|Liftoff to Learning: Lets Talk Robotics - NASA; Johnson Space Center|
This episode of Liftoff to Learning examines some of NASA’s robotic research and how robots are used in space exploration. Classroom scenes show robot study at the intermediate and high school level. Astronauts from STS-85 and STS-87 host the show. The program is intended for grades 5-12. To license this film and get a higher quality version for broadcast/film purposes, contact A/V Geeks LLC.
Keywords: NASA; robotics; STS-85; STS-87


General best practices for performance
You must plan for every feature in your app, and the same is true for performance. Planning for performance consists of determining what your performance-critical scenarios will be, defining what good performance means, and measuring early enough in the development process to ensure that you can be confident in your ability to hit your goals.
You don't need to completely understand the platform to reason about where you might need to improve performance. By knowing what parts of your code execute most frequently, you can determine the best places to optimize your app.
The users' experience is a basic way to define good performance. For example, an app's startup time can influence a user's perception of its performance. A user might consider the performance of an app's launch time of less than one second to be excellent, less than 5 seconds to be good, and greater than 5 seconds to be poor.
Sometimes you also have to consider other metrics that don't have a direct impact on the user experience. An example of this is memory consumption. When an app uses large amounts of memory, it takes it from the rest of the system, causing the system as a whole to appear sluggish to the user. It is difficult to have a goal on overall sluggishness of the system, so having a goal on memory consumption is reasonable.
When defining your performance goals, take into consideration the perceived size of your app. Users’ expectations for the performance of your app may be influenced by their qualitative perception of how big your app is, and you should take into account whether your users will consider your app to be small, medium, or large. As an example, you might want a small app that doesn't use a lot of media to consume less than 100MB of memory.
As part of your plan, you define all of the points during development where you will measure performance. Measuring performance serve different purposes depending on whether measure during the prototyping, development, or deployment phase of your project. In all cases, measure on a representative device so that you get accurate info. For more info about how to measure your app’s performance in Visual Studio, see Analyzing the performance of Windows Windows Store apps.
Measuring your app’s performance during the early stages of prototyping can add tremendous value to your project. We recommend that you measure performance as soon as you have code that does meaningful work. Early measurements give you a good idea of where the important costs are in your app, and inform design decisions. This results in high performing apps that scale well. It can be very costly to change design decisions later on in the project. Measuring performance too late in the product cycle can result in last minute hacks and poor performance.
Measuring your app’s performance during development time helps you:
- Determine if you are on track to meet your goals.
- If you are not on track, find out early if you need to make structural changes, such as data representation, in order to get back on track.
You don't need to optimize every part of your app, and performance improvements to the majority of your code usually don't result in a material difference to the user. Measure your app's performance to identify the high traffic areas in your code, and focus on getting good performance in only those areas. Often, there is a trade-off between creating software that follows good design practices and writing code that performs at the highest optimization. It is generally better to prioritize developer productivity and good software design in areas where performance is not a concern.
Windows 8 can run on many devices under a variety of circumstances and it is impossible for you to simulate all the conditions in which your app will run. Collecting telemetry about your app's performance on user machines can help you understand what your end-users are experiencing. This can be accomplished by adding instrumentation to various parts of your application and occasionally uploading the data to a web service. From this info, you can determine what the average user sees and what the worst and best case performance of your app is. This will help you decide which aspects of performance to focus on for the next version of your app.
Let's look at a few key performance best practices that are specific to Windows Store apps.
When you create an app, be aware that the type of computer that your users have might have significantly less power than your development environment. Windows 8 was designed with low power devices, such as tablets, in mind. Also, Windows RT uses these same design principles to take advantage of the low power consumption characteristics of ARM-based platforms. Windows Store apps need to do their part to ensure that they perform well on these devices. Operations that seem to run fast on your development machine can have a big impact to the user-experience on a low power device. As a heuristic, expect that a low power device is about 4 times slower than a desktop computer and set your goals accordingly.
Testing your app early and often on the type of computer that you expect the user to have allows you to form a realistic understanding of how your users will experience your app.
Most of the performance work you do naturally reduces the amount of power your app consumes. The CPU is a major consumer of battery power on devices, even at low utilization. Windows 8 tries to keep the CPU in a low power state when it is idle, but activates it every time you schedule work. You can further reduce your app's consumption of battery power by ensuring that your app doesn't have timers unnecessarily schedule work on the CPU when it is idle. For example, an app might poll for data from web services and sensors (such as the GPS). Consider battery consumption when deciding how often you poll for data.
This is also an important consideration for animations that require constant updates to the screen and keep the CPU and graphics pipeline active. Animations can be an effective in delivering a great user experience, but make a conscious choice about when you use them. This is particularly important for data-driven apps where the user may be looking at your app but not interacting with it. For example, a user may spend a while looking at content in a news reader or photo viewer without interacting with the app. It can also be wasteful to use animations in snap mode because the user is not giving the app their full attention.
Many apps connect to web services to get new info for the user. Reducing the frequency at which you poll for new info can improve your battery consumption.
Reducing memory helps avoid sluggishness and is even more important for Windows Store apps because of the Process Lifetime Management (PLM) system. The PLM system determines which apps to terminate, in part, by the app's memory footprint. By keeping your app's memory footprint low, you reduce the chance of it getting terminated when it is not being used. For example, you can reduce your app’s memory footprint by releasing unnecessary resources such as images on suspend.
The PLM system may also choose to swap out your app to disk, and swap it back into memory the next time it is switched to. If you lower the memory footprint of your app it will resume faster.
The related topics contain more in-depth performance best-practices for developing Windows Store apps. These best practices cover topics that are likely to be the source of performance issues in your app. But these best practices will only make a difference if they are on performance critical paths of your app. We recommend that you follow the principles on this page and determine if applying these best practices will help you achieve your performance goals.
Build date: 11/29/2012


A new smartphone app aims to provide a cheaper alternative to ultrasound in Africa by bringing an old technique into the 21st century.
"We couldn't hear anything,” says Aaron Tushabe, recounting a trip with two friends to the maternity ward of the main hospital in the Ugandan capital, Kampala. The student had been handed an ear-trumpet-like device called a Pinard horn, used to listen for the vital signs of a baby in a mother’s abdomen. Despite straining to hear against the murmur of the ward, Tushabe couldn’t hear any signs.
Luckily, the problem was not with the baby, but the combination of what he calls a “rather primitive device”, and his lack of training. In fact, the Pinard horn, named after the French doctor who invented it back in the 19th Century, can be very effective in the right hands. It can determine the age, position and heart rate of the foetus, along with an indication of its overall health. But to do this consistently can take many years of practice.
Meanwhile, in developing countries, “a woman dies from complications in childbirth every minute”, according to the UN, while every year “eight million babies die before or during delivery or in the first week of life”. The key to saving those lives, the UN says, is “access to skilled care during pregnancy, childbirth and the first month after delivery”.
These kinds of statistics, along with their experience of using the Pinard horn, got the three computer science students thinking about whether they could improve the design. “We saw that technology gap and started thinking about how we might bridge it.”
In developed countries, ultrasound is the answer. But these machines – responsible for those fuzzy black and white pictures that are liberally posted on Facebook, brought out at parties, and waived at co-workers when someone becomes pregnant – are expensive. Even if a hospital could afford one, few expectant mothers can afford the $10 scan in countries where many live below the poverty line.
And so, a new project called WinSenga was born to build what Joshua Okello, one of the other students who visited the hospital, calls "an enhancement" to the Pinard horn. The new device still consists of a plastic trumpet, but with a highly sensitive microphone inside. The souped-up device, which is placed on a women's abdomen just like a regular horn, connects to a Windows-based phone running an app that, as Okello says, "plays the part of the midwife's ear." The system picks up the foetal heart rate, transmits it to the phone, and then the phone runs an analysis. The app, developed in conjunction with medics for the UN agency Unicef then recommends a course of action, if any, for the mother and her unborn child.
"When I first heard the idea, I thought it was brilliant," says Davis Musinguzi, a medic and Unicef advisor. "But being software developers, they needed guidance on the medical component of the application." The doctor says he advised on the medical parameters, procedures and standards that needed to be part of the software. He also says he tried to ensure that the new device wouldn't disrupt the normal workflow of an antenatal visit, but rather help eliminate the bottlenecks.
The value of going mobile is pretty clear, allowing carers to visit mothers wherever they are. "We envision a midwife being able to travel to rural areas on specific days, and then mothers could gather in, for example, a local church,” Tushabe says. “Then, the midwife could administer the antenatal diagnosis to all the mothers."
Okello, Tushabe and their partner Josiah Kuvuma presented their idea earlier this year at an event sponsored by Microsoft called the Imagine Cup, which aims to solve pressing problems, particularly in the developing world. The event partly inspired the name. The “Win” part comes from the software giant’s own products, Okello tells me, while "Senga" refers to the local name for the aunt who used to help village mothers-to-be with their antenatal care and their births.
The team went on to win the regional competition before losing out in the finals held at Sydney. However, the loss has not held them back. The team says they have since been approached for potential partnerships and are currently looking for funding to launch a six-month field trial of their system. If that's successful, then WinSenga could launch as a product. The team says its too early to talk about pricing, but they are heartened by the fact that the cost of smartphone handsets is rapidly dropping across Africa, making their system much more attractive to potential clients.
While they wait for funding, the WinSenga team is far from idle. Despite the fact that all three team members still have busy university schedules, they have already launched an expanded version of the software designed to assist healthcare workers and mothers during labour. The group's website also promises a version called "WinSenga Plus", which would assist with postnatal care as well. And as if that isn't enough, WinSenga say they are almost ready to launch an Android version of their application, and will then start work on a version for iOS.
The apps are all part of a new movement, says Dr Musinguzi, which is gathering momentum.
"The use of mobile technology is a relatively new intervention to improving health services," he says. WinSenga and other devices and apps that are coming on to the market, he says, will have to prove themselves to healthcare professionals by "reducing the burden of doing what they have always done."
It will take training and investment, he says, but it "will pay off in the long run”.
It is a sentiment that Okello agrees with. "Communities that have healthy mothers are generally much more productive. It's all tied in."


Written By Dan Suthers based on explanations by Scott Ferguson, June Firing, Kyle Hogrefe, and Danny Merritt.
Physical Oceanography studies the movement of ocean water (ranging from small scale oscillations to basin-wide flows) and the physical and chemical characteristics of that water (e.g., temperature and salinity). Most research on currents and water characteristics has focused on large scale patterns, such as gyres that flow around ocean basins . Water of different densities does not mix easily. Density depends on temperature and salinity. Therefore, if you measure the temperature and salinity of water at different depths you can track the same body of water as it moves around an ocean basin (e.g., the North Pacific) and even around the globe.
In this research, measurements are often taken on a large scale. For example, during a transect a ship might make measurements of water temperature and salinity at different depths, but do so only at every degree of longitude or latitude: about every 60 miles. One square kilometer is a standard resolution for satellites that calculate sea surface temperature. This research helps us understand major influences on reef life, such as transport of warm or cold water, nutrients, and possibly organisms from one region to another. However, the data gathered for oceanography at this scale is not detailed enough to understand how water characteristics influence life at a local level.
Reef-specific oceanography studies the currents and water characteristics on a local scale. The topography of a reef--where it's shallow and deep; how it's situated relative to ocean currents and prevailing winds--can influence water temperature and the distribution of nutrients beyond what can be predicted by looking only at large scale currents in the region of the reef. Marine biologists such as those on this expedition study the distribution of marine life on a local scale, comparing for example life at different depths and within and outside an atoll, as well comparing reefs at different locations in the island chain. In order to understand the distribution of life they are seeing, they need reef-specific oceanographic data.
Data for reef-specific oceanography is being gathered by taking direct measurements while we are up here, by leaving sensors in place that send their data back by satellite or are retrieved later, and by satellite imagery. The first two forms of data, measured directly on site, help scientists to "ground truth" satellite data: observations in the field are compared to what the satellite sees so that we know how to interpret the images.
Reef Oceanography data is being gathered on this expedition by two teams: Night Operations (Scott Ferguson, assisted by Drew Rapp), who operate off the Hi`ialakai; and the Mooring Team (Elizabeth Keenan, Danny Merritt, Stephani Holzwarth, and team leader Kyle Hogrefe), who operate off of the jet boat HI-2. The instruments they use and what they measure are described below. As we consider this diverse collection of instruments we should keep in mind that they are all contributing to the same objective: to have an empirically based model of how ocean water characteristics are distributed across space and time. The most important water characteristic studied from the point of view of reef health is temperature. See our article on coral bleaching for a discussion of how temperature can affect the symbiotic relationship between coral and algae. Reef life is also strongly affected by the availability of nutrients. Both temperature and nutrients, in turn, are affected by the movement of water, so some of the measurements made are intended to give a profile of the bodies of water surrounding reefs.
Yearly Water Column Measurements
Some measurements are only taken about once a year, when researchers can come up to the locations where the measurements are made.
Ship-based CTDs. The Night Operations team conduct Conductivity, Temperature and Depth or "CTD" measurements at several locations around the reef. (They also make observations with a Towed Optical Assessment Device, but this is for unrelated purposes: see the September 18th journal for a brief description.) The CTD deployed by Night Operations is a large device that can reach 500 meters in depth, taking up to five water samples at different depths, and making other measurements on a continuous basis on the the way down and up. Temperature and pressure are measured directly. Salinity is measured indirectly by measuring the conductivity of water to electricity. Chlorophyll is measured indirectly by a fluorometer that emits purple light ("black light") and measures fluorescence in response to that light. These measurements are made continuously, providing a profile of temperature, salinity, and chlorophyll as a function of depth. The photograph shows the dta from a test run of the CTD, including temperature (blue), salinity (red) and density (green).
Analysis of the water samples will tell scientists how much chlorophyll is actually in the water. This information can then be compared to the measurements of the flurometer to see how well it predicts levels of chlorophyll. The presence of chlorophyll is a good sign of producivity: the food chain is built on phytoplankton (microscopic plants) that produce food energy from light energy. They are eaten by microscopic zooplankton (floating animals), which in turn are eaten by larger animals, and so on.
Shipboard CTD measurements are typically taken at three locations around a given island or atoll: the windward and leeward sides, and at a standard oceanographic "station" assigned to each island or atoll that is being surveyed over a long period of time. There is one such station per each major island or atoll in the NWHI: Nihoa, Necker, French Frigate Shoals, Gardner, Maro Reef, Laysan, Lisanski, Pearl and Hermes, Midway, and Kure.
Shallow water CTDs. In order to understand the local reef ecosystem, we need measurements at more locations than just three, and we need to sample in shallower water than the ship can operate in. For these reasons, the oceanographers aboard make other measurements from the HI-2 jetboat. These measurements are taken every mile or two around the island/atoll between the 80 and 120 foot isobath and inside the atolls in a few places as well, providing greater resolution.
A handheld CTD device is pictured. Like its big brother, it includes a temperature sensor, a depth sensor, and a conductivity sensor (for salinity). The handheld device also has transmissometer that measures the level of particulate matter in the water (a proxy for turbidity). It does so by shining a light at a sensor and seeing how much of that light gets through the water. These measurements are also made continuously as the device descends and ascends. Unlike the larger version, the small boat CTD does not take water samples and does not have a fluormeter. Separate devices are used for these purposes.
Water samples are taken by a handheld device consisting of a tube with spring loaded caps at both ends. The caps are set in the open position so water can flow through the tube as it descends. A weight is then slid down the supporting rope to hit a trigger and close the caps. The sampler is then taken to the surface, where the water is used to first rinse out a sample bottle (to avoid contamination from other water), and then the sample bottle is filled. The bottle is opaque to prevent further modification of the chlorophyll content by light. (Water from the large CTD is also stored in these same bottles.) Water samples are typically taken at three depths, 5, 30 and 60 feet, measured out by marks on the rope holding the sampling device.
A radiometer on the small boat plays the role of the fluorometer, and also gives important information about available solar radiation. Two radiometers are coupled together to take readings above and below water. A instrument on the boat reads the amount of light arriving at the ocean surface. Another instrument is put in the water to read the light reflected back from the water. This is compared to the former surface measurement for reference. These measurements are made at light frequencies relevant to photosynthesis. By reading reflected light at certain wavelenghths, scientists can tell how much chlorophyll is in the water.
Time Series Measurements
The measurements just described provide a lot of detail about the water at a given location and different depths, but only at one or a few points in time: when the scientists can come up here. To fully understand an ecosystem, we need to monitor it over many years. The instruments described in this section record a series of measurements of water characteristics over time. They include CREWS buoys, SST buoys, and SST "pipe bombs."
CREWS Buoys. These are large buoys (pictured) that are anchored at a specific location and can send data back daily to scientists via satellite. CREWS stands for Coral Reef Early Warning System, reflecting a major function of these buoys: to warn scientists as soon as possible of an unusual change taking place in the environment of a coral reef ecosystem. These buoys have sensors both in and above the water that measure water and air temperature, water salinity (via conductivity), wind speed, and barometric pressure. A few of them also have radiometers, but these can only be located where staff can get to them every few weeks to clean the sensors. There is one at French Frigate Shoals, serviced by USGS staff on Tern Island.
SST Buoys and Pipes. CREWS buoys are large and expensive, so other instruments are also used that measure fewer parameters but can be deployed in more locations. Sea Surface Temperature (SST) buoys are round floating buoys that are anchored in a specific location. They measure water temperature and send this data back at regular intervals via satellite. The "pipe bombs of science" are strapped to the reef at different depths and locations around an atoll. These are set to measure temperature every half an hour, and record it on a data chip. Scientists must come up to the NWHI and retrieve these devices in order to obtain the data.
Tracking Water Movement
Currents, tides and waves also affect reef life. The mooring team installs two further kinds of instruments to track these parameters. Now we can appreciate why they are always so busy!
Wave and Tide Recorders (WTDs), record water pressure with high sensitivity, providing information about waves and tides. (When a wave passes over, or when the tide comes in, there is more water over the instrument and hence more pressure on it.) This instrument measures the tide 48 times a day, and records wave height 8 times a day in the process. Each measurement involves recording the pressure for 18 minutes, and then estimating wave and tide values based on changes in the pressure. They are deployed at 50 to 100 feet.
The Ocean Data Platform (ODP) contains temperature and salinity sensors, as well as an Acoustic Doppler Profiler (ADP). The ADP can measure current speed and direction in multiple directions and at different depths. These are placed at 60-100 feet, "hopefully deeper than the wave energy you are trying to study," as Kyle put it after a day of trying to extract an ODP that had somehow flipped and gotten wedged in the rocks!
Other instruments used by reef oceanographers are not described here because we don't have them on this expedition. Drifting buoys that follow water at 15 meters depth, measuring GPS position and water temperature over time, were not delivered to Honolulu in time for the expedition due to the hurricanes in Florida. Two other sensors will be installed on the Hi`ialakai later this year: an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler that measures current velocity using the Doppler effect, and a sonar that measures biomass in the water column.
Putting It All Together into a Model of the NWHI
Visualize, if you will, a three dimensional model of the Northwestern Hawaiian Island chain. Imagine that we have represented this model in a computer such that we can attach the data gathered by the various devices just discussed to the corresponding location in the model. Now imagine that we can move a slider or use a play/fast forward/rewind control like on a video recorder to move this model through time, so we can store data taken at different times as well as different places. In other words, we have organized all the data collected in a four dimensional "space," where the first three dimensions are for the location of the various sensors discussed above (latitude, longitude, and depth) and the fourth dimension is for time.
In some places in this model, we will have detailed information such as temperature, salinity, chlorophyll and light levels, etc., measured continuously over a number of years. In other places we will have only temperature, and in some places we have measurements only once a year. Finally, in most places we have no measurements at all! But we have taken our measurements at enough locations that we can "interpolate" or predict mathematically the values the measures would be at the points in between those we actually took.
In some places and times we have different measures of the same thing. For example, we have the actual chlorophyll content of water and the estimate of that content taken by a radiometer or fluorometer; or we have the actual temperature and the estimated temperature taken by satellite. We can see how close these measurements are to each other, to better understand how we can use less expensive measures (such as a satellite) to estimate parameters that otherwise would require more expensive measures (sending people to the actual locations).
All of this data organized in space and time provides a physical model of the ocean environment of reef ecosystems. Marine biologists can use this model to understand what is affecting the prevalence and health of the various organisms of the reef. We will see how marine biologists find out what organisms are present in another article.
 Garrison (2002)


Preprocessing of Educational Institution Web Log Data for Finding Frequent Patterns Using Weighted Association Rule Mining Technique
In the Internet world, web search is mandatory to all. Millions of searches performed for each second in a web and that search information are stored in Web Server Log. Web Log data are massive and erroneous stream data. Handling huge data and incorrect data processing are two significant problems in Web Data Mining. Processing of huge data is a complex task, which increases processing time and memory occupation that will reduce the performance of the system. Incorrect data sometimes produce an erroneous result that reduces the quality of data. To handle this problem web Miner's has introduced several preprocessing methods to reduce the log data size and to eliminate incorrect records, which lead to improved quality, quantity and performance.


Games, Interactivity, and Playable Media
Games, Interactivity, and Playable Media spans offerings in visual arts, film and media, and computer science to foster technical and digital literacy in the arts. Designed for experimentation, this initiative helps students establish digital proficiency while supporting the exploration of a wide range of new media forms and technologies. Courses of study might include visual programming, artificial intelligence, gaming, robotics, experimental animation, computer arts, experimental media design, data visualization, real-time interactivity, digital signal processing, cross-platform media environments, and mobile media development. Students are encouraged to coordinate these project-based investigations of the digital throughout their studies in the humanities, including literature, philosophy, politics, sociology, theatre, and writing.


What is Bereavement?
Bereavement coincides with the imminent dying and death of the individual and consists of two stages: separation and mourning.
Separation occurs when the loved one’s consciousness diminishes and awareness of the environment vanishes. At this time, the family fully experiences their loss and the loneliness of separation. Self-absorption is the hurdle for the family to overcome now. Hospice intervention is directed toward promoting intimacy, if family members are to be supported in their ability to grieve within their family network.
Mourning begins when the reality of impending death hits. The obstacle for the family to overcome here is guilt. Human grief is as strong and as unique as the relationship that has been severed. Grief is a personal experience, different for each member of a family who is grieving over the loss of the same person.
Hospice intervention is geared toward fostering relief expressed through mourning. The family members may have reached the limits of their own endurance and may initially confess relief that their loved one has died and that they remained with the person through that time. Echoes from previous losses may then surface, and these mournings, if uncompleted, may hinder relief. The mourning process is relieved only when the deceased person enriches the continued family life.
Hospice provides bereavement services for the patient’s family/caregiver. This includes telephone calls, visits, letters, support groups, and an annual memorial service. The family needs continuing support to help move through their mourning process.
A special bereavement program offered to the general community is Wings! Camp for Grieving Children. Because of their limited life experiences, and lack of coping skills, children may find the grief process very difficult. At Wings!, children between the ages of 8 and 17 learn, in a safe and caring environment, that their feelings are normal and an important part of the healing process. Grief-related activities are conducted in small groups led by trained counselors. Children are encouraged to express themselves through arts and crafts.


Jump to:Page Content
Susan Greenhalgh, , Professor of Anthropology, Harvard
Since the introduction of the 1-child policy in 1980, the gender gap among Chinese infants has soared, leaving China with a huge surplus of boys and deficit of girls. Today, as the first generation of singletons begins to marry in large numbers, 10 percent of men – mostly rural, ill-educated peasants – will not be able to find brides. How has the PRC regime sought to address these problems? What framings and measures has it used, and with what effect? In this talk, anthropologist Greenhalgh argues that state policy on the gender gap has been heavily biased in favor of rural women, with the result that older rural men, dubbed "bare sticks," now face social marginalization, political exclusion from the category of deserving citizens, and the prospect of reproductive extinction. In Chinese population politics, the woman question has become a serious man question, to the benefit of none.
Lunch will be provided. An RSVP is not required as this is an open event.


Biochemical Conversion Processes
The diagram below depicts a high-level view of the primary units of operation in the biochemical conversion process. Specific process operation conditions, and inputs and outputs within and between each unit, vary in practice. These process variations can impact the key performance outcomes (titer, rate, and yield), which determine economic viability when the process is scaled up. The following descriptions highlight issues in each key process step.
During pretreatment, biomass feedstock undergoes a process to mechanically or chemically fractionate the lignocellulosic complex into soluble and insoluble components. Soluble components include mixtures of five- and six-carbon sugars (mainly xylose, arabinose, mannose, galactose, and glucose) and some sugars oligomers. Insoluble components include cellulosic polymers and oligomers and lignin (and any other components that may be linked to the constituents). Depending on the exact chemistry chosen for this step, variable amounts of the biomass may be solubilized. The main purpose of this step is to open up the physical structure of the plant cell walls to permit further deconstruction during the hydrolysis stepyea. The more open structure of the resulting material makes the remaining carbohydrate polymers more accessible for hydrolytic conversion to soluble sugars by enzymes or chemicals. The specific mix of sugars and oligomers released depends on the feedstock used and the pretreatment technology employed.
In some process configurations, the pretreated material goes through a hydrolysate conditioning and/or neutralization process to adjust the pH of the biomass slurry and remove undesirable by-product from pretreatment that are toxic to the downstream fermenting microorganism. In some cases, this step and hydrolysis, the next step, are combined into a single process.
In hydrolysis, the pretreated material, with the remaining solid carbohydrate fraction, primarily cellulose, is guided through a chemical reaction that releases the readily fermentable sugar, glucose. This can be accomplished with enzymes, such as cellulases, or with strong acids. Addition of other enzymes in this step, such as xylanases, may allow for less severe pretreatment conditions, potentially resulting in a reduced overall pretreatment and hydrolysis cost. Depending on the process design, enzymatic hydrolysis requires several hours to several days, after which the mixture of sugars and any unreacted cellulose is transferred to the fermenter. Current processes use purchased enzymes or enzymes manufactured on site, based on the economics of the specific process. For technologies using strong acids, acid recovery is important for the economics to be viable.
Currently, the most common approach to biological processing is to employ a fermentation step, wherein an inoculum of a fermenting microorganism is added to the biomass hydrolysates. Fermentation of all sugars is then carried out, and after a few days of continued saccharification and fermentation, nearly all of the sugars are converted to biofuels or other chemicals of interest. The resulting aqueous mixture or two-phase broth is sent to product recovery. Some processes combine the hydrolysis and fermentation steps (i.e., simultaneous saccharification and fermentation [SSF]).
Chemical or catalytic conversion can be used in place of, or in addition to, fermentation to convert the hydrolysis products, such as sugars, alcohols, or a variety of other stable oxygenates, to desired end products. The addition of a catalyst makes the reaction less energy intensive, thus making the entire process more efficient. Different reactions achieve different yields and intermediates while targeting different end fuels and chemicals, so current research is aimed at identifying optimal process combinations with respect to efficiency, feedstock utilization, cost, sustainability, finished product characteristics, and anticipated market demands.
Product Upgrading and Recovery
Product upgrading and recovery varies based on the type of conversion used and the type of product generated, but in general, involves any biological and chemical transformations, distillation or any other separation and recovery method, and some cleanup processes to separate the fuel from the water and residual solids. Residual solids are composed primarily of lignin, which can be burned for combined heat and power generation or chemically converted to intermediate chemicals or intermediates for other uses.


By ANAHAD O'CONNOR
Published: November 21, 2006
THE CLAIM -- Pricking a stroke victim's fingers can help delay symptoms.
THE FACTS -- A recent, widely circulated e-mail message proposes an unusual way to help the victim of a stroke. ''Help the victim sit up to prevent him from falling over,'' the message states. ''Then sterilize a needle and use it to prick the tip of the person's finger. After a few minutes, the victim should regain consciousness.''
The message says that doing this somehow relieves blood pressure and eases symptoms.
Like most medical advice dispensed in the form of a chain e-mail message, it has no scientific basis. In fact, following its advice can do harm.
Forcing a stroke victim to sit up is never a good idea, because it can cause a drop in blood pressure, says Dr. Larry B. Goldstein, director of the Duke Stroke Center.
It would be better to help the person lie down.
Pricking the victim's finger is also a bad idea, not only because it is futile, but because doing so can delay medical treatment, which is the only thing that can help.
THE BOTTOM LINE -- Only emergency medical treatment can help a stroke victim. ANAHAD O'CONNOR
Drawing (Drawing by Leif Parsons)


Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
He joined the Parcham faction of the communist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) in 1965. Despite being regarded as an intelligent man, he was referred to as Najib-e Gaw (the Bull) by his opponents due to his physique. The PDPA staged a successful coup in 1978, but the Khalq faction of the PDPA gained supremacy, and after a brief stint as ambassador in Tehran, Najibullah was dismissed from government and went into exile in Europe.
He returned to Kabul after the Soviet invasion in 1979. In 1980, he was appointed the head of KHAD, the secret police. Under Najibullah's control, it is claimed that KHAD arrested, tortured and executed tens of thousands of Afghans. Najibullah replaced Babrak Karmal as Afghanistan's President in 1986.
After the Soviet withdrawal in 1989, he withstood a coup headed by his defence minister in 1990 and relaxed his autocratic control to gain support. But by 1992 Najibullah agreed to step down in favor of a transitional government. Najibullah tried to flee Kabul, but his departure was blocked by Abdul Rashid Dostum. Najibullah sought sanctuary in the UN compound in Kabul. He remained there until September 1996 when the Taliban captured Kabul. The Taliban dragged Najibullah from the UN compound and hanged him from a traffic light post in the streets of the capital.
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December 19, 2012
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Kate Wong is an editor and writer at Scientific American covering paleontology, archaeology and life sciences. Follow on Twitter
PALEO DIET: Analyses of tartar on the teeth of Australopithecus sediba show that this early human species ate bark and other unexpected foods. Image: Kate Wong
Recent years have brought considerable riches for those of us interested in human evolution and 2012 proved no exception. New fossils, archaeological finds and genetic analyses yielded thrilling insights into the shape of the family tree, the diets of our ancient predecessors, the origins of art and advanced weaponry, the interactions between early Homo sapiens and other human species, and other facets of our ancestors’ lives. The list below highlights the discoveries that most captivated me in a year of revelations about the way we were. Did I miss your favorite? Let me know in the comments.
- A 3.4 million-year-old fossil foot suggests a second lineage of hominins (creatures more closely related to us than to our closest living relatives, chimpanzees) may have lived alongside Lucy’s kind and spent more time in the trees than on the ground.
- Fossils from Kenya dating to between 1.87 million and 1.95 million years ago rekindle debate over whether our own genus, Homo, split into multiple lineages early on.
- Analysis of tartar, molar wear and tooth chemistry in the nearly two-million-year-old hominin known as Australopithecus sediba shows that it had an unexpected diet, including tree bark.
- A shift in the technology and diet of early Homo around two million years ago may have doomed large carnivores
- Tiny bits of burned plants and bone from a South African cave show that humans had tamed fire by 1 million years ago–some 600,000 year earlier than had previously been documented.
- Our ancestors began making multicomponent tools in the form of deadly stone-tipped spears 500,000 years ago—200,000 years earlier than previously thought.
- Cave paintings in Spain are the oldest in the world and are sufficiently ancient to be the creations of Neandertals.
- Neandertals hunted birds for their fashionable feathers for thousands of years and may have exploited certain plants for their medicinal properties–compelling evidence that our hominin cousins were cognitively sophisticated.
- Reconstructed genome of the Denisovans–an enigmatic group of archaic hominins—confirms that early Homo sapiens interbred with them and reveals new details of their genetic legacy.
- Whole-genome sequencing of modern hunter-gatherers from Africa turns up loads of previously unknown genetic variants and indicates that early Homo sapiens interbred with another hominin species long ago in Africa.
- Paleoanthropology’s hobbit, a tiny hominin species called Homo floresiensis, gets a new face thanks to forensic reconstruction–and the result is startlingly familiar.
- Stone tools and preserved poop from Oregon add to mounting evidence that the early human colonization of the Americas was more complex than scholars once envisioned.
- Study finds that mom’s metabolism—not the size of the pelvis—limits gestation length to nine months, providing a new explanation for why humans give birth to helpless babies.
About the Author:
Kate Wong is an editor and writer at Scientific American covering paleontology, archaeology and life sciences. Follow on Twitter @katewong
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Balmoral Castle is in Aberdeenshire – and is usually known as The Queen’s private residence in Scotland – while the rest of the family enjoy the estate with their grandparents.
|Balmoral Castle in 1854 painted|
by Queen Victoria during its
Queen Victoria had, in 1848, found the house “small but pretty”, and recorded in her diary that: “All seemed to breathe freedom and peace, and to make one forget the world and its sad turmoils”.
Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s Prince Consort, bought it in 1852 and in the following years had it rebuilt in white granite as a castellated mansion in Scottish baronial style.
The grounds were laid out by Prince Albert in the 1850s and planted out as parterre gardens with rare conifers, while plantations were established around the house.
|South front of Balmoral Castle|
The couple took a great interest in their staff setting up a lending library; while they also encouraged new ideas ... developed a model dairy, which was completed by the Queen after her husband’s death in 1861.
Near the Castle the Queen created her cottage garden around a private house, known as the Garden Cottage, while later in the 1920s Queen Mary, George V’s wife, altered it to include a sunken garden.
|Edward VII relaxing at Balmoral|
photographed by his wife, Alexandra
In our present Queen’s reign (1952 - ....) the Duke of Edinburgh, her husband, has improved the gardens – redesigning the herbaceous borders, planting up a shrubbery around the river and adding a water garden near Victoria’s Garden Cottage.
|North-West corner of Balmoral Castle|
Today it is a working estate – deer stalking, grouse shoots, forestry and farming are the main land uses, while there are tours to be booked, and cottages to rent.
The Castle, gardens and exhibitions (especially in this Diamond Jubilee Year) are open to the public from April to July.
Queen Victoria (1837 - 1901) in her journals described Balmoral as “my dear paradise in the Highlands” ...
That is B for Balmoral Castle ... a Scottish baronial castellated mansion built for Queen Victoria in the 1850s; now managed by the Balmoral Estates ... part of the ABC series Aspects of British Castles
By the way I meant to add yesterday - that Bob Scotney is also doing Castles - his A was for Amberley - should you wish to visit ...
Positive Letters Inspirational Stories


Mount Hope Cemetery: Restoring history
If you visit the Chinese Immigrant Memorial at Mount Hope Cemetery in Mattapan, Mass, you will notice that a lot of the headstones are in poor condition. This is due to aging, but it is also because of vandalism and lack of care for many years. Many of these headstones belong to the Chinese immigrants that created the Chinatown that we are able to enjoy today.
The first Chinese settlers of Boston Chinatown came from San Francisco, Ca, to North Adams, MA around the 1870s. These settlers consisted of about 75 workers who started working at the Sampson Shoe Factory in North Adams and later traveled to Boston. Chinese laundries and Chinese restaurants were soon established along Harrison Avenue. Overtime, Chinatown slowly began to evolve to include many other infamous streets such as Kneeland Street and Hudson Street.
Like many immigrants, the Chinese Settlers came to the United States for a better life for themselves and their family. Unfortunately, many of the early settlers were bachelors who did not have families in the United States nor were they able to have a family before they deceased. Many of these settlers that passed away were buried in Mount Hope.
Without family members, these headstones remained in Mount Hope Cemetery for decades without proper care. As any item with age, the heads stone deteriorated and some were even vandalized. Perhaps, it was fate for us to keep our history when the cemetery experienced financial burden which led the city to contact the Chinatown community. This attention was brought to two active members of the Chinatown community, Davis Woo and David S.Y. Wong, in 1989. And in 1992, when The Chinese Historical Society of New England (CHSNE) was established, they began the project to restore history. CHSNE and along with many efforts of volunteers had started a project in hopes to restore these burial grounds, build a memorial alter, and find a way to restore the damaged tombstones. With ambition and hard work, CHSNE and volunteers alike were able to raise an amazing amount of money.
On March 2007, the Chinese Immigrant Memorial was complete.
Although the Chinese Immigrant Memorial is complete, many efforts are still involved in this project. Every year, a group of students from UMASS Boston (UMB), led by Peter Kiang, Director of the Asian American Studies Program at UMB and co-president of CHSNE, try to maintain and clean the Chinese Immigrant Memorial. In addition, since the tombstones are privately owned by the descendants of the Chinese setters, it is considered private property. Currently, efforts are being made to contact these descendants. However, if efforts has been made but failed, these tombstones could be replaced.
For more information or if you would like to volunteer, please contact CHSNE: (617)338-4339 or email@example.com.
This post is also available in: Chinese


Lier Psychiatric Hospital (Lier Psykiatriske Sykehus or Lier Asyl in Norweigan) in Norway, has a long history as an institution. The sickest people in the society was stowed away here and went from being people to be test subjects in the pharmaceutical industry’s search for new and better drugs. The massive buildings house the memory of a grim chapter in Norwegian psychiatric history the authorities would rather forget.
UPDATE: When you have read this post you might be interested in reading my report one year later!
The buildings welcome you
Many of the patients never came out again alive and many died as a result of the reprehensible treatment. It was said that the treatment was carried out voluntarily, but in reality the patients had no self-determination and the opportunity to make their own decisions.
Must be creepy at night
There is little available information about the former activities at Lier Hospital. On this page (In Norwegian) you can read more about the experiments that were carried out on this Norwegian mental hospital in the postwar period from 1945 to 1975. It’s about the use of LSD, electroshock, brain research funded by the U.S. Department of Defense and drug research sponsored by major pharmaceutical companies. It is perhaps not surprising that they try to forget this place and the events taking place here.
Chair in room
One of many rooms
Things that is left behind including bath tub
It was also performed lobotomy here. That’s a procedure that involves knocking a needle-like object into the eye socket and into the patients head to cut the connection between the anterior brain lobes and the rest of the brain. Lobotomy was primarily used to treat schizophrenia but also as a soothing treatment for other disorders. The patients who survived were often quiet, but generally this surgery made the patients worse. Today lobotomy is considered barbaric and it is not practiced in Norway.
From a window
Lier Psyciatric Hospital, or Lier Asylum as it was called originally, was built in 1926 and had room for nearly 700 patients at the most. In 1986, many of the buildings were closed and abandoned and they still stand empty to this day. Some of the buildings are still in operation today for psychiatric patients.
Exterior of the A building
Desinfection bath tub
These photos are from my visit there as a curios photographer. The place was clearly ravaged by the youths, the homeless and drug addicts who have infiltrated the buildings during its 23 years of abandonment. On net forums people has written up and down about ghost stories and the creepy atmosphere. I was curious how I would experience the place myself. But I found it was pretty quiet and peaceful. I went there during the day so I understand that during nighttime, one should look far for a more sinister place. The floor consisted of a lot of broken glass and other debris.
View through window
A pile with electrical boxes or something
These days, there has been provided money to demolish the. 15 million NOKs is the price. Neighbors cheer but the historic, photographers and ghost hunting kids think it’s sad. This is the most visited, and just about the only and largest urban exploration site in Norway.
I have read and recommend Ingvar Ambjørnsen first novel, “23-Salen”, which is about when he worked as a nurse at Lier Psychiatric Hospital for one year. The book provides insight into how life for patients and nurses turned out in one of the worst wards.
The famous motorized wheelchair
Doorways and peeling paint
Top floor, view to the roof and empty windows
Disused stairs outside


Seven miles to the south west of Sheffield there's a piece of wild moorland surrounded by roads. It's called Big Moor. I estimate that if you circumnavigated it on foot by the boundary roads it would take you over seven hours. In spite of its wild appearance, Big Moor was once home to generations of neolithic people. They built at least three significant stone circles, several cairns, dwelling houses and field systems. This was in days when there were still wolves in the British Isles, long before the Romans introduced rabbits and horse chestnut trees and in a time when there were no horses or wheat or potatoes. Life must have been very hard.
By the middle ages, the stone circle builders had gone but the country had very few roads and most travel was still on foot. Trading tracks began to criss-cross the land and on Big Moor several stone posts or stoops were erected to guide travellers and traders across the difficult terrain with its bogs and dips, rivulets and hardy moorland vegetation. Mick Jagger's surname harks back to the jaggers of yesteryear - hardy men who carried heavy packs - they were pedlars and hawkers. The verb "to jag" meant to pack or to carry. When good roads were built and roadworthy coaches developed, the jaggers disappeared but their paths and their guideposts were left behind.
In the nineteenth century, as the importance of clean, reliable water supplies became more obvious, many reservoirs were constructed across England and on Big Moor you can see the location of Barbrook Reservoir which is now disused.
|Barbrook II stone circle|
|Highland cattle avoiding the hot British sunshine|
|One of the remote guideposts on Big Moor|
|Another one - taller, more weathered|
|Perhaps an old cross in the middle of the moor - not marked on maps|


The unity between a man and a woman in marriage is an expression of the spiritual relationship that God desires His creation to realize with Him. The first marriage occurred nearly 6,000 years ago in the Garden of Eden, in the area of the world that we now know as the Middle East. The first couple was Adam and Eve, and the Lord Jesus specified that it was male and female that God joined together in marriage for life. (Matthew 19:4-6)
Marriage has been practised as such in most cultures across geography and time. Marriage is a life-long commitment, and typically this involves a public ceremony (a wedding) in which vows are exchanged by the parties and before God. Approximately half of all traditional marriages in America end in divorce, many due to Facebook and other liberal activities.
Dinesh D'Souza wrote:
- Marriage requires a) two people who are b) of legal age and c) not closely related to each other who are d) one male and one female. Note that this definition excludes people who want to marry children, or guys who want to marry their sisters, or Muslims who want to take four wives, or that strange guy who wants to marry his dog.
Bill Bennett wrote:
- Based as it is on the principle of complementarity, marriage is also about a great deal more than love. That "great deal" encompasses, above all, procreation. The timeless function of marriage is childbearing and child-rearing, and the best arrangement ever developed to that end is the marital union between one man and one woman ...
What Bennett's words ultimately imply is that, in terms of the value of marriage to anything which stands outside of it, marriage is most principally for the production of additional marriages, and, thus, is a progressive type of scale-invariance such as the Mandelbrot fractal.
So, marriage is the most glorious kind of relation between human individuals because it alone is what most essentially defines humanity. The good of humanity is defined as an integration of all naturally enduring mutual benefits between all free individuals. But, all those benefits are created-and-sustained by the existence of marriage as that one relation for the preservation of which is invoked the most special legal recognition, because...
...Marriage not only historically is the very first form of human society, it is logically the most beautiful, perfect, simple, and potentially productive human institution possible.
Biblical marriage advice
1 Corinthians 7:1-16:
|“||Now concerning the things about which you wrote, it is good for a man not to touch a woman. But because of immoralities, each man is to have his own wife, and each woman is to have her own husband. The husband must fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; and likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Stop depriving one another, except by agreement for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. But this I say by way of concession, not of command. Yet I wish that all men were even as I myself am However, each man has his own gift from God, one in this manner, and another in that. But I say to the unmarried and to widows that it is good for them if they remain even as I. But if they do not have self-control, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn with passion. But to the married I give instructions, not I, but the Lord, that the wife should not leave her husband (but if she does leave, she must remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband), and that the husband should not divorce his wife. But to the rest I say, not the Lord, that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he must not divorce her. And a woman who has an unbelieving husband, and he consents to live with her, she must not send her husband away. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through her believing husband; for otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy. Yet if the unbelieving one leaves, let him leave; the brother or the sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God has called us to peace. For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife?||”|
Modern marriage licenses
In the present-day United States, "getting married" typically involves a marriage license issued by the state government or a subdivision thereof (e.g., a county). However, marriage licenses are nowhere mentioned in Scripture; in fact, they are a relatively recent innovation and originally applied only to marriages that were otherwise forbidden.
Definition of marriage
For Christians, marriage has traditionally been seen as "a union that takes its distinctive character from being founded, unlike other friendships, on bodily unity of the kind that sometimes generates new life." As such, marriage is the one and only form of companionship from which all other forms spring: it is the single irreducible core of society.
Modern history of marriage law
- 1724 - blacks, with permission of their slave owner, given the right to marry (formerly, under British law, only whites could legally marry)
- 1769 - women no longer considered property of their husbands
- 1899 - polygamy outlawed in the US
- 1967 - interracial marriage legalized in all states
- 1981 - rise of community property laws as men no longer seen as the sole owner of all marital assets
Attacks on the institution of marriage
Any society which has lessened the sanctity of marriage has perished, whereas those that have upheld the sanctity of marriage have endured. It has been argued that Ancient Rome's decline and its eventual fall in A.D. 476 were due in no small part to a growing tolerance of extramarital sex, particularly of homosexual acts, beginning in the Late Republic period ending in 27 B.C.
Since the middle of the 20th century, Liberalism has sought to dismantle the societal pressures that dissuade people from engaging in extramarital and premarital sex. Removing the stigma from these behaviors, creating no-fault divorce laws, exalting adultery as liberating, rejuvenating, and "stimulating", and especially the de-stigmatizing of homosexuality all weaken the institution of marriage.
A recent Newsweek article complained that Biblical figures have not provided good historical examples of marriage, noting that Abraham begat Ishmael by a maidservant and Jacob had two wives and had sons with both of their servants. The article also criticizes Jesus and St. Paul for remaining single.
- ↑ Marriage between the sexes is a covenant, not a contract. Since time immemorial, some men disposed of a wife (woman) after her childbearing years to pursue a younger female consort. God, being a defender of women, ordained marriage by his perfect will to protect women's rights and not allow a man (male) to abandon them to homelessness and poverty with no marketable job skills other than homemaking or child rearing. This however, is not the only reason the covenant of marriage evolved between the sexes.
- ↑ See also Perfect will of God vs Permissive will of God.
- ↑ Article 7, "The sacrament of matrimony"
- ↑ "Basic Beliefs," Southern Baptist Convention
- ↑ "Marriage"
- ↑ Albert Barnes, Matthew 19
- ↑ Matthew Henry, Matthew 19
- ↑ "Because there is a natural complementarity between men and women - sexual, emotional, temperamental, spiritual - marriage allows for a wholeness and a completeness that cannot be won in any other way. (Bill Bennett, The Broken Hearth, Page 197)
- ↑ Divorce is within the permissive will of God, Deut. 22:13; divorce however, is due to sin entering the world, which God is willing to redeem. God himself in fact is divorced from Israel (Jer. 3:8-14; see also Is. 54:5), or for that matter, all unredeemed sinners.
- ↑ Gay Rights vs. Democracy
- ↑ The Broken Hearth, Page 197)
- ↑ Scale-invariance as a unifying psychological principle; 1999
- ↑ Information on marriage licenses from Mercy Seat Christian Church
- ↑ Gay Marriage, Democracy, and the Courts
- ↑ Is there anyone left to defend traditional marriage?
- ↑ http://www.newsweek.com/id/172653/page/1
- Form of Solemnization of Matrimony, an example of a traditional marriage service
- Civil marriage
- Marriage in the Unification Church
- Essay: The Irreducible Core of Politics


Juvenile striped bass spawned in the Chesapeake Bay were at a record low at the end of the summer. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources recently completed its annual young of the year survey and found far fewer juvenile fish than a year ago.
Scientists believe the factors are more tied to unusually warm weather conditions in the Chesapeake than to the number of adult fish spawning in the bay.
The annual survey of fish spawned in the summer is called the young of the year index, and is used to gauge the health of stocks born in that year. The annual index, collected over more than 50 years, has had many highs and lows. This year’s index, the lowest recorded, was .89. Last year’s index of 11.9 was the fourth highest.
Nearly all striped bass found in Vineyard waters come from the Chesapeake. It can take from four to six years for a female striped bass to reach sexual maturity.
Dan McKiernan, deputy director of the state Division of Marine Fisheries, called the low index troubling and said it may be tied to environmental factors, since the water temperature in Chesapeake Bay was especially high this summer. Mr. McKiernan said the number of adults spawning in the bay didn’t change that much from last year. He said the index shows how well those juvenile fish survived by the end of the summer, not how many fish were spawned.
“What it tells you is that there is high variability. You see a swinging pendulum. I am not a climatologist, but it would seem that the wild swings are tied to the environment,” Mr. McKiernan said. “Whether you look at the temperature of the water or the amount of rainfall, you’ve got dramatic swings . . . the Chesapeake Bay had one of the hottest years,” he added.
Mike Armstrong, a fisheries biologist and assistant director of the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, underscored the significance of the striped bass fishery. “It is the recreational fishery in Massachusetts,” he said. “We live and die by the health of striped bass, so we are watching the stocks like hawks.”
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, a regional government agency, has been monitoring the striped bass fishery closely since stocks collapsed 30 years ago. Recently, the commission decided to take steps to tighten controls on management of the fishery.
The abundance of striped bass is not determined by a single year class, Mr. Armstrong said, but by watching larger trends. “We are not pushing the panic button. But if we have three years in a row like this, then we push the panic button,” the fisheries biologist said.
Also, new trends were observed this summer. Mr. Armstrong said fishermen saw many more schoolie-sized striped bass in Massachusetts waters than would normally be expected.
He said scientists are wondering whether the large 2011 year class still swimming in the Chesapeake Bay had something to do with the change by pushing the larger juvenile fish out into the Atlantic.
Janet Messineo of Vineyard Haven, an avid fisherman and past president of the Martha’s Vineyard Surfcasters Association, confirmed the trend from her experience fishing the derby this fall. “There were more small fish out there,” she said. “We should be concerned [about the low index] but I think we really need to make sure that the fish are in a healthy ecosystem,” she added. “Right from the get-go, we should be thinking of the bait, from microorgansims to bunker [menhaden, a valuable bait fish that has been characterized as overfished and in need of restoration]. We cannot go crazy over just one species. We have to look at the whole picture if we want a healthy fishery.”
She continued: “The good thing I saw [this year] was that there were bunker. I haven’t seen bunker in a lot of years. One of the problems with striped bass we’ve seen in the past is that they were skinny and emaciated. This year we saw healthier fish. My concern isn’t that there be a large number of fish out there. I think we should be concerned that they have food to eat.”


Hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) is an uncommon condition characterized by frequent, persistent, and severe vomiting and nausea during pregnancy. As a result, you may be unable to take in a sufficient amount of food and fluids. It can cause a weight loss of more than 5% of your pre-pregnancy body weight. This can also cause dehydration and vitamin and mineral deficiencies. Treatment may require hospitalization.
HG is a more severe form of nausea and vomiting of pregnancy (NVP), also called morning sickness. Morning sickness affects anywhere between 50% to 90% of pregnant women. HG is estimated to occur in 0.5%-2% of pregnancies.
There are many theories about the causes of HG, but none have been confirmed. HG is a complex disease that is likely caused by many factors. Some of these include:
The Brain May Be Cause of Nausea
Copyright © Nucleus Medical Media, Inc.
Some researchers have found that the following factors increase your chance of developing HG. If you have any of these risk factors, tell your doctor:
The following list of symptoms are general and may be caused by other, less serious health conditions. However, if you experience any one of them, call your physician to discuss your condition. Symptoms may include:
Your doctor will ask about your symptoms and medical history. A physical exam will be done. Tests may include the following:
Treating HG symptoms early in pregnancy can make you less sick in the long run and can decrease recovery time. Because HG is caused by many factors that vary among women, it is difficult to find a treatment that works for everyone. Talk with your doctor about the best treatment plan for you. Treatment options include the following:
Try to eat frequent, small meals, bland or dry foods, high-protein choices.
Reducing nausea, and thus allowing eating and drinking, will hasten recovery. Due to the risk of stating that a drug is safe for use during pregnancy, very few pharmaceutical manufacturers will say that their drugs are intended for a pregnancy condition like HG (examples: promethazine or prochlorperazine). However, doctors often recommend that women with HG take certain anti-nausea medicines, balancing the potential benefits and risks. Talk to your doctor about the right medicines for you.
A common and safe remedy is to take supplemental vitamin B6 (pyridoxine), to a maximum of 100 mg/day. The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends that first-line treatment of nausea and vomiting of pregnancy should start with pyridoxine with or without doxylamine. Pyridoxine has been found to be effective in significantly reducing severe vomiting.
In urgent visit situations, HG can be managed by IV fluids and vitamins. This can sometimes be done without hospitalization. Very rarely, some people require IV fluids throughout the entire pregnancy.
If you are unable to tolerate food by mouth, you may need to receive nutrition by vein. This is called parenteral nutrition. A special kind of catheter is placed in a large vein and liquid nutrition is given. This can sometimes be done without hospitalization.
In extreme cases, induced abortion may be considered.
If you are diagnosed with HG, follow your doctor's instructions.
Many of the conditions that lead to HG are not preventable. It is unknown why some women without those conditions develop HG. You can try to reduce your nausea during pregnancy by:
The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
Hyperemesis Education and Research Foundation
National Organization for Rare Diseases
The Canadian Women's Health Network
The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (SOGC)
ACOG issues guidance on the treatment of morning sickness during pregnancy. American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology website. Available at: http://www.acog.org/About_ACOG/News_Room/News_Releases/2004/ACOG_Issues_Guidance_on_Treatment_of_Morning_Sickness_During_Pregnancy. Accessed August 20, 2011.
Acupuncture. EBSCO Natural and Alternative Treatments website. Available at: http://www.ebscohost.com/healthLibrary. Updated January 2009. Accessed January 19, 2009.
Beers MH, Berkow R, eds. The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy. 17th ed. Whitehouse Station, NJ: Merck Research Laboratories; 1999.
Burrow GN, Duffy TP, eds. Medical Complications During Pregnancy. 5th ed. Philadelphia, PA: WB Saunders Company; 1999.
Cunningham FG, Gilstrap LC, Gant NF, Hauth JC, Leveno KJ, Wenstrom KD, eds. Williams Obstetrics. 21st ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill; 2001.
Ferri, Fred, ed. Ferri’s Clinical Advisor 2010. 1st ed. Philadelphia: Mosby Elsevier, 2009.
Gabbe SG, Niebyl JR, Simpson JL. Obstetrics: Normal and Problem Pregnancies. 5th ed. United Kingdom: Churchill Livingstone; 2007.
Gastroenterology Clinics of North America. Philadelphia, PA: WB Saunders.
Hyperemesis Education and Research Foundation website. Available at: http://www.helpher.org.
Kasper DL, Braunwald E, Fauci AS, Hauser SL, Longo DL, Jameson JL, eds. Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine. 16th ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc; 2005.
Mahan LK, Escott-Stump S, eds. Krause’s Food, Nutrition, and Diet Therapy. 10th ed. Philadelphia, PA: WB Saunders Company; 2000.
Marx J, et al. Rosen's Emergency Medicine. 7th ed. St. Louis, MO: Mosby, Inc., 2009.
National Organization for Rare Diseases website. Available at: http://www.rarediseases.org
Nausea and vomiting in pregnancy. EBSCO DynaMed website. Available at: https://dynamed.ebscohost.com. Updated October 2010. Accessed October 25, 2010.
Quinlan JD, Hill DA. Nausea and vomiting of pregnancy. Am Fam Physician. 2003;68:121-128. American Family Physician website. Available at: http://www.aafp.org/afp/20030701/121.html. Accessed August 12, 2005.
Sadock BJ, Sadock VA, eds. Kaplan and Sadock’s Synopsis of Psychiatry: Behavioral Sciences/Clinical Psychiatry. 9th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins; 2003.
Wise MG, Rundell JR, eds. The American Psychiatric Publishing Textbook of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry: Psychiatry in the Medically Ill. 2nd ed. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc.; 2002.
Last reviewed September 2012 by Andrea Chisholm
Please be aware that this information is provided to supplement the care provided by your physician. It is neither intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. CALL YOUR HEALTHCARE PROVIDER IMMEDIATELY IF YOU THINK YOU MAY HAVE A MEDICAL EMERGENCY. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider prior to starting any new treatment or with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
Copyright © 2012 EBSCO Publishing All rights reserved.
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Three-dimensional printing is being used to make metal parts for aircraft and space vehicles, as well as industrial uses. Now NASA is building engine parts with this technique for its next-generation heavy-lift rocket.
The agency says that its Space Launch System (SLS) will deliver new abilities for science and human exploration outside Earth's orbit by carrying the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew vehicle, plus cargo, equipment, and instruments for science experiments. It will also supply backup transportation to the International Space Station, and it will even go to Mars.
NASA is using 3D printing to build engine parts for its next-generation Space Launch System. Shown here is the first test piece produced on the M2 Cusing Machine at the Marshall Space Flight Center.
(Source: NASA Marshall Space Flight Center/Andy Hardin)
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center is using a selective laser melting (SLM) process to produce intricate metal parts for the SLS rocket engines with powdered metals and the M2 Cusing machine, built by Concept Laser of Germany. NASA expects to save millions in manufacturing costs and reduce manufacturing time. SLM, a version of selective laser sintering, is known for its ability to create metal parts with complex geometries and precise mechanical properties.
The SLS will weigh 5.5 million pounds, stand 321 feet tall, and provide 8.4 million pounds of thrust at liftoff. Its propulsion system will include liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. Its mission will launch Orion without a crew in 2017; the second will launch Orion with up to four astronauts in 2021. NASA's goal is to use SLM to manufacture parts that will be used on the first mission.
The rocket's development and operations costs will be reduced using tooling and manufacturing technology from programs such as the space shuttle. For example, the J-2X engine, an advanced version of J-2 Saturn engines, will be used as the SLS upper stage engine. Some SLM-produced engine parts will be structurally tested this year and used in J-2X hot-fire tests.
In a NASA video, Andy Hardin, engine integration hardware lead for the Marshall Space Flight Center SLS engines office, discusses the initial testing and building stages:
We do a lot of engineering builds first to make sure we have the process [worked] out. There's always weld problems that you have to deal with, and there's going to be problems with this that we will have to work out, too. But this has the potential to eliminate a lot of those problems, and it will have the potential to reduce the cost by as much as half in some cases on a lot of parts.
Since final parts won't be welded, they are structurally stronger and more reliable, which also makes for a safer vehicle.
Ken Cooper, advanced manufacturing team lead at the Marshall Space Flight Center, says in the video that the technique is especially useful for making very complex shapes that can't be built in other ways, or for simplifying the building of complex shapes. But geometry is not the deciding factor; whether the machine can do it or not is decided by the size of the part.


Tim the Plumber wrote:
The idea that you can predict the climate based on it's temperature behaviour between 1970 and 1998 is silly. Just as the statement that the absence of warming since 1998 and 2011 cannot utterly disproove AGW the rise between 1970 and 1998 cannot 100% proove the theory that CO2 is a significant greenhouse gas at the levels we have today.
Nobody is trying to predict temperatures based on historically temperatures over the last 40 or so. The predictions are based on our understanding of earth's climate over hundreds of millions of years and particularly the last 4 million years of recurring ice ages. The climate while complicated has to obey some very simple basic physical rules that is the energy coming in has over time to equal the energy going out. Change that simple relationship in some way and the temperature will change change until such time as the equation is back in balance. It is certain that greenhouse gases reduce the amount of energy that leaves the earth.
Northern Europe is having a wet and cool summer, it's just America which is having a long, hot and dry one.
No my original statement is correct
According to NOAA:-http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/2012/6
The Northern Hemisphere land and ocean average surface temperature for June 2012 was the all-time warmest June on record, at 1.30°C (2.34°F) above average.
The Northern Hemisphere average land temperature, where the majority of Earth's land is located, was record warmest for June. This makes three months in a row — April, May, and June — in which record-high monthly land temperature records were set. Most areas experienced much higher-than-average monthly temperatures, including most of North America and Eurasia, and northern Africa. Only northern and western Europe, and the northwestern United States were notably cooler than average.
Tim the Plumber wrote:
When thinking about such climatic events it is vital to have a sense of proportion and not see a tiny change over 3 decades as a reason to think that there will be a drastic "exponential" continuation of this.
The temperatures changes over the last 3 decades simply confirms our basic understanding of the climate.
It is akin to having a graph of the speed of your car traveling along a highway. When the speed is 55mph your pasenger is happy, when the graph plots up to 57 mph the pasenger panics because the car is about to accelerate untill the machine disintergrates at the sound barrier. When the graph shows a slowing to 53mph the panic is of the sudden stopping of the car and the trafic behind slamming into the back of the car.
No it is more being in a car where the cruise control is stuck and the speed just keeps increasing.
Climate varies about quiote a lot.
Because we live fairly short lives we do not rember the droughts of the dust bowl. We do not rember the medevil warm period. We do not rember the frost fairs on the frozen Thames.
This is why we maintain weather data which shows that the current conditions are both worst and different.
We should take these dire warnings with a big pinch of salt.
Dire warnings should be assessed on the merits and action taken if necessary but never ignored
The sea level rose by 18cm last centuary, how many cities flooded because of this? This centuary looks like it could be twice as bad, maybe.
So as long as we split the sea level rises into 18 cm chunks it will be no problem ?
I am reminded of camels transporting straw.


by Frederick B. Reitz, Ph.C.
University of Washington
Seattle, Washington Illustrations by Marian Parry
I report here the first evidence that domestic cats exhibit quantum tunneling.
Subatomic particles can make seemingly impossible, instantaneous "jumps" from one place to another. This has been known in theory for well over half a century. Numerous examples of it have been observed and meticulously documented. Known as "quantum tunneling," this strange phenomenon had previously been thought to occur only on very small scales.
In this paper I report instances of the spontaneous relocation of entire cats. Though cats are arguably quantal to the extent that they tend to exist as discrete entities, the appreciable magnitude of some of the cats in question constitutes a novel aspect of the tunneling phenomenon.
The physical literature contains many reports of electrons and similar particles spontaneously jumping or "tunneling" from one place to another via so-called "forbidden" routes. This phenomenon has enjoyed much attention since the advent of scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). In all reports to date, the particles in question have ranged in size from extremely small to very, very small, with rare cases involving particles that are merely quite small.
House pets have also frequently been observed to exhibit unusual behavior. Dogs circle many times before sitting down. Cats forget to retract their tongues after bathing, and hamsters sleep in their food dishes.
Non-Newtonian House Pets
Pets are rarely attributed with exotic, non-Newtonian physical behavior. However, cats and dogs that are especially long-haired can exhibit a wavelike appearance. Furthermore, animals clearly interfere with each other, sometimes destructively (as with cats and dogs, or with cats and humans that are attempting to read a newspaper), sometimes constructively (as with rabbits and rabbits).
Erwin Schr?dinger alluded, in a famous thought experiment, to the general question of the quantum behavior of cats. However, I believe that my report presents the first documented instances of the spontaneous tunneling of cats, and also the first documented reports of related quasi-electromagnetic cat phenomena.
Cat Tunneling: Case 1
In my own residence, I and several other party guests personally observed the case of Chloe, a large black Himalayan. Though the extent of the cat's fur decreased the certainty with which one could specify the cat's position and momentum (c.f., the Himalyan Uncertainty Principle), and our garage door is only a few inches thick, the tunneling event was no less remarkable in light of her prodigious girth (she weighed 15 pounds, frequently intimidating our German Shepherd into sharing his dinner). The cat was initially observed sleeping in the driveway. When next observed several minutes later, the cat was nowhere to be seen. We opened the garage door, at which point Chloe left the garage, obviously having tunneled through the closed door. We marveled at this phenomenon, and, as we closed the side door to the garage, discussed plans for further study.
Cat Tunneling: Case 2
The next such instance brought to my attention was one Snuggles Jr. of Lansing, Michigan, who was found on June 10, 1995, at 10:31 AM resting comfortably amidst a fresh batch of clothing, inside an automatic clothes dryer. As the dryer door was closed, and the owners did not remember having let the cat in, the transition was judged to be spontaneous. Discussion with the owners, regarding house policies pertaining to where the cat was and was not allowed to go, established the forbidden nature of this transition. Given that the cat was not even allowed in the laundry room, the span of the forbidden transition of the 6 pound cat was at least than 7 linear feet-clearly this constitutes tunneling on an unprecedented scale.
Cat Tunneling: Case 3
Finally, there is the case of "Giggles," a largish calico of uncertain dimensions who was remarkable for his repeated and unsuccessful attempts to violate the Pauli Exclusion Principle with the neighbor's tabby (who in turn might have been more cooperative had she not been spayed). Though arguably the tunneling that Giggles did to get under the fence between his yard and the neighbor's was of a conventional sort, his consistent failure to include any other similar cat in his proximity and same state of excitation is compellingly consistent with previous results found on smaller scales.
Given these data, I am led to the following conclusions:
- Cats do exhibit the sort of tunneling behavior previously attributed only to subatomic particles, car keys, and socks;
- Despite the finite probability of a cat tunneling spontaneously through a door, the probability of this event is low enough that leaving the cat closed in one's bedroom for a prolonged period of time is inadvisable; and
- One's cat should indeed be blamed for the majority of stools found in inappropriate locations.
Copyright © 1998 The Annals of Improbable Research (AIR). All rights reserved.
_____________________This article is republished with permission from the March-April 1998 issue of the Annals of Improbable Research. You can download or purchase back issues of the magazine, or subscribe to receive future issues. Or get a subscription for someone as a gift!
Visit their website for more research that makes people LAUGH and then THINK.


American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The chance happening of fortunate or adverse events; fortune: They met one day out of pure luck.
- n. Good fortune or prosperity; success: We wish you luck.
- n. One's personal fate or lot: It was just my luck to win a trip I couldn't take.
- v. Informal To gain success or something desirable by chance: lucked into a good apartment; lucked out in finding that rare book.
- idiom. as luck would have it As it turned out; as it happened: As luck would have it, it rained the day of the picnic.
- idiom. in luck Enjoying success; fortunate.
- idiom. out of luck Lacking good fortune.
- idiom. press To risk one's good fortune, often by acting overconfidently.
- idiom. try (one's) luck To attempt something without knowing if one will be successful.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Fortune; hap; that which happens to a person by chance, conceived as having a real tendency to be favorable or unfavorable, or as if there were an inward connection between a succes sion of fortuitous occurrences having the same character as favorable or unfavorable. Thus, gamesters say that one ought to continue to play while the luck is in one's favor and leave off when the luck turns against one.
- n. Good fortune; favorable hap; a supposed something, pertaining to a person, at least for a time, giving to fortuitous events a favorable character; also, in a weakened sense, a fortuitous combination of favorable occurrences.
- n. An object with which good fortune is thought to be connected; especially, a vessel for holding liquid, as a drinking-cup. There are several such vessels surviving in England, as the Luck of Edenhall, preserved in a manor-house in the county of Cumberland.
- n. Synonyms See happy.
- To be lucky.
- To make lucky.
- n. A lock of wool twisted on the finger of a spinner.
- n. Something that happens to someone by chance, a chance occurrence.
- n. A superstitious feeling that brings fortune or success.
- n. success
- v. intransitive To succeed by chance.
- v. intransitive To rely on luck.
- v. transitive To carry out relying on luck.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. That which happens to a person; an event, good or ill, affecting one's interests or happiness, and which is deemed casual; a course or series of such events regarded as occurring by chance; chance; hap; fate; fortune; often, one's habitual or characteristic fortune.
Luckis often used by itself to mean good luck.
- n. your overall circumstances or condition in life (including everything that happens to you)
- n. an unknown and unpredictable phenomenon that causes an event to result one way rather than another
- n. an unknown and unpredictable phenomenon that leads to a favorable outcome
- From Middle English luk, lukke, related to Old Frisian luk ("luck"), West Frisian gelok ("luck"), Dutch geluk ("luck"), Low German luk ("luck"), German Glück ("luck, good fortune, happiness"), Danish lykke ("luck"), Swedish lycka ("luck"), Icelandic lukka ("luck"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English lucke, from Middle Dutch luc, short for gheluc. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
“While the romantic side of me would like to believe in "luck" - the karmic, cosmic smiling-upon-me type of luck, the scientific side of me completely agrees with Lena West.”
“And then, turning to leave him, 'An' will ye say a mass if the luck is against me? ”
“Well, your luck is about to change with a little assistance from Lavish Lifestyles, LLC.”
“MAATHAI: They say that what we call luck is opportunity that meets preparedness.”
“I sometimes wonder if what we call luck is merely the will of God, " Otero observed sadly, -and that therefore Cochrane has been sent to scourge Spain for a reason.”
“Whenever you hear any one expatiating upon what he calls the luck of some one else, you may be sure that he is a person entirely deficient in those qualities which could attract what he calls luck, but what is really, in the majority of cases, merely the result of hard work based upon a reasoned poise.”
“Well, this is what I call luck!" exclaimed Ferd Stowing.”
“Well, this is what I call luck -- pure, unadulterated luck, with sugar on it," drawled Ham as he surveyed the house.”
“Ephraim, my son!" said the old gambler, with a cunning smile, "I'll tell you something -- There are persons whose whole powers are devoted to one object -- how to win a fortune; in the same way as there are some who study to become doctors, and the like, so these study what we call luck ... and from them I've learned it.”
“This is certainly what I call luck," cried Allen excitedly, as he gazed at the scrap of paper Levine had passed over.”
These user-created lists contain the word ‘luck’.
all sorts of ...
Very basic words for ESL students.
short, sweet, epic, catchy, sassy, sexy & sizzling.
( personal list, randomness )
Much of my life has had healthy doses of this, so I pay homage.
Looking for tweets for luck.