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The Holy Martyrs of China
The Holy Martyrs of China were native Chinese Orthodox Christians brought up in piety at the Russian Orthodox Mission in Peking, which had been founded in 1685. During the Boxer Rebellion of 1900 against the foreign powers occupying China, native Chinese Christians were commanded by the Boxers to renounce Christianity or be tortured to death. Two hundred and twenty-two members of the Peking Mission, led by their priest Metrophanes Tsi-Chung and his family, refused to deny Christ, and were deemed worthy of a martyric death.
The commemoration date of the Chinese Martyrs varies between June 10th and June 11th in Orthodox practice throughout the world.
Apolytikion of Holy Martyrs of China in the Third Tone
Let us the flock of Christ with love and piety now glorify with hymns and truly joyous odes the faithful Martyrs of the truth who suffered for Christ in China. For having confessed the Faith, they all bravely went unto death as lambs which were sacrificed for our Shepherd and Master Christ. And therefore to the Martyrs we cry out: Remember us all, who sing your praises.
Kontakion of Holy Martyrs of China in the Fourth Tone
The divine Metrophanes, the martyred shepherd, with his great and faithful flock, have hallowed China with their blood; wherefore we praise them with sacred hymns, for they were faithful to Christ even unto death. | <urn:uuid:7f5487f9-d406-43b8-a63b-61a12c2380e2> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.goarch.org/chapel/saints_view?contentid=2334&language=en | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396538.42/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00069-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974498 | 306 | 3.125 | 3 |
Dr. Alessandro Fichera talks about prevention and early detection of colorectal cancer. Dr. Fichera is a surgeon and Director of Colorectal Surgical Oncology at the University of Washington and SCCA. Dr. Fichera stresses that colon and rectal cancer can be detected early and even prevented through routine colonoscopies. Pre-malignant stage polyps can be found and removed. Current low fiber and high fat diets increase many problems, including promoting colorectal cancers. Everyone should have a colonoscopy by the age of 50. First degree relatives of patients with colorectal cancer or polyps should have a colonoscopy by age 40. Earlier colonoscopies are recommended for individuals with a known mutation for familial polyposis, lynch syndrome, or other genetic predispositions. | <urn:uuid:d6006d85-4062-4850-87e2-6d4b4200de00> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.seattlecca.org/video-library/colon-cancer-screening-alessandro-fichera.cfm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395346.72/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00131-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918279 | 178 | 2.6875 | 3 |
A Canadian researcher has unearthed the relationship between high blood pressure and decreased pain perception in a variety of circumstances , including among individuals with heart disease.
Dr. Bianca D' Antono of the Montreal Heart Institute, currently affiliated with the Universite de Montreal, says that this phenomenon extends to people who typically suffer chest pain during exercise, and may be correlated with a potentially deadly heart condition.
In a study, she drew on data collected from over 900 patients undergoing exercise stress testing to diagnose possible myocardial ischemia (MI), a condition where oxygenated blood is prevented from reaching the heart because an artery has become blocked or constricted.
Generally, exercise should produce pain in these situations, but some patients experience "silence" cases of MI in which no pain is felt, according to an article published in the journal Psychophysiology.
Previous studies had indicated a correlation between high blood pressure and silent ischemia. But the current study provides further validation, says lead author Bianca D' Antono.
"This has implications for several areas, such as the effects of stress, non-adherence to treatment and silent myocardial ischemia," she says.
"Further research will be needed to better understand the relationship between blood pressure, pain perception and heart disease," she adds. Page: 1 Related medicine news :1
. Recommendations for Treatment of Blood Pressue
. Blood Cells Capable of Regenerating Liver
. Blood clots likely in long travel
. Hemochromatosis Patients Blood is Safe 5
. Blood transfusions beneficial after heart attacks 6
. Blood Pressure Drug may slow wasting in burn victims 7
. Levels Of Blood Proteins May Help Heart Disease Care8
. Blood test may identify ovarian cancer9
. A Blood test for suicide risk?10
. Blood Pressure Drugs maintain muscle strength11
. Blood test diagnoses heart failure in short time | <urn:uuid:b353f62c-28e7-4b97-a579-87fa2a1a6023> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.bio-medicine.org/medicine-news/High-Blood-Pressure-Linked-to-Decreased-Pain-Perception-in-Heart-Patients-23474-1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391519.2/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00010-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.904794 | 388 | 2.71875 | 3 |
AIDS Epidemic May Be Subsiding: Report
Number of new infections, deaths declining, while more with HIV getting lifesaving medications
By Robert Preidt
WEDNESDAY, July 16, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- A new United Nations report suggests that the AIDS epidemic might be waning: The number of new HIV infections worldwide is at a record low, AIDS-related deaths are down 35 percent, and more people with HIV are getting the lifesaving medications they need.
International health officials even set a tentative date for the planned demise of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
"If we accelerate all HIV scale-up [increased efforts to fight the virus] by 2020, we will be on track to end the epidemic by 2030," Michel Sidibe, executive director of UNAIDS, said in an agency news release. "If not, we risk significantly increasing the time it would take -- adding a decade, if not more."
At the end of 2013, an estimated 35 million people worldwide were living with HIV, according to the UNAIDS report, which was released Wednesday.
However, the trend in recent years is promising. In the last three years, new HIV infections have dropped 13 percent, and the 2.1 million new HIV infections reported last year are the fewest since the turn of the century.
New HIV infections among children fell by 58 percent since 2001, and are below 200,000 for the first time in the 21 most affected countries in Africa.
The largest decline in new infections was in the Caribbean -- 40 percent since 2005, the researchers noted. But new infections did increase 8 percent in western Europe and North America, 7 percent in the Middle East and North Africa, and 5 percent in eastern Europe and central Asia since 2005.
The news on AIDS-related deaths worldwide was also heartening, with statistics showing a 35 percent decline after the number of deaths peaked in 2005. AIDS-related deaths did increase by 66 percent in the Middle East and North Africa. The only other regions where AIDS-related deaths are rising are eastern Europe and central Asia, where the death toll increased 5 percent between 2005 and 2013. Tuberculosis remains the leading cause of death among people with HIV. | <urn:uuid:29b3805a-c1da-4518-9358-dad256f8f82a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.webmd.com/hiv-aids/news/20140716/aids-epidemic-may-be-subsiding-report | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397865.91/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00075-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960239 | 455 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Page 2 of 3
Who Is the User?
The other big realization that Cocke's work brought to the attention of machine designers was the idea that the user of a machine instruction set wasn't the programmer but the compiler.
Back in the early days assembly language programmers hand crafted code. When they needed to perform a multiplication on a machine that only performed additions in hardware then it was a lot of extra work to either write or borrow a multiplication routine. Of course programmers wanted complex instructions they made programming in machine code easier.
Programmers prefer CISC.
Later of course programmers moved away from machine code to high level languages and to an extent their involvement with the instruction set of a computer became less. At most they might admire a machine's design almost in the abstract but when it came to generating machine code it was the compiler that was all important. The fact is that compiler writers simply didn't make use of the complex instructions on offer. They generally used a small set of instructions that were enough to get the job done. This simplified the design of the code generation portion of the compiler.
As the technology advanced the prime consumer of machine instruction sets and hence the determining factor in what was a good design was the compiler - and compilers used a small simple subset of the instructions that might be available.
Compilers prefer RISC.
If RISC is such a good idea why do we all use CISC x86 processors?
For a time the Mac used a RISC processor – the PowerPC – but even here CISC has triumphed with Apple now using Intel processors. Sun also offered Sparc based RISC machines mainly to scientists and engineers but eventually lost the struggle and was taken over by Oracle mainly for its software assets.
So overall we still use CISC.
The reason is mainly due to the need to be backward compatible with the early microprocessors and the way that processors evolve by accumulating features. Even RISC processors have a tendency to grow ever more CISC-like with each new version!
However RISC is far from dead. What has happened is that RISC design principles have been incorporated into the core of processors such as the Pentium line that leads up to today's multicore chips without changing their overall nature.
This was a technique first used by Intel’s competitors to produce chips that outperformed the early x86 family processors. NexGen was the first and was so successful that it was bought by AMD, but it didn't take long for Intel to use the same ideas to make faster Pentiums.
The way that this works is that the processor core executes a set of reduced instructions called ROPs. The standard complex instructions of the Pentium instruction set are first broken down into a sequence of ROPs and then obeyed.
Believe it or not this strange two-stage execution system is actually faster! The programmer doesn’t have to know anything about the deep architectural changes in the chip because it translates the old instruction set using yet more hardware.
This is very similar to the use of a Just In Time (JIT) compiler for a high level language that converts complex instructions into a set of simpler machine code or intermediate code instructions just before they are executed.
There is also a move towards Very Long Instruction Word computers which looks like a rejection of the RISC principle – but it isn’t really.
Once you have a reduced instruction set there isn’t much scope for making it faster. One way is to increase the size of each instruction so that once again more gets done per clock cycle. This may look like a return to CISC but again there are only a few, highly optimised, VLIW instructions.
The big split in design technologies, RISC v CISC, is just part of the story. It gets even more interesting when you start looking at what can be done to tweak the basic design of a processor.
If software can be multi-tasking so can hardware.
The early processor designs carried out part of a single instruction at every clock cycle.
First the instruction had to be fetched from memory, then it had to be decoded, then perhaps data had to be fetched, the operation was then carried out and so on. The exact steps vary according to the processor but there are always a number of steps involved in completing an instruction.
A non-pipeline processor has to do everything before moving on to the next instruction.
Modern processors can speed things up by overlapping the execution of commands. In other words, by starting a new instruction before the current one is completed, the number of instructions per clock cycle can be increased. This idea is called “pipelining” and you can think of it as bringing the ideas of a production line to executing instructions.
A pipeline processor on the other hand can be working on more than one instruction at a time – just like a production line.
The x86 Core architecture, for example, has up to 14 stages of pipelining.
Longer pipelines have to be better?!
The big problem with pipelining is what happens if the instruction that you’ve just completed makes the partially completed instructions still in the pipeline invalid.
In this case the pipeline has to be restarted and this costs clock cycles. This can be so expensive that most benchmarks showed that the Pentium 4 with a 20 stage pipeline was slower than a Pentium III with a 10 stage pipleine at the same clock speed.
One way of avoiding the need to restart a pipeline is to always make sure that it is filled with the right instructions.
When a processor reaches a branch instruction it has the choice of one of two possible sets of instructions that it could follow. Branch prediction aims to guess which set is the right set! it sounds like fortune telling but it works because picking the wrong branch isn't any worse and picking the right branch pays off.
Basically is a question of choosing the branch most likely to be taken and this is a matter of statistics. | <urn:uuid:36757146-314a-4164-aa1d-cf68f7acceb1> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.i-programmer.info/babbages-bag/392-inside-the-processor.html?start=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398075.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00036-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958283 | 1,235 | 3.421875 | 3 |
Strongs Exhaustive Concordance OnlineThe Strong's Exhaustive Concordance is the most complete, easy-to-use, and understandable concordance for studying the original languages of the Bible. Combining the text of the King James Bible with the power of the Greek and Hebrew Lexicons, any student or pastor can gain a clear understanding of the Word to enrich their study.
The Strong's Exhaustive Concordance is the most complete, easy-to-use, and understandable concordance for studying the original languages of the Bible. Combining the text of the King James Bible with the power of the Greek and Hebrew Lexicons, any student or pastor can gain a clear understanding of the Word to enrich their study.
The Strong's concordance is a very useful tool for studying the scriptures. It takes every single word of the King James Version and lists where each word can be found in the scriptures. It is useful for locating scripture verses that you know the words to, but don't know the book, chapter and verse.
Strong's Concordance includes:
The 8674 Hebrew root words used in the Old Testament. (Example: Hebrew word #582
The 5624 Greek root words used in the New Testament. (Example: Greek word #3056
James Strong did not construct Strong's Concordance by himself; it was
constructed with the effort of more than a hundred colleagues. It has become the
most widely used concordance for the King James Bible.
Strong's Concordance in HebrewWhat is the Hebrew word for "Man" in the Old Testament? Checking the Hebrew word for man online in Strongs Concordance: H582
For any word in Hebrew, check Strong's Concordance here: Strong's Hebrew Concordance For studying the Old Testament, the Hebrew word study is very popular among serious Bible studying minsters.
Each original language words are given an entry number in the dictionary of those original language words listed in the back of the concordance. These have become known as the "Strong's numbers". The main concordance lists each word that appears in the KJV King James Version Bible in alphabetical order with each verse in which it appears listed in order of its appearance in the Bible, with a snippet of the surrounding text (including the word in italics). Appearing to the right of scripture reference is the Strong's number. This allows the user of the concordance to look up the meaning of the original language word in the associated dictionary in the back, thereby showing how the original language word was translated into the English word in the KJV Bible.
New editions of Strongs Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible are still in print. Additionally, other authors have used Strong's numbers in concordances of other Bible translations, such as the New International Version and American Standard Version. These are often also referred to as Strong's Concordances. | <urn:uuid:234082ae-31cf-4572-9c08-c8b312c0244b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://ten-commandments.us/ten_commandments/strongs_concordance_online.phtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783400031.51/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155000-00194-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926159 | 594 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Study links homosexuality in men to the way mothers process X chromosomes
New research suggests that mothers of multiple gay sons process X chromosomes differently than other women.
The study by a research team at the University of California at Los Angeles adds another bit of evidence that sexual orientation is at least in part due to genetics.
The research group found that about a quarter of the mothers who had more than one gay son processed X chromosomes in their bodies in the same way.
Ordinarily, women process the chromosomes randomly in one of two ways: half go one way, half go the other.
“This confirms that there is a strong genetic basis for sexual orientation, and that for some gay men, genes on the X chromosome are involved,” Sven Bocklandt, a co-author of the study, told HealthDay News. Bocklandt is a postdoctoral researcher at UCLA.
While women have two X chromosomes, they require only one and routinely inactivate the other, Bocklandt said.
Women typically inactivate one of their two X chromosomes randomly.
“It’s like flipping a coin,” Bocklandt told HealthDay News. “If you look at women in any given tissue, you’d expect about half the cells to inactivate one X, and half would inactivate the other.”
The researchers studied 97 mothers of gay sons and 103 mothers without gay sons to check for differences in the way they handled their X chromosomes. In women with more than one gay son, a quarter inactivated the same X chromosome in virtually every cell the researchers checked.
“That’s extremely unusual,” Bocklandt said.
In contrast, 4 percent of the mothers with no gay sons activated the same chromosome and 13 percent of those with just one gay son did.
Bocklandt said the study shows something happening in the bodies of women that is linked to a behavioral trait in their sons.
“That’s new,” he told HealthDay News. “That’s unheard of.”
Other researchers cautioned against reading too much into the study’s findings. They pointed out that most of the mothers of multiple gay sons 75 percent didn’t share the remarkable X-chromosome trait.
And the overall study size is small, which means additional research is needed to confirm the study’s results.
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition, February 24, 2006. | <urn:uuid:2ef67200-662d-4d12-9891-b40da6e2e2cc> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.dallasvoice.com/a-moms-x-factor-1020900.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397695.90/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00076-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937145 | 518 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Saint Barsanuphius, an Egyptian by birth, lived in the 6th.
Century during the reign of Emperor Justinian. He
first lived in a monastery near the township
of Gaza and then, lived without the monastery in a small cave,
spending his time in prayer and silence. Nobody saw him for 50 years. For his great
humility, God honored him with the gifts of wisdom, perspicacity and prophecy.
It has been told that, like Apostle Paul, he ascended into Heaven and witnessed
the indescribable blessings of Godís Kingdom. Being a miracle worker, he raised
the dead and like the Prophet Elijah, could control the heavens. Such were the
great gifts he obtained through unbelievably difficult temptations and
sufferings. At the closing stages of his life ó for the good of the Church ó he
was invited by the Patriarch of Jerusalem to visit the city, where he convinced
the emperor to abandon his erroneous thinking and restore the concordant
relationship with the Church of Jerusalem. He died in the year of 563.
Venerable John also practiced a life of silence
and earned the gifts of prophecy and perspicacity, for which he received the
designation of prophet. His place of birth is unknown. During an 18 year period
up to his death, he lived near the Elder Barsanuphius. Knowing the date of his
demise and in response to Abba Elianusí request he postponed his death for two
weeks in order to instruct him how to run the cloister.
Saints Barsanuphiusí and Johnís instructions have
been preserved in the form of questions and answers posed by individuals of
various callings ó Archbishops, priests and laity.
Saint Barsanuphius instructed Abba Seridus to
record all his answers without having any fear of making mistakes, as the Holy
Spirit would direct him to chronicle everything correctly and in sequential
Return to the first page | <urn:uuid:69feafc2-ed64-40da-a026-118f3563e178> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.orthodoxphotos.com/readings/instructions/barsanuphius.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783400572.45/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155000-00097-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970179 | 420 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Lesson Plans for the INSPIRE: Chile Margin 2012 Expedition
Educators and scientists working with NOAA developed eight lesson plans for students in Grades 5 - 12 that are specifically tied to the science behind the INSPIRE: Chile Margin 2010 Expedition. One new lesson, “Son of ABE (sort of)” has been added to the collection for the 2012 expedition. These lesson plans focus on cutting-edge ocean exploration and research using state-of-the-art technologies.
The lesson plans are grouped into the following categories:
Activities are correlated with A Framework for K-12 Science Education (in preparation for the Next Generation Science Standards);the Ocean Literacy Essential Principles and Fundamental Concepts; and
the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Mathematics where appropriate. The lessons include focus questions, background information for teachers, links to interesting Internet sites, and extensions. Web logs that document the latest discoveries and complement the lesson plans, complete with compelling images and video, will be sent back each day from sea. Teachers are encouraged to use the daily logs from the INSPIRE: Chile Margin 2012 expedition, which are posted on this site, to supplement the lesson plans.
Read a description of each lesson plan and/or download them to your computer. All of the lesson plans are available in a PDF format, and may be viewed and printed with the free Adobe Acrobat Reader . To download a lesson plan, click on its title from the listing below. (Note: if you have problems downloading one of these lessons, right-click on the link and save the lesson to your desktop.)
When Plates Collide (PDF, 1.1 Mb)
Focus: Plate Tectonics – Movement of plates, results of plate movement, and the Chile Triple Junction
Students will describe the motion of tectonic plates, compare and contrast three typical boundary types that occur between tectonic plates, describe the plate boundaries that occur and the Chile Triple Junction, and explain why a variety of chemosynthetic communities are expected to occur in this area.
A Hydrothermal AdVENTure (PDF, 948 Kb)
Focus: Hydrothermal Vents
Students will explain the overall structure of hydrothermal vents and how they are related to the motion of tectonic plates, and will create a model of a hydrothermal vent.
Son of ABE (sort of) (PDF, )
Focus: Autonomous Underwater Vehicles
Students will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using underwater robots in scientific explorations; discuss ways in which the design of the AUV Sentry has improved on the design of the AUV ABE; and given a specific exploration task, will identify key design requirements for a robotic vehicle that is capable of carrying out this task and describe practical approaches to meet identified design requirements. Optionally, students will construct a robotic vehicle capable of carrying out an assigned task.
Mapping the Deep Ocean Floor (PDF, 1.5 Mb)
Focus: Bathymetric Mapping
Students will create a two-dimensional topographic map from bathymetric survey data, create a three-dimensional model of seafloor topography from a two-dimensional topographic map, and will be able to interpret two- and three-dimensional topographic data.
The Oceanographic Yo-Yo (PDF, 1.2 Mb)
Focus: Using ocean chemistry to locate hydrothermal vents
Students will explain the effects of hydrothermal vents on chemical and physical parameters of seawater, and how oceanographers can use these effects to locate hydrothermal vents.
The Ridge Exploring Robot (PDF, 1.2 Mb)
Focus: Autonomous Underwater Vehicles/Marine Navigation
Students will explain a three-phase strategy that uses an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) to locate, map, and photograph previously undiscovered hydrothermal vents, design a survey program to provide a photomosaic of a hypothetical hydrothermal vent field, and calculate the expected position of the AUV based on speed and direction of travel.
The Tell-Tale Plume (PDF, 1.2 Mb)
Focus: Hydrothermal Vent Chemistry
Students will describe hydrothermal vents, identify changes that they cause to the physical and chemical properties of seawater, and use oceanographic data to recognize a probable plume from hydrothermal activity.
The Chemosynthetic Cafe (PDF, 1.0 Mb)
Focus: Biochemistry of hydrothermal vents
Students will compare and contrast food web energy sources in hydrothermal vent and aerobic environments, and will use models to explain the overall chemistry of autotrophic nutrition.
Reduced Fare (PDF, 1 Mb)
Focus: Deep-Sea Reducing Environments
Students will describe oxidation and reduction, explain the meaning of “reducing environment,” give at least three examples of deep-sea reducing environments, and demonstrate a flow of electric current produced by a redox reaction.
And Now for Something Completely Different… (PDF, 172 kb)
(from the 2005 GalAPAGos: Where Ridge Meets Hotspot expedition)
Focus: Biological communities at hydrothermal vents (Life Science)
In this activity, students will identify and describe organisms typical of hydrothermal vent communities near the Galapagos Spreading Center, explain why hydrothermal vent communities tend to be short-lived, and identify and discuss lines of evidence which suggested the existence of hydrothermal vents before they were actually discovered.
Living With the Heat (PDF, 88 kb)
(from the Submarine Ring of Fire 2002 expedition)
Focus: Hydrothermal vent ecology and transfer of energy among organisms that live near vents.
In this activity, students will be able to describe how hydrothermal vents are formed and characterize the physical conditions at these sites, explain what chemosynthesis is and contrast this process with photosynthesis, identify autotrophic bacteria as the basis for food webs in hydrothermal vent communities, and describe common food pathways between organisms typically found in hydrothermal vent communities.
Animals of the Fire Ice (PDF, 364 kb)
(from the 2003 Windows to the Deep Expedition)
Focus: Methane hydrate ice worms and hydrate shrimp (Life Science)
In this activity, students will be able to define and describe methane hydrate ice worms and hydrate shrimp, infer how methane hydrate ice worms and hydrate shrimp obtain their food, and infer how methane hydrate ice worms and hydrate shrimp may interact with other species in the biological communities of which they are part.
Life is Weird (PDF, 315 kb) (from the 2003 Windows to the Deep expedition)
Focus: Biological organisms in cold seep communities (Life Science)
In this activity, students will be able to describe major features of cold seep communities, and list at least five organisms typical of these communities. Students will also be able to infer probable trophic relationships among organisms typical of cold-seep communities and the surrounding deep-sea environment, and describe the process of chemosynthesis in general terms, and will be able to contrast chemosynthesis and photosynthesis.
One Tough Worm (PDF, 476 kb) (from the 2002 Gulf of Mexico Expedition)
Focus: Physiological adaptations to toxic and hypoxic environments (Life Science)
In this activity, students will be able to explain the process of chemosynthesis, explain the relevance of chemosynthesis to biological communities in the vicinity of cold seeps, and describe three physiological adaptations that enhance an organism’s ability to extract oxygen from its environment. Students will also be able to describe the problems posed by hydrogen sulfide for aerobic organisms, and explain three strategies for dealing with these problems.
Sonar Simulation (PDF, 308 kb)
(from the Bonaire 2008: Exploring Coral Reef Sustainability with New Technologies Expedition)
Focus: Side scan sonar (Earth Science/Physical Science)
In this activity, students will describe side-scan sonar, compare and contrast side-scan sonar with other methods used to search for underwater objects, and make inferences about the topography of an unknown and invisible landscape based on systematic discontinuous measurements of surface relief.
Sound Pictures (PDF, 1 Mb)
(from the Lophelia II 2009:Deepwater Coral Expedition: Reefs, Rigs, and Wrecks)
Focus: Sonar (Physical Science)
In this activity, students will explain the concept of sonar, describe the major components of a sonar system, explain how multibeam and sidescan sonar systems are useful to ocean explorers, and simulate sonar operation using a motion detector and a graphing calculator.
Chemosynthesis for the Classroom (PDF, 274 kb)
(from the 2002 Gulf of Mexico Expedition)
Focus: Chemosynthetic bacteria and succession in chemosynthetic communities (Chemistry/Biology)
In this activity, students will observe the development of chemosynthetic bacterial communities and will recognize that organisms modify their environment in ways that create opportunities for other organisms to thrive. Students will also be able to explain the process of chemosynthesis and the relevance of chemosynthesis to biological communities in the vicinity of cold seeps.
Hydrothermal Vent Challenge (PDF, 412 kb)
(from the Submarine Ring of Fire 2004 expedition)
Focus: Chemistry of hydrothermal vents (Chemistry)
Students will be able to define hydrothermal vents and explain the overall processes that lead to their formation. Students will be able to explain the origin of mineral-rich fluids associated with hydrothermal vents. Students will be able to explain how black smokers and white smokers are formed. Students will be able to hypothesize how properties of hydrothermal fluids might be used to locate undiscovered hydrothermal vents.
The Galapagos Spreading Center (PDF, 480 kb)
(from the 2002 Galapagos Rift Expedition)
Focus: Mid-Ocean Ridges (Earth Science)
In this activity, students will be able to describe the processes involved in creating new seafloor at a mid-ocean ridge; students will investigate the Galapagos Spreading Center system; students will understand the different types of plate motion associated with ridge segments and transform faults.
This Life Stinks (PDF, 276 kb)
(from the 2003 Windows to the Deep expedition)
Focus: Methane-based chemosynthetic processes (Physical Science)
In this activity, students will be able to define the process of chemosynthesis, and contrast this process with photosynthesis. Students will also explain the process of methane-based chemosynthesis and explain the relevance of chemosynthesis to biological communities in the vicinity of cold seeps.
Where Did They Come From? (PDF, 296 kb)
(from the 2005 GalAPAGoS: Where Ridge Meets Hotspot expedition)
Focus: Species variation in hydrothermal vent communities (Life Science)
In this activity, students will define and describe biogeographic provinces of hydrothermal vent communities, identify and discuss processes contributing to isolation and species exchange between hydrothermal vent communities, and discuss characteristics which may contribute to the survival of species inhabiting hydrothermal vent communities. | <urn:uuid:68137311-a851-41ae-ac44-54e95d35edd6> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/12chile/background/edu/lessonplans.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394414.43/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00101-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.873258 | 2,327 | 3.3125 | 3 |
In recent years investigators have discovered that breast tumors are influenced by more than just the cancer cells within them. A variety of noncancerous cells, which in many cases constitute the majority of the tumor mass, form what is known as the “tumor microenvironment.” This sea of noncancerous cells and the products they deposit appear to play key roles in tumor pathogenesis.
Among the key accomplices in the tumor microenvironment are mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), a group of adult progenitor cells, which have been shown to help breast cancers maneuver and spread to other parts of the body.
Now, new research sheds further light on how this spreading is happening. Led by investigators at Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), the research demonstrates that the lysyl oxidase (LOX) gene is spurred to production in cancer cells as a result of their contact with MSCs, and once produced, can help ensure the spread of otherwise weakly metastatic cancer cells from primary tumors to the lung and bones. Described online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), this discovery not only provides key insights into the basic biology of tumor formation, but also offers a potential new direction in the pursuit of therapies for the treatment of bone metastasis.
“We don’t have a lot of therapies that can target breast cancer once it has metastasized, particularly once cancer cells have lodged in the bone,” says senior author Antoine Karnoub, an investigator in the Department of Pathology at BIDMC and assistant professor of pathology at Harvard Medical School. “When breast cancer cells reach the skeleton, one way in which they cause damage is by breaking down bone tissue, which results in the bone’s rich matrix releasing numerous factors. These factors, in turn, feed the cancer cells, setting in motion a vicious cycle that leaves patients susceptible to fractures, pain, and further metastasis.”
MSCs are nonhematopoietic progenitor cells predominantly produced in the bone marrow that generate bone, cartilage, fat, and fibrous connective tissue. They additionally support immune cell development and are recruited to inflammatory sites throughout the body to help shut down immune responses and regenerate damaged tissues, as might occur during wound healing. Several years ago, as a postdoctoral researcher at the Whitehead Institute of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Karnoub began exploring the idea that MSCs were migrating to tumors after mistaking the cancer sites for inflammatory lesions in need of healing.
“We discovered that once MSCs had reached the tumor sites, they were actually helping in cancer metastasis, causing primary cancer cells to spread to other sites in the body,” he explains. In this new research, Karnoub wanted to find out — in greater molecular detail — how breast cancer cells respond to the influences of MSCs in order to better understand how cancer cells cross talk with recruited cells in the microenvironment.
His scientific team first embarked on a straightforward experiment. “We took two dishes of cells, cancer cells and MSCs, and mixed them together,” Karnoub explains. After three days, the researchers removed the cancer cells and studied them to see how they had changed.
“We found that the lysyl oxidase gene was highly upregulated in the cancer cells,” Karnoub says. “It turns out that when a cancer cell comes in contact with an MSC, it flips on this LOX gene, turning it up by a factor of about 100. So our next question was: What happens to the cancer cells when they encounter this boost of LOX that they themselves have produced?”
The answer, as revealed in subsequent experiments, was that LOX was setting in motion a cell program called epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT). During EMT, cancer cells that usually clump together undergo a transformation into cells that exhibit decreased adhesion to their neighbors and go their own way. As a result, these cancerous cells are able to migrate, significantly enhancing their ability to metastasize.
“When we put these cells back into mice, they not only formed tumors that metastasized to the lung, but also to the bone,” says Karnoub. “This makes you wonder whether the cancer cells in primary tumors have become so acclimated to interacting with bone-derived MSCs that they can now grow more easily in the bone once they leave the tumor.”
The investigators also wanted to find out if, by going through the EMT process, cancer cells were also acquiring the phenotypes of another highly aggressive feature of malignant cancer cells, those of cancer stem cells within the cores of most tumors.
“Cancer stem cells are believed to be responsible for the resurgence of tumors following chemotherapy treatment, and an increasing body of science is focused on understanding how CSCs function and how they originate,” says Karnoub. “The processes of EMT and CSC formation have been described as being closely coupled, and we asked whether LOX might be regulating CSC phenotypes, just as it was regulating EMT. To our surprise, this was not the case. This tells us that pathways that were once thought to be intimately intertwined and commonly tweaked may, in fact, be separate, and now we can start to tease out the respective circuitries with a bit more clarity.”
Lastly, the investigators identified the mechanism that was enabling LOX to be turned on from outside the cell, a set of molecules called hyaluronic acid (HA) and CD44. “It turns out that the MSCs provide the HA while the cancer cells provide the CD44, and they work in tandem like a lock and key to upregulate LOX expression,” explains Karnoub, adding that antagonists to HA and CD44, already in extensive investigations and clinical exploration, might be of increased use from a clinical standpoint, perhaps in managing bone metastasis. | <urn:uuid:2765103b-60c6-4329-8ba7-b6e31d866472> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2012/10/noncancerous-cells-carry-weight/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396875.58/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00062-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962812 | 1,249 | 2.71875 | 3 |
By Barbara Loe Fisher
On Sept. 12, 2013, public health officials at the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) called a press conference to announce that vaccination rates among pre-school children are "high and stable" and "less than one percent are unvaccinated."1
More than 90 percent of American toddlers have gotten a measles-containing MMR shot by age three, along with many doses of 10 other government recommended vaccines.
159 Measles Cases Reported This Year in US
But health officials warned there have been 159 cases of measles reported so far this year, the second highest number of measles cases reported in one year since 2000.
They put the blame on 92 unvaccinated Americans diagnosed with measles who had "philosophical objections" to vaccination, such as orthodox Jews in New York City and Christians attending a church in Texas, which they described as "clusters of people with like-minded beliefs leading them to forego vaccines." 2, 3, 4
There have been no measles-related deaths in the US this year; however one government official said that 160,000 people around the world die from measles every year and the infection is "literally a plane ride away."
She warned that "the measles virus can hang out in the air and if you are in the same waiting room as someone with measles, you will get measles if you never had it."5
Americans Born Before 1957 Have Natural Immunity
In the interest of full disclosure, I should acknowledge that when I was a child I did get measles and so did my sister and brother and all my friends. It started off with a fever, runny nose, sore throat and white spots inside our mouths and then an itchy red rash on our faces that spread all over and I remember wearing sunglasses in the house because the light hurt my eyes.
My parents and grandparents and their sisters and brothers also had measles when they were children. When I was growing up in the 1950s, measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox were infections we all experienced but our parents didn't worry about those childhood diseases like they worried about polio.
Americans born before 1957 have naturally acquired immunity to measles and we passed antibodies on to our babies when they were born to protect them from measles during the first year of life. Things have definitely changed in the past 60 years.
Because vaccine antibodies are different from naturally-acquired measles antibodies, young vaccinated moms today cannot give longer lasting naturally acquired measles antibodies to their newborns.6
American Children Are Highly Vaccinated
In August and September, the CDC published annual reports that once again confirmed American children are among the most highly vaccinated in the world.7, 8, 9 In 2012, 95 percent of children entering kindergarten had gotten two MMR shots and so had more than 90 percent of high school students. About 1.8 percent of kindergarten children had a medical or personal belief exemption to vaccination on file with schools.
Bottom line: 95 percent of the approximately 75 million children under age 1810 have gotten two doses of MMR vaccine and there is also a high measles vaccination rate among young adults in their 20s and mid-30s because, since 1981, 95 percent of all children entering kindergarten have received at least one dose of MMR vaccine and three or more doses of diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis and polio containing vaccines.11
Now, let's take a look at what measles incidence and death rates looked like before and after the first measles vaccine was licensed in 1963.
Infections and Vaccine Reactions: Misdiagnosis and Underreporting
It is important to remember that, like B. pertussis whooping cough and other infectious diseases, measles has natural cyclical increases and decreases every few years in populations.12, 13 Plus, not all pertussis14, 15 or measles infections16, 17 are diagnosed correctly by doctors and reported to government health officials, and the same is true for diagnosis and reporting of vaccine reactions, injuries and deaths.18, 19, 20
Before Vaccine: Millions of Measles Cases Not Reported
Before measles vaccine was licensed in 1963, the CDC admits there was massive underreporting of measles cases and that "because virtually all children acquired measles, the number of [measles] cases probably approached 3.5 million per year (.i.e., an entire birth cohort)."21 Other doctors say it was more like 5 million cases of measles occurring every year.22
In 1960, three years before the first measles vaccine was put on the market in the US, there were about 442,000 reported measles cases and 380 related deaths 23, 24 among 3.5 to 5 million Americans.
After Vaccine: Decreases and Increases in Measles Case Reports
After 17 years of giving children measles vaccine, in 1980 there were only 13,500 reported measles cases and 11 related deaths.25 But in 1990, about 28,000 measles cases and 64 deaths were reported in a population in which 95 percent of children entering kindergarten had gotten one MMR shot that public health officials had promised parents would give their children life long immunity to measles.26
So the CDC added a second MMR shot to the child vaccine schedule and, by 2005, there were only 66 cases of measles reported.27 However, in 2008 and 2011, there were a total of 362 reported measles cases, even as there were no deaths.28 This brings us to the question of why there is so much publicity today about 159 measles cases identified in the US this year in a population of 316 million.
Global Measles Eradication Endgame: 2015 - 2020
Well, what a lot of Americans do not know but need to know is that the World Health Organization (WHO) is partnering with government health officials, multi-national pharmaceutical corporations and medical trade groups in a global measles eradication campaign patterned after the smallpox and polio eradication campaigns of the 20th century. The goal is to eradicate measles (and rubella) from the earth by 2015 or at the latest by 2020.29, 30
Two Doses of MMR for Two Billion Children
In order to accomplish that goal in the next two to seven years, the plan is to make sure that at least 95 percent or more of the world's two billion children31 get two doses of MMR vaccine. With a dose of MMR vaccine costing the CDC $20 to purchase from Merck while private pediatricians pay $56 a dose,32 the cost of waging a global measles eradication campaign is astronomical.33
Europe: Few Countries Mandate MMR
In Europe, where many countries mandate polio vaccine and not MMR or other vaccines,34 there have been tens of thousands of measles cases reported over the past decade.35, 36 European health officials say that individuals with religious beliefs, as well as many "middle class people" using holistic health care alternatives for staying well, are resisting MMR vaccine promotion campaigns.37 Public health doctors see the trend by educated consumers in many developed countries to move away from using lots of prescription drugs and vaccines38, 39, 40 as a threat to infectious disease eradication programs.
The question is: How far will public health doctors go to reach their goal of eradicating measles, rubella and many other infections with the mandated use of vaccines?41, 42, 43, 44
We have seen a militarization of the public health system in the past century45 to justify global vaccination campaigns to eradicate smallpox and polio.46, 47, 48, 49After Sept. 11, 2001, Congress and state legislatures granted greatly expanded police powers to government health officials to detain, quarantine and force vaccine use without the voluntary, informed consent of citizens whenever government officials declare a "public health emergency."50, 51, 52
A War on Values and Beliefs
The public conversation about vaccination, health and autonomy has become ugly and divisive in the 21st century because the War on Disease has been turned into a War on Values and Beliefs.53, 54 55, 56, 57, 58 And it is making many people afraid and distrustful of doctors and government health officials using threats and sanctions to enforce one-size-fits-all vaccine policies and laws that force them to get not just two doses of MMR vaccine but also dozens of doses of other vaccines. 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64
Will the Oppression Escalate?
Is the current government-endorsed criticism of the values and spiritual beliefs of unvaccinated Americans, who have been diagnosed with measles, just the first step toward even more oppression? Will it escalate into what we witnessed in 2007, when parents failing to show proof their children had gotten a chickenpox shot or hepatitis B shot, were threatened with stiff fines and jail time before being summoned by government officials to a Maryland courthouse patrolled by armed police with dogs to make sure their children got vaccinated? 65
I don't think any of us know how far doctors working for government or drug companies and medical trade groups will go to pit citizens against each other in an effort to shun and punish anyone defending the human right to exercise freedom of thought, belief, conscience and informed consent to medical-risk taking,66 which includes taking risks with liability free pharmaceutical products like vaccines.67
Philosopher and human rights advocate Elie Wiesel has said: "When you take an idea or a concept and turn it into an abstraction, that opens the way to take human beings and turn them, also, into abstractions. When human beings become abstractions, what is left?"68
Biological, Genetic and Environmental Differences Among Us
When public health officials embrace the concept of eradicating an infection from the world and achieving that goal means making sure that a certain number of children have gotten a certain number of vaccinations, it is very easy to turn children into abstractions and forget that human beings are not all the same and do not all react the same way to vaccines or infections.69, 70, 71, 72
There are biological, genetic and environmental differences among us, and that is why some of us get an MMR shot or experience measles and do not suffer complications while others of us do suffer complications and are brain injured or die.73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79
When doctors cannot predict ahead of time who will be harmed by a vaccine80, 81 or an infectious disease and they cannot guarantee that those who have been vaccinated are incapable of being infected or transmitting infection, 82, 83, 84, 85 the precautionary and informed consent principles should not be eradicated from vaccine policies and laws just because public health officials have decided to embark on yet another infection eradication campaign.
The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) supports your civil and human right to exercise freedom of thought, conscience and informed consent to vaccination and make independent health care choices without being tracked down, bullied and punished by anyone. Become informed about measles and MMR vaccine and talk with one or more trusted health care professionals before making an educated health care decision.
Go to NVIC.org to learn more and sign up for the online NVIC Advocacy Portal to defend vaccine choices and exemptions in your state. It's your health. Your family. Your choice.
Protect Your Right to Informed Consent and Defend Vaccine Exemptions
With all the uncertainty surrounding the safety and efficacy of vaccines, it's critical to protect your right to informed consent to vaccination and fight to protect and expand vaccine exemptions in state public health laws. The best way to do this is to get personally involved with your state legislators and the leaders in your community.
THINK GLOBALLY, ACT LOCALLY.
Mass vaccination policies are made at the federal level but vaccine laws are made at the state level. It is at the state level where your action to protect your vaccine choice rights can have the greatest impact. It is critical for EVERYONE to get involved now in standing up for the legal right to make vaccine choices in America because those choices are being threatened by lobbyists representing drug companies, medical trade associations and public health officials, who are trying to persuade legislators to strip all vaccine exemptions from public health laws.
Signing up for NVIC's free Advocacy Portal at www.NVICAdvocacy.org gives you immediate, easy access to your own state legislators on your Smart Phone or computer so you can make your voice heard. You will be kept up-to-date on the latest state bills threatening your vaccine choices and get practical, useful information to help you become an effective vaccine choice advocate in your own community. Also, when national vaccine issues come up, you will have the up-to-date information and call to action items you need at your fingertips.
So please, as your first step, sign up for the NVIC Advocacy Portal.
Share Your Story with the Media and People You Know
If you or a family member has suffered a serious vaccine reaction, injury or death, please talk about it. If we don't share information and experiences with each other, everybody feels alone and afraid to speak up. Write a letter to the editor if you have a different perspective on a vaccine story that appears in your local newspaper. Make a call in to a radio talk show that is only presenting one side of the vaccine story.
I must be frank with you; you have to be brave because you might be strongly criticized for daring to talk about the "other side" of the vaccine story. Be prepared for it and have the courage to not back down. Only by sharing our perspective and what we know to be true about vaccination will the public conversation about vaccination open up so people are not afraid to talk about it.
We cannot allow the drug companies and medical trade associations funded by drug companies or public health officials promoting forced use of a growing list of vaccines to dominate the conversation about vaccination. The vaccine injured cannot be swept under the carpet and treated like nothing more than "statistically acceptable collateral damage" of national one-size-fits-all mandatory vaccination policies that put way too many people at risk for injury and death. We shouldn't be treating people like guinea pigs instead of human beings.
Internet Resources Where You Can Learn More
I encourage you to visit the following web pages on the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) website at www.NVIC.org:
- NVIC Memorial for Vaccine Victims: View descriptions and photos of children and adults, who have suffered vaccine reactions, injuries and deaths. If you or your child experiences an adverse vaccine event, please consider posting and sharing your story here.
- If You Vaccinate, Ask 8 Questions: Learn how to recognize vaccine reaction symptoms and prevent vaccine injuries.
- Vaccine Freedom Wall: View or post descriptions of harassment and sanctions by doctors, employers, school and health officials for making independent vaccine choices.
Connect with Your Doctor or Find a New One That Will Listen and Care
If your pediatrician or doctor refuses to provide medical care to you or your child unless you agree to get vaccines you don't want, I strongly encourage you to have the courage to find another doctor. Harassment, intimidation, and refusal of medical care is becoming the modus operandi of the medical establishment in an effort to stop the change in attitude of many parents about vaccinations after they become truly educated about health and vaccination.
However, there is hope.
At least 15 percent of young doctors recently polled admit that they're starting to adopt a more individualized approach to vaccinations in direct response to the vaccine safety concerns of parents. It is good news that there is a growing number of smart young doctors, who prefer to work as partners with parents in making personalized vaccine decisions for children, including delaying vaccinations or giving children fewer vaccines on the same day or continuing to provide medical care for those families, who decline use of one or more vaccines.
So take the time to locate a doctor, who treats you with compassion and respect and is willing to work with you to do what is right for your child. | <urn:uuid:aca2334a-e446-42fc-947d-a8ab40911838> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/11/12/measles-vaccine.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397744.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00071-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956636 | 3,253 | 2.609375 | 3 |
February 1961 Popular
was 1958, over the Taiwan Strait, when the first Sidewinder air-to-air
missile flew up the tailpipe of a MIG-17 Fresco after being launched
by an F-104 Starfighter. The age of offensive infrared (IR) warfare
had begun. It is amazing that the detection and guidance system
for the Sidewinder was built largely from discrete components, without
the advantage of large scale integration. IR night vision devices
were actually used by the military as early as WWII with the renowned
Snooperscope (handheld) and the
Sniperscope (mounted to a carbine rifle). Both required an infrared
light source to illuminate the target. Today's night vision goggles
and scopes are sensitive enough to be totally passive. This "Infrared"
article from the February 1961 Popular Electronics talks
about early developments in infrared technology. Corny-looking prototypes
of IR wireless phones are shown, but obviously that concept never
took off. There is a cool photo of a 15" diameter solid germanium
disc lens that has been polished for use as an IR missile detection
system "picture window."
February 1961 Popular Electronics
[Table of Contents]
People old and young enjoy waxing nostalgic about and learning some of the history of early electronics. Popular
Electronics was published from October 1954 through April 1985. All copyrights are hereby acknowledged. See all articles from
Time magazine article on the
Yesterday's discovery ...
... tomorrow's promise
By Charles Caringella, W6NJV
the Quemoy crisis two years ago, a new weapon made the headlines.
Known as the "Sidewinder," the instrument was the first guided missile
to destroy enemy aircraft in actual combat. The Chinese Nationalists
exploded scores of Red MIG-17 jets in mid-air with the aid of this
Interestingly enough, the Sidewinder missile
is named after the desert rattlesnake - both strike by homing in
on the infrared radiations which their targets emit. The hot exhaust
of an enemy jet becomes the target for this heat-seeking missile,
which zooms into the tailpipe and destroys the aircraft in a fiery
What Is Infrared? Actually an
electromagnetic radiation much like radio or light waves, infrared
is produced to some extent by every object above absolute zero (-237°
C). And the hotter an object becomes, the more infrared is emitted
- the sun, for example, is an excellent infrared radiator.
The discovery of infrared took place over 160 years ago. In the
year 1800, William Herschel placed a number of thermometers along
the full length of a rainbow-like spectrum of the sun's light which
had been dispersed by a glass prism. As he expected, the thermometers
were heated by this visible light - from the violet at one end of
the spectrum to the red at the other. But there was one thing Herschel
didn't expect. The thermometers were also heated at the end of the
spectrum beyond the visible red region, indicating that some form
of energy was also present there! Since this radiation was below
the visible red region, he dubbed it "infrared."
(left) converts invisible infrared
into visible light; the World War II "snooperscope." which enabled
troops to see in the dark, employed such a detector. Modern
Single-crystal Infrared detector (right) is a byproduct of transistor
development unit; produces output voltage in proportion to amount
of infrared radiation failing upon it. Both devices are products
of Radio Corporation of America (RCA).
over a century, Hershel's discovery remained nothing more than a
scientific curiosity. Then, in the 1920's and 1930's, several laboratory
instruments were developed which used infrared to identify unknown
materials and analyze chemical compounds. And World War II brought
the amazing "snooperscope" which enabled our troops to literally
see in the dark.
Types of Systems.
Infrared systems are classified into two groups. In the "active"
system, the target is illuminated by an infrared spotlight; the
snooperscope is an example of a device which uses this system. The
second or "passive" system detects the infrared energy emitted by
the target itself, as does the Sidewinder missile. As might be expected,
the passive system requires a very sensitive detector, since the
amount of infrared which objects emit is often extremely small.
The basic instrument used for measuring infrared radiation
is the radiometer. Acting somewhat like the more common photocell,
the radiometer collects radiation from a narrow field and converts
it into electrical energy which can then be read on a meter or recorded
on a chart. Radiometers are used to monitor temperatures remotely
with a very high degree of accuracy.
Infrared has been applied to a wide variety of guided missiles,
with air-to-air types-such as the Sidewinder - the most successful.
Another military application is in aircraft gunfire control. Fire-control
systems using visual sights are naturally limited to daytime operation,
but infrared equipment extends the operation of such systems into
Infrared band, sandwiched
between visible light and microwave regions, comprises wavelengths
from 0.75 to approximately 1000 microns.
other military applications include airborne early-warning systems,
ballistic-missile detection systems, "passive" viewing systems for
watching troop movements at night, and infrared communications systems.
The "Midas" satellites, for example, will have infrared "eyes" to
detect the white-hot exhaust of missiles as they are launched from
Many commercial applications of infrared
stem from one fact: as infrared light is passed through a chemical
compound, certain wavelengths are absorbed and do not pass through.
These wavelengths or groups of wavelengths are known as absorption
bands. And because the molecules of every substance have a different
infrared absorption band, these bands provide a means of identifying
molecules in much the same way that a set of fingerprints can identify
a particular human being.
The infrared spectrophotometer,
for example, is an instrument which analyzes compounds and gases.
It automatically measures the changes in wavelength of the infrared
light passing through a sample and records the resultant absorption
bands on a chart.
Infrared finds dozens of uses in industry.
Among them: analyzing fertilizers, insecticides, and soils in agriculture;
complex propellant mixtures and exhaust gases in aircraft and missiles;
molecular structure of enzymes and amino acids in biochemistry;
essential oils and mixtures in cosmetics; compounds in pharmaceutics.
Fire detection is also becoming an important application
for infrared. Airlines are now using infrared fire-detection devices
aboard their planes, and railroads call on infrared to detect "hot"
boxes from fixed positions - even though the trains are moving by
at high speeds! Some day, a greater degree of protection from forest
fires may be provided through the use of small, battery-operated
Wireless telephone - the
"Infraphone" - sends conversations hundreds of feet over invisible
infrared beam. Produced by Infrared Industries, it is fully transistorized
and operates on flashlight batteries. It' available from most major
radio supply houses.
Place in the Spectrum.
All of the advanced military systems now in use, as well as many
of the commercial applications, were made possible by new developments
in detectors and optics since World War II. Before taking a closer
look at infrared detectors, let's see just how infrared fits into
the whole of the electromagnetic spectrum.
frequency band, which is located between visible light and radar,
ranges from approximately 1 million to 500 million megacycles; the
corresponding wavelengths are 1000 to 0.75 microns. (The micron
- actually one millionth of a meter - is the unit commonly used
for measuring wavelengths in infrared work).
In some of
its characteristics, infrared resembles visible light - for example,
lenses and parabolic mirrors are used to collect and focus infrared
energy on a detector. However, it also behaves somewhat like radio
or radar waves: it will go right through materials such as germanium
and silicon, both of which are impervious to visible light!
Infrared Detectors. One type of infrared detector,
the image tube, operates only in the near-infrared region. The object
to be viewed is irradiated with an infrared spotlight, a device
much like an ordinary spotlight, except that it makes use of a filter
which lets only the infrared pass. The infrared is reflected from
the object and strikes a sensitive film in the image tube.
- the "Traffitrol" - uses
infrared beam to detect and count vehicles traveling at speeds
up to 80 miles per hour. Highly accurate and virtually foolproof,
the device is among the first to apply infrared principles to
traffic problems. The "Traffitrol" is manufactured by the Heiland
Division of Minneapolis-Honeywell.
Infrared "picture window"
produced by scientists
at Hughes Aircraft is solid germanium casting 15" in diameter
and 1/2" thick. Optically ground and polished, it is opaque
to ordinary light but refracts infrared rays much as a glass
lens collects and focuses rays from visible part of spectrum.
Used in missile detection systems, the casting is made from
9 1/2 pounds of germanium, and is valued at approximately six
Since this film is photoemissive, it emits electrons when excited
by the infrared light. The electrons are emitted from the back side
of the film into the vacuum within the image tube and electrostatically
focused on a phosphor viewing screen. Thus, the image tube effectively
converts the invisible infrared to visible light and enables the
viewer to "see" in total darkness.
Infrared detectors, other
than the photoemissive type, fall into one of three groups - thermal
radiation detectors, film-type infrared photoconductors, and single-crystal
infrared detectors. Since they are detectors, all convert infrared
radiations into electrical signals. But each works differently and
therefore has special characteristics all its own.
radiation detectors make use of the heating effects of infrared.
There are two types: one is the thermoelectric detector which operates
on the thermocouple principle. It consists of two dissimilar metals
which generate voltage at the junction as the temperature of the
junction changes. Naturally, the junction temperature is proportional
to the amount of radiation hitting it.
The second type of
thermal detector is the bolometer. It consists of a thin metal or
semiconductor strip. As the temperature of the strip changes, so
does the resistance. And if voltage is applied across the bolometric
strip, the current flowing through it will vary as its resistance
Photoconductive detectors are comprised of a thin
film (about 1 micron thick) deposited on a thin sheet of insulating
material such as glass. For their operation, they rely on the photoconductive
effects of certain semiconductor compounds. The radiation changes
the conductivity of the material in much the same manner that base
bias controls current flow in a transistor.
can be demonstrated by connecting a bias battery and a sensitive
current meter in series with the detector. As radiation falls upon
the detector, current will flow. And by replacing the meter with
a load resistor, a signal will be developed across it in proportion
to the amount of radiation.
Single-crystal infrared detectors
were made possible largely by the invention and development of the
transistor. In this type of detector, a semiconductor crystal is
used, generally comprised of either germanium or silicon. The material
is processed in such a way as to make it photovoltaic, which means
that it generates a small d.c. voltage proportional to the amount
of radiation falling on it.
In all of these detectors, the
signal voltages produced are very small. As a result, special low-noise
amplifiers are required to bring the signal up to more usable levels.
Tomorrow's Promise. As knowledge of infrared
and its amazing properties increases, so, too, will its uses. A
new traffic-control detector, for example, can detect and count
cars traveling at speeds up to 80 miles an hour. Another recent
development - a solid casting of germanium, 15 inches in diameter
- expands the viewing range of infrared missile detection systems
enormously (scientists have termed it comparable to "replacing a
porthole with a picture window!") Even infrared detectors have reached
all but unbelievable levels of sensitivity. One recent model, already
on the market, is so sensitive that it can detect a cigarette burning
500 miles away!
Fantastic? To be sure, but this is the fantastic,
invisible world of infrared. What still more wonderful developments
in this invisible world will tomorrow bring?
Posted September 6, 2012 | <urn:uuid:00d74003-c843-4db5-9e66-d2ad32893345> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.rfcafe.com/references/popular-electronics/infrared-feb-1961-popular-electronics.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392099.27/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00054-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.91119 | 2,772 | 3.078125 | 3 |
GREENHOUSE LAYOUT AND CONSTRUCTION
With a greenhouse, you are able to dramatically extend the range of plants that you are able to grow. With the huge recent increase in the cost of fuel, it is not really economic to heat a greenhouse, nor environmentally friendly. With suitable insulation and positioning the greenhouse to make best use of sunlight, a so-called cool greenhouse will enable you to raise and grow plants that would not normally grow at our latitudes.
When purchasing a greenhouse, price is obviously an issue, which depends on the size of the greenhouse and what it is constructed from. If there is any chance of vandalism, such as happens all too often on Allotments, plastic glazing will be more practical than glass. Get as large a greenhouse as you can afford as you will soon find things to plant in it. A basic size would be 8 ft X 10 ft, and make sure that it is high enough for you can stand up in it, at least down the middle.
A poly tunnel would be a good choice for cost and space, but the plastic covers do have a limited life span, though they can be replaced.
Making your own greenhouse is popular on Allotments. There is so much waste timber, old windows, old reinforced UV stabilised polythene,and off cuts of rigid plastic sheets thrown away, in skips etc, that you can construct your own for just a few pounds for nails, preservative etc. However, do remember to put in bracing members to resist the force of the wind.
Remember to obtain any permissions, such as from the Local Authority, or the Allotment Association, before you order or construct the greenhouse.
Positioning the Greenhouse correctly, is vitally important if you are going to get the best benefit. You should aim to position it so that it is in the sun for as long as possible during the day and not shade any adjoining plot.
Anchoring the greenhouse down to the ground is essential to resist Winter gales. I have seen so many greenhouses blown away and shattered during gales, all because there had not been adequate holding down arrangements. People forget that greenhouses are usually very light structures, easily overturned by the force of the wind during a gale.
Perhaps the best arrangement is to have an anchor at each corner, tying down the base of the greenhouse to the ground. Tie-downs made of metal angle irons are good as they will not rot. They should be driven into the ground with a sledgehammer as far as they will go, and very securely attached to the greenhouse base with stout nails or screws. If you look closely at the top photo of the homemade greenhouse, you will see angle irons at each corner.
Greenhouse staging or shelving. A common arrangement inside a greenhouse is to have one half of the greenhouse without any staging or shelving, so that plants such as tomatoes can be grown from ground level to the full height of the greenhouse.
The other side of the greenhouse can have intermediate staging or shelving so that plants such as peppers, aubergines and seedling plants can be placed in a warmer part of the greenhouse. Because heat rises, higher areas of the greenhouse will be warmer than the floor level. Staging can be made of protected timber to prevent rot, or metal or strong wire mesh.
On the staging it is convenient to have large plastic trays in which you can place a selection of pot plants to catch the excess water after watering the plants.
A further refinement would be to have the pots standing on a layer of wicking material, to ensure that all the pot plants get a supply of moisture from a supply tank of water.
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Absorption: The act of absorbing or being absorbed.
AFFF (Aqueous Film Forming Foam): A foam concentrate containing fluorochemical surfactants that control the physical properties of water enabling it to float and spread across the surface of the hydrocarbon liquid.
AFFF - Polar (AR-AFFF): An AFFF that contains a pseudo plastic material, which forms a polymeric layer only on polar solvents to separate and protect the finished foam.
Adhesive Qualities: The ability to bind together substances of unlike composition. When a foam blanket clings to a vertical surface, it is said to have adhesive qualities. This is required to prevent vapor release at a tank shellfire or to describe Class "A" foam application to exposures.
Airfoam: Foam produced by the physical agitation of a solution of water and foaming agent and air. Also called mechanical foam.
ARC - Alcohol Resistant Concentrate: See AFFF Polar.
Aspirate: Draw air into the nozzle to mix with the foam solution.
Batch Mix: Manual addition of foam concentrate to a water storage container or to make a foam solution.
Barrier: Any physical obstruction that impedes the spread of the fire (typically an area or strip devoid of flammable fuels).
Biodegradation: Decomposition by microbial action as with synthetic detergent or protein based agents.
Boilover: The violent ejection of flammable liquid from its container caused by the vaporization of water beneath a body of burning hydrocarbon liquid. This may occur after a lengthy burning period of products such as crude oil when the heat wave has passed down through the liquid and reaches the water bottom in the storage tank. This will not occur to any significant degree with water-soluble liquids or light products such as gasoline.
Bubble: The building block of foam performance and durability is influenced by water content of the bubble.
Bund: An area defined as a contour of land or a physical barrier that retains a fuel to a depth greater than 1". (See Dike).
Burnback Resistance: The ability of the finished foam to resist direct flame impingement such as would occur with partially extinguished petroleum fire or with Class “A” foam in exposure protection and pretreatment.
Carcinogenic: Cancer causing.
Class “A” Fire: A fire in combustibles that exhibit deep seated burning characteristics such as wood, paper, fabric, tires and peat, where the cooling, smothering and soaking ability of Class “A” foam and water are best utilized.
Class “B” Fire: A fire involving any type of flammable liquid where blanketing and smothering for vapor suppression is of the first importance.
Class “C” Fire: A fire in "live" electrical equipment where the use of non-conducting fire suppression agents is of prime importance.
Class “D” Fire: Metal fires, such as magnesium or titanium and usually non-conductive suppressants are used.
Cohesive Qualities: The ability to bind together substances of like composition. A good foam blanket is held together by its cohesive qualities.
Combustible Liquid: Any liquid having a flash point at or above 100º F (37.8ºC).
Compatibility: The ability or inability of extinguishing agents to be mixed together or used simultaneously.
Compressed Air Foam System (CAFS): A generic term used to describe high-energy foam delivery systems consisting of an air compressor (or air source), a water pump (or pressurized water) and foam injection equipment (or foam solution).
Concentration: The amount of foam concentrate contained in a given amount of foam solution. The type of foam used determines the foam concentration. (i.e. AFFF 1%, 3% or 6% and Class A foams from 0.1% up to 1%).
Corrosion: Resulting chemical reaction between a metal and its environment, (i.e. air, water and impurities.)
Degradation: A negative change in the characteristics of qualities of foam.
Density: The weight of a specific volume of solution.
Dike: An area defined as a contour of land or a physical barrier that retains a fuel to a depth greater than 1". (See Bund).
Discharge Device: A fixed or portable device which directs the flow of solution or finished foam onto the hazard (example: fixed master stream device or an aspirating handline).
Downstream: The direction to which the water is flowing.
Drainage (Dropout) Rate: The rates at which bubbles from a finished foam blanket burst and release their solution - generally measured as quarter drain time.
Expansion Ratio: The ratio of volume of foam formed to the volume of solution used to generate the foam (example: an 8:1 expansion ratio means 800 gallons of finished foam were created from 100 gallons of foam solution). Expansion ratio is determined by the use of different aspiration devices, low energy and high energy delivery.
Eductor: A proportioning device which uses the vacuum created by the water moving through a venturi to draw concentrate into the hose line.
Environment: The complex surrounding an area such as water, air and natural resources and their physical conditions (temperature, humidity, etc.).
Film Forming Fluoroprotein - FFFP: A foam concentrate composed of protein and film forming fluorinated surface-active agents, which makes it capable of forming a water solution film on the surface of a flammable liquid and conferring a fuel shedding property to the finished foam blanket. See also Oleophobic.
Fluoroprotein Foam - FP: A foam concentrate composed of protein polymers and fluorinated surface-active agents that confer a fuel shedding property to the finished foam blanket. See Oleophobic.
Fire Retardant: Any substance that by its chemical nature or physical action reduces or impedes the flammability of a combustible.
Flammable Liquid: A substance that is liquid at ordinary temperatures and pressures and has flash point below 100ºF (38ºC).
Flash Back: Re-ignition of a flammable liquid caused by the exposure of its vapors to a source of ignition such as a hot metal surface or spark.
Flash Point: The temperature point at which a flammable liquid gives off enough vapor to ignite.
Fluorocarbon: An inert organic compound in which fluorine replaces hydrogen.
Foam - (Finished): A homogeneous blanket obtained by mixing water, foam concentrate and the addition of air or an inert gas by the use of energy.
Foam - (Concentrate): The foaming agent for mixing in the right proportion with water and air to produce a finished mechanical foam.
Foam Maker: A device designed to introduce air into a pressurized foam solution stream (i.e. low/medium expansion nozzle, high expansion nozzle or compressed air foam system.)
Foam Solution: A homogeneous mixture of water and foam concentrate.
Foam Stability: The relative ability of a finished foam to withstand spontaneous collapse or breakdown from external causes such as heat, chemical reaction or weather factors.
Friction Loss: The loss of pressure in a flowing stream resulting from resistance to flow imposed by the inside of the pipe or hose and by changes in flow direction such as elbows and tees and also elevation.
Heat Resistance: The ability of a finished foam to withstand exposure to heat. (radiant, convective or conductive).
High Energy System: A foam generating system that adds the energy of the air source to the energy of the water pump. CAFS is a high energy foam delivery system.
High Expansion Foam: Special foam designed for high air-to-solution ratios that are greater than 200 parts air to each part foam solution.
Hydrocarbon: An organic compound containing only carbon and hydrogen.
Hydrocarbon Pickup: The characteristic of a fuel that is suspended or absorbed by expanded foam.
Hydrophobic: Water-hating (having the property of not mixing with water.)
Hydrophilic: Water-liking (having the property of mixing with water readily.)
Ingestion: To take things into the body by swallowing.
Line Proportioner: A device that siphons foam from a container to make a foam solution (i.e. an eductor.)
Low Energy System: A foam generation system that uses the velocity energy of the water stream delivered from the water pump to mix air at the nozzle tip with the solution to deliver a finished foam. An aspirating foam tube is a low energy delivery system.
Minimum Operating Temperature: The lowest temperature a foam concentrate will proportion with venturi devices in accordance with UL and USDA/USFS requirements.
NFPA - Requirements / Recommendations: Standards established for foam extinguishing systems as outlined in Standard #11, 16, and 30.
Oleophobic: Oil hating - having the ability of shedding gasoline, oil and similar products.
Pickup: The induction of foam concentrate into the water stream by the use of a venturi.
Polar Solvent: In fire fighting, any flammable liquid which destroys regular foams. Polar solvents aggressively attack the bubble by mixing with the water in the bubble structure. Polar solvents require special foam agents and mix ratios. Examples: esters, ethers, alcohols, aldehydes and keytones.
Polymeric Membrane: A thin, durable, plastic layer formed on a polar solvent fuel surface protecting the foam cells from destruction by the fuel.
Pour Point: The lowest temperature at which a foam concentrate is fluid enough to pour, generally about 5ºF above the freezing point.
Pressure Drop: The net loss in flowing water pressure between any two points in a hydraulic system. Pressure is determined by friction loss, head loss or other losses due to the insertion of an orifice plate, venturi or other restriction into a section of pipe or hose.
Proportioner: The device where foam concentrate and water are proportionately mixed to form a foam solution. Also a unit that pumps foam concentrate into the attack hose line.
Protein: Complex nitrogen compound derived from natural vegetative and animal sources. The hydrolysis products of protein provide exceptionally stable, cohesive, adhesive and heat resistant properties to foam.
Protein Foam Concentrate: Concentrated solution of hydrolyzed protein with select chemicals added to obtain fire resistance and other desirable characteristics.
Quarter-Life (Drain Time): The time required in minutes for one-fourth of the total liquid solution to drain from the finished foam. Also referred to as 25% drainage time.
Residual Pressure: The pressure existing in a line at a specific flow. (As opposed to static pressure.)
Short Term Retardant: A viscous water based substance wherein water is the suppressing agent.
Skin Fire: A flammable liquid fire such as a spill on a solid surface where the liquid is not present in a depth exceeding one inch.
Slug Flow: CAFS only - when the foam solution is not rich enough or unevenly mixes with air, inadequate mixing occurs sending pockets or slugs of water and air to the nozzle.
Soluble: The ability to become readily dissolved or mixed.
Spray Pattern: The pattern produced by a divergent flow of fully formed subdivided foam – the pattern varying with the nozzle pressure and the adjustment of the spray creating device.
Static Pressure: The pressure existing in a line during a no flow situation. This can be considerably higher than residual pressure.
Submergence: Plunging of foam beneath the surface of burning liquid resulting in a partial breakdown of the foam structure and coating of the foam with the burning liquid.
Suppressant: An agent used to extinguish flaming or glowing phases of combustion by direct application to the burning fuel.
Surface Active Agent (Surfactant): A chemical that lowers the surface tension of a liquid.
Syndet: Synthetic detergent or cleaning agent.
Upstream: The direction from which the water is flowing.
Venturi: A constricted portion of a pipe or tube, which increases water velocity, momentarily, reducing its pressure. In this reduced pressure area, foam concentrates are introduced in many types of proportioning equipment.
Viscosity: The measurement of a foam concentrate's resistance to flow.
Wetting Agent: A chemical that, when added to water, reduces the surface tension and increases the wetting effectiveness of the solution and causes it to spread and penetrate exposed objects more effectively. A wetting agent may not be a foam concentrate.For more information, contact fire suppression customer support. | <urn:uuid:d6e61f73-7f89-487b-9c2a-8f85877016e5> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.chemguard.com/about-us/documents-library/foam-info/foam-terminology.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391519.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00027-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.902674 | 2,654 | 3.34375 | 3 |
A peg of wood, metal, or plastic without a distinct head, used for holding together components of a structure.
- A rambling collection of old log buildings put together with wood dowels, the Gakona Lodge and Trading Post dates back to 1904 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
- Five or six head staves are fitted together with wooden dowels or stainless steel gudgeons (headless nails) Then the head is cut to size, usually slightly oval in shape.
- Yet they were only partly assembled - fitted together using dowels and tongue-in-groove joints - and their loose branches were propped against the wall.
verb (dowels, doweling, doweled ; British dowels, dowelling, dowelled)[with object]
Fasten with a dowel or dowels.
- Its seat is comprised of tongue-and-groove pieces, while the leg stretchers are doweled into place.
- Turned feet were doweled into blocks glued to the case, with the dowels frequently extending into the case itself.
- In total, about ten miles of 150-foot FRP rods were dowelled into the shared silo walls and embedded in epoxy adhesive.
Middle English: perhaps from Middle Low German dovel.
Words that rhyme with dowelavowal, Baden-Powell, bowel, disembowel, Howell, Powell, rowel, towel, trowel, vowel
For editors and proofreaders
Definition of dowel in:
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When watching any of the Star Trek series or movies, we sometimes see scenes in orbit around alien planets. I am always amazed at the creativity of the artists who create these environments, building worlds that are clearly elsewhere but yet have many features that remind us of our world. Clouds, for example.
We are of course familiar with the various cloud features of our planet Earth, and we have seen images from space probes and telescopes of clouds on some of the other worlds of our Solar System, such as Venus, Mars, the giant planets, and even one of the moons, Titan. What do these clouds tell us? Here on Earth they can mean rain, storms, or simply a bit of cover from the sun during the summer. On Venus, they cause the runaway greenhouse effect, that gives Venus a surface of over 700 degrees (F). On Mars, they look mostly whispy in the thin atmosphere. And on Saturn’s moon Titan they hide an very cold surface with liquid methane.
Jupiter’s (left) and Neptune’s (right) cloud features. Credit: NASA.
Our giant planets all have their own cloud features, from Jupiter's Great Red Spot to Neptune’s dark blue and white clouds. While the atmospheres of the giant planets are leftovers from the solar nebula from which our Solar System formed, those of the terrestrial planets formed from outgassing of volcanoes, and in case of Earth, later from the photosynthesis of the emerging plant life. Of course, much later the industrialization of our civilization added another component, which will most certainly be detectable if someone should guess what to look for.
Would the planets around other stars also have clouds? There is no reason to assume they they wouldn’t. As astronomical instrumentation continues to advance, we are able to detect more and more details about these exoplanets, including, for the first time, cloud features in the atmosphere.
In cooperation between the Kepler Space Telescope and the Spitzer Space Telescope, it was possible for the science teams to map cloud features on this planet named Kepler-7b.
Kepler 7b (left), which is 1.5 times the radius of Jupiter (right), is the first exoplanet to have its clouds mapped. The cloud map was produced using data from NASA's Kepler and Spitzer Space Telescopes. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MIT.
This world is about half again as large as our Jupiter, but has an orbit of only five days, so it is closer to its primary star than our Mercury (which has a period of 88 days), and therefore is very hot. It is one of the new planetary categories called “hot Jupiters”. A planet this close to its sun should be much hotter than it actually is, however, the clouds appear to have a cooling effect on this planet. It is still quite hot though, about 1600 degrees (F) or so. The clouds appear not be uniformly distributed, they are much thicker on one side of the planet than on the other.
While we may be disappointed that this is not an Earth-sized world with nice fluffy (or stormy) water clouds, it is the very first time we are able to see cloud features on a distant world. Kepler 7b is about 1000 light years away from us, so what we are seeing today actually happened there 1000 years ago. If someone from that neighborhood was looking at Earth right now, they would see us as Earth was during the time of the Middle Ages in Europe, the Song Dynasty in China, and the Toltec civilization in Central America.
As our ability to detect and monitor alien worlds advances, we will be able to see such cloud features on smaller worlds as well. Sadly, the Kepler Space Telescope has recently experienced failures of two of its four gyros, rendering it unable to continue the search for extrasolar planets as before. It will perform other astronomical observations, but the precision pointing required for planet hunting is unfortunately no longer possible. Hopefully there will be a successor for this spacecraft, allowing us to resume our quest for alien worlds.
Here are a few links if you’d like to know more about this topic:
MIT News “Scientists generate first map of clouds on an exoplanet“:
JPL News “NASA Space Telescopes Find Patchy Clouds on Exotic World”:
Ex Astris Scientia:
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The Sikh Gurus have inspired us in an era that was perhaps the most challenging phase of our history. Sikhism represents a tradition that every Indian is proud of. One cannot forget the contributions of Sikh Gurus and their selfless sacrifices to consolidate the society, provide them direction and overthrow the rule of invaders. That is why the Sikh Gurus are revered not only by Sikhs but all nationalists in general as role models.
The medieval era represents the darkest phase of our society. Internally we were being eroded by termites of casteism, gender discrimination and overt ritualism dissociated from Vedas. And externally, we were being butchered by a tribe of most uncivilized society of west Asia – read the Ghaznis, Khiljis, Mughals, Slaves, Tughlaqs etc.
The Sikh gurus, in these turbulent times, lit the lamp of Vedic wisdom and steered the society towards the fundamental tenets of our culture – rationalism, actions and compassion.
Often there is dispute over whether Sikhism is part of Hinduism or a separate religion. In our view, this is a meaningless debate. Because the word Hinduism has different connotations. From a western mindset, Hinduism represents a mix of very specific rituals associated with casteism, gender discrimination and idol worship. If this be Hinduism, then Sikhs are definitely not Hindus.
However, if Hinduism is considered to mean the culture that is inspired from the philosophy of Vedas, then perhaps not many sects are more Hindu than Sikhs. Sikhism represents the message of Vedas in simple language of layman.
Let us see what makes Sikhism an extremely pure representation of Vedic wisdom (We shall ignore later day aberrations and focus on the key message of the noble Gurus):
– Sikhism rejects birth-based casteism and believes in equality of all
– Sikhism believes in gender equality
– Sikhism believes in protection of cows because it is one of the most useful gifts of God to humans
– Sikhism believes in actions as means to achieve God. Thus, they reject withdrawal from life.
– Sikhism believes in one single timeless shapeless omnipresent God whose best name is Onkaar (Om + Kaar). This is almost verbatim translation of Yajurveda 40.8.
– Sikhism believes in theory of Karma and rebirth
– Sikhism refuses the concept of Heaven/ Hell and believe in salvation as ultimate goal
– Sikhism believes in Nama Smaran or understanding the names and properties of God as way to achieve Him
– Sikhism considers Maya or ignorance as obstacle to salvation and urges to eradicate it through devotion, noble actions and knowledge
– Sikhism takes it as our utmost duty to fight against injustice of any kind. The lives of Sikh gurus exemplify this.
– Sikhism considers entire humanity as one family and refuses to have different treatments for people of different beliefs and religions.
The list can continue further. Note that if you replace Sikhism in above lines with ‘Vedic Dharma’ you would realize that the points still hold valid.
1. God created Vedas (Onkaar ved nirmaye– Rag Ramkali Mahla 1 Onkar Shabd 1)Further, the Guru Granth Sahib very clearly elucidates on the glory of Vedas:
2. With order of God Vedas were created so that humans can decide what is virtue and sin (Hari aagya hoye Ved paap punya vichaariya– Maru Dakhne Mahla 5 Shabd 17)
3. No one can value the importance of Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samveda and Atharvaveda (Sam Ved, Rig, Yajur, Atharvan brahme mukh maaiya hai traigun, taakee keemat kah na sakai ko….- Marusolahe Mahla 1 Shabd 17)
4. God created day, night, forests, greenery, water and 4 Vedas that are like 4 treasures (Chaar Ved chaare khaani– Rag Maru Mahla 5 Shabd 17)
5. How can glory of Vedas be stated whose knowledge is without end (Ved vakhaan kahahi ik kahiye, oh ve ant ant kin lahiye– Vasant Ashtapadiyan Mahla 1.3)
6. Of the infinite texts, Vedas are the best (Asankh granth mukhi Ved paath– Japuji 17)
7. All the Shastras, Vedas and ancient texts describe the Supreme Lord (Smriti sastra Ved puraan paar brahm ka karahi vakhiyaan– Gaund Mahla 5 Shabd 17)
8. Noble persons elucidate the glory of Vedas but unfortunate people do not understand (Ved bakhiyaan karat saadhujan bhaagheen samjhat nahi khalu– Todi Mahla 5 Shabd 26)
9. Study of Vedas enhances knowledge by blessings of God (Kahant Veda gunant guniya…- Sahaskriti Mahla 5.14)
10. Analysis of Vedas, Shastras and ancient texts enriches the entire family and makes them lucky (Ved puran saasatr vichaaram…. badbhaagi Naanak ko taaram– Gatha Mahla 5.20)
11. Vedas describe the glory of one God (Kal mein ek naam kripaanidhi … ih vidhi Ved bataavai– Rag Sortha Mahla 9 Shabd 5)
12. Do not say that Vedas are false. False are those people who do not analyze (Ved katev kahahu mat jhoothe jhootha jo na vichaare– Rag Prabhati Kabirji Shabd 3)
13. Those who studied Vedas were called Vedis. They initiated noble virtuous acts. Listening to Rigveda, Samveda, Yajurveda and Atharveda destroyed all sins. (Jinai Ved padhyo suvedi kahaaye… Padhe Sam Vedam Yajur Ved Kattham Rigam Ved paathayam kare bhaav hattham… Atharav Ved pathayam suniyo paap nathiyam…- Dasham Guru Granth Sahib Vichitra Natak Adhyaya 4)
To check more examples of glory of Vedas in Guru Granth Sahib refer the following:
14. Chauth upaaye chaare Veda- Rag Bilawal Mahla 1 Thiti
15. Chache chaar Ved jin saaje chaare khani chaar juga- Rag Asa Mahla 1 Pati Likhi Shabd 9
16. Oordh mool jis saakh talaaha chaar Ved jit laage- Gujri Ashtapadiyan Mahla 1.1
17. Chare Ved hoye sachiyaar- Asadi Var Mahla 1 Var 13
18. Chaturved mukh vachni uchre- Rag Gaudi Mahla 5 Shabd 164
19. Chaturved pooran hari naai Ramkali Mahla 5 Shabd 17
20. Chaar pukaarahi na tu maane Ramkali Mahla 5 Shabd 12
21. Chaar Ved jihwa bhane- Rag Sarang Mahla 5 Shabd 131
22. Brahme ditte Ved Rag Malar Var Mahla 2 Var 3
23. Chaare Ved Brahme kau diye padh padh kare vichari- Rag Asa Mahla 3 Shabd 22
24. Chaare Ved Brahme np furmaayia- Maaru Solahe 3.22
25. Chaare deeve chahu hath diye eka eki vaari- Vasant Hindol 1.1
26. Vedu pukaare vaachiye vaani brahm biaas- Shreeraag Ashtpadiyan 1.7
27. Vedan ganh bole sach koi- Maajh Vaar Mahla 1 Vaar 12
28. Deeva jale andhera jaai Ved paath mati paapan khaai- Raag Suhi
29. Ved pukaarai punn paap surag narak ka veeu- Raag Saarang Vaar 1.16
30. Gurumukhi parche Ved vichari- Raag Ramkali Sidh Gosht Shabd 28
31. Puchhahu Ved pandatiyaan muthi vin maane- Rag Maaru Ashtpadiyan 1.6
32. Man hath kine na paaiyo puchhahu Vedaam jaai- Shri Raag Vaar 3.10
33. Smriti saasat Ved vakhaanai bharmai bhoola tat na jaanai- Rag Maajh Ashtpadiyan 3.18
34. Veda mahi naam uttam so- Rag Ramkali Mahla 3 Aanand 19
35. Hari jeeu ahankaar n bhaavai Ved kook sunaavahi- Rag Maaru 3.9
36. Jugi jugi aapo aapna dharm hai sodh dekhahu Ved puraan- Rag Vilaaval 3.4
37. Saasat Ved puraan pukaarahi dharam karahu shat karam dradaiya- Vilaaval Mahla 4.2
38. Naanak vichaarahi sant jan chaar Ved kahande- Rag Gaudi Vaar 4.12
39. Vaani brahm Ved dharam dradahu paap tajaaiya bal raam jeeu- Suhi Chhant 4.2
40. Das ath chaar Ved sabh poochhahu jan naanak naam chhudaai jeeu- Maaru 4.8
41. Smrat saasat Ved vakhaane jog gyaansidh sukh jaane- Rag Gaudi 5.111
42. Ved puraan smrat bhane- Gaudi 5.144
43. Saasat smrat Ved vichaare mahaapurushan iu kahiya- Rag Gaudi 5.162
44. Ved saasat jan pukaarahi sunai nahi dora- Rag Aasa 5.152
45. Saasat Ved smriti sabhi….- Gujri 5.2
46. Chaar pukaarahi na tu maanahi- Ramkali 5.12
47. Kahant Veda gunant guniya- Salok sahaskriti Mahla 5.14
48. Ved puraan saasatr vichaaram- Gatha Mahla 5.20
49. Ved puraan saadh sang- Rag Gaudi 9.6
50. Ved puraan padhai ko ih gun simre hari ko naama- Rag Gaudi 9.7
51. Ved puraan jaas gun gaavat taako naam hiye mein dhar re- Gaudi 9.9
52. Ved puraan smriti ke mat sun nimash na hiye vasaavai- Rag Sorath 9.7
Now Guru Granth Sahib also consists of several verses that appear to be condemnation of Vedas. These are often cited to prove that Sikhism is a separate cult.
However, this is a very childish argument. How can Guru Granth Sahib condemn Vedas when it also praises it to an extent that it calls Vedas divine and that those who do not appreciate Vedas as foolish?
In reality, the condemnation of Vedas relate to those people who only mug up Vedas but do not live their lives accordingly. Or those people who distort the message of Vedas by claiming to have expertise. The likes of western indologists and communist historians who see beef and wine in Vedas perfectly exemplify the target of this condemnation.
And why Guru Granth Sahib, Vedas themselves condemn such hypocrites. Rigveda 1.164.39 very clearly announces – “What can the Richas of Vedas do for a person who does not possess intellect”.
Upanishads and Geeta also condemn a person who claims expertise in Vedas but do not preach.
If one reviews the Guru Granth Sahib dictionary by renowned Sikh scholar Tara Singhji, you would find a striking similarity between what he wrote on Vedas and what was written by Swami Dayanand.
Thus we see that Sikhism represents the essence of Vedic wisdom in simple language of common man and rejects all those external features that are wrongly associated with Hinduism.
Our humble reverence to the great Sikh Gurus who saved the society by lighting the lamp of Vedic wisdom when there was utter darkness. Lets now work to carry forward their noble legacy by living by this wisdom and bringing transformation in self, society and world through service, devotion and actions.
(For a thorough treatment of this subject, we strongly recommend the book “Arya Siddhant aur Sikh Guru” by Swami Swatantranand, a legendary freedom fighter, leader of Hyderabad Satyagrah movement and established Vedic scholar.) | <urn:uuid:2f0a11ce-5683-4cfd-bb2d-01cef75a49b9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://agniveer.com/sikh-gurus-and-vedas/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391519.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00197-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.814705 | 2,888 | 3.21875 | 3 |
This week, events around the country will highlight the importance of parental control of education as part of National School Choice Week. This year’s events should attract more attention than prior years because of the growing rebellion against centralized education sparked by the federal Common Core curriculum.
The movement against Common Core has the potential to change American education. However, anti-Common Core activists must not be misled by politicians promoting “reforms” of the federal education bureaucracy, or legislation ending Common Core while leaving all other federal education programs intact. The only way to protect American children from future Common Core-like programs is to permanently padlock the Department of Education.
Federal programs providing taxpayer funds to public schools give politicians and bureaucrats leverage to impose federal mandates on schools. So as long as federal education programs exist, school children will be used as guinea pigs for federal bureaucrats who think they are capable of creating a curriculum suitable for every child in the country.
Supporters of federal education mandates say they are necessary to hold schools “accountable.” Of course schools should be accountable, but accountable to whom?
Several studies, as well as common sense, show that greater parental control of education improves education quality. In contrast, bureaucratic control of education lowers education quality. Therefore, the key to improving education is to make schools accountable to parents, not bureaucrats.
The key to restoring parental control is giving parents control of the education dollar. If parents control the education dollar, school officials will strive to meet the parents’ demand that their children receive a quality education. If the federal government controls the education dollar, schools will bow to the demands of Congress and the Department of Education.
So if Congress was serious about improving education it would shut down the Department of Education. It would also shut down all other unconstitutional bureaucracies, end our interventionist foreign policy, and reform monetary policy so parents would have the resources to provide their children with an education that fits their children’s unique needs. Federal and state lawmakers must also repeal any laws that limit the education alternatives parents can choose for their children. The greater the options parents have and the greater the amount of control they exercise over education, the stronger the education system.
These reforms would allow more parents access to education options such as private or religious schools, and also homeschooling. It would also expand the already growing market in homeschooling curriculums. I know a great deal about the homeschooling curriculum market, as I have my own homeschooling curriculum. The Ron Paul Curriculum provides students with a rigorous program of study in history, economics, mathematics, and the physical and natural sciences. It also provides intensive writing instruction and an opportunity for students to operate their own Internet businesses. Of course, my curriculum provides students with an introduction to the ideas of liberty, including Austrian economics. However, we do not sacrifice education quality for ideological indoctrination.
It is no coincidence that as the federal role in education has increased the quality of our education system has declined. Any “reforms” to federal education programs will not fix the fundamental flaw in the centralized model of education. The only way to improve education is to shut down the Department of Education and restore control of education to those with the greatest ability and incentive to choose the type of education that best meets the needs of American children — American parents.
For information about the Ron Paul Curriculum go to ronpaulcurriculum.com.
Copyright © 2015 by RonPaul Institute. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit and a live link are given.
Please donate to the Ron Paul Institute
Please donate to the Ron Paul Institute | <urn:uuid:e01958fe-9463-41e2-90f3-1f87d1bd1750> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2015/january/25/education-is-too-important-not-to-leave-to-the-marketplace/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391634.7/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00194-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956036 | 749 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Wolf Hysteria Rules The Day In New Hampshire
Superstitions about wolves are persistent, said Defenders of Wildlife’s Associate Director of Species Conservation Nina Fascione. But the New Hampshire Senate should read scientific literature and leave fairy tales to children. When a group of legislators pushes through a bill prohibiting species restoration before anyone even conducts a feasibility study, we are obviously dealing with some deep-rooted fears and misconceptions that need to be addressed. To add insult to injury, the legislators cut off debate and are muzzling everyone’s right to examine the issue. Clearly the need for education about wolves is as great as ever.
FWS has not formally proposed wolf reintroduction for New England but made only a preliminary announcement that it may look into the potential for wolf recovery there. FWS is expected to release a Federal Register notice in June discussing wolf reclassification and future recovery plans throughout the country, including New England. If the federal government should decide to reintroduce wolves in New Hampshire, the federal law could legally supersede the state law.
Ironically, New Hampshire isn’t even targeted for wolf reintroduction, Fascione says. Maine and New York contain the core of potential wolf habitat, while New Hampshire is only on the periphery. This bill does nothing but show how hysterical people can get over the subject of wolves. The bill isn’t just premature. It’s completely unnecessary and, frankly, absurd. People should call Governor Jean Shaheen’s office and ask her to veto this piece of legislation.
For more than 50 years, Defenders of Wildlife has worked to protect and conserve wolves and other wildlife. The conservation organization is currently funding a $115,000 feasibility study of wolf restoration in New York and would like to see a similar study in New England.
Wolves roamed the Northeast into the last century, until they were eliminated by persistent anti-wolf campaigns and the decimation of timberlands. Successful forest regeneration in the past 100 years has created suitable wolf habitat again in the region, and scientists have begun to study the possibility of restoring wolves to the ecosystem there.
Contact(s):Cat Lazaroff, (202) 772-3270 | <urn:uuid:d234f8cb-eb5b-4485-b087-f4910caa681b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.defenders.org/press-release/wolf-hysteria-rules-day-new-hampshire | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396106.25/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00097-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941451 | 450 | 2.75 | 3 |
1.) can be written as f(x) = x^(-2) - x^(1/3),
so the derivative will be:
f '(x) = -2x^(-3) - (1/3)x^(-2/3)
2.) you can you the quotient rule, where dy/dx = [V(du/dx) - U(dv/dx)] / V^2 and u = x^2, v = (1-3x)
Hey guys. I'm having trouble with derivatives and I need someone's help with my homework. Could you guys please explain to me how to solve these problems?
Find the second derivative
Find the derivative f'(x)
Find the derivative =
And I'm also stuck at this problem:
Help is greatly appreciated.
Sure. First of all, the derivative of a sum of functions is the sum of derivatives of those functions, so:
y = f(x) + g(x) + h(x)
dy/dx = f '(x) + g '(x) + h '(x)
The power rule tells us that for a function like x^n:
dy/dx = nx^(n-1)
In other words we bring the power down in front of x, and then decrease the power by one.
when you have the inverse of a function x^n you have 1/ x^n, and this can also be written as x^-n. For the first term I did it like this, and then used the power rule, to get -nx^(-n-1).
For the second term you can wite square roots as fractions. For example sqrt(x) can be written x^(1/2), the cubed root can be written x^(1/3), and the nth root can be written x^(1/n). Once you have written it like this you can simply apply the power rule to it again. so than if f(x)= nth root of x:
f(x) = x^(1/n)
dy/dx = (1/n)x^(1/n - 1)
When you have a problem like this, it's much easier to write inverses out as negative powers, and square roots out as fractional powers first. Knowing this, you could probably make a good attempt at the second derivative? If not I'll try it for you. Cheers! | <urn:uuid:983c8419-d183-41a2-aa23-0df95947c4bd> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://mathhelpforum.com/calculus/28254-need-help-here-derivatives.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783408828.55/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155008-00141-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933293 | 529 | 2.921875 | 3 |
Nila is the third consort of Vishnu. The first two are Shri (Goddess Lakshmi) and Bhudevi (Mother Earth). Information about Nila Devi is found in the Vedic hymn Nila Sukta. Nila pardons the mistakes and shortcomings of devotees.
Nila symbolically represents Daya (compassion) and Kripa (Grace) aspects of Vishnu.
Nila Sukta is chanted to propitiate Nila Devi. Those people who live in remorse and shame of sins committed get relief after chanting Nila Sukta.
Andal who is worshipped in
especially in Tamil Nadu, is combined form of Bhudevi and Nila.
Nila Devi is also addressed as Grithavati (intelligent and gentle), Mahadevi (chief goddess), Nappinnai (consort of
Payasvathi (source of milk), Vishnupatni (consort of Vishnu), Asha (All
pervasive) and Manota (Worshipped in mind). | <urn:uuid:72eb3caa-e5e2-47a4-b01e-a6d6c55d6b50> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.hindu-blog.com/2013/07/nila-consort-of-vishnu.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404382.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00118-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.907045 | 222 | 2.8125 | 3 |
One of the limitations of discrete-time sampling is an effect called aliasing.
Figure 1. Wagon wheel
An example of aliasing can be seen in old movies, especially when watching wagon wheels on old Western films. Recall that occasionally the wheels appeared as if they going in reverse, even as the wagon would speed up. This phenomenon occurs as the rate of the wagon wheel's spokes spinning approaches the rate of the sampler (the camera operating at about 30 frames per second).
The same thing happens in data acquisition between the sampler and the signal we are sampling.
The Nyquist Theorem states that you need 2 samples per “cycle” of your input signal to define it. Thus, you can accurately measure the frequency of a signal with frequency f as long as you are sampling it at greater than 2f. If you try to measure the frequency of signals having a frequency above f with a sampler operating at 2f, you will alias the signal, or create false images of this signal at frequencies below f. These false frequencies will appear as mirror images of the original frequency around the Nyquist frequency. This situation is called "aliasing back" or "folding back" and can be seen in Figure 2 below.
Figure 2. Frequency versus amplitude plot showing an aliased signal, fa, which occurs due to "aliasing back" from the original signal of 70MHz
R (sampling rate) = 100MS/s
fs (signal being sampled = 70MHz
fN (the Nyquist frequency) = 50MHz
fa (aliased frequency) = 30MHz
The frequency of the aliased signal can be found from the following simple equation:
fa = |R*n - fs|
where n is the closest integer multiple of the sampling rate (R) to the signal being aliased (fs).
Although sampling at twice the Nyquist frequency will ensure that you measure the correct frequency of your signal, it will not be sufficient to capture the shape of the waveform. If the shape of the waveform is desired, you should sample at a rate approximately 10 times the Nyquist theory.
You can interactively view the effects of aliasing on a signal by running this LabVIEW Player enabled Example .
The LabVIEW Player allows you to run VIs from your web browser and can be downloaded for free.
The problem of aliasing can often be eliminated by using an anti-alias filter.
2. Undersampling and Oversampling
Undersampling is essentially sampling too slowly, or sampling at a rate below the Nyquist frequency for a particular signal of interest. Undersampling leads to aliasing and the original signal cannot be properly reconstructed. However, undersampling also requires less memory, so it may be useful in certain applications, see "Undersampling to Obtain Frequencies Above the Nyquist Frequency" below.
Oversampling is sampling at a rate beyond twice the highest frequency component of interest in the signal and is usually desired. Because real-world signals are not perfectly filtered and often contain frequency components greater than the Nyquist frequency, oversampling can be used to increase the foldover frequency (one half the sampling rate) so that these unwanted components of the signal do not alias into the passband. Oversampling is also necessary when trying to capture fast edges, transients, and one-time events.
3. Undersampling to Obtain Frequencies Above the Nyquist Frequency
Suppose that you would like to sample a signal with a primary, strong signal at 70MHz for an extended period of time. If you were to set this frequency as the Nyquist frequency then you would want to sample at 140MHz in order to accurately measure the frequency of your signal. However, the maximum limit of your PCI bus is 133MHz and sampling at 140MHz will fill your input buffer too quickly, how then can you accurately measure your signal?
You can overcome the effects of aliasing on your signal if you understand how your sampled signal will appear. However, this technique must be used with caution. The signal you are measuring should be strong with no other strong frequency components close to it on the frequency spectrum. Additionally, it is highly advisable to sample as nearly as possible to twice the Nyquist frequency in order to not bring in frequency components of integer multiples of your original signal. Following these cautions will ensure that the signal you are attempting to sample is not polluted by an aliased signal from another frequency.
Suppose you are sampling your 70MHz signal with a digitizer that has a maximum sampling rate of 100 megasamples per second (MS/s) and a bandwidth of 100MHz, this situation has been set up in Figure 2. If you are sampling at 100MS/s then your Nyquist frequency is 50MHz. Thus, the 70MHz signal that you are sampling will be aliased back and appear as an image at 30MHz (70 is 20 greater than the Nyquist frequency of 50 and so the aliased signal will occur as a mirror image at 20 less than 50, or 30). Now, by placing a high-pass, external filter of 60MHz upon the incoming signal, all real frequency components below 60MHz will be attenuated and all that will be left is the aliased image at 30MHz of the real signal at 70MHz. Because the bandwidth of the digitizer is 100MHz, the 70MHz signal and its aliased image will both have the same, slightly attenuated magnitude which should be easy to recognize.
Fundamentals of High-Speed Digitizers
The Fundamentals of FFT-Based Signal Analysis and Measurement in LabVIEW and LabWindows/CVI | <urn:uuid:b006bba0-137d-4c99-a27e-8c73b1f70f1b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.ni.com/white-paper/3000/en/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399522.99/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00090-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943029 | 1,174 | 3.875 | 4 |
Life in Christian County, Kentucky...
This old tobacco barn between Pembroke and Fairview, Kentucky, is falling into disrepair. The roof still appears to be in decent condition, but the board siding is coming loose and falling away. The openings allow the weather to reach the structural members, so the days of this old barn are numbered unless it receives repair soon. If repair isn't practical or possible, then I hope that someone will tear the barn down and re-use the lumber.
Preservation Kentucky wrote the following about tobacco barns across the Commonwealth of Kentucky when it placed them on the 2004 "Most Endangered" list:
Kentucky tobacco barns are perhaps the most widely recognized agricultural buildings in the state. They have been important to the national tobacco economy since the settlement period. Once burley tobacco was introduced to the central Bluegrass region in the 1860's, the now-familiar barn type was developed for air curing - an H-frame gabled structure with vertical side vents. The burley barn became synonymous with Kentucky tobacco and was dubbed the "Kentucky Tobacco Barn" sometime in the 1870's.
Today, tobacco barns are disappearing from our landscape statewide, caught in the cross-fire of development or abandoned. Some are disassembled, relocated and re-used in other capacities of agriculture. With changes in family farms that will accompany the tobacco buyout, coupled with the potential for reductions in tobacco production, these Kentucky landmarks will have to be adaptively reused in order to survive and continue to contribute to the Commonwealth. | <urn:uuid:94f2e153-031d-4f8f-bc11-b37035b8ae86> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://prairiebluestem.blogspot.com/2006/04/old-tobacco-barn_01.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396224.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00190-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950392 | 316 | 2.671875 | 3 |
In part 1 we gave a brief introduction to logistic regression and indicated when it might be appropriate to use it in business analytics settings. Probably the best definition of Logistic regression is this " ... a mathematical modeling approach in which the best-fitting, yet least-restrictive model is desired to describe the relationship between several independent explanatory variables and a dependent dichotomous response variable".
In this article we get into the details of how the model equation is developed and then show how to set up a simple analysis using RapidMiner.
How does logistic regression find the sigmoid curve?
A straight line can be depicted by only two parameters: the slope (m) and the intercept (c). The way in which X's and Y's are related to each other can be simply specified by m and c. However an S-shaped curve is a much more complex shape and representing it parametrically is not as easy. So how does one find a mathematical means to relate the X's to the Y's?
It turns out that if we transform the Y's to the logarithm of the odds of Y, then the transformed target variable is linearly related to the X's. In most cases where we need to use logistic regression, the Y is usually a YES-NO type of response. This is usually interpreted as the probability of an event happening (Y=1) or not happening (Y=0).
- If Y is an event (response, pass etc),
- and p is the probability of the event happening (Y=1),
- then (1-p) is the probability of the event not happening (Y=0),
- and p/(1-p) is the odds of the event happening
- It turns out that log(p/1-p) is linear in the predictors, X
We can write the model as
- log[p/1-p] = mX + c ------------------ Eq 1.
From the data given, we know the X and can compute the p for each value of X. After this of course the problem is essentially similar to linear regression. (To see the sigmoid curve, the variables need to be transformed from the p-space to the Y-space).
The logistic regression model from Eq. 1 ultimately delivers the probability of Y happening (i.e. Y=1), given specific value(s) of X.
7-steps to a simple logistic regression model in RapidMiner
The data we used comes from an example here for a credit scoring exercise. The objective is to predict DEFAULT (Y or N) based on two predictors: Loan age (business usage) and number of days of delinquency. There are 100 samples.
Step 1: Load speadsheet into RapidMiner. Use the process described here. Remember to set the DEFAULT column as "Label"
Step 2: Split data into train and test samples using the Split Validation operator as shown here
Step 3: Add the Logistic Regression operator in the "training" window of the split validation operator
Step 4: Add Apply Model operator in the "testing" window of split validation operator in a similar manner as discussed here. Just use default parameter values.
Step 5: Add Performance evaluation operator in the "testing" window of split validation operator as discussed here.
Step 6: Connect all ports as shown below
Step 7: Run the model and view results. In particular check for the Kernel Model which shows the coefficients for the two predictors and the intercept. Also check the confusion matrix for Accuracy, Sensitivity, and Specificity and finally view the ROC curves and check AUC.
The accuracy of the model based on the 30% testing sample is 83%. The ROC curves has an AUC of 0.863 which is quite acceptable. The next step would be to review the kernel model and prepare for deploying this model.
Download all our logistic regression articles in one digest e-book below | <urn:uuid:13abc83b-0a14-40d7-8919-3752fa798830> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.simafore.com/blog/bid/57924/Logistic-regression-for-business-analytics-using-RapidMiner-Part-2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396100.16/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00059-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915757 | 832 | 3.296875 | 3 |
This species has a highly restricted and fragmented range, and is apparently now scarce and local, suggesting that it has declined. Although it is apparently tolerant of secondary habitats, it may have been affected negatively by logging and forest clearance. It is considered Near Threatened, and further studies are urgently needed in order to clarify the current magnitude of threats facing it.
Sibley, C. G.; Monroe, B. L. 1990. Distribution and taxonomy of birds of the world. Yale University Press, New Haven, USA.
Beehler, B. M.; Pratt, T. K.; Zimmerman, D. A. 1986. Birds of New Guinea. Princeton University Press, Princeton.
Bishop, K. D. 1982. Endemic birds of Biak Island.
Eastwood, C. 1996. A trip to Irian Jaya. Muruk 8(1): 12-23.
Gibbs, D. 1993. Irian Jaya, Indonesia, 21 January--12 March 1991: a site guide for birdwatchers, with brief notes from 1992.
Further web sources of information
Detailed species accounts from the Threatened birds of Asia: the BirdLife International Red Data Book (BirdLife International 2001).
Text account compilers
Benstead, P., Gilroy, J., Khwaja, N. & Mahood, S.
Beehler, B., Bishop, K., Bostock, N., Holmes, D., van Balen, B. & van Beirs, M.
IUCN Red List evaluators
Butchart, S., Symes, A.
BirdLife International (2016) Species factsheet: Zosterops mysorensis. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 27/06/2016. Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2016) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 27/06/2016.
This information is based upon, and updates, the information published in BirdLife International (2000) Threatened birds of the world. Barcelona and Cambridge, UK: Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, BirdLife International (2004) Threatened birds of the world 2004 CD-ROM and BirdLife International (2008) Threatened birds of the world 2008 CD-ROM. These sources provide the information for species accounts for the birds on the IUCN Red List.
To provide new information to update this factsheet or to correct any errors, please email BirdLife
To contribute to discussions on the evaluation of the IUCN Red List status of Globally Threatened Birds, please visit BirdLife's Globally Threatened Bird Forums.
|Current IUCN Red List category||Near Threatened|
|Species name author||Meyer, 1874|
|Population size||Unknown mature individuals|
|Distribution size (breeding/resident)||2,300 km2|
|Links to further information|
|- Additional Information on this species| | <urn:uuid:9bfdb0ad-eef6-40db-9a02-8182d2ffbb33> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=7482 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396106.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00084-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.684818 | 635 | 2.859375 | 3 |
This is a manual on linguistic field methodology with special reference to Indian language structures. It covers all that one needs to know about eliciting data from native speaker informants of South
Asian languages. The book contains step by step information about collection, collation, analysis, description, presentation and explanation of linguistic data. The author has drawn a large number of first-hand collected examples from lesser-known and 'tribal' languages of India to expose the readers to the variety and diversity of linguistic data available in the subcontinent. In addition to the discussion on elicitation of phonological, morphological, syntactic, semantic and sociolinguistic information, the author has discussed the linguistic characteristic features of each language family of
India. The book makes the reader aware of areal features of the languages under consideration and the contact phenomena to facilitate fieldwork. Each topic is followed by the 'elicitation tips' and interrogation techniques for the field worker as well as practical issues, problems and solutions as regards collection of data.
Sets of questionnaires on commonly investigated topics are included in the 'appendix' to facilitate field worker to come to grips with the theoretical and structural aspects of languages in general and Indian languages in specific. Numerous figures, maps and tables. | <urn:uuid:44e4828e-6c37-49fc-a029-d20ac0b3bfa8> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.linguistlist.org/pubs/books/get-book.cfm?BookID=109 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396224.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00088-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.907966 | 256 | 3.3125 | 3 |
McKENZIE, RODERICK (generally known as Roderick McKenzie Sr), fur trader and politician; b. 1771 or 1772 probably in the parish of Assynt, Scotland; d. 2 Jan. 1859 at the Red River settlement (Man.).
It is likely that Roderick McKenzie, one of several fur traders bearing this name, was in the Timiskaming department as a clerk for the North West Company in the 1790s, but it was in the Lake Nipigon (Ont.) area that his reputation with the NWC was made, and after the union of the NWC and the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1821 he was assigned to that district as a chief trader. In 1825 he assumed command of Fort William (Thunder Bay, Ont.). At this post his major preoccupations were competition from American traders and the difficulty of maintaining morale in a work-force sharply diminished by the HBC. McKenzie’s promotion to chief factor in 1830 carried with it a transfer to the west, where, for the rest of his active life, he was in charge of the English (upper Churchill) River district, with headquarters at Île-à-la-Crosse (Sask.). Almost every year he made the trip to York Factory (Man.) with his furs and attended the HBC Council of the Northern Department. In 1839 he was also appointed to the Council of Assiniboia, formed by the HBC, to govern the Red River colony, but he had little interest in such activities. Writing to James Hargrave* in 1839 he said, “I will not be at the Council in Red River – I can be of more use at my Post, in Trading a Skin; than at the Council, as Legislator I have no great ambition, to shine as an Orator, that I leave to young Gentlemen, better qualified.”
The good returns McKenzie was able to maintain during his early years at Île-à-la-Crosse began to fall off in the early 1840s as the Chipewyan Indians who traded in this district moved into the plains region. McKenzie placed part of the blame for the desertion of his post by the Indians on the machinations of his neighbour in the Saskatchewan district, Chief Factor John Rowand, and worried about the growing influence of the Roman Catholic missionaries at Fort Pitt (Sask.). Governor George Simpson commented upon the injurious rivalry existing between the two districts and, although his high opinion of Rowand was well known, he did not appear to play favourites. McKenzie’s invitation to the Catholic missionary Father Jean-Baptiste Thibault* and the arrival of the latter at Île-à-la-Crosse prompted a rebuke from Simpson in 1845. McKenzie explained that his acceptance of missionaries was motivated by the desire of the Chipewyan Indians, who could be induced to trade where priests were to be found, and by the religious needs of the HBC employees, most of whom were Catholic. With the governor’s consent priests were established at Île-à-la-Crosse in subsequent years, and during McKenzie’s time two future bishops, Alexandre-Antonin Taché* and Louis-François Laflèche*, served in the area.
As early as 1832 Simpson had suggested that McKenzie, whose health was “broken and worn out so that his useful Days are over,” ought to retire. In 1837 Thomas Simpson described him as a “well-meaning, warm-hearted but passionate and crabbed old Highlander,” and by the early 1840s the opinion was widespread that he should take his retirement, especially after he broke his leg in 1843; but, limping and nearly blind, he stayed on, worrying about his finances and about finding a place where he could settle with his wife and family. He had married Angélique, an Ojibwa Indian of the Lake Nipigon area, by the custom of the country in about 1803, and they had raised a large family. In 1841 this marriage was apparently formalized by Christian rite. For his retirement McKenzie’s preference was a remote location – Norway House (Man.), Sault Ste Marie (Ont.), or Cumberland House (Sask.). Ironically, by 1846 Governor Simpson seems to have changed his mind about McKenzie, urging him to stay at Île-à-la-Crosse: “While you continue healthy & that the business is not irksome and harassing to you, I see no reason for your retirement.” This reassessment may, however, have been due more to the relative unimportance of the Île-à-la-Crosse district than to a genuine appreciation of McKenzie’s usefulness. Finally, in 1850 McKenzie took a leave of two years at Fort Alexander (Man.) before retiring in 1852 and settling reluctantly in what he called “the civilized world of Red River.” Like other HBC employees, McKenzie placed his savings, which in 1851 totalled £4,724, in Canadian investments such as the Bank of Montreal, the Montreal and Lachine Rail-road, the Bank of British North America, the Commercial Bank of the Midland District, and private loans. These investments, which provided his only link with the united Canadas, generally paid good returns of from six to eight per cent.
Among the old Nor’Westers he was known as “Captain of the Nipigon” and, unlike almost all the Scots of the fur trade, he never returned to his native land, even on furlough. Leaving a sizeable estate, he died at Caberleigh Cottage, Red River, surrounded by symbols of a distant Highland past, but committed to the Indian country he had adopted as his home. All seven of his sons served the HBC, one of them, Samuel, rising to the rank of chief trader; of his five daughters, one died unmarried and the other four married men in the company service.
Æneas and Angus Cameron papers, in the possession of E. A. Mitchell (Toronto), McTavish, Frobisher & Co. to Æneas Cameron, 3 Sept. 1799 (mfm. at AO). PAC, MG 19, A21, ser.1, 31. PAM, HBCA, A.31/9; A.34/2: f.8; A.36/10: ff.3–4; A.44/4: 67; B.89/a/14–27; B.129/b/1–11; B.129/e/1–13; B.149/a/11; B.162/a/1; B.231/a/7–9; B.231/e/5–6; D.4/18: ff.10d–11; D.4/31: ff.46d–47; D.4/32: ff.112, 217; D.4/42: ff.83, 159; D.4/84b: f.71; D.5/4: ff.152, 228, 229; D.5/7: f.199d; D.5/10: f.370; D.5/14: f.112; D.5/19: ff.15, 75; D.5/21: f.110; D.5/22: f.231; D.5/41: f.313; D.5/43: ff.169, 508. Canadian North-West (Oliver). Docs. relating to NWC (Wallace). HBRS, 1 (Rich); 3 (Fleming); 19 (Rich and Johnson). Hargrave, Hargrave corr. (Glazebrook). Mactavish, Letters of Letitia Hargrave (MacLeod). Simpson, “Character book,” HBRS, 30 (Williams), 151–236. Van Kirk, “Many tender ties.” Barbara Benoit, “The mission at Île-à-la-Crosse,” Beaver, outfit 311 (winter 1980): 40–50. | <urn:uuid:73169816-04da-478f-a183-f26c95a73c8f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/mckenzie_roderick_8E.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397797.77/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00094-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974653 | 1,729 | 2.78125 | 3 |
News 12 First at Five, September 3, 2007
AUGUSTA, Ga.---Picnics, barbecues, and fireworks are all part of Labor Day festivities. But how did it all get started?
Lori Nelson is a grandmother of three. She says she couldn't think of a better way to spend Labor Day than with family. "It's very rare that I have all three at one time. So we use it to the fullest."
Lori says it's a challenge keeping up with kids ages one, two and three. But she says she's not afraid to jump right in. "We're believing in family and unity and that's what we're practicing today." Some people fire up the grill, and other people hit the road. And they've been doing it since 1882.
But what exactly is Labor Day? And why is it a national holiday? Roy Hen, says, "It's sorta the celebration of the end of summer you know you've had a great summer and now you're looking forward to the fall and the cooler weather." Rebekah Granger says, "Labor Day is a day for people to take off and relax from working all year long." Ashley Day says, "It's a very much needed break."
Labor Day is a one hundred twenty five year old tradition. The idea is to create a national day of rest for workers. That day is the first Monday in September. Ashley Darrick says, "It's the perfect time. You have the day off, enjoy it, and have fun. What better way to celebrate it."
Ashley spent this labor day at the park with her bible study group. The list of activities included food, football, and fun for the kids. No matter how you celebrate Labor Day is the one day of the year you have permission to take the day off. | <urn:uuid:f0677daf-e2a5-4238-85af-65ddb3aafde5> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.wrdw.com/home/headlines/9551737.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393332.57/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00096-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976444 | 382 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Bechoros 4 - 10
Milk and Honey
Whatever is secreted from an animal whose flesh is forbidden to eat is also prohibited. This includes the juices of non-kosher fish and the milk of non-kosher animals.
This rule raises an interesting problem regarding the milk of kosher animals. While such an animal is alive it is forbidden to eat from its flesh. Why then is it permitted to drink the milk secreted from the forbidden flesh?
In response to this challenge the Talmud presents three different passages from Tanach to prove that milk is an exception to this rule. One of these is the description of Eretz Yisrael (Shmos 3:17) as "a land flowing with milk and honey." If milk were not permitted for consumption, concludes the Talmud, it would not be employed in the praise of the Promised Land.
Another exception to the aforementioned rule is the honey of a bee. Although the bee itself is a forbidden insect, the honey it secretes is permitted for consumption. The reason is that the pollen ingested by the bees is converted to honey by them without the addition of any of their own secretions.
A Torah leader of the previous generation was once criticized for his activism on behalf of Jewish settlement in Eretz Yisrael. If the people in the forefront of the secular Zionist movement are so anti-religious, they asked, what good can we expect to emanate from their efforts? His clever response was that there are two exceptions to the rule that what emanates from an impure source is also impure - milk and honey. Eretz Yisrael is described as the land of milk and honey (even though the honey referred to in that passage is that which flows from dates, the word honey is also commonly applied to bee honey) in order to teach us that in regard to the Holy Land there is the possibility of something positive emanating from a problematic source.
The Donkey's Distinction
"Why are the first born of donkeys different from the first born of horses and camels?"
This was the challenge posed to Rabbi Elazar by Rabbi Chanina in the "Beis Hamidrash Hagadol" concerning the Torah command (Shmos 13:13) to redeem the first born of a donkey by giving a kohen a lamb.
"This is a Torah dictate," replied Rabbi Elazar. "Another reason is that the donkeys helped the Children of Israel when they left Egypt. There was not a single one of Israel who did not have ninety excellent donkeys to carry the silver and gold of Egypt."
At first glance it appears that the first reason offered by Rabbi Elazar is not a reason at all, but rather a statement that this is a Heavenly decree whose reason is unknown to us, just as there are other dictates of this nature. But a look at Rashi's commentary in Chumash of the aforementioned passage indicates otherwise.
"Only the first born of a donkey," writes Rashi, "and not that of any other impure animals. This is a Heavenly decree based on the concept that the Egyptian first born are compared in Tanach to donkeys."
Maharsha thus explains Rashi's approach: Rabbi Elazar never intended to apply the concept of "Torah dictate" to the question posed to him, because this seemed inappropriate to a command concerning which the Torah is so specific in declaring its significance as a reminder of the Exodus. He therefore understood that Rabbi Elazar was actually dealing with two challenges: 1) Why should the command to remember the slaying of the Egyptian first born and the sparing of the Israelites necessitate extending a statue of sanctity even to an impure animal? 2) Why only the donkey? To this he first replied that even though it seems strange, it was a "Torah decree" to extend the sanctity of the first born to the donkey because of the comparison of Egyptian first born to donkeys. He then added that the donkey's role in transporting the wealth of Egypt was a reminder of the fulfillment of Hashem's promise to Avraham that his descendants would leave their exile "with great wealth" and therefore gave this animal a distinction not shared by other impure animals | <urn:uuid:54c58472-a9fa-4d88-81a1-2e898d24b98c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://ohr.edu/explore_judaism/daf_yomi/the_weekly_daf/197 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396945.81/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00059-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974055 | 862 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Where is the Grand Canyon?
The Grand Canyon was carved out by the Colorado River in northern Arizona in the United States. The northeast end of the Grand Canyon starts at Lake Powell and the city of Page at the Utah-Arizona border. The western end of the Grand Canyon is where the Colorado River empties into Lake Mead at the Arizona-Nevada border.
The North and the South Rims of the Grand Canyon
The Grand Canyon is about a mile deep and separates the Grand Canyon area into the North Rim and the South Rim. In general though, when people mention the rims, they are talking about the national park villages on the eastern part of the canyon that are developed with overlooks and hotels by the National Park Service. (Read: North Rim vs. South Rim)
There are no bridges for vehicles going from the North Rim to the South Rim. It is about a five-hour drive to get from the North Rim Village to the South Rim Village.
Indian Nations at the Grand Canyon
Most of the Grand Canyon lies within Grand Canyon National Park and is managed by the National Park Service. Some areas bordering the Grand Canyon rims are owned by Native Nations. The Navajo Indian Reservation is on the east end. The Havasupai Indian Reservation is on the south-central side of the Grand Canyon. And the Hualapai Indian Reservation is on the southwest side of the Grand Canyon, commonly referred to as “Grand Canyon West” or the “West Rim.”
Accessing the Grand Canyon
Parts of Grand Canyon National Park are seasonal. The South Rim is open year-round, but the North Rim is closed during the winter because of snow and road conditions.
The Grand Canyon has three park entrances, two at the South Rim and One at the North Rim. There is a fee to enter the National Park payable at these entrances. Once inside the park and in Tusayan, you will find visitor centers with helpful information. | <urn:uuid:ec7970d1-4d28-4968-a333-ca7d617da1e7> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.mygrandcanyonpark.com/places/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392527.68/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00151-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950662 | 403 | 3.234375 | 3 |
Definition of Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Mycobacterium tuberculosis: The bacterium that causes tuberculosis. M. tuberculosis has unusually waxy walls, is slow-growing and among the most recalcitrant bacteria to treatment. The complete genome sequence of M. tuberculosis was published in 1998 revealing remarkably large proportion of its coding capacity devoted to producing enzymes involved in lipogenesis and lipolysis, the buildup and breakdown of lipids (fats). For more information, see: Tuberculosis.
Last Editorial Review: 5/13/2016
Back to MedTerms online medical dictionary A-Z List
Need help identifying pills and medications? | <urn:uuid:12d0c6c8-d8b2-4e11-90ac-59a74ffc613b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=26602 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397213.30/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00183-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.888743 | 132 | 3.15625 | 3 |
Saturday, February 07, 2009
TVA's Coal Ash In Food, Water and The Air
TVA spokesman Gil Francis says he does not think the massive mounds of toxic coal ash spilled into Roane County back in December which are now swirling into the air really exists - he told WATE-TV reporters is was probably just some fog.
The WATE report has video of plumes of ash rising 30 or 40 feet into the air.
Just the sludge alone is highly toxic according to researchers from Duke - though ORNL officials say it is not. Would you want to live in the midst of this disaster? Are folks flocking to the area to snap up real estate on the cheap?
More studies show that toxic materials far exceed what is deemed safe by federal standards. Items of concern include:
* Samples from six locations near or downstream from the ash spill showed levels of arsenic, cadmium, copper, lead and selenium exceeding Water Quality Criteria established by the Clean Water Act to protect aquatic life and human activity in rivers from dangerous pollution. Only one upriver sample showed high levels of any of these metals; it exceeded the lower, chronic criteria for lead.
* Samples from seven locations downstream of the spill showed levels of one or more heavy metals including antimony, arsenic, beryllium and lead exceeding Primary Drinking Water Standards, with arsenic more than double and copper five times acute toxicity levels. None of the three samples taken upstream exceeded the criteria.
* TVA denied the groups access to wells in the impacted area, so they tested wells east of the site. None of the samples had levels exceeding Primary Drinking Water Standards for heavy metals, but all of the wells had one or more pollutants known to leach from ash including aluminum, iron and manganese at levels exceeding Secondary Drinking Water Standards. The tests also turned up four wells with levels of manganese or sodium -- contaminants found in coal ash -- exceeding the Environmental Protection Agency's health-based advisories.
* The tests also found widely fluctuating arsenic levels in the Emory and Clinch rivers -- some as many as 37 times the Primary Drinking Water Standard. The groups say this could threaten the use of the rivers for drinking water and shows the need for more testing.
Add to this info that more than likely, the stuff you grow to eat is contaminated as well - especially in the South.
"Since the federal government does not classify coal ash as hazardous waste, it doesn't oversee the material's use in agriculture. Jeffrey Stant of the Environmental Integrity Project's Coal Combustion Waste Initiative told EHN that some states have regulations but often do not require monitoring.
He and other environmental health advocates have long called for federal oversight of coal waste. Knowing that this toxic stuff could end up in the vegetables we're eating only adds to the regulatory urgency."
Remember the Senate hearings on this disaster back in January? Remember the promises of more investigation to come? I suppose that was the real fog.
As for TVA -- they do not want to talk about how deadly and toxic that spill really was -- "we just want to clean it up" says TVA.
And in today's Knoxville News Sentinel, one resident continues to see problems with little sign of real progress:
"[Resident Larry] Richards said he's worried about TVA's plan to dredge the Emory and dump sludge next to the channel where ash previously was moved from the steam plant to the holding pond. "They're taking bad material from one side of the river and putting it on the other side of the river," he said. "They're creating the same problem all over again." | <urn:uuid:97583d1a-a441-484c-a8a4-86be60a60a71> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://cupofjoepowell.blogspot.com/2009/02/tvas-coal-ash-in-food-water-and-air.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397865.91/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00062-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96112 | 752 | 2.703125 | 3 |
The Irish Free State offensive
of July–September 1922 was the decisive military stroke of the Irish Civil War
. It was carried out by the National Army
of the newly created Irish Free State
strongholds in the south and southwest of Ireland
At the beginning of the Civil War in June 1922, the Irish Free State government, composed of the Irish republican leadership who had accepted the Anglo-Irish Treaty
, held only the capital city of Dublin
. The new National Army was composed of those units of the Irish Republican Army
loyal to them, plus recent recruits.
Much of the rest of the country was outside of its control and in the hands of the anti-Treaty elements of the Irish Republican Army, who did not accept the legitimacy of the new state and who asserted that the Irish Republic
, created in 1919, was the continuing legitimate all-island state. This situation was rapidly brought to an end in July and August 1922, when the Commander in Chief of the Free State forces, Michael Collins
, launched the offensive.
The offensive re-took the major towns for the Free State Government and marked the end of the conventional phase of the conflict. The offensive was followed by a 10 month period of guerrilla warfare
until the Republican side was defeated.
The "Munster Republic"
The civil war started in Dublin
, with a week of street fighting
from 28 June to 5 July 1922 in which the Free State's forces secured the Irish capital from anti-Treaty IRA troops who had... Read More | <urn:uuid:28c235e2-1548-45b5-b640-477221844e50> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://pages.rediff.com/irish-free-state-offensive/464170 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399428.8/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00032-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97696 | 316 | 3.5 | 4 |
This is a guest post from Cheryl Lederle of the Library of Congress.
What’s the most frustrating part of teaching with primary sources? They’re often incomplete and have little context. What’s the most rewarding part of teaching with primary sources? They’re often incomplete and have little context.
Because primary sources are the raw materials of history, they are often incomplete and even contradictory. While that might sometimes be exasperating, it’s also an opportunity to foster curiosity and rich learning. Integrating what they glean from comparing primary sources with what they already know, and what they learn from research, allows students to construct content knowledge and deepen understanding.
The teacher plays a crucial role in this process by asking questions and helping guide students toward higher-order thinking and better critical thinking and analysis skills. To help teachers, the Library of Congress has compiled lists of effective questions to use with the most widely used formats.
To start, first select a primary source analysis Teacher’s Guide that matches the format of the primary source to be analyzed. Then, keeping in mind your goals and objectives for the lesson, choose a few questions from each column to focus and prompt student thinking and discussion as they observe, reflect and question the primary source. Consider what prior knowledge your students bring to the analysis, what gaps or misconceptions they might have, and select questions that will guide them into careful observation and thoughtful reflection.
Prompts such as “Describe what you see” and “What do you notice first?” can help students look more closely at the primary source. Asking students to consider questions like “What do you think was happening when it was created?” and “What can you learn from examining this?” invites students to reflect more deeply on the importance of the item and its value to understanding history.
If students are new to primary source analysis, modeling the analysis process with the whole class gives them confidence before they work more independently in pairs or small groups. Students often need help distinguishing between “observe” – what they see or hear – and “reflect” – how they interpret the primary source based on what they observe or already know. Some teachers find it helpful to have students draw a line to connect a reflection to an observation or indicate if it is based on prior knowledge. Often, a reflection will spark a question. While it’s important to know the difference between an observation and a reflection, the process is not linear, and students may move freely between the observing, reflecting and questioning.
After the analysis, help students shape questions for further investigation to direct research using additional primary sources or secondary sources, such as a textbook. Select one of the follow up activities listed on the teacher’s guide to assess or to deepen learning.
There are as many strategies for questioning as there are primary sources. Let us know what techniques you’ve used in the comments section. | <urn:uuid:81ce6d47-3916-4e4e-9865-4f1b12a17da7> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://blogs.loc.gov/teachers/2011/08/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395620.9/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00037-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948706 | 609 | 3.828125 | 4 |
September 26, 2006
Q & A: What Can We Do About Global Environmental Change?
Scientists have concluded that the global environment is changing as a result of human activity. Changes in the environment, particularly the rise in temperature that’s changing the climate, could have serious consequences on our health. Cindy Parker, MD, MPH, an environmental health expert with the Bloomberg School’s Center for Public Health Preparedness, sat down for an interview with Tim Parsons of the Office of Communications and Public Affairs, to discuss the health impact of global environmental change.
In August, Parker co-authored the article “Global Environmental Change: What Can Clinicians and the Environmental Health Community Do About It Now,” in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives with fellow Bloomberg School of Public Health researchers, Brian Schwartz and Thomas Glass, and University of Michigan School of Public Health researcher, Howard Hu. In their article, the authors outline the unique role clinicians and public health workers play in helping to limit global environmental change.
Question: What are some of the problems we face as a result of global environmental change and more specifically climate change?
Answer: Usually what people think of first is an increased risk of heat stroke and heat stress. In fact in 2003 when Western Europe had its heat wave, 35,000 people died as a direct result of the heat. With climate change we can expect to see more frequent heat waves lasting longer and with higher temperatures.
Also people tend to think of infectious diseases as being a risk with climate change. For example, in some parts of the world, malaria’s range has been limited by cooler temperatures at higher elevations. As temperatures warm, mosquitoes may be able to thrive at elevations where they weren’t able to live before—exposing virgin populations to malaria—in which the morbidity and mortality from malaria is much higher. A new spread of malaria is not necessarily a risk for the United States because malaria already occurs here and is kept in check by our public health system. The recent spread of West Nile virus, however, does have a climate component to it.
Question: What are some of the other challenges?
Answer: One thing at the top of the list is the impact on the water supply. Climate change can affect precipitation patterns. We are expecting with a changed climate more of our precipitation will come during the spring and summer months. It won’t be stored up in snow packs, which provide water gradually through the summer months when we need it the most. Instead it will come at a time when more of it will just wash off and is less likely to be captured and used later. Water is obviously absolutely necessary for our life and our health. A world with far less water will have huge health impacts.
Air quality is another issue. We know that climate change makes our air quality worse. Ozone, for instance, forms in the presence of heat and light. In a changed climate, we can expect higher concentrations of ozone, particularly in the summer months. Ozone is really bad for our health when we breathe it in at ground level. Climate change makes air pollution worse and air pollution makes climate change worse. It’s a nasty snowball effect.
Question: We often hear about the dangers of sea level rise. What is the concern?
Answer: We know that the glaciers are melting. In fact, they are melting at a rate much faster than we had originally modeled or projected and this is of real concern. As the glaciers melt, the sea levels rise. Thirteen of the worlds 20 largest cities are located at sea level.
We saw in New Orleans with Hurricane Katrina how difficult it is to evacuate people in an emergency. It’s impossible to evacuate infrastructure. In New Orleans, for example, the health care system was severely crippled by the storm and flooding and is still not anywhere close to what it was before.
When you think about where our major infrastructure is located, it tends to be in our cities. Our biggest, most advanced hospitals are in our largest cities. That’s also where things like water treatment plants are located. Most of the infrastructure that keeps our society healthy tends to be in our cities. With sea level rise, we could lose a lot of this infrastructure as well as the lives of those people in flooded areas immediately at risk.
We also expect to see more storm surge. Again as we saw with New Orleans, as the sea level rises, the big waves that come with storms get bigger and can move farther inland,causing more damage.
We can expect more people injured and killed during extreme weather events. In fact, extreme weather events themselves are much more likely to happen under a changed climate. We can expect hurricanes to be more intense. Hurricanes are driven by sea surface temperature. Certainly as global temperatures warm, sea surface temperatures warm as well. That drives the hurricane wind patterns and makes them stronger. Warm air holds more water than cold air so the hurricanes can have more water in them. As we saw in New Orleans, it’s the flooding that brings most of the damage.
All these factors working together do not bode well for health.
Question: Environmental change seems to have tremendous potential for causing a great deal of social upheaval don’t you think?
Answer: When you think about potentially relocating hundreds of millions of people under perhaps already stressed conditions that is going to cause a lot of social problems. Bangladesh could lose a third of its land mass with a moderate increase in sea level—an increase less than the extreme worst-case scenario—something that is within the realm of possibility within the next 50 to 100 years. The countries around Bangladesh are already crowded and that infrastructure is already stretched to capacity. If you have to relocate one third of the population of Bangladesh into an area where the infrastructure is already stressed, you are going to have conflict. In fact, the Pentagon commissioned a report investigating some of the worst-case scenarios for climate change and concluded that climate change is a greater threat to our security here in the United States than terrorism.
Question: What are some of the things clinicians can do to address climate change?
Answer: Clinicians have long counseled their patients on measures to keep healthy. Normally, it’s some measure that patients do to prevent a disease or bad health outcome in that particular patient. Climate change and global environmental change are true population issues. When I reduce my greenhouse gas emissions that may help to protect coastal populations some time in the future, but it may or may not have any effect on me personally.
This is a real change in a way we counsel patients about preventive measures. There have been some precedents set. With secondhand smoke for example, we counsel patients that smoke not only is affecting you but it is affecting those around you in a limited environment like your children, your family and your coworkers. With environmental change, we’re talking about helping people you don’t even know.
We need to start counseling patients about reducing their carbon foot print—how much carbon dioxide they are putting into the air. It is sort of a leap in how we think about things. These steps may not necessarily help me personally, they may indeed, but they will help the earth’s population as a whole. If nobody does anything, that will definitely impact me personally. This is not an environmental issue per se, it is actually a huge health issue.
Question: What should doctors be telling patients?
Answer: Conserving energy is a key to the whole problem. Simple things like switching from the incandescent light bulbs we all grew up with to compact fluorescent light bulbs that use a fourth to a fifth of the energy and last 7 to 10 times longer can make a huge difference. As one individual person, it won’t make any difference—except on my electricity bill—but if we work together to change billions of light bulbs to some that use a fifth of the amount of energy, that’s a huge amount of change.
Adjust the thermostat. There is no reason when it is 100 degrees (Fahrenheit) outside that you have people inside wearing sweaters because the air conditioning is too high. Timers can shift the thermostat to more conservative temperatures at night when you’re asleep or when you’re not there.
How we get from point A to point B makes a huge difference too. What we drive, and if we drive at all make a difference. Shopping close to home also makes a difference. Driving the most fuel-efficient car for your needs makes a difference.
These are just a few of the things everyone can do that take very little effort and don’t make us feel like we are denying ourselves life’s pleasures.
Question: What could be done to address the economics of climate change?
Answer: Our economic structure is set to measure development by the amount of products produced. This doesn’t take into account our health and from a health standpoint, it doesn’t make any sense at all. The typical example given is that every time someone gets cancer our Gross Domestic Product actually goes up, because all the medications, treatment and testing required to treat the patient adds revenue. Clearly that is not a good measure of development in any sort of social or health sense.
One of the things we need to do is to develop some sort of a Global Environmental Health Index as a different way to measure development that takes into account health and environmental issues. We can’t expect people to be healthy if the environment is not healthy. We need to be measuring different things, not just how much actual revenue is generated. We need to subtract from that revenue for the bad things, like how much pollution was generated by that revenue, or how much forest was removed, or how much warmer our climate was.
It would also be useful if we had a better way to tell if the products we are buying are more or less environmentally damaging. We recommend some sort of environmental labeling for consumers. Right now, when we look at our food labels for example, it tells us the content and how much fat and calories the food has. If we came up with something similar for a toaster, for instance, we could see that the manufacturing of this toaster produced X amount of pollution or greenhouse gases. We could then compare it to another product that used fewer resources or produced less pollution. It could help consumers make better decisions.Public Affairs media contacts for the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health: Tim Parsons or Kenna Lowe at 410-955-6878 or email@example.com. | <urn:uuid:54549613-68b7-429a-8874-a731cb999281> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.jhsph.edu/news/stories/2006/parker-environmental-change.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399428.8/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00157-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956589 | 2,174 | 3.46875 | 3 |
July 5, 2005
TV Has Negative Impact on Very Young Children’s Learning Abilities
CHICAGO "” Television viewing before the age of three may have adverse effects on subsequent cognitive development, according to a study in the July issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Three- to five-year-old children watch an average of two or more hours of television or videos per day and much of this is not children's educational programming, according to background information in the article. Fifty-nine percent of children younger than two years regularly watch an average of 1.3 hours of television per day, despite the fact that there is no programming of proven educational value for children this young. A substantial portion of television actually watched by children does not meet the American Academy of Pediatrics recommendation of no screen time for children younger than two and only high quality, age-appropriate viewing thereafter, the authors suggest.Frederick J. Zimmerman, Ph.D., and Dimitri A Christakis, M.D., M.P.H., of the University of Washington, Seattle, analyzed data from The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 Children and Young Adults (NLSY-Child), begun in 1986 and conducted every other year. The NLSY-Child collects information on more than 11,000 children regarding developmental assessment, family background, home environment and health history. The researchers assessed data on 1,797 children who were approximately six years of age at the time of one of the four most recent survey interviews in 1994, 1996, 1998 and 2000. Scores in mathematics, reading recognition and reading comprehension from a commonly used and well-standardized test were compared with the level of television watching before age three and from ages three to five.
"This analysis has shown a consistent pattern of negative associations between television viewing before age three years and adverse cognitive outcomes at ages six and seven years," the authors report. "The inclusion of extensive controls for parental preferences, ability, and investment in their children's cognitive development suggests that these associations may in some direct or indirect way be causal."
"By contrast, this analysis suggests that television viewing at ages three to five years has a more beneficial effect, at least for the outcomes of reading recognition and short-term memory," the authors write. The researchers found no beneficial effect on mathematics outcomes or reading comprehension, and they state, "Because reading recognition and short-term memory are arguably the most basic of the cognitive outcomes studied, the implication would seem to be that the net effect of television viewing from a population perspective is limited in its beneficial impact."
"One of the contributions of this study is to recognize and explicitly model the heterogeneous [mixed] effect of television viewing at different ages on children's outcomes," the authors write. "Television viewing in early childhood varies depending on age; for very young children the effects are negative, while for preschool children they can be constructive, at least in some domains. "¦ This analysis further suggests that parents may appreciate and benefit from better guidance on the kinds of high-quality content that is available on television and on ways of managing the context of television viewing to maximize its potential benefit for their children."
On the Web: | <urn:uuid:ff3de379-4e6f-41bf-afaa-81fd0dc22050> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/164608/tv_has_negative_impact_on_very_young_childrens_learning_abilities/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399117.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00122-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957698 | 660 | 2.890625 | 3 |
Wolfgang Panofsky: 1919-2007
Sep 27, 2007 1 comment
The particle physicist Wolfgang Panofsky, who was founding director of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) in California, has died at the age of 88. Panofsky, who served as SLAC boss for over 20 years, died of a heart attack on 24 September. Apart from his work as a researcher, accelerator builder and science administrator, Panofsky was also a passionate advocate of arms control and international peace.
Wolfgang Panofsky was born into a Jewish family in Berlin on 24 April 1919. At the age of 15, he moved with his family from Germany to the US and graduated from Princeton University in 1938. After receiving a PhD in physics from the California Institute of Technology in 1942, he served as a consultant to the Manhattan atomic-bomb project.
In 1945, Panofsky joined the Radiation Laboratory at the University of California at Berkeley serving first as staff physicist and then as associate professor. In 1951 he moved to Stanford University, where he spent eight years as directory of its High Energy Physics Laboratory. During this time, he and fellow physicist Jack Steinberger were the first to isolate the neutral pi-meson -- one of the sub-atomic particles predicted by theorists to account for the strong force binding atomic nuclei.
While at Stanford, Panofsky was also involved in upgrading the university's "mark III" electron accelerator, which had come on-line in 1951. Although electron-scattering experiments at this machine later led to Robert Hofstadter earning the Nobel Prize for Physics, Panofsky and other physicists at Stanford argued strongly for a much larger and more powerful machine. Those efforts paid off in 1961, when the US Congress authorized construction of SLAC -- a two-mile long electron accelerator.
Panofsky was appointed founding director of SLAC -- a position he held until he retired in 1984. During this time, he upgraded the lab's main accelerator and made the case for new high-energy facilities such as the Stanford Positron Electron Accelerating Ring (SPEAR). This machine was used to discover the J/psi particle, which led to physicists realising that quarks are real. SPEAR was also later used as one of the first sources of synchrotron radiation.
Panofsky's experience in the Manhattan project influenced his thinking on the ethical and social responsibilities of scientists. He played an active role in advising the US government on arms control and international security. He also helped to secure the atmospheric test-ban treaty and in the 1980s spoke out strongly against the "Star Wars" anti-missile programme. In 1989 SLAC set up the Wolfgang Panofsky Fellowship, which supports young scientists who show the "creativity, insight and exceptional achievement" of Panofsky himself.
About the author
Matin Durrani is editor of Physics World | <urn:uuid:6a7c0f72-f592-472b-b542-cb383229c398> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/2007/sep/27/wolfgang-panofsky-1919-to-2007 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402479.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00096-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966159 | 592 | 2.703125 | 3 |
- World Population
World Population and top 20 Countries Live Clock. Population in the past, present, and future. Milestones. Global Growth Rate. World population by Region and by Religion. Population Density, Fertility Rate, Median Age, Migrants. All-time population total.
- Population by Country
Countries (and dependencies) in the world ranked by population. 1 Year change, migrants, median age, fertility rate, area (Km²), urban population, share of world's population, global rank. View also: list of countries and dependencies in two separate groups, and most populous countries in 1950 and in 2050.
- Population by Year
World population from 5000 BC to 2016, with annual growth rate, yearly change, population density, and urban population.
- All people on 1 page
View the entire current world population on a single page, showing every single person one by one, increasing in real time.
- How many countries are there in the world?
Unlike other lists in our population sections, in which countries and dependencies are grouped together, here we have separated the two types in order to provide a more rigorous count of the total countries in the world and in each region. See also: Largest countries in the world, largest cities in the world, and map of the world.
Population by Region
China vs. E.U. vs. U.S. vs. Japan (Population and GDP comparison)
Regions or Continents?
We follow the U.N. Statistics Division of grouping countries into regions and subregions rather than into continents.
But if you are interested,
you can learn more about continents and the 7 continents model.
Population of Countries | <urn:uuid:a925081c-12a1-40d0-aa2a-00fcffe7331a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.worldometers.info/population/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404382.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00002-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.869444 | 352 | 2.890625 | 3 |
Weibull Analysis is used to analyze historical failure data and produce failure distributions that will be used as inputs to the failure models used in a fault tree analysis or a reliability block diagram (RBD( analysis.
HOW DO I ANALYZE HISTORICAL FAILURE DATA?
The Weibull Analysis module of Reliability Workbench analyses historical failure and repair data by assigning probability distributions which represent the failure or repair characteristics of a given failure mode.
The failure distribution assigned to a given set of times to failure (known as a Weibull set) may be assigned to basic events or generic failure models in the Fault Tree Analysis module and to reliability blocks or generic failure models in the RBD analysis.
The Weibull Analysis Module analyses times-to-failure and time-to-repair data using the following distributions:
- Exponential Distribution
- 1-Parameter Weibull Distribution
- 2-Parameter Weibull Distribution
- 3-Parameter Weibull Distribution
DISPLAYING DATA IN GRAPHS AND REPORTS
The Weibull module automatically fits the selected distribution to the data provided and displays the results graphically in the form of cumulative probability plots, unconditional probability density plots and conditional probability density plots. The plots may be viewed on the screen or printed to a report.
Data may be entered manually by the user or imported from other packages or transferred via the Windows clipboard using copy and paste. The Weibull Analysis module has been designed to be extremely easy to use. For example new data can be analyzed in 4 simple steps:
- Enter or import the data
- Select a distribution type
- Instruct the Weibull module to analyze the data
- Print a report | <urn:uuid:c85048c0-013a-429c-9cca-241912e54f9b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.isograph.com/software/reliability-workbench/weibull-analysis/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395546.12/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00098-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.793035 | 353 | 2.625 | 3 |
To prevent the oral spread of the herpes simplex 1 or 2 virus:
- Avoid skin contact, kissing, or sharing food, drink, or personal items with people who have active cold sores
- Avoid performing oral sex on a person with active genital herpes
- If you have an active cold sore, avoid touching the infected area (to avoid spreading the virus to other people and/or other parts of your body)
To prevent recurring outbreaks of cold sores or blisters:
- Avoid long periods of time in the sun.
- Use sun block on lips and face when in the sun.
- Get adequate rest and relaxation to minimize stress.
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 © 2016 EBSCO Publishing All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:615398b2-b315-41df-b8d9-146835ce1946> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.empowher.com/condition/cold-sores/prevention | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391766.5/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00085-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.878266 | 237 | 2.703125 | 3 |
There are many traditions and stories surrounding the food we know today as a “pretzel” and it is difficult to separate the facts from the legends. The exact origin of the pretzel is unknown and, like the doughy treat, its history takes many twists and turns.
“Little Rewards” and “Little Arms”
One tradition says that as early as 610 AD, monks somewhere in Southern France or Northern Italy offered pretzels to children as a “little reward” for memorizing their Bible verses and saying their prayers. The monks appropriately called it a pretiola, Latin for “little reward”. At some point pretiola became brachiola, which is Italian for “little arms” because the pretzel looks like arms folded in prayer. Eventually if found it way to Germany and became known as a Bretzel or Pretzel.
Food during Lent
Since many pretzel recipes didn’t contain any of the ingredients that were avoided during the pre-Easter Lent season – eggs, milk, butter, lard – the pretzel became a popular Lenten food throughout the Middle Ages. Pretzels are still part of the Easter celebrations in many European countries.
Good Luck, Prosperity, Spiritual wholeness
In 1440 AD a page in the prayer book used by Catharine of Cleves depicted St. Bartholomew surrounded by pretzels. They had come to represent the good luck, prosperity and spiritual wholeness.
Everlasting Life and Rebirth
A decade later in 1450, Germans ate pretzels and hard-boiled eggs for dinner on Good Friday – the day of fasting. The large, puffy pretzel symbolized everlasting life, and the two hard-boiled eggs, nestled in each of the large round curves of the pretzel, represented Easter’s rebirth.
Soon, at Easter, the pretzel was hidden with two hard-boiled eggs for children to find. This is likely the origin of the Easter Egg Hunt we now associate with Easter, with the difference being now we hide the eggs instead of the pretzels. As pretzels and eggs were often hidden in the hay of a barn, baskets filled with hay were later introduced as part of the festivities.
The hard pretzel seems to have been introduced later. While it may have simply been the result of a recipe for the season of Lent, another story says that a baker’s assistant fell asleep while preparing the pretzels and overcooked them. The Master Baker, in the process of throwing out the spoiled pretzels, decided to taste one of the spoiled brown treats. He discovered he liked the nutty flavor and crunchy taste and realized they would keep longer since the moisture had been completely baked out.
Pretzels as an Easter Symbol
Regardless of the true origins, a pretzel turned upside down does look like arms folded in prayer and the three holes could be used as a symbol of the trinity. Pretzels also resemble a heart and thus can be a reminder of the love God showed when Jesus was crucified for the sins of the world. As the pretzel is broken and eaten, we are reminded that Christ in the Passover meal said that his body would be broken. Some pretzel recipes consist only of water and flour, thus proclaiming Lent as a time of fasting and penitence. In many places of Europe, pretzels are served only from Ash Wednesday to Easter, thus keeping the ancient symbolism alive.
Introduce the Children to an Easter basket filled with pretzels and eggs. When you get questioning looks and discussion about the presense of the pretzels, tell them about the history of the treat, the symbolism, and then give each one a pretzel to eat and as a reminder of so many Easter truths.
Instead of an Easter Egg Hunt, hide small snack size packets of pretzels. Alternatively, wrap the pretzels in plastic wrap and then hide them. Kids will be curious as to why pretzels have been hidden instead of eggs. Then introduce them to the Easter traditions and symbolism associated with the tasty treat.
Games and Activities in celebration of Easter.
Get more than 80 creative ideas for planning a Youth Easter celebration or Easter Party. You can immediately download my best Easter Icebreakers, games, illustrations, Easter activity ideas AND MUCH MORE in a useful ebook!
|Rate This Post by Clicking the Stars :| | <urn:uuid:f5499231-0d95-4227-81c4-3c79f703ec2b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.creativeyouthideas.com/resources/childrens-sermon/easter-pretzels/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397213.30/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00177-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968244 | 918 | 3.265625 | 3 |
This investigation explores using different shapes as the hands of
the clock. What things occur as the the hands move.
What are the coordinates of this shape after it has been
transformed in the ways described? Compare these with the original
coordinates. What do you notice about the numbers?
A shape and space game for 2,3 or 4 players. Be the last person to be able to place a pentomino piece on the playing board. Play with card, or on the computer.
Many of you wrote to tell us that there were
six ways of posting the triangle into the shape sorter. JC
If you turn triangle A 120 degrees anticlockwise you get to
position C. If you then flip the triangle you get to | <urn:uuid:8f86c1b3-0c2e-489e-b72e-07759babff6b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://nrich.maths.org/2644/solution | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395613.65/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00183-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.907695 | 154 | 3.09375 | 3 |
Kwanzaa, is an African-American celebration of cultural reaffirmation, is one of the fastest-growing holidays in the history of the world. It took root 30 years ago, when graduate student Maulana Karenga, disturbed by the 1965 riots in Los Angeles' Watts area, decided that African-Americans needed an annual event to celebrate their differences rather than the melting pot.
Not a religious holiday, Kwanzaa is, rather, a seven-day celebration that begins on Dec. 26 and continues through Jan. 1.
Kwanzaa is a spiritual, festive and joyous celebration of the oneness and goodness of life, which claims no ties with any religion. It has definite principles, practices and symbols which are geared to the social and spiritual needs of African-Americans. The reinforcing gestures are designed to strengthen our collective self-concept as a people, honor our past, critically evaluate our present and commit ourselves to a fuller, more productive future.
Kwanzaa, which means "first fruits of the harvest" in the African language Kiswahili, has gained tremendous acceptance. Since its founding in 1966 by Dr. Maulana Karenga, Kwanzaa has come to be observed by more than15 million people worldwide, as reported by the New York Times. Celebrated from December 26th to January 1st, it is based on Nguzo Saba (seven guiding principles), one for each day of the observance:
Umoja (OO-MO-JAH) Unity stresses the importance of togetherness for the family and the community, which is reflected in the African saying, "I am We," or "I am because We are."
Kujichagulia (KOO-GEE-CHA-GOO-LEE-YAH) Self-Determination requires that we define our common interests and make decisions that are in the best interest of our family and community.
Ujima (OO-GEE-MAH) Collective Work and Responsibility reminds us of our obligation to the past, present and future, and that we have a role to play in the community, society, and world.
Ujamaa (OO-JAH-MAH) Cooperative economics emphasizes our collective economic strength and encourages us to meet common needs through mutual support.
Nia (NEE-YAH) Purpose encourages us to look within ourselves and to set personal goals that are beneficial to the community.
Kuumba (KOO-OOM-BAH) Creativity makes use of our creative energies to build and maintain a strong and vibrant community.
Imani (EE-MAH-NEE) Faith focuses on honoring the best of our traditions, draws upon the best in ourselves, and helps us strive for a higher level of life for humankind, by affirming our self-worth and confidence in our ability to succeed and triumph in righteous struggle. | <urn:uuid:b5c9db7d-7d3b-4ad1-93ce-cc9a5dcf3b05> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.theholidayspot.com/kwanzaa/history.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398209.20/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00168-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945124 | 600 | 3.390625 | 3 |
As its name suggests, Discovery Education streaming has lots of streaming video clips at its core. By the end of 2008, it will have 5,000 full-length videos and 50,000 clips in its basic package [source: Discovery Education streaming]. Discovery Education streaming Plus builds on this collection with a slightly wider selection. It will include 8,700 full-length videos and 87,000 clips by the end of 2008 [source: Discovery Education streaming Plus]. Some of these videos come from Discovery Channel. Other contributors include Scholastic, the BBC, PBS and NASA. All in all, the basic package has content from more than 150 educational producers. With Discovery Education streaming plus, the number goes up to more than 170. A curriculum development team reviews the content to make sure it is accurate, appropriate, high-quality and representative of diversity.
The basic package also includes image and audio libraries, an interactive atlas, and encyclopedia articles. There are also addon video libraries, such as a language pack that includes video clips in more than 30 languages. Everything is for educational use only, including in home schools.
If you're a teacher who suddenly has tens of thousands of video clips at your disposal, you may wonder, "What do I do with all this?" Fortunately, these videos don't exist in a vacuum. The clips are aligned to K-12 national and state curriculum standards. Many are organized according to themes, and teachers can search for relevant clips by keyword, subject, grade level and curriculum standard. There are also search options for closed-captioned videos and videos in Spanish. In addition, Discovery Education streaming provides a library of lesson plans and suggestions for incorporating the videos into all areas of study.
There's also more than just video in the Discovery Education streaming package. Some of the other tools include:
- Quiz builders: Teachers can create multiple-choice quizzes, which students fill out using a computer. The quizzes are graded automatically, and teachers can view the results, including which answers the students chose.
- Writing prompts: As with the quizzes, teachers create the prompts and students complete the assignments using a computer. There's also a library of prompts for a variety of writing styles, from expository to narrative.
- Editable videos: Teachers can use video editing software to customize certain clips.
- Professional Development: Discovery Education offers a wide array of complimentary professional development options that allow educators to learn more about integrating technology into the classroom.
- Discovery Educator Network: A Discovery Education streaming subscription includes an invitation for all educators to join to the Discovery Educator Network (DEN). The DEN currently includes more than 88,000 members nationwide, providing professional development to more than a half a million educators.
In addition, teachers get access to tools to keep things organized, such as a calendar, a grade book and an assignment builder.
Of course, connecting to all this requires a wired classroom. We'll look at what kind of tech it takes to use Discovery Education streaming in the next section. | <urn:uuid:e11f4ab8-badc-4e4f-b8ae-54f4e2c98cf9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://people.howstuffworks.com/discovery-education-streaming1.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396887.54/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00178-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936286 | 616 | 2.546875 | 3 |
The façade of the U.S. Senate wing
Given current proposals for reform, it seems clear the filibuster in some form will survive—at least in the upcoming session of Congress. What the Senate looks like in the long term, however, is still very much up for grabs. One thing is for sure: It can’t continue in its current dysfunction.
The first step in thinking about the fate of the filibuster is to place it in historical context. Filibusters were once a rare occurrence, but as University of Miami professor Greg Koger explains in Filibustering, they increased in two major and important spikes. First, Republicans reacted to the election of Bill Clinton and a unified Democratic government in 1993 by filibustering all major initiatives. Then, Republicans reacted to the election of Barack Obama and another period of unified Democratic government in 2009 by establishing a true 60-vote requirement; passing virtually any bill (and even amendments to those bills) and every nomination now requires a supermajority.
This new state of affairs is not tenable. Over time, majorities will simply not allow minorities to beat them again and again. That’s why filibuster reform has emerged as a major issue each of the times since 1993 that a sustained majority controlled the Senate and the White House.
The filibuster, which allows a single Senator to halt the legislative process, is emblematic of a key difference between the two bodies. In the House, members only have influence within large organized structures; party leaders set the agenda, and House committees are more important in getting legislation passed than committees in the Senate. Because of this, the majority party is able to more quickly and easily pursue its agenda. But this also results in individual legislators having power on a narrower set of issues than their counterparts in the other chamber.
Senate rules and norms, however, have evolved to vest broad power in individual legislators. Senators have had the ability to offer amendments on any topic whenever they want, to threaten to delay something and thus make passage more costly, or even, when the group is large enough, to delay it indefinitely and thereby kill it. All of these allow Senators—whether part of a large minority, a small group, or even alone—leverage to bargain for a wide range of priorities. Unlike their colleagues in the House, senators have never been willing to trade away their own ability to get things done on a wide range of issues for more influence over a smaller area. For majority-party Senators, the task of reforming the filibuster entails finding a set of rules that allows the Senate to get things done without turning the body into a second House of Representatives, in which party leaders really do run everything.
What would such reform look like?
The reforms that Senators Tom Udall, Jeff Merkley, and other Democrats are pushing—and that Majority Leader Harry Reid says he’ll support—are a step in the right direction, but I’m pessimistic that they’ll get the job done.
Reformers are currently pushing to limit the number of junctures at which Senators can filibuster a bill, therefore hampering the ability of a filibuster to slow down the Senate. Currently, obstruction can last for weeks even if the majority has 60 votes; while the opposing party cannot definitively stop a bill that has supermajority support, it can slow things down by requiring a vote to end a filibuster at each step in the legislative process. By eliminating the opportunity to filibuster a “motion to proceed” to a bill and the motions needed to get a bill that’s been passed into conference with the House, the reformers would make passing a bill easier for the majority by reducing the amount of floor time used.
However, those changes do nothing for bills that have a simple majority but not the 60 votes it takes to bring a bill to a final vote. It also does nothing for nominations because nominations currently do not require a debatable motion to proceed and, of course, do not need to go to conference with the House. For those, Merkley and Udall offer a “talking filibuster” cure, which would force opponents to actually hold the Senate floor and talk if they want to block anything. The idea is that only intense minorities should be able to obstruct action. Unfortunately, it’s unlikely that their formula (which they’re still refining) will work. Minority party Senators will probably be more than happy to hold the Senate floor and rail against majority tyranny. And remember: Every minute that the Senate is tied up in an active, talking filibuster is a minute that it can’t get anything else done. Indeed, that’s why live filibusters were phased out in the first place; unless they can be easily broken, live filibusters are bad for the majority, not the minority. Indeed, under current rules, the majority can already force talking filibusters. It’s just not in their interest to do so. The reformers want to change that by shifting more of the burden to the filibustering group (the rules here are complex, but basically, the current framework forces the majority to be available during a talking filibuster; the reformers seek to change that so that the minority would be the ones on call). But as long as the minority is determined, they’ll be able to keep going, and that just delays everything the majority wants to do.
So, yes, there’s a good chance that we’ll get some significant reform this January, either majority-imposed or after cutting a deal with Republicans. But if the result is simply a more smoothly running 60-vote Senate, then it’s almost certain that majority-party frustration will increase, and the chamber will remain fundamentally dysfunctional. Eventually—unless reformers can figure out a balanced set of rules—the odds are that strict party rule will come to Senate, just as it has to the House. And with it will come less influence for individual Senators.
Of course, a lot of people want to see that. Most Senate scholars, however, believe that it would destroy the real strengths of the Senate. Powerful individual Senators can be a problem, but they can also mean issue innovation, real deliberation, and good representation of many different interests. If the actions of both chambers of Congress are simply functions of their party leadership, then the bicameral legislature doesn’t really have much of a point.
So there’s really a lot at stake in the efforts to get reform right. The current crop of Senate reformers appears thoughtful and well-intentioned. On balance, the changes they are advocating should make things better. But for whatever reason—and a large part of this may be that Democrats aren’t quite as frustrated as they could be, given that with the Republican House it’s unlikely that legislative filibuster reform will make much of a difference in the short term anyway—their proposals won’t be enough.
Several promising reforms which might come closer to getting the job done have not, so far, been added to the mix. Some have suggested eliminating any supermajority requirement for appropriations bills; I’ve said much the same for executive-branch nominations. For judicial nominations, where the case for a supermajority is stronger because they are lifetime appointments, some way is needed of further reducing the time taken on noncontroversial confirmations (where the point of delay is apparently just to reduce the overall capacity of the Senate). On legislation, I’ve proposed an annual Leadership Bill to replace of the current reconciliation bill. The idea is to give intense majorities the same kind of protection that intense minorities currently have.
There are lots of good ideas out there, and plenty of time for improvement. And the more the rest of the Democrats are with them, the better the chances Senate reform will be done right in January. But the important thing isn’t just to get something done; for friends of the Senate, the key is to get reform right.
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Individual differences |
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Down syndrome (Down's Syndrome in British English) is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of all or part of an extra 21st chromosome. It is named after John Langdon Down, the British doctor who first described it in 1866. The condition is characterized by a combination of major and minor differences in body structure. Often Down syndrome is associated with some impairment of cognitive ability and physical growth as well as facial appearance. Down syndrome is usually identified at birth.
Individuals with Down syndrome can have a lower than average cognitive ability, often ranging from mild to moderate mental retardation. Developmental disabilities often manifest as a tendency toward concrete thinking or naïveté. A small number have severe to profound mental retardation. The incidence of Down syndrome is estimated at 1 per 800 to 1 per 1,000 births.
Many of the common physical features of Down syndrome also appear in people with a standard set of chromosomes. They include a single transverse palmar crease (a single instead of a double crease across one or both palms), an almond shape to the eyes caused by an epicanthic fold of the eyelid, shorter limbs, poor muscle tone, and protruding tongue. Health concerns for individuals with Down syndrome include a higher risk for congenital heart defects, gastroesophageal reflux disease, recurrent ear infections, obstructive sleep apnea, and thyroid dysfunctions.
Early childhood intervention, screening for common problems, medical treatment where indicated, a conducive family environment, and vocational training can improve the overall development of children with Down syndrome. Although some of the physical genetic limitations of Down syndrome cannot be overcome, education and proper care will improve quality of life.
Individuals with Down syndrome may have some or all of the following physical characteristics: oblique eye fissures with epicanthic skin folds on the inner corner of the eyes, muscle hypotonia (poor muscle tone), a flat nasal bridge, a single palmar fold (also known as a simian crease), a protruding tongue (due to small oral cavity, and an enlarged tongue near the tonsils), a short neck, white spots on the iris known as Brushfield spots, excessive flexibility in joints, congenital heart defects, excessive space between large toe and second toe, a single flexion furrow of the fifth finger, and a higher number of ulnar loop dermatoglyphs. Most individuals with Down syndrome have mental retardation in the mild (IQ 50–70) to moderate (IQ 35–50) range, with scores of children having Mosaic Down syndrome (explained below) typically 10–30 points higher. In addition, individuals with Down syndrome can have serious abnormalities affecting any body system.
- Main article: Genetic origins of Down syndrome
Down syndrome is a chromosomal abnormality characterized by the presence of an extra copy of genetic material on the 21st chromosome, either in whole (trisomy 21) or part (such as due to translocations). The effects of the extra copy vary greatly among individuals, depending on the extent of the extra copy, genetic background, environmental factors, and random chance. Down syndrome occurs in all human populations, and analogous effects have been found in other species such as chimpanzees and mice. Recently, researchers have created transgenic mice with most of human chromosome 21 (in addition to the normal mouse chromosomes). The extra chromosomal material can come about in several distinct ways. A normal human karyotype is designated as 46,XX or 46,XY, indicating 46 chromosomes with an XX arrangement for females and 46 chromosomes with an XY arrangement for males.
Trisomy 21 (47,XX,+21) is caused by a meiotic nondisjunction event. With nondisjunction, a gamete (i.e., a sperm or egg cell) is produced with an extra copy of chromosome 21; the gamete thus has 24 chromosomes. When combined with a normal gamete from the other parent, the embryo now has 47 chromosomes, with three copies of chromosome 21. Trisomy 21 is the cause of approximately 95% of observed Down syndromes, with 88% coming from nondisjunction in the maternal gamete and 8% coming from nondisjunction in the paternal gamete.
Trisomy 21 is caused prior to conception, and all cells in the body are affected. However, when some of the cells in the body are normal and other cells have trisomy 21, it is called Mosaic Down syndrome (46,XX/47,XX,+21). This can occur in one of two ways: A nondisjunction event during an early cell division in a normal embryo leads to a fraction of the cells with trisomy 21; or a Down syndrome embryo undergoes nondisjunction and some of the cells in the embryo revert back to the normal chromosomal arrangement. There is considerable variability in the fraction of trisomy 21, both as a whole and among tissues. This is the cause of 1–2% of the observed Down syndromes.
The extra chromosome 21 material that causes Down syndrome may be due to a Robertsonian translocation. In this case, the long arm of chromosome 21 is attached to another chromosome, often chromosome 14 (45,XX, t(14;21q)) or itself (called an isochromosome, 45,XX, t(21q;21q)). Normal disjunctions leading to gametes have a significant chance of creating a gamete with an extra chromosome 21. Translocation Down syndrome is often referred to as familial Down syndrome. It is the cause of 2-3% of observed cases of Down syndrome. It does not show the maternal age effect, and is just as likely to have come from fathers as mothers.
Duplication of a portion of chromosome 21Edit
Rarely, a region of chromosome 21 will undergo a duplication event. This will lead to extra copies of some, but not all, of the genes on chromosome 21 (46,XX, dup(21q)). If the duplicated region has genes that are responsible for Down syndrome physical and mental characteristics, such individuals will show those characteristics. This cause is very rare and no rate estimates are available.
The incidence of Down syndrome is estimated at 1 per 800 to 1 per 1000 births. In 2006, the Center for Disease Control estimated the rate as 1 per 733 live births in the United States (5429 new cases per year). Approximately 95% of these are trisomy 21. Down syndrome occurs in all ethnic groups and among all economic classes.
Maternal age influences the risk of conceiving a baby with Down syndrome. At maternal age 20 to 24, the risk is 1/1490; at age 40 the risk is 1/60, and at age 49 the risk is 1/11. Although the risk increases with maternal age, 80% of children with Down syndrome are born to women under the age of 35, reflecting the overall fertility of that age group. Other than maternal age, no other risk factors are known. There does not appear to be a paternal age effect.
Pregnant women can be screened for various complications in their pregnancy. Many standard prenatal screens can discover Down syndrome. Genetic counseling along with genetic testing, such as amniocentesis, chorionic villus sampling (CVS), or percutaneous umbilical blood sampling (PUBS) are usually offered to families who may have an increased chance of having a child with Down syndrome, or where normal prenatal exams indicate possible problems. Genetic screens are often performed on pregnant women older than 30 or 35.
Amniocentesis and CVS are considered invasive procedures, in that they involve inserting instruments into the uterus, and therefore carry a small risk of causing fetal injury or miscarriage. There are several common non-invasive screens that can indicate a fetus with Down syndrome. These are normally performed in the late first trimester or early second trimester. Due to the nature of screens, each has a significant chance of a false positive, suggesting a fetus with Down syndrome when, in fact, the fetus does not have this genetic abnormality. Screen positives must be verified before a Down syndrome diagnosis is made. Common screening procedures for Down syndrome are given in Table 1.
|Screen||When performed (weeks gestation)||Detection rate||False positive rate||Description|
|Triple screen||15–20||75%||8.5%||This test measures the maternal serum alpha feto protein (a fetal liver protein), estriol (a pregnancy hormone), and human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG, a pregnancy hormone).|
|Quad screen||15–20||79%||7.5%||This test measures the maternal serum alpha feto protein (a fetal liver protein), estriol (a pregnancy hormone), human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG, a pregnancy hormone), and high inhibin-Alpha (INHA).|
|AFP/free beta screen||13–22||80%||2.8%||This test measures the alpha feto protein, produced by the fetus, and free beta hCG, produced by the placenta.|
|Nuchal translucency/free beta/PAPPA screen||10–13.5||91%||5%||Uses ultrasound to measure Nuchal Translucency in addition to the freeBeta hCG and PAPPA (pregnancy-associate plasma protein A, OMIM 176385). NIH has confirmed that this first trimester test is more accurate than second trimester screening methods.|
Even with the best non-invasive screens, the detection rate is 90%–95% and the rate of false positive is 2%–5%. False positives can be caused by undetected multiple fetuses (very rare with the ultrasound tests), incorrect date of pregnancy, or normal variation in the proteins.
Confirmation of screen positive is normally accomplished with amniocentesis. This is an invasive procedure and involves taking amniotic fluid from the mother and identifying fetal cells. The lab work can take several weeks but will detect over 99.8% of all numerical chromosomal problems with a very low false positive rate.
Due to the low incidence of Down syndrome, a vast majority of early screen positives are false. Since false positives typically prompt an amniocentesis to confirm the result, and the amniocentesis carries a small risk of inducing miscarriage, there is a slight risk of miscarrying a healthy fetus. (The added miscarriage risk from an amniocentesis is traditionally quoted as 0.5%, but recent studies suggest that it may be considerably smaller (0.06% with a 95% CI of 0 to 0.5%).)
A 2002 literature review of elective abortion rates found that 91–93% of pregnancies with a diagnosis of Down syndrome were terminated. Physicians and ethicists are concerned about the ethical ramifications, with some commentators calling it "eugenics by abortion". Many members of the disability rights movement "believe that public support for prenatal diagnosis and abortion based on disability contravenes the movement's basic philosophy and goals."
Cognitive development in children with Down syndrome is quite variable. It is not possible at birth to predict their capabilities, nor are the number or appearance of physical features predictive of future ability. The identification of the best methods of teaching each particular child ideally begins soon after birth through early intervention programs. Since children with Down syndrome have a wide range of abilities, success at school can vary greatly, which stresses the importance of evaluating children individually. The cognitive problems that are found among children with Down syndrome can also be found among typical children. Therefore, parents can use general programs that are offered through the schools or other means.
Language skills show a difference between understanding speech and expressing speech. It is common for children with Down syndrome to need speech therapy to help with expressive language. Fine motor skills are delayed and often lag behind gross motor skills and can interfere with cognitive development. Occupational therapy can address these issues.
In education, mainstreaming of children with Down syndrome is becoming less controversial in many countries. For example, there is a presumption of mainstream in many parts of the UK. Mainstreaming is the process whereby students of differing abilities are placed in classes with their chronological peers. Children with Down syndrome may not age emotionally/socially and intellectually at the same rates as children without Down syndrome, so over time the intellectual and emotional gap between children with and without Down syndrome may widen. Complex thinking as required in sciences but also in history, the arts, and other subjects can often be beyond the abilities of some, or achieved much later than in other children. Therefore, children with Down syndrome may benefit from mainstreaming provided that some adjustments are made to the curriculum.
Some European countries such as Germany and Denmark advise a two-teacher system, whereby the second teacher takes over a group of children with disabilities within the class. A popular alternative is cooperation between special schools and mainstream schools. In cooperation, the core subjects are taught in separate classes, which neither slows down the typical students nor neglects the students with disabilities. Social activities, outings, and many sports and arts activities are performed together, as are all breaks and meals.
- Main article: Health aspects of Down syndrome
The medical consequences of the extra genetic material in Down syndrome are highly variable and may affect the function of any organ system or bodily process. The health aspects of Down syndrome encompass anticipating and preventing effects of the condition, recognizing complications of the disorder, managing individual symptoms, and assisting the individual and his/her family in coping and thriving with any related disability or illnesses.
The most common manifestations of Down syndrome are the characteristic facial features, cognitive impairment, congenital heart disease, hearing deficits, short stature, thyroid disorders, and Alzheimer's disease. Other less common serious illnesses include leukemia, immune deficiencies, and epilepsy. However, health benefits of Down syndrome include greatly reduced incidence of many common malignancies except leukemia and testicular cancer - although it is, as yet, unclear whether the reduced incidence of various fatal cancers among people with Down syndrome is as a direct result of tumor-suppressor genes on chromosome 21, because of reduced exposure to environmental factors that contribute to cancer risk, or some other as-yet unspecified factor. Down syndrome can result from several different genetic mechanisms. This results in a wide variability in individual symptoms due to complex gene and environment interactions. Prior to birth, it is not possible to predict the symptoms that an individual with Down syndrome will develop. Some problems are present at birth, such as certain heart malformations. Others become apparent over time, such as epilepsy.
These factors can contribute to a significantly shorter lifespan for people with Down syndrome. One study, carried out in the United States in 2002, showed an average lifespan of 49 years, with considerable variations between different ethnic and socio-economic groups.
- Main article: Research of Down syndrome-related genes
Down syndrome disorders are based on having too many copies of the genes located on chromosome 21. In general, this leads to an overexpression of the genes. Understanding the genes involved may help to target medical treatment to individuals with Down syndrome. It is estimated that chromosome 21 contains 200 to 250 genes. Recent research has identified a region of the chromosome that contains the main genes responsible for the pathogenesis of Down syndrome, located proximal to 21q22.3. The search for major genes involved in Down syndrome characteristics is normally in the region 21q21–21q22.3.
Recent use of transgenic mice to study specific genes in the Down syndrome critical region has yielded some results. APP is an Amyloid beta A4 precursor protein. It is suspected to have a major role in cognitive difficulties. Another gene, ETS2 is Avian Erythroblastosis Virus E26 Oncogene Homolog 2. Researchers have "demonstrated that overexpression of ETS2 results in apoptosis. Transgenic mice overexpressing ETS2 developed a smaller thymus and lymphocyte abnormalities, similar to features observed in Down syndrome."
Sociological and cultural aspectsEdit
Advocates for people with Down syndrome point to various factors, such as special education and parental support groups, that make life easier for parents. There are also strides being made in education, housing, and social settings to create environments which are accessible and supportive to people with Down syndrome. In most developed countries, since the early twentieth century many people with Down syndrome were housed in institutions or colonies and excluded from society. However, since the early 1960s parents and their organisations (such as MENCAP ), educators and other professionals have generally advocated a policy of inclusion, bringing people with any form of mental or physical disability into general society as much as possible. In many countries, people with Down syndrome are educated in the normal school system; there are increasingly higher-quality opportunities to mix special education with regular education settings.
Despite this change, reduced abilities of people with Down syndrome can pose a challenge to parents and families. Although living with family is preferable to institutionalization for most people, people with Down syndrome often encounter patronizing attitudes and discrimination in the wider community. In the past decade, many[How to reference and link to summary or text] couples with Down syndrome have married and started families, overcoming stereotypes associated with this condition.[How to reference and link to summary or text] [this contradicts earlier statement regarding fertility of just 3 recorded cases of men with Down's syndrome becoming fathers]
The first World Down Syndrome Day was held on 21 March 2006. The day and month were chosen to correspond with 21 and trisomy respectively. It was proclaimed by Down Syndrome International. In the United States, the National Down Syndrome Society observes Down Syndrome Month every October as "a forum for dispelling stereotypes, providing accurate information, and raising awareness of the potential of individuals with Down syndrome." In South Africa, Down Syndrome Awareness Day is held every October 20.
- Main article: History of Down syndrome
English physician John Langdon Down first characterized Down syndrome as a distinct form of mental retardation in 1862, and in a more widely published report in 1866 entitled "Observations on an ethnic classification of idiots". Due to his perception that children with Down syndrome shared physical facial similarities (epicanthal folds) with those of Blumenbach's Mongolian race, Down used terms such as mongolism and Mongolian idiocy. Idiocy was a medical term used at that time to refer to a severe degree of intellectual impairment. Down wrote that mongolism represented "retrogression," the appearance of Mongoloid traits in the children of allegedly more advanced Caucasian parents.
By the 20th century, "Mongolian idiocy" had become the most recognizable form of mental retardation. Most individuals with Down syndrome were institutionalized, few of the associated medical problems were treated, and most died in infancy or early adult life. With the rise of the eugenics movement, 33 of the (then) 48 U.S. states and several countries began programs of involuntary sterilization of individuals with Down syndrome and comparable degrees of disability. The ultimate expression of this type of public policy was the German euthanasia program "Aktion T-4", begun in 1940. Court challenges and public revulsion led to discontinuation or repeal of such programs during the decades after World War II.
Until the middle of the 20th century, the cause of Down syndrome remained unknown. However, the presence in all races, the association with older maternal age, and the rarity of recurrence had been noticed. Standard medical texts assumed it was caused by a combination of inheritable factors which had not been identified. Other theories focused on injuries sustained during birth.
With the discovery of karyotype techniques in the 1950s, it became possible to identify abnormalities of chromosomal number or shape. In 1959, Professor Jérôme Lejeune discovered that Down syndrome resulted from an extra chromosome. The extra chromosome was subsequently labeled as the 21st, and the condition as trisomy 21.
In 1961, nineteen geneticists wrote to the editor of The Lancet suggesting that Mongolian idiocy had "misleading connotations," had become "an embarrassing term," and should be changed. The Lancet supported Down's Syndrome. The World Health Organization (WHO) officially dropped references to mongolism in 1965 after a request by the Mongolian delegate.
In 1975, the United States National Institutes of Health convened a conference to standardize the nomenclature of malformations. They recommended eliminating the possessive form: "The possessive use of an eponym should be discontinued, since the author neither had nor owned the disorder." Although both the possessive and non-possessive forms are used in the general population, Down syndrome is the accepted term among professionals in the USA, Canada and other countries; Down's syndrome is still used in the United Kingdom and other areas.
- Dementia affecting people with Downs syndrome
- Genetic counseling: Down Syndrome - Trisomy 21-
- Moderate mental retardation
- Trisomy 21
- ↑ Trisomy 21: The Story of Down Syndrome paper.
- ↑ Roizen NJ, Patterson D.Down's syndrome. Lancet. 2003 12 April;361(9365):1281-9. Review. PMID 12699967
- ↑ Definition of Brushfield's Spots.
- ↑ Keep Kids Healthy article on Down syndrome.
- ↑ Strom, C. FAQ from Mosaic Down Syndrome Society. URL accessed on 2006-06-03.
- ↑ McClure HM, Belden KH, Pieper WA, Jacobson CB. Autosomal trisomy in a chimpanzee: resemblance to Down's syndrome. Science. 1969 5 September;165(897):1010-2. PMID 4240970
- ↑ Down's syndrome recreated in mice. BBC News. URL accessed on 2006-06-14.
- ↑ For a description of human karyotype see Mittleman, A. (editor) (1995). An International System for Human Cytogenetic Nomeclature. URL accessed on 2006-06-04.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Down syndrome occurrence rates (NIH). URL accessed on 2006-06-02.
- ↑ Mosaic Down syndrome on the Web
- ↑ Petersen MB, Tranebjaerg L, McCormick MK, Michelsen N, Mikkelsen M, Antonarakis SE. Clinical, cytogenetic, and molecular genetic characterization of two unrelated patients with different duplications of 21q. Am J Med Genet Suppl. 1990;7:104-9. PMID 2149934
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Hook, E.B. (1981). Rates of chromosomal abnormalities at different maternal ages. Obstet Gynecol 58: 282. PMID 6455611
- ↑ Based on estimates by National Institute of Child Health & Human Development Down syndrome rates. URL accessed on 2006-06-21.
- ↑ Center for Disease Control (6 January 2006). Improved National Prevalence Estimates for 18 Selected Major Birth Defects, United States, 1999-2001. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 54 (51 & 52): 1301-1305.
- ↑ Estimate from National Down Syndrome Center. URL accessed on 2006-04-21.
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 For a current estimate of rates, see Benn, PA, J Ying, T Beazoglou, JFX Egan. Estimates for the sensitivity and false-positive rates for second trimester serum screening for Down syndrome and trisomy 18 with adjustments for cross-identification and double-positive results. Prenatal Diagnosis 21 (1): 46-51. PMID 11180240
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 Some practices report adding Nasal Bone measurements and increasing the detection rate to 95% with a 2% False Positive Rate.
- ↑ NIH FASTER study (NEJM 2005 (353):2001). See also J.L. Simplson's editorial (NEJM 2005 (353):19).
- ↑ Fackler, A. Down syndrome. URL accessed on 2006-09-07.
- ↑ Assume the false positive rate is 2% (at the low end), the incidence of Down syndrome is 1/500 (on the high side) with 95% detection, and there is no ascertainment bias. Out of 100,000 screens, 200 will have Down syndrome, and the screen will detect 190 of them. From the 99,800 normal pregnancies, 1996 will be given a positive result. So, among the 2,186 positive test results, 91% will be false positives and 9% will be true positives.
- ↑ Eddleman, Keith A., et al (2006). Pregnancy loss rates after midtrimester amniocentesis. Obstet Gynecol 108 (5): 1067-1072. PMID 17077226
- ↑ Caroline Mansfield, Suellen Hopfer, Theresa M. Marteau (1999). Termination rates after prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome, spina bifida, anencephaly, and Turner and Klinefelter syndromes: a systematic literature review. Prenatal Diagnosis 19 (9): 808-812. PMID 10521836 This is similar to 90% results found by David W. Britt, Samantha T. Risinger, Virginia Miller, Mary K. Mans, Eric L. Krivchenia, Mark I. Evans (1999). Determinants of parental decisions after the prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome: Bringing in context. American Journal of Medical Genetics 93 (5): 410 - 416. PMID 10951466
- ↑ Glover, NM and Glover, SJ (1996). Ethical and legal issues regarding selective abortion of fetuses with Down syndrome. Ment. Retard. 34 (4): 207-214. PMID 8828339.
- ↑ Will, George (2005-04-14). Eugenics By Abortion: Is perfection an entitlement?. Washington Post: A37.
- ↑ Erik Parens and Adrienne Asch (2003). Disability rights critique of prenatal genetic testing: Reflections and recommendations. Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews 9 (1). PMID 12587137
- ↑ New Parent Guide. National Down Syndrome Society. URL accessed on 2006-05-12. Also Research projects - Early intervention and education. URL accessed on 2006-06-02.
- ↑ Bird, G. and S. Thomas (2002). Providing effective speech and language therapy for children with Down syndrome in mainstream settings: A case example. Down Syndrome News and Update 2 (1): 30-31. Also, Kumin, Libby (1998). "Comprehensive speech and language treatment for infants, toddlers, and children with Down syndrome" Hassold, T.J.and D. Patterson Down Syndrome: A Promising Future, Together, New York: Wiley-Liss.
- ↑ Development of Fine Motor Skills in Down Syndrome. URL accessed on 2006-07-03.
- ↑ M. Bruni. Occupational Therapy and the Child with Down Syndrome. URL accessed on 2006-06-02.
- ↑ S.E.Armstrong. Inclusion: Educating Students with Down Syndrome with Their Non-Disabled Peers. URL accessed on 2006-05-12. Also, see Debra L. Bosworth. Benefits to Students with Down Syndrome in the Inclusion Classroom: K-3. URL accessed on 2006-06-12. Finally, see a survey by NDSS on inclusion, Gloria Wolpert (1996). The Educational Challenges Inclusion Study. National Down Syndrome Society. URL accessed on 2006-06-28.
- ↑ There are many such programs. One is described by Action Alliance for Children,
- REDIRECT Template:Cite web
- REDIRECT Template:Cite web
- ↑ American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Genetics (Feb 2001). American Academy of Pediatrics: Health supervision for children with Down syndrome. Pediatrics 107 (2): 442-449. PMID 11158488.
- ↑ Yang Q, Rasmussen SA, Friedman JM. Mortality associated with Down's syndrome in the USA from 1983 to 1997: a population-based study. Lancet 2002 23 March;359(9311):1019-25. PMID 11937181
- ↑ includeonly>Young, Emma. "Down's syndrome lifespan doubles", New Scientist, 2002-03-22. Retrieved on 2006-10-14.
- ↑ Ying-Hui H. Hsiang, Gary D. Berkovitz, Gail L. Bland, Claude J. Migeon, Andrew C. Warren, John M. Opitz, James F. Reynolds (1987). Gonadal function in patients with Down syndrome. American Journal of Medical Genetics 27 (2): 449--458. 10.1002/ajmg.1320270223.
- ↑ Sheridan R, Llerena J, Matkins S, Debenham P, Cawood A, Bobrow M (1989). Fertility in a male with trisomy 21. J Med Genet 26 (5): 294-8.
- ↑ Pradhan M, Dalal A, Khan F, Agrawal S (2006). Fertility in men with Down syndrome: a case report. Fertil Steril 86 (6): 1765.e1-3.
- ↑ R Mao, CL Zielke, HR Zielke, J Pevsner (2003). Global up-regulation of chromosome 21 gene expression in the developing Down syndrome brain. Genomics 81 (5): 457-467. PMID 12706104
- ↑ Rong Mao, X Wang, EL Spitznagel, et al (2005). Primary and secondary transcriptional effects in the developing human Down syndrome brain and heart. Genome Biology 6 (13): R107. PMID 16420667
- ↑ Leshin, L. (2003). Trisomy 21: The Story of Down Syndrome. URL accessed on 2006-05-21.
- ↑ Zohra Rahmani, Jean-Louis Blouin, Nicole Créau-Goldberg, Paul C. Watkins, Jean-François Mattei, Marc Poissonnier, Marguerite Prieur, Zoubida Chettouh, Annie Nicole, Alain Aurias, Pierre-Marie Sinet, Jean-Maurice Delabar (2005). Down syndrome critical region around D21S55 on proximal 21q22.3. American Journal of Medical Genetics 37 (S2): 98-103. PMID 2149984
- ↑ OMIM 104760, gene located at 21q21. Retrieved on 2006-12-05.
- ↑ Shekhar, Chandra Down syndrome traced to one gene. The Scientist. URL accessed on 2006-07-11.
- ↑ OMIM 164740, located at 21 q22.3. Retrieved on 2006-12-05.
- ↑ OMIM, NIH. V-ETS Avian Erythroblastosis virus E26 Oncogene Homolog 2. URL accessed on 2006-06-29.
- ↑ Inclusion: Educating Students with Down Syndrome with Their Non-Disabled Peers, National Down Syndrome Society. URL accessed 2006-05-21.
- ↑ World Down Syndrome Day. URL accessed on 2006-06-02.
- ↑ National Down Syndrome Society
- ↑ Down Syndrome South Africa
- ↑ Down, J.L.H. (1866). Observations on an ethnic classification of idiots. Clinical Lecture Reports, London Hospital 3: 259-262. For a history of the disorder, see OC Ward (1998). John Langdon Down, 1828-1896, Royal Society of Medicine Press. ISBN 1-85315-374-5. or Conor, Ward John Langdon Down and Down's syndrome (1828 - 1896). URL accessed on 2006-06-02.
- ↑ (1999). John Langdon Down: The Man and the Message. Down Syndrome Research and Practice 6 (1): 19-24.
- ↑ Warkany, J. (1971). Congenital Malformations, 313-314, Chicago: Year Book Medical Publishers, Inc. ISBN 0-8151-9098-0.
- ↑ Jérôme Lejeune Foundation. URL accessed on 2006-06-02.
- ↑ Gordon, Allen, C.E. Benda, J.A. Böök, C.O. Carter, C.E. Ford, E.H.Y. Chu, E. Hanhart, George Jervis, W. Langdon-Down, J. Lejeune, H. Nishimura, J. Oster, L.S. Penrose, P.E. Polani, Edith L. Potter, Curt Stern, R. Turpin, J. Warkany, and Herman Yannet (1961). Mongolism (Correspondence). The Lancet 1 (7180): 775.
- ↑ Howard-Jones, Norman (1979). On the diagnostic term "Down's disease". Medical History 23 (1): 102-104. PMID 153994.
- ↑ A planning meeting was held on 20 March 1974, resulting in a letter to The Lancet. (1974). Classification and nomenclature of malformation (Discussion). The Lancet 303 (7861): 798. The conference was held 10 February-11 February 1975, and reported to The Lancet shortly afterward. (1975). Classification and nomenclature of morphological defects (Discussion). The Lancet 305 (7905): 513.
- ↑ Leshin, Len What's in a name. URL accessed on 2006-05-12.
- Aparicio, M. T. S., & Balana, J. M. (2003). Social Early Stimulation of Trisomy-21 Babies: Early Child Development and Care Vol 173(5) Oct 2003, 557-561.
- Beck, M.N. (1999). Expecting Adam, New York: Berkley Books.
- Buckley, S. (2000). Living with Down Syndrome, Portsmouth, UK: The Down Syndrome Educational Trust.
- Down Syndrome Research Foundation (2005). Bright Beginnings: A Guide for New Parents, Buckinghamshire, UK: Down Syndrome Research Foundation.
- Hassold, T.J., D. Patterson, eds. (1999). Down Syndrome: A Promising Future, Together. New York: Wiley Liss.
- Kingsley, J.; M. Levitz (1994). Count Us In: Growing up with Down Syndrome, San Diego: Harcourt Brace.
- Pueschel, S.M., M. Sustrova, eds. (1997). Adolescents with Down Syndrome: Toward a More Fulfilling Life. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes.
- Selikowitz, M. (1997). Down Syndrome: The Facts, 2nd edition, Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
- Van Dyke, D.C.; P.J. Mattheis, S. Schoon Eberly, J. Williams (1995). Medical and Surgical Care for Children with Down Syndrome, Bethesda, MD: Woodbine House.
- Zuckoff, M. (2002). Choosing Naia: A Family's Journey, New York: Beacon Press.
For comprehensive lists of Down syndrome links see
- Directory of Down Syndrome Internet Sites (US based, but contains international links)
- UK resources for Down's syndrome
Societies and associationsEdit
- Down Syndrome International
- The Down Syndrome Educational Trust
- Down Syndrome Research and Treatment Foundation
- Canadian Down Syndrome Society (Canada)
- Down Syndrome Research Foundation (Canada)
- Down's Syndrome Scotland (Scotland)
- Down's Syndrome Association UK (Not including Scotland)
- Down's Syndrome Research Foundation (UK)
- National Down Syndrome Society (USA)
- National Down Syndrome Congress (USA)
- International Mosaic Down Syndrome Association (USA)
- Down's Heart Group (heart conditions related to Down's Syndrome)
- Down Syndrome Association (Singapore)
Health & Targeted Nutritional Intervention
- International Nutrition Inc. Targeted Nutritional Intervention for DS
- Dr. Lawrence Leichtman in Virgina, USA
- Dr. Len Leshin in Texas, USA
- A Large Article About TNI
- Riverbend Down Syndrome Parent Support Group - loads of information | <urn:uuid:5d06fe2a-2857-45ec-85db-0a562ad2a708> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Down_syndrome | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399117.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00096-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.882439 | 7,638 | 3.953125 | 4 |
On January 10, 1945, near the small community of Alturas in northeast California, two forest rangers spotted a Japanese bombing balloon drifting high over the nearby forests. They reported it to military authorities and an Army P-38 fighter plane was dispatched and shot it down. It descended slowly drifting over Tule Lake in sight of the Japanese Relocation Camp there, and came to earth in trees on a mountain slope 30 miles west of Alturas. The 10-meter diameter Mulberry paper balloon was recovered and found to be remarkably intact, still carrying four incendiary bombs and one high explosive bomb. It was sent to Moffett Field in Sunnyvale where it was examined, reinflated and test flown. Eventually the balloon was given to the Smithsonian's National Air & Space Museum in Washington, DC. | <urn:uuid:e1c96ff2-aa3e-4056-8d91-d488dc6ea429> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.militarymuseum.org/Alturas.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395620.9/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00165-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971605 | 159 | 3.140625 | 3 |
The scans revealed that a tubelike part of the dinos' inner ears called the cochlea was sensitive enough to detect low-frequency sounds produced by the crests.
The team also scanned the skulls of individuals of various ages within each species and found that as the dinosaurs matured, their crests grew and their nasal passages changed shape.
"The youngsters have just the beginnings of a crest and slightly expanded airway," said study team member Lawrence Witmer, a paleontologist at Ohio University.
"As they get older, they start to develop a much more convoluted airway and a taller crest."
The changes varied between individuals, so the nasal cavities may have been as unique as human fingerprints.
As a result, the duck-bills may have had voices unique enough to tell one another's calls apart, the team speculates.
The images also show that brain regions associated with higher cognitive functions were larger than previously thought, possibly giving the animals the brainpower needed to ID and decipher calls.
The brain scans add to recent finds that weaken the theory that the crests were used to boost sense of smell.
Previous research by a team at the University of Texas had found that the nasal cavities inside the crests couldn't detect odors because they didn't contain nerve tissues.
Likewise, the new study revealed that the region of the brain that controls smell was too small for the dinos to have processed so much extra information.
SOURCES AND RELATED WEB SITES | <urn:uuid:af62a6b4-bcd6-4b6c-a55c-a28d0546d3ba> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/10/081017-duck-billed-crest_2.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397873.63/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00124-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977807 | 312 | 4.25 | 4 |
An object being worked on with a tool or machine.
- Specifically developed for medical device applications, a gun-type drilling machine practically eliminates bore run-out by rotating the tool and the workpiece in opposite directions.
- Intensive vibration can be transmitted to the hands and arms of operators from vibrating tools, vibrating machinery or vibrating workpieces.
- So machine manufacturers are adding rigidity to components such as the workpiece, spindle, and cutting tool.
For editors and proofreaders
Line breaks: work|piece
Definition of workpiece in:
What do you find interesting about this word or phrase?
Comments that don't adhere to our Community Guidelines may be moderated or removed. | <urn:uuid:3f39a32b-6d88-4afc-a5a6-f008de05de8d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/workpiece | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397749.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00018-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.898508 | 147 | 2.921875 | 3 |
It remains to be seen how the quantity of energy supplied by the asteroids
compares with solar insolation over the same time period (about 150 days or
perhaps a year). I'm still researching this.
> The input energy is kinetic and very little is absorbed by the
> atmosphere inbound. On striking the earth, the kinetic is converted
> into heat and primarily the earth or water is heated. However, energy
> may propagate out in seismic or ocean waves and this can have quite a
> devastating effect on the fragile animal or vegetation life and on
> humans. Note that some earthquakes have killed based on earth motion
> being severe enough to though a man up into the air.
The kinetic energy of the asteroid is NOT primarily converted to heat.
Upon striking the ground (including water) the asteroid will explode like
an atomic bomb explosion but without the atomic radiation fallout.
When the bomb fell on Hiroshima, it was not the light generated that
destroyed the city. It was not the heat generated that destroyed the city.
It was the tremendous shock wave which destroyed the city.
To be sure, there was a second or two of blinding light. There was indeed
searing heat for a short time. But the majority of the energy created by
the explosion was used in the shock wave. There were fires in the ruins
afterwards, but these were not the result of huge amounts of heat from the
When the Tunguska asteroid exploded, searing heat instantly set the forest
ablaze for thousands of square miles around. However, seconds later, the
shock wave snuffed out the fires and smashed the trees flat, stripped of
their limbs. This is attested to by the fact that the millions downed logs
were burned and charred only on the side that faced the center of the
Thus we can conclude that the major part of the energy of the asteroids
will be disipated by shock waves in the air, by evaporation and
mega-tsunami in water, and by rocks and dust thrown into the atmosphere
along with P and S waves in the ground. There will be some primary heat
generated by the explosion. Secondary heat will also be generated by
following fires, volcanism and plate tectonics.
I'm still researching the exact breakdown of atomic bomb explosion energy
distribution. If you know of any sources please let me know. | <urn:uuid:4f3b627c-fb0b-47c7-82c7-5021d16b54c9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www2.asa3.org/archive/asa/199903/0067.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394987.40/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00198-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950296 | 499 | 3.25 | 3 |
First Amendment No Big Deal, High School Students Say
Seeking answers I decided to ask the students in my college courses what they thought about this article and whether it reflected their worldview. I assigned the article and a two page response (as extra credit).
This is the first response I received and I think it speaks volumes about the problem that my friends at The Grandparent Coalition are trying to address. What do standardized tests teach our children? What do they remember? What is lost in the process? Please feel free to share your response to the student--she, after all, directly addresses the need for people to care and become involved.
“First Amendment no big deal, Students Say”
When the First Amendment comes to mind, I think – “freedom of speech, religion, press, and assembly.” To me, that means that I can say what I want and choose whichever religion I would like. I am free to publish my opinions and gather with others for whatever reasons I choose. Beyond that, however, not much of my thoughts are ever put into the first amendment. Because of this, I think this article is a fair representation of my generation. The article states”…almost three in four students saying they took the first amendment for granted or didn’t know how they felt about it.” I think this statement accurately describes my generation. The article also talks about how most students think that flag burning is illegal and that they government can restrict any indecent material on the internet. Both of those are untrue, and to be completely honest, before reading this article, my thoughts on those two matters were the same as the majority.
I think the reason students think and feel the way they do about the first amendment is because my generation has never been fully educated on the first amendment or even the Bill of Rights in general. Of course most students have probably had to memorize the amendments in one history class or another, but I honestly don’t think any of us have had an in-depth education about the Bill of Rights. I know that I personally have never done much more with the amendments than memorized them and had a test on them. I could probably name all ten amendments in the Bill of Rights but I don’t think I could tell you the rights that all of them protect.
The article talks about censorship and how a majority of high school students do not think that government censorship of newspapers is a bad thing. I think part of the reason for their thoughts is that we have grown up in a time where censorship has been a major debate topic. I remember the topic coming up many times in my high school classrooms, but I do not even remember a time where I learned what is already censored and what is not. To this day I still do not know. Honestly, I did not know that as of right now newspapers could not be censored. After thinking about it, I realize how it would be a bad thing, but until now, I have never really been made to think about it. Teachers in high school, at least my teachers, had never addressed these types of issues before. After reading this article I feel somewhat ignorant and naive, but I do not necessarily think it is my fault. I have just never learned this information.
On the topic of whether or not we should be concerned about this, I really do not think that I can give an unbiased opinion. You had said that you were greatly disturbed by this article. I, on the other hand, am not. I think this is because I have never known anything different and because I am in this generation, I cannot see what the problem is like an outsider could. By your reactions I would assume that you grew up with a different attitude and education when it comes to the amendments. Perhaps, it should be the responsibility of your generation to educate us and make us appreciate the rights that we have and what they actually are. Otherwise, I think this trend is going to continue in the direction that it is heading: less education and less concern about our rights granted through the amendments.
Reflecting on Paul Kivel's "Are You Mentoring For Social Justice
Calvin and Hobbes on the Lesson of the "No Child Left Behind Policies" | <urn:uuid:0e5b4e34-782c-48a3-99c9-af9deb85ccb0> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://dialogic.blogspot.com/2005/02/some-students-say-first-amendment-no.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396538.42/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00025-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98231 | 869 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Literacy Learning at Home
To extend literacy learning beyond the classroom, create a booklet of ideas that parents can use to make their home print rich. Here are some ideas to include:
>> Make a family job chart to illustrate how family chores will be shared.
>> Involve children in writing lists of things to do or shop for.
>> Use a calendar to mark important upcoming events.
>> Write letters or e-mails together.
>> Sort through mail with your children, allowing them to keep the "junk" mail. (Remember: Children enjoy filling out forms and surveys that come in the mail.)
>> Collect photos of a trip, label them, and place them in a small album. Read these "family books" together.
>> Write children reminders of what needs to be done around the house (clean up toys, water plants, feed pets).
>> Record and read family-related myths, stories, and past events to children. | <urn:uuid:2b748f2b-461a-4f8b-9b35-b0cbbd214b2a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.scholastic.com/browse/subarticle.jsp?id=4380 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395160.19/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00147-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935654 | 196 | 4.0625 | 4 |
Blood Fat Levels and Anti-HIV Drugs: Now What?
In the 20 years since AIDS was first described, there have been many advances and disappointments. One of the greatest advancements has been the discovery and use of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). Unfortunately, we are now learning of the many possible types of metabolic side effects that come with these treatments, including body fat changes (lipodystrophy), insulin resistance and diabetes, among others. We are also seeing increases, sometimes to extreme levels, in the amounts of cholesterol and triglycerides (types of fat) in the blood, a syndrome called dyslipidemia. It is possible that these metabolic complications will increase the chances of a heart attack or stroke. This article summarizes what you need to know as a patient about your levels of blood cholesterol and triglycerides.
The Cardiologist's ViewThe National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) updated their recommendations regarding cholesterol testing and management in May 2001 (online at jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v285n19/fpdf/jsc10094.pdf). It is important to understand that these recommendations are written for a general population -- not HIV-infected patients specifically -- and generally apply to patients who have long-standing high levels of cholesterol in their blood. It is not known if we should apply these guidelines to an HIV-infected population whose cholesterol levels have been increased only after taking medications to treat HIV. However, if we assume that high levels of cholesterol and triglycerides are "bad" in the long run, whether they are caused by medication or not, these guidelines are useful as a starting point for our discussion.
Blood fat levels are measured in four ways: total cholesterol, LDL ("bad" cholesterol), HDL ("good" cholesterol), and triglycerides. These blood levels should be measured in a fasting state, which means not eating for 8 to 12 hours before the test. The NCEP has established the following classifications for these tests. The numbers shown are in mg/dl (milligrams of fat particles for a certain volume of blood).
Even with a healthy lifestyle, some patients will require medications to help lower their cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Recently published guidelines for the start of lifestyle changes and for drug therapy are based on LDL cholesterol, because it is the single largest risk factor for heart disease. However, you should remember that these are only guidelines and each patient is an individual who requires individual care.
HIV and Cholesterol LevelsThe adult AIDS clinical trials group (ACTG) has recently published recommendations regarding HIV/AIDS treatment and dyslipidemia. These guidelines were developed by the ACTG cardiovascular disease focus group and published in a medical journal, Clinical Infectious Diseases (31, p. 1216, 2001). (Contact your local librarian if you would like to see a copy of the article.)
Increases in cholesterol and triglyceride levels have been seen in patients taking protease inhibitors (PIs), and also in patients on non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs). These levels can be extremely high, sometimes with triglycerides reaching more than 1,000mg/dl. Elevated lipid levels can affect 47% to 57% of patients taking PIs.
There have been many stories of premature heart attacks and deaths in patients on PIs, but it is still not clear how much the elevations in lipid levels will increase the risk of heart disease for patients. Nevertheless, the ACTG does recommend diagnosis and treatment, if necessary, of abnormal lipid levels in HIV/AIDS patients on HAART.
If it is true that the PIs are mostly responsible for the increases in lipid levels in patients taking anti-HIV therapy, it makes sense that one reasonable strategy to correct this would be to switch to a non-PI containing regimen, such as with an NNRTI. This has been researched in a variety of settings with mixed results. Some studies have shown that switching a PI for nevirapine (Viramune) or abacavir (Ziagen) can result in a lowering of lipid levels without loss of HIV suppression. The NNRTI efavirenz (Sustiva) has shown less encouraging results, and in some studies has resulted in an increase in cholesterol levels. These "switch" strategies should be done with extreme caution, however, because the long-term effectiveness of switching a single medication is unknown, and this could lead to multidrug-resistant HIV infection. Right now we need more information and study data on whether this approach will have better effects on lipid levels.
Treatments for High CholesterolAll patients who have not started anti-HIV therapy should have a lipid "profile" prior to starting treatment, including total cholesterol, HDL and LDL cholesterol, and triglycerides. These levels should be measured while fasting (not eating food for at least 8 to 12 hours, and not having alcohol for 24 hours) and should be repeated 3 to 6 months after starting anti-HIV therapy. Of course, all other risks for heart disease (as discussed earlier) should be minimized. Having a low-cholesterol diet and not smoking can help greatly. Diet restrictions may have to be loosened for patients with wasting syndrome (losing weight), in whom total calorie intake is more important than long-term risk factors for heart disease. Again, treatment always must be individualized.
Drug treatments for cholesterol in patients on PIs can be a problem because of drug interactions. The so-called "statin" drugs are the first-line treatments for high cholesterol, but may interact with PIs to produce severe side effects and toxicity from high levels of the statin. Also, drug interactions can lower PI levels and cause HIV to rebound. There are six approved statins, some with more interactions than others (see table below). These drugs lower LDL cholesterol and have been shown to reduce the long-term risk of heart disease in the general population. A good recommendation is to start with a low dose of either pravastatin (Pravachol) 20mg a day or atorvastatin (Lipitor) 10mg a day. When you are on a statin, it is important for your health care provider to measure blood tests for the liver (to make sure there is no damage) and to watch carefully for signs of toxicity to muscles, like muscle aches and cramps.
Other Important Cardiovascular Risk FactorsPatients taking PIs may experience other abnormalities like lipodystrophy and insulin resistance. Lipodystrophy is a general term for body fat changes, which can include loss of fat from the periphery (arms, legs, face, and buttocks) and increase of fat in central regions (breasts, upper back, and abdomen). Some forms of lipodystrophy are inherited (for example, in Cushing's syndrome) and others are acquired (like in diabetes mellitus). All patients with these forms of lipodystrophy have increased risk for cardiovascular complications such as heart attack and stroke. HIV-infected patients who develop lipodystrophy after beginning HAART may have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, but there is no conclusive proof yet.
Insulin resistance is a metabolic complication in which the cells of the body require higher levels of insulin (a hormone) for taking sugar from the blood into the cells. In persons who have a defect in the production of insulin by the pancreas, type-2 diabetes mellitus develops. Both insulin resistance and diabetes mellitus are independent risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Virtually all patients taking HAART who develop dyslipidemia or lipodystrophy have insulin resistance. The risk of developing diabetes has doubled in HIV-infected individuals who are taking HAART. It is very important for health care providers to measure blood sugar levels in patients before and during HAART therapy, and to be on the look out for symptoms of diabetes such as frequent urination, increased thirst and hunger, increased weight, weakness, and confusion. A heart-healthy diet and daily exercise are the cornerstones of treatment for both diabetes and insulin resistance.
ConclusionsThe use of the PIs and HAART have substantially increased our ability to treat HIV and AIDS, but now we are seeing side effects such as high cholesterol and triglycerides, lipodystrophy, and insulin resistance and diabetes, all of which may result in a higher risk of heart disease and stroke. All patients on anti-HIV medicines should have their lipid and sugar levels checked regularly, and if high, should modify their diet, exercise, and smoking habits first. Drug therapy (like using statins or fibrates) may also be required, and this should be discussed with your health care provider, because many of the cholesterol medications interact with medications used for HIV.
This article was provided by The Center for AIDS Information & Advocacy. It is a part of the publication HIV Treatment ALERTS!. Visit CFA's website to find out more about their activities and publications. | <urn:uuid:bbfb0c07-e4e5-42f2-8a00-06ff943d76c3> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.thebody.com/content/art16979.html?nxtprv | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403508.34/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00054-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939131 | 1,849 | 3 | 3 |
With no guide wires or tethers, scientists at Duke University have been able to maneuver microrobots using electrical field, leading them in an intricate dance that could eventually allow them to work cooperatively to perform assorted tasks. Self assembly is a hot new field that will only grow with time and as interest in nanoresearch heats up. The little microrobots will likely someday allow for such self assembly, but for now they're content to dance the night away.
The tiny robots pirouette in video captured by researchers over a 1 mm dance floor -- the robotic dance was set to the Strauss waltz. The new robots are 100 times smaller than any previous robots of their kind, measuring just microns. And they weigh less than a hundredth of the previous smallest bots.
Bruce Donald, a Duke Professor of computer science and biochemistry, who led the project states, "It's marvelous to be able to do assembly and control at this fine a resolution with such very, very tiny things."
The new machines are sometimes known as microelectromechanical system (MEMS) microrobots. They are small enough that they can navigate over chip surfaces, allowing them to assist in tiny on-chip labs, such as chemical sensors. The little devices turn and pivot by using a boom like arm, which is drawn down to the surface by electric charges. Researchers compare the mechanism to a dirt biker using their heel to navigate around a turn.
As well as taking new records in size and weight, the new bots also are the first microrobots to perform a group maneuver under the same control position. By using slight variations in the bots' different dimensions and stiffness and mathematical modeling, researchers can use a single varying electrical field to allow the robots to execute organized sets of commands.
The team’s research is presented in a report to the Hilton Head Workshop on Solid State Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems in South Carolina. In the report presented on June 1 and 2, Donald's team summarizes the breakthrough stating, "Our work constitutes the first implementation of an untethered, multi-microrobotic system."
How the tiny robots are built and controlled will be explained in more detail in a paper in the upcoming edition of the Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems.
Professor Donald brings a great deal of experience to the table. He has been working on miniature MEMs robots since 1992. The research led him to Cornell and then at Stanford and Dartmouth and finally to Duke. Professor Donald had initial success with creating micro-robots which simulated cillia, rocking back and forth to move tiny computer chips or other objects. He describes, "[The robots] move objects such as microchips on top of them in the same way that a singer in a rock band will crowd surf. We made 15,000 silicon cilia in a square inch."
The next step was a 2006 February report in the Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems, in which Donald and colleague Christopher Levey, Dartmouth College physicist, and Donald’s graduate student Igor Paprotny detailed the current design. The new robot, finally built and fully working measures a mere 60 microns (µm) wide, 250 microns (µm) long and 10 microns (µm) high. They scavenged their power from a charged surface. The microrobots are propelled by their “scratch-drive” motion actuator -- the arm that swings the main body around its end point. The result is the microrobot movies in tiny steps of 10 to 20 nm, but can move very fast, taking up to 20,000 steps a second.
The concept of one signal controlling many responses is analogous to the way cells use proteins to respond specifically to chemical signals, says Donald. Professor Donald has worked extensively in computational biochemistry and biology. The culmination of his and his teams work is the ability of allowing multiple separate robots to be hided into a "team huddle". These huddles could lead to something greater; says Donald, "Initially, we wanted to build something like a car that could drive around at the microscopic scale. Now what we’ve been able to do is create the first microscopic traffic jam."
However the microrobots' progress has taken time; the bots in larger form first were designed by Donald between 1997 and 2002, but it took three more years to move under global control and additional three years to move more than one independently at once. Donald explains the challenges, stating, "The hard thing was designing how multiple microrobots can all work independently, even while they receive the same power and control."
The research has finally advanced to the point where it may have practical applications in fields such as medicine. The Duke Institute for Brain Sciences is sponsoring research to see if the new robots can be used to insert carbon nanotube electrodes into brain cells. The bots could also be possibly used in drug delivery.
The robotics project itself is funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Homeland Security.
quote: I can't dance, I can't talk. | <urn:uuid:7f7aefba-c9cb-48b1-ad87-8848c0cd818a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.dailytech.com/Untethered+Dancing+Microrobots+are+Smallest+Ever/article11977.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393332.57/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00171-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952309 | 1,059 | 3.671875 | 4 |
An Australian company is giving away 30 million compact fluorescent light bulbs to Mexican households in hopes of reaping big rewards in the international carbon credit markets.
Cool nrg, an environmental consulting firm with an anti-poverty focus, is using a framework set up by the 1997 Kyoto Protocols, called the Clean Development Mechanism, to generate carbon credits from the Mexican light bulb handout. The credits can then be sold on carbon trading markets for a profit.
One carbon credit represents a ton of carbon emissions; when the households in Mexico replace old incandescent bulbs with the CFLs, the energy, and thus emissions, saved can be converted into carbon credits on the balance sheet of the entity providing the bulbs. Already, one million bulbs have been given out in the state of Puebla under the program, which is called Cuidemos Mexico, or “Let’s Take Care of Mexico.”
Ultimately, Cuidemos Mexico hopes to generate about 7.5 million carbon credits, according to the New York Times. If successful, the program could become a model for how to foster clean development and energy efficiency in the poorest countries, while making money under an international greenhouse gas reduction program.
There are some stumbling blocks along the way, however.
To prevent fraud, Cool nrg has instituted various safeguards: each family receives four CFLs under the program, but must hand over four incandescent bulbs in exchange, and also provide an electrical bill as proof of residence. Those details are databased to prevent stockpiling and profiteering. And to help measure actual usage, a sample of the bulbs will be monitored wirelessly.
Whether these precautions are enough to keep the program running smoothly is another question. A CFL is worth a meaningful amount of money to a poor person, who might decide they’re better off selling the bulb than waiting for electricity savings to accrue over time.
Addressing Critics of the CDM
But Cool nrg’s program does address one of the main criticisms of the Clean Development Mechanism, which was set up to transfer knowledge and funding for clean development from rich countries to poor ones: that it is skewed towards rapidly industrializing developing nations, like China.
For an entity hoping to reap carbon credits from the CDM, it is much simpler to reduce emissions at one or two large coal plants, for example, than to try and get thousands or millions of individuals to use less electricity. Cool nrg’s program hopes to change that mindset.
Also, Cool nrg has gained “programmatic” status for its light bulb program, meaning it can be set up in other countries without having to go through onerous U.N. approval each time. | <urn:uuid:3f784752-f610-4aac-addc-2e16fc3b1441> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.triplepundit.com/2009/12/the-austra-mexican-lightbulb-solution-to-global-warming/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398628.62/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00103-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932004 | 558 | 2.5625 | 3 |
- Institut Pasteur
- Support us
According to the World Health Organisation, 2.8 million people throughout the world are infected with leprosy, and each year about 750,000 new cases are recorded. Since the leprosy bacillus genome was sequenced in 2001 by the team directed by Stewart Cole of the Institut Pasteur , important advances have been made. New diagnostic tests and epidemiological tools are currently being developed in the Bacterial Molecular Genetics Unit of the Institut Pasteur.
"Controlling leprosy will only be possible with rapid identification of all infectious cases in order to treat them and thus prevent transmission of the disease", Cole stressed. "This is why the development of sensitive and reliable tests is vital. Thanks to analysis of the genome, we have already been able to identify, produce and purify about 40 proteins useful for diagnosis. Preliminary studies have shown that some proteins were recognized by the immune systems of the infected, which means that they could aid in the development of early diagnostic tests." These proteins will be tested this year on samples collected from a wide range of patients in Asia and Africa.
In addition, the Institut Pasteur researchers are presently studying strains taken from every continent in the goal of retracing the spread of the disease. Employing knowledge of the genomic sequence of the agent responsible for leprosy, Mycobacterium leprae, a number of tools are currently in development for epidemiology. As Cole explains it, "these tools will make it possible to differentiate the strains of Mycobacterium leprae taken from the infected, with a view to establishing epidemiological connections and to monitor leprosy by distinguishing the cases of relapses from new infections".
In the longer term, study of the leprosy bacillus could lead to new treatments that are less cumbersome than those currently in existence. The current treatment is effective, however it needs to be administered over several months, which makes its use difficult in developing countries where the infection is rife (such as Brazil, India, Madagascar, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, etc.)
209-211 rue de Vaugirard
0 890 710 811 (0,15 €/mn) | <urn:uuid:a3c7bdec-1092-40df-9de3-1eb31506e298> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | https://www.pasteur.fr/en/institut-pasteur/press/press-documents/world-leprosy-day-25-january-institut-pasteur-develops-new-diagnostic-testsand-epidemiological-tools | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00029-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94278 | 460 | 2.796875 | 3 |
Women now have to worry about protecting their heart from more than just their love lives.
New data from a recent Gallup Poll shows that suffering a heart attack takes a great emotional toll on women than men.
Using an Emotional Health Index, the survey found women overwhelmingly experienced more negative emotions and were also more likely to be diagnosed with depression after a heart attack.
Gallup’s Emotional Health Index looks at 10 different items that contribute to a person’s emotional health including among others smiling, laughter, being treated with respect, enjoyment, worry, anger, and stress.
30 percent of Latinas over the age of 20 suffer from cardiovascular disease which in many cases can lead to a heart attack.
Latinas, whether they have suffered from a heart attack or not, are also more likely to experience feelings of sadness, hopelessness, or worthlessness, the CDC reports.
To prevent Latinas from experiencing unnecessary emotional turmoil the best place to start is to prevent having a heart attack in the first place.
Along with maintaining a healthy lifestyle, it is also important for Latinas to recognize all the signs of a heart attack.
“We are missing heart attacks in women ,” Dr. Juan Rivera, a cardiologist from Miami, told Fox News Latino.
“Women don’t tend to recognize their symptoms as being a heart attack.”
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 64 percent of women who die suddenly of coronary heart disease have no previous symptoms.
Aside from chest pains and shortness of breath, symptoms commonly known as sign of a heart attack, unusual tiredness, having trouble sleeping, indigestion, and anxiety are also signals. | <urn:uuid:ab73d013-2de3-4fa1-a44b-0941ee9a8d2f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/health/2013/02/13/heartache-follows-heart-attacks-in-women-survey-shows/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397636.15/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00063-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951916 | 350 | 2.65625 | 3 |
Published October 15, 2010
Water issues affect us all, from the women who spend hours daily fetching water to political battles over international rivers to melting icepack and rising sea levels. We are all downstream.
Worldwide, just under 900 million people lack reliable access to safe water that is free from disease and industrial waste. And forty percent do not have access to adequate sanitation facilities. The result is one of the world's greatest public health crisis: 4,500 children die every day from waterborne diseases, more than from HIV-AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis combined.
A robust economy depends on water. So does a thriving ecosystem. Enter politics, fulcrum of the water issue, weighing the fate of economies against the health of individuals and of the environment as a whole. Balance has been elusive. One fifth of the world's population lives in areas where water is physically scarce, and a quarter of the population faces shortages due to lack of infrastructure.
From floods in Pakistan to desertification in China -- monsoon season in Bangladesh, or disappearing glaciers in the Himalayas --- these twelve photos from around the world highlight the stories and human challenges faced daily around the world.
To view multimedia collections of all of Pulitzer Center sponsored water reporting, or to learn more about a particular region in the slideshow, visit "Downstream: Water Access and Sanitation"
The Pulitzer Center is a 501(c)(3) non-profit journalism organization, dedicated to supporting the independent international journalism that U.S. media organizations are increasingly less able to undertake. The Center focuses on under-reported topics, promoting high-quality international reporting and creating platforms that reach broad and diverse audiences.
This blog was compiled as part of Blog Action Day 2010, an annual event that unites the world's bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day. | <urn:uuid:751e541e-b0af-4793-849f-b36dbf82eb5c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://pulitzercenter.org/slideshows/water-around-world-blog-action-day-2010 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398075.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00011-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935315 | 374 | 3.203125 | 3 |
NEW YORK, NY, USA & RIBEIRAO PRETO, SP, BRAZIL (January 28, 2016)--A comprehensive analysis of the molecular characteristics of gliomas--the most common malignant brain tumor--explains why some patients diagnosed with slow-growing (low-grade) tumors quickly succumb to the disease while others with more aggressive (high-grade) tumors survive for many years. The multinational study suggests a new way of classifying gliomas that may have a significant impact on patient management and may lead to the development of more targeted therapies.
The paper, co-led by researchers from Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC), USA, Ribeirão Preto Medical School (FMRP) at the University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil, and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, USA, was published today in the journal Cell.
Currently, pathologists determine if a glioma is low-grade or high-grade based on the tumor tissue's appearance under the microscope.
"While this approach is generally good at distinguishing between gliomas that are clearly very aggressive and those that are relatively slow-growing, it misses the mark in a significant percentage of cases, leading to inappropriate treatment," said co-senior author Antonio Iavarone, MD, professor of neurology and pathology and cell biology (in the Institute for Cancer Genetics) at CUMC and a member of the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center (HICCC) at NewYork-Presbyterian /Columbia University Medical Center. "Instead, by looking at the molecular makeup of these tumors, we now have a much more precise way of predicting which tumors are more likely to grow rapidly and can prescribe treatments accordingly."
Other researchers have attempted to classify gliomas according to their genetic characteristics. One study found that tumors with mutations in a gene called IDH were significantly less aggressive than those without the mutation, known as IDHwildtype tumors. However, these findings did not fully explain why some patients with IDHmutant tumors fare worse than expected and some with IDHwildtype tumors fare better than expected. Other studies suggested that a glioma's level of DNA methylation, an epigenetic process that cells use to control gene expression, might explain a tumor's aggressiveness, but the evidence was inconclusive.
In this study, Dr. Iavarone and his colleagues analyzed 1,122 high and low grade glioma samples from the Cancer Genome Atlas, looking for epigenetic changes in the tumors' DNA. The researchers found that the best predictor of progression in an IDHmutant glioma--the less-aggressive variety--is its level of DNA methylation. Among IDHmutant gliomas, those with a high degree of DNA methylation progressed more slowly. However, tumors with less DNA methylation, about 6 percent of the total, progressed very quickly.
"Based on their appearance under the microscope, these aggressive tumors looked very much like the other IDHmutant tumors," said Dr. Iavarone. "But from a disease prognosis standpoint, they progressed quite similarly to the more lethal subset of IDHwildtype gliomas," said Dr. Iavarone.
Among those with IDHwildtype gliomas--the most aggressive type--a small subset (about 6 percent) had relatively favorable clinical outcomes. The molecular characteristics of this group were similar to those of pilocytic astrocytomas, a childhood brain tumor with a relatively favorable survival rate.
"The present study advances the understanding of the glioma division by correlating each subtype of DNA methylation with a distinct clinical outcome," said co-senior author Houtan Noushmehr, PhD, professor of epigenomics and bioinformatics at University of São Paulo and director of the OMICs and Bioinformatics lab at FMRP at Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo. "We discovered low grade and high grade gliomas mixed together within these different epigenetic subtypes. This was an unexpected finding and allowed us to further understand the progression of gliomas within the different subtypes," said Dr. Noushmehr.
"This research has expanded our knowledge of the glioma somatic alteration landscape and emphasized the relevance of DNA methylation profiles as a method for clinical classification," said senior co-author Roel Verhaak, PhD, associate professor of bioinformatics and computational biology MD Anderson. "These findings are an important step forward in our understanding of glioma as discrete disease subsets, and the mechanism driving glioma formation and progression."
The paper also identified several previously unrecognized genetic alterations that may contribute to glioma development, highlighting potential new targets for drug therapy.
"This study, which focused on tumor classification, does not point to specific therapies for glioma," said Dr. Iavarone. "But our findings will help clinicians identify subsets of patients with IDHmutant tumors who need to be treated more aggressively and those with IDHwildtype tumors who can be spared aggressive treatment."
The study is titled, "Molecular profiling refines the classification of adult diffuse lower- and high-grade glioma." The full list of contributors can be found in Cell.
This study was supported by grants from the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) (2015/07925-5, 2015/02844-7, 2014/08321-3, 2014/02245-3), the National Institutes of Health (U24CA143883, U24CA143858, U24CA143840, U24CA143799, U24CA143835, U24CA143845, U24CA143882, U24CA143867, U24CA143866, U24CA143848, U24CA144025, U54HG003067, U54HG003079, U54HG003273, U24CA126543, U24CA126544, U24CA126546, U24CA126551, U24CA126554, U24CA126561, U24CA126563, U24CA143731, U24CA143843, P30CA016672, P50 CA127001, R01 CA190121, P01 CA085878), and the Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas.
The researchers have submitted a patent for probes that can be used to predict a glioma's clinical outcome. The researchers declare no other conflicts of interest.
Columbia University Medical Center provides international leadership in basic, preclinical, and clinical research; medical and health sciences education; and patient care. The medical center trains future leaders and includes the dedicated work of many physicians, scientists, public health professionals, dentists, and nurses at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, the Mailman School of Public Health, the College of Dental Medicine, the School of Nursing, the biomedical departments of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and allied research centers and institutions. Columbia University Medical Center is home to the largest medical research enterprise in New York City and State and one of the largest faculty medical practices in the Northeast. For more information, visit cumc.columbia.edu or columbiadoctors.org.
Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center
The Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at Columbia University Medical Center and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital encompasses pre-clinical and clinical research, treatment, prevention and education efforts in cancer. The Cancer Center was initially funded by the NCI in 1972 and became a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated comprehensive cancer center in 1979. The designation recognizes the Center's collaborative environment and expertise in harnessing translational research to bridge scientific discovery to clinical delivery, with the ultimate goal of successfully introducing novel diagnostic, therapeutic and preventive approaches to cancer. For more information, visit http://www.
Ribeirao Preto Medical School (FMRP) at University of São Paulo (USP) provides excellence in patient care and in higher education, by training health professionals with a high level of qualification and qualified researchers in its graduate programs, which produce high-quality innovative research with international insertion. In this context, OMICs Lab aims to identify and understand the epigenomic signatures that define normal and disease states. The ultimate goal is to help develop better therapies and cures for complex diseases such as diabetes and cancer. To this end, we generate (by our own and through our collaborators), next generation sequencing data across a multitude of -omics type data, genomics, epigenomics, proteomics and transcriptomics and perform mechanistic studies. A main focus of the lab is to train and educate the next generation of scientists skills in analyzing and interpreting these data types and by doing so we introduce important skills in the scientific method, bioinformatics and leadership. For more information, visit http://www.
NewYork-Presbyterian is one of the nation's most comprehensive healthcare delivery networks, focused on providing innovative and compassionate care to patients in the New York metropolitan area and throughout the globe. In collaboration with two renowned medical school partners, Weill Cornell Medicine and Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons, NewYork-Presbyterian is consistently recognized as a leader in medical education, ground-breaking research and clinical innovation.
NewYork-Presbyterian has four major divisions: NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital is ranked #1 in the New York metropolitan area by U.S. News and World Report and repeatedly named to the magazine's Honor Roll of best hospitals in the nation; NewYork-Presbyterian Regional Hospital Network is comprised of leading hospitals in and around New York and delivers high-quality care to patients throughout the region; NewYork-Presbyterian Physician Services connects medical experts with patients in their communities; and NewYork-Presbyterian Community and Population Health features the hospital's ambulatory care network sites and operations, community care initiatives and healthcare quality programs, including NewYork Quality Care, established by NewYork-Presbyterian, Weill Cornell and Columbia.
NewYork-Presbyterian is one of the largest healthcare providers in the U.S. Each year, nearly 29,000 NewYork-Presbyterian professionals deliver exceptional care to more than 2 million patients.
For more information, visit http://www. | <urn:uuid:60d09fc4-8b81-4a05-bdb4-c3f6a6112904> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-01/cumc-nwt012716.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393442.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00143-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930117 | 2,171 | 2.734375 | 3 |
You should have a reliable metal detector when searching for lost treasure. If you do not own a metal detector but are thinking of purchasing one, don’t spend a lot of money. You can buy a reliable detector for $300-$400. You don’t need all of the bells and whistles that come with the more expensive models. If you buy an inexpensive model, and you learn how to use it, you will be rewarded with many great finds. Once you learn the hobby, and you become more experienced with a metal detector, then I would suggest moving up to a more expensive model.
Are You Looking For A Metal Detector Or Accessories?
Good luck in your search for Connecticut lost treasure.
Brooklyn -located in Windham County has tales of buried treasure cached there by Blackbeard the pirate.
Fairfield - located in Fairfield County east of the present town of Fairfield. In 1637, a famous battle took place here. The colonists were defeated by the Pequot Indians in that year. By 1779, the town had been rebuilt and prospered until a British regiment destroyed it. Many of the homes were destroyed, and rumors of buried caches have circulated about the area. The Fairfield inhabitants heard of an impending attack, so they buried their valuables hoping to return. Unfortunately, many were killed.
Milford - located at New Haven, on Charles Island, it is reported that the pirate Captain Kidd buried a treasure here. Reports of old coins have been found on the beach there.
Norwalk - a seaport located in Fairfield County at the mouth of the Norwalk River.Many stories of buried treasures have been talked about in this area.
Pilot Island - located in Fairfield County has tales of a treasure buried by the pirate Captain Kidd.
Understand the law before searching in Connecticut.
Connecticut lost treasures may be located in ghost towns.
Want To Know How To Earn Money With Your Detector?
Thanks for visiting!
1787 Colonial Copper | <urn:uuid:dad2307a-42c4-41c9-ae7f-cea0233a9492> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.metal-detecting-ghost-towns-of-the-east.com/connecticut-lost-treasure.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396872.10/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00116-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973583 | 417 | 2.703125 | 3 |
Long used in traditional medicine, green tea has been studied extensively for its health properties. The results indicate even small amounts of green tea could be useful in preventing a wide range of ailments -- everything from treating gas to warding off cancer. The University of Maryland Medical Center reports drinking green tea is linked to a reduced risk of dying from any cause, therefore drinking at least 1 or 2 cups of green tea every day is a healthful addition to your lifestyle. Discuss safe green tea consumption with a healthcare provider first if you take any medications, as there could be an interaction.
According to the UMMC, of all tea varieties, green tea packs the greatest concentration of antioxidants called polyphenols. The UMMC places 2 cups of green tea a day in the recommended range to derive these beneficial effects. Antioxidants ward off free radicals in the body -- compounds that alter cells and can lead to cell death. Scientists indict free radicals in everything from the aging process to certain diseases like cancer and heart disease. Antioxidants like the polyphenols in green tea neutralize these free radicals and help decrease the likelihood of developing dangerous diseases. Two cups of green tea pack approximately 240 milligrams of polyphenols. According to the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine, these polyphenols also inhibit amylase activity in the body. Amylase is an enzyme that breaks starch down into simple sugars to be absorbed in the blood stream. Polyphenols which reduce amylase production also decrease blood sugar levels. Unchecked, high blood sugar levels can lead to diabetes among other serious illnesses. The PCOM reports just 1 cup of green tea reduces amylase production by 87 percent.
The UMMC indicates the antioxidants in green tea could help prevent atherosclerosis -- or hardening of the arteries -- specifically coronary artery disease. Studies noted by the UMMC predict the risk of heart attack goes down 11 percent with a consumption rate of 3 cups of tea daily, but even 2 cups are enough to derive heart health benefits. Meanwhile, those who drank 2 or more cups of tea daily had a lower risk of dying after a heart attack, according to a study published in 2002 in the American Heart Association’s journal "Circulation," though even smaller quantities of tea were beneficial over none. General tea consumption -- even in small amounts -- was linked with a better rate of survival. Reduction in heart disease risk is partially attributed to green tea’s effect on cholesterol -- green tea lowers overall cholesterol and raises “good” HDL cholesterol. Green tea may block cholesterol absorption and even help the body rid itself of cholesterol.
Green tea may help fight a wide range of cancers, according to clinical studies discussed by the UMMC. The Preventive Medicine Center reports the antioxidant compound epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), a type of catechin found in green tea, may be one of the best known anticancer compounds discovered by scientists. The anti-cancer benefits of this catechin can be achieved by consuming 2 cups of green tea daily, according to the PMC. A review published in "Journal of the American College of Nutrition" finds 1 cup of green tea contains approximately 90 milligrams of EGCG, the highest concentration among all teas studied. The review reports even 1 cup of tea daily shows significant increase in blood antioxidant capacity. While the authors believe green tea could help prevent cancer, and polyphenols in green tea may kill off cancerous cells or prevent them from growing, it is still not known whether green tea definitively prevents cancer. Some cancers believed to be targeted by green tea consumption include bladder cancer, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, skin cancer and others, though studies have produced conflicting results.
Dosage and Additional Benefits
A study published in the "Journal of the American College of Nutrition" in 2007 reports many health benefits with peak health impact at higher dosages of 2 or more cups of green tea, still have small nutritional benefit in doses as little as 1 cup daily. In these studies, even 1 cup of green tea is beneficial over consuming none. A study published in the American Heart Association’s journal "Stroke" in 2009 reports those who drink 3 or more cups of green tea daily have a reduced risk of having a stroke and of mortality from a stroke. Drinking large amounts of green tea is not necessarily advisable, as green tea does contain caffeine, which could have adverse effects -- such as anxiety, headaches and irritability -- in mass quantities. Decaffeinated varieties of green tea are, however, available and have many similar benefits.
- University of Maryland Medical Center: Green Tea
- The Preventive Medicine Center: Health Benefits Of Green Tea
- Stroke: Green And Black Tea Consumption And Risk Of Stroke
- Circulation: Tea Consumption And Mortality After Acute Myocardial Infarction
- Journal of the American College of Nutrition: Effects Of Green Tea And EGCG On Cardiovascular And Metabolic Health
- Pacific College of Oriental Medicine: Green Tea Lowers The Blood Sugar Level
- Journal of the American College of Nutrition: Beneficial Effects Of Green Tea--A Review
- green tea image by amlet from Fotolia.com | <urn:uuid:02e5b3dd-83d7-4bdd-b693-27e8321690c0> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/benefits-one-two-cups-green-tea-5822.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399385.17/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00070-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925382 | 1,058 | 2.703125 | 3 |
Our Top Ten Blog Posts by Readership in 2011
Originally published on February 3, 2011
The Map Kibera project is a pioneering enterprise that has applied a combination of modern technologies that local residents can use to uncover information about their locality and use that information for needed awareness and reform. The project has trained the local youth of Kibera (Kenya) to use the hand-held global position system (GPS) and open source software (OpenStreetMap) to illustrate a map of the physical landscape and resources encompassing the region and apply digital media and mobile technologies (photographs, video-clips , SMS reporting) to tell stories behind the imprinted information on the map. The goal of the project is to reinstate the often non-transparent nature of data collection and reporting conducted by external agencies into the hands of local residents, who not only become repository of information about their communities but can also scrutinize the information “to influence democratic debate, access resources and plan development on their own" (Project Concept Paper).
According to the project wiki, Kibera, which is the second largest slum in Africa, was invisible on the map and the Nairobi City Council had considered it a forest. The project claims that there was no clear information on the existing services and facilities in the region and, although many donors and NGOs had poured resources in the slum, there was no clear estimation of where and how the funds were being used. Jane Bisanju, the coordinator of the Kibera Map project believes that the local residents will now be able to use the evidence in the maps to not only pin down the working activities of these organizations, but also advocate for improved transparency and accountability of development funds coming into Kibera. “Surprisingly, the areas where most CBO activities are taking place are the least developed” in Kibera, explains Douglas Namele, one of the catographers (Putting Kibera on the Map).
After the mapping exercise, the project is now entering the second phase, where digital technologies and local media are mobilized to investigate pertinent information about a particular facility or resource for public dissemination and debate. For instance, a map of health resources in the area has been supplemented with information on the number of patients a clinic serves a day, the type of services that are offered and the qualifications of the practitioners. Similarly, consumer satisfaction with the treatment and facilities of a particular health service on a map can be made available with a video-link interview with patients and communities in the relevant locality. The project is about to introduce the SMS reporting tool for local residents to access and supply local news and address their urgent needs, and has plans to create a shared knowledge base for external organizations interested in working in Kibera. According to the media and development expert for the project, Erica Hagen, Kibera Map is now “working with local organizations to create a seamless link from the community to government agencies and others in powerful positions to make these collective voices heard (Putting Nairobi's slum on the Map).”
While still work in progress, the Kibera Map project demonstrates the power and promise of technology in mobilizing locals to crack down on corrupt establishments and lobby for better investment of resources. To me, the tool seems particularly well-suited for mapping and exposing the overlapping of development services in a particular locality, a situation that often plagues NGO-supported initiatives. This will help the donors supplying the funds to be aware of the overlap of their programs and assist in coordinating amongst each other to ensure that funds are distributed evenly and in essential areas.
Photo Credit: Kibera Wiki | <urn:uuid:4e877913-90c2-4582-86ca-fdad62e71d5a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://blogs.worldbank.org/publicsphere/print/5646?page=8 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394605.61/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00066-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944445 | 747 | 2.765625 | 3 |
Solutions to Deforestation
Ending deforestation is our best chance to conserve wildlife and defend the rights of forest communities. On top of that, it’s one of the quickest and most cost effective ways to curb global warming. That’s why we’re campaigning for a deforestation-free future.
Help save the heart of the Amazon
The causes of deforestation and degradation vary from region to region. In the tropics, agribusiness clears forests to make space for things like cattle ranching, palm oil and soy plantations for animal feed. Demand for wood products can threaten forests around the world, whether it is for throw-away paper products or hardwood flooring.
In too many parts of the world, ineffective or corrupt governments make things worse by opening the door to illegal logging and other crimes.
Deforestation and degradation are a complex problems. While there are no silver bullet solutions, these approaches can make a big difference to save our forests.
The Power of the Marketplace
If corporations have the power to destroy the world’s forests, they also have the ability to help save them.
Companies can make an impact by introducing “zero deforestation” policies that clean up their supply chains. That means holding their suppliers accountable for producing commodities like timber, beef, soy, palm oil and paper in a way that does not fuel deforestation and has a minimal impact on our climate.
Companies should set ambitious targets to maximize the use of recycled wood, pulp, paper and fiber in their products. For the non-recycled products they buy, they should ensure that any virgin fiber used is certified by a third party certification system such as the Forest Stewardship Council.
But these corporations haven’t taken action on their own.
That’s why we’re investigating, exposing and confronting environmental abuse by corporations. Thanks to your actions, major companies are changing their ways and building solutions to protect jobs and our forests.
Standing with Indigenous Peoples
Forests around the world have been home to Indigenous Peoples for tens of thousands of years. Evidence shows that when Indigenous Peoples’ rights to traditional lands and self-determination are respected, forests stay standing. But too often, corporations and governments overlook or intentionally trample the rights of Indigenous Peoples.
For example, the Waswanipi Cree of Northern Quebec are fighting to keep the last wild forests on their traditional land intact, and the Munduruku people of the Amazon are battling a proposed mega-dam that threatens rainforests, a river, and their way of life.
Promoting Sustainable Choices
You can make a difference in the fight to save forests by making informed daily choices.
Using your voice to speak for forests matters, too. When people join together and demand forest conservation, companies and governments have to listen.
Changing the Politics
If we’re going to stop deforestation, we need governments to do their part.
That starts with cracking down on corruption and ensuring fair enforcement of forest conservation rules. Corruption fuels illegal logging and unsustainable forest management, which in turn can fuel organized crime or even armed conflict.
Beyond the rule of law, we need world leaders to embrace ambitious domestic and international forest conservation policies based on the latest science.
In the United States, laws like the Endangered Species Act, the Wilderness Act, the Lacey Act and the Roadless Rule help protect our forests and stop illegal wood products from entering the U.S. marketplace. We also support and use regional rules like the Amazon Soy Moratorium and global treaties like the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to protect forests and the endangered species that rely on forest habitats.
Globally, we need commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation in developing nations, especially those with tropical forests. Forests for Climate is one way to make that happen.
Forests for Climate is an innovative proposal for an international funding mechanism to protect tropical forests. Under this initiative, developing countries with tropical forests can make commitments to protecting their forests in exchange for the opportunity to receive funding for capacity-building efforts and national-level reductions in deforestation emissions. This provides a strong incentive for developing countries to continually improve their forest protection programs.
Take Action for a Deforestation-Free Future
If you’re ready to join the movement for a deforestation-free future, here’s how you can start:
- Make sure that the forest-derived products you buy are made from 100 percent post-consumer content materials.
- Make informed food choices. Eating a plant-based diet or reducing your consumption of animal products like meat and dairy can help save forests.
- Buy from companies that have a commitment to reducing deforestation through forest-friendly policies.
- If you are buying products made from virgin forest fiber, make sure that it bears a seal from a credible forestry certification system, like the Forest Stewardship Council.
- Educate your friends, family, and community about how our everyday actions can impact forests around the world. | <urn:uuid:4c95b8f0-3eed-4b12-af94-7e25a6bd1c72> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/forests/solutions-to-deforestation | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403508.34/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00013-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926512 | 1,028 | 3 | 3 |
Tesla was alive at the same time as Vincent! Both drove cultural and technological advancement. It was like a second Renaissance.
Did Nikola Tesla single-handedly start what we now know as the “open-source” movement?
Serbian-American Nikola Tesla is arguably the greatest inventor of all time. The way the tech world gushes over his legacy after 158 years, usually around his birthday, is proof of his lasting impact. Although the inventor accumulated the equivalent of hundreds of millions of dollars today, he died penniless and crazy, admitting that his only friend was a pigeon. What’s more, he tore up a contract that would have made him (and every one of his descendants) a billionaire. While many argue that Tesla’s move was financial suicide, a true innovator will agree that tinkering is always for the love and not the money.
Our story begins with a 28-year-old Nikola Tesla being robbed on a ship inbound for the USA. All the money his family gave him, some of his luggage, and even his ticket, were stolen. After surviving a mutiny on the boat and almost being tossed off the S.S. City of Richmond, he arrived on June 6, 1884.
Also on June 6, Vincent Van Gogh paints a study, “Woman Reeling Yarn.” More about Van Gogh later.
Tesla immigrated to the United States from Paris, left with only a letter of recommendation, four cents in American dollars and a dream -- he was going to work for Thomas Edison (a decision he would later regret). Tesla actually landed a job at Edison General Electric when he first arrived in America and accepted a salary of $18 (worth $440 today) per week and a $50,000 (worth $1 million today) bonus if he were able to improve Edison’s system of electricity based on direct current (DC) motors.
Tesla was able to fix the issue within two months of employment, but Edison refused to cough up the bonus he promised. He allegedly told Tesla, “You do not understand our American humor,” and instead offered him a raise of $10 per week. Tesla refused the offer and quit the very same day. Edison would long live to regret double-crossing Tesla. | <urn:uuid:986a1831-62b1-47fc-b643-5274524bf7ed> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1323185 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397696.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00045-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979792 | 472 | 3.3125 | 3 |
Immigrants are assimilating faster today than in generations past, and whether they speak English may not be the key to how well they integrate into the U.S. economy and civic life, according to a study published today.
Jacob Vigdor, an associate professor of public policy at Duke University, composed an index to measure the degree to which immigrants mirrored U.S.-born residents' labor trends, cultural habits and civic participation. What he found was that immigrants have been assimilating more quickly since 1990 than in years past despite higher levels of immigration to the United States.
"The fact that assimilation is occurring rapidly, what that's saying is these immigrants are making up the difference," Vigdor said, adding that an economic boom over the past 25 years and improved communications have made more opportunities available to immigrants.
Vigdor said the idea for the index arose during talks nearly two years ago with a group of researchers at the Manhattan Institute, which self-identifies as a "free market conservative" think tank. The goal was to lend data to the feverish debate around the country on the subject of immigration and how quickly, or slowly, today's immigrants were fitting into U.S. society.
Vigdor looked at economic factors - educational attainment, income and wage information - cultural aspects, such as the ability to speak English and marital status, and civic assimilation - which includes naturalization rates and military service - to assess immigrant integration.
In looking at different communities, Vigdor noted that Vietnamese, Cuban and Philippine immigrants - whose countries all experienced U.S. occupations - reported quicker-than-average assimilation. In contrast, Mexican immigrants tended to integrate more slowly into the economy and civic life - but adapted culturally at a similar pace to other communities. Mexican and Vietnamese immigrants are Orange County's two largest immigrant populations.
"If they are not in the country legally, they cannot make steps toward naturalization … and there's only so far they can get on the economic ladder as well," Vigdor said. "If you really wanted Mexicans to assimilate more, you could make it a lot easier for them to take steps toward citizenship. It might involve something like amnesty and amnesty is a word that scares a lot of people. But if that is what you're interested in … "
Vigdor said immigrants fleeing harsh political conditions were more likely to assimilate because they knew they weren't returning while those seeking a better economic future might try to eventually return to their birth countries. One example is Canadians, whom Vigdor said showed lower civic assimilation than many immigrants - perhaps because home is so nearby.
One challenge in looking at different communities' assimilation rates is that most had a peak in immigration over a few years, which would determine how far they had integrated into U.S. society to date, said Louis DeSipio, chair of UC Irvine's Chicano/Latino Studies Department. He also said economics may play a key role in how immigrant communities fare in the future.
"We shouldn't assume because there's been upward assimilation in the past that it's going to continue in the future, because that might have relied on external factors such as a strong economy," DeSipio said.
Tammy Peng, Orange County policy advocate for the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, said newcomers may have an easier time adjusting to life in the United States in communities where immigrants have already established extensive social networks. Sam Jammal, a legislative staff attorney with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said another factor relates to the resources available in the communities where immigrants settle.
"If Mexican communities move to inner city areas that traditionally had struggling schools, these schools haven't had the resources to help the kids there - so how are they going to adjust to the new population?" said Jammal, who is working on a proposal to ease immigrant integration.
Contact the writer: 714-796-7722 or email@example.com http://immigration.freedomblogging.com | <urn:uuid:d02339ea-3271-4f68-946d-38bfd8ecbc13> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.ocregister.com/common/printer/view.php?db=ocregister&id=208811 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398873.39/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00156-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972664 | 827 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Terraced Rice Paddies of Oyama Senmaida
The cultivation of the hillsides of mountain regions was a common sight throughout Japan, including Kamogawa, until the late 1970s. However, due to the increase in the use of machinery and an aging population of farmers, this landscape is rapidly disappearing. Within Kamogawa, the terraced rice paddies of Oyama Senmaida continue to be carefully maintained and cultivated to this day. The puzzle piece-like fields of the Oyama Senmaida fitting together to create curvy steps up the mountainside, are the very image of Japanese farming villages. Oyama Senmaida was recognized in 2002 as a “cultural landscape,” created mutually by people and nature, when it was designated by Chiba Prefecture as a Prefectural Landmark. Currently, the Oyama Senmaida are being maintained by the “owner system,” which works to contribute toward local revitalization by helping preserve this beautiful landscape and providing a place for urban dwellers to try their hand at farming.
For inquiries, please contact the Kamogawa Folk Museum (Phone: 04-7093-3800).
(Oyama Senmaida in the spring)
(Oyama Senmaida in the fall)
Terraced Rice Paddy Owner System
In recent years, the issue of Japan’s aging society has come to affect the management of rice fields as well. Plots of unused rice fields increase as farmers age and their children move away to big cities, leaving no one to tend to the family farms and rice paddies. To counter this problem, the Oyama Senmaida has introduced a land adopting system called the “owner system.” With this system, anyone can adopt a small plot of land and experience rice planting first-hand. This program is designed for anyone, such as metropolitan area residents, who are looking for a break from the hustle and bustle of big cities. The “owner system” allows owners to plant, cultivate, and harvest their very own rice.
Each step of rice production is taught by local farmers. Even if an owner cannot participate in one of the above activities, the paddies are under the constant supervision of Oyama Senmaida Preservation Society. All rice harvested at the end of the season will be given to the field’s owner (usually produces about 40kilogram of rice).
Registration Period: Every year from October to January
Owner Membership Fee: 30,000 yen per 100 sq. meters
Sample Schedule of Owner Events:
- (early March) Orientation
- (early May) Plant seeds
- (early June, late July, and mid-August) Mow grass
- (early September) Harvest rice crops
- (late September) Harvest festival
Kamogawa City Hall1450 Yokosuka
Kamogawa-shi, Chiba-ken, 296 JAPAN | <urn:uuid:a1ebe8af-f0fe-4ca9-80ae-61de5e150561> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.city.kamogawa.lg.jp/English/Tourism/HistoryandCulturalAssets/NaturalLandmarks/1414335530378.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397842.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00148-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945665 | 611 | 2.703125 | 3 |
People with easy-to-pronounce names are viewed as more trustworthy than those with confusing names, a study from scientists at UC-Irvine found.
In a study that quotes from the Colbert Report and the Onion, the scientists made up fake names from different ethnicities around the world, with some of the names easy to pronounce, like Andrian Babeshko, and others more difficult, like Yevgeny Dherzhinsky.
They put these names in front of psychology students taking the study for extra credit and found that the students preferred people with easy-to-pronounce names as a tour guide or as a credible source of trivia.
"Such an effect might have significant real world impact," scientists wrote in the peer-reviewed study. "For instance, would the pronounceability of eyewitnesses' names shape jury verdicts?"
In one experiment, the scientists told the students that the people bearing each name were famous in their home country, and asked them which ones the students were most familiar with. They found that the students were more likely to say they had heard of the person with an easy-to-pronounce name. | <urn:uuid:72961b36-f0f0-482c-81c1-8c9ac2f72d3d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2014/03/people-with-easy-to-pronounce-names-seen-as-moretrustworthy/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396027.60/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00143-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983834 | 233 | 2.59375 | 3 |
NASA to Donate Satellite Data to Aid Endangered Species
BANGKOK, Thailand − While NASA is best known for putting a man on the moon, the U.S. space agency will now help keep plant and animal species on Earth.
NASA agreed Friday to provide satellite data to boost nature conservation efforts by monitoring endangered plants and animals and their habitats, a space agency official said. It will also help environmental groups build a globally accessible database of maps and ecological data.
"This opportunity for NASA to help advance conservation efforts globally reinforces our vision to use our unique vantage from space to improve life here on Earth," said Ghassem Asrar, NASA's deputy associate administrator for science.
The announcement came during the World Conservation Union's meeting in Bangkok attended by more than 6,000 government officials, scientists, business representatives and environmentalists.
The deal will give member organizations of the World Conservation Union -- an umbrella group known as IUCN -- greater access to NASA's mapping technology, said Stuart Salter, the IUCN's Species Information Service manager.
"We want to begin to map out over time the relationship between different habitats and species," he said. "You can see land use changing, you can see species disappearing or moving. That's really fundamental stuff."
Salter said the maps will help scientists assess the impact of human development projects -- from roads to towns -- on species and their habitats.
The IUCN has warned that more than 15,500 animal and plant species face extinction, mainly because of exploitation and habitat destruction by humans.
The NASA project is expected "to help improve the quality and effectiveness of environmental decision-making, and ultimately to improve conservation," according to an IUCN statement.
The California-based software company Oracle is also planning to donate software for the project, Salter said.
"The potential for the beneficial use of this information in the area of the environment and conservation is enormous," said Achim Steiner, the IUCN's director general. "Yet until now, it has remained largely untapped, particularly in the developing world."
Scientists are presenting research on a variety of species and ecosystems, from tropical coral reefs to the Himalayan mountains, at the Bangkok talks, which end Nov. 25.
Source: Associated Press | <urn:uuid:0b12d7b9-c556-4fd3-ba6d-e16455f02ed9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.enn.com/top_stories/article/400 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396949.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00074-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.922383 | 466 | 3.328125 | 3 |
CHICAGO – For most people, home furnaces have sat idle during the summer. As temperatures go down, it’s important to understand the possible dangers that lurk when restarting a dormant furnace, warns the Office of the Illinois State Fire Marshal (OSFM).
“The greatest danger comes from carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning,” said State Fire Marshal Larry Matkaitis. “Known as the ‘silent killer,’ CO is an invisible and odorless byproduct caused from the incomplete burning of fuels, such as gasoline, wood, coal, natural gas, propane, oil and methane.”
Carbon monoxide and fire
In a typical home heating system, CO comes from the burning of natural gas. If the system is operating correctly, the dangerous CO escapes through the chimney. However, problems arise if the system hasn’t been cleaned or inspected by a licensed heating-cooling professional. Over time, blockages or breaches in the duct work may prevent the noxious CO from escaping the home or apartment. An invisible and deadly gas cloud may backup into the living spaces.
Like oxygen, CO enters the human body through breathing. CO poisoning can be confused with flu symptoms, food poisoning and other illnesses. Some symptoms include shortness of breath, nausea, dizziness, light headedness or headaches. Everyone is at risk for CO poisoning, but infants, pregnant women and people with physical conditions that limit their ability to use oxygen, such as emphysema, asthma or heart disease, can be more severely affected by low concentrations of CO than healthy adults. High levels of CO can be fatal for anyone, causing death within minutes.
CO dangers also exist when some families, who may be struggling to pay their heating bills, will turn on the kitchen stove burners and the oven in an effort to take the chill off of their home. What these families don’t realize is how dangerous this practice can be. A gas oven or range top should never be used for heating because poisonous CO fumes could fill the home or the open flames could start a fire.
According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) there is an increased risk of dying in a home fire during December, January and February, which are generally the deadliest months for fire.
OSFM offers some simple steps can prevent CO or heating-related fires from happening in your home:
• Keep anything that can burn at least three feet away from heating equipment, like the furnace, fireplace, wood stove, or portable space heater.
• Have a three-foot “kid-free zone” around open fires and space heaters.
• Never use your oven to heat your home.
• Have a qualified professional install stationary space heating equipment, water heaters or central heating equipment according to the local codes and manufacturer’s instructions.
• Have heating equipment and chimneys cleaned and inspected every year by a qualified professional.
• Remember to turn portable heaters off when leaving the room or going to bed.
• Always use the right kind of fuel, specified by the manufacturer, for fuel burning space heaters.
• Make sure the fireplace has a sturdy screen to stop sparks from flying into the room. Ashes should be cool before putting them in a metal container. Keep the container a safe distance away from your home.
• Install smoke alarms and test monthly.
• CO alarms are not substitutes for smoke alarms. Know the difference between the sound of smoke alarms and CO alarms.
• Test CO alarms at least once a month.
• If your CO alarm sounds, immediately move to a fresh air location outdoors or by an open window and doors and call for help. Remain at the fresh air location until emergency personnel say it is okay.
• If the audible trouble signal sounds, check for low batteries or other trouble indicators.
For more information, please visit www.state.il.us/osfm or www.nfpa.org. | <urn:uuid:c00cf223-beb3-4083-a635-1c36fb81c8f7> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www3.illinois.gov/PressReleases/ShowPressRelease.cfm?SubjectID=1&RecNum=8996 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396106.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00197-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.911202 | 821 | 2.859375 | 3 |
In the “hell” of incarceration, Cristina Domenech finds the raw material for poetry.
“It’s said that to be a poet, you have to go to hell and back,” says Cristina Domenech, who teaches poetry to prisoners. “They have plenty of hell,” she says. “Plenty of hell.” Domenech (TEDxRiodelaPlata talk: Poetry that frees the soul) runs a poetry writing workshop for the inmates at Unit 48 penitentiary in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Prisoners make for eager poetry students, she says, precisely because self-expression is so rarely practiced behind bars. She helps them to open up about their experiences and find a psychic escape from their confinement through the freedom of the written word.
Poetry is an outlet for unspoken thoughts. Domenech wondered why prisoners wanted to attend a writing class in the first place, so she asked them. “They told me they wanted to put on paper all that they couldn’t say and do,” she recalls. The restrictions that they were referring to were not just just physical, she learned, but psychological as well. “In prison, you can’t dream,” she says. “In prison, you can’t cry. There are words that are virtually forbidden, like the word ‘time,’ the word ‘future,’ the word ‘wish.’” In those stifled thoughts, Domenech saw the raw materials for poetry. “I gave them a moment of silence, then said, ‘That’s what poetry is, you guys. It’s in this prison universe that you have all around you. Everything you say about how you never sleep, it exudes fear. All the things that go unwritten — all of that is poetry.” There was just one catch. “Nobody had a clue what poetry really was.”
To write poetry, read, read and read some more. Domenech assigned the prisoners a steady regimen of reading assignments. They began with short poems, which Domenech selected to show how a few words could alter their perspectives. “By reading such short poems, they all began to realize that what the poetic language did was to break a certain logic and create another system. Breaking the logic of language also breaks the logic of the system under which they’ve learned to respond.” It dawned on her students that they too could break the unspoken logic of the prison system, which had conditioned them into a state of cowed silence. “So a new system appeared,” Domenech says, “new rules that made them understand very quickly — very quickly — that with poetic language they would be able to say absolutely whatever they wanted.”
The irrepressible pleasure of thinking freely. “Freedom is possible even inside a prison,” Domenech insists. “The only bars we have in our wonderful [classroom] is the word ‘bars.’” But first her students had to grope for words that would give meaning to the aimless experience of confinement. “We started appropriating that hell,” she says, “We plunged ourselves, headfirst, into the seventh circle. And in that seventh circle of hell, our very own, beloved circle, they learned that they could make the walls invisible, that they could make the windows yell, and that we could hide inside the shadows.” The words they found astounded Domenech. “I remember a verse by a tremendous poet,” she says, “a great poet, from our Unit 48 workshop, Nicolás Dorado: ‘I will need an infinite thread to sew up this huge wound.’”
In freedom, there is dignity. At the end of her course, she invited her students to read their poems aloud to a gathering of inmates, family and friends. It was an emotional moment. “Those men, some of them just huge when standing next to me, or the young boys — so young, but with an enormous pride — held their papers and trembled like little kids and sweated, and read their poems with their voices completely broken,” Domenech says. “What I see week after week, is how they’re turning into different people; how they’re being transformed. How words are empowering them with a dignity they had never known, that they couldn’t even imagine. They had no idea such dignity could come from them.”
Illustration by Hannah K. Lee for TED. | <urn:uuid:3095a5b2-6015-4db9-89ff-f08fcdb962f1> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://ideas.ted.com/how-poetry-can-free-a-prisoners-mind-2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396029.85/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00103-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980545 | 986 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Colorado program axed
For 23 years, staffers of the Colorado Natural Areas Program have cataloged the state's rare plant and animal habitat, notable geologic formations, and fossil-rich lands. But they may be out of work by summer, when CNAP's state funding is set to dry up.
The program negotiates voluntary agreements with landowners and works with public agencies to protect and manage 120,400 acres of natural areas. It awards small grants for the study of natural areas, and is a center of expertise on native and rare Colorado plants. "There is nothing else in the state government that does anything like this," says Janet Coles, senior researcher with CNAP.
The cut was a matter of priorities, says Steven Hall of the Colorado State Parks division, the program's parent agency. When advised by a consulting firm to double staff numbers at individual parks, the agency had to "find some belt-tightening" elsewhere, and ancillary programs such as CNAP felt the crunch. Hall says the 63 natural areas currently administered under CNAP will keep their designations, and that state parks will work with outside rare plant and animal specialists as needed.
The seven-member volunteer council that oversees CNAP hopes the state legislature will reinstate the program, and is actively seeking another institutional home for CNAP. "We need a program like this," says council chair Will Murray. "Nobody else will pick up the slack." | <urn:uuid:2622846f-43a7-4740-9751-6babc4c6c518> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.hcn.org/issues/198/10308/print_view | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404826.94/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00164-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958709 | 291 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Hardin, William H. "Elizabeth Kee: West Virginia's First Woman in Congress." West Virginia History 45 (1984): 109-23.
Maude Elizabeth Kee made history as West Virginia’s first woman Member of Congress and as a critical part of that state’s Kee family dynasty in the U.S. House, stretching from the start of the New Deal to the Watergate Era. Succeeding her late husband, John Kee, in 1951, Elizabeth Kee went on to chair the Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Veterans’ Hospitals and became a leading advocate for the coal–mining industry, a major employer in her district. When she left Congress in 1965, her son, James, won her seat, accounting for one of a handful of father–mother–son combinations in Congress.
Maude Etta “Elizabeth” Simpkins was born in Radford, Virginia, on June 7, 1895, the seventh of 11 children born to John Jesse Wade Simpkins and Cora French Hall Simpkins. Her father was a policeman and a railway company employee before moving into real estate and resettling the family in Roanoke, Virginia. Raised in a conservative Republican, Baptist household, she quickly challenged her parents’ politics and religion. Her siblings later recalled that she converted to Catholicism and became a Democrat, “as soon as she was old enough.”1 She attended the National Business College and, during World War I, took her first job as a secretary for the business office of the Roanoke Times and, later, as a court reporter for a law firm. Elizabeth Simpkins married James Alan Frazier, a railway clerk. They had three children: Frances, James, and a child who died in infancy. The marriage soon fell apart, and James Frazier’s attorney during the divorce was John Kee, who fell in love with Elizabeth. In 1925 she moved to Bluefield and, a year later, she married him.2 John Kee was elected to the 73rd Congress (1933–1935) in the 1932 Roosevelt landslide, as a Democrat from a southeastern West Virginia district. Elizabeth Kee served as his executive secretary throughout his congressional career, including his service after 1949 as chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs.3 She once described her job on Capitol Hill as “being all things to all constituents,” a combination of “clergyman, lawyer, psychiatrist and family friend.”4 Meanwhile, Kee authored “Washington Tidbits,” a weekly column that was syndicated to West Virginia newspapers.
John Kee died suddenly on May 8, 1951, during a committee meeting. Four days later, Elizabeth Kee announced that she planned to seek nomination to fill her late husband’s seat.5 Initially, she was the underdog behind such powerful politicians as Walter Vergil Ross, who had served several terms in the West Virginia legislature, and Sheriff Cecil Wilson. Party leaders proposed that she should be retained as a secretary for the eventual nominee, a suggestion that infuriated her. Her son, James, campaigned heavily with United Mine Workers Association leaders in the district, convincing them that John Kee had several projects developing in Congress and that Elizabeth Kee could attend to them unlike any outsider. That strategy worked as the United Mine Workers Union—a powerhouse in her district which encompassed seven coal–mining counties and the famous Pocahontas coal fields—threw its weight behind the widow Kee. She still faced a formidable challenge from Republican Cyrus H. Gadd, a Princeton, West Virginia, lawyer. Gadd tried to turn the campaign into a referendum on the Harry S. Truman administration, which was at the nadir of its popularity. Gadd also attacked Kee as being beholden to oil interests after Oklahoma Senator Robert Kerr, an oilman and old ally of John Kee’s, campaigned for her in the district. The Kee campaign turned the table on Gadd, exposing his major campaign contributors with ties to the oil industry. Kee won the July 17, 1951, special election with a plurality of about 8,500 votes, receiving 58 percent of the total.6 She was sworn in to office on July 26, 1951, becoming the first woman to represent West Virginia in the U.S. Congress.7
Later that year, Kee announced she would not seek re–nomination for the seat, but she reversed herself several weeks later when a flood of requests convinced her to remain in Congress.8 In the 1952 general election, she again faced GOP challenger Cyrus Gadd, dispatching him with a 35,000–vote margin, capturing 64 percent of the total. She won by a greater plurality than any of her West Virginia House colleagues. She subsequently was re–elected five times by sizable majorities, winning her next two campaigns with more than 60 percent of the vote or more; in 1958, she was unopposed.9 One local paper’s endorsement summed up the depth of her support: “it is absolutely unthinkable … for the voters to even consider anyone else to represent them than Mrs. Kee. We don’t want her to have to waste valuable time in campaigning, when she could be devoting her energy and ‘know how’ in furthering legislation and certain projects for the benefit of southern West Virginia.”10
John Kee had crafted a reputation as a progressive–liberal Democrat in Congress, and it was a political pattern that Elizabeth Kee followed.11 Throughout her 14 years in Congress, she served on the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, eventually chairing the Subcommittee on Veterans’ Hospitals. She also was appointed to the Government Operations Committee in the 85th through 87th Congresses (1957–1963) and to the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs in the 88th Congress (1963–1965). From her Veterans’ Affairs seat, Kee became an advocate on behalf of former servicemen and servicewomen, noting, “more attention should be devoted to the welfare of this country’s veterans.… You just can’t economize at the expense of the veteran. And I know the American people—no matter how much they want Government spending cut—I know they feel that way.”12
Kee generally was a firm supporter of Cold War foreign policy. Of her own volition and on her own dime, she toured seven South American countries in 1952 on a 16,000–mile trip that, in part, fulfilled one of her husband’s aspirations.13 In the 82nd Congress (1951–1953) she voted for an extension of the Marshall Plan’s economic aid program to Europe in the form of a $7.5 billion assistance package. In the following two years, she supported $4.4 billion and $5 billion foreign aid bills.14 Kee would come to question such extravagant outlays during the Dwight Eisenhower administration, particularly when economic conditions deteriorated within her home state. Representative Kee was particularly critical of proposed tariff reductions, which she feared would affect her constituents.15
Representing the second largest coal–producing district in the country, Kee became a major advocate for coal miners and related businesses. West Virginia mines accounted for about one–third of the national output by 1957.16 But the industry suffered heavily from foreign fossil fuel competition and, for much of the 1950s, recession plagued the state economy. Throughout her time in the House, Kee repeatedly defended U.S. coal operations from foreign energy imports, particularly “residual” (heating) fuel oil from South America and natural gas from Canada. “We do not intend to stand idly by and see American workers thrown out of employment by unnecessary concessions to foreign countries,” Kee declared.17 Congresswoman Kee addressed this issue, often casting it as a threat to U.S. national security because it took away American jobs and made the country reliant on imports of critical materials. “If we are to be prudent in our efforts to safeguard the basic security of our country, our own self–preservation, then the Congress of the United States must, now, face up to its responsibility and pass legislation to protect in a fair and just manner our own basic coal industry,” she said in a floor speech.18 Still, Kee could do little to stanch the flow of foreign oil into the U.S. market.
Kee was successful, however, developing a program of economic rejuvenation for West Virginia that mirrored the “Point Four” technological and economic aid that U.S. officials extended to developing nations.19 Given little support from the Eisenhower administration, Kee and other Catholic supporters threw their full weight behind the candidacy of John F. Kennedy in 1960, playing an influential part in helping Kennedy win the critical West Virginia primary.20 During the first year of the Kennedy administration, Kee’s economic program was adopted as part of the Accelerated Public Works Act, which sought to head off recession by providing federal dollars for public works projects in vulnerable districts. The legislation created the Area Redevelopment Administration (ARA), which pumped millions of dollars into recession–prone regions in the form of industrial loans, job retraining programs, and grants for water systems. In southern West Virginia, which became a model for the program, ARA money created recreational facilities, parks, and tourist attractions.21 Kee reminded her colleagues that despite pressing concerns abroad that required huge allocations of American aid, immediate problems at home still needed to be addressed. Foreign aid bills were important, Kee admitted, “But not more important than bread and milk for coal miners’ children, good jobs for their fathers, new industries and increased business activities for economically depressed American towns and cities,” she said.22
In 1964, Kee declined to seek an eighth term in the House due to poor health.23 Her son and longtime administrative assistant, James, won the Democratic nomination. That November, when he won easy election with 70 percent of the vote, Maude Kee became the first woman in Congress to be succeeded directly by one of her children. From 1933 to James Kee’s retirement, when the district was reapportioned out of existence prior to the 1972 elections, the Kee family represented West Virginia in the House. Elizabeth Kee retired to Bluefield, where she died on February 15, 1975.
1William H. Hardin, “Elizabeth Kee: West Virginia’s First Woman in Congress,” West Virginia History 45 (1984): 109–123; quotes pp. 109–110.
2Hardin, “Elizabeth Kee”: 110–111.
4Hope Chamberlin, A Minority of Members: Women in the U.S. Congress (New York: Praeger, 1973): 226; Genevieve Reynolds, “Congressional Capers,” 28 August 1949, Washington Post: S3.
5“Mrs. Kee Willing to Run,” 13 May 1951, New York Times: 61.
6“Grandmother Runs for Seat in Congress,” 22 July 1951, New York Times: 45; this is a story on Vera Buchanan in which Kee is mentioned. See also, Hardin, “Elizabeth Kee”: 109–123; and Michael Dubin et al., U.S. Congressional Elections, 1788–1997 (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 1998): 585.
7“Taking Her Husband’s Place in Congress,” 27 July 1951, New York Times: 19.
8“Mrs. Kee to File for Renomination to Seat in House,” 5 January 1952, Washington Post: 12.
9“Election Statistics, 1920 to Present,” http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/electionInfo/index.aspx.
10Chamberlin, A Minority of Members: 226.
11Hardin, “Elizabeth Kee”: 109–123.
12Current Biography, 1954 (New York: H.W. Wilson and Company, 1954): 370–371; Congressional Record, House, 87th Cong., 1st sess. (27 February 1961): 2743.
13Current Biography, 1954: 371.
15Congressional Record, House, 85th Cong., 2nd sess. (25 February 1958): 2804; Congressional Record, House, 84th Cong., 2nd sess. (19 April 1956): 6708–6709.
16Congressional Record, House, 85th Cong., 1st sess. (1 April 1957): 4953–4954.
17Congressional Record, House, 83rd Cong., 2nd sess. (28 January 1954): 975; Congressional Record, House, 85th Cong., 1st sess. (3 June 1957): 8276–8277.
18Congressional Record, House, 83rd Cong., 2nd sess. (28 June 1954): 9115; Congressional Record, House, 87th Cong., 1st sess. (18 August 1961): 16333; Congressional Record, House, 87th Cong., 2nd sess. (29 March 1962): 5504; Congressional Record, House, 85th Cong., 2nd sess. (17 June 1958): 11546–11547.
19Hardin, “Elizabeth Kee”: 121; see also, Congressional Record, House, 85th Cong., 1st sess. (18 July 1957): 12116.
20Hardin, “Elizabeth Kee”: 122.
21Hardin, “Elizabeth Kee”: 121–122.
22Congressional Record, House, 85th Cong., 1st sess. (23 May 1957): 7598.
23“Rep. Kee Retiring at End of Term,” 5 January 1964, Washington Post: A4.
Hardin, William H. "Elizabeth Kee: West Virginia's First Woman in Congress." West Virginia History 45 (1984): 109-23.
Heywood, Shari A. "Elizabeth Kee: A Clarion Voice of and for the People of Southern West Virginia." M. A. thesis, Marshall University, 2006.
"Maude Elizabeth Kee" in Women in Congress, 1917-2006. Prepared under the direction of the Committee on House Administration by the Office of History & Preservation, U.S. House of Representatives. Washington: Government Printing Office, 2006. | <urn:uuid:90dad63d-54c7-45a2-b260-1f745235e4cb> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://history.house.gov/People/Detail/16128 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391766.5/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00092-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962526 | 2,975 | 2.828125 | 3 |
- Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), a class of drugs used to treat acid reflux and other acid-related gastrointestinal conditions, may increase the risk for developing chronic kidney disease (CKD).
- Two new studies that reached similar conclusions on the increased CKD risk associated with PPI use will be presented at ASN Kidney Week 2015 November 3-8 at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, CA.
San Diego, CA (October 27, 2015) -- Certain medications commonly used to treat heartburn and acid reflux may have damaging effects on the kidneys, according to two studies that will be presented at ASN Kidney Week 2015 November 3¬-8 at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, CA. The drugs, proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), are among the top 10 class of prescribed medications in the United States.
The prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) is on the rise, with more than 20 million Americans burdened by the disease. Diabetes and hypertension are common risk factors for CKD; however, certain medications can also play a role. Two new studies show that increased use of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), medications that treat reflux and stomach ulcers, may be contributing to the CKD epidemic.
In one study, Benjamin Lazarus, MBBS (Johns Hopkins University) and his colleagues followed 10,482 adults with normal kidney function from 1996 to 2011. They found that PPI users were between 20% and 50% more likely to develop CKD than non-PPI users, even after accounting for baseline differences between users and non-users. This discovery was replicated in a second study, in which over 240,000 patients were followed from 1997 to 2014. "In both studies, people who used a different class of medications to suppress stomach acid, known as H2-blockers, did not have a higher risk of developing kidney disease," said Dr. Lazarus. "If we know the potential adverse effects of PPI medications we can design better interventions to reduce overuse."
In another study, Pradeep Arora, MD (SUNY, Buffalo) and his team found that among 24,149 patients who developed CKD between 2001 and 2008 (out of a total of 71,516 patients), 25.7% were treated with PPIs. Among the total group of patients, those who took PPIs were less likely to have vascular disease, cancer, diabetes, hypertension, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, but PPI use was linked with a 10% increased risk of CKD and a 76% increased risk of dying prematurely.
"As a large number of patients are being treated with PPIs, health care providers need to be better educated about the potential side effects of these drugs, such as CKD," said Dr. Arora. "PPIs are often prescribed outside of their approved uses, and it has been estimated that up to two-thirds of all people on PPIs do not have a verified indication for the drug."
Studies: 1) "Proton Pump Inhibitor Use is Associated with Incident Chronic Kidney Disease" (Abstract SA-OR005) 2) "Proton Pump Inhibitors Are Associated with Increased Risk of Development of Chronic Kidney Disease" (Abstract TH-PO574).
Disclosures: 1) Josef Coresh receives research funding from NKF and NIH, and is a scientific advisor to KDIGO. 2) James W. Lohr has ownership interest in and receives honoraria from Alexion, and receives research funding from Amgen.
ASN Kidney Week 2015, the largest nephrology meeting of its kind, will provide a forum for more than 13,000 professionals to discuss the latest findings in kidney health research and engage in educational sessions related to advances in the care of patients with kidney and related disorders. Kidney Week 2015 will take place November 3-8, 2015, in San Diego, CA.
The content of this article does not reflect the views or opinions of The American Society of Nephrology (ASN). Responsibility for the information and views expressed therein lies entirely with the author(s). ASN does not offer medical advice. All content in ASN publications is for informational purposes only, and is not intended to cover all possible uses, directions, precautions, drug interactions, or adverse effects. This content should not be used during a medical emergency or for the diagnosis or treatment of any medical condition. Please consult your doctor or other qualified health care provider if you have any questions about a medical condition, or before taking any drug, changing your diet or commencing or discontinuing any course of treatment. Do not ignore or delay obtaining professional medical advice because of information accessed through ASN. Call 911 or your doctor for all medical emergencies.
Founded in 1966, and with nearly 16,000 members, the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) leads the fight against kidney disease by educating health professionals, sharing new knowledge, advancing research, and advocating the highest quality care for patients. | <urn:uuid:9e8f7dd6-ab53-437c-a3f4-3fee65ae081a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-10/ason-arm101915.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398516.82/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00050-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95524 | 1,032 | 2.75 | 3 |
Due to its length, Act I, scene ii is treated in two sections. Beginning through Miranda’s awakening (I.ii.1–308)
Prospero and Miranda stand on the shore of the island, having just witnessed the shipwreck. Miranda entreats her father to see that no one on-board comes to any harm. Prospero assures her that no one was harmed and tells her that it’s time she learned who she is and where she comes from. Miranda seems curious, noting that Prospero has often started to tell her about herself but always stopped. However, once Prospero begins telling his tale, he asks her three times if she is listening to him. He tells her that he was once Duke of Milan and famous for his great intelligence.
Prospero explains that he gradually grew uninterested in politics, however, and turned his attention more and more to his studies, neglecting his duties as duke. This gave his brother Antonio an opportunity to act on his ambition. Working in concert with the King of Naples, Antonio usurped Prospero of his dukedom. Antonio arranged for the King of Naples to pay him an annual tribute and do him homage as duke. Later, the King of Naples helped Antonio raise an army to march on Milan, driving Prospero out. Prospero tells how he and Miranda escaped from death at the hands of the army in a barely-seaworthy boat prepared for them by his loyal subjects. Gonzalo, an honest Neapolitan, provided them with food and clothing, as well as books from Prospero’s library.
Having brought Miranda up to date on how she arrived at their current home, Prospero explains that sheer good luck has brought his former enemies to the island. Miranda suddenly grows very sleepy, perhaps because Prospero charms her with his magic. When she is asleep, Prospero calls forth his spirit, Ariel. In his conversation with Ariel, we learn that Prospero and the spirit were responsible for the storm of Act I, scene i. Flying about the ship, Ariel acted as the wind, the thunder, and the lightning. When everyone except the crew had abandoned the ship, Ariel made sure, as Prospero had requested, that all were brought safely to shore but dispersed around the island. Ariel reports that the king’s son is alone. He also tells Prospero that the mariners and Boatswain have been charmed to sleep in the ship, which has been brought safely to harbor. The rest of the fleet that was with the ship, believing it to have been destroyed by the storm, has headed safely back to Naples.
Prospero thanks Ariel for his service, and Ariel takes this moment to remind Prospero of his promise to take one year off of his agreed time of servitude if Ariel performs his services without complaint. Prospero does not take well to being reminded of his promises, and he chastises Ariel for his impudence. He reminds Ariel of where he came from and how Prospero rescued him. Ariel had been a servant of Sycorax, a witch banished from Algiers (Algeria) and sent to the island long ago. Ariel was too delicate a spirit to perform her horrible commands, so she imprisoned him in a “cloven pine” (I.ii.279). She did not free him before she died, and he might have remained imprisoned forever had not Prospero arrived and rescued him. Reminding Ariel of this, Prospero threatens to imprison him for twelve years if he does not stop complaining. Ariel promises to be more polite. Prospero then gives him a new command: he must go make himself like a nymph of the sea and be invisible to all but Prospero. Ariel goes to do so, and Prospero, turning to Miranda’s sleeping form, calls upon his daughter to awaken. She opens her eyes and, not realizing that she has been enchanted, says that the “strangeness” of Prospero’s story caused her to fall asleep.
Act I, scene ii opens with the revelation that it was Prospero’s magic, and not simply a hostile nature, that raised the storm that caused the shipwreck. From there, the scene moves into a long sequence devoted largely to telling the play’s background story while introducing the major characters on the island. The first part of the scene is devoted to two long histories, both told by Prospero, one to Miranda and one to Ariel. If The Tempest is a play about power in various forms (as we observed in the previous scene, when the power of the storm disrupted the power relations between nobles and servants), then Prospero is the center of power, controlling events throughout the play through magic and manipulation. Prospero’s retellings of past events to Miranda and Ariel do more than simply fill the audience in on the story so far. They also illustrate how Prospero maintains his power, exploring the old man’s meticulous methods of controlling those around him through magic, charisma, and rhetoric.
Prospero’s rhetoric is particularly important to observe in this section, especially in his confrontation with Ariel. Of all the characters in the play, Prospero alone seems to understand that controlling history enables one to control the present—that is, that one can control others by controlling how they understand the past. Prospero thus tells his story with a highly rhetorical emphasis on his own good deeds, the bad deeds of others toward him, and the ingratitude of those he has protected from the evils of others. For example, when he speaks to Miranda, he calls his brother “perfidious,” then immediately says that he loved his brother better than anyone in the world except Miranda (I.ii.68). He repeatedly asks Miranda, “Dost thou attend me?” Through his questioning, he commands her attention almost hypnotically as he tells her his one-sided version of the story. Prospero himself does not seem blameless. While his brother did betray him, he also failed in his responsibilities as a ruler by giving up control of the government so that he could study. He contrasts his popularity as a leader—“the love my people bore me” (I.ii.141)—with his brother’s “evil nature” (I.ii.).
Gonzalo also mentions that he thinks that the Boatswain is the type of person who looks like he would die by a hanging and not by drowning.He could be suggesting that the boat would not capsize,because otherwise the boatswain would die.
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"My Lord Sebastian,
The truth you speak doth lack some gentleness,
And time to speak it in.You rub the sore
When you should bring the plaster"
In these words,Gonzalo is criticizing what Sebastian has told Alonso.In these lines,Alonso's heart is the sore,made by the loss of his son.Gonzalo says that Sebastian is "rubbing the sore" meaning that Sebastian isn't helping Alonso overcome his loss.The "plaster" is the kind,compassionate and encouraging words spoken by Gonzalo and time needed to mend Alonso's bleeding heart.... Read more→
74 out of 85 people found this helpful
The minor character's story runs parallel to the main plot.The minor characters are used by Shakespeare to create humour and lighten the seriousness of the main plot.While Antonio and Sebastian were very serious and sober in plotting Alonso's and Gonzalo's death.The minor characters plan to kill Prospero when they are drunk.
7 out of 9 people found this helpful | <urn:uuid:6597fab7-e678-4ae7-b503-43872581f12f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/tempest/section2.rhtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404382.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00126-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98285 | 1,584 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Garden Dictionary Word: plant labels
1. Plastic, wood, or metal stakes for gardens to indicate what seeds are planted where until they appear, and for varieties for evaluation. 2. Paper forms to include in drying plant samples, with formal printed forms as permanent labels on herbarium specimens. The minimum information required are the name of the collector, the location collected, the date collected, and hopefully, the correct identification of the specimen.
A| B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | <urn:uuid:59979fde-e5a3-4822-a71c-aaef0122fae9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.backyardgardener.com/gardendictionary/plant_labels.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398075.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00127-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.902245 | 141 | 2.71875 | 3 |
The Kitakama ridge continued: unknowingly, we take a break at the scene of a famous mountain tragedy ...
Perched on the roots of a mountain birch, we ate our cheese butties and looked down on the wooded col. The dappled sunlight filtered through the trees, suggesting to us a sylvan idyll - until we noticed, scattered among the weeds, the rusting tins, empty gas cartridges, and shreds of tent fabric that hinted at desperate struggles against the elements. This col, we sensed, could be a happening place.
Indeed it can. In the summer of 1949, a search party moved south from here, scanning the snow for tell-tale clues just like the ones in front of us. Soon they found an abandoned cooking pot, then a shovel and a glove. Acting on this evidence, another group struggled up the trackless valley to the west of the Kitakama. And there they discovered the bodies of the two climbers, still huddled in the melting snowbank of their last bivouac.
Matsunami Akira was born in 1922 at Sendai, in the same year that the Kitakama ridge was first climbed. He made a name for himself as a mountaineer before graduating from middle school, even soloing a route on the fearsome cliffs of Tanigawa's Ichinokura-sawa. Because it was convenient for the Northern Alps, he applied to Matsumoto's elite high school, but was detained on Hodaka by a snowstorm on the day of the entrance examination.
That forced a change of plan. Moving to Tokyo, he joined the famous Tosho-keiryūkai club and passed the entrance exam for Tokyo Agricultural University, already a hotbed of mountaineering activity.
Now began the heyday of Matsunami's career. While some top climbers specialise in a particular cliff or region, he was everywhere, putting up new routes on Tanigawa, on Yatsugatake and in the Southern Japan Alps. The first winter ascent of No 1 Ridge (topo below) in Takidani in February 1939 was a milestone in the advancement of Japan's alpine climbing standards.
When the war came, he was drafted into the army for two years, being demobilised in 1946. Those were hungry and bleak years in Japan's burned-out cities. They didn't quench Matsunami's spirit. In July 1948, he made the first ascent of Kitadake Buttress's Central Ridge (Chuo-ryō), a climb that most mountaineers still prefer to admire from a safe distance.
Around the same time, he conceived his boldest plan yet. With just one companion, Arimoto Katsumi, he would traverse the highest mountains of the Japan Northern Alps from end to end, in mid-winter. They would start by climbing the Kitakama, cross the narrow and exposed Dai-Kiretto, and scale the heights of Oku-Hodaka before descending at the foot of the Yake-dake volcano.
As if the route's length and technical difficulties were not enough, Matsunami and Arimoto decided to do without pre-placed dumps of food and fuel. Nor would they call on support parties, as was common practice for winter expeditions. That meant they'd have to carry twenty days' food and fuel on their own backs, as well as all their climbing and camping gear.
The weather was against them from the start. Matsunami went into the mountains ahead of Arimoto, planning to lift one load of supplies to the ridgeline before his friend joined him. While he was camping on the Kitakama, a day of unseasonable heavy rain soaked his tent. Then the temperature plummeted, freezing the canvas into an icy block.
When Arimoto came up to Yumata, the climbers decided to leave the tent behind; it was now too heavy to carry. Instead, they would dig snowholes or huddle under a flysheet ("zelt"). This was a fateful decision. On December 30, they crossed the suspension bridge at Yumata, heading for the Kitakama. The next day, they made their first bivouac on the ridge, shivering under the flysheet as it was lashed by hail and sleet. It was the worst night out that either had yet experienced.
On New Year's Day, the storm strengthened into a full blizzard, piling a foot of new snow onto an icy crust. Neither crampons nor snowshoes would work in this pother, but the pair made it as far as Kitakama col - where we were now sitting - into which they dug a snowhole. Then they did their best to dry out their sodden clothes over the roaring stove, until it started sputtering and misbehaving.
The storm pinned them in their snowhole for the whole of the next day. Until Matsunami could fix the stove, they had to burn petrol in an open can to stay warm and melt snow. Soot blackened the walls of the snowhole, but their clothes stayed sodden. Now they had to decide whether to go on or go down. Just at this critical juncture, the climbers looked out of their snowhole and saw a starry sky. Then Matsunami managed to jury-rig the stove.
Next morning, they went forwards. With Arimoto breaking trail, they made it to the foot of the Doppyō, a large pyramid-shaped peaklet on the ridge, by the evening of 3rd January. As the weather seemed to moderate the following morning, they succeeded in climbing the obstacle only to be caught in a blizzard of renewed ferocity as they came down the other side.
It was on this afternoon, in hindsight, that the jaws of the trap sprang shut. In the snowhole that evening, Arimoto discovered that he had second-degree frostbite to his feet. Later, the gale blew in the door of their shelter, covering the climbers with spindrift and soaking and freezing them anew.
With retreat to the north blocked by the bulk of the Doppyō, the climbers decided to jettison as much gear as possible - these would be the telltale relics found by the search party - and stake their lives on a dash towards Yari. But when they struggled out of the remains of the snowhole into the relentless blizzard, they found the straps of their crampons frozen into a solid tangle.
Without crampons, they were forced to start step-cutting their way along the icy flanks of the ridge. Blinded by the buffeting gusts of spindrift, Arimoto slipped and fell into a gully on the western side of the ridge. As he was too exhausted to climb back, Matsunami went down to join him. Unable to regain the ridge, they forced a way downwards through chest-deep snowdrifts. At 3pm, they dug another snowhole.
On January 6th, the blizzard still raging, Matsunami begins to sense there is no way out. His whole body is freezing; he's at the end of his strength. Arimoto can no longer move. Somehow, he himself could probably get down to Yumata, but that would mean leaving Arimoto alone. He can't do that, so he decides to stay and die. It is six o clock when he makes the decision to die with Arimoto, he records.
"Mother," he writes in his diary, scribbling with a pencil stub gripped in frost-bitten fingers, "thank you for your love - I'm about to join my father. We can't do anything more. Please forgive me. Ask Inoue-san to fix everything." He writes to Inoue, and puts in a note to other friends too: "Arakawa-san - sorry I couldn't return the sleeping bag."
And then: "We die, we dissolve into water, we flow into the sea, we feed the fish, then we become some body again; we just borrow our shape and go round for ever. Matsunami." He stops writing and wraps the diary in a waterproof pouch, and that is where the search party finds it, next to his camera, six months later.
We allowed ourselves ten minutes on that greenwood col. Then Donald nodded at the cumulus clouds that were starting to boil off nearby ridges: "We'd better get a move on," he said. I bolted down the remains of my cheese butty, got to my feet and swung the faded army-green pack to my shoulders. Yes, we'd better get going. We knew little of the Kitakama's illustrious history, but the scattered gear in front of us told its own story. We didn't want to spend the night out on this ridge.
Main source for the account of Matsunami Akira's last bivouac is his diary, which is reprinted with other of his mountain writings in "Fūsetsu no Bibāgu" (風雪のビバーグ Snowstorm Bivouac), a Japanese mountaineering classic. The book also contains an account of the search parties sent out after Matsunami and Arimoto were reported missing.
Photo of Matsunami above is copyright of this blog. Photo of Matsunami and Arimoto together on the Kitakama expedition is copyright of Yama to Keikoku illustrated history of Japanese mountaineering (目で見る日本登山史 by 川崎吉光、山と渓谷社). This photo was recovered from Matsunami's camera, after the accident. Aerial photos of Yari-ga-take and the Kitakama ridge are copyright of Ohmori Kohichiro from Kusatsu Kita-Arupusu (Japan Northern Alps from the Air). | <urn:uuid:7bd7308f-04f7-49b2-8480-8d63f6e806e9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://onehundredmountains.blogspot.com/2011/10/good-kama-bad-kama-2.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397695.90/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00141-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97412 | 2,064 | 2.640625 | 3 |
To prepare for an emergency, one of the smartest things a utility can do is have a smart water network, says Tom Mills of Sensus in an interview with Water Online Radio.
Mills and his colleague Dan Penny explain how an individualized smart water network can help utilities operate more efficiency, both in normal conditions and extreme ones.
“We've got first-hand experience of the potential impact that a smart water network can have during these natural disasters. During Hurricane Sandy with the use of the data that was coming out of the network, the water utilities were able to pinpoint where the natural disaster had an impact on the water network. With the use of this information, the water utilities were able to get to the properties where there was nobody living in them, but to go in and tap their leaks to stop the damage that can be caused to the properties.”
If power is lost or communication is compromised, a smart water system can also help the utility get their infrastructure and system back online much faster than they could in the past.
To learn more about smart water systems click the link below | <urn:uuid:05767a2b-13dd-4bf9-9e8a-158c858c24bc> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.wateronline.com/doc/utilities-get-smart-about-disaster-preparation-0001?atc~c=771%20s=773%20r=001%20l=a | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393442.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00084-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973151 | 223 | 2.703125 | 3 |
Nanotechnology & Micro Electrical-Mechanical Systems Research Area
What is Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems? MEMS (coined in late 80's) stands for microelectromechanical systems, and used to mean micron-sized, transducing (electrical to mechanical and vice versa) devices and systems during late 80's and early 90's. But nowadays MEMS covers many non-electromechanical systems such as microfluidic, biological, chemical systems built on silicon, glass and plastic substrates using technology involving micromachining, photolithography, and thin film technologies. The size covered in MEMS also varies from nanometer to millimeter. MEMS has its technological roots in IC fabrication technology, but involves some novel fabrication techniques such as bulk/surface micromachining, deep dry etching of silicon, LIGA, etc. MEMS technology is now clearly perceived as a generic technology that can enable and/or enhance many systems for inertial sensing, micro total biological/chemcial analysis, optical networking, telecommunication, etc. Some commercial examples of MEMS include accelerometers, pressure sensors, micromirror array for projection display and optical networks, etc.
Stephen Cronin, P. Daniel Dapkus, Eun Sok Kim, Daniel Lidar, Aristides Requicha, Chongwu Zhou | <urn:uuid:93fb5498-3ee5-435d-917f-87d944cdaad1> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://ee.usc.edu/research/mems_nano.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394987.40/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00007-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.883103 | 278 | 2.65625 | 3 |
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – An asteroid so big it has its own moon will fly by the earth today, but you likely won’t be able to see it.
The asteroid, dubbed 1998 QE2, is expected to soar past us around 5 p.m., but will still be 3.6 million miles away, according to NASA.
Being so far away, the asteroid doesn’t pose a threat, but NASA says it’s launching a new asteroid initiative to study the formations more closely.
It’s budgeted money next year to try to safely capture a near-Earth asteroid and redirect it so that it orbits our planet, making it possible for astronauts to study it up close.
Several people in the Pittsburgh-area and nearby states also reported seeing a large meteor Thursday night around 11 p.m.
Space.com will have a live webcam that will stream coverage of the asteroid flyby. | <urn:uuid:14b31d95-d3db-4f04-93b0-26199dcb7708> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2013/05/31/huge-asteroid-flyby-expected-today/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396959.83/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00014-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936675 | 197 | 2.890625 | 3 |
Lassen Emigrant Trail, Bieber
California State Historic Landmark 763
#763 Lassen Emigrant Trail
Peter Lassen opened the Lassen Emigrant Trail in 1848 when he led a 12-wagon emigrant train from Missouri to California. The route passed near this place and was extensively travelled during the years 1848-53 by emigrants seeking gold, adventure and a new life in the west. Because of the hardships of the route and the hostility of the Indians, the trail was little used after 1853.
Nothing remains of this site.
County of Lassen library/historical museum, NE corner of Veterans Ln and Bridge St, Bieber.
GPS coords: 41° 07.303 N/121° 08.285 W
Return to other landmarks in Lassen county.
Please note: I have no connection to any organizations mentioned on this site.
Site contents copyright 1996-2002 by Donald Laird - All rights reserved
Send comments to: | <urn:uuid:5f7b8a49-35a2-4973-a257-678b3c7c55b9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.sonic.net/~laird/landmarks/counties/700-799/763.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396147.66/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00061-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.880196 | 209 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Ferber, the director at the Running Injury Clinic in association with the University of Calgary, describes the kinetic chain that makes up a human body on the run: "Typical mechanics are for your foot to pronate or collapse inwards, the lower leg then internally rotates, and with that, your upper leg internally rotates as well."
He says the foot will automatically collapse inwards because of the force created by its contact with the ground. Since the lower leg must follow the foot, it also internally rotates upon foot strike. "It's like a wrench and a bolt," Ferber says. "If the bolt turns, that being your ankle, the wrench is going to move with it, the wrench being your shin."
So, no matter what, your foot and lower leg respond to the impact force of the foot hitting the ground by rolling. The upper leg is another story. While you want your upper leg to move in conjunction with the foot and lower leg, weak hip stabilization strength prevents you from controlling your femur effectively. This is the root cause of much of patellofemoral pain syndrome, or runner's knee. "There's a misalignment occurring at the knee joint where it's going to collapse too far in because you don't have the strength to control how quickly it moves or how far it moves in," Ferber says. This is when misdiagnosis often occurs. Weak hips lead to a collapse inwards of the knee and thus the foot, called "induced pronation," because the foot is being forced inwards. Since this appears to be an excessively pronating foot, high-stability shoes or orthotics are prescribed. While this will relieve knee pain for some, many will continue to struggle regardless of their shoes because their hips lack strength.
Hip, Hip, Hooray
Ferber drives the point home by referring to research out of the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. Jennifer Earl, Ph.D., ATC, and colleagues prescribed a hip-strengthening program to a group of healthy female runners for eight weeks. In addition to showing a predictable increase in hip strength at the end of the program, the runners also exhibited significantly less pronation (measured by how far the heel collapsed inwards). Most impressive, the participants experienced 57 percent less pronation at the ankle joint.
"Mike Smith, who coaches the distance squad at Kansas State, as well as Olympian Christian Smith, says that this is one of the problem areas he focuses on with runners. "We often see poor hip strength coinciding with poor overall strength," he says. As such, Smith's runners spend lots of time on what many people consider supplemental exercises, but which Smith, co-creator of runningdvds.com, sees as fundamental for any runner wanting to consistently train injury-free.
Alli Grace (pictured on right, above), who runs for ZAP Fitness, is a testament to the importance of this type of strengthening. After years of struggling with IT band syndrome at the University of Kentucky, she finally identified hip weakness as the root of the problem. "I could tell my hips and butt areas were weak because once I started doing more core and drills at ZAP, I would feel my hip flexors, tensor fasciae latae, and gluteus medius/maximus muscles tense up during these exercises," Grace says.
She adds, "By strengthening the core and hips, I could handle more training, and was stronger and more powerful as a runner. It's so important to have strength in these areas, especially at the later stages of a race -- you can power through better." Since regularly incorporating hip-strengthening work into her routine and not losing down time to injury, Grace has set PRs at 5,000m (15:47) and 10,000m (33:12).
The Weak Hips Test
Do you need to strengthen your hips? Try the single-leg squat test (pictured right) to find out.
As you would do with a regular squat, keep your back straight and prepare to perform a "sitting" motion. Pick one foot off the ground and put it behind you as you squat on the other leg. Envision a straight line going from the hip, to the knee, and then to the toes of the planted leg. Avoid tilting your pelvis forward as you squat.
If the knee on the side of the planted foot falls inwards and you're unable to maintain that straight line, you need to get hip to the following strengthening exercises.
How to be a Hipster
The main hip muscles to focus on strengthening are the hip adductors, hip abductors, gluteus medius, tensor fasciae latae, piriformis, and hip flexors. If you're already injured, Ferber emphasizes the importance of "positive daily stress." Translation: Do the exercises below every day. Once you're out of the woods, two to three times a week is sufficient.
Perform 10 repetitions of each of the following exercises. For those that require you to work each side individually, finish the 10 reps before switching to the other side. Do the exercises in smooth, controlled motions. Hold each rep for two seconds. Start with one set of 10 the first day, two sets the second and third days, and three sets from the fourth day onwards. Once you're familiar with these exercises, they should take about 20 minutes to complete. Says Ferber, "We tell our patients that they are actually going to notice a positive improvement within 10 to 14 days."
1) THE BRIDGE
Lying on your back with your arms at your sides and your knees bent, slowly lift your bottom off the floor. Think of drawing a straight line from your shoulders, through your hips, ending at your knees. Hold for two seconds and lower yourself back to the ground.
2) LEG RAISE
Stay on your back with your arms at your sides and your knees bent. Straighten one leg and raise it upwards to reach a 45-degree angle with the ground. Be sure your foot is flexed and your toes are facing the sky. Lower slowly and repeat.
3) HIP EXTENSION
Lying face-down with your legs extended, lift one leg and hold for two seconds. As you lift, your gluteus medius muscles should respond by tightening.
4) HIP ABDUCTION
Lie on one side of your body with your arm closest to the ground extended and your legs straight. Use your other arm to brace your body. Lift the upper leg in a scissor-like motion. Hold and lower.
5) STANDING HIP ABDUCTION
Place your right hand on your hip and the left on a chair or table to help balance your body. With your left leg straight and planted firmly on the ground, lift your right leg to the side and hold for two seconds.
6) HIP FLEXION
Remain standing by the chair or table to stabilize your body. While you balance yourself with the hand closest to the chair, lift the opposite leg and bend the knee to a 90-degree angle with your torso.
Once you've mastered the first six, consider trying these more advanced exercises:
7) STANDING LUNGE
With your hands on your hips, take an exaggerated step out, bend the knee, and lower your body so your front leg is bent at a 90-degree angle. You should be able to draw a straight line from your toes up to your knee. Once you reach that 90-degree angle, slowly raise your body back up and step back to your original position. Alternate sides.
8) SINGLE-LEG BRIDGING
As in the original bridge, lie on your back with your hands at your sides. With one knee bent and the other straight, raise your bottom off the ground. Be sure a straight line follows from your shoulders, to the hip, knee, and toes of the extended leg. Hold, lower, repeat, and switch sides. | <urn:uuid:56f4d2a7-808a-42dc-8c7b-87a761c157da> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.runnersworld.com/injury-treatment/do-weak-hips-cause-pronation?page=3 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397749.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00128-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948985 | 1,662 | 2.515625 | 3 |
NCEI is the official distribution point for NOS bathymetric maps, bathymetric/fishing maps, regional maps, geophysical maps, and preliminary maps.
NCEI does not have paper copies of all maps, some are out of print. All maps are
available digitally (see above).
Contact us to see if a paper copy is in stock, or if it must be custom printed. If not in stock, either download the full resolution to print on a large-format printer at a commercial location, or NCEI can print a copy for you at our office. NCEI's printer currently uses water soluble inks and the cost is significantly higher than for paper maps that are in stock.
Topographic maps of the sea floor. Through the use of detailed depth contours and full use of bathymetric data, the size, shape and distribution of underwater features are vividly portrayed. No other map or chart gives this descriptive picture of the ocean bottom terrain. The bathymetric map serves as the basic tool for performing scientific, engineering, marine geophysical and environmental studies, that are required in the development of energy and marine resources.
These detailed multipurpose maps show both the NOS bathymetry (ocean bottom topography) and the US Geological Survey (USGS) land topographic information. These maps are cooperatively produced by NOS and USGS to support the Coastal Zone Management and Energy Impact Programs and the offshore oil and gas program. They may also be used by land-use planners, conservationists, oceanographers, marine geologists, and other having an interest in the coastal zone and the Outer Continental Shelf's (OCS) physical environment. All 1:250,000 and 1:1000,000 TOPO/BATHY maps are overprinted with the Minerals Management Service's OCS Protraction Diagram data.
Bathy Fishing Maps
Topographic maps of the sea floor designed primarily for use by commercial and sport fishermen. This series of maps produced at a 1:100,000 scale contain Loran-C rates, distribution and identification of bottom sediment types and known bottom obstructions in addition to the basic information found on the standard bathymetric map. This product is intended to aid fishermen and other users in the identification of seafloor features and the location of potential fishing grounds.
Each consist of three sheets (a base bathymetric map, a magnetic map, and a gravity map), and where practicable a sediment overprint(NOS 1308N-17S). The bathymetric map, when combined with the other three maps, serves as a base for making geological-geophysical studies of the oceans bottom's crustal geophysical data for the Continental Shelf and slope. The SEAMAP SERIES at a scale of 1:1,000,000, covers geophysical data gathered in the deep-sea area, sometimes including the adjacent Continental
Shelf and Slope.
NCEI provides bathymetric information for some areas where maps have been compiled, but are not published. NOAA will provide blackline copies of compilation manuscripts for bathymetric maps that were left in the production process but are sufficiently developed to include accurate bathymetric data.
There are no plans to have these maps published.
These 1:1,000,000 scale maps are compiled from 1:250,000 scale bathymetric maps. | <urn:uuid:0b93286b-7498-48b2-8cb5-396c3e022486> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/bathymetry/maps/nos.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397749.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00131-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.890111 | 708 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Tunisia is a Civil Law Republic, founded upon a constitution that embodies the principles of sovereignty of the people and separation of powers between the branches of government. The Republic is divided into twenty-three regions, each of which has its own local government and is competent to conduct and manage local affairs.
JudiciaryJudicial powers are vested in the Court of Justice (Court de Cassation). The judicial branch of government has criminal, administrative and civil systems.
Civil Court SystemThe civil court system is divided into four levels; the District Courts, Courts of First Instance, Appeal Courts, and the Supreme Court.
District CourtsDistrict Courts have jurisdiction to hear matters the value of which does not exceed TD 7,000 as well as matters relating to nationality and labor issues. A single judge hears cases in the District Courts. Appeal of a judgment from a District Court is made to the Courts of First Instance.
Courts of First InstanceA Court of First Instance is located in each of Tunisia’s twenty-three regions in Tunisia. The Courts of First Instance are vested with the power to hear all civil and commercial matters without regard to the monetary value of the claim, including divorces and applications for immediate relief in urgent matters. The Courts of First Instance also hear appeals of decisions from the District Courts. Each Court of First Instance is composed of a panel of three judges.
Cases which began in by the Courts of First Instance, may be appealed to the Appeal Courts. Appeals of District Court judgments decided by Courts of First Instance may not be appealed to the Appeal Courts, but, rather, relief may be sought from the Supreme Court.
Appeals CourtsThe Appeals Courts have jurisdiction to hear appeals of decisions rendered by the Courts of First Instance except where the decision was an appeal from a decision of a District Court. The Appeal Courts cover several regions, and, therefore, cases from several Courts of First Instance are heard by the same Appeals Court.
Supreme CourtThe Tunisian Supreme Court examines decisions appealed from either the Appeals Court or from the Courts of First Instance sitting in its appellate capacity to determine whether the law was correctly applied by the lower court. The Supreme Court does not examine the substantive aspects of the case on appeal, and only points of law may be appealed to it. Submitting a matter to the review of the Supreme Court does not automatically stay execution of the original judgment. A stay of execution may be granted by the First President of the Supreme Court; the applicant making the motion for such a stay must deposit a bond with the court to secure the judgment.
In the event that the Supreme Court voids a lower court judgment, the matter is resubmitted to another judge or panel of judges of the court which rendered the original judgment. For example, a voided judgment from the Appeals Court covering several regions would be resubmitted to an Appeals Court covering a different area. In the event that the court, on rehearing the matter, fails to comply with the ruling of the Supreme Court regarding the application of law, the matter is heard by the full panel of the Supreme Court whose decision on the case is binding.
Criminal Court System The criminal court system is very similar in structure to the civil court system. Misdemeanor offenses are handled by the District Courts, while all other criminal offenses, except felonies, are submitted to the Courts of First Instance for determination. Felony crimes are submitted to the criminal courts division of the Appeal Courts after an indictment has been issued by a judge based on the findings of the grand jury (Chambre des Mises en Accusation).
Administrative Court SystemThe administrative court system is responsible for resolving disputes between individuals and the government and any governmental subdivision or agency. | <urn:uuid:bffb8914-0617-44bb-8e09-8621c05c663b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.albawaba.com/print/business/legal-system-4 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397567.28/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00118-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955233 | 769 | 2.953125 | 3 |
Knowledge and Wisdom
An ever persistent question that we have been asked is, what is the difference between knowledge and wisdom. Indeed, the difference is quite obvious in the sense that a knowledgeable person may not be wise in many ways. I would say that knowledge is more of an intellectual thing as in IQ, and wisdom is more of an exercise of judgement based on an emotional response tempered by years of real life experience. If knowledge indeed is the omnipotent source of power, a stand alone component that by itself guarantees success in all walks of life, then how is it that we have seen people and aquaintances around us with impressive academic credentials but failing in other aspects of life like parenting, relationships, investment choices and other miscalculated decisions when taking a step at the crossroads of life.
So, what exactly is knowledge. I will try to explain it in a non-philosophical manner. In any case, philosophy is not my major and I am not qualified to venture into that arena. But knowledge, the way I see it, offers us an objective perspective of things around us. That the moon is 300,000 kilometers away from Earth is not a matter that is subjective. Armed with knowledge, we can put forth a logical assessment of events that is devoid of emotional and subjective influences. Science and technology would falter should we base our evalutions on subjective responses. Human knowledge has come to where it is today because over the generations, we weed out the emotional aspects of judgement and focus instead on hard facts. It is perhaps correct to say that knowledge is one that is based on hard facts, and that is indisputable. Consider Wikipedia. How would you feel if after reading a lengthy passage from Wikipedia only to find that the information you have read is totally subjective based on the authors'own assessment. For any information to be granted a place in the major encyclopedias, it has to be vetted for accuracy, and by accuracy, we mean to remove any portions of it deem to be subjective to the author's own experience.
What about wisdom. People who are wise I believe, may not necessarily be academically inclined. Someone who has a double degree in the most prestigious university may lose his entire fortune in investments that only squander his wealth. I have personally known of people who are highly educated and knowledgeable in their own fields of expertise making poor judgements in other aspects of their lives. Bringing up children, relationship with a spouse, financial investments and you name it. Indeed knowledge is power, but to say that knowledge is all encompassing and omnipotent and that we can survive on a diet of pure knowledge would be misleading. Experience has shown, time and again, that wisdom is paramount to one's ultimate success in life.
I would like to put it this way. Wisdom is the underlying software that powers knowledge. Without wisdom, we are like a computer installed with the highest powered processors and RAM but at the same time incapacitated because we lack the emotional component to move us forward in the right direction. Knowledge can be acquired in a short duration by purely memorizing factual information, but wisdom can only be obtained through real life experiences.
In conclusion, one should not be concerned about whether knowledge or wisdom is the paramount aspect of our mental faculty. Both are important and one without the other would stifle our progress.
About the Author | <urn:uuid:7f71603a-7fc6-4617-910c-3ec12ce29cb6> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.my-english-writing.com/essay/6/knowledge-and-wisdom/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395560.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00050-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96525 | 679 | 2.6875 | 3 |
World's Largest Muleshoe, Mule Tributes
Fort Worth was supposed to get this mule shrine, but Muleshoe lobbied the idea's backers that Muleshoe deserved the honor. Donations came in from mule fans around the world, but not enough for the planned bronze mule statue. Then a California company convinced the town that a newfangled fiberglass statue would work just as well. It was unveiled July 3, 1965, modeled from photographs of a Muleshoe mule named Old Pete.
Old Pete, now officially protected by the Texas Historical Commission, stands next to The World's Largest Mule Shoe, which is covered with real mule shoes. It bears an uncanny resemblance to the McDonald's corporate arches. Muleshoe's town limits sign features a kicking cartoon mule and welcomes all to the "Greater Mule-plex."
A historical marker next to Old Pete praises the mule's small hooves and notes that Indians would eat the pioneers' horses, "but let tough mule meat go by." | <urn:uuid:f1716421-0b04-4526-9547-c84661edf770> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/15840 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395560.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00167-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942842 | 220 | 2.640625 | 3 |
A much-touted benefit of Linux is that it is more efficient than Microsoft® Windows®, and will therefore perform better on less than cutting-edge hardware. This performance makes Linux a very attractive upgrade for the many people who have old Windows 98-era boxes still sitting around that are no longer being treated to the latest and greatest software (particularly security patches).
The truth of the matter, however, is that while the Linux kernel can still be configured to be reasonably small and efficient, as new computers have increased in power, many Linux desktop environments (such as KDE and GNOME) have added lots of features. Consequently, the default install of most distributions offer a less than stellar level of performance when installed on older hardware. The same is true of many modern applications also -- Web browsers such as Firefox and office suites such as OpenOffice are fully featured, but trying to run them on a machine with 128MB of RAM can be a painful experience!
So what is the answer? Throw away all of your old hardware and upgrade? Install a Linux distribution from circa 1995? (If you decide to go that route, I recall having a good experience with Linux-FT.)
Never fear: as those in the Linux community have known for years, a great strength (some would say the great strength) of the Linux kernel and Linux distributions in general lies in their ability to be customized. This article delves into how you can tailor your Linux systems for better performance on modest hardware.
Thanks for the memory
In most cases, the single most important factor in desktop operating system performance is the amount of system memory available. It's all well and good to have a fast processor, but if there isn't enough physical memory to keep that processor utilized, the system will spend all its time shuffling data between physical memory and swap space (a condition known as thrashing) and the CPU will spend most of its time idle. For older systems, therefore, adding extra memory is usually the easiest way to improve performance. There are a number of reasons why this may not be possible, however, ranging from a lack of free slots, to a scarcity of affordable RAM for some systems (particularly laptops or RAMBUS-based systems), to an understandable reluctance to spend more money on an aging system.
If you are unable or unwilling to upgrade your RAM, the next best thing is to reduce the RAM requirements on your system. This article shows you five simple steps to memory nirvana for your Linux machine.
Step 1: Choose the right desktop environment
Your single most important choice is the Linux distribution and desktop environment (DE) you're going to install. While these are two distinct choices, the choice of distribution can affect the choice of DE. There is nothing stopping you from installing, say, Fluxbox on Ubuntu; however, you'll find that life is a lot easier if you simply use the default DE that comes with your distribution.
In the scenario in this article, the goal is to find a simple desktop-oriented distribution that is easy for new users. I have started off with Ubuntu 6.10, which comes with GNOME 2.16.
For my base system, I have chosen an old machine with an 800MHz processor and 256MB of
RAM. I will execute each of my tests twice, once booting as normal with the full 256MB
of RAM and once with
mem=128M appended to the kernel line,
which forces the kernel to only recognize 128MB of the physical memory. This
effectively allows me to examine both a 256MB machine and a 128MB machine without
actually using a second physical machine (or repeatedly physically removing the RAM
chips from my machine and then putting them back in). This kernel-line option provides a close enough approximation of how a 128MB machine will behave; note, however that if you really have only 128MB, you may experience additional complications -- for instance, with Ubuntu you must use an install disk different from the common one for machines with less than 192MB of RAM.
To get a base level of memory usage, I booted the system, logged in to the desktop, and started a terminal (in the rest of this article, I'll refer to this setup as my base level); then I checked the amount of free memory using the
free command, with the results as shown in Listing 1.
Listing 1. Base level for Ubuntu on a 256MB machine
ubuntu # free total used free shared buffers cached Mem: 255988 231704 24284 0 6432 139292 -/+ buffers/cache: 85980 170008 Swap: 746980 0 746980
The first line indicates that, out of 256MB of RAM, 231MB is "in use." The next line shows us that while 231MB is being used, only 86MB of this is actually being used by applications; the rest is being used for buffers and cache.
The most important part of this listing for assessing performance is the
Swap line; this shows us that we aren't currently using any swap, which suggests that we don't really have any memory problems at the moment. The system is able to fit everything into physical memory without having to resort to slow, disk-based swap space.
Next, to get an idea of what the system would look like under normal day-to-day use, I fired up a Web browser (Firefox 2.0) and pointed it to developerWorks, connected an instant messaging client (Gaim) to MSN, and used the file manager to browse to a folder and open a reasonably sized Microsoft Word-formatted document in OpenOffice. (In the rest of this article, I'll refer to this setup as my light usage level.)
Once everything had loaded, the output of the
free command looked like Listing 2.
Listing 2. Light usage level for Ubuntu on a 256MB machine
ubuntu # free total used free shared buffers cached Mem: 255988 252196 3792 0 21276 87500 -/+ buffers/cache: 143420 112568 Swap: 746980 18676 728304
You can see that things are getting a little leaner in the memory department. Now applications have used 143MB of physical memory, with the rest of being used for buffers; in addition, the system now needs to make use of 18MB of swap. The system generally seemed quite usable under these light office task conditions, but there isn't much head room, and I wouldn't like to start doing anything more demanding, such as editing large digital photos or video, as the system would soon begin to crawl.
To get an idea of how the system would perform with only 128MB, I then rebooted and added
mem=128M to the kernel line, as I described above. At the same base level state illustrated in Listing 1, with 128MB of RAM I got the results shown in Listing 3.
Listing 3. Base level for Ubuntu on a 128MB machine
ubuntu # free total used free shared buffers cached Mem: 126100 121464 4636 0 1636 37000 -/+ buffers/cache: 82828 43272 Swap: 746980 17924 729056
You can see now that with 128MB, I am already eating into swap, and I haven't actually started doing anything yet.
Starting my simple set of applications produced the results shown in Listing 4.
Listing 4. Light usage for Ubuntu on a 128MB machine
ubuntu # free total used free shared buffers cached Mem: 126100 123608 2492 0 392 51208 -/+ buffers/cache: 72008 54092 Swap: 746980 98452 648528
As you can probably predict from these numbers, the machine is now a lot less responsive under normal use -- it is still just about usable for these simple tasks, but the disk is being accessed very frequently and I certainly wouldn't like to use it as my main machine. You can see that the total amount of application memory required is approximately 170MB, but only 72MB will fit into physical memory, and so 98MB is relegated to swap. This helps explain the lack of system responsiveness!
For my next set of tests, I decided to use Xubuntu, a distro from a Ubuntu-associated project. This distribution is quite similar to Ubuntu, but uses the Xfce 4.4 Beta 2 DE instead of GNOME. Unlike the more popular GNOME and KDE projects, which concentrate on maximum functionality, Xfce is designed to be lightweight, so it should hopefully be a better match for aging hardware. We'll perform the same tests with this distribution that we performed with Ubuntu.
You can see in Listing 5 that the base DE uses approximately 25MB less application memory, and also eats significantly less into buffers and cache (which may imply that there is less file activity) than Ubuntu.
Listing 5. Base level for Xubuntu on a 256MB machine
xubuntu # free total used free shared buffers cached Mem: 255988 170964 85024 0 6004 104700 -/+ buffers/cache: 60260 195728 Swap: 746980 0 746980
In Listing 6, we start up our suite of test applications again (Web browser, IM client, and word processor). You can see that the memory use appears to be around 20MB less than Ubuntu required for the same set of apps (126 in physical memory and 17 in swap for a total of 143 versus 143 + 18 for a total of 161).
Listing 6. Light usage level for Xubuntu on a 256MB machine
xubuntu # free total used free shared buffers cached Mem: 255988 252180 3808 0 1972 124008 -/+ buffers/cache: 126200 129788 Swap: 746980 16956 730024
Listing 7 illustrates base level usage with only 128MB of RAM. My memory-limited system is much happier this time around, with no swap being used yet.
Listing 7. Base level for Xubuntu on a 128MB machine
xubuntu # free total used free shared buffers cached Mem: 126100 123228 2872 0 4252 60484 -/+ buffers/cache: 58492 67608 Swap: 746980 0 746980
In Listing 8, we start the apps up again. The system is still much better off here than with Ubuntu, but it is still using significant amounts of swap, and the machine is still a bit sluggish (albeit less so than under Ubuntu).
Listing 8. Light usage level for Xubuntu on a 128MB machine
xubuntu # free total used free shared buffers cached Mem: 126100 123980 2120 0 468 56276 -/+ buffers/cache: 67236 58864 Swap: 746980 64516 682464
As you can see from these numbers, Xubuntu generally used less memory across the board; so if you only have 128MB (or less) to work with, it is probably a good choice for your system.
One great thing about Linux distributions is that they generally don't cost anything, so it's easy to download several and try them out for a while to see which you prefer and how they all perform on your hardware. If you have very limited hardware, you may wan to look at a distribution like Damn Small Linux, which claims to run on systems with specs as low as a 486DX processor with 16MB of RAM.
As I have a little more breathing room in my 256MB system, and am generally a KDE kind of guy, I have gone with another Ubuntu derivative, called Kubuntu, which is KDE based and seems to sit somewhere in between Xubuntu and Ubuntu in terms of memory use. For reference, Listing 9 illustrates the base usage for Kubuntu.
Listing 9. Base level for Kubuntu on a 256MB machine
kubuntu # free total used free shared buffers cached Mem: 255988 244736 11252 0 7612 160008 -/+ buffers/cache: 77116 178872 Swap: 746980 0 746980
Step 2: Choose appropriate apps
Once you have settled on a distribution, the next thing you can streamline is the set of applications you are going to use. The memory requirements of different applications can vary greatly; sometimes you face a trade-off between size and functionality, but in other cases even functionally equivalent applications can have vastly different memory requirements.
In order to measure memory usage for the purpose of this article, I will used the tool
exmap. This tool is more accurate than
top because it takes into account shared libraries in use by multiple applications. For example, if two applications are using the same shared library, which takes up 1MB of memory,
ps will show both apps using 1MB of extra memory, whereas
exmap more correctly shows each app using 500 KB. This greater accuracy is particularly important for assessing desktop environments such as KDE and GNOME, which make very heavy use of libraries shared between applications.
For each application I discuss in the following sections, I measured the resident and effective resident values produced by
exmap. The resident value represents the total amount of physical memory in use by the process, including shared libraries that are in use by other processes, and is typical of the sort of value you would expect from
top. The effective resident value is the value with shared library allocations shared evenly among all the processes that are using them; this is a much more accurate view of the system memory being consumed by a given process.
Note also that, when determining the total memory footprint of a process, you should also take into account the mapped and effective mapped values, which are parts of the process that have been placed in swap. The mapped values are analogous to the resident values, but for pages in swap rather than in physical memory, So for a view that doesn't compensate for shared libraries, you would add the resident and mapped values together; for a view compensating for shared libraries, you would add the effective resident and effective mapped values together. I did not record these values in the ensuing tables because, for all of my tests, none of the processes were in swap, and so the output of the
exmap command had a value of zero for those columns.
For each browser in Table 1, I launched the application, opened the developerWorks homepage, and waited for it to fully render. The results are shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Comparison of Web browser memory usage
|Application||Effective resident memory (KB)||Resident memory (KB)|
From this table, you can see that there is a very large range in memory usage, with the most memory-hungry browser (Firefox) using approximately 27 times more memory than the most frugal (Lynx). This isn't really a fair comparison, as Lynx is not really functionally equivalent (it does not even display graphics, for instance), but it does show that, depending upon your requirements, you can vastly reduce your memory usage. Even among the first three browsers listed in Table 1, which are more or less functionally equivalent to one another, Opera uses approximately two-thirds the amount of memory of Firefox, and Konqueror uses less than half of Firefox's memory.
For modest use requirements, Dillo may provide a good compromise between a fully featured browser and the austerity of Lynx. Dillo provides a GUI; it is fairly limited in its default state, however, and doesn't even support SSL without an additional plugin!
Note also that when we compare the shared memory use, Konqueror performs much better than Firefox, using around 14MB less memory; if we look at the total use, however, while Konqueror still does better than Firefox, it doesn't do so by such a wide margin -- only by 5MB or so. This is because Konqueror makes heavy use of shared KDE libraries that are loaded into lots of applications, as I am using the KDE desktop. If I were not using any other KDE apps, however, Opera would be a better choice than KDE. We'll discuss this issue in more detail later.
To test word processors, I loaded the same Microsoft Word-formatted document I used in my first test into the word processors listed in Table 2.
Table 2. Comparison of word processor memory usage
|Application||Effective resident memory (KB)||Resident memory (KB)|
|KWord (from KOffice)||46512||60096|
You can clearly see from these numbers that OpenOffice Writer uses much more memory than KWord or AbiWord. After OpenOffice, KWord did the best job of rendering the Microsoft Word-formatted document correctly. While AbiWord was able to open the document successfully, there were a few problems rendering it correctly, so if interoperability with Microsoft Office is important to you, you may be better off sticking to OpenOffice.
Instant messaging clients
To test instant messaging, I logged into my MSN Messenger account using the IM clients outlined in Table 3.
Table 3. Comparison of IM client memory usage
|Application||Effective resident memory (KB)||Resident memory (KB)|
Here, Kmess came out best for me and was a reasonable choice, as I was only interested in connecting to MSN. If you need to use other services, then Kopete looks like the best choice. Note, however, that the application's memory usage may increase if you're using a different IM protocols; also, Kmess is an integrated KDE app, so if you aren't using KDE, then Gaim may be a better choice for you.
Lather, rinse, repeat
Now that you know how to analyze the memory use of your applications, you can simply repeat the process for all the application types you're interested in, trying out the various options available until you find the choice with the lowest memory requirements that still meets your needs functionally.
As you will have noticed in the Web-browsing section above, it is often the case that the best memory savings come from using an app that is tightly integrated with your desktop environment. This is because such apps make heavy use of shared libraries that are embedded into the DE and are most likely already loaded. For instance, Konqueror is the file manager for KDE as well as a Web browser; hence, it uses much less memory than Firefox when run on a KDE system, because much of its functionality is already loaded by other apps. Similarly, if you then wanted to use an RSS aggregator, Akregator may be a good choice, as it will most likely use those same libraries again.
Thus, if you are concerned about memory usage, it is important that you perform these tests on your own system, because it is generally hard to get a sense of which application will use less memory on your system by looking at other people's benchmarks.
This fact may have implications for your choice of DE. If you really want to use Konqueror, for instance, it is probably most efficient to use KDE as your DE. Similarly, if you are a GNOME user, you may want to think twice before you use that simple little KDE app you've had your eye on, as it is likely to load a whole host of libraries that only it will make use of.
Step 3: Remove unwanted services and settings
Once you have chosen a distribution, desktop environment, and selection of apps, what else can you do to further reduce your memory use? To answer this question, you will need to dig down a little deeper and configure your system. Armed with
exmap, you can analyze what is running on the system and try to remove the things you don't need and configure the things you do.
A good place to begin is with the services that are started automatically when the system boots -- though you need to be careful here so as to not remove anything that is necessary for your system to run. You will need to do some research into what is required by your particular distribution, and on how services are configured, as this will vary by distribution. Some distributions are worse than others, starting by default lots of unneeded services such as Web servers and so on that eat up memory.
Beyond system services, you may also wish to look at how the DE is configured, as it may well be starting services which are not needed.
My Kubuntu box didn't seem to be starting too many unneeded services, but a quick look at the process list did show a few obvious things, which I was able to remove:
- HPLIP (4.4MB): Services for HP printers and scanners. Unneeded as no such devices are connected to this computer.
- cupsd (1.1MB): A printer daemon. Not needed as no printer is attached to this computer.
- kbluetoothd (3.2MB): The KDE Bluetooth daemon. Not needed because this computer doesn't have Bluetooth connectivity.
- klipper (1.7MB): The KDE clipboard tool. I don't care for this particular tool, so I disabled it.
- KMix (4.1MB): The KDE audio mixer. Doesn't need to be running all the time, as I adjust volume via external speakers.
Just five minutes of configuration yielded memory savings of around 14MB -- not bad from a starting point of around 77MB!
It is worth digging around in the settings of your DE as well as the larger apps you use, as some may have settings that will affect the amount of memory they use. For instance, by reducing the number of virtual desktops, you have may save some memory, particularly if you are using large bitmaps as backdrops. Turning off some of the fancy eye-candy effects may help too.
Step 4: Have appropriate expectations
When running older hardware, it is important to be appreciative of the limitations of the machine and work appropriately. For instance, if you want to edit a collection of photos, don't open them all at the same time. This will only eat up memory unnecessarily. You would have a much easier time of it opening them one by one and closing them afterwards. Similarly, if you are trying to capture and edit some video, consider capturing individual scenes rather than the whole lot at once; and if you are creating a large document that will contain illustrations, don't add them in until you have finished with the text.
Step 5: Optimize your system
The final step is to look at the deep guts of your system and see if you can shave any memory off anywhere. There are lots of opportunities, but the law of diminishing returns will start to apply, and for most people the amount of pain and work will not be worth it. Still, here are some of the things that you might consider:
Recompile the kernel with only the specific drivers for your hardware. Most mainstream distributions are tailored for a wide range of hardware, so they often include support for vast swathes of hardware that you aren't using. This may yield some benefit, though it is likely that most of the hardware support is in the form of modules that won't be loaded if they are not required.
Recompiling certain apps or libraries so that they are optimized for size and targeted to the specific CPU you are using can yield some memory gains. The Gentoo distribution is perfect for this, as you can easily recompile some or all of your system with the precise compilation flags you choose. Unfortunately, this is likely to be quite a lengthy process on an old machine.
Recompiling apps and libraries with specific features removed can also reduce their memory requirement. Gentoo is again a good idea here because it includes the concept of
USEflags, which allow you to easily build your system with application features disabled. The size of applications can be significantly reduced in this way -- apps are generally released with support for a large number of file formats, codecs, and so on, which often pull in libraries to provide the actual support. If you know that you never want to read, say, JPEG files, you can specify this in Gentoo (via
USE="-jpeg"), and any applications that deal with graphics will be compiled without JPEG support and will most likely have a smaller memory overhead.
Recent 2.6 kernels have a swappiness parameter that can be tuned at runtime. This parameter determines the likelihood that applications will be moved to swap instead of the cache or buffers being reduced -- we saw in our early tests that it is common for applications to be swapped out while large chunks of physical memory are still reserved for caches. By reducing the tendency to swap out, the cache will be reduced and more apps are likely to stay in memory. Whether or not this move will actually make your machine run faster will very much depend on what apps you are running, however. It may make the machine seem more responsive if you are constantly swapping between applications, because they are more likely to be resident in memory; however, if you have a task that reads and writes to disk a lot, then it is likely to be slower. In general, reducing swappiness will make your system more responsive for interactive apps but will slow down overall throughput.
The ideas in this article may help you breathe life (and some additional security) into your old machines and make better use of Linux on aging hardware. The measurements show that an 800-MHz/256-MB machine can house a perfectly usable Linux desktop for light office and home tasks such as e-mail, browsing the Web, word processing, and so on. With a little tweaking and experimentation, even a 128MB machine can serve as a reasonably comfortable desktop computer.
While the main focus of this article has been to achieve a functional desktop on reasonably limited hardware, you can also apply the same principles to most sectors of Linux use. No matter how much memory your latest super machine has, you will soon find new apps to fill it with. By applying these techniques, you may be able to squeeze that little extra performance out of your overloaded servers or gain some insight into the memory use within your own applications.
- Read about memory usage in a pair of useful articles from Lubos Lunak.
- In the developerWorks Linux zone, find more resources for Linux developers.
- Stay current with developerWorks technical events and Webcasts.
Get products and technologies
- Learn more about the Exmap memory analysis tool.
- Learn more about the distributions discussed in this article:
- With IBM trial software, available for download directly from developerWorks, build your next development project on Linux. | <urn:uuid:0c00a478-94f9-4e3d-8c81-b5c2d15eabef> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-linux-memory/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393442.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00077-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936785 | 5,458 | 2.625 | 3 |
Drilling has had no impact on Beaver Run Reservoir water quality
Four years of deep-well drilling at one of Westmoreland County's largest water sources has left the water at Beaver Run Reservoir untainted despite several spill incidents nearby, Indiana University of Pennsylvania tests show.
Students and faculty from IUP monitor water quality at the 45 producing horizontal Marcellus shale wells operated by Consol Energy's CNX at the reservoir in Bell and Washington Townships. Testing began in 2011 and will continue for a fourth year under a $75,000 contract with the university.
“So far, there hasn't been any real changes,” said Nathan McElroy, associate professor of chemistry at IUP and co-chairman of the Beaver Run project.
“We've found a few seasonal things but nothing linked to drilling. The quality of the reservoir is pretty much the same quality of water throughout Pennsylvania,” McElroy said.
Beaver Run Reservoir provides water to more than half of the customers of the Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County — more than 120,000 homes and businesses in five counties — including all customers in Murrysville, Export, Delmont, Penn Township, Trafford and Manor. IUP, through its Energy Sustainability Initiative, posts its findings on a public website, which are linked on the authority's website.
Consol officials are pleased with the testing, which was initiated by the water authority.
“It's a good thing,” said Katherine Fredriksen, senior vice president, environmental strategy and regulatory affairs, for Consol.
“It's an external validation of what we're doing at the reservoir, that independent look that the community is seeking.”
Several of the gas wells have been drilled just a stone's throw from the water supply. For the first two years of testing, the university didn't focus on the drilling sites. Instead, testing was done on streams and tributaries to the reservoir. This past year, testing expanded to include water and air quality at the drilling sites.
“They've brought some ideas to the table we've been able to implement,” said Jack Ashton, assistant manager for the authority.
Ashton said the IUP testing shows that the gas wells have not endangered the water supply. But that isn't necessarily evident when looking at results on the website. The data details technical measurements and chemical analyses of samples taken during inspections.
McElroy said that will change this year, when the project's website is upgraded to put the results in perspective for those outside the energy industry.
“We want to make sure the public can understand,” McElroy said.
The authority also posts regular updates from Consol on drilling, including spill updates. The driller has had a number of spill incidents at the reservoir, though state Department of Environmental Protection officials said none have contaminated the water supply. Since June 2013, there have been three incidents that resulted in citations at the reservoir.
On June 3, 2013, DEP cited CNX Gas after a fracturing-fluid spill at the Kuhn 3D pad in Bell Township. On Aug. 6, 2013, CNX was cited for a drilling-water spill at the Mamont South 1E pad in Washington Township. Both spills were confined to soil, which was excavated.
On June 11, 2014, DEP cited CNX Gas after a containment leak led to a friction-reducer spill at the Shaw 1A pad in Washington Township. Craig Neal, vice president for Northern Appalachia gas operations at Consol, said the company reports any incidents to the DEP and the authority without prompting.
“An important part of our relationship with the water authority is our communication,” Neal said. “Any event that occurs, they know. We self-report everything. DEP doesn't find any spills. We report them.”
Daveen Rae Kurutz and Rich Cholodofsky are staff writers for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 412-871-2365, or email@example.com. He can be reached at 724-830-6293 or firstname.lastname@example.org. | <urn:uuid:1ac09cd5-816a-4878-966b-76bb85808526> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://triblive.com/neighborhoods/yourmurrysville/yourmurrysvillemore/6563203-74/reservoir-drilling-authority | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403825.35/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960845 | 880 | 2.65625 | 3 |
'Cryptogams' make up around 84 % of the worlds ‘botanical' diversity: they include the fungi (including lichens), bryophytes (mosses, liverworts and hornworts), the pteridophytes (ferns and horsetails) and algae.
Cryptogam research at RBGE covers a wide range of topics, including taxonomy, evolution, ecology and conservation biology. RBGE is a world leader in cryptogam research, gathering scientific information on this diverse, fascinating and important biological group.
Exploring cryptogams often challenges our perceived wisdom, and opens up a world of immense beauty and wonder.
Did you know?
- The largest organism in the world is a fungus - it covers an area of 8.9 km2.
- The oldest fossil moss is circa 320 million years old.
- Algae account for almost half the photosynthesis on the planet, producing every second breath of oxygen, and shaping the environment for life on earth.
- Ferns were eaten by dinosaurs - they dominated the ancient world of Jurassic forests.
- Lichens are biology's extreme survivors - they live in the driest deserts, the wettest forests and on the world's highest summits!
Find out more about RBGE research and staff interests:
- Bryology (mosses, liverworts and hornworts)
- Dr Neil Bell
- Ms Sally Rae
- Dr Laura Forrest
- Lichenology (lichens)
- Mycology (fungi)
- Dr Stephan Helfer
- Phycology (algae)
- Professor David Mann
Scotland's cryptogam diversity is internationally important. Cryptogams help to define Scotland's natural and cultural landscape: from the wild beauty of lichen-rich mountain summits, to the luxuriant moss flora in the temperate rainforest along the Scottish west-coast.
Scotland is home to 37 % of European lichen diversity, 45 % of European fern diversity, 58 % of European bryophyte diversity, and the majority of the UK's over 12,000 species of fungi!
RBGE research describes, explains and protects this biological heritage.
updated 3 December 2012 | <urn:uuid:ebe48f78-e9ac-4e0c-8656-cc463755213e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.rbge.org.uk/science/cryptogamic-plants-and-fungi | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395346.6/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00001-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.873006 | 466 | 3.34375 | 3 |
To hear him tell the story, it would seem 92-year-old Stephen Lizak owes his front-row seat to history to a man named "Lerch," a crane operator at Bethlehem Steel.
Lerch taught Lizak, then a Northampton teenager without a driver's license, how to operate a crane during the night shift at the plant. The practice helped Lizak beat out a foreman's son for a job there. Ultimately he became a twin trolley overhead bridge crane operator.
The trolley had two engines, similar to a special military craft called landing craft mechanized. LCMs, workhorses in the weeks following D-Day 72 years ago, can carry a tank and 20 men from ship to shore.
So, as patriotism swept the... | <urn:uuid:4f01a0cd-e864-4170-a37b-1aa4a5f3228a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.mcall.com/topic/unrest-conflicts-war/wars-interventions/world-war-ii-(1939-1945)-EVHST00000110-topic.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394605.61/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00115-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973602 | 160 | 2.5625 | 3 |
BROCKTON, MA.- Fuller Craft Museum
, New Englands home for contemporary craft, presents Mens et Manus on display February 4, 2012 April 29, 2012.
Mens et Manus is an exhibition of complex folded paper sculptures by staff, students, faculty, and alumni of the Massachusetts Institute of Techonology.
Latin for mind and hand, the MIT motto mens et manus is meant to exemplify the relationship between the work of the intellect and the work of the hand. This holistic approach uniting hand and mind emerges in a community of paper folders that has garnered a reputation for new, innovative, and extreme patterns.
Paper foldingor origami as it is also popularly knownis the practice of transforming paper into complex representational and abstract three-dimensional sculpture through a series of complex folds. Typically artists will use only one sheet of square paper and avoid any cuts or adhesive, a challenging yet relatively recent restriction. The more complicated patterns, small as the finished piece may be, can begin with enormous sheets of paper, include hundreds of folds, and require days to complete. The sequence and location of folds on the single sheet of paper, called a crease pattern, is a complex geometric relationship reserving areas of paper for the constituent parts of a representational sculpture.
This exhibit draws a connection between origami, a folk art with roots in the 17th century and contemporary complex mathematical inquiry. Abstract or geometric expressions in paper folding may be used to explore mathematical questions or problems, and often result in new patterns, new forms, and new ideas. For these artists, folded paper serves as the nexus between mathematical and aesthetic inquiry, uniting mind and hand. | <urn:uuid:ddd0af8e-8fde-44f1-82c6-43a1f8738109> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://artdaily.com/news/53417/Exhibition-of-folded-paper-sculptures-by-staff--students--faculty--and-alumni-of-MIT-opens | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396959.83/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00066-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933737 | 341 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Projects that CORE gets involved with are determined by our research interests, which include:
- Systems Evaluation: Using the concept of Evaluation Capacity Building, we have been working on developing theory, methods and resources for conducting Systems Evaluation of educational programs.This includes:
- Our Evaluation Partnership Approach
- Evolutionary Evaluation
- Evaluative Thinking
- The Science of Team Science
- Translational Research
- Evaluation Policy
- Regression Discontinuity: Initially developed by Donald T. Campbell, the regression discontinuity quasi-experimental design was the foundation of Dr. Trochim's graduate research. The Regression Discontinuity (RD) design is seen as a useful method for determining whether a program or treatment is effective.
Research-based Tools (Dissemination)
- The Guide to the Systems Evaluation Protocol (SEP)
- The Netway and mySEP
- Research Methods Knowledge Base
- Concept Mapping: Concept mapping is a general method that can be used to help any individual or group to describe their ideas about some topic in a pictorial form. There are multiple uses of the term "concept mapping", but for us it refers to the following -- brainstorming, brainwriting, nominal group techniques, focus groups, affinity mapping, Delphi techniques, facet theory, and qualitative text analysis. It is especially useful for research problem formulation. | <urn:uuid:9d0951bc-e8e6-4e47-8c39-de89d7511bfe> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | https://core.human.cornell.edu/research/index.cfm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397873.63/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00184-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.895014 | 283 | 2.71875 | 3 |
The 16 Personality
Serious, quiet, earn success by concentration and thoroughness. Practical,
orderly, matter-of-fact, logical, realistic, dependable. See to it that
everything is well organized. Take responsibility. Make up their minds as to
what should be accomplished and work toward is steadily, regardless of protests
Quiet friendly, responsible, and conscientious. Work devotedly to meet their
obligations. Lend stability to any project or group. Thorough, painstaking,
accurate. Their interests are usually not technical. Can be patient with
necessary details. Loyal, considerate, perceptive, concerned with how other
Succeed by perseverance, originality, and desire to do whatever is needed or
wanted. Put their best efforts into their work. Quietly forceful, conscientious,
concerned for others. Respected for their firm principles. Likely to be honored
and followed for their clear convictions as to how best to serve the common
Usually have original minds and great drive for their own ideas and purposes. In
fields that appeal to them, they have a fine power to organize a job and carry
it out with or without help. Skeptical, critical, independent determined,
sometimes stubborn. Must learn to yield less important points in order to win
the most important
Cool onlookers. Quiet, reserved, observing and analyzing life with detached
curiosity and unexpected flashes of original humor. Usually interested in cause
and effect-how and why mechanical things work, and in organizing facts use
Retiring, quiet, sensitive, kind, and modest about their abilities. Shun
disagreements; do not force their opinions or values on others. Usually do not
care to lead but are often loyal followers. Often relaxed about getting things
done, because they enjoy the moment and do not want to spoil it by undue haste
Full of enthusiasm and loyalties, but seldom talk of these until they know you
well. Care about learning ideas, language, and independent projects of their
own. Tend to undertake too much, then somehow get it done. Friendly, but often
too absorbed in what they are doing to be sociable. Little concerned with
possessions or physical surroundings.
Quiet and reserved. Especially enjoy theoretical or scientific pursuits. Like
solving problems with logic and analysis. Usually interested mainly ideas, with
little liking for parties or small talk. Tend to have sharply defined interests.
Need careers where some strong interests can be used and useful.
Good at on the spot problem solving. Do not worry-enjoy whatever comes along.
Tend to like mechanical things and sports, with friends on the side. Adaptable,
tolerant, generally conservative in values. Dislike long explanations. Are best
with real things that can be worked, handled, taken apart, or put together.
Outgoing, easygoing, accepting, enjoy everything and make things more fun for
others by their enjoyment. Like sports and making things happen. Know what is
going on and join in eagerly. Find remembering facts easier than mastering
theories. Are best in situations that need sound common sense and practical
ability with people as well as with things.
Warmly enthusiastic, high spirited, ingenious, imaginative. Able to do almost
anything that interests them. Quick with a solution for any difficulty and ready
to help anyone with a problem. Often rely on their ability to improvise instead
of preparing in advance. Can usually find compelling reasons for whatever they
Quick, ingenious, good at many things. Stimulating company alert and outspoken.
May argue for fun on either side of question. Resourceful in solving new and
challenging problems but may neglect some routine assignments. Apt to turn to
one new interest after another. Skillful in finding logical reasons for what
Practical, realistic, matter of fact with a natural head for business and
mechanics. Not interested in subjects they see no use for, but can apply
themselves when necessary. Like to organize and run activities. May be good
administrators, especially if they remember to consider others' feelings and
points of view.
Warm-hearted, talkative, popular, conscientious, born cooperators, active
committee members. Need harmony and may be good at creating it. Always doing
something nice for someone. Work best with encouragement and praise. Main
interest is in things that directly and practically help people's lives
Responsive and responsible. Generally feel real concern for what others think or
want, and try to handle things with due regard for the other person's feelings.
Can present a proposal or lead a group discussion with ease and tact. Sociable,
popular, sympathetic. Responsive to praise and criticism.
Hearty, frank, decisive leaders in activities. Usually good in anything that
requires reasoning and intelligent talk, such as public speaking. Are usually
well informed and enjoy adding to their fun of knowledge. May sometimes appear
more positive and confident than their experience in the area warrants.
Click on the link to any type for a more complete profile of the type.
Briggs-Myers & M. McCaulley (1992) Manual a Guide to the Development and Use
of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Consulting Psychologists Press
Further Internet Resources:
Printable grid of the 16 types
Carl Jung Biography & Theories - Personality Types
Personality Types Under Stress
Return To: Jung & | <urn:uuid:674ea328-dd9f-4866-bc50-5ecddbef3166> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.iloveulove.com/psychology/personality/16perstypes.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403826.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00124-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933784 | 1,143 | 2.75 | 3 |
At the midpoint of meteorological winter (December-February), new high temperature records are outnumbering low temperature records in the U.S. by a ratio of 6.2 to 1, according to preliminary reports from the National Climatic Data Center. Thanks to an incredible ratio of nearly 34 to 1 in the first half of January, the seasonal ratio is the highest since the over 11 to 1 value last summer. The total count of 2545 new heat records for the first 6 weeks for winter outnumbers the total cold records in the last 6 months of 2011.
The preliminary analysis from NOAA/NCEP data for December 1-January 16 shows the warmest temperatures relative to average (as much as 8°C above) in western Canada, extending southeastward across most of the U.S. The only area in the country with substantially below-average temperatures includes New Mexico and southwestern Texas.
Images (click to enlarge):
- Monthly ratio of daily high temperature to low temperature records set in the U.S. for December 2010 through January 16, 2012, seasonal ratio for summer and fall 2011, winter 2011-2012 to date, and annual ratio for 2011 and 2010;
- U.S. temperature departure from climatological average, December 1, 2011 to January 16, 2012
CapitalClimate chart from NOAA/NCDC data, background image © Kevin Ambrose (www.weatherbook.com). Includes historical daily observations archived in NCDC's Cooperative Summary of the Day data set and preliminary reports from Cooperative Observers and First Order National Weather Service stations. All stations have a Period of Record of at least 30 years.
U.S. average temperature map from NOAA/NCEP via ESRL
Global Day of Overshoot
10 months ago | <urn:uuid:17531c51-a7d8-49e6-a90f-85fba2ca891e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://capitalclimate.blogspot.com/2012_01_15_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397565.80/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00160-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923431 | 362 | 3.09375 | 3 |
Professor of Psychology Robert McCormick is the founder and director of Montclair State University’s Center for Child Advocacy, which offers 12-hour anti-bullying training, with a focus on New Jersey’s Anti-Bullying Law, for school personnel and others who wish to gain a deeper understanding about bullying. Anti-bullying advocates have described the law, enacted a year after the suicide of 18-year-old Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi in September 2010, as the toughest in the nation.
Q: What lessons have been learned from the Ravi-Clementi case?
A: The best thing is perhaps some consciousness-raising for people. What’s important for students to realize is that bullying is not just cruel, there are also legal repercussions. In this case, the people were over 18; they weren’t children. But younger kids look up to older kids, so hopefully there’s a lesson to be learned that sometimes older kids don’t always lead us in the right direction. Hopefully, older kids realize they can be prosecuted for doing things like this. As horrible as these episodes are, they at least help raise awareness. Kids are dying and that shouldn’t happen on our watch. We need to fix this—we’re all responsible for that.
Another lesson to be learned is that we can’t assume our definition of personal space matches someone else’s. For someone from my generation, filming someone in a sexual situation would be beyond our imagination. A lot of younger people probably think that way too, but others who may not be horrible people are more desensitized to having a lack of personal space. They might not see it as being as big a deal because they’re used to revealing their intimate thoughts on Facebook. For others, obviously for Tyler, it was.
Q: How does bullying today differ from a generation ago?
A: I don’t think bullying per se is different. I think what’s different is the context in which it’s played out. Years ago, if we were bullied, we went home to the safety of our rooms and we could shut out the bullying until the next day. Now, bullying is relentless. It follows us with our computers; it follows us with our cell phones; it follows us at home. There’s no safety, no place where we can go.
It’s much more damaging, particularly for adolescents, where shame, humiliation, embarrassment, and peer acceptance are so important. Now you have the world knowing that you are this or that. Sometimes there are pictures, which is even worse. The worst thing you can do is embarrass an adolescent. And then there’s Facebook. Let’s say I have 150 friends and I send something to someone who also has 150 friends. The numbers of people involved are beyond our imagination.
Q: In terms of bullying, what can a parent tell a child about responsible computer use?
A: The larger issue is the parent-child dialogue that seems not to be happening. Parents need to talk to their children earlier and they also need to listen to their children. I don’t think you can suddenly talk about being a responsible computer user at age 14 if there’s been a lack of communication since birth. You have to have that relationship established. Some of these behaviors indicate to me a lack of values. I think that the conversation about invading someone’s space isn’t just related to computers, it’s related to other things: how people talk to each other and the lack of civility in our society. We can have short-term computer conversations with our children, but it’s more about developing a relationship. Once you have that relationship, kids will listen.
There’s nothing wrong with supervising a child. We give kids keys to a car but we give them lessons on how to drive. We give them a computer and say, “Have Fun.” We forget that transition from games to Facebook, and maybe to pornography. I don’t think we can have one conversation about computers. It has to be ongoing. | <urn:uuid:243fd31e-c10a-425e-9a2c-b96f14858d4d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.montclair.edu/news/article.php?ArticleID=9611 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393093.59/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00096-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971937 | 867 | 3.140625 | 3 |
Distributed for Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Cymbidium growing in the Far East can be traced back to the time of Confucius (about 500 BC), but the first species were only introduced to Europe and China at the end of the 18th century. Relatively few species were seen in cultivation in Britain until the time of the Industrial Revolution, which provided both the leisure time and the money for an explosion of interest in orchid growing. From the mid-19th century onwards, extensive exploration and collection of new species took place. The genus Cymbidium currently comprises some 52 species distributed throughout south and east Asia, the Malay Archipelago and north and east Australia.
A revised classification of the genus and an assessment of specific delimitation and nomenclature within the genus are presented in this monograph. The evidence from DNA data has clarified the relationships and classification of the species. The resurgence of interest in Cymbidium species has highlighted the taxonomic questions that still remain in the genus. The recent rush of new species names in the literature is assessed and nomenclature is clarified.
Extensive fieldwork in tropical and subtropical Asia, the Malay Archipelago and Australia has allowed the examination of many species in their wild habitats, contributing valuable information concerning the ecology, natural variation of wild populations and conservation assessments for Cymbidium species, and are provided here for the first time.
Cymbidiums are easy to grow, undoubtedly one of the main reasons for their popularity in horticulture. Suitable environmental conditions and composts for cultivation are recommended, while detailed cultivation techniques for the species are discussed by Michael Tibbs, a leading commercial orchid grower. | <urn:uuid:7b9bd4e1-062a-45d2-8589-cef9afd58e74> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/G/bo9856824.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393997.50/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00003-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941922 | 347 | 3.484375 | 3 |
Transcript for The Race Against Time to Save Majestic Sequoias From Destructive Wildfires at Yosemite
And right back here at home there are two pictures that say so much about the incredibly brave and exhausted firefighters near yosemite national park. The wind is whipping the flames above the see coy ya trees and they are treasures, some of the oldest living things on earth. More than 3,000 men and women are inside the flames where the heat can reach more than 800 degrees. Abc's neal karlinsky is in the heart of the battle. Reporter: Along the edge of yosemite, a fire now so fierce it's creating its own weather patterns, so called thunderous cumulus clouds, big enough to be seen from space that can alter the wind direction rapidly and trap firefighters. We have had up to 43,000 quick flums plumes. That creates its own weather. This reservoir supplies up to 85 percent of san francisco's water and is being polluted by falling ash. The fire is being spread by crowning where the tops of trees torch, spreading faster than on the ground. Do you worried that any of these trees are going to come down while you are in there working? That's why we train the way we do with our eyes up. Reporter: More than 3500 are in this battle along the northeast, southwest and southeast, still 20 miles from el captain and other yosemite treasures. They dig up dry shrubs, bull dose the land and all to rob the biggest flames of more fuel. They also have small teams putting out spot fires that spring up. Here's one of the challenges. No fire here, blue sky and then all of a sudden, a spot fire breaks out. It's like this for miles up and down the road. Then there is this, a fire team deployed to protect three dozen of yosemites trees, some of the oldest living things on earth, in need of protection now. Neal karlinsky, abc news, yosemite national park.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate. | <urn:uuid:698c16e9-78c8-4114-a362-04ed8045ada2> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.listeditor@abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/race-time-save-majestic-sequoias-destructive-wildfires-yosemite-20075634?tab=9482930§ion=1206853&playlist=1363340 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392099.27/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00016-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954441 | 430 | 2.9375 | 3 |
Sugar is a free and open source desktop environment which can be installed on a variety of operating systems, including several Linux distributions and within virtual machines on Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. The goal of this desktop environment is to help kids all over the world in their learning activities. Sugar was initially released May 2006, the actual stable release is 0.98.5 which was released on March 8 2013, five months ago. Sugar is still in development Sugar Labs and it is written in Python, PyGTK, GTK+.
Originally developed for the One Laptop per Child XO-1 netbook Sugar is used in many schools by nearly 3 million children in more than forty countries. Sugar is available in 25 languages and gives every child the opportunity for a quality education. Sugar is available on many linux distributions such as Debian, Ubuntu, and Fedora as of Ubuntu , Sugar can be installed from the official Ubuntu universe repositories.
The user user interface design is very simple and clear due to the laptop’s hardware limitations. Are you an experienced programmer? If you know some python you can easily modify Sugar since it is written in Python programming language which is a high level interpreted language. Do you admire simple things? Cool, there is no double clicking. Applications run full screen and menus are iconic. There are many contributors to the core Sugar Platform but the most active ones include Marco Pesenti Gritti, Walter Bender, Christopher Blizzard, Eben Eliason, Simon Schampijer, Christian Schmidt, Lisa Strausfeld, Takaaki Okada, Tomeu Vizoso, and Dan Williams.
Do you want to give Sugar a try? Go here. | <urn:uuid:ff4f1f6d-5f69-440b-a2cd-f25e14d80524> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.unixmen.com/sugar-desktop-environment-kids/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392159.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00174-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94392 | 338 | 2.71875 | 3 |
FATE, TEXAS. Fate is on State Highway 66 and the Missouri, Kansas and Texas line four miles northeast of Rockwall in northern Rockwall County. The community's name derives from the nickname, "Fate," given to Lafayette Brown, one of the area's early settlers, by his wife. A post office was established in the community in July 1880. By the mid-1880s Fate had a school, a cotton gin, two general stores, and a population of seventy-five. In 1886, in anticipation of the arrival of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas, Dr. Wylie T. Barnes platted a new community on his land about a half mile northeast of Fate, calling the new community Barnes City. The railroad built through later that year, and the residents and businesses of Fate moved to the new community. Seeking to avoid having to apply for a new post office, the residents of Barnes City changed their community's name to Fate in February 1887. By 1890 the community had fifteen businesses, a two-room school, two churches, and a population of 100. In 1899 the first rural mail route in Texas began operation from Fate. The population of the community continued to grow steadily through the 1890s and the first decades of the twentieth century, reaching 299 by 1920. The business community witnessed a similar growth, and Fate's first bank opened in 1907. Fate was incorporated in 1908. The federal highway reached the town after World War I.
During the 1920s and 1930s the small community began to decline. While agriculture remained the area's major occupation, better roads and automobiles took trade from local merchants to those in larger towns. Nonetheless, a bank, a drugstore, and a number of stores remained in business at Fate. Fate's school eventually dropped its high school grades, and the community's population declined to 194 by 1930 and 127 by 1940. During the 1940s and 1950s Fate lost businesses and residents to the growing cities of Dallas and Fort Worth. The number of businesses operating in Fate declined from fifteen to six during the 1940s. Since 1950, however, the population of Fate has increased, rising to 475 by 1990. In the 1990s many of the town's residents held jobs in the Dallas area, but Fate was still able to support four businesses. In 2000 the population was 497.
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The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this article.Handbook of Texas Online, Brian Hart, "Fate, TX," accessed July 01, 2016, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hlf09.
Uploaded on June 12, 2010. Published by the Texas State Historical Association. | <urn:uuid:75cb447c-458b-4349-8d24-d3cda183be3f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hlf09 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402479.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00071-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965172 | 710 | 2.71875 | 3 |
I've heard that sundowning may happen with dementia. What is sundowning and how is it treated?
Answers from Glenn Smith, Ph.D.
The term "sundowning" refers to a state of confusion at the end of the day and into the night. Sundowning can cause a variety of behaviors, such as confusion, anxiety, aggression or ignoring directions. Sundowning can also lead to pacing or wandering.
Sundowning isn't a disease, but a group of symptoms that occur at a specific time of the day that may affect people with dementia, such as Alzheimer's disease. The exact cause of this behavior is unknown.
Factors that may aggravate late-day confusion include:
- Low lighting
- Increased shadows
- Disruption of the body's "internal clock"
- Difficulty separating reality from dreams
Tips for reducing sundowning:
- Try to maintain a predictable routine for bedtime, waking, meals and activities.
- Plan for activities and exposure to light during the day to encourage nighttime sleepiness.
- Limit daytime napping.
- Limit caffeine and sugar to morning hours.
- Keep a night light on to reduce agitation that occurs when surroundings are dark or unfamiliar.
- In the evening, try to reduce background noise and stimulating activities, including TV viewing, which can sometimes be upsetting.
- In a strange or unfamiliar setting, bring familiar items — such as photographs — to create a more relaxed, familiar setting.
- Play familiar gentle music in the evening or relaxing sounds of nature, such as the sound of waves.
- Talk with your loved one's doctor if you suspect an underlying condition, such as a urinary tract infection or sleep apnea, might be worsening sundowning behavior.
Some research suggests that a low dose of melatonin — a naturally occurring hormone that induces sleepiness — alone or in combination with exposure to bright light during the day may help ease sundowning.
When sundowning occurs in a care facility, it may be related to the flurry of activity during staff shift changes or the lack of structured activities in the late afternoon and evening. Staff arriving and leaving may cue some people with Alzheimer's to want to go home or to check on their children — or other behaviors that were appropriate in the late afternoon in their past. It may help to occupy their time with another activity during that period.
March 27, 2014
- Khachiyants N, et al. Sundown syndrome in persons with dementia: An update. Psychiatry Investigation. 2011;8:275.
- Sleeplessness and sundowning. Alzheimer's Association. http://www.alz.org/care/alzheimers-dementia-sleep-issues-sundowning.asp. Accessed Jan. 22, 2014.
- Caring for a person with Alzheimer's disease. National Institute on Aging. http://www.nia.nih.gov/alzheimers/publication/caring-person-ad/understanding-how-ad-changes-people-challenges-and-coping. Accessed Jan. 29, 2014.
- Francis J. Prevention and treatment of delirium and confusional states. http://www.uptodate.com/home. Accessed Jan. 22, 2014. | <urn:uuid:2ef84baf-752c-4dcc-91de-9c9db3a1affa> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/alzheimers-disease/expert-answers/sundowning/faq-20058511?p=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783400031.51/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155000-00084-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.907836 | 684 | 3.75 | 4 |
If the latest issue of Time Magazine is any indication, attachment parenting is a hot topic right now. And while it may be the breastfeeding toddler on the magazine's cover attracting the most attention at the moment, it is the definition of attachment parenting itself that most Americans don't quite seem to understand.
What Attachment Parenting Is NOT
There are many misconceptions surrounding the concept of attachment parenting. As a culture, we seem to operate under the misguided notion that attachment-style parenting is one in which parents — and particularly mothers — sacrifice their lives entirely for the good of their children, and compete over who can breastfeed the longest and make the most nutritious baby food.
But no matter what you hear at the playground — or read in an influential national magazine — attachment parenting isn't about competing with the mother next to you, nor is it about trying to live up to ridiculously unrealistic expectations that don't work for your family.
What IS Attachment Parenting?
Pediatrician Dr. Bill Sears first introduced the idea of attachment parenting in The Baby Book nearly 20 years ago. According to Dr. Sears, there are "7 Baby B's" — including bonding, breastfeeding, babywearing, and bedding with baby — which can help parents to form a more secure attachment with their infant.
But while Dr. Sears based these ideas on both personal and professional experience, he never meant for them to be interpreted as strict guidelines that parents must follow.
"AP is an approach," reads the Ask Dr. Sears website, "rather than a strict set of rules. It's actually the style that most parents use instinctively. Parenting is too individual and baby too complex for there to be only one way."
The Eight Principles of Attachment Parenting
When Attachment Parenting International (also known as API) was founded in 1994, the non-profit organization created their own set of attachment parenting guidelines, now considered to be the foundation of attachment parenting as we know it today.
- Prepare for Pregnancy, Birth, and Parenting.
- Feed with Love and Respect.
- Respond with Sensitivity.
- Use Nurturing Touch.
- Ensure Safe Sleep, Physically and Emotionally.
- Provide Consistent and Loving Care.
- Practice Positive Discipline.
- Strive for Balance in Personal and Family Life.
At its most basic, attachment parenting is about making our children feel safe and loved, and about realizing that they have a fundamental need for our attention, our presence, and our respect. The fast pace of modern life makes it easy to place our children — and their myriad needs — near the bottom of our list of priorities, but attachment parenting reminds us that they belong at the top.
And ultimately, that's a reminder that most parents need. We all want to raise happy, well-adjusted children who grow into confident and independent adults. Attachment parenting is one tool, among many, that can help us to do so.
What do you think of attachment parenting? Do these principles work for you? | <urn:uuid:ab8c033e-009a-4984-869c-c1e698901cc6> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://parentingsquad.com/what-is-attachment-parenting | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395560.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00033-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954542 | 622 | 2.5625 | 3 |
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