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The major significance and importance of cross currency triangulation is due to the fact that many spot currency cross pairs are not traded against each other in the interbank market as standard pairs. With a realignment of the currency markets due to the adoption of the euro, cross currency pairs such as the EUR/JPY, GBP/CHF, GBP/JPY and EUR/GBP, as well as many other cross currency pairs, developed over time, for many reasons. Major companies, importers and exporters, governments, investors and tourists, all needed a method to simultaneously transact business in euros, while allowing for money and profits to repatriate back to their home currencies. Tutorial: Investing in the Money Market Notice that none of the base currencies in these pairs is a nation that has adopted the Maastricht Treaty, and therefore rejected adoption of the euro. With the European Union's implementation of Rule 1103/97 on Sept. 11, 1997, a formal legality existed for calculating conversions to euros. This rule also established convertibility to six, then three, decimal places and the adoption of triangulation as the legal norm for transacting business in the eurozone. What this legality gave to investors, traders and bankers was a new means to trade currencies, with a whole host of new profit opportunities. For this article, the focus will be about triangulation as a means to trade and profit. (For background reading, check out our Forex Tutorial.) How Triangulation Changes the Process Before triangulation existed, a company in the U.K., selling in Switzerland and receiving Swiss francs, had to sell Swiss francs for U.S. dollars and then sell U.S. dollars for British pounds. Before cross currencies existed, repatriations occurred by triangulating pairs with U.S. dollars. Therefore, triangulation with crosses gave us a means to take advantage of bid-ask spreads in the interbank market. Well-capitalized investors and traders can always find discrepancies, on a daily basis, between bid-ask spreads, through the many cross pairs that exist today, thanks to the inclusion of euros; although these arbitrage opportunities may last for as little as 10 seconds. Fortunately, computers linked directly to the interbank market can easily meet this challenge and profit through bid-ask spreads around the world, from banks that make markets in currencies. (To learn more, see Arbitrage Squeezes Profit From Market Inefficiency.) Example Number One For example, suppose we know the bid and offer of AUD/USD and NZD/USD and we want to profit from AUD/NZD. The product of the rate through the bid-ask spread, will determine whether a profit opportunity exists. Example Number Two Suppose that we have a three-pair triangulation opportunity such as GBP/CHF, EUR/GBP and EUR/CHF, where GBP/CHF is quoted from EUR/GBP and EUR/CHF. Notice the base currencies within EUR/GBP and EUR/CHF; they equal the GBP/CHF, but we must make our euro conversions in order to achieve our objective. Example Number Three Why Triangulate? In most instances, triangulation involves profiting from exchange rate disparities. This can be accomplished in many ways, for example, suppose you institute two buys on a certain pair and one sell, or you sell two pairs and buy one pair. Any number of triangulation opportunities exist every day from banks in Tokyo, London, New York, Singapore, Australia and all the paces in between. Yet, these same opportunities may exist around the world, trading the exact same pair. The most popular triangular opportunities are usually found with the CHF, EUR, GBP, JPY and U.S. dollars, in order to convert from euros to home currencies. (To learn more, read Forex Currencies: Currency Cross Rates.) What is noticeable, more and more, is that many brokers, including retail currency brokers, are including cross currency pairs in their dealing rates section of their trade stations. One can now trade the GBP/USD as easily as the USD/GBP, and the EUR/USD as easily as the USD/EUR. The difference between the interbank market and the retail side of trading, is the spot market. Many may want to transact their business through the spot market where they know their trade will be executed, because prices in the interbank market are so ephemeral. Traders can easily transact any triangular arbitrage opportunities with two or three currency pairs crossed by many nations, as well as take advantage of any other bid-ask spread opportunities. For the small retail trader with limited funds, this would probably work, however, for the well-capitalized trader it may not, because the spot market doesn't always reflect exact exchange rates. Larger traders may have to wait on certain spot prices, before transacting their business, a wait they may not be willing to risk, in terms of profits. The Bottom Line Many opportunities exist for the arbitrage and triangular traders, that don't always include exchange rate arbitrages. Traders may want to capitalize on merger and acquisition opportunities through the currency markets, swap trades, forward trades, yield curve trades and option trades. The same opportunities exist for each one of these markets. (For more, read Make The Currency Cross Your Boss.) You May Also Like Related Articles 1. Charts & Patterns Should Investors Get Into Oil Now? 2. Economics Countries Most Affected By A Strong ... 3. Mutual Funds & ETFs Invest in Emerging Market Currencies ... 4. Chart Advisor Trade Europe and a Strong USD with this ... 5. Forex Fundamentals Why The Swiss Franc Is So Strong Trading Center
What Is The Biblical Definition of Joy? How Does The Bible Define Joy? How does the Bible define joy? What does the Bible say about joy? Do you have joy? Joy Defined Joy isn’t like happiness which is based upon happenings or whether things are going well or not. No, joy remains even amidst the suffering. Joy is not happiness. Joy is an emotion that’s acquired by the anticipation, acquisition or even the expectation of something great or wonderful. It could be described as exhilaration, delight, sheer gladness, and can result from a great success or a ver … [Read more...] What Is Apostasy? A Biblical Definition of Apostasy How does the Bible define apostasy? What is it exactly so we can know to identify it? Apostasy Defined The word itself is from the Greek word “apostasia” and is very much like renouncing or disassociating oneself from a particular religion or certain religious beliefs. It is similar to a rejection of beliefs that were once held and accepting different beliefs and might even be a renunciation of the beliefs that were previously held. For example, is someone converts to another rel … [Read more...] What Does Betrayal Mean? A Biblical Definition of Betrayal Most of us have been betrayed before but what does it mean to be betrayed? What’s a biblical definition of betrayal? What is Betrayal? A secular definition of betrayal is a violation or breaking of a trust, contract, or confidence between an individual, group or organization that someone or others place in a person, group or organization which is a total break from what was agreed upon earlier by both parties. It is like a husband or wife committing adultery or a nation that is a … [Read more...] What is the Biblical Definition of a Eunuch? Why does the Bible mention eunuchs? What does the Bible say about them? What is a Eunuch? A eunuch is one who has been castrated and typically was a slave or servant and frequently was put in charge of women like a harem who were the property or owned by a king or ruler so as to avoid him engaging in sexual activity with those whom he was supposed to be guarding. A eunuch is incapable of having sexual intercourse with females and since there are great hormonal changes that take place … [Read more...] What Is The Purpose of Prayer? A Bible Study Since God is sovereign, why pray? What is the purpose of prayer according to the Bible?What is Prayer? Prayer is very much like talking to someone on a very personal, private basis. We communicate with people every day by talking to them but what about God? He knows our every thought and intent of the heart anyway. Since He knows our thoughts, why pray to God and especially since He has preordained things in our life? Why? It’s because Jesus commanded us to pray (Luke 18:1). Prayer is lik … [Read more...] How Does The Bible Define Uncleanness? What Does It Mean To Be Unclean? What is the biblical definition of uncleanness? What does it mean to be unclean? What is Uncleanness? God gives us much to read about in what is called “uncleanness” such as in Ezekiel 24:13 that is was “On account of your unclean lewdness, because I would have cleansed you and you were not cleansed from your uncleanness, you shall not be cleansed anymore till I have satisfied my fury upon you.” Lewdness is something or some act that is determined to be morally impure and completely u … [Read more...]
This is the name of an area in the north-west of the city of Inverness and it is derived from the Gaelic, meaning island or meadow of the horses. It was formerly an estuarine island, and the east bank of the Caledonian canal follows the old shoreline. The area is dominated by the great expanse of the Beauly Firth where the ebb and flow of the tides constantly expose huge mudflats and sand banks. Beyond to the west lies the great massif of the hill of Ben Wyvis that is now snow-capped. The building of the canal (opened in 1822) created the sea wall that runs from the canal to the old ferry slipway, enclosing the mini estuary. The area is renowned for its wide range of habitats, such as freshwater lagoons, tidal pools, extensive mudflats, salt marsh and scrub. The mudflats yield an abundance of food that attracts some of the thousands of wildfowl and waders that winter in the firth. Grey and common seals can be seen - as can bottlenose dolphins. However, it is the mini estuary that provides the widest variety of wildlife, with birds such as kingfisher, herons, common snipe and teal regularly seen. The botanists are attracted by the beds of bulrush that are very rare in other parts of the Highlands. Merkinch has attracted people for many years for a variety of reasons, but now there has been an important event in its long and colourful history. It has become a local nature reserve, the 50th in Scotland, but, remarkably, only the first in the Highlands. The reserve covers 135 acres and the impetus for its designation came from Merkinch Greenspace, a voluntary organisation consisting primarily of local volunteers. Now several bodies are involved to create an area that is accessible for a wide variety of users, and where biodiversity and humans co-exist for each other's mutual benefit. Funding from bodies will be partly used for a consultant to develop a detailed management plan.
The Wrinkly Fingers Theory: Study Explains Why Fingers Get Creases in Water Having wrinkly fingers is actually an evolutionary development, researchers say It is a well-known fact that spending too much time swimming, doing dishes or in the bathtub ultimately leads to one's fingers getting all wrinkly. Most people take this phenomenon for granted, and do not bother asking why it is that water affects our fingers in this manner. Still, a team of scientists working with the Newcastle University now claims that they have solved this puzzle and that they have a perfectly valid explanation for people's wrinkly fingers. Interestingly enough, they say that it all has to do with adapting to our surrounding environment and that we are basically dealing with an evolutionary development. To cut a long story short, they believe that people evolved to have wrinkled-when-wet fingers for the sole purpose of being able to grab and hold on to objects that for one reason or another are located underwater. More precisely, it is their belief that wrinkly fingers really came in handy whenever our ancestors had to go looking for food in aquatic environment. After asking people with wrinkly fingers and people with “ordinary” ones to pick up various wet objects, the researchers found that the first did a much better job at this task than the latter, meaning that they were – on average – 12% faster. According to The Conservation, the study published by said specialists in the journal Biology Letters reads as follows: Commenting on these findings, Dr. Maciej Henneberg, professor of anthropological and comparative anatomy at the University of Adelaide, made a case of how, “It is fairly likely that if our ancestors spent a lot of time wading through water and extracting resources form shallow water, they have adapted to that. It’s quite a reasonable theory.” Hot right now · Latest news
Take the 2-minute tour × I've seen/used some objects that have a structure like so, designed to let children extend the functionality of functions without having to override them. Is there a name for this pattern? code example: class CrudModel { public function create($data) { $data = $this->pre_create($data); //create logic public function delete($data) { $data = $this->pre_delete($data); //delete logic protected function pre_create($data) { //empty } protected function pre_delete($data) { //empty } class SpecificCrudModel extends Model { protected function pre_create($data) { //custom logic for this object. share\|improve this question I wish I could see a longer, more concrete example. Btw, what language is this? – Job Sep 1 '11 at 15:01 @Job: if I had to guess, PHP. – Brad Christie Sep 1 '11 at 15:06 2 Answers 2 up vote 6 down vote accepted It looks like a template method pattern, but the methods in question are not abstract and the child class is not being forced to implement them. I'd say it's just a common use of inheritance or maybe a borderline template method pattern. I'd rather implement such things via events/delegates/callbacks, though. It is much clearer then what you can hook up to and you can't accidentally override necessary behaviour. It's also more flexible. Here's an example of using callbacks with PHP. It's not as elegant as in other languages with native event support (like C# offers for example), but it's flexible and you can register such callbacks in the constructor of a child class for example. This website here told me how to implement callbacks in PHP, the heart of it is the call_user_func function of PHP. This can register as many handlers as you like and anything with a reference to the object can register handlers. class Model { protected $_before_create_callbacks = array(); protected $_after_create_callbacks = array(); function register_before_create_handler($callback) { $this->_before_create_callbacks[] = $callback; function register_after_create_handler($callback) { $this->_after_create_callbacks[] = $callback; function create(){ //logic of create... protected function before_create() { foreach ($this->_before_create_callbacks as $callback){ protected function before_create() { foreach ($this->$_after_create_callbacks as $callback){ function someFunction(){ share\|improve this answer interesting, do you have an example of how you would handle this in the manner you described? – GSto Sep 1 '11 at 15:19 AFAIK this is template method pattern (or a variation of it), and when the Wikipedia article talks about "abstract methods", IMHO it does not mean necessarily methods which force the subclass to implement them, but also virtual methods which may have an empty (or even a non-empty) default implementation. – Doc Brown Sep 1 '11 at 15:38 @Doc Brown: You can call it a variation. I think it's just close enough to call it template method, but it isn't a classical template method pattern and thus it becomes classical method overriding, basically just usage of inheritance. Also, see wikipedia's definition of abstract method, they do mean it in an OOP sense. – Falcon Sep 1 '11 at 15:57 @GSto: Give me some time, I'm gonna write an example, probably tomorrow. – Falcon Sep 1 '11 at 16:15 @Falcon: well, I have the GOF book here in my hand and the description of the template method pattern does not insist the virtual methods have to be pure virtual / abstract. In fact, hooks with empty default implementation are explicitly mentioned. I gave you +1, either. – Doc Brown Sep 1 '11 at 16:26 This looks like a pretty standard case of any inheritance-based model, depending on how you use it. It's pretty common to put any implementation specific code in virtual functions in an abstract parent, and to implement them in a child class. This is literally the exemplar case in c++; it looks like you're using PHP, here, and this is definitely the preferred method. Much easier to follow than using callbacks. If you're using this in an MVC framework (Or building one) you might want to prepend a '_' to the setup utility call. share\|improve this answer Your Answer
Peak oil: Why we'll never run out of oil A. Barton Hinkle Aaron Jansen illustration Remember the term "peak oil"? What happened to it? And how. In just the past six years, North Dakota has shot to the No. 2 domestic source of oil, thanks to improved horizontal drilling techniques that have tapped the Bakken and Three Forks fields. Thanks to the oil rush the population of Williston, N.D., has roughly doubled. Unemployment is 1 percent -- with 3,000 jobs still open -- and average pay has shot up from $32,000 to $80,000. North Dakota's oil boom also has been made possible by a new technology, fracking (short for hydraulic fracturing). Fracking has drawn criticism from environmentalists, but it works. This shows why it is a mistake to judge oil reserves by guessing how much is in the ground. First, that omits the most important factor: human ingenuity. While resources are limited, ingenuity is not. So when, in 1989, Colin Campbell -- the founder of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil -- claimed that the peak already had been reached, he might have been correct given the technology of the time. But then, more than a century before Campbell, Henry Wrigley -- head of the Pennsylvania Geological Survey -- also warned that oil production had reached its peak, too. People have been warning that we're about to run out of oil not just for the past few years, but for the past few decades. Yet as Donald Boudreaux, an economics professor at George Mason University, explained a couple of years ago, running out of oil "is not as much a question of physics as it is one of economics. And economics assures us that we will never run out of oil." Yes, never: "My colleague Russ Roberts explains why in his book The Invisible Heart. Imagine, Russ says, a room full of pistachio nuts. You love pistachios and can eat all that you wish as long as you throw each empty shell back into the room whenever you eat a nut. You might suppose that you'll eventually devour all of the nuts in the room. Their number, after all, is finite. But … the more you eat … the more difficult it becomes to find uneaten nuts among the increasing number of empty shells. Eventually, it will not be worth the time and effort required to search amidst the empty shells for the relatively few remaining nuts. You'll voluntarily leave uneaten pistachios in the room." What will you do then? Go find another source of energy, of course. Just as we will with oil. A. Barton Hinkle is an editor and columnist at the Richmond Times-Dispatch, and a regular contributor to Reason magazine. This commentary originally appeared in the Richmond Times-Dispatch and is republished here with permission.
Das Boot Patrick O’Brian HMSO, 396 pp, £30.00, October 1989, ISBN 0 11 772603 6 Leo Cooper, 841 pp, £19.50, September 1989, ISBN 0 85052 760 0 The first of these books is of a kind that rarely comes into the hands of a general reader: it is a highly-detailed account of the submarine war seen from the German side and it was written by a Kriegsmarine officer after the war at the request of the Admiralty and the United States Navy Department. Fregatenkapitän Hessler commanded a U-boat in 1940 and 1941; he then served on the staff of the Flag Officer, Submarines; and for the purpose of writing this book he and the German naval officers who helped him were given access to the War Diaries and the primary sources of the Kriegsmarine. Hessler was also Dönitz’s son-in-law. Few men could have been better-informed; and as he was methodical, conscientious, untiring, he and his assistants produced a work in three volumes, abundantly illustrated with charts and diagrams, of the first importance for anyone interested not only in the strategy, tactics and technology of submarine war as it was then fought and the impact of intelligence upon it, but also in the day-to-day running of a U-boat and life aboard. You are not logged in
Can someone become radioactive intravenously? In Milford, Mass., an unmarked van screeches to a stop on a quiet street. Two people in hazmat suits throw out a sickly woman named Emily. She makes her way to Holly's Diner, and after a few bites of vegetable soup, she dies gruesomely--and so does everyone else in the restaurant. Agent Broyles says they were all exposed to high levels of radiation; Emily was irradiating three times as much as the other victims. Advertisement - Continue Reading Below Radiation is a form of energy, and it can be either ionizing or non-ionizing. According to Paul Locke, an associate professor of environmental health sciences at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a member of the National Academy of Sciences Nuclear & Radiation Studies Board, ionizing radiation--similar to X-rays or gamma radiation--was at play here. This type of radiation is dangerous to human tissue because it has enough energy to dislodge an electron, and "it has the potential to disrupt cellular DNA, which can cause a cell to grow out of control and become malignant or cancerous," says Locke. Emily's exposure to radiation came from an injection into her bloodstream, a scenario that, according to Locke, is definitely possible. "Radiation is given off by radioactive compounds," he says. "If those radioactive compounds are injected into you and give off high levels of radiation, that could damage your organs, cause organ failure and result in sickness or death." According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, such exposure to high doses is known as Acute Radiation Syndrome (ARS). Jacky Williams, an associate professor of radiation oncology at the James P. Wilmot Cancer Center at the University of Rochester, confirms that Emily's deadly radioactivity could only be from internal radiation poisoning. "If the radiation is the waveform, the moment the machine is turned off, there is no more radiation," says Williams, whose lab is working to develop countermeasures to radiation terrorism, understanding the risks to astronauts and trying to learn the mechanisms of radiation therapy-related side effects. "That person does not glow in the dark and is not radioactive." Is it possible for someone with radiation poisoning to "cook" those around them? In the diner, Emily managed to cause the other patrons' eyes to become dilated and then bleed. Their body temperatures skyrocketed and their brains fried--one policeman's head reached 121 degrees Fahrenheit. Could Emily's radiation contamination really have been contagious? Not likely. As we learned by debunking the science in the show's premiere, contagions are reserved to microbial or viral threats--biological agents that multiply or reproduce once inside the body. "However, a person may become internally contaminated when they swallow or breathe in radioactive materials, or when radioactive materials enter the body through an open wound or are absorbed through the skin," says Dr. Robert Whitcomb, a member of the CDC's National Center of Environmental Health in the Radiation Studies Branch. After some experiments, Walter Bishop concludes that the radioactive element was strontium-90. He also mentions microwaves, which Williams points out are at the opposite end of the spectrum to radiation. Radioactive strontium partially emits gamma radiation, but its biggest emissions are electrons, which dissipate as they pass through the air. Williams explains that if someone were injected with a highly active substance, such as the polonium that killed former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, that person would become radioactive and could irradiate others. "But the woman would have to get close to everyone-rubbing up against them or dirty dancing for minutes, if not hours, at a time-and the doses that the other people received would be relatively low and not lethal like hers." Advertisement - Continue Reading Below Are the eye-bleeding and brain-boiling side effects legitimate? Whitcomb explains that the first symptoms of ARS are typically nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. These symptoms will start within minutes to days after exposure. After some period of time, they will exhibit a loss of appetite, fatigue, fever and possibly even seizures and coma. After that, they often show signs of skin damage including swelling and redness. While Emily's poisoning might have been at a high enough dosage to cause these symptoms within hours, Whitcomb can't find any scientific basis for spread of radiation sickness depicted in Fringe. "No, eyes do not bleed," Williams said. "The only thing that causes that, as far as I know, is Ebola. I love the thought of boiled brains-although radiation can cause what looks like a burn, this is simply cells dying quickly, like an accelerated sunburn. But there is no actual boiling." Can someone survive after becoming highly radioactive? In one of the final scenes, another female victim is exposed to high levels of radiation, but after being injected with an antidote, she's saved. The chance of survival for people with ARS decreases with increasing radiation doses, explains Whitcomb. Most people who do not recover from ARS will die within several months of exposure, most often caused by destruction to the person's bone marrow, which results in infections and internal bleeding. Despite the tragic cases of fatal radiation poisoning--the Chernobyl explosion being a prime example--it is possible to live to tell the tale. "Someone can survive a radiation poisoning," Locke says. "Survival would depend on the radioactive substance involved, the amount, the person's underlying health, where in the body the exposure took place, the rapidity and effectiveness of treatment and other factors." If the radiation was external, washing and removing clothing could often do the trick. Internal radioactivity is a bit trickier. "Many of the radioactive materials tend to hone in on certain tissues or organs in the body or even the bones," Williams says. "There are agents, known as chelators, that can replace the radioactive element in a tissue or organ, or alternatively, bind to it. Then the body's own metabolism will remove the radioactive material." Williams does warn that one stab of a syringe to the jugular, as in this victim's case, certainly wouldn't work. "It would be totally unable to reduce radiation levels as shown," Williams says. "The chelator drug needs to get in, attach itself, and then the radioactivity needs to be peed or pooed out, and this normally takes several cycles, so we are talking days to weeks." Another dilemma here is that one needs know which radioactive element is involved to effectively choose a chelator. Lucky for Fringe, Walter was quite certain of the isotopic culprit. It's unclear if Bishop's bonding agent antidote was, in fact, a chelator, but it seemed to do the trick. What Do You Think?
Social graph A map of people and how they’re connected. In relational form, the social graph has interesting but limited utility. In Resource Description Framework (RDF) graph form, however, it can be a powerful means of navigation. In this form, the social graph can be connected to a larger knowledge graph that can help make the whole more intelligible. Interest graph A map of interests and how they’re interrelated. Following interests, rather than just people, can be a way to reduce information overload. When connected to the social graph and the larger knowledge graph via RDF, a map of interests can make content much easier to browse or to search and retrieve. Social media Blog, microblog, wiki, and other kinds of many-to-many postings on the public web. Contrast social media with collaboration-generated media inside the enterprise, a very different form of online information. The latter media are also evolving to a many-to-many paradigm with the help of an activity stream, but that’s where the similarity ends. Sense making Gaining an initial understanding. Enterprise teams need to engage in sense making as part of any major business process. The ad hoc nature of sense making contrasts with more predictable kinds of execution, the kinds of tasks addressed by transactional systems. Collaboration systems attempt to make sense making easier. How teams work together to create value. Technology, even the web, hasn’t had much impact on collaboration over the past 20 years yet. Changing that situation is becoming more feasible, but only with the right vision and long-term commitment.
Documenting the American South Logo oral histories of the American South Success is about personhood, not race In this somewhat confusing excerpt, Davis tries to explain how the community of Chapel Hill functions. Success, failure, and good or bad treatment "just all depends on who you are and what you're doing and who you know," as opposed to race. The Hargraves Community Center plays a significant role in offering African Americans a place to meet. Citing this Excerpt Full Text of the Excerpt RG: What do your hear from your 17-year-old son about race relations at the high school now? ND: I don't hear so much about race relations, you know, as with any institution these days they are good and positive. My son is a pretty good student, he's an athlete, so he may not encounter some of the things that the other black kids may encounter. And also with Chapel Hill, some people may deny this and say it's not true, but it's who you are, and that's the way it is. RG: Who you are. Can you explain that a little further? ND: Uh-huh. It all depends on how you were treated. RG: But who's treated good, and who's not treated good? Who's treated with respect, who's treated with high aspirations and who's treated- ND: The person that's treated with respect, all depends on who you got, who's got your back, and that's the bottom line. You know, if you may have a student out there that may have one parent in the home, and the mother's working three or four jobs, but if the community is behind you, you're not going to have too much of a problem, and I'm not saying the community's going to be there to support you, well they'll be there to support you, but to hold your hand when you do something wrong that you shouldn't be doing, but if you're mistreated, you know, in this community, if the powers that be know that you may have someone that's going to look out for you, they kind of lay off you a little bit more. I'm not saying that you get away with doing anything wrong. Like when I was growing up, well and I'm not that much younger than Fred, but you know, you had people like Fred Ballard and Hank Anderson, Hilliard Caldwell, and people like that, and there's others out there, you know, that's going to take care of you. You know, we came to Hargraves and our parents had come to Hargraves, we didn't have nothing to worry about. They knew we was at Hargraves, you know. Miss Lucille Caldwell was here when you was at Hargraves. And there was a certain time she was going to send you home when you was supposed to be home. And they knew what you were going to get into over here. RG: Were you saying in some ways that it depends on who you are at the high school- ND: Not just at the high school but in the community, yeah, it's not just a school issue. But um, and I'm not saying that's a good thing or a bad thing, because I think there's certain people in this community that look out for all the young people. As for myself, if you want to, if you really want to get my dander and get me angry, you know, mistreat a young person. And I still have to catch myself sometimes from getting too angry. Like some people may say something like, 'those people' that live in public housing, or 'those people,' or 'that child,' you know. And I really get angry when people say that, regardless of who it is. Because they're labeling those people, and to me, it makes me feel like that they feel like they're better than they are, you know. One thing about Hargraves, if you come here, you can be treated the same way, regardless of who you are. And I think some kids kind of take advantage of that when they come over here, because I may, they may do something and I may, it may seem that I'm getting angry, you know, and they'll stand there and look at me and say well, he's not going to make us leave, or he's not going to do that, and they say well if he do, let's just go stand around the back of the building about five or ten minutes and then he's going to come looking for us. But this is a place for them to come and have fun and be protected or whatever, but yeah, there's a lot of people in this community that take care of the young people in this community, and the same thing with the school system. You have to go there and be an advocate for them and speak out for them, and make sure they're not being mistreated. Like I say, it just all depends on who you are and what you're doing and who you know. I reckon it's the same way everywhere, with just about everything.
Experts Plan Preemptive Strike Against Stink Bug Updated: 06/10/2014 6:28 PM Created: 06/10/2014 8:40 AM It's one of the newest invasive species to hit the state, the brown stink bug, and it really stinks. It attacks plants, and experts say it's widespread across the Twin Cities. Now the University of Minnesota is working to fight this bug and stop its spread. The "stink bug" has caused quite a problem for farmers in some Mid-Atlantic states. It first appeared in Minnesota four years ago. Right now the bugs are sticking close to houses, much like box elder bugs. But researchers are confident they'll soon spread to fields, like soy bean and corn fields. The bug, from Asia is known to suck up the nutrients from fruit and vegetable plants causing them to die or become deformed. Last year the stink bugs started reproducing in Minnesota, so now some U of M Entomologist researchers want to find out how far the bugs have spread and how to stop that. They've been given a $260,000 dollar grant to do just that. "I don't think we'll be able to stop it's spread. But I think we've bought enough time to conduct this research and getting some management tactics in place. I don't think we'll ever get rid of it but hopefully we can get the farmers some tools, that they can use to suppress the populations when they start causing problems," said Bob Koch, U of M, Entomologist. It's called a "stink bug," because it secretes a smell when in danger; some scientists say it smells like cilantro others say it smells like stinky socks. If you see any of these bugs around your house, you're asked to call the Minnesota Department of Agriculture Brown marmorated stink bug Photo: University of Minnesota/Jeff Hahn Minneapolis/St. Paul 73° \| 50° • Feels like: 55° F • Wind: N 17mph • Humidity: 93%
Take the 2-minute tour × I've come across many definitions. Is it 1) The point from which the weight of the body acts, i.e., the point at which if the entire mass of the body is assumed to be concentrated, the gravitational force acting on the body remains the same 2)The point at which if the entire mass of the body is assumed to be concentrated, the gravitational potential energy of the body remains the same 3)The point at which if the entire mass of the body is assumed to be concentrated, the gravitational torque acting on the body about the origin remains the same 4) All/some of the above? I came across this while trying to answer this question. share\|improve this question Meh! The definition is that is is the first moment of the mass distribution divided by the zero'th moment ($\sum \vec{x}_i m_i / \sum m_i$). It's affect is as all of the above. – dmckee Apr 17 '12 at 19:37 @dmckee: one can call them corollries of $\Sigma \vec{x_i} m_i / \Sigma m_i$ – Vineet Menon Apr 18 '12 at 6:38 Doesn't the center of gravity depend on the gravitational field? In a uniform gravitational field, I agree that it is (∑x⃗ imi/∑mi) but what about a non-uniform gravitational field? – Amu Apr 18 '12 at 6:43 Related: physics.stackexchange.com/q/50107/2451 and links therein. – Qmechanic Dec 3 '13 at 13:42 2 Answers 2 All of those! The definitions are inter-connected. For example, 2nd definiton comes directly from 1st, as you get potential energy as the work of gravitational force: $$U = - \int \vec{F} \cdot \text{d}\vec{s}$$ But the focal point here is the torque. As long as you don't consider rotation of the rigid body, but only translations, you do $$\sum \vec{F} = m \vec{a}$$ and it is irrelevant where you put the force(s) that acts on the body. Note, $\vec{a}$ above is the acceleration of center of mass. However, when you calculate rotations $$\sum \vec{\tau} = I \vec{\alpha}$$ (the expression above only applies to constant axes), you must find the torque and you must know, where the force(s) acts. And it can be shown for gravitational field, that one and only one point exist for which you can say that if all the gravitational force act on it you will get the right torque and its name is center of gravity. For homogenous gravitational fields, this point equals to center of mass. share\|improve this answer This doesn't address the case of a nonuniform field, which is the only thing that makes the question nontrivial. – Ben Crowell Oct 26 '13 at 19:59 I think that the second definition is wrong: It does not define a point, but rather a line. For whatever potential energy the body has, there is a height such that putting all the mass in that height would give the same potential energy. The line that this height defines is the line I am talking about. It seems to be true that the center of mass is in that line, though share\|improve this answer You are assuming that the gravitational field has the same magnitude at all points on a horizontal line. It need not be that way. Though I agree that the second definition alone won't suffice, it could be a number of different points. – Amu Apr 18 '12 at 6:47 Your Answer
The Forgotten Four Hundred: Chicago’s First Millionaires Potter Palmer died in 1902, after making State Street and Lake Shore Drive respectively the commercial and residential showplaces of the city. Bertha Palmer stayed in Chicago until 1910, then moved, at sixty-one, to Sarasota, Florida. She did not go to play cards and gossip in the sun. Instead she opened a real estate business, became a booster, brought citrus orchards and cattle ranches to the little community, and built her inheritance up to about fifteen million dollars. Potter Palmer had obviously taught her a thing or two. Or perhaps it had been the other way around. With a courtier’s gesture, Potter Palmer presented his splendid new hotel to his young bride as a wedding gift. End of the Era By the time Bertha Palmer and Edith McCormick left their social thrones, an era was ending for Chicago and for the whole country as well. In forty post-Civil War years, the United States had surged to industrial greatness, largely by exploiting the mineral and agricultural wealth of the continental interior. More than any other American city, Chicago—and its men of means—stood for that headlong drive, in all its achievement and vulgarity. After World War I, fortunes would still be made, but on different terms. Recent laws, including the income tax, no longer allowed the very wealthy to flourish with the unabashed self-assurance of the old masters of acquisition. And the big money now was to be found in different places. More of it was made in providing consumer goods, utilities, and urban transportation—and in manipulating stocks. These were the very places where Chicago’s best-known modern masters of capital—Charles T. Yerkes and Samuel Insull (see box on page 43)—made their illegal piles. Those two were part of the new Chicago whose reputation for robustness stayed alive in the Jazz Age. But the city’s true golden day of millionaires already lay behind it in the first generation—the day of the McCormicks, the Armours, and their like—folk heroes of a coarser, less homogenized and more honestly voracious America.
Welcome to Astro Astrologer From sun signs to houses, and planets to polarities, astrology is much more complex than your daily horoscope would lead you to believe. In this article we will briefly discuss the different subjects that make up an astrological chart (natal charts), and go into small detail in regards to sun signs. Astrology literally means the ‘Study of Stars’. Long ago astrology and astronomy were considered one subject, in modern times however, the two have separated. Astrology now falls into a branch of science classified as metaphysics and is based off the principle that the locations and movements of planetary bodies have an influence or effect on us and the world we live in. It is important to know that astrology does not predict the future, instead it helps us interpret our natural characteristics, understand our feelings, and know what energies will have a dominate effect with our decision making. When most people hear the term ‘Astrology’ they think of their ‘Sign’. The full term for this is the ‘Sun Sign’, and it is the most basic form of astrology practiced. A sun sign is determined by where the sun was at your time of birth. There are twelve signs in total, and each sign spans a specific number of days. Whether the person is born near the beginning, middle, or end of that time frame can have an effect on how the sign affects them. Along with the different classes of sun signs, there are many other categories that influence and impact an astrological chart. For example, there are thirteen planets read in astrology. These planets consist of more bodies than the average person learns in school: the Sun, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Chiron, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, the North Node and the South Node. Each planetary body is associated with specific characteristics. Notice that the Earth is not included in this list, as it is the location of your origin. There are also twelve different houses that account for different life stages or aspects of life. In western astrology the houses have no specific titles other than being called first, second, third and so on. A planet can be in a house, opposing a house, neighboring a house, and so on. To go with the different houses there are also six different pairs of house polarities. Polarities explain the relationship that these items have due to their opposite ends on their spectrums. To have a more in-depth evaluation of a person there are many aspects of astrology that must be considered. A professional astrologer can calculate your full chart by using information such as where you were born and the day, month, year, and even time of your birth. Given the intricate relationship between each category involved, astrology is not a subject learned quickly. That being said, it is certainly captivating and there is a wealth of information available to beginners. We are always on the look for interesting information about astrology, psychic prediction and fortune telling in general and we would like to thank the leading astrology website, PowerFortunes.com for the wealth of information they have provided.
The Lord of the Rings Quiz \| Eight Week Quiz G Buy The Lord of the Rings Lesson Plans Name: _________________________ Period: ___________________ This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Book 6, Chapter 6 \| Book 6, Chapter 7. Multiple Choice Questions 1. How old was Bilbo turning at his big birthday party at the beginning of the book? (a) 111. (b) 90. (c) 150. (d) 200. 2. Who does Aragor find in Fangorn forest when they follow the tracks of Merry and Pippin? (a) Saruman the White. (b) Gandalf the White. (c) Merry and Pippin. (d) Treebeard. 3. What do Gimli and Legolas discuss as they walk through Minas Tirith after the battle? (a) How unexpected their vicotry was. (b) How unexpected their friendship is. (c) How much better the dwarves and elves could have made it. (d) How they are confused about the lack of news from Frodo. 4. Who is the first to offer to take the ring to be destroyed, but is refused? (a) Boromir. (b) Frodo. (c) Bilbo. (d) Sam. 5. Where does Gandalf advise Theoden to go before he leaves them on an urgent errand? (a) Minas Tirith. (b) Isengard. (c) Gondor. (d) Helm's Deep. Short Answer Questions 1. Who does Aragorn name as the new Prince of Ithilien? 2. What do the elves do to protect the hobbits when they find them wandering in the woods? 3. What does Sam see in Galadriel's mirror that makes him beg to return to the Shire? 4. What causes the Orcs at the Black Gate to become confused and disoriented? 5. How does Sam get through the tower of Cirith Ungol despite the efforts to stop him? (see the answer key) This section contains 339 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) Buy The Lord of the Rings Lesson Plans The Lord of the Rings from BookRags. (c)2015 BookRags, Inc. All rights reserved. Follow Us on Facebook
Indifference curves - PowerPoint by 0rwGs6gk Indifference curves Indifference curves represent a summary of the consumer’s taste and preferences for various De gustibus non est There is no accounting for the taste of the consumer. Consumers like what they like(various things influence what they like - advertising, customs...). Consumers derive utility or happiness by consuming goods and services. In economics we summarize the likes or tastes of the consumer by using indifference curves. An indifference curve shows different combinations of goods that give the same level of utility to the consumer. Diagram used in analysis good y The amount of good y a may have is good x The amount of good x is measured on the horizontal This type of diagram is used extensively when considering the behavior of consumers. Indifference curves - definition  As mentioned earlier, an indifference curve shows various combinations of goods that yield some specific level of utility or satisfaction for the individual. This is one type of A indifference curve. We assume the individual is equally happy B at point A or B or any other point on the indifference x curve. Indifference curves - feature 1  We assume more goods are preferred to less and thus indifference curves slope downward to the right. y Say the individual is at the point in the middle 2 1 of the graph. Keep this in mind as we explore the following screens. 3 4 Indifference curves - feature 1  If the individual is at the point in the diagram, then all those points in area 1 and on the boundary are more preferred because those points have either more of both items or more of one and the same amount of the other item compared to the point chosen.  Points in area 3 and the boundary are less preferred to the point in the diagram because the point chosen has more of both items. Indifference curves - feature 1  An individual may think that points in areas 2 and 4 are preferable, less preferred or equally desirable to the point indicated.  Since areas 2 and 4 are the only ones that could have a point of indifference to the one chosen, the indifference curves must have negative slope. In economics we often use graphs and with graphs you can look at the concept called slope. Often in economics the idea of slope will have an economic interpretation. Let’s review the idea of slope. Slope = rise/run. With a curve that slopes downward from left to right the slope is a negative number. With a curve that slopes upward from left to right the slope is a positive number. Indifference curves - feature 2 Say the consumer is at point A. If the consumer gives up one B unit of x, m units of y m must be given back to A hold the consumer at a constant level of utility. x You could say the consumer is willing to 1 trade 1 unit of x to get m units of y. Indifference curves - feature 2  The shape of the indifference curve on the previous screen is said to be convex.  Part of the reason for this is that it is assumed that the amount of good y one receives in return for one unit of x depends on how much of each the individual starts out with. Indifference curves - feature 2 You can tell that point A has less x than at B. As the individual takes even one less unit of x from either point A or B B, some y must be given in But more is given in return if point A is the initial point. The point is the less you have of something(like x at point A compared to point B), the more of other things you must be given in return to compensate for the loss of the one unit, assuming the same level of utility is obtained. 11 Indifference curves - feature 2  The marginal rate of substitution(MRS) is the amount of y given in return for the one unit of x, while maintaining the same level of utility.  We can think of the MRS as a fraction:  MRS=absolute value of (change in y)/(change in x) .  In this sense, the MRS is the absolute value of the slope of the curve at various points. Note the slope changes from point to point. In absolute value the fraction gets smaller the farther down the curve one moves. This is another way of saying the curve gets feature 2 In general, it is assumed that consumers value additional units of a good less and less the more they have of the good. (Or you could say when consumers give up good x they require more and more of good y the less of good x they start with.) The indifference curve gets flatter. This notion is summarized with the phrase – diminishing marginal rates of substitution. y Indifference curves - feature 3 Indifference Map Every point in the graph has one, and only one, indifference curve running through it. Curves farther out from the origin have more x So, the consumer can compare every bundle and make a determination of preference or indifference. y Indifference curves - feature 4 Indifference curves for an individual do not cross. Say they did, like in this diagram. Then C individual would be A indifferent to A and B, B indifferent to A and C, and thus by logic should be indifferent to B and C. But C has more of both goods compared to B and thus C is preferred to B. So the curves can not cross for an individual. Transitivity of preferences holds. Indifference curves - feature 5  Different people can have different general shapes of indifference curves. Some are relatively steep and some are relatively flat.  On the next slide I will put two peoples’ indifference curves and they will cross. Before we said one individual’s curves could not cross. Indifference curves - feature 5 Mr. A Mr. B Note how Mr. A has a steeper curve than Mr. B. From the point where the curves cross if both give up a unit of x, note how Mr. A has to be given more y to make up for the loss of x than Mr. B. Mr. A is said to have a relatively strong preference for x because he needs much more y in return for the one unit of x given up. A math example of a utility function might be U = sqrt(XY) – this means utility is a function of the square root of the product of the amount of x and the amount of y a person would To get an indifference curve pick a value of U. Let’s say U = 4. Then some points on the indifference curve would be X Y 16 1 1 16 4 4 8 2 2 8 18 indifference curve when U = 16 15 1, 16 10 y 2, 8 5 4, 4 8, 2 16, 1 0 5 10 15 20 To top
From Environmental Management: Wastewater and Groundwater Treatment As demand grows for clean water to meet the diverse needs of the chemical process industries (CPI), operating companies continue to search for better, more cost-effective ways to pretreat raw inlet water. Proper pretreatment is critical not only to meet strict purity requirements for water that is used in process operations, and that which ends up as an ingredient in CPI products, but it is also critical to protect downstream water-treatment systems, such as reverse osmosis (RO), electrodeionization (EDI), ion exchange (IX) and mixed-bed (MB) polishing systems. Since the performance of such water-treatment systems is directly impacted by the type and level of impurities in the water passing through them, the basic goal of pretreatment is to reduce the filtering burden of the water-treatment train as much as possible. In addition to easing the burden on the process-water-treatment plant, proper pretreatment also helps to ensure more-stable plant operation and more reliable product quality, and helps to minimize maintenance needs, reduce cleaning frequency and trim chemical consumption. Regardless of the source of the water entering the process plant — water from a municipal treatment plant (“tap water”), or raw water from a river or subsurface well — the three dominant pretreatment technologies are clarification, filtration, and membrane separation. This article offers an assessment of each of the main pretreatment technologies, and discusses the particular challenges posed by different sources of inlet water. Capital and operating costs, and other key project-evaluation criteria that are vital factors in the successful design and implementation of a water pretreatment system, are also discussed. © 2015 Chemical Engineering Products & Services Gas Sensors pH Instruments Adsorption Equipment Adsorption equipment is used to bind molecules or particles to a surface. This process is used for the reclamation or remediation of process effluents including wastewater, liquid, gas, vapor, air, and contaminated soil. Water Softeners Water softeners remove the hard calcium and magnesium minerals from water. Water Disinfection Systems Water disinfection systems treat water to inactivate, destroy, and/or remove pathogenic bacteria, viruses, protozoa, and other parasites. Common methods include chlorination and alternative disinfectants. Topics of Interest Pure water is so basic to the chemical process industries that it is easy to forget the many considerations involved in designing a water treatment system. As pharmaceutical producers, semiconductor... Accumulators are simple devices that store energy in the form of fluid under pressure. Because of their ability to store excess energy and release it when needed, accumulators are useful tools in... 7.5 Accumulators Accumulators are devices, which simply store energy in the form of fluid under pressure. This energy is in the form of potential energy of an incompressible fluid, held under... Accumulators in aircraft store considerable amounts of energy. For ballistic testing the accumulators mounted to heavy concrete stands and were shot with a .50-caliber M-2 armorpiercing bullet per SAE...
Build a 15,000 rpm Tesla Turbine using hard drive platters Picture of Build a 15,000 rpm Tesla Turbine using hard drive platters Here's a project that uses some of those dead hard drives you've got lying around. In the Tesla Turbine, air, steam, oil, or any other fluid is injected at the edge of a series of smooth parallel disks. The fluid spirals inwards and is exhausted through ventilation ports near the center of the disks. A regular blade turbine operates by transferring kinetic energy from the moving fluid to the turbine fan blades. In the Tesla Turbine, the kinetic energy transfer to the edges of the thin platters is very small. Instead, it uses the boundary layer effect, i.e. adhesion between the moving fluid and the rigid disk. This is the same effect that causes drag on airplanes. To build a turbine like this, you need some dead hard drives, some stock material (aluminum, acrylic), a milling machine with a rotary table, and a lathe with a 4 jaw chuck. Wikipedia has a good review article (, as well as articles about Nikola Tesla, the boundary layer effect (, and Reynolds number ( (which determines if the fluid flow is laminar or turbulent). I run my turbine on compressed air (40 psi), and it easily reaches speeds of 10-15,000 rpm. While the speed is high, the torque is low, and it can be stopped with your bare hand. I have more details on my webpage ( Remove these adsRemove these ads by Signing Up 1-40 of 302Next » athan91 year ago do you know if it can work with a water exit hole? SammerrA athan918 days ago It has an exhaust hole. Can it use water? Sure. Will it lose efficiency? Maybe. Maybe instead of using water or air you can use another kind of gas or liquid that might produce more friction on the platters and create more torque. I really have no idea what... Just trying to think outside the box here.... Increasing pressure, disk spacing, temperature etc all change the reynolds number and therefore the flow. Matching this to the turbine is the difficulty of the design. You can technically make any fluid match the turbine in use but it requires changing these parameters. Would it be possible to, instead of having the exhausted air be released, have it be forced into another tube to re-use it? (I'm toying with the idea of using this as a drive for an airsoft minigun, with the exhaust air propelling the BBs) If the turbine is very efficient, the "air" that is being exhausted will have to be re-compressed. Conversely, if you used the turbine to compress air to drive the minigun, then you simply need a power source and strong arms. Team_Omega11 months ago Is it possible to add more torque by attaching a gear system, or by adding "fins" to the disks. I realize that it will lose a lot of speed, but will it gain torque? Adding fins changes the flow and reynolds number. You want more torque increase disk number and diameter, given that all other factors are perfect. andras.nolsoe5 months ago How are the discs attached to the shaft? are they welded? same doubt can someone reply to my mail This design uses collars that utilize screws to hold the disk together with friction. Tesla's design uses a keyed shaft. Another method is to use something like a dove tail and collars. This method is very simple and cheap. I just want to purchase one of them . WSF4 months ago star washer actually helps the rotation buy guiding the air/water to the vent holes as the star extends above the vent holes. If you can see what difference that makes in the rpm. nerd74731 year ago I want one!!! TheStudio71 year ago Nice, though I stopped reading the comments when some one started the god bs thing. Can we keep reality and stupidity separate please? maikel22 years ago a conventional rotary compressor runs more than 100k rpm to develop vacuum to sucks outside air continuously thus compressed it.if this device run at that speed can it become a compressor??? bulsatar2 years ago For those that don't like math but are still confused: notice that it is basically a closed system (rotationally) from the point of force (the air being blown in). The air circulates in the first platter set until the air pressure is too great and it escapes through the center holes of the platters (ignoring air escaping from the outside edges). This creates a pressure differential between the side of the hole being "pushed" on and the "back side" of the hole, inducing a spin. The pressure differential builds in the next platter layer and then moves out again, and again, and again until it escapes freely from the last platter set's center holes. Because of energy loss from air escaping around the platters, friction from the bearings and other natural energy sinks, the inside platters exert more torque pressure than the outside ones (math stuffs go here for proof). Good thing about this design is that you can use some "simple" thermodynamics to have a relatively low pressure, large area front condensed into a high pressure, small area front to get your air pressure from the wind for "free" (think of a properly tuned funnel) to drive an electrical generating motor thingy off of the axle with those new found magnetic thingies... FlashSC5 years ago I'd like to ask the silly question here, but, where does the pressed air comes out? Maybe i missed something... Thanks for the tuto. You're not! This IS a stupidly designed device. the air actually escapes thru the shaft hole. This is actually correctly designed, with the exhaust escaping through the shaft hole. The Tesla turbine relies on the boundary layer effect and centrifugal force. The air gets forced to the center and out the shaft hole. An exhaust port on the side would ruin the design of the turbine. no. CENTRIPETAL. not centrifugal. why does everybody think its centrifugal?? Centrifugal doesn't even exist! Centrifugal does exist, it depends on your plane of reference. If your plane of reference is the object which has a centripetal force acting on it, there is a centrifugal force. Nope! :) Centrifugal is merely inertia perceived as a new force. It's all to do with plane of reference. If you have a rotating plane of reference, you can have a centrifugal force. Look at the Wikipedia article for it. FFX2 years ago Make a good gearbox and put it to a generator which will charge the compressor ;) Law of conservation of energy prevents this. Gear backlash, for example? Air speed being lost to exhaust? bart.p2 years ago great project! have you ever done any test on how much vacuum this thing can generate? im currently designing a turbine that would pump air and have the shaft spun with an electric motor, one of my constrains is the intake size so i need to suck in as much air as possible and preferably compressed it as well bart.p bart.p2 years ago if you ave more info about these turbines please let me know, Moe_Tangna3 years ago Can the efficiency be improved by widening the Inlet Port? instead of just focusing on the blades in the center (does that mean the other disks arent getting airflow or something?) wouldnt that mean that more friction (even with the same amount of air) = More Power/Speed/Torque? Also, I cant understand where the exhaust ports are. This is a great project! But I cant do it. xD (3rd world/ too young problems.) den316a3 years ago my Question is how much torck does this have can u run a generator off of it? Techno Dude3 years ago Hey I wanted to ask u that If u hook it up with a generator how much would it generate and its voltage pleas help thanatos3703 years ago If you were to attach a motor to the shaft of the turbine, would that turn it into a pump? I wonder if you could do me a favor re your tesla turbine, I reached a quantum figure of 17 thou gap between blades (for compressd Air) for a more fluid-like force on the turbines to increase torque. is it possible for you to try this for me.any added expense will be paid by me,or if interested external micro adjustments for simplified cnc made from Corian-bench top and any threaded rod-(zero play acheived) by using human error factor. RolyB3 years ago Studying Tesla's Patent plans I see two things that are missing from recent constructs. These are items 26, Circular grooves and 27, Labyrinth packing. Tesla must have included these for a purpose though he doesn't mention why. The labyrinth looks like a seal. I wonder are the grooves a sort of brake or governing mechanism, the fluid gets compressed in the grooves and thus slows the turbine down, perhaps? I know it must be fun to see how fast the turbine can spin but the practical thing must be to turn that spin into power. Any ideas on the grooves and labyrinth and why Tesla included them. jgwiz20073 years ago Check out this Youtube link. I used some of your ideas, and some of my own to build my own Tesla turbine. Hit 30,000 + rpm and still going to add some more hard drive plates...ENJOY!!! If you connected the input of this to a gravity-fed water supply, could you use it to generate small scale renewable energy: e.g. use it to recharge batteries via a simple (ish) circuit, or would the water be too viscous for this design to work properly? It sounds to me like your suggesting we build a hydroelectric dam but instead of letting the water cycle do our biding we would re-elevate the water? What your forgeting is that your going to have to pump the water back up to an elevated state once it has passed through the turbine. Its an efficiency nightmare lol. Use it like a regular hydro dam system, then run the spent water into a drain (or plant bed) afterwards. I'm aware thermodynamics might have something to say about pumping the water back up again and trying to get more energy out of it. 1-40 of 302Next »
Latest Carbon planet Stories Diamond Planet Not So Precious After All 2013-10-09 04:42:18 What was believed to be the first-ever discovered planet to be comprised largely of diamond most likely does not have a high content of the precious mineral after all. Diamond Planet 2012-10-11 12:25:19 One nearby super-Earth planet could have a lot more "bling" on it than our planet, because astronomers say it maybe a diamond planet. 2007-09-24 12:50:57 In the Star Wars movies, fictional planets are covered with forests, oceans, deserts, and volcanoes. But new models begin to describe an even wider range of Earth-size planets that astronomers might actually be able to find in the near future. 2005-02-08 07:30:00 Some extrasolar planets may be made substantially from carbon compounds, including diamond, according to a report presented this week at the conference on extrasolar planets in Aspen, Colorado. Earth, Mars and Venus are "silicate planets" consisting mostly of silicon-oxygen compounds. Astrophysicists are proposing that some stars in our galaxy may host "carbon planets" instead. Latest Carbon planet Reference Libraries 2004-10-19 04:45:42 Terrestrial Planet -- A terrestrial planet is a planet that is mostly composed of silicate rocks and may or may not have a relatively thin atmosphere. The term is derived from the Greek word for Earth, so an alternate definition would be those planets that are more Earth-like than not. Terrestrial planets are very different from gas giants, which may or may not have solid surfaces and are composed mostly of hydrogen and helium in various physical states. Only one terrestrial planet,... More Articles (1 articles) » Word of the Day • To befool; deceive; balk; jilt. • An illusion; a trick; a cheat.
Skip to definition. Noun: ulna (ulnae,ulnas) úl-nu 1. The inner and longer of the two bones of the human forearm "the articulation of the radius and ulna in the arm is a pivot joint"; - elbow bone Derived forms: ulnae, ulnas Type of: arm bone Part of: forearm Encyclopedia: Ulna
The hectoPascal and Air Pressure The hectoPascal and Air Pressure In meteorology, the quantity pressure is an important driver of physical processes in the atmosphere. Pressure is the force applied over a unit of area, so it can be increased by having more force acting over a smaller area. Pressure is measured in Pascals, named after the French mathematician and physicist Blaise Pascal (who also devised the famous “Pascal’s triangle”). The abbreviation for Pascal is Pa. An example of where air has high pressure is the inside of an inflated tyre. For typical values of air pressure in a tyre, it’s best to measure pressure in units of kilopascals (kPa, thousands of Pascals). But for the range of air pressures that occur naturally in the atmosphere we normally use hectoPascals (hPa, hundreds of Pascals) rather than kPa. At the Earth’s surface the air pressure of the atmosphere is usually within the range 980 to 1030 hPa. The hectoPascal is the modern replacement unit for the millibar: one hPa = one millibar = one thousandth of a “bar”. The millibar was introduced by the British meteorologist Sir Napier Shaw in the early 1900s. Shaw also created an important thermodynamic diagram that is still used extensively today in modern meteorological services worldwide. In 1930 Shaw sent his Christmas greetings to the then director of the NZ Meteorological Service, Dr Edward Kidson. A copy of the card is reproduced below. Card from Sir Napier Shaw to Dr Edward Kidson, NZ Meteorological Service, 1931 Card from Sir Napier Shaw to Dr Edward Kidson, NZ Meteorological Service, 1930 The text on the reverse side read as follows: Dear Kidson This is in illustration of a new view (so far as I am concerned) of the relation between velocity and pressure gradient namely that it is the velocity that controls the gradient. If it increases, the gradient will increase so motion round an area means the creation of high pressure over the area. The picture is for the northern hemisphere. What is fine weather for you? Anticyclonic as here, or cyclonic? I have just sent off the last of M.S. for Vol iv : shall have time to write soon. Sir Napier Shaw (The reference to “Vol iv” relates to a manual of meteorology that Shaw had been working on for some time. “Aeolian” relates to Aeolus, the Greek god of wind) I can most readily illustrate the importance of air pressure to weather by referring to today’s weather map: Mean Sea Level analysis, 6am 3 July (18UTC 2 July) 2014 The thin solid lines are isobars, which means lines connecting places with equal air pressure (note the “bar” in “isobar”). These lines give a good idea of what the broad-scale winds are. Let me explain by describing what happens when you release the valve on a tyre. The air ejects from the region of much higher pressure within the tyre to the region of lower air pressure outside the tyre. In the Earth’s atmosphere, when the air accelerates from high to low pressure, the rotation of the Earth deflects the out-flowing air towards the left in our southern hemisphere (the opposite deflection occurs in the northern hemisphere). This is why the air around an anticyclone (High pressure area) rotates anticlockwise in our hemisphere. A previous blog-post describes the anticyclonic outflow of anticyclones, together with the descent that is characteristic of Highs. At the time of the chart above, NZ was mostly affected by a southwesterly air-stream (i.e. coming from the southwest, and therefore cold). In this chart the spacing between the isobars is 4 hPa. If we remove the fronts from the chart and increase the number of isobars by drawing them at 1 hPa spacing, we get an increased level of detail about the pressure field, as below: Chart at same time as previous, but fronts removed and intermediate isobars added (in grey) Note, for example, the extra detail about the structure of the High over New South Wales and Victoria. Thinking about the tyre again, when you initially release the valve the difference in air pressure between each side of the valve is large – the air rushes out with a hiss. If you were to continue deflating the tyre, the difference in air pressure would reduce and the air-flow would become much gentler. Similarly, in the atmosphere, when the isobars are close together the air rushes out faster and gets deflected more – thus the winds are stronger when the isobars are close together. Less obvious is how air pressure changes as you go up in the atmosphere. For example, if you were flying to Australia the ambient air pressure as you cruised across the Tasman Sea would be about a quarter of what you’d experience at the sea surface. You can read more about these vertical variations at this blog post: Maths, Physics and Meteorology The physics of fog Forecasting for aviation generally has a low profile as far as the general public is concerned, but it is critical for airlines and pilots for safe and efficient air travel. There are many meteorological phenomena that impact flying, e.g. thunderstorms, turbulence, air frame icing and cross winds on landing. One of the most critical is fog because of the severe reduction in visibility it can cause. It is a fundamental property of moist air that (invisible) water vapour changes into (visible) water when the vapour content reaches a threshold value that depends critically on temperature. The existence of this threshold makes fog forecasting one of the hardest of all weather phenomena to predict. Fog formation can sit on a knife edge. For example, under suitable conditions fog can form when the air temperature cools to, say, 7 deg C, but if it were to cool to only 8 deg C there’d be no fog. Almost a binary situation, and the difference in how far you can see could drop from 50 km to 500 metres with the extra degree of cooling. When our aeronautical meteorologists forecast fog at New Zealand airports they apply maths and physics, including the principles of thermodynamics, radiative processes, graphs (of cooling rates), and statistics (of airport climates). A basic example of a cooling rate graph is below. Actual (red) and predicted (orange) temperature, Christchurch International Airport, for overnight hours of 20 and 21 March 2013 (blue line is dew point temperature). The horizontal lines indicate fog formation thresholds. UTC time is 13 hours earlier than NZ Daylight Time, so 20 05 is 6pm local time, 20 15 is 4am and so forth. Here, the forecaster needs to assess what the overnight temperature will in fact cool to, to form this type of fog (there are other types) based on the available guidance, and decide if there will be enough water vapour present to form the fog. Probability and Statistics The basic concepts of probability and statistics are introduced in maths at school. Meteorology is an inexact science and, every day in the National Forecast Centre, scientists are forming hypotheses about future weather outcomes around NZ. The concept of hypothesis testing is usually introduced in Year 13 mathematics with statistics, and further developed at university. Currently most public weather forecasts in New Zealand state a single expected outcome rather than the range of viable outcomes. This is great in terms of delivering a short forecast but, unfortunately, misses out valuable information about the other viable outcomes that depend on the state of the atmosphere at the time. Some of our forecast users address this by obtaining information expressed as statistical probabilities, for example, as a probability distribution. In the future, I think it’s likely that public weather forecasts will adapt to an increasing need for probabilistic information. There are many beautiful shapes in geometry, e.g. the cardioid. Another is the spiral. Spirals turn up in nature in shells and plants. A special type of spiral, the logarithmic spiral, is relevant to meteorology. It is used in a technique to determine the intensity of a tropical cyclone, based on satellite imagery near the eye of the cyclone. The meteorologist assesses cloud-top temperatures in segments of the spiral, providing an objective gauge about the cyclone’s intensity. Remember trigonometry from school? This branch of maths is important in many sciences. An example related to meteorology is spherical trigonometry, in which any location on Earth can be specified in terms of latitude, longitude and height above the Earth’s surface. Our weather radars make extensive use of the principles of trigonometry to determine the location and movement of precipitation targets. Rates of change (differentiation) The concept of rate of change occurs all the time in meteorology. It occurs on many scales, e.g. in less than an hour with the fall of temperature during the passage of a cold front, or over a few days with the decrease of air pressure in an intensifying depression. In an earlier blog post (Year 12 maths) I gave an example of the importance of maths to meteorology. In mathematics, a rate of change is called a differential or derivative (ask someone doing Year 12 maths!). To describe the motion of air using the techniques of fluid mechanics (a branch of physics and applied maths), many equations containing differentials crop up. It turns out that, because of chaos theory, there are no easy ways to solve these equations. But all is not lost… Numerical analysis A hundred years ago, a brilliant Englishman called Lewis Richardson found a way to approximate solutions to the equations of air motion. Nowadays, with the benefit of a new branch of mathematics called numerical analysis and increasingly powerful computers, we can solve the equations accurately up to several days ahead. Just how accurately depends on the state of the atmosphere at the time, but sometimes it’s possible to predict the development and path of a depression before it has formed. The computers that are required are extremely powerful. The best ones, called super-computers, are found in overseas meteorological centres. Data transfer between continents isn’t a big issue these days, so data from these centres is routinely sent to us so that NZ forecasts benefit from the fruits of Richardson’s pioneering work. Sir Isaac Newton’s laws of physics I referred to fluid mechanics earlier. Some of the most important equations in fluid mechanics are tailored versions of Newton’s second law of motion (Force = mass x acceleration). Physics again! Here’s one of the equations of motion based on Newton’s work: eqn_of_motion The symbols are: eqn_of_motion_terms The rate of change of the eastward wind is the acceleration, and the terms on the right-hand side of the equation are the forces acting on the air mass. International standards of training The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) prescribes the educational standards for meteorologists (WMO 1083). A good grounding in both mathematics and physics is essential to achieve this internationally recognised standard. At MetService we train university graduates to become meteorologists through our graduate training programme (trainee meteorologist career page), which is run in conjunction with the School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences at Victoria University of Wellington. If you or someone you know of is thinking of becoming a meteorologist, and wondering what they need to study, tell them to keep up their maths and physics at school, and continue with them through to university. Convergence lines We sometimes hear of people’s views on some matter initially disagreeing and then, at a later time, coming together or “converging”. In fluid dynamics we’re often interested in regions where different air flows come together. We call this type of flow convergence, and say that the air is converging. It’s an important concept in meteorology because convergence often has a big effect on weather conditions, driving where the cloud is (or isn’t). Sometimes, in suitable conditions, it leads to heavy showers and thunderstorms. Let’s take a closer look at convergence. In its purest form, air that’s coming together would look like the graphic below, where the arrows show how the air is moving. Everywhere in this graphic the air flow is converging. A field of pure convergence. For example, in the centre where the arrows are all pointing inwards, the air flow is clearly coming together. More subtly, if you’ve got a good spatial imagination you might be able to spot another kind of convergence … run your eyes along one of the radial lines coming in towards the centre. A longer arrow indicates stronger wind and, even when there’s no change in direction, at each point along the radial the flow is convergent because there’s more air flowing in than flowing out. That is, convergence can be caused by speed effects as well as directional effects. Send me a comment if you’d like me to explain this further :-) The opposite of convergence is divergence. In air flows aloft (in the upper atmosphere), meteorologists are often interested in upper divergence because it draws air upwards from underneath. Such regions usually have a big influence on the kinds of weather systems that bring stormy weather to NZ. But that’s another story; let’s get back to convergence. Sea-breezes form on clear summer days when the land heats up more than the adjacent sea. The result is a cooling wind that flows at low-levels from the sea onto the land. Around Northland and Auckland, we can have these sea-breezes occurring along the entire coastline, both west and east coasts. Because the land mass separating these coastal regions is quite narrow, convergence occurs when sea-breezes coming from opposite directions meet, as in the picture below. Converging see-breezes on a clear summer day over Northland and Auckland. Where the air comes together, it has to go somewhere. In the atmosphere, when air converges at low-levels, it gets pushed upwards. Provided that there’s enough moisture in the air, the uplift will generate cloud and potentially precipitation too. If the air is unstable (see Predictability & popcorn) the convergence can generate convection in the form of cumuliform cloud and showers. As for previous figure, with the effect of rising air included. Here’s a good example from 31 January 2012. The animation of satellite imagery below shows the distribution of cloud from mid-morning till early evening that day. As the sea-breezes developed and came together, a very prominent line of cloud formed along the middle of Northland and the Auckland isthmus. MTSAT-2 visible satellite images, each an hour apart, from 9am to 6pm NZST on Tues 31 January 2012. Images courtesy Japan Meteorological Agency. There are other ways that air can come together in the atmosphere. The earlier post on Cloud Structures over NZ on 26 July showed the effect of air that was channeled by the topography. Air was flowing westwards through Cook Strait and the Manawatu Gorge area. As the low-level flow spread out downstream, a line of convergence was created where the air came together over the sea west of Manawatu. A similar effect generated a line of convergence over Bay of Plenty. Convergence also occurs on bigger scales. The chart below shows typical low-level wind flows over the southwest Pacific during summer. Where the Trade winds come together there’s a zone of convergence called the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). A secondary zone of convergence runs from near Vanuatu east-southeastwards through the Cook Islands, and is called the South Pacific Convergence Zone (SPCZ). Typical low-level flows over the southwest Pacific during summer. Both of these zones are associated with increased cloudiness and showers of varying intensity, depending on the state of activity of the zone at any time. The positions of the zones shift around too in response to various influences. As we approach the summer months its pertinent to point out that Tropical Cyclones form over the southwest Pacific Ocean from disturbances associated with tropical convergence zones. The inward flow in depressions causes convergence and lifting of air over a wide area above depressions. As stated above, rising air favours cloud and precipitation. This is why depressions (Lows) are generally associated with cloudy and often rainy or showery weather. At the beginning of this post I referred to how convergence drives where cloud is and isn’t. A nice example of the latter comes with the sea-breeze. Over the sea where the air starts flowing towards land, the low-level air is divergent. This drives the air aloft downwards towards the water, and creates generally cloud free conditions. A useful tip if you’re an aircraft pilot wanting to avoid cloud on a cross-country flight in the vicinity of a coastline. I hope you can see why meteorologists are interested in where and when convergence occurs! Cloud structures over NZ on 26 July On Thursday 26 July 2012 a cold southeasterly airstream flowed onto the North Island, around an anticyclone centred just east of the South Island. In this blog post we’ll look at some interesting small-scale cloud structures around the country on this day. While the North Island was experiencing a southeasterly flow, the isobars were widely spaced over the South Island, indicating little wind there. Take a look at the animation below, based on visible light as received by the MtSat-2 geostationary satellite. MTSAT-2 visible satellite images, each an hour apart, from 10am to 3pm NZST Thursday 26 July 2012. Images courtesy Japan Meteorological Agency. As explained in the post on the effect of resolution, the visible satellite image shows all cloud as white or light grey, regardless of how high or low the cloud is. Most of the cloud over New Zealand is on the east coast of the North Island. Just off the Manawatu coast there is a plume-shaped area of cloud that extends northwestwards parallel to the flow. This is low-level cloud in a region where the air flow near the Earth’s surface is coming together, or converging. As the air convergences it is forced to rise and, with enough moisture, cloud forms. There is a similar process occurring off eastern Bay of Plenty. In this case there is a zone of more concentrated convergence that shapes the clouds into a rope-like appearance, but the orientation of it is still towards the northwest and parallel to the flow. Most of the South Island is cloud-free, but there is a patch of grey-looking cloud around Lakes Tekapo and Pukaki. This is also low cloud, but it has formed during the night in the valleys and basins. In the afternoon there’s been just enough heat from the weak winter sun to break up and disperse the cloud. The cloud base at Pukaki during the morning was reported as being about 600 metres above the ground – the air temperature had risen from minus 4 overnight to plus 3 by lunchtime. The Terra polar-orbiting satellite has a very high resolution sensor. Terra passed over New Zealand within the period of the previous images, and I’ve reproduced the image below, split into two colour images. Very high resolution satellite image within the period of the previous images. Image courtesy of MODIS Rapid Response Project, NASA/GSFC. The features discussed above are very apparent. The area of convergence off Manawatu evidently has a double structure, and it is striking how this high resolution image shows individual cumulus clouds as white dots (as discussed in the previous post). There are cloud streets over the central North Island from the Kaweka to the Raukumara ranges. Over the Pacific ocean there is a lot of cloud having a cellular structure. This is typical of a cold body of air that moves onto relatively warmer water. The air bubbles up into cumulus clouds that tend to clump together into ring-shaped clusters. The low cloud over Lakes Tekapo and Pukaki (below) has a flat appearance typical of layered stratus cloud. It extends its fingers into the valleys between the peaks of the surrounding ranges. As previous image, but for South Island. The cloud over the ocean east of Canterbury is stratocumulus, a combination of the lumpy texture of cumulus cloud and the layering of stratus cloud. In many respects there was nothing particularly unusual about our weather on 26 July, but the satellite images were still able to reveal some fascinating and beautiful cloud structures. The Effect of Resolution Weather map at midday 10 July 2012. Not all Highs bring sunny weather On Thursday 19 April, New Zealand was completely surrounded by a very large High (or anticyclone). The air pressure at sea level was above 1030 hPa everywhere over New Zealand at midday on Thursday. Highest pressures were over inland Otago and Canterbury, peaking at 1039 hPa. Christchurch Airport was reporting 1038.2 hPa … that’s very high indeed. Here is a sequence of weather maps showing how the anticyclone developed over preceding days (click on the image to view animation). The first map is from midday on Thursday 12 April, and the time steps are six hours until the final map at midday on Thursday 19 April. It’s interesting how the initial anticyclone moved onto the Tasman Sea with a central pressure around 1029 to 1030 hPa, then another system came up from the Tasmania region and joined the initial system, reinforcing it. Sequence of weather maps, 12 to 19 April 2012. This anticyclone was bringing clear, sunny weather to many places, just as typical barometers indicate on their dials when the air pressure is high. However, there were many places, particularly along eastern coasts, where the weather was not sunny at all. In fact there was even some light rain about. Take a look at the satellite image below for details of where cloud was on the late morning of Thursday 19 April. Image courtesy of MODIS Rapid Response Project, NASA/GSFC. There was a lot of cloud over eastern regions, especially the east of North Island. The satellite picture showed some beautiful cloud forms over eastern Bay of Plenty… these are low clouds shaped by a combination of waves in the lee of the ranges and orientated perpendicular to the flow, and streets of cloud that are parallel to the flow. Having looked at the clouds from above, let’s also look at them from below. I took this photo of the clouds over the eastern hills of Wellington in the late afternoon of Thursday 19 April, after a rather grey cloudy day in the capital. The barometer was indicating around 1036 hPa. Stratocumulus and low-topped cumulus cloud, Wellington, 19 April 2012. Why is it that not all Highs bring sunny weather? It’s all to do with the upward and downward motions associated with them. Anticyclones generate sinking motion of air, as described in an earlier blog post . As the air sinks it becomes drier, and any cloud in it will generally evaporate. But this sinking air doesn’t make it all the way to the ground and, in the case of the current anticylone over New Zealand, there was a lot of moist air and cloud trapped just above the Earth’s surface. Most of us live within a few hundred metres of sea level. If we are beneath this anticyclonic cloud, all we see is a cloudy day, even though the skies are blue above. If there’s enough low-level moisture the clouds can generate light rain or drizzle too, though it doesn’t come to much. Wherever the wind at low levels is blowing from the sea onto the coast, it’s more likely that the air will be moist enough to bring cloud. That was the case for most eastern parts of New Zealand on Thursday 19 April. And there were some patches of drizzle and light rain about too. Most places in the west were sheltered from the low level flow, and were indeed getting clear sunny weather. So, with some interpretation, it’s possible to deduce quite a bit from what the barometer is measuring!
Using Tree Rings to Determine the Start of the Medieval Dark Ages The science of dendrochronology observes changes in the pattern of tree rings in an attempt to create a time line and infer climate changes. Using tree ring data, it is possible to link the past 11,000 years in parts of Germany & Northern Ireland, but only the past few centuries in other parts of the world. » 2/10/12 7:00am 2/10/12 7:00am Sustainability Science: How to Create a New Research Field If the world needs a new field of science, can you simply create one from scratch? That's the question of a group of researchers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The scientists recently chronicled the twenty-five year journey of sustainability science, a newly coined field with the goal of advancing society… » 12/01/11 11:01am 12/01/11 11:01am
Turbulence Ahead for Weather Satellites A potential gap in weather satellite coverage could impact daily and long-term forecasts and research, scientists say. An instrument on the Suomi NPP satellite snaps a picture of Sandy as a hurricane, moving along the U.S. East Coast. The replacement program, known as the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS), has suffered under ballooning budgets, mismanagement, and political wrangling. That's partly what prompted the GAO to put weather data on its list of government operations at high risk. "But even a 17-month gap, [the shortest estimate for a potential data gap], dramatically affects weather forecast ability, which could lead to challenges to protecting life and property," Shepherd said. If European models of superstorm Sandy—well known for their accuracy in predicting the monster storm's path—hadn't had information from polar-orbiting satellites, for instance, they would've shown Sandy staying harmlessly out to sea rather than turning inland toward New York and New Jersey. (Read about "Weather Gone Wild" in the September 2012 issue of National Geographic magazine.) Basic research would also suffer from the loss of data, said Scott Rayder, senior adviser to the president of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. "Long-term weather data is climate data, so these [satellite] sensors are important in figuring out how the atmosphere works." Cause for Concern Information forecasters incorporate into their models comes from two sets of satellites run by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and NASA—geostationary satellites and polar-orbiting satellites, the American Meteorological Society's Shepherd explained. Onboard instruments measure environmental factors including atmospheric moisture, sea surface temperature, and atmospheric ozone. This helps scientists keep tabs on things like precipitation and the health of the planet's ozone layer. The current concern is focused on replacements for polar-orbiting satellites. Traveling 517 miles (833 kilometers) above the Earth in a pole-to-pole direction every 90 minutes, NOAA's current crop of Polar Operational Environmental Satellites (POES) are nearing the twilight of their life cycles, Shepherd said. The POES satellites were built with a two- to three-year operational lifetime in mind, said James Gleason, of NASA's Goddard Spaceflight Center in Maryland. "And they've lasted a long time, some [for] more than a decade," he said. The most recent POES satellite, NOAA-19, was launched in 2009. Dire Situation NOAA has another polar-orbiting satellite, called Suomi NPP, that's also taking weather data. Launched in 2011, it was supposed to be a proof of concept in order to test instruments slated to fly on JPSS, said Shepherd. But due to repeated delays in the JPSS program, NOAA is using Suomi NPP as an operational satellite. "It's working swimmingly," he said. "We're pretty sure [Suomi] NPP will last until 2016," said NASA's Gleason, senior project scientist for JPSS. But JPSS isn't scheduled to launch until early 2017—and that depends on what happens to funding in the federal budget and whether the sequester kicks in, Gleason said. NOAA is currently working on a plan to bridge any gap, should it occur, in data from their satellites. One possibility includes using a fleet of satellites owned by the U.S. military, called the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program, to gather needed weather data. The agency put out a call last year asking for suggestions on how the community could deal with a gap. But as it stands right now, the situation is dire, said Shepherd.
wood decay fungi Richard Winder rwinder at PFC.Forestry.CA Wed Feb 21 22:57:41 EST 1996 In article <4gf7cv$9c0 at news.doit.wisc.edu>, Tom Volk <tjvolk at facstaff.wisc.edu> writes: >Hi Sally. >Sally.Fryar at FLINDERS.EDU.AU (Sally Fryar) wrote: >>I have been doing some work on wood decay fungi in South Australia and have >>found that several species will fruit upon the same branch. I am interested >>to hear opinions on whether or not we can consider this coexistence of species. >I would say this would be a clear indication of several >species taking advantage of similar niches and similar >conditions in growing on the same branch. However, the >mycelia of competing individuals have a tendency to not mix >with one another. Usually one can find black "zone lines" >in the wood (spalted wood) that are caused by individuals >trying to "wall themselves off" from other individuals and >prevent invasion by competing mycelia. Alan Rayner in the >UK has several interesting articles (and a book) on >competition between fungal species, especially in wood. See >for example Rayner & Boddy, 1988. Fungl decomposition of >wood: its biology and ecology. Wiley, Chichester. Tom is right, but I would like to add: It depends on what is meant by "fruit on the same branch". If it means successive fruiting, it is a different story. For example, Chondrostereum purpureum is typically an early invader of wounds, and is followed by other decay fungi like Schizophyllum, etc. This isn't really simultaneous coexistence, I guess, but it isn't necessarily out-and-out competition, either. RICHARD WINDER Title: Research Scientist Canadian Forest Service Phone: (604) 363-0773 Victoria, B.C. Internet: RWINDER at A1.PFC.Forestry.CA More information about the Mycology mailing list
Build your own water compass: Create a water compass by filling a non-metallic pie plate or dish with about an inch of water. Place your floatable boat cutout (as shown in the diagram) on the water. Take a magnet and "magnetize" the needle by moving or stroking the magnet along the needle approximately fifteen or more times. Place your magnetic needle on your boat as shown in the diagram and the boat and needle should slowly point north. You have a water compass that points North with the near-frictionless properties of flotation. A good way to prove the magnetic properties of the compass is to have the plate or dish on a board or table that can be steadily picked up and rotated.
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall Test \| Final Test - Easy Buy The Tenant of Wildfell Hall Lesson Plans Name: _________________________ Period: ___________________ Multiple Choice Questions 1. How does Mr. Walter Hargrave try to win over Helen? (a) By complimenting her house. (b) By making fun of her husband. (c) By playing with her son. (d) By bringing her presents. 2. In Chapter 53, how does Mr. Markham finally see Helen? (a) She invites him over. (b) Arthur runs into Mr. Markham at the pub. (c) She finds him on the road. (d) He invites her over. 3. What does Helen do when Mr. Hargrave offers her protection in Chapter 39? (a) She ignores him. (b) She accepts it. (c) She says she will talk to him about it later. (d) She turns it down. 4. In Chapter 30, what does Mr. Huntingdon do after arguing with Helen? (a) He drinks. (b) He slaps her. (c) He leaves town. (d) He writes to his uncle. 5. In Chapter 32, why does Milicent want Helen to advise his sister on marriage? (a) Because he thinks Helen is kind. (b) Because he doesn't want her to end up like Helen. (c) Because he wants her to be picky. (d) Because she trusts Helen. 6. What does Mr. Markham do after reading Helen's diary? (a) Meets with her brother. (b) Promises to keep her safe. (c) Takes back his confession of love. (d) Apologizes to her. 7. How does Mr. Markham believe Mr. Lawrence reacts to his advice about the Wilsons? (a) He knows Mr. Lawrence believes him. (b) He feels ignored. (c) He isn't sure. (d) He gets laughted at. 8. In Chapter 52, why does Mr. Markham visit Staningley? (a) He heard it was empty. (b) Mr. Lawrence invites him. (c) It is where Helen spends most of her time. (d) Mr. and Mrs. Hargrave invite him. 9. What does Frederick say about Helen staying at Wildfell Hall in Chapter 41? (a) That she will be much happier. (b) That she will need to clean the place. (c) That he doesn't want her there. (d) That she should try to make her marriage work first. 10. After Mr. Huntingdon takes most of Helen's money and belongings, what does he leave her? (a) Dresses. (b) A piano. (c) Books. (d) Silver. 11. In Chapter 39, who does Helen confide in about her marital problems? (a) Arthur. (b) Mr. Hargrave. (c) Mr. Hattersley. (d) Her vicor. 12. What does Mr. Markham do with his family farm in Chapter 80? (a) Gives it to Arthur. (b) Gives it to his brother. (c) Sells it. (d) Gives it to Helen's aunt. 13. In Chapter 30, where does Mr. Huntingdon go for the fall? (a) London. (b) Hunting. (c) Paris. (d) Shopping. 14. In Chapter 47, what does Eliza say about Helen? (a) That she is a liar. (b) She doesn't speak about Helen. (c) That she reunited with her husband. (d) That her real name is Mrs. Hargrave. 15. In Chapter 39, what worries Helen about her son? (a) He swears at her. (b) He has been drinking with his father. (c) He is no longer doing his lessons. (d) He dresses like a pauper. Short Answer Questions 2. Why does Helen's aunt want her to live at Staningley? 3. Why does Mr. Hargrave offer Helen protection in Chapter 39? 4. When Lord Lowborough finds out about his wife's affair, what does his friend suggest? 5. What does Helen have Mr. Huntingdon do before seeing his son in Chapter 47? (see the answer keys) This section contains 579 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) Buy The Tenant of Wildfell Hall Lesson Plans
Monitoring the Dual Mandate of the Federal Reserve Fed Still to Decide on When to End QE Along with its original task of maintaining the safety, integrity and security of the U.S. banking system, in the post WWII period, the Federal Reserve (Fed) has also been charged with encouraging full employment and maintaining price stability. The Fed currently interprets its employment mandate with the economic measure of an unemployment rate of less than 6.5%. For its price stability mandate, the Fed focuses on the personal consumption expenditure price index less food and energy. Given the Fed’s worries that the economy not slip into a deflationary situation, the current objective is to see the economy’s inflation rate rise above the long-term target of 2% and be above 2.5% to provide clear evidence that deflationary pressures have been averted. Read full Report
The CIA's Campaign Against Salvador Allende excerpted from the book The Lawless State The crimes of the U.S. Inteligence Agencies by Morton Halperin, Jerry Berman, Robert Borosage, Christine Marwick Penguin Books, 1976 Since the early 1960s, American policy in Chile was directed at one objective-to keep-Salvador Allende from coming to power. To accomplish this, Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon, with the willing cooperation of the CIA, were prepared to destroy constitutional government n Chile. Who was this man who brought down upon himself the ire of American presidents and the CIA? Allende was not a Soviet puppet, plotting to bring Soviet troops to Chile to destroy democracy. He was a committed democrat, considered a moderate by Chilean socialists, leading a coalition of Marxist parties in the election place. His program was the same each time he ran for president from 1958 onward: he pledged to reshape the Chilean economy (beginning with nationalization of major industries), to redistribute income through tax and land reform; and to begin a policy of better relationships with Cuba, the USSR, and other socialist states. Despite the warnings of his personal friend Fidel Castro, and despite the vicious campaign orchestrated by the CIA, Allende continued to respect the democratic traditions in Chile after he was elected in 1970. The intelligence community's own assessments showed that local, student, and trade-union elections continued to be held regularly; the press remained free, and continued to attack the government; the military was not used to suppress other parties. Allende's government also posed no strategic threats to the United States. In 1970, a high-level interdepartmental group concluded that the United States had no vital interests in Chile, and that Allende posed no likely threat to the peace of the region. Allende pursued a policy of nonalignment, entering into relations with Cuba and the Soviet Union, and demonstrating independence from the United States. United States intelligence estimates agreed that - none of this was of strategic concern. Yet to Henry Kissinger it might as well have been 1948, with the Red Army looming just over the horizon. On September 16, 1970, he told a group of editors in a "background" briefing that an "Allende takeover" (i.e., victory in a democratic election) was not in United States interest. "There is a good chance that [Allende] will establish over a period of years some sort of Communist government," warned Kissinger, and that could pose "massive problems for us and for democratic forces and for pro-US forces in Latin America." In a stretch of his geopolitical imagination, Kissinger specified Argentina Bolivia, and Peru as countries that would be adversely influenced by an Allende victory. Moreover, Kissinger feared that the "contagious example" of Chile would "infect" NATO allies in southern Europe. Kissinger was worried about the question of dominoes "infection," and Western stability. Chile, like Vietnam before it and Angola after, had become a test case for America's imperial will. Not surprisingly, for the man who urged the carpet-bombing of Hanoi in order to "punctuate" his negotiating position against North Vietnam, Kissinger had little interest in either the condition of the Chilean people or their fate. "I don't see why we need to stand by and watch a country go Communist due to the irresponsibility of its own people," said Kissinger in 1970 at a supersecret meeting of the 40 Committee (the White House group chaired by Kissinger, which was supposed to approve major projects to manipulate other countries' internal affairs). Kissinger set the CIA against Allende, not to preserve democracy or to counter a Soviet puppet in Latin America, but to prevent a charismatic socialist from providing a democratic alternative to American policy. "Henry thought that Allende might lead an anti-United States movement in Latin America more effectively than Castro, just because it was the democratic path to power," commented an ex-staff aide. In fact, it was precisely because Allende was widely regarded as a believer in democratic institutions that there was so much shock connected to his overthrow, especially in the Third World and southern Europe. What Kissinger was saying-and backing up with covert American power-was that adherence to democracy wasn't enough; that countries would not be allowed to switch over to a socialist way of running their economies even democratically. The message of Chile was: no matter how unjust or corrupt the alternative, the United States would not allow meaningful economic or social change, at least with a Marxist label, and a willingness to have good relations with Cuba, China, and the Soviet Union. Fidel Castro, on the other hand, received another message from American subversion of the Allende regime. He saw Allende's mistake as having allowed too much democracy. Castro told American interviewers in July 1974: Allende respected all these rights. The opposition press conspired. There were newspapers conspiring for a coup d'etat every day, and they finally delivered the coup. Everyone had the right to conspire, and the results were that they overthrew the Allende government and set up a fascist regime. Castro believed-and Kissinger seemed to be confirming-that there could be no socialism in Latin America with democratic freedoms and without armed power to back it up. In the end, the very specter that Kissinger raised for Chile if Allende stayed in power-abolition of basic freedoms-was the final result of the secret American foreign-policy goal of destablizing Chile. The ClA's attempts to dislodge Allende from power in Chile were the culmination of a long agency campaign against Allende. Twice before-in 1958 and in 1964- Allende had run for the presidency, and on both occasions the CIA worked clandestinely to block him. To influence the outcome of the 1964 elections, the agency spent $3 million. As part of this effort, the CIA organized a media "scare campaign" (campana de terror) and secretly paid over half the costs of the victorious Christian Democratic campaign. Philip Agee, who was a CIA operative in Uruguay in 1964, has described how some of this money was funneled into Chile through the Montevideo branch of the First National City Bank, with the help of the assistant manager, John M. Hennessy. Five years later, Hennessy was the assistant secretary of the treasury for international affairs and in that post helped to coordinate the economic aspect of the Nixon administration's anti-Allende campaign. Hennessy's dual role vividly illustrates the interlocking, overlapping nature of American corporate and government involvement in Chile-and, indeed, in all Latin America. United States corporations dominated the key sectors of Chile's economy-including the vital copper industry. By 1970, loans by financial institutions controlled or dominated by the United States-AID, the Export-lmport Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank-had given Chile the highest per-capita foreign debt in the world. With the knowledge and encouragement of the United States government, companies including Anaconda Copper and ITT contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to anti-Allende candidates. The Senate intelligence report indicates that in 1970 the CIA approached ITT for contributions to an Allende foe Shortly thereafter, in the summer of 1970, a member of the ITT board of directors, John McCone, contacted the CIA in Washington to offer $1 million in ITT corporate funds for the anti-Allende effort. The CIA ostensibly rejected the offer but provided ITT with information on two "secure" funding channels that could be used to slip money to the National party and its candidate, Jorge Alessandri. John McCone wore several hats in this affair. In addition to being a director of ITT, he was the former head of the CIA itself, and was still secretly on the agency rolls as a "consultant." With his past CIA experience, McCone was fully aware that the CIA had "penetrated" virtually every sector of Chilean society. In intelligence parlance the CIA for years had been steadily "building its assets" -placing and recruiting agents in key jobs all over Chile. In cooperation with-and often under cover supplied by- the AFL-CIO, the CIA had infiltrated the labor movement. It recruited Chileans in the media and among the country's most important politicians. CIA operators maintained regular "liaison" with the Chilean military and police services. In fact, according to a CIA source with direct personal knowledge, agency men in Chile were actively working as early as 1969 to "politicize" the armed forces and police in hopes of provoking a coup before the 1970 elections. The "asset-building" operations were part of the workaday routine for the dozen or so full-time ClA operatives assigned to the American embassy in Santiago and for the other CIA men in Chile disguised as students or businessmen. This permanent intervention in local politics had become a fact of life in Chile, as it had throughout Latin America. Presidential elections brought out spurts of CIA spending, but the "routine" level of covert action was not insignificant. Between 1964 and 1969, the agency spent close to $2 million on programs to train "anti-Communist organizers" working among Chilean peasants and slum-dwellers. It subsidized or owned wire services, magazines, and newspapers. It directed projects to combat the left on Chile's campuses; supported a politically active women's organization; and tried to win influence in cultural and intellectual circles. The CIA even sponsored a group that specialized in putting up wall posters and heckling at public meetings.' As the 1970 elections approached, the CIA and the United States ambassador to Chile, Edward Korry, again sought additional funds from the 40 Committee. In March of that year, the 40 Committee decided not to back any single candidate but to wage a "spoiling" campaign against Allende. (This policy was apparently circumvented by the CIA when it advised ITT on how to use agency funding conduits in feeding money to the National party candidate.) In all, the CIA spent close to $1 million to influence the 1970 elections. Some of the money went for "political action" and "black" (false) propaganda to break up the leftist coalition that had formed around Allende. The lion's share, however, went into another shrill media scare campaign. An Allende victory was equated with violence and Stalinist repression, and the message was sent out, the Senate Committee reports, by an editorial support group that provided political features, editorials, and news articles for radio and press placement; and three different news services.... Sign-painting teams had instructions to paint the slogan 'su paredon" (your wall) on 2000 walls, evoking an image of communist firing squads.... Other assets, all employees of El Mercurio, enabled the Station to generate more than one editorial per day based on CIA guidance. Access to El Mercurio had a multiplier effect, since its editorials were read throughout the country on various national radio networks. Despite the ClA's efforts, Allende won a narrow plurality in elections on September 4, 1970. But since he did not win a majority, formal selection of a president was left to the Chilean Congress, which was to meet on October 24. Chilean tradition dictated that, Allende, the candidate receiving the most votes, would be elected by the Congress. The Nixon administration entertained other hopes, as the Senate Select Committee noted: The reaction in Washington to Allende's plurality victory was immediate. The 40 Committee ma on September 8 and 14 to discuss what action should be taken-prior to the October 24 congressional vote. On September 15, President Nixon informed CIA Director Richard Helms that an Allende regime in Chile would not be acceptable to the United States and instructed the CIA to play a direct role in organizing a military coup d'etat in Chile to prevent Allende's accession to the Presidency. The Nixon administration policy to keep Allende out of power proceeded on two tracks. Under Track I, which had 40 Committee approval, the CIA used a variety of covert political, economic, and propaganda tactics to manipulate the Chilean political scene. One scheme to which the 40 Committee gave its assent was an allocation of S25,000 to bribe members of the Chilean Congress. This money was apparently never spent, but other CIA funds flowed into the ever more shrill propaganda campaign. According to the Senate report: Themes developed during the campaign were exploited even more intensely during the weeks following September 4, in an effort to cause enough financial and political panic and political instability to goad President Frei or the Chilean-military into action. The CIA moved quickly to create chaos on the Chilean scene. Agency Director Helms left the September 15 meeting with President Nixon with the following scribble among his notes: "Make the economy scream.'' An interagency committee was set up (with representatives from the CIA, State, Treasury, and the White House) to coordinate the attack on Chile's economy. American multinationals, including ITT, were approached to take such actions as cutting off credit to Chile, stopping the shipment of spare parts, and causing runs on financial institutions. "A major financial panic ensued," noted the Senate Select Committee. Track II involved direct efforts to foment a- military coup. Neither the State Department nor the 40 Committee was informed about these activities. The chain of command ran directly from Nixon to Kissinger to Helms at the CIA. Helms was told that $10 million or more would be available to do the job. President Nixon was so adamant that Allende be stopped that Helms noted later about his orders: "If I ever carried a marshal's baton in my knapsack out of the Oval Office, it was that day." The CIA proceeded to make twenty-one contacts in two weeks with key Chilean military personnel to assure them that the United States would support a coup. At the time the primary obstacle within the military to such a move was Chief of Staff General Rene Schneider, a strong supporter of the Chilean military's tradition of non-involvement in politics. The ClA's reaction was to propose removing Schneider. American officials supported the coup plans, which included kidnapping-General Schneider as a first step. After two unsuccessful attempts by the plotters, the CIA passed three submachine guns and ammunition to Chilean officers still planning to kidnap Schneider. The Senate committee found: In the third kidnap attempt on October 22, apparently conducted by Chileans other than those to whom weapons had been supplied, General Schneider was shot and subsequently die The guns used in the abortive kidnapping were, in all probability, not those supplied by the CIA to the conspirators. The Chilean military court . . . determined that Schneider had been murdered by handguns, although one machine gun was at the scene of the killing. Schneider was murdered, his fatal error being a firm belief in democracy and an apolitical military. His death was a shocking event in Chile, which had almost no past experience with political violence, but the armed forces still did not move, despite CIA urging. On October 24, 1970, Salvador Allende was confirmed as president of Chile. After Allende's inauguration, the CIA funneled over $6 million into its attempts to subvert his government. ... The CIA concentrated its efforts in four key areas: Adding to its previous subsidies, the CIA spent another $1.5 million in support of El Mercurio. Under the agency's guidance, the paper was transformed from a publication resembling the Wall Street Journal to one in the style of the New York Daily News, complete with screaming headlines and pictures of Soviet tanks on the front page. The CIA justified this heavy expenditure on El Mercurio to the 40 Committee on the grounds that the Allende government was trying to close the paper and, in general, threatening the free press in Chile. On the contrary, according to the Senate report, "the press remained free," and even the CIA's own intelligence estimates stated that El Mercurio had been able to maintain its independence. The supposed threat to the press was the most important theme the CIA used in an international propaganda campaign aimed against Allende. With the fabricated charge, the CIA was able to convince newspapers around the world-including most of the American media-that Allende posed such a threat. Additionally the CIA circulated its propaganda throughout Chile by means of a complex assortment of captive newspapers, magazines, and radio and television outlets. CIA operations were supplemented by clandestine aid from sympathetic Brazilians and the secret services of other "allied" countries. Brazilians, themselves trained by the CIA for their own 1964 coup against a leftist president, seem to have played a major part in the disruption of Chile The head of a Brazilian "think tank," Dr. Glycon de Paiva, boasted in a post-coup interview with the Washington Post: "The recipe exists and you can bake the cake any time. We saw how it worked in Brazil and now in Chile." In Chile as in Brazil, the CIA heavily subsidized right-wing think tanks, which were used to coordinate intelligence, distribute propaganda, and organize paramilitary units. Some of the ClA's money flowed into paramilitary and terrorist groups such as the notorious Patria y Libertad an extremist private vigilante group. Other funds went through conduits, into support of strikes that plagued the Allende regime One hundred and eight leaders of the white-collar trade associations-some of which received direct CIA subsidies-received free training in the United States from the American Institute for Free Labor Development (AIFLD), an AFL-CIO affiliate which, according to ex-agency operative Philip Agee, was set up under the control of the CIA. While the 40 Committee turned down specific CIA proposals for direct support to two truckers' strikes that had a devastating effect in 1972 and 1973 on Chile's economy, the CIA passed money on to private-sector groups, which in turn, with the agency's knowledge, funded the truckers. Although the Nixon administration cut off economic aid to Allende's Chile, it continued to send in military assistance. The administration wanted to remain on good terms with the Chilean officer corps, with which there had always been considerable American contact. Starting in 1969 and continuing through 1973, the CIA established a special project to monitor coup plotting-which the CIA was encouraging at least in 1969 and 1970. The Senate Select Committee reported: In November [1971], the Station suggested that the ultimate objective of the military penetration program was a military coup Headquarters responded by rejecting that formulation of the objective, cautioning that the CIA did not have 40 Committee approval to become involved in a coup. Headquarters acknowledged the difficulty of drawing a firm link between monitoring coup plotting and becoming involved in it. lt also realized that the U S. government's desire to be in clandestine contact with military plotters, for whatever purpose, might well imply to them United States support for their future plans. On September 11, 1973, a group of military and policy officers-a group that the CIA had penetrated- overthrew the Allende government. The following month, CIA Director William Colby-using the surgical language of the bureaucracy-told a House committee that the CIA "had an overall appreciation" of the "deterioration" of the economic and political situation, and with the Chilean navy pushing for a coup, it had become "only a question of time before it came." Henry Kissinger testified in 1973, under oath: The CIA had nothing to do with the coup, to the best of my knowledge, and I only put in that qualification in case some mad man appears down there, who, without instructions, talked to somebody. If Kissinger is telling the truth about the absence of direct CIA involvement, it is at best disingenuous for him to claim that the United States-and the CIA especially- had nothing to do with the overthrow of a government it had worked for three years to destabilize. The ClA's own internal documents, quoted by the Senate Select Committee, credit the anti-Allende propaganda campaign as having played a significant role in setting the stage for the coup 29 The Chilean military had to have been influenced by the propaganda themes the CIA was spreading all over Chile-themes that promised firing squads for Allende's opponents and that falsely indicated that Cubans were taking over the Chilean intelligence services and gathering data on the Chilean high command. The CIA had directly encouraged these same Chilean officers to pull off a coup in 1970 and then stayed in intimate touch with them through 1973 while they plotted. As Clandestine Services chief Thomas Karamessines testified: "I am sure that the seeds that were laid in that effort in 1970 had their impact in 1973." In 1974, President Ford defended the ClA's action in Chile by stating, "I think this is in the best interests of the people of Chile and certainly in our best interests." One wonders what the president had in-mind. A brutal military dictatorship has replaced a democratically elected government. All political parties have been effectively banned; the Congress has been shut down, the press censored; supporters of the last legal government have been jailed and tortured; thousands have been killed, and elections have been put off indefinitely. And what American interests have been served? Our government has once again aligned itself with a repressive junta. Our leaders have once again been caught telling a series of lies to Congress and the American people about their actions in a foreign country. Once again the CIA has used the free press and free elections to subvert a country's regime. The lawlessness and ruthlessness of the ClA's operations have brought us opprobrium around the world. The terrorism sanctioned and encouraged by the CIA will surely only instruct others in its use. Only American corporations seem to have profited by the ClA's intervention, and even their interests were poorly served. If corporate investment can be protected only by repressive regimes, then surely those investments are a poor risk. No country can long violate its own citizenry's sensibilities and principles simply to preserve corporate investments abroad. The ClA's operations in Chile are not merely of historical interest. Congressman Michael Harrington, after reading secret CIA testimony on Chile, wrote: "The Agency activities in Chile were viewed as a prototype, or laboratory experiment, to test the techniques of heavy financial investment in efforts to discredit and bring down a government." The Lawless State National Security Agency watch CIA watch FBI watch Index of Website Home Page
Poison Prevention Tips Every year, more than 72,600 children ages 5 and under visit the emergency room for unintentional poisoning.Â About 40 percent will be poisoned by prescription drugs and other medicines.Â Ninety percent of child poisonings happen in a home.Â They even happen in homes without children (when kids visit), and they happen when people bring medicine into homes where children live.Â Young children are very curious and cannot yet read.Â They often cannot tell the difference between things such as juice or candy, and a potential poison.Â Their curious nature may lead them to ingest a substance that can be very harmful to them.Â So take the following steps to keep children safe in your home: • Keep medication and harmful products locked up and out of a childâ€™s sight and reach. • NEVER call medicine â€œcandy.â€ • Buy medicine and household products in childproof containers. • NEVER leave alcohol within a childâ€™s reach. • Seek help if a child swallows a substance that is not food.Â Call the Poison Control Center (1-800-222-1222) or your doctor if a child swallows a poisonous substance. • Keep the following numbers near your phone: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Poison Control Center: • Syrup of Ipecac is no longer recommended for poisoning ingestion. Activated Charcoal is the agent of choice, and can be obtained over-theâ€“ counter.Â However, activated charcoal is difficult to get children to swallow so we recommend not wasting time but rather just going to the emergency room. • Keep all products in their original containers. NEVER put inedible products in food or beverage containers. • Teach children not to drink or eat anything unless it came from an adult. • If your home was built before 1978, test for lead-based paint and get your child tested for lead exposure.Â Children inhale the dust of lead-based paint and can build up enough lead in their blood to affect intelligence, growth and development. • Install a carbon monoxide alarm outside every sleeping area and on every level of your home.Â Carbon monoxide is an invisible, odorless gas that builds up around fuel-burning appliances and cars in garages.Â It can make a child seriously ill in concentrations that would barely affect an adult. • Be alert for repeated poisonings. Children who swallow a poison are likely to do so again within a year. Â Discuss these precautions with grandparents and caregivers.Â They may have medications that can be very dangerous to children and their homes might not be as well childproofed as yours.Â For more information on poisoning or other childhood safety topics, log on to www.safekidsgf.com or e-mail us at [email protected]. Resolution Wrap-Up: Did the Organizing Spree Last? Â Â Â Â Well, Iâ€™m writing to report in on my organization project for January. I am proud to say my upstairs is completely organized and is actually managing to stay such. My basement, however, is another matter. I did about 2/3 of it before my doctor ordered to me to cut back on my activity. Fortunately I got the hardest 2/3 done before this time came. What is left are things like my TV cabinet, the closet full of baby gear, and another full of blankets we never use. The baby gear I know is about to be gone through, so Iâ€™m not too worried about that. The TV stand is going to be replaced soon, so that will take care of itself too. As for the blankets? Well, weâ€™ll deal with that when the time comes. I love rationalizing my inability to complete a project! Â Â Â Â As for what I learned over the course of this month, the main thing really was, keep a list! My list of every closet/drawer/ cabinet really kept me motivated. I got to the point where I looked forward to crossing stuff off each time. However, I also learned you might as well start another list, one of the little projects you run into along the way. This way you donâ€™t get sidetracked. For instance, as I cleaned the future nursery closet out, I found a tote of toddler clothes. Instead of sorting it and extending the time allotted for the nursery closet, I started a second list of things to do after the main house was done. Â Â Â Â What has surprised me most of all was the fact that things are STAYING organized. Itâ€™s almost like in Field of Dreams, but instead of dead baseball players showing up on my lawn, objects are miraculously returning to their allotted spaces. â€œIf you organize it, your husband will follow.â€ Does that mean it was really needed? Possibly. More likely, things were put in logical places at last. Yes, I always wondered why I tried to cram my shoes and my broom together in a closet despite getting whacked in the head by the broom every time I left the house. Â Â Â Â Even more shocking is that my 2 year old is getting on board and is showing real progress in the â€˜picking up toysâ€™ department each night. As long as I do it with him, he is all for putting stuff away. He has even caught on that his toy veggies go in his toy fridge. Â Â Â Â One thing I wish I did have right now is a labeler. Iâ€™m not normally that anal, but with being on and off of bed rest, my husband and other family have picked up the slack on various cleaning activities. It would be much easier if they could simply open a closet door and have all the baskets labeled for them. Iâ€™m under the impression this would be even more awesome for a family with reading children or who is always on the go. As for me, my husband recently received my birthday wish list for Amazon, complete with labelerâ€¦.letâ€™s see if he goes for it. LOL Â Â Â Â The last thing I learned is to not fight clutter so hard. If you have a spot where things pile up, look at the stuff in the pile and determine if maybe if should be allocated to something specific and simply make it neater. In our house, itâ€™s the buffet counter. Thereâ€™s always various mail, wallets, cell phones, etc. spread out across it. Instead of trying to change a pretty deeply ingrained habit (believe me I tried), I worked to make it nicer. I found a decorative basket that all the small stuff like coupons and gadgets get tossed into as we walk by each day. For the mail, which tends to stack up when my hubby travels, I put a folder on the counter that I can easily toss in a drawer when I want it out of sight. Every week or so I take the folder, go through it, and file what I need to. Â Â Â Â All in all, Iâ€™d say my project was a success, despite the bed-rest set back. If Iâ€™d been able to work the whole month, I know I wouldâ€™ve easily finished the whole. (The garage is HIS department!) Iâ€™ve been allowed more activity again so Iâ€™ve started to do brief organizing projects in the basement to complete the rest of the list and work things so I can do them sitting down. I call it â€˜lazy workâ€™ and Iâ€™m working on making it into an art-form! If youâ€™ve got a toddler heading for a big bed, watch for my next blog next week: A Week in Transition-Our Adventure in moving to the Big Boy Bed. Getting Organized- Realistically. Part 1 I read that this year people have decided that getting organized is just as important to them as losing weight or saving money. Maybe its because getting organized is easier to do and last longer, but who knows. All I am sure about is if you read the home improvement magazines and web sites, there are a gazillion suggestions on how to accomplish order in your home. I found two problems however. Firstly, the â€˜professionalsâ€™ plans for organizing usually end up costing more money that throwing everything out and starting over; and second, they still save more than I would which requires more time. Here, Iâ€™m all about getting things done fast. So here are my suggestions for getting organized for a normal family. Oh, and in case you were wondering, I am doing this project as I write about it, so you know this isnâ€™t just some random, unrealistic ideas. When we moved into our new house last summer it was a week shy of our wedding. I was far more concerned with unpacking than organizing. As a result, all the stuff that used to fit neatly into 800 sq. ft. now seems to bulge in our 2400 sq. ft home. Â This is my philosophy going into the project, read next time to see how itâ€™s going! Make a list: My husband teases me about my lists because I use them…alot.Â But I’m one of those people that is too forgetful to go without them. So, I made a list of all of my drawers, cabinets, and closets to cross off as I go. This also helps to make me feel a sense of accomplishment. The ‘professionals’ say do a room at a time so you can see visible results. My two year old says, “Do what I might be interested in while I’m sleeping or you’ll have a HUGE mess.” Have a Goal: Originally my goal was to organize in the winter as I got time. A new pregnancy, nursery, and guest room to be finished has pushed that deadline up to ASAP.Â Â Thus my New Yearâ€™s resolution became to organize one drawer, cabinet or closet per day, which should take me about 30 days total. Also, because some closets needed to be organized simultaneously, Iâ€™ve allowed some â€˜bankingâ€™ ahead or behind but I make sure 7 are done each week no matter what. Cloth bins are cute butâ€¦.: Iâ€™ve noticed that organizing things into cute, color coordinated, labeled cloth covered totes or boxes fill the pages of Better Homes and Gardens. I wonâ€™t argue, a part of me very much wanted to mimic this lookâ€¦until I went to buy them. The cheapest I found was $7.00 for a medium to large size, and these werenâ€™t nearly as cute as in pictures. So then I was forced to chose, pretty and expensive, or cheap white baskets.Â What made the decision? When I realized that nobody is going to see those pretty cloth totes in my closet.Â So instead I left the store with a few white baskets of each size, knowing I will use them all.Â Normally though, I would recommend you plan ahead how many of each size you will need.Â Â Save the pretty bins for places people will see. Cut your losses: I have a rule that has served us well in our 4 years together. If you havenâ€™t used it in a year, get rid of it. If it is something you only use once a year and maybe missed a year, go ahead and give it one more year.Â (This doesnâ€™t happen often).Â Also, if you have a sentimental attachment, I will concede that some things just donâ€™t get thrown away, however evaluate that attachment. Is it something that belonged to your grandmother or is it the first beer glass you ever bought. Save Grandma, let the beer glass go on to make the next college kid happy. If it helps, I couldnâ€™t let mine all go in the same year either, but my collection is dwindling. I see everything but the fancier Bud Light glasses going in the â€˜rummage sale boxâ€™ this year. Papers and Magazines: Iâ€™m attacking this with the idea that a lot of stuff is online and I can really downsize the amount of paper we keep around here. I get one magazine each month, which I read, take the interesting stuff from it that I want, then recycle the magazine.Â Then the stuff Iâ€™ve taken out falls into the 1 year rule. As for important papers, such as monthly bills, if I canâ€™t access it online or if something on it could come into question in the next year, I file it for a year. If otherwise, it goes in the shredder. Up until now weâ€™ve saved everything for a yearâ€¦Iâ€™m eager to see how this affects the file cabinet. Tune in next time to see how these plans work for our house and maybe get an idea how theyâ€™ll work for yours.Â OHâ€¦and how much the kids will actually let me accomplish!
All About Surnames Find ancestors using these seven surname-based research strategies. If you wade around online message boards and mailing lists, you'll notice that most genealogists sign off with a list of their ancestral surnames. Obviously, last names are an important tool for identifying families and genealogical connections. You can open the door to even more genealogical finds by using these seven surname research strategies. 1. Find out what it means Learning your surname's meaning is fascinating and might even point you to an ancestral homeland. Last names came about gradually as populations grew to the point a single name was no longer a sufficient identifier. People generally added an occupation, physical characteristic, place or landmark (also called habitational names), or father's name (patronymics). That's how you got James Smith (blacksmith), Herbert Short, Aaron Hill and Terrence Johnson (son of John). Of these four naming conventions, patronymics probably can most trip you up, since its forms change with the language and culture. How to find out where your surnames came from? Online, you can use's Last Name Meaning Search, whether or not you subscribe to the site's databases. You'll see Facts About Your Surname; click Name Meanings and enter yours. If you're more of a bookworm than a surfer, check's source, the Oxford University Press Dictionary of American Family Names by Patrick Hanks. 2. Study same-named folks Of course, you're not related to everyone who has your surname. But also can give you information on people who had your name, which may suggest starting places for your research. Just choose the fact you want: place of origin, occupation, name distribution. Again, use the data as clues, not absolute answers. To give you a country of origin, looks at the number of immigrants with your surname departing from a specific country. But people often left from ports in countries besides their own. And the site's records only go back so far. The earliest Hendrickson immigration records it has are from 1851, but I know my relatives were in Kentucky by the mid-1700s. 3. List variations on the theme Our ancestors weren't as persnickety as we modern folks when it comes to spelling. In the 1800s and earlier, many people couldn't read, write or spell. Phonetic spelling was common: A census taker hearing a name pronounced in an unfamiliar accent probably didn't spell it the way your ancestor did. Your relative may have spelled his own name various ways in records, and branches of the family may have used variants. Searching for variations and phonetic spellings is especially important in the census and other indexes: If you're not on the alert for every conceivable spelling variation, you could miss your ancestor. It'll help to keep a list of your surnames and all the variations you can think of. 4. Look into DNA surname studies The link between the Y-chromosome and surnames-barring "nonpaternity events," our male ancestors passed both their Y-DNA and their surnames to their sons-makes genetic genealogy helpful for determining whether two men share a common male-line ancestor within recent history. If you join a DNA surname study with lots of participants and a well-documented lineage back to England, Ireland or Scotland, your chances of making a match are high. In that case, DNA testing can leapfrog you back 100 or more years. Even a negative result can help: My family believed most Hendricksons descended from "the frontier Hendricks" family, but DNA proved otherwise. If you join a surname study with only a handful of participants and find no matches, it's generally because the study doesn't yet have enough people to test against, or the family had an adoption or other undocumented parentage. 5. Join a society or one-name study Both surname societies and one-name studies collect biographical data and vital records about everyone who shares a surname, often posting findings online. Surname societies give members access to research, host get-togethers and coordinate DNA surname studies. Some society Web sites contain password-protected areas where members can post photos and family information. To find a surname society, do a Web search for "surname society" plus the name. Generally, one-name studies cover all known variants of a surname and follow that name's occurrence throughout history. Most studies include all people of that surname, even those who acquired it by marriage. 6. Surf surname Web sites Surname Web sites provide another source of information and a way to network with other people researching the name. These personal surname pages might focus on a single name or on a surname plus affiliated families. RootsWeb's Surname Resources page has links to tools and sites for thousands of names. Look at the Personal Home Pages category on Cyndi's List, too, and click on the letter of the alphabet for your name. In addition, use the search box at the top of each page pick up surnames that are listed as allied families on a Web site for some other name. 7. Network on forums and lists Some of my best online surname finds have come via two tools that have been around as long as I can remember: • RootsWeb mailing lists: If you sign up for a surname mailing list, you'll receive e-mails from everyone on the list. You also can browse and search list archives so you don't miss out on a potential lead in a past message. Search for a list for your surname on RootsWeb, then follow the instructions to subscribe or search the archives. • GenForum: This popular Web site hosts message boards for seemingly every surname under the sun. They're free, but you need to register to post. I particularly like the ability to search a specific forum. For example, I could select the Ballard forum and enter Williamsburg in the Phrase field to find posts about Ballards who lived in that town. Find more resources for researching your family's surname at, including
Working to keep brains functioning past 100 years Guest Opinion by Bernd Fritzsch for the Iowa City Press-Citizen Bernd Fritzsch Over the last 60 years, demographics on longevity have dramatically changed. The world now has a growing population that far exceeds in absolute and relative terms anything in human history. The United States alone will have more than 70 million people 65 years old or older by 2040. Not everyone benefits from such longevity, as disease can cripple the function of the brain leading to an altered state of mind. The anxiety of being affected by diseases such as Alzheimer's disease needs to be contrasted with the evidence that a fully functional brain can last for more than 100 years in specific cases. The University of Iowa's Aging Mind and Brain Initiative, which I direct, is an interdisciplinary group established to study innovative ways to diagnose, prevent and delay natural or disease-related cognitive decline in older people.A major task for this group is not only to generate but also to disseminate insights into the biology of age-related cognitive decline to the broader public to help understand the distinction between pathologic cognitive decline and normal aging. We'll be discussing the work of the Aging Mind and Brain Initiative and the language of the brain on the next WorldCanvass program. Experts from the fields of psychology, psychiatry, neurology biology and computer-aided design will join the discussion, focusing on such things as brain development, neurological disorders, advances in the treatment of epilepsy and stroke, and the creation of artificial intelligence. Current data indicates that there is no biological reason to assume that our brain's function follows a clock that is progressing toward the inevitable decline as time goes by. While the lucky healthy and active seniors enjoy longevity, the nagging feeling of uncertainty in particular of cognitive decline with increased age is an unwelcome daily partner: some fear that they will not remember their password to access their retirement funds. In thinking about age-related cognitive decline, it is best to equate the brain with other organs that show age-related functional decline at a cellular level. When compared with other organs such as the heart or kidneys, the human brain has only a very limited capacity to restore the 80 billion nerve cells we had when we were toddlers. The brain's function depends on these cells but, if age or disease-related decline in numbers of nerve cells in the brain exceeds a yet-unclear limit, the overall function of the brain and its resilience to cope with lost nerve cells will be disabled and the mind will deteriorate. Many avenues of research are being pursued with the aim of restoring lost function, or, preferably, preventing or delaying the degenerative process. Specific connections related to Parkinson's or hearing are currently being explored in the broader context of the initiative. Insights into stem cells to restore lost or dysfunctional nerve cells may offer hope to people with obvious cognitive functional decline. We still have a lot to learn about the workings of the brain and mind/body interactions, but recent decades of research and patient care have increased our understanding of intricate processes within the brain, produced astonishing advances in the treatment of numerous neurological diseases and accelerated the hope that we'll one day be able to reduce the numbers of people affected by the age-related decline of cognitive function. I invite you to join us for the WorldCanvass discussion at 5 p.m. Friday in the Senate Chamber of Old Capitol Museum. More Information Bernd Fritzsch is a faculty member of the University of Iowa Department of Biology and director of the Aging Mind and Brain Initiative.
Take the 2-minute tour × I was wondering why an integral domain is required to be commutative and have a multiplicative neutral element. For example the quaternions would be a non-commutative integral domain. The interesting property is that it has no zero divisors, so why require it to be commutative and have a $1$? In other words: what consequences follow from having a one vs. not having one when investigating rings without zero divisors? share\|improve this question Why is a commutative ring with unity a commutative ring with unity? We make definitions because they help us make sense of phenomena, and integral domains were defined to help us make sense of certain nice commutative rings with unity. – Qiaochu Yuan Feb 3 '11 at 10:22 In any case, see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_(ring_theory) – Qiaochu Yuan Feb 3 '11 at 10:30 In any case, $\mathbb{Z} \setminus \{1\}$ is not a ring according to anyone's definition: addition and multiplication are not everywhere defined. – Pete L. Clark Feb 3 '11 at 11:14 @Qiaochu: I don't understand why you got 4 votes for posting an utterly unhelpful comment. "Why is an egg an egg?" is not the question here. The question is: "If X is defined in terms of Y, does Y have properties that are necessary to have X? And if not, are there properties of Y that make X much nicer." Y is not a commutative ring with 1, Y is having a 1 and X is having no zero divisors! – Rudy the Reindeer Feb 3 '11 at 13:07 @Matt: well, if you're not asking "Why is X called X?", what are you asking? One can and does study rings without zero divisors which are not commutative: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_%28ring_theory%29, but certainly commutative rings have lots of nice properties that noncommutative rings don't: check out any text on commutative algebra (e.g. mine). Similar remarks go for "rngs", i.e., rings without identity. So perhaps you could clarify your question... – Pete L. Clark Feb 3 '11 at 13:22 4 Answers 4 up vote 11 down vote accepted Yes, people do study rings without unity (see for example this previous answer for some comments on rings without unity). So people do study commutative-rings-without-unit-that-have-no-zero-divisors. Likewise, people do study non-commutative rings (with or without identity), and study such rings that have no zero divisors (though from what I can tell from my colleagues, zero divisors don't worry them quite as much as nilpotent elements do, so "reduced rings" seem to play a bigger role). So certainly, people study things that are "almost domains except for one of the properties" (nobody drops the $1\neq 0$ condition, though, because that makes it too easy). A ring with 1 which is not the zero ring and has no zero divisors is called a domain (at least in Lam's First Course in Noncommutative Rings). They are defined on page 3 of the book, so pretty early. They can get pretty hairy: if you have a domain, it may not be embeddable in a division ring (in contrast to the integral domain case, where you always have the field of fractions); this was proven by Mal'cev, and is presented in Lam's Lectures on Rings and Modules, section 9B. So really your question is more along the lines of "Why do we distinguish precisely integral domains, and not some of these other objects?" Maybe we should study rings without zero divisors, give them a special name (say, "wuzeds", for "without zero divisors", and then call integral domains "commutative wuzeds"?) Partly, history. Ring theory was born from ideas of Dedekind, and later Noether and Artin, which arose from number theory considerations; they all took place in the commutative setting, and most of what Dedekind worked with were in fact (a special family of examples of) what we now call "integral domains". Integral domains were simply studied more. Also, a lot of ring theory originally arose as a way to try to abstract these ideas, generalize the results; a lot of the results were based on polynomials, on matrices, and other objects constructed from the rings, which people were familiar with in the case of the integers and other prototypes. Most of these objects become very hard when you switch to rings without identity (for example, whereas every ring with identity can be embedded in both its polynomial and its matrix rings in canonical ways, rings without identity are far more difficult to embed), or when you switch to noncommutative rings. So people were studying special cases of commutative rings before they were studying noncommutative rings. That's also why we call them fields and skew-fields (or division rings), and not "commutative division rings" and "division rings". (Bourbaki attempted to change this, by defining "field" to be a ring with identity, $1\neq 0$, in which every nonzero element has an inverse, i.e. what we usually call a division ring, and then talking about fields and commutative fields; it did not stick outside of France). share\|improve this answer I still hear French people say 'commutative field' pretty consistently, though :) – Mariano Suárez-Alvarez Mar 25 '12 at 0:16 Why do you say that the interesting property of an integral domain is that it not have zero divisors? This is giving short shrift to the other properties, i.e. having 1, and being commutative. The question of rings without 1, and their relevance within mathematics, has been discussed in various places here and on MO: see e.g. here, here, and here. The differences between commutative and non-commutative rings are immense. Essentially, in commutative rings one can localize, and in non-commutative rings one cannot. See e.g. this answer for more discussion of this. The theory of integral domains is based on all three properties (commutativity, existence of 1, no zero-divisors). To give a concrete example, the enveloping algebra of a Lie algebra over a field has no zero divisors. If the Lie algebra is of finite dimension, it is Noetherian. (One sees this because the enveloping algebra admits a filtration, the filtration by degree, whose associated graded is a polynomial ring --- so in particular a domain --- in as many variables as the dimension of the Lie algebra --- and so Noetherian for a finite dimensional Lie algebra.) Now lets suppose our Lie algebra $\mathfrak g$ is finite dimensional and semi-simple over a field of characteristic zero, say $\mathbb C$ just to fix ideas. The enveoping algebra $U(\mathfrak g)$ contains an augmentation ideal (the kernel of the action on the trivial representation, if you like), call it $I$; so there is a short exact sequence $$0 \to I \to U(\mathfrak g) \to \mathbb C \to 0.$$ Now because $\mathfrak g$ is semi-simple, any extension of the trivial representation $\mathbb C$ by itself splits, and so is again trivial. This implies that $I^2 = I$. On the other hand, in a Noetherian integral domain (commutative!), one has the result that $I^2 = I$ implies $I = 0$. (See e.g. this answer.) Geometrically, the idea is that if $A$ is a commutative ring with one and $I$ is an ideal such that $I = I^2$, then Spec $A/I$ is a closed subscheme of Spec $A$ which has no non-trivial normal directions into Spec $A$. If one pictures this, you will see that the only way this seems possible, intuitively, is if Spec $A/I$ is open as well as closed in Spec $A$ (otherwise there would be some directions pointing out of Spec $A/I$ into the rest of Spec $A$). One can then actually prove that if $A$ is furthermore Noetherian, and if $I = I^2$, then $A$ factors as a product $A/I \times B$, so Spec $A$ is the disjoint union of Spec $A/I$ and Spec $B$. In particular, if $A$ is a domain (so that Spec $A$ is irreducible, and so connected), one finds that either $I = A$ or $I = 0$. The example of the enveloping algebra shows that the non-commutative situation is completely different: we have the ring $U(\mathfrak g)$ without zero divisors, and Noetherian, but with a non-trivial idempotent ideal. This is (at least for me) quite hard to interpret geometrically, and certainly suggests that it is reasonable to separate the study of (commutative) integral domains from the more general study of (possibly non-commutative) rings without zero divisors. Final remark: I have no objection to using the term integral domain or domain in the non-commutative context. (I should note that, like many commutative algebraists, I frequently say and write domain to mean commutative integral domain.) My answer here is not intended to advocate any position on terminology, but just to explain why the commutative context is quite different from the more general non-commutative one, and hence why it makes sense to make a special study of the commutative case. Incidentally, my answer could reasonably be taken in a more general sense as (at least partly) explaining why we make a special study of commutative rings (the subject of commutative algebra) rather than just studying all rings at once. share\|improve this answer From one general algebraic perspective, the "point" of defining integral domains is really to define their fraction fields. Integral domains are precisely the (unital) subrings of (commutative) fields, so in that sense the study of integral domains is a natural extension of the study of fields. This is why the basic objects in, say, algebraic number theory are certain integral domains which are subrings of number fields. From the perspective of number theory, the "point" of defining integral domains is to impose an obvious requirement on any ring with a nice theory of factorization: if $0$ can have a nontrivial factorization, then there are going to be problems. Again, this is why in algebraic number theory we study integral domains. From the perspective of algebraic geometry, the point of defining integral domains is as follows. Associated to any nice integral domain $R$ is a certain topological space, its spectrum, and one should roughly speaking think of elements of $R$ as functions on this space $\text{Spec } R$. Then the requirement that $R$ is an integral domain translates into requiring a very strong connectivity hypothesis on this space. If $a, b \in R$ such that $ab = 0$, then the set of points in $\text{Spec } R$ such that $a = 0$ and the set of points in $\text{Spec } R$ such that $b = 0$ are closed subsets of $\text{Spec } R$ whose union is all of $\text{Spec } R$, and under certain hypotheses on $R$ these subsets are proper. Requiring that $R$ has no zero divisors is (again, under certain hypotheses) equivalent to requiring that it is not possible to partition $\text{Spec } R$ in this way. This is a very strong form of connectivity called irreducibility. It turns out that any (nice) variety is a unique disjoint union of a finite number of irreducible components, so it's natural to study irreducible varieties. As for requiring units, all of the natural examples I can think of have units, and all of the natural morphisms I can think of preserve them. The category of rings without units is messy and, while it has its place, I don't think it's appropriate for any of the applications I've described above. Geometrically, consider the following basic example: if $X$ is a topological space, then there is a ring $C(X)$ of continuous functions $X \to \mathbb{R}$. This ring is commutative, and it has a unit, although it is not usually an integral domain. In any case, the idea here is that we can study topological properties of $X$ by studying algebraic properties of $C(X)$, and in particular any continuous map $X \to Y$ gives an $\mathbb{R}$-algebra homomorphism $C(Y) \to C(X)$ in the other direction by precomposition. This ring homomorphism automatically preserves units, so it's not natural to ignore the units here. If $X$ and $Y$ are compact Hausdorff, something amazing happens: all $\mathbb{R}$-algebra homomorphisms $C(Y) \to C(X)$ preserving units come from continuous maps $X \to Y$, so one really can get all the topological properties of compact Hausdorff spaces using commutative unital rings. share\|improve this answer There are two things that come to my mind. One thing is that the polynomial ring isn't as nice. For example over a field, the number of roots of a polynomial is bounded by the degree. This isn't the case over a skew-field (a ring satisfying all the axioms of a field except for commutativity). For example, in the quaternions, the innocent looking polynomial $x^2 + 1$ has infinitely many roots (any purely imaginary quaternion with length 1)! Another thing that gets tricky is linear algebra over skew-fields. Here you have to distinguish between left actions and right actions. Also nice and useful formulas don't hold, e.g. it is not the case that $tr(AB) = tr(BA)$ or that $\det(AB) = \det A \det B$. share\|improve this answer Over a noncommutative ring, even defining the determinant in a meaningful way is tricky, bit when you do it, it turns out that that identity you mention does hold. – Mariano Suárez-Alvarez Feb 3 '11 at 16:02 Your Answer
[ Login ] ANTH 211 Great Discoveries in South American Archeology • 5 Cr. Explore the magnificent ancient civilizations of South America by taking a virtual tour of the spectacular ruins of the Inca, Moche, Nazca, Wari and many other prehistoric cultures. A consideration of South American archaeology in global context is addressed, as well as the plight of modern descendants. After completing this class, students should be able to: • Differentiate between the fields of anthropology and how archaeologists use the culture concept in studying the past. • Recognize, identify, and employ the scientific method in anthropology, and distinguish between coherent arguments based on such principles from other claims. • Assess the vast cultural diversity of prehistoric indigenous peoples of South America. • Describe how archaeological studies of South American Natives reveal characteristics of cultural behavior and explain how those behaviors have changed through time. • Distinguish between several broad prehistoric adaptations made by South American Natives. • Explain the relevance of archaeology to global issues, ethics, and cultural diversity. • Identify how colonial forces impact(ed) indigenous cultures and critique the plight of modern descendants. Footer Navigation Contact info Bellevue College 3000 Landerholm Circle SE Bellevue, WA 98007-6484 U.S.A. Work: (425) 564-1000
The Power in Potassium This stealth nutrient may serve as an "antidote" to sodium. Getting more is easy—if you know where to find it. Sidney Fry, MS, RD It was no surprise that the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans came down hard on our salt habit: Less than 2,300mg a day is recommended for healthy adults, and 1,500mg for those who are older, African-American, or hypertensive—about half the U.S. population. Yet, average consumption is in the 3,400mg zone, and salt is blamed for hypertension and heart disease. Under the guidelines, pretty much everyone is supposed to cut back, and some of us need to cut back a lot. That much of a shift in the American salt habit seems like a long shot, however, which is why more and more research is paying close attention to potassium, a close mineral cousin to sodium—one that may counteract salt's role in disease. "Potassium can help neutralize sodium's heart-damaging effects," says Elena Kuklina, MD, PhD, author of a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine last year. Her findings, that an out-of-balance sodium-to-potassium ratio may increase the risk of heart disease (as opposed to a simple problem of too much salt), joins a growing body of research that shows how potassium can help lower the risk of heart attack and stroke. Those who ate a lot of salt and very little potassium were more than twice as likely to die from cardiovascular-related events than those who ate equal amounts of both nutrients. Potassium relaxes blood vessel walls and helps regulate the body's fluid balance, so the more you have, the better your body is able to deal with (that is, better able to excrete) excess sodium. It's not necessarily a get-out-of-jail-free card, but it's something anyone concerned about sodium needs to pay attention to. Problem is, American consumption of potassium is low: 2,500mg per day, far beneath the 4,700mg recommended. Taking a potassium pill probably isn't the answer because the interaction between salt and potassium in the diet is not fully understood. In my book, the focus should not be on supplements but on diet: Whole foods, with their complex combinations of nutrients and fiber, are a better, not to mention tastier, bet. And there are plenty of potassium-rich foods out there; they're just not promoted as such. Potassium could benefit from a PR campaign. Most people's knowledge of potassium-rich foods begins and ends with bananas, which at 500mg are certainly an excellent source. But so are other whole foods—fruits and 100% fruit juices, melons, green leafy vegetables, beans, potatoes, seafood, and dairy. Most of these foods, however, don't have labels, and even if they do, potassium is not one of the nutrients mandated by labeling laws. I'd like to see more complete nutrition labels on packaged foods, as well as simple in-store displays that list nutrition highlights for fresh food. (I can also imagine smart-phone apps that can scan both labels and fresh foods for nutrition data, then build a healthy shopping list.) According to a 2011 Swedish analysis of 10 studies, for every additional 1,000mg per day of potassium added to the diet, risk of stroke decreased by 11%. A thousand milligrams may seem like a lot, but consider the following simple swaps. Trade a cup of orange juice for that second cup of morning coffee and you've just upped your potassium intake by 500mg. Swap a cup of nonfat yogurt for an afternoon vending-machine raid, and you tack 600mg more onto your daily total. Yes, some swaps involve added calories, but others save calories (not to mention fat and salt), so the net effect can be positive. Despite their interest in the balancing role of potassium, many experts are wary of taking the focus off salt. Even as you up your potassium intake, it's wise to continue to use a light hand with the saltshaker and with sodium-rich foods. Note the per-serving sodium counts on packaged snacks, and steer clear of anything containing more than 250mg. Choose lower-sodium packaged foods for cooking: Lower-sodium canned beans, for example, have the same 600mg potassium as their saltier counterparts but save you 350mg per half cup on the sodium side of the ledger. Enjoy fish, seafood, and dairy, and pair them with fresh fruit and vegetable options that are naturally low in sodium, like a summer peach salsa (another potassium all-star). By eating more whole foods, a shift in the balance between sodium and potassium will begin to occur naturally, and you'll put your body's built-in cardiovascular-disease-prevention abilities to work.
Poland's inner freedom Ever since the imposition of martial law in December 1981, the Sovietization of Poland has been a predominant theme in the Western press. But arriving in Copenhagen in mid-September after a three-month stay in Warsaw, I did not experience that relieved exhilaration I invariably do on returning from the Soviet Union. This was not the feeling of having left an oppressive and oppressed country and reentered the free world. I left Poland convinced that the Poles act and hence are like a free people. This human factor - the independent variable - plays a crucial role in the Polish situation. What prevents the Sovietization of Poland? Foremost it is the Poles' psychology and demeanor, richly nurtured by a secure national self-image that comes from a distinct and cherished historical experience. The self-perception of the Poles is rooted in the long tradition of Western political values. That in turn makes Soviet-style institutions and thinking alien and untransplantable on Polish soil. Not surprisingly, Poland is the only Soviet satellite where 80 percent of farming remains in private hands. Similarly, years of indoctrination have not convinced the Poles that the communist principles of economic and social equality are more basic than those of individual liberty. When arguing with a foundry worker whose children received higher education and moved on to white-collar jobs, I suggested that such social opportunity had not existed before World War II. His response was quick and unmistakable. ''Yes,'' he agreed, ''the communists may have given us equality, but we do not have freedom.'' That simple, basic fact makes the postwar social gains only half-real. National independence is as much a part of the Polish identity as is personal liberty. And the experience of 130 years of resistance to foreign rule following the country's partition in the late 18th century is etched in the collective and individual memory. Poland's present-day relationship to the Soviet Union is seen as nothing but a replay of czarist Russia's domination. All the post-1944 efforts to dull the edge of resentment toward the Soviet Union have had no effect, even among the communists. This reporter was not surprised when a high Communist Party functionary in the Ministry of Education commented that, sure, the October Revolution was important for the rebirth of Poland in 1918, but not because the Bolsheviks proclaimed the right to national self-determination (as all the school textbooks intone). It was crucial because their civil war kept the Soviets from interfering in Poland. During the 16 months of Solidarity's existence, Poland's separate identity reasserted itself and flourished. The creation of the independent labor movement was only a part of the renovation. Renewal consisted just as much in steps to emancipate all civil society from other Soviet-type institutions. Poles have tasted independence on various levels , and this experience sustains their resistance to the military regime, their determination not ''to give in,'' not to ''become another Kazakhstan.'' The crowds' response to the Pope's visit in June was a demonstration of that resolve. In the weeks that followed, I had a chance to observe how all-pervasive that spirit is. It is conveyed in everyday behavior no less than in open political dissent. The Polish People's Republic may officially be a workers' state. But the population at large is guided by the social forms and graces of the pre-World War II upper class whose political ascendancy is irrevocably over. 'Madame' and 'Monsieur,' not 'Comrade' Hand-kissing has become universal. So is the presenting of flowers to make almost any occasion from casual visits to name-day parties. As forms of address, ''Comrade'' and ''Citizen'' are rarely used - and then only in party offices. Elsewhere it is the Polish equivalent of ''Monsieur'' and ''Madame.'' All these little flourishes, plus of course the determination to keep up with the latest Western fashions, confirm the Poles' resolve not to lapse into the drab proletarianism of their Eastern neighbor. No one seems afraid to act out his or her opposition in more explicit ways. The conviction that resistance is a just cause is so widespread that it makes a shambles of the security system. Persons active in underground publishing talk of their plans in a normal voice in public places. It was I who was apprehensive and looked around to see who might be eavesdropping. What struck me was their cheerful self-assurance, which is rooted in the knowledge they are working for a large, like-minded audience. By contrast, the dissidents I have met in Moscow were a gloomy and fearful lot, reflecting their isolation from the rest of society, the efficiency of the secret police, and the ubiquity of informers. Ordinary citizens in Poland are no less uninhibited in expressing their criticism of, contempt for, and opposition to the regime than are the dissidents. On the train, once passengers settle in their compartments, conversation turns to politics. No one holds back biting comments on the latest idiocy or malfeasance of the government. Thus emboldened, I did not hesitate to read an underground pamphlet - easily identifiable by its small format and print - while sitting in the narrow corridor of an overcrowded train, with everyone stepping over my knees during a long ride back to Warsaw. Poles act like a free nation in other ways as well. Several public exhibits I saw were outspoken political statements, despite the pre-opening censorship prescribed by law. One - of abstract art - displayed sculptures of barbed wire and knouts, drip paintings simulating the pro-Solidarity graffiti smudged over by the police, a carved altar representing the sacrifice of national sovereignty , and numerous other symbolic renderings of dashed hopes, police brutalities, and violated independence. The walls of another exhibit - a centenary commemoration of the death of the poet Cyprian Norwid - were decorated with aptly chosen quotations denouncing the abuse of political power or the consequences of an unfree press. In July, the regime passed an amended censorship law which affects whatever is deemed ''harmful'' to the security of the state. The day after the law was enacted, Warsaw's shop windows were plastered with large posters soliciting donations for a monument to honor the 1944 Warsaw uprising. They were printed in the same bold, jagged, white-and-red calligraphy as Solidarity's posters. The scene revived images of the desperate attempt of the pro-Western underground to liberate Warsaw before the Soviet troops arrived. That was but the first act in the unending struggle to keep Poland independent. The message was unmistakable, and the posters remained undisturbed. This past August, the public demonstrations called for by the Solidarity underground to mark the signing of the Gdansk agreements in 1980 were observed on a much smaller scale than a year earlier. But this does not mean the Poles have come to terms with the regime. They do not accept the regime's contention that it was the extremists in the free labor movement, misguided by intellectual advisers, who violated the spirit and the letter of the agreements - thus forcing the military rule and the liquidation of Solidarity.The Solidarity legacy Unflagging support for the basic principles of Solidarity as a national and democratic movement was amply demonstrated in other ways. Many masses were dedicated to the ''fate of the fatherland,'' at which priests and lay participants spoke of the basic human rights spelled out in the Gdansk agreements. The crowds in attendance overflowed into the courtyards and adjoining streets. And as is the rule nowadays, all the services ended with singing the pre-1918 version of the national hymn that concludes: ''Fatherland and freedom return to us, Oh Lord.'' As they sing, the congregation holds up their hands in the V sign , the symbol of Solidarity. Solidarity faces a bleak future in only one respect: It cannot be revived as a single, organized force in public life. But the way people act shows that it has survived undaunted as a conviction that the nation and society have inalienable rights. It would be misleading, however, to say that Poles are agreed on how to translate opposition into effective action. Roughly speaking, three general attitudes are discernible. * Intransigence. Many who take this approach are engaged in illegal activities: the clandestine radio, the myriad underground publications, the organizational network. Others simply disdain reading the official press, listen only to foreign broadcasts, and await the demise of the system. (But some of these passive intransigents donate as much as 10 percent of their salary to Solidarity and the underground.) The former stance is fairly typical of people in their teens and early 20s, who admittedly face a bleak economic future. The latter attitude prevails among retired professionals, whose state pensions often enable them to live reasonably well but have not transformed them into supporters of the system. * Legal and ''organic'' approach. People who adopt this tack, mainly the established middle-generation professionals, take a realistic, long-range view and pursue either a more prudent or a legal course. The prudent ones, often former communists who became disillusioned with trying to democratize the party, maintain contact with the underground. But their aim is to combat the romantic, conspiratorial-insurrectionist mentality of the intransigents with appeals for patient, preparatory ''organic'' work. Merely plotting to take over the factories is neither wise nor sufficient. There must be well-trained specialists - in technology and management - who can run an industrial plant properly. The proponents of legal work predominate in the academic community. Professors are determined to instill habits of independent thinking and to preserve the plurality of views, so basic to a free society. After the imposition of martial law, the regime did not abolish university autonomy, which was legalized in May 1982 and only provisionally amended in July. Moreover, the government has asked social scientists to write new textbooks to replace those discarded during Solidarity's heyday. Both of these developments offer considerable scope for solid educational effort. Furthermore, teachers remain in close touch with a growing network of self-education groups, local history or ecology clubs, and mutual assistance circles. All these are intent on preserving and developing some aspect of personal, societal, or national autonomy. The Roman Catholic Church, in favoring the educational and organic approach, broadens its appeal immensely. It is no accident that during his June visit, the Pope beatified two monks who, after having fought in the failed 1863 armed uprising against Russia, switched to promoting this nonviolent path to independence. Church buildings are host to lectures and discussions on this particular trend in 19th-century Polish history and literature. And the independent lay Catholic press prints articles arguing that the slow, patient policy of reconstruction from below offers the only reasonable hope for a better future. * Cautious resistance. The third approach is taken by the superrealists. In part, they are opportunists, more interested in good careers and a comfortable life than in changing the system. But these people are not outright collaborationists or Moscow's puppets. They have come to accept Poland's geographic position, which makes inevitable its membership in the Eastern bloc. But they are also nationalists and do not want to see their country Sovietized. Their reaction to the Soviet diatribes against events in Poland was most revealing: ''How can the Russians expect us to imitate them!'' The USSR is no model even to those Poles who do not actively oppose the regime of Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski. Journalists who did not quit their posts in December 1981 make up an influential proportion of that grouping. When appropriate and possible (because of censorship), they protest violations of legality. This was the case with the recent law empowering the government to assign jobs to persons it considered improperly employed. Several articles in the press criticized this law as violating the basic right to choose one's work, which Poles had always enjoyed in times of peace - a clear reference to the Nazi occupation, if not to the Soviet gulag. Many officials in the Jaruzelski regime realize only too well that their state structure is a hollow entity without the nation behind it. The hard-liners among those in power do not see the need to seek the legitimacy denied by the population through accommodation. But the moderates do. Many argue that Poland's periodic crises since 1956 were caused by the party's methods of rule, its disregard for the Polish national tradition - and not by Western subversion, as the intractable dogmatists would have it. The party commission appointed to dissect the reasons for the 1980 upheaval has produced a report pointing out that the regime cannot treat its citizens as mere objects, cavalierly ignoring the Poles' devotion to their experience and habit of acting as subjects in their polity. The report remains unpublished. But the accounts of various ideological conferences held by the party and the military this past summer contain many references to the need to adjust to the ''national consciousness.'' Some restrictions eased Obviously, the regime is not about to start sharing power with the opposition. But it has to establish some links, some sort of modus vivendi, to bridge the gulf that separates it from the citizenry, in order to overcome the standoff that offers no prospects other than stagnation. Some moves indicate that the authorities want to build on national instincts and habits by going beyond their rhetoric of patriotic appeals for national unity. These moves do not touch on the central position of power, but do create some areas where the Polish love of freedom and individual initiative could reassert itself. Censorship remains despite the ending of martial law, but the severe restrictions on travel abroad since December 1981 were eased in August. Although the free labor movement has been abolished, the 1982 labor law does permit workers to form and register plurality trade unions. Under the law, each factory may form its own labor union, but without the kinds of national connections that existed during the Solidarity period. Nonetheless, the reforms do allow some room for social initiative, new trade union organization, and self-management. Given the pervasive determination not to ''give in,'' to keep pressing for liberalization and liberation, these organizational loopholes create opportunities for effective lower-level action by the civil society. It may not accord with the romantic image of a frontal attack leading to total victory (or defeat) cherished by the intransigents. But it offers a more realistic, though admittedly pedestrian, program for the ''long haul'' through institution-building. As it happens, this approach accords with the ''organic'' approach of an important segment of the opposition-minded population. Share this story:
Making Hansel and Gretel Running time: 1.09mins Film maker: Pinny Grylls Puppet and prop making for Hansel and Gretel rehearsals. Scenic art Scenic art describes the painted backdrops, murals and other created elements of a set. Scenic artists work with set designers, and are responsible for translating their vision into reality. Scenic artists are highly trained and posses many skills including traditional fine arts skills of sketching, rendering, and painting. They are well versed in techniques such as marbling, ragging, wood graining and texturing, and have a good understanding of art history, period styles, motifs and architecture. This collection demonstrated some of those skills and techniques.
Auburn training 'Vapor Wake Dogs': Different kind of bomb-sniffing 2:08 PM, Apr 26, 2013 \| comments • Share • Print • - A A A + UNDATED (CNN) -- Researchers at Alabama's Auburn University say they're training the ultimate bomb-sniffing dogs. They say these canines can figure out there's a bomb before cops even realize a package is suspicious. Imagine if the Boston bombing suspects had left a trail, a trail of vapors in the air that smelled like a bomb; vapors that only a specially trained dog could detect. Dogs like these are now being trained at auburn university. Researchers here call them vapor wake dogs. The point of a Vapor Wake Dog is to detect vapor of bomb, if you will, before it's actually placed somewhere it might explode, to catch it before that. Dr. James Floyd with Auburn University says, "Exactly correct. Your standard bomb dog, your explosive detector dog, is primed on looking at an object, a backpack placed somewhere. A Vapor Wake Dog's ability is to detect the odor coming off of that backpack on the back of the person as they carry it, and to follow that plume of vapor." Auburn University professor Jim Floyd says vapor wake dogs are the ultimate bomb sniffing dog. they can follow a plume- or bomb vapor- stretching several football fields. a skill so unique the university hopes to patent it. Video from the university shows a vapor wake dog in action. Once he catches the odor in the air, he never lets up. In a crowded mall or on a city street, this technique is crucial. these dogs can potentially stop a would-be bomber before it's too late. Floyd says, "Had one of our dogs been in place on that corner with those two guys walking there with those backpacks, I think they would've alerted on them." Their training starts early, even as early as these puppies, which are just about 3-weeks-old. At this time, they are held a lot and socialized, so by the time their formal training starts, when they're about a year old, they are used to people and loud noises, and they don't get spooked so easily. Auburn has its own breeding program for bomb sniffing dogs. They rarely use shepherds and traditional breeds but lean more on Labradors and spaniels. Paul Hammond, whose company iK9 is working with auburn to train and deploy vapor wake dogs, explains why. He says, "We need a dog that fits into the public profile that the public is just going to walk past and ignore as if it was a domestic pet." Auburn's bomb dogs are being used in airports, on Amtrak trains and by police departments too. Hammond says, "Well the dogs olfactory system is 220 million sense cells compared to a human's 5 million sense cells, so that sort of gives you a real comparison. Where we might be able to smell a woman's perfume walking by, but the dog can smell not only the perfume, but the clothes, the material she's wearing, the shower gel she washed with that morning." What may be a game to these dogs, could mean the difference between life and death for the rest of us. Most Watched Videos
Explorations in hypertex The Gaurdian has an in depth Look at the history and future of hypertext. They look at the hypertext revolution and what it means for literature. \"When Apple decided to supply a copy of a little program called Hypercard on all Macintosh computers back in the 80s, it prepared the way for what would become the web\'s most distinctive feature, hypertext. It also unknowingly launched a small literary revolution.\"Hypertext proponents say that hypertext enables a writer (and reader) to break free of the rigid, linear format of the print book. They point to Sterne with Tristram Shandy, Woolf with To The Lighthouse, and Joyce with Ulysses, as authors who struggled to do this in print. Hypertext, they argue, pushes literature into places it has been trying to go for decades. Critics say hypertext is a lot of complex and pointless literary nonsense, merely a vehicle for testing out the pet theories of convoluted postmodern theorists like Roland Barthes and Jacques Derrida. But their longstanding complaint that it\'s annoying to read a work on a computer may have to be abandoned with the availability of new, small reading devices.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913 + 1828) Displaying 3 result(s) from the 1913 edition: Tune (Page: 1550) Tune (?), n. [A variant of tone.] 1. A sound; a note; a tone. The tune of your voices." Shak. Like sweet bells jangled, out of tune and harsh. Shak. A child will learn three times as much when he is in tune, as when he . . . is dragged unwillingly to [his task]. Locke. Tune (Page: 1550) Tune, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Tuned (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Tuning.] 1. To put into a state adapted to produce the proper sounds; to harmonize, to cause to be in tune; to correct the tone of; as, to tune a piano or a violin. Tune your harps." Dryden. [1551] For now to sorrow must I tune my song. Milton. 3. To sing with melody or harmony. Fountains, and ye, that warble, as ye flow, Melodious murmurs, warbling tune his praise. Milton. 4. To put into a proper state or disposition. Shak. Tune (Page: 1551) Tune (?), v. i. Whilst tuning to the water's fall, The small birds sang to her. Drayton. 2. To utter inarticulate harmony with the voice; to sing without pronouncing words; to hum. [R.]
Please create an account to participate in the Slashdot moderation system Forgot your password? Math Programming Math Skills For Programmers — Necessary Or Not? 609 Posted by samzenpus Math Skills For Programmers — Necessary Or Not? Comments Filter: • by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 25, 2010 @03:58AM (#31607882) The one with more math is the one you want. • by Fluffeh (1273756) on Thursday March 25, 2010 @04:08AM (#31607928) • by Thanshin (1188877) on Thursday March 25, 2010 @04:16AM (#31607976) You needed to change that bit for your game? • by smallfries (601545) on Thursday March 25, 2010 @05:42AM (#31608340) Homepage I'd go further than that - most chunks of maths are things that are absolutely essential for some area of programming. You may not need to know everything all of the time, but for any particular task you will need to know some of this (non-exhaustive) list : Statistics - useful just about everywhere, but in particular if you have to do any kind of data analysis in your work. Knowing particular distributions and how to compute the properties of them is essential. Probability - if you use any kind of randomness in your work this is essential and in quite a few places where you don't deliberately use randomness but you are using non-determinism to model lack of knowledge i.e packing and filling of sparse data-structures. Algebra - the daddy. Knowing a simple formal language that lets you rearrange expressions is an essential first step towards understanding a programming language. The more you learn the more it will help. If you head down to the Category Theory end of the pool then Monads and Arrows come in useful if you swim away from imperative languages and find something more interesting. Logic - the other foundation. Learning to apply logic is relevant in any area of programming as it is an elementary part of programming. A deeper understanding of propositional and predicate logics is essential to do any work in compilers and will aid your understanding of control and data-flow in any language that you work in. Linear Algebra - anything that touches the "real world" requires a bit of LA, as the parent mentioned physics, 3D graphics and I would add Vision to that list. Set Theory - these are your basic building blocks, use them well. Whether it is building the right data-structure or using a database this is the foundation that you need to understand. Graph Theory - some people never need anything more complex than a relational database, but some people only care about the relations. If you want to model any large network (the internet, or social interactions, economics), or perhaps programs within a compiler, or just the relationships between discrete objects then you will either learn some Graph Theory first, or rediscover it yourself the hard way. Combinatorics - counting is fun! Counting (and enumerating in the programmer's sense) complex objects is basic problem that crops up in almost every area. For people without some grounding in combinatorics it is the kind of question that will get kicked up to the "office guru". Now, if only maths graduates could program their way out of a wet cardboard box, then we could truly start designing giant flame breathing killer robots. • by HungryHobo (1314109) on Thursday March 25, 2010 @06:10AM (#31608432) Programming as a skill in itself is totally separate from most of those . But to be a good programmer you don't just have to be able to write good code- you have to be able to write good code which does useful things and unless you have a decent understanding of a few of the above you're going to be missing a number of very useful and powerful tools. • by Opportunist (166417) on Thursday March 25, 2010 @06:24AM (#31608476) I dare to disagree. Programming is basically putting algorithms into a form a computer can understand. Nothing more. And where do these algos come from? It baffles me to no end every time I see "programmers" apply who consider math as some sort of secondary skill. It's not. It is the primary skill for a good programmer. I do not need someone who can "translate" my algorithm into code. I need someone who can take my problem and develop an algo for it. Coding it is the most trivial part of the solution. • by smpoole7 (1467717) on Thursday March 25, 2010 @07:53AM (#31608804) Homepage Absolutely. And an old dog like me can even provide a classic example: older OS's like DOS and CPM had to cram a lot of functionality into a relatively small amount of memory. They also had to perform decently on small, slow (by today's standards) processors. The approach that they used was the vector table. Simply put, the functions were numbered in order: get OS version was typically the first (function 0), and successive numbers were for all of the other important functions: open file, write file, get system time, and so on. Now: can you imagine how inefficient that would be if the original programmer had used a "switch" statement (or the assembly equivalent, with a bunch of "compare and jumps")? Instead, the function number was left shifted (equivalent to multiplying by a factor of two), then used to find an index in a vector table that contained the addresses of all the functions. Neat, compact and lightning-fast. This technique is still used today in small embedded processors that suffer from similar low speed and limited memory problems. I used it myself on a small controller in a contract job back in the 1990's. It allowed me to cram everything (read keyboard, activate relays, check temperatures, and more ... even including a quick and dirty "config" option ... in a PIC micro with 2048 bytes of memory. :) I have never met a really good, really world-changing programmer who wasn't also good at math. Not necessarily with high-end math, but just good at the fundamentals of algebra, and with the ability to "think" in numerical calculations and offsets. • Re: (Score:3, Interesting) by vanderbosch (1715598) Those are all things I did as a CS undergrad, but there was also huge importance put on proofs. Everyone is talking about writing good code doing useful things quickly, but (and this is especially important in real time applications, such as autopilot on planes), if you can't prove that the code you have written is going to do what you want 100% of the time or its not 100% accurate, then really what is its worth. Maths is vital (ok not if your connecting up a website, although it does have applications in • Re: (Score:3, Funny) Bah! If it works on my machine, my work is done. • by DMUTPeregrine (612791) on Thursday March 25, 2010 @01:10PM (#31613296) Journal Proofs are somewhat overrated: you CAN prove that code matches a formal specification, but you can't prove that the specification is correct. You're right about the maths being important though. • Re: (Score:3, Interesting) by Blakey Rat (99501) I think people are looking at the problem wrong. Programming is programming; it's a discipline independent of anything else. It involves logic, but not math. (Unless you include logic in math, in which case the answer to this question is "duh" and there's no point in having this discussion.) If you're writing a program in a domain where math is important, for example calculating spaceship orbits or rendering 3D graphics, then math is important. This is also kind of a duh. But here's the fun part: if you're wri • by ghostdoc (1235612) on Thursday March 25, 2010 @04:40AM (#31608108) • Re: (Score:3, Insightful) by Aceticon (140883) As selection criteria, Professional Experience/Proven Skill pretty much trump everything else. (Think about it, who would you rather have, the guy with 10 years Software Engineering experience in the field or the one just fresh out of university with a Maths Doctorate) After that you'll go for people which can work well in a team. Maths is a nice to have, but except for very specific domains (such as Quants and other positions where you're creating Algorithm engines), it will never outweight Experience and Tea • Absolutely (Score:5, Insightful) by deisama (1745478) on Thursday March 25, 2010 @04:04AM (#31607902) Math KNOWLEDGE may be debatable, but Math skills are essential. • Re:Absolutely (Score:5, Insightful) by Thanshin (1188877) on Thursday March 25, 2010 @04:11AM (#31607944) The first who marries the CEO's daughter. • by Antony-Kyre (807195) on Thursday March 25, 2010 @04:33AM (#31608084) That would be the math nerd... the one who knows how to multiply. • by Moraelin (679338) • Re: (Score:2, Insightful) by Hognoxious (631665) • by TheRagingTowel (724266) on Thursday March 25, 2010 @04:05AM (#31607906) Homepage So yes, mathematical approach is a must in programming. Just my 0.02c of course. • by julesh (229690) • by TheVelvetFlamebait (986083) on Thursday March 25, 2010 @05:13AM (#31608232) Journal Just my 0.02c of course. That, or you're just incredibly stingy. ;-) • Re: (Score:3, Insightful) by smallfries (601545) So you have redefined "maths" as computer science : the study of formal languages and their computational properties.... So yes, mathematical approach is a must in programming. ... and then you point out that programming requires your redefined maths, which is actually CS. So yes, programming does require CS. • They Help (Score:4, Insightful) by ShakaUVM (157947) on Thursday March 25, 2010 @04:06AM (#31607916) Homepage Journal • People are saying two things here, and thinking that they're mutually-exclusive. Some point to areas of commercial programming beyond basic CRUD operations, saying that math would be a big help there. Others point out that for standard CRUD and gluing together pre-written software libraries, math skill doesn't much matter either way. Hey, they're BOTH right. However, the trend is moving toward the latter type of programming job. Forget high-level math... I seldom use my COMPUTER SCIENCE skills on the job • more than just 2+2 (Score:4, Insightful) by saiha (665337) on Thursday March 25, 2010 @04:09AM (#31607934) • by moteyalpha (1228680) on Thursday March 25, 2010 @04:19AM (#31607996) Homepage Journal • by TheKingAdrock (834418) on Thursday March 25, 2010 @04:12AM (#31607948) • by gravos (912628) Calculus is a foundational skill for analysis of algorithms [], which is a bare minimum requirement if you want to work with Google-sized datasets. • by Statecraftsman (718862) * on Thursday March 25, 2010 @04:16AM (#31607978) Homepage Jethro Bodine. • If you're asking... (Score:3, Informative) by vikstar (615372) on Thursday March 25, 2010 @04:30AM (#31608058) Journal • From my experience I found the understanding of Mathematical Logic [] to be absolutely essential for any programmer. • Yes and no (Score:5, Insightful) by poor_boi (548340) on Thursday March 25, 2010 @04:32AM (#31608074) "Programming" is a massive category. Some programmers need incredible math skills to do their jobs. Some programmers convert thousands to hundreds with broken substring operations [], then keep their jobs, and make good money doing it. So there's a spectrum. • here is an interesting video with leslie lamport ( [] ) : [] "When you understand something, then you can find the math to express that understanding. The math doesn't provide the understanding." “The mathematics of computing; things like sets and functions and logic, are to computing what real numbers are to physics.” • by epine (68316) on Thursday March 25, 2010 @07:01AM (#31608624) Leslie Lamport's contributions should be more widely appreciated. He has the knack for reasoning very hard about apparently simple problems that aren't as simple as they first appear. This is a distinct mathematical talent from being able to solve tricky integrals. It's surprisingly hard to reason about computational processes in a completely convincing way. The effort does wonders for the correctness of my embedded code. Note that with the modular behaviour of integers, the normal rules of algebra don't always apply (this shows up most often dealing with pygmy integers). Long ago when I was a beginning C programmer I managed to implement a simple binary tree in a wonky way. My comparison operator was deterministic, but didn't form a full order. The tree seemed to work fine. I could add elements and test for membership, it was all golden. Then I tried deleting an element. This worked. But I noticed something funny about the tree afterwards. Since my comparison operator was not a full order, the tree rebalance operation following a deletion could orphan some elements so that they wouldn't be found. I showed this to a coworker who told me "What are you worried about? It mostly works doesn't it? Your tree insert and membership test passes doesn't it? We need to move onto another task." But I was stubborn and a voice inside me went "this can't be right". Element inserts and searches in that system were common (like #define in C) but deletions were fairly rare (like #undefine in C). That broken code could have been out in the field causing nightmares for a long time before we tracked the problem down. Half an hour of consternation later, I had figured out how I butchered the order operation in violation of the full order requirement. I had cases where A B && B C && C A. This is not good for a binary tree with deletion. The nasty part is that it limps along further than you expect. In that same job I had an improperly initialized pointer that scanned through a memory data structure comparing on a string field on some odd field size such as 23 bytes. (Sue me for my youthful indiscretion if you've ever had to label diskettes by compiler phase). Strangely, the pointer scanned several hundred k of memory not part of the table, then properly aligned with the table it was supposed to find, and returned the correct field. It seemed to work under testing, but I noticed the performance was a bit odd in some cases. This lead me to investigate and I found the unitialized pointer. Once again, if this code had been released, it was a ticking time bomb the first time some random values in low memory simulated a match with the search key. I learned a lot in that job about defensive programming. A couple of years later I came across one of Dijkstra's books and the spark jumped from his finger to mine. Bugs have been a rare event in my code ever since. Dijkstra taught me to think properly about all possible orders of statement execution where the program remains correct. The order you first write isn't necessarily the only one that works. The mental discipline is a lot like classifying all the components in your BBQ kit into formal symmetry groups before you begin assembly. It pisses me off immensely when I miss some obscure drill hole and conclude that two panels are entirely identical, only to discover much later they weren't (usually after I've pounded in those flimsy plastic wheels that resemble a hip joint with rickets). Try next time before assembling the BBQ to formally write down the symmetry group for every little flim flam and see if you can still F up the first assembly. I bet you can't. What it comes down to is that math is an attitude as much as a skill. I tell my GF from time to time that math is fundamentally the attitude that 100% of what you don't understand is smaller than a grain of rice. How many programs have I screwed up because of a big mathematical mistake? Can't think of any. Going way back, how many times have I screwed up • From sorting data efficiently, to calculating statistics, to drawing geometric shapes. • People who are good at math tend to be good at logical thinking. • by headLITE (171240) on Thursday March 25, 2010 @04:52AM (#31608166) You don't need math skills for programming work. • by DaScribbler (701492) on Thursday March 25, 2010 @04:55AM (#31608172) • by unity100 (970058) on Thursday March 25, 2010 @05:01AM (#31608190) Homepage Journal MIT OpenCourseWare, maybe? • Next month marks my having worked professionally as a programmer for twenty years. That is all. It partially depends on the definition of "Truly interesting work". The point of math skills is mostly that they are problem solving skills. You want programmers to have those skills. I think the point of 'ever larger dat • by amn108 (1231606) on Thursday March 25, 2010 @05:41AM (#31608336) ...which often benefit from a fruitful relationship. That said, I would point out that in my experience programming and mathematics are two distinct disciplines, and neither requires the other. You really can be a professional programmer without knowing anything beyond the most basic arithmetics. Programming is application of pure logic, the latter isolated from the all but basic mathematical concepts. Mathematics is application of logic in a specific manner which springs from simple arithmetics and has evolved into own world, not in the one of the most important "worlds" we have. One important remark would be that programming is often APPLICATION of mathematics, which is one case where the two disciplines cannot, for a time being, be separated. In that case, one obviously needs a programmer who is also a good mathematician. Also, obviously, given two programmers with equal programming skills, pick one with the better math skills over the other, if no other qualities affect the choice. It is like picking any other job candidate - you pick one with more qualifications, even if these apply only remotely to the field of work the company does. And since mathematics is a close cousin here, the choice should be obvious. • yes, you need math (Score:3, Insightful) by AlgorithMan (937244) on Thursday March 25, 2010 @06:16AM (#31608452) Homepage • Just look up, what the "relational" in "relational database" means... it stems from purest mathematical logics! • You need linear algebra and even up to full algebra (anisotropy) for 3d engines • artificial intelligence has lots to do with mathematical logic • most optimization problems have to do with graph theory - and logic • randomized algorithms: pure probability theory • string processing, regular expressions, compiler generation: lots of automata theory (which is closely related to graph theory) • deep, deep analysis for running time bounds (esp. for recursive programs) • lots and lots of logic for semantics • etc. etc. etc. without profound knowledge of math, you are a tinkerer. you program off the top of your head. To really, deeply understand what you are doing, you need math! • by ascari (1400977) on Thursday March 25, 2010 @06:54AM (#31608586) Pizza analogy: You can't work in a pizzeria without profound knowledge of chemistry Car analogy: Automotive engineers are the best drivers, the rest are tinkerers General: Tool makers vs. tool users Just because most (all?) programming is based on mathematics it doesn't necessary follow that math is essential or even particularly important to the practice of programing. It could be argued that problem domain knowledge plays a similar role. For example, one could equally plausibly contend that without a profound knowledge of banking you shouldn't write banking software. In my experience hiring managers prefer domain knowledge over generalist skills such as math. Personality is another biggie. I suspect that the tone of this thread is reflecting the prevalent commodization of programming. We wish that smarts, maths skills etc. are important factors, so we can feel good about ourselves, feel smart, important whatever. In reality very few of us will ever again have jobs where math skills are truly important. Dumbing down? Maybe. Some might see it as a natural consequence of the fall of the "priesthood" that ruled computing decades ago. • math is no help? (Score:5, Insightful) by l3v1 (787564) on Thursday March 25, 2010 @06:51AM (#31608568) linear algebra is no help when building database driven websites Oh for [whatever]'s sake, who on this earth started spreading the "wisdom" that all apps are database-driven web applications that do nothing more than displaying user-input two-line texts with images and videos? I could list dozens of algorithms - even from my day-to-day use - that nobody on this earth would be able to correctly and efficiently implement without proper math skills. And even the term math is too broad, natural language-related stuff, image/video/vision content processing stuff, simulation stuff, overall machine learning stuff plus ai-related fields, control systems - and I could just go on forever - don't come without their associated - sometimes fairly deep - math topics. The social web will come and go, but apps and algorithms that do something even remotely useful, won't ever be accomplished by math-knowledge-lacking code monkeys. • bottom line (Score:3, Insightful) by AlgorithMan (937244) on Thursday March 25, 2010 @07:12AM (#31608658) Homepage the bottom line is: yes, you can use libraries (for this, you don't need much math), but to be a GREAT programmer, you need to be able to program things yourself (for this, you need math). If you can only piece together other peoples code (which you don't even remotely understand), then you are a tinkerer. It will be complete coincidence, when your code works reliably and fast. • by Livius (318358) on Thursday March 25, 2010 @08:32AM (#31609060) There's no reason that "most programming work" and "truly interesting work" would have anything in common. • What part of Maths ? (Score:5, Interesting) by Nicolay77 (258497) <> on Thursday March 25, 2010 @08:39AM (#31609122) Homepage Mathematics is a huge field with lots and lots of small ramifications. You may want someone who understand statistics for your SEO stuff. You may need someone who knows calculus for a physics simulation. You need someone who knows a lot of linear algebra if you want to write a search engine. You probably need someone who knows about concrete mathematics [] for almost all the rest. For everyone who thinks that they do not use maths when programming: what do you think regular expressions are?
Beginning With the Basics: Food and Water for Iraq By Steven Ehrenberg U.S. Army soldiers fill a family's water barrel at a water distribution point in Kandari, Iraq. (Photo courtesy U.S. Department of Defense) Adnan Abdul Zahra sells cigarettes to support his wife and three children in Basra, the second-largest city in Iraq. His sales bring him about 50 dinars a day, or about two-and-a-half cents. This isn't enough to feed himself, let alone his whole family. The United Nations, the United States, and many international organizations are working hard to provide relief supplies to millions of Iraqis like Zahra and his family. It's a huge task, especially with the continuing violence. The biggest problem facing relief workers is not delivering the supplies—it's ensuring the safety of relief workers in Iraq. "Security is the major issue," said Gordon Weiss, a spokesman for the UN International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF). "That being said, there are some really good, solid programs going on." The World Food Program (WFP) solicits and distributes food donations from countries around the world. "We're moving almost 1,000 tons [of food] per hour into Iraq," said spokesperson Trevor Rowe. It's the largest food-aid operation in history—and it's more than enough food for the entire Iraqi population. The food is shipped by the WFP to Iraq's neighbors, where it's loaded onto trucks and driven to Iraqi warehouses. More trucks carry the food from the warehouses to central locations throughout the country. The food is then taken from there to a network of shopkeepers in each city. "Every family registers for the rations, and families go once a month to pick up their food," said Antonia Paradela, a WFP spokesperson in Iraq. "They don't have money to go to the supermarket, or to the grocery store. Sometimes they sell a bit of this food if they are poor, to buy fruit and vegetables." A food ration provides enough for one person per day to survive. It contains wheat and flour, rice and beans, sugar, milk, salt, tea, and soap. The WFP plans to deliver about 2.2 million tons of food into Iraq by October—the same amount it delivered to the entire world last year. People need clean water to survive. In fact, humans can go much longer without food than they can without water. In Basra, as well as other Iraqi cities, fewer than half of their residents can turn on the faucet and drink what comes out. UNICEF is in charge of restoring clean water to Iraq. It sends more than 100 tankers a day to deliver the water, and tons of chemicals and powders to clean it. In the meantime, plans are under way to fix broken treatment plants, pumping stations, and pipes. Weiss described the difficulty of repairing the water system in Iraq to Scholastic News Online. "If you trace [the water pipe] back, the first problem will be a broken water pump," he said. "Maybe it's been looted; perhaps it's been damaged during the war; perhaps they have no electricity. If you trace the pipe back further, you get to the pumping station. It may no longer have the chemicals to cleanse the water—because the chemicals have been stolen or damaged. Humanitarian organizations are managing to make a dent in the problem of providing food and water to what was once a rich country. Before the war, Adnan Abdul Zahra depended on rations from the Iraqi government to eat. Now he and millions of his fellow Iraqis must depend on the rest of the world—at least until his country is stronger economically.
Open Access Research article Heiner Kuhl1*, Alfred Beck1, Grzegorz Wozniak1, Adelino VM Canario2, Filip AM Volckaert3 and Richard Reinhardt1 Author Affiliations 1 Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, Ihnestr. 63, D-14195 Berlin, Germany 2 Centre of Marine Sciences (CCMAR), University of Algarve, Gambelas, 8005-139 Faro, Portugal 3 Laboratory of Animal Diversity and Systematics, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Ch. Deberiotstraat 32, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium For all author emails, please log on. BMC Genomics 2010, 11:68 doi:10.1186/1471-2164-11-68 Received:28 September 2009 Accepted:27 January 2010 Published:27 January 2010 © 2010 Kuhl et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. Teleost fishes are the most diverse group of vertebrates, with approximately 28,000 species, which have colonized a range of aquatic environments and display a variety of biochemical, physiological and morphological adaptations [1,2]. Because of this diversity and their position at the base of the vertebrate phylogeny, some species are considered good models of evolution, development and human diseases [3-6]. For this reason, teleost species were among the first vertebrate genomes to be sequenced: the green spotted pufferfish, Tetraodon nigroviridis [7]and the fugu Takifugu rubripes [8] for their relatively small compact genome; the medaka Oryzias latipes [9] and the zebrafish Danio rerio [10] for their value as developmental models, short life cycle, ease of maintenance and amenity to genetic manipulations [11,12]; and the three-spined stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus webcite as a model for evolution [13]. However, no representative of the Perciformes, the most advanced and diverse group of teleosts has been sequenced and genomic resources for this taxonomic group are relatively limited. Furthermore, no aquaculture fish species has had its genome sequenced until now. Although sequences from model teleost fish genomes are a valuable tool for comparative approaches to elucidate the genomics of phylogenetically related non-model teleost [14-17], they are selected for the opposite reasons of aquaculture species, which generally have large body mass and long reproductive cycles. The European sea bass Dicentrarchus labrax L. (Moronidae, Perciformes, Teleostei) is a major fisheries and aquaculture species in the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts of Europe and North Africa. Its industrial production has steadily grown over the past two decades and in 2008 it reached at least 105,900 metric tonnes webcite. Worldwide, basses and other perciform fish, which include the tunas, breams and tilapias, account for over 3.5 × 106 metric tonnes and USD 7 × 109 [18]. With the need to feed a growing population, an interest in healthy foods and the collapse of wild fisheries stocks, aquaculture has acquired a great importance [19,20]. Intensification of fish cultivation has largely targeted selection of faster growth rates and better feed conversion ratios. Fish feeds rely heavily on wild caught fish meal and oils, which puts further pressure on fish stocks and are a source of eutrophying pollutants [19-21]. The development of cultivation methods and new strains with increased productivity but at the same time the ability to digest alternative sources from plant material are therefore desirable objectives of the industry. They should decrease the dependency on capture fisheries [22]. Other objectives are strains with improved resistance to pathogens and tolerance to stress [23]. However, and although classical selection methods have an important role to play, genomic technologies can improve the genetic and biological basis of traits and allow direct selection on the genotype [23]. Economic and resource management interests have led to increased research efforts to develop genomics resources for European sea bass [24,25], including a >12 × coverage BAC-library [26], hundreds of microsatellite [27] and SNP markers [28], ESTs (Passos et al., unpublished), a genetic linkage map [29,30] and a radiation hybrid map (Senger, Galibert et al., unpublished). The European sea bass nuclear DNA content has been estimated at 1.55-1.58 pg [31] approximately twice that of T. rubripes [32], which, despite of advances in sequencing technologies, remains a large financial and logistic hurdle. With time strategies for full de novo sequencing of large eukaryote genomes have shifted from whole genome shotgun (WGS) Sanger sequencing of cloned genomic DNA [8] to a combination of mapped large insert clone and WGS sequencing [33,34]. Today, with the evolution of second generation sequencing technologies, the re-sequencing of eukaryote genomes by massive parallel WGS sequencing is feasible [35]. It is expected that second generation sequencing technologies and especially pyrosequencing, which has been shown to cut costs and speedup the de novo sequencing of microbial genomes [36] will further contribute to reducing costs and time to sequence large genomes of higher eukaryotes. In a pilot study for sequencing the genome of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) by Quinn et al. [37] pyrosequencing was useful for the generation of a draft sequence of a megabase sized genomic region. It also turned out that repeat richness in eukaryote genomes is the major problem for de novo sequencing with second generation technologies. Sequence-repeats resulted in a large amount of gaps in the assembly as they could not be resolved with reads shorter than the repeat itself, even if paired-end tags were used to scaffold the assembled contigs. A "first map, then sequence" strategy improves this situation as large genomes can be split into smaller subunits, which is one argument for genome mapping with large insert clones. Moreover hybrid assembly of Sanger sequencing data and short read data benefits from both technologies, finding a good balance of cost and quality [38]. Here we describe a comparative BAC-map and low coverage draft of the European sea bass genome obtained by high-throughput Sanger-sequencing of BAC-libraries and whole genome shotgun plasmid libraries as well as the exploitation of the synteny between D. labrax and G. aculeatus. The dataset represents the first whole genome sequencing of a fish belonging to the order of Perciformes and of a cultivated fish species, and sets the basic conditions for complete genome sequencing by second generation techniques in the near future. BAC-end sequencing After quality clipping (> 300 Q20 bases) and removal of vector contamination, 102,690 BAC-end sequences (ES) with an average read length of 670 bp remained for analysis (sequences were submitted to EMBL nucleotide database [EMBL:FN436279 - EMBL:FN538968]. For a total of 44,836 BAC-clones, paired end sequences (BAC-ES) were determined, while for 13,018 BAC-clones only one ES was obtained. The estimated genome size of D. labrax based on diploid nuclear DNA content [31] is approximately 763 Mbp, suggesting that with an average insert size of 164 kbp per BAC, the genome coverage of paired end-sequenced BACs is about 9.6 fold. Clones that were sequenced only from one side sum up to an additional 2.8 fold genome coverage (see Table 1). Table 1. BAC end sequencing results. For comparative mapping, a subset of 10,000 BAC-ES was chosen to perform BLASTN searches with an e-value cut-off of 1e-5 against the genomes of D. rerio [10], T. nigroviridis [7]], O. latipes [9] and G. aculeatus webcite. The genomic sequence of T. rubripes [8]] was not used as the genome assembly has not been assigned to chromosomes. The highest number of matches was obtained against G. aculeatus (4,359 ES matches), followed by O. latipes (2,702), T. nigroviridis (2,536) and D. rerio (1,128). The results reflect known phylogenies, with D. rerio (superorder Ostariophysii) distantly related to the other candidates (all from the superorder Acanthopterygii) [39]. Whole genome shotgun sequencing Sequencing of whole genome shotgun libraries yielded >2 × 106 reads with an average Q20 read length of 673 bp comprising ~1.4 Gbp and approximately twofold coverage of the D. labrax genome. Assembly of WGS-reads and BAC-ES yielded 273,453 contigs and 217,926 singlets covering ~580 Mbp. The N50 contig size was 2,891 bp and the largest contig was 15,629 bp. A part of this dataset, namely 36,166 contigs were useful to anchor additional BAC-ES to the stickleback genome (see below). These contigs have been submitted to EMBL nucleotide database [EMBL:CABK01000001 - EMBL:CABK01036166]. Comparative mapping The whole BAC-ES dataset was aligned with the fully assembled stickleback genome. Further sorting and screening yielded 25,845 BAC-ES where only one end was sequenced or matched the stickleback genome and 13,996 BACs matched both ends to the same chromosome in stickleback. 18,013 BACs were matching weakly and were excluded (mostly due to repetitive motifs or possible chimeric BACs). BACs with both ES aligned were essential for comparative mapping and could be subdivided into 12,076 BACs with correct orientation and distance of aligned ES and 1,920 BACs not matching these consistency criteria due to possible rearrangements, miss-alignments or assembly failures in the stickleback genome. Plotting the frequency distribution of insert size of consistently mapped BACs resulted in a Gaussian-like distribution with a maximum at 115 kbp. This reflects a compression of the stickleback genome compared to the D. labrax genome, as the average insert size published for D. labrax is about 164 kbp [26] (see Fig. 1). thumbnailFigure 1. Comparison of BAC insert size frequency distributions. Insert sizes calculated by sea bass BAC-ES, consistently mapped to stickleback chromosomes, show a shift to lower insert sizes compared to the observed insert size of the library published by Whitaker et al. [26]. This observation can be explained by genome size evolution in teleosts. As the genome of sea bass is known to be larger than the stickleback genome the lower insert size of mapped BACs reflects the average size difference of orthologous loci. By dividing the insert sizes at the maxima of the distributions, it can be concluded that the sea bass genome is about 1.3 fold larger than the stickleback genome. D. labrax BACs that were consistently positioned in the stickleback genome were used to calculate a minimal tiling path of overlapping BAC-clones resulting in 816 BAC-contigs that cover 78.1% of the 400.8 Mbp stickleback chromosomes and consisted of 3,629 BACs. The minimal tiling path of the largest BAC-contig comprised 52 BACs and covered 5.03 Mbp on G. aculeatus linkagegroup VI. N50 BAC-contig size was 0.53 Mbp. In the chromosomal regions covered by comparatively mapped BACs 77.5% of annotated genes assigned to stickleback chromosomes can be found (see Table 2, Table 3 and Table 4/values in brackets). Table 2. Mapping statistics for sea bass BAC-ES comparatively mapped to the stickleback chromosomes I to VII. Table 3. Mapping statistics for sea bass BAC-ES comparatively mapped to the stickleback chromosomes VIII to XIV. Table 4. Mapping statistics for sea bass BAC-ES comparatively mapped to the stickleback chromosomes XV to XXI. Comparative mapping was improved by aligning BAC-ES containing contigs from the WGS and BAC-ES assembly to stickleback chromosomes. This strategy yielded 20,635 BACs matching consistency criteria, an improvement of about 71% compared to comparative mapping using only BAC-ES data. The re-calculated minimal tiling path reduced total contig number to 588 and N50 contig number to 83 while increasing N50 BAC-contig size to 1.2 Mbp and coverage of stickleback chromosomes to 87% (see Table 2, Table 3, Table 4 and Fig. 2, a complete list of ordered paired-end aligned BAC clones on stickleback chromosomes may be downloaded [Additional file 1]). thumbnailFigure 2. Visualization of comparative sea bass BAC map on 21 stickleback chromosomes. Green regions represent BAC-contigs, which are covered on average 5.25 fold by consistently mapped BAC-clones. In total 87.0% of the stickleback chromosomes and 85.4% of annotated genes are covered by the BAC-contigs. Regions with weak mapping results are shown in red and mainly due to repetitive regions like centromeric or telomeric regions, where it is hard to consistently align both BAC-ES. Nevertheless BACs having good matches with one end may be found in these regions. Most of the stickleback chromosomes can be assigned to sea bass genetic linkage groups (see Table 2A, Table 3A and Table 4A). Additional file 1. BACs_mapped. The file contains BAC clones mapped to stickleback chromosomes in a BLAST table format. Format: XLS Size: 12.5MB Download file This file can be viewed with: Microsoft Excel ViewerOpen Data Moreover the higher coverage with BACs enabled the identification of potential intra-chromosomal rearrangements between sea bass and stickleback (or failures in the stickleback assembly). A number of 214 potential chromosomal breakpoints spanned by BAC-clones were identified [Additional file 2]. To check if rearrangements were artefacts, the order of calculated BAC-contigs was cross-checked by alignment to the medaka genome (see Fig. 3). In total 139 cases (65%), had a neighbouring position at that site and thus confirmed the consistency of the identified BAC-clone on the second reference genome. Additional file 2. rearrangements_all_chr. The file contains the 21 stickleback chromosomes (page 1 = chr I; ....; page 21 = chr XXI), showing potential intra-chromosomal rearrangements between sea bass and stickleback (left) and similar rearrangements between medaka and stickleback (right). Format: PDF Size: 102KB Download file This file can be viewed with: Adobe Acrobat ReaderOpen Data thumbnailFigure 3. A closer look at potential intra-chromosomal rearrangements. (A) For each stickleback chromosome, sea bass BAC clones can be determined whose BAC-ES pairs are inconsistently aligned in terms of distance or alignment orientation. If these pairs are incorporated in the mapping visualization as black lines, it can be found that edges of BAC-contigs are connected by these clones. It is very likely that these clones represent candidates that span intra-chromosomal rearrangements between stickleback and sea bass. (B) To increase significance of rearrangements and exclude rearrangements that were proposed due to chimeric BAC clones, the position of edges of BAC contigs was cross-checked on medaka chromosomes. For chromosome III we found that most of the rearrangements between sea bass and stickleback could be confirmed by comparison with medaka as a second reference genome. In total 214 potential rearrangements between sea bass and stickleback chromosomes could be pinpointed; about 65% of these were confirmed by comparison with medaka (see Table 2C, Table 3C and Table 4C). For visualizations of all chromosomes see supplemental data section. Rearrangements that were evaluated by PCR are labelled with the corresponding lanes in Fig. 4. For a detailed view of BACs ordered between 8.47 Mbp and 9.47 Mbp see Fig. 5. Fig. 4 shows PCR results that support the bioinformatic data on rearrangements between sea bass and stickleback. All of the seven rearrangements that were checked by PCR have been confirmed. For each of these rearrangements we found at least 2 BAC clones that gave positive results in the PCR, the average number of BAC clones spanning a rearrangement was 4.6 and the maximum number was 7 clones. thumbnailFigure 4. Evaluation of seven potential rearrangements between stickleback chr III and the corresponding sea bass linkage group 10 by means of PCR. Primers were designed on sea bass BAC-ES representing the ends of BAC contigs that seem to be connected by a rearrangement spanning BAC-clone. PCR was performed on the connecting BAC to proof the overlap with both BAC contigs and on genomic DNA to check that the PCR product was a unique marker in the sea bass genome. The amplified markers are shown above, for each rearrangement the first and second lane represents the markers amplified on the rearrangement spanning BAC, the third and fourth lane shows the same markers amplified on genomic sea bass DNA. Lane 1-4: bassbac140-o20/stickleback chr III 6.6 Mbp <> 2.66 Mbp. Lane 5-8: bassbac-137j6/stickleback chr III 14.06 Mbp <> 16.65 Mbp. Lane 9-12: bassbac-1g24/stickleback chr III 16.14 Mbp <> 10.6 Mbp. Lane 13-16: bassbac-38h23/stickleback chr III 0.5 Mbp <> 10.55 Mbp. Lane 17-20: bassbac-52b18/stickleback chr III 15.89 Mbp <> 10.64 Mbp. Lane 21-24: bassbac42b12/stickleback chr III 0.457 Mbp <> 10.44 Mbp. Lane 25-28: bassbac49h3/stickleback chr III 0.035 Mbp <> 0.311 Mbp. Each of the seven BACs had overlaps with the two BAC-contigs predicted by the comparative mapping approach. 12 out of 14 markers were unique in the sea bass genome. 2 markers (Lane 20 and 28) could not be amplified using genomic DNA as a template. The consistently mapped BACs were also uploaded to the Ensembl genome browser and may be viewed in a user friendly format alongside the annotated stickleback chromosomes (see Fig. 5) thumbnailFigure 5. BAC clones in the Ensembl browser. The mapped BAC clones (A, B) may be browsed alongside the stickleback chromosomes by the Ensembl genome browser ( webcite login: password: BASSBACMAP2009). This way sea bass BACs can be easily assigned to annotated stickleback genes (C). BACs forming the minimal tiling path are displayed separately (B). Recently BAC-end sequencing has been a tool for scaffolding large eukaryotic genome assemblies and thus became important in the final phase of sequencing projects. Today as the number of eukaryotic genomes in the databases is steadily increasing, comparative mapping approaches will change that picture. In the case of Dicentrarchus labrax BAC-end sequencing started before a whole genome project was even planned and enabled a fast and cost-effective mapping of the genome. Comparative mapping compared to other mapping strategies Since publication of the first BAC-vector [40] several strategies for the construction of physical genome maps from BAC-libraries have been published. Among these methods BAC-filter hybridization [41], BAC-fingerprinting [42] and PCR screening [43] have been applied most frequently. Comparative mapping approaches are likely to replace these methods because many genomes of higher eukaryotes have been published. Comparative maps are built by aligning paired end sequences of large insert clones (e.g. BACs) to a reference genome and thus detecting possible overlaps of clones that subsequently can be combined into contigs. This strategy has been successfully applied to closely related organisms such as chimpanzee and human [44] and also to more distantly related organisms like cattle and human [45]. Comparative mapping has some advantages for automated analysis over the methods mentioned above, as established pipelines for high-throughput sequencing and bioinformatics can be used. BAC end sequencing results Sanger sequencing of BAC-ends remains restricted to a 96 well format in many sequencing centers, because of low template yields and large amounts of template used for the sequencing reactions. Thus the successful development of an automated DNA purification process to purify BAC-DNA from 384 well plates was a crucial step to enable the comparative genome mapping of D. labrax. With an average read length of 650 bp on 36 cm and 750 bp on 50 cm capillaries the read length of BAC-end sequences was substantially higher than reported in comparable projects [45]. Failed reactions were less than 11%. Reference genomes Besides read quality, the choice of a suitable reference genome is influencing mapping success and quality. Several sequenced genomes of model teleosts are available (e.g. D. rerio, T. nigroviridis, T. rubripes, O. latipes and G. aculeatus). With the highest number of mappable reads, the stickleback genome sequences shared the highest homology to D. labrax, making it the genome of choice for a comparative approach. The stickleback and the European sea bass belong to the superorder Percomorpha, and the evolutionary related orders of Gasterosteiformes and Perciformes, respectively [46]. Additional beneficial features of the stickleback genome sequence is the high sequencing coverage (~12 fold) and the mapping of most scaffolds to chromosomes. The comparative map After BAC-ES data for sea bass became available, a first comparative BAC-map was built. Results were already usable to render megabase sized contigs and to screen for BACs covering genes of interest. Subsequently with a WGS dataset of the sea bass genome available, BAC-ES sequences and WGS data were combined by assembly. If a BAC-ES alone could not be matched with the reference earlier on, the length extension of the BAC-ES by aligned WGS reads now increased the probability to find matches with good alignments to the reference genome. Final mapping (Fig. 2) shows in green that most of stickleback chromosomes are covered by D. labrax BACs with consistent orientation and distance (87% of reference genome), while red regions have a weak mapping, where no or only one BAC-end sequence could be matched. These regions may be either due to highly repetitive fragments, gaps and/or failures in the assembly of the sticklebackgenomic sequence or regions that are underrepresented in the BAC-library. It is obvious that especially centromeric and telomeric regions, known for the problems mentioned above, account for weakly mapped regions. Calculating the genome size of D. labrax When comparing the insert size distribution of consistently mapped BACs on the reference genome with the published insert size distribution of the D. labrax BAC-library (Fig. 1), a shift to lower insert sizes is observed. An explanation for this may be found in the evolution of genome size. It has been shown that teleost genomes tend to accumulate most indels in intergenic or intronic regions leading towards large differences in genome size, while synteny of genes is conserved [47]. Thus one may conclude that the ratio of the maxima in the insert size distributions of BAC-clones equals the ratio of genome sizes. From this calculation one may conclude that the D. labrax genome is about 1.3 fold larger than the 460 Mbp of the G. aculeatus genome. The calculated haploid genome size of 600 Mbp is smaller than the estimated haploid genome size of 763 Mbp derived from flow cytometric measurements of diploid nuclear DNA content [31]. A smaller genome size is also suggested by the first assembly of our twofold coverage WGS dataset (see WGS sequencing results). Nevertheless, genome size estimates from sequencing may be biased towards the euchromatic portion of the genomes and different results of the methods may be explained by underrepresentation or different size evolution of heterochromatic regions. Comparing the BAC and the linkage map of D. labrax BAC contigs represented by green regions in Fig. 2 are considered blocks with a high level of synteny between D. labrax and G. aculeatus. Nevertheless it is questionable whether neighbouring BAC-contigs on the reference genome are really neighbours in the D. labrax genome or whether chromosomes have undergone extensive inter-chromosomal rearrangements during evolution. To decide either whether a rearrangement has taken place or the order of BAC-contigs is consistent in both genomes, it is helpful to compare results from the D. labrax genetic linkage map and the radiation hybrid map of the closely related sparid Sparus aurata (gilthead sea bream). Such comparisons with stickleback have been done by Chistiakov et al. [30] and Sarropoulou et al. [16] and showed synteny of complete chromosomes between these species. Chromosome identity and re-shuffling are common features among closely related organisms. The different chromosome number of G. aculeatus (n = 21) and D. labrax (n = 24) is a common feature between related taxa and can be explained by fusions/fissions of complete orthologous groups. Thus it is unlikely that BAC-contigs mapped to one G. aculeatus chromosome are not located on a single D. labrax chromosome. These results also allow assigning the comparatively mapped BAC-contigs to D. labrax linkage groups (Table 2A, Table 3A and Table 4A). Comparison of the D. labrax linkage map with the G. aculeatus genome has suggested some intra-chromosomal rearrangements [30]. Due to the higher resolution of the comparative BAC-map, it is possible to pinpoint potential rearrangements by focussing on inconsistently mapped BACs that connect two BAC-contigs at their boundary regions. Since BAC-libraries are known to harbour some chimeric clones, the location of potentially neighbouring BAC-contigs was confirmed by cross-checking their position in the medaka genome. If BAC-contigs connected by a rearrangement spanning BAC were located next to each other in the medaka genome, a true rearrangement was considered (Fig. 3). In this way 139 BACs spanning rearrangements between the reference and D. labrax genome were identified. Seven rearrangements between chr III of stickleback and the corresponding sea bass linkage group 10 were also tested by means of PCR. All of them could be confirmed (Fig. 4). The main advantage of BAC-maps over other mapping methods, like genetic linkage maps or radiation hybrid maps, is the possibility to access defined portions of a genome for subsequent analysis by common methods of molecular genetics. As the comparative BAC-map covers about 85.4% of predicted G. aculeatus genes, it is now possible to easily access orthologous D. labrax genes by selecting a BAC-clone that covers the genomic region of interest. As proof of principle, we have successfully identified and shotgun sequenced 10 overlapping BAC-clones that cover a 1.3 Mbp genomic region on sea bass linkage group 5 (Negrisolo et al. in preparation). The BAC map was also used to analyze two clones that contain a novel immune-type receptor (NITR) gene cluster [48] and to sequence the fatty acid delta-6 desaturase gene in European sea bass (Santigosa et al. in preparation). The comparative approach enabled a fast and cost effective mapping of large genomic portions of the D. labrax genome; it was further refined by adding WGS data from the early stage sequencing project. Both, WGS- and BAC-end sequencing data now represent a solid basis for sequencing the complete genome in a "first map, then sequence" approach with second-generation techniques, such as pyrosequencing. The BAC-map allows splitting the genome into smaller BAC-pools (e.g. covering single chromosomes). This will facilitate the sequence assembly as short reads are a major problem of new sequencing technologies, when sequencing repeat-rich eukaryotic genomes. The integration of linkage [30], radiation hybrid (Senger, Galibert, in preparation) and BAC-mapping (this study) of sea bass will certainly result in a high quality physical map of the genome. It sets the scene for quantifying polymorphisms and genomic architecture. These are powerful resources for quantitative trait loci mapping, which can be eventually applied in selective breeding using marker assisted selection or introgression [24]. There is also the possibility of genome wide association mapping, based on massive resequencing, to identify genomic regions affecting the phenotype [49,50]. Therefore it sets the basic conditions for research to improve the sustainability of sea bass aquaculture in the Mediterranean basin and (shell)fish aquaculture in general. BAC end-sequencing The Dicentrarchus labrax BAC-library constructed by Whitaker et al. [26] was obtained from the German resources center for genome research (RZPD, Berlin, Germany). The library comprises pCC1BAC-clones arrayed in 180 × 384 well microtiter plates. The total genome coverage of the library is >12 fold with an average insert size of 164 kbp per BAC-clone. For end sequencing, BAC-clones were inoculated in 2 × 384 deep well plates containing 190 μl of 2YT media and 12.5 mg/l chloramphenicol and cultivated for 18 h at 37°C with rigorous shaking at 1100 rpm in Titramax 1000 incubators (Heidolph Instruments). BAC-DNA was purified by an automated process that was developed at the MPI for molecular genetics. The process applies size selective precipitation in polyethylene-glycol 6000/2-propanol mixtures and a final washing step with ethanol 70% (v/v). BAC-templates were end sequenced using ABI BigDyeV3.1 Terminator chemistry and T7 or SP6 primers. After post-sequencing cleanup by ethanol/NaAcetate precipitation, sequence analysis was performed on ABI3730 × l capillary sequencers with either 36 cm or 50 cm capillary arrays. Processing of raw sequencing data was done by the PHRED basecaller [51], quality clipping and vector-clipping by LUCY [52]. Whole genome shotgun sequencing For the construction of WGS plasmid libraries of Dicentrarchus labrax, we obtained genomic DNA isolated from the same specimen (male 57 originating from the Adriatic clade) that was used for BAC-library construction (kindly provided by A. Libertini, CNR, Venice, Italy through J. B. Taggart, University of Stirling, UK). Genomic DNA was sheared by ultrasonic sound and size selected for fragment sizes of 0.9 - 1.5 kbp and 1.5 - 4 kbp. Fragments were polished by T4-DNA-polymerase/DNA-polymerase I (Klenow) and ligated with T4-DNA-Ligase into SmaI digested pUC19 sequencing vector. Competent E. coli DH10B cells (Invitrogen) were transformed by electroporation, plated on 22 × 22 cm agarplates (Nunc) containing LB media with 110 mg/l Ampicillin, X-GAL and IPTG. After 16 h of incubation at 37°C white colonies were arrayed into 384 well microtiter library plates by a picking robot (Q Bot, Genetix). These plates (media: LB+HMFM+Ampicillin) were again incubated for 16 h at 37°C and stored at -80°C. Plasmid DNA preparation was done as described for BAC-DNA with the difference that the final washing step with 70% (v/v) ethanol was not necessary and a single 384 deepwell microtiter plate filled with 190 μl of 2YT + 110 mg/l Ampicillin yielded enough template amounts for several sequencing reactions. Sequencing, sequence analysis and sequence processing of plasmids was done as described above using ABI BigDyeV3.1 Terminator chemistry and M13(-40) or M13(-28) primers. Alignment of BAC-ES to reference genome BAC-ES were aligned by BLAST [53,54] algorithms to genomic sequence of G. aculeatus (Assembly: BROAD S1, Feb 2006, webcite). To minimize computational time BLAST searches were done incrementally beginning with stringent parameters (Megablast, word size 20, and nucleotide mismatch penalty -1). Results were filtered for alignments that matched with an e-value equal or lower than 10-5. Additionally, alignments were only submitted to further analysis, if the second best alignment resulted in an e-value that was at least 105-fold larger than the e-value of the best alignment. Sequences with alignments not matching these criteria were extracted by notseq [55] and subsequently aligned by BLAST searches with lower stringency. Stringency in the following rounds was adjusted by choosing word sizes of 15, 11 and 7. The number of BAC-ES with alignments meeting our criteria was further improved by adding sequences from whole genome shotgun sequencing of D. labrax. All sequences available were assembled by the Celera Assembler [56]. Contigs that contained BAC-ES were filtered and again aligned to the G. aculeatus genome as described above. Match coordinates of contigs on G. aculeatus chromosomes were corrected by position of the BAC-ES in the contigs and assigned to the corresponding BAC-ES. Calculating and visualizing the comparative map Resulting BLAST-tables of both approaches were screened for BACs that were aligned with both ends. These BACs were further screened for matches to the same chromosome in G. aculeatus and then checked for consistent orientation and distance. BACs that matched all consistency criteria were chosen for the calculation of a minimal tiling path. Starting with a first BAC-clone, BAC-contigs were constructed by choosing BACs that were overlapping and maximizing the contig in length. These analyses were done by common spreadsheet software and scripting language. BAC-contigs arranged on the 21 G. aculeatus chromosomes were visualized by passing coordinates to a vector graphics application (CorelDRAW version 11, Corel corp., Ottawa, Canada). To view the BAC map alongside the annotated stickleback genome the mapping coordinates were uploaded to the ensembl genome browser as a GFF formatted textfile. Dealing with possible rearrangements and checking them on a second reference genome The subset of BAC-ES that aligned to the same chromosome but did not match consistency criteria could be due to intra-chromosomal rearrangements between stickleback and sea bass. These clones were visualized as black arcs on the stickleback chromosomes. If these arcs were starting not at the edge of contigs they were manually removed. To check if the rearrangement spanning BAC-ES have a consistent order in the medaka genome, we exploited stickleback and medaka synteny of orthologous genes. Using the biomart tool a table was prepared that showed the genes annotated to stickleback with their orthologous position in medaka. Furthermore the coordinates of contig starts and ends from the sea bass BAC-map were implemented in the table. In this way the position of sea bass contig starts and ends on medaka could be mapped to stickleback chromosome coordinates. BAC-contig edges that are located next to each other in medaka were subsequently visualized by arcs, in many cases confirming a connection between contigs that was also found before by non-consistent matching sea bass BAC-ES. Evaluation of several rearrangements by means of PCR Seven potential rearrangements between stickleback chr III and the corresponding sea bass linkage group were checked by means of PCR. Primers for PCR were designed on BAC-ES representing the end of BAC-contigs that seem to be connected by a rearrangement spanning clone. Subsequently amplification of the chosen markers was carried out using the rearrangements spanning clones as templates. If both BAC-contig end markers can be amplified on a rearrangement spanning BAC, the overlap and therefore connection of the two BAC-contigs in sea bass is confirmed. Additionally markers were amplified on genomic DNA of sea bass to check that they are unique markers in the genome. The PCR was set up as 50 μl reactions. For amplification of BAC-templates we added 2 μl of overnight culture to the PCR, while amplification of genomic DNA was carried out by adding 2 μl DNA with a concentration of 45 ng/μl to the PCR. Composition of PCR was as follows: 0.3 μM for each primer, 300 μM dNTPs, 75 mM TRIS-HCl, pH 9, 20 mM (NH4)2SO4, 0.01% Tween 20, 2.5 mM MgCl2, 0.1 U/μl Taq-DNA-polymerase and 0.5 M Betaine. Thermocycler profile was: Step I: 5 min at 94°C. Step II: 30 s at 94°C. Step III: 30 s at 55°C. Step IV: 1 min at 72°C. Step V: 7 min at 72°C. Step VI: hold at 4°C. Steps II-IV were repeated 25 times. PCR products were analyzed on 1.5% agarose gels and stained with ethidium bromide. Authors' contributions HK established protocols for automated BAC, plasmid purification and subsequent Sanger sequencing, assembled the derived sequencing data, built the comparative map of BAC clones and wrote the manuscript. AB provided tools for bioinformatic analyses. 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Climate Change is turning out to be a lot more complicated than just plain old Global Warming. It's not just about the weather; there are biological, chemical, and geophysical manifestations all linked together. Which, among other things, means we have to pay attention to changes that might not be obvious at first glance. Here's one that could be a biggie: the Arctic Ocean is becoming more acidic. Cold water can absorb more CO2 than warmer water, and the decreasing amount of polar ice exposes more water to CO2 in the atmosphere. Organisms that live in water are very sensitive to water chemistry; the science report describing it is summarized in 10 key findings here. (Big PDF file) The Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) homepage is here; lots of resources. It's not just the Arctic Ocean at risk of course. Increasing acidity is having effect around the world. But beyond that, one of the consequences of acidification is that the other things dissolved in seawater will change. Acid rain in the Adirondacks suggests one possible problem. Inorganic mercury compounds become more easily transformed into methyl mercury, which is more readily taken up into the food chain, leading to bioconcentration and bioaccumulation. This may be behind the problem driving down the arctic fox population. Those fox populations deriving most of their diet from the ocean are suffering from mercury poisoning. (Original paper here.) It's suggested that rising mercury levels in the oceans are linked to human pollution from industrial activities. Acidification may well be making a bad problem worse. But wait - there's more. NASA has found changing sea ice levels are also affecting mercury deposition and ozone depletion. Even something as simple as predicting the rise of sea level as the Greenland and Antarctic ice caps melt turns out to be a lot harder. Paradoxically, sea level may actually drop in some areas as the ice melts. New Scientist has a report (free subscription required) which explains gravity is a factor. If you think this sounds unlikely then you are in good company, as even oceanographers have struggled to accept the idea. Yet the physics behind it is quite simple and the basic principle was recognised as far back as the 19th century. The first person to do so was Robert Woodward, a physicist who worked for the US Geological Survey at the time when it was becoming clear that much of North America had been covered by ice not that long ago. Woodward was asked by his colleagues to help explain a puzzling finding: when the ice was present, the shoreline of one lake appeared to have been much higher on one side than the other. He realised that any large mass on Earth's surface, from a continent to an ice sheet, exerts a significant gravitational pull on any water surrounding it, piling the liquid against its flanks. In the case of an ice sheet, these watery foothills will subside if the ice melts. In 1888, Woodward published a paper describing ways to calculate the resulting changes in sea level. In other words, just calculating the volume of water released as the ice melts and distributing it around the world to figure out how much the seas will rise won't work. The uneven nature of the earth's gravitational field means that water on the move will tend to pile up where the local gravitational attraction is higher - and the mass of the water piling up will increase the gravitational attraction even more. Meanwhile, places where the ice used to be will see changes as well. Sea level around Greenland may actually end up 100 meters lower. That will in part be due to the lower gravitational pull from the loss of the mass of the melted ice caps, but also due to rebound by the earth's crust. Relieved of the weight of the ice, Greenland will start slowly rising. And, to make it even more interesting, the redistribution of the the mass of the melted ice caps may affect the rotation of the earth, which normally causes a bulge in the oceans. Just where and how high it gets may shift. Again from New Scientist: Removing an ice sheet is like moving a weight on the rim of a wheel: it alters the planet's balance. If Greenland melts, for example, that will shift our axis of rotation about half a kilometre towards the ex-icesheet. Our equatorial bulge in turn will tilt slightly. This adds extra bumps to the sea level fingerprint, moving the surface up or down by as much as half a metre in places (see diagram). Mitrovica's team showed in 2001 that by allowing for all these effects, they could explain the geographic variability in tide gauge trends. "That was the 'oh boy!' moment for us," he says. More people began to take notice, although it is only in the past few years that sea-level fingerprints have finally entered oceanography's mainstream. Outside the field, the notion of shifting seascapes still comes as a surprise, says Mitrovica. "I still give many talks where people are shocked that sea level falls near a melting ice sheet." And his "near" is actually quite far. The long reach of gravity means sea level will fall within about 2000 kilometres of the ice. Recent studies suggest the Greenland ice sheet is going to melt completely. We've passed the critical point. The next question is going to be what happens to the ice sheets of Antarctica. The changes will be even bigger. Bottom Line: We're essentially running an uncontrolled experiment on our planet here that's going to take us to some pretty strange places. We're talking about myriad effects, some seemingly minor, others on a global scale, that are linked together in ways we're just starting to figure out. The time scale includes things that will unfold in our lifetimes, and processes that will run for centuries. There's no "Off" switch - we can't just stop now and expect everything to go back to where it was. The best we can do is start taking steps to limit the damage we've already incurred, and stop digging the hole deeper. This is a really REALLY bad time to be cutting back on basic science and research. Space for one ought to be getting a lot more money; we really need as many 'eyes' on the planet as we can get at this point. (Like these, or this.) We also need to do a much better job promoting and protecting science. There's an alarmingly large segment of the U.S. that believes there's no need to do anything because... Jesus! We have elected representatives who want to make sure science doesn't tell them anything they don't want to know. There's a saying - stupidity is a capital crime. We may be looking at a murder-suicide if these people prevail. And don't anyone dare claim market forces will save us. Greed is NOT good. One more thing. It's worth noting that many of the scientists who have accepted the idea of human-caused climate change have made a number of errors in their work. Their predictions on how bad things are getting and how quickly... have often under-estimated just how bad it actually is. UPDATE: In a country with a lot at stake when it comes to the Arctic, the suppression of science is Orwellian. Help Us Spread the Word About Climate Change "Green Diary Rescue" is Back! Originally posted to xaxnar on Tue May 07, 2013 at 04:32 PM PDT. Also republished by DK GreenRoots and Climate Change SOS. So, how does this post affect your views on climate change: 1%5 votes 2%8 votes 0%2 votes 6%20 votes 82%246 votes 2%7 votes 3%10 votes \| 299 votes \| Vote \| Results Your Email has been sent.
octopus employing ink defense during jet-propelled escape [132k] I was following this 18-24 inch (45-60 cm) octopus for about ten minutes before it decided it no longer desired my company. An octopus will try bluffing or crawling away from a potential predator first, or if more desperate measures are needed, it uses its siphon to rapidly squirt jets of water for a quick escape. As a last resort, a store of "ink" is used to cloud the water, confusing the predator's sense of sight and smell. Often the octopus may first cloud the water and do a "disappearing act" with its jet propulsion, much like a stage magician. In this case, the jet propulsion and ink defense were used simultaneously. I was panning the camera along with the subject at the instant the shutter released, managing to catch the defensive maneuver in progress. genus/species identification: unknown back to octopus page back to Gallery III
Skip to Content What is rhabdomyolysis? What causes rhabdomyolysis? • Temperature extremes , such as hyperthermia (very high body temperature) or hypothermia (very low body temperature). • Extreme muscular activity , such as running marathons, can cause muscle stress and injury. • Medicines or harmful substances , such as antidepressants or cholesterol medicine may injury your muscles. An overdose of aspirin or diuretics may cause an electrolyte imbalance and muscle injury. Alcohol and illegal drugs such as amphetamines, opiates, ecstasy, and LSD can also cause muscle injury. What are the signs and symptoms of rhabdomyolysis? • Fast heartbeat • Confusion or easy irritation • Nausea and vomiting • Trouble breathing How is rhabdomyolysis diagnosed? • Blood and urine tests may show damage to your kidneys and liver. These tests may also show which substances are released by your injured muscles. • A CT or MRI may show the muscle injuries or changes. You may be given contrast liquid to help the muscles show up better in the pictures. Tell the healthcare provider if you have ever had an allergic reaction to contrast liquid. Do not enter the MRI room with anything metal. Metal can cause serious injury. Tell the healthcare provider if you have any metal in or on your body. • A biopsy from your muscle may show which substances are being released. This can help healthcare providers plan your treatment. How is rhabdomyolysis treated? • Large amounts of IV fluid help flush substances through your kidneys. Medicines may be added to the fluid to help flush out harmful substances and get rid of extra fluid. Medicines may also help reduce the acidity of your urine. • A blood transfusion is when you are given whole or parts of blood through an IV. Blood is tested for diseases, such as hepatitis and HIV, to be sure it is safe. • Fasciotomy is surgery to cut tissues that cover your muscles. This decreases pressure on blood vessels and nerves caused by swelling of the injured muscle. How can I manage my symptoms? • Drink liquids as directed. Ask how much liquid to drink each day and which liquids are best for you. Drink more liquids if you are doing strenuous work, exercise, and if it is warm outside. Liquids help flush substances from your body. • Do not drink alcohol. Heavy alcohol use may increase your risk for rhabdomyolysis. When should I contact my healthcare provider? • You have questions or concerns about your condition or care. When should I seek immediate care or call 911? • You have chest pain. • Your heart is beating faster than usual or has a strange rhythm. Care Agreement Learn more about Rhabdomyolysis
The radical constitutional change everyone missed For first time in decades, both war and the Fed have become part of politics again. Is the Cold War finally over? Topics: Cold War, America, War, Syria, Barack Obama, Larry Summers, Federal Reserve, Saudi Arabia, Robert Rubin, Alan Greenspan, tom friedman, Drug laws, Editor's Picks, , The radical constitutional change everyone missedDonald Rumsfeld, Lawrence Summers (Credit: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst/AP/J. Scott Applewhite) In early September, two shocking events changed politics in Washington, possibly forever. Congress effectively voted down a war in Syria, stopping a president from launching missile strikes before they occurred, rather than whining about military action after the fact. And the Senate blocked Larry Summers, a likely nominee for the Federal Reserve, the most inviolate of independent agencies — the vaunted “temple” of high finance that has been, according to William Greider, immune to traditional politics. Though seemingly unconnected, both events broke sacred barriers in American politics. The war machine failed to promote war. And the scions of high finance failed to promote their champion. The deeper you go, the stranger it looks. Saudi Arabia and its pet neoconservatives, a powerful network in Washington that never, ever loses, was soundly thrashed in Congress. Robert Rubin and Alan Greenspan, as powerful a duo as have ever strode the halls of the Treasury or the Federal Reserve, were blocked by a finance-loving political entity: the U.S. Senate, and of all committees, the Banking Committee of the Senate itself. Other sacred institutions, such as the National Security Agency, food stamps, the war on drugs, the Voting Rights Act, and even the imperial presidency itself, are under assault. What seems to be happening is, for lack of a better way to put it, a very delayed end of the politics of the Cold War, and a return to pre-Cold War politics. If you think about the Cold War as a fight against the Soviet Union, then this sounds absurd. The USSR fell in 1991. But the Cold War wasn’t just a fight with the Soviets, it was a specific coalition offering carrots and sticks for an international purpose against Communism. The rationale for that coalition is gone, and the institutions sustained by that coalition are in retreat. In the Cold War coalition, the sticks were the national security apparatus, the military abroad, the war on drugs, and J. Edgar Hoover’s surveillance and prison state domestically. The carrots were a safety net, unions and high wages, an equitable housing and financial system, increasing civil rights for African-Americans, and an inexpensive public education apparatus. Spheres like the Federal Reserve, the NSA, and American military adventurism abroad were held to be beyond politics, outside the realm of the public sphere. Only consensus centrists operated there, or marginalized cranks. There were exceptions, most notably opposition to the war in Vietnam and the associated activities such as the Church Commission, but these were anomalies. Once the draft went away, and the news media lost interest in the CIA (as historian Kathryn S. Olmsted makes clear in her excellent book “Challenging the Secret Government”), the Cold War quickly reestablished itself. You Might Also Like The fall of the Berlin Wall and the Soviet Union did not end the Cold War coalition, it transmogrified it. The national security apparatus stuck around. NATO didn’t disappear, even though the supposed rationale for it did. And as historian Athan Theoharis has explained, the War on Terror was built on top of the institutions of the Cold War. For example, the NSA was created in 1952 to crack Soviet codes and spy on Soviet telecommunications systems. It morphed into spying on global communications seamlessly. The post 9/11 invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq were simply the latest American forays into Middle East geopolitics; America basically created the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and knocked off the Iranian president in the 1950s. The economics of the Cold War stuck around, as well, though these arrangements were also transmogrified. The 1990s saw an extension of the trade agreements and economic institutions of the post-WWII era — NAFTA was built on the General Agreement of Tariffs and Trade, and the International Monetary Fund spearheaded an attempted expansion of the American sphere of influence into East Asia, China and Russia. This was Tom Friedman’s model of globalization, a Cold War without an enemy, a one world of American capitalist corporatism. In the economic sphere, the fall of the Soviet Union as an enemy meant that communism no longer challenged capitalism. Global capitalism as a monopoly ideology soon chucked unions to the side, and then the strict financial regulation that had kept the Cold War peace. Cold War outposts like Greece, which were coddled with foreign support to keep them out of the Soviet sphere, were finally being thrown overboard in this brutal new world. In 2013, the institutions of the Cold War still exist, but the coalition behind them is showing signs of serious wear and tear. Americans no longer support war reflexively, and no longer wish to pay for a $50 billion spying apparatus to keep them safe from Communism-anarchism-terrorism. The Federal Reserve, with its massive bailouts, is now just part of the regular tussle of politics. Larry Summers was blocked, but even Ben Bernanke had a rough nomination in 2010, getting 30 “no” votes in the Senate, the most ever for a Fed chair. Prison reform is on the agenda, and drug sentences are being reduced — marijuana will soon be legal. The social safety net, unions, food stamps and the middle class — all signature accomplishments of the Cold War era — are also on their way out as new Jim Crow voting restrictions emerge. This is not a comfortable world, for either traditional liberals or conservatives, bankers or borrowers. What is debatable in the realm of politics is expanding dramatically, from central banking to the possible end of food stamps and the middle class to whether there is any real difference between so-called private entity Google and its public brother, the NSA. The upside of a post-Cold War politics is the potential for less global superpower interference in local conflicts, fewer prisoners, debate over core questions of finance, and less surveillance. The downside is more economic instability, regional warfare, social unrest and inequality. The challenge in this post-Cold War and post-War on Terror era, for all Americans, is how to re-create a political coalition that ensures some level of social equity and military stability, without an existential enemy to unify us in getting there. More Related Stories Featured Slide Shows • Share on Twitter • Share on Facebook • 1 of 10 • Close • Fullscreen • Thumbnails Michael Ohl/Museum fur Naturkunde Soul-Sucking Dementor Wasp Latin name: Ampulex dementor Truong Ngyuen 10,000th reptile species Latin name: Cyrtodactylus vilaphongi Jodi Rowley/Australian Museum Colour-changing thorny frogs Latin name: Gracixalus lumarius Judith L. 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Ecobug: the app that helps you lead a greener life – video Computer students from Camden High School collaborate with scientists at Imperial College London to create a smartphone app that nudges people to make all those small daily changes that add up to a big difference for the environment. One of the things the app does is track your position through GPS and calculate how green your journeys have been. There's also an environment quiz and green living 'tips of the day'. Interested? Find out more and download it here.
biodiversity homepage click for contacts The Dragonhunter(Hagenius brevistylus, shown right) refuses to let go of its meal, a Prince Baskettail (Epitheca princeps, on left) Not too surprisingly, dragonflies seem to be everywhere on the arboretum in the summer. The diversity of habitats on campus allow for a diversity of species including common pond species, but also rarer stream and L. Michigan species. Dragonflies are classified in the suborder Anisoptera in the insect order Odonata along with the suborder Zygoptera or Damselflies. Dragonflies are an extremely successful group of insects and have been around for a long time. Fossils of the largest dragonflies, with wingspans of 30 inches, are known from Permian rocks that are 250 million years old, and were the largest insects. The largest North American species living today is a Hawaiian species (Anax strenuus) with a 7.5 inch wingspan. The oldest known species, Delitzschala bitterfeldensis, lived over 300 million years ago, but unlike some of its younger relatives was small with a wingspan of less than 2.5 inches. There are dragonflies on every continent, except Antarctica, and in nearly every aquatic habitat. Why dragonflies have managed to survive for so long is probably due to the fact that they are extremely effective generalist predators. Jill Silsby, who wrote Dragonflies of the World says that "several adaptations, including the development of large compound eyes, wings that move independently of one another, and a highly streamlined body shape, all of which have made odonates superb hunting machines." Certainly the dragonfly that preys on other dragonflies might be considered the most superb of these hunting machines. Hagenius brevistylus, the dragonhunter, feeds on other odonates. The dragonfly genus Hagenius contains only 1 species in North America, with its nearest relatives inhabiting Japan and India. They are found throughout the United States. The adults are large bodied with long wings and legs that allow them to capture other large fast flying insects. As its name implies, it does capture other dragonflies, but it also feeds on butterflies, and a variety of other insects. They are found throughout the United States, but you are more likely to see them in northern Wisconsin or Michigan than in the southern parts of the Great Lakes area. Female dragonflies lay their eggs on or near water. Tiny nymphs hatch and crawl down to the bottom where they prey on small invertebrates or sometimes small fish. Unlike the adults, all dragonfly nymphs are dark colored to blend in with the dead leaves and other debris. They use this to their advantage to surprise unsuspecting prey. When a meal approaches the dragonfly's hinged lower jaw-like mouthpart (the labium) (called the mask in Odonates) reaches forward and scoops up the prey. The rate at which the nymphs molt and grow depends largely on temperature. Some species in the northern Great Lakes region may spend 3 to 7 years as a juvenile in the water. Once they are mature the nymphs crawl out of the water onto a stem or rock and they molt one last time into an adult dragonfly. It is easy to misidentify newly emerged winged dragonflies, or tenerals, because they are very soft and usually have very bright in color. As the exoskeleton hardens the adults will gain their true coloration. dragonhunter teneral A Hagenius brevistylus teneral. Note the large abdomen and bright green color compared to the adult shown below. Hagenius brevistylus. Hagenius larvae are easily recognized from other dragonfly as larvae by their wide, circular, flat bodies and long splayed legs. This shape probably allows them to more effectively hide in the leafy debris in stream bottoms, protected marsh or pond habitats. The adults have black faces with large green eyes and a yellow thorax that is broadly striped with black. The abdomen is black with yellow markings and the distinctive clubtail found in most dragonflies in the Gomphidae family. The legs and the wing veins are black. Odonata found on the Cofrin Arboretum (list provided by Joan Berkopec and Ron Eichorn) • Dragonflies (Anisoptera) • Anax junius (Common Green Darner) • Aeshna canadensis (Canada Darner0 • Libellula pulchella (12-spotted Skimmer) • Libellua luctuosa (Widow Skimmer) • Plathemis lydia (Common Whitetail) • Ladona julia (White-fronted Corporal) • Sympetrum obtrusum (White-faced Meadowhawk) • Leucorrhinia intacta (Dot-tailed Whiteface) • Tramea lacerata (Black Saddlebags) • Tramea onusta (Red Saddlebags) • Erythemis simplicicolis (Eastern Pondhawk) • Damselflies (Zygoptera) • Calopteryx maculata (Ebony Jewelwing) • Lestes rectangularis (Slender Spreadwing) • Ishnura verticalis (Eastern Forktail) • Enallagma civile (Familiar Bluet) • E. cyathigerum (Northern Bluet) • E. ebrium (Marsh Bluet) • E. hageni (Hagen's Bluet) • E. signatum (Orange Bluet) More information about dragonflies Last updated on May 9, 2014
Survival suit From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Practicing with a survival suit The first record of a survival suit was in 1930 when a New York firm American Life Suit Corporation offered merchant and fishing firms what it called a safety suit for crews of ocean vessels. The suit came packed in a small box and was put on like a boilersuit.[1] The ancestor of these suits was already invented in 1872 by Clark S. Merriman to rescue steamship passengers. It was made from rubber sheeting and became famous by the swim records of Paul Boyton. It was essentially a pair of rubber pants and shirt cinched tight at the waist. Within the suit were five air pockets the wearer could inflate by mouth through hoses. Similar to modern-day drysuits, the suit also kept its wearer dry. This essentially allowed him to float on his back, using a double-sided paddle to propel himself, feet-forward. Additionally he could attach a small sail to save stamina while slowly drifting to shore (because neither emergency radio transmitters nor rescue helicopters were invented yet). These suits are in two types: Designed to be worn all the time[edit] This type is chosen to fit each wearer. They are often worn by deep-sea fishermen who work in cold water fishing grounds. Some of these garments overlap into scubadiver-type drysuits. Others may have many of the features of a survival suit. Since humans are warm blooded and sweat to cool themselves, suits that are worn all the time usually have some method for sweat to evaporate and the wearer to remain dry while working. • Some aircraft pilot survival suits are constructed of a breathable material that allows water vapor to escape but prevents liquid from entering. Some examples include Gore-Tex as well as a special cotton material containing very long fibers, which swell up when wet and close air pores in the suit. • Some aircraft pilot survival suits use a solid impregnable material such as rubber-backed cotton, which is connected to a forced-air cooling system. Ventilation air is supplied via air hoses inside the vehicle cabin. In an emergency the hoses can be rapidly disconnected and the ventilation access ports close on the suit. Only worn in emergency / Ship or Vessel Abandonment (Evacuation)[edit] Unlike work suits, "quick don" survival suits are not normally worn, but are stowed in an accessible location on board the craft. The operator may be required to have one survival suit of the appropriate size on board for each crew member, and other passengers. If a survival suit is not accessible both from a crew member's work station and berth, then two accessible suits must be provided. This type of survival suit's flotation and thermal protection is usually better than an immersion protection work suit, and typically extends a person's survival by several hours while waiting for rescue. An adult survival suit is often a large bulky one-size-fits-all design meant to fit a wide range of sizes. It typically has large oversize booties and gloves built into the suit, which let the user quickly don it on while fully clothed, and without having to remove shoes. It typically has a waterproof zipper up the front, and a face flap to seal water out around the neck and protect the wearer from ocean spray. Because of the oversized booties and large mittens, quick don survival suits are often known as "Gumby suits," after the 1960s-era children's toy. The integral gloves may be a thin waterproof non-insulated type to give the user greater dexterity during donning and evacuation, with a second insulating outer glove tethered to the sleeves to be worn while immersed. A ship's captain (or master) may be required to hold drills periodically to ensure that everyone can get to the survival suit storage quickly, and don the suit in the allotted amount of time. In the event of an emergency, it should be possible to put on a survival suit and abandon ship in about one minute. The Submarine Escape Immersion Equipment is a type of survival suit that can be used by sailors when escaping from a sunken submarine. The suit is donned before escaping from the submarine and then inflated to act as a liferaft when the sailor reaches the surface. Suit construction[edit] Survival suits are normally made out of red or bright fluorescent orange or yellow fire-retardant neoprene, for high visibility on the open sea. The Neoprene material used is a synthetic rubber closed-cell foam, containing a multitude of tiny air bubbles making the suit sufficiently buoyant to also be a personal flotation device. Open neck vs closed neck sealing[edit] The method of water sealing around the face can affect wearer comfort. Low-cost quick-donning suits typically have an open neck from chest to chin, closed by a waterproof zipper. However the zipper is stiff and tightly compresses around the face resulting in an uncomfortable fit intended for short-duration use until the wearer can be rescued. The suit material is typically very rigid and the wearer is unable to look to the sides easily. Suits intended for long-term worksuit use, or donned by rescue personnel, typically have a form-fitting neck-encircling seal, with a hood that conforms to the shape of the chin. This design is both more comfortable and allows the wearer to easily turn their head and look up or down. The suit material is designed to be either loose or elastic enough to allow the wearer to pull the top of the suit up over their head and then down around their neck. Safety features[edit] Survival suits can also be equipped with extra safety options such as: • A whistle on a lanyard to permit the wearer to signal for help • An emergency strobe light beacon with a water-activated battery • An inflatable air bladder to lift the wearer's head up out of the water • Tethered mittens to better insulate the hands • An emergency radio locator beacon • A "Buddy line" to attach to others' suits to keep the group together for rescue • Sea dye markers to increase visibility in water Inflatable survival suits[edit] The inflatable survival suit is a special type of survival suit, recently developed, which is similar in construction to an inflatable boat, but shaped to wrap around the arms and legs of the wearer. This type of suit is much more compact than a neoprene survival suit, and very easy to put on when deflated since it is just welded from plastic sheeting to form an air bladder. Once the inflatable survival suit has been put on and zipped shut, the wearer activates firing handles on compressed carbon dioxide cartridges, which punctures the cartridges and rapidly inflates the suit. This results in a highly buoyant, rigid shape that also offers very high thermal retention properties. However, like an inflatable boat, the inflatable survival suit loses all protection properties if it is punctured and the gas leaks out. For this reason, the suit may consist of two or more bladders, so that if one fails, a backup air bladder is available. External links[edit]
Monday, January 21, 2013 The Coming Influenza Pandemic (Part I) Oakland, CA Hospital Ward 1918 (from Wikipedia) As 2012-2013 shapes up to be a particularly bad year for seasonal flu, it is worth remembering that even during a good year, influenza kills an average of more than 30,000 Americans. More disturbingly, every 30-50 years the world sees a particularly deadly pandemic strain that kills hundreds of thousands or even millions of people. When talking about plagues, pandemics and infectious holocausts, people generally think of modern day plagues, such as AIDS, which had killed 25 million people by 2008,2 or ancient ones, like the Black Death, which killed an estimated 75-100 million people over the 50 years between 1348 and 1400.9 Many people don’t realize that the deadliest pandemic of all time was the Influenza pandemic of 1918-1919, which killed between 50 and 100 million people in just 2 years.3(p25) 25 million people may have died in just the first 25 weeks of the pandemic.10 Over 15 million people died in India. 14% of Fiji and 20% of Western Samoa perished. In Europe, 250,000 British and 400,000 French died. In the U.S., five to six hundred thousand people died. Entire villages in Alaska were wiped out.10 Overall, morbidity rates were close to 50% and mortality rates ranged from 10 to 20%.7,10 Because seasonal influenza returns each year and most adults have fairly robust immune responses due to repeated exposures to related influenza strains over their lifetimes, people tend to think of influenza as an unpleasant, but relatively harmless pest. The reality is that even the seasonal flu kills thirty to forty thousand Americans per year,3(p22) while killing hundreds of thousands worldwide.7 Most of those who die are elderly, very young, immune-compromised, poor or malnourished.3(p22) However, a deadly strain, such as the 1918 influenza strain, can harm anyone due to its particular virulence and novelty, which leaves much of society lacking in any immunity.7 Spanish Flu (From Naval History & Heritage) The name Spanish Flu is a misnomer, as the outbreak did not start in Spain, nor was Spain the hardest hit. The pandemic came in the midst of World War I. Most European countries, as well as the U.S., were censoring their media. Spain, being a neutral country, was one of the first to accurately report on this deadly new disease.10 Some scientists speculate that the pandemic started in a U.S. military barracks in Boston or Kansas in early 1918, from a mutated influenza virus that originated in China.10 From there it spread to Brest, France, with U.S. soldiers as the primary vectors. In the early stages of the outbreak, it resembled a typical flu season, with the elderly and sick being the hardest hit. By August, a second, deadlier wave of the virus hit Europe, the U.S. and Sierra Leone. Because the world was entrenched in a bloody war, many of those who were infected either stayed in the trenches, spreading the disease to their comrades and enemies, or were placed on transport trains and sent to field hospitals, where they spread the more virulent form of the disease to civilians.10 Electron Micrograph of 1918 Flu (from Wikipedia) Influenza generally hits the very young and old the hardest, but it usually kills less than 1% of those who are infected.7 The 1918 pandemic was unusual in that it killed 10-20% of those infected, many of whom were young adults and otherwise healthy people. The elderly seemed to have had some degree of immunity. There had been another pandemic in 1889, known as the Russian flu. Many scientists believe that older people may have had some immunity to the 1918 strain through their exposure to this 1889 strain.10 Everyone else had little or no immunity; hence, the high morbidity rates.3,10 So where did this new strain come from? What made it so virulent? Why did pandemic influenza disappear for 29 years and then return in such a deadly and highly transmissible form? Could it happen again? Image from Wikipedia Influenza, is an RNA virus in the Orthomyxoviridae family.13 The enzymes that replicate RNA, unlike those that copy DNA, tend not to have the ability to proofread and repair mistakes. As a result, RNA viruses mutate rapidly, producing new forms that can evade our immune systems, leaving us vulnerable to infection. 3(p15),7 Occasionally, these new forms are also particularly virulent, increasing the likelihood of death once we are infected. To make matters worse, influenza can readily swap genes with other influenza viruses. Thus, if a suitable vector, such as a pig, is infected with two different strains, a new strain can develop that is either particularly infectious or particularly virulent, or both, like the 1918 strain. Influenza A is endemic and usually harmless in birds, but it can cause serious illness in humans.3,7 It is responsible for the majority of seasonal flu cases.13(p582) Influenza A mutates rapidly and is readily able to swap genes with other influenza strains.3,7 Some strains have the ability to infect multiple species. This is particularly dangerous and gives it high potential for creating deadly pandemics.3,7 Influenza B is endemic in humans, but rare in other species.7 It is usually very mild.13 It mutates 2-3 times more slowly than Influenza A.7 The combination of low mutation rate and low zoonotic potential makes Influenza B a very unlikely candidate for a deadly pandemic and, therefore, has very low pandemic potential.7 Influenza C can infect humans and some other mammals.7 It is usually mild and generally infects only children, though occasionally it does cause severe illness and epidemics. It is also considered to have low pandemic potential.7,13 Influenza Morphology (from Wikipedia) Hemagglutinin (HA) is a glycoprotein in the surface of the influenza virus that causes red blood cells to agglutinate.3,7,13 It is the molecular key that allows the influenza virus to enter the host cell. It is also considered an antigen, since it can stimulate the production of antibodies against it. Avian hemagglutinins can usually only infect avian gut cells; whereas human hemagglutinins can usually only unlock human respiratory cells. The species barrier between birds and humans is high (i.e., it is difficult for pure avian flu to mutate directly to a human flu). However, transmission between pigs and birds is relatively easy and the barrier between swine and humans is low. Hence, swine are an ideal mixing pot for mammalian and avian antigens.3, p17 Neuraminidase is an enzyme that aids in cell lysis and the escape of virions from host cells. It is another antigen on the surface of the influenza virus.3,7,13 Oseltamivir (trade name Tamiflu) is a neuraminidase inhibitor that functions by blocking the escape of new influenza virions from host cells, thus halting the progression and spread of the disease. It is one of the only drugs able to stop H5N1 and H1N1 influenza. 3(p19),7 Influenza strains are named for the types of surface antigens in their envelopes. H1N1 has hemagglutinin 1 and neuraminidase 1, whereas H5N1 has hemagglutinin 5 and neuraminidase 1. There are 16 known HA antigens and 9 known NA antigens.7 This ends Part I of "The Coming Influenza Pandemic" Stay tuned for Part II, coming tomorrow 1. AVERT, 2009, AVERTing AIDS website, October 28, 2009: 2. Bartlett, Donald L., and James B. Steele, 2004, “The Health of Nations,” New York Times, Oct 24, 3. Davis, Mike, 2005, The Monster at Our Door, The New Press, New York 4. Enserink, Martin, 2004, Science, 306, Dec ember 17, 2004 5. Kash, John C., Tumpey, Terrence M., Proll, Sean C., Carter, Victoria, Perwitasari, Olivia, Thomas, Matthew J., Basler, Christopher F., Palese, Peter, Taubenberger, Jeffery K., García-Sastre, Adolfo, Swayne, David E., and Katze, Michael G., 2006, “Genomic analysis of increased host immune and cell death responses induced by 1918 influenza virus,” Nature. October 5; 2006, 443(7111): 578–581. 6. Soares, Christine, 2009, “Pandemic Payoff,” Scientific American, November, 2009, p19-20 7. Various Authors, 2009, “Influenza:,” from Wikipedia, accessed November 7, 2009, 8. Various Authors, 2009, “Cytokine Storm,” from Wikipedia, accessed November 7, 2009: 9. Various Authors, 2009, “Black Death,” from Wikipedia, accessed November 8, 2009: 10. Various Authors, 2009, “1918 flu pandemic,” from Wikipedia, accessed November 8, 2009: 11. Various Authors, 2009, “Seasonal Influenza: the Disease,” Centers For Disease Control and Prevention website, accessed November 14, 2009: 12. Wallace, Amy, 2009, “An Epidemic of Fear: How Panicked Parents Skipping Shots Endangers Us All,” Wired, October 19, 2009: 13. Willey, Joanne M., Sherwood, Linda M., and Woolverton, Christopher J., 2009, Prescott’s Principles of Microbiology, New York, NY, McGraw Hill 14. Various Authors, 2009, “Pearl River Delta” from Wikipedia, accessed November 14, 2009: 15. Various Authors, 2009, “Cortisol,” from Wikipedia, accessed November 16, 2009: 16. California Newsreel, 2008, “Unnatural Causes,” video. Transcript accessed November 16, 2009: 17. President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, 2009, “Report to the President on U.S. Preparations for 2009-H1N1 Influenza,” August 7, 2009: No comments: Post a Comment
What occupies the energy levels of an atom? Quick Answer Electrons occupy the energy levels of an atom. The energy level of an atom exists in the electron cloud that surrounds the nucleus. The nucleus is home to the protons and neutrons of the atom. Know More Full Answer Electrons are negatively charged. This negative charge balances out the positive charge of the protons in the nucleus of the atom. Electrons move at a high speed, making it hard to pinpoint their exact location. The electrons are organized in shells at a specific distance away from the nucleus. The higher the atomic number of an element is, the more electrons it has; therefore, those with higher atomic numbers have more shells and are larger. Learn more about Atoms & Molecules Related Questions
How to Keep Kids Engaged in Class \| Edutopia Edutopia on Facebook Edutopia on Twitter Edutopia on Google+ Edutopia on Pinterest Follow Me on Pinterest WHAT WORKS IN EDUCATION The George Lucas Educational Foundation How to Keep Kids Engaged in Class Tristan de Frondeville Project Learning Consultant for PBL Associates • Facebook • Twitter • Pinterest • Share From Dead Time to Active Learning Building Your Arsenal 10 Rules of Engagement 1. Start Class with a Mind Warm-Up 2. Use Movement to Get Kids Focused 3. Teach Students How to Collaborate Before Expecting Success 4. Use Quickwrites When You Want Quiet Time and Student Reflection 5. Run a Tight Ship When Giving Instructions 6. Use a Fairness Cup to Keep Students Thinking 7. Use Signaling to Allow Everyone to Answer Your Question 9. Mix up Your Teaching Styles 10. Create Teamwork Tactics That Emphasize Accountability Comments (100)Sign in or register to postSubscribe to comments via RSS Tim Bedley's picture Anonymous (not verified) Awesome article. I have read Inspiring Active Learning as well and I have used several of their models for engagement with my students over the past several years. I highly recommend it to everyone. Thanks for writing this inspiring article! Anonymous (not verified) These are wonderful suggestions. Although I haven't used every one of them, I have used several in my classes. I am retired now, but I plan to pass a copy of this article to a former student of mine who is now teaching in the school where I taught. Lisa Thibodeaux's picture Anonymous (not verified) This is an excellent article, and I especially appreciate the information found in the introduction. I would like to also mention, however, that while using a mind warm-up is supported by research, the finding of mistakes in text is not. Tasks that focus on mistake-finding can actually un-do learning. Students' eyes and minds work together, so flawed information seen over and over again can actually work its way into the student's memory. Even though many state tests use error-finding as part of their testing format, that doesn't mean that instructional practices should replicate that formula. It is better to have students fill in missing information or to find patterns, connections, or comparisons in information than to have them find errors. Merrill Harmin's picture Anonymous (not verified) You sure got the hang of giving teachers helpful help. Congrats. Sara Armstrong's picture Anonymous (not verified) Great job! I especially like the variety of techniques, and the differentiation for grade levels....Let's see more of Tristan's ideas here! Tristan de Frondeville's picture Anonymous (not verified) Dear Lisa, Naturally I want to know about any factual mistakes or bad advice that I may be giving. I look forward to any examples that you might have so that we can share our thoughts in a more concrete fashion. Here are more details on the examples that I was considering when I wrote suggestion #1. One example is in language arts, and one in algebra (I was a math teacher). In language arts, I have seen teachers put sentences on the board with spelling and punctuation errors, and they have the kids find those. With this example, I can see how students who are very visual might have a problem 'memorizing' the incorrect way that things look, for example a word mispelled, or a sentence that begins withut a letter not capitalized. But at the same time, I feel that most students will experience this 'editing' or 'proofreading' process as an authentic task in their lives (perhaps less so with computers in place). The algebra example I had in mind was a multistep algebra problem, where I wrote the entire 5 or 6 steps on the board and one of those steps was incorrect (in the sense that it had a common 'illegal move', or somteimes more challenging, it had a highly unsual strategy that looked illegal to the students, but was actually legal!). Because algebra is a multiple strategy exercise, where there are lots of possible legal moves, and many 'legal' paths to the answer, students cannot really 'memorize' a correct sequence that will always work. I believe that the task of solving an equation correctly includes scanning the entire line and choosing from different possible strategies. After students choose a strategy, I teach them to write the next line, then once they are done writing, to scan back up to the line before to check for some common errors such as incorrect distributive law, or the always tricky negative signs. Again, this is like proofreading, and they often make these mistakes, so I thought I was helping them become more successful at the following tasks: 1. Recognizing common mistakes that they might make within a generally correct sequence that they might have chosen. 2. Recognizing when they had 'strayed' away from a strategy that was effective to a strategy that was ineffective. For example, some strategies in early algebra end up with a zero on one side of the equation which is very confusing for students, especially if they have never seen it. By showing them this occasionally in one of the warm ups, they learn to recognize that it is still a 'legal' situation, just a 'bad' strategy, and then they can continue to a successful resolution and solution. 3. Sometimes, I would actually make a highly unusual strategy that was HOWEVER, a legal move. This was generally for the higher performing students to be able to confirm that a strange sequence of algebra was actually legal, and that they could continue on successfully and get 'back' to a more common path succesffully. In general, my metaphor for this was that if kids always see the 'correct' path through the woods, and never see what it is like to stray off the path, then when they accidentally stumble off the path on their own (with no one around to help), then they are 'lost' in the sense that they can't find their way back, and sometimes can't even recognize that they are lost. To bring the metaphor back to specific mathematics, I also found that during the anxiety of 'sort of feeling' that they are lost and in unfamiliar territory, that is when they are most tempted to do illegal moves (of mathematics) to try and get back to the familiar path. I absolutely look forward to your thoughts on my examples, and any examples that you had in mind. Tristan de Frondeville's picture Anonymous (not verified) Lisa, on closer reading of your comment, it looks like you were specifically referring to my example #1 of finding errors in text. As Language Arts is not my forte, I am ready to acknowledge the research you mention and see that your suggestions would surely be higher level tasks that also did not have the weaknesses inherent in the 'finding the mistkes in text' example. I also hope that my more detailed explanation in the algebra examples may have included more of your suggested strategies, as I was having students see patterns, make connections to their prior mistakes, and compare different strategies. Again, I am looking forward to any more detailed thoughts you might have. David Lane's picture Anonymous (not verified) OK I hear what you're syaing but I think you may have missed a couple things. First, the connotation in the terminology you've coined is negative: Terms of Engagement is a term used to describe so-called rules made by antagonistic (warring) parties that limit the means for whole scale murder and imprisonment of the innocent. I'd suggest another tactic: talk about and ALLOW down time. Other terms build on this connotation: "build your ARSENAL" Really? An ARSENAL? I am not making too much of this. Our whole culture expresses and promotes negative connotations of school. We either have to face up to the fact that school "sucks" and close them all, or we need to stop reinforcing the concept that school is a bad place to be, that schools are failing, that intellectual pursuit is a waste of time. Kids -- in fact, anyone of any age who attempts to learn some new idea or skill, NEED down time to let their minds rest & wander. If we try to engineer each moment of students' time so that there is no "engagement dead time." Ugh. They're ALL Our Kids's picture Anonymous (not verified) Good idea, Tristan--and it fits with the research (as well as teachers' instincts): Kids focus better and learn more when they have regular opportunities to MOVE. The Responsive Classroom people just published a book called Energizers! 88 Quick Movement Activities That Refresh and Refocus. These are great little breaks that take just 2 or 3 minutes--I'm thinking breaking the tension during standardized testing would be one great way to use them. They have a video on their website of their staff doing some of the energizers--really a hoot! Tristan de Frondeville's picture Anonymous (not verified) Thank you for your insights. Certainly war metaphors are overused in our culture, and I am more than remiss that I let myself fall into just that trap. Thank you for catching it, and I will review future articles to eliminate any war metaphors. I also agree that kids need down time. Time to integrate and reflect. As my colleague, Thom Markham, says, "Research shows that Reflection = Retention." However, I am sure you would agree that when important instructions are being given, or when an important discussion is happening within a high-performing student team, that is NOT a time when you want a student's mind to wander. Also, some of my strategies precisely refer to reflection and thinking time, but in a structured way, where I am asking them to do it, and clearly implying that it is ok to let their minds wander and reflect at that time, since no OTHER important learning activity or event is happening at that time. Let's liken it to a football coach teaching his team and having them practice. He keeps team unity, excitement and engagement by having lots of team building actvities and coaching time, where he definitely wants his students focused, and engaged, on the mental and physical discipline of GETTING BETTER at what they are doing. Then he gives 'structured reflection and down time' by saying, "All right guys, take a break, get a rest, hit the water cooler. We will start again in 5 minutes." He does NOT want someone spacing out when he is giving verbal instructions or coaching on how to do something in a better way, or with a better strategy. And, he does not want someone's mind wandering when they are in the middle of the activity either (or they might even get hurt!), which in my own student's situation is when they are working on problems as a team of students. By using the 10 strategies in my article, I am breaking up my class time into different periods of focused, "minds on" time, just like a good coach, who does not make his kids do the same drills for the entire practice. I do give my students occasional complete down time, but like the coach, ONLY when they have earned it. After that, I agree that our culture and our society as a whole should give kids more down time after school, which means a bit less time on the electronic devices and more time relaxing, reflecting, and integrating their day's learning and wonderment. blog Defining "Best Practice" in Teaching Last comment 2 days 3 hours ago in Teacher Development blog The Need for Adaptation in Schools Last comment 5 hours 58 min ago in Student Engagement blog Storytelling With Wearable Technology Last comment 1 week 2 days ago in Mobile Learning blog Inspiring Progress Toward Learning Goals Last comment 1 week 9 hours ago in Brain-Based Learning blog 6 Engaging End-of-Year Projects Last comment 1 week 2 days ago in Student Engagement Sign in to comment. Not a member? Register.
Jerusalem artichoke Jerusalem artichoke The Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus), also called the sunroot or sunchoke or earth apple or topinambur, is a species of sunflower native to the eastern United States, from Maine west to North Dakota, and south to northern Florida and Texas. It is also cultivated widely across the temperate world for its tuber, which is used as a root vegetable. It is a herbaceous perennial plant growing to 1.5–3 m tall. the leaves are opposite on the lower part of the stem, alternate higher up; the larger leaves on the lower stem are broad ovoid-acute and can be up to 30 cm long, the higher leaves smaller and narrower; they have a rough, hairy texture. The flowers are yellow, produced in flowerheads 5–10 cm diameter, with 10–20 ray florets, and are thought to smell like milk chocolate. The tubers are gnarly and uneven, typically 7.5–10 cm long and 3–5 cm thick, and vaguely resembling ginger root, with a crisp texture when raw; they vary in color from pale brown to white, red or purple. Despite its name, the Jerusalem artichoke has no relation to Jerusalem, and it is not a type of artichoke, though they are in the same family. The name Jerusalem is due to folk etymology; when the Jerusalem artichoke was first discovered by Europeans it was called Girasole, the Italian word for sunflower. The Jerusalem artichoke is a type of sunflower, in the same genus as the garden sunflower Helianthus annuus. Over time the name Girasole transformed into Jerusalem, and to avoid confusion some people have recently started to refer to it as sunchoke or sunroot , which is closer to the original Native American name for the plant. The artichoke part of the Jerusalem artichoke's name comes from the taste of its edible tuber. Samuel de Champlain, the French explorer, sent the first samples of the plant to France, noting that its taste was similar to an artichoke. Jerusalem artichokes were first cultivated by the Native Americans (who called them "sun roots") long before the arrival of the Europeans; this extensive cultivation makes the exact native range of the species obscure. The French explorer Samuel de Champlain found them being grown at Cape Cod in 1605. Cultivation and uses Unlike most tubers, but in common with other members of the Asteraceae (including the artichoke), the tubers store the carbohydrate inulin (not to be confused with insulin) instead of starch. For this reason, Jerusalem artichoke tubers are an important source of fructose for industry. The crop yields are high, typically 16–20 tonnes/ha for tubers, and 18–28 tonnes/ha green weight for foliage. Jerusalem artichoke also has a great deal of unused potential as a producer of ethanol fuel, using inulin-adapted strains of yeast for fermentation.. Jerusalem artichokes are easy to cultivate, which tempts gardeners to simply leave them completely alone to grow. However the quality of the edible tubers degrades unless the plants are dug up and replanted in fertile soil. This can be a chore, as even a small piece of tuber will grow if left in the ground, making the hardy plant a potential weed. The tubers have a consistency much like potatoes, and in their raw form have the same taste as potatoes except with crispness and a slight powdery note. The carbohydrates give the tubers a tendency to become very soft and mushy if boiled, so it is best to steam them lightly if it is desired to preserve their texture. The inulin is not well digested by some people, leading to the misconception that sunchokes are not edible or an assumption that they cause flatulence and gastric pain. Gerard's Herbal, printed in 1621, quotes the English planter John Goodyer on Jerusalem artichokes: Jerusalem artichokes are sold in the produce departments of many supermarkets. They are usually pre-packaged in a plastic tray labeled for specialty food sales, but some stores carry them loose in baskets or bins, where they look like kiwi-sized gnarled potatoes or ginger root. The freshest roots are plump and vibrant in appearance. If they are left too long in the open, they become wrinkled and soft and can develop a bitter taste. Fresh and steamed they have a mild, sweet and nutty flavor. Jerusalem artichokes have 650 mg. potassium per 1 cup (150g) serving. They are also high in iron, and contain 10-12% of the US RDA of fiber, niacin, thiamine, phosphorus and copper. External links Search another word or see Jerusalem artichokeon Dictionary \| Thesaurus \|Spanish Copyright © 2015, LLC. All rights reserved. • Please Login or Sign Up to use the Recent Searches feature
Journalists Use Term "Green" More Often, But What Does It Mean? April 15, 2010 "Green" seems to be the new black. In November 2007, NBC Universal launched its first "Green Week." According to the company's Web site, the media giant presented more than 150 hours of "environmentally themed content across multiple platforms," and continues to hold twice-yearly weeks to deliver "green-themed content" to its viewers and online users. Among other things, the NBCU Web site contains guidelines for TV production professionals to help reduce their environmental impact — a part of NBCU's plan "to bring an environmental perspective" to the work it does. The guide also says it will change "to keep pace with the constant advances in the field of sustainability." Over the past few years, journalists have also begun to casually use the terms "green" and "sustainable" when reporting. Many corporations and advertisers have jumped onto the "green" and "sustainable" bandwagon. However, according to an informal e-mail survey of Society of Environmental Journalists members, the use of these terms has its critics. "I don't use either term," wrote Seth Borenstein, a science writer for the Associated Press, in an e-mail. "Green is too wishywashy and could mean just about anything, and usually does. Sustainable is too wonky and inaccessible. And for that matter, what is sustainable and what is not?" Green background "Green" and "sustainable" aren't recent additions to our vocabulary. "Both 'green' & 'sustainable' are very old buzz-words, in use as early as the 1930s and perhaps even earlier, with quite a lot of overlapping usage, but different implications," wrote Merritt Clifton, editor of the newspaper Animal People. "The concept has gradually evolved since the 18th century and even influenced political ideology," wrote Clifton. However, heightened environmental awareness has driven up the popularity of both terms when it comes to taking care of nature. "I think it's something that over the last couple of decades has been more visible," said Sharon Kuska, architecture professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, "because of issues coming to the forefront like climate change (and) shortage in natural resources." Marketers seem to have a different agenda for these terms. For example, although NBCU has gone all out to promote green, or eco-friendly, methods, this marketing technique has also benefitted NBCU. "NBC Universal has been able to generate tens of millions of dollars worth of sponsorship revenue during its Green Is Universal Earth Week in the spring and Green Week programming stunts in the fall," wrote Jon Lafayette in, an online insider guide to the television industry. Sustainability in different fields While "green" seems to be a vague concept relating to all things environmentally friendly, "sustainable" has a formal definition. The most quoted definition, contained in the United Nations' 1987 Brundtland Report, defines sustainable development as "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." But sustainability can mean different things in different industries, said Sue Ellen Pegg, recruiting coordinator for the School of Natural Resources at the University of Nebraska- Lincoln. In environmental studies, she said sustainability means not depleting natural resources of a given ecosystem. "Sustainability is looking at a system being able to function at that same level across time," said Pegg, who previously served as the associate director for WasteCap Nebraska, a nonprofit organization that promotes resource conservation to Nebraska businesses. Sustainability spans many fields, going into areas such as energy. "Sustainable is generally considered to be an energy source which can't be depleted," wrote Roger Witherspoon, freelance writer and an active member of the Society of Environmental Journalists. "Hydro power, thermal power, wind power all fall into that category." And sustainable design is even important in architecture. Kuska, who teaches a class on sustainability at UNL, said the concept encompasses more than not depleting resources. A sustainable social profile of a house could involve how the house fits into the existing neighborhood and infrastructure. A team of University of Nebraska-Lincoln architecture students recently designed and built a house to fit into an established neighborhood with existing infrastructure such as plumbing, power supply and four different bus routes within five blocks of the building. These combined factors make the house more sustainable because the tenants can live comfortably over a long time, Kuska said. Differentiating "sustainable" and "green" In a special edition of Scientific American Earth 3.0, Michael D. Lemonick wrote about the untruths linked to both terms. In his article, "Top 10 Myths about Sustainability," Lemonick points out that people often lump sustainability together with green practices when these two terms are not the same. Since sustainability is based on the drive to keep improving production methods so we preserve scarce resources, Pegg said eco-friendly products aren't necessarily sustainable. "Just because it says recycled doesn't mean it's good," Pegg said. "Look at the whole life cycle." For example, she said, disposable paper cups are biodegradable and thus more eco-friendly than styrofoam cups, which take much longer to decompose. However, paper cups are far less sustainable than longer-lasting ceramic mugs. Kuska said that's why sustainability is an evolving concept. "There's no one standard for sustainability," Kuska said, "because it's kind of an ideal to strive toward." But SEJ member Sarah McCammon thinks "sustainability" is more trustworthy than "green." "'Sustainable' seems a little more precise," responded McCammon, who, at the time, was a reporter and producer for Nebraska's NET radio. "I think it's probably subject to many of the same pitfalls as the term 'green'; however, I hear scientists and urban planners and food-systems experts talk about 'sustainability' a lot more than 'going green.' " So what kind of pitfalls does "green" face? Witherspoon, also a critic of the word, said the term has lost its substance because companies pepper advertising with "green" without explaining it. "Toyota describes its Land Cruiser as a 'green' car," wrote Witherspoon in his e-mail, "I guess because it uses less gas than a similarly huge Cadillac Escalade. GM, on the other hand, describes the new Escalade Hybrid as a Green SUV. Hence, my feeling that it is a journalistically useless term, though one suited for marketing and rather shallow TV reports." Companies that make misleading environmental claims of their product or company practices engage in a practice called greenwashing. A 2009 report by TerraChoice, a Canadian-based environmental marketing agency, pointed out the seven sins of greenwashing: hidden trade-off, no proof, vagueness, worshipping false labels, irrelevance, lesser of two evils and fibbing. Of more than 2,000 products claiming to be green in the U.S. and Canada, only 25, or less than 2 percent, of those products were found to be "Sin-free," states TerraChoice on its Web site. Ruth Brown, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln associate professor of advertising, said the Federal Trade Commission has regulations on environmental marketing, such as the need to substantiate environmental claims made on any product. But the FTC relies on complaints of products before acting on a case. Brown said insufficient FTC funding and the sheer number of products make enforcement difficult. "So it boils down to the ethics of advertisers and agencies themselves," she said. At the very least, Brown said everyone should be armed with a fact-checking mentality when looking at anything labeled as "green" or "sustainable." "Look for that point of substantiation. Look for where that claim is explained," she said. As Kermit the Frog would say, "It isn't easy being green." Sustainable weight In their defense, not all corporations practice greenwashing. In fact, why shouldn't "green" and "sustainable" carry weight if they are backed up by science? Vicki Miller, research communications coordinator at UNL's Office of Research and Economic Development, said in more than 20 years of being a reporter and writer, she's used both "green" and "sustainable" but in proper contexts. For example, "sustainability has long been an issue for agriculture," Miller said. "I think folks sort of forget that ag folks have been concerned with the issue of feeding the world ... long before folks worried about where their food came from." Paying closer attention The use of "green" and "sustainable" will continue, but it can bring significant benefit if journalists stop to consider the concepts before using the terms. On the term "green," Sarah McCammon wrote, "I think it's a positive sign that the word is being used more and that people are at least thinking about these issues." To Borenstein of the Associated Press, the best way to explain things is to avoid vague terms altogether and cut to the chase. "My job is to put things in more accessible language," he said. "If something saves electricity or produces less greenhouse gas emissions, why not say it directly? Why not say something is less carbon-polluting?" Miller, on the other hand, thinks journalists can use the terms, but must define them well. "Everybody uses them and they mean different things to different people. And they also mean different things in different contexts," she said. "As science writers, we certainly have to be careful and specific about what we're talking about." Jaclyn Tan graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Journalism and Mass Communications in December, 2009. She wrote this story as an assignment in a science-writing class. Tan can be reached at ** From the quarterly newsletter SEJournal, Spring 2010 issue
BIGFOOT A layman’s viewpoint on the phenomenon By Vincent Spada Science, especially in the last 100 years, has solved a great many mysteries. Health, technology, nature. In short, questions have been answered. Smallpox is now a memory from the past, and human cloning seems likely. One day a woolly mammoth may lumber past your door, brought back from extinction through its DNA. Whether or not these events actually occur, one thing is absolutely certain: The world is learning more. Finding out about things. However, intelligent as we are, we cannot know everything. To even hint at such an accomplishment is beyond arrogance. For every single fact we cement, there are a thousand that slip through our fingers. Knowledge, like water, is not always easy to grasp. That being said, there has been, for the past six decades or so, a subject which has raised much debate amongst the people of North America. I am of course talking about Bigfoot, or Sasquatch if you prefer. The legendary ape/ape man that dwells in the darker regions of the continent. That term, first coined in 1958, has set off a firestorm of controversy. Is it real or not? That is the question… The following paper is a brief example of my take on the whole business. I am but an amateur on the matter, so please ingest it with a grain of salt. I do not pretend to know the truth, but am I willing to share my opinions. You may find them useless in the end, but then again, perhaps not… Part 1: History There is, as far as I can tell, no known archaeological record of any native primates living or having lived in North America at any time (Except for humans, of course, and even we are a transplant from other areas of the globe). That is, the fossil evidence shows that Bigfoot was not present on this landscape, and that the entire region itself has only been occupied by humans for about 14,000 years (The Clovis People being generally accepted as the first Americans). Therefore, one might assume from this very simple fact that the whole question has been put to rest, and that we should stop searching for something that has never been there in the first place. However, the lack of bones or other physical material does not necessarily mean the creature was or is not present. It just says that we have yet to find such specimens for ourselves. As I shall attempt to explain in the pages to follow, there may be many reasons why we find no ancient Bigfoot bones. A lack of evidence does not mean a lack of existence. Let us make that clear now. It is a fact, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that stories of Bigfoot-like beings have been passed down from generation to generation by cultures all around the world. There is a memory within the human brain of a “wild man of the woods,” someone or something that was not quite human but not quite animal either. Now this in and of itself, while interesting, does not prove anything, but it does make clear the notion that this is not a new phenomenon. That in truth we may have been living side-by-side with these creatures for thousands of years now, and that the oral traditions and folklore regarding them did not just appear from thin air. There are Native American drawings on cave walls all across the United States which show large bipedal characters, either engaging with humans or even attacking them. While it’s possible that this artwork could have been an example of pure imagination, it is more likely that it is based on an actual event. This is because prehistoric man, while likely capable of deeper thought, tended to draw what they saw, rather than creating images from their own mind. Once more, this is not proof, but it does give weight to the hypothesis that ancient man and Bigfoot did in fact meet once upon a time. But besides the pictorial evidence from the past, there have been credible reports from more recent times, especially since Europeans started colonizing North America in the early 16th and 17th centuries. In the past 200 years there have been Bigfoot sightings in all 50 states, including Hawaii, where the Aikanaka has been seen on the island of Oahu (The term means “the man-eater of Oahu”). The Skunk Ape has been spotted in Florida, as well as The Grassman in Ohio. All tend to speak of a similar being. Large, hairy, apelike. Yet, the main bulk of these reports tends to come from the Pacific Northwest, a region vast in size and distance and to this day largely unexplored. It is here one will find the greatest number of sightings related to the elusive beast: California, Oregon, Idaho, Washington. This is Sasquatch country. Now there are two reports which tend to stand out from all the rest, due to the unusual nature of the first and the alarming evidence of the second. The first involved a man named Albert Ostman from British Columbia, who swore that in 1924 he had been abducted and held by a family of Bigfoot for nearly a week. There were four of them in number, three adults and one juvenile, and they fed him grass which tasted somewhat “sweet.” Ostman managed to escape but did not relate his story to anyone for over 20 years. To this day it is one of the more extraordinary tales attached to the phenomenon. The second, however, might be the grand-daddy of them all, as it may have produced visual proof of the creatures themselves. It pertains to Roger Patterson and his now legendary footage, known to this day as the Patterson-Gimlin film. Patterson, an adventurer, along with his friend Bob Gimlin, were out looking for the creatures along the Klamath River in California one day in October of 1967. After a spell they approached an area known as Bluff Creek sometime in the early afternoon, and when they did Patterson’s horse reared up in fear, nearly knocking him to the ground. As both men looked they saw a Bigfoot-like creature “crouching beside the creek,” and when it noticed them it rose and began to walk away. Patterson, grabbing his camera, told Gimlin to “cover him” with his rifle, and for the next minute or so filmed the creature walking off into the woods. An attempt was made to track the animal, although the men lost it in heavier brush. To this day the film that encounter produced is still being studied and debated. Here we are now in the 21st century, and the reports continue to pile up. Again and again people are seeing Bigfoot, and sometimes even more than that. An alleged incident in 2010 had a man actually shoot and kill a baby Sasquatch, although no body was ever produced and therefore the story is in doubt. Regardless of hoaxes or tall tales, odds are these sightings will continue. Hundreds of reports across North America, with more to follow in their wake… Part 2: Evidence and Speculation This has always been a problem area when it comes to Bigfoot. Skeptics will always say “If they’re out there, where are the bodies?” It’s a valid point for sure, but please dwell upon this fact: Experienced hunters say it’s virtually impossible to find the carcass of a dead bear. For some reason they never come across them. Very odd… Now, regarding evidence, there is of course the numerous sightings, coupled with multiple pictures or video footage, many of them from reliable witnesses. However, I do realize that this in itself does not constitute literal proof, at least not when it comes to a subject like Bigfoot. Extraordinary claims, after all, demand extraordinary evidence, and pictures, while intriguing, do not tell enough of the story. Yet. besides the visual aids, we do have some physical artifacts. Things which the Sasquatch leaves behind that cannot be denied. They are: Footprints – On the surface this may not seem like much, as footprints can easily be faked, but several casts have been collected which show dermal ridges (In other words the same as fingerprints on the toes. Not something a typical hoaxer would think of). Injuries as well, including cuts and signs of healing, have been present in some casts (Again, your typical trickster doesn’t usually include these details). Unknown hairs – These have been found on more than one occasion, in both North America and Asia (The Yeti is said to inhabit the valleys below the Himalayan Mountains). While some results remain inconclusive, other tests show them as being from an unknown primate, similar to man in certain ways but definitely not human. Droppings – While rare, there have been samples of scat found which contained unusual or unknown parasites. Although not proven, the fecal matter may have come from Sasquatch. Blood – There was an incident in the past 10 years where a cabin in Canada was supposedly being visited by a Bigfoot, and a nail board used to stop the intruder led to blood samples soaked into the wood. Tests did not yield conclusive proof, as enough DNA could not be gathered, but further examination in the future may produce better results. Forest beds – Mountain gorillas have been known to make beds, gathering up leaves and sticks to make a sleeping quarter. These same beds have been found in various locations throughout the Pacific Northwest. Screams or Calls – Researchers have captured odd howls, screams and calls from the forest which zoologists cannot identify. Tree knocking or wood knocking has also been heard (Chimpanzees do use tools which sometimes include sticks). Rock throwing – Primates can and have thrown rocks, and this has also happened to Bigfoot researchers. This typically occurs alongside the howls and tree knocking (Warning to stay away?). I know, I know. Individually, these physical calling cards may not add up to much, but put them all together and they appear much more convincing… Now, we’ve touched upon some of the evidence, as well as the history of sightings, but let us move toward a bit of speculation on the creature itself. Of course, no one can say exactly what a Bigfoot looks like, but from eyewitness accounts they tend to be: Hairy or covered with hair, often black or dark brown in color. Very tall, often 6-8 feet in height (Bigfoot sightings in the American South tend to be of a smaller animal, some 5-6 feet in height and occasionally featuring only 3 toes). 300-400 pounds in weight, estimated by the muscle mass and depression of footprints in the soil. Other physical or mental characteristics include: Chattering, sometimes almost vocalizing, although certainly not human speech. Long arms and limbs, with an unusual gait. A strong smell, like that of rotten eggs. Inquisitive nature, investigating campsites or campgrounds. Again, please let me remind you that this is only speculation. The exact measurements or physical attributes are unknown. However, if we are to take the reports seriously, this is what people are seeing. Exactly what it is or what it may be? Let’s discuss that now: Some individuals may jump to a supernatural conclusion. That Bigfoot is in fact the ghosts of cavemen or creatures who died long ago. There are also those who say that it may be a being from another world, either from outer space, inner space or another dimension. While I cannot disprove these theories, I do not personally share that conviction. That is, I believe Bigfoot to be an actual flesh and blood animal, from and of this planet Earth. If that’s true, then we may begin to assume certain things regarding its nature. Namely, it must eat, sleep, move, etc., the same as any other beast of the air or field. In that case, we can begin to form a basis for its actions. The following is an outline which may or may not be accurate: Sasquatch may: Have crossed into North America from an ancient land bridge which once connected the continent with Asia. They may have also crossed over on glaciers present in the region thousands of years ago. Have crossed over from Europe on an ancient glacier bridge across the upper North Atlantic. Evidence suggests this may have occurred over 15,000 years ago with ancient man. Be nocturnal, as so many sightings occur at night. It may also have adapted this trait to avoid human beings. Be an omnivore, as an animal (warm-blooded?) that large must eat constantly. Their diet might include fish, nuts, berries, mosses and various plants or small animals. Bury their dead in secluded locations, or live in caves where they might expire. This would explain a lack of bones, both now and in the fossil record. Have excellent vision, as well as hearing and sense of smell. If they hunt at night it would be needed to increase their chances of success. Have excellent stamina, as some have been seen running at a good pace. Exceptional physical strength is also probable if upper muscle mass is as described. Breed rarely, as their numbers have been estimated at no more than 2,000-3,000 over all of North America. They may also be territorial, thus lessening their chances for encounters with breeding partners. The female may also only give birth to a single offspring at a time, and even then the gestation period may be up to a year, as larger animals are known for this (A female elephant can be pregnant for nearly two years). Scent mark, to establish their area or to attract mates. They may also hunt and eat skunk, which would explain their foul body odor, or intentionally rub their fur with the skunk’s scent gland to ward off predators or humans. Not be able to swim, as apes lack this ability. Their mere size alone may cause them to sink helplessly when entering deep water. Have no fear of horses, as mustangs are common throughout the western U.S. This may explain why Patterson and Gimlin were able to get so close at Bluff Creek, as both were riding horses and it may have masked their scent. Fear humans, as they tend to flee when seen or discovered suddenly. However, if they are mammals, they would of course be curious, which would explain certain encounters which were initiated by the Sasquatch themselves. Now, if this is what they look like and what their natural traits are, we may begin to speculate exactly what they are: An unknown species of primate, simply undetected by modern man. The mountain gorilla was itself not discovered by western science until the 20th century. A higher evolved species of primate, on the level of a chimpanzee, or perhaps even more advanced, just below humans as far as mental capacity. A branch of the human family tree, which did not die off in the last great extinction 12-20,000 years ago. Either a Neanderthal Man or other early ancestor of mankind. A cross between a human being and an early ancestor of mankind. Such an individual was rumored to have existed in Russia back in the 19th century. A medical experiment, either of a human or an animal (This is highly unlikely, as it does not explain sightings which took place hundreds of years before significant medical advancement). Wild human beings, who cannot or will not succumb to the modern world (Again, very unlikely, as their size and natural appearance does not coincide with this). Misidentification. Simply bears or apes which have escaped zoos or private collections (May explain a few sightings, but not all of them). These are but a few ideas pertaining to Bigfoot. It may be none of these at all. But let me ask, if it does exist, what do you think it is?… Part 3: Conclusion Having studied many eyewitness accounts, as well as video and photographic evidence, I would like to now share my conclusion with you if I may. If you’ll recall, I mentioned previously that extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence, and while what we’ve discussed here is very compelling, it is not extraordinary. My conclusion, therefore, is that there is no undeniable physical proof that the creature exists. That is, science cannot say without a doubt that it is an actual, living, breathing animal. Science must operate within certain guidelines, or cease to be science at all. Unless a body is supplied, the matter remains in question… Based upon the circumstantial evidence, the time line, the depth and consistency of the sightings, it is also my parallel conclusion that it is fairly likely that the creature known as Sasquatch or Bigfoot does exist. To say otherwise would be to ignore hundreds of years of testimony, and any respectable court of law in any country would tell you that’s ridiculous. I’m not saying I’m certain that it exists, I’m just saying that there is enough evidence to say that it might. I certainly hope it does. Would be a true wonder for the world… In closing, please allow me to thank you for reading along. Again, I don’t know if any of this was useful, but if so, I’m glad. Please remember, there are things in this universe that we will probably never understand or explain. I hope that’s not the case with Bigfoot. I think it’s time he came out of hiding… With gratitude, hope and understanding, Vincent Spada February 10, 2015Permalink June 27, 2014 After the Ohio Bigfoot Conference, Walter Tippie missed everyone so badly that he wanted us all to get together for a group camp out at Salt Fork State Park. Twenty six people in all descended upon Lore City from states as far away as Massachusetts and North Carolina! On Friday, June 27th, I loaded up the Squatchmobile and drove 2 hours south to Pittsburgh International Airport to pick up Dax Rushlow from Massachusetts. We then headed west to SFSP. When we arrived at our destination, we discovered that we were the first ones there. It was incredibly hot and humid and we were drenched with sweat putting up my tent. I kept unloading the car and Dax wandered the perimeter of the camp. I noticed him squat down staring at the ground, so I yelled out to ask him if he found something. He indicated that he did so I ran over to check it out. Lo and behold was one of the most perfect tracks I had ever seen! I haven’t seen a track this good since the two I found at Hogback Ridge in 2007. The track measured 16 inches long, 5 inches wide at the heel and 6 inches wide at the ball. We looked around some more and found many more tracks. There was a baby footprint alongside the big ones, 6 inches long by 3 inches wide. 16x6 print 16×6 print We had just been through a week of heavy rain, so we deduced that the prints had to have been made on Wednesday after the rain had stopped and the ground was still soft and wet. OMG! The Bigfoot were there! We also observed the two trails that the creatures had made coming through the brush and lining up exactly where the prints were. The more we looked around the more we found. It was as though the Bigfoot were going from fire ring to fire ring looking for something. I immediately sent a text message to Alan and told him to get his butt here quick! Within twenty minutes, Walter showed up and we excitedly showed him footprint after footprint. Walter and Dax began casting the prints while I was trying to get a hold of the others. By 7:30 p.m. almost everyone had their tents set up and were ready to roll! We devised a plan for me to troll the shoreline in my kayak while the group through the woods in an attempt to flush anything to the shore. I left 20 minutes before the rest so I would have time to unload the kayak and paddle to the area we had agreed upon. I had a 2-way radio and only my cell phone for a light. I stayed close to the shoreline because there were other boaters on the lake and I didn’t want to get crashed into since I didn’t have a light (shhhhh) I estimate that I was about 10 feet from the shore, slowly gliding through the darkness, barely making any sound. Suddenly I heard a loud splash about 10 feet behind me and then something huge began RUNNING through the 4 foot deep water! I turned to see what it was but could see nothing in the darkness! Whatever it was did not run back to land so I believe it went under water! Think what you will but if it were a bear or a deer i am sure it would have clamored back to the shore and into the woods. All I know is that it was loud! When I heard the first splash, I assumed it was a fish jumping, but then I realized it was more than that. Have you ever tried running in water? The sound your legs make against the water is something we all are familiar with. It was so dark I couldn’t see anything, but I was very curious! I kept paddling forward and had been out there for about 45 minutes. I kept trying to radio the others to no avail. My arms were getting worn out and since I couldn’t communicate with anyone, I turned around and headed back to the boat ramp. I was finally able to get a hold of them on the phone to tell them I was loading up and heading back.amy and girls I guess the trail they were taking was longer than we imagined and if I would have held out 15 more minutes they would have met me on the shore. We all reconvened at the campsite where Robert had kept our fire blazing! We all shared out experiences of the evening. Slowly the groups began to disperse to their tents leaving only Dax, Adrianne and I around the fire. Robert had gone out to do some night hiking. We began hearing something moving around in the brush behind Amy’s tent and she sent me a text message asking if we were walking around her tent. We told her we were still at the fire but could hear something back there. Dax went to the treeline with his FLIR but couldn’t see anything. Adrianne went to bed around 3 a.m. and Dax and I fell asleep around the campfire at about 4 a.m. cot To Be Continued…… July 1, 2014Permalink Bigfoot Adventure Weekends! one camper’s experience The following is submitted by S.F. Well, I am mostly caught up on my rest from the Bigfoot Adventure Weekend at Salt Fork. It was a lot of fun. The weather was perfect. The organizing crew put a lot of nice activities and souvenirs together for us. We had cool “night ops” hiking trips. We didn’t get any action on either night, but it was still cool. There was another BF group nearby, so it was a little crowded in the park. I met some really great people, and got to hang out with others that I knew. I wasn’t scared in the least running around the woods until the wee hours of the morning, and I wasn’t scared about sleeping in my tent alone at night, even if we were camped out on Bigfoot Ridge. I did get some sort of action Saturday night. This nice older gentleman and I went out again on a hike near the campsite after everyone got back from night ops. We had made that plan earlier in the day. There was a ravine and creek that he scoped out the month before about a quarter of a mile from our campsite. We trekked off down a game path and hung a glow stick on a tree so we wouldn’t get lost. Then we marched through until the game path was gone and we were stuck. I was also worrying about this time that we would get lost. My friend realized that we couldn’t get to his spot because in one month’s time, it had become terribly overgrown. So I wasn’t thinking about BF, I was just thinking about not getting lost. Then he asked me if I could whistle, which I can’t very well. Later he told me that he heard a whistle. I didn’t feel creepy or scared, I was just marking the path with land marks. We weren’t that far from camp anyway, but that was my concern. So we make it back to the road, thanks to my friend’s compass. We sat down in the grass in the turnaround on the road and could hear the rest of the group laughing around the campfire. As we were cooling off and re-grouping looking at the stars, we came up with a plan to go down a beautifully mowed wide path that went to some sort of historic farm house. As we slowly walked down the path with our head lamps lit, it was refreshing to be out of the thick woods, (although there were woods on either side), and I was thankful that I would not be lost. There was another mowed path to the left and I suggested that we plunk down there because it may be a good spot at the intersection of two paths. Everything was cool, we’re just chilling, it was quiet and peaceful, then after about 10-20 minutes, all of the sudden the forest around us came alive. About 1 O’clock from where I was sitting, my friend was next to me and a little behind me, we hear some big sticks breaking in the woods. I looked that direction and saw two green small lights, or eyes, or whatever it was, looking or shining right at me. I asked my friend if he could see them, and he could not. I just kept my eyes looking there trying to figure out what it was. My attention was up, but I wasn’t freaking out or anything. Then we heard large movement behind us. Then we heard more movement in front of us. Now I was at full attention. Still I could see the green lights in the same place. Then we heard two BIG foot falls, and my friend said, “They’re out there!” I said, “Yeah, I know!” Now I am trying to be cool and not panic, just like I was taught. My buddy is a retired naturalist, ex-army and said that he doesn’t get excited about anything. That I could attest to because he was fearless in the woods earlier. Then he says, “turn out your headlamp.” So I did. We were in total darkness with movement happening all around us. I got the feeling we were being watched, I got the feeling that I was small, and I got the feeling that Bigfoots were close, more than one of them at that. Then my friend tells me that in his night scope binoculars, or whatever it was, that he just saw an arm, shoulder and half a head from behind a tree. I’m like, “WHAT?! You just saw WHAT?!!!!!!” Then I flipped my red light headlamp back on. He snapped, turn your light off, and I said, “No, I don’t want to!” He asked me to turn it off again and I said no. The sounds were so close and I was feeling surrounded. It was the only thing I could do to make me feel a little bit safer and the only thing that kept me in that spot and not run out of there. I wanted to stay cool, but I felt like I was almost in over my head there. It was getting deep, thick and black. So that’s when I pulled the phone out of my pocket and text messaged my researchers that were on standby at the campsite should anything happen. It was 0148. They arrived on the scene and investigated the area. He did a thermal sweep of the area and nothing showed up. One of the guys said he heard a knock on the path leading to where we were. Our investigator said that without knowing for sure that the green reflection might be from the foundation of the farm house that was down the path. The green “eyes” were still there and after hanging out for a bit, we packed it in and went back. The next morning my friend and I went back to check out the spot. I had left my carpet sample pad in the same place where I had been sitting and he walked back into the trees to the approx area where we heard the sticks breaking and the green eyes. He informed me that there was a 100 foot drop off where the eyes were, so there was no way that it was in the line of sight with the farm foundation. That farm was not close or a factor. So maybe it snuck up to the edge to peek over, and that’s why it wouldn’t have been seen by the thermal because the body was below on the ridge. Anyway, I can’t say for sure what it was, but as there was a tree twist on that path that we saw, and multiple other sightings on that path, and from how I felt, and what I heard, and what I saw, and what my friend saw, and what he heard and what he felt, I think we had a Bigfoot experience at Salt Fork State Park, Saturday May 31st, 2014. I can’t prove it, and maybe it was something else, but it was majorly creepy and scared me so that my hands were shaking and I almost couldn’t type the text to my researcher. Honestly, I don’t think that I’ll ever “go looking” for a Bigfoot experience like that again. I think I’ve seen and heard enough to satisfy my interest. I think I need to do a little work on the fear factor aspect of this, but hey, you sit there and think you are surrounded by BF with the old Army guy saying the same thing and tell me what you would do! June 6, 2014Permalink
Royal Society Publishing The Historia Piscium (1686) S. Kusukawa In 1686, just as Newton was preparing for the publication of the Principia, the Historia Piscium was being printed under the auspices of The Royal Society. The Historia Piscium was a work begun by Francis Willughby (1635–1672, F.R.S. 1663), completed by John Ray (1627–1705, F.R.S. 1667) and brought into print with the financial support of The Royal Society. The text and illustrations of the Historia Piscium reflect the 17th-century origins of the enterprise: Ray's quest to recover the knowledge and language lost in the Fall, and The Royal Society's support for establishing a reformed natural history of fish through publication. Ray's biblical belief in the corruption of human language and knowledge led him to reform natural history through ‘characteristic marks’. He sought to define, classify and depict fishes through their external features, which when matched up, would yield the same nature, and thus allow humans to identify and give a name to a fish. The Royal Society helped Ray's task by confirming the validity or uselessness of a given author on the subject, suggesting other authorities and sources for illustrations, organizing the printing, checking the corrections and paying for the cost of the printing. Subscriptions were sought for the illustrations and the inscriptions of subscribers reflect the Society's concern to promote its institutional identity and its supporters. Some Fellows of the Society also helped Ray with identities and classification of fishes, and changes were made in response to suggestions and objections of other Fellows. Without the intellectual and financial support of the Society, especially Pepys, Lister and Robinson, the Historia Piscium would not have been published in the way that it was. Despite the subscription, however, the Historia Piscium was a costly venture, largely due to its lavish illustrations, and the subsequent flop of sales of the book meant that The Royal Society faced serious financial problems. This is perhaps the main reason why it could not meet the cost of publishing Newton's Principia. Royal Society Login Log in through your institution
printable article Originally published February 10 2012 The 10 symptoms of vitamin D deficiency you need to recognize by Aurora Geib (NaturalNews) Taking vitamin D while still young may be good for the body in the long run. Results from a study conducted by the University of Zurich have confirmed that sufficient amounts of vitamin D taken consistently are necessary to maintain bone health. Many people believe that maintaining healthy eating habits is enough, but only few foods naturally contain significant levels of vitamin D. According to Dr. Heike A. Bischoff-Ferrari, a faculty of UZH, in order to get adequate levels of vitamin D through diet alone, two servings of fatty fish like salmon or mackerel would have to be consumed every day. It is thus necessary to increase vitamin D levels in the body through sufficient sun exposure and supplementation in order to use the sunshine vitamin's full potential for maintaining proper body functioning. This misconception about maintaining D levels through diet does have a degree of ground since vitamin D is not a stand alone vitamin. To perform many functions, vitamin D works in cooperation with other vitamins like magnesium, which can be found in leafy green vegetables such as spinach. This unique characteristic of vitamin D has contributed to the management of many chronic illnesses. The many faces of vitamin D Decades ago, health care professionals thought vitamin D was only good for keeping healthy bones and teeth. Recent advances in science, however, have put this vitamin in the spotlight by revealing its multifaceted role in the proper functioning of the human body and its ability to lower the risk of illnesses not formerly associated with it. Despite the recent revelations about the potential of vitamin D, it appears that not everyone appreciates this discovery. The current lifestyle of working indoors has contributed to the growing number of vitamin D deficiency cases worldwide. This is compounded by the fact that not everyone is aware that he or she may be vitamin D deficient. Am I vitamin D deficient? The best way to discover vitamin D deficiency is to take a blood test that will measure the level of the vitamin in your blood. You can either ask your doctor to administer the test or buy a home test kit do the test yourself. However, you are certainly vitamin D deficient if you have any of the following ailments, and you need to consult with your doctor regarding your preventive, as well as curative, options as soon as possible. 5.) Diabetes - A study conducted in Finland was featured in in which 10,366 children were given 2000 international units (IU)/day of vitamin D3 per day during their first day of life. The children were monitored for 31 years and in all of them, the risk of type 1 diabetes was reduced by 80 percent. Prevention is proactive These various health conditions associated with vitamin D deficiency need not be something to fear. A proactive approach to prevention can assist in the avoidance of the many chronic diseases associated with vitamin D deficiency. For one, thousands of dollars can be saved, not to mention the peace of mind, simply at the cost of taking a walk under the sun. Save the umbrellas for the rainy days. Sources for this article:,2933,510299,00.html
did as romans do The parsnip (Pastinaca sativa) is a root vegetable related to the carrot. Parsnips resemble carrots, but are paler than most of them and have a stronger flavor. Like carrots, parsnips are native to Eurasia and have been eaten there since ancient times. Zohary and Hopf note that the archeological evidence for the cultivation of the parsnip is “still rather limited,” and that Greek and Roman literary sources are a major source about its early use, but warn "there are some difficulties in distinguishing between parsnip and carrot (which, in Roman times, were white or purple) in classical writings since both vegetables seem to have been sometimes called pastinaca yet each vegetable appears to be well under cultivation in Roman times. Until the potato arrived from the New World, its place in dishes was occupied by the parsnip and other root vegetables such as the turnip. Parsnips can be boiled, roasted or used in stews, soups and casseroles. In some cases, the parsnip is boiled and the solid portions are removed from the soup or stew, leaving behind a more subtle flavour than the whole root and contributing starch to thicken the dish. Roasted parsnip is considered an essential part of Christmas dinner in some parts of the English-speaking world and frequently features in the traditional Sunday Roast. Parsnips can also be fried, or be eaten raw. While folk etymology sometimes assumes the name is a portmanteau of parsley and turnip, it actually comes from a Latin word for "forked", plus the -nip ending because it was assumed to be a kind of turnip. It is among the closest relatives of actual parsley, which actually can be bred to develop a very parsnip-like root. Parsnips are not grown in warm climates, since frost is necessary to develop their flavor. The parsnip is a favorite with gardeners in areas with short growing seasons. Sandy, loamy soil is preferred; silty, clay, and rocky soils are unsuitable as they produce short forked roots. In Roman times, parsnips were believed to be an aphrodisiac. In the United States, this plant was introduced fairly early in history by British colonists as a root vegetable. It was thereafter replaced in popularity by the potato in the mid-nineteenth century and consequently escaped from cultivation, so today most states have wild parsnip on their list of noxious weeds or invasive species. Parsnip is used as a food plant by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species, including its namesake, the Parsnip swallowtail and also the Common Swift, Garden Dart, and Ghost Moth. Nutritional properties Some people can have an allergic reaction to parsnip, and parsnip leaves may irritate the skin. Dangers connected to wild parsnips Wild parsnip causes phytophotodermatitis and must be handled with full-body protection. If your skin is exposed to wild parsnip you must go inside within the next 10 minutes and stay there for 6-8 hours. Skin will not be affected by artificial light. When picking wild vegetables it is easy to mistake poison hemlock (Conium maculatum) for parsnip with deadly results. All parts of this hemlock are poisonous: leaves, stem, roots, and fruit. Poison hemlock contains volatile alkaloids that have been used as poisons since ancient times. The best way to differentiate it from parsnip are purple streaks and blotches on a smooth hairless stem. Other ways include the small wispy flowers and fernlike leaves which vary slightly from those on the parsnip. • Dr D.G. Hessayon (2003) The Vegetable & Herb Expert. Expert Books. ISBN 0-903505-46-0 • Dr. Mary Robson (1999) ''Poison Hemlock : Dangerous to People and Animals". Washington State University Online Directory • Adam Hart-Davis (2001) What did the Romans do for us?. BBC TV External links Recipe Links Search another word or see did as romans doon Dictionary \| Thesaurus \|Spanish Copyright © 2015, LLC. All rights reserved. • Please Login or Sign Up to use the Recent Searches feature
American Elephants A Little Dictionary of Demagoguery by The Elephant's Child Demagogue: [Děm’·a·gŏg] n. a political leader who gains power by appealing to people’s emotions, instincts, and prejudices in a way that is considered manipulative and dangerous. Authenticity: The (probably erroneous) belief that the demagogue is telling you the truth. Anti-Americanism: Demagogues are, by the force of their personalities, going to make the world love us again. Unfortunately anti-Americanism has been with us since the days of the founding. Big Oil: (Evil). Earns 10 cents for every gallon of gas sold. The Federal gas tax is 18.4 cents per gallon. My state gas tax is 37 cents per gallon. Who is gouging whom? Big oil plunges the money into searching for more oil. The government apparently spends their take on other things, for they constantly want more money for roads and to relieve traffic congestion. Big Pharma: (Evil). They not only produce drugs that save lives, prolong life and help avoid the need for costly medical procedures, but they do it for only 11 cents of every dollar spent on health care. And for less than the rate of inflation as well. Obviously must be regulated. CAFE Standards: A demand by people who have no idea how a car is made that manufacturers increase gas mileage. Can only be accomplished by making cars lighter and more flimsy. Will kill approximately 4,000 people a year. Change: The really big demagogue word. Meaningless, unless accompanied by the specifics of what will change, why that is a good thing, and why the demagogue thinks that he can bring it about. Be very skeptical. Capitalism: (Evil). The name that Karl Marx gave to the natural workings of the free market. If he could sell the idea that ‘capitalism’ is a system, then he could substitute his system, socialism. Didn’t work. Creative Destruction: An economic term easily understood when demonstrated by the example of the buggy whip. When applied to current failing industries, the demand is for government involvement to save jobs. Diversity: The very odd notion that the most important thing about any group of people is the color of their skin, their sex, and their ethnicity. Environmentalist: There are no qualifications whatsoever to be an environmentalist. More skills are required of a leaf- blower or a dishwasher. Requires only faith. Equality I: You can be free, or you can be equal. You cannot be both. Human beings are not naturally equal. Some are smart, some are not; some save and invest, some spend and gamble; some are natural athletes and some are clumsy. Some are pretty, become celebrities and a bad example to us all. “For the Children”: A phrase designed to elicit warm fuzzy feelings, like kitten or puppies. We think small children; they include 20 year old delinquents, and young men in the military. Free Trade: Responsible for lifting people all over the world out of poverty. Must be regulated by the Democrats to improve the environment. Global Warming: The globe has not warmed in the past six years. In the last few years, the pillars that support the notion of man-made global warming have been falling, one after another. What warming we have had does not fall outside the normal range of planetary warming and cooling. CO2 is not a pollutant. The Medieval Optimum, when it was much warmer than today, is the finest weather known to man. Health Care: Since we in America have the finest health care in the world, it is imperative that we change the system to duplicate the systems that are failing elsewhere. Hate crime: Thought crime. To the criminal offense is added the supposed state of mind of the perpetrator. Apparently only minorities can be hated. A racist notion, and a ‘crime’ that should be abolished. Have-nots: A phrase designed to promote class envy. Someone will always have something that you have not. A phrase also designed to create an us-versus-them mentality. Celebrate what you have: freedom and equality of opportunity. Iraq: The left decided early on, that since a President who presides over a successful war often ushers in a long reign of his party, President Bush must be prevented, at all costs, from being successful in the war in Iraq. They really tried, but Bush is, fortunately, stubborn. Immigration: A matter of contention. The people want the constitution and the law to be obeyed. The politicians want to register new voters. Jobs: Can be created by the government only by raising your taxes. Government has no money of its own. Government-created jobs are of no net benefit to the economy. Only private investment creates new jobs, and makes new products never before seen in the world. Liberty: “Never in human history has one seen a society of political liberty that was not based on a free economic system – i.e. a system based on private property, where normal economic activity consisted of transactions between consenting adults. Never, never, never. No exceptions.” (Irving Kristol) Little Man: How remarkably condescending to refer to any American as “the little man”. Words spoken only by very small politicians. Multiculturalism: The strange notion that all cultures are of equal value. None is better than any other. A theory that was permanently disproved on 9/11. Media: “The media are less a window on reality than a stage on which officials and journalists perform self-scripted, self-serving fictions.” (Paul Weaver, New York Times, 7/29/94) Profit: ( Evil). And where did you think the money came from to create new jobs, build new businesses, invent new products? None of these things can be done by government. Profit is the reward for the investment of capital. The Poor I: Defined as the bottom quintile of the income pie. Will always be with us. As long as we have quintiles, someone will occupy the bottom. The U.S. economy is characterized by an extraordinary degree of income mobility. The notion that high-income or low-income groups are composed mostly of the same people over time is an illusion. The Poor II: “What do the poor most need? They need to stop being poor. And how can that be done on a mass scale, except by an economy that creates more wealth? Yet the political left has long had a remarkable lack of interest in how wealth is created. As far as they are concerned, wealth exists ‘somehow’ and the only interesting question is how to re-distribute it”. (Thomas Sowell) Racial Profiling: We used to be able to prevent crime by questioning suspicious people. Civil rights activists suggested that the large number of young black men in prison was somehow due to racial profiling rather than the fact that young black men were committing more crimes. Careful studies have shown that racial profiling seldom exists. Recession: The only question interesting to politicians about a recession is who can be blamed for it, and who can be credited for ending it. Unfortunately the answers to these questions are often not available until it is over. Regulate: Control and power are the goal of all bureaucrats. Regulation is the enemy of growth and creativity, whether economic, social or individual. Rules stifle initiative. Trial and error is the key to all progress. Renewable Energy: A romantic notion that we can dispense with evil petroleum and replace it with nice solar, wind or biofuel. We can’t. They are not reliable sources of energy, require large subsidies, and take far too much land. The rush to ethanol is driving food prices up as farmers are switching to subsidized corn, but there is not much demand for ethanol. The Surge: Remarkably successful. As it became apparent that the Surge was working, the media lost all interest, and it has disappeared from conversation entirely, except when leftists disgracefully accuse the brilliant General Petraeus of lying. Socialized Medicine: (aka: Universal Healthcare) If you give government the power to decide what health care you can have, you have also given government the power to decide what health care you cannot have, as British and Canadian citizens are learning to their pain. Taxation: You do not improve an economy by raising taxes. You improve an economy by allowing people to keep more of their own money. Unity: Are you giving up your convictions or did you expect me to give up mine? The call for unity represents a misunderstanding of the nature of American politics. We are supposed to debate and argue in public. That is the nature of our society. Vietnam: The time in their lives when many baby-boomers felt most alive and authentic. Most were simply afraid of being drafted, and once the draft was abolished, they lost all interest in the war. Nevertheless, Vietnam remains the screen through which all current events must pass. “We can’t impose Democracy on anyone else”: Germany, Japan, Italy, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Panama, Serbia, Grenada, Afghanistan. Wealth: (Evil). In a country that offers equality of opportunity and equality before the law, anyone can aspire to wealth. Yucca Mountain: The safest place in the world to store nuclear waste. Opposed by the demagogue, who prefers to have nuclear waste stored in many places around the United States, perhaps right in your neighborhood. About these ads 10 Comments so far Leave a comment Excellent. Brilliant. You nailed it in every definition. Comment by renaissanceguy Thank you very much. Comment by The Elephant\\\'s Child Could this possibly be anymore biased and blatantly erroneous? I guess the military, and other government agenecies dont qualify as jobs? Comment by balistico If you say you are an “environmentalist” lo and behold, you are. It’s that easy. Now if you want to be a Climatologist or an Astrophysicist, or a Paleoclimatologist, then you have to get a PhD, and write peer-reviewed papers. There is a difference. Who pays those who work at government agencies? Taxpayers. They are indeed jobs, but not new jobs. New jobs are created when someone starts a business, say writing software, in their garage, and then hires some 4,000 people to write more, sell more, devise code and so on. That makes an economy grow. Fact. Comment by The Elephant's Child The government can easily create new jobs, Homeland security was a newly created department that had to hire NEW people. And you dont need qualifications to be a Republican either, doesnt make it a bad thing now does it. Im also genuinely interested why you think healthcare systems are failing elsewhere. THank you for actually allowing my comment on the site though, when i saw “your comment is awaiting moderation” i thought it would be deleted Comment by balistico We are talking apples and oranges here. New jobs, jobs that make the economy grow, are created by employing someone to do something that didn’t exist before. For example, when someone invents a new mousetrap and hires people to make them to meet the demand. If the government takes money out of your pocket to pay another bureaucrat, there is no net gain to the economy. If your business is so successful that you have to hire more people, that is a net gain to the economy. Think Bill Gates going from a handful of people in Albuquerque to more than 4,000 in Redmond. Big gain to the economy. I am very fond of the environment, and try to treat it well. Many “environmentalists” are, frankly, nuts. See the video on the website titled “Liberalism IS a Mental Disorder”. Many people have allowed ‘environmentalism’ to become a religion for them, and they lose all common sense. Go to any of the British newspapers, The London Times, The Guardian, The Independent, The Telegraph (links under “Newsroll”). All have a search function. Enter NHS or National Health Service, and read some of the articles. I also have an earlier piece titled “Why Socialized Medicine Goes Bust… Every Time!” that I wrote in February. And some others, click on the Elephant’s Child to see all articles by me. Socialized medicine is one of my hobby horses. I am deeply opposed. We’re happy to have comments. We are partisan, so we don’t expect everybody to agree. We only balk at bad language and rude behavior. Comment by The Elephant's Child Go to any major american newspaper and you will see articles saying why universal healthcare is good, and how our healthcare system is failing. Citing newspapers isnt a very good argument, people have opinoins and they come through in articles that they write. I wanted to know why YOU think the healthcare system is failing Government wasnt always this big. The government constantly expands whether controlled by liberal or conservatives. The supposed reason for new departments is that they are needed for the national interest and thus should be paid with the nation’s money. That doesnt mean there arent new jobs. This also doesnt mean the government should have no role in the economy, on its own there is nothing that guaruntees the economy to keep going. There is no elected leadership that makes decisions for the economy as a whole, economy still needs regulations or corruption will make it crash Comment by balistico The figure usually cited for people without health insurance is, I think, between 40 and 45 million. But it is a meaningless figure. It includes those who are between jobs, often for very short periods. It includes students who graduate from college, and thus are no longer included on their parents’ insurance. It includes all the illegal aliens in the country. It includes those who are very well off and do not need to rely on insurance at all and those who are very healthy and choose to risk going without. What your insurance covers, and what insurance companies are allowed to sell health insurance in your state are controlled by your state Insurance Commissioner. The legislature controls what has to be covered. They are easily pressured by lobbyists, friends and family into covering things that by common sense should not be covered. We most need Catastrophic Coverage — that is big injury or big disease coverage that costs so much that we would be wiped out by the cost. And though the costs may be large, not too many people are having a catastrophic problem at once. Insurance generally works well. It is the day-to-day coverage that is a problem. If your policy covers all doctors’ visits, and all tests and medicines, you will be inclined to go to the doctor more often. You think of medical care as ‘free’, and use way more of it than you would if you have to pay for it yourself. All of these problems are made worse by ‘universal health care’ (socialized medicine). It is failing in Canada and in Britain, and in other countries. You cannot promise to give everybody everything they want and have it paid for cheaply through taxes. Everything is controlled by bureaucrats –Dr’s salaries, number of nurses, hospital equipment, any possible amount of choice on your part. There are solutions in the private sector. 1.Reform tort law — damages for actual malpractice, but limit awards for “pain and suffering” (your bad feelings). 2. Open up insurance markets so customers can buy insurance from anyone in the country. Competition always brings down costs. Competition will also limit the coverage for things like Homeopathy, Accupuncture, Aroma therapy — if you want those things you’ll have to pay more. Essentially, let the market work. What does not work is having Congress or your State Legislature decide what care you can have or what you can not have. Competition breeds innovation. When the competiton is tough, smart people figure out ways to do things more efficiently. Many of our most useful medical innovations have come from Doctors who see new ways to do things. There is no competition in “universal health care”, Bureaucrats make the rules, there is no competition, and there is no choice, because there are no rewards for doing it better. Does that make sense? I would still recommend that you spend some time reading up and informing yourself. Your best defense is to be an informed citizen. Comment by The Elephant's Child I do not quite understand this blog definition of “Big Pharma”. I recently learned that it is the trade association for big pharmaceutical manufacturers, really called PhRMA. You have (evil) right after “Big Pharma”. What does that mean? By the definition you obviously think it is a good thing. I don’t! They are just lobbying for pharmaceutical companies. Doing one google search on their staff will tell you that. The TV show Boston Legal said it all on their Season 5, Episode 2 show. Comment by Your Friend “Big Pharma” is a generic term for the big pharmaceutical companies, just as “Big Oil” is a generic name for Exxon-Mobil, Chevron, BP and Shell. Liberal demagogues are opposed to capitalism, the free market, Big Oil and Big Pharma. This is the height of nonsense if you like living in a free country. The big pharmaceutical companies are invested in saving lives and curing disease. They spend billions each year to develop new drugs that extend people’s lives. For heaven’s sake, do not get ANY information from TV dramas. They are by definition, FICTION, dreamed up by Hollywood screenwriters. They are entertainment. Scenarios are developed for their dramatic quality and have no relation to real life. Trade associations simply represent the interest of their industry to Congress. Politicians like to sneer at lobbyists, since many congressmen have gotten in trouble for accepting gifts from lobbyists — so the lobbyists are at fault? Pot calling kettle black. I would highly recommend that you read this article: It is long, 11 pages, but will give you an understanding that will make you an expert in the eyes of your friends. Now isn’t that worth reading 11 pages? Comment by The Elephant's Child Leave a Reply You are commenting using your account. Log Out / Change ) Twitter picture Facebook photo Google+ photo Connecting to %s Get every new post delivered to your Inbox. Join 7,107 other followers %d bloggers like this:
Resources / Study / Innovation for Court ADR Just Court ADR The blog of Resolution Systems Institute Future Justice? Online Dispute Resolution and Access to Justice* Heather Scheiwe Kulp, August 8th, 2011 First, they drew a helpful distinction between technology-assisted dispute resolution (TADR), which incorporates technology into traditional dispute resolution systems, and online dispute resolution (ODR), which uses technology (cell phones, online chat, email, video conferencing, etc.) throughout the dispute. We’ll use the same distinction here. Second, they described what constitutes a “just” dispute resolution process, and how ODR can incorporate these elements. The U.N. Working Group III and international business organizations have been working to incorporate these characteristics in rules and guidelines for ODR. The elements, which should look familiar to offline dispute resolution practitioners, are: impartiality of personnel and decision makers; accessibility and convenience; efficiency and speed of process; reasonable cost; transparency; and (most importantly for online systems) neutrality of the process (which takes shape in the technological platform). As I come from the court ADR perspective, I am most curious about how ODR may impact the elements above as they relate to developing trustworthy, efficient systems of justice (court or otherwise), accessible to all. Different than a physical courtroom, ODR does provide the opportunity to stay in one’s home or local community to resolve a dispute, even if the dispute crosses national borders. ODR systems function in a way that may be easier to understand than the specialized language of lawyers and the courts, too. And ODR does not rely solely on a person, who has particular time and financial constraints that may limit the ability to resolve the dispute, to be present at all times. But, I have a lot of questions about whether ODR actually provides access to justice similar to, or better than, traditional justice systems like courts. Access to ODR must first mean access to technology. Chittu Nagarajan from India made the point that even rural Indians have cell phones. But, reading deeper into the numbers only 70% of Indians possessed such technology and most of those were not “smart” phones that would allow for online or video interface. This leaves out more than 30% of the population from an online dispute system. Even fewer people have access to computers that are connected to the internet at a fast enough speed to make online dispute systems a viable alternative to the clogged court systems. Would ODR and the digital divide create an even greater justice gap than already exists, both in the developed and the developing world? In exploring ODR processes, parties may first need to be assured of the legitimacy of the platform and informed about the extent of confidentiality before feeling comfortable participating. This is the advantage courts have over other, private-sector systems. In the U.S. at least, people see the courts as a place of legitimacy and trustworthiness, where they can be assured of a fair system. Larger, established organizations such as eBay are more likely to be perceived as trustworthy and secure than lesser known dispute systems, since users have come to trust them with sales purchases and other services. But, do systems designed for profit jeopardize the neutrality of the process, the neutrality people expect from court ADR? In the wake of recent internet security breakdowns, I also wonder how ODR processes will ensure a sufficient sense of security within the process. Vikki Rogers from the Institute of International Commercial Law introduced the possibility of oversight, whether by the courts, the government, or a private agency, and emphasized that building participants’ trust in the provider would be crucial to any ODR program’s success. But I wonder if governments that are just beginning to discuss privacy online are really equipped to regulate ODR. Instead, governments could be focusing on improving current justice systems—including adding technological methods for communication and resolution—to adapt and change based on the people who need access to them. ODR’s growth also raises the question of whether ODR leaves parties satisfied that they have been heard and given a fair opportunity to participate in the dispute resolution process. Satisfaction levels would likely vary in relation to the particular mode of ODR – parties might respond differently to a video chat, for example, than to a text-only communication or a phone conference. If a party’s having her “day in court” is a substantial factor in achieving satisfaction, then a process that involves little or no face-to-face contact, as in most ODR, might be considered inadequate. One ODR provider called Smartsettle promotes visual blind bidding, in which the parties make numerical offers and the neutral chooses the most “generous” offer; this efficient, numbers-based process would not likely satisfy a party who is concerned with the personal as well as the more technical aspects of the dispute. Another valuable characteristic of traditional legal systems is difficult to find in most ODR systems—a venue for redress if someone does not agree with their treatment in or decision made in ODR. The panelists discussed three possible paths a disputant may take if they do not agree with an ODR outcome: seek redress within the ODR system, connect to the courts, or agree to accept the resolution since no better alternative exists. Some ODR systems have redress mechanisms built in. So, if you do not agree with the outcome of a negotiation, you can seek mediation, then arbitration, then a jury panel, all within the online platform. As for connecting to the court system, disputants in “developed” countries may go to the courts if they do not agree with a decision. But, disputants in developed and developing countries may not have laws that allow them to take online disputes to court or they may not have a court system that will give them speedy, cost-effective resolution. However, one of the advantages of ODR may be that disputants will have much faster access to a resolution than traditional methods, ADR or otherwise. With all the innovations in technology, I still wonder if technology can provide adequate legitimacy, quality and access to justice outside the court system. Thanks to RSI’s summer intern Nora Kahn for her significant contributions to this post. Tags: , , , , , , , , , 5 Responses to “Future Justice? Online Dispute Resolution and Access to Justice” 1. Colin Rule says: Thanks for the very thoughtful post, Heather. We’re planning on responding to some of your excellent points in the next IBO webinar. You asked: “do systems designed for profit jeopardize the neutrality of the process, the neutrality people expect from court ADR?” I think this is an excellent question, and one that I’ve spent a lot of time considering. I think there is a way for private and public redress systems to live side-by-side, and even compliment each other, as AAA and JAMS compliment the civil courts. That said, the courts are currently so overburdened, with relentless staff reductions and resource cuts on the horizon (in California they’re calling it “Courtmageddon”) that any appropriate assistance from the private sector in reducing case loads is probably a good thing. The courts are and should always be the ultimate form of redress, but if the private sector can help to get issues resolved before they require the courts, that’s a social good. I think what excites me most about ODR is that is can provide justice to huge swaths of humanity that have never had access to justice before. Yes, some of these online mechanisms may lack the procedural protections of a full court process, but seeing as how many of these cases would never realistically make it into a courtroom, these kinds of online processes are almost certainly the best practical solution available. 2. […] Heather Scheiwe Kulp on the Just Court ADR blog: […] 3. Fatima says: Hi Heather, great post on ODR! Following up on Colin’s comment, ODR is exciting because it can provide justice to a greater amount of people across the world. Also, I believe that the notion of having your “day in court” has traditionally been a more developed world idea – numerous people abroad don’t get the same opportunity because their courts are inefficient, corrupt, etc. As such, a more efficient alternative, like ODR, that will resolve disputes is welcomed. That said, having your “day in court” is getting harder even in the US. As Colin mentioned, “courtmageddon” is happening in California (and across the nation!) – if someone files suit, it can take five years before their case is looked at! Thus, for people looking for a speedy resolution, ODR will be a viable alternative and help ease case loads from the public sector. As for trust, it is an uphill battle, but it’s normal with most emerging industries and achievable for ODR. Once ODR has a proven trial run (which it does already, but through eBay), then people will trust the system more. I’m sure that trustmarks (like mentioned by the UNCITRAL model rules) will also spring up and monitor the ODR process. Perhaps one solution can include government monitored ODR for “public” cases: where the government oversees the ODR process if an individual wants to go through a “public” as opposed to “private” ODR process. 4. Heather Scheiwe Kulp says: Thank you for your thoughts, Colin and Fatima. I agree that overburdened courts could use some relief. Especially since the public sector is shrinking (at least in terms of funding), the private sector seems a context ripe for justice-oriented innovations. As you both point out, this is especially important in countries where public sectors are less trustworthy and effective. I see a myriad of possibilities for ODR to improve people’s experience with justice systems, especially people who live geographically distant from courts and people who do not have means to hire attorneys. My hope for ODR is that it can provide access to justice for those who do not have access now, rather than creating a wider justice gap. I also hope ODR provokes improvements in, rather than supplants, the courts. Colin, I look forward to your upcoming webinar! 5. Just an FYI, the second in the series of the Internet Bar Organization webinars will be November 8. You can register at Leave a Reply
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Assassin bugs, bed bugs, and allies Tingidae family.jpg Scanning electron microscope image of a lace bug (family Tingidae) Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Class: Insecta Order: Hemiptera Suborder: Heteroptera Infraorder: Cimicomorpha Leston et al. 1954 SuperFamilies, Families Cimicomorpha is an infraorder of insects containing bugs. It appears that the rostrum and other morphology of all members is adapted to feeding on animals as their prey or host. Members include bed bugs, bat bugs, assassin bugs, and pirate bugs. Cimicomorpha is an infraorder of Heteroptera. The two infraorders Cimicomorpha, and Pentatomorpha have very similar characteristics, possibly as a result of the evolution of plant feeding. The key similarity that unites Cimicomorpha and Pentatomorpha is the loss of the arolia (adhesive pads) on the pretarsi of the insect. These two infraorders comprise 90% of Heteroptera species. These insects are a part of the old, informal classification of “Geocorisae” (land bugs). Among these bugs, parental care has evolved several times. Parental care varies from brooding of the eggs by the female, to a more active form that involves protection of young against predators and the female covering the nymphs under her body. External links[edit]
The Shoemaker's Holiday From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search The Shoemakers' Holiday, or the Gentle Craft is an Elizabethan play written by Thomas Dekker. It was first performed in 1599 by the Admiral's Men. It falls into the subgenre of city comedy. It contains the poem The Merry Month of May. The play was first published in 1600 by the printer Valentine Simmes. The first edition prefaces the play with an "Epistle to the Professors of the Gentle Craft," and the Prologue spoken before Queen Elizabeth when the play was acted at Court. (The Admiral's Men performed at Court on 1 January 1600; this was probably the date of the performance of The Shoemaker's Holiday). Philip Henslowe's Diary records a payment of £3 to "Thomas Dickers" for the play; since this is at most half of Henslowe's usual fee for a play, one or more other payments, not recorded in the Diary, are likely. Dekker based his play on a prose tract titled The Gentle Craft by Thomas Deloney, printed in 1598. Aristocrat Rowland Lacy falls in love with middle class girl Rose Oatley, but Rose's father and Lacy's uncle refuse to approve the match because of the class difference and Rowland's spendthrift lifestyle. Lacy is told to redeem himself by joining the army fighting in France. To avoid going, he persuades someone else to take his place and disguises himself as a "Dutch" shoemaker, Hans. He becomes an apprentice of eccentric but hard-working tradesman Simon Eyre and uses this position to be able to find Rose again and secretly marry her. Meanwhile, another shoemaker, Ralph, is sent off to war to the great dismay of his wife, Jane. While he is away, Hammon, a gentleman, falls in love with Jane and attempts to woo her. She is not interested, but once shown a false document that says her husband is dead, she agrees that if she ever marries again, she will marry Hammon. Ralph later returns from the war, with his legs having been amputated. He is further distraught when he cannot find his wife and later suspects (based on the appearance of her shoe that he once made for her) that she has agreed to marry someone else. He locates her, and when given the choice, Jane returns to her husband. Hammon attempts to buy her from Ralph, but Ralph refuses. Later in the play, Simon Eyre is made, first, Sheriff, and then Lord Mayor of London. He decides to create a special holiday to honour apprentices. The King comes to see him. He finds his mannerisms strange, but enjoys his company. The play ends with the King defending Rose and Rowland's marriage to Rose's father and Lacy's uncle, and knighting Rowland so that Rose may be a lady and their social classes may be more appropriately matched. He does this while claiming that love goes beyond social class. Act I[edit] Scene 1: A Street in London There is no love lost between Sir Hugh Lacy (Earl of Lincoln, hereafter Lincoln) and Sir Roger Oateley (Lord Mayor of London, hereafter L. Mayor), but they civilly discuss what to do about their dependents, Rowland Lacy (hereafter Lacy) and Rose, who are in love. They agree that it would not be seemly for the aristocratic Lacy to marry down, nor financially prudent for a middle-class Oateley to marry up. Lincoln is pleased that the King has ordered Lacy to lead an army that will soon leave for the wars in France, which will resolve the problem. Lacy arrives and the L. Mayor leaves. Lincoln tells Lacy to forsake Rose and do honour to the family name in the wars. Lacy agrees and Lincoln leaves. Lacy asks his cousin, Askew, to go on ahead to France without him as he has business in London. Askew agrees, but then the two are interrupted by a band of rowdy shoemakers led by Simon Eyre. Eyre and his men beg Lacy to allow Ralph, Eyre’s youngest apprentice and a newly conscripted soldier, to be allowed to stay in London with his wife, Jane. Lacy refuses. Eyre’s men see that Lacy cannot be convinced, so instead encourage Ralph to go and fight bravely. Ralph gifts Jane a special pair of shoes and then leaves for war. Act II[edit] Scene 1: A Garden at Old Ford Rose, in the garden of her father’s country house, dreams of her absent love, Lacy. Rose’s boisterous maid, Sybil, arrives with news from London. She has seen Lacy dressed up in a humorous costume. Rose asks Sybil to return to London and find out if Lacy really is bound for France, promising the maid expensive clothes as a reward. Sybil goes. Scene 2: A Street in London Lacy soliloquizes about his plan to seek a job as a shoemaker so he can remain in London and see Rose. Scene 3: An open Yard before Eyre’s House Eyre wakes his apprentices and wife and opens his shop. Lacy, in his disguise as a Dutch shoemaker, passes by the shop singing a Dutch song. Firk, Eyre’s apprentice, begs his master to employ the Dutchman. Eyre refuses, but Firk and Hodge, the foreman, vow to quit their jobs unless the Dutchman joins them. Eyre relents and employs Lacy, who introduces himself as Hans and speaks in cod-Dutch, much to Firk’s amusement. ‘Hans’ buys a round of beer and the shoemakers begin their day’s work. Scene 4: A Field near Old Ford Master Hammon and Master Warner, a pair of dandies, hunt a deer near to the Lord Mayor’s country house. A boy arrives and tells the men that the deer has got away. Scene 5: Another part of the Field Sybil tells Rose about how she helped kill a deer that found its way into the barn. Hammon and Warner arrive, looking for the deer. The women say they have not seen it, and amuse themselves by flirting with the men. Hammon, thinking the flirtation genuine, thinks he has found a wife in Rose. The Lord Mayor arrives and bids the hunters welcome. In a soliloquy he reveals that he intends to marry Hammon to Rose. Act III[edit] Scene 1: A Room in Eyre’s House ‘Hans’ negotiates with a Dutch skipper, on behalf of Eyre, for the purchase of a cargo ship laden with expensive goods. Hodge explains that Eyre stands to make a lot of money when he sells on the cargo. Eyre and his wife Margery, arrive at the shoemaker’s shop and Margery lambasts the men for not working harder. When Firk and Hodge threaten to quit, Eyre scolds his wife and buys a round of beer to smooth things over. Hodge reveals the plan to buy the cargo and Eyre, getting ahead of himself, dons a velvet coat and alderman’s gown. He goes away with the Skipper to do the deal. Scene 2: London: a Room in Lincoln’s House Lincoln’s servant, Dodger, returns from the French wars to reveal that Lacy was not seen there. Lincoln correctly surmises that Lacy must have stayed in England to secretly woo Rose. He pays Dodger to find Lacy. Scene 3: London: a Room in the Lord Mayor’s House With the Lord Mayor’s blessing Hammon attempts to court Rose. She is not forthcoming and Hammon decides he would rather pursue a shop-girl he knows. The Lord Mayor is displeased with his daughter and sends her back to their country house. Master Scott reveals to the Lord Mayor that Simon Eyre has made a lot of money on the sale of the Dutch cargo. The Lord Mayor promises to do business with Eyre. Dodger, Lincoln’s servant, arrives and asks the Lord Mayor if he knows where Lacy might be hiding. The Lord Mayor is furious to learn that Lacy might be in London, and suspects that this explains why Rose rebuffed Hammon’s advances. Scene 4: London: a Room in Eyre’s House Margery sends Firk to Guildhall to discover if Eyre has been made Sherriff of London, then asks ‘Hans’ and Hodge to make her a pair of high-heeled shoes to match her elevated social position. She lists other accessories (wig, fan) that she will also need, and the men tease her. Ralph returns from the war, where he has injured his leg. The shoemakers welcome him home and commiserate with him. Ralph asks where his wife, Jane, has got to, and the rest say that she left their company but is reputed still to be London. Scene 5: A Room at Old Ford The Lord Mayor welcomes Eyre and Margery to his home. The Lord Mayor asks Margery to counsel Rose on her bad behaviour; Eyre does so. The shoemakers arrive and perform a morris dance. Rose instantly recognises Lacy. After the shoemakers leave, Sybil promises Rose that she will devise a plan to marry her mistress to ‘Hans’. Act IV[edit] Scene 1: A Street in London Hammon spies on Jane while she works alone in a clothes shop. He attempts to woo her, but she resists saying that she is already married and her husband, Ralph, is fighting in France. Hammon reveals that he has received word Jane’s husband is dead. Jane is distraught. Hammon sympathizes, and then proposes himself as a new husband. He refuses to leave until Jane promises that if she ever remarries, it will be to Hammon. Scene 2: London: a Street before Hodge’s Shop Hodge exhorts Hans and Firk to work hard so that they too might prosper as Eyre has. Sybil arrives and bids ‘Hans’ to meet with Rose. The pair leave. Scene 3: The Same Hammon’s servant visits the shoe shop to order a pair of shoes for his master’s bride, as they will be married the next day. He shows Ralph a shoe belonging to the woman and asks him to make a pair of the same dimensions. Ralph recognises the shoe and realises that the bride is his own wife, Jane. The servant leaves and Firk arrives. Ralph tells Firk that he believes the shoe is Jane’s. Firk doesn’t believe him, but Ralph plans to crash the wedding and take Jane back. Scene 4: London: a Room in the Lord Mayor’s House Sybil interrupts Lacy and Rose with news that the Lord Mayor approaches. Lacy falls back on his disguise and pretends to fit Rose with a shoe. The Lord Mayor arrives and suspects nothing. A servant brings news that Lincoln is on his way, leaving Lacy just enough time to escape. Scene 5: Another Room in the same House The Lord Mayor and Lincoln discuss Rose and Lacy. Sybil bursts in to reveal that Rose has eloped with a shoemaker. While the Lord Mayor demands an explanation, Firk arrives with some shoes for Rose. He reveals that Hans and Rose are at that moment preparing to sleep together and that they will be married next morning. Lincoln realises that Hans must be Lacy and pays Firk to tell him at which church Rose and ‘Hans’ will be married. Firk gives Lincoln and the Lord Mayor directions to the church where Hammon will be married to Jane. Act V[edit] Scene 1: A Room in Eyre’s House Eyre, who is now the Lord Mayor, sends Rose and Lacy to be married with his blessing. Left alone, Simon soliloquizes about an impending visit from the King, who wishes to see the new market buildings Eyre has constructed. Eyre also looks forward to the holiday feast he is planning for all the shoemakers in London. Scene 2: A Street near St. Faith’s Church Ralph, Hodge, and Firk accost Hammon and Jane on their way to be wed. Hodge and Firk berate Jane and then reveal that their disable companion is none other than Jane’s husband, Ralph. Jane is elated and chooses to return to Ralph. Hammon attempts to pay for Jane’s hand; Ralph refuses the offer. Hammon, ashamed, exits. Lincoln and the (former) Lord Mayor arrive to stop the wedding, thinking Jane is Rose and Ralph is Lacy in disguise. As soon as they learn their mistake, Dodger arrives with news that Rose and Lacy are married and that Eyre intends to beg the King that Lacy be pardoned for his crimes. The church bells ring to begin the holiday and all the shoemakers rejoice. Scene 3: A Street in London. The King travels towards Simon Eyre’s feast. The King looks forward to meeting his new Lord Mayor. Scene 4: A Great Hall Eyre’s men serve a feast to the apprentices of London. Margery reports that the King is on his way. Lacy asks Eyre to beg his pardon of the King. Margery warns Eyre to speak politely to the King, and Eyre protests that he knows how to talk to important men. Scene 5: An Open Yard before the Hall The King meets the shoemakers and is amused by ‘Mad’ Simon Eyre’s wit. Lincoln arrives and asks for Lacy to be arrested. The King reports that he has already pardoned Lacy. Lincoln and the old Lord Mayor ask the King to annul Lacy and Rose’s marriage. The King does so, then promptly remarries them. He knights Lacy, names Eyre’s new building ‘The Leadenhall’, and grants Eyre’s request that the sale of leather at the market be permitted two days per week. Eyre invites the King to partake of his banquet. The King agrees. In performance[edit] • Chambers, E. K. The Elizabethan Stage. Four volumes. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1923.
June 07, 2012 Antioxidants and Free Radicals: keeping the peace inside our bodies. Written By MissFIT Becky Antioxidant this. Antioxidant that. Eat this food that’s rich in antioxidants and exercise every day and you’ll live forever! Oh, but exercise causes free radicals and those will kill us! Wait, what are free radicals? While we’re at it, what are antioxidants? I’m overwhelmed. How about pizza tonight? But pizza makes you fat. Ugh. I’m going to go ahead and assume that it would be good to explain a bit about both antioxidants and free radicals since health claims about them are plastered all over these days, especially on our food packaging. Antioxidants help prevent oxidation (a.k.a. oxidative stress). Oxidation can lead to the production of free radicals. Free radicals cause a series of reactions in our body that can lead to damage or death of our cells. This can lead to disease. To explain just a bit more… Mulberries in my back yard. Nuisances to some, free radical warriors to me. Our bodies are constantly producing oxidative stress as a normal (and very necessary) process of life. When the body creates energy using our mitochondria, some bi-products are free radicals, but that’s obviously a good thing as we all need our bodies to create energy from our food. Another example of the production of free radicals comes from exercise, as you may have heard. When we perform cardiovascular exercise, our heart rates rise, we breath heavier and we breathe more often, increasing our oxygen consumption dramatically. This leads to an increase in free radicals. Though, recent research shows there is only danger when there is a consistent pushing of cardiovascular exercise to the point of exhaustion. So, yes, exercise does create free radicals (but please note that the benefits of exercise FAR outweigh the fact that free radicals are produced in the process). Exercise would be what’s called an “inside source” when it comes to producing free radicals, which also can include: inflammation, having a compromised immune system and stress. Outside sources of free radicals could include: pollution, pesticides, UV rays and tobacco smoke. Let it be said that not ALL free radicals are considered harmful. In fact, it’s been shown that some free radicals help to get rid of microbes that could lead to disease. So, the ultimate goal is to create a balance of oxidants, not completely remove them. Long, and maybe boring story (to some) short, antioxidants can help protect us from disease by binding up free radicals, and a diet low in antioxidants can be harmful to our health. You may have heard of a few of these said antioxidants under the names of: vitamin E, vitamin C and beta-carotene. There’s more, but those are the most commonly known. Whew. Sorry to get a bit technical. I do it sometimes when I feel it’s necessary for proper understanding. It’s not for everyone, and I do recognize that, so here’s the take home message: Consume more whole foods high in antioxidants. a.k.a. EAT YOUR FRUITS AND VEGETABLES and beans, tea, nuts, whole grains, herbs and yes, dark chocolate for long term health. Why not supplements? Well, there is not enough solid research on supplemental antioxidants and their effects on our body. Some studies show positive, health inducing outcomes. Others show harmful effects if too high levels of antioxidants (like vitamin E) are found in our bodies (remember that whole balance thing I was talking about?). So, to be on the safe side, eating the whole food sources containing antioxidants is a safe way to balance out free radicals and create a disease preventing, peaceful environment in our bodies. Why whole foods? When supplements are synthetically derived usually just a single strand or two of antioxidants are taken to put into the supplement. A food source has whats called a synergistic effect. That’s a fancy term meaning that food offers us more than single strands of antioxidants. We potentially get multiple antioxidant blends in combination with many other factors including: vitamins and minerals, fiber, and protein. That just can’t be reproduced in a lab and put into a pill! Foods naturally high in antioxidants: • cranberries • blueberries • blackberries • mulberries • beans • artichokes • russet potatoes • pecans • walnuts • hazelnuts • ground cloves • ground cinnamon • oregano One last recommendation: mostly ignore any large claims on packaging. Many times a food manufacturer will add in a tad of antioxidants so they can make all sorts of claims but then really, the product is just loaded with junk that is not healthy for our body. My biggest advice is to eat whole foods high in antioxidants. That, and keep on exercising. Becky Nowak Certified personal trainer for the past 10 years. Married 9 years. Working for MissFIT 8 years. Mom for 3 years, Precision Nutrition certified, and a lifetime lover of all things wellness! Find out More > Leave a Reply Pick Up or Delivery 3 Month Wellness Coaching Online Membership $225 ($75 per month) For Email Newsletters you can trust MissFIT Services
Yet Another Geoengineering Scheme, Ocean Iron Fertilization, Could Backfire Posted on "Yet Another Geoengineering Scheme, Ocean Iron Fertilization, Could Backfire" Can we save the planet by ruining it (even more)? Argonne National Laboratory reports that “A new study on the feeding habits of ocean microbes calls into question the potential use of algal blooms to trap carbon dioxide and offset rising global levels.” Four years ago, the journal Nature published a piece arguing that “fertilizing the oceans with iron to stimulate phytoplankton blooms, absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and export carbon to the deep sea — should be abandoned.” Now Argonne Lab reports so-called iron fertilization “may have only a short-lived environmental benefit. And, the process may actually reduce over the long-term how much CO2 the ocean can trap.” The more you know about geo-engineering, the less sense it makes (see Science: “Optimism about a geoengineered ‘easy way out’ should be tempered by examination of currently observed climate changes”). The most “plausible” approach, massive aerosol injection, has potentially catastrophic impacts of its own and can’t possibly substitute for the most aggressive mitigation — see here. And for the deniers, geo-engineering is mostly just a ploy — see British coal industry flack pushes geo-engineering “ploy” to give politicians “viable reason to do nothing” about global warming. Geoengineering is a problem in search of a problem. As the NY Times reported in 2011: At the influential blog Climate Progress, Joe Romm, a fellow at the Center for American Progress, has made a similar point, likening geo-engineering to a dangerous course of chemotherapy and radiation to treat a condition curable through diet and exercise — or, in this case, emissions reduction. You can find my previous writings on geo-engineering here. See in particular Martin Bunzl on “the definitive killer objection to geoengineering as even a temporary fix.” Geo-engineering is a “smoke and mirrors solution,” though most people understand that the “mirrors” strategy is prohibitively expensive and impractical. One of the few remaining non-aerosol strategies still taken seriously by some is ocean fertilization. But it is no better than the rest As the 2009 Nature piece explained: The intended effect of ocean iron fertilization for geoengineering is to significantly disrupt marine ecosystems. The explicit goal is to stimulate blooms of relatively large phytoplankton that are usually not abundant, because carbon produced by such species is more likely to sink eventually to the deep ocean. This shift at the base of the food web would propagate throughout the ocean ecosystem in unpredictable ways. Moreover, nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus would sink along with the carbon, altering biogeochemical and ecological relationships throughout the system. Some models predict that ocean fertilization on a global scale would result in large regions of the ocean being starved of oxygen, dramatically affecting marine organisms from microbes to fish. Ecological disruption is the very mechanism by which iron fertilization would sequester carbon. Argonne’s study finds another problem — ocean iron fertilization may have no positive climate impact and might even make things worse: If only there were a way to prevent catastrophic global warming that didn’t risk making things worse …. Related Posts: « » 20 Responses to Yet Another Geoengineering Scheme, Ocean Iron Fertilization, Could Backfire 1. Mike Roddy says: Joe, thanks for your continuing efforts to educate the public, and bring us up to date on critical issues such as this one. Geoengineering has always consisted of harebrained ideas such as iron fertilization, and has mostly functioned as a way for the fossil fuel and banking crowd to be allowed to continue to pile up cash. Little do they realize that when the full horror of their actions become apparent, cash won’t help them. 2. BillD says: Diatoms are an important part of oceanic phytoplankton and would be a key to getting organic matter into deeper waters before it is decomposed back to CO2. My understanding of the earlier papers on this topic is that too much of the organic matter would be decomposed before sinking to make much difference. Also, keeping iron in solution and the scale of continuous and widespread additions that would be needed was deemed unfeasible. The oceanographers that I know and have heard speak have long ago given up on this means of reducing atmospheric carbon. 3. aweb says: I agree that in general trying to trick the biosphere into regulating our CO2 isn’t likely to end well. Is large-scale solar shading from space not a possibility? Sure, rockets aren’t great, but a huge solar shade in orbit, reflecting sunlight away…why not? Obviously synchronos orbits are out, but if it zipped around like the space station…. 4. Mark E says: As told to me in the 1980s in Glacier National Park, Montana….. In 1914 people wanted to catch “better” fish, so they introduced Kokanee Salmon to Flathead Lake (south of the park). When the spawning runs began, bald eagles for miles around changed their migratory patters to gather at the park and feast on fish. But people wanted to catch even bigger better fish, so they later introduced a freshwater shrimp to Flathead Lake. The idea was that the shrimp would eat up the tiny critters the salmon were eating, and then the salmon could eat the shrimp, thus getting a much larger meal for the same energy output. This had had great results elsewhere, so why not? It seems that shrimp and salmon feed at different times of day, and in this particular lake, the shrimp were able to sink into very deep water to hide, before the salmon would come out to eat. When the salmon did get hungry what did they find? No shrimp, and none of the original little critters either, since the shrimp had eaten them all. The salmon run collapsed, and until the eagles figured things out there was hunger and chaos in the eagle migration. Someday we’ll get very good at shaming profiteers who show cavalier attitudes towards unknown risks, and all will see projects of this sort as immoral hubris against creation. 5. Joan Savage says: The iron-sprinkling notion reminds me of the 19th century belief that wearing garlic around one’s neck would ward off tuberculosis. Because TB takes time to become fully symptomatic, the garlic wearers refused to believe they were making a mistake until it was too late. That surely sounds like the current inadequate measures to reduce symptomatic climate change. The iron sprinkling and the garlic are also somewhat similar in terms of dose and effect. Garlic extract can kill Mycobacterium tuberculosum, at least in a Petri dish, but it’s not proven that eating a huge amount constantly is possible at therapeutic doses. Similarly, the iron sprinkling has the now-identified bad side effects and is not possible at a therapeutic dose. To wrap the analogy, TB levels go down when preconditions for communicability are reduced. Even today with cures available, prevention is a better epidemiological approach than trying to treat millions of cases. Same goes for climate impacts. Being hopelessly addicted to puns, I must say that it felt good to get that off my chest. 6. rollin says: The best and most sensible geo-engineering solutions involves farms and ranches. Growing and building sustainable grasslands, making permanent pastures so hay growing can be reduced, they seem to be viable carbon sinks and can be done over vast areas while still producing food. The rest of the geo-engineering schemes should be dumped in the circular file. 7. Doug Bostrom says: The assault on science and law going on in Canada is in the thrall of an updated, 21st-century version of the smelly corruption that is nearly always found in conjunction with petroleum. Too much money testing too many weak characters. In this case the weak characters have a thicker-than-usual veneer of social comportment so we see better cosmetics on the the corruption. Still, the skin lies only so deep over greed. How long will it be until rot really sets in, leaving Canada as the new Nigeria of North America? 8. Merrelyn Emery says: That could be an episode out of the history of Australia since the British invasion, just one stupid example after another. Probably why all my instincts are against geoengineering, ME 9. Mulga Mumblebrain says: Why not raise the albedo back on earth, by painting every sky-facing surface white, and reflecting solar radiation back into space? An army of Tom Sawyers, young and old, could do a good job of it, I’m sure, but we’d better not have the children on rooftops, I suppose. 10. Mulga Mumblebrain says: The introduction of Nile Perch to Lake Victoria by some far-sighted hominid ‘entrepreneur’ was another such triumph. 11. Brian Smith says: White roofs are not a global warming silver bullet, study finds. Can White Roofs Fight Global Warming? White Roofs May Not Be Good for Climate, May Increase Global Warming (Shocker!) “ research has flipped this white roofs solution into a potential global warming problem (showing that even the simplest geoengineering solutions may have side-effects we didn’t think up from the start). The study, led by Mark Z. Jacobson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University, found: Stephen Chu touted white roofs in 2009. My mother’s house got a white, rubber roof (Saint Paul, MN) in 2010 and it was shortly half as white with mold, soot etc. We don’t know how well reduced summer cooling factored (reduced nat. gas emissions). Lots of companies are specializing in the fad. I am looking into costs, materials footprints & effectiveness of painting parking lots & streets in my town. But it looks like the advantages are slim. 12. AlexR says: And it may be that even less will be sequestered long term as the oceans warm. I don’t know how much follow-up study was done on this from 2002: 13. Rabid Doomsayer says: But we love our black roofs. In a stinking hot climate. 14. Mulga Mumblebrain says: Well that is disappointing. We are well and truly snookered. If albedo restoration is out, then it has to be sequestration of carbon, I suspect, which means lots of trees, biochar and soil sequestration, I suppose. The acidification of cold waters will shortly cut off the sequestration of carbon by marine plankton, too, I assume, as well as starving the whales. 15. Adam Sacks says: As Rollin says, Joe. How about some discussion of the massive carbon sequestration possible in soils through grassland eco-restoration using non-tech methods developed by nature over millions of years? Isn’t it time to acknowledge that emissions reductions have been a failure to date and it’s urgent that we do something else? Perhaps it’s not to be summarily dismissed, as you have in the past. I’ll write a well-documented post for CP, let’s at least have an open debate about Holistic Management and the work of Allan Savory. 16. Joe Romm says: We haven’t tried “emissions reduction” yet. And given how controversial Savory’s work is — see here — I seriously doubt we are going to be making that our top strategy anytime soon. If it can be proven to work as well as mitigation, then it probably will have a modest role at some point. 17. max says: Emission reduction is certainly the best strategy but wonder if you could comment on this: 18. Mark E says: In the post apocalyptic novel I’m never going to write, some sea side survivors on some isthmus will start spiking drift logs with iron, in a generations long bid to do what they can. As the story progresses, the original science will be lost, but the iron fertilization will endure, as a ritual enshrined in their descendants’ religion. If that’s absurd, it’s no more so than the real story. 19. bcherry says: While testing the feasibility for geoengineering technologies likely will and should continue. If in the case where a viable technology is found, there is the much bigger problem of understanding its wider implications for policy as it is experimentingv on a planetary scale:
by Cheryl Jackson Monday February 22, 2010 Not long ago we thought that if we laid a speaker on our pregnant bellies and played Mozart, our babies would be born brilliant. That myth has since been laid to rest (check out our show on Music and Your Child), but now there's evidence that what our babies hear in utero will affect them later. Janet Werker, professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia, and her colleagues have just published a study showing that newborns who were exposed to two languages while still in the womb are better prepared to become bilingual. This is fascinating. We just did a show on Language and Learning and found out that our old ideas of keeping things simple for kids when they are young and adding second or third languages later is wrong. Children's brains are wired for language from the day they are born, and now it seems, before they're born. The earlier they are exposed to other languages, the better. It's not that they can't learn them when they are older - it's just that for the first few years of life, learning language is their big job. Our guests on Your Voice said that children don't have to be immersed in other languages, but consistent exposure is necessary. That may mean lots of visits with a grandma who speaks another language, immersion programmes in school, or even just reading simple children's books in second or third languages at home. Children who are learning English as a second language should definitely continue to hear and speak their first language. Now it seems they can begin their language education before they're even born.
Accelerated Weathering Published: Jan 2012 Format Pages Price PDF (708K) 10 $25 ADD TO CART Complete Source PDF (27M) 325 $970 ADD TO CART IN PREPARATION OF THIS CHAPTER, THE CONtents of the fifteenth edition were drawn upon. The current edition will review, clarify and update the topics as addressed in the previous edition. New technology and reference materials are acknowledged and included to update the reader with the advances in this industry. Paints and coatings are used both to protect substrates and to provide an aesthetically pleasing appearance. In an outdoor environment, both of these functions can be affected by weathering. The four major factors involved in weathering are solar radiation (sunlight), moisture, oxygen, and heat. Sunlight, especially in the short wavelength/high energy ultraviolet (UV) region, has been proven to lead to discoloration, loss of gloss, scaling, embrittlement, and chalking. Moisture, in the form of rain, dew and humidity can cause blistering, flaking, loss of adhesion and promote the growth of mildew and algae. Heat exposure may cause embrittlement, cracking, peeling, and checking. Oxygen in the atmosphere participates in the oxidation of the surface of the coating, which may eventually lead to oxidation of internal layers, causing embrittlement, softening, cracking, or crazing. The oxygen is often left out of the discussion since it is more constant than the other factors, but this degradation process is a contributing factor to the other three factors of weathering. These elements contribute individually as well as in combination to cause coating failures. Naturally occurring and man-made chemicals in the environment also contribute to coating degradation and could be considered a fifth element of weathering. However, the type and levels of chemicals can vary dramatically, even over short distances. Therefore, they cannot be considered as universal in influencing the degradation process as the four factors mentioned previously. Perhaps as a consequence of this, and also partly due to tradition, chemical resistance testing is usually considered to be separate from artificial weathering. Although the effects of chemicals cannot be ignored, they are discussed elsewhere in the manual. One of the most common chemical exposure tests that is often grouped with accelerated weathering continues to be salt fog or salt spray testing, which is discussed in the corrosion section of this manual. In summary, this chapter will consider only devices that incorporate an UV light source, temperature control or monitoring, and moisture exposure monitoring. Author Information: Sherbondy, Valerie S. Senior Chemist, KTA-Tator, Inc., Pittsburgh, PA Committee/Subcommittee: D01.27 DOI: 10.1520/MNL12236M CrossRef ASTM International is a member of CrossRef. ISBN13: 978-0-8031-7017-9
Sāmarrāʾ, town, central Iraq. Located on the Tigris River, it is the site of a prehistoric settlement of the 5th millennium bce. The town was founded between the 3rd and 7th centuries ce. In 836, when the ʿAbbāsid caliph al-Muʿtaṣim was pressured to leave Baghdad, he made Sāmarrāʾ his new capital. He built a palace and gardens, and under his successors the town grew until it stretched along the Tigris for 20 miles (32 km). In 892 the caliph al-Muʿtamid transferred the capital back to Baghdad, causing the subsequent decline of Sāmarrāʾ. By 1300 most of the town was in ruins; it has since revived. Sāmarrāʾ is a pilgrimage centre for Shīʿite Muslims. The shrine to ʿAli al-Ḥādī and Ḥasan al-ʿAskarī, the 11th and 12th imams, is one of the holiest of Shīʿism. It was built in the 9th century, when Sāmarrāʾ was the seat of the ʿAbbāsid caliphate, and underwent a number of renovations, including the addition of a gilded dome in 1905. In 2006, amid violence between Shīʿite and Sunni Muslims, the shrine was bombed and suffered extensive damage. The Great Friday Mosque and the nearby Abu Dulaf mosque, both now in ruins, were also built in the 9th century. Al-Malwiyyah, a spiral minaret that is a major tourist attraction, was slightly damaged in a 2005 bombing. In 2007 the archaeological remains in Sāmarrāʾ were designated a UNESCO World Heritage site. Pop. (2004 est.) 214,100.
• Share Lent means spring Contrary to what you might have been told, Lent does not mean “40 days of beating yourself up.” It does not even mean “40 days of God beating you up and reminding you of what kind of a person you really are.” Lent means spring. Lent is short for “lengthen.” Someone, somewhere noticed that (at least in this hemisphere) the season of Lent was accompanied by the lengthening of the days. It was a long, hard, cold, snowy winter here this year. Then one day I saw grass for the first time in a long time. It was at a committal service for a saint of the church, a woman who was known for (among other things) her unconditional love and acceptance of everyone she knew. She was also beautiful. Her youngest daughter was one of the speakers at the funeral, and she said that when she was a teenager, she was at church one Sunday, helping with worship. She looked over to the choir, where her mother was singing, and she thought, “My mom is beautiful.” (If you think that when you are a teenager, she said, you know it’s true.) When we were at the cemetery, which was snowy and muddy, I saw some actual grass. Some of the great-grandchildren were getting their funeral clothes muddy and throwing snowballs at one another. There was one mother who was watching her three-year-old daughter closely. The girl was wandering in the grass and snow and mud, and was wearing a spring coat and an absolutely beautiful white knitted dress. Lent means spring. Lent means that the days are getting longer, and the ground is getting softer, even if some of that ground is still hidden under snow. Lent means that something is changing, and our priorities will change too, sometimes whether we like it or not. Soon the tyranny of weather will begin for farmers: they will need to be ready to plant on the days when they can plant and willing to wait on the days when the weather does not cooperate. Many of us think of Lent as a season of self-examination and self-denial. I didn't grow up with the idea of “giving things up” for Lent, but I have learned to appropriate the dreariness as an adult. In church, instead of singing “Alleluia,” we sang, “Christ hath humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even death on a cross.” That has to have an effect. Then again, there is the work of a pastor during Lent. Holy Week is immovable, even if, as it turns out, you have three funerals that same week. Somehow, when you have three funerals during Holy Week (for example) what Absolutely Has To Get Done, and what is simply Elective becomes crystal clear. Priorities change. So, you give things up in order to grieve and rejoice and speak a word of hope to people. You realize, again, that relationships are important, and that, all appearances to the contrary, there is an awful lot of life you have no control over. Lent means spring. It means lengthening days, opening the windows, letting in life and death, the things we can’t control. It means going to the cemetery and standing in the mud and snow and grass, where the pain and the hope are all mixed up together. Lent means spring. Originally posted at Faith in Community Join the Conversation via Facebook
Definitions for cockpitˈkɒkˌpɪt This page provides all possible meanings and translations of the word cockpit Princeton's WordNet 1. cockpit(noun) compartment where the pilot sits while flying the aircraft 2. cockpit(noun) a pit for cockfights 3. cockpit(noun) seat where the driver sits while driving a racing car 1. Cockpit(n.) In airplanes or boats, the space where the pilot or operator sits to control the vehicle. In airplanes it is usually in the front of the fuselage. In larger airplanes it may be closed off from the cabin, where the passengers travel. 1. cockpit(Noun) The space for those in control of a nautical, aeronautical, or astronautical vessel. 2. cockpit(Noun) The compartment set aside for the care of wounded during naval engagements; the sickbay. 3. cockpit(Noun) A well, usually near the stern, where the helm is located. 4. cockpit(Noun) An enclosure for cockfights. Webster Dictionary 1. Cockpit(noun) a pit, or inclosed area, for cockfights 2. Cockpit(noun) 3. Cockpit(noun) that part of a war vessel appropriated to the wounded during an engagement 4. Cockpit(noun) 1. Cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, usually near the front of an aircraft, from which a pilot controls the aircraft. Most modern cockpits are enclosed, except on some small aircraft. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the controls that enable the pilot to fly the aircraft. In most airliners, a door separates the cockpit from the passenger compartment. After the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, all major airlines fortified the cockpit against access by hijackers. Translations for cockpit From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary Get even more translations for cockpit » Find a translation for the cockpit definition in other languages: Select another language: Discuss these cockpit definitions with the community: Word of the Day Please enter your email address: Use the citation below to add this definition to your bibliography: "cockpit." STANDS4 LLC, 2015. Web. 29 May 2015. <>. Are we missing a good definition for cockpit? Don't keep it to yourself... Nearby & related entries: Alternative searches for cockpit: Thanks for your vote! We truly appreciate your support.
@article {von Euw:2000-01-01T00:00:00:1938-6478:2127, author = "von Euw, Ed and Boisvert, Maurice Coulter", title = "STREAM IMPROVEMENTS IN THE BRUNETTE WATERSHED: TWO CASE STUDIES IN PARTNERING", journal = "Proceedings of the Water Environment Federation", volume = "2000", number = "6", year = "2000-01-01T00:00:00", abstract = "The Brunette watershed is located in the Greater Vancouver Regional District. The watershed is highly urbanized and multi-jurisdictional. Based on an ongoing watershed planning process, two riffle weir projects were designed and implemented in 1999 to help reduce channel erosion and increase fish habitat. Both projects resulted from partnerships that were formed with the intention of combining the strengths of individual partners to create a more effective project. This paper presents two case studies that focus on the partnership process, design and implementation of the riffle weirs, and lessons learned. Key conclusions include that partnerships are an effective tool for implementing stream improvement projects in a cost-effective manner; and that riffle weirs can function effectively in an urban setting to mimic natural stream morphology, thereby improving fish habitat and channel stability.", pages = "2127-2143", url = "http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/wef/wefproc/2000/00002000/00000006/art00130", doi = "doi:10.2175/193864700785150178" }
Did you know? responsible - definition and synonyms What are red words? adjective responsible pronunciation in British English /rɪˈspɒnsəb(ə)l/ • Facebook • Twitter 1. 1 Parents feel responsible when things go wrong. hold someone responsible (for something): find someone responsible (for something): 1. a. responsible for: The chemical is directly responsible for those deaths. He was responsible for the accident. 2. 2 [never before noun] someone who is responsible for someone or something is in charge of them and must make sure that what they do or what happens to them is right or satisfactory responsible for: The manager is responsible for the general running of the theatre. 1. a. [usually before noun] a responsible job or position is one in which you have to make important decisions or be in charge of a lot of people bit rot BuzzWord Article Word of the Day to dance a jive Open Dictionary troll factory add a word global English and language change from our blog
NMD and Human Disease Holbrook JA, Neu-Yilik G, Hentze MW, et al. We discuss in this chapter how nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) affects the expression of human genetic diseases resulting from premature termination codons (PTCs) by considering how NMD alters disease phenotype. NMD may exert a beneficial, neutral, or harmful effect, depending on the location of the PTC in the transcript and the properties of the truncated protein. In the case of many PTCs, the resulting truncated protein might be nonfunctional and could be degraded without harmful effects. In these instances, NMD probably does not significantly influence phenotype. In other cases, NMD can prevent expression of potentially dominant negative proteins. Therefore, NMD can sometimes exert a protective effect that benefits heterozygous carriers of PTCs. NMD can also contribute to a disease phenotype when it inhibits expression of partially functional proteins. Therapies that could affect gene expression in such cases are under development and may, in the future, provide avenues for effective clinical treatment of diseases that involve NMD. “NMD-Neutral” PTCs In general, whether NMD alters the phenotype of a disease depends on both the affected gene and the location of the disease-causing PTC. PTCs upstream of the so-called “NMD boundary,” which is located 50 to 55 bases 5' of the last exon-exon junction, generally trigger NMD of the affected transcript. In contrast, PTCs 3' of this boundary generally escape detection by the NMD machinery, leading to transcript survival. Perhaps surprisingly, it is likely that NMD often has no discernible effect on disease phenotype, since in the absence of NMD many PTCs would probably lead to expression of inactive peptides rather than dominant-negative proteins. Although it might be expected that many PTCs would fall into this “NMD-neutral” category, experimental data are lacking to demonstrate that particular PTCs lead to an identical phenotype in both the presence and absence of NMD. Such “neutral” PTCs will therefore not be discussed further. NMD-Mediated Protection of Heterozygotes: The Example of β-Thalassemia NMD may be expected to be beneficial when it inhibits expression of truncated proteins that could exert deleterious effects. The prototypical genetic condition illustrating the protective effects of NMD is β-thalassemia, which is a disorder of hemoglobin production. Normal hemoglobin, which is necessary for oxygen transport, is a tetramer composed of two α-globin and two β-globin subunits. The common recessive form of β-thalassemia occurs in homozygotes who possess NMD-competent PTCs in both copies of the β-globin gene. The resulting defective β-globin mRNA is degraded by NMD. Free α-globin, which is toxic, is then present in excess and is degraded proteolytically.2 Therefore, the quantity of tetrameric hemoglobin is insufficient, causing severe anemia in affected persons. In comparison, heterozygous carriers of a single NMD-competent PTC generally produce enough β-globin from the normal allele to maintain sufficient amounts of tetrameric hemoglobin, and they are clinically healthy. Rare forms of dominant β-thalassemia, in contrast, are caused by NMD-incompetent PTCs within the last exon of the β-globin gene. These PTCs give rise to a large amount of truncated β-globin that cannot be sufficiently degraded and precipitates in toxic inclusion bodies.3 The remarkable difference between healthy heterozygotes possessing NMD-competent PTCs and anemic heterozygotes possessing NMD-incompetent PTCs indicates that NMD protects many healthy heterozygotes from manifesting clinical disease4 (Fig. 1). Figure 1. Position-dependent effects of nonsense mutations of NMD correlate with inheritance pattern and clinical severity of disease. Figure 1 Position-dependent effects of nonsense mutations of NMD correlate with inheritance pattern and clinical severity of disease. Human β-globin mRNAs that contain PTCs within their 5' portion are generally targeted by NMD, protecting heterozygotes (more...) Although β-thalassemia is the only genetic condition so far in which the protective effect of NMD has been thoroughly investigated by experiment, a similar protective role of NMD for heterozygotes with NMD-competent PTCs can be reasonably postulated from similar genotype-phenotype relationships in a number of other diseases (Table 1). These include: Table 1. Genetic conditions in which NMD can modulate phenotype. Table 1 Genetic conditions in which NMD can modulate phenotype. • Dominantly and recessively inherited susceptibility to mycobacterial infections caused by mutations in the IFNGR1 gene.5,6 The recessive form of this condition is often fatal, with patients succumbing to disseminated mycobacterial infections at a young age. This form is caused by PTCs that are probably NMD-competent, since no IFNGR protein was found in a patient with recessive disease. Heterozygous carriers of these PTCs are healthy. The dominant form of the disease arises from PTCs that are predicted to be NMD-incompetent. This form results in production of a truncated IFNGR receptor, as may be expected for a transcript that survives NMD. Heterozygotes manifest increased susceptibility to mycobacterial infection, although such infections are generally not as severe as in the recessive case. • Brachydactyly type B (see ref. 7), which is a dominant condition involving malformed hands and feet, and Robinow syndrome, which is recessive and characterized by more severe skeletal malformation. Both diseases are caused by mutations in the ROR2 gene. Brachydactyly type B is caused by PTCs that are expected to be NMD-incompetent. Robinow syndrome is characterized by PTCs that should be NMD-competent, and heterozygous carriers are unaffected. • Dominant and recessive von Willebrand disease,8 which are disorders of blood clotting. PTCs that should be NMD competent lead to severe disease, but only in a pattern of recessive inheritance. In contrast, a mutation that removes the physiological stop codon and results in a new stop codon downstream creates a mutated transcript that should not be an NMD substrate and results in dominant disease. • Dominant and recessive factor X deficiency,9 which is another disorder of blood clotting. Factor X deficiency is usually transmitted in an autosomal recessive pattern so that heterozygous carriers are healthy. Among the causative mutations, some generate NMD-competent PTCs. A splice site mutation that results in a PTC that should be NMD-incompetent, however, leads to moderate disease in heterozygotes. • Retinal degeneration.10-12 PTCs in the 3´ end of the CRX gene, downstream of the NMD boundary, lead to disease in heterozygotes. In contrast, a PTC upstream of the NMD boundary was found in a healthy heterozygote. Mutations in the rhodopsin gene follow a similar pattern. A somewhat different example that also demonstrates the protective effect of NMD is provided by the SOX10 gene. In this case, both NMD-competent and NMD-incompetent PTCs give rise to disease. The NMD-competent PTCs appear to cause simple haploinsufficiency, and they result in hereditary neurosensory deafness and intestinal obstruction. However, the NMD-incompetent PTCs results in the production of a dominantly acting truncated protein, which causes a more severe syndrome that includes central and peripheral demyelination.13 Taken in sum, these genetic conditions provide considerable evidence that NMD protects heterozygous carriers of PTCs from expressing dominantly acting deleterious truncated proteins. It is also noteworthy that in many of these conditions, the most severe disease is evident in patients harboring two autosomal recessive mutations. These patients are usually typified by complete or near-complete protein deficiency. Patients harboring dominant mutations, in contrast, usually retain some protein function, which tends to ameliorate the disease phenotype. NMD in Acquired Genetic Conditions1 Mutations in tumor-suppressor genes are common steps in the development and progression of cancer. As with inherited genetic conditions, NMD appears to provide protection against expression of mutated, truncated tumor-suppressor peptides. For example, NMD has been shown to degrade PTC-containing transcripts arising from the BRCA1 gene.14 PTC-containing mRNAs from the TP53 and Wilms tumor (WT1) loci15-19 are also reduced in abundance compared to wildtype or missense mutated transcripts, presumably due to the action of NMD. Evidence that NMD protects against dominant truncated forms of these tumor-suppressor proteins derives from experiments in which intronless cDNA constructs encoding unspliced mRNAs that are NMD-incompetent are expressed in cell lines or animals. The resulting C-terminally truncated proteins exert dominant detrimental effects, such as increased chemoresistance, decreased apoptosis, increased tumorigenicity,20-22 interference with transcription-activating ability, and mislocalization of the corresponding cellular tumor suppressor protein23,24 (Table 2). These studies indicate that if abnormal transcripts containing PTCs were not degraded by NMD, clinically recessive tumor-suppressor mutations could instead result in dominant disease due to the synthesis of truncated, dominantly acting oncoproteins. NMD may thus protect heterozygous carriers of PTC-mutated tumor-suppressor genes from developing cancer, at least for as long as the other tumor-suppressor allele remains intact. Table 2. Effect of NMD on expression of tumor-suppressor genes. Table 2 Effect of NMD on expression of tumor-suppressor genes. NMD may also affect expression of certain tumor-suppressor genes by modulating the quantity of splice variants produced by these genes, although this hypothesis remains somewhat speculative. For example, the TP53 gene produces a splice variant that contains a PTC at low levels in normal tissues.25 In contrast, a much larger amount of this splice variant —accounting for approximately half of all TP53 transcripts—was found in a leukemic cell line.26 Although a causal relationship has not yet been established, large amounts of the splice variant could potentially contribute to leukemogenesis, which would be prevented under normal conditions by NMD-induced degradation of the variant. Transcripts from the WT1 gene also undergo alternative splicing to produce two major splice forms. The more abundant splice form (+KTS) encodes three additional amino acids at the 3' end of the penultimate exon, while the less abundant splice form (-KTS) lacks these residues. Interestingly, a mutation found in acute myelogenous leukaemia,27 Wilms tumor28 and Frasier syndrome (male pseudohermaphroditism and progressive glomerulopathy)29 is also located within the penultimate exon of the WT1 gene. This mutation introduces an NMD-competent PTC, but only for the +KTS form. In contrast, for the -KTS form, the PTC is within the terminal 50 bases of the penultimate exon. Therefore, -KTS transcripts probably escape NMD and are translated to produce a truncated protein (Fig. 2). NMD could thus limit expression of the primary transcript. This is important because, in general, Frasier syndrome is attributable to mutations that selectively reduce the abundance of the +KTS isoform.30,31 Therefore, Frasier syndrome in individuals carrying this particular PTC mutation could be caused by NMD-induced degradation of the +KTS isoform. In addition, the truncated form of the minor splice variant might act in a dominant fashion to promote tumorigenesis. Figure 2. Different fates of PTC-containing splice variants derived from the WT1 gene. Figure 2 Different fates of PTC-containing splice variants derived from the WT1 gene. The penultimate exon of the +KTS splice variant (lower) encodes an extra three amino acids, whereas the -KTS variant (upper) lacks these amino acids. Therefore, NMD should result (more...) Medical Therapies for PTC-Related Disease In contrast to its role in preventing dominant disease, NMD can also eliminate mRNAs that would otherwise result in the production of partly or fully functional truncated protein, thereby contributing to the protein deficiency that is the hallmark of many recessive genetic conditions. In such instances, interventions to prevent degradation of transcripts containing PTCs may be therapeutically useful. Drug therapy with these aims is the subject of Chapter 10 in this book and therefore will be discussed only briefly here. At this time, the therapeutic approach that is closest to clinical applicability is the use of aminoglycoside antibiotics that allow read-through of nonsense codons. These drugs bind to the decoding center of the ribosome32 and decrease the accuracy requirements for codon-anticodon pairing, thereby resulting in incorporation of an amino acid into the polypeptide chain instead of chain termination. Thus, full-length, albeit missense-mutated, proteins are synthesized. Aminoglycosides have been used to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Hurler syndrome, X-linked nephrogenic diabetes insipidus, ataxia-telangiectsia, and cystinosis, resulting in some functional improvement in cell lines33-39 and animal models.36,40 Some trials of aminoglycoside therapy also have been carried out in humans with PTC-associated diseases. Promising results have been obtained in a controlled clinical trial for cystic fibrosis, in which full-length CFTR protein was detected in nasal epithelial cells of two treated individuals.41 In contrast, clinical studies of individuals with muscular dystrophy have not shown functional improvement.42,43 Overall, although early results indicate that aminoglycoside treatment may have potential applicability, a therapeutic benefit has yet to be demonstrated. The effect of prolonged treatment with aminoglycosides is also a concern. First, there is the problem of toxicity. Second, there is the issue of whether the general, long-term suppression of PTCs, which is accompanied by the suppression of physiologic termination codons and the potential for pseudogene transcript translation, will result in the build-up of abnormal proteins that could trigger other cellular problems. Other approaches to modulating PTC-induced transcript degradation are also under investigation. One potential approach is to use antisense oligoribonucleotides to redirect splicing, thereby avoiding the production of PTCs in the first place. Initially described as a method for correcting the in vitro aberrant splicing of a disease-associated beta globin gene,44 this strategy employs antisense 2'-O-methylribonucleotides (2OMeAO) that hybridize to splice sites or branch point junctions of aberrantly spliced pre-mRNA, thereby restoring normal splicing in a significant fraction of molecules. This approach was modified for use with a disease-associated dystrophin transcript.45 In this case, the targeted PTC was located within an exon coding for a dispensable protein region. Antisense 2OMeAO that targeted splice sites flanking the PTC promoted in-frame skipping of the affected exon, effectively removing the PTC. Treatment of mdx mice with these antisense oligonucleotides resulted in low-level expression of shortened but functional dystrophin. In a further step toward the clinic, the efficiency of oligonucleotide delivery to tissues has been enhanced by the use of vehicles such as block copolymer.46 Before trials of 2OMeAO are feasible in humans, however, a systemic delivery method needs to be developed. As with all forms of gene therapy, the issues of transfection efficiency, potential immune responses, and side effects must be addressed. Unfortunately, this sort of treatment would be feasible only for mutations in which manipulation of splicing maintains in-frame translation, and—if exon skipping is the result—that does not remove essential protein regions or result in protein mis-folding. Therefore, this treatment will probably be limited to specific cases rather than provide a general therapy for PTC-associated diseases. A further potential approach—although currently very far from realization—involves modulating NMD per se, rather than modulating recognition of PTCs. Down-regulating the central NMD protein Upf1 using RNA interference has been shown to inhibit NMD in cultured cells, and it might constitute a starting point for therapeutic developments. Additionally, some evidence exists to suggest that different individuals with identical genetic mutations may exhibit distinct phenotypic severities due to differences in the efficiency of NMD.47 Thus, identifying factors that regulate the efficiency of NMD could permit development of therapies that fine-tune NMD, potentially allowing more targeted interventions in patients with PTC-associated diseases. NMD plays an important role in modulating the manifestation of hereditary and acquired genetic diseases, and a deepening understanding of NMD will augment the establishment of genotype-phenotype relationships in a number of conditions. The contribution of NMD to genetic diseases may be beneficial, neutral or harmful, depending on the specific PTC, its location, and the type of mutation that generates the PTC. Therefore, the potential role of NMD in disease must be appreciated when the functional effect of a mutation is considered. Therapies that target PTC-containing transcripts are under development, and continued research in this direction should help lead to viable strategies to treat PTC-associated diseases. Holbrook JA, Neu-Yilik G, Hentze MW. et al. Nonsense-mediated decay approaches the clinic. Nat Genet. 2004;36(8):801–808. [PubMed: 15284851] Hall GW, Thein S. Nonsense codon mutations in the terminal exon of the beta-globin gene are not associated with a reduction in beta-mRNA accumulation: A mechanism for the phenotype of dominant beta-thalassemia. Blood. 1994;83(8):2031–2037. [PubMed: 8161774] Thein SL, Hesketh C, Taylor P. et al. Molecular basis for dominantly inherited inclusion body beta-thalassemia. 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Metal Fabrication – History and Use in Mining Industry Metal fabrication began in the earliest civilizations when the metals gold, mercury, silver, tin, iron, lead, and copper were discovered. These metals were worked by early artisans into decorative pieces, religious iconography, and jewelry. Items of a practical nature were forged from metal including coinage, tools, and weapons. Using heat and tools, metalworkers began to make functional objects and the industry developed through the years advancing and gaining value from society. As an industrialised society, the world cannot live without metal; it is essential to almost every industry from mining and heavy industry to agriculture and medical equipment. Specialist engineers and manufacturers fabricate metal and metal alloys, which are made from a combination of different metals for a staggering number of uses. 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The primary reason that makeup goes past its use by date is that we cannot find it when we need it. Storing your makeup in a makeup organizer means that you will be able to find the makeup when you need it saving you time and money. Makeup Organizer Plantar Fasciitis Treatment Options Soft Tissue Release Night Splints (Strassburg Sock) How Dating Sites are gaining success within a niche market There are 7 billion people residing on Earth. With all of this diversity available it makes you deliberate as to why there are so many singletons out there. Maybe it’s because we live in a fast paced society where people are too caught up to partner up or understand it as a priority in their lives. Technology merged with evolution has generated a unique breed of people and we do not all share the same interests like the good old days. Today’s Online Dating has embodied itself into an easy access technology for a person to find their soulmate with the click of a button. It is currently a $2 billion dollar per year industry, with over 1500 dating sites globally and brags to been liable for around 280,000 marriages as a result of people meeting up. In Australia, statistically 1 in 10 has found love online and 1 in 6 of those people was between the ages 35-44. There is no doubt the popularity of the ‘General’ online dating websites out there have had huge success with the following of members on their sites. Some international sites proudly promote unbelieveable numbers of 30 million plus. As most sites offer a free sign up it is not quite clear on how many of those 30 million are paying subscriptions, never the less these platforms are uniting a lot of people with each other. Over time in this industry I think people have gotten tired and lost in the ‘General’ online dating websites. Wasting time on meaningless dialogue and useless banter only to find out there is not much in sync with the other party. Some might say you need to kiss a lot of frogs to discover your prince. Niche online dating websites have launched on to the scene hard and fast. Obviously someone saw a need and leaped at the opportunity to unite people within a specific market. To specify the playing field, so to speak. People bond best when they have something in common. Beliefs, hobbies, race, sexual preference or lifestyle choice can categorise people to meet other [compatible~accordant} singles. Scientists have performed studies to determine if in fact like-minded people or constrasting people make the better couple. It was proven that people with similar temperaments and world views were more likely to appreciate success and have conflict free marriages than the opposite couples. It is also implied that people with similar interests were more likely to meet up in person off the sites. There is no doubt catering to a specific audience could be a very lucrative market. It sounds like a fun experience to enter a world where everyone shares the same ideals. Everybody deserves love, why not have it with someone you like? The benefits of a steel rainwater tank
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search This article is about the arthropod anatomical structure. For the vertebrate brain structure, see tentorium cerebelli. The tentorium (plural tentoria) is a term used to refer to the framework of internal supports within an arthropod head.[1] The tentorium is formed by ingrowths of the exoskeleton, called apophyses, which fuse in various ways to provide rigid support for the muscles of the head.[2] 1. ^ J. G. E. Lewis (2007). "The musculature and endoskeleton". The Biology of Centipedes. Cambridge University Press. pp. 67–84. ISBN 978-0-521-03411-1. 2. ^ William S. Romoser (2004). "Introduction to arthropods: structure, function and development". In Bruce F. Eldridge, John D. Edman. Medical Entomology: A Textbook on Public Health and Veterinary Problems Caused by Arthropods (2nd ed.). Springer. pp. 13–51. ISBN 978-1-4020-1794-0.
June 25, 2012 Discovery of Material that can be magnetically or electrically polarized at the same time Normally a material can be either magnetically or electrically polarized, but not both. Now researchers at the Niels Bohr Institute at University of Copenhagen have studied a material that is simultaneously magnetically and electrically polarizable. This opens up new possibilities, for example, for sensors in technology of the future. “We have studied the rare, naturally occurring iron compound, TbFeO3, using powerful neutron radiation in a magnetic field. The temperature was cooled down to near absolute zero, minus 271 C. We were able to identify that the atoms in the material are arranged in a congruent lattice structure consisting of rows of the heavy metal terbium separated by iron and oxygen atoms. Such lattices are well known, but their magnetic domains are new. Normally, the magnetic domains lie a bit helter-skelter, but here we observed that they lay straight as an arrow with the same distance between them. We were completely stunned when we saw it,” explains Kim Lefmann, Associate Professor at the Nano-Science Center, University of Copenhagen. The ‘8-armed candlestick' in this unusual image of the measurements is proof that the ‘walls’ of the domains in TbFeO3 repel each other at certain temperatures and therefore lie at a fixed distance from each other. The signal from the ‘ordinary’ chaotic domain walls would more resemble a fly swatter. Nature Materials - Solitonic lattice and Yukawa forces in the rare-earth orthoferrite TbFeO3 The random fluctuations of spins give rise to many interesting physical phenomena, such as the ‘order-from-disorder’ arising in frustrated magnets and unconventional Cooper pairing in magnetic superconductors. Here we show that the exchange of spin waves between extended topological defects, such as domain walls, can result in novel magnetic states. We report the discovery of an unusual incommensurate phase in the orthoferrite TbFeO3 using neutron diffraction under an applied magnetic field. The magnetic modulation has a very long period of 340 Å at 3 K and exhibits an anomalously large number of higher-order harmonics. These domain walls are formed by Ising-like Tb spins. They interact by exchanging magnons propagating through the Fe magnetic sublattice. The resulting force between the domain walls has a rather long range that determines the period of the incommensurate state and is analogous to the pion-mediated Yukawa interaction between protons and neutrons in nuclei. “What the models are describing is that the terbium walls interact by exchanging waves of spin (magnetism), which is transferred through the magnetic iron lattice. The result is a Yukawa-like force, which is known from nuclear and particle physics. The material exhibits in a sense the same interacting forces that hold the particles together in atomic nuclei,” explains Heloisa Bordallo, Associate Professor at the Niels Bohr Institute. It is precisely this interaction between the transition metal, iron, and the rare element, terbium, that plays an important role in this magneto-electrical material. The terbium’s waves of spin cause a significant increase in the electric polarization and the interaction between the ions of the elements creates one of the strongest magneto-electrical effects observed in materials. "Through these results we found a new pathway to discover and develop new multiferroics", emphasize the researchers in the group. 8 pages of supplemental material Форма для связи Email * Message *
All Children's Hospital Logo Related Links Search Health Information Bone Marrow Transplantation Bone Marrow Transplant What is a bone marrow transplantation? Bone marrow transplantation (BMT) is a special therapy for patients with cancer or other diseases which affect the bone marrow. A bone marrow transplant involves taking cells that are normally found in the bone marrow (stem cells), filtering those cells, and giving them back either to the patient or to another person. The goal of BMT is to transfuse healthy bone marrow cells into a person after their own unhealthy bone marrow has been eliminated. Anatomy of a bone, showing blood cells Click Image to Enlarge What is bone marrow? The bone marrow is a soft, spongy tissue found inside the bones. The bone marrow in the hips, breast bone, spine, ribs, and skull contain cells that produce the body's blood cells. The bone marrow is responsible for the development and storage of about 95 percent of the body's blood cells. The three main types of blood cells produced in the bone marrow include: Each of these cells carries a life-maintaining function. The bone marrow is a vital part of the human body. What are stem cells? Stem cells are the most important cells needed in a bone marrow transplant. Stem cells, when transplanted, find their way to the recipient's marrow and begin to differentiate and produce all types of blood cells that are needed by the body. Why is a bone marrow transplant needed? The goal of a bone marrow transplant is to cure many diseases and types of cancer. When a child's bone marrow has been damaged or destroyed due to a disease or intense treatments of radiation or chemotherapy for cancer, a marrow transplant may be needed. A bone marrow transplant can be used to: Bone marrow transplantation has risks involved, some of which are life threatening. The risks and benefits must be weighed in a thorough discussion with the bone marrow transplant team prior to the procedure. Each child experiences diseases differently and a bone marrow transplantation may not be appropriate for everyone who suffers from these diseases. Some of the diseases that have been treated with bone marrow transplant include the following: What are the different types of bone marrow transplants? There are different types of bone marrow transplants depending on who the donor is. The different types of bone marrow transplant include the following: The bone marrow transplant team: The group of specialists involved in the care of children going through transplant is often referred to as the "transplant team." Each individual works together to provide the best chance for a successful transplant. The team consists of: An extensive evaluation is completed by the bone marrow transplant team. The decision for your child to undergo a bone marrow transplant will be based on many factors including: Preparation for the recipient: For the child receiving the transplant, the following will occur in advance of the procedure: Preparation for the donor: How are a donor and recipient matched? How are the stem cells collected? If the donor is the child him/herself it is called an autologous bone marrow transplant. If an autologous transplant is planned, previously collected stem cells, from either peripheral (apheresis) or harvest, are counted, screened, and ready to infuse. For umbilical cord blood transplants, blood has been collected at the time of a birth and stored. Cord blood is collected after delivery, when the placenta and umbilical cord are separated from the infant. The site of collection is cleaned to prevent bacteria from entering the collection process. The blood that is contained in the cord is collected in a sterile container. The blood is then tested for type and the presence of viruses or disease, and the stem cells are counted. The cord blood is then stored in special freezers and is registered in a national registry for potential recipient matches. The bone marrow transplant procedure: The preparations for a bone marrow transplant vary depending on the type of transplant, the disease requiring transplant, and your child's tolerance for certain medications. Consider the following: The days before transplant are counted as minus days. The day of transplant is considered day zero. Engraftment and recovery following the transplant are counted as plus days. For example, a child may enter the hospital on day -8 for preparative regimen. The day of transplant is usually numbered as day 0. Days +1, +2, etc.) will follow. There are specific events, complications, and risks associated with each day before, during, and after transplant. The days are numbered to help the child and family understand where they are in terms of risks and discharge planning. During infusion of bone marrow, your child may experience any, or all, of the following symptoms: After infusion, your child may: Your child's physical and mental health are important in the success of a transplant. Every measure is taken to minimize complications and promote a healthy, happy, safe environment for your child. When does engraftment occur? Engraftment of the stem cells occurs when the donated cells make their way to the marrow and begin reproducing new blood cells. Depending on the type of transplant and the disease being treated, engraftment usually occurs around day +15 or +30. Blood counts will be performed frequently during the days following transplant to evaluate initiation and progress of engraftment. Platelets are generally the last blood cell to recover. What complications and side effects may occur following BMT? The following are complications that may occur with a bone marrow transplantation. However, each child may experience symptoms differently. Complications may vary depending on the following: Possible complications may include, but are not limited to, the following. These complications may also occur alone, or in combination: When will my child be discharged? When your child is discharged following a bone marrow transplant depends on many factors, including the following: Frequent visits to your child's transplant team will be required to determine effectiveness of treatment, detect complications, detect recurrent disease, and to manage the late effects associated with a bone marrow transplant. The frequency and duration of visits will be determined by your child's transplant team. Long-term outlook for a bone marrow transplantation: Prognosis greatly depends on the following: As with any procedure such as bone marrow transplant, prognosis, and long-term survival can vary greatly from child to child. The amount of transplants occurring for an increased number of diseases and medical developments has greatly improved the outcome for bone marrow transplant in children and adults. Continuous follow-up care is essential for the child following a bone marrow transplant. New methods to improve treatment and to decrease complications and side effects of a bone marrow transplant are continually being discovered. Click here to view the Online Resources of Hematology & Blood Disorders Additional Info Pocket Doc Mobile App Maps and Locations (Mobile) Programs & Services For Health Professionals For Patients & Families Contact Us Find a Doctor All Children's Hospital 501 6th Ave South St. Petersburg, FL 33701 (727) 898-7451 (800) 456-4543 Use Normal Template © 2015 All Children's Hospital - All Rights Reserved
light therapy Guide Solaris Infrared Treatment Protocols Section Social bookmarking You like it? Share it! socialize it Main Solaris Infrared Treatment Protocols sponsors Latest Solaris Infrared Treatment Protocols Link Added Submit your link on Solaris Infrared Treatment Protocols! Welcome to light therapy Guide Solaris Infrared Treatment Protocols Article The Beginning of LED Light Therapy with NASA The birth of LED Light Therapy begun in the early scientific experiments by NASA with the LEDs or the Light Emitting Diodes with NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in the State of Alabama together with the Quantum Devices Inc. of Wisconsin. They had taken specific plants that were placed aboard the Space Shuttle, exposing them in space to near-infrared light produced by LEDs. Using the LEDs, they increased the energy that was produced in the energy compartments of each plant cell, causing the cells to grow much faster. Everybody on earth, especially the farmers, benefited from this finding by NASA for the fast growing of plants and crops. And from this, LED Light Therapy took on an entirely new purpose. And while NASA was working on the growing rate of the plants that were placed aboard on the space shuttle with LEDs, scientists from Quantum Devices overheard discussions among physicians regarding the electronic laser light therapy they are using for their patients. Laser light when used or exposed to human, accelerated cell growth and healing, but they are some serious drawbacks in using it. One is when the surrounding tissues of target area become overheated. Another is that lasers are huge and expensive to operate, have limited color wavelength and averagely, they are not reliable. So when NASA and Quantum Devices joined forces, the resulting LED Light Therapy bore many advantages over the older methods. LEDs do not heat the tissues, unlike what lasers does, because it has a longer wavelength that is near-infrared light, that helped it to penetrate deeper into the tissues. The more red a light is, the longer its wavelength which means that it can penetrate the body tissues deeper. This made it a perfect treatment for crash injuries, bad burns, cancer chemotherapy and radiation treatment complications where large body areas are involved. The name Photo Dynamic Therapy (PDT) was given to LED light when it is used to activate the light-sensitive chemotherapy drugs to destroy cancer. Additionally, the stimulation of normal cell chemicals uses LED Light Therapy to heal and regenerate human tissues without the aid of any drugs. This works by the reaction of LED Light Therapy with parts of certain cells called cytochromes that respond to light and color in order to cause their energy levels to rise. This new LED Light Therapy medical treatment has begun to help a lot of people who lost hope in the treatment of their diseases, by regenerating the tissue, muscle, brain and more. And what is more exciting is that the original experiments by NASA with LED Light Therapy that began in space, are now being used for muscle and bone atrophy in astronauts. The LED Light Therapy is just among the many light therapy products that have evolved through the years. Each with a specific function to perform, these light therapy products have been proven to treat various forms of diseases and disorders. Another is the blue light therapy which is fast-becoming a solution to acne problems. These products are available in the form of light boxes and if the LED Light Therapy is the one that you need, then there are various LED Light therapy box to choose from. Other Solaris Infrared Treatment Protocols related Articles Light Therapy Boxes Bright Light Therapy Infrared Light Therapy Laser Light Therapy Therapy Light Solaris Infrared Treatment Protocols News
How to do an arm sling How to sling You will need a piece of fabric that is about 5 feet wide at the base and at least three feet long on the sides. (If the harness for a child, you can use a smaller size.) Cut a triangle from a piece of this fabric. If you do not have scissors handy, fold a large square piece of cloth diagonally into a triangle. Place the elbow of the person at the high point of the triangle, and the middle of the wrist along the bottom edge of the triangle. Bring the two free points around the front and back of the same (or opposite) shoulder, and pin or tie securely together. Adjust the height of the node so that the elbow is bent at right angles. If you do not have material or scissors to make a triangle sling, you can make one using a coat or shirt. Apply the sling in much the same way as shown in the pictures “Creating a Sling” associated with this article. If the injured arm should be kept still, tie the strap on the body with another piece of cloth wrapped around the chest and tied on the injured side. Occasionally check for leaks, and adjust the sling as necessary. Do not try to realign an injured body part unless the skin is pale or blue or there is no pulse. When to contact a doctor Consult a doctor if the person has a dislocation, fracture, or serious bleeding. Also consult a doctor if you can not completely immobilize the injury at the scene by yourself. Security is the best way to prevent fractures caused by falling. Some diseases make bones break more easily, so be cautious when it comes to helping a person with fragile bones. Avoid activities that stretch the muscles or bones for long periods of time because they can cause weakness and falls. In addition, precautions when walking on slippery or uneven surfaces.
Black Monday DEFINITION of 'Black Monday' October 19, 1987, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) lost almost 22% in a single day. That event marked the beginning of a global stock market decline, making Black Monday one of the most notorious days in recent financial history. By the end of the month, most of the major exchanges had dropped more than 20%. Interestingly enough, the cause of the massive drop cannot be attributed to any single news event because no major news event was released on the weekend preceding the crash. While there are many theories that attempt to explain why the crash happened, most agree that mass panic caused the crash to escalate. Since Black Monday, a number of protective mechanisms have been built into the market to prevent panic selling, such as trading curbs and circuit breakers. 1. Black Wednesday The day when the British government was forced to withdraw the ... 2. Stock Market Crash Of 1987 3. Silver Thursday A steep fall in the price of silver that occurred on Thursday ... 4. Kondratiev Wave An economic theory created by Soviet economist Nikolai Kondratiev ... 5. Circuit Breaker Refers to any of the measures used by stock exchanges during ... 6. Correction A reverse movement, usually negative, of at least 10% in a stock, ... 1. What is Black Monday? Monday October 19,1987, is known as Black Monday. On that day, stockbrokers in New York, London, Hong Kong, Berlin, Tokyo ... Read Full Answer >> 2. What dividend yield is typical for companies in the industrial sector? 3. Which REITs pay the highest dividends? 4. What is the difference between an Equity REIT and a Mortgage REIT? 5. How does a lack of demand affect financial markets? A lack of demand affects financial markets by leading to lower prices. The function of financial markets is to constantly ... Read Full Answer >> 6. What kinds of derivatives are types of forward commitments? Related Articles 1. Options & Futures Cyclical Versus Non-Cyclical Stocks 2. Budgeting The Greatest Market Crashes 3. Investing Basics Understanding Open-End Funds An open-end fund is a type of mutual fund that does not limit the amount of shares it issues, but issues as many shares as investors are willing to buy. 4. Investing Basics What is a Nominal Value? The nominal value of a security, such as a stock or bond, remains fixed for the duration of its life. 5. Fundamental Analysis Calculating Future Value Future value is the value of an asset or cash at a specified date in the future that is equivalent in value to a specified sum today. 6. Investing The Strong Dollar’s (Real) Toll On Tech Stocks 7. Economics Why Working Doesn't Add Up For Many Women 8. Investing The Case For Stocks Today 9. Mutual Funds & ETFs Why You May Want To Be (And Stay) In Bonds 10. Investing Which Dow Jones Stocks are Safe? Which are Risky? In a situation where our sustained bull run could turn into a sell-off rather quickly, here are four somewhat safe Dow stocks and four to be wary of. You May Also Like Hot Definitions 1. Mixed Economic System An economic system that features characteristics of both capitalism and socialism. 2. Net Worth 3. Stop-Loss Order 4. Covered Call 5. Butterfly Spread 6. Unlevered Beta Trading Center
May 29, 2015 Homework Help: world studies Posted by SoccerStar on Monday, September 3, 2012 at 10:38am. 1. How did European exploration held lead the way to the Scientific Revolution? --I was thinking that with the more discoveries they were making, they wanted explanations as to how things are that way 2. How was the Scientific Revolution related to the Enlightenment? --I said, "Because of the Enlightenment, people wanted to expand their knowledge and use science and reason to learn and know about thins instead of accepting the religious explanations and beliefs." Is that right? Answer this Question First Name: School Subject: Related Questions
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage 2 noun current2 [countable] 1HEO a continuous movement of water in a river, lake, or sea [↪ tide] Strong currents can be very dangerous for swimmers. 2 a continuous movement of air: Some birds use warm air currents to help them fly. current of currents of warm air rising from the plain 3TEE a flow of electricity through a wire: alternating current, direct current 4 an idea, feeling, or opinion that a particular group of people has: The committee reflects the different political currents within the organization. current of There was an underlying current of discontent among teachers. ! Do not confuse with currant (=small dried fruit). Word of the Day Word of the Day is: Other related topics
nuclear transportmedical dictionary <cell biology> Passage of molecules in and out of the nucleus, presumably via nuclear pores. Passage of proteins into the nucleus may depend on possession of a nuclear location sequence containing five consecutive positively charged residues PKKKRKV). (11 Mar 2008) nuclear spindle, nuclear stain, nuclear transplantation < Prev \| Next > nuclear warfare, nuclease, nucleate
(Page 2 of 2) In one of the most startling examples of brain deformity, neurons explode out of the proliferative zone like lava, flowing to form a thick mass instead of an orderly, folded up cortex. The result is that the cortex is either smooth, like that of a mouse, or it forms six layers but they are upside down, with layer one, normally the top layer nearest the brain's outer surface, at the bottom. Children with this malformation are retarded and have seizures. In other cases, the neurons successfully migrate out to the cortex but then do not stop. They punch holes in the cortical membrane and, again like lava, congeal in a cobblestone pattern. In some people, almost all of the brain is outside where the cortex normally resides, Dr. Walsh said, adding that at least three genes appear to be involved. It is not only the cortex that can develop abnormally. In some instances, the left and right hemispheres of the brain do not fully separate. Fused or partly fused hemispheres are the most commonly recognized birth defect found with prenatal ultrasound, Dr. Walsh said. If the two sides are mostly joined, the infants do not survive. If a small area is fused, the children tend to have trouble moving each side of their bodies independently. Many never learn to walk, he said, as if they were ''limb tied.'' In research reported last month in Science, Dr. Walsh found eight mutations in a gene that helps create the very large human frontal cortex. Children born with these mutations, he said, have an overproduction of the folds in the brain's frontal region, which is smaller and thinner than normal, and they are slow to walk, inarticulate and clumsy. But the finding suggests that random mutations during human evolution could be what caused particular brain regions, like the frontal lobes, to enlarge. Brain malformations are rare, making it hard for researchers like Dr. Walsh, who are trying to pinpoint the genes responsible for them, to find enough cases to study. Dr. Walsh's success is partly a result of his research strategy: he has focused on populations and regions, like the Middle East, where the deformities are more easily found because families are large, marriage among close relatives is common and the people stay in the same villages or cities for generations. In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for example, 58 percent of women marry blood relatives, Dr. Walsh said, so researchers need to find only 10 affected families to have enough cases to study instead of the thousands of families that would otherwise be required. Photo: Dr. Christopher A. Walsh and Dr. Xianhua Piao with brain M.R.I.'s. They are tracing the genes behind malformations in Saudi families. (Photo by Jodi Hilton for The New York Times) Chart/Diagram: ''Problems in Brain Development'' Brain scans (top row) and corresponding diagrams show misfolded sections. A genetic culprit has been found for the disease in the second brain. Diagrams show normal and malformed brains. (Sources by Dr. Christopher A. Walsh and Dr. Bernard S. Chang, Harvard Medical School)
Jump to Main ContentJump to Primary Navigation Found: World's Biggest Insect Adventurer Mark Moffett has found the world's biggest insect - which is so huge it likes nothing more than munching on carrots. Former park ranger Mark, 53, discovered the giant weta up a tree and it has now been declared the largest ever found. He came across the cricket-like creature, which has a wing span of seven inches, after two days of searching on a tiny island. The creepy crawly is only found on Little Barrier Island, in New Zealand. Image: Solent The species were wiped off the mainland by rats accidentally introduced by Europeans. After Mark found the female weta he fed it the carrot before putting it back where he found her. "The giant weta is the largest insect in the world, and this is the biggest one ever found, she weighs the equivalent to three mice. Mark, from Colorado, America, added: "We bug lovers hear a lot of people who think insects are inferior in some way because of their size, so it was great to see such a big insect. "This became all the more amazing when we realized that this was the largest insect recorded." Images: Solent/Google Maps
Media Influence on Public Policy Framing (social sciences), Democracy, Journalism Policymaking is a political process which is affected by various social and economic factors (Hofferbert, 1974) and media systems play an integral role in shaping the social context in which policies are developed. Through the media, citizens learn how government policies will affect them, and governments gain feedback on their policies and programs. Media systems act as the primary channels between those who might want to influence policy and the policymakers '' controlling the scope of political discourse and regulating the flow of information. Textbook policymaking follows an orderly sequence where problems are identified, solutions devised, policies adopted, implemented, and lastly evaluated (Mazamanian & Sabatier, 1989). In reality, the policy process is more fluid, where policies are formed through the struggle of ideas of various advocacy coalitions (Sabatier, 1991) in what has been described as a policy primeval soup (Kingdon, 1995). The policies, on which the media focuses can, and often does, play an important part in determining the focal issues for policymakers. One of the fundamental roles of the media in a liberal democracy is to critically scrutinise governmental affairs: that is to act as a watchdog of government to ensure that the government can be held accountable by the public. However, the systematic deregulation of media systems worldwide is diminishing the ability of citizens to meaningfully participate in policymaking process governing the media (McChesney, 2003, p. 126). The relaxation of ownership rules and control, has resulted in a move away from diversity of production to a situation where media ownership is becoming increasing concentrated by just a few predominantly western global conglomerates (McChesney, 1999). Obvious problems arise for democratic processes, when huge media conglomerates also fulfil the role of powerful political actors; their close links with the corporate economy are widely considered to limit their ability... tracking img
Sign in to other sites using Google You can use your Google username and password to sign in to other apps and websites, and you can control what information from each app gets shared on Google+. Tip: If you're having trouble signing in using your Google username and password, try this troubleshooter. Signing in with Google+ To use Google+ Sign-In: 1. Open the app or website you want to sign into. 2. Click the Google+ Sign-In button. If you don't see the button, that may mean Google+ Sign-In isn't available for the app, or you might already be logged in to the app. 3. If you aren't already logged in to Google+, enter your Google username and password. 4. Review the permissions screen. To make changes, click the pencil icon . 5. Click Accept. Choose who from your circles can see your app activity Some apps may ask to share your app activity with Google. You choose who can see this activity on Google services from the permissions screen when you sign in. • Make your app activity visible by clicking +Add more people and entering circles, people, or email addresses. • Remove a circle or person by clicking the X next to their name. • Keep your activity private by selecting Only you. Select the people or circles you want to share with the app When you share a list of people from your circles with the app, it may use that information to personalize your app experience based on your friends' app activity. You can choose which circles to share with the app from the permissions screen when you sign in. • Uncheck the box next to any circles you'd like to exclude. • To prevent circles you create in the future from getting automatically shared with the app, uncheck "All circles." Privacy when signing in with Google+ What the app can see When you sign in using Google+, the app may receive your full name, profile picture, Google+ ID, age range, language, the people in your circles that you've shared with the app, and any publicly available information on your Google+ profile. To learn more about how an app uses your data, contact them or review their privacy policy. Who can see your activity within the app Choosing who can see your activity on Google+ doesn't control who can see your activity within an app itself. The app controls that. Using Google Sign-In with Google Apps If you use Google Apps through work or school, your posts might be restricted to your organization or domain by default. In this case, choosing "Your circles" will exclude users outside the domain. Selecting any other combination of circles will include users outside the domain. Where app permissions apply The permissions you select when you sign in to an app with Google apply to that app on mobile and desktop. When you sign in with Google, you may be automatically signed in to that app on multiple devices. If you sign in to an app on multiple devices or browsers, you may need to sign out of each device or browser separately. How helpful is this article: Feedback recorded. Thanks! • Not at all helpful • Not very helpful • Somewhat helpful • Very helpful • Extremely helpful
What is a General Ultrasound? Ultrasound, also known as a sonogram, or ultrasonography, is widely used in medicine for patients of all ages. Ultrasound is a diagnostic procedure that transmits high-frequency sound waves through body tissues. These sound waves are transformed into images of the internal structures of the body. Ultrasound is used for both diagnosis and therapeutic procedures. Sonograms are performed to visualize abdominal and pelvic organs as well as tendons, vessels and other areas in the body. Obstetric ultrasound is commonly used during pregnancy. Ultrasound can be used to guide interventional procedures such as biopsies of the liver and kidney or for the drainage of fluid.
Mali's Unlikely Democracy: Why Is One of Africa's Most Successful Democracies Taking Hold in an Impoverished Muslim Country Half-Covered in the Sand of the Sahara Desert? in Mali, the Seeds of Change Are Rooted in Tradition Article excerpt AS JOURNALIST ROBERT KAPLAN FLEW INTO BAMAKO, Mali, in 1993, he saw tin roofs appear through thick dust blowing off the presumably advancing desert. He used this image of a "dying region" to conclude his Atlantic Monthly article "The Coming Anarchy" in which he drew a connection between environmental degradation and growing disorder in the Third World, a hypothesis that certainly seemed to fit not only Mall but most of West Africa. When the article was published in February 1994, it made a considerable splash in Washington policy circles. When I served in Mali as American ambassador, from 1987 to 1990, I had never spent time in a country with such an apparent absence of political life of any kind. The military ruler, Moussa Traore, presided over a typical single-party African dictatorship. In the early years after he took over in 1968, he survived several coup attempts, but by the time I arrived everyone seemed to have given up and gone to sleep. The government controlled all print and radio news, and, at first, there was no sign of dissident activity. Mali, along with the rest of the region, had been wracked by drought in the late 1970s and again in the mid-1980s, and the government was making a serious effort to improve an economy dominated by peasant agriculture. Although the United States' significant interests in this poor, landlocked country were solely humanitarian, American economic aid to Mali almost tripled during my tour as ambassador. But I never imagined that tradition-bound, predominately Muslim Mali might soon become something of a poster child for African democracy. There was a clue to what was coming, if I'd recognized it. On my daily commute to the embassy through the potholed streets of Bamako, Mali's capital, my driver would listen to the seemingly endless half-song, half-chant recitals that were standard fare on the only radio station. He told me that the singers were griots, the hereditary musician-historian-entertainers of West Africa, singing about Mali's ancient history. He was a griot himself, and could explain some of the songs, often about the epic of Sunjata, the outcast-turned-hero who became the first emperor of old Mali in the 13th century. I recall wondering how people facing such a daunting present could be so preoccupied by stories from a distant past. I certainly did not envision how they might put their history to creative political use. By the time my ambassadorial tour ended in 1990, Mali was on the cusp of momentous change. People were weary of the old dictatorship, which like many in Africa was vaguely Marxist-Leninist in organization; further, the demise of communism in the Soviet Union had destroyed whatever legitimacy such regimes still had. In March 1991, Mali's military dictator made the fatal mistake of ordering his troops to fire on students protesting in the capital, and several hundred were killed. In the wave of shocked public reaction that followed, a key military commander, Colonel Amadou Toumani Toure, joined the pro-democracy forces, and the dictatorship collapsed. Toure, better known as "ATT," promised to hand over power to an elected government. Like Cincinnatus, the Roman farmer who took up arms and then returned to his fields, Toure kept his word, surprising many of his fellow Malians. …
First Allied Airborne Army From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search First Allied Airborne Army First Allied Airborne Army.svg Badge of the First Allied Airborne Army Active 2 August 1944-20 May 1945 Allegiance Allies Type Airborne forces World War II Disbanded 20 May 1945 Lieutenant-General Lewis H. Brereton General Richard Nelson Gale The First Allied Airborne Army was an Allied formation formed on 2 August 1944 by the order of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force. The formation was part of the Allied Expeditionary Force and controlled all Allied airborne forces in Western Europe from August 1944 to May 1945. These included IX Troop Carrier Command, the XVIII Corps (Airborne), which controlled the 82nd Airborne Division, the 101st Airborne Division, the 17th Airborne Division and a number of independent airborne units, and all British airborne forces including the 1st Airborne Division and the 6th Airborne Division. From the time of its creation until the end of World War II, the formation commanded the Allied airborne forces that participated in the Allied advance through North-West Europe, including Operation Market-Garden in September 1944, repelling the German counter-offensive launched during the Battle of the Bulge between December 1944 and January 1945, and Operation Varsity in March 1945. The formation was then officially deactivated on 20 May 1945, with the British units under its command returning to the United Kingdom and the American units being renamed as First Airborne Army and taking over command of the American Zone of Occupation in Berlin. The First Allied Airborne Army was activated on 2 August 1944, by order of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force. Eisenhower believed that a single agency was required to coordinate all airborne and troop carrier units and which would have the authority to direct the operations they would participate in, as well as command attached army, naval and air force units.[1] Planning for the creation of First Allied Airborne Army had begun several weeks before the beginning of Operation Overlord, with a sub-section of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force recommending as early as 20 May 1944 that all British and American airborne forces be unified under a single formation; troop carrier units, however, would still remain independent and under the control of the Allied Expeditionary Air Force under this first recommendation.[2] This recommendation was then sent to First United States Army Group, 21st Army Group and the Allied Expeditionary Air Force, but was criticized and opposed by the Chief of Staff of First United States Army Group, Major-General Leven C. Allen. Allen argued that the larger number of American airborne troops, the differences in equipment and staff between British and American formations, and the fact that the available transport aircraft only had the capacity to carry the total number of American airborne troops and not British as well, all meant that there was no need for a unified command for both American and British airborne forces.[3] However, the 21st Army Group and the Allied Expeditionary Air Force both agreed to the recommendation, only suggesting a few minor changes to be made, and on 17 June Major-General H.R. Bull, the Assistant Chief-of-Staff, Operations and Plans (G-3) of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force, recommended that a combined airborne troops headquarter be created, albeit one that still did not control troop carrier units.[3] Eisenhower had been thinking of creating an organization that would control both airborne forces and troop carrier units, based on the model of a modified corps headquarters and commanded by a high-ranking officer of the United States Army Air Forces.[4] Creating such an organization, however, was complicated by the position of the Royal Air Force, which was an independent organization unlike the United States Army Air Forces. Senior British airborne commanders were apprehensive about having an Air Force officer command soldiers, in case the RAF could then use this at a later date as precedent to command British airborne troops.[5] Further problems were created by officers of the AEAF, who complained of the administrative problems which would be created by assigning RAF units to the proposed combined headquarters, and by the personal objections of Air Chief Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallory, commander-in-chief of the AEAF, who argued that the original recommendation should be followed - that of a command that unified American and British airborne forces but left troop carrier units under the command of the AEAF.[5] Despite this opposition, Eisenhower remained convinced for the need of a single unified command that would control both airborne forces and troop carrier units, and outlined his proposal in messages to General of the Army George Marshall and General of the Air Force Henry H. Arnold asking for the assignment of an Air Corps officer as commander of the unified headquarters. Marshall, however, asked for further clarification of the role of the commander, asking whether he would simply function as a corps commander of the airborne divisions or command all air and ground troops, and who would command the airborne forces once they had landed and gone into action.[5] After much discussion the three men agreed that an Air Force commander would control all airborne forces until the situation on the ground permitted normal logistical support for the forces involved, when control would revert to a ground commander.[6] Lieutenant-General Lewis Brereton Having solved the problems of what the commander of the unified headquarters would control, and when, the search then began for qualified personnel who could serve at the headquarters. The United States Department of War indicated that some personnel from the Airborne Center at Camp Mackall would be available for the new headquarters, and Headquarters and Headquarters Company, Second Airborne Brigade, from the United Kingdom would be disbanded and its personnel transferred to the new headquarters. In addition, the United States Strategic Air Forces in Europe would allocate ten officers and fifty enlisted men.[7] After discussion between Eisenhower, Arnold and Marshall, it was decided that the first commanding officer of the formation was to be USAAF Lieutenant General Lewis H. Brereton, who currently commanded the USAAF Ninth Air Force.[4] Brereton learnt of his appointment on 17 July when in conference with the commanding officer of the USAAF, General Carl Spaatz, and was initially unconvinced of the merits of a combined headquarters, suggesting instead that American airborne forces be placed under the command of the Ninth Air Force, a suggestion which was denied by Eisenhower.[7] Having agreed to the appointment, Brereton recommended that the combined headquarters was renamed 'First Allied Airborne Army', which was approved by Eisenhower on 16 August after a brief period of opposition by Major-General Bull, who argued that such a name would be inaccurate, as he believed there was no intention of using the organization as an Army.[8] The new organization was then assigned operational control over a number of airborne and troop carrier units. These were the IX Troop Carrier Command; XVIII Corps (Airborne), which controlled 82nd Airborne Division, 101st Airborne Division, 17th Airborne Division and a number of independent airborne units; British I Airborne Corps which included 1st Airborne Division and 6th Airborne Division,as well as 1st Special Air Service Brigade and Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade; and finally RAF troop carrier units, the number of which would vary depending on the time and the operation being conducted.[4] As commander of First Allied Airborne Army, Brereton was directly responsible to the Supreme Commander Allied (Expeditionary) Force, General Eisenhower, for a number of functions. There were a large number of these functions, but among them Brereton was responsible for the supervision of training and allocation of facilities, the development of new airborne equipment, consultation with the commander-in-chief of the AEAF and the commander of Allied naval forces in the Allied Expedition Force to coordinate airborne operations, and the execution of such operations.[9] Airborne operations[edit] On 2 August 1944, First Allied Airborne Army was officially activated by the orders of General Eisenhower, and in less than two weeks it was assigned its first operation. During August 1944, American forces under General Omar Bradley had launched an operation designed to allow Allied forces to break out of Normandy after several months of slow progress against heavy German resistance, which was codenamed Operation Cobra. The operation had been a success, despite a fierce German counter-attack on 7 August codenamed Operation Lüttich, and a number of German divisions had become trapped between the four towns of Trun, Argentan, Vimoutiers and Chambois near Falaise in France in what had been labelled the Falaise Pocket.[10] On 13 August, airborne forces under the command of First Allied Airborne Army were moved to airfields in Northern France in readiness to participate in Operation Transfigure, whose objective was to block the retreat of these German forces. Planning for the operation went to an extremely advanced stage, and was to have involved 1st Airborne Division, 101st Airborne Division, Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade, 52nd (Lowland) Infantry Division, a British infantry division which had been retrained as an air-transportable division capable of being landed alongside airborne forces, and a number of support units.[11] The planners for Transfigure envisioned the airborne divisions and brigade landing near Rambouillet and capturing an airstrip, after which the 52nd (Lowland) Infantry Division could be flown in to aid in the establishment of an airhead which Allied armour could use as a forward base to advance towards Paris.[11] The operation was cancelled before it could begin, however, when Allied forces captured Dreux, the town which had been the planned dropping point for the airborne forces; General Eisenhower's fears that such an airborne operation would create a heavy burden on the limited ground transport available to the Allied forces also contributed to the decision to cancel the operation.[12] Several more airborne operations were planned for First Allied Airborne Army in late August and early September, after the cancellation of Transfigure. Operation Boxer was concerned with the capture of Boulogne by the same forces as Transfigure was to have used, and Operation Linnet was to have used the Transfigure forces, with the addition of the 82nd Airborne Division, on 3 September to capture Tournai and create a bridgehead over the River Escaut, which would cut off a large number of retreating German formations in a similar manner to Transfigure.[13] Both operations were cancelled, however, due to the rapid movement of Allied ground forces as they advanced through France and towards Belgium, as such a rapid advance did not allow First Allied Airborne Army enough time to plan an operation and deploy its forces before its objectives were overrun by ground forces. This situation changed, however, by the middle of September, as Allied forces came into contact with the German frontier and the Siegfried Line and encountered considerable German resistance, with German forces beginning to set up organized defensive positions and the Allied advance slowing.[14] Operation Market-Garden[edit] The genesis for Operation Market-Garden was a smaller operation planned by the staff of the 1st Airborne Division, code-named Operation Comet which was to be launched on 2 September 1944.[15] Comet envisioned using the 1st Airborne Division, along with the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade, to secure several bridges over the River Rhine to aid the Allied advance into the North German Plain. The Divisional Headquarters for the 1st Airborne Division, along the 1st Airlanding Brigade and the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade were to land at Nijmegen, 1st Parachute Brigade was to land at Arnhem, and 4th Parachute Brigade was to land at Grave.[16] The driving force behind the creation of Comet was Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, who disagreed with the 'broad front' strategy favoured by Eisenhower, in which all Allied armies in North-West Europe advanced simultaneously.[17] Montgomery, however, believed that a single thrust should be launched against the German forces whilst they were still organizing their defences, and Comet was based on this principle; Allied forces under Montgomery's overall command would be able to move through the Netherlands over the river crossings captured by the airborne forces, outflank the Siegfried Line and enter the North German Plain, ultimately heading for Berlin.[17] Battle of the Bulge[edit] Main article: Battle of the Bulge With the ultimate failure of Operation Market-Garden, the Allied advance came to a halt to be replaced by several months of almost static combat against defending German forces, with no Allied airborne operations being planned or executed. This period was broken, however, when a major offensive was launched by the Germans on the orders of Adolf Hitler; on 16 December 1944 Operation "Watch on the Rhine began, with three German armies attacking through the Ardennes, hundreds of thousands of German troops and tanks breaking through Allied lines. The operation took the Allied forces completely by surprise, and several units under the command of First Allied Airborne Army became involved in the Allied attempt to first halt, and then repel the offensive; these units were principally the 101st Airborne Division, 82nd Airborne Division and the 6th Airborne Division. Operation Varsity[edit] Main article: Operation Varsity With the end of the participation of the 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions in repelling the German counter-attack in the Ardennes between December 1944 and January 1945, the airborne forces under the command of First Allied Airborne Army would not participate in another airborne operation until March. By March 1945, the Allied armies had advanced into Germany and had reached the River Rhine. The Rhine was a formidable natural obstacle to the Allied advance,[18] but if breached would allow the Allies to access the North German Plain and ultimately advance on Berlin and other major cities in Northern Germany. Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, commanding the British 21st Army Group devised a plan to allow the forces under his command to breach the Rhine, which he entitled Operation Plunder. Plunder envisioned the British Second Army, under Lieutenant-General Sir Miles Dempsey and the U.S. Ninth Army under Lieutenant General William Simpson crossing the Rhine at Rees, Wesel, and an area south of the Lippe Canal. To ensure that the operation was a success, Montgomery insisted that an airborne component was inserted into the plans for the operation to support the amphibious assaults that would take place, which was code-named Operation Varsity.[19] Three airborne divisions were initially chosen to take part in Varsity: the British 6th Airborne Division, the US 13th Airborne Division and the US 17th Airborne Division, all of which were assigned to US XVIII Airborne Corps. One of these airborne formations, the British 6th Airborne Division, was a veteran division; it had taken part in Operation Overlord and the assault on Normandy. However, the 17th Airborne Division had only been activated in April 1943 and had arrived in Britain in August 1944, too late to participate in Operation Overlord. The Division had also been absent from Operation Market-Garden, and the only action it had seen was during the Ardennes campaign; it was therefore an inexperienced formation which had never taken part in a combat drop.[18] The 13th Airborne Division had been activated in August 1943 and was sent to France in 1945 but the formation itself had never seen action, although one of its Regiments, the 517th Parachute Infantry Regiment had seen action in Italy, Southern France, as well as in the Ardennes.[20] The planning for Operation Varsity initially involved all three airborne divisions, all of which were to be dropped behind German lines in support of 21st Army Group as it conducted its amphibious assaults to breach the Rhine. However, during the earliest stages of planning Varsity, it became apparent that the 13th Airborne Division would be unable to participate in the operation, as there were only enough combat transport aircraft in the area to effectively transport two divisions.[21] The plan for the operation was therefore altered to accommodate the two remaining airborne divisions, the British 6th Airborne and the US 17th Airborne Division. The two airborne divisions would be dropped behind German lines, with their objective to land around Wesel and disrupt enemy defences in order to aid the advance of the British Second Army towards Wesel.[22] To achieve this, both divisions would be dropped near the town of Hamminkeln, and were tasked with a number of objectives: they were to seize the Diersfordter Wald, a forest that overlooked the Rhine and had a road linking several towns together; several bridges over a smaller waterway, the River IJssel, were to be seized to facilitate the advance; and the town of Hamminkeln was to be captured.[23] Operation Varsity would be the largest single-drop airborne operation conducted during the conflict; more significantly, it would also go against previous airborne strategy by having the airborne troops drop after the initial amphibious landings, in order to minimize risks to the airborne troops after the experiences of Operation Market-Garden.[24] Unlike Market-Garden, the airborne forces would only be dropped a relatively short distance behind German lines, thereby ensuring that reinforcements would be able to link up with them within a short period. This avoided risking the same type of disaster that had befallen the British 1st Airborne Division when it had been isolated and practically annihilated by German infantry and armour at Arnhem. It was also decided by General Brereton that the two airborne divisions would be dropped simultaneously in a single "lift", instead of being dropped several hours apart. Supply drops for the airborne forces would also be made as soon as possible to ensure adequate supplies were available to the airborne troops as they fought.[25] Cancelled operations[edit] Several airborne operations were planned for the divisions under the control of First Allied Airborne Army after the end of Operation Varsity. The first was Operation Arena, which envisioned landing between six and ten divisions into what was termed a 'strategic airhead' in the Kassel region of Northern Germany in order to deny a large swathe of territory to the German defenders and give the Allied armies a staging area for further advances into Germany. The 13th was chosen to participate, along with the US 17th, 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions, as well as the British 6th Airborne Division and the 1st Airborne Division.[26] A preliminary date for 1 May was set for the operation once all of the required airborne and air-landed infantry divisions had been located and supplied, but it was ultimately cancelled on 26 March due to the rapid movement of Allied ground forces negating the requirement for the operation.[27] Operation Choker II which was to be an airborne landing on the east bank of the Rhine near Worms, Germany, and during which the division was only hours from taking off before the operation was cancelled due to Allied ground forces overrunning the proposed landing areas. Operation Effective was designed to deny the Alps area from the Germans to prevent the creation of a last-ditch stronghold, but was cancelled when intelligence indicated such a stronghold did not exist.[28] Constituent Formations[edit] Operational Channels, First Allied Airborne Army, 28 November 1944. The First Allied Airborne Army consisted of 1. ^ Devlin, p. 467 2. ^ Huston, p. 76 3. ^ a b Huston, p. 77 4. ^ a b c Otway, p. 202 5. ^ a b c Huston, p. 78 6. ^ Huston, p. 79 7. ^ a b Huston, p. 80 8. ^ Huston, p. 81 9. ^ Huston, pp. 81-82 10. ^ Eisenhower, pp. 278-279 11. ^ a b Otway, p. 210 12. ^ Huston, p. 237 13. ^ Otway, pp. 212-213 14. ^ Harclerode, p. 442 15. ^ Middlebrook, p. 6 16. ^ Otway, p. 214 17. ^ a b Middlebrook, p. 7 19. ^ Devlin, pp. 258–259 20. ^ Flanagan, p. 289 21. ^ Clay, p. 440 23. ^ Jewell, p.27 24. ^ Jewell, p. 28 25. ^ Ministry Of Information, p. 138 26. ^ Huston pp. 216–217 27. ^ Huston, pp. 217–218 28. ^ Flanagan, p. 290 • Blair, Clay (1985). Ridgway’s Paratroopers - The American Airborne In World War II. The Dial Press. ISBN 1-55750-299-4. • Eisenhower, Dwight D. (1948). Crusade In Europe. Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-41619-9. • Major Ellis, L.S. (2004) [1968]. Victory in the West: The Defeat of Germany, Official Campaign History Volume II. History of the Second World War: United Kingdom Military. Naval & Military Press Ltd. ISBN 1-84574-059-9. • Middlebrook, Martin (1995). Arnhem 1944 - The Airborne Battle. Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-014342-4. • Ministry of Information (1978). By Air To Battle - The Official Account Of The British Airborne Divisions. P.Stephens. ISBN 0-85059-310-7. • O'Neill, N.C. (eds.) (1951). Odhams History of the Second World War: Volume II. Odhams Press Limited. • Rawson, Andrew (2006). Rhine Crossing: Operation VARSITY - 30th and 79th US Divisions and 17th US Airborne Division. Pen & Sword Military. ISBN 1-84415-232-4.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Redirected from Teuthida) Jump to: navigation, search For other uses, see Squid (disambiguation). Temporal range: (at least) Late Cretaceous–Recent[1] Loligo vulgaris.jpg European squid (Loligo vulgaris) Scientific classification e Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Mollusca Class: Cephalopoda Superorder: Decapodiformes Order: Teuthida A. Naef, 1916 Plesioteuthididae (incertae sedis) Squid are cephalopods of the order Teuthida, which comprises around 300 species. Like all other cephalopods, squid have a distinct head, bilateral symmetry, a mantle, and arms. Squid, like cuttlefish, have eight arms arranged in pairs and two, usually longer, tentacles. Squid are strong swimmers and certain species can "fly" for short distances out of the water.[2] Modification from ancestral forms[edit] Squid have differentiated from their ancestral molluscs such that the body plan has been condensed antero-posteriorly and extended dorso-ventrally. What before may have been the foot of the ancestor is modified into a complex set of tentacles and highly developed sense organs, including advanced eyes similar to those of vertebrates. The ancestral shell has been lost, with only an internal gladius, or pen, remaining. The pen is a feather-shaped internal structure that supports the squid's mantle and serves as a site for muscle attachment. It is made of a chitin-like material. Composite diagram illustrating basic squid features (ventral aspect) The main body mass is enclosed in the mantle, which has a swimming fin along each side. These fins, unlike in other marine organisms, are not the main source of locomotion in most species. The skin is covered in chromatophores, which enable the squid to change color to suit its surroundings, making it practically invisible. The underside is also almost always lighter than the topside, to provide camouflage from both prey and predator. Under the body are openings to the mantle cavity, which contains the gills (ctenidia) and openings to the excretory and reproductive systems. At the front of the mantle cavity lies the siphon, which the squid uses for locomotion via precise jet propulsion.[3] In this form of locomotion, water is sucked into the mantle cavity and expelled out of the siphon in a fast, strong jet. The direction of the siphon can be changed, to suit the direction of travel. Inside the mantle cavity, beyond the siphon, lies the visceral mass, which is covered by a thin, membranous epidermis. Under this are all the major internal organs. Nervous system[edit] The giant axon, which may be up to 1 mm (0.04 in) in diameter in some larger species, innervates the mantle and controls part of the jet propulsion system. As cephalopods, squid exhibit relatively high intelligence among invertebrates. For example, groups of Humboldt squid hunt cooperatively, using active communication. (See Cephalopod intelligence.) Reproductive system[edit] In females the ink sac is hidden from view by a pair of white nidamental glands, which lie anterior to the gills. There are also red-spotted accessory nidamental glands. Both organs are associated with food manufacture and shells for the eggs. Females also have a large translucent ovary, situated towards the posterior of the visceral mass. Shallow water species of the continental shelf and epipelagic/mesopelagic zones are characterised by the presence of hectocotyli, specially modified arms used to fertilise the female's eggs.[4] Most deep sea squid lack hectocotyli and have longer penises; Ancistrocheiridae and Cranchiinae are exceptions.[4] Giant squid of the genus Architeuthis are unusual in that they possess both a large penis and modified arm tips, although it is uncertain whether the latter are used for spermatophore transfer.[4] Penis elongation has been observed in the deep water species Onykia ingens; when erect, the penis may be as long as the mantle, head and arms combined.[4][5] As such, deep water squid have the greatest known penis length relative to body size of all mobile animals, second in the entire animal kingdom only to certain sessile barnacles.[4] Digestive system[edit] Like all cephalopods, squid have complex digestive systems. The muscular stomach is found roughly in the midpoint of the visceral mass. From there, the bolus moves into the caecum for digestion. The caecum, a long, white organ, is found next to the ovary or testis. In mature squid, more priority is given to reproduction such that the stomach and caecum often shrivel up during the later life stages. Finally, food goes to the liver (or digestive gland), found at the siphon end, for absorption. Solid waste is passed out of the rectum. Beside the rectum is the ink sac, which allows a squid to rapidly discharge black ink into the mantle cavity. Diagram labeling siphon, intestine, nidamental gland, accessory nidamental gland, renal pore, and branchial heart. Ventral view of the viscera of the female Chtenopteryx sicula Cardiovascular system[edit] Squid have three hearts. Two branchial hearts feed the gills, each surrounding the larger systemic heart that pumps blood around the body. Squid blood contains the copper-rich protein hemocyanin for transporting oxygen. The faintly greenish hearts are surrounded by the renal sacs - the main excretory system. The kidneys are difficult to identify and stretch from the hearts (located at the posterior side of the ink sac) to the liver. The systemic heart is made of three chambers, a lower ventricle and two upper auricles. The head end bears eight arms and two tentacles, each a form of muscular hydrostat containing many suckers along the edge. These tentacles do not grow back if severed. In the mature male, one basal half of the left ventral tentacle is hectocotylised — and ends in a copulatory pad rather than suckers. It is used for sexual intercourse. The mouth is equipped with a sharp, horny beak mainly made of chitin[6] and cross-linked proteins, and is used to kill and tear prey into manageable pieces. The beak is very robust, but does not contain minerals, unlike the teeth and jaws of many other organisms, including marine species.[7] Captured whales often have indigestible squid beaks in their stomachs. The mouth contains the radula (the rough tongue common to all molluscs except bivalvia). The eyes, on either side of the head, each contain a hard lens. The image is focused by changing the position of the lens, as in a camera or telescope, rather than changing the shape of the lens, as in the human eye. Squid appear to have limited hearing.[8] In 2003, a large specimen of an abundant[11] but poorly understood species, Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni (the colossal squid), was discovered. This species may grow to 14 m (46 ft) in length, making it the largest invertebrate.[12] Squid have the largest eyes in the animal kingdom. The kraken is a legendary tentacled monster possibly based on sightings of real giant squid. In February 2007, a New Zealand fishing vessel caught a colossal squid weighing 495 kg (1,091 lb) and measuring around 10 m (33 ft) off the coast of Antarctica.[13] This specimen represents the largest cephalopod to ever be scientifically documented. Squid are members of the class Cephalopoda, subclass Coleoidea, order Teuthida, of which there are two major suborders, Myopsina and Oegopsina (including giant squids such as Architeuthis dux). Teuthida is the largest cephalopod order with around 300 species classified into 29 families. The order Teuthida is a member of the superorder Decapodiformes (from the Greek for "ten legs"). Two other orders of decapodiform cephalopods are also called squid, although they are taxonomically distinct from Teuthida and differ recognizably in their gross anatomical features. They are the bobtail squid of order Sepiolida and the ram's horn squid of the monotypic order Spirulida. The vampire squid, however, is more closely related to the octopuses than to any squid. Commercial fishing[edit] According to the FAO, the cephalopod catch for 2002 was 3,173,272 tonnes (6.995867×109 lb). Of this, 2,189,206 tonnes, or 75.8 percent, was squid.[14] The following table lists the squid species fishery catches which exceeded 10,000 tonnes (22,000,000 lb) in 2002. World squid catch in 2002[14] Species Family Common name Catch Loligo gahi or Doryteuthis gahi Loliginidae Patagonian squid 24,976 1.1 Loligo pealei Loliginidae Longfin inshore squid 16,684 0.8 Common squid nei[15] Loliginidae 225,958 10.3 Ommastrephes bartramii Ommastrephidae Neon flying squid 22,483 1.0 Illex argentinus Ommastrephidae Argentine shortfin squid 511,087 23.3 Dosidicus gigas Ommastrephidae Humboldt squid 406,356 18.6 Todarodes pacificus Ommastrephidae Japanese flying squid 504,438 23.0 Nototodarus sloanii Ommastrephidae Wellington flying squid 62,234 2.8 Squid nei[15] Various 414,990 18.6 Total squid 2,189,206 100.0 As food[edit] Main article: Squid (food) Photo of rings of breaded, fried squid Fried calamari: breaded, deep-fried squid Many species are popular as food in cuisines as diverse as Chinese, Greek, Turkish, English, American, Japanese, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, Korean, Vietnamese, and Filipino. In English-speaking countries, squid as food is often marketed using the Italian word calamari. Squid are found abundantly in certain areas, and provide large catches for fisheries. The body can be stuffed whole, cut into flat pieces, or sliced into rings. The arms, tentacles, and ink are also edible; in fact, the only parts not eaten are the beak and gladius (pen). Squid is a good food source for zinc and manganese, and high in copper,[16] selenium, vitamin B12, and riboflavin.[17] See also[edit] 1. ^ Tanabe, K.; Hikida, Y.; Iba, Y. (2006). "Two Coleoid Jaws from the Upper Cretaceous of Hokkaido, Japan". Journal of Paleontology 80 (1): 138–145. doi:10.1666/0022-3360(2006)080[0138:TCJFTU]2.0.CO;2. 2. ^ Jabr, F. 2010. Fact or Fiction: Can a Squid Fly Out of the Water? Scientific American, August 2, 2010. 3. ^ Johnson, W.; Soden, P.D.; Trueman, E.R. (1972). "A Study in Jet Propulsion: An analysis of the motion of the squid, Loligo vulgaris". Journal of Experimental Biology 56 (1): 155–165. 6. ^ Clarke, M.R. (1986). A Handbook for the Identification of Cephalopod Beaks. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-857603-X. 7. ^ Miserez, A; Li, Y; Waite, H; Zok, F (2007). "Jumbo squid beaks: Inspiration for design of robust organic composites". Acta Biomaterialia 3 (1): 139–149. doi:10.1016/j.actbio.2006.09.004. PMID 17113369. 8. ^ Matt Walker (15 June 2009). "The cephalopods can hear you". BBC. Retrieved 2010-04-02. 9. ^ O'Shea, S. (2003). "Giant Squid and Colossal Squid Fact Sheet". The Octopus News Magazine Online. 10. ^ Johnson, C. Scott "Sea Creatures and the Problem of Equipment Damage" United States Naval Institute Proceedings August 1978 pp.106-107 11. ^ Xavier, J.C., P.G. Rodhouse, P.N. Trathan & A.G. Wood 1999. A Geographical Information System (GIS) Atlas of cephalopod distribution in the Southern Ocean. PDF Antarctic Science 11:61-62. online version 12. ^ Anderton, Jim (22 February 2007). "World's largest squid landed in NZ". New Zealand Government website. 13. ^ "Microwave plan for colossal squid". BBC News. March 22, 2007. 14. ^ a b Rodhouse, Paul G (2005). "Review of the state of world marine fishery resources: Fisheries technical paper". World squid resources (FAO) (457). ISBN 92-5-105267-0. 15. ^ a b nei: not elsewhere included 16. ^ Squid - Overview: Food Market Exchange - B2B e-marketplace for the food industry[dead link] 17. ^ FishWatch - Market Squid External links[edit]
Deciphering Branch Behaviour In Uncategorized on July 22, 2011 by nessgrh Handling branches in computer systems is indeed unbelievably subtle. Here is one slightly complicated example which comes out correctly, at least when looked at in the right way; this is encouraging. The following integral comes up in an ODE test: \int \frac{\mathrm{d}x}{x \sqrt{1 - x^2}} = i \arcsin{\frac{1}{x}}. The right hand side is as computed by the meijerint code and looks suspicious, not being invariant under complex conjugation. However, note that on both sides are branched functions: \sqrt{1 - x^2} and \arcsin{\frac{1}{x}}. The left hand side is unbranched at the origin, whereas the right hand side is unbranched at infinity. The left hand side is branched at infinity, whereas the rigth hand side is not. (There is nothing unusual about this, there is no reason to expect indefinite integrals to retain branchpoints.) Thus in order to understand what is going on, we first have to understand the extension of both functions to true polar numbers x, because this is what the meijer g code works with. Since inverse sine is surely nasty, let’s try to understand the square root expression. A clue comes from enabling debug output: the meijerint code decides \frac{1}{\sqrt{1-x^2}} = G(x^2 e^{i \pi}) = \sqrt{\pi} G_{1, 1}^{1, 1} \left(\begin{matrix}\frac{1}{2} \\ 0 \end{matrix}\middle\| x^2 e^{i\pi} \right). From the definitions, for \|x\| < 1 we find G(x) = F(x), where F(x), which we shall define only for \|x\| < 1, is (1 + x)^{-\frac{1}{2}}, evaluated on the principal branch (indeed it is just a binomial series). Also from the definitions, we find that for \|x\| > 1, G(x) = \frac{1}{\sqrt{x}} F\left(\frac{1}{x}\right), where \frac{1}{\sqrt{x}} denotes the holomorphic function \mathcal{S} \rightarrow \mathbb{C} (which is, in particular, continuous, i.e. free of branch cuts). Finally we know that for \|Arg(x)\| < \pi, these two definitions must patch together continuously. Note how the branching has been resolved crudely: for every polar number x (outside a set of measure zero which does not disconnect \mathcal{S}) the integrand has acquired a definite value, continuous on circles. However, there is a circular branch cut on every other sheet. Now let’s look back at the integrand. The meijerint code interprets \int \frac{1}{x \sqrt{1 - x^2}} as \frac{G(e^{i\pi} x^2)}{x}. [It's e^{i\pi} and not e^{-i\pi} since -1 "in the wild" means e^{i\pi} in the standard branch. Of course one can specify this by hand if it is not the desired choice.] Hence for \|x\| > 1, the integrand is \frac{F\left(\frac{-1}{x^2} \right)}{x \sqrt{e^{i \pi}x^2} } = \frac{F\left(\frac{-1}{x^2} \right)}{x^2 e^{i \pi/2}} = \frac{-i}{x^2 \sqrt{1 - \frac{1}{x^2}}} (Recall that in the first term the the square root means the continuous function on \mathcal{S}, and so the second term is the same as the first. In the third term the square root denotes the principal branch, which is continuous throughout \|x\|>1 as well.) Finally, for \|x\| < 1, the derivative of \arcsin{x} is \frac{1}{\sqrt{1 - x^2}}, again with the principal branch of the square root (for the same reason as before: continue analytically on circles from the real-valued function). Thus lo and behold, if we differentiate i\arcsin{\frac{1}{x}} for \|x\| > 1, we do get out the right sign. As a side note, if we replace -x^2 in the integrand by e^{-i\pi}x^2, we get the other sign. About these ads 3 Responses to “Deciphering Branch Behaviour” 1. Interesting. WolframAlpha gives \log(x) - \log\left(\sqrt{1 - x^2} + 1\right) and Maple gives \tanh^{-1}\left(\frac{1}{\sqrt{1 - x^2}}\right). But don’t feel so bad: computing the logarithmic part is one of the hardest parts of the algebraic Risch algorithm. 2. These manifestly real answers are somewhat nicer of course… Actually the wolfram alpha result could reasonably be obtained with the g-function algorithm. Indeed recall that slater-expansion often gives two results, which happen to be analytic continuations of each other. My code returns the simpler one. In this case these are the arcsine function. The other branch is a big mess with eulergammas and branch factors, but if we shop off all constants and are somewhat liberal with the branch factors, we get the wolfram alpha result. I’ll add investigation of this to my todo-later list. Leave a Reply You are commenting using your account. Log Out / Change ) Twitter picture Facebook photo Google+ photo Connecting to %s Get every new post delivered to your Inbox. %d bloggers like this:
Slender Scotch burnet (Zygaena loti scotica) GenusZygaena (1) SizeAdult wingspan: 24-30 mm (2) Classified as Rare in Britain (3). The Slender Scotch Burnet is a striking red and black moth that can be distinguished from other burnet moths by its hairy abdomen, the presence of a kidney-shaped black mark in the outer area of the forewing and the narrower black border on the hindwings (3) (2). Burnet caterpillars are typically stout and strongly patterned with green yellow and black (4). In this species they are dark grey-green, with indistinct, small yellow and black spots along the side (2). Although Zygaena loti is found throughout central Europe, the subspeciesscotica is endemic to Scotland (5). It has an extremely restricted distribution in Scotland, and is classified as rare. It is at currently found only on the Hebridean islands of Mull and Ulva (3). Colonies in the north of Mull and on the mainland at Morven (Argyllshire) have become extinct (5) (3). Inhabits south or south-west facing grassy banks and low cliffs close to the sea where the larval foodplant bird’s foot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus) is found (1) (5). The short vegetation on these slopes is maintained by grazing and erosion (5). The moth is single-brooded. Adults are present from June to early July. They fly during the day in sunshine and visit the flowers of the foodplant, bird’s foot trefoil. The caterpillars are present from August to early may of the following year (3). They spend the winter in diapause and some caterpillars re-enter diapause immediately after emerging. It is unclear how many successive years caterpillars may do this, and it is thought that this phenomenon may partly explain why the populations of adult moths fluctuate greatly from year to year (5). In some areas a lack of grazing may lead to vegetation succession and eventually to bracken growth, which removes suitable habitat for this species (2). Other threats include the increasing isolation of remaining colonies and collecting of adults and caterpillars (5) (2). The Slender Scotch Burnet is listed as a priority species under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan, and a Species Action Plan has been produced to coordinate conservation efforts aimed at this moth (5). One of the aims of the Action Plan is to maintain all current known populations of the Slender Scotch Burnet. Targeted habitat management is already in place in some areas. Most of the current populations occur within Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), and National Trust for Scotland owned land, and so the needs of the species are considered at these sites (5). Nevertheless, it is continuing to decline (2). Information authenticated by Dr Mark Young of Aberdeen University with the support of the British Ecological Society 1. NBN Species Dictionary. (Feb 2003). Available on-line from: / 2. Young, M (2004) Pers. comm. 3. Skinner, B. (1984) Colour identification guide to the moths of the British Isles. Penguin Books, Harmondsworth 4. Carter, D. J. (1986) A field guide to caterpillars of butterflies and moths in Britain and Europe. Collins, London. 5. UK BAP Species Action Plan for Zygaena loti scotica. (November 2003):
Diabetes encephalopathy is any brain disease, damage, or malfunction that derives from diabetes. The complications may include memory loss, dementia, and decreases in literacy. People may also experience difficulty concentrating, lethargy, perception disability, and poor judgment. Furthermore, many patients report problems with the limbs such as poor coordination of the limbs and muscle twitching. According to the National Institutes of Health, diabetes encephalopathy is now considered a complication of diabetes. There are a number of different kinds of diabetic encephalopathy, but Cerebrovascular Disease is the most common. Diabetes-site.com reports that people who have metabolic problems such as diabetes often have a very high blood viscosity. When blood sugar levels stay high for a long time, they thicken the capillary basement membrane and narrow the capillaries causing blood flow to decrease. When there is not enough blood flow to the brain, it causes problems with perception and comprehension. Early intervention can prevent or decrease the progression of diabetic encephalopathy. In order to avoid this condition it is important that you control your blood sugar and blood pressure levels. This will also help you to avoid heart disease, hyperlipidemia, and cerebral arteriosclerosis. Being positive and optimistic will also help you to avoid diabetes encephalopathy. It is recommended that you avoid mood swings, exhaustion, and overexertion as much as possible. Finally, be aware of the pre-symptoms of stroke so that treatment is prompt, and be sure get check-ups regularly so that these types of conditions can be detected early on. Diabetes Encephalopathy and Alzheimer’s As stated above, diabetes is associated with an increased risk of cognitive dysfunction. It has been found that diabetics are at an increased risk of dementia, vascular dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease. According to the National Institutes of Health, there have been a number of ways that diabetes has been found to affect the brain. First, metabolic and vascular risk factors are involved, and may be predictors of cerebrovascular disease, cognitive decline, and dementia. Second, high glucose levels are thought to have “toxic” effects on the brain and its vascular parts. Finally, insulin may be a factor in causing early brain aging, and it has also been implicated in the formation of Alzheimer’s disease. If you have diabetes and have any symptoms of dementia, memory loss, or the like, be sure and talk to your doctor as soon as possible. Don’t be ashamed to let your loved ones know either, as they may be needed to help you receive the treatment that you need. Some forms of diabetes encephalopathy are short-term. They are a hypoglycemic reaction and can return to normal 40-90 minutes after your blood sugar levels are back to normal. However, the cause and severity is for your doctor to determine. Remember, early diagnosis is the best way to avoid long-term complications in diabetes encephalopathy.
BBC Radio "Bores" Predatory Foxes Into Submission Image credit: Andy Roberts, used under Creative Commons license. Its longest running radio soap may have featured carbon offsets and transition towns in its story lines. But the ecological benefits of BBC Radio 4—one of the UK's most popular talk, news and documentary stations—aren't just educational. It turns out that some farmers and conservationists are using it to "bore" predatory foxes, thus protecting swans and other species from becoming their dinner. So, how does it work? The Independent reports that conservationists are using Radio 4 to keep foxes away from swans. While the most likely explanation is that foxes don't like the sound of human voices, the farmer who first turned them onto this trick claims it is all about the quality of programming: Swans at the Abbotsbury Swannery in Dorset are protected by fences stretching nearly 60 metres out across the lagoon. However, crafty foxes learned to swim around the defences. "They caused a huge amount of damage on a regular basis," said Dave Wheeler, a swanherd."It was a farmer that put us on to Radio 4. In his words, Radio 4 is so boring that foxes won't go near it." This isn't the first time I've heard of such tricks. In fact, when searching for ways to stop my own backyard hens from getting eaten, I found discussions online that suggest that many Australian farmers and chicken keepers play AC/DC really loud around the coop to keep predators away. (No word on what that does for egg production.) And on an entirely separate note, who knew there was such a job title as "swanherd"!? More on Foxes, Conservation, and Deterring Predators Extinct Fox Turns Up Again in California Alpacas Fend Off Foxes at Highgrove Snipers Take Out Foxes to Protect Endangered Penguins Tags: Biodiversity \| Conservation \| United Kingdom
REM Sleep Vote 0 Votes Although many psychologists have researched REM sleep and tried to explain its importance, we are still not completely certain as to why it is necessary. Scientists have even conducted experiments in which rats die from being deprived of REM sleep, bringing to light just how essential it is to our survival. There have been many possible scientific reasons as to why organisms need it. One that particularly caught my attention was that regarding real-life simulation. I recently watched an episode of Nova called "What Are Dreams?" on Netflix that went into depth about how the brain may be producing simulations of possible real-life scenarios when we dream. For instance, someone may have a dream that he or she gets fired from his or her job. Dreaming about this could mentally prepare that person for that particular situation if it were to happen in real life. Just as in the textbook, the Nova program also touched on the subject of deactivating a certain part of a cat's brain that paralyzes them during REM sleep. This experiment allowed researchers to see that, during REM sleep, the cat's movements were that of everyday activities, like hunting. I found that this evidence strongly supported the statement that REM sleep prepares one for real life by simulating real-life scenarios. Leave a comment About this Entry This page contains a single entry by gomez181 published on October 10, 2011 10:53 PM. correlation between good brain habits and sleep experience was the previous entry in this blog. Sleeping for Tomorrow is the next entry in this blog.
Puget Sound War From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Puget Sound War Date 1855-1856 Location Washington Territory Result United States victory United States Commanders and leaders United States Isaac Stevens United States Charles H. Mason United States Gabriel J. Rains United States James Tilton Chief Leschi Units involved 9th US Infantry 3rd US Artillery 4th US Infantry USS Decatur Snoqualmie warriors Washington militia Oregon militia Nisqually warriors Muckleshoot warriors Puyallup warriors Klickitat warriors The Puget Sound War was an armed conflict that took place in the Puget Sound area of the state of Washington in 1855–56, between the United States Military, local militias and members of the Native American tribes of the Nisqually, Muckleshoot, Puyallup, and Klickitat. Another component of the war, however, were raiders from the Haida and Tlingit who came into conflict with the United States Navy during contemporaneous raids on the native peoples of Puget Sound. Although limited in its magnitude, territorial impact and losses in terms of lives, the conflict is often remembered in connection to the 1856 Battle of Seattle and to the execution of a central figure of the war, Nisqually Chief Leschi. The contemporaneous Yakima War may have been responsible for some events of the Puget Sound War, such as the Battle of Seattle, and it is not clear that the people of the time made a strong distinction between the two conflicts. The war[edit] The Puget Sound War began over land rights and ended in a cloud of controversy surrounding the hanging of Leschi. The catalyst of the war was the Treaty of Medicine Creek of 1854.[1] Negotiated by Washington Territory Governor Isaac Stevens, the treaty preserved Indian fishing rights, but took away prime Nisqually farm land.[2] Leschi, chosen to negotiate the treaty with Stevens, was outraged and chose to fight rather than give up his land.[3] The fighting commenced in October 1855, when “Eaton’s Rangers,” a citizen militia under Captain Charles Eaton, were involved in a clash with Nisqually tribesmen. Two militiamen, Joseph Miller and Abram Benton Moses, were killed. Upon hearing the news, Governor Stevens immediately dispatched a company to locate Leschi and “escort” him back to Olympia. The war itself consisted of a series of short skirmishes with relatively few deaths on either side. Notable battles occurred in present-day Tacoma, Seattle, and even as far east as Walla Walla. In particular, on October 28, 1855, a party of Muckleshoot killed eight settlers in what was later called the White River Massacre. Three children fled on foot to Seattle, but one five-year old boy was kidnapped and held by the Muckleshoot for six months before being released.[4] Leschi was captured in November 1856 and was forced to stand trial for the murder of Abram Benton Moses. His first trial resulted in a hung jury because of the question of the legitimacy of murder during wartime; the jury of twelve voted ten in favor, two opposed to conviction.[2] Leschi was tried again in 1857. Despite vague witness accounts and issues over whether Leschi was actually at the scene of the incident, he was found guilty of murder. Leschi was hanged on February 19, 1858. On December 10, 2004 a Historical Court convened in Pierce County, Washington ruled “as a legal combatant of the Indian War… Leschi should not have been held accountable under law for the death of an enemy soldier,” thereby exonerating him of any wrongdoing.[5] The ruling, while having no legal status, was considered a definitive trial in absentia that provided closure for the Nisqually people, who fought for years to clear the name of their legendary chief. Today, a Seattle neighborhood and a Puyallup school bear Leschi’s name. See also[edit] 1. ^ Washington History Online, "Leschi: Justice in our Time," <http://washingtonhistoryonline.org/leschi/index.htm> [23 January 2007]. 2. ^ a b Janice E. Schuetz, Episodes in Rhetoric of Government-Indian Relations, (Westport: Praeger, 2002), 1-24. 3. ^ J.A. Eckrom, Remembered Drums: A History of the Puget Sound Indian War, (Walla Walla: Pioneer Press, 1989), 1-30. 4. ^ Majors, Harry M. (1975). Exploring Washington. Van Winkle Publishing Co. p. 77. ISBN 978-0-918664-00-6. 5. ^ Seattle, Washington, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 11 December 2004.
Question by serena: Positive Effects that the Crusades has on Western Europe? I know that they basically gained a lot of loot and enriched their economic system, but can anyone be more specific or offer more positive effects? Thanks. :] Best answer: Answer by Chris S Add your own answer in the comments! Medieval Europe? by admin on December 12, 2010 Problem by ashley_tisdale2006: Medieval Europe? how was information told to individuals in medieval europe? which means how did they locate out what was likely on? Greatest reply: Solution by Steini - The solution mainly depends on your definition of medieval europe… just before Gutenberg this difficulty was solved with travelling newstellers, who spread the most recent information… from the stop of the 15th century starting up, newspapers spread all above europe Include your personal response in the remarks! Very best answer: Solution by Will Give your answer to this question under! { 1 comment } Medieval Europe: A Brief Sourcebook by admin on September 16, 2008 Medieval Europe: A Brief Sourcebook This assortment of documents in medieval historical past is made to accompany the lately revised MEDIEVAL EUROPE: A Brief Historical past by C. Warren Hollister and Judith Bennett. Nevertheless the varied selection of resources also can make it a useful dietary supplement for programs in Western Civilization. As in prior editions, this reader continues to offer a lucid and approachable introduction to every single of the documents and a special chapter devoted to visual sources in medieval history. In addition to these hal Checklist Price: $ thirty.00 Price tag: $ 95.58
Home to spectacular beaches and the world's most dangerous volcano What & Where? Philippines is an island nation comprising 7,107 islands on the western edge of the Pacific Ocean. Most of these mountainous islands are volcanic in origin and there are still many active volcanoes in the country such as such as Mayon Volcano, Mount Pinatubo, and Taal Volcano. This lush, tropical country has a plethora of fascinating landscapes to offer. Active volcanoes, spectacular beaches, coral waters and rainforests make it an enticing destination. The sugary white beach on Boracay Island with its azure blue water, is often described as the most beautiful tropical beach on the planet. The Banaue Rice Terraces was inscribed in UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1995 for its beauty which showcases harmony between mankind and nature. They were carved from the high cordilleras over 2,000 years ago and have been following the contours of these mountains ever since. The Chocolate Hills in Bohol are made of 1,268 cone shaped hills of the same size, which are covered with green grass that turns brown during the dry season, hence the name. The country sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire and experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity. About 20 earthquakes are registered daily in the Philippines though most are too weak to be felt. Mayon Volcano is the most active volcano of the country and is considered the most dangerous of the planet. Taal Volcano is the smallest in the world. Philippines is also a refuge for several rare species of flora and fauna. It is home to the largest eagle in the world: the Philippine Eagle, and the smallest mammal in existence: the Philippine Tarsier. Subscribe to our mailing list * indicates required
increase text size decrease text size printer friendly > Centers & Services > Heartburn Center Normal and abnormal stomach valvesNormally, after swallowing, a valve between the esophagus and stomach opens to allow food to pass. It then closes to prevent stomach contents from refluxing into the esophagus. This valve is made up of muscle called the lower esophageal sphincter (LES). When it fails to close immediately after swallowing, stomach acids can flow back into the esophagus, causing irritation and burning also called heartburn. What Causes Heartburn and GERD? There are many reasons why this muscle loses its tone and ability to close. They include: nicotine from cigarette smoke, caffeine, certain medications, viruses and others causes. Reflux itself can lead to damage, further interfering with the muscle’s ability to contract and close off the lower esophagus. Other potential causes of GERD: • If there is a scar at the outlet of the stomach from previous ulcer disease, there can be resistance to the stomach emptying, leading to over-distention of the stomach and reflux. • Diseases such as diabetes can lead to poor muscle function of the stomach, poor emptying, and then ultimately reflux. • Overeating at times can stretch out the stomach making it more vulnerable to reflux. • Hiatal Hernias - many people with significant reflux have a hiatal hernia. This is where the esophagus passes through the muscle of the diaphragm. If there is a weakness where the esophagus enters the diaphragm, a hole can form in the muscle and part of the stomach can rise up through the chest cavity. This is a hiatal hernia. Being obese raises the risk for hiatal hernia. Additional weight increases the pressure in the abdomen, pushing its contents against the diaphragm. Lifestyle Factors That Can Make GERD Worse • Eating spicy, acidic or fatty foods. These include, but are not limited to onions, tomato sauce, mint and chocolate. • Drinking caffeinated or alcoholic beverages • Eating large meals • Lying down after eating • Cigarette smoking • Stress Medical Conditions That Can Make GERD Worse • Asthma • Connective tissue disorder • Delayed stomach emptying • Diabetes • Hiatal hernia • Obesity • Peptic ulcer • Pregnancy Smoking and GERD Believe it or not, smoking can be a culprit when it comes to reflux in several different ways. How, you ask? Smoking lowers the pressure of the lower esophageal sphincter, increases the stomach’s production of acid and reduces the amount of saliva produced. Saliva helps clear acid from the esophagus. If smoking is a contributing factor to your reflux, know that Akron General offers help to quit smoking. Visit our listing of Classes & Events to learn more. Do Medications Cause GERD? Rarely, medications can provoke reflux. These include blood pressure medications and calcium channel blockers, especially Nifedipine (Procardia). These can lower the esophageal sphincter pressure, promoting reflux in some patients. Usually, however, foods and beverages, such as caffeine, peppermint and chocolate bring on an attack. Date Updated: 03-MAY-2013 Find Us on Facebook button
Page is loading... Lesson Ten, The Evidence of Experience part 1 Were the phenomenon of the spirit, which is non-material in all its aspects, to be made the subject of experimentation, so that its autonomous existence became fully proven, despite its remoteness from sense perception, it would have a profound effect in causing men to believe more fully in the spirit. This would be the case particularly with those who are unable to understand subtle and complex questions and who are more inclined to accept empirical scientific data than they are the truths of philosophy. * (1) * Spiritualism, the practice of communicating with the spirits of the dead, reached its highpoint in the nineteenth century when it became codified as a science. Numerous personalities throughout the world have observed the possibility of such communication, which may be counted as a living proof for the autonomy and immortality of the spirit. Divesting themselves of all partiality and prejudice and impelled by genuinely scientific motives, a number of scholars have devoted themselves to painstaking research and study in order to discover the truth of the matter. With their achievements they have been able to demonstrate that the existence of the spirit is no longer a theoretical matter but something clear and straightforward. Carefully executed experiments have shown that it is definitely possible to establish communication with the spirits of the dead. One may engage in conversation with them and ask their help in solving difficult problems. It often happens, indeed, that people who are utterly unable to solve the most complex problems confronting them are able to solve them through communication with the spirits of the dead. Spirits have also been shown to possess the remarkable capacity of raising bodies from ground without the intervention of any material cause or bodily energy. (Alam-i Pas az Marg, section 11) One of the prominent traits of those who enter a trance to communicate with the dead is that they function both as receivers and as transmitters. It may sometimes happen that while in that state they speak in languages they had never learned. They may also find themselves divulging secrets they were not in a position to know. Still more remarkable is the fact that mediums are able while in a trance to read and to copy inscriptions on objects contained in sealed boxes, although they are quite illiterate! In short, mediums engage in such inexplicable acts that we are obliged to follow them into the invisible realm of the spirit in our attempt to find an answer. All we have mentioned has been proved by experiment and it constitutes a refutation of the claims of the materialists, for if the spirit were simply an effect of matter, a physicochemical property of the brain, it would be impossible to explain all these varied phenomena that have been verified experimentally. We can escape the impasse to which materialist thought leads only when we admit the existence of a supramaterial force that creates such phenomena, for it is not conceivable that they should be the product of material factors. Although age is not an important consideration for those who establish communication with spirits, those who enter on this path generally choose mediums from among children to receive messages from spirits. This removes the likelihood of trickery, deceit, and recourse to various contraptions, and thus puts an end to all possible objection. At the same time, experienced and specialized researchers also take part in the sessions where contact is established with spirits. Repeated and careful experiments are carried out in order to remove any lingering doubts, to clarify all ambiguity, and to dispel any notion of autosuggestion on the part of the participants. Although we can accept the matter under discussion as an established reality, it is like many other truths and realities exploited by those whose trade is trickery and deceit; they demean and dishonor it. One cannot therefore either trust all who claim to be able to communicate with spirits, or reject them with inappropriate arguments; both courses would be contrary to logic. It is a careful examination of the matter that will lead to a perception of the truth and the ability to distinguish the illusory from the real. Farid Wajdi, author of the Twentieth Century Encyclopedia, lists the names of a handful of European and American scientists from among the many thousands that have worked in this field, and cites the clear evidence provided by the objective experiments they carried out. Many of them were skeptical or negative about the possibility of communicating with the spirits of the dead until it was proven to them; in fact they first entered the field with the intention of totally disproving its bases. If someone had insisted on the possibility of proving scientifically communication with the spirits of the dead, they would have dismissed it unhesitatingly as an absurdity. But when they saw that whatever experiment was undertaken ended up supporting the claims of their opponents, they surrendered and accepted the facts. Earlier scholars had never taken the trouble to test the claims of the spiritualists, they even regarded the idea of conducting experiments on the subject with repugnance. Farid Wajdi adds that specialists in the field believe in the principle that the spirit is not annihilated with the death of the body, because they are unable to explain the extraordinary phenomena that take place in their sessions except in terms of activity by the spirits of the dead. * * * * * Those who do not have any serious arguments to offer try to explain these experimentally tested realities in terms of the unconscious. Can we reasonably accuse all the scholars and experts who work in the field of having been straightforwardly duped by the tricks of swindlers and of placing the seal of scientific approval on a series of delusions? Of affirming the correctness this science without exercising any caution, under the influence of the mediums? It would be completely irrational and illogical to attribute error to all those scholars. Alfred Russell Dulles, Darwin's partner in discovering the law of natural selection, declared his view on the matter as follows: “When I began investigating the mysteries of communication with the spirits of the dead, I was an absolute materialist and denier of the spirit. No trace existed in my mind of non-material entities or a supranatural world. On the contrary, it was my intention to prove by scientific means the incorrectness of all belief in such things. But as I confronted the experiments that had taken place and the realities they had proven, I gradually came to believe in them myself. The reality of the spirit came to have such an effect on me that I came to believe in it firmly before I was able to find any explanation for it in my mind. I can neither turn away from it in denial nor can I find any material cause for it.” (Ibid., p. 72) Krokis, the head of the Royal Academy of Science in England, writes the following in his book entitled Spiritual Phenomena: “Since I do indeed believe in the existence of these phenomena, it would be a kind of fear or literary cowardice if I concealed my testimony from fear of the criticism of mockers who know nothing at all of the subject and are unable to free themselves of their illusions. I will set forth in my book as clearly as I can what I have seen with my own eyes and tested repeatedly through careful experimentation.” From all the experiments that have taken place in sessions for summoning up the spirits of the dead and the conclusions scholars have drawn from them, it is plain that man possesses an energy and personality that outlive his death. That energy undertakes various activities without any need of the physical body. Under certain special circumstances it is possible for the inhabitants of this world to establish communication with the spirits of the departed. * (2) * Another scientific advance that has contributed to the understanding of the autonomy and immortality of the spirit is hypnotism. This consists of concentrating the gaze for a lengthy period of a point of light to the accompaniment of prolonged suggestion, with the result that the subject enters an artificial dream state, quite distinct from ordinary dreams. After the subject has fallen asleep, he hears out of all sounds that surround him only those produced by the hypnotist all of whose commands he obeys in his extreme impressionability. The English scholar James Breed was able to build on the investigations of his predecessors to turn hypnotism into a fully fledged science by clarifying the principles according to which hypnotism functions. After him other scholars in America and Europe devoted their efforts to further developing this science; we can mention in particular Richet, Emile Kue, Van Ouls and Charcot. The most important achievement of the last of these was his classification of the different degrees and stages of hypnotic sleep. In artificial sleep, the hypnotist is able to make the subject submit to his will in such a way that he unhesitatingly executes his commands. The senses of the sleeper cease functioning; he shows no sign of being able to see or to hear, and his senses of touch and taste lack their customary power. Finally, the one thus put to sleep is so overcome by weariness and lassitude that he feels no pain, however much pressure be brought to bear on his body. (Usul-i Ravankavi-yi Freud) Dr. Philip Carrot, a British anesthesiologist and specialist on hypnotism, wrote the following in the British Journal of Public Health: “Many patients needing surgery have been successfully anaesthetized through the use of hypnotism.” He went on to state his belief that it is easier and better to use hypnotism on patients undergoing surgery, because it is a simpler and less dangerous procedure than drugging them. One of the advantages of hypnotism is that it is possible to keep the patient unconscious for many hours without his feeling any pain. (Ittila'at for 23/6/43) * (3) * Magnetism is another branch of knowledge pointing to the autonomy of the spirit. It consists of a mysterious force present in everyone to different degrees. Magnetism differs from hypnotism in that when a person cultivates the magnetic force within him he will be able to influence animals as well as human beings. In addition, magnetic force can be exploited directly, whereas hypnotism requires the use of certain means in order to become effective. The power of magnetism is so effective in man that it enables one to render one's prey or enemy motionless. Since the most ancient times, people have been aware to some extent of the effects of this mysterious power. It was however at the end of the eighteenth century that it was put forward for the first time as a scientific discovery. Specialists began to use magnetic waves as a means for curing the sick, and as research progressed, it became apparent that hypnotic trances might be induced by means of magnetism. Psychiatrists make use of artificially induced dreams to discover the causes for certain psychiatric disorders; they attempt to plunge into the depths of the mind and to discover the true thoughts of the unconscious, the thoughts that the patient would be reluctant to tell the doctor while in a waking state, out of embarrassment or other reasons. Likewise, the patient frankly confesses to certain things that he would never reveal while in a waking state. The one sent into a trance is so fully subject to the influence of the magnetic force that he does whatever he is told by the one who puts him in the trance, without his own will having the least power to decide. At more advanced stages, the body itself becomes totally numb, and if one of its limbs is rubbed it will be unable to move, resembling an entirely motionless body. The subject will be unable to hear sounds surrounding him; he sees and hears only the one in whose power he stands. This passivity sometimes goes so far that he feels the pain of a needle inserted in by the one who controls his trance; and likewise if the controller begins to feel happy, so too will the subject! Other emotions anger, nervousness, excitement will be similarly reflected. Persons in a magnetic trance are able to speak in languages they have not learned; they know of things that lie beyond the range of their knowledge; and their spirits travel to distant regions. Materialists attempt to explain all this in terms of suggestion and the loss of customary will on the part of the subject. However, their explanations are not convincing. For in addition to that which the material sciences attempt to explain there is a reality within man capable of accomplishing acts that are inexplicable in terms of material criteria. Anyone who tries to discover the truth of the matter will be led to accept this conclusion, step by step. (Farid Wajdi, Da'irah al-Ma'arif, Vol. X, p. 420) What energy is it that can thus subdue the will of another person and rob his limbs of motion and feeling? If man reflects carefully, will he not be convinced that his existence includes a spirit that is both mysterious and eternal? (Alam-i Pas az Marg, p. 46) Is it not the method of science to base general laws on objective observations and to strive against delusion? Without any doubt, every new discovery in the fields discussed above decreases still further any appeal the materialistic distorters of reality might have. * (4) * Although men have been aware of telepathy at least to some degree for a long time, no careful scientific study of the subject was undertaken before 1882. Beginning with that date, the English Society for Psychic Research has carried out numerous experiments and proven the reality of the phenomenon. The communication of thoughts between two people is possible over both long and short distances. Communication over short distances takes place by means of the two people standing opposite each other and transmitting their thoughts to each other without speaking or making any gestures. As for communication over a long distance and the size of the distance is of no importance at all it is enough for the two persons, at a prearranged time, to concentrate their thoughts on a single point in order to transmit their mental messages to each other. These phenomena have been repeatedly tested and proven by specialists and they can be regarded as another remarkable manifestation of the spirit, acting in utter independence of the body. Ought we not then to believe that the energy ruling over the mechanism of our body is fundamentally different from material energy and the phenomena it produces? As the psychiatrist Kennington puts it, “for the brain to exist and function a few centimeters outside the body is just as impossible as it would be for digestion or the circulation of the blood to take place outside the body.” Henri Bergson writes: “The phenomena declared to exist by psychic science, at least some of which must be regarded as true, cause us to ask why we have waited so long to undertake such a study. “We will not repeat the subjects we have already discussed, but instead restrict our discussion to a point that appears more certain than anything else. If after the accumulation of thousands of testimonies consistent with each other concerning manifestations of telepathy scientists still insist on denying the reality of this phenomenon, then we can only conclude that human testimony is unacceptable to science and rejected by it. “It is true of course that we have to choose among the various results that psychic science presents to us; that science itself does not regard all its results as equally conclusive; and that it distinguishes between what is certain and what is merely probable or possible. “But if we take into consideration only that part which psychic science regards as definite, it suffices to give us a sense of a vast and unknown realm that psychic science has only just begun to explore. (Du Sarchishma-yi Akhlaq va Din, p. 354) Share this page

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