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California Genealogy and History Archives
|Thomas Gilbert Cook
Whatever may be accomplished in future years by the agriculturists of California, whatever of success they may attain, whatever of prosperity they may enjoy and whatever improvements they may consummate on their country estates, a due share of praise for the advancement may be given to the native-born sons of the commonwealth, the men who were reared in the environment with which they are still familiar and who from their earliest recollections were trained to a knowledge of our climate and soil, together with the best methods of conducting agricultural operations under conditions existent in the west.
A son of Isaac F. and Eliza (Hopper) Cook, both natives of Missouri and early pioneers of California, Thomas Gilbert Cook were born on the parental homestead in Sonoma county January 10, 1862. The district schools in the vicinity of his home gave him his first insight into books, and established the foundation upon which he has since added a worthy superstructure by reading and observation. The close of his school days marked the beginning of his career as a tiller of the soil, and occupation which he has followed continuously ever since, with the result that he is an expert in his calling and enjoys financial results in keeping with his efforts. Sonoma county was the field of his early operations, but after a time he transferred his interests to Mendocino county, where for thirteen years he carried on a ranch. At the end of this time he returned to Sonoma county, and near Santa Rosa purchased the ranch on which he now resides, on Rural Route No. 3. For a number of years, or until 1901, general ranching and cattle-raising formed his chief industries, but in later years he has turned his attention to fruit-raising, and raising grapes and hay, in all of which he is successful, thus proving his adaptability to any line of agriculture to which he might wish to turn his hand.
During early manhood, in 1884, Mr. Cook formed
domestic ties by his marriage with Miss Laura McCulloch, a native of
California who passed much of his his early life in Mendocino county.
Two children were born of this marriage, a daughter and son. Maude E.,
born in 1886, is now the wife of Philo0 Phillips, and the mother of one
child, Wesley, born in 1903. Grover Cleveland Cook, born in 1888, is at
home. The mother of these children died in 1901, and in 1905 Mr. Cook
married his present wife, formerly Miss Annie Shaw, a native of Indiana.
No children have been born of this marriage. Nominally Mr. Cook is a
Republican, but in reality he does not belong to any party, for in the
casting of his vote he is entirely independent, the fitness of the
candidate and not the party which he represents being his guide in this
matter. While he is not a member of any church organization, no one
could be more interested in the welfare of his fellowmen than he is, and
no opportunity to serve them or benefit his community in any way in his
power passes his notice. His interest in the subject of good roads has
led his fellow-citizens to elect him road commissioner, and the result
of his efforts may be seen in the fine condition of the Petaluma and
Santa Rosa road, and the Cotati and Belleview road, both of which are a
credit to the county and to the citizens also. Fraternally Mr. Cook is
identified with but one order, the Ancient Order of Foresters of
Willits, Mendocino county. He joined the order while living there and
has never transferred his membership to his present place of residence.
Transcribed by Peggy Hooper 2011
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Tombstone’s most celebrated theater was the Bird Cage. In its heyday between 1881 and 1889, the theater offered gambling, liquor, vaudeville entertainment and ladies of the night. In 1882, ~The New York Times~ referred to the Bird Cage as “the Roughest, Bawdiest and Most Wicked Night Spot between Basin Street and the Barbary Coast.”
It was open 24 hours a day and was the scene of at least 16 gun and knife fights over the years. By the time the doors were shut permanently in 1889, there were 140 bullet holes in the walls and ceiling.
In the basement of the Bird Cage, a large private room and bar was outfitted for high-roller poker games. The longest poker game in history was played in that room. The minimum buy was $1,000 and the game played around the clock for eight years, five months and three days.
Eastern businessmen Adolph Busch and George Randolph Hearst played alongside famous gamblers such as Diamond Jim Brady, Bat Masterson and Doc Holliday. As the game played out, a reputed $10 million exchanged hands, of which the house took 10 percent.
The Bird Cage’s ladies of the night plied their trade in cribs, some of which were suspended from the ceiling. Fourteen cribs also lined the sides of the gambling hall, seven on each side of the room. The “ladies” drew the drapes while entertaining their clients with champagne, kisses and other favors of their trade.
The Bird Cage’s hand-painted stage and orchestra pit paid tribute to the many great entertainers who performed there: Nellie Boyd, Robert McWade, the Shakespearean actor Frederick Warde and Lola Montez.
Eddie Foy, another great vaudeville actor, also graced the stage of the Bird Cage Theater. He was born Edwin Fitzgerald on March 9, 1856, in Greenwich Village, New York.
Foy was the consummate stage comedian and a versatile performer. He contributed to the development of popular theater from the Civil War to the Roaring Twenties. His repertoire included poverty-inspired Irish two-acts and lavish musical comedies.
Foy’s impoverished childhood in New York’s Bowery and Chicago toughened him for the uphill climb as a vaudeville artist at Western outposts. He played some of the roughest houses in the West, including San Francisco’s Belle Union.
In Dodge City, Kansas, his habit of poking fun at the rough miners, gamblers and gunfighters got him doused in a horse trough, but his immediate return to the stage endeared him to the audience, and after that he could do no wrong. He viewed the Western stage as an essential escape for men who spent grueling days on the frontier.
Just after the Bird Cage opened in 1881, Foy had an encounter at the bar with Arthur J. Lamb, a writer and composer. Lamb had turned to Foy and asked him, “What do you think of Tombstone, Eddie?”
Foy replied, “They should have called it a coffin, long and narrow.”
Lamb laughed as he pointed to the cribs overhanging the casino and said, “This place reminds me of a bird cage, you can see those girls with the feathers in their hair, serving kisses and champagne and giving other favors. Those women are like birds in a gilded cage.”
Foy replied, “Sounds like a title to a song.”
Lamb began writing the words on a napkin and when Foy read the lyrics, he insisted, “That’s a song that only a woman should sing.”
Lamb gave the lyrics of “She’s Only a Bird in a Gilded Cage” to Harry Von Tilzer for musical arrangement. Von Tilzer insisted that he would not write the music unless Lamb made it clear that the girl in the song was a rich man’s wife, not his mistress. Later, the famous singer Lillian Russell made “She’s Only a Bird in a Gilded Cage” one of the most popular songs of the 19th century.
After the death of Foy’s wife, ballerina Madeline Morando, he put his seven children (four boys and three girls) into his act so he could retain custody. They were known as the Seven Little Foys. When one of Foy’s sons, Bryan, visited Tombstone in the 1930s, he recalled with nostalgia the days they had spent there and almost bought the entire town.
Tombstone’s boom turned to bust in 1889, and the Bird Cage was sealed and boarded up with all its furnishings intact for the next 50 years. In 1934, the theater re-opened to the public and became one of Tombstone’s unique historical landmarks.
— Jane Eppinga. Photo courtesy author.
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Colon Cancer Screening Tests Work, Studies Report
Colonoscopy, sigmoidoscopy and even fecal blood testing all lower risk of cancer death
The second study focused on the fecal occult blood test, which uses chemical agents to detect trace amounts of blood in a person's stool.
Researchers led by Dr. Aasma Shaukat of the VA Medical Center and University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, followed up on more than 46,500 Minnesotans who had been randomly assigned either to undergo fecal testing every year or every other year, or receive no testing. The research ran from 1976 through 1982 and from 1986 through 1992.
The study team used death records to see which of the original study participants had died of colon cancer by 2008.
Those who underwent annual testing had a 32 percent reduced risk of colon cancer death, while biennial testing reduced colon cancer death rates by 22 percent, researchers reported.
Brooks said the fecal blood test findings were "of particular importance, because there is the perception among many primary-care clinicians that by offering patients the stool test they are somehow offering them an inferior test."
Patients who now undergo a fecal blood test should expect to see even better protection from cancer, said Dr. Theodore Levin, who wrote an editorial accompanying the two studies in the journal. Levin is an assistant clinical professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.
"The old fecal blood test that was done in the Minnesota trial has been improved and enhanced through modern biochemical methods," said Levin, who also is a research scientist at the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research. "It's much more accurate and much more sensitive, so we would expect the benefit to be even greater today with that test."
The blood test may have some potential advantages over colonoscopy, Levin added.
Patients have to undergo an uncomfortable cleansing process prior to a colonoscopy using powerful laxatives, and if they fail to properly cleanse their colon, it could hamper doctors' ability to detect pre-cancerous polyps. Colonoscopy also can miss smaller lesions.
"It may be that a moderately sensitive test that is done more often will have a better chance of detecting colon cancer or preventing death from colon cancer," Levin said.
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How to Set Local Time with PHP
With the release of PHP 5.1, PHP added a setting for a default local time zone to php.ini. If you don’t set a default time zone, PHP will guess, which sometimes results in GMT. In addition, PHP displays a message advising you to set your local time zone.
To set a default time zone, follow these steps:
Open php.ini in a text editor.
Use a text editor such as Notepad, Vi, or TextEdit to open the file. The php.ini file is found in your installation directory for PHP, which is typically located beneath the /etc/ directory on Linux, in the Program Files directory on Windows, and /private/etc/ on Mac.
Scroll down to the section headed [Date].
Find the setting date.timezone =.
If the line begins with a semicolon (;), remove the semicolon.
The semicolon indicates a comment, or a line that's ignored in the file. Removing the semicolon means that PHP will parse the line.
Add a time zone code after the equal sign.
Add a time zone, without quotes, to the line in order to define the time zone that the server resides within. See http://php.net/manual/en/timezones.php for a list of supported time zones and note that you don't need to use quotation marks around the time zone when you define it in the php.ini.
Restart the web server.
PHP programs won't use the new time zone until the web server is restarted. How you accomplish this task depends on your operating system. On Windows there is typically a widget to restart the server in the taskbar. One of the following commands typically works on Linux, depending on the variant and version of Linux:
Debian/Ubuntu: sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart
Red Hat/CentOS: service httpd restart
On Mac: sudo /usr/sbin/apachectl restart
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| 0.81788 | 428 | 2.953125 | 3 |
The largely unregulated, informal nature of the legitimate art market, a network of discreetly cultivated relationships with its own language and commercial rituals, makes it susceptible to manipulation on a range of levels, but particularly to forgery.
—Dr. Tom Flynn, art historian and critic, London
Art forgers force us to question our concept of creative originality and corrupt the cultural record. Yet, a reality of art collecting is that relatively few artists are celebrated as masters, producing a strong incentive for forgers to duplicate famous works and to foist their copies as originals. This exhibition highlights five notorious art forgers from the 20th century to the present, exposing their infamous legacies and analyzing how their talent, charm, and audacity beguiled the art world.
Art fraud is one of the most serious challenges facing museums today in their stewardship of our cultural heritage. It is, therefore, critical to go “behind the scenes” and examine how these daring forgers used artful methodology to fool—at least initially—the experts, art dealers, and institutions who validated and collected their work. Han van Meegeren, Elmyr de Hory, Eric Hebborn, John Myatt and Mark Landis were all unable to make a career based on acceptance of their own artistic style. They found fakery, the exact duplication of an original work of art, and forgery, the creation and selling of a work of art which is falsely credited to another, to be their most accessible avenue to recognition and commercial success.
The forgers in this exhibition imitated the works of many notable American and European artists such as Charles Courtney Curran, Honoré Daumier, Philip de László, Henri Matisse, Amedeo Modigliani, Pablo Picasso, Paul Signac and Maurice de Vlaminck, among others, whose original works of art are featured in the exhibition as comparisons.
By bringing to light these forgers’ frustrated artistic ambitions, chaotic personal lives, and contempt for the art world, as well as understanding how advances in technology are aiding art professionals in identifying authenticity, this exhibition brings to light the serious implications of these con artists’ intent to deceive.
The art world has yet to develop a foolproof system for authenticating works. The current system is based on a three-pillar approach:
- connoisseurship—a person with expert training in characteristic features of an artist’s style and technique, often referred to as the “eye of the expert”
- provenance—an evaluation of the history of an artwork’s origin, ownership, location, and transactions; documentation for authentication
- technical analysis—scrutiny with scientific equipment of a work’s material components to determine if they are consistent or inconsistent with a purported age or attribution.
All of the forgers in this exhibition employed means to thwart this system of authentication. They fooled the experts by mastering techniques of the artists they copied, created false identities and background stories to build credibility, constructed elaborate schemes to corrupt provenance documentation and went to great lengths to ensure their materials would pass forensic examination. All relied heavily on the art of deception.
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Full Title: Evolution of Ridge Basin, Southern California: An Interplay of Sedimentation and Tectonics
Ridge Basin, a complex, pull-apart basin within the San Andreas transform belt of southern California, contains more than 14,000 m of marine and nonmarine strata in a tilted sequence. As the basin opened and enlarged during the Late Miocene, coarse sedimentary breccias and conglomerates derived from uplifted sources at basin margins were displaced dextrally by the San Gabriel and older Canton faults. Basin facies demonstrate close interplay between continuing deformation and deposition as depocenters move laterally. Major displacements on the modern San Andreas fault in the Pliocene followed and truncated Ridge Basin on the north. Concomitantly, the region was uplifted and deeply eroded so that the evolution and history of the basin and its setting is now well revealed.
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Health news – intellectual disabilities may share disease mechanisms
Brain disorders that cause intellectual disabilities and autism spectrum disorders may share common defects despite having different genetic causes, a study has found.
A BBSRC-funded study of two models of intellectual disability in mice has found that they share similar disease mechanisms.
Researchers found that treatment with a statin drug called Lovastatin – commonly used to treat high cholesterol – can correct
high levels of protein production in the brain linked to the conditions.
The findings suggest that different types of intellectual disabilities may benefit from common therapeutic approaches, the researchers say.
Studies of people with learning disabilities have identified a wide range of genetic causes. Around a third of people affected also have symptoms of autism spectrum disorders, suggesting that the mechanisms underlying these conditions may be shared.
Researchers at The University of Edinburgh studied mice with a genetic mutation that means they produce lower levels of a protein called SynGAP. The mice show learning and behavioural difficulties and act as a model system to understand why people with mutations in the human version of the gene suffer from intellectual disability.
The team from the University’s Patrick Wild Centre and Centre for Integrative Physiology found that treatment with Lovastatin normalised levels of protein production in the brains of the mice. Their results suggest that Lovastatin acts by reducing levels of the active form of a protein called ERK1/2.
They compared their findings with mice that lack a protein called FMRP, which also causes cellular and behavioural changes that can be rescued with Lovastatin. Loss of FMRP in people leads to Fragile X Syndrome, the most common inherited form of intellectual disability and autism.
Further research is needed to determine whether the treatment can restore learning and development in people.
The study is published in the Journal of Neuroscience. It was funded by BBSRC, the Medical Research Council and the Patrick Wild Centre.
Professor David Wyllie, Director of The University of Edinburgh’s Centre for Integrative Physiology, said: “This study shows that the core deficits associated with two very different causes of intellectual disability are shared. This is important because it means that people with diverse types of intellectual disability or autism may benefit from the same treatment.”
Professor Peter Kind, Director of The University of Edinburgh’s Patrick Wild Centre for Research into Autism, Fragile X Syndrome and Intellectual Disabilities, said: “Statins, such as lovastatin, are already used widely for treating people, including children, for high cholesterol with minimal side effects. Further studies are needed to determine whether these existing medications could also help people with intellectual disabilities.”
ENDS External contact Jen Middleton, Press and PR Office, The University of Edinburgh
+44 131 650 6514 Contact
BBSRC Media Office
+44 1793 414694
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INFRASOUND AT A GLANCE
Infrasound is a low frequency sound below the range of human hearing. It is produced by a variety of natural events - including earthquakes, volcanoes, avalanches, severe weather, ocean waves - and some man-made sources - including aircraft and explosions. It is also used by some animal species to communicate.
How is it different from audible sound?
One of the most interesting properties of infrasound waves is that they travel over global distances without losing their strength. So an instrument in Colorado can detect the sound of ocean waves hitting the coast in California or the roar of a typhoon halfway around the world.
How is it detected?
Infrasound wavelengths are so long that they can be detected only by sensors that take up a large ground area.
What is it used for?
A global infrasound sensor system is being deployed to detect nuclear weapons testing. Scientists are also studying ways to use infrasound to provide advance warning of natural disasters.
Read more: www.sfgate.com...
Originally posted by infoseeker26754
Sorry to say I have not heard any of them sounds as of yet. Actually I am in the middle of the US, 300+ miles to any big city so just wondering if anybody has placed out a map and pinned each sound?
Could give some clues to where they might be coming from. Did hear though its happening all over so might have to make a world map! Good part is if the Angels were blowing, we would all hear it!
I just feel left out sometimes!
Originally posted by purplemer
I have always thought the sky noises might come from the earth and use the sky as a giant amplifier..
HOWEVER the subducting plate doesnt reach 150 Km until it reaches (The Super Volcano) Yellowstone Nation park ,WY.
At about 150 Km depths, reactions occurring in the subducting plate release water into the overlying mantle, thus lowering the melting temperature of mantle material.
Originally posted by westcoast
I looked this up ofcourse, and discovered that is most likely an Upper Tangent Arc:description
Only thing is, typically you see it 'attached' to a sun halo...but as you can see, there wasn't one. I really think this type of arc is quite rare around here.
The dynamic range of the auditory system decreases with decreasing frequency. This compression can be seen in the equal-loudness-level contours, and it implies that a slight increase in level can change the perceived loudness from barely audible, to loud. Combined with the natural spread in thresholds within a population, it may have the effect that a very low-frequency sound which is inaudible to some people may be loud to others.
Recordings and playback experiments support that elephants use the infrasonic components of their calls for communication. Infrasonic vocalizations have been recorded from captive elephants in many different situations. The structure of the calls varies greatly but most of them range in frequency from 14 to 24 Hz, with durations of 10–15 seconds. When the nearest elephant is 5 m from the microphone, the recorded sound pressure levels can be 85 to 90 dB SPL. Some of these calls are completely inaudible to humans, while others have audible components that are probably due to higher frequency harmonics of below 20 Hz fundamentals.
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IN A SLIGHT change to the usual Hidden Heritage series, in this article we’re going to focus on the historic city of Waterford.
(And as it’s Heritage Week, we’ll outline some great events there in the next few days at the end of this piece so look out for that.)
From its foundation by Vikings, Waterford has played a hugely important role in Ireland’s story and today you can experience a thousand years of history in a thousand paces by visiting the three sites that make up the Waterford Museum of Treasures in the Viking Triangle.
The first of these sites is Reginald’s Tower, once described by the famous Irish patriot Thomas Francis Meagher in 1843 as being “a massive hinge of stone connecting the two great outspread wings, the Quay and the Mall within which lay the body of the city”, Reginald’s Tower is one of the finest surviving examples of medieval urban defence in Ireland.
The story of Reginald’s Tower begins with the Viking adventurer Regnall who constructed a defensive base (known as a Longphort) where the tower stands today. Regnall was the grandson of the feared Ivor the Boneless, and by establishing his longphort at Waterford he created the foundations for the city. It quickly developed into an important trading hub, and Waterford become a vital part in an expansive trading network that connected it to far flung and exotic places like Baghdad, Greenland, Russia and Byzantium.
Waterford grew in wealth and prestige, and gradually the Viking raiders became entwined with the Gaelic Irish population through alliances and marriage, forming a culture known to historians and archaeologists today as the Hiberno-Norse.
Interior of Reginald’s Tower
The peace of Waterford was not to last though, the city was taken following a siege by the Anglo-Normans in 1170 after many of the Waterford men were slaughtered after falling into Raymond le Gros’s cunning trap at nearby Baginbun in County Wexford (click here for that story). The Normans held the leaders of the city in Reginald’s Tower, but released them following an intervention by their Irish ally, Diarmaid MacMurrough, King of Leinster. The leader of the Normans, Richard de Clare (known as Strongbow) married King Diarmaid’s daughter Aoife in Christchurch Cathedral in Waterford, strengthening the alliance between the Norman invaders and the Irish kingdom of Leinster.
The Hiberno-Norse warriors who survived were expelled from Waterford, but rose in a bloody rebellion in 1174, forcing the Norman nobles and garrison to take shelter in Reginald’s Tower, where they managed to repel the attack and following reinforcement they took back the city. King Henry II in England had began to worry that Strongbow was becoming altogether too powerful and big for his boots, so he sailed into Waterford in 1171 and declared the wealthy Waterford to be a ‘Royal City’, thus denying its lucrative trade to Strongbow.
King Henry had the city refortified in the early thirteenth century, and it is likely that it was at this time that the wooden fort of Reginald’s Tower was reconstructed in stone. He had large stone walls constructed to surround and protect the city with a number of defensive gateways and towers added. Portions of these walls still survive today, and of the seventeen defensive towers that once protected Waterford only six still survive, with Reginald’s Tower being the most impressive and best preserved.
Reginald’s Tower was again at the centre of the action in 1495, Perkin Warbeck a pretender to the English Crown, sailed up the River Suir and began to bombard Waterford to force it to surrender. The people of Waterford retaliated by firing cannon from Reginald’s Tower and succeeded in sinking one of Warbeck’s ships, defending the city with such ferocity that Warbeck retreated. In recognition of the determined bravery by the people of Waterford, King Henry VII gave Waterford the motto: ‘Urbs Intacta Manet Waterfordia’ – Waterford Remains the Untaken City.
Casement in Reginald’s Tower
However the Tower is not without its scars, and if you look high on the tower to the right-hand side of the entrance you can see a cannonball deeply embedded into the stone. This was fired during the Parliamentary siege in 1650. They had returned to capture Waterford after Cromwell had failed to do so in 1649, Waterford was the last Irish city east of the Shannon to fall to Cromwell’s forces.
Today visiting Reginald’s Tower you can become steeped in all of this history, and see the variety of ways that Reginald’s Tower has served Waterford over the centuries, from being a defensive bastion, a coin mint, an armoury and arsenal, a prison and the home of the High Constable of the city. It is split over four floors connected by a medieval -tyle spiral staircase, with displays on different aspects of the buildings history on each level.
There are some really interesting artefacts on display, as a dog owner I was touched by the 900-year-old beautifully intricate dog collar, it must have belonged to a rightly pampered twelfth century pooch! (Pictured above)
Reginald’s Tower is a truly iconic landmark of Waterford, and today the superb museum is certainly worth a visit! It is under the auspices of the Office of Public Works, you can find information about opening hours, entry fees and accessibility here.
From Reginald’s Tower take a short walk up the Mall to The Medieval Museum (pictured above). This is one of Ireland’s newest and finest museums, and is a superb place to spend a few hours of the day. You enter the beautifully designed museum that combines modern architecture with the medieval Choristers Hall and fifteenth century wine cellars (pictured below).
15th century wine cellar in the Medieval Museum, Waterford
Spread across a number of floors, the Medieval Museum leads you through Waterford’s history from its foundation as a Viking Longphort, through the medieval and Tudor periods and up to the seventeenth century.
Some of the artefacts on display are just incredible and include the unique Great Charter Roll from 1373, the Cap of Maintenance, (the only item of Henry VIII’s wardrobe that still exists), The Great Parchment Book (detailing 300 years of life in Waterford and ends dramatically with the final entry during Cromwell’s siege of 1649). If you go this summer you can also see the famous Lismore Crozier that is on temporary loan to the Medieval Museum from the National Museum of Ireland.
The Cap of Maintenance – the only item of Henry VIII’s wardrobe still existing – is in the Medieval Museum of Waterford.
The number and significance of the artefacts and manuscripts on display is staggering, and it contains perhaps the most breathtaking display of any museum in Europe – the wonderful collection of fifteenth century vestments. They are displayed in a darkened room lit by stars (pictured below), and you can walk around the sumptuous robes to see the intricate detail and lavish design close up.
My picture and words cannot possibly do justice to this incredible display. The museum is also great for kids with a number of interactive displays and panels.
Staircase at the Georgian Museum of Waterford
When you fancy moving forward in history cross the courtyard to the Bishop’s Palace Georgian Museum. Here we enjoyed a really entertaining guided tour by the gossipy housekeeper Mrs Rickards who had just returned from watching the hanging of a man found guilty of murdering the head gardener. She squabbled her way around the beautifully restored Bishops Palace with the butler Mr Whatwhy. They pointed out some of the fascinating objects on display that illustrate life in eighteenth and nineteenth century Waterford.
Some of the highlights included the oldest piece of Waterford Crystal in the world (from 1789), and a mourning cross commissioned by Napoleon’s mother on the Emperor’s death in 1821, you can even see a lock of Napoleon’s hair! I was really interested by the uniform and sword of one of Waterford’s most famous sons, the Irish patriot Thomas Francis Meagher, the man who introduced the modern tricolour to Ireland.
Dining room in the Georgian Museum
The museum has items relating to the modern era upstairs with a fancy pair of hucklebuck shoes from the 1960s on display…
These three museums that form The Waterford Museum of Treasures are an absolute fascinating way of spending a day, I cannot recommend a visit highly enough. If you still have a hankering to see some of the sites of Waterford then the Waterford Crystal visitor centre is just across the road, and the city itself is a great place to wander around to soak in the atmosphere of the ancient city. You can find more information by looking here.
All photographs © Neil Jackman/abartaaudioguides.com
Today is the first day of Heritage Week that takes place from the 17th – 25th August.
- There are over 1,700 events across Ireland with loads to do for all ages in every locality and the majority of the events are free of charge.
- For example in County Waterford if you think the kids could do with an afternoon without the Playstation or XBox, you could bring them to a free day at Lismore Heritage Centre where they will learn how monks lived in early medieval Ireland. They’ll get the chance to make ink and decorate beautiful manuscripts with calligraphy (on today at Lismore Heritage Centre free of charge from 11am – 1pm).
- Also in Lismore you can enjoy free tours of the lovely heritage town (available Monday 19th – Friday 23rd from 3pm – 4pm), or join the experts of Whale Watch Ireland for a free afternoon on a land-based whale watch at Ardmore tomorrow. The kids will love a Treasure Hunt at Dungarvan Castle, also tomorrow, from 2.30 – 3.15pm. Again it is free entry and fancy dress is optional, and there are lots of great lectures and displays.
- It’s one of the best weeks in the year to get out and explore some of Ireland’s fantastic heritage and meet some of the passionate people who are always delighted to help people discover the stories of Ireland’s past and the wonderful natural fauna and flora that surround us today. Download the free heritage week app or visit heritageweek.ie to discover what is in your area.
- You can also collect a free Heritage Week guide from your local library that contains all the listings across the country.
- Does any event in your county catch your eye? Leave a comment below and let people know what’s happening in your locality.
I hope you enjoy my articles on Irish heritage sites, if anyone has any suggestions for places to visit I’d love to hear them. Please leave a comment below or find us on Twitter, Facebook or Google+. If you’d like to consider supporting us you can do so by downloading one of our audioguides.
They are narrated by professional actors, and contain original music by talented musician Enda Seery to help immerse you in the story. They generally run for around 45mins and can be downloaded from our website here. A number are available free of charge and others cost just €1.99, so if you’d like to hear the story of Glendalough, or what life in Dublin was like when it was a Viking Longphort please do try one of our guides.
This is the latest in a fortnightly series of articles for the Journal.ie you can catch up with all the posts here.
The articles are based on my blog which has over fifty suggestions so far for great heritage sites to visit across the country. Why not pay us a visit to see if we have a suggestion in your area?
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Urge your members of Congress to support continued medical research funding
The American Society of Hematology has developed the resources in this section to educate the public about the importance of healthy blood and to raise the awareness of common blood diseases, such as anemia, bleeding and clotting disorders, and blood cancers.
An hour-long documentary focused on the lifesaving work of hematologists
Descriptions of the four main components of blood and the function of each within the body
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Links to websites with patient information on blood diseases
Tips for talking with your doctor
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Search a database of practicing hematologists in your area.
AMERICAN SOCIETY OF HEMATOLOGY
2021 L Street NW, Suite 900, Washington, DC 20036
Phone 202-776-0544 | Fax 202-776-0545
by American Society of Hematology
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Lessons for juniors(8)
In Jainism, Jiva and soul are more or less described synonymously. When the spiritual or psychic status is described it is referred to as the soul, and when the physical structure is described, it is called Jiva.
The jiva which grows, decays, fluctuates, varies, eats, sleeps, awakes, acts, fears, rests, has knowledge and perception, attempts to self defend, and reproduces. These and many more qualities of the jiva are obvious through a physical body when the soul is present in it but when the soul leaves these qualities cease. These qualities are external features and consciousness (chetan) is the basic inner feature of the soul. This also makes it clear for us that the body and the soul are separate entities.
Since the soul is flexible, it pervades the entire body it occupies. For example, the same soul can occupy the body of an ant or an elephant. Such bodies stay alive as long as there is a soul. A live body, or rather, a body with a soul is described here as a Jiva.
Jivas are categorized in two groups:
Liberated souls have no karmas and therefore, they are no longer in the cycle of births and deaths. They do not live among us, but reside at the uppermost part of this universe called Siddhashila. They are formless and shapeless, have perfect knowledge and perception, and have infinite vigor and bliss. All Siddhas are equal, and there is no difference in their status.
On the other side, non-liberated (worldly) jivas have karmas, and are continually going through the cycle of birth and death. They experience happiness and pain and have passions, which in turn cause the soul to wander more. Except for the jiva of Arihants, non-liberated jivas have limited knowledge and perception.
Jivas are found on earth, as well as in water, air, and sky, and are scattered all over the universe. Human beings, celestial beings, infernal beings, animals, fish, birds, bugs, insects, plants, etc. are the most common forms of Jiva with which we can easily relate. However, Jain scriptures state that there are 8.4 million species of Jiva in all. They are known by the senses they possess. There are five senses in all, namely touch, taste, smell, sight, and hearing. Different types of Jivas possess one or more of these senses.
Based upon the number of senses and mobility, Jivas are classified into different categories.
Based on mobility, all Jivas are divided into two broad categories:
(A) Non-Mobile (Sthavar Jiva, Single Sensed Being, or Ekendriya Jiva):
Jivas having only one sense, the sense of touch are called Ekendriya. They are further divided into the following five sub-categories.
A plant life can have one or more souls in a single body and, depending upon this, plant life is further divided into the following two sub-categories:
Pratyek Vanaspatikäya Jiva:
Pratyek means each or one. Such plant life have one soul in one body. Therefore, they are called pratyek vanaspatikäya. Trees, plants, bushes, stem, branches, leaves, and seeds, etc., are all examples of pratyek vanaspatikäya jiva.
Sädhäran Vanaspatikäya Jiva:
Sädhäran means common. In such plant life many souls occupy the same body making this type of plant life multi-organic. Therefore, such plant life is called sädhäran vanaspatikäya jiva. This kind of plants life have an infinite number of souls in one body are called "Anantkäya". Roots such as potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, beats, etc., belong to this category.
(B) Mobile (Tras Jiva, Multi Sensed Being, Bahu Indriya) Jiva:
Mobile jivas have two, three, four or five senses and are divided into the following categories:
(1)Two Sensed Beings (Beindriya Jiva):
Two sensed beings have the senses of touch and taste. Examples are shells, worms, insects, microbes in stale food, termites, etc.
(2)Three Sensed Beings (Treindriya Jiva):
Three sensed beings have the senses of touch, taste, and smell. Examples are bugs, lice, white ants, moths, insects in wheat, grains, and centipedes, etc.
(3)Four Sensed Beings (Chaurindriya Jiva):
Four sensed beings have the senses of touch, taste, smell and sight. Examples are scorpions, crickets, spiders, beetles, locusts, flies, etc.
(4)Five Sensed Beings (Panchendriya Jiva):
Five sensed beings have all the five senses of touch, taste, smell, sight, and hearing. Examples are human beings, cow, lions, fish, birds, etc.
The following are four sub-categories of the Panchendriya Jivas.
Among the five sensed beings some have minds and some do not. Those having a mind are called sangni panchendriya and those without a mind are called asangni panchendriya.
Among all of these Jivas the most worldly happiness is found in the celestial being, while the most worldly suffering is found in the infernal beings. Neither celestial nor infernal beings can take any vows. They cannot attain salvation during that life. Animals possess limited restraint only and, therefore, they also cannot attain salvation directly. The human state of existence is the most preferable to attain salvation, because during that life one can use logic to the fullest extent, can perform austerities, can live with restrain. Thus, only through this human phase can a jiva attain salvation or Moksha.
All jivas have special attributes related to the body such as paryäpti (power) and pran (vitality). The inert substance or ajiva does not possess any such quality. The following is the discussion relating to paryapti and pran.
Paryapti means a special power through which the jiva takes in matter (pudgals) like food and converts it into separate kinds of energy. There are six kinds of paryaptis:
(1) Ahar (food) (2) Sharir (body)
(3) Indriya (senses) (4) Shwasochchhwas (respiration)
(5) Bhasha (speech) (6) Man (mind)
When the life of a jiva is over, the soul along with tejas and karman bodies leaves the current body and acquires a new body. As soon as a jiva is born, the first thing it does is consume food. The jiva, with the help of Tejas body, digests the food. After this, the jiva gradually attains the power of a body and the power of senses. The activities of consuming the food, developing the body, and forming and strengthening the sense-organs goes on continuously. The body is formed in a duration called the Antarmuhurt (within 48 minutes). Next, the jiva, receives the matter of respiration, which allows it to acquire the power of respiration and eventually the power of mind.
The ekendriya, one sensed jivas have (1) Ahar, (2) Sharir, (3) Indriya, and (4) Shwasochchhwas Paryaptis. The beindriya, the treindriya, the chaurindriya and the asangni panchendriya jivas also possess (5) Bhasha paryapti in addition to the above four. The sangni panchendriya jivas also possess (6) Man paryapti in addition to the above five. Depending upon the development of the paryaptis the jivas are also classified as (1) Paryapta Jiva, (2) Aparyapta Jiva. The paryapta jiva means that their corresponding paryaptis have developed to their fullest capacity. The aparyapta jiva means that their paryaptis are not developed to their full capacity.
Depending upon the development of the Jiva, there are up to ten kinds of prans or vitalities present in each jiva. These vitalities are:
1) Sparsh-Indriya (Touch): The ability to feel the sensation of touch
2) Ras-Indriya (Taste): the ability to taste
3) Ghran-Indriya (Smell): the ability to smell
4) Chakshu-Indriya (Vision): the ability to see
5) Shravan-Indriya (Hearing): the ability to hear
6) Mano-bal (Mind): the ability to think
7) Vachan-bal (Speech): the ability to speak
8) Kaya-bal (Body): the ability to move the body
9) Shwasochchhwas (Respiration): the ability to inhale and exhale
1O) Ayushya (Longevity): the ability to live
The Ekendriya jivas possess only four prans:
(1) Touch (2) Respiration
(3) Body (4 ) Longevity
The beindriya jivas possess six prans. They possess the taste and speech vitality in addition, to the above four prans.
The treindriya jivas possess seven prans. They possess the smell vitality, in addition, to the above six prans.
The chaurindriya jivas possess eight prans. They possess the vision vitality in addition to the above seven prans.
The panchendriya jivas are divided into two groups: (1) The asangni (non-sentient) jivas, whose minds are not developed and (2) The sangni (sentient) jivas, whose minds are fully developed.
The asangni panchendriya jivas possess nine prans. They possess the hearing vitality in addition to the above eight prans.
The sangni panchendriya jivas possess ten pranas. They possess mind vitality in addition to the above nine prans.
The reason we need to know these prans is because any injury, no matter how little it may be to any of these prans, is considered himsa (violence). When himsa is done by us, our soul accumulates the bad karmas or pap (sin). Therefore to prevent accumulation of karma observe ahimsa (non-violence) related to all of these ten prans for all the categories of the Jivas. The first vow of non-violence is very important for the householders, monks and nuns. Now you may understand why we say "Ahimsa Parmo Dharma" (nonviolence is supreme religion), because by observing ahimsa we are protecting the vitality of the soul.
The summary of number of paryaptis and prans in various Jivas.
Abilities Paryaptis Prans
Ekendriya - those having one sense 4 4
Dwindriya - those having two senses 5 6
Treindriya - those having three senses 5 7
Chaurindriya - those having four senses 5 8
Asangni Panchendriya- those having five senses without a mind 5 9
Sangni Panchendriya- those having five senses with a mind 6 10
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Media Home Page | Contact Us
CDC Telebriefing Transcript
West Nile Virus Update
September 12, 2002
CDC MODERATOR: Thank you, Brent.
And I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome all the reporters that have joined us on the call today. With us today from CDC is Dr. Lyle Petersen, the Deputy Director for Medical Science within CDC's Division of Vector-borne Infectious Diseases. Dr. Petersen will provide an opening comment. And also with us is Dr. Jesse Goodman, the Deputy Director for the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research at the FDA, and Dr. Goodman is with us to participate in the Q&A.
So at this point I'd like to turn the call over to Dr. Petersen, who will provide an opening comment, and then we'll get to the Q&A. Thank you.
DR. PETERSEN: Thank you, Tom.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues to work with state and local health departments to help control West Nile virus. To date there have been a total of 1,201 human cases of West Nile virus infection reported to CDC from 30 states, the District of Columbia and New York City. There have been 46 fatalities reported.
CDC expects more cases of West Nile virus infection to be reported in the coming weeks as the transmission season peaks in different parts of the country. Exposure to West Nile virus through a mosquito bite is the principal means of acquiring infection.
CDC continues to urge people to take steps to protect themselves from being bitten by mosquitoes. These steps include eliminating standing water from around the home where mosquitoes are likely to breed, wearing long sleeves and pants and wearing insect repellents that contain DEET.
In addition, an investigation conducted by CDC, the Food and Drug Administration, the Health Resources and Services Administration, the American Red Cross and the Georgia and Florida Departments of Health, has confirmed transmission of West Nile virus from a single organ donor to four organ recipients. The source of the organ donor's infection remain unknown and the investigation remains in progress.
Subsequently, CDC has been informed of four other patients with West Nile virus infection diagnosed after receiving blood in the weeks before West Nile virus diagnosis. Investigations are ongoing and efforts are under way to contact donors of blood given to these patients, and other recipients of blood for these donors for follow up in West Nile virus testing.
In each instance precautionary measures have included a withdrawal of any remaining blood products obtained from the donors whose blood was given to these patients. Initial testing on some blood products from a few donors suggest that these donors might have had West Nile virus infection at the time of donation. These results are preliminary because all of the specimens available for testing in these investigations were initially processed for blood transfusion purposes which could affect test validity. Therefore, additional follow up testing and epidemiological investigation of these donors are necessary.
A large number of West Nile virus infections as a result of mosquito bite are occurring in the United States. By chance alone, some of these persons will have received blood transfusions. Recent receipt of a blood transfusion by a person with West Nile virus infection does not necessarily implicate the transfusion as the source of infection.
CDC and FDA are continuing to work in collaboration with blood collection agencies and state and local health departments to investigate whether West Nile virus can be transmitted by blood transfusion.
CDC MODERATOR: Okay. Brent, I think we're ready for questions, please.
AT&T OPERATOR: Very good. Thank you, sir.
And, ladies and gentlemen, as you just heard, at this point we'll enter into our Q&A session and we would ask that you would queue up for a question just by pressing the 1 on your phone keypad. Now, you will hear a tone indicating that you've been placed in queue. And just as a note, should your question or concern be addressed before you're called on, you may remove yourself from the queue by pressing the pound key.
And first we go to the line of Seth Borenstein (ph) with Knight-Ridder. Please go ahead.
QUESTION: Yes. Dr. Petersen, you talked about a few donors with testing of the blood products may have shown West Nile. "A few" is such an amorphous word. Can we get some specific numbers on how many--going to those four patients with West Nile virus diagnosed after receiving blood, how many blood donors are we talking about that these four received blood from? In other words, how many overall people do you need to test? And of those, how many--specifically, how many of them may have had West Nile virus in the blood from the tests that you've seen?
DR. PETERSEN: More details are provided in--in the MMWR, but I will recap the information. So far, including the blood transfusions that the organ donor received, plus these four other investigations, we're currently investigating appropriately 100 donors in total.
Investigations--of all of these investigations, we have tested available specimens from 2 of these--in two of these investigations. And one of--and both of--neither one of these investigations was the organ donor case, because there are many, many, many donors for that person, and that process is in progress.
For the two investigations that we have mostly completed, in one of them there were a total of 17 donors, of which we were able to obtain specimens at the time of donation from 15 of these. 3 of these 15 showed evidence of viral nucleic acid or the genetic material of the virus.
In another instance where there were 2 donors, neither one of these donors had evidence of viral nucleic acid or evidence of virus in those specimens.
QUESTION: Okay. Just to follow up then--and this might be more for Dr. Goodman--given what we know about the prevalence of West Nile and how--for every person who feels sick, there are probably 200 people who have it in their blood and just don't know it, have you figured out any--have you done any modeling or computer estimates to figure out in the blood supply what percentage might be--might have West Nile viral--you know, West Nile in it?
CDC MODERATOR: Dr. Goodman?
DR. GOODMAN: Well, actually, Dr. Petersen published the only study which has done this in a mathematically sophisticated way, and his study, which was published in the "Journal of Transfusion", I think last month--Lyle could amplify on it--used information from the intensity of the epidemic in 1999 in New York, and an assumption that--that the mean duration of the time that the virus was in the blood was about 6 days which was derived from all the available studies.
And they used mathematical modeling and estimated an incidence of somewhere in the realm of 1 to 2 people in 10,000 who might have viremia or virus in the blood, randomly at a time of donation.
Now, as Lyle and his colleagues said in that article, this is a model there's a lot of assumptions, on some of which would tend to make the incidency higher than it might be, and some of which could go the other way. But it was an attempt to get a feeling, and that in part, and our understanding that the virus can be in the blood for short times in asymptomatic people was what led FDA to issue an alert on August 17th about this possibility, and at least to have a high level of caution in endemic areas about the symptomatic people.
But in answer to your question, you know, the gene amplification result that Lyle mentioned in one of the donors--excuse me--in donors from one of these West Nile patients was fairly surprising, and, you know, based on at least CDC and other understanding of the dynamics of the epidemic and of the time that virus was in the blood were unexpected. And I think those are among the many reasons why there's an ongoing investigation using other testing methodologies in these cases, to try to get a fuller picture of this.
And just to reiterate what Lyle had said, in none of these cases at this time is it considered proven that transfusion transmitted the virus. But let me turn that around and say that, you know, at FDA, we are very concerned about this. So is CDC. We regard some of these findings as suspicious but in need of further study and confirmation. In general we're preparing as if this could turn out the be a real problem and hoping that it will not be, but we believe it's always better to be prepared in such a circumstance and to collect as much data as we can. And that's ongoing.
I don't know, Lyle, if you would like to add to that or give your perspective on possible risk?
DR. PETERSEN: As Dr. Goodman mentioned, that I had actually done the modeling, and the modeling that showed the potential risk would be about 2 per 10,000 donors. But this--again, this was modeling done under the conditions of the epicenter in Queens in New York in 1999, where there was a substantial West Nile virus outbreak.
We have no way to assess whether those numbers like on this modeling exercise produced a valid number or not. We think it probably is in the right ballpark. But places where there's less West Nile activity than an epicenter in Queens in New York in 1999 would be expected to have less of a risk.
And so I think the bottom line behind this is that there is a potential problem. We are investigating it. We are concerned about it. But for the average person, if they need a transfusion, the benefits of getting that transfusion are going to far outweigh--excuse me--far outweigh any risk of getting that transfusion, including the risk of getting West Nile virus.
CDC MODERATOR: Next question, please.
AT&T OPERATOR: Very good, sir. Thank you. And next the Fox News Channel's Steve Brown. Please go ahead.
QUESTION: Thank you very much. This question may be more epidemiologic than perhaps is necessary, but I have a question in regards to geography, where these cases are, the four investigations involving the suspected blood transfusion, and also the cases involving the organ donations. Could you give us an idea of geography that we're talking about? We're kind of concerned about this in the Upper Midwest because there seems to be a great, high concentration of cases here in the Illinois and Ohio areas. So we're trying to find out if these are also somehow perhaps related.
DR. PETERSEN: Right. The investigations right now involve a number of states. Among the states that we're most actively looking at and associated with these particular possible transfusion-related transmissions are North Dakota, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Georgia.
QUESTION: In regards to the organ donation cases, are those also mainly in the South?
DR. PETERSEN: That's the one that we're concerned with mainly in Georgia, although that donor had received products from--excuse me, that organ donor had received blood transfusions from donors from a whole number of states, and we're currently trying to track those back at this current time.
QUESTION: One follow-up, and again about geography. Is there a theory as to why it is so many of these cases are happening in Illinois? Currently, the State of Illinois reports 314 cases, and I believe it is 16 deaths--excuse me, 13 deaths currently. Is there a reason why so many of these cases seem to be centered in Illinois? That would make approximately a quarter of the cases or something approaching near a third of the deaths all happening in this state. Is there a theory as to why?
DR. PETERSEN: Well, I don't think we know the answer to that for sure. People have been trying to study these kinds of epidemics for years and have never come up with a very good explanation to my reckoning of why these epidemics occur in certain places in one year and other places in another year.
Now, if you look back at St. Louis encephalitis, which is a related virus to West Nile virus--and St. Louis encephalitis has been here in the U.S. for years. In 1975 there was a very large outbreak of St. Louis encephalitis virus that involved nearly 2,000 cases of encephalitis, and this was a multi-state outbreak that occurred throughout the entire Midwest. And states like Illinois and Ohio and states in the Upper Midwest were very heavily affected.
We kept this in mind very early on when we began to recognize that there was--there could potentially be a very large West Nile virus epidemic going on in the Midwest this year. And that is one of the reasons why we gave supplemental funding to Illinois and surrounding states very early on because we recognized that there was a pattern, a potential for a big outbreak in the Upper Midwest based on historical data from St. Louis encephalitis virus.
AT&T OPERATOR: Next question from Robert Bazell (ph) with NBC. Please go ahead.
QUESTION: Have you gone back and looked at all the other reported cases this year to see who else, if anyone else, if any of them had a transfusion?
DR. PETERSEN: No, we have not, and this is a discussion that we are currently undertaking right now. What we may consider doing is maybe looking in selected areas and doing a more systematic look. Right now what we have done--and as you can see from reading the MMWR, we are asking physicians who have potential cases to report them to local health authorities so they can get in touch with us and FDA so we can investigate these cases.
DR. GOODMAN: Lyle, Jesse here. Could I make one comment?
I think, again, we're taking these very seriously. We're very, very concerned. We are trying to take some actions to be prepared if this does turn out to be a significant public health issue in terms of transfusion transmission. But one thing that I think is important to keep in mind without trying to minimize the importance of these investigations is that, for instance, in these cases that have been reported to the CDC, again, at this time all of those individuals had known opportunity for exposure by a normal route.
Another point in terms of the kind of retrospective look at West Nile patients to see if they got a transfusion, some of the same characteristics that make people have West Nile disease and symptoms and much higher risk of that, such as age, possibly other medical illnesses, are also the same things that lead to a higher likelihood that somebody may have received transfusion.
So that doesn't rule any of this out at all, but it means that in evaluating reports and situations, we need to keep that in mind. That's really, you know, what we call looking at confounding possibilities when you do epidemiologic studies.
One other point that sort of stems from that is that in a way we're--there's certain kinds of information or case reports which, if they developed, would be much stronger evidence to support the idea that there could be a significant problem. And that could be, for instance, if a case developed in a recipient of a blood product who was in an area where there was no known natural transmission or if, as in the organ donor, cases developed in multiple co-recipients of blood materials from a single donor.
So part of the purpose of CDC ratcheting up the alert and wanting the public to be aware, you know, rather than panicking people or scaring them about a risk right now that we don't know very much about and where our knowledge is evolving, it's also to increase awareness so if there is a risk here we can identify it as soon as possible.
CDC MODERATOR: Next question, please.
AT&T OPERATOR: Certainly, sir, and thank you, Mr. Bazell.
Next we go to the Washington Post, David Brown, please go ahead.
QUESTION: Yes, Dr. Petersen, in your introductory remarks, you suggested that these--the findings of, you know, viral material might--you didn't really explain it in detail, but might be false positives, they may be an artifact of the preparation of the blood. Can you go into that, explain that a little bit more fully? And, presumably, that's the Mississippi case that Dr. Thompson talked about last week. And, also, if we can get a full identification of Dr. Goodman, including his first name, I got on a minute or two late and didn't catch that.
DR. PETERSEN: Why don't we start with the ID of Dr. Goodman, and then I'll go on to the other question.
CDC MODERATOR: It's Dr. Jesse Goodman, who is the Deputy Director for the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research at the Food and Drug Administration.
DR. PETERSEN: Okay. Let me just say what this test is. It's a test called the polymerase chain reaction assay, and it's a particular--it's a quantitative test to look at the viral genetic material. The test is extremely specific for detecting West Nile virus.
What the test measures, as I said, was viral genetic material, so it does not measure whether there was live virus in a sample. It just says there's genetic material but we don't know whether the virus was alive or dead.
Now, this test, along--as with any laboratory test, there are a certain number of tests that are false positives or false negatives. We do not know what the sensitivity or specificity of these tests are in the types of samples that we are testing. These samples were collected under conditions suitable for blood banking; for example, anticoagulant was put in them. And we don't know what the effect of that anticoagulant is on these assays.
And so--and part of the problem is that there's very limited amounts of retained specimen that are left over in these specimens, so it's really impossible to do every single laboratory test that we would want to do to try and confirm the results in these particular specimens.
So I think what these results really do suggest is that there was viral genetic material there. We do not know whether the virus was alive or dead, and we also do not know if these are false positive tests.
QUESTION: Okay. Well, I understand that the operating characteristics of the test in this sort of material is not fully known. But I guess--is there any reason to believe that these are false positives? You know, does the anticoagulant frequently get contaminated with, you know, virus from--with genetic material from, you know, vector-borne viruses? I wouldn't think so.
DR. PETERSEN: It would be unlikely. I think our take on this is that these results are highly suggestive there was viral genetic material in these samples, though we cannot say with 100 percent certainty.
QUESTION: Okay. Are these--is this the Mississippi case, the 17--
DR. PETERSEN: Yes, it is.
QUESTION: Thank you.
CDC MODERATOR: And thank you, Mr. Brown.
Next in queue is Anita Manning with the USA Today. Please go ahead.
QUESTION: Hi. Thank you. Dr. Goodman, you have made reference a couple of times to the fact that FDA is preparing just in case it does turn out that the virus is in the blood supply. And I'm wondering if you could be specific about how you can prepare for that and what's going on.
And the other question that I have is for Dr. Petersen, and it's about the epidemiological curve of this epidemic. I mean, have we peaked? Do you know yet? Or is it still too soon to say? And I will put you back on mute. Thank you.
DR. GOODMAN: Well, thanks for the question. It's a very perceptive question because it is difficult at this point to define precisely what steps we might need to take, so I want to be very clear about that. That will depend on the information developed in these investigations.
In addition, to better understand that we are working closely with CDC and the blood community to rapidly implement some additional studies that might help us determine the frequency, if any, of viremia out there among blood donors and the then possibility and efficiency that that could transmit infection. Some of those studies may be able to be implemented and get some results in rather a short time frame. Others may be more sophisticated and get better information but take longer.
The one thing we are doing to get ready is working very hard to get whatever information we can from these cases of possible transmission and then looking a little more broadly to get an understanding of, if there is a problem, what the dimensions might be.
Now, what can we then do? Well, number one is we can--there are two kinds of interventions or possibly three that one could consider if a problem is demonstrated to be going on and there is a need for enhanced public health protection or safety measures for the blood supply. If that need developed, one would be if one could develop, could define--and this is where we would want to work closely with CDC and the state to see if this were even possible. But if one could define populations of donors that are specifically at the highest risk of potentially having been exposed to and have a short period of virus in the blood from West Nile, one could potentially exclude certain individuals for those time periods in those geographic areas from donating.
This is something that needs more discussion and modeling, whether that could be effective, and if so, how effective. But that is one kind of intervention that could be complicated--excuse me, contemplated were there a need to arise. Okay.
Another one which has been discussed much, both, you know, within the public health and blood system and with the media, is, again, were this to be a significant public health threat to the blood supply, one could consider specific testing of donor samples for presence of virus. This is done, as you're aware, routinely for several of the viruses that have been identified to be important transfusion-transmitted diseases like HIV and hepatitis C.
So in terms of that, that's not something that can happen overnight. CDC, several of the state labs, and others have developed tests to detect small amounts of West Nile virus in specimens and have used those primarily in clinical diagnosis and in public health laboratories. These are being used for specimens where there's a high likelihood of finding this because they're patients suspected of having disease.
But the basic technologies are similar to technologies that are now in place to detect very small amounts of HIV or hepatitis C in our blood supply, and if a need develops, we are hopeful and we would certainly do everything we can to assist in translation of technologies that are really used now in the research or public health setting to whatever the need might be more broadly.
Now, in terms of what we're doing along these lines, we are already making efforts to bring together folks who have these tests in various developmental stages with people who are experienced at implementation of blood screening, whether it's the medical diagnostics industry or the blood industry and community. So we--although the need to do this has not been identified yet, we are trying to jump-start that in the eventuality that it were needed.
Finally, one other comment about screening. Blood supply, similar to screening donors, is that it is possible that that could be targeted if there were a time or a place of need on, again, the donors perceived where there might be the most risk of West Nile infection, or if you could identify a kind of blood recipient who was at risk of getting disease, one could potentially, if capabilities were limited early on, at least screen materials intended for those uses. But we wouldn't want to do that unless we knew who was truly at risk.
So, again, to recap, a very evolving situation. We're not sure yet that there is a risk. It's biologically plausible. We're concerned about these reports, so we do want to prepare as if this is a problem and get the ball moving on all of these fronts while we're getting more knowledge and information. And that's the situation.
CDC MODERATOR: I think, Anita, the second part of your question was about the epidemic peaking in different areas. is that correct?
QUESTION: Yes, that's right. Thank you, Tom.
CDC MODERATOR: Lyle?
DR. PETERSEN: We have some--our data suggests that the epidemic has peaked in the Southern United States, although transmission is certainly still ongoing and people need to take precautions.
In the Northern United States, we do not have evidence yet that the epidemic has peaked.
We would expect, based on data from the 1975 St. Louis encephalitis outbreak, that the epidemic in the North-Central United States will peak sometime in the next week or two.
CDC MODERATOR: Next question, please.
AT&T OPERATOR: Certainly. Thank you, Ms. Manning.
Next we go to Paul Monese (ph) with WCBS-TV. Please go ahead.
QUESTION: Dr. Goodman, I know that there's been great concern about scaring people in terms of dissuading them from donating blood. How practical would it be to hold the blood out for a couple of weeks while it was being tested and then put it back into the supply chain?
DR. GOODMAN: Okay. Well, you know, two points here. One is you mentioned donating blood, and I think it's very important--and we have made these points before from both FDA and CDC and the Department of Health and Human Services--you know, that donating blood is a completely safe procedure. You don't--in this country with modern blood collection methods, you don't get a disease from donating blood. And so, to the extent--and right now, in fact, in this country blood supplies are low. The reserve margin is low, and when you consider some of the more major issues of our time--threat of terrorism, et cetera--plus the much more positive thing, how patients benefit from transfusions and transplants, you know, we really do want to encourage people to donate. That voluntary donation system is one of the things that keeps America's blood supply the safest in the world right now, and that's important to state.
In terms of your question of whether you could hold blood out and test it, right now the capabilities to test tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of units of blood are not there. If this is needed, the ideal approach would be to transfer some of these technologies now in use in small numbers of samples at diagnostic and public health labs into a situation where there is enough validation that these tests will perform properly, where they can be used more broadly. And in that case, as is done with HIV and hepatitis, there's not--they can be done very rapidly, and there's not a need for holding the blood out for long periods of time.
But, you know, as this situation evolves, if there were a much more significant problem, I think we would have to explore any and all options as to how to deal with it. I mean, clearly, we do want to keep blood extremely safe.
QUESTION: Is one option--am I still on the line?
DR. GOODMAN: Yes.
QUESTION: Is one option actually not accepting new blood for a period of time, perhaps until the first frost or something along those lines in areas where this is quite significant in terms of the infection level?
DR. GOODMAN: Well, I don't want to put anything off the table, but as I had said earlier, I think if the dimensions of this problem appear significant--and that's an if. There is an ongoing investigation here and, as stated, there are at this time no proven cases. But if that appeared--dimensions appeared serious and we could localize and locate at-risk donors within geographic areas, I think that would definitely be an option whether to exclude those donors for a time or if we were able to ramp it up to test in those kinds of areas. That's an absolutely credible point if there's a problem.
One thing that I'll just add on because I forgot to mention it before, but another technology that FDA has been working with industry to try to bring along is what is called pathogen inactivation where there are treatments that can be used on blood products to reduce or eliminate infectious agents such as a virus like this that might be there.
These are still in the research stage, but, again, some of them are very promising. And if this turned out to be a major problem with a major risk, one could explore a potential role for these in those areas. But these are not without issues because you do want to remember that for the overwhelming majority of people who get blood, you know--and here I mean, you know, the risk from the common infectious diseases, you know, can be as low for HIV and hepatitis as close to one in a million. For the overwhelming majority of people, even if West Nile is a problem, the blood that they get is extremely safe and offers no problem.
So if we are--if we do contemplate doing things which may through a treatment change the characteristics of that blood that's transfused, we want to be sure that not only have we eliminated risk for that rare patient who might get transmitted a virus like West Nile, but we haven't at the same time caused any risk for the overwhelming majority of people who do well with a blood transfusion now.
Those are the kind of complex risk/benefit assessments that FDA works with sponsors and manufacturers to make all the time. But I'm just bringing it up because, again, this is a dynamic situation, and whether it's perhaps well into the future, that's another exciting tool that's in the armamentarium, potentially at least.
QUESTION: Dr. Goodman, if I can ask one follow-up here and then I'll let someone else get on. I'm just wondering where does it stand right now in terms of the random blood sampling that you had mentioned, I believe it was last week. You were considering randomly testing blood around the country for the presence of virus.
DR. GOODMAN: We--CDC has the lead on that, and we're working with them and others to try to get that going in short order. So there was, for instance, a long phone call yesterday discussing the logistics of getting some of these studies up and running. The blood organizations have indicated a willingness to be very helpful on this. It may sound simple. It's not always the simplest thing in the world to do this. We want to be sure that if we do it, the data is usable and interpretable. But I think that the--you know, I'm hoping that those studies, at least some, can be initiated in a very short time frame. I'll let Lyle perhaps comment on that.
DR. PETERSEN: Yes, we would like to initiate these kinds of studies as soon as possible, and, in fact, discussions are going on as we speak about doing that with some of my other colleagues in the blood banking organizations.
CDC MODERATOR: Next question, please.
AT&T OPERATOR: Certainly. Let's go to the Atlanta Journal Constitution's Maryn McKenna. Please go ahead.
QUESTION: Hi. Thanks very much for doing this. I want to say at the start that I cannot mute the phone I'm on, so if the noise of my keyboard is a big problem, go ahead and mute me. But I do have a follow-up so please don't lose me.
First, Dr. Petersen, some clarifications. You have four transfusion recipients aside from the organ donor who appear to have some degree of West Nile virus that may be associated with the transfusions. One of them is the previously mentioned Mississippi case. Is the Georgia case one or the two organ recipients in Georgia, or is it someone totally separate from the organ donations? And could you discuss the condition of these four recipients and whether any of them had previous underlying health problems that would have made them more vulnerable?
DR. PETERSEN: The Georgia person is the investigation going on with the organ transplant donor. So the other four are in other areas. There are two in Mississippi, one in Louisiana, and one in North Dakota.
Now, as far as the health status of the recipients, let me just think about this for a second.
All three of these--or three out of the four had previous chronic diseases. One out of the four was a previously healthy person.
CDC MODERATOR: Ma'am, your follow-up?
QUESTION: I need to--am I back on the line?
AT&T OPERATOR: Yes, please, go ahead, ma'am.
QUESTION: Okay. Thank you. Sorry. You made the point that all these people live in areas where there is ongoing transmission of West Nile virus through the normal means of a mosquito bite. Can you explain how you'll be able to sort out in the lab whether the infections that have shown up in these transfusion recipients came from a transfusion or came from a mosquito bite before or after the transfusion, given that there's only one strain of virus circulating in the country?
DR. PETERSEN: That is an excellent question, and you have struck at the heart of the problem. There is no single laboratory test that's going to tell you whether the person got it from a mosquito bite or from a transfusion. So unless something highly unusual happens, like a transfusion recipient in an area where West Nile virus transmission is not occurring, let's say, Washington State or something, or some place, it's going to be very difficult to sort out natural mosquito infection from transfusion infection.
And so what's going to have to happen here is that we are going to have to do a number of investigations in a number of people to try and see if we can fit together some common epidemiological thread among all of these in order to make a case for West Nile virus transmission via blood transfusion or not. And so a number of investigations are going to have to be done.
It's sort of like in this case it's not going to be a black and white situation. It's going to be like a court of law where you have to get enough evidence that the preponderance of evidence suggests that this is occurring, and that's the process we're currently doing.
CDC MODERATOR: Next question, please.
AT&T OPERATOR: And thank you, Ms. McKenna.
We'll go to Diana Gonzalez with WTVJ. Please go ahead.
QUESTION: I actually have a follow-up to the question you just answered. For example, one of the cases of the four possibly transfusion-related cases is in North Dakota where there seems to be not that much viral activity, only four cases reported. Is that case of particular concern to you?
DR. PETERSEN: This is a person--first of all, there is West Nile virus transmission going on in North Dakota. There may be fewer cases in North Dakota simply because there's fewer people to get exposed. But we don't know that for sure.
But what we do know regarding this case is that we have ample evidence that there was West Nile virus transmission going on in the vicinity where this person lived. So it is highly likely that this person as exposed to mosquitoes that could have had West Nile virus infection.
QUESTION: Okay. I also have a question for Dr. Goodman, and that is that he keeps saying that they're taking preparations in case they figure out that it's a significant health threat. Can you give us a time frame as to when you will know whether this indeed is a significant health threat to the blood supply?
DR. GOODMAN: I would like to say we would like to know very soon, but due to a number of the complexities that you have heard about in terms of determining the cause of some of these infections, this may be, you know, more difficult than we think.
We're kind of on a little bit of a rollercoaster here, all of us who are involved in this. People are working very hard to obtain samples from these cases, to obtain additional data, to get other studies in gear. And it could be that we receive data within the next few days that tells us that some of these results to date are not likely to indicate in these cases transmission or are the opposite. And that could, you know, sort of change the universe and the feeling for us here about risk. But I think in fairness, it's not a situation that we control. We don't know enough about the biology and transmission of West Nile virus to reach--to reach a conclusion right now. This is evolving as we speak. We're all actively seeking out as much new information as possible. CDC is working to set up additional studies and to investigate these cases very hard. And what I'm really saying is that we want to be as positioned as possible to deal with any risk in the best way that we can, and I think that's a fair statement. We are not--you know, humans don't always control everything, and we're putting the best science and the best people, and working with some, you know, very helpful and cooperative folks in the states in the blood community to try to answer precisely the question you have as quickly as it can be answered.
CDC MODERATOR: Brent, how many more questions are in queue, please?
AT&T OPERATOR: At this point, sir, we have 3 participants that are all follow-up questions.
CDC MODERATOR: Okay. We'll take those 3 and then we'll stop. So next question, please.
AT&T OPERATOR: Very good, sir. Thank you.
And let's go to David Brown once again with the Washington Post. Please go ahead.
QUESTION: Dr. Petersen, could you just give the kind of basic, you know, facts that reporters always want? For instance, the case in which you looked at two samples, donor samples, and neither of them showed virus. Was that in Mississippi? Is it the recipient or the person that has West Nile virus possibly from a transfusion in Mississippi a man or a woman, you know, a little bit about the Dakota person, Louisiana person, you know, just the kind of basic stuff that we want.
DR. PETERSEN: Yes. I'm sorry. I think I'm going to frustrate you here because there are real issues of confidentiality and I do not want to go into the specifics of any one of these cases.
AT&T OPERATOR: And thank you, Mr. Brown.
Our next follow up comes from Maryn McKenna (ph), once again in Atlanta. Please go ahead.
QUESTION: Hi. Thanks for letting me follow up.
Dr. Petersen, I wanted to go back to something you said earlier, which was that the organ donor who had received a number of transfusions, turns out to have gotten blood from a number of states, and because of the complexity of that, you have sort of put that part of the investigation aside.
Following up on that, are you--is the CDC or is the FDA asking any questions about whether it's wise to keep moving donated blood across state lines in light of these investigations?
DR. PETERSEN: Yes. Thank you for asking this question. I think you're misinterpreting what I said. It's not that we've put the investigation aside. We're actively doing this investigation in conjunction with the Red Cross and state health departments. But what I am saying is because there are so many people involved, involving so many different states, that it's going to take a while to just track down that many donors and that many recipients of products made from those donors. It's mainly a logistical problem simply because this person got a tremendous number of transfusions.
QUESTION: Didn't mean to suggest that you weren't still investigating, just I thought you said--
DR. PETERSEN: No, no. We have gone back and we have been able to track down all of the donors, at least know who they were and also track down who are all the recipients of those donors. But what the complexity is, is actually going out there and finding all these people, and getting repeat blood tests on them and talking to them, getting questions about their health. That's mainly a logistical issue. And again, that's not necessarily related to where they came from, it's just the sheer number.
QUESTION: I appreciate the clarification. Sorry for misunderstanding. But I don't think that changes my question, which is that we had an organ donor here in Georgia who received blood apparently from a number of areas. So given that, does that cause you to think or the FDA to think at all about the movement of donated blood across state lines, given that the intensity of viral transmission may be different in some geographic areas than in others?
DR. PETERSEN: Yes. I would like to defer this question to Dr. Goodman.
DR. GOODMAN: I think it's a good question, and it's connected to some of the kind of what-ifs that we discussed earlier. I think if--you know, just to recap, in that case in Georgia with the organ donor, we are concerned about the possibility that a transfusion may have been involved, but that's still under investigation. So we just need to be clear about that, and that was another individual with natural exposure.
But your question is a good one, and I think if there is a problem with transmission through the blood supply, and if we can identify areas that are at highest risk of having donors who might be infected without knowing it, even for a very short period of time, you know, one strategy could be to not--I wouldn't put it at not cross state lines, but, you know, consider whether those people for that period of time shouldn't be donors. So if they're a problem, that could be a strategy.
Now, in terms of implementing that strategy or the kind of strategy you're saying about importation of blood, there are a number of issues. One of them was raised by Dr. Petersen's initial update to you on epidemiology, that the disease, I think he said 41 states. et cetera, so the practicality of doing that in a simple way.
And then the other issue is that again if this is going on, there is a risk to people of potentially not being able to have blood, and depending on the risk and nature of this possible infection, I think it would be better if we could deal with it without creating a new risk that people don't have blood.
So I think that it has to be on the table as to whether if there are particularly high risk donors or areas, and transmission turns out to be a problem, such a measure should be considered, but it wouldn't be ideal for the reasons I'm saying. But if the risk is huge or turns out to be huge, I think we have to consider every measure we can then for intervention.
CDC MODERATOR: Brent, let's make this our last question, please.
AT&T OPERATOR: Indeed, sir, thank you.
And thank you, Ms. McKenna.
Our final question comes from Seth Borenstein once again with Knight-Ridder. Please go ahead.
QUESTION: Thanks so much, and it's a two-part question to finish it up. First--and both for Dr. Goodman. First, is there in your mind a threshold that in terms of the number of units that can be more conclusively tracked to blood transfusion, the number of infections? In other words, can you share with us what is sort of your threshold to make you kick in one of these three options you talked about earlier?
And then the other question I had is very early you mentioned that the gene amplification results from one of those blood transfusion cases as fairly surprising. Was that because of the number, the amount of West Nile virus, or what was fairly surprising about that?
DR. GOODMAN: Okay. Your first question was on threshold, and I think that given that we're dealing with evidence of varying degrees of strength and very complex clinical and public health situations, it wouldn't be very helpful or accurate for me to state a threshold. What I will say, you know, for instance there might be certain kinds of cases that only a couple could occur that would really raise concern. There might be others where the causation is not clear, where there were all these natural opportunities for infection, where the laboratory testing is unclear, that one might interpret differently.
So I think Lyle's analogy of putting together all the evidence like one might do in a trial, is not a bad one, and that we're going to weigh all the evidence from any sources, whether they're these case investigations which have a lot of difficulty in interpretation, or whether they're larger studies, or whether there are new things that come to light. We're going to weigh all that and try to do what's best to protect the health of the American people in real time.
What was the second question?
QUESTION: The second question was about--early on in response to my very first question, you talked about fairly surprising results from one of the blood transfusion recipients in the gene amplification. And I'm wondering was that in terms of the amount of virus--
DR. GOODMAN: No. Again, I would like to turn that over to Lyle, but, you know, I would say that based on the kind of intensity of transmission in areas, the very small percentage of people that after an epidemic seem to have acquired West Nile, studies that have been done looking for the nucleic acids in patients with active disease. All of those things would make you very surprised that in a small number of presumably randomly selected people, you would have that number of positives. They weren't of a level that was unexpected. I want to second that to my knowledge the tests were very carefully done.
But, you know, one of the reasons we're concerned about those results would be that, you know, they--there could be something different about those donors. It could be something that happened to those specimens that makes the results invalid. There are many alternative explanations, but we want to keep our minds also open to it could be that the disease transmission or whatever that is going on is different than what everybody thought, and that's one of the reasons for trying to, in the very near future, get more information outside of just these case studies where it's so difficult to always control the quality of the information.
I also want to just say that although we want to look at the whole picture of evidence, with blood we are pretty much on a precautionary model. If we have a high level of concern, there are situations where you may take certain steps without necessarily requiring proof like we would in a criminal court. So again, this is a moving target. We're looking at the evidence day to day.
We're having public discussions, including recently both CDC and FDA participated in presentations to both the Secretaries, Public Health Service, Advisory Committee on Blood Safety and Availability, and then today to FDA Blood Products Advisory Committee, and we're going to share information and seek input and try to make the best decisions in a difficult situation.
AT&T OPERATOR: And thank you, Mr. Borenstein.
With that, doctors, and Mr. Skinner, I'll turn the call back to you.
CDC MODERATOR: I just would like to remind everybody, probably if they received a notice about the media briefing, they've also received the MMWR, but all of the case counts, as well as a description of the investigation of blood transfusion recipients with West Nile virus infections is chronicled in the MMWR which is available to everybody, CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. And if you have not received a copy of that, you can call 404-639-3286 to receive that. [Report can be found at http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/mmwr_wk.html].
Thank you every for joining us.
[End of telebriefing.]
This page last updated September 17, 2002
States Department of Health and Human Services
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Butterfly Conservation and leading wildlife groups have welcomed the publication of official statistics charting the state of a range of threatened species in the UK.
The Government has unveiled a new indicator for priority species – described by conservationists as the FTSE Index for threatened wildlife. The official statistic uses records dating back 40 years for 210 native species, including birds, bats, moths, butterflies, hares and dormice, to build a picture of the health of our wildlife.
The figures show that priority species have declined on average by 58% since 1970. This echoes the findings of the State of Nature report, launched in May by Butterfly Conservation President Sir David Attenborough and 25 wildlife groups.
The list of species included features many of those deemed a priority because of the threats they face, and were chosen to represent wildlife in all four countries of the UK. Some have benefitted from conservation efforts in recent years, such as red kites and greater horseshoe bats, but others, including the High Brown Fritillary butterfly and the skylark have declined.
The Government has previously published indicators for individual wildlife groups including birds, bats and butterflies – but never before has there been a wider view of our most precious wildlife.
Several wildlife species groups have not been included in the current indicator, such as plants, molluscs and fungi due to the difficulties of recording long-term trends. However the story is the same for these groups – for example conservationists estimate 97% of the UK’s of wild flower meadows have been lost and 1-in-5 of all UK flowering plant species are threatened with extinction.
Butterfly Conservation Chief Executive Dr Martin Warren said: “The new Priority Species Indicator shows just how bad it is for threatened species, including over 200 butterflies and moths. We need a huge concerted effort and more serious funding for species conservation to turn this round.”
Richard Gregory, RSPB Head of Species Monitoring, said: “This new indicator is like the FTSE Index for threatened species – and it is showing a steady, and very worrying decline.
“What this new official biodiversity statistic does is act as an indicator of the health of our countryside. Every year the Government will be publishing these figures in the same way that they publish school league tables and crime statistics. We hope they will be a powerful new tool in the fight to halt the loss of our threatened native wildlife.
“These species were chosen mainly because they are under threat. Some of them are safer now than they were 40 years ago because of the hard work of conservationists, volunteers and government agencies – and we must celebrate some fantastic success stories - but the trend is downwards for 70% of the species on this list.
Read the full report on the DEFRA website.
“There is a great deal of wildlife not included in this list including endangered species like the freshwater pearl mussel. We will be working with the Government to ensure data for these species are included in future to build a full picture of the state of our wildlife.”
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Does International Food Aid Harm the Poor?
"There are more buyers of wheat in Ethiopia than sellers of wheat at all levels of income -- an important result because it means that at all levels of living standards, more households benefit from food aid (and a subsequent reduction in wheat prices) than are hurt by it."
The delivery of food aid to developing countries seems like an uncontroversial policy -- a straightforward effort that helps the poor and underscores the generosity of donor nations. Yet, economists have long debated the merits of food aid. By increasing the local supply of food, such aid may depress prices and thus undercut the income of rural farmers in the recipient nations, for example; it also may discourage local production. And, since the poor often are concentrated in rural areas, food aid in fact may disproportionately hurt the poor.
NBER researchers James Levinsohn and Margaret McMillan tackle this debate in Does Food Aid Harm the Poor? Household Evidence from Ethiopia (NBER Working Paper 11048). The impact of lower food prices on the poor, they reason, hinges on whether poor households tend to be net buyers or net sellers of food. The authors seek to answer this question by examining consumption and expenditures survey data from both urban and rural households in Ethiopia. They focus on Ethiopia because it receives more food aid than almost any other nation in the world, but also because it is widely recognized that raising the productivity and profitability of small-scale Ethiopian farmers is essential to reducing poverty in the country.
Food aid can take several forms, but some portion of all types of food aid (including emergency relief aid) is eventually sold in local markets and thus competes with domestic producers. Therefore, food aid will benefit Ethiopia's net food buyers and hurt its' net food sellers. To carry out their study, Levinsohn and McMillan merge data from two nationally representative surveys and create a data set of 8,212 urban and 8,308 rural Ethiopian households.
They find that households tend to earn income from only one or two different cereal grains, and that rural households rely more heavily on such income than urban households. Indeed, 21 percent of rural households report positive income from teff, 12 percent from wheat, 10 percent from barley, 24 percent from maize, 11 percent from sorghum, and 12 percent from coffee. Meanwhile, urban households report figures of less than 3 percent for each of these products. The authors also find that households spend a large fraction of their income on cereal grains, ranging from 26 percent to 12 percent for rural households and from 16 percent to 5 percent for urban households. Since wheat is the only cereal imported in the form of food aid, it is the 12 percent of rural households that report income from wheat who stand to gain most from price increases and lose most from price declines.
The authors classify households as either net buyers of wheat (if they buy more than they sell) or as net sellers. To determine the poverty impact of food aid, they also classify the households by expenditure per capita and assess whether the poor households are net buyers or sellers of food. Finally, they estimate the magnitude of the price changes caused by food aid and hence the welfare effects of an increase in the price of food.
Levinsohn and McMillan offer several conclusions. First, net buyers of wheat are poorer than net sellers of wheat in Ethiopia. Indeed, roughly 85 percent of the poorest households are net buyers of wheat. Second, there are more buyers of wheat in Ethiopia than sellers of wheat at all levels of income -- an important result because it means that at all levels of living standards, more households benefit from food aid (and a subsequent reduction in wheat prices) than are hurt by it. Third, the proportion of net sellers is increasing in living standards, and fourth, poorer households (in rural and in urban areas) benefit proportionately more from a drop in the price of wheat. "In light of this evidence," the authors conclude, "it appears that households at all levels of income benefit from food aid and that -- somewhat surprisingly -- the benefits go disproportionately to the poorest households."
Levinsohn and McMillan estimate that, in the absence of food aid, the price of wheat in Ethiopia would be $295 per metric ton, compared to an actual price of $193 per metric ton in 1999. On average, the authors conclude, "the loss in consumer surplus works out to roughly 37 US dollars per household per year for households that consume wheat and the gain in producer surplus works out to roughly 157 US dollars per household per year for households that sell wheat." In a nation such as Ethiopia, where the poverty line is about $132 per year, the impact is therefore substantial.
-- Carlos Lozada
The Digest is not copyrighted and may be reproduced freely with appropriate attribution of source.
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What is an Earthquake?
An earthquake occurs when earth releases energy suddenly in the form seismic waves. The tectonic plates in the earth’s crust which are almost hundred kilometers in thickness get dislocated because of seismic waves. An earthquake is a natural phenomenon. But sometimes activities like oil drilling, coal mining, and construction of big dams also add up to the seismic activity. Earthquake intensity is measured with the help of seismometers. It is also known as Richter scale. A magnitude of 3 on Richter scale is indiscernible whereas a magnitude higher than 7 usually causes damage and destruction. One of the worst earthquakes to hit was a magnitude of over 9 in Japan in 2011.
The damage caused due to an earthquake depends on the location of the epicenter of the earthquake. Major destruction occurs near the epicenter of the earthquake because maximum intensity locates at the center. Sometimes because of earthquakes there may be volcanic eruptions and landslides.
Naturally occurring earthquakes
Earth’s tectonic plates are marked by faults or fractures. When the tectonic plates slide past each other or have a collision with each other, an earth quake occurs.
Size and frequency
Almost 500,000 earthquakes occur each year that can be detected with the latest instruments. Among these, around 100,000 can be felt. Minor earthquake prone areas on earth are Italy, Greece, New Zealand, Turkey, Portugal, Pakistan, Iran, Indonesia, Peru, Chile, Guatemala, Mexico, California and Alaska. Majority of earthquakes occur in the course of 40,000 km long circum-Pacific seismic belt which is in the shape of a horseshoe. Himalayan mountain plate is another zone where massive earthquakes may occur. With rapid rise in population in countries like Japan, Mexico and Tehran, because of their presence in seismic zones, major earthquakes may occur. If we list out the top 10 earthquake prone countries, it goes like:
3. United States of America
4. New Zealand
8. Papua New Guinea
10. Solomon Islands
Human induced seismic activity
As there is a lot of development and enhancement in technology, man has exploited the wealth of the nature. The important activities that lead to earthquakes are drilling for oil wells, coal mining, and collecting large volumes of water for construction of a dam. As an example, the 2008 Sichuan earthquake that occurred in China was because of the construction of a dam. In Australia also there was coal mining activity which resulted in an earthquake.
Impact of earthquakes
A number of natural changes occur due to an earthquake.
The ground shakes and ruptures because of which building and other structures get damaged. The severity of destruction depends on how close the area is to the epicenter. Ground rupture means the breakage and displacement of the earth’s surface. It is a major threat to huge structures like bridges, dams and nuclear powerplants.
Another major threat that occurs due to an earthquake are landslides. When the earthquake is accompanied by other major threats like wildfires, volcanic activity or storms, landslides may occur.
Due to the damage of electrical power or gas lines chances of fire eruption are high due to an earthquake.
When water saturated granular material like sand loses its strength due to earthquake it gets modified into a liquid. This process may cause damage to bridges and buildings. There is a chance of these structures getting collapsed to the ground.
When earthquake occurs in the sea bed, the sea waves rise in the sea with long and sudden movements dispensing large volumes of water. Depending on the depth of the water these waves travel at a speed of 600-800 kilometers per hour. These waters are capable enough to drown the structures and building all along the sea coast. Usually tsunamis occur in the seal when the earthquake hit is above 7.5 on the Richter scale. After the tsunami in 2003 that devastated lakhs of people across Indian Ocean, countries all over the world are taking precautions and have invested in tsunami warning systems.
A major earthquake causes lot of destruction and damage to buildings and structures. Because of lack of basic amenities, diseases may spread. It will take lot of time for rehabilitation of people.
Man has been making a steady progress in all fields. There are several discoveries and innovations to his credit. Except for being ready to face any type of natural calamities, there is nothing that man can do in such circumstances. Time and again nature proves that it is mightier than human beings.
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Submarine in search of alien species in Lough Erne
A high-tech submarine has been commissioned to find an alien species of zebra mussels under the surface of Lough Erne in County Fermanagh which can have a devastating impact on the local marine environment.
Lough Erne was one of the first lakes in Northern Ireland to be infected by zebra mussels, which can cause the ecology of lakes to change substantially or even collapse.
The autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is being developed by Leo Steenson (26) from Glenarm, County Antrim, who is a PhD student at the University of Southampton, and is being used to scour waters below the surface to reduce the risks of sending people underwater.
"The idea for monitoring the oceans and lakes like this is to send machines rather than people to reduce risk, but also we can get much more repeatable and better data if we send machines to do these experiments," Mr Steenson told the BBC.
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http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/environment/submarine-in-search-of-alien-species-in-lough-erne-28755394.html
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Saliva reflects the physiologic state of the body, including emotional, endocrinal, nutritional and metabolic variations, and so can be used to monitor both oral and systemic health. In the past decade, salivary diagnostic approaches have been developed to monitor oral and systemic diseases. Along with these exciting scientific advancements, there is an emerging need to move salivary diagnostics out of the lab and into clinical practice. Point-of-care (POC) technologies specifically developed for salivary diagnostics can provide rapid, simple, low-cost and accurate measurements directly from saliva. To further transform salivary diagnostics into clinical reality, an integrated platform-based POC application is necessary, which includes sample processing, detection, a user-friendly interface and medical information technology. This review presents the requirements for POC platforms in salivary diagnostics and describes current applications of POC platforms for monitoring medical conditions using saliva. By advancing POC platforms for salivary diagnostics, dentists are anticipated to engage in chairside screening of medical conditions.
Keywords: salivary diagnostics, point-of-care devices
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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http://www.quintpub.com/journals/cjdr/abstract.php?iss2_id=1099&article_id=12849&article=2&title=Point-of-care%20Platforms%20for%20Salivary%20Diagnostics
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“What did you get?” might be the first question kids ask one another after the holidays. But what we get by giving to others may be the greatest gift of all. “A remarkable fact is that giving, even in later years, can delay death. The impact of giving is just as significant as not smoking and avoiding obesity,” according to altruism and health researcher Stephen G. Post, PhD.
Post made these comments to an Australian publication in reference to the giving of one’s time through volunteer work. The study he cites showed a 60 percent lower mortality rate among older adults who were frequent volunteers. During the holidays, giving is usually more of the material kind. Presents wrapped in paper and bows are bestowed upon loved ones with the desire to make them smile. The end result is that, very often, gifting others makes the giver happy.
In a survey of people’s spending habits and happiness, responses indicate that it might be better to spend on others than on oneself. Those who used their money on others by giving gifts or donating to charity reported being significantly happier than those who used their money to pay their own bills and buy things for themselves.
Even better news—happiness is relatively cheap. In a fascinating experiment, social psychologist Liz Dunn lead a team in Canada, which gave groups of students different envelopes of money and different instructions on how to spend it. One group was given either $20 or $5 and instructed to spend the money on themselves. The other group was given either $20 or $5 and instructed to spend the money on someone else. At the end of the day, after the money had been spent accordingly, the students rated their level of happiness. The group who spent the money on others rated themselves as happier than the students who had spent the money on themselves. However, there was no difference in happiness levels between the students who spent $5 and those who spent $20.
According to Post’s research, and invoking the associative property, if giving is associated with happiness, then it is also associated with health, since happiness can be an indicator of health. Among British civil servants, a study showed that the happier participants were also healthier. They had lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol, and when placed under stress, had lower levels of plasma fibrogen, which is a predictor of heart disease. Ruut Veenhoven, emeritus-professor of social conditions for human happiness at Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands, has published research about the connection between happiness and how it helps to prevent people from getting sick. He asserts that governments and policies should support the happiness of citizens as a way to ameliorate public health.
The most comprehensive review of happiness and living a longer, healthier life has been researched by Ed Deiner, University of Illinois professor emeritus of psychology. In an article he published in 2011, “Happy People Live Longer…”, he concluded that the evidence that subjective well-being lead to health and longevity was “clear and compelling.”
Deiner reviewed over 160 studies in the course of his analysis. One study was especially simple. In 2010 researchers rated photos of 196 baseball players from 1952 for smiling. Based on who smiled, and how intensely, it was possible to predict who was still alive in 2009!
The season of giving, also seems to be the season for getting happy and healthy. Bestow your gifts, whether modest or extravagant, and smile. The benefits could be priceless.
Edited by Joshua Brooks
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Today, Pope Benedict XVI’s message for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees which will be celebrated on January 13, was made public. In it he raised the plight of young migrants who are torn between two cultures in the lands they immigrate to.
The theme of the 94th celebration, “invites us this year to reflect in particular on young migrants” stated the Holy Father. “The vast globalization process underway around the world brings a need for mobility, which also induces many young people to emigrate and live far from their families and their countries. The result is that many times the young people endowed with the best intellectual resources leave their countries of origin, while in the countries that receive the migrants, laws are in force that make their actual insertion difficult.”
"For the young migrants,” he continued, “the problems of the so-called 'difficulty of dual belonging' seem to be felt in a particular way: on the one hand, they feel a strong need not to lose their culture of origin, while on the other, the understandable desire emerges in them to be inserted organically into the society that receives them, but without this implying a complete assimilation and the resulting loss of their ancestral traditions.”
Cardinal Martino, president of the Pontifical Council affirmed this during the presentation saying, “Young migrants often find themselves alone, in a no- man's-land halfway between two cultures.” This causes them “to live in a situation of great uncertainty that prevents them from conceiving a feasible project for their future and increases the factors that lead to marginalization, opening the doors to criminality, prostitution, alcohol, drugs and larceny.”
The cardinal continued, “The crisis of values of our own day leads to the spiritual death of many young immigrants. Most of them are also relatively distant from religious concerns, and often recognize that they have received no ... education in this field.”
The Pope’s message continued, emphasizing the need to focus on the “sector of forced migrants, refugees and the victims of human trafficking. “[I]t is impossible to remain silent before the distressing images of the great refugee camps present in different parts of the world. ... These children and adolescents have only had as their life experience the permanent, compulsory 'camps' where they are segregated, far from inhabited towns, with no possibility normally to attend school."
How can these young migrants be helped? The Holy Father answered that “it is necessary to aim first of all at support for the family and schools. But how complex the situations are, and how numerous the difficulties these young people encounter in their family and school contexts! In families, the traditional roles that existed in the countries of origin have broken down, and a clash is often seen between parents still tied to their culture and children quickly acculturated in the new social contexts.
"Likewise, the difficulty should not be underestimated which the young people find in getting inserted into the educational course of study in force in the country where they are hosted. Therefore, the scholastic system itself should take their conditions into consideration and provide specific formative paths of integration for the immigrant boys and girls that are suited to their needs. The commitment will also be important to create a climate of mutual respect and dialogue among all the students in the classrooms based on the universal principles and values that are common to all cultures."
The Holy Father also focused on the need for pastoral care for students who are studying abroad noting that they may “often feel alone under the pressure of their studies and sometimes they are also constricted by economic difficulties.
"It is necessary to help them find a way to open up to the dynamism of inter-culturality and be enriched in their contact with other students of different cultures and religions. For young Christians, this study and formation experience can be a useful area for the maturation of their faith, a stimulus to be open to the universalism that is a constitutive element of the Catholic Church.”
"Dear young migrants, prepare yourselves to build together your young peers a more just and fraternal society by fulfilling your duties scrupulously and seriously towards your families and the State.” The Pontiff encouraged migrants to “be respectful of the laws and never let yourselves be carried away by hatred and violence. Try instead to be protagonists as of now of a world where understanding and solidarity, justice and peace will reign."
The Pope concluded his message by reminding the migrants that the Church needs them. “You can play a very providential role in the current context of evangelization. Coming from different cultures, but all united by belonging to the one Church of Christ, you can show that the Gospel is alive and suited to every situation; it is an old and ever new message. It is a word of hope and salvation for the people of all races and cultures, of all ages and eras."
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http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope_sheds_light_on_plight_of_young_migrants/
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What Role Do Food and Beverage Prices Have in Childhood Obesity?
Tackling childhood obesity has become a national priority. Some public health advocates point to lower priced, high-calorie foods as one of the culprits behind the rising prevalence of overweight. They claim that lower prices for high-calorie foods encourage households to buy and consume more of these items, which can lead to increases in weight. They also believe lower prices for low-calorie foods may boost purchases of these foods and lead to reductions in total calories consumed.
To estimate the effect of prices for various high- and low-calorie foods on children's weight, ERS researchers linked data on children's body mass indices (BMI, a measure of weight adjusted for height) from a nationally representative survey of children in kindergarten in the 1998-99 school year to prices for eight foods and beverages in the ERS Quarterly Food-at-Home Price Database. The children had their heights and weights measured over time as they progressed from kindergarten through eighth grade. After accounting for the effects of unobserved characteristics that may also affect BMI, the researchers calculated the relationship between prices and children's BMI for the eight items. They then used these relationships to estimate the effect on children's BMI if prices for these items increased by 10 percent.
Price increases for some high-calorie foods and beverages were found to have small but statistically significant effects on children's BMI, and in the direction expected. A 10-percent increase in the price of carbonated beverages lowered BMI 0.42 percent over a year, while the same increase in the price of 100-percent juices and starchy vegetables lowered BMI 0.3 percent over a year.
While the effects of the price increases are small, comparing them with the expected average growth in children's BMI over a year reveals a possibly large effect over time. Unlike adults, children growing normally should see increases in BMI as they age. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention growth charts, the BMI of a boy at the median will increase from 15.4 to 23.0 between age 6 and 20, a gain of 50 percent, while that of a girl will increase 43 percent (from 15.2 at age 6 to 21.7 at age 20). Average BMI growth for a boy at the 85th percentile for BMI (the cutoff for overweight) between age 8 and 9 is about 2.8 percent, while that for a girl is 3.3 percent. Thus, a 0.3-percent increase in BMI is about 11 percent of annual BMI growth for a boy and 9 percent for a girl.
This article is drawn from...
The Effect of Food and Beverage Prices on Children’s Weights, by Minh Wendt and Jessica Todd, USDA, Economic Research Service, June 2011
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The study, published in Sexuality Research and Social Policy, was conducted in 2011 by researchers from Drexel University. The researchers surveyed 175 undergraduate students at a large northeastern university about their exchange of sexually explicit text messages, known as sexting, including those with and without photographic images.
More than half of respondents (54 percent) reported sexting as minors, and 28 percent stated they had sent photographic sexts. The majority of respondents (61 percent) were not aware that sending texts could be considered child pornography. In the study, 59 percent of respondents reported that knowledge of legal consequences “would have” or “probably would have” deterred them from sexting.
Researcher David DeMatteo, J.D., Ph.D., associate professor of psychology and law, at Drexel, said in a press statement, “Given the harsh legal penalties sometimes associated with youth sexting and the apparent frequency with which youth are engaging in it, the lack of comprehension regarding such penalties poses a significant problem.”
Lead study author Heidi Strohmaier, M.S., told Healthline, “We looked at both forms of sexting that are likely to be considered illegal, photographic and text only sexts (which are less likely to be illegal). More than half of participants are engaging in youth sexting. We found that the majority of them do not know that some forms of sexting can be illegal.”
Pointing out that laws concerning sexting are “not consistent across jurisdictions," Strohmaier said, “Under federal law, youth sexting is usually prosecuted under really serious child pornography laws. There seems to be a movement in some states towards drafting legislation that’s very specific to the behavior and is able to capture and target that, rather than lumping all of those behaviors together under serious child pornography laws.”
Knowledge of Laws Is a Deterrent
When queried if there were any surprising study findings, Strohmaier said, “We were surprised that knowledge of legal consequences did seem to have a deterrent effect. Because they are young, we thought maybe, even if they knew about the laws, that wouldn't deter them from sexting. But we found that among those who were aware sexting could be illegal, they were a lot less likely to sext than those who didn't know.”
Although participants generally reported experiencing few negative social or legal consequences as a result of sexting, 71 percent reported knowing other teens who experienced negative consequences. Only two percent of respondents reported that they notified a parent or teacher about a sext they had received. Eight percent of respondents said they endured humiliation or a tarnished reputation; one percent of respondents reported that sexting resulted in their “getting in trouble at school." Less than one percent of respondents said they were bullied.
Pointing out that social and psychological consequences are also associated with sexting, Strohmaier said, “It’s important to distinguish between the types of sexting often portrayed in the media, which are extreme cases that result in harassment, bullying, and sometimes suicide, from the more benign forms of sexting. Fortunately, we didn't see a lot of negative consequences of sexting, despite the high numbers of sexting, and despite the fact that most of our sample were not aware sexting could be illegal.”
Motivations for Sexting
Pointing out that the most common motivation for sexting identified in the study was in the context of a romantic relationship, followed by expressing a romantic interest, Strohmaier said, “Arguably that could be considered normative sexual development. But technology is different than it was 30 years ago."
The researchers note that sexting is often punishable by laws governing serious child pornography and child exploitation offenses. Convictions of these offenses carry steep punishments, including jail time and sex offender registration—punishments many lawyers and legislatures have deemed too harsh for adolescent sexting.
“It's a major concern that many states do not have laws that specifically address sexting,” said DeMatteo. “Sexting-specific laws would be beneficial because they ideally would clearly define what constitutes sexting and outline potential penalties. To the latter point, these laws would make it possible for judges to avoid imposing overly harsh sentences on those who are prosecuted under sexting laws.”
More Education Is Needed
According to the researchers, an important step in addressing this issue would be to develop educational initiatives aimed at providing basic information to youth about legal consequences of sexting, as well as other negative consequences, such as humiliation, a tarnished reputation, and bullying/taunting.
Noting that schools, teachers, and law enforcement can play an important role in educating students, especially minors, about the legal ramifications of sexting, Strohmaier concluded that when it comes to drafting legislation, "It’s important to distinguish between normative benign sexting (sexting not associated with these negative consequences), which seems to be more prevalent than egregious, extreme cases."
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http://www.healthline.com/health-news/youth-sexting-more-prevalent-unaware-criminal-implications-062314
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Tips for Creating Effective Writing Assignments
by Cynthia Cochran, Illinois College
Try the S. O. A. P. acronym to specify writing instructions to students:
Subject –Tell specific information regarding who or what the essay should address. Compare the following:
Regarding Three Cups of Tea, discuss the obstacles Greg Mortenson faced in his attempts to fund the schools he was building in the mountains of Pakistan. Why did he succeed?
Regarding Three Cups of Tea, discuss at least three obstacles Greg Mortenson faced in attempting to fund the schools he was building in the mountains of Pakistan. Upon summarizing these obstacles, explain the main reason(s) he was able to overcome the obstacles. Defend your position.
Occasion – explain the writing situation. Example: We are facing poverty in many areas of the US. How can we apply some of the ideas Greg Mortenson used to help improve schooling in poverty-stricken areas of our country?
Audience – Specify the intended audience. Example: Write as if for CEO’s of major corporations.
Purpose – Tell whether the writer is to express, to inform, to persuade, or some combination.
Use specific terms to describe the genre (letter, paragraph, summary, poem, essay, dialogue, play).
Use specific words and phrases to instruct students about the organizational structure you expect:
- Explain the effects of X
- Analyze a problem
- Define, using at least three examples
- Compare AND contrast
- Argue, defending your position
- Argue, including a fair discussion of the opposition…
Other Rhetorical Issues to Consider...
Explain the writer’s role (student, parent, consumer, etc.). Is the writer acting as a non-expert, a generalist, or an expert? Is the writer writing as a reporter, a teacher, a consumer, or (more traditionally) as a student?
Note that as students advance to more upper-level courses in their majors, they tend to be writing more and more as experts. (You might also ask this about the audience: is it an audience of non-experts, generalists, or experts?)
Warning: It is most important to create a task that is neither too open-ended nor too structured. The appropriate amount of information will allow for a range of responses.
Design your standards when you design the task, and define the standards for the students when you assign the work.
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http://www.ic.edu/RelId/619210/ISvars/default/Writing_tips.htm
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Vision is a complex process that depends on parts of the brain and the eyes working together in unison.
Learn more about how vision works
What is vision impairment?
Vision impairment is any condition that prevents normal vision in one or both eyes. Such impairments can be present at birth (congenital) or can develop later in life due to an accident, illness or disease.
Some children inherit conditions that cause vision impairment to develop over time, while other disabilities may be associated with vision impairment. Some children have correctable vision impairment. For others, their vision can’t be corrected to within a normal range, even with appropriate lenses.
Various types of disorders affecting school-age children can cause mild to moderate vision problems. The most common disorders include refractive errors such as:
- myopia (short sightedness)
- hyperopia (long sightedness)
- astigmatism (caused by a non-spherical cornea).
Other relatively common disorders are focusing, eye movements and the ability to see a single three-dimensional image.
Signs of a possible vision problem
A child may have a vision problem if they:
- have learning or reading difficulties
- are clumsier than usual for their age
- screw up their eyes
- adopt an unusual head posture
- have frequent headaches
- have poor handwriting
- bring reading material close to them
- move their head close to the book.
The B4 School Check is the eighth and final of the Well Child Checks, which are funded by the Ministry of Health. As part of the B4 School Check, four-year-old children are screened to identify whether they have amblyopia (lazy eye). Children who do not receive this screening in early childhood will be screened when they reach school.
What is amblyopia?
Amblyopia is a developmental disorder which can lead to permanent vision loss in one eye. Treatment means that the child will have two functioning eyes and improved depth perception. It also prevents total loss of vision in the event of disease or injury to one eye.
What the screenings test and what the results mean
The limitations of screening
- Screening for amblyopia does NOT detect all vision problems, including some which may affect reading and writing.
- The screening separates children into two groups - those with a high likelihood, and those with a low likelihood, of having amblyopia. Only a diagnostic assessment can confirm whether a child has amblyopia.
- The screening is effective but there is a small chance it will not identify a child with amblyopia.
- Not all children receive their B4 School Check.
More information about amblyopia
Save Sight Society
Your role in identifying children with potential vision problems
A child may pass the screening tests and still have difficulties seeing well enough to function fully in the classroom and the school environment. You can play a key role in ensuring children with potential vision problems are seen by an eye-care professional or vision hearing technician.
Vision hearing technicians
Vision hearing technicians (VHTs) are trained to screen children for vision and hearing problems as specified in the national vision hearing screening protocols.
Preschool screening is carried out on four-year-olds in early childhood education centres or clinic settings by VHTs who carry out the B4 School Check. Children who are not screened at this time will be screened when they reach school.
VHTs screen Year 7 students (11-year-olds) for distance vision and boys are also tested for colour vision.
If you are concerned about an unidentified vision problem
Discuss your concerns with your student’s parents. Encourage them to arrange for a full vision assessment with their local optometrist or at the hospital eye department.
Ask for details of the vision impairment and find out how to best adapt the school situation to suit the child better.
What if families can’t afford assessments or glasses?
A spectacle subsidy is available for some families to help pay for some or all of the cost of a vision assessment and glasses. It is funded by the Ministry of Health.
To be eligible for this subsidy the:
- child must be under the age of 16
- family must have a community services or high user card.
All about the spectacles subsidy - includes information in a number of languages
Things to consider for your classroom planning
If you have one or more children in your class with a vision problem you may need to:
- plan in advance for curriculum delivery
- use the information gathered from parents/whānau and your own observations to inform decisions about curriculum resources and the learning environment
- check that the learner can access the curriculum resources such as font and font size
- ensure the appropriate technology is available
- support the development of self help and independence skills
- help the student develop social skills for positive interactions with their peer group and adults.
If the student is enrolled with a visual resource centre, liaise with the Resource Teacher: Vision to discuss relevant adaptations that support learning and teaching.
If you have a vision-impaired student in your class who is not enrolled with a visual resource centre, consider the classroom environment. How might it impact on the learner? Consider things such as seating and lighting.
For further information:
Access to Learning: a resource for children and young people with moderate vision impairment (a Ministry of Education booklet).
Make documents and classroom environments accessible (BLENNZ)
Where to find more support
Resource Teacher: Vision
Resource Teachers: Vision (RTV) are specialist teachers who provide educational support to learners who are blind or vision impaired, and their families. Learners can have this support from birth to 21 years of age, even if they have complex needs. Services are delivered in partnership with parents and regular educators. These positions are based at visual resource centres.
A Resource Teacher: Vision in action
Blind and Low Vision New Zealand
The Blind and Low Vision Education Network New Zealand (BLENNZ) is a school that is made up of a national network of educational services for blind and low vision children and young people.
Who can get BLENNZ services?
- Blind and low vision children and young people from birth to 21, or to the end of their schooling
- Parents and whānau
- Teachers, teachers’ aides, education support workers and others involved in the education of the child or young person
Visual Resource Centres
Twelve visual resource centres are staffed by specialist teachers who meet the unique educational needs of children with a vision impairment. The children on their roll range in age from a few months to 21 years. These centres are funded by the Ministry of Education.
Find your nearest visual resource centre
Parents of Vision Impaired (NZ) Inc
Parents of Vision Impaired can be a helpful support to families who have visually impaired children. Contact details are on their website.
The most common type of vision impairment in children is refractive error. Refractive error is where one or both of a child's eyes are unable to bring parallel rays of light to focus on the retina. The three main types of refractive error are:
- myopia (short-sightedness) – the child can’t see things in the distance clearly
- hyperopia (long-sightedness) – the child can’t see things close up clearly (and if it’s severe enough, it affects distance vision as well)
- astigmatism - caused by a non-spherical cornea and impairs both distance and near vision.
In children, significant levels of refractive error may result in blurred near vision and/or blurred distance vision. Children may also suffer from strained or sore eyes, headaches, watery eyes and screwing up of the eyes.
It is normal during the first few years of life for changes to occur in a child's eyesight. Most newborn babies are long-sighted but as they grow this typically decreases to the point where by around school-age or early adolescence they have minimal or no refractive error.
However if this process does not happen normally then permanent refractive errors such as short- or long-sightedness can develop.
Current thinking on short-sightedness suggests that its development in children is influenced by a combination of genetic and environmental factors. There is some evidence suggesting that a propensity for myopia may be inherited, with certain ethnic groups (for example, Asian people) having a higher prevalence of short-sightedness than other ethnic groups (for example, Caucasian/ European people). However, other studies argue that environmental factors are more influential and that repeated and intense involvement in near-vision tasks, such as reading or computer use, may trigger the development of myopia.
Other common vision problems in children
Other common vision problems in children resulting in less severe visual problems are amblyopia (lazy eye) and strabismus (squint), as well as problems related to focusing, vergence and eye movement.
Lazy eye is commonly found in infants and pre-school children. It can be caused by a refractive imbalance or other conditions such as squints or cataracts. The visual functioning of one eye is less than the other eye. Because the weaker eye receives less visual stimulation, physical changes take place in the brain. If left untreated, there may be permanent loss of vision in the weaker eye.
Strabismus is where a person is unable to direct both eyes simultaneously towards a single point. One or both eyes may turn inwards, outwards, up or down, either permanently or intermittently.
Binocularity and vergence
Binocularity is the ability to use both eyes together and unite two images into one three-dimensional image. Binocular vision occurs when the two eyes work together equally.
Vergence is the turning of the eyes horizontally, either inwards (convergence) or outwards (divergence), enabling binocularity.
- Convergence is the ability to use both eyes together and turn the eyes inwards to maintain single vision at near distance.
- Divergence is the ability to use both eyes together and turn the eyes outwards towards a far object.
Adapted from: See Here (2008) Improving services for children with mild and moderate vision impairment, JR McKenzie Trust, Wellington.
Published on: 22 Aug 2011
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Breakthrough in Thin-Film Solar Cells: New Insights into the Indium/Gallium Puzzle
Research cooperation predicts significant improvement to the efficiency of CIGS thin-film solar cells
19.07.2010Scientists at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) have made a major breakthrough in their search for more efficient thin-film solar cells. Computer simulations designed to investigate the so-called indium/gallium puzzle have highlighted a new way of increasing the efficiency of CIGS thin-film solar cells. It has only proved possible to date to achieve an around 20% efficiency with CIGS cells although efficiency levels of 30% are theoretically possible. The work of the scientists in Mainz, conducted as part of the federal government-funded comCIGS project, has been published in the latest edition of the leading journal Physical Review Letters.
Thin-film solar cells are gaining an ever increasing proportion of the solar cell market. As they are only a few micrometers thick, they offer savings on material and manufacturing costs. Currently, the highest level of efficiency of about 20% is achieved by CIGS thin-film solar cells, which absorb the sunlight through a thin layer made of copper, indium, gallium, selenium, and sulphur. However, the levels of efficiency achieved to date are nowhere near the levels theoretically possible.
The research team at Mainz University headed by Professor Dr. Claudia Felser is using computer simulations to investigate the characteristics of CIGS, whose chemical formula is Cu(In,Ga)(Se,S)2. This research forms part of the comCIGS project funded by the Federal German Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety (BMU). IBM Mainz and Schott AG are collaborating with the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, the Helmholtz Center Berlin for Materials and Energy and Jena University in the project that is targeted at finding ways of optimizing CIGS solar cells. The researchers focused in particular on the indium/gallium puzzle that has been baffling scientists for years: Although it has been postulated on the basis of calculations that the optimal indium:gallium ratio should be 30:70, in practice, the maximum efficiency level has been achieved with the exactly inverse ratio of 70:30.
With the support of IBM Mainz, Christian Ludwig of Professor Felser's team undertook new calculations with the help of a hybrid method in which he used a combination of density functional calculations and Monte Carlo simulations. "Density functional calculations make it possible to assess the energies of local structures from the quantum mechanical point of view. The results can be used to determine temperature effects over wide length scale ranges with the help of Monte-Carlo simulations", Dr. Thomas Gruhn, head of the theory group in Professor Felser's team, explains the methods used. Christian Ludwig is able to use a mainframe for his investigations that was recently donated to Mainz University by IBM as part of a Shared University Research (SUR) science award.
Production at high temperatures promotes homogeneity of the material
With the aid of the simulations, it was discovered that the indium and gallium atoms are not distributed evenly in the CIGS material. There is a phase that occurs at just below normal room temperature in which the indium and gallium are completely separate. If the material is heated to above this demixing temperature, differently sized clusters of indium and gallium atoms do form. The higher the temperature, the more homogeneous the material becomes. It has now become apparent that gallium-rich CIGS is always less homogeneous than indium-rich CIGS. Because of this lack of homogeneity, the optoelectronic properties of the gallium-rich material are poorer, resulting in the low efficiency levels of gallium-rich CIGS cells - an effect that has now been explained for the first time. The calculations also provide a concrete indication of the best way to manufacture CIGS solar cells. If it is produced at higher temperatures, the material is significantly more homogeneous. To retain the desired homogeneity, the material then needs to be cooled down sufficiently rapidly.
In practice, it was the limited heat resistance of the glass used as a substrate for solar cells that has always restricted process temperatures, but a significant breakthrough has also recently been made here. Schott AG has developed a special glass with which the process temperature can be increased to well above 600°C. The cells that result from this process are considerably more homogeneous, meaning that the production of cells with a much greater efficiency level has become possible. But the comCIGS project researchers are already thinking ahead of this. "We are currently working on large-format solar cells which should outperform conventional cells in terms of efficiency," states Gruhn. "The prospects look promising."
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Percy Pilcher (1866 - 1899) is one of the few British participants in the fevered race to invent the airplane. Pilcher patterned his approach after Otto Lilienthal, developing hang gliders before engaging the problems of powered flight. Pilcher developed 4 different hang gliders: the Bat, the Beetle, the Gull, and the Hawk. Pilcher seldom tested his craft in free-flight. Instead, he attached a rope to the craft which was used to tow the craft. The tow rope acts as a stabilizing force on the glider, which makes it very difficult to compare Pilcher's accomplishments against those of others.
At the time of his death from a gliding accident, Pilcher was preparing a powered hang glider. See Jarrett for more details.
Percy Pilcher's Beetle
Percy Pilcher in Flight
Pilcher images kindly provided by Philip Jarrett. For additional details on Pilcher, see Jarrett, 1987.
Back to the Inventor's Gallery
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|As consumers become more aware
of the impact our industrial processes have on our health and the environment,
more and more people are demanding 'natural' products. But what exactly
is a 'natural' product?
Natural vs. Artificial
The definition of 'natural' is "produced or existing in nature." The definition of 'artificial' is "made by human work." In contrast, the definition of 'synthetic' is "produced by chemical synthesis, not by natural process."
There are two types of products that often carry the 'natural' label. The first are products that use natural materials to produce a product that would appear on its own without human intervention, which is the true definition of natural. The second are products made from natural ingredients but that would not otherwise exist on its own, without human intervention.
Lets look at a couple quick examples:
An example of a natural product made from natural ingredients is wine. The fruit, sugar and yeast used to make wine occur naturally and do not require human intervention to begin the fermentation process to make alcohol. The only reason humans do intervene in the fermentation process is that it is more efficient to make alcohol under controlled conditions, and a better quality product is produced.
Another example of a natural product made from natural ingredients is soap. Soap is made from fats and alkali. The process of putting the fat and alkali together and forming soap can and does occur in nature, although the process is uncommon. The first soaps were made from wood ashes -- a natural alkali -- and oils, and they had a tendency toward harshness. Today soaps made under controlled circumstances can result in products that are extremely mild yet effective.
In contrast, an example of an 'artificial' product made from natural ingredients is chocolate cake. The flour, sugar, cocoa, butter, eggs and other ingredients are certainly natural, but cake would not exist on its own without human intervention. The only way a cake can be produced is when humans mix the appropriate ingredients and apply heat to it. Thus, in the most basic definition, cake is an artificial product.
Do these examples square with the typical understanding of natural and artificial? Well, perhaps the natural examples do, but generally one does not see cake defined as an artificial product (at least not "made-from-scratch" cakes), so thinking of 'artificial' in this way may require a paradigm shift.
|Artificial vs. Synthetic
Actually, most consumers think of 'artificial' and 'synthetic' as being equivalent, but there is a clear distinction. While 'artificial' products require human intervention, they can be made from natural ingredients. On the other hand, 'synthetic' products not only require human intervention, but they must be produced by chemical synthesis (i.e. the combining of parts or elements so as to form a whole, a compound, etc., which would occur only in a laboratory). In other words, synthetic products are made from ingredients that do not occur in nature, or, at the very least, from ingredients that do not occur independently in nature.
Why this distinction? Because many of the chemical ingredients used to create synthetic products do occur in nature. Many of the organic chemicals that are commonly used in manufacturing processes are found in small quantities in plant matter. In fact, ancient plant matter is the source of the petroleum that is the basis from which many of these chemicals are derived.
|Technically speaking, some chemicals derived from petroleum
can be defined as 'natural' as long as they also exist 'naturally' in other
biological sources. Many scientists will argue that the word 'natural'
has little meaning because many of the industrial chemicals that consumers
want to avoid come from natural sources and are therefore 'natural' themselves.
The difference between chemicals existing in natural products and being
derived from natural products is that single compounds almost never exist
in nature. While the chemical called 'phenol' may be a component of a naturally
occurring product, such as a plant, phenol does not occur by itself. The
only way for phenol to exist by itself, which it must if it is going to
be used as an ingredient in a product or process, is for humans to separate
the phenol from the original source. When human intervention is introduced
the end product ceases to be natural.
|Further, synthetic ingredients can be made from 'natural' sources.
Strictly speaking, there is no difference between crude petroleum and fresh
sources except time and physics. In other words, a product derived only
in the laboratory is no more natural when it is derived from a fresh product,
such as coconut oil, than it would if it were derived from crude petroleum.
The primary difference is that coconut oil is a renewable source while
crude oil is not, but a compound derived from coconut oil is absolutely
no different chemically than the same compound derived from crude oil (though
there are many who would argue this point with me).
This is the gray area of the 'natural product' debate.
Determining the 'naturalness' of a product
When a consumer is trying to decide how natural a product is, they often look to the label for information. Manufacturers know this. They also know that 'natural' can be so loosely defined that they can state on their label "contains no synthetic ingredients" or "derived from natural sources" and be within the letter of the law, even if the product itself is not natural. This can make it virtually impossible to be an informed shopper if one is not armed with a virtual arsenal of ingredient information.
When it comes to personal products, manufacturers are required by law to list the ingredients in the product. However, this is not the case with many other products used around the home, and it is very difficult to obtain ingredient information from the manufacturer.
While the personal product labeling law does provide some information
to the consumer, it is not by any means perfect. The problem is that while
the FDA does technically regulate personal products, there is very little
enforcement of the laws. Thus, many manufacturers get away with mislabeling
by hiding ingredients under pseudonyms (i.e. not using the accepted chemical
name for an ingredient), or by dropping some ingredients from the label
|For products that aren't subject to labeling laws, the
consumer is on their own to determine the relative naturalness of a product.
While manufacturers do not have to list ingredients on their labels, they
are required to list all hazardous ingredients on a document called a Material
Safety Data Sheet. (Click
here to see some MSDSs for common household products)
An MSDS is primarily intended for use by emergency personnel in the event of an accident involving large quantities of the product, but it is also supposed to be made available to the public through the Superfund Amendments Reauthorization Act (SARA) Title IX Community Right to Know law. Unfortunately, loopholes in the law allow manufacturers to claim that ingredients are 'proprietary' and are therefor exempt from listing them specifically. However, they are still required to provide all health and safety information related to the product. Sometimes this information is useful, but often it is not. Further, a consumer most often must ask the manufacturer for a copy of the MSDS, and while they are supposed to comply with the law they often do not.
To further complicate matters, the ingredients listed on a label may either reflect the starting ingredients (i.e. the flour, sugar and eggs in a cake), or they may reflect the results of the chemical reaction of the ingredients after they are added together.
For example, a bar of soap may list the following ingredients:
"Olive oil, Palm oil, Coconut oil, water, sodium hydroxide"Or it may list:
"Sodium Olivate, Sodium Palmitate, Sodium Cocoate, glycerine"From the consumer's point of view, the first list of ingredients appears more natural than the second list, but both accurately reflect the product. The confusion comes when a product contains both natural and synthetic ingredients. It is often difficult for a consumer to distinguish the difference between the natural and synthetic ingredients when the chemical names are used.
Consumers who truly wish to understand the ingredients listed on a label should refer to a good chemical dictionary such as "Milady's Skin Care and Cosmetic Ingredients Dictionary" by Natalia Michalun, M. Varinia Michalun. While this book doesn't go into much detail about the ingredients, it will help the consumer start to identify those that are naturally occurring and those that are synthesized in the laboratory.
What difference does it make?
This is truly the crux of the whole 'natural product' debate. Whether one decides to use only completely natural products or products synthetically derived from natural plant sources or a combination of the two is a personal decision. While most people believe that 'natural' equals 'non-toxic,' this isn't necessarily the case. Many naturally occurring chemicals can have harmful effects on humans, while in some cases their synthetic cousins may have the toxic component removed.
When it comes to using natural products, personal values systems are
often put to the test. If personal health is the reason you are looking
for natural products, then you have to know something about the health
effects of the various ingredients. In many cases the ingredients added
to enhance the benefits of a product also carry some sort of health effect,
from mild to severe.
|Some of these ingredients may be sensitizers, irritants, neurotoxins or carcinogens, or they may enhance the toxicity of another ingredient (be chemical synergists). In fact, it is often hard to judge the overall health impact of a synthetic product from the ingredients because finished products are rarely tested and therefore the synergistic effect of the product is unknown.||
|The problem with selecting only 'all natural' products
is that one might compromise on product effectiveness. This is one reason
that so many synthetic products exist on store shelves today.
In some cases, products derived from synthetic ingredients may be superior to their natural cousins. This is certainly the case for soap when it is used for anything other than cleaning the skin. Natural soap can be excellent for cleaning skin because the oils in the soap help replenish the skin's natural oils, and they provide nutrients such as vitamins. But when it comes to cleaning fibers or hard surfaces, natural soap does not do nearly as good a job. When used in laundry, for example, soap can build up in fabric fibers and cause 'soap scum' to form in the washing machine. The same is true when soap is used as a shampoo -- the soap will build up on the hair shaft and create mineral deposits that are not easily removed. So for some purposes, cleansers made with synthetic ingredients are superior to their natural equivalents -- provided that the synthetic ingredients are not toxic.
When it comes to personal care products especially, selecting products of least toxicity is important. Personal care products, of all the products we use around our homes, are the one class of products that come in contact with our skin or lungs on the most frequent basis. The skin is not an impermeable barrier, and in some cases, products are formulated specifically to penetrate the skin. When a product applied to the skin penetrates the skin then it will carry whatever chemicals are present in the product into the bloodstream and be distributed throughout the body. Additionally, some products that also contain volatile ingredients (e.g. fragrances) can be both absorbed by the skin and inhaled by the lungs, thus increasing one's exposure to the hazardous effects of the ingredients.
If toxicity is not the issue when comparing a natural to a synthetic product, then environmental impact is. While 'all natural' products use renewable resources in their native form (or close to their native form, as vegetable oils, for example, must be pressed from their original source), products made from synthetic ingredients produce waste products in the process of their creation. Further, they may also require the use of hazardous or toxic chemicals in the production process, even if the final product itself is not hazardous or toxic and contains no traces of the hazardous/toxic intermediate. By using a process that may be inherently hazardous, a non-toxic synthetic ingredient may put humans and the environment at risk. Thus, when toxicity and effectiveness of a product are virtually equivalent, the 'all natural' product is definitely the better choice.
When choosing to be a safe shopper one must also become a savvy shopper. It isn't enough to look for the words 'natural' or 'organic' on a label -- one must closely examine the ingredients, ask questions about manufacturing processes, and weigh the overall value and impact of one product against its synthetic equivalent.
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International Journal of Biological Sciences
Journal of Cancer
Journal of Genomics
Journal of Bone and Joint Infection (JBJI)
Int J Med Sci
Birth Defects Are Preventable
Foundation for the Community Control of Hereditary Diseases, Budapest, Hungary
to cite this article:
Czeizel AE. Birth Defects Are Preventable. Int J Med Sci
2005; 2(3):91-92. doi:10.7150/ijms.2.91. Available from
Birth defects – or by according to the World Health Organization's (WHO) term: congenital anomalies – are structural, functional and/or biochemical-molecular defects present at birth whether detected at that time or not (Figure 1). Among different categories of birth defects, congenital abnormalities, i.e. structural-morphological defects represent the largest one.
Congenital abnormalities can be divided into three groups:
- Lethal if the defects (such as anencephaly or hypoplastic left heart syndrome) cause stillbirth (late fetal death) or infant death or pregnancies are terminated after the prenatal diagnosis of fetal defects in more than 50% of cases.
- Severe if the defects (such as cleft lip or congenital pyloric stenosis) without medical intervention cause handicap or death.
- Mild if defects (such as congenital dislocation of the hip or undescended testis) require medical intervention but life expectancy is good.
Lethal and severe defects together constitute major congenital abnormalities.
Minor anomalies or morphological variants (such as epicanthal folds, ocular hypotelorism, preauricular tags and pits, low-set ears, simian crease, clino- and camptodactyly, partial syndactyly between toes 2 and 3, hydrocele, umbilical hernia, sacral dimple, etc) without serious medical or cosmetic consequences are excluded from the category of congenital abnormalities.
In general we cannot measure the incidence of congenital abnormalities due to the prenatal loss of fetuses such as blighted ova, miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies. Thus we used the term birth (live- and stillbirths) prevalence in the past. However, recently the different methods of prenatal diagnoses have been used widely for the detection of fetal defects and pregnancies are frequently terminated if the fetus is severely affected. Thus, the rate of defects is calculated for informative offspring including (i) live born infants, (ii) stillborn fetuses, and (iii) prenatal diagnosed and terminated affected fetuses and the term total (birth and fetal) prevalence of congenital abnormalities is used. Of course, the total prevalence of congenital abnormalities depends on the spectrum of congenital abnormalities evaluated, the period of study (only at birth or in early neonatal period or prenatal or the whole infant period are included), the completeness of ascertainment, the diagnostic skill of experts, demographic and genetic characteristics of the study population, etc. In Hungary the total prevalence of congenital abnormalities was 66.83 per 1000 informative offspring in the 1980s and within this, the total rate of major congenital abnormalities was 27.01 per 1000 informative offspring [1,2].
The causes of congenital abnormalities can be classified into three main groups:
- Genetic which includes chromosomal aberrations (e.g. Down syndrome) and Mendelian single-gene defects (e.g. achondroplasia or Holt-Oram syndrome). The proportion of genetic origin is estimated about 25 % of total congenital abnormalities. Mainly two conditions may contribute to a higher total prevalence of congenital abnormalities with genetic origin: (i) women giving birth after 35 years of age and (ii) high rate of consanguineous marriages.
- Environmental which includes infectious diseases (e.g. rubella), maternal diseases (e.g. diabetes mellitus or diseases with high fever), teratogenic drugs, alcohol, smoking and environmental pollutants. The proportion of environmental origin may be about 15% of total congenital abnormalities.
- Complex (multifactorial) origin caused by gene-environmental interaction when the so-called polygenic liability (predisposition) is triggered by environmental 'risk' factors. Most common congenital abnormalities (such as isolated neural-tube defects, orofacial clefts, cardiovascular malformations, congenital pyloric stenosis, congenital dislocation of the hip, undescended testis, hypospadias, etc) belong to this etiological group. The proportion of complex origin is estimated about 60% of total congenital abnormalities, if congenital abnormalities with unknown origin are also included in this group.
Congenital abnormalities have two main medical characteristics: (i) defect conditions with a limited chance for complete recovery and (ii) the earliest (fetal-birth) onset. Thus, there is only one optimal medical solution and it is the prevention.
Prevention approaches are often classified into three levels:
- Primary prevention: avoiding the cause(s) of congenital abnormalities, e.g. rubella vaccination or periconceptional folic acid/multivitamin supplementation. Some topics will be discussed in this issue. In Hungary 26.6 % of congenital abnormalities can be primarily prevented mainly due to periconceptional folic acid/multivitamin supplementation.
- Secondary prevention: early detection followed by effective early treatment, e.g. neonatal orthopedic screening is very effective for the early detection and treatment of deformities such as congenital dislocation of the hip based on Ortolani click and treated with different conservative methods (e.g. Pavlik pillow). In addition, patent ductus arteriosus and undescended testis can be corrected by drugs immediately after birth. In Hungary 25.2% of congenital abnormalities were prevented by these methods. Previously the selective abortion, i.e. termination of pregnancy after the prenatal diagnosis of severe fetal defects was also named as secondary prevention. Recently the WHO and other international bodies have excluded this approach from the term “prevention”. In Hungary about 20% of major congenital abnormalities (8.7% in the total group) were terminated after the prenatal diagnosis of defects.
- Tertiary prevention: complete recovery of congenital abnormalities by early surgical intervention without residual defects or minimal after effects. In Hungary early surgical intervention has resulted in a complete recovery in some types of congenital cardiovascular malformations (e.g. ventricular and atrial septal defects, rest of patent ductus arteriosus, etc), congenital pyloric stenosis, undescended testis, etc. Tertiary prevention helped us to achieve a complete recovery in 33.5% of cases with congenital abnormalities.
Thus, there are two main conclusions: at present the major part of congenital abnormalities (85.3%) are preventable; however, different congenital abnormalities do not represent a single pathological entity and therefore there is no single strategy for their prevention.
Conflict of interest
The author has declared that no conflict of interest exists.
Czeizel AE, Intődy Z, Modell B. What proportion of congenital abnormalities can be prevented?. Brit Med J. 1996
Czeizel AE. Prevention of developmental abnormalities with particular emphasis of primary prevention. Tsitologija i Genetika. 2002
Andrew E. Czeizel Foundation for the Community Control of Hereditary Diseases, 1148 Budapest, Bolgárkerék utca 3. Hungary
Classification of Congenital Anomalies
(Click on the image to enlarge.)
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In a brazen act of theft and vandalism, ancient petroglyphs were cut from cliffs near Bishop, California, gouged out with power saws from where they had been carved over 3,500 years ago. The destruction was discovered by visitors on October 31.
The theft, the LA Times reports, was performed in a matter of hours, but involved some heavy equipment that had to have been driven out to the isolated lava escarpment located in the Eastern Sierra desert region called Volcanic Tableland, where the ancient carvings of animals, hunters, and geometric designs play over the stones.
According to federal authorities, four of the etchings, some stretching to two-feet wide, were completely sliced out from their location 15 feet up from the ground on the cliff, while another was slashed on three sides with the saw, and yet another was found shattered and left in the nearby visitor parking lot. Dozens of others also suffered damage.
U.S. Bureau of Land Management archaeologist Greg Haverstock told the LA Times: “The individuals who did this were not surgeons, they were smashing and grabbing,” he said, noting that it was “the worst act of vandalism ever seen” at the 750,000 acres of the BLM-managed site.
One of the issues that the incident, which can be charged as a felony, illuminated is that regular policing is impossible under the current budget of the federal lands agencies. Yet even with their tight finances, BLM has put up $1,000 out of their own budget for information resulting in an arrest and conviction.
The article points out that a petroglyph such as those stolen would probably only get between $500 to $1,500 on the black market, making the theft both infuriating and confusing. Yet the sacred site is still used by the Paiute-Shoshone tribal members in ceremonies and maintains an incredibly significant cultural and spiritual role, and it is of course a significant site for archeologists as a glimpse into the ancient world. The missing petroglyphs have left gaping holes in history.
(Image: Petroglyphs at the Volcano Tablelands, via the Greater Southwestern Exploration Company)
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|You might also like:||Ocelot Printout||Plain Xenops Printout||Keel-Billed Toucan Printout||Howler Monkey Printout||Harpy Eagle Printout||Today's featured page: Write Energy-Related Definitions - Write Definitions Quiz|
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|More Information on Birds||EnchantedLearning.com
Label Me! Printouts
Anatomy: The male quetzal has tail feathers that are up to three feet (1 m) long. The female's tail is much shorter.
Diet: Quetzals eat mostly fruit, but also eat worms, frogs, insects, larvae, and snails.
Predators: Predators of the Quetzals include the kinkajou, the gray squirrel, the Ornate Hawk-eagle and owls.
Reproduction: Quetzals nest in rotting trees. The female lays 1 to 2 light blue eggs. The incubation period is 18 days. Both parents incubate the eggs and feed the hatchlings.
Classification: Kingdom Animalia, Phylum Chordata, Class Aves. Order Trogoniformes, Family Trogonidae, Genus Pharomachrus.
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The secrets of the Big Bang will have to remain secret a little longer.
The Large Hadron Collider, which took 20 years to build and cost $10 billion, will not be able to unravel the mysteries of the universe for at least another two months, scientists announced.
The machine - a 27 kilometre circuit of super-cooled magnets deep beneath the borders of France and Switzerland - had to be shut down when temperatures rose by about 100C, causing a leak of a ton of liquid helium into the tunnel.
Scientists had hoped that the problem could be resolved quickly but yesterday announced that the project - beset by problems during its construction will be further delayed.
James Gilles, a spokesman for the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (Cern), said: "It's too early to say precisely what happened, but it seems to be a faulty electrical connection between two magnets that stopped superconducting, melted and led to a mechanical failure and let the helium out."
Early 1980s - Scientists discuss proposal for a new, giant physics research machine to be known as the Large Hadron Collider.
1983 - Groundbreaking ceremony for the Large Electron-Positron collider. LEP is the largest scientific instrument ever constructed. The tunnel built for it has a circumference of 17 miles (27 kilometers), larger than needed so it can later house the proposed Large Hadron Collider.
1989 - LEP starts up.
1991 - CERN's Council endorses proposed Large Hadron Collider.
1993 - The US Congress cancels the Superconducting Super Collider - which was to have been the world's largest collider - after five years of construction in Texas costing US$2 billion.
1997 - After agreeing to provide significant financial contributions to the LHC, the United States becomes an observer at CERN Council.
1998 - Civil engineering for the LHC gets under way, with parts manufactured around the world.
2000 - LEP is shut down after running for 11 years to make way for the LHC. First LHC parts from the United States arrive.
2001 - A computer grid project to connect tens of thousands of computers worldwide is launched to handle data from LHC.
2003-2008 - Installation of major LHC equipment in the tunnel.
Sept. 10, 2008 - Launch of LHC after an outlay of US$10 billion.
Sept. 11 - Shutdown of LHC after a transformer fails.
Sept. 18 - LHC is recooled to near absolute zero after transformer is replaced.
Sept. 19 - Apparent electrical fault in a separate superconducting area causes a large leak of liquid helium into the tunnel. The LHC is shut down for at least two months so that its temperature can be raised to permit repairs.
- THE INDEPENDENT / AP
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DLTK's Crafts for Kids
Jack and the Beanstalk:
The beanstalk paper towel roll craft goes really well with the Jack TP Roll craft!
- a paper towel roll (extra long TP roll),
- something to colour with
- a piece of paper for the printer,
- green construction paper.
- Glue a green piece of construction paper around the paper towel roll.
- Print out the template of choice.
- Color the pieces if using the B&W version. Give the kids the chance to be creative and let them use their favorite tools -- colored pencils, crayons, markers, pastels or paints. Whatever inspires them today.
- Carefully cut out the craft templates. This may require some adult assistance for some of the tougher pieces.
- Glue the leaves from the template onto the paper towel roll with the leaves facing downward and the colored side facing the stem.
- Optional: Cut out the leaves from green construction paper. They should be shaped like a heart with a rectangle coming out of the top. It is faster if you fold the paper a few times and then cut half of the heart shape out on the folded side, so that when you unfold the pieces they look like the whole leaf shape.
- Close the template window after printing to return to this screen.
- Set page margins to zero if you have trouble fitting the template on one page (FILE, PAGE SETUP or FILE, PRINTER SETUP in most browsers).
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- Special Sections
- Public Notices
The Second Seminole Indian War, 1835 to 1842, was America’s most costly Indian War in money and lives lost and was experienced differently in the scattered settlements throughout the Territory of Florida. Early pioneers from Tallahassee to St. Augustine to Tampa to Micanopy lived with a constant sense of panic and apprehension out of fear of Indian attack. Soldiers sent by the US government to fight the Seminole and Miccosukee Indians experienced many tactical differences when fighting in remote places such as Charlotte Harbor, the Everglades, and the Cove of the Withlacoochee.
If you currently subscribe or have subscribed in the past to the Chiefland Citizen, then simply find your account number on your mailing label and enter it below.
Click the question mark below to see where your account ID appears on your mailing label.
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By Dr. Becker
A recent study of obese dogs with osteoarthritis and lameness proved how little effort it can take to vastly improve the quality of life of overfed, disabled pets.
The purpose of the study, conducted at the Small Animal Hospital at the University of Glasgow Veterinary School in Scotland, was to evaluate both subjectively and objectively the effect of weight loss on lameness.
The results of this elegantly simple 18 week study are fantastic.
Every parent of an overweight dog who suffers with arthritis and has difficulty walking, running, and being the physically active animal he was born to be, should be extremely excited by this news.
The study involved 14 family dogs including a Border Collie, a Bearded Collie, a Rottweiler, a Springer Spaniel, two Staffordshire Bull Terriers, two mixed breed dogs and six Labrador Retrievers.
The ages of the dogs ranged from 10 months to 13 years, with a mean of about 7 years.
The dogs were from 20 to 34 percent above ideal body weight, with an average of 24 percent.
Five dogs had bilateral hip dysplasia and secondary osteoarthritis (OA).
Two dogs had unilateral (single) hip dysplasia and secondary OA.
One of the two had a total hip replacement.
Only one dog of the 14 had a clearly identified cause of OA and hip dysplasia.
One dog had osteoarthritis in both hips and elbows; one had it in both elbows and one hip. Both these dogs had primarily forelimb lameness.
Seven dogs had the greatest degree of lameness in a forelimb and the other seven had a bigger problem with a hind limb. These were the limbs used to monitor progress in decreasing lameness during the study.
The dogs' body weight and pelvic circumference were measured at the beginning of the study, along with severity of lameness.
Lameness was evaluated using three different measures – a numeric rating scale (NRS), a visual analogue scale (VAS) (both of which are subjective measures), and a kinetic gait analysis (objective measure).
The dogs were placed on a weight loss program using commercially available food. Owners were instructed not to change the dogs' level of exercise for the duration of the study.
They were evaluated by the same person every 2 weeks for 12 weeks, then 4 weeks apart for the final 2 visits. Weight, pelvic circumference and severity of lameness at a walk and at a trot were measured at each visit.
Starting with visit 3, body weights were significantly decreased from starting weights.
Starting with visit 5, pelvic circumference was significantly reduced from starting measurements.
By the final visit, the dogs had lost on average 8.85 percent of their initial body weight. The pelvic circumference of the dogs was reduced on average almost 7 percent.
From visit 2 on, VAS lameness scores for both walking and trotting significantly improved week by week.
At visit 5, significant improvement in NRS lameness scores for trotting was seen.
At the end of the study, 82 percent of the dogs showed improvement in lameness.
The results indicate that when an overweight dog reaches about a 6 percent decrease in body weight, lameness is significantly decreased. Additional improvement is seen as additional weight is lost.
Kinetic gait analysis showed decreased lameness at a body weight reduction threshold of just under 9 percent.
So these results confirm that an obese dog with osteoarthritis can have noticeable improvement in lameness after losing just 6 to 9 percent of body weight.
Applying These Study Results at Home
Let's say the ideal average weight for a Labrador retriever is 70 pounds. And let's say your Lab weighs in at about 88 pounds, which is 25 percent over the ideal.
Chances are if your overweight dog doesn't already have some obvious arthritis and lameness, those issues are right around the corner. Bigger dogs, as we know, tend to have more joint and movement problems than the little guys.
Now let's say you put your dog on a portion-controlled, balanced, species-appropriate diet, with a weight loss goal of .5 to 1 percent of body weight per week. In as little as 6 to 7 weeks, with a weight reduction of between 5 and 6 pounds (about 6 percent of 88 pounds) over that period, you will have significantly reduced the stress on your dog's joints and improved his ability to walk, run and move around freely and comfortably.
Or ... let's say you have a sturdy Maltese whose ideal weight should be about 7 pounds. But your little guy is 30 percent heavier than he should be, tipping the scales at a little over 9 pounds. This is an obese Maltese.
Hard to believe a 9 pound dog is technically obese, but the smaller the animal, the quicker those ounces and pounds add up.
Using the .5 to 1 percent reduction in body weight per week goal, in 5 to 6 weeks your little munchkin will be a not quite svelte 8.5 pounds, and his little legs will have a much easier time helping him bounce around your house.
In another 6 weeks he'll be under 8 pounds, and you just keep up the good work until he's at his ideal weight and no longer at high risk for developing (or worsening) arthritis, lameness, and a host of other weight related health problems.
The commercially available food used in the University of Glasgow study was a 'prescription' diet dog food I absolutely do not recommend.
I also don't recommend non-prescription weight management or 'low fat' diets.
Your favorite canine should be fed balanced, species-appropriate nutrition, not the carb and fiber filled junk marketed as good for overweight dogs. In my experience those formulas aren't good for any dog, fat, lean or somewhere in between.
Portion control is another key element in helping your pet lose weight. For lots of information and suggestions on getting excess weight off your dog, view my 2-part video series:
Part 1 ... Why Heavy Dogs Are Becoming the Norm
Part 2 ... How to Help Your Chunky Dog Release Excess Pounds
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Life coaching is a practice of helping clients determine and achieve personal goals. A coach uses multiple methods to help clients with the process of setting and reaching goals. Coaching is not targeted at psychological illness, and coaches are not therapists.
Origins and History
With roots ...Life coaching is a practice of helping clients determine and achieve personal goals. A coach uses multiple methods to help clients with the process of setting and reaching goals. Coaching is not targeted at psychological illness, and coaches are not therapists.
Origins and History
With roots in executive coaching, which itself drew on techniques developed in management consulting and leadership training, life coaching also draws from a wide range of disciplines, including sociology, psychology, positive adult development, career counseling, mentoring, and numerous other types of counseling. The coach applies mentoring, values assessment, behavior modification, behavior modeling, goal-setting, and other techniques in assisting clients. Coaches are to be distinguished from counselors.
Writing for the International Journal of Coaching in Organizations, Patrick Williams states:
It is helpful to understand that both coaching and therapy have the same roots. Coaching evolved from three main streams that have flowed together:
1. The helping professions such as psychotherapy and counseling.
2. Business consulting and organizational development.
3. Personal development training, such as EST, Landmark Education, Tony Robbins, Stephen Covey seminars, Eric Edmeades, and others.
Williams further states that the movement toward Client-centered therapy in the 1940s and 1950s by psychologists Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow helped shift the emphasis in therapy toward the client becoming an active agent in their progress and growth. He credits Maslow's 1968 treatise “Toward a Psychology of Being” with providing the framework for modern life coaching as it is practiced today.
Since there is no official regulatory standard for life coaching, and no governed education or training standard for the life coaching industry, anyone can call themselves a coach and take on clients. Multiple coaching schools and training programs are available, causing confusion around the terms "certification" and "credentials" as they apply to the coaching industry. Multiple certificates and credential designations are available within the industry. The status of most of these are in flux.
Three standards and self-appointed accreditation bodies are internationally recognized: the International Coach Federation, the International Association of Coaching (IAC) and the European Coaching Institute (ECI). No independent supervisory board evaluates these programs, and they are all privately owned.
The ICF is the self-proclaimed largest worldwide not-for-profit professional association of coaches. They try to self-regulate the coaching industry, and have developed a system of credentialing coaches that includes a specified number of hours of coach-specific training, number of hours of coaching experience, and proof of ability to coach at or above defined standards for each credentialing level. The credentialing levels defined by the International Coach Federation are Associate Certified Coach (ACC), Professional Certified Coach (PCC), and Master Certified Coach (MCC). Coaches credentialed by the ICF and members of the ICF, regardless of whether they are credentialed, agree to abide by a code of ethics.
The ICF also provides approval, per their independently developed standards, of coach training programs, when they are deemed to meet the professional standards of the ICF organization, and agree to continuing oversight by the ICF.
The IAC identifies itself as an independent, global coach certifying body. The IAC states that "coaches who hold the IAC certified coach (IAC-CC) designation are coaching at the most advanced level the coaching profession has to offer." The IAC claims to have a subscriber list that is as large as the ICF's.
The variety of groups and associations coupled with no licensing or governmental standards of accreditation has created an environment where anyone can hang out a shingle and practice as a life coach. Consumers should proceed with caution if choosing this form of counseling.
Coaches tend to specialize in one or more of several areas: career coaching, transition coaching, life or personal coaching, health and wellness coaching, parenting coaching, executive coaching, small business coaching, systemic coaching, and organizational or corporate coaching. Coaching for women writers, coaching for entrepreneurs with ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder), and even coaching for mothers are examples of some of the newer, specialty niches now seen in coaching.
Coaching vs therapy
Coaching and therapy may be considered similar, but they are not the same thing. Each focuses on helping one to discover solutions on their own. There are many different types of therapy, some of which may be, in content, quite similar to life coaching. However, some locales require a therapist to have obtained a Masters or Doctorate degree in Psychology, therefore undergoing some formal training in the workings of the mind and therapeutic methodology. Similar requirements for coaches do not exist. Some kinds of therapy, such as those aimed at dealing with a phobia, tend to be problem-focused. Treatment ceases when the symptoms disappear or become manageable for the client.
Analysis is another type of therapy. It is long-term and works at uncovering the roots of issues—understanding the client's emotional history and possible past psychological trauma—in order to enable the client to move forward. Thus, there are a wide variety of therapeutic options, ranging from quick and narrowly focused to long and broad-scoped and everything in between, but all are regulated.
The evidenced-based coaching movement supports the use of coaching techniques based on proven concepts in clinical psychology/counseling. Coaching techniques, like based on the work of Alfred Adler, Gestalt Coaching is based on Gestalt psychology and Reality Coaching based on the work of William Glasser, are emerging based on traditional counselling approaches.
This definition is part of a series that covers the topic of Life Coaching. The Official Guide to Life Coaching is Bruce D Schneider. Schneider is the founder of the world renowned iPEC Coach Training School, the author of Relax, You're Already Perfect and upcoming book Energy Leadership. He is the innovator of a groundbreaking theory of consciousness levels, the much-talked-about Energy Leadership Index assessment, and the creator of the transformational Core Energy Coaching Process(TM).
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Could anyone please help me with calculating the volume rating of hydrogen peroxide.
I know that the equation of hydrogen peroxide is
2H2O (aq) ---> 2H2O (l) + O2 (g)
2 moles of hydrogen peroxide produces 1 mole of oxygen
(''20 volume'' means 1 cm3 of peroxide solution produces 20cm3 oxygen)
the question is:
you have 5cm3 of H2O2 and a total of 200 cm3 of O2 is made, what is the volume rating of the hydrogen peroxide?
40? I may be wrong, but if 5 cm3 makes 200, then 1 will make 40
thank you for replying, do you know if there is an equation for working out the volume rating
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© Copyright The Student Room 2015 all rights reserved
The Student Room, Get Revising and Marked by Teachers are trading names of The Student Room Group Ltd.
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Registered Office: International House, Queens Road, Brighton, BN1 3XE
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Preparation Tips for EAMCET
One month before the examination
- About a month before the entrance exam, start attepting a wide variety of topics to improve your numerical solving ability.
- Focus on objective type questions, both theory and numerical questions and practice as many types of questions as you can.
- Revise all important concepts and formulae, so that they are on your tips and come to you without any effort or thought, be thorough with them.
- Engineering entrance gives equal weightage to all three subjects.
One week before the examination
- Think positively and visualise yourself doing well and reaching your goals.
- Comparing with peers is very dangerous. Concentrate on your performance.
- Calm yourself and take few slow breaths.
- In many cases, most of the questions are repeated questions from old question papers. So thoroughly practice old question papers.
- Make sure you attempt all the questions as there is no negative marking.
- In botany concentrate on morphology, reproduction in angiosperms, cell biology, taxonomic families, plant kingdom, plant physiology (metabolic pathways and intermediate compounds). Always attempt botany first.
- In zoology, stress on rabbit functional anatomy (1,2,3), genetics, annelida, anthropoda, animal association and invertebrate classification. Make a list of all the examples and characters and go through it every time.
- Biology is the scoring subject in EAMCET Medical. A student in average must score 70 marks in biology, 30 marks in chemistry and 25 marks in physics to get government seat.
- Engineering stream students should start with Mathematics only if you are confident enough of solving problems quickly. If not start with Chemistry
- Start with chemistry as it saves time. Concentrate on organic chemistry as 10 to 14 bits are expected from it.Stress on synopsis, formula and conditions of every chapter from Deepthi Series and Telugu Akademi.
- About 60% to 70% per cent of bits are expected from Access yourself columns of Telugu Academy.
- Always attempt physics at the end.
One day before the examination
- Students of your age need atleast 6-8 hours of sound sleep for the brain to work efficiently. So take a good sleep before the examination to keep yourself fresh while solving questions.
- Take a light meal the night before so that you do not feel drowsy or lethargic during the paper.
- Revise only those topics that you have studied earlier. Do not start reading any new topics just before the examination, since this will be a waste of time and you may lose the information you have already grasped.
- You should reach the test center at least an hour before the exam and if you haven't seen the center before, then you must go and visit the center on the day before the exam.
- Choose a corner in the house where there is pin drop silence.
- Never go to the center on an empty stomach. Have something light.
- Due to anxiety, you may have the feeling of nausea, keep a medicine handy.
- Carry a wristwatch to your centre, your admit card, a pen, two pencils, an eraser, a sharpener and other relevant stationery.
On the day of the examination
- Read the General Instructions on your answer script or question paper clearly.
- Keep the admit card ready as the examiner will like to see it when he/ she starts distributing the answer sheets.
- Do not use a red pen.
- Start attempting the question paper only after reading the instructions given on it very carefully.
- While attempting questions, go on segregating them by the A, B, C method, questions which are from topics that you have prepared well, and you can clearly comprehend the meaning of these questions. You have done questions containing similar concept earlier and you are confident that you will be able to solve these. B :You know you can solve these questions but they are time-consuming, however you are confident you will be able to solve or attempt them when you come back to them. These questions should be attempted in the second round of question attempting, i.e. when you have solved all questions marked with a B. C :You don't know head or tail of these questions and you should not waste time attempting them.
- Attempting to solve all questions in a hurry increases the chances of error.
- If you need a diagram to understand questions in physics or coordinate geometry etc., do make one.
- Use the value of constants given in the paper in solving a numerical. If the value is not mentioned, use the one you remember.
- Give all three subjects equal time.
- Never attempt two questions at the same time. Concentrate on one question at a time.
- Carry out all rough work only in the space given in the paper.
- While attempting the answers, do not shade the answer key immediately. Instead, tick your response with a pencil on the answer key.
- Keep marking questions with A, B, C in the first round of solving the paper. All questions should be segregated into one of these three categories. This saves valuable time later.
- Fill out the answer key 30 minutes before final time. Fill out the responses to questions attempted after this directly in the answer key.
- In the last few minutes, fill out all the unattended questions with some random option, preferably a or c for obvious reasons.
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From the Editors of E/The Environmental Magazine
Dear EarthTalk: Some say that polar bears are going to disappear in 50 years, but Alaskan officials insist their populations are recovering. What’s the real story? -- Harper Howe, San Francisco, CA
There is no doubt that polar bears are in serious trouble. Already on the ropes due to other human threats, their numbers are falling faster than ever as a result of retreating ice due to global warming. The nonprofit International Union for the Conservation of Nature, which added the polar bear to its “Red List” of the world’s most imperiled wildlife back in 2006, predicts a 30 percent decline in population for the great white rulers of the Arctic within three generations (about 45 years).
The nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity presents an even more pessimistic forecast. If current warming trends continue, they say, two-thirds of all polar bears—including all of Alaska’s polar bears—will be extinct by 2050. Both organizations agree that the species as a whole will likely be wiped out completely within 100 years unless humans can get global warming in check.
The erroneous notion that Alaska wildlife officials don’t believe the polar bear is in trouble was put forth by Alaska governor Sarah Palin when she initiated a suit against the federal government in hopes of overturning its decision to include the polar bear under the umbrella of endangered species protection. “I strongly believe that adding them to the list is the wrong move at this time,” Palin wrote in a January 2008 New York Times Op Ed piece. “My decision is based on a comprehensive review by state wildlife officials of scientific information from a broad range of climate, ice and polar bear experts.”
The real story is that affording the polar bear endangered species protection would bring further regulations capping greenhouse gas emissions, a threat to Alaska’s main economic driver: oil revenues. Alaska professor Rick Steiner uncovered the misinformation in Palin’s claims when he found evidence that the state’s top wildlife officials agreed with federal findings that polar bears are headed toward extinction: “So, here you have the state’s marine mammal experts, three or four of them, very reputable scientists, agreeing with the federal proposed rule to list polar bears and with the USGS [United States Geological Survey] studies showing that polar bears are in serious trouble,” said Steiner.
A solid link between global warming and polar bear mortality emerged in 2004 when researchers were surprised to find four drowned bears in the Beaufort Sea off Alaska’s North Slope. The meltdown of sea ice—the polar ice cap had retreated a record 160 miles to the north—forced the bears to swim unusually long distances to find solid ice, which they depend on as hunting and fishing platforms and for rest and recuperation. And more recently, USGS researcher Steven Amstrup published findings that polar bears are “stalking, killing and eating other polar bears” as competition for scarcer food heats up.
Beyond global warming, other risks to polar bear populations include toxic contaminants in the surrounding environment as well as in the fatty tissue of the prey they rely on, conflicts with shipping, stresses from recreational polar-bear watching, oil and gas exploration and development, and overharvesting through legal and illegal hunting.
SEND YOUR ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTIONS TO: EarthTalk, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; email@example.com. Read past columns at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/archives.php. EarthTalk is now a book! Details and order information at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalkbook.
From the Editors of E/The Environmental Magazine
Dear EarthTalk: There’s a lot of talk today about solar and wind power, but what about biomass? How big a role might this renewable energy source play in our future? Couldn’t everyday people burn their own lawn and leaf clippings to generate power? -- Deborah Welch, Niagara Falls, NY
The oldest and most prevalent source of renewable energy known to man, biomass is already a mainstay of energy production in the United States and elsewhere. Since such a wide variety of biomass resources is available—from trees and grasses to forestry, agricultural and urban wastes—biomass promises to play a continuing role in providing power and heat for millions of people around the world.
According to the non-profit Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), biomass is not only a renewable energy source but a carbon neutral one as well, because the energy it contains comes from the sun. When plant matter is burned, it releases the sun’s energy originally captured through photosynthesis. “In this way, biomass functions as a sort of natural battery for storing solar energy,” reports UCS. As long as biomass is produced sustainably—with only as much grown as is used—the “battery” lasts indefinitely.
While biomass is most commonly used, especially in developing countries, as a source of heat so families can stay warm and cook meals, it can also be utilized as a source of electricity. Steam captured from huge biomass processing facilities is used to turn turbines to generate electricity. Of course, biomass is also a “feedstock” for several increasingly popular carbon-neutral fuels, including ethanol and biodiesel.
According to the federal Energy Information Administration, biomass has been the leading U.S. non-hydroelectric renewable energy source for several years running through 2007, accounting for between 0.5 and 0.9 percent of the nation’s total electricity supply. In 2008—although the numbers aren’t all in yet—wind power likely took over first place due to extensive development of wind farms across the country.
According to the USA Biomass Power Producers Alliance, generating power from biomass helps Americans avoid some 11 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions that burning the equivalent amount of fossil fuels would create each year. It also helps avoid annual emissions of some two million tons of methane—which is 20-plus times stronger a “greenhouse” gas than carbon dioxide—per year.
The largest biomass power plant in the country is South Bay, Florida’s New Hope Power Partnership. The 140 megawatt facility generates electricity by burning sugar cane fiber (bagasse) and recycled urban wood, powering some 60,000 homes as well as the company’s own extensive milling and refining operations. Besides preserving precious landfill space by recycling sugar cane and wood waste, the facility’s electricity output obviates the need for about a million barrels of oil per year.
Some homeowners are making their own heat via biomass-fed backyard boiler systems, which burn yard waste and other debris, or sometimes prefabricated pellets, channeling the heat indoors to keep occupants warm. Such systems may save homeowners money, but they also generate a lot of local pollution. So, really, the way to get the most out of biomass is to encourage local utilities to use it—perhaps even from yard waste put out on the curb every week for pick-up—and sell it back to us as electricity.
SEND YOUR ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTIONS TO: EarthTalk, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; firstname.lastname@example.org. Read past columns at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/archives.php.
EarthTalk is now a book! Details and order information at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalkbook.
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Researchers launch guidelines for treating children with concussions
Ontario researchers have released what's believed to be the first comprehensive guide to diagnosing and treating concussions in children and youth.
Karolyn Coorsh, CTVNews.ca
Published Wednesday, June 25, 2014 7:10AM EDT
Last Updated Wednesday, June 25, 2014 7:57AM EDT
Ontario researchers have released what’s believed to be the first comprehensive guide to diagnosing and treating concussions in children and youth.
The recommendations, which are available for free online, were put together by emergency medicine researchers at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario and the Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation.
They are designed to standardize the diagnosis and management of concussions in children between the ages of 5 and 18, from the initial assessment through to recovery.
Project leader and CHEO scientist Dr. Roger Zemek said there have been recommendations and policies on concussions available in the past, but they tended to focus on sports-related injuries in general.
“We’ve developed a reliable resource that is valuable for everyone affected by pediatric concussion: from children and their families, to health care providers, and to schools and recreational organizations,” Zemek said in a statement announcing the guidelines. “This is so important because children get more concussions than adults do, with increased risk because their brains are still developing.”
Among the tools in the resource:
- A pocket tool to help a coach or parent on the sidelines recognize a concussion and advise them on when to remove a child from play or seek emergency medical attention.
- Algorithms for emergency room doctors to help them decide whether or not to seek CT scans.
- Examples of discharge handouts for families of patients are also provided, as well as recommendations for ongoing symptom management.
- Recommendations for ongoing symptom management for family physicians and nurse practitioners.
- Decision tools on ‘return-to-learn’ and ‘return-to-play.”
- example of policy statement for school boards regarding pediatric concussions.
The researchers say the guidelines, which were developed by a panel of more than 30 experts, also fill a gap, by addressing a child’s reintegration into school and social activities, “both of which are crucial to children and adolescents during their formative years.”
Zemek said the evidence-based recommendations are also adapted to a technology-based society.
“It was fascinating to see how recommendations have changed over time,” he said. “Years ago, children were told to ‘rest’ after a concussion, which means something entirely different today with the onset of technology -- now, rest also includes a break from screen time.”
Rebekah Mannix, assistant professor of Pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital said in the statement that the guidelines are “exceedingly clear and comprehensive.”
“I think this will be an indispensable resource for caregivers in a wide range of care settings, and also be accessible for the general public,” Mannix said.
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10 techniques to massively increase retention
This is the classic ‘forgetting curve’ by Ebbinghaus, a fundamental truth in memory theory, totally ignored by most educators and trainers. Most fixed ’courses’ or ‘lectures’ take no notice of the phenomenon, condemning much of their effort to the world of lost memories. Most educational and training pedagogies are hopelessly inefficient because they fail to recognise this basic truth. Smart learners get it. They revise over a period, with regular doses to consolidate their memories.
Little and often
The real solution, to this massive problem of forgetfulness, is spaced practice, little and often, the regular rehearsal and practice of the knowledge/skill over a period of time to elaborate and allow deep processing to fix long-term memories. If we get this right, increases on the productivity of learning can be enormous. We are not talking small increase in knowledge and retention but increases of 200-700%. It has the potential to radically alter the attainment levels in schools, colleges, universities and organisations. OK, that’s the theory, what about the practice?
What strategies enable spaced practice?
I’ll start with a few ‘learner’ tips, then a few ‘teacher/trainer’ practices and end on some technical techniques.
1. Self- rehearsal – This is very powerful, but needs self-discipline. You sit quietly, and recall the learning on a regular, spaced practice basis. The hour/day/week/month model is one, but a more regular pattern of reinforcement will be more successful. Research suggests that the spacing different for individuals and that it is good to rehearse when you have a quiet moment and feel you are in the mood to reflect. Recent research has shown that rehearsal just prior to sleep is a powerful technique. Another bizarre, but effective, model is to place the textbook/notes in your toilet. It’s something you do daily, and offers the perfect opportunity for repeated practice!
2. Take notes – write up your learning experience, in your own words, diagrams, analogies. This can result in dramatic increases in learning (20-30%). Then re-read a few times afterwards or type up as a more coherent piece. It is important to summarise and re-read your notes as soon as possible after the learning experience.
3. Blogging – if the learner blogs his/her learning experience after the course, then responds to the tutors’, and others’ comments for a few weeks afterwards, we have repeated consolidation, and the content has a much higher chance of being retained.
4. Repetition – within the course, but also at the start of every subsequent period, lesson or lecture, repeat (not in parrot fashion) the ground that was covered previously. Take five or ten minutes at the start to ask key questions about the previous content.
5. Delayed assessment – give learners exercises to do after the course and explain that you will assess them a few weeks, months after the course has finished. This prevents reliance on short-term memory and gives them a chance to consolidate their knowledge/skills.
6. Record – it is education and training’ great act of stupidity, not to record talks, lectures and presentations. They give the learner subsequent access to the content and therefore spaced practice.
7. Games pedagogy – Games have powerful pedagogies. They have to as they are hard. It works through repeated attempts and failure. You only progress as your acquired competence allows. Most games involve huge amounts of repetition and failure with levels of attainment that take days, weeks and months to complete.
8. Spaced e-learning – schedule a pattern in your online learning, so that learners do less in one sitting and spread their learning over a longer period of time, with shorter episodes. Free your learners from the tyranny of time and location, allowing them to do little and often. In education this is homework and assignments, in training subsequent talks that need to be emailed back to the trainer/tutor.
9. Mobile technology – the drip feed of assessment over a number of weeks after the course or redesign the whole course as a drip-feed experience. We have the ideal device in our pockets – mobiles. They’re powerful, portable and personal. Push out small chunks or banks of questions, structured so that repetition and consolidation happens. This usually involves the repeated testing of the individual until you feel that the learning has succeeded.
10. Less long holidays – it terms of public policy, increasing school results would be betters served by avoiding the long summer holiday and restructuring the school, college and University years around more regular terms and less long vacations.
The retention benefit works like compound interest as you’re building on previous learning, deepening the processing and consolidating long-term memory. It is, in my opinion, the single most effective strategic change we could make to our learning interventions.
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Given the surging interest in African art, it's surprising that Vodun: African Voodoo is the first art exhibition of its kind. It's worth the wait.
Fon vodun sculpture. Wood, rope, bones, duck skull, metal, terracotta, shells, beads, feathers, cloth, hair, plants. Photo Yuji Ono.
The Fondation Cartier presents a collection from Jacques and Anne Kerchache of nearly 100 objects of statuary, or bocio; the word means "empowered (bo) cadaver (cio)" in the Fon language of Benin. These bocio, mostly from Togo and Benin, fulfill two cultural goals: to protect their owners from danger, and to exact revenge on those who have harmed the owners.
Nago and Fon Vodun sculptures, Benin (23.5 x 4.5 x 5 cm, 18.5 x 5.5 x 5 cm, 20 x 4 x 3 cm, 18 x 4 x 5.5 cm, 20 x 4 x 4 cm). Wood, rope, clay, sacrificial patina. Collection Anne and Jacques Kerchache. Photo © Yuji Ono
The most common of the bocio genre is bla-bacio (above), African statuary in which the object is wrapped tightly with rope or cord. Although these bocio may suggest sexual bondage, bondage also has associations with death and personal problems like imprisonment or impotence; more positively, Benin women believed that wearing a cord around the waist protected a fetus from miscarriage.
Because bocio are a liaison with the spiritual, they are created with sacred materials like claws, feathers and animal skulls, as in the Fon vodun work above (top of page). Jacques Kerchache was instrumental in elevating opinion about African art from "primitive art" to appreciation of its unique aesthetic value. It was Kerchache's passion for African art which spurred creation of the Louvre's Pavillon des Sessions to house artwork of Africa, Oceania and the Americas.
One of Kerchache's favorite pieces was The Chariot of Death, which features a double-faced person seemingly walking two crocodile
skulls with linked leashs. Although its intent isn't immediately apparent, Kerchache stressed the relativity of any interpretation:
"Depending on the clan or family origins of the local informant, the statue will have different meanings and its attributions will be as variable as the homogeneity of the group observed. Since myths change, the interpretation of a myth will also change."
It's a potent reminder of humankind's endless fascination with the afterlife, and of each culture's attempt to unravel its mysteries. For those of you preparing for the May art history exam, how about contemplating the ways in which different cultures represent death and possible afterlife?
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The first Color Temperature wheel diagram
from Charles Hayter
Warm colors are those that pop off the page.
Reds, oranges, and yellows usually create a sharp focus.
Cool colors (blues, most greens, most grays) recede in space
Leonardo da Vinci used this illusion to create the effect of atmospheric perspective in his famous Mona Lisa. In this painting, the woman’s figure is composed primarily of warm hues, while the landscape in the background is composed primarily of cooler blues and greens. This distinction in color temperature serves to place the figure in advance of the background.
Leonardo da Vinci Mona Lisa (1503–06)
The 20th-century artist Hans Hofmann was also interested in color-generated spatial relationships, although he was mainly concerned with subverting this impression that cool colors recede and warm colors advance.
Hans Hofmann The Golden Wall (1961)
In The Golden Wall, Hofmann
explored a sensation he called “push-pull.” By overlapping carefully chosen
fields of color, the artist forced the colors to move forward and backward in
unexpected ways, giving the unnerving feeling that the canvas pulsates in three
dimensions. Contrary to expectation, the blue area in the upper-right corner of
this work “pulls” forward, while the red-orange areas around it “push”
What colors are associated with a hot desert or hell?
Those are the warm colors of the spectrum...they suggest noise, anger, danger, and intensity.
What colors are associated with the shadows of a snowy landscape or the calm and serene sea?
These are the cool colors of the spectrum
Objects in direct sunlight are warm; objects in shadow are cool
Perceptually, cool colors tend to recede into the distance whereas warm colors appear to advance.
The 2nd cube uses both value and temperature...the top has been lighten and the side has had blue added to it.
Primary colors never vary in their temperature (unless you add large amounts of their complementary hues to them). Red, yellow and orange, will remain warm colors. Blue will almost always remain cool.
Green is a mixture of yellow and cyan and can become warmer or cooler depending on the dominating component.
Purples also can appear to be either warm or cool, depending on the amounts of cyan or magenta you choose
Grays can also be manipulated to lean towards warm or cool colors
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May is Mental Health Month
Mental health disorders are real, common and treatable. It is estimated that approximately 1 in 5 adults and 13-20% of children living in the USA will experience a diagnosable mental health disorder in a given year.
The following are signals that your loved one may want to speak to a medical or a mental health professional are:
Adults: confused thinking ,prolonged depression (sadness or irritability), feelings of extreme highs or lows, excessive fears, worries and anxieties, social withdrawal, dramatic changes in eating or sleeping habits, strong feelings of anger, delusions or hallucinations, growing inability to cope with daily problems and activities, suicidal thoughts, denial of obvious problems, numerous unexplained physical ailments and substance abuse.
Adolescents and Young Adults : substance abuse, inability to cope with problems and daily activities, changes in sleeping and or eating habits, excessive complaints of physical ailments, defiance of authority, truancy, theft or vandalism, intense fear of weight gain, prolonged negative mood, often accompanied with poor appetite or thoughts of death and/or frequent outbursts of anger.
Younger children and pre-adolescents: changes in school performance, poor grades despite strong efforts, excessive worry or anxiety (I.e. refusing to go to bed or school), hyperactivity, persistent nightmares, persistent disobedience or aggression and/or frequent temper tantrums.
Where you seek help will depend on who has the problem and the nature of the symptoms. Often, the best place is to start with is your primary health care provider who can begin the process and offer referrals to various therapists or mental health providers. Consider getting a few names, so you can interview more than one person before choosing the best fit for your needs. During the interview process either on phone or in person, ask about their approach to working with patients, their philosophy, and do they have a special area of concentration. If you feel comfortable after the interview, the next step is to schedule an appointment.
The therapeutic process includes interview about the individual, their family, life in general and friends. Gradually, relief from the distress should occur, development of self-assurance and have a greater ability to make decisions and increased comfort in relationships with others. Therapy may be painful and uncomfortable at times but episodes of discomfort occur during the most successful therapy sessions. A few common types of therapy include: interpersonal therapy, family therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, psychodynamic and psychoeducation therapies.
3 rd K Registration: May 2 nd 7:30 -11:00 @ Melrose Office.
Upcoming Screenings: RI Hearing Center on May 16, 2014 – Students in Pre-School through Grade 3 will have their hearing tested.
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Marion County Emergency Communications is now using Pictometry technology. Pictomertry is the technology that allows dispatchers to not only, bring up a detailed map of an inbound caller's location, but also visually inspect, through 3D-like aerial images, the actual incident area as if they were right there at the scene. The images are not in real time so if there is a fire they will not see flames but it gives dispatchers and responders a wealth of valuable information before they even arrive at the scene. The software enables dispatchers to easily access up to 12 different angled views of any property, building, highway or other feature in the county. Dispatchers are also able to obtain measurements such as distance, height and elevation directly from the imagery.
When a dispatcher receives a 9-11 call, a marker pin that appears on the computer map of the area can be clicked on and a picture of the house, area or business appears. The system is Wireless E911 capable and will rebid for the location of a cellular caller. If the caller has the right phone and service, a dispatcher can visually follow the caller as they go down the road or drift on one of Marion County's lakes.
Pictometry enables a dispatcher to:
- Instantly view multiple images of caller location(s)
- View alternate traffic routes to incidents
- View each address from multiple angles for entry and escape points
- Measure height, length and width of buildings
- Provide remote guidence on location of electrical wires and other obstacles that might impair equipment or helicopter access
- Monitor foot chases through visual clues and provide assistance to officer on the scene.
In violent situations, law enforcement can view the location from several different angles and map out a strategy from a view they wouldn't get at ground level.
Should evacuation be necessary due to natural disasters, crime or chemical leaks & spills, an image of area residences and businesses is invaluable.
Owners of livestock on the roadway may be located much sooner by checking to see which farms and pastures likely contain livestock.
Dispatchers have the ability to rotate around any structure in the county. Examine the exits, what's in the backyard, how high the fences are etc. Pictometry uses aerial photos to map every square inch foot of the county from up to 12 different angles. In the hands of dispatchers it is already saving time and lives.
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As per a research, which has been published in the Annals of Oncology journal, it has been revealed that there has been steady decline in the number of deaths taking place due to cancer in EU. However, researchers from Italy and Switzerland have said that 1.3 million people will be losing their life in 2012 due to cancer in 27-country European Union bloc.
Fabio Levi, from the Cancer Epidemiology Unit at the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine and Lausanne University in Switzerland, was of the view that there has been decline in the number of breast cancer cases. It shall however be noted that breast cancer remains the prime reason for cancer deaths among women.
Men are more likely to die from lung cancer than women as smoking will be the leading them to death. The study researchers said that death rate among men will be 139 per 100,000 men and it will be 85 per 100,000 women.
Levi said that there has been slight decrease in the number of cases both in men and women. There is variety of reasons for the decline and some of them are European men are found to be cutting smoke habits and are also opting for healthy eating habits.
In the case of women, they have become more aware about breast cancer symptoms and now take part in prevention and detection campaigns. Carlo La Vecchia, from Italy's Milan University, was of the view, "The fact that there will be substantial falls in deaths from breast cancer, not only in middle age, but also in the young, indicates that important advances in treatment and management are playing a major role in the decline in death rates”.
- Fire threatens entire city in Alberta
- Authorities order evacuation of entire city in Alberta due to wildfire
- Mitel Networks Corp of Canada to Buy Polycom Inc for Almost $2 Billion
- Reportedly Bombardier Inc. is Nearing a Deal with Delta for C Series Jetliners
- Review shows alcohol has no net health benefits
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Dog Giving Birth
The first heat of a female dog is apparent between the 8th and 10th and sometimes even in the 12th month, variable depending on the animal and breed. This repeats every five to six months, also variable. The procreation period in a dog is about 58 to 63 days approximately. Birth is divided into stages are periods. Some hours before the birth pains, the vagina dilates and becomes soft, and you can observe a discharge of mucus. Sometimes, some drops of milk.
The first period is characterized by a series of spasmodic and irregular contractions of the abdominal muscles; they are neither powerful nor rhythmic, but they help with the relaxation and dilatation of the lower part of the uterus and vagina, so that the puppy can emerge. The birth channel becomes soft and dilates, segregating a lot of mucus that act like a lubricant. Following that, there are contractions until the opening of the uterus and vagina are completely dilated. This period can last from one hour to one day, but if it goes beyond a day, you must urgently go to the vet. When the dog enters the second period, the situation changes completely; the irregular and hardly perceptible contractions become powerful and rhythmic. With every rhythmic and more powerful contraction, the uterus pushes the fetus towards the vagina and the vagina outside, producing what we generally know as birth.
In normal births, the puppy is preceded by water bags, which appear in the vulva, disappear and reappear with every contraction, until it breaks, releasing the amniotic liquid. The puppy must come immediately, presenting, in a normal birth, the head crouched against his chest inside the membrane. The puppy appears by the vulva, disappears and finally goes through the vulva without any problems. There is generally another pause, until the tissues are prepared for a greater distention and for the following effort. The thorax and shoulders are now in that notice of the mother, and are directed through by the harder and more painful contractions that occurred during the process. When this part of the fetus is already more than half way through, there is a more energetic and painful effort than the rest, the one that pushes the complete body towards the exterior. The fetuses are generally boring inside their membranes, which are torn open and licked by the mother, at the same time that she's biting off the umbilical cord. Generally the other puppies can come one after another with small intervals, or the late many hours. It are the days are long, there might be a physical or mechanical disablement, which means you should immediately call the vet. The puppies are not always well situated for birth as they might be standing up or in an awkward position. The veterinarian must be able to put the puppies in the correct position and enable birth; otherwise, the worse can happen: the death of the mother and puppies. Also, at times, the puppies take longer than normal to start breathing, so you have to help them. You can hold them by their back legs (head down), previously having cleaned the mucus from the nose and mouth with a sterile gauze, and blow into the nose and mouth (artificial respiration), but softly, until respiration starts. You might also have to try giving the puppy soft strokes between the shoulder blades so as to get the heart to beating. Never try to pull out a puppy that is "halfway through". It there is no other remedy, did not do it when the mother is relaxed. All he can do is help by holding the puppy's head with a hand (using a sterile glove) and with every contraction of the mother makes, make a soft traction following the mother's rhythm. But the most convenient thing would be for the vet to be present. The placenta needs to be ousted immediately after the last puppy comes out. The longer it stays inside the womb, the more chances there are of the mother getting infected and the longer it takes for that organ to recuperate.
|Dog Diseases & illnesses Gasing Giving Birth Dog Goiter Dog Gout|
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Cows that don’t moo – Sea Cows
Manatees, also known as sea cows, live only in Florida and even here their future is uncertain. The manatee population has steadily declined due to the loss of suitable habitat and pollution.
The big mammals live in the water, but they need to surface to breath every four minutes or so. When they are sleeping they rise slowly to the surface about once per half hour for a breath. They spend most of their day grazing on aquatic plants, often chomping down up to one hundred pounds a day. Big adults can weigh up to a ton and reach twelve feet in length.
Babies are born after a thirteen month pregnancy and nurse from their mother’s milk glands, located under the flippers. They rely on mom for nourishment for the first year of life, before starting to graze on plants.
Manatees seek warmer waters in the winter months; often migrating to natural springs to stay warm. One man-made refuge is the warm water discharge from power plants. In these temperate waters, the sea cows congregate in large numbers.
The Big Bend Power Station in Apollo Beach is a TECO Power Plant, south of Tampa. The company has built a viewing facility for people to get a good look at the animals. There are also several state parks that offer the chance to observe them.
Manatees have no natural enemies except people. They do not move fast and have a difficult time getting out of the way of boaters. The scars on this one show that he got hit by the propellers on a boat.
Sea cows can live in salt water, but need to find fresh water to drink. For some reason, there are no records of manatees being attacked by sharks. Perhaps they are too big or maybe they are not too tasty to a shark.
Some legends suggest that manatees are what sparked the legend of the mermaid. After all, they do have a mermaid like tail.
If sailors mistook manatees for a fish-woman, they were at sea way too long.
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Media Home | Contact Us
February 10, 2003
Public Health Officials Gather in St. Louis to Improve Survey of Americans' Health Status
Public health scientists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and each of the state health departments will gather in St. Louis, Missouri February 10-13 to update a system of state-based surveys that profile the current health status of the nation.
The Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), the largest continuously conducted telephone health survey in the world, has become the primary source of information for most states on what their adult population is doing, or not doing, to maintain good health and safety. The 2004 survey will emphasize identifying priority health issues and monitoring states’ progress in achieving the nation’s health objectives.
“Health journals and web sites are filled with articles about the things that make us sick and the new treatments that will make us well, but public health is largely committed to preventing illness in the first place,” said Dr. Julie L. Gerberding, director of CDC.
Scientists know that often health behaviors greatly influence health status. Smoking, poor nutritional habits, physical inactivity, alcohol abuse, and poor use of health screening all play key roles in contributing to our ill health. Such behaviors are also strongly linked to the leading causes of death in the United States–heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes and unintentional injuries.
“If public health agencies are to get a jump on our nation’s leading causes of death, we need solid data about the types of risky behaviors people engage in, how often and how long, and whether there’s been improvement over time. BRFSS will help provide this important information,” Gerberding said.
Through a series of monthly telephone interviews, state health departments survey their adult residents about a wide range of important health issues, such as diabetes and heart disease awareness, tobacco use, diet and physical activity, quality of life, mental health, health care screening and coverage, and even terrorism. The data is then analyzed according to race, ethnicity, gender, education, income, geographic location and other variables.
“It was data from BRFSS, that alerted us to two major epidemics–obesity and diabetes–that are seriously threatening our nation’s health and stretching our health care system to its limits,” said Ali Mokdad., PhD, BRFSS director. “States have also used BRFSS data to set up programs to help their citizens cope with such national emergencies as the Oklahoma City bombing and the September 11th terrorist attacks,” Mokdad said.
In addition to collaborating on state-of-the-art methodologies and technical innovations in data collection, scientists attending this week’s meeting will also be reviewing the past 20 years of the BRFSS.
The BRFSS is a cross-sectional telephone survey conducted by state health departments with assistance from CDC. States use the survey data to track critical health problems and to develop and evaluate public health programs.
The survey was first conducted in 1984 with just 15 states participating and is now conducted in all 50 states, three territories and the District of Columbia. The questionnaire has also grown in scope as the demand for high quality data has expanded throughout the years. The survey was originally designed with a set of core questions that are asked every year, but its design allows for states to add questions to reflect localized health issues.
Data comparisons show that, while Americans are making vast improvements in curbing some risky behaviors, some things have changed very little over the years. For instance, tobacco use decreased drastically in the years following World War II, but rates of current smoking have leveled off at about 23 percent over the last decade. On the other hand, women are taking advantage of breast cancer screening in ever increasing numbers. In 1990, 35.3 percent of women aged 40 years and older had never had a mammogram. By 2000, that number was reduced to 18 percent.
BRFSS data are particularly valuable to individual states in developing prevention programs and monitoring their results. For instance, Missouri has used the BRFSS to determine levels of health care availability in the state and monitor progress of the “Managing for Results Program” (http://www.mri.state.mo.us/). “BRFSS not only allowed Missouri to monitor risk behaviors, but enabled us to develop the capacity to carry out the surveys as well as analyze and interpret the data regarding the overall health of Missourians,” said, Dr. Eduardo Simoes, Missouri state epidemiologist.
The 20th annual BRFSS meeting is being held at the Sheraton St. Louis City Center Hotel and Suites, 400 South 14th St. For more information call 770-388-5131. For state-based data on health behaviors visit the BRFSS Web site: http://www.cdc.gov/brfss/.
# # #
CDC protects people's health and safety by preventing and controlling diseases and injuries; enhances health decisions by providing credible information on critical health issues; and promotes healthy living through strong partnerships with local, national, and international organizations.
This page last updated February 10, 2003
Department of Health and Human Services
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No other color has been making news like magenta... First it was about T-Mobile's (Deutsche Telekom) ownership of the color, and now it's in the color news again for not even existing. So, does magenta exist?
Why it Doesn't Exist
The rumor started circulating when blogs picked up on an article entitled, "Magenta Ain't A Colour," written by Liz Elliott for the Neurostimulation Technology site biotele, which made claims that because the light spectrum is a straight line of single wavelength values (Red light the longest; violet the shortest) and magenta, or pink, is nowhere to be found, then it's not a real color.
A beam of white light is made up of all the colours in the spectrum. The range extends from red through to violet, with orange, yellow, green and blue in between. But there is one colour that is notable by its absence. Pink (or magenta, to use its official name) simply isn’t there.
She goes on to explain that even though magenta does not exist as a color in the spectrum, we can see it do to the summation of the wavelengths by our brain.
If the eye receives light of more than one wavelength, the colour generated in the brain is formed from the sum of the input responses on the retina. For example, if red light and green light enter the eye at the same time, the resulting colour produced in the brain is yellow, the colour halfway between red and green in the spectrum.
So what does the brain do when our eyes detect wavelengths from both ends of the light spectrum at once (i.e. red and violet light)? Generally speaking, it has two options for interpreting the input data:
a) Sum the input responses to produce a colour halfway between red and violet in the spectrum (which would in this case produce green – not a very representative colour of a red and violet mix)
b) Invent a new colour halfway between red and violet
Magenta is the evidence that the brain takes option b – it has apparently constructed a colour to bridge the gap between red and violet, because such a colour does not exist in the light spectrum. Magenta has no wavelength attributed to it, unlike all the other spectrum colours.
The light spectrum has a colour missing because it does not feel the need to ‘close the loop’ in the way that our brains do. We need colour to make sense of the world, but equally we need to make sense of colour; even if that means taking opposite ends of the spectrum and bringing them together.
Why it Does Exist
In a rebuttal from Chris Foresman in the article, "Yes, Virgina, There is a Magenta", for the site Ars Technica, Chris goes on to further explain the greater electromagnetic spectrum vs the visible spectrum and the 'pink-purple line' that is mapped on a common CIE chormacity diagram, which is based on human perception.
If you look at a standard CIE chromaticity diagram, which maps wavelengths of light according to human perception, you'll note that every point along the curve corresponds to a single wavelength of light. Magenta, as it were, lies along what's commonly called the "pink-purple line" that runs across the bottom. All colors along this line do not exist as single wavelengths. But, all points inside the "color bag" above that line do not exist as single wavelengths, either.
T-Mobile Owns It
As we all know by now, Deutsche Telekom (parent company of T-Mobile) has had the registered ownership of the color magenta in the telecom and internet service sector since 2000. Which some might ask, if magenta isn't real than how can someone own it?
Magenta is Real
The fact that we all know what magenta is and looks like is proof enough that the color is real. That is, real as anything else that is only a perception of our brain.
We love you magenta, we're glad you're here.
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ESCANABA - Measures to protect spawning fish stocks and enhance control of the burgeoning population of cormorants is set to kick off in the spring of 2010.
Although long overdue, it is at least a sign that the impact these protected birds are having on the fishery of the western Upper Peninsula is cause for the liberalization of lethal control methods and quotas.
In 1972, following a sharp decline of the cormorant in part from the use of DDT (a chemical used in quantity to control insects and diseases of crops grown in agricultural plots), the US Fish and Wildlife Services (USFWS) placed the bird as endangered under the Federal Migratory Bird Treaty of 1918.
DDT was banned the same year and combined with other environmental clean-up, resulted in the return of cormorant populations that today far exceed expectations.
In 1970 there were only 70 nesting pairs of cormorants in Michigan. By 2008, estimates revealed there were approximately 3 million cormorants in the US, 78 percent of them around Lake Michigan during the summer months. That's 2.34 million folks.
Taking just half of that census as the adult population and incorporating the 1.5 pound daily individual fish consumption, that equates to about 1.8 million pounds of fish taken each day by cormorants, especially during spring spawning season.
The probable reductions on future forge-based fish populations is significant.
Now add to that the impact of invasive aquatic species like the zebra mussel, Eurasian milfoil, rusty crayfish, goby, etc., competing for habitat and forever changing the ecosystem of the Great Lakes. Couple it to mother nature's decision to reduce lake levels. Then toss in a sprinkle of illegal commercial fishing and you have a perfect recipe for disaster.
Conservation organizations across the U.P. have worked for decades to enhance the fishery on both lakes and inland waters.
They have served as volunteers collecting eggs, supporting the cost of raising native stock for re-introduction in area waters to at least maintain a base population of fish, only to see their efforts dashed as cormorants move into planting areas.
Those who regularly participate in some use of Michigan lakes and streams are fully aware of the dilemma faced by natural resources managers in maintaining a decent fishery.
At times it appears they are doing so against insurmountable odds.
It has been difficult to impress the 85 percent of Michigan's citizens, who do not have keen interest in the state's fishery as to the major impact these birds are having here.
There are some groups who, like HSUS and the Defenders of Wildlife, are trying to work off of emotion to contend there is no need to enact control measures.
Perhaps conservationists would have better success if the cormorant were more aptly renamed a "piranha bird" because that is what they have turned out to be. They are opportunistic feeders that leave no fish species untouched.
It is also important to mention the environmental impact of the cormorant. Not many people realize their caustic feces droppings obliterate foliage throughout their nesting sites, causing extensive run-off into the lake basin.
That created infestation of ecoli-bacteria that was cause for the closure of many beaches along the eastern shores of Lake Michigan last year.
Now, there is evidence that current lethal control measures are not doing enough to curb the prolific cormorant as populations continue to grow. The data has convinced the USFWS to expand efforts and broaden control areas including the western UP.
Dave Westerberg of Escanaba, representing the Bay deNoc Great Lakes Sport Fishermen and U.P. Sportsmen's Alliance, is but one of many volunteer conservationists appointed to a task force by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to establish cormorant management recommendations.
The lethal control program previously utilized in the eastern U.P. for several years have shown success.
Here volunteers have attended required training sessions and upon completion been sanctioned and deputized as designated shooters to cover specific areas in need of control.
They have also performed field necropsy on a percentage of birds taken to determine feed sources. This program will expand into the western UP in the spring of 2010.
Westerberg has been appointed to coordinate conservation organizations and individuals wanting to participate as volunteers for the region.
His goal is to compile a list by the end of November so that logistics can be worked out with training completed in time for the spring migration when most of the cormorant feeding frenzy takes place. Other control measures, such as egg oiling, will also continue during the main nesting season of cormorants in the western area.
If you want to become a volunteer participant in the western U.P. cormorant control program or have any questions, contact Westerberg at P.O. Box 146, Escanaba, 49829, e-mail to email@example.com, or by phone (906-786-3950).
The group is also seeking financial sponsorship to cover the cost of fuel, ammunition and other essential needs.
Tim Kobasic is the outdoors editor for KMB Broadcasting and host/producer for Tails & Trails Outdoor Radio, aired on six radio stations over three networks, Charter Communications cable and the Internet on Saturday mornings.
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Aspartame is an artificial sweetener, an additive. And it's a chemical. It's not a natural product, it's a chemical. The molecule is made up of three components. Two are amino acids, the so-called building blocks of protein.
One is called Phenylalanine, which is about 50% of the molecule and the other is Aspartic Acid, which is like 40%. And the other 10% is so-called Methyl Ester, which as soon as it’s swallowed becomes free methyl alcohol. Methanol. Wood alcohol, which is a poison. A real poison.
Excellent documentary showing how dangerous artificial sweetner Aspartame is. From its history, to its effects this video is enough to shock anyone into really looking at the food labels next time they shop. Aspartame is a toxic food that came into the world as an investment by Donald Rumsfeld, while ignoring the deadly effects the tests showed. Take a good look at this video, it could save lives.
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A tooth in a mammal that replaces a temporary milk tooth and lasts for most of the mammal’s life.
- One set of 20 non-permanent teeth precedes the permanent teeth, but the 12 molars are not replaced.
- Most kids stop grinding when they lose their baby teeth because permanent teeth are much more sensitive to pain.
- Injuries to both baby teeth and permanent teeth should be treated by a dentist.
For editors and proofreaders
Line breaks: per¦man|ent tooth
Definition of permanent tooth in:
What do you find interesting about this word or phrase?
Comments that don't adhere to our Community Guidelines may be moderated or removed.
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It's the scourge of futurists everywhere: The space elevator can't seem to shake its image as something that's just ridiculous, laughed off as the stuff of sci-fi novels and overactive imaginations. But there are plenty of scientists who take the idea quite seriously, and they’re trying to buck that perception.
To that end, a diverse group of experts at the behest of the International Academy of Astronautics completed an impressively thorough study this month on whether building a space elevator is doable. Their resulting report, "Space Elevators: An Assessment of the Technological Feasibility and the Way Forward," found that, in a nutshell, such a contraption is both totally feasible and a really smart idea. And they laid out a 300-page roadmap detailing how to make it happen.
The "why build a space elevator?" part is easy. First up, it's because rockets aren't cutting it. Rocket technology is such that 80 percent of the mass is fuel and 14 percent is structure, leaving just 6 percent for the payload. Then the rocket takes off, spews a bunch of chemicals into the atmosphere, and never comes back. A cable-based transportation system, by comparison, would have no constraints on the size or shape of the payload, and at a fraction of the energy and cost, the study explains.
Moreover, once the elevator's cargo can safely switch from large payloads to transporting people into orbit, that could usher in a new era of space exploration that would lead to a "renaissance" that would transform the Earth, researchers write:
The facility to provide power to any location on the surface [space solar power satellites] will enable development across the world. Several examples are that Africa could skip the 20th century of wires while the outback of countries like India or China would not have to burn coal and the Amazon region could retain more of its rain forests. In addition, the increase in communications and Earth resource satellites will remake the emergency warning systems of the world. Some intractable problems on the Earth’s surface would also have solutions, such as the safe and secure delivery—and thus disposal—of nuclear waste to solar orbit.
Naturally, how to build a space elevator is more difficult to answer. The gist of the idea is this: A long, strong tether is anchored at the equator and extends into geosynchronous orbit some 62,000 miles above the Earth. At the other end is a counterweight far enough away to keep the center of mass in orbit with the Earth so the cable stays over the same point above the equator as the planet rotates. The rotation keeps the cable taut, to counter the gravitational pull as robotic, electric "climbers" ride the line up into space carrying the payload. Boom.
This basic concept hasn't changed much since Arthur C. Clark's 1979 novel The Fountains of Paradise first popularized the idea of an elevator to space—though no one took it seriously. Decades later, in 2003, Clarke stated, "The space elevator will be built ten years after they stop laughing … and they have stopped laughing."
What made people stop laughing? Nanotech. Carbon nanotubes were developed in the 90s and promised to be the uber-strong, light, flexible supermaterial needed to build the kind of 62,000-mile cable that could transport humans into space. By the end of the 90s, NASA had released its report on the technological progress: "Space Elevators: An Advanced Earth-Space Infrastructure for the New Millennium."
This month's IAA report gives something of an update. "The materials currently being tested in the laboratory have surpassed that level and promise a tether that can withstand the environmental and operational stresses necessary," it states. "Will it end up being carbon nanotubes, or boron nitrite materials, or something else?"
Nanomaterials are strong and light enough, but the rub is that scientists can't get them to scale yet. Luckily, billions of dollars are being poured into this area of research. The report predicts a suitable material will be ready by the 2020s.
As material engineering research continues, experts are feeling increasingly comfortable putting an ETA on the long-imagined space elevator. A couple years ago Japan predicted it could create the machine "by 2050". Rumors that the secretive Google X lab was building a space elevator sparked at least one prediction that it would “replace rockets in 50 years.”
Google has since denied any such project, but plenty of other attempts to make the journey into space easier and cheaper are still on the table. There is the research out of the International Space Elevator Consortium, the ambitious Kickstarter project to build a vehicle that travels from the Earth to the Moon, the Japanese space elevator that runs on solar power cells attached to the ISS, Elon Musk’s reusable rockets, NASA’s plan to launch objects into space with rail guns and magnetic levitation, and acclaimed sci-fi author Neil Stephenson’s moonshot project to build a tower so tall it reaches to the stars.
LiftPort raised $100,000 on Kickstarter for its plan to build an elevator to the moon
The IAA report, for its part, is ready to put the rubber to the road. It lays out everything from the technological infrastructure of the machine and the physics of defying gravity, to the funding profiles of the future space markets it would open up, and when investors should expect a return on investment from the elevator. "No doubt all the space agencies of the world will welcome such a definitive study that investigates new ways of transportation with major changes associated with inexpensive routine access to GEO and beyond," IAA president Gopalan Madhavan Nair writes in the report.
Be it 20, 50, or 100 years from now, if the elevator/bridge/gun/train/tower next-gen celestial transport system comes to fruition, it could be rockets that people are laughing about in the future.
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Association Discrimination Definition
Association discrimination means employment-related prejudice against employees, on the basis of their associations with people who have disabilities or disabling illnesses. It's also referred to as discrimination by association.
Although the term discrimination by association originated on the basis of disabilities, it might also apply on the basis of national origin, race, color or religion.
Association Discrimination Law
Association discrimination is outlawed under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a Federal law that prohibits employment discrimination against disabled employees on the basis of their disabilities.
Disability discrimination by association is prohibited under the ADA, because the law includes an "association" provision. It makes it unlawful for employers to take adverse employment actions against employees, solely on the basis of their associations with disabled people.
The provision covers all types of employee associations with disabled individuals, not just family relationships with disabled relatives. Additionally, it protects employees who associate with disabled individuals whether or not the employees have disabilities themselves.
Association Discrimination Examples
Listed below are examples of adverse employer actions that might constitute association discrimination under the ADA.
- Declining to hire a qualified job applicant, solely because the applicant might miss work from caring for his or her disabled child
- Firing a qualified employee, solely because of an unfounded fear that the employee might spread HIV from volunteering to help AIDS-disabled patients outside of work hours
- Revoking an employee's health-insurance benefits to which all employees are equally entitled by policy, solely because the employee's spouse was stricken by a potentially-costly, disabling illness
Association Discrimination Legal Recourse
If you reasonably believe that you've been a victim of association discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act, then you may file a discrimination charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). In fact, you must first file a charge with the EEOC (or state equivalent) before filing a private lawsuit, if you have a mind to. (A lawsuit might reward better than an EEOC action.)
If you need help filing your association discrimination charge, subsequent lawsuit or both, consult a lawyer. (Lawyers often take winnable discrimination cases on contingency.) But, whether you first consult a lawyer or file a charge with the EEOC, don't wait too long; a relatively short statute of limitations applies.
Your employer is prohibited from retaliating against you for filing an association discrimination charge or a subsequent lawsuit. Your employer is also prohibited from retaliating against you and your witnesses for participating in related proceedings.
For more information about association discrimination along with additional examples, see "Questions and Answers About the Association Provision of the Americans with Disabilities Act" from the EEOC. See also the related article "Family Responsibility Discrimination" from EmployeeIssues.com.
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Water and Healthy Rivers
Imagine a Victoria where we talk about our rivers with pride. Where clean water flows freely. Diverse ecosystems thrive. Nutrient-rich flora and fauna grow in abundance. And your favorite spot beside that babbling brook is still around when your children's children are grown-up.
Now imagine yourself getting involved in one of the many ongoing campaigns and programs designed to restore and protect Victoria's precious waterways.
The water out of your tap comes from a river.
Each year, Victorians draw 5 trillion litres of water out of our rivers for irrigation and use by towns. This leaves many of our river ecosystems trying to get by on half the water which would naturally be there.
Environment Victoria's Healthy Rivers Campaign has a long and proud history of working to get rivers a fair share of their own water, with plenty of successes.
For many years we have worked hard on the national Murray-Darling Basin Plan to make sure it delivers for northern Victoria's rivers and wetlands. Now both the Turnbull Government and the Andrews Government are putting the brakes on returning real water to our stressed rivers. The Victorian Minister for Environment, Water and Climate Change has ruled out further water buybacks for rivers - the best method of water recovery - in favour of expensive and environmentally questionable infrastructure measures. The outcomes of the Plan are under pressure from all directions.
The Andrews Government has yet to acknowledge the urgent need for water recovery for rivers and the potential for damaging climate change impacts on freshwater ecosystems such as wetlands. So far we haven’t seen much change from the previous Coalition government.
So with the government missing in action, we are stepping up to the plate. As well as fighting for a strong Basin Plan that does the job for northern Victoria’s rivers, we are developing an 'Aquaprint' that will outline a community vision for water reform in Victoria, with a particular focus on what needs to happen to protect our rivers in the face of climate change. We’re also pushing for an independent Victorian Environmental Assessment Council (VEAC) investigation into freshwater dependent ecosystems, and continuing our work to get livestock off river banks.
To do all this we will need your help, so stay tuned!
Want to learn a bit more or are you ready for everything we've got?
Campaigns & Programs
Spend the cash to cut the crap
It’s time to move cow out of our rivers. Sign our petition to Parliament asking them to spend the money to get livestock out of our rivers
Our Rivers, Our Lifeblood
In this Atlas we take a tour around Victoria, from the Snowy in the east to the Glenelg in the west, from the Murray in the north to the Bunyip in the south.
The mighty Murray - and the rivers that flow into it - are on the brink of collapse. But you can change that...
Every river tells a story. And we're capturing them...
27 August 2015: Environment Victoria has criticised state and federal water ministers over their “hard hat mentality” to the Murray-Darling Basin, labelling infrastructure projects expensive and ineffective when what rivers really need is more water.
28 May 2015: The Turnbull Government’s proposed legislation to cap water buybacks is a major threat to the Murray-Darling Basin Plan and trashes John Howard’s legacy, says Environment Victoria.
26 November 2014: Environment Victoria will today inflate a giant cow in central Ballarat as part of its Cut the Crap campaign to highlight the issue of cows trampling and polluting the state’s rivers and creeks..
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Even from its earliest days, Modesto has been a community dedicated to growth, progress and the quality of community
life. Modesto became the end of the Central Pacific Railroad line on November 8, 1870 and was incorporated as a
municipal city on August 6, 1884. Modesto was originally to be named Ralston to honor William Chapman Ralston,
the director of the Central Pacific Railroad. When he objected, the town was named Modesto, a Spanish word meaning
modest, after Ralston’s modesty.
In the 1880’s new homes were built east of downtown. Today, only one of those beautiful homes stands in its
original state. Robert McHenry built the McHenry Mansion in 1882-83.
In March 1887, California’s Governor signed legislation authorizing the creation of irrigation districts. Local
voters authorized the formation of Modesto Irrigation District (MID) in mid-1887, creating California’s second
irrigation district. MID built a canal system and began delivering irrigation water in 1904.
By 1910, Modesto’s population was estimated at 4,500. The City fathers referred to the young community as the
“most metropolitan and classy of its size in California.” Modesto soon became known as the “Rose City” and the
“Garden City” due to its many rose bushes and well-manicured lawns.
In 1912, the downtown Modesto Arch, located at 9th and I Streets, was built for $1,200. The illuminating arch
holds 668 lights, stands 25 feet high at its center and spans 75 feet across I Street.
Founded in 1921, Modesto Junior College is the oldest junior college in the State of California. This college has
helped tens of thousands of students blaze a path to higher education and a better future at an affordable price.
The day prohibition ended in 1933 was an important and historic day in the United States, but that day is also
one of the most significant in Modesto’s history as well. That is the day two bothers, Ernest and Julio Gallo, opened
a small winery in Modesto with $5,900 borrowed dollars. Now, over 75 years later, the winery that Ernest and Julio
Gallo opened is the largest winery in the world employing thousands of workers in Modesto, Napa and other locations
In the last decades of Modesto’s history, there has been progress, vision and growth beyond even founder William
Ralston’s prediction for the wheat field that was Modesto in 1870. Attracting new businesses from retails to
manufacturing to the services industry – Modesto strives to meet and exceed the demands of future technology and
innovation which are vital to our growth.
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| 0.96496 | 596 | 2.65625 | 3 |
When it comes to electronics, silicon will now have to share the spotlight.
In a paper recently published in Nature Communications, researchers from the USC Viterbi School of Engineering describe how they have overcome a major issue in carbon nanotube technology by developing a flexible, energy-efficient hybrid circuit combining carbon nanotube thin film transistors with other thin film transistors.
This hybrid could take the place of silicon as the traditional transistor material used in electronic chips, since carbon nanotubes are more transparent, flexible, and can be processed at a lower cost.
Electrical engineering professor Dr. Chongwu Zhou and USC Viterbi graduate students Haitian Chen, Yu Cao, and Jialu Zhang developed this energy-efficient circuit by integrating carbon nanotube (CNT) thin film transistors (TFT) with thin film transistors comprised of indium, gallium and zinc oxide (IGZO).
“I came up with this concept in January 2013,” said Dr. Chongwu Zhou, professor in USC Viterbi’s Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering. “Before then, we were working hard to try to turn carbon nanotubes into n-type transistors and then one day, the idea came to me. Instead of working so hard to force nanotubes to do something that they are not good for, why don’t we just find another material which would be ideal for n-type transistors—in this case, IGZO—so we can achieve complementary circuits?”
Carbon nanotubes are so small that they can only be viewed through a scanning electron microscope. This hybridization of carbon nanotube thin films and IGZO thin films was achieved by combining their types, p-type and n-type, respectively, to create circuits that can operate complimentarily, reducing power loss and increasing efficiency. The inclusion of IGZO thin film transistors was necessary to provide power efficiency to increase battery life. If only carbon nanotubes had been used, then the circuits would not be power-efficient. By combining the two materials, their strengths have been joined and their weaknesses hidden.
Zhou likened the coupling of carbon nanotube TFTs and IGZO TFTs to the Chinese philosophy of yin and yang.
“It’s like a perfect marriage,” said Zhou. “We are very excited about this idea of hybrid integration and we believe there is a lot of potential for it.”
The potential applications for this kind of integrated circuitry are numerous, including Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDs), digital circuits, radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, sensors, wearable electronics, and flash memory devices. Even heads-up displays on vehicle dashboards could soon be a reality.
The new technology also has major medical implications. Currently, memory used in computers and phones is made with silicon substrates, the surface on which memory chips are built. To obtain medical information from a patient such as heart rate or brainwave data, stiff electrode objects are placed on several fixed locations on the patient’s body. With this new hybridized circuit, however, electrodes could be placed all over the patient’s body with just a single large but flexible object.
With this development, Zhou and his team have circumvented the difficulty of creating n-type carbon nanotube TFTs and p-type IGZO TFTs by creating a hybrid integration of p-type carbon nanotube TFTs and n-type IGZO TFTs and demonstrating a large-scale integration of circuits. As a proof of concept, they achieved a scale ring oscillator consisting of over 1,000 transistors. Up to this point, all carbon nanotube-based transistors had a maximum number of 200 transistors.
“We believe this is a technological breakthrough, as no one has done this before,” said Haitian Chen, research assistant and electrical engineering PhD student at USC Viterbi. “This gives us further proof that we can make larger integrations so we can make more complicated circuits for computers and circuits.”
The next step for Zhou and his team will be to build more complicated circuits using a CNT and IGZO hybrid that achieves more complicated functions and computations, as well as to build circuits on flexible substrates.
“The possibilities are endless, as digital circuits can be used in any electronics,” Chen said. “One day we’ll be able to print these circuits as easily as newspapers.”
Zhou and Chen believe that carbon nanotube technology, including this new CNT-IGZO hybrid, will be commercialized in the next 5-10 years.
“I believe that this is just the beginning of creating hybrid integrated solutions,” said Zhou. “We will see a lot of interesting work coming up.”
The study is entitled, “Large scale complementary macroelectronics using hybrid integration of carbon nanotubes and IGZO thin film transistors,” published in Nature Communications on June 13, 2014. The research was funded by the University of Southern California.
About the USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Engineering Studies began at the University of Southern California in 1905. Nearly a century later, the Viterbi School of Engineering received a naming gift in 2004 from alumnus Andrew J. Viterbi, inventor of the Viterbi algorithm now key to cell phone technology and numerous data applications. Consistently ranked among the top graduate programs in the world, the school enrolls more than 5,000 undergraduate and graduate students, taught by 174 tenured and tenure-track faculty, with 60 endowed chairs and professorships. http://viterbi.usc.edu
Megan Hazle – 213-821-1887 or email@example.com
Megan Hazle | Eurek Alert!
Energy from Sunlight: Further Steps towards Artificial Photosynthesis
24.06.2016 | Universität Basel
World's first 1,000-processor chip
20.06.2016 | University of California - Davis
Physicists in Innsbruck have realized the first quantum simulation of lattice gauge theories, building a bridge between high-energy theory and atomic physics. In the journal Nature, Rainer Blatt‘s and Peter Zoller’s research teams describe how they simulated the creation of elementary particle pairs out of the vacuum by using a quantum computer.
Elementary particles are the fundamental buildings blocks of matter, and their properties are described by the Standard Model of particle physics. The...
A year and a half on the outer wall of the International Space Station ISS in altitude of 400 kilometers is a real challenge. Whether a primordial bacterium...
Researchers at Case Western Reserve University have developed a way to swiftly and precisely control electron spins at room temperature.
A physics experiment performed at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has enhanced scientists' understanding of how free neutrons decay...
Chemically the same, graphite and diamonds are as physically distinct as two minerals can be, one opaque and soft, the other translucent and hard. What makes...
09.06.2016 | Event News
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20.05.2016 | Event News
24.06.2016 | Materials Sciences
24.06.2016 | Physics and Astronomy
24.06.2016 | Physics and Astronomy
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UNH Crimes Against Children Research Center
UNH Researchers Find Questionnaires the Best Way to Measure Child Victimization
By Erika Mantz
UNH News Bureau
April 4, 2001
DURHAM, N.H. -- Standardized questionnaires are the most reliable way to determine child victimization, according to a new report by University of New Hampshire researchers. Adolescents are victimized at two to three times the rate of adults, and experience assaults which are equally injurious as those perpetrated against adults.
Statistics that show youth are the sector of the population most vulnerable to criminal victimization, and current events like the school shootings at Columbine and in California have led to an increased interest in the nature of victimization that children experience.
A report released by the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention provides guidelines for choosing the most appropriate questionnaire. "Choosing and Using Child Victimization Questionnaires" was written by Sherry L. Hamby and David Finkelhor, of the UNH Crimes Against Children Research Center.
"With all the new concerns about children's safety, school counselors, child protection workers, and juvenile court officials, just to name a few, are eager to find out all the different ways a child may have been victimized," says Finkelhor. "They want to find out if kids have been bullied, sexually abused, beaten at home, or witnesses to domestic violence. These are not easy things always to ask about. It works better to use a structured questionnaire than simply to try to do it by instinct. In this bulletin, we are trying to help practitioners and researchers find and use the questionnaires that are right for them and right for the children and youth they work with."
According to the authors, to choose an appropriate victimization instrument, several issues have to be considered. These include what type of victimization is being measured, whether interviews will be conducted or a self-administered questionnaire used, whether results need to correspond to official crime and child protection categories, the period of time, the ages of the children, and whether results will be compared to national norms.
In general, standardized self-report questionnaires of victimization yield the most accurate reports, the authors conclude.
The full report, "Choosing and Using Child Victimization Questionnaires," is available on online at http://ojjdp.ncjrs.org. To contact Finkelhor, call 603-862-2761.
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en
| 0.92345 | 510 | 2.734375 | 3 |
The fascinating history of Fort Robinson covers the years from 1874 to 1948; from the Indian Wars to World War II, including the Cheyenne Outbreak.
Hundreds of historic photographs record the events that took place over the active life of the fort.
The Fort Robinson History Center is located in the 1905 post headquarters building.
Several other museum sites and structures are maintained by the Nebraska State Historical Society within the boundaries of Fort Robinson State Park.
The park is operated by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission.
Several events are hosted by the Fort Robinson Museum and Fort Robinson State Park.
One of the largest is the Fort Robinson History Conference held primarily every third year.
Fort Robinson timeline -- a brief chronology of Fort Robinson.
Fort Robinson bibliography -- further resources on the story of Fort Robinson.
Fort Robinson History Center -- home page
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http://www.nebraskahistory.org/sites/fortrob/moreinfo.htm
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| 0.920542 | 171 | 2.609375 | 3 |
The Charleston (SC) Daily Paper’s Stratton Lawrence has penned a cover article on coal industry propaganda and reality with the appropriate title, The Dirty Truth. He demolishes the myth of “clean coal” propagated by front groups like the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE):
Unfortunately, to call today’s coal “clean” requires a handful of mind-erasing psycho-somethings and a magic carpet ride to Fairyland. It’s true — the potential to burn coal far cleaner than in decades past is now here. Scrubbers, injectors, activators, and a host of other doohickeys and thingamabobs can be installed in smokestacks to trap and remove mercury, sulfur dioxide, and other toxins before they muck up the air we breathe. But the best devices are expensive and only in use at a few power plants across the country.
Lawrence also notes the problem that captured pollutants still need to be disposed of, often by “storing it in collecting ponds that can end up polluting rivers and groundwater. And that doesn’t even take into account the horrible effect that strip-mining has had on southern Appalachia, or the ecological impact of transporting mountains of coal around the nation.”
From the article also comes this excellent diagram:
The text of the diagram:
- 30 percent of Appalachian coal comes from mountaintop removal mining, destroying watersheds, ancient mountains, and communities.
- Trucks, trains, and ships all use fossil fuels to transport the coal to the plants, sometimes thousands of miles and across oceans.
- The coal is burned at the plant to heat water in steam turbines to generate electricity. Higher temperatures means more efficiency.
- The plant emits carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, mercury, and particulate matter. Scrubbers and devices catch some pollutants, but CO2 cannot be trapped with existing technologies.
- Ash is stored in a pond adjacent to the site. Some of it is recycled into cement and wallboard; some seeps into ground and surface water.
- Power lines carry electricity to homes and businesses, where a little piece of Appalachia powers your TV (in high def).
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http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2008/12/03/174201/making-a-coal-plant/
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| 0.928164 | 467 | 2.796875 | 3 |
YOUNG PEOPLE NOT FULLY ENGAGED IN EDUCATION OR WORK
In 2010, about one in eight (12.8%) of the NSW population aged 15-19 years were not fully engaged in education or work. Over the past decade, this estimate has ranged from a low of 11.9% in 2002 to 15.2% in 2009.
Nationally, the proportion of 15-19 year olds not fully engaged in education or work was 14.8% in 2010, with Queensland having the highest proportion (19.8%) and ACT the lowest (9.4%).
Footnote(s): (a) Proportion of persons aged 15-19 years not fully-engaged in education and/or work.
Young People Not Fully Engagedin Education or Work
People who are not fully engaged in education or work fall into three main categories: those who are neither studying nor working; those who are studying part-time and not working; and those who are working part-time and not studying. Many of these people are in the 15-19 year age group, experiencing the often difficult transition from school to work, who may be at risk of remaining unskilled or joining the ranks of the long-term unemployed. The proportion of 15 -19 year olds who are not fully engaged in education or work is an important indicator of the social and economic well-being of the nation and the strength of state and national economies.
The above estimates are calculated using data from the ABS Survey of Education and Work (cat. no. 6227.0), conducted annually throughout Australia. See the link above for more information about this survey.
These documents will be presented in a new window.
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A pacing exercise that teaches runners how much energy they need to sustain different paces and trains the body to control and respond to changes in speed
Tags: high school, pacing
- Have runners begin jogging.
- Periodically call out a different pace and have runners adjust their speed accordingly.
- Include four or more paces. Use walk, jog, run, and sprint, or be more specific and have athletes run segments at their mile pace, 5K pace, and so on.
- Call each pace multiple times and vary the length of time you have runners maintain a given pace.
Be practical about how often you call each pace and how long you have each pace last. Here are suggested guidelines:
- Sprint segments: 10-30 seconds
- Running and jogging segments: 30 seconds-5 minutes
- Walking segments: 15-45 seconds
- Spend most of the time on jogging and running
- Space out the sprints to allow for sufficient recovery
- Instruct your runners to maintain each pace until you call out the next one.
- Don't let different paces, such as a jog and a full run, blur into the same speed.
- Don't expect the group to stay together. Some runners will end up covering more distance than others, which is fine.
- After the run, talk to your runners about how it felt to run the different paces and distances.
- As the main workout (30-45 minutes)
- Or as a complementary training activity (10-15 minutes)
You Need: A track or looped course where all runners are within earshot
- Helps runners learn how much energy they need to sustain difference paces
- Trains the body to control and respond to changes in speed
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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http://www.nyrr.org/rs/video/slide-view/575/9361/_6HYuFyDfD0
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| 0.918815 | 365 | 3.578125 | 4 |
The Pulitzer Prize-winning historian uses the lives of the most influential people of all time to sum up human history with wit, knowledge, and a unique ability to explain events and ideas in simple, understandable terms. This brief history of civilization from ancient times to the dawn of the modern age is filled with life-enhancing wisdom and optimism.
Back to top
Rent Heroes of History 1st edition today, or search our site for other textbooks by Will Durant. Every textbook comes with a 21-day "Any Reason" guarantee. Published by AudioGO.
Need help ASAP? We have you covered with 24/7 instant online tutoring. Connect with one of our World-History tutors now.
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| 0.922799 | 143 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Lootaas in Paris P20, 1989. Photo © Philip Hersee Photography. On display at the Bill Reid Gallery.
Western art starts with the figure—West Coast Indian art starts with the canoe.
– Bill Reid
Born in Victoria, B.C., to a Swiss-German father and a Haida mother, Bill Reid (1920 – 1998) became, over the course of his lifetime, one of Canada’s most important and well-known artists. His work in traditional Haida materials—as a goldsmith, carver, sculptor and canoe maker—brought unprecedented world-wide attention to West Coast First Nations art. Many of Bill Reid’s most famous pieces reside here in Vancouver, including Raven and The First Men at UBC’s Museum of Anthropology (an image of which can be seen on the back of every $20 Canadian bill) and the bronze Killer Whale – Cheif of the Undersea World at the Vancouver Aquarium.
A new exhibition at Vancouver’s Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art presents a never-before-seen look at one of Bill Reid’s greatest endeavors: the creation of the Lootass (Wave Eater), a 51-foot-long Haida canoe that traveled both 950 km along the B.C. coast to Haida Gwaii and up the Seine River in Paris in 1989.
Bill Reid & The Haida Canoe – A New Exhibition at the Bill Reid Gallery
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http://www.insidevancouver.ca/tag/bill-reid-the-haida-canoe/
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| 0.897851 | 301 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Bonaventure Anthony Chibuye’s entrance into the later years of middle age is signaled by the gray flecks in his hair and beard. Although small in stature, there is fire in his soul. He stares directly into the eyes of those to whom he speaks and has an earnestness about him that is tough to ignore.
Chibuye has served the public in one way or another for all of his adult life. In his various careers, he has been a university professor, a police officer, and served in a significant position in the Zambian government’s educational system. At present, he teaches in the Copperbelt University in Kitwe, Zambia. He has seen massive change in Zambian society.
Born under colonialism, he vividly recalls independence and the formation of his nation in 1964. For the first two decades of nationhood, Zambia’s economy thrived primarily because of extensive deposits of copper and cobalt. For much of the first half of its existence, the country had no debt and had a surplus. It was one of few African countries newly emerged from colonial days with a strong and vibrant economy.
Zambia’s first president, Kenneth Kaunda, began his regime with a kind of soft socialism that in time hardened into one-party rule and state takeover of the much of the economy and its businesses. From Kaunda’s perspective, the majority of the wealth of the mines was going into the pockets of foreign owners. With the promise of redistributing the monetary gain from the mines to the people of Zambia, his government gradually purchased 51percent of the mining industry.
Kaunda’s economic illusion was not corrected by experience. State control of the mines brought with it massive corruption and inefficiency. Convinced that the solution to early warning signs in the economy was to extend state control, Kaunda gobbled up the controlling shares of more industries. The global economic downturn in the 1980s, along with a drop in copper prices, led to a major crisis. Kaunda’s policy demonstrated that while the state is an effective spender of money in good economic times, it lacks the knowledge and skill to direct specific industry during critical periods. A new economic plan was put forward before the previous one had even begun.
The rest of the story is all too familiar in Africa. The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank were called in to provide an injection of capital. In order to receive the money the economy needed, Zambia was forced to move toward privatization. Privatization, in the midst of corruption, has been no magic bullet. The same people who benefited from state control of mining and other industries grew even richer when these nationalized enterprises were sold off. Some businesses were sold to friends of the government who received generous loans from the government itself to finance their purchase. It is impossible to know how much money in kickbacks, bribes, and secret partnerships found its way into the pockets of corrupt political leaders. Some who bought the companies right away sold them off in pieces and put thousands of Zambians out of work. The government proved itself to be a foolish buyer, manager, and seller of the means of production.
Chibuye has watched this story unfold for 40 years, sometimes from within the government and sometimes from without. He has come to the conclusion that the fatal error Zambians have made is their belief in the ‘big man’ theory of political leadership. They replaced Kenneth Kaunda with Frederick Chiluba in 1991, only to be disappointed by what Chibuye describes as even greater corruption. President Levy Mwanawasa, who replaced Chiluba in 2001, makes headlines daily with fresh accusations of land grabs and corruption.
Chibuye has decided that this is no longer going to work. As a lay leader in his local Catholic church and a man who wants to make a difference in his community, he has started a unique form of community education for an oft-neglected portion of the Zambian society. The epidemic of AIDS has decimated families in his region and left hundreds of widows, young and old, with no means of support. With few skills and no pension, the future is bleak. Chibuye decided he would no longer wait for his government to address this issue.
His experience as a teacher made the development of a curriculum easy. It would include teaching communication and study skills, literacy, the language of business and the basics of how business works. In other words, he is teaching AIDS widows and other women how to be entrepreneurs in pottery, agriculture, and other businesses.
Insisting that this education cost the women nothing, he and his wife committed their limited resources to what he calls his ministry. The greatest challenge was finding a place to hold his classes. His university had space but was reluctant to grant him access for such a program. Being a man not easily discouraged, Chibuye told the head of the university that if classroom space was refused, he and his wife were willing to use the modest housing and car allowance provided by the university to rent a large tent and place it in the middle of the university square. The administrator who initially did not support the concept was convinced and has become one of the ministries most active workers.
Only last year, the fledging program graduated its first 90 women students and some are already in business. Chibuye is under no illusion that his program will solve all the problems of Zambia. But he believes that if he can help these women, if he can bring them to understand and accept that they are gifted, bright and dignified, if he can give them the basic tools of entrepreneurship, he can do something his government was unable to do with billions of dollars and 40 years of top-down policies. He believes he can bring hope. I believe he can, too.
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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http://www.acton.org/public-policy/effective-compassion/employment/mr-chibuye-and-aids-widows-zambia
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| 0.98329 | 1,205 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Letterland is a systematic and explicit phonic literacy resource and has been helping children learn to read and write for many years. In fact 2008 marked 40 years since Lyn Wendon (pictured opposite) first created Letterland in order to help failing children who were constantly baffled by print.
We would encourage you to visit the Letterland site at http://www.letterland.com/.
Letterland features which make it so special include:
Friendly letter characters provide strong visual memory cues so children learn and retain phoneme/grapheme correspondences quickly
Daily blending and segmenting activities which make word-building fast and effective
Focused multi-sensory activities to activate all learning channels
The easy-to-follow instructions included with every title leave you more time for your young learners
A wide range of learning resources, including teacher's guides, story books, readers, software, posters, games and CDs, ensures Letterland can grow with your child
Built-in visual and verbal clues ensure correct letter formation, provide reasons for capitals and digraphs and reduce confusions like b/d, p/q, s/z, n/u and m/w.
There are resources designed for both home or school use so please choose the appropriate link above to find out more.
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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http://www.letterland.com.au/about/letterland
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en
| 0.92385 | 265 | 3.375 | 3 |
By David Shukman
Science & environment correspondent, BBC News
An island of ice the size of Manhattan has drifted into a remote channel and jammed itself in.
The Ayles Ice Island changed the Arctic map by breaking free from the Canadian coast two years ago.
Scientists have been tracking the progress of this monster iceberg amid fears that it could edge west towards oil and gas installations off Alaska.
The creation of the island is seen by many scientists as a key indicator of the rapid warming of the Arctic.
Ayles Ice Island is vast, measuring about 16km (10 miles) long and five kilometres (three miles) across.
In May, I joined a team that staged a dramatic landing by ski-plane on to the island itself to carry out the first scientific analysis.
Satellite pictures monitored by the Canadian Ice Service show how it has drifted along the coast (310km since May) and is now wedged into the Sverdrup Channel, an inlet between two of the Queen Elizabeth Islands that make up the northernmost limits of the Canadian High Arctic.
One of the scientists on the May expedition, Dr Luke Copland, assistant professor at the University of Ottawa, says this year's unusually low concentrations of sea-ice - which freezes and thaws with the seasons - may explain how the ice island ended up in its current position.
However, given the potential hazard of such a vast block of ice, this may be the safest outcome for the time being.
The BBC visited the ice island in May of this year
Dr Copland told me: "The main message now is that the Ayles Ice Island is out of the danger area for the oil rigs in the Beaufort Sea. Now that it has moved out of the wide open Arctic Ocean and into the Queen Elizabeth Islands it is likely to stay stuck in there."
During the expedition, Dr Copland planted a satellite beacon to provide the most accurate possible track of the island's movements.
Sadly the beacon has now stopped working - either because it has run out of battery power or more likely because its radio path to the satellites above is somehow obscured.
Dr Copland said: "The fact that we were receiving partial signals from the beacon suggests that something was blocking it. The most obvious candidates are that it has fallen into a crack in the ice or a pond of meltwater; or been covered over by a snowdrift. Beyond that we can't tell anything.
"There is a possibility that the beacon will come back to life if the obstruction moves out of the way."
In the meantime, satellite pictures will be the only source of news about the fate of the island. And given the rapid retreat of sea-ice - heading for a record low this year - scientists will want to keep a close watch on this new feature of the Arctic geography for years to come.
Click here to see the Canadian Ice Service website tracking the beacon's location.
The Ayles Ice Island calved off the Ayles Ice Shelf in August 2005
The calving event was the largest in at least the last 25 years
A total of 87.1 sq km (33.6 sq miles) of ice was lost in this event
The largest piece was 66.4 sq km (25.6 sq miles) in area
This made the slab a little larger than Manhattan
Since calving, the ice island has moved 490km (300 miles)
Ayles Ice Island could now bounce between the Queen Elizabeth Islands
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Social Awareness Outcomes Criteria
In a culturally diverse nation and a changing world, social awareness is essential
to graduates' interpersonal relationships, professional competence, and responsible
citizenship. Therefore, graduates should be able to understand and address issues
involving social institutions, interpersonal and group dynamics, social tradition
and change, cultural diversity, and human development behavior.
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What is the greatest three-digit number that can be written in base four? What numbers come just before and just after this number?
Video Segment In this video segment, Ben and Liz work with manipulatives to represent numbers in base four and solve some arithmetic problems. They realize that they need to move to the next place value in base four. Watch this segment after you've completed Problems C1-C4.
Did you find it necessary to think about what each place value means in order to solve these problems in base four?
If you are using a VCR, you can find this segment on the session video approximately 16 minutes and 15 seconds after the Annenberg Media logo.
Count by twos to 30four.
In base four, how can you tell if a number is even?
Look for a pattern in the results of the first question to help you answer the second. Close Tip
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Dealing with Stress
What is causing people the most stress? A recent survey by the American Psychological Association said the following issues are the top vote getters:
- 63% of those surveyed said money issues;
- 44% said national security; and
- 31% said job security.
Younger Americans were more worried about money (74%) and national security (40%) than those over 35.
Many of us include getting a handle on stress as part of our New Years resolutions, and the survey also shows the most popular things we do to deal with our worries:
- One-third of us either eat (22%) or drink alcohol (14%) to cope with stress;
- Others rely on exercise (45%) and religious and spiritual activities (44%);
- 14% turn to massage and yoga to relieve stress.
If you’ve resolved to get a handle on stress in the new year, psychologists offer this bit of advice: The quickest fixes are rarely the best fixes. In fact, they can sometimes cause more harm than good.
While people tend to reduce stress in familiar ways they’ve learned over time, those ways may not be good for their health. In fact, these healthier behaviors can have added effects and be longer lasting when trying to deal with stress and build resilience:
- Make connections – Good relationships with family and friends are important. Make an attempt to reconnect with people. Accepting help and support from those who care about you can help alleviate stress.
- Set realistic goals -Take small concrete steps to deal with tasks instead of overwhelming yourself with goals that are too far-reaching for busy times.
- Keep things in perspective – Try to consider stressful situations in a broader context and keep a long-term perspective. Avoid blowing events out of proportion.
- Take decisive actions – Instead of letting stressors get the best of you, make a decision to address the underlying cause of a stressful situation.
- Take care of yourself – Pay attention to your own needs and feelings. Engage in activities that you enjoy and find relaxing. Taking care of yourself helps keep your mind and body primed to deal with stressful situations.
Article courtesy of the American Psychological Association. Copyright © American Psychological Association. Reprinted here with permission.
Association, A. (2015). Dealing with Stress. Psych Central. Retrieved on June 28, 2016, from http://psychcentral.com/lib/dealing-with-stress/
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‘Wurst’ ensures proper functioning of the respiratory system in fruit flyPublished On: Thu, Jun 14th, 2007 | Developmental Biology | By BioNews
June 14 : A newly discovered transmembrane protein called ‘Wurst’ has been found to ensure the proper formation and functioning of the respiratory system in common fruit fly.
The new finding by researchers at the University of Bonn and the Göttingen-based Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry suggests that the protein may offer an exciting starting point for the development of new drugs to treat respiratory problems such as impaired lung function in premature infants.
Insects do not have lungs, and the gas exchange function in them is performed by means of small holes in the chitin exoskeleton. Oxygen is delivered to the cells via an extensive system of air-conveying tubes, known as tracheae, which split into ever smaller branches, ending in ultra-fine end sections that deliver the respiratory gas into the tissue.
“The tracheae system in insects reveals similarities to our own lungs. Our lungs also consist of a system of tubes that branch out like trees, finally ending in the air cells called alveoli. This is where the inhaled oxygen enters the blood.” Nature magazine quoted the Bonn-based development biologist Professor Dr. Michael Hoch as explaining.
He further said that another factor that made tracheal breathers and lung breathers similar was that the respiratory tubes are initially filled with liquid in their early development.
The researchers say that at the birth of a child, and also during the hatching of fly larvae, the tiny air ducts have to be drained so that the respiratory gas can fill the tubes, and thus secure the organism’s survival. It is precisely at this step in the process that the newly discovered transmembrane protein seems to play a vital role.
“Flies found to have defective genetic information for the protein will not survive. Their tracheae remain filled with liquid. Moreover, their tubes expand in a sausage-like fashion, which is why we have called the protein ‘Wurst’, German for sausage,” Hoch pointed out.
“The name we have chosen derives from the effect that the respective molecule develops when it does not work,” he added.
The researchers carefully examined how the protein behaves, and found out that it performs a key function in endocytosis, the mechanism by which cells absorb substances from their environment.
Since mice and humans also have a single “Wurst” gene, the researchers are now planning to study what happens when the gene is switched off in laboratory mice. (ANI)
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See H. L. Mencken, The American Language (rev. 4th ed. 1963); G. W. Turner, The English Language in Australia and New Zealand (1966); M. Pei, The Story of the English Language (new ed. 1968); P. Roberts, Modern Grammar (1968); M. M. Orkin, Speaking Canadian English (1971); T. Pyles and J. Algeo, The Origins and Development of the English Language (3d ed. 1982); W. F. Bolton, A Living Language (1982); B. Kachru, ed., The Other Tongue (1982); R. Hudson, Invitation to Linguistics (1984); J. Baugh, Black Street Speech (1985); J. Lynch, The English Language: A User's Guide (2008) and The Lexicographer's Dilemma: The Evolution of "Proper" English, From Shakespeare to "South Park" (2009); D. Crystal, Evolving English: One Language, Many Voices (2011).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
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Andre Bienvenu Roman 1831-1835, 1839-1843
Born: March 5, 1795 in Opelousas District, Louisiana
Political Affiliation: Whig
Religious Affiliation: Catholic
Education: St. Mary's College (Maryland)
Career Prior to Term: State Representative and Speaker of the Louisiana House
How He Became Governor: Elected in 1831 and 1838
Career after Term: Delegate to the State Constitutional Conventions of 1845 and 1852; Served in the Louisiana Secession Convention of 1861 (opposed secession).
Died: January 26, 1866 in New Orleans
Andre Roman became governor by appointment after Jacques Dupre resigned before completing the term left open by Pierre Derbigny's death in office and Arnaud Beauvais's resignation. That succession crisis was solved by a special election in which Roman had no opposition.
Roman was the first Governor of Louisiana to use his membership in a national political party - in his case, the Whigs - to determine executive actions. He appointed fellow Whigs to state positions and he supported a protective tariff which was appreciated by south Louisiana sugar planters. The Pontchartrain Railroad and the New Basin Canal from Lake Pontchartrain into the heart of New Orleans eased transportation problems.
During Roman's first term, Louisiana experienced years of economic growth as the number of banks doubled and capital increased. His second term followed the Panic of 1837 which had been caused by an overexpansion of banks. Farmers, planters and merchants lost their enterprises, deposits dwindled and a depression settled into the state, relieved only by new banking laws passed at the end of Roman's term.
Roman opposed secession in the Secession Convention of 1861 and was ruined financially by the Civil War. He died in 1866 while walking on Dumaine Street in New Orleans.
He is buried in the St. James Catholic Cemetery in St. James, La.
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|Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with cancer. Oncology field includes the following parts-diagnosis of cancer in a patient, therapy of the cancer patient, follow up of the patient after the treatment of cancer. Medical history and physical examination is important for the diagnosis of patient with cancer. The diagnostic methods include endoscopy, X-ray, CT scan, biopsy, ultrasound, MRI scanning and blood tests. With these methods it can be made clear that the tumor can be possibly removed or not. Therapy is given to the patient depending upon the cancer identified. Certain disorders may require immediate action like chemotherapy while others will require regular physical examination and blood tests. In some cases it is possible to remove the tumor by surgery and saving the life of the person while in other cases tumor cannot be removed by risking life of the patient. In the latter case the tumor might have spread to different parts that make it difficult to remove. So in this case the bulk of the tumor is removed by surgery so as to benefit the person life.
Oncologists are the person who deals with oncology or cancer. Oncology can be divided into three categories- medical oncology, surgical oncology and radiation oncology. Medical oncology deals with treating cancer with chemotherapy like targeted chemotherapy or oral chemotherapy. Surgical oncology deals with removal of cancer and surrounding tissue with surgery. Radiation oncology deals with treating cancer with radiation chemotherapy. Online Journals are scholarly and peer reviewed journals. The journals provide forum and motivates scientists, researchers, academics, engineers, and practitioners in all aspects to share their professional and academic knowledge in the fields computing, engineering, humanities, economics, social sciences, management, medical science, and related disciplines. Online Journals also aims to reach a large number of readers worldwide with original and current research work completed on the vital issues of the above important disciplines. The journals permit all readers to read, view, download and print the full-text of all published articles without any subscription or restrictions.
A journal is a periodical publication intended to further progress of science, usually by reporting new research. Most journals are highly specialized, although some of the oldest journals publish articles, reviews, editorials, short communications, letters, and scientific papers across a wide range of scientific fields. Journals contain articles that peer reviewed, in an attempt to ensure that articles meet the journal's standards of quality, and scientific validity. Each such journal article becomes part of the permanent scientific record.
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Submitted by LindaFind Several different Types of Food that Zoo animals eat (leaves, fruit, etc.) Next find several zoo animals (pictures or plastic ones) and have the children match the zoo animals up.
Submitted by LarrySupply children with 3 bowls filled with grass, hay and water. Give children many different types of zoo animals (pictures or plastic ones). Have them place each animal where they think they would most likely find them living in.
These Alphabet Ideas Are Located At:Everything Preschool >> Alphabet >> The Letter Z >> Science
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Office of University Communications
From Martha Mitchell’s Encyclopedia Brunoniana:
Andrews Field was opened for athletic events on May 6, 1899. The property, nearly seven acres between Camp and Ivy Streets, was acquired in 1897 through the bequest of John Wilson Smith. The field was named for President Andrews, who had resigned in 1898. William H. G. Temple was the architect of the plan which made the utmost use of the available land with the juxtaposition of the football field and the baseball diamond, in which second base was on the goal line. Around the playing fields was the quarter mile track, with six hydrants placed so that the entire track could be watered with 100 feet of hose. The field was enclosed by a 10-foot fence, 2,110 feet in length. The grandstand, designed after the pattern of Soldiers’ Field at Harvard, had seating for 1,200 people, with one section for 500 which could be dismantled and reassembled in season at the football field, where a permanent grandstand would have interfered with baseball play. A small structure, painted red and green and outfitted with hot and cold water and showers, was erected near Camp Street. It was replaced by the Marston Field House in 1907. A new football stand erected by the Athletic Association in 1910 increased the seating capacity by 1,050, and in October of that year a large Irwin scoreboard was installed. Andrews Field was superseded in 1925 by the new stadium on Elmgrove Avenue and the baseball field named Aldrich Field, across the street from the stadium.
The above entry appears in Encyclopedia Brunoniana by Martha Mitchell, copyright ©1993 by the Brown University Library. It is used here by permission of the author and the University and may not be copied or further distributed without permission.
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Once you have located a space that is big enough and convenient to the administrators and/or users11.5 and that can hold all the systems you plan to put there without overstressing the physical structure, it is time to think about electrical power and air conditioning. You must think about the two together, because the amount of one you require determines the amount of the other you require, and you need a lot more of both than you think you do.
A rule of thumb to use in estimating your power requirements is to assume perhaps 150 Watts per (Intel or AMD) node. This is only a rule of thumb - if you get dual CPU nodes with all the memory they can hold and a big power supply and add a big, fast disk and a CD ROM and four network cards and a video card and an extra fan, you might need twice that. Certain alpha nodes tend very power hungry. Basically, heat tends to rise at least roughly proportional to clock, so as CPU clocks continue to increase, so will heat production. On the other hand a ``stripped'' diskless node, running a relatively low-clock CPU, might end up only drawing 50 or 60 Watts.
However, you are in for a big surprise. The numbers above are for RMS average power consumption. If PC's had a ``power factor'' close to unity, as do (for example) electric incandescent lights, one could easily take those numbers and figure out how many nodes can go onto a single 20 Amp, 120 Volt circuit.
It also wouldn't matter much how the multiple circuits that feed a power pole in a cluster room were wired. One could wire the poles with three phases of a three phase Wye supply (described in more detail below) that shared a common neutral. Everything would be safe, and easy, and would work reliably for a long time.
Alas, modern switching power supplies have a power factor that isn't too close to 1. In addition, there are details of the way that they work that make a huge difference in the number of systems you can safely plug into a single circuit, the longevity of the nodes themslves, the safety of the supply power lines, and more. For that reason, it is time for a fairly detailed excursion into Your Friend, Electricity.
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| 0.96135 | 468 | 2.703125 | 3 |
Dangers Associated with Obesity * Physical Health Disorders Along with Mental Health Risks
Obesity is certainly one of widespread health disorders present in today’s busy life-style. Equally physical and also mental factors participate in crucial functions throughout developing this health disorder. Genes, minimal physical action, sleep loss as well as having a baby are a handful of typical causes reported for the development regarding weight problems difficulties. Persisting obesity, in the event that not dealt with may induce several health risks about people. Cardiovascular disease can be a principal health threat associated with being overweight within folks. Depending on studies, it really is learned that people who are overweight may find coronary artery disease. This particular mostly occurs when the veins supplying body to heart muscle tissues are generally narrowed. When not treated, consolidating associated with veins might in turn steer strategy to build-up associated with plaque around the internal surfaces regarding veins. Thus will give rise to minimal the flow of blood and lowered o2 provide to heart. Apart from coronary artery disease, persisting minimal blood flow to heart also leads approach to health hazards like heart failing, heart attack, metabolic syndrome and arrhythmia.
Type 2 diabetes is amongst the widespread health hazards involving unhealthy weight. According to research, it’s discovered that over weight people are very likely to insulin insensitivity.Body fat cells tend to be more proof against blood insulin when compared with muscle tissues. To be able to prevent diabetes type 2 symptoms, people are recommended to control themselves bodyweight following any healthy life-style. To get optimum health gain, everyone is encouraged to adhere to a nourishing diet routine as well as carry out regular physique workouts. Just like diabetes type 2 symptoms, blood pressure is an additional typical health hazard associated with weight problems. Individuals with obesity tend to be more susceptible to blood pressure difficulties than these. If still left unconsidered, blood pressure on account of unhealthy weight may also steer strategy to health disorders such as coronary heart conditions. Increase in the particular stiffness involving side-line veins is really a main health risk on account of obesity issues. This happens generally due to more than sensitiveness regarding entire body to sea. To lower the chance of being overweight, folks are recommended in order to avoid cigarettes and alcohol.
Gallstone, solid materials within gallbladder is a very common health hazard of weight problems. Above piling up associated with cholesterol on account of weight problems are mainly accountable for this specific health condition. Persisting gallstones within gall bladder could cause a number of health disorders from now on like feeling sick, upset stomach and also pain. Using a wholesome diet is found to be very good for stopping the chance of gallstones as a result of being overweight. To have satisfactory end result, folks are recommended to stop the intake of meals high in body fat and occasional inside dietary fiber. Sleep apnea, seen as interruption inside inhaling and exhaling throughout slumbering hrs can be a health risk associated with unhealthy weight. Heavy snoring while sleeping is amongst the frequent signs or symptoms documented because of health dysfunction. This condition primarily takes place when the included fat of upper body wall membrane pushes the actual lungs and helps prevent normal breathing.
In some instances, overweight difficulty may induce snore along with high blood pressure levels. Aside from physical health ailments, persisting weight problems can cause subconscious health risks in people. Inactivity, very poor self-esteem as well as major depression are a few common mental health risks of being overweight.
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Water, or lack of it, more than any other factor, limits success for Southwestern farmers and ranchers.
"We feel like we're always in a drought, it's just a matter of how severe," says Gary Grogan, National Resource Conservation Service, San Angelo.
Currently, many farmers in Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico are suffering through a drought that has persisted for most of the past decade. Crop and livestock losses this year will be measured in the billions of dollars, just for these three states.
Dryland producers across much of the region have just plowed up the 2000 crop and hope insurance and government payments will be adequate to finance operations for another year. Those with irrigation saw production costs escalate with higher pumping and water expenses. For many, this is the second or third crop in a row that brought in little or no revenue.
Conserving water has become an absolute necessity.
"Moisture management is a critical part of what we do at NRCS," says Grogan. "We have programs available to help farmers analyze water use and to make them more efficient."
He says programs include brush control and irrigation efficiency.
"We analyze irrigation systems," he says. "If farmers are using ditch irrigation, we show them how they can prevent water loss by installing underground pipes or by converting to more efficient low energy precision application (LEPA) systems or to micro or trickle systems that use tape to distribute water efficiently."
Grogan says micro-irrigation systems improve water use efficiency to 95 percent. LEPA systems will provide from 85 percent to 90 percent efficiency.
"With furrow irrigation, a farmer may lose as much as 50 percent of his water."
Grogan also explained that Federal cost-share funds are available to help farmers convert to more efficient irrigation systems. "Farmers should apply through their Farm Service Agency," he says.
He points out that some areas, such as The North Concho River watershed, are designated high priority and more funds will be available.
Cost share is also available through the Texas legislature in the North Concho River watershed area for brush control. Other areas also are under consideration.
The problem runs deeper than just agricultural use.
"Farmers and city dwellers both are in desperate straits with water resources," adds Johnny Oswald, Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board, also of San Angelo.
"If extreme drought continues, farmers will be broke unless they find more efficient ways to use water," says Grogan. "And San Angelo already has imposed water use restrictions."
Grogan says decisions farmers make with irrigation and other water uses may be key to staying in business and to assuring adequate water supplies to nearby municipalities and rural communities.
As Southwestern cities grow and industry booms continue, drought conditions that have persisted throughout the Southwest for much of the past decade will strain both water resources and city-rural relations. Competition between rural and municipal interests will be severe.
Consequently, it will be in the best interest of agriculture and municipalities to find more efficient ways to use water.
For that reason, Southwest Farm Press has devoted a significant portion of this issue to moisture management.
Unfortunately, we have done little more than scratch the surface of what is an extremely complex issue. But it's a topic we'll continue to explore in subsequent articles and other special emphasis issues. Look for the moisture management logo to learn more about efficient ways to conserve water.
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Read this information to better understand the lesson shown in the video.
Content: A Brief Overview of African History
Africa is the second largest continent in the world; its 53 countries make up one-fifth of the Earth's landmass. Africa's wildlife, climate, and economy are affected by the equator, which runs through the middle of the continent. Africa is surrounded by water and, until the natural formation of the Suez Canal, it was connected to Asia. Its notable land features include Mt. Kilimanjaro, Lake Victoria, Serengeti National Park, the Sahara Desert, and the Nile River. Africa is known for its diverse animal kingdom, including elephants, lions, zebras, antelopes, and chimpanzees, and its natural resources, such as gold and diamonds.
The following historical periods and events were highlighted in the video lesson.
Bantu Migrations (c. 500 B.C.-A.D. 1500)
The Bantu people are believed to have originated in Cameroon. About 500 B.C., the Bantu left an area around the Benue River, a tributary of the Niger River, and moved into the Congo Basin. Migrations of Bantu-speaking people, the largest migrations in history, took these people and their iron-based technology east and south of the rain forest regions near the equator. The Bantu established kingdoms in eastern, central, and southern Africa. Bantu groups in southeastern Africa established the Mwene Mutapa Empire, known to the Europeans as the Monomotapa Empire, with its spectacular buildings at Great Zimbabwe. Muslim culture was brought to eastern Africa through trade between the Bantu groups and the Middle East. As their population grew, the Bantu people, who were excellent farmers, moved south and east. The Sahara Desert in the north deterred them moving there.
Spread of Islam (c. 650-1000)
Muslim refugees from the Arab Peninsula first introduced Islam to the African people early in the seventh century. Islam spread into North, West, and East Africa, where it met and often mixed with the native African cultures. Around 800 A.D., camel caravans began crossing the Sahara. These Muslim traders brought salt and other goods, such as horses, cloth, and swords, from the Mediterranean region to the rulers of Ghana who, in return, supplied gold and ivory. Around the year 1050, Muslim Arabs also crossed the Red Sea and annexed the Somali coast from the established Christian kingdom of Ethiopia.
West African Trading Empires (c. 800-1600)
The camel made travel through the Sahara possible, and with travel came trade. In particular, gold, salt, and agricultural products were traded between kingdoms north of the Sahara and the kingdom of Ghana to the southwest. Ghana was a powerful empire built on trade. Ghana was succeeded in the 1200s by the empire of Mali, which was ruled by Muslims. The kingdom of Songhai emerged from Mali and expanded northeast along the Niger River to the important trading city and religious center of Timbuktu. These trading empires allowed Muslim traders to interact and exchange ideas with Africans and were largely responsible for the spread of Islam throughout Africa.
Swahili Trading States (c. 1200-1500)
Swahili is an Arabic word that means "coastal area." The Swahili city-states along East Africa's coast were established in the thirteenth century by Arab settlers as trading towns. They traded with the Middle East for glass, pearls, and fabric, and with Asian centers such as China for silk and porcelain. They also traded tortoiseshell, ivory, ebony, and spices in exchange for rugs from Persia; spices, rice, cotton, and cloth from India; and ceramics, cloth, weapons, and glass from Arabia. Swahili is the name of the language that developed out of contact between Bantu-speaking Africans and Arab traders.
Turkish Empire (c. 1450-1922)
The Turkish Empire, also called the Ottoman Empire, extended the influence of the Muslim faith in North Africa during the sixteenth century by conquering many northern African city-states, including Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli, and Egypt. Ottoman traders brought gold and salt to this region and returned with metal-ware, cloth, horses, and glass. The empire reached its peak in the seventeenth century and officially ended at the conclusion of World War I.
Slave Trade (c. 1500-1880s)
In the sixteenth century, Europeans found that the most profitable trade was not in gold, ivory, and commodities, but in humans from West Africa. Africans were sold into slavery to work on thriving plantations in the Americas. Slave trade to the Americas persisted for almost 300 years, and by the eighteenth century, more than 20 million Africans had already been captured and traded as slaves.
European Colonialism (1880s-1960s)
During this period, often called the Age of Imperialism, many European nations claimed territory and established colonial rule in Africa. Colonies were usually developed for economic reasons: European nations wanted Africa's raw materials and also wanted to create new markets for their manufactured goods. Spain, Italy, the Ottoman Empire, the Boer (Dutch), Germany, Belgium, Portugal, France, and Great Britain all had colonies in Africa.
Independence of Many African Nations (1957 to the present)
Colonial rule in Africa was characterized by segregation and racial prejudice. Not surprisingly, it was met with uprisings and rebellions on the part of many native Africans. In 1953, after signing an agreement with Great Britain, its former mother country, Sudanese parliamentary candidates won a clear majority and established an independent government. In a peaceful turnover of power in 1954, Sudan became the first African nation to win its independence. Within the next 10 years, colonial rule ended in nearly all of the remaining colonies.
Teaching Strategy: Using a Multi-text Approach
The multi-text approach involves using several resources as research tools: a variety of textbooks, atlases, travel guides or other books, or a media-rich library. The multi-text approach allows teachers greater flexibility in teaching or introducing a topic, and can be especially useful in lessons that focus on broad topics, such as African history and geography. Because history, literature, or science texts can be excellent resources for teaching about geography and culture, for example, the multi-text approach is an effective strategy for an integrated curriculum. It also lets students approach even a difficult topic through a familiar lens (i.e., learning about a culture by tracing its history or geography) and often helps them to engage with content at a deeper level because they have more freedom in choosing texts. Finally, the multi-text approach lets teachers provide a range of tools for different levels of learners.
<< Classroom Profile
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Definition of Hyperactivity
Hyperactivity: A higher than normal level of activity. An organ can be described as hyperactive if it is more active than usual. Behavior can also be hyperactive.
People who are hyperactive always seem to be in motion. They can't sit still; they may dash around or talk incessantly. Sitting still through a lesson can be an impossible task. They may roam around the room, squirm in their seats, wiggle their feet, touch everything, or noisily tap a pencil. They may also feel intensely restless.Source: MedTerms™ Medical Dictionary
Last Editorial Review: 5/13/2016
Medical Dictionary Definitions A - Z
Search Medical Dictionary
- Myths and Facts About Baby Eczema
- Diaper Rash: When to Call a Doctor.
- How to Spot Deadly Allergy Triggers
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Sixty years ago, sculptor Korzcak Ziolkowski drilled four holes at the top of the mountain and set dynamite charges by hand to blast off ten tons of rock.
The monument is a tribute to all Indians, but depicts Sioux warrior Crazy Horse, who led the attack on Lt. Gen. George Armstrong Custer's 7th Cavalry in the Battle of Little Big Horn.
Korzcak Ziolkowski began the mountain carving just ten miles from Mount Rushmore.
He died in 1982 but the work on the mountain continues with his wife Ruth overseeing the project. Ruth Ziolkowski says so much has changed in the last 60 years.
"Oh you know, the then and the now is one of the fascinating things about this 60th anniversary," she says. "It makes you look back to what it was like. Korczak actually climbed up that mountain and he took a piece of steel and a hammer and he drilled the holes by hand to move that first ten tons of rock 60 years ago."
Today, Ziolkowski says 1,200 tons of rock is removed several times a week.
Ten years ago, sculptors completed the face of Crazy Horse and now the work focuses on the horse's head.
Ziolkowski says the monument looks like a series of roads winding down the front of the mountain. But workers are removing rock within 20 feet of the finished carving.
"It's into the side of the mountain, so you don't see it -- where you outlined the face it was the profile against the skyline and it was so easy for people to see," Ziolkowski says. "This is cutting into the side of the mountain, so there is no profile for people to see and your depth perception is hard to appreciate."
Ziolkowski says she can't predict when the mountain carving will be completed.
Funding for the project comes from admission fees and private donations. She says they have the money to continue the project for many more years.
The public can walk up to the top of the mountain once a year in what's called the volksmarch. This year's event is scheduled for June 7th and 8th.
The celebration continues throughout the year commemorating Ruth Ziolkowski's 82nd birthday later this month and what would have been Korczak's 100th birthday in September.
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and influential than Lincoln
, and that he should supplant the latter in the affections of the proud and aristocratic Miss Todd
is not to be marveled at. He was unremitting in his attentions to the lady, promenaded the streets arm-in-arm with herfrequently passing Lincoln
— and in every way made plain his intention to become the latter's rival.
There are those who believe this warm reciprocation of young Douglas
' affection was a mere flirtation on Mary Todd
's part, intended.
to spur Lincoln
up, to make him more demonstrative, and manifest his love more positively and with greater fervor.
But a lady relative who lived with Lincoln
and his wife for two years after their marriage is authority for the statement coming from Mrs. Lincoln
herself that “she loved Douglas
, and but for her promise to marry Lincoln
would have accepted him.”
The unfortunate attitude she felt bound to maintain between these two young men ended in a spell of sickness.
, still hopeful, was warm in the race, but the lady's physician,--her brother-in-law,--Dr. William Wallace
, to whom she confided the real cause of her illness, saw Douglas
and induced him to end his pursuit,1
which he did with great reluctance.
If Miss Todd
intended by her flirtation with Douglas
to test Lincoln
's devotion, she committed a grievous error.
If she believed, because he was ordinarily so undemonstrative, that he was without
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SAT Subject Test Biology: Understanding Origins of Life
The theory of evolution explains how organisms change over the generations and what guides that change. Using the theory of evolution, biologists can understand why living things have the characteristics they have and how different characteristics may change in future generations. The explanatory power of evolution is so important to biology that it ends up being an underlying theme of much of the SAT Subject Test.
Cell theory says that all cells arise from previous cells. Why is that? Why can't cells just form on their own if you mix the right molecules together? The problem is that even the simplest prokaryotic cells are amazingly complicated and finely structured organisms, and organization like that doesn't just pop up on its own. That means every new cell needs to be built by a previous cell. But, wait a minute . . . this can't be completely right because we know that life on earth had to start sometime in the past, and whatever the first cells were, they didn't come from previous cells. So how did the first cells arise? The answer is that nobody really knows, because nobody was around to see it happen 4 billion years ago, and nobody's seen it happen again since then. Nevertheless, biologists have some interesting guesses (as they always do), and the SAT Subject Test just may ask you about the most famous theory (as it always does).
Instead of the nice, fresh mixture of oxygen (O2) and nitrogen (N2) that we have today, the early earth atmosphere had a toxic mixture of methane, hydrogen gas, and ammonia. So how could life arise in that? Well, a scientist tried to answer that question by re-creating the conditions of the early earth in a big beaker in his lab. Amazingly, he found that organic molecules like sugars and amino acids formed automatically, and these molecules are part of what go into making cells. The results from this experiment form the basis of the current theory for the origins of life.
We now know that the building blocks of life were present in the oceans of the early earth, forming an organic mixture called the primordial soup. As time went on, the molecules of the primordial soup got more and more complex and they engaged in complex chemical reactions. In some of these reactions, big molecules like proteins and nucleic acids could actually copy themselves. Then, when the right kinds of self-copying molecules were trapped inside of the right kind of oil droplets, the first prokaryotic cells were formed!
These first cells could reproduce themselves and were therefore subject to evolution by natural selection. They were also able to use the organic molecules floating around in the primordial soup as fuel and nutrients. To break down their fuel, they used anaerobic respiration.
A change of atmosphere
Anaerobic respiration tends to produce carbon dioxide (CO2), which is a molecule that was not present in the atmosphere before then. Once CO2 was around (after a few hundred million years), other cells could use it to perform photosynthesis. Photosynthesis produces free oxygen (O2), another molecule that had never been around before. Once photosynthesis had produced enough O2, the atmosphere started to become a lot more like it is today. The O2 allowed complex eukaryotic cells to emerge using aerobic respiration, which is a very efficient way to break down fuel. These eukaryotes gradually became more complex and eventually began forming multicellular organisms, until we finally end up with all of the varieties of life we see on earth today! Okay, that's the whole story of four billion years of evolution in a few paragraphs. Whew.
To test your understanding of the workings of billions of years of evolution, the SAT Subject Test may present questions like the following.
Which of the following was not a component of the early earth atmosphere?
- ammonia (NH3)
- oxygen (O2)
- water (H2O)
- methane (CH3)
- hydrogen (H2)
This is a tough one if you aren't good at straight memorization. One thing you may remember is that O2 is a big part of our atmosphere today, and the atmosphere of the early earth was completely different than it is now. Also, the first O2 molecules weren't produced until photosynthesis finally got going, and that didn't happen until life had been around for a long time. So, the correct answer is (B). Water is always around on the earth, and the other gasses were all toxic components of the early atmosphere that are found only in very small amounts in the atmosphere today.
Which is the correct sequence for evolution of life on earth?
- eukaryotic cells emerge
- anaerobic respiration develops
- prokaryotic cells emerge
- pre-biotic primordial soup
- photosynthesis develops
- I, III, V, II, IV
- IV, II, III, V, I
- IV, III, II, V, I
- II, III, V, I, IV
- IV, II, III, I, V
The pre-biotic soup (IV) has to be first, because pre-biotic means "before life," so (A) and (D) can be crossed out right away. The first cells were simple prokaryotes, so III must come next, which eliminates (B). Anaerobic respiration paved the way for photosynthesis, and then that allowed complex eukaryotic cells to emerged. That means (C) must be the correct answer.
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| 0.969123 | 1,148 | 3.53125 | 4 |
The effectiveness of targeted approaches to parent engagement
Educational reform and improvement are perennial and pressing issues. Parents, teachers, and politicians recognize the important role parents play in supporting their children in school. While parent involvement is a priority for many schools, few attain parent engagement in critical aspects of school policies and practices. Research literature indicates that traditional methods of involvement (e.g., parents' nights and school volunteers) may not adequately engage parents. There are few models of effective strategies for meaningfully engaging parents in school. ^ The purpose of this case study was to investigate parent engagement in decision-making, a strategy of involving parents that has the potential to increase the quality of involvement and its effects on student performance. This study examined the effects of targeted parent engagement activities on the quantity and quality of parent involvement. Existing parent involvement practices, parent preferences regarding methods of engagement, and the impact of targeted engagement activities were also investigated. All engagement activities focused on the development of a new report card in a primary school. Three phases of data collection were employed: surveys, focus groups, and telephone interviews. A survey packet was distributed to a sample of 320 parents to examine report card preferences and opinions. Focus groups were conducted to further explore parent report card preferences and telephone interviews were used to examine parents' preferences regarding methods of engagement. ^ The key findings of this study indicate that: (1) parent involvement occurs through traditional methods, (2) surveys provide baseline data regarding the beliefs of the majority of the parent community and identify areas for further investigation, (3) focus groups promote interactive discussion, provide an in-depth investigation of specific aspects of parents' responses, and identify patterns and themes regarding parents' beliefs, (4) telephone interviews encourage open, candid discussion and provide untarnished personalized feedback, (5) parents value participation in targeted engagement activities and prefer the focus group method, and (6) targeted engagement activities increase parent involvement in decision-making and validate parents as partners in education. ^ Recommendations are made for implementing targeted engagement activities and conducting future research. ^
Education, Administration|Education, Elementary
Danielle J Sheridan,
"The effectiveness of targeted approaches to parent engagement"
(January 1, 2004).
Dissertation & Theses Collection.
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- Download PDF
1 Answer | Add Yours
There are all sorts of interactions that people might have with others from outside their own ethnic or cultural group. The exact nature of these interactions depends on the person’s circumstances.
One major way to have such interactions is by traveling. In particular, travel to foreign countries puts us in contact with people from other groups. As people from the rich world, we might go to places like the Caribbean where we interact with other cultures in situations where we are somewhat dominant. We are guests at their hotels and they are workers. We are the tourists and they are trying to sell us things.
Another way to have such interactions is through going to school in diverse areas or with exchange students. People of different cultural groups can live close to one another in the US. If a white student and a Hispanic immigrant sit next to one another in class, they are interacting with people from outside their own groups. This is even truer when there are exchange students in a school.
Finally, we can have interactions with people from other groups in our workplaces. In today’s globalized world, we often find ourselves working with immigrants. We might also find ourselves working with people from foreign firms who are doing business in our community.
These are some typical situations in which people might interact with others who are from different cultural or ethnic groups.
We’ve answered 327,831 questions. We can answer yours, too.Ask a question
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Every now and then a little work is needed to maintain trails in the national parks, and at Yellowstone National Park officials have a need to replace a section of trail connecting the Upper Geyser Basin near Old Faithful to Biscuit Basin.
The project as currently designed would replace a portion of causeway trail that is becoming obsolete, park officials say. "Causeway trails, also called turnpikes, are slightly elevated and are constructed on a base of rock. They are used to cross wet areas," a park release explained.
The main intent of the project -- which is open to public comment -- is to re-establish a portion of the trail that crosses a sensitive, consistently wet meadow. Crews would reconstruct the causeway by installing horizontal timber frames and filling them with rock and gravel recovered from the existing structure.
The project would be completed by Park Service staff in partnership with the Montana Conservation Corps. Funding for the project is being considered through the Wyoming Department of State Parks and the Cultural Resources Recreational Trails Program.
Written comments should be received no later than October 24, and should be addressed to: Bill Hopkins, Backcountry Trails Office, P.O. Box 168, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 82190. Electronic submissions may be sent to [email protected].
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Evolution by Co-Option: "Just Add Parts"?
Imagine that you purchase a "build it yourself" computer kit, and all the instruction manual said is "Step 1: Collect all necessary parts into a box." This is essentially as far as evolutionary explanations by co-option get: Darwinists assume that by simply identifying the possible origin-location for one or a few structural components that they have explained how all of the parts became properly assembled to interact and produce the final functional structure. Mike Gene has a funny post where he links to computer assembly instructions which simply tell the user to tape the necessary computer parts inside a box. "Exiled from Groggs" thinks that this shows "The limitations of co-option." It appears that scientists would agree. As one scientist explained in the journal Science when discussing systems biology: "Identifying all the genes and proteins in an organism is like listing all the parts in an airplane. While such a list provides a catalog of the individual components, by itself it is not sufficient to understand the complexity underlying the engineered object. We need to know how these parts are assembled to form the structure of the airplane." (Hiroaki Kitano, "Systems Biology: A Brief Overview," Science, Vol. 295:1662-64 (March 1, 2002).) This comment was made in the context of discussing systems biology, but perhaps someday, when it is no longer politically deadly to question Darwin, science journals will regularly explicitly discuss the bankruptcy of evolutionary explanations via co-option.
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| 0.945089 | 308 | 2.625 | 3 |
Crop Fertilization Based on North Carolina Soil Tests
|Part II: Lime and Fertilizer Requirements|
|The amount of lime and fertilizer needed for optimum crop growth depends on the specific crop requirement, soil type and current fertility status of the soil. A soil test determines aspects of fertility such as pH, acidity and nutrient levels. This information is prerequisite to calculation of lime and fertilizer requirements.
The precalculated factors listed in Table 2.1 make this determination easier. The table provides values for the factor in brackets above, based on current and target pH values.
To calculate the lime recommendation, you need the following information about the variables. Target pH is different for each soil class [Table 2.2 and Figure 2.1]. Current soil pH and Ac values appear on the soil report. RC is the amount of any recently applied lime (tons/acre), reduced by a certain percentage for each month elapsed since application: 8% for mineral (MIN) soils and 16% for mineral-organic (M-O) and organic (ORG) soils. The RC decreases faster for M-O and ORG soils because lime reacts rapidly to the higher levels of acidity in these soils.
Lime recommendations are in units of tenths of a ton per acre. When calculations are less than 0.3 ton/acre, the soil report indicates that no lime is needed. However, the current soil pH may still be slightly lower than the target pH. In this case, application of a standard rate of 0.3 ton/acre or 15 lb/1000 ft² is appropriate.
A special situation occurs when the second crop listed on a soil sample information form requires more lime than the first crop. In this case, the higher lime rate appears as the recommendation for the first crop. No lime recommendation appears for the second crop.
Two types of limestone are available for agricultural purposes: calcitic and dolomitic. Calcitic limestone contains calcium carbonate (CaCO3) but no magnesium (Mg). Dolomitic limestone is a mixture of calcium and magnesium carbonates [CaMg(CO3)2] and contains at least 120 lb Mg/ton. On soils where Mg is difficult to maintain, application of dolomitic lime solves two problems in one treatment.
Table 2.3), depending on the crop. Years of field research and observations have led to these recommendations. The crop notes (see Part III) suggest ways to vary these rates. Plant tissue analysis during the vegetative growth stage is a good indicator of nitrogen sufficiency.
Soil-report-recommended rates for P2O5 and K2O (based on soil-test-index values and the equations in Table 2.4) are shown in Table 2.5. The P-I or K-I value is inserted into the equation, and the results are rounded to the nearest 10 lb for field crops and to the nearest 0.5 lb for greenhouse, golf tees and golf greens. In 2012, NCDA&CS began reporting field crop recommendations for P2O5 and K2O as specific rates instead of ranges (e.g., 40 lb/acre instead of 30–50 lb/acre). The current recommendation is the midpoint of the range previously reported.3), provides the crop with this nutrient. Because calcium is supplied during the liming process, supplemental calcium is rarely needed.
2] and contains at least 120 lb Mg per ton. On soils where magnesium levels are difficult to maintain, application of dolomitic lime should provide an adequate amount.
To evaluate the magnesium status of the soil, multiply Mg% by the CEC.
Table 1.2). For crops where response to manganese is less certain (Table 1.3), a $ refers the grower to the $ Note flyer entitled Secondary Nutrients and Micronutrients. When the Mn-AI is less than 25 and the soil pH is 6.2 or greater, $pH appears in the Mn column. This designation indicates that high pH is responsible for the manganese deficiency and refers the grower back to the $ Note for several treatment options.
If a $ notation appears in the Cu column of the Recommendations section for a first crop, it indicates that the crop's response to the addition of copper is uncertain. If this notation is for a second crop, it indicates that copper may be needed if it was not applied to the first crop as recommended. The crops listed in Table 2.3 have an R in the Cu column if they respond well to copper fertilization. The $ Note in Part III of this booklet gives additional information on fertilizing with copper.
Part I, sulfur leaches readily on sandy soils and accumulates in the subsoil. Recommendations for this nutrient vary with soil type and rainfall. If the S-I of deep sandy soils is less than 25, fertilization with sulfur is probably necessary. The general rate for sulfur application is 20 to 25 lb/acre. Sulfur is rarely lacking in piedmont or mountain soils due to their high clay content. Under normal growing conditions, sulfur is generally sufficient on organic soils as well.
Because sulfur is so mobile in the soil, plant tissue analysis is the best way to gauge sufficiency. The deficiency symptoms for sulfur and nitrogen are very similar. Likewise, soil conditions that cause nitrogen to leach also have the same effect on sulfur.
Sulfur deficiency commonly occurs on deep sandy coastal plain soils. These soils are often low in organic matter and have a clay layer 15 inches or more below the surface. Sulfur deficiency can occur when the clay layer is closer to the surface on shallow-rooted crops such as small grains. Corn, coastal bermudagrass and tobacco are also particularly susceptible to sulfur deficiency. Most dry-blend tobacco fertilizers supply adequate sulfur for the current growing season.
Hardy DH, Tucker MR, Stokes CE. 2014. Crop fertilization based on North Carolina soil tests. Raleigh (NC): North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Agronomic Division. Circular No. 1.
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News Picks : Silica nanoparticles turn water into moldable substance
New Scientist: Coating water droplets with hydrophobic powder creates opaque, liquid marbles. Now a team led by Xiaoguang Li of Tongji University in Shanghai, China, has extended that technique by replacing the hydrophobic powder with 20-nm silica particles. Because of the thinness of the silica layer, the water droplets remain transparent. And unexpectedly, the silica particles have the ability to jam together, which allows the researchers to mold the water droplets into almost any shape. They have demonstrated how the new material can be sliced like Play-Doh, formed into words, and even used as a convex lens. Further, the researchers discovered that chemicals added to the water diffused slower than normal, suggesting that the droplets might server as miniature test tubes.
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This week we turn to another group of civilizations with traditions radically different from any of the civilizations we have considered so far. These civilizations are called Mesoamerican, because they appeared in an area that extends from southern Mexico through Central America and into Peru. Each civilization we will discuss developed in isolation from civilizations on other continents. Whereas the Mediterranean world, Africa, the Middle East, and the Far East were in regular contact with each other, the civilizations that straddled North and South America had no access to the constant ferment we have traced across Europe, Africa, and Asia. Mesoamerica, thus, went its own way, and the concomitant isolation brought certain handicaps. Mesoamericans never developed the wheel, nor were they able to use draught animals to plow their fields. In addition, some civilizations, as we will see, rose without developing literacy. Nonetheless, we must keep in mind that Mesoamerican civilizations did not develop in isolation from each other. Much as we have seen in other areas, there was a constant process of interaction, which included trade, cultural borrowing, war, and domination. Mesoamerican civilizations rose, declined, and fell for many and varied reasons before the first European set foot in the New World.
We will begin understanding Mesoamerica by considering the Continent’s prehistory. Somewhere between 30,000 and 15,000 BC small numbers of people migrated from Asia across a land bridge to North America. The land bridge existed because the world was still at the tail end of its last Ice Age, and the earth’s glaciers held back enough water to lower the sea level. There is sporadic evidence of cave dwellers that may date back as far as 21,000 BC, but by 13,000 BC a large wave of migration from Siberia began and these people dispersed quickly across the entire land mass. There is archeological evidence that by 9,500 BC human beings had reached the southern tip of South America, which amounts to a journey of 17,000 kilometers.
The Americas’ first inhabitants were primarily hunter-gatherers. Indeed, much of humanity’s migration southward was probably due to the constant search for food and game. By 8,000 BC, however, the last Ice Age came to an end and this had important consequences for the people in the Americas. First, as the earth warmed the sea level rose above the land bridge, cutting off the Americas from the rest of the world for the next 9,500 years. Second, the large game animals on which these people relied were unable to survive in the higher temperatures and began to die out. By 7,500 BC most of the large game was extinct and the locals turned to the sea and to agriculture, though there is evidence of mastodon hunting as late as 8000 BC.
By 7,000 BC most of the peoples in Mesoamerica were cultivating crops that have today become standard. Maize, beans, chili peppers, avocados, squashes, and gourds all appeared, becoming fundamental to the Mesoamerican diet. Maize is both an interesting and strange case, because unlike with modern grains, we do not know where it came from, since there are no wild species left. The development of corn cultivation would, nonetheless, be of extraordinary importance, since it is an extremely nutritious crop. Much like rice was to China and Japan, maize became the foundation of empires. As we look forward, archeologists have shown us a gradual transition from hunting and gathering to settled agriculture. By 6,500 BC Mesoamericans living in Oaxaca were growing chili peppers and squash. Between 5000 and 3,500 BC the first signs of modern maize appeared. By 3,500 BC beans appeared in recognizable modern form. These early villagers lived in Neolithic circumstances, weaving cloth, making pottery, and fashioning stone tools. By 4,000 BC pottery appeared in Ecuador and Colombia. And pottery has been found in the Tehuacán valley dating to 2,300 BC. These early villages were small and probably egalitarian in their social structure.
Between 1200 and 900 BC, however, this egalitarianism began to disappear, as the large earthen pyramids and stone sculptures signaled a change in political and social organization. Ceremonial centers appeared, over which a permanent cadre of priests and other members of the ruling elite to presided. The first sign in Mesoamerica of civilization along these lines came with a people we now call the Olmecs. The word Olmec means “the rubber people,” in reference to the rubber trees that grew in the area; we do not know, however, the name the Olmecs had for themselves, since none of their documents has survived. The first Olmec ceremonial center appeared around 1200 BC on the site now occupied by the town of San Lorenzo. San Lorenzo served as the Olmec capital for about 400 years and was replaced by new centers in La Venta (800-400 BC) and, later, Tres Zapotes (400-100 BC). These areas were agriculturally wealthy, thanks to a large annual rainfall. The rain served an organizational purpose similar to the flood of the Nile: in order to live in this area, it was necessary to develop extensive drainage systems. This the Olmecs did, and some of them still function today.
The change from village life to civilization is most apparent in Olmec artistic practice. San Lorenzo is famous for its stone monuments. These monuments weighed as much as forty-four tons and were made from basalt brought from 50 miles away. The labor involved in this work was on a par with the work we have seen in Egypt, and it suggests a centralized politics that could direct resources and people to specific projects. This probably meant that Olmec society was authoritarian, and it is worth keeping in mind when considering some of the beautiful things they left behind. The most striking of Olmec monuments are the famous “colossal heads,” which may show people wearing helmets that were used in public sporting events. (I will talk about them in a minute.) Olmec art also provides a glimpse into its religious structures. The main theme of religious art was a group of deities that was usually a hybrid between a jaguar and human being. There was a variety of gods based on this mixture, ranging from feminine to masculine. This half jaguar/half human theme was central to Olmec art and it was later exported to many other Mesoamerican civilizations. The spread of Olmec art was due in large measure the extensive trading network that it controlled. Olmecs exported goods such as pottery and cloth and imported things such as obsidian from Mexican highlands and Guatemala, as well as jade after 900 BC. The Olmecs were perhaps ancient Mesoamerica’s finest jade artists and their artifacts have been found far and wide. There is evidence that Olmecs sent armed escorts with their caravans, in order to ensure that their goods arrived. This early stage of civilization disappeared quite abruptly, however, around 900 BC. It may be that a tribe invaded San Lorenzo and destroyed many of the Olmecs’ key monuments, though some historians believe, however, that the Olmecs destroyed the city themselves. It is not clear why. Nonetheless, with the decline of San Lorenzo, the power center shifted to La Venta, which was more easily defended. This city flourished until 400 BC, when the Olmecs destroyed and abandoned it. Thereafter, Tres Zapotes took the lead until it finally collapsed around 100 BC.
The Olmec civilization was not only the first great civilization in Mesoamerica but also was fundamental to every later culture in the area. Olmec influence extended across Mesoamerica in terms of art and culture. Let us consider briefly four contributions that persisted in other cultures. The first was writing. The later Mayan script, for example, was based on the Olmec language. Second, Olmec religious ideas persisted. The Olmec tendency to include Jaguars and serpents in their religious imagery persisted up through the Maya, Teotihuacan, and even the Aztecs. If you go to Teotihuacan today you will notice the ubiquity of Jaguar motifs. This is important evidence of Olmec influence, since Jaguars have never lived in that part of Mexico. Third, we have the example of sport. The Olmecs played a rough contact sport that is best described as a mixture between soccer and basketball. Anywhere from 2 to 4 heavily padded players competed on a large court to shoot a hard rubber ball through a stone hoop--and they had to do this without using their hands or feet. This game was extremely popular among the Mayans, as they built stadiums for the event. Finally, there was the Olmec calendar. Actually, it was two calendars, one that marked the solar year and another that marked the ritual year. The Mayans, in particular, proved to be great borrowers of this tradition. Thus, much like the Romans in Europe, or the Chinese in Asia, the Olmecs exerted a strong influence over every later cultural tradition.
Although there were other heirs to the Olmecs, particularly the Zapotecs in Monte Albán, the people in Teotihuacan and the Maya are the two most important successors. Teotihuacan civilization arose in the Mexican highlands. This area was drier than the semi-tropical area in which the Olmecs appeared, but it had several large lakes that were rich in fish and waterfowl. These lakes were drained over the centuries and only small remnants of all the previous waters exist. Teotihuacan was probably a small agricultural village by about 500 BC. The presence of large water supplies allowed the community to flourish and by 200 BC it may have had a population of 50,000 people. It is that this point that Teotihuacan enters its period of ascendancy. By AD 100 its most famous monuments, the pyramids of the sun and the moon, had been built. The pyramid of the sun is the largest structure built in Mesoamerica. It is as broad as the great pyramid at Khufu, though only half as tall. Between AD 400 and 600 Teotihuacan became an enormous metropolis, with 200,000 residents and scores of palaces, temples, and enormous markets.
Teotihuacan was a highly organized city and civilization. Unfortunately, we do not know much about its organizational structure, since its written records disappeared when the city declined. The remaining archeological records suggest, however, that Teotihuacan was a theocracy, with priests determining when planting and harvesting was to take place. Priests calculated the calendar, which allowed the people to know where they were in time. Teotihuacan was also an important merchant hub. It included artisans, merchants, and farmers. The artisans were famous for their orange pottery and the work they did with obsidian. The resulting goods moved throughout Mesoamerica, as is evidenced by Teotihuacan’s wares appearing as far south at Guatemala City and as far north as Durango.
Teotihuacan remained mainly a farming community until about AD 500. Its influence seems to have been spread through commerce and its cultural reputation. The Mayan settlement of Kaminaljuyú, for example, came under Teotihuacan’s influence in the fourth century without any evidence of conquest. After AD 500, however, Teotihuacan came under military pressure from other peoples. This is suggested by changes in artistic styles. Until this time Teotihuacan’s artisans rarely depicted warlike scenes. After AD 500, however, this art comes to included eagles, coyotes, and jaguars, which were normally associated with war and military conquest. After AD 650, Teotihuacan entered a period of decline, and around AD 750 invaders sacked the city and burned it, destroying most of the records. After this attack the inhabitants deserted the city and it fell into ruin.
The Mayans, perhaps the greatest of Mesoamerican civilizations, appeared further south in the area that is today Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras. The Guatemalan highlands, in particular, provided fertile soil and sufficient rain for a rich agriculture. During the third century BC small villages began to appear in and around the area, the most important of which was Kaminaljuyú, which was located near modern Guatemala City. Kaminaljuyú was a ceremonial center, rather than a traditional city, as those who worked the land returned to their villages after participating in the center’s ceremonial life. The city center was a major consumer of labor: it probably took 12,000 to 15,000 workers complete its major monuments. By the fourth century AD, however, this city came under Teotihuacan’s sway and lost much of the influence it had over other Mayan settlements.
After Kaminaljuyú’s relative decline, Mayan society’s center moved to lowland areas, which were not quite as agriculturally productive. In order to deal with the poor soil, the Maya developed an extensive terrace network that trapped tropical topsoil, thereby increasing crop yields. In this way the Maya produced the maximum amount of food possible, including crops such as maize, cotton, and cacao, which was highly prized and even became a form of currency. From about AD 300 to 900 the Maya built more than 80 large ceremonial centers in and around the Yucatan peninsula. Some of these centers turned into cities, with thousands of inhabitants. One of the most famous of the cities was Tikal, which between AD 600 and 800 had a population of around 40,000 people. Tikal had large plazas and was full of temples, pyramids, and every other form of public building. The Mayans organized themselves into a series of small kingdoms. Tikal was the most important, though other major kingdoms centered on Palenque and Chichén Itzá. These kingdoms were constantly at war with each other. The purpose behind this warfare was not, however, to destroy the enemy, but to take captives, because captives became either slaves, or human sacrifices.
Mayan society was ruled by kings and a large class of priests who oversaw the ritual sacrifices and other ceremonies that Mayan religion deemed necessary for perpetuating civilization. The Maya built on the religion that they had borrowed from the Olmecs, devising both a sophisticated calendar and complicating Olmec forms of writing. The Maya were great astronomers and mathematicians. Not only could they plot the course of the planets, but they also invented zero and were able to use it mathematically. Indeed, Mayans could predict eclipses centuries before anyone in Europe could do the same. Mayan priests used these skills to find the Mayans’ position within a complicated calendrical system. The Mayans had two calendars, on that was based on the 365-day solar year and another that was based on a ritual calendar of 260 days. By finding out where the Maya were within these two calendars, the Maya believed that each day could be ascribed a particular meaning.
In spite of the Maya’s great achievements, by about AD 800 the people began to desert their cities. Only Chichén Itzá, among all the others, continued to flourish. No one knows why this happened. We only know that the monuments the Mayans put up every two years to mark time’s passing stopped appearing around AD 800. It may have been problems with the weather, foreign invasion, or disease; but by the ninth century Mesoamerica’s greatest civilization was disappearing. This decline, together with the destruction of Teotihuacan would open the door to other, small civilizations. We will trace the rise of these others next time, and we will also discuss Mesoamerica’s other great centers for civilization that appeared in the Andes.
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|KEY WORD : art history / paintings|
Lit. pictures of the floating world. Paintings and woodblock prints of genre themes
developed from the mid-Edo to early Meiji periods, supported
by the people in the middle class of society (shomin 庶民, or common
people) mainly in the city of Edo. Because of this locality, ukiyo-e
was also called *edo-e 江戸絵
or azuma-e 東絵 (eastern pictures; *azuma
nishiki-e 東錦絵) during the Edo period. In the broader sense of the term,
however, ukiyo-e includes various local paintings appreciated by common
people in the Edo period all over Japan, such as *ootsu-e
大津絵 (comical, folk painting produced in Ootsu, Shiga prefecture), *nagasaki
hanga 長崎版画 (woodblock prints depicting foreign people and objects seen
in Nagasaki, Nagasaki prefecture), and *kamigata-e
上方絵 (woodblock prints produced in the Kyoto-Osaka area kamigata 上方, mostly
portrayals of the *kabuki
歌舞伎 actors popular there).
The term ukiyo-e, which is first found in literature during the first half of the 1680's, derives from the fact that they depict the activities of a transient (floating), but therefore enjoyable world. Pictures of beautiful women *bijinga 美人画 and young boys, particularly the courtesans of the pleasure quarters yuujo 遊女, scenes from kabuki plays shibai-e 芝居絵 and portraits of popular actors *yakusha-e 役者絵, and pornographic pictures *shunga 春画 are the three major subjects of ukiyo-e. Literary themes taken from poems and stories from Japan and China were also popular, pictures of heroic warriors *musha-e 武者絵 being particularly favoured throughout the period. Often the classic themes were parodied or represented in mundane, contemporary circumstances (see *mitate-e 見立絵). Well-known landscape prints fuukei hanga 風景版画 and pictures of birds and flowers *kachouga 花鳥画 form just one of the later phases in the complex development of ukiyo-e.
Ukiyo-e were mass-produced in order to fulfill a great demand among middle-class people, who were their major appreciators. Therefore, the principal form of ukiyo-e were woodblock prints, which were planned by the publisher hanmoto 版元 and produced in collaboration with the painter/designer *eshi 絵師, carver horishi 彫師 and printer surishi 摺師. Even hand-paintings *nikuhitsuga 肉筆画 were produced in large quantities in workshops under the direction of a master artist who designed the product, supervised its coloring by his pupils and signed them . Because of the vagaries of this studio system several versions of the same painting with slight differences often exist in ukiyo-e.
Art historically, ukiyo-e is placed at the end of the development of *kinseishoki fuuzokuga 近世初期風俗画 (genre painting of the Early Modern period). Although early ukiyo-e artists signed themselves as painters of *yamato-e やまと絵, suggesting that ukiyo-e succeeded the tradition of native Japanese paintings, the influence of various pictorial styles of the period, including that of the *Kanouha 狩野派, *Tosaha 土佐派, *youfuuga 洋風画 (western style painting) and *shaseiga 写生画（realistic painting), can be found in ukiyo-e . The history of ukiyo-e can be devided into three periods.
Period 1) Meireki 明暦 to Houreki 宝暦 eras (1655-1764)
Ukiyo-e prints derived from book illustrations. Book publishing had been popular in the kamigata 上方 area already in the early 17c, but after the disastrous fire of 1657, books began to be published in Edo. The proportion of illustrations in a book became bigger and bigger, and at last the texts became only one fifth of a whole page. The next step was for illustrations to become independent of the text and appreciated for themselves. Like Hishikawa Moronobu's 菱川師宣 (?-1694) "Scenes of Yoshiwara" Yoshiwara no tai 吉原の躰, they typically consisted of a set *kumimono 組物 of twelve prints, which mostly depicted scenes from popular stories or pornography. Ukiyo-e is generally thought to have originated with Moronobu, who declared in the preface of the book he illustrated, "Monthly Amusements" Tsukinami no Asobi 月次の遊 (1683), that he invented ukiyo-e and became a leading painter. Around 1700, single-sheet woodblock prints *ichimai-e 一枚絵 began to be sold alone and became the dominant form in Edo. To begin with the prints were all in black *sumi 墨 lines sumizuri-e 墨摺絵, with occasional hand colouring fudezaishiki 筆彩色 (brush coloring) added separately. Very strong, orange-red *tan 丹 or lead-red and in some cases green were boldly applied to the drawings with strong, wavy lines in tan-e 丹絵.
Moronobu's paintings of beauties and/or of the pleasure quarters were succeeded by the work of artists of the *Kaigetsudouha 懐月堂派 which lasted for only about a generation. At the same time the artists of the *Toriiha 鳥居派, which is still in existence today took in a monopoly in kabuki theatrical posters and actor prints. Torii Kiyonobu 鳥居清信 (1664-1729) and Kiyomasu 清倍 (act. early 18c) invented a unique manner with strong stylization in tan-e for depicting kabuki actors, and established the Toriiha.
In the first half of 18c, *beni-e 紅絵 became prominent, lit. vermillion painting, in which lighter, rose-red paint/ink made of safflowers *beni 紅 and light green kusajiru 草汁 ( grass sap,) were more meticulously applied on more sophisticated drawings with thinner lines. In order to give an accent to prints that were otherwise too simple, hair and obi 帯 belts, etc. were often highlighted with dark, glossy black, made by adding *nikawa 膠 glue to sumi, in *urushi-e 漆絵 (lacquer painting, because of the gloss). In 1774, with the invention of *kentou 見当, color impressions irohan 色版 began to be added to the keyblock impression *omohan 主版 in sumi. Because rose-red and grass-green were the primary colors, they were called *benizuri-e 紅摺絵. Okumura Masanobu 奥村政信(1686-1764), who produced excellent beni prints during this period, was an innovative artist with many new ideas, such as a triptych with a continuous composition *soroimono 揃物, in long vertical format to be hung a pillar *hashira-e 柱絵, as well as *uki-e 浮絵 ( floating pictures), a print characterised by experimental application with an exaggerated use of western perspective.
Period 2) Meiwa 明和 to Kansei 寛政 eras (1764-1801)
The latter half of 18c is considered to be the classical period of ukiyo-e in terms of artistic quality. The technique of ukiyo-e prints reached its peak when multi-colored woodblock prints *nishiki-e 錦絵 (brocade pictures) were produced for extravagant calendars, e-goyomi 絵暦 (painting calendar) by Suzuki Harunobu 鈴木春信 (1725-70) in 1765. Harunobu's lovely, doll-like figures in classical and/or poetic settings (often in mitate-e) were replaced by slender ladies in contemporary settings as painted by Torii Kiyonaga 鳥居清長 (1752-1815) in the 1780's. Kiyonaga's beauties are often in groups, and painted on a set of two or three sheets of paper with a continuous composition. Kitagawa Utamaro 喜多川歌麿 (1753-1806) was the most popular painter of beauties in the 1790's. He depicted not only courtesans but also ordinary women, often as a bust *ookubi-e 大首絵, and successfully depicted the inner emotions of the ladies depicted by their subtle expressions and gestures.
Prints of kabuki actors were still produced by Toriiha artists, and their formal style became a standard. In the 1770's, Katsukawa Shunshou 勝川春章 (1726-93) created more realistic portraits *nigao-e 似顔絵 (likeness painting) of actors, which have been popular ever since. In 1794, Utagawa Toyokuni 歌川豊国 (1769-1825) published a series of "full-length portraits of actors" Yakusha butai no sugata-e 役者舞台の姿絵. His eclectic style depicting the dramatic postures of actors became extremely successful and eventually led to the establishment of the *Utagawaha 歌川派, the dominant ukiyo-e school in the 19c. On the other hand, Toushuusai Sharaku 東洲斎写楽 (act. 1794) published a series of close-up portraits ookubi-e of actors in May 1794. His extremely realistic works seemed sensational at that time, but his style may have been too radical for ordinary people, and ten months later his name suddenly disappeared from the records.
Period 3) Kyouwa 享和 to Keiou 慶応 eras (1801-68)
After 1800, ukiyo-e prints were produced in much larger quantities with wider variations of themes, such as landscapes, birds and flowers, historical stories and warriors, satiric and/or comical cartoons, in addition to the beauties, actors, and pornography. Pictures designed for toys omocha-e 玩具絵, such as playing cards, kites, etc, are also generally included.
The artists of the Utagawaha were the most prosperous, but their pictures of the beauties and actors became stylized and manneristic. Two of the most well-known masters of landscape prints in this period are Katsushika Hokusai 葛飾北斎 (1760-1849) and Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川広重 (also known as Andou 安藤 Hiroshige, 1797-1858). Hokusai's well-structured landscapes, represented by the "Thirty-six Views of Mt.Fuji" Fugaku Sanjuurokkei 富嶽三十六景 (1831-33), contrast with Hiroshige's intimate views as found in the "Fifty-three Stations on the Toukaidou"*Toukaidou Gojuusantsugi 東海道五十三次 (1833). Another artist worth noting is Utagawa Kuniyoshi 歌川国芳 (1797-1861), who became particularly popular in warrior prints, caricatures, and contemporary townscapes.
The introduction of photography and lithography sekihanga 石版画 put an end to the innovative development of ukiyo-e, and Kobayashi Kiyochika 小林清親 (1847-1915) is often thought to be the last true ukiyo-e painter. As interest in ukiyo-e declined in Japan after the Meiji Restoration in 1868, many works were exported while others were simply used as wrapping paper. The art of ukiyo-e woodblock prints underwent great re-evaluation in Europe and America in the late 19c to the early 20c, and greatly influenced the artistic movements of Impressionism and Art Nouveau.
(C)2001 Japanese Architecture and Art Net Users System. No reproduction or republication without written permission.
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I Always Wanted To Know:
What is a laser?
Lasers are a key component in everything from supermarket price scanners, DVD players, high speed fiber optic cables and advanced military weapons, but what is a laser? How does it work? The answer may surprise you. A laser, (which stands for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation), is at its most fundamental level, just focused light.
Laser light is different from normal light due to its characteristic focused, intense beam and specific color (or wavelength in technical terms). The light is created, in basic terms, by pumping energy into atoms causing them to emit photons of light. These photons of light are then bounced between mirrors in the laser’s assembly, which causes more photons to be created amplifying the light beam. What makes this process special is that the new photons created share the shame wavelength, phase and polarization which gives lasers their unique characteristics.
All of this may be quite interesting but why is laser light useful?
- Laser light is very focused, producing a very narrow beam allowing for laser pointers in classrooms & laser sights on weapons.
- Laser light is a specific frequency, so precise measurements of surfaces can be made such as in laser mice and DVD players.
- Laser light is highly amplified, so it can cut or burn objects used in industrial laser cutting and engraving.
Are lasers dangerous?
Recent incidents in the news of people using lasers to blind pilots in cockpits of helicopters may have left you wondering if a laser is a dangerous thing to own. Most consumer laser devices are safe, but all lasers sold in the U.S. have a safety ranking system which indicates the class of the laser.
- Class 1 is inherently safe, usually because the light is contained in an enclosure, for example in CD players.
- Class 2 is safe during normal use; the blink reflex of the eye will prevent damage. Usually up to 1 mW power, for example: laser pointers.
- Class 3R (formerly IIIa) lasers are usually up to 5 mW and involve a small risk of eye damage within the time of the blink reflex. Staring into such a beam for several seconds is likely to cause damage to a spot on the retina.
- Class 3B can cause immediate eye damage upon exposure.
- Class 4 lasers can burn skin, and in some cases, even scattered light can cause eye and/or skin damage. Many industrial and scientific lasers are in this class.
Do you have a general technology or electronics question you always wanted to know like “How does a Microwave work?” or “Why do LED’s last so long?” Write me at Tim@WorldStart.com and your question may be answered in an upcoming “I Always Wanted To Know.” For specific computer support questions ask our writers by clicking here .
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About Face: Emotions and Facial Expressions May Not Be Related
For half a century, one theory about the way we experience and express emotion has helped shape how we practice psychology, do police work, and even fight terrorism. But what if that theory is wrong?
Barrett recently decided to take on Ekman’s ideas directly, by sending a small research team to visit the isolated Himba tribe in Namibia, in southern Africa. The plan was this: The team, led by Maria Gendron, would do a study similar to Ekman’s original cross-cultural one, but without providing any of the special words or context-heavy stories that Ekman had used to guide his subjects’ answers. Barrett’s researchers would simply hand a jumbled pile of different expressions (happy, sad, fearful, angry, disgusted, and neutral) to their subjects, and would ask them to sort them into six piles. If emotional expressions are indeed universal, they reasoned, then the Himba would put all low-browed, tight-lipped expressions into an anger pile, all wrinkled-nose faces into a disgust pile, and so on.
It didn’t happen that way. The Himba sorted some of the faces in ways that aligned with Ekman’s theory: smiling faces went into one pile, wide-eyed fearful faces went into another, and affectless faces went mostly into a third. But in the other three piles, the Himba mixed up angry scowls, disgusted grimaces, and sad frowns. Without any suggestive context, of the kind that Ekman had originally provided, they simply didn’t recognize the differences that leap out so naturally to Westerners.
Barrett, Gendron, and two others wrote a paper based on this study, which Barrett considers one of her most important to date, and submitted it to Science this past December, with high hopes for its publication. “What we’re trying to do,” she told me, “is to just get people to pay attention to the fact that there’s a mountain of evidence that does not support the idea that facial expressions are universally recognized as emotional expressions.” That’s the crucial point, of course, because if we acknowledge that, then the entire edifice that Paul Ekman and others have been constructing for the past half-century comes tumbling down. And all sorts of things that we take for granted today—how we understand ourselves and our relationships with others, how we practice psychology and psychiatry, how we do police work and gather intelligence—will have to change.
This past January, I visited Barrett at her home. She was tired. Two colleagues had just died in quick succession, and she’d gone to both of their memorials the week before. She was scheduled to fly out again in a couple of days for a debate at a psychology conference in New Orleans. And she’d just heard back from Science about the Namibia paper. The news wasn’t good: They’d rejected it.
“I felt fed up,” she told me, describing her reaction. “I just felt like, Why am I banging my head against a wall? Life is short. What the hell am I doing? Clearly people don’t give a shit about data, because if they did, I wouldn’t have this battle on my hands.” She paused. “I did feel that way for about 10 minutes. And then I took a step back and said, ‘Okay, I’ve seen reviews like this before.’”
Barrett showed me the feedback she’d received on the manuscript from two anonymous peer reviewers. One had been positive, but the other had written a scathing two-page response that had started by declaring the work “unjustified” and gone downhill from there. Barrett told me she suspected the second reviewer had misunderstood her statistical methods and had based several of his or her arguments on misrepresented sources. Nevertheless, she’s now adopted a philosophical stance toward it all. “Science is about persevering in the face of ambiguity and, oftentimes, adversity,” she says. “And the data, in the end, will point the way.”
It’s early days yet. Barrett’s theory is still only in its infancy. But other researchers are beginning to take up her ideas, sometimes in part, sometimes in full, and where the science will take us as it expands is impossible to predict. It’s even possible that Barrett will turn out to be wrong, as she herself acknowledges. “Every scientist has to face that,” she says. Still, if she is right, then perhaps the most important change we’ll need to make is in our own heads. If our emotions are not universal physiological responses but concepts we’ve constructed from various biological signals and stashed memories, then perhaps we can exercise more control over our emotional lives than we’ve assumed.
“Every experience you have now is seeding your experience for the future,” Barrett told me. “Knowing that, would you choose to do what you’re doing now?” She paused a beat and looked me in the eye. “Well? Would you? You are the architect of your own experience.”
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| 0.973201 | 1,129 | 3.171875 | 3 |
of solid bodies must, therefore, be much denser than those of gases, and exert also a more intense effect on the nerves of our eyes, "Light-conductors" differ, therefore, from "light-radiators" by the lesser density of their waves of light; for which reason they cannot, under ordinary circumstances, form "optical molecules," as I expressed on another occasion. How powerfully the condensation of the waves of light affects the eye is shown by the effect of collecting lenses.
The minimum of density which a body must possess to become light-radiating—that is, to become self-luminous to the eye, or to appear a source of light—is just now not known; but one sees, if this view is correct, the possibility of even vapors or dense gases becoming luminous, as Frankland tried to prove. The results of his experiments might even serve as foundation for the lowest limit of density, if it were not so very difficult, nay, even just now impossible, to make such an experiment in a manner so as to exclude every doubt about the assisting influence of solid bodies.—English Mechanic.
|MENTAL DISCIPLINE IN EDUCATION.|
I THINK it is safe to assume, on the one hand, that all, or nearly all, mental discipline is of value; and, on the other, that all, or nearly all, knowledge is of value. It will also be conceded that a life spent in disciplining the mind, while the mind so disciplined is never employed in the direction of utility, is a life wasted. It seems equally true that utility, when so narrowed as to relate only to the outward trappings of the human being, is not real utility.
By mental discipline we mean nothing more than habit of mental action. The disciplined mind does not differ in kind from the undisciplined any more than the strength of a man differs in kind from the strength of a child. It is evident that the best mental discipline must be that which prepares the mind to grasp and direct the facts, realities, and influences, on which human well-being depends.
It is thought that there is study which gives mental power or discipline, while it results in little useful knowledge. By a method of study the mind is to be developed into an intellectual Samson, but a blind Samson; and it is hoped and believed that a mind so trained will do something better than to involve itself and others in a common ruin. That is, it is assumed that a habit of thought which does not lead to useful knowledge in school, is the habit of thought which will lead to useful knowledge in common affairs of life.
The study of a dead language is supposed to give this mental discipline. Such study has almost nothing to do with present realities.
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| 0.965696 | 574 | 2.796875 | 3 |
Definitions for kilowatt-hour
This page provides all possible meanings and translations of the word kilowatt-hour
a unit of electrical energy equal to that done by one kilowatt acting for one hour
a u201Cunitu201D of electrical consumption by which domestic consumers are charged
The numerical value of kilowatt-hour in Chaldean Numerology is: 3
The numerical value of kilowatt-hour in Pythagorean Numerology is: 2
Sample Sentences & Example Usage
We think we can lower the cost of maintenance by two to three cents per kilowatt hour. That is a game changer from standpoint of the viability of wind energy. It becomes absolutely competitive with the fossil fuels that we rely on today, without subsidies it starts to become cost competitive.
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"kilowatt-hour." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2016. Web. 27 Jun 2016. <http://www.definitions.net/definition/kilowatt-hour>.
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| 0.780949 | 295 | 2.578125 | 3 |
'Mature' Galaxies Around Not Long After Big Bang, Study Says
Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope to peer some 11 billion light-years into space and as many years back in time have seen something they didn't expect: fully formed galaxies when the universe was still quite young.
This categorization is known as the Hubble Sequence, and scientists have long wondered how long after the Big Bang it took for these islands of stars to form and take their recognizable forms.
BoMee Lee, of the University of Maryland, who is the lead author in the new study, has concluded that the familiar spirals, ellipticals and lenticulars existed at least as far back as 11.5 billion years ago, not long (on a cosmological scale, anyway) after the Big Bang, 13.8 billion years ago.
"The Hubble Sequence underpins a lot of what we know about how galaxies form and evolve; finding it to be in place this far back is a significant discovery," Lee says.
"This is the only comprehensive study to date of the visual appearance of the large, massive galaxies that existed so far back in time," the study's co-author, Arjen van der Wel, said in a statement. "The galaxies look remarkably mature, which is not predicted by galaxy formation models to be the case that early on in the history of the universe."
So, what do they actually look like? The researchers say they "appear to be split between blue star-forming galaxies with a complex structure — including discs, bulges and messy clumps — and massive red galaxies that are no longer forming stars."
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| 0.954838 | 335 | 3.5 | 4 |
Pretty much every home has a fridge, a freezer or a combination unit. They are invaluable tools in the modern world for helping us to store food correctly and safely, making perishables last longer. We have a wide range of foods and diet available to us now thanks to the fridge and the freezer and it is impossible to underestimate the impact they have had on the domestic kitchen, even for those of us who can’t or won’t and probably shouldn’t cook!
However, like all household appliances fridges and freezers cost money to run and since they are on 24 hours a day all year around they do use a lot of electricity. So it is important to make sure that your appliances are running at maximum efficiency to save you electricity and more importantly, money!
Here are some top tips for helping to make sure you are getting the most from your fridge and freezer.
1. Don’t overfill your fridge.
Inside your fridge the cold air needs to be able to circulate as this is how it keeps the food chilled throughout. If your fridge is crammed full the unit has to work even harder to make sure the air can circulate.
2. Keep your freezer nearly full.
3. Defrost your freezer regularly.
Some modern freezes have an automatic defrost setting, but if it doesn’t don’t let the ice build up above about a ¼ of an inch or around 6 millimetres. This level of ice will mean the freezer is working much less efficiently.
4. Check the door seals.
If your appliance door doesn’t shut tightly then you are letting warm air in and cold air out, as well as making the unit work even harder to compensate. Make sure that the sills are still in condition and making a good seal to ensure that you are running efficiently.
5. Keeping the back clean.
The back of the units is not an area we go regularly but this is the place where the dirt and dust builds up and can stop a fridge or freezer from not working correctly. Every now and then give it a quick clean and free of dust.
6. Take care when positioning appliances.
Make sure that you try to keep fridges and freezers away from sources of heat, like cookers, or even direct sunlight. If you have to place units close to each other, try to leave a gap between.
7. Take care with hot food.
It’s common sense but if you have hot food leftovers, make sure you let the food cool before placing it into the fridge. Not only does the fridge have to work harder to compensate but you could inadvertently put other food in the fridge at risk.
8. Use your fridge thermostat correctly.
Make sure it is set right for your fridge within the manufacturer specification and your usage. If your fridge doesn’t have a thermostat then you should consider getting one.
9. Consider replacing
For final advice, if you have an older model fridge or freezer you should consider replacing it with a modern more energy efficient one, or replacing the parts which are not performing efficiently. Most parts can be purchased online. Just remember to make sure to dispose of your old appliance and/or parts correctly.
Follow this advice and soon your fridge and freezer will run most efficiently, saving you electricity and money!
Written by Symon Silvester of SAS EPC Limited.
Photo by Trinity
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| 0.948106 | 708 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Goal and Focus Areas
CEGIB Community Outreach and Education Core
The overall goal of the Community Outreach and Education Core (COEC) of the University of Louisville’s (UofL) Center for Environmental Genomics and Integrative Biology (CEGIB) is to provide environmental health education to Kentucky's under-served and disadvantaged populations.
Our program has been designed to increase the knowledge and risk perception of the complex interactions that exist between the environment, culture, genetics, and disease.
Shelbyville, KY, located in Shelby County
Metro Louisville Area, primarily of Jefferson County
Community as a Complex Network
The CEGIB/COEC initiative views the community as a complex network that requires the application of systems- based approaches to understand and facilitate knowledge exchange within the community, as well as to improve individual and community health.
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| 0.949934 | 175 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Scientist of Transdisciplinary Complex Systems
(1904 – 1980)
Fellow at UC Santa Cruz and member of the UC Board of Regents
Gregory Bateson’s legacy of ideas resonates across many fields, including anthropology, psychology, and biology.
His first contributions were in anthropology, for which his fieldwork led to new understandings of cultural processes. Next, he helped develop cybernetics, a formal approach to the study of complex natural and artificial systems.
Moving to California in 1948, Bateson studied schizophrenia and family dynamics. He and his colleagues developed the “double bind” explanation of schizophrenia and launched the field of family therapy.
Bateson next began studying animal communication, and also began to think about looming crises in our relationship to the environment. In 1972 he took a teaching position at UC Santa Cruz, and later served on the UC Board of Regents.
- The Bateson Building in downtown Sacramento, California is named for him.
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| 0.961951 | 201 | 2.59375 | 3 |
UNICEF's Role in Iraq
UNICEF works to improve the situation of children in Iraq through three key interventions.
1. Support the Government to develop:
2. Increase knowledge on children's rights and issues to inform government decision making and development planning.
3. Advocacy for policies that protect children's rights, including government development plans and budget allocations that prioritize interventions in Iraq's most deprived children.
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| 0.94418 | 84 | 2.703125 | 3 |
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