scientists at the ucl institute of child health ( ich ) have developed a new gene therapy that could have the potential to save the lives of children with a life threatening tumour called neuroblastoma. the technique, which uses novel tumour - homing nanoparticles has proved to be effective in a first stage trial in which researchers successfully targeted the tumours in a mouse model. the details of the study are published online today in the international journal biomaterials. stephen hart, reader in molecular genetics at the ich, explains : “ it has long been a major technical challenge for medical researchers to use gene therapy to target this type of tumour, particularly when the cancer has spread. now with the development of these novel nanoparticles in our laboratory, we ’ ve been able to deliver the genes to where they are needed, via an intravenous injection. ” neuroblastoma is one of the most aggressive malignancies, affecting around 100 children each year in britain. new treatments are urgently needed to tackle the disease, which is often fatal. two thirds of children have widespread disease at diagnosis, making treatment even more challenging for specialist clinicians. “ in the mouse tumour model we have demonstrated that the nanoparticles can home in on tumours after injection into the blood stream, avoiding the liver, lung and spleen, organs that might otherwise remove the particles from the circulation. we have then used the nanoparticles to deliver a cargo of anti - tumour genes, which in turn stimulated the mouse ’ s immune cells to attack and destroy the tumour. we observed that tumour growth was slowed significantly and in a third of mice, tumours were eradicated completely, surviving long - term. ” “ these nanoparticles are composed of peptides ( small pieces of protein ) and liposomes ( fatty globules ), as well as the therapeutic genes. although similar to artificial viruses, the nanoparticles are safe and non - infectious. ” dr penelope brock, consultant oncologist at great ormond street hospital said : “ this is an extremely exciting breakthrough with enormous promise for improving clinical care of children and adolescents suffering from a very aggressive disease. i look forward to seeing results of early phase clinical trials. ” dr hart continues, “ we now need to study the efficacy, safety and side - effects of the nanoparticles and hope that in the future our findings will translate into a viable treatment for some of the most challenging cases


high selection pressure on domestic cattle has led to an undesirable increase in inbreeding, as well as to the deterioration of some functional traits which are indirectly selected. semen stored in a cryobank may be a useful way to redirect selection or limit the loss of genetic diversity in a selected breed. the purpose of this study was to analyse the efficiency of current cryobank sampling methods, by investigating the benefits of using cryopreserved semen in a selection scheme several generations after the semen was collected. the theoretical impact of using cryopreserved semen in a selection scheme of a dairy cattle breed was investigated by simulating various scenarios involving two negatively correlated traits and a change in genetic variability of the breed. our results indicate that using cryopreserved semen to redirect selection will have an impact on negatively selected traits only if it is combined with major changes in selection objectives or practices. if the purpose is to increase genetic diversity in the breed, it can be a viable option. using cryopreserved semen to redirect selection or to improve genetic diversity should be carried out with caution, by considering the pros and cons of prospective changes in genetic diversity and the value of the selected traits. however, the use of genomic information should lead to more interesting perspectives to choose which animals to store in a cryobank and to increase the value of cryobank collections for selected breeds. within the context of farm animal biotechnologies, cryopreservation is one of the most useful tools for selection improvement, dissemination of genetic progress and ex situ conservation. in its global plan of action, the fao recommended the implementation of ex situ programmes to complement in situ conservation of animal genetic resources. it was also suggested that cryopreserved bio - specimens could be used as a backup material to redirect the selection scheme of a given breed, if needed [ 2, 3 ]. consequently, several gene banks have been created with different strategies and policies that vary with the breed, species, and country concerned [ 4, 5 ] and methods have been proposed to use ex situ genetic resources to optimise the management of genetic diversity in endangered breeds. breeds with large populations are subject to high selection pressures and have rates of inbreeding greater than the desired values. in these cases, the use of stored semen from male ancestors has seldom been investigated, although breeding organisations could be interested in doing so. for instance, in the dairy cattle breed ab


and have rates of inbreeding greater than the desired values. in these cases, the use of stored semen from male ancestors has seldom been investigated, although breeding organisations could be interested in doing so. for instance, in the dairy cattle breed abondance ( a local selected breed in the french northern alps ), the semen of a bull born in 1977 ( called naif ), which was rarely used in the 1980 ' s, was used from 2004 to 2007, to produce 20 young bulls in order to reintroduce some genetic variability in the breed. depending on the country, different strategies have been implemented to sample individuals for national collections. in the netherlands, most of the tested bulls are sampled for preservation in the gene bank, while in the usa, the selection of animals for cryopreservation is aimed at optimizing genetic diversity within the collection, by sampling animals from clusters determined through computed genealogical relationships. in france, based on the idea that individuals sampled for a cryobank should be as diverse as possible and carry special genotypes, regulations have been implemented to conserve frozen sperm from three main origins : ( i ) animals from endangered breeds, ( ii ) original animals from non - endangered breeds ( with either extreme positive or negative estimated breeding values ( ebv ), carrying rare alleles or representing rare pedigree lines ), and ( iii ) representative animals from non - endangered breeds. the purpose of this study was to analyse the efficiency of current cryobank sampling methods by investigating the benefits of using cryopreserved semen in a selection scheme several generations after the semen was collected. based on simulations, we examined two situations in which cryopreserved sperm was used ( 1 ) to redirect the selection goal, by including a trait which, in the past, had shown a negative correlated selection response ( e. g. fertility in dairy cattle ), and ( 2 ) to limit the loss of genetic diversity in the breed. the impact of using cryopreserved sperm was measured by estimating the evolution of two negatively correlated traits and the evolution of the breed ' s genetic diversity, assessed through pedigree information. a simplified cattle breed was simulated with 13 discrete generations, each consisting of 100 males and 10000 females. in each generation, 10 bulls and 50 cows were chosen as parents of the male progeny, and 20 bulls and 10000 cows were chosen as parents of the female progeny ( with no selection on the dam to dam path ). mating


females. in each generation, 10 bulls and 50 cows were chosen as parents of the male progeny, and 20 bulls and 10000 cows were chosen as parents of the female progeny ( with no selection on the dam to dam path ). mating was random resulting in random variation of progeny size among parents, i. e. the sire and dam of a given newborn were randomly chosen in the corresponding lists of parents. simulation of genetic values and ebv we considered two traits a and b. trait a corresponded to a production trait which had been recently and intensively selected and improved ( such as milk production in dairy cattle ). trait b corresponded to a functional trait which had deteriorated because of a negative correlation with trait a ( e. g. fertility or longevity ). the genetic standard deviation of each trait ( σa and σb, respectively ) was set to 1 and the correlation between traits ( ρ ) was set to - 0. 3. for each trait, an additive polygenic model was assumed and the simulation of correlated genetic values was based on the bivariate normal distribution ( see, e. g. ). at generation 0 ( base population ), genetic values for trait a were randomly and independently drawn from a n ( 0, 1 ) distribution. for a given individual ( i ), the genetic value for trait b ( bi ) was generated from its value for trait a ( ai ) : where βi is a n ( 0, 1 ) random number independent of ai. in the following generations, genetic values of individual i were simulated from the genetic values of its sire ( ap and bp ) and its dam ( am and bm ), taking into account the parent ' s coefficients of inbreeding ( fp and fm, resp. ) [ 12, 13 ] : in these equations, γi and δi are two numbers randomly drawn from a n ( 0, 1 ) bivariate normal distribution with a correlation equal to ρ. ebv were directly simulated from genetic values, assuming an evaluation procedure leading to an accuracy ( cd = square of the correlation between the ebv and the true genetic value ) equal to 0. 6 for bulls and 0. 4 for cows, whatever the trait and the generation considered. therefore, the ebv of a given individual for trait a ( ebvai ) and for trait b ( ebvbi ) were computed as follows : where εi and are two independent numbers drawn from a n ( 0, 1 ) distribution. finally,


of a given individual for trait a ( ebvai ) and for trait b ( ebvbi ) were computed as follows : where εi and are two independent numbers drawn from a n ( 0, 1 ) distribution. finally, a total merit index ( tmii ) was computed, weighting the two ebv by wa and wb = 1 - wa, respectively : sampling and use of cryopreserved semen simulations comprised two stages. during stage 1 ( generations 0 to 8 ), the lists of parents were selected based on their ebv for trait a only, without considering the evolution of the genetic mean for trait b or the average coefficient of inbreeding. during stage 2 ( generations 9 to 12 ), the bulls were also used to improve trait b or to introduce genetic diversity in the breed. during stage 1, the semen of some bulls was sampled and cryopreserved if the animals fulfilled one of the three following conditions, which correspond to the current sampling rules of the french national cryobank for type " ii " ( original bulls ) : - ( i ) ebva is three standard deviations above or below the mean of the generation, - ( ii ) ebvb is two standard deviations above the mean of the generation ( trait b is considered as a functional trait and for functional traits, only animals above the average are considered ), - ( iii ) the bull is a sire of sires with no male offspring selected after the evaluation process ( these bulls were actually selected with one generation lag ). to check the validity of this elaborate sampling method, we tested a simpler sampling method ( similar to the one used in the netherlands ), where the semen of all young bulls is stored in the cryobank. in the simulations performed here, we investigated the impact of a one - time use ( i. e. during a single generation ) of cryopreserved semen. at generation 9, four bulls with cryopreserved semen were selected ( hereafter referred to as ' cryobank bulls ' ), these bulls fulfilling one of the following conditions either ( i ) they are the best cryobank bulls for the tmii or ( ii ) they have the lowest average kinship with the existing population ( males and females taken together ). we studied the impact of various selection orientations ( use of cryopreserved semen, conservation of male lines, etc. ) only on the male path, because applying the


average kinship with the existing population ( males and females taken together ). we studied the impact of various selection orientations ( use of cryopreserved semen, conservation of male lines, etc. ) only on the male path, because applying the above conditions on the female path would be much more restrictive, less effective, and would require a larger amount of semen, all the more since the number of doses is generally limited in cryobanks ( 200, in france ). for these reasons, we considered that cryobank bulls were used only to procreate young bulls for progeny testing. the 9th generation of young bulls was then generated using either the bulls from the cryobank or the group of 10 sires selected as described in previous sections. depending on the scenario ( see following section ), 0, 40 or 80 individuals ( among the 100 newborn bull calves ) were sired randomly by one of the four selected cryobank bulls. simulation scenarios and results six simulation scenarios were completed with two main options ( table 1 ). table 1. description of simulation scenarios firstly, in scenario " b ", emphasis was put on the selection of both traits b and a. to achieve this goal, three methods were compared : - b1 : at generation 9, the four bulls with the highest tmi ( wb = 0. 5 ) were used to sire 40 % of the young bulls, while the selection criterion during stage 2 remained unchanged ( improving ebva ). the other young bulls were sired by bulls randomly sampled within the group of 10 sires ; - b2 : at generation 9, no cryobank bull was used, and during stage 2, tmi ( wb = 0. 5 ) was used as the selection criterion instead of ebva ; - b3 : at generation 9, the four cryobank bulls with the highest tmi were used to sire 40 % of the young bulls, and during stage 2, tmi was used as the selection criterion instead of ebva. to test more or less drastic selection changes, scenario b3 was tested with an increasing weight given to trait b ( wb increasing from 0. 5 to 1 ). secondly, in scenarios " d ", emphasis was put on genetic variability while trait a remained the breeding goal. three methods were also compared : - d1 : at generation 9, the four cryobank bulls having the lowest kinship with the existing population ( scenario b1 ) were used to sire 40 % of the young bulls ; -


remained the breeding goal. three methods were also compared : - d1 : at generation 9, the four cryobank bulls having the lowest kinship with the existing population ( scenario b1 ) were used to sire 40 % of the young bulls ; - d2 : at generation 9, no cryobank bull was used, while during stage 2, the progenies on the sire to sire path were given the same size i. e. for each sire of sires, 10 male offspring were created among which those with the two best ebva became the sires of dams and that with the best ebva became a sire of sires ; - d3 : at generation 9, the four cryobank bulls having the lowest kinship with the existing population ( scenario b1 ) were used to sire 40 % of the young bulls, while during stage 2, selection was used to equalise progeny sizes on the sire to sire path. simulations were performed with 1000 runs for each scenario. for each generation, individual inbreeding coefficients and genetic values were computed and averaged for the entire male and female populations. the individual coefficients of kinship were also computed and averaged over males only and over the entire populations. the proportion of genes originating from cryobank bulls was computed on the basis of the gene dropping procedure ( one locus averaged over the 1000 runs ). stage 1 : evolution of selected traits, diversity loss, and sampling of cryobank bulls as expected, the results of the different scenarios did not differ significantly for generations 0 to 8 given that in stage 1, the conditions were the same whatever the option chosen, ( here we present results averaged over the 1000 runs of one scenario only ). with the parameters chosen for the simulation, each sire of sires had on average 10 male offspring ( across sires standard deviation s. d. = 2. 9 ) and each sire of dams had on average 500 female offspring ( across sires s. d. = 21. 6 ). as expected ( see figure 1 ), selection on trait a during stage 1 led to a major increase in the mean of this trait ( + 6. 7 initial genetic standard deviation ) from generation 0 to 8, while at the same time, the mean of b decreased to a lesser extent ( - 2 initial genetic standard deviation ). the average coefficient of inbreeding increased simultaneously. young bulls were slightly more inbred than cows, as they originated from a smaller number of sires and dams. in parallel ( generation 0 to 8 )


- 2 initial genetic standard deviation ). the average coefficient of inbreeding increased simultaneously. young bulls were slightly more inbred than cows, as they originated from a smaller number of sires and dams. in parallel ( generation 0 to 8 ), the average coefficient of kinship among the young bulls and among the entire population increased to 8. 1 % and 6. 9 %, respectively. figure 1. changes in genetic values ( a ) and in genetic diversity ( b ) ( scenario b1 ). dotted lines : young bulls ; solid lines : whole population ; red : trait a, blue : trait b ; green : average between a and b ; purple : inbreeding f ; pink : kinship φ. an average of 31 cryobank bulls was sampled per replicate, 58 % being sampled because of outstanding ebvb ( see table 2 ). table 2 shows that cryobank bulls chosen for their genetic diversity were generally born earlier than others, which can be explained by the fact that they were chosen with one generation lag compared to other sampling procedures. table 2. average number and birth generation of bulls selected for conservation stage 2 in scenarios b : change in breeding goals as shown in figure 1, introducing cryobank bulls with exceptional tmi without changing the selection criterion during stage 2 ( scenario b1 ) had a temporary impact on traits a and b as well as on the diversity indicators of the young bulls. at the whole population level, the impact was negligible, since young bulls sired by cryobank bulls were rarely subsequently selected as sires : three generations after introduction ( generation 12 ), the cryobank contribution to genetic diversity was less than 3 % ( table 3 ). table 3. origin and impact of cryobank bulls used in the different scenarios when tmi was used as a selection criterion ( considering wb = 0. 5 ), without using cryobank bulls ( scenario b2 ), there was a per generation increase in the mean of trait b from generation 9 on ( b1 : - 0. 3 vs b2 : + 0. 4 ), while the genetic gain for trait a decreased ( b1 : + 1. 0 vs b2 : + 0. 4, see additional file 1 ). the change in breeding goals had no impact on diversity indicators. additional file 1. changes in genetic values ( a ) and in genetic diversity ( b ) ( scenario b2 ). the data represent the simulation results for scenario b2. dotted lines : young bulls ; solid


goals had no impact on diversity indicators. additional file 1. changes in genetic values ( a ) and in genetic diversity ( b ) ( scenario b2 ). the data represent the simulation results for scenario b2. dotted lines : young bulls ; solid lines : whole population ; red : trait a ; blue : trait b ; green : average between a and b ; purple : inbreeding f ; pink : kinship φ. format : pdf size : 58kb download file this file can be viewed with : adobe acrobat reader combining the use of cryobank bulls and tmi as a selection criterion ( scenario b3 for wb = 0. 5 ) resulted in a slight but significant ( p < 0. 001 ) reduction in average kinship ( - 0. 3 % between scenario b2 and b3, with 40 % of the males from generation 9 sired by cryobank bulls, see additional file 2 ). concerning the selected traits, the genetic gain for trait a decreased slightly when cryobank bulls were used ( - 0. 12 between scenarios b2 and b3, p < 0. 001 ), while the genetic gain for trait b increased slightly ( + 0. 06 between scenarios b2 and b3, p = 0. 02 ). these tendencies increased slightly when 80 % of the males from generation 9 were sired by cryobank bulls ( see additional file 2 ). according to the results from table 3, cryobank bulls contributed to 6. 5 % of the diversity three generations after their introduction. it should be noted that the cryobank bulls used were generally sampled in recent generations, their average birth generation being 6. 6 ( table 3 ). additional file 2. changes in genetic values ( a ) and in average kinship ( b ) when trait b was added to selection goals. the data represent the simulation results when selection is redirected with a new trait accounting for 50 % of the total merit index and when the use of semen from cryobank bulls is increased. scenario b3 and whole population are considered with the weight wb given to trait b accounting for 50 % of the total merit index and an increased use of the semen from cryobank bulls. brown : no cryobank bull is used ( scenario b2 ) ; red : cryobank bulls are used to produce 40 % of sons ( scenario b3 ) ; yellow : cryobank bulls are used to produce 80 % of sons ; o : genetic value for


is used ( scenario b2 ) ; red : cryobank bulls are used to produce 40 % of sons ( scenario b3 ) ; yellow : cryobank bulls are used to produce 80 % of sons ; o : genetic value for trait a ; ♦ : genetic value for trait b ; dotted line : average genetic value between a and b ; x : kinship φ. format : pdf size : 57kb download file this file can be viewed with : adobe acrobat reader as a result of the increased weight of trait b within tmi ( see figure 2 ), there was a per generation increase in genetic gain for trait b, while there was a slightly lower increase or even a decrease in genetic gain for trait a, as well as in average kinship, when trait b accounted for more than 80 % of ebv. when only trait b was taken into account for tmi, the genetic value of traits a and b reached 4. 7 and 1. 37, respectively at generation 12 ( versus 8. 4 and - 0. 41 respectively when wb = 0. 5 ), while average kinship reached 8. 9 % at generation 12 ( versus 11. 9 % when wb = 0. 5 ). figure 2. changes in genetic values ( a ) and in average kinship ( b ), when trait b was added to selection goals. scenario b3 and whole population are considered with the weight wb of trait b increasing for computation of the total merit index. black : wb = 0 ( scenario b1 ) ; brown : wb = 0. 5 ; red : wb = 0. 6 ; orange : wb = 0. 7 ; green : wb = 0. 8 ; light blue : wb = 0. 9 ; dark blue : wb = 1 ; o : genetic value for trait a ; ♦ : genetic value for trait b ; x : kinship φ. stage 2 in scenarios d : improvement in genetic diversity as shown in figure 3, the use of cryobank bulls with a minimised kinship with the current generation ( scenario d1 ), had no impact if the selection policy was not modified, since none of the offspring of the cryobank bulls were selected as sires. equalising progeny sizes on the sire to sire path alone ( scenario d2 ) decreased diversity a little less ( in generation 12, φ = 12 % for scenario d1 and φ = 11 % for scenario d2 ), with an almost negligible impact on genetic progress. combining this option with the introgression of


) decreased diversity a little less ( in generation 12, φ = 12 % for scenario d1 and φ = 11 % for scenario d2 ), with an almost negligible impact on genetic progress. combining this option with the introgression of cryobank bulls ( scenario d3 ) resulted in a significant reduction in average kinship ( - 2 % in comparison to d1 ). under such a scenario, the genetic mean of trait b also increased slightly ( + 0. 3 between scenario d1 and d3, p < 0. 001 ), while that of trait a and the average of both traits decreased slightly ( - 0. 08 and - 0. 02 respectively, between scenarios d1 and d3, p < 0. 001 ). it should be noted that most of the cryobank bulls used originated from the founder population, their average birth generation being 0. 3 ( table 3 ). figure 3. changes in genetic values ( a ) and in average kinship ( b ), when the aim was to manage genetic diversity. the whole population is considered brown : no change in selection ; cryobank bulls used to produce 40 % of male offspring ( scenario d1 ) ; red : conservation of male lines ( scenario d2 ) ( curve overlapping the preceding one ) ; yellow : conservation of male lines and cryobank bulls used to produce 40 % of male offspring ( scenario d3 ) ; o : genetic value for trait a ; ♦ : genetic value for trait b ; dotted line : average genetic value between a and b ; x : kinship φ. modifying which bulls entered the cryobank by preserving semen for all the young bulls did not significantly alter the results of scenarios b3 and d3, either for the selected traits or for kinship evolution ( data not shown ). it should be noted that in this case, the average birth generation of the cryobank bulls used was 7, in scenario b3 ( instead of 6. 6, in the first cryobank sampling method ), and 0, in scenario d3 ( instead of 0. 3, in the first cryobank sampling method ). in this study, we assessed the impacts of using cryopreserved bull semen either to redirect selection or to improve the genetic variability of a selected cattle breed. simulation parameters were chosen as a compromise between realism in the scenarios, their applicability, and the simplicity of the model. for instance, with respect to the choice of population size, a


or to improve the genetic variability of a selected cattle breed. simulation parameters were chosen as a compromise between realism in the scenarios, their applicability, and the simplicity of the model. for instance, with respect to the choice of population size, a breed with 20 breeding males and 10000 potential dams could be considered quite small, especially with reference to the fao endangerment status. in our simulation, sires and dams were randomly chosen from lists of reproducers. this differs significantly from what occurs in real breeds, in which an unbalanced use of reproducers is frequently the case, leading to a reduced size of the effective population. in terms of effective size, our breed would correspond to a much larger population with a similar inbreeding rate per generation ( 1. 07 % ) to that found in real dairy cattle breeds e. g.. concerning sampling conditions in the simulations, as mentioned above, the procedure chosen to select bulls for cryopreservation is similar to that currently applied in france. this choice was made to test if bulls selected this way could be effectively used in a selected breed. compared to the case in which all young bulls are sampled for cryopreservation ( which corresponds more or less to the current procedure in the netherlands ), the results were basically the same. this shows that the french sampling procedure is reasonably efficient to select useful bulls, and could be applied in situations when only a limited number of semen samples can be stored in a cryobank ( for financial reasons, for instance ). one of the main conclusions of this study is that using cryopreserved semen is relevant for a breed for which major changes in selection objectives or practices are considered. since genetic progress is rapid in dairy cattle breeds ( e. g. ), a bull for which semen has been stored for a few generations, is likely to have a lower genetic value than current bulls, if the selection goals remain the same. thus the latter ' s offspring may not be used, as illustrated by scenarios b1 and d1, and using cryobank bulls is then meaningless. the results of scenario b3 demonstrate that using cryobank bulls has a significant impact on the selected traits and on genetic diversity only if a relatively large change is implemented in the selection programme ( i. e. introducing a new trait formerly negatively selected but subsequently accounting for more than 50 % of ebv ). under that scenario, when trait b accounted for less than 70 % of ebv, the cryob


the selection programme ( i. e. introducing a new trait formerly negatively selected but subsequently accounting for more than 50 % of ebv ). under that scenario, when trait b accounted for less than 70 % of ebv, the cryobank bulls selected were those more recently collected, since they generally had a higher value for trait a than older cryobank bulls, which compensated for a slightly lower value for trait b. when trait b accounted for 80 % or more of ebv, most of the cryobank bulls finally used, originated from generation 0 ( data not shown ), which explains the sudden decrease in average kinship after introgression of the cryobank bulls ( see figure 2 ). therefore if managers of a selection scheme want to redirect breeding goals, using cryobank bulls is viable only if the breeding goals are subjected to a major modification ( i. e. if the weight of the new trait accounts for more than 50 % of ebv ). our results also indicate that cryobank bulls that have been sampled for functional traits with high ebv will tend to be used more frequently than other cryobank bulls, independently of the aim. if the objective is to introduce genetic diversity into the breed, using cryobank bulls appears to be a valid choice. however, it is imperative that other measures are also taken to guaranty that genes are spread within the breed i. e. either conserving male lines ( scenario d3 ), when their use is promoted among breeders, or setting up more restrictive and effective breeding schemes. several methods of varying complexity have been proposed to minimise kinship, or to maximise breeding values for a predefined inbreeding rate, or to minimise average kinship for a desired average ebv, usually by optimising the contribution of reproducers. on the one hand, decreasing inbreeding in a selected breed may improve selected traits ; for instance, it has been shown that in holstein cattle, milk production ( over 305 days ) can decrease by about 20 litres per 1 % inbreeding increase. on the other hand, using semen from cryobank bulls has a negative impact on previously selected traits, as illustrated by our simulations. in the case of local breeds, in which genetic progress is not as effective as in breeds with a larger population size, the difference in ebv between current bulls and bulls from earlier generations should be minimised. this could lead


our simulations. in the case of local breeds, in which genetic progress is not as effective as in breeds with a larger population size, the difference in ebv between current bulls and bulls from earlier generations should be minimised. this could lead to an effective use of cryobank bulls to reintroduce diversity without overly affecting selected traits. as an illustration in the abondance breed, one of the male offspring of the bull born in 1977 was found to have quite a high ebv ( vaccin, born in 2003, ), and was therefore recently confirmed as a sire of dams. among all the sires of dams, this bull shared the lowest average kinship with the 2004 - 2007 female cohorts ( 4. 6 % vs. 6. 5 % on average, personal communication ). the impact of using this bull on the genetic variability of the breed remains to be assessed. based on our results, using semen from cryobank bulls should be useful either to introduce drastic changes in selection goals or to reintroduce genetic diversity within a given population. however, it is important to carefully assess the pros and cons of the potential changes in genetic diversity and values of the selected traits. our simulations were based on a classic quantitative selection scheme. recent progress in genomic tools should make it possible to identify semen from cryobank bulls that share specific alleles or qtl of interest for selection. this could then be taken into account when choosing cryobank bulls as well as how they will be used. using such reproducers should be investigated in further studies, which opens exciting perspectives for an improved exploitation of cryobank collections. the authors declare that they have no competing interests. ev, cdb and gl jointly conceived the design of the study and discussed the results. gl wrote and checked the simulation program. gl wrote the first draft of the manuscript, which was then modified by cdb and ev. all authors read and approved the final manuscript. this study was funded by the bureau des ressources genetiques ( brg ) ( contract 2007 - 14 " cryositu " ). the authors wish to thank emilie setlakwe, daphne goodfellow and helene hayes for linguistic revision. verrier e, danchin - burge c, moureaux s, ollivier l, tixier - boichard m, boichard d, maignel mj, bidanel jp, clement f


revision. verrier e, danchin - burge c, moureaux s, ollivier l, tixier - boichard m, boichard d, maignel mj, bidanel jp, clement f : what should be preserved : genetic goals and collection protocols for the french national cryobank. in proceedings of the workshop on cryopreservation of animal genetic resources in europe : 23 february 2003 ; paris. edited by planchenault d. bureau des ressources genetiques ; 2003 : 79 - 89. gandini g, oldenbroek k : strategies for moving from conservation to utilisation. in utilisation and conservation of farm animal genetic resources. edited by oldenbroek k. wageningen : wageningen academic publishers ; 2007 : 29 - 54. genet res 2002, 80 : 27 - 30. pubmed abstract danchin - burge c, hiemstra sj : cryo - preservation of domestic animal species in france and the netherlands : experience, similarities and differences. in proceedings of the workshop on cryopreservation of animal genetic resources in europe : 23 february 2003 ; paris. edited by planchenault d. bureau des ressources genetiques ; 2003 : 15 - 28. livest sci 2009, 120 : 196 - 203. publisher full text livest prod sci 1984, 11 : 37 - 48. publisher full text theor appl genet 1989, 77 : 142 - 148. publisher full text philipsson j, forabosco f, jakobsen jh : monitoring sustainability of international dairy breeds. [ http : / / www - interbull. slu. se / bulletins / bulletin40 / philipsson. pdf ] webcite cooperative d ' elevage et d ' insemination animale de haute - savoie [ http : / / www. ceia74. fr / index / genetiquelait. php? race = 12 ] webcite


hemoglobin is a crystallizable, conjugated protein consisting of an iron - containing pigment ( called heme or hematin ) and a simple protein, globin. in the lungs, it combines readily with oxygen to form a loose, unstable compound called oxyhemoglobin, a process called oxygenation. in the tissues of the body, where oxygen tension is low and carbon dioxide tension is high, oxyhemoglobin liberates its oxygen in... a swedish study has shown that teaching type 2 diabetes patients about their disease results in greater decreases in the hemoglobin a1c... read more » you may have been told that you need to lower your ldl ( bad ) cholesterol levels, and increase your hdl ( good ) cholesterol levels. while... read more » so you don ’ t have diabetes. should you still be worried about having an elevated risk of alzheimer ’ s disease? a new study out of the... read more » diabetes is much more prevalent in african - americans than other groups of people, and unfortunately if you already have diabetes you are... read more » source : adam encyclopedia of complicationshigh blood pressure and heart diseaseall patients with diabetes and high blood pressure should adopt lifestyle changes. these include... read more »


| this is a measure of the brightness of a celestial object. the lower the value, the brighter the object, so magnitude - 4 is brighter than magnitude 0, which is in turn brighter than magnitude + 4. the scale is logarithmic, and a difference of 5 magnitudes means a brightness difference of exactly 100 times. a difference of one magnitude corresponds to a brightness difference of around 2. 51 ( the fifth root of 100 ). the system was started by the ancient greeks, who divided the stars into one of six magnitude groups with stars of the first magnitude being the first ones to be visible after sunset. in modern times, the scale has been extended in both directions and more strictly defined. examples of magnitude values for well - known objects are ; | sun | | - 26. 7 ( about 400 000 times brighter than full moon! ) | | brightest iridium flares | | - 8 | | venus ( at brightest ) | | - 4. 4 | | international space station | | - 2 | | sirius ( brightest star ) | | - 1. 44 | | limit of human eye | | + 6 to + 7 | | limit of 10x50 binoculars | | + 9 | | limit of hubble space telescope | | + 30 |


- hhmi news - scientists & research - janelia farm - science education - resources & publications noscripttags. include a link to bypass the detection if you wish. investigate the specks, flecks, and particles in the air — with airborne junk detectors you can easily make. directions are in this activity from hhmi ’ s cool science for curious kids. involve children in collecting leaves, rocks, and other natural items, and use the collections to teach children math and science skills. this resource from oregon state university tells you what to do. use the insect fact sheet in this middle school curriculum from clemson university to help children identify and classify insects they might find outdoors. taking a “ virtual ” field trip is almost as good as being outdoors. explore a cove forest and a salt marsh with this program from clemson university. the hhmi bulletin is now available for your ipad — inspiring stories, beautiful art, and more. read. play. listen. learn about the innovative work of biomedical researchers and science educators worldwide supported by the howard hughes medical institute. look for the free app in the itunes app store. what is cool science? at cool science, we entertain questions of all kinds ( ask a scientist ). we encourage young scientists to get their hands dirty - virtually ( curious kids ). we offer high school and college students new approaches to cutting - edge science topics ( biointeractive ). we provide educators with a host of innovative resources they can use in their classrooms ( for educators ). we reveal what it takes to become a scientist ( becoming a scientist ). and we showcase an undergraduate science discovery project that may one day change the way science is taught ( sea ). we invite you to explore the many cool features of cool science. image : university of washington help children study plants and animals in local outdoor settings by adapting some of the activities from this curriculum developed by oregon state university. use these yale university activities — which require simple, inexpensive, and easily obtainable materials — to help children learn about volcanoes, magnetism, and other topics. when it ’ s too hot to be outdoors, educators, older students, and parents can try their hand at this visual and motor test that involves learning a new motor skill. this activity is from hhmi ’ s biointeractive.


into leds that are cheaper for u. s. customers. just as important, fixture designers have been linking those leds to wireless controls in ways that adjust output to actual lighting needs. japan now expects to fully replace cfls by 2030, with a large fraction of illumination supplied by an entirely new technology — organic leds. to save air - conditioning energy and peak power, japanese offices and homes now operate at higher thermostat settings. the ever - creative fashion designers in tokyo have developed new textiles and clothing styles to help the japanese keep their cool at higher indoor temperatures. those highly breathable fabrics will no doubt soon appear in american specialty stores and then perhaps in walmart. japanese consumers are also buying pv to reduce their demand for grid - supplied electricity. this won ’ t lower the price of pv — that ’ s mostly determined by china — but you may eventually see new types of installations or components. japanese utilities typically require pv users to install batteries ; this raises the price but it is also stimulating different types of pv packages and connected appliances. there are dozens of other energy - saving gadgets, ranging from clever to silly, some of which will successfully cross the pacific. a political deadlock prevents japan from committing to either a nuclear or a renewables solution. the central government and industry leaders believe in nuclear power as the only feasible choice, while much of the public has lost faith in the utilities and the institutions that regulate them. many of the same trends are visible in the united states. but one thing is clear : the japanese crisis will be the mother of many new and ingenious ways to save electricity. - first page - previous page enter your comments in the box below : ( please note that all comments are subject to review prior to posting. )


analyzing combustion analyzers just talking about co can be confusing. although the terms used in this article are defined in the sidebar ( see “ terminology ” ), co can be deadly, and so i want to emphasize the basic information. test equipment can provide great information, but only if the operator understands what that information means. first, it is important to understand the difference between ambient carbon monoxide ( co ) and co air free or coaf ( also known as co undiluted and undiluted co ), which is a value calculated either manually or by the combustion analyzer. ambient co is the co that is in the air that occupants breathe. ambient co should be measured and monitored during the entire building analysis in order to protect the health and safety of the occupants and the analysts. coaf is the co that is present during the incomplete burning of the fuel in a combustion appliance. coaf comes from the combustion process and is generally measured before the exhaust gases have a chance to combine with dilution air introduced into the vent by a draft diverter. for most home assessments ( including bpi ), the probe of the analyzer must be inserted into the heating appliance exhaust air, before or upstream of the draft diverter, so that the co will not have combined with dilution air. this will provide what bpi defines as an undiluted sample. the coaf value on the combustion analyzer should be used. be certain to insert the probe in the correct location in the combustion appliance. most of the product manuals describe how to accomplish this. another serious issue that we should address is the effect of nitrogen oxides ( primarily no and no2 ) on the coaf reading. the electrochemical sensors that are used in these devices are targeted for co, but they can react with other gases, such as nitrogen oxides. this may generate an additive output, giving an elevated reading of co. the testo 327 - 1 described below has a nitrogen oxide filter built into it. bacharach advises adding nitrogen oxide filter or nox scrubber to the input, and one can be added to the uei input hose as well. ( see “ did this at home ” for more on the benefit of a nox scrubber. ) combustion analyzers were developed for boiler and furnace technicians, who use the information to adjust the appliance properly, and the analyzers provide a great deal of information — most of which is not required by bpi, resnet, or most weatherization protocols


be a great starting place for a moderately priced way to take both required co readings. an infrared printer is available from bacharach, but the basic analyzer comes with a hard carrying case, hose, and manual. bacharach fyrite tech60 the tech60 measures these exhaust gas components : o2, stack temperature, ambient temperature, and co. then it uses that information to calculate steady - state combustion efficiency, co2, excess air, and co air free. it is a true starter combustion analyzer ; it ’ s not meant to be used as an ambient co monitor for personal safety. as the manual points out, “ this analyzer does not have an audible alarm, and is not intended to be used as a safety device. ” the input hose and the thermocouple connect to the bottom of the analyzer. on the front panel there are a two - line display and six control push buttons. these buttons turn the analyzer on and off, scroll up and down through the display screens, enter the run mode, toggle the backlight on and off, and hold or freeze the display. ( the hold button will also turn off the pump. ) for performing coaf analysis, the probe should be in fresh air when the analyzer is turned on, despite the confusing line in the instructions that says the “ probe must be located in the area containing the burner ’ s combustion air supply, ” by which they mean “ fresh air. ” if you choose to set the fuel, f1 displayed on the screen equals natural gas, f2 equals # 2 oil, f3 equals propane, and f4 equals kerosene. after turning the analyzer on and allowing it to warm up in fresh air, insert the probe into the correct location on the combustion appliance to get the coaf reading. the accompanying manual provides graphics of a variety of appliances, showing where the probe should be inserted on each one. the display screen will display co in ppm on the top line and percent o2 on the bottom line. scrolling through the other display screens will provide stack temperature, efficiency, ambient temperature, and co air free. when the test is finished, if the co level is above 50 ppm, the analyzer will not turn off. the pump continues to run and the screen displays pur6 co ( which looks sort of like purge co ) until the level drops below 50 ppm. the purging process can be bypassed by pressing the on / off switch a second time


. the pump continues to run and the screen displays pur6 co ( which looks sort of like purge co ) until the level drops below 50 ppm. the purging process can be bypassed by pressing the on / off switch a second time. like the monoxor iii, the tech60 comes with complete instructions for calibrating and replacing the filter and sensors at the back of the manual. a nox scrubber could be added to reduce elevated readings. kits are available that include the infrared printer, hard case, and a protective rubber “ boot ” or sleeve. did this at home i tested the uei c75 and the testo 327 - 1 on my own oil - fired boiler. the majority of measurements from the two analyzers were very similar. the coaf readings differed, however. the testo 327 - 1 measured 6 ppm and the uei c75 measured 37 ppm co. when i added a nox scrubber to the uei c75 hose, the co reading dropped to 5 ppm, clearly indicating to me the need for the nox scrubber. i have repeated these tests in other houses with the bacharach combustion analyzer, and have had similar results. in my case, neither of the original readings posed a problem, but in other circumstances these variations could cause the appliance to be out of tolerance. at 26 ppm, for example, the bpi building analyst standard states, “ recommend that the co problem be fixed. ” this might mean calling a service technician to service a problem that doesn ’ t exist, resulting in an unnecessary cost to the homeowner. the low additional cost of adding a nox scrubber makes it prudent to do so. the uei c75 combustion analyzer measures o2, co, and flue temperature and uses that information to calculate co2, steady - state combustion efficiency, co air free, and the amount of excess air. the temperature sensor and the flue gas probe plug into sockets in the bottom of the analyzer. on the face of the unit, there are a two - line display, four buttons, and a selector dial. the buttons allow the operator to turn the unit on and off, toggle the backlight, use the optional printer, turn the internal pump on and off, and hold the readings. the analyzer in its protective covering is relatively heavy, and the pump is also somewhat noisy, but the pump can be shut off with the push of a button, although it won


appreciated. it will allow you to gather all the information necessary to perform diagnostic analysis on a combustion system. it ’ s an investment. it can measure draft pressure as well as co. it can also provide stack temperature, percent co2, percent efficiency, percent excess air, percent o2, ambient temperature, and delta temperature. the 327 is a solid - feeling device with strong magnets on the back of the case that allow it to be mounted on the side of most combustion appliances. the probes attach to connectors on the bottom of the analyzer. along with the connectors there is a temperature sensor permanently mounted in a “ cage, ” and there are sockets for the flue gas probe, gas outlet, pressure input, and ac power input. the on / off switch is on the top of the housing, and eight push buttons are located on the face. three orange buttons have variable functions, with their functions displayed on different screens of the display. the ( up ) and ( down ) buttons scroll the display. there is a button to toggle the backlight on and off, a menu button, and an esc button to cancel an operation. with the analyzer fully charged, the probe needs to be connected before the 327 is switched on. the manual says, “ any connected probe must be in the open air during the zeroing phase! [ emphasis theirs ] ” the zeroing or start - up process takes 30 seconds. pushing the menu button allows one to scroll through measuring, adjust, setup, mode, fuel select, and diagnostic menus. pushing the middle orange button under ok when measuring is displayed moves to the next menu level, cycling through flue gas, draft, co - airfree, smoke / oil, diff prs, delta temp, and ambient co. to measure the coaf, select flue gas and read the ppm co - af line. here you can also choose the type of fuel ; choices are oil # 2, nat gas, bioheat5, propane, oil # 5, oil # 6, kerosene, or wood. if you are only interested in coaf, you can use any of these fuels, because the co level will be the same for any of them. the beauty of this is that if you are testing in a combustion appliance zone ( caz ) with a gas water heater and an oil - fired boiler, there is no need to change the settings. you can set up the display screen on the 327


this is that if you are testing in a combustion appliance zone ( caz ) with a gas water heater and an oil - fired boiler, there is no need to change the settings. you can set up the display screen on the 327 so that the displays are in the sequence you want. for example, i have mine reading ºf t stac ( stack temperature ) first, then ppm co, pa draft, ppm co - af, % eff, and then a bunch of other stuff. performing a typical home energy assessment requires testing for co in the ambient air and in the exhaust products of combustion. co ambient is the co that is present in the air that is not contained in the combustion equipment. it is the co that the occupants are likely to be breathing. co air free or co - af or coaf is a mathematical calculation of the amount of co in a sample of air with the percent of oxygen removed. it is equal to co ppm x ( [ 20. 9 ] / [ 20. 9 – o2 ] ) the combustion analyzers make that calculation after the operator takes a “ clean - air ” sample ( generally outside ). the coaf is the value that most combustion safety programs ( including bpi ) are looking for ( along with the co ambient value ). an interesting feature of the 327 is the draft measurement process. a bar graph is displayed on the screen indicating the highest flue gas temperature corresponding to the highest draft rate. moving the probe moves the line on the bar graph. the physical opening in the probe should be oriented across the flow to allow for maximum airflow across the sensor. all of this information can be printed out on the optional, infrared connected printer. the basic 327 comes with the analyzer, flue gas probe, and charger. options include a hard case, ir printer, smoke pump, digital smoke spot meter, adapter for pressure readings, air temperature probe, flexible flue gas probe, and 9 - foot hose extension. the testo 327 is capable of providing a lot more information than just coaf. the instructions are based on german documents and don ’ t always clearly translate into english, but there is good information on the web, including instructional webinars from tool suppliers like trutech tools that specifically teach how to use the testo 327. testing for co may be one of the most complicated tasks the building analyst faces. the four analyzers described in this article have been developed to do more complex things, like combustion analysis and system


. strategic framework and guidelines for the list of wetlands of international importance : the cop considered annex b on wednesday, and a contact group was established. in the contact group on friday, several parties examined criterion 1 for designating ramsar sites, and debated whether to add a new criterion on cultural values, with most opposing. on saturday, delegates suggested using the term “ near ” instead of “ most ” natural wetlands, and on monday, after lengthy debates, delegates reached compromise text regarding artificial wetlands. an integrated framework for the ramsar convention ’ s water - related guidance : on tuesday, 15 november, the secretariat introduced annexes c, ci and cii, which contain an integrated framework and guidelines for the convention ’ s water - related ecosystems. the cop adopted the annexes with minor amendments. ecological “ outcome - oriented ” indicators for assessing the implementation effectiveness of the ramsar convention : on tuesday, 15 november, the secretariat introduced annex d, containing suggested amendments following informal discussions with interested parties raised in the plenary session under agenda item ix ( report of the strp chair ). the cop adopted the annex as amended. an integrated framework for wetland inventory assessment and monitoring : on tuesday, 15 november, the secretariat introduced annexes e and ei containing a framework and guidelines for the rapid assessment of inland, coastal and marine wetland biodiversity. the cop adopted the annexes without amendment. final resolution : in this final resolution, the cop : the final text of annex a requests the strp to report to cop10 on the harmonization of definitions and terms related to ecosystem benefits / services. the definition of ecological character, including the phrase “ at a given point in time, ” underscores that the concerned party provide the ecological character of a site at the time of designation to the list. a change in ecological character of a listed site should be assessed against the baseline status presented in the ramsar information sheet ( ris ) and the time of designation for the list. “ ecological character ” is defined as the human - induced adverse alteration of any ecosystem component, process and / or ecosystem benefit / service. annex b defines wetlands using article 1. 1 of the convention, which includes artificial ones. it highlights artificial ramsar sites as having international importance for biodiversity. it notes, however, this should not justify the destruction or modification of “ near - natural ” wetlands. the annex also states that a wetland should be considered of international importance if it has a unique example of a “ near ” natural wetland type or if it regularly supports one percent of the population of


proposed language specifying the framework is a “ working tool ” and that the standing committee will carry out the review. new zealand called for design of a simplified cop10 national reporting format harmonized with other relevant conventions and agreements. delegates debated including as a key result area assessment of the unfccc implementation on wetlands, agreeing this would be considered by the standing committee. the cop adopted the resolution with these amendments. the earth negotiations bulletin ’ s coverage of these discussions can be found at : http : / / www. iisd. ca / vol17 / enb1721e. html. final resolution : in the final resolution ( cop9 dr9 rev. 1 ), the cop accepts the annexed framework for the implementation of the convention ’ s strategic plan 2003 - 2008 in the 2006 - 2008 period. the resolution instructs the standing committee to : develop and implement a comprehensive, inclusive process for development of the 2009 - 2014 strategic plan for cop10 ; use the framework to design a simplified cop10 national report framework, taking into account the resolution on synergies with other conventions and collaboration and harmonization of national reporting, and urges parties, the standing and strp committees, the secretariat and iops to use the 2003 - 2008 strategic plan and its appendices as a renewed challenge to promote, implement and monitor the convention ’ s performance, including through the application of “ outcome - oriented ” indicators for the convention ’ s implementation. the framework outlines the convention ’ s goals and the key result areas and key performance indicators. the role of the convention in natural disaster prevention, mitigation and adaptation : on friday, bridgewater noted the relevance of this draft resolution ( cop9 dr10 ) following the asian tsunami and recent hurricanes. proposals included : paragraphs on impacts of extreme climatic events and mobilizing resources to restore affected wetlands ; renaming the resolution to reflect the role of ramsar in mitigating impacts associated with natural phenomena ; reference to “ affected people ” instead of “ local communities and indigenous people ” ; and paragraphs emphasizing pre - disaster planning. on tuesday, delegates reviewed the revised draft resolution. wetlands international, supported by switzerland, austria, belgium, costa rica and the netherlands, proposed changing the resolution ’ s title to reflect natural phenomena induced or exacerbated by human activities. japan supported deleting a paragraph on establishing mechanisms for emergency assessment. switzerland, supported by belgium and albania, proposed reference to ecosystem “ services ” instead of “ benefits. ” suriname suggested including both services and benefits. armenia proposed a separate clause


identification of biosphere reserves. it further encourages coordinating approaches with the cbd, through, inter alia, criteria for identifying wetlands of international importance, and implementing the cbd ’ s programmes of work on marine and coastal biodiversity and protected areas. managing wetlands and waterbirds in response to highly pathogenic avian influenza ( hpai ) : on thursday, the secretariat circulated an information text on avian flu for consultations. delegates discussed this issue in regional meetings on thursday. on saturday afternoon, the contact group, chaired by david stroud ( uk ), met to further consider a draft resolution ( cop9 dr25 ). participants agreed to add a new operative paragraph underlining the importance of developing and implementing national contingency or action plans. in deleting the paragraph on developing guidelines for landscape planning, the group added paragraphs requesting the strp to provide relevant input related to practical measures to reduce the risk of disease transmission between wild and domesticated birds to agencies developing contingency and wetland management plans and to assist in sharing information. on monday, the contact group met in the evening to consider the resolution ’ s first revision. several amendments were suggested, including : adding the word “ captive ” before the word “ birds ; ” deleting a paragraph on providing information on instances of waterbird mortality to national authorities ; and requesting a report on the secretariat and strp ’ s work with relevant agencies at cop10. during the closing plenary on tuesday afternoon, chair stroud submitted a second revision for consideration by the cop. in response to the russian federation ’ s concern about the phrase “ considerable misinformation ” regarding the risks posed by avian flu, the secretary general suggested to replace it with “ misunderstanding in some countries. ” the convention on migratory species praised the cop ’ s work on avian flu. in response to peru ’ s intervention, delegates agreed to change the title of the draft resolution to “ hpai and its consequences for wetlands and waterbirds and their management and conservation for the benefit of human well - being. ” the draft resolution was adopted as amended. final resolution : in the final resolution ( cop9 dr25 rev. 2 ), the cop calls for fully integrated approaches to address avian flu, and requests the convention ’ s continued participation in the scientific task force on avian influenza. the cop also : underlines the importance of developing and implementing national contingency or action plans related to the potential risk of disease transmission, and the need for national preparedness to instances of detection of hpai in


one of the basic tenets of teaching is that the student must learn the basics and foundation of a subject in order for them to master it eventually and reach full human potential. new research from the university of missouri supports this notion, revealing that kids who understood numbers and quantity in the first grade were more likely to get good grades in math when they hit fifth grade. “ this study reinforces the idea that math knowledge is incremental, and without a good foundation, a student won ’ t do well because the math gets more complex, ” said researcher david geary. “ the kids that can go back and forth easily and quickly in translating numerals, the number five, for example, into quantities and in breaking complex problems into smaller parts had a very good head start. ” the study involved 177 elementary school students from kindergarten. researchers hope to follow the group until they reach 10th grade algebra classes in an attempt to gain a deeper understanding of how kids learn, especially when it comes to math. additionally, the findings may help educators discover better methods of teaching. personal growth activities such as studying, doing homework and attending school are integral to a young person ' s development and can even set them on the right path toward a fulfilled life. philosopher, educator and trailblazer ilchi lee believes that human potential is limitless and that individuals can push the boundaries of their abilities with practice and hard work. results of this study support such thoughts, providing further proof that the brain works gradually. students may want to consider ridding their minds of distractions and negativity before engaging in study sessions or attending class in order to reap the full benefits of education.


that give us herbs and spices. the delicately drawn, 2 - color illustrations clearly show the parts of the plants that give us edible leaves, seeds, stems, bark, bulbs, and berries. create an aromatic and tasty exercise by having the children pair real herbs and spices with these cards ( 4½ ” x 6¼ ” ). plants we eat ( pk9 ) learn more about food plants and their different edible parts. this set classifies 18 plant foods into six groups : roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits, and seeds. a duplicate set of 18 labeled picture / definition cards ( 6 " x 6 " ) shows plants in their growing stage with only their “ food ” portion in color. one set of picture / definition cards is spiral bound into 6 control booklets that include definitions of the root, stem, leaf, flower, fruit, and seed. the other set of picture / definition cards are to be cut apart for 2 or 3 - part matching exercises. plant description cards can be used for “ who am i? ” games with our plant picture cards or with real foods. both cards and booklets are laminated. plants we eat replicards ( pk9w ) six replicards are photocopied to produce worksheets for an extension exercise using our set plants we eat ( pk9 ). children color and label the worksheets, which illustrate three plant examples for each of the following groups : roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits, and seeds. the plants we eat booklets serve as controls. after worksheets ( 8½ ” x 11 " ) are colored and labeled, they can be cut apart, stapled together, and made into six take - home booklets. these booklets may generate lively family dinner - table discussions : “ a potato is a what? ” plants - who am i? ( wp ) this beginning activity for lower elementary strengthens both reading and listening skills, and provides children with simple facts about 10 plants. the set consists of duplicate, labeled picture cards with descriptive text and features plants different from those in the first knowledge : plant stories ( see below ). the set of cards with text ending in “ who am i? ” is cut apart into 10 picture cards, 10 plant name cards, and 10 text cards. the other set is left whole. cards are used for picture - to - text card matching exercises and for playing the “ who am i ” game. cards measure 6½ ” x 4 " and are in full color


cards, and 10 text cards. the other set is left whole. cards are used for picture - to - text card matching exercises and for playing the “ who am i ” game. cards measure 6½ ” x 4 " and are in full color and laminated. first knowledge : plant stories ( pk7 ) this set consists of 19 duplicate plant picture / text cards. one set is cut apart for 3 - part matching activities, and the other set is placed in the green, 6 - ring mini - binder labeled plants. the teacher has the option of changing the cards in the binder as needed. the children can match the 3 - part cards ( 6 " x 3¾ ” ) to the cards in the binder, practice reading, learn about the diverse characteristics of these plants, and then play “ who am i? ” the eight angiosperms picture cards can be sorted beneath two cards that name and define monocots and dicots. these activities prepare children for later work with our plant kingdom chart & cards ( see below ), which illustrates the same plants. plant kingdom chart and cards ( pk6 ) our 4 - color plastic paper chart and cards represents the current classification of the plant kingdom ( not illustrated here ) – the same as is used in secondary and college level biology courses. this classification organizes the plant kingdom in a straightforward manner with simple definitions and examples under each heading. firs the plants are categorized as either nonvascular plants ( bryophytes ) or vascular plants. then the vascular plants are divided into two groups : seedless plants or seed plants. seed plants are divided into two groups : gymnosperms and angiosperms with sub - categories. nineteen picture cards ( 2¼ ” x 3 " ) illustrate the currently recognized phyla of the plant kingdom. children match the 19 plant picture cards to the pictures on the chart ( 18 " x 32 " ). text on the back of the picture cards describes each plant. advanced students can recreate the chart with the title cards provided, using the chart as a control of error. background information is provided. parts of a mushroom parts of a gilled mushroom are highlighted and labeled on six 2 - color cards ( 3 " x 5 " ). photocopy the replicard ( 8½ ” x 11 " ) to make quarter page worksheets. the child colors and labels the worksheets, using the picture cards as a guide. completed worksheets can be stapled together to make a booklet for “


imagineyou ’ re at the helm of a 747 commercial airliner, cruising over the rocky mountains. alone in the cockpit, you ’ re on your third cup of coffee, having long since resorted to taping your eyelids open to keep from falling asleep. you ’ re exhausted. above your head, one of the vast constellation of instruments surrounding you begins to flash rhythmically. looks kind of serious, doesn ’ t it? you try to slap yourself awake and think, think! maybe that light knows something you don ’ t. maybe those other silent instruments should be registering distress. is there a dead fuse somewhere? are we all going to die? in a panic, you bank hard left and smash into the mountains. this may be how the brain tends to malfunction when it hasn ’ t gotten enough sleep — it freaks out over the unimportant details. we believe this now because of research conducted by the team of hans van dongen at washington state university spokane over the last three years — the results of which were published earlier this year. granted, van dongen, the principal investigator in the study, wasn ’ t researching pilots, specifically. ( and, yes, the faa takes precautions to keep drowsy pilots away from the yoke — if not away from their laptops ). but the work that van dongen and his crew of researchers and students conducted has overturned the common wisdom about sleeplessness — the old thinking that it impaired the brain ’ s ability to make decisions based on input, to strategize, to execute. the study introduced groups of four nominally paid volunteers at a time to the university ’ s sleep lab — an apartment - like space with couches and food and beds, but no natural light, television or internet. each volunteer was hooked up to a battery of electrodes that monitor brain waves and other vital signs. then they were tucked into bed for the first two nights. following the second night, they were kept awake for the next 62 hours. throughout this time, the four volunteers were tested for various cognitive functions. in one task, subjects had to decode numbers and letters. another was something like scattergories, in which subjects had to name, for example, as many animals that begin with “ b ” as possible. a third tested their scanning working memory by having them memorize a series of letters and then asking if certain other letters were in that original series. what they found was surprising. while the sleepless subjects did lousy on most of the tasks, they


a box girder bridge is a bridge in which the beams are made up of box shaped girders. the box girders consist of concrete, steel or a combination of both. most of the modern elevated structures are built on the basis of the box girder bridge. most of us have travel on the box girder bridges regularly. the most common examples are the flyovers and the structures built for light rail transport. they can sustain heavy weight and hence used in the construction of flyovers. these are used to construct crossways for pedestrians. box girders are used on cable styled bridges and other forms but generally they are a form of beam bridges. the support beams of the girders are tightly coupled together to form a hollow box. this hollow box can have the shape of a rectangle, tightly coupled triangles or trapezium. the box girder bridges offer a stronger support for bridges constructed with an arch. the most famous bay bridge in california, connecting san francisco and oakland is a classic example of the box girder bridge. the box girder bridges are made of prefabricated steel which are manufactured in the factory and assembled onsite. the girders can also be made up ( edit : these are still being made so i think it should be are made of than can also be made of ) of high performance, prestressed, reinforced concrete or a mixture of both concrete and steel. both the girders and bridges can be manufactured elsewhere and installed at a different place as they are prefabricated. that is the beauty of this construction. the bridge can be installed in its position by incremental launching. huge cranes are used to place the new segments onto the completed portions of the bridge until the whole structure is completely assembled. box girder bridges have a number of key advantages when compared to the i - beam girders. box girders offer better resistance to torsion. this is beneficial especially for a curved bridge. larger girders and stronger flanges can be used as this allows for a longer span between the support posts that hold the bridge. the huge hollow boxes can be used to place the water lines, telephone cables and other utility lines. box girders are more expensive to fabricate and difficult to maintain because of the need of a confined space inside the box. there were major disasters that occurred when the west gate bridge of australia and cleddau bridge of uk collapsed. but these disasters gave rise to a new design in the box girder bridges


the current surface analysis map shows current weather conditions, including frontal and high / low pressure positions, satellite infrared ( ir ) cloud cover, and areas of precipitation. a surface weather analysis is a special type of weather map that provides a view of weather elements over a geographical area at a specified time based on information from ground - based weather stations. weather maps are created by plotting or tracing the values of relevant quantities such as sea level pressure, temperature, and cloud cover onto a geographical map to help find synoptic scale features such as weather fronts. the first weather maps in the 19th century were drawn well after the fact to help devise a theory on storm systems. after the advent of the telegraph, simultaneous surface weather observations became possible for the first time, and beginning in the late 1840s, the smithsonian institution became the first organization to draw real - time surface analyses. use of surface analyses began first in the united states, spreading worldwide during the 1870s. use of the norwegian cyclone model for frontal analysis began in the late 1910s across europe, with its use finally spreading to the united states during world war ii. surface weather analyses have special symbols which show frontal systems, cloud cover, or other important information. for example, an h may represent high pressure, implying good and fair weather. an l on the other hand may represent low pressure, which frequently accompanies precipitation. various symbols are used not just for frontal zones and other surface boundaries on weather maps, but also to depict the present weather at various locations on the weather map. areas of precipitation help determine the frontal type and location.


and prognostications for one who becomes ill and for one who is born on that day. close to this is a greek text published in catalogus codicum astrologorum graecorum ( xi / 1, pp. 134 - 44 ; this text cites melampus, for whom see the lunarium conflated from melampus and another “ egyptian ” book in viii / 4, pp. 105 - 07 ). reflecting to some extent the contents of the andarz of adurbad is an arabic bookattributed to imam jaʿfar al - sadeq ( see sezgin, gas vii, pp. 323 - 24, 373 ). it is also very close in content to the chapter of the mandaean book of the zodiac referred to above ; but in addition contains parts of the associations of the thirty days of the month with stories from the old testament found in many similar byzantine hemerologies ( catalogus iii, pp. 32 - 39, x, pp. 121 - 26, ascribed to david and solomon, 196 - 200, 243 - 47, xi / 2, pp. 157 - 62 ). the mandaean and the byzantine hemerologies along with jaʿfar al - sadeq ’ s ketab all share a common source. also attributed to jaʿfar al - sadeq are the short hemerologies which, like the second mesopotamian text ( labat, 1943 ), do little more than indicate that the day is favorable or unfavorable ( see, e. g., ruska, ii, pp. 35 - 36 ; for similar works in syriac and greek, see budge, ii, pp. 557 - 59 ; ccag 8 / 4, pp. 102 - 04 ). ebied and young ( p. 296, n. 3 ) mention a long hemerology in arabic attributed to daniel, salman the persian, and jaʿfar al - sadeq, which, they say, has a number of features reflecting zoroastrian concepts. they state that they are preparing an edition ; it seems not yet to have appeared. 2. the second type of elections originated in india, where it is the basic form of their science of catarchic astrology ( muhurtasastra ) ; there the operative variable is the naksatra in which the moon is located ( pingree, jyotihsastra, chap. 6, pp. 101 - 09


tamara of pseudo - ptolemy ; he had undertaken this work at the request of bahaʾ - al - din mohammad joveyni ( storey, ii, pp. 36 - 37 ). andarz i adurbad imahraspandan in j. m. jamasp - asana, ed., the pahlavi texts contained in the codex mx i, bombay, 1897. e. a. w. budge, the syriac book of medicines, 2 vols., london, 1913. catalogus codicum astrologorum graecorum, 12 vols. in 20 parts, brussels, 1898 - 1954. f. h. cramer, astrologyin roman law and politics, philadelphia, 1954. e. s. drower, the book of thezodiac, london, 1949. t. fahd, “ ikhtiyarat ” in ei ² iii, pp. 1063 - 64. w. b. henning, “ an astrological chapter of the bundahishn, ” jras, 1942, pp. 229 - 48. imam jaʿfar al - sadeq, ketab ektiarat ayyam al - sahr, ed. and tr. r. y. ebied and m. j. l. young as a treatise on hemerology ascribed to gaʿfar al - sadiq, arabica 23, 1976, pp. 296 - 307. r. labat, hemerologies et menologies d ’ assur, paris, 1939. idem, un almanach babylonien ( vr 48 - 49 ), paris 1943. d. n. mackenzie, “ zoroastrian astrology in the bundahisn, ” bso ( a ) s 27, 1964, pp. 511 - 29. d. pingree, jyotihsastra, wiesbaden, 1981. idem, “ mashaʾallah. greek, pahlavi, arabic, and latin astrology, ” forthcoming in arabic science and philosophy. e. reiner, astral magic in babylonia, philadelphia, 1995. j. ruska, arabische al - chemisten ii. gaʿfar al - sadiq, der sechste imam, heidelberg, 1924, pp. 35 - 36. sezgin, gas vii, pp. 32 - 38, 49 - 50, 80 - 87, 125 - 28, 324 - 25. r. c. zaehner, the teachings of


breakthroughs bring the next two major leaps in computing power into sight breakthroughs might make quantum computing, replacement for silicon practical within a decade one of the best things about covering technology is that you ' re always on the edge of a completely new generation of stuff that will make everything completely different than it ever was before, even before the last generation made everything different. " completely different " always seems pretty much the same, with a few more complications, higher costs and a couple of cool new capabilities, of course. unless you look back a decade or two and see that everything is completely different from the way it was then … must be some conceptual myopia that keeps us in happy suspense over the future, nostalgic wonder at the past and bored annoyance with the present. the next future to get excited about is going to be really cool, though. you know how long scientists have been working on quantum computers that will be incomparably more powerful than the ones we have now because don ' t have to be built on a " bit " that ' s either a 1 or a zero? they would use a piece of quantum data called a qubit ( or qbit, consistent with everything in the quantum world, the spelling wants to be two things at once ), that can exist in several states at the same time. that would turn the most basic function in computing from a toggle switch to a dial with many settings. multiply the number of pieces of data in the lowest - level function of the computer and you increase its power logarithmically. making it happen has been a trick ; they ' ve been under development for 20 years and probably won ' t show up for another 10. teams of austrian scientists may cut that time down a bit with a system they developed they say can create digital models of quantum - computing systems to make testing and development of both theory and manufacturing issues quicker and easier. they did it the same way lord of the rings brought gollum to life : putting a living example in front of cameras and taking detailed pictures they could use to recreate the image in any other digital environment. rather than an actor, the photo subject was a calcium atom, drastically cooled to slow its motion, then manipulated it using lasers, putting it through a set of paces predicted by quantum - mechanical theory, and recorded the results. abstracting those results lets the computer model predict the behavior of almost any other quantum particle or environment, making it possible to use the quantum version of a cad / cam system to develop and test new


by quantum - mechanical theory, and recorded the results. abstracting those results lets the computer model predict the behavior of almost any other quantum particle or environment, making it possible to use the quantum version of a cad / cam system to develop and test new approaches to the systems that will actually become quantum computers, according to a paper published in the journal science by researchers from the university of innsbruck and the institute for quantum optics and quantum information ( iqoqi ). far sooner than quantum computers will blow our digitized minds, transistors made from grapheme rather than chunkier materials will allow designers to create processors far more dense – and therefore more potentially powerful – than anything theoretically possible using silicon and metallic alloys we rely on now. graphene is a one - atom - thick layer of carbon that offers almost no resistance to electricity flowing through it, but doesn ' t naturally contain electrons at two energy levels, as silicon does. silicon transistors flip on or off by shifting electrons from one energy level to another. even silicon doesn ' t work that way naturally. it has to be " doped " with impurities to change its properties as a semiconductor. for graphene to work the same way, researchers have to add inverters that that mimic the dual energy levels of silicon. so far they only work at 320 degrees below zero fahrenheit ( 77 degrees kelvin ). researchers at purdue ' s birck nanotechnology center built a version that operates at room temperature, removing the main barrier to graphene as a practical option for computer systems design the researchers, led by doctoral candidate hong - yan chen presented their paper at the device research conference in santa barbara. calif. in june to publicize their results with the inverter. real application will have to wait for chen or others to integrate the design into a working circuit based on graphene rather than silicon. systems built on graphene have the potential to boost the computing power of current processors by orders of magnitude while reducing their size and energy use, but only if they operate in offices not cooled to 77 degrees kelvin. it will still be a few years before graphene starts showing up in airline magazines, let alone in it budgets. we ' ll probably be tired of them, too, by the time quantum computers show up, but there ' s just no satisfying some people. read more of kevin fogarty ' s coreit blog and follow the latest it news at itworld. follow kevin on twitter at @ kevinfogarty. for the latest it news, analysis


poultices, brandy, chloride of lime and ammonia were all that medicine could then offer annie when she started to sicken. none had any effect on her worsening bouts of vomiting and delirium until annie “ expired without a sigh ” on april 23, 1851, darwin recalled. “ we have lost the joy of the household and the solace of our old age. ” keynes argues persuasively that annie ’ s death had a considerable impact on darwin ’ s thinking. “ in her last days, he had watched as her face was changed beyond recognition by the emaciation of her fatal illness. you could only understand the true conditions of life if you held on to a sense of the true ruthlessness of natural forces. ” thus darwin ’ s eyes had been opened to the unforgiving processes that drive evolution. “ we behold the face of nature bright with gladness, ” he wrote years later. “ we do not see, or we forget, that the birds which are idly singing around us mostly live on insects or seeds, and are thus constantly destroying life, or we forget how largely these songsters, or their eggs, or their nestlings, are destroyed by birds or beasts of prey. ” or as he wrote elsewhere : “ all nature is war. ” this pitiless vision — which stressed blind chance as the main determiner in the struggle for survival and the course of evolution — was upsetting for victorians who put such faith in self - help and hard work. nevertheless, this is the version of natural selection that has since been supported by a century and a half of observation and which is now accepted by virtually every scientist on earth. i t has not been a happy process, of course. even today, natural selection holds a special status among scientific theories as being the one that it is still routinely rejected and attacked by a significant — albeit small — segment of society, mainly fundamentalist christians and muslims. such individuals tend to have few views on relativity, the big bang, or quantum mechanics, but adamantly reject the idea that humanity is linked to the rest of the animal world and descended from ape - like ancestors. “ twenty years ago, this was not a problem, ” says steve jones, a professor of genetics at university college london. “ today, i get dozens of students who ask to be excused lectures on evolution because of their religious beliefs. they even accuse me of telling lies when i say natural selection is backed by the facts. so i ask if they believe in mendel ’


“ today, i get dozens of students who ask to be excused lectures on evolution because of their religious beliefs. they even accuse me of telling lies when i say natural selection is backed by the facts. so i ask if they believe in mendel ’ s laws of genetics? they say yes, of course. and the existence of dna? again, yes. and genetic mutations? yes. the spread of insecticide resistance? yes. the divergence of isolated populations on islands? yes. and do you accept that 98 percent of dna is shared by humans and chimps? again yes. so what is wrong with natural selection? it ’ s all lies, they say. it beats me, frankly. ” this dismay is shared by dawkins. “ these people claim the world is less than 10, 000 years old, which is wrong by a great many orders of magnitude. earth is several billion years old. these individuals are not just silly, they are colossally, staggeringly ignorant. i am sure sense will prevail, however. ” and jones agrees. “ it ’ s a passing phase. in 20 years, this nonsense will have gone. ” natural selection is simply too important for society to live without it, he argues. it is the grammar of the living world and provides biologists with the means to make sense of our planet ’ s myriad plants and animals, a view shared by attenborough whose entire life on earth programs rests on the bed - rock of darwinian thinking. “ opponents say natural selection is not a theory supported by observation or experiment ; that it is not based on fact ; and that it cannot be proved, ” attenborough says. “ well, no, you cannot prove the theory to people who won ’ t believe in it any more than you can prove that the battle of hastings took place in 1066. however, we know the battle happened then, just as we know the course of evolution on earth unambiguously shows that darwin was right. ”


the court proclaimed that a new month had begun. even if the court knew by its own calculations that the new moon was scheduled to appear on a certain day, but due to weather conditions it was not seen, they did not declare the new moon until the next day when witnesses arrived. it was conceivable that the new month would be delayed a day. also the courts were empowered to add an extra month to the yearly cycle to insure that the holiday of passover would be in the spring. for this purpose they would add another month to the yearly cycle. the year would then have thirteen months ( as in this year 2000, or as we say, 5760 ). since the spotting of the moon and declaration of the new month had ramifications as to when the jewish holidays would be, many tried to thwart the actions of the courts in order to prevent the jews from observing their holidays. aside from dishonest ' witnesses ', the ancient greeks, during the time of chanukah, tried to prevent the jews from declaring new months through various decrees. this was in hopes to prevent the jews from observing their holidays. in addition, during the time after the first exile, when many jews still resided in babylon, the courts set up a relay system of lighting fires on the tops of mountains. in this manner the declaration of the month was related quickly to the jews in the diaspora so that they could observe the festival of passover and the holy fast of yom kippur in its proper time. the samaritans, who inhabited the mountainous area, would lite fires in order to confuse the jews in the diaspora. the courts were then obligated to send out messengers to bring the news to those jews who lived so far away. although the new moon is not a ' religious ' holiday, it does have religious significance. the day, during the time of the holy temple, was marked with an additional sacrifice. today, a special prayer called " hallel, " or praise, is said and many have the custom to eat something special in honor of the new month. in olden times, we had a court that would declare the new month according to the sightings. this court was made up of judges who were empowered through a direct chain from moses. this was a requirement. today, no one has such authority to declare a new month. thanks to the farsightedness of rabbi hillel the prince, who was the last of the princes from the house of david, we have a


me and my mom are having an agrument about how to solve this problem. 27 / ( 5 + 4 ) * 19 = she says the answer is 57 and i say the answer is 6 with a remainder of 9.. can you please tell me who is right. thank you. i need help labeling complements in my sentences. i am not sure if i am doing this correctly or not. could you please check to see if i have the following parts of speech labeled correctly? i must identify the subject, verb and complements. i must determinit if the complement... what is a vibration? what is the relationship between period and frequency? summer assignment : would you say do you know who will replace erica and _ i _ next week? which word would you put in place if i is the wrong pronoun? me or myself, maybe? i have an english 10 summer assignment about grammar and such. one of the questions is : in the following sentence, which words are verbs? melissa was worried about her job interview. a. was, worried b. worried c. worried, about i know that it ' s not c., and i don ' t thin... what is the kcalorie value of a meal supplying 110g of carbs, 25g of protein, 20g of fat, and 5g of alcohol? please help show work yes those are the answers i got too! i just wanted to see if i was right.. thanks ( daddy warbucks employs workers in his perfectly competitive factory. mr. smith employs workers in his monopolistic factory as the only producer of the thing you really want. given the following information, determine how many workers each firm will employ : the weekly salary... chemical reaction formulas of : 1. ) fe + h2so4 2. ) fes + h2so4 3. ) cs2 + s what happens if you heat jic and iron together? what happens if you heat jic and iron sulphide together / for further reading


safe, painless sound waves off organs to create an image of their structure. an abdominal ultrasound can create images of the entire urinary tract. the procedure is performed in a health care provider ’ s office, outpatient center, or hospital by a specially trained technician, and the images are interpreted by a radiologist — a doctor who specializes in medical imaging ; anesthesia is not needed. the images can show the location of any stones. this test does not expose children to radiation, unlike some other imaging tests. although other tests are more useful in detecting very small stones or stones in the lower portion of the ureter, ultrasound is considered by many health care providers to be the best screening test to look for stones. - computerized tomography ( ct ) scans use a combination of x rays and computer technology to create threedimensional ( 3 - d ) images. a ct scan may include the injection of a special dye, called contrast medium. ct scans require the child to lie on a table that slides into a tunnel - shaped device where the x rays are taken. the procedure is performed in an outpatient center or hospital by an x - ray technician, and the images are interpreted by a radiologist ; anesthesia is not needed. ct scans may be required to get an accurate stone count when children are being considered for urologic surgery. because ct scans expose children to a moderate amount of radiation, health care providers try to reduce radiation exposure in children by avoiding repeated ct scans, restricting the area scanned as much as possible, and using the lowest radiation dose that will provide the needed diagnostic information. - x - ray machines use radiation to create images of the child ’ s urinary tract. the images can be taken at an outpatient center or hospital by an x - ray technician, and the images are interpreted by a radiologist ; anesthesia is not needed. the x rays are used to locate many kinds of stones. a conventional x ray is generally less informative than an ultrasound or ct scan, but it is less expensive and can be done more quickly than other imaging procedures. how are kidney stones in children treated? the treatment for a kidney stone usually depends on its size and what it is made of, as well as whether it is causing symptoms of pain or obstructing the urinary tract. small stones usually pass through the urinary tract without treatment. still, children will often require pain control and encouragement to drink lots of fluids to help move the stone along. pain control may consist of oral or


caster semenya, the south african runner who won the women ’ s 800 - meter race at the world track championships in berlin last month, has been unofficially declared intersexed. if she is, it means that she was born with some discrepancy between her external genitals, internal sex anatomy ( ovaries or testes and her hormones and chromosomes ). the international association of athletic federations ( iaaf ) will not make its official ruling as to whether it considers semenya a woman until november, but an increasing number of news outlets around the world have reported that she ’ s “ a hermaphrodite. ” what does this mean, exactly? the media ’ s terminology itself reflects the ignorance and confusion surrounding intersex. doctors and lay people no longer use the word hermaphrodite because it is vague, demeaning and sensationalistic. “ hermaphrodite ” continues to conjure images of mythical creatures, perhaps even monsters and freaks. it ’ s thus not surprising that most have rejected the label. historically, hermaphrodite has been one of the more neutral descriptors of those born with atypical sex development. derogatory terms such as “ freak of nature, ” “ hybrid, ” “ impostor, ” “ sexual pervert, ” and “ unfortunate creature ” pervade early american medical literature. in one standard 19th - century text on malformations, one doctors referred to “ these mortifying and disgusting imperfections. ” intersex bodies have always aroused suspicion. but many people ’ s distrust of them has not been limited to the playing fields, nor is it new. throughout american history, doctors and lay people in authority have assumed that those born with atypical bodies were dishonest and fraudulent ( say, in illegally voting when the franchise was limited to men ), or were seeking illegal sexual relations. these authorities persistently tried to define ambiguous bodies as either male or female. yet over the years doctors ’ evaluations of intersex bodies have shifted. in the 1920s and 1930s, for example, a person with a female - appearing body would have been counseled to undergo surgery in order to appear more like a man because of her internal testes, particularly if doctors discovered that she was sexually attracted to women. in the 1940s, doctors turned to the new field of psychology to guide their decisions and determined that it was more sensible to let such an individual continue living as a woman, if she so chose.


introduction to layout designing. hello, & welcome back to firewire, your friendly guide to the exciting world of web - design & web - solutions! while developing a website or any design we have to take some precautions of aesthetic aspect. behind every good design there is a good layout. in case, we are wondering about how to move ahead we must know the basics of the layout. means arrangement of different objects in different media, which conveys your message easily to the viewer. here are some basic points for designing a good layout. to create a good layout you must have a good observation : to see layouts around you, observe all the objects such as tress, flowers, mountains, animals, pets, childrens etc. minutely. refer to magazines, books, advertisement etc. and try to understand how graphics are and what color schemes have been used? why and which type of fonts have been used? why and how do they give treatment to the images? lot of observation you come to know what is good and what is bad. to increase the power of observation you have to create an idea or mental picture of the object or the situation exactly as you want. this will help you in designing. actually it is a never - ending process. sense : many times good layouts get spoiled because of the wrong selection of color schemes. in real sense, color scheme is a good weapon to enhance a layout. if you use colors carefully you can make wonders out of it. a color depends on the viewability. in case, female related subjects the colors normally used are pink, lavender, light blue and peach. children related subjects the colors generally used is warm yellow, sky blue, orange, red, leaf green and violet. for medical related subjects the colors is sea green, turquoise blue, dull and grey shades. nature related subjects, cool color schemes are preferred as against that social institutes you can use warm color schemes like red, black, bright yellow etc. color schemes may vary according to the subject. for ready availability of color schemes you can visit the initially you can even start with color books, which are readily available in the market, as they contain various color schemes for various purposes. sense : after color schemes, the one and only tool to express your emotions perfectly and properly is the " font ".