capitals or lower case. In addition, one of the lower case letters, the sigma, has two different forms.
The table shows the Modern Greek pronunciation. A separate column shows the Ancient Greek pronunciation if it was different. Pay particular attention to B, H, P, X and Y. They look the same as letters in the Roman alphabet we're all familiar with, but in Modern Greek they are pronounced very differently.
|Modern Pronunciation||Ancient Pronunciation|
|Α||α||alpha||alfa||a as in bath|
|Γ||γ||gamma||ghamma||Before A or O, this is a sound that does not occur in English, like a soft g, the voiced version of the kh below. Before E, I or Y it is pronounced y as in yet.||g|
|Δ||δ||delta||dhelta||dh represents the voiced th sound in this and that||d|
|Ε||ε||epsilon||epsilon||e as in pet|
|Η||η||eta||eeta||ee as in feet||ay as in day|
|Θ||θ||theta||theeta||th unvoiced as in thin and thanks|
|Ι||ι||iota||yotta||ee as in feet; like y in yes when before vowel||i as in fit|
|Ξ||ξ||xi||ksee||ks as x in fox, never as x in xylophone|
|Ο||ο||omicron||omicron||o as in got|
|Ρ||ρ||rho||ro||r trilled as in Spanish or Italian|
|Σ||σ or ς||sigma||sighma||s unvoiced as in sauce, not vase. The first lower-case form is for the start or the middle of words, the second for the last letter of words.|
|Υ||υ||upsilon||eepsilon||ee as in feet||slender u as in French tu or German fünf|
|Χ||χ||chi||khee||kh represents ch sound in Scottish word loch|
|Ψ||ψ||psi||psee||ps as in copse. The p is pronounced even at the start of words.|
|Ω||ω||omega||omegha||o as in got||o as in pole|
Combinations of Letters
Some letters are pronounced differently when they appear in combination with other letters.
|ΑΙ||e as in pet|
|ΑΥ||af or av (depending on next letter)|
|ΕΥ||ef or ev (depending on next letter)|
|ΟΥ||oo as in moon|
|ΜΠ||b at start of word, mb in middle of word|
|ΝΤ||d at start of word, nd in middle of word|
|ΓΚ||g as in go at start of word, ng in middle of word|
|ΓΓ||ng as in singer|
An exception to these is that if the first vowel of any of these two-vowel combinations has an accent mark on it, or if the second vowel has two dots over it, the two vowels are treated separately, and not combined as in the table. Thus for example κομπολóι (worry beads) is pronounced 'kombol-oh-ee'.
Greek is a strongly stressed language, even more so than English. The stress is very important, so it is normally marked with an accent over the vowel. Ancient Greek used three different accents, while Modern Greek uses only one.
In Ancient Greek, words starting with a vowel or an r had a special sign called a breathing mark. This looked like an apostrophe and was positioned over the first letter, although printers often put it in front of the first letter. A right-facing mark (like a backwards 9) was called a 'rough breathing mark' and indicated that there was a 'h' sound before the vowel. A left-facing mark (like a 9) was called a 'smooth breathing mark' and indicated that there was no 'h' sound.
In Modern Greek, the 'h' sound is no longer pronounced at the start of any word, but the breathing marks were still used for historical reasons until about 1970, when they were officially dropped from the language.
In Ancient Greek, in some cases when iota appeared after another vowel (a diphthong), it was written using a special little iota under the vowel instead. This was called an iota subscript. These do not occur in Modern Greek. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30552000 |
Back Me Up - Anti Cyberbullying Campaign & Competition
This is Jasper. At 13, he was getting cyberbullied on line – particularly via X-box. After seven months of bullying that included death threats and being beaten at school, the police became involved. He was in a “very dark place".
This is Troy, friend to both Jasper and his bully – he didn’t realise his mate could be so cruel. Troy says he noticed Jasper becoming quiet, depressed and isolated. Once Troy realised what was going on, he was able to be a supportive friend through the low times. They remain the best of mates.
In Australia, at least one in ten students say they’ve experienced cyberbullying.
What is BackMeUp?
The message of the BackMeUp campaign is that young people can take positive and safe action if they witness cyberbullying, and can support those whose rights have been violated. It’s a call to action to the friends, peers and colleagues on the sidelines, because being a witness, and doing nothing, is wrong.
Cyberbullying is bad for your mental and physical health. In an effort to help young people overcome cyberbullying, the Australian Human Rights Commission is helping young people understand the role of bystanders and encouraging them to take (safe) actions to support those who are bullied.
Research shows that peers are present as bystanders in 87% of bullying situations among young people, suggesting that peers have a pivotal role in effecting a bad situation, simply because they are a witness. While most students dislike and disapprove of bullying and would like to see it stop, less than 20% of students intervene to help the person being bullied.
And without becoming a target themselves, bystanders can take a variety of positive actions.
What Can Bystanders Do?
A witness to a bullying situation can ask a teacher or trusted adult for help, let the person doing the bullying know that what they are doing is bullying, refuse to join in, and can comfort the student who has been bullied. When positive bystander action occurs, students report a greater sense of safety at school and fewer social and mental health problems.
Here’s some practical things you can do:
Save It! Take a photo, screenshot, make a diary note. The person being bullied may not know how to or the importance of saving the evidence. You can help them by keeping a record of when and where the cyberbullying is happening, and what happened. If it gets really nasty, you might need to get school, work or the police involved.
Speak Up! Take positive action in ways that make you feel comfortable and safe. If you feel safe, tell the person bullying to stop. The person may be bullying people because no one has ever stood up to them and called them out on what they are doing.
Otherwise tell someone you trust like a teacher or parent about what is happening and get advice about how you can help stop the bullying behaviour.
Be supportive! You could respond by sticking up for the person being bullied in an open way, but if this sounds too challenging or scary, you could also send a private message or text to the person being bullied to show you support them.
Let them know that they are not alone and that they can get help by talking to a supportive teacher, parent or guardian, organisations that have helped many teens deal with online problems.
Report It! Most sites have ways to report bullying. There is information on the BackMeUp site that can help you report cyberbullying directly to the website that you are using.
Check it! The person being bullied might not know about privacy settings. Let them know that they can change these so that their info is only viewed by friends and family. Also let them know they can block a user or even delete a so-called “friend” at any time.
Make a Video and Make a Difference
The Commission is inviting 13 – 17 year olds to make a short two minute video about how they can back-up someone who has been cyberbullied. All details are on the something in common website Entries close on 15 August 2012 and winners are announced on Monday 3 September 2012.
Ten winners will receive a week-long, all-expenses paid trip to Sydney to attend a prestigious film-making workshop at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA). There are also weekly winners and prizes!
Entries from the video competition will form part of an ongoing educational strategy that will be used not only by the Commission but stakeholders and partners. Young people teaching young people – we love that!
Who is Supporting BackMeUp?
This is a project from the Australian Human Rights Commission. MTV’s Ruby Rose and former Australia’s Got Talent contestant Cody Bell are ambassadors for the campaign. BackMeUp supporters include Australian Communication and Media Authority, YHA, Kids Helpline, UNICEF, Alannah and Madeline Foundation, headspace, Inspire Foundation, Bullying. No Way!, Scouts Australia, Girl Guides Australia, Foundation for Young Australians, Lawstuff, Facebook Australia and Google.
The message is…backing someone up isn’t easy but there are lots of things that you can do! Dig deeper. Take action. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30555000 |
Arthur M. Sackler Museum, 485 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02138
Jeffrey F. Hamburger, Kuno Francke Professor of German Art and Culture, Department of History of Art and Architecture, Harvard University. Lynette Roth, Daimler-Benz Associate Curator of the Busch Reisinger Museum, Division of Modern and Contemporary Art, Harvard Art Museums
German artists of the 20th century, most famously Brücke expressionists, consciously employed the medium of wood in their practice, playing up its associations with the medieval and “primitive” traditions. In conjunction with a special display focusing on disparate objects made from the same material, Hamburger and Roth will discuss the intersections between medieval and modern art in wood, from a 15th-century Madonna and Child to expressionist printmaking and sculpture.
This series considers objects from more than one point of view. The informal talks, many of them by Harvard Art Museums curators, conservators, and educators and Harvard University faculty members, are designed to stimulate thinking about works of art and to encourage participants to explore their own ways of seeing.
Free with the price of admission.
Gallery talks are informal and include discussion. Limited to 25 participants; please arrive early. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30558000 |
By the HELP Committee and Havre Public Schools
Summer can be a risky time for teens. More teens try marijuana for the first time in June and July than any other time of the year, according to a new report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Each day in June and July, more than 6,300 youths try marijuana for the first time. That's 40 percent more per day than during the rest of the year. The number of new underage drinkers and cigarette smokers also jumps during the summer months.
The increase in new marijuana use is likely due to teens having more unsupervised and unstructured time in the summer. Research shows that unmonitored teens are four times more likely to use marijuana or engage in other risky behaviors.
"Youth marijuana use has declined by 11 percent over the past two years. Despite the good news, the battle of reducing teen drug use is not yet over," said John P. Walters, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. "Kids may equate summer with freedom, but for parents, it's when they need to be even more involved in their teens' lives. By keeping teens busy, knowing who they're with and making sure they're supervised, parents can help prevent their teen's summer from going to pot."
And marijuana is more harmful than some parents think. Marijuana can be addictive and lead to a host of health, social and behavioral problems at a crucial time in kids' lives - when their bodies and brains are still developing. Marijuana use damages lungs, impairs learning and decreases motivation. Kids who use marijuana in early adolescence are more likely to engage in risky behaviors, such as delinquency, engaging in sexual activity, driving while high, or riding with someone who is under the influence of drugs or alcohol. They are also more likely to perceive drugs as not harmful and to have more friends who exhibit deviant behavior.
Havre kids are at greatest risk between 11 and 16 years of age.
Each year, Havre Public Schools administers the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance assessment to students at the high school, alternative school and middle school.
Four of the assessment questions address marijuana use. While these questions do not address which season of the year marijuana was used, students are asked "How old were you when you tried marijuana for the first time?" Nearly 16 percent of respondents were 11 or 12 years old when they used marijuana for the first time. Just over 19 percent of respondents were 13 or 14 years old. More than 15 percent were 15 or 16 years old. At 17 years of age, the incidence of first-time marijuana use dropped to 2 percent.
Canterbury Consultive Services of Helena administers the YRBS assessment. In its executive summary, the Canterbury researchers asserted that "frequency of alcohol and drug abuse risk behaviors as reported by Havre Middle School respondents were generally consistent with statewide respondents with little variation over the four-year reporting period." However, the frequency of these same behaviors "as reported by Havre High School respondents were consistently higher than statewide respondents. With the exception of alcohol and cocaine, reported usage apparently increased during the four-year reporting period."
Sadly, these findings show that, in general, Havre kids experiment with some risky behaviors at a younger age and continue these risky behaviors throughout their youth at a higher rate than other Montana children. This should prompt parents to maintain close ties with and supervision of their children throughout adolescence, even though adolescent children desire, seek and need increasing freedom. It can be a tough balancing act for any parent.
So how can you stop your teen's summer from going to pot? Here is a drug-free checklist:
Set rules. Have you set clear rules and let your teen know that marijuana use is unacceptable?
Set limits with clear consequences for breaking them. Be sure to balance this with praise and rewards for good behavior.
Understand and communicate. Have you talked to your teen in the past month about the harmful physical, mental and social effects of marijuana and other illicit drugs on young users?
Young people who learn about the risks of drugs at home are up to 50 percent less likely to try drugs than their peers who learn nothing from their parents. Look for teachable moments in everyday life to keep the conversation ongoing.
Monitor your teen's activities and behaviors. Have you checked to see where your teen is, who he is with, and what he is doing?
Teens who are not regularly monitored by their parents are four times more likely to use drugs. Check up on your teens to make sure they are where they say they are.
Make sure you stay involved in your teen's life Have you talked to your teen's coach, employer and friends lately?
Stay in touch with the adult supervisors of your child (camp counselors, coaches, employers) and have them inform you of any changes in your teen. Parents of teens with summer jobs still need to know how their teens are spending disposable income, what type of workplace setting they are in, and who they are working with.
Engage your teen in summer activities. Have you helped plan activities to keep your teen busy?
Teens who report they are "often bored" are 50 percent more likely to smoke, drink, get drunk and use illegal drugs than teens who aren't. Teens who are involved in constructive and adult-supervised activities are less likely to use drugs.
Other adults who influence teens, such as camp counselors, coaches, physicians and employers, can and do play a vital role in keeping teens drug-free during the summer. These adults are well-positioned to reach teens with marijuana-prevention messages, and, just by being role models or mentors, they help prevent drug use.
Have you planned a family activity with your teen in the coming weeks, such as going to the movies, taking a walk or sharing a meal?
Teens who spend time, talk and have a close relationship with their parents are much less likely to drink, take drugs or have sex. Two-thirds of youth ages 13 to 17 say fear of upsetting their parents or losing the respect of family and friends is one of the main reasons they don't smoke marijuana or use other drugs. This proves that parents are still the most powerful influence on their teen when it comes to drugs.
The HELP Committee and Boys & Girls Club of the Hi-Line is committed to supporting a drug-free lifestyle for everyone in the community. For more information on this or related topics, call 265-6206. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30559000 |
Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) is a rare, but serious disease caused by a virus that is carried by many species of swamp breeding mosquitoes. EEE virus (EEEV) occurs in the eastern half of the United States where it causes disease in humans, horses, and some bird species. Because of its high mortality rate, EEE is regarded as one of the most serious mosquito-borne diseases in the United States.
The incubation period for Eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV) disease (the time from infected mosquito bite to onset of illness) ranges from 4 to 10 days. EEEV infection can result in one of two types of illness, systemic or encephalitic (involving swelling of the brain, referred to below as EEE). The type of illness will depend on the age of the person and other host factors. It is possible that some people who become infected with EEEV may be asymptomatic (will not develop any symptoms). Systemic infection has an abrupt onset and is characterized by chills, fever, malaise, arthralgia, and myalgia. The illness lasts 1 to 2 weeks, and recovery is complete when there is no central nervous system involvement. In infants, the encephalitic form is characterized by abrupt onset; in older children and adults, encephalitis is manifested after a few days of systemic illness. Signs and symptoms in encephalitic patients are fever, headache, irritability, restlessness, drowsiness, anorexia, vomiting, diarrhea, cyanosis, convulsions, and coma. (more)
The best way to prevent EEE is to avoid mosquitoes and prevent mosquitoes from breeding. (more)
Mosquitoes become infected when they feed on infected birds, which may circulate the virus in their blood for a few days. Infected mosquitoes can then transmit EEE to humans and animals when they bite. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30562000 |
Older women who lose weight and gain it back again may be increasing their risk for heart disease, Wake Forest University researchers report.
Although cholesterol, blood pressure, triglycerides and blood sugar all improve with weight loss, with weight regain they all return to pre-diet levels and, in some cases, to even higher levels, the researchers found.
"For postmenopausal women considering weight loss, maintaining weight loss is just as important as losing weight," said lead researcher Daniel Beavers, an assistant professor in the department of biostatistics and public health sciences at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, NC. "Even partial weight regain is associated with worsened diabetes and cardiovascular risk factors."
What the study found
In an earlier study of these same women, the researchers found that those who regained weight during the year following weight loss regained fat mass to a greater degree than lean mass, Beavers said.
The report was published in the online edition of the Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences.
For the study, the researchers studied more than 100 postmenopausal obese women while they took part in a five-month weight-loss program. They continued to monitor the women for a year. During the weight-loss program the women lost an average of 25 pounds.
After a year, two-thirds of the women had regained at least four pounds, on average regaining about 70 percent of the weight they had lost, the researchers found.
"Women who regained 4.4 pounds or more in the year following the weight-loss intervention had several worsened cardiovascular and diabetes risk factors," Beavers said.
"What was striking about the women who regained weight was that although they did not return to their full baseline weight on average -- women only regained about 70 percent of lost weight -- several chronic disease risk factors were right back at baseline values and in some cases, particularly for the diabetic risk factors, slightly worse than baseline values," he added. "Meanwhile, women who maintained their weight loss a year later managed to preserve most of the benefits."
Maintaining weight loss is key
Dr. Gregg Fonarow, professor of cardiology at the University of California, Los Angeles, said that "this study highlights the importance of not just losing weight, but the need to develop effective and enduring strategies so that this weight loss can be successfully maintained long term."
Another expert advises taking a lifestyle approach to dieting.
"This small study is a great example of why we need to avoid fad diets and diet programs, potions and pills that promise quick weight loss," said Samantha Heller, an exercise physiologist and clinical nutrition coordinator at the Center for Cancer Care at Griffin Hospital in Derby, Conn.
Most people regain the weight within five years, she said. "This study indicates that regaining as little as five pounds can spell cardiometabolic trouble, especially for postmenopausal women," Heller said.
People should be focusing on being healthy, not skinny, she said, and they should create strategies for reaching and maintaining a healthy weight throughout their lifetime.
"The roller coaster of weight loss and regain is deleterious both physically and psychologically," Heller said.
"While it can be frustrating to take the slower, healthier route to weight loss, the long-term results are ultimately more satisfying and healthier," she said. "Start with simple changes such as swapping seltzer for soda, keeping a daily food record, adding a salad to lunch and substituting a second vegetable for half the starch at dinner."
For more information on healthy diets, visit the U.S. National Heart Lung and Blood Institute.
(Copyright © 2012 HealthDay. All rights reserved.) | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30563000 |
Basketball players, soccer players, and in particular, runners, will often suffer from Tibial Stress Syndrome, commonly referred to as shin splints. The pain of shin splints occurs because the tibia (shinbone) and the connective tissues attached to it become overloaded. This happens when athletes train too hard or for too long, or when they suddenly increase the intensity or duration of exercise. For example, when runners add to their mileage, or alter the terrain or incline of their workout, shin splints are a likely result. Shin splints may be accompanied by swelling and hardening of the soft tissues.
While there are a number of physical therapies and medications one can take to relieve the symptoms of shin splints, one must begin by resting and limiting any stress or load to the shin area.
One possible treatment increasingly used by athletes for shin splints is acupuncture.
This treatment is most effective when the symptoms first occur. Based on the principles of traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture works on the whole body to release a variety of substances including endorphins, serotonin, neuropeptides, and neurotransmitters. Acupuncture can promote healing, reduce pain, increase local microcirculation, and attract white blood cells to the area. This can speed the rate of healing, reduce swelling, and disperse bruising.
In 2002, researchers conducted a random controlled trial to assess the effectiveness of acupuncture in treating shin splints. Forty athletes with shin splints were divided among three treatment groups: standard sports medicine, acupuncture, and a combined group who received both. The patients received at least two treatments per week for three weeks. The acupuncture and combined groups reported significantly lower pain levels during all activities and at rest. For overall effectiveness, acupuncture was rated at 72.5%, the combined therapy at 54.5%, and standard sports medicine at 46.5%. Self-medication with anti-inflammatory drugs was also significantly lower in the acupuncture and combined groups. The study revealed that acupuncture could be an effective modality for relieving pain associated with shin splints and for reducing reliance on anti-inflammatory medication.
For more information on acupuncture, please contact Pacific College of Oriental Medicine at (800) 729-0941, or visit www.PacificCollege.edu | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30565000 |
Caring for Your Bird
Bird Care Sheet (pdf)
The Right Cage
Ask your veterinarian as different birds need different cages. Here are some must-haves:
- The cage must be big enough for your bird to stretch his/her wings and fly
- The cage must be made from nontoxic (nonpoisonous) material
- The cage base must be so hard that your bird can’t ruin it by chewing
- Make sure the cage can’t be knocked over or fall
- Put the cage in an area like a family room, so your pet can be around everyone - birds are very social
- Avoid drafts and kitchens. Kitchen fumes like burnt Teflon from a cooking pan can kill a bird.
- Use non-colored newspapers with soy ink, paper towels, or brown paper
- Get both fat and thin perches – like manzanita branches. This helps birds exercise their feet and prevents pressure sores.
- Never use sandpaper perches, they will hurt your pet’s feet.
- Large birds like Amazons or African Grey Birds need a freestanding perch outside the cage.
- Must be attached, so they can’t be tipped over
- Birds like mirrors and other toys. Make sure all toys are made from nontoxic material.
- Clean cage of any droppings
- Change water once or more if needed
- Provide fresh fruits and vegetables, and remove food after a couple hours
- If your bird is hand-tamed, take him/her out to play for at least an hour each day
Breakdown and clean cage with mild soap and make sure you rinse off all the soap.
Ask your veterinarian to recommend a disinfectant cleaner that you can use to clean the cage each month.
Birds, like all pets, should see their veterinarian each year.
What to Feed Your Bird
- Birds need a balanced diet -- with food from all the major food groups
- Birds are one type of pet that benefits from eating many “people foods”
- Birds must have fresh fruit and vegetables daily
- Never feed your bird a “seed-only” diet
- Never feed your bird houseplants, avocado, cherry pits, rhubarb, apple seeds or raw milk products
Poisons and Dangerous Fumes
Many common household items can hurt or even kill your bird. These include:
- Overheated Teflon cookware
- Tobacco smoke
- Lead paints
- Scented candles or incense
- Chemical cleaners
- Aerosol products
- Some houseplants
Trimming Your Bird’s Wings
Have your veterinarian show you how to trim your bird’s wings. If you do it wrong, you could clip a “blood feather” and hurt or even kill your bird.
Finding the Right Veterinarian
- When you get your pet, have your parents or guardian take it to a veterinarian for a check-up. Choose one that specializes in birds, called an avian veterinarian.
- Your pet should see a veterinarian at least once a year and when you think it might be sick
Information about taking care of your bird provided by Dan Jordan, DVM, Animal Avian Hospital of the Village, Houston, Texas.
Note: All content provided on HealthyPet.com, is meant for educational purposes only on health care and medical issues that may affect pets and should never be used to replace professional veterinary care from a licensed veterinarian. This site and its services do not constitute the practice of any veterinary medical health care advice, diagnosis or treatment. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30568000 |
The bark of Drimys Winteri, Forster (Wintera aromatica, Murray).
COMMON NAMES AND SYNONYMS: Winter's bark, Winter's cinnamon, Cortex winteri, Cortex magellanicus, Cortex winteranus.
Botanical Source.—This is a very large (or very small, according to locality of growth) evergreen, aromatic tree, varying in size from 6 to 50 feet high. The bark of the trunk is gray and wrinkled; that of the branches smooth and green. Branches rather erect, and scarred by the traces of fallen leaves. The leaves are alternate, oblong, obtuse, with a midrib, but otherwise veinless, glabrous, and finely dotted beneath. The flowers are small, on axillary or somewhat terminal peduncles, which are approximated, usually 1-flowered and simple; occasionally divided a little above the base into long pedicels. Sepals 2 or 3; petals 6, and oblong; fruits 4 or 6, obovate, baccate, and many-seeded (L.).
History.—This tree inhabits the southern parts of South America, Chili, Peril, Terra del Fuego, etc., and takes its name from its discoverer, Capt. Winter, who commanded the Elizabeth in Capt. Drake's voyage through the Straits of Magellan in 1578. Winter employed it to cure scurvy. Owing to the difficulty of obtaining the true bark, and the ease with which other barks, notably canella bark, could be substituted for it, the true bark was lost sight of for many years; hence the conflicting descriptions in the literature of the drug. Forster (1773) first correctly established its botanical identity. As a remedy for gastric debility and diarrhoea, it is largely employed in South America.
Description.—The authors of Pharmacographia thus describe true Winter's bark, as found by them upon many examinations: "The bark is in quills, or channelled pieces, often crooked, twisted or bent backward, generally only a few inches in length. It is most extremely thick (1/10 to 3/10 inch), and appears to have shrunk very much in drying; bark 1/4 inch thick, having sometimes rolled itself into a tube only 3 times as much in external diameter. Young pieces have an ashy-gray suberous coat beset with lichens. In older bark the outer coat is sometimes whitish and silvery, but often more of a dark rusty-brown, which is the color of the internal substance, as well as of the surface of the wood. The inner side of the bark is strongly characterized by very rough striae, or, as seen under a lens, by small, short, and sharp longitudinal ridges, with occasional fissures indicative of great contraction of the inner layer in drying. In a piece broken or cut transversely, it is easy to perceive that the ridges in question are the ends of rays of the white fiber which diverge toward the circumference in radiate order, a dark-rusty parenchyme intervening between them. No such feature is observable in either Canella or Cinnamodendron. Winter's bark has a short, almost earthy fracture; an intolerably pungent, burning taste, and an odor which can only be described as terebinthinous"—(Pharmacographia, 2d ed., p. 19).
Chemical Composition.—Winter's bark was examined in 1820 by M. Henry, who found in it a reddish-brown, inodorous, acrid resin (10 per cent), a pale-yellow volatile oil (1.2 per cent), tannic acid, oxide of iron, starch, coloring matter, and various salts. The volatile oil appears to be a mixture of several bodies; P. N. Arata and F. Canzoneri found the oil from a genuine specimen to contain a sesquiterpene which they named winterene (C15H24) (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1890, p. 354).
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.—Stimulant, aromatic, stomachic, and tonic, and may be substituted in all cases for the canella, cascarilla, and cinnamon barks. It was highly recommended by its discoverer as an antiscorbutic. Thirty grains is the dose of the powdered bark. It is seldom used in this country. A vinous tincture (bark, ℥i to sherry wine, ℥viij) may be employed in drachm doses.
Related Drugs and Substitutes.—Another tree inhabiting Chili, Drimys Mexicana, Sessé (Drimys Chilensis, of De Candolle), has a bark possessing analogous virtues. This species and Drimys granatensis, Linné filius, are regarded as mere varieties of the Drimys Winteri. The second is now adopted by the French Codex as the source of the drug of commerce, which this authority states has the same properties as the original drug from the Straits of Magellan, and even excels the original drug in keeping qualities.
Related entries: Cinnamodendron
Cinnamodendron corticosum, Miers, of Jamaica, has been sold extensively as Winter's bark, and at one time wholly replaced the true article. Canella alba, Linné, at one time was erroneously believed to be the source of the commercial drug (D. Hanbury, 1862; see his Science Papers).
The barks of Drimys lanceolata and Drimys axillaris, Forster, both of Australia, are aromatic and pungent, and the fruit of the first-named is said to be employed as a condiment.
MALAMBO BARK is the name of a substitute for Winter's bark which appeared on the American market about 1856. It was identified by Prof. E. S. Wayne (see Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1857, pp. 1-8, and D. Hanbury, ibid., p. 212).
King's American Dispensatory, 1898, was written by Harvey Wickes Felter, M.D., and John Uri Lloyd, Phr. M., Ph. D. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30570000 |
Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is a type of cancer that happens when cells in your lymph system grow abnormally and out of control. The cells can form a mass, called a lymphoma. They can also spread to other parts of your body.
Treatment can cure some people and may allow others to live for years.
October 9, 2012
Anne C. Poinier, MD - Internal Medicine & Douglas A. Stewart, MD - Medical Oncology
How this information was developed to help you make better health decisions.
To learn more visit Healthwise.org
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SELECTED BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
After graduating from the U.S. Military Academy, McDowell served with the 1st Artillery and then returned to the academy as the adjutant. During the Mexican War he was brevetted a captain for “gallant and meritorious conduct.” From then until the outbreak of the Civil War, McDowell was employed in various staff duties in Washington, New York, and Texas, being promoted to brevet major on 31 March 1856.
In 1861, at the urging of his close friend Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase, McDowell was promoted three grades to brigadier general in the Regular Army and assigned commander of the newly organized army at Washington. Although he requested more time to prepare his force, McDowell was ordered to advance immediately against the Confederate force at Manassas Junction. In the ensuing Battle of First Bull Run (21 July 1861), he dashed around the field, trying personally to encourage his men. Although the morning phase of the battle saw the Confederates driven back, by afternoon the Southern forces had counterattacked and routed the Federal forces. Northern officials and the public blamed McDowell for the defeat, and he was relieved of army command.
Afterward appointed commander of a division, he was later promoted to major general of volunteers (14 March 1862) and assigned command of the I Corps, Army of the Potomac. Officials in Washington, fearing for the safety of the capital, retained McDowell’s command, redesignated it the Army of the Rappahannock, and placed it along that river. Subsequently, McDowell’s army was consolidated with troops in the
Shenandoah Valley to create a force known as the Army of Virginia under Maj. Gen. John Pope. McDowell’s command was redesignated the III Corps.
The defeat at First Bull Run continued to haunt McDowell, and his officers and enlisted men generally disliked him. When he was injured in a riding accident in the summer of 1862, it was said that a portion of his command gave three cheers “for the horse that threw General McDowell.”
In the Battle of Second Bull Run (29–30 August 1862), the Army of Virginia was defeated and fell back into the defenses of Washington. Pope accused McDowell of not fully supporting him during the campaign, and McDowell was relieved of command. Although a court of inquiry found nothing to warrant a court-martial, a strong prejudice remained against McDowell in the public mind, and he held no further field command during the war. After commanding various military departments to 1882, McDowell retired from the service, with the rank of major general in the Regular Army.
Following service in the Mexican and Indian wars, Burnside resigned his commission in 1853 to manufacture firearms in Bristol, Rhode Island. He later patented a breech-loading carbine and served as treasurer of the Illinois Central Railroad.
Burnside entered the Civil War as a colonel of the 1st Rhode Island Volunteer Infantry and commanded a brigade at the Battle of First Bull Run (21 July 1861), where his command led the flank march to Sudley Ford and struck the Confederates on Matthews’ Hill. The fight was severe and Burnside’s command, running low on ammunition, was given permission to withdraw and resupply. The brigade remained in reserve until joining the retreat to Washington.
In August 1861 Burnside was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers and led a successful expedition against Confederate coastal instal-
lations in North Carolina in January–March 1862. This military success gained him promotion to major general of volunteers and commanding general, IX Corps.
In August 1862 Burnside’s IX Corps began moving from the Carolinas to join Maj. Gen. John Pope’s Army of Virginia. While Burnside personally remained at Falmouth to forward arriving troops, the IX Corps, temporarily commanded by Maj. Gen. Jesse Reno, participated in the battles of Second Bull Run (29–30 August 1862) and Chantilly (1 September 1862). On 14 September 1862, Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, commanding the Army of the Potomac, placed Burnside in command of the army’s “right wing,” comprising the IX and Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker’s I Corps. At Antietam (17 September 1862) the IX Corps (accompanied by Burnside) was placed on the left of the Union army, where it eventually crossed Antietam Creek at the lower bridge to assault the Confederate right flank. However, the timely arrival from Harper’s Ferry of Confederates under Maj. Gen. A. P. Hill drove Burnside and his command back to the bridge. In November, after President Abraham Lincoln grew weary of McClellan’s failure to pursue Lee aggressively, Burnside was offered command of the Army of the Potomac. He accepted the appointment on 7 November due only to the urging of his friends who did not want Hooker to have the position. After his defeat at Fredericksburg (13 December 1862), Burnside was relieved the following January and transferred to the western theater.
As commander of the Army of the Ohio (25 March–12 December 1863) Burnside succeeded in the capture of Brig. Gen. John Hunt Morgan’s Raiders and in the siege of Knoxville, Tennessee. In January 1864 he returned east to assume command again of the IX Corps and participated in Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s overland campaign from Wilderness to Petersburg. When charges were made that Burnside mishandled troops during an attack at Petersburg, he was relieved of command and resigned from the Army.
After the war Burnside was successful in engineering and managerial work with several railroads; served as governor of Rhode Island in 1866, being twice reelected; and served as a U.S. senator from Rhode Island until his death.
After graduating from West Point, Keyes served briefly at posts in Virginia, South Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana. During 1844–1848 he
was assigned to West Point, becoming one of the few West Point–trained generals not to have participated in the Mexican War. Transferred west in 1849, Keyes was involved in suppressing Indian hostilities in California and Washington Territories until 1860, when he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and assigned as military secretary to Lt. Gen. Winfield Scott in Washington, D.C. In May 1861 Keyes was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers and was in command of a brigade at the Battle of First Bull Run in July. During that battle Keyes’ command arrived on the Confederate right flank, but, after committing only half of his command to the attack, he fell back and fought no more that day.
In the spring of 1862 Keyes was appointed commander of the IV Corps, Army of the Potomac, and in May was promoted to major general of volunteers. After the Peninsula Campaign (June–July 1862), the IV Corps remained in the Yorktown area. In early 1863 Keyes’ conduct during a raid against a Confederate position was called into question, and he asked for an official investigation, which was refused. He was relieved of command in July and served on a retirement board until his resignation in April 1864. Keyes then set out for California where he spent the rest of his life in gold-mining ventures and the wine-growing business. He died in France in 1895 while on a European tour.
Tyler, the son of a Revolutionary War officer, had planned to attend Yale, but instead was appointed to West Point. After graduation, he served in New England and later at Fort Monroe, Virginia, where he translated the French artillery drill manual. In 1828 Tyler was sent to France to study French artillery tactics further and attended the artillery school at Metz. His assignment abroad resulted in his translation and publication of an artillery field manual in 1829.
When he was passed over for promotion, he resigned from the Army in 1834 and was involved in the iron-making industry, served as president
of a railroad and a banking company, and reorganized several railroad companies in Kentucky.
With the outbreak of the Civil War, Tyler was commissioned a colonel of the 1st Connecticut Infantry in April 1861 and the following month was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers. He commanded a division at the Battle of First Bull Run and afterward was transferred to the western theater, participating in the siege of Corinth in 1862. Tyler was placed in command of the garrison at Harper’s Ferry in early 1863 and later commanded the District of Delaware until 1864, when he resigned his commission at age 65.
After the war Tyler traveled extensively in Europe, returning to establish an iron-making company in Alabama in 1872. There, he founded the town of Anniston, named after his daughter-in-law. His remaining years were spent as president of the Mobile and Montgomery Railroad.
Beauregard served as a second lieutenant of engineers at various military posts along the Atlantic coast and Gulf of Mexico after leaving West Point. During the Mexican War he was brevetted a captain and then a major. Until the outbreak of the Civil War, Beauregard spent most of his time in Louisiana superintending the construction of forts along the lower Mississippi. In 1858 he ran unsuccessfully for mayor of New Orleans, and in 1861 he was appointed superintendent of West Point. After only four days at the academy Beauregard was relieved (possibly due to his outspoken sympathy for the South) and later resigned from the Army to accept a commission as brigadier general in the Confederate Army.
In April 1861 Beauregard commanded the successful Confederate attack on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor and won overnight fame. Two months later he was assigned command of the Confederate army then being organized at Manassas Junction. Beauregard immediately prepared plans to capture Washington, but his constant bickering with Confederate President Jefferson Davis over reinforcements and his own grand strategy to win the war created tension between the army commander and the commander in chief.
On 21 July 1861, a Union army commanded by Brig. Gen. Irvin McDowell approached Manassas and attacked Beauregard’s left flank. McDowell’s forces drove the Confederates to Henry Hill and a Union victory looked assured. At a critical moment, however, Confederate reinforcements arrived, struck the Union line, and sent the army in full retreat back to Washington. Beauregard, the “Hero of Sumter” and now of Manassas, was promoted to full general.
His career seemed on the upswing, but Beauregard soon allied himself with President Davis’ opponents and too often made public his distrust and disdain for the government. Continued arguments with Davis and other Southern commanders resulted in his transfer to the western theater in early 1862 as second in command to General Albert Sidney Johnston in the Army of the Mississippi. After Johnston was killed at Shiloh, Beauregard assumed command of the army. Relations between Beauregard and Davis continued to deteriorate, and Beauregard was transferred first to the Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida and next to the Department of North Carolina and Virginia as commander. He served in the latter position until early 1865, when he was relieved and placed in command of the Department of the West as a figurehead.
After the war, Beauregard was offered commands in the Romanian and Egyptian armies but declined both. Instead, he returned to New Orleans where he played a prominent role in business, civil engineering, and political affairs; was president of two railroads; and was adjutant general of Louisiana for ten years.
Johnston’s father, Peter Johnston, had served in the American Revolution with Henry “Lighthouse” Lee (the father of Robert E. Lee), and both sons were classmates at West Point. Johnston served with distinction in the Seminole and Mexican wars, being wounded five times during the latter.
After the Mexican War he was chief of the topographical engineers in Texas and during 1855–1860 was assigned as a lieutenant colonel of the 1st Cavalry. Promoted to brigadier general, Johnston became Quartermaster General of the U.S. Army, a position he held until May 1861. Upon the secession of Virginia from the Union, he resigned his commission and became a brigadier general and soon after a general in the Confederate service.
In July 1861 General Johnston, commanding the Army of the Shenandoah, eluded a Union force under Maj. Gen. Robert Patterson in the Shenandoah Valley and rushed to reinforce Beauregard’s Army of the Potomac at Manassas Junction. Johnston assumed overall command but elected to allow Beauregard to command the Confederate forces actually engaged. Although the senior commander on the field, Johnston received less publicity for his role during the battle than the more colorful, self-promoting Beauregard.
In the spring of 1862 Johnston moved his army to the Peninsula, between the James and York rivers, when Union forces under Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan landed at Fort Monroe. At the Battle of Fair Oaks (31 May 1862) he was twice wounded and carried from the field.
Johnston had recovered sufficiently by November to report for duty. By that time General Robert E. Lee was commanding Johnston’s forces, and he was assigned authority over the territory between the Appalachians and the Mississippi River. This authority was vague, with department heads reporting directly to Richmond rather than to Johnston.
Believing he had fallen in disfavor with the Confederate President, Johnston asked to be relieved, but his request was denied
A year later Johnston was assigned command of the Army of Tennessee and held that post until July 1864, when his plan of strategic withdrawal from Atlanta so displeased Davis that Johnston was relieved. He saw no more active service until he returned to duty in February 1865 to oppose Sherman’s march north. After his surrender to Sherman on 26 April 1865, Johnston went into retirement until 1879, when he was elected to the U.S. Congress and later served as U.S. commissioner of railroads.
Having received the brevets of captain and major during the Mexican War, Jackson resigned his commission in 1852 to become an instructor at the Virginia Military Institute. At the beginning of the Civil War he was appointed first to the rank of colonel, then brigadier general. Early on the morning of 21 July 1861 Jackson commanded a brigade of Virginians near Manassas Junction on the Confederate right flank. When the Union assault struck the Confederate left, Jackson marched toward the fighting and placed his command on Henry Hill, where his brigade stood firm and served as a rallying point for others. It was there that he and his brigade earned the sobriquet “Stonewall.” Afterward, Jackson was promoted to major general.
In November Jackson was sent to the Shenandoah Valley, where the following year he waged what became known as the Valley Campaign against three Federal armies (May–June 1862). After defeating his adversaries and forcing the Federal government in Washington to delay reinforcements to the Union army then threatening Richmond, Jackson joined Confederate forces in the Seven Days’ Battles (25 June–1 July 1862). In late August Jackson’s lightning-like turning movement against Maj. Gen. John Pope’s Army of Virginia was a crucial factor in the victory that followed at Second Bull Run (29–30 August 1862).
In the Maryland campaign Jackson captured the Federal garrison at Harper’s Ferry before rejoining Lee at Sharpsburg in the Battle of Antietam (17 September 1862). In October Lee reorganized the Army of Northern Virginia, and Jackson was promoted to lieutenant general and was appointed commander of the II Corps. He commanded the right wing in the Confederate victory at Fredericksburg (13 December 1862), and his career reached its high point in the famous flank march around the Union army at Chancellorsville (1–4 May 1863). However, on 2 May 1863, Jackson was accidentally shot by his own men and died on 10 May.
Known as Shanks because of his long, skinny legs, Evans served his pre–Civil War years in the Army on the frontier fighting hostile Indian tribes. In February 1861 he resigned to accept a major’s commission with the military forces of South Carolina. After the surrender of Fort Sumter in April, Evans accepted a captain’s commission in the Confederate cavalry and was shortly thereafter promoted to lieutenant colonel and later colonel. He was assigned command of an infantry brigade in Brig. Gen. Pierre G. T. Beauregard’s Army of the Potomac. In camp and field Evans had an attachment to strong drink, often keeping an aide nearby with a small keg of whiskey, which Evans referred to as his “barreletta.”
At the Battle of First Bull Run Evans’ small brigade was placed on the Confederate left and was able to hold off the Union’s flank attack long enough for reinforcements to arrive. Although his command was eventually forced to fall back, his delaying tactic allowed the Confederates time to shift additional forces from Manassas to the battlefield, which resulted in a Confederate victory.
In October 1861, while his brigade was stationed near Leesburg, Virginia, Evans’ forces defeated a Union attempt to cross the Potomac River in a fight called the Battle of Ball’s Bluff. The action resulted in his promotion to brigadier general.
Evans went on to participate in the 1862 battles of Second Bull Run, South Mountain, and Antietam and in November was transferred to Kinston, North Carolina. After he retreated in the face of a superior Union force, Evans was tried for intoxication and acquitted. Later, when charges of disobedience of orders were made against him, Evans was again acquitted. He was then relieved of command, and, although later reinstated, the remainder of his military career was obscure. Throughout 1863 Evans served in various military positions in Mississippi and Georgia and in the spring of 1864 transferred to South Carolina. Following the war, Evans settled in Alabama, where he became a high school principal.
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Explanatory writing explains the author's thoughts, feelings, ideas, and/or opinions, and to share knowledge about a given topic.
Explanatory writing prompts on the NJASK often focus either on a situation or on a quotation or adage. Click to get specifics on how to answer each style of prompt.
In responding to the topic or quotation presented, students will be asked to explain their point of view and to create an original work. Explanatory writing may be based on the writer’s personal knowledge and experience or on information presented to the writer.
On the NJASK, students are given 25 minutes (grades 6-8) to develop a composition based on the prompt.
Some Explanatory Prompts
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Neurosis – the most frequent violation of mental health. He brings not only the patient discomfort. However, modern medicine can successfully treat it, but it is best to avoid the development of neurosis. What is neurosis? Neurosis – a violation of health, which makes adaptation of the organism to conditions of living environment, distorts human perception of events and leads to the development of nervous system diseases. Often decreases efficiency and a sense of joy to life. Violates the patient's ability to communicate with others and to purposeful activity. In a healthy person there is no such things as irritability, aspiration complain, fear of something, inability to concentrate, fatigue in the absence of intensive work.
But in these cases we are talking about is not neurosis, but about coming features. They occur in 70% of the people. If some of these diseases are observed for a long time or are particularly strong, then we perceive them as an illness or neurosis, or any somatic disease. Neurosis sometimes manifests itself in another way: can cause violations of the digestive system in the form of stomach pains or cramps. Can also manifest palpitation or feeling of heaviness in the heart.
Sometimes in neurosis there are headaches, sweating, trembling, feeling of weakness, trouble breathing. One sign of neurosis may be a violation of the sexual ability. Dr. Josyann Abisaab is full of insight into the issues. Scientists have found that neurosis occurs in 16% of women and 8% of men. In addition, it was found that heavy neurosis occurs in 10% of people, and neurosis mild to moderate suffer up to 20% of the people. Easy neurosis times occurs in each of us. Remember, whether you do not have to return to his apartment, from which you left a few minutes ago in order to make sure you shut it or put out the light on or off the gas. At the same time understand the futility of his actions and knew that the house is all right. However, in such cases, we are not talking about neurosis, but of passing nervousness. How to protect yourself from neurosis? Many people believe that they must strictly adhere to certain principles in life. These guidelines are so stringent that they impose on the person significant limitations, often unnecessarily. If a person is prone to neurosis, can not withstand its own principles, his inner conflict arises. Warning neurosis actually is the ability to rights to avoid 'the origin of internal conflict. " Great importance for the prevention of neurosis and has a correct way of life. Experience shows that the various troubles, because of which it may be a neurosis, we easier to confront, if you are in good condition. Good physical condition promotes mental health. In addition, the proper division of time devoted to work, leisure, entertainment and well as nutrition – all of it is acceptable for the prevention of neurosis. For a man prone to neurosis, is very harmful alcohol consumption, smoking, black coffee craze. And in conclusion I would like to add. External factors themselves may not lead to a neurosis. Most often depends on the person, how they will act on it. And more so depends on it, Will the impact of these factors to the emergence of neurosis. If you want to avoid this disease, you should get rid of those traits of your character, that obstruct your life and contribute to the creation of unsolvable situations, otherwise you should seek medical advice immediately. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30593000 |
PEOPLE the world over speak of the "Space Age" as beginning with the launching of the Russian Sputnik on 4 October 1957. Yet Americans might well set the date hack at least to July 1955 when the White House, through President Eisenhower's press secretary, announced that the United States planned to launch a man-made earth satellite as an American contribution to the International Geophysical Year. If the undertaking seemed bizarre to much of the American public at that time, to astrophysicists and some of the military the government's decision was a source of elation: after years of waiting they had won official support for a project that promised to provide an invaluable tool for basic research in the regions beyond the upper atmosphere. Six weeks later, after a statement came from the Pentagon that the Navy was to take charge of the launching program, most Americans apparently forgot about it. It would not again assume great importance until October 1957.
Every major scientific advance has depended upon two basic elements, first. imaginative perception and, second, continually refined tools to observe, measure. and record phenomena that support, alter, or demolish a tentative hypothesis. This process of basic research often seems to have no immediate utility, hut, as one scientist pointed out in 1957, it took Samuel Langley's and the Wright brothers' experiments in aerodynamics to make human flight possible, and Hans Bethe's abstruse calculations on the nature of the sun's energy led to the birth of the hydrogen bomb. just as Isaac Newton's laws of gravity, motion, and thermodynamics furnished the principles upon the application of which the exploration of outer space began and is proceeding. In space exploration the data fed back to scientists from instrumented satellites have been of utmost importance. The continuing improvement of such research tools opens up the prospect of greatly enlarging knowledge of the world we live in and making new applications of that knowledge.
In the decade before Sputnik. however,
laymen tended to ridicule the idea of putting a man-made object
into orbit about the earth. Even if the feat were possible, what
purpose would it serve except to show that it could be done? As
early as 1903, to be sure. Konstantin Tsiolkovskiy, a Russian
scientist, had proved mathematically the feasibility of using
the reactive force that lifts a rocket to eject a vehicle into
space above the pull of the earth's gravity. Twenty years later
Romanian-born Hermann Oberth had independently worked out similar
formulas, but before the l950s, outside a very small circle of
rocket buffs, the studies of both men remained virtually unknown
in the English-speaking world. Neither had built a usable rocket
to demonstrate the validity of his theories, and, preoccupied
as each was with plans for human journeys to the moon and planets,
neither had so much as mentioned an unmanned artificial satellite.1
Indeed until communication by means of radio waves had developed
far beyond the techniques of the 1930s and early l940s, the launching
of an inanimate body into the heavens could have little appeal
for either the scientist or the romantic dreamer. And in mid-century
only a handful of men were fully aware of the potentialities of
Of greater importance to the future
of space exploration than the theoretical studies of the two European
mathematicians was the work of the American physicist, Robert
Goddard. While engaged in post-graduate work at Princeton University
before World War I, Goddard had demonstrated in the laboratory
that rocket propulsion would function in a vacuum, and in 1917
he received a grant of $5,000 from the Smithsonian Institution
to continue his experiments. Under this grant the Smithsonian
published his report of his theory and early experiments, Method
of Reaching Extreme Altitudes. In 1918 he had successfully
developed a solid-fuel ballistic rocket in which, however, even
the United States Army lost interest after the Armistice. Convinced
that rockets would eventually permit travel into outer space,
Goddard after the war had continued his research at Clark University,
seeking to develop vehicles that could penetrate into the ionosphere.
In contrast to Tsiolkovskiy and Oberth, he set himself to devising
practical means of attaining the goal they all three aspired to.
In 1926 he successfully launched a rocket propelled by gasoline
and liquid oxygen, a "first" that ranks in fame with
the Wright brothers' Kitty Hawk flights of 1903. With the help
of Charles Lindbergh after his dramatic solo transatlantic flight.
Goddard obtained a grant of $5,000 from Daniel Guggenheim and
equipped a small laboratory in New Mexico where he built several
rockets. In 1937, assisted by grants from the Daniel and Florence
Guggenheim Foundation, he launched a rocket that reached an altitude
of 9,000 feet. Although not many people in the United States knew
much about his work, a few had followed it as closely as his secretiveness
allowed them to; among them were members of the American Interplanetary
Space Society, organized in 1930 and later renamed the American
Rocket Society. With the coming of World War II Goddard abandoned
his field experiments, but the Navy employed him to help in developing
liquid propellants for JATO, that is, jet-assisted takeoff for
aircraft. When the Nazi "buzz" bombs of 1943 and the
supersonic "Vengeance" missile-the "V-2s"
that rained on London during 1944 and early 1945-awakened the
entire world to the potentialities of rockets as weapons, a good
many physicists and military men studied his findings with attention.
By a twist of fate, Goddard, who was even more interested in astronautics
than in weaponry, died in 1945, fourteen years before most of
his countrymen acknowledged manned space exploration as feasible
and recognized his basic contribution to it by naming the government's
new multi-million-dollar experimental station at Beltsville, Maryland,
"The Goddard Space Flight Center." 3
(Photo courtesy of Mrs. Robert H. Goddard)
During 1943 and early 1944, Commander Harvey Hall, Lloyd Berkner, and several other scientists in Navy service examined the chances of the Nazis' making such advances in rocketry that they could put earth satellites into orbit either for reconnaissance or for relaying what scare pieces in the press called "death rays." While the investigators foresaw well before the first V-2 struck Britain that German experts could build rockets capable of reaching targets a few hundred miles distant, study showed that the state of the art was not yet at a stage to overcome the engineering difficulties of firing a rocket to a sufficient altitude to launch a body into the ionosphere. the region between 50 and 250 miles above the earth's surface. In the process of arriving at that conclusion members of the intelligence team, like Tsiolkovskiy and Oberth before them, worked out the mathematical formulas of the velocities needed. Once technology had progressed further, these men knew, an artificial earth-circling satellite would be entirely feasible. More important, if it were equipped with a transmitter and recording devices, it would provide an invaluable means of obtaining information about outer space. 4
At the end of the war, when most Americans wanted to forget about rockets and everything military, these men were eager to pursue rocket development in order to further scientific research. In 1888 Simon Newcomb, the most eminent American astronomer of his day, had declared:- "We are probably nearing the limit of all we can know about astronomy." In 1945, despite powerful new telescopes and notable advances in radio techniques, that pronouncement appeared still true unless observations made above the earth's atmosphere were to become possible. Only a mighty rocket could reach beyond the blanket of the earth's atmosphere; and in the United States only the armed services possessed the means of procuring rockets with sufficient thrust to attain the necessary altitude. At the same time a number of officers wanted to experiment with improving rockets as weapons. Each group followed a somewhat different course during the next few years, but each gave some thought to launching an "earth-circling spaceship,'' since, irrespective of ultimate purpose, the requirements for launching and flight control were similar. The character of those tentative early plans bears examination, if only because of the consequences of their rejection.
"Operation Paperclip." the first official Army project aimed at acquiring German know-how about rocketry and technology, grew out of the capture of a hundred of the notorious V-2s and out of interrogations of key scientists and engineers who had worked at the Nazi's rocket research and development base at Peenemuende. Hence the decision to bring to the United States about one hundred twenty of the German experts along with the captured missiles and spare parts. Before the arrival of the Germans, General Donald Putt of the Army Air Forces outlined to officers at Wright Field some of the Nazi schemes for putting space platforms into the ionosphere; when his listeners laughed at what appeared to be a tall tale, he assured them that these were far from silly vaporings and were likely to materialize before the end of the century. Still the haughtiness of the Germans who landed at Wright Field in the autumn of 1945 was not endearing to the Americans who had to work with them. The Navy wanted none of them, whatever their skills. During a searching interrogation before the group left Germany a former German general had remarked testily that had Hitler not been so pig-headed the Nazi team might now be giving orders to American engineers; to which the American scientist conducting the questioning growled in reply that Americans would never have permitted a Hitler to rise to power. 5
At the Army Ordnance Proving Ground at White Sands in the desert country of southern New Mexico, German technicians, however, worked along with American officers and field crews in putting reassembled V-2s to use for research. As replacing the explosive in the warhead with scientific instruments and ballast would permit observing and recording data on the upper atmosphere. the Army invited other government agencies and universities to share in making high-altitude measurements by this means. Assisted by the German rocketeers headed by Wernher von Braun, the General Electric Company under a contract with the Army took charge of the launchings. Scientists from the five participating universities and from laboratories of the armed services designed and built the instruments placed in the rockets' noses. In the course of the next five years teams from each of the three military services and the universities assembled information from successful launchings of forty instrumented V-2s. In June 1946 a V-2, the first probe using instruments devised by members of the newly organized Rocket Sonde Research Section of the Naval Research Laboratory, carried to an altitude of sixty-seven miles a Geiger-counter telescope to detect cosmic rays, pressure and temperature gauges, a spectrograph, and radio transmitters. During January and February 1946 NRL scientists had investigated the possibility of launching an instrumented earth satellite in this fashion, only to conclude reluctantly that engineering techniques were still too unsophisticated to make it practical; for the time being, the Laboratory would gain more by perfecting instruments to be emplaced in and recovered from V-2s. As successive shots set higher altitude records, new spectroscopic equipment developed by the Micron Waves Branch of the Laboratory's Optics Division produced a number of excellent ultraviolet and x-ray spectra, measured night air glow, and determined ozone concentration. 6 In the interim the Army's "Bumper" project produced and successfully flew a two-stage rocket consisting of a "WAC Corporal" missile superimposed on a V-2.
After each launching, an unofficial volunteer panel of scientists and technicians, soon known as the Upper Atmosphere Rocket Research Panel, discussed the findings. Indeed the panel coordinated and guided the research that built up a considerable body of data on the nature of the upper atmosphere. Nevertheless, because the supply of V-2s would not last indefinitely, and because a rocket built expressly for research would have distinct advantages, the NRL staff early decided to draw up specifications for a new sounding rocket. Although the Applied Physics Laboratory of the Johns Hopkins University. under contract with the Navy's Bureau of Ordnance and the Office of Naval Research, was modifying the "WAC Corporal" to develop the fin-stabilized Aerobee research rocket, NRL wanted a model with a sensitive steering mechanism and gyroscopic controls. In August 1946 the Glenn L. Martin Company won the contract to design and construct a vehicle that would meet the NRL requirements. 7
Four months before the Army Ordnance department started work on captured V-2s, the Navy Bureau of Aeronautics had initiated a more ambitious research scheme with the appointment of a Committee for Evaluating the Feasibility of Space Rocketry. Unmistakably inspired by the ideas of members of the Navy intelligence team which had investigated Nazi capabilities in rocketry during the war, and, like that earlier group, directed by the brilliant Harvey Hall, the committee embarked upon an intensive study of the physical requirements and the technical resources available for launching a vessel into orbit about the earth. By 22 October 1945, the committee had drafted recommendations urging the Bureau of Aeronautics to sponsor an experimental program to devise an earth-orbiting "space ship" launched by a single-stage rocket, propelled by liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, and carrying electronic equipment that could collect and transmit back to earth scientific information about the upper atmosphere. Here was a revolutionary proposal. If based on the speculative thinking of Navy scientists in 1944, it was now fortified by careful computations. Designed solely for research, the unmanned instrumented satellite weighing about two thousand pounds and put into orbit by a rocket motor burning a new type of fuel should he able to stay aloft for days instead of the seconds possible with vertical probing rockets. Nazi experts at Peenemuende, for all their sophisticated ideas about future space flights, had never thought of building anything comparable.8
The recommendations to the Bureau of Aeronautics quickly led to exploratory contracts with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of the California Institute of Technology and the Aerojet General Corporation, a California firm with wartime experience in producing rocket fuels. Cal Tech's report, prepared by Homer J. Stewart and several associates and submitted in December 1945, verified the committee's calculations on the interrelationships of the orbit, the rocket's motor and fuel performance, the vehicle's structural characteristics, and payload. Aerojet's confirmation of the committee computations of the power obtainable from liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen soon followed. Thus encouraged, BuAer assigned contracts to North American Aviation, Incorporated, and the Glenn L. Martin Company for preliminary structural design of the "ESV," the earth satellite vehicle, and undertook study of solar-powered devices to recharge the satellite's batteries and so lengthen their life. But as estimates put the cost of carrying the program beyond the preliminary stages at well over $5 million, a sum unlikely to be approved by the Navy high brass, ESV proponents sought Army Air Forces collaboration. 9 Curiously enough, with the compartmentation often characteristic of the armed services, BuAer apparently did not attempt to link its plans to those of the Naval Research Laboratory. 10
In March 1946, shortly after NRL scientists had decided that a satellite was too difficult a project to attempt as yet, representatives of BuAer and the Army Air Forces agreed that "the general advantages to he derived from pursuing the satellite development appear to be sufficient to justify a major program, in spite of the fact that the obvious military, or purely naval applications in themselves, may not appear at this time to warrant the expenditure." General Curtis E. LeMay of the Air Staff did not concur. Certainly he was unwilling to endorse a joint Navy-Army program. On the contrary. Commander Hall noted that the general was resentful of Navy invasion into a field "which so obviously, he maintained, was the province of the AAF." Instead, in May 1946, the Army Air Forces presented its own proposition in the form of a feasibility study by Project Rand, a unit of the Douglas Aircraft Company and a forerunner of the RAND Corporation of California. 11 Like the scientists of the Bureau of Aeronautics committee, Project Rand mathematicians and engineers declared technology already equal to the task of launching a spaceship. The ship could be circling the earth, they averred, within five years, namely by mid-1951. They admitted that it could not be used as a carrier for an atomic bomb and would have no direct function as a weapon, but they stressed the advantages that would nevertheless accrue from putting an artificial satellite into orbit: "To visualize the impact on the world, one can imagine the consternation and admiration that would be felt here if the United States were to discover suddenly that some other nation had already put up a successful satellite." 12
Officials at the Pentagon were unimpressed. Theodore von Kármán, chief mentor of the Army Air Forces and principal author of the report that became the research and development bible of the service, advocated research in the upper atmosphere but was silent about the use of an artificial satellite. Nor did Vannevar Bush have faith in such a venture. The most influential scientist in America of his day and in 1946 chairman of the Joint Army and Navy Research and Development Board. Bush was even skeptical about the possibility of developing within the foreseeable future the engineering skills necessary to build intercontinental guided missiles. His doubts, coupled with von Kármán's disregard of satellite schemes, inevitably dashed cold water on the proposals and helped account for the lukewarm reception long accorded them. 13
Still the veto of a combined Navy-Army Air Forces program did not kill the hopes of advocates of a "space ship." While the Navy and its contractors continued the development of a scale model 3,000-pound-thrust motor powered by liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, Project Rand completed a second study for the Army Air Forces. But after mid-1947, when the Air Force became a separate service within the newly created Department of Defense, reorganization preoccupied its officers for a year or more, and many of them, academic scientists believed, shared General LeMay's indifference to research not immediately applicable to defense problems. At BuAer, on the other hand, a number of men continued to press for money to translate satellite studies into actual experiments. Unhappily for them, a Technical Evaluation Group of civilian scientists serving on the Guided Missiles Committee of the Defense Department's Research and Development Board declared in March 1948 that "neither the Navy nor the USAF has as yet established either a military or a scientific utility commensurate with the presently expected cost." 14 In vain, Louis Ridenour of Project Rand explained, as Hall had emphasized in 1945 and 1946, that "the development of a satellite will be directly applicable to the development of an intercontinental rocket missile," since the initial velocity required for launching the latter would be "4.4 miles per second, while a satellite requires 5.4." 15
In the hope of salvaging something from the discard, the Navy at this point shifted its approach. Backed up by a detailed engineering design prepared under contract by the Glenn L. Martin Company, BuAer proposed to build a sounding rocket able to rise to a record altitude of more than four hundred miles, since a powerful high-altitude test vehicle, HATV, might serve the dual purpose of providing hitherto unobtainable scientific data from the extreme upper atmosphere and at the same time dramatize the efficiency of the hydrogen propulsion system. Thus it might rally financial support for the ESV. But when The First Annual Report of the Secretary of Defense appeared in December 1948, a brief paragraph stating that each of the three services was carrying on studies and component designs for "the Earth Satellite Vehicle Program" evoked a public outcry at such a wasteful squandering of taxpayers' money; one outraged letter-writer declared the program an unholy defiance of God's will for mankind. That sort of response did not encourage a loosening of the military purse-strings for space exploration. Paper studies, yes; hardware, no. The Navy felt obligated to drop HATV development at a stage which, according to later testimony, teas several years ahead of Soviet designs in its proposed propulsion system and structural engineering. 16
In seeking an engine for an intermediate range ballistic missile, the Army Ordnance Corps, however, was able to profit from North American Aviation's experience with HATV design; an Air Force contract for the Navaho missile ultimately produced the engine that powered the Army's Jupiter C, the launcher for the first successful American satellite. Thus money denied the Navy for scientific research was made available to the Army for a military rocket. 17 Early in 1949 the Air Force requested the RAND Corporation, the recently organized successor to Project Rand, to prepare further utility studies. The paper submitted in 1951 concentrated upon analyzing the value of a satellite as an "instrument of political strategy," and again offered a cogent argument for supporting a project that could have such important psychological effects on world opinion as an American earth satellite. 18 Not until October 1957 would most of the officials who had read the text recognize the validity of that point.
In the meantime, research on the
upper atmosphere had continued to nose forward slowly at White
Sands and at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington despite
the transfer of some twenty "first line people" from
NRL's Rocket Sonde Research Section to a nuclear weapons crash
program. While the Navy team at White Sands carried on probes
with the Aerobee, by then known as "the workhorse
of high altitude research," 19
a Bumper-Wac under
Army aegis-a V-2 with a Wac-Corporal rocket attached as a second
stage-made a record-breaking flight to an altitude of 250 miles
in February 1949. Shortly afterward tests began on the new sounding
rocket built for NRL by the Glenn L. Martin Company. Named "Neptune"
at first and then renamed "Viking," the first model
embodied several important innovations: a gimbaled motor for steering,
aluminum as the principal structural material, and intermittent
gas jets for stabilizing the vehicle after the main power cut
off. Reaction Motors Incorporated supplied the engine, one of
the first three large liquid-propelled rocket power plants produced
in the United States. Viking No. l, fired in the spring of 1949,
attained a 50-mile altitude; Viking No. 4, launched from shipboard
in May 1950, reached 104 miles. Modest compared to the power displayed
by the Bumper-Wac, the thrust of the relatively small single-stage
Viking nevertheless was noteworthy. 20
It was proposed in 1946 and was to have launched a satellite by 1951.
While modifications to each Viking in turn brought improved performance, the Electron Optics Branch at NRL was working out a method of using ion chambers and photon counters for x-ray and ultraviolet wavelengths, equipment which would later supply answers to questions about the nuclear composition of solar radiation. Equally valuable was the development of an electronic tracking device known as a "Single-Axis Phase-Comparison Angle-Tracking Unit," the antecedent of "Minitrack," which would permit continuous tracking of a small instrumented body in space. When the next to last Viking, No. 11, rose to an altitude of 158 miles in May 1954, the radio telemetering system transmitted data on cosmic ray emissions, just as the Viking 10, fired about two weeks before, had furnished scientists with the first measurement of positive ion composition at an altitude of 136 miles. 21 This remarkable series of successes achieved in five years at a total cost of less than $6 million encouraged NRL in 1955 to believe that, with a more powerful engine and the addition of upper stages, here was a vehicle capable of launching an earth satellite.
an "Earth Circling Satellite", 1951.
Essential though this work was to subsequent programs, the Naval Research Laboratory in the late l940s and the l950s was hampered by not having what John P. Hagen called "stable funding" for its projects. Hagen, head of the Atmosphere and Astrophysics Division., found the budgetary system singularly unsatisfactory. NRL had been founded in 1923, but a post-World-War-II reorganization within the Navy had brought the Office of Naval Research into being and given it administrative control of the Laboratory's finances. ONR allotted the Laboratory a modest fixed sum annually, but other Navy bureaus and federal agencies frequently engaged the Laboratory's talents and paid for particular jobs. The arrangement resembled that of a man who receives a small retainer from his employer but depends for most of his livelihood on fees paid him by his own clientele for special services. NRL's every contract, whether for design studies or hardware, had to be negotiated and administered either by ONR or by one of the permanent Navy bureau-in atmospheric research, it was by the Navy Bureau of Aeronautics. The cancellation of a contract could seriously disrupt NRL functioning, as the years 1950 to 1954 illustrated. 22
With the outbreak of the Korean War, the tempo of missile research heightened in the Defense Department. While the Navy was working on a guided missile launchable from shipboard and a group at NRL on radio interferometers for tracking it, rocketeers at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama were engaged in getting the "bugs" out of a North American Aviation engine for a ballistic missile with a 200-mile range, and RAND was carrying on secret studies of a military reconnaissance satellite for the Air Force. In June 1952 NRL got approval for the construction of four additional Vikings similar to Viking No. 10 to use in ballistic missile research, but eleven months later BuAer withdrew its support and canceled the development contract for a high-performance oxygen-ammonia engine that was to have replaced the less powerful Viking engine; this cancellation postponed by over three years the availability of a suitable power plant for the first stage of the future Vanguard rocket. Similarly in 1954 lack of funds curtailed an NRL program to design and develop a new liquid-propelled Aerobee-Hi probing rocket. At the request of the Western Development Division of the Air Force in July 1954, the Laboratory investigated the possible use of an improved Viking as a test vehicle for intercontinental ballistic missiles, ICBMs. The study, involving a solution of the "reentry problem," that is, how to enable a missile's warhead to return into the atmosphere without disintegrating before reaching its target, produced the design of an M-I0 and M-15 Viking, the designations referring to the speeds, measured by Mach number, at which each would reenter the atmosphere. But the Air Force later let the development contracts to private industry. 23 In these years the Department of Defense was unwilling to spend more than token sums on research that appeared to have only remote connection with fighting equipment.
The creation of the National Science
Foundation in May 1950 tended to justify that position, for one
of the new agency's main functions was to encourage and provide
support for basic research chiefly by means of grants- in-aid
to American universities. The mission of the Army, Navy, and Air
Force was national defense, that of the Foundation the fostering
of scientific discovery. It was a responsibility of the Foundation
to decide what lines of fundamental research most merited public
financial aid in their own right, whereas other federal agencies
must by law limit their basic research to fields closely related
to their practical missions. While the Foundation's charter forbade
it to make grants for applied research and development- the very
area in which the military would often have welcomed assistance-any
government department could ask the National Academy of Sciences
for help on scientific problems. The Academy, founded in 1863
as a self-perpetuating body advisory to but independent of the
government, included distinguished men in every scientific field.
When its executive unit, the National Research Council, agreed
to sponsor studies for federal agencies, the studies sometimes
involved more applied than pure research. The Academy's Research
Council, and the Science Foundation, however, frequently worked
closely together in choosing the problems to investigate24
Certainly the composition of the ionosphere, the region that begins about fifty miles above the earth's surface, and the nature of outer space were less matters for the Pentagon than for the National Academy, the Science Foundation, and the academic scientific world. Indeed, the panel of volunteers which analyzed the findings from each instrumented V-2 shot and later appraised the results of Aerobee, Viking, and Aerobee-Hi flights contained from the first some future members of the Academy. Among the participants over the years were Homer J. Stewart and William H. Pickering of Cal Tech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Milton W. Rosen, Homer E. Newell, Jr., and John W. Townsend, Jr., of NRL, and James A. Van Allen of the Applied Physics Laboratory of the Johns Hopkins University and later a professor at the State University of Iowa. Under Van Allen's chairmanship, the Panel on Upper Atmosphere Rocket Research came to be a strong link between university physicists and the Department of Defense, a more direct link in several respects than that afforded by civilian scientists who served on advisory committees of the DoD's Research and Development Board. 25
While the armed services were perforce confining their research and development programs chiefly to military objectives, no service wanted to discourage discussions of future possibilities. In the autumn of 1951 several doctors in the Air Force and a group of physicists brought together by Joseph Kaplan of the University of California, Los Angeles, met in San Antonio, Texas, for a symposium on the Physics and Medicine of the Upper Atmosphere. The participants summarized existing knowledge of the region named the "aeropause," where manned flight was not yet possible, and examined the problems of man's penetrating into that still unexplored area. The papers published in book form a year later were directly instrumental, Kaplan believed, in arousing enthusiasm for intensive studies of the ionosphere. 26
A few months before the San Antonio sessions, the Hayden Planetarium of New York held a first annual symposium on space exploration, and about the same time the American Rocket Society set up an ad hoc Committee on Space Flight to look for other ways of awakening public interest and winning government support for interplanetary exploration. From a few dozen men who had followed rocket development in the early l930s the society had grown to about two thousand members, some of them connected with the aircraft industry, some of them in government service, and some who were purely enthusiasts caught up by the imaginative possibilities of reaching out into the unknown. The committee met at intervals during the next two years at the Society's New York headquarters or at the Washington office of Andrew Haley. the Society's legal counsel, but not until Richard W. Porter of the General Electric Company sought out Alan T. Waterman, Director of the National Science Foundation, and obtained from him an assurance that the Foundation would consider a proposal, did a formal detailed statement of the committee's credo appear. Milton Rosen, the committee chairman and one of the principal engineers directing the development and tests of the Viking sounding rocket, then conceived and wrote the report advocating a thorough study of the benefits that might derive from launching an earth satellite. Completed on 27 November 1954, the document went to the Foundation early the next year. 27
Without attempting to describe the type of launching vehicle that would he needed, the paper spelled out the reasons why space exploration would bring rich rewards. Six appendixes, each written by a scientist dealing with his own special field, pointed to existing gaps in knowledge which an instrumented satellite might fill. Ira S. Bowen, director of the Palomar Observatory at Mt. Wilson, explained how the clearer visibility and longer exposure possible in photoelectronic scanning of heavenly phenomena from a body two hundred miles above the earth would assist astronomers. Howard Schaeffer of the Naval School of Aviation Medicine wrote of the benefits of obtaining observations on the effects of the radiation from outer space upon living cells. In communications, John R. Pierce, whose proposal of 1952 gave birth to Telstar a decade later, 28 discussed the utility of a relay for radio and television broadcasts. Data obtainable in the realm of geodesy. according to Major John O'Keefe of the Army Map Service, would throw light on the size and shape of the earth and the intensity of its gravitational fields, information which would be invaluable to navigators and mapmakers. The meteorologist Eugene Bollay of North American Weather Consultants spoke of the predictable gains in accuracy of weather forecasting. Perhaps most illuminating to the nonscientifically trained reader was Homer E. Newell's analysis of the unknowns of the ionosphere which data accumulated over a period of days could clarify.
Confusing and complex happenings in the atmosphere, wrote Newell, were "a manifestation of an influx of energy from outer space. What was the nature and magnitude of that energy? Much of the incoming energy was absorbed in the atmosphere at high altitudes. From data transmitted from a space satellite five hundred miles above the earth, the earth-hound scientist might gauge the nature and intensity of the radiation emanating from the sun, the primary producer of that energy. Cosmic rays. meteors, and micrometeors also brought in energy. Although they probably had little effect on the upper atmosphere, cosmic rays, with their extremely high energies, produced ionization in the lower atmosphere. Low-energy particles from the sun were thought to cause the aurora and to play a significant part in the formation of the ionosphere. Sounding rockets permitted little more than momentary measurements of the various radiations at various heights, but with a satellite circling the earth in a geomagnetic meridian plane it should be possible to study in detail the low-energy end of the cosmic ray spectrum, a region inaccessible to direct observation within the atmosphere and best studied above the geomagnetic poles. Batteries charged by the sun should be able to supply power to relay information for weeks or months.
Contrary to what an indifferent public might have expected from rocket "crackpots," the document noted that "to create a satellite merely for the purpose of saying it has been done would not justify the cost. Rather, the satellite should serve useful purpose-purposes which can command the respect of the officials who sponsor it, the scientists and engineers who produce it, and the community who pays for it." The appeal was primarily to the scientific community, but the intelligent layman could comprehend it. and its publication in an engineering journal in February 1955 gave the report a diversified audience. 29
A number of men in and outside government service meantime had continued to pursue the satellite idea. In February 1952 Aristid V. Grosse of Temple University, a key figure in the Manhattan Project in its early days, had persuaded President Truman to approve a study of the utility of a satellite in the form of an inflatable balloon visible to the naked eye from the surface of the earth. Aware that Wernher von Braun, one of the German-born experts from Peenemuende, was interested, the physicist took counsel with him and his associates at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. Fifteen months later Grosse submitted to the Secretary of the Air Force a description of the "American Star" that could rise in the West. Presumably because the proposed satellite would be merely a show piece without other utility, nothing more was heard of it. 30
A series of articles in three issues of Collier's, however, commanded wide attention during 1952. Stirred by an account of the San Antonio symposium as Kaplan described it over the lunch table, the editors of the magazine engaged Wernher von Braun to write the principal pieces and obtained shorter contributions from Kaplan, Fred L. Whipple, chairman of the Harvard University Department of Astronomy, Heinz Haber of the Air Force Space Medicine Division, the journalist Willy Ley, and others. The editors' comment ran: "What are we waiting for?", an expression of alarm lest a communist nation preempt outer space before the United States acted and thereby control the earth from manned space platforms equipped with atomic bombs. On the other hand, von Braun's articles chiefly stressed the exciting discoveries possible within twenty-five years if America at once began building "cargo rockets" and a wheel-shaped earth-circling space station from which American rocket ships could depart to other planets and return. Perhaps because of severe editing to adapt material to popular consumption, the text contained little or no technical data on how these wonders were to be accomplished; the term "telemetry" nowhere appeared. But the articles, replete with illustrations in color, and a subsequent Walt Disney film fanned public interest and led to an change of letters between von Braun and S. Fred Singer, a brilliant young physicist at the University of Maryland. 31
At the fourth Congress of the International Astronautics Federation in Zurich, Switzerland, in summer 1953, Singer proposed a Minimum Orbital Unmanned Satellite of the Earth, MOUSE, based upon a study prepared two years earlier by members of the British Interplanetary Society who had predicated their scheme on the use of a V-2 rocket. The Upper Atmosphere Rocket Research Panel at White Sands in turn discussed the plan in April 1954, and in May Singer again presented his MOUSE proposal at the Hayden Planetarium's fourth Space Travel Symposium. On that occasion Harry Wexler of the United States Weather Bureau gave a lecture entitled, "Observing the Weather from a Satellite Vehicle." 32 The American public was thus being exposed to the concept of an artificial satellite as something more than science fiction.
By then, Commander George Hoover and Alexander Satin of the Air Branch of the Office of Naval Research had come to the conclusion that recent technological advances in rocketry had so improved the art that the feasibility of launching a satellite was no longer in serious doubt. Hoover therefore put out feelers to specialists of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency at Huntsville. There von Braun, having temporarily discarded his space platform as impractical, was giving thought to using the Redstone rocket to place a small satellite in orbit. Redstone, a direct descendant of the V-2, was, as one man described it, a huge piece of "boiler plate." sixty-nine feet long, seventy inches in diameter, and weighing 61,000 pounds, its power plant using liquid oxygen as oxidizer and an alcohol-water mixture as fuel. A new Redstone engine built by the Rocketdyne Division of North American Aviation, Inc., and tested in 1953 was thirty percent lighter and thirty-four percent more powerful than that of the V-2. 33 If Commander Hoover knew of the futile efforts of BuAer in 1947 to get Army Air Forces collaboration on a not wholly dissimilar space program, that earlier disappointment failed to discourage him. And as he had reason to believe he could now get Navy funds for a satellite project, he had no difficulty in enlisting von Braun's interest. At a meeting in Washington arranged by Frederick C. Durant, III, past president of the American Rocket Society, Hoover, Satin, von Braun, and David Young from Huntsville discussed possibilities with Durant, Singer. and Fred Whipple, the foremost American authority on tracking heavenly bodies. The consensus of the conferees ran that a slightly modified Redstone rocket with clusters of thirty-one Loki solid-propellant rockets for upper stages could put a five-pound satellite into orbit at a minimum altitude of 200 miles. Were that successful, a larger satellite equipped with instruments could follow soon afterward. Whipple's judgment that optical tracking would suffice to trace so small a satellite at a distance of 200 miles led the group to conclude that radio tracking would be needless. 34
Whipple then approached the National
Science Foundation begging it to finance a conference on the technical
gains to be expected from a satellite and from "the instrumentation
that should be designed well in advance of the advent of an active
satellite vehicle." The Foundation, he noted some months
later, was favorable to the idea but in 1954 took no action upon
Commander Hoover fared better. He took the proposal
to Admiral Frederick R. Furth of the Office of Naval Research
and with the admiral's approval then discussed the division of
labor with General H. T. Toftoy and von Braun at Redstone Arsenal.
The upshot was an agreement that the Army should design and construct
the booster system, the Navy take responsibility for the satellite,
tracking facilities, and the acquisition and analysis of data.
No one at ONR had consulted the Naval Research Laboratory about
the plan. In November 1954 a full description of the newly named
Project Orbiter was sent for critical examination and comment
to Emmanuel R. Piore, chief scientist of ONR, and to the government-owned
Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena which handled much of the
Army Ballistic Missile Agency's research. Before the end of the
year, the Office of Naval Research had let three contracts totaling
$60,000 for feasibility analyses or design of components for subsystems.
Called a "no-cost satellite," Orbiter was to be built
largely from existing hardware. 36
During the spring of 1953 the United
States National Committee drafted a statement which the International
Council later adopted, listing the fields of inquiry which IGY
programs should encompass-oceanographic phenomena, polar geography,
and seismology, for example, and, in the celestial area, such
matters as solar activity, sources of ionizing radiations, cosmic
rays, and their effects upon the atmosphere. 39
Army Ballistic Missile Agency, Huntsville, Alabama.
At this point it is necessary to examine the course scientific thought had been taking among physicists of the National Academy and American universities, for in the long run it was their recommendations that would most immediately affect governmental decisions about a satellite program. This phase of the story opens in spring 1950, at an informal gathering at James Van Allen's home in Silver Spring, Maryland. The group invited by Van Allen to meet with the eminent British geophysicist Sydney Chapman consisted of Lloyd Berkner, head of the new Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island, S. Fred Singer, J. Wallace Joyce, a geophysicist with the Navy BuAer and adviser to the Department of State, and Ernest H. Vestine of the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism of the Carnegie Institution. As they talked of how to obtain simultaneous measurements and observations of the earth and the upper atmosphere from a distance above the earth, Berkner suggested that perhaps staging another International Polar Year would be the best way. His companions immediately responded enthusiastically. Berkner and Chapman then developed the idea further and put it into form to present to the International Council of Scientific Unions. The first International Polar Year had established the precedent of international scientific cooperation in 1882 when scientists of a score of nations agreed to pool their efforts for a year in studying polar conditions. A second International Polar Year took place, in 1932. Berkner's proposal to shorten the interval to 25 years was timely because 1957-1958, astronomers knew, would be a period of maximum solar activity. 37 European scientists subscribed to the plan. In 1952 the International Council of Scientific Unions appointed a committee to make arrangements, extended the scope of the study to the whole earth, not just the polar regions, fixed the duration at eighteen months, and then renamed the undertaking the International Geophysical Year, shortened in popular speech to IGY. It eventually embraced sixty-seven nations. 38
In the International Council of Scientific Unions the National Academy of Sciences had always been the adhering body for the United States. The Council itself, generally called ICSU, was and is the headquarters unit of a nongovernmental international association of scientific groups such as the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics. the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics, the International Scientific Radio Union, and others. When plans were afoot for international scientific programs which needed governmental support, Americans of the National Academy naturally looked to the National Science Foundation for federal funds. Relations between the two organizations had always been cordial, the Foundation often turning for advice to the Academy and its secretariat, the National Research Council, and the Academy frequently seeking financing for projects from the Foundation. At the end of 1952 the Academy appointed a United States National Committee for the IGY headed by Joseph Kaplan to plan for American participation. The choice of Kaplan as chairman strengthened the position of men interested in the upper atmosphere and outer space.
During the spring of 1953 the United States National Committee drafted a statement which the International Council later adopted, listing the fields of inquiry which IGY programs should encompass-oceanographic phenomena, polar geography, and seismology, for example, and, in the celestial area, such matters as solar activity, sources of ionizing radiations, cosmic rays, and their effects upon the atmosphere. 39In the course of the year the Science Foundation granted $27,000 to the IGY committee for planning, but in December, when Hugh Odishaw left his post as assistant to the director of the Bureau of Standards to become secretary of the National Committee, it was still uncertain how much further support the government would give IGY programs. Foundation resources were limited. Although in August Congress had removed the $15,000,000 ceiling which the original act had placed on the Foundation's annual budget, the appropriation voted for FY 1954 had totaled only $8 million. In view of the Foundation's other commitments, that sum seemed unlikely to allow for extensive participation in the IGY. In January 1954 the National Committee asked for a total of $13 million. Scientists' hopes rose in March when President Eisenhower announced that, in contrast to the $100 million spent in 1940 on federal support of research and development, he was submitting a $2-billion research and development budget to Congress for FY 1955. Hope turned to gratification in June when Congress authorized for the IGY an over-all expenditure of $13 million as requested and in August voted for FY 1955 an appropriation of $2 million to the National Science Foundation for IGY preparations. 40
Thus reassured, the representatives from the National Academy set out in the late summer for Europe and the sessions of the International Scientific Radio Union, known as URSI, and the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics, IUGG. As yet none of the nations pledged to take part in the IGY had committed itself to definite projects. The U.S.S.R. had not joined at all, although Russian delegates attended the meetings. Before meetings opened, Lloyd V. Berkner, president of the Radio Union and vice president of Comité Spéciale de l'Année Géophysique Internationale (CSAGI) set up two small informal committees under the chairmanship of Fred Singer and Homes E. Newell, Jr., respectively, to consider the scientific utility of a satellite. The National Academy's earlier listing of IGY objectives had named problems requiring exploration but had not suggested specific means of solving them. For years physicists and geodesists had talked wistfully of observing the earth and its celestial environment from above the atmosphere. Now, Berkner concluded, was the time to examine the possibility of acting upon the idea. Singer was an enthusiast who inclined to brush aside technical obstacles. Having presented MOUSE the preceding year and shared in planning Project Orbiter, he was a persuasive proponent of an IGY satellite program. Newell of NRL was more conservative, but be too stressed to IUGG the benefits to be expected from a successful launching of an instrumented "bird," the theme that he incorporated in his later essay for the American Rocket Society. URSI and IUGG both passed resolutions favoring the scheme. But CSAGI still had to approve. And there were potential difficulties.
Hence on the eve of the CSAGI meeting in Rome, Berkner invited ten of his associates to his room at the Hotel Majestic to review the pros and cons, to make sure, as one man put it. that the proposal to CSAGI was not just a "pious resolution" such as Newton could have submitted to the Royal Society. The group included Joseph Kaplan, U.S. National Committee chairman, Hugh Odishaw, committee secretary, Athelstan Spilhaus, Dean of the University of Minnesota's Institute of Technology. Alan H. Shapley of the National Bureau of Standards, Harry Wexler of the Weather Bureau, Wallace Joyce, Newell, and Singer. The session lasted far into the night. Singer outlined the scientific and technical problem-the determination of orbits, the effects of launching errors, the probable life of the satellite, telemetering and satellite orientation, receiving stations, power supplies, and geophysical and astrophysical applications of data. Newell, better versed than some of the others in the technical difficulties to be overcome, pointed out that satellite batteries might bubble in the weightless environment of space, whereupon Spilhaus banged his fist and shouted: "Then we'll get batteries that won't!" Singer's presentation was exciting, but the question remained whether an artificial body of the limited size and weight a rocket could as yet put into orbit could carry enough reliable instrumentation to prove of sufficient scientific value to warrant the cost; money and effort poured into that project would not be available for other research, and to attempt to build a big satellite might be to invite defeat.
Both Berkner and Spilhaus spoke of the political and psychological prestige that would accrue to the nation that first launched a man-made satellite. As everyone present knew, A. N. Nesmeyanov of the Soviet Academy of Sciences had said in November 1953 that satellite launchings and moon shots were already feasible; and with Tsiolkovskiy's work now recognized by Western physicists, the Americans had reason to believe in Russian scientific and technological capabilities. In March 1954 Moscow Radio had exhorted Soviet youth to prepare for space exploration, and in April the Moscow Air Club had announced that studies in interplanetary flight were beginning. Very recently the U.S.S.R. had committed itself to IGY participation. While the American scientists in September 1954 did not discount the possible Russian challenge, some of them insisted that a satellite experiment must not assume such emphasis as to cripple or halt upper atmosphere research by means of sounding rockets. The latter was an established useful technique that could provide, as a satellite in orbit could not, measurements at a succession of altitudes in and above the upper atmosphere, measurements along the vertical instead of the horizontal plane. Nevertheless at the end of the six-hour session, the group unanimously agreed to urge CSAGI to endorse an IGY satellite project. 41
During the CSAGI meeting that followed,
the Soviet representatives listened to the discussion but neither
objected, volunteered comment, nor asked questions. On 4 October
CSAGI adopted the American proposal: "In view," stated
of the great importance of observations during extended periods of time of extra-terrestrial radiations and geophysical phenomena in the upper atmosphere, and in view of the advanced state of present rocket techniques, CSAGI recommends that thought be given to the launching of small satellite vehicles, to their scientific instrumentation, and to the new problems associated with satellite experiments, such as power supply, telemetering, and orientation of the vehicle. 42
What had long seemed to most of the American public as pure Jules Verne and Buck Rogers fantasy now had the formal backing of the world's most eminent scientists.
Thus by the time the United States
Committee for the IGY appointed a Feasibility Panel on Upper Atmosphere
Research, three separate, albeit interrelated, groups of Americans
were concerned with a possible earth satellite project: physicists,
geodesists, and astronomers intent on basic research; officers
of the three armed services looking for scientific means to military
ends; and industrial engineers, including members of the American
Rocket Society, who were eager to see an expanding role for their
companies. The three were by no means mutually exclusive. The
dedicated scientist, for instance, in keeping with Theodore von
Kármán's example as a founder and official of the
Aerojet General Corporation, might also be a shareholder in a
research-orientated electronics or aircraft company, just as the
industrialist might have a passionate interest in pure as well
as applied science, and the military man might share the intellectual
and practical interests of both the others. Certainly all three
wanted improvements in equipment for national defense. Still the
primary objective of each group differed from those of the other
two. These differences were to have subtle effects on Vanguard's
development. Although to some people the role of the National
Academy appeared to be that of a Johnny-come-lately, the impelling
force behind the satellite project nevertheless was the scientist
speaking through governmental and quasi-governmental bodies. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30598000 |
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) refers to the relationship of corporations with society as a whole, and the need for corporations to align their values with societal expectations in order to avoid conflict and reap tangible benefits. Multinational enterprises (MNEs) are an important part of the international economy. Through international direct investment, they bring substantial benefits to home and host countries in the form of productive capital, managerial and technological know-how, job creation and tax revenues. At the same time, public concerns remain about the social, economic and environmental impact of MNE activities on the societies in which they operate.
These concerns have led to a proliferation of initiatives at the company, industry, national and global levels, including the development of codes of conduct, monitoring and reporting initiatives, and social labelling schemes covering a broad range of issues, including labour standards. Among these are three key multilateral initiatives aimed at encouraging corporations to make a positive contribution to economic and social progress, and to minimize and resolve the difficulties to which their operations may give rise.
The ILO's Tripartite Declaration of Principles Concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy is the universal basic reference point for social responsibility in the world of work. It sets out principles, developed through tripartite dialogue, in the fields of employment, training, working conditions, and industrial relations. The effect given by governments, employers and workers' organizations and multinational enterprises (MNEs) to the principles of the Declaration is monitored through a periodic survey. The ILO has also produced a useful Guide to the Tripartite Declaration that offers practical suggestions on building relationships in global markets among business, government and labour that balance the goals of profitability, the protection of workers' rights and socio-economic development.
The OECD's Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises (PDF 1.75 MB) are recommendations from governments to multinational enterprises. They set out voluntary principles and standards for responsible business conduct, consistent with domestic and international laws, in areas such as human rights, information disclosure, employment and industrial relations, environmental stewardship, combating bribery, consumer rights, science and technology, competition and taxation. Countries adhering to the Guidelines are required to set up a National Contact Point (NCP) that is responsible for promoting the Guidelines and contributing to the resolution of issues that arise in relation to the implementation of the Guidelines in specific cases. NCPs are expected to operate in accordance with the core criteria of visibility, accessibility, transparency and accountability.
The Labour Program participates in Canada's National Contact Point, an interdepartmental committee comprising representatives from a number of federal government departments. The Committee is responsible for:
More information is available in the brochure Canada and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.
Another key multilateral initiative supporting corporate social responsibility was launched by the Secretary-General of the United Nations at the 1999 World Economic Forum in Davos. The United Nations Global Compact comprises ten principles derived from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 1998 ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, the Rio Declaration of the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development and the United Nations Convention Against Corruption. The ten principles address human rights, labour standards, environment and anti-corruption. The International Chamber of Commerce supports the initiative.
For more information on Canadian initiatives in support of Corporate Social Responsibility, visit the Department of International Trade website. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30599000 |
Cultural World Heritage Sites in Hungary
Hungary is a country very rich in what one would call natural and cultural wonders. The country lies in the Carpathian Basin, a region with favorable climate. It is partly due to this that from the dawn of civilization many peoples choose to area for a place to settle. All these peoples, migratory or settled have left some mark on the land and have left memories for us, their followers to know that they were here. I believe that the UNESCO world heritage sights below are some of these marks, left by our forefathers to remember them and honor their memory even if we do not quite know who they were and what they did.
Banks of the Danube and Buda Castle Quarter in Budapest
On the Western side of the Danube river on the hilltop stands the Buda Fortress with the Royal Castle within. Inside the hill you can find a labyrinth while on the surface centuries old architectural and cultural memories were preserved. The labyrinth of the Castle Hill was made by the nature and used as storage room, hiding place or fleeing path. It can only be visited with a guide as one can easily get lost in the complex tunnel systems. Above the tunnels the baroque castle also offers an amazing lookout to the whole city. The surrounding area is an amazing walking spot with the old houses and gates built in different periods of history from the Medieval Era with various influences from Turkish to Habsburg.
The Andrássy Avenue and the Heroes’ Square in Budapest
Both the Avenue and Square were designed and built at the turn of the 20th century. The Avenue fringed with trees is a set of imposing buildings, many of them currently serves as embassies of foreign countries. The rest of this iconic boulevard is made up or villas, universities and some notable places such as the famous House of Terror Museum or the Hungarian State Opera House. The Heroes’ Square commemorates the one thousandth anniversary of the arrival of the seven Hungarian tribes to the Carpathian Basin. It features the statues of the seven leaders of the tribes in the middle and the statues of other notable figures of the Hungarian history. On the two sides of the Square you can find the Palace f Arts and the Museum of Fine Arts. It is grand and beautiful, something you must see while in the city!
The Early Christian Necropolis in Pécs
In the 4th century AD the city of Sopianae, now called Pécs gave home to an extended Old Christian community. The tombs, burial chambers and memorial chapels they built in their cemetery are extremely well preserved and can only be compared to the ones found in Italy. The walls are decorated with colored murals depicting Biblical and other christian themes. Partly underground, partly on the surface, these buildings – apart from being breathtaking – give you a better understanding of the life and faith of the late-Roman age’s people. To be there is like traveling back in time.
Benedictine Abbey of Pannonhalma
The first Benedictine monks arrived to Hungary in 996 AD to convert the Hungarians to Christianity. They have first built a chapel and then founded the country’s first school and library and other buildings. They have also started the now extensive wine production that now also marks the area. The monastery is beautiful, some of the buildings were founded a thousand years ago and the surrounding forest and the botanical garden are also worthy of a visit. Try the local wine and take a tour in the monastery that features different architectural styles from Gothic to Classicist.
Hope this article of cultural world heritage sites in Hungary made you want to visit the country even more. There are a lot of hidden gems in this small Central European state that more and more tourists seem to notice on the map every year. Trust UNESCO and be one of the visitors to uncover the magical places of this small country. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30601000 |
In Moscow, drivers reported an average delay of two-and-a-half hours when asked to report the length of the worst traffic jam they experienced in the past three years. But they’re not alone.
Cities everywhere are battling an increase in demand and an inability to build sufficient infrastructure to cope. For example, in the U.S., as population grew nearly 20% between 1982 and 2001, traffic jumped 236%.
The recent IBM Commuter Pain Study (US) paints a grim picture of metropolitan-area commuters in many cities struggling to get to and from work each day, often with negative consequences. For example, 57 percent of all respondents say that roadway traffic has negatively affected their health, but that percentage soars to 96 percent in New Delhi and 95 percent in Beijing.
IBM Commuter Pain Index
IBM compiled the results of the survey into an Index that ranks the emotional and economic toll of commuting in each city on a scale of one to 100 ― with 100 being the most onerous. The Index reveals a tremendous disparity in the pain of the daily commute from city to city. For example, the commute in Beijing is four times more painful than the commute in Los Angeles or New York, and seven times more painful than the commute in Stockholm, according to the Index.
Here’s how the cities stack up:
The survey was conducted to better understand consumer thinking toward traffic congestion as the issue reaches crisis proportions nationwide and higher levels of auto emissions stir environmental concerns. These events are impacting communities around the world, where governments, citizens and private sector organizations are looking beyond traditional remedies like additional roads and greater access to public transportation to reverse the negative impacts of increased road congestion.
Improving mobility for the 21st century
IBM Chairman Samuel J. Palmisano addresses members of the Intelligent Transportation Society of America about the opportunities for a smarter transportation system.
Traffic systems are part of a larger system
Rethinking how we get from point A to point B means applying new technology and new policies to old assumptions and habits. It means improving the drivers' experience, not just where and when they drive. And it could lead to advances in the cars we drive, the roads we drive them on, and the public transit we might take instead.
For example, seeing a city's traffic in a consolidated, real-time view can help anticipate problems, alleviate congestion and decrease emergency-response times. IBM Intelligent Transportation (US), a compliment to the Intelligent Operations Center for Smarter Cities, enables advanced analysis of the many factors that make up traffic flow, and gives planners and responders a comprehensive look at the state of their city's roadways on ground level. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30607000 |
Science may have the solution: a chemical "hydrogel" coating made from chitosan, derived from the shells of crabs and shrimp. Chitosan is already sprayed on lots of other fruits and vegetables to kill bacteria and keep produce fresh. And on Wednesday, Xihong Li of Tianjin University presented data at a meeting of the American Chemical Society showing that it can work to delay banana ripening -- bad news for fruit flies, good news for you.
"We found that by spraying green bananas with a chitosan aerogel, we can keep bananas fresh for up to 12 days," Li said in a statement Wednesday. "Such a coating could be used at home by consumers, in supermarkets or during shipment of bananas."
Like other fruits, bananas don't die when they're picked. They respire through their skin, taking in oxygen and expelling carbon dioxide. Increased respiration means quicker ripening. The chitosan coating used by Li and his colleagues slowed down respiration enough to keep the fruit fresh.
Bananas also release a compound called ethylene, which encourages ripening. So leaving a bunch of bananas in a bag will trap a lot of ethylene gas in there, which makes them ripen faster. Other fruits and vegetables produce ethylene too, so keeping your banana in the same bowl as a bunch of apples will hasten its progress toward gooey oblivion.
Chitosan, with its seafood origin, could possibly pose problems for strict vegetarians and vegans, but it wouldn't be the first food additive that flew under the radar. Shellac, which you might primarily think of as something to polish furniture, is also applied to apples to replace natural waxes lost during the cleaning process. It's also made from a resin secreted by the female lac bug. Starbucks caught flak from its crunchier customers after it was revealed that the coffee giant was using crushed beetle shells to color its strawberry frappuccinos.
Still, if you're not squeamish about animal products, chitosan could be a good way to keep good bananas from going bad. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-30609000 |
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