to achieve vaccination against multiple strains with one shot. this could be accomplished either by including plasmids coding for multiple antigenic domains or by tailoring sequences to achieve cross - protection from the same antigen. that is, it appears careful choice of the antigenic domain can result in the production of antibodies that neutralize more than one strain of a pathogen. given that 1 ) we very likely cannot know ahead of time the sequence of the virus that results in a pandemic, 2 ) flu viruses have been demonstrated to escape vaccines within 12 months, and 3 ) traditional vaccines aren ' t up to the job anyway, dna vaccines may provide a way to inoculate people against more than one strain. because we are slowly developing the capability to monitor the virus in bird populations as well as humans ( an endeavor that should have been given a much higher priority in the recent supplemental budget request ), it may soon be possible to include a distribution of antigenic sequences in any given round of inoculations. this is speculative, to be sure, because there are currently no demonstrated ways of estimating which sequences are likely to be produced by mutation or recombination, but in principle we could produce vaccines effective against a whole range of pathogens, even those that have yet to appear in nature. however, it is clear we have a lot to learn before this is possible. a recent review paper in the japanese journal of infectious disease explores, " mechanisms of broad cross - protection provided by influenza virus infection and their application to vaccines. " hmmm... i was about to write a short summary of this paper, but i ' m realizing it will take a bit me longer to digest the contents and do the subject justice. so, i ' ll post again on cross - protection and the flu when i have a better grasp of it. i ' ve resisted writing about hwang woo suk ' s fraudulent paper in science about producing patient specific stem cells. it just isn ' t really that big a deal. a guy who claimed proficiency with chopsticks was directly correlated with producing cutting edge science - - surprise! - - turned out to be not so credible. he was found out. science wins. science will always win, eventually. yet the affair provides an interesting context for thinking about the tenuous standing of cutting edge science. uncovering the fraud is frustrating to those waiting for cures for disease or injury, annoying to those waiting for life extension technologies, and disappointing to almost everyone for whom scientific inquiry is the closest


for thinking about the tenuous standing of cutting edge science. uncovering the fraud is frustrating to those waiting for cures for disease or injury, annoying to those waiting for life extension technologies, and disappointing to almost everyone for whom scientific inquiry is the closest approximation to a pursuit of truth ; all true. but guess what? science is a human institution, practiced by humans with all of their faults. it is simply inevitable that those faults affect scientific results and publications. but what distinguishes science from other human institutions, notably politics, religion, and business, which have all experienced extraordinary fraud and malfeasance recently in the u. s., is that fundamentally science finds its foundations in the physical world. the progress of science, and its authority, are tied to what is measurable. moreover, those measurements must be repeatable. that is, a result must be testable and verifiable by others to become accepted. true, uncovering the hwang fraud took almost two years, but hwang ' s fall was inevitable because the requirement for repeatability means that science is self - correcting. it happens that the holes in the original science paper appeared not because of questions emerging from labs trying to repeat the work, but rather from suspicious aspects of the paper itself, such different figures of supposedly different cell lines containing similar images. the scrutiny of these images and other details of the paper applied by scientists within south korea, fed by suspicion of the great height to which hwang aspired, only strengthens the process of science. we didn ' t actually have to wait for the results of long and laborious experiments, nor did we have to spend money to repeat hwang ' s work. the fraud fell apart under its own weight. this is a success. i, like every other practicing scientist, have to wonder how this episode will affect the public perception of science. i come to the conclusion that the airing of dirty laundry will only improve the position of science in the long run. there is no other human institution so ruthless in chopping out the dead wood. after all, if you are lying or pulling a fast one, the very last thing you want to do is get a bunch of really smart people trying to catch you out, all of whose professional standing improves if they do. the public perception of all this is complicated slightly by the fact that there is a difference between the science you read in textbooks, and the science reported in journals or on the front page of newspapers and news magazines. in today ' s new york times, nicholas


public perception of all this is complicated slightly by the fact that there is a difference between the science you read in textbooks, and the science reported in journals or on the front page of newspapers and news magazines. in today ' s new york times, nicholas wade has a very nice article exploring this issue, prompted by the stem cell fraud : the contrast between the fallibility of dr. hwang ' s claims and the general solidity of scientific knowledge arises from the existence of two kinds of science - a distinction that is often blurred when new advances are reported first by scientific journals and then by the news media. there is textbook science and frontier science, and the two types carry quite different expiration dates. textbook science is material that has stood the test of time and can be largely relied upon. it may include findings made just a few years ago, but which have been reasonably well confirmed by other laboratories. science from the frontiers of knowledge, on the other hand, is wild, untamed and often either wrong or irrelevant to future research. a few years after they are published, most scientific papers are never cited again. i find this latter point the most problematic of the scientific enterprise. of the papers with short lifetimes, some are not read or cited because they aren ' t very good or very interesting, some are only minor improvements on previous work, and some fall by the wayside because they describe dead ends. in all cases, very little science that gets done, and even less that is finally reported in journals, actually affects the world in a meaningful way. how can you not feel a bit ambivalent about this? isn ' t this emblematic of some sort of waste, inefficiency, or a proxmire - attracting, willful misappropriation of funds? emphatically not! this is a cost we must bear as part of the never - ending effort to banish our ignorance and improve the human condition. at both the institutional and the personal level this cost is intrinsic to science. every scientist, and every technologist and inventor, for that matter, has plentiful experience with choosing the wrong path. alas, the dominant social structures governing funding decisions and career advancement are based predominantly on the number of papers published, rather than upon their content, which means that often the wrong path, the marginal improvement, and the simply boring result in the lab are gussied up for publication to look far more significant that they really are. the only real defense against this profusion of craptastic papers is


means that often the wrong path, the marginal improvement, and the simply boring result in the lab are gussied up for publication to look far more significant that they really are. the only real defense against this profusion of craptastic papers is the choice of individuals not to write and publish them. so i have little hope of progress there. enough said about that. a weaker, but necessary, defense lies in peer review. in lieu of the sudden popularity of all scientists becoming harsh and discerning critics of our own efforts, we must all keep watch on science as a whole, trying to catch mistakes and fraud before publication. yet this process, too, is far from perfect. too many anonymous reviewers have political reasons for rejecting papers, and many more just don ' t do a good job of reading the paper they are judging. i don ' t really have a solution to this problem, but i have to wonder if removing anonymity from the review process would clean things up. yes, you would have the problem that younger scientists reviewing the work of their elders would be exposed to wrath from above. but what we have now definitely needs improvement. witness the hwang paper. mr. wade explores the notion of improving the quality of papers through requiring authors to state their contributions to a paper, and by requiring all authors to state their explicit agreement with all conclusions in a paper. i don ' t have any problems with the latter, but i can say from personal experience that writing an author contribution statement can be extraordinarily painful, a struggle to carve out sufficient acknowledgments of your own efforts and give perspective on another ' s efforts, particularly when control of the text lies with someone else. still, it ' s worth a try. and i support the inclusion of author ' s contributions for the time being. alas, this doesn ' t help with the review process itself, because it doesn ' t do anything about biases or laziness of reviewers. mr. wade thus incorrectly suggests that clarifying the author ' s roles in research has anything to do with the decision - making process during review at a journal. nonetheless, save conflation of the review process with writing and attribution, his conclusion is right on the money : tightening up the reviewing system may remove some faults but will not erase the inescapable gap between textbook science and frontier science. a more effective protection against being surprised by the likes of dr. hwang might be for journalists to recognize that journals like science and


the reviewing system may remove some faults but will not erase the inescapable gap between textbook science and frontier science. a more effective protection against being surprised by the likes of dr. hwang might be for journalists to recognize that journals like science and nature do not, and cannot, publish scientific truths. they publish roughly screened scientific claims, which may or may not turn out to be true. and thus we must labor on, and through those labors attempt to keep science honest and thereby produce a better world. science will always win, eventually. i ' ve just been playing with the google earth mashup of 1800 avian flu outbreaks from the last two years, constructed by declan butler for nature. jamais cascio has a good write up of the thing over at worldchanging. butler describes the challenges of producing the mashup on his blog ( link at worldchanging ). i think the most interesting part might be his difficulty in acquiring data sets that played well together. each agency may use a different format, and require specific individual permission to access the detailed data, making production of a unified data set rather a pain. let alone trying to make sure the data is actually comparable between sets, is represented using the same system of units, etc. obviously an area of improvement for collaboration and cooperation to improve our understanding of influenza, and for getting sufficient information to make policy decisions within goverments and corporations. but a challenge for the moment. bravo to dr. butler for making as much progress as he did. cnn is reporting that infection with an avian flu strain has resulted in the death of a 3rd child in turkey. the three siblings evidently contracted the virus from sick poultry, domesticated chickens that had been killed and cooked after falling ill. the who is still waiting for confirmation on whether the strain is h5n1. the simple explanation for the appearance in turkey of h5n1 is transmission by migratory birds. however, a recent ap story by andrew bridges suggests that, " avian flu [ is ] not spread by bird migration " ( at livescience ) : bird flu appears more likely to wing its away around the globe by plane than by migrating birds. scientists have been unable to link the spread of the virus to migratory patterns, suggesting that the thousands of wild birds that have died, primarily waterfowl and shore birds, are not primary transmitters of bird flu. if that holds true, it would suggest that shipments of domestic chickens, ducks and other poultry represents a far greater threat than does the movement


of wild birds that have died, primarily waterfowl and shore birds, are not primary transmitters of bird flu. if that holds true, it would suggest that shipments of domestic chickens, ducks and other poultry represents a far greater threat than does the movement of wild birds on the wing.... reports this summer and fall of the spread of the h5n1 strain strongly suggested wild birds were carrying the disease outward from asia as they followed migration patterns that crisscross the earth. the timing and location of outbreaks in western china, russia, romania, turkey and croatia seemed to point to wild birds en route to winter grounds. since the early fall, however, there have been only scattered reports of more outbreaks. the disease has been glaringly absent, for example, from western europe and the nile delta, where many presumed it would crop up as migrating birds returned to winter roosts.... that has made increasing the understanding of the migratory routes followed by birds more important than ever. it also draws attention to how little is still known about the routes. this last point is the most important observation of the whole article. we simply don ' t know enough about the virus or its wild reservoir, and we definitely aren ' t spending enough to remedy our ignorance. but assume for a moment the virus now killing people in turkey is h5n1, then here ' s the thing : if the virus is spread more by human travel or by shipments of birds, as mr. bridges ' article suggests, how the hell did it wind up in a relatively remote village in turkey? is there sufficient poultry trade or human travel between southeastern anatolia and se asia to serve as a conduit for an avian influenza virus? this trade and travel must be only a small fraction of that between se asia and north america, europe, and japan. this means that either the virus " got lucky " this time, based on whatever trade and travel does exist between se asia and anatolia, or that the virus is much easier to spread than we now believe. but if it is really spread mostly by human action, then it should be all over the globe by now, or it soon will be. which leads me to suspect that migratory birds are in fact the vector, and that we need to do a much better job of understanding the virus in the wild. a potential reason why the virus has not spread as much as feared this year can be found in an article by howard markel in the last week in review section of the new york times.


a much better job of understanding the virus in the wild. a potential reason why the virus has not spread as much as feared this year can be found in an article by howard markel in the last week in review section of the new york times. in a short piece entitled, " if the avian flu hasn ’ t hit, here ’ s why. maybe. ", dr. markel, a professor of pediatrics and communicable diseases at the university of michigan, suggests that, " wild birds have completed their seasonal migration, and it appears that the united states has dodged the avian flu threat for now. the pattern of the semiannual migration itself provides some protection. " the article is accompanied by a graphic illustrating the mostly north - south orientation of migratory pathways. dr. markel ' s hypothesis is that because there is very little east - west overlap of flyways, there is only a small chance every year for the virus to be transmitted to birds in adjacent flyways. i think we don ' t have the geographical / migration data to be so confident about the boundaries of flyways. all those charts have a very " drawn by hand " feel to them. moreover, this is just one component of our ignorance. thus while dr. markel may well be correct, it is quite difficult to presently sort out the effects of species tropism from geographical distribution and spread. then there is all of our ignorance about the basic molecular biology of the virus, and whether this is the big one or not, about which i have written many posts. dr. markel concludes, " it is possible that avian flu may never pose an epidemic threat to humans. but for now, the best way to reduce the danger is to keep watching the birds. " here is carolyn abraham ' s article about synthetic biology from the toronto globe and mail, " playing god in running shoes ( subscription required to get past the first page ). " full text here, no subscription required. note : i ' m not a professor at the uw, as suggested in the article, but rather a senior scientist in the electrical engineering department. otherwise, a fine article that goes into not just the technical difficulty inherent in building new organisms but also explores ethical implications of the whole endeavor. i ' m not so sure, though, how drew endy is going to feel about being described in the story title that way...


new year ' s etymology & writing activity teach your students about the history and etymology of new year ' s day, and have them apply the knowledge to a creative writing activity. in ancient rome this day was spent honoring janus, the god of gates and doors and beginnings and endings, for whom january is named. janus had two faces, one on the back of his head and the other on the front, allowing him to look forward into the future and back into the past. ancient romans spent new year ' s day considering what the past year had meant to them and making plans for the coming year. the first of january became generally recognized as new year ' s day in the 16th century, when the gregorian calendar was introduced. etymology : calendar is a more complicated word than most people think. meaning a chart of the year, it comes from the latin calendarium, which was an account book kept by money lenders to keep track of debts due to them on the calends the first of each month. this word itself came from calare, to call, which was what was done to proclaim the due date! new year ' s creative writinghave each student design an image of janus and then write stories in the first person telling what janus might say about the past year and the year to come. display the pictures with the stories ( in cartoon balloons above each janus ) for an interesting first - of - the - year bulletin board display. ask the students to write about the past year, telling how and why they changed in some way during that time. excerpted from the complete teacher ' s almanack. asian - pacific - american heritage month may is asian - pacific - american heritage month! don ' t overlook this opportunity to study and enjoy activities about the history and culture of asian - pacific american communities. top 10 galleries explore our most popular top 10 galleries, from top 10 behavior management tips for the classroom and top 10 classroom organization tips from veteran teachers to top 10 free ( & cheap ) rewards for students and top 10 things every teacher needs in the classroom. we ' ll help you get organized and prepared for every classroom situation, holiday, and more! check out all of our galleries today. may calendar of events may is full of holidays and events that you can incorporate into your standard curriculum. our educators ' calendar outlines activities for each event, including : children ' s book week ( 5 / 13 - 19 ), biographers day ( 5 / 16 ), and memorial day ( 5 / 27 ). plus


the word " architecture " typically refers to building design and construction. in the computing world, " architecture " also refers to design, but instead of buildings, it describes the design of computer systems. computer architecture is a broad topic that includes everything from the relationship between multiple computers ( such as a " client - server " model ) to specific components inside a computer. the most important type of hardware design is a computer ' s processor architecture. the design of the processor determines what software can run on the computer and what other hardware components are supported. for example, intel ' s x86 processor architecture is the standard architecture used by most pcs. by using this design, computer manufacturers can create machines that include different hardware components, but run the same software. several years ago, apple switched from the powerpc architecture to the x86 architecture to make the macintosh platform more compatible with windows pcs. the architecture of the motherboard is also important in determining what hardware and software a computer system will support. the motherboard design is often called the " chipset " and defines what processor models and other components will work with the motherboard. for example, while two motherboards may both support x86 processors, one may only work with newer processor models. a newer chipset may also require faster ram and a different type of video card than an older model. note : most modern computers have 64 - bit processors and chipsets, while earlier computers used a 32 - bit architecture. a computer with a 64 - bit chipset supports far more memory than one with a 32 - bit chipset and can run software designed specifically for 64 - bit processors.


youtube and lenovo in cooperation with space adventures, nasa, esa and jaxa, has announced a worldwide competition for teenager students. they are challenging students to design a science experiment that can be performed in space. the two winning experiments will be carried out by nasa astronauts aboard the international space station ( iss ) and live streamed on youtube. for inviting entries from indian students, youtube space lab team will be visiting more than 10, 000 schools across india. you can also call them to have a visit in your school by registering on their website. how to participate in youtube space lab? students in two age categories, 14 - 16 years old and 17 - 18 years old can participate for this. for participation, students may submit a short two - minute video about your experiment. you don ' t have to actually do the experiment ; you just have to record your self explaining it. it may be an explanation on a blackboard or the demonstration of a mock - up in the classroom. you may either participate alone or in a group of up to three. the last date for submitting entries is december 7, 2011. videos can be submitted on site youtube. com / spacelab about winners and prizes in first round 60 finalists will be announced. among them, there will be six winners from each region and then, two global winners will be chosen from them. regional winners will receive a trip to washington dc, a zero - g flight, and a lenovo thinkpad. in addition to these, global winners will have two options. either you may go for a trip to tanegashima island, japan, to watch your experiment or once you ' re 18, you may go for an astronaut training experience in star city, russia. for official rules and guidelines, visit space lab official website.


being well prepared for the test is the best way to reduce test taking anxiety. space out your studying over a few days or weeks and continually review class material. don ' t try to learn everything the night before. try to maintain a positive attitude while preparing for the test and during the test. exercising for a few days before the test will help reduce stress. get a good night ' s sleep before the test. show up to class early so you won ' t have to worry about being late. chew gum ( if allowed ) during the test to help relieve test anxiety. stay relaxed, if you begin to get nervous take a few deep breaths slowly to relax yourself and then get back to work. read the directions slowly and carefully. if you don ' t understand the directions on the test, ask the teacher to explain it to you. skim through the test so that you have a good idea how to pace yourself. write down important formulas, facts, definitions and / or keywords in the margin first so you won ' t worry about forgetting them. do the simple questions first to help build up your confidence for the harder questions. don ' t worry about how fast other people finish their test ; just concentrate on your own test. if you don ' t know an answer to a question skip it for the time being ( come back to it later if you have time ), and remember that you don ' t have to always get every question right to do well on the test. focus on the question at hand. don ' t let your mind wander on other things. if you ' re still experiencing extreme test anxiety after following these tips, seek help from your school counselor.


pulmonary aspergilloma is a mass caused by a fungal infection that usually grows in lung cavities. it can also appear in the brain, kidney, or other organs. fungus ball ; mycetoma ; aspergilloma causes, incidence, and risk factors : aspergillomas are formed when the fungus aspergillus grows in a clump in a lung cavity, or invades previously healthy tissue, causing an abscess. aspergillus is a common fungus. it grows on dead leaves, stored grain, bird droppings, compost piles, and other decaying vegetation. cavities in the lung may have been caused by : see also : aspergillosis many patients have no symptoms. when symptoms do develop, they can include : signs and tests : - blood test for presence of aspergillus in the body ( galactomannan ) - blood test to detect antibodies to aspergillus ( serum precipitins for aspergillus ) bronchoscopy or bronchoscopy with lavage many patients never develop symptoms. often, no treatment is needed, unless you are coughing up blood. occasionally, antifungal medications may be used. sometimes, injecting dye into the blood vessels ( angiography ) may be used to find the site of bleeding. the bleeding is stopped by shooting tiny pellets into the bleeding vessel. surgery is often the only choice if there is life - threatening bleeding. the outcome can be good in many patients. however, it depends on the severity of the condition and your overall health. surgery may be very successful in some cases, but it is complex and can have a high risk of serious complications. difficulty breathing that gets worse - massive bleeding from the lung - spread of the infection ( see acute invasive aspergillosis ) calling your health care provider : see your health care provider if you cough up blood, and mention any other symptoms that have developed. people who have had related lung infections or who have weakened immune systems should try to avoid environments where the aspergillus fungus is found. patterson tf. aspergillus species. in : mandell gl, bennett je, dolin r, eds. principles and practice of infectious diseases. 6th ed. philadelphia, pa : elsevier churchill livingstone ; 2005 : chap 256. | review date : 9 / 15 / 2010 | reviewed by : david c. dugdale, iii, md, professor of medicine, division of general medicine,


diabetes is one of the most serious health problems in the united states and around the world. according to centers for disease control estimates, 1 in 10 american adults currently has diabetes. and, if the cdc projections are correct, those numbers will double or even triple over the next 40 years. there are well - established links between disrupted sleep and risk of type 2 diabetes. but the exact relationship between the two is not fully understood. in the ongoing effort to better understand the causes and risk factors for diabetes, research in recent years has increasingly focused on the role of melatonin. now, new research indicates that low levels of melatonin are associated with elevated risk for type 2 diabetes. the study, led by researchers at boston ’ s brigham & women ’ s hospital, found that women with the lowest levels of melatonin secretion had more than two times the risk of developing type 2 diabetes as those with higher melatonin levels. researchers used data from the nurses ’ health study, a long - term, large - scale project investigating a broad array of women ’ s health issues. since its inception in 1976, the nurses ’ health study has collected information from more than 200, 000 female nurses. for this study, researchers used information from women who provided blood and urine samples in 2000. first, researchers selected the women without diabetes, and monitored their health for the next 12 years. during the period of 2000 - 2012, 370 of the women developed diabetes. using this sub - group, researchers analyzed melatonin levels. in their analysis, they controlled for other risk factors for type 2 diabetes, including body mass index, family history, high blood pressure, and lifestyle habits. they found : - lower melatonin levels associated with higher risk of diabetes - those with the very lowest levels of melatonin secretion had 2. 17 times the risk for diabetes than those with the highest levels of melatonin - women with the highest levels of melatonin developed diabetes at a rate of 4. 27 cases per 1, 000. for women with the lowest levels of melatonin, the incidence of diabetes was 9. 27 cases per 1, 000. this is the latest in a series of research breakthroughs that suggest melatonin plays an important role in metabolic functions and risk of diabetes. i wrote recently about studies that have found that mutations to the body ’ s melatonin receptor gene are associated with significantly heightened risk for type 2 diabetes. other research has also found evidence of a relationship between melatonin levels on the onset of diabetes


i wrote recently about studies that have found that mutations to the body ’ s melatonin receptor gene are associated with significantly heightened risk for type 2 diabetes. other research has also found evidence of a relationship between melatonin levels on the onset of diabetes : - several studies involving mice and other animals have found melatonin secretion has an effect on insulin sensitivity and other markers of diabetes. this study showed improvements to insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance in mice given supplemental melatonin. and in this study, blood pressure and blood glucose levels dropped in hamsters given melatonin. on the other hand, mice deprived of melatonin experienced diminished ability to metabolized glucose, likely as a result of increased resistance to insulin. - studies involving people have also shown links between insulin resistance and melatonin. this study of patients with metabolic syndrome found a strong association between melatonin levels and insulin levels in the human body. many people with metabolic syndrome very often go on to develop diabetes. how does melatonin work in the body to influence the onset of diabetes? we don ’ t yet have a definitive answer to that question. the current study, and other studies of melatonin and diabetes, have not identified the mechanism by which melatonin influences the development of diabetes. in discussing their results, researchers indicate that they believe evidence points strongly to melatonin ’ s role in the secretion of insulin. melatonin, best known as “ the sleep hormone, ” is critical to regulating the body ’ s 24 - hour biological clock and sleep - wake cycle. melatonin release is triggered by the absence of light. as night approaches, melatonin levels rise, preparing the body for sleep. melatonin levels fall back as daytime arrives, and the body becomes alert and prepared for a waking day. over years of scientific inquiry, our understanding of melatonin ’ s role in the body has broadened. we ’ re still learning about the range of melatonin ’ s influence. but the hormone is now recognized as having influence in several important biological functions, including the immune system and metabolic system. so, does this mean people at risk for type 2 diabetes should start taking melatonin supplements? definitely not. we don ’ t know enough yet about melatonin as a factor in diabetes. studies such as this latest one strongly point to a relationship, but it ’ s one that is not yet well understood. these and other research findings do not indicate that an increase of melatonin through supplements would work effectively


now is the time of year when snake sightings become more common at naval base ventura county ( nbvc ). california has a variety of snakes, most of which are harmless. the exceptions are california ’ s only native venomous snakes — rattlesnakes. at nbvc point mugu there is only one native species, the southern pacific rattlesnake. rattlesnakes can cause serious injury to humans — on rare occasions even death. generally not aggressive, rattlesnakes strike when threatened or deliberately provoked, but given room they will retreat. most snake bites occur when a rattlesnake is handled or accidentally touched by someone walking or climbing. approximately 8, 000 people annually are treated for poisonous snake bites in the united states. however, the california poison control center notes that rattlesnakes account for only about 800 of those bites each year with about one to two deaths. see if you ’ ve heard any of these common myths about rattlesnakes : myth : baby rattlesnakes are more deadly than the adults. fact : baby rattlesnake venom has the same concentration and formulation as the adults. the truth is it doesn ’ t take very much venom to create a full reaction in an adult human. so even the smaller amount injected by a young rattlesnake will cause a full reaction, giving people the impression they must be more deadly. myth : rattlesnakes can jump. fact : rattlesnakes, when fully coiled like a hose, can strike half the totally length of their body. for example, a striking distance for a 3 - foot rattlesnake is 1½ feet away. the lower half of their body will propel the upper half forward in a full strike. however, the lower half of their body never leaves the ground. myth : rattlesnakes always rattle before they strike. fact : when given enough time, a rattlesnake will warn anything around it that it feels is a direct threat by rattling its tail. it sounds more like a buzzer than a rattle. mostly they hide and hope whatever is coming near them continues to walk by without noticing them. if surprised, they will strike without rattling their tail. rattlesnakes are nocturnal hunters. sometimes they will come out during the day to warm themselves, especially in the mornings. take the following precautions : step on logs and rocks, never over them, as a snake could be coiled up behind the barrier where you cannot see it. also be careful when stepping over the doorstep


this is a tale of two earthquakes. the first hit christchurch in new zealand and then, just as all hope faded of any more survivors being rescued from the rubble, a far bigger quake rent the sea floor off the east coast of japan, unleashing a devastating tsunami. by any reckoning, the japanese earthquake was huge. measuring 9. 0 on the richter scale, one of the factoids that best demonstrates its magnitude is that it shifted the earth on its axis by between 10cm and 25cm, prompting nasa scientists to reassess the trajectories of deep - space rockets it planned to launch. all this increases the impact of before - and - after pictures of the japanese quake that have been circulating via social media and email as the first anniversary approaches. images of wanton destruction in the immediate aftermath of the tsunami stand in stark contrast to the scene from the same viewpoint now. in many cases, there is no hint of the cataclysmic events. christchurch ' s earthquake, by contrast, measured 6. 3, and involved less than one per cent of the force of the japanese quake. but the relative lack of similarly impressive before - and - after photos emerging from new zealand hints at a truth that the respective quake magnitudes don ' t reveal. it ' s part of the reason why christchurch ' s residents are now familiar with the scientific debate that saw the old richter scale fall out of academic favour compared to what ' s known as the modified mercalli intensity scale. the old scale measures earthquake magnitude but the mercalli scale measures its effects. while the japanese quake had been big, its epicentre was 70km offshore and at a depth of 34km. christchurch ' s much smaller february 22 earthquake was less than 10km from the city centre and at a depth of less than 5km. for earthquakes, shallow is bad. the mercalli intensity scale divides quakes into 12 categories, ranging from one ( barely perceptible ) to 12 ( cataclysmic ). unsurprisingly, the japanese quake was given a mercali score of nine, a rating associated with considerable destruction and in the top 10 since accurate records began a little over a century ago. more surprisingly, the christchurch quake was also given a mercalli score of nine. or at least that ' s not a surprise to anyone who was in christchurch on february 22, where the ground acceleration was measured at 2. 2 times the force of gravity, among the highest ever recorded. one final statistic


##li score of nine. or at least that ' s not a surprise to anyone who was in christchurch on february 22, where the ground acceleration was measured at 2. 2 times the force of gravity, among the highest ever recorded. one final statistic helps explain the lack of restoration photos from christchurch. after the devastating march 11 earthquake, japan ' s tectonics settled down again and there have been a little over 1, 800 aftershocks. if the citizens of christchurch now take a kind of dark pride in being dab hands at guessing the magnitude of the tremors, it ' s because since the quakes began 18 months ago, they ' ve lived through well over 10, 000 of them, ranging from the gentle to, as they saw on february 22, the devastating. amateur intensity assessment is one of the few upsides. local reconstruction involves the global reinsurance market and many such corporations won ' t underwrite christchurch ' s reconstruction until the quakes diminish, often defined as three months since an earthquake of 4. 0 on the richter scale is recorded. within three days of the anniversary commemorations in christchurch nine days ago, the city experienced two that were both greater than 4. 0. so while japan rebuilds, christchurch ' s residents are caught in an unsettling state of limbo. most of the city centre remains cordoned off and the demolition of its biggest buildings is yet to occur. thousands of homeowners are yet to hear if their land will be zoned green ( allowing repair and rebuilding ) or red ( never to be built on again ). the human toll of that is evident : stress - indicating behaviours - problem gambling, drinking and domestic violence - are way up, as is the prescription of anti - depressants and the number of people leaving the city for good. so as the first anniversary of the japanese quake comes up on march 11, spare a thought for those in christchurch who had a supposedly gentler and less destructive earthquake.


shoving, teasing and name - calling are all too often a daily occurrence in schools across the country where cliques thrive and anyone who might be “ different ” has a hard row to hoe. and, with the growth of technology, bullying has expanded its reach, finding its way out of the schoolyard and into the back pockets of students who have no way to escape their tormentors. cell phones and social media have enabled bullying to evolve from mere ( albeit still hurtful ) verbal and physical harassment to pervasive cyber - bullying attacks through facebook, emails and text messages. it ’ s a pervasive problem and the blaine school district is looking for answers. to help curb bullying, they ’ ve asked scott backovich, an international motivational speaker whose talks are geared toward youth, to speak to students about bullying, respect and the effects of being what he calls “ a catalyst. ” backovich will speak to students at both blaine middle school and blaine high school during a special day organized by the district on january 16. changes in state legislation and the public awareness of teen suicides due to bullying, particularly cyber - bullying, have put the issue on center stage. “ we have a mandate from the state [ to address bullying ], ” randy ellsbree said. ellsbree is in charge of making sure the district complies with the state mandate. “ i help the principals follow the law and get the resources to teach students. ” the district hopes that an outside speaker can offer students a different perspective on cyber - bullying, and cause them to take note. “ other school districts have recommended backovich, ” ellsbree said. “ and there ’ s a parental education piece as well. ” the district has also scheduled backovich to give a presentation to parents on the evening of the january 16. during this session, parents will have the opportunity to learn about various cyber - bullying issues, along with tips and strategies to help their child be safe. parents of children in any age group are encouraged to attend. daycare and a light meal will be provided at the evening program. for more info, contact larissa dhanani at the blaine school district at 360 / 332 - 0728.


| | jobs | drugs | anatomy | diamonds | health topics | diseases | energy | geology | airports | countries | flags | | gustave flaubert ( 1821 - 1880 ), french novelist, was born at rouen on the 12th of december 1821. his father, of whom many traits are reproduced in flaubert ' s character of charles bovary, was a surgeon in practice at rouen ; his mother was connected with some of the oldest norman families. he was educated in his native city, and did not leave it until 1840, when he came up to paris to study law. he is said to have been idle at school, but to have been occupied with literature from the age of eleven. flaubert in his youth " was like a young greek, " full of vigour of body and a certain shy grace, enthusiastic, intensely individual, and apparently without any species of ambition. he loved the country, and paris was extremely distasteful to him. he made the acquaintance of victor hugo, and towards the close of 1840 he travelled in the pyrenees and corsica. returning to paris, he wasted his time in sombre dreams, living on his patrimony. in 1846, his mother being left quite alone through the deaths of his father and his sister caroline, flaubert gladly abandoned paris and the study of the law together, to make a home for her at croisset, close to rouen. this estate, a house in a pleasant piece of ground which ran down to the seine, became flaubert ' s home for the remainder of his life. from 1846 to 1854 he carried on relations with the poetess, mlle louise colet ; their letters have been preserved, and according to m. emile faguet, this was the only sentimental episode of any importance in the life of flaubert, who never married. his principal friend at this time was maxime du camp, with whom he travelled in brittany in 1846, and through the east in 1849. greece and egypt made a profound impression upon the imagination of flaubert. from this time forth, save for occasional visits to paris, he did not stir from croisset. on returning from the east, in 1850, he set about the composition of madame bovary. he had hitherto scarcely written anything, and had published nothing. the famous novel took him six years to prepare, but was at length submitted to the revue de paris, where it appeared in serial form in 1857. the government brought an action against the publisher and against


- julien - l ' hospitalier and herodias. after this something of his judgment certainly deserted him ; he spent the remainder of his life in the toil of building up a vast satire on the futility of human knowledge and the omnipresence of mediocrity, which he left a fragment. this is the depressing and bewildering bouvard et pecuchet ( posthumously printed, 1881 ), which, by a curious irony, he believed to be his masterpiece. flaubert had rapidly and prematurely aged since 1870, and he was quite an old man when he was carried off by a stroke of apoplexy at the age of only 58, on the 8th of may 1880. he died at croisset, but was buried in the family vault in the cemetery of rouen. a beautiful monument to him by chapu was unveiled at the museum of rouen in 1890. the personal character of flaubert offered various peculiarities. he was shy, and yet extremely sensitive and arrogant ; he passed from silence to an indignant and noisy flow of language. the same inconsistencies marked his physical nature ; he had the build of a guardsman, with a magnificent viking head, but his health was uncertain from childhood, and he was neurotic to the last degree. this ruddy giant was secretly gnawn by misanthropy and disgust of life. his hatred of the " bourgeois " began in his childhood, and developed into a kind of monomania. he despised his follow - men, their habits, their lack of intelligence, their contempt for beauty, with a passionate scorn which has been compared to that of an ascetic monk. flaubert ' s curious modes of composition favoured and were emphasized by these peculiarities. he worked in sullen solitude, sometimes occupying a week in the completion of one page, never satisfied with what he had composed, violently tormenting his brain for the best turn of a phrase, the most absolutely final adjective. it cannot be said that his incessant labours were not rewarded. his private letters show that he was not one of those to whom easy and correct language is naturally given ; he gained his extraordinary perfection with the unceasing sweat of his brow. one of the most severe of academic critics admits that " in all his works, and in every page of his works, flaubert may be considered a model of style. " that he was one of the greatest writers who ever lived in france is now commonly admitted


most severe of academic critics admits that " in all his works, and in every page of his works, flaubert may be considered a model of style. " that he was one of the greatest writers who ever lived in france is now commonly admitted, and his greatness principally depends upon the extraordinary vigour and exactitude of his style. less perhaps than any other writer, not of france, but of modern europe, flaubert yields admission to the inexact, the abstract, the vaguely inapt expression which is the bane of ordinary methods of composition. he never allowed a cliche to pass him, never indulgently or wearily went on, leaving behind him a phrase which " almost " expressed his meaning. being, as he is, a mixture in almost equal parts of the romanticist and the realist, the marvellous propriety of his style has been helpful to later writers of both schools, of every school. the absolute exactitude with which he adapts his expression to his purpose is seen in all parts of his work, but particularly in the portraits he draws of the figures in his principal romances. the degree and manner in which, since his death, the fame of flaubert has extended, form an interesting chapter of literary history. the publication of madame bovary in 1857 had been followed by more scandal than admiration ; it was not understood at first that this novel was the beginning of a new thing, the scrupulously truthful portraiture of life. gradually this aspect of his genius was accepted, and began to crowd out all others. at the time of his death he was famous as a realist, pure and simple. under this aspect flaubert exercised an extraordinary influence over e. de goncourt, alphonse daudet and m. zola. but even since the decline of the realistic school flaubert has not lost prestige ; other facets of his genius have caught the light. it has been perceived that he was not merely realistic, but real ; that his clairvoyance was almost boundless ; that he saw certain phenomena more clearly than the best of observers had done. flaubert is a writer who must always appeal more to other authors than to the world at large, because the art of writing, the indefatigable pursuit of perfect expression, were always before him, and because he hated the lax felicities of improvization as a disloyalty to the most sacred procedures of the literary artist. his ouvres


writing, the indefatigable pursuit of perfect expression, were always before him, and because he hated the lax felicities of improvization as a disloyalty to the most sacred procedures of the literary artist. his ouvres completes ( 8 vols., 1885 ) were printed from the original manuscripts, and included, besides the works mentioned already, the two plays, le candidat and le chateau des cceurs. another edition ( 10 vols. ) appeared in 1873 - 1885. flaubert ' s correspondence with george sand was published in 1884 with an introduction by guy de maupassant. other posthumous works are par les champs et par les greves ( 1885 ), the result of a tour in brittany ; and four volumes of correspondance ( 1887 - 1893 ). see also paul bourget, essais de psychologie contemporaine ( 1883 ) ; emile faguet, flaubert ( 1899 ) ; henry james, french poets and novelists ( 1878 ) ; emile zola, les romanciers naturalistes ( 1881 ) ; c. a. sainte - beuve, causeries du lundi, vol. xiii., nouveaux lundis, vol. iv. ; and the souvenirs litteraires ( 2 vols., 1882 - 1883 ) of maxime du camp. ( e. g. ) - please bookmark this page ( add it to your favorites ). - if you wish to link to this page, you can do so by referring to the url address below this line. copyright © 1995 - 2011 ita all rights reserved. a * b * c * d * e * f * g * h * i * j * k * l * m * n * o * p * q * r * s * t * u * v * w * x * y * z


the republican party, which gave us abraham lincoln, thaddeus stevens, charles sumner, william seward in the years of the 1850s and 1860s ; which gave us theodore roosevelt, robert la follette, sr, george norris, william borah, hiram johnson in the 1900s - 1940s ; which gave us dwight d. eisenhower, nelson rockefeller, william scranton, henry cabot lodge jr,, george romney in the 1950s - 1960s ; and which gave us mark hatfield, charles mathias, charles percy, howard baker, bob dole, gerald ford in the 1970s – 1990s, reached its 159th birthday today. the republican party began as an anti slavery expansion party, with elements of abolitionism also present when the party began on this day in ripon, wisconsin in 1854. it became the party of civil rights legislation, three civil rights constitutional amendments, progressive legislation, and supportive of much bipartisan legislation with democrats in the new deal and great society eras. of course, they had their evil elements, including mccarthyism, nativism, and tying themselves to organized religious influences that wished to take america backward, but until the past few years, they always had redeeming values in many ways, and would often denounce the extremists in their midst. but now the republican party has become a party dominated by tea party radicals, who promote racism, misogyny, nativism, concern only to promote the welfare of the wealthy, and willingness to engage in foreign wars that have cost us dearly in treasure and loss of life and limb! the republican party is no longer, in any way, reflective of its past, and in fact, insults its honorable, respectable history, sullying the names of its heroes and champions over a century and a half! this is a tragedy of massive proportions, and the name “ republican ” should be co - opted by the true moderates who are sitting by, watching the destruction going on, and holding their heads in their hands, ashamed that the name has been so damaged by reckless, anarchistic haters of the federal government! the party which fought the civil war to uphold the union is now more like the secessionist democrats of that era!


is that a lake on titan? book your sailing holiday, now a dark patch on the surface of titan, moon of saturn, might be a lake filled with liquid hydrocarbons, astronomers have said. the picture, snapped by the cassini spacecraft, shows a dark shape 235km by 75km in the moon ' s southern polar region ( the red dot marks the pole itself ). scientists are hesitating to pronounce the object a lake with any kind of certainty, because no open bodies of liquid have yet been found on the moon, despite predictions that they should be there. however, according to the imaging team : " the shore - like smoothness of its perimeter and its presence in an area where frequent convective storm clouds have been observed by cassini and earth - based astronomers make it the best candidate thus far. " other possible explanations of the feature include it being a sinkhole, or an old volcanic caldera, filled with dark, solid hydrocarbons. it could also be an old lake that has dried up, leaving behind dark hydrocarbon deposits. one way of finding out for sure whether or not the feature is a lake will be to look for glints of reflected sunlight on the surface. so far, however, the space craft has not been in the right position to see any reflections. a further 39 flybys are planned, and the imaging team says it will be looking at the area again in greater detail. ®


martian ice swaps poles every 25, 000 years give or take water - ice on mars swaps poles over a cycle that spans 51, 000 years or so, in step with the way the planet precesses, or wobbles around on its axis. researchers investigating the different types of ice at the martian poles plugged new data from the mars express mission into a model of the planet ' s climate. then, adding in details of the planet ' s slow precession, they ran the clock back 21, 500 years to a time when the northern summer was closest to the sun, the exact opposite of the situation today. martian water now, and 21, 500 years ago. as time passed, the model showed water accumulation rates shifting across the globe. water at the north pole became unstable and vaporised easily, moving to the southern hemisphere where it recondensed and froze on the surface. here, over the course of 10, 000 years, it formed an ice cap up to six metres thick. run the clock forward towards today, and the opposite starts to happen : the ice at the south vaporises and shifts on the winds to the north. the process was interrupted about 1, 000 years ago, the researchers say, when for some reason a layer of carbon dioxide ice formed a protective layer over the ice, preventing further erosion. the model helps explain newly discovered deposits of ice at the southern pole, spotted by the omega instrument early on in the mars express mission. the european space agency says the " perennial deposits of water - ice " have built up on top of million - year old layered terrain, and argues that their presence is strong evidence for recent glacial activity. ®


work and pensions maria miller ( parliamentary under secretary of state ( disabled people ), work and pensions ; basingstoke, conservative ) estimates of the number and proportion of children living in poverty are published in the households below average income ( hbai ) series. hbai uses household income adjusted ( or ‘ equivalised ’ ) for household size and composition, to provide a proxy for standard of living. the sample size of this survey is not sufficient to provide estimates for small areas such as those requested. however, figures at a regional level for north - west are available. three survey years have been combined because single year estimates are not considered to be sufficiently reliable. statistics covering 2007 - 08 to 2009 - 10 are the most recent available. | number and proportion of children living in relative poverty ( bhc ) in the north - west | | region | | number ( million ) | | proportion ( percentage ) | | notes : 1. these statistics are based on households below average income ( hbai ) data available at : http : / / research. dwp. gov. uk / asd / index. php? page = hbai _ arc 2. these statistics are based on households below average income ( hbai ) data sourced from the family resources survey ( frs ). this uses disposable household income, adjusted using modified oecd equivalisation factors for household size and composition, as an income measure as a proxy for standard of living. 3. net disposable incomes have been used to answer the question. this includes earnings from employment and self - employment, state support, income from occupational and private pensions, investment income and other sources. income tax, payments, national insurance contributions, council tax / domestic rates and some other payments are deducted from incomes. 4. figures have been presented on a before housing cost rather than an after housing cost basis. for before housing costs, housing costs are not deducted from income, while for after housing costs they are. 5. all estimates are based on survey data and are therefore subject to a degree of uncertainty. small differences should be treated with caution as these will be affected by sampling error and variability in non - response. 6. the reference period for these hbai figures is three financial years. 7. numbers of children have been rounded to the nearest hundred thousand children. 8. proportions of children in low - income households have been rounded to the nearest percentage point. 9. this measure is defined as : relative poverty : children living in households with equi


by this time, the japanese had become fairly successful at detecting and destroying underground resistance groups. however, they were not successful in quelling the desire for freedom and self - government among the korean people. the resistance groups moved further underground and guerilla raids from the independence groups in manchuria and siberia increased. the japanese stepped up their assault on the korean school system and other nationalistic movements. after the passage of an education act in 1911 the japanese began to close all korean schools. in 1913, the tae - song school was forced to close, and, by 1914, virtually all korean schools had been shut down. this all but completed the japanese campaign of cultural genocide. chances of any part of the korean culture surviving rested in the hands of the few dedicated patriots working in exile outside of korea. when japanese governor - general hirobumi itoho was assassinated by ahn choong - gun ( 1879 - 1910 ), an independence fighter, japan tightened its grip on korean leaders. finally ahn exiled himself to manchuria, then traveled to siberia, russia, europe, and finally to the united states, along with rhee syngman. rhee organized the tongjihoe ( comrade society ) in honolulu. in 1912, ahn was elected chairman of the korean national people ' s association, which emerged as the supreme organization for koreans abroad and played an active role in negotiations with the u. s. government. during this time, he established hungsadan, a secret voluntary group of ardent patriots.


| a history of pre - war locomotive developments, the 1948 locomotive exchanges and their influence on future motive power policy. the passenger and mixed traffic br standards, early big four dieselisation - including gw railcars, the arrival of the dmu - a novelty at the time, livery changes, improving steam efficiency - double chimneys on the western and eastern and rebuilds for bulleid ' s pacifics, early branch cut - backs, dc electrification schemes, pilot scheme diesels and western region hydraulic perversity, ac electrics and the downgrading of the great western route to birmingham, the blue pullman, more closures including the somerset & dorset and the great central and a whole host of branch lines - dr beeching tries to justify his decision ' s, finally the last steam specials end an era. the demise of non - standard diesel classes takes us into corporate days ( with a steam interlude on the vale of rheidol ) and ultimately to sectorisation and the new beginning? locations range from the welsh border branches to the southern region ' s commuterland. | - an inherited rallway - four into one doesn ` t go! but the new british railway ` s board had to make it happen, and standard designs were developed from the findings of the locomotive trials in 1948. soon br was developing new traction, both steam and diesel, early diesel develvpments started with 10000 and 10201. - modernlsatlon plans - from 1955 a clearer policy developed, diesels and electrics were the way forward, but gt3 combined modem and traditional theory, the southern ` s electrification was reborn, the eastern was also electrifying whilst d6xx and d8xx warship diesel hydraulics were entering service on the western region, the eastern were receiving new english electric type 4 ` s ( class 40 ` s ) and the branch line train was losing steam everywhere as dmu ` s continued to be introduced. - transition from steam - between 1960 and 1968 the railways of britain changed radically, steam was eliminated from every region, electrification continued with speed on the west coast mainline, to bournemouth and suburban glasgow went ac as the ` blue train ` arrived, but curiously the dc suburban lines on tyneside were dieselised. dr. beeching was wielding his axe the somerset and dorset and great central were among the casualties. br found a new business in railtour trade from railway enthusiasts then promptly banned steam so it was destination barry - even for some diesels! - the corporate era - rail blue ep


his axe the somerset and dorset and great central were among the casualties. br found a new business in railtour trade from railway enthusiasts then promptly banned steam so it was destination barry - even for some diesels! - the corporate era - rail blue epitomises the stagnant years of br. investment in the hst and gas turbine apt dominated the news but it also saw the end for the blue pullman ( now rail grey ) the westems, hymeks, warships and deltics, even the vale of rheidol became corporate and bland. the inauguration of the carlisle to glasgow electrification showed the way forward. - a revitalised railway - during the early 1980 ` s new liveries signalled a new era, where locomotives were soon to become a thing of the past, ` sprinterisation and sectorisation ` would change the railway beyond belief, inter - city network south - east, provincial and parcels operations were launched, closer co - operation with local authorities, then the first signs of privatisation... stagecoach. - 1994 - the end or a new beginning - then came the tunnel... and class 373 eurostars, but controversy still raged over the route for the new continental mainline, france could do it, br couldn ` t... postponed for privatisation.


dr. james mcclintock, a renowned university of alabama - birmingham marine biologist who has conducted research in antarctica for more than 25 years, told me the following story. " you work in a scientific lab in the quietest place on earth - antarctica. " there ' s a crack! boom! " you rush to the window of your remote lab with a number of your fellow scientists, and you witness a glacier ' calving ' a chunk of ice the size of a house into the water. adrenaline permeates the room. " ten years ago, that exciting and incredible sight would happen about once a week. it was an event. something rare. " today, at that same lab in antarctica, the calving glacial ice, the explosive sounds, are a daily occurrence. " the scientists are almost ' ho - hum ' about it, barely lifting their heads to recognize the melting ice. ' ' such is life in a warming world. mcclintock has spent most of his life searching the ends of the earth for a cure for cancer and other human diseases. in fact, his research team has discovered marine species in the antarctic that produce compounds active against skin cancer and influenza. mcclintock is not an alarmist. he does not have a political agenda. but he knows firsthand the earth is warming and he understands some of the consequences. mid - winter temperatures on the antarctic peninsula where he works are 10 degrees fahrenheit warmer than they were 60 years ago. that may not seem like a big difference to us non - scientists, but it ' s devastating to a delicate polar ecosystem ( and other ecosystems ). in fact, this spring, mcclintock and his research associates documented an invasion of king crabs that are likely to endanger fragile antarctic clams, snails and brittlestars, or perhaps even the sea squirts that he and his colleagues study that could unlock a cure for skin cancer. this new predator, with its crushing claws, is moving in because of the rapidly warming seas. once they make their way up onto the antarctic shelf, an archaic marine ecosystem that has been without crushing predators for millennia will find itself largely defenseless. king crabs could very well destroy mcclintock ' s living lab. for mcclintock, it ' s like discovering someone is about to burn down your home and your life ' s work and possessions. i have always believed the national academies of science and the national research council motto, " where the nation turns for independent and expert advice, ' ' accurately portrays that most venerable institution


about to burn down your home and your life ' s work and possessions. i have always believed the national academies of science and the national research council motto, " where the nation turns for independent and expert advice, ' ' accurately portrays that most venerable institution. as a nation, we have been seeking their advice since president lincoln established this scientific body in 1863. last month, without much fanfare, and little to no attention from the national media, the national academies released their latest congressionally requested report on climate change. the report, " america ' s choices, ' ' does not pull any punches. it reaffirms that climate change is occurring now and that the most effective strategy to combat it would be to begin cutting greenhouse gas emissions immediately. what makes this report more shocking is the fact that it is not new. as far back as 2005, the national academies of the u. s., france, canada, the united kingdom, india, italy, japan, germany, brazil and china have jointly called upon policymakers throughout the world to address climate change. the message from the national academies six years ago was virtually identical to the one in 2011. climate change is real. we need to drastically reduce greenhouse emissions. we need to aggressively seek technological and scientific solutions. delaying will only make matters worse. and now, more than ever, the signs of climate change are becoming starker. the extreme weather and floods in the midwest and south this spring, historical droughts and fires in texas and arizona, permafrost disappearing in russia and siberia, floods in pakistan, massive drought followed by flooding in australia and whole villages in alaska disappearing because of sea level rise are just a few recent examples. the climate is changing so rapidly that the arbor day foundation has changed its recommendations for when and where you should plant your trees. are we going to follow the national academy of sciences and countless scientists ' advice on climate change? are we going to listen to dr. james mcclintock and try to save a place that can lead to cures for cancer? or are we going to barely lift our heads and refuse to recognize the climate changing around us? byington is publisher of bama environmental news. he is a longtime environmental advocate from birmingham, ala., who has served on numerous state and national environmental boards.


what is a credit facilitywritten by pradeep home » finance and investing there are many definitions of credit facility. it is commonly known as a loan, which is taken from a financial institution and a person who is in need of the credit. credit facilities consist of different types of credit that ranges from revolving credit to a credit that is used as a backup for the company. when a person asks for a credit from the bank, he should pledge immovable property to the bank in the form of collateral. this is a mandatory in all the banks, unless it is a small amount. there are various types of credit facilities, which the banks provide. this article will discuss about these facilities. - credit card - this is a device, which the bank issues to its account holder. the cardholder can use this card to make credit purchases from shopping. at the end of every month, the cardholder has to pay the bill, which he has accumulated with the use of the credit card. the car holder has the advantage of paying this amount in installments. he will have to pay interest on the amount unpaid by him. however, he should pledge collateral to get a credit card based on which his card limit will be set. - bank overdraft - this is a type of credit facility, which only the current account holder can take. when the person has a current account in the bank, he has the right to withdraw a few extra thousands exceeding the balance in his account. for this amount exceeding the balance in his account, he should pay interest as per the interest rate that the bank charges. - payday loans - this is one of the popular credit facilities, which is being used by many people today. as the name suggests, this is a loan, which is given to you based on your salary. however, you should repay the loan to the institution on the day that you receive you pay from your employer. this is a loan, which does not require you to pledge any collateral and thus, is easily available to all. they do not even ask for any credit background, which is why the high rate of interest. however, any bank, which provides loans, will ask you for your credit background. the interest rate on which the loan is given will depend upon the credit background. if you have a good background, which is free of all problems, the interest rate will be low. else, the interest rate will be high. thus, you should keep all these documents ready while applying for a loan. credit facility is flexible in nature


| home | site search | outreach | see / hear index | spring 2000 table of contents version espanol de este articulo ( spanish version ) by mignon m. schminky and jane a. baran department of communication disorders university of massachusetts, amherst, massachusetts reprinted from fall 1999 deaf - blind perspectives, published by teaching research division of western oregon university for db - link hearing is a complex process that is often taken for granted. as sounds strike the eardrum, the sounds ( acoustic signals ) begin to undergo a series of transformations through which the acoustic signals are changed into neural signals. these neural signals are then passed from the ear through complicated neural networks to various parts of the brain for additional analysis, and ultimately, recognition or comprehension. for most of us, when someone talks about hearing abilities, we think primarily of the processing that occurs in the ear ; that is, the ability to detect the presence of sound. likewise, when someone is described as having a hearing loss, we assume that this individual has lost all or part of the ability to detect the presence of sound. however, the ability to detect the presence of sounds is only one part of the processing that occurs within the auditory system. there are many individuals who have no trouble detecting the presence of sound, but who have other types of auditory difficulties ( e. g., difficulties understanding conversations in noisy environments, problems following complex directions, difficulty learning new vocabulary words or foreign languages ) that can affect their ability to develop normal language skills, succeed academically, or communicate effectively. often these individuals are not recognized as having hearing difficulties because they do not have trouble detecting the presence of sounds or recognizing speech in ideal listening situations. since they appear to " hear normally, " the difficulties these individuals experience are often presumed to be the result of an attention deficit, a behavior problem, a lack of motivation, or some other cause. if this occurs, the individual may receive medical and / or remedial services that do not address the underlying " auditory " problem. central auditory processes are the auditory system mechanisms and processes responsible for the following behavioral phenomena. these mechanisms and processes apply to nonverbal as well as verbal signals and may affect many areas of function, including speech and language ( asha, 1996, p. 41 ). katz, stecker & henderson ( 1992 ) described central auditory processing as " what we do with what we hear. " in other words, it is the ability of the brain ( i. e., the central nervous system ) to process incoming auditory signals


, stecker & henderson ( 1992 ) described central auditory processing as " what we do with what we hear. " in other words, it is the ability of the brain ( i. e., the central nervous system ) to process incoming auditory signals. the brain identifies sounds by analyzing their distinguishing physical characteristics frequency, intensity, and temporal features. these are features that we perceive as pitch, loudness, and duration. once the brain has completed its analysis of the physical characteristics of the incoming sound or message, it then constructs an " image " of the signal from these component parts for comparison with stored " images. " if a match occurs, we can then understand what is being said or we can recognize sounds that have important meanings in our lives ( sirens, doorbells, crying, etc. ). this explanation is an oversimplification of the complicated and multifaceted processes that occur within the brain. the complexity of this processing, however, can be appreciated if one considers the definition of central auditory processing offered by the american speech - language - hearing association ( asha ). this definition acknowledges that many neurocognitive functions are involved in the processing of auditory information. some are specific to the processing of acoustic signals, while others are more global in nature and not necessarily unique to processing of auditory information ( e. g., attention, memory, language representation ). however, these latter functions are considered components of auditory processing when they are involved in the processing of auditory information. capd can be defined as a deficiency in any one or more of the behavioral phenomena listed above. there is no one cause of capd. in many children, it is related to maturational delays in the development of the important auditory centers within the brain. often, these children ' s processing abilities develop as they mature. in other children, the deficits are related to benign differences in the way the brain develops. these usually represent more static types of problems ( i. e., they are more likely to persist throughout the individual ' s life ). in other children, the capd can be attributed to frank neurological problems or disease processes. these can be caused by trauma, tumors, degenerative disorders, viral infections, surgical compromise, lead poisoning, lack of oxygen, auditory deprivation, and so forth. the prevalence of capd in children is estimated to be between 2 and 3 % ( chermak & musiek, 1997 ), with it being twice as prevalent in males. it often co - exists with other disabilities. these


so forth. the prevalence of capd in children is estimated to be between 2 and 3 % ( chermak & musiek, 1997 ), with it being twice as prevalent in males. it often co - exists with other disabilities. these include speech and language disorders or delays, learning disabilities or dyslexia, attention deficit disorders with or without hyperactivity, and social and / or emotional problems. below is a listing of some of the common behavioral characteristics often noted in children with capd. it should be noted that many of these behavioral characteristics are not unique to capd. some may also be noted in individuals with other types of deficits or disorders, such as attention deficits, hearing loss, behavioral problems, and learning difficulties or dyslexia. therefore, one should not necessarily assume that the presence of any one or more of these behaviors indicates that the child has a capd. however, if any of these behaviors are noted, the child should be considered at risk for capd and referred for appropriate testing. definitive diagnosis of a central auditory disorder cannot be made until specialized auditory testing is completed and other etiologies have been ruled out. there are a number of behavioral checklists that have been developed in an effort to systematically probe for behaviors that may suggest a capd ( fisher, 1976 ; kelly, 1995 ; smoski, brunt, & tannahill, 1992 ; willeford & burleigh, 1985 ). some of these checklists were developed for teachers, while others were designed for parents. these checklists can be helpful in determining whether a child should be referred to an audiologist for a central auditory processing assessment. capd is assessed through the use of special tests designed to assess the various auditory functions of the brain. however, before this type of testing begins, it is important that each person being tested receive a routine hearing test for reasons that will become obvious later. there are numerous auditory tests that the audiologist can use to assess central auditory function. these fall into two major categories : behavioral tests and electrophysiologic tests. the behavioral tests are often broken down into four subcategories, including monaural low - redundancy speech tests, dichotic speech tests, temporal patterning tests, and binaural interaction tests. it should be noted that children being assessed for capd will not necessarily be given a test from each of these categories. rather the audiologist will select a battery of tests for each child. the selection of tests will depend upon a


of the speech signal : frequency, temporal, or intensity characteristics. an example of a test in this category is the compressed speech test ( beasley, schwimmer, & rintelmann, 1972 ). this is a test in which the speech signals have been altered electronically by removing portions of the original speech signal. the test items are presented to each ear individually and the child is asked to repeat the words that have been presented. a percent correct score is derived for each ear and these are compared to age - appropriate norms. in these tests different speech items are presented to both ears either simultaneously or in an overlapping manner and the child is asked to repeat everything that is heard ( divided attention ) or repeat whatever is heard in one specified ear ( directed attention ). the more similar and closely acoustically aligned the test items, the more difficult the task. one of the more commonly used tests in this category is the dichotic digits test ( musiek, 1983 ). the child is asked to listen to four numbers presented to the two ears at comfortable listening levels. in each test item two numbers are presented to one ear and two numbers are presented to the other ear. for example, in figure one, 5 is presented to the right ear at the same time 1 is presented to the left ear. then the numbers 9 and 6 are presented simultaneously to the right and left ears. the child is asked to repeat all numbers heard and a percent correct score is determined for each ear and compared to age - appropriate norms. 5, 9 1, 6 ( for text only readers : figure 1 shows numbers 1, 6 entering the left ear and numbers 5, 9 entering the right ear ). these tests are designed to test the child ' s ability to process nonverbal auditory signals and to recognize the order or pattern of presentation of these stimuli. a child can be asked to simply " hum " the patterns. in this case, the processing of the stimuli would occur largely in the right half of the brain. if on the other hand, the child is asked to describe the patterns using words ; then the left side of the brain is also involved, as well as the major auditory fibers that connect the auditory portions of both sides of the brain. the frequency pattern sequences test ( musiek & pinheiro, 1987 ) is one of the temporal patterning tests used frequently with children. the test items are sequences of three tone bursts that are presented to one or both ears. in each of the sequences two tone bursts are of the same frequency


pinheiro, 1987 ) is one of the temporal patterning tests used frequently with children. the test items are sequences of three tone bursts that are presented to one or both ears. in each of the sequences two tone bursts are of the same frequency, while the third tone is of a different frequency. there are just two different frequencies used in this test : one is a high - frequency sound and the other a low - frequency sound. the child therefore hears patterns, such as high - high - low or low - high - low, and is asked to either hum or describe the patterns heard. as with other central tests, the test items are presented at levels that are comfortable for the child and percent correct scores are obtained and compared to norms. binaural interaction tests : binaural interaction tests are sometimes referred to as binaural integration tests. these tests tap the ability of structures low in the brain ( brainstem ) to take incomplete information presented to the two ears and fuse or integrate this information in some manner. most of the tests in this category present different parts of a speech signal to each ear separately. if only one part of the signal is presented, the child usually cannot recognize the test item. however, if the two different parts of the stimuli are presented simultaneously, with one portion going to one ear and the other portion to the other ear, the child with normal processing abilities has no difficulty recognizing the test item. this is because the two parts ( which are unrecognizable if presented in isolation ) are integrated into a single identifiable stimulus by the auditory nervous system. an example of a test in this category is the rapidly alternating speech perception test ( willeford, 1976 ). for this test, sentence materials are divided into brief segments which are alternated rapidly between the two ears. the example below is a rough approximation of what happens to a sentence when it is segmented in this manner. in this example, the first sound in the sentence " put a dozen apples in the sack " ( represented by pu ) is presented to the right ear, then the t sound is presented to the left ear, and so forth and so on. if the child hears only the segments presented to the right ear or left ear, he or she is unlikely to be able to recognize the sentence. however, if the right ear and left ear segments are presented in a cohesive fashion to the child, sentence recognition improves dramatically as long as this particular function of the brain is intact. rapidly alternating speech perception pu a ze ap s n


the sentence. however, if the right ear and left ear segments are presented in a cohesive fashion to the child, sentence recognition improves dramatically as long as this particular function of the brain is intact. rapidly alternating speech perception pu a ze ap s n sa t do n ple i the ck ( for text readers only : figure 2 shows a visual representation of the above example, with the letters pu, a, ze, ap, s, n, sa, presented to the right ear and letters t, d, o, n, ple, i, the, ck, presented to the left ear ). the list of behavioral observations provided earlier in this article highlights many of the academic and / or speech and language problems that might be experienced by the child with capd. since speech and language skills are developed most efficiently through the auditory sensory modality, it is not unusual to observe speech and language problems, as well as academic problems ( many of them language - based ), in children with capd. if a child experiences difficulty in processing the brief and rapidly changing acoustics of spoken speech, he or she is likely to have problems recognizing the " speech sounds " of language. if problems are encountered in recognizing the sound system of language, then additional problems are likely to be encountered when the child is asked to begin to match " speech sounds " to their alphabetic representations ( a skill that serves as the foundation for the development of subsequent reading and writing skills ). this in turn can lead to comprehension problems and poor academic performance. it is worth reiterating at this time that not all children with capd will experience all of these problems. there is a wide range of variability in the problems experienced by children with capd ; however, it should be recognized that the presence of a capd places the child at risk for developing many of these language and academic problems. there are several different ways to help children overcome their capd. the exact procedures or approaches used will depend upon a number of factors, including the exact nature of the capd, the age of the child, the co - existence of other disabilities and / or problems, and the availability of resources. in general, the approaches to remediation or management fall into three main categories : ( a ) enhancing the individual ' s auditory perceptual skills, ( b ) enhancing the individual ' s language and cognitive resources, and ( c ) improving the quality of the auditory signal. the following discussion presents some of the procedures that may be used with a child with capd


auditory perceptual skills, ( b ) enhancing the individual ' s language and cognitive resources, and ( c ) improving the quality of the auditory signal. the following discussion presents some of the procedures that may be used with a child with capd. more detailed information is beyond the scope of this article, but may be found in the various resources listed at the end of this article. many children with capd will benefit from auditory training procedures and phonological awareness training. intervention may also involve the identification of ( and training in the use of ) strategies that can be used to overcome specific auditory, speech and language, or academic difficulties. a number of actions can be taken to improve the quality of the signal reaching the child. children can be provided personal assistive - listening devices that should serve to enhance the teacher ' s voice and reduce the competition of other noises and sounds in the classroom. acoustic modifications can be made to the classroom ( e. g., carpeting, acoustic ceiling tiles, window treatments ) which should help to minimize the detrimental effects of noise on the child ' s ability to process speech in the educational setting. finally, teachers and parents can assist the child in overcoming his or her auditory deficits by speaking clearly, rephrasing information, providing preferential seating, using visual aids to supplement auditory information, and so forth. the program should be tailored to the child ' s individual needs, and it should represent an interdisciplinary approach. parents, teachers, educational specialists, and other professionals, as appropriate, should be involved in the development and implementation of the child ' s management program. children with capd do not have hearing loss if the term is used to refer to a loss of hearing sensitivity. most children with capd have normal hearing sensitivity and their auditory difficulties will not be detected during routine hearing testing unless some of the special " sensitized " tests ( see discussion above ) are administered. these children, however, have hearing loss in the sense that they do not process auditory information in a normal fashion. they have auditory deficits that can be every bit as debilitating as unidentified hearing loss. if the auditory deficits are not identified early and managed appropriately, many of these children will experience speech and language delays, academic failure and / or underachievement, loss of self - esteem, and social and emotional problems. children can have both a hearing loss and a capd. fortunately, most children seen for central auditory testing have normal hearing ( i. e., detection ) abilities. however, children with hearing


of self - esteem, and social and emotional problems. children can have both a hearing loss and a capd. fortunately, most children seen for central auditory testing have normal hearing ( i. e., detection ) abilities. however, children with hearing loss can also have a capd. in fact, the presence of a hearing loss may place a child at risk for capd. this is because the auditory pathways and centers in the brain develop as they are stimulated with sound. the presence of a hearing loss may limit the amount and type of auditory stimulation that is necessary to promote optimal development of the auditory nervous system. if this happens, then auditory deficits are likely to result. a question frequently asked of audiologists is " whether or not a child with a hearing loss can be tested for capd? " the answer is not a simple " yes " or " no. " many children with hearing losses can be tested as long as they have some hearing ( i. e., detection ) abilities. interpretation of the test results does become somewhat more difficult for the audiologist who is conducting the testing if a hearing loss is present, but there are distinct patterns of test results that can indicate the presence of a capd. moreover, there are certain tests that the audiologist can use that are not affected to the same degree as other tests by the presence of a hearing loss. these tests should be used whenever feasible. unfortunately, there are some individuals with losses so severe that testing cannot be completed. as a general rule, central auditory testing cannot be done if the individual being tested has a hearing loss falling in the severe - to - profound range. the books listed in the reference section are good sources of information. in addition, we have provided a list of web sites that you may find helpful. selected web sites for teachers and parents address correspondence to : jane a. baran, ph. d., professor, department of communication disorders, university of massachusetts, 127 arnold house, amherst, ma 01003 - 0410. telephone : ( 413 ) 545 - 0565 ; fax : ( 413 ) 545 - 0803 ; email @ example. com. | spring 2000 table of contents | send email to see / hear | please complete the comment form or send comments and suggestions to : jim allan ( webmaster - jim allan ) last revision : april 27, 2004


one can read the painting and its images in several different ways, but one can also easily arrive at the main meaning of the painting : the exaltation of beauty, something that can put love in motion, something as intense as the re - birth of nature and life. the figures are all identifiable : there is zephyr on the right, representing the wind of spring, who is holding the nymph cloris ; and the figure of flora, whose clothing is richly decorated in flowers. at the centre of the painting, and a bit further behind the others, is venus ; on top of her there is cupid, who is shooting the arrows of love ; then there are the three graces ; and the last figure, mercury, who is sweeping away the clouds with his cane. the painting is widely considered one of the most representative paintings of the italian renaissance, even though botticelli seems to be influenced by the late - gothic and not the early - renaissance style. the special construction is without any real depth, and the figures seem suspended in mid - air, without gravity or shadows. botticelli ’ s stark attention to nature is also characteristic of the late - gothic style. the scene is made up of textural lines just like in miniaturist paintings. the spirit of the painting is definitely renaissance - inspired, even just for the secular theme chosen ; it is also imbued with humanistic elements. botticelli seems to introduce a strange mix, demonstrating that classifications in art are never that simple. it also proves that the form and content of an artwork do not necessary need to be confluent.


snopes. com defines phishing as " a term which refers to the online imitation of a company ' s branding in spoofed e - mail messages and web sites, created with the intent of fooling unsuspecting users into divulging personal information such as passwords, credit card numbers, pins, etc. a typical " phish " e - mail will appear to come from a financial institution ( such as a bank or credit card company ), informing the recipient that some type of problem has affected his account and directing him to follow a provided hyperlink to clear up the problem. the hyperlink leads not to a legitimate site, however, but to a server ( usually in another country ) on which an imitation web site has been set up. the fooled customer is then prompted to enter confidential personal information ( collected by the scammers for perpetrating ) identify theft and ( usually ) redirected to a legitimate web site to obscure the fact that he just gave away data to crooks. " phishing sites can also include malicious elements that are intended to take advantage of web browser vulnerabilities. even if you don ' t enter personal information on the spoofed web site, you could be putting your computer ' s security in danger simply by clicking on the link in the spoofed message. the best way to protect yourself from phishing scams is to never click on the link in an unexpected or suspicious message you receive. the internet has made the world a much smaller place. while its benefits are tremendous, connecting us to others and to volumes of instant information on any subject anywhere in the world, its downside includes dark alleys frequented by criminals intent on harming you, your computer, and / or your information. in the physical world, it used to be that you knew which dark alleys or bad neighborhoods to avoid. today the internet, with all its benefits, has also brought the dark alleyways to your computer. as such, it takes much more vigilance to protect yourself and your computer from would - be criminals. some of the risks you encounter simply by surfing the internet include, but are not limited to : identity theft, viruses and worms that infect your computer, spamming, and spyware infections. content provided by cu boulder


0 - 3 hours after stroke onset the first goals in this early phase are to provide medical support for the patient and determine whether the stroke is ischemic or hemorrhagic. physicians consider history, physical examination, and whether the neurologic signs conform to a vascular pattern. a ct scan is usually the quickest way to rule out hemorrhage. recall that a ct study performed in these first hours does not visualize ischemic lesions, even ones that later produce large once it is confirmed that the stroke is ischemic, the second goal is to figure out the cause as well as the location of the blockage. various blood tests and an ekg are done. to establish whether it involves an extracranial or intracranial vessel, doppler ultrasound or ct angiography can supplement the history and physical exam. during this very early phase mri is not commonly used except in major stroke centers. in the future, mri is likely to play a much bigger role in stroke diagnosis because it is able to detect ischemic changes much earlier than ct. the possibility of administering thrombolytic therapy may be considered. recombinant tissue - plasminogen activator ( r - tpa ) is currently the only fda - approved thrombolytic drug. it opens blocked arteries by dissolving the strands of fibrin that hold together the red blood cells or platelets in an embolus or thrombus. the findings of a recent ninds stroke study show that intravenous r - tpa significantly improves outcomes at three and twelve months after stroke when it is given within three hours of onset of stroke in carefully selected patients. the dreaded complication - - severe or even fatal intracerebral hemorrhage - - tended to occur more often when the drug was given in the last 90 minutes of the three - hour window than when it was administered in the first 90 minutes. the narrow time window for reversing ischemia with r - tpa is one of the reasons why teaching patients the warning signs of stroke and how to respond is so important - - many wait for the symptoms to resolve and miss the opportunity. patient selection for r - tpa is critical, since it does not improve the outcomes of patients with very large strokes, for example blockage of the mca stem that reduced flow in both the deep penetrating and cortical branches. it also is not beneficial in small lacunar strokes, which is why it is important to ascer


- 2013 : international year of water cooperation - 2013 : international year of quinoa - world telecommunication and information society day ( 17 may ) [ itu ] - world day for cultural diversity for dialogue and development ( may 21 ) - international day for biological diversity ( 22 may ) - day of vesak ( 24 may ) - week of solidarity with the peoples of non - self - governing territories ( 25 – 31 may ) this site contains information on united nations days, weeks, years, decades and other observances, resolutions declaring them, and links to events websites. united nations observances contribute to the achievement of the purposes of the un charter and promote awareness of and action on important political, social, cultural, humanitarian or human rights issues. they provide a useful means for the promotion of international and national action and stimulate interest in united nations activities and programmes. for international years and decades the un secretary general takes action to establish the preparatory process, evaluation and follow - up procedures. the majority of observances have been established by the un general assembly and some have been designated by un specialized agencies. in 1950, the general assembly approved the first international day — human rights day — to be observed on 10 december. resolution 423 ( v ) invited all states and international organizations to observe this day to celebrate the proclamation of the universal declaration of human rights by the general assembly on 10 december 1948, and to exert increasing efforts in this field. in 1978, the general assembly by its resolution s - 10 / 2 proclaimed the first international week — the week starting 24 october ( the day of the founding of the un ) — as a week devoted to fostering the objectives of disarmament ( disarmament week ). the first international year was proclaimed by the general assembly in 1959. it was the world refugee year [ resolution 1285 ( xiii ) ]. the first un decade was the united nations development decade designated by the general assembly in 1961 [ resolution 1710 ( xvi ) ].