in reality no - one is " pro - abortion, " but rather we, along with the mainstream populace of the vast majority of the developing world, are " pro the right to abortion. " each woman should be allowed and empowered to make her own decision as to whether she continues her pregnancy - according to her health, her morals, her religion, her resources and all the other circumstances she finds herself in. 11 july, according to the un, is world population day. the aim is to ensure universal access for the world ' s women to reproductive health services, including, in the fine print, voluntary family planning. in truth, the latter offers what is arguably the most cost - effective means of reducing human misery in the long term. over the years we have seen a lot of good, bad and ugly promises, campaigns and programmes. some, such as increasing child vaccinations, have been very successful. but in the run up to the finish line for the millennium development goals in 2015, we see that we are still way off key targets for women and children. we know that there is a gap into which a minimum of 200million women fall because their needs for contraception are unmet. getting condoms, pills and other supplies onto the ground is one essential part of what needs to be done to deal with this. but it is only one side of the coin. if women are to be able to make use of these then we need to also tackle the flip side of the coin - the gender inequality and unequal power relations between men and women which mean that women and girls often cannot decide when or whether they have sex, including whether contraception is used.


some of my fellow mississippian want to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the civil war with license plates honoring confederate general nathan bedford forrest. forrest, born into a large, poor family was a self - made man amassing a fortune through cotton planting, land speculation and slave trading. he was one of the very few to enter the civil war as a private and rise to the rank of general. after the war came to an end he was one of the initial leaders of the ku klux klan. forrest ' s obituary says of his pre - war years, " he was known to his acquaintances as a man of obscure origin and low associations, a shrewd speculator, negro trader, and duelist... " during the civil war, general forrest had many noted moments including the fort pillow massacre of black soldiers who had laid down their guns. a letter written to his sister immediately after the massacre by confederate soldier, achilles clark, provided this account : " the slaughter was awful. words cannot describe the scene. the poor... negroes would run up to our men, fall upon their knees, and with uplifted hands scream for mercy but they were ordered to their feet and then shot down. i, with several others, tried to stop the butchery, and at one time had partially succeeded, but general forrest ordered them shot down like dogs and the carnage continued. finally our men became sick of blood and the firing ceased. " klan leader forrest had a few noted moments after the war, too. author andrew ward writes, " in the spring of 1867, forrest and his dragons launched a campaign of midnight parades ; ' ghost ' masquerades ; and ' whipping ' and even ' killing negro voters... to scare blacks off voting and running for office. ' " this is the person the mississippi division of the sons of confederate veterans want to honor, remember, memorialize on license plates as part of their commemoration of the war between the states. this is the effort, honoring nathan bedford forrest on license plates, mississippi governor haley barbour said he wouldn ' t denounce. speaking as a mississippian to these fellow mississippians i must say this is an effort i find horrific, absurd and unbecoming of the mississippi i love. you belittle all mississippians by seeking to memorialize our history by elevating images and memories of anyone who articulated and carried out some of our worst moments. general forrest belongs in history books and museums where we learn about and from our past, where we ponder


all mississippians by seeking to memorialize our history by elevating images and memories of anyone who articulated and carried out some of our worst moments. general forrest belongs in history books and museums where we learn about and from our past, where we ponder those moments we must never repeat. he doesn ' t belong as a person of honor in the commemoration of our heritage and history. when debates arise over symbols and heritage and identification i am infuriated when such ideas as this license plate rears their ugly heads. we can ' t have one state, much less one nation, when we embrace symbols that reflect a tense and asymmetrical heritage. it ' s a false heritage we seek to elevate when our symbols divide rather than include. our energy and spirits are washed down into the gutter when we fight to uphold a heritage that seeks to alienate rather than embrace. yes, some of our heritage belongs in museums. we have plenty of nobility and decency to embrace and stand on, stand on together, without the insecurities and ignorance of racism elevated to places of honor. my credentials as a mississippian and southerner are unimpeachable and this license plate idea from the sons of confederate veterans needs to end. governor barbour may not be willing to denounce it but i am as are thousands of mississippians. we all should. follow burns strider on twitter : www. twitter. com / bstrider


by henry morris, ph. d. * in a recent book, two eminent authors ( both evolutionists ) give a glowing assessment of the human mind and the brain through which it functions. the human brain is the most astonishing and mysterious of all known complex systems. inside this mass of billions of neurons, information flows in ways that we are only starting to understand. the memories of a summer day on the beach when we were kids ; imagination ; our dreams of impossible worlds. consciousness. our surprising capacity for mathematical generalization and understanding of deep, sometimes counter intuitive, questions about the universe. our brains are capable of this and much more. how? we don ' t know : the mind is a daunting problem for science. 1 this testimony brings to mind a statement made more than thirty years ago by the atheistic biochemist, isaac asimov, arguably the most prolific scientist writer of all time. he said that :... in man is a three - pound brain which, as far as we know, is the most complex and orderly arrangement of matter in the universe. how could the human brain develop out of the primeval slime? 2 asimov ' s answer to this key question was that the energy from the sun somehow provided the information necessary to create life and ultimately the human brain. he had no explanation as to how this miracle of complexity could have been produced by the sun, and neither does anyone else. the current authors ( sole and godwin ) are frank enough to acknowledge, simply, that " we don ' t know. " the mind is, indeed, " a daunting problem for science. " the fact is that science can never provide the answer as long as its practitioners deny the truth of a divine creation. the psalmist, on the other hand, gladly acknowledged god, and said in awe : " i will praise thee ; for i am fearfully and wonderfully made " ( psalm 139 : 14 ). he then continued with remarkable insight : " my substance was... made in secret, and curiously wrought... " ( psalm 139 : 15 ). the word so picturesquely translated in the king james bible as " curiously wrought " is the hebrew raqam meaning " embroidered, " or " did needlework, " and it is so translated in the other passages where it is used. the idea of highly intricate needlework is most appropriate in trying to describe the amazing network of interconnected neurons in the human brain. human beings have something on the order of 100, 000 genes


is so translated in the other passages where it is used. the idea of highly intricate needlework is most appropriate in trying to describe the amazing network of interconnected neurons in the human brain. human beings have something on the order of 100, 000 genes, and human brains have more than 1 trillion nerve cells, with about 100 - 1, 000 trillion connections ( synapses ) between them. that ' s at least 1 billion synapses per gene, even if each and every gene did nothing but control the production of synapses ( and it doesn ' t ). 3 but astoundingly complex as the human brain may be, it still does not explain how all this serves to produce consciousness, let alone how it can generate abstract thought and inventive ingenuity and all the myriad thoughts and reasonings of the human brain, not to mention its imaginations and even its dreams. anthropologist matt cartmill acknowledges this vital gap in our knowledge. the phenomenon of consciousness is the source of all value in our lives. as such, it should be at the top of the scientific agenda. yet despite its fundamental importance, consciousness is a subject that most scientists are reluctant to deal with. we know practically nothing about its mechanisms or its evolution. 4 what a marvelous paradox this is! the gift of consciousness is the basic phenomenon which permits scientists to investigate the processes of nature and develop descriptions thereof, but they have no understanding of consciousness itself. the machineries of consciousness are an almost perfect mystery. 5 not only does the human brain somehow generate consciousness and then complex thought processes, but also the ability to communicate those thoughts to others. the phenomenon of language ( real language, not animal barks and grunts ) is still another amazing phenomenon for which there is no evolutionary explanation. languages can rather quickly " evolve " into different languages, but how did language evolve? and was there one original language, or have various languages evolved independently? evolutionists do not know. if they refuse to consider god ' s explanation in the bible, they will probably never know. all contemporary modern humans use very complex languages. there are no " primitive " languages : the 5, 000 or more spoken today are equally flexible and expressive, and their grammar and syntax are sometimes richer and more precise than that of the more widespread languages like english or spanish, which have undergone some simplification over the centuries. 6 there is, therefore, no evidence whatever for any supposed evolutionary origin of human language, though each individual language can " evolve " into some different language in relatively short


languages like english or spanish, which have undergone some simplification over the centuries. 6 there is, therefore, no evidence whatever for any supposed evolutionary origin of human language, though each individual language can " evolve " into some different language in relatively short time ( e. g., compare chaucer ' s english to modern english ). yet linguists have been notably unsuccessful in trying to map out an " original " language from which the other language families have come. neither the origin of language itself nor the origin of the major linguistic families is amenable to an evolutionary explanation. one of the world ' s most distinguished linguistic ethnologists admits this. it is not certain that all languages have a common origin. most linguists consider both problems insoluble. 7 not really! the biblical account fits all the facts. language is a special gift of god, imparted to the first man and woman when he created them " in his image, " so that they could communicate with god and other humans. the original language families were also supernaturally imparted by god to thwart the rebellion against him at the tower of babel. not only did god provide a means of oral communication, but also a means of communicating in writing. the first book in fact was apparently written by adam himself ( genesis 5 : 1 ). after the flood and the confusion of tongues at babel, this ability was lost, except possibly by noah, shem, and any others who had not participated in the rebellion. but the others still retained the basic mental tools to learn how to write, this time in their new languages. it was not long, at least in the great civilizations that developed in certain early nations, before practically everyone could read and write. probably the earliest was in sumeria, including assyria and others in the tigris - euphrates region. as many as half a million cuneiform tablets, hand size up to book - page size, are now stored in the museums of the learned, from baghdad upriver out to moscow and berkeley. surely many more are waiting to be found. these samples are of every quality : once prized accounts and receipts, schoolboys ' lessons, litigation profound or droll, literary essays, erotica, mathematics — and entire ancient epics, centuries older than father abraham ' s. a mostly unread treasury, comprising the equivalent of tens of thousands of large printed volumes. 8 in none of these very ancient archaeological sites, whether in the middle east or egypt, china


ancient epics, centuries older than father abraham ' s. a mostly unread treasury, comprising the equivalent of tens of thousands of large printed volumes. 8 in none of these very ancient archaeological sites, whether in the middle east or egypt, china, or india, is there any indication of a gradual evolution of language or writing. the languages just seem to spring into existence fully developed in complex form when they first appear. so - called " primitive " languages are invariably highly complex languages, and the same is true of their written form, with the ability to read and write evidently widespread in each community. indeed the human brain and human consciousness, along with the ability to express human thoughts in speaking and writing, are amazing phenomena without any adequate evolutionary explanation. the same is true of the marvelous dna molecules in which are encoded all the programmed information for the reproduction and growth of every cell of the human body. as the psalmist implied, our brains have indeed been very " curiously wrought " in our mothers ' wombs ( psalm 139 : 15 ), through the intricately entwined dna coding extending all the way back to mother eve and father adam and ultimately to the infinite mind and skillful hands of the great designer himself. as the patriarch job stressed, contemplating all the wonderful works of god in creation : " who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the lord hath wrought this? " ( job 12 : 9 ). - richard sole and brian godwin, signs of life ( new york : basic books inc., 2000 ), p. 119. - isaac asimov, " in the game of energy and thermodynamics you can ' t even break even, " smithsonian institute journal, june 1970, p. 10. - paul r. ehrlich, human natures ( washington, d. c., shearwater books, 2000 ), p. 4. dr. ehrlich is a professor at stanford university. emphasis his. - matt cartmill, " do horses gallop in their sleep? " key reporter ( autumn 2000 ), p. 6. - ibid., p. 8. - luigi lura cavalli - sforza, genes, people and languages ( new york : north pointe press, 2000 ), p. 59. - ibid., p. 142. dr. cavalli - sforza is professor of genetics at stanford. - philip morrison and phylis morrison, " information technology, 2500 b. c. " scientific american ( vol


predation did not come from evolution by daniel criswell, ph. d. * although the origin of predation is poorly understood, it is incorrect to attribute to young - earth creation the assertion that predatory animals quickly and recently evolved the physical features necessary for predation. it is a common fallacy that carnivores evolved from a change in form and function. no physical evolution was required to change herbivores to predators - - it was merely a change in behavior. the view that an alteration of genomes and phenotypes, such as sharp teeth and claws, would have been required to supply the physical features for predation from herbivorous features common in plant - eating animals is not correct. the shape of the teeth, the ability to run fast for short distances, and all the other physical attributes given to predators can be used for acquiring plant food sources as well. a few examples of mammal diets will verify this quite well. large, sharp teeth are not used solely for killing and ripping flesh from other animals. fruit bats have sharp, pointed teeth, similar to those in cats, designed to quickly tear flesh from fruit. these teeth easily could remove flesh from an animal, but the fruit bat does not use them for this purpose. the same teeth in many kinds of predatory animals used to shred meat can also be used to shred plant material. large canine teeth are also used in communication. many animals - - including chimpanzees, dogs ( wild and domestic ), big cats, and other predators - - expose their canines to communicate ownership of mates, animal groups, food resources, and territory. teeth are vital to the success of animals, both for communication as well as for feeding. bears of the american northwest provide the best example in the wild of how behavior determines diet. grizzly bears and black bears are well - equipped to destroy the life of other animals. but they also use their physical tools to eat fruits and vegetables. as a biologist, i have personally witnessed bears clean apples out of an apple tree, consume large quantities of clover, and strip all the berries from wild raspberry, huckleberry, and choke cherry plants. these activities are also well documented in the scientific literature. although classified as carnivores, bears are actually opportunistic omnivores and are quite capable of living off a vegetarian diet if the food source is available. many " meat - eating " animals fall into this category. this " predatory " animal, like others, will eat


are actually opportunistic omnivores and are quite capable of living off a vegetarian diet if the food source is available. many " meat - eating " animals fall into this category. this " predatory " animal, like others, will eat the most nutritious meals that are the most easily obtainable. domesticated animals also provide an excellent example of how the behavior of an animal can be altered to utilize a specific food source. dogs and cats have the same tooth structure as wild wolves and lions, respectively, yet these animals are able to change their behavior and eat processed food ( cereal ) made mostly from corn meal, soybean meal, and rice. the ability and desire to eat prepared cereal or " chow " emphasizes another misconception concerning social predators. most people are under the impression that these animals are after the same meat that we would use for roasts and steaks. they aren ' t. the choice portions of a killed herbivore are the internal organs that are rich in vitamins and other nutrients acquired from a vegetarian diet. this is what social predators, like wolves and lions, are after. the lower ranking animals are left with the steaks, roasts, and bones, while the higher ranking animals enjoy the benefits of a more nutritious, " vegetarian " diet found in the gut. the need for predation by these animals clearly results from a change in behavior, not from a change in form and function. it is also interesting to note that, typically, predators have to learn to kill. social predators are not born with the knowledge of how to hunt and kill. they must learn these skills from the other animals in their group. a change in form and function implies evolution has occurred through new genetic information, while a change in behavior requires no new genetic information. the latter is what we clearly observe, and it is perfectly consistent with a literal rendering of genesis 1 : 30 : " and to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, i have given every green herb for meat : and it was so. " * dr. daniel criswell has a ph. d. in molecular biology. cite this article : criswell, d. 2009. predation did not come from evolution. acts & facts. 38 ( 3 ) : 9.


the mother of the aztec creation story was called " coatlique ", the lady of the skirt of snakes. she was created in the image of the unknown, decorated with skulls, snakes, and lacerated hands. there are no cracks in her body and she is a perfect monolith ( a totality of intensity and self - containment, yet her features were sqaure and decapitated ). coatlique was first impregnated by an obsidian knife and gave birth to coyolxanuhqui, goddess of the moon, and to a group of male offspring, who became the stars. then one day coatlique found a ball of feathers, which she tucked into her bosom. whe she looked for it later, it was gone, at which time she realized that she was again pregnant. her children, the moon and stars did not believe her story. ashamed of their mother, they resolved to kill her. a goddess could only give birth once, to the original litter of divinity and no more. during the time that they were plotting her demise, coatlicue gave birth to the fiery god of war, huitzilopochtli. with the help of a fire serpent, he destroyed his brothers and sister, murdering them in a rage. he beheaded coyolxauhqui and threw her body into a deep gorge in a mountain, where it lies dismembered forever. the natural cosmos of the indians was born of catastrophe. the heavens literally crumbled to pieces. the earth mother fell and was fertilized, while her children were torn apart by fratricide and them scattered and disjointed throughout the universe. begin your journey, learn the steps to - your indian ancestry start your family tree find ancestors, indian census rolls


london, feb 19 : bee venom shots could kill backaches by reducing inflammation, says a british study. the therapy is rooted in ancient traditional remedies, where bee stings were used to tackle a wide range of ailments. but it can be an effective tool in modern medicine, too, according to a number of studies. an analysis of studies by university of exeter researchers found bee venom contained compounds that may ease joint pain. another trial, conducted by the university of north carolina, investigated the effect of bee venom on back and leg pain. researchers found that it reduced pain by up to two - thirds, but because other treatments were used in the study, it was difficult to pinpoint precisely how much effect the bee venom itself had, the daily mail reports. in a new trial, bee venom shots will be compared with salt - water injections for the treatment of chronic low back pain. dried bee venom will be turned into a gel and injected into up to 10 traditional acupuncture sites in the lower back. the new trial, at the university hospital of gangdong, korea, will involve 100 patients – half will receive the real treatment, and half will receive dummy injections, and both groups will receive a total of six treatment sessions over three weeks. a spokeswoman from the charity arthritis research uk said : “ there is lots of anecdotal evidence that bee venom can be used to treat inflammatory arthritis and also reduce the pain associated with arthritis. ”


vicugna pacos or alpaca is a native species to south america. they are kept in herds that graze at high altitudes in the andes of ecuador, southern peru, northern bolivia and northern chile, year round. they look similar to sheep, but are larger and have long erect necks. alpacas only have fleece fibers, not woolen fibers, and are used for woven and knitted items including blankets, sweaters, hats, coats and other textile goods as well as ponchos in south america. alpaca fiber comes in many different natural colors including 52 classified in peru. alpaca in the textile industry primarily refers to the hair or fleece fiber of peruvian alpaca. indigenous sources the majority of our alpaca fiber from outside of arequipa, peru in the puno and cusco areas, close to many artisan work groups. these alpacas are free range roaming animals with pasture rotation. the alpacas are not fed hormones and do not receive chemical dippings for ticks or parasites. there are no chemical ingredients allowed on the land or animals. there are many great benefits to using alpaca fiber. much like sheep ' s wool in many regards, alpaca is lighter weight but warmer and softer to the touch ( not prickly ) than wool. it has only a minimum of lanolin fiber which makes it nearly hypoallergenic. this allows indigenous to use this natural fiber in a variety of our knit and woven garments that will breathe naturally, provide warmth and be gentle to the skin. our undyed alpaca has a natural color spectrum which ranges from the whitest white to intense black and includes over twenty brown and grew tones. undyed color combinations create a wide variety of natural beauty and diversity in our garments without using chemicals which adversely effect the environment. gossypium spp or cotton plant is a shrub native to tropical and subtropical regions of the americas, india and africa. varieties of the american species ( upland cotton ) however, is the cotton grown today that dominates most commercial use. the soft fiber that grows around the seeds of the plant is spun into thread to make a soft, breathable textile, which is the most widely used natural - fiber cloth in clothing today. indigenous uses only certified organic cotton, which is grown without any harmful pesticides, herbicides, insecticides or artificial fertilizers. according to the organic trade association ( ota ), conventional cotton uses approximately 25 % of the world ' s insecticides


only certified organic cotton, which is grown without any harmful pesticides, herbicides, insecticides or artificial fertilizers. according to the organic trade association ( ota ), conventional cotton uses approximately 25 % of the world ' s insecticides and more than 10 % of the pesticides. most of our organic cotton is produced in northern peru near trujillo and amazonas, but some is also produced in the south. our organic certification is provided by skal, a non - profit that surveys and certifies organic production. organic cotton clothing is popular for a reason. the soft texture and breathable nature make it a very wearable fiber. in addition, the arrangement of the cellulose gives cotton a good degree of strength, durability and absorbency. indigenous uses organic cotton in our lighter knits and wovens and with other natural fibers to add strength and soft texture to our blends. it is believed that in ancient china, possibly as early as 6000 bc, silk fabric was first developed. originally reserved for the kings of china, silk spread gradually through chinese culture and then to many regions of asia. silk rapidly became a popular luxury fabric because of its soft texture and luster. today, the best - known type of silk is obtained from cocoons by the larvae of the bombyx mori silkworm. they are most commonly raised in captivity so the silk may be used in textiles. " wild silks " are produced by caterpillars ( other than the mulberry silkworm ) and cannot be artificially cultivated like bombyx mori. a natural protein fiber, silk gets its shiny appearance from the triangular prism - like structure of the fibers which allows the silkcloth to refract light at different angles. indigenous silk fiber is sourced in south america. the silkworms are preserved in the process of obtaining the fiber. typically, commercially reared silkworms are killed before the adult moths can emerge. in addition to silk being a natural and renewable fiber, indigenous uses silk to add stability and that soft, luxurious touch and sheer to our knitted blends. the term " merino " originally was restricted to denote the wool of the merino sheep reared in spain, which can be traced back as far as the 12th century. today in the knitting trades, " merino " generally implies an article made from the very softest wool. the utility of the fiber itself is evident in cold - weather and high - performance applications, offering superior breathability, temperature regulation, moisture control, and inherent anti


trades, " merino " generally implies an article made from the very softest wool. the utility of the fiber itself is evident in cold - weather and high - performance applications, offering superior breathability, temperature regulation, moisture control, and inherent anti - microbial properties. unlike " traditional " wool, merino is much finer, softer, and itch - free for all but those with severe sensitivities or lanolin allergies. merino sheep are found all around the world but typically dominate in argentina, australia, new zealand, south africa and the western united states where sheep are bred for their wool rather than their meat. indigenous sources merino wool fiber most often from the andes in argentina. we are big fans of this natural fiber - as is anyone who has ever worn merino wool. the superior insulation, breathability, soft feel and lack of itch are excellent additives to our fiber blends. typically a fiber used in fall and winter garments, merino wool can be found in both our wovens and knits. our finishing and dye process indigenous works hard to ensure that dyes that create our beautiful color palette and complement our natural fibers do not harm the planet. our low - impact dyeing programs intend to eliminate harmful chemicals and waste, providing innumerable environmental and health benefits. our yarns and dyeing processes are created within the global organic textile standards ( gots ) and the parameters of the oeko - text standard 100. while standards are evolving, we are active participants in several organic trade associations and certifying groups advancing legitimate, credible standards and transparency and accountability in organic and environmentally friendly production. we make conscious decisions about the chemicals and substances we will use in the processing and dyeing stages of production, and will not use those we feel will harm the planet, even if they are in mainstream use by the textile industry. indigenous excludes all of the following that we consider environmentally toxic : - aromatic solvents - all apeos ( i. e. nonylphenol, octylphenol, apeo - polymers ) - fluorocarbons ( such as pfos and pfoa ) - formaldehyde and other short - chain aldehydes - genetically modified organisms of any sort ( gmos ) - halogenated solvents - heavy metals ( except iron and low salt ) - plasticizers such as pah, phthalates, bisphenol - azo dyes and pigments that release carcinogenic arylamine


| eastern european avian flu similar to 1918 strain canwest news service | january 27, 2006 by sharon kirkey vietnamese vendors prepare meat for new year ' s shoppers at a downtown hanoi market on thursday. chicken or duck is often central to lunar new year feasts. more similarities have been found between the bird flu creeping into eastern europe and the 1918 spanish flu that decimated populations worldwide, including the discovery of an entirely new way bird flu may kill human cells. researchers from st. jude children ' s research hospital in memphis, tenn., have found that bird flu viruses carry a gene that can latch onto many crucial proteins inside human cells, presumably disrupting their function and causing far more severe disease than human viruses. the research provides a new hypothesis for why certain bird flu viruses are particularly lethal for humans. | subscribe to alex jones ' prisonplanet. tv and receive a multitude of member benefits. by helping us in the fight against the new world order, you receive special video reports, high quality audio interveiws, and full length documentaries for downloading and streaming. click here for enrollment info and subscription options published in today ' s issue of the journal science, the research comes as canada prepares to release an updated pandemic flu plan that includes new infection control and border measures, from strategies to get people to wash their hands and cough into kleenex, to surveillance systems in airports and emergency rooms to detect the virus ' s introduction into canada. there ' s no evidence so far that the h5n1 avian flu is transforming into the next human pandemic flu strain, but " we certainly are really increasing our efforts in terms of preparedness, " says dr. theresa tam, of the public health agency of canada. but a sars survivor, and infectious disease specialist, says canada is " nowhere close " to being ready for a pandemic should it happen. dr. allison mcgeer, of mount sinai hospital in toronto, says more money and time needs to be spent on looking for new drugs for influenza, which masks will truly protect people, how sick people will be cared for when there aren ' t enough health - care workers and getting canadians to agree on " fair and reasonable " distribution of vaccines. in what is being described as the first large - scale mapping of bird flu viruses, researchers from st. jude mapped 2, 196 bird flu genes culled from ducks, gulls, shorebirds and poultry samples collected over 30 years, looking for patterns and comparing them to human flu bugs.


large - scale mapping of bird flu viruses, researchers from st. jude mapped 2, 196 bird flu genes culled from ducks, gulls, shorebirds and poultry samples collected over 30 years, looking for patterns and comparing them to human flu bugs. they also mapped the complete genome for 169 bird flu viruses. the work doubles the amount of genetic information available on avian flu. the team honed in on a gene called ns 1. after looking at nearly 1, 200 bird, human and swine ns 1 proteins, they found a particular feature of that gene which is unique in bird viruses and different from human ones. in bird viruses, the gene produces a protein that allows the virus to bind to " scaffolding " proteins inside human cells. " it ' s like a large number of policemen being held hostage. society falls apart, " says mcgeer. in human viruses, the protein doesn ' t bind to certain cells, which may explain why they ' re not as virulent. it hasn ' t been proven yet. " but, we think that if you interfere with that many proteins in cells, you ' re going to have a deleterious consequences, " said author dr. clayton naeve of st. jude. the finding fits with what doctors on the ground in asia have seen : the h5n1 virus can attack not just the airways, like regular flu, but multiple organs and systems, including the kidney, liver, spleen and brain. infection has been fatal in more than half the reported cases, and most cases occur in previously healthy children and young adults. the h5n1 avian flu sweeping across asia has this " bird " form of the protein. the milder pandemics of 1957 and 1968 had the " human " one. the 1918 spanish flu virus, which scientists now believe came from birds, had a very similar " bird " protein that the researchers believe behaves the same way. the protein could become a key target for the development of vaccines and new anti - flu drugs. mcgeer says the research answers " a big piece of the puzzle. " does it tell you h5n1 is going to be the next pandemic? no. what it does is add to our understanding of the evolution of influenza viruses. " naeve says it is possible that whatever makes h5n1 so pathogenic, or toxic to humans, could persist even if the virus adapts to spread easily from humans to humans, and becomes pandemic. if or when that happens is


naeve says it is possible that whatever makes h5n1 so pathogenic, or toxic to humans, could persist even if the virus adapts to spread easily from humans to humans, and becomes pandemic. if or when that happens is anyone ' s guess. some virologists believe h5n1 is not going to be the next human pandemic. the virus, which surfaced in hong kong in 1997, has been in contact with humans for eight years " and we haven ' t seen the required mutation, " says dr. james mahony, a professor of pathology and molecular medicine at mcmaster university. the 1918 virus, by contrast, jumped from birds to humans and was quickly lethal. on thursday, indonesia reported that a 22 - year - old chicken seller infected with the h5n1 virus died, the country ' s 15th death from bird flu. china on wednesday confirmed the country ' s 10th case of human infection with h5n1, a 29 - year - old woman from chengdu city in the province of sichuan. it ' s not known if she was exposed to infected birds. the virus has infected 152 people in six countries since 2003, killing 84 of them. at least some species of migratory birds are carrying the virus to new areas along migratory flyways, according to a report presented this week to the who ' s executive board, and the chance the virus will spread to poultry in new areas " is now high. " health officials in canada are monitoring the outbreak of bird flu in turkey, where two people have died. " to date, people are still convinced there is no efficient human to human transmission, " says tam, associate director of the immunization and respiratory infections division at the public health agency of canada. but, " we really have no idea how this virus will behave next if it undergoes some mutation. " the updated influenza pandemic plan will include recommendations for the use of masks. droplets, or larger " blobs " of secretions primarily spread flu. general surgical masks should be enough should a pandemic happen, tam says. " public health experts feel that putting a mask on an ill person when they ' re coughing or sneezing and have to move around... is a sensible thing to do. " having well people milling about on the streets wearing masks all the time, we don ' t know if it ' s effective or not. " the public focus will be on hand hygiene, tam says. infowars : because there ' s


s. l. baker january 19, 2012 when natural health advocates warn against mainstream medicine ’ s arsenal of weapons used to fight cancer, including chemotherapy and radiation, their concerns often revolve around how these therapies can weaken and damage a person ’ s body in numerous ways. but scientists are finding other reasons to question some of these therapies. it turns out that while chemotherapies may kill or shrink tumors in the short term, they may actually be causing malignancies to grow more deadly in the long term. for example, natural news previously reported : ( http : / / www. naturalnews. com / 029042 _ cancer _ cells _ chemotherapy. html ) that scientists at the university of alabama at birmingham ( uab ) comprehensive cancer center and uab department of chemistry are currently investigating the very real possibility that dead cancer cells left over after chemotherapy spark cancer to spread to other parts of the body ( metastasis ). and now comes news that a little - explored specific cell type, the pericyte, found in what is called themicroenvironmentof a cancerous tumor actually may halt cancer progression and metastasis. and by destroying these cells, some anti - cancer therapies may inadvertently be making cancer more aggressive as well as likely to spread and kill. a study just published in the january 17 issue of the journalcancer cellconcludes that anti - angiogenic therapies ( which shrink cancer by cutting off tumors ’ blood supply ) may be killing the body ’ s natural defense against cancer by destroying pericyte cells that likely serve as important gatekeepers against cancer progression and metastasis. pericytes cover blood vessels and support their growth. for the new research, raghu kalluri, md, phd, chief of the division of matrix biology at beth israel deaconess medical center ( bidmc ) and professor of medicine at harvard medical school ( hms ), investigated whether targeting pericytes could inhibit tumor growth in the same way that other antiangiogenic cancer drugs do. dr. kalluri and his research team worked with mice genetically engineered to support drug - induced depletion of pericytes in growing tumors. next, they removed pericytes in implanted mouse breast cancer tumors, decreasing pericyte numbers by 60 percent. compared with control animals, there was a 30 percent decrease in the size of cancerous tumors over 25 days. but there was a serious catch to these results. contrary to


implanted mouse breast cancer tumors, decreasing pericyte numbers by 60 percent. compared with control animals, there was a 30 percent decrease in the size of cancerous tumors over 25 days. but there was a serious catch to these results. contrary to conventional mainsteam medical wisdom, the scientists discovered the number of secondary lung tumors in the engineered mice had increased threefold compared to the control mice, indicating that the tumors had metastasized. how cancer drugs can spread cancer cells “ if you just looked at tumor growth, the results were good, ” dr. kalluri said in a press statement. “ but when you looked at the whole picture, inhibiting tumor vessels was not controlling cancer progression. the cancer was, in fact, spreading. this suggested to us that without supportive pericytes, the vasculature inside the tumor was becoming weak and leaky — even more so than it already is inside most tumors – and this was reducing the flow of oxygen to the tumor. ” that change, he explains, makes cancer cells more mobile, so they can travel through those leaky vessels to new locations. it also makes cancer cells behave more like stem cells, so they are better able to survive. because cancer therapies such as imatinib, sunitinib and others are known to decrease pericytes in tumors, the scientists next carried out the same experiments in mice with primary tumors. only this time, they used the chemotherapy drugs imatinib and sunitinib instead of genetic programs to decrease pericyte numbers. both imatinib and sunitinib caused 70 percent pericyte depletion — and they also increased metastasis threefold. in order to see if their findings are relevant to human patients, the research team examined 130 breast cancer tumor samples of varying cancer stages and tumor sizes and compared pericyte levels with prognoses. the result? the samples with low numbers of pericytes in tumor vasculature correlated with the most deeply invasive cancers, distant metastasis and five to ten year survival rates less than 20 percent. “ these results are quite provocative and will influence clinical programs designed to target tumor angiogenesis, ” ronald a. depinho, president of the university of texas md anderson cancer center, said in a press statement. “ these impressive studies will inform and refine potential therapeutic approaches for many cancers. ” for more information : this article was posted : thursday, january 19, 2012 at 5 : 52 am


daily inspirationlearn to care about yourself enough to be around others who are caring, and accept that you cannot make others care. by dr. margaret paul five reasons to stop saying good jobby alfie kohn send this article to a friend must reading for every parent. find out why saying " good job! " creates many negative consequences for your child. hang out at a playground, visit a school, or show up at a child ' s birthday party, and there ' s one phrase you can count on hearing repeatedly : " good job! " even tiny infants are praised for smacking their hands together ( " good clapping! " ). many of us blurt out these judgments of our children to the point that it has become almost a verbal tic. plenty of books and articles advise us against relying on punishment, from spanking to forcible isolation ( " time out " ). occasionally someone will even ask us to rethink the practice of bribing children with stickers or food. but you ' ll have to look awfully hard to find a discouraging word about what is euphemistically called positive reinforcement. lest there be any misunderstanding, the point here is not to call into question the importance of supporting and encouraging children, the need to love them and hug them and help them feel good about themselves. praise, however, is a different story entirely. here ' s why. 1. manipulating children. suppose you offer a verbal reward to reinforce the behavior of a two - year - old who eats without spilling, or a five - year - old who cleans up her art supplies. who benefits from this? is it possible that telling kids they ' ve done a good job may have less to do with their emotional needs than with our convenience? rheta devries, a professor of education at the university of northern iowa, refers to this as " sugar - coated control. " very much like tangible rewards - or, for that matter, punishments - it ' s a way of doing something to children to get them to comply with our wishes. it may be effective at producing this result ( at least for a while ), but it ' s very different from working with kids - for example, by engaging them in conversation about what makes a classroom ( or family ) function smoothly, or how other people are affected by what we have done - - or failed to do. the latter approach is not only more respectful but more likely to help kids become thoughtful people. the reason praise can work in the


( or family ) function smoothly, or how other people are affected by what we have done - - or failed to do. the latter approach is not only more respectful but more likely to help kids become thoughtful people. the reason praise can work in the short run is that young children are hungry for our approval. but we have a responsibility not to exploit that dependence for our own convenience. a " good job! " to reinforce something that makes our lives a little easier can be an example of taking advantage of children ' s dependence. kids may also come to feel manipulated by this, even if they can ' t quite explain why. 2. creating praise junkies. to be sure, not every use of praise is a calculated tactic to control children ' s behavior. sometimes we compliment kids just because we ' re genuinely pleased by what they ' ve done. even then, however, it ' s worth looking more closely. rather than bolstering a child ' s self - esteem, praise may increase kids ' dependence on us. the more we say, " i like the way you.. " or " good _ _ _ _ _ _ ing, " the more kids come to rely on our evaluations, our decisions about what ' s good and bad, rather than learning to form their own judgments. it leads them to measure their worth in terms of what will lead us to smile and dole out some more approval. mary budd rowe, a researcher at the university of florida, discovered that students who were praised lavishly by their teachers were more tentative in their responses, more apt to answer in a questioning tone of voice ( " um, seven? " ). they tended to back off from an idea they had proposed as soon as an adult disagreed with them. and they were less likely to persist with difficult tasks or share their ideas with other students. in short, " good job! " doesn ' t reassure children ; ultimately, it makes them feel less secure. it may even create a vicious circle such that the more we slather on the praise, the more kids seem to need it, so we praise them some more. sadly, some of these kids will grow into adults who continue to need someone else to pat them on the head and tell them whether what they did was ok. surely this is not what we want for our daughters and sons. 3. stealing a child ' s pleasure. apart from the issue of dependence, a child deserves to take delight in her accomplishments, to feel pride in what she ' s learned how


. surely this is not what we want for our daughters and sons. 3. stealing a child ' s pleasure. apart from the issue of dependence, a child deserves to take delight in her accomplishments, to feel pride in what she ' s learned how to do. she also deserves to decide when to feel that way. every time we say, " good job! ", though, we ' re telling a child how to feel. to be sure, there are times when our evaluations are appropriate and our guidance is necessary - - especially with toddlers and preschoolers. but a constant stream of value judgments is neither necessary nor useful for children ' s development. unfortunately, we may not have realized that " good job! " is just as much an evaluation as " bad job! " the most notable feature of a positive judgment isn ' t that it ' s positive, but that it ' s a judgment. and people, including kids, don ' t like being judged. i cherish the occasions when my daughter manages to do something for the first time, or does something better than she ' s ever done it before. but i try to resist the knee - jerk tendency to say, " good job! " because i don ' t want to dilute her joy. i want her to share her pleasure with me, not look to me for a verdict. i want her to exclaim, " i did it! " ( which she often does ) instead of asking me uncertainly, " was that good? " 4. losing interest. " good painting! " may get children to keep painting for as long as we keep watching and praising. but, warns lilian katz, one of the country ' s leading authorities on early childhood education, " once attention is withdrawn, many kids won ' t touch the activity again. " indeed, an impressive body of scientific research has shown that the more we reward people for doing something, the more they tend to lose interest in whatever they had to do to get the reward. now the point isn ' t to draw, to read, to think, to create - the point is to get the goody, whether it ' s an ice cream, a sticker, or a " good job! " in a troubling study conducted by joan grusec at the university of toronto, young children who were frequently praised for displays of generosity tended to be slightly less generous on an everyday basis than other children were. every time they had heard " good sharing! " or " i ' m so


grusec at the university of toronto, young children who were frequently praised for displays of generosity tended to be slightly less generous on an everyday basis than other children were. every time they had heard " good sharing! " or " i ' m so proud of you for helping, " they became a little less interested in sharing or helping. those actions came to be seen not as something valuable in their own right but as something they had to do to get that reaction again from an adult. generosity became a means to an end. does praise motivate kids? sure. it motivates kids to get praise. alas, that ' s often at the expense of commitment to whatever they were doing that prompted the praise. 5. reducing achievement. as if it weren ' t bad enough that " good job! " can undermine independence, pleasure, and interest, it can also interfere with how good a job children actually do. researchers keep finding that kids who are praised for doing well at a creative task tend to stumble at the next task - and they don ' t do as well as children who weren ' t praised to begin with. why does this happen? partly because the praise creates pressure to " keep up the good work " that gets in the way of doing so. partly because their interest in what they ' re doing may have declined. partly because they become less likely to take risks - a prerequisite for creativity - once they start thinking about how to keep those positive comments coming. more generally, " good job! " is a remnant of an approach to psychology that reduces all of human life to behaviors that can be seen and measured. unfortunately, this ignores the thoughts, feelings, and values that lie behind behaviors. for example, a child may share a snack with a friend as a way of attracting praise, or as a way of making sure the other child has enough to eat. praise for sharing ignores these different motives. worse, it actually promotes the less desirable motive by making children more likely to fish for praise in the future. once you start to see praise for what it is - and what it does - these constant little evaluative eruptions from adults start to produce the same effect as fingernails being dragged down a blackboard. you begin to root for a child to give his teachers or parents a taste of their own treacle by turning around to them and saying ( in the same saccharine tone of voice ), " good praising! " still, it ' s not an easy habit to break. it can seem strange


teachers or parents a taste of their own treacle by turning around to them and saying ( in the same saccharine tone of voice ), " good praising! " still, it ' s not an easy habit to break. it can seem strange, at least at first, to stop praising ; it can feel as though you ' re being chilly or withholding something. but that, it soon becomes clear, suggests that we praise more because we need to say it than because children need to hear it. whenever that ' s true, it ' s time to rethink what we ' re doing. what kids do need is unconditional support, love with no strings attached. that ' s not just different from praise - it ' s the opposite of praise. " good job! " is conditional. it means we ' re offering attention and acknowledgement and approval for jumping through our hoops, for doing things that please us. this point, you ' ll notice, is very different from a criticism that some people offer to the effect that we give kids too much approval, or give it too easily. they recommend that we become more miserly with our praise and demand that kids " earn " it. but the real problem isn ' t that children expect to be praised for everything they do these days. it ' s that we ' re tempted to take shortcuts, to manipulate kids with rewards instead of explaining and helping them to develop needed skills and good values. so what ' s the alternative? that depends on the situation, but whatever we decide to say instead has to be offered in the context of genuine affection and love for who kids are rather than for what they ' ve done. when unconditional support is present, " good job! " isn ' t necessary ; when it ' s absent, " good job! " won ' t help. if we ' re praising positive actions as a way of discouraging misbehavior, this is unlikely to be effective for long. even when it works, we can ' t really say the child is now " behaving himself " ; it would be more accurate to say the praise is behaving him. the alternative is to work with the child, to figure out the reasons he ' s acting that way. we may have to reconsider our own requests rather than just looking for a way to get kids to obey. ( instead of using " good job! " to get a four - year - old to sit quietly through a long class meeting or


. we may have to reconsider our own requests rather than just looking for a way to get kids to obey. ( instead of using " good job! " to get a four - year - old to sit quietly through a long class meeting or family dinner, perhaps we should ask whether it ' s reasonable to expect a child to do so. ) we also need to bring kids in on the process of making decisions. if a child is doing something that disturbs others, then sitting down with her later and asking, " what do you think we can do to solve this problem? " will likely be more effective than bribes or threats. it also helps a child learn how to solve problems and teaches that her ideas and feelings are important. of course, this process takes time and talent, care and courage. tossing off a " good job! " when the child acts in the way we deem appropriate takes none of those things, which helps to explain why " doing to " strategies are a lot more popular than " working with " strategies. and what can we say when kids just do something impressive? consider three possible responses : * say nothing. some people insist a helpful act must be " reinforced " because, secretly or unconsciously, they believe it was a fluke. if children are basically evil, then they have to be given an artificial reason for being nice ( namely, to get a verbal reward ). but if that cynicism is unfounded - and a lot of research suggests that it is - then praise may not be necessary. * say what you saw. a simple, evaluation - free statement ( " you put your shoes on by yourself " or even just " you did it " ) tells your child that you noticed. it also lets her take pride in what she did. in other cases, a more elaborate description may make sense. if your child draws a picture, you might provide feedback - not judgment - about what you noticed : " this mountain is huge! " " boy, you sure used a lot of purple today! " if a child does something caring or generous, you might gently draw his attention to the effect of his action on the other person : " look at abigail ' s face! she seems pretty happy now that you gave her some of your snack. " this is completely different from praise, where the emphasis is on how you feel about her sharing. * talk less, ask more. even better than descriptions are questions. why tell him what part of his drawing impressed you when you can ask him what


" this is completely different from praise, where the emphasis is on how you feel about her sharing. * talk less, ask more. even better than descriptions are questions. why tell him what part of his drawing impressed you when you can ask him what he likes best about it? asking " what was the hardest part to draw? " or " how did you figure out how to make the feet the right size? " is likely to nourish his interest in drawing. saying " good job! ", as we ' ve seen, may have exactly the opposite effect. this doesn ' t mean that all compliments, all thank - you ' s, all expressions of delight are harmful. we need to consider our motives for what we say ( a genuine expression of enthusiasm is better than a desire to manipulate the child ' s future behavior ) as well as the actual effects of doing so. are our reactions helping the child to feel a sense of control over her life - - or to constantly look to us for approval? are they helping her to become more excited about what she ' s doing in its own right - or turning it into something she just wants to get through in order to receive a pat on the head. it ' s not a matter of memorizing a new script, but of keeping in mind our long - term goals for our children and watching for the effects of what we say. the bad news is that the use of positive reinforcement really isn ' t so positive. the good news is that you don ' t have to evaluate in order to encourage. # # # copyright 2001 by alfie kohn. this article may be downloaded, reproduced, and distributed without permission as long as each copy includes this notice along with citation information ( i. e., name of the periodical in which it originally appeared, date of publication, and author ' s name ). permission must be obtained in order to reprint this article in a published work or in order to offer it for sale in any form. please write to the address indicated on the contact page at www. alfiekohn. org. http : / / www. alfiekohn. org alfie kohn send this article to a friend print this article bookmarked 5 time ( s ) join the inner bonding community to add your comment to articles and see the comments of others...


people with autism can experience limitations in their intellectual functions, in their interpersonal development, in their adaptive behaviour and thinking, and in the language they use ( verbal and non verbal, in both semantic and pragmatic aspects ). in order to improve their functioning and achieve wellbeing on an emotional and physiological level, they need forms of support that are centred on the person, and based on an analysis of their particular needs. just like anybody else, they should have the opportunity to take part in family life, in school, in a job, and in their community in general. sources of support and opportunities to participate must be offered as early as possible and must continue for their entire livesand be adapted to match the evolution of the individual. professionals, families and the rest of society must be involved in the process. technologies can help autistic people and their social environment particularly in the sphere of education and communication. thanks to the personal adaptation and use of specific technology in their daily lives, we are observing that people with autism can be helped to relate better to others, to learn, and to feel better in themselves. the use of mobile devices also offers the possibility of using applications that help the user to communicate in different environments and places. these devices also allow families, educators and professionals to intervene in the educational process. their portability also enables users to perform learning activities any time, anywhere. in addition, the connectivity between mobile devices is very useful in performing communication and learning activities in a group setting, helping the integration of the user in their social environment. we are working on two projects that take advantage of these possibilities. the first is the sc @ ut project ( rodriguez et al., 2009 ) ( sc @ ut, 2011 ), for designing adapted communicators, which runs on computers, pocket pcs and nintendo ds. the second is picaa ( fernandez et al, 2009 ) ( picaa, 2011 ), a platform for creating adaptable and collaborative didactic activities via the iphone, ipod touch and ipad devices. in this paper we present the main characteristics of these devices and our experiences of their use, highlighting the benefits observed amongst the population using them. 2. related works in the context of interactive environments such as learning and teaching, several tools have been developed, for example : vtech ( vtech, 2011 ) has commercialized multiple products that combine entertaining electronic formats and engaging content that help children learn. however, these products are not targeted at children with special needs. jclic ( click, 2011 ) is an environment that


vtech ( vtech, 2011 ) has commercialized multiple products that combine entertaining electronic formats and engaging content that help children learn. however, these products are not targeted at children with special needs. jclic ( click, 2011 ) is an environment that allows the creation of individual activities, but it only runs on desktop computers. hot potatoes ( hot potatoes, 2011 ), a suite to create interactive multiple - choice, short - answer, jumbled - sentence, crossword, matching / ordering and gap - fill exercises for the world wide web. in ( schelhowe, 2009 ) a mobile application is presented, designed for people with special needs who exhibit a mild to severe level of mental disability. it is focused on fostering the learning process directly within the context of use, with a flexible learning speed and a fixed structure. a server is used to feed clients´ mobiles with learning materials that are adapted to the learner profile. a customization and decision engine is used to fulfil this objective. user profiles are provided by the application but they are not configurable. the teacher does not intervene in their creation and they cannot be modified. some learning applications have been developed for the iphone os system, such as iwritewords ( iwritewords, 2011 ). this teaches children handwriting while they play an entertaining game. meanwhile proloquo2go ( proloquo, 2011 ) is a product that provides a communication solution for people who have speaking difficulties. these applications are designed for individual use only and they are not configurable. none of these systems proposes an adaptive approach that takes into account professional directives in an educational context and user - specific needs, and nor do they provide mobility capabilities together with functionalities for cooperative work. in the following sections we present two of our products that are being used by autistic people for communication and learning. 3. communication - the sc @ ut project language is the main medium for communication and information. it is an instrument to structure thinking, and to regulate the personality and social behaviour. language allows us to express what is inside. lack of communication can impoverish a person as it can make them come across as unfriendly, provoking anomalous behaviours that affect their social relationships and their life in general. augmentative and alternative communication systems ( aac ) ( mirenda, 2003 ) help people with the above mentioned problems to communicate, and enable them to be trained in social abilities. when making interventions relating to language, the


life in general. augmentative and alternative communication systems ( aac ) ( mirenda, 2003 ) help people with the above mentioned problems to communicate, and enable them to be trained in social abilities. when making interventions relating to language, the use of total communication ( schlesinger, 1986 ) is a good choice. total communication includes the use of images ( pictograms, photos, or drawings ), sounds ( words or sentences ), written language and gestures during the communication process. all of these media provide alternative forms of support to people with cognitive problems, such as autistic people, because they help the individual communicate with others ( schaeffer et al, 1980 ). in the next section we describe sc @ ut, the tool that we have developed to provide aac, with total communication. its main advantages over other systems are that it is adaptable to the user at interface and content levels, and that it can run in mobile devices. 3. 1. sc @ ut - description sc @ ut consists of two applications : the communicator and the generator of communicators. a communicator is an electronic device for supporting augmentative and alternative communication. the sc @ ut communicator shows a structure of templates with images, similar to a communication board made with paper. images can be pictograms, photos or drawings, which represent objects that the user can ask for, actions that can be carried out or things that the user wants to say ( feelings or opinions, for instance ) ( figure 1 ). when an image is selected, an associated sound, previously stored, is heard. this sound, which can be a word or a sentence, represents reinforcement for the user and allows people who listen to it to know what the user wants. moreover, our communicator provides links between templates. visiting a new template is possible from a previous one, when a specific image is selected in it. this navigation between templates allows the construction of structured sentences, or the classification of actions and elements. an animated pictogram can be also shown when an image is selected. we have used this property to support total communication, presenting an animated character that performs a gesture, showing the text and sound associated ( figure 2 ). we have drawn 2, 200 animated pictograms ( aumentativa, 2011 ) from the gesture language of benson - schaeffer. the vocabulary of this language has been designed to be used by people with cognitive impairment


figure 2 ). we have drawn 2, 200 animated pictograms ( aumentativa, 2011 ) from the gesture language of benson - schaeffer. the vocabulary of this language has been designed to be used by people with cognitive impairment as an alternative language with which to communicate. as figure 2 shows, sc @ ut provides a version for the nintendods portable game console. the arrival of the nintendo ds game console in the market was presented as an interesting possibility, offering several advantages over other devices : feedback : two screens ( one of them touch ) allowing more possibilities of interaction. multimedia : being a gaming device, it offers tremendous multimedia capabilities ( sound, video, graphics ). battery life : approximately 11 hours. robustness : a device intended to be used by children ( bumps and scratches on the screen ). motivation : commercial games can also be used in addition, or as a reward for the child. thanks to the new possibilities that this offers it is possible to introduce new functionality in the communicator, taking full advantage of nintendo ds features, such as new concepts based on visual and auditory stimulation, in addition, of course, to its work as a communicator. being a two - screen device, the top screen can be used to provide feedback. thus animations can be shown without losing the context of the action, presenting the cause and the effect of the action together. this helps to identify the sound and image with the concept, and therefore promotes learning. the second tool provided by sc @ ut is the generator. it is used by educators and families to create and modify communicators, which are adapted to the needs, capabilities, interests, abilities and evolution of users. the generator allows the user profile and the templates for each user to be specified ( figure 3 ). for example, it offers the possibility of indicating the order in which the images of a template can be selected, and the time during which an image is shown, avoiding the selection of another one. in addition, it allows an agenda and a timetable of actions for each day of the week to be designed, thus helping users to know what can they do and to organize their time. 3. 2. sc @ ut - experience of use we have been working on this project since 2006. sc @ ut has been used under controlled conditions by approximately 100 handicapped people, mainly with autism, from the south of spain ( andalusia ), at educational centres and schools, but also at occupational units for adults. the duration of the


2006. sc @ ut has been used under controlled conditions by approximately 100 handicapped people, mainly with autism, from the south of spain ( andalusia ), at educational centres and schools, but also at occupational units for adults. the duration of the interventions varied from six months to one year, depending on the population and teachers. the overall objective of our studies had been to show the benefits of using sc @ ut amongst people with severe problems of language and communication and of differing ages, for which we propose the following study hypotheses : h1 : the use of sc @ ut by autistic adults and school - age students improves communication, language development and learning. h2 : improving communication leads to the reduction of disruptive and challenging behaviour. h3 : sc @ ut supports total communication, helping teachers to adapt and customize the content and structure of the communicators. in addition, we also propose the following objectives : to give support to teachers and families who use these tools at any time. to collect user feedback and improve the tool and its usability to make it more flexible and adaptable to the difficulties that people with alternative communication needs may have. to promote the university ' s commitment to society. the intervention process was performed in the following stages : definition of hypotheses to be validated in the project. presentation of the project to address the participating institutions and professionals. training of professionals involved in the systems of augmentative and alternative communication, the use of icts, in particular the sc @ ut program. providing them information on the process to be followed in the study and the materials to be used. evaluation and selection of candidate students participating in the intervention. in selecting students we consider their communication needs and their scope for interaction according to their cognitive and motor limitations. their experience with alternative augmentative communication systems is also taken into account. in addition, we identify the communicative behaviours of users that can be improved with communication support. implementation – intervention with sc @ ut as a communication system : performing a pre - test amongst all participants. for each student, choosing the device to use, from among all those available, according to which one will be best suited to his / her needs. selecting pictograms, photographs, sounds, videos, scenarios and animations of sign language gestures. for each student, designing his / her personal communicator : the user profile for the presentation of content and interaction, templates, and the agenda. use of the communicator by the


scenarios and animations of sign language gestures. for each student, designing his / her personal communicator : the user profile for the presentation of content and interaction, templates, and the agenda. use of the communicator by the student two or three times weekly for approximately forty - five minutes each time. the professionals can make adjustments and modifications to the communicator during the intervention to adapt to the progress and responses from the student. involving tutors and family to generalize what they learned in other settings. the development team visits the users to interview the professionals and families, and observe the use of programs. evaluation of results from the pre - test, undertaking the post - test, distributing questionnaires to gather the opinions of the professionals concerned, and video recording in some cases. this allows the validity of the hypotheses to be checked. modification of software to fix bugs detected and incorporate participants´ suggestions for improvement and feedback from questionnaires and observations made during the visits of the development team for monitoring. creation of a website providing free download of the software. dissemination via conferences, training courses and journals. 3. 3. sc @ ut benefits all of the autistic people that participated in the study had specific communicative limitations. at best, they only spoke single words, which could only be understood by their parents and close relatives. not all had this form of expression, making it very difficult to understand them. some of them used gestures ( three or four at most ), while others simply looked to the interlocutor in the hope they would guess their needs. several students presented disruptive behaviour, for instance they appeared to be in despair because they felt misunderstood, and this led them to cry, scream, throw a tantrum and self - harm or, in extreme cases, assault their classmates or adults responsible for their care. they commonly presented a lack of communication, and visible isolation. we performed the statistical studies in real situations with a degree of quasi - experimental control as we left many variables ( staff, facilities, schedules, illnesses, absenteeism, etc. ) without control. for the purpose of testing assumptions, we used nonparametric tests, in particular, the mann - whitney u test and the wald - wolfowitz test. the number of individuals involved in a first study, only for autistic students, was 22. the second study involves 67 students ( 80 % with autism ). we used observation questionnaires as the exam of the existing abilities of communication,


. the number of individuals involved in a first study, only for autistic students, was 22. the second study involves 67 students ( 80 % with autism ). we used observation questionnaires as the exam of the existing abilities of communication, the communication interview and a scale of evaluation of the communicative pattern in deficient subjects. observing the values obtained by the tests in the control and experimental groups, in both experiments, we conclude that the degree of significance is high. it implies that intervention is effective, concluding that sc @ ut helps students in several of the aspects suggested by baumgart ( baumgart, 1990 ) : decreased disruptive behaviours : some students worked specifically to display communication options to prevent such conduct, and others exhibited less disruptive behaviour simply because of feeling better understood and increased personal satisfaction. improved oral language through auditory and visual reinforcement and systematic work : for those individuals with opportunities to develop oral language, sc @ ut represents a useful speech tool when phrases or words constructed with the communicator are repeated. some individuals even learn to anticipate particular components, after confirming that the device tells them what they already know. the verbal label associated with the concepts is useful for helping students to read, being a tool of learning and reinforcement. helps solve communication issues : the student can access a wide range of templates to be used in different scenarios to express needs, feelings and ideas. in some individuals, the templates have been used to train in social skills and respond to daily situations. reduced level of anxiety, which affects daily living and learning. in particular, the improved communication calms the user, and their level of anxiety caused by misunderstanding of the social environment is brought down to more acceptable levels. increasing the impulse to communicate : once they feel confident that they will be understood, some individuals begin to take the lead on communication and participation, which was unthinkable before the intervention. learning and consolidation of gestural vocabulary, increasing the use of gestures for communication : this implies that the student has internalized the gesture as a means of communication, making it independent of any external communication device and promoting spontaneity. we think the use of characters with these signs is more stimulating and encourages users to imitate them. despite the use of sign language, users must continue with the device to communicate with people who do not understand his / her gestures. improved communication between peers and teachers, thus promoting integration and standardization in their social environment. we have also proved that sc @ ut helps teachers and family, concluding


users must continue with the device to communicate with people who do not understand his / her gestures. improved communication between peers and teachers, thus promoting integration and standardization in their social environment. we have also proved that sc @ ut helps teachers and family, concluding the following : the generator helps the professional to make a personalized intervention, allowing them to adapt templates, the number and size of pictograms, photographs and images and sounds, animations, etc. it also facilitates the modification of the communicators when the student progresses. improved coordination between professionals and family. in many cases, this improvement is thanks to the interest shown by the student, which led to his or her speech therapist communicating with their tutors and parents to share the experience with them. the familiarity of the supporting devices, and the low cost and free devices of the computer program have also encouraged some families to use sc @ ut in their homes. professionals from occupational centres and day - stay units are grateful for the initial training that was given in augmentative and alternative communication and the use of icts for education. in general, they are specialists in specific fields ( such as ceramics, graphic arts, textiles, etc. ) but not in aac. with regard to interventions using pictograms with signs, the professionals value their utility in teaching the total communication model to the students. table 1 summarises the contributions of sc @ ut. sc @ ut has been developed for the linux platform, thanks to a project funded by the consorcio fernando de los rios, spain. the usability of the generator tool has also been improved. 4. learning - picaa learning to read, write, make calculations and solve problems is the basis for living an autonomous life and for being integrated both at work and in daily life. education of people with cognitive impairments, including those with autism, must begin as early as possible. people with autism require ongoing intervention that has to be systematic and based on personal motivation. the person has to work on each task in accordance with their skills, bearing in mind that their personal work rhythm and learning style may differ from those of others. therefore, individualization of the learning process is necessary. however, at the same time, the students must learn to interact with others. cooperative learning in a classroom setting prepares them to perform daily activities and to integrate in their social environment. cooperative learning ( johnson et al, 2000 ) is a pedagogical method that applies some of the ideas from social constructivism, a psycho - peda


in a classroom setting prepares them to perform daily activities and to integrate in their social environment. cooperative learning ( johnson et al, 2000 ) is a pedagogical method that applies some of the ideas from social constructivism, a psycho - pedagogical paradigm based on the theories of vigotsky and piaget. cooperative learning requires students to work together on a common task. it promotes the personal growth processes, developing the potential of each individual to learn by himself or with others in different situations. therefore, it is very useful for students with cognitive impairments. the teacher intervenes to create activities and to assign group learning tasks, manages time and resources, and monitors whether the students and groups are working well ( smith, 1996 ). the main contributions that the cooperative relationship can offer the students with autism are ( barkley, 2005 ) : teachers and classmates can act as role models to imitate ; opportunities to do, to say and to feel ; team and personal auto - regulation ; observing different perspectives from a same subject ; constant positive reinforcement ; and development of cognitive, social and affective abilities. the use of technology allows the learning content and user interaction to be adapted, helping the teachers to design personalized learning activities that can be carried out in a group setting. the tactile interaction on mobile devices, which includes learning activities with multimedia content, stimulates the students, gains their attention and reinforces their learning. picaa, a learning mobile platform for teachers and students which provides an adaptive and cooperative learning tool, works to this particular objective. 4. 1. picaa - description picaa integrates, in a single application running on a mobile device, features that allows children and educators to interact with different elements, according to the actions they will carry out and the educational approach. its main objective is to facilitate the user ’ s curricular adaptation by the educator. learning activities and content must be sufficiently flexible to adapt to the characteristics of each user and integrate the personal data of their inner world, respecting their own particular work rhythm. activities must be also modified by educators according to user progress or changes in his or her environment. the content, structure and user interface of the applications can be adapted depending on such requirements in order to achieve accessible applications. this is very useful because there are many differences between the interests and learning needs of autistic children, therefore the personalization of learning activities is essential in class. the picaa platform allows four kinds of activities to be defined that cover the basic learning tasks. the kinds of activities designed are


differences between the interests and learning needs of autistic children, therefore the personalization of learning activities is essential in class. the picaa platform allows four kinds of activities to be defined that cover the basic learning tasks. the kinds of activities designed are : exploration : sequencing of screens to navigate across a hypermedia system. this allows simple communicators, agendas or stories to be created. images, sounds and animations are presented. ( figure 4 ). association : assignation of elements to sets. this provides a basis for memory exercises, calculation, discrimination and categorization. ( figure 5. a ). puzzle : includes pieces with different shapes and numbers. ( figure 5. b ). sort : consists of items that the student must put in the correct sequence. this activity can be performed with graphics or text. ( figure 5. c ). these activities are aimed at developing the following skills and abilities : perception and visual and auditory discrimination. acquisition and expansion of vocabulary and understanding of meaning. development of memory. improvement of phonetics, syntax and pragmatics of language. working hand - eye coordination ( fine motor ). examining assumptions, conclusions and interpretations. learning cause and effect. generalization of concepts. managing notions of space / time. development of attitudes such as responsibility, cooperation and collaboration. development of skills for handling numbers and their applications. learning strategies for soling simple problems. the application is available for three types of devices : the iphone smartphone, the ipod touch device and the ipad tablet ( figure 6 ). picaa, as with sc @ ut, differentiates between two kinds of use. as we have seen, the students can perform activities, but, the educators can also use it to define user profiles, design the activities and plan a daily agenda ( figure 7 ). the educator can configure aspects of the activities relative to their content and presentation, for instance : number of components or concepts to be taught, screen composition, screen position ( rotation or not ), multimedia used to represent the components, difficulty level ( goals of the exercise, working out the punctuation ), reinforcements and help to the users. figure 7 shows how to design one of the exercises and the personal agenda. additionally, the educator can configure some of the rules to be considered when working in a group context. for instance, the order to be followed when selecting components and the information that the users can see about the interaction performed by other users when they work in a group ( number of participants,


of the rules to be considered when working in a group context. for instance, the order to be followed when selecting components and the information that the users can see about the interaction performed by other users when they work in a group ( number of participants, orderly turns, punctuation, etc. ). 4. 2. picaa - experience of use we began to develop picaa in 2009. it is available for free, in both english and spanish, at the online store app store where it has been downloaded by over 4, 000 users worldwide. to include the educators and students in the development and validation process, we performed a pilot project during a school term. the overall objective of picaa was to serve as a support tool for people with learning disabilities and poor communication, for which we propose the following hypotheses : h1. the use of picaa in school improves communication, and facilitates learning and the development of language. h2. the integration of the tool on a completely mobile platform system favours adaptation by professionals, families and students. some 13 autistic children with ages ranging from 4 to 12 and their teachers participated in the pilot project at several schools from the andalusia and murcia regions of spain. picaa was mainly used for the following purposes : communicative use of exploration activities, as an aac tool. planning and anticipating circumstances through images based on what is going to happen. teaching specific topics from curricular areas by designing specific activities. working on reading and language comprehension. bits of intelligence. the intervention process was performed following the same stages as applied in the sc @ ut pilot. 4. 3. picaa benefits the participation of students and educators in the development process has been very useful because the resulting feedback and suggestions have allowed improvements to be made to the user interface, the tool to be more accessible and usable, and the functionality of the program to be more complete and versatile. table 2 summarizes the main benefits. the initial evaluation of teachers is very positive and highlights benefits both for themselves and for their students. we now summarize the main views expressed in the questionnaires that have permitted us to validate the initial hypotheses : they consider the tool to be simple and easy to use, highlighting the key advantage as being the capacity to both work on the device and make changes more quickly. thanks to its design and tactile interaction it is intuitive even for people with little knowledge of it. the multimedia resources used in activities are integrated into the device itself. using


being the capacity to both work on the device and make changes more quickly. thanks to its design and tactile interaction it is intuitive even for people with little knowledge of it. the multimedia resources used in activities are integrated into the device itself. using them is easy because the use of electronic resources means that no scissors, glue, paper, photocopying, recording, etc are required, and that the tool can be reused. students have the opportunity of performing activities that were not previously accessible to them, because both the interface and the content can be adapted. the students can perform the tasks anywhere, thanks to the mobility of the system. this allows their families to intervene in the educative process and facilitates their communication with the school environment. the use of electronic devices with multimedia content becomes more stimulating and attractive to students than traditional resources and in some cases may even be the only alternative for students with sensory limitations. mobile devices can be used to provide customized and integrated support for people with autism. we have designed two applications : sc @ ut for aac and picaa for learning. both of these can be configured by educators to enable users to follow their own work rhythm, and also integrate with peers, educators and family. the transfer of our experiences of these applications is easy considering that the software is free and available via the internet. the devices are inexpensive, readily available and in many cases already present in homes and schools. our recommendations for transfer are to follow a systematic approach to intervention and to promote widespread use by education professionals and families. regarding to the creation of software for people with special needs, we recommend a user - centred design, based on the participation of end users in the specification, design and evaluation of prototypes. in this sense, pilot studies are essential to validate the benefits, detect errors and draw on new suggestions from users to improve the programs and deliver quality products. as a working group, our assessment is positive and also highlighted the importance of the involvement of the university in applied projects, which may benefit disadvantaged sectors of society.


wednesday, november 17, 2010 digital medievalist rock stars martin foys and asa mittman in the new york times, an article on digital humanities featuring a photo of a looming martin at his dapper best : figuring out how to collect, house and connect more than 350 years of scholarship motivated martin k. foys, a medievalist at drew university in madison, n. j., to create a digital map of the bayeux tapestry, a gargantuan 11th - century embroidery displayed in a museum in bayeux, france, that depicts the battle of hastings, when the normans conquered england. at 224 feet long, about two - thirds the length of a football field, this tapestry is both a work of art and a historical document that mingles text and image. “ it is almost impossible to study traditionally, ” mr. foys said. no one person could digest the work ’ s enormous amount of material, and no single printing could render it accurately, so mr. foys created a prize - winning digital version with commentary that scholars could scroll through. such digital mapping has the potential to transform medieval studies, mr. foys said. his latest project, which he directs with shannon bradshaw, a computer scientist at drew, and asa simon mittman, an art historian from california state university, chico, is an online network of medieval maps and texts that scholars can work on simultaneously. once specific areas of maps are identified and tagged with information, it becomes possible to analyze and compare quantifiable data about images and sources, he explained, adding, “ we have a whole new set of tools not dominated by the written word. ” the online network of maps is distinct from most scholarly endeavors in another respect : it is communal. the traditional model of the solitary humanities professor, toiling away in an archive or spending years composing a philosophical treatise or historical opus is replaced in this project with contributions from a global community of experts. “ the ease with which a community can collaborate on the production of scholarship is something that is fundamentally changing the way we do our work, ” said mr. foys, whose 2007 book, “ virtually anglo - saxon, ” discusses the influence of technology on scholarship. read the whole story here.


machalski, franciszek, polish iranist ( b. braddock, pennsylvania, 1904 ; d. krakow, poland, 1979 ). machalski was born to a polish peasant family that was working in the united states. when he was six his parents returned to their small farm in zołynia, near łancut in southern poland. in 1924, in spite of his family ’ s very modest means, machalski entered the jan kazimierz university of lwow ( now lvov in western ukraine ), at that time a major academic center of southeastern poland. he first studied polish and german literatures, then became interested in sanskrit, taught by professor stefan stasiak ( 1884 - 1962 ), and finally choose islamic studies, headed by professor zygmunt smogorzewski ( 1884 - 1931 ). in 1930, under the supervision of the latter, he defended his doctoral thesis on the prophecy of muhammad, at the same time ( 1929 - 31 ) being employed as a vice - assistant at the chair of the history of islam. in 1931 - 39, machalski taught polish literature at the schools of the provincial cities of tłumacz and tarnopol. he then published two works on the oriental influence on polish modernist poetry ( machalski, 1932a and 1932b ), and one on naser kosrow ’ s safar - nama ( machalski, 1937 ). as a result of his world war ii experiences, he became seriously involved in iranian studies. soon after nazi germany attacked poland from the west on 1 september 1939, the red army entered its eastern provinces. under soviet occupation, massive deportations of polish citizens to siberia and central asia took place. machalski was arrested by the soviet secret police ( nkvd ) in june 1941, and passed through a long chain of detention camps and prisons, ending in verkhne - uralsk in kazakhstan. in the same month, hitler attacked the soviet union, which forced the soviets to join the allies. according to a treaty concluded between the polish government in exile and the kremlin ( sikorski - majski treaty of 30 july 1941 ), a polish army was created on soviet territory, and amnesty was announced for polish prisoners and deportees so that they could enlist. a part of this army ( of ca. 80, 000 ), under the command of general wladyslaw anders, together with some 40, 000 civilians, was allowed to leave the


polish prisoners and deportees so that they could enlist. a part of this army ( of ca. 80, 000 ), under the command of general wladyslaw anders, together with some 40, 000 civilians, was allowed to leave the ussr through its southern border to persia in order to join the allied forces operating in the mediterranean region. as a member of the polish troops, machalski entered persia through bandar - e pahlavi in april 1942, but was immediately sent to a military camp in palestine. he came back to tehran in the spring of 1943 under a scholarship granted to him by the polish society for iranian studies ( polskie towarzystwo studiow iranskich ), founded by a group of polish exiled professors and intellectuals in persia. during his three - year stay in persia ( 1943 - 46 ), while working as a teacher and supervisor of polish schools, machalski was involved in the activities of the society, first as its secretary, then its president, and board member of its bulletin ( studia iranskie - etudes iraniennes ), of which three volumes appeared in 1943 - 45. the activities of the society included research on different aspects of persian life and culture ( for this, scholarships were granted to young scholars and students ), cooperation with persian cultural and educational institutions ( most importantly the tehran university ), contacts with academics, writers, journalists, etc., as well as a program of introducing persian culture to polish refugees, and polish culture to the persians, through a series of lectures, publications, and meetings. due to his knowledge of basic ( literary rather than colloquial ) persian, acquired during his studies, machalski eagerly took on the role of interpreter and mediator. in this capacity, he made many personal contacts ( among others with saʿid nafisi, sayyed mohammad - ʿali jamalzada, mojtaba minovi, and bozorg ʿalavi, qq. v ), and acquired knowledge of everyday realities, and of intellectual and political life of persia. in 1945 he became a member of anjoman - e iransenasi ( society of iranian studies ) in tehran. machalski ’ s book of memoirs, wedrowki iranskie ( ` iranian wanderings, ’ machalski, 1960e ), although affected by communist censorship, is an interesting testimony of his experiences. in persia, machalski published some translations of classical and modern persian poetry ( machalski, 1944 and 1945b