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in music, percussion instrument consisting of a hemispherical metal vessel over which a membrane is stretched, played with soft-headed wooden drumsticks. Of ancient origin, it appeared early in Europe, probably imported from the Middle East by crusaders in the 12th or 13th cent. These early kettledrums were small and appeared in pairs, often hung about the player's waist. The kettledrum was introduced into the opera orchestra by Lully in the 17th cent. and was commonly used to express joy or triumph in the music of the baroque period. Unique among Western percussion instruments, it can be tuned to definite pitches by adjusting the tension of the head. Usually there are two or more in the modern orchestra, the tuning of which varies. Berlioz used eight pairs in his Requiem.
Several improved methods of tuning were developed in the 19th cent.; common today is a single pedal capable of giving the instrument a full chromatic range of over an octave. Kettledrums are also called timpani. See drum
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright © 2004.
Licensed from Columbia University Press
| 3.530413 |
The Battle of Rosillo Creek, also sometimes referred to as the battle of Rosalis, was on an open prairie in Coahuila y Tejas on March 29, 1813, during the Mexican War of Independence. The battlefield is located in what is today Bexar County, Texas, in the United States, near the confluence of Rosillo Creek and Salado Creeks, nine miles southeast of San Antonio (San Antonio del Bejar).
The battle was fought between the Republican Army of the North, which was led by Bernardo Gutiérrez de Lara
, Samuel Kemper
, and Augustus Magee. And the Spanish
Royalist force which was commanded by Manuel María de Salcedo
, the Governor
, and Simon de Herrera, the Governor
of Nuevo León
, the Republican Army of the North, composed of Anglo-Americans
and Indians, and numbering about 900 men, with Samuel Kemper
, who had also been involved in the 1804
rebellion in Florida
, along with some help from the United States
, crossed over from Louisiana
into Texas. Flying a green flag, they captured the town of Nacogdoches
on August 7
The Republican Army of the North then marched to Goliad
, where they laid siege
to Presidio La Bahia
from November 7
, to February 19
, when the Royalist
Army retreated back to San Antonio.
In March 1813, the Royalist Army, numbering about 1,500 men, ambushed the Republican Army as they searched for food along the banks of Rosillo Creek in what is today Southeastern Bexar County, Texas. The main body of the Royalist Army was entrenched in the Oak
forest that lined Rosillo Creek, but the soldiers of the Republican Army had caught sight of the Royalist Army and they defeated them in a battle that lasted a little over an hour. When the battle was over the Republican Army had killed between 100 and 330 men of the Royalist Army and had captured most of their arms and ammunition, including six cannons, and 1,500 horses and mules while they only lost six of their own men in the battle.
After the battle, the Royalist Army retreated back to San Antonio. They signed a truce with Kemper on April 1
, and surrendered both Salcedo and Herrera to the Republican Army.
On April 3
, the Republican Army marched Salcedo, Herrera, and twelve other prisoners back to the battle site on Rosillo Creek where they were executed.
On April 6
, the Republican Army drafted a declaration of independence which established the first Republic of Texas
. A Republic which only lasted until August 18 1813
, when the Republican Army was defeated at the Battle of Medina
Nine years after the Battle of Rosillo Creek, José Félix Trespalacios
, the first Mexican Governor of Texas, returned to the battle site on Rosillo Creek, and buried the remains of the men of the Spanish Royalist Army beneath a large oak tree and then carved a large cross on the tree.
The battle site is near the present day intersection of W. W. White and Hildebrandt streets in Southeastern Bexar County, Texas.
- 1. “The Sons of the Republic of Texas” By Thomas B. Green, 2003,
- 2. “Texas Tales Your Teacher Never Told You” by C. F. Eckhardt, published by Wordware publishing, Inc. Regional Division.
- 3. “Program for Ceremonies Commemorating The 175th Anniversary of The Battle of Medina August 21, 1988” by Robert H. Thonhoff.
- 4. “Report of The Battle of Medina by Spanish participant Joaquin de Arredondo” translated by Mattie Austin Hatcher in The Texas Historical Association Quarterly XI no. 3 January 1908 pages 200 - 236.
- 5. “Green Flag Over Texas” by Julia Kathryn Garrett, Cordova Press, new York.
| 3.501689 |
Fort Frederick - 1860
- Sally Port
- Picket Fence
- Armstrong Gun
- 32 Pounder Gun
- 5 1/2" Howitzer
- 24 Pounder Gun
This illustration depicts a bird’s-eye-view of how Fort Frederick might have appeared in 1860.
The Fort consists of a central Martello Tower, enclosed within outer defensive works. These outer works consist of large, V –shaped earth ramparts pointing south, towards the water, and a rear, limestone Curtain Wall closing-off the north side of the Fort.
Along the base of the outside face of the earth ramparts a wooden picket, or stockade wall, existed.
Various types of artillery were mounted on the ramparts. There were two -24 pounder Guns, two 5 ½ inch Howitzers, four-32 pounder Guns and one-110 pounder Armstrong Gun.
| 3.118424 |
Read about the impact that smacking has on children and find resources to raise awareness.
The law says that parents have the right to use “reasonable chastisement” on their child. This means that they can use mild forms of physical punishment. However, hitting a child hard enough to leave visible bruising, grazes, scratches, minor swellings or cuts, now constitutes the criminal offence of actual bodily harm. This carries a prison sentence.
Nobody else can legally physically chastise a child, even if the parent has given their permission. Anybody else using physical force to punish or discipline a child may be accused of physical abuse and is committing a criminal offence.
- hitting with any object (including shoes, rulers and cooking utensils)
- twisting ears
It also includes causing pain and discomfort by making children sit or stand in uncomfortable positions or for long periods and burning with matches or incense sticks.
Hurting children isn’t the best way to teach them right from wrong. There are better forms of discipline and the following guides will help you raise awareness of the issue.
Domestic abuse and its impact on children
A three-day National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) training course for practitioners and managers.
06 April 2010
Following recommendations from the Chief Adviser on Child Safety, Sir Roger Singleton, the Government has announced its intention to ban physical punishment of children in any form of tuition or care outside of the family. Read more
Behave yourself: a guide to better parenting
NSPCC. Positive ways to encourage good behaviour.
NSPCC parenting leaflets
The NSPCC produce a wide range of leaflets for parents and carers.
Other sources of information
| 3.718516 |
Gestalt principles, or gestalt laws, are rules of the organization of perceptual scenes. When we look at the world, we usually perceive complex scenes composed of many groups of objects on some background, with the objects themselves consisting of parts, which may be composed of smaller parts, etc. How do we accomplish such a remarkable perceptual achievement, given that the visual input is, in a sense, just a spatial distribution of variously colored individual points? The beginnings and the direction of an answer were provided by a group of researchers early in the twentieth century, known as Gestalt psychologists. Gestalt is a German word meaning 'shape' or 'form'. Gestalt principles aim to formulate the regularities according to which the perceptual input is organized into unitary forms, also referred to as (sub)wholes, groups, groupings, or Gestalten (the plural form of Gestalt). These principles mainly apply to vision, but there are also analogous aspects in auditory and somatosensory perception. In visual perception, such forms are the regions of the visual field whose portions are perceived as grouped or joined together, and are thus segregated from the rest of the visual field. The Gestalt principles were introduced in a seminal paper by Wertheimer (1923/1938), and were further developed by Köhler (1929), Koffka (1935), and Metzger (1936/2006; see review by Todorović, 2007). For a modern textbook presentation, including more recent contributions, see Palmer (1999).
If the visual field is homogeneous throughout, a situation labeled as Ganzfeld (German for 'whole field'), it has no consistent internal organization. A simple case of an inhomogeneous field is a display with a patch of one color surrounded by another color, as in Figure 1.
In such cases the visual field is perceived as articulated into two components, the figure (patch) on the ground (surround). This figure-ground articulation may seem obvious, but it is not trivial. This type of field organization has a number of remarkable features, first described in the work of Rubin (1915/1921), predating Wertheimer's publication. The two components are perceived as two segments of the visual field differing not only in color, but in some other phenomenal characteristics as well. The figure has an object-like character, whereas the ground has less perceptual saliency and appears as 'mere' background. The areas of the figure and the ground usually do not appear juxtaposed in a common plane, as in a mosaic, but rather as stratified in depth: there is a tendency to see the figure as positioned in front, and the ground at a further depth plane and continuing to extend behind the figure, as if occluded by it. Furthermore, the border separating the two segments is perceived as belonging to the figure rather than to the ground, and as delineating the figure's shape as its contour, whereas it is irrelevant to the shape of the ground. Certain displays are bi-stable, in that what is perceived as figure can also be perceived as ground and vice-versa. However, in displays structured such as Figure 1, in which a smaller region is wholly surrounded by a larger region, it is usually the former that appears as figure (although it may also be seen as a hole), and the latter as ground.
The described organization of the display into the figure and the ground is not its only conceivable segmentation. To illustrate this, consider that Figure 1, as presented on the computer screen, is a set composed of a certain number of pixels, and that the segmentation into figure and ground corresponds to a particular partition of this set into two subsets. However, this same set may be partitioned into a huge number of other pairs of subsets (such as the subset of pixels in the left half of the figure and the subset in the right half, or the subset at one side of any arbitrary line meandering through the display and the subset at the other side, or the subset consisting of even pixels in odd rows plus odd pixels in even rows and the complementary subset), or into any conceivable three subsets, or four subsets etc. Nevertheless, while an enormous number of such alternative partitions are conceivable, none of them is perceivable, save one or very few. The partition that is actually seen is not a matter of geometric combinatorics and attention to arbitrarily selected subsets: the natural, and often the only way that we can perceive such a display, given the structure of the visual input, is as segmented into the figure and the ground. Such articulation, in which a virtual infinity of geometrical possibilities is pruned down to a single or only a couple of perceptual realizations, is a very basic feature of the working of the visual system.
Although figure-ground perception is a fundamental aspect of field organization, it is not usually itself referred to as a Gestalt law or principle of grouping. Rather, such terms are mostly used for describing the rules of the organization of somewhat more complex visual fields. There is no definitive list of Gestalt principles, but some of the most commonly discussed are listed and described below, illustrated with examples mainly based on Wertheimer (1923/1938) and Metzger (1936/2006). As demonstrated by these examples, the perceptual groupings are in some cases strong and unambiguous, but in other cases they are better described as tendencies, especially when different factors compete with each other.
Figure 2a contains six patches,each of which is perceived as a visual unit, a figure on a common ground. However, they are also collectively the elements of a higher-order visual unit, the horizontal row. According to Gestalt theory, this type integration of individual components into a superordinate whole can be accounted for by the proximity principle: elements tend to be perceived as aggregated into groups if they are near each other.
The effect of varying proximity is illustrated in Figure 2b. Due to the change of distance between some of the components, here the patches are perceived not just collectively as a sextuple, but also as being subdivided into a triple of doublets, an organization that in Wertheimer's notation is designated as 12/34/56.
Note that a number of other potential partitions of the set in Figure 2b exist, such as into a doublet of triples (123/456), or into a quartet and a pair (1234/56), or even into combinations of non-adjacent items such as 16/25/34/, or 135/246 etc. However, it is extremely hard, if not impossible, to actually perceive groupings of patches other than 12/34/56 in this figure. On the other hand, it is not impossible to see some subdivisions in Figure 2a. For example, with deliberate effort and concentrated attention one may eventually succeed in mentally partitioning the row of patches into three pairs. However, such a percept is usually only partially and locally successful (one clearly sees only one or two segregated pairs), appears contrived, and is fleeting. In contrast, perceiving the same partition in Figure 2b is spontaneous and effortless, and the percept is global and stable. Attention may contribute to figural perception, but, except in special cases, its role is usually limited: generally, it is not attention that creates the forms, but rather the forms, organized in accord with Gestalt principles, that draw attention.
With a different spatial distribution of the six components, such as in Figure 2c, another naturally perceived partition into sub-wholes arises, denoted as 1/23/45/6. The partition 12/34/56, although arguably simpler and more regular, is hard to perceptually realize in Figure 2c: it would violate the proximity principle, as it would involve grouping together some elements across relatively larger distances, but assigning other, relatively near elements, into different groups.
Common fate principle
The common fate principle states that elements tend to be perceived as grouped together if they move together. Thus if some of the elements in Figure 2 would begin to displace they would be perceived as a group, even across larger distances. This is shown in Figure 3, in the following manner. If you move the cursor within the area of this figure, some of the patches will move up some distance, and if you then click on the left mouse button, they will move down. Repeatedly pressing and releasing the left mouse button provides a simple demonstration of the grouping power of the common fate principle.
Figure 3: Common fate principle.
The similarity principle claims that elements tend to be integrated into groups if they are similar to each other. It is illustrated in Figure 3a-e, in which proximity is held constant, since the individual figures are at (approximately) the same distance from each other, as in Figure 2a. Nevertheless, they are perceptually partitioned into three adjacent pairs, due to the similarity of visual attributes such as lightness (Figure 3a), color (Figure 3b), size (Figure 3c), orientation (Figure 3d), or shape (Figure 3e).
The 12/34/56 partition becomes more salient when the within-group similarities and between-group differences are compounded, by making the doublets similar / different in more than one visual attribute ( Figure 3f). An important manipulation, studied already by Wertheimer (1923), is to vary both similarity and proximity, in order to investigate their joint effects on perceived groupings. Note that by increasing the distance between elements 2 and 3, and elements 4 and 5 (as in Figure 2b), the salience of the 12/34/56 organization is strengthened (Figure 3g), since similarity and proximity co-operate by favoring the same organization. On the other hand, when the inter-element distances are changed as in Figure 2c, the resulting perceptual organization, Figure 3h, is less clear, because similarity still favors partition 12/34/56, but proximity favors partition 1/23/45/6. This type of manipulation can thus be used to quantify the effects of different Gestalt principles and compare their strength.
The display in Figure 4a can be described as consisting of a number of elements arranged in three sub-wholes or branches, converging at X. According to the principle of proximity, one would expect branch BX to group with branch CX, but instead it groups with branch AX, forming the sub-whole AXB.
This grouping is an instance of the continuity principle: oriented units or groups tend to be integrated into perceptual wholes if they are aligned with each other. The principle applies in the same way for elements arranged along lines (Figure 4a) as well as for patterns built from corresponding lines themselves (Figure 4b). The balance between continuity and proximity in the formation of salient sub-wholes may be shifted by varying similarity, which can be accomplished by coloring different branches differently. Thus coloring BX same as AX but different from CX makes AXB a still more salient unit (Figure 4c), whereas coloring BX same as CX but different than AX tends to increase the saliency of CXB (Figure 4d).
Figure 5a-b is constructed by adding some appropriate elements to Figure 4a-b. Whereas in Figure 4a and Figure 4b the component BX is grouped with AX, in Figure 5a and Figure 5b there is a tendency for this component to rather group with CX, both BX and CX being sides of shape BCX, which itself constitutes one half of a bow-tie shaped figure. This is an instance of the closure principle: elements tend to be grouped together if they are parts of a closed figure. However, in this particular example, continuity is still relatively effective, and is in strong competition with closure. Using similarity, the salience of BCX as a visual sub-whole can be increased, as in Figure 5c, or decreased, as in Figure 5d.
Note that the patterns in Figure 4a and Figure 4b, although physically contained in Figure 5a and Figure 5b, are hard to see there: they can be sought out with directed attention, but do not appear spontaneously as natural visual wholes. The reason for this is not simply that more elements are added in the display. This is demonstrated in Figure 7, in which the pattern in a is readily discernible in b in spite of many added elements, but is practically invisible in c, d, and e, although geometrically it is just as present there (and in the same place) as in a and b. The loss of the visual identity of the pattern is due to the effectiveness of the Gestalt principles, mainly continuity and closure, according to which its elements are perceptually integrated with other present elements, and assigned to other, new visual wholes. One way in which its visual identity can be recovered is by simply changing its color to make it dissimilar from the surround. For a demonstration, position the cursor anywhere within the area of Figure 7. Note also that when the cursor is removed from the figure and the pattern again assumes the same color as the added elements, it quickly (though not necessarily instantaneously) fades from view, and no effort of attention can restore it to a salient visual whole. For a further demonstration, hold the left mouse button depressed while positioned within the area of the figure, which will remove the pattern and reveal only the added elements. A classical study of such 'hidden figure' effects was reported by Gottschaldt (1926).
Figure 7: Camouflage.
These examples are instances of camouflage, the phenomenon in which objects are hidden from view but not by being occluded: instead, they are perceptually subdivided (broken up internally) and repartitioned, that is, their parts are grouped with parts of the surrounding environment. As used by animals in the struggle for survival and by humans in warfare, the power of Gestalt principles thus makes it possible for organisms and things which are in plain sight to become effectively invisible and therefore undetectable by adversaries. Thus whether a physical object that is optically present exists or does not exist visually, depends on the interplay of perceptual laws.
Good gestalt principle
The pattern in Figure 6a is readily partitioned into two components, a straight line and a wavy line that cross each other. This perceptual decomposition is strengthened by similarity (Figure 6b). An alternative decomposition of Figure 6a into two abutting corners, depicted in Figure 6c, does not seem to arise spontaneously; this can be explained by noting that it would violate the continuity principle. However, an appeal to continuity does not explain why the partition in Figure 6d does not spontaneously arise easily in Figure 6a either, although both of its components are continuous lines.
In another, related example, Figure 7a spontaneously decomposes into a semi-wheel with curved cogs touching a rectangular 'snake'. However, this perceptual outcome actually violates the continuity principle, because at the point at which the two components touch, this decomposition involves angles, instead of following the directions of the crossing continuous lines. An even clearer decomposition is achieved by introducing similarity as well (Figure 7b). However, similarity can also be used to enhance a radically different decomposition into two crossing twisted threads, favored by continuity, as indicated in Figure 7c.
According to the Gestalt viewpoint, the dominant percepts in Figure 6a and Figure 7a are instances of the good Gestalt principle: elements tend to be grouped together if they are parts of a pattern which is a good Gestalt, meaning as simple, orderly, balanced, unified, coherent, regular, etc as possible, given the input. In this sense, the straight line and the wavy line perceived in Figure 6a are better forms than the pairs of lines in Figure 6c and Figure 6d, and in Figure 7a the cog wheel and the snake are better forms than the hybrid shapes in Figure 7c, that would be generated in Figure 7a by conforming to the continuity principle at the crossing point. In such cases global regularity takes precedence over local relations. This principle is also called the 'law of good form' or the 'law of Prägnanz', a German word that translates roughly as salience, incisiveness, conciseness, impressiveness, or orderliness.
Past experience principle
In some cases the visual input is organized according to the past experience principle: elements tend to be grouped together if they were together often in the past experience of the observer. For example, we tend to perceive the pattern in Figure 8a as a meaningful word, built up from strokes which are grouped to form particular letters of the Roman alphabet (such as 'm', 'i', 'n', etc). Note that the individual letters are rather clearly and distinctly perceived as 'natural' parts of the connected figure, and are only slightly easier to discern and discriminate if further individuated through separation (Figure 8b) or coloration (Figure 8c). However, in addition to this standard segmentation into letters, the pattern Figure 8a has many other alternate partitions, such as the one demonstrated through separation and coloration in Figure 8d and Figure 8e. But, in contrast to the standard segmentation, discerning and discriminating these alternate components (some of which are 'non-letters') within Figure 8a is a cumbersome task, similar to the laborious search for the hidden shape in Figures 6c-e; furthermore, the standard segmentation is to some extent perceivable even in Figure 8e, where it competes with the segmentation based on the similarity principle. The spontaneity and ease of the standard, dominantly perceived organization of the strokes into letters, is plausibly mainly due to past experience, that is, to our familiarity with words as written in the script form of the Roman alphabet. This particular organization might not occur for observers lacking such familiarity; furthermore, the alternate partition would presumably be natural for observers used to an alphabet whose letters would correspond to the sub-wholes in Figure 8d and Figure 8e. Note also that in print perhaps the most potent Gestalt principle is proximity: simply inserting larger blank spaces between words than between letters (a device not used in antiquity) helps group together the letters correctly, and establish words as the salient visual units in the text. The importance of blank spaces is demonstrated by the difficulty wehavewhenreadingtextnotseparatedbyblanks an dev enmor ew henbl an kspa cesap pea rinwr ongpl aces.
Although acknowledged by the gestaltists, the experience-based principle was deemed of secondary importance, compared with the other, stimulus-based principles, and easily dominated by them. As an example, in the pattern in Figure 8f, in which a slightly overlapping inverted version is added, the original stimulus is much harder to see, due to the appearance of numerous new salient sub-patterns, generated by continuity and closure.
Similar as in vision, issues of organization, grouping, and segmentation arise in the auditory domain as well (Bregman, 1990; Kubovy & van Valkenburg, 2001). The acoustic input is just a one-dimensional temporally varying air pressure waveform, but based on it we can perceive an auditory scene involving multiple sources of human speech, vocal and instrumental music, animal sounds and other nature noises, occasionally all occurring at the same time, each with its own sub-phrasing and structure. Some visual Gestalt principles directly apply in the acoustic domain, but mainly in a temporal rather than spatial form. For example, silence or background noise, interrupted by a loud sound, followed again by silence or noise, is an auditory analogue of a figure on a ground. Similarly, a regular series of identical short clicks is an analogue of Figure 2a, with equal temporal intervals between sound events playing the role of equal spatial distances. With deliberate attention, one can mentally superimpose a structure on this sequence, such as hearing consecutive pairs of clicks, as in 12/34/56. However, such a phenomenal segmentation is achieved much more naturally and easily by simply increasing the intervals between some clicks, analogously to Figure 2b. This is an instance of an auditory temporal analogue of the visual spatial proximity principle; there is also a spatial auditory variant, involving pairs of identical sounds separated by equal intervals, but coming from different directions, such as left, left/in front, in front/right, right. Auditory analogues of instances of the visual similarity principle, as illustrated in Figure 3, are also readily established, but with differences and similarities of color, size etc being replaced by differences and similarities of loudness, pitch, and timbre of sounds. Auditory analogues of some other Gestalt principles may also be constructed.
The principles described above, together with others not illustrated here, such as the symmetry principle (symmetrical components will tend to group together), the convexity principle (convex rather than concave patterns will tend to be perceived as figures), and others, are part of the classical heritage of perception studies. In contemporary research, of which only a few examples will be noted below, the seminal insights and issues raised by the gestaltists are developed and extended in various directions.
For example, contrary to the classical views, more recent research has indicated that even such a basic feature as figure-ground articulation may in some instances be based on experience (Peterson & Skow-Grant, 2003). For example, although in displays with two homogeneous regions, neither of which surrounds the other, assignment to figure and ground is often ambiguous, in some cases in which one region resembles an object, such as a tree in Figure 9, that region is preferably perceived as figure.
Palmer and colleagues have developed some new principles of visual field organization. For example, Palmer (1992) has proposed the common region principle: elements tend to be grouped together if they are located within the same closed region. An illustration is provided in Figure 10a. It depicts the same spatial distribution of elements which, in Figure 2c, elicited the grouping 1/23/45/6; however, with superimposed closed contours the preferred grouping becomes 12/34/56.
Palmer & Rock (1994) proposed the element connectedness principle: elements tend to be grouped together if they are connected by other elements. This principle is illustrated in Figure 10b. Like Figure 10a, Figure 10b is also based on Figure 2c, but, due to some elements being connected, the preferred perceived grouping is 12/34/56.
Researchers have also presented computational models of some Gestalt principles (Kubovy & van der Berg, 2008), studied their possible neural bases (Sasaki, 2007; Han et al., 2005; Qiu & von der Heydt, 2005; Roelfsema, 2006), and attempted to relate them to natural image statistics (Geisler et al., 2001; Elder & Goldberg, 2002).
As formulated by Wertheimer, Gestalt principles involve a 'ceteris paribus' (all other things being equal) clause (Palmer, 1999). That is, each principle is supposed to apply given that the other principles do not apply or are being held constant. In case two (or more) principles apply for the same input, and they favor the same grouping, it will tend to become strengthened; however, if they disagree, usually one wins or the organization of the percept is unclear. Several examples of the domination of one principle over another are presented above. However, although it has been addressed to some extent in the literature (e.g. see Kubovy & van der Berg, 2008), the significant theoretical problem of how to predict which principle will win in which circumstances remains to be worked out in much more detail.
Gestalt principles are usually illustrated with rather simple drawings, such as those above. Ideally, it should be possible to apply them to an arbitrarily complex image and, as a result, produce a hierarchical parsing of its content that corresponds to our perception of its wholes and sub-wholes. This ambitious goal is yet to be accomplished.
It has been suggested that most Gestalt principles are special instances of the overarching Good Gestalt principle, in the sense that being continuous, closed, similar etc are ways of being maximally good, ordered, simple etc. However, although this idea achieves some explanatory economy and unity, it does so at the cost of clarity and operationalizability: whereas it may be relatively simple to point out the presence of continuity, closure, etc, it is more difficult to establish what exactly makes a pattern visually good, simple, unified etc.
One important issue which was not discussed much in classical literature is the origin of Gestalt principles. Why is it that the perceptual input is organized in accord with proximity, continuity, closure etc? The gestaltists tended to favor the notion that these principles are among the fundamental properties of the perceptual system, providing the basis of our ability to make sense of the sensory signals. An opposed view is that the Gestalt principles are heuristics derived from some general features of the external world, based on our experience with things and their properties (Rock, 1975): objects in the world are usually located in front of some background (figure-ground articulation), have an overall texture different from the texture of the background (similarity), consist of parts which are near each other (proximity), move as a whole (common fate), and have closed contours (closure) which are continuous (continuity). In sum, although these principles have been discussed for more than 80 years and are presented in most perception textbooks, there are still a number of issues about them that need to be resolved.
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- Elder, J. H. & Goldberg, R. M. (2002). Ecological statistics of Gestalt laws for the perceptual organization of contours. Journal of Vision, 2, 324-353, http://journalofvision.org/2/4/5/, doi:10.1167/2.4.5.
- Geisler WS, Perry JS, Super BJ, Gallogly DP (2001). Edge co-occurrence in natural images predicts contour grouping performance. Vision Research, 41, 711-24.
- Gottschaldt, K. (1926). Über den Einfluss der Erfahrung auf die Wahrnehmung von Figuren: I. Psychologische Forschung, 8, 261-317.
- Han S, Jiang Y, Mao L, Humphreys GW, Gu H. (2005). Attentional modulation of perceptual grouping in human visual cortex: functional MRI studies. Human Brain Mapping, 25, 424-32.
- Köhler, W. (1929). Gestalt Psychology. New York: Liveright.
- Koffka, K. (1935). Principles of Gestalt Psychology. New York: Harcourt, Brace.
- Kubovy, M. & van den Berg, M. (2008). The whole is equal to the sum of its parts: A probabilistic model of grouping by proximity and similarity in regular patterns. Psychological Review, 115, 131-154.
- Kubovy, M. & van Valkenburg, D. (2001). Auditory and visual objects. Cognition, 80, 97-126
- Metzger, W. (2006). Laws of Seeing. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. (Original work published in German in 1936).
- Palmer, S. (1992). Common region: a new principle of perceptual grouping. Cognitive Psychology, 24, 436-447.
- Palmer, S. & Rock, I. (1994). Rethinking perceptual organization: The role of uniform connectedness. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 1, 29-35.
- Palmer, S. (1999). Vision Science. Photons to Phenomenology. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
- Peterson, M. A. & Skow-Grant, E. (2003). Memory and learning in figure-ground perception. In B. Ross & D. Irwin (Eds.) Cognitive Vision: Psychology of Learning and Motivation, 42, 1-34.
- Qiu, F.T. & von der Heydt, R. (2005). Figure and Ground in the Visual Cortex: V2 Combines Stereoscopic Cues with Gestalt Rules. Neuron, 47, 155 - 166.
- Rock (1975). An Introduction to Perception. New York: Macmillan.
- Roelfsema,P.R. (2006). Cortical Algorithms for Perceptual Grouping. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 29, 203-227
- Rubin, E. (1921). Visuell wahrgenommene Figuren. Copenhagen: Glydenalske Boghandel (original work published in Danish in 1915).
- Sasaki Y. (2007). Processing local signals into global patterns. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 17, 132-139.
- Todorović, D. (2007). W. Metzger: Laws of Seeing. Gestalt Theory, 28, 176-180.
- Wertheimer, M. (1923/1938). Untersuchungen zur Lehre von der Gestalt II. Psychologische Forschung, 4, 301-350. (Excerpts translated into English as 'Laws of organization in perceptual forms' in W.D Ellis (Ed.), A source book of Gestalt psychology. New York: Hartcourt, Brace and Co., and as 'Principle of perceptual organization' in D.C. Beardslee & Michael Wertheimer (Eds.), Readings in Perception, Princeton, NJ: D. Van Nostrand Co., Inc.).
- Wolf Singer (2007) Binding by synchrony. Scholarpedia, 2(12):1657.
- Rodolfo Llinas (2008) Neuron. Scholarpedia, 3(8):1490.
- Philip Holmes and Eric T. Shea-Brown (2006) Stability. Scholarpedia, 1(10):1838.
- Jeremy Wolfe and Todd S. Horowitz (2008) Visual search. Scholarpedia, 3(7):3325.
- Abridged translation of Wertheimer (1923), from Ellis (1938), including many illustrations of Gestalt principles. Note how Wertheimer starts the essay with the laconic sentence 'I stand at the window and see a house, trees, sky', and proceeds to use such simple phenomenological observations to lucidly criticize the notion that our percept of a scene consists of the set of point-like sensations of local color, and in this way motivates the need for laws of perceptual organization.
- Max Wertheimer page in Wikipedia
- Max Wertheimer page on geocities
- Wolfgang Metzger page in Wikipedia
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The Magic School Bus in a Beehive
Field Trip Notes
When Tim delivers the last of the season's honey to his grandfather's customers, the jars get broken. Tim's solution is simple: Get more honey from some bees. But Ms. Frizzle sweetens the idea by turning her class into bees and showing them a beehive up close and personal. When a bear steals the bees' hard-earned supply of honey, the bee-kids discover one last field of nectar-filled flowers. How will the bee-kids communicate this information to the bees in time for them to harvest enough honey before the flowers are killed by the impending frost?
Time: 30 minutes
Group Size: Up to 8
How do The Magic School Bus kids communicate where nectar flowers are? By dancing like bees! Challenge your kids to dance the Honey-Bee-Bop to communicate the location of hidden flowers.
What You Need
Talk About It
Ask: Could you dance the directions to the cafeteria (or other familiar place)?
What To Do
Celebrate with honey and crackers. Calculate how many trips one bee would make from hive to flowers for the honey you are eating. Figure 25 trips for the honey on each cracker.
This site contains information and advertising about Scholastic and third party products.
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Dec. 1, 2009 People can survive cardiac arrest if they receive only chest compressions during attempts to revive them -- as advised by the current American Heart Association guidelines. But they cannot survive without access to oxygen sometime during the resuscitation effort, research suggests.
Scientists tested different scenarios in an animal study of cardiac arrest. Rats received either 100 percent oxygen, 21 percent oxygen -- the equivalent of room air -- or no oxygen (100 percent nitrogen) at the same time they received cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
About 80 percent of the rats survived regardless of the percentage of oxygen they received along with chest compressions. However, in the group receiving no oxygen, only one animal could be resuscitated.
Though these animals received the oxygen via ventilation, people who suffer cardiac arrest in a public setting would more likely obtain some oxygen by gasping during CPR or by receiving some air from a vacuum effect resulting from chest compressions, researchers say.
"The study showed that there is a need for oxygen. How much oxygen is needed remains unknown. There is probably a sweet spot in there somewhere," said Mark Angelos, professor of emergency medicine at Ohio State University and senior author of the study.
"For the first few minutes, it's probably right just to push on the chest. But at some point you probably need to add oxygen, however you can -- maybe mouth-to-mouth or with supplemental oxygen. Where that sweet spot is is not yet clear."
The research is published in a recent issue of the journal Resuscitation.
According to the American Heart Association, almost 80 percent of cardiac arrests that take place outside a hospital occur at home and are witnessed by a family member. Yet only 6.4 percent of sudden cardiac arrest victims survive because most witnesses do not know how to perform CPR.
The association is in the midst of a new campaign touting "hands-only" CPR, urging people to call 911 and push "hard and fast" in the center of the chest of a person in cardiac arrest.
Angelos said his research is not intended to counter the current guidelines. Instead, scientists continue to study the intricacies of the resuscitation process in the pursuit of ways to improve the potential for survival after cardiac arrest.
Approximately 30 percent of cardiac arrest patients will survive long enough to be hospitalized. But far fewer are ever discharged from the hospital; most typically die of heart failure or brain damage resulting from an extended loss of oxygen to the brain, said Angelos, also an investigator in Ohio State's Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute.
In the study, Angelos and colleagues imposed six minutes of cardiac arrest on 33 rats before CPR was started. During CPR, animals were ventilated with either 100 percent oxygen or 21 percent oxygen.
A control group of rats received nitrogen, which eliminated oxygen from their lungs. This scenario allowed for lab comparisons, but was not intended to mimic normal conditions because people would likely have some residual oxygen in their lungs and blood even during cardiac arrest.
CPR was continued until the surviving animals experienced what is called the "return of spontaneous circulation," when the heart pumped blood on its own. All animals receiving oxygen returned to spontaneous circulation at approximately the same time, between about 90 seconds and two minutes after CPR began.
All surviving animals continued to receive the same levels of oxygen that they had received during CPR for two minutes after their hearts started working, and then they were all transferred to 100 percent oxygen for an hour.
"That's pretty typical for a hospitalized cardiac arrest victim, to get a high concentration of oxygen early on," Angelos said.
One rat unexpectedly survived CPR without any oxygen, but died within 72 hours. Among the rats receiving oxygen during CPR, nine of 11 (82 percent) of the rats in the 21-percent oxygen group survived CPR, and 10 of 12 (83 percent) of the rats receiving 100 percent oxygen survived. At the 72-hour mark, those figures had dropped: 77 percent of the room-air rats were still alive, and 80 percent of 100-percent oxygen rats were still living.
Neurological tests showed that five of seven (71 percent) of the room-air rats and three of eight (38 percent) of the rats on 100-percent oxygen during CPR returned to normal brain function at 72 hours. The researchers considered these findings secondary to the initial finding that oxygen was required for success during the initial resuscitation process, Angelos noted.
"In a public setting, presumably we don't have any options. We see that ventilating with room air is just as good as supplemental oxygen," he said. "However, we also know now that too little or the absence of any ventilation might be harmful, at least over time, due to the lack of oxygen."
Generally, Angelos noted, the concern has been too much ventilation, which lessens the effectiveness of CPR.
This work was supported by the American Heart Association, Great Rivers Affiliate.
Angelos conducted the research with Steven Yeh, Rebekah Cawley and Sverre Aune of Ohio State's Department of Emergency Medicine; Yeh and Aune also are researchers in the Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute and Ohio State's Biophysics Graduate Program.
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June 19, 2010 Gene expression takes place in two stages: the transcription of DNA to RNA by an enzyme called RNA polymerase, , followed by the translation of this RNA into proteins, whose behaviour affects the characteristics of each individual.
Transcription: a mechanism controlled in time and space
Transcription involves about fifty regulatory molecules that interact with each other to begin reading the gene at the right place and the right time. The slightest irregularity of one of these molecules disturbs the transcription. An understanding of the initiation and regulation mechanisms is essential in order to understand gene expression. The structural biology researchers at IGBMC are studying molecular structures to gain a better understanding of how they function. Patrick Schultz's team is particularly focusing on the architecture of the molecules involved in transcription and attempting to decode the mechanisms of their interactions.
An 'image-by-image' analysis
An analysis of the transcription complexes by electron cryomicroscopy allows a molecule to be observed in a hydrated state close to its natural state. Each photograph, taken using a microscope, shows thousands of specimens of the same molecule from different angles and at different instants in their reaction cycle. The statistical analysis of these images performed by Patrick Schultz's team revealed different conformations in three dimensions, which correspond to different stages of transcription initiation. 'We performed image-by-image sequencing and made a film of the initial stages of transcription,' says Schultz.
The factor TFIID, the main player in the transcription process
Patrick Schultz's team is interested in a complex protein that acts as an assembly platform in the initiation phase of transcription: the factor TFIID. Through interaction with the activator Rap1, bound upstream from the gene to be transcribed, it is attracted to the DNA and binds onto it. Combined with another factor, TFIIA, it changes conformation and allows the RNA polymerase to initiate transcription. The original aspect of this mechanism is based on the formation of a DNA loop, which allows the RNA polymerase to be positioned exactly at the start of the sequence of the gene to be transcribed.
The structure of the transcription factor TFIID obtained after image analysis is represented in yellow on an electron cryomicroscopy image background, showing the frozen hydrated molecules in dark grey. The transcription activator Rap1 (red) interacts with the factor TFIIA (blue) and contributes to forming a DNA loop (green).
What is electron cryomicroscopy?
The biological molecules in living organisms exist in an aqueous environment, which must be preserved whilst observing the molecules. In order to be 'seen', however, molecules must be placed in an electron microscope, which operates in a vacuum and dehydrates the sample. The solution, developed in the 1980s, is to use refrigeration to keep the specimen hydrated and to examine it by electron cryomicroscopy. A very thin film (approximately 100 nm, or one ten-thousandth of a millimetre thick) of the suspension containing the sample to be analysed must be created in order to be transparent to electrons. (Thin film shown in light blue in Figure A.) This film is cooled very rapidly (at a rate of approximately 10,000°C per second) by plunging it into liquid ethane cooled to -170°C. This freezing speed prevents the formation of ice crystals, and the sample (yellow in Figure A) is trapped in a layer of vitrified water. The cold chain must be maintained throughout the observation period using a cold plate. The molecules (dark grey in Figure B) are hydrated and observed without contrast agent.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by INSERM (Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale), via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
- Papai et al. TFIIA and the transactivator Rap1 cooperate to commit TFIID for transcription initiation. Nature, 2010; 465 (7300): 956 DOI: 10.1038/nature09080
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Oct. 6, 2010 Doppler weather radar will significantly improve forecasting models used to track monsoon systems influencing the monsoon in and around India, according to a research collaboration including Purdue University, the National Center for Atmospheric Research and the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi.
Dev Niyogi, a Purdue associate professor of agronomy and earth and atmospheric sciences, said modeling of a monsoon depression track can have a margin of error of about 200 kilometers for landfall, which can be significant for storms that produce as much as 20-25 inches of rain as well as inland floods and fatalities.
"When you run a forecast model, how you represent the initial state of the atmosphere is critical. Even if Doppler radar information may seem highly localized, we find that it enhances the regional atmospheric conditions, which, in turn, can significantly improve the dynamic prediction of how the monsoon depression will move as the storm makes landfall," Niyogi said. "It certainly looks like a wise investment made in Doppler radars can help in monsoon forecasting, particularly the heavy rain from monsoon processes."
Niyogi, U.C. Mohanty, a professor in the Centre for Atmospheric Sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology, and Mohanty's doctoral student, Ashish Routray, collaborated with scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research and gathered information such as radial velocity and reflectivity from six Doppler weather radars that were in place during storms. Using the Weather Research and Forecasting Model, they found that incorporating the Doppler radar-based information decreased the error of the monsoon depression's landfall path from 200 kilometers to 75 kilometers.
Monsoons account for 80 percent of the rain India receives each year. Mohanty said more accurate predictions could better prepare people for heavy rains that account for a number of deaths in a monsoon season.
"Once a monsoon depression passes through, it can cause catastrophic floods in the coastal areas of India," Mohanty said. "Doppler radar is a very useful tool to help assess these things."
The researchers modeled monsoon depressions and published their findings in the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society. Future studies will incorporate more simulations and more advanced models to test the ability of Doppler radar to track monsoon processes. Niyogi said the techniques and tools being developed also could help predict landfall of tropical storm systems that affect the Caribbean and the United States.
The National Science Foundation CAREER program, U.S. Agency for International Development and the Ministry of Earth Sciences in India funded the study.
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- A. Routray, U. C. Mohanty, S. R. H. Rizvi, Dev Niyogi, Krishna K. Osuri, D. Pradhan. Impact of Doppler weather radar data on numerical forecast of Indian monsoon depressions. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 2010; DOI: 10.1002/qj.678
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Nov. 9, 2012 Together with a large international research team, Johannes Messinger of Umeå University in Sweden has taken another step toward an understanding of photosynthesis and developing artificial photosynthesis. With a combination of a x-ray free-electron laser and spectroscopy, the team has managed to see the electronic structure of a manganese complex, a chemical compound related to how photosynthesis splits water.
The experiments used the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), which is a free-electron x-ray laser facility at Stanford University in the US. The wavelength of the laser is roughly the same as the breadth of an atom, and each pulse of light lasts 50 femtoseconds (10-15). This is an extremely short interval of time: there are more femtoseconds in one second than there are seconds in a person's life. Such extremely short wavelengths and short light pulses constitute ideal conditions for imaging chemical reactions with atomic resolution at room temperature while the chemical reactions are ongoing.
The research group has previously used LCLS to perform structural analyses of isolated photosynthesis complexes from plants' photosystem II at room temperature. Now the group has combined the method with spectroscopy and is the first team to succeed in seeing at LCLS the electronic structure of a manganese complex similar to that found in photosystem II. Manganese is a transitional metal that, together with calcium and oxygen, forms the water-splitting catalyst in photosystem II.
A very simple example of a spectrometer is a prism, which separates sunlight into all the colors of the rainbow. The spectrometer used in this study functions in a similar manner, but with a group of 16 specialized crystals that diffract the x-rays emitted from the sample in resonse of being excited by an x-ray pulse onto a detector array.
To the delight of the scientists, the manganese compounds remained intact long enough for them to observe detailed information about the electronic structure before the compounds were destroyed by the very intense X-ray laser beam.
"Having both structural information and spectroscopic information means that we can much better understand how the structural changes of the whole complex and the chemical changes on the active surface of the catalysts work together to enable the enzymes to perform complex chemical reactions at room temperature," says Johannes Messinger, professor at the Department of Chemistry at Umeå University.
The chemical reaction the research group aims to understand is the splitting of water in photosystem II, as this understanding is also key for developing artificial photosynthesis- that is, for building devices for producing hydrogen from sunlight and water. To be able to exploit sunlight for producing fuels that can be stored and the used when needed would help solve the world's ever-more acute energy problems.
The new research findings are being published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, PNAS.
Two major research projects at Umeå University are focusing on the development of artificial photosynthesis by imitating plants' very successful way of exploiting solar energy. Both projects ("solar fuels" and "artificial leaf") are directed by Johannes Messinger, professor at the Department of Chemistry at Umeå University.
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- R. Alonso-Mori, J. Kern, R. J. Gildea, D. Sokaras, T.-C. Weng, B. Lassalle-Kaiser, R. Tran, J. Hattne, H. Laksmono, J. Hellmich, C. Glockner, N. Echols, R. G. Sierra, D. W. Schafer, J. Sellberg, C. Kenney, R. Herbst, J. Pines, P. Hart, S. Herrmann, R. W. Grosse-Kunstleve, M. J. Latimer, A. R. Fry, M. M. Messerschmidt, A. Miahnahri, M. M. Seibert, P. H. Zwart, W. E. White, P. D. Adams, M. J. Bogan, S. Boutet, G. J. Williams, A. Zouni, J. Messinger, P. Glatzel, N. K. Sauter, V. K. Yachandra, J. Yano, U. Bergmann. Energy-dispersive X-ray emission spectroscopy using an X-ray free-electron laser in a shot-by-shot mode. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2012; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1211384109
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The development of trust is an essential social tool, allowing people to form productive and meaningful relationships, both at a professional and personal level. Bonds of trust are also extremely fragile, however and a single act of betrayal—such as a marital affair—can instantly erase years of trustworthy behavior. The consequences of such breaches in confidence can be disastrous, and not only for a relationship. People who have been betrayed in the past will sometimes start avoiding future social interactions, which is a potential precursor to social phobia. In light of these connections, recent research has attempted to elucidate the neural mechanisms underlying trust behavior. This is the goal of an exciting new study by neuroscientist Thomas Baumgartner and colleagues at the University of Zurich in Switzerland that combines different disciplines (economics and neuroscience) and methodologies (neuroimaging and neuropharmacology) to investigate how the brain adapts to breaches of trust.
The Chemistry of Trust
To study social interactions, economists, and more recently neuroscientists, take advantage of a simple game played between two people called the “trust game.” (For more on greed and altruism, see this.) In a typical trust game, an investor (Player 1) is faced with a decision to keep a sum of money (say, $10) or share it with a trustee (Player 2). If shared, the investment is tripled ($30) and the trustee now faces the decision to repay the trust by sending back a larger amount of the initial investment (for example, $15 for each participant) or to defect and violate trust by keeping the money. In this game, the investor is therefore left with an important social dilemma: to trust or not to trust. Although it is more profitable to trust, doing so leaves the investor at risk of betrayal.
It has been hypothesized that oxytocin, a hormone recognized for its role in social attachment and facilitation of social interactions, is also important in the formation of trust. For instance, application of oxytocin to “investors” in experimental games increases their tendency to engage in social risks and trust someone else with their money (see this and this). The study by Baumgartner and his colleagues highlights the neural mechanisms through which oxytocin acts to facilitate trust behavior by investigating what happens in the brain when trust breaks down.
When Trust Is Broken
The authors used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to scan 49 participants who were given either placebo or oxytocin via a nasal spray. Participants were instructed to act as investors during multiple rounds of a trust game with different trustees. They were also told that they would engage in a risk game (similar to the trust game in terms of financial risk, but played against a computer instead of another human being). In order to investigate the role of oxytocin following breaches of trust, the experiment was divided into a pre- and post-feedback phase. In between the two phases, participants received feedback information indicating that roughly 50 percent of their decisions (in both trust and risk games) had resulted in poor investments—that is, their trust had been breached (trust game) or their gamble did not pay off (risk game).
Participants who were given a placebo prior to playing the game decreased their rate of trust (that is, how much money they were willing to invest) after they discovered their trust had been violated. Participants who received oxytocin, however, continued to invest at similar rates regardless of whether or not their trusting behavior had been taken advantage of. These behavioral group differences were accompanied by differences in neural responses, as participants in the oxytocin group showed decreases in responses in the amygdala and caudate nucleus. The amygdala is a region of the brain involved in emotion and fear learning, and is rich in oxytocin receptors, whereas the caudate nucleus has been previously linked to reward-related responses and learning to trust . Thus, the authors hypothesized that oxytocin decreases both fear mechanisms associated with a potential aversion of betrayals (via the amygdala) and our reliance on positive feedback that can influence future decisions (via the caudate). This in turn facilitates the expression of trust even after breaches of trust have occurred. Notably, the behavioral and neural results observed were only apparent when participants played the trust game, but not the risk game, suggesting that oxytocin’s effects on trust are exclusive to interactions with real people.
A Science of Social Phobias?
The study demonstrates how oxytocin can facilitate social interactions after trust has been violated, by potentially lowering defense mechanisms associated with social risks and by overcoming negative feedback that is important for adapting behavior in the future. These intriguing results provide an important step in our understanding of mental disorders where deficits in social behavior are observed. Excessive fear of betrayal, for example, could serve as a precursor to social phobia, a disorder characterized by a disabling fear of social interactions. Over the long-term, this lack of social interaction may lead to serious problems in mental and physical well-being. Thus, to continue forming a bridge between basic and clinical research, future studies may focus on the effects of oxytocin during the sort of betrayals that more commonly occur in real life (such as being betrayed by a loved one or a business partner). It will also be interesting to examine how different genders respond to breaches in confidence following oxytocin administration.
Trust is an adaptive mechanism essential to building social relationships, and breaches of trust have a profound impact on social behavior and mental health. Understanding the balance between levels of oxytocin and appropriate levels of trust will be another important step in the future. Lower levels of oxytocin in some situations may certainly be adaptive, as a person will become more wary of possible harm. Higher levels of oxytocin, however, may also be necessary at times to allow an individual to “forgive and forget,” an imperative step in maintaining long-term relationships and mental well-being.
Mind Matters is edited by Jonah Lehrer, the science writer behind the blog The Frontal Cortex and the book Proust was a Neuroscientist.
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What are Community Councils?
Community Councils are the most local tier of statutory representation in Scotland. They bridge the gap between local authorities and communities, and help to make public bodies aware of the opinions and needs of the communities they represent.
Their primary purpose is to ascertain and express the views of the community to the local authority and other public bodies. Many Community Councils also involve themselves in a wide range of other activities including fundraising, organising community events, undertaking environmental and educational projects and much more.
There are currently around 1200 Community Councils in Scotland, all of which are composed of elected volunteers from the community.
Community Council Short-Life Working Group
As part of ongoing engagement with stakeholders with an interest in strengthening and developing Community Councils across Scotland, the Scottish Government has established a short-life working group to look at ways to build the resilience and capacity of Community Councils, in order to strengthen their role as voices for their communities.
Click here for more details on the working group.
Community Council legislation
Community Councils were created by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973. The Act required local authorities to introduce Community Council schemes for their area outlining various arrangements including elections, meetings, boundaries, and finance. Local authorities have statutory oversight of Community Councils and, in consultation with their Community Councils, the freedom to tailor schemes to the particular circumstances of their area.
Local authorities and other bodies consult with Community Councils on issues affecting the community. These issues depend to a large extent on what is important to each community, however, local authorities are required to consult Community Councils on planning applications and many choose to involve them in the Community Planning process.
Model Scheme of Establishment of Community Councils, Model Code of Conduct for Community Councillors and Good Practice Guidance for Local Authorities and Community Councils
These documents provide model frameworks and guidance on good practice for both local authorities and Community Councils and are available in word and pdf formats in the Relevant Publications section.
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The purpose is to examine the possible effect caused by extra physical education lessons in a large group of 0th to 4th grade children attending public schools in the municipality of Svendborg. Our primary hypothesis is that we will see an average increase of 10% in the children’s physical activity level compared to the children in the control group.
The intervention consists of 6 lessons in physical education each week. At the schools, 3 double physical education lessons are offered to children attending the 0th to 4th grade (during the 3 years intervention the program will include 0th to 6th grade children). The intervention program will be based on the general age-related principles described by Team Danmark, in order to insure that the children will achieve the optimal physiologically and metabolically training-related effects, based on the available knowledge within this field. Furthermore, this training concept is chosen since the goal is that all children during the intervention period should experience a balanced psychological and social development.
This is a prospective intervention study including approx. 1200 school children – an intervention group with approx. 600 children coming from 6 different schools, and a control group with approx. 600 children coming from 4 matching schools in the municipality of Svendborg. The schools are matched according to their uptake area and size.
Effect parameters and evaluation
The children are examined twice a year by a scientific staff affiliated to the project. The average increase in the physical activity level, which is expected as a consequence of the intervention, is thought to cause a positive effect with respect to the children’s motor skill performance, incidence of sports-related injuries, bone health, problems related to the back, and the overall metabolic risk profile, which we all ready know can be linked to later development of lifestyle related diseases such as cardiovascular diseases and type II diabetes. Therefore, the primary effect parameters will be potential differences between the intervention group and control group within the following parameters, which are compared six times during the intervention period:
- Physical activity level (assessed by accelerometry)
- Physical fitness (including aerobic performance)
- Body composition
- Blood pressure
- Risk markers in the blood (including insulin, glucose, HDL- and LDL cholesterol, and triglyceride)
- Incidence of injuries and back problems (registered by the use of SMS-track)
- Motor skill performance (including balance, precision and quickness)
- Bone health (including bone mineral content and risk of fracture)
Furthermore, it is expected, that the extra amount of physical education lessons will contribute to a larger group of talents, which can be interesting and important in the long term also for the Danish elite sport institution, Team Denmark.
Baseline data were collected in September/October 2008, and the first follow data were collected in January/February 2009. The second follow up measurements will be performed in September/October 2009.
Employees and current Ph.D projects
Project leader: MD, Ph.D. Niels Wedderkopp
Daily leader: Cand. Scient, Ph.d. Niels Christian Møller
Ph.D. students and their projects:
Physiotherapist, Cand. Scient. San. Heidi Klakk Christensen: The current and future health impact of School based physical activity and exercise for children and adolescents 5 to 14 years – with a special emphasis on the correlation between PA and risk factors for CVD and the metabolic syndrome
Physiotherapist Eva Jespersen: The importance of physical activity, overweight, obesity and hypermobility as factors in development of sports and leisure-time injuries in children and tadolescents.
Chiropractor Christina Christiansen: The influence of age related concepts of training on physical fitness, physical coordination and the number of sports injury
Chiropractor Claudia Franz: Impact of increased physical activity on back problems in children.
MD Marlene Søborg Heidemann: Bone health in Danish children - an intervention study
The partners in the Project are: Team Danmark, UCL Lillebælt, , Svendborg Kommune, Steffen Husby og Jørgen Schou, H.C. Andersen Børnehospital.
This project requires a substantial amount of man-power, especially when collecting data. Therefore, we appreciate the great interest and contribution from so many people, especially sports students, physiotherapist students, chiropractic students, and nurse students.
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Are surface temperature records reliable?
What the science says...
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The warming trend is the same in rural and urban areas, measured by thermometers and satellites, and by natural thermometers.
Surveys of weather stations in the USA have indicated that some of them are not sited as well as they could be. This calls into question the quality of their readings.
However, when processing their data, the organisations which collect the readings take into account any local heating or cooling effects, such as might be caused by a weather station being located near buildings or large areas of tarmac. This is done, for instance, by weighting (adjusting) readings after comparing them against those from more rural weather stations nearby.
More importantly, for the purpose of establishing a temperature trend, the relative level of single readings is less important than whether the pattern of all readings from all stations taken together is increasing, decreasing or staying the same from year to year. Furthermore, since this question was first raised, research has established that any error that can be attributed to poor siting of weather stations is not enough to produce a significant variation in the overall warming trend being observed.
It's also vital to realise that warnings of a warming trend -- and hence Climate Change -- are not based simply on ground level temperature records. Other completely independent temperature data compiled from weather balloons, satellite measurements, and from sea and ocean temperature records, also tell a remarkably similar warming story.
For example, a study by Anderson et al. (2012) created a new global surface temperature record reconstruction using 173 records with some type of physical or biological link to global surface temperatures (corals, ice cores, speleothems, lake and ocean sediments, and historical documents). The study compared their reconstruction to the instrumental temperature record and found a strong correlation between the two:
Temperature reconstruction based on natural physical and biological measurements (Paleo, solid) and the instrumental temperature record (MLOST, dashed) relative to 1901-2000. The range of the paleo trends index values is coincidentally nearly the same as the GST although the quantities are different (index values versus temperature anomalies °C).
Confidence in climate science depends on the correlation of many sets of these data from many different sources in order to produce conclusive evidence of a global trend.
Last updated on 13 January 2013 by dana1981. View Archives
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Scientists have identified a new gene variant that seems to strongly raise the risk for Alzheimer's disease, giving a fresh target for research into treatments for the mind-robbing disorder.
The problem gene is not common less than 1 percent of people are thought to have it but it roughly triples the chances of developing Alzheimer's compared to people with the normal version of the gene. It also seems to harm memory and thinking in older people without dementia.
The main reason scientists are excited by the discovery is what this gene does, and how that might reveal what causes Alzheimer's and ways to prevent it. The gene helps the immune system control inflammation in the brain and clear junk such as the sticky deposits that are the hallmark of the disease. Mutations in the gene may impair these tasks, so treatments to restore the gene's function and quell inflammation may help.
"It points us to potential therapeutics in a more precise way than we've seen in the past," said William Thies, chief medical and scientific officer of the Alzheimer's Association, which had no role in the research. Years down the road, this discovery will likely be seen as very important, he predicted.
It is described in a study by an international group published online Wednesday by the New England Journal of Medicine.
About 35 million people worldwide have dementia, and Alzheimer's is the most common type. In the U.S., about 5 million have Alzheimer's. Medicines such as Aricept and Namenda just temporarily ease symptoms. There is no known cure.
Until now, only one gene ApoE has been found to have a big impact on Alzheimer's risk. About 17 percent of the population has at least one copy of the problem version of this gene but nearly half of all people with Alzheimer's do. Other genes that have been tied to the disease raise risk only a little, or cause the less common type of Alzheimer's that develops earlier in life, before age 60.
The new gene, TREM2, already has been tied to a couple other forms of dementia. Researchers led by deCODE Genetics Inc. of Iceland honed in on a version of it they identified through mapping the entire genetic code of more than 2,200 Icelanders.
Further tests on 3,550 Alzheimer's patients and more than 110,000 people without dementia in several countries, including the United States, found that the gene variant was more common in Alzheimer's patients.
"It's a very strong effect," raising the risk of Alzheimer's by three to four times about the same amount as the problem version of the ApoE gene does, said Allan Levey, director of an Alzheimer's program at Emory University, one of the academic centers participating in the research.
to genetic study
A Brigham Young University team led by geneticist John "Keoni" Kauwe, one of the study's co-authors, provided the initial validation of the discovery, and provided more than 200 complete human genomes. Doctoral student Perry Ridge analyzed whole genome sequence data using BYU's Fulton Supercomputing Center.
"While genetics doesn't immediately lead to a cure, we have provided and are continuing to provide the foundation of information that's necessary to cure this disease," Kauwe said in a statement. "And we just didn't have that five years ago. Over the next ten years we are going to make progress that will make a difference to those dealing with this disease."
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During the early 1800's American sealing and whaling ships were reaping huge rewards for their efforts. Demand for furs and whale bone, oil for lamps and ambergris for use in perfumes was rapidly growing. Unfortunately, the hunting grounds off Chile and Peru were quickly diminishing and by the 1820's the New England sailors were forced more and more to the south in search of new game. As a result, penetration into Antarctic seas created diverse problems for the sailors as captains were reluctant to proclaim to other expeditions where their new hunting grounds were located. Ships suddenly found themselves in raging weather among unreported islets. A number of vessels foundered or wrecked on these islets and submerged reefs. Demands grew from the New England whalers and sealers for the US Government to sponsor exploring expeditions to the Antarctic in hopes of finding, and subsequently charting, new hunting grounds. The indifferent success of the private expedition led by Benjamin Pendleton and Nathaniel Palmer in 1829-31 could not fulfill their hopes. Upon their return, Pendleton actually asked Congress to reimburse him for his losses!
On May 18, 1836, Congress passed an amendment to the Naval Appropriations Bill authorizing the President to "send out a surveying and exploring expedition to the Pacific Ocean and the South Seas," and a total of $300,000 was appropriated for the expedition. The amendment passed the Senate by a vote of 26 to 3 while in the House there was considerable opposition where the final vote was 79 to 65.
The primary purpose of the expedition was to aid commerce and navigation, but it was also supposed "to extend the bounds of science and to promote knowledge". In April 1838, four naval vessels were assigned to the expedition, with the VINCENNES, a sloop of war of 780 tons, designated as the flagship. Other vessels were the PEACOCK, a sloop of war of 650 tons, the PORPOISE, a brig of 230 tons, and the store ship RELIEF. Two New York pilot boats, the 110-ton schooner SEA GULL and the 96-ton schooner FLYING FISH were purchased for the expedition to be used as survey vessels close in to shore.
Wilkes was not the navy's first choice to lead the expedition. Thomas Ap Catesby Jones was originally placed in command but resigned in disgust due to delays coming from the Secretary of the Navy. The command was then offered to Commodore Shubrick, who declined. Captains Kearney and Gregory were asked and they thought it politically incorrect and so stepped aside. The next man chosen was Charles Wilkes. With little experience in sea duty, he more than made up for it in vision, intelligence and determination. His sense of mission and national pride demanded high standards of performance from himself and his crew. Unfortunately, he was not without flaws. A strict disciplinarian, he ran a taut ship..too taut for much of his crew. Many of the crew disliked him but, on the other hand, praised him for driving himself even harder. At final count, Wilkes would take with him 82 officers, nine naturalists, scientists and artists, and 342 sailors. Of the latter, only 223 would return to the United States with the expedition, or aboard other American vessels. During the voyage 62 would be discharged as unsuitable, 42 would desert, and 15 would die of disease, injury or be drowned. On August 18, 1838 Wilkes led his squadron to sea to begin the great United States Exploring Expedition.
Upon reaching Orange Harbor, the FLYING FISH encountered the PORPOISE, SEA GULL and VINCENNES already at anchor. The RELIEF was away having taken the scientists into the Straits of Magellan for a survey. Charles Wilkes was not aware of the fact that the RELIEF nearly wrecked at the entrance to the straits and that she, like the PEACOCK, had decided to sail directly to Valparaíso. Wilkes waited until April 20 for the return of the RELIEF but finally gave up and sailed the PORPOISE and VINCENNES north. Alone in Orange Harbor, the FLYING FISH and the SEA GULL awaited the return of the store ship RELIEF. On April 28, with no sign of the RELIEF, they set sail for Valparaíso. At midnight they lost contact as the FLYING FISH struggled to ride out a nine-day gale. As for the SEA GULL, she was never seen again, lost with all hands somewhere off the long Chilean coast.
As with other exploratory expeditions, the Americans made use of the Antarctic winter to extend their knowledge of the Pacific island groups. The waters and coastlines of the Paumoto Islands, Tahiti, Samoa, the Marshalls and Hawaii were charted as the scientists collected botanical and geological specimens. Wilkes, once again in command of the VINCENNES, sailed from Sydney, Australia on December 26, 1839. With the PORPOISE, PEACOCK and FLYING FISH close behind, their first rendezvous was to be at Macquarie Island, 800 miles southeast of Tasmania. Seven days of good weather ushered the vessels southward but on the night of January 1, 1840 the FLYING FISH lost sight of the others. She went on, as planned, to Macquarie Island. Two days later, amid worsening weather, the PEACOCK also became separated from the group. She too reached Macquarie Island but anchored out of sight of the FLYING FISH. The VINCENNES and PORPOISE both were blown off course and subsequently passed east of the island. Wilkes decided too much time would be lost trying to fight his way back to Macquarie Island so the VINCENNES and PORPOISE continued on to their second rendezvous point where they would wait for the other two ships. Unfortunately, the FLYING FISH was leaking badly with waves breaking over her. Despite the problems, Lt. Pinkney took the ship southwards in a determined attempt to catch the others. On January 9 the VINCENNES and PORPOISE reached the second rendezvous point, Emerald Island, but lo and behold there was nothing but open water. They had fallen victim to inaccurate charts. With no time to spare, they continued south. Two days later the vessels reached what Wilkes was to refer to as "the icy barrier". They had sailed as far south as possible so they turned westwards in an attempt to find a passage through the pack ice. On January 16 the PEACOCK came into view. Concern was voiced over the fate of the FLYING FISH. The FLYING FISH actually reached the ice barrier on January 21 and struggled westwards from there in an attempt to reach the others. Admitting defeat, they turned north and arrived in New Zealand five weeks later.
Reunited, the VINCENNES, PORPOISE and PEACOCK sailed west among the ice floes. On the day that the PEACOCK arrived a view of land had been shouted by the lookouts. All three vessels sighted the land and Wilkes sketched what he took to be a distant range of mountains. He named one of them Ringgold's Knoll, after the captain of the PORPOISE. Two days later, an officer aboard the PEACOCK captured an emperor penguin. The bird was found to contain 30 pebbles in it's stomach which further confirmed evidence of land, especially since the water was so shallow. On January 24 the PEACOCK was on it's own, attempting to get closer to land. Captain Hudson took his vessel into a bay crowded with floes. While attempting to avoid the large blocks of ice, the ship met with disaster. The PEACOCK crashed astern into an ice floe, the force of which threw his crew to the deck. Inspection revealed that the rudder had been torn from it's fixings. The ice closed in, grinding against the hull. Anchors were hooked on to the floes, only to be torn loose. Time and again she was rammed by great masses of ice. The stern boat was crushed. The carpenters worked throughout the night to repair the rudder. By eight o'clock on the morning of January 25, the rudder was in position again and the sloop worked her way free of the bay. Some crewmembers wished to continue on but Captain Hudson determined the PEACOCK had served her term. She turned north, reaching Sydney in the last week of February 1840.
The PORPOISE continued westwards reaching 100 degrees East on February 14, 1840. Satisfied his duty was done, the PORPOISE turned eastwards and then north to reach the Bay of Islands, New Zealand, on March 26.
It is ironic that at this time Wilkes was unaware his flagship was the last of the squadron in the Antarctic. Pressing west, Wilkes drove the VINCENNES onward, sighting land on February 12. He celebrated with champagne, spent three hours taking observations, then once again sent the VINCENNES tacking west. On February 21 he confronted a wall of ice that stretched as far as the eye could see. He named it Termination Land which was changed later to Termination Ice Tongue and still later changed to the Shackleton Ice Shelf. It extends 180 miles out from the shoreline.
With a number of sightings logged, a list of mountains and headlands named, the tough-minded commander of The United States Exploring Expedition took his flagship back to Sydney. Captain Hudson, aboard the PEACOCK, was there to greet him and Wilkes promptly declared discovery of the Antarctic continent which he dated as January 19, 1840.
Between the spring of 1840 and the summer of 1842, Wilkes undertook a lengthy survey of the North American coast, then sailed to the Philippines and around the Cape of Good Hope. By the time he returned to the United States in 1842, his discoveries had been challenged along with his conduct as commander of the expedition. Upon his return, Wilkes learned that the English explorer James Clark Ross had sailed across some of the land the American claimed to have seen. Ross was correct, but so was Wilkes as Wilkes had experienced the effect known as looming, or polar refraction, which is a desert-like mirage that projects a perfect image relayed by the upper atmosphere, convincing the observer it is far closer than it really is. Wilkes made matters worse when he attempted to retract his recorded date of discovery as January 19, changing the date to January 16. It was his attempt to lay sole claim to discovery of the Antarctic continent since French explorer Dumont d'Urville also claimed January 19 as the date of his first view of the mainland. This matter aside, his biggest problem were charges leveled against him by his fellow officers. A Naval Court of Inquiry was convened, culminating in July 1842 in a sad and sordid court martial. All but one of the charges against him fell apart. The Court found him guilty of the illegal punishment of seamen, based on an incident that had occurred in Callao, aboard the RELIEF. Six of the crew had stolen liquor from the stores, and Wilkes had ordered them to be punished with more than the legal 12 lashes. The verdict left him fuming, but he concentrated on his efforts on writing the five-volume Narrative of his voyage. It was published in 1845, Congress allowing no more than 100 printed copies. Two of these were offered to France, two to Great Britain, two to Imperial Russia, two lodged in the Library of Congress. One each was given to the States of the Union, one to 25 designated countries, one to the Naval Lyceum, Brooklyn. Captain Hudson was given one, as was Captain Ringgold. Wilkes was allowed a single copy.
Wilkes went on to continue his career in the navy. He returned to active duty in 1861 during the Civil War, but his interception of a British mail steamer almost brought Britain into the war on the side of the Confederacy. Wilkes went before a court martial once again, was found guilty and placed on the retired list. It took many years before his Antarctic accomplishments were recognized.
the Extraordinary History of Man's Conquest of the Frozen Continent,
by Reader's Digest.
The Great United States Exploring Expedition, by William Stanton.
United States Exploring Expedition, five volumes by Charles Wilkes.
Antarctica, the Extraordinary History of Man's Conquest of the Frozen Continent, by Reader's Digest, Second Edition.
Voyage to the Southern Ocean; The Letters of Lieutenant William Reynolds from the U.S. Exploring Expedition, 1838-42, edited by Anne Hoffman Cleaver and E. Jeffrey Stann, Naval Institute Press.
Americans in Antarctica 1775-1948, by Kenneth J. Bertrand, American Geographical Society Special Publication No. 39.
Chronological List of Antarctic Expeditions and Related Historical Events, by Robert K. Headland, Cambridge University Press.
United States Exploring Expedition>, five volumes by Charles Wilkes, Gregg Press.
The Great United
States Exploring Expedition, by William Stanton.
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Posted: September 14, 2012
Bullying can affect everyone—those who are bullied, those who bully, and those who witness bullying. Bullying is linked to many negative outcomes including impacts on mental health, substance use, and suicide. It’s important to talk to kids to determine whether bullying—or something else—is a concern. Kids who are bullied can experience negative physical health, school, and mental health issues. Marci Hertz is at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the Prevention Practice and Translation Branch of the Division of Violence Prevention. Marci oversees CDC’s efforts related to youth violence prevention, including the STRYVE initiative (Striving to Reduce Youth Violence Everywhere).
Listen to podcast:... Continue Reading
Posted: September 11, 2012
At the third Federal Partners in Bullying Prevention Summit, attendees asked for ways to easily access and understand the latest research on bullying. In an effort to respond to this request, the StopBullying.gov blog will from time-to-time feature briefs of recent research reports published in some of the top-tier research journals.
Many factors place students at risk for being bullied. Research published in the American Journal of Public Health finds that kids and teens from poor families are more likely to be bullied than others. The study, which surveyed over 160,000 students from nearly 6,000 schools in Europe and North America, also concluded that schools with the largest economic inequality (or a big difference... Continue Reading
Posted: September 4, 2012
Scott Hannah, 17, and Tyler Gregory, 18, know all too well the impact that bullying can have. As a result, they are both taking a stand against bullying in their community. Originally intending to simply raise awareness about bullying at their local South Charleston high school in Ohio, Scott and Tyler ended up leaving a much more significant impact on their community. After their local campaign at their high school peaked in success, the teens were inspired to expand their involvement with the anti-bullying movement and participate in the “Great American No BULL challenge,” an... Continue ReadingPosted in Profiles/Voices from the Field
Posted: August 27, 2012
Throughout the bullying prevention world, the phrase, “I have the solution to bullying!” is all too common. As attention to bullying has grown, so have the number of products and tools claiming to reduce or eliminate bullying in schools and communities. But do they work? This question may seem simple, but there are a lot of factors to consider, including the specific situation and context. The same strategies that may see tremendous success in one school might have no effect in another. So how can you identify what will work for you?
The first thing to keep in mind is whether there is evidence that the program or strategy works. Evidence usually means that the program or strategy has been tested or evaluated and has demonstrated results, such as, the program reduces bullying. But not all evidence is equal. Typically, for a program to be considered evidence-based, and... Continue ReadingPosted in Response
Posted: August 22, 2012
Bullying can happen anywhere—cities, suburbs, or rural towns. Depending on the environment, some groups—such as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgendered (LGBT) youth, youth with disabilities, and socially isolated youth—may be at an increased risk of being bullied. Ingrid Donato is at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and is Chief of the Mental Health Promotion Branch within the Center for Mental Health Services. Ingrid oversees programs aimed at preventing mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders in youth and young adults, including addressing issues such as youth violence, bullying prevention, and early childhood development, as well as screening, systems integration, and access to care.
Recognizing the warning signs is an important first step in taking action against bullying. Not all children who are bullied or are... Continue Reading
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PARIS - Scientists say Saturday will stretch a second longer than any other day this year.
A team at the Paris Observatory is adding a "leap second" just before midnight to make up for a gradual slowdown in the Earth's rotation.
Experts at the International Earth Rotation and Reference System Service make the adjustment when the planet's movement falls out of sync with atomic clocks used to measure time.
A second can be added or removed as needed every six months, but it typically happens only every 1.5 years.
This week's change comes after nearly four years without a leap second — the last one was at the end of December 2008.
Twenty-four extra seconds have been introduced since the process started in 1972.
There are normally 86,400 seconds in a day.
Click here to report a typo or error
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In March of 1979, an accident at the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania touched off a wave of fear and distrust that swept the country. What began as a simple equipment malfunction was followed by other malfunctions and several layers of human error, quickly turning the situation into the worst nuclear accident in U.S. history. Although a complete meltdown of the reactor core was averted, for many the dream of cheap, clean, safe power was permanently damaged.
Nuclear power plants have at least five basic requirements. They need radioactive fuel, such as uranium, to provide the energy for the plant; control rods to control the speed of the nuclear reaction in the fuel; a coolant, usually water, to remove heat from the reactor and carry it to where it can be used to make steam, thus preventing the reactor from overheating; a turbine, driven by steam, to drive an electrical generator; and, a containment structure to prevent the escape of radioactive materials during normal operation or when an accident occurs.
In addition, nuclear power plants, including the Three Mile Island facility, rely on a complex system of automated pumps, valves, and gauges, and on the expertise of plant operators to interpret and manage the functioning of the various parts of the system. At the time it was built, Three Mile Island was considered a state-of-the-art facility. As one plant operator described it, even backup systems had backups. Unfortunately, as the events of March 28, 1979 proved, seemingly fail-safe systems sometimes fail, and without sufficient preparation, workers may be unable to appropriately respond to such events.
In the aftermath of the Three Mile Island accident, government agencies, including the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, took steps to avoid similar incidents in the future. These steps included more rigorous training for plant workers and stricter requirements for equipment and safety features.
What caused the Three Mile Island nuclear core to overheat? What was the role of human error in the accident?
What is meant by "meltdown"? Once the reactor began to cool, what danger remained?
Did anything good result from this accident? If so, do you think the benefits were worth the cost?
Why was the outcome so different from what happened at Chernobyl?
What kinds of risks are we willing to take? Are there risks in other forms of energy?
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UML for UNIX
Many computer science educators have no formal training in education. Their work simply gets grounded in the technology. For any teacher or student, it is very hard to find out the sources of difficulty in learning particular concept. According to the Sensory Stimulation theory proposed by Laird (1985), effective learning occurs when the senses are stimulated and by stimulating the visual sense especially, learning can be enhanced. Unified Modeling Language (UML) is a language proposed for visualizing the system.
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New method predicts fate of stem cellsMarch 2nd, 2010 - 5:13 pm ICT by ANI
London, Mar 2 (ANI): Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute scientists have come up with a new method for predicting the fate of stem cells.
Using advanced computer vision technology to detect subtle cell movements that are impossible to discern with the human eye, Professor Badri Roysam and his former student Andrew Cohen ‘89 can successfully forecast how a stem cell will split and what key characteristics the daughter cells will exhibit.
By allowing the isolation of cells with specific capabilities, this discovery could one day lead to effective methods for growing stem cells on a large scale for therapeutic use.
“If you have many cells in a culture, they all look the same. But our new method senses all sorts of tiny differences in the shapes and movements of the cells, and uses these cues to predict what kind of cells it will divide into,” said Roysam, professor of electrical, computer, and systems engineering at Rensselaer. “We believe this method will be beneficial for one day taking cells from a patient, and then growing large amounts of the kind of cells that patient is in need of. This could enable many new and exciting types of medical treatments using stem cells.”
Results of the study, titled “Computational prediction of neural progenitor cell fates,” were published recently in the journal Nature Methods. (ANI)
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- Blood from stem cells likely within next decade - Oct 27, 2011
- How minorities lead to mass uprisings - Jul 26, 2011
- Can goalie predict whether penalty kick goes right or left? - Jun 25, 2010
- New antibodies to combat Alzheimer's - Dec 12, 2011
- Software that predicts stem cell fate created - Feb 17, 2010
- Patients' own cells 'may shed light into schizophrenia causes' - Apr 14, 2011
- Boffins make new advance in stem cell research - Aug 02, 2010
- Heart patient's own skin cells may soon repair damaged cardiac tissue - Mar 03, 2010
- Brainwaves could help predict schizophrenia, depression - Apr 27, 2011
- Human Skin Can Be Turned Into Blood, Study Says - Nov 08, 2010
- New technology simplifies embryonic stem cell culturing - Nov 15, 2010
Tags: advanced computer, andrew cohen, cell fates, computational prediction, computer vision technology, cues, daughter cells, electrical computer, human eye, institute scientists, isolation, journal nature, medical treatments, nature methods, rensselaer polytechnic institute, stem cell, stem cells, systems engineering, tiny differences, what kind of cells
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The US Food and Drug Administration recommends that doctors genotype patients before prescribing more than 70 commonly-used medications for specific genetic biomarkers. These tests, the agency suggests, can help physicians identify those in which the drug is less efficacious, poorly metabolized, or dangerous. But medicine is still far from a day when drugs and treatment regimes are fitted precisely to a patient's genomic profile.
According to a 2008 survey conducted by the American Medical Association (AMA) and Medco Research Institute, even though 98 percent of physicians agreed that the genetic profiles of their patients may influence drug therapy, only 10 percent believed they were adequately informed about how to test their patients for biomarkers that may predict the safety and/or efficacy of a particular drug.
"Less than 1 percent of all opportunities are being realized with respect to genetic testing," said Felix Frueh, president and head of genomics initiatives at Medco. "There's a long way until this new technology is going to see the translation."
Indeed, while new biomarkers are identified everyday, and researchers are continuing to collect more and more information about genetic variants that confer some amount of disease risk or predict a specific response to a treatment, that information has yet to be widely implemented in the clinic. The AMA states on its website that physicians today can use more than 1,200 genetic tests for more than 1,000 different diseases to help diagnose and treat their patients, but only 13 percent of the 10,000 doctors who responded to the survey had ordered a genetic test for a patient in the preceding 6 months.
But while physicians by in large have been slow to adopt the practice of screening patients to search for genetic information of relevance to drug treatments, known as pharmacogenomics, neither research nor regulation has stalled, as evidenced by the FDA's relabeling of dozens of approved drugs with biomarkers that affect their safety or efficacy in specific patient populations. "Pharmacogenomics is probably an area where personalized medicine is really able to deliver," Frueh said, "and it is able to do so because those are tests that can be clearly associated with a particular therapy."
In some cases, testing patients for the labeled pharmacogenomic markers has become critical. For example, the FDA strongly recommends that doctors prescribing the HIV drug abacavir test their patients for HLA-B*5701 allele. Individuals carrying that allele who take abacavir could become hypersensitive to the drug, which can lead to a systemic, potentially fatal flu-like illness. A 2008 study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that testing for the presence of HLA-B*5701 in HIV patients taking abacavir eliminated hypersentivity reactions. "Abacavir is a black and white example," Frueh said. "You know that if you don't do genetic testing, you're omitting something that's clearly a standard of care today."
"But," he added, "we have to be careful that we're not overstating what's possible." Other pharmacogenomic biomarkers, while helpful, aren't as cut-and-dried. Studies have yielded mixed results, for example, about whether genetic testing for different CYP2C19 alleles in patients taking the anticoagulant drug Plavix can indicate proper dosing schedules to improve how the drug is metabolized. Similarly, identifying single nucleotide polymorphisms in two genes, CYP2C9 and VKORC1, in patients taking another blood thinner, warfarin, can help guide optimum dosing to prevent over anticoagulation, but the markers' predictive ability varies widely across races, according to a 2008 Pharmacogenomics study.
Still, recent results suggest that genotyping patients who are receiving warfarin can improve health outcomes. A 2010 nationwide study that compared the effectiveness of warfarin among different patient populations, conducted by Medco and the Mayo Clinic of Rochester, Minnesota, found that patients receiving the drug who had been genotyped to determine their CYP2C9 and VKORC1 status were hospitalized about 30 percent less than patients whose genotypes were unknown. Remarkably, Frueh noted, only a handful of physicians out of the thousands contacted for the study were even aware that a genetic test existed that could potentially improve warfarin dosing in patients.
According to Vance Vanier, CEO of personal genetic analysis company Navigenics, this lack of implementation is one reason why personalized medicine is not yet a widespread clinical reality—a barrier that Vanier calls the "adoption gap" between advances in the lab and benefits in the clinic."The world is awash in biomarker content," Vanier said. "The key question is, 'What is the most effective mechanism to drive awareness among the primary care physician base?'"
Part of the problem, he suggested, is that physicians underestimate the predictive power of genetic risk factors for certain diseases or treatment outcomes. For example, he said that when he asks physicians in training to state the relative risks of classical predictors of heart disease, such as cigarette smoking or diabetes, he consistently hears figures like "10 to 15 times." In fact, Vanier said, most of those predictors only have relative risks of around 1.8 to 2 fold, similar to some of the more robustly linked genetic markers of disease or drug effectiveness. If doctors are made aware of the fact that certain genetic biomarkers can be just as powerful as traditional predictors, they may be more inclined to use them to help personalize treatment regimes.
Frueh agreed that there's a problem with clinical uptake of new genomic tools and biomarkers, adding that researchers also need to do a better job of demonstrating the clinical utility of such advances. "There is a paucity of data that we can point to and talk to physicians and practitioners about the clinical effectiveness of these tools," he said. "That has something to do with the lack of uptake as well."
Furthermore, with the sheer volume of new genomic information coming out of labs across the globe, it's difficult for physicians to stay abreast of the latest advances that could improve the way they treat their patients, Frueh said. "The 'build it and they will come' approach to personalized medicine is not going to work," he said. "If you're not actively reaching out to the people who are practicing, nobody is going to come."
Correction (June 14): The original version of this article included incorrect figures for the relative risks of traditional vs. genetic predictors of disease and/or drug effectiveness. The mistake has been corrected, and The Scientist regrets the error.
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April 14, 2008
Policy Analysis no. 615
by Randal O'Toole
Randal O'Toole is a senior fellow with the Cato Institute and author of The Best-Laid Plans: How Government Planning Harms Your Quality of Life, Your Pocketbook, and Your Future.
Far from protecting the environment, most rail transit lines use more energy per passenger mile, and many generate more greenhouse gases, than the average passenger automobile. Rail transit provides no guarantee that a city will save energy or meet greenhouse gas targets.
While most rail transit uses less energy than buses, rail transit does not operate in a vacuum: transit agencies supplement it with extensive feeder bus operations. Those feeder buses tend to have low ridership, so they have high energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions per passenger mile. The result is that, when new rail transit lines open, the transit systems as a whole can end up consuming more energy, per passenger mile, than they did before.
Even where rail transit operations save a little energy, the construction of rail transit lines consumes huge amounts of energy and emits large volumes of greenhouse gases. In most cases, many decades of energy savings would be needed to repay the energy cost of construction.
Rail transit attempts to improve the environment by changing people's behavior so that they drive less. Such behavioral efforts have been far less successful than technical solutions to toxic air pollution and other environmental problems associated with automobiles.
Similarly, technical alternatives to rail transit can do far more to reduce energy use and CO2 outputs than rail transit, at a far lower cost. Such alternatives include the following:
If oil is truly scarce, rising prices will lead people to buy more fuel-efficient cars. But states and locales that want to save even more energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions will find the above alternatives far superior to rail transit.
Full Text of Policy Analysis no. 615
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It was in 2006 that scientists were alerted to a polar and grizzly bear hybrid. Now, LiveScience.com
reports that researchers have discovered scores of further examples of Arctic creatures who are mating outside their species.
The news provider reports that the data was compiled by Brendan Kelly of the National Marine Mammal Laboratory, who noted at least 34 cases of hybrid animals.
"The greatest concern is species that are already imperiled," said Kelly, first author of the Nature comment. "Interbreeding might be the final straw."
Other hybrids that were discovered in the Arctic region were crosses between narwhal and beluga whales, as well as ringed and ribbon seals. The news source reports that hybrid animals are likely to push those endangered species into extinction.
While global warming is hurting all sorts of animals, polar bears are especially at risk. The warmer weather is forcing the animals to venture to land where food is scarce. Because of this, the endangered creatures are slowly dying of starvation.
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Magnetic core memory was the second major milestone in modern computer memory technology that was widely adopted. While it is generally believed that all key components of the technology had been developed by 1951, the idea is traced back to MIT's Jay Forrester who first described the technology in 1949. In parallel An Wang was working on magnetic core memory in a slightly different approach as well. The basic principle of core memory was using a "core" as a ring of ferrite that could be magnetized in one of two directions. As a result, the memory was able to store digital information either a 1 or 0. In the 1960s up to the early 1970s, non-volatile magnetic core memory was used as the default memory technology in more than 90 percent of all computers globally. Wang received the initial patent (#2,708,722) with 34 claims for magnetic core memory, which was acquired shortly after its approval in 1955 by IBM for $500,000. MIT challenged the patent claims and engaged in a lengthy patent battle with IBM. IBM eventually paid MIT $13 million for the rights to magnetic core memory in 1964.
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Red Habanero Pepper
The classic red habanero is a fiery red variation on the common orange habanero. Fruits are extremely hot, measuring 40 times hotter than the Jalapeno! The fruits are somewhat lantern shaped, and average 1" wide by 1 1/2" long. Plants can grow to 2-3 feet and bear quite heavily. As with most peppers, plants can be overwintered in warm areas or greenhouses for added production the following year.
Days to Maturity
The Red Habanero has been around in one form or another for many years. The origin is unknown, but is likely from tropical America.
Start seeds in small containers from 8-10 weeks prior to the last frost date. Plant seeds approximately 1/4-1/2" deep in moist, well drained potting soil. Most standard soil mixes are suitable for pepper seeds. Soil temperature must be kept at 75-90F for proper germination. Cool soil, particularly at night can inhibit or significantly delay germination. To keep soil temperature warm, start seeds indoors, in a greenhouse and/or use a seed starting heat mat. Keep soil moderately moist, though not overly, dripping wet. Water soil when the soil surface just begins to dry. Allow proper air circulation for containers.
Optionally, seeds can be dipped in a dilute hydrogen peroxide mix (1 tsp hydrogen perioxide per cup water) for one minute to disinfect seeds prior to planting. If your soil or seed setup is susceptible to mold growth this can be useful to kill mold spores.
Once seedlings have sprouted, keep in small containers until a few sets of leaves have developed. Transplant to larger containers or outdoors. If transplanting outdoors, make sure to harden off seedlings by exposing them to only filtered sunlight for up to 1-2 weeks. Thin plants to 3-4 ft and rows to 6-10 ft.
Estimated germination time under optimal conditions: 2-10 weeks
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You WIll Probably Live to See 'Dangerous' Levels of Climate Change
As far as Americans are concerned, climate change is a perpetually distant and ambiguous threat. Some glaciers thousands of miles away might melt, some poor people might suffer through droughts in Africa, some polar bears might drown. Et cetera. This 'distance effect' is, partly, what drives global warming to the bottom of our priority lists time and again. It's an amorphous problem, ever-looming. That's what it seems like, anyway.
Yet two recent studies published in Nature reiterate a warning scientists have been issuing for years: if greenhouse gas emission trajectories remain as rapidly ascendent, we'll likely see "dangerous levels" of climate change by midcentury. That means a good many of us reading these very words will be alive and well by the time climate change begins to reach what are commonly referred to as "catastrophic" levels.
Reuters parses the report: (emphasis mine)
Global temperature rise could exceed "safe" levels of two degrees Celsius in some parts of the world in many of our lifetimes if greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase, two research papers published in the journal Nature warned.That's right--we could see a 2 degree Celsius rise in less than 20 years in some parts of the world. Like Canada. And Canada's not exactly a far-off locale, even to the most avid American exceptionalists.
"Certain levels of climate change are very likely within the lifetimes of many people living now ... unless emissions of greenhouse gases are substantially reduced in the coming decades," said a study on Sunday by academics at the English universities of Reading and Oxford, the UK's Met Office Hadley Center and the Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. "Large parts of Eurasia, North Africa and Canada could potentially experience individual five-year average temperatures that exceed the 2 degree Celsius threshold by 2030 -- a timescale that is not so distant,"
Hopefully, studies like this will continue to underscore the urgency by which we must act to address our still-ballooning carbon emissions. And hopefully, responsible news outlets will continue to publicize them.
Mat noted in a post about these same studies that greenhouse gas emissions must peak by 2020 if we hope to avoid the worst climate change impacts. That's not much time. And given the current political aversion to climate change mitigation in the US--the world's largest historic carbon polluter--forging a meaningful international agreement aimed at reducing emissions between now and then will require something of a diplomatic miracle.
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Yo, Grammar: What's up with comma splices?
You’re right: You should definitely look out for comma splices on the SAT.
A comma splice is a grammar error that is created by joining two independent clauses (complete sentences) with a comma.
Since we have two complete sentences, we would form a comma splice if we combined them by using just a comma:
We see comma splices everywhere, and it’s unfortunate that people don’t know how to correct them.
Here is an easy way to correct a comma splice:
Here are some other ways to fix comma splices:
- Use the appropriate coordinating conjunction (aka “FANBOYS”) that fix comma splices.
- As we did above, use a semicolon.
- End the first sentence with a period, and begin the next sentence by capitalizing the first word.
- Read PWN the SAT’s excellent post on run-on sentences and fragments (and follow his instructions).
Good luck on the SAT!
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NCAR Climate Model Projections for 21st Century: Earth Warms by 3.6 Degrees F; Winter Rain/Snow Increases 40% in Southwest and Great Plains
BOULDER -- Carbon dioxide emissions over the next century could increase wintertime precipitation in the U.S. Southwest and Great Plains by 40% as global average temperature rises 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius), according to latest results from a new climate system model developed at the National Center for Atmospheric Research by NCAR, university, and other laboratory scientists. Reducing the buildup of carbon dioxide concentrations over the next century by one half largely dries up the extra rain and snow and slows the global temperature rise to 2.7 degrees F (1.5 degrees C). The model results were announced this week in Atlanta. The study was funded in part by the National Science Foundation (NSF), NCAR's primary sponsor.
The NCAR model simulated the earth's climate from 1870 to 1990 and then continued the simulation to 2100 under two different scenarios. The first was a "business-as-usual" increase in greenhouse gases in which atmospheric carbon dioxide doubles over the next century. In the second, carbon dioxide increases are stabilized at 50% above today's concentrations. In the first projection, changes in precipitation vary markedly by region and by season. Within the United States, the greatest increases occur in the Southwest and Great Plains in winter and substantially exceed the range of natural variability. Precipitation changes are reduced when carbon dioxide emissions are limited, according to the model.
Global average temperature climbs by 3.6 degrees F (2 degrees C) for business as usual and 2.7 degrees F (1.5 degrees C) when carbon dioxide emissions are limited. These changes are three to four times larger than the warming that has occurred since 1900. On the continental scale, carbon dioxide stabilization reduces climate warming over Eurasia more than over North America.
NCAR scientist Tom Wigley says, "These results show that the effects of policies to reduce future climate change will not be simply related to changes in global mean temperature."
The model shows no clear separation between the business-as-usual and the stabilization cases until around 2060, even though the carbon dioxide concentrations begin to diverge in 2010. The half-century lag until the changes in greenhouse emissions begin to affect the climate noticeably is the result of large thermal inertia in the earth's climate system, especially in the oceans, say the scientists.
The NCAR model's special features help push the science of climate modeling into new territory. It is one of the world's first global models not to require special corrections to keep the simulated climate from drifting to an unrealistic state. It is also one of only a handful of models in the world capable of realistically simulating the chemistry and transport of individual greenhouse gases and sulfur compounds. The model employs a more realistic scenario for future emissions of sulfur dioxide, a form of industrial pollution that cools the climate. Assuming that societies will take steps to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions over the next century, the scientists incorporated this decline into the model. The sulfur dioxide cooling effect gradually diminishes, allowing the simultaneous greenhouse warming to emerge more clearly.
Data from these NCAR climate system model runs are available to the scientific community for research into possible effects of climate change on human health, water resources, agriculture, natural ecosystems, and the economy. Scientists from both NCAR and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration worked on the study, which was funded by NSF and ACACIA (A Consortium for the Application of Climate Impact Assessments). ACACIA is a joint NCAR-industry program sponsored by electric utility research organizations in the United States, Japan, and The Netherlands, and by NCAR and NSF. The simulations were run on supercomputers at NCAR and in Japan.
For more information, see Tom Wigley's background paper on the World Wide Web. For model data, see the U.S. National Assessment site. NCAR is managed by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, a consortium of more than 60 universities offering Ph.D.s in atmospheric and related sciences.
UCAR news releases
UCAR news in brief
The National Center for Atmospheric Research and UCAR Office of Programs are operated by UCAR under the sponsorship of the National Science Foundation and other agencies. Opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of any of UCAR's sponsors. UCAR is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer.
Prepared for the web by Jacque Marshall
Last revised: Fri Apr 7 15:38:50 MDT 2000
Last revised: Thu Apr 22 11:00:56 MDT 1999
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Pediatric Supportive Care (PDQ®)
Note: Information about physical adjustment to treatment, problems with physical and cognitive development, and life after cancer treatment will be added to this summary in the future.
Most children with cancer can be cured. However, cancer treatment for young patients can cause unwanted side effects and other problems during and after treatment. Early treatment of cancer symptoms and the side effects of therapy helps patients feel better, stay stronger, and cope with life after cancer. Supportive care improves the patient's physical, psychological, social, and spiritual quality of life.
Supportive care is given to children of all ages, including infants, children, adolescents, and young adults.
Cancer in children and young adults is different from cancer that develops later in life. Childhood cancers usually do not act like adult cancers and are not treated the same way:
In general, treatments for childhood cancer use higher doses of chemotherapy and radiation than is used for adults. These treatments may also be given over a shorter amount of time than in adults. This is because children can receive more intense treatment (higher doses given over a shorter time) than adults can, before serious side effects occur.
Some of the unwanted side effects of cancer treatments cause more harm to children than they do to adults. This is because children's bodies are still growing and developing, so cancer and its treatment are more likely to affect developing organs.
Side effects of chemotherapy and radiation therapy may happen right away or weeks or years after treatment. Cancer treatment may also affect a child's growth or cause a second cancer to form. Problems that appear weeks or years after treatment are called late effects. Because of possible late effects, childhood cancer survivors need life-long follow-up. (See the PDQ summary on Late Effects of Treatment for Childhood Cancer for more information).
The types of supportive care given to children may be different from those used for adults. For example, certain medicines used to control symptoms in adults may not be safe for children.
The treatments and supportive care will be different for different age groups and will change as the child grows and develops. For some cancers, the prognosis (chance of recovery) and risk of late effects depend partly on the age of the child at the time of diagnosis or treatment. See CureSearch for more information about treatment and support for different age groups.
Even with a diagnosis of cancer, the child will still be going to school, spending time with friends and family, and enjoying many activities that were a part of life before cancer. The child's circle of family and friends may be large. In addition to parents, brothers, and sisters, many others may be closely involved in the child's everyday life. This includes grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, teachers, schoolmates, and friends. Everyone in a child's circle of family and friends are affected by the child's cancer diagnosis and treatment, and possible side effects of treatment.
Children under the age of 18 don't have the legal right to make their own decisions about treatment. Their parents or guardians legally make these decisions for them. Decisions about treatment may be difficult because of this. There are ethical concerns about informed consent (the process of giving information about possible treatments and their risks and benefits, before treatment decisions are made). In the treatment of children, parents are informed and decide whether to give permission for the treatment. Whenever possible, it is best that the child be involved and agrees with decisions about treatment.
Cancer treatment is stressful on the child and the family. However, studies have shown that most children treated for cancer, and children who are long-term survivors of cancer, have few serious psychological problems.
The early days of treatment, when the child is often in the hospital, are usually the most stressful for the child and the family. The child may be anxious about being away from home and receiving new treatment. This anxiety usually decreases over time. Studies have reported that, in general, children treated for cancer have no differences from other children in self-esteem, hopefulness, depression, anxiety, or loneliness.
Children who have a lot of support from their family are less likely to have problems adjusting.
Some of the factors that may increase the risk of social, emotional, or behavioral problems include:
- Having leukemia, lymphoma, or a cancer or treatment that affects the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord).
- Having a stem cell transplant.
- Having family problems.
- Being younger than school age during treatment.
Some studies have shown that physical and emotional distress related to cancer and its treatment can cause mental health problems in certain childhood cancer survivors. These problems include depression that needs treatment and can lead to suicide. Signs of depression include the following:
- Feeling empty, worthless, unloved, or that life isn't worth living.
- Feeling nervous, restless, or irritable.
- Changes in appetite.
- Low energy.
- Sleep problems.
- Decreased interest in activities.
- Increased crying.
Drugs called SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) have been shown to decrease depression in young people. SSRIs usually have few side effects but they may cause suicidal thoughts or actions in young people (children, teenagers, and young adults). The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has warned that young people up to age 25 who are taking SSRIs should be watched closely for signs that the depression is getting worse, especially suicidal thinking or behavior. Close monitoring is especially important during the first four to eight weeks of treatment. The patient, family, and health care provider should discuss the risks and benefits of using SSRIs to treat depression.
The side effects of SSRIs have not been studied in children, adolescents, or young adults with cancer.
Follow-up cancer care may be given by the cancer treatment doctor or the main provider, such as the family doctor. It is important that regular mental health check-ups be part of this follow-up care. A patient who shows signs of depression or other mental health problems during follow-up care may be referred to a therapist or other mental health specialist. Many survivors get help from therapists who are experts in helping people who are recovering from cancer.
Being diagnosed with a life-threatening disease and receiving treatment for it is often traumatic. This trauma may cause a group of symptoms called post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD is defined as having certain symptoms following a stressful event that involved death or the threat of death, serious injury, or a threat to oneself or others.
People who have survived very stressful situations, such as military combat or natural disasters, may also have PTSD. PTSD can affect cancer survivors in the following ways:
- Reliving the time they were diagnosed and treated for cancer, in nightmares or flashbacks, and thinking about it all the time.
- Avoiding places, events, and people that remind them of the cancer experience.
- Being constantly overexcited, fearful, irritable, or unable to sleep, or having trouble concentrating.
Because avoiding places and persons connected to the cancer is part of PTSD, survivors with PTSD may not get the medical treatment they need.
Childhood cancer survivors who are diagnosed with PTSD are more likely to have depression and to have difficulty with common aspects of young adulthood, such as doing well in school, taking part in social activities, and reaching career goals.
In children and teens with cancer, symptoms of PTSD may occur during treatment or after treatment has ended. Those who feel very uncertain about their disease and future may be more likely to have PTSD symptoms. Parents and siblings (brothers and sisters) of childhood cancer survivors are also at high risk for PTSD.
It is important that cancer survivors and their families receive information about the possible psychological effects of their cancer experience and about early treatment of symptoms of PTSD.
Follow-up cancer care may be given by the cancer treatment doctor or the main provider, such as the family doctor. It is important that regular mental health check-ups be part of this follow-up care. A patient who shows signs of PTSD or other mental health problems during follow-up care may be referred to a therapist or other mental health specialist. Many survivors get help from therapists who are experts in helping people who are recovering from cancer.
Parents feel great distress when their child is diagnosed with a life-threatening disease. Over time, the level of distress may lessen. Each family is affected in its own way, and different members of the family will react in different ways.
Certain factors may increase the family's level of distress:
- The cancer patient is at a young age when diagnosed.
- The cancer treatments last for a long period of time.
- The child with cancer dies.
The entire family must adjust to changes in normal routine as the parents cope with the child's treatment, look for information, and try to also take care of the brothers and sisters. The parents' attention is focused on the child with cancer.
Brothers and sisters of the cancer patient need help to cope with their feelings of anxiety, loneliness, and fear. Brothers and sisters who are bone marrow (stem cell) donors for the cancer patient may have anxiety. Siblings who are not bone marrow donors may have school-related problems.
Although stress-related symptoms are common in siblings of childhood cancer patients, they sometimes report that their experience has made them more compassionate and that the cancer experience has brought their family closer together.
Parents who are working and who have support from family, friends, and the health care team usually have lower levels of distress and feel more positive about their child's experience. Social support programs, such as support groups and summer camps, help brothers and sisters cope with the illness more easily.
Even though new and better treatments have increased the chances of a cure or remission, some types of childhood cancer do not get better. When a child's cancer does not get better or comes back, parents may not be sure about whether to continue treatment and, if so, what kind.
Parents who are caring for a child at the end of life need a lot of support that includes family members and the child's health care team. The health care team can help parents understand how different types of treatment can affect their child's quality of life. Parents have to decide if they want their child to continue to receive treatment even if it is not likely to affect the cancer. They also have to decide if they want their child to take part in decisions about end-of-life care.
Parents have reported that they find the most support from cancer treatment doctors who:
- Give clear information.
- Communicate in a caring and sensitive way.
- Communicate directly with their child as needed.
- Let them know what to expect as their child nears death and help them get ready for it.
Some medical centers that specialize in cancer care for children have services that help with palliative and end-of-life care. These support services may include:
- Pediatric palliative care team.
- Pain service.
- Hospice care.
- Psychological and social support team.
- Bereavement program.
- Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) services.
Other services that are helpful but may be harder to find include:
- Programs for siblings of children who are receiving end-of-life care.
- Hospice programs that accept children who are still receiving chemotherapy.
- Clinical trials that combine complementary and alternative treatment with standard treatment.
Even when palliative care and end-of-life care support services are not available, cancer treatment doctors may suggest other options to parents. If parents have home health care support, many are able to plan and give their child end-of-life care at home. This can have the following positive effects:
- The child may not need to be admitted to the hospital as often.
- The parents feel that they have more control and are better able to accept their child's death.
- If the child does die in the hospital, he or she is less likely to die in an intensive care unit, which often uses invasive treatments.
When a child nears the end of life, the whole family needs compassionate medical, spiritual, emotional, and practical support. This includes the following types of help:
- Communication that is caring and sensitive to the needs of the child and the family. Communication should be based on the child's age and stage of development.
- Palliative care that includes ways to manage pain and other symptoms at the end of life. Medicines and non-drug treatments can relieve pain, agitation, itching, nausea, vomiting, and seizures. Platelet transfusions may be given to help prevent bleeding.
- Support for the emotional and spiritual needs of the child and the family that are based on differences among family members and on the family's cultural beliefs.
- Bereavement care which may include helping families create memories with the child, such as photo albums or handprints. It also helps the family to know what to expect at the time of death and in the days, weeks, and months that follow. Bereavement support sessions may be offered after the child's death. See the PDQ summary on Grief, Bereavement, and Coping With Loss for more information.
- Advance care planning to help the family make decisions about:
- Types of treatment to be used.
- Whether the family wants the child to die at home.
- Whether the family wants hospice care.
- Funeral arrangements.
- Whether a Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) order will be in place.
- Whether taking part in decisions would help the child.
- Information and advice from the health care team about medical, ethical, and legal issues.
Good end-of-life care includes treatment and support that is based on the special needs of the child and family and improves their quality of life.
See the PDQ summary on Last Days of Life for more information.
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The use of high-energy radiation from x-rays, gamma rays, neutrons, protons, and other sources to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors. Radiation may come from a machine outside the body (external-beam radiation therapy), or it may come from radioactive material placed in the body near cancer cells (internal radiation therapy). Systemic radiation therapy uses a radioactive substance, such as a radiolabeled monoclonal antibody, that travels in the blood to tissues throughout the body. Also called irradiation and radiotherapy.
Radiation Therapy for CancerRadiation Therapy and You: Support for People With Cancer Radioterapia para c??ncer: preguntas y respuestas La radioterapia y usted: Apoyo para las personas con c??ncer
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"Across the world, women and girls are using their roles within families and communities to strengthen risk reduction."
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
Message for the International Day for Disaster Reduction
Theme for 2012: Women and Girls - the [in]Visible Force of Resilience
By resolution 44/236 (22 December 1989), the General Assembly designated the second Wednesday of October International Day for Natural Disaster Reduction. The International Day was to be observed annually during the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction, 1990-1999.
By resolution 64/200 of 21 December 2009 the General Assembly decided to designate 13 October as the date to commemorate the Day and to change the Day's name to International Day for Disaster Reduction. The objective of the observance is to raise awareness of how people are taking action to reduce their risk to disasters.
The theme of the 2012 International Day for Disaster Reduction (IDDR) is "Women and Girls - the [in]Visible Force of Resilience".
Women and girls are empowered to fully contribute to sustainable development through disaster risk reduction, particularly in the areas of environmental and natural resource management; governance; and urban and land use planning and social and economic planning - the key drivers of disaster risk.
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Explore 5-Minute Clinical Consult - view these FREE monographs:
-- The first section of this topic is shown below --
- A contagious parasitic infection caused by lice (blood-sucking insects, obligate parasites)
- 2 species of lice infest humans:
- Pediculus humanus has 2 subspecies: The head louse (var. capitis) and the body louse (var. corporis). Both species are 1–3 mm long, flat, and wingless and have 3 pairs of legs that attach closely behind the head.
- Phthirus pubis (pubic or crab louse): Resembles a sea crab and has widespread claws on the 2nd and 3rd legs
- System(s) affected: Skin/Exocrine
- Synonym(s): Lice; Crabs
- In the US: 6–12 million new cases per year
- Predominant age:
- Head lice: Most common in children 3–12 years of age; more common in girls than boys
- Pubic lice: Most common in adults
Head lice: 1–3% in industrialized countries
- General: Overcrowding and close personal contact
- Head lice:
- School-aged children, gender (girls)
- Sharing combs, hats (including helmets), clothing, and bed linens
- African Americans rarely have head lice; theories include twisted hair shaft and increased use of thick hair products
- Body lice: Poor hygiene, homelessness
- Pubic lice: Promiscuity (very high transmission rate)
- Environmental measures: Wash, dry-clean, or vacuum all items that may have come in contact with infected individuals.
- Screen and treat affected household contacts.
- Head lice: Follow-up by school nurses may help to prevent recurrence and spread.
- Pubic lice: Limit the number of sexual partners (Note: Condoms do not prevent transmission nor does shaving pubic hair).
- Body lice: Proper hygiene
Itching is a hypersensitivity reaction to the saliva of the feeding louse.
- Infestation by lice: P. humanus (var. capitis), P. humanus (var. corporis), or P. pubis
- Characteristics of lice:
- Adult louse is dark grayish and moves quickly, but does not jump or fly.
- Eggs (sometimes referred to as nits) camouflage with the individuals' hair color and are cemented to the base of the hair shaft (within 4 mm of the scalp).
- Nits (empty egg casings) appear white (opalescent) and remain cemented to the hair shaft.
- Lice feed solely on human blood by piercing the skin, injecting saliva, and then sucking blood.
- Transmission: Direct human-to-human contact:
- Head lice: Direct head-to-head contact or contact with infested fomite (less common)
- Body lice: Contact with contaminated clothing or bedding
- Pubic lice: Typically transmitted sexually (fomite transmission is unlikely)
Commonly Associated Conditions
Up to 1/3 of patients with pubic lice have at least one concomitant STI.
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Want to stay on top of all the space news? Follow @universetoday on Twitter
Astronomers have noticed a change on Saturn. The planet’s rings are getting thinner and thinner and the details in the dark bands are getting harder to observe. What’s more, at this rate, Saturn’s rings will have completely vanished by Sept. 4, 2009!
But don’t pack up your telescopes quite yet, there’s no reason to be alarmed. This phenomenon occurs every 14 to 15 years and the explanation is down to an astronomical optical illusion called “ring plane crossing”…
In 1612, Galileo noticed something was awry with the beautiful gas giant. The distinctive rings of Saturn were shrinking until he was unable to see them any more. The situation was so strange that Galileo even stopped observing the planet (most likely through frustration!). He had discovered the rings two years earlier and was instantly entranced by them. He once wrote to his Medici patrons on the discovery in 1610: “I found another very strange wonder, which I should like to make known to their Highnesses…” so you can imagine his confusion when the rings slipped out of view.
Ring plane crossings occur periodically when the tilt and position in Saturn’s orbit combine to allow astronomers a unique side-on view of the rings. Far from being a loss, looking at the paper-thin rings side-on will remove the glare from the bright rings giving astronomers a superb opportunity to see the icy moons orbiting close to Saturn. Also, Saturn’s strangely blue north pole should be observable. Saturn is better known for its brown-golden clouds of gas, but in high latitudes, these clouds thin out to reveal a blue dome. Cancelling the light from Saturn’s rings may provide a perfect environment to see the blue from Earth and to view the points of bright light shining off the small moons.
So dust off those telescopes, a once-in-14-year astronomical opportunity is approaching…
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Depression is a medical condition that can cause a wide variety of psychological and physical symptoms. It is estimated that between 4 and 8 percent of adolescents are depressed. However, depression in adolescents is probably underdiagnosed because the symptoms can be difficult to recognize.
Extreme and enduring sadness is the best-known symptom of depression, although adolescents can have a number of other symptoms, including irritability, difficulty at school, changes in sleep habits, and/or feelings of worthlessness. Depression is different than occasional blues and grief because depression is persistent and often interferes with the teen's ability to get along with parents and friends, complete school work, and appropriately participate in other normal daily activities.
Depression is a treatable condition. Psychotherapy (counseling), drug therapy, and other measures can alleviate symptoms and help the adolescent to succeed in school, develop and maintain healthy relationships, and feel more self-confident. This topic review discusses the causes, risk factors, signs and symptoms, and diagnosis of depression in adolescents. A separate topic review discusses the treatment of depression in adolescents. (See "Patient information: Depression treatment options for adolescents (Beyond the Basics)".)
Topics that discuss depression in adults are also available. (See "Patient information: Depression in adults (Beyond the Basics)" and "Patient information: Depression treatment options for adults (Beyond the Basics)".)
CAUSE OF DEPRESSION
The exact cause of depression is not known. Studies suggest that depression is a biologic disorder resulting, at least in part, from an imbalance of neurochemicals in the brain, including serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine. These neurochemicals allow cells in the brain to communicate with each other and play an essential role in all brain functions, including movement, sensation, memory, and emotions. This interaction is supported by studies demonstrating the benefit of antidepressants, which help restore the neurochemical balance in the brain.
DEPRESSION RISK FACTORS
Many adolescents are unsure why they are depressed. Depression sometimes occurs in response to a stressful event, such as a recent death or break-up, or it can occur for no apparent reason. Although anyone can develop depression, certain factors increase an adolescent's risk for becoming depressed, including:
- Female sex
- A history of depression in a parent or sibling
- A prior history of depression
- A history of anxiety disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, learning disability
- A recent loss (eg, death, divorce)
- Family problems or conflicts with parents
- Difficulties with friends or peers
- Difficulties with school work
- Negative outlook or poor coping skills
- Chronic illness
IMPACT OF DEPRESSION
Many adolescents who are depressed are not aware that depression is the basis for the changes in their emotions, ability to interact with others, and school performance. These changes can have serious, life-altering consequences that increase the risk for future depressive episodes, especially if the depression is not recognized or treated. Adolescents who are depressed are at increased risk for the following problems:
- Difficulty with school work and relationships with parents and peers, decreased interest and involvement in daily activities and responsibilities.
- Health complaints such as abdominal pain, fatigue, and headaches.
- Engaging in high-risk behaviors such as having sex, smoking, abusing alcohol and other substances, violence against others, and suicide attempts.
Preventing suicide — Suicide is a tragic and preventable consequence of severe depression. Any mention of suicide or self-harm should be taken seriously. Signs that a teen is considering suicide include the following :
- Ideation — Talking about or threatening to kill or hurt oneself; looking for ways to kill oneself; talking or writing about death, dying or suicide
- Substance abuse — Increased substance use
- Anxiety — Anxiety, agitation, or changes in sleep pattern
- Trapped — Feeling like there is no way out
- Withdrawal — Withdrawing from friends, family, and society
- Mood changes
Parents who are concerned that their child is considering suicide should seek care as soon as possible. If the parent is concerned that the child is at risk of hurting him or herself or others, the parent should do one of the following:
- Call their healthcare provider for advice or an urgent appointment
- Take the child to the local emergency department
- Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org) at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
An adolescent who is at immediate risk for attempting suicide requires emergency evaluation and prompt treatment for depression (if depression precipitated the suicidal thoughts). This may include hospitalization, antidepressant medication, and intensive therapy.
It is sometimes difficult to differentiate the signs and symptoms of depression from the occasional bad mood, acting out, and negative attitude that most adolescents experience at some point. It is not uncommon for the transition from childhood to adulthood to include conflict and anger as the teen tries to adjust to their changing body and role among family and friends. The primary difference between "normal" adolescent behavior disruptions and depression is that depression leads to a significant change in mood that lasts for at least two weeks and includes some associated symptoms (see below). If a parent is unsure whether their teen is depressed, they should err on the side caution and ask the child's healthcare professional for advice.
A depressed or irritable mood may be the most common symptom of depression, although depression can cause other psychological and physical symptoms. Unfortunately, there is no single sign or symptom that serves as a marker for depression, which can make depression hard to identify. In fact, many people are not aware that depression can cause physical symptoms such as aches and pains or appetite and sleep changes.
A typical major depressive episode lasts an average of seven to nine months; 90 percent of adolescents with depression improve within two years. Unfortunately, relapse is common; the probability of recurrence is 40 percent by two years and 70 percent by five years.
The three distinct types of depression (major depression, dysthymia, and depressive disorder not otherwise specified) will be discussed here.
Major depression — Major depression is the medical term for depression that includes at least five of the symptoms listed below. A person can have mild, moderate, or severe major depression.
- Depressed or irritable mood for most of the day nearly every day
- Markedly diminished interest or pleasure in almost all activities
- Change in appetite or weight
- Insomnia or excessive sleep
- Talking or moving more slowly or quickly than normal
- Fatigue or loss of energy
- Feelings of worthlessness or guilt
- Difficulty concentrating or making decisions
- Recurring thoughts of death or suicide
One of first two symptoms must be present to diagnose depression: the adolescent must have either a depressed/irritable mood or loss of interest or pleasure for most of the day, nearly every day, for at least two weeks. In addition, four or more of the other symptoms must also be present during the same period.
Other potential causes of depressive symptoms (eg, drug abuse or medications), medical conditions (eg, hypothyroidism), and grief (eg, due to death of friend or family member) must be excluded as causes (see 'Related conditions' below).
Depressed mood — The definition of a "depressed mood" in adolescents is somewhat different than depressed mood in an adult. Many adolescents describe feeling down, sad, or blue much of the time. In adolescents, irritability may be a better indicator of depression.
Signs of irritability include feeling "annoyed" or "bothered" by everything and everyone. Rather than expressing sadness, the depressed adolescent may be moody, negative, and argumentative, picking fights as a means to express his or her emotional distress. He or she often is unable to tolerate frustration and responds to minor provocations with angry outbursts.
Other characteristics of depressed mood in adolescents include:
- Finding others uncaring
- Brooding about real or potentially unpleasant circumstances
- A gloomy or hopeless outlook
- Belief that everything is "unfair"
- Feelings that they disappoint parents or teachers
Diminished interest or pleasure — Adolescents experience diminished interest by feeling that events, hobbies, interests, or people are less interesting or fun than they used to be. They may use terms like "boring," "stupid," or "uninteresting." They may withdraw from or lose interest in friends. If they are sexually active, they may have decreased libido or interest in sex.
Change in appetite or weight — Appetite changes and weight loss are common in people with depression, although this may be less common in depressed adolescents than in depressed adults.
Changes in sleep — Sleep disturbance is common in depressed adolescents; complaints may include not feeling rested after sleeping or having difficulty getting out of bed in the morning. A depressed adolescent may have difficulty falling or staying asleep, may sleep excessively during the day or night, or may sleep at odd hours.
Slowed or rapid movement — Talking or moving more slowly or quickly than normal is common in depressed youth; the medical term for this is psychomotor retardation or agitation. Adolescents can have alternating periods of retardation and agitation within a single episode of depression.
- Psychomotor retardation (slowing) is defined an abnormal slowing of movement. It is directly related to brain activity and causes the person to appears as if he or she is moving in slow motion; the feeling of being slowed down is not psychomotor retardation.
- Psychomotor agitation may cause trouble sitting still, pacing, hand wringing, pulling at or rubbing clothes, tantrums, yelling, shouting, or non-stop talking.
Fatigue or loss of energy — A depressed adolescent may report feeling tired all the time, exhausted, listless, and without energy or motivation. He or she may feel the need to rest during the day, experience heaviness in their arms or legs, or feel like it is hard to get going much of the time. Parents can sometimes misinterpret this behavior as laziness, a bad attitude, or a desire to avoid responsibilities. Alternatively, some parents are concerned that the adolescent is medically ill.
Feelings of worthlessness or guilt — Many depressed adolescents have feelings of inadequacy, inferiority, failure, or worthlessness. One or more of the following may be present:
- Reluctance to try to do things (fear of failure)
- Excessively self-critical assessment of accomplishments
- Difficulty identifying positive self attributes
- Desire to change several aspects of themselves
- An "I don't care" attitude to avoid feelings of insecurity
- Compulsive lying about success or skills to bolster self-esteem
- Envy or preoccupation with the success of others
- Marked self-reproach or guilt for events that are not their fault
- Belief that they deserve to be punished for things that are not their fault
Impaired concentration, indecisiveness — Depressed adolescents usually have problems with attention and concentration that were not present to the same degree before the episode of depression. Their thinking and processing of information may be slowed. In addition, they are indecisive, which may cause procrastination, helplessness, or inability to take action. They take longer to complete homework and class work than before the depressive episode; school performance may decline. It may be necessary to obtain information from the school to determine if this problem is present.
Recurring thoughts of death or suicide — Some depressed adolescents experience recurrent thoughts of death (not just fear of death) or suicide or even attempt suicide. Morbid thoughts are common in depressed teens and manifest as:
- Thoughts that life is not worth living
- Thoughts that others would be better off if they were dead
- Preoccupation with music and literature that has morbid themes
Dysthymia — Dysthymia is a less intense but more persistent condition than major depression. Dysthymia is usually diagnosed when a person has a depressed or irritable mood for at least one year and has at least two other symptoms of depression. The most common symptoms of dysthymia include changes in appetite and/or sleep, fatigue, low self-esteem, difficulty concentrating and making decisions, and feelings of hopelessness.
Other types of depression — A teen can have some, but not all, of the features of major depression or dysthymia. Depression, independent of the type, results in problems with daily functioning and development. It is important that depression be addressed to prevent a worsening of symptoms and problems in daily life. Although other types of depression may have fewer or less severe symptoms, the adolescent should still be evaluated by a healthcare provider.
The diagnosis of depression is based upon a person's symptoms, the duration of their symptoms, and the overall effect of these symptoms on the person's life. Information from parents and teachers is often considered during the evaluation. The evaluation usually begins with the child's primary care provider (eg, pediatrician, family practitioner), although the ideal treatment for depressed adolescents should include referral to a trained mental health provider (eg, child psychiatrist, psychologist, or other specialist).
There is currently no medical test that identifies depression, although blood tests are often done to rule out other medical conditions that could be causing depression.
Related conditions — There are a few conditions that cause features similar to those of depression, including mood disorders related to a medical condition, substance abuse (eg, alcohol), or a loss. Other conditions that can cause symptoms of depression include bipolar disorder and adjustment disorder. As the healthcare provider evaluates the child's signs and symptoms of depression, he or she will determine if one of these other conditions could be the cause.
Mood disorder related to a medical condition — Several medical disorders can cause symptoms of depression, including hypothyroidism, adrenal insufficiency, post concussive syndrome, vitamin B12 deficiency, lupus, and mononucleosis. (See "Patient information: Hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid) (Beyond the Basics)" and "Patient information: Adrenal insufficiency (Addison's disease) (Beyond the Basics)" and "Patient information: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) (Beyond the Basics)".)
Substance-related mood disorders — Drugs of abuse (eg, alcohol, cocaine, heroin, amphetamines) and prescription medications (eg, corticosteroids, epilepsy treatments, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder treatments, birth control pills) can cause symptoms of depression in some adolescents.
Grief — Grief, also known as bereavement, is a normal reaction to many situations, including the loss of a loved one. It is often difficult to know if an adolescent who is grieving also suffers from depression. Adolescents who have feelings of hopelessness, helplessness, worthlessness, or guilt may be depressed, especially if these symptoms persist for several months beyond the loss.
Adjustment disorder with depressed mood — An adjustment disorder is a significant emotional or behavioral reaction to an identifiable stressor (eg, parental divorce, academic failure, or peer problems). Adjustment disorder with depressed mood (ADDM) is a likely diagnosis if the adolescent's symptoms are significant, develop within three months of the onset of the stressor(s), and resolve within six months after the stressor or its consequences. ADDM can persist beyond six months if the stressor continues (eg, ongoing parental conflict).
Bipolar disorder — Adolescents with bipolar disorder (manic depression) have periods of mania (feeling excessively elated, impulsive, irritable, or irrational) or hypomania (a milder form of mania), sometimes with periods of major depression. (See "Patient information: Bipolar disorder (manic depression) (Beyond the Basics)".)
Dealing with the diagnosis — Being diagnosed with depression is reassuring for some adolescents and their families; the diagnosis provides an explanation for symptoms such as fatigue, difficulty sleeping, and changes in appetite. Some families worry that they contributed to their adolescent's depression as a result of a divorce, move, or other life event. Still other families have difficulty recognizing that the adolescent's symptoms are those of depression, and continue to hope that the symptoms will simply go away without treatment.
These emotions can be difficult to sort out, and it is often helpful for the parent(s) as well as the adolescent to meet with a therapist or counselor, either together or separately.
WHEN TO SEEK HELP FOR DEPRESSION
Parents who are not sure if their adolescent is suffering from depression or just experiencing normal adolescent issues can consider the following questions:
- Does the teen's behavior differ from his or her normal behavior?
- Are the changes significant or severe?
- How long have the symptoms been present?
- Is the teen "annoyed" or "bothered" by everything and everyone?
- Is the teen moody, negative, or argumentative?
- Does the teen respond to minor provocations with angry outbursts?
- Does the teen have a hopeless outlook? Believe that everything is unfair?
- Has the teen withdrawn from or lost friends?
- Have relationships within the family been affected by the teen's mood?
- Have the teen's grades or schoolwork declined recently?
If a parent has any concerns that their adolescent could be depressed, he or she should contact the teen's healthcare provider as soon as possible to arrange an appointment. (See 'Preventing suicide' above.)
A separate topic review discusses treatment options for adolescents with depression. (See "Patient information: Depression treatment options for adolescents (Beyond the Basics)".)
WHERE TO GET MORE INFORMATION
Your adolescent's healthcare provider is the best source of information for questions and concerns related to your adolescent's medical problem.
This article will be updated as needed on our web site (www.uptodate.com/patients). Related topics for patients, as well as selected articles written for healthcare professionals, are also available. Some of the most relevant are listed below.
Patient level information — UpToDate offers two types of patient education materials.
The Basics — The Basics patient education pieces answer the four or five key questions a patient might have about a given condition. These articles are best for patients who want a general overview and who prefer short, easy-to-read materials.
Patient information: Depression (The Basics)
Patient information: Medicines for depression (The Basics)
Patient information: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) (The Basics)
Patient information: Anorexia nervosa (The Basics)
Patient information: Bulimia nervosa (The Basics)
Patient information: Post-traumatic stress disorder (The Basics)
Patient information: Antisocial personality disorder (The Basics)
Patient information: When you have depression and another health problem (The Basics)
Beyond the Basics — Beyond the Basics patient education pieces are longer, more sophisticated, and more detailed. These articles are best for patients who want in-depth information and are comfortable with some medical jargon.
Patient information: Depression treatment options for adolescents (Beyond the Basics)
Patient information: Depression in adults (Beyond the Basics)
Patient information: Depression treatment options for adults (Beyond the Basics)
Patient information: Hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid) (Beyond the Basics)
Patient information: Adrenal insufficiency (Addison's disease) (Beyond the Basics)
Patient information: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) (Beyond the Basics)
Patient information: Bipolar disorder (manic depression) (Beyond the Basics)
Professional level information — Professional level articles are designed to keep doctors and other health professionals up-to-date on the latest medical findings. These articles are thorough, long, and complex, and they contain multiple references to the research on which they are based. Professional level articles are best for people who are comfortable with a lot of medical terminology and who want to read the same materials their doctors are reading.
Depression in adolescents: Epidemiology, clinical manifestations, and diagnosis
Effect of antidepressants on suicide risk in children and adolescents
Suicidal behavior in children and adolescents: Epidemiology and risk factors
Evaluation and management of suicidal behavior in children and adolescents
Overview of treatment for adolescent depression
Psychopharmacological treatment for adolescent depression
Psychosocial treatment for adolescent depression
The following organizations also provide reliable health information.
- National Library of Medicine
- National Institute of Mental Health
- American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
- National Foundation For Depressive Illness
- National Mental Health Association
- American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
| 4.04853 |
The story of ďGastonĒ by William Saroyan is about a father and a daughter. The daughter visited her father in Paris to spent time with him. The beginning of the story it seemed that the girl had not seen her father in a long time and he could possibly be a stranger until the father ate a flawed peach and found a worm in the peach. He gave the name Gaston to the worm and refused to squash the worm. He put himself to the Gaston to tell the daughter how lonely he is and where he is now. At first she was interested in the Gaston and adapted what the father said until she had conversation with her mother. After having conversation with her mother she squashed the worm and refused what father said. She had closer relationship with her mother than the father. Then the daughter left the house and the father begins to feel like Gaston on the plate. Even though the father wanted to have close relationship with his daughter he lost his chance to be close to her, because of his unique and individualistic. In the story ďGastonĒ, the father is outsider and different from the normal society. The fatherís behavior and his conversation style and the idea of being a father revealed the fatherís very unique and individualistic.
The fatherís behavior revealed his unique and individualistic. After he found worm from the peach he refused to squash it as normal people would do. Instead of squashing it he gave the worm the name Gaston and he put himself to the Gaston. He told his daughter that the Gaston is confused outside from the peach. ďheís a little confused.Ē (3. 66) It reveled that the father is also confused by losing his family and being outside from the society. He also told the daughter how lonely he is using Gastonís situation. ďthe poor fellow hasnít got a home, and there he is with all that pure design and handsome form and nowhere to go.Ē(3. 61-62) However the daughter is only six year old girl. The daughter is too young to understand what real meaning of the Gaston is and what the father was trying say. So what the father told the daughter was needless. Another his strange behavior is he didnít hug her when the daughter left his house instead of hugging; he shook hands with his daughter. ďThey shook hands instead, as if they were strangers.Ē (6. 194) Normally people would hug when their family leave the house. However the father shook hands instead, it reveals his strange behavior and he is outsiders in the society. In the last scene the daughter represent as normal people in the society. She squashed the Gaston and didnít want the flawed peach as normal people. The father heard about what the daughter did and want. After all that he didnít hug her. He treated her as normal people in the society so he didnít hug her. That represent he didnít want to get into the society or he didnít want anyone in his life.
The fatherís communication style also revealed his unique and individualistic. The father wanted to build up the close relationship with his daughter. However when she asked him what she should do when her mother want her to go back he said something thatís not what normal parents would say. ďSay yes if you want to go back.Ē (4. 112) Again, the daughter is only six year old girl, she can not decide herself. Normally the parents decide for their children until they can decide themselves. However the father told her to decide herself. It may get the daughter confused. He also didnít ask things that he should have. After he came back from found the flawed peach the daughter said she didnít want the flawed peach anymore. Then he said just ok instead of asking why she changed her mind. She changed her mind, because after having conversation with her mother she realized what normal people would do after finding worm from the peach. If he asked her and talked to her about it, she may change her mind again then they might build up the close relationship however the father gave up on that.
As a father, he has different idea of being a father than other parents. His different idea of parents revealed his unique and individualistic. Normally parents will show their love to their children. It might be hug them, talk to them or kiss them. However the father didnít do any of them. Instead of hug, talk or kiss to the daughter he went to several store to find flawed peach. After talking about the Gaston the daughter wanted to eat the peach which has worm in it so the father went out to get one for her. However the first store he went and bought the peaches didnít have one that has worm in it. So he went to another store to get one. His behavior revealed his love for his daughter, however she will never know about it, because she is too young to know about it and he will never tell about how many store he went to find the flawed peach for her. Also the last scene, he didnít hug her. Instead of hugging her he shook the hands. Hugging is very normal when people leave or express of their love. However the father decided not to hug her even though he loved his daughter. Compare to the mother his express of love is very indirect. The mother said how much she miss the daughter and want her to come back. ďI canít wait to see you, darling. These two days have been like two years to me.Ē (5. 156-157) The daughter would know and feel the motherís love because she express her love directly however the daughter never know fatherís love with how he express his love.
Iím individualist in someway like the father. I donít listen what people say when otherís opinions or ideas are opposite to me. For example, last semester I had group project. We had to research and present about other countriesí employeeís benefit. I thought we need to talk about our project through the e-mail, because I prefer to write an e-mail than actually meeting people and talk about something. And I thought it would be easy to decide who did what and how we were going to collect researches. However other team mates wanted to meet together but I didnít listen. I said strongly we should contact through e-mail. So we talked through the e-mail. But it was very difficult to decide and talk though the e-mail some team mates didnít ever read the e-mail or didnít reply at all or something. So we had to finally meet one day and decide who did what and how we were going to present our researches. After we wasted many days contacting through e-mail because of me, finally we could decide everything in an hour. Actually Iím individualist in many ways, so I brought many troubles. However still Iím individualist in many ways, especially in communication style. People can not accept otherís opinions or ideas that are different than what they think. However it is good if they listen what otherís opinions or ideas are even though what others opinions or ideas are wrong. Then people will learn more of their life.
In conclusion, the story shows the fatherís individualistic. His behavior, communication style and idea of being a father makes him lose chance to have close relationship with his daughter. I think we should not keep our individualistic for not losing our chance to learn more in our life. But sometimes we need to keep our individualistic to have our unique view point of issues.
| 3.105803 |
dehydration [de hi dra shun]
An unhealthy loss of body fluids.
depletion [dee plee shun]
To have been used up or reduced by something.
depression [dee presh un]
Feelings of sadness and gloom, which may last for a short while or may become a long-term condition that can interfere with daily living
diabetes [dye uh bee dees]
A disease in which the body can't control how much sugar is in the blood because of an imbalance of insulin.
DNA = deoxyribonucleic acid [de ox ee rye bo new clay ic • ass id]
A long chemical molecule that contains the genetic material in the cell. DNA is made up of four building blocks or bases, known as adenine (A), thymine (T), cytosine (C) and guanine (G). These bases can be thought of as letters in an alphabet that spell out the instructions for making proteins. The sequence of the bases that make up the DNA is the genetic code. It contains the information, or blueprint, for making an organism (see also, gene). DNA is found primarily in the cell nucleus and is copied before cell division so that each ”daughter' cell has a complete set of genetic instructions.
Chemical changes in DNA that result from damage; occurs when chemicals attach to segments of DNA helix.
| 3.183835 |
Bees - upon which the entire human food chain rests - are suffering a sharp decline.
As the Guardian pointed out Monday:
The abundance of four common species of bumblebee in the US has dropped by 96% in just the past few decades, according to the most comprehensive national census of the insects [a three-year study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences].
Sydney Cameron, an entomologist at the University of Illinois, led a team on a three-year study of the changing distribution, genetic diversity and pathogens in eight species of bumblebees in the US.
By comparing her results with those in museum records of bee populations, she showed that the relative abundance of four of the sampled species (Bombus occidentalis, B. pensylvanicus, B. affinis and B. terricola) had declined by up to 96% and that their geographic ranges had contracted by 23% to 87%, some within just the past two decades.
Cameron's findings reflect similar studies across the world. According to the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in the UK, three of the 25 British species of bumblebee are already extinct and half of the remainder have shown serious declines, often up to 70%, since around the 1970s. Last year, scientists inaugurated a £10m programme, called the Insect Pollinators Initiative, to look at the reasons behind the devastation in the insect population.
As the Guardian notes, bees are essential for human food production:
Bumblebees are important pollinators of wild plants and agricultural crops around the world including tomatoes and berries thanks to their large body size, long tongues, and high-frequency buzzing, which helps release pollen from flowers.
Bees in general pollinate some 90% of the world's commercial plants, including most fruits, vegetables and nuts. Coffee, soya beans and cotton are all dependent on pollination by bees to increase yields. It is the start of a food chain that also sustains wild birds and animals.
Insects such as bees, moths and hoverflies pollinate around a third of the crops grown worldwide. If all of the UK's insect pollinators were wiped out, the drop in crop production would cost the UK economy up to £440m a year, equivalent to around 13% of the UK's income from farming.
The collapse in the global bee population is a major threat to crops. It is estimated that a third of everything we eat depends upon pollination by bees, which means they contribute some £26bn to the global economy.
***"Pollinator decline has become a worldwide issue, raising increasing concerns over impacts on global food production, stability of pollination services, and disruption of plant-pollinator networks," wrote Cameron. "
The Guardian notes that bees are not the only pollinators which are declining:
But the insects, along with other crucial pollinators such as moths and hoverflies, have been in serious decline around the world since the last few decades of the 20th century. It is unclear why, but scientists think it is from a combination of new diseases, changing habitats around cities, and increasing use of pesticides.
The Guardian points to some of the potential causes of bee decline:
Parasites such as the bloodsucking varroa mite and viral and bacterial infections, pesticides and poor nutrition stemming from intensive farming methods.
As Fast Company pointed out last month:
A leaked EPA document reveals that the agency allowed the widespread use of a bee-toxic pesticide, despite warnings from EPA scientists.
The document, which was leaked to a Colorado beekeeper, shows that the EPA has ignored warnings about the use of clothianidin, a pesticide produced by Bayer that mainly is used to pre-treat corn seeds. The pesticide scooped up $262 million in sales in 2009 by farmers, who also use the substance on canola, soy, sugar beets, sunflowers, and wheat, according to Grist.
The leaked document (PDF) was put out in response to Bayer's request to approve use of the pesticide on cotton and mustard. The document invalidates a prior Bayer study that justified the registration of clothianidin on the basis of its safety to honeybees:Clothianidin's major risk concern is to nontarget insects (that is, honey bees). Clothianidin is a neonicotinoid insecticide that is both persistent and systemic. Acute toxicity studies to honey bees show that clothianidin is highly toxic on both a contact and an oral basis. Although EFED does not conduct RQ based risk assessments on non-target insects, information from standard tests and field studies, as well as incident reports involving other neonicotinoids insecticides (e.g., imidacloprid) suggest the potential for long-term toxic risk to honey bees and other beneficial insects.
The EPA is still allowing the use of Clothianidin to this day. And see this.
And as I've previously pointed out:
- While being trucked around, bees are fed a diet of high-fructose corn syrup (and soy protein), not real pollen (see also this).
To recap: bees are fed junk food totally different from what bees naturally eat with very little nutritional content, taken out of their normal natural environment and shoved into trucks, and then driven all over the nation.The bottom line is that raising and using bees to pollinate crops in a way that won't kill so many bees will be more expensive ... thus driving up food prices.
The poor nutrition, exposure to numerous pesticides (and genetically modified foods), and stressful condition of being constantly trucked all over the country are hurting the bees. Why do beekeepers do it? Because high-fructose corn syrup and soy protein are cheap junk, and because the widespread use of pesticides coupled with trucking bees around the country is the low-cost industrial farming business model.
There is also evidence that genetically modified crops might be killing bees ... or at least weakening them so that they are more susceptible to disease. See this, this, this, this, this and this.
And as Agence France-Presse notes, inbreeding may be weakening the bees.
(On a side note, no one has yet asked whether silver iodide or other compounds used in weather modification affect bees. They may not, but someone should test the bees for such compounds and their metabolites so that we can rule out them out as a cause of colony collapse.)
Albert Einstein reportedly said:
If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live. No more bees, no more pollination ... no more men!
That might have been a slight exaggeration, but Einstein was right: If we kill off the bees, we will be in big trouble.
There are also reports of birds and fish mysteriously dying world-wide. While these may or may not be connected with the collapse of bee populations, it is a sign that all is not right with the world.
As I wrote two years ago:
First the frogs started disappearing.
Then the bees started disappearing.
Now, its birds. According to CBC, tens of millions of birds are disappearing across North America.
According to the Seattle Times:Pelicans suffering from a mysterious malady are crashing into cars and boats, wandering along roadways and turning up dead by the hundreds across the West Coast, from southern Oregon to Baja California, Mexico, bird-rescue workers say.
Frogs and bees are so different from people that they are easier to ignore. But birds are larger, more complicated, warm-blooded animals, and thus closer to us biologically.
People will be in real trouble unless we figure out why the amphibians, bees and birds are dying.
Reprinted with permission from http://www.washingtonsblog.com/
| 3.454177 |
A spatial display is any display hardware which is capable of giving the illusion of physical depth. Most often this is accomplished through stereoscopy, although holographic and parabolic display media are also used.
Below, we offer a selection of links from our resource databases which may match this term.
Related Dictionary Entries for Spatial Display:
Resources in our database matching the Term Spatial Display:
How do you perceive space and spatial relationships between objects in a virtual environment. Rather easily if you are setting out to replicate the physical world. But that is too easy, it loses so many of the true advantages of VR, where space is irrelevant, and every room can be a TARDIS. This article looks at mapping that kind of a mess, beginning with text worlds, where such spatial irrelevancy is at its highest.
There are several potential ways this display is working. One of the simplest and most plausible is a colour e-paper display behind a completely transparent display medium. The e-paper handles the picture, 'refreshing' the colour display to a matt black when the layer in front, the graphical display is activated. As soon as that deactivates, the 'oil' is re-drawn. Simple, elegant, and still far beyond us.
VRD or Virtual Retinal Display is an offshoot of HMD display technology, which, instead of placing a pair of display screens in front of the eyes, actually projects an image directly onto the human retina with low-energy lasers or LCDs.
3D spatial models of great, and historic buildings.
MR Aquarium was demonstrated in 2008, as a spatial VR project using multiple magic symbol displays on walls and pedestals, to bypass the problem, of turning the HUD away from the magic symbol, at which point the AR disappears.
The brain is built to handle such a 3D world, and employs a number of tricks to counter disorientation. These are tricks we can utilise in 3D spatial simulations, to help minimise disorientation there; but first we have to understand what the brain's tricks are, and how they operate.
On September 8th 2009, Obscura Digital installed the first display of its kind, at the Hard Rock cafe in Las Vegas, US. This display is a dynamically resizing, dynamically multi-user, multitouch display wall.
First printed in 2005, this book?s techniques are not exactly the cutting edge in terms of AR practices ? it hails from the first days of AR?s emergence. Even so, it is very comprehensive, and leads the reader from the first simple introductions, up to actual implementation of augmented reality for practical applications in immersive education and entertainment.
A quote about a holo-display in a rosewood cube, casts an accurate picture of how display technology can be worked into everyday things, to make it a part of life.
Industry News containing the Term Spatial Display:
Results by page
The problem with spatial orientation is well known by any pilot. Remove the instrument display, take a plane into clouds, pull up swing to the side and spin for a bit, then ask the co-pilot to right the plane. The result? A lot of really, r...
Spatial skills--those involved with reading maps and assembling furniture--can be improved if you work at it, according to a new look at the studies on this topic by researchers at Northwestern University and Temple.
At the end of May this year, during the annual Society for Information Display meeting, Actuality Systems Inc introduced a new 3D display system they have called Perspecta.
This system, mainly targeted towards medical, milita...
Researchers from Sungkyunkwan University in Korea and the University of Nevada have developed a flexible tactile display that can wrap around the fingertip, palm, or arm.
The key material in the display is an electroactive po...
(Press Release) Sponsorships by the National Center for Simulation and the UCF Institute for Simulation and Training Highlight the Use of Geospatially-Enabled Simulators to Increase Homeland Security and Emergency Response Training and Prep...
| 3.248342 |
The Democratic and the Republican Parties are not the only political entities in the United States. But these two parties are the ones the overwhelming majority of Americans identify with and cast ballots for.
The Democratic and Republican parties are the dominant political forces in the U.S. Between them, they have controlled the White House and Congress for one-and-a-half centuries.
Both parties trace their lineage back to the founding of the United States in the late 1700s. By the mid-1800s, both had essentially become the parties known today.
In the 20th century, each party had a president who became an icon representing its principles.
Republican Ronald Reagan was elected in 1980. He promoted an agenda the party still follows, as the Republican National Committee's Sean Spicer explains.
"The Republican Party is the party of limited government, lower taxes, free enterprise, and generally supports a fairly conservative agenda," he said.
The Democratic Party's iconic figure is Franklin D. Roosevelt. He became president in 1933, at the height of the Great Depression. FDR, as he was called, launched the "New Deal," with government-driven economic and social reforms to protect the working class. Melanie Roussell is the Democratic National Committee spokeswoman.
"Democrats have always tried to help working people establish the American dream by providing help to buy a home, to sending your kids to college, to helping the elderly - older people, seniors, to live a life that they can afford," said Melanie Roussell, the Democratic National Committee spokeswoman. "It's really about government working with people."
The two parties appeal to different social, demographic, and even ethnic groups. Democrat Roussell says her party's following today reflects Franklin Roosevelt's focus.
"Our core constituent groups, I would say, are young Americans, women, African Americans, Hispanic voters," she said. "Again, we are the party of inclusion."
The Republican Party's support includes tradition-oriented, white voters with conservative Christian religous views.
While the party has been the long-time choice of the upper classes, Ronald Reagan, and an earlier Republican president, Richard Nixon, attracted working-class voters who had traditionally supported the Democrats. And spokesman Sean Spicer says in the 1990s the Republicans saw a number of shifts, bringing voters in new areas.
"We started to see a bit of a transition where the Republican Party grew a lot more in the South, and ebbed a little in the Northeast," he said. "Now, what you are seeing is a lot more of the party trying to push out into the Midwest, to grow stronger in places like New Mexico and Colorado, Nevada, where we are seeing a lot of the party's growth.
The current president, Barack Obama, is a Democratic. His predecessor, President George W. Bush, is a Republican.
| 3.440217 |
If you have asthma your airways always have some irritation. When you have an asthma attack this irritation gets worse and your airways close part way and get blocked with mucus. Asthma attacks may include coughing, chest tightness, wheezing, and trouble breathing.
An asthma attack can occur when you are exposed to things in the environment, such as house dust mites and tobacco smoke. These are called asthma triggers.
Your personal triggers can be very different from those of another person with asthma. Try to avoid your triggers. Some of the most important triggers are listed below:
Environmental Tobacco Smoke (Secondhand Smoke)
Environmental tobacco smoke is often called secondhand smoke because the smoke created by a smoker is breathed in by a second person nearby. Parents, friends, and relatives of children with asthma should try to stop smoking and should never smoke around a person with asthma. They should only smoke outdoors and not in the family home or car. They should not allow others to smoke in the home, and they should make sure their child's school is smoke-free.
Dust mites are in almost everybody’s homes, but they don’t cause everybody to have asthma attacks. If you have asthma, dust mites may be a trigger for an attack. To help prevent asthma attacks, use mattress covers and pillowcase covers to make a barrier between dust mites and yourself. Don’t use down-filled pillows, quilts, or comforters. Remove stuffed animals and clutter from your bedroom.
Outdoor Air Pollution
Pollution caused by industrial emissions and automobile exhaust can cause an asthma attack. Pay attention to air quality forecasts on radio, television, and Internet and plan your activities for when air pollution levels will be low if air pollution aggravates your asthma. A good source of air quality information is EnviroFlash.
Cockroaches and their droppings may trigger an asthma attack. Get rid of cockroaches in your home and keep them from coming back by taking away their food and water. Cockroaches are usually found where food is eaten and crumbs are left behind. Remove as many water and food sources as you can because cockroaches need food and water to survive. At least every 2 to 3 days, vacuum or sweep areas that might attract cockroaches. You can also use roach traps or gels to decrease the number of cockroaches in your home.
Furry pets may trigger an asthma attack. When a furry pet is suspected of causing asthma attacks, the simplest solution is to find the pet another home. If pet owners are too attached to their pets or are unable to locate a safe, new home for the pet, they should keep the pet out of the bedroom of the person with asthma.
Pets should be bathed weekly and kept outside as much as possible. People with asthma are not allergic to their pet’s fur, so trimming your pet’s fur will not help your asthma. If you have a furry pet, vacuum often to clean up anything that could cause an asthma attack. If your floors have a hard surface, such as wood or tile, and are not carpeted, damp mop them every week.
Inhaling or breathing in mold can cause an asthma attack. Get rid of mold in all parts of your home to help control your asthma attacks. Keep the humidity level in your home between 35% and 50%. In hot, humid climates, you may need to use an air conditioner or a dehumidifier or both. Fix water leaks, which allow mold to grow behind walls and under floors.
Infections linked to influenza (flu), colds, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) can trigger an attack.Sinus infections, allergies, breathing in some chemicals, and acid reflux can irritate airways and trigger asthma attacks.
Strenuous physical exercise; some medicines; bad weather, such as thunderstorms; high humidity; breathing in cold, dry air; biomass smoke from burning wood, grass, or other vegetation; and some foods and food additives can trigger an asthma attack.
Strong emotional states can also lead to hyperventilation and an asthma attack.
Learn what triggers your attacks so that you can avoid the triggers whenever possible. Be alert for a possible attack when the triggers cannot be avoided.
Remember, you can control your asthma!
The above text is from the "You Can Control Your Asthma" [PDF, 4074KB] full-color brochure and is suitable for downloading and printing.
Source: US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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Amazon deforestation rate at its lowest
The Amazon rainforest experienced its lowest deforestation rate on record, which is a significant step in the preservation of the largest rainforest in the world.
The Brazilian government reported that deforestation decreased to about 2,509 square miles (6,500 sq km) for 12 months until July 2010, 14 percent lower from the previous timeframe.
This is the lowest deforestation rate since the series began in the year 1988. The highest rate was 11,235 square miles (29,100 sq km), which the Amazon suffered in the mid-1990s.
The numbers coincide with a global climate conference of the United Nations in Mexico, where Brazil will showcase that it is one of the few major countries that are taking huge steps in reducing its greenhouse gas emissions – which, for Brazil, originates mostly from burning or rotting trees.
“We will honor the pledge we made and we don’t need any favors. We do it because it’s our obligation,” said Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, President of Brazil.
Additionally, Lula criticized industrial nations for failing to have their countries represented in the Cancun summit, signifying their lack of commitment in cutting down greenhouse gas emissions.
“It won’t lead to anything,” Lula said.
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Use a comma to set apart an introductory word or phrase.
When a sentence doesn’t begin with the subject but has instead an introductory word or phrase, a comma must separate the introduction from the rest of the sentence.
- Despite his best efforts, the hero failed.
The comma goes between the introduction and the subject and must not separate the subject from the verb. Introductory elements often consist of prepositional phrases, subordinating conjunctions, participial phrases, or conjunctive adverbs. Phrases that begin with the following words often require a comma if they begin a sentence (this list is not exhaustive):
||in order to
The following words usually have a comma immediately after them when they begin a sentence. Many adverbs that end in –ly and transitions at the beginning of a sentence need to be followed by a comma, too.
||in other words
||in the end
||first (2nd, etc.)
||on the contrary
Finally, a comma is used to separate a participial phrase from an independent clause. A participle is a verb ending in –ing that acts as an adjective. Participles are often used with the above introductory words, but they can also stand alone.
- Running through the meadow, she ignored the demands of school.
- She was free as a bird, flying through the colorful fields.
When a verb immediately follows an introductory element, however, don’t use a comma. Such a case occurs if the introduction is serving as the subject of the sentence or if the sentence uses inverted word order. A comma is also sometimes optional after certain prepositional phrases. You can tell if you need a comma by whether you pause while reading the introductory element out loud. However, if you’re in doubt, use a comma.
- Running the race is the fulfillment of his dream. After the race came the victory lap.
- At night the stars come out.
Use a comma to join a dependent clause to an independent clause when the dependent clause is first.
A dependent clause is a clause with a subject and verb that can’t stand alone because of its first word (often one of the words from the first list above). If you were to say a dependent clause out loud, people would expect you to say more:
- Because we jumped in the pool.
When a dependent clause begins a sentence, a comma must follow it:
- Because we jumped in the pool, we were soaked.
Use a comma and a conjunction to join two independent clauses.
When you have two complete sentences—with two subjects and two verbs—you need more than a comma to separate them. You must join them either with a comma and a conjunction or with a semicolon, or you can make them two separate sentences. Joining two complete sentences with a comma is called a comma splice.
- I sat in my designated spot, my brother sat beside me. (Incorrect: Comma splice)
- I sat in my designated spot, and my brother sat beside me. (Correct: Comma and conjunction)
- I sat in my designated spot; my brother sat beside me. (Correct: Semicolon)
Use a comma to set apart nonrestrictive material.
Restrictive material narrows the meaning of the preceding noun:
- Children who play well with friends should be admired.
The above statement refers only to children who play well with friends. It is restrictive. Compare:
- Children, who play well with friends, should be admired.
This statement refers to all children as children who play well with friends, so it isn’t restrictive. The sentence would not change in meaning if you omitted the material enclosed by the commas. This is a useful test to see whether something is nonrestrictive: if a sentence would maintain its meaning without a certain phrase, then the phrase must be enclosed in commas. Students often use commas to set apart material that should be restrictive, which leads to confusion. Be aware of this. Finally, “that” is better for restrictive material and “which” is better for nonrestrictive material.
- The plant that thrives is fortunate. This project, which took her weeks to complete, is the best in the class.
Use a comma to set apart an appositive or an interrupting word or phrase.
An appositive is a word or phrase that repeats the preceding noun in different words, generally to amplify meaning. Any phrases that interrupt the sentence’s flow to provide information that the sentence could do without should have a comma on both sides.
- The cheetah, the fastest land animal, can reach speeds of seventy miles per hour.
- I mean, wow, who would have guessed?
Use a comma to separate items in a sequence.
When you list three or more items, it’s best to put a comma after every item except the last, including the one that precedes the “and” or the “or.” This way you can avoid possible confusion.
Use a comma to separate adjectives or adverbs that modify the same word.
Modifiers that reference the same word need commas separating them if there are two or more and if you could sensibly put the word “and” between them.
- It’s a tall, impressive building. The unusual, heavy box was strangely shaped.
Use a comma to introduce some quotations.
When there is a direct speaker, use a comma to introduce direct quotations. A colon is used for other kinds of quotations and citations. However, a quotation can also be its own sentence or be directly integrated into a sentence.
- The angry girl shouted at her younger brother, “Stay out of my room!”
Use a comma in dates, addresses, titles, academic degrees, and long numbers.
- After the day and, in a sentence, the year: On November 27, 1975, my big brother was born.
- After each part of an address: She’s at 698 Norfolk Street, Holliston, Massachusetts, where she works.
- To indicate a person’s title or degree: Julius Lombard, Ph.D., is my professor.
- After every three digits in a number: 5,980,672
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Islam: A Brief History, 2nd Edition
September 2011, Wiley-Blackwell
This price is valid for United States. Change location to view local pricing and availability.
Reflecting recent global developments, the second edition of this illuminating introduction to Islamic history expands its coverage of the Qur’an, Sufism, and Muslim views on human rights, including the rights of women.
- An expanded new edition of this concise, illuminating introduction to Islam, written by one of the field’s leading scholars
- Spans Islamic history from the life of Muhammad and the birth of Islamic ideals, through Islam’s phenomenal geographical expansion and cultural development, to the creation of modern states and its role in today’s global society
- Features expanded coverage of the Qur’an, Sufism, and Muslim views on human rights, including the rights of women
- Includes fascinating vignettes of Islamic life, representing mainstream Muslim viewpoints on issues of global concern
- Explores the complex interrelationships of cultural, political, and ideological developments woven throughout Islamic history, drawing on specific examples including current developments in Pakistan
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Infrared image of the oldest known galaxy.
Click on image for full size
Courtesy of Livermore National Lab
Scientists Find One of the First Galaxies
News story originally written on June 21, 1999
Scientists found an ancient galaxy that may be one of the first ever! The galaxy is hidden inside an enormous black hole. This black hole is estimated at 100 million times the mass of our Sun. The galaxy is approximately 11 billion years old. Recently, scientists revealed the expected age of the Universe to be 12 billion years old.
Because the galaxy is trapped within a black hole, scientists used radio signals to find it. When a black hole swallows something, it releases energy. Earth receives this energy in the form of radio waves. For over 30 years, scientists have received these waves. However, until now they did not know how to use them to create an image.
Scientists used the telescopes at Keck Observatory in Hawaii to create the images. This technology wasn't available when the first signals were received years ago.
Shop Windows to the Universe Science Store!
Our online store
includes fun classroom activities
for you and your students. Issues of NESTA's quarterly journal, The Earth Scientist
are also full of classroom activities on different topics in Earth and space science!
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Can Forests Survive Without Birds?
News story originally written on January 30, 2009
Take one species out of an ecosystem and you could see lots of changes in the other living things. This is what is happening in the forests on the western Pacific island of Guam where bird populations have been decimated.
There used to be birds on Guam until the brown tree snake was accidentally brought to the island in the 1940s. The snakes multiplied as they ate Guamís birds. Today 10 of the 12 forest bird species are gone and there are about 13,000 snakes per square mile in Guamís forests.
Haldre Rogers, graduate student from the University of Washington, wants to know how the loss of birds is affecting Guamís forests. She and a team of researchers have been examining whether the loss of birds is having an effect on the forest trees.
They are studying whether there are changes in how the seeds from these trees are spread through the forest. Birds move seeds around a forest. They eat the fruit from a tree swallowing the seeds, and then fly to another tree in the forest where they defecate the seeds. Once the seeds are out of the bird, they can grow into a new tree.
To study whether seeds in Guamís forests were able to travel without the birds, the researchers set traps to catch falling seeds. They positioned seed traps various distances from fruiting False Elder trees to see how far seeds get from the trees. They also set up seed traps in the forests of Saipan, a nearby island where birds are still common. Counting the number of seeds that fell into each trap, they compared how far seeds travel in bird-less Guam and bird-rich Saipan.
So far they have found that all of the seeds from the fruiting trees on Guam remained near their parent trees while many more of the seeds from the fruiting trees on Saipan were found away from their parent trees. The lack of birds appears to be having an effect.
On the bird-less island of Guam, seeds donít get moved around. The fruits donít fall far from their trees. And seeds that are under the tree where they formed are less likely to grow into a new fruit tree than seeds that are moved away from their parent trees.
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The History of the LotteryIt is possible that the history of the lottery goes back as far as times of Moses. There is some contention among Biblical scholars about this. Certainly, it would not be all that seemly if a great religious character should profit from gambling. But in the Book of Numbers of the Old Testament it is written that Moses was awarded land near the River Jordan after playing a local lottery. No wonder so many people today still pray before picking their numbers.
Lotteries are not mentioned in historical writings much until 200 BC in China, when the Hun Dynasty used lotteries to raise funds for taxes. In 200 BC Emperor Cheung Leung invented The Chinese Lottery. Today this game has survived as what we know as Keno. Revenue from the Chinese Lottery was used to build the Great Wall of China. It is also thought that playing the lottery in Europe may date back as far as the times of Julius Caesar, in the first century before Christ.
It is likely that forms of lotteries and raffles existed in the intervening ages, but very little was written about the subject. The first recorded lottery in Europe was actually a raffle held by the Flemish painter Jan Van Eyck in 1446. He gave away his paintings as prizes. In 1465, lotteries were regularly held in Belgium to raise money to build houses for the poor, chapels and canal systems.
This way of raising funds did not have a name until 1515, when an election gone wrong in Genoa, Italy used numbers instead of names on its ballots. This left the choosing of the official up to fate. The word lottery in Italian actually means a predestination or unchangeable fate.
Fifteen years later, the Italian city of Florence held a “Number Lottery” and gave away cash prizes. The idea soon caught on in France, too. In 1539 King Francis I of France ran a lottery to get his kingdom's treasury out of debt.
In 1567, Queen Elizabeth I established the first English lottery, when she offered 400,000 tickets for sale. Prizes included china, tapestries and cash. The first London lottery is credited to King James I in England in 1612. The money from this game of chance was used to fund the building of the Jamestown colony in Virginia, which was the first English colony in America.
Lotteries were also used to fund culture. In 1753, a lottery was held to help build the British museum. In the same year, Casanova urged Louis XV to found the Loterie Royale, which later became the famed Loterie National. This lottery was a keno style game that gave players the option of betting on one to five numbers between 1 and 90.
The Lottery Comes to America
After American colonial times in the 1700's, the lottery was a favorite past time, especially of America’s founding fathers. Benjamin Franklin financed cannons for the Revolutionary war using lottery money. George Washington operated a Virginia lottery to finance construction of roads to the west. A debt-ridden Thomas Jefferson once held a lottery to dispose of his property and find some badly needed cash.
Of course, all of these lotteries are now defunct. Amazingly, the Netherlands Lottery, which was founded in 1726, is still in operation today. It is officially the oldest lottery in the world.
Lotteries really took off in the United States after the adoption of the constitution and used to fund over 300 schools and 200 churches. The lottery helped found universities such as Columbia, Harvard, Princeton and Yale. The game was used to fund civic improvements, including orphanages, libraries, hospitals, jails and courthouses. This trend began to lose momentum in 1820, when corruption began to plague privately owned lotteries, which often advertised big jackpots and then awarded no prizes at all.
After 1820, a civic battle began in North America to ban public lotteries. Church-led organizations often led the fight for social reforms.The lottery was on a list of hot button issues, along with the prohibition of alcohol, the abolition of slavery and workers rights. Through the rest of the 19th century and into the early 20th century, anti-lottery reformers sought to ban the lottery. This became an issue through most states and provinces in the United States and Canada.
In 1819, the Province of Quebec made lotteries illegal. This was followed by the state of New York in 1820. By 1856, all lotteries were banned in Canada. This was followed by a ban of lottery materials by mail in 1890 in the United States. In 1905, The U.S. Supreme court prohibited all gambling, ending the successful century old reign of the Louisiana Lottery.
Twentieth Century Lotteries
The new century brought a revival of the lottery, beginning with the Queensland State Lottery of Australia in 1917. The establishment of the Irish Sweepstakes in 1930 followed this.
It wasn’t until 1964 that the United States would see a lottery again. Gambling was legalized in 1969 in Canada, giving provinces the permission to operate lotteries and casinos that gave the proceeds to charitable or religious causes. Manitoba and Quebec pioneered the first modern Canadian lotteries. This was quickly followed by a legal state lottery south of the border in New Jersey where tickets costs 50 cents for a weekly drawing. In it’s first year, New Jersey sold $73 million in tickets.
In 1973, The Olympic Lottery Corporation of Canada used the lottery to begin funding the 1976 Olympics that were to be held in Montreal. That year, the popularity of today’s lotteries was sealed as the sales for all lotteries in North America surpassed $500 million. 1973 was also a landmark year for the lottery, as technology brought the game into the modern age. The first secure instant ticket was developed by a company called Scientific Games.
Soon after this success, other laws followed that made playing the lottery more accessible to North Americans. This included the incorporation of countless private, state wide, federal and (in Canada) province run lotteries. This included amendments to allow state lotteries to once again advertise through the mail as well as on billboards, radio and television. By 1999, more than 100 foreign lotteries were in operation. To this day, the biggest lottery win in history has been $363 million, shared by two winners of a Big Game drawing.
Family.org presents another perspective on the history of the lottery here.
|All content on this site copyright 2006 - 2008, Winning With Numbers. No unauthorized duplication. Please note that gambling on anything is illegal in some jurisdictions.|
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Mental Health: Depersonalization Disorder
Depersonalization disorder is marked by periods of feeling disconnected or detached from one's body and thoughts (depersonalization). The disorder is sometimes described as feeling like you are observing yourself from outside your body or like being in a dream. However, people with this disorder do not lose contact with reality; they realize that things are not as they appear. An episode of depersonalization can last anywhere from a few minutes to many years. Depersonalization also might be a symptom of other disorders, including brain disease and seizure disorders.
Depersonalization disorder is one of a group of conditions called dissociative disorders. Dissociative disorders are mental illnesses that involve disruptions or breakdowns of memory, consciousness or awareness, identity and/or perception. When one or more of these functions is disrupted, symptoms can result. These symptoms can interfere with a person's general functioning, including social and work activities, and relationships.
What Are the Symptoms of Depersonalization Disorder?
The primary symptom of depersonalization disorder is a distorted perception of the body. The person might feel like he or she is a robot or in a dream. Some people might fear they are going crazy and might become depressed, anxious or panicky. For some people, the symptoms are mild and last for just a short time. For others, however, symptoms can be chronic (ongoing) and last or recur for many years, leading to problems with daily functioning or even to disability.
What Causes Depersonalization Disorder?
Little is known about the causes of depersonalization disorder, but biological and environmental factors might play a role. Like other dissociative disorders, depersonalization disorder often is triggered by intense stress or a traumatic event -- such as war, abuse, accidents, disasters or extreme violence -- that the person has experienced or witnessed.
How Common Is Depersonalization Disorder?
Depersonalization is a common symptom of many psychiatric disorders and often occurs in dangerous situations, such as assaults, accidents or serious illnesses. Depersonalization as a separate disorder is quite rare.
How Is Depersonalization Disorder Diagnosed?
If symptoms are present, the doctor will begin an evaluation by performing a complete medical history and physical examination. Although there are no laboratory tests to specifically diagnose dissociative disorders, the doctor might use various diagnostic tests, such as X-rays and blood tests, to rule out physical illness or medication side effects as the cause of the symptoms.
If no physical illness is found, the person might be referred to a psychiatrist or psychologist, health care professionals who are specially trained to diagnose and treat mental illnesses. Psychiatrists and psychologists use specially designed interview and assessment tools to evaluate a person for a dissociative disorder.
How Is Depersonalization Disorder Treated?
Most people with depersonalization disorder who seek treatment are concerned about symptoms such as depression or anxiety, rather than the disorder itself. In many cases, the symptoms will go away over time. Treatment usually is needed only when the disorder is lasting or recurrent, or if the symptoms are particularly distressing to the person.
The goal of treatment, when needed, is to address all stresses associated with the onset of the disorder. The best treatment approach depends on the individual and the severity of his or her symptoms, but most likely will include some combination of the following treatment methods:
- Psychotherapy: This kind of therapy for mental and emotional disorders uses psychological techniques designed to encourage communication of conflicts and insight into problems.
- Cognitive therapy: This type of therapy focuses on changing dysfunctional thinking patterns.
- Medication: There is no medication to treat the dissociative disorders themselves. However, a person with a dissociative disorder who also suffers from depression or anxiety might benefit from treatment with a medication such as an antidepressant or anti-anxiety medicine.
- Family therapy: This kind of therapy helps to educate the family about the disorder and its causes, as well as to help family members recognize symptoms of a recurrence.
- Creative therapies (art therapy, music therapy): These therapies allow the patient to explore and express his or her thoughts and feelings in a safe and creative way.
- Clinical hypnosis: This is a treatment technique that uses intense relaxation, concentration and focused attention to achieve an altered state of consciousness or awareness, allowing people to explore thoughts, feelings and memories they might have hidden from their conscious minds.
What Is the Outlook for People With Depersonalization Disorder?
Complete recovery is possible for many patients. The symptoms associated with this disorder often go away on their own or after treatment that help the person deal with the stress or trauma that triggered the symptoms. However, without treatment, additional episodes of depersonalization can occur.
Can Depersonalization Disorder Be Prevented?
Although it might not be possible to prevent depersonalization disorder, it might be helpful to begin treatment in people as soon as they begin to show symptoms. Furthermore, quick intervention following a traumatic event or emotionally distressing experience might help reduce the risk of developing dissociative disorders.
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American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A descendant of the Dutch settlers of New York.
- n. A native or inhabitant of New York.
- n. Full breeches gathered and banded just below the knee; knickers.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A descendant of the Dutch settlers of New Netherlands.
- n. [lowercase] A stout fabric of wool and linen having a rough or knotted surface, used for women's dresses.
- n. [lowercase] plural Loosely fitting knee-breeches resembling those represented as worn by the Dutch in the seventeenth century; by extension, the whole dress of the lower limbs of which those knee-breeches form part, including the long stocking worn with them; also, the whole costume. Knickerbockers are worn by young boys, and also by sportsmen, by bicyclers, and sometimes by travelers.
- Pertaining to or regarded as characteristic of the original Dutch settlers in New York, or their descendants.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A linsey-woolsey fabric having a rough knotted surface on the right side; used for women's dresses.
- n. A descendent of the early Dutch colonists of the New York City area; -- used mostly as a nickname for an inhabitant of New York state or especially New York City.
- After Diedrich Knickerbocker, fictitious author of History of New York by Washington Irving. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
“The site is called Knickerbocker, which is also the name of the consulting firm run by Josh Isay, who should be flattered.”
“Of Ridgewood Bushwick's three awards, the largest was for $470,806 to build an affordable housing complex called Knickerbocker Commons in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn.”
“With its use of rum, liqueurs and syrup, Wondrich calls the Knickerbocker "the spiritual progenitor of the Tiki drink.”
“Streets called Knickerbocker and school bus drivers that think they're Schumacher on a qualifying lap at the Monaco GP...”
“Rip Van Winkle, for example, is oft referred to as a Knickerbocker tale.”
“Where the Avenue and Thirty-fourth Street cross stands the building popularly known as the Knickerbocker Trust Company.”
“Fifth Avenue and Thirty-fourth Street is likely to be known and referred to as the Knickerbocker Trust for a long time to come.”
“Philadelphia, had its important group of writers called the Knickerbocker”
“The very word Knickerbocker is one evidence of the vitality of Irving's happy imaginings.”
“The Knickerbocker was a new (built in 1917) movie theater, with a big flat roof.”
Looking for tweets for Knickerbocker.
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American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A thrushlike North American warbler (Seiurus aurocapillus) having a shrill call and characteristically building a domed, oven-shaped nest on the ground. Also called teacher bird.
- n. Any of various South American birds of the family Furnariidae, especially of the genus Furnarius.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The golden-crowned thrush, Siurus auricapillus, an oscine passerine bird of the family Mniotiltidæ: so called from the fact that its nest is arched or roofed over like an oven.
- n. Any bird of the South American family Furnariidæ, which builds a domed or oven-like nest. See cut under Furnarius.
- n. The long-tailed titmouse, Acredula rosea.
- n. The willow-warbler, Phylloscopus trochilus. Also called ground-oven and oven-tit.
- n. Any of several birds
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Any species of the genus Furnarius, allied to the creepers. They inhabit South America and the West Indies, and construct curious oven-shaped nests.
- n. In the United States, Seiurus aurocapillus; -- called also
- n. In England, sometimes applied to the willow warbler, and to the long-tailed titmouse.
- n. American warbler; builds a dome-shaped nest on the ground
- n. small brownish South American birds that build oven-shaped clay nests
- From its oven-shaped nest. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
“According to Dr Deanna Dawson of the US Geological Survey the ovenbird was the ideal species for testing out the new method.”
“The mixed mesophytic forest in coves supports a large variety of nesting birds, including the wood thrush, ovenbird, summer tanager, rose-breasted grosbeak, and all the other species already named.”
“Similarly, western bird species such as the western flycatcher and the western tanager are at the eastern limits of their range in the Black Hills; they share habitats with eastern bird species, such as the ovenbird and indigo bunting.”
“Evolution of the ovenbird-woodcreeper assemblage (Aves: Furnariidae) – major shifts in nest architecture and adaptive radiation.”
“Tripophaga (=Phacellodomus) berlepschi, Russet-mantled Softtail (an ovenbird)”
“The thickly grassed hillside sloped down in front of me to a belt of forest from which rose the golden, leisurely chiming of the wood thrushes, chanting their vespers; through the still air came the warble of vireo and tanager; and after nightfall we heard the flight song of an ovenbird from the same belt of timber.”
“The vireos, the cardinal and the tanager add to the brilliancy and the ovenbird and veery to the melody.”
“Another haunter of the dusky depths of the woods is the ovenbird.”
These user-created lists contain the word ‘ovenbird’.
birds with singular names from
at least 9 English dictionaries
Birds that have the word bird in their names. (This list also includes some general descriptions of certain kinds of birds - wading birds, water birds, &c.) For other bird-related fun (especially p...
Birds endemic to the United States and/or North America.
You know who you are, freakish compounds. Though very useful, some of these words just don't seem right together--or, their meanings are so far from what the two (or more) component words suggest t...
Looking for tweets for ovenbird.
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Roadside vegetation management involves caring for and/or controlling plants along the highway. If managed properly, roadside vegetation can become self-sustaining over time and require less maintenance. This helps reduce costs and minimizes herbicide use.
Why is Roadside Vegetation Management Important?
Safety is a high priority at WSDOT. Vegetation, if left alone will grow out of control, blocking visibility (signs, traffic, wildlife) which could endanger motorists.Weeds must be controlled to avoid impacts on the farming community and native ecosystems. Pride of ownership and the beauty of Washington are also important factors.
What is a Roadside Vegetation Management Plan?
Roadside vegetation management plan is a "how to" guide for the best way to manage roadsides in any given area.Washington has diverse climates and the highways have many neighbors, so the plans vary depending on location. The plans determine the right tool or combination of tools, for the right plant at the right place and time. WSDOT often uses the term Integrated Vegetation Management (IVM) in reference to this process. Vegetation management tools include:
Using IVM and roadside vegetation management plans help reduce herbicide use and maintenance costs.
Roadside Design and Construction
One of the keys to successful roadside vegetation management is treating the roadside when the highway is first built or when improvement projects are designed and constructed. Soil improvement and plant establishment must be addressed through the design and construction process before maintenance takes responsibility of the roadside. For information on how WSDOT design and builds roadsides see Roadside and Site Development.
For more information on maintenance of roadside vegetation, contact Ray Willard at (360) 705-7865 or James Morin at (509) 577-1912.
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"The present coal size study indicates that the coal dust in intake airways of U.S. mines is finer than that measured in the 1920s," the paper said.
In a follow-up paper, Marcia L. Harris and other NIOSH researchers recommended that the 65-percent standard for rock-dusting be increased to at least 72 percent.
"Modern underground coal mine conditions have changed since the early 20th century," that study said. "The coal dust deposited in mine intake airways is significantly finer. As such, more rock dust needs to be applied in order to prevent a propagating explosion in intake airways."
Still, over years, regulators have found that compliance even with the outdated coal-dust standards has been difficult.
Across the coalfields, there is a long history of mine explosions that were turned from small accidents into major disasters by the failure of mine operators to control coal dust.
The Upper Big Branch is the worst U.S. mining disaster since December 1970, when 38 miners died in an explosion at Finley Coal Co.'s Nos. 15 and 17 mines in Hyden, Ky.
The Hyden blast was ignited by the use of improper explosions underground. But federal investigators found that, "Excessive accumulations of coal dust, and inadequate applications of rock dust in parts of Nos. 15 and 16 mines permitted propagation of the explosion throughout the mines."
Since 1970s, coal dust has been linked to at least six major U.S. coal-mining explosions that killed 73 miners, according to a Charleston Gazette review of government records.
Last year -- like almost every other year -- the most frequently cited violation by MSHA inspectors was allowing the accumulation of combustible coal dust in underground mines. In 2009, coal operators nationwide were cited for violating coal-dust accumulation rules more than 9,200 times, accounting for 11 percent of all underground coal mine violations.
Inadequate rock-dusting is also among the top 10 most frequently cited violations at underground coal mines nationwide, with more than 1,200 violations nationwide in 2009, according to MSHA data.
In underground mines, dust is produced at the working face where coal is mined, at conveyor belts and coal transfer points, and by the normal movement of workers and machines. Coarse dust settles rapidly. But the fine coal particles remain airborne much longer, and can be blown relatively long distances in underground mines. This fine dust is known as float coal dust, and can be a major danger to underground miners.
After 13 miners died in a September 2001 explosion at the Jim Walter No. 5 Mine in Brookwood, Ala., the U.S. Government Accountability Office faulted MSHA for not having a clear program to regulate float coal dust. Several MSHA district managers told the GAO "the lack of a specific criteria for floating coal dust makes it difficult to determine what is an allowable level.
"As a result, mine inspectors must rely on their own experience and personal opinion to determine if the accumulation of floating coal dust is a safety hazard that constitutes a violation," the GAO said in a September 2003 report. "According to some inspectors we interviewed, this has led, in some cases, to inconsistencies in inspectors' interpretations of the procedures - some inspectors have cited violations for levels of floating coal dust that have not brought citations from other inspectors."
In response, MSHA said that float coal dust "must be evaluated on a case-by-case basis." There is no "shopping list or clear-cut formula to indicate when and to what degree that presence of coal dust poses a distinct hazard to the miners," MSHA officials told the GAO.
Reach Ken Ward Jr. at [email protected] or 304-348-1702.
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how do you divide with a remainder
2/86 with a remainder
A division algorithm is often discussed in introductions to abstract
algebra or number theory. The intent is to explain ordinary division
of integers in a more theoretical light that allows certain
generalizations to things such as polynomials and other subsets
ot the real or complex numbers.
Given positive integers n and m, the division of n by m, n/m,
is to find whole numbers q and r so that
n = m * q + r, or n/m = q + r/m
with 0 <= r < m.
The integer q is called the quotient and r is called the remainder.
In this case little is required, since
2 = 86 * 0 + 2
so that the quotient is 0 and the remainder is 2.
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May 20, 2011
Choose Preset 3D Views
You can define perspective views of a model to create realistic effects.
Select predefined standard orthographic and isometric views by name or description. These views represent commonly used options: Top, Bottom, Front, Left, Right, and Back. In addition, you can set views from isometric options: SW (southwest) Isometric, SE (southeast) Isometric, NE (northeast) Isometric, and NW (northwest) Isometric.
To understand how the isometric views work, imagine you are looking down at the top of a box. If you move toward the lower-left corner of the box, you are viewing the box from the SW Isometric View. If you move toward the upper-left corner of the box, you are viewing it from NW Isometric View.
Draw 2D Isometric Views
With Isometric Snap, you can create 2D objects that appear to be 3D solids.
By setting Isometric Snap on the Draft Settings dialog box and turning on Snap and Grid, you can easily align objects along one of three isometric planes. However, although the isometric drawing looks like 3D, it is actually a 2D representation. Therefore, you cannot extract distance and areas, display objects from different viewports, or delete hidden lines automatically.
Set Isometric Grid and Snap
By aligning along three major axes, isometric drawing simulates a 3D drawing from specified viewpoint.
When the snap angle is set to 0, the axes of the isometric plane are 30 degrees, 90 degrees and 150 degrees.
With Isometric Snap on, you can work on any of three isometric planes, each with a pair of associated axes.
Left. The left isometric plane defined by a pair of 90- and 150-degrees axes. The snap and grips align along the 90- and 150-degree axes.
Top. The top isometric plane defined by a pair of 30- and 150-degrees axes. The snap and grips align along the 30- and 150-degrees axes.
Right. The right isometric plane defined by a pair of 90- and 30-degrees axes. The snap and grips align along the 90- and 30-degrees axes.
In addition to using ISOPLANE command to switch isometric planes, you can also use shortcut key F5 or CTRL+E. specifying one of the three isometric planes results in Ortho and crosshairs to be aligned along the corresponding isometric axes.
For example, when Ortho is on, the points you specified align along the simulated plane you are working on. Therefore, you can draw the top plane first, and switch to the left plane to draw another side, and then switch to the right plane to complete the drawing.
Draw Isometric Circles
You can create an isometric circle on the current isometric plane using Ellipse Isocircle. The Isocircle option is available only when the Isometric Snap is on.
VIEW:Saves and restores named views
SETTINGS: Specifies settings for Snap mode, grid, and polar and object snap tracking
GRID: Displays a dot grid in the current viewport
ISOPLANE: Specifies the current isometric plane
ORTHO: Constrains cursor movement
SNAP: Restricts cursor movement to specified intervals
System Variables Reference
ISOLINES: Specifies the number of isolines per surface on objects
SNAPISOPAIR: Controls the isometric plane for the current viewport
SNAPSTYL: Sets the snap style for the current viewport
All trademarks, trade names or company names referenced herein are used for identification only and are the property of their respective owners.
CAD | CAD Software | CAD Free Download | CAD Download | Design Software | Free Cad Download | 3D Software Download
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Gender roles, or sex roles to many, are important to the study
of family interaction because our definition of the part(s) we play in
family relationships, and thus the very meaning which we attach
to family ties, are guided to a great extent by our concept of gender appropriate behavior.
Some Sociological Definitions
These are the building blocks of social structure.
Status is a position in society that carries with it certain
distinct behaviors and abilities.
Role is the behavioral definition required by persons occupying certain statuses.
Gender Roles are the behaviors required by persons occupying the Male or Female Status
Think of all the relationships in which you figure as a player. This social web is spun for you by the generations before you. You, in turn, begin maintaining it, spinning off new strands to relationships newly formed. Each person occupying a status on the end of a role carries symbolic meaning of their purpose in the relationship.
In society we differentiate between groups of people based on their physical characteristics alone.
Gender is a broad concept by which we divide the human population into
Gender is the concept of maleness or femaleness, and is basic in all social interactions.
It refers to physical characteristics, social behaviors, characteristic self-image, psychological tendencies, behavioral tendencies, and abilities that allow us to differentiate between men and women.
The Cause of Gender Roles - Biology or Culture?
There is some objective evidence that differences between the sexes exist:
Different cultures have different value placed on gender.
Males most often inherit power, and keep it (rarely is this not the case).
This is known as PATRIARCHY - that men have afforded themselves most of the social power in almost every society known.
Social Learning Theory suggests that children are rewarded for conforming to their parent's (i.e., society's) expectations and are punished for behavior that meets with disapproval. Disapproved behavior is extinguished.
Differential socialization holds that male children undergo quite different socialization than do females. Fathers seem to be the deciding factor in the early years of life; while both parents support the division in later childhood. Other role models - siblings, peers, media influences.
The Feminist Critique of Gender Role Socialization
Power and control are the real social motives behind the division of sex roles, through the division of labor. Not simply differential socialization, the assertion is that there is no motivation for men to relinquish any of their power and control to women (abortion issues, equal pay issues, child care issues).
The Feminist Power analysis
Gender is the social basis of dating, courtship, marriage, and the production and nurturance of children. Two interrelated factors influence differences in gender role behavior:
While there are deviations from the G.I. norm, there is a normal standard to which everyone compares their own abilities and behavior.
From the moment of birth, through an incredibly complex process of socialization, from the first peek at baby's bottom, gender role reinforcement begins:
For Girls - ribbons, pink blankets, softness / For Boys - hockey jerseys,
blue blankets, toughness.
Clothing styles, environments, colors, hair styles, parental treatment, toy selection are all means of reinforcement of Gender Roles.
Gender roles and Gender Identity is Important:
Sex Roles and Family Relationships
Traditional sex roles inhibits the full range of emotional expression and interaction.
Confining sex role expectations can restrict a couple's sexual relationship as well - who initiates, who's on top, who's on first.
The Parent-Child relationship can also be restricted by traditional sex roles. Uninvolved fathers - allows mom to take the blame for all children's mistakes. B. Changing Sex Roles -
In the past 15 years or so, American Culture has become Feminized to a great extent.
-the most important change in recent history to move our society away from traditional sex roles is the massive movement of women in to the PAID LABOR FORCE. With it comes other changes, such as changes in child care schedules, who buys the weekly groceries, who does the laundry, who makes decisions.
Due to: Economic Reasons - More women in the work force - Higher unemployment among men Demographic Reasons Highly geographically mobile Political Reasons - More awareness of women's rights caused V Image of Masculinity and Femininity to change
-we are moving towards a "task" oriented. before: "when the family does well, I do well" Now: "when I do well, the family benefits." When wives move into the labor force, husbands like it. But husbands have not significantly increased the time they devote to domestic tasks. (nationally).
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy - W.I. Thomas gave us the Situational Hypothesis: Things that are perceived as real, will be real in their consequences. If we think we are weak, dependent, unskilled, we will act accordingly. If we think we are a tough ass, we will proceed as such.
Gender Identity - is the core of one's self-image. Beginning to take form at about age three, gender identity results from the perception of one's anatomical characteristics and the perception of the way one is treated by others. Gender identity is the inward experience of gender role. Gender role is the outward expression of gender identity.
Primary gender characteristics are biological imperatives and include ovulation, menstruation, gestation, and lactation in the female and sperm production and spitting in the male.
Secondary gender characteristics occur as a result of hormones and differentiate men and women in terms of the norm in skeletal structure, musculature, and hair distribution.
Benin, M.H., and Agostinelli, J. (1988). Husbands' & wives' s satisfaction with the division of labor. JMF 50 (May), 349-361. Husbands were most satisfied with an equitable division of labor especially if the number of hours they spent in household chores is not large. Wives were most satisfied if the division of labor favors them and husbands shared traditional chores.
Werbach, G.B., Grotevant, H.D., & Cooper, C.R. (1992). Patterns of family interaction and adolescent sex role concepts. Journal of Youth & Adolescence, 219(5), 609-623. Mothers seem to have the most impact on gender role concept formation in both boys and girls.
Willets-Bloom, C.C., & Nock, S.L. (1994). The influence of maternal employment on gender role attitudes of men and women, Sex Roles 30(5/6), 371- 388. Adult children of working mothers had egalitarian and nontraditional gender role attitudes attitudes when mother worked during their childhood.
Back to Syllabus
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Prescribed and Wildland Fires
Prescribed fires are those fires purposefully ignited on wildlands to meet specific land management objectives, such as reducing wildfire risk, improving forest health, site preparation, and improving rangeland vegetation.
Wildfires are unwanted wildland fires, and may be caused by such things as negligent human behavior or lightning.
See the links below and our EPA Smoke Information and Smoke Management web pages for information on how air quality issues are being addressed for prescribed and wildland fires.
EPA Interim Air Quality Policy on Wildland and Prescribed Fires - This is EPA’s interim policy for addressing public health and welfare impacts caused by wildland and prescribed fires that are managed to achieve resource benefits. EPA is currently updating this policy and expects to publish the summer of 2008. This update will also include agricultural field burning. The new policy will be used in conjunction with EPA's Exceptional Event Rule.
EPA Natural Events Policy - The EPA Natural Events Policy has been superceded by the regulation "Treatment of Data Influenced by Exceptional Events", published in the Federal Register, March 22, 2007. This rule provides the criteria and process for a State to exclude certain ambient air quality data when making attainment and nonattainment NAAQS determinations.
For information on prescribed and wildland fires in your area:
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The shads or river herrings comprise the genus Alosa, fish related to herring in the family Clupeidae. They are distinct from others in that family by having a deeper body and spawning in rivers. Several species can be found on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. Alosa can also be found throughout the Caspian Sea. 2] Many are found in freshwater during spawning and some are only found in landlocked freshwater.
Alosa are generally dark on the back and top of the head with blue, violet, or greenish tints. However, some species can be identified as having a grey or green back. Spots are commonly found behi nd the head and the fins may vary from species to species or individually. Most species of Alosa weigh 300 grams or less with one species, Alosa pontica, weighing up to 2 kilograms.
Shads are thought to be unique among the fishes in having evolved an ability to detect ultrasound (sound at frequencies above 20 kHz, which is the limit of human hearing) . This was first discovered by fisheries biologists studying a type of shad known as blueback herring, and was later verified in laboratory studies of hearing in American shad. This ability is thought to help them avoid dolphins that find prey using echolocation. Alosa are generally pelagic.They are mostly andromous or semiandromous with the exception of strictly freshwater landlocked species. Alosa are generally migratory and schooling fish. Males will usually mature about a year before females and spawn in the late spring to summer months. Most individuals die shortly after spawning.Alosa are seemingly very adaptive vertebrates and can change readily to adapt to their environment as species are found in a variety of temperatures and waters
Life cycle and reproduction
As Alosa are generally anadromous, they are faced with various obstacles to survive. They may have to pass through numerous barriers and waters to get to either their spawning grounds or normal habitat (the sea in most cases). Estruaries are a major factor in numerous Alosa species migration. Estruaries can be highly variable and complex environments contributing to fluctuating biological interactions. There are shifts in osomolarity, food sources, predators, etc. Since many adult Alosa species die after spawning, it is the young who generally have to migrate to the sea from the spawning grounds. Duration of migration varies among fish but studies have shown that duration of migration can greatly affect survival.
Reproduction varies from species to species. Studies done on Alosa in Iranian waters have shown that spawning in Alosa varies in time, place, and temperature of the waters they inhabit.Fecundity may also vary.It is observed that species will spawn as early as April or as late as August. Temperatures range from approximately 11 to 27 degrees Celsius. Fecundity can range from approximately 20,000 eggs to 312,000 eggs. Eggs are pelagic.
The life span of Alosa can be up to 10 years but is generally uncommon as many die after spawning.
Systematics of shads is complex. The genus inhabits a wide range of habitats, and many taxa are migratory. There are also a few land-locked forms, one from Killarney in Ireland and two from lakes in northern Italy. There are species native to the Black Sea and Caspian Sea, as well as the Persian Gulf. Alosa species of the Caspian are systemically characterized by the number of rakers on the first gill arch by some scientists. They are classified as being "multirakered," "mediumrakered," or "oligorakered." The multirakered are primarily plankton feeders, the oligorakered have large rakers and are predators, and the mediumrakered generally possess a mixed diet. Most current species of the Alosa genus in North America can be found in Florida, although Florida may not be the only place that these species are found.
Morphology is notoriously liable to adapt to changing food availability in these fish. Several taxa seem to have evolved quite recently, making molecular analyses difficult. In addition, it appears as if hybridization is a factor to be reckoned with when researching shad phylogeny.
- The Founding Fish (2002) ISBN 0-374-10444-1.
Nonetheless, some trends are emerging. The North American species except the Atlantic shad can probably be separated in a subgenus (or even genus) Pomolobus. On the other hand, the proposed genus (or subgenus) Caspialosa for the Caspian Sea forms is rejected due to paraphyly.
- Alosa aestivalis (Mitchill, 1814) (Blueback shad)
- Alosa agone (Scopoli, 1786) (Agone)
- Alosa alabamae D. S. Jordan & Evermann, 1896 (Alabama shad)
- Alosa algeriensis Regan, 1916 (North African shad)
- Alosa alosa (Linnaeus, 1758) (Allis shad)
- Alosa braschnikowi (Borodin, 1904) (Caspian marine shad)
- Alosa caspia (Eichwald, 1838)
- Alosa caspia caspia (Eichwald, 1838) (Caspian shad)
- Alosa caspia knipowitschi (Iljin, 1927) (Enzeli shad)
- Alosa caspia persica (Iljin, 1927) (Astrabad shad)
- Alosa chrysochloris (Rafinesque, 1820) (Skipjack shad)
- Alosa curensis (Suvorov, 1907) (Kura shad)
- Alosa fallax (Lac?p?de, 1803) (Twait shad)
- Alosa immaculata E. T. Bennett, 1835 (Pontic shad)
- Alosa kessleri (Grimm, 1887) (Caspian anadromous shad)
- Alosa killarnensis Regan, 1916 (Killarney shad)
- Alosa macedonica (Vinciguerra, 1921) (Macedonia shad)
- Alosa maeotica (Grimm, 1901) (Black Sea shad)
- Alosa mediocris (Mitchill, 1814) (Hickory shad)
- Alosa pseudoharengus (A. Wilson, 1811) (Alewife)
- Alosa sapidissima (A. Wilson, 1811) (American shad)
- Alosa saposchnikowii (Grimm, 1887) (Saposhnikovi shad)
- Alosa sphaerocephala (L. S. Berg, 1913) (Agrakhan shad)
- Alosa tanaica (Grimm, 1901) (Azov shad)
- Alosa vistonica Economidis & Sinis, 1986 (Thracian shad)
- Alosa volgensis (L. S. Berg, 1913) (Volga shad)
Shad populations have been in decline for years due to spawning areas blocked by dams, habitat destruction, pollution, and overfishing. Management of shad has called for more conservative regulations, as well as policies to help the species obtain a lower fishing mortality.
Shad serve a peculiar symbolic role in Virginia state politics. On the year of every gubernatorial election, would-be candidates, lobbyists, campaign workers, and reporters gather in the town of Wakefield, Virginia for shad planking. American shad served as the focal point of John McPhee's book The Founding Fish.iv class="thumbcaption">roe
| 3.697609 |
One of the most difficult subjects for a historian to explore is the area of folk traditions and practices. The affairs of kings and queens, the great events on battlefields and in parliaments - these are always well-documented. But most of us are not kings, generals or prime ministers! How our ancestors lived their lives and marked seasons of the year through ceremonies and celebrations is a fascinating, if elusive, subject to study. Halloween is certainly one of the most interesting of all.
Halloween's origins lie in the Celtic past, a date bound up with the British heritage that so many Americans share. It likely emerged from "Samhain,'' the celebration of the Celtic New Year. Samhain was not the Celtic Lord of the Dead as some claim; there was no such deity in their mythology.
Ancient people lived on the land and were therefore extremely sensitive to the seasons of the year. Late October marked the end of the season of light and the beginning of dark winter. It was a time of transition and, not surprisingly, one filled with both hope and anxiety. This "turning of the year'' was a moment when spiritual forces, both good and evil, were immanent. While the Celts did not believe that Samhain brought demons out to walk upon the earth (contrary to what you might find on various Internet sites), they did believe, for example, that the dead might try to contact the living. It was, in short, a special time for people who believed that their world was filled with powers beyond their control. It was a religious holiday, not a night for devil worship.
As for "Halloween'' proper, it takes its name from "All Hallow's Eve,'' the night before "All Saint's Day,'' a Christian festival begun in the early Middle Ages to honor those who had died in the faith. Some claim that the festival was intended to counter the pagan ceremonies of the previous day. I confess that, while this might be true, it seems to be only inference. (Again, the confident assertions you find on the Internet are not necessarily backed by historical evidence.) As far as I know, no medieval writer made the connection, however inviting it may be. Whatever the reasons for selecting Nov. 1 as All Saint's Day, the evening before, which "hallowed'' it, did not lose its significance in the popular culture of the British Isles.
Until the late 19th century, Halloween was rarely celebrated in America. It was too closely associated with the Catholic festival of All Saints to be enjoyed by the Protestant majority. After the Civil War, Halloween became more popular, thanks largely to new waves of immigrants from Ireland and England. Over the last century, it has continued to grow in popularity to the point where it now trails only Christmas among American festivals. From the ancient Celts to modern Americans, this autumn festival demonstrates the diversity and vitality of popular culture across the centuries. It is part of the rich pageant of history in which we all have a leading role.
Dr. Bruce Brasington is a professor of history at West Texas A&M University. He can be reached at 651-2426.
Amarillo Globe-News ©2013. All Rights Reserved.
| 3.250939 |
Remembering George Mason
It is important that we recognize George Mason, a man whose Virginia Declaration of Rights would have a profound impact on the world. Drafted in 1776, the Virginia Declaration of Rights proclaimed that “all men are born free and independent and have certain inherent rights.” During the Federal Convention on September 12, 1787 George Mason proposed that a bill of rights similar to the one he had written for Virginia be included. His proposal was rejected and he refused to sign the final draft of the constitution. After a few years it became obvious that Mason was correct and the first ten amendments, known as the Bill of Rights, were ratified by the states on December 15, 1791. The words of George Mason inspired generations of Americans and others throughout the world. As citizens, we must continue to honor and remember the legacy of George Mason, one of our nation’s Founding Fathers.
Gunston Hall, the home of George Mason is located twenty miles south of Washington, D.C. on the Potomac River in Mason Neck, Virginia, It is now an educational agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The site educates the public about the international significance of the contributions that George Mason made to the universal cause of human rights.
Jane M. Myers and Wilma G. Kinslow
Gunston Hall Representatives
USCDA, Americus Town Committee
Reward offered for information
Vandals have recently damaged several headstones at Oakgrove Cemetery. Two of the headstones damaged are that of Confederate veterans who are buried in the Confederate plot at Oakgrove. A third grave is that of a local citizen buried near the same location. The 129 veterans buried in this plot were for the most part guards who died at Andersonville and others who died in hospitals located in Americus during the War Between The States.
The vandalism was discovered Saturday (Dec. 1) by John Carroll, Commander of the local Sons of Confederate Veterans camp. Carroll stated, “we consider the desecration of any grave a very serious matter and have filed a report with the Americus Police Department. The desecration of an American veteran’s grave is an especially vile and repugnant act which we do not take lightly.”
The local SCV is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those person(s) guilty of this crime.
Commander, SCV Camp No. 78
We need to have God in our lives
I listened to the news this morning and I heard about a Football player shooting his girl friend and then killing himself. I think, what a tragedy. I read about crimes all over Americus and Sumter, County and I ask why? We think we can change things with gun control, hate crime laws and hiring more law officers. I’ll be the first to say law officers sure are important people. I remind myself of the old adage, it could be worse, sure enough it is getting worse.
The problem is not the laws we don’t have, it is man’s heart Jesus Christ said in Mark 7: 21-23 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetoudness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.
You know nothing is sacred when it comes to evil. Even our churches are being broken into. Our church has been broken into 3 times over the pass few weeks. So what do we do? Fence around our property, get bigger dogs, hire guards, get bigger guns. I don’ blame you if you have these things. What if there is something else that will work? God said in 2 Chronicles If my people, which are called by My name shall humble themselves, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. God is talking to His children not to the world. We need to bend our knees every day, not just on Sunday, and humble ourselves and live Christian lives pleasing to Jesus. Because it is going to take the power of God to return us to cicility.
Let Christ speak to you heart today because He is not just God you think obout when people die. He wants to be your God in life.
If you don’t know Jesus as your savior you need to call on Him today. Rom. 10: 9 says “That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shalt be saved. Lets make a change in our world thruough Christ Jesus. Thank you for reading this.
Remembering George Mason
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| 3.032726 |
A User's Guide
A much-revised and expanded version of this on-line guide, with hundreds of added examples.
An abbreviation of the Latin word ibidem, meaning “in the same place.” It's sometimes used in footnotes or endnotes: “Remember that long citation I gave you in the previous note? — repeat it here.” Note that it always means the immediately preceding reference. “Ibid.” is an abbreviation, so it usually gets a period at the end, but most house styles suggest roman rather than italics. It was once very common, along with “Id.” (from Latin idem, “the same” — not “the same place” but “the same work”). Both are becoming less common in most kinds of writing, though they may hang on in legal writing. [Entry added 9 May 2007.]
A language is shared by a large community: English, for instance, is the first language of most people in the UK, America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and much of South Africa, India, and so on. Thing is, the English spoken in Louisiana is pretty far from the English spoken in Cape Town. A dialect is a subset of a language shared by a smaller community, often (but not always) regional: Cockney, for instance, is a dialect of English. A dialect is distinguished from a language by a set of departures from the “norm,” but these departures are necessarily shared by some community. (I'll let the linguists wrangle over exactly which communities constitute dialects.)
An idiolect, on the other hand, is the form of a language spoken by a single person, marked by a set of departures from the “norm” that aren't shared with others, at least not as a package. A person's idiolect constitutes a kind of linguistic fingerprint, since it's by definition unique to an individual. Police forensics folks often look for idiolect markers in, say, ransom letters. It was a series of distinctive verbal tics, for example, that allowed authorities to spot the Unabomber from his “manifesto.” [Entry added 14 Sept. 2004.]
An idiom is just a way of expressing something that has been sanctified by use — often in violation of apparent logic, or at least not having an obvious logic behind it.
Some idioms can sometimes be figured out from the component words: if I say something is a dime a dozen, you can probably figure out that it means “cheap” or “common.” Others are impossible to figure out logically. If you get on my nerves and I tell you to piss off, I'm asking you to go away — not to urinate from a great height; to kick the bucket has nothing to do with buckets.
Native speakers usually have little trouble with these. The trickier ones are the more subtle idioms. For instance, in English it's idiomatic to say “I'm going home,” even though with every other destination you need a preposition like to or into: you go to work or into a store. People learning English often have trouble with this, saying things like “I'm going to home.” Even native speakers sometimes get into trouble when they start puzzling over the logic of some phrases, and end up with something that “makes sense” in the abstract, but doesn't conform to general usage.
People learning the language often want to ask why things are this way; alas, the only answer is, “It just is, that's all.” [Entry added 12 July 2005.]
See E.g. versus i.e.
I have to express my disgust here: impact should remain a noun; a proposal can have an impact, but cannot impact anything without degenerating into jargon. The only thing that can be impacted is a wisdom tooth.
In grammar, an imperative is an order: instead of “You will go” — the indicative — the imperative says: “Go.” Instead of “You will get the book” — the indicative — the imperative says “Get the book.”
Though the word imperative is common in business writing, it's big and ugly and intimidating. Go with must or should. Instead of the jargony “It is imperative that the forms be completed on time,” try “Be sure to complete the forms on time.”
A speaker implies something by hinting at it; a listener infers something from what he or she hears. Don't use them interchangeably.
A tip: your thesis statement in an English paper should never contain the word important, which usually means something like “I think this is relevant, but I haven't a clue how.” Some examples of bad thesis statements: “The idea of money is important in Defoe's novels,” “The role of honor in the epic poems of ancient Greece is very important,” or “Race and gender are very important aspects of Toni Morrison's novels” — they're all very close to meaningless. And don't think a synonym like significant will save you. Say something precise.
An easily confused pair. Incredible means “not believable”; incredulous means “not believing.” A story can be incredible; a person who doubts it can be incredulous. [Entry added 9 May 2007.]
See Subjunctives and Shall versus Will.
A yucky word. Usually unnecessary; use person or someone. Use individual only when you mean to distinguish an individual from a group or corporation.
The infinitive is the form of a verb that doesn't express person, number, tense, or mood. It's the uninflected form of the verb.
In most English verbs, the present infinitive is the same as the present plural indicative: “we, you, they listen,” so the infinitive is simply listen; “we you, they shake,” so the infinitive is shake. The verb to be, however, is mighty irregular; the present plural indicative is are, but the infinitive is be. The infinitive is often marked with the particle to (to listen, to shake, to be), though it's not always necessary.
There's also a past infinitive, formed with have and the past participle: to have listened, to have shaken, to have been.
See also Split Infinitive. [Entry added 3 Jan. 2005.]
See Flammable versus Inflammable.
Inflection is the process by which words change forms, as when you change the infinitive to be and turn it into am, is, are, were, being, been, and so on, or when you take a singular noun and make it plural. Our pronouns change form according to person, number, and case — that is, the function they play in the sentence — producing I, me, my, mine.
The “base” form of a verb is the infinitive. The base form of a noun is the singular.
Modern English isn't a very “highly inflected” language — we tack an s onto the end of the infinitive to get our third-person singular present verb; we slap ed to the end of infinitives to get most of our past tenses; we paste ing to the infinitive to get the present participle. With nouns, we add an s to most singular nouns to get the plurals, apostrophe-s for singular possessives, and s-apostrophe for plural possessives. Our adjectives and adverbs aren't inflected at all. A thousand years ago, Old English was much more highly inflected. We lost most of the inflections in the Middle English period, when word order took over their function. Plenty of languages, though, have more flexibility in word order because they show grammatical relations in their word forms. Those who've studied ancient Greek, Latin, or German will know that every noun and adjective can take dozens of forms. The list of forms an ancient Greek verb can take stretches into the hundreds. On the other hand, many of the East Asian languages are even less inflected than English: Chinese and Vietnamese have hardly any changes in word forms. [Entry added 3 Jan. 2005.]
Sentences beginning “It is interesting that” or “It is significant that” are usually as far from interesting as can be. Don't just state that something is interesting: show it.
Often useless padding.
Just as you might have to omit something from quoted material with ellipses, you sometimes have to add to a quotation to clarify it. A sentence with only a pronoun like he or she, without the context of the surrounding sentences, might baffle a reader. Or a word or phrase may need explanation — say, a passage in a foreign language.
In these cases, it's traditional to add material in [square brackets]. (Newspapers often use parentheses instead of square brackets, but they're a minority.) Provide an explanation if the author uses something your audience isn't likely to understand — “The first words of Joyce's ‘Stately, plump Buck Mulligan’ are Introibo ad altare dei [‘I will go to the altar of God’].” You might need to supply a detail not in the original quotation, especially if your reader is likely to be confused: “As Fairbanks notes, ‘The death of three civil rights workers in Philadelphia [Mississippi] marked a turning point.’” You might also provide a first name: “It was [George] Eliot's most successful work.” Always the question is whether the clarification will help your audience.
If you're changing a single word or a short phrase, especially a pronoun, and the word isn't especially interesting in its own right, it's okay to omit the original and replace it with the bracketed interpolation: you can change “In that year, after much deliberation, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation” to “In , after much deliberation, [Lincoln] issued the Emancipation Proclamation.” If you're hesitant to monkey with words in the original that may be important — and it's wise to be circumspect — just add the bracketed interpolation after the thing you're explaining: “The sixteenth president [Lincoln] abolished slavery.”
You can also use brackets around part of a word to indicate necessary changes in its form. So, for instance, you might write, “In his brilliant Guide to Grammar and Style, Lynch provides sage advice on ‘us[ing] brackets around part of a word.’”
Some house styles call for brackets to indicate changes of upper- and lowercase letters at the beginning of a quotation: “[L]ike this.” I don't like it — it clutters a page — but I don't get to make the call, except in things I edit.
Limit square brackets to quotations of others' words. If you need to clarify something in your own prose, use parentheses (as I do here).
See also Ellipses and Sic. [Entry added 3 November 2000; revised 1 June 2004.]
See Transitive versus Intransitive Verbs.
See Single Quotation Marks.
Resist the impulse to refer to things that are merely coincidental as ironic.
Irony is a complicated notion with an even more complicated history. Those with scholarly inclinations should check out Norman Knox's important book, The Word “Irony” and Its Context, 1500-1755 (Durham: Duke Univ. Press, 1961). Those without such inclinations should at least be aware that things are messy, and that precision is useful.
Irony usually refers to some kind of gap between what's said and what's meant. The simplest form is verbal irony, which in its crudest form is sarcasm. If I start praising the infinitely enlightened administrators who run my university, complimenting them for their inexhaustible wisdom and their clarity of expression, most people will recognize that I'm indulging in verbal irony. (The aforementioned bureaucrats won't, but they're beyond hope.)
Other kinds of irony are more complicated. Dramatic irony is when a speaker isn't aware of the true meaning of what he or she is saying (as when Sophocles' Oedipus vows he wants to punish the sinner who brought the plague on Thebes, unaware that he's talking about himself). Socratic irony describes Socrates' disingenuous pose of ignorance. There are also situational irony, structural irony, and romantic irony. Cosmic irony is perhaps the closest to what most people think of as irony: it's when God or fate seems to be manipulating events so as to inspire false hopes, which are inevitably dashed. Thomas Hardy's novels are filled with it. For all of these kinds of irony, the word ironic is just dandy.
But you shouldn't use it merely to suggest something coincidental or contrary to expectation. “He thought the plan would make him rich, but it turns out he lost all his money” — that's a pity, but it's not really ironic. Ditto “She spent years looking for her high school sweetheart, but he finally called her a week after she married someone else.” Again, a damn shame for all involved — but not ironic.
A middle ground — sometimes accepted, sometimes not — is for unexpected things that, in the words of The American Heritage Dictionary, “suggest . . . particular lessons about human vanity or folly.” Here's their example, which about three-quarters of their usage panel found kosher:
Ironically, even as the government was fulminating against American policy, American jeans and videocassettes were the hottest items in the stalls of the market.
The idea is that it wasn't merely an unintended consequence; it points up a serious problem of “human inconsistency.”
Even though three-quarters of the panel found it acceptable, remember that one in four disagreed. For that reason, it's always safest to use words like coincidental, unexpected, improbable, or paradoxical when they're what you mean, and to reserve ironic for unambiguous cases of irony. [Entry added 5 Jan. 2005.]
Not a word used in respectable company: somewhere between irrespective and regardless. Use one of these instead.
A terribly vague word: it always suggests to me that the writer doesn't have a clear idea of his or her meaning. Look for something more specific and more concrete. [Entry added 18 November 2006.]
Use italics for book titles, for foreign words, and for emphasis. Be careful, though, not to rely too much on italics for emphasis; they make your writing look amateurish. Let the words do most of the work.
Note that italics and underscores are the same thing — typewriters used underscore when italics weren't available — so use one or the other, but not both, in a paper. Publishers working from hard-copy typescripts usually prefer underscores; they're easier for typesetters to catch. (This is a question of house style.)
See Titles and Fonts. [Revised 1 June 2004.]
Aw, c'mon: anything can be argued. Don't pad your writing with useless stuff like this, especially when it's graceless, imprecise, and in the passive voice. [Entry added 14 Sept. 2004.]
There's no shortcut; all you can do is memorize the rule. It's with an apostrophe means it is (or, a little less often and a little less formally, it has); its without an apostrophe means belonging to it. An analogue might provide a mnemonic: think of “he's” (“he is” gets an apostrophe) and “his” (“belonging to him” doesn't).
What about its', with the apostrophe after the s? — Never, never, never. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Not in this language, you don't. Its, “belonging to it”; it's, it is. That's all. [Revised 8 June 2001.]
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Alpha & Omega Ministries Apologetics Blog
An Introduction to Textual Criticism: Part 3--Textual Errors
03/25/2008 - Colin SmithDue to the hasty nature by which the early New Testament manuscripts were transmitted, it is only to be expected that errors were introduced from the earliest time. Especially in the first two centuries A. D., when there was great pressure to make copies of the various New Testament books in a short period of time, it was easy for hurried scribes to introduce many typographical errors into the text that would perpetuate with subsequent copying. Even after the establishment of Christianity under Constantine, when reproduction of the Scriptures could be conducted under more peaceful and stable circumstances, scribes were prone to err. Most works on the subject of textual criticism explore the various ways in which New Testament manuscripts were corrupted. These are just a few of the more important types of scribal error.
Faulty Vision or Hearing
Often errors crept into copies of the New Testament manuscripts simply as a result of human frailty. The person copying would see or hear (if copying by dictation) the next word, but mistake a crucial letter form or sound, replacing the original word with what he thinks it is. This would present a problem for future copyists who, without having access to the original document, would be left wondering whether the word in the manuscript in front of him was the original word. For example, in Acts 15:40, did Paul choose Silas or receive Silas before leaving? Some uncial manuscripts have the Greek word EPILEXAMENOS while others have the Greek word EPIDEXAMENOS. The former word means having chosen and the latter having received. It is evident from a careful examination of these two words how a short-sighted scribe, who would not have had the modern aid of precise glasses or contacts, could confuse one word for the other, especially when either could fit the context of the sentence. The scribe's poor eyesight would not have been helped by the fact that the natural horizontal lines on the papyrus could affect the writing, possibly suggesting a line at the bottom of the lambda (L) making it into a delta (D), where the original scribe may not have actually written such a line.
Students learning classical or koine(New Testament) Greek today are at a disadvantage with regard to pronunciation, since the native speakers of the language did not leave a written account of the letter or word sounds. Most of the time, modern New Testament Greek instructors will present a pronunciation system that approximates the original and can help the student with learning vocabulary. For many, this is adequate since neither classical nor koine Greek function as a spoken language today. Interestingly, manuscripts from the first few centuries of the church give some indication of how koine Greek might have sounded by reasoning from some of the spelling variations. For example, the Greek words h`min (hêmin) and u`min (humin) often appear in different manuscripts in place of one another. This indicates that, at least in some regions if not generally, the Greek letters eta (h) and upsilon (u) were pronounced the same way. Since it was a common practice, especially post-Constantine, for copies of the New Testament to be made by a group of scribes writing to dictation, a scribe lacking precise enough hearing to distinguish h and u would be left making an educated guess.
Parablepsis and Homoeoteleuton
These two Greek terms refer to two similar scribal errors that are certainly not peculiar to ancient writers. Parablepsis, or looking to the side, occurs when a scribe's eye falls on a group of words further down the page that resemble (or are identical) to the words he has just written, and continues copying from that point, skipping over the intervening line or lines. Homoeoteleuton (similar ending) is a related phenomenon where the scribe's eye alights on a word or a line whose ending is similar to, or the same as, the ending of the word or line he has just written and he continues writing from that point. Again, the result is the omission of any text in the middle of the two similar-ending lines. Many of the differences between manuscripts due to omission of words or phrases have been ascribed to parablepsis or homoeoteleuton.
Harmonization and Conflation
From a study of the ancient manuscripts, it is clear that scribes often felt at liberty to alter the text of the New Testament from which they were copying, not out of malicious intent, but because the scribe sincerely felt that the scribe whose work he was copying had erred in his work. Perhaps he spotted what he considered to be a scribal error in the text and he sought to correct it; or perhaps he was familiar with the passage and wanted to "correct" the version in front of him according to the more familiar version. From this it can be deduced that most of these copyists were not reading these works for the first time. The fact of their familiarity with the New Testament text, along with the sense of freedom the scribe felt to correct the work of his predecessor, sheds light on the common practice of harmonization. Especially in the case of the Gospels, scribes would often feel free (maybe even obliged) to bring accounts recorded in more than one of the Gospels into line with one other. Naturally, not all scribes would feel this compulsion, and even those who did would not necessarily harmonize in the same place and in the same way. This would, therefore, generate more variations between manuscripts.
If a scribe is working from more than one manuscript, he may come across a detail in one that appears to be missing in the other, or may be different in the other. Since the scribe would probably not know the original reading, he would face the dilemma of either including or changing the original word for something else, or leaving out the original wording. Often the resolution to the dilemma was to include both readings; this way he could be sure that he was preserving the original, even if he had no way of determining which one it is. This practice is known as "conflation," or "a conflation of readings."
There are many more examples of scribal errors, and the reader is referred to standard works on textual criticism for more details.
Part 4: The Role of Church History in Textual Criticism--coming soon!
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Everything from industrial equipment to the human body loses some of the energy it uses to things like heat and vibrations. The ability to harvest some of this energy is usually pretty limited, as small heat differences and weak movements are difficult to concentrate into significant amounts of useful energy. But even an inefficient conversion can be sufficient to provide power for small energy-efficient devices, such as medical implants and short-range transmitters, so researchers are working on developing materials that can convert environmental noise into small amounts of useful energy. In a recent example of this work, researchers have demonstrated that they can print a bio-compatible device that can harvest the stress created when it's flexed to produce over 10 nanoAmps of current.
The device relies on the piezoelectric effect. A number of crystals, when stressed, create small amounts of current. That stress doesn't have to be extreme—the vibrations, flexing, and twisting that normally occur in many situations is sufficient to create a small charge. The individual events may not be enough to do much, but combined with a good rechargeable battery or capacitor, they can be sufficient to provide enough power for devices that only operate intermittently. The lab behind the new work, for example, created a piezoelectric device that filled capacitors with enough power to run an LED.
There have been a number of hurdles to clear in order to make these devices, however. If they're overly large, the crystals can break under the strain of typical flexing, ruining the hardware. So both the piezoelectric material, along with the wiring necessary to harvest the potential that develops in it, have to be made at very small scales (on the order of tens of micrometers). For common usage, we'd also have to avoid using any materials that have problems with toxicity, especially if we're considering these for use in medical devices.
The new work involves barium titanate (BaTiO3), which is apparently biocompatible and comes from a family of materials that have excellent piezoelectric performance. But, perhaps more significantly, it describes how to print a large number of piezoelectric crystals onto a flexible substrate.
The first step in the process is a layer-by-layer deposition of the barium titanate and two conductive metals on top of a hard silicon substrate. That material is then etched to both cut it free from the underlying silicon (which doesn't flex well) and to create an array micrometer-sized piezoelectric device. This is where the printing comes in. A flexible plastic stamp can be used to pick up these pieces and deposit them in an organized array within some epoxy, which is then cured to lock them in place. Wiring is dropped on top to link everything up, and then a new layer of epoxy seals the whole thing up. A flexible plastic sheet gives the whole thing some robustness.
With everything wired up, the researchers put it to the test by having someone pick it up and flex the plastic (don't worry—he or she was wearing gloves). Each flex triggered a short pulse of current (about 10 nanoAmps); releasing the strain produced a similar burst with an opposite polarity. Each of these was about a third of a volt. The authors calculate the power density of their device as about seven milliWatts per cubic centimeter.
Again, that's not going to power the next-generation electric car. But it could be sufficient to charge a small device that only needs to operate sporadically. The researchers envision harvesting power from things like the flexing of hiking boots or the changes in the chest that accompany breathing.
The authors wrap up by pointing out that there are other materials similar to barium titanate that have even better piezoelectric properties, so this new device may be on the low end of what's possible. They're not the only lab working on this, so these flexible devices may find their way into some real-world applications before too long.
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Photo used with kind permission of Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation
Baby clings to dead mother
For millions of years, orangutans thrived in the once-vast forestlands of South
East Asia, possibly even existing as far North as Southern China. Today,
less than 1% of the species remains, and can now only be found in small,
secluded pockets of orangutan habitat on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra.
There are two sub-species of orangutan remaining, the endangered
Bornean, with approximately 30,000 individuals, and the critically endangered
Sumatran, with less than 6,000.
Orangutans are the most intelligent species on earth after humans. They
have the ability to undo bolts, knocks, pick locks and even communicate with
humans via sign language. They share many of the same emotions as us,
have their own culture and share 97% of our DNA!
Orangutans reproduce more slowly than any other primate, with the female
producing a baby on average once every 7-8 years. Infants are dependent on
their mothers for 5-8 years, learning about survival in the forest. Orangutans
live for around 45 years in the wild, and a female will usually have no more
than 3 offspring in her lifetime. This means that orangutan populations grow
very slowly, and take a long time to recover from habitat disturbance and
Poaching and the illegal animal trade are contributing factors to the genocide
of this species; however, the number one threat to the survival of the
orangutan in the wild is deforestation for the development of palm oil.
Every hour, rainforest land equivalent to 300 football fields in size is
destroyed, burnt and replaced with palm oil plantations. To put it into
perspective - in Sumatra alone there is now more than 4 times as much land
cultivated with oil palms as there is orangutan habitat remaining.
This results in the death of an orangutan every 2 hours. These gentle apes
are often killed in the most inhumane ways; run over, set on fire, hacked with
machetes, shot and decapitated. The “lucky” ones, often babies, have their
mothers shot and they are then taken to be kept as pets, sold, used in the
entertainment industry or even used as prostitutes in Indonesian brothels.
In some cases, palm oil farming provides employment to locals in South East
Asia, however it often involves gross human rights violations and involves
dangerous labour under risky conditions. But in many cases, palm oil does the
opposite to providing money. It often robs indigenous communities who still
depend on the natural landscape of their livelihood, when they are displaced
from their land to make way for palm oil development.
This one vegetable oil is found in over 50% of all supermarket products
in Australia. Palm oil can be found in everything from baked goods,
confectionery and ice-cream, to body products, cosmetics and cleaning
agents. It can even be used in toothpaste, paint, printer ink and car fuel!
Why is palm oil so popular and widely used?
- High yielding vegetable oil crop
- Large economic benefit to Indonesia & Malaysia
- Cheap cost
- Diverse in its uses
- Acts as a preservative in some foods
Palm oil is not only having devastating impacts on wildlife, the environment
and indigenous communities, but also your health. Palm oil is comprised of
50% saturated fat, meaning it has the ability to increase cholesterol levels and
promote heart disease.
To conclude, there is currently a massive amount of degraded land available
for planting oil palms in Sumatra and Borneo, but palm oil companies can
make a quick profit when they cut down rainforests and sell the timber, so the
relentless deforestation continues.
We do not advocate a boycott of products containing palm oil, or companies
using palm oil in their products. However, the international community must
demand that oil palm concessions are not granted in forested areas, and that
our local retailers and consumer goods manufacturers either source their
palm oil from non-destructive plantations, or switch to an alternative ingredient
that isn’t abusing wildlife, the environment and indigenous communities.
WANT TO KNOW MORE?
You can visit our Anti-Palm Oil Ambassador’s educational website on palm
oil, to learn about it’s impacts, what products do/don’t contain palm oil, how to
detect palm oil on labels and much more!
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Tests on GPU & CPU Coding Differences
Amazing Hardware Acceleration - Tests on GPU & CPU Coding Differences
Hardware Acceleration means using hardware to perform some function faster than is possible in software running on the general purpose CPU. And GPU Hardware Acceleration is most used in consumer computing area. For better understanding hardware acceleration working principle, this article tries to instruct you with the differences between GPU and CPU coding methods.
While, at the beginning, let's take a look at traditional video transcoding flows:
A raw video data (frames) first passes through Decoder component. And then they are pre-processed with resizing, de-interlacing, shrinking and other processors. So it is similarly knowable that every single delay at any one component, the whole video transcoding process will be postponed.
As for the present Windows PC and even Apple Mac, the biggest bottleneck of the video transcoding lies in the fourth procedure - Encoder, no matter whether high-end multi-core CPUs is enabled. Here GPU (graphics processing unit) puts its hands on. Thanks to parallel architecture, GPU allows multiple pipes to processing the decoding / encoding process rather than CPU's multi-Core only.
The result of GPU and CPU test is that GPU Hardware Acceleration's improving encoding performance usually 4 to 6 times better CPU alone. Accordingly, it can be concluded that currently the GPU is mainly working on the video encoding process, leaving the CPU to focus on the decoding and pre-processing.
While you should also note that, to achieving an ideal Hardware Acceleration, your GPU and CPU need to properly match. First, make sure the correct GPU is being used for a suitable job: Tesla is for high-performance server / data center, Quadro for workstations, and GeForce for consumers computers. As a general rule, the GPU encoding performance mainly depends on the number of CUDA cores. For example, the GeForce GT 330M GPUs is inferior to Tesla C2050's 448 cores, which will perform considerably better.
You can see that nearly all computers will greatly take advantages of GPU Hardware Acceleration (GPU and CPU are well paired).
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Raw Food Diets May Be Dangerous for Pets
Just like fad diets for humans, popular diets for your pets come and go. However, there’s one particular pet diet trend that gives us pause: ASPCA experts say raw food diets for pets that include raw meat, eggs and milk may be dangerous for your furry friends. We typically recommend that pet parents opt for well-balanced, high-quality commercial and cooked foods instead.
The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) agrees. In studies published in AVMA’s journal, homemade and commercial raw food diets for dogs and cats were found to contain dangerous bacteria like E. coli and Salmonella, just to name a few. Other tests showed that unprocessed food diets can lead to nutrient deficiencies or excess that can cause serious illnesses in pets. Also, pets chewing on raw bones can lead to obstruction or perforation of their gastrointestinal tracts, and fractured teeth.
If you don’t want to feed your dog or cat a commercial diet, consider a homemade diet that will diminish the risks of foodborne illnesses. These meals should be thoroughly cooked and need to be formulated by a veterinary nutritionist or by your veterinarian to make sure they’re nutritionally sound.
If you are passionate about feeding your pet raw foods, please consider the following tips.
- Work with your veterinarian to ensure that your pet’s diet is nutritionally balanced.
- Avoid feeding raw foods in homes with babies and toddlers (who put lots of things in their mouths), the elderly and those with compromised immune systems.
- Practice regular hand washing before and after feeding pets.
- Practice appropriate disposal methods when cleaning up pet feces.
For more information about pet-safe diets, consult your veterinarian and check out our complete list of people foods that are dangerous to pets.
Tell us in the comments below: Do you feed your pet raw foods or a homemade diet?
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Today, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21) released two new “roadmaps” in geography and science. The maps provide a framework and resources for integrating technology and other 21st century skills into core subject areas. Last year, they put out maps for social studies and English/language arts. The new maps were created by P21 in consultation with the National Science Teachers Association and the National Council for Geographic Education.
What’s the problem? To begin, they include no content. We looked through each of the standards and activities for grades 4, 8, and 12 and could not find one specific reference to content knowledge students would learn by doing what P21 recommends. What we did find was a chart (pg. 16) highlighting the characteristics of 21st century learning, P21 style. It describes 21st Century standards and assessments as having less emphasis on “acquiring information” and on “assessing to learn what students do not know.” So, under P21’s plan, students will learn less and their knowledge gaps will go undetected.
Many of the activities P21 proposes are simply preposterous, especially when you consider that students would be doing these things without first “acquiring information”:
Science- 4th grade:
Students in the class role-play citizens in a town meeting where members of the community express different points of view about a local issue, such as the location of a new school, building a bypass for traffic, or a re-zoning of downtown to be “pedestrian only” without vehicles, etc.
Science- 8th grade:
Students view video samples from a variety of sources of people speaking about a science-related topic (e.g., news reporters, news interviews of science experts, video podcasts of college lectures, segments from public television documentaries, or student-made videos of parents and professionals in their community). Students rate the videos on the degree to which the person sounded scientific…
Geography- 12th grade:
To test the law of retail gravitation (i.e., the number of visits a resident makes to competing shopping centers is inversely proportional to the distances between residence and center and proportional to the size of the center), students work in small groups to conduct a community survey of a retail area’s “retail gravity” on a non-school attendance day….
Once again, P21 and their associates have it backwards. With strong content, quality teaching, and engaging lessons, students’ problem solving, critical thinking, creativity, and other related skills will develop as part of their learning.
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The eugenics movement in America was so consequential to world events and the history of the United States that it's a bit frightening and confusing as to how few Americans are familiar with it. The majority of American citizens have never run into the term, probably as a consequence of its absence from the average high school curricula. It is essential that all critical thinkers have a basic understanding of this movement as it grossly misused science to further racist ideology and influenced a worldwide phenomenon.
The real danger of eugenics stemmed from the fact that it gave powerful people a pseudoscientific rationale to carry out the population control programs they so desperately wanted. Under the guise of "science" state legislatures could pass laws to uphold their racist beliefs. The beginning of the 20th century in the United States was a time of great social upheaval. Many impoverished eastern European immigrants were migrating to America; their mass arrival threatened the notion of America as a purely Aryan race. The eugenics movement allowed policymakers to severely limit the influx of immigrants into the country.
While eugenics had a consequential impact in America, it also had implications for other scientific communities as well. Some of the main proponents of eugenics in America were in correspondence with and gave advice to Adolf Hitler. It's unlikely the Third Reich would have been as successful at its aims as it was without the example set forth by the American eugenics movement.
Discussing eugenics raises some interesting questions regarding power. Who should have influence over public policy in America? What factors should be considered when deciding rights such as voting or even birth control? Being ambivalent towards issues of this sort can lead to disastrous results.
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The National Flag of Canada
The Canadian red and white maple leaf flag is officially called The National Flag of Canada. The Canadian flag shows a stylized red maple leaf with 11 points on a white background, with red borders down each side. The Canadian flag is twice as long as it is wide. The white square containing the red maple leaf is the same width as the flag.
The red and white used in the National Flag of Canada were proclaimed the official colours of Canada in 1921 by King George V. Although the maple leaf did not have official status as an emblem of Canada until the proclamation of the national flag in 1965, it had historically been used as a Canadian symbol, and was used in 1860 in decorations for the visit of the Prince of Wales to Canada. The 11 points on the maple leaf have no special significance.
A Flag for Canada
It wasn't until the 1965 inauguration of the maple leaf flag that Canada had its own national flag. In the early days of Canadian Confederation the Royal Union flag, or Union Jack, was still flown in British North America. The Red Ensign, with a Union Jack in the upper left corner and a shield containing the coats of arms of the Canadian provinces, was used as the unofficial flag of Canada from about 1870 to 1924. The composite shield was then replaced with the Royal Arms of Canada and approved for use overseas. In 1945 it was authorized for general use.
In 1925 and again in 1946, Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King tried to get a national flag of Canada adopted, and failed. In 1964, Prime Minister Lester Pearson appointed a 15-member, all-party committee to come up with the design of a new flag for Canada. The committee was given six weeks to complete its task.
The suggestion for a red and white single maple leaf design for the Canadian flag came from George Stanley, a professor at Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario.
In his speech at the national flag inauguration ceremony, Prime Minister Lester Pearson said:
"Under this Flag may our youth find new inspiration for loyalty to Canada; for a patriotism based not on any mean or narrow nationalism, but on the deep and equal pride that all Canadians will feel for every part of this good land."
Dignity of the Canadian Flag
Flag Etiquette in Canada from the Canadian Heritage department provides the rules for flying and displaying the Canadian flag in different situations - affixed to a car or carried in a procession, for example.
Fundamental to these rules is the principle that The National Flag of Canada should always be treated with dignity and that it takes precedence over all other national flags and ensigns when flown in Canada.
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WAQ‘AT AL-NASARA (Christian encounter), a name given by Arab writers to a grave crisis or, more precisely, a series of crises
caused by a buildup of tension against the Copts in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries during the first Bahri Mamluk dynasty
(Bahrides). These events, which coincided with a general consensus against Christians in the Muslim world, of which Egypt was the
leading power at that time, are important for Coptic history. They illustrate the change that had already begun with the ARAB
CONQUEST OF EGYPT and by which Coptic history ceased to be dependent solely on local events and became exposed to decisive
external factors pertaining to the evolution of Muslim society in different countries and to its animated relations with the non-Muslim
communities, such as Jews and Christians, living in the same countries.
The tension against the Copts was inflamed not only by the local situation in the agitated Mamluk period—that is, by extremists like
Qadi Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Raf‘ah (see WAQ‘AT AL-KANA’IS) or, in the fourteenth-century, Ibn al-Naqqash, with their polemical fatwas (legal opinions) and publications—but also by a group of rigorists from outside Egypt, such as the theologian Ibn
Taymiyyah of Damascus, and by other foreign appeals to Mamluks against Copts.
This explains why the duration of these crises was out of proportion to their causes and why their consequences were grave. They were the coup de grace of a particular phase in the history of Christianity in Egypt, with massive conversions to Islam and the destruction of the majority of churches and monasteries (see ISLAMIZATION). They reduced Copts to the poor state in which
they remained until the nineteenth century, that of an isolated minority with very limited participation in the active life of the country, with marginal social activity, and consequently with low economic possibilities. Travelers described this state from the sixteenth century on.
Al-Nuwayri and al-MAQRIZI could be considered the principal recorders of these crises, although many other writers from the Mamluk period, both Egyptian and Arab, mentioned them. The importance of the evidence of these two Egyptian historians is due not only to the fact that al-Nuwayri was contemporary with the events and wrote a history of Egypt up to 1331, the year before his death, and that al-Maqrizi lived in the aftermath of these crises and reported on their consequences for the Copts, but also because of the high positions they held.
Al-Nuwayri, who descended from a family of civil servants, became one of the important statesmen of the Mamluk period, a nazir al-jaysh (secretary of war) and nazir al-diwan (secretary of state) before becoming one of the favorites of the sultan Muhammad
ibn Qalawun, in whose reign the important events occurred. His attitude is identical with that of the amirs and heads of the
administration, who did not really want to stop the eruption of the populace against the Copts. Al-Maqrizi, on the other hand, was born of a family of qadis (magistrates) and jurists. Before he decided to give up his career to devote himself to writing, he was nominated to the chancellery (Diwan al-Insha’) and then as a muhtasib of Cairo (an official who supervised the application of shari‘ah, or Islamic law), a position that gave him power to control the non-Muslims. Later he was a preacher in the Mosque of ‘Amr and the Madrasah of al-Hassan and finally an imam and professor of hadith (science of the Muslim traditions). He thus belonged to the religious circles that were no less influential in the sociopolitical structure than was the administration and that also played an active role in the events. Thus, it is evident that these two historians belonged to groups that always have been, and still are, very powerful in Egypt—the administration and the clergy.
The political conditions of the Mamluk period and the circumstances of the Muslim world at that time greatly reinforced the role of these two groups and introduced changes in their structure and in their relationship with the population. The administration, which had always been a monolithic body in Egypt under the control of one powerful hand, began to mirror the features of Mamluk military society and the precarious equilibrium of power between the sultan and other high members of the government, such as amirs. There persisted an air of suspicion, rivalry, and dissension between these Mamluks and their armed bands, which were eventually paid only by pillage. The sultan Ibn Qalawun himself, to give one example, was forced to leave his throne twice under the pressure of rival amirs. These heads of government were as avid as their bands, which joined the populace attacking people and shops in Cairo. At one time, when the amirs decided to close down some churches under pressure from the rigorists, they agreed to reopen the one or another in return for money paid by Copts or rich gifts sent by Christian sovereigns, as in 1303. They also seized the occasion in the crisis of 1354 to confiscate the properties of the churches. No wonder that corruption and high taxes were among the results of the inability of the Mamluks to direct the country in any orderly way, apart from the military activities. The population suffered from their management, the precarious economy, epidemics, famines, and extra taxes to finance the war. The population naturally paid the price, and the Copts, being the weaker party, had to pay the bigger part. To please the population, the Mamluk government adopted the practice (used by other governors as well) of punishing or imprisoning one of the high officials in the fiscal administration. He usually happened to be a Copt. Such scapegoating gave the population the impression that Coptic officials were responsible for the corruption and thereby intensified anti-Coptic feelings.
There was also an important change in the structure of religious circles. The clergy with its hard elements of rigorist theologians and
jurists was no longer the only religious power in the country. In the thirteenth century, Muslim brotherhoods began to flourish in Egypt. They had in common political aims and the habit of exploiting religious or related problems, such as the antagonism between the Shi‘ites and the Sunnites. Historians speak about the members of one of these brotherhoods who descended on the streets of Cairo at night profaning the Shi‘ites, attacking shops and even soldiers, and inciting the population to revolt against the government. Naturally these brotherhoods were closer to the population than most of the official clergy, which formed, in fact, a part of the administration and was loyal to the government of the Mamluks, who were blamed for the difficulties.
These developments in Egypt coincided with a still greater tension against the Christians in the Muslim world at large, which was being attacked from outside at that time by the Mongols and the Crusaders. Christian elements in the Mongol army were hard on
Muslims in Syria, in retaliation for their attacks on churches. The greater danger came at one time from the Crusaders, who debarked
twice in the Delta. No wonder a certain hardening of the attitude of Muslims against Christians began to set in as a normal reaction
against the pressure of Christian Europe. In Egypt this attitude became a unifying factor. The government proclaimed the country
an "Islamic kingdom," in response to the fatwas that had already appeared in Egypt against the Christians and the polemic tone of
books of jurisprudence by certain rigorists. There appeared in other countries fatwas against the Christians. The same attitude
characterizes the histories, poems, and other works from that period. But naturally the response was greatest in the lower layers of the population; and in spite of the fact that this movement was a political reaction to consolidate the response of the Muslims to the
aggression of Christian Europe and was not publicly or officially declared against the Christians living in Egypt, they were to suffer
its consequences. Not everyone would disassociate the Copts, who were always loyal to their masters and who shared a general dislike of the European Christians.
It is interesting to draw the outlines of these crises from the evidence of historians of the Mamluk period. The first important crisis, which al-Maqrizi calls wa‘qat al-nasara, was that of 1283, in the reign of al-Malik al-Ashraf Khalil, followed by others in 1300, 1318, 1320, and 1354. No direct explanation in the strict sense of the term is given except for the crisis of 1318, which began when
rigorists destroyed a church that had been restored by Copts. But in all these crises, the real reason seems to have been, at least at the beginning, essentially social and economic. The rigorists did not like to see Copts occupying important positions or having authority over Muslims, with even historians complaining melodramatically about Coptic scribes being well dressed or boldly asking people to pay their debts. The sultan, to whom the rigorists complained, asked his subordinates to investigate. He ordered the dismissal of all the Copts engaged in the state administration, and in certain cases those who had not converted to Islam were to be killed or exiled.
The populace applied its own law. Without any interference by officials, who usually lingered around to maintain order at that time,
the people attacked the Copts, mistreated them, and pillaged their houses, sometimes killing them and enslaving their women and
children. When the situation became alarming because it threatened the whole city, orders were given to stop the eruption. It is difficult to know exactly the dimensions of such attacks or the number of victims; al-Maqrizi, who did not hide his anti-Coptic attitude, is not free from exaggeration. At any rate, many Copts converted to Islam in each crisis. Those who chose to keep their faith were forced to accept the decision of the consensus of qadis, officials, and rigorists to reinforce the harsh prescriptions of the famous COVENANT OF ‘UMAR, which greatly limited their rights, liberties, professional activities, and economic possibilities, and thus pushed them to a marginal state in the society.
But what pleased the rigorists could not be maintained for long. When the excitement subsided, the authorities were usually forced
to reintegrate Coptic officials and scribes, because they were badly needed to do the administrative work, which others could not do, especially in fiscal matters. Naturally, they were given the necessary responsibilities to do the job. Once more, this angered the rigorists, tensions mounted, and a new crises began to take form. This explains the chain of crisis that lasted for a century.
It follows that successive crises gave the rigorists more possibilities to improve their measures. The crisis of 1354, the last one during the reign of the first Mamluk dynasty, was the hardest against Copts. The government decided to confiscate all the properties of the churches in Egypt, over 25,000 feddans (acres), to exact more money from them, to consider the state as the only heir to heirless Copts, and not to hire them, even if they converted. But the populace carried out what the government did not proclaim. Al- Maqrizi spoke about the fires that were kindled to force conversion; churches were destroyed, and the authorities interfered only when a
church for non-Coptic Christians was threatened. There was a series of massive conversions all over the country. Traditional popular
feasts with Coptic connotations were prohibited. The results of this crisis finally reduced Copts in Egypt to a "lonely minority."
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The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (in French: Mouvement international de la Croix-Rouge et du Croissant-Rouge) is an international humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers worldwide whose stated mission is to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for the human being, and to prevent and alleviate human suffering, without any discrimination based on nationality, race, religious beliefs, class or political opinions. French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people International or internationally most often describes interaction between Nations or encompassing two or more nations constituting a group or association having Humanitarianism is an active belief in Humanism (the idea of the value of human life whereby Humans practice benevolent treatment and provide assistance to other humans Human beings, humans or man (Origin 1590–1600 L homō man OL hemō the earthly one (see Humus Nationality is a relationship between a Person and their State of Origin, Culture, association Affiliation and/or Loyalty The term race or racial group usually refers to the concept of categorizing Humans into Populations or groups on the basis of various sets A religion is a set of Tenets and practices often centered upon specific Supernatural and moral claims about Reality, the Cosmos Social class refers to the hierarchical distinctions (or stratification) between individuals or groups in Societies or Cultures. Politics Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions
The often-heard term International Red Cross is actually a misnomer, as no official organization as such exists bearing that name. In reality, the movement consists of several distinct organizations that are legally independent from each other, but are united within the Movement through common basic principles, objectives, symbols, statutes, and governing organs. The Movement's parts:
Up until the middle of the 19th century, there were no organized and well-established army nursing systems for casualties and no safe and protected institutions to accommodate and treat those who were wounded on the battlefield. An army (from Latin Armata "act of arming" via Old French armée) in the broadest sense is the land-based Armed forces Nursing is a Profession focused on assisting individuals families, and communities in attaining maintaining and recovering optimal Health In June 1859, the Swiss businessman Henry Dunant traveled to Italy to meet French emperor Napoléon III with the intention of discussing difficulties in conducting business in Algeria, at that time occupied by France. Jean Henri Dunant ( May 8, 1828 &ndash October 30, 1910) aka Henry Dunant or Henri Dunant, was a Swiss Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest Napoléon III, also known as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte (full name Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte) (20 April 1808 9 January 1873 was the first President Algeria ( ar [[Arabic]] الجزائر, Al Jaza'ir ælʤæˈzæːʔir Amazigh: ⴷⵥⴰⵢⴻⵔ Dzayer) officially the People's This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. When he arrived in the small town of Solferino on the evening of June 24, he witnessed the Battle of Solferino, an engagement in the Austro-Sardinian War. Solferino is a small town in Lombardy, Italy, approximately 10 Kilometres south of Lake Garda. Events 972 - Battle of Cedynia, the first documented victory of Polish forces takes place The Battle of Solferino was fought on June 24, 1859 and resulted in the victory of the allied French Army under Napoleon III and Sardinian The Second War of Italian Independence, Franco-Austrian War, or Austro-Sardinian War was fought by Napoleon III of France and the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia In a single day, about 40,000 soldiers on both sides died or were left wounded on the field. Henry Dunant was shocked by the terrible aftermath of the battle, the suffering of the wounded soldiers, and the near-total lack of medical attendance and basic care. He completely abandoned the original intent of his trip and for several days he devoted himself to helping with the treatment and care for the wounded. He succeeded in organizing an overwhelming level of relief assistance by motivating the local population to aid without discrimination. Back in his home in Geneva, he decided to write a book entitled A Memory of Solferino which he published with his own money in 1862. Geneva (Genève is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and is the most populous city of Romandy (the French -speaking He sent copies of the book to leading political and military figures throughout Europe. In addition to penning a vivid description of his experiences in Solferino in 1859, he explicitly advocated the formation of national voluntary relief organizations to help nurse wounded soldiers in the case of war. In addition, he called for the development of international treaties to guarantee the protection of neutral medics and field hospitals for soldiers wounded on the battlefield.
On February 9, 1863 in Geneva, Henry Dunant founded the "Committee of the Five" (together with four other leading figures from well-known Geneva families) as an investigatory commission of the Geneva Society for Public Welfare. Events 474 - Zeno crowned as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire. Year 1863 ( MDCCCLXIII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Their aim was to examine the feasibility of Dunant's ideas and to organize an international conference about their possible implementation. The members of this committee, aside from Dunant himself, were Gustave Moynier, lawyer and chairman of the Geneva Society for Public Welfare; physician Louis Appia, who had significant experience working as a field surgeon; Appia's friend and colleague Théodore Maunoir, from the Geneva Hygiene and Health Commission; and Guillaume-Henri Dufour, a Swiss Army general of great renown. Gustave Moynier ( September 21, 1826 - August 21, 1910) was a Swiss Jurist who was active in many charitable organizations Louis Paul Amédée Appia ( October 13, 1818 - May 1, 1898) was a surgeon with special merit in the area of military medicine Dr Théodore Maunoir ( June 1, 1806 - April 26, 1869) was a Swiss surgeon and co-founder of the International Committee Guillaume-Henri Dufour ( 15 September 1787, Konstanz - 14 July 1875, Geneva) was a Swiss General The military of Switzerland, officially known as the Swiss Armed Forces, is a unique institution somewhere between a Militia and a regular army. Eight days later, the five men decided to rename the committee to the "International Committee for Relief to the Wounded". In October (26-29) 1863, the international conference organized by the committee was held in Geneva to develop possible measures to improve medical services on the battle field. The conference was attended by 36 individuals: eighteen official delegates from national governments, six delegates from other non-governmental organizations, seven non-official foreign delegates, and the five members of the International Committee. The states and kingdoms represented by official delegates were Baden, Bavaria, France, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Hanover, Hesse, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Prussia, Russia, Saxony, Sweden, and Spain. Baden is a historical state in the southwest of Germany, on the right bank of the Rhine. Bavaria ( German:, with an area of 70553 Km² (27241 square miles and almost 12 This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom from 1 January 1801 until 12 April 1927 Hanover (i ( haˈnoːfɐ on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony ( Niedersachsen Hesse (Hessen is a state of Germany with an area Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest The Netherlands ( Dutch:, ˈnedərlɑnt is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which consists of the Netherlands the Netherlands Austria (Österreich ( officially the Republic of Austria (Republik Österreich Prussia ( Latin: Borussia, Prutenia; Prūsija Prūsija Prusy Old Prussian: Prūsa) was most recently a historic state Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending The Free State of Saxony (Freistaat Sachsen ˈzaksən Swobodny Stat Sakska is the easternmost federal state of Germany. "Sverige" redirects here For other uses see Sweden (disambiguation and Sverige (disambiguation. Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Among the proposals written in the final resolutions of the conference, adopted on October 29, 1863, were:
Only one year later, the Swiss government invited the governments of all European countries, as well as the United States, Brazil, and Mexico, to attend an official diplomatic conference. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the |utc_offset = -2 to -4 |time_zone_DST = BRST |utc_offset_DST = -2 to -5 |cctld The United Mexican States ( or commonly Mexico (ˈmɛksɪkoʊ () is a federal constitutional Republic in North America. Sixteen countries sent a total of twenty-six delegates to Geneva. On August 22, 1864, the conference adopted the first Geneva Convention "for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field". Events 392 - Arbogast has Eugenius elected Western Roman Emperor. The Geneva Conventions consist of four Treaties formulated in Geneva, Switzerland, that set the standards for International law for humanitarian Representatives of 12 states and kingdoms signed the convention: Baden, Belgium, Denmark, France, Hesse, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Prussia, Switzerland, Spain, and Württemberg. Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic (República Portuguesa is a country on the Iberian Peninsula. Württemberg, formerly known as Wirtemberg, is an area and a former state in Swabia, a region in southwestern Germany. The convention contained ten articles, establishing for the first time legally binding rules guaranteeing neutrality and protection for wounded soldiers, field medical personnel, and specific humanitarian institutions in an armed conflict. Furthermore, the convention defined two specific requirements for recognition of a national relief society by the International Committee:
Directly following the establishment of the Geneva Convention, the first national societies were founded in Belgium, Denmark, France, Oldenburg, Prussia, Spain, and Württemberg. ||-||-||-||} Oldenburg ( Low German: Ollnborg) is an Independent City in Lower Saxony, Germany. Also in 1864, Louis Appia and Charles van de Velde, a captain of the Dutch Army, became the first independent and neutral delegates to work under the symbol of the Red Cross in an armed conflict. The Royal Netherlands Army ( Koninklijke Landmacht) is the land forces element of the Military of the Netherlands. Three years later in 1867, the first International Conference of National Aid Societies for the Nursing of the War Wounded was convened.
Also in 1867, Henry Dunant was forced to declare bankruptcy due to business failures in Algeria, partly because he had neglected his business interests during his tireless activities for the International Committee. Bankruptcy is a legally declared inability or impairment of ability of an individual or organization to pay their Creditors Creditors may file a bankruptcy petition against Algeria ( ar [[Arabic]] الجزائر, Al Jaza'ir ælʤæˈzæːʔir Amazigh: ⴷⵥⴰⵢⴻⵔ Dzayer) officially the People's Controversy surrounding Dunant's business dealings and the resulting negative public opinion, combined with an ongoing conflict with Gustave Moynier, led to Dunant's expulsion from his position as a member and secretary. He was charged with fraudulent bankruptcy and a warrant for his arrest was issued. Thus, he was forced to leave Geneva and never returned to his home city. In the following years, national societies were founded in nearly every country in Europe. In 1876, the committee adopted the name "International Committee of the Red Cross" (ICRC), which is still its official designation today. Five years later, the American Red Cross was founded through the efforts of Clara Barton. The American Red Cross (also known as the American National Red Cross) is a humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance disaster relief and education inside Clarissa Harlowe Barton (December 25 1821 &ndash April 12 1912 was a pioneer American Teacher, Nurse, and Humanitarian. More and more countries signed the Geneva Convention and began to respect it in practice during armed conflicts. In a rather short period of time, the Red Cross gained huge momentum as an internationally respected movement, and the national societies became increasingly popular as a venue for volunteer work.
When the first Nobel Peace Prize was awarded in 1901, the Norwegian Nobel Committee opted to give it jointly to Henry Dunant and Frédéric Passy, a leading international pacifist. The Nobel Peace Prize ( Swedish, Danish and Nobels fredspris is one of five Nobel Prizes Bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor The Norwegian Nobel Committee ( Den norske Nobelkomité) awards the Nobel Peace Prize each year Frédéric Passy ( May 20, 1822 - June 12, 1912) was a French economist and a joint winner (together with Henry Dunant More significant than the honor of the prize itself, the official congratulation from the International Committee of the Red Cross marked the overdue rehabilitation of Henry Dunant and represented a tribute to his key role in the formation of the Red Cross. Dunant died nine years later in the small Swiss health resort of Heiden. Heiden is a municipality in the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden in Switzerland. Only two months earlier his long-standing adversary Gustave Moynier had also died, leaving a mark in the history of the Committee as its longest-serving president ever.
In 1906, the 1864 Geneva Convention was revised for the first time. One year later, the Hague Convention X, adopted at the Second International Peace Conference in The Hague, extended the scope of the Geneva Convention to naval warfare. The Hague Conventions were international treaties negotiated at the First and Second Peace Conferences at The Hague, Netherlands in 1899 and Shortly before the beginning of the First World War in 1914, 50 years after the foundation of the ICRC and the adoption of the first Geneva Convention, there were already 45 national relief societies throughout the world. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All The movement had extended itself beyond Europe and North America to Central and South America (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Mexico, Peru, El Salvador, Uruguay, Venezuela), Asia (the Republic of China, Japan, Korea, Siam), and Africa (Republic of South Africa). South America is a Continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Argentina topics. |utc_offset = -2 to -4 |time_zone_DST = BRST |utc_offset_DST = -2 to -5 |cctld Chile, officially the Republic of Chile ( Spanish:) is a country in South America occupying a long and narrow Coastal strip wedged between the The Republic of Cuba (ˈkjuːbə or) consists of the island of Cuba (the largest and second-most populous island of the Greater Antilles) Isla de la The United Mexican States ( or commonly Mexico (ˈmɛksɪkoʊ () is a federal constitutional Republic in North America. Peru (Perú Piruw Piruw officially the Republic of Peru ( reˈpuβlika del peˈɾu is a country in western South America. El Salvador ( República de El Salvador,) is a country in Central America. Uruguay.(official full name in República Oriental del Uruguay;, Oriental Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America Venezuela (ˌvɛnəˈzweɪlə) officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (Spanish República Bolivariana de Venezuela) is a country on the REPUBLIC OF CHINA ARTICLE GUIDELINES For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. Korea is a geographic area composed of two sovereign countries a civilization and a former state situated on the Korean Peninsula in East Asia. The Kingdom of Thailand (ˈtaɪlænd ราชอาณาจักรไทย, râːtɕʰa-ʔaːnaːtɕɑ̀k-tʰɑj The Republic of South Africa (also known by other official names) is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa
With the outbreak of World War I, the ICRC found itself confronted with enormous challenges which it could only handle by working closely with the national Red Cross societies. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Red Cross nurses from around the world, including the United States and Japan, came to support the medical services of the armed forces of the European countries involved in the war. On October 15, 1914, immediately after the start of the war, the ICRC set up its International Prisoners-of-War (POW) Agency, which had about 1,200 mostly volunteer staff members by the end of 1914. Events 533 - Byzantine General Belisarius makes his formal entry into Carthage, having conquered it from the Year 1914 ( MCMXIV) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year By the end of the war, the Agency had transferred about 20 million letters and messages, 1. 9 million parcels, and about 18 million Swiss francs in monetary donations to POWs of all affected countries. The franc ( German: Franken, French and Romansh: franc, Italian: franco; code: CHF Furthermore, due to the intervention of the Agency, about 200,000 prisoners were exchanged between the warring parties, released from captivity and returned to their home country. The organizational card index of the Agency accumulated about 7 million records from 1914 to 1923, each card representing an individual prisoner or missing person. The card index led to the identification of about 2 million POWs and the ability to contact their families. The complete index is on loan today from the ICRC to the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum in Geneva. The right to access the index is still strictly restricted to the ICRC.
During the entire war, the ICRC monitored warring parties’ compliance with the Geneva Conventions of the 1907 revision and forwarded complaints about violations to the respective country. The Geneva Conventions consist of four Treaties formulated in Geneva, Switzerland, that set the standards for International law for humanitarian When chemical weapons were used in this war for the first time in history, the ICRC vigorously protested against this new type of warfare. Chemical warfare involves using the toxic properties of Chemical substances to kill injure or incapacitate an enemy. Even without having a mandate from the Geneva Conventions, the ICRC tried to ameliorate the suffering of civil populations. In territories that were officially designated as "occupied territories," the ICRC could assist the civilian population on the basis of the Hague Convention's "Laws and Customs of War on Land" of 1907. The Hague Conventions were international treaties negotiated at the First and Second Peace Conferences at The Hague, Netherlands in 1899 and This convention was also the legal basis for the ICRC's work for prisoners of war. In addition to the work of the International Prisoner-of-War Agency as described above this included inspection visits to POW camps. A total of 524 camps throughout Europe were visited by 41 delegates from the ICRC until the end of the war.
Between 1916 and 1918, the ICRC published a number of postcards with scenes from the POW camps. A postcard or post card is a rectangular piece of thick Paper or thin cardboard intended for writing and mailing without an Envelope and The pictures showed the prisoners in day-to-day activities such as the distribution of letters from home. The intention of the ICRC was to provide the families of the prisoners with some hope and solace and to alleviate their uncertainties about the fate of their loved ones. After the end of the war, the ICRC organized the return of about 420,000 prisoners to their home countries. In 1920, the task of repatriation was handed over to the newly founded League of Nations, which appointed the Norwegian diplomat and scientist Fridtjof Nansen as its "High Commissioner for Repatriation of the War Prisoners. The League of Nations was an International organization founded as a result of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919–1920 Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen (October 10 1861 – May 13 1930 was a Norwegian Explorer, Scientist and Diplomat. " His legal mandate was later extended to support and care for war refugees and displaced persons when his office became that of the League of Nations "High Commissioner for Refugees. " Nansen, who invented the Nansen passport for stateless refugees and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1922, appointed two delegates from the ICRC as his deputies. Nansen passports were internationally recognized identity cards first issued by the League of Nations to stateless Refugees.
A year before the end of the war, the ICRC received the 1917 Nobel Peace Prize for its outstanding wartime work. It was the only Nobel Peace Prize awarded in the period from 1914 to 1918. In 1923, the Committee adopted a change in its policy regarding the selection of new members. Until then, only citizens from the city of Geneva could serve in the Committee. This limitation was expanded to include Swiss citizens. As a direct consequence of World War I, an additional protocol to the Geneva Convention was adopted in 1925 which outlawed the use of suffocating or poisonous gases and biological agents as weapons. Four years later, the original Convention was revised and the second Geneva Convention "relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War" was established. The events of World War I and the respective activities of the ICRC significantly increased the reputation and authority of the Committee among the international community and led to an extension of its competencies.
As early as in 1934, a draft proposal for an additional convention for the protection of the civil population during an armed conflict was adopted by the International Red Cross Conference. Unfortunately, most governments had little interest in implementing this convention, and it was thus prevented from entering into force before the beginning of World War II. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including
The legal basis of the work of the ICRC during World War II were the Geneva Conventions in their 1929 revision. The activities of the Committee were similar to those during World War I: visiting and monitoring POW camps, organizing relief assistance for civilian populations, and administering the exchange of messages regarding prisoners and missing persons. By the end of the war, 179 delegates had conducted 12,750 visits to POW camps in 41 countries. The Central Information Agency on Prisoners-of-War (Zentralauskunftsstelle für Kriegsgefangene) had a staff of 3,000, the card index tracking prisoners contained 45 million cards, and 120 million messages were exchanged by the Agency. One major obstacle was that the Nazi-controlled German Red Cross refused to cooperate with the Geneva statutes including blatant violations such as the deportation of Jews from Germany and the mass murders conducted in the concentration camps run by the German government. Nazism, which was a short name for National Socialism (Nationalsozialismus refers primarily to the Ideology and practices of the National Socialist German The German Red Cross (Deutsches Rotes Kreuz is the national Red Cross Society in Germany. PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ The Holocaust (from the Greek el ''ὁλόκαυστον'' (el-Latn holókauston holos, "completely" and kaustos, "burnt" also known as Internment is the imprisonment or confinement of people commonly in large groups without trial Moreover, two other main parties to the conflict, the Soviet Union and Japan, were not party to the 1929 Geneva Conventions and were not legally required to follow the rules of the conventions. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991
During the war, the ICRC failed to obtain an agreement with Nazi Germany about the treatment of detainees in concentration camps, and it eventually abandoned applying pressure in order to avoid disrupting its work with POWs. The ICRC also failed to develop a response to reliable information about the extermination camps and the mass killing of European Jews. This is still considered the greatest failure of the ICRC in its history. After November 1943, the ICRC achieved permission to send parcels to concentration camp detainees with known names and locations. Because the notices of receipt for these parcels were often signed by other inmates, the ICRC managed to register the identities of about 105,000 detainees in the concentration camps and delivered about 1. 1 million parcels, primarily to the camps Dachau, Buchenwald, Ravensbrück, and Sachsenhausen. Dachau was a Nazi German Concentration camp, and the first one opened in Germany located on the grounds of an abandoned munitions Factory near the Buchenwald concentration camp (German Konzentrationslager or 'KZ' Buchenwald) was a Nazi concentration camp established on the Ettersberg (Etter Mountain near Ravensbrück (ʁaːvənsˈbʁʏk was a notorious women's Concentration camp during in World War II, located in northern Germany 90 km north of Berlin Sachsenhausen (zaksənˈhaʊzən was a Concentration camp in Germany, operating between 1936 and 1945
On March 12, 1945, ICRC president Jacob Burckhardt received a message from SS General Ernst Kaltenbrunner accepting the ICRC's demand to allow delegates to visit the concentration camps. Events 538 - Witiges, king of the Ostrogoths ends his siege of Rome and retreats to Ravenna, leaving Year 1945 ( MCMXLV) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar Ernst Kaltenbrunner (4 October 1903 &ndash 16 October 1946 was a senior Nazi official during World War II. This agreement was bound by the condition that these delegates would have to stay in the camps until the end of the war. Ten delegates, among them Louis Haefliger (Camp Mauthausen), Paul Dunant (Camp Theresienstadt) and Victor Maurer (Camp Dachau), accepted the assignment and visited the camps. Mauthausen Concentration Camp (known from the summer of 1940 as Mauthausen-Gusen Concentration Camp) grew to become a large group of Nazi concentration camps Theresienstadt concentration camp (often referred to as Terezín) was a Nazi Concentration camp during World War II. Dachau was a Nazi German Concentration camp, and the first one opened in Germany located on the grounds of an abandoned munitions Factory near the Louis Haefliger prevented the forceful eviction or blasting of Mauthausen-Gusen by alerting American troops, thereby saving the lives of about 60,000 inmates. His actions were condemned by the ICRC because they were deemed as acting unduly on his own authority and risking the ICRC's neutrality. Only in 1990, his reputation was finally rehabilitated by ICRC president Cornelio Sommaruga. Cornelio Sommaruga (born December 29, 1932 in Rome) is a prominent Swiss humanitarian, Lawyer and diplomat who
Another example of great humanitarian spirit was Friedrich Born (1903-1963), an ICRC delegate in Budapest who saved the lives of about 11,000 to 15,000 Jewish people in Hungary. Friedrich Born (June 10 1903 - January 14 1963 was a Swiss delegate of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC in Budapest between May 1944 Budapest ( also /ˈbʊ-/) is the capital city of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary it serves as the country's principal Political, Hungary (Magyarország 'mɔɟɔrorsaːg) officially in English the Republic of Hungary ( Magyar Köztársaság, literally Magyar (Hungarian Republic Marcel Junod (1904-1961), a physician from Geneva, was another famous delegate during the Second World War. Marcel Junod ( May 14, 1904 &ndash June 16, 1961) was a Swiss doctor and one of the most accomplished field delegates in the history An account of his experiences, which included being one of the first foreigners to visit Hiroshima after the atomic bomb was dropped, can be found in the book Warrior without Weapons. The Japanese city of ( is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the largest city in the Chūgoku region of western Honshū, the largest of Japan 's A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from Nuclear reactions either fission or a combination of fission and fusion.
In 1944, the ICRC received its second Nobel Peace Prize. As in World War I, it received the only Peace Prize awarded during the main period of war, 1939 to 1945. At the end of the war, the ICRC worked with national Red Cross societies to organize relief assistance to those countries most severely affected. In 1948, the Committee published a report reviewing its war-era activities from September 1, 1939 to June 30, 1947. Events 462 - Possible start of first Byzantine indiction cycle. Year 1939 ( MCMXXXIX) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Events 350 - Roman usurper Nepotianus, of the Constantinian dynasty, is defeated and killed by troops of the Usurper Year 1947 ( MCMXLVII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1947 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Since January 1996, the ICRC archive for this period has been open to academic and public research.
On August 12, 1949, further revisions to the existing two Geneva Conventions were adopted. Events 1099 - First Crusade: Battle of Ascalon - Crusaders under the command of Godfrey of Bouillon defeat Fatimid Year 1949 ( MCMXLIX) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. An additional convention "for the Amelioration of the Condition of Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea", now called the second Geneva Convention, was brought under the Geneva Convention umbrella as a successor to the 1907 Hague Convention X. The Hague Conventions were international treaties negotiated at the First and Second Peace Conferences at The Hague, Netherlands in 1899 and The 1929 Geneva convention "relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War" may have been the second Geneva Convention from a historical point of view (because it was actually formulated in Geneva), but after 1949 it came to be called the third Convention because it came later chronologically than the Hague Convention. Reacting to the experience of World War II, the Fourth Geneva Convention, a new Convention "relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War," was established. The Fourth Geneva Convention (or GCIV) relates to the protection of Civilians during times of War " in the hands " of an enemy and under Also, the additional protocols of June 8, 1977 were intended to make the conventions apply to internal conflicts such as civil wars. Events 68 - The Roman Senate accepts emperor Galba. 536 - St Silverius becomes Pope (probable Also 1977 (album by Ash. Year 1977 ( MCMLXXVII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays Today, the four conventions and their added protocols contain more than 600 articles, a remarkable expansion when compared to the mere 10 articles in the first 1864 convention.
In celebration of its centennial in 1963, the ICRC, together with the League of Red Cross Societies, received its third Nobel Peace Prize. History Founding In 1919 representatives from the National Red Cross Societies of Britain France Italy Japan and the US came together in Paris to found the League Since 1993, non-Swiss individuals have been allowed to serve as Committee delegates abroad, a task which was previously restricted to Swiss citizens. Indeed, since then, the share of staff without Swiss citizenship has increased to about 35%.
On October 16, 1990, the UN General Assembly decided to grant the ICRC observer status for its assembly sessions and sub-committee meetings, the first observer status given to a private organization. Events 456 - Magister militum Ricimer defeats the Emperor Avitus at Piacenza and becomes master of the western Year 1990 ( MCMXC) was a Common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1990 Gregorian calendar) Membership For two articles dealing with membership in the General Assembly see General Assembly members Observer status is defined in the World Health Organization (WHO Constitution as a status which the World Health Assembly (WHA may grant to "any organization The resolution was jointly proposed by 138 member states and introduced by the Italian ambassador, Vieri Traxler, in memory of the organization's origins in the Battle of Solferino. Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest An agreement with the Swiss government signed on March 19, 1993, affirmed the already long-standing policy of full independence of the Committee from any possible interference by Switzerland. Events 1279 - A Mongolian victory in the Battle of Yamen ends the Song Dynasty in China. Year 1993 ( MCMXCIII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1993 Gregorian calendar) The agreement protects the full sanctity of all ICRC property in Switzerland including its headquarters and archive, grants members and staff legal immunity, exempts the ICRC from all taxes and fees, guarantees the protected and duty-free transfer of goods, services, and money, provides the ICRC with secure communication privileges at the same level as foreign embassies, and simplifies Committee travel in and out of Switzerland.
At the end of the Cold War, the ICRC's work actually became more dangerous. Cold War is the state of conflict tension and competition that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR and their respective allies from the In the 1990s, more delegates lost their lives than at any point in its history, especially when working in local and internal armed conflicts. These incidents often demonstrated a lack of respect for the rules of the Geneva Conventions and their protection symbols. Among the slain delegates were:
In 1919, representatives from the national Red Cross societies of Britain, France, Italy, Japan, and the US came together in Paris to found the "League of Red Cross Societies". The original idea was Henry Davison's, then president of the American Red Cross. Henry Pomeroy Davison ( June 12, 1867 in Troy, Pennsylvania - May 6, 1922 in Locust Valley, New York The American Red Cross (also known as the American National Red Cross) is a humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance disaster relief and education inside This move, led by the American Red Cross, expanded the international activities of the Red Cross movement beyond the strict mission of the ICRC to include relief assistance in response to emergency situations which were not caused by war (such as man-made or natural disasters). The ARC already had great disaster relief mission experience extending back to its foundation.
The formation of the League, as an additional international Red Cross organization alongside the ICRC, was not without controversy for a number of reasons. The ICRC had, to some extent, valid concerns about a possible rivalry between both organizations. The foundation of the League was seen as an attempt to undermine the leadership position of the ICRC within the movement and to gradually transfer most of its tasks and competencies to a multilateral institution. In addition to that, all founding members of the League were national societies from countries of the Entente or from associated partners of the Entente. The Triple Entente (" entente " — French for "agreement" was the name given to the loose alignment of the United Kingdom, the The original statutes of the League from May 1919 contained further regulations which gave the five founding societies a privileged status and, due to the efforts of Henry P. Davison, the right to permanently exclude the national Red Cross societies from the countries of the Central Powers, namely Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey, and in addition to that the national Red Cross society of Russia. The Central Powers ( German: "Mittelmächte" Hungarian: "Központi hatalmak" Turkish: "İttifak Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Austria (Österreich ( officially the Republic of Austria (Republik Österreich Hungary (Magyarország 'mɔɟɔrorsaːg) officially in English the Republic of Hungary ( Magyar Köztársaság, literally Magyar (Hungarian Republic The state of Bulgaria (България transliterated bg-Latn ''Balgaria'' The country preserves the traditions (in ethnic name language and alphabet of the First Bulgarian Turkey (Türkiye known officially as the Republic of Turkey ( is a Eurasian Country that stretches Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending These rules were contrary to the Red Cross principles of universality and equality among all national societies, a situation which furthered the concerns of the ICRC.
The first relief assistance mission organized by the League was an aid mission for the victims of a famine and subsequent typhus epidemic in Poland. Poland (Polska officially the Republic of Poland Only five years after its foundation, the League had already issued 47 donation appeals for missions in 34 countries, an impressive indication of the need for this type of Red Cross work. The total sum raised by these appeals reached 685 million Swiss Francs, which were used to bring emergency supplies to the victims of famines in Russia, Germany, and Albania; earthquakes in Chile, Persia, Japan, Colombia, Ecuador, Costa Rica, and Turkey; and refugee flows in Greece and Turkey. Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. This article is about the country in southern Europe For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Albania topics. An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth 's crust that creates Seismic waves Earthquakes are recorded with a Seismometer Chile, officially the Republic of Chile ( Spanish:) is a country in South America occupying a long and narrow Coastal strip wedged between the The Persian Empire was a series of Iranian empires that ruled over the Iranian plateau, the original Persian homeland and beyond in Western Asia For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. Colombia (kəˈlʌmbɪə officially the Republic of Colombia () is a country in northwestern South America. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Ecuador topics. Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( Spanish: Costa Rica or República de Costa Rica,) is a Country in Turkey (Türkiye known officially as the Republic of Turkey ( is a Eurasian Country that stretches Greece (Ελλάδα transliterated: Elláda, historically, Ellás,) officially the Hellenic Republic (Ελληνική Δημοκρατία The first large-scale disaster mission of the League came after the 1923 earthquake in Japan which killed about 200,000 people and left countless more wounded and without shelter. Due to the League's coordination, the Red Cross society of Japan received goods from its sister societies reaching a total worth of about $100 million. Another important new field initiated by the League was the creation of youth Red Cross organizations within the national societies.
A joint mission of the ICRC and the League in the Russian Civil War from 1917 to 1922 marked the first time the movement was involved in an internal conflict, although still without an explicit mandate from the Geneva Conventions. The Russian Civil War (1917–1923 was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed The League, with support from more than 25 national societies, organized assistance missions and the distribution of food and other aid goods for civil populations affected by hunger and disease. A disease is an abnormal condition of an organism that impairs bodily functions and can be deadly The ICRC worked with the Russian Red Cross society and later the society of the Soviet Union, constantly emphasizing the ICRC's neutrality. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 In 1928, the "International Council" was founded to coordinate cooperation between the ICRC and the League, a task which was later taken over by the "Standing Commission". In the same year, a common statute for the movement was adopted for the first time, defining the respective roles of the ICRC and the League within the movement.
During the Abyssinian war between Ethiopia and Italy from 1935 to 1936, the League contributed aid supplies worth about 1. See also First Italo-Ethiopian War. The Second Italo–Abyssinian War (also referred to as the Second Italo-Ethiopian War) was a NOTE This intro is the result of careful NPOV work Please do not make potentially controversial edits to it without first discussing on the talk page Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest 7 million Swiss Francs. Because the Italian fascist regime under Mussolini refused any cooperation with the Red Cross, these goods were delivered solely to Ethiopia. During the war, an estimated 29 people lost their lives while being under explicit protection of the Red Cross symbol, most of them due to attacks by the Italian Army. During the Civil War in Spain from 1936 to 1939 the League once again joined forces with the ICRC with the support of 41 national societies. The Spanish Civil War was a major conflict in Spain that started after an attempted Coup d'état committed by parts of the army against the government of In 1939 on the brink of the Second World War, the League relocated its headquarters from Paris to Geneva to take advantage of Swiss neutrality.
In 1952, the 1928 common statute of the movement was revised for the first time. Also, the period of decolonization from 1960 to 1970 was marked by a huge jump in the number of recognized national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies. Decolonization refers to the undoing of Colonialism, the establishment of governance or authority through the creation of settlements by another country or jurisdiction By the end of the 1960's, there were more than 100 societies around the world. On December 10, 1963, the Federation and the ICRC received the Nobel Peace Prize. Events 1041 - Empress Zoe of Byzantium elevates her adoptive son to the throne of the Eastern Roman Empire as Michael V Year 1963 ( MCMLXIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. In 1983, the League was renamed to the "League of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies" to reflect the growing number of national societies operating under the Red Crescent symbol. Three years later, the seven basic principles of the movement as adopted in 1965 were incorporated into its statutes. The name of the League was changed again in 1991 to its current official designation the "International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies". In 1997, the ICRC and the Federation signed the Seville Agreement which further defined the responsibilities of both organizations within the movement. The Seville Agreement was an agreement drafted within the Red Cross Movement in 1997 to specify which Organization within the Movement would take the lead In 2004, the Federation began its largest mission to date after the tsunami disaster in South Asia. The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was an undersea Earthquake that occurred at 005853 UTC on December 26 2004 with an Epicentre off the west coast of More than 40 national societies have worked with more than 22,000 volunteers to bring relief to the countless victims left without food and shelter and endangered by the risk of epidemics.
Since 2001, the president of the Federation has been Don Juan Manuel Suárez Del Toro Rivero of Spain. Don Juan Manuel Suárez Del Toro Rivero, from Spain, is the current President of the Spanish Red Cross and of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. The Vice presidents are currently René Rhinow (ex officio as president of the Swiss Red Cross society) and, representing the different core regions of the world, Bengt Westerberg (Sweden), Tadateru Konoe (Japan), Shimelis Adugna (Ethiopia) and Raymond Forde (Barbados). The Swiss Red Cross ( Schweizerische Rote Kreuz, or SRC / SRK) is the national Red Cross society for Switzerland. Bengt Carl Gustaf Westerberg (born August 23, 1943, in Södertälje, Stockholm County) is a Swedish Politician, the leader "Sverige" redirects here For other uses see Sweden (disambiguation and Sverige (disambiguation. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. Shimelis Adugna has been president of the Ethiopian Red Cross Society since April 2000 and currently serves as the Vice President of the International Federation of Red Cross NOTE This intro is the result of careful NPOV work Please do not make potentially controversial edits to it without first discussing on the talk page Barbados ( Portuguese word for bearded-ones, bɑrˈbeɪdoʊz -dɒs situated just east of the Caribbean Sea, is an independent Island nation
Former presidents (until 1977 titled "Chairman") have been:
Altogether, there are about 97 million people worldwide who serve with the ICRC, the International Federation, and the National Societies. And there are about 300,000 total full time staff members.
The 1965 International Conference in Vienna adopted seven basic principles which should be shared by all parts of the Movement, and they were added to the official statutes of the Movement in 1986. Vienna ( in Wien; see also other names) is the Capital of Austria, and is also one of the nine States of Austria.
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Conference, which occurs once every four years, is the highest institutional body of the Movement. It gathers delegations from all of the national societies as well as from the ICRC, the Federation and the signatory states to the Geneva Conventions. In between the conferences, the Standing Commission acts as the supreme body and supervises implementation of and compliance with the resolutions of the conference. In addition, the Standing Commission coordinates the cooperation between the ICRC and the Federation. It consists of two representatives from the ICRC (including its president), two from the Federation (including its president), and five individuals who are elected by the International Conference. The Standing Commission convenes every six months on average. Moreover, a convention of the Council of Delegates of the Movement takes place every two years in the course of the conferences of the General Assemblies of the Federation. The Council of Delegates plans and coordinates joint activities for the Movement.
The official mission of the ICRC as an impartial, neutral, and independent organization is to stand for the protection of the life and dignity of victims of international and internal armed conflicts. According to the 1997 Seville Agreement, it is the "Lead Agency" of the Movement in conflicts. The core tasks of the Committee, which are derived from the Geneva Conventions and its own statutes, are the following:
The ICRC is headquartered in the Swiss city of Geneva and has external offices in about 80 countries. It has about 12,000 staff members worldwide, about 800 of them working in its Geneva headquarters, 1,200 expatriates with about half of them serving as delegates managing its international missions and the other half being specialists like doctors, agronomists, engineers or interpreters, and about 10,000 members of individual national societies working on site. Contrary to popular belief, the ICRC is not a non-governmental organization in the most common sense of the term, nor is it an international organization. As it limits its members (a process called cooptation) to Swiss nationals only, it does not have a policy of open and unrestricted membership for individuals like other legally defined NGOs. The word "international" in its name does not refer to its membership but to the worldwide scope of its activities as defined by the Geneva Conventions. The ICRC has special privileges and legal immunities in many countries, based on national law in these countries or through agreements between the Committee and respective national governments. According to Swiss law, the ICRC is defined as a private association. According to its statutes it consists of 15 to 25 Swiss-citizen members, which it coopts for a period of four years. There is no limit to the number of terms an individual member can have although a three-quarters majority of all members is required for re-election after the third term.
The leading organs of the ICRC are the Directorate and the Assembly. The Directorate is the executive body of the Committee. It consists of a General Director and five directors in the areas of "Operations", "Human Resources", "Resources and Operational Support", "Communication", and "International Law and Cooperation within the Movement". The members of the Directorate are appointed by the Assembly to serve for four years. The Assembly, consisting of all of the members of the Committee, convenes on a regular basis and is responsible for defining aims, guidelines, and strategies and for supervising the financial matters of the Committee. The president of the Assembly is also the president of the Committee as a whole. Furthermore, the Assembly elects a five member Assembly Council which has the authority to decide on behalf of the full Assembly in some matters. The Council is also responsible for organizing the Assembly meetings and for facilitating communication between the Assembly and the Directorate.
Due to Geneva's location in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, the ICRC usually acts under its French name Comité international de la Croix-Rouge (CICR). The official symbol of the ICRC is the Red Cross on white background with the words "COMITE INTERNATIONAL GENEVE" circling the cross.
The 2005 budget of the ICRC amounts to about 970 million Swiss Francs. Most of that money comes from Switzerland in its capacity as the depositary state of the Geneva Conventions, from national Red Cross societies, the signatory states of the Geneva Conventions, and from international organizations like the European Union. The European Union ( EU) is a political and economic union of twenty-seven member states, located primarily in All payments to the ICRC are voluntary and are received as donations based on two types of appeals issued by the Committee: an annual Headquarters Appeal to cover its internal costs and Emergency Appeals for its individual missions. The total budget for 2005 consists of about 819. 7 million Swiss Francs (85% of the total) for field work and 152. 1 million Swiss Francs (15%) for internal costs. In 2005, the budget for field work increased by 8. 6% and the internal budget by 1. 5% compared to 2004, primarily due to above average increases in the number and scope of its missions in Africa.
The Federation coordinates cooperation between national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies throughout the world and supports the foundation of new national societies in countries where no official society exists. On the international stage, the Federation organizes and leads relief assistance missions after emergencies like natural disasters, manmade disasters, epidemics, mass refugee flights, and other emergencies. According to the 1997 Seville Agreement, the Federation is the Lead Agency of the Movement in any emergency situation which does not take place as part of an armed conflict. The Federation cooperates with the national societies of those countries affected - each called the Operating National Society (ONS) - as well as the national societies of other countries willing to offer assistance - called Participating National Societies (PNS). Among the 187 national societies admitted to the General Assembly of the Federation as full members or observers, about 25-30 regularly work as PNS in other countries. The most active of those are the American Red Cross, the British Red Cross, the German Red Cross, and the Red Cross societies of Sweden and Norway. The American Red Cross (also known as the American National Red Cross) is a humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance disaster relief and education inside The British Red Cross Society is a prominent part of the largest impartial Humanitarian organisation in the world – the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement The German Red Cross (Deutsches Rotes Kreuz is the national Red Cross Society in Germany. The Norwegian Red Cross ( Norges Røde Kors) was founded September 22, 1865 by prime minister Frederik Stang. Another major mission of the Federation which has gained attention in recent years is its commitment to work towards a codified, worldwide ban on the use of land mines and to bring medical, psychological, and social support for people injured by land mines. A land mine is an Explosive device designed to be placed on or in the ground to explode when triggered by an operator or the Proximity of a vehicle person
The tasks of the Federation can therefore be summarized as follows:
Like the ICRC, the Federation has its headquarters in Geneva. It also runs 14 permanent regional offices and has about 350 delegates in more than 60 delegations around the world. The legal basis for the work of the Federation is its constitution. The executive body of the Federation is a secretariat, led by a Secretary General. The secretariat is supported by four divisions labeled "Support Services", "National Society and Field Support", "Policy and Relations" and "Movement Cooperation". The Movement Cooperation division organizes interaction and cooperation with the ICRC. The highest body of the Federation is the General Assembly which convenes every two years with delegates from all of the national societies. Among other tasks, the General Assembly elects the Secretary General. Between the convening of General Assemblies, the Governing Board is the leading body of the Federation. It has the authority to make decisions for the Federation in a number of areas. The Governing Board consists of the president and the vice presidents of the Federation, the chairman of the Finance Commission, and twenty elected representatives from national societies. It is supported by four additional commissions: "Disaster Relief", "Youth", "Health & Community Services", and "Development".
The symbol of the Federation is the combination of the Red Cross (left) and Red Crescent (right) on a white background (surrounded by a red rectangular frame) without any additional text.
The main parts of the budget of the Federation are funded by contributions from the national societies which are members of the Federation and through revenues from its investments. The exact amount of contributions from each member society is established by the Finance Commission and approved by the General Assembly. Any additional funding, especially for unforeseen expenses for relief assistance missions, is raised by appeals published by the Federation and comes from voluntary donations by national societies, governments, other organizations, corporations, and individuals.
National Red Cross and Red Crescent societies exist in nearly every country in the world. Within their home country, they take on the duties and responsibilities of a national relief society as defined by International Humanitarian Law. International humanitarian law ( IHL) often referred to as the Laws of war, the laws and customs of war or the law of armed conflict Within the Movement, the ICRC is responsible for legally recognizing a relief society as an official national Red Cross or Red Crescent society. The exact rules for recognition are defined in the statutes of the Movement. Article 4 of these statutes contains the "Conditions for recognition of National Societies":
After recognition by the ICRC, a national society is admitted as a member to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent societies.
Despite formal independence regarding its organizational structure and work, each national society is still bound by the laws of its home country. In many countries, national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies enjoy exceptional privileges due to agreements with their governments or specific "Red Cross Laws" granting full independence as required by the International Movement. The duties and responsibilities of a national society as defined by International Humanitarian Law and the statutes of the Movement include humanitarian aid in armed conflicts and emergency crises such as natural disasters. Depending on their respective human, technical, financial, and organizational resources, many national societies take on additional humanitarian tasks within their home countries such as Blood donation services or acting as civilian Emergency Medical Service (EMS) providers. Emergency medical services (abbreviated to the initialism "EMS" in many countries are a branch of Emergency services dedicated to providing out-of-hospital The ICRC and the International Federation cooperate with the national societies in their international missions, especially with human, material, and financial resources and organizing on-site logistics.
The symbols described below have two distinctively different meanings. On one hand, the visual symbols of the Red Cross, the Red Crescent, the Red Lion with Sun and the Red Crystal serve as protection markings in armed conflicts, a denotation which is derived from and defined in the Geneva Conventions. Protective signs are symbols to be used during an armed conflict to mark persons and objects under the protection of various treaties of International Humanitarian Law This is called the protective use of the symbols. On the other hand, these symbols are used as distinctive logos by those organizations which are part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. This is the indicative use of the emblems, a meaning which is defined in the statutes of the International Movement and partly in the third Additional Protocol.
As a protection symbol, they are used in armed conflicts to mark persons and objects (buildings, vehicles, etc. ) which are working in compliance with the rules of the Geneva Conventions. The Geneva Conventions consist of four Treaties formulated in Geneva, Switzerland, that set the standards for International law for humanitarian In this function, they can also be used by organizations and objects which are not part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, for example the medical services of the armed forces, civilian hospitals, and civil defense units. As protection symbols, these emblems should be used without any additional specification (textual or otherwise) and in a prominent manner which makes them as visible and observable as possible, for example by using large white flags bearing the symbol. Four of these symbols, namely the Red Cross, the Red Crescent, the Red Lion with Sun and the Red Crystal, are defined in the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols as symbols for protective use.
When used as an organizational logo, these symbols only indicate that persons, vehicles, buildings, etc. which bear the symbols belong to a specific organization which is part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (like the ICRC, the International Federation or the national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies). In this case, they should be used with an additional specification (for example "American Red Cross") and not be displayed as prominently as when used as protection symbols. Three of these symbols, namely the Red Cross, the Red Crescent and the Red Crystal, can be used for indicative purposes by national societies for use in their home country or abroad. In addition to that, the Red Shield of David can be used by the Israel society Magen David Adom for indicative purposes within Israel, and, pending the approval of the respective host country, in combination with the Red Crystal when working abroad.
The Red Cross on white background was the original protection symbol declared at the 1864 Geneva Convention. It is, in terms of its color, a reversal of the Swiss national flag, a meaning which was adopted to honor Swiss founder Henry Dunant and his home country. The Flag of Switzerland consists of a red square with a bold equilateral white cross in the center The ideas to introduce a uniform and neutral protection symbol as well as its specific design originally came from Dr. Louis Appia and General Henri Dufour, founding members of the International Committee. Louis Paul Amédée Appia ( October 13, 1818 - May 1, 1898) was a surgeon with special merit in the area of military medicine Guillaume-Henri Dufour ( 15 September 1787, Konstanz - 14 July 1875, Geneva) was a Swiss General The Red Cross is defined as a protection symbol in Article 7 of the 1864 Geneva Convention, Chapter VII ("The distinctive emblem") and Article 38 of the 1949 Geneva Convention ("For the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field"). There is an unofficial agreement within the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement that the shape of the cross should be a cross composed of five squares. However, regardless of the shape, any Red Cross on white background should be valid and must be recognized as a protection symbol in conflict. Of the 186 national societies which are currently recognized by the ICRC, 152 are using the Red Cross as their official organization emblem. In addition, the Red Cross is currently used by the national society of Tuvalu which has applied for official recognition. Tuvalu, formerly known as the Ellice Islands, is a Polynesian Island nation located in the Pacific Ocean midway between Hawaii and
During the Russo-Turkish War from 1876 to 1878, the Ottoman Empire used a Red Crescent instead of the Red Cross because its government believed that the cross would alienate its Muslim soldiers. The Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 had its origins in a rise in nationalism in the Balkans as well as in the Russian goal of recovering territorial losses it had suffered The Ottoman Empire (1299–1923 ( Old Ottoman Turkish: دولتْ علیّه عثمانیّه Devlet-i Âliye-yi Osmâniyye, Late Ottoman and Modern Turkish When asked by the ICRC in 1877, Russia committed to fully respect the sanctity of all persons and facilities bearing the Red Crescent symbol, followed by a similar commitment from the Ottoman government to respect the Red Cross. Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending After this de facto assessment of equal validity to both symbols, the ICRC declared in 1878 that it should be possible in principle to adopt an additional official protection symbol for non-Christian countries. The Red Crescent was formally recognized in 1929 when the Geneva Conventions were amended (Article 19). Originally, the Red Crescent was used by Turkey and Egypt. Turkey (Türkiye known officially as the Republic of Turkey ( is a Eurasian Country that stretches This article is about the country of Egypt For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Egypt topics. From its official recognition to today, the Red Crescent became the organizational emblem of nearly every national society in countries with majority Muslim populations. A Muslim (مسلم pronounced Muslim, not Muzlim) is an adherent of the Religion The national societies of some countries such as Pakistan (1974), Malaysia (1975), or Bangladesh (1989) have officially changed their name and emblem from the Red Cross to the Red Crescent. Pakistan () officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia, Southwest Asia, Middle East and For the biogeographical region see Malesia Malaysia (məˈleɪʒə or /məˈleɪziə/ is a country that consists of thirteen states and ( Bengali: বাংলাদেশ inc-Latn Bangladesh) officially The Red Crescent is used by 33 of the 186 recognized societies worldwide.
Because of the controversy over Israel's national society Magen David Adom and a number of other disputes, the introduction of an additional neutral protection symbol had been under discussion for a number of years, with the Red Crystal (previously referred to as the Red Lozenge or Red Diamond) being the most popular proposal. The Magen David Adom (מגן דוד אדום abbr MDA or Mada) is Israel 's national emergency medical, disaster, Ambulance Applications Modal logic In Modal logic, the lozenge expresses the possibility of the following expression In Mineralogy, diamond is the allotrope of carbon where the carbon atoms are arranged in Other attempts have included Sri Lanka (1957) and India (1977) who tried to establish a Red Swastika and also efforts by the national societies of Kazakhstan and Eritrea to use a unique combination of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent, similar to the combination of both symbols used by the national society of the Soviet Union until its demise. Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka ( Sinhalese:, இலங்கை known as Ceylon before 1972 is an Island India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country The swastika (from Sanskrit: svástika sa स्वस्तिक Hindu IS CORRECT if 'ि' is positioned incorrectly see -->) is Kazakhstan, also Kazakstan ( Қазақстан, Qazaqstan, qɑzɑqˈstɑn Казахстан, Kazakhstán,) officially the Eritrea () ( Ge'ez: ኤርትራ ʾErtrā, Arabic: إرتريا Iritriya) officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 However, amending the Geneva Conventions to add a new protection symbol requires a diplomatic conference of all 192 signatory states to the Conventions. The Swiss government organized such a conference to take place on December 5-6, 2005, to adopt a third additional protocol to the Geneva Conventions introducing the Red Crystal as an additional symbol with equal status to the Red Cross or Red Crescent. Following an unplanned extension of the conference until December 7, the protocol was adopted after a vote successfully achieved the required two-thirds majority. From the countries which attended the conference, 98 voted in favour and 27 against the protocol, while 10 countries abstained from voting.
In the third Protocol the new symbol is referred to as "the third Protocol emblem". The rules for the use of this symbol, based on the third additional protocol to the Geneva Conventions, are the following:
On 22 June 2006 the ICRC announced that the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement adopted the Red Crystal as additional emblem for use by the national societies. Events 217 BC - Battle of Raphia: Ptolemy IV of Egypt defeats Antiochus III the Great of the Seleucid kingdom. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. The ICRC also announced the recognition of the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) and the Israeli National Society, Magen David Adom (MDA). The Palestine Red Crescent Society was founded in 1968, by Fathi Arafat, Yassar Arafat 's brother The Magen David Adom (מגן דוד אדום abbr MDA or Mada) is Israel 's national emergency medical, disaster, Ambulance On 14 January 2007, the third additional protocol entered into force. Events 1129 - Formal approval of the Order of the Templar at the Council of Troyes. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century.
From 1924 to 1980, Iran used a 'Red Lion with Sun' symbol for its national society, based on the flag and emblem of the Qajar Dynasty. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Iran topics. The Qajar dynasty (also known as Ghajar or Kadjar ( ( - or دودمان قاجار) is a common term to describe Iran (then known as Persia) under The Red Lion with Sun was formally recognized as a protection symbol in 1929, together with the Red Crescent. Despite the country's shift to the Red Crescent in 1980, Iran explicitly maintains the right to use the symbol. Therefore, it is still recognized by the Geneva Convention as a protection symbol with equal status to the Red Cross, Red Crescent and Red Crystal.
Magen David Adom, the national society of Israel, has used the Red Shield of David as its organization emblem since its foundation. The Magen David Adom (מגן דוד אדום abbr MDA or Mada) is Israel 's national emergency medical, disaster, Ambulance For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Israel topics. The Red Shield of David was initially proposed as an addition to the Red Cross, Red Crescent, and Red Lion with Sun in 1931. The proposal was rejected by the ICRC, like the Mehrab-e-Ahmar (Red Archway) symbol of the national aid society of Afghanistan four years later, as well as a wide range of other proposals, due to concerns about symbol proliferation. Afghanistan /æfˈgænɪstæn/ officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan ( Pashto: د افغانستان اسلامي جمهوریت, Israel again tried to establish the emblem as a third protection symbol in the context of the Geneva Conventions, but a respective proposal was narrowly defeated when the Geneva Conventions were adopted by governments in 1949. As the Red Shield of David is not a recognized protection symbol under the Geneva Conventions, Magen David Adom's recognition as a national society by the ICRC was long delayed.
It was not until 2006 that the ICRC officially recognized Magen David Adom. The adoption of the third protocol emblem paved the way for the recognition and admission of Magen David Adom as a full member of the International Federation, as the rules of the third protocol allow it to continue using the Red Shield of David when operating within Israel and provide a solution for its missions abroad. Though the organization only recently gained official recognition, it has had an excellent reputation within the Movement for many years and took part in many international activities, in cooperation with both the ICRC and the Federation, prior to its official recognition.
The original motto of the International Committee of the Red Cross was Inter Arma Caritas ("In War, Charity"). This Christian-spirited slogan was amended in 1961 with the neutral motto Per Humanitatem ad Pacem or "With humanity, towards peace". While Inter Arma Caritas is still the primary motto of the ICRC (as per Article 3 of the ICRC statutes), Per Humanitatem ad Pacem is the primary motto of the Federation (Article 1 of the Constitution of the Federation). Both organizations acknowledge the alternative motto, and together both slogans serve as the combined motto of the International Movement.
The mission statement of the International Movement as formulated in the "Strategy 2010" document of the Federation is to improve the lives of vulnerable people by mobilizing the power of humanity. From 1999 to 2004, the common slogan for all activities of the International Movement was The Power of Humanity. In December 2003, the 28th International Conference in Geneva adopted the conference motto Protecting Human Dignity as the new Movement slogan.
The 16th International Conference which convened in London in 1938 officially decided to make May 8, the birthday of Henry Dunant, as the official annual commemoration and celebration day of the Movement. London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. Events 589 - Reccared summons the Third Council of Toledo 1450 - Jack Cade's Rebellion: Kentishmen Since 1984, the official name of the celebration day has been "World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day".
In Solferino, a small museum describes the history of the Battle of Solferino and of the Risorgimento, the long and bloody Italian struggle for independence and unity. The Battle of Solferino was fought on June 24, 1859 and resulted in the victory of the allied French Army under Napoleon III and Sardinian Italian Unification ( Italian: il Risorgimento, or "The Resurgence" was the political and social movement that unified different states of the Italian In the Ossario di Solferino (Solferino Ossuary) in close proximity to the museum, a moving display shows the horrors of war. Inside the chapel, 1,413 skulls and many more bones from thousands of French and Austrian troops who died during the battle are shown. Solferino is also host to the International Red Cross Memorial inaugurated in 1959 on the centennial of the Battle of Solferino. The memorial contains stone plaques identifying each recognized national society. In Castiglione delle Stiviere, a small town near Solferino, the International Museum of the Red Cross was also opened in 1959. Castiglione delle Stiviere is a town and Comune in the Province of Mantua, in Lombardy, Italy, 30 km NW of Mantua by road Solferino is a small town in Lombardy, Italy, approximately 10 Kilometres south of Lake Garda. Moreover, another museum, the International Red Cross Museum stands in Geneva in close proximity to the headquarters of the ICRC. Finally, in the Swiss city of Heiden, the Henry Dunant Museum was opened to preserve the memory and legacy of Dunant himself. Heiden is a municipality in the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden in Switzerland. The Henry Dunant Museum was opened in the Swiss city of Heiden, to preserve the memory and legacy of Henry Dunant, the Founder of the Red Cross Movement
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Complex and Real Planes of Discrete Fourier Transforms
A Fourier transform converts signals from the time domain to the frequency domain. In the Fourier domain, it is possible to analyze the signals in the real, absolute, or imaginary planes. In any communication channel some noise is added to the signal. The white noise contains all the frequencies with a uniform power spectrum.
Notice that the sinc signal is the rect in the absolute Fourier plane, and rect as a signal gives sinc as the absolute Fourier plane.
The variables and represent the time and frequency index. The Fourier planes are shifted by half of the signal sample size.
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The Essential Structure of The Diarrhea Song—Broken Up By Elements
1. A scene-setting preposition, usually just one word will do. Classically, this has taken the form of “When”.
2. The first free-form part of The Song, this should further develop a sense of place, time, urgency, activity or any other useful stage on-which Diarrhea could plausibly occur. The only true requirement for this element is that it rhyme with element #4, below.
3. Insert the mandatory conjunction AND. There are very few hard rules in creation of The Diarrhea Song, the use of and in the middle is a tradition, and as such, an exception to the rule. Please use it.
4. The second free-form part of The Song, this is the punch line. It is here that it will be revealed how one knows that it is, in fact Diarrhea, and not something else. In other words, describe the result of the Diarrhea (i.e.. “You feel something burst”). Keep in mind that this should rhyme with element #2.
5. Add the famous ending that truly identifies your work as part of the long legacy of The Diarrhea Song: "Diarrhea, Diarrhea". If you are a traditionalist, you may prefer the more automata-poetic, "Diarrhea, Plop, Plop, Diarrhea". Both variations are correct, according to the linguistics department.
TIP: When finished, read through it several times, recite it in your head and consider alterate wording if the meter of the verse or affect of the joke are not top caliber. There is a certain cadence that cannot be taught and is reflected in only the finest variations of The Diarrhea Song.
How Can I Get My Versions of the Diarrhea Song Included in This Official List?
If you have Diarrhea Song versions, additions, inventions or variations to contribute please send them to us for immediate inclusion at: [email protected].
For those of you who are more frequent contributors, please let us know that you are interested in becoming a contributor to the site directly and we will add you as an administrator to The Diarrhea Song author group. As an author, you will be asked to post directly to the site and keep an on-going journal of Diarrhea Song lyrics that will be permanently archived on this site for posterity.
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Earthquake Hazards Program
The USGS Earthquake Hazards Program is part of the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP), established by Congress in 1977. We monitor and report earthquakes, assess earthquake impacts and hazards, and research the causes and effects of earthquake.
View recent events or search for past earthquakes. Optimized for mobile and desktop.
Our scientists study earthquakes around the world. Learn about Science Center activities, research, regional seismic network monitoring, and local activities of interest conducted in our various offices around the US.
Significant Earthquakes Past 30 DaysSignificant Earthquake Archive
The USGS is requesting volunteers in the greater Pleasanton/Dublin/San Ramon area to consider hosting a seismic station for a period of two to three years.View Research
Try out our new mobile-friendly earthquake interface for real-time and historical earthquakes. Click on List, Map or Options in the upper right to explore!View Site
Applications are invited for research under the 2014 National Earthquake Hazards Program (EHP). The purpose of EHP is to provide products for earthquake loss reduction to the public and private sectors by carrying out research earthquake occurrence and effects.View Site
Earthquake Catastrophes and Fatalities Projected to Rise in Populous 21st Century - USGS News Release
"Predicted population increases in this century can be expected to translate into more people dying from earthquakes. There will be more individual earthquakes with very large death tolls as well as more people dying during earthquakes than ever before, according to a newly published study led by U.S. Geological Survey engineering geologist Thomas L. Holzer."View Research
A new USGS Scientific Investigations Report. Evidence of past events and modeling of potential events suggest that tsunamis are significant threats to low-lying communities on the California coast. To reduce potential impacts of future tsunamis, officials need to understand how communities are vulnerable to tsunamis and where targeted outreach, preparedness, and mitigation efforts may be warranted.View Research
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MTH2581: Numbers and Operations K-2
The focus of this course is to provide strategies for K-2 teachers to explore the concepts of numbers and operations that are present throughout the existing curriculum. Research shows us that there are many ways to teacher the concepts of numbers and operations in the K-2 grades. This course will focus on identifying the most effective methods to teach the concepts of numbers and operations as well as exploring opportunities throughout the school day for teaching numbers and operation concepts. As an ongoing product of this course, participants will be adding activities and lesson plans to a collaborative website as they participate in a web based community of learners.
This course will enable participants to:
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In a CD (and any other digital recording technology), the goal is to create a recording with very high fidelity (very high similarity between the original signal and the reproduced signal) and perfect reproduction (the recording sounds the same every single time you play it no matter how many times you play it).
To accomplish these two goals, digital recording converts the analog wave into a stream of numbers and records the numbers instead of the wave. The conversion is done by a device called an analog-to-digital converter (ADC). To play back the music, the stream of numbers is converted back to an analog wave by a digital-to-analog converter (DAC). The analog wave produced by the DAC is amplified and fed to the speakers to produce the sound.
The analog wave produced by the DAC will be the same every time, as long as the numbers are not corrupted. The analog wave produced by the DAC will also be very similar to the original analog wave if the analog-to-digital converter sampled at a high rate and produced accurate numbers.
You can understand why CDs have such high fidelity if you understand the analog-to-digital conversion process better. Let's say you have a sound wave, and you wish to sample it with an ADC. Here is a typical wave (assume here that each tick on the horizontal axis represents one-thousandth of a second):
When you sample the wave with an analog-to-digital converter, you have control over two variables:
- The sampling rate - Controls how many samples are taken per second
- The sampling precision - Controls how many different gradations (quantization levels) are possible when taking the sample
In the following figure, let's assume that the sampling rate is 1,000 per second and the precision is 10:
The green rectangles represent samples. Every one-thousandth of a second, the ADC looks at the wave and picks the closest number between 0 and 9. The number chosen is shown along the bottom of the figure. These numbers are a digital representation of the original wave. When the DAC recreates the wave from these numbers, you get the blue line shown in the following figure:
You can see that the blue line lost quite a bit of the detail originally found in the red line, and that means the fidelity of the reproduced wave is not very good. This is the sampling error. You reduce sampling error by increasing both the sampling rate and the precision. In the following figure, both the rate and the precision have been improved by a factor of 2 (20 gradations at a rate of 2,000 samples per second):
In the following figure, the rate and the precision have been doubled again (40 gradations at 4,000 samples per second):
You can see that as the rate and precision increase, the fidelity (the similarity between the original wave and the DAC's output) improves. In the case of CD sound, fidelity is an important goal, so the sampling rate is 44,100 samples per second and the number of gradations is 65,536. At this level, the output of the DAC so closely matches the original waveform that the sound is essentially "perfect" to most human ears.
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Safety Class
- Very dangerous (Should only be attempted after careful training)
Required Safety Equipment
- The show performer: Glasses / Cryogenic gloves
- Audience/participants: None.
- One brass tube, 5cm across, 40 cm high. This brass tube is closed on one end and open on the other.
- One cork with two holes in it which fits on the brass tube
- Two glass tubes which fit into the holes in the cork, 40cm long
- Liquid nitrogen
- A stable table
Preparation: Stick the glass tubes into the cork. Make sure the glass tubes stick out about 5 cm above the cork.
Put on safety goggles and cryogenic gloves.
Put some water onto the table, and put the tube in this - with the closed side down. Pour the liquid nitrogen into the tube. Now put the cork with the glass tubes down into the brass tube. This will cause a massive fountain of liquid nitrogen to squirt out of the glass tubes.
The waste product (liquid nitrogen) will evaporate into the air.
- Be sure to always wear gloves and glasses when doing this experiment
- Be sure to NEVER do this experiment twice in a row, while the equipment is still cold. If the equipment is still cold, the lower temperature difference will cause the liquid nitrogen to evaporate slower. This means that you get liquid nitrogen sprayed all over you!
- Keep your head below the tube when doing this experiment. Liquid nitrogen which lands in your neck is less dangerous than liquid nitrogen which lands in your face
Other Factors
As said above, the higher the temperature difference between the equipment and the liquid nitrogen, the larger the effect. Therefore, it is possible to increase the effect of this experiment by heating the equipment with a blow drier beforehand.
Show notes
It is very important that you need two people to do this experiment; one pours the liquid nitrogen into the fountain tube, the other one puts the cork on. If you try to do both by yourself, so much liquid nitrogen will have evaporated that the effect will be much less.
What's taking place
The liquid nitrogen evaporates, creating more pressure in the tube. Because the glass tubes are below the waterline of the liquid nitrogen, the liquid nitrogen is pushed out instead of the gas.
In the real world
Espresso machines work like this; steam is built up in a chamber, and the boiling liquid is pushed through coffee powder.
More Information
- Websites with more info the end.
- example reference
This opensource material is from The Wiki Science Show Book in English. There is an overview of available guides. It is based on the template for new guides. Related media files can be found on Wikimedia Commons ScienceShow.
- Links to this guide in other languages: English.
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Continental collision is a phenomenon of the plate tectonics of Earth that occurs at convergent boundaries. Continental collision is a variation on the fundamental process of subduction, whereby the subduction zone is destroyed, mountains produced, and two continents sutured together. Continental collision is known only from this planet and is an interesting example of how our different crusts, oceanic and continental, behave during subduction.
Continental collision is not an instantaneous event, but may take several tens of millions of years before the faulting and folding caused by collision stop. Collision between India and Asia has been going on for about 50 million years already and shows no signs of abating. Collision between East and West Gondwana to form the East African Orogen took about 100 million years from beginning (610 Ma) to end (510 Ma). Collision between Gondwana and Laurasia to form Pangea occurred in a relatively brief interval, about 50 million years long.
Subduction zone: the collision site
The process begins as two continents (different bits of continental crust), separated across a tract of ocean (and oceanic crust), approach each other, while the oceanic crust is slowly consumed at a subduction zone. The subduction zone runs along the edge of one of the continents and dips under it, raising volcanic mountain chains at some distance behind it, such as the Andes of South America today. Subduction involves the whole lithosphere, the density of which is largely controlled by the nature of the crust it carries. Oceanic crust is thin (~6 km thick) and dense (about 3.3 g/cm³), consisting of basalt, gabbro, and peridotite. Consequently, most oceanic crust is subducted easily at an oceanic trench. In contrast, continental crust is thick (~45 km thick) and buoyant, composed mostly of granitic rocks (average density about 2.5 g/cm³). Continental crust is subducted with difficulty, but is subducted to depths of 90-150 km or more, as evidenced by ultra-high pressure (UHP) metamorphic suites. Normal subduction continues as long as the ocean exists, but the subduction system is disrupted as the continent carried by the downgoing plate enters the trench. Because it contains thick continental crust, this lithosphere is less dense than the underlying asthenospheric mantle and normal subduction is disrupted. The volcanic arc on the upper plate is slowly extinguished. Resisting subduction, the crust buckles up and under, raising mountains where a trench used to be. The position of the trench becomes a zone that marks the suture between the two continental terranes. Suture zones are often marked by fragments of the pre-existing oceanic crust and mantle rocks, known as ophiolites.
Deep subduction of continental crust
The continental crust on the downgoing plate is deeply subducted as part of the downgoing plate during collision, defined as buoyant crust entering a subduction zone. An unknown proportion of subducted continental crust returns to the surface as ultra-high pressure (UHP) metamorphic terranes, which contain metamorphic coesite and/or diamond plus or minus unusual silicon-rich garnets and/or potassium-bearing pyroxenes. The presence of these minerals demonstrate subduction of continental crust to at least 90–140 km deep. Examples of UHP terranes are known from the Dabie–Sulu belt of east-central China, the Western Alps, the Himalaya of India, the Kokchetav Massif of Kazakhstan, the Bohemian Massif of Europe, the Western Gneiss Region of Norway, and Mali. Most UHP terranes consist of an imbricated sheets or nappes. The fact that most UHP terranes consist of thin sheets suggests that much thicker, volumetrically dominant tracts of continental crust are more deeply subducted.
Orogeny and collapse
An orogeny is underway when mountains begin to grow in the collision zone. There are other modes of mountain formation and orogeny but certainly continental collision is one of the most important. Rainfall and snowfall increase on the mountains as these rise, perhaps at a rate of a few millimeters per year (at a growth rate of 1 mm/year, a 5,000 m tall mountain can form in 5 million years, a time period that is less than 10% of the life of a typical collision zone). River systems form, and glaciers may grow on the highest peaks. Erosion accelerates as the mountains rise, and great volumes of sediment are shed into the rivers, which carry sediment away from the mountains to be deposited in sedimentary basins in the surrounding lowlands. Crustal rocks are thrust faulted over the sediments and the mountain belt broadens as it rises in height. A crustal root also develops, as required by isostasy; mountains can be high if underlain by thicker crust. Crustal thickening may happen as a result of crustal shortening or when one crust overthrusts the other. Thickening is accompanied by heating, so the crust becomes weaker as it thickens. The lower crust begins to flow and collapse under the growing mountain mass, forming rifts near the crest of the mountain range. The lower crust may partially melt, forming anatectic granites which then rise into the overlying units, forming granite intrusions. Crustal thickening provides one of two negative feedbacks on mountain growth in collision zones, the other being erosion. The popular notion that erosion is responsible for destroying mountains is only half correct - viscous flow of weak lower mantle also reduces relief with time, especially once the collision is complete and the two continents are completely sutured. Convergence between the continents continues because the crust is still being pulled down by oceanic lithosphere sinking in the subduction zone to either side of the collision as well as beneath the impinging continent.
The pace of mountain building associated with the collision is measured by radiometric dating of igneous rocks or units that have been metamorphosed during the collision and by examining the record of sediments shed from the rising mountains into the surrounding basins. The pace of ancient convergence can be determined with paleomagnetic measurements, while the present rate of convergence can be measured with GPS.
Far-field effects
The effects of the collision are felt far beyond the immediate site of collision and mountain-building. As convergence between the two continents continues, the region of crustal thickening and elevation will become broader. If there is an oceanic free face, the adjacent crustal blocks may move towards it. As an example of this, the collision of India with Asia forced large regions of crust to move south to form modern Southeast Asia. Another example is the collision of Arabia with Asia, which is squeezing the Anatolian Plate (present day Turkey). As a result, Turkey is moving west and south into the Mediterranean Sea and away from the collision zone. These far-field effects may result in the formation of rifts, and rift valleys such as that occupied by Lake Baikal, the deepest lake on Earth.
Fossil collision zones
Continental collisions are a critical part of the Supercontinent cycle and have happened many times in the past. Ancient collision zones are deeply eroded but may still be recognized because these mark sites of intense deformation, metamorphism, and plutonic activity that separate tracts of continental crust having different geologic histories prior to the collision. Old collision zones are commonly called "suture zones" by geologists, because this is where two previous continents are joined or sutured together.
- Ernst, W.G. (2006). "Preservation/exhumation of ultrahigh-pressure subduction complexes". Lithos 92 (3–4): 321–335. Bibcode:2006Litho..92..321E. doi:10.1016/j.lithos.2006.03.049.
- Ernst, W.G.; Maruyama, S. Wallis (1997). "Buoyancy-driven, rapid exhumation of ultrahigh-pressure metamorphosed continental crust". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 94 (18): 9532–9537. Bibcode:1997PNAS...94.9532E. doi:10.1073/pnas.94.18.9532.
- O'Brien, P.J. (2001). "Subduction followed by collision; Alpine and Himalayan examples". Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors 127 (1–4): 277–291. Bibcode:2001PEPI..127..277O. doi:10.1016/S0031-9201(01)00232-1.
- Toussaint, G.; Burov, E.; Avouac, J.-P. (2004). "Tectonic evolution of a continental collision zone: A thermomechanical numerical model". Tectonics 23 (6): TC6003. Bibcode:2004Tecto..23.6003T. doi:10.1029/2003TC001604.
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One of the greatest and most beloved composers of all time, Felix Mendelssohn was a grandson of a famous Jewish thinker Moses Mendelssohn. Mendelssohn later added surname Bartholdy due to his conversion to Christianity. Mendelssohn’s talent was immediately recognized by critics and audiences alike. Mendelssohn played a leading role in revitalizing public interest in the music of J.S. Bach. As a conductor Mendelssohn brought the Leipzig's Gewandhaus Orchestra to fame. Mendelssohn established the first Conservatory in Leipzig. Mendelssohn was also a renowned music critic.
More Mendelssohn sheet music download on EveryNote.com
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This site reports the
results of a seven-year cooperative effort completed in 1998, between the
National Ocean Service and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
to map the types and extent of benthic habitats within the Florida Keys.
It also announces the completion and content of two products: an Atlas and
Benthic habitats are places on or near the sea floor where aquatic organisms live. These beds of seagrass, areas of mud and sand, and coral reefs provide food and shelter to a rich array of animals. Together, they form the Florida Keys coral ecosystem.
The Florida Keys are the third largest barrier reef ecosystem in the world and the only barrier reef ecosystem in the United States. The preservation of this ecosystem, especially its coral reefs, is a National priority. This ecosystem is an attractive environment for many recreational, commercial and scientific activities, and is critical to the tourist economy of South Florida.
Precise mapping of benthic habitats is essential for developing management strategies that balance the protection of these habitats with their use. Accurate maps of these areas enable resource managers to make informed decisions about the use and protection of the resources.
The benthic habitats of the
Florida Keys were mapped from a
series of 450 aerial photographs.
Ecologists outlined the boundaries of
specific habitat types by interpreting color patterns on the photographs.
Benthic habitats were classified into
four major categories—corals, seagrasses, hardbottom, and bare substrate—and 24 subcategories, such as sparse seagrass and patch reef. Habitat boundaries were georeferenced and digitized to create computer maps. These digital data were then incorporated into a geographic information system for direct electronic mapping.
A summary document describing this mapping effort is available in Portable Document Format (pdf) which can be read and printed using Adobe Acrobat Reader.
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In the next few months, the world’s population will tick over 7 billion people. In this fantastic clip from National Geographic, we see how, why, and what that means for us.
The clip raises the challenges of water and sanitation, and leads us to ponder how the world will cope with an expected population of 9 billion by mid-century. But we would like to take these thoughts a step further to ask, “what can we do about it?”
As we’ve noted previously, around 884 million people lack adequate access to safe and clean drinking water and over 2.5 billion lack access to adequate sanitation. One of the targets of Goal 7 of the Millennium Development Goals is to halve these numbers by 2015. Below are a few ways we can make that happen.
- Support organisations working to improve access to safe and clean water and adequate sanitation in a sustainable way. NGOs like WaterAid work with communities using a mixture of low-cost technologies to deliver lasting results. They also have projects that empower and provide a platform for local citizens in developing countries to hold their governments accountable on providing the adequate water and sanitation services they are entitled to.
- Encourage governments to prioritise water and sanitation issues by committing good aid and resources. NGOs such as Pump Aid and End Water Poverty have global campaigns and events that the public can participate in that put pressure on governments to do their part to stop the water and sanitation crisis. This crisis is currently killing 4,000 children every day with diarrhoea, a completely preventable and treatable disease. Many would be surprised to know that this means diarrhoea kills more children every year than AIDS, malaria and measles combined.
- Help advocate for a more sustainable use of water resources in agriculture. The FAO estimates that 70% of global water use is related to agricultural activity. Organisations like Water Footprint are trying to promote the idea of global water saving through trade by encouraging countries with low water productivity to import water-intensive products from sites with high water productivity and export commodities that are less water intensive. In plain language – don’t grow rice in deserts. We need to adopt more sustainable uses of water resources for agricultural activity if we want to avoid an eventual global water crisis.
Whether there are 7 billion or 9 billion people on our planet, seeing an end to extreme poverty is only possible if we improve access to safe and clean drinking water and adequate sanitation. This is because these issues not only threaten lives, but also effect education and livelihoods. WaterAid estimates that 443 million school days are lost each year due to water-related diseases, and that the average household in rural Africa spends an average of 26% of their time fetching water (taking away from work and leisure time).
We can each do our part to educate others on the importance of these issues so that we not only halve the amount of people lacking access to safe and clean water and adequate sanitation by 2015, but eventually see that number reach zero.
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Lest you get too caught up in Keystone XL and forget that tar-sands oil is super-destructive in general, NRDC has a new report about how a completely different pipeline will also lead to ecological disaster. The Northern Gateway pipeline, which would run from Alberta to British Columbia, has the potential to be just as destructive to Canada as Keystone XL would be to the U.S., if not more.
Northern Gateway would threaten people and animals along its 2,200-mile length — First Nations communities, people who depend on fisheries and forests, salmon, bears, whales, rainforests. You know, just most of the flora and fauna and humanity over a 2,200-mile stretch, no biggie. And according to NRDC, it's not even clear the pipeline is necessary. Enbridge, the company building Northern Gateway, has failed to show that there's adequate demand justifying the pipeline, or to explore alternatives.
One of the reasons tar-sands pipelines are such a nightmare is that tar-sands oil, or bitumen, can actually weaken the pipeline itself, says NRDC. The spills are also particularly hazardous, difficult to clean up, and difficult to prevent, not that Canadian safety regulations are adequate anyway. It's all a disaster waiting to happen, basically, and yet people keep proposing more pipelines.
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Caesarea is located today half way between Tel Aviv and Haifa on Israel's Mediterranean coast. It was here that Herod the Great built the city of Caesarea Maritima with Sebastos, its huge harbour complex. Although Herod chose the then ruinous town of Straton's Tower as the nucleus for his new city and port, it had no natural features that made it suited to the formation of a large harbour, a fact vividly recorded by Flavius Josephus (Jewish War, 1930: 410-414; Jewish Antiquities 1930: 331-342)(Josephus' Description ). He noted the absence of any suitable anchorage along the coastline of the region from Dor to Jaffa, and how even in mild weather conditions the sea was always rough.
The problems associated with the site did not impede Herod or his engineers and he created an almost entirely 'man-made' harbour using mostly imported skills, material, and probably labour, within an incredibly short time. There can be little doubt that Roman specialists were called in to assist Herod on this project, for in order to build this harbour of over 200,000 sp. meters in little over a decade (c21-10 BCE), all the ingenuity of Roman engineering techniques were employed including the extensive use of hydraulic concrete made with pozzolana.
Even so, to achieve what they did within the time scale, it would have been hypothesized that 'construction islands' were formed along the length of the main breakwater from which the mole could be extended concurrently. In order to create these 'islands', materials had to be shipped to the site in sizeable amounts in seaworthy containers, deposited on the seabed, and rapidly consolidated. However, there are problems associated with this as Israel's mediterranean coastline can be subject to heavy swells even in good weather, and it must be remembered that the sea was considerably shallower then than it is now (3m as opposed to 7-8m), which would have given rise to breaking seas. The Roman Engineers achieved this at Sebastos by building large floating caissons within which they could ship a quantity of set concrete to pre-designated sites and sink them in place by adding more concrete and thereby creating large pad foundations for the spine wall.
Area K, which is at the northern end of the main southern breakwater consists of a chaotic pile of enormous tumbled concrete blocks, many still retaining the impressions of timber formwork into which the concrete had been poured, together with large kurkar blocks (the local stone) (Area K Caisson).
This mound is spread across the site and rises from the current seabed depth of 7-8m to withing 2m of the surface (Removal of Overburden ). It has been assumed that this was the collapsed remains of the lighthouse structure or Drusion described by Josephus as being the tallest and most magnificent tower of a series built at intervals along the stone wall that encircled the harbour. The location being at the mouth of the harbour made this a likely candidate for a lighthouse site.
Excavations during the 1990 season (Underwater Excavation) and over the following years have revealed details of a series of concrete-filled timber caissons approx. 14m x 7m on plan and over 2.5m high. The caissons are set out in a 'header' fashion although not in a straight line or uniform depth.
DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF THE CAISSONS
The evidence produced from these excavations show that the caissons were generally of a single design but fundamentally different from those found previously at Area G (Area G Caisson). The Area G caissons had no bottom and were double walled and meant for a less exposed site.
The caissons at K were sea-going barges built by shipwrights for a very specific purpose. These barges were rectangular, flat-bottomed craft and had an inner central compartment 2.5m wide and 6.5m long. They were built with planking edge fastened with mortices and tenons which were transfixed with treenails in the same manner as traditional shell-first ship construction.
The inner cell is formed directly off the bottom planking and the floor frames are discontinuous either side of it. The function of the inner cell is unknown, although it was built to be watertight. These barges were very much a mixture of 'ship' and 'building' design and detail, which is very appropriate considering their purpose. There is no doubt that the bottom planking was constructed first and probably set out on a raised trestle to enable the treenails to be trimmed as each board was fixed in place. The likely site for the 'shipyard' is on the foreshore, beside what is now Kibbutz Sdot Yam to the south of the ancient harbour where jetty-like structures have been found. From there, the barges could be towed with the longshore current to their destination around the harbour wall.
It is now considered that these unique barges which formed an integral part of the Herodian harbour breakwater are unlikely to have been the the foundation for the Drusion or lighthouse structure, as they do not form a coherent foundation. They would, however, have provided a substantial basis from which a 'construction island' could have been formed as well as the founding of a harbour wall. Although the architect/engineers at Portus outside of Rome used the hulls of old ships in the construction of the harbour pier, as well as for the foundation of the lighthouse, there was nothing that is known from antiquity that is similar to these single mission barges that have been found at Caesarea. Even Vitruvius, in his description of harbour works, makes no mention of anything like them.
As we find out more about the design of these concreted forms and their likely purpose within the harbour enclosure, the picture becomes more complex. A lot more site work, analysis and research is necessary before a comprehensive paper can ever begin to be written on this subject.
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It's not just modern magazines that tweak people's faces to fit the standard of beauty. For hundreds of years, portraits have been altered to reflect whatever ideas of beauty that people had at the time. Every woman in the 18th century appears to have the same nose. No one in the 17th century had any eyebrows to speak of. And everyone at every time had flawless skin despite limited access to soap. It's not certain that if a historical figure appeared today beside their portrait, anyone would recognize them.
Eric Altschuler of the New Jersey School of Medicine and Krista Ehinger of MIT wondered how closely the iconic portrait of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart resembled its actual subject. The portrait, though dignified, definitely did not make Washington look like a pretty boy, so the alterations would be subtle, but almost every portrait painter shifts some things around.
There are no photographs of George Washington, but Gilbert Stuart painted many people, some of whom lived into the age of photographic technology. Because Stuart was such a reknowned painter, his subjects were high profile enough to have both their portraits and their photographs preserved. The photographs show Stuart to be an accurate painter, but he did make a few changes. He worked most aggressively on noses, smoothing out bumps, narrowing the ends, and taking away crinkles at the eyebrow ridge. His cheekbones and eyebrows are also higher than the actual subjects.
So what was George Washington's actual face?
It looks a great deal less stern than his portrait, but the differences are subtle. If they are to get more extensive, more photographs need to be unearthed. To that effect, the people working on the project have set up a website, requesting any photos that people have of the subject of Stuart's portraits. Check out the other reconstituted pictures of historical subjects there, as well.
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Thu October 11, 2012
Software Calculates City-Specific Carbon Footprint
Originally published on Thu October 11, 2012 2:58 pm
One way to measure greenhouse gases is simply to capture them at the source: You put an instrument on a smokestack, for example. Cities, however, are full of cars, buses, factories and homes that all use fuel or electricity. No one really knows how much carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, comes from each.
Ecologist Kevin Gurney says he can find out.
"If a molecule of CO2 is coming from the surface due to the combustion of fossil fuel, I want to know about it," he says.
Many mayors want to know, too. Hundreds have pledged to reduce their cities' greenhouse gas emissions, but measurements from satellites and monitoring stations mostly lump together emissions sources for a whole city or county.
At Arizona State University, Gurney has come up with a software package that analyzes what he calls a city's metabolism.
"We look at the landscape as if you were in an airplane, and look down at everything, everything that's burning fossil fuels, that's what I want to see," he says. "I want to see through the walls, through the engine."
Gurney collects piles of information about a city's energy diet — from utilities, transportation departments and air-pollution monitors. When he analyzed Indianapolis, Gurney and colleagues from Purdue University and other institutions could pinpoint emissions down to the level of a building or a street.
"We can actually see, through CO2, people waking up, leaving their homes, getting in their cars, going to work," he says. "They move from sector to sector."
The emissions level moves with them.
Gurney calls his toolkit Hestia after the Greek goddess of the hearth and home. In Indianapolis, Hestia showed which neighborhoods had older, draftier homes that use more heating, and which roads get clogged at rush hour and thus produce more CO2.
The idea is that mayors can find out where to surgically nip and tuck to reduce their carbon footprint.
Scott Bernstein, head of the Center for Neighborhood Technology, advises city managers on how to do that. He says existing tools to measure CO2 are often user-unfriendly.
"People look at these big giant spreadsheets in emissions accounting, and their eyes glaze over badly, but if they can see a color-coded map, if they can see a flyover view, people get engaged," he says.
Bernstein says it may be easier to reduce CO2 emissions up from city streets and buildings than to change the entire country's network of power plants, coal mines and refineries.
Colin Tetreault, the official who's figuring out how to cut carbon emissions in Phoenix, says Hestia has already given him ideas on where to spend city money to lower emissions. It also makes it easier for Phoenix residents to make their own decisions, he says.
"This provides the opportunity for any normal citizen to pull up and see what their CO2 footprint could be over the city," he says. "So that could inform them, 'Do I want to spend money on energy efficiency here in my house, reduce my electricity bill, do I want to change my transportation pattern, to something like our light rail or ride a bike?' "
The Hestia program is described in the journal Environmental Science and Technology. Gurney says he's doing an emissions diagnosis of Los Angeles next.
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Pub. date: 2005 | Online Pub. Date: September 15, 2007 | DOI: 10.4135/9781412950565 | Print ISBN: 9780761928201 | Online ISBN: 9781412950565| Publisher:SAGE Publications, Inc.About this encyclopedia
Immigrants, Experiences of
Immigrant is a term used to describe foreign nationals who enter a country for purposes of permanent resettlement. They are distinguished from persons who may cross national borders temporarily, such as for purposes of enrolling in educational institutions or temporary employment but with the intent of returning to their homeland permanently. An immigrant may arrive legally, holding a specific visa for immigration, may decide to remain in a foreign country permanently after having spent some time there as a tourist, student, or guest worker, or may arrive without legal documents. In the United States, the legal definition of immigrant or permanent resident alien is used by the USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service, formerly INS) to refer only to lawful permanent residents; however the term is commonly used to refer to any foreign nationals crossing borders for purposes of permanent resettlement. There is no general agreement as to whether the ...
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| In what sense did the Court find
"inherently unequal"? Was this the best ground for the decision?
Was it a problem with facilities, salaries, or standards?
---Court says no, accepting lower court findings:
"Here there are findings below that the Negro and white schools involved have been equalized, or are being equalized, with respect to buildings, curricula, qualifications and salaries of teachers, and other "tangible" factors. Our decision, therefore, cannot turn on merely a comparison of these tangible factors in the Negro and white schools involved in each of the cases."
Court says segregation generates "feelings of inferiority," "affects motivation," and "retards the educational and mental development of Negro children."
---How does the Court know that?
---What if later studies cast doubt upon those findings?
Conclusion of Court:
"We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of "separate but equal" has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal."
Any better ground for decision?
---First Amendment freedom of association of both white and black students?
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Sherrod Library Government Documents
HOW LAWS ARE MADE
The process by which a bill in Congress becomes law can seem mysterious and complicated. Our system of government works basically as set forth in the Constitution; however, over the past 225 years, procedures, precedents, and preferences have made the process more complicated than it was originally envisioned. To muddle our understanding, traditions reaching back to British rule of the colonies have influenced how our government works.
The process has also developed its own terminology that can confuse us at each stage a bill goes through. This guide will try to clarify the process, break the steps down, and offer suggestions to help find documentation for each step.
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1/100th scale of the Space Shuttle Atlantis
National Aeronautics and Space Administration developed the Space Shuttle.
NASA coordinates and manages the Space Transportation System (NASA's name
for the overall Shuttle program), including intergovernmental agency requirements
and international and joint projects. NASA also oversees the launch and
space flight requirements for civilian and commercial use.
The Space Shuttle system consists of four primary elements: an orbiter spacecraft, two Solid Rocket Boosters (SRB), an external tank to house fuel and oxidizer and three Space Shuttle main engines. The orbiter is built by Rockwell International's Space Transportation Systems Division in Downey, Calif., which also has responsibility for the integration of the overall space transportation system. Both orbiter and integration contracts are under the direction of NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. The SRB motors are built by the Wasatch Division of Morton Thiokol Corp., Brigham City, Utah, and are assembled, checked out and refurbished by United Space Boosters Inc., Booster Production Co., Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Fla. The external tank is built by Martin Marietta Corp. at its Michoud facility, New Orleans, La., and the Space Shuttle main engines are built by Rockwell's Rocketdyne Division in Canoga Park, Calif. These contracts are under the direction of NASA's George C. Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
Curtsey of NASA
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The U.N. Commission of Inquiry on Syria recently determined that the fighting in Syria is not an “armed conflict” (PDF)– the legal term for war — under international law because the opposition forces are not sufficiently organized. Yet surely the protesters, dissident fighters and terrified citizens caught up in the violence in Syria believe they are at war.
States and other international legal experts are following the same overly technical approach and, as a result, not applying the law designed for just this situation: the law of war. The international community is left unable to use every available tool in its efforts to halt the violence and protect civilians from extraordinary suffering.
Failing to call Syria’s upheaval an armed conflict — the legal term for war — has real and immediate consequences. Contrary to what events in Syria suggest, war is not waged in a legal vacuum. International law regulates permissible conduct during war, even civil war.
The law of war exists specifically to restrain brutality in war, protect innocent civilians from direct attack and minimize suffering. It prohibits deliberate attacks on civilians and using them as human shields, requires humane treatment of the wounded or detained personnel, obligates parties to respect and protect medical aid providers, mandates efforts to facilitate delivery of humanitarian relief, and imposes criminal responsibility on those who disregard these obligations. These basic and essential protections apply during any armed conflict.
The only rule that President Bashar al-Assad and his forces follow, however, is the rule of unrestrained brute force. Indiscriminate shelling of towns; civilians forcibly used as human shields; and attacks on the wounded, ambulances and humanitarian workers are a daily staple in the mismatched struggle between al-Assad’s heavily armed and morally corrupt forces and the regime’s opponents: protesters, dissident army units and other fighters.
Massive suffering from heavy-handed government responses to internal threats is nothing new; indeed, the images from Syria are unfortunately all too common. Bosnia, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Sudan and now Syria are the latest in history’s long line of notoriously brutal struggles between competing factions within a state. Historically, states did not recognize the law of war’s application during internal conflict, arguing that internal matters were solely the concern of the state. The need to maximize protection of civilians in the face of the unprecedented brutality of internal conflicts — especially the Spanish Civil War — was the primary motivation for including fundamental law of war protections for such conflicts in the 1949 Geneva Conventions.
Demanding that the Syrian government respect international human rights obligations is certainly appropriate. These obligations protect the same fundamental rights as the law of war. But armed conflict involves a level of force and violence that triggers the law of war’s more specialized international legal regime, one better suited to address war’s full range of challenges. Notably, however, there are no demands that the parties abide by the law of war.
The United Nations Commission and other experts may fear that acknowledging an armed conflict in Syria will give both sides free rein to use military force. Such concern is naïve in the present circumstances. Al-Assad is already using maximum firepower. The primary concern must be whether we can use every available tool to regulate that use of force to protect innocent victims.
Reality thus tragically demonstrates that the essential dividing line in Syria is not between peacetime and wartime but between the law of war and no law at all. Syria’s crisis surpassed that demarcation line long ago, even if the opposition is not extensively organized.
Levels of violence obviously exceeding what is normal during peacetime and, especially, a government unleashing its full military might to repress a dissident threat call for the application of the law of war. The international community’s refusal to recognize an armed conflict in Syria can only be characterized as not seeing the forest for the trees.
Widespread recognition that the situation has risen to the level of armed conflict is no talisman: It will not result in immediate intervention, nor is it likely the regime will immediately change its tactics. What it will do is arm those seeking an end to indiscriminate brutality with a clearly defined legal basis to demand restraint from the parties to the hostilities. Perhaps more important, it will place Syrian leaders on immediate notice that their actions will be judged against a standard of wartime conduct, and that they are accountable for the widespread suffering they have caused.
It is time to call a spade a spade and demand compliance with this law. By doing so, an international community increasingly disgusted by events in Syria can send a clear message that the law’s basic protections for persons in the conflict zone must be upheld and that every leader responsible for violating this law will be held to account.
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The establishment of the huge silver and copper mines in western Montana in the 1880s called for a large and stable workforce, supplied mostly by immigrants. The mines demanded workers, and Europe had workers to spare. The population of Montana grew 365 percent from 1880 to 1890, largely as a result of immigration into Butte and Anaconda. Large numbers of Irish, Germans, Slavs, Italians, Finns, and “Cousin Jack” miners from Cornwall poured into Butte to work the mines. These foreign workers settled into separate ethnic neighborhoods, where traditional food, customs, and languages prevailed. Some Jewish immigrants moved to the thriving mining centers and set up retail establishments. In 1910 black settlers in Montana, most of whom lived in mining towns, numbered almost 2,000. Only after the establishment of Air Force bases near Glasgow and Great Falls in the 1960s were there more black residents in the state. Chinese immigrants were also attracted to Butte, where they set up laundries and restaurants. Although Butte’s preeminence in Montana has dimmed, the early growth of immigrant populations in the mining communities established Roman Catholicism as the state’s dominant religion, and Butte set a standard of openness to immigrants that is still observed by Montanans.
The railroads brought settlers to the plains of eastern Montana. Ambitious campaigns by the Great Northern and the Milwaukee Road succeeded in luring thousands of farmers to cultivate the dry prairie. Between 1900 and 1910 the number of farms and ranches in Montana doubled, and while many American-born homesteaders settled in Montana during this time, immigrants had an especially strong influence in eastern Montana. By 1910 one quarter of all Montanans were foreign-born. Entire communities of Germans, Russians, and Scandinavians were founded as farms and towns sprung up alongside rail sidings, as did the telltale Lutheran church. Scots and Irish continued to settle the plains as ranchers and herdsmen. Today in northern and central Montana the names in small-town phone books read like similar directories in Norway, Sweden, or Scotland.
Even though droughts and the Great Depression worked to depopulate the Montana plains, the foreign character remains in communities founded by immigrant farmers and ranchers. Fifty thousand foreign-born settlers moved to the state from 1900 to 1920, while 120,000 American-born settlers did so. But during the droughts and bad markets of the 1920s, 10 times more American-born homesteaders than immigrants gave up and moved on. By 1930, people of foreign birth or first-generation Montanans made up 45 percent of the population.
Some foreign settlers moved to Montana expressly to form communities. Mennonite groups settled in Montana during the homesteading years, but many left after the state legislature, urged on by an organization called the Montana Council of Defense, drafted laws during World War I that forbade speaking the German language. Hutterites maintain 22 communities in Montana and currently number more than 2,000 adherents.
War policies have not always driven Montanans from the state. During World War II, Japanese internees from California were shipped to the state to work in sugar beet fields. Some found Montana to their liking; farming communities along the Yellowstone are still home to Japanese families.
Like other Western states, Montana is now home to a growing population of Hispanics, many of whom work on farms and ranches. Hispanics now make up more than two percent of the state’s population.
© W.C. McRae & Judy Jewell from Moon Montana, 7th Edition
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We analysts keep doing a number of estimations based on country’s GDP. Most of the variables are best remembered and analysed as % of GDP- investment, savings, market capitalization, exports, imports etc etc. The growth rates in GDP and its components are one of the most important variables looked upon by analysts.
So, the question is how do we compute GDP? CSO provides an explanation (you need to register, it is free). As per National Income Accounting there are 3 ways to compute GDP:
- Product wise: Calculating the total production
- Income wise: Calculating the total incomes received by factors of production – labour & capital
- Expenditure wise: Calculating the total expenditure of all the entities.
In a way all the three are part of a cycle…You begin production by using factors (labour and capital) and then you pay them incomes which they eventually spend purchasing items of their need. So, which ever way you take it, each of the estimates, should provide you the same GDP. But all these calculations have errors and in reality we never have one figure.
In India, for all these years we have been getting GDP Product-wise i.e. we have 8 sectors, we calculate how much has been produced (value added that is) in each sector and aggregate it to get GDP figure. We also get GDP based on state levels.
If you look at the Expenditure approach, it is the classic Keynesian equation:
Y = C + I + G + (X-M)
Y – Income (or GDP)
C- Consumption (or Private Final Consumption Expenditure).
I- Investment (or Gross Final Consumption Exp)
So, now you have two ways to get your GDP number. And yes there are discrepancies which are mentioned in the press release.
What do the two kinds of GDP approaches tell me?
The Product approach tells me how much each sector is growing and contributing to GDP. For instance, whenever we read agriculture growing by this much, services by this much etc this approach is used.
The expenditure approach tells me whether GDP growth is happening via consumption or investment.
I have already mentioned about the recent developments in sectoral growth here and keep posting about it via IIP releases.
Now, the expenditure approach tells me quite a few things:
- Consumption contributes most to the GDP. PFCE is 62% of GDP in 2004-05 and has decreased to 58% in 2006-07.
- Investment has been rising and has increased from 26% in 04-05 to 28% in 06-07.
- This is consistent with the evidence provided in the Economic Advisory Council report (which I covered here). However, it looked at growth of personal credit as an indicator for consumption led growth, this is a better evidence of the same phenomenon. The report raised concern that India needs to move more to investment driven growth and we see that happening. However, magnitude of shift is pretty small.
- The EAC report also said India needs to look at sprucing up exports but we don’t see that happening. The exports as a % of GDP has been falling and was at 17.6% in 06-07 compared to 18.4% in 2004-05. The same figure for imports has risen from 16.1% to 16.5% in the same period.
Hence a bit of mixed evidence, We see investments increasing but exports are falling. With rupee appreciation, the exports are going to fall further this year (I have covered it here).
Keep visiting this blog for further developments.
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What is Title I and what type of student does it serve?
This program provides financial assistance through state educational agencies (SEAs) to local educational agencies (LEAs) and public schools with high numbers or percentages of poor children to help ensure that all children meet challenging state academic content and student academic achievement standards.
LEAs target the Title I funds they receive to public schools with the highest percentages of children from low-income families. Unless a participating school is operating a schoolwide program, the school must focus Title I services on children who are failing, or most at risk of failing, to meet state academic standards. Schools enrolling at least 40 percent of children from low-income families are eligible to use Title I funds for schoolwide programs designed to upgrade their entire educational programs to improve achievement for all students, particularly the lowest-achieving students.
In school year 2009-10, more than 56,000 public schools across the country used Title I funds to provide additional academic support and learning opportunities to help low-achieving children master challenging curricula and meet state standards in core academic subjects. For example, funds support extra instruction in reading and mathematics, as well as special preschool, after-school, and summer programs to extend and reinforce the regular school curriculum. That same year Title I served more than 21 million children. Of these students, approximately 59 percent were in kindergarten through fifth grade, 21 percent in grades 6-8, 17 percent in grades 9-12, 3 percent in preschool, and less than one percent ungraded.
Title I is designed to help students served by the program to achieve proficiency on challenging state academic achievement standards. Title I schools with percentages of low income students of at least 40 percent may use Title I funds, along with other federal, state, and local funds, to operate a "schoolwide program" to upgrade the instructional program for the whole school. Title I schools with less than 40 percent low income students or that choose not to operate a schoolwide program offer a "targeted assistance program" in which the school identifies students who are failing, or most at risk of failing, to meet the state's challenging academic achievement standards. Targeted assistance schools design, in consultation with parents, staff, and district staff, an instructional program to meet the needs of those students. Both schoolwide and targeted assistance programs must use instructional strategies based on scientifically based research and implement parental involvement activities.
Under Title I, local educational agencies (LEAs) are required to provide services for eligible private school students, as well as eligible public school students. In particular, section 1120 of Title I, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), requires a participating LEA to provide eligible children attending private elementary and secondary schools, their teachers, and their families with Title I services or other benefits that are equitable to those provided to eligible public school children, their teachers, and their families. These services must be developed in consultation with officials of the private schools. The Title I services provided by the LEA for private school participants are designed to meet their educational needs and supplement the educational services provided by the private school.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education. Improving Basic Programs Operated by Local Educational Agencies (Title I, Part A) .
Related Tables and Figures: (Listed by Release Date)
Other Resources: (Listed by Release Date)
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Nanotechnology scientists and memory researchers at the Kiel University redesigned a mental learning process using electronic circuits.
The bell rings and the dog starts drooling. Such a reaction was part of studies performed by Ivan Pavlov, a famous Russian psychologist and physiologist and winner of the Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine in 1904. His experiment, nowadays known as “Pavlov’s Dog”, is ever since considered as a milestone for implicit learning processes. By using specific electronic components scientists from the Technical Faculty and the Memory Research at the Kiel University together with the Forschungszentrum Jülich were now able to mimic the behavior of Pavlov`s dog. The study “An Electronic Version of Pavlov’s Dog” is published in the current issue of Advanced Functional Materials (huwp 12012).
Digital and biological information processing are based on fundamentally different principles. Modern computers are able to work on mathematical-logical problems at an extremely high pace. In fact, procedures in the computer’s central processing unit and in the storage media run serially. While digital computers have shown immense success throughout the years in certain fields, they reveal weaknesses when it comes to pattern recognition and cognitive tasks. “However, to imitate biological information processing systems recognition and cognitive tasks are essential. Mammal brains – and therefore also the brains of humans – decode information in complex neuronal networks of synapses with up to 1014 (100 Trillion) connections. However, the connectivity between neurons is not fixed. “Learning means that new connections between neurons are created, or existing connections are reinforced or weakened”, says PD Dr. Thorsten Bartsch of the Clinic for Neurology. This is called neuronal plasticity.
Is it possible to design neural circuits with electronic devices to mimic learning? At this crossroad between neurobiology, material science and nanoelectronics, scientists from the University of Kiel are collaborating with their colleagues from the Research Center Jülich. Now, they have succeeded in electronically recreating the classical “Pavlov’s Dog” experiment. “We used memristive devices in order to mimic the associative behaviour of Pavlov’s dog in form of an electronic circuit”, explains Professor Hermann Kohlstedt, head of the working group Nanoelectronics at the University of Kiel.
Memristors are a class of electronic circuit elements which have only been available to scientists in an adequate quality for a few years. They exhibit a memory characteristic in form of hysteretic current-voltage curves consisting of high and low resistance branches. In dependence on the prior charge flow through the device these resistances can vary. Scientists try to use this memory effect in order to create networks that are similar to neuronal connections between synapses. “In the long term, our goal is to copy the synaptic plasticity onto electronic circuits. We might even be able to recreate cognitive skills electronically”, says Kohlstedt. The collaborating scientific working groups in Kiel and Jülich have taken a small step toward this goal.
The project set-up consisted of the following: two electrical impulses were linked via a memristive device to a comparator. The two pulses represent the food and the bell in Pavlov’s experiment. A comparator is a device that compares two voltages or currents and generates an output when a given level has been reached. In this case, it produces the output signal (representing saliva) when the threshold value is reached. In addition, the memristive element also has a threshold voltage that is defined by physical and chemical mechanisms in the nano-electronic device. Below this threshold value the memristive device behaves like any ordinary linear resistor. However, when the threshold value is exceeded, a hysteretic (changed) current-voltage characteristic will appear.
“During the experimental investigation, the food for the dog (electrical impulse 1) resulted in an output signal of the comparator, which could be defined as salivation. Unlike to impulse 1, the ring of the bell (electrical impulse 2) was set in such a way that the compartor’s output stayed unaffected – meaning no salivation”, describes Dr. Martin Ziegler, scientist at the Kiel University and the first-author of the publication. After applying both impulses simultaneously to the memristive device, the threshold value was exceeded. The working group had activated the memristive memory function. Multiple repetitions led to an associative learning process within the circuit – similar to Pavlov’s dogs. “From this moment on, we had only to apply electrical impulse 2 (bell) and the comparator generated an output signal, equivalent to salivation”, says Ziegler and is very pleased with these results. Electrical impulse 1 (feed) triggers the same reaction as it did before the learning. Hence, the electric circuit shows a behaviour that is termed classical conditioning in the field of psychology. Beyond that, the scientists were able to prove that the electrical circuit is able to unlearn a particular behaviour if both impulses were not longer applied simultaneously.
Information on “Pavlov’s dog”
In Behavioural Psychology, Pavlov’s experiments with dogs are considered as milestones to understand implicit learning in biological systems. In the early 20th century, Ivan Pavlov was able to show that dogs reacted indifferently towards the impulse “bell” and “food” when these were presented separately. After combining those two impulses (food and bell) in multiple repetitions, the dogs associated both impulses with each other. As a result, the dogs produced a higher amount of saliva, now even hearing the bell alone. This method is called classical conditioning and can be generalized to various combinations of certain impulses.
Notes about this neuroscience research article
Contact: Prof. Dr. Hermann Kohlstedt – University of Kiel
Source: University of Kiel press release
Image Sources: Neuroscience images adapted from press release images with credit to Kohlstedt and Advanced Functional Materials.
Original Research: Abstract for “An Electronic Version of Pavlov’s Dog” by Martin Ziegler, Rohit Soni, Timo Patelczyk, Marina Ignatov, Thorsten Bartsch, Paul Meuffels & Hermann Kohlstedt in Advanced Functional Materials (huwp 12012) doi: 10.1002/adfm.201200244
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Plant sources of protein are preferable, as animal protein sources been linked to negative health effects from acne (see also here) to cancer, female infertility, infant sleep apnea, autism, crib death, and premature puberty. Meat has even been linked with a shorter life span. The presence of industrial carcinogens, xenoestrogens, arsenic, steroids and external hormones in animal fat and protein may be partially to blame. Plant protein consumption has been associated with a slimmer waistline and consuming a plant-based diet and may help rheumatoid arthritis, prevent cancer, and normalize puberty age in young women. Food is a package deal. You can’t get the protein in meat without the cholesterol, for example. Similarly, the best source of vitamin B12 is from supplements rather from animal sources.
See also the related blog post: Atkins Diet and Erectile Dysfunction
Topic summary contributed by Stephanie Davidson
To help out on the site, email [email protected]
Watch videos about animal protein
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An evolutionary argument for a plant-based diet is presented, in contrast to "paleo" fad diets.
October 5, 2012
How Much Soy Is Too Much?
To maintain the low IGF-1 levels associated with a plant-based diet, one should probably eat no more than 3-5 servings of soy foods a day.
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Animalistic Plant Proteins
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Higher Quality May Mean Higher Risk
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European Painting before 1900, Johnson Collection
Camilla in Battle
Panel from a cassone; possibly a companion to The Legend of Cloelia, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (11.126.2)Made in Italy, Europe
Matteo di Giovanni (Matteo di Giovanni di Bartolo), Italian (active Siena and environs and Borgo San Sepolcro), first documented 1452, died 1495, or Guidoccio di Giovanni Cozzarelli, Italian (active Siena), 1450 - 1517.
Tempera, tooled gold, and silver leaf on panel
Cat. 111John G. Johnson Collection, 1917
LabelThis panel may have once been the front part of a marriage chest. The usual wear and tear on such pieces (the marks in the upper center were probably made by keys used to open the chest) makes precise attribution difficult, but this work is likely by either Matteo di Giovanni or Guidoccio Cozzarelli. Its subject, derived from the Roman poet Virgil’s Aeneid, shows warrior-princess Camilla leading her female tribe in support of the Latins in their fight against the Trojans. Shown here holding a bow, Camilla was eventually killed by the Trojan Arruns, whose subsequent fate is depicted in the left foreground: huntress-goddess Diana’s nymph Opsis prepares to kill him. For fifteenth-century viewers, Camilla’s bravery may have provoked a mixed reaction. Although heroic, chaste, and loyal, Camilla’s transgressions against what was considered proper female behavior made her an ambiguous role model.
Social Tags [?]aeneid [x] cassone [x] militarism [x] morality [x] mythology [x] [Add Your Own Tags]
* Works in the collection are moved off view for many different reasons. Although gallery locations on the website are updated regularly, there is no guarantee that this object will be on display on the day of your visit.
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Camera Aperture Explained
Camera aperture is like a faucet. In my very first photography class, I at first felt intimidated while my instructor explained the concept of aperture. Once the faucet analogy was introduced however, I could grasp the concept. The more wide open the lens aperture is, the more light that gets in. Conversely, the smaller the opening, the less light that gets in.
The size of the aperture is indicated by an “f-number”, also sometimes referred to as an “f-stop”. Strangely, the lower the f-number, the larger the lens opening. So, f/1.4 is actually a larger aperture opening than f/16.
Opening the camera lens aperture one full f-stop actually doubles the amount of light entering the camera. Conversely, closing down, also sometimes called “stopping down”, one full f-stop cuts the amount of light entering through the lens in half. So for example, f/4 admits twice the light of f/5.6, and f/5.6 admits twice the light of f/8 and so on. Going the opposite direction, f/5.6 admits half the light of f/4.
Aperture to a great degree controls depth of field. Depth of field is basically just the distance from the front to the back of a photograph that is reasonably in focus. Changing the depth of field by changing the aperture can give you much more artistic control of your photography than simply shooting in auto mode and letting the camera decide. For example, most landscapes are shot with a great depth of field (smaller aperture), so that the entire scene will be sharply in focus. In scenes where you would like a specific subject to stand out, a shallow depth of field (larger aperture) can often be used to positive effect.
Smaller aperture = higher f-number = greater depth of field
Wider aperture = lower f-number = shallower depth of field
When the aperture is changed, your exposure time (shutter speed) needs be changed as well to compensate for the change in aperture. This is so your image will be properly exposed and won’t be either too dark or too light. One way to do this very easily, is to set your camera in Aperture Priority mode. All DSLR’s and most point and shoot digital cameras these days have Aperture priority mode. In this mode, you set your desired aperture, and the camera then automatically chooses the correct shutter speed for the current lighting conditions. In most situations, this will work just fine, and your camera will choose the proper shutter speed for your chosen aperture.
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Just to add a bit more to Stuarts answer, Mercury has an axial tilt of only 2 degrees, and no atmosphere to speak of. It is the only planet that has such. What do those 2 things lead to?
- If an area at one of the poles has an incline of more than 2 degrees in all directions, it will remain in permanent shadow. If it is near, add the latitude-90 to the angle to get it's accuracy.
- There is no atmosphere, and thus, only light directly from the sun, and indirectly through ground heat transportation could possibly heat an area on the planet.
So, putting both of these together, it stands to reason that a reasonable chance that if there was some kind of a valley near a pole, it could be very cold.
So, an area that would be "balmy" would need to have some method of combining shadow and light in the right proportion. The ideal thing to do would be to have some sort of an atmosphere. It is possible that a proper habitat could be constructed that would allow for that. But, it would have to account for the slight tilt in the axis, and somehow rotate to different angles depending on where the sun is pointed at that time.
Bottom line is, a large enough habitat could be constructed where it would naturally be heated to 80 degrees inside, but it might take some considerable effort.
Now, it should be noted that there would be some spot of shade, and another of sunlight. The ground would have some distribution beween them, which would allow for temperature contours. I suspect that they would be fairly small, on the order of a few meters or at most tens of meters, from hot to cold. So that narrow band would probably exist, and would be about the size of your shoes.
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Nanotubes wreak havoc with heat
Mar 2, 2009
Physicists in the US have discovered that electrons flowing in carbon nanotube-based circuits dissipate energy in very different ways from electrons flowing through devices made from conventional semiconductors such as silicon. The findings reveal processes of heat conduction that were never previously thought important and could influence the types of materials chosen for the next generation of electronic devices in order to prevent them from overheating.
In conventional semiconductor devices, different layers of material are always joined by chemical bonds. This provides continuity for heat flowing through such devices, making them relatively easy to cool. Many researchers believe that future generations of electronic devices could be made from carbon nanotubes — tubes with walls just one atom thick — which could enable much smaller feature sizes and hence much better computing performance. However, nanotubes do not bond chemically to adjoining structures, which suggested that it should be very difficult to remove heat from such devices.
Bonding not needed
But now Phaedon Avouris and colleagues at the IBM Thomas J Watson Research Center in New York and researchers at Duke University in North Carolina have found that electrons in nanotubes can dissipate energy straight to an adjacent substrate even though it is not chemically bonded.
The team has also found that current-carrying electrons in nanotube devices do not undergo the normal process of “thermalization”, in which a material’s thermal vibrations reach statistical equilibrium (Nature Nanotechnology doi:10.1038/nnano.2009.22).
Avouris and team studied a carbon nanotube on a silicon-dioxide substrate, an arrangement that acts like the active channel of a field-effect transistor. They have used a variety of techniques including Raman scattering, in which the energy of scattered light reveals the different temperatures or “modes” of vibration of the nanotube lattice.
Normally when a current passes through a semiconductor the electrons bump into nearby atoms, which begin to vibrate in a certain mode. This mode then gradually transfers its energy to atoms at lower temperature modes until, at thermalization, all atoms are vibrating in statistical equilibrium.
The researchers have shown that, in nanotubes, thermalization does not take place; the atoms continue to vibrate in the same mode and statistical equilibrium is never reached.
Just as surprising, however, is that the lack of chemical bonding to the substrate does not inhibit heat conduction. The team has shown that when the electrons collide with atoms in the silicon dioxide, which is a polar material, the subsequent shift in position of the atoms generates an electric field that extends beyond the substrate and into the nanotube. When the nanotube’s electrons interact with this field they are able to dissipate energy straight to the substrate.
Scientists were aware of this process of remote heat conduction before, but had never considered it important because they had focused on 2D and 3D materials in which the effect is much weaker. But Avouris told physicsworld.com that the other unusual mechanism — the absence of thermalization — could exist in other materials, and that it may have been overlooked because researchers have not had the right observational tools.
“Understanding this dissipation mechanism in detail is important, especially if nanotubes are someday employed in electronic circuits,” says Adrian Bachtold, a nanoelectronics researcher at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. “Indeed, a better understanding is the first step to be able to engineer the dissipation pathway. For instance, it may be possible to find tricks to enhance the current in the ‘on’ state of the transistor, [which would be] good for rapid circuits.”
The US team is now investigating similar effects in graphene, a one-dimensional “chickenwire” lattice of carbon atoms rather like an unrolled nanotube. Avouris says his team knows that the same mechanisms occur in graphene, but expects some “curious effects” due the material’s larger footprint on the substrate.
About the author
Jon Cartwright is a freelance journalist based in Bristol, UK
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Hi and welcome to the May Childcare blog!
The spring weather has finally put in an appearance, and for most children this will mean spending more time outside. But it’s easy to forget that some everyday fine weather occurrences – such as drying the washing outside – will be completely new to many of the young children you work with, as their memories will not stretch back to our last warm spell. Doing the laundry is an ideal example of a real, every day activity that can promote many different early learning goals (elgs) across the EYFS.
So why not give children the opportunity to hand wash your collection of dolls’ clothes (this can be a small group activity if done in the water tray), or involve children in the process of putting soft toys in the washing machine? (Adults should handle the laundry detergents. It’s a good idea to use well diluted washing up liquid as the cleaning agent when hand washing with young children).
For example, when collecting the dirty laundry together, there can be a discussion about why we need to wash our clothes – this promotes the elg Health and self-care. Machine washing promotes an understanding of technology (elg: technology), while hand washing provides an opportunity for soapy water fun as well as experiencing and making observations about wet laundry, e.g. it’s heavier than dry laundry and the colour of some fabrics may appear darker when wet (elgs: The world, Exploring and using media and materials).
Wringing out and hanging washing on a suitably low line requires the use of large and fine motor skills (elg: Moving and handling), and if you introduce an assortment of clothes pegs, children can also notice different colours, shapes, sizes and materials (elgs: Numbers, and Shape, space and measures).
The way laundry behaves on the line opens a whole new area of observation and discussion – is it a breezy day? Is the wind making the clothes blow, or are they fairly still? Is there any sun? Are different fabrics drying at different speeds, e.g. is a cotton dress drying faster than a pair of jeans? (elg: The world). Don’t forget that babies often enjoy watching the clothes blowing on the line too!
There’s further scope for learning and development as the washing is picked in and folded into the laundry basket (elg: Moving and handling), and eventually sorted, matched and put away in the right place.
For a step-by-step guide to a Sorting and matching laundry activity (elg: Number), check out our new factsheet on Planet Vocational. The activity is an excerpt from my new book A Practical Guide to the Early Years Foundation Stage. You’ll find many more activities to promote all areas of learning and development for children throughout the EYFS age range in the book itself.
If you haven’t yet registered for free access to Planet Vocational, do sign up - you’ll be able to access factsheets and other handy resources over the coming months, which compliment the content of the book.
Happy laundry day!
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Mercury in the Environment
Mercury is a
naturally occurring element of remarkable qualities, a volatile liquid metal (at
normal temperatures) that easily becomes a gas. Mercury (chemical symbol Hg,
atomic number 80) conducts electricity, and can be used to directly measure
temperature and pressure. Its applications can be found everywhere in human
- as a catalyst in industrial processes
- in solvents, and pesticides;
- in light switches, lamps, and batteries
- in paints and preservatives
- in cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals
Mercury is one of the group of elements known as heavy metals. Many of these
(including lead, cadmium, and selenium) are toxic to living things. Mercury too
can kill living things, from bacteria to human beings. In particular, it can be
converted into an organic form, methyl mercury, which is especially toxic.
Presence of Mercury in the Environment
Mercury is a naturally occurring mineral that can be found
throughout the environment. Mercury forms can be found as the elemental metal or
in a wide variety of organic and inorganic compounds.
There is a constant biogeochemical cycle of mercury. This
- release of elemental mercury as a gas from the rocks
and waters (degassing);
- long-range transport of the gases in the atmosphere;
- wet and dry deposition upon land and surface water;
- absorption onto sediment particles;
- bioaccumulation in terrestrial and aquatic food chains.
Natural and Manmade Emissions of Mercury
Mercury is released to environmental media
(air, water, soil) by a wide variety of natural processes and human
interventions. Worldwide, natural emissions of mercury from physical and
biological processes may equal or exceed manmade emissions.
The global anthropogenic emission rate for mercury is
estimated to be 650 metric tons (650,000 Kg) annually, while natural emissions
could be as much as 1020 metric tons (1,020,000 Kg). While the totals are quite
uncertain, natural emissions may comprise about 50 percent of them.
Even if all manmade emissions of mercury were
eliminated, a significant natural discharge to the environment --through both
biological and physical processes-- would persist.
Mercury in Nature: Chemical and Biology
Significant amounts of mercury are directly released from
the earth's crust by the process of degassing. Both natural and manmade
emissions are modified by biological processes into forms more directly harmful
to human beings. Mercury is somehow less toxic in its volatile form,
mercury-zero, than in organic compounds like methyl mercury or inorganic salts
Common bacteria of the soil and water
have adapted to the presence of mercury. They have developed methods to detoxify
its organic compounds and salts to the elemental form of mercury zero. Mercury
zero, however, is volatile, and thus can spread throughout the environment
through secondary biological mechanisms. Once it reaches inland aquatic
environments, mercury zero can again accumulate and be transformed into methyl
mercury, the toxic form that bioaccumulates in fish, animals, and humans. This
toxic transformation can occur from any of three causes:
- the photochemical (abiotic) action of sunlight
- the methyl cobalamin (a hydrocarbon compound), excreted
- the plants of aquatic ecosystems.
Mercury in the Atmosphere
At least 99 percent of all mercury in the atmosphere
exists in the elemental gaseous form of mercury-zero. Much of the remainder is
mercury-two, which is water soluble and the form most often deposited by
Most of the mercury in the atmosphere
comes from natural degassing from water and rocks. Major manmade discharges to
the atmosphere come from:
- mining and smelting of mercury ores
- industrial processes using mercury
- combustion of fossil fuels, primary coal.
Less common manmade sources of atmospheric mercury
- paint application
- waste oil combustion
- geothermal energy plants
- municipal and waste incineration.
- diffuse emissions from dental procedures
One important local source of atmospheric mercury is
the incineration of medical wastes.
Mercury in the Water
Mercury can enter water by many different routes and
- wet and dry atmospheric depositions
- particle flux to sediments
- dissolved species exchange at sediment/water interfaces
- gas exchange at air/water/surface interfaces
- moving dissolved species exchange and particle flux via
stream and rivers
- dissolved species exchange via runoff from groundwater
- direct discharge of dissolved species via groundwater
- gas exchange at soil-air ion interfaces
Manmade discharges may result from industrial processes, such
- chlorine-alkali production
- mining operations
- paper mills
- leather tanning
- pharmaceutical production
- textile manufacture
Trouble in the Waters: Methyl Mercury
In the aquatic environment, mercury can be:
- dissolved or suspended in the water
- trapped in the sediments
- ingested by living things (biota)
Methyl mercury is the form of mercury most available and most
toxic to biota (including zooplankton, insects, fish, and humans). This form of
mercury is easily taken up by biota and bioaccumulates in their tissues. Unlike
many other fish contaminants, such as PCBs, dioxin, and DDT, mercury does not
concentrate in the fat, but in the muscle tissue. Thus, there is no simple way
to remove mercury-contaminated portions from fish that is to be eaten.
The local aquatic environment largely determines how much
available mercury takes the accessible toxic for of methylmercury. Research
suggests that sulfur-using bacteria are a major source. The extent of
biomethylation may depend upon such factors such as pH, (i.e. alkalinity),
available sulfur sources, and dissolved organic materials.
Mercury in the Soil
Human agricultural activities may release mercury to the soil
through direct applications, such as:
- organic and inorganic fertilizers (especially sewage
sludge and compost)
Once in the soil, mercury compounds may undergo the same
chemical and biological transformations found in aquatic systems. Elemental
mercury (mercury zero) will form various compounds with the chloride and
hydroxide ions of soils. The exact result will depend upon the pH, salt content,
and other characteristics of the soil.
For soil, like water, both inorganic chemistry and the
actions of living things will affect the formation and degradation of organic
mercuric compounds. For example, elevated levels of chloride ions will reduce
methylation of mercury in river sediments, streams and soils. In contrast,
increased levels of organic carbon and sulfate ions will increase methylation in
Mercury in the Food Chain
Benthic (bottom-dwelling) invertebrates may face exposure
to mercury released directly from sediments. They may also release mercury bound
in the sediment by direct ingestion, having thus entered the food chain, mercury
bioaccumulates as bottom-dwellers are consumed by others.
Toxic methyl mercury can inflict increasing levels of harm
upon species near the top of the aquatic food chain. These likely victims
include: predatory fish such as ocean swordfish; fish-eating birds such as
loons, cormorants, pelicans, ospreys, and eagles; and humans.
We can be certain of the harm resulting from methyl
mercury contamination of fish, even if the exact degree of risk is yet
uncertain. Reasonable preventive actions that will safeguard humans from methyl
mercury poisoning should also protect birds that eat freshwater fish. Controlled
feeding studies suggest that the methyl mercury threshold dose for adverse
effects to wildlife is the same or higher than for humans.
The Worldwide Mercury Cycle
There is a worldwide cycling and recycling of
mercury through the environment, called the biogeochemical cycle of mercury. The
cycle has six steps, as shown in the adjoining diagram:
- Degassing of mercury from rock, soils and surface
- Movement in gaseous form through the atmosphere.
- Deposition of mercury on land and surface waters.
- Sorbtion of the element as insoluble mercury sulfide.
- Precipitation or bioconversion into more volatile or
- a. Reentry of mercury into the atmosphere, or
- b. Bioaccumulation in terrestrial or aquatic
Elemental metallic mercury ("mercury
zero"), released to the atmosphere in vapor form, can be transported very
long distances. Eventually, wet and dry deposition processes return it to land
or water surfaces in the form of compounds.
Wet depositions of mercury by precipitation
(rain, snow, etc.) is the primary method of mercury removal from the atmosphere
(perhaps 66 percent of the total). Mercury can also be removed from the
atmosphere by sorbtion of the vapor onto soil or water surfaces.
The particular form of mercury and its
compounds strongly influence the movement and partitioning of mercury among
surface waters and soils. Ninety seven percent of all the gaseous mercury
dissolved in water is the elemental form -- "mercury zero". Volatile
forms of mercury, such as the metallic liquid and dimethyl mercury, will
evaporate into the atmosphere. Solid forms particulates in the soil or the water
column, and once in the water column are transported downward to the sediments.
What makes Mercury Run?
Sorbtion of nonvolatile forms of mercury onto soil and
sediment particulates is the central process that determines the distribution of
mercury compounds in the environment. This sorbtion process varies according to
the organic matter content of the soil or sediment.
Inorganic mecury sorbed onto particulate material is not
easily desorbed. This means that freshwater and marine sediments will be
important storehouses for inorganic forms of mercury, and that leaching from
soils will play a minor role in mercury transport.
Where the soils are rich in humus, surface runoff will be
an important route moving mercury from soil to water.
There are processes that will release the sorbed mercury
- Chemical or biological reduction to elemental mercury.
- Bioconversion to volatile organic forms.
Mercury in Humans
Human Exposure to Mercury Ways of Exposure to Mercury
Mercury in its various forms (pure element, inorganic
compounds, organic compounds) is found in air, water, soil and fauna and
flora. All of these environmental media may be
involved in human exposure to elemental mercury and mercury-containing
Elemental mercury (mercury zero) is a liquid and gives
off mercury vapor at room temperature. This vapor can be inhaled into the
lungs and passed into the blood stream. Elemental mercury can also pass
through the skin and into the blood stream. If swallowed, however, this form
of mercury is not absorbed out of the stomach, and usually passes out of the
body without harm.
Inorganic mercury compounds (mercury two) can also be
inhaled and absorbed through the lungs, and may pass through the stomach if
swallowed. Many inorganic mercury compounds are irritating or corrosive to the
skin (see other health effects of mercury ), eyes and mucus membranes as well.
Organic mercury compounds, like methyl mercury, can
enter the body readily through all three routes ; lungs, skin and stomach.
Humans are exposed to mercury primarily through
ingestion of fish that contain methyl mercury. Inhalation of mercury vapors is
a potential occupational risk in industries that process or use mercury. Skin
contact with materials containing organic mercury and elemental mercury may
also result in mercury exposure. People with dental amalgams that contain
mercury have greater exposure.
Workplace Exposure Limits
- Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): EPA estimates
that for an adult of average weight, exposure to 0.021 milligrams (mg) of
inroganic or organic mercury per day in food or water will probably not
result in any harm to health.
- Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA):
The legal airborne permissible exposure limit (PEL) is 0.1 mg/cubic meter,
not to be exceeded at any time.
- National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
(NIOSH): The recommended airborne exposure limit is 0.05 mg/cubic meter
averaged over an 8-hour workshift.
- ACGIH: The recommended airborne exposure limit for
mercury vapor is 0.05 mg/cubic meter, averaged over an 8-hour workshift.
The above exposure limits are for air levels only. When
skin contact also occurs, a worker may be overexposed, even though air levels
are less than the limits listed above.
Ways of Reducing Exposure to
- Where possible, enclose operations and use local
exhaust ventilation at the site of chemical release. If local exhaust
ventilation or enclosure is not used, respirators should be worn.
- Wear protective work clothing.
- Workers whose clothing has been contaminated by
mercury should change into clean clothing promptly.
- Do not take contaminated work clothes home. Family
members could be exposed.
- Contaminated work clothes should be laundered by
individuals who have been informed of the hazards of exposure to mercury.
- Do not eat, smoke, or drink where mercury is handled.
Wash hands carefully before eating or smoking.
- For clean-up use a specialized charcoal-filtered
vacuum or suction pump to avoid generating mercury vapor. Care should be
taken not to disturb spilled material.
- Wash thoroughly immediately after exposure to mercury
and at the end of the workshift.
- If there is the possibility of skin exposure,
emergency shower facilities should be provided.
- Post hazard and warning information in the work area.
In addition, as part of an ongoing education and training effort,
communicate all information on the health and safety hazards of mercury to
potentially exposed workers.
Tests for Mercury Exposure
There are two tests available to
measure mercury in the body:
- The mercury blood test measures exposure to all three
types of mercury, but because mercury remains in the blood stream for only
a few days after exposure, the test must be done soon after exposure. Most
non-exposed people have mercury levels of 0 to 2 (all blood measurements
are in micrograms of mercury per deciliter of blood, or ug/dl). Levels
above 2.8 ug/dl are required to be reported to the Health Department. This
test can be influenced by eating fish, because fish (particularly certain
deep sea f ish) may contain mercury.
- The urine mercury test only measures exposure to
elemental and inorganic mercury. Organic mercury is not passed out the
body in the urine and thus cannot be measured this way. A person with no
exposure to mercury would probably have a urine mercury level of 0 to 20
ug/dl. The Health Department requires reporting levels above 20.
Monitoring for Workers Exposed to
Medical monitoring is the periodic evaluation of
exposed workers to insure that they are experiencing no adverse effects of
potentially hazardous workplace exposures. It serves as a backup for a
program of routine air and biological monitoring, which are the primary
means for insuring that exposure levels are below those associated with
adverse health effects. A medical monitoring program should be designed to
detect adverse effects of exposure as early as possible, at a stag e where
there are still reversible, so that exposures can be controlled and serious
permanent adverse effects prevented.
An initial medical examination should be performed on
all employees exposed to potentially hazardous levels of mercury. The
purpose of this examination is to provide a baseline for future health
The examination should include a complete medical
history and symptom questionnaire, with emphasis on the:
- nervous system (target organ for chronic exposure)
- kidneys (target organ for acute and chronic
- oral cavity (target organ for chronic exposure)
- lungs (target organ for acute exposure)
- eyes (affected by chronic exposure)
- skin (since mercury is a known skin sensitizer).
Signs and symptoms of the earliest signs of mercury
intoxication should be elicited; these include personality changes, weight
loss, irritability, fatigue, nervousness, loss of memory, indecision, and
intellectual deterioration. Complaints of tremors and loss of coordination
should also be sought. Physical examination should focus on the target
organs described above. A baseline handwriting sample should be obtained.
Laboratory evaluation should include at minimum a complete urinalysis.
This examination should be repeated annually. Results
should be compared with the findings on the baseline examination for changes
suggestive of mercury toxicity. Handwriting samples should be compared to
the baseline sample for evidence of tremor. Interim evaluations should be
conducted if symptoms suggestive of mercury intoxication are occuring.
What is Biologic Monitoring?
Biologic monitoring is the measurement of chemical
agents in the blood, urine, or other body tissue of exposed individuals to
determine how much of the chemical has been absorbed into the body. It
serves as a back-up to environmental exposure measurements, since air
measurements cannot assess skin exposure or the effects of protective
equipment and work practices. Since it measures the amount of an agent
actually absorbed into the body, it is usually a better estimate of risk for
adverse health effect t han air monitoring.
There is no ideal biologic monitor for evaluating the
risks of mercury intoxication from metallic or inorganic mercury. Mercury
can be measured in both blood and urine. Individual levels may vary greatly
from day to day and even within a given day. While proper interpretation of
the results can be difficult, the measurements can nevertheless provide
information on potential overexposure. Measurements should be carried out
regularly (several times a year) in chronically exposed workers, and
individual as well as group results should be evaluated. Baseline levels
should be obtained before exposure begins for comparison purposes.
Mercury in the
Measurement of mercury in urine is the recommended
biologic monitor for workers exposed to metallic and inorganic mercury.
Ideally, the collection should be over 24 hours, but this is seldom
feasible. Spot urine samples may also be taken, but care must be taken to
always collect them at the same time of day near the end of the work week
after several months of steady exposure. Overnight samples may also be
collected; this collection extends from the time the employee goes to bed
through the first urinat ion of the morning.
Samples must be collected in containers provided by
the laboratory, since a preservative must be added. At least 25 mililiters
of urine must be collected. Great care must be taken to prevent
contamination of the sample containers or the urine with mercury from the
skin or workplace air.
When results are interpreted, the urine values should
be corrected for grams of creatinine in the sample, and should be expressed
as ug Hg/gram creatinine. In persons not occupationally exposed to mercury,
urine levels rarely exceed 5 ug/g creatinine.
While many laboratories indicate that only levels
above 150 ug/L should be considered toxic, there is strong evidence that
early signs of mercury intoxication can be seen in workers excreting more
than 50 ug Hg/L of urine (standardize for a urinary creatinine of 1 gram/L).
This value of 50 ug/g creatinine is proposed by many experts as a biological
threshold limit value for chronic exposure to mercury vapor, and in 1980
this was endorsed by a World Health Organization study group.
Exposed individuals with levels above 50 ug/g
creatinine should be placed in a non-exposed job until the reason for their
over exposure has been identified and corrected and their urine levels have
fallen below the biologic threshold limit value.
Mercury in the
The concentration of mercury in blood reflects
exposure to organic mercury as well as metallic and inorganic mercury; thus
it can be influenced by the consumption of fish containing methylmercury.
Samples should always be taken at the same time of day
near the end of the work week after several months of steady exposure. The
blood should be collected in mercury-free heparinized tubes after careful
In unexposed individuals, the amount of mercury in
blood is usually less then 2 ug/100 ml. According to some experts, an
average airborne concentration of 50 ug/cubic meter corresponds to a mercury
concentration in blood of about 3-3.5 mg/100 ml. Early effects of mercury
toxicity have been found when the blood concentration exceeds 3 ug/100 ml.
Any worker exceeding this level should be placed in a non-exposed job until
dietary and workplace exposures have been evaluated and blood levels have
returned to baseline.
Effects of Mercury Poisoning in Humans
Mercury is both a precious metal and a neurotoxin. The
"mad hatters" of the 19th century suffered from mercury poisoning - so
did the hat makers in Danbury, Connecticut, who called their disease the Danbury
Shakes. In short, mercury can be harmful to fish, waterfowl, wildlife, and
The mercury felting process prevalent in the nineteenth
century and many other industrial uses of mercury have been discontinued, and
today most people are not exposed to dangerously high levels of mercury in their
job settings. However, mercury may still be an occupational hazard for people
working in medical care facilities.
Suppose, for example, a thermometer breaks or a
mercury-containing solvent spills. If mercury vapor is inhaled, as much as 80
percent of the inhaled mercury may be absorbed into the bloodstream.
The biological half-life of mercury is 60 days. Thus, even
though exposure is reduced, the body burden will remain for at least a few
The effects of mercury poisoning can be classified as:
- - acute,
- - chronic, or
- - other
The degree of risk varies depending on how much mercury a
person is exposed to and how often, and on stage of life. The work environment
can be designed to minimize workers' exposure. We can, for example, be as
careful about mercury as we are with x-rays. But not all of the mercury that we
use remains in the facility. Some of it escapes into the environment, undergoes
change, and may eventually be eaten by fish. Mercury-contaminated fish are the
most likely source of mercury 's potentially adverse effects on human health. It
is recommended that mercury's uses in medical settings be eliminated, not
because its presence makes medical facilities dangerous places to be, but to
help keep mercury out of the environment.
Case Studies in Humans
What we now call "Minamata
disease" was first observed in communities near Minamata Bay in
Southwestern Japan. It was officially "discovered" in 1956, and by
1959 it had been demonstrated that the disease was caused by ingestion of fish
contaminated by mercury discharged from a chemical manufacturer plant.
Levels of methylmercury chloride reached 50 ppm in fish
and 85 ppm in shellfish obtained from the contaminated areas. One hundred and
twenty one persons were poisoned, 46 fatally, from eating the contaminated
fish. Dogs, cats, pigs, rats, and birds living around the bay developed
classical clinical signs and many died.
In most cases, the patients began to show symptoms
without any apparent signs. The onset began with numbness of the limbs and the
area around the mouth, sensory disturbance, and difficulty with hand movements
(such as grasping things, fastening buttons, holding chopsticks, writing,
etc.); also, there was lack of coordination, weakness and tremor, slowed and
slurred speech, and ataxic gait, followed by disturbances of vision, and
hearing. These symptoms became aggravated and led to general paralysis,
deformity of the limbs, difficulty in swallowing, convulsions, and death.
In 1956 in Northern Iraq, over 100 people were poisoned
by eating flour mixed with wheat seed treated with a fungicide containing 7.7%
ethylmercuri-p-toluene sulfonalide. Fourteen, and probably more, of the
intoxicated people died. They had fed the treated seed to chickens for several
days and after observing no ill effects had eaten it themselves. In addition
to central nervous system manifestations, a number of other clinical signs
were observed including polydypsia, polyuria, weight loss, severe prot einuria,
deep musculoskeletal pain refractive to anlagesics, and prurits of the palms,
soles, and genitals. Researchers attributed the other clinical signs to the
prevalence of a parasitic disease called ancylostomiasis, and to dietary
deficiencies of protein and vitamins.
Four years later during the winter and spring of 1961,
an additional 100 people were poisoned by flour and wheat seed treated with a
fungicide containing 1% mercury as ethylmercury chloride and phenylmercury
acetate. Four of 34 patients died; however, the authorities believed others
probably died after refusing hospitalization or signing out against medical
advice. A combination of clinical signs was observed reflecting insult to the
central nervous system by ethylmercury fraction and to the renal and g
astrointestinal organs apparently due to the phenylmercury component.
During the wheat-planting seasons of 1963-1965, numerous
cases of a disease suspected of being a viral encephalitis occurred in and
around Panorama, Guatemala. Forty five cases were observed, over 50% of which
occurred in children, and 20 of these died. Autopsy and subsequent tissue
analyses disclosed high levels of methylmercury in brain, liver, and kidney
tissue of one victim. Being too poor to buy enough food to survive, the victim
had eaten wheat seed treated with a fungicide containing 1.5% mercury as
As a result of human consumption of pigs
previously fed organomercurial compounds, mercury poisoning became evident in
a farm family in Alamogordo, New Mexico. On December, 1969, an 8-year old farm
girl living near Alamogordo, New Mexico, developed ataxia, visual
disturbances, and a reduced state of consciousness which progressed to coma
within a period of 21 days. Two weeks after the onset of her illness a 13-year
old male sibling developed similar clinical signs and, like his sister, became
comatose within a 3-week period.
By the end of the same month, a 20-year old sister
developed similar clinical signs and became semicomatose. At the time the pork
containing the high levels of mercury was eaten by the 10 members of the farm
family, the mother was 3 months pregnant. She did not eat any of the meat
after her sixth month of pregnancy. Clinical examinations during the last 2
months of her pregnancy disclosed only normal findings; however, her urine
contained high levels of mercury. The pregnancy terminated with delivery of a
6.7-lb male infant. At birth he manifested intermittent trembling of the
extremities which persisted for several days; however, he was otherwise
normal. Electroencephalograms, electromyograms, blood electrolytes, calcium,
magnesium, glucose, and bilirrubin remained normal during the first 6 weeks.
Marked elevation of urinary mercury was present during the first 6 weeks;
however, after that time urinary mercury was no longer detected.
Electroencephalograms became slightly abnormal at 3
months of age; by 6 months of age they were markedly abnormal, and generalized
myoclonic jerks had developed. By 6 months of age, the infant had nystagmoid
eye movements without evidence of visual fixation, was hypotonic and
irritable. All of these clinical signs and other physical examination findings
have been observed in Japanese children born to parents who consumed various
fish caught from Minamata Bay and surrounding areas. The poisoning of these
children presumably resulted from transplacental poisoning with organic
Six months after the initial appearance of
clinical signs among members of the farm family in New Mexico, their condition
remained essentially unchanged. The 8-year old girl and 13-year old boy
remained comatose; however,, the 20-year old sister continued to improve and
was able to speak and walk with difficulty. The neonate's condition remained
August 1994 - more than 500 students in
Belle-Glade Florida were contaminated with liquid mercury after three boys
found four jars filled with the silvery metal in an abandoned van. The boys
brought the jars of mercury to school and passed it out to their friends. The
children were fascinated by the silvery, liquid metal. "You ever seen
"Terminator II?" asked a 14-year-old boy, "When the bad guy
melts into the ground? That's just what it's like." The students played
with the mercury, rubbing it on their teeth, throwing it at each other,
dipping their jewelry into it, and pouring it into a local canal. Many
children took home samples in paper cups and bags.
Although inhaling mercury vapors is by far a more
serious threat than swallowing liquid mercury, local officials were very
concerned. "If the children ate small amounts, that is not likely to be
toxic," a local pediatrician stated. "The problem is going to come
if the mercury is spilled or if its stays in a child's pockets. When it is
vaporized and inhaled, it can be very, very toxic." Initial symptoms
include a cough, breathing difficulties, and chest pain. Vomiting, diarrhea,
fever, and nerve or kidney problems may develop later.
Hundreds of children had to be decontaminated. The local
hazardous waste materials team, dressed in yellow safety suits, stood the
children in a wading pool, hosed their arms, and scrubbed their skin with
brushes. Doctors at area hospitals were on call 24 hours-a-day for several
days to examine the children and adults exposed to the mercury and to give
free blood tests. More than 20 homes had concentrations high enough to be of
concern to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Families had to be
evacuated while EPA decontaminated these homes.
A hospital spokesperson said that he did not think any
children had come in contact with enough mercury to cause any serious damage.
No permanent damage to the children is expected.
Boca Raton, Florida
November 1994 - Over the Thanksgiving break, college
students at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida removed liquid
mercury from one of the school's laboratories. Although the laboratory manager
noticed the missing chemical when he returned on Tuesday morning, he did not
report it to authorities until the mercury was discovered spilled inside and
outside of a university dormitory. Students living in the dormitory were
evacuated and housed in a local hotel while the dormitory was decontaminated.
Potential short- or long-term damage is unknown.
Spring 1994 - A young boy in Moline, Illinois may suffer
severe nerve damage due to mercury poisoning. The child brought home liquid
mercury from the school science room and played with it in his basement. He
spread the silvery liquid on his arms and legs in an attempt to look like the
Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz. The home was so contaminated that the family
was evacuated for nearly 10 months while the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) cleaned up the spilled mercury. Ceiling tiles and the air
conditioning and heating systems also were replaced. Although the boy is now
recovering, the extent of permanent damage is unknown.
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