we want it to be ) in our daily lives. every experience that broadens our sensitivity, mirrors living truth for us. in modern thought the interconnectedness of everything is becoming quite clear. h. p. blavatsky actually went one step further : she saw everything as one living being, one life. the theory of gaia shows this on the level of the earth, but for blavatsky it ' s true of the whole universe. breath is used as an image of that oneness. radha ' s second lecture dealt with a very central theme : growing in wisdom. in this lecture she repeated a theme that threads through her watchtower pieces in the theosophist as well : humanity grows in knowledge, but not in wisdom. the knowledge that has been developed over the past two centuries leads to destruction because there is no knowledge on what is right in the long run. it is relatively easy to develop knowledge. it is very hard to find out what right action is. we don ' t realise enough that in hurting someone else, we hurt ourselves. wisdom leads to a peaceful, sensitive world. knowledge leads to pride and this can only be challenged by becoming aware of the limitations of knowledge. otherwise knowledge leads to a feeling of separateness. on the other hand it is necessary to learn to think independently and become aware to what extent we are all influenced by others. an example she gave is that the simple life is no longer seen as ideal. everybody wants to live as is portrayed on television. in all her lectures this week radha reminded us that our personal problems need to come second. growth in wisdom means growth in altruism and that means forgetting self. our personal problems and our joys are both temporary. we make them bigger than they are. why is suffering such a large problem? the ts was founded to fight prejudice. prejudice hinders an insight into real problems and can only be dissolved by a feeling of connectedness with all human beings. our altruism needs to become universal. the buddha said : it ' s better to give a little lovingly, than to give a lot without love. it was very impressive to hear the report of theosophists living near the area where katrina hit. there were slides as accompanying there very personal report. the most important insight i got from that was that storms are normal for the people in this region. normally people do not leave in case of a storm. despite that fact, and this has not been stressed enough, this was the most successful evacuation in history


most important insight i got from that was that storms are normal for the people in this region. normally people do not leave in case of a storm. despite that fact, and this has not been stressed enough, this was the most successful evacuation in history. around 90 - 95 % of the people in the new orleans region were evacuated. we were told that criminals always stay behind so they can loot. this is part of the pattern. because this storm did so much more damage than most other storms, everything got bigger than usual. john algeo spoke about the most holy mission of theosophy. he started by saying that blavatsky in her final five years on earth, had left a legacy of five : these three letters were the backbone to johns two lectures. they give direction to theosophical work in the world. blavatsky ' s last years were tough, but john stressed that out of disaster, blessings often come. disasters mix things up. tibetan buddhism would never have spread to the west as it has, if china hadn ' t invaded tibet. in her 1891 letter, blavatsky mainly spoke of living theosophy, not the teachings. in her first letter she stressed the aim of the theosophical society to unite people of all nations and altruism. organisations are important, but they can ' t created holiness, health or wholeness. we have to become fully human, that is what the word master signifies : to master ourselves. there can only be harmony in organisations, if opposites are balanced, not through wiping out differences. in his second lecture he returned to the theme of unifying people of all nations. he also pointed out that every wise administration knows that things can ' t be forced. no rule can open the heart - mind of people. no group is safe from fundamentalism. theosophists too run this risk, though in real theosophy there can be no dogmas, because it is based on real insight and rational thinking. real theosophy reflects divine reason, the reason of buddhi. john closed with blavatsky ' s words in the last letter to the american conventions : to be theosophists, live theosophy. in her next lecture radha talked about growing in love. love is our true being, that aspect of ourselves which is one with every other. love is beyond words, it ' s part of universal life. it is necessary to feel affection for kids and animals. continually looking for security, that wish


love. love is our true being, that aspect of ourselves which is one with every other. love is beyond words, it ' s part of universal life. it is necessary to feel affection for kids and animals. continually looking for security, that wish masks a desire for love. our world is dark, there is little friendship, little love. how do we remove the barriers that separate us from our essential nature : love? to this practical question, radha ' s answer is to be more sensitive. we have to feel as others feel, without identifying with their pain. you can ' t help others by going along with their pain, but you have to know what it is. right action requires going beyond social custom and convention and being really sensitive. this sensitivity doesn ' t hinder our happiness. our real nature isn ' t just love, it ' s also bliss. but we need to become conscious of other people. unkind thoughts hurt others, and ultimately ourselves. they are like a hungry wolf that eats up our best tendencies. annie besant said that if we can ' t see god in others, we must be the worst possible atheists. the problem with gossip is that it is superficial. we have to learn to look under the surface, without judgment of any kind. the habit to criticize strengthens the ego. be a missionary of love and generosity. be prepared to give of yourself. don ' t just do what is necessary, but actively contribute to the welfare of people in conversation. every tendency of personality has to disappear. that way of looking teaches us to overcome pettiness. the first step is the last step, because the direction in which we move is of primary importance. radha ' s final lecture was called ' purification through action '. real wisdom is in seeing action in non - action and non - action in action. the central question she asked : what is right action? each of us has to decide that for ourselves. keep in mind that our energy impacts the world, not just our actions. everything is interconnected. that ' s why abstaining from action isn ' t the same thing as freedom from action. when actions create problems, it ' s not right action. right action is necessary, but we have to avoid identifying with it. in everything you do, ask yourself if there is egoism involved. the tricky part is that even that thought is in a way selfish. we need an inner balance that is independent of success or failure. success and failure are part of the ups and downs of


you do, ask yourself if there is egoism involved. the tricky part is that even that thought is in a way selfish. we need an inner balance that is independent of success or failure. success and failure are part of the ups and downs of life, but we don ' t have to inwardly get involved in that. the risk of accomplishment is that one starts thinking : i can do this. that feeling can get in the way of right action. the problem with selfish action is that even if the short - term result seems good, it ' s never permanent. radha closed with one of krishnamurti ' s insights : actions that are a product of the past, don ' t work. action only works if it ' s the consequence of right insight. this lecture was very insightful, but i missed one aspect that the title does suggest : that sometimes insight follows unselfish action. right action can help clean the personality. one has to start somewhere. the final session was a question and answer round with radha burnier, joy mills and john algeo. the questions had come in through the internet and from the discussion groups. what follows is a selection. can muslims become members of the theosophical society? yes, we have muslim members in indonesia, india and pakistan. radha stressed that muslim women aren ' t forced to stay at home in all countries. in many countries they are free. why do people ignore the middle path? the middle path is hard, said radha, people prefer it easy. it ' s hard to overcome the tendency to overdo things. a question was asked about loving yourself. joy mills answered that it is important to look at yourself objectively. observe yourself, it is unnecessary to become emotional or judgmental about yourself. loving yourself means accepting what is, and resolving to change. radha asks what it means to love yourself. can you love your shadow? reality is, it doesn ' t need to be loved. as this summary shows, the lectures were very interesting and deep. i really enjoyed myself and met some very good people.


math is all about problem solving. one of the best ways to help children learn math is to present them with a problem in which they have to devise their own strategies to find the solution ( s ). there is usually more than 1 way to solve math problems and children need the opportunity to discover shortcuts and their own algorithms to determine the appropriate solution, they should also justify their solution ( s ). the following math word problems are specific for children in the sixth grade and are divided into the main math cagegories : number concepts, patterns and algebra, geometry and measurement, data management and probability. children should be involved in problem solving activities every day. problems for second grade students should be read to them. students should also be able to describe why their solutions work or how they know it ' s the right solution. my favorite question to children is ' how do you know '. when they have to explain how they arrived at their answer, you immediately know the learning that has taken place. patterns and algebra kelly ' s classroom organized an e - pal club. 11 people joined the club. each of of them sent an email to each of the members of the club. how many emails were actually sent? how do you know? ticket sales for the bake sale were underway. four people bought tickets on the first day of sales, twice as many people bought tickets on the second day and each day afterwards twice as many people bought tickets. how many tickets were sold after 16 days? data management and probability pet parade : mr. james has 14 cats, dogs and guinea pigs. what are all the combinations he could have? how many different types of pizza can you make with the following toppings : pepperoni, tomatoes, bacon, onions and green peppers? show your answer. sam bought 8 ball caps, one for each of her eight friends, for $ 8. 95 each. the cashier charged her an additional $ 12. 07 in sales tax. she left the store with a measely $ 6. 28. how much money did sam start with? geometry and measurement. watch your favorite television show from beginning to end. time each of the commercials and determine the percentage of commercial time for the entire show. now determine the percentage of time the actual show is. what is the fraction of commercials? two squares are beside each other. one square has 6 times the lenght of the other square, how many times greater is the area of the larger square? how do you know?


playing with equations to solve problems date : 09 / 16 / 2003 at 10 : 48 : 13 from : mara subject : to state the geometric property of an equation i need to give the geometric property common to all lines in the family x - ky = 1 i know that the answer is that all lines in this family have an x - intercept at x = 1 but i am totally clueless about showing why this is the case. at first i thought that using the double - intercept equation ( x / a ) + ( y / b ) = 1 would work but i couldn ' t get it in the correct form. then i tried to solve for x and y and got x = 1 + ky and y = ( - 1 / k ) + ( - x / k ) but now i do not know what to do with this. so i was wondering if you knew how to go about solving this? date : 09 / 16 / 2003 at 12 : 28 : 52 from : doctor peterson subject : re : to state the geometric property of an equation hi, mara. i don ' t think there is any method you can use to solve this sort of problem without a lot of thinking and testing. let ' s see how i personally would approach it ( as well as i can construct it, considering that i know the answer already! ). then i ' ll look at some alternative approaches you might take. we have x - ky = 1 and we want to know what property all these lines have in common. probably, since this is an open - ended question and i don ' t expect it to be straightforward, i would start by just " playing " with the equation, getting a feel for how it works by trying a few special cases. i might take k = 0, 1, and - 1 and graph those three lines, x = 1 x - y = 1 x + y = 1 i would find that they all intersect at ( 1, 0 ), and my answer would be that all the lines seem to contain that point. ( in a sense this is a more purely " geometric " property than the x - intercept, since it does not refer to the coordinates. ) then i would want to prove that this is true for all k, to make sure i hadn ' t fooled myself by choosing three cases that happened to intersect. thinking of this as a point shared by all lines in the family, i would prove it by simply substituting x = 1, y = 0 in the general equation : x - ky = 1 1


myself by choosing three cases that happened to intersect. thinking of this as a point shared by all lines in the family, i would prove it by simply substituting x = 1, y = 0 in the general equation : x - ky = 1 1 - k * 0 = 1 is true for all k so ( 1, 0 ) is indeed on all the lines, not just the three i tried. or, i might think of it as a common x - intercept, as you said ; then i would do what you suggested and put the equation into two - intercept form x / a + y / b = 1 that ' s easy ; all it takes is to interpret - ky as y divided by - 1 / k : x / 1 + y / ( - 1 / k ) = 1 so the x - intercept is 1 for all these lines, and the y - intercept is - 1 / k. so my approach is to experiment ( the more adult word for " play "! ) and make a conjecture ( the more adult word for " guess " ), and then prove that conjecture. now, is there any other way you might approach this? if you were really smart ( and i might possibly have done this if i were faced with the equation afresh ), you could just see that the equation looks like the two - intercept form, and gone directly to the proof. if you could do that, fine ; but you can ' t depend on such insight! you might instead just go through each form of the equation, starting probably with slope - intercept, and see whether any important feature ( such as the slope or y - intercept ) is constant. when that failed, it would be hard to move on to the point - slope or two - point form, because you would have to choose the point ( s ), and there is no obvious basis for that choice. so you would probably next try the two - intercept form ( which many studuents never see, so you ' re lucky ). your approach came close. when you solved for x, you just had to look and see that the x - intercept ( the constant in that form ) is always 1. but since that form, the slope - x - intercept form, is little - known, it ' s not surprising that you did not know what to do with it. but i really think that my approach is the most reasonable hope to find the answer quickly. if you have any further questions, feel free to write back. - doctor peterson, the math forum


the physics help forum not working today, at least not from my isp, so this goes here. it ' s basically a math deal anyway : the formula to calculate the force of a point of mass, let ' s call them planets, that results from its being gravitationally attracted by another point of mass is newton ' s : where is the force of the planet that results from the gravitational attraction exerted upon it by the other planet, is newton ' s gravity constant, and are the respecive masses of the planets, and d is the distance between them. for simplicity ' s sake let ' s say all the planets considered are of the same mass, so we can write instead of. now, if i ' m not mistaken, the formula for calculating the force of a planet resulting from the gravitational attraction of more than two planets is : where is the force on the jth planet resulting from the gravitational attraction of the other planets, and is the distance between the jth planet and the kth planet. my question is " where is the vector addition? " that is, when considering the force on one planet that results from the gravitational attraction of many other planets, we have to take into account not only the distance of the other planets from planet j but also their position with respect to it ( right? ). take for example the simple case of three planets in the same plane. planet j is at the origin. planet k is one unit to the right of j on the x axis, while planet l is one unit up the y axis. if the masses all equal 1, then, by the formula above, the force on planet j would be : but is a function of both the distance and the position, right? so we must consider not only the gravitational forces individually exerted upon j by k and l, but also the angle at which these forces are exerted. that is, we must add the vectors. to add vectors you just plug in the x value and y value sums of the added vectors into pythagoras ' formula. the force on planet j should therefore be : ( where is the angle subtended by a line drawn from planet j to planet x. i. e. and ) so, what am i missing here? i am fully aware that i, and not newton, am missing something here. someone please help point this out for me.


09, 2008 | not rated yet | 0 - epo doping helps combat cerebral malaria apr 21, 2011 | not rated yet | 0 - motion perception revisited : high phi effect challenges established motion perception assumptions apr 23, 2013 | 3 / 5 ( 2 ) | 2 - anything you can do i can do better : neuromolecular foundations of the superiority illusion ( update ) apr 02, 2013 | 4. 5 / 5 ( 11 ) | 5 - the visual system as economist : neural resource allocation in visual adaptation mar 30, 2013 | 5 / 5 ( 2 ) | 9 - separate lives : neuronal and organismal lifespans decoupled mar 27, 2013 | 4. 9 / 5 ( 8 ) | 0 - sizing things up : the evolutionary neurobiology of scale invariance feb 28, 2013 | 4. 8 / 5 ( 10 ) | 14 pressure - volume curve : elastic recoil pressure don ' t make sense may 18, 2013 from pressure - volume curve of the lung and chest wall ( attached photo ), i don ' t understand why would the elastic recoil pressure of the lung is... if you became brain - dead, would you want them to pull the plug? may 17, 2013 i ' d want the rest of me to stay alive. sure it ' s a lousy way to live but it beats being all - the - way dead. maybe if i make it 20 years they ' ll... mri bill question may 15, 2013 dear pfers, the hospital gave us a $ 12k bill for one mri ( head with contrast ). the people i talked to at the hospital tell me that they do not... ratio of hydrogen of oxygen in dessicated animal protein may 13, 2013 as an experiment, for the past few months i ' ve been consuming at least one portion of jell - o or unflavored knox gelatin per day. i ' m 64, in very... alcohol and acetaminophen may 13, 2013 edit : sorry for the typo in the title, can ' t edit i looked around on google quite a bit and it ' s very hard to find precise information on the... marie curie ' s leukemia may 13, 2013 does anyone know what might be the cause of marie curie ' s cancer - more from physics forums - medical sciences more news stories a new report suggests that improved health care and significant reductions in drug costs might be attained by breaking up the age - old relationship between physicians


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. cancer 11 hours ago | not rated yet | 0 | intensity - modulated radiation therapy has become the most commonly used type of radiation in prostate cancer, but research from the university of north carolina suggests that the therapy may not be more effective than older,... cancer 13 hours ago | not rated yet | 0 new research suggests that a compound abundant in the mediterranean diet takes away cancer cells ' " superpower " to escape death. by altering a very specific step in gene regulation, this compound essentially re - educates cancer... cancer 14 hours ago | 4. 8 / 5 ( 12 ) | 2 | ( healthday ) — for young adults needing either a chest or abdominopelvic computed tomography ( ct ), the short - term risk of death from underlying morbidity is greater than the long - term risk of radiation - induced... cancer 15 hours ago | not rated yet | 0 in a new study described in the journal oncogene, researchers reveal how a key player in cell growth, immunity and the inflammatory response can be transformed into a primary contributor to tumor growth. cancer 20 hours ago | not rated yet | 0 | a nobel prize - winning scientist tuesday played down " shock - horror scenarios " that a new virus strain will emerge with the potential to kill millions of people. 42 minutes ago | 5 / 5 ( 1 ) | 0 no new human cases of the h7n9 virus have been recorded in china for a week, national health authorities said, for the first time since the outbreak began in march. 24 minutes ago | not rated yet | 0 johns hopkins researchers say they have discovered specific chemical alterations in two genes that, when present during pregnancy, reliably predict whether a woman will develop postpartum depression. 1 hour ago | not rated yet | 0 | ( medical xpress ) — a research team, led by jeremy barr, a biology post - doctoral fellow, unveils a new immune system that protects humans and animals from infection. 11 hours ago | 4. 6 / 5 ( 13 ) | 5 | children who have suffered maltreatment are 36 % more likely to be obese in adulthood compared to non - maltreated children, according to a new study by king ' s college london. the authors estimate that the prevention or effective... 1 hour ago | not rated yet | 0 early - life exposure to traffic - related air pollution was significantly associated with higher hyperactivity scores at age 7, according to new research from the university of


decoupled mar 27, 2013 | 4. 9 / 5 ( 8 ) | 0 - sizing things up : the evolutionary neurobiology of scale invariance feb 28, 2013 | 4. 8 / 5 ( 10 ) | 14 classical and quantum mechanics via lie algebras apr 15, 2011 i ' d like to open a discussion thread for version 2 of the draft of my book ' ' classical and quantum mechanics via lie algebras ' ', available online at http : / / lanl. arxiv. org / abs / 0810. 1019, and for the... - more from physics forums - independent research more news stories no new human cases of the h7n9 virus have been recorded in china for a week, national health authorities said, for the first time since the outbreak began in march. diseases, conditions, syndromes 33 minutes ago | not rated yet | 0 a nobel prize - winning scientist tuesday played down " shock - horror scenarios " that a new virus strain will emerge with the potential to kill millions of people. diseases, conditions, syndromes 51 minutes ago | 5 / 5 ( 1 ) | 0 bacteria resistant to the antibiotic colistin are also commonly resistant to antimicrobial substances made by the human body, according to a study in mbio, the online open - access journal of the american society for microb... diseases, conditions, syndromes 5 hours ago | 5 / 5 ( 1 ) | 0 ( ap ) — federal investigators probing the hantavirus outbreak blamed for three deaths at yosemite national park recommend that design changes to tent cabins and other lodging run by private concessionaires first be reviewed... diseases, conditions, syndromes 11 hours ago | not rated yet | 0 a new diagnostic test for a worm infection that can lead to severe enlargement and deformities of the legs and genitals is far more sensitive than the currently used test, according to results of a field... diseases, conditions, syndromes 12 hours ago | not rated yet | 0 | ( medical xpress ) — a three - year multinational study has tracked and detailed the progression of huntington ' s disease ( hd ), predicting clinical decline in people carrying the hd gene more than 10 years before... 44 seconds ago | not rated yet | 0 1 hour ago | not rated yet | 0 | ( medical xpress ) — a research team, led by jeremy barr, a biology post - doctoral fellow, unveils a new


news tagged with renewable energy related topics : energy, wind turbines, electricity, solar panels, fossil fuels renewable energy is energy generated from natural resources — such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat — which are renewable ( naturally replenished ). in 2006, about 18 % of global final energy consumption came from renewables, with 13 % coming from traditional biomass, such as wood - burning. hydroelectricity was the next largest renewable source, providing 3 % of global energy consumption and 15 % of global electricity generation. wind power is growing at the rate of 30 percent annually, with a worldwide installed capacity of 121, 000 megawatts ( mw ) in 2008, and is widely used in european countries and the united states. the annual manufacturing output of the photovoltaics industry reached 6, 900 mw in 2008, and photovoltaic ( pv ) power stations are popular in germany and spain. solar thermal power stations operate in the usa and spain, and the largest of these is the 354 mw segs power plant in the mojave desert. the world ' s largest geothermal power installation is the geysers in california, with a rated capacity of 750 mw. brazil has one of the largest renewable energy programs in the world, involving production of ethanol fuel from sugar cane, and ethanol now provides 18 percent of the country ' s automotive fuel. ethanol fuel is also widely available in the usa. while most renewable energy projects and production is large - scale, renewable technologies are also suited to small off - grid applications, sometimes in rural and remote areas, where energy is often crucial in human development. kenya has the world ' s highest household solar ownership rate with roughly 30, 000 small ( 20 – 100 watt ) solar power systems sold per year. some renewable energy technologies are criticised for being intermittent or unsightly, yet the renewable energy market continues to grow. climate change concerns coupled with high oil prices, peak oil and increasing government support are driving increasing renewable energy legislation, incentives and commercialization. new government spending, regulation, and policies should help the industry weather the 2009 economic crisis better than many other sectors. this text uses material from wikipedia and is available under the gnu free documentation license.


a machine for turning, that is, for shaping articles of wood, metal, or other material, by causing them to revolve while acted upon by a cutting tool. basically, a machine that fashions work by making the work turn on an axis. the cutting is done by a tool that is not rotating. on wood lathes the wood usually turns between the headstock and the tailstock. the turner holds the tool by hand and moves it to cut various shapes on the wood. on metal lathes the work ( whatever material is being fashioned ) turns and the tool is held rigid whilst the operator moves the tool using hand wheels. lathes are very versatile, come in a myriad of styles, and many contradict the above definitions. wood can be cut in any metal lathe and soft metals can usually be cut on wood lathes. a machine that is used for working metals and plastics by rotating about the horizontal axis against a tool that shapes it. a machine that spins timber, this makes it unique as all other power tools move whilst the timber remains static. a lathes is a machine which holds a piece of wood or metal between two centers and turns it so the work can be shaped by hand - held " turning chisels. " foot operated or hand cranked. a machine designed to center a piece of wood on an axis : as it turns, the woodturner can cut into the wood to create symmetrical objects. a machine that hold a piece of metal or wood and turns it rapidly against a cutting tool for shaping finally, he used a lathe to shape the wooden bowl. a machine on which logs are peeled to yield veneer for plywood. machine tool for shaping metal or wood ; the workpiece turns about a horizontal axis against a fixed tool a common tool used in machining a machine for changing the shape of a piece of wood, metal, etc a machine for use in working metal or wood which holds the material and rotates it against a tool that shapes it a machine in which a piece of wood is rotated around a fixed axis while being shaped by a fixed tool a machine that cuts away small amounts of the comm to restore it to a trued state a machine that holds the wood on a rapidly spinning axis a machine that rotates a piece of wood to create a uniform circular design when the wood is cut with a chisel a machine that turns metal, wood, etc a machine tool for shaping metal or other material a machine tool, specifically designed to help in the a machine tool that generates


of wood to create a uniform circular design when the wood is cut with a chisel a machine that turns metal, wood, etc a machine tool for shaping metal or other material a machine tool, specifically designed to help in the a machine tool that generates circular sections by rotating the job around an axis and cutting it with a tool a machine tool that removes unwanted material from a cylindrical work piece by rotating it against a cutting tool a machine tool used to produce mechanical parts with cylindrical features a machine used for shaping parts a machine used for turning wood, metal and other materials by rotating the article against tools which cut it to shape a machine used to turn rounded objects a marvelous tool an ancient tool that was used by the egyptians, greeks, romans, and other ancient and medieval peoples an object created by revolving a spline curve, which determines the contour of the shape, around an axis a power tool that spins the wheel around and slowly shapes it until all the sides are the same a tool for making round things a tool used to create objects with cylindrical symmetry such as table legs a very easy to make primitive tool a machine for shaping a piece of wood, metal, etc. by holding and turning it rapidly against the edge of the cutting tool. a tool, usually free standing, for turning a piece while tools are held against it. typically several feet long and about a foot wide. different lathes are used for wood or metal ( or glass ) pieces. a lathe commonly has a headstock that grips the piece and has gears and a motor drive for turning the piece and a tailstock that guides the other end of long pieces. most lathes allow working a piece held only at the headstock, as for making bowl shaped pieces. the tailstock is normally mounted on rails ( the bed ) so it can be moved accurately to different distances while remaining centered on the headstock. a wood lathe will have a tool rest to help guide the handheld tools along the piece while a metal lathe will have a solid tool holder with screw adjustments to withstand the increased force. glass lathes are used to join medium and large diameter tubing for scientific glass work, keeping two tubes aligned as heat is applied all around the joint. rev. 2003 - 02 - 27 a lathe is used for turning materials like wood and bone when they are being worked. a machine tool by which work is rotated on a horizontal axis and shaped or cut by a fixed tool. a machine which derives its usefulness by rotating stock against which tooling may be brought to bear. springs


and bone when they are being worked. a machine tool by which work is rotated on a horizontal axis and shaped or cut by a fixed tool. a machine which derives its usefulness by rotating stock against which tooling may be brought to bear. springs are often wound on a lathe. power tool, which is used to turn wood or metal objects so that cutting tools may shape it while it, rotates. machine for shaping turned parts by the application of cutting edges against the revolving wood. a lathe is a machine tool which spins a block of material to perform various operations such as cutting, sanding, knurling, drilling, or deformation with tools that are applied to the workpiece to create an object which has symmetry about an axis of rotation. in 3 d computer graphics, a lathed object is a 3d model whose vertex geometry is produced by rotating the points of a spline or other point set around a fixed axis. the lathing may be partial ; the amount of rotation is not necessarily a full 360 degrees. the point set providing the initial source data can be thought of as a cross section through the object. a metal lathe is generic description for a rigid machine tool designed to remove material from a workpiece, through the action of a cutting tool. they were originally designed to machine metals however with the advent of plastics and other materials, and with their inherent versatility, they are used in a wide range of applications, and a broad range of materials.


by vaudine england bbc news, hong kong a study by doctors in hong kong has concluded that epilepsy can be induced by the chinese tile game of mahjong. the study said the syndrome affects more men than women the findings, published in the hong kong medical journal, were based on 23 cases of people who suffered mahjong - induced seizures. the report ' s four authors, from hong kong ' s queen mary hospital, said the best prevention - and cure - was to avoid playing mahjong. the study led the doctors to define mahjong epilepsy as a unique syndrome. epileptic seizures can be provoked by a wide variety of triggers, but one cause increasingly evident to researchers is the playing - or even watching - of mahjong. this chinese tile game, played by four people round a table, can involve gambling and quickly becomes compulsive. the game, which is intensely social and sometimes played in crowded mahjong parlours, involves the rapid movement of tiles in marathon sessions. the doctors conclude that the syndrome affects far more men than women ; that their average age is 54 ; and that it can hit sufferers anywhere between one to 11 hours into a mahjong game. they say the attacks were not just caused by sleep deprivation or gambling stress. mahjong is cognitively demanding, drawing on memory, fast calculations, concentration, reasoning and sequencing. the distinctive design of mahjong tiles, and the sound of the tiles crashing onto the table, may contribute to the syndrome. the propensity of chinese people to play mahjong also deserves further study, the doctors say. what is certain though, is that the only sure way to avoid mahjong epilepsy, is to avoid mahjong, which for many people is easier said than done.


assessing the effectiveness of a model program they developed, dartmouth medical school researchers dr. w. carl cooley, adjunct associate professor in pediatrics, and jeanne mcallister, research associate in pediatrics, review the experience of four practices in vermont and new hampshire who used their program to identify and implement changes to improve the care they deliver to children with special health care needs. the concept of community - based " medical homes " places where care is managed through coordination of clinicians, educators, therapists, healthcare professionals, and caregivers has been advocated by national health policy makers and the american academy of pediatrics as the best model for providing systematic yet individualized care to children with complex conditions and multiple needs. still, the changes required for a practice to become an effective medical home can be difficult to make. " introducing change into a busy pediatric practice is like trying to repair a bicycle while riding it, " the authors write. " even the most motivated practice finds change difficult to implement. many primary care providers believe that implementing the medical home concept is the right thing to do but question how they can do so and remain solvent. " to make the process easier, the authors developed a medical home improvement tool kit that allows practices to look at key functions of the medical home, assess their own operation, and identify the steps and strategies they will follow to become a medical ho contact : andy nordhoff dartmouth medical school


this is outstanding, but how does the cerebrospinal fluid stop the brain receiving harmful pathogens in the same way that the blood would? any answers welcome, i ' m just interested! image courtesy j. iliff and m. nedergaard, aaas green tracer molecules drift through cerebrospinal fluid crowding around a blood vessel. image courtesy j. iliff and m. nedergaard, aaas published august 16, 2012 talk about brainwashing — a newfound plumbing system, identified in mice, likely helps the brain empty its waste, a new study says. because mouse biology is similar to ours, the same findings should apply to people too, experts say. thanks to a blood - brain barrier — a natural wall that protects the brain tissue — the organ never touches blood, thus protecting it from microbes, viruses, and other pathogens. to get nutrients to brain tissue and remove its waste, the brain makes a liquid called cerebrospinal fluid. but exactly how the fluid removes gunk generated by brain cells wasn ' t certain until now. watch a video explaining the newfound plumbing system. experiments in the 1950s and ' 60s hinted that diffusion — the passive method by which, say, food coloring spreads out in a glass of water — moved cerebrospinal fluid around the brain. yet this process is too slow to explain the brain ' s lightning - fast activity and immaculate cleanliness. it turns out that, while studying brain tissue, the researchers in the 1950s and ' 60s unwittingly turned off the plumbing that washes the tissue. " the idea of a cleaning system based on pressure has been around for a long time, but if you open the skull anywhere, like a hydraulic pump, it stops. they thought [ the cleaning system ] didn ' t exist, " said study leader maiken nedergaard, a neuroscientist at the university of rochester medical center. the pump system is " on the order of a thousand times faster than diffusion, " she said. " i ' m surprised that no one had discovered this until now. " brain under pressure nedergaard and her colleagues dubbed the newfound plumbing the glymphatic system, after neural tissue called glial cells, which power the flow of cerebrospinal fluid. glial cells do this by growing their " feet " around vessels and veins that carry blood, forming a sort of pipe around a pipe. tiny pores in this outer pipe then suck nutrient - rich


flow of cerebrospinal fluid. glial cells do this by growing their " feet " around vessels and veins that carry blood, forming a sort of pipe around a pipe. tiny pores in this outer pipe then suck nutrient - rich cerebrospinal fluid from the blood vessels into channels dense with nerve cells, and pores at other locations pump the fluid out. the process simultaneously carries away the brain ' s waste while feeding its cells. nedergaard and her team used a special two - photon microscope, whose infrared light allows a deep, clear look into living brain tissue without harming it. " these microscopes are revolutionizing neuroscience, and they ' ve only become commercially available in the past five or six years, " nedergaard said. studying living mouse brains required opening their skulls. yet unlike in previous experiments, the researchers sealed each hole with a tiny glass plate, keeping the fluid pressure while providing a window for the microscope. fluorescent dyes injected into the mouse brains then allowed the team to record movies of the cerebrospinal fluid moving through brain tissue. " the fact we could look at it and make a movie was very important to showing the flow, " nedergaard said. ( see brain pictures. ) brain study makes scientist ' s " heart sing " clinical neuroscientist bruce ransom, who studies glial cells but was not involved in the study, said the work makes his " heart sing. " " it wasn ' t impossible to imagine that cerebrospinal fluid moves with enough force to be a garbage - disposal system, but that was always speculative, " said ransom, of the university of washington in seattle. " this team, however, has done something very clever to find this system : demonstrate how it works and show it can vigorously wash away waste. " now that the plumbing has been found, study leader nedergaard and her colleagues are exploring its implications. a big one may be in its role in alzheimer ' s disease, which is thought to arise when brain cells are killed by the accumulation of a protein waste called beta - amyloid. " next we need to move beyond mice, " nedergaard said. " we need to see if this same system exists in humans — which i suspect it does. " the study of the brain ' s plumbing system was published in the journal science translational medicine. these six scientists were snubbed for awards or robbed of credit for discoveries … because they were women. sweden needs garbage to maintain its energy


glasses - free 3d is something available on just a handful of tvs, which manage it only through complicated hardware, and at no small cost. still, the effect is pretty smooth and no more tiresome for the eyes than glasses - assisted technology, from what we ' ve been able to gather. there is one more accomplishment that tech experts are looking for : holographic television, which offers a different perspective at the action, depending on the angle from which one beholds the tv. researchers from the massachusetts institute of technology ( mit ) claim to have created something of the sort. called tensor display, it uses several layers of liquid crystal displays ( lcds ) with a refresh rate of 360 hz per second. the technique is different from the one used in nintendo ' s 3ds, which has two layers of lcd screens ( the bottom for light and dark bands and the top for the two slightly offset images ). the problem with this old method ( a century old really ) is that the only way so far known for creating multiple perspectives would rely on complicated hardware and algorithms. hundreds of perspectives would have to be produced in order to suit a moving viewer, and that means that too much info has to be displayed at once. every frame of the stereo - 3d video would need the screen to flicker 10 times, each with a different pattern. thus, a convincing stereo - 3d illusion would need a 1, 000 hz refresh rate. mit ' s tensor display lowers that requirement by using a higher number of lcds, although it does bring another problem : the pattern calculation becomes more complex. fortunately, the researcher had a convenient factor to exploit : not all aspects of a scene change with the viewing angle. this reduced the amount of information that needed to be sent to the lcd screens. the end result was a panel that produces stereo - 3d images based on calculations similar to those behind ct, x - ray and computed tomography, of all things ( they produce 3d images of internal organs ). the media lab researchers will demo a tensor display prototype at siggraph 2012 ( 5 - 9 august ), made of three lcd panels. a second model will have two lcds with a sheet of lenses between them ( refract light left and right ), primarily for wider viewing angles ( 50 degrees rather than 20 ). practical and commercial applications should appear soon, or at least sooner than any alternatives. “ holography works, it ’ s beautiful, nothing can touch its quality. the problem, of course, is that holograms don


a group of teachers were keen to embed rich tasks from the nrich website http : / / nrich. maths. org into their curriculum for all ks3 and ks4 students. in this article, the teachers share the issues they needed to consider and what they are doing to address them. the catalysts for change were our desire to : these changes took some of us, and our colleagues, out of our comfort zone as we adapted the way in which we worked in our classrooms and tried out different roles for ourselves and our we needed to take into account the different needs of individual teachers in our schools and their students as they began to use in order to improve both teachers ' and students ' abilities to work on the rich tasks, it was necessary to take account of, and find ways of supporting : the challenges involved in learning mathematics through rich the use of a range of lesson structures the use of effective questioning to promote thinking in what follows, we have identified some problems from the nrich website, closely linked to the curriculum, which are ideal for use by schools wishing to introduce rich tasks. the aim is to be able to predict the area of any tilted what areas are possible? what areas are impossible? is there a connection between the " tilt " and the area of a what observations, thoughts and conclusions can you offer? the nrich website offers teachers ' notes to many problems. these include suggestions for how the problems might be used in the briefly, introduce the environment with an interactive whiteboard ( iwb ), or drawing diagrams on the board. ask students to work in pairs to find one or more ways to calculate the exact area of the square displayed on the board. obtain suggestions, with students coming to the board to demonstrate their methods, until the group seem confident with both techniques i. e. ' boxing in ' and dissection. then pose the questions give them five minutes to work on their own / in pairs to think about, and make some brief notes on how they will start working on the problem and why they think such an approach would be share ideas about strategies as a whole group. they will need to find ways of breaking the problem down working systematically and keeping track of their data. it may be useful to stop the group and share " good ideas " as work progresses. the aim is to mediate the problem by encouraging systematic approaches. as conjectures emerge ask learners to write them on a poster / the board and ensure they have convincing arguments or proofs to hand that can justify them. encourage students to


work progresses. the aim is to mediate the problem by encouraging systematic approaches. as conjectures emerge ask learners to write them on a poster / the board and ensure they have convincing arguments or proofs to hand that can justify them. encourage students to find clear concise vocabulary to express their rules, and to express how certain they are about them ( e. g. probable pattern / result from choose four consecutive whole numbers, for example, 4, 5, 6 multiply the first and last numbers together. multiply the middle pair together. choose different sets of four consecutive whole numbers and do what do you notice? choose five consecutive whole numbers, for example, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7. multiply the second and fourth numbers together. choose different sets of five consecutive whole numbers and do what do you notice now? what happens when you take 6, 7, 8, '? ¦ n consecutive whole numbers and compare the product of the first and last numbers with the product of the second and penultimate numbers? explain your findings. establish that the group knows the meaning of ' consecutive ' - consecutive days, consecutive letters in the alphabet... choose four consecutive numbers and tell your students that you will multiply the outer ones and the inner ones. ask students to pick their own sets of four consecutive numbers and do the same. record all the results on the board. what do they notice? will this always happen? even with consecutive negative how could we explain it? encourage algebraic and geometric much of what will follow will depend on the arithmetical and algebraic confidence of the group. use the extension and support remarks below to indicate the best way to use this resource beyond the questions in the problem. this problem only operated on the end numbers and the ' end but one ' numbers. could you make a more general statement and justify if you have an odd number of consecutive numbers, what ' s the difference between the product of the end numbers and the square of the middle number? this problem could also be approached purely numerically, as an exercise in developing fluency with multiplication tables while looking for pattern and structure. a multiplication grid could be used for recording results, with the pair products highlighted according to how many consecutive numbers were being used. visualisation through blocks of dots or rectangle areas may help students explain why their pattern must work in every case. imagine you have a large supply of 3kg and 8kg weights. four 3kg weights and one 8kg weight have an average weight of how many of each weight would


help students explain why their pattern must work in every case. imagine you have a large supply of 3kg and 8kg weights. four 3kg weights and one 8kg weight have an average weight of how many of each weight would you need for the average ( mean ) of the weights to be 6kg? if you had other combinations of the 3kg and 8kg weights, what other whole number averages could you make? what ' s the smallest? what ' s the largest? can you make all the whole number values in between? what if you have a different pair of weights ( for example 2kg what averages can you now make? try other different pairs of weights. do you notice anything about your results? do they have anything in common? can you use what you notice to find, for example, the combination of 17kg and 57kg weights that have an average of 44kg...... of 52kg....... of 21kg.....? explain an efficient way of doing this. can you explain why your method works? given the original 3kg and 8kg weights, can you find combinations that produce averages of 4. 5kg... of 7. 5kg... of 4. 2kg... of 6. 9kg...? convince yourself that all averages between 3kg and 8kg are possible. what averages are possible if you are allowed a negative number of 3kg and 8kg weights? you may initially wish to restrict the weights used to those which have a difference of 2kg, then 3kg, then 4kg, etc. in order to model working systematically, and to make the pattern of results some students may find multilink cubes useful to support their here are two examples of students work on searching for this is a game for two players. you will need a 100 square which you can download or you can use the first player chooses a positive even number that is less than 50, and crosses it out on the grid. the second player chooses a number to cross out. the number must be a factor or multiple of the first number. players continue to take it in turns to cross out numbers, at each stage choosing a number that is a factor or multiple of the number just crossed out by the other player. the first person who is unable to cross out a number loses. switch the challenge


continue to take it in turns to cross out numbers, at each stage choosing a number that is a factor or multiple of the number just crossed out by the other player. the first person who is unable to cross out a number loses. switch the challenge from winning the game to covering as many numbers as possible. pupils can again work in pairs trying to find the longest sequence of numbers that can be crossed out. can more than half the numbers be crossed out? this challenge could run for an extended period : the longest sequence can be displayed on a noticeboard and pupils can be challenged to improve on it ; any improved sequences can be added to ask pupils to explain why their choice of numbers is good. a semi - regular tessellation has two properties : can you find all the semi - regular tessellations? can you show that you have found them all? to help you when you are working away from the computer, multiple copies of the different polygons are available to print and cut out. ask students to suggest shapes that could fit round a point. test out their suggestions. record what works and what doesn ' t. e. g. 1 pentagon, 2 squares and 1 triangle don ' t fit round a why do some fit and some don ' t? could you tell in advance, without using the interactivity? elicit from students the idea that the interior angles of regular polygons are a crucial factor in determining whether the regular polygons will fit together or not. before moving on to the computers ask students to work on paper finding combinations of regular polygons that will fit round a point. this may encourage students to work systematically when using the interactivity provided. resources are provided at the end of the problem to support students working away from the challenge students to find all the possible semi - regular tessellations and to provide convincing evidence that they have got the complete set. each school worked in different ways. here are examples of what some of the schools did : this is what the schools said about how their practice has this article is the result of the collaborative work of : susanne mallett, steve wren, mark dawes and colleagues from comberton village college amy blinco, brett haines and colleagues from gable hall school jenny everton, ellen morgan and colleagues from longsands community craig barton, debbie breen, geraldine ellison and colleagues from the range school danny burgess, jim stavrou and colleagues from sawston village catherine carre and fran watson and colleagues from sharnbrook david cherry, chris hawkins and


oct. 13, 2010 - - the idiom “ a dog ’ s life ” suggests that pooches have it made when it comes to happiness, but new research indicates that the emotional states of dogs can be as varied as the moods of their owners. dogs can see their food bowls as half empty rather than half full, just as human pessimists see a glass of water as half empty instead of half full. british researchers who tested separation reactions of dogs say they found that some dogs are more likely than others to become depressed and anxious when left alone, causing them to bark, scratch at doors, chew on furniture, and generally misbehave. on the other hand, optimistic dogs are more likely to behave better and become more relaxed when left alone. mike mendl, phd, head of animal welfare and behavioral research at the university of bristol, and colleagues, studied 24 dogs, males and females, that had been sent to two animal centers. each dog was tested beforehand for separation anxiety - related behaviors. a researcher played with each dog in an isolated room for 20 minutes. the next day the dogs were taken back to their rooms and left alone for five minutes while video cameras recorded their behavior. some of the dogs barked, jumped on furniture, and scratched at the door, but the “ optimistic ” ones did not - - or didn ’ t do it as much. to study optimistic or pessimistic tendencies, the dogs were trained so that when a bowl was placed at one location in a room, it contained food, but when put somewhere else, it didn ’ t. then the bowls were placed at ambiguous locations between the positive and negative positions. “ dogs that ran fast to these ambiguous locations as if expecting the positive food reward were classed as making relatively ‘ optimistic ’ decisions, ” mendl says in a news release. " interestingly, these dogs tended to be the ones who also showed least anxiety - like behavior when left alone for a short time. ” he says about half of dogs may at some point engage in behaviors related to separation anxiety, such as barking, scratching, or tearing things up when separated from owners. “ our study suggests that dogs showing these types of behavior also appear to make more pessimistic judgments generally, ” he says. “ we all have a tendency to think that our pets and other animals experience emotions similar to our own, but we have no way of knowing directly because emotions are essentially private, ” he says. “ however, we can use findings from human psychology research to develop


thursday, september 1st, 1859, 11 : 18am : thirty three year - old richard carringto, widely acknowledged to be one of england ' s foremost solar astronomer, was in his well - appointed private observatory. just as usual on every sunny day, his telescope was projecting an 11 - inch - wide image of the sun on a screen, and carrington skillfully drew the sunspots he saw. on that morning, he was capturing the likeness of an enormous group of sunspots. suddenly, before his eyes, two brilliant beads of blinding white light appeared over the sunspots, intensified rapidly, and became kidney - shaped. realizing that he was witnessing something unprecedented and " being somewhat flurried by the surprise, " carrington later wrote, " i hastily ran to call someone to witness the exhibition with me. on returning within 60 seconds, i was mortified to find that it was already much changed and enfeebled. " he and his witness watched the white spots contract to mere pinpoints and disappear. friday, september 2nd, 1859 : just before dawn the next day, skies all over planet earth erupted in red, green, and purple auroras so brilliant that newspapers could be read as easily as in daylight. indeed, stunning auroras pulsated even at near tropical latitudes over cuba, the bahamas, jamaica, el salvador, and hawaii. even more disconcerting, telegraph systems worldwide went haywire. spark discharges shocked telegraph operators and set the telegraph paper on fire. even when telegraphers disconnected the batteries powering the lines, aurora - induced electric currents in the wires still allowed messages to be transmitted. [ click the following images for better reading. ] monthly notices of the royal astronomical society forecasting the impact of an 1859 - calibre superstorm on satellite resources the 1859 solar – terrestrial disturbance and the current limits of extreme space weather activity may be read online. space radiation hazards and the vision for space exploration : report of a workshop


acrophobia is defined as a fear of heights. unlike a specific phobia like aerophobia - - fear of flying - - and other specific phobias, acrophobia can cause a person to fear a variety of things related to being far from the ground. depending on the phobia ' s severity, an acrophobic person may equally fear being on a high floor of a building or simply climbing a ladder. acrophobia and related conditions true vertigo is a medical condition that causes a sensation of spinning and dizziness. illyngophobia is a phobia in which the fear of developing vertigo can actually lead to vertigo - like symptoms. acrophobia can induce similar feelings, but the three conditions are not the same. see a doctor for tests if you experience vertigo symptoms. medical tests may include bloodwork, ct scans and mris, which can rule out a variety of neurological conditions. bathmophobia, or the fear of slopes and stairs, is sometimes related to acrophobia. in bathmophobia, you may panic when viewing a steep slope, even if you have no need to climb the slope. although many people with bathmophobia have acrophobia, most acrophobia sufferers do not also experience bathmophobia. climacophobia is related to bathmophobia, except that the fear generally occurs only when contemplating making a climb. if you suffer from climacophobia, you are probably not afraid to see a steep set of stairs as long as you can remain safely at the bottom. however, climacophobia may occur in tandem with acrophobia. aerophobia is the specific fear of flying. depending on the severity of your fear, you may be afraid of airports and airplanes, or may only feel the fear when in the air. aerophobia may occasionally occur alongside acrophobia. symptoms of acrophobia if you experience acrophobia, you may never experience vertigo symptoms. instead, you may feel a sense of panic when at height. you may instinctively begin to search for something to cling to. you may find that you are unable to trust your own sense of balance. common reactions include descending immediately, crawling on all fours and kneeling or otherwise lowering the body. emotionally and physically, the response to acrophobia is similar to the response to any other phobia. you may begin to shake, sweat, experience heart palpitations and even cry or yell out. you may feel terrified and


. behavioral techniques that expose the sufferer to the feared situation either gradually ( systematic desensitization ) or rapidly ( flooding ) are frequently used. in addition, the client is taught ways of stopping the panic reaction and regaining emotional control. traditionally, actual exposure to heights is the most common solution. however, several research studies performed since 2001 have shown that virtual reality may be just as effective. a major advantage of virtual reality treatment is the savings in both cost and time, as there is no need for " on - location " therapist accompaniment. this method is not yet readily available, but may be worth trying to find if you can. the drug d - cycloserine has been in clinical trials for anxiety disorder treatment since 2008. it appears that using the medication in tandem with cognitive - behavioral therapy may improve results, but the research remains preliminary at this time. acrophobia appears to be rooted in an evolutionary safety mechanism. nonetheless, it represents an extreme variation on a normal caution, and can become quite life - limiting for sufferers. it can also be dangerous for those who experience a full panic reaction while at a significant height. acrophobia can share certain symptoms with vertigo, a medical disorder with a variety of possible causes, as well as with other specific phobias. for these reasons, if you experience the signs of acrophobia, it is extremely important to seek professional help as soon as possible. sources : gibson, e. j., & walk, r. d. " the ' visual cliff '. " scientific american. 1960. 202, 67 - 71. may 5, 2008. retrieved from http : / / www. wadsworth. com / psychology _ d / templates / student _ resources / 0155060678 _ rathus / ps / ps05. html emmelkamp, paul, bruynzeel, mary, drost, leonie, van der mast, charles. " virtual reality treatment in acrophobia : a comparison with exposure in vivo " cyberpsychology & behavior. june 1, 2001, 4 ( 3 ) : 335 - 339. may 5, 2008.


with the worlds energy needs growing rapidly, can zero - carbon energy options be scaled up enough to make a significant difference? how much of a dent can these alternatives make in the worlds total energy usage over the next half - century? as the mit energy initiative approaches its fifth anniversary next month, this five - part series takes a broad view of the likely scalable energy candidates. of all the zero - carbon energy sources available, wind power is the only one thats truly cost - competitive today : a 2006 report by the u. s. energy information administration put the total cost for wind - produced electricity at an average of $ 55. 80 per megawatt - hour, compared to $ 53. 10 for coal, $ 52. 50 for natural gas and $ 59. 30 for nuclear power. as a result, wind turbines are being deployed rapidly in many parts of the united states and around the world. and because of winds proven record and its immediate and widespread availability, its an energy source thats seen as having the potential to grow very rapidly. wind is probably one of the most significant renewable energy sources, simply because the technology is mature, says paul sclavounos, an mit professor of mechanical engineering and naval architecture. there is no technological risk. globally, 2 percent of electricity now comes from wind, and in some places the rate is much higher : denmark, the present world leader, gets more than 19 percent of its electricity from wind, and is aiming to boost that number to 50 percent. some experts estimate wind power could account for 10 to 20 percent of world electricity generation over the next few decades. taking a longer - term view, a widely cited 2005 study by researchers at stanford university projected that wind, if fully harnessed worldwide, could theoretically meet the worlds present energy needs five times over. and a 2010 study by the national renewable energy laboratory found that the united states could get more than 12 times its current electricity consumption from wind alone. but impressive as these figures may sound, wind power still has a long way to go before it becomes a significant factor in reducing carbon emissions. the potential is there with abundant wind available for harvesting both on land and, especially, over the oceans but harnessing that power efficiently will require enormous investments in manufacturing and installation. so far, installed wind power has the capacity to generate only about 0. 2 terawatts ( trillions of watts ) of energy worldwide a number that pales in comparison to an average world demand of 14 terawatts, expected to double by 2050. the


over an intercom. but the plan of the study was to provoke the students into anger, which the experimenters did using a technique which has been used many times in similar studies. the experimenter interrupted the study participants several times to ask them to speak louder into the intercom, finally saying “ look, this is the third time i have to say this! can ’ t you follow directions? speak louder! ” after this part of the experiment, the participants were told they would be participating in a task examining the effects of music on creativity and feelings. the students were told to go back to the anagram task and “ see the scene in your mind ’ s eye. ” they were put into three groups, each of which were asked to view the scene in different ways. some students were told to adopt a self - immersed perspective ( “ see the situation unfold through your eyes as if it were happening to you all over again ” ) and then analyze their feelings surrounding the event. others were told to use the self - distancing perspective ( “ move away from the situation to a point where you can now watch the event unfold from a distance and watch the situation unfold as if it were happening to the distant you all over again ” ) and then analyze their feelings. the third control group was not told how to view the scene or analyze their feelings. each group was told to replay the scene in their minds for 45 seconds. then the researchers tested the participants for aggressive thoughts and angry feelings. results showed that students who used the self - distancing perspective had fewer aggressive thoughts and felt less angry than both those who used the self - immersed approach and those in the control group. “ the self - distancing approach helped people regulate their angry feelings and also reduced their aggressive thoughts, ” mischkowski said. in a second study, the researchers went further and showed that self - distancing can actually make people less aggressive when they ’ ve been provoked. in this study, 95 college students were told they were going to do an anagram task, similar to the one in the previous experiment. but in this case, they were told they were going to be working with an unseen student partner, rather than one of researchers ( in reality, it actually was one of the researchers ). in this case, the supposed partner was the one who delivered the scathing comments about following directions. as in the first study, the participants were then randomly assigned to analyze their feelings surrounding the task from a self - immersed or a self


researchers ). in this case, the supposed partner was the one who delivered the scathing comments about following directions. as in the first study, the participants were then randomly assigned to analyze their feelings surrounding the task from a self - immersed or a self - distanced perspective. participants assigned to a third control group did not receive any instructions regarding how to view the scene or focus on their feelings. next, the participants were told they would be competing against the same partner who had provoked them earlier in a reaction - time task. the winner of the task would get the opportunity to blast the loser with noise through headphones – and the winner chose the intensity and length of the noise blast. investigators discovered participants who used the self - distancing perspective to think about their partners ’ provocations showed lower levels of aggression than those in the other two groups. that is, their noise blasts against their partner tended to be shorter and less intense. “ these participants were tested very shortly after they had been provoked by their partner, ” mischkowski said. “ the fact that those who used self - distancing showed lower levels of aggression shows that this technique can work in the heat of the moment, when the anger is still fresh. ” of interest is the discovery that those who used the self - distancing approach showed less aggression than those in the control group, who were not told how to view the anger - inducing incident with their partner. this suggests people may naturally use a self - immersing perspective when confronted with a provocation – a perspective that is not likely to reduce anger. thus, the tendency to immerse oneself in a problem ( anger ) to work through the situation, may backfire and make an individual more aggressive. a better technique to use when angry is distraction – thinking of something calming to take the mind off the anger. however, even this technique is only a short - term strategy. mischkowski believes the research clearly shows that self - distancing is the best method to mitigate anger. “ but self - distancing really works, even right after a provocation – it is a powerful intervention tool that anyone can use when they ’ re angry. ” source : ohio state university


people who struggle to find enough food to eat are poor. the world bank ’ s poverty line is an income of less than $ 1. 25 a day. financial times readers, who spend more than that amount on their morning newspaper, are in no position to dispute that judgment. in the past two decades, economic growth in china and india has reduced global poverty by an unprecedented amount. that achievement is not diminished because some individuals in both these countries have become very rich. fundamentally, poverty is about absolute deprivation. kay observes that there is also a relative definition of poverty : under the definition that i have proposed on this blog for wealth, poverty would simply be an absence of wealth, or a deficit of valued outcomes. the median income is the level that equal numbers of people are above and below, so that a rise in sir martin sorrell ’ s bonus does not lead anyone into poverty – that would confuse poverty and inequality. but the choice of median income as a reference level has a wider significance. it encapsulates the idea that in a rich society, poverty is an enforced inability to participate in the everyday activities of that society. you might therefore be poor if you lack access to antibiotics or facebook, even though in this respect you are no worse off than the sun king or john d. rockefeller, and in other respects considerably better off than most people in the world. however, to define poverty as social exclusion takes the definition far away from the assessment of income. it is not hard to imagine places in which few, if any, people experience a sense of exclusion. these might include both sophisticated societies with high incomes per head – towns in scandinavia – and simple cultures without access to modern essentials – rural villages in the developing world. poverty becomes a cultural and political phenomenon rather than an economic one. but once we define poverty in terms of outcomes beyond simple incomes as measured in currency units, we have indeed entered the territory of culture and politics, and ultimately, what constitutes a life worth living. just as gdp doesn ' t measure all that matters when it comes to wealth, i am deeply skeptical of efforts to define multi - dimensional metrics of " poverty " that integrate different valued outcomes. statistics are indeed important inputs to policy, and i prefer mine simple and transparent. so let ' s leave poverty defined in terms of absolute income, as defined by the world bank and others. if we care about obesity, lack of access to antibiotics or even facebook - - all perfectly legitimate valued outcomes - - then let ' s track these outcomes on their merits and


introduction to how colorblindness works roses are red, violets are blue - - well, bluish. the sky is blue, too. grass is green. these are things that most of us know for a fact and don ' t question. but what if you were colorblind? what would you see? is life one long black - and - white movie? in " the wizard of oz, " dorothy gale steps out of her black - and - white kansas farmhouse and into the color - saturated land of oz. she moves from a humdrum existence of chores and troubles to an intense fantasyland peopled with curious creatures, trading in a clapboard house for yellow brick roads, red ruby slippers and a brilliant green city of emeralds. what would her transformation have been without this rainbow of colors? color isn ' t just a component of vision. we associate color with beauty, like in a gorgeous sunset. some colors have meaning in and of themselves - - purple is for royals, red signifies passion. colors seep into our expressions - - if we ' re depressed, we say we ' re feeling blue. we ' re also " green with envy, " we " see red " and we might go " white with fear. " colors even have practical meaning - - red means stop, green means go. certain colors are said to help you sleep, while others make you hungry. and never underestimate the effect of a bright red dress. color is important. in this article, we ' re going to learn what the world looks like for someone who ' s colorblind.


you have to break a few ( hundred ) eggs to make a good crystal space science news home you have to break a few ( hundred ) eggs to make a good crystal bell curve shape to crystal quality may point to best candidates for flight sept. 20, 1999 : did you ever ask the teacher to grade a tough test " on the curve "? what you were asking was that the grades be adjusted so that a " c " fell under the part of the curve where most of your classmates had scored. a few were to the left and got a d or f ; and few were to the right and got a b or an a. right : to the crystallographer, this may not be a diamond but it ' s just as priceless. a lysozyme crystal grown in orbit looks great under a microscope, but the real test is x - ray crystallography. the colors are caused by polarizing filters. links to 549x379 - pixel, 69kb jpg. credit : nasa / marshall. that ' s basically how the bell curve works. in nature, objects and events quite often can be grouped along a bell curve. in a population of adult animals, most will be around the same size. a few will be larger and a few will be smaller. " if you talk to statisticians, " noted dr. russell judge of the university of alabama in huntsville, " variations within populations in nature can be described in terms of distributions. " december 3 : mars polar lander nears touchdown december 2 : what next, leonids? november 30 : polar lander mission overview november 30 : learning how to make a clean sweep in space the question now is whether scientists can use the microgravity of space to shift the curve to the right to grow the large, nearly perfect crystals they need for molecular lock - picking, the first step in designing drugs that can treat a broad range of diseases and disorders. " we want to determine how the growth of crystals effect their quality, " judge said in may when nasa selected his investigation for development, " and then take that into space to see how microgravity is enhancing the growth characteristics that lead to good crystals. from this we want to develop techniques, so that by observing crystal growth on the ground, we can predict which proteins are likely to benefit the most from microgravity crystallization. " sign up for our express science news delivery these functions are a result not just of a chemical formula, but of structure which can be quite large ( on


, we can predict which proteins are likely to benefit the most from microgravity crystallization. " sign up for our express science news delivery these functions are a result not just of a chemical formula, but of structure which can be quite large ( on the atomic scale ) and fragile. if the shape isn ' t right, the protein cannot match up with other proteins or chemicals to do its job, just as the wrong key won ' t unlock a door. sickle cell anemia, for example, results from structural differences in the hemoglobin that carries oxygen in red blood cells. designing new treatments means designing altered proteins or other chemicals that act as a skeleton key or as a sophisticated lock pick. proteins can form crystals, generated by rows and columns of molecules that form up like soldiers on a parade ground. shining x - rays through a crystal will produce a pattern of dots that can be decoded to reveal the arrangement of the atoms in the molecules making up the crystal. like the troops in formation, uniformity and order are everything in x - ray crystallography. x - rays have much sorter wavelengths than visible light, so the best looking crystals under the microscope won ' t necessarily pass muster under x - rays. left : judge ( left ) and dr. edward snell, a national research council fellow working at nasa / marshall, inspect the sample holder in the x - ray crystallography unit. links to 600x616 - pixel, 188kb jpg, or click here for a 1207x1240 - pixel, 543kb jpg. credit : nasa / marshall. this has become an invaluable tool for understanding the structure and the function of dozens of proteins. but many proteins remain shrouded in mystery because on earth crystal imperfections are introduced by fluid flows and the settling of the crystals to the bottom of the container. this leaves internal defects that distort or blur the view of the structure. " in order to have crystals to use for x - ray diffraction studies, " judge said, " you need them to be fairly large and well ordered. " scientists also need lots of crystals since exposure to air, the process of x - raying them, and other factors destroy the crystals. getting just one perfect specimen isn ' t enough. dozens may be needed, and the quality might not be known until well into the analysis. research has heavy implications. july 1998. crystal - clear view of insulin should lead to improved therapies for diabetics growing


specimen isn ' t enough. dozens may be needed, and the quality might not be known until well into the analysis. research has heavy implications. july 1998. crystal - clear view of insulin should lead to improved therapies for diabetics growing protein crystals in the microgravity of space has yielded striking results, such as determining to a fine resolution how certain molecules of insulin join so scientists can improve injectable insulin needed by diabetics. there have also been disappointments when crystals in other experiments did not grow as expected. since the 1970s, scientists have used a variety of approaches in trying to determine what leads to the growth of a large, perfect crystal. judge tried a different approach that built on results noted by researchers dating as far back as 1946. he and his team looked at the effects of concentration, temperature, and ph ( acid vs. base ) on the growth of lysozyme, a common protein in chicken egg white. lysozyme ' s structure is well known and it has become a standard in many crystallization studies on earth and in space. although lysozyme has an atomic mass of 14, 300 daltons - almost 92 times that of the ordinary sugar that many of us crystallized in elementary school science - it ' s a relative lightweight in the protein world. to exclude impurities often found in commercial lysozyme preparations, judge and his team purified lysozyme extracted from eggs obtained from a local egg farm. while one experiment run required only five dozen eggs, the full series of experiment consumed about 200 eggs. judge and his team grew the crystals in trays with small plastic wells filled with solutions containing a trace of salt to help stimulate crystal growth. temperatures ranged from 4 to 18 deg c ( 39 - 64 deg f ) and ph from 4. 0 to 5. 2 ( slightly acidic ; pure water theoretically has a ph of 7 ). judge also varied the driving force behind the crystal growth process, called supersaturation, by varying the initial concentration of protein. protein concentration must be set above a critical limit, the solubility, in order to form crystals ( below this concentrations the protein stays dissolved and never forms crystals ) left : a bell curve for lysozyme crystals produced in judge ' s experiments, and a possible shift in the curve that microgravity experiments might produce. links to 660x440 - pixel, 39kb jpg. credit : nasa / marshall. the tough part was examining each of the over 2000 wells and


experiments, and a possible shift in the curve that microgravity experiments might produce. links to 660x440 - pixel, 39kb jpg. credit : nasa / marshall. the tough part was examining each of the over 2000 wells and counting the crystals. it turned out that the solution ph had the largest effect on the growth of the crystals, possibly due to changes in charges on the surface of the molecules. when solution conditions had been optimized to give a small number of large crystals, a sample of 50 crystals was withdrawn for x - ray diffraction analysis. judge hoped that when the ideal conditions were found and then applied to subsequent batches, he would be able to grow consistently large, high quality crystals of lysozyme. the expectation was that with ideal conditions, quality crystals could be cranked out as if in a factory. instead, nature put him on the curve. " some variation is occurring there, " judge said, " but we haven ' t quite pinpointed the cause. " judge got a bell curve when he measured the x - ray clarity, properly called the signal - to - noise ratio ( a radio with static has a low signal - to - noise ratio ). a graph of the number of crystals versus the signal - to - noise ratio forms a bell curve, albeit slightly skewed to one side. right : distribution of diffraction characteristics - essentially a measure of quality - for a batch of crystals approximates a bell curve. links to 875x637 - pixel, 66kb jpg. credit : nasa / marshall. " the distribution is saying a very few crystals form perfectly in solution, " he continued, " and a small number are really poor. the majority of crystals are in - between. " it ' s doubly puzzling because the crystals were grown from the same batch of lysozyme that was poured into 120 wells in the experiment tray and crystallized under the same conditions. " we have some ideas, " judge said, " but we haven ' t tested them yet, so we ' re hesitant to say it might be this or that. " the research will continue with insulin, the crucial protein that conveys sugar from the blood stream into a body ' s cells, and with glucose isomerase, a larger ( 46, 000 daltons ) protein used in industrial processes to convert glucose to a sweeter sugar called fructose. left : crystals of insulin grown in space let scientists determine the vital enzyme ' s structure and


glucose isomerase, a larger ( 46, 000 daltons ) protein used in industrial processes to convert glucose to a sweeter sugar called fructose. left : crystals of insulin grown in space let scientists determine the vital enzyme ' s structure and linkages with much higher resolution that earth - grown crystals had allowed. links to 640x448 - pixel, 104kb jpg. larger format versions of these and related images are available from the nasa image exchange and using the keyword " insulin. " credit : nasa / marshall. " in all of the proteins we ' re using the structure is pretty well known, " judge added. in addition to ground - based experiments, judge hopes to conduct flight experiments in the next year or so. he would use the vapor diffusion apparatus, a device developed by the university of alabama in birmingham and well - proven in a number of space shuttle flights. " most researchers say that crystals grown in microgravity will be better than those on the ground, " judge said. and a number of experiments bear out that belief. " somehow, microgravity pushes up the end of the distribution curve. " right : crystals of glucose isomerase, a larger molecular weight protein, will be grown to see if they, too, are graded " on the curve. " links to 1018x749 - pixel, 365kb jpg. credit : nasa / marshall. with expected flight experiments on lysozyme, insulin and glucose isomerase, judge will have crystals grown in conditions as close as possible to the ideal conditions he had determined so far. at the same time, he will grow crystals on earth from the same mix as the flight batch and using identical hardware and conditions so that microgravity is the only variable. eventually, he hopes that his studies will lead to a tool for screening candidate proteins for flight. the effect of temperature and solution ph on the nucleation of tetragonal lysozyme crystals. biophysics journal, september 1999, p. 1585 - 1593, vol. 77, no. 3 russell a. judge, * randolph s. jacobs, # tyralynn frazier, § edward h. snell, and ¶ marc l. pusey * alliance for microgravity material science and applications, nasa / marshall space flight center, huntsville, alabama 35812 ; # department of chemical engineering, university of alabama in huntsville, huntsville, alabama 35899 ; § biochemistry department, michigan state university, east lansing, michigan 48


and applications, nasa / marshall space flight center, huntsville, alabama 35812 ; # department of chemical engineering, university of alabama in huntsville, huntsville, alabama 35899 ; § biochemistry department, michigan state university, east lansing, michigan 48825 ; and ¶ biophysics sd48, nasa / marshall space flight center, huntsville, alabama 35812 usa part of the challenge of macromolecular crystal growth for structure determination is obtaining crystals with a volume suitable for x - ray analysis. in this respect an understanding of the effect of solution conditions on macromolecule nucleation rates is advantageous. this study investigated the effects of supersaturation, temperature, and ph on the nucleation rate of tetragonal lysozyme crystals. batch crystallization plates were prepared at given solution concentrations and incubated at set temperatures over 1 week. the number of crystals per well with their size and axial ratios were recorded and correlated with solution conditions. crystal numbers were found to increase with increasing supersaturation and temperature. the most significant variable, however, was ph ; crystal numbers changed by two orders of magnitude over the ph range 4. 0 - 5. 2. crystal size also varied with solution conditions, with the largest crystals obtained at ph 5. 2. having optimized the crystallization conditions, we prepared a batch of crystals under the same initial conditions, and 50 of these crystals were analyzed by x - ray diffraction techniques. the results indicate that even under the same crystallization conditions, a marked variation in crystal properties exists. more space science headlines - nasa research on the web life and microgravity sciences and applications information from nasa hq on science in space microgravity research programs office headquartered at marshall space flight center microgravity news online version of nasa ' s latest in microgravity advancements, published quarterly. join our growing list of subscribers - sign up for our express news delivery and you will receive a mail message every time we post a new story!!! for more information, please contact : | dr. john m. horack, director of science communications curator : linda porter nasa official : m. frank rose


assessing students ' understanding of complex systems assessing student understanding of complex thinking is quite challenging. as with assessing student learning on any topic, the first step is to identify your learning goals for your students. once you have identified learning goals, it becomes easier to choose one or more assessment tools appropriate to the task. here is a list of possible learning objectives related to students ' thinking about complex systems ( i. e., skills expected from students who exhibit complex systems thinking ). while this is in no way intended to be a comprehensive list of possible learning goals, it may help you to articulate your own list. a student who demonstrates complex systems thinking can : - identify and explain the characteristics of a complex system - describe and / or model a process where there is a feedback mechanism at work - build a model that mimics the expected behavior of the target system - identify stocks / reservoirs and flows - correctly identify positive / negative feedbacks - test a model through trial and error and comparison to real - world data - explore the possible outcomes of a system under different parameters - bridge across scales : student explanations of processes show fidelity across scales ( e. g., a student applies the concept of homeostasis at multiple levels ) - create and interpret graphical information - predict attributes of system behavior based on specific inputs or components of the system - understand that a complex system is irreducible, unpredictable, historical, nonlinear, and has emergent properties, and be able to describe what these terms mean a number of assessment tools can be used to assess students ' understanding ( or progress toward understanding ) of complex systems. a few of these tools are listed below. a concept map is a diagram with hierarchical nodes, labeled with concepts. the nodes are linked together with directional lines and are arranged from general to specific. by developing concept maps, students literally illustrate their understanding of a complex system. this method can be used for summative or formative assessment, and has the benefit of highlighting any misconceptions. students can develop and run physical or computer models to gain an understanding of how a system works. the choices a student makes in developing a model ( what components of the system to include, how they are linked, and so on ), along with how the student explains his or her choices, illustrate that student ' s understanding of the system in question. their ability to explain the behavior of the model ( describe the outcomes given different inputs, find patterns in the output, etc. ) offers further opportunity for assessment. this method can be employed for summative or


s understanding of the system in question. their ability to explain the behavior of the model ( describe the outcomes given different inputs, find patterns in the output, etc. ) offers further opportunity for assessment. this method can be employed for summative or formative assessment ( or both ). an understanding of graphical representations of data is an essential component of data analysis. students can demonstrate their understanding of complex systems by interpreting graphical data illustrating the relationships between system variables. this method can be employed for summative or formative assessment ( or both ). for more information about using graphs in the classroom, see the starting point web pages on describing and analyzing graphs. assessing students ' thinking processes much frustration can be avoided by engaging in formative assessment : assessing student learning during the learning process. one way to do this is to incorporate several " checkpoints " in each teaching activity or assignment where you ask students to articulate what the results are and how they got there. this serves two functions : 1 ) it exposes misconceptions or misapplications at an early stage, and 2 ) it requires students to think about what they are doing and why - - and whether their progress makes sense in the context of what they know or expect. this opens up the realm of metacognition, wherein students think specifically about their own learning and engage in self - monitoring and self - regulatory behavior. research demonstrates that metacognition improves learning ( lovett, 2008 ).


12 feb 13 biodiversity is a recent word. it was used for the first time in washington in 1986 by an entomologist ( edward o. wilson ) and can be a misunderstood topic. in actual fact it should be a simple concept, because at its essence, it signifies nature, life itself, and the diversity of life on many levels - from the smallest and most basic ( genes - the building blocks of life ) to animal and plant species, up to the most complex levels ( ecosystems ). all these levels intersect and influence each other and each other ’ s evolution. studies from the university of stanford have compared the species and varieties of an ecosystem to rivets that hold an airplane together. if we remove the rivets, for a while nothing will happen and the airplane will continue to operate. but little by little the structure will weaken and, at a certain point, just removing one rivet will cause the plane to crash. in the history of the planet, everything has a beginning and an end, and in every era, many species have become extinct. but never at the horrifying rate of recent years, one that is a thousand times greater than previous eras. this summer after a thorough study of many years, the prestigious university of exeter in england declared that the earth is undergoing its sixth mass extinction ( with the fifth, 65 million years ago, the dinosaurs disappeared ). yet there is a substantial difference between this and the extinctions of the past : the cause. for the first time man is responsible. man continues to destroy rainforests, cement the land, pollute waters and grounds with chemical pesticides and fertilizers, and accumulate plastic in the oceans. and he insists on excluding the earth ’ s last custodians : those small - scale farmers, shepherds and fishers that know and respect the fragile equilibrium of nature. slow food started its work with biodiversity in 1997 and our foot in the door - that since the beginning has given us a unique perspective - was food. if biodiversity disappears what will happen to our food? together with the plants and wild animals, the plants domesticated by man, breeds selected ( for milk or meat ) will also disappear. according to the fao, 75 % of plant varieties have been irreversibly lost. in the usa the figure is 95 %. today 60 % of the world ’ s food is based on three cereals : wheat, rice and corn. not on the thousands of rice varieties selected by farmers that once were cultivated in india and china,