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With a recent post delving into the murky underground tunnels of London, it seems only right to mention a true gem from another great city’s subterranea – New York City’s long closed City Hall subway station. From the very beginning, this station was envisioned to be the grand centrepiece of a new transport network, yet it has been largely deserted since 1945. Come in and see…
City Hall, situated along what is now known as City Hall Loop, opened on October 27, 1904. It was the original southern terminal of the first ever New York City Subway line, built by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT). Originally christened the “Manhattan Main Line”, it is now part of the IRT Lexington Avenue Line.
City Hall station is far more architecturally elegant than its contempories along the old IRT network, which tend to be more utilitarian. The platform and mezzanine are adorned with skylights, coloured glass tilework and brass chandeliers. The entire structure adopts Guastavino tile, a “Tile Arch System” patented in the United States by Valencian architect/builder Rafael Guastavino in 1885. The result is self-supporting arches and vaults adopting interlocking terracotta tiles and layers of mortar to form a thin skin, with tiles following the curve of the roof – resulting in both awesome architecture and a robust structure.
But for all its architectural wonder, the station was more a decorative exhibition of engineering ability than a functional hub. In reality, City Hall station was never very busy, compounded by the fact that it was built on a tight curve, meaning any attempt to lengthen the platform to cater to the needs of longer post Second World War trains would be a mammoth undertaking. In time, it’s proximity to the far busier Brooklyn Bridge station finally sealed its fate.
While nearby Brooklyn Bridge station, at the opposite end of City Hall Park, provided both local and express services, as well as easy transfers to the Brooklyn Bridge streetcar and Park Row station on the elevated lines above, City Hall had served a meagre 600 passengers per day. As a result, the city decided to close the station and on December 31, 1945 the last stopping train rumbled away from the tired platform. To this day, City Hall loop is used as a turn-around for the Number 6 train, offering discerning passengers a glimpse of the “ghost station” as they rattle through.
In modern times, tours of City Hall above have included the old subway station in the “Beneath City Hall” packages. Unfortunately, plans to reopen the station as a branch of the New York Transit Museum were stalled by the Giuliani adminstration in 1998 due to perceived security risks after terrorist bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. As of 2006, tours began again although to get on one you must now be a registered member of the museum, reserve a place and pay in advance!
City Hall is perhaps the finest but certainly not the only abandoned subway station on the New York network. Beneath the streets of that great city winds a labyrinth of tunnels and passageways, perhaps not as deep, but certainly as mysterious, as its older counterpart, London.
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The lead-contaminated water crisis in Flint, Michigan might have stayed hidden for much longer if it wasn't for the massive volunteer effort by a university research team and the civil engineering professor who organized them and personally funded the project.
Dr. Marc Edwards, an expert in water treatment, and his team of researchers at Virginia Tech sampled and tested Flint’s water in a study last year. This team provided the first comprehensive data that contradicted the city’s own claims that the water in Flint was safe.
Flint's water problems came to Edwards' attention when he was contacted by Flint resident LeeAnne Walters, according to a detailed Rolling Stone article. Walters, a mother, was concerned about the water's unpleasant smell, brownish hue, and seemingly toxic effects, and went looking for answers when state and local government were unresponsive.
Last week, the team’s Flint Water Study website released some figures estimating the total cost of their efforts. They had $33,383 in assets to put toward the project — most of it from a National Science Foundation RAPID Grant — and ended up taking on $180,917 in expenses for sampling, water tests, laboratory supplies, and more.
That’s a net deficit of $147,174, which Edwards covered with his own discretionary research and personal funds. The Flint Water Study team of 25 students and research scientists also estimated their total donated labor at more than 6,000 hours, which they valued at over $165,000 based on the hourly rates of the team members.
"[It's a] trivial cost compared to the damage we prevented," Edwards said in an email to ATTN:. "Best investment we could have made into society."
To recoup some of their expenses, the team announced a GoFundMe page, which had received $6,029 of a $150,000 goal at the time this writing.
So why did a Virginia Tech professor have to offer up a six-figure sum from his own funds in order to ensure safe water for Flint residents, when the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) — which is charged with providing the kind of oversight and testing that the Flint Water Study team undertook — operated with a $502 million budget last year?
“You’re absolutely right — it’s an outrage,” said Flint Water Study researcher and communications director Siddhartha Roy, when asked that question in an interview with ATTN:. “These government agencies and systems failed to perform these tests, when all of their resources and testing [methods] are put in place precisely to make sure the public isn’t harmed [by decisions like this].”
“We also ask the question: What if Marc hadn’t had the money and resources, or what if he wasn’t personally interested?” Roy added. “Where would we be now in that case?”
Roy also credited Flint pediatrician Mona Hanna-Attisha’s work analyzing the rising blood lead levels in Flint’s children for helping to bring the city’s water crisis to national attention. Lead levels in the blood can cause health problems and cognitive defects in people of any age, but the developing brains of children leave them especially vulnerable.
Since the Flint water scandal broke in headlines last year, numerous experts have said that proper chemical testing could have easily predicted the lead leaching that resulted when Flint switched its water supply from the Great Lakes to the Flint River in 2014.
Instead, Edwards' research team from Virginia started performing the tests on their own in mid-2015.
Edwards is no stranger to lead contamination issues. He previously investigated dangerous lead levels in the water supply in Washington, D.C., and his research there led to a Washington Post report and a 2010 congressional investigation that savagely criticized the CDC’s handling of that case.
To fund the D.C. investigation, Roy said, Edwards took out a mortgage on his house.
“This is something that [Professor Edwards] does because he cares deeply about the fact that bad policy decisions can harm people,” Roy said. “Especially so in cases of lead contamination.”
In Flint, not only did city officials and MDEQ not help the VT team with the undertaking, Roy said, they actively tried to discourage and discredit their research. Professor Edwards said in interviews that the city and MDEQ tried to put together contradictory data by cherry-picking water sampling sites and avoiding re-testing homes that provided high lead results, among other tactics.
MDEQ did not respond to email and phone requests from ATTN: for comment before press time. We will update as needed.
Back in October, MDEQ director Dan Wyant — who later resigned from his post — released a comment to The Detroit News:
"Our actions reflected inexperience, and our public response to criticism was the wrong tone early in this conversation. But the best we can do with the situation going forward is represented in our present course . . . We will learn from this. We will make necessary changes to see to it that our program becomes a national leader in [lead] protection.”
In November 2015, MLive reported that Flint water officials filed false reports with state regulators about the city's lead testing. City officials claimed that water samples they sent to the state for required tests came from high-risk homes with lead service lines, but the city’s own documents, uncovered by a Freedom of Information Act request from The Flint Journal-MLive, showed that the samples actually came from homes with low risk of lead leaching.
“In D.C., Mark saw errors on the part of the EPA and CDC — not just not acting, but doing the exact opposite, harming the entire process,” Roy said. “In Flint it was the same — MDEQ went out of their way to discredit our research.”
The political fallout from the scandal has been a fireworks show: MDEQ director Wyant and spokesperson Brad Wurfel resigned in December, and public figures including Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders have called on Michigan Governor Rick Snyder (R) to resign, despite the governor's official apology over the crisis.
Snyder also released 274 pages of his personal emails from 2014 and 2015 to appease his critics in the Flint scandal.
The Flint Water Study team recently applied for a $50,000 follow-up grant from the National Science Foundation, but other than that, their GoFundMe page is the only avenue the team has to recover their costs, Roy said.
“We do like to joke sometimes that [MDEQ and the state government] should reimburse us for all the work that we’ve done,” Roy said. “I don’t know of anything happening with that right now, though."
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Treemaps [Johnson and Shneiderman, 1991] are a rectangular, space-filling approach for visualizing hierarchical data. They use 2D visualization of trees where the tree nodes are encapsulated into the area of their parent node. The size of the single nodes is determined proportionally in relation to all other nodes of the hierarchy by an attribute of the node.
External Links
- Home of Treemap (HCIL, University of Maryland)
- Treemap related Software Applications
- TreeMap Java Library
- JIDE TreeMap: Commercial Java Library
- Treemaps of your own files, spreadsheets, databases, processes etc
- A very fast tool that can create treemaps that look like business graphics
- Web Based Visual Exploration of Patent Information
- Macrofocus TreeMap
- [HCIL, 2003] Human-Computer Interaction Lab / University of Maryland, Treemap. Created at: August 5, 2003. Retrieved at: October 3, 2005. http://www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/treemap/
- [Johnson and Shneiderman, 1991] Johnson, B. and Shneiderman, B. Treemaps: A Space-Filling Approach to the Visualization of Hierarchical Information Structures. In Proceedings of the IEEE Information Visualization ’91, pages 275–282, IEEE, 1991.
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A milestone in Arctic sea ice minimum was officially reach today according to continous updates done by IJIS from satellite measurements. We may say we don't care about this uninhabitable area which mostly are of interests for some white fur coated bears. Then we're wrong accoring to the science.
|The extent of sea ice in Arctic is now below 4 km2|
The Arctic ice is working as an giant refrigerator for the nothern hemisphere and without it, we could get changes to our climate we might not want to experience.
It is quite possible that this accelerating decrease in summer ice extent has not been present on the earth at least the last 2,5 million years according to paleoclimate knowledge. In other words long before any Homo sapiens walked on earth.
But who cares - this experiment is only interesting to continue? - to see if current knowledge of the result will be fulfilled...
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Historical Information on the Admission on Women to the U.S. Military Academy
On October 8, 1975 , the President of the United States signed into law a bill directing that women would be admitted to America ’s service academies. The law stated that:
“. . . the Secretaries of the military departments concerned shall take such action as may be necessary and appropriate to insure that (1) female individuals shall be eligible for appointment and admission to the service academy concerned, beginning in calendar year 1976, and (2) “the academic and other relevant standards required for appointment, (admission) training, graduation and commissioning of female individuals shall be the same as those required for male individuals, except for those minimum essential adjustments in such standards required because of physiological differences between male and female individuals.”
In preparation for the entrance of women, Military Academy staff, faculty and cadets visited many locations, such as the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (which admitted women in the Summer of 1974); the Women’s Army Corps Training Center at Fort McClellan, Ala.; Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) summer camps where women ROTC cadets were undergoing rigorous field training along with men; coeducational police academies; women’s sports camps; and civilian colleges. The visits developed as accurate a database as possible, so that decisions concerning women’s admission would be sound.
In the spring of 1975, then-Secretary of the Army Howard H. Callaway issued specific guidance concerning West Point ’s planning for the possible admission of women. He stated that as a basic philosophical approach, men and women cadets would follow one track during their cadet experience with only those minimum essential adjustments demanded by physiological differences between men and women. The Military Academy agreed with that philosophy, since it preserved important strengths of West Point , such as the unity of the Corps of Cadets and the commonalty of experience shared by all cadets.
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LEEKS: Reasons to Eat Them, Secrets to Prepping Them, & Tips on Using Them
Leeks, like garlic and onions, belong to a vegetable family called the Allium vegetables. And like garlic and onions, they contain many of the same beneficial compounds found in these well-researched, health-promoting vegetables.
With their unique combination of flavonoids and sulfur-containing nutrients, the allium vegetables belong in your diet on a regular basis. There's researched evidence that promotes including at least one serving of an allium vegetable in your meal plan every day. If you're choosing leeks, make your individual portion 1/2 cup or greater, and try to include at least one cup of chopped leeks in your recipes.
While low in calories, they are high in vitamins K, A, C, B6, folate, manganese, iron, magnesium, molybdenum, copper, calcium, potassium, and fiber.
Leeks look like large scallions, having a very small bulb and a long white cylindrical stalk of superimposed layers that flows into green, tightly wrapped, flat leaves. Garden grown leeks are about 12 inches in length and one to two inches in diameter and feature a fragrant flavor that is reminiscent of shallots but sweeter and more subtle. Wild leeks, known as ramps, are much smaller in size and have a stronger, more intense flavor.
Although leeks are available throughout the year they are in season from the fall through the early part of spring when they are at their best.
Many people are unfamiliar with how to cook leeks or how to include them into their eating plan. Professional chefs and nutritionists recommend cutting them very thinly and sauteing them. Like their allium cousins, onions and garlic, leeks should sit for at least 5 minutes after cutting and before cooking, to enhance their health-promoting qualities.
Here are a few preparation tips I found on WholeFoods.com:
1) Cut off green tops of leeks and remove outer tough leaves.
2) Cut off root and cut leeks in half lengthwise.
3) Fan out the leeks and rinse well under running water, leaving them intact.
4) Cut leeks into 2-inch lengths.
5) Holding the leek sections cut side up, cut lengthwise so that you end up with thin strips, known as the chiffonade cut, slicing until you reach the green portion. Very thin slices will shorten cooking time.
6) Important and worth repeating: Let leeks sit for at least 5 minutes before cooking.
Wholefoods.com also had suggestions on the healthiest way to cook leeks:
1) Heat 3 tablespoons of broth in 10-12 inch stainless steel skillet until it begins to steam.
2) Add 1 pound of cut and well-washed leeks.
3) Cover and saute for 4 minutes.
4) Add 2 more tablespoons of broth, reduce heat to medium low, and saute for 3 more minutes uncovered while stirring frequently.
5) Toss with 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, 1 teaspoon of lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste.
And finally, here are a few WholeFood.com quick serving ideas
Saute leeks and fennel together then garnish with fresh lemon juice and thyme.
Add fresh, finely chopped leeks to salads.
Make vichyssoise, a cold soup made from pureed cooked leeks and potatoes.
Add leeks to broth and stews for extra flavoring.
Use braised leeks, sprinkled with fennel or mustard seeds, as a tasty and unique side dish for fish, poultry or steak.
Add sliced leeks to your favorite omelet or frittata recipe.
With a more delicate and sweeter flavor than onions, leeks add a subtle touch to recipes without overpowering the other flavors that are present. Once you discover this unique vegetable, it could easily become one of your basic cooking ingredients.
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Baseline Meningococcal Carriage in Burkina Faso Before the Introduction of a Meningococcal Serogroup A Conjugate Vaccine
The vaccine MenAfriVac™ has the potential to confer herd immunity by reducing carriage prevalence of epidemic strains. To better understand this phenomenon, the authors of this article, published in Clinical and Vaccine Immunology, initiated a meningococcal carriage study to determine the baseline carriage rate and serogroup distribution before vaccine introduction in the 1- to 29-year old population in Burkina Faso, the group chosen for the first introduction of the vaccine. A multiple cross-sectional carriage study was conducted in one urban and two rural districts in Burkina Faso in 2009. Carriage prevalence was the highest in the rural districts and in the dry season, but serogroup distribution also varied by district. This study forms a solid basis for evaluating the impact of MenAfriVac™ introduction on serogroup A carriage. ABSTRACT ONLY. (Learn how users in developing countries can gain free access to journal articles.)
Author: Kristiansen PA, Diomandé F, Wei SC, et al.
» Visit web page (English)
(Located at cvi.asm.org)
Citation: Kristiansen PA, Diomandé F, Wei SC, et al. Baseline Meningococcal Carriage in Burkina Faso Before the Introduction of a Meningococcal Serogroup A Conjugate Vaccine. Clinical and Vaccine Immunology. 2011;18(3):435–443.
Resource types: Peer-reviewed journal
Topics: Disease burden and surveillance
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- opinion (n.)
- c. 1300, from Old French opinion "opinion, view, judgements founded upon probabilities" (12c.), from Latin opinionem (nominative opinio) "opinion, conjecture, fancy, belief, what one thinks; appreciation, esteem," from stem of opinari "think, judge, suppose, opine," from PIE *op- (2) "to choose" (see option).
Where there is much desire to learn, there of necessity will be much arguing, much writing, many opinions; for opinion in good men is but knowledge in the making. [Milton, "Areopagitica"]
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Green Engineering Principle #1
Inherent Rather Than Circumstantial
Designers need to strive to ensure that all materials and energy inputs and outputs are as inherently nonhazardous as possible.
Contributed by Dr. David Constable, Director, ACS Green Chemistry Institute®
All chemicals have properties that help us to characterize and differentiate them from each other. Chemists and chemical engineers are most familiar with properties like boiling point, melting points, freezing points, vapor pressure, water solubility, and so forth. Chemical engineers are also more familiar with properties like flammability, explosivity, compressibility, viscosity, and other properties that affect heat and mass transfer, etc. Most chemists and chemical engineers are less familiar with properties related to toxicity to environmental organisms and humans, and this is one of the things this principle has in view.
The second thing this principle has in view is a systems perspective; i.e., the ability to do mass and energy balances around a unit operation, a chemical process, a facility, or an even larger, more comprehensive and complex system like an industrial park or petrochemical complex. Fundamental to a mass and energy balance is the ability to map inputs and outputs to and from a system or around any boundary you may wish to define.
A third thing this principle assumes is the importance of design and the key role designers. Bill McDonough in his book “Cradle to Cradle” says that design is a signal of intent. I have always felt that this is a great summation of the importance design; it’s absolutely critical to have the best intention. This principle is asking designers of manufacturing processes or products to actively intend that the materials and energy used to make a product have the lowest adverse impact possible.
In the case of materials, designers need to select chemicals or materials made from or with chemicals whose properties will not cause harm to the environment or to people throughout their life cycle. In the case of energy, most designers capitulate to what is readily available – electricity and steam – both of which owe their production primarily to fossil fuels. However, not all energy is created equal in terms of its toxicity profile and its overall efficiency (conversion through transmission through use), even if one is constrained to fossil fuels. Moreover, with the right choice of chemicals and materials, a designer can control how much energy is required and the form of that energy; e.g., heating, cooling, light, microwave, pressure, etc. So please don’t capitulate. Energy matters in terms of putting toxics into the environment as much as, or is some cases, more than the choice of chemicals.
Green engineering demands—even in just this first principle—that you pay attention to a larger set of specifications or design constraints than you otherwise might. If all you intend to do is make something new and bring it to market as quickly as possible, this can at first seem overwhelming. But this is the task at hand if we want to live in sustainable world.
Next to Green Engineering Principle #2
Back to the 12 Principles of Green Engineering
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This is a slightly-modified version of a TCS interview with David Deutsch, from Taking Children Seriously, the paper journal (TCS 4, published in 1992.)
One in three households in America own video games. In Britain, the figure is eleven per cent. As the market here expands, more and more parents will have to face the issue. Are computer games really addictive? Is the violence and sexism damaging to children's psychological well-being? Are there risks associated with the X-ray emissions from television screens?
I went to interview David Deutsch, winner of the highly prestigious Dirac Prize for Theoretical Physics, and author of The Fabric of Reality, a best-selling book about the borderline between physics and philosophy. Many readers will have seen him on television – on anything from daytime chat shows to “Reality on the Rocks”, a television programme in which he talked about his work on the many worlds interpretation of quantum theory. You may also have read his article on the physics of time travel in the “Scientific American” in March 1994, or his wonderful commentary on Michael Lockwood's “‘Many Minds’ Interpretations of Quantum Mechanics”: “Comment on Lockwood” (p. 222-228) in The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science Volume 47, Number 2, June 1996, OUP. David Deutsch is also planning a book on non-coercive education which will be of great interest to TCS readers. Far from believing computer games to be harmful, David believes them to be very good for children. I asked him what is so good about computer games.
David Deutsch: In a way, that is the wrong question, because it assumes that there is something obviously bad about video games, which might be offset by benefits I might mention. But there's nothing wrong with video games. So let's ask first, “Why do so many adults hate them? What evidence is there that there is anything bad about them?”
If you look at it closely, the evidence boils down to no more than the fact that children like video games. There seems to be a very common tendency among parents to regard children liking something as prima facie evidence that it is bad for them. If they are spending a lot of time doing something, parents wonder what harm it must be doing them. I think this is fundamentally the wrong attitude.
The right attitude is: if children are spending a lot of time doing something, let's try to find ways of letting them do even more of it. Prima facie, the fact that they like doing it is an indication that it is good for them.
I think that overwhelmingly the thing which draws people's attention to video games is the fact that children like them. People jump from that solitary piece of evidence to the conclusion that there must be something wrong with video games!
As it happens, I believe that playing video games is very good for you but, I think, even more important than understanding why it is good for you, is to understand and avoid the temptation of saying that if you like it, it must be bad for you.
Now, why is playing video games good for you? They provide a unique learning environment. They provide something which for most of human history was not available, namely, an interactive complex entity that is accessible at low cost and zero risk.
Let's compare video games with other great educational things in the world. Books and television have great complexity and diversity – they give you access to almost every aspect of human culture and knowledge – but they are not interactive. On the other hand, something like playing the piano is also complex, and interactive, but it requires an enormous initial investment (months or years of practice or training) with the associated huge risk of misplacing that investment. One cannot make many such investments in one's life. I should say, of course, that the most educational thing in the world is conversation. That does have the property that it is complex, interactive, and ought to have a low cost, although often between children and adults it has a high cost and high risk for the children, but it should not and need not.
Apart from conversation, all the complex interactive things require a huge initial investment, except video games, and I think video games are a breakthrough in human culture for that reason. They are not some transient, fringe aspect of culture; they are destined to be an important means of human learning for the rest of history, because of this interactive element. Why is being interactive so important? Because interacting with a complex entity is what life and thinking and creativity and art and science are all about.
In The Face magazine (December 1992, page 46),
Dr Margaret Shotton, author of Computer Addiction?, is quoted as saying, “Apart from increasing your manual dexterity and hand to eye coordination, video games speed up your neural pathways.” This, the writer says, allows knowledge to travel around quicker, thus speeding up judgements and decisions, possibly leading to a higher IQ. Margaret Shotton, like David Deutsch, believes that parents who disapprove of their children playing computer games are mistaken, but David Deutsch is sceptical about the neural pathways theory. Perhaps surprisingly, he doubts that computer games improve hand-eye coordination.
D: Life improves one's hand-eye coordination. One spends one's whole life picking things up and doing fine finger movements, which one does in video games as well, but video games, if they are well designed, tend to use skills which people already have. If they go too far beyond what people already have, they tend to be less attractive as video games. They are then more like playing the piano, which requires a new kind of physical skill. Video games do not really impart a new kind of physical skill; what they impart is the fundamental mental skill, of understanding a complex and autonomous world.
S: Many parents would agree that conversation is very valuable, and it is because their children spend so many hours playing computer games instead of conversing, that they worry.
D: I do not accept that children play video games instead of conversation. They love both, and there is plenty of time in a day for many hours of video games and many hours of conversation – especially since, in my experience, it is perfectly possible to play video games and talk at the same time. Most parents do not talk enough to their children. If they want to talk to their children, let them do so. If the conversation is interesting enough, the children will talk. They will either talk during the video game or, if it is very interesting, they may postpone the video game. Forcing them to give up the video game in order to talk will make the resulting conversation worthless.
S: Could the number of hours children spend playing computer games be harmful?
D: Let me answer that question in two ways. First, how do you know what the appropriate number of hours is? Nobody can know that. If your children were playing chess for several hours a day, you would boast about what geniuses they are. There is no intrinsic difference between chess and a video game, or indeed, even between things like playing the piano and playing video games, except that playing the piano has this enormous initial cost. They are similar kinds of activity. One of them is culturally sanctioned and the other is still culturally stigmatised, but for no good reason. I spent a lot of time playing with Lego when I was a child. For some reason, it never occurred to my parents that because I spent hours and hours with Lego, this was bad for me. If it had occurred to them, they could have done a lot of harm. I know now, for myself, that the thing which makes me play video games today is identical to the thing which made me play with Lego then – which is, by the way, the very same thing that makes me do science – that is, the impulse to understand things.
D: There is a myth going around that because of the increasing importance of computers, soon everybody will need to be “computer-literate,” that is, able to program computers. It is like saying that the Channel Tunnel will soon be in extensive use, so we should all learn how to dig. Computer literacy is like dentistry, mathematics, or agricultural engineering: it is wonderful for those who like it – like me – but useless for those who don't. John Holt identified this myth. He hated the term “computer literacy” because the very term has behind it lots and lots of lessons, and it justifies a whole new type of coercion. Computer literacy, unlike reading, is not a general purpose skill. It is a specific skill which is right for some people and wrong for others. I see no reason to expect most children to like computer programming. Of course, forcing children to program is a good way of making sure they do not take it up, but I think even if you don't force them, there is no reason why most of them should become interested in it.
Could it be harmful? Suppose a child is for some reason unhappy with his situation – his home life or school or whatever – and he has very few creative outlets. Playing video games is such a good thing in this respect, that if he finds it, and finds other avenues blocked off, he may devote all his attention to it. Later, if his circumstances change, he may not be as open to taking up other opportunities as he might have been. If that is so, it is not the video game that is doing him harm, it is that he has been funnelled down a blind alley and not let out. The thing to do is to let him out, not to steal his last remaining source of joy and learning. If someone is in that state, just like with any compulsive behaviour, the cure is simply to offer him other things which he might prefer. There will be some things which he prefers; nobody actually spends twenty-four hours a day playing video games so, in the remaining time, try conversation, try anything. If that does not work, don't blame the video game. Be thankful that there is still something good in the child's life, to tide him over.
But such cases are exceptional. On the whole, if we are talking about how the overwhelming majority of children interact with video games, the reason they sit in front of them for hours is that they are very valuable things to sit in front of. The skills they are learning are needed in every creative aspect of life, and children will always be short of opportunities to learn them. The natural and healthy state of human beings is that we are constantly looking for opportunities to improve our thinking skills, to improve the complexity and the subtlety of the mental apparatus which we apply to the world. Traditionally, this has been expensive, but people still did it. Even learning to play chess is expensive, compared with learning to play a video game. The expense does not make it any more moral. It is a disadvantage of chess or playing the piano that they have this initial cost.
One of the ways you can tell that playing video games is not something which captures people and then holds them to their detriment is that each video game has only a finite lifetime. Video game playing almost always follows a definite pattern. People try a video game, and they tell with one or two playings of it whether this is for them or not. If they like it, they tend to continue to play it for as long as they are still improving. The instant they are no longer improving, they stop, and they go on to another game. That is neither random behaviour, nor any kind of mechanical, Pavlovian or compulsive behaviour. It is typical learning behaviour: you are improving at something, and, so long as you are improving, you carry on doing it; the moment you stop improving, you stop doing it.
You might say, okay, you are learning something, but what you are learning is not really very useful. But that is to misunderstand the whole point of the video game. The benefit of a video game is not that you learn the video game; it is that you learn the mental skills with which you are learning the video game, and those skills are good for learning anything.
S: Could the element of violence present in many video games be harmful?
D: First of all, it is not the case that most video games nowadays have violent themes. This used to be true a few years ago, and the reason for that was not at all sinister. The technology for making images appear rapidly on the screen was in its infancy, and it took a great deal of ingenuity to make games out of the very few basic operations possible. I remember having a conversation with John Holt about this in about 1983. Although, of course, he would never have stopped a child playing video games, he was worried about the “violent” aspect of the “shoot-em-up” games that dominated the market then. I said, “You try to write one. It is very difficult not to write a shooting game.” I predicted that within a few years, once the video technology got faster, most games would not be about shooting things at all.
The most popular types of games nowadays are platform games, whose basic themes are exploring, jumping around, finding and collecting things (though admittedly one usually has to fight the occasional monster on the way),
and completely abstract games such as Tetris. By the way, I play a lot of video games, and they haven't done me any harm, so there! :-) Some of my favourite games are “shoot-em-up” games – perhaps I'm just old-fashioned. But whatever the type of game, it is not violence. Violence is where you hurt people. Games just appear on a screen; they don't actually hurt anybody. The only actual hurting that goes on is by parents when they prevent or discourage children from playing.
All games need an object and, if there are people in the game, it is natural to have drama, which means there will be goodies and baddies. The same is true in all drama, in all novels, plays, films, or whatever. If King Lear were the first play a person had seen, he might come out severely shocked. But once you know what a play is, have seen a bit of Shakespeare and know what it is about, you know that King Lear is not actually dangerous, that people don't go around after seeing King Lear, plucking people's eyes out. People are not harmed by seeing King Lear if they have reached the stage of wanting to see it gradually, at their own pace, for their own reasons, under their own control. Video games are par excellence a learning environment that is under one's own control, and that prevents them from being harmful.
S: Somebody made the point to me that playing computer games arouses the fight or flight impulse, and gives children too much excess energy. This idea apparently came from Four arguments for the elimination of television. Parents do worry that seeing violence on screen is much more damaging than seeing violence in a play because video games appear to draw people in very deeply and make them addicted.
D: I think that is completely untrue. The only evidence that video games are addictive is that people play them. All this talk about “excess energy” or being “drawn in” and so on is not what scientists would call experimental data. The data are that the child is playing the video game. That is the only thing you know for a fact. You can't see this “drawn in” business. That is just an interpretation parents put on what has happened. Pure theory, based on their own preconceptions. I am not making a value judgement here. I am just stating a fact. My judgement is that these preconceptions are wrong and that children play video games because they instinctively recognise their educational value.
When you play video games, you are using the emotional part of your mind as well, because when you interact with complex external entities, you engage your emotions as well as your intellect. Anything worth doing engages the emotions. What would you say about somebody who learned to play the piano, but never got emotionally involved? I remember once, I came back to playing the Appassionata after a long time, and I ended up with blood all over the keys. (It was not as bad as it sounds.) I saw that I had a cut, but I did not want to stop, so I carried on playing. If that had been a video game and I had been younger, people would have used that as evidence of addiction.
Perhaps children feel violent when they are forced to stop playing, and quite right too! Of course somebody who does not like television is likely to be prejudiced against video games, because they are related. Television has advantages, namely, that it is a more diverse opening to culture. On the other hand, it is not interactive. Video games are interactive, but they are less diverse. They both have their strengths and weaknesses.
D: LCD screens, such as those on hand-held game-playing machines, emit no radiation at all. The radiation from a television screen is negligible. Even the radiation televisions do give off comes mostly from the sides and the back, not from the screen. It is completely crazy to react to that tiny “danger” by preventing children from playing video games. If you can't help worrying irrationally about it, get a radiation shield for the screen, or an ultra low radiation monitor.
S: Should we be concerned about the sexism in some games?
D: The way to combat false ideas is not to censor them but to contradict them. Most of the great literature of the world is sexist, and more generally, riddled with all sorts of false and irrational ideas, as well as valuable ones. Nobody would want to cut himself off from all culture just because it is “something-ist.” The sexism of some video games is a minor and easily corrected fault. Once you have pointed out to your child how silly it is, she will be able to recognise sexism in other contexts.
I think one thing that is sinister is how boys play video games much more than girls. This is part of the same phenomenon that makes girls reluctant to do science, reluctant to go into management and business, reluctant to do anything creative and effective in the world. It is an effect down a long chain of cause and effect which began with things like being dressed in pink costumes when they were babies. The whole pattern of behaviour towards a girl rewards her for suppressing her creativity. One of the unpleasant side effects of this is that it makes girls suppress the side of them that would like video games. The reason why this effect is more marked in video games is that video games are so well suited for developing creative skills.
People are so much more complicated than these simplistic theories of what “influences” them. Human beings are not laboratory rats, and do not react like laboratory rats. Look at Eastern Europe, where they used to control what everybody read, and gave them a constant diet of Marxist propaganda, which they had to learn by heart in school, and repeat with eagerness in their voices: in spite of all that, it did not rub off on the overwhelming majority of them, and even those people are rapidly regretting it. The children went to school; they learned the stuff the same way children do everywhere. The fact that it was Marxist propaganda did not make it any more or less easy to swallow than what children are taught in our schools, but it did not go in, any more than what children are taught in our schools goes in.
I think that all these fears are a posteriori – you first know the conclusion, which is that you must stop him playing the video game, and then you invent the reasons. The reason why video games are hated is that they are, in the true sense, educational. Of course people don't put it like that, but that is what it comes down to.
S: Most parents are really very keen to educate their children. Many have no objection to educational games.
D: But they have a preconception, a vision, of what education must look like, which results largely from psychological injuries inflicted on them in their own childhood in the name of education. They make the fundamental mistake of human relationships, which is to try to use force to make the other person act out your vision of him, instead of looking to see who the other person actually is, and what he wants, and trying to help him get what he wants. The market tends to do the latter – it tends to do the right thing – and so games which are made for money tend to be good for you. A video game which is designed to be “educational”, like everything which is designed to be “educational”, tends to be bad. It is making that fundamental error of trying to channel children into a predetermined vision.
Looking at this more broadly, learning to read is an educational video game. Learning to play a musical instrument is an educational video game. Some of these good things by accident have got social sanction. If children get “addicted” to those things, parents overflow with pride. But there is no better criterion for finding out whether something is good for you than whether you enjoy it. There can't be.
Sir Karl Popper once said “the belief that truth is manifest is the basis of all tyranny”. The fact is, the truth is not manifest. The truth can only be found by a critical process, by a creative process, by a process that is open, and our only criterion for whether one idea is better than another is whether we prefer it. We have to look at the ideas, and use criticism – everything must be open to criticism – to find which of them is ultimately preferable. We have to be willing to change and change again. If you have a power structure where a single idea of what is right is imposed by force, then that can never be criticised, and the chances of approaching the truth are nil.
Children playing video games – regardless of subject matter – are learning. Adults who prevent this are preventing them from learning.
S: But there is a whole world out there for children to find out about, to explore...
D: And I suppose that's why people lock them up in schools! Even home educating parents tend not to allow their children enough access to the world, just as schooling parents don't. Anyway, the video game world is a complex autonomous world. It is an artificial world, but then so is the street outside. The point is not what world you are learning about, but that you are learning how to understand the world.
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Carl Rogers (1902-1987) was a humanistic psychologist who agreed with the main assumptions of Abraham Maslow, but added that for a person to "grow", they need an environment that provides them with genuineness (openness and self-disclosure), acceptance (being seen with unconditional positive regard), and empathy (being listened to and understood).
Without these, relationships and healthy personalities will not develop as they should, much like a tree will not grow without sunlight and water.
Rogers believed that every person can achieve their goals, wishes and desires in life. When, or rather if they did so, self actualization took place. This was one of Carl Rogers most important contributions to psychology and for a person to reach their potential a number of factors must be satisfied.
"The organism has one basic tendency and striving - to actualize, maintain, and enhance the experiencing organism” (Rogers, 1951, p. 487).
Rogers rejected the deterministic nature of both psychoanalysis and behaviorism and maintained that we behave as we do because of the way we perceive our situation. "As no one else can know how we perceive, we are the best experts on ourselves."
Carl Rogers (1959) believed that humans have one basic motive, that is the tendency to self-actualize - i.e. to fulfill one's potential and achieve the highest level of 'human-beingness' we can. Like a flower that will grow to its full potential if the conditions are right, but which is constrained by its environment, so people will flourish and reach their potential if their environment is good enough.
However, unlike a flower, the potential of the individual human is unique, and we are meant to develop in different ways according to our personality. Rogers believed that people are inherently good and creative. They become destructive only when a poor self-concept or external constraints override the valuing process. Carl Rogers believed that for a person to achieve self-actualization they must be in a state of congruence.
This means that self-actualization occurs when a person’s “ideal self” (i.e. who they would like to be) is congruent with their actual behavior (self-image). Rogers describes an individual who is actualizing as a fully functioning person. The main determinant of whether we will become self-actualized is childhood experience.
Rogers believed that every person could achieve their goals, wishes, and desires in life. When they did so self-actualization took place. For Rogers (1961) people who are able be self-actualize, and that is not all of us, are called fully functioning persons. This means that the person is in touch with the here and now, his or her subjective experiences and feelings, continually growing and changing.
In many ways Rogers regarded the fully functioning person as an ideal and one that people do not ultimately achieve. It is wrong to think of this as an end or completion of life’s journey; rather it is a process of always becoming and changing.
Rogers identified five characteristics of the fully functioning person:
2. Existential living: in touch with different experiences as they occur in life, avoiding prejudging and preconceptions. Being able to live and fully appreciate the present, not always looking back to the past or forward to the future (i.e. living for the moment).
3. Trust feelings: feeling, instincts and gut-reactions are paid attention to and trusted. People’s own decisions are the right ones and we should trust ourselves to make the right choices.
4. Creativity: creative thinking and risk taking are features of a person’s life. A person does not play safe all the time. This involves the ability to adjust and change and seek new experiences.
5. Fulfilled life: person is happy and satisfied with life, and always looking for new challenges and experiences.
For Rogers, fully functioning people are well adjusted, well balanced and interesting to know. Often such people are high achievers in society. Critics claim that the fully functioning person is a product of Western culture. In other cultures, such as Eastern cultures, the achievement of the group is valued more highly than the achievement of any one person.
Central to Rogers' personality theory is the notion of self or self-concept. This is defined as "the organized, consistent set of perceptions and beliefs about oneself".
The self is the humanistic term for who we really are as a person. The self is our inner personality, and can be likened to the soul, or Freud's psyche. The self is influenced by the experiences a person has in their life, and out interpretations of those experiences. Two primary sources that influence our self-concept are childhood experiences and evaluation by others.
According to Rogers (1959), we want to feel, experience and behave in ways which are consistent with our self-image and which reflect what we would like to be like, our ideal-self. The closer our self-image and ideal-self are to each other, the more consistent or congruent we are and the higher our sense of self-worth.
A person is said to be in a state of incongruence if some of the totality of their experience is unacceptable to them and is denied or distorted in the self-image.
The humanistic approach states that the self is composed of concepts unique to ourselves. The self-concept includes three components:
Self worth (or self-esteem) what we think about ourselves. Rogers believed feelings of self-worth developed in early childhood and were formed from the interaction of the child with the mother and father.
Self-image How we see ourselves, which is important to good psychological health. Self-image includes the influence of our body image on inner personality. At a simple level, we might perceive ourselves as a good or bad person, beautiful or ugly. Self-image has an effect on how a person thinks, feels and behaves in the world.
Ideal self This is the person who we would like to be. It consists of our goals and ambitions in life, and is dynamic i.e. forever changing. The ideal self in childhood is not the ideal self in our teens or late twenties etc.
Carl Rogers (1951) viewed the child as having two basic needs: positive regard from other people and self-worth.
How we think about ourselves, our feelings of self-worth are of fundamental importance both to psychological health and to the likelihood that we can achieve goals and ambitions in life and achieve self-actualization.
Self-worth may be seen as a continuum from very high to very low. For Carl Rogers (1959) a person who has high self-worth, that is, has confidence and positive feelings about him or herself, faces challenges in life, accepts failure and unhappiness at times, and is open with people.
A person with low self-worth may avoid challenges in life, not accept that life can be painful and unhappy at times, and will be defensive and guarded with other people.
Rogers believed feelings of self-worth developed in early childhood and were formed from the interaction of the child with the mother and father. As a child grows older, interactions with significant others will affect feelings of self-worth.
Rogers believed that we need to be regarded positively by others; we need to feel valued, respected, treated with affection and loved. Positive regard is to do with how other people evaluate and judge us in social interaction. Rogers made a distinction between unconditional positive regard and conditional positive regard.
Unconditional positive regard is where parents, significant others (and the humanist therapist) accepts and loves the person for what he or she is. Positive regard is not withdrawn if the person does something wrong or makes a mistake.
The consequences of unconditional positive regard are that the person feels free to try things out and make mistakes, even though this may lead to getting it worse at times. People who are able to self-actualize are more likely to have received unconditional positive regard from others, especially their parents in childhood.
Conditional positive regard is where positive regard, praise and approval, depend upon the child, for example, behaving in ways that the parents think correct. Hence the child is not loved for the person he or she is, but on condition that he or she behaves only in ways approved by the parent(s).
At the extreme, a person who constantly seeks approval from other people is likely only to have experienced conditional positive regard as a child.
A person’s ideal self may not be consistent with what actually happens in life and experiences of the person. Hence, a difference may exist between a person’s ideal self and actual experience. This is called incongruence.
Where a person’s ideal self and actual experience are consistent or very similar, a state of congruence exists. Rarely, if ever, does a total state of congruence exist; all people experience a certain amount of incongruence.
The development of congruence is dependent on unconditional positive regard. Carl Rogers believed that for a person to achieve self-actualization they must be in a state of congruence.
According to Rogers, we want to feel, experience and behave in ways which are consistent with our self-image and which reflect what we would like to be like, our ideal-self.
The closer our self-image and ideal-self are to each other, the more consistent or congruent we are and the higher our sense of self-worth. A person is said to be in a state of incongruence if some of the totality of their experience is unacceptable to them and is denied or distorted in the self-image.
Incongruence is "a discrepancy between the actual experience of the organism and the self-picture of the individual insofar as it represents that experience.
As we prefer to see ourselves in ways that are consistent with our self-image, we may use defense mechanisms like denial or repression in order to feel less threatened by some of what we consider to be our undesirable feelings. A person whose self-concept is incongruent with her or his real feelings and experiences will defend because the truth hurts.
"When I look at the world I'm pessimistic, but when I look at people I am optimistic."
"The very essence of the creative is its novelty, and hence we have no standard by which to judge it" (Rogers, 1961, p. 351).
"I have gradually come to one negative conclusion about the good life. It seems to me that the good life is not any fixed state. It is not, in my estimation, a state of virtue, or contentment, or nirvana, or happiness. It is not a condition in which the individual is adjusted or fulfilled or actualized. To use psychological terms, it is not a state of drive-reduction, or tension-reduction, or homeostasis" (Rogers, 1967, p. 185-186).
"The good life is a process, not a state of being. It is a direction not a destination" (Rogers, 1967, p. 187).
Rogers, C. (1951). Client-centered therapy: Its current practice, implications and theory. London: Constable.
Rogers, C. (1959). A theory of therapy, personality and interpersonal relationships as developed in the client-centered framework. In (ed.) S. Koch, Psychology: A study of a science. Vol. 3: Formulations of the person and the social context. New York: McGraw Hill.
Rogers, C. R. (1961). On Becoming a person: A psychotherapists view of psychotherapy. Houghton Mifflin.
Rogers, C. R., Stevens, B., Gendlin, E. T., Shlien, J. M., & Van Dusen, W. (1967). Person to person: The problem of being human: A new trend in psychology. Lafayette, CA: Real People Press.
McLeod, S. A. (2014). Carl Rogers. Retrieved from www.simplypsychology.org/carl-rogers.html
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Los Primeros Grupos Neolíticos de la Cuenca Extremeña del Tajo by Enrique Cerrillo Cuenca
During the twentieth century the adoption of agriculture in the Iberian Peninsula was viewed consistently from caves and the coast. Stratigraphic excavations at the Coveta de l’Or and the Cueva de la Sarsa in Valencia, and sites such as Carigüela de Piñar, the Cueva de Los Murciélagos and the Cueva de Nerja in Andalucía established a broad sequence of Neolithic occupation, characterised initially by plant and animal domestication and the adoption of impressed pottery. Although less well contextualised material was also known from Portugal and north-east Spain, the Neolithic was, until the 1990s, mainly known from coastal regions and not the central Meseta plateau, which appeared to be devoid of occupation by agriculturalists until the fourth and third millennia BC. It is no surprise that, along with other areas of the western Mediterranean, the adoption of agriculture was viewed in terms of diffusion or colonisation around the coastal regions.
While fieldwork and publication, along with more systematic and critical use of radiocarbon dating, has developed our understanding of the nature of early agricultural settlement in the coastal regions (e.g. the identification of open-air settlements and the diversity of settlement systems), it is the interior that has produced the main surprises. These have been the outcome of more extensive field survey projects, coupled with excavation, since the 1990s, and include the recognition of open-air and cave occupations as early as in the coastal regions (at least within the limits of radiocarbon dating). Particularly notable have been the fieldwork projects of the University of Valladolid in the north-east of the plateau and of the University of Alcalá de Henares in the centre-west. What is now clear is that the agricultural colonisation of the central plateau began in the early Neolithic and that the view of such colonisation in Iberia as being solely of caves and coasts has to be discarded. Inevitably this has implications for our understanding of the processes by which agriculture was adopted in the peninsula.
This publication by Enrique Cerrillo is the book of the thesis undertaken at the University of Alcalá de Henares. Whereas the thesis brought together Cerillo’s own fieldwork in a synthesis of the entire Neolithic in the region of the middle Tagus, for this book he has focussed more on the early Neolithic. This allows him to present the debate on models of agricultural adoption in the peninsula, the details of research by him and other scholars on the key sites of El Conejar (a cave) and Los Barruecos (an open-air settlement), and how our understanding of the Early Neolithic finds its contexts in our current knowledge of both late hunter-gatherers and later Neolithic agriculturalists.
As in other regions of Europe the debate on the spread of agriculture in Iberia uses a variety of evidence to try and place the process somewhere on the spectrum between entirely human colonisation and entirely indigenous adoption. The presence of hunter-gatherer groups in peripheral regions such as Valencia has encouraged acceptance of the ‘dual model’, by which plant and animal domestication and pottery appeared first in enclaves of new population and then were variably adopted by indigenous groups. The notion that agricultural adoption was solely down to change within indigenous groups has been countered effectively by Zilhão’s critique of the taphonomy and radiocarbon dating of sites claimed as examples of this process, as well as by the absence of any reliable evidence for local domestication. The absence of evidence for a network of hunter-gatherer groups in interior Spain has also been used to support the interpretation of ‘leaps’ by which agriculture and pottery spread through coastal enclaves from the north-east to the south-west of the peninsula. The interpretation of genetic (both modern and ancient) and anthropological data on population continuity from indigenous hunter-gatherer groups to agriculturalists, especially in Portugal, is the subject of debate at present.
Cerrillo brings together evidence from his own (El Conejar), and other, sites to show that there was occupation in interior Spain by hunter-gatherers through the main lithic industry stages of the Upper Palaeolithic from the Solutrean to the Epipalaeolithic. Rather than there being an absence of Epipalaeolithic assemblages in interior Spain, it now seems more likely that lithic materials from surface sites may have been attributed to the Magdalenian, thus creating a cultural ‘gap’. Cerrillo notes evidence for interaction between such Epipalaeolithic sites, but also acknowledges the fact that there is currently a chronological gap of some two millennia between the latest occupation and that of early agricultural communities at El Conejar. This is still a bar to preference of a more interactive model of agricultural adoption across the peninsula, rather than a spread of enclaves of agriculturalists around its peripheral regions.
After presenting his methodology and the environmental context of his study area, Cerrillo focuses attention on the key sites with Early Neolithic occupation at c. 5000-4800 cal BC. The methodology is that of the thesis as a whole, but for this book the presentation of GIS is not really of relevance, as the location maps used in the text are often murky and show little that could not be better illustrated by conventional cartography. The absence of in text references to figure numbers does not help the reader, nor do the figure captions, which do not always mention the site from which the material comes. Some figures are also over-reduced. Cerrillo is open about the reliability, or otherwise, of the evidence from these Early Neolithic sites and highlights their value in enabling study of the typological and chronological variation in pottery assemblages in interior Spain (with their scarcity of cardial impressions). Environmental and economic data are as patchy as some of the cultural data, but they do enable the proposal of an Early Neolithic in which cereal agriculture and mobility were practised with a low environmental impact. The hypothesis is that cereal cultivation and livestock grazing were more intensive during the Middle Neolithic, with more permanent settlements, and a consequently greater amount of vegetation clearance.
The book ends with a chapter of synthesis, setting the sequence from the Epipalaeolithic to Later Neolithic in the study area within its broader context. Its value could have been improved by the addition of maps with site names for each period.
Cerrillo’s work is a valuable contribution to work on the adoption and spread of agriculture in interior Spain. More thought could have been given in places to its presentation, as it could to its audience. The rapidity of publication of BARs has attracted Spanish archaeologists during the last two decades, especially for newly completed PhD theses and works which, for a variety of reasons, may not be as easily published in their own country. However there is also a wider audience in English-speaking countries. The provision of a one page English abstract is really too short to cater for this audience.
Review Submitted: September 2006
The views expressed in this review are not necessarily those
of the Society or the Reviews Editor.
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The Untold Success Story: Agroecology in Africa Addresses Climate Change, Hunger, and Poverty
Oakland, CA—The Oakland Institute today released 33 case studies that shed light on the tremendous success of agroecological agriculture across the African continent in the face of climate change, hunger, and poverty.
“Released just two weeks ahead of the COP21 Conference in Paris, these case studies provide irrefutable facts and figures on how agricultural transformation–respectful of the farmers and the environment–can yield immense economic, social, and food security benefits while ensuring climate justice and restoring soils and the environment,” said Anuradha Mittal, Executive Director of the Oakland Institute.
“We are told over and over that Africa needs a new Green Revolution, more synthetic fertilizers, and genetically modified crops. These case studies debunk these myths and highlight the multiple benefits of agroecology, including affordable and sustainable ways to boost agricultural yields while increasing farmers' incomes, food security, and resilience,” said Frederic Mousseau, Policy Director of the Oakland Institute, who coordinated the research for this project.
The success stories from all over the African continent have farmers—including many women farmers—in the driver's seat of their own development. Agroecology is not a one-size-fits-all set of practices. Rather, its techniques are adapted to meet specific needs and ecosystems. Farmers who practice agroecology are innovators and experiment to find the best solutions for themselves.
Agriculture, forestry, and other land use are responsible for nearly a quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions from human activity. According to the International Panel on Climate Change, emissions from these sectors have almost doubled over the past 50 years, and could increase by an additional 30 percent by 2050. The use of synthetic fertilizers is the fastest growing source of agriculture GHG emissions, having increased 37 percent since 2001.
Ibrahima Coulibaly, President of CNOP-Mali and Vice President of the ROPPA (Network of Farmers' and Agricultural Producers' Organisations of West Africa) said, “Our governments must now take decisive steps to actually support agroecological practices instead of promoting industrial food production systems that are contributing to climate change while making farmers poorer and more vulnerable to market fluctuations and weather hazards. We need our governments to ensure our children a future in which they can feed themselves with nutritious food in a healthy environment.”
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Thursday, January 05, 2012 — Naked mole rats are no beauties. As their name implies, these tiny animals are hairless and, like moles, live in tunnels deep underground. But they have more to offer than their unusual appearance. The wrinkled skin of the naked mole rat doesn't feel pain when exposed to a stimulus like acid, and scientists have now uncovered the reason why.
Like humans, naked mole rats have neurons that sense pain. When some painful stimulus occurs (like an acid burn), the neurons' job is to send a message to your brain that says, "Ouch!" But in a paper published in the journal Science, German researchers discovered that mole rats have a mutation in their genes that prevent the neurons from sending that message when the rat is exposed to acid.
Speaking to the website Deutsche Welle, Gary Lewin, one of the paper's co-authors, compared the mutation that blocks pain signals in naked mole rats to getting a shot of the local anesthetic Novocain at the dentist's office: "…[W]hen you go to the dentist and have a local anaesthetic injected into your teeth and everything goes numb, what that substance does is essentially shuts down the action potential from the pain fibers that innovate your teeth."
The researchers believe that this insensitivity to acid may have evolved because naked mole rats live so far underground (as deep as 1 meter, or a little over 3 feet). Constant exposure to high levels of carbon dioxide and very little oxygen would normally create an acidic, toxic environment, but the mole rats are able to thrive in this atmosphere.
Previous studies found that naked mole rats are also insensitive to pain caused by capsaicin, the substance found in hot chili peppers. And, interestingly, they also seem to have a high resistance to cancer.
So what does this mean for people? Scientists are hopeful that these new findings can help lead to a way to develop pain medications with fewer side effects and calm the oversensitive systems of people living with chronic pain — especially inflammatory pain conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, which are associated with a build-up of acid in body tissues. Lead author Ewan St. John Smith told CNN.com, “If a drug could now be developed which acts on these particular proteins on the sensory neurons, you could limit the ability of acid to cause pain in patients with arthritis and other inflammatory disorders.”
If that occurs, we'd all have a lot to thank naked mole rats for.
Last Updated: 1/5/2012
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The Round Window Membrane - Gateway to the Cochlea : A Morphological and Electrophysiological study
Topical treatment of several inner ear diseases through the round window membrane (RWM) might be feasible in the near future. Bacteria toxins, ototoxic drugs and noise trauma seem to harm the inner ear by a common pathway which involves, excessive outflow of the afferent neurotransmitter glutamate and formation of nitric oxide (NO), which can severely damage cells/nerve endings and lead to cell death.In this study we used 98 Sprague-Dawley rats and seven human temporal bones. Various substances were instilled into the middle ear of the rat, such as Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Exotoxin (PaExoA), gentamicin, NO-inhibitor N-Omega-Nitro-L-Arginine Methyl Ester (L-NAME), and glucocorticoids. The effects of the substances were studied by morphological analysis of RWM and the endolymphatic sac (ES) by light and electron microscopic. Hearing level was measured in the rats by ABR technique. The human temporal bones were studied immunomorphologically to search for glutamate.In the human inner ear, glutamate receptors and glutamine synthetase, were identified. In the rat, we found, following PaExoA exposure, reversible and permanent hearing loss and morphological changes in the RWM. The ES showed increased numbers of macrophages and thickening of the epithelia. When L-NAME was used as an otoprotector from gentamicin ototoxicity a therapeutic effect in the high frequency area was found. Hydrocortisone (but not dexamethasone) exposure of the RWM resulted in membrane thickening, and adjacent to the membrane, inflammatory cells.The importance of the RWM as a portal for toxic substances and topical treatment of inner ear diseases was highlighted in this study. The difficulties of applying drugs in the round window niche were exposed. The results of this study add important knowledge concerning certain mechanisms of inner ear injury and help us to understand possibilities and problems of local treatment of inner ear diseases in patients.
Source Type:Doctoral Dissertation
Keywords:MEDICINE; Surgery; Otorhinolaryngology; Otorhinolaryngology; round window membrane; pseudomonas exotoxin; auditory brainstem response; hearing loss; endolymphatic sac; inner ear immunology; glutamate; nitric oxide inhibitor; glucocorticoid.; Otorhinolaryngologi; Oto-Rhino-Laryngology; oto-rhino-laryngologi
Date of Publication:01/01/2002
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The European Space Agency announced today (Dec. 2) that it will stop trying to contact the beleaguered Russian Phobos-Grunt spacecraft, which has been stuck in the wrong orbit for almost a month now.
Russia's Phobos-Grunt probe launched Nov. 8 on a mission to collect and return samples from Mars' moon Phobos. But the spacecraft's thrusters malfunctioned shortly after launch, leaving it stuck in a low orbit around Earth rather than on a course for the Red Planet.
A signal from Phobos-Grunt was picked up last week by a European tracking station located in Australia, and since then, the European Space Agency (ESA) has been helping Russia's Federal Space Agency with efforts to rescue the troubled probe.
However, all subsequent attempts to call Phobos-Grunt have failed to make contact, and ESA announced today that it will cease trying.
"In consultation and agreement with Phobos-Grunt mission managers, ESA engineers will end tracking support today," agency officials said in a statement. "Efforts in the past week to send commands to and receive data from the Russian Mars mission via ESA ground stations have not succeeded; no response has been seen from the satellite." [Photos: Russia's Mars Moon Mission]
The agency had attempted to send instructions to the spacecraft to boost its orbit, but officials reported that these commands went unanswered.
Russian officials were unable to decipher the information that was received from ESA's Australian ground station from the probe. While some data received by a Russian station in Baikonour, Kazakhstan reportedly indicated the spacecraft's radio equipment was operational, efforts to regain contact with Phobos-Grunt have failed.
Ultimately, ESA engineers say they have not completely given up hope for Phobos-Grunt. While the chances to save the marooned spacecraft appear to be dwindling, agency officials maintained their willingness to help if needed.
"ESA teams remain available to assist the Phobos-Grunt mission if indicated by any change in situation," officials said in an update posted on ESA's website.
Yet, time is quickly running out to save the $165 million mission, and Russian officials remain tight-lipped about the status of their rescue efforts. The window of opportunity for the probe to reach the Martian moon has closed already, since the journey requires Earth and Mars to be properly aligned.
If control cannot be regained of the spacecraft, scientists have predicted that Phobos-Grunt could fall back to Earth as a piece of space debris sometime in mid-January.
The ambitious Russian mission was designed to study Phobos and return rocks from the Martian moon to Earth in 2014. Phobos-Grunt is the 19th spacecraft Russia has launched toward Mars since 1960. To date, none has achieved full mission success.
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cases – Numbered cases environment
Define the environment numcases: equations with several alternative right-hand sides, with equation numbers for each alternative. Also environment subnumcases, where each alternative is a sub-number (e.g., 8a, 8b, ...) of the equation set as a whole.
|License||Public Domain Software|
|Contained in||TeX Live as cases|
|MiKTeX as cases|
systems of equations|
Download the contents of this package in one zip archive (302.6k).
Maybe you are interested in the following packages as well.
- fixmath: Make maths comply with ISO 31-0:1992 to ISO 31-13:1992
- autobreak: Simple line breaking of long formulae
- functan: Macros for functional analysis and PDE theory
- bropd: Simplified brackets and differentials in LaTeX
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Issue Date: August 22, 2011
High-Tech Crop Circles, Rutherford’s Atomic Anniversary
I knew I was in for a curious conversation when a recent interview was coming to a close and University of Oregon physicist Richard Taylor asked me, “Do you accept the premise that crop circles are not alien imprints, but some form of public art made by people?”
I picked up my pen again, swallowed a sip of tea, and said, “Okay.”
Taylor went on to tell me about a fascinating article he was writing for the Aug. 4 issue of Physics World about the annals of crop-circle science. In the story, Taylor explores how serious scientists have come up with wonderfully sci-fi-sounding explanations—such as the plasma vortex theory—for the curious imprints that appear overnight in farmlands across the world. Since the 1600s, some 10,000 crop circles have been created, and these days, the appearance rate hovers at about one per summer night worldwide.
The origin of crop circles has always been hotly debated by a potpourri of conspiracy theorists, but scientists have also tried to understand how the complex patterns appear on farmland. Initially, nobody could prove whether the imprints were the consequence of some sort of natural event or whether they were intelligently contrived. But as crop-circle designs became increasingly complicated, morphing into fractal patterns such as the Triple Julia, folks began to agree that crop circles are made by intelligent beings. Humans, aliens, wallabies, and even the devil have made the list in Internet chat rooms. Having ruled out the latter three, Taylor has been accused of being part of an international cover-up operation orchestrated by U.S., British, and German spy agencies.
But as Taylor points out, it’s become clear that coordinated teams of artists work together to produce crop circles—in fact, the BBC was able to document the work of a group called the Circlemakers in 1998. The way many people traditionally make circles is by using so-called stompers, which are “wooden planks attached to two handheld ropes,” and “string and garden rollers, plus bar stools to allow artists to vault over undisturbed crops,” Taylor says. “Despite their primitive appearance, stompers are a surprisingly efficient tool for flattening crops” but not breaking them, he adds.
As designs become increasingly more complicated, Taylor argues that artists are likely opting for a more high-tech method of making crop circles. And his theory is that they are using microwaves from magnetrons.
Here’s the logic: Exposing plants to microwave radiation causes their knobbly joints to expand, causing the plants to fall over without breaking (an important part of the crop-circle maker’s code of conduct). “Today’s magnetrons are small and light, and some require only 12-V-battery power supplies” to produce microwaves that could quickly knock over great circular swaths of plant matter, Taylor tells Newscripts. “If these artists are not using microwaves, then they should be.”
Speaking of physicists, on Aug. 8, scientists from 35 countries convened in Manchester, England, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Ernest Rutherford’s discovery of the atomic nucleus. Rutherford did win a Nobel Prize in Chemistry, but I worry that he would roll over in his grave if I called him a chemist, given his purported declaration (often repeated in the halls of physics departments) that “in science there is only physics; all the rest is stamp collecting.”
When I was a physics undergraduate, my school’s physics club president came up with a moneymaking scheme to sell coffee mugs emblazoned with that quote and a head shot of Rutherford. His plan backfired, though, when he was forced to order more mugs than there were people in the physics department. I can still remember the looks of passersby when he tried to hawk the excess mugs to chemists. Happy anniversary, Rutherford!
- Chemical & Engineering News
- ISSN 0009-2347
- Copyright © American Chemical Society
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The goal is to get clear, accurate threat warnings from governments about conflict zones so that airlines can make better decisions about where to avoid flying.
WASHINGTON: International aviation officials have agreed to form a task force aimed at better coordinating government security information to prevent another airliner from getting shot down like Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.
The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), a branch of the United Nations based in Montreal, said the task force of industry experts would generate recommendations that could potentially be considered at a security meeting planned in February.
USA Today reported the goal is to get clear, accurate threat warnings from governments about conflict zones so that airlines can make better decisions about where to avoid flying.
“While aviation is the safest mode of transport, the MH17 incident raised troubling concerns with respect to civilian aircraft flying to, from and over conflict zones,” said Raymond Benjamin, ICAO’s secretary-general, who called the disaster “unacceptable.”
Ukraine had warned airlines to stay above 32,000 feet while flying over that country because of military hostilities with pro-Russian separatists. But the Malaysian flight was shot down at 33,000 feet, killing all 298 people aboard.
“It’s essential that airlines receive clear guidance regarding threats to their passengers, crew and aircraft,” said Tony Tyler, CEO of the International Air Transport Association, a trade group representing 240 airlines worldwide.
“There can be no excuses. Even sensitive information can be sanitised in a way that ensures that airlines get essential actionable information without compromising their sources.”
Airline travel remains safe for the 3.3 million who board planes each year. But he said flaws in the system must be fixed after the downing of MH17.
“It exposed a gap in the system. The system is not broken,” Tyler said. “The challenge is to close the specific gap or gaps that allowed this tragedy to happen.”
A difficulty in evaluating security information was revealed last week, when the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) prohibited US flights to Tel Aviv for 36 hours after a rocket fell about a mile from the Ben Gurion International Airport.
The European Aviation Safety Agency issued a strong warning to avoid Tel Aviv. But a number of airlines continued to fly before the FAA lifted its ban.
“It’s not helpful when you get conflicting decisions or information, such as what we saw last week in Tel Aviv,” Tyler said. “Governments must do better. We can’t have situations like that occurring.”
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- Amniocentesis Animation
Amniocentesis can provide valuable information about the health of your baby before it is born. Amniocentesis is a procedure used to obtain a small sample of the amniotic fluid that surrounds the fetus during pregnancy.
- Aneurysm Animation
An aneurysm repair can save your life. An aneurysm is an abnormal widening or bulging in the wall of a blood vessel and occurs more often in arteries than in veins. Learn more in this animation.
- Arthroscopy Animation
Has a physician recommended arthroscopy for your knee to help with the pain of your running injury? This simple surgical procedure can reduce pain and disability from a variety of joint conditions.
- Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia Animation
Benign prostatic hyperplasia, or BPH, is a condition in which the prostate gland becomes enlarged and may cause problems associated with urination or pain. Take the worry out of these prostate symptoms. Learn about BPH, which can mimic symptoms of cancer.
- Breast Biopsy Animation
A breast biopsy will help you learn if you have cause for concern about a mass seen on mammography or if you have abnormal breast tissue. During this procedure, samples of breast tissue are removed with a special biopsy needle or during surgery. Then the cells are examined to see if they are normal cells or cancer cells. This animation will guide you through the procedure.
- Cardiac Catheterization Animation
Often called cardiac cath, this procedure can diagnose certain heart conditions and provide valuable information about your heart function. It may be performed to assess the coronary arteries, heart valves, and function of the heart muscle. A cardiac cath may also help determine the need for future heart surgery or other treatments.
- Cataract Animation
Cataract surgery improves vision for many. A cataract is a cloudy area within the lens of the eye. Signs that you may have cataracts can include symptoms of decreased night vision, halos around lights, discolored vision, or sensitivity to glare.
- Cerebral Aneurysm Animation
A cerebral aneurysm is a serious condition, but it can be surgically treated in a variety of ways. Also called an intracranial or brain aneurysm, a cerebral aneurysm is a bulging, weakened area in the artery wall, disrupting blood flow.
- Cholesterol Animation
Cholesterol is essential to life. But too much cholesterol in the blood is linked heart disease and stroke. Watch this Cholesterol animation to learn how cholesterol works in the body and what steps you can take to make healthy lifestyle changes.
- Colonoscopy Animation
Colonoscopy is one of the screening procedures used in the early detection of colorectal cancer when it is most treatable. Colonoscopy is a diagnostic procedure that allows the physician to examine the entire large intestine. Watch and learn more about what to expect when having this procedure.
- Coronary Angioplasty Animation
Coronary angioplasty is a procedure used to treat blockages that occur in the heart’s blood vessels. Coronary artery disease, or CAD, may occur when coronary arteries become obstructed by a buildup of fatty material or plaque. View this animation to see how this life-saving technique works.
- Diabetes Detective: Examining the Evidence Animation
Research tells us it’s possible to prevent or delay the development of diabetes. View the Diabetes Detective to discover the facts that everyone needs to know.
- Diabetes Detective: Uncovering the Complications Animation
Diabetes can affect vital organs such as the eyes, the heart and blood vessels, the kidneys, and the nerves. Research demonstrates that taking preventive action can slow progression of this disease. View Diabetes Detective: Uncovering the Complications to discover ways to positively affect your health.
- Hip Replacement Animation
Facing hip replacement surgery can be frightening. Also called arthroplasty, hip replacement is a surgical procedure done to replace a damaged hip joint with a prosthesis or artificial joint.
- Lumpectomy Animation
You or someone you know may be facing a lumpectomy to remove a breast tumor. A lumpectomy is a type of breast-conserving surgery in which a cancerous lump and portions of the surrounding breast tissue are removed, leaving the breast intact.
- Peripheral Vascular Disease Animation
Peripheral vascular disease or PVD is a slow, progressive circulation disorder that may affect any of the veins, arteries, or lymph vessels. By viewing this animation, you can learn more about what you can do to prevent this disease.
- Prostate Biopsy Animation
Facing a prostate biopsy? A prostate biopsy is a procedure in which samples of prostate tissue are removed with a special biopsy needle to determine if cancer or other abnormal cells are present. Become familiar with the basics of this procedure.
- Stent Placement Animation
Stents can help keep the heart’s arteries open and prevent a heart attack. Coronary artery disease, or CAD, may occur when coronary arteries become obstructed by a buildup of fatty material or plaque. Stents, or small tubes, are placed to help open these vessels.
- Stroke Treatment Animation
Once a stroke occurs, what treatment is used? Treatment options vary based on the type, severity, and location of the stroke. Become more aware of these options and the importance of early, life-saving treatment.
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The sleaves store 2 disks in a pancake. 110 are required for the Heroine 220 tower. The most economical way to make sleaves was to make them out of a single piece of black paper.
A combination of laser printing and the Sharpie MAGNUM color them black. It's the only practical use ever for the Sharpie MAGNUM.
We discovered after 8 years of optical disk archiving that ambient light of any kind destroys recordable optical disks. It reacts with their chemicals just like the laser that originally burned them, just slower. The black sleaves reduce the degradation in addition to protecting them from robot glitches.
Every detail of the sleave was highly optimized for accesses by the robot and for minimum cost. The corners are beveled to prevent jamming on the tower walls. The paper is colored black to conceil it from the robot's position sensor. The glue flap faces down to prevent jamming of the grabbing mechanism. The paper is folded perpendicular to the direction of motion in and out of the tower to prevent splitting between two rows.
To cut costs, it helps to know someone with a laser printer to print the sleave patterns. Since toner cracks when it is folded, the Sharpie MAGNUM fills in the leading edge after folding. To cut down on insanity, they're only made 5 at a time as needed.
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WASHINGTON – In response to concerns about the rise in drug-resistant superbugs worldwide, U.S. regulators Wednesday issued voluntary guidelines to help cut back on antibiotics that are routinely fed to farm animals.
The plan described by the Food and Drug Administration is not mandatory, and applies only to certain pharmaceuticals that are given to healthy livestock in a bid to grow bigger animals and boost food production.
“We need to be selective about the drugs we use in animals and when we use them,” said William Flynn, deputy director for science policy at the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine. “Antimicrobial resistance may not be completely preventable, but we need to do what we can to slow it down.”
The FDA guidelines set out a three-year time frame for phasing out the use of human antibiotics for growth uses in farm animals.
Companies that make animal feed containing antibiotics would be restricted to marketing them only for sick animals.
The medicines would also have to be administered or prescribed by a veterinarian with a view to preventing or controlling disease.
The World Health Organization says inappropriate use of antimicrobial medicines in farm animals is one the factors underlying the spread of drug-resistant infections in people, including tuberculosis, malaria and gonorrhea.
Other factors include people’s failure to complete the full doses of antibiotics when sick and the lack of a coordinated global response to dangerous illnesses.
Consumer advocates say 80 percent of antibiotics sold in the United States are destined for use in livestock, so leaving the responsibility in the hands of business is a mistake.
Louise Slaughter, the only microbiologist in Congress, described the FDA’s voluntary guidance as “an inadequate response to the overuse of antibiotics on the farm with no mechanism for enforcement and no metric for success.”
This guidance “falls woefully short of what is needed to address a public health crisis,” she added in a statement.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest said there are “several loopholes” in the FDA plan that could undermine its aim. “Unfortunately, it requires the drug companies who profit from sales of their drugs to initiate the process,” said CSPI food safety director Caroline Smith DeWaal. “The good news is that the agency has pledged to evaluate levels of compliance and inform the public after 90 days if the drug industry is cooperating with the relabeling effort.”
Industry representatives, including the Animal Health Institute, said they would comply with the FDA plan.
“We strongly support responsible use of antibiotic medicines and the involvement of a veterinarian whenever antibiotics are administered to food producing animals,” the AHI said in a statement. “Animal health companies have supported this policy since it was announced in 2012 and will continue to work with FDA on its implementation.”
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by Staff Writers
Bethesda, MD (SPX) Feb 09, 2016
Space Exploration Technologies, Inc. (SpaceX) is developing a human-rated version of its Dragon capsule that will be capable of precision powered landings on the ground. In fact, the company has advanced to the point of conducting propulsive hover tests at its McGregor, Texas facility.
The uncrewed version of the Dragon capsule has been launched exclusively by SpaceX on its Falcon 9 two-stage launch vehicle since December 2010. It carries the distinction of being the first commercially built and operated spacecraft to be recovered successfully from orbit. In May 2012, a cargo variant of Dragon became the first commercial space vehicle to successfully rendezvous with ISS. As a result of the program success, SpaceX received a contract to deliver cargo to ISS under NASA's Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) Program.
Dragon began regular cargo flights in October 2012.
The crewed version of this spacecraft is referred to as Dragon 2, and it will be capable of accommodating up to seven astronauts to and from ISS.
It will be flexible in terms of carrying a combination of crew and cargo. Thanks to program successes, SpaceX has received government contracts under such programs as Commercial Crew Development 2 (CCDev 2) and Commercial Crew integrated Capability (CCiCap).
Recent hover testing involved suspending the crew-configured capsule from a crane while simultaneously firing the vehicle's eight rocket engines. A total produced thrust was 33,000 lb. for a hover period of about five seconds. Not only did the vehicle exhibit a high level of stability in the hover mode, but this testing demonstrated SpaceX's special SuperDraco engines.
These regeneratively-cooled rockets are capable of deep-throttling and designed for multiple restarts. They use hypergolic nitrogen tetroxide (N2O4) oxidizer and monomethylhydrazine (MMH) fuel. The SuperDraco is a high performance bipropellant, pressure-fed design that boasts a chamber pressure of around 1,000 psi. It utilizes a fuel-centered injector, designed to seal off both fuel and oxidizer from the combustion chamber and provide fast shut-off capability.
Future tests are likely to include at least two drops from a Skycrane helicopter from 10,000 ft. followed by landings under parachute and short rocket burns. Then, expect two further drops from the helicopter, followed by descents using rocket power alone.
Launch Pad at Space-Travel.com
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Foods That Fight Cancer?
The tomato's red hue comes chiefly from a phytochemical called lycopene. Tomatoes have historically attracted particular attention from prostate cancer researchers because lycopene and its related compounds tend to concentrate in tissues of the prostate. Lycopene is a powerful antioxidant that has displayed anti-cancer potential in a variety of laboratory studies, stopping the proliferation of several cancer cell types including those of the prostate, breast, lung, and endometrium.
Our 2007 second expert report, Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and the Prevention of Cancer: A Global Perspective, found substantial evidence that foods containing lycopene protect against prostate cancer. But in the intervening years, researchers have learned more about the nature of the disease, which has complicated the picture.
Prostate cancer is not a single disease, but many – and many thousands of the cases now being diagnosed are cancers that may never become aggressive or life-threatening. Studies are only beginning to account for these crucial differences, which means any links between specific dietary factors and risk for prostate cancer have become harder to see.
This is why, when our Continuous Update Project (CUP) released its follow-up report on Prostate Cancer in 2014, the research linking foods containing lycopene to prostate cancer prevention was downgraded to Limited Evidence No Conclusion Possible. (This same report found strong new evidence that obesity increases risk for advanced prostate cancer, however.)
This is not the end of the story: We will add new studies on lycopene and prostate cancer to the CUP, which will be reviewed again before we issue updated Recommendations for Cancer Prevention in 2017.
For now, though, tomatoes remain an important part of a healthy-cancer protective diet. They contain fiber, which has been linked to lower risk of colorectal cancer. AICR stresses the importance of eating a variety of plant foods to ensure the most protection against cancer development. No food in isolation can effectively lower cancer risk.
Published on 12/31/2099
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The definition of a herbal tea is any drink made from various plant parts, including flowers, leaves, seeds, bark and roots, which are not derived from the tea bush. This means that there are innumerable types of herbal tea and infinite blends of one or more ingredient.
Making teas and infusions from herbs and plants is a centuries old practice and in many ancient cultures the plants used were valued for their many medicinal properties. Some of the herbs have not just one but multiple benefits for the body and well-being in general. Others are specifically known for their ability to act as relaxants, sedatives or stimulants.
Purchasing herbal teas
The easiest way to use herbal tea is to buy it readily prepared, either as loose tea or as tea-bags. There are many companies who offer a huge variety and some specialist companies blend different herbs and plants to offer very specific health benefit products for maximum effect.
Many supermarkets stock ranges of herbal tea as do some pharmacies. Health food stores and online companies are your best bet for specialist teas.
Preparing herbal teas
Preparing your own tea is quite easy. It is necessary to have some knowledge of the different properties of the herbs and plants you are using to avoid toxic substances or mis-identification of plants. All ingredients can be used either fresh or dried.
Use 25g/1 oz of dried herbs to every one pint of water. If you are using fresh herbs or plants you will need to use 50g/2 oz to every pint of water.
Pour boiling water over the herbs and allow to stand for up to 10 minutes. This will allow all the beneficial agents from the herbs to infuse properly. Strain before drinking.
If you are using the hard parts of a plant such as seeds or bark then grind these down as small as possible and then boil in water for 15 minutes. You may need to use a little more than 1 pint of water to 25g of dried herbs to allow for the loss of water from the ongoing boiling process. The result of this process is known as a decoction.
Below is a list of herbal teas that have particular qualities. This is only a small portion of the different types of tea available or that can be prepared but it will give you something to start with.
Teas that have sedative properties
Teas that have sedative properties are often used to help overcome sleep problems or to assist in gaining more beneficial sleep.
Teas that can help with the digestive system
- Ginger – good for settling nausea
- Pu erh tea – see under teas with other properties
Teas that are good for detoxing
Teas that work as a stimulant
- Lemon grass
- Gotu Kola
Teas with other properties
There are some herbal teas that are particularly popular and are of great benefit for specific conditions. These do not necessarily fall into the categories listed above so I have included them here.
- Rooibos – all the antioxidant benefits of green tea but minus the caffeine
- Echinacea – very effective for cold and flu prevention
- Marigold – has anti-fungal, antibiotic and anti-viral properties
- St John’s Wort – used to treat depression
- Pu erh tea – although not strictly speaking a herbal tea as it comes from a variety of the tea bush, it is otherwise rather difficult to classify. If consumed when fresh it has many of the benefits of green tea with added extras. It is thought that it can help reduce cholesterol and has been revered by the Chinese for centuries as a hang-over cure.
Some of the herbs and plants used in herbal teas can have certain side-effects and do produce an allergic reaction in some people.
As with many of the natural remedies or those that have health benefits some people seem to suit certain types more than others. Experiment with the different types of herbal tea to find out which is most beneficial for you.
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The first thirty minutes of my family session with 13-year-old Emma was filled with sarcasm, rolling of her eyes, and responding “whatever!” to the concerns expressed by her parents. I’ve learned over many years to become a somewhat patient psychologist, but I couldn’t tolerate this behavior any more, even in the name of family therapy.
I asked Emma to leave my office for a few moments, and asked the parents if they experienced the same disrespectful behavior at home that I was observing in my office. The parents described their daughter as a polite kid at school, and they had never received any complaints from her teachers or her basketball coaches. Emma saved her rude behavior for her parents.
“I guess it’s just her age” remarked Emma’s mom. “We’re just happy that she’s communicating with us rather than spending hours alone in her room. We want our home to be a safe place where Emma can really say what she feels.”
This is a great example of disrespect masquerading as self-expression. Emma clearly has the skills to act appropriately with adults at school and in many other settings, but only behaves badly at home with her parents. Might there be some deep rooted reason for her behavior, uncovered only after months of therapy? In most cases, the answer is very simple. Emma acts that way because her parents allow it.
I applauded the parents’ desire to stay close and connected to their daughter, but tolerating rude behavior doesn’t achieve that goal. Real communication is based upon mutual respect and a genuine effort to understand another’s point of view, not typically achieved with sarcasm and cynicism.
The three step solution was straightforward. First, make your expectations very clear and specific with your teen. Be firm that disrespectful behavior will not be tolerated. Give specific examples of behavior that you consider rude.
Second, implement a brief consequence whenever that behavior occurs. Sending a teen to her room if only for a few moments with a stern correction or taking away a cell phone sends the message that you will not allow your child to verbally abuse you.
Finally, be consistent with these expectations and consequences. Don’t make excuses if your teen has had a tough day or is upset. Help her learn the self-control she will need to be successful in the real world where offensive behavior isn’t excused.
It took only a week or so for the parents to see a dramatic change in Emma’s behavior. She was a good kid who simply acted in ways that her parents accepted. Once new rules were established, Emma learned more effective ways to express her frustration about some of the family rules. Those discussions were easier when she acted more respectfully.
Please don’t justify your teen’s rudeness as ‘just a phase.’ Set and enforce clear standards, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the changes in your young adult.
Dr. Ramey, who is a child psychologist and Vice President at Dayton Children’s Medical Center, can be reached at Rameyg@childrensdayton.org
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ChristianAnswers.Net WebBible Encyclopedia
Meaning: how little! as nothing
This was the name of two biblical places…
A town on the eastern border of Asher (Josh. 19:27), probably one of the towns given by Solomon to Hiram; the modern Kabul, some 8 miles east of Accho, on the very borders of Galilee.
A district in the northwest of Galilee, near to Tyre, containing twenty cities given to Hiram by Solomon as a reward for various services rendered to him in building the temple (1 Kings 9:13), and as payment of the six score talents of gold he had borrowed from him. Hiram gave the cities this name because he was not pleased with the gift, the name signifying “good for nothing.” Hiram seems afterwards to have restored these cities to Solomon (2 Chr. 8:2).
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Stanford scientists seek to map origins of mental illness and develop noninvasive treatment
An interdisciplinary team of scientists has convened to map the origins of mental illnesses in the brain and develop noninvasive technologies to treat the conditions. The collaboration could lead to improved treatments for depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder.
The researchers hope to find the brain circuits that are responsible for mental health conditions, develop ways to remotely stimulate those circuits and potentially treat those conditions.
Over the years imaging technologies have revealed a lot about what's happening in our brains, including which parts are active in people with conditions like depression, anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder. But here's the secret Amit Etkin wants the world to know about those tantalizing images: they show the result of a brain state, not what caused it.
This is important because until we know how groups of neurons, called circuits, are causing these conditions – not just which are active later – scientists will never be able to treat them in a targeted way.
"You see things activated in brain images but you can't tell just by watching what is cause and what is effect," said Amit Etkin, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences. Etkin is co-leader of a new interdisciplinary initiative to understand what brain circuits underlie mental health conditions and then direct noninvasive treatments to those locations.
"Right now, if a patient with a mental illness goes to see their doctor they would likely be given a medication that goes all over the brain and body," Etkin said. "While medications can work well, they do so for only a portion of people and often only partially." Medications don't specifically act on the brain circuits critically affected in that illness or individual.
The Big Idea: treat roots of mental illness
The new initiative, called NeuroCircuit, has the goal of finding the brain circuits that are responsible for mental health conditions and then developing ways of remotely stimulating those circuits and, the team hopes, potentially treating those conditions.
The initiative is part of the Stanford Neurosciences Institute's Big Ideas, which bring together teams of researchers from across disciplines to solve major problems in neuroscience and society. Stephen Baccus, an associate professor of neurobiology who co-leads the initiative with Etkin, said that what makes NeuroCircuit a big idea is the merging of teams trying to map circuits responsible for mental health conditions and teams developing new technologies to remotely access those circuits.
"Many psychiatric disorders, especially disorders of mood, probably involve malfunction within specific brain circuits that regulate emotion and motivation, yet our current pharmaceutical treatments affect circuits all over the brain," said William Newsome, director of the Stanford Neurosciences Institute. "The ultimate goal of NeuroCircuit is more precise treatments, with minimal side effects, for specific psychiatric disorders."
"The connection between the people who develop the technology and carry out research with the clinical goal, that's what's really come out of the Big Ideas," Baccus said.
Etkin has been working with a technology called transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS, to map and remotely stimulate parts of the brain. The device, which looks like a pair of doughnuts on a stick, generates a strong magnetic current that stimulates circuits near the surface of the brain.
TMS is currently used as a way of treating depression and anxiety, but Etkin said the brain regions being targeted are the ones available to TMS, not necessarily the ones most likely to treat a person's condition. They are also not personalized for the individual.
Pairing TMS with another technology that shows which brain regions are active, Etkin and his team can stimulate one part of the brain with TMS and look for a reaction elsewhere. These studies can eventually help map the relationships between brain circuits and identify the circuits that underlie mental health conditions.
In parallel, the team is working to improve TMS to make it more useful as a therapy. TMS currently only reaches the surface of the brain and is not very focused. The goal is to improve the technology so that it can reach structures deeper in the brain in a more targeted way. "Right now they are hitting the only accessible target," he said. "The parts we really want to hit for depression, anxiety or PTSD are likely deeper in the brain."
Technology of the future
In parallel with the TMS work, Baccus and a team of engineers, radiologists and physiologists have been developing a way of using ultrasound to stimulate the brain. Ultrasound is widely used to image the body, most famously for producing images of developing babies in the womb. But in recent years scientists have learned that at the right frequency and focus, ultrasound can also stimulate nerves to fire.
In his lab, Baccus has been using ultrasound to stimulate nerve cells of the retina – the light-sensing structure at the back of the eye – as part of an effort to develop a prosthetic retina. He is also teaming up with colleagues to understand how ultrasound might be triggering that stimulation. It appears to compress the nerve cells in a way that could lead to activation, but the connection is far from clear.
Other members of the team are modifying existing ultrasound technology to direct it deep within the brain at a frequency that can stimulate nerves without harming them. If the team is successful, ultrasound could be a more targeted and focused tool than TMS for remotely stimulating circuits that underlie mental health conditions.
The group has been working together for about five years, and in 2012 got funding from Bio-X NeuroVentures, which eventually gave rise to the Stanford Neurosciences Institute, to pursue this technology. Baccus said that before merging with Etkin's team they had been focusing on the technology without specific brain diseases in mind. "This merger really gives a target and a focus to the technology," he said.
Etkin and Baccus said that if they are successful, they hope to have both a better understanding of how the brain functions and new tools for treating disabling mental health conditions.
Amy Adams, University Communications: (650) 796-3695, firstname.lastname@example.org
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Beginning in 1946, two XS-1 experimental research aircraft (later redesignated X-1s) conducted pioneering tests at Muroc Army Air Field (now Edwards Air Force Base) in California to obtain flight data on conditions in the transonic speed range. These early tests culminated on October 14, 1947, in the first piloted flight faster than Mach 1.0, the speed of sound.
The XS-1 was the first high-speed aircraft built purely for aviation research purposes. The model was never intended for production. The XS-1 was designed largely in accordance with specifications provided by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) [now National Aeronautics and Space Administration], paid for by the Army Air Forces, and built by Bell Aircraft Inc. The XS-1 #2 (serial number 46-063) was flight tested by the NACA to provide design data for later production high-performance aircraft.
The research techniques used in the X-1 program became the pattern for all subsequent X-craft projects. The NACA X-1 procedures and personnel also helped lay the foundation of America's space program in the 1960s. The X-1 project defined and solidified the post-war cooperative union between U.S. military needs, industrial capabilities, and research facilities. The flight data collected by the NACA in the X-1 tests then provided a basis for American aviation supremacy in the latter half of the 20th century.
As a result of the X-1's initial supersonic flight, the National Aviation Association voted its 1948 Collier Trophy to be shared by the three main participants in the program. Honored at the White House by President Truman were Lawrence "Larry" Bell for Bell Aircraft, Captain Charles E. "Chuck" Yeager for piloting the flights, and John Stack of NACA for the NACA contributions.
Updated September 18, 1997
Steve Garber, NASA History Office,
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Revealing the secrets of planetary formation
Feb 26, 2004
A group of astronomers in the US has observed what it believes to be a solar system in the making. Paul Kalas of the University of California at Berkeley and colleagues at Berkeley and the University of Hawaii have discovered that the star AU Microscopii is surrounded by a disk of swirling dust. Since planets are believed to form from such disks, the discovery could shed light on planetary evolution (P Kalas et al. 2004 Sciencexpress 1093420).
Direct images of proto-planetary disks - features that are thought to be produced by comets and asteroids – are very rare. Astronomers produced the first such image 20 years ago around the star beta-Pictoris. This star weighed 2.5 times the mass of the Sun. AU Microscopii, on the other hand, weighs just half a solar mass. It is only the fourth star ever to be imaged in this way and it is the closest.
“Since 85% of all stars in the galaxy are low mass stars like AU Microscopii, the dust disc around this star may reveal the most clues for how the majority of planet systems evolve,” Kalas told PhysicsWeb.
Kalas and colleagues made their discovery using the University of Hawaii’s 2.2-meter telescope. They observed an excess of infra red in the spectrum of AU Microscopii, a tell-tale sign that the star is surrounded by a dusty disk. To then obtain an image of the disk they blocked out the glare of the star using a device known as a coronagraph. They found that the disk extended out to about 210 astronomical units (AUs) from the star (1 AU is equal to the average distance between the Earth and the Sun).
In a separate experiment that is to be reported in the Astrophysical Journal, Kalas’ group calculated that the disk has a hole in it that extends out to 17 AU from the star. According to the researchers, this may indicate the presence of a planet close to the star. To try and confirm that this is indeed the case, they will now collect sharper images of the star using the Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes.
AU Microscopii is some 33 light years away and about 12 million years old. In comparison, the Sun is roughly 4.6 billion years old.
About the author
Belle Dumé is Science Writer at PhysicsWeb
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A former head of the Ghana National Council of Women and Development here explains, from her experience in Ghana and other parts of Africa during the UN Decade for Women, what she believes women's emancipation means to women in Africa. Although discrimination against women is worldwide, she believes that because of differences in social, educational and cultural backgrounds, women have differing perceptions of the meaning of emancipation. She discusses pertinent issues such as traditional beliefs and practices which keep women subjugated, including bride-wealth, child marriage, polygamy, purdah, widowhood, inheritance of property, fertility and female circumcision. She also examines specific women-in-development activities, and the role of governmental, non-governmental and inter- governmental organizations.
Back to top
Rent Emancipation of Women 1st edition today, or search our site for other textbooks by Florence Abena Dolphyne. Every textbook comes with a 21-day "Any Reason" guarantee. Published by Ghana Universities Press.
Need help ASAP? We have you covered with 24/7 instant online tutoring. Connect with one of our tutors now.
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Back in the day, the unwritten rule of “women and children first” always used to govern who got a spot in a lifeboat, and who went stoically down with the ship. After all, 70 percent of the women and children on the Titanic were rescued, versus a mere 20 percent of the adult men. But then a 2010 study compared survival rates for the Titanic and the Lusitania and concluded that this chivalrous doctrine only prevailed in slow wrecks, when social norms had a chance to gain control of the situation. In fast descents, like the Lusitania’s 18-minute destruction, it was the fittest passengers, between the ages of 16 and 35, who had the best chance of survival. And now a new study deals another blow to “women and children first,” suggesting that this norm wasn’t normal at all.
In order to determine who had the best odds of being rescued, Swedish researchers analyzed 15,000 passengers on 18 ships that went down between 1852 and 2011. They discovered that women and children usually received no preferential treatment: men survived twice as often as women, and children were the least likely to escape. And rather than going down with their ships, crewmembers had the best chances of survival. In contrast to the previous study (which only looked at the demises of two ships), the researchers found that the duration of a shipwreck had little impact on whether chivalry prevailed. Instead, the most influential factor in women and children’s treatment was whether the captain of the ship specifically gave a “women and children first” order. Without a direct command, survival of the fittest reigned as the crew and male passengers left women and children to fend for themselves. If chivalry is truly dead, then it looks like it kicked the bucket a long time ago.
Shipwreck image via Shutterstock
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was named after the pioneer founder of the Carrigan family. The first man to locate in the township was a man named
Jones. In 1819 he squatted in Sec. 21, but sold his cabin to Frederick Phelps in 1820. Samuel Davidson came to
Carrigan with Phelps. Samuel Davidson's daughter, Sallie married Robert Carrigan and another daughter, Nancy married
James M Carrigan. Samuel Carrigan was among the largest land owners at the time. Wiley Burton and Joe Davis were
the first blacksmiths in Carrigan. The first preaching done in the town was at Samuel Davidson's cabin. It was
made a stopping place for travelers. The first school-house was built in 1833 and R. M. Carrigan, was the first
Carrigan Township is mainly a rural community. The farms are large and productive
The land that is now Iuka was previously part of the Northwest Territory in 1787. By 1818, Illinois was admitted as a state and the land was sold or granted to certain people. John B Middleton was given 3 sections, 17-19, 2 of which he deeded to his sons. In 1856 they plotted lots for the village which was named Middleton.
In 1867, the town became incorporated and was renamed Iuka. Soldiers who fought in the battle of Iuka and Corinth, Mississippi, asked that it be named Iuka. Iuka is part of the longer version Ish-ta-(ki-yu-ka-)tubbe. This name was listed as an endorser for the treaty of Pontitock Creek, Oct. 1832.
The first settlers were Patrick Conor, Leonard P Pyles, Thomas L Middleton and Mr. Jamison. More were to follow shortly after.
The first school was about 1841 taught by Cinthia Cooper.
The first Justice of Peace was Solomon Smith and the first doctor was Dr. Joseph Irwin.
As the town grew many more doctors and lawyers came to practice.
The Lutherans organized and built a church in 1870.
In 1881, a resort (Rose Lake) became known for its medicinal waters. John A Phillips built a hotel which drew in many visitors to Tinkler Springs.
By the early 1900's Iuka would have 5 general stores, 2 hat shops, 3 restaurants, a drug store, bakery, bank, a lumber yard, a butcher shop, a creamery, 2 implemental stores, 2 hotels, and 4 churches.
Foster Township is named after Hardy Foster. He was originally from Georgia, born in 1797. He was the first settler in Foster in 1823. He built a log cabin and barn which became a stagecoach resting stop.
In 1833 a post office was added and Hardy Foster became the first postmaster until he died in 1863. He was the most prominent of the settlers. He was also a member of the legislature and a county Judge. Fosterburg thrived until the Railroads came through.
Because of that, more people started to move to Kinmundy and Vernan to start their businesses. Lester ended up being the only location with a store, postoffice, school house, and a church after the Civil War.
Fosterburg was also known for many years as the place where Volunteers for the 111th IL Inf. was organized with Capt. John Foster, son of Hardy.
The first teacher was Thomas Moore and by 1920, Foster had 8 one-room schools. They were as follows: Chance, Zion, Doolen, Arnold Chapel, Jones, Greenridge, Sandy Branch and Northfork.
There are 8 cemeteries in Foster and 1 small family plot. Sandy Branch being the most prominent, having many pioneers and war veterans buried there
Haines Township was named after the settler Edmond Haines. After Mr Haines, there were quite a few settlers to arrive shortly after, by the surnames: McDaniel, Fulton, Wilkins, Chance, Easley, Stonecipher to name a few.
The first Wheel wright was David Fulton. The first Blacksmith Shop was owned by Green Fields. The first Post office was named Ensenada and started in June 1854. The first post master to be recorded at the time was William C. Avis.
Foxville was the first thriving village in Haines, founded in 1867 by Thomas Haines. A post office was built in September 1872.
The first school started in 1827 with Thomas Cahorn as teacher and in 1835, a "private school" was started near Harvey's Point and taught by William B Hadden. He was also known as "Uncle Billie" The charge was $2 per quarter, paid in pelts, canned honey, or whatever they could pay.
John Blurton purchased the land from the Illinois Central Railroad in March 1857. He then sold it to William Sprouse, this being the start of Township Kinmundy. Sprouse had plotted the town and the first purchaser of lots was Jerry Bissonett.
April 10, 1867 the Kinmundy City Council was organized and by 1868, there were over 1200 people living here.
The first bank, W. T. Haymond & Co., was organized in 1870.
On Dec. 2, 1903, Kinmundy had a terrible fire which destroyed most of the downtown area. But by 1908, it was up and running again with a population of 1500.
Kinmundy has the Ingram's Log Cabin Village. It is made up of 17 authentic log cabins dating from 1818-1860. 13 of them are authentically furnished. A craft fair is held there on a yearly basis.
Kinmundy also has several old homes, one of which is the Civil War Mansion built in 1857. It was used as an Underground Railway for escaped slaves from the south headed for Canada.
Meacham is beautiful prairie land. The first settler was Cornelius Dunham. He came from New York with his family in 1823 only to leave his family behind in 1836. Shortly after, they left. The prairie was then occupied by Mr. Ingram, around 1824, located near a place now called Ingram Point.
John Chesser built a farm in what was known as Chesser's Prairie, which is now called Schrutchfield's Prairie. Chesser sold his land after only living there a year to Terry Schrutchfield.
Felix G. Cockrell came here in 1837 with his wife. He lived here until he died around the age of 90.
A post office was established in 1840, but when one was built in Kinmundy, this one was rarely used.
Felix Cockrell built a horse mill in 1844 and Andrew Shields built a blacksmith shop around 1835.
The Elder graveyard was the first burial place. The Methodists built the first church in 1840, and the first school, Farris, was taught by Hiram K. Farris.
Odin Township originally had Odin and Sandoval as one town, but was divided in 1896.
As a result of advertising and word of mouth, by the Illinois Central Railroad, some of the first Scandinavian settlers came to Illinois and founded the City of Odin. It's name came from a Scandinavian mythology god.
Thomas Deadmond was the first settler arriving around 1827. After living there a few years, he entered 80 acres in Sec. 28 in January 1837. Silas Barr arrived some time in 1829 and Samuel McClelland came in 1830 moving near Mr. Barr. Some time after 1865 more families arrived and the village grew.
Around 1885 Odin celebrated in honor of striking coal. Its operators were N. Morrison, H. Woodward and F. Secor. C. L. Miller established the first Bank around 1890.
Odin is very proud of its history. More so of its citizens. Some of them leaving greater impressions than others with such careers as: professional Baseball Players, Doctors, Lawyers, Teachers, Army nurses and a Chief Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court.
In 1856, Odin was first served by the railroad and at that time, it was also the longest railroad in the world... 705 miles long!
Omega is an agricultural town and because of that, there are very few citizens.
Some of its earlier settlers were by the surnames: Galloway, Lovell,Kyle, Howard,Pyles, England, Smith, and Craig.
The first schools were supported by subscription and taught by Alexander Kyle around 1839.
William Hadden taught in the Lovell school in 1838.
In 1842, Marcum C. Lovell leased land for about 20 yrs to the school district rent free.
The Phillips family arrived and settled here as well. They deeded ½ acre to the township to be used as a public cemetery, what is known today as the Phillips Cemetery. The Millican's deeded property as well to which it is known as the Millican Cemetery.
Patoka was laid out by James Clark and Brigham in July 4,1854.
The first building was a depot. It was built before the railroad to house the men that were to build it.
Cyrus Walker built the first business around 1856, a general mercantile. Dr. E. M. Beach, was the first doctor. Richardson and Gray built the 2nd business in 1855, and the 3rd, a produce store, was built by Williams and Kessner.
In 1857, the first Blacksmith shop was built by Snyder and Harrison. Snyder was also a gunsmith.
By the late 1800's Patoka was a very busy city with 7 doctors, 3 general stores, a hardware and drugstore, furniture and lumber store... hotels,several churches , a school (2 story brick) and the Irvin Lumber Company.
Alma - The Village of Alma was mapped out by John S Martin in 1854. Additional lands were added shortly afterward by J S Martin,M French, and Samuel L Tilden. It originally had the name Rantoul in honor of an officer of the railroad. There was another town in Illinois with the same name so it was changed to Grand Mound City. The name was changed from Pleasant on April 20, 1874 to Alma.
The first house and store was built in 1853. The first post office was established in 1854, with Dr. T. O. Hatton as the first postmaster. Dr. Hatton was also the first Physician in town.
Mr Hugh Moore was the first teacher and the first Justice of Peace was John S Martin.
Alma was known for its produce and daffodils. The surrounding area was full of flowers,orchards and melon patches. Alma had grown in size. On Dec. 28, 1908, there was a fire and the entire business district was lost. Those who rebuilt, did so in brick. Unfortunately, Alma wasn't as big after that.
Romine Township - The first land entries were made in 1833. The township got its name from one of the earlier settlers in the
territory, Abram Romine. The first settler was a man named Adams.
Romine was made up of 36 sections. William Brewer came with his family in 1827 and settled in Sec. 29.
William F. Byars settled here in 1827 also and had a settlement named in honor of him. Donahoe Prairie.
There were many families to follow: Sept. 9,1833, Samuel Welter
1834, Ephraim Meador
1835, John Harvey
1836, William Brewer
1837, Spencer Blankenship
Joseph Stonecipher came from Tennessee in 1840 and settled in Sec. 31. Soon after he settled in Donahoe Prairie. He gave a tract of land to be used for a cemetery. In 1843, his infant son was the first person buried there and it was called the Stonecipher Cemetery, later to be changed to Donahoe Cemetery.
In 1820, the first burial ground was located about 1/2 mile south of the Donahoe Cemetery, referred to as the Old Donahoe Cemetery.
The first school was at Benjamin Litteral's and taught by Henry Darnell. In 1830, Thomas Cohorn taught in a log hut in Sec. 31. This was the first Donahoe Prairie School. Mr Cohorn taught for $10 a month.
The first store was known as the Exchange and owned by Will Tyler.
The telephone lines were owned by the farmers who wanted them. And saw mills were becoming pretty busy around the 1900's.
Salem Township - The city of Salem was founded in 1823. James Roberts owned a great deal of some land he donated. He donated 30 acres for the town site to the county.
The town was surveyed and platted by Arber Andrews in July 1823. Salem was incorporated by the General Assembly on Feb. 18, 1837. According to the Act of the Illinois legislature, it was again voted to be incorporated on Aug. 10, 1855 , after which a board of trustees was appointed . The members were: B.F. Marshall, Thomas Day, Samuel Hall, F.O. Leffingwell, S.W. Cunningham with Samuel Hall as President.
In 1865 a city charter was obtained on Feb. 16, 1865. The first house built in the city of Salem was a log house built by James Roberts in 1820 and was placed on the Southside of Vincennes Rd, now Main street.
A stage house was built by Mark Tully around 1821.
The first business house was built by Martin Hill around 1820.
Thomas Higgins was the first merchant and the first church was built by the Presbyterians in 1846.
The first school was built about 1840.
According to an article written in 1879, in the Salem Advocator, there were 5 families living within the city of Salem in 1829 as listed:
Rufus Ricker, Mark Tully, James Chance, James Pyles, and Martin Hill.
Mr Ricker was Clerk of both Courts , Postmaster and Probate Judge. Mark Tully was Sheriff, James Chance was the Blacksmith, Martin Hill a merchant, and James Pyles was a farmer.
Sandoval Township - Very little is known how Sandoval came about, but legends tell of trails crossing her and a trading post located in the South Eastern section, was owned by a man named Sandoval.
The trail called the Vincennes-St Louis, was originally an Indian Trail. It was used by early settlers and wagon trains heading West.
It became the stagecoach route into St. Louis.
Sandoval and Odin were originally one township. It had Thomas Deadmond as one of the first settlers in 1827. He was followed by Silas Barr in 1829, Isaac Barr in 1836, Isaac McClelland in 1830, and Alexander and Henry McClelland in 1840.
The first school was taught in 1834.
In 1850, President Millard Filmore signed a bill making the first grant of public lands to help construct the railroads. In 1851 a law granted the Illinois Central Railroad all unsold sections along a proposed route to connect the Great Lakes with the Gulf of Mexico. This would later create a very important junction for freight and passenger service. With the railroads came more people and of course, more businesses and the population increased rapidly.
On Dec. 22, 1854, the first post office was established with Mr Nettleton as the first postmaster. It is presumed that the name Sandoval is of Mexican or Spanish origin and legend says it's the name of the man that owned the trading post years before.
The town of Sandoval was incorporated by an Act of the General Assembly of the State of Illinois and approved on February 18, 1859.
During the Civil War many troops passed through Sandoval, which was also a point for enlistment. The 40th Illinois Infantry was accepted May 25, 1861 and went into camp here August 5. With 700 strong, orders were given to proceed to Illinois Town (East St. Louis), then across the river to Jefferson Barracks. Joined with other troops they went on to Savannah, Tennessee and a permanent camp at Pittsburg Landing. More than ½ the regiment was killed or wounded. This regiment, after other engagements, was with Sherman on his march to the Sea and took part in the Grand Review at Washington D.C.. General Ambrose E. Burnside and his troops were also camped here while on their way to aid General Grant.
In 1896 the township was divided into 2 towns-- Sandoval and Odin.
In 1908, the village board granted the Odin Telephone Company a franchise to supply service for Sandoval.
When traces of oil were found in the Glenridge Coal mine in 1908, a number of wells were drilled around Sandoval and only a showing of it was found. But in 1909, a good well was drilled on the Louis Stein Farm and many Oil Company Reps. started to arrive here.
Stevenson Township - This town received its name from Samuel E Stevenson who came to this area in 1846.
Many of the early settlers came to Stevenson to stay. Some of them are: The Brubaker's from Ohio, Samuel Gaston form N.C., Richard Holtslaw from Indiana and William Hix Huff came in 1839 and married Mary Crain.
William Middleton came from Virginia as well as others.
Joel Middleton was the first Blacksmith. The first doctors were Middleton and Hall.
There wasn't a school here until 1833. Othy Davenport opened a 3 month School in a log house on the Vincennes Road.
Tonti Township - Name changed from Fredonia on April 20, 1874
When Tonti was established, there were 4-5 families living here.
The first settler in Tonti was William Pursley. He also became the first road supervisor. The first road laid out by the County commissioners was the Vandalia & Golconda Rd. He was also a member of the first Grand Jury that Convened on April 29, 1823. His wife was the former Lydia Little, who was the heroine of the rescue of a Thomas Higgins in an encounter with Indians in the War of 1812. She was the first white woman to live in Tonti and she remained in Marion County for several years after her husband's death and then moved to Texas, where she died.
In 1823 William Marshall came to settle here. He was well educated and became the first school teacher. He
was also the Justice of the Peace for many years as well as the Fiddler of the neighborhood. William Marshall
was the first county treasurer, the first tax assessor and he also served as a representative for Marion County
in the General Assembly from 1830-1834. He lived in Tonti until about 1838.
There were only about 7 families living in Tonti in 1828.
In 1829, Butlor Smith came to Tonti, and was one of the drivers on the Vincennes to St. Louis Stage Coach Line.
The famous Borden family, of the Borden Condensed Milk fortune, bought close to 1000 acres in Tonti and built one of the most impressive mansions in Marion County. It was built in 1888 and it had 22 rooms.
With the house was a productive farm. It had its own water tower, ice house and more than 40 buildings. The
Bordens were known for being very generous to their help. In 1921 the mansion caught fire and was completely destroyed. It was sold several times after Mr. Henry Lee Borden died and very little evidence of the mansion or the farm is left today.
Copyright © Genealogy Trails
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Wildlife of the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument
Forty-nine species of fish (ranging from 1/2-oz. minnows to 140 lb. paddlefish) reside in the river. Fishermen are most likely to catch goldeye, drum, sauger, walleye, northern pike, channel cat, carp, and small mouth buffalo. Of the six remaining paddlefish populations in the United States, the Upper Missouri's appears to be the largest in average size. Generally only taken by snagging in the spring during upstream spawning runs, they are excellent table fare. Occasionally floaters may see these lunkers roll on the surface. Other unusual species in the river are the endangered pallid sturgeon and shovel nose sturgeon.
Shoreline areas provide habitat for soft-shelled turtles, beaver and a wide variety of waterfowl.
The riparian zone immediately adjacent to the river bank is the most important vegetative type in the river valley. Riparian habitat, like that along the Upper Missouri, makes up less than 1% of the vegetative mosaic of the west, yet a greater variety of wildlife species depend upon it than any other vegetative type in the West. The riparian zone is a complex ecological community. It is fragile and its survival depends upon many of the natural forces that at first glance appear to be quite harsh.
A dynamic and essential element of the riparian zone is the river itself. Both vegetation and wildlife in this area are dependent upon normal fluctuations in water height and silt load and the river's tendency to meander. High flows recharge groundwater to levels needed by riparian vegetation and deposit nutrient rich soils across bottom lands. The river's meandering builds new gravel bars, islands, and new bottom lands to replace those that have become too high and dry for riparian vegetation.
Most of the 60 species of mammals, 233 species of birds, and 20 species of amphibians and reptiles that inhabit the Upper Missouri River valley are dependent in one way or another upon the riparian zone. Among the more common species are white-tailed deer and pheasant. While at one time they only visited the area during the late fall and winter, bald eagles are again nesting in cottonwood snags.
Between the riparian zones and the valley slopes are the bottom lands. One of the most common species living here is the prairie dog, a critter that is especially popular with visitors from outside the region. Mule deer and sharp-tailed grouse are also found in the valley slopes and coulees.
The plains above the valley provide habitat for antelope and sage grouse. Elk and bighorn sheep use a variety of these habitat types.
A very special place in the cross-section of the river valley is the cliff faces. Nooks and crannies in the cliffs provide perching and nesting habitat for the many raptors that inhabit the river area. Among them are the sparrow hawk, prairie falcon, and golden eagle.
In addition to those mentioned above, you might also see pronghorn antelope, coyotes, mountain lions, red fox, badger, raccoon, skunk, beaver, porcupine, muskrat, numerous waterfowl, songbirds, raptors and reptiles.
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WGRE Begins Broadcasting
April 28, 1949
April 28, 1949, Greencastle, Ind. - On this day, WGRE began broadcasting as the first radio station in Putnam County. As the student station signed on, it paid tribute DePauw University President Clyde Wildman, who was hospitalized after being involved in an accident and was unable to be on hand for the festivities. President Wildman was, however, provided an FM receiver and was able to hear WGRE's initial broadcast from his hospital bed. (photo, l-r: Elizabeth Turnell, program director and assistant professor of speech; Herold T. Ross '18, station director and head of the speech department; Dean Edgar Cumings; Greencastle Mayor Harold W. Stewart)
According to the book, DePauw: A Pictorial History, "Radio broadcasts had begun on a regular basis from the DePauw campus as early as April 1941, when an arrangement was made with station WIRE in Indianapolis to carry two or three 15-minute educational programs a week from an improvised studio in the psychology department's experimental laboratory on the third floor of Harrison Hall. In 1948 Herold Ross of the speech department, who had been named director of the radio program in 1945, applied to the Federal Communications Commission for a license permitting the University to operate a 10-watt FM station. The license was granted, and in April 1949 station WGRE-FM began broadcasting from studios in rooms 318 and 319 of Harrison Hall, using a transmitter donated by the General Electric Corporation. Named as program director to assist Ross, who became the station director, was a new member of the speech department who was to exert a major influence on the development of radio at DePauw, Elizabeth Turnell." (above photo from WGRE's studios: James Dapp '50; the station's chief monitor, John Cook '51; and Kenneth Welliver '51, who is seen delivering the news)
The text adds, "In May 1951 WGRE turned back its studios in Harrison Hall to the psychology department and moved its operations to the new and improved facilities in the Memorial Student Union Building."
Since 1991, WGRE has been located in the Pulliam Center for Contemporary Media. The station, managed and run by nearly 150 DePauw students, operates 24 hours a day at 800 watts and has been accessible via the Internet since 2000.
Learn more about WGRE by clicking here.Back
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The brightness of a celestial object, measured on a scale in which lower numbers mean greater brightness. The magnitude system stems from the ancient Greeks who ranked stars from first to sixth magnitude: those of first magnitude being the first to appear after sunset, those of sixth magnitude being at the limit of naked-eye visibility in a dark sky. In the 19th century, when it became possible to measure accurately the relative brightness of stars, the system was put on a strict quantitative footing by the English astronomer Norman Pogson (1829–1891). On this new scale (known as the Pogson scale), defined so that most of the traditional magnitudes of stars stayed roughly the same, a difference of one magnitude corresponds to a change in brightness by a factor of 2.512, while a jump of 5 magnitudes equals a brightness change of exactly 100-fold.
Apparent magnitude measures how bright an object looks from Earth. Absolute magnitude measures an object's intrinsic brightness and is defined as the apparent magnitude an object would have if viewed from a distance of 10 parsecs (32.6 light-years). Bolometric magnitude measures brightness over all wavelengths, not just those of visible light.
Related category ASTRONOMICAL QUANTITIES
Home • About • Copyright © The Worlds of David Darling • Encyclopedia of Alternative Energy • Contact
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Disulfide bonds are covalent bonds formed post-translationally by the oxidation of a pair of cysteines. Disulfide bonds can greatly increase the stability of a protein and are primarily found in proteins that reside outside the chaperone rich protective environment of the cytoplasm (e.g. secreted peptides, hormones, antibodies, interferons, extracellular enzymes, etc). Disulfide bonds can also serve catalytic (e.g. oxidoreductases) and signaling roles (e.g. oxidative stress response).
The redox state of the cytoplasm of eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells is reducing due to the presence of numerous disulfide bond reductases (e.g. thioredoxins and glutaredoxins). As such, any disulfide bond formed between two cysteines will quickly and efficiently be reduced back to its thiolate state. To form stable disulfide bonds within proteins, disulfide bond formation is typically segregated to compartments outside of the reducing cytoplasm. In eukaryotes, disulfide bond formation is catalyzed by protein disulfide bond isomerase (PDI) in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), whereas in prokaryotes it is catalyzed by DsbA in the periplasm. An inherent problem in the process of disulfide bond formation is mis-pairing (mis-oxidation) of cysteines, which can cause misfolding, aggregation and ultimately result in low yields during protein production. Proteins that are mis-oxidized must be repaired and disulfide bonds must be shuffled back to their correctly oxidized native state. This is achieved by PDI in eukaryotes and DsbC by prokaryotes.
SHuffle® and PURExpress® are registered trademarks of New England Biolabs, Inc.
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The 2,000 officers and men of the Liverpool City Police played a major role in Liverpool's blitz defences. About 400 special constables assisted them. Eleven policemen were killed during the raids, and many received medals for saving lives and property.
As well as their usual duties, police officers took charge of every blitz incident. They helped to rescue people and to put out fires. They controlled traffic and cleared whole areas until bomb disposal squads could make unexploded bombs safe.
The Chief Constable, Herbert Winstanley, was in control of the Police, the Fire Brigade and ARP: civil defence. Hundreds of police instructors helped with local ARP training in gas drill, bomb drill and firefighting.
ARP and rescue services
Liverpool's survival during the Blitz owed a great deal to its thousands of Air Raid Precautions (ARP) or civil defence volunteers.
The city's civil defence services were set up by the Town Clerk. They were armies of volunteers, mostly part-time and unpaid, who assisted the regular emergency services. Their aim was to save lives and minimise the effects of enemy air attack. In Liverpool they were split into ten divisions, each with its own control. The main control centre was at the new Police Training School, Mather Avenue, Allerton.
Photograph courtesy of the Imperial War Museum, London. (HU36162) Imperial War Museum images may not be copied without the permission of the Imperial War Museum
The first level of civil defence was provided by:
- air raid (ARP) wardens
- the Civil Defence Cadet Corps (later the Messenger Service)
- first aid teams
- rescue parties
- fire watching parties
- fire fighting parties
The Liverpool Fire Brigade, the Auxiliary Fire Service and the Liverpool Salvage Corps were in the front line of rescue work during the Blitz. Although short of men and supplies, they were greatly assisted by volunteer fireguards and firewatchers. Over 100 other fire brigades from as far as the Midlands and London also helped with crews and equipment when needed.
The 'fire bobbies', as they were called, worked heroically in very dangerous and difficult conditions. Forty were killed and many more injured whilst on duty. Men from the Liverpool Fire Brigade and Auxiliary Fire Service received a number of medals for bravery and for saving lives.
- Liverpool Fire Brigade was a police brigade, under the Chief Constable of Liverpool. It had about 250 men, including 50 policemen trained as auxiliary firemen
- The Auxiliary Fire Service had about 2,000 full-time and over 3,000 part-time firemen
Medical, relief and welfare
The staff of the city's hospitals, and of the recently established emergency hospitals, worked throughout the Blitz to cope with casualties. Several hospitals were bombed, and many staff killed or injured.
The Liverpool Ambulance Service, boosted by auxiliary ambulances driven by volunteers, also played a front-line role during the Blitz.
Liverpool Corporation set up a very efficient billeting service to find temporary homes for people whose houses had been destroyed by bombing. After the May Blitz, however, almost 10,000 people had to be found accommodation outside the city.
Among other services catering for people whose homes had been destroyed by bombing were:
- Rest centres run by the Women's Voluntary Service (WVS)
- Mobile canteens run by the WVS, providing hot drinks and snacks to people in blitzed areas.
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Principles of Microeconomics
I. Course Prefix/Number: ECO 202
Course Name: Principles of Microeconomics
Credits: 3 (3 lecture; 0 lab)
III. Course (Catalog) Description
IV. Learning Objectives
2. Explain the circular flow model and how households and firms interact in the US and global environment.
3. Derive and graph the demand and supply curves.
4. Compute elasticity of demand, supply and cross elasticity.
5. Define and measure the impact of price ceilings, price floors, subsidies, taxes, quotas and tariffs, verbally and graphically.
6. Identify public goods and common resources and prescribe a solution for their depletion.
7. Describe externalities and their bearing on economic decisions.
8. Evaluate markets with private information and their impact on pricing.
9. Develop an economic naturalist question and assess its answer.
V. Academic Integrity
• plagiarism (turning in work not written by you, or lacking proper citation),
• falsification and fabrication (lying or distorting the truth),
• helping others to cheat,
• unauthorized changes on official documents,
• pretending to be someone else or having someone else pretend to be you,
• making or accepting bribes, special favors, or threats, and
• any other behavior that violates academic integrity.
There are serious consequences to violations of the academic integrity policy. Oakton's policies and procedures provide students a fair hearing if a complaint is made against you. If you are found to have violated the policy, the minimum penalty is failure on the assignment and, a disciplinary record will be established and kept on file in the office of the Vice President for Student Affairs for a period of 3 years.
Details of the Code of Academic Conduct can be found in the Student Handbook.
VI. Sequence of Topics
B. Supply and Demand
C. How Markets Work
D. The Economics of the Public Sector
E. Firm Behavior and Organization of Industry
F. The Economics of Labor Markets
G. Advanced Microeconomics Topics
VII. Methods of Instruction
Course may be taught as face-to-face, media-based, hybrid or online course.
VIII. Course Practices Required
B. Writing clearly and correctly at a college level.
C. Participation in class discussion.
D. Mathematics at the high-school algebra level, solution of linear equations.
E. Graphical analysis.
F. Course may be taught as face-to-face, media-based, hybrid or online course.
IX. Instructional Materials
X. Methods of Evaluating Student Progress
XI. Other Course Information
If you have a documented learning, psychological, or physical disability you may be entitled to reasonable academic accommodations or services. To request accommodations or services, contact the Access and Disability Resource Center at the Des Plaines or Skokie campus. All students are expected to fulfill essential course requirements. The College will not waive any essential skill or requirement of a course or degree program.
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Aug 11, 2011 • A recent publication inGeophysical Research Letters has called into question the effectiveness of current wetland restoration methods. Using more than two decades worth of Landsat data, Dr. Michael Kearney of the University of Maryland analyzed the effect of three freshwater diversion restoration projects in the Mississippi River delta. The diversions were established in the early 1990s to help restore the deteriorating wetlands. However, Kearney and his team found that there was no significant marsh recovery in the these diversion areas. Additionally, after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita the project areas were more severely damaged and they have been slow to rebound while in the non-restoration areas damages were considered moderate and recovery was swift. Kearney postulates that the freshwater diversions are bringing too few mineral sediments and too many harmful nutrients (especially nitrogen) to the marshes. Nitrogen has been shown to be a detriment to marsh plants, crippling their root growth.
Since the 1930s, twenty-percent of Louisiana’s wetlands have been lost. The culprits are a trifecta of sediment starvation caused by dams and dikes, land subsidence caused by oil drilling, and river channelization that causes remaining river sediments to dump into the gulf instead of being deposited in the marches. Wetland loss is undesirable because the marshes are important to gulf fisheries, migratory birds, and the people and property that they protect from storms. Because of the importance of wetlands the Coastal Wetland Protection, Planning and Restoration Act of 1990 was created to facilitate their restoration. It was thought that by diverting freshwater to the marches, salinity would be decreased, sediments would be increased, and therefore marsh-building plants would thrive. However, after evaluating Landsat imagery of three water diversion projects, Kearney has found that the projects have made the marshes more vulnerable to erosion and have feed unwanted algae.
Of the three freshwater diversions evaluated by Kearney, Caernarvon, the site closest to Katrina’s storm path, lost a staggering 54 square miles of marsh following the 2005 hurricanes—approximately a third of its overall area—and its recovery has been hindered in comparison to non-restoration areas even closer to the storm path.
A new study has been commissioned to revisit plans for future freshwater diversion restoration projects. While such projects have been shown to be successful in other locations, the number of variables involved makes the process far from foolproof.
+ Kearney, M., Riter, J. & Turner, R. E. Geophys. Res. Lett. doi:10.1029/2011GL047847 (2011).
+NatureNews: Wetlands not aided by Mississippi diversions [external link]
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| 0.960175 | 550 | 3.59375 | 4 |
The U.S. Navy's Ion Tiger flew
over the Aberdeen Proving Ground on November
16 and November 17 for more than one day, as the 37-lb. aircraft
carried its fuel-cell engine, 9.5-lb. compressed hydrogen tank, and a
Ion Tiger has a a day-night camera capable
of surveillance and reconnaissance for future missions, said
representatives from the Naval Research Laboratory. The recent
test flight was meant as an endurance test, and researchers were
quick to point out that much work is left to be done.
use of UAVs continues
to increase in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, military officials
interested in creating greener UAVs that are able to fly for
longer durations. Using a light, powerful engine, the Ion Tiger
is quieter and has a lower heat signature than traditional internal
UAVs are being used to patrol the Somali
coast to help deter pirate attacks on commercial ships, while U.S.
military officials expressed interest in also using them to help
re-supply ground troops in remote areas of Afghanistan.
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| 0.942744 | 232 | 2.828125 | 3 |
Nations warn of broken promises at U.N. climate talks
Author: Andrew Allan, Stian Reklev
Almost 50 of the world's poorest nations said pledges made by rich countries to provide funds to help them adapt to a warmer planet risk being overlooked as U.N. negotiations over a global climate pact to start in 2020 got underway in Bangkok on Thursday.
The group of mostly African nations said that ill-fated talks launched in 2007 to find a successor to the Kyoto Protocol must not end without richer nations pledging financial aid to help them cope with rising sea levels cause by climate change.
Traditional industrialized nations such as the EU, the U.S. and Japan want to close down the talks, which failed in 2009 to produce a legally-binding global pact to cut emissions of heat-trapping gases starting next year.
They want to focus on a new deal to take effect at the end of the decade.
"We cannot live with these issues being deferred until a new agreement is negotiated in 2015 and that would not even come into effect in 2020," said Pa Ousman Jarju, chair of the Least Developed Countries negotiating group.
Rich nations have pledged to find $100 billion per year starting in 2020 to help nations combat the effects of climate change, but poorer nations are concerned that existing pledges of $10 billion a year will expire in December without a new interim agreement in place.
"All sides need a clearer understanding on how to get to $100 billion a year by 2020 with no gaps," said Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the U.N.'s climate department and the public face of the talks.
The call comes as traditional rich nations struggle to rein in their national debt and budget deficits, while support for proposals to tap the private sector for cash through regulating or taxing emissions from shipping and aviation have struggled to receive backing.
The Bangkok negotiations, which end next week, will also try to advance talks on whether countries that have refused to be legally bound to cut emissions under the Kyoto Protocol should be allowed access to the carbon markets launched under the 1997 treaty.
The issue is salient for the governments of Australia, New Zealand and Japan who have either given big emitting companies targets to cut emissions or plan to do so and are keen to allow them to use cheap carbon credits from the Clean Development Mechanism to cut costs.
Poorer countries want to use access to carbon credits as leverage to get those three nations to re-sign Kyoto.
Earlier this month Australia's main opposition party which is tipped to win the country's next general election said it would not object to the country taking on another legal target to cut emissions under the Kyoto Protocol, putting pressure on the government to sign up.
A spokesperson for Australia's climate change minister said the country had not yet made a decision, preferring instead to wait to see how talks advance on the new global treaty, the bare bones of which were agreed at last year's climate talks in Durban.
"The Australian government will take a decision on the Kyoto Protocol second commitment period at an appropriate time. We are carefully examining what the post-Durban international settings mean for our legislated carbon pricing scheme."
The talks will also focus on how countries can deepen voluntary pledges to cut emissions by 2020 made at the Copenhagen climate summit in 2009.
(This version of the story corrects day to Thursday from Wednesday in lede)
(Reporting by Andrew Allan, Stian Reklev. Additional reporting by David Fogarty)
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| 0.950318 | 714 | 2.640625 | 3 |
This image was taken from ESA's Proba satellite, displaying the eastern side of the city of Athens, the site where the ancient Olympics were founded in 776 BC, the first modern Games were held in 1896 and where the 2004 Games are currently taking place.
The capital of Greece, Athens is home to some 3.7 million people, more than a third of the population of the entire country. For now, their ranks are being swollen by more than 10500 participating athletes, 3000 team officials, 21500 media representatives, 45000 security personnel and 60000 trained volunteers, plus spectators from all over the globe.
Modern Athens is a dense sprawl of urban development that has expanded to cover the entire plain of Attica, with further expansion blocked by surrounding mountains – Mount Hymettus is seen here, east of the city - and the waters of the Saronic Gulf.
The old city has been swallowed up by the new, but its landmarks still stand: the Acropolis can be made out as a distinct white object towards the top left of the image, standing right of the Filopappos Hill and the Hill of the Pnyx, apparent as a rare splash of green within the city boundaries.
And east of the Acropolis can be seen the distinctive all-marble Panathinaiko Stadium (also known as Kallimarmaro Stadium), a reconstructed ancient stadium where the 1896 Games were held, where this year's archery events are being held, and the Olympic Marathon is finishing. Visible down on the coast are the jetties of the Agios Kosmas Olympic Sailing Centre, towards the base of the image.
This image was acquired by the Compact High Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (CHRIS) instrument aboard Proba on 3 March 2003. It has a spatial resolution of 18 metres.
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| 0.959308 | 372 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Machine
Courtesy of Intermountain Medical Imaging, Boise, Idaho.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a test that uses a magnetic field and pulses of radio wave energy to make pictures of organs and structures that are inside the body. During the MRI test (also called an MRI scan), you usually lie on your back on a table that is part of the MRI scanner. Your head, chest, and arms may be held with straps to help you stay still. The table will then slide into the round opening of the magnet.
Inside the scanner you will hear a fan and feel air moving. You may also hear tapping or snapping noises as the MRI scans are done. It is very important to stay completely still while the scan is being done.
People who get nervous in small places (are claustrophobic) may need medicine to help them relax while having an MRI scan.
eMedicineHealth Medical Reference from Healthwise
To learn more visit Healthwise.org
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Pointers are variables that store the value of a location in memory. In essence they "point" to the location of any variable, in which case they are said to point to the variable in question. By using pointers, a function has the capability to change the value of a variable that resides outside the function's scope. Giving a pointer as an argument to a function is called "passing by reference," whereas variables are normally passed by value. This guide will discuss pointers as they relate to C++; for a review of pointers in general see the SparkNote on the topic.
Structs are used to collect a number of related variables into one structure, thereby creating a new kind of data type. Structs are less commonly used in C++ than in C because C++ implements classes, which can do all that structs do and more. Variables in a struct are accessed with the dot operator ".", and variables in a struct pointer are accessed with the membership access operator "->".
One way to use pointers with structs is to create linked lists, which are structures that can hold any number of "links." To create a new variable from an arbitrary pointer, use the new operator to allocate a piece of memory to point to. To free the memory again, use the delete operator with the pointer variable's name.
Arrays are a more basic structure that have a set number of elements. They can be initialized at declaration time by using the brace notation and listing the elements separated by commas. Multidimensional array require nested brace notation if they are to be initialized at the time of declaration. Elements are accessed through their respective indices inside of brackets. See the arrays SparkNote for a full treatment of this topic.
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en
| 0.936972 | 348 | 3.921875 | 4 |
Definitions of wise
v. - Having knowledge; knowing; enlightened; of extensive information; erudite; learned. 2
v. - Hence, especially, making due use of knowledge; discerning and judging soundly concerning what is true or false, proper or improper; choosing the best ends and the best means for accomplishing them; sagacious. 2
v. - Versed in art or science; skillful; dexterous; specifically, skilled in divination. 2
v. - Hence, prudent; calculating; shrewd; wary; subtle; crafty. 2
v. - Dictated or guided by wisdom; containing or exhibiting wisdom; well adapted to produce good effects; judicious; discreet; as, a wise saying; a wise scheme or plan; wise conduct or management; a wise determination. 2
v. - Way of being or acting; manner; mode; fashion. 2
The word "wise" uses 4 letters: E I S W.
No direct anagrams for wise found in this word list.
Words formed by adding one letter before or after wise (in bold), or to eisw in any order:
d - wides wised f - wifes l - lewis lweis wiles n - sinew swine wines p - swipe wipes r - weirs wires wiser wries s - wises t - wites v - swive views wives z - wizes
List shorter words within wise, sorted by length
All words formed from wise by changing one letter
Browse words starting with wise by next letter
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http://www.morewords.com/word/wise
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| 0.884018 | 330 | 2.953125 | 3 |
Here is another reason, perhaps, to go easy on the fried chicken and the flame-broiled spare ribs: High-temperature-cooked foods, which already have been found to promote cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease, may be raising the risk of Alzheimer's too.
That's the suggestion of a new study from researchers at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. They fed mice a diet in which a "glycotoxin" chemical associated with high-temperature cooking was included or mostly removed, and observed fewer memory and learning deficits in the low-glycotoxin mice as they grew old. The researchers also found that higher bloodstream levels of the glycotoxin in elderly humans predicted a faster cognitive decline.
The involvement of glycotoxins in Alzheimer's is "still a new concept for most scientists," says Weijing Cai, the Mount Sinai researcher who was lead author of the study. But the response so far has been positive, he adds, and he and his colleagues now hope to get funding for clinical trials of glycotoxin-reducing interventions.
What are glycotoxins?
Also known as "advanced glycation end products" or AGEs, glycotoxins are the products ofa process known as glycation: the fastening of a sugar molecule to a protein or fat molecule in a way that isn't mediated by enzymes.
Glycation happens in the body's normal metabolism of foods as well as in the cooking process. The browning of a turkey during high temperature roasting is a classic glycation sign. Once glycated, molecules tend to undergo further chemical reactions until they end up as products-the so-called advanced glycation end-products-that are hard for enzymes and other housekeeping systems in the body to dispose of normally.
Glycation and some of its more reactive products also can "cross link" proteins, potentially reducing their function and flexibility. This is now widely seen as a contributor to the aging of skin and blood vessels, particularly in diabetics and others who have high and relatively uncontrolled blood sugar levels.
Stiffer blood vessels lead to higher blood pressure, which in the brain can cause strokes and mini-strokes, and also has been linked to lower brain volume, worse nerve fiber integrity, cognitive impairment, and dementia.
Glycation and AGEs can harm the brain not just by raising blood pressure but also by cross-linking protein aggregates, such as the amyloid beta and tau aggregates seen in Alzheimer's disease. Cross-linking potentially makes these aggregates tougher to remove by cellular waste-disposal systems such as proteasomes, and thus could enhance the associated disease processes, says longtime AGE researcher Gerald Münch at the University of Western Sydney: "If you cross-link tau with AGEs, for example, it becomes completely undegradable by proteasomes." Moreover, he adds, autopsy studies of Alzheimer's brains have shown that "the amyloid and tau aggregates contain lots of AGEs."
AGEs and associated compounds may hurt the brain in yet another way, by stimulating inflammation, which is known to promote and accelerate Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases. It appears to do this via several pathways, including the promotion of reactive oxygen species, and the activation of inflammatory cellular receptors known as TLRs and RAGEs (Receptors for AGEs).
A factor in Alzheimer's?
All these potential factors could help explain the striking link between diabetes, a disorder associated with high levels of glycation and AGEs, and Alzheimer's. But although there are many reasons to suspect that glycotoxin-related processes promote and accelerate Alzheimer's, proving a causal link has never been easy, given the many other factors involved in the disease. In the Alzheimer's research world most of the focus has been on amyloid beta and tau.
Even so, there does seem to have been a slow buildup of evidence for the importance of glycotoxins, particularly in the past few years. For example, a study published early in 2013 from Münch's laboratory linked methylglyoxal (MG) a metabolic and dietary product that drives AGE-production, to lower gray matter volume. A study published soon after by researchers at the University of Minnesota found that boosting the activity of an MG-removing enzyme system, the glyoxalases, blocked cognitive dysfunction in an Alzheimer's mouse model.
There is also the fact that the human exposure to these compounds can be reduced immediately by changes in diet-less sugar, lower cooking temperatures-which means that a little evidence in this field could go a long way in terms of the human impact.
Cai's laboratory is part of a research group led by Mount Sinai School of Medicine professor Helen Vlassara, who has been studying AGEs and their harmful effects for three decades. Most of that work has been in relation to diabetes, and to the obesity-linked "metabolic syndrome" that often precedes both diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
In a 2012 study, however, Vlassara and Cai and their colleagues found that mice fed a diet with added MG derivatives developed a host of diabetes-promoting changes that weren't seen in mice fed a low-MG diet. The changes in the mice included increased fat, premature insulin resistance, and increased inflammation, and seemed to be driven in part by falls in levels of a protein called sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) in fat, muscle, and liver.
SIRT1 is of great interest to medical scientists because it appears to switch on programs in cells that increase stress resistance and promote a healthy sensitivity to insulin, among other beneficial effects. SIRT1 activity is boosted by caloric restriction in rodents, fruit flies, and worms, and that appears to account for most of caloric restriction's lifespan-extending benefits in those animals. Drugs that boost SIRT1 artificially are now being developed for use against diabetes.
The same drugs might help prevent Alzheimer's too, for SIRT1 levels decline in key brain areas in the course of that disease, whereas SIRT1-boosting caloric restriction in mice and monkeys appears to protect the brain from age-related neurodegeneration. SIRT1 may help in this regard not only by improving the metabolic state of brain cells, but also by reducing the usual production of the amyloid beta protein (which is cut from a larger protein) by enzymes in the brain.
The SIRT1 connection encouraged Cai and Vlassara and their colleagues to do the new study-of the experimental low-MG diet in the context of brain aging.
The researchers separated the mice into three diet groups: a low-AGE diet, a low-AGE diet supplemented specifically with MG (to isolate MG's harmful effects), and a regular chow diet. The latter two groups, when they grew older, were significantly fatter, showed signs of insulin resistance, showed declines in learning ability and memory on standard tests, had reduced levels of SIRT1, and increased levels of a particularly aggregate-prone form of amyloid beta (Aβ42), compared with the low-MG mice.
In a separate part of the study, Cai and Vlassara and their colleagues evaluated blood samples from 93 elderly humans, and found that those with high levels of MG in their blood were significantly more likely to experience cognitive decline in the ensuing nine months.
More research, and ideas for therapies
Naturally Vlassara's group is hoping to do further research: firstly to understand better the detailed mechanisms by which MG and AGEs might promote Alzheimer's, and secondly to set up clinical trials of interventions against these compounds.
Such trials could involve low-MG/AGE diets in people who have early Alzheimer's or are at high risk for it. (Vlassara and colleagues have written a practical guide to avoiding dietary AGEs.) Yet researchers often shy away from clinical trials of dietary changes, where the ability of the people volunteering in the study to comply with its rules is often in doubt. "If you give them a pill instead-no dramas," says Münch.
As Cai notes, "we hope to explore oral agents that can bind AGEs in the gut and prevent them from entering the body and reach the brain." Initial published studies of the AGE-sequestering drug sevelamer carbonate against diabetic kidney disease have been promising, he says-and "additional trials pending publication have confirmed the initial findings."Other AGE-sequestering drugs include aminoguanidine and tenilsetam.
A North Carolina-based biotech company, TransTechPharma, is taking a similar approach. It has begun testing a RAGE-receptor antagonist drug, TTP488, which is meant to block some of AGEs' pro-inflammatory effects.
Another option, Münch says, is to somehow boost the activity of the body's natural anti-MG system, the glyoxalase I and II enzymes. One way to do this would be to boost levels of glutathione, an important co-factor for glyoxalase activity. Studies have shown that levels of glutathione are reduced in affected brain areas in early Alzheimer's, whereas the principal glyoxalase enzyme, glyoxalase I, is upregulated-a picture that suggests a failing compensatory response due to insufficient glutathione.
How to increase your glutathione levels, and thus increase your defenses against MG and AGEs? Münch points out one of the most potent compounds capable of boosting glutathione production is sulforaphane, which is found in so-called cruciferous vegetables such as cauliflower, cabbage, kale, and, most of all, broccoli.
Another reason to eat your broccoli.
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| 0.958134 | 2,023 | 3.359375 | 3 |
- Download PDF
3 Answers | Add Yours
Shedding of mature leaves from the stem or ripe fruits from the stem is called abscission. Generally a layer of tissue is formed at the base of the organ. For, example, at the base of petiole in mature leaves of deciduous trees. This layer of tissue is called abscission zone. The cells of this zone are thin walled and without deposition of lignin or suberin. At the time of abscission, the middle lamella may dissolve between the cells of two middle layers. It has been shown that abscission zone does not occurs when the concentration of auxin is high.
Because it is then detached from the tree and the gravitational force pushes it down to earth.
because of the impact of gravity, gravity pulls everything down, even at any part of universe you feel gravity, but it is in a less amount,
We’ve answered 327,777 questions. We can answer yours, too.Ask a question
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| 0.929366 | 212 | 4.03125 | 4 |
- Wificonfig -
# Author : Vanstals Thomas [Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium]
Wificonfig is a little script aimed to ease the switching between networks, for people who have 2 network cards : a wired one and a wireless one.
To install wificonfig, download the latest version of wificonfig, untar, make the install file executable and run the ./install script as super user.
$ tar xvzf wificonfig-x.y.z.tar.gzThe wificonfig script will be copied to /usr/local/bin.
$ chmod +x install
$ sudo ./install
A configuration file (.wificonfig.conf) will be created in your home directory.
If wificonfig must be used by more than one user, copy the .wificonfig.conf file located in your home directory in the directory of the other users.
Fist of all, don't forget to activated your wireless network card !
wificonfig -a start -n homeLaunch the wifi connection with the id home.
wificonfig -a restart -n homeUse this command to launch the wifi connection with the id home after the lost of the connection due to the driver of the wifi card.
wificonfig -a stopUse this command if you want to come back to the wired connection. It will lunch a dhcp request on this interface.
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as
published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the
License, or (at your option) any later version.
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| 0.842001 | 364 | 2.546875 | 3 |
When two great generals from opposing sides met to end the long struggle of the Civil War, the arrangement between victor and vanquished was to have far-reaching effects on the repair of relations between the North and South.
Of "Surrender at Appomattox," artist Tom Lovell said, "On April 9, 1865, Lt. General Ulysses S. Grant accepted the surrender of General Robert E. Lee and his army of Northern Virginia. This momentous event took place at the village of Appomattox Court House, Virginia, three miles from the present-day Appomattox, in the parlor of the McLean House." General Grant's generous terms went far in repairing the rift between North and South. After four years of bitter conflict, the Civil War had finally ended."
With Grant are (left to right) Major-General Philip H. Sheridan, Colonel Orville E. Babcock, Lieutenant-General Horace Potter, Major-General Edward O.C. Ord, Major-General Seth Williams, Colonel Theodore S. Bowers, Colonel Ely S. Parker and Major-General George A. Custer. Accompanying Lee is Colonel Charles Marshall, his military secretary.
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http://www.greenwichworkshop.com/details/default.asp?p=1536&t=1
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| 0.960694 | 247 | 3.34375 | 3 |
I'm a layperson learning about quantum mechanics and probability waves. My understanding is that the probability wave for the position of a particle disperses throughout all of the universe.
I have two questions about probability waves:
1) Does the probability wave for a particle take time to disperse throughout space?
For example, if a particle is formed at $t=0$ and I have a detector one light year away, will it be impossible for the detector to detect the particle until the probability wave reaches the detector and at least establishes probability where the detector is located? If so, is there a given speed for the wave (e.g., speed of light)?
2) In the double split experiment where single electrons are fired and detected on the other side of the slits, why do the physical barriers cause the waves to interfere with each other? I was thinking that if the particles were photons, then would the double slits cause the same interference? What if the slits were cut into perfectly clear glass? I assume that the probability waves would not be disrupted by the glass, but is that true?
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<urn:uuid:77e81c50-995b-4661-b59f-c29193bee689>
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http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/41615/probability-wave-speed-of-dispersion-and-interference
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| 0.949511 | 224 | 2.984375 | 3 |
The Vermont Legislative Research Service (VLRS)
Vermont Legislative Research Shop
The Vermont Eugenics Movement
Eugenics was first developed in Europe in the mid-19th century as a concept that applied plant and animal breeding philosophies to humans. In the United States, this was furthered by Victorian ideals of ethnic superiority and inferiority that ended up yielding a type of "new racism" (Wiseman 2001, p. 145). These developments were fueled by new emigration patterns from Eastern and Southern Europe. Society underwent a shift, embracing Xenophobia (fear of foreigners) and rejecting the increased racial and ethnic diversity that had developed, especially in southern New England.
Dr. Henry Perkins, a Professor of Zoology at the University of Vermont picked up the eugenics movement in Vermont in the mid 1920s. In February of 1923, students under Perkins started looking more into human heredity and genetics. Dr. Charles Davenport first pointed Perkins in the direction of the eugenics movement, claiming that Vermont was the perfect arena for the eugenics survey. In a letter to Perkins, Davenport wrote " in the study of defects found in drafted men Vermont stood at or near the top of the list as having precisely or nearly the highest defect rate for quite a series of defects " (Davenport, 2/23/1923).
From 1925-1928 Perkins "conducted extensive investigations on selected kinship groups in Vermont to develop pedigrees of degeneracy among Vermonts rural poor" (Gallagher, 2002). Perkins released five reports during his studies of eugenics and Vermonters. Here, the term "survey" refers to a concentrated campaign of isolation, stereotyping, segragation, and sterilization (Dann 1991, Gallagher 1999). Contemporary scholars who have studied Perkins work, Nancy Gallagher and Kevin Dann, have used the terms "negative" and "positive" eugenics to categorize the methods used. Negative eugenics refers to sexual sterilization and institution of people with traits that were considered "undesirable." Positive eugenics refers to the campaign to increase the population of people who had "desirable" traits. The first two surveys concentrated on the negative eugenics measures, namely sexual sterilization and expansion of institutions for the "feebleminded, imbeciles, and idiots" (Dann 1991, Gallagher 1999).
Within the first report, Perkins had categorized his subjects into three groups: the "Pirates" who were people who lived along the lake; the "Chorea Families" who were people with mental disorders; and the "Gypsy Families" who were people with "dark skin due to an admixture of negro and Indian blood" (Perkins, 1927). There were approximately 430 families assigned to the category of Gypsy. After his second report, he expanded to a comprehensive survey of all factors affecting rural life. In 1931, when he released his final report, Perkins focused on a working plan for "rural rejuvenation and development and an important study documenting the perceived relationship between social, cultural, and economic forces in rural Vermont during the inter-war years" (Gallagher, 2002).
After three legislative introductions over the course of nineteen years, Vermont became the twenty-fifth state to enact a sterilization law in 1931. It was first proposed by outgoing Governor John A. Mead and introduced by Senator Elmer Johnston of Franklin County in 1912. Based on the recommendation of the Committee of Public Health the bill passed in both the House and Senate but was vetoed by Governor Allen Fletcher. The Senate overrode the veto but the House did not. In 1927 the law was again proposed, at which time it passed in the Senate but not in the House. It was finally passed in both chambers in 1931 and was signed by Governor Stanley Wilson on April 1 (Dann, 1991, 23-24).
While legislation supporting the eugenics movement was not enacted until 1931, many prominent state officials were involved prior to that year. UVMs president, Guy Bailey, was a continual supporter of Perkins and the eugenics movement, helping him to secure funding from the wealthy Rockefeller family and other private sources. He also provided sabbatical time for him to organize the Eugenics Survey. Other state officials that served on the Advisory Committee of the Eugenics Survey included: Dr. C. F. Dalton, Secretary, State Board of Health; R. H. Walker, Superintendent, State Prison; Dr. E. A. Stanley, Superintendent, State Hospital for the Insane; Clarence Dempsey, Commissioner of State Education; and William H. Dyer, Commissioner of Public Welfare (Dann, 1991, 23).
Conclusion and Effects on the Abenaki
According to State Archivist Gregory Sanford, "gypsies" was a code word for people of Abenaki descent. Sanford and Gallagher have estimated from the survey records that around 300 Abenaki people were sterilized (Sanford 1/30/02). It is important to note that variations in terminology and documentation of the procedures make it impossible to obtain an exact number, so an estimate is the best one can do.
Gallagher emphasizes that cultural and familial impacts of eugenics were longer lasting and more visible (Gallagher, 1999). Children were taught to speak English only and shed traditional Abenaki clothing. Many of the Abenaki youth grew up without knowing their heritage and history (Gallagher p 120-179). Other psychological and cultural effects are frequently discussed in Abenaki literature and folklore. In an article for the Boston Globe, Ellen Barry reports on the effects of the Eugenics Survey that are still felt by the Abenaki community today. April Rushlow (chief of the Abenaki Nation) stated that "she feared that as a result some senior citizens would refuse to participate in the U.S. Census in 2000, even though that information is kept confidential." In the same article, Rushlows father, the late Chief Homer St. Francis, reports that many members of the community hid their language, religion, customs, and many personal characteristics to escape persecution. While this kept some from being sterilized, it essentially wiped out their culture.
Barry, Ellen. 1999. "Eugenics victims are heard at last: Outrage voiced over state sterilization." Boston Globe. August 15. http://ishgooda.nativeweb.org/nuclear/genrac.htm January 30, 2002
Dann, Kevin 1991. "From Degeneration to Regeneration: The Eugenics Survey of Vermont," Vermont History p 5-29.
Davenport, CB. 1923. " Letter, CB Davenport to HF Perkins" Vermont Eugenics: A Documentary History. UVM Collections. http://cit.uvm.edu:6336/dynaweb/eugenics January 30, 2002.
Gallagher, Nancy. 1999. Breeding Better Vermonters: the Eugenics project in the Green Mountain State. University Press of New England, Hanover, NH. 120-179.
Gallagher, Nancy. 1998. The Papers of the Eugenics Survey of Vermont and the Vermont Commission on Country Life. Vermont Public Records Division. http://www.bgs.state.vt.us/GSC/pubrec/referen/eugenics.htm January 30, 2002.
Perkins, Henry. 1927. "First Annual Report of Eugenics Survey of Vermont" Vermont Eugenics: Documentary History. UVM Collections. http://cit.uvm.edu:6336/dynaweb/eugenics January 30, 2002.
Wiseman, Frederick Matthew. 2001 The Voice of the Dawn. University Press of New England, Hanover, NH. 145-148.
This report was compiled by Jon Badaracco, Julie Britt, and Michelle Hetzel on February 13, 2001 in response to a request from Senator Julius Canns.
Last modified February 19 2002 11:58 AM
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|South Carolina Department of Archives and History|
|National Register Properties in South Carolina
South Carolina National Bank of Charleston, Charleston County (16 Broad St., Charleston)
(Bank of Charleston) One of the most important buildings on South Carolina’s oldest commercial street, the South Carolina National Bank building is an integral part of Charleston’s Historic District. It was constructed in 1817 as the Office of Discount and Deposit of the Second Bank of the United States, whose charter was drawn up by John C. Calhoun. The bank provided international banking services, which enabled the transfer of South Carolina rice and cotton to European markets. It was the only bank in Charleston equipped to handle such transactions in this prosperous era. President Andrew Jackson later withdrew all government deposits, thereby destroying the bank. In 1836, when the Office of Discount and Deposit was liquidated, the Bank of Charleston purchased its property and assets including the building. The building’s exterior walls are masonry covered with stucco. Its roof is pitched with gables and a heavily molded cornice at the northern and southern ends. The south or main fašade is divided into three bays with shallow recesses. A large gold leaf eagle adorns the gable and is the original 1817 ornament. All first floor windows are surmounted with semicircular heads. In 1855 the bank purchased the building to the east. In 1856 the original building was extended to the north. The Board of Directors’ Room, an architectural masterpiece, was added in 1856 and is believed to have been designed by Edward C. Jones, a well-known Charleston architect of the period. Listed in the National Register June 4, 1973.
View the complete text of the nomination form for this National Register property.
Most National Register properties are privately owned and are not open to the public. The privacy of owners should be respected. Not all properties retain the same integrity as when originally documented and listed in the National Register due to changes and modifications over time.
Images and texts on these pages are intended for research or educational use. Please read our statement on use and reproduction for further information on how to obtain a photocopy or how to cite an item.
Images provided by theSouth Carolina Department of Archives and History.
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Guiding Principles It is important for the people in Illinois communities
to be aware of the existence of community nutrition programs.
Community nutrition programs are important to the health
and wellness of all eligible people.
Community nutrition programs should work together to address
food security through cooperation and coordination to maximize resources.
Healthy lifestyles, which include optimal nutrition and
physical activity, are important for all.
Fostering collaborative relationships enhances the effectiveness
of all programs.
Objectives for the Illinois Interagency Nutrition
Council (INC) include the following: Objective #1: To share information among food assistance programs. Objective #2: To increase access to community nutrition programs. Objective #3: To provide educational opportunities related to food assistance
programs. Objective #4: To encourage involvement of nutrition programs in community
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The basic warehousing functions traditionally have been considered to be as follows (Tompkins and White, 1984):
- identification and sorting;
- dispatching to storage;
- placing in storage;
- retrieval from storage;
- order accumulation;
- record keeping.
In designing warehousing systems it is desirable to maximize (Tompkins et al. (1996):
- space utilization;
- equipment utilization;
- labor utilization;
- accessibility of all materials;
- protection of all materials.
Storing goods in adequate space with the proper equipment by well trained personnel in a properly planned layout results in maximum protection of items.
Tompkins, James A. and White, John A. Facilities Planning, John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1984.
Tompkins et al. Facilities Planning, 2nd. ed., John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1996.
2007-04-08 12:11 am
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VB ListView - The ListView Control in Visual Basic 2008
The ListView control is similar to the ListBox control except that it can display its items in many forms, along with any number of subitems for each item. To use the ListView control in your project, place an instance of the control on a form and then set its basic properties, which are described in the following list.
View and Arrange - Two properties determine how the various items will be displayed on the control: the View property, which determines the general appearance of the items, and the Arrange property, which determines the alignment of the items on the control's surface. The View property can have one of the values shown in Table 4.8.
Table 4.8: Settings of the View Property of VB.NET ListView Control
The Arrange property can have one of the settings shown in Table 4.9.
Table 4.9: Settings of the Arrange Property of VB.NET ListView Control
HeaderStyle - This property determines the style of the headers in Details view. It has no meaning when the View property is set to anything else, because only the Details view has columns. The possible settings of the HeaderStyle property are shown in Table 4.10.
Table 4.10: Settings of the HeaderStyle Property of VB.NET ListView Control
AllowColumnReorder - This property is a True/False value that determines whether the user can reorder the columns at runtime, and it's meaningful only in Details view. If this property is set to True, the user can move a column to a new location by dragging its header with the mouse and dropping it in the place of another column.
Activation - This property, which specifies how items are activated with the mouse, can have one of the values shown in Table 4.11.
Table 4.11: Settings of the Activation Property of VB.NET ListView Control
FullRowSelect - This property is a True/False value, indicating whether the user can select an entire row or just the item's text, and it's meaningful only in Details view. When this property is False, only the first item in the selected row is highlighted.
GridLines - Another True/False property. If True, grid lines between items and subitems are drawn. This property is meaningful only in Details view.
Group - The items of the ListView control can be grouped into categories. To use this feature, you must first define the groups by using the control's Group property, which is a collection of strings. You can add as many members to this collection as you want. After that, as you add items to the ListView control, you can specify the group to which they belong. The control will group the items of the same category together and display the group's title above each group. You can easily move items between groups at runtime by setting the corresponding item's Group property to the name of the desired group.
LabelEdit - The LabelEdit property lets you specify whether the user will be allowed to edit the text of the items. The default value of this property is False. Notice that the LabelEdit property applies to the item's Text property only; you can't edit the subitems (unfortunately, you can't use the ListView control as an editable grid).
MultiSelect - A True/False value, indicating whether the user can select multiple items from the control. To select multiple items, click them with the mouse while holding down the Shift or Ctrl key. If the control's ShowCheckboxes property is set to True, users can select multiple items by marking the check box in front of the corresponding item(s).
Scrollable - A True/False value that determines whether the scroll bars are visible. Even if the scroll bars are invisible, users can still bring any item into view. All they have to do is select an item and then press the arrow keys as many times as needed to scroll the desired item into view.
Sorting - This property determines how the items will be sorted, and its setting can be None, Ascending, or Descending. To sort the items of the control, call the Sort method, which sorts the items according to their caption. It's also possible to sort the items according to any of their subitems, as explained in the section "Sorting the ListView Control" later in this chapter.
The Columns Collection of ListView Control in VB.NET 2008
To display items in Details view, you must first set up the appropriate columns. The first column corresponds to the item's caption, and the following columns correspond to its subitems. If you don't set up at least one column, no items will be displayed in Details view. Conversely, the Columns collection is meaningful only when the ListView control is used in Details view.
The items of the Columns collection are of the ColumnHeader type. The simplest way to set up the appropriate columns is to do so at design time by using a visual tool. Locate and select the Columns property in the Properties window, and click the ellipsis button next to the property. The ColumnHeader Collection Editor dialog box will appear, as shown in Figure 4.29, in which you can add and edit the appropriate columns.
Adding columns to a ListView control and setting their properties through the dialog box shown in Figure 4.29 is quite simple. Don't forget to size the columns according to the data you anticipate storing in them and to set their headers.
It is also possible to manipulate the Columns collection fromwithin your code as follows. Create a ColumnHeader object for each column in your code, set its properties, and then add it to the control's Columns collection:
Adding and Removing Columns at Runtime
To add a new column to the control, use the Add method of the Columns collection. The syntax of the Add method is as follows:
The header argument is the column's header (the string that appears on top of the items). The width argument is the column's width in pixels, and the last argument determines how the text will be aligned. The textAlign argument can be Center, Left, or Right.
The Add method returns a ColumnHeader object, which you can use later in your code to manipulate the corresponding column. The ColumnHeader object exposes a Name property, which can't be set with the Add method:
After the execution of these statements, the first column can be accessed not only by index, but also by name.
To remove a column, call the Remove method:
The indices of the following columns are automatically decreased by one. The Clear method removes all columns from the Columns collection. Like all collections, the Columns collection exposes the Count property, which returns the number of columns in the control.
Table of Contents
W3computing.com Copyright 2011 © All Rights Reserved
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Blake Psychology’s Blog
Communication is at the core of our daily interactions. We may communicate well or poorly, but we cannot not communicate. Effective communication is essential to good relationships, and no problems can be solved without it. All of us know how quickly we can fall into ineffective communication patterns. This is especially easy when we are tired, stressed, or simply feel overwhelmed by life. In those situations, many of us use unproductive communication patterns such as sarcasm, being defensive, or using words that put the other person down. […]
Be in contact with the present moment; notice and acknowledge your painful thoughts and feelings.Recognize and defuse from any urges to judge yourself harshly for your pain, using your observer's mind.
With February upon us, we can’t help but pause and think about our relationships. People in all types of relationships can benefit from reflecting, and of coursing enhancing, the quality of their relationships. You probably know this from your own experience, but our relationships have a great deal of influence on our emotional well-being overall and our overall level of “happiness.” […]
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Infantile paralysis is slowly being eradicated from Massachusetts, according to figures compiled by the Harvard Infantile Paralysis Commission. In the 1928 epidemic the Commission, assisted by the State Department of Health, treated some 25 percent of the 500 cases in the pre-paralytic stage, compared with but 10 percent of 1200 cases so treated in 1927.
If the case is diagnosed in the first three days of the disease, before paralysis has set in, a cure is possible, according to Dr. W. Lloyd Aycock, in charge of the Commission's work. A serum has been produced, which, if administered in this early stage, has had considerable effect in checking the affliction, especially in the severe cases. One of the purposes of the Commission is to educate doctors to judge the case before the paralysis sets in, which was heretofore thought impossible.
In the summer epidemics the Commission goes throughout the state giving serum to the sufferers, while in the off season research is conducted at the Harvard Medical School. It is a very difficult disease to work with, as it is transmitted by invisible bacteria, so small that they pass through the finest filters. Monkeys are the only animals that take the disease, so they and convalescing patients afford the only possible sources of a serum cure.
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| 0.965485 | 264 | 3.125 | 3 |
By fall 2014, figuring out how to meet the requirements of the Common Core State Standards was critical for administrators in Glendale USD.
The need for a secure and protected digital learning environment in districts is paramount, particularly when it comes to online testing. While conducting large-scale online testing requires advanced coordination that is both time-consuming and complex, using iPads can save time and simplify the process, so teachers, students and administrators can focus on teaching and learning, and on being better prepared for online exams.
The state of Alabama has made a bold move toward ensuring that all students are college- and career-ready by the time they graduate high school.
To meet the Common Core State Standards, students must develop the 21st-century skills needed for college and career success. Districts must adapt their curriculum to ensure students are being taught these digital skills.
The Common Core State Standards assessments will be implemented in the 2014-2015 school year. To prepare, district technology leaders need to look at their networks and systems. Changes may need to be made to handle the challenges of online assessments.
The need for high-speed internet in schools is growing exponentially. District Administration spoke with four administrators from around the country about what is driving current bandwidth-consumption trends, what impact increased bandwidth has on tight budgets, and what the future of bandwidth looks like for K12 schools.
With tight budgets, scarce resources, and rigorous state and federal standards, it seems that providing individualized math instruction would be a challenge for many schools. However, by taking advantage of appropriate technology and allowing for flexibility, many schools across the country are developing IEPs for every student. In this web seminar originally broadcast on September 13, 2012, expert speakers discussed the keys to successfully creating these IEPs.
“The purpose is to bring out the formative nature of summative tests… to get teachers to also look forward—not just backward.” —Uve Dahmen Twin Rivers USD As school districts strive to meet Adequate Yearly Progress targets, they struggle with two key issues: how to identify students who may not achieve “Proficiency” on state tests, and then how to improve their learning and outcomes.
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| 0.956559 | 448 | 3.09375 | 3 |
Acupuncture has helped billions of people over the past 5,000 years.
Acupuncture care helps to relieve symptoms and signs. It can also uncover the underlying root cause(s) of what may have created a problem in the first place.
Acupuncture is the stimulation of specific points on the body by the insertion of fine needles. According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) theory, the body has 12 main meridians through which energy or Qi Flows. Excess, deficient or obstructed Qi causes pain or dysfunction.
Acupuncture treatment balances and moves the energy using the above mentioned techniques to effect change. Furthermore, acupuncture stimulates your body to release natural chemicals, such as pain killers and hormones that accelerate the natural healing process.
The goal of this dynamic and integrated health care system is to activate the natural, self-healing abilities of the body. It can also strengthen and support the body to prevent future illness and disease.
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| 0.937388 | 191 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Want to fight global warming? Drop that cheeseburger!
When Americans think about cutting their carbon footprint, they change their light bulbs, turn down their thermostats and maybe leave their cars in the garage. But a new study says there’s another energy-gobbling gremlin on the domestic front and it’s probably scarfing down a junk-food cheeseburger right now. It’s the meat-rich, over-caloried, highly processed American diet.
By eating less, and eating less food that takes lots of energy to produce, people in the United States could cut climate-warming fossil fuel use in the food system by as much as 50 percent, Cornell University scientists reported in the journal Human Ecology.
The average American eats 3,747 calories a day, the scientists said, some 1,200 to 1,700 calories over what’s recommended. Many of those calories come from meat and processed foods, which use more energy getting to the table than lower-calorie staples like potatoes, rice, fruit and vegetables. So the first step is, eat less. And if you have to keep eating all those calories, veggies may be the way to go — a vegetarian diet uses about 33 percent less fossil fuel.
The researchers also suggested energy savings could come from using more traditional organic farming methods, and getting away from energy-intensive conventional meat and dairy production. In farm fields, cutting back on pesticides, increasing the use of manure as fertilizer, planting cover crops and rotating crops would also improve energy efficiency, the authors wrote.
Changes to food processing, packaging and distribution could also reduce fuel consumption, but the researchers said individual responsibility would have the biggest impact. The most dramatic reduction in energy used in food processing would happen if consumers cut their demand for highly processed foods. This would also cut down on so-called the food miles, the distance food travels from where it’s produced to where it’s eaten — a major consideration, since U.S. food travels an average of 1,090 miles (2,400 km) on its way to American stomachs.
But come on: if you’re already bicycling to work, turning off your electronic gear, sweltering through a hot summer without air conditioning, would you be willing to do without junk food — or at least stop eating so much of it — in the name of the environment? What do you think?
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| 0.955049 | 498 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Facebook is an Internet-based social network site that lets people get in touch with family and friends and reach out to people with common interests around the world, all via computer. It is incredibly popular, with more than 900 million users. If Facebook were a country, it would have about three times the population of the United States.
Documents filed with U.S. financial regulators say Facebook has hundreds of millions of active users who send billions of messages each day and upload 250 million photographs on their personal pages. Facebook users have registered 100 billion "friends."
On Facebook, "Friending" someone means you add the person to your list of people you can communicate with directly, which often allows the person to see more information about you than you share with the general public.
Facebook was started by Mark Zuckerberg
and other students at Harvard University in 2004, and has grown at an amazingly fast pace.
Facebook makes money when advertisers pay to get access to hundreds of millions of Facebook users. Advertisers can often direct their messages to the people most interested in their products because Facebook computers keep track of information that users place on their pages. For example, a person interested in SCUBA diving, planning a wedding, looking for work, or suffering from diabetes may see advertisements related to those topics.
Facebook has become so much a part of the culture of the United States and other nations that it has been the subject of a Hollywood movie, is a key marketing tool for many businesses, and its users' content has been used as evidence in some divorce or criminal cases.
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| 0.959448 | 316 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Preventing Heart Disease
- Smoking constricts blood vessels in the brain, putting you at a higher risk for stroke.
- High cholesterol builds up inside the walls of arteries, clogging them and constricting blood flow.
- High stress and/or a sedentary lifestyle
We've heard it before, but that's because it's true: Diet and exercise can make an enormous difference in your health. According to fitness expert Bob Greene, 38 percent of American adults do not engage in any physical activity. Just a few minutes each day can lead to improved health. Because exercise dilates blood vessels, it makes the heart work less...and that's reason enough to get your whole body working!
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Do you own a rat or know someone who does?
They do make GREAT pets.
One important illness you should know about is pneumonia! Rats can get pneumonia especially if their diet is less than ideal. Pneumonia presents with increased respiratory rate and effort. Sometimes there is a nasal discharge or a fever. If blood work is performed, an elevated white cell count is often seen (white blood cells abound when infection is present). In addition, an abnormal lung pattern is seen on radiographs of the chest. Yep! We take x-rays of rats too!
Here’s a story of a recent pet rat seen in our emergency hospital.
A 19 month old male neutered rat presented to I 10 Pet Emergency for increased respiratory rate and effort with a very distressed pet parent. He had been seen by several other veterinarians but was still not improving. A diagnostic work up had not been previously performed. He was started on oxygen and then thoracic (actually whole body) x-rays were obtained.The radiographs showed abnormal lung patterns. He was treated with fluids, antibiotics and nebulization therapy in our hospital. He was also hand fed when needed.
The most common causes of respiratory disease in rats include Mycoplasma, Corynebacterium and Streptococcus. If you want to sound really smart at your next social gathering, research these infections in rats. You will, from that point forward, be known as the rat expert! Contributing causes of respiratory disease can also be seen including sendai virus, corona virus, Vitamin A and E deficiency. All of these things combined help to make up the Chronic Respiratory disease complex so often seen in pet rats.
Currently, our friendly rat is being treated with oral medications and an improved diet to help with nutrition. He seems to be slowly improving at this time.
If you are feeding a non-traditional pet, be sure that you consult with a veterinarian to make sure you are providing a good diet and appropriate care.
Until next time, please spay and neuter your pet and keep them healthy and indoors!
Ariana Finkelstein, DVM
I-10 Pet Emergency
10822 Fredericksburg Road
San Antonio, TX 78240
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The Seven Liberal Arts in the Renaissance
This seminar provided a general survey of the history of the liberal arts during the Renaissance, asking specifically how the Renaissance tradition differs from those of the Medieval and Modern periods. It was held in conjunction with a series of public lectures, co-sponsored by Northern Illinois University. These lectures, an integral component of the course, were given by specialists in each of the arts, covering both the Trivium (grammar, rhetoric, and logic) and the Quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy). In the week preceding each lecture, the class examined the medieval background of the next art to be discussed, using as a text The Seven Liberal Arts in the Middle Ages, edited by the instructor.
Learn more about Center for Renaissance Studies programs for graduate students
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Seeds contain a fully formed embryo of the new plant. Before that embryo can grow, it needs moisture, oxygen and sunlight, but that's not all. The tiny embryo needs to escape the hard seed coat, too. For many seeds, this is an easy task, as the seed coat softens quickly in moist soil. For some seeds, however, the task is not as easy. Flowers such as morning glories (Convolvulaceae) and sweet peas (Lathryus odoratus) have hard seed coats that benefit from soaking to soften. Vegetables such as peas and corn also benefit from soaking, even though they do not have a hard seed coat.
Place the seeds in a bowl that will hold two to three times the volume of the seeds. Large seeds, such as peas and corn, swell to double their size when soaked in water and need plenty of room to expand.
Pour lukewarm or tepid water over the seeds, filling the bowl to within 2 to 3 inches of the rim. As the seeds absorb the water and swell, they will displace the water in the bowl.
Allow the seeds to set in the water overnight, or the recommended time for your specific seeds. Peas, corn, beets, spinach and okra generally require overnight soaking, while other seeds may require less time.
Change the water for seeds that soak more than 12 hours. This helps to maintain adequate oxygen levels, and prevents the water from becoming stagnant and smelly.
Drain the water from the seeds, and plant the seeds immediately in prepared soil. Keep the soil moist, but not soggy, to prevent the seeds from drying out before they have time to germinate.
Things You Will Need
- Always check the planting instructions for the type of seeds you wish to plant. While many seeds can be soaked before planting, fine seeds such as lettuce and carrots and many flower seeds should not be soaked before planting.
- Do not soak seeds longer than the recommended time, as seeds will rot quickly if left soaking in water for prolonged periods.
- Hemera Technologies/AbleStock.com/Getty Images
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verb (spins, spinning, spun /span/)
- Pandora spun round quickly and came eye to eye with Alexei who was smiling down at her.
- He spun round quickly so that he was almost facing her, and spoke in an urgent tone.
- Tanya spun round, her chair falling with a clatter.
- She tried to get up but it was too hard, her head spun and the dizziness overcame her.
- My head is spinning and I'm badly bruised and shaken.
- We left him there, his head still spinning with thoughts of Minnie, and her delightful, exuberant girlishness.
- This involves our each, independently, spinning a coin and driving on the left if it comes up heads and on the right if it comes up tails: another recipe for disaster.
- Though if anyone ever tries to do a coin-flip by spinning the coin on its edge on a table, watch out.
- Then they spin coins in a cafe and generally hang out together, becoming friends.
- The ball spun viciously, and forced a great touch from the keeper.
- In the old days, they used to tell you to turn a little sideways and move into the pitch because the ball was spinning and would move away from the plate once it hit the dirt.
- As they pushed Stewartry, gaining a succession of penalties, the ball spun wide to be knocked on, ironically, by Smith with the line in sight.
- There is a bar, Chinese lanterns, and a hired disc jockey spinning popular records.
- Brooks had focused on one line from the chorus and felt the song would be stronger with the song centered on the lonely man spinning the records late at night.
- I think he was abducted by a cult that worship the demi-god Baal and forced to spin records at their parties and compose chants and songs which praised this demonic entity.
- First the brass plates were spun on a lathe over a wooden mold to create the font.
- In another building, not far from where the sewing is taking place, cotton is spun into yarn and turned into a material.
- Raw flax and wool was spun into yarn, this was then dyed or bleached, woven into cloth and then cut and sewn into the garments their families needed.
- In these interior images, figures read aloud, spin wool, and converse with one another.
- These strong, thick ropes are spun using hundreds and even thousands of steel wires.
- Yet, not even the largest hosiery mills of England spun their own thread.
- He went inside and came across a beautiful woman spinning golden thread.
- Such meals exact a price, however: after chowing down on toxic aphids, spiders spin asymmetrical webs.
- Unlike insects, spiders spin silks throughout their lives.
- He jumped down, knife in hand, going down into the crater like a spider spinning a web.
- The alternative Houston weekly that broke the story spun the tale as one of Olafson using his blog to rat on local politicians.
- Public relations firms spun stories to show why big oil companies were not at all to blame.
- I expect the British media to spin the story, to tell us selective or partial truths… that's an inevitable consequence of being human, really.
- Trolling with artificial baits, the use of dead or live baits, spinning and float fishing were the types of fishing in the Gulf.
- These times are usually when spinning or when I fish with feeders or when on holiday, when I cannot guarantee the security of my gear, especially when camping.
- It's a real brute of a rod and when allied with a very big fixed spool reel is perfect for spinning or for fish up to fifty pounds or so.
- To topple their rivals, Zhao dreams of launching Shen into mid-air with the spin to whirl an additional 360 degrees and still touch down in stride.
- As a fired bullet travels through the barrel, the grooves guide the bullet and give it a rapid spin.
- Starting with the German Wheel act, Canadian Shayne Courtright deftly balanced himself in his spins, turns, twists of a wheel without losing ground.
- For me the star attraction of the team was the mystery spinner from Australia, Jack Iverson, who took to cricket after practising spin with a table tennis ball.
- Even a slightly damp clubface hinders your ability to impart spin on the ball, reducing your ability to draw and fade the shot on command.
- The clubface will be closing when it contacts the ball, imparting right-to-left spin.
- The Texan then entered a spin, descended rapidly and collided with the ground.
- Controls were also reported to be heavy when flying at high speeds, or at the beginning of a spin or snap roll.
- An airplane in a spin does not gain airspeed and its rate of descent is relatively slow.
- This week also saw Kevin participate in his first spin class, which gave him a good cardio vascular workout.
- I'm going to take a few spin classes per week, and maybe do some more yoga.
- After the market closes, he unwinds by working as a spin instructor instructor at a few health clubs around town.
- Both the spin and orbital angular momentum of a beam can always be calculated from the transverse components of linear momentum.
- But any particle with integer intrinsic spin angular momentum is a boson.
- This symmetry relates to the spin angular momentum of fundamental particles.
- The trip offers a local spin, like libations at a logger bar and a shuttle back to Schweitzer in county school buses.
- Look out for the MF03 Mini sponsored by Williams, taking a spin through the town with our models.
- He makes trouble for Mathieu, even ‘borrowing’ his Volvo for a spin through town.
- The Conference of Mayors made a somewhat bizarre attempt to put a positive spin on the survey's findings.
- Despite efforts to put a positive spin on the outcome, the only concrete decision was that negotiations would continue.
- Some boards like to put a positive spin on it as they did when I was on the board of trustees for a very large girls school.
- If we say that voting 51 percent makes something right, then I think we in this country are in for a rather rough old spin.
- I want to say right upfront that I think I have had an incredibly rough spin from the Chair today.
- Had a letter from Georgie today & she's had a rotten spin for two months - no doubt you've heard all about it by now.
spin one's wheels
- North American informal Waste one’s time or efforts.Example sentences
- It's a show mainly fueled by ire: If his guests are courteous and prepared, he spins his wheels.
- We are spinning our wheels while falling further behind.
- You're probably right about us spinning our wheels, so I'll move on.
spin a yarn
- Tell a long, far-fetched story.Example sentences
tell, recount, relate, narrate, unfold, weave;concoct, invent, fabricate, make up
- I feel so let down I have been spun a yarn from start to finish.
- He would also like to see it used during TV interviews with politicians, so audiences could tell whether they were being spun a yarn.
- A cracker bus driver refuses to let him aboard, and our hero coolly spins a yarn about being a wounded veteran of the Normandy landings which shames the man into submission.
spin something off
- (Of a parent company) turn a subsidiary into a new and separate company: the corporation announced plans to spin off its computer systems armMore example sentences
- The companies began as subsidiaries of Cabletron, with the plan to eventually spin them off as separate public companies.
- If the dismal finances persist, some carriers may try to unlock the value of their miles programs by spinning them off as separate publicly traded companies.
- The bankers told us it was a fantastic opportunity to create a separate entity, spin it off, and make lots of money.
- North American (Of a driver or car) lose control, especially in a skid: he oversteered on the correction, then lost it entirely and spun outMore example sentences
- The shells ricochet off for a while, then hit home as the Kratch ship loses a wing and spins out of control.
- Lauda's Ferrari spun out of control and hit the Armco barrier on the inside of one of the circuit's many corners.
- Brakes screech, tires skid, and cars seem to spin out of control.
spin something out
- The political calculation may be to spin things out as long as possible in order to obtain the release of hostages in batches or to negotiate.
- It is not to spin the crisis out as long as possible in the hope that it becomes a damaging election issue.
- They were simply spinning things out, partly to prolong his agony.
- I sometimes feel I screwed up my entire life, and the past 8 or 10 years have just been spinning it out further and further so that now it's unsalvageable.
- ‘What are you laughing at,’ whispered Todd as he spun me out.
- ‘I had to run up there and run into his door and let him know that I don't appreciate him spinning me out,’ says Edwards, who finished 24th.
- If you give these guys an excuse to spin you out, they'll do it.
Old English spinnan 'draw out and twist (fibre'); related to German spinnen. The noun dates from the mid 19th century.
An Old English word that originally meant ‘to draw out and twist fibre’. The expression to spin a yarn, ‘to tell a long, far-fetched story’, is nautical in origin. An important job on board ship was making and repairing ropes, a task which involved twisting together a number of long threads or ‘yarns’. The image of this process and the reputation sailors had for telling tall tales of fabulous far-flung lands combined to produce the phrase we know today. Tony Blair's Labour government in Britain, elected in 1997, gained a reputation for its use of spin and spin doctors, but spin meaning ‘the presentation of information in a particular way, a slant’ started in the USA. It was first recorded in 1977 in the Washington Post, with spin doctor following in 1984. Spindle (Old English), originally spinel, comes from ‘spin’.
Words that rhyme with spinagin, akin, begin, Berlin, bin, Boleyn, Bryn, chin, chin-chin, Corinne, din, fin, Finn, Flynn, gaijin, Glyn, grin, Gwyn, herein, Ho Chi Minh, in, inn, Jin, jinn, kin, Kweilin, linn, Lynn, mandolin, mandoline, Min, no-win, pin, Pinyin, quin, shin, sin, skin, therein, thin, Tientsin, tin, Tonkin, Turin, twin, underpin, Vietminh, violin, wherein, whin, whipper-in, win, within, Wynne, yin
For editors and proofreaders
Line breaks: spin
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Boris Horvat / AFP - Getty Images
A hardhat worker walks around the construction site for the ITER fusion experiment in Saint-Paul-les-Durance, France.
The standard joke about nuclear fusion is that it's the energy technology of the future, and always will be. Well, fusion is still an energy option for the future rather than the present, but small steps forward are being reported on several fronts. That even includes the long-ridiculed campaign for "cold fusion."
Efforts by the Italian-based Leonardo Corp. to harness low-energy nuclear reactions (the technology formerly known as cold fusion) have reawakened the dream of somehow producing surplus heat through unorthodox chemistry. Today, Pure Energy Systems News reported that Leonardo's Andrea Rossi signed an agreement with Texas-based National Instruments to build instrumentation for E-Cat cold-fusion reactors.
Will this venture actually pan out? The E-Cat reactors are so shrouded in secrecy and murky claims that it's hard to do a reality check, but most outside experts say that the concept just won't work.
Some observers are similarly pessimistic about the other avenues for fusion research. The basic physics of the reaction is well-accepted, of course. You can see the power generated when hydrogen atoms fuse into helium when you look at that big ball of gas in the sky, 93 million miles away, or when you watch footage of an H-bomb blast.
But no one has been able to achieve a self-sustaining, energy-producing fusion reaction in a controlled setting on Earth, even after more than a half-century of trying.
Researchers had hoped to reach that big milestone, known as ignition, at the $3.5 billion National Ignition Facility by the end of 2010. But in last week's issue of Science, Steven Koonin, the Energy Department's under secretary for science, was quoted as saying "ignition is proving more elusive than hoped" and added that "some science discovery may be required" to make it a reality. (Coincidentally, Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced this week that Koonin will be leaving his post.)
The big challenge is to tweak all the factors involved in NIF's super-laser-blaster system to maximize the energy directed on tiny pellets of fusion fuel, and minimize the loss of energy through tiny imperfections or interference. "We're at the end of the beginning," NIF's director, Edward Moses, told Science.
How much longer will it take? The new director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, where NIF is headquartered, told the San Francisco Chronicle that he was convinced the facility would attain ignition "in this fiscal year" — that is, by next October.
If NIF hits that schedule, it'll be way ahead of the world's most expensive fusion experiment, the $20 billion ITER experimental project in France. ITER is taking the most conventional approach to creating a controlled fusion reaction, which involves magnetic containment of a super-hot plasma inside a doughnut-shaped device known as a tokamak. The European Union and six other nations, including the United States, have divvied up the work load with the aim of completing construction in 2017 and achieving "first plasma" in 2019.
Right now, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and US ITER are testing a fuel delivery system that would fire pellets of ultra-cold deuterium-tritium fuel into the plasma.
"When we send a frozen pellet into a high-temperature plasma, we sometimes call it a 'snowball in hell,'" Oak Ridge physicist David Rasmussen said in an ITER report on the tests at the Dill-D research tokamak in San Diego. "But temperature is really just the measure of the energy of the particles in the plasma. When the deuterium and tritium particles vaporize, ionize and are heated, they move very fast, colliding with enough energy to fuse."
The tricky part has to do with shaping the pellets just right to produce the desired reaction. When it comes to snowballs in hell, the devil is in the details.
The politics of ITER is just as tricky as the technology. Considering the economic problems that are afflicting the world, and Europe in particular, will there be funding to support the development timeline? Last month, one of the leaders of the European Parliament's Green bloc called ITER a "ticking budgetary time bomb."
Wiffle-Balls and other wonders
Smaller-scale fusion research efforts, meanwhile, are getting a lot of good press. For example, the Navy-funded experiments in inertial electrostatic confinement fusion, also called Polywell fusion, are continuing at EMC2 Fusion Development Corp. in New Mexico. The latest status report for the $7.9 million project says that the test reactor, known as a Wiffle-Ball because of its shape, "has generated over 500 high-power plasma shots."
"EMC2 is conducting tests on Wiffle-Ball plasma scaling law on plasma heating and confinement," the brief report reads.
The Polywell system is designed to accelerate positively charged ions inside a high-voltage cage, in such a way that they spark a fusion reaction. If enough of the ions fuse, the energy could exceed the amount put into the system.
In the past, leaders of the EMC2 team have told me that their aim is to build a 100-megawatt demonstration reactor. Nowadays, EMC2 is more close-mouthed about their progress, primarily because that's the way the Navy wants it. But the report about 500 high-energy plasma shots brought a positive response from the Talk-Polywell discussion board, which has been following EMC2's progress closely. "I'd be drunk by now if those were shots of whiskey," one commenter joked.
Privately backed efforts are moving ahead as well: Last month, Lawrenceville Plasma Physics reported reaching a record for neutron yield with its "Focus Fusion" direct-to-electric generator. And this week, Canada's General Fusion and its magnetized target fusion technology were featured in an NPR news package.
"I wouldn't say I'm 100 percent sure it's going to work," General Fusion's Michel Laberge told NPR. "That would be a lie. But I would put it at 60 percent chance that this is going to work. Now of course other people will give me a much smaller chance than that, but even at 10 percent chance of working, investors will still put money in, because this is big, man, this is making power for the whole planet. This is huge!"
Is it a huge opportunity, or a huge waste — especially considering that the energy technology of the future will have to compete with present-day technologies such as solar, wind, biofuel and nuclear fission? Feel free to weigh in with your comments below.
Update for 3:40 p.m. ET Nov. 11: Some commenters have rightly pointed out that there are many other nuclear fusion and high-energy plasma initiatives under way, including the Z Machine, a huge X-ray generator at Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico. The journal Science quotes Sandia researchers as saying the machine could be used to start testing the feasibility of pinch-driven fusion, but conducting a definitive test would require a far more powerful machine.
Science also notes that some researchers suspect NIF's indirect approach to laser-driven fusion, in which fuel pellets are placed inside a pulse-shaping cylinder known as a hohlraum, may not be as efficient as it needs to be. Research groups are investigating direct-drive laser fusion at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics in Rochester, N.Y., and the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington.
More about fusion:
- Fusion goes forward from the fringe
- Levitating magnet coaxes nuclear fusion
- Out-of-this-world ideas win NASA funding
- Physics turns from fission to the future
Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter or following the Cosmic Log Google+ page. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
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1 May 2015 - Guadalupe Cortés Vega
Last month (March 2015) was El Salvador’s most violent month for a decade. There were a total of 481 homicides; an average of 16 homicides a day in a country with a population fewer than 6 million. Most of the victims (92%) were men aged between 18 and 30 years.
But while cities have become notorious for gang warfare, what is worrying is that more and more murders are being committed in rural areas as violence spreads like an oil slick across El Salvador.
Yet on 26th March, responding to a call by the National Council of Citizen Security and Coexistence (an advisory group organised by the president and facilitated by the United Nations), thousands of Salvadorans marched through the streets of its main cities demanding peace.
The month also marked the 35th anniversary of the murder of Óscar Romero, a universal pacifist, who will be canonized by the Catholic Church in May.
Violence and gangs
Violent clashes with gangs are claiming an increasing number of lives on both sides of the law. Between January and March the number of police killed tripled compared with the same period last year.
Violence has plagued the country for decades, but now the gang violence is at an all-time high and leaving thousands of families, often from poor communities, in mourning each year.
In El Salvador most young people (especially those aged between 9 and 12 years) join a gang because membership gives them a sense of identity and power, and, in a country with few employment opportunities, it gives them something to do and a way to earn money through illicit activities. Some even join for the notoriety of seeing their faces in the media.
Combatting the real issues
Jeanne Rikers of Christian Aid partner FESPAD explains, “There is a huge need to create positive alternatives for young people, and this requires a significant investment of resources on the part of the State”.
Revenge killings are responsible for a large proportion of the recorded homicides and are not only carried out by gang members but friends or family of the victims.
Rikers says, “The factors related to these homicides are many and complex, and cannot be addressed either through retaliation with further violence - whether that be by the State or individuals seeking revenge.
It is the country’s social, economic, political and cultural structures, which lead to social exclusion, the availability of arms, drug trafficking, the stigmatizing of youth and the ever present issue of ‘machismo’.
“The culture of impunity also means that there is no discouragement from joining gangs because so few people are prosecuted.”
How we do it
FESPAD works in communities across the country that suffer from social exclusion, building trust between residents in order to promote peace.
They arrange meetings between community leaders and the authorities to discuss solutions to the violence, and where they can mediate between community leaders - who are sometimes also gang leaders - and the state.
They also offer training to the police, prosecutors and judges to ensure they apply penal law with respect for human rights.
A vital part of their work involves the rehabilitation and social re-integration of ex-gang members, providing them with opportunities to earn a legal income which helps discourage them from returning to the gangs.
What is needed is a country-wide integrated approach, focused on generating structural and cultural changes, as well as changes in attitude. The National Council of Citizen Security and Coexistence launched a “Plan for a Secure El Salvador” in January this year.
FESPAD, along with governmental institutions, the private sector, churches, political parties and social organisations, fed into this plan which hopes to tackle the violence by reducing exclusion and inequality.
With a $1.7m annual budget for five years it will introduce over a hundred recommendations such as educational programmes in prisons and increased police presence in the 50 most violent cities.
Civil society organisations across the country are making efforts to understand the gang phenomenon and to share their findings and knowledge.
Initiatives, such as those run by FESPAD, focusing on enterprise, culture, sport and art are important contributions, demonstrating change is possible both at an individual and community level.
The concern for all those working on the issue of violence in El Salvador is that if the violence continues to seep out of the cities and into rural areas every part of the country will become infected by gang violence and it will become harder and harder to contain with the limited resources pledged to tackle the problem.
This blog first appeared in the New Internationalist
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Maya Angelou, an acclaimed poet and author whose words inspired generations of Americans, passed away on May 28 at her home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She was 86.
“Dr. Maya Angelou passed quietly in her home before 8 a.m. EST," a statement from her family reads. "Her family is extremely grateful that her ascension was not belabored by a loss of acuity or comprehension. She lived a life as a teacher, activist, artist and human being. She was a warrior for equality, tolerance and peace. The family is extremely appreciative of the time we had with her and we know that she is looking down upon us with love.”
While lovingly referred to as Dr. Angelou, she never actually went to college. It was her work as an author and celebrated poet that moved universities and colleges around the world to bestow her with over 50 honorary degrees. At the time of her passing, she was also a Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University.
“Maya Angelou has been a towering figure — at Wake Forest and in American culture. She had a profound influence in civil rights and racial reconciliation. We will miss profoundly her lyrical voice and always keen insights,” Wake Forest University President Nathan O. Hatch said on Wednesday.
Of all her works, Angelou was best know for her 1969 autobiography "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings," a book that covered her experiences with racism, teenage pregnancy and sexual abuse. She was also extremely active in the civil rights movement, working alongside other notables such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. In 1993, Angelou recited her poem "On the Pulse of Morning" at the inauguration of President Bill Clinton, becoming the first poet to make an inaugural recitation since Robert Frost. All this, and she was also a successful dancer, singer, foreign journalist, actress with TV, film, and Broadway credits, and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
In one of her more famous quotes she said: "You are the sum total of everything you've ever seen, heard, eaten, smelled, been told, forgot — it's all there. Everything influences each of us, and because of that I try to make sure that my experiences are positive."
For more on this life well-lived, check out an interview between Angelou and George Stroumboulopoulos from December 2013 below.
Related on MNN:
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County Durham is a largely rural county in North East England with a population of 510, 800. It is located to the north of Yorkshire and to the south of Northumberland. The biggest urban area is the town of Darlington to the extreme south of the county which has a population of 100 000 people. The west is characterised by high hills and low mountains and contains the highest ski centre in England.
There is one city and a handful of towns in County Durham. The largest settlement is Darlington.
County Durham is the only county in England to contain the word "county", and as one can guess, it is named after the historic city of Durham which is situated in the centre of the county.
It is an extremely varied county in terms of its geography. It posses some of the highest public roads in the United Kingdom to the west in the largely hilly interior. There are locations here which often get cut off for snow in winter. It also poses miles of sandy beaches to the east.
Like the north east of England in general, County Durham is overwhelmingly white and British with ethnic minorities being few and far between. This being said, it is one of the friendliest counties of Britain with locals often being known to go well out their way to help visitors.
County Durham used to be an industrial county, especially with regards the coal mines, however these shut down in the 1980s and 1990s leaving many people unemployed. Today, County Durham's main employment sector is the service industry.
The two major population centres with the ceremonial county are Darlington and Durham which both contain very affluent and very under-privileged areas within them.
County Durham has a largely regular English accent however to the north of the county it has a "Geordie" twang and to the south it is quite common to hear a slight Yorkshire twang in the words spoken. English is by far the biggest language used in the community, however the largest minority language by far is the Polish language with around 1% of the county being proficient.
AIR There is a small regional airport located to the southern edge of the county in between the North Yorkshire town of Middlesbrough and Darlington. The airport is called Durham Tees Valley airport (formerly Teesside) and serves Amsterdam, Aberdeen, Southampton and Dublin. It no longer offers a service to London.Further north in Northumberland is the much bigger Newcastle airport which offers direct flights to London, Paris and Dubai. It primarily serves the city of Newcastle but is within easy reach of County Durham.
ROAD The county is served by the A1 Great North Road which runs from London to Edinburgh. It is motorway through all of County Durham and thus becomes the A1(M) for this leg. From the west the county is connected to the M6 motorway and Cumbria by the A66 trans-Pennine route. Take care in winter and read traffic warnings as this road has snow gates and often closes for both snow and wind.
Car The county is extremely well connected by an excellent road system containing three major trunk roads including the A1(M), A19 and the A66.
Train Darlington and Durham are connected by high speed intercity rail travel from London. They are also connected by TransPennine Express.
Bus The towns are well connected by buses from the Arriva network and several other, smaller networks. The larger towns also have extensive internal bus systems linking various neighbourhoods to the town centre. Visit the traveline website for details on all services available across all providers and to plan your journey.
Based on three to four days
Day 1 Take the train to Darlington. Check into a hotel in town and explore the industrial railway heritage of the town by visiting the railway museum on North Road and by visiting the brick train. Enjoy the thriving market in the square in the town before moving on tomorrow.
Day 2 Head west and check into a youth hostel or B&B in the Pennines. Get out the walking boots and take an afternoon stroll in any one of dozens of paths across the beautiful rugged uplands.
Day 3 Check into a luxury hotel in Durham and explore the stunning cathedral, the old town and the castle. Don't forget to take a stroll along the river which meanders around the cathedral. Sample the city's wine and cocktail bars on the evening.
Day 4 (Optional) Head to a coastal town such as Seaham to sample some northern seaside traditions before heading north to Tyneside along the coast. Or skip the coast and take the train directly from Durham to your next destination, be that the north or back to London.
Joe Rigatoni's is a stylish Italian restaurant to be found in Darlington town centre. It has a wide array of food, wine and a bar.
Local Dishes A tremendously popular take-away dish in the county is the Chicken Parmesan (Parmo). The Parmo derives from the nearby town of Middlesbrough which is located in the neighbouring ceremonial county of North Yorkshire. It is popular in Darlington and Durham as well the coastal towns.
A parmo consists of a flat (often pizza shaped) base which comprises chicken squashed to around 1cm in thickness. The chicken base is breaded and covered in a thick gooey white cheese. It is tremendously popular in take-away shops as a snack or meal after a night out and is claimed to be one of the few places in Britain where the more famous Doner Kebab is outsold.
Darlington and Durham offer many drinking opportunities and cater for a wide variety of clientèle. Darlington notably has the chick Seen and Harvey's bars to the west of the town centre where the vast majority of customers are middle class students. Most people head to the nearby club "Inside Out" which on popular nights opens all three rooms and opens until 4am. There is also an 80s bar / small nightclub on Skinnergate and there are countless thriving bars and pubs around the town centre.
There are large selections of youth hostels in the rural areas to the west, as well as luxury B&Bs and hotels. The towns feature hotels and B&B's. Notably the Bannatyne hotel in Darlington which is a luxury hotel serving the region, and Rockliffe Hall in the very affluent village of Hurworth-on-Tees to the south of Darlington on the North Yorkshire border.
County Durham does not possess any major cities and is largely calm and tranquil in its nature. The large town of Darlington to the south does have minor anti-social behavioural problems, especially at night. Keep your wits about you in Darlington town centre on a Friday and Saturday night and you'll have no problems. It is a much safer county than urbanised counties from the south and the west midland regions of England.
The neighbouring counties of North Yorkshire (to the south), Northumberland (to the north) and Cumbria (to the west) are all famed for their immense natural beauty and their friendly cultures. North Yorkshire is often debated as being the unofficial Garden of England due to its immense beauty. However the "official" Garden of England remains to be the much more urbanised county of Kent in the extreme south east.WikiPedia:County Durham
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Books & Music
Food & Wine
Health & Fitness
Hobbies & Crafts
Home & Garden
News & Politics
Religion & Spirituality
Travel & Culture
TV & Movies
Adoption and Childhood Disabilities
The community of parents who release their children for adoption to adoptive parents, step-parents and foster parents often do not come to that decision easily. There are many issues that birth parents consider that are not always understood by the general public. Assumptions are made by family, friends and strangers that are based on stereotypes and prejudice from earlier generations that deny the diversity of reasons a parent will 'give up' a child.
Lack of reliable information, support, or encouragement may cause a birth parent to make a decision they regret for the rest of their lives. This is especially true when a baby is born with a disability and families are unaware of - or unable to accept - that the child could ever be a joy to the family and an asset to the community, able to enjoy a full and satisfying life in the mainstream.
Many mothers report that they initially felt as though they were not capable of being a parent good enough to raise a baby or young child who faces developmental or physical challenges. This is especially common among first time parents, who may have been overwhelmed by the needs of a typical newborn or infant. Post-partum depression may cause emotional states that extended family attribute to the child's diagnosis. There may be great pressure for a mother to release a child for adoption with the assumption that the next baby will have the idealized life that is imagined during pregnancy.
Sometimes a child with no indication of special needs is released for adoption, and it is only after they have been welcomed by their new family that a developmental delay, physical or intellectual disability is diagnosed. Lack of adequate prenatal care for the birth mother; prematurity, birth injury; and neglect or abuse may cause a child to face challenges that are not recognizable until later in childhood. Adoptive families may or may not be aware of a child's likely challenges when they find the son or daughter who completes or helps build their family. They are as likely as birth parents to think that only 'special' people can raise children with disabilities.
A family whose adopted son or daughter develops, or is diagnosed with a pre-existing disability, may find it as difficult to accept the child as a birth parent who releases a child born with a condition diagnosed prenatally or at birth.
Like birth parents who are surprised by a later diagnosis, adoptive and foster parents can feel that there are adults better suited to raising a child with a disability than they ever will be. Most are unaware that raising a typically developing son or daughter can at times be almost too complicated, overwhelming or heartbreaking to bear. Of course there are many who are open to amazing children who are born with a diagnosis like Down syndrome, cerebral palsy or spina bifida due to altruism; because they identify as outliers themselves; through their religious beliefs; or because they already have a child with the same diagnosis in the family or their circle of friends.
It is a shame when we fail to recognize the love and concern of parents who release their child for adoption, and also when we accept the illusion that adoptive parents are magically better suited to dealing with the crises and challenges of raising children, including those with special needs. Being a parent is a life-long commitment that does not come easily for anyone. There are very good people who release their child for adoption, and of course abusive and neglectful parents who do not. Some adoptive parents and some birth parents are absolutely awful at parenting; some are amazingly competent. Most are in the middle, muddling through the best we can, with the occasional great accomplishment or dreadful mistake.
I am always happy to read that open adoptions of children with disabilities are on the rise, as are open adoptions in general. Families who release their children into other's care never forget they have a son or daughter in the world and otherwise have a longing to know how the child is getting along, and adopted children can remain connected with siblings and their extended birth families as they grow up.
We are fortunate in the modern world to have such a diversity of families in every neighborhood, and adoptive parents who reflect it. Every child deserves all the love and support we can give them.
Browse at your local bookstore, public library, art store or online retailer for books about Childhood Disability
or Adoption and Disability.
On Adopting a Kid With Down Syndrome
Also available at:
Adoption Resources Online
National Down Syndrome Adoption Network
On the National Down syndrome Adoption Network, by Melissa Stoltz
Adoption Website at BellaOnline.com
National Child Welfare Resource Center for Adoption
NCWRCA Partner Sites
Spanish Adopte1.org AdoptUsKids.org
Adoption of children with Down syndrome on the rise
Family claims Sacramento County violated disabled child's rights
7 Awesome Life Lessons My Son With Down Syndrome Taught Me
I am Tired of Hearing About Orphans (via wolves in sheep's clothing)
Content copyright © 2015 by Pamela Wilson. All rights reserved.
This content was written by Pamela Wilson. If you wish to use this content in any manner, you need written permission. Contact Pamela Wilson for details.
Website copyright © 2015 Minerva WebWorks LLC. All rights reserved.
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The Air Force Space Command NORAD radar system tracks about 7,000 objects larger than 10 centimeters, but this is only the tip of the iceberg. The Arecibo radio telescope conducted a limited survey, and from the number of radar returns from objects larger than one centimeter identified over 150,000 objects in orbit. NORAD tracks a total of 100,000 individual objects from the size of a glove or larger. The Arecibo data suggest there are about one million objects larger than 2 millimeters. When you include things like paint chips and other sub-millimeter objects that are untrackable, the numbers may be as large as one hundred billion.
The Space Shuttle collided with a paint fleck from a previous mission or rocket launch and this chipped the front window leaving a crater several millimeters across. A 1-centimeter object moving with a relative speed of 17,000 kilometers/hour would deliver as much energy as a small hand grenade. The International Space Station has a front bumper that will try to protect its most vulnerable parts from the numerous objects of millimeter-size, but larger objects will be a rare, but ever-present problem capable of producing breaches in the pressurized parts of the station.
For more information try the European Space Agency debris site. There is a Space Debris resource page at the Aerospace Corporation site. Also, there were over 1000 matches to 'space debris' found on Alta Vista. There are also articles in the print media:
Eberhart, J. "Tallying Orbital Trash." Science News 138, 29, July 14, 1990. Goldstein, R. M. and Goldstein, S. J. Jr. "Flux of Millimetric Space Debris." Astron. J. 110, 1392-1396, 1995. Goldstein, S. J. Jr. and Goldstein, R. M. "Some Properties of Millimetric Space Debris." Astron. J. 107, 367-371, 1994.
Copyright 1997 Dr. Sten Odenwald
Return to Ask the Astronomer.
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Listen to today's episode of StarDate on the web the same day it airs in high-quality streaming audio without any extra ads or announcements. Choose a $8 one-month pass, or listen every day for a year for just $30.
You are here
Saturn at Opposition
The planet Saturn is best known for its beautiful rings - wispy bands of rock and ice that are unlike anything else in the solar system. Yet the planet’s wispy clouds are just as beautiful as the rings, and in some ways a lot more interesting.
Through its equator, Saturn is more than nine times Earth’s diameter. Yet it takes less than 11 hours for Saturn to spin on its axis. That stretches the clouds that top its atmosphere into globe-circling bands. They’re colored in subtle shades of yellow, tan, and white by water vapor, ammonia, sulfur, and other compounds.
At the poles, the clouds form hurricane-like vortexes that are big enough to swallow Earth. The one at the north pole forms a hexagon.
Giant storms also form at lower latitudes. Many of them are as big as continents. Unlike the storms on Earth, which are powered by the Sun, those on Saturn get their energy from inside the planet itself. Heat radiates outward, stirring up the upper atmosphere.
And sometimes, that heat stirs up storms that can wrap around the entire planet. These storms are brilliant white, so they really stand out against the golden hues of much of the rest of this giant planet.
Saturn is putting on its best showing of the year over the next few nights. It rises at sunset and remains in view all night. And it’s brightest for the year, too. Look for it low in the southeast as darkness falls, shining like a bright golden star. Tonight, it’s to the upper right of the Moon.
Script by Damond Benningfield, Copyright 2013
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'Jephtha' was Handel's last major work. At one
point he had to suspend work on it due to problems with his eyes,
eventually losing the sight in one eye altogether. By the following
year he was too blind to work properly and 'Jephtha' was followed
only by the 'Triumph of Truth and Time', an adaptation by Handel
and his amanuensis, Smith, of a work from Handel's Italian period.
The libretto to 'Jephtha' was written by the
Rev. Thomas Morrell, who also wrote 'Theodora' for Handel. It
is based on the story from Judges where Jephtha. commanding the
Israeli army, vows to God that if he gets a victory he will offer
the first living thing he meets as a sacrifice to God. After his
victory, the first thing he meets is his daughter. Morrell developed
a pretty serviceable libretto from this story. Creating the role
of Storge, Jephtha's wife, so that she is the only person to have
doubts about Jephtha's vow. Jephtha's daughter, Iphis, acquires
a boyfriend and their devotion forms a counterpoint to Jephtha's
vow, rendering it all the more poignant. The major change that
Morrell made was to the ending. In the biblical version, Iphis
is given a few months grace and then she is sacrificed. This was
too much for the 18th century enlightenment, who preferred
the New Testament God. So Iphis is spared at the last minute by
an Angel, though she must spend the rest of her life in a convent.
Much ink has been spilt, denigrating Morrell for this change.
But, as his correspondence with Charles Jennens (librettist for
'Messiah', 'Belshazzar' and 'Saul') shows, Handel was perfectly
capable directing a librettist. We must assume that Handel was
reasonably content with the altered ending. Perhaps because the
ending was not the key to his dramatic conception of 'Jephtha'
and we must look at Handel’s private circumstances at the time
of composition if we wish to understand how Handel viewed ‘Jephtha’.
The score was begun just before his 66th
birthday - a considerable age in the 18th century and
few composers were still actively working at this age (Bach had
died the year before). With his sight failing he must have known
that he had only a limited time left to put pen to paper. So not
surprisingly, Handel does not develop 'Jephtha' in the way that
might have been expected given Morrell's libretto. The crux of
Handel's oratorio is submission to the inevitable. From the bold
setting of the opening recitative 'It must be so' to the closing
chorus of Act 2 with its words (altered by Handel from Morrell's
original) 'Whatever is, is right'.
Despite its power, 'Jephtha' is still not common
in the catalogues so these Berlin-based performances are more
than welcome. The Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin under Marcus
Creed, give a crisp stylish account of the overture which typifies
their approach to the whole work. Speeds are, on the whole, quite
brisk but some of the faster passages in the overture sound a
Michael George, as Zebul, is fine Handelian singer
and his Zebul is a noble performance. It is therefore a shame
to have to say that his voice does sound a little frayed at the
edges but it is used with such style that he creates a credible
rough diamond of a leader.
Catherine Denly's Storge is capable and firm
of voice. So it is all the more moving when she gives way to her
fears in the great Act 1 aria and in Act 2 she is wonderfully
virulent in her reaction to Jephtha's vow.
As Iphis, Christiane Oelze sings with strength
and purity. Good women in oratorios can often seem a little flat
and colourless but Oelze sings with such colour and vibrancy that
suggest hidden depths and strengths in Iphis. She reacts with
poise and strength to the news of Jephtha's vow.
The role of Hamar is a tricky role as he is there
mainly to render Iphis's fate all the more poignant. I am afraid
that I do not think that Axel Köhler fills the role adequately.
Technically he has no problem with Handel's writing, but his voice
is not always lovely to listen to, it develops something of a
hoot and there are occasional suggestions that the tessitura might
be a little to high. His performance of Hamar's Act II aria is
distinctly untidy. Then there is the issue of language. Unlike
Christiane Oelze, whose grasp of English is beautifully idiomatic,
Köhler noticeably makes you feel that he is singing in a
During Act 1, John Mark Ainsley as Jephtha is
every inch the noble commander. His fluency in the passage work
is enviable and his way of using the Handelian line to create
character is lovely. He does, though, sound a little young. This
is fine. After all, it makes Jephtha sound impulsive, but does
mean that Storge sounds significantly older than him. In Act 2,
when Jephtha digests the consequences of his vow, Ainsley's very
fluency counts against him and the role seems to lack an element
of struggle. But when we reach Act 3, 'Waft her Angels' receives
a heartbreaking performance.
The RIAS Chamber Choir have a prominent role
in the performance as Handel allots the chorus some important
moments of comment on the proceedings. They sing with a clear,
focused tone and in the bigger choruses, such as that which closes
Act 1 'When his loud voice in thunder spoke', they sound admirably
full whilst never coming over as overblown or oversized. In the
smaller choruses, such as the women's chorus at the beginning
of Act 2, they provide a gently intimate tone. Their performance
would be ideal were it not for the fact that they fail to make
enough of the words. This is not a fault of their accent, they
are after all singing in a foreign language but it rarely sounds
as such. In oratorio words are, unfortunately, very important
- there is no stage action. It may be that the fault is not entirely
with the choir but also with the recording engineers. But the
result is an occluded delivery which weakens a fine performance.
The pre-eminent recording of 'Jephtha' remains
John Eliot Gardiner's 1988 recording with Nigel Robson, Ann Sofie
von Otter, Michael Chance and Lynne Dawson. Unlike Creed who as
a conductor seems to be content to just let things happen, Gardiner
is an interventionist conductor, far more responsive to the needs
of the drama. Though Creed's soloists (except for Axel Köhler)
are generally on a par with Gardiner's. Gardiner's dramatic reading
of the work helps his soloists give far more dramatically intense
readings. It helps that Nigel Robson in the title role has a voice
which can be steely and heroic and he uses this to great effect.
Just comparing Jephtha's recitative 'Open thy marble jaws, o Tomb'
is instructive. Ainsley's performance is finely sung but Robson's
is moving and dramatically credible. But Creed's recording was
made nearly 10 years ago in 1994 and I am sure that John Mark
Ainsley will wish to re-record the role after his performance
has deepened with experience.
Any Handelian will wish to have John Eliot Gardiner's
recording, if they haven't got it already. But this new recording,
at super budget price, allows us to appreciate a new team of soloists.
And for those who do not know this moving work, this new recording
is a good place to start exploring.
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In my AR research, I kept coming across a term being thrown around called MOA. I found it being used in reference to a rifle’s accuracy, or measurement of accuracy… and adjustments on scope optics. So what is it?
MOA means ‘Minute of Angle’. A circle is divided into 360 degrees, and each degree is divided into 60 minutes. At 100 yards, 1 MOA is equal to 1 inch. At 200 yards, 2 inches… and so on.
- A well calibrated accurate AR should be able to maintain 1MOA groupings on the target
- The adjustments (or ‘clicks’) on scope optics are measured in increments of MOA. Depending on the scope, each click can equal 1/8 MOA, or 1/4 MOA. Having calculated the MOA at a given distance, you can adjust your scope the right number of clicks to get your point of impact where you want on the target
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Welcome to the family!
New research shows that people with blue eyes have a single, common ancestor.
Originally, we all had brown eyes, but a genetic mutation that took place 6-10,000 years ago resulted in the creation of a "switch" that turned off the ability to produce brown eyes.
Variation in the color of the eyes from brown to green depends on the amount of melanin in the iris. Blue-eyed people all have about the same of amount of melanin in their eyes, while the amount of melanin in brown-eyed people varies greatly. "From this we can conclude that all blue-eyed individuals are linked to the same ancestor," says a member of the University of Copenhagen team that announced this finding. "They have all inherited the same switch at exactly the same spot in their DNA."
- Science Daily
"Blue-eyed Humans Have A Single, Common Ancestor," Jan. 31, 2008.
- If the world were a village
a book about the world's people.
Last updated by curious on Aug. 25, 2008
While the Library has verified the information presented in these files in what it considers to be reliable and authoritative sources, it cannot take responsibility for nor guarantee the accuracy of the information presented.
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Why eating a variety of whole foods is your best nutritional bet
Sometimes in life, we don't see the forest for the trees. And the field of nutrition is no exception. We can get so focused on the health benefits of a certain vitamin or phytochemical that we miss an important point: Different components in a single food can work together to benefit our health, and so can components in different foods that are eaten together.
I remember sitting in Nutrition 101 class 20 years ago and learning that vitamin C (from citrus fruits and dark-green vegetables) enhances the body's absorption of iron (found in lean meats, fish, beans, and some leafy green veggies) when these foods are eaten at the same time. This was an early example of what we call "food synergy."
David Jacobs, PhD, a researcher from the University of Minnesota, loosely defines food synergy as the idea that food influences our health in complex and highly interactive ways. The Produce for Better Health Foundation explains it as nutrients working together to create greater health effects.
Either way, food synergy is a very good thing. It brings us back to the basics: For good health, it's important to eat a variety of whole foods.
There is still much we don't know about how the components in food work together. Case in point: In the past 10 years, scientists have identified hundreds of biologically active plant-food components called phytochemicals (also called phytonutrients). A decade ago, we didn't even know about phytochemicals like lycopene (the one that has made tomatoes famous) or anthocyanins and pterostilbene (which have propelled blueberries into the news).
We do know that eating food as close to its natural form as possible is by far our best bet for improving health and preventing disease. Vegetables, fruit, whole grains, nuts, and legumes are great examples of foods that are rich in a combination of important vitamins, minerals, fiber, protein, antioxidants, and more.
Here are just a handful of examples in which different nutrients and components in food work together:
- Pairing broccoli with tomatoes could be a match not only made in Italy, but in health heaven. In a study to be published in the December 2004 issue of the Journal of Nutrition, prostate tumors grew much less in rats that were fed tomatoes and broccoli than in rats who ate diets containing broccoli alone or tomatoes alone, or diets that contained cancer-fighting substances that had been isolated from tomatoes or broccoli. The take-home message: A lycopene supplement may not hurt, but the whole tomato will probably help more. And a tomato eaten with broccoli may help a lot more.
- Antioxidants like vitamin C and vitamin E; isoflavones from soybeans; and other compounds are thought to be important in slowing the oxidation of cholesterol -- which is as important to reducing your risk of congestive heart disease as lowering your bloodcholesterol levels. Antioxidant protection is a complex system that includes many nutrients and phytonutrients. You need all of them for maximum effect.
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June 26, 1997
Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX
Kennedy Space Center, FL
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL
The Internatonal Space Station Program passed a major milestone this week as the first U.S.-manufactured component began a year of launch preparations at the Kennedy Space Center, FL.
A connecting module, called Node 1, was shipped by cargo aircraft to Florida on Sunday from the Marshall Space Flight Center's Space Station Manufacturing Facility in Huntsville, AL. The node will be the first U.S-built segment for the station to reach orbit when it is launched in July 1998 aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour on the STS-88 mission.
"The International Space Station has begun moving from the factory floor to the launch pad," program manager Randy Brinkley said. "By the time Node 1 is launched next year, pieces of the station will be leaving factories in locations worldwide to be readied for launch, and the first piece already will be in orbit. From now through the turn of the century, the processing of station components will be a major focus at the Kennedy Space Center."
The crew of Endeavour will use the Shuttle's robotic arm to dock Node 1 with the Functional Cargo Block as the node sits atop the orbiter docking system in the Shuttle's cargo bay. The Functional Cargo Block is a component that supplies early power and propulsion systems for the station. It will be the first element to be placed in orbit and will be launched two weeks before the STS-88 mission on a Russian Proton rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. After the two components are linked together, three spacewalks will be performed from the Shuttle to connect power, data and utility lines and install exterior equipment.
Node 1 is now in Kennedy's Space Station Processing Facility, a new facility completed in 1994 and designed specifically for preparing International Space Station elements for launch. The node will be joined by two pressurized mating adapters, the first arriving at Kennedy in July from the McDonnell Douglas manufacturing facility in Huntington Beach, CA. Prior to launch, the two conical mating adapters will be attached to either end of the node at Kennedy. In orbit, the two adapters will serve as the connecting point for the U.S. and Russian station segments and as a docking location for the Space Shuttle.
"The Kennedy team at the Space Station Processing Facility has been preparing for several years for this occasion," said Glenn Snyder, Kennedy payload manager for STS-88. "We are looking forward to getting started with the processing of the first element as well as the others that will follow."
Work on Node 1 at Kennedy will include the completion of assembly and checkout tasks; acceptance testing of the node and mating adapters; communications testing with Mission Control; leak testing; and toxicology testing. Also, optical targets will be installed on the node that will assist the Shuttle's robotic arm operator during the docking in orbit.
The Functional Cargo Block, a U.S.-funded and Russian-built component, is currently undergoing modifications and enhancements at the Krunichev State Research and Production Space Center in Moscow. It is scheduled to be shipped to Kazakhstan via a special rail car in January 1998 to begin final launch preparations.
This news release, accompanying imagery, background information on the International Space Station Program and an International Space Station First Flights press kit can be obtained electronically via the Internet from the International Space Station Home Page at URL:
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Gardening Articles: Care :: Plant Care Techniques
When to Harvest an Eggplant
by National Gardening Association Editors
A team of Spanish researchers just took the guesswork out of harvesting eggplant. For best flavor, they say, pick the vegetable 42 days after the fruits begin to form. That's when sugars and other flavor compounds are at their peak, they say.
According to recent research, food scientists at Autonomous University in Madrid, led by Rosa M. Esteban, studied flavor development in three varieties of eggplant. Acidity and chemical content of the vegetables were measured five times during a 54-day growing period.
Sugar content declined during the second week of growth in each variety, then increased up through the end of the sixth week. As sugars increased, so did important flavor compounds such as ascorbic acid and phenols. In the 10 days following day 42, production of each of these decreased dramatically.
Photography by Suzanne DeJohn/National Gardening ASsociation.
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by Staff Writers
Copenhagen, Denmark (SPX) Aug 09, 2012
Plants produce toxins to defend themselves against potential enemies, from herbivorous pests to diseases. Oilseed rape plants produce glucosinolates to serve this purpose. However, due to the content of glucosinolates, farmers can only use limited quantities of the protein-rich rapeseed for pig and chicken feed.
Now, a team of researchers from the University of Copenhagen has developed a method to hinder unwanted toxins from entering the edible parts of the plant. The breakthrough was published in the scientific journal Nature.
"We have developed an entirely new technology that we call 'transport engineering'. It can be used to eliminate unwanted substances from the edible parts of crops," says Professor Barbara Ann Halkier, head of the Center of Excellence for Dynamic Molecular Interactions (DynaMo) at the University of Copenhagen's Faculty of Science.
The potential for toxin-free oilseed rape as a feed crop
This means that protein-rich rapeseed cake produced using the byproduct of rapeseeds pressed for oil, can only be used in limited quantities for pig and chicken feed. Due to this, Northern Europe continues to import large amounts of soy cake for animal feed.
Two transport proteins found
"We managed to find two proteins that transport glucosinolates into the seeds of the thale cress plant, a close relative of the oilseed rape. When we subsequently produced thale cress without these two proteins, the remarkable result was that their seeds were completely free of glucosinolates and thus suitable for feed," emphasises Barbara Ann Halkier.
Worldwide, oilseed rape is the third most widely grown oilseed-producing crop.
'Transport engineering', the new technology platform, is so promising that one of the world's largest companies involved in plant biotechnology - Bayer CropScience - is now negotiating with the University of Copenhagen's Tech Transfer Unit to collaborate with the research group so as to deploy the new technology and produce an oilseed rape plant with glucosinolate-free seeds.
According to Bayer CropScience project leader Peter Denolf such seeds will significantly enhance the use of oilseed rape meal as animal feed and bring along a more sustainable oilseed rape processing procedure.
The research results are the fruit of 16 years of basic research, an excellent example of how basic research can result in new discoveries of direct use for society.
The DOI for the scientific paper published in Nature will be 10.1038/nature11285.
University of Copenhagen
Farming Today - Suppliers and Technology
Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.
Hong Kong tests babies over Japanese milk formula
Hong Kong (AFP) Aug 9, 2012
Hong Kong said Thursday it will test babies who have consumed Japanese-made infant formulas found to have insufficient levels of iodine, after the products were ordered off the city's shelves. Officials found the Wakodo and Morinaga brands lacked enough iodine, and warned they could have "adverse health effects" on babies' thyroid glands and brains. "We urge parents to take their babies ... read more
|The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2012 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement|
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By Ilan Kelman
Richard Branson owns a lot–including the private island of Mosquito Island within the British Virgin Islands, a U.K. Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. With his island, Branson is doing something different: he is building a luxury eco-tourism resort.
Extensive effort is aiming to make it environmentally friendly. Baseline studies established eco-zones and important species. Geological and forestry surveys are used to ensure that roads do not scar the landscape. Monitoring and data collection will continue after construction.
The buildings use passive cooling, natural ventilation, rainwater collection, energy reduction approaches, and a host of other sustainable architectural practices. All while incorporating hurricane resistance measures.
It is exciting to see sustainability principles being implemented in practice. The learning process is particularly important, in terms of gleaning feedback from the island and infrastructure while the resort functions.
More thoughtful and critiquing analysis would be helpful to ensure that we learn as much as feasible. For example, Branson wants to import lemurs, a mammal that has no connection at all with the island. He has already brought some animals to a nearby island.
Furthermore, consider the deeper sustainability questions which are rarely asked.
How does privatising an island contribute to the entire country and peoples of the British Virgin Islands? Are local, sustainable livelihoods generated by hideaways for the rich, irrespective of how environmentally friendly the resorts are? What ethics emerge through supporting small island countries with profits made from environmentally wasteful industries, such as aviation?
Despite the complexity of the answers (and the questions), Branson is charging ahead. That is not necessarily to be criticised. Nor should it be venerated.
Instead, we must learn what we can and always seek to do better. Sustainability is a never-ending process–especially of learning and teaching.
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Jan 12, 2016 | By Kira
A team of Northwestern Engineers has developed a new method for 3D printing metal that uses liquid inks and a simple syringe-extrusion technique, much like a regular 3D printer, yet with the ability to create complex and more uniform architectures than previously possible in metal 3D printing. By replacing intense energy sources such as lasers or electron beams, the process is also much cheaper and faster, and works with a much wider variety of metals, alloys, metal mixtures and metal oxides, including potentially the cheapest of them all: rust.
We already know that metal powders are the fastest-growing segment with in the 3D printing materials market, and that 3D printing with metal offers a range of highly-sought out characteristics, including immense strength, reduced weight, biocompatibility and corrosion or thermal resistance, making it ideal for high-demand industries such as aerospace, medical, and more.
However, current metal 3D printing processes aren’t exactly ideal in and of themselves. As Northwestern explains, conventional methods require focusing a very intense energy source, such as a laser or electron beam, across a bed of metal powder, fusing the powder particles together in a pre-determined pattern to create the final 3D structure. While this method does allow for incredibly strong metal 3D structures to be produced, it has his drawbacks. Mainly: it is prohibitively expensive and time consuming; it does not allow for certain types of architectures, such as those that are hollow and enclosed; and it is limited by the types of compatible metals and alloys that can be used.
Current metal 3D printing processes
Northwestern’s novel method for rapid metal 3D printing, however, promises to be cheaper, faster, and open the doors to entirely new metal materials and structural possibilities. It does so by eliminating the powder bed and energy beam approach, and by uncoupling the two-step process of printing the structure and then fusing its layers.
Instead of the powder bed, Northwestern’s team created liquid inks made from metal or mixed metal powders, solvents, and an elastomer binder. This ink can then be rapidly extruded at room temperature through a nozzle, just like on a regular 3D printer. Once extruded, the liquid inks solidify instantaneously as each layer fuses with the last, enabling large objects to be quickly created and, since they haven’t yet been heated, immediately handled.
The second step is to fuse the powders by heating the already-formed 3D structure in a simple furnace. This process is known as sintering, as the powders are permanently merged without actually being melted. “By uncoupling the printing and the sintering, it appears that we have complicated the process,” said David Dunand, a James N. and Margie M. Krebs professor of Materials Science and Engineering. “But, in fact, it has liberated us as each step is much easier separately than the combined approach.”
In addition to being a more rapid and cost-effective solution, the new metal 3D printing process actually allows for more sophisticated and uniform architectures to be created than what was previously possible with metal 3D printing.
More complicated architectures can be created thanks to the use of biomedical polymers, which allow the 3D object to be highly foldable and bendable before it is actually heated--in this stage, it is known as a 'green body'. They can also be hundreds of layers thick without crumbling. "Other binders don’t give those properties to resulting 3D printed objects. Ours can be manipulated before being fired. It allows us to create a lot of different architectures that haven’t really been seen in metal 3D printing," explained Ramille Shah, assistant professor of Materials and Science Engineering and leader of the study.
Professors Ramille Shah and David Dunand
Secondly, in traditional metal 3D printing, the layer-by-layer laser-heating approach can create localized heating and cooling stresses, resulting in undesirable microstructures and flaws in the finished object. However, heating the entire ‘green body’ at once inside a furnace ensures uniform temperature and densified structures that sinter without warping or cracking.
“To me, as a metallurgist, I’m amazed that the structure does not deform or break apart, despite shrinking extensively during densification,” said Dunand. “That is not something that I see often.”
And since many extrusion nozzles can be used at one time rather than a single laser being used for an entire powder bed, large sheets up to a few meters wide can quickly be 3D printed and folded into 3D structures—the only limitation is the size of the furnace.
If all of this—faster, cheaper, larger, more uniform, and more complex 3D printed metal structures didn’t already seem too good to be true, the Northwestern researchers discovered yet another novel use for their process: it can be used to 3D print with metal oxides, such as rust, by reducing it into metal. While rust is usually seen as undesirable, particularly if you are a car-owner, rust powder is actually lighter, more stable, cheaper and safer to handle than pure iron powders.
With this new process, the researchers could 3D printing with rust and other metallic oxides, and then use hydrogen to turn the ‘green bodies’ into the respective metal before heating and merging the powders inside the furnace. “It might seem like we are needlessly complicating things by adding a third reduction step where we turn rust into iron,” said Dunand. “But this opens up possibilities for using very cheap oxide powders rather than corresponding expensive metal powders. It’s hard to find something cheaper than rust.”
This novel metal 3D printing process can be used to 3D print batteries, solid-oxide fuel cells, medical implants, aerospace and aircraft parts, and much more, thus representing an important step towards eventually mainstreaming metal 3D printing.
“This is exciting because most advanced manufacturing methods being used for metallic printing are limited as far as which metals and alloys can be printed and what types of architecture can be created,” said Shah. “Our method greatly expands the architectures and metals we’re able to print, which really opens the door for a lot of different applications.”
The research was published in a paper for the journal Advanced Functional Materials. Postdoctoral fellow Adam Jakus, graduate student Shannon L. Taylor, and undergraduate Nicholas R. Geisendorfer co-authored the paper.
Posted in 3D Printing Technology
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orest wrote at 1/21/2016 11:13:40 AM:
Does not look too different from https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/879356311/filamet-the-metallic-printer-filament-for-artists (I am still waiting for my reward...)
Hugues wrote at 1/12/2016 8:19:19 PM:
Interesting. But would have liked to see printed parts, really
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Most monkeys given dual therapy survive infection with lethal virus
A new treatment has protected monkeys exposed to live Ebola virus, one of the world’s most fearsome pathogens. The dual therapy being tested for the first time, a combination of three antibodies and the antiviral drug interferon alpha, rescued nine of 12 animals even after they showed symptoms of disease.
“This is a harbinger of the approach to come,” saysDaniel Bausch, an infectious disease physician at Tulane University in New Orleans who wasn’t involved with the research. Scientists will probably go with a cocktail of drugs against Ebola in future testing, he says. “But it’s too early to say precisely what the cocktail should be.”
Ebola is a rare but lethal virus that has spawned human outbreaks across Central Africa since 1976. It apparently crosses from wild animals to people via exposure to wild game carcasses, causing hemorrhagic disease and high death rates. Neither a vaccine nor a treatment is available.
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WASHINGTON D.C. Feb. 18, 2014 -- Understanding how antibodies work is important for designing new vaccines to fight infectious diseases and certain types of cancer and for treating disorders of the immune system in animals and humans.
In research to be presented at the 58th Annual Biophysical Society Meeting, taking place in San Francisco from Feb. 15-19, Dr. Damian Ekiert, who is now at the University of California, San Francisco, will describe research he conducted as part of a team of researchers from The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif.
In San Francisco, Ekiert will explain how the immune systems of cows are used to understand the diversity of antibodies and how that knowledge could improve the health of both people and livestock.
"First, studying the immune systems of cows and other animals helps us to understand how our own immune systems function. Second, the unique structure of these cow antibodies may be particularly well-suited for recognizing certain kinds of antigens and may be useful for antibody based therapies or diagnostics," explained Ekiert.
It turns out that cows make a very unusual kind of antibody different from anything scientists have ever seen before, and their antibodies are diversified by a surprising mechanism.
"Antibody diversity is particularly important because our ability to recognize and neutralize a wide range of pathogens directly depends on the diversity of our antibody repertoire -- the more different kinds of antibodies we have in our bodies, the more different kinds of targets we can block," said Ekiert.
Previous work described an unusual subset of antibodies in cows that had exceptionally long loops, but no one knew what they looked like or how they were being generated. A collaborative effort including Ekiert from Ian Wilson's lab at Scripps Research as well as Feng Wang from Peter Schultz's lab and Vaughn Smider, used x-ray crystallography to determine the "ball and chain" structure of the bovine antibodies, while deep sequencing helped researchers study the function and generation of these antibodies. The next steps in realizing the potential of this research are to determine just how these antibodies recognize their target "antigen" molecules and bind to them.
In addition to the obvious benefit of helping us understand the human immune system, the research may benefit the large-scale raising of cattle, an important segment of the U.S. economy, as new vaccines can be developed to protect farm animals from common cattle diseases. Ekiert concludes, "Once we understand these mechanisms, it is possible that bovine antibodies might be able to recognize some antigens that more conventional antibodies cannot, and would help to bind, inhibit and activate targets that have thus far been intractable for antibody-based therapies."
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Tracheal neoplasms occur infrequently, accounting for less than 1% of all malignancies. In the nearly 3 decades between 1962 and 1989, 198 patients with primary neoplasms of the trachea were treated at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Of all primary tumors of the trachea, 80% are malignant, with adenoid cystic carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma being the most common. In spite of their low incidence, these tumors represent potentially lethal phenomena that are eminently treatable when diagnosed before the onset of complications.
History of the Procedure: Although tracheostomy is one of the oldest procedures in surgery, the first postmortem description of a tracheal fibroma was by Lieutaud in 1767. Later, in 1861, Turck used indirect laryngoscopy to diagnose a tracheal tumor in a living patient. Direct endoscopic visualization of a tracheal neoplasm was reported by Killian in 1897.
Problem: Tracheal tumors are potentially lethal but are eminently treatable when diagnosed before the onset of complications.
Frequency: Primary tracheal tumors are very rare, occurring in approximately 0.1 person per 100,000 population. Most (80-90%) are malignant. The incidence of primary tracheal carcinoma is much lower than laryngeal or endobronchial cancer. Lung cancers are 180 times more common than tracheal malignancies. All of the reported patients smoked, and 40% had prior, concurrent, or later carcinoma of oropharynx, larynx, or lung. These tumors are 3 times more common in males than in females. Peak incidence occurs in the fifth and sixth decades of life.
Etiology: Benign tumors can arise from any of the tissues present in the trachea. Malignant tumors probably follow a similar carcinogenesis to lung cancers. Most of these tumors occur sporadically. Apart from squamous papillomas, which have been associated with viral infection, no consistent etiology has been found.
Pathophysiology: The tracheal mucosa is columnar and ciliated. It is closely applied to the tracheal cartilages and to the interannular tissues between them. Mucous glands are liberally present. In patients with chronic bronchitis, particularly in those who smoke heavily, squamous metaplasia may be found.
Typically, tracheal tumors grow slowly. Benign neoplasms tend to be smooth, rounded masses shorter than 2 cm in length. The presence of calcium upon plain radiography does not reliably differentiate between benign and malignant tumors.
Clinical: The presentation of primary tumors of the trachea is variable. In a series of 329 patients with primary tracheal malignancies, dyspnea was found to be the most frequent symptom (71%), followed by cough (40%), hemoptysis (34%), asthma (19.5%), and stridor (17.5%). Symptoms related to involvement of adjacent structures, such as hoarseness and dysphagia, were less frequent.
The first symptom may be shortness of breath after activity, which gradually worsens. Acute respiratory difficulty may not be present until the airway is almost completely occluded. A persistent cough, wheezing, or stridor might be seen, as might recurring attacks of respiratory obstruction owing to secretions.
Delay in diagnosis occurs because the pulmonary fields remain normal on a chest radiograph. If the patient has hemoptysis, a diagnosis is more likely to be made because bronchoscopy will be performed even in the presence of a normal chest film.
Another presentation is with repeated episodes of either unilateral or bilateral pneumonia that respond to antibiotics and physiotherapy. In the absence of hemoptysis, a diagnosis of adult-onset asthma often is made, thus delaying definitive treatment. In one series, delayed diagnosis of more than 6 months after symptoms onset occurred in one third of patients.
Relevant Anatomy: The average length of the adult trachea is 11 cm from the inferior border of the cricoid cartilage to the carinal spur. It courses from an immediately subcutaneous position in the neck to a position against the esophagus and prevertebral fascia at the carinal level.
There are 18-22 cartilaginous rings in the human trachea, with approximately 2 rings per centimeter. The airway in an adult is roughly elliptical. The only complete cartilaginous ring in the normal airway is the cricoid cartilage of the larynx.
Calcification of the cricoid is not unusual, and calcification of other cartilaginous rings occurs with age. The attachments of the trachea allow relatively free vertical movement in relation to other anatomic structures. The most fixed point below the cricoid lies where the aortic arch forms a sling over the left main bronchus.
Contraindications: Very little reason exists to delay surgery on a primary tracheal neoplasm because these patients tend to progress rapidly once symptomatic due to the near-total tracheal luminal obstruction that frequently is present.
Bronchoscopic biopsy is contraindicated in the presence of highly vascular tumors (eg, hemangiomas).
Medical therapy: In general, medical therapy has not been useful in the treatment of tracheal tumors. Successful treatment of squamous papillomatosis with interferon has been reported. Steroids once were used in tracheal hemangiomas, the majority of which now are treated by observation only because spontaneous regression is common.
Surgical therapy: Surgical resection is the mode of treatment with the best hope for cure. Radiotherapy can be offered if the patient cannot receive surgical treatment. Chemotherapy also can be given after initial treatment with surgery, radiotherapy, or both. Laser removal of the intratracheal tumor usually is performed for palliation.
In the series of 198 patients reported by Grillo and Mathisen, 70 (35%) had squamous cell carcinoma. Of these, 44 (63%) were resected, with an operative mortality rate of 5%. The overall survival rate was 27% at 3 years and 13% at 5 years.
Laser resection as definitive treatment is appropriate for (1) patients with metastatic disease, (2) those unable to tolerate primary resection, or (3) patients with tumors that are too locally invasive to allow excision. In such patients, a laser procedure with stent placement may improve airway patency and allow for other definitive treatments.
Preoperative details: Due to potential airway compromise, surgical intervention generally proceeds rapidly from time of diagnosis.
Intraoperative details:The surgical treatment of proximal airway tumors presents some technical challenges specifically related to the maintenance of acceptable ventilation beyond the area of obstruction. Techniques have been developed for distal intubation during the resection of the tumor. Percutaneous transtracheal ventilation has been used successfully for the laser endoscopic treatment of subglottic tumors.
Tumors of the upper-third of the trachea can be approached transcervically by a standard collar incision. Tumors in the middle-third of the trachea may require a partial or complete median sternotomy in addition to a cervical incision. Distal-third tumors are resected easily through a right thoracotomy to avoid the aortic arch.
Intraoperative bronchoscopy is used for accurate tumor localization. Lesions are resected with attempts to preserve as much trachea and lung tissue as possible. However, lobectomy may be necessary to ensure negative margins and node assessment. Using sleeve resections of the tracheal or bronchial tissue can preserve lung tissue.
Conventional wisdom has been that, at most, only 2 cm could be removed in order for the trachea to be reconstructed end-to-end dependably. Longer lesions are managed by lateral resection, leaving as wide a bridge of tracheal tissue as possible to maintain rigidity and patency of the airway. Because the defects usually are too large to be closed by suture, various materials are used as patches.
Prosthetic materials usually fail because the bed of mesenchymal tissue in which the foreign body lies becomes, in effect, a chronic ulcer and responds characteristically because it is adjacent to a contaminated epithelial surface. Granulation tissue then proliferates in an attempt to heal the area, producing obstruction or stricture. Migration of the prosthesis may lead to erosion of major vessels.
Complex reconstructions that use the patientís own tissues generally have been successful only in the neck, where delayed healing can be accepted and multistaged procedures are possible. Reconstruction in the mediastinum requires that a fully-fashioned rigid tube with an epithelial lining be present at conclusion of the initial operation.
Recent studies indicate that as much as half of the trachea can be removed and primary anastomosis achieved if extensive mobilization techniques are employed. These include (1) division of the inferior pulmonary ligament, (2) mobilization of the right mainstem bronchus from the pulmonary artery and vein and from the pericardium, and (3) release of the larynx by separation of its thyrohyoid attachments. Grillo has recommended using absorbable polyglactin (Vicryl) for all tracheal anastomoses to minimize granuloma formation. Usually, greater lengths of trachea may be removed in younger patients because of the greater elasticity of the trachea.
Benign lesions: Serial follow-up examination is recommended, especially if tracheal resection is not performed.
Malignant lesions: Follow-up examination similar to that for lung cancer is appropriate. Preoperative radiation is given for adenoid cystic carcinoma and adjuvant radiation for mucoepidermoid carcinoma. Consideration may be given to combined-modality therapy in carcinoid or other neuroendocrine tumors exhibiting more aggressive characteristics than the typical carcinoid lesions. Due to the infrequent nature of these tumors, most data are retrospective and series of outcomes are small.
Median survival for all patients after diagnosis of malignant tracheal tumors is 6 months. Median survival varies widely with different histological types of tracheal tumors. Those who have adenoid cystic carcinoma or mucoepidermoid carcinoma have significantly better survival than those with other types of tumor. Following resection, carcinoid tumors carry excellent 5-year and 10-year survival rates in most series (95% and 90%, respectively).
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The primordial fragments that rained from the sky were remnants of a bright fireball that had just seconds earlier lit up the sky from western Nevada to the Sacramento Valley.
It also produced a sonic boom that was heard from northern Arizona and Nevada to the foothills of the Sierra Nevada.
And just like the miners who rushed to the same area after gold was discovered at nearby Sutter’s Mill in 1848, meteorite collectors from far and wide soon arrived on their own astronomical treasure hunt.
And what they found scattered on the ground around Coloma, California, were some of the rarest and most expensive kinds of meteorites ever found.
Composed of a rock known as CM-type carbonaceous chondrite, they comprise less than 1 percent of all meteorites that fall to Earth, according to Bill Cooke of NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office at the Marshal Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
“It’s the rarest of the rare. It’s older than the sun,” meteorite hunter Robert Ward told reporters.
The fragile black rocks mainly burn up when entering Earth’s atmosphere. They contain a lot of carbon and organic materials such as amino acids, which some believe brought the first building blocks of life to the planet.
The meteorites are invaluable to science but they can also fetch $1,000 a gram on the open market.
Local resident Brenda Salveson found one carbonaceous chondrite stone the size of a spool of thread that weighed 17 grams.
Full story and image: NASA
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How it works
Distributed computing involves using the processing power of many computers to solve a large problem. The internet allows volunteers from across the globe to contribute to large-scale projects, such as climateprediction.net, to achieve results that would take many times longer to process on an individual super-computer.
Climateprediction.net runs in the background on your computer and automatically:
- receives instructions from the project scheduling server via BOINC software
- runs climate models to produce output data
- uploads the output to the data server
- notifies the scheduling server that your work is complete, and asks for another task.
If you are used to running other BOINC projects, you might be used to tasks only taking a few minutes or hours to run. With climateprediction.net, tasks can take a lot longer to complete, possibly several weeks in some cases. This is all dependant on your computer’s processor speed and the time you devote to the task.
Credits show how much work a computer has contributed to climateprediction.net. They are awarded in small chunks, according to the type and length of time taken to run a climate model.
You can team up with friends and colleagues to pool your credits – see the climateprediction.net user pages for more information.
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|Antiques Digest||Browse Auctions||Appraisal||Home|
A few spinets were produced at an early date in the American Colonies, but most of the oldest ones we find today were brought over from Europe. Picturesque Geof frey Stafford made spinets around 1691, when he was not fighting Indians in the Mohawk Valley. Fifty years later Gustavus Hesselius was building them in Philadelphia.
English spinetmakers such as Charles Hayward, a friend of Samuel Pepys, working in London in 1684, influenced both American and Continental craftsmen. George Astor, uncle of John Jacob Astor; John Broadwood & Sons and Clementi & Co. were other famous English makers of spinets, examples of whose work found their way across the sea.
In its early form the spinet was a plain, rectangular box, placed on a table for playing. When not in use it was kept out of sight in a cupboard. Later a special stand was provided, which gradually developed into attached legs. Then the spinet became a permanent part of the furnishing of the room.
The comparatively light weight of the spinet permitted the use of slender legs. Its tone was, like its lines, delicate and tenuous, with a quaint vibrating quality unlike that of any instrument today.
Just who the ingenious person was who first made a desk out of his old spinet we do not know. The idea of turning this ancient instrument to another use appeals to the imagination. For some time now, discerning persons have sought spinets and had handy cabinetmakers take out the keyboard and the internal parts. Generally an extension slide is put in so as to provide more writing space. Often cubbyholes and small drawers are added. Some, however, prefer to do as little altering as possible and, aside from removing the keyboard, leave the instrument much as it was before.
In any event, one has a handsome piece of mahogany and a serviceable desk that carries an antique air. So attractive in appearance are these desks that modern cabi netmakers now produce excellent reproductions, with all the charm of a Heppelwhite piece. Sometimes, too, adaptations are devised, better to suit modern needs. Lovers of the old are inclined to frown on these variations; nevertheless out of such variations has come a new form of desk, its design based on the delicate lines of the old spinet.
In estimating the age of a spinet, the type of legs may generally be regarded as an indication of period. The maker followed the prevailing fashions, as did craftsmen of other furniture, although spinetmakers were loath to change their style as quickly as did the builders of chairs and tables. Thus, in some instances, a spinet may really be of later date than the type of leg might suggest. For example, the fluted Sheraton leg and the Heppelwhite tapering spade foot, characteristic of spinet design in the eighteenth century, are found on instruments made as late as 1810. The round-turned vase-shaped leg of the Empire period was used by some makers up to 1830.
Many other points have to be taken into consideration in determining the age of a spinet. To the expert the mechanical arrangements of strings and keys give also a clue as to about when the spinet was built. The name of the maker found on some of the old instruments, or if not a name, perhaps a registry number or factory number, may aid in arriving at an approximate date. The spinets of Thomas and John Hitchcocks of London never carried their name, but every instrument they made was marked with a serial number.
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Help support New Advent and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more all for only $19.99...
French Catholic philosopher, b. in 1839; d. at Paris, 19 Feb., 1898. Under the influence of the philosopher Caro and of Père Gratry's book "Les Sources", Ollé-Laprune, after exceptionally brilliant studies at the Ecole Normale Supérieure (1858 to 1861), devoted himself to philosophy. His life was spent in teaching a philosophy illuminated by the light of the Catholic faith, first in the lycées and then in the Ecole Normale Supérieure from 1875. As Ozanam had been a Catholic professor of history and foreign literature in the university, Ollé-Laprune's aim was to be a Catholic professor of philosophy there. Père de Règnon, the Jesuit theologian, wrote to him: "I am glad to think that God wills in our time to revive the lay apostolate, as in the times of Justin and Athenagoras; it is you especially who give me these thoughts." The Government of the Third Republic was now and then urged by a certain section of the press to punish the "clericalism" of Ollé-Laprune, but the repute of his philosophical teaching protected him. For one year only (1881-82), after organizing a manifestation in favour of the expelled congregations, he was suspended from his chair by Jules Ferry, and the first to sign the protest addressed by his students to the minister on behalf of their professor was the future socialist deputy Jean Jaurès, then a student at the Ecole Normale Supérieure.
Ollé-Laprune's first important work was "La Philosophiede Malebranche" (1870). Ten years later to obtain the doctorate he defended before the Sorbonne a thesis on moral certitude. As against the exaggerations of Cartesian rationalism and Positivistic determinism he investigated the part of the will and the heart in the phenomenon of belief. This work resembles in many respects Newman's "Grammar of Assent"; but Ollé-Laprune must not, any more than the English cardinal, be held responsible for subsequent tendencies which have sought to diminish the share of the intelligence in the act of faith and to separate completely the domain of belief from that of knowledge. In his "Essai sur la morale d'Aristote" (1881) Ollé-Laprune defended the "Eudaemonism" of the Greek philosopher against the Kantian theories; and in "La philosophie et le temps présent" (1890) he vindicated, against Deistic spiritualism, the right of the Christian thinker to go beyond the data of "natural religion" and illuminate philosophy by the data of revealed religion. One of his most influential works was the "Prix de la vie" (1894), wherein he shows why life is worth living. The advice given by Leo XIII to the Catholics of France found in Ollé-Laprune to the Catholics of France found in Ollé-Laprune an active champion. His brochure "Ce qu'on va chercher à Rome" (1895) was one of the best commentaries on the papal policy. The Academy of Moral and Political Sciences elected him a member of the philosophical section in 1897 to succeed Vacherot. His articles and conferences attest his growing influence in Catholic circles. He became a leader of Christian activity, consulted and heard by all until his premature death when he was about to finish a book on Jouffroy (Paris, 1899). Many of his articles have been collected by Goyau under the title "La Vitalité chrétienne" (1901). Here will also be found a series of his unedited meditations, which by a noteworthy coincidence bore the future motto of Pius X, "Omnia instaurare in Christo". Professor Delbos of the University of Paris published in 1907 the course which Ollé-Laprune had given on reason and rationalism (La raison et le rationalisme). Some months after his death Mr. William P. Coyne called him with justice "the greatest Catholic layman who has appeared in France since Ozanam" ("New Ireland Review", June, 1899, p. 195).
Bazaillas, La crise de la croyance (Paris, 1901); Blondel, Léon Ollé-Laprune (Paris, 1900); Goyau, Preface to La Vitalité chrétienne; Delbos, Preface to La raison et la rationalisme; Roure in Etudes religieuses (20 October, 1898); Boutroux, Notice sur M. Ollé-Laprune, read before the Académie des Sciences morales (Paris, 1900).
APA citation. (1911). Léon Ollé-Laprune. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11246b.htm
MLA citation. "Léon Ollé-Laprune." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11246b.htm>.
Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Stefan Gigacz.
Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. February 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Contact information. The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmaster at newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.
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Orange County Register
CSUF professor explains why a good night's rest is important to health
April 7, 2014
We’re all guilty of it. The glow of a cellphone close to your face as you doze off. The flickering television screen as you lie in bed.
“You really want your bed to be a place where you sleep,” Monica Coto, Ph.D., a psychology professor at CSUF, said.
Reading, eating, watching TV or staring at a cellphone screen while in bed “decreases the association between bed and sleep,” she said. “It makes it harder for your mind to associate the bed with sleep.”
According to an international poll conducted in 2013 by the National Sleep Foundation, people in the United States sleep an average of six hours, 31 minutes on work nights. About 56 percent reported they get less sleep than needed on workdays; 44 percent reported they receive a good night’s sleep almost every night.
Read the full article online .
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An additional weakness of this password system is that it renders the system far more vulnerable to brute-force hash cracking by techniques such as rainbow tables. This could happen if your password hash database was leaked in some way.
If an attacker has gained access to the hashed password database, the two passwords would have to be stored separately as two hashes (since storing them together prevents direct comparison of each password). This therefore greatly reduces the entropy of each hash, allowing an attacker to easily crack both hashes far faster than it would take to crack one single hash of the concatenated passwords.
If the two passwords are of equal lengths and are drawn from the same pool, the time taken to crack two hashes in isolation takes half the exponential time (i.e. if cracking the full hash takes 1,000,000,000,000 tries, it would only take 1,000,000 tries to crack each sub-hash).
A good case study of this is the NTLM hash used in Windows XP and below, which has a design flaw very similar to the password system mentioned. A relatively strong password is split up and stored as two separate hashes, which makes the entire password significantly weaker.
Even computers of 10 years ago could easily crack the vast majority of NTLM hashes in a few days without using rainbow tables, and with the tables, the cracking is almost instantaneous.
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Silent Reading and Absorption
At some time during the Middle Ages, people began reading silently for the first time. Hundreds of years before books were printed, they were made more readable by scribes who started inserting spaces between words and using punctuation marks. In the year 380 CE, Saint Augustine observed the silent reading of Bishop Ambrose of Milan, and recorded it as a novelty: “When he read, his eyes scanned the page and his heart explored the meaning, but his voice was silent and his tongue was still…he never read aloud.” (Saint Augustine, Confessions). A few hundred years on, most literate people in the West would be reading like this.
What difference did silent reading make? With silent reading, readers moved beyond the vestiges of decoding and subvocalization that were likely retained in the experience of reading text lacking rules for word order, visual separation of words, and punctuation. People who read silently surpassed these cognitive obstacles. They read more efficiently. And they read faster. Much faster: 500 milliseconds to recognize a word, 50-150 milliseconds to recognize a single letter.
With all decoding performed subconsciously, readers’ brains developed new circuitry both for the rapid deciphering of text, and for the “deep reading” made possible by putting their brain’s word processor on automatic pilot. (Wolf, Maryanne, Proust and the Squid, “The Expert Reader,” pp. 143-163) Readers now resembled Bishop Ambrose, and like him, they read for meaning. As author Nicholas Carr puts it, “They also became more attentive.” (Carr, The Shallows, p. 60)
Silent readers, capable of sustained concentration, did become attentive. So attentive that they could “get lost” in a book of fiction. Readers became capable of absorption.
With the invention in 1450 of the printing press came the book proper. With the book came the Novel. The novel, a genre made for silent reading, brought storytelling into the private sphere.
What’s so Special about the Novel
A novel is:
· written in prose (unless it's a novel in verse...)
· of a minimum length (around 50,000 words)
Were there any novels before the printing press?
The novel had already been invented much earlier, in Japan. The world’s first novel, The Tale of Genji, was written by Murasaki Shikibu and published in 1021. However The Tale of Genji, written in the language of the Japanese court, was accessible only to the literate elite.
Even before The Tale of Genji, there were precursors of the novel in Ancient Greece – tales of romance involving star-crossed lovers, pirates, kidnappings, pursuit, escape, and always at the end, the lovers’ reunion.
More sophisticated and representational than a prose adventure tale, the novel that arrived with the printing press – the Gutenberg novel – was both cause and effect of the spread of literacy throughout Europe, America and Canada. Coming of age in the 18th century, the Gutenberg novel could be enjoyed by readers in the privacy of their own homes, and thoughts, rather than in a public setting like the theater. Due to the advance of literacy, storytelling became a more intimate experience. Perhaps the storyteller still required charisma, but only on the page. By the beginning of the 19th century, literacy was widespread in Europe and the United States.
The stories people told just a few centuries after 1450 would be written and enacted by a single storyteller. The novel’s storyteller is one whose individuality, particular imagination, personality, and style fundamentally shapes any myth, story, or socially transmitted content that finds its way into a book of fiction.
By the 18th century then, how had the arrival of the novel changed storytelling?
Every lyric poem has its poet. Every play has its playwright. Every novel has its novelist. And something more. Every novel has its author.
For the novelist –– who might write imaginary epistles as the vehicle of the story’s plot; who might write a story interrupted by passages of discursive prose along the lines of
“O Tempora! O Mores!” (“Oh what times! Oh what customs!”) who might write a cautionary Gothic Romance framed by a screed on the worth of the novel; who might comment on the very fact of writing fiction, on the human uses of fiction, indeed – the novelist, then, is author. (Yes, and Shakespeare is author, and Marcus Aurelius too, but they are more commonly Bard and Philosopher.)
To be an author is to be something more than the practitioner of a particular genre. The author is someone who has authority. An author has special expertise, and is therefore appointed – merely as a result of his habit of writing novels, it would seem –– to speak to, and for, society.
Storytelling in the Novel
Today, the novel tells almost any kind of story. You can read science fiction, fantasy, crime fiction, a spy thriller, historical fiction, horror, romance, autobiographical fiction, a comedy of manners tale, a coming-of-age story or Bildungsroman, meta-fiction, a family saga, eco-fiction, and more. You can read any one of these subgenres, or a hyphenated hybrid of two or more types of story. But whatever type of novel you read, you will find that the kernel of the novel, its essential template, is determined by realism.
Classic realism holds a mirror up to nature. As 19th century writer Stendhal would have it: “A novel is a mirror carried along a highway.” We, the readers, look in the mirror and see reality reflected, a framed picture. In modern and contemporary variants of realism in the novel, we see, not so much a mirror held up to nature, as a mirror held up to human nature. We see, for the novel’s characters, a process of self-knowledge that occurs incrementally as the individual sees himself reflected again and again by society –– and acts or does not act to modify that image. Or we see the nature of individual characters, or of human perception itself, embodied in a kaleidoscope of constantly shifting points of view.
Does Realism = Emotional Intelligence?
Realism sets a standard of representation for the realist novel. That standard can be violated, but not ignored. Realism establishes a truth standard: the standard of Veracity, or perhaps simply Verisimilitude. This standard of realistic representation, however modified, re-cast, teased and tormented, means that the novel will not, in the course of its development, become primarily a genre for the projection of the reader’s fantasies. Even with a novel as imaginative as Frankenstein, the reader may thrill at, and identify with, Vicctor Frankenstein’s superhuman creative powers, but will acknowledge their limits while reading about the psychological torment of Frankenstein’s monster.
Experimentation in the novel, productive of innovation and even masterpieces, will not produce a new line of literary descendants if in spirit it strays too far from the tenets of realism. Knowing the world through literature, like learning to know self and the ‘real’ world through experience, rests on a core of truth. Emotional Intelligence rests on the premise that self and world are knowable. The novel’s communication of story to the reader is premised on the belief that self and world are to some extent knowable and representable in fiction.
Romancing the Novel
Not all novels are realist novels. Indeed, many fine novels from various eras come to us indirectly or directly from the Romance tradition.Yet many Classic Romance tales are not quite novels, for reasons besides their length.
Daphnis and Chloe, written in prose, is the story of two lovers whose adventures, recounted in around 30,000 words (in ancient Greek) follow their separation and precede their happy reunion at the end of the story. Why isn’t this book considered a novel? What about the other Greek adventure tales written in the 2nd and 3rd century CE?
In The Novel: History and Theory, Franco Moretti points to the tension, in the emerging novel, between pure storytelling (narrativity), and more detailed, slower reading passages of description, philosophical inquiry, or metaphorical writing (complexity). In the early adventure novel, the suspense of narrativity completely wins out over complexity, so much so that these adventure tales are best categorized as romances rather than novels.
Geographic scope is one of the key requirements of the adventure novel or prose romance. Is it “no accident” that the prose romance novel originated with a sea-faring people, the Ancient Greeks, and that the genre survived in the work of a handful of nearly anonymous Greek authors from such far-flung locations as the island of Lesbos, Emesa (Homs, Syria), Ephesus (present-day Turkey), and Alexandria, Egypt –- outposts of Greek expansion and the Roman Empire?
And again, is it “no accident” that another island people, sea-faring and imperial, provided paradigms and places for the proliferation of the genre? The British Empire contributed to the development of adventure fiction in two key ways: by providing the English-speaking adventure-reading public with the ever-fertile sea-faring paradigm (Treasure Island, Kidnapped, Captains Courageous, Kydd, The Sea-Hawk, Horatio Hornblower) and with exotic locations made accessible by imperialism: South Africa (King Solomon’s Mines), Egypt and the Sudan (The Four Feathers), the Himalayas (Lost Horizon), and of course India (Kim, The Broken Road, The Drum).
Geographic scope for tales of adventure was provided throughout the Middle Ages in Europe by wars of expansionism and by the crusades. The legendary adventures of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table were related in the verse fiction of Chrétien de Troyes, and in prose romances such as Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur (The Death of Arthur). Chivalric romances combining duels, journeys, and courtly love often dramatized sacred themes such as the quest for the holy grail. While some chivalric tales featured descriptive prose and deft characterization, for the most part narrativity dominated the genre.
The Spanish novel Lazarillo de Tormes launched the picaresque tradition, popular in 16th and 17th century Europe, inspiring novels that emulated the picaresque, like Gil Blas, and novels that integrated the picaresque into a greater whole, notably Don Quixote. While the episodic nature of these tales about a scamp who survives by his wits highlighted narrativity, the picaro’s adventures in a hypocritical society defined the axis of complexity.
Modern Romance tales, more readily recognizable as Fantasy Books, Thrillers, and even Crime Fiction, retain Classic Romance’s emphasis on suspense and the pure delight of storytelling. Vestiges of the Ancient Greek Novel can be seen in ever-popular action plots with narrow escapes, as in the thrillers of Clive Cussler and associates. While chivalric romance has devolved, for the most part, into popular romance, one finds vestiges of the grail quest in such unexpected places as Cussler’s Corsair, in which an adventure plot involving a spy ship in the Mediterranean is combined with the search for a sacred relic, the “Jewel of Jerusalem.”
What, then, is the Emotional Intelligence quotient of the reader of these Classic Romance tales, and of the person who reads the modern adventure tales that are their descendants? While no one can (yet) quantify the beneficial interplay of thought and feeling that occurs while reading a certain type of novel, it is clear that absorption in plot, often an accelerating narrative, is the primary reading experience for consumers of adventure books.
Books resembling the early Greek novels, with their adrenalin-rush of dangers, pursuits, and hair’s-breadth escapes, followed by reunion and a happy ending, are about nothing if not survival (the loving couple’s survival, and vicariously, our own survival). But because the pace of the narrative, like the intensity of catharsis in the viewer of a tragic drama, leaves insufficient space for thinking about the emotions involved, absorption in a thriller is unlikely to equate to awareness.
EI, the beneficial interplay of thought and feeling, prefers books that keep narrativity and complexity in balance.
Realism Our Compass
Salman Rushdie, quoted above, says: “we are the only creature that tells stories, and sometimes those are true stories and sometimes those are made up stories.” Note that Rushdie does not say “false stories.” There is no judgment implicit in the “made up” stories that are found in the novel. Of course, in a sense, fiction’s tales are, all of them, by definition, untrue. Yet even here, realism is like a compass, guiding us away from too intense a focus on prose fiction outliers, on the literary experiments of a brave new world, and helping us navigate the uncertain course of the contemporary novel. Contrived stories, incredible stories, stories without heroes (or without antiheroes or protagonists), randomized stories, may form the basis of individual novels, but they are workable as fictions with a future only if they in some way behave like traditional stories, credible stories, true-seeming stories.
Reading for Emotional Intelligence: a Story-minded Quality of Attention
End of Part Three: To Be Continued
Link to Part Four:
copy and paste:
Link to Part Four:
copy and paste:
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There are times when you might want to profile your program on parameters like:
- Time taken by program in user mode
- Time taken by program in kernel mode
- Average memory usage by the program
On Linux we have a utility ‘time’ that is designed specifically for this purpose. The utility ‘time’ takes a program name as an input and displays information about the resources used by the program. Also, if the command exists with non-zero status, this utility displays a warning message and exit status.
The syntax of ‘time’ is :
/usr/bin/time [options] program [arguments]
In the above syntax, ‘options’ refer to set of optional flag/values that can be passed to ‘time’ utility to set or unset a particular functionality. The following are the available time command options:
- -v, –verbose : This option is passed when a detailed description of the output is required.
- –quite : This option prevents the ‘time’ utility to report the status of the program.
- -f, –format : This option lets the user to control the format of output of the ‘time’ utility.
- -p, –portability : This option sets the following output format to make the output in conformance with POSIX
real %e user %U sys %S
When the ‘time’ command is run, following is the kind of output it gives :
# /usr/bin/time ls anaconda-ks.cfg bin install.log install.log.syslog mbox 0.00user 0.00system 0:00.00elapsed 0%CPU (0avgtext+0avgdata 3888maxresident)k 0inputs+0outputs (0major+304minor)pagefaults 0swaps
As we can see above, apart from executing the command, the last two lines of the output are the resource information that ‘time’ command outputs.
Note: In the above example, the command ‘time’ was run without any options. So this is a default output generated by the ‘time’ command, which is not formatted properly.
As we can see from the output, the default format of the output generated is :
%Uuser %Ssystem %Eelapsed %PCPU (%Xtext+%Ddata %Mmax)k %Iinputs+%Ooutputs (%Fmajor+%Rminor)pagefaults %Wswaps
The Format Option
This option lets the user to decide the output generated by ‘time’ command. In the last section we discussed the default format that is used in output. Here in this section, we will learn how to specify customized formats.
The format string usually consists of `resource specifiers’ interspersed with plain text. A percent sign (`%’) in the format string causes the following character to be interpreted as a resource specifier.
A backslash (`\’) introduces a `backslash escape’, which is translated into a single printing character upon output. `\t’ outputs a tab character, `\n’ outputs a newline, and `\\’ outputs a backslash. A backslash followed by any other character outputs a question mark (`?’) followed by a backslash, to indicate that an invalid backslash escape was given.
Other text in the format string is copied verbatim to the output. time always prints a newline after printing the resource use information, so normally format strings do not end with a newline character (or `0).
For example :
$ /usr/bin/time -f "\t%U user,\t%S system,\t%x status" date Sun Jan 22 17:46:58 IST 2012 0.00 user, 0.00 system, 0 status
So we see that in the above example, we tried to change the output format by using a different output format.
Since we discussed above that ‘time’ utility displays information about the resource usage by a program, In this section lets list the resources that can be tracked by this utility and the corresponding specifiers.
From the man page :
- C – Name and command line arguments of the command being timed.
- D – Average size of the process’s unshared data area, in Kilobytes.
- E – Elapsed real (wall clock) time used by the process, in [hours:]minutes:seconds.
- F – Number of major, or I/O-requiring, page faults that occurred while the process was running. These are faults where the page has actually migrated out of primary memory.
- I – Number of file system inputs by the process.
- K – Average total (data+stack+text) memory use of the process, in Kilobytes.
- M – Maximum resident set size of the process during its lifetime, in Kilobytes.
- O – Number of file system outputs by the process.
- P – Percentage of the CPU that this job got. This is just user + system times divided by the total running time. It also prints a percentage sign.
- R – Number of minor, or recoverable, page faults. These are pages that are not valid (so they fault) but which have not yet been claimed by other virtual pages. Thus the data in the page is still valid but the system tables must be updated.
- S – Total number of CPU-seconds used by the system on behalf of the process (in kernel mode), in seconds.
- U – Total number of CPU-seconds that the process used directly (in user mode), in seconds.
- W – Number of times the process was swapped out of main memory.
- X – Average amount of shared text in the process, in Kilobytes.
- Z – System’s page size, in bytes. This is a per-system constant, but varies between systems.
- c – Number of times the process was context-switched involuntarily (because the time slice expired).
- e – Elapsed real (wall clock) time used by the process, in seconds.
- k – Number of signals delivered to the process.
- p – Average unshared stack size of the process, in Kilobytes.
- r – Number of socket messages received by the process.
- s – Number of socket messages sent by the process.
- t – Average resident set size of the process, in Kilobytes.
- w – Number of times that the program was context-switched voluntarily, for instance while waiting for an I/O operation to complete.
- x – Exit status of the command.
So we can see that there is a long list of resources whose usage can be tracked by the ‘time’ utility.
Why /usr/bin/time? (Instead of just time)
Lets not use /usr/bin/time and use ‘time’ instead.
$ time -f "\t%U user,\t%S system,\t%x status" date -f: command not found real 0m0.255s user 0m0.230s sys 0m0.030s
As seen from the output above, the ‘time’ command when used without the complete path (/usr/bin/time) spits out an error regarding the ‘-f’ flag. Also the format of output is neither the one specified by us in the command nor the default format we discussed earlier. This lead to a confusion over how this output got generated.
When ‘time’ command is executed without the complete path (/usr/bin/time), then its the built-in ‘time’ command of the bash shell that is executed.
- Use ‘man time’ to view the man page of /usr/bin/time
- Use ‘help time’ to view the information about the bash time built-in.
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In a post last year, I looked at some of the United Kingdom’s weird laws. I started to research a “part two” to that post, but ended up finding so much interesting (and yes, shockingly legal) information relating to the Loch Ness monster (commonly and affectionately referred to as “Nessie”) that I decided to dedicate an entire post to her instead. (I will do another weird laws post soon, I promise.)
The first sighting of Nessie was allegedly in the sixth century. This sighting was subsequently reported in the seventh century, when a writer stated that Saint Columba had driven a water monster away from the Loch through prayer. As the Scottish government notes, this prayer apparently wasn’t as successful as first thought, as there have been continued sightings of Nessie throughout the years.
I read that the Loch Ness Monster is reportedly protected under Scotland’s Protection of Animals Act, 1912. I was very much hoping to find something revealing and awesome in this Act, and planned to look up the legislative history to see exactly why such protection was included. Alas, I found no provision specifically referring to Nessie by name. What I did find was that, if captured, Nessie may fall within the protections of the Act that apply to captive animals, defined in section 13(c) as:
any animal (not being a domestic animal) of whatsoever kind or species, and whether a quadruped or not, including any bird, fish, or reptile, which is in captivity, or confinement, or which is maimed, pinioned, or subjected to any appliance or contrivance for the purpose of hindering or preventing its escape from captivity or confinement.
In order for this to apply to Nessie, she would have to be captured (rather than killed) and it would be necessary to determine exactly what Nessie is; although given the broad definition she should hopefully fall within it. Certain other information, held in a government file dating from the 1930s, does seem to question whether Nessie would fall into this definition, as there was concern expressed during “monster hunts” that little could be done to protect her. Specifically, a letter from the Chief Constable of Inverness-shire noted:
that there is some strange creature in Loch Ness seems now beyond doubt, but that the police have any power to protect it [other than to warn people of the desirability of having the creature left alone] is very doubtful.
I happened to come across a cartoon in the online catalog of the UK’s National Archives that referred to a debate in the House of Commons in 1933. I searched the records of the House of Commons for this debate and, lo and behold, there were a number of relevant records for the year 1933, as well as fairly regular mentions of Nessie in the following years. The first record in 1933 was a written question as to whether the government would conduct an investigation into Nessie’s existence. The Secretary of State for Scotland replied:
There appears to be no reason to suspect the presence of any baneful monster in Loch Ness, and as regards scientific interests, I think that, in present circumstances, further researches are properly a matter for the private enterprise of scientists, aided by the zeal of the Press and of photographers. (284 Parl. Deb (5th ser.) HC 1933, 173).
Another reference in 1958 once again called upon the government to conduct an investigation into the existence of Nessie, after a discovery “at or near Loch Ness, of a giant-sized webbed claw, like that of a pre-historic monster” (588 Parl. Deb (5th ser.) HC 1958, 1093). The Secretary of State for Scotland noted that the “object appears to resemble an alligator’s foot-possibly stuffed” and that he had “not been asked to assist any investigation of Loch Ness” (588 Parl. Deb (5th ser.) HC 1958, 1093). Upon further questioning, the Secretary of State stated he did not see that he had any “clear cut responsibility” in determining whether Loch Ness contributed towards any scientific problems, and specifically noted that ther was “no evidence that the fisheries in Loch Ness need protection, either from the alleged monster or from the investigators, or vice versa” (588 Parl. Deb (5th ser.) HC 1958, 1094).
The most detailed description of Nessie comes from a debate in 1955, where she is spoken about in very tender and familiar terms:
… in Scotland, we must remember, there are good monsters and bad monsters. In the north of Scotland we have a loch called Loch Ness. It is inhabited by a monster, and anybody who said anything bad against the Loch Ness monster would find himself in great danger … our monster is a “verrey parfait gentil” creature indeed. She keeps out of the way all winter and only surfaces during the tourist season. She is a very thoughtful monster. Of course, the Loch Ness monster is a lady. We like her so much that we call her “Nessie” and no lady — not even the bearded lady — could ever be a really successful monster (537 Parl. Deb (H.C. 5th ser.) 1955, 1149-1150).
There was some discussion in the 1960s as to whether, if Nessie was to one day wash up on the shores of the loch, she would be considered to fall within the scope of the Royal Prerogative, which are ancient powers of the Crown passed on to the Executive. If she did fall within the Royal Prerogative, this would mean that if she were washed up then she would belong to the Crown. The debate surrounded the law regarding what constituted “Royal fish.” There was no conclusive determination of whether Nessie met this definition. The Royal Prerogative in terms of Royal fish was ultimately preserved in section 1 of the Wild Creatures and Forest Laws Act 1971, and Scotland has published guidance on dealing with stranded Royal Fish, although whether Nessie would fall under this definition remains inconclusive.
The later references to the Loch Ness monster were a little disappointing. One discussed that if Nessie packed her bags and moved to Wales certain unclassified roads would be upgraded (542 Parl. Deb (H.C. 5th ser.) 1955, 1333); but most just involved name-slinging at other Members of Parliament. We have such decorum in our Parliamentary debates.
I should not have been surprised when my research into the laws around the Loch Ness monster took a most bizarre turn – I did do a search for Nessie, after all. I seriously could not write fiction better than the records of the House of Commons for part of the rationale behind a bill so, naturally, I have to share it:
Last September a school in the Gorbals division of Glasgow closed for the day … as the children poured out of school, the word went round like wildfire that there was a vampire in a nearby cemetery; that this vampire had iron teeth and had eaten two young children. With that prattle, there went talk of space ships and men from Mars, and all the time there was talk about a monster. The “monster” had gripped the minds of the children, and so they armed themselves with sticks and stones and anything they could obtain, because they were out on a great mission-to destroy evil, to destroy the monster … we can see how the children from that school had their minds gripped by this idea, and how easily the idea spread and their impulses were directed to a particular end. The police found exceeding difficulty in controlling these children … I believe that [this bill] is an attempt to free the minds of our children from evil influences. By this Bill we seek to keep their minds from being poisoned. (537 Parl. Deb (H.C. 5th ser.) 1955, 1149-1150)
As I was searching, my results were deep linked and I ended up directly at the part of the debates that discussed zombies with iron teeth. My first thought was what kind of bill legislates against zombies and aliens? The true purpose of the bill was somewhat less glamorous – it aimed to prohibit the sale and importation of horror comic books. The bill was enacted as The Children and Young Persons (Harmful Publications) Act, 1955, and is still on the statute books today. It prohibits the printing, publishing, sale or importation of books or magazines that contain stories, mainly told through pictures, that portray the commission of crimes; acts of violence or cruelty; or “incidents of a repulsive or horrible nature; in such a way that the work as a whole would tend to corrupt a child or young person into whose hands it might fall.”
I have never heard of any other incidents of out of control school children that run for their lives from zombies, so I believe that this Act can be considered a success.
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Kepa Castro, Silvia Fdez-Ortiz de Vallejuelo and Juan Manuel Madariaga
University of the Basque Country, Faculty of Science and Technology, Department of Analytical Chemistry, PO Box 644,
Download Full Text PDF version:
Full Text PDF (3.95 Mb)
Fireworks are widely used to entertain audiences at events such as music concerts, theatre and street performances, local and popular festivals, New Year’s Eve celebrations, during sports events (for example, Olympic Games, American Super Bowl, European Football League) etc. and have become a very important part of these celebrations in our life. Anyone who has seen a firework display will admit that for impressive grandeur, colour effects and contrasts of light and shade, pyrotechny is unapproachable. In fact, almost no other form of amusement is capable of giving enjoyment to so many people of all classes and tastes at any one time.1
As in many aspects of our life, chemistry is also linked with fireworks and the fireworks industry. In fact, fireworks are a mixture of different chemicals that, after burning in the proper way, produce the well-known light, colour and sound effects. In addition to sulfur, saltpetre (potassium nitrate) and charcoal, fireworks often contain different salts and fuels. For example, copper salts produce blue flames, whereas lithium salts produce red flames, barium salts are responsible for the green colour, calcium for the orange colour and sodium for the yellow colour. Saltpetre is used as an oxidiser, but other compounds are possible, such as chlorates, perchlorates and other nitrates. Metallic particles (aluminium, titanium) can also be present to produce brilliant effects, as well as organic matter used as a fuel or propellant for the combustion of the firework.
The skills of the firework manufacturer in mixing all these chemicals, as well as in the design of the way they are distributed within the firework, produces the enthralling, entrancing and marvellous light, colour and sound effects. To the average onlooker, any firework which rises into the air is a rocket; in contrast, there are many different types of fireworks: lanterns, rockets, Catherine wheels/pinwheels, jumping crackers, squibs and even liquid fireworks for indoor use.1
However, fireworks have also been used during riots, in street demonstrations, inside football stadia etc. by violent protest and extremist groups and hooligans and they can be used to cause aerial disasters and severe injuries etc. Every year, tons of indoor pyrotechnics are confiscated by police and local authorities in almost every country. It must be taken into account that fireworks are considered to be low explosives and, subsequently, they are subjected to strict legislation in all countries; the manufacturing process, storage, transport and sale are strictly regulated and restricted. Police forces fight against the illegal commerce, business and storage of such substances.
Great efforts have been expended in the detection of high explosives such as trinitrotoluene (TNT), octogen (HMX), cyclonite/hexogen (RDX) and pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN)2,3,4,5 and rapid and direct analytical protocols for the detection of explosives have been developed for security and counter-terrorism issues, even being implemented in airports, customs and seaport offices.6 From the forensic point of view, very interesting analytical methodologies have been described for establishing criminal evidence7,8 and it is now possible to determine explosive residues even after explosions.9,10 In contrast, it seems that low explosives and pyrotechnic artefacts have been scientifically ignored. Consequently, in order to support accusatory evidence, appropriate analytical forensic studies are required.
It is also well known that in many of these artefacts, non-allowable hazardous and risky substances for human beings are employed. For instance, Croteau et al.11 found evidence for unalloyed Mg, which is banned from consumer fireworks in the USA. In the European Union, the REACH (Regulation, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) Regulation12 covers a process for which those substances that are considered to pose an unacceptably high risk to human health and the environment may be removed from the market unless there is a justifiable need for them to remain in use. Thus, a control of these kinds of artefacts should be recommended and it is another reason for the development of analytical protocols for their analysis.
Several cracker fireworks were sent to our laboratory in order to find out whether they really were recreational fireworks and to determine the chemical composition of all of them. The (cardboard) cartridge of each artefact was opened to obtain the solid powders that were the object of the analysis. No other pre-treatment was performed on the samples except those appropriate to each analytical technique. In addition, several liquids/gels, putatively used as indoor (theatre) fireworks, were also analysed to determine their chemical composition and identify potential firework materials used in their manufacture.
Raman spectroscopy is a very valuable tool for explosives detection,6,13 thanks to its non-invasiveness and the non-destructiveness of the samples, a critical characteristic when irreplaceable samples or evidences have to be analysed. However, the interpretation of the Raman spectra is not trivial and care must be taken. Unfortunately, not all the compounds present in fireworks are Raman active, thus, complementary techniques are needed, such as Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) etc.14,15,16
In the present work, a combination of Raman spectroscopy and SEM-EDS is proposed. Sample preparation is described in the literature.15,16 Raman analysis was performed using a Renishaw InVia Raman spectrometer joined to a Leica DMLM microscope. The system is equipped with two lasers, 514 nm (ion–argon laser) and 785 nm (diode laser). Laser power was reduced in order to avoid sample photo-decomposition and possible explosions. The obtained Raman spectra were compared with several database spectra17,18 as well as against our own collection of spectra.
A scanning electron microscope (Carl Zeiss) coupled to an energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometer (Oxford Instruments) was used for electron image acquisitions and elemental composition determination. The elemental analysis was carried out using an 8.5 mm working distance and an acceleration voltage of 20 kV. EDS distribution maps of the elements as well as EDS false-colour images were obtained for a better interpretation of the data. As the samples may contain carbon compounds, they were not covered with graphite to avoid interference.
Results and discussion
The analytical procedure consisted first of an SEM-EDS analysis in order to determine the elemental composition of the samples and the distribution of the elements, followed by a Raman spectroscopic analysis to obtain the molecular composition. The elemental chemical information was used to help in the interpretation of the molecular data. To illustrate this approach, several examples are discussed below.
One of the samples analysed in our laboratory presented a grey powder appearance, together with some grey fibres. SEM-EDS analysis showed the presence of N, O, C and Ti. A more detailed mapping of the elements in different areas revealed a high coincidence among the distribution maps of N, O and C, whereas Ti appeared concentrated in spots of around 100 µm in size. EDS spectra of the Ti particles did not present any other element (EDS spectrum in Figure 1). However, the match among the elemental mapping for C, N and O revealed the presence of an organic compound. Figure 1 shows a false colour image (Cameo option in Oxford software) obtained after EDS mapping where the red colour represents the energies of N, C and O and the blue colour represents the energies of Ti. These kinds of representations, together with the single distribution of the elements along the mapped area, are of great value at the time of interpreting experimental data, and give valuable clues for the interpretation of the Raman data.
After SEM-EDS analysis, a Raman study was carried out. In this case, Raman spectra only showed the bands due to nitrocellulose (bands at 146, 209, 406, 561, 627, 696, 844, 921, 1001, 1062, 1087, 1126, 1156, 1285, 1366, 1419, 1456, 1662, 2901, 2974 and 3016 cm–1).19 Thus, this sample was, in fact, a mixture of nitrocellulose (also known as guncotton) and metallic titanium particles. Nitrocellulose is the propellant (and it is considered a low-order explosive) or fuel, whereas the titanium particles are responsible of the sparkles when the firework is burned.
More surprisingly was the analysis of a light yellow powder sample. The SEM-EDS mapping and false-colour image analysis showed different types of grains (see Figure 2). On the one hand, large grains rich in chlorine, nitrogen and oxygen were found, while on the other hand, there were grains detected that were rich in barium, nitrogen and oxygen. In the false colour image (Figure 2) the blue colour represents the energies due to the presence of Ba, whereas the red colour represents the energies due to the presence of N and Cl. The distribution maps along the mapped area of C, N and O also showed a strong correlation. Individual EDS analyses of the single grains also corroborated the results obtained during the mapping measurements.
SEM-EDS results were contrasted and complemented with Raman analysis. For example, Raman bands located at 1047 cm–1, 732 cm–1 and 141 cm–1 (see Figure 2) indicate the presence of barium nitrate,20 whereas Raman bands belonging to ammonium perchlorate were located at 462 cm–1, 627 cm–1 and 935 cm–1 (Figure 2).21 In addition, principal bands indicating to the presence of nitrocellulose were also found at 408, 560, 625, 698, 846, 1283 and 1366 cm–1. Thus, in this sample, a very powerful and unstable oxidiser (ammonium perchlorate) was present and mixed together with another oxidiser (barium nitrate) and a propellant (nitrocellulose). Barium nitrate would also be present for the green light radiating compound.
Following this analytical approach we were able to elucidate the composition of other samples, in which complex mixtures were used. In a yellowish sample, a mixture of shellac, an organic resin used as fuel in the pyrotechnic industry and strontium nitrate were found. In this case, strontium was the element responsible for the red light emission. In another black powdered sample, potassium nitrate was found mixed with carbon, elemental sulfur (S8) and an aluminosilicate. However, in another black sample, potassium nitrate was found mixed with graphite, aluminosilicates, quartz, anatase (TiO2) and elemental sulfur. As mentioned above, the chemistry of a firework can be very complex, but if a suitable analytical approach is used, it is possible to elucidate its whole chemical composition.15,16
However, more challenging is the analysis of pyrotechnic liquids used indoors. The basic composition of these artefacts is usually a flammable solvent mixed with a compound that, after it is ignited, produces coloured light, smoke or sparkles. The compounds mixed with the solvent can be organic or inorganic or both. In the particular case of the gels, the mixture also has a thickener; usually, a piece of cotton or fabric is impregnated with the liquid and ignited.
In all cases, solvent analysis can be first carried out using Raman spectroscopy. In some samples methanol was found, whereas in others, isopropyl alcohol was determined as the solvent. The use of methanol came as a surprise. Methanol is highly poisonous for human beings22 and it has a special restricted use regulation in many countries.
In one sample, methanol was mixed with boric acid, which emits green light when burning. In this case, boric acid was determined by Raman spectroscopy after the EDS analysis, which showed a high correlation between B and O. Boric acid is a rather toxic compound.23 Recently, the group of chemicals known as Borates (including boric acid) were reclassified as “Reprotoxic Category 2” by the European Union’s REACH legislation. This classification suggests that the product, in high doses, is harmful to the reproductive functions of humans. This also means that the sale of products with boric acid in concentrations above 5.5% to the general public is banned!
In another liquid sample, after methanol was evaporated and the residue was submitted to Raman spectroscopic analysis, no conclusion could be obtained because no Raman signal was observed. Moreover, EDS analysis only revealed the presence of chlorine. This analysis was not an easy task because the residue was very deliquescent. The hygroscopic properties of the precipitated solid and the absence of any other element except chlorine in the EDS analysis, made us suspect the presence of a lithium salt. As lithium is too light to be detected by EDS analysis, flame atomic absorption analysis (FAAS) was carried out to determine if it was present in the sample. As expected, FAAS revealed the presence of lithium. Lithium chloride is used in pyrotechnics to produce red colour24 and it is soluble in methanol and highly deliquescent. Lithium chloride was also found in another sample mixed with methanol and silica gel. In the sample in which isopropyl alcohol was used, hydroxypropyl cellulose was determined by Raman spectroscopy.
With the combination of selected, complementary analytical techniques, it has been possible to analyse several fireworks and materials used to manufacture indoor fireworks. The task is not trivial because the possible combination of chemicals present in these kinds of artefacts is large. The advantages of Raman spectroscopy to analyse firework materials are achieved through the possibility of focusing on individual grains, thereby obtaining the spectrum of each grain and avoiding band overlap. In addition, Raman spectroscopy allows for the identification of solvents directly, without any sample preparation. Moreover, the combination of Raman spectroscopy and SEM-EDS turns out to be very efficient. In fact, these complementary techniques may also be used to analyse other kinds of pyrotechnic artefacts, low explosive formulations, high explosives, explosion residues etc.
Technical and human support provided by SGIker (UPV/EHU, MICINN, GV/EJ, ERDF and ESF) is gratefully acknowledged in the Raman and SEM-EDS analysis. Part of this work has been supported by the Environmental Analytical Chemistry 2007–2012 project (Basque Government, ref. IT-245-07).
- A.St.H. Brock, Pyrotechnics: The History and Art of Firework Making. Daniel O’Connor, London, UK (1922).
- E.M.A. Ali, H.G.M. Edwards, M.D. Hargreaves and I.J. Scowen, “Detection of explosives on human nail using confocal Raman microscopy”, J. Raman Spectrosc. 40, 144–149 (2009). doi: 10.1002/jrs.2096
- U. Willer and W. Schade, “Photonic sensor devices for explosive detection”, Anal. Bioanal. Chem. 395, 275–282 (2009). doi: 10.1007/s00216-009-2934-2
- L.C. Pacheco-Londoño, W. Ortiz-Rivera, O.M. Primera-Pedrozo and S.P. Hernández-Rivera, “Vibrational spectroscopy standoff detection of explosives”, Anal. Bioanal. Chem. 395, 323–335 (2009). doi: 10.1007/s00216-009-2954-y
- J. Moros, J.A. Lorenzo, P. Lucena, L.M. Tobaria and J.J. Laserna, “Simultaneous Raman spectroscopylaser-induced breakdown spectroscopy for instant standoff analysis of explosives using a mobile integrated sensor platform”, Anal. Chem. 82, 1389–1400 (2010). doi: 10.1021/ac902470v
- D.S. Moore and R.J. Scharff, “Portable Raman explosives detection”, Anal. Bioanal. Chem. 393, 1571–1578 (2009). doi: 10.1007/s00216-008-2499-5
- P.H.R. Ng, S. Walker, M. Tahtouh and B. Reedy, “Detection of illicit substances in fingerprints by infrared spectral imaging”, Anal. Bioanal. Chem. 394, 2039–2048 (2009). doi: 10.1007/s00216-009-2806-9
- T. Chen, Z.D. Schultz, I.W. Levin, “Infrared spectroscopic imaging of latent fingerprints and associated forensic evidence”, Analyst 134, 1902–1904 (2009). doi: 10.1039/B908228J
- A. Banas, K. Banas, M. Bahou, H.O. Moser, L. Wen, P. Yang, Z.J. Li, M. Cholewa, S.K. Lim and Ch.H. Lim, “Post-blast detection of traces of explosives by means of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy”, Vib. Spectrosc. 51, 168–176 (2009). doi: 10.1016/j.vibspec.2009.04.003
- E. Turillazzi, F. Monaci, M. Neri, C. Pomara, I. Riezzo, D. Baroni and V. Fineschi, “Collection of trace evidence of explosive residues from the skin in a death due to a disguised letter bomb. The synergy between confocal laser scanning microscope and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometer analyses”, Forensic Sci. Int. 197, e7–e12 (2010). doi: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2009.12.012
- G. Croteau, R. Dills, M. Beaudreau, M. Davis, “Emission factors and exposures from ground-level pyrotechnics”, Atmos. Environ. 44, 3295–3303 (2010). doi: 10.1016/j.atmosenv.2010.05.048
- REACH—Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals, http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/chemicals/reach/index_en.htm. Accessed March 2012
- S. Botti, L. Cantarini and A. Palucci, “Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy for trace-level detection of explosives”, J. Raman Spectrosc. 41, 866–869 (2010). doi: 10.1002/jrs.2649
- V. Otieno-Alego, “Some forensic applications of a combined micro-Raman and scanning electron microscopy system”, J. Raman Spectrosc. 40, 948–953 (2009). doi: 10.1002/jrs.2206
- K. Castro, S. Fdez-Ortiz de Vallejuelo, I. Astondoa, F.M. Goñi and J.M. Madariaga, “Are these liquids explosive? Forensic analysis of confiscated indoor Fireworks,” Anal. Bioanal. Chem. 400, 3065–307 1(2011). doi: 10.1007/s00216-011-5013-4
- K. Castro, S. Fdez-Ortiz de Vallejuelo, I. Astondoa, F.M. Goni and J.M. Madariaga, “Analysis of confiscated fireworks using Raman spectroscopy assisted with SEM-EDS and FTIR”, J. Raman Spectrosc. 42, 2000–2005 (2011). doi: 10.1002/jrs.2946
- Integrated database of Raman spectra, X-ray diffraction and chemistry data for minerals, http://rruff.info. Accessed March 2012.
- Raman Spectra Database of Minerals and Inorganic Materials, http://riodb.ibase.aist.go.jp/rasmin/E_index.htm. Accessed March 2012.
- D.S. Moore and S.D. McGrane,” Comparative infrared and Raman spectroscopy of energetic polymers”, J. Mol. Struct. 661, 561–566 (2003). doi: 10.1016/S0022-2860(03)00522-2
- M. Maguregui, A. Sarmiento, I. Martinez-Arkarazo, M. Angulo, K. Castro, G. Arana, N. Etxebarria and J.M. Madariaga, “Analytical diagnosis methodology to evaluate nitrate impact on historical building materials”, Anal. Bioanal. Chem. 391, 1361–1370 (2008). doi: 10.1007/s00216-008-1844-z
- Y.A. Gruzdkov, J.M. Winey and Y.M. Gupta, “Spectroscopic study of shock-induced decomposition in ammonium perchlorate single crystals”, J. Phys. Chem. A 112, 3947–3952 (2008). doi: 10.1021/jp711872u
- P. Patnaik, A Comprehensive Guide to the Hazardous Properties of Chemical Substances, 3rd Edn. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey, USA (2007).
- Y. Ishii, N. Fujizuka, T. Takahashi, K. Shimizu, A. Tuchida, S. Yano, T. Naruse and T. Chishiro, “A fatal case of acute boric acid poisoning”, J. Toxicol. Clin. Toxicol. 31, 345–52 (1993).
- G.W. Weingart, Pyrotechnics, 2nd Edn, Revised. Chemical Publishing, New York, USA (1947).
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http://www.spectroscopyeurope.com/articles/55-articles/3233-fireworks-composition-and-chemistry-through-raman-spectroscopy-and-sem-eds-imaging
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en
| 0.901051 | 5,081 | 3.3125 | 3 |
by Susan Milius
Synopsis and resource annotations by Max Grinnell
Since the dramatic colony collapse disorder (CCD) decimated the world's honeybee
population in 2006, scientists and agricultural experts have been troubled.
While some food plants can fertilize themselves, or use wind, 35 percent of food
plants, worldwide, rely on animals for fertilization. Honeybees are used as the
primary pollinator for many different crops, and the quest to find replacement
or complementary pollinators has consumed many in the industry. This
article, by Susan Milius, explores a few possibilities for future pollinators
and also examines the ways in which these replacement pollinators might be
deployed in the coming years.
The piece begins as Milius describes what looks like a misplaced white clothes
closet placed on the edge of a field outside of Bakersfield, California.
However, it is not a clothes closet; it is a bee lock, keeping bees from
escaping a five acre mesh tent. The bee lock and the mesh tent is an effort by
pollination biologist Gordon Wardell to find a supplemental pollinator for
almond trees, which require animal assistance for fertilization.
Wardell hopes to create a workforce of thousands of blue orchard bees. These
bees don't make honey or colonies but they do visit, and fertilize, almond
trees. Ultimately, the hope is that these mild-mannered bees can be used to
assist honeybees out in the field. It is difficult to say what is next for
California's almond industry, but ultimately there will have to be some
assistance from outside parties, such as these tiny creatures. The entire $2
billion US almond industry relies on animal couriers, and interest is growing in
these "insurance" pollinators. Today, at 2 million hives, the total number of
honeybee hives is about half of what it was 65 years ago. Over the past seven
decades, the total number of acres needing pollination in the U.S. has doubled,
and as a result, those bees are some of the hardest working creatures on the
planet. Farmers have begun to explore other options as a result, and along with
blue orchard bees, they have experimented with flying midges as well.
Developing a new kind of worker insect will require pioneering efforts, but
according to Wardell, "There's no doubt in my mind it can be done."
Another possible solution is the domestication of wild insects such as flies and
other types of bees. Researchers Steve Hanlin and Sharon McClurg at the U.S.
Department of Agriculture's North Central Regional Plant Introduction Station in
Ames, Iowa are working on a number of possibilities. When fresh seed from plants
such as corn and Echinacea is developed, Hanlin and McClurg create a pollination
cage to provide pollinators for that seed. They have found that houseflies and
bluebottle flies can do well on simple flower heads such as carrot flowers and
hope that they will become a viable pollination option. The piece concludes by
looking into the species that might make the best candidates for this type of
work, such as the alfalfa leafcutting bee, the hornfaced bee, and syrphid flies.
Found below is a list of useful resources that will illuminate and enhance
understanding of the topics found within this article.
The first link
from the Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies and features three
lesson plans that address the relationship between pollinators and plants.
The second link
lead interested parties to a tremendous digital archive of materials related to
bees and beekeeping from the Phillips Beekeeping Collection at Cornel
The third link
to a very thorough website from The Ohio State University which provides a broad
range of materials related to bees and pollination, including fact sheets on
colony collapse disorder and honey.
The fourth link
lead users to the homepage of the Carl Hayden Bee Research Center, which is
dedicated to research on honeybees and honey production techniques.
Moving on, the fifth
leads to a text document from the USDA on insect pollination of
cultivated crop plants.
The final link
take visitors to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum's homepage on migratory
pollinators (including monarch butterflies) which pass through the "nectar
corridor" from central Arizona to south-central Mexico.
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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https://amser.org/ASRM-201104.html
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en
| 0.916674 | 934 | 3.765625 | 4 |
Access, Forest Tenure and Gender: Latin America Workshop
(Cali, 2013) Gender need to be understood more than just a number balance between men and women. Gender equity is about empowering marginalized groups such as men and women belonging to indigenous communities, Afro-communities, different ethnic groups, race and caste from the vulnerable regions of developing countries in global south. Access to forestland and land tenure for small-scale farms is most often gender biased. Women and men have different access and tenure rights which in turn impact their ability to participate in sustainable management of natural resources.
The two-day learning workshop was convened by the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) under the CGIAR Gender in Forests, Trees and Agroforestry Research Program on August 21 and 22, 2013, Cali, Colombia. Main aim of this learning workshop was to share experiences and document gender disparities in access to forests, trees, and farmland for marginalized groups in Latin America.
The opening welcome speech was delivered by Ruben Echeverria (Director General, CIAT) emphasizing on CIAT’s interest to integrate its works with socio-economic activities with focus on gender dimensions. The aim of the workshop and background was introduced by Purabi Bose (Workshop Coordinator, CIAT). The workshop began with thought provoking keynote by David Kaimowitz (Director of Sustainable Development, Ford Foundation) entitled “Rural Women in Latin America: What Surprised, and What did not”. The second keynote and workshop facilitator, Anne Larson (Principal Scientist, CIFOR, Peru), presented her work on “Challenges in Overcoming Obstracles to Women’s Participation: Experience from Nicaragua and Uganda. The day two keynote speaker was Han van Dijk (Professor at Rural Development Sociology Group, Wageningen University, the Netherlands) and shared his extensive research experience in Africa and sharing “Mixed Methods Research: How to Mainstream Gender in Natural Resource Governance”.
KEY POINTS ON GENDERED ACCESS TO FORESTS AND LAND IN LATIN AMERICA
We had a number of research presentations and followed by discussion and debate. From all the paper presentations by the participants, we can summarize that in Latin America
- The history of forests and land reforms influences the way legal frameworks is designed moving towards traditional ‘rights-based approach’ for indigenous and marginalized women.
- There is large variety in gender relations within the context of management of forest resources and land across countries and ethnic groups but also in relation to different stages of forest conversion.This diversity also depends on the status of ethnic minorities and the way in which the relations to land and forest have been organized by law and been maintained by governments.
- There is often mistrust between state authorities and local populations with respect to forest management.
- Women often express little interest in rights to forest resources and seem to be inclined to have their interests represented by their men. This does not necessarily reflect a lack of interest or a lack of economic importance of forest resources for women, but is also a reflection of intra-group gender relations.
- Therefore, there is a general lack of knowledge about the role of women in forest exploitation (Non Timber Forest Products and wood products). Since they are not politically represented nor empowered to make discretionary decisions (even if they are represented) at the relevant local community and at the national (for e.g. in policy-making) forums.
- Gender issues in terms of access to education, health, and leadership position (managerial position and legislative seats across Latin America region) are lower for indigenous and Afro-descendent women than other groups.
- In the region there may be chances of increased female labor force participation, but little information is available on access to financial resources for women (indigenous and Afro-descendent) micro entrepreneurs.
- Interventions meant to promote women’s empowerment such as marketing of products that is managed and processed by women are often taken over by men when the economic demand for the product increases.
PROPOSITIONS FOR FUTURE COLLABORATION
Info brief on gaps identified and what we found. This will be prepared by the organizers together with the workshop participants expected to be ready by mid-October 2013.
Publication at International Peer-Reviewed Journal as Special Issue: Call for expression of interest has already been circulated (and is open till mid-October 2013). We are receving positive response from the workshop participants and from many external partners working in Latin America on topic gender and resource access (forests and small farms). The special issue at international peer-reviewed journal (in English and/or may be bilingual- English and Spanish) will be planned for next year. If you (or your colleagues) are interested, please express your interest to Purabi Bose (email below)
Audience for networking on gender and natural resources. This requires further development and strategy to co-ordinate knowledge and information dissemination on related topic.
Developing research ideas (priorities for investigation) in small groups: each priority need coordinator. There is a need to streamline each priority with a specific volunteer to coordinate each priority and explore funding options.
Write-shop for the above mentioned special journal issue. The plan is to develop a common methodological framework on gender and resource access to forests and small-farms with all the contributors, and facilitated by the workshop keynotes (Prof. Han van Dijk, Wageningen University and Dr. Anne Larson, CIFOR, Peru) and few other experts from the region.
For detailed workshop report, and for your expression of interest to collaborate in any of the above-mentioned activities, kindly contact:
Dr. Purabi Bose, Social Scientist at CIAT ,and Gender Focal Person of the CGIAR Reserach Program Forests, Trees and Agro-forestry in Latin America.
E-mail: email@example.com OR purabib2 (at) gmail (dot) com.
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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http://dapa.ciat.cgiar.org/forest_tenure_gender_latin-america_pbose/
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en
| 0.933265 | 1,246 | 2.5625 | 3 |
A bat, flying through the night sky, is thirsty. As it flies, it sends out high-pitched squeaks and listens for the returning echoes. It hears a telltale pattern. It hears no echoes form up ahead and the only ones that reflect back at it are coming from straight below. That only happens when the bat flies over a flat, smooth surface like the top of a lake or pond. The bat dives, opens its mouth to take a sip of refreshing water… and gets a mouthful of metal.
In nature, bodies of water are the only large, smooth surfaces around. Waves of sound that hit the surface of still water would generally bounce away, except for those aimed straight downwards. Stefan Greif and Björn Siemers from the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology have found that bats are instinctively tuned to find water using this unique feature (and yes, the institute does mostly, but not exclusively, bird research).
The man-made world is full of surfaces with the same properties, including metal, plastic and varnished wood. When Greif and Siemers released bats over smooth plates made of these materials, the animals tried to drink from them. If the plates were textured with small ridges, the bats ignored them. This instinct seems common to echolocating bats, for Greif and Siemers tested 15 different species with varied lifestyles and distantly related families. All of them did the same thing.
Bats don’t need to learn this skill; it appears to be innate. Greif and Siemers captured six young Geoffrey’s bats from a cave near their research station and raised them in captivity. At the time of capture, they hadn’t yet taken their first flight and they had never encountered a pond or river. But despite their naivety, as soon as they could fly, five of them tried to drink from a smooth, metal plate (but not a textured one) in the same way that adults do.
This drive to drink from smooth-sounding surfaces is so strong that bats will ignore other cues to the materials’ identity, including the fact that they look, smell and feel different. Every single adult bat involved in the study did the same thing and some tried their luck a hundred times or more. Even individuals that had accidentally landed on the plates would try to drink from them later, despite their first-hand evidence that the surface couldn’t possibly be made of water. When Greif and Siemers placed a metal plate on a table, so that the bats could echolocate underneath it (and even fly underneath it), they still tried to drink from it.
The echo patterns don’t completely override information from the other senses though; they just dominate them. When the bats were tested in complete darkness (rather than the dim red light that shone in most of the trials), their number of drinking attempts went up by 60%. Robbed of sight, they’re more likely to mistake metal for water.
The study shows just how important echolocation is for bats that use it, but it also raises some worrying concerns. If bats can be fooled by plates just 2 square metres in area, they might also try to drink from other large man-made smooth surfaces, like the roofs of cars. It will be interesting to see whether they do this, how often it happens and whether it causes them any harm (either by direct injury, or by depriving them of an actual drink).
Reference: Nature Communications http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms1110
More amazing bats:
- Ninja bat whispers to sneak up on moths
- Echolocation in bats and whales based on same changes to same gene
- Holy fellatio, Batman! Fruit bats use oral sex to prolong actual sex
- Bats: compasses, tongues and memories
- Holy haemorrhage Batman! Wind turbines burst bat lungs
If the citation link isn’t working, read why here
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<urn:uuid:eda7ce9b-183f-4ae6-8ed9-60e38a56c212>
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2010/11/02/how-bats-find-water-and-why-metal-confuses-them/
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en
| 0.954607 | 829 | 3.6875 | 4 |
Many spiritual traditions include the ritual burning of incense, but their reasons are many and varied. Below are excerpts from various internet sources outlining the beliefs from many cultures. When you see ~M~, that indicates a comment written by me.
Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans
In the ceremonies of [pre-Christian religion] incense had an important part. Its use is mentioned by Ovid and Virgil as a feature of the rites of Roman worship, being probably adopted from the Eastern nations with whom the Romans had come into contact. Among these, especially the Assyrians and Egyptians, it has been known almost from the dawn of history. The carvings of the tombs and temples of
The religion of ancient
[The use of incense by ancient Mediterranean peoples appears to have been an offering, a purification rite, or both. ~M~]
Baha'i, Buddhist, Gnostic, Hindu
Excerpts from "Wisps of Worship" By Saurabh Bhattacharya
Fragrance has been a dominant factor in Hindu religious rituals since Vedic times. "The essential philosophy of havan (fire ceremony)," says Brahmaprakash, a teacher in Srimad Dayanand Ved Vidyalaya, a gurukul in Delhi, India, "is that man can absorb anything in minuscule form. Havan purifies the atmosphere by releasing fragrant properties of samidha—wood—and samagri—powder of fragrant wood, mixed with aromatic medicinal herbs and ghee. Incense sticks and dhoop are corrupt versions of the havan fire."
The term dhoop, according to Brahmaprakash, originates from the dhoop tree, found in eastern
The relation between incense and havan fire is qualified by Ameeta Mehra of the Gnostic Center, India, thus: "Incense purifies the atmosphere like havan fire. But it works through the power of fragrance which is not so much the mainstay of Vedic ritual as the domain of flowers that have deep spiritual connotations in Hindu philosophy." Incense brands are often named after flowers.
"Incense sticks," says Mehra, "are made by extracting the perfume of sacred wood and flowers. Their aim is to make the atmosphere congenial for spiritual contemplation."
"When I light an incense stick and offer it to God," states Mehra. "I symbolize my aspiration to burn with that fire and fragrance. I am, in effect, offering my Self to the Divine."
Incense is considered an excellent ally to meditation. The archetypal image of a meditating sadhu has a bunch of incense sticks burning near him. As Michael Talbot writes in his book Your Past Lives: "Perhaps one of the most ancient techniques for creating a meditative atmosphere is the burning of incense... For many, a gentle and pleasant fragrance is as lulling a 'backdrop' to meditation as soft music."
Explains Brahmaprakash: "Because fragrance purifies the physical environment, the individual feels that, as part of the environment, he is also being purified. Psychologically, he reads a basic physical purification as a spiritual one. In the process, the person transfers himself into another world where meditation is easier."
However, Dr A.K. Merchant, a Baha'i, feels that burning incense has stronger spiritual undertones. "Humans love aroma," he says. "You burn the incense you like before the deity. By doing so, you express the urge to share your likes with your god. At the same time, you contribute a little bit of your individuality to a place of worship."
None of the extant religions give as much emphasis to the use of incense as Tibetan Buddhism where it has transcended mere ritualistic fumigation and gained a respectable medicinal status. "Tibetan Buddhism considers spirits as ethereal neighbors who are there for your benefit," says Dr T. Dolkar Khangkar, a Delhi-based Tibetan medicine practitioner in
Incense was unknown in early Buddhism, which was opposed to external ritual. But, in time, its use became more general. To quote from the Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics:
"It is used in the initiation of a monk; it is offered to the good spirits and lamas in the daily cult of the monasteries; it is used in exorcisms, in baptisms, and other ceremonies; it is burned in censers before the lamas at the performance of religious dramas, or in shrines."
Christian and Jewish
The mystical meaning of incense is not difficult to comprehend. By its burning it symbolizes the zeal with which the faithful should be animated; by its sweet fragrance, the odor of Christian virtue; by its rising smoke, the ascent of prayer before the throne of the Almighty. As
[Also, incense creates a cloud. A cloud is a symbol for God the Father. For example at the Transfiguration, Matt. 17:5, a cloud appears and from it comes the Voice of God. In Acts 1:8 Jesus enters a cloud. Also in Exodus, the people are lead by a pillar of cloud, Exod. ; and in Exodus 40:34 the cloud settled on the meeting tent and the glory of the Lord filled it. Thus the cloud of incense should remind us of God whose presence is revealed by a cloud.]
Exod. 30:7-8. "Aaron shall offer fragrant incense on it; every morning when he dresses the lamps he shall offer it, and when Aaron sets up the lamps in the evening, he shall offer it, a regular incense offering before the LORD throughout your generations."
Exod. 30:34 -37. "The LORD said to Moses: Take sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum, sweet spices with pure frankincense (an equal part of each), and make an incense blended as by the perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy; and you shall beat some of it into powder, and put part of it before the covenant in the tent of meeting where I shall meet with you; it shall be for you most holy. When you make incense according to this composition, you shall not make it for yourselves; it shall be regarded by you as holy to the LORD."
"... burning incense in
[However, in some places, burning incense also represents purification. ~M~]
For example, there is the use of light to signify consciousness, the characteristic of the soul, and Enlightenment; a fruit symbolises the ultimate fruit of Moksha itself; burning incense signifies the burning away of Karma.
Incense According to Quran and Sunnah
Keeping the Mosques Clean and Scenting Them
Aishah said, "Perfume the Ka'bah, because this is a part of purifying it." Ibn Az-Zubair used to perfume the entire interior of the Ka'bah. He used to burn one pound of incense in the Ka'bah daily, but on Friday, he burnt two pounds of incense.
'Aishah reports that the Prophet ordered that mosques be built in residential areas and that they be cleaned and perfumed. This is related by Ahmad, Abu Dawud, at-Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah, and Ibn Hibban with a good chain. Abu Dawud's wording is: "He ordered us to build the mosques in the residential areas, to build them well, and to purify them. 'Abdullah would burn incense when 'Umar would sit on the pulpit."
Anas reports that the Prophet said: "The rewards of my ummah were placed before me, even for removing a speck of dust from the mosque." This is related by Abu Dawud, at-Tirmidhi, and Ibn Khuzaimah who calls it sahih.
Many, but not all, Native American Tribes use Smudge (which is from a Middle English word meaning "smokey") instead of traditional incense sticks, cones, or powders. No doubt you have seen batches of braided grasses, often Sweetgrass or Sage. Smudge is what the batches of braided grasses are called, and it also means "to spread or "bathe" with smoke." In Native American spiritual traditions, smudging was done for personal and ceremonial purification, and to make dwellings sweet-smelling. ~M~
Although many Pagan traditions associtate specific botanical materials with certain magical attributes, those definitions vary widely from one tradition to another. Generally speaking, Neopagans and Wiccans use incense for two basic purposes in modern rituals. First, incense is believed to create a magical atmosphere that is appropriate for the invocation (or inviting) of deities and spirits often present around the Pagan altar. Second, burning the incense is believed to release the large amount of energy stored within natural incense so that it can be used for magical purposes.
What are the objects of Zoroastrian rituals and ceremonies?
The first object of Zoroastrian rituals and ceremonies is to purify atmosphere with fire burning with incense, the second is to secure blessings of divine spirits, and the third is to express gratitude to Ahura Mazda for the seasonal bounties bestowed upon mankind.
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<urn:uuid:3db860a6-af03-44f2-86a0-c03edda5b93f>
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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http://spiritsinharmony.blogspot.com/2007/05/incense-burning.html
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en
| 0.944852 | 1,946 | 2.53125 | 3 |
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