shifts involve a beloved character. they often miss the multiple layers of meaning that exist in media messages. this is because the youngsters ' analytical, evaluative, synthesizing, abstracting, and inferencing abilities are not as finely honed as they need to be. therefore, scores of young media consumers tend to be more susceptible in automatically accepting the prevailing ideas, morals, attitudes, and explanations presented by the media. in all probability, the harry potter found in movies and commercials will correspond to recognized or desired personal characteristics familiar to children and teens, which in turn will establish an opening for advertisers and others to shape youngsters ' attitudes about new film stars and products. this process, known as canalization, subtly influences people ' s attitudes by making them more receptive to a product through linking that product to our emotional needs ( potter 271 ). hence it is highly plausible that through the media push caused by the film and its subsequent commercialization of all things potter, the clever boy wizard will become a pitchman for any number of products directed at young consumers. without more finely attuned media literacy practices, in all likelihood, scores of young adults will conflate the harry potter of literature with the harry potter of commercialism without developing the awareness needed to separate the types of media exposure the two harrys offer them. harry works his magic again : transforming the boy wizard into a study in media literacy this leads us to how harry potter the literary character can teach educators ways to introduce media literacy to our students, regardless of their ages. teachers know harry potter has the power to reach children and stimulate their conventional literacy skills. students reading the harry potter book series engage in a wide range of sensory stimulation, as they layer their own images upon the sentences j. k. rowlings produced. writing and reading teachers clearly see how rowlings ' s characters and stories can train young readers in the left - brain linguistic and analytical patterns they need to develop strong, sustained reading and writing abilities. working through various scenes in the tomes, students develop creativity and analytic thinking as they interact with the storyline. moreover, while reading these books, students who are active in the reading process internalize sequential speech or syntactic structures, all of which become important foundations for future learning. then, too, through rowlings ' s series young readers learn the conventions of the written texts, such as punctuation, capitalization, pagination, and paragraphing. these elements are not necessarily found in broadcast media, and items like


then, too, through rowlings ' s series young readers learn the conventions of the written texts, such as punctuation, capitalization, pagination, and paragraphing. these elements are not necessarily found in broadcast media, and items like punctuation and capitalization take on new forms in cybermedia. from a cognitive perspective, one of the greatest concerns teachers should have with harry potter becoming a media icon connects to students developing stronger right - brain patterns, such as relying more upon holistic visual or verbal cues like color, motion, and sound effects instead of text - based cues to determine required information from a storyline ( healy 210 - 11 ). as a movie or commercial image, harry potter feeds upon the right hemisphere of the brain ' s need for novelty and for understanding the story ' s global context ( healy 124 - 25 ). therefore, children and teenagers who become dependent solely upon the film or commercial versions of harry potter without the connection to rowlings ' s books will most likely capture the narrative ' s gist, but they may miss the more interesting or important details connected to really understanding the tale. the danger in this is some students become untrained in the art of pursuing meaning and reflection in their reading and writing. in these instances, students will not grasp foreshadowing techniques like asking questions of what will happen next in the plot nor will they make mental connections to prior learned information. these are critical reading skills that do transfer to written communication, and educators need to discover ways to enhance these abilities in students whose primary leisure activity is television or film viewing. secondary areas to consider as harry potter moves toward film, video, advertising, and television are the types of effects the change from literary figure to media icon will elicit in young or adolescent viewers. media influence is a two - stage process, displaying immediate and long - term effects. immediate effects occur during exposure to a message or directly thereafter. some of these outcomes temporarily tend to reinforce or extend an individual ' s schema. for instance, after seeing the harry potter movie, young viewers may adopt attitudes or behaviors that correspond to the hero or heroine. alternatively, children may have heightened emotions connected to what happens to harry or his friends for a short period during or slightly after the film. in these situations, youngsters may want to dress like or act like harry or one of the characters for a period of time. other outcomes, though, depend upon long term exposure to messages that people internalize as cultural or personal beliefs. for the sake of argument, let


image. especially in advertising contexts, this ready - made trust between young reader and character can be exploited in ad copy to make suspect claims. a second faulty reasoning method, the ecological fallacy, can also emerge. in this setting, a message would show a viewer that there is a causal relationship between two items merely because they occur simultaneously. for instance, the successful release of another harry potter book coincides with a blockbuster opening for the harry potter film. there may be a number of reasons for the book and the movie doing well that do not account for the simultaneous release, such as the time of year both are released or the amount of advertising dollars spent to create a pent - up desire for youngsters to purchase the new book or to see the movie. sophisticated media users can detect the ecological fallacy ; unsophisticated users generally do not. many children and adolescents may not recognize all the underlying reasons as to why the book and film are huge successes and may want to see coincidences where there may not be any. similarly, in these situations, inexperienced thinkers also may fall prey to post hoc fallacies. they may assume just because something preceded an event - - such as the movie being released before the book - - it is the cause of whatever transpired. certainly the " bandwagon " fallacy also can come to the fore in this context. if news reports, advertisements, and word - of - mouth reflects that everyone - - or seemingly everyone - - is watching, reading or buying harry potter, then inexperienced media consumers become easy targets for these powerful messages. children and teens are particularly susceptible to bandwagon fallacies because their range of experiences with media messages and real life interactions are limited. the bandwagon effect is particularly successful with those who have a lack of self - esteem and want to be like others. to many young minds, if everyone is seeing the movie, purchasing the book, or buying harryphernalia, the possibility of being left out of this consuming frenzy may play upon his or her self - worth. without solid media literacy skills to dismantle bandwagon messaging techniques, adolescents remain especially susceptible to feeling like the odd one out if they do not purchase the latest item or see the hottest movie or buy the latest fashion. lastly, the distinct variations between the two harrys may create intentional fallacies, which is the idea that what the message maker ' s intended meaning is what the viewers take it to be. many times the media will construct intentional fallacies to shape our ideas about a


distinct variations between the two harrys may create intentional fallacies, which is the idea that what the message maker ' s intended meaning is what the viewers take it to be. many times the media will construct intentional fallacies to shape our ideas about a product or a program. usually, though, there is some degree of separation between the message ' s encoded meaning and how the audience decodes it. for instance, with the harry potter book series, the author intends the message to be a child ' s fantasy and the publisher intends for the book to be a huge seller. however, the readers may have a variety of different and unexpected uses for the book. for instance, readers may share or exchange copies of their books with others, thus reducing the numbers of copies sold. or, adults might hold harry potter costume parties, where parents and their friends dress up like the characters of the book. some parents might read the book aloud and tape their readings for younger children who cannot yet read. these uses subvert the original intentions of the book. children, too, can be shown how they might challenge media - generated intentional fallacies with their own multiple uses of the harry potter movie. with the film, the producers intend viewers to visit a theater, rent, or purchase the movie. they do not expect the audience to share or dub the vcr tapes or dvd discs for friends. nor are the film ' s creators interested in how children and teenagers appropriate new meanings for the scenes, such as using the movie ' s language, characters or situations as a secret code to describe school, family or neighborhood relationships. however, there is much more for us to consider with the two harrys than the types of logical traps they can set for students. the shift from harry potter the literary character to harry potter the media icon should also have educators questioning how the change will further desensitize young readers ' relationships with the printed word. j. k. rowlings ' books instill a sense of wonderment and surprise in young adults, as many teachers and parents can attest. like the numerous media studies that repeatedly show watching even a single television program - - especially if violence and aggression are featured - - lowers children ' s sensitivity toward these actions, highly entertaining television shows, videos or movies filled with spectacular special effects also reduce viewers ' impressions toward low impact programming. reading and writing are very low impact programming forms. both depend upon great skill in encoding and decoding messages in a particular context and the entertainment level is rooted much more deeply in one ' s special


effects also reduce viewers ' impressions toward low impact programming. reading and writing are very low impact programming forms. both depend upon great skill in encoding and decoding messages in a particular context and the entertainment level is rooted much more deeply in one ' s special interests. therefore, it is entirely plausible that for many youngsters a harry potter movie filled with incredible computer generated graphics or fantastic special effects will be far more entertaining and impressive than reading the series or writing about what they have read or seen. rather than believe children and teenagers will turn to the movie version of harry potter because the story is easier to consume, though, educators need to realize that the amazing technological effects connected to the portrayal of a boy wizard will desensitize these viewers to the acts of reading and writing. this is a far more subtle use of the media desensitizing viewers than perhaps many are accustomed to, and one that directly affects how youngsters connect to the printed word. more than what the hogwarts academy expected : using the magic of harry potter to teach media literacy in grades 6 - 12 the standard approach to instilling media literacy in children or teenage consumers is to inoculate them. inoculation simply refers to the repeated exposure of audience ' s attitudes to various messages and claims with the purpose of making media claims less effective. however, inoculation is generally an unsophisticated approach to developing media literacy. media outlets spend millions on psychographic and demographic information to subvert most inoculation techniques, and advertisers and programmers use inoculation to sway consumers and viewers toward specific products. so the activities educators would most likely line up to combat media messages more than likely pale in comparison to what skilled corporate manipulators do on a daily basis. instead of inoculating students to create media literacy, teachers might achieve more by using media commercialization as a significant learning experience for their classes. this is where the two harry potters emerge as central figures. students can use their prior experience with the harry potter of literary fame to shape their current media knowledge structures. with the flood of harryphernalia in bookstores and shopping malls, teachers can ask students to become critical thinkers about their own media consumption using the following writing exercise. using excerpts of the film, commercials featuring the harry potter characters, or news stories related to the movie, have students analyze their potential for consumerism. the teacher writes ten ideas on the board related to media influence - - for instance, opinion creation, opinion change, reinforcement, emotional reactions,


the harry potter characters, or news stories related to the movie, have students analyze their potential for consumerism. the teacher writes ten ideas on the board related to media influence - - for instance, opinion creation, opinion change, reinforcement, emotional reactions, imitation, nutrition, instant gratification, materialism, and blame. students then determine what characteristics would need to be present in the film, commercial, or news story to influence them to see the movie, buy the product, or pay attention to the television story. this is akin to developing foreshadowing techniques in conventional literacy. to facilitate the next phase in the assignment, teachers fill the board with the class ' s responses. stepping back to examine what students generated is an important stage in encouraging students to develop reflexivity. teachers should ask students to rank which attributes would influence them the most. once this activity is finished, students write a short profile explaining how they might lower the probability of these attributes influencing children and teenagers to overconsume. to extend the reflection, teachers can have students probe their own reactions to harry potter that put them at risk for indiscriminate spending on harryphernalia. in journals or in class discussion, students can question more deeply into those effects that play upon youngsters ' self - esteem and how those influences shape a person ' s reasons for succumbing to media messages. beyond having students study their own habits as media consumers, teachers can motivate their classes to think about the indirect media effects on others using harry potter. in this instance, students generate examples where their friends formed an opinion based on media messages about harry potter without ever being exposed to the original event ( book or film, for instance ). then after sharing these student - produced situations related to others, the instructor asks the class what their opinion is on harry potter found in the book, the movie, and the commercial. using the chalkboard, the teacher puts forward all the student opinions. once the class has finished airing its opinions, the teacher should ask whether the class ' s opinions are based on overheard media messages or from them being directly exposed to the book, the film, or the commercials. students are then asked to write about what conditions changed their opinions about harry potter. afterward, students should classify whether these conditions are connected to direct or indirect exposure to the media event. the point of this exercise is to show how discussing whether people are most affected by direct or indirect exposure to the media, which helps students discover the complexity of the media effects process. using media


are connected to direct or indirect exposure to the media event. the point of this exercise is to show how discussing whether people are most affected by direct or indirect exposure to the media, which helps students discover the complexity of the media effects process. using media commercialization as a significant learning experience for reading, writing, and thinking suggests teachers need to show students how to adapt to new learning frameworks. far too frequently, inexperienced users misinterpret media schemas as real world schemas, and the consequences generally run from the embarrassing to the dangerous. with children and teenagers, a lack of awareness connected to their misinterpreting media schema for real world schema can create anything from social faux pas to poor decision - making. again, most students ' familiarity with the harry potter book series allows instructors to work with their classes to enhance the students ' sensitivity to media schemas. as a class, teachers should have students select a chapter of one harry potter book to read as a group. students take turns reading the passages, and while one student is reading, the others should take notes about the schemas. for character schemas, students would list the central figures and briefly describe them. to explain the narrative schema present in the chapter, students need to jot down the important events that occur. likewise, to determine setting schema, students write two or three things that take place in the setting and two or three items that would never occur in the setting. students identify thematic schema in the chapter by briefly summarizing what was the chapter ' s moral or intended moral. finally, to discover the chapter ' s rhetorical schema, students list the author ' s purpose for writing this chapter. was rowling trying to entertain, to inform, to persuade, to fantasize, or to achieve a number of purposes? students repeat this schema identification activity again, this time while watching a ten to fifteen minute portion of the harry potter movie. lastly, the teacher should show about ten to fifteen minutes of television advertisements for harryphernalia, and students once more categorize the schema. upon completing the three exercises, the class discusses its findings. students should be asked what, if any, schematic elements stayed the same across the examples. what schematic elements differed? students need to consider whether a change in media generated a change in the schematic elements. students also should talk about whether the media schemas and genres affect how people receive messages ( adapted from


the examples. what schematic elements differed? students need to consider whether a change in media generated a change in the schematic elements. students also should talk about whether the media schemas and genres affect how people receive messages ( adapted from potter 89 ). these activities illustrate how teachers can work with students to reduce their levels of mindless exposure to any media material, whether print or electronic. students discover ways to hone their media reading skills, and they learn that their passive reading of the media leads to media effects clouding their thinking far more pervasively than usual. instead of making claims in their argument - - e. g., that parents or some other authority should control media messages directed toward children, a common byproduct of inoculation - - youngsters who become active readers of the media determine how to negotiate the information presented to them. this is an especially important ability for those young people who form parasocial relationships with media characters based on the character ' s attractiveness or sociability. passive media readers rarely consider how storylines and contexts shape a character ' s likability or personality ; therefore, these viewers are regularly affected by hypermnesia. active media readers, however, question storylines and contexts as well as external media messages sent by advertisers and news reports about these characters. consequently, these children and teenagers develop the analytical skills that allow them to separate the entertainment qualities from whatever informational content exists. as they increase their analytical skills through repeated media literacy exercises, students expand their abilities to recognize how a change in medium can make a difference in how a message is constructed and received. in other words, students discover how to be " situationally sensitive " ( simons, morreale, and gronbeck 76 ) toward mass media messages. teachers who draw upon cross - media comparisons in their assignments do well in showing students how the same information is presented differently through various genres. using the activities presented earlier in this paper, instructors help students understand the ways in which a message affects viewers. to extend this idea into students ' writing, teachers can have the class keep a journal related to all the harry potter news stories, radio jingles, internet ads, and television commercials they see for two weeks. students write down what elements of the messages appeal to them - - colors, sounds, melodies, graphics, and so on. at the end of the two week period, have students write harry potter messages for different media - - a newspaper article, a radio or television ad, a billboard


messages appeal to them - - colors, sounds, melodies, graphics, and so on. at the end of the two week period, have students write harry potter messages for different media - - a newspaper article, a radio or television ad, a billboard, a short scene from the next movie, or a news report for a local station on the harry potter phenomenon. the process teaches students that writing effective media messages is sometimes difficult. since successful media messages depend upon a number of artistic qualities to appeal to viewers, students learn about the aesthetic dimension of the media ( adapted from potter 381 ). the class quickly discovers that those elements that work best in one medium often will not transfer. consequently, students must learn how to work with various linguistic, aural, and visual aspects to create expert sounding media messages. developing media literacy frameworks for young adults requires educators to move beyond the usual inoculation or academic literacy approaches. instructors must think of literacy with a much wider goal in mind, as reading and writing have become far more complex in the information age. just as instructors present critical thinking skills in reading and writing, they must also now include critical viewing to the literacy mix. since youngsters have constructed basic media literacy frameworks by the time they enter school, teachers need to help them move toward advanced abilities so children learn not to take media information at face value. this suggests that literacy is, indeed, rooted in both social and technological practices, as educational theorist b. c. bruce notes ( 303 ). students ' early learning experiences are grounded in commingled forms and representations of sound, animation, moving images, and electronically generated meanings ( macaul et al. 55 ). these practices affect how students react to the printed word in academic settings. therefore, teachers must come to terms with an expanded view of literacy that encompasses these influences upon reading and writing. mass media and media commercialization do not have to destroy traditional notions of literacy. students who understand that informational flow patterns shift with a change in medium may better understand a society that is becoming increasingly media - saturated. even though teachers are incorporating media literacy activities in their classes, academic literacy skills should not suffer, as students still are able to use reading and writing to test new ideas and propose new knowledge structures even though the characters or images they use for inquiry are different. the result of merging print and electronic literacy abilities may be that students move toward developing an integrated notion of reading and writing across multiple media genres as well as becoming more media savvy. pleasure and literacy before concluding, let me


for inquiry are different. the result of merging print and electronic literacy abilities may be that students move toward developing an integrated notion of reading and writing across multiple media genres as well as becoming more media savvy. pleasure and literacy before concluding, let me suggest that harry potter stories do bring many people who are young and old a great sense of pleasure. but, as media scholars lawrence grossberg, ellen wartella, and d. charles whitney suggest, " [ p ] leasure is a deceptively simple notion [... ] it is in fact a very complex phenomenon, and we actually know very little about the mechanisms of the production of pleasure " ( 253 ). so much of what defines pleasure is emotionally generated. yet we should not forget that pleasure is also economically and culturally situated. whether one reads to escape the mundane, to reinforce one ' s self through identification with a character, to live vicariously through another ' s experiences, to feel catharsis, or for any number of other reasons, all bear some connection to a media product - - the book. if pleasure relates to traditional literacy, then why not have pleasure link up with media literacy to interrogate what we see on television, through an advertisement, or in a film? harry potter can teach reading and writing instructors how to bring media literacy into their classrooms through the introduction of pleasure. educators recognize the young magician ' s power to charm children and teenagers into developing a love of words. schoolteachers and others, however, must also realize the boy wizard can cast many unwanted spells upon young audiences as a media pitchman. ultimately, the trouble with harry is that until teachers and students recognize that he sends a number of messages beyond his literary self - - and we all must learn how to address these messages to function in various situations - - in most writing classes literacy will remain segregated between a privileged print and a mass electronic form. a parallel example of hypermnesia would be how late - twentysomethings bond around the values and images linked to the brady bunch. for a short period in the late 1980s - early 1990s, there was brady material across all media. my college students during that time could not only recite the entire brady bunch theme song, but could reel off lengthy passages from episodes and arcane facts about the program. similarly, i see my current group of college students display hypermnesia over the simpsons television program. based on these two phenonmena, a similar occurrence with harry potter should be expected. the classroom exercises are designed for


about the program. similarly, i see my current group of college students display hypermnesia over the simpsons television program. based on these two phenonmena, a similar occurrence with harry potter should be expected. the classroom exercises are designed for grades 6 - 12. all activities can be adjusted to meet the demands of class size, student demographics, and teacher or departmental expectations for grade level performance. my purpose is not to create a one - size - fits - all approach to introducing media literacy. rather, i hope to generate a context in which teachers adapt the ideas here for their own classroom activities. since there is little advertising done in advance of the harry potter movie, i suggest interested teachers look in local pharmacies, grocery stores, and bookstores to note the wide array of items carrying the harry potter image that are available for purchase. a recent issue of vanity fair magazine ( http : / / www. epicurious. com ) devoted its main story to the upcoming harry potter phenomenon. these conditions can be explained as parental comments, friends ' comments, newscasters ' comments, or other attitudes displayed by institutions such as church, school, government, sports, and so on. w. james potter defines various media schema as character schema ( stereotypical images that viewers instantly recognize ), narrative schema ( storytelling formulas that cue viewers to the genre ), setting schema ( places that influence viewer expectations ), thematic schema ( character behaviors that interact with the first three schemas to provide viewers with a moral to the story ), and rhetorical schema ( the primary contribution of the story - - whether to inform, entertain, persuade, create a fantasy, and so on ) ( 74 ). bruce, b. c. " literacy technologies : what stance should we take? " journal of literacy research ( 29 ) 1997 : 289 - 309. healy, jane m. endangered minds : why children don ' t think - - and what we can do about it. new york : touchstone, 1990. grossberg, lawrence, ellen wartella, and d. charles whitney. mediamaking : mass media in a popular culture. thousand oaks, ca : sage, 1998. macaul, sherry l., jackie k. giles, and rita k. rodenberg. " intermediality in the classroom : learners constructing meaning through deep viewing. " intermediality : the teacher ' s handbook of critical media literacy. ed. ladislaus semali and ann watts pailliotet. boulder, co


##nberg. " intermediality in the classroom : learners constructing meaning through deep viewing. " intermediality : the teacher ' s handbook of critical media literacy. ed. ladislaus semali and ann watts pailliotet. boulder, co : westview, 1999. meyrowitz, joshua. no sense of place : the impact of electronic media on social behavior. new york : oxford up, 1985. potter, w. james. media literacy. 2nd ed. thousand oaks, ca : sage, 2001. semali, ladislaus m, and ann watts pailliotet. intermediality : the teacher ' s handbook of critical media literacy. boulder, co : westview, 1999. simons, herbert, joanne morreale, and bruce gronbeck. persuasion in society. thousand oaks, ca : sage, 2001. u. s. department of education. naep 1996 : trends in writing. office of educational research and improvement. national center for educational statistics. washington, dc : 1999. —. naep 1998 : trends in writing. washington, dc : 2000. citation format : penrod, dane. " the trouble with harry : a reason for teaching media literacy to young adults. " the writing instructor. 2001. http : / / www. writinginstructor. com / penrod. html ( date accessed ). review process : diane penrod ' s essay was accepted for publication following blind, peer review.


origin : modl : so named ( 1789 ) by m. h. klaproth ( see tellurium ), its discoverer, after uranus, recently ( 1781 ) discovered planet + - ium see uranium in american heritage dictionary 4 noun symbol u origin : new latin uranium origin :, after uranus, uranus ; see uranus. word history : some chemical elements, such as ytterbium and berkelium, derive their names from the places they were discovered, but the element uranium owes its name to an earlier scientific discovery, that of the planet uranus. sir william herschel, who discovered uranus in 1781, wanted to name the planet georgium sidus, “ the georgian planet, ” in honor of george iii ; others called it herschel. eventually convention prevailed and the planet came to be called uranus, like mercury and pluto the name of a heavenly deity in classical mythology. this god, called ouranos in greek ( latinized as uranus ), was chosen because he was the father of saturn ( greek kronos ), the deity of the planet next in line, who himself was the father of jupiter ( greek zeus ), the deity of the next planet. the name of this new planet uranus was then used in the name of a new chemical element discovered eight years later by m. h. klaproth. klaproth, a german scientist, gave it the latin name uranium in honor of the discovery of uranus. uranium passed into english shortly thereafter, being first recorded in the third edition of the encyclopedia britannica, published in 1797. learn more about uranium


these " death - traps ", in earthquake - prone areas. so, we reach to the, rather, strange conclusion that the thousands of deaths caused by quakes is a political problem! among the people that helped the state to propagate or use this multi - story - building " solution " to the problem of housing ordinary people, a prominent place is held by le corbusier ( 1887 - 1965 ). le corbusier was born in switzerland and at the age of 43 he became a french citizen. he was quite " enamored " to the nazis, and he was an admirer of henry ford and the... general motors! his contribution to humanity : part of the misery that the extraterrestrial man observed during his trip on the surface of the earth. unfortunately, this contribution to misery and quake - induced deaths has not been adequately recognized, if at all, by historians, engineers, and intellectuals. how could, a rather not very competent architect, create such " havoc ", almost single - handed? my estimate : the cause is a strange tendency of humans, especially of ladies, to feel that it is de rigueur to be modern, to follow the fashion, etc. [ whether this tendency is innate or acquired, does not matter. what matters, is that it is so prevalent ]. le corbusier and his creations were the epitome of... modernity. maybe, that was why le corbusier became a french citizen ; to be at the center of modernity, fashion, etc. aside from this rather droll, yet valid, explanation, there is a more sinister one : the greed of the portland cement industry and the automobile industry in the " democratic " nations and authoritarianism in the non - democratic nations ( the soviets, hitler, etc ). let us take the case of greece : around 79 years ago, between 1932 and 1933, what happened at the " exarchia square " in athens helped decide the fate of the city concerning its buildings and consequently helped decide the way of the life of its inhabitants. in 1932 the construction of one of the first steel - reinforced concrete multi - story buildings, designed by a young greek architect, started to take place at the north - eastern corner of the " exarchia square ". [ parenthesis : " the athens neighborhood of ' exarchia ' is considered the scene of the anarchic scene in greece ( today ). the core of the neighborhood is a tiny triangular park (


also, there is another, rather " vulgar " development that refutes the above argument. for example, there are greek immigrants, admittedly not very numerous, who after having been " successful " by climbing the social ladder from dishwashers in new york or frankfurt to restaurateurs, they then build summer - houses back in their home villages, usually mimicking, architecturally, swiss chalets, thus occupying two times their... allotted domicile space on the face of the earth. an additional objection to the proliferation of the one - story home, possibly by ecologists this time, might be that this is a boon for the proliferation of the automobile, le corbusier ' s fervent vision. wrong! this problem had been solved around the turn of the 20th century. the solution : the steel wheel on a steel rail. that is : mass transportation by trains, light - rail and the streetcar. a solution, which was " erased " by the general motors et al in the 1930s and 1940s. finally, for some people, storing humans vertically towards heaven in tall buildings in mega - cities, is a way to make humanity " more productive and efficient ". in the " special issue " on " better cities " of the " scientific american " magazine, for september 2011, ( page 38 ), luis m. a. bettencourt and geoffrey b. west write : " what we can say with certainty,..., is that increased population [ in cities ] promotes more intense and frequent social interactions... as well as economic pressures that weed out inefficiencies. in a city with high rents, only activities that add substantial value can be profitable. these economic pressures push urbanites to come up with new forms of organizations, products and services that carry more value added. in turn, higher profitability, excellence and choice tend to attract more talent to the city, pushing rents higher still, fuelling the need to find yet more productive activities... " about " weed out inefficiencies ", " rents ", " economic pressures ", " value added ", and " profitability ", no comment is necessary. however, given that the majority of " educated " people in the west, and probably the writers of the above excerpt, consider the foundation of their culture and of their social thought to be the product of the city of athens around 2, 500 years ago ( see martin bernal ' s " black athena " ), it is a bit of


writers of the above excerpt, consider the foundation of their culture and of their social thought to be the product of the city of athens around 2, 500 years ago ( see martin bernal ' s " black athena " ), it is a bit of a contradiction to ignore the fact that the area covered by the city of athens, at that time, around the acropolis, is the same area covered today by a few dozen taverns, peddling " moussaka " to the tourists. how come such " wisdom " came out of a postage - stamp city, not a mega - city? furthermore, to invent the wheel or the transistor is the easy part. to understand the human nature is the hard one. also, it is even harder to survive in a concrete multi - story building that was hit by an earthquake. a possible outline of action by the ordinary people of turkey and greece to solve the deadly problem of the quake could be as follows : - both peoples should ignore their respective governing elites. any action by both peoples should be at the grassroots level, in a pareconish way. - dialogue and cooperation between the two peoples should be the cardinal basis for finding a solution. - immediate and very close contact among the civil engineers and the civil engineering schools of both countries. - honest evaluation of the history of concrete in relation to quakes. - if the ordinary men and women of turkey and greece, with the help of the universities and of the engineers of both countries, decide that the solution rests on the design of a one - story house of lightweight materials, then a long - range program should be made for the initiation of a process of replacing the existing tall structures with the new low lightweight ones, recycling almost all of the materials of the existing buildings. obviously, this will take many decades, maybe about a half century. as already mentioned, this is only an outline by a single individual. there are more than 80 million turks and greeks capable to start thinking about the problem. one additional benefit of such a program could be that it will evolve into a political and social contact between the two peoples that will allow them to live in peace and dignity. also, it is possible that in the future this program could involve and the peoples at the rim of the mediterranean basin ; syria, lebanon, palestine, egypt, libya, algeria, tunisia, morocco, etc. the turks and the greeks can, of course, appeal to the rest of the world for cooperation and involvement in such a project. however, the massachusetts institute of


syria, lebanon, palestine, egypt, libya, algeria, tunisia, morocco, etc. the turks and the greeks can, of course, appeal to the rest of the world for cooperation and involvement in such a project. however, the massachusetts institute of technology and the university of illinois should definitely be involved in this turko - greek project. especially, the university of illinois, which has the best school of civil engineering in the world. the history of the university of illinois in relation to quakes is quite interesting. part of this history are nathan m. newmark, hardy cross, and fazlur r. khan. all three were among the most brilliant minds of the contemporary science of the world. - newmark ( 1910 - 1981 ) was the head of the civil engineering department of the u of illinois, at urbana, for 17 years. his work had a lot to do with earthquakes. all his life he tackled the most difficult engineering problems, even the design of structures to withstand a nuclear explosion, and gave brilliant solutions. he is famous for the quake - resistant design of the skyscraper " torre latinoamericana " in mexico city. he was awarded the national medal of science and numerous other awards. - cross ( 1885 - 1959 ) was the originator, in 1936 at the u. of illinois, of what is known to all the civil engineers of the world as the " cross method ", a tool that helped them tremendously in the design of structures, especially of multi - story concrete structures. - khan ( 1929 - 1982 ) " was a native of bangladesh... [ he ] is considered as one of the greatest geniuses in the history of civil engineering... khan ' s revolutionary design of a skyscraper is that the most economical way to build a skyscraper is the one in which it is built with thin solid walls as a tube... " [ this from my znet commentary, " of pyramids and skyscrapers ", of september 30, 2001 ]. the wtc twin towers were designed on the basis of khan ' s revolutionary method. all these three great engineers devoted their life to solve technical problems for the erection of multi - story buildings. the opposite of what is proposed here. yet, what could their reaction be to such a proposal for a low light - weight building? i would like to think that, ultimately, they would agree that losing the lives of the hundreds of thousands of ordinary people in multi - story concrete buildings has not been seriously examined by the engineering profession and that something should be done.


- weight building? i would like to think that, ultimately, they would agree that losing the lives of the hundreds of thousands of ordinary people in multi - story concrete buildings has not been seriously examined by the engineering profession and that something should be done. all three were serious and extremely rational individuals. of these three, i had the chance to meet only newmark, a polite, gentle, and honest person. about khan it was written that he was a " technical genius with a sensitivity for people and the places in which they must live and work ". khan himself said : " i like to think myself a citizen of the world. if we don ' t have a sense of compassion on a world basis and on a man - to - man basis, we ' re never going to get out of the wars we ' re in ". about cross i do not know much. yet, i am apt to think that he was not different from the other two. it seems that these three exceptional individuals, in relation to quakes, had fallen to what might be called the " robert oppenheimer trap ". after oppenheimer tried to rationalize his involvement with the nukes, he said that he could not resist the feeling of " a technically sweet solution "! my guess is that, today, all three would agree to the solution presented here. [ parenthesis : here is a rough outline of a possible solution for an one - story light - weight building : 1. construction of a concrete wall as a " base " of the building. concrete?! yes, concrete. even of plain concrete, without steel reinforcement. however, the height of the wall should not exceed 4 feet ( 1. 20 meters ). this low wall will give the building a solid base, as a quasi " ballast ", which can withstand mainly wind forces. this 4 - feet high ballast - wall, even if it fails ( which is improbable ), will not trap people under it, because of its small height. 2. the floor should be a concrete slab ( plain or with minimal steel reinforcement ) that is monolithically connected to the low wall, forming thus a box - like lower part of the building. this will be beneficial to the building even if there is liquefaction. ( transformation of the soil into a liquid, for a fraction of the duration of the quake. ) 3. the remaining 6 feet, to gain the total height of 10 feet of the building, should be a lightweight construction, resembling a cage, made


( transformation of the soil into a liquid, for a fraction of the duration of the quake. ) 3. the remaining 6 feet, to gain the total height of 10 feet of the building, should be a lightweight construction, resembling a cage, made of steel members, thus securing that the upper part of the walls and the roof will not kill people by falling on them. the steel to be used, mostly by recycling, is already used today as reinforcement in the slabs and columns of the traditional concrete structures, which are going to be demolished. 4. the steel cage, of the upper part of the structure, should be covered on the outside and the inside with a thin " skin " of fiber - reinforced concrete of a thickness of only half inch. strange as it sounds, there has been experience with such " thin " fiber - reinforced materials for decades. students in most civil engineering schools in the us take part in an annual competition of building... canoes out of such a " skin ". 5. the low concrete wall of 4 feet and the space between the outer " skin " and the inner " skin " should be thermally insulated ( preferably with local, or recycled, or newly invented material ). this is only an outline of a solution by a single person. there could be hundreds of better ones from thousands of others ; turks, greeks, mit, the u. of illinois, and so on. end of the parenthesis. ] it should be pointed out that no architects should be involved in this project. my experience with greek architects, in relation to quakes is... terrifying. i feel that prof. christopher alexander, already mentioned above, has been saying similar things for years, if not about quakes, at least about the " offerings " of architacts to humanity. here is a deadly exercise in aesthetics by le corbusier. to make buildings more beautiful he introduced the notion of the " pilotis ". that is, he let the building stand on stilts, by eliminating the walls of the ground floor and left only the concrete columns. also, he said the less numerous columns the better. there are two multi - story apartment buildings on le corbusier stilts, not far from my place. during the big quake of 1981 in athens they were hit severely and all the concrete stilts were almost destroyed. the state with the help of its engineering " commissars " allowed the " repair " of the damage. today, more than 40 families ( about 160


about it was that the community, his people, did not get any benefits from the patents. raju often asks, how is it possible for american companies to come into our country, steal our knowledge and make money off of it? he was also concerend why the indian government did not protect the neem emulsion through patents themselves. this is a question that many intellectual property disputes have to answer. there is an increasing awareness in india of the commodification of neem will lead to the expropriation by multinational corporations, like w. r. grace ( shiva, vandana " piracy by patent : the case of the neem tree, " in the case of the global economy : and for a turn toward the local, edited by jerry mander and edward goldsmith, sierra club : san francisco, 1996, p. 154 ). on indian independence day in 1995, farmers in from karnataka rallied outside the district office to challenge the demands for made by multinational corporations for intellectual property rights. as part of their protest, the farmers carried twigs and branches from the neem tree as a symbol of their collective indigenous knowledge of the properties of the neem ( shiva : 154 ). the united states, on the other hand, states that what they are doing will help the indian economy. india is not against sharing its information about the neem tree ' s virtues, but it is against countries and corporations that intend to stop india ' s present use of it. another issue is whether the neem tree is patenable, since it is a product of nature, which shows that it is not a result of innovation and discovery. the problem is that w. r. grace does not have a patent on the tree itself, but rather on the process of making the emulsion. they believe that this process is a discovery because it entails manipulation yielding greater and better results. in other words, discovery seems to have both old and new definitions. the problem is over the use of novel scientific advances on traditional indian techniques. according to vandana shiva, the director of the research foundation for science, technology and natural resource policy in india, " corporate processes are supposedly novel advances on indian techniques " ( shiva : 152 ). she goes on to state that the reluctance of scientists in india to patent agricultural and pharmaceutical inventions may be a result of their recognition that the bulk of work had already been accomplished by generations of anonymous, indian experimenters ( shiva : 153 ). for example, " dr. r p singh of the indian agricutural


. another party involved is the business community ( like w. r. grace ) that needs intellectual property rights to encourage development in foreign countries because it gives more incentive to the business owners that their property or " inventions " will be protected. they believe that the result of researching and development in foreign countries can lead to a greater public good because of the new discoveries of medicines and other innovations that will result. another forum for dispute surrounding the neem tree is the convention on biological diversity ( cbd ) that took place in 1992 at the united nations conference on environment and development. article 15 of the convention states bio - assets are the property of the sovereign states in which they are from. in other words, they are not the property of the world at large. india ' s claim is that what the western world is calling discoveries is actually an indigenous method that they have been suing for years. they say that it is a bio - asset that is protected under article 15 of the convention. while cbd emphasizes the rights of sovereign nations over biological resources, such as the neem tree, it still calls for the acceptance of intellectual property rights. what this means is the cbd calls for governments, such as india, to provide the proper patents or other forms of protection on the life forms and include pharmaceutical products. another wto dispute that relates to the trips agreement is a case that involves india, as well. this case is regarding basmati rice. india feels that because the united states has granted a patent for basmati rice, that it is violating the trips agreement. they say that basmati rice is exclusively associated with india and pakistan. they want the united states to take away their patent on the rice because they felt it is an indigenous product of their country. india ' s problem with the neem tree is similar to the basmati case because they have realized the importance for creating laws that conserve bio - assets and control piracy. they feel that protecting their assets through patents may protect them from other companies like rice tec that took advantage of the nonexistent indian laws. indian farmers want to protect their cultural heritage. it seems the best way to do it is to change their philosophical attitude that natural resources should not be patented in order to protect and preserve india ' s biodiversity and also to conform to international laws and agreements like the trips agreement. according to shiva, there has been a new alliance of farmers and scientists to formulate an alternative form of intellectual property rights - what they term collective intellectual property rights ( cipr ' s


/ / www. thirdworldtraveler. com / globalization / war _ against _ nature _ vfts. html. ). the issue of nationalism, in the wake of colonialism plays a vital role in the case of the neem tree. indians do not want to lose their rights to their own indigenous resources to a western power. they will do everything to protect their rights. they are now an independent nation, or are they? in the new global village, it is hard to say. they see american companies and the wto dictating what they can and cannot do with the neem tree. the trips agreement is essentially the globalization of western patent laws as instruments to conquest. it can be seen as a different form of colonialism. an interesting story is that the word " patents " is derived from " letter patents. " according to vandana shiva, one of india ' s leading activists and founder of the research foundation for science, technology and ecology, letter patents were the open letter granted by the european sovereigns to conquer lands or to obtain monopolies on imports. for example, christopher columbus used a letter patent issued by queen isabel and king ferdinand, for his right to conquest the america ' s ( vandana shiva : war against nature and the people of the south ). 26. trans - boundary issues : no 27. rights : yes 28. relevant literature mander, jerry, and edward goldsmith eds., the case against the global economy : a turn towards the local, san francisco : sierra club books, 1996. national research council, neem : a tree for solving global problems : report of an ad hoc panel of the board of science and technology for international devlopment, washington d. c. : national academy press, 1992. shiva, vandana, biodiversity : social and ecological perspectives, london : zed books, 1991. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -, biopiracy : the plunder of nature and knolwedge, massacusetts : south end press, 1997. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -, ecology and the politics of survival : conflicts over natural resources in india, in association with j. bandyopadhyay, japan : united nations university press, 1991. graphics : from www. neemfoundation. org


incidents and offenses the uniform crime reporting program collects data about both single - bias and multiple - bias hate crimes. for each offense type reported, law enforcement must indicate at least one bias motivation. a single - bias incident is defined as an incident in which one or more offense types are motivated by the same bias. a multiple - bias incident is defined as an incident in which more than one offense type occurs and at least two offense types are motivated by different biases. - in 2007, 2, 025 law enforcement agencies reported 7, 624 hate crime incidents involving 9, 006 offenses. - there were 7, 621 single - bias incidents that involved 8, 999 offenses, 9, 527 victims, and 6, 962 offenders. - the 3 multiple - bias incidents reported in 2007 involved 7 offenses, 8 victims, and 3 known offenders. ( see tables 1 and 12. ) an analysis of the 7, 621 single - bias incidents reported in 2007 revealed the following : - 50. 8 percent were racially motivated. - 18. 4 percent were motivated by religious bias. - 16. 6 percent resulted from sexual - orientation bias. - 13. 2 percent stemmed from ethnicity / national origin bias. - 1. 0 percent were prompted by disability bias. ( based on table 1. ) offenses by bias motivation within incidents of the 8, 999 single - bias hate crime offenses reported in the above incidents : - 52. 5 percent stemmed from racial bias. - 16. 4 percent resulted from religious bias. - 16. 2 percent were motivated by sexual - orientation bias. - 14. 0 percent were prompted by ethnicity / national origin bias. - 0. 9 percent resulted from biases against disabilities. ( based on table 1. ) in 2007, law enforcement agencies reported that 4, 724 single - bias hate crime offenses were racially motivated. of these offenses : - 69. 3 percent were motivated by anti - black bias. - 18. 4 percent stemmed from anti - white bias. - 6. 0 percent were a result of bias against groups of individuals consisting of more than one race ( anti - multiple races, group ). - 4. 6 percent resulted from anti - asian / pacific islander bias. - 1. 6 percent were motivated by anti - american indian / alaskan native bias. ( based on table 1. ) hate crimes motivated by religious bias accounted for 1, 477 offenses reported by law enforcement. a breakdown of the bias motivation of religious - biased offenses showed : - 68. 4 percent were anti -


previous | session 117 | next | author index | block schedule s. j. edberg ( jpl / caltech ) this poster serves to introduce a series of posters discussing space interferometry mission planetquest ( sim planetquest ) science prospects and plans across a wide range of astrophysics. sim is being designed and built for nasa ' s navigator program, an element of the astronomical search for origins and planetary systems theme in the science mission directorate. it will be the first optical interferometer in space dedicated to precision astrometry. even though sim planetquest has undergone a significant redesign since last year, the principle parameters of the instrument and anticipated results from its flight have changed little. with astrometric modes yielding 1 microarcsecond and 4 microarcsecond measurements, sim offers the opportunity to investigate a wide variety of phenomena. from effects due to planetary gravitation within the solar system to investigating the emission phenomena of quasars and agns, sim will provide breakthrough science. sim astrometry will provide positions, parallaxes ( distances ), and proper motions with unprecedented accuracies for thousands of stars. searches for earth - like planets will be made. investigations of other planetary systems are possible, including the masses and orbits of their planets. characterizations of stellar masses, from brown dwarfs to stellar - mass black holes and across the h - r diagram are planned. combined with ground - based observations, sim observations of machos should yield the masses of the microlensing objects for the first time. the ages of globular clusters will be determined and the milky way ' s mass and its distribution will benefit from the study of halo and tidal tail stars. sim measurements of the motions of local group galaxies will enable tests of models of this system. quasar jets will be investigated and quasars themselves can be used to tie down a significantly improved celestial reference frame. this work was performed for the jet propulsion laboratory, california institute of technology, sponsored by the national aeronautics and space administration. if you would like more information about this abstract, please follow the link to http : / / planetquest. jpl. nasa. gov / sim / sim \ _ index. cfm. this link was provided by the author. when you follow it, you will leave the web site for this meeting ; to return, you should use the back comand on your browser. previous | session 117 | next bulletin of the american astronomical society, 37 # 4 © 2005. the american astronomical soceity.


fact check : uk report criticizing wind is off base a recent report being circulated in the united kingdom casts some doubt on wind ' s ability to serve as a reliable source of electricity generation. not surprisingly, its assertions seem largely questionable or off the mark. stated in general terms, they are as follows : allegation : wind turbines will generate on average 30 % of their rated capacity over a year. fact : first, a conventional utility power plant uses fuel, so it will normally run much of the time unless it is idled by equipment problems or for maintenance. an average capacity of 40 % to 80 % is typical for conventional plants. a wind plant is " fueled " by the wind, which blows steadily at times and not at all at other times. although modern utility - scale wind turbines typically operate 65 % to 90 % of the time, they often run at less than full capacity. therefore, an average capacity of 25 % to 40 % is common, although they may achieve higher average capacities during windy weeks or months. while average capacity is almost entirely a matter of equipment reliability for a fueled power plant, it is not for a wind plant — for a wind plant, it is a matter of economical turbine design. with a very large rotor and a very small generator, a wind turbine would run at full capacity whenever the wind blew and would have a 60 - 80 % average capacity — but it would produce very little electricity. the most electricity per dollar of investment is gained by using a larger generator and accepting the fact that the average capacity will be lower as a result. wind turbines are fundamentally different from fueled power plants in this respect. second, the average capacity for wind turbines in the u. s. has improved consistently ( 15 % every two years on average ) and is in the 30 % + range - - see analysis by utility consulting firm black & veatch here ( see specifically figures 5 - 4 and 5 - 5 ). allegation : while wind proponents say " the wind is always blowing somewhere, " sometimes it is calm throughout the united kingdom. fact : first, the statement " the wind is always blowing somewhere " applies to geographic areas quite a bit larger than the united kingdom. the area covered by the midwest independent system operator, which runs the utility system throughout several states in the upper midwest, for example, is five times the size of the u. k. a number of studies by the government, system operators, and utilities in the united states indicate that when wind resources are aggregated over a large geographic area,


in the upper midwest, for example, is five times the size of the u. k. a number of studies by the government, system operators, and utilities in the united states indicate that when wind resources are aggregated over a large geographic area, nearly the entire energy output of the wind plants can be counted on for meeting power system capacity needs. second, no individual power plant operates 100 % of the time. predictability is what is needed for the utility system as a whole to deliver electricity reliably, and wind farms are generally quite predictable, because their output can be forecast and because that output changes slowly over time compared with conventional power plants that can suffer instantaneous outages. a noteworthy example of this advantage of wind ' s predictability occurred in february 2011, when millions of electricity consumers in the state of texas experienced rolling blackouts because of the sudden loss of over 50 fossil - fired power plants totaling over 7, 000 megawatts ( mw ). at the same time, wind plants continued to produce the approximately 3, 500 mw they had been forecast and scheduled to produce, enough to power millions of typical homes. large coal and nuclear power plants frequently break down with no warning, taking 1, 000 mw or more offline instantaneously. that is very difficult for grid operators to deal with - - they must maintain expensive, fast - acting reserves 24 / 7 / 365, as such an outage can occur at any time. in contrast, changes in wind output occur gradually and are usually predictable, allowing grid operators to use slow - acting, non - spinning reserves that typically cost 40 times less than the fast - acting reserves needed for other power plants. additionally, because the variability of wind energy is smaller than other sources of variability on the power system, particularly the large variability of electric demand, most of wind ’ s variability is canceled out so that adding wind to the grid only slightly increases aggregate power system variability. allegation : periods of low wind are frequent in the united kingdom, occurring on average every six days and lasting for an average of five hours at a time. fact : that data indicates that low winds occur about 3 % of the time. that ’ s amazingly low – certainly not worth complaints! the 3 % low wind time is considerably less than expected from a wind plant in a high - performing project in a great wind resource area, which is estimated to be at least 10 % of the time. allegation : during periods of peak demand in the u. k., wind farms were producing only 6 %


plant in a high - performing project in a great wind resource area, which is estimated to be at least 10 % of the time. allegation : during periods of peak demand in the u. k., wind farms were producing only 6 % of their rated capacity ( due to low winds ). fact : this may be true - - in the u. s., wind farms normally generate somewhere between 10 % and 40 % of their rated capacity during periods of peak electricity demand. as mentioned earlier, though, the power system is designed to draw on a variety of different types of power plants, and no power plant operates 100 % of the time. allegation : the u. k. ' s pumped hydro storage capacity is not enough to rely on during periods when the winds are low. fact : this is essentially irrelevant. european countries like denmark, spain, ireland, and germany have successfully integrated very large amounts of wind energy without having to install new energy storage resources. in the u. s., numerous peer - reviewed studies have concluded that wind energy can provide 20 % or more of our electricity without any need for energy storage. how is this possible? the secret lies in using the sources of flexibility that are already present on the electric grid. every day, grid operators constantly accommodate variability in electricity demand and supply by increasing and decreasing the output of flexible generators – power plants like hydroelectric dams or natural gas plants that can rapidly change their level of generation. thus, the water kept behind a dam or the natural gas held in a pipeline may be thought of as a form of energy storage, with operators using this energy when it is needed and " storing " it when it is not. grid operators use these same flexible resources to accommodate any variability introduced by wind energy. a tremendous amount of flexibility is already built into the power system. demand for electricity can vary by a factor of three or more depending on the time of day and year, which nationwide translates into hundreds of thousands of megawatts of flexibility that are already built into the power system. because these power plants and other sources of flexibility have already been built, it is almost always much cheaper to use this flexibility than to build new sources of flexibility like energy storage facilities. while continuing advances in energy storage technology can make it more economically competitive as a provider of utility system flexibility, it is important to remember that resources like wind energy can already be cost - effectively and reliably integrated with the electric utility system without energy storage. fact sheet : wind energy and energy storage fact sheet : wind power


the bickersons battle over alpha meet betty and bart bickerson, husband and wife quality analysts who work at different companies. betty and bart argue about everything. they argue whether grey is a color. they argue whether tomato is a fruit. they argue whether the chicken came before the egg, and whether the egg tastes better fried, scrambled, or poached. but their relationship didn ’ t get really rocky until they started to argue about what alpha level, also called the significance level, to use for a hypothesis test. note : the alpha level is the criterion against which you compare the p - value to determine whether a difference is statistically significant. the alpha level option for the 2 - sample t test in the minitab assistant is shown below : the alpha level : how low do you go? listen in as betty and bart squabble over what alpha level to use when comparing the mean before and after a process change. bart : " well, betty, i think i ’ m going to raise the alpha level for the test. kick it up a notch from 0. 05 to 0. 10. " betty : " that ’ s funny, bart. if anything, i was going to lower it a notch - - down to 0. 01. why would you ever want to raise the level of risk? " bart : " i want to boost the power of the test to detect a difference. if i use a higher alpha, i can be more certain i ’ m going to find a significant difference between the process means, if it ’ s really there. " betty : " but if you raise alpha, you ’ re also going to be less certain that any significant shift in the process mean that you find is really true — and not just a statistical fluke — a random error. you ' ll increase the risk of ' false - positives. ' " bart : " but betty, by lowering alpha, you ’ ll increase the risk of ' false - negatives. ' the last thing i want is to miss a possible effect on the process mean. even after i raise alpha to 0. 1, the risk of falsely finding a significant result will only be 10 %. " betty : “ well, bart, i don ’ t want to mistakenly conclude there ’ s a significant process change when there ’ s really not. that ’ s worse in my book. " betty straightened her posture and adjusted the “ quality counts ” button on her lapel. betty : “ and if i find a significant difference, i ’


a significant process change when there ’ s really not. that ’ s worse in my book. " betty straightened her posture and adjusted the “ quality counts ” button on her lapel. betty : “ and if i find a significant difference, i ’ ll be 99 % confident in my results — you ’ ll only be 90 % confident. ” bart : “ you don ’ t need to be sooo worried about reporting a significant effect that ’ s not there. ” betty : “ and you don ’ t need to be sooooooo paranoid about missing a significant effect. ” bart : “ i ’ m not paranoid, you ’ re paranoid. ” betty : “ well at least i don ’ t snore like a leaf blower stuck in full throttle. ” bart : “ and at least i don ’ t crack my toes in bed. ” can statistical therapy save this relationship? it was time for betty and bart to see a statistical therapist. after years of data analysis, dr. sigma freud fully understood what constituted normality - - and what didn ' t. dr. freud listened patiently to betty and bart spar over the alpha level. after they had temporarily run out of lung capacity, she turned to betty. dr. freud : " your fear of incorrectly concluding that a result is significant, when it ’ s really not, is completely justified. in fact, we have a special name for that faux pas in statistics, it ’ s called a type 1 error. " betty smiled and tried not to look too smug. dr. freud : " and just as you say, betty, you can reduce the chance of making a type i error by lowering the alpha level for a hypothesis test. " dr. freud turned to bart. dr. freud : " and bart, your concern is completely valid as well. if a hypothesis test does not reveal a significant difference, but a difference does indeed exist, we call that a type ii error. and one way to help guard against it is to raise the alpha level. " was it betty ’ s imagination, or was bart ’ s normally concave chest starting to puff up a bit? dr. freud : " so both of your concerns are valid. this push - pull dynamic of risk is a natural part of any healthy statistical relationship. what we need do is to find a way to balance those competing risks. " betty : " how can do we do that? " dr. freud : “ you know, what about just going with the default alpha level of 0. 05?


. what we need do is to find a way to balance those competing risks. " betty : " how can do we do that? " dr. freud : “ you know, what about just going with the default alpha level of 0. 05? that ’ s what most couples would do. you ' d be 95 % confident that any shift in the process mean that you find is real. ” betty : “ hmmm. sometimes i do wish we ’ d never clicked the arrow to see the options for alpha. life was simpler. ” bart shook his head. bart : “ too many things have been said. we can ’ t go back now. ” why two rights don ' t make a wrong dr. freud : “ ok. let ’ s take a step back and delve a little deeper. why don ’ t you both tell me more about the projects you ’ re working on. betty, let ' s start with you. ” betty : " i work for a medical device company. we ' ve developed a new implant device for patients. we ' re excited because it might really improve patient outcomes. but it ' s more costly than the current device. before we put it into production, we want to be doubly sure that the difference in patient outcomes is really there. " dr. freud : " so if you find a difference in outcomes - - specifically, an improved outcome with the new device - - and that difference really doesn ' t exist, the consequences could be very severe. " betty : " absolutely. if the new device doesn ' t improve outcomes, and we don ' t realize it, we ' d waste a lot of money producing it. patients would also have to pay more for something that didn ' t really offer a real improvement over the current implant device. " dr. freud : " well betty, in your case, the consequences of a type i error are more severe than a type ii error. so you ' re doing exactly what you should be by lowering the alpha level. now, bart, what about you? " bart : " i work in an automotive plant. one of our parts suppliers has been raising prices. we want to switch to another supplier that offers the same part at a lower price. but before we do that we need to compare key dimensions of the part to make sure there ' s no difference. we don ' t want to sacrifice quality for reduced cost. " dr. freud : " so if you don ' t find a difference in the dimensions in the part between the


compare key dimensions of the part to make sure there ' s no difference. we don ' t want to sacrifice quality for reduced cost. " dr. freud : " so if you don ' t find a difference in the dimensions in the part between the two suppliers, and a difference really does exist, the consequences could be very severe. " bart : " absolutely. if the dimensions are off, and we don ' t realize it, we could lose a lot of money with increased scrap rates. overall product quality could also drop, and we might lose customers. " dr. freud : " well bart, in your case, the consequences of a type ii error seem to be more severe than a type i error. so you ' re doing exactly what you should be by raising the alpha level. " betty / bart ( together ) : " you mean we ' re both right?! " dr. freud : " absolutely! now how about a little hug? " the bickersons embraced, overjoyed at finally understanding the alpha level. betty : “ i ’ m so glad i suggested coming here! ” bart : “ me, too! but, actually, didn ' t i suggest coming here? ” betty : “ no, bart, i ’ m sure it was my idea. ” bart : “ au contraire, betty... " moral of the story most of the time, you can leave the default alpha level ( 0. 05 ) alone. unless you ’ re in a situation like betty or bart. if you need statistical therapy, check out the minitab assistant ( open minitab and choose assistant ). it ’ s like having a statistical therapist built right into the analysis itself. if you ' d prefer a real, live statistical therapist to personally help you design or analyze your quality improvement project, check out mentoring by minitab trainers. kangaroo photo by pascal vuylskeker and dedicated to greg fox, our blogger at - large in sydney.


manoj nair of the national oceanic and atmospheric administration has devised a new possible method of detecting a deadly tsuami long before the wave crests to dangerous heights. and, in a bit of good news, much of it is already in place. in a new study in next month ’ s earth, planets, and space, nair modeled the massive 2004 tsunami in the indian ocean and found that a tsunami picking up steam as it moves across the ocean emits a tiny electromagnetic signature of of about 500 millivolts. that ’ s enough to have an effect on the communication cables that stretch across the ocean floor, carrying internet messages and phone calls. the electromagnetic signal “ is very small compared to a 9 - volt battery, but still large enough to be distinguished from background noise on a magnetically quiet day, ” said nair [ daily camera ]. nair says this kind of system could be a lower - cost alternative to the bottom pressure arrays that directly measure large movements of water. “ what we argue is that this is such a simple system to set up and start measuring, ” nair says. “ we have a system of submarine cables already existing. the only thing we probably need is a voltmeter, in theory ” [ wired. com ]. oleg godin, one of nair ’ s research partners, said any small improvement could make a huge difference. “ if you detect tsunamis in the deep ocean — and that ’ s what we ’ re working on — meaning far from shore, you have hours, certainly tens of minutes, to warn people, ” he said. “ if people are well educated, a 15 - minute warning is enough to save everybody ” [ daily camera ]. 80beats : south pacific tsunami kills more than 100 people 80beats : geologists find one cataclysmic tsunami in every 600 years of thai dirt 80beats : haiti earthquake may have released 250 years of seismic stress image : flickr / epugachev


reading : how can teachers prepare kids for a connected world? ] pitts - wiley ’ s work correlates strongly to the research jenkins has been doing on weaving more varieties of media into the classroom in order to make the learning experience more participatory, creative, multidisciplinary, and therefore meaningful to students. he teamed up with wyn kelley a melville scholar from mit, and a team of educational experts to design a curriculum around moby dick that would build in remixing, reinterpretation, and multimedia elements. they tested their new curriculum in six different schools. “ we want to raise a generation of kids who have a mouse in one hand and a book in the other, ” said jenkins. to do that the curriculum focuses on melville as a master mash - up artist of 19th century culture ; his book includes shakespeare plays, the bible, whaling culture and more. from there, the door is open for classes to discuss how remixed elements are allusions and what happens to a text when an author incorporates the work of others. “ culture matters, history matters, the goal is to foster old fashioned close reading, ” jenkins said. a typical assignment might ask students to take one page of moby dick, highlight words they don ’ t know, define terms, draw pictures and share with one another. the idea is to focus closely in order to incite curiosity about the whole. and to let students creatively express their opinions and thoughts about the book, hopefully with a better understanding of what their own remixing might add to the broader cultural body of work around moby dick. if this sounds a little messy and confusing – it is. that was the feedback teachers gave jenkins ’ team when they piloted these participatory learning strategies in the classroom. teacher ’ s felt uncertain whether learning was taking place in this non - linear style. one teacher came to realize that if a student could get a purchase on the text anywhere, they understood how much more there is to learn about the book. “ that ’ s a different kind of learning outcome than we usually get when we convince people they ’ ve exhausted a book, that they ’ ve gotten it, when they ’ ve only touched it superficially, ” jenkins said. he sees the goal as both teaching something about moby dick in the moment as well as fostering a community of readers who know that reading melville in high school english doesn ’ t mean they ’ ve conquered it. [ related reading : how do we define and measure ' deeper learning '?


about moby dick in the moment as well as fostering a community of readers who know that reading melville in high school english doesn ’ t mean they ’ ve conquered it. [ related reading : how do we define and measure ' deeper learning '? ] “ we may be romanticizing what people got out of moby dick in the traditional classroom, ” jenkins said. “ this is just taking ownership over that and allowing students to pursue their passion and interests. ” piloting this curriculum jenkins ’ team found that it worked less effectively when teachers used it more traditionally. “ the closer we got to traditional school, the more they shut down, ” jenkins said. “ no curriculum is idiot proof. you have to get teachers who understand the participatory mindset. ” the other part of the project, flows of reading, helps encourage participation around literature and models an expanded approach to literacy and the reading and writing that make up the discipline. the digital book allows readers to follow hyperlinks, enjoy embedded video content, and add to an online space for related work. it broadens the model beyond moby dick and applies it to reading at all age levels from a wordless picture book to the hunger games and lord of the rings. it offers four pathways or ways to view a text. motives for reading this pathway and assorted material address the idea that people read various kinds of textual content for all kinds of reasons. reading a website may be different from reading a book, but they both require literacy and are appropriate at different points. this pathway explores how seemingly different kinds of reading might be more akin than they seem. adaptation and remixing while the book encourages students to elaborate and create material based on parts of a text that speak to them, this section also discusses appropriate and respectful adaptation and remixing. it brings in the ethics of attribution and fair use. negotiating cultural spaces this pathway discusses the various identities that each person brings to reading whether it is gender, ethnicity, specific experiences or anything else that shapes the reading process. continuities and spaces these are “ the spaces where your imagination can go wild, ” said erin reilly, who led the effort to create flows. this pathway explores how to creatively share stories and layer upon the original. throughout the research and implementation of this project jenkins and reilly knew they ’ d need to think about assessment. they brought in dan hickey from indiana university to help develop assessments that are immediate and happen as part of the learning process. the state standards are a minimum, reilly and jenkins maintain


last wednesday the national academy of sciences held a press conference in washington, dc, to introduce its newly completed report on priorities for the coming decade in solar and space physics. daniel baker of the university of colorado chaired the committee that wrote the report. thomas zurbuchen of the university of michigan was the vice chair. together, they summarized the report ’ s highlights for the assembled reporters, scientists, and bureaucrats. like its counterparts in astronomy and planetary science, the latest solar and space physics decadal survey is more than just a shopping list of missions and facilities. its authors begin by defining their field in a broad and inspiring way : we live on a planet whose orbit traverses the tenuous outer atmosphere of a variable magnetic star, the sun. this stellar atmosphere is a rapidly flowing plasma — the solar wind — that envelops earth as it rushes outward, creating a cavity in the galaxy that extends to some 140 astronomical units ( au ). there, the inward pressure from the interstellar medium balances the outward pressure of the solar plasma forming the heliopause, the boundary of our home in the universe. earth and the other planets of our solar system are embedded deep in this extended stellar atmosphere or “ heliosphere, ” the domain of solar and space physics. the report goes on to review past and present accomplishments in solar and space physics before defining the four overarching goals that guided the committee members as they drew up their final recommendations : - determine the origins of the sun ’ s activity and predict the variations in the space environment. - determine the dynamics and coupling of earth ’ s magnetosphere, ionosphere, and atmosphere and their response to solar and terrestrial inputs. - determine the interaction of the sun with the solar system and the interstellar medium. - discover and characterize fundamental processes that occur both within the heliosphere and throughout the universe. as i listened to baker and zurbuchen ’ s presentation, it became clear that two other overarching considerations informed the report. the first is a conceptual emphasis on viewing earth ’ s aurorae, the solar wind, coronal mass ejections, and other heliospheric phenomena as part of a single system. it will be interesting to see whether this systemic view becomes manifest in journals, conferences, and courses. i, for one, have tended to think of solar physics as belonging more to astronomy than to heliospheric physics. the second consideration is a realistic and — to use baker ’ s word — responsible approach to costs. the committee


courses. i, for one, have tended to think of solar physics as belonging more to astronomy than to heliospheric physics. the second consideration is a realistic and — to use baker ’ s word — responsible approach to costs. the committee retained aerospace corp, a nonprofit consultancy based in el segundo, california, to carry out an independent cost appraisal and technical evaluation ( cate ) of potential missions. for the most part, the total cost of the committee ’ s recommended suite of programs lies within the budget envelope that nasa provided the committee for the years 2013 – 22. physicists who remember chuckling when they first encountered the zeroth law of thermodynamics might be amused to learn that the committee ’ s first recommendation is also numbered zero — for good reason. as nasa and nsf, the other principal sponsor of heliospheric research, look to future missions and facilities, the committee recommends that they first complete their current program. among the lineup is solar probe plus ( shown here in an artist ’ s impression ). the ambitious mission, whose price tag is $ 1. 4 billion, aims to fly as close as possible to the sun to determine how the solar corona is heated and how the solar wind is accelerated. diversify, realize, integrate, venture, educate the committee ’ s second recommendation, numbered 1. 0, is to implement an initiative that goes by the acronym drive ( for “ diversify, realize, integrate, venture, educate ” ). as far as i can tell, drive aims to reorganize and reinvigorate the way researchers and their students practice heliospheric science. surprisingly, given its high priority, drive is not expensive. the committee projects that the initiative will cost at most about $ 50 million a year. to fulfill the goals embodied by its name, drive seeks to make research opportunities more accessible to universities through small and mid - sized missions, including the shoebox - sized spacecraft called cubesats. funding the analysis and interpretation of data adequately is a key element of drive, as is fostering interdisciplinary approaches to heliospheric research. indeed, the committee urges nasa and nsf to establish heliospheric science centers, where observers, theorists, and modelers can work together to solve the grand challenges of solar and space physics. when baker and zurbuchen introduced drive, it sounded somewhat woolly to me. now, having read the drive section of the report, i think it ’ s a bold and worth


work together to solve the grand challenges of solar and space physics. when baker and zurbuchen introduced drive, it sounded somewhat woolly to me. now, having read the drive section of the report, i think it ’ s a bold and worthwhile model that could be profitably emulated in other fields, such as green energy or neuroscience. but to be effective, drive will probably need a light administrative structure. accelerate and expand the heliophysics explorer program! recommendation 2. 0 seeks to revitalize nasa ’ s explorer program of modestly sized and priced spacecraft. begun in 1958, the program, according to the committee, is “ arguably the most storied scientific spaceflight program in nasa ’ s history. ” despite its success, which includes three nobel prizes, funding for the explorer program fell in 2004 and has languished since. to quote the report : the medium - class ( midex ) and small - class ( smex ) missions of the explorer program are ideally suited to advancing heliophysics science and have a superb track record for cost - effectiveness. since 2001, 15 heliophysics explorer mission proposals have received the highest category of ranking in competition selection reviews, but only 5 have been selected for flight. thus there is an extensive reservoir of excellent heliophysics science to be accomplished by explorers. because midex and smex missions are comparatively cheap, developing and launching more of them would not require a big outlay. the committee recommends that nasa augment the current explorer program for solar and space physics by $ 70 million per year. in addition to more money for the explorer program, the committee also recommends establishing a faster, more nimble way of accommodating missions of opportunity — that is, missions that are conceived in response to new technologies, new scientific knowledge, or new partnership opportunities with other space agencies. nasa : let academia lead space science perhaps by coincidence, a commentary by baker appeared in nature two weeks before his committee released its report. entitled “ nasa : let academia lead space science, ” the commentary urged the space agency to fund more missions that are small enough in scope that university - based principal investigators ( pis ) can develop and lead them. whether baker ’ s fellow committee members endorsed his commentary is not clear. they do, however, evidently share his belief in the merits of pi - led missions. recommendation 3. 0 calls for nasa to transform its solar terrestrial probes program from a large, centrally directed program to “ a moderate - sized, competed, pi - led mission line that is


share his belief in the merits of pi - led missions. recommendation 3. 0 calls for nasa to transform its solar terrestrial probes program from a large, centrally directed program to “ a moderate - sized, competed, pi - led mission line that is cost - capped at approximately $ 520 - million per mission. ” the stp program aims to elucidate the physics of the sun ’ s influence on earth, on the other bodies in the solar system, and on the interstellar medium. to avoid the risk that a competitive free - for - all would omit important aspects of stp science, the committee outlined three kinds of missions that it would like to see fly : - imap ( interstellar mapping and acceleration probe ) to characterize the zone where the sun ’ s magnetohydrodynamic influence ceases to prevail in the solar neighborhood. - dynamic ( dynamical neutral atmosphere ) to study how earth ’ s ionosphere and thermosphere influence, and are influenced by, processes that occur at lower and higher altitudes. - medici ( magnetosphere energetics, dynamics, and ionospheric coupling ) to determine how the magnetosphere - ionosphere - thermosphere system responds to solar and magnetospheric forcing. the committee ’ s enthusiasm for modest missions is not unbridled, however. in the committee ’ s view, tackling the problem of how and why the sun varies is a job for large, integrated missions. nasa ’ s living with a star program already includes the solar probe plus and the radiation belt storm probes missions. recommendation 4. 0 is for geospace dynamics constellation, a set of six formation - flying spacecraft that will characterize how the energy of geomagnetic storms is deposited and transformed in earth ’ s atmosphere. recharter the national space weather program in march 1989 a geomagnetic storm caused the collapse of hydro - quebec ’ s electricity grid. five months later another geomagnetic storm shut down electronic trading on toronto ’ s stock exchange. anticipating such storms — or space weather — and predicting their effects is more important, now that the world ’ s electrical infrastructure has expanded, the number of earth - orbiting satellites has increased, and telecommunications have become economically and socially more important. the current solar cycle, the 24th since records began in 1755, is set to peak next year. to monitor the cycle ’ s activity, the us relies on a set of spacecraft, such as the solar and heliospheric observatory, whose principal purpose is basic research


should you choose to learn bsl using makaton principles, the vocabulary stages are as follows : mum, dad, brother, sister, drink, drink of water, biscuit, dinner x2, food, toilet, bed, chair, table, washbasin, bath, shower, house, home, car, bus, i, me, you, where, what, here, there, to sleep, to drink, to eat x2, to look, to see, to stand, to get up, to sit, to wash x2, to bath, to shower, to go, to come x2, to give x2, more, good x2, ok, bad, please, thank you, hello, good morning, goodbye. man, lady, boy, girl, baby, bread, butter, egg, chapatti, dal, rice, yoghurt, noodles, milk, tea, coffee, juice, sugar, cake, jam, ice cream, knife, to cut with knife, fork, spoon, plate, cup, door, window x2, fire, radiator, tv, lamp, phone, to phone, dog, cat, bird, tree, flower, book, teddy, doll, bricks, ball, and, hot x2, cold, clean, dirty. chocolate, crisps, sweet, cigarette, banana, orange, apple, fish, rabbit, chicken, horse, cow, pig, sheep, butterfly, boat, train, plane, bike, to have, to run, to walk, to kick, to dig, to ride, to ride a horse, to ride a bike, to swim, to jump, to jump off, to jump on, to jump over, to climb x2, to fall off, to fall over, to smoke, big, small, little, up, down, my, your, mine, yours, sorry, now. teacher, boss, friend, children, name, school, work, outside, cupboard, pen, pencil, paper, scissors, picture, sand, water, string, paint, key, box x2, to put, to create, to do, to sew x2, to cook x2, to sing, to play, to know, to think, to work, to read, to write, to draw, to paint, to colour, to cut, to teach, to build x2, to create, to break, we x2, us x2, they x2


, to think, to work, to read, to write, to draw, to paint, to colour, to cut, to teach, to build x2, to create, to break, we x2, us x2, they x2, them x2, in x2, on, under. nurse, doctor, milkman, milkwoman, postman, postwoman, policeman, policewoman, police officer, firefighter, ambulanceman, ambulancewoman, shop, supermarket, road, garden, blaze, postbox, money, bag, letter, stamp, time, watch, to carry, to throw, to catch, to stop, to help x2, to like, to want, to love, to quarrel, quick, fast, slow, happy, sad, difficult, easy, hard, soft, strong, heavy, clever, angry, frightened, to be patient, trouble, mistake, but. country, town, sea, cinema, disco, holiday, to start, to end x2, to bring, to ask, to talk, to listen, to hear, can, to forget, to grow x2, same, different, new, old, beautiful, smart, nice, kind, our x2, ours x2, their x2, theirs x2, another, with, who, which, colour, black, blue, brown, green, orange, red, white, yellow. 1 - 10, how, how much, how many, how old, many, a lot, some, few, time, hour, today, tomorrow, yesterday, next week, last week, next year, last year, long time ago, saturday, sunday, night, day, when, always, again, late, early, before, after, wages, to buy, to save, careful, expensive, sun, rain, wind, snow, stars, moon, sky, snowman. to choose, to win, to dance, to find, to understand, to remember, birthday, party, present, balloon, photo, camera, mirror, radio, newspaper, video camera, video tape, video recorder, music, stereo x2, audio tape, cassette player, cd, computer, first, last, next, over, through, near x2, between, lucky, hungry, thirsty, worried, true, why, because. deaf, blind, communication problem, medicine, tablet, injection, operation, sick, ill, pain, dead x2, hearing aid x2


grief is a natural process, an intense fundamental emotion, a universal experience which makes us human. it is a process that entails extremely hard work over a period of many painful months or years. people grieve because they are deprived of a loved one ; the sense of loss is profound. the loss of a spouse, child or parent affects our very identities — the way we define ourselves as a husband, wife, parent or offspring. moreover, grief can arise from the survivor ' s sudden change in circumstances after a death and the fear of not knowing what lies ahead. the death of someone close can be a life - changing experience. if you are the primary caregiver of someone you love, this experience can affect every aspect of your life for some time. it is natural to grieve the death of a loved one before, during and after the actual time of their passing. the process of accepting the unacceptable is what grieving is all about. if someone has had a prolonged illness or serious memory impairment, family members may begin grieving the loss of the person ' s " former self " long before the time of death. this is sometimes referred to as " anticipatory grief. " anticipating the loss, knowing what is coming, can be just as painful as losing a life. family members may experience guilt or shame for " wishing it were over " or seeing their loved one as already " gone " intellectually. it is important to recognize these feelings as normal. ultimately, anticipatory grief is a way of allowing us to prepare emotionally for the inevitable. preparing for the death of a loved one can allow family members to contemplate and clear unresolved issues and seek out the support of spiritual advisors, family and friends. and, depending on the impaired person ' s intellectual capacity, this can be a time to identify your loved one ' s wishes for burial and funeral arrangements. a death that happens suddenly, unexpectedly, is an immeasurable tragedy. this type of loss often generates shock and confusion for loved ones left behind. incidents such as a fatal accident, heart attack, or suicide can leave family members perplexed and searching for answers. in these cases, family members may be left with unresolved issues, such as feelings of guilt that can haunt and overwhelm a grieving person. these feelings may seem to take over your life at first. but over time it is possible to get past these thoughts and forgive yourself and your loved one. give yourself plenty of time ; it ' s virtually