contacts in italy and portugal, the japanese were also making their desires known through their representatives in moscow and in sweden, with representatives of the swedish royal family. the swedish reports were forwarded to the united states by herschel v. johnson, the u. s. ambassador in stockholm. reporting on april 6, 1945, johnson wrote that it was " probable that very far - reaching conditions would be accepted by the japanese by way of negotiation, " but that " there is no doubt that unconditional surrender terms would be unacceptable to the japanese because it would mean dishonor. application of such terms would be fatal and lead to desperate action on the part of the people.... the emperor must not be touched, " johnson wrote. the atom bomb project on april 25, 1945, secretary of war henry stimson and gen. leslie groves, the manager of the manhattan project, met at the white house to brief the president on the status of the atomic bomb. the bomb project had been initiated by president roosevelt on the basis of an appeal by albert einstein. einstein, aware of nazi work on developing such weapons, had been urged by leo szilard, a protege of bertrand russell, who played on einstein ' s fears, to write a letter to president roosevelt urging him to begin work on an atomic weapon. szilard, a hungarian physicist and a devotee of h. g. wells, had worked his way into einstein ' s confidence while still a young physicist in berlin. in 1928 szilard had read wells ' open conspiracy, and waxed enthusiastic. by 1929 he had travelled to london to meet with wells and to negotiate the rights to publish wells ' works in central europe. szilard himself worked on a scheme to realize wells ' vision of a " world government " controlled by a chosen " scientific elite. " in fact, so enamored was he of this idea that he developed his own plan for creating such an " elite, " which he called the bund, " a closely knit group of people whose inner bond is pervaded by a religious and scientific spirit. " although formulating this proto - fascist vision at an early age, szilard bandied such ideas about in different forms until his death. how the einstein letter led to the manhattan project, under general groves, is well known. by the time the new president, harry truman, was briefed on the manhattan project in april 1945, the bomb was almost ready for testing. the growing realization by truman of the power and capability of


project, under general groves, is well known. by the time the new president, harry truman, was briefed on the manhattan project in april 1945, the bomb was almost ready for testing. the growing realization by truman of the power and capability of the new weapon gave truman the means to accomplish the task for which he had been chosento dismantle roosevelt ' s entire post - war design. roosevelt had dealt with the mercurial russian leader, joseph stalin, in a rather straightforward and open manner. not that this was without its difficulties, given stalin ' s propensities and paranoia. nevertheless, by 1944 roosevelt felt that he had created a certain rapport with stalin and intended to work to bring wartime ally russia into the concert of european nations after the war. writing in may 1944 in the saturday evening post, forrest davis, a correspondent favored by roosevelt, wrote : " mr. roosevelt is striving to bring the soviet union, which has fallen out with the european tradition, back into the family of nations, as a condition precedent to world organization. convinced that unless that reunion takes place, there can be no world association, nor assured hope of peace, the president ' s ' great design ' rests on two assumptions. first, he accepts the prevalent view that the soviet union will be able to organize effectively its manpower and resources in peace as well as war, thus becoming permanently a great power. he further assumes that the interests of a victorious russian state can be reconciled to those of the atlantic powers, china, and the small nations of europe and america. mr. roosevelt, gambling for stakes as enormous as any statesman ever played for, has been betting that the soviet union needs peace and is willing to pay for it by collaborating with the west. by no means unaware of the risks, he declines, nevertheless, to acknowledge them even to close associates. the white house is a delicate sounding board, reflecting everything that happens everywhere on the globe. it would be absurd to suppose that the president has not considered the implications of his russian policy in all angles and facets. the alternativea russia excluded, aggrieved and driven in on itself to prepare for the inevitable war of continentswas to him so much worse, that he saw himself with little choice. he chose, moreover, to prosecute his policy so sincerely that the russians, proverbially mistrustful, could have no ground for misgiving. " the utopians ' plans for establishing their global dictatorship were, on the other hand, precisely geared to play into those


emperor, and facilitate a rapid japanese surrenderbefore the bomb could be used. more generally, grew realized that there was a substantial peace party in japan, and that the peace - feelers the allied intelligence forces were picking up, were for real. the position of the united states, he felt, should be supportive of that peace party, and immediately clarifying the role of the emperor in the peace terms was absolutely essential if peace were to be quickly achieved. many leading republicans were also calling for such a statement. on july 3, the new york times reported that the senate republican minority leader, wallace white, " declared that the pacific war might end quickly if president truman would state, specifically, in the upper chamber, just what unconditional surrender means for the japanese. " the war department ' s operations division advised on july 12, 1945 that " the present stand of the war department is that japanese surrender is just possible and is attractive enough to the u. s. to justify us in making any concession which might be attractive to the japanese, so long as our realistic aims for peace in the pacific are not adversely affected. " indeed, by this time the japanese peace - feelers were becoming a drumbeat. on july 12, as truman was travelling to potsdam aboard the presidential yacht, the augusta, emperor hirohito was declaring in a meeting of the supreme council for the direction of the war, that although war planning had to continue, it was also " necessary to have a plan to close the war at once. " a cable intercepted on july 12 from foreign minister togo to japanese ambassador sato in moscow, and given to truman aboard the augusta on his way to potsdam, stated : " we are now secretly giving consideration to the termination of the war because of the pressing situation which confronts japan both at home and abroad. " unlike the previous peace - feelers, these were very official and very high - level, even involving the leadership of the japanese army, the only real hold - outs for continued fighting. by the time of the potsdam meeting it was also known that japan was asking russia, with which it still had a neutrality treaty, to help it get out of the war. using the bomb ' diplomatically ' but truman, with an entirely different agenda, was not ready for peacenot yet at any rate. indeed, arriving at potsdam, the united states was already taking measures to delay russian entry into the war in the pacific. at yalta it had been agreed that russia would enter the pacific theater in exchange for several conditions


. " after the plenary session of july 24, truman approached stalin as stalin was about to leave the conference, and mentioned to him casually " that we had a new weapon of unusual destructive force. " the poker - faced stalin simply commented, according to truman, that " he was glad to hear it and hoped we would make ' good use of it against the japanese. ' " judging from stalin ' s placid reaction, truman and churchill thought that stalin didn ' t really understand that truman had been referring to the atomic bomb. the wily soviet leader, however, knew a lot more than he was letting on. what his russian science advisers, like the great scientist vladimir vernadsky, were not able to tell him about the bomb, well - placed spies in the manhattan project were. marshal zhukov relates stalin ' s comments to his own people following this encounter with truman. " stalin, in my presence, told molotov about his conversation with truman, " zhukov wrote in his memoirs. " ' they ' re raising the price, ' said molotov. stalin gave a laugh, ' let them. we ' ll have to have a talk with kurchatov today about speeding up our work. ' " stalin was referring to the soviet bomb program, headed up by academician i. v. kurchatov. potsdam : preventing japan ' s surrender it was also at potsdam that churchill was informed of the successful test. british chief of staff field marshal sir alan brookesby wrote that churchill " was completely carried away. it was no longer necessary for the russians to come into the japanese war ; the new explosive alone was sufficient to settle the matter. furthermore, we now had something in our hands which would redress the balance with the russians. " by this time, the interim committee had decided that the bomb would be used, without warning, on a japanese war plant, preferably in the vicinity of an area in which many japanese workers were living, for maximum psychological effect. norris relates how groves wanted to target kyoto itself, the most important religious center for the japanese, but stimson, anxious that the japanese remain malleable enough after the war in order to serve in the post - war battle against the spread of communism in asia, rejected this proposal, assenting only to the targetting of hiroshima, nagasaki, niigata, and kokura. there was only one true dissenter to this decision of the committeeralph bard, navy secretary james forrestal ' s undersecretary


all his plans for using it to establish the " world government. " in late may 1945, szilard and fellow scientists harold urey and walter bartky met with jimmy byrnes. byrnes told them that general groves had informed him that russia had no uranium, and that therefore there was no fear of them developing atomic weapons. in reality, already in 1940, russian scientist vladimir vernadsky had appointed a committee to investigate the uranium resources of the soviet union. while they did discover uranium deposits in central asia, it would be the countries of eastern europe and soviet - occupied east germany which would provide the great bulk of the uranium for the soviet nuclear program. in a memorandum to byrnes, szilard underlined that it was the post - war organization of the atomic bomb threat which would be of utmost importance. in accordance with his wellsian program, he urged that there be established international controls on atomic research, with the direct involvement of the scientists in the decisions as to its use. byrnes found the idea rather ludicrous. " he [ szilard ] felt that scientists, including himself, should discuss the matter with the cabinet, which i did not feel desirable. his general demeanor and his desire to participate in policymaking made an unfavorable impression on me. " more significant opposition came from the military leadership of the country, most of whom were adamantly opposed to the use of the atomic bomb. alperovitz documents this resistance quite extensively in separate chapters dealing with the reaction from each of the uniformed services ; all regarded the bombing as militarily unnecessary. stimson himself, when in europe for the potsdam talks, saw fit to solicit the opinion of gen. dwight eisenhower, commander - in - chief of allied forces in europe. " the incident took place in 1945 when secretary of war stimson, visiting my headquarters in germany, informed me that our government was preparing to drop an atomic bomb on japan, " eisenhower would later write in his autobiography, mandate for change. " i was one of those who felt that there were a number of cogent reasons to question the wisdom of such an act.... the secretary, upon giving me the news of the successful bomb test in new mexico, and of the plan for using it, asked for my reaction, apparently expecting a vigorous assent. during the recitation of the relevant facts, i had been conscious of a feeling of depression, and so i voiced to him my grave misgivings, first on the basis of my belief


terms of the outrageous claims of the number of lives saved. " i believe, with complete conviction, that the use of the atomic bomb saved hundreds of thousandsperhaps several millionsof lives, both american and japanese, " compton wrote. this was, for them, not merely an attempt to justify their actions. " if the propaganda against the use of the atomic bomb had been allowed to grow unchecked, " conant wrote stimson, " the strength of our military position by virtue of having the bomb would have been correspondingly weakened, and with the weakening would have come a decrease in the probabilities of an international agreement for the control of atomic energy. " indeed this, and not the defeat of japan, had been the real wellsian purpose of the bomb project to begin with. the cold war begins the effect on russia of the hiroshima and nagasaki bombings was immediate. visiting moscow together with marshal zhukov a few days after the bombing of hiroshima, eisenhower, according to edgar snow, answered " a private question privately, " with the following remarks : " i would have said, i was sure we could keep the peace with russia. now, i don ' t know. i had hoped the bomb wouldn ' t figure in this war. until now i would have said that we three, britain with her mighty fleet, america with the strongest air force, and russia with the strongest land force on the continent, we three could have guaranteed the peace of the world for a long, long time to come. but now, i don ' t know. people are frightened and disturbed all over. everyone feels insecure again. " three policies emerged for dealing with the advent of the nuclear age. bertrand russell and his utopian co - thinkers demanded the united states get ready for preventive nuclear war against the soviet union, to enforce a u. s. - british nuclear monopoly. the policy of truman, and of wall street, was the " baruch plan " for world government enforcement of complete nuclear technological apartheid. among truman ' s circles there was still the illusion that the united states would remain sole proprietor of nuclear weapons for a long time to come. on oct. 8, 1946, truman was asked if the united states would keep control of all nuclear technological information. " well, i don ' t think it would do any good to let them in on the know - how, " truman said, " because i don ' t think they could do it, anyway. " truman ' s initial response to this was to attempt to use


don ' t think it would do any good to let them in on the know - how, " truman said, " because i don ' t think they could do it, anyway. " truman ' s initial response to this was to attempt to use the forum of the united nations to impose top - down control on the nations of the world with regard to the research and development and the production of nuclear technology, and the top - down control of the nuclear materials themselvesone of the key elements in the groves post - war plans for nuclear weapons, as norris documents. truman appointed the aging financier bernard baruch, formerly head of the war production board during world war i, as the head of the u. s. delegation to the un atomic energy commission, assuring a hard line on the control issue. baruch ' s plan demanded " swift and sure punishment " of any nation which attempted independently to develop nuclear technology, and insisted that the veto power of the un security council be suspended entirely in matters of atomic control. bertrand russell was also delighted with the baruch plan, as the realization of his " world government " idea. and the soviet union ' s swift and complete rejection of the baruch plan in 1946, provided grist for russell ' s " preventive war " mill ; in 1949 george eliot published a book entitled if russia strikes, in which he called on the united states to present moscow with an ultimatum : cease research and production efforts on the atomic bomb and accept the baruch plan, or face an american attack that would " raze the u. s. s. r. with an air atomic offensive. " the " preventive war " scenario also won its adherents among some u. s. military layers, particularly those air forces officers who had bought into the supremacy of " air power " as the real war - winning capability. the head of the newly founded united states air force, gen. henry h. ( hap ) arnold, in a report to secretary of war stimson, asserted that the " one defense against the atomic bomb " was " to hit it before it starts. " in a speech at the boston navy yard on aug. 25, 1950, navy secretary francis matthews gave a speech which supported the utopians ' thesis. matthews said that the united states should consider " instituting a war to compel cooperation for peace. " many other leading figures in the truman administration supported matthews ' callincluding stuart symington, director of the national security resources board and former secretary of the air force


states should consider " instituting a war to compel cooperation for peace. " many other leading figures in the truman administration supported matthews ' callincluding stuart symington, director of the national security resources board and former secretary of the air force, and gen. albert wedemeyer, commander of the sixth army. by the time of the matthews ' speech, however, the soviets had eliminated the u. s. atomic monopoly on nuclear weapons, exploding a nuclear device on the steppes of kazakstan in august 1949. the proposals for " preventive war " would continue on and off for several years, but neither truman, nor much less eisenhowerwho effectively judoed the utopian gameplanwere ever prepared to go that far. the world now entered the era of mutual and assured destruction. eisenhower ' s atoms for peace from here on in, preventive war with the soviets would be viewed as more and more suicidal. the resulting ' ' balance of terror " would now be used by the same utopians as the argument for bringing the world into the era of world government, including russell ' s attempt during the cuban missile crisis to bring the americans and the soviets into an " arms control regime. " the third post - war nuclear policy, however, and the initiative that promised to break through this controlled environment, was the " atoms for peace " program launched in 1953 by president eisenhower. envisioning international cooperation between states as the means of fostering their development by the peaceful uses of nuclear power, rather than the establishment of the institutional straitjacket of a world police regime, ike succeeded in engaging the soviet union in cooperation for development. in the course of that program, between 1956 and 1959, the united states concluded nuclear cooperation agreements with 40 different countries, with the soviet union providing nuclear power for the satellite countries of eastern europe. from 1956 to 1962, the atoms for peace program provided research reactors, nuclear training, and fissionable material to 26 states. later, in a similar peace - through - development initiative, president ronald reagan adopted lyndon larouche ' s technology - sharing concept for his strategic defense initiative ( sdi ) proposal. the utopians in the reagan administrationwho included such well - known figures in today ' s " get saddam " operation as richard perle, doug feith, and paul wolfowitzsucceeded in sabotaging that program, creating the basis for their " comeback " under george herbert walker bush. they are now intent on realizing the nightmare of the wellsian - russell


whose point of view? the journey of three generations ( literature link for the book whale journey ) in her 50 years, old gray has traveled a distance equal to traveling to the moon and home again. what ' s in store for her baby, about to make his first migration? whale journey by vivian french ( 1998, zero to ten limited ) is a fact - filled picture book and gripping tale about the life cycle of the gray whale. you ' ll want to " journey " through the book more than once as you join three generations of whales on their migration. for three scars, it may be the last of her journeys, bittersweet with memories and quite exhausting. for old gray, it ' s a middle journey, one of many more to come. she ' s been there and done that many times in her life. and for baby gray, this is a first. it ' s a time of wild excitement, challenging thrills, and unknown dangers. it ' s the same journey, yet different for each one making it. the journey of three generations provides rich opportunities for personal connections, science learning, and author ' s craft. begin with the point - of - view writing activity and expand with the extensions that follow. whatever the age of your students, you ' ll find something for everyone! try this! writing activity after reading the story, ask students to choose one of the whales in the story : three scars, old gray, or baby gray. tell them they will write a journal entry from that point of view. students may use events from the book or events they imagine will happen along the migratory journey. ( older students may wish to write a short story, essay, or memoir from their chosen character ' s point of view. ) then follow these steps in the writing process : - prewriting : for students who would benefit, encourage brainstorming with other writers who chose the same character. what is it like to be that whale? what are their fears, concerns, joys, satisfactions? what have they experienced to make them feel that way? what lies ahead for each? how do they view this migration? what memories do they have? other students may prefer freewriting or clustering to get their ideas and " experiences " flowing. - drafting : encourage students to freely write first drafts, leaving blanks to which they can return instead of spending time fleshing out details. have them review their drafts, then read them aloud to partners. a partner ' s questions and comments can help writers decide what to change


i ’ ve been puzzling over a phenomenon lately that i ’ d like to talk a bit about. i want to put this out into the ether and get feedback from all of you. because i can ’ t make sense of this — and perhaps your superior brains can. with the rise in digital content, we ’ ve seen more and more examples of technology being created to enforce the law and / or a company ’ s terms of service for their product. and just because technology can do this, does it mean that we as a society should allow it? in the past, here ’ s how the law was enforced : - the law exists - as a member of a society, you are expected to know about the law - if you violate the law, in theory someone punishes you and here ’ s how the law is enforced now in some cases : - the law exists - technology is created to make it difficult or impossible for you to break the law - if you somehow manage to break through the technology and break the law, you are punished for breaching the system as well as breaking the law itself here ’ s a real - world example of technology - enforced laws to start the discussion. the saudi arabian government developed an rfid chip with a cyanide implant. these chips were implanted in known criminals ( supposedly terrorists ) and if their handlers or probation officers or whoever was watching them suspected that they were violating the law again, boom – cyanide in the blood … instant death. no trial, no due process, just a remotely activated death penalty. in the world of digital content we see this same practice but in a non - lethal incarnation. the utilization of internet filters in schools and libraries ( and on school - issued computers in kids ’ homes ) is intended as a way to mandatorily enforce laws against child pornography and the display of harmful and obscene materials in public. advocates for this technology sell it as a way to enforce these laws without human intervention. unfortunately, the technology doesn ’ t actually work very well, and about 30 % of sites that should be blocked aren ’ t and 30 % of sites that should be allowed get blocked erroneously. the intention is good, but the side effects are not worth the trade off — both access to legitimate information and the false sense of security the technology creates. some schools and libraries realize the inherent flaws in the technology and choose, instead, to do what we as a society have been doing for generations — trusting people to follow the law, and when they don ’ t we have


of security the technology creates. some schools and libraries realize the inherent flaws in the technology and choose, instead, to do what we as a society have been doing for generations — trusting people to follow the law, and when they don ’ t we have policies in place for reprimands or punishments ( e. g. calling the cops on their asses ). another key example is the technology used in digital rights management, called “ digital restrictions management ” by its detractors, including yours truly. once again, the technology was created to enforce the applicable copyright law as well as the company - created terms of service for their products and content. and once again, the technology doesn ’ t actually work. why? digital rights management technology doesn ’ t work because it doesn ’ t do what the companies tell you it does : stop piracy. if copyrighted content was easy to get legally at a fair price in an easy to access format ( read : one not locked down with layers of drm software ), then more people would be willing to pay for it. why? convenience and safety. it ’ s why the music industry is selling drm - free mp3s and still making money. i ’ d rather give $ 7. 99 to a band and get a full, drm - free, legal copy of their album than try to find a complete, high quality, virus - free version on a torrent site. ultimately, these failed attempts to decrease piracy and ( in theory ) increase sales not only fail, but they drive even more users away. i strongly believe it is the current state of drm that drives people into the arms of the pirates — not greed, a lack of ethics, or pure evil. unless you count drm as pure evil, which i do. so … if the idea of the cyanide - laden rfid chip disturbs you, then ( following my logic, anyway ) the idea of internet filters and digital rights management should equally perturb you. and if you ’ re a librarian, then dammit — both internet filters and digital rights management should perturb you as a professional and you should do everything in your power to fight them both — in your own library and in the profession as a whole. fight, librarians! fight!


in this section... pathologies detected by cardiac catheterization cardiac catheterization, as discussed earlier, involves the insertion of a catheter into the heart for the diagnosis of various diseases. cardiac catheterization is typically used for diagnosing the following pathologies. aortic dissection - cardiac catheterization is a method used in treating aortic dissection. the catheter called a stent is inserted and threaded to the location of the tear. the stent then provides as a channel for blood flow with minimal leakage. aortic aneurysm – as with aortic dissection, cardiac catheterization is a method of treatment. a stent is inserted and threaded to the location of the affected blood vessel. the stent provides a channel for blood flow without further damaging the widened blood vessel. congenital heart disease – cardiac catheterization is performed to measure oxygen levels and pressures within the heart chambers. cardiac catheterization may also be used as a way to treat conditions by closing holes to prevent mixing of the blood between chambers. aortic regurgitation - cardiac catheterization can be used as a diagnostic tool since it is a method of measuring blood pressure in the various chambers. atrial septal defects ( asd ) – cardiac catheterization has been used to evaluate this defect. this invasive procedure allows the analysis of the oxygen saturation in both right and left sides of the heart. cardiomyopathy – cardiac catheterization has been used to measure blood pressures in the various cardiac chambers to diagnose this condition. coronary heart disease – cardiac catheterization is used to inject dye to make the coronary arteries visible on x - rays, thereby showing where blockages are.


t have emotions at all. an aspie with strong beliefs may feel that a person has moved on to a much better life. they may feel that grandma has finally been reunited with grandpa and that they will be happy as a result. in this case, they ' re empathising with the recently dead, not the recently bereaved. this doesn ' t make their reaction any less empathetic and it certainly doesn ' t make them a " cold person ". it ' s the interpretation of others who misread the target of the emotion that is at fault. as people with asperger ' s syndrome pass through life they, like everyone else, acumulate a lot of " social wisdom ". eventually they learn that their laughter, though well founded, has no place at a funeral and that the correct " group feelings " are of loss and sadness. the first time that these expressions kick in, they may be a little forced or fake. later as the aspie begins to get into a proper understanding of loss, usually because they suffer loss themselves and have an emotional state to relate to, those expressions become real and stronger. it ' s not usual to see an older person with asperger ' s syndrome overwhelmed by sadness at a funeral, even one for a distant relative. once those feelings of sadness are tapped into, it ' s difficult to let go and almost impossible to control the intensity of feeling. it ' s been said that people with asperger ' s syndrome often feel emotion more strongly than others. i ' d be inclined to agree with that. i used the funeral example above to show a progression from delayed and even wrong emotion to instantaneous " empathy ". clearly it is possible for a person with asperger ' s syndrome to learn how another is feeling but they need a few key things to happen ; the situation must be clearly stated in the case of a funeral, it ' s easy to tell that one is occurring, hence a person with asperger ' s syndrome can easily tap into the feelings ( and rules ) for prior funerals. if the feelings of a neurotypical match those of a previous occurance, you need to let your aspie know. sad puppy - dog eyes aren ' t necessarily going to communicate what is needed. you need to " use your words ". the target must be obvious in the funeral example, the target wasn ' t the deceased person, it was the grieving family. our aspie projected empathy towards the wrong target. usually in domestic situations


write essays and perform pages of mathematics. these a great ideas but let us be a little looser in our interpretation. - reading is to communicate via unspoken language. you ' ll find that there are signs to be read all around us but only some of them have words. have your child interpret iconic signs as well as words. in fact, iconic signs are often an easier place to start. start with the basics such as ladies and gents toilets and then move up to less obvious ones like stop and give way. make sure that you child understands the meanings of these signs since reading without understanding meaning is pointless. when iconic signs are mastered, work on worded signs, street names for example. show your child how to reference street names in a directory or gps as you drive. reading is not just about books. - writing is a means of communication via written language. just as the first writings were pictographs, so too can your child ' s first written communication. have them draw things that they want such as food and drink. leave bottles and cans with labels about for them to copy - you ' ll find that they copy the words too. don ' t stress over legibility - i know plenty of doctors who can ' t write legibly today. don ' t stress over backward or transposed letters either. it is a pain and it is disconcerting when it continues for years but it ' s not necessarily a sign of dyslexia. be patient with your child ' s stresses and remember that low muscle tone which is common in children with aspergers syndrome, can make writing very uncomfortable. ultimately, if your child has too much difficulty forming letters, then give them alternatives such as touchpads or computers to type on. remember that writing isn ' t about letter formation, it ' s about getting ideas down onto paper in a form that others can understand. - the idea behind arithmetic is that your child should be able to conceptualise quantity and adjustments to it quantity. you ' ll find very little everyday life mathematics that involves multiplication and division most of the time it ' s simply addition and subtraction. fractions rarely make an appearance and many people can go through their entire post - school lives without raising numbers to powers or using algebra or calculus. for most of us, mathematics is all about determining how much change to expect when buying things so that you can tell if you can afford something and if you ' re being " ripped off ". with that in mind, take your child on trips to the shops.


us, mathematics is all about determining how much change to expect when buying things so that you can tell if you can afford something and if you ' re being " ripped off ". with that in mind, take your child on trips to the shops. give them small amounts of money and ask them to buy what they can. lolly shops with patient storekeepers are great for this exercise and it ' s this kind of maths that is far more important than pages of exercise problems. beyond the " three rs " after the three r ' s come social skills and the ability to form concepts. usually neither of these even warrant a grade at school but they ' re critical skills. social skills are far more critical than than grades, degrees and diplomas when it comes to getting a job - and they ' re even more important when it comes to keeping it. if your child isn ' t learning appropriate social skills at school, then get them involved in extracurricular activities. these can include sports, scouting, chess clubs, movie clubs - anything provided that there ' s a social aspect to it. the ability to generalise from concepts is critical too but for some reason, this isn ' t even a skill that is taught or acknowledged. it ' s simply expected to materialise from nowhere. unfortunately, it ' s not something that happens easily when a child has asperger ' s syndrome. in those cases, it needs to be taught explicitly. put away the report cards we ' d all like our children to get great marks and we ' d all like them to get student of the week or citizen of the term but the fact is that sometimes our child ' s differences work against them. lets not fall into the trap of comparing our child ' s metrics with those of other children. it gets in the way of real learning.


faces, vertices, and edges of cylinders, cones, and spheres date : 12 / 28 / 2003 at 17 : 21 : 33 from : cara subject : characteristics of polyhedra i need to know how many faces, vertices, and edges do cylinders, cones, and spheres have? logically i would say that a sphere has 1 face, 0 vertices and 0 edges. problem : a face is flat, sphere is not flat. secondly this does not satisfy euler ' s formula v - e + f = 2. i would say a cone has 2 faces, 1 edge, and 1 vertex. problem : while this does satisfy euler, it does not satisfy the definitions. date : 12 / 28 / 2003 at 20 : 41 : 45 from : doctor peterson subject : re : characteristics of polyhedra hi, cara. to start, take a look at this page : cone, cylinder edges? http : / / mathforum. org / library / drmath / sets / select / dm _ cone _ edge. html properly speaking, euler ' s formula does not apply to a surface, but to a network on a surface, which must meet certain criteria. the " natural " faces and edges for these surfaces, or those determined by applying the definitions used for polyhedra, do not meet these criteria. just taking the natural parts of a cone, as you say, it has one presumed vertex, the apex ; one edge, the circle at the base ; and two faces, one flat and one curved. ( i say " presumed " because the apex is not really a vertex in the usual sense of a place where two or more edges meet, but it is a point that stands out. ) this gives 1 - 1 + 2 = 2 so it does fit the formula ; but there is no reason it should, really, because it doesn ' t fit the requirements for the theorem, namely that the graph should be equivalent to a polyhedron. each face must be simply connected ( able to shrink to a disk, with no " holes " in it ), and likewise each edge must be like a segment ( not a circle ). one of our " natural " faces has a " vertex " in the middle of it, so it is not simply connected ; and the " edge " has no ends, so it doesn ' t fit either. these errors just happen to cancel one another out. as another example, take a cylinder, which in its natural state has no vertices, two " edges ", and three


be artificial. on the other hand, the tradition is given fresh life in and through artists who magnify their talents without self - regard. nowhere else does literary tradition live. nowhere but in such artists can a living past be encountered. without them, ritual petrifies and folk art becomes sentimental or vulgar. we have inverted the title of eliot ' s essay because we want to express this modification of eliot ' s thesis. the inversion expands the usual connotations of the terms " talent " and " tradition. " it suggests that there is a strong sense in which talents are fully employed by individuals only when they do not regard them as their own ( or simply, do not regard them ), and that there is an equally strong sense in which tradition exists only in the form of individuals in whom it is reincarnated. we use this word rather than " transmitted " because it suggests that tradition is not merely transported intact by individuals along the passageway of time, but renewed and revitalized. eliot was thinking of the literary tradition in a way that comprehends the whole of that tradition, including the writing of philosophy, criticism, drama, social tracts, psychology, and history. what we have to say about the historian in this essay might be said ( with appropriate adjustment of detail ) about any practitioner of any literary art, and this is a point that needs to be kept firmly in mind if our thesis is to be intelligible. for our motivation in thinking about the subject is not accusatory. we would do ill to write of other people, present or past, as if their plight were not ours. indeed, we have keenly felt the moral hazards that beset historians in our own disciplines of philology and philosophy. the discipline that must be acquired in order to assimilate one ' s tradition is more than an accumulation of information. in the historian ' s case this discipline is a matter of care, in every sense of that word : carefulness in studying the random residue which past people have left of themselves and caring for them even though they are no longer with us. without careful discipline there can be no incarnation of tradition, and without incarnation there is no individuality. by defining the historian ' s discipline this way, we want to distinguish it from method. method can be mastered and misused. for some practicing historians ( philosophers, psychologists, and so forth ), this is just what happens ; their method is not simply the thoroughgoing care with which they set out a story of the past. instead it is an affect


ultimate historiographical concern, but the purity - of - heart / impurity axis. the question is not whether the historian, like other craftsmen, colors what he makes with his own personality, for inevitably he does. rather, the question is what sort of colors he gives it. does he discolor it by harboring self - seeking intentions? we have no disposition to pick on historians. philosophers are probably even more self - crippling, because the modes of philosophical thinking are more explicit, canonized, and coercive than the modes of historical thinking. for example, many philosophers assume that, except in its most extreme speculative reaches, contemporary logic defines not only the standard of one type of discourse among others, but the single type of discourse in which certain kinds of truths may be stated. historically, logic was no such standard ; instead, it was considered a branch of rhetoric — and that in fact is what it is. to speak with philosophical precision is to adopt a very narrow register of human speech in which much that human beings experience cannot be expressed or described. why would anyone speak so artificially? why would anyone be willing to censor his responses as a whole person in deference to narrow philosophical canons of expression? recent work in the rhetoric of scientific discourse suggests that at least some of the motives are self - assertion and professional legitimacy, and if there are others, we do not know them. so philosophers and historians alike make myths when they take themselves too seriously : when they promote themselves in their work. ( of course, this means not taking themselves seriously enough as individual human beings — trusting the canons of their discipline more than their own sensibility. ) believing that a disciplinary method is a mode of knowing rather than a heuristic device for arranging material for specific purposes may not be simply an error. it may be a sin. the historian or philosopher who uses his discipline self - promotionally finds immediate promise of exoneration in the view that the discipline can validate his work independently of his intentions. he clings to the idea that his social purposes are professionally irrelevant. by this means, he provides himself with an alibi if his conscience accuses him of seeking his own interest. how can he be accused of coloring his materials, he insists, when his constant aim is to rid them of coloration? preoccupation with technique and method fits plato ' s definition of sophistry and pinpoints the self - seeking in it : one sends out a highly controlled signal in order to elicit a highly manipulated


is to rid them of coloration? preoccupation with technique and method fits plato ' s definition of sophistry and pinpoints the self - seeking in it : one sends out a highly controlled signal in order to elicit a highly manipulated response. one can sin in scholarship as anywhere else. it is wrong in writing to do anything but write what is in us to be written. understanding past people the problem of understanding people in the past, including their policies and institutions, is only a form of the problem of understanding people generally. by setting out certain features of our ability to understand our contemporaries, we may illuminate the claims we are making about historical knowledge. consider the following points : knowing about people is not knowing them ; that is, it is not understanding them. one cannot but withdraw from other human beings — and thus render them humanly unreal — if one concentrates on what properties they have, for that construes them as objects. nietzsche, heidegger, buber, polanyi, and levinas have all taught us this by numerous cogent insights. when we know a person, we know more than we can tell ; and supposing otherwise is a mode of pushing that person away. understanding people, as opposed to knowing about them, comes in the course of being with them unselfconsciously ; it is a residuum of living in a sharing, trusting, and caring community with them. hence to observe people in order to know about them rather than to respond unguardedly to them is to withdraw from the conditions which must obtain if they are to be understood. thus, acting as if one is an observing center rather than a person does not mean one is disinterested. such action is an apparent self - obliteration in the form of a perceptual and stylistic anonymity which is actually an intense preoccupation with guarding, vindicating, and advancing the self. it is an intense form of self - assertion. a historian can live with and understand past people only if he regards the accoutrements of his profession ( the habits, the jargon, the frame of reference, and so forth ) as inferior to, and less valuable than, himself as a man and any man as a man. only then can he enter with unselfconscious empathy into others ' situations. the historian as tradition incarnate contrast the self - seeking, depersonalizing writer of history with the guileless one.


and any man as a man. only then can he enter with unselfconscious empathy into others ' situations. the historian as tradition incarnate contrast the self - seeking, depersonalizing writer of history with the guileless one. the former imposes generalizations and theories upon " the data. " the latter expresses patterns of selection in his work that go beyond what he can deliberately produce or even completely comprehend. these living patterns of selection taken together are an expression of what he is as one who by historical study has assimilated tradition through his language, in his interaction with his immediate forebears. this tradition then expresses itself in his unselfconscious writing and teaching. and therefore what he produces is right. it is not false to what he transforms. when he speaks or writes it is as if history is finding one expression of its accumulating truth in his responses to that part of the world which has preceded him. the self - serving historian, on the other hand, stylizes what he comprehends of the past and thwarts the flow of tradition through him. he is untrue to the living tradition that has enabled him to become both a person and a historian. if a historian accepts the gospel, he is adopted ; he gains a new ancestry ; a fresh heritage becomes active in him. his open, artless, and fresh way of seeing and speaking about the past will be a correlative, an expression, of the new person he has become. if purely motivated, he gives the history he has absorbed a spontaneous — that is, an unguarded and guileless — expression. that kind of expression is wisdom. on the other hand, the self - deceived historian performs something extraneous to the purpose of the history which had made him what he is, and he is thereby unfaithful to himself. and if he knows anything about the gospel, he is unfaithful to the lord. he does not produce wisdom. let us further contrast generalization and wisdom. generalizations are generally valid for general purposes ; they are not valid for specific purposes. we may induce a generalization from a number of specifics, but when we have done so we find that it does not completely apply to any of them. perhaps in natural science it could ( or could it? ), but historically it will not. any generalization to be valid has to be one arising totally from a total specific situation, not a generalization inductively arrived at over


of them. perhaps in natural science it could ( or could it? ), but historically it will not. any generalization to be valid has to be one arising totally from a total specific situation, not a generalization inductively arrived at over many instances. this is where the word " wisdom " comes in : we read history in order to gain the great historian ' s wisdom. in him we encounter a unique historical situation alive in a living, interfusing, and blending individual, the historian. and we discover in the nature of that unique totality something of the nature of all other unique totalities — something which cannot be expressed in any list of generalizations, however lengthy. that is why history is an art rather than a science ( we are assuming, we suspect incorrectly, that there are in fact sciences, the essence of which can be expressed in a theory, i. e., in an adequate and consistent set of generalizations ). it is why a fine history, like a baucis - and - philemon pitcher, is inexhaustible ( though not unfathomable ). there is no essential difference between the way in which herodotus and thucydides use their material and the way in which aeschylus and sophocles use theirs. the swedish philosopher, hans larsson, said in 1892 ( in spite of the shadow of herbert spencer ) that social scientists should not ignore the fact that literature has given them far more subtle exemplars of human behavior than they themselves describe. ( the converse is also true : when social scientists describe behavior well, they write literature ; adler is not literature but freud is, and that is the only reason why freud is worth more attention. ) the historian can be true to the history reposited within him only if he endeavors to give it the form that suits the whole of it, and not merely parts of it. in doing this, he is doing the same thing as someone who makes a poem. he should from this point of view recognize himself as an artist and realize that his totality of knowledge should be expressed through a totality of means. the historian who has a style that is true to him will produce history that is also true to him, and because it is true to him in this naive sense it will have truth in it. this is a patently different sense of " truth " than is current among many social scientists. it is predicated upon the view that contact with history is not contact with the past as


to him in this naive sense it will have truth in it. this is a patently different sense of " truth " than is current among many social scientists. it is predicated upon the view that contact with history is not contact with the past as such but with the historian who embodies the tradition in his own unique way. the book he writes is only an aspect of what he has achieved in human terms and cannot be understood apart from that achievement. the historian whose style is true to him will be one in whom the tradition will have been truly incarnated ; style and what we are calling " incarnation " are but aspects of the same thing. and if the style is wrong, the history written will be wrong. there is no question of the style ' s varying independently of the " facts " — of the style ' s being wrong and the " facts " right or of the style being right and the " facts " wrong. to think otherwise is to have a befuddled — an objectivist — view of factuality. in the light of this personifying view of truth gibbon comes off as a great historian, for his style expresses himself. the same can be said of thucydides, herodotus, and livy ; it could not be said of those nineteenth - century historians who were eager to put rational order onto the material ; or of those twentieth - century historians who consider it imperative to order the material professionally and impersonally. there is never a more significant result of the study of history than the historian himself. historical uniqueness and moral universalizability these three things happen together if they happen at all : the author is self - forgetful, the historical situation is captured in its uniqueness, and — we have not mentioned this yet — the history written serves as an inexhaustible fund for moral lessons. yet it is not didactic in any ordinary sense of that term. only a history that in the first instance tried to abstract out the moral content of a past situation would in the second instance be compelled to try to reimpose it in the form of cautionary conclusions. a situation captured in its uniqueness has moral relevance because it is a whole situation like our own situation. we are free to see it in any of indefinitely many ways, including those most instructive for us. but when the historical situation is subsumed under a generalization, it is seen in just one way, and we can easily exclude ourselves from it. many similarities between that situation and our circumstance


ways, including those most instructive for us. but when the historical situation is subsumed under a generalization, it is seen in just one way, and we can easily exclude ourselves from it. many similarities between that situation and our circumstance are artificially suppressed. ( this is one of the great lessons of nietzsche ' s doctrine that all events, including the propagation of ideas, have multiple genealogies. ) we let our preoccupation with discrete personal properties and comparisons become a pseudo - mosaic alternative to conscience. ( why aren ' t we led by everything we see to have a broken heart and contrite spirit? certainly it is not because we don ' t have ample cause. ) but letting the story tell itself in all of the completeness with which we spontaneously apprehend it is tantamount to a repudiation of this pseudo - mosaic context. the reader is left to face up to the whole of the matter — to be impressed by moral dimensions and standards inherent in the story, dimensions which even the author may not suspect are there. take the example of david. david is not just any oriental monarch. he has been chosen by the lord to be the leader of israel. he has shown himself obedient in every particular to the lord. he has not tried to hasten or evade the lord ' s plan for him ; he has not anticipated the time when he is to take over the kingdom ; he has left the shape and direction of his destiny to the lord. he spares saul ' s life more than once. he makes his way faultlessly to the throne. who else in history ever did that? only after he has achieved the throne does he fail, and the story of his failure, down to his last bloody deathbed utterance, is told in more detail than the story of his success. now to make the moral point of the story of david other than the way in which nathan did would be to hide that point. that is, to impose a superficial moral generalization on the story would be to rob it of its moral applicability to every reader — its moral universalizability. what nathan did was to set david a trap by presenting a parable, and david fell into the trap. the climax of david ' s life is nathan ' s statement : " thou art the man. " this climax is not set out in detail and the moral point is not put in a proposition : it could not be. we cannot even say that the story shows the moral point (


life is nathan ' s statement : " thou art the man. " this climax is not set out in detail and the moral point is not put in a proposition : it could not be. we cannot even say that the story shows the moral point ( i. e., the punishment for adultery and murder ). that is too cut and dried and limited a characterization, for the punishment does not " fit the crime " : the crime ' s consequences are its punishment — to be an adulterer is the punishment for adultery. instead, the history ' s moral point pulsates throughout the whole of it, as through a parable, and cannot be abstracted from it. and we in our own individual and different ways — in ways apposite to our individual cases — draw the parable ' s conclusion — a conclusion which may well differ from what we may discover upon returning to the story later, after further experiences have altered us. we are allowed to experience david ' s life totally, to sense its emotive tides, to work out the ironical implications of the account. the inspired historian has produced, in a language of the whole man which uses all the devices of rhetoric ( including juxtaposition ), a better biography, a finer account, than any other anywhere. it is written for a spiritually educated and subtle people. it goes as far as history can go, which is to re - create the story of a past human being in the terms in which it is lived and valued, which is to say, in predominantly moral terms. the closest a self - deceiving historian can come to morality is this : " there but for the grace of god go i. " this effort at self - decontamination is not found in a historian who produces pure history, precisely because his acknowledgment of impurity has been for him a path to purity. the response of the guileless historian is therefore, " lord, have mercy on me, there go i also. " this is what the prophet nathan, speaking for the lord, meant when he said, " thou art the man. " and for us, in all of the pages of history, there is implicit in every line the unarticulated reminder : " we are the men. " thus does the response of the guileless historian place him in community with the past people he encounters in his work. he understands them as people. it is remarkable that only as we become more individual, rather than less, can


the men. " thus does the response of the guileless historian place him in community with the past people he encounters in his work. he understands them as people. it is remarkable that only as we become more individual, rather than less, can we live in community with one another. and conversely : only as we live in and through one another in our individual uniqueness — the historian taking past people to understand and they taking him to be understood by — is it possible for us to partake of each other ' s strengths and be individually richer for it. otherwise, our relation to one another is manipulative : we treat ourselves and each other as replicable — indeed, as artifacts which in our social interaction with one another we ourselves are continuously producing. for those of us who insulate ourselves from one another by using each other, even the present is a sort of past, cadaverized, an unbridgeable distance away ; whereas for the pure even the past is present, vivified and immediately felt. this is in the spirit not only of the gospel but of thinkers like heidegger, who have tried to clear away the intellectual debris from our modern mentality so that we might receive the revelation from god if only it were to come. what shall it profit a man? it cannot profit a person to try to be individualistic in his way of perceiving others ' situations or in his way of writing about them. it is as unprofitable as trying to be nonchalant or sincere. one who does not feel exigencies in his present situation is nonchalant ; one who tries to be nonchalant is tense. one who is concentrating wholly on something other than himself in what he is doing is sincere ; one who is trying to be sincere is concentrating on himself, no matter how hard he pretends he is not. taking thought to make ourselves or our work be some particular way or other is in principle self - defeating. another reason why it is profitless to try to be an individual is that taking thought to make ourselves is self - delimiting. taking thought for the morrow in any way at all means trying to conform to an anticipated pattern of self which in principle is too simple to be a self. the more we conform to that pattern, the more we make of ourselves not an individual but rather a replicable artifact — our own artifact. and the work we produce is also too simple to be the work of the self, for behind it was the motivation to produce that which will


pattern, the more we make of ourselves not an individual but rather a replicable artifact — our own artifact. and the work we produce is also too simple to be the work of the self, for behind it was the motivation to produce that which will reflect a character too simple to be a self. a third reason why we cannot by taking thought add a cubit to our stature as historians : by trying to conform ourselves to a replicable model of what a historian should be we block our own creativity. how? taking thought for the morrow means substituting an imagined tomorrow for the one that is really going to be there. and as we do not know the one that is really going to be there, we prepare ourselves for a number of hypothetical tomorrows that will never come. we do this instead of being ready, by merely being ourselves, for any tomorrow that will come. when we wake up in the morning, we don ' t readily pick up the thread of the day that awaits us, for we have determined in advance where it will be, and therefore we do not see where it really is. alas for benjamin franklin, planning his day at 5 : 00 a. m., how he will manipulate various philadelphians! he must compulsively and obsessively try to extrude many threads, to manipulate many clues to the labyrinth in order to convince himself that he is on the right track. and franklin ' s kind of planning for the future is simply the mirror image of the self - serving historian ' s planning for the past. the generalizations the historian has convinced himself are the right guidelines for interpreting history preclude him from discovering new patterns in the history he encounters ; he is only able to gather more details. here is a fourth reason why writing the kind of history we have suggested is not something a person could possibly set out to do : to try to get for ourselves in any fashion is to be anxious over the treasure we seek, and to be thus anxious is to forfeit the freedom and spontaneity or openness necessary for a total response to a total situation. that is a message of w. h. auden ' s poem, " the bard. " he was their servant — some say he was blind — and moved among their faces and their things ; their feeling gathered in him like a wind and sang : they cried — ' it is a god that sings ' — and worshipped him and set him up apart and made him vain till he mistook for song the little tremor


before, he writes his words. he will draw his identity at a source different from the well of his peers ' opinions. we have been advocating what used to be called " enthusiasm. " contrary to what some would have us believe, enthusiasm has nothing to do with romanticism ; and if they think it historically has nothing to do with classicism, it is because they tend not to consider the classicists, like milton and dante, who were enthusiastic christians. we acknowledge that nothing could be more alien to the intellectualist ideal of calculated impersonality. it is true that this ideal seems not altogether unwarranted, for historical instances of enthusiasm have been justifiably attacked. there is this danger in enthusiasm, that impure people, like hitler, will yield to an impure spirit. our thesis in this paper is that by the same token, there is an equally horrifying danger in the repudiation of enthusiasm — namely, in the protection which some erect against novelty and spontaneity in themselves — a disguised form of demonism in which seizure by the holy spirit is precisely what is resisted. the one alternative to being possessed by some sort of devil is to yield to — voluntarily to let ourselves be taken over by — god ' s spirit. the depersonalizing " wisdom " of the age, like the so - called wisdom of ages generally, will when unmasked be seen to be only the self - protective smoke screen of a professional clique so fearful of self - revelation through their productions that they have yielded themselves up proudly to the demon of reasonableness. what was to be the value of the long looked forward to, long hoped for calm, the autumnal serenity and the wisdom of age? had they deceived us or deceived themselves, the quiet - voiced elders, bequeathing us merely a receipt for deceit? the serenity only a deliberate hebetude, the wisdom only the knowledge of dead secrets useless in the darkness into which they peered or from which they turned their eyes. there is, it seems to us, at best, only a limited value in the knowledge derived from experience. the knowledge imposes a pattern, and falsifies, for the pattern is new in every moment and every moment is a new and shocking valuation of all we have been. we are only undeceived of that which, deceiving, could no longer harm. in the middle, not only in the middle of the way but all the way, in a dark wood,


what is acceptance? from the dictionary it ’ s “ the act or process of accepting ”. makes sense. i had been raised without a father. he ’ s not dead, but he seems to be in a difficult place where he can no longer be with us. it ’ s sad. very sad. people may think why i still think of my father, why don ’ t i hate him for leaving us, why do i care, why? mainly because he ’ s my father. a female child needs her father ’ s comfort in difficult times, as per a male child needs his mother. it ’ s so hard to contain all the burden of not having someone to run to in times like these. one thing that i am proud of is that i never gave up on myself. i know it ’ s easy to say all this because i ’ m still young and all but one thing is certain, the world has placed me in a situation only i could handle and i know i can. i ’ ve dealt with different people, situations, emotions, all that the world could feed me at a very young age. as many people see me as a normal girl, i ’ m not. deep down i ’ m broken and i ’ m searching for a way to fix myself. how i handle things? there goes the acceptance. you have to accept everything that you cannot change, everything your hands are not capable of fixing, everything the world would be giving you. for a while you would cry, get angry, be furious, be regretful, but then you would find another way to remain with the happiness that you could still get. - learn from the past, this means learn from other people ’ s as well not just yours. this lead me to a very bright path today. - live in the present, because thinking about the past or the future won ’ t help. - forget the future, it ’ s never going to be a straight path towards your goals. - accept the unacceptable and let them live where you have a joyful life.


circulating tumor cells can reveal genetic signature of dangerous lung cancers using a miniature laboratory - on - a - chip device, a team of investigators at the massachusetts general hospital, led by daniel haber, m. d., ph. d., and mehmet toner, ph. d., both members of the mit - harvard center for cancer nanotechnology excellence ( ccne ), has developed a method that detects and analyzes the genetic signature of rare tumor cells in the bloodstream. the results from this analysis allowed the researchers to identify those patients most likely to respond to a specific targeted treatment. this chip - based analysis also allowed the researchers to monitor genetic changes that occur during therapy. according to dr. haber, this chip opens up a new field of studying tumors in real time. “ when the device is ready for larger clinical trials, it should give us new options for measuring treatment response, defining prognostic and predictive measures, and studying the biology of blood - borne metastasis, which is the primary method by which cancer spreads and becomes lethal. ” dr. haber and his team published their results in the new england journal of medicine. circulating tumor cells ( ctcs ) are living solid - tumor cells found at extremely low levels in the bloodstream. until the development of the ctc - chip by the massachusetts institute of technology ( mit ) - harvard ccne team, it was not possible to get information from ctcs that would be useful for clinical decision - making. the current study was designed to determine whether the device could go beyond detecting ctcs to helping analyze the genetic mutations that can make a tumor sensitive to treatment with targeted therapy drugs. the researchers tested blood samples from patients with non - small - cell lung cancer ( nsclc ), the leading cause of cancer death in the united states. in 2004, cancer researchers had discovered that mutations in a protein called epidermal growth factor receptor ( egfr ) determine whether nsclc tumors respond to a group of drugs called tyrosine kinase inhibitors ( tkis ), which includes gefitinib ( iressa ) and erlotinib ( tarceva ). although the response of sensitive tumors to those drugs can be swift and dramatic, eventually many tumors become resistant to the drugs and resume growing. the ctc - chip was used to analyze blood samples from 27 patients — 23 who had egfr mutations and 4 who did not — and ctcs were identified in samples from all patients. genetic analysis of ctcs


the drugs and resume growing. the ctc - chip was used to analyze blood samples from 27 patients — 23 who had egfr mutations and 4 who did not — and ctcs were identified in samples from all patients. genetic analysis of ctcs from mutation - positive tumors detected those mutations 92 percent of the time. in addition to the primary mutation that leads to initial tumor development and tki sensitivity, the ctc - chip also detected a secondary mutation associated with treatment resistance in some participants, including those whose tumors originally responded to treatment but later resumed growing. blood samples were taken at regular intervals during the course of treatment from four patients with mutation - positive tumors. in all of those patients, levels of ctcs dropped sharply after tki treatment began and began rising when tumors resumed growing. in one patient, adding additional chemotherapy caused ctc levels to drop again as the tumor continued shrinking. throughout the course of therapy, the tumors ’ genetic makeup continued to evolve. not only did the most common resistance mutation emerge in tumors where it was not initially present, but new activating mutations — the type that causes a tumor to develop in the first place — appeared in seven patients ’ tumors, indicating that these cancers are more genetically complex than expected and that continuing to monitor tumor genotype throughout the course of treatment may be crucial. “ if tumor genotypes don ’ t remain static during therapy, it ’ s essential to know exactly what you ’ re treating at the time you are treating it, ” says haber. “ biopsy samples taken at the time of diagnosis can never tell us about changes emerging during therapy or genotypic differences that may occur in different sites of the original tumor, but the ctc - chip offers the promise of noninvasive continuous monitoring. ” this work, which was supported in part by the national cancer institute ’ s alliance for nanotechnology in cancer, is detailed in the paper “ detection of mutations in egfr in circulating lung - cancer cells. ” an abstract of this paper is available through pubmed.


new tool developed to trace brown fat, fight obesity london, july 19 ( ians ) scientists have enlisted a pioneering new tool which uses thermal imaging to spot brown fat - the body ' s good fat - to fight obesity. brown fat plays a vital role in quickly burning away the calories and produces 300 times more heat than any other tissue in the body. it means that the more of it we have, the less likely we are to store excess energy or food as harmful fat. michael symonds, professor of developmental physiology at the university of nottingham, who led the study, said : " this completely non - invasive technique could play a crucial role in our fight against obesity, " the journal of paediatrics reports. " potentially, we could add a thermogenic index to food labels to show whether that product would increase or decrease heat production within brown fat. in other words, whether it would speed up or slow down the amount of calories we burn, " added symonds, according to a nottingham statement. helen budge, clinical associate professor in neonatology at nottingham, who worked with symonds, said : " babies have a larger amount of brown fat which they use up to keep warm soon after birth making our study ' s finding that this healthy fat can also generate heat in childhood and adolescence very exciting. " read more : university grants commission ( ugc ) | guru nanak dev university | kumaon university nainital | gorakhpur university | agra university | ayurvedic university | bundelkhand university so | mds university ajmer dtso | madras university po | world university centre | pondicherry university | annamalai university | kannur university campus | calicut university | kochi university | jadavpur university | kolkata university | budge budge natun bazar s. o. | budge budge s. o. ( hsg - ii ) | vidyasagar university so 4th c v raman int ' l fellowship launched for research may 21, 2013 at 10 : 07 pm we will bring a new law to regulate fixing : jitendra singh may 21, 2013 at 10 : 00 pm court allows five day police custody for the ipl fixers may 21, 2013 at 9 : 58 pm


please use this identifier to cite or link to this item : http : / / hdl. handle. net / 1959. 13 / 916979 - the ' humped ' soil production function : eroding arnhem land, australia heimsath, arjun m. ; hancock, greg r. - the university of newcastle. faculty of science & information technology, school of environmental and life sciences - we report erosion rates and processes, determined from in situ - produced beryllium - 10 ( ¹⁰be ) and aluminum - 26 ( ²⁶al ), across a soil - mantled landscape of arnhem land, northern australia. soil production rates peak under a soil thickness of about 35 cm and we observe no soil thicknesses between exposed bedrock and this thickness. these results thus quantify a well - defined ‘ humped ’ soil - production function, in contrast to functions reported for other landscapes. we compare this function to a previously reported exponential decline of soil production rates with increasing soil thickness across the passive margin exposed in the bega valley, south - eastern australia, and found remarkable similarities in rates. the critical difference in this work was that the arnhem land landscapes were either bedrock or mantled with soils greater than about 35 cm deep, with peak soil production rates of about 20 m / ma under 35 – 40 cm of soil, thus supporting previous theory and modeling results for a humped soil production function. we also show how coupling point - specific with catchment - averaged erosion rate measurements lead to a better understanding of landscape denudation. specifically, we report a nested sampling scheme where we quantify average erosion rates from the first - order, upland catchments to the main, sixth - order channel of tin camp creek. the low ( ~ 5 m / ma ) rates from the main channel sediments reflect contributions from the slowly eroding stony highlands, while the channels draining our study area reflect local soil production rates ( ~ 10 m / ma off the rocky ridge ; ~ 20 m / ma from the soil mantled regions ). quantifying such rates and processes help determine spatial variations of soil thickness as well as helping to predict the sustainability of the earth ' s soil resource under different erosional regimes. - earth surface processes and landforms vol. 34, issue 12, p. 1674 - 1684 - publisher link - john wiley & sons - resource type - journal article


find a physician more on flu ( influenza ) more on flu ( influenza ) research and clinical trials more on flu ( influenza ) what is influenza ( flu )? influenza ( or flu ) is a highly contagious viral respiratory tract infection. an estimated 5 to 20 percent of the population in the us contract influenza each year. influenza is characterized by the abrupt onset of fever, muscle aches, sore throat, and a nonproductive cough. influenza can make people of any age ill. although most people are ill with influenza for only a few days, some have a much more serious illness and may need to be hospitalized. influenza can also lead to pneumonia and death. influenza viruses are divided into three types, designated as a, b, and c. - influenza types a and b are responsible for epidemics of respiratory illness that occur almost every winter and are often associated with increased rates for hospitalization and death. efforts to control the impact of influenza are focused on types a and b. - influenza type c usually causes either a very mild respiratory illness or no symptoms at all. it does not cause epidemics and does not have the severe public health impact that influenza types a and b do. influenza viruses continually mutate or change, which enables the virus to evade the immune system of its host. this makes people susceptible to influenza infection throughout their lives. the process works as follows : - a person infected with influenza virus develops antibody against that virus. - the virus mutates or changes. - the " older " antibody no longer recognizes the " newer " virus. - reinfection occurs. the older antibody can, however, provide partial protection against reinfection. currently, three different influenza viruses circulate worldwide : two type a viruses and one type b virus. immunizations given each year to protect against the flu contain the influenza virus strain from each type that is expected to cause the flu within that year. facts about the flu : although each flu season is different, approximately 5 to 20 percent of the population will get the flu each year. approximately 36, 000 of those who get the flu will die from it or from complications. what causes influenza? the influenza virus is generally passed from person to person by airborne transmission ( i. e., sneezing or coughing ). but, the virus can also live for a short time on objects - such as doorknobs, pens, pencils, keyboards, telephone receivers, and eating or drinking utensils. therefore, it may also be spread by touching something that has


, the virus can also live for a short time on objects - such as doorknobs, pens, pencils, keyboards, telephone receivers, and eating or drinking utensils. therefore, it may also be spread by touching something that has been handled by someone infected with the virus and then touching your own mouth, nose, or eyes. what are the symptoms of the flu? the following are the most common symptoms of the flu. however, each individual may experience symptoms differently. influenza is called a respiratory disease, but the whole body seems to suffer when a person is infected. people usually become acutely ill with several, or all, of the following symptoms : - high fever - clear nose - sneezing at times - cough, often becoming severe - severe aches and pains - fatigue for several weeks - sometimes a sore throat - extreme exhaustion fever and body aches usually last for three to five days, but cough and fatigue may last for two weeks or more. although nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may accompany the flu, these gastrointestinal symptoms are rarely prominent. " stomach flu " is an incorrect term sometimes used to describe gastrointestinal illnesses caused by other microorganisms. the symptoms of the flu may resemble other medical conditions. always consult your physician for a diagnosis. treatment for influenza : specific treatment for influenza will be determined by your physician based on : - your age, overall health, and medical history - extent and type of influenza, and severity of symptoms - your tolerance for specific medications, procedures, or therapies - expectations for the course of the disease - your opinion or preference the goal of treatment for influenza is to help prevent or decrease the severity of symptoms. treatment may include : - medications to relieve aches and fever ( aspirin should not be given to children with fever without first consulting a physician ). the drug of choice for children is acetaminophen ( tylenol ). - medications for congestion and nasal discharge - bed rest and increased intake of fluids antiviral medications - when started within the first two days of treatment, they can reduce the duration of the disease but cannot cure it. four medications have been approved and include amantadine, rimantadine, zanamivir, and oseltamivir. some side effects may result from taking these medications, such as nervousness, lightheadedness, or nausea. individuals with asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are cautioned about using zanamivir. viral resistance to these drugs may


the second place, it is almost as much opposed to the theory of natural selection as to that of special creation, that in reciprocal crosses the male element of one form should have been rendered utterly impotent on a second form, whilst at the same time the male element of this second form is enabled freely to fertilise the first form ; for this peculiar state of the reproductive system could hardly have been advantageous to either species. in considering the probability of natural selection having come into action, in rendering species mutually sterile, the greatest difficulty will be found to lie in the existence of many graduated steps from slightly lessened fertility to absolute sterility. it may be admitted that it would profit an incipient species, if it were rendered in some slight degree sterile when crossed with its parent form or with some other variety ; for thus fewer bastardised and deteriorated offspring would be produced to commingle their blood with the new species in process of formation. but he who will take the trouble to reflect on the steps by which this first degree of sterility could be increased through natural selection to that high degree which is common with so many species, and which is universal with species which have been differentiated to a generic or family rank, will find the subject extraordinarily complex. after mature reflection it seems to me that this could not have been effected through natural selection. take the case of any two species which, when crossed, produced few and sterile offspring ; now, what is there which could favour the survival of those individuals which happened to be endowed in a slightly higher degree with mutual infertility, and which thus approached by one small step towards absolute sterility? yet an advance of this kind, if the theory of natural selection be brought to bear, must have incessantly occurred with many species, for a multitude are mutually quite barren. with sterile neuter insects we have reason to believe that modifications in their structure and fertility have been slowly accumulated by natural selection, from an advantage having been thus indirectly given to the community to which they belonged over other communities of the same species ; but an individual animal not belonging to a social community, if rendered slightly sterile when crossed with some other variety, would not thus itself gain any advantage or indirectly give any advantage to the other individuals of the same variety, thus leading to their preservation. but it would be superfluous to discuss this question in detail ; for with plants we have conclusive evidence that the sterility of crossed species must be due to some principle, quite independent of


the same variety, thus leading to their preservation. but it would be superfluous to discuss this question in detail ; for with plants we have conclusive evidence that the sterility of crossed species must be due to some principle, quite independent of natural selection. both gartner and kolreuter have proved that in genera including numerous species, a series can be formed from species which when crossed yield fewer and fewer seeds, to species which never produce a single seed, but yet are affected by the pollen of certain other species, for the germen swells. it is here manifestly impossible to select the more sterile individuals, which have already ceased to yield seeds ; so that this acme of sterility, when the germen alone is affected, cannot have been gained through selection ; and from the laws governing the various grades of sterility being so uniform throughout the animal and vegetable kingdoms, we may infer that the cause, whatever it may be, is the same or nearly the same in all cases. we will now look a little closer at the probable nature of the differences between species which induce sterility in first crosses and in hybrids. in the case of first crosses, the greater or less difficulty in effecting an union and in obtaining offspring apparently depends on several distinct causes. there must sometimes be a physical impossibility in the male element reaching the ovule, as would be the case with a plant having a pistil too long for the pollen - tubes to reach the ovarium. it has also been observed that when the pollen of one species is placed on the stigma of a distantly allied species, though the pollen - tubes protrude, they do not penetrate the stigmatic surface. again, the male element may reach the female element but be incapable of causing an embryo to be developed, as seems to have been the case with some of thuret ’ s experiments on fuci. no explanation can be given of these facts, any more than why certain trees cannot be grafted on others. lastly, an embryo may be developed, and then perish at an early period. this latter alternative has not been sufficiently attended to ; but i believe, from observations communicated to me by mr. hewitt, who has had great experience in hybridising pheasants and fowls, that the early death of the embryo is a very frequent cause of sterility in first crosses. mr. salter has recently given the results of an examination of about 500 eggs produced from


in hybridising pheasants and fowls, that the early death of the embryo is a very frequent cause of sterility in first crosses. mr. salter has recently given the results of an examination of about 500 eggs produced from various crosses between three species of gallus and their hybrids ; the majority of these eggs had been fertilised ; and in the majority of the fertilised eggs, the embryos had either been partially developed and had then perished, or had become nearly mature, but the young chickens had been unable to break through the shell. of the chickens which were born, more than four - fifths died within the first few days, or at latest weeks, “ without any obvious cause, apparently from mere inability to live ; ” so that from the 500 eggs only twelve chickens were reared. with plants, hybridised embryos probably often perish in a like manner ; at least it is known that hybrids raised from very distinct species are sometimes weak and dwarfed, and perish at an early age ; of which fact max wichura has recently given some striking cases with hybrid willows. it may be here worth noticing that in some cases of parthenogenesis, the embryos within the eggs of silk moths which had not been fertilised, pass through their early stages of development and then perish like the embryos produced by a cross between distinct species. until becoming acquainted with these facts, i was unwilling to believe in the frequent early death of hybrid embryos ; for hybrids, when once born, are generally healthy and long - lived, as we see in the case of the common mule. hybrids, however, are differently circumstanced before and after birth : when born and living in a country where their two parents live, they are generally placed under suitable conditions of life. but a hybrid partakes of only half of the nature and constitution of its mother ; it may therefore before birth, as long as it is nourished within its mother ’ s womb, or within the egg or seed produced by the mother, be exposed to conditions in some degree unsuitable, and consequently be liable to perish at an early period ; more especially as all very young beings are eminently sensitive to injurious or unnatural conditions of life. but after all, the cause more probably lies in some imperfection in the original act of impregnation, causing the embryo to be imperfectly developed, rather than in the conditions to which it is subsequently exposed. in regard to the ste


. but after all, the cause more probably lies in some imperfection in the original act of impregnation, causing the embryo to be imperfectly developed, rather than in the conditions to which it is subsequently exposed. in regard to the sterility of hybrids, in which the sexual elements are imperfectly developed, the case is somewhat different. i have more than once alluded to a large body of facts showing that, when animals and plants are removed from their natural conditions, they are extremely liable to have their reproductive systems seriously affected. this, in fact, is the great bar to the domestication of animals. between the sterility thus superinduced and that of hybrids, there are many points of similarity. in both cases the sterility is independent of general health, and is often accompanied by excess of size or great luxuriance. in both cases the sterility occurs in various degrees ; in both, the male element is the most liable to be affected ; but sometimes the female more than the male. in both, the tendency goes to a certain extent with systematic affinity, for whole groups of animals and plants are rendered impotent by the same unnatural conditions ; and whole groups of species tend to produce sterile hybrids. on the other hand, one species in a group will sometimes resist great changes of conditions with unimpaired fertility ; and certain species in a group will produce unusually fertile hybrids. no one can tell, till he tries, whether any particular animal will breed under confinement, or any exotic plant seed freely under culture ; nor can he tell till he tries, whether any two species of a genus will produce more or less sterile hybrids. lastly, when organic beings are placed during several generations under conditions not natural to them, they are extremely liable to vary, which seems to be partly due to their reproductive systems having been specially affected, though in a lesser degree than when sterility ensues. so it is with hybrids, for their offspring in successive generations are eminently liable to vary, as every experimentalist has observed. thus we see that when organic beings are placed under new and unnatural conditions, and when hybrids are produced by the unnatural crossing of two species, the reproductive system, independently of the general state of health, is affected in a very similar manner. in the one case, the conditions of life have been disturbed, though often in so slight a degree as to be inappreciable by us ; in the other case, or that of hybrids, the external conditions have remained


very similar manner. in the one case, the conditions of life have been disturbed, though often in so slight a degree as to be inappreciable by us ; in the other case, or that of hybrids, the external conditions have remained the same, but the organisation has been disturbed by two distinct structures and constitutions, including of course the reproductive systems, having been blended into one. for it is scarcely possible that two organisations should be compounded into one, without some disturbance occurring in the development, or periodical action, or mutual relations of the different parts and organs one to another or to the conditions of life. when hybrids are able to breed inter se, they transmit to their offspring from generation to generation the same compounded organisation, and hence we need not be surprised that their sterility, though in some degree variable, does not diminish ; it is even apt to increase, this being generally the result, as before explained, of too close interbreeding. the above view of the sterility of hybrids being caused by two constitutions being compounded into one has been strongly maintained by max wichura. it must, however, be owned that we cannot understand, on the above or any other view, several facts with respect to the sterility of hybrids ; for instance, the unequal fertility of hybrids produced from reciprocal crosses ; or the increased sterility in those hybrids which occasionally and exceptionally resemble closely either pure parent. nor do i pretend that the foregoing remarks go to the root of the matter ; no explanation is offered why an organism, when placed under unnatural conditions, is rendered sterile. all that i have attempted to show is, that in two cases, in some respects allied, sterility is the common result, — in the one case from the conditions of life having been disturbed, in the other case from the organisation having been disturbed by two organisations being compounded into one. a similar parallelism holds good with an allied yet very different class of facts. it is an old and almost universal belief founded on a considerable body of evidence, which i have elsewhere given, that slight changes in the conditions of life are beneficial to all living things. we see this acted on by farmers and gardeners in their frequent exchanges of seed, tubers, & c., from one soil or climate to another, and back again. during the convalescence of animals, great benefit is derived from almost any change in their habits of life. again, both with plants and animals, there is


, & c., from one soil or climate to another, and back again. during the convalescence of animals, great benefit is derived from almost any change in their habits of life. again, both with plants and animals, there is the clearest evidence that a cross between individuals of the same species, which differ to a certain extent, gives vigour and fertility to the offspring ; and that close interbreeding continued during several generations between the nearest relations, if these be kept under the same conditions of life, almost always leads to decreased size, weakness, or sterility. hence it seems that, on the one hand, slight changes in the conditions of life benefit all organic beings, and on the other hand, that slight crosses, that is crosses between the males and females of the same species, which have been subjected to slightly different conditions, or which have slightly varied, give vigour and fertility to the offspring. but, as we have seen, organic beings long habituated to certain uniform conditions under a state of nature, when subjected, as under confinement, to a considerable change in their conditions, very frequently are rendered more or less sterile ; and we know that a cross between two forms, that have become widely or specifically different, produce hybrids which are almost always in some degree sterile. i am fully persuaded that this double parallelism is by no means an accident or an illusion. he who is able to explain why the elephant and a multitude of other animals are incapable of breeding when kept under only partial confinement in their native country, will be able to explain the primary cause of hybrids being so generally sterile. he will at the same time be able to explain how it is that the races of some of our domesticated animals, which have often been subjected to new and not uniform conditions, are quite fertile together, although they are descended from distinct species, which would probably have been sterile if aboriginally crossed. the above two parallel series of facts seem to be connected together by some common but unknown bond, which is essentially related to the principle of life ; this principle, according to mr. herbert spencer, being that life depends on, or consists in, the incessant action and reaction of various forces, which, as throughout nature, are always tending towards an equilibrium ; and when this tendency is slightly disturbed by any change, the vital forces gain in power.


, may slow tumor growth by regulating enzymes that become overactive during cancer. the researchers injected cancer - prone mice with a carcinogen specific to cigarette smoke, and then gave them either a placebo or moderate doses of metformin. after 13 weeks, the lung tumors in metformin - fed mice were 38 % to 53 % smaller than those in the placebo - fed mice on average. more - potent, injected doses of metformin led to a 72 % tumor reduction. caveat : as with all animal studies, the findings might not apply to human subjects. the national cancer institute is planning a clinical trial to test metformin in people at highest risk of developing lung cancer. brain exercises : reading and other cognitive exercises compress late - life dementia into a shorter but more - rapid decline, according to a study in neurology. at the beginning of the study, 1, 157 dementia - free seniors reported how often they read newspapers, magazines and books ; listened to the radio ; watched television ; played games like cards or crosswords and visited museums. every three years, the researchers tested a subset of the participants for cognitive impairment, and followed those patients for another 5. 7 years on average. cognitive exercise appeared to delay dementia. every one - point increase on a five - point mental - activity scale corresponded to an average 52 % slower cognitive impairment at first. but the exercises appeared to have the opposite effect on subjects who had developed alzheimer ' s : for every one - point increase on the scale, cognitive skills declined 42 % more quickly. caveat : the researchers tested each participant fewer than four times on average, and the participants reported their cognitive exercises just once. migraine : researchers discovered the first common gene linked to migraine risk, according to their report in nature genetics. the researchers compared dna samples from 2, 731 migraine sufferers to 10, 747 otherwise similar subjects, examining more than 400, 000 dna sequences per participant. a variation in only one sequence, on the long arm of chromosome 8, appeared to have any effect on the debilitating condition. the researchers confirmed their initial findings by examining this sequence in another 3, 202 people with migraine and 40, 062 controls. overall, 24. 3 % of migraine sufferers and 20. 6 % of non - sufferers carried the variant — an 18 % higher rate for sufferers. the sequence ' s location, between two genes that help regulate the neurotransmitter glutamate, provides fresh clues for understanding