innovation in education the existence of schools such as carroll represents, in and of itself, a significant educational innovation. schools that are dedicated to an atypical learning profile, in carroll ’ s case dyslexia, are relatively rare. a program that is designed specifically for one type of learner is also innovative in a landscape of schools that are required to serve all children in their city or town. carroll balances curriculum, instructional practices, and programs that have helped children for over 45 years at carroll with compelling new interventions resulting from both research and implementation evidence. carroll is so fortunate to be located in the greater boston area, where an incredible amount of revolutionary research is underway about how the human brain learns. carroll constantly seeks to combine the proven with the promising. the combination of interventions that carroll uses reveals this balance with a set of innovative, evidence - based programs, such as orton - gillingham, rave - o, visualizing and verbalizing, lexia learning, kurzweil, thinking reader, singapore math, thinking through math, symphony math, stern structured materials, the number race, reflexmath, cognitive development, inspiration, and scores of web - based software applications. much of our decision making about educational innovation results from our associations with some of the most accomplished researchers in the fields of education, neuroscience, and technology. the research updates section of the carroll website will keep viewers apprised of some of the research that we are following.


how can we " green " our schools to make them more environmentally sustainable? what kinds of choices should we make, and which choices will actually have an impact? how do we know that our choices are making a difference? these are the questions that frame a unique collaboration between the rhinebeck school district and educators from the cary institute of ecosystem studies. through a grant from the rhinebeck science foundation, we designed and implemented the eco - initiative, a three - year program that builds scientific and environmental literacy through all grades by mapping the ecological footprint of elementary, middle and high schools. our guiding principle was to think of the school as an ecosystem, which allows students to chart the inputs and outputs of energy and materials in a familiar system. students know they use energy, water, food and other raw materials every day, and they can see how those are transformed to wastes, such as trash and heat. but the students are less aware of where the food, water and energy come from and where their waste goes, as well as what lives in and around the grounds of their schools. through a series of meetings and workshops with rhinebeck teachers, we identified key topics for each grade level or class and developed age - appropriate investigations that would help everyone understand their impact on the environment. for example, students in fifth grade and in high school biology classes are conducting schoolyard " eco - blitzes, " where they catalog all the living things they find outside. the younger students excel at finding and identifying the insects, while the older students can work with math teachers to analyze the data. because the eco - initiative is a multiyear program, we can develop a database of organisms that live in the rhinebeck schools ' lawns, playgrounds and athletic fields, and we can start to ask questions about enhancing biodiversity and supporting ecosystem function. and as students advance through each grade, they can build on knowledge or investigations from previous years. at the end of each year, we publish an environmental scorecard, which will include all the collected student data and work. see last year ' s scorecard by going to www. rhinebeckcsd. org. as classes and teachers begin to make changes to their daily habits at school, we hope to see a response in our data. we are looking forward to seeing the benefits of a composting program to reduce waste output, and the impact of weekly " power down " days started by the environmental clubs to reduce energy usage. an easier path might have been to ask for the energy and water bills and call it a day,


a composting program to reduce waste output, and the impact of weekly " power down " days started by the environmental clubs to reduce energy usage. an easier path might have been to ask for the energy and water bills and call it a day, or to plant a few trees and declare our " greening " mission complete. but we wanted the students, teachers, and administrators to take ownership of the process, to figure out what their impact is, and decide what kind of sustainability initiatives made sense. by modeling an iterative process, we are showing students how science can inform their actions and lead to lasting change. we are also helping them think through some of the really difficult questions that relate to any greening initiative, such as whether it really is more " green " to purchase compostable lunch trays made from corn if we ' re unable to compost them on site, or whether we should install energy - efficient lightbulbs when most of the energy in the school is being used for heating and cooling. engaging in this process is complex, but we believe such engagement develops a citizenry that is thoughtfully dedicated to understanding their local environment. we are thrilled that we have been able to undertake this long - term project with the rhinebeck school district and look forward to expanding this effort to other districts.


with forage supplies tight in many areas, treating wheat straw with ammonia could provide a cost - effective option, according to kansas state university extension beef specialist dale blasi, phd. ammonia improves the nutritional value of low - quality forage by swelling the plant tissue to allow greater rumen microbial activity, resulting in 8 to 15 percent improvement in digestibility, 15 to 20 percent improvement in palatability and increased rate of passage through the digestive tract. also, ammonia serves as a non - protein nitrogen source, roughly doubling the crude protein value of the straw. the process typically involves covering bales with a black plastic tarp and injecting anhydrous ammonia. historically, blasi says, the recommended application rate was 3 percent anhydrous or 60 pounds per ton. but looking to reduce costs, k - state researchers have tested an application rate of 1. 5 percent or 30 pounds of ammonia per ton of straw and found little difference compared with the heavier rate. temperature and moisture content of the straw affect absorption of the ammonia. the process will take just three to five days in hot weather but up to 30 to 45 days in cold weather. anhydrous ammonia will seek out all the moisture in the stacked straw, a chemical process that aids in uniform spread of the material. eight to 10 percent moisture content in the straw is adequate, and 15 to 30 percent is better. keep the stack covered until two weeks before feeding, then remove the cover to reduce the concentration of residual ammonia. blasi recommends against ammoniation of higherquality grass hays such as brome, fescue, small grains, forage sorghums or sudan grasses, as compounds dangerous to cattle can form in these types of hay exposed to ammonia. blasi also stresses the importance of safety measures when handling anhydrous ammonia, including these tips : • wear goggles, rubber gloves and protective clothing. • work upwind when releasing anhydrous ammonia into the stack. ideally, use a de - coupler to disconnect the nurse tank away from the stack when application is complete. • have fresh water available to wash off any anhydrous ammonia that comes into contact with the skin. • check valves, hoses and tanks for leaks. • check the plastic cover on the stack for any tears in the plastic before initiating application. seal any holes afterward with duct tape. • do not smoke near anhydrous ammonia. • keep children away from the treatment area.


- medical directors - board of directors - contact us - meet your sponsors - social work support services - jenna ' s corner online community - family 2 family - loss, grief and bereavement program what brain tumors are common in children? most recently updated on april 10, 2013 most childhood tumors ( more than 60 % ) are located in the posterior fossa ( the back compartment of the brain ). this area is separated from the cerebral hemispheres by a tough membrane called the tentorium. the posterior fossa includes the cerebellum, the brainstem, and the fourth ventricle. tumors in this area include medulloblastomas ( also called primitive neuroectodermal tumors, or pnets ), cerebellar astrocytomas, brainstem gliomas, and ependymomas. although less common, other rare types of tumors have also been observed in this area, such as rhabdoid tumors and ganglioglioma ; these are not discussed in detail below. the remaining 30 % to 40 % of brain tumors occur within one of the two cerebral hemispheres or in the spinal cord. tumors of the hemispheres include astrocytomas, oligodendrogliomas, craniopharyngiomas, choroid plexus carcinomas, ependymomas, supratentorial pnets, pineoblastomas, and germ cell tumors. the most common tumors of the spinal cord are astrocytomas and ependymomas. names of tumors can be confusing. one large family of tumors — comprising half of all pediatric tumors — are gliomas, meaning they arise from glial cells or the supporting cells of the nervous system. glial cells consist of astrocytes, ependymal cells, and oligodendrocytes ( myelin - forming cells ). some tumors take their names from these cells. for example, an astrocyte is a type of glial cell from which astrocytomas arise, so doctors may refer to the tumor as a glioma or as an astrocytoma. one term is simply more specific than the other. tumors may also take their names from their location, such as the brainstem glioma. the sudden influx of medical terminology into your life can be intimidating. health care professionals are familiar with such terminology through years of training and experience. but these terms are new to you, so ask your child ’ s doctor to explain


pontine gliomas. in these cases, surgery is not usually an option. radiation therapy, with or without chemotherapy, is the preferred option. a small percentage of slow - growing tumors that cause slowly progressive symptoms can be treated surgically or with chemotherapy. ependymomas : ependymomas make up 8 % to 10 % of pediatric tumors and occur at any time during childhood. they are a type of glioma involving cells lining the cerebral ventricles. seventy percent of ependymomas develop in the posterior fossa. these tumors are not always distinguishable, on scans, from medulloblastomas. they cause similar symptoms, and hydrocephalus is often involved. surgical removal of the tumor is the usual treatment of choice, followed by radiation therapy to the site of the resection. tumors of the cerebral hemispheres supratentorial gliomas : about 30 % of pediatric brain tumors are gliomas that grow in regions of the cerebral hemispheres. treatment and prognosis depend on their exact location and how quickly they are growing. some of the names for tumors in these areas are juvenile pilocytic astrocytoma, optic glioma or hypothalamic glioma ( see below ), oligodendroglioma, hemispheric astrocytoma, and ganglioglioma. many of these tumors cause seizures. surgical removal is the treatment of choice, unless the tumor is in an area that controls speech, movement, vision, or cognition. the tumor may be partially removed, with radiation therapy and / or chemotherapy as additional therapy. optic pathway gliomas : a small percentage ( 5 % ) of pediatric tumors are gliomas involving the optic nerves and the hypothalamus. these are usually slow - growing and can be treated successfully with surgery, radiation therapy, or chemotherapy. because visual pathways and / or the hypothalamus are affected, children with these tumors often have vision and hormone problems. craniopharyngiomas : craniopharyngiomas, which are nonglial growths, account for 5 % of childhood brain tumors, usually causing growth failure because of their location near the pituitary gland. they often affect vision. treatment is often controversial because complete surgical removal may be curative but can also cause memory, vision, behavioral, and hormonal problems. partial surgical removal plus radiation therapy is an alternative. children treated for these tumors usually need long -


affect vision. treatment is often controversial because complete surgical removal may be curative but can also cause memory, vision, behavioral, and hormonal problems. partial surgical removal plus radiation therapy is an alternative. children treated for these tumors usually need long - term follow - up care for visual and / or hormonal problems. germ cell tumors : a small percentage of childhood brain tumors arise in the pineal or suprasellar regions, above the pituitary gland. they are most often diagnosed around the time of puberty and are more likely to affect boys than girls. these tumors often respond favorably to chemotherapy and / or radiation therapy, following surgery. choroid plexus papillomas : the choroid plexus is located within the ventricles in the brain and produces csf. choroid plexus papillomas ( benign ) and choroid plexus carcinomas ( malignant ) account for 1 % to 3 % of pediatric brain tumors. these types of tumors usually arise in infants and often cause hydrocephalus. the treatment of choice is surgery and, if the tumor is malignant, chemotherapy, and / or radiation therapy. supratentorial pnets / pineoblastomas : supratentorial pnets and pineoblastomas account for approximately 5 % of pediatric brain tumors. their symptoms depend on location and proximity to the csf spaces. treatment involves maximal surgical resection, radiation therapy to the brain and spine, and chemotherapy. - related topics - brain tumor facts and glossary - research news and reports - cbtf publications


october 13, 2010 scope of law barring cells phone use while driving by : kevin e. mccarthy, principal analyst you asked whether cgs § 14 - 296aa as amended by pa 10 - 109, which generally prohibits use of cell phones and related equipment while driving ( 1 ) applies to the equipment used for family radio service ( frs ) and general mobile radio service ( gmrs ) or ( 2 ) permits a driver to drive while using the speaker function of a cell phone. frs is a type of citizen ' s band radio service while gmrs uses a type of walkie - talkie equipment. the office of legislative research is not authorized to provide legal opinions and this report should not be considered one. it appears that cgs § 14 - 296aa ( 1 ) does not prohibit using frs or gmrs equipment to make a call but does apply to using this equipment for other purposes, such as texting or sending data and ( 2 ) permits a driver to dial a number on his or her cell phone and then use the speakerphone function to hold a conversation, so long as the driver is not holding the cell phone during the conversation. applicability of law to frs and gmrs cgs § 14 - 296aa generally bars the use of two types of equipment while driving. these are ( 1 ) a hand - held mobile telephone, if used to engage in a call and ( 2 ) a mobile electronic device. a hand - held mobile telephone is a cellular, analog, wireless, or digital telephone a person uses to engage in a call while using at least one hand. “ engage in a call ” means talking into or listening on a hand - held mobile telephone, but does not include holding the telephone to turn it on or off or to initiate a function of the telephone. a mobile electronic device is any hand - held or other portable electronic equipment that can provide data communication between two or more persons. these include a text messaging device, a paging device, a personal digital assistant, a laptop computer, equipment that is capable of playing a video game or a digital video disk, or equipment on which digital photographs are taken or transmitted. they do not include any audio equipment or any equipment installed in a vehicle to provide navigation, emergency assistance to the driver, or video entertainment to the passengers in the rear seats of a vehicle. the legislative history of cgs 14 - 296aa does not address the issue of whether it applies to frs and gmrs equipment. according to the federal communications commission ( fcc ), frs is a type of citizens


in the rear seats of a vehicle. the legislative history of cgs 14 - 296aa does not address the issue of whether it applies to frs and gmrs equipment. according to the federal communications commission ( fcc ), frs is a type of citizens band radio service. family, friends, and associates can use it to communicate within a neighborhood and while on group outings. frs has a communications range of less than one mile and the radio has a maximum power of no more than one - half watt. it cannot be used to make a telephone call but can be used for business - related communications. gmrs is a land - mobile radio service available for short - distance two - way communications to facilitate the activities of an adult and his or her immediate family members. in most cases it has a power capacity of no more than 50 watts. family members typically use the equipment to communicate among themselves near their residence or during recreational outings. some equipment can be used for both frs and gmrs. the fcc rules consistently refer to the equipment used by both services as “ radios ” rather than “ telephones. ” since frs cannot be connected to the public switched telephone network under 47 cfr 95. 193 ( e ), it appears that such devices do not fall within the definition of mobile telephones. however, they may fall within the definition of mobile electronic devices. fcc rules permit transmissions of data regarding the location of the frs station. the rules also permit the transmission of brief text messages. the maximum transmission time may not exceed one second, and the minimum time before the next data transmission must be not less than 30 seconds. only those frs radios that the fcc has specifically certified for such data operation may actually transmit data. so it appears that using frs equipment can be used to make calls while driving, but using it to transmit text messages or data would violate cgs § 14 - 296aa. gmrs equipment can only be connected with the public switched telephone network under very limited circumstances under 47 cfr 95. 141. it generally can only be used for voice communications, but 47 cfr 95. 181 also permits a gmrs station operator to communicate a one - way voice page to a paging receiver. it appears that gmrs equipment can be used to make calls while driving, but using it to send pages would violate cgs § 14 - 296aa. using a speakerphone it appears that cgs § 14 - 296aa does not prohibit a driver from dialing a number and then using the speakerphone function to hold a conversation, so long as


pages would violate cgs § 14 - 296aa. using a speakerphone it appears that cgs § 14 - 296aa does not prohibit a driver from dialing a number and then using the speakerphone function to hold a conversation, so long as the driver is not holding the cell phone during the conversation. as noted above, the law does not prohibit a driver from holding a cell phone in his or her hand to turn it on or to initiate a function, which presumably would include dialing a number. the issue was addressed at several points in the 2005 debate on the initial bill that was codified as cgs § 14 - 296aa ( shb 6722 ). in the house, then - representative witkos asked whether it would be a violation under the bill to drive while using a cell phone that has a built - in or attached speakerphone with the phone resting on his lap. representative roy, the bill ' s primary sponsor, responded that it would not be a violation because that would be hands - free operation. similarly, representative delgobbo asked for a clarification of the bill ' s scope. representative roy stated that the phrase “ engage in a call ” “ means talking into or listening on a hand - held mobile telephone, but does not include holding a hand - held mobile telephone to activate, deactivate, or initiate a function of such telephone. ” rep. delgobbo then asked whether the bill permitted a driver to dial a number from a phone that had an ear bud and then place the phone on the passenger seat. representative roy stated that this would be permissible, although if this caused the driver to have an accident, other provisions of the bill would apply. similar points were made in the senate debate. senator ciotto, senate chair of the transportation committee, agreed with senator freedman ' s characterization of the bill as “ just saying that you cannot hold the cell phone in your hand. ” senator nickerson stated that “ using a cell phone means holding it to the user ' s ear. ”


the un inter - agency group for child mortality estimation ( igme ) was formed in 2004 to share data on child mortality, harmonize estimates within the un system, improve methods for child mortality estimation, report on progress towards the millennium development goals and enhance country capacity to produce timely and properly assessed estimates of child mortality. the igme, led by the united nations children ' s fund ( unicef ) and the world health organization ( who ), also includes the world bank and the united nations population division of the department of economic and social affairs as full members. the igme ' s independent technical advisory group ( tag ), comprising leading academic scholars and independent experts in demography and biostatistics, provides guidance on estimation methods, technical issues and strategies for data analysis and data quality assessment. the igme updates its child mortality estimates annually after reviewing newly available data and assessing data quality. the inter - agency group for child mortality estimation ( igme ) is constituted by representatives of unicef, who, the world bank and the united nations population division. the child mortality estimates presented in this database have been reviewed by igme members. as new information becomes available, estimates in the database will be updated more frequently than those appearing in official publications and reports produced by igme members. differences between the estimates presented in the database and those in particular publications may also arise because of differences in reporting periods or in the availability of data during the production process of each publication and other evidence. levels and trends in child mortality : reports levels and trends in child mortality report 2012 levels and trends in child mortality report 2012 annex - technical notes levels and trends in child mortality report 2011 levels and trends in child mortality report 2010 plos medicine collection : child mortality estimation methods ( also available on http : / / www. ploscollections. org / childmortalityestimation. ) child mortality estimation : accelerated progress in reducing global child mortality, 1990 - 2010 kenneth hill, danzhen you, mie inoue, mikkel z. oestergaard, technical advisory group of the united nations inter - agency group for child mortality estimation child mortality estimation : methods used to adjust for bias due to aids in estimating trends in under - five mortality neff walker, kenneth hill, fengmin zhao child mortality estimation : a global overview of infant and child mortality age patterns in light of new empirical data michel guillot, patrick gerland, francais pelletier, ameed saabneh levels and trends of child mortality in 2006


without sensors, a robot is just a machine. robots need sensors to deduce what is happening in their world and to be able to react to changing situations. this chapter introduces a variety of robotic sensors and explains their electrical use and practical application. the sensor applications presented here are not meant to be exhaustive, but merely to suggest some of the possibilities. please do not be limited by the ideas contained in this chapter! assembly instructions for the kit sensors are given in section 2. 6. the basic function of an electronic sensor is to measure some feature of the world, such as light, sound, or pressure and convert that measurement into an electrical signal, usually a voltage or current. typical sensors respond to stimuli by changing their resistance ( photocells ), changing their current flow ( phototransistors ), or changing their voltage output ( the sharp ir sensor ). the electrical output of a given sensor can easily be converted into other electrical representations. there are two basic types of sensors : analog and digital. the two are quite different in function, in application, and in how they are used with the roboboard. an analog sensor produces a continuously varying output value over its range of measurement. for example, a particular photocell might have a resistance of 1kin bright light and a resistance of 300k in complete darkness. any value between these two is possible depending on the particular light level present. digital sensors, on the other hand, have only two states, often called " on " and " off. " perhaps the simplest example of a digital sensor is the touch switch. a typical touch switch is an open circuit ( infinite resistance ) when it is not pressed, and a short circuit ( zero resistance ) when it is depressed. some sensors that produce a digital output are more complicated. these sensors produce pulse trains of transitions between the 0 volt state and the 5 volt state. with these types of sensors, the frequency characteristics or shape of this pulse train convey the sensor ' s measurement. an example of this type of sensor is the sharp modulated infrared light detector. with this sensor, the actual element measuring light is an analog device, but signal - processing circuitry is integral to the sensor produces a digital output. the roboboard contains input ports for both analog and digital sensors. while both types of ports are sensitive to voltage, each type interprets the input voltage differently and provides different data to the microprocessor. the analog ports measure the voltage and convert it to a number between 0 and 255,


and digital sensors. while both types of ports are sensitive to voltage, each type interprets the input voltage differently and provides different data to the microprocessor. the analog ports measure the voltage and convert it to a number between 0 and 255, corresponding to input voltage levels between 0 and 5 volts. the conversion scale is linear, so a voltage of 2. 5 volts would generate an output value of 127 or 128. the digital ports, however, convert an input voltage to just two output values, zero and one. if the voltage on a digital port is less than 2. 5 volts, the output will be 0, while if the input is greater than 2. 5 volts, the output will be 1. thus, the conversion is very nonlinear. the c library function analog ( port - # ) is used to return the value of a particular analog sensor port. for example, the ic statement sets the value of the variable val equal to the output of port # 27. many devices used as digital sensors are wired to be active low, meaning that they generate 0 volts when they are active ( or true ). the digital inputs on the roboboard have a pull - up resistor that makes the voltage input equal to 5 volts when nothing is connected. a closed or depressed touch switch connected to a digital port would change that voltage to 0 volts by shorting the input to ground. the resulting outputs : open switch, and closed switch, are the logical opposite of what we usually want. that is, we would prefer the output of the digital port to have value 0 or false normally, and change to 1 or true only when the switch hit something ( like a wall or another robot ) and was depressed. the ic library function digital ( port - # ), used to read a true - or - false value associated with a particular sensor port, performs this logical inversion of the signal measured on a digital port. hence, the depressed touch switch ( measuring 0 volts on the hardware ) causes the digital ( ) function to return a 1 ( logic true ) or logical true value. for example, the c statement returns a true value ( the number 1 ) and calls the function do _ it ( ) if the value at port # 2 was zero volts ( indicating a depressed switch ). the standard plug configuration used to connect sensors to the roboboard is shown in figure 9. 1. notice that the plug is asymmetric ( made by removing one pin from a four - pin section


as illustrated in figure 9. 5. touch sensors can also serve as limit switches to determine when some movable part of the robot has reached the desired position. for example, if a robot arm is driven by a motor, perhaps using a gear rack, touch switches could detect when the arm reached the limit of travel on the rack in each direction. figure 9. 6 shows how a switch is wired to a sensor input port. when the switch is open ( as it is shown in the diagram ), the sensor input is connected to the 5 volt supply by the pull - up resistor. when the switch is closed, the input is connected directly to ground, generating a 0 volt signal ( and causing current to flow through the resistor and switch ). most push - button - style switches are " normally open, " meaning that the switch contacts are in the open - circuit position when the switch has not been pressed. microswitches often have both normally open and normally closed contacts along with a common contact. when wiring a microswitch, it is customary to use the normally open contacts. also, this configuration is the active - low mode expected by the standard library software used to read the output values from digital sensor ports. however, you can wire the switch differently to perform some special function. in particular, several switches can be wired in series or parallel and connected to a single digital input port. for example, a touch bumper might have two switches, and the robot only needs to know if either of them ( # 1 or # 2 ) are closed. it takes less code and less time to check just one digital port and to use parallel switch wiring to implement the logic or function in hardware. as the name suggests, a mercury tilt switch contains a small amount of mercury inside a glass bulb. the operation of the switch is based on the unique properties of mercury : it is both a conductor and a liquid. when the switch tilts mercury flows to the bottom of the bulb closing the circuit between two metal pins. the mercury tilt switch can be used in any application to sense inclination. for example, the tilt switch could be used to adjust the position of an arm or ramp. most thermostats contain a mercury tilt switch mounted on a temperature sensitive spring. changes in temperature tilt the switch, turning the furnace or air conditioner on or off. a potentiometer ( or " pot, " for short ) is a manually - adjustable, variable resistor. it is commonly used for volume and tone controls in stereo equipment


tilt the switch, turning the furnace or air conditioner on or off. a potentiometer ( or " pot, " for short ) is a manually - adjustable, variable resistor. it is commonly used for volume and tone controls in stereo equipment. on the roboboard a 10k pot is used as a contrast dial for the lcd screen, and the roboknob of the board is also a potentiometer. in robotics, a potentiometer can be used as a position sensor. a rotary potentiometer ( the most common type ) can be used to measure the rotation of a shaft. gears can be used to connect the rotation of the shaft being measured to the potentiometer shaft. it is easiest to use if the shaft being measured does not need to rotate continuously ( like the second hand on a clock ), but rather rotates back and forth ( like the pendulum on a grandfather clock ). most potentiometers rotate only about 270 degrees ; some can be rotated continuously, but the values are the same on each rotation. by using a gear ratio other than 1 : 1, the position of a shaft that rotates more than 270 degrees can be measured. a potentiometer connected to a shaft and a lever can also be used to determine the distance to a wall and to make the robot follow a path parallel to the wall. the lever, perhaps with a small wheel on the end, would extend from the side of the robot and contact the wall ; a rubber band would provide a restoring force. if the robot moved closer to the wall, the lever would pivot, turning the shaft and the potentiometer. the control program would read the resulting voltage and adjust the robot steering to keep the voltage constant. potentiometers have three terminals. the outer two terminals are connected to a resistor and the resistance between them is constant ( the value of the potentiometer ). the center terminal is connected to a contact that slides along the resistance element as the shaft is turned, so the resistance between it and either of the other terminals varies ( one increases while the other decreases ). the assembly instructions suggest wiring the potentiometer in the voltage divider configuration, with the on - board pull - up resistor in parallel with one of the potentiometer ' s two effective resistances ( figure 9. 7 ). this will yield readings of greater precision ( although they will not be linear ) than if the pot were used as a two - terminal variable resistor. you may want to try


. the resistance of a photocell decreases with an increase in illumination ( an inverse relationship ). because of the wiring of the voltage divider ( the photocell is on the lower side of the voltage divider ), an increase in light will correspond to a decrease in sensor voltage and a lower analog value. the infrared reflectance sensor is a small rectangular device that contains a phototransistor ( sensitive to infrared light ) and an infrared emitter. the amount of light reflected from the emitter into the phototransistor yields a measurement of a surface ' s reflectance, for example, to determine whether the surface is black or white. the phototransistor has peak sensitivity at the wavelength of the emitter ( a near - visible infrared ), but is also sensitive to visible light and infrared light emitted by visible light sources. for this reason, the device should be shielded from ambient lighting as much as possible in order to obtain reliable results. the amount of light reflected from the emitter into the phototransistor yields a measurement of a surface ' s reflectance ( when other factors, such as the distance from the sensor to the surface, are held constant ). the reflectance sensor can also be used to measure distance, provided that the surface reflectance is constant. a reflectance sensor can be used to detect features drawn on a surface or segments on a wheel used to encode rotations of a shaft. it is important to remember that the reflectivity measurement indicates the surface ' s reflectivity at a particular wavelength of light ( the near - visible infrared ). a surface ' s properties with respect to visible light may or may not be indicators of infrared light reflectance. in general, though, surfaces that absorb visible light ( making them appear dark to the eye ) will absorb infrared light as well. the sensor part ( the phototransistor ) can be used alone as a light sensor, for example to detect the starting light, and it is usually much more sensitive than the photocell. the light falling on a phototransistor creates charge carriers in the base region of a transistor, effectively providing base current. the intensity of the light determines the effective base drive and thus the conductivity of the transistor. greater amounts of light cause greater currents to flow through the collector - emitter leads. because a transistor is an active element having current gain, the phototransistor is more sensitive than a simple photoresistor. however, the increased sensitivity comes at the price


greater currents to flow through the collector - emitter leads. because a transistor is an active element having current gain, the phototransistor is more sensitive than a simple photoresistor. however, the increased sensitivity comes at the price of reduced dynamic range. dynamic range is the difference between the lowest and highest levels that can be measured. the roboboard analog sensor inputs have a range of 0 - 5 volts, and relatively small variations in light can cause the phototransistor output to change through this range. the exact range depends on the circuit used. as shown in figure 9. 8, the phototransistor is wired in a configuration similar to the voltage divider. the variable current traveling through the resistor causes a voltage drop in the pull - up resistor. this voltage is measured as the output of the device. the light emitting element ( an led ) uses a resistor to limit the current that can flow through the device to the proper value of about 10 milliamps. normally the emitter is always on, but it could be wired to one of the led output ports if you wanted to control it separately. in this way you could use the same sensor to detect the starting light ( using the phototransistor with the emitter off ) and then to follow a line on the board ( normal operation with the emitter on ). the infrared slotted optical switch is similar to the infrared reflectance sensor except that the emitter is pointed directly at the phototransistor across a small gap. as the name implies, the slotted optical switch is a digital sensor, designed to provide only two output states. the output of the switch changes if something opaque enters the gap and blocks the light path. the slotted optical switch is commonly used to build shaft encoders, which count the revolution of a shaft. a gear or other type of wheel with with holes or slots is placed in the gap between the emitter and detector. the light pulses created by the turning wheel can be detected and counted with special software to yield rotation or distance data. this detector also might be used to detect when an arm or other part of the robot has reached a particular position by attaching a piece of cardboard to the arm so that it entered the gap at the desired arm position. the slotted optical switch operates in the same fashion as the infrared reflectance sensor, with the exception that a different value of pull - up resistor must be added externally for the particular model of optical switch we


the gap at the desired arm position. the slotted optical switch operates in the same fashion as the infrared reflectance sensor, with the exception that a different value of pull - up resistor must be added externally for the particular model of optical switch we use. the modulated infrared light detector is a device that combines an infrared phototransistor with specialized signal processing circuitry to detect only light that is pulsing at a particular rate. the elec 201 kit includes the sharp gp1u52 sensor, which detects the presence of infrared light modulated ( pulsed ) at 40, 000 hz. normal room light, which is not modulated, does not effect the sensor, a big advantage. this type of sensor is used for the remote control function on televisions, vcrs, etc. in elec 201 this sensor is used to detect the specially modulated infrared light emitted by the beacon on the opponent robot. the software can distinguish different pulse patterns in order to distinguish between the beacons on the two robots. ( in a television remote, different pulse patterns would correspond to different functions, such a changing the channel up or down. ) the principles of operation and use are explained further in section 5. 8, which also discusses the circuit used to create the modulated infrared light for the beacon. an explanation of the software interface to the sharp sensors is given in section 10. 11. 2. the elec 201 kit contains both an analog sensor that provides information about the strength of the magnetic field and a digital sensor, a magnetic switch. a device called a hall effect sensor can be used to detect the presence and strength of magnetic fields. the hall effect sensors have an output voltage even when no magnetic field is present, and the output changes when a magnetic field is present, the direction of change depending on the polarity of the field. the digital magnetic sensors are simple switches that are open or closed. internally the switches have an arm made of magnetic material that is attracted to a magnet and moves to short out the switch contacts. these switches are commonly used as door and window position sensors in home security systems. the switch will close when it comes within 1 ' ' of its companion magnet. either sensor can be used to detect magnets or magnetic strips that may be present on the elec 201 game board table. with the magnets typically used on the game board, the hall effect sensor output voltage changes only a small amount when a field is present. the no - field voltage varies between sensors, but it is very stable for a particular sensor


game board table. with the magnets typically used on the game board, the hall effect sensor output voltage changes only a small amount when a field is present. the no - field voltage varies between sensors, but it is very stable for a particular sensor, so the small changes can be detected reliably to determine the presence of a magnet. hall effect sensors can be used to make magnetic shaft encoders, by mounting a small piece of magnet on a wheel that rotates past the sensor element. hall effect sensors can also be used to build a proximity sensor or bounce - free switch, which detects a magnet mounted on a moving component when it is near the sensor element. magnetic switches are used in much the same way as a touch switch, except the switch closes when it is near a magnetic, instead of when it contacts something. the digital nature of the switch makes it easier to use than the hall effect sensors, but it may be less sensitive. you should try both. they can also be used to make an inclination sensor by dangling a magnet above the sensor. the hall effect sensor included in the elec 201 kit is a digital device that operates from a 5 volts power supply. it uses about 6 ma of current for standard operation. it can sink 250 ma of current into its output, creating a logic low. the sensor cannot drive a logic high and therefore requires a pullup resistor for proper operation. the motor output drivers of the elec 201 roboboard contains circuitry that produces an output voltage related to the amount of current being used by a motor. since the motor current corresponds to the load on the motor, this signal can be used to determine if the motor is stalled and the robot is stuck. the voltage signal depends on a number of factors, including battery voltage, and must be calibrated for each application. this application is explained further in section 5. 4. 1.


( cnn ) - - modern football is a melting pot of cultures, as players from a variety of ethnic backgrounds share top billing as superstars. it is not always a comfortable mix, as can be seen by the recent racism rows involving john terry and luis suarez. but football ' s pantheon of stars has not always been such a rich multicultural tapestry. far from it. back in the sport ' s infancy in the late 1800s, in its homeland of white - dominated britain, there were no official leagues and only a handful of domestic cup competitions. international matches were the pinnacle of competition, with england and scotland contesting the first in 1872 - - and few were played outside the uk and ireland until the formation of fifa in 1904. and it was scotland which, in 1881, provided football with its first black international player - - british guiana - born andrew watson. " he was the son of a glasgow merchant who traded out in the west indies and parts of south america as well, " curator of the scottish football museum richard mcbrearty told cnn. " it ' s a story of the time, i suppose. andrew would ' ve been born out of wedlock to a wealthy white merchant and his mother who was native to british guiana. " social attitudes of the time meant that watson, while enjoying financial support and a good education, was never truly recognized and acknowledged by his father. " anything that had to be signed, due to school or education, was usually done through an intermediary, " mcbrearty explained. " so he was recognized as being of the blood, but there was a distance. " early records of watson show him joining glasgow team parkgrove - - which at the time enjoyed a higher profile than now - famous neighbors glasgow rangers - - in both a playing and off - pitch capacity. in his role as match secretary, watson created history by becoming the first black football administrator. in 1880 he joined queen ' s park, the biggest of the glasgow clubs and scotland ' s preeminent football power. the following year he represented scotland in his first of three international outings, captaining the country in a landmark 6 - 1 victory over england at london ' s oval ground - - now an international cricket venue. " even to this day with some of the fantastic teams england have played over the years, such as the hungarians of 1953 and pele ' s brazil, that victory for scotland remains england ' s heaviest defeat on home soil, " said mcbrearty. the scotland team led by watson pioneered a revolutionary passing game at


played over the years, such as the hungarians of 1953 and pele ' s brazil, that victory for scotland remains england ' s heaviest defeat on home soil, " said mcbrearty. the scotland team led by watson pioneered a revolutionary passing game at a time when football was played in a very individual manner. " he is a hugely important figure within football. he captained scotland against england, which was absolutely the highest accolade you could have at the time. it was also at a time when scotland were very successful in international football, " mcbrearty said. " the way the game was played at that time, scotland were devising a short passing game. the margin of victory was because scotland were the first to promote a real team - based passing ethos. watson was right at the forefront of that. " despite his prominent role in the national team, watson still occasionally encountered abuse which was symbolic of a less enlightened age. " what we come across in a very polite article about watson is that he encountered ' splenetic players ' on the field. now that suggests to me that the color of his skin was a subject of attack, " mcbrearty said. " that ' s an insight into the fact that, even in that time, this was clearly happening and watson had to rise above that as a footballer and more widely as a human being. " watson ' s demeanor off the pitch is something mcbrearty believes is also of note, saying he had a reputation as a gentleman. " certainly there is widespread praise that he wins. the adoration that he has is clearly because he manages to rise above the difficulties that he encounters on the field of play. " after leaving queen ' s park, watson headed to england to play for the now - defunct swifts club in london. mcbrearty believes watson became the first black player to play in the english fa cup during the 1882 - 83 season. watson passed away in sydney, australia in 1902 aged 44, but mcbrearty thinks the contribution he made to football has paved the way for the big - name black players we see in the game today. " he ' s massively important to global football, not just scottish football, not just british football. he ' s one of the first few pioneers. he played international football, he captained the international team and they happened to be the best there was at that time. " as football spreads across the globe with black players who are now among the best in the world, and you look at the legacy of fantastic


using the code the object is called xmlwriter. it automatically replaces invalid characters such as quotation marks or greater than signs with the appropriate xml values. however, it does not throw exceptions on invalid tag names, because the application i ’ m writing won ’ t have the possibility of producing invalid tag names. if you want to add tag - name validation to the object, it should not be a difficult task. new command like so : var xml = new xmlwriter ( ) ; xmlwriter object has the following public methods : attrib ( name, value ) node ( name, value ) beginnode writes out an opening tag, giving it the name that you pass the method. below is an example, followed by the xml it would produce : endnode ends the current node ( if any are still open ). so following from the beginnode example, if we were to write xml. endnode ( ), the writer would write “ / > ”. the object is smart enough to know if you have written any text or inner nodes out and will write “ < / foo > ” if necessary. attrib writes out an attribute and value on the currently open node. below is an example, followed by the xml it would produce : xml. attrib ( “ bar ”, “ some value ” ) ; writestring writes out a string value to the xml document as illustrated below : node method writes out a named tag and value as illustrated below : xml. node ( “ mynode ”, “ my value ” ) ; close method does not necessarily need to be called, but it ’ s a good idea to do so. what it does is end any nodes that have not been ended. tostring method returns the entire xml document as a single string ( duh ). i ’ ve provided some sample code. the xmlwriter. js file contains all the code you will need to write xml. it is clean code, but uncommented. i ’ ve tested this code in ie 6. 0 and firefox 1. 5.


cascading style sheets and themes development cascading style sheets, commonly referred to as css, is commonly used to style web pages written in html and xhtml, but can be used together with any kind of xml document. it is a style sheet language used to describe the look and formatting ( presentation semantics ) of a document written in a markup language. the primary use of css is to separate document content from document presentation, such as layout, fonts and colors. this allows for tableless web design, gives the web designer more flexibility and control, and makes it possible for multiple pages to share the same formatting. the css specifications are maintained by the world wide web consortium ( w3c ). css history – the beginning before css was developed, the presentational attributes of html documents were almost always contained within the html markup. the web designer had to explicitly describe all backgrounds, font colors, borders, element alignments, etcetera. the aim of css was to allow web designers to move most of this information to a separate style sheet. style sheets have been round since the early days of sgml ( standard generalized markup language ), i. e. since the 1970s. as html became more and more widely used, html came to encompass a wide variety of stylistic possibilities to meet the demands of increasingly complex web page designs. the designers ' gained more and more control, but in the process, html became more and more complicated to write and maintain. robert cailliau, the belgian informatics engineer who together with tim berners - lee developed the world wide web, wanted to find a way to separate the structure from the presentation. he also wanted to give the user the option of choosing between three different kinds of style sheets : one for screen presentation, one suitable for printing and one for the editor. eventually, nine different style sheet languages was presented to the world wide web consortium. two of them was chosen : cascading html style sheets ( chss ) and stream - based style sheet proposal ( ssp ). chss had been suggested by norweigan web pioneer hakon wium lie, while ssp was the brainchild of dutch computer scientist ber bos. lie teamed up with computer scientists yves lafon and dave raggett to make raggett ' s arena browser support css, while lie and bos worked together to turn chss into the css standard. ( the letter h was removed since their style sheets was to be


[ back ] ohio snakes slither into summer sun photo courtesy of metro parks the eastern garter snake is one of three garter snakes in the state. the cold - blooded reptile can be found all around central ohio, even in backyard gardens. it is one of five snakes that can be found in the area. the weather is warming up and humans are not the only ones basking in the sun. the snakes have slithered out too. the cold - blooded reptile has always been feared or revered. now is the time of year when encounters with them are common but is there really a reason to fear them? peg hanley, spokeswoman for metro parks, said none of the snakes in this part of the state are poisonous. “ many people think all snakes are poisonous, ” said hanley. “ they just don ’ t know how great they really are. ” hanley said another myth about snakes is that they are slimy and scaly. “ they are actually completely dry, ” she remarked. contrary to what movie makers will have you believe, snakes will not chase you. in fact, hanley said they will do their best to avoid you. they can feel the vibrations from an approaching animal and will likely hide until the perceived threat is gone. “ if you don ’ t bug them, they won ’ t bug you, ” said hanley. “ not all snakes have fangs either. ” for some snakes, it ’ s mating season. for others, they just want to warm up in the sun. hanley said soaking up the rays helps digestion in the reptile. the following are facts on the five snakes people most commonly encounter in central ohio. northern water snake according to the ohio department of natural resources ( odnr ), this is one of the most widely distributed and abundant snakes in ohio. they can live in just about any permanent body of water. the northern water snake is usually 24 to 42 inches in size and has extreme variation in color. it is sometimes confused with the poisonous water moccasin or the cottonmouth. this species will try to steer clear of humans but can be aggressive if aggravated. it will bite and its bite can be painful and leave deep lacerations. eastern garter snake this snake is one of three garters in the state but is the most common. it is recognized by its color pattern of three yellow stripes on a black or brown body. it is usually about four inches long and can be found in nearly every habitat, including backyard gardens. the ga


this paper, submitted to astronomy education review, describes a series of activities in which students investigate and use the models of planetary motion introduced by the hellenistic astronomer claudius ptolemy in the 2nd century, by the polish astronomer nicolaus copernicus in the mid - 16th century, and by the danish astronomer tycho brahe in the late16th century. the activities involve the use of open source software to help students discover important observational facts, learn the necessary vocabulary, understand the fundamental properties of different theoretical models, and relate the theoretical models to observational data. once they understand the observations and models, students complete a series of projects in which they observe a fictitious solar system with four planets orbiting in circles around a central star and construct both ptolemaic and copernican models for that system. activities on using stellarium to observe solar and planetary motions this zip archive contains two activity handouts that guide students through using open source planetarium software ( stellarium, available at … more... download 211kb. zip published : january 4, 2013 modeling the history of astronomy poster a poster describing the same material, presented at the winter meeting of the american association of physics teachers, january 2013, new orleans, la. download 370kb. pdf published : january 11, 2013 % a todd timberlake % t modeling the history of astronomy : ptolemy, copernicus and tycho % d january 10, 2013 % u http : / / www. compadre. org / repository / document / servefile. cfm? id = 12579 & docid = 3173 % o application / pdf % 0 report % a timberlake, todd % d january 10, 2013 % t modeling the history of astronomy : ptolemy, copernicus and tycho % 8 january 10, 2013 % u http : / / www. compadre. org / repository / document / servefile. cfm? id = 12579 & docid = 3173 disclaimer : compadre offers citation styles as a guide only. we cannot offer interpretations about citations as this is an automated procedure. please refer to the style manuals in the citation source information area for clarifications.


a teacher ' s point of view : mutual respect and healthy discourse the recent controversy over the banning of the confederate flag and purported hate speech and conduct within the dolores schools has prompted the kind of discourse that characterizes a society that values free speech and diversity. nowhere is this more evident than in the arguments of william nelligan in recent letters to the dolores star and editorial columns for the cortez journal. it seems, however, that the majority of published opinion, including mr. nelligan ' s, weighs in against the administration ' s decision to ban controversial symbols that could be construed as politically / culturally insensitive. though, in truth, i agree with much of what mr. nelligan says, it is simplistic and erroneous to judge the district ' s actions in light of a strict interpretation of the first amendment. the responsibility of the public school system to educate our children and to prepare them to assume their roles as citizens of the united states, contributors to local and global communities, is daunting. educators not only make decisions about what to teach and how to teach it but must nurture and protect the children whose education is entrusted to us. in writing their opinions, both for the majority and in dissent, justices of the supreme court have recognized this responsibility and noted that " the rights of students must be applied in light of the special characteristics of the school environment ( hazelwood school district v. kuhlmeir, 1988 ). " since the 1969 decision of tinker v. des moines, the case to which mr. nelligan often referred, the court has repeatedly sided with school administrators in restricting students ' free speech, observing that " the constitutional rights of students are not automatically co - extensive with the rights of adults in other settings ( bethal school district no. 403 v. fraser, 1986 ). " the most recent case, frederick v. morse ( 2007 ), further restricted students ' rights to free speech, supporting an administrative decision even when there was not evidence of disruption of school activities, a condition that was imposed on schools with the development of the " tinker test. " the decision of dolores re - 4a administrators to ban the confederate flag and other controversial political symbols is not unconstitutional. it is a choice they have the right to make. balancing " legitimate educational objectives and the need for school discipline against first amendment values " requires careful consideration. perhaps the most important civics lesson that can come from this act of censorship is not what students gained or lost but how they see us - their teachers


- about us - schools & departments - news & events - prospective students - alumni & giving - contact us - faculty resources more clues about why chimps and humans are genetically different contact : jason maderer aug 23, 2012 | atlanta, ga ninety - six percent of a chimpanzee ’ s genome is the same as a human ’ s. it ’ s the other four percent, and the vast differences, that pique the interest of georgia tech ’ s soojin yi. for instance, why do humans have a high risk of cancer, even though chimps rarely develop the disease? in research published in september ’ s american journal of human genetics, yi looked at brain samples of each species. she found that differences in certain dna modifications, called methylation, may contribute to phenotypic changes. the results also hint that dna methylation plays an important role for some disease - related phenotypes in humans, including cancer and autism. “ our study indicates that certain human diseases may have evolutionary epigenetic origins, ” says yi, a faculty member in the school of biology. “ such findings, in the long term, may help to develop better therapeutic targets or means for some human diseases. “ dna methylation modifies gene expression but doesn ’ t change a cell ’ s genetic information. to understand how it differs between the two species, yi and her research team generated genome - wide methylation maps of the prefrontal cortex of multiple humans and chimps. they found hundreds of genes that exhibit significantly lower levels of methylation in the human brain than in the chimpanzee brain. most of them were promoters involved with protein binding and cellular metabolic processes. “ this list of genes includes disproportionately high numbers of those related to diseases, ” said yi. “ they are linked to autism, neural - tube defects and alcohol and other chemical dependencies. this suggests that methylation differences between the species might have significant functional consequences. they also might be linked to the evolution of our vulnerability to certain diseases, including cancer. ” yi, graduate student jia zeng and postdoctoral researcher brendan hunt worked with a team of researchers from emory university and ucla. the yerkes national primate research center provided the animal samples used in the study. it was also funded by the georgia tech fund for innovation in research and education ( gt - fire ) and national science foundation grants ( mcb - 0950896 and bcs - 0751481 ). the content is solely the responsibility of the principal investigators and does not


when agricultural researchers in the southwest look into the future, one issue stays near the top of the list as a major priority. no matter what happens in any other ag - related area, all roads lead back to this one fact. without this one resource, farming doesn ’ t exist. and nowhere has this become a bigger issue than in the southwest part of the cotton belt where droughts have become a way of life through the years. in oklahoma, texas, new mexico and arizona, this has always been a major topic of discussion dating back to the dust bowl days of the 1920s and 1930s. nobody is seriously comparing today ’ s environment to what moviegoers saw in that famous 1940 movie, “ grapes of wrath, ” which starred henry fonda. however, when drought and new water restrictions become part of the conversation, it ’ s only natural for producers to become concerned. even though water issues can be found in all parts of the cotton belt, they seem to receive additional attention in the southwest where more than half of the country ’ s cotton is produced in texas. it is not surprising that new mexico state university and the western sustainable agriculture research and education program ( sare ) will co - host a conference in santa fe, n. m., on aug. 7 to address this issue. serious impact of drought the drought of 2011 had an impact on all of the southwest, but particularly in texas where cotton yields were reduced by about 50 percent to 3. 5 million bales. since last summer, several national stories have called attention to the growing water crisis in the region. one report published by the national academy of science says the shortage of water in california and texas could eventually have dire consequences because of a continued reliance on irrigated agriculture. stephanie walker of the new mexico state university extension plant sciences department is helping coordinate the conference, which will have attendees from 13 states and several pacific island countries. while the theme of the conference will center on water and the future of agriculture in the southwest, walker expects a healthy exchange of ideas beneficial to all parties. “ i won ’ t hold my breath that we will all get on the same page on this issue, ” she says. “ but we ’ ll know what we have to do. “ not only do we have serious water concerns here in the southwest, but on island nations they have similar water issues. water resources are very important throughout the world. ” some of the topics at the conference include : balancing ag and urban water use, rainwater harvesting, low - water - use crops,


the southwest, but on island nations they have similar water issues. water resources are very important throughout the world. ” some of the topics at the conference include : balancing ag and urban water use, rainwater harvesting, low - water - use crops, low - tech irrigation strategies and renewable - energy technology for water pumping. although the water battle between rural and urban interests has been going on for many years, walker is convinced that common ground must be achieved. “ long - term water conservation and use efficiency are in everyone ’ s best interests, ” she says. “ whether you are involved in the agricultural industry or living in a city, everyone needs to come together on this for the long - term benefit of our society. ” those are optimistic words to describe an issue that pits expanding urban population needs against farming interests. both sides need reliable water sources. finding agreement can be one of the most challenging exercises imaginable. an outsider only has to look at the san joaquin valley of california to see how volatile emotions can become. in the sjv, water issues are often influenced by factors such as winter snowpack, water allocations, politics and even the preservation of a small species of fish called the delta smelt. proactive attitudes persist nobody in the southwest – and particularly texas – is being complacent. rick kellison, project director for the texas alliance for water conservation ( tawc ), has been involved in water issues since 2005, and he is hopeful that producers across the state are more informed on how to implement water conservation measures. “ my first thought is that producers here and elsewhere in the united states are the best conservationists and environmentalists anywhere, ” he says. “ they have to be that way because that ’ s their mechanism for living on the farm. ” kellison says it ’ s a necessity that a farmer know what the water and nutrient needs are for the crop. “ producers do a great job in this regard and have always done a great job, ” he says. “ having said that, i think we are at a pivotal point in this discussion because we ’ ve been in the middle of a serious drought, and there has definitely been a decrease in the finite water source. ” it ’ s interesting to see how this issue has changed in just two years. for example, in the june 2010 issue of cotton farming, many texas ag officials discussed how the ogallala aquifer ’ s water levels must be protected by implementing efficient water - use policies on the farm. as it turns out


two years. for example, in the june 2010 issue of cotton farming, many texas ag officials discussed how the ogallala aquifer ’ s water levels must be protected by implementing efficient water - use policies on the farm. as it turns out, there were no major drought problems in 2010, and a recordbreaking cotton crop was produced in texas. kellison says nobody felt any urgency to deal with water conservation. not surprisingly, the mood changed during and after the drought - plagued 2011 crop season. “ i see a greater awareness about things we can do better in water conservation, ” he says. “ and i ’ m not just talking about irrigation application. i ’ m talking about the entire thought process in areas such as tillage practices and anything that can seriously affect water use. ” kellison is particularly excited about new broad - based irrigation technology that will impact genetics, tillage, irrigation methods and timing. he also foresees other scientific breakthroughs that can help determine the rooting depth of the crop, fertility zones and identify where moisture depletion has occurred in a field. technology will once again help solve an important problem that confronts agriculture. contact tommy horton at ( 901 ) 767 - 4020 or firstname. lastname @ example. org. last year ’ s drought was a wakeup call for ag the recordbreaking drought in texas in 2011 is remembered in different ways. for the farmer, it was a matter of survival. for jim bordovsky, texas agrilife research scientist and engineer, it presented an opportunity for a “ teaching moment. ” he isn ’ t suggesting that producers haven ’ t always been aware of water efficiency on their farms. but, he ’ s confident that those same farmers now realize how important even small amounts of early season rain are for irrigated production. bordovsky is also seeing more situations where producers are considering different irrigation systems such as lepa and subsurface drip and trying not to spread water too thinly by going to half - circle irrigation. “ i think everyone is being more careful on when to apply water, ” he says. “ as a matter of fact, i haven ’ t seen any continuous irrigation. that in itself tells me that producers are quite concerned. ”


osteoporosis is a disease, more common in women, that causes bones to become fragile and more susceptible to breaking. the disease can have serious effects on women ' s health and quality of life. some women - most commonly those who don ' t have good access to health care - experience fractures that could have been prevented if their osteoporosis had been treated. at the same time, not every woman who is warned about bone thinning needs to be worried. what is osteoporosis? osteoporosis literally means porous bone. throughout life, natural process breaks down bones and builds them back up again at the microscopic level. pregnant women release bone to transfer needed minerals to the developing fetus and then build their own bone strength up again after giving birth. after age 35 - 40 all adults begin to lose bone as the breaking down process overwhelms the building process. for a few years around the time of menopause, women lose bone more quickly, possibly because they no longer need extra stores of minerals to support a developing fetus. osteoporosis occurs when the natural process of aging goes too far and bones become weak and fragile. osteoporosis has several causes - age alone can be a cause of osteoporosis, especially in people who didn ' t build up their bones to their fullest potential during childhood and young adulthood. removing women ' s ovaries increases their risk of getting osteoporosis. people who have osteoporosis are at greater risk for fracturing their bones, especially in the hip, vertebrae ( spine ) and wrist. hip fractures lead to hospitalization, can take a long time to heal, and many women never fully recover from them. the most common screening tool is a dexa x - ray scan, which measures bone mineral density in the hip or spine. dexa results compare a woman ' s bone density to that of a healthy young adult ( almost guaranteeing the scan will reveal bone loss, since everyone loses bone with age ). if a woman ' s bone density is significantly lower than a young adult ' s, she is diagnosed with osteoporosis. women diagnosed with osteoporosis are usually told they need to take prescription medication to prevent further bone loss and reduce the risk of fractures. the most common drugs are : the food and drug administration ( fda ) has approved estrogen and progestin treatment to prevent osteoporosis - - but not to treat it


medication to prevent further bone loss and reduce the risk of fractures. the most common drugs are : the food and drug administration ( fda ) has approved estrogen and progestin treatment to prevent osteoporosis - - but not to treat it. both estrogen alone and combinations of estrogen and progestin reduce women ' s risk of osteoporosis and bone fracture. calcitonin has been shown to prevent fractures of the spine but not of the hip and wrist. it is approved to treat women with osteoporosis, but its approval was based on weaker evidence than more recently approved drugs, and its use is not generally recommended. the fda has approved six bisphosphonates to prevent bone loss and fractures in post - menopausal women : alendronate ( fosamax ), etidronate ( didronel ), ibandronate ( boniva ), risedronate ( actonel ), tiludronate ( skelid ), and zoleldronic acid ( reclast, zometra ). some are taken daily, others are formulated for weekly or monthly use. bisphosphonates seem to have fewer risks than hormones, at least in the first five years. selective estrogen receptor modulators : the fda has approved raloxifene ( evista ) to prevent and treat osteoporosis. the drug has been tested more extensively than biophosphonates and although it reduces the risk of spine fractures, it doesn ' t seem to reduce hip fracture risk. alternatives to drugs exist for making and keeping bones strong. the national institutes of health ' s consensus statement on osteoporosis reviewed the research on osteoporosis prevention and treatment and found strong scientific evidence that calcium and vitamin d intake are crucial to develop and preserve strong bones. regular exercise ( especially resistance and high - impact activities ) contributes to the development of bone mass. other promising interventions focus on preventing fractures : balance training reduces the risk of falling, which is often responsible for broken bones in older people. in addition to thinking carefully about their own risk of experiencing a serious fracture, women need to consider safety issues when deciding whether to take osteoporosis drugs.


with about 217 million smartphones in our pockets, americans are more connected to the world, our families and friends than ever. we ' re also more connected to our bank accounts than ever. while that helps many consumers stay in better control of their finances and budgets, it also means that the power to spend is as easy as the click of a button, whether intended or not. these smartphones, mobile devices and the multitude of apps and other online functions also usually include never - read disclosure agreements that allow developers to sell and share sensitive consumer data. none of that is news, of course. however, what we don ' t read ( end - user license agreements, and such ) can hurt us. and although we may accept that companies will use our data in some ways, one needs look no further than t he recent outcry that resulted when online photo sharing site instagram announced that it would be selling the photo ' s of its users, without compensation to them. there are many other examples of consumers concerned over the use of their private information, which is why the federal trade commission has developed a list of recommendations that it believes developers should follow in order to help protect consumer data and diminish the chance of unintended spending. in its latest report, mobile privacy disclosures : building trust though transparency, the ftc addresses many of the potential risks consumers face : " when people use their mobile devices, they are sharing information about their daily lives with a multitude of players. how many companies are privy to this information? how often do they access such content and how do they use it or share it? what do consumers understand about who is getting their information and how they are using it? " in 2000, the agency started considering privacy implications related to the use of mobile devices. just last year, it hosted a mobile privacy panel discussion. the new report is based on the feedback they received from the panel and on prior studies. one of the primary focus areas of the report is on the developers of the mobile platforms and operating systems, such as apple, google, microsoft, blackberry, amazon and samsung. the report states that, because these companies give app developers and others access to user information ( location, contact lists, calendar info, photos and other data ), and because their app stores reach millions of consumers, they have an important role. as such, the report recommends they should : - provide just - in - time disclosures to consumers and obtain their affirmative express consent before allowing apps to access sensitive content like geolocation ; -


reach millions of consumers, they have an important role. as such, the report recommends they should : - provide just - in - time disclosures to consumers and obtain their affirmative express consent before allowing apps to access sensitive content like geolocation ; - consider providing just - in - time disclosures and obtaining affirmative express consent for other content that consumers would find sensitive in many contexts, such as contacts, photos, calendar entries, or the recording of audio or video content ; - consider developing a one - stop “ dashboard ” approach to allow consumers to review the types of content accessed by the apps they have downloaded ; - consider developing icons to depict the transmission of user data ; - promote app developer best practices. for example, platforms can require developers to make privacy disclosures, reasonably enforce these requirements, and educate app developers ; - consider providing consumers with clear disclosures about the extent to which platforms review apps prior to making them available for download in the app stores and conduct compliance checks after the apps have been placed in the app stores ; - consider offering a do not track ( dnt ) mechanism for smartphone users. a mobile dnt mechanism, which a majority of the commission has endorsed, would allow consumers to choose to prevent tracking by ad networks or other third parties as they navigate among apps on their phones. the ftc has suggestions for app developers, too, suggesting that they :


the transmission of tv programs into the home and office via coaxial cable. the first cable tv dates back to the late 1940s, when antennas were located at the highest point in a community to deliver tv to areas that had difficulty receiving over - the - air broadcasts ( see catv ). | from tv to internet to telephony since the cable companies were already wired into millions of homes, they had great success selling internet access to its subscribers, starting in the late 1990s. unlike the telephone company ' s dsl service, internet access via the cable infrastructure does not have distance limitations. cable tv companies later added telephone service to offer the " triple play " ( data, voice and video service ). see cable internet. many analog and digital channels cable tv typically transmits 125 6 mhz channels using frequency division multiplexing ( fdm ) to its subscribers. each channel can hold one analog tv program, three high - definition ( hd ) digital programs or 10 standard definition ( sd ) digital programs. the digital channels provide 40 mbps of digital bandwidth, 38 of which is the actual payload. the channels are also used for video - on - demand, internet access and voice over ip ( voip ) telephone service. upstream channels use from 0 to 50 mhz, while downstream channels use 50 mhz to 750 mhz. see fdm, cmts and digital tv transition.


hydraulic head distribution in the plover aquifer system, vulcan sub - basin petroleum hydrogeology reveals oil leakage from traps csiro ’ s team of hydrogeologists have developed techniques to help solve problems in australia ’ s oil industry and identify safe storage options to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. 30 november 2009 | updated 14 october 2011 in the field of hydrogeology, most scientists work on shallow water resources, groundwater contamination and soil salinity problems. csiro has developed a team of hydrogeologists that have adapted special techniques for understanding hydrodynamic processes of the deep subsurface where oil and gas is generated and trapped and where co2 can be safely stored for thousands of years. this unique application of expertise helps geologists and engineers to understand why some hydrocarbon traps have leaked their oil while others have retained oil fields for millions of years. when an oil company starts producing oil and gas from a deep reservoir, only a portion of the oil can be extracted, leaving the remainder in the pore space of the rocks. csiro petroleum hydrogeologists study new ways that we can improve the percentage of oil that can be extracted from a reservoir. csiro uses this knowledge to provide services to the oil and gas industry to help understand : csiro has a team of hydrogeologists who have developed enabling technologies for understanding hydrodynamic processes of the deep subsurface. oil migration and trapping compartmentalisation of hydrocarbon deposits on production the effects of aquifer pressure depletion to evaluate geological sequestration of co2. improvement in oil recovery could greatly reduce the need to find new hydrocarbon fields. by understanding geological conditions that have retained hydrocarbons for millions of years we can then identify deep geological structures that are capable to safely store co2 for long periods of time. deep underground storage of co2 in abandoned oil fields not only provides an alternative to atmospheric emission, but also provides and opportunity to increase oil production. learn more about csiro ' s work in energy from oil & gas.


how to attract birds to your garden choosing the right seed and creating an inviting habitat that will attract flocks of birds to the backyard. ( page 2 of 2 ) – super - size it. elongated suet feeders provide support for woodpeckers, which tend to use their strong tails for balance as they eat. these feeders generally hold two suet cakes, one basket on each side of a board. skip to next paragraph subscribe today to the monitor where and how you feed wild birds can be just as important as what you feed them, especially if you ' re trying to attract just a few favored species. encourage small birds, for instance, by putting up specialty feeders that restrict access. " wood feeders with vertical bars and feeders covered with wire mesh frustrate the larger birds, " says a us. fish and wildlife service fact shees. " tube feeders without trays also restrict access to small birds. remove the perches and you ' ve further selected only those birds capable of clinging – finches, chickadees, titmice and woodpeckers. add vertical perches to tube thistle ( nyjer ) feeders and you ' ll limit accessibility primarily to the goldfinches. " tips on choosing seed birds can be as finicky as people about what they eat. so the varieties of birds you attract to your yard will be determined primarily by the kind of seed you offer. " watch a feeder filled with a seed mix and you ' ll see the birds methodically drop or kick out most of the seeds to get to their favorite – sunflower, " the us. fish and wildlife service says in a bird feeding fact sheet. " birds will also kick out artificial ' berry ' pellets, processed seed flavored and colored to look like ' real ' fruit. " the most effective way to attract a large variety of birds is to put out separate feeders for each food, the agency says. here is a fish and wildlife service guide matching birds with their favorite foods : cracked corn : ducks, geese, quail, mourning doves. nyjer : finches, pine siskins, chickadees, dark - eyed juncos, redpolls, doves, and sparrows. nectar : hummingbirds, cardinals, thrushes, orioles, tanagers, finches. fruit : orioles, mockingbirds, cedar waxwings, tanagers, bluebirds, jays, cardinals, thrushes. peanuts : woodpeckers, chick


cardinals, thrushes, orioles, tanagers, finches. fruit : orioles, mockingbirds, cedar waxwings, tanagers, bluebirds, jays, cardinals, thrushes. peanuts : woodpeckers, chickadees, and titmice. millet : doves, blackbirds, sparrows, juncos, towhees. if you want to feed only doves, cardinals, and white - throated sparrows, then switch from black oil sunflower to safflower seed, the agency says. when is the best time to feed? many people say all year if you enjoy the sights and sounds of birds. " birds can benefit from an additional food source in winter, but the really good time to feed is spring going into summer, " says ms. cole. " they ' ve got a lot of chicks just coming out ( of the nest ) and the adults will bring them to the feeders. there ' s still a lot of migration going on, too. " many natural foods haven ' t matured yet and a lot of insects aren ' t out in force, " cole says. " so feeding birds at that time works well for them. " editor ' s note : for more garden articles – at least one new one each weekday – click here. and don ' t forget to bookmark and drop by our lively garden blogs. click here for the rss feed of all our gardening content. you can also follow us on twitter.


a visual arts lesson combined with language arts, where the students will create a visual poem using crayons. students are asked to make a connection to an important aspect or event their lives. have you ever wondered why children are so afraid to express themselves through poetry? possibly it is because they think a poem has to rhyme, have a certain pattern, or look a certain way. this lesson will allow children to use their imagination to create a visual poem. they will be encouraged to think independently. through this exposure to writing poems and making visual representations of their poems, the children will learn how to respond emotionally and verbally to different visual poems. in addition to this, the students will develop an appreciation for poetry and other forms of expression. creative expression : each student will create a visual poem, using colored crayons, which will illustrate an important aspect of his or her life. aesthetic valuing : the students will share their visual poems with the class, which will help them to appreciate the variations in poetry and recognize the different styles of visual poetry. 1. direct instruction - teacher will explain different types of visual poems and give examples. 2. guided discovery - students will create their own unique visual poem. 3. group process - student will share their poems with a partner. introduction - first, the teacher will read a poem to the students, and ask them if they liked the poem. what things did you like / dislike? then, the teacher will share 3 - 4 different examples of visual poems ( done by 3rd graders ) with the kids, which will show them a couple different styles. these examples will be shown on transparencies. 1. as a beginning activity to expose children to poetry, the teacher will provide the students with a worksheet. the worksheet will have 3 sentences on it, each one starting with " i wish... ". the students will be asked to respond with 3 things they wish for. then, the students will be told that they just created a poem. 2. the teacher will engage the students in a brainstorming activity ( using a large sheet of white butcher paper ) where they discuss some of their favorite things from favorite colors, to hobbies, to important people, etc. 3. the teacher will instruct the students to create a visual poem, which illustrates something which is very important to them. 4. a piece of plain white paper will be passed out, along with a box of crayons. watercolors will be available at the art table if children elect to


a visual poem, which illustrates something which is very important to them. 4. a piece of plain white paper will be passed out, along with a box of crayons. watercolors will be available at the art table if children elect to use them. 5. soft instrumental music will be played in the background, as the students create their visual poems. 6. students will be paired up with a partner to share their visual poem. they will be instructed to tell the person at least 1 thing they liked about the visual poem. have the students do a poetry reading ( on a volunteer basis ), which gives them the opportunity to share their creations in front of an audience. collect the visual poems and put them together into a book. here is an example title of a book, ms. hiltel ' s 3rd grade classes ' wonderful creations! teacher collects the visual poems, and checks for visual evidence of completion of the assignment including use of color and connection to important event or aspect of students ' lives. after poems are shared in partners, each student critiques peer ' s visual poem, by stating one aspect which is particularly liked. teacher also listens to students ' comments during sharing. 1. overhead projector 2. copies of 3 - 4 poems on transparencies 3. 1 poem to read aloud 4. 1 box of crayons ( per student ) 5. watercolors, paintbrushes, plastic cups, paper towels ( for optional use ) 6. white paper ( 1 sheet per student ) 7. large piece of white butcher paper 8. soft instrumental music assigned students will collect crayons and return them to the proper place. students who used the watercolors at the art table will be responsible for cleaning up that area and putting away the watercolor boxes.


schizophrenia is a mental illness characterized by disturbances in mood, behavior and thinking ( psychosis ). the thinking disturbance shows up as a distortion of reality, sometimes with delusions and hallucinations, and fragmented thinking that results in disturbances of speech. the mood disturbance includes ambivalence and inappropriate or constricted display of emotions. the behavior disturbance may show up as apathetic withdrawal or bizarre activity. schizophrenia is not the same thing as ‘ split or multiple personalities ’ which is dissociative identity disorder ( did ). types of schizophrenia disorganized characterized by wild or silly behavior or mannerisms, inappropriate display of emotions, frequent hypochondriacal complaints and delusions and hallucinations that are transient and unorganized. catatonic typically a state of stupor, usually characterized by muscular rigidity, resistance to movement or opposite behavior to what is being asked. occasionally catatonic excitement occurs which is excited, uncontrollable motor activity. paranoid characterized by unwarranted suspicion and thinking that others have evil motives, and / or an exaggerated sense of self - importance ( delusions of grandeur ). undifferentiated psychotic symptoms are prominent but do not fall into any other subtype. residual no longer psychotic but still shows some symptoms of the disorder. typically, schizophrenia is treated with antipsychotic medications. when the older medications such as mellaril, prolizin, trilafon and thorazine are used for an extended period of time a sometimes - permanent condition called tardive dyskinesia can result. symptoms may include involuntary movements of face, mouth, tongue or limbs. stopping the medication may cause the symptoms to disappear in some but not all. medications can treat the side effects but not the tardive dyskinesia. there is a new generation of antipsychotic medications which have very little risk of tardive dyskinesia including seroquel, zyprexa, risperdal and clozaril.


cows get tracking collars as scientists try to work out how they make friends by mark prigg how cows make friends is to be investigated in a bizarre three - year study. scientists want to understand more about ' social networking ' within dairy herds. the aim is to help farmers improve the health and welfare of their cows, thereby increasing milk yields. social animals : researchers hope to find out how cows interact with each other and form social groups using tracking collars for the first stage of the research, high - tech ' proximity collar ' s ' have been fitted to cows on a farm in cullompton, devon. the collars use radio signals to determine how close one cow is to another, allowing scientists to map the animals ’ social interactions. study leader dr darren croft, from the university of exeter ’ s animal behaviour research group, said : ' emerging evidence on wild animal populations supports the idea that the group structure and relationships between the animals affect their health and wellbeing. ' cows are social animals that form important group structures, and the addition or removal of animals from an established group can significantly alter its dynamics. ' we want to find out just how important these group structures are. ' dairy farmers take a range of factors into account when deciding how to structure groups of cows. ' we hope that the results of our study may contribute towards a blueprint for herd management that will help farmers continue to improve the health and welfare of their cows. ' researcher natasha boyland, another member of the exeter team, said : ' we will look at the nature of the interactions to see just how relationships are formed and maintained within the herd. animals in the study will wear a special collar to track their movements around fields ' in combination with the proximity data findings and other information about the animals, such as their health status, we hope to gather evidence that can be translated into practical advice for farmers when it comes to herd management. ' the study is funded by the department for environment, food and rural affairs ( defra ) and dairyco, the levy - funded organisation that works on behalf of british dairy farmers. researchers know cows are extremely social animals, and now hope to find out how they make friends and how their social groups operate in a bid to improve farming techniques amanda ball, head of communications at dairyco, said : ' this study could help dairy farmers understand more about their cows, improve their health and welfare and may even contribute towards helping to secure the future supply of milk to consumers. ' the dairy industry is worth £8 billion a year to the


this week intel privately shared parts of its roadmap for memory technologies through 2008. intel ’ s progress on phase - change memory, pcm or pram, will soon be sampled to customers with mass production possible before the end of the year. phase - change memory is positioned as a replacement for flash memory, as it has non - volatile characteristics, but is faster and can be scaled to smaller dimensions. flash memory cells can degrade and become unreliable after as few as 10, 000 writes, but pcm is much more resilient at more than 100 million write cycles. for these reasons, intel believes that phase - change memory could one day replace dram. “ the phase - change memory gets pretty close to nirvana, ” said ed doller, cto of intel ’ s flash memory group. “ it will start to displace some of the ram in the system. ” for its implementation of phase - change memory, intel has since 2000 licensed technology from ovonyx inc.. the ovonyx technology uses the properties of chalcogenide glass, the same material found in cd - rw and dvd - rw, which can be switched between crystalline and amorphous states for binary functions. every potential pcram memory maker thus far licenses ovonyx technology. according to ovonyx ’ s web site, the first licensee of the technology was lockheed martin in 1999, with intel and stmicroelectronics in the following year. four years after that, nanochip signed an agreement. elpida and samsung were the next two in 2005, and qimonda marks the latest with a signing this year. ibm, macronix and qimonda detailed last december its recent developments on phase - change memory. researchers at ibm ’ s labs demonstrated a prototype phase - change memory device that switched more than 500 times faster than flash while using less than one - half the power to write data into a cell. the ibm device ’ s cross - section is a minuscule 3 by 20 nanometers in size, far smaller than flash can be built today and equivalent to the industry ’ s chip - making capabilities targeted for 2015. intel ’ s initial phase - change technology, however, is already a reality, as the chipmaker revealed that it has produced a 90 nanometer phase - change memory wafer. at the 90 nanometer process size, the power requirements to write are approximate to that required for flash. intel said that its early test work shows data retention abilities of greater than 10


posted on 31 august 2010. angry or depressed about the gulf oil disaster? you ’ re not alone. deborah du nann winter, phd, professor of psychology at whitman college, says the emotional impacts of this massive environmental disaster are widespread. dr. du nann winter witnessed a wide variety of emotional reactions to the deepwater horizon crisis, the most striking in her opinion being anger - toward bp ’ s failure to adhere to regulations and cutting corners on safety precautions, and toward president obama for his apparent lack of anger. “ but i think all that anger projected toward the oil companies and toward the president is a way of masking the really unfathomable and profound despair that is just under the surface as we watch this catastrophe unfold, ” she said. also, “ it really isn ’ t appropriate to blame bp or the president for the fact that we are rapidly approaching the end of cheap oil, and these kinds of disasters are accumulating all over the world. blaming individuals by demonizing them is simply not a very good problem - solving mechanism for coping with feelings. some more effective reactions would be to rethink our relationship with oil. ” click here to read the full article. posted in experts, offshore drilling, southeast posted on 03 august 2010. on friday, the u. s. house of representatives voted to pass h. r. 3534, the clear act, in response to the ongoing oil disaster in the gulf of mexico. the clear act reforms the structure of the offshore drilling oversight agency to avoid clear conflicts of interest ; enhances the role of science, independent review, and other oversight agencies ; and calls for the establishment of mandatory safety and environmental management standards. the clear act also fully funds the land and water conservation fund, helping to offset the inherent risk offshore drilling poses to our wildlife and important lands and waters, and allows national wildlife refuges to collect and retain funds for damages from oil spills for the first time ever. jamie rappaport clark, executive vice president of defenders of wildlife said that with the passage, “ the house of representatives voted to start reforming the offshore drilling industry and to protect and restore coastal communities, wetlands and wildlife and help prevent the next offshore oil disaster. “ the clear act overhauls the system that failed to prevent the bp disaster. and in securing critically needed funding for the land and water conservation fund, the bill reinvests in our nation ’ s public lands and waters. “ when we authorize drilling off of america ’ s coasts, we allow the oil industry to hold the