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I'm sure you've heard that abusing alcohol hurts your health. But how many years of drinking do you think it takes to visibly affect your brain? Ten years? Twenty? It turns out that it doesn't take that long at all—in fact, scientists can already see changes in the brains of teenagers who drink. In a new research study, Professor Susan Tapert of the University of California at San Diego used an imaging machine called an MRI to scan the brains of teens who binge drink—defined as drinking 4 or 5 (or more) drinks in a couple of hours. Dr. Tapert found that the "white matter" in their brains—the part that transmits signals, like a television cable or a computer USB cord—was abnormal when compared with the white matter of teens who don't binge drink. Transmitting signals is a big part of what the brain does, so affecting the white matter in this way could also affect thinking, learning, and memory. The really scary part is that these teens weren't alcoholics, and they didn't drink every day. All they did (to be considered "binge drinkers") was drink at least four (for women) or five (for men) drinks in one sitting, at least one time during the previous three months. How could it be possible for just a few sessions of heavy drinking to affect the white matter of the brain? Well, science has shown that alcohol can poison brain cells and can alter the brain's white matter in adult alcoholics. Dr. Tapert thinks that teenagers' brains are even more susceptible this way. She says, "because the brain is still developing during adolescence, there has been concern that it may be more vulnerable to high doses of alcohol." Many questions still remain, including how long it takes before these changes occur, and how much they affect the function of the brain. To figure this out, scientists would have to look at the binge drinkers' brains before and after they started drinking. That way, they can tell if the differences might have already been there before the teens started drinking. It's possible that having abnormal white matter in the brain somehow increases the chance of being a binge drinker. In order to answer that question, Dr. Tapert says they need to do longer studies that follow teens' brain growth over time. The bottom line? If you're a teen, drinking to the point of getting drunk could damage the white matter of your brain—even if you do it only once in a while. Find out more through the following resources: - SAMHSA Fact Sheet on Binge Drinking - NIH Fact Sheet on Underage Drinking (PDF, 305 KB) - USCD News Release: Binge Drinking May Hamper Information Relay System in Teen Brain - Dr. Tapert's Study: Altered White Matter Integrity in Adolescent Binge Drinkers - NIAAA's Rethinking Drinking Web page	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25348000
A full and active life supported by caring relationships can reduce the occurrence of challenging behaviors in people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities1. However, if such behaviors occur, people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities and those who support them must have access to positive behavioral supports that focus on improved quality of life as well as reductions in the behaviors. People with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities need supportive and caring relationships in order to develop full and active lives. Historically, people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities across the age span have frequently been subjected to aversive procedures (i.e., electric shock, cold water sprays and deprivations like withholding food or visitation with friends and family) that may cause physical pain, discomfort and/or psychological harm. Children and adults with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities are frequently subjected to physical restraint, including the use of life-threatening prone restraint and seclusion for long periods of time. Research indicates that aversive procedures such as deprivation, physical restraint and seclusion do not reduce challenging behaviors, and in fact can inhibit the development of appropriate skills and behaviors. These practices are dangerous, dehumanizing, result in a loss of dignity, and are unacceptable in a civilized society. Research-based positive behavioral supports should be readily available in natural settings including the family home. Families, caregivers, educators, direct support personnel, and other professionals and paraprofessionals should be provided with training and support in implementing effective positive behavioral interventions and supports in all environments. Behavioral supports should be individually designed and positive, emphasize learning, offer choice and social integration, be culturally appropriate, and include modifying environments as needed. The Arc and AAIDD are opposed to all aversive procedures, such as electric shock, deprivation, seclusion and isolation. Interventions must not withhold essential food and drink, cause physical and/or psychological pain or result in humiliation or discomfort. Physical restraints should only be used as a last resort to eliminate the danger of physical injury to self or others. The following factors should be considered in developing a positive behavioral intervention plan: - The circumstances and environment in which the behavior occurred; - The perspectives of the individual, his or her family and their social/cultural background and values; - The contributing factors, such as physical or medical conditions, social and environmental influences; - The completeness and accuracy of any data which has been collected about the behavior; - The nature, extent, and frequency of the perceived challenging behavior; and - The function of the behavior, especially what the person may be trying to communicate. Further, any positive behavioral inventions must also include consideration of: - The potential secondary effects and risks associated with the intervention; - The legal, social and ethical implications; - The ease and practicality of implementation; and - The consistency with values of the individual’s culture. Positive behavioral supports should be: - Designed in a person-centered process involving the individual; - Developed within the broader context of providing quality medical, psychological, educational, and facilitative services; - Based on a functional analysis of the behavior and the circumstances under which it occurred, a thorough assessment of each individual’s unique abilities and contributions, and an understanding of how previous interventions worked; - Provided through a least restrictive strategy and described in a written plan; - Grounded in evidence-based procedures that will: - prevent challenging behaviors; - teach new skills that may replace challenging behaviors; - prevent the on-going reward of a challenging behavior; - reinforce positive behavior; - ensure safety (when necessary); and - provide systemic information on the effectiveness of the support. - Used in a humane and caring manner respecting individual dignity; - Implemented in positive, socially supportive and culturally appropriate environments, including the home; - Carried out by individuals (i.e., staff, family members and others) who have been trained and are qualified to effectively apply positive, non-aversive approaches; - Include adaptations to the environment and reinforcers that people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities and their families identify as positive; and - Monitored continuously and systematically to ensure appropriate implementation and that the support is consistent with individual needs, positive in its methods, successful in achieving established goals, and changed in a timely fashion if success is not evident or occurring at an appropriate rate. \|\|Board of Directors, AAIDD July 18, 2010 \|\|Board of Directors, The Arc of the United States August 23, 2010 \|\|Congress of Delegates November 6, 2010 1“People with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities” refers to those defined by AAIDD classification and DSM IV. In everyday language they are frequently referred to as people with cognitive, intellectual and/or developmental disabilities although the professional and legal definitions of those terms both include others and exclude some defined by DSM IV.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25359000
When he shot President Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth was 26 years old, and one of the nation’s most famous actors. (Charles DeForest Fredericks/National Portrait Gallery) John Wilkes Booth, a Maryland native, spent the war performing in theatrical productions. But the conflict was never far from his mind. In a letter to his mother, he expressed chagrin that he hadn’t joined the Confederate army, writing, “I have … begun to deem myself a coward, and to despise my own existence.” He was outraged by the reelection of Lincoln, whom he viewed as the instigator of all the country’s woes. The month after the inauguration, Booth learned that Lincoln would be attending a performance at Ford’s Theatre on April 14. That night, he crept into Lincoln’s theater box and shot him in the back of the head. It was the first time a president had been murdered. “Wanted” posters were issued for Booth, and on April 26, he was cornered in a tobacco barn and shot by a federal sergeant, acting against orders to bring him in alive. Several months later, Charles Creighton Hazewell, a frequent contributor, sought to make sense of the assassination—speculating that the plot may have been hatched in Canada (where a number of secessionist schemes had originated) and hinting at evidence that the plan had been endorsed at the highest levels of the Confederate government.—Sage Stossel The assassination of President Lincoln threw a whole nation into mourning … Of all our Presidents since Washington, Mr. Lincoln had excited the smallest amount of that feeling which places its object in personal danger. He was a man who made a singularly favorable impression on those who approached him, resembling in that respect President Jackson, who often made warm friends of bitter foes, when circumstances had forced them to seek his presence; and it is probable, that, if he and the honest chiefs of the Rebels could have been brought face to face, there never would have been civil war,—at least, any contest of grand proportions; for he would not have failed to convince them that all that they had any right to claim, and therefore all that they could expect their fellow-citizens to fight for, would be more secure under his government than it had been under the governments of such men as Pierce and Buchanan, who made use of sectionalism and slavery to promote the selfish interests of themselves and their party … Ignorance was the parent of the civil war, as it has been the parent of many other evils,—ignorance of the character and purpose of the man who was chosen President in 1860–61, and who entered upon official life with less animosity toward his opponents than ever before or since had been felt by a man elected to a great place after a bitter and exciting contest … That one of the most insignificant of [the secessionists’] number should have murdered the man whose election they declared to be cause for war is nothing strange, being in perfect keeping with their whole course. The wretch who shot the chief magistrate of the Republic is of hardly more account than was the weapon which he used. The real murderers of Mr. Lincoln are the men whose action brought about the civil war. Booth’s deed was a logical proceeding, following strictly from the principles avowed by the Rebels, and in harmony with their course during the last five years. The fall of a public man by the hand of an assassin always affects the mind more strongly than it is affected by the fall of thousands of men in battle; but in strictness, Booth, vile as his deed was, can be held to have been no worse, morally, than was that old gentleman who insisted upon being allowed the privilege of firing the first shot at Fort Sumter. Ruffin’s act is not so disgusting as Booth’s; but of the two men, Booth exhibited the greater courage,—courage of the basest kind, indeed, but sure to be attended with the heaviest risks, as the hand of every man would be directed against its exhibitor. Had the Rebels succeeded, Ruffin would have been honored by his fellows; but even a successful Southern Confederacy would have been too hot a country for the abode of a wilful murderer. Such a man would have been no more pleasantly situated even in South Carolina than was Benedict Arnold in England. And as he chose to become an assassin after the event of the war had been decided, and when his victim was bent upon sparing Southern feeling so far as it could be spared without injustice being done to the country, Booth must have expected to find his act condemned by every rational Southern man as a worse than useless crime, as a blunder of the very first magnitude. Had he succeeded in getting abroad, Secession exiles would have shunned him, and have treated him as one who had brought an ineffaceable stain on their cause, and also had rendered their restoration to their homes impossible. The pistol-shot of Sergeant Corbett saved him from the gallows, and it saved him also from the denunciations of the men whom he thought to serve. He exhibited, therefore, a species of courage that is by no means common; for he not only risked his life, and rendered it impossible for honorable men to sympathize with him, but he ran the hazard of being denounced and cast off by his own party … All Secessionists who retain any self-respect must rejoice that one whose doings brought additional ignominy on a cause that could not well bear it has passed away and gone to his account. It would have been more satisfactory to loyal men, if he had been reserved for the gallows; but even they must admit that it is a terrible trial to any people who get possession of an odious criminal, because they may be led so to act as to disgrace themselves, and to turn sympathy in the direction of the evil-doer … Therefore the shot of Sergeant Corbett is not to be regretted, save that it gave too honorable a form of death to one who had earned all that there is of disgraceful in that mode of dying to which a peculiar stigma is attached by the common consent of mankind. Whether Booth was the agent of a band of conspirators, or was one of a few vile men who sought an odious immortality, it is impossible to say. We have the authority of a high Government official for the statement that “the President’s murder was organized in Canada and approved at Richmond”; but the evidence in support of this extraordinary announcement is, doubtless for the best of reasons, withheld at the time we write. There is nothing improbable in the supposition that the assassination plot was formed in Canada, as some of the vilest miscreants of the Secession side have been allowed to live in that country … But it is not probable that British subjects had anything to do with any conspiracy of this kind. The Canadian error was in allowing the scum of Secession to abuse the “right of hospitality” through the pursuit of hostile action against us from the territory of a neutral … That a plan to murder President Lincoln should have been approved at Richmond is nothing strange; and though such approval would have been supremely foolish, what but supreme folly is the chief characteristic of the whole Southern movement? If the seal of Richmond’s approval was placed on a plan formed in Canada, something more than the murder of Mr. Lincoln was intended. It must have been meant to kill every man who could legally take his place, either as President or as President pro tempore. The only persons who had any title to step into the Presidency on Mr. Lincoln’s death were Mr. Johnson, who became President on the 15th of April, and Mr. Foster, one of the Connecticut Senators, who is President of the Senate … It does not appear that any attempt was made on the life of Mr. Foster, though Mr. Johnson was on the list of those doomed by the assassins; and the savage attack made on Mr. Seward shows what those assassins were capable of. But had all the members of the Administration been struck down at the same time, it is not at all probable that “anarchy” would have been the effect, though to produce that must have been the object aimed at by the conspirators. Anarchy is not so easily brought about as persons of an anarchical turn of mind suppose. The training we have gone through since the close of 1860 has fitted us to bear many rude assaults on order without our becoming disorderly. Our conviction is, that, if every man who held high office at Washington had been killed on the 14th of April, things would have gone pretty much as we have seen them go, and that thus the American people would have vindicated their right to be considered a self-governing race. It would not be a very flattering thought, that the peace of the country is at the command of any dozen of hardened ruffians who should have the capacity to form an assassination plot, the discretion to keep silent respecting their purpose, and the boldness and the skill requisite to carry it out to its most minute details: for the neglect of one of those details might be fatal to the whole project. Society does not exist in such peril as that. john wilkes booth, a Maryland native, spent the war performing in theatrical productions. But the conflict was never far from his mind. In a letter to his mother, he expressed chagrin that he hadn’t joined the Confederate army, writing, “I have … begun to deem myself a coward, and to despise my own existence.” He was outraged by the reelection of Lincoln, whom he viewed as the instigator of all the country’s woes. The month after the inauguration, Booth learned that Lincoln would be attending a performance at Ford’s Theatre on April 14. That night, he crept into Lincoln’s theater box and shot him in the back of the head. It was the first time a president had been murdered. “Wanted” posters were issued for Booth, and on April 26, he was cornered in a tobacco barn and shot by a federal sergeant, who acted against orders to bring him in alive. Several months later, Charles Creighton Hazewell, a frequent Atlantic contributor, sought to make sense of the assassination—speculating that the plot may have been hatched in Canada (where a number of secessionist schemes had originated) and hinting at evidence that the plan had been endorsed at the highest levels of the Confederate government. Read the full text of this article here. This article available online at:	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25361000
Christmas Lights Powered By Poop Research At UC Denver Proves Viability Of Waste As Energy Source Last Updated: 879 days ago A small lighted Christmas tree in a UC Denver laboratory proves the practicality of a novel renewable energy source, and points to its enormous potential.Jason Ren, an assistant professor of civil engineering, calls it "bug power" referring to the millions of bacteria that help generate electricity from wastewater. The process creates two desirable byproducts."Those bacteria are able to consume the waste and produce electricity as well as clean water," Ren said.Bacteria in the microbial fuel cells essentially eat the waste and give off electrons in the process. Those electrons are then captured by a graphite brush. Also, Ren recently discovered that salt water could be turned to fresh water as a third, simultaneous function."Electricity on one side, treating wastewater on the other side, while desalinating sea water in the middle," Ren said, pointing to a small three-chambered reactor."I think it's pretty promising," said Jae-Do Park, an assistant professor of electrical engineering. He is working to make the electricity functional."To harvest the energy from the fuel cell in the most efficient way, and at the same time to form that power from the fuel cell into a usable shape," Park said.The glowing LED lights on the laboratory Christmas tree are proof that it's possible to turn poop into power using bacteria. The microbial fuel cell research is gaining attention and from high places. The Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Navy have both provided grants to help advance the technology and its applications.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25369000
A nurse attends to the children’s ward of the National Tuberculosis Hospital in Kyrgyzstan. According to the World Health Organization, more than 250,000 children develop TB each year, and for around 100,000 of them, TB is fatal. Global Fund-supported programs to fight tuberculosis, AIDS and malaria are working to improve children's health worldwide and contribute to the United Nations Millennium Development goal of reducing child mortality by two-thirds by 2015. For more information about Global Fund photos, please e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.org. Copyright: The Global Fund / John Rae.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25373000
Indonesia Digging Up Too Much Coal: Greenpeace Indonesia’s ambitious plans to boost coal production and exports from Kalimantan are ill-advised and not worth the environmental and social cost, according to a key report from Greenpeace. In the “Point of No Return” report released last week, the environmental group said the Indonesian government was one of a handful of governments helping “push the world past the point of no return” by pursuing massive coal, oil and gas projects that would produce as much new carbon dioxide emissions in 2020 as the entire United States. “These new climate-changing mega-projects are the direct result of the hypocrisy shown by a handful of governments,” Kumi Naidoo, the executive director of Greenpeace International, said in a press release on the organization’s website. “These governments claim they want to prevent catastrophic climate change, but shamefully continue to approve and promote major fossil fuel projects that will lead to climate chaos and devastation,” he added. In Indonesia’s case, the report said, the government was risking the livelihoods of indigenous people and the rich biodiversity in Kalimantan by continuing to increase coal production. “As a result of expansion in Kalimantan, Indonesia’s coal output has been surging — reaching an average growth rate of 20 percent a year since 2000, from 77 million tons a year to 325 million tons in 2011,” the report said. “The planned increase in coal exports would produce an additional 460Mt [megatons] of greenhouse gas emissions, as much CO2 as the entire emissions of the UK in 2010.” The report warned that in order to achieve that increase, mining firms would expand their operations onto land belonging to indigenous groups, resulting in polluted groundwater, loss of livelihoods, health problems and disputes. “While the Indonesian government pays lip service to environmental sustainability in the Master Plan for the Acceleration and Expansion of Indonesia’s Economic Development (MP3EI), it largely ignores the terrible price those living around the mines will have to pay,” Greenpeace said. “Reports have surfaced of the oppression of those speaking out against the destructive mining practices.” Mining operations would also threaten huge swaths of rainforest that are home to endangered species such as the orangutan, thereby racking up major environmental and social costs, Greenpeace said. “Now, the Indonesian government is planning to spend public money on infrastructure investments and incentives that aim to dramatically increase coal exports from Kalimantan even further. The toll on the people and the environment will be enormous,” the report said.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25375000
The Siddur That Saved A Life An extract from In Search of Holiness, a newly published collection of writings of the late Rabbi Ephraim Gastwirth. Follow The JC on Twitter The real sermons in life, those which have the greatest impact, are not those which are delivered from the lofty tower of a pulpit to a congregation who are, for the most part, disinclined to be influenced by what they hear. The effective sermons are those that take us unawares, sideways, without our realizing that we are listening to something that will change our lives. Such a sermon came to me in Shul, but it was not from the Rabbi, nor was it spoken from the pulpit. It came from my neighbour and it was delivered off the cuff, in a bitter tone and during the service! He occupied the seat next to mine, and he used to pray in an old and somewhat battered pocket Siddur, the pages of which often drifted to the floor, so that he had to wriggle under the seat to retrieve them. Once, somewhat irritated by these manoeuverings, I presumed to suggest, only half in jest, that it was time he bought a new Siddur. He turned to me, his face flushed with anger. "This Siddur saved my life, and it will be buried with me". My irritation gave way to curiosity and I looked sympathetic so that he was encouraged to continue. "As you know", he said, "I spent three years in Auschwitz. Somehow, I managed to smuggle in my Tefillin and this Siddur. I was young and strong and so I was allocated to work in the adjacent arms factory which utilized the inmates of the concentration camp as slave labour". "We lived surrounded by death, the slightest sign of illness or weakness meant instant dispatch to the gas chambers. One lived by faith alone. Every morning I would rise a little before the others, put on my Tefillin and pray in this Siddur". And he grasped it until his knuckles were white. "One day stands out in my mind as even more terrible than the rest. I had returned from work, weak and exhausted as usual. Automatically, I slipped my hand into my hiding place to feel for my Tefillin, they were gone! Without them I felt that I had neither the strength nor the will to survive. Every morning they had given me an injection of courage; they had raised me above an inferno worse than anything Dante had imagined. They connected me to life as a diver is attached to his air-line. They were, almost literally, the dividing line between life and death, one's daily reminder that Hashem was still alive somewhere and that hope still remained. "But now they were gone! I knew that I could not survive without them. Later that night when all were asleep, I slipped out, risking certain death if caught, and began a systematic search of the grounds. Some deranged person must have thrown them away - out of jealousy perhaps. Who knows? Perhaps someone whom the Nazis had succeeded in turning into an animal, whose Divine spirit they had succeeded in crushing". "What shall I tell you?" He was pleading with me now to understand him. "That night changed my life forever. I looked Hell in the eye and survived. I crawled and felt my way round and through corpses, living and dead, through rubbish heaps some of which had once been human beings, and I found my lost Tefillin and Siddur! By the side of the barracks where they had been thrown". "I was conscious of a great surge of spirit, almost of elation. My soul seemed to leave me and soar over my pathetic body. I must survive, I would survive, miracles are not made in vain. Shortly afterwards, we were liberated. I never did find out who had stolen them or why he had done this appalling thing which could bring him no benefit. Was it simply the act of a man who could not bear to see that Hitler had not succeeded in destroying my spirit as he had destroyed his own? The wicked hate to see goodness, it demeans them". "That night I learned that holiness exists even in the midst of evil, and that to find it you have to exert every ounce of strength, to stretch yourself to the uttermost limits, to reach upwards until your feet barely touch the earth". He looked down at his Siddur, kissed it reverently and began to pray from it with great fervour. That was the greatest sermon I had ever heard, and it was told by a simple man who had shaken off the dust of Nazi Europe and made a new life in Israel. Had he realized, I reflected, that his story exactly paralleled the history of Israel in exile? It might almost have been a parable. It was only the fierce attachment of Israel to its Torah and its prayer book that has kept the nation alive throughout its long night of exile. There have been many who have attempted to rob us of this precious lifeline but we have spent the whole of the long dark night desperately determined not to lose it, knowing of a certainty that there could be no meaningful existence for Israel without its Torah and its code of communication to the Eternal. In Search Of Holiness - The Writings of Rabbi Ephraim Levy Gastwirth, edited by Ruth Last, Mazo Publishers, Israel, £19.95. Rabbi Gastwirth, a former minister of South Hampstead, Sunderland, Blackpool and Sale congregations, and director of Jewish studies at Carmel College, died two years ago.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25376000
MOTHERS PREPARING the family meals for a week have been advised to replace meat with beans or lentils once a week – a move which could help to “fix the world’s broken food system”. The suggestion is part of a new worldwide campaign by Oxfam to address the world’s food imbalance, pointing out that the amount of food thrown away by people in richer countries is almost the same amount as that produced by all of sub-Saharan Africa. The campaign follows a survey carried out among mothers living in urban areas, in which 73 per cent said they would like to know how to make a difference when shopping for food, and 83 per cent said they would be interested in using less energy when cooking. Oxfam Ireland said the results of the survey – which also showed over three-quarters of respondents saying they would be happy to make changes like offering one meat-free meal a week – showed an opportunity to harness “the immense power of the individual”. Chief executive Jim Clarken said the campaign hoped to get across the message that individual people can together be “a powerful force for change”. “What we do in the supermarket or in the kitchen does matter. Small actions taken by enough people add up,” he said. Oxfam’s five suggestions are: - Eating less meat: Oxfam says urban households in the US, UK, Brazil and Spain ate one meat-free meal per week for a year, the greenhouse gas emissions saved would be the equivalent of scrapping 3.7 million cars; - Reduce food waste: If one in six apples is thrown away, this adds up to 5.3 billion apples a year – the equivalent to 10 billion barrels of oil in terms of growing, trading and decomposing the apples thrown away; - Support small food producers: The welfare of 90,000 cocoa farms could be transformed if consumers bought two Fair Trade chocolate bars per month instead of an alternative; - Buy seasonal: Buying food that is out of season creates extra demand for it, which results in the use of more energy for storage and production; - Cook smarter: Simple actions like putting a lid on a boiling pot can cut energy use by up to 70 per cent. “If enough people act, the reverberations will be felt right along the food chain,” Clarken said. Oxfam International’s full report on the global food system can be downloaded here.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25377000
Reforming the Reformation A Description of Christ - Richard Sibbes (1577 - 1635) was a Puritan theologian, Cambridge academic, and much-loved author. View all resources by Richard Sibbes "Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my Spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgement to the Gentiles. He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets," &c.—Matt. 12:18. The words are the accomplishment of a prophecy, taken out of Isaiah 52:1,2, as we may see by the former verse, 'that it might be fulfilled.' Now the occasion of bringing them in here in this verse, it is a charge that Christ gives, verse 16, that they should not reveal and make him known because of the miracles he did. He withdraws himself; he was desirous to be concealed, he would not allow himself to be seen over much, for he knew the rebellious disposition of the Jews, who were eager to change their government, and to make him king. Therefore, he laboured to conceal himself in various ways. Now, upon this injunction, that they should tell nobody, he brings in the prophet Isaiah prophesying of him, 'Behold my servant, &c.; he shall not strive nor cry, neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets.' Other kings labour that their pomp and magnificence may be seen; but he does not desire ostentation, he shall not be contentious nor clamorous. For these three things are meant when he says, 'he shall not strive, nor cry, neither shall his voice be heard in the streets;' he shall not yield himself to any ostentation, for he came in an abased state to work our salvation; he shall not be contentious, nor yet clamorous in matter of wrong; there shall be no boasting any kind of way, as we shall see when we come to the words. You see, then, the inference here. The purpose of the prophet Isaiah is to comfort the people, and to direct them how to come to worship the true God, after he had preached against their idolatry, as we see in the former chapter, 'Behold my servant,' &c. Great princes have their ambassadors, and the great God of heaven has his Son, his servant in whom he delights, through whom, and by whom, all dealings between God and man are. As is usual in the prophecies, especially of Isaiah, that evangelical prophet, when he foretells anything to comfort the people in the promise of temporal things, he rises to establish their faith in better things. He does this by adding to them a prophecy, a promise of Christ the Messiah, to assert thus much: I will send you the Messiah, and that is a greater gift than this that I have promised you; therefore you may be sure of the lesser one. As the apostle reasons excellently, 'If he spared not his own son, but delivered him to death for us all, how shall he not with him give us all things?' Rom. 8:32. So here, I have promised you deliverance out of Babylon, and this and that; do you doubt of the performance? Alas! what is that in comparison to a greater favour I intend for you in Christ, that shall deliver you out of another type of Babylon? 'Behold my servant whom I have chosen;' and in Isaiah 7:14, 'Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son,' &c. I will send you the Messiah; God shall become man; therefore, I will not stand for any outward favour or deliverance whatsoever. So he goes on to the grand promise, that they might reason from the greater to the less. There is another purpose, why in other promises there is mention of the promise of the Messiah: to uphold their faith. Alas! we are unworthy of these promises, we are so laden with sin and iniquity. It is no matter, I will send you the Messiah. 'Behold my servant in whom my soul delighteth,' and for his sake I will delight in you. I am well pleased with you, because I am well pleased in him; therefore, be not discouraged. All the promises are yea and amen in Jesus Christ,' 2 Cor. 1:20; for all the promises that be, though they be for the things of this life, they are made for Christ, they are yea in him, and they are performed for his sake, they are amen in him. So much for the occasion of the quotation in the evangelist St Matthew, and likewise in the prophet Isaiah. To come more directly to the words, 'Behold my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom my soul is well pleased,' &c. In the words you have a description of Christ, and his nearness to God: Behold my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom my soul is well pleased.' And then his calling and attainments: 'I will put my Spirit upon him.' And the execution of that calling: 'He shall shew judgment to the Gentiles.' Then the quiet and peaceable manner of the execution of his calling: 'He shall not strive nor cry, neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets,' &c. Behold!—This word is as it were a lighted beacon. In all the evangelists you have this word often repeated, and the prophets likewise when they speak of Christ; there is no almost prophecy but there is this word, 'Behold.' Why? The use of it in the prophet, especially out of which these words are taken, was to present Christ to the hearts of the people of God at that time; therefore he says, 'Behold,' for Christ was present to the believers then. Christ did profit them before he was, he did good before he was exhibited, because he was 'the Lamb of God slain from the beginning of the world,' Rev. 13:8; he was yesterday as well as to-day, and tomorrow as well as to-day, 'yesterday, to-day, and the same for over,' Heb. 13:8. He was present to their faith, present to them in types and sacrifices, and present in God's acceptation of him for them. Therefore, the prophets mount up with the wing of prophecy, and seeing the certainty of the things to come, they speak as if they were present, as if they had looked on Christ before them, 'Behold my servant,' and 'Behold a virgin,' &c. But that is not all. Another purpose of this word 'behold,' was to call the people's minds from their miseries, and from other abasing objects that dejected them, which might force them to despair. Why do you dwell upon your unworthiness and sin? Raise up your mind, 'Behold my servant whom I have chosen,' &c. This is an object worth beholding and admiring, especially by a distressed soul that may see in Christ whatsoever may comfort it. A third purpose of it is to raise the mind from any vulgar, common, base contentments. You look on these things, and are carried away with common trivial objects, as the poor disciples when they came to the temple; they stood wondering at the stones. What wondrous stones! What a great building is here! (Mark 13:1) So shallow-minded men, when they see any earthly excellency, they stand gazing. Alas, says Christ, do you wonder at these things? In the same way the prophet here raises up the minds of men to look on an object fit to be looked on, 'Behold my servant,' &c. He intends that the Holy Ghost would have them from this saving object, Christ, to receive satisfaction to their souls in every way. Are you dejected? Here is comfort. Are you sinful? Here is righteousness. Are you led away with present contentments? Here you have honours, and pleasures, and all in Christ Jesus. You have a right to common pleasures that others have, and besides them you have claim to others that are everlasting pleasures that shall never fail, so that there is nothing that is dejecting and abasing in man, but there is comfort for it in Christ Jesus; he is a salve for every sore, a remedy for every malady; therefore, 'Behold my servant.' My servant.—Christ is called a servant, first, in respect of his creation, because being a man, as a creature he was a servant. But that is not all. He was a servant in respect of his condition. Servant implies a base and low condition, Philip. 2:7. Christ took upon him the form of a servant; he emptied himself; he was the lowest of all servants in condition: for none was ever so abased as our glorious Saviour. And then, it is a name of office, as well as of base condition. There are ordinary servants and extraordinary, as great kings have their servants of state. Despite his abasement, Christ was a servant of state, he was an ambassador sent from the great God; a prophet, a priest, and a king, as we shall see afterwards; an extraordinary servant, to do a work of service that all the angels in heaven, and all the men on the earth joined together, could not perform. This great masterpiece of service was to bring God and man together again, that were at variance, as it is, 1 Peter 3:18, 'to bring us to God.' We were severed and scattered from God. His office was to gather us together again, to bring us all to one head again, to bring us to himself, and so to God, to reconcile us, as the Scripture phrase is, Col. 1:20. Now, it being the greatest work and service that over was, it required the greatest servant; for no creature in the world could perform it. All the angels of heaven would have sunk under this service. They could never have given satisfaction to divine justice; for the angels themselves, when they sinned, could not recover themselves, but sunk under their own sin eternally. Thus we see how Christ is God's servant, who set him apart, and chose him to this service. And then he was a servant to us; for the Son of man came to minister, not to be ministered unto, Matt. 20:28. He washed his disciples' feet. He was a servant to us, because he did our work and suffered our punishment; we made him serve by our sins, as the prophet says, Isa. 53:24. He is a servant that bears another man's burden. There was a double burden— of obedience active, and obedience passive. He bore them both. He came under the law for us, both doing what we should have done, and indeed far more acceptably, and suffering that we should have suffered, and far more acceptably. He being our surety, being a more excellent person, he did bear our burden, and did our work, therefore he was God's servant, and our servant; and God's servant, because he was our servant, because he came to do a work on our behalf. Herein appears the admirable love and care of God to us wretched creatures, here is matter of wonderment. Whence comes it that Christ is a servant? It is from the wondrous love of God, and the wondrous love of Christ. To be so abased, it was wondrous love in God to give him to us to be so abased, and the wondrous misery we were in, that we could not otherwise be freed from; for such was the pride of man, that he, being man, would exalt himself to be like God. God became man, he became a servant to expiate our pride in Adam, so that it is wondrous in the spring of it. There was no such love as Christ's to become a servant, there was no such misery as we were in, out of which we were delivered by this abasement of Christ becoming a servant; so it is wondrous in that regard, springing from the infinite love and mercy of God, which is greater in the work of redemption and reconciliation than in the creation of the world, for the distance between nothing and something was less than the distance between sin and happiness. For nothing adds no opposition; but to be in a sinful state there is opposition. Therefore it was greater love and mercy for God, when we were sinful, and so obnoxious to eternal destruction, to make us of sinners, not only men, but to make us happy, to make us heirs of heaven out of a sinful and cursed estate, than to make us of nothing something, to make us men in Adam, for there God prevailed over nothing, but here his mercy triumphed over that which is opposite to God, over sinfulness and cursedness. To show that the creature cannot be so low but there is somewhat in God above the misery of the creature, his mercy shall triumph over the basest estate where he will show mercy. Therefore there is mercy above all mercy and love above all love, in that Christ was a servant. Is the Lord Christ a servant? This should teach us not to stand upon any terms. If Christ had stood upon terms, if he had refused to take upon him the shape of a servant, alas! Where had we and our salvation been? And yet wretched creatures, we think ourselves too good to do God and our brethren any service. Christ stood not upon his greatness, but, being equal with God, he became a servant. Oh! we should dismount from the tower of our conceited excellency. The heart of man is a proud creature, a proud piece of flesh. Men stand upon their distance. What! Shall I stoop to him? I am thus and thus. We should descend from the heaven of our conceit, and take upon us the form of servants, and abase ourselves to do good to others, even to any, and account it an honour to do any good to others in the places we are in. Christ did not think himself too good to leave heaven, to conceal and veil his majesty under the veil of our flesh, to work our redemption, to bring us out of the cursed estate we were in. Shall we think ourselves too good for any service? Who for shame can be proud when he thinks of this, that God was abased? Shall God be abased, and man proud? Shall God become a servant, and shall we that are servants think much to serve our fellow-servants? Let us learn this lesson, to abase ourselves; we cannot have a better pattern to look unto than our blessed Saviour. A Christian is the greatest freeman in the world; he is free from the wrath of God, free from hell and damnation, from the curse of the law; but then, though he be free in these respects, yet, in regard of love, he is the greatest servant. Love abases him to do all the good he can; and the more the Spirit of Christ is in us, the more it will abase us to anything wherein we can be serviceable. Then, again, here is comfort for us, that Christ, in whatsoever he did in our redemption, is God's servant. He is appointed by God to the work; so, both God and Christ meet together in the work. Christ is a voluntary in it, for he emptied himself, he took upon him the form of a servant, Phil. 2:6, he came from heaven voluntarily. And then withal the Father joins with him, the Father appointed him and sent him, the Father laid him as the corner-stone, the Father sealed him, as it is, John 6:27, the Father set him out, as it is, Rom. 3:25. 'He has set him out as the propitiatory.' Therefore, when we think of reconciliation and redemption, and salvation wrought by Christ, let us comfort ourselves in the solidity of the work, that it is a service perfectly done. It was done by Christ, God-man. It is a service accepted of God, therefore God cannot refuse the service of our salvation wrought by Christ. Christ was his servant in the working of it. We may present it to God, it is the obedience of thy servant, it is the satisfaction of thy servant. Here is that will give full content and satisfaction to conscience, in this, that whatsoever Christ did, he was God's servant in it. But we shall better understand the intent of the Holy Ghost when we have gone over the rest of the words, 'Behold my servant whom I have chosen.' Christ was chosen before all worlds to be the head of the elect. He was predestinated and ordained by God. As we are ordained to salvation, so Christ is ordained to be the head of all that shall be saved. He was chosen eternally, and chosen in time. He was singled out to the work by God; and all others that are chosen are chosen in him. There had been no choosing of men but in him; for God saw us so defiled, lying in our filth, that he could not look upon us but in his Son. He chose him, and us in him. Here is meant, not only choosing by eternal election to happiness, but a choosing to office. There is a choosing to grace and glory, and a choosing to office. Here, it is as well meant, a choosing to office, as to grace and glory. God, as he chose Christ to grace and glory, so he chose him to the office of Mediatorship. Christ did not choose himself; he was, no usurper. No man calls himself to the office, as it is in Heb. 5:4; but Christ was called and appointed of God. He was willing, indeed, to the work, he took it voluntary upon him; but as Mediator, God chose him, God the Father. If we respect eternal salvation, or grace, or office, Christ was chosen in respect of his manhood; for, as it is well observed by divines, Christ is the head of all that are predestinated; and the human nature of Christ could not merit its choice, it could not merit its incarnation, it could not merit union with the Godhead, it was merely from grace. How could Christ's manhood deserve anything of God before it was? Things must have a subsistence before they can work: our blessed Saviour is the pattern of all election, and his manhood could not merit to be knit to the second person; as how could it, being a creature? Therefore the knitting of the human nature of Christ to his divine, it is called the grace of union. The choosing of the human nature of Christ to be so gracious and glorious, it was of grace. This adds to our comfort, that whatsoever Christ did for us, he did it as chosen; he is a chosen stone, as St Peter says, I Peter ii. 6, 'a precious corner-stone;' though refused of the builders, yet precious in God's sight. Was Christ a chosen servant of God, and shall not we take God's choice? Is not God's choice the best and the wisest? Has God chosen Christ to work our salvation, and shall we choose any other? Shall we run to saints' mediation, to the virgin Mary, and others, for intercession, which is a part of Christ's office? Who chose Mary, and Peter, and Paul to this work? There is no mention in Scripture of them for this purpose, but behold my servant, whom I have chosen. God in paradise did choose a wife for Adam, so God has chosen a husband for his church; he has chosen Christ for us: therefore it is intolerable sacrilegious rebellion and impudency to refuse a Saviour and Mediator of God's choosing, and to set up others of our own, as if we were wiser to choose for ourselves than God is. We may content ourselves well enough with God's choice, because he is the party offended. And this directs us also, in our devotions to God, how to carry ourselves in our prayers and services, to offer Christ to God. Behold, Lord, thy chosen servant, that thou hast chosen to be my Mediator, my Saviour, my all in all to me, he is a mediator and a Saviour of thine own choosing, thou canst not refuse thy own choice; if thou look upon me, there is nothing but matter of unworthiness, but look upon him whom thou hast chosen, my head and my Saviour! Again, if Christ be a chosen servant, O let us take heed how we neglect Christ. When God has chosen him for us, shall not we think him worthy to be embraced and regarded; shall we not kiss the Son with the kiss of love, and faith, and subjection? He is a Saviour of God's own choosing, refuse him not. What is the reason that men refuse this chosen stone? They will not be laid low enough to build upon this corner stone, this hidden stone. The excellency of Christ is hidden, it appears not to men, men will not be squared to be built upon him. Stones for a building must be framed, and made even, and flat. Men stick with this and that lust, they will not be pared and cut and fitted for Christ. If they may have their lusts and wicked lives, they will admit of Christ. But we must make choice of him as a stone to build upon him; and to be built on him, we must be made like him. We like not this laying low and abasing, therefore we refuse this corner stone, though God has made him the corner of building to all those that have the life of grace here, or shall have glory hereafter. The papists admit him to be a stone, but not the only stone to build on, but they build upon him and saints, upon him and works, upon him and traditions. But he is the only corner stone. God has chosen him only, and we must choose him only, that we may be framed and laid upon him to make up one building. So much for that, 'Behold my servant whom I have chosen.' My Beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased.— How do we know that these words in the prophet Isaiah are fitly appliable to Christ? By the greatest authority that ever was from the beginning of the world, by the immediate voice of God the Father from heaven, who applies these words in Isaiah to Christ, Matt. 3:17, in his inauguration when he was baptized, 'This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased,' this is that my Son, that beloved, agaphtoV, the beloved Son, so beloved that my soul delights in him, he is capable of my whole love, I may pour out my whole love upon him. 'In whom I am well pleased,' it is the same with that here,'in whom my soul delighteth,' the one expresses the other. How, and in what respect is Christ thus beloved of God? First as he is God, the Son of God, the engraven image of his Father, so he is primum amabile, the first lovely thing that ever was. When the Father loves him, he loves himself in him, so he loves him as God, as the second person, as his own image and character. And as man he loves him, for as man he was the most excellent creature in the world, he was conceived, fashioned, and framed in his mother's womb by the Holy Ghost. It is said, Heb. 10:5, God gave him a body. God the Father by the Holy Ghost fashioned and framed and fitted him with a body, therefore God must needs love his own workmanship. Again, there was nothing in him displeasing to God, there was no sin found in his life any way, therefore as man he was well pleasing to God. He took the manhood and ingrafted it into the second person, and enriched it there; therefore he must needs love the manhood of Christ, being taken into so near a union with the Godhead. As God and man mediator especially, he loves and delights in him. In regard of his office, he must needs delight in his own ordinance and decree. Now lie decreed and sealed him to that office, therefore he loves and delights in him as a mediator of his own appointing and ordaining, to be our king, and priest, and prophet. Again, he loved and delighted in him, in regard of the execution of his office both in doing and suffering. In doing, the evangelist says, 'He did all things well,' Mark 7:37. When he healed the sick, and raised the dead, and cured all diseases, whatsoever he did was well done. And for his suffering, God delighted in him for that, as it is in John 10:17, 'My Father loves me, because I lay down my life;' and so in Isa. 53:12, 'He shall divide him a portion with the great, because he poured out his soul unto death;' and in Phil. 2:9, 'Because he abased himself to the death of the cross, God gave him a name above all names:' therefore God loves and delights in him for his suffering and abasement. Now, that Christ's sacrifice was so acceptable to God, there is a direct place for it in Eph. 5:2, 'Walk in love, as Christ has loved us, and has given himself an offering and a sacrifice to God of a sweet smell.' And indeed how many sweet savours were there in the sacrifice of Christ offered on the cross! Was there not the sweet savour of obedience? He was 'obedient to the death of the cross,' Phil. 2:8. There was the sweet savour of patience, and of love to mankind. Therefore God delighted in him, as God, as man, as mediator God-man, in his doings, in his sufferings, every way. Does God delight thus in Christ, in his person, or considered mystically? I answer; both. God loves and delights in Christ mystical, that is, in Christ and his members, in whole Christ. 'This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased,' not only with whom alone by himself, but 'in whom,' in him as God, in him in body and soul, in him as head of the church, in him mystically, in all that are under him any kind of way. God delights in him, and all his. Is it possible that he should delight in the head, and refuse the members? that he should love the husband, and mislike the spouse? O no; with the same love that God loves Christ, he loves all his. He delights in Christ and all his, with the same delight. There is some difference in the degree, 'that Christ in all things may have the pre-eminence,' Col. 1:18, but it is the same love; therefore our Saviour sets it down excellently in his own prayer, he desires 'that the same love wherewith his Father loved him may be in them that are his,' John 17:20, that they may feel the love wherewith his Father loves him, for he loved him and his members, him and his spouse, with all one love. This is our comfort and our confidence, that God accepts us, because he accepts his beloved; and when he shall cease to love Christ, he shall cease to love the members of Christ. They and Christ make one mystical Christ. This is our comfort in dejection for sin. We are so and so indeed, but Christ is the chosen servant of God, 'in whom he delighteth,' and delights in us in him. It is no matter what we are in ourselves, but what we are in Christ when we are once in him and continue in him. God loves us with that inseparable love wherewith he loves his own Son. Therefore St Paul triumphs, Rom. 8:35, 'What shall separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus?' This love, it is founded in Christ, 'therefore neither things present, nor things to come (as he goes on there gloriously), shall be able to separate us.' You see what a wondrous confidence and comfort we have hence, if we labour to be in Christ, that then God loves and delights in us, because he loves and delights in Christ Jesus. And here is a wondrous comfort, that God must needs love our salvation and redemption when he loves Christ, because 'he poured out his soul to death to save us.' Does not God delight that we should be saved, and our sins should be forgiven, when he loves Christ because he abased himself for that purpose? What a prop and foundation of comfort is this, when the devil shall present God to us in a terrible hideous manner, as an avenging God, 'and consuming fire,' &c., Heb. 12:29; indeed out of Christ he is so. Let us present to ourselves thoughts of God as the Scripture sets forth God to us; and as God sets forth himself, not only in that sweet relation Ps a Father to Christ, but our father, 'I go to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God,' John 20:17, having both one God, and love and care. There is none of us all but the devil will have a saying to us, either in the time of our life, in some terrible temptation, especially when any outward abasement comes, or at the hour of death; and all the cordials we have gathered out of the word will then be little enough to support the drooping soul, especially in the hour of temptation. O beloved, what a wondrous anchor and satisfaction to a distressed conscience does this yield, that Christ in all that he has wrought for us is God's chosen servant, 'whom he loves and delights in,' and delights in him for this very work, that he abased himself and gave himself for us, that he wrought God's work, because he wrought reconciliation for us! If we can believe in Christ, we see here what ground of comfort we have, that God loves and delights in us, as he does in his own Son. And what a comfort is it now, in our daily approach to God, to minister boldness to us in all our suits, that we go to God in the name of one that he loves, 'in whom his soul delights,' that we have a friend in court, a friend in heaven for us, that is at the right hand of God, and interposes himself there for us in all our suits, that makes us acceptable, that perfumes our prayers and makes them acceptable. His intercession is still by virtue of his service, dying for us. He intercedes by virtue of his redemption. If God love him for the work of redemption, he loves him for his intercession, therefore God must needs regard the prayers made by him, by virtue of his dying for us, when he loves him for dying for us. Be sure therefore, in all our suits to God, to take along our older brother, to take our beloved brother, take Benjamin with us, offer all to God in him, our persons to be accepted in him, our prayers our hearing, our works, and all that we do, and we shall be sure to speed; for he is one in whom the soul of God delights. There must be this passage and repassage, as God looks upon us lovely in him, and delights in us as we are members of him. All God's love and the fruits of it come to us as we are in Christ, and are one with him. Then in our passage to God again we must return all, and do all, to God in Christ. Be sure not to go to a naked God; for so he is 'a consuming fire,' but go to him in the mediation of him whom he loves, 'and in whom his soul delighteth.' And shall God love him and delight in him, and shall not our soul delight in Christ? This therefore should stir up our affections to Christ, to be faithful in our conjugal affection as the spouse of Christ, to say, 'My beloved is mine and I am my beloved's,' Cant. 2:16. Christ calls his church, 'My love and my dove,' Cant. 6:9. Does Christ delight in us, and God delight in Christ, and shall not we delight in Christ that delights in us, and in whom God delights? In I Cor. 16:22, the apostle is bold to pronounce a bitter curse, 'Anathema Maranatha,' upon him that loves not the Lord Christ Jesus, a most bitter curse. When Christ shall become a servant to do our work for us, to suffer for us, to bear the burden of our sins upon the tree, to become our husband, to bestow his riches upon us, to raise us to the same condition with himself, and withal to be such, a one as God has chosen out to love and delight in as the best object of his love, and most capable of it, and for us not to solace and delight ourselves in him that God delights in, when God delights in him for our sake. God loves and delights in him for the work of salvation and redemption by his blood, and shall not we love and embrace him for his love which is for our good? What good has God by it but only the glory of his mercy, in saving our souls through Christ? Therefore if God love him for the good he does to us, much more should we love him for the fruit of it that we receive ourselves. It should shame us therefore when we find dulness and coldness upon us, that we can hear of anything better than of Christ; and arguments concerning Christ are cold to us. Alas! Where is our love, and joy, and delight; and when we can make no better but a carnal use of the incarnation and other benefits by Christ? We should therefore desire God to shed the love of Christ into our hearts more and more, that we may feel in our souls the love that he bears to us, and may love God and Christ again, for that that he has done for us. Hence we have also a ground of estimation of Christians to be excellent persons. Does God value poor sinful souls so much as to give Christ for them to become a Saviour? Does he delight in Christ for giving himself for them? And shall not we love one another whom God and Christ so loves? But if God love and delight in those that are in Christ, with the same love and delight that he has in him, how shall I know that I am in Christ, and that God thus delights in me? Briefly, a man may know that he is in Christ, if he find the Spirit of Christ in him; for the same Spirit when Christ took our nature, that sanctified that blessed mass whereof he was made, when there was a union between him and the second person, the same Spirit sanctifies our souls and bodies. There is one Spirit in the head and in the members. Therefore if we find the Spirit of Christ in us, we are in Christ and he in us. Now this Spirit is renewing, 'Whosoever is in Christ is a new creature,' 2 Cor. 5:17; all is new, 'old things are done away,' the old manner of language, the old disposition, old affections, old company, all old things are past, all is new; and if a man be a new creature, he has right and title to 'the new heaven and new earth,' 2 Pet. 3:13. Let us examine the work of grace in us. If there be no change in us we have no present interest in Christ. We have to do with him because he is still wooing us to be in him, but as yet we have no title to him. The very beholding of Christ is a transforming sight. The Spirit that makes us new creatures, and stirs us up to behold this servant, it is a transforming beholding. If we look upon him with the eye of faith, it will make us like Christ; for the gospel is a mirror, and such a mirror, that when we look into it, and see ourselves interested in it, we are changed from glory to glory, 2 Cor. 3:18. A man cannot look upon the love of God and of Christ in the gospel, but it will change him to be like God and Christ. For how can we see Christ, and God in Christ, but we shall see how God hates sin, and this will transform us to hate it as God does, who hated it so that it could not be expiated but with the blood of Christ, God-man. So, seeing the holiness of God in it, it will transform us to be holy. When we see the love of God in the gospel, and the love of Christ giving himself for us, this will transform us to love God. When we see the humility and obedience of Christ, when we look on Christ as God's chosen servant in all this, and as our surety and head, it transforms us to the like humility and obedience. Those that find not their dispositions in some comfortable measure wrought to this blessed transformation, they have not yet those eyes that the Holy Ghost requires here. 'Behold my servant whom I have chosen. my beloved in whom my soul delighteth.' I will put my Spirit upon him. —Now we come to the qualification of Christ for his calling, in these words, I will put my Spirit upon him—that is, I will clothe him with my Spirit, I will put it, as it were, upon him as a garment. Now there were divers degrees of Christ's receiving the Spirit at several times. For he was conceived by the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost did sanctify that blessed mass whereof his body was framed in the womb of the virgin, he was quickened in the womb in his conception by the Holy Ghost, and he was graced by the Holy Ghost, and led by the Spirit in all things before his baptism. But afterward, when he came to set upon his office, to be the prophet and priest and king of his church, that great office of saving mankind, which he did not solmnly set upon till he was thirty years old, then God poured upon him a special portion of the Spirit, answerable to that great calling, then the Spirit lighted upon him, Matt. 3:16. Christ was ordained to his office by the greatest authority that ever any was ordained from the beginning of the world. For at his baptism, when he was ordained and set apart to his office, there was the Father from heaven uttered an audible voice, 'This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased,' Mat. 3:17; and there was Christ, the party baptized and installed into that great office; then there was the Holy Ghost, in the form and shape of a dove. It being a matter of the greatest consequence that ever was in the world, greater than the creation, it was fit it should be done with the greatest authority; and so it was, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost being present at the admission of Christ into his office. This is especially here intended, though the other be included, I will put my Spirit upon him that is, I will anoint him, as it is in Isa. 61:1, 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,' says Christ, 'because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek, to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, to open the prison for them that are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord'—that is, the year of jubilee, for that was a type of Christ, to preach the gospel deliverance to all that are in captivity, servitude, and thraldom under Satan and sin. This was accomplished when Christ, at his baptism, entered upon his office. God put his Spirit upon him, to set him apart, to ordain him, and to equip him with abundance of grace for the work; for there are these three things especially meant by putting the Spirit upon him, separation or setting apart, and ordaining, and enriching with the gifts of the Spirit. When any one is called to a great place, there is a setting apart from others, and an ordaining to that particular, and an equipping. If it be a calling of God, he equips where he ordains always. It may be objected, Christ was God himself; he had the Spirit, and gives the Spirit; therefore, how could the Spirit be put upon him? I answer, Christ is both God and man. Christ, as God, gives the Spirit to his human nature; so he communicates his Spirit. The Spirit is his Spirit as well as the Father's. The Spirit proceeds from them both. Christ, as man, receives the Spirit. God the Father and the Son put the Spirit upon the manhood of Christ; so Christ both gives and receives the Spirit in diverse respects. As God, he gives and sends the Spirit. The spiration and breathing of the Spirit is from him as well as from the Father, but as man he received the Spirit. And this is the reason of it: next under the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Christ the Mediator, was to be the spring and original of all comfort and good. Therefore, Christ's nature must not only be sanctified and ordained by the Spirit; but he must receive the Spirit to enrich it, for whatsoever is wrought in the creature is by the Spirit. Whatsoever Christ did as man, he did by the Spirit. Christ's human nature, therefore, must be sanctified, and have the Spirit put upon it. God the Father, the first person in Trinity, and God the Son, the second, they work not immediately, but by the Holy Ghost, the third person. Therefore, whatsoever is wrought upon the creature, it comes from the Holy Ghost immediately. So Christ received the Holy Ghost as sent from the Father and the Son. Now as the Holy Spirit is from the Father and the Son, so he works from the Father and the Son. He sanctifies and purifieth, and does all from the Father and the Son, and knits us to the Father and the Son; to the Son first, and then to the Father. Therefore it is said, 'The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Ghost,' 2 Cor. 13:14; because all the communion we have with God is by the Holy Ghost. All the communion that Christ as man had with God was by the Holy Ghost; and all the communion that God has with us, and we with God, is by the Holy Ghost: for the Spirit is the bond of union between Christ and us, and between God and us. God communicates himself to us by his Spirit, and we communicate with God by his Spirit. God does all in us by his Spirit, and we do all back again to God by the Spirit. Because Christ, as a head, as the second Adam, was to be the root of all that are saved, as the first Adam was the root of all that are damned, he was therefore to receive the Spirit, and to have it put upon him in a more excellent and rich manner: for we must know that all things are first in Christ, and then in us. God chose him first, and then he chose us. God singled him out to be the Saviour, the second Adam, and he calls us in Christ. God justified Christ from our sins, being our surety, taking our sins upon him. We are justified, because he by his resurrection quit himself from the guilt of our sins, as having paid the debt. Christ is the first fruits of them that rise again, I Cor. 15:20. We rise again because he is risen. Christ first ascended; we ascend in Christ. Christ is first loved; we are loved in the Beloved. Christ is first blessed; we are blessed with all spiritual blessings in Jesus Christ, Eph. 1:8. So, whatsoever is in us, we have it at the second hand. We have the Spirit in us, but he is first in Christ; God has put the Spirit in Christ, as the spring, as the second Adam, as a public person, that should receive the Spirit for us all. He is first in all things; Christ must have the pre-eminence. He has the pre-eminence in all, both before time, in time, and after time, in election, in whatsoever is done here in this world, and in glorification. All is first in Christ, and then in us. He is the elder brother. We must understand this, to give Christ his due honour and respect, and to know whence we have all we have. Therefore the Spirit is said here, first, to be 'put upon Christ.' We have not the Holy Ghost immediately from God, but we have him as sanctifying Christ first, and then us; and whatsoever the Holy Ghost does in us, he does the same in Christ first, and he does it in us because in Christ. Therefore, in John 16:14,15, Christ says, He shall take of mine. Whatsoever the Holy Ghost works in us, he takes of Christ first. How is that? Thus: the Holy Ghost comforts us with reasons from Christ. He died, and has reconciled us to God; therefore, now God is at peace with thee. Here the Holy Ghost takes a ground of comfort from the death of Christ. When the Holy Ghost would raise a man up to holiness of life, he tells him, Christ thy Saviour and head is quickened, and is now in heaven, therefore we ought to rise to holiness of life. If the Holy Ghost be to work either comfort or grace, or anything, he not only does the same thing that he did first in Christ, but he does it in us by reasons from Christ, by grounds fetched from Christ. The Holy Ghost tells our souls that God loves Christ first, and he loves us in Christ, and that we are those that God gave Christ for, that we are those that Christ makes intercession for in heaven. The Holy Ghost witnesses to us the love of the Father and the Son, and so he fetches from Christ whatsoever he works. And hence the work of the Holy Ghost is distinguished from illusions and delusions, that are nothing but frantic conceits of comfort that are groundless. The Holy Ghost fetches all from Christ in his working and comfort, and he makes Christ the pattern of all; for whatsoever is in Christ, the Holy Ghost, which is the Spirit of Christ, works in us as it is in Christ. Therefore, in John 1:13, it is said, 'of his fulness we receive grace for grace'—that is, grace answerable to his grace. There are three things that we receive answerable to Christ by the Spirit. We receive grace—that is, the favour of God answerable to the favour God shows his Son. He loves his Son, he is graciously disposed to him, and he loves us. So grace habitual. We have grace in us answerable to the grace in Christ. We have love answerable to his love, patience answerable to his patience, obedience and humility answerable to that in Christ. The Spirit works a conformity to Christ in all things. Likewise, in the third place, the Spirit assures us of the same privileges that issue from grace. Christ is a Son; the Spirit tells us we are sons. Christ is an heir; the Spirit tells us we are heirs with Christ. Christ is the king of heaven and earth; the Spirit tells us that we are kings, that his riches are ours. Thus we have 'grace for grace,' both favour and grace in us, and privileges issuing from grace, we have all as they are in Christ. Even as in the first Adam we receive of his emptiness, curse for curse, ill for ill; for his blindness and rebellion we are answerable; we are born as he was after his fall: so in the second Adam, by his Spirit, we receive grace for grace. Hence issues this, that our state now in Christ is far more excellent than our state in Adam was. How does it spring hence? Thus, Christ is God-man. His nature was sanctified by the Spirit; he was a more excellent person, he gives and sends the Spirit. Adam was only a mere man, and therefore his goodness could not be so derived to his posterity; for, however the Holy Ghost was in Adam, yet the Holy Ghost did not so fill him, he was not so in him as in Christ. The Holy Ghost is in Christ in a more excellent manner; for Christ being equal with God, he gave the Holy Ghost; the Holy Ghost comes from Christ as God. Now the second Adam being a more excellent person, we being in Christ the second Adam, we are in a more excellent, and in a more safe estate; we have a better keeper of our happiness than Adam. He being a mere man, he could not keep his own happiness, but lost himself and all his posterity. Though he were created after the image of God, yet being but a were man, he showed himself to be a man—that is, a changeable creature; but Christ being God and man, having his nature sanctified by the Spirit, now our happiness is in a better keeping, for our grace has a better spring. The grace and sanctification we have, it is not in our own keeping, it distils into us answerable to our necessities; but the spring is inexhaustable, it never fails, the spring is in Christ. So the favour that God bears us, it is not first in us, but it is first in Christ; God loves him, and then he loves us; he gives him the Spirit, and us in him. Now, Christ is the keeper both of the love of God towards us and the grace of God; and whatsoever is good he keeps all for us, he receives all for himself and for us; he receives not only the Spirit for himself, but he receives it as Mediator, as head: for 'we all of his fulness receive grace for grace.' He receives it as a fountain to diffuse it, I say. This shows us our happy and blessed condition in Jesus Christ, that now the grace and love of God and our happiness, and the grace whereby we are sanctified and fitted for it, it is not in our own keeping originally, but in our head Christ Jesus. These be comfortable considerations, and, indeed, the life and soul of a Christian's life and comfort. If we conceive them aright, they will quicken us to obedience, and we shall know what the gospel is. To come to make some use of it. I might observe this, that none should take that office upon them to which they are not called of God, nor qualified by his Spirit, especially ministers, because Christ did not set upon his office, till the Spirit was put upon him. The Spirit must enable us and fit us for everything. But I leave that, and come to that which concerns us all. First, then, has God put the Spirit upon Christ, as the evangelist says in John 3:34, 'He whom God has sent'that is Christ— he speaks the word of God: for God gives him not the Spirit by measure.' God does not stand measuring grace out to Christ, but he pours it out upon him, full measure, running over, because he receives it not for himself alone, but for us. We receive the Spirit by measure, Eph. 4:7, 'according to the measure of the gift of Christ.' Christ gives us all a measure of sanctifying knowledge and of every grace, till we 'grow to be a perfect man in Christ,' Eph. 4:13. Therefore it is called the 'first fruits of the Spirit,' Rom. 8:23, as much as shall fit us for heaven, and grace sufficient, though it be not that measure we shall have hereafter, or that we would have here. Christ had a full measure, the fulness of a fountain, diffusive, not only abundance for himself, but redundance, and overflowing for the good of others; he being the head of the church, not only a head of eminence, but of influence to bestow and convey all grace in him to all his members, proportionable to the service of every member. Therefore he received not the Spirit according to measure—that is, sparingly—but it was showered upon him; he was filled and clothed with the Holy Ghost. Is it so? Let us labour, then, to see where to have supply in all our wants. We have a full treasury to go to. All treasure is hid in Christ for us. What a comfort is this in anything we lack! If we lack the favour of God, go to his beloved Christ, desire God to love us in his beloved, and to accept us in his gracious Son, in him whom he has made his servant, and anointed with his Spirit for that purpose. If we lack particular graces, go to the well-head Christ, consider of Christ now filled for us, as it was in Aaron. The oil that was poured on Aaron's head ran down to his beard, and to the skirts of his clothing, Psa. 133:2, the meanest parts of his garment were bedewed with that oil: so the graces of God's Spirit poured upon our head Christ, our Aaron, our High Priest, run down upon us, upon all ranks of Christians, even upon the skirts, the weakest and lowest Christians. Every one has grace for grace; we all partake of the oil and anointing of our spiritual Aaron, our High Priest. If we lack anything, therefore, let us go to him. I can do all, says St Paul, in Christ that strengthens me, Philip. 4:13. Go to him for patience, for comfort, for everything, because God has put his Spirit upon him, to supply all our deficiencies; he has the oil of gladness above his fellows, Psa. 45:7; but for his fellows he has the oil of grace more than any, but it is not only for him, but for us all. Therefore, let us have comfortable meditations of the fulness of Christ, and make use of it, all this is for me. In Col. 2:9, St Paul sets it out, 'in him the fulness of the Godhead dwells personally;' for that is meant by somatikwV, and it follows after, 'in him we are complete.' Wherefore is all the fulness that is in him? to show that in him we are complete. So, in I John 5:20, 21, to show how the spirits of the apostles agree, 'we know that the Son of God is come in the flesh, and has given us an understanding to know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is true God and eternal life.' Christ is true God and eternal life for us all; for our comfort, 'we know that the Son of God is come, and has given us an understanding, &c. Little children, keep yourselves from idols.' How does this depend upon the other? Thus; Will you go to idols, stocks and stones, devices of men's brain, for supply of grace and comfort? Christ, whom God has sent, he is come into the world; he is God and eternal life. 'God has given eternal life, and this life is in his Son,' I John 5:11; therefore why should you go to idols? What is the ground of popish idolatries and abominations? They conceive not aright of the fulness of Christ, wherefore he was ordained, and sent of God; for if they did, they would not go to idols and saints, and leave Christ. Therefore let us make this use of it, go out of Christ for nothing. If we want favour, go not to saints, if we want instruction, go; not to traditions of men. He is a prophet wise enough, and a priest full enough to make us accepted of God. If we lack any grace, he is a king able enough, rich enough, and strong enough to subdue all our rebellions in us, and he will in time by his Spirit overcome all, 'Stronger is he that is in us than he that is in the world,' I John 4:4. The spirit in the world, the devil and devilish-minded men, they are not so strong as the Spirit of Christ; for by little and little the Spirit of Christ will subdue all. Christ is a king, go not out of him therefore for anything. 'Babes, keep yourselves from idols,' I John 5:21. You may well enough, you know whom to go to. Therefore let us shame ourselves. Is there such a store-house of comfort and grace every way in Christ? Why are we so weak and comfortless? Why are we so dejected as if we had not such a rich husband? All out husband's riches are ours for our good, we receive of it in our measure, why do we not go to the fountain and make use of it? Why, in the midst of abundance, are we poor and beggarly? Here we may see the misery of the world. Christ is a prophet to teach us the way to heaven, but how few be there that will be directed by him 'Christ is a king to subdue all our spiritual and worst enemies, to subdue those enemies that kings tremble at, to subdue death, to subdue the fear of judgment and the wrath of God, and yet how few will come under his government! 'Christ is the light of the world,' John 9:5, yet how few follow him! Christ is the way, yet how few tread in his steps! Christ is our wisdom and our riches, yet how few go to him to fetch any riches, but content themselves with the transitory things of this life! Men live as if Christ were nothing, or did nothing concern them, as if he were a person abstracted from them, as if he were not a head or husband, as if he had received the Spirit only for himself and not for them, whereas all that is in Christ is for us. I beseech you therefore let us learn to know Christ better, and to make use of him. Again, if Christ has 'the Spirit put upon him for us all,' then in our daily slips and errors make this use, to offer Christ to God with this argument. Take an argument from God himself to bind him. God will be bound with his own arguments. We cannot bind him with ours, but let us go to him and say, Lord, though I be thus and thus sinful, yet for Christ Jesus' sake thy servant, whom thou lovest and hast put thy Spirit upon him to be a priest, and to make intercession for me, for his sake pardon, for his sake accept. Make use of God's consecration of Christ by the Spirit to God himself, and bind him with his own mediator, and with his own priest of his own ordaining. Thou canst not, Lord, refuse a Saviour and mediator of thine own, sanctified by thine own Spirit, whom thou hast set apart, and ordained and qualified every way for this purpose. Let us go to God in the name of this mediator Jesus Christ every day, and this is to make a good use of this, that God has 'put his Spirit upon him.' But to make a use of trial, how shall we know that this comfort belongs to us, that Christ has the Spirit put upon him for us or no, whether he be ordained a king, priest, and prophet for us? That which I said before will give light to this. We must partake of the same Spirit that Christ has, or else we are none of his members. As we partake of his name, so we must also of his anointing. Thereupon we are called Christians, because we partake of the anointing and Spirit of Christ, and if we have the Spirit of Christ, it will work the same in us as it did in Christ, it will convince us of our own ill, of our rebellions, and cursed estate, and it will convince us likewise of the good we have in him. And then, he is a Spirit of union, to knit us to Christ, and make us one with him, and thereupon to quicken us, to lead us, and guide us, and to dwell in us continually, to stir up prayers and supplications in us, to make us cry familiarly to God as to a Father, to comfort and support us in all our wants and miseries, as he did Christ, 'to help our infirmities,' as the apostle at large, in Rom. 8:20, sets down the excellent office of the Holy Ghost, what he does in those that are Christ's. Let us therefore examine ourselves, what the Spirit does in us, if Christ be set apart to redeem us as a priest. Surely all his offices go together. He does by the same Spirit rule us, Rev. 1:5, 'He has washed us in his blood, and made us kings and priests.' Whosoever he washes in his blood he makes him a king and a priest, he makes him by the power of his Spirit able to rule over his base corruptions. We may know then, whether we have benefit by Christ by his Spirit, not only by the Spirit witnessing that we are the sons of God, but by some arguments whereby the Spirit may witness without delusion. For though the Spirit of Christ tells us that we are Christ's, yet the proof must be from guiding and leading, and comforting and conforming us to Jesus Christ, in making us kings and prophets, enlightening our understandings to know his will, and conforming us to be like him. The Spirit of Christ is a Spirit of power and strength. It will enable us to perform duties above nature, to overcome ourselves and injuries, it will make us to lack and to abound, it will make us able to live and to die, as it enabled Christ to do things that another man could not do. So a Christian can do that, and suffer that that another man cannot do and suffer, because he has the Spirit of Christ. At the least, whosoever has the Spirit of Christ, he shall find that Spirit in him striving against that which is contrary, and by little and little getting ground. Where there is no conflict, there is no Spirit of Christ at all. I will not be large in the point, only I speak this by way of trial, to know whether we have the Spirit of Christ in us or no. If not, we have nothing to do with Christ; for Christ saves us not as he is out of us only. Christ was to do something of himself that we have no share in, only the good of it is ours. He was to redeem us by his blood, to be a sacrifice. The title to heaven and salvation was wrought by Christ out of us. But there is somewhat that he does not only for us, but he works in us by his Spirit, that is, the fitting of us for that he has given us title to, and the applying Of that that he has done for us. Whosoever therefore has any benefit by Christ, he has the Spirit to apply that to himself and to fit and qualify him to be a member of such a head, and an heir of such a kingdom. Whosoever Christ works anything for, he does also work in them. There is a Spirit of application, and that Spirit of application, if it be true, it is a Spirit of sanctification and renovation fitting us every way for our, condition. Let us not abuse ourselves, as the world commonly does, concerning Christ. They think God is merciful, and Christ is a Saviour. It is true, but what has he wrought in thee by his Spirit? Hast thou the Spirit of Christ? Or 'else thou art none of his,' Rom. 8:9. Wherever Christ is, he goes with his Spirit to teach us to apply what Christ has done for us, and to fit us to be like him. Therefore, let those that live in any sins against conscience, think it a diabolical illusion to think God and Christ is merciful. Aye, but where is the work of the Spirit? All the hope thou hast is only that thou art not in hell as yet, [only] for the time to come; but for the present I dare not say thou hast anything to do with Christ, when there is nothing of the Spirit in thee. The Spirit of Christ conforms the spouse to be like the husband, and the members to be like the head. Therefore, beg of Christ that he would anoint himself king in our hearts, and prophet and priest in our hearts, to do that that he did, to know his will as a prophet, to rule in us as a king, and to stir up prayers in us as a priest, to do in some proportion that that he does, though it be in never so little a measure, for we receive it in measure, but Christ beyond measure. We must labour for so much as may manifest to us the truth of our estate in Christ, that we are not dead but living branches. But how or by what means does Christ give his Spirit to us? This Spirit that is so necessary for us, it is given by the ministry of the gospel, which is the ministry of the Spirit. 'Received ye the Holy Ghost by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith preached?' Gal. 3:2. When the love of God in Christ, and the benefits by Christ, are laid open in the preaching of the gospel to us, God gives his holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ. Now God in Christ would save us by a triumphant and abundant love and mercy, and the Spirit of God never goes but where there is a magnifying of the love and mercy of God in Christ; therefore the ministry of the gospel, which only discovers the amity and love of God to mankind, being now reconciled in Christ, it is accompanied with the Spirit, to assure us of our part and portion in those benefits, for the Spirit is the fruit of God's love as well as Christ. Christ is the first gift, and the Spirit is the second, therefore that part of the word that reveals God's exceeding love to mankind, leaving angels when they were fallen, in their cursed estate, and yet giving his Son to become man, and 'a curse for us:' the revealing of this love and mercy of God, and of his Son Christ to us, is joined with the Spirit. For by the Spirit we see our cursed estate without the love and mercy of God in Christ, and likewise we are convinced of the love of God in Christ, and thereupon we love God in return, and trust to his mercy, and out of love to him perform all cheerful obedience. Whatsoever we do else, if it be not stirred by the Spirit, apprehending the love of God in Christ, it is but morality. A man shall never go to heaven except by such a disposition and frame and temper of soul as is wrought by the Holy Ghost, persuading the soul first of the love and favour of God in Christ. What are all our performances if they be not out of love to God? And how shall we love God except we be persuaded that he loves us first? Therefore the gospel breeds love in us to God, and has the Spirit together with it, working a blessed frame of sanctification, whereby we are disposed to every good duty. Therefore if we would have the Spirit of God, let us attend upon the sweet promises of salvation, upon the doctrine of Christ; for together with the knowledge of these things, the Holy Ghost slides and insinuates and infuses himself into our souls. Therefore the ministers of the gospel should be much in laying open the riches of God in Christ. In unfolding Christ, all other things will follow, as St Paul in Titus 2:11,12) 'The grace of God has shined, has appeared gloriously, teaching us to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live holily and soberly in this present world.' Where the grace and love of God is persuaded and shed into the soul, all will follow. What is the reason that former times were called dark times (and so they were), the times of popery a dark age? Christ was veiled, the gospel was veiled, there was no preaching of salvation by Christ alone, people were sent to stocks and stones, and to saints, and instead of the word, they were sent to legends and such things. Christ was obscured, thereupon they were dark ages. Those ages wherein the Spirit of God is most, is where Christ is most preached, and people are best always where there is most Spirit; and they are most joyful and comfortable and holy, where Christ is truly laid open to the hearts of people. The preaching of mere morality, if men be not careful to open Christ, to know how salvation is wrought by Christ, and how all good comes by Christ, it will never make a man perfectly good and fit him for heaven. It may make a man reform many abuses, like a philosopher, which has its reward and respect amongst men, but nothing to give comfort at the hour of death and the day of judgment. Only that whereby the Spirit is conveyed, is the knowledge and preaching of Christ in his state and offices. And he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles.—After Christ was fully prepared, as he was prepared with the Spirit of God, and with a commission from heaven, from Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, having this high commission, and gifts for it by the Spirit, he falls upon his office presently. We are never fit for anything till we have the Spirit, and when we have the Spirit it is active and vigorous and working. 'He shall shew judgment to the Gentiles.' He shall not strive nor cry, neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets.—These words set down the mild and sweet and amiable manner of Christ's carriage upon earth. Here, in his first coming to work the great work of our redemption, he did not carry the matter in an outward glorious manner, in pomp; but he would have his miracles concealed ofttimes and himself hidden. His Godhead was hid under the veil of his manhood. He could not have wrought our salvation otherwise. If the devil and the world had known Christ to be as he was, they would never have made those attempts against him. Therefore, considering he had such a dispensation to work our salvation as a king, priest, and prophet, he would not cry and contend and strive, he would not come with any great noise. Now, here is an opposition to the giving of the law, and likewise to the coming and carriage of civil princes. You know when the law was given all the mount was on fire, and the earth thereabout quaked and trembled, and the people fled. They could not endure to hear the voice of God speaking in the mount; there was such a terrible smoke and fire, they were all afraid. Thus came Moses. Now, did Christ come as Moses? Was the gospel delivered by Christ as the law was, in terrors and fears? Oh, no. Christ came not in such a terrible manner, in thunder and lightning; but the gospel, it came sweetly. A dove, a mild creature, lit upon the head of Christ when he was baptized, to show his mild manner of carriage; and he came with blessing in his mouth in his first sermon of all: Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are they that mourn, blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness,' Matt. 5:8,4,6. The law came with curses: 'Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the law to do them ' Gal. 3:10. Christ came in another manner; the gospel was delivered in a mild, sweet manner. Christ, as an ambassador, came sweetly to entreat and beseech. There is a crying, indeed, but it is a crying out of love and entreaty, not a shouting in a terrible manner as was at the giving of the law, no, nor as at the coming of other civil princes into a city, with shouting and noise of trumpets, with pomp, and state, and great attendants. Christ came not into the world to execute his kingdom and office in such pomp and noise as it is said of Agrippa, Acts 25:23, 'He came with great pomp.' So worldly princes carry things thus, and it is needful in some sort. People must have shows and pomp; the outward man must have outward things to astonish it withal. It is a policy in state so to do. But Christ came in another manner. He came not to make men quake and tremble that came to speak and deal with him. He came not with clamour and fierceness; for who would have come to Christ then? But he came in a mild, and sweet, and amiable manner. We see a little before the text (ver. 16), upon occasion of the inference of these words, he commands and charges them that they should not reveal him and make him known. When he had done a good work he would not have it known. Now, there are three things especially insinuated in this description, He shall not strive nor cry, neither shall any man hear his voice in the street.' That Christ should not be outwardly glorious to publish his own excellency, nor contentious; he should not cry nor quarrel, nor he should not be clamorous, if he had any wrong, to be all on fire presently, but he should be as a meek lamb, he should make no noise, he should not come in vainglory or clamour, &c. But here we must know that Christ was a wise discerner of the fitness of times; for sometimes he would have things published, sometimes he would not; sometimes he would be known, sometimes he would not. Christ, in his second coming, shall come all in majesty and glory with his angels, and all the earth shall appear before him; but now his wisdom told him, now he came to save the world as a prophet, priest, and king, to work man's salvation, that he must hide and conceal himself; and so he ordered all his courses by discretion. Every sacrifice must be salted with salt, everything should be seasoned with the salt of discretion. This is the steward of all our actions, to know what is fit. Christ knew it was fittest to conceal himself now at this time. Now, by Christ's example we should learn this, not to be vainglorious, not to make a great noise. You have some, if they do anything that is good, presently all the world must know it. This was not Christ's disposition. It is a disposition that is hardly wrought out of man's heart without an exceeding great measure of the Spirit of God; for we see good men have been given this way. David would number the people, that it might be known what a great monarch he was, what a great number of people he had, 2 Sam. 24. He was a good man, yet vainglorious. He smarted for it. So good Hezekiah. Ambassadors were sent to him from the king of Babylon, and that they should know that Hezekiah was no beggarly prince, out must come the vessels of the temple and all his treasures, to show what a rich king the king of Judah was, 2 Kings 20:13, et seq. His vainglory cost him all his riches, as the prophet told him. So the disciples. Before they received a great measure of the Spirit, how vainglorious were they! They contended for the higher place; therefore they advise Christ to go up to Jerusalem, that he might be known. As Jehu said to Jonadab, 'Come up and see my zeal for the Lord of hosts,' 2 Kings 10:16, he accounts it nothing unless it be seen. So flesh and blood. If there be anything done that is good, all the world must know it presently. Christ charged them that no noise should be made, but that they should conceal him. What should we learn hence? To be of Christ's disposition, that is, to have no more care of the knowledge of things than the light of the things themselves will discover, to do works of light, and if the things themselves will break forth to men's eyes and they must see our light shine, then let them, and imitate our good works; but for us to blazon them abroad ourselves, it is not the spirit of Christ. Let us labour to have humility of spirit, that that may grow up with us in all our performances, that all things that we speak and do may savour of a spirit of humility, that we may seek the glory of God in all things more than our own. And let us commit the fame and credit of what we are or do to God. He will take care of that. Let us take care to be and to do as we should, and then for noise and report, let it be good or ill as God will send it. We know ofttimes it falls out that that which is precious in man's eye is abominable in God's. If we seek to be in the mouths of men, to dwell in the talk and speech of men, God will abhor us, and at the hour of death it will not comfort us what men speak or know of us, but sound comfort must be from our own conscience and the judgment of God. Therefore, let us labour to be good in secret. Christians should be as minerals, rich in the depth of the earth. That which is least seen is his riches. We should have our treasure deep. For the disclosure of it we should be ready when we are called to it, and for all other accidental things, let them fall out as God in his wisdom sees good. So let us look through good report and bad report to heaven; let us do the duties that are pleasing to God and our own conscience, and God will be careful enough to get us applause. Was it not sufficient for Abel, that though there was no great notice taken what faith he had, and how good a man he was, yet that God knew it and revealed it? God sees our sincerity and the truth of our hearts, and the graces of our inward man, he sees all these, and he values us by these, as he did Abel. As for outward things there may be a great deal of deceit in them, and the more a man grows in grace, the less he cares for them. As much reputation as is fit for a man will follow him in being and doing what he should. God will look to that. Therefore we should not set up sails to our own meditations, that unless we be carried with the wind of applause, to be becalmed and not go a whit forward; but we should be carried with the Spirit of God and with a holy desire to serve God, and our brethren, and to do all the good we can, and never care for the speeches of the world, as St Paul says of himself: 'I care not what ye judge of me, I care not what the world judgeth, I care not for man's judgment,' I Cor. 4:3. This is man's day. We should, from the example of Christ, labour to subdue this infirmity which we are sick of naturally. Christ concealed himself till he saw a fitter time. We shall have glory enough, and be known enough to devils, to angels, and men ere long. Therefore, as Christ lived a hidden life, that is, he was not known what he was, that so he might work our salvation, so let us be content to be hidden men. A true Christian is hidden to the world till the time of manifestation comes. When the time came, Christ then gloriously revealed what he was; so it shall be revealed what we are. In the mean time, let us be careful to do our duty that may please the Spirit of God, and satisfy our own conscience, and leave all the rest to God. Let us meditate, in the fear of God, upon these directions for the guidance of our lives in this particular. For more on this subject follow the links below:	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25383000
5 tips to introduce children to classical music Explore This Story Concert pianist Jason Cutmore and narrator Rick Phillips perform two concerts for children and their families July 22 and 29 at Music Niagara, Niagara-on-the-Lake. Prokofiev’s musical tale, “Peter and the Wolf” is featured in the first concert at noon in the Pumphouse which has an animal theme and includes Aaron Copland’s “The Cat and Mouse.” The July 29 lunchtime concert features toys and dolls including music of Claude Debussy, “The Golliwog’s Cakewalk” and “Toy Box.” Cutmore and Phillips share these five tips on introducing children to classical music: 1) Be sincere. Show them that you love this music and are committed to it and love performing or listening to it, says Phillips. And, adds Cutmore, Enthusiasm is infectious. Conveying your love of classical music to kids is more important than conveying information about it. 2) Don’t talk down to them. Give them the straight facts in clear, concise language and style, says Phillips, adding parents should be open and answer any and all questions, regardless of how silly or mundane they may seem.” 3) When introducing a piece of classical music to kids, relate it to something else (musical or extramusical) in an imaginative, fun way, says Cutmore. Parents should be imaginative and encourage kids to be imaginative, to be creative with how and where the music takes them to create their own film from the “soundtrack.” 4) Make kids’ exposure to music hands-on through school music classes, choir and instrument lessons. And give children the (very true) impression that these educational endeavours are important — just as much as is math class, says Cutmore. 5) Recordings are an easy and natural way to start, but also include the live concert experience, says Phillips, adding there are many child-friendly concerts now offered by the Canadian Opera Company, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, National Ballet and more he adds. There is an “event” quality to a live concert that children realize and appreciate. It also allows parents, to experience with their child, says Phillips. Cutmore agrees. He advises parents to take kids to all kinds of live music concerts — classical, jazz, world — and to not be afraid to challenge them a little. Teach kids concert etiquette so that it becomes natural and comfortable to them. He adds parents should take kids to see ballets and other dance performances, and older kids to operas because the visual element stimulates the imaginative faculties and helps kids enjoy the classical music. He says it also gives kids an appreciation of the arts generally. - Markham to Mogadishu: Why westerners are joining the jihad - Updated Blue Jays fall flat against Yankees in New York - DiManno: The mayor should speak up - NEW Elijah Harper’s body to lie in state at Manitoba legislature - Doug Ford tells radio show he’s never seen Rob Ford involved with coke - Tim Bosma: The painful search for a missing man - What’s open and closed on Victoria Day - Missing woman's last call was to Dellen Millard, says ex-boyfriend	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25399000
These are my skewness notes for S1 which explain the coefficient of skewness at the bottom. In a symmetrical distribution mean = median = mode and Q2 – Q1 = Q3 – Q2. A positive skew distribution has a tail to the positive side, mean > median > mode and Q2 – Q1 < Q3 – Q2. A negative skew distribution has a tail to the negative side, mean < median < mode and Q2 – Q1 > Q3 – Q2. Skewness can be given quantity as well as direction by using (3 (mean-median))/(standard deviation) . To compare the relative dispersion between data sets the coefficient of variation is used, it is given by V= 100σ/μ= 100s/x ̅ and as a percentage. When data is skewed the median and the interquartile range are used as measures of location and dispersion as they are not affected by extreme values. The dispersion of a set of data is therefore measured by the quartile coefficient of variation which is given by QV= (50 (Q_3- Q_1))/Q_2 . x ̅ is mean of x and Q_3 is the upper quartile mark, if the notation wasnt that clear Last edited by abbii; 18-04-2010 at 21:29. Last edited by .ACS.; 18-04-2010 at 21:35. Reason: Decided to add Latex	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25403000
Over 8,000 websites created by students around the world who have participated in a ThinkQuest Competition. Compete \| FAQ \| Contact Us Troy: Myth and Reality The entry on Troy describes one of the most fascinating episodes in the unclearly defined border line between legend and reality. For many years Homer’s Iliad was seen as a nice story of Greek gods and heros, but nothing that bore any resemblance with reality. In the 19th century achaeologists started trying to find out if there was really any discernible background to the legend. Especially Heinrich Schliemann was one of the best known characters to work on this topic, although Frank Calvert was the first one to research the legend’s location and excavated small parts of level VI of ancient Troy, thus starting to prove that there was a real background. The photos show a lot of information that the researchers saw on their way in proving the real existence of Troy. The user gets information on the legend and the archaeology of Troy, a virtual walk into Troy, a Teacher’s section with a lot of links and activies, an interactive Quiz and information about the team. The entry can be used in English as well as in German. 2001 Achievement Award JulieGALESBURG HIGH SCHOOL, Galesburg, IL, United States TorstenMariengymnasium Jever, Friedeburg, Germany DanielMariengymnasium Jever, Jever, Germany 19 & under Martin MaeckenMariengymnasium, Jever, Germany History & Government > Ancient Civilizations & Archaeology > Ancient Greece Books & Literature	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25409000
Over 8,000 websites created by students around the world who have participated in a ThinkQuest Competition. Compete \| FAQ \| Contact Us Virtual doctors and virtual scalpels have begun to save people's lives. New technology has arrived and it is VIRTUAL SURGERY. Many college universities have begun to allow their students to practice surgery through virtual technology. If you have played any of the flight simulator computer games then you probably know a little bit about virtual simulation games. Just like the flight simulator games teach people like you and I what it is like to fly a plane the virtual surgery simulators teach people what it is like to perform surgery. Of course it is not exactly what it would be in a hospital. The virtual surgery simulator is a good training tool for universities to use for their students. 2007 Best Site from a New Program 19 & under Science & Technology > Technology	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25413000
Twenty-five days. That's how long it took Dr. Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University to undo more than 30 years of exquisitely programmed biology packed into a woman's cheek cell and just maybe change the world. In a procedure that some scientists thought could take decades to discover, Yamanaka tricked the cheek cell into acting like an embryonic stem cell capable of dividing, developing and maturing into any of the body's more than 200 different cell types. And he wasn't alone: on the same day that he published his milestone in the journal Cell, James Thomson, a pioneering University of Wisconsin molecular biologist, reported similar success in Science. Their papers cap a year of remarkable research, in which scientists have surged ahead of ethicists and politicians in finding ever more clever ways to generate stem cells. But where other breakthroughs relied on using cells from living embryos tiny bits of inchoate life, fraught with ethical issues the work by Yamanaka and Thomson sidesteps that abyss by nursing adult cells into a state in which their cellular destiny is yet to be fulfilled. No embryos, no eggs, no hand-wringing over where the cells come from and whether it is ethical to make them in the first place. Stem cells generated by this method are ideal not just because they are free of political and moral baggage. They can also be coaxed into becoming any type of tissue, and then be transplanted back into the donor with little risk of rejection. Still, these cells are far from ready for medical use. The viruses used to ferry the genes that manipulate the cells can introduce genetic mutations and cancer. And with myriad ways to reprogram a cell, sorting out the best ones will take time meaning that stem cells from embryos will remain useful (and controversial) for a while. Both Yamanaka and Thomson admit that we still know too little about how the process works to exploit the method's full potential. Nevertheless, their discovery has moved stem-cell research back to an embryonic state of its own in which anything, it seems, is possible.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25416000
The disease, called peste de petit ruminants, or PPR, is highly lethal, with an 86 percent mortality rate among goats. It is caused by a virus that is similar to measles in humans. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said 1 million goats and 600,000 sheep are at risk of contracting the disease. To protect them, farmers have been moving their herds away from infected villages, but that has only spread the epidemic to healthy flocks of animals. FAO said it plans to vaccinate at least 500,000 animals and will try to limit the animals' movements.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25417000
The drought in Texas, during March, was the worst since 1895. That is about the time my parents were born 120 years ago. I never thought it could be worse than the drought of the 1950s, but it is. Drive out into grazing country where mesquite aren't too thick and all you can see is dry, cracked soil with an occasional fire ant or a gopher mound in the sandier soil. Comparing the current drought with the seven-year drought in the 1950s, old-timers say the current drought sapped the soil of moisture faster than it did in the 1950s. It just stopped raining last July, and pasture after pasture was hit by wildfires. Right now, there is no potential to produce hay, harvest wheat or plant cotton or grain sorghum this May. Unless there is a week of rain fairly soon there is no hope for agriculture this year. The Texas Ag Extension Service says that, despite a few recent showers in some areas, the cotton growing in Texas and Oklahoma is still in a drought. Any crop planted in southern Texas earlier in the year that got up out of the ground is now being sand blasted by hot, dry winds. Wildfires have burned at least 1.5 million acres in the state since Jan. 1. In addition to grazing losses, ranchers are facing rangeland stock water tanks that are dry or nearly dry. Streams are not flowing and lakes and big tanks are turning to deep mud.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25419000
A mighty wall surrounds the medina, the old part of the Tunisian city of Sousse, whose fortifications date back to the 9th century. They were built by the Aghlabid Dynasty, who were strongly influenced by Islam. There is a remarkable gate at the northern edge of the medina. It is the entrance to the ribat, an impressive fortress that was built by the Aghlabids in the 10th century. This military building was very similar to a monastery in which Islamic interests dominated the actions of the Rabat's 'Warrior Monks'. The history of Sousse has been influenced by many different countries and cultures. Carthagian, Roman and even Byzantine influences can be found in the city. Its convenient location, coastline and fertile countryside created a prosperous trading and commercial centre, making Sousse the main metropolis of the Sahel. Stretching out onto the highest point of the medina is the impressive fortress, the kasbah, that was built on the foundations of a Byzantine castle and today, contains an important museum. Thanks to its special location, Sousse has always fascinated visitors with its rich variety of atmospheric, historical impressions. Thankfully, and despite its warlike past, the medina of Sousse has been able to preserve most of its original character. Global Treasures - History's Most Protected Monuments - Heritage is our legacy from the past, what we live today, and what we pass on to future generations. Our cultural and natural heritage are both irreplaceable sources of life and inspiration. Places as unique and diverse as the wilds of East Africa's Serengeti, the Pyramids of Egypt, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and the Baroque cathedrals of Latin America make up our world's heritage. Join us as we explore one of these protected monuments.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25433000
September 18, 2007 > History Pioneer School People The original Act to create the County of Alameda called for an election of officers that did not mention a County Superintendent of Schools, but at the first election held in May 1853, Rev. William W. Brier was elected to that office. County officials divided the county into six townships that included Washington and made each township a school district. Rev. Brier visited communities throughout the county helping residents start schools, acquire buildings and promote the cause of a regular school attendance. He worked with county officials to secure money for school buildings and teachers' salaries. Historian William Halley reported in 1856, when the county was three years old, that "Education was making headway under the efficient management of Mr. Brier." A board of trustees was required to operate each district in spite of obstacles that included unstable finances, teacher shortages, widespread ignorance and parental complaints. They were empowered to maintain a classroom, hire a teacher, purchase supplies, keep records of meetings and file reports with the county. Trustees sometimes ran unopposed for reelection and voter turnout depended on how pleased the parents were with the teachers' perceived performance. Information about these pioneer school trustees is sketchy. The first trustees at Irvington were William Y. Horner, George M. Walters and William Hopkins. All were nearby prominent landowners. Our most complete early day records appear to be those for Lincoln School District because trustee records have been preserved. The first trustees were Emory Munyan, Abijah Baker, and George W. Tait. Munyan served as clerk of the board and recorded the minutes by hand. He was a faithful trustee until his death in 1899 for a total of 29 years. Munyan treated the students and teachers as family, even delivering fruit in season from his nearby orchard to the students. Abijah Baker owned a large farm near the school and "gave generously to good causes." George W. Tait, who had been Superintendent of Schools in San Francisco, came to Washington Township for his health and was credited with naming Lincoln School. The most important person in any school was (and still is) the teacher. At first there were no special credentials for teachers. Erastus Johnson reported that he came to Centerville to visit and ended up opening a school there in 1853. Other pioneer teachers at Centerville included Mrs. Jonathan Mayhew, Judge Stephen Nye, Julia Rappleye and W. H. Yates. The first public school teacher at Alvarado was Mrs. Warren. As in many pioneer communities, she "boarded around" among the families. Rev. W. W. Brier taught here and later served as a trustee. Several teachers at Lincoln School including Mollie Reeder, Emma Reeder, Louise Cearley, Flora Brown, Cora Simpson and Addie Ross grew up in Washington Township. Irvington teachers included many local residents and J. C. Gilson and W.F.B. Lynch who later became Alameda County Superintendent of Schools. The average monthly salary for pioneer teachers in Alameda County was about $75 per month, but sometimes, as at Lincoln School, it was $50 plus board. By 1904 the average for men was about $99 and $72 for women. The Alviso principal was paid $110 per month and the other teachers $90 in 1919. A Niles teacher was paid $115 in 1929 with $5 raises until the depression forced the monthly total back to $115. Many pioneer teachers were men who went on to other occupations. The county had 13 male and 14 female teachers in 1859, but by 1878 there were three times as many women as men. Teachers were challenged to provide lessons for pupils with varying age and achievement levels. A primary teacher at Centerville summarized the problem when she wrote, "I cannot give to the separate classes as much time as I would like." Teachers in pioneer schools had no time to themselves as they had to supervise students during lunch and recess breaks. They ate with the children and often played with them at recess. There were times when text books and materials were not available, and teachers were forced to improvise and make do with what they had. Local history books don't give much information about janitors, but all schools became dirty and needed attention. At first the teachers were the janitors, with occasional assistance from students. Alviso trustees allocated $1 for washing windows in 1890 but later paid $20 per month for a janitor. Sometimes custodians were also the gardeners. Guido Laneri was a favorite gardener at Niles School. Teachers and parents sometimes provided warm meals for students. Centerville School began limited cafeteria service in 1925 and cafeteria workers became a regular part of the staff. Alviso School started cafeteria service in 1947 and also began bussing students to school. Bus drivers were often custodians or teachers who did double duty.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25437000
Answer: Even better! A lot of ag research stations have investigated the application of chemicals through irrigation systems. Typically they find that fertigation provides the following advantages compared to ground application: Question: What about chemicals other than fertilizers? Answer: Most of the above advantages extend to pesticide injection. In addition, researchers report: Question: How does all this fit together with some of the newer irrigation technologies? Answer: Two technological advances offer us examples of the perfect fit between injectors and irrigation systems: Low Energy Precision Application (LEPA) heads make pivots even more effective as application devices. LEPA heads are usually arranged to deliver water beneath the crop foliage canopy. Several LEPA head designs have multiple operating modes including the capability to convert between down-spray and up-spray. This feature further improves the flexibility of chemical application by center pivots. Sub-surface drip irrigation is a technology that couldn't exist without injectors. All crop nutrients are delivered directly to the plant roots through the irrigation lines while the search continues for new systemic pesticides that are well-suited for root uptake. Chemicals must also be injected to keep irrigation lines free of slime that would plug the drip emitters. This article is reprinted from ChemIndustrial Systems, Inc.; CSI INFO/UPDATE #8 Oct 21, 1994	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25438000
“Redefining a word isn't always the same as giving it a new meaning. Sometimes you're just trying to pare it down to the core concept that people missed the first time around. Dictionary definitions of "camera" used to mention film and plates; now they just refer to a photosensitive surface. But the meaning of "camera" isn't different; it's just that now technology lets us see what its essence has been all along.”—Geoff Nunberg on how dictionaries are even grappling with getting ‘marriage’ right “Equality,” “prejudice,” “race” itself — how can you have mid-nineteenth-century characters use words like those without anachronistically evoking the connotations they have for us? To many of Lincoln’s contemporaries and even his allies, “equality”still evoked alarming echoes of the French Revolution. To speak of “race equality” implied not just that people should all be treated alike, but that the races really were morally and intellectually equivalent. That was an extreme and dubious proposition to all but a few radical Republicans, like Thaddeus Stevens. ”—Geoff Nunberg on how connotations have changed since the 19th century and how those connotations are alluded to in Tony Kushner’s screen adaptation of Lincoln. 'Occupy': Geoff Nunberg's 2011 Word Of The YearGeoff Nunberg ‘Occupy’: Geoff Nunberg’s 2011 Word Of The Year (via NPR)	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25449000
We created this website to teach participant programmers, even those with a poor base, how to use HTML but not only. We invite you to start the programming course right away. But first, "the menu"... Beginner`s guide - For those of you who are beginners in the way of creating a web page HTML Tutorials - For those of you who start the creation of web pages with some HTML base Start with the beginning >>> This series of tutorials is made to give you some experience, so that you can be capable to read and write in HTML, to be able to save documents and after that to see your work in a web browser. Unfortunately this page does not have a rubric for teaching you how to use all base functions of an computer, so in this point of view you can ask for help to a friend of yours so that you will be helped in : - Knowing what is an notepad and how to use it - Knowing how to open a file using internet Explorer(or any other browser, you can choose it ) - Knowing how yo make and what represents a copy/paste First web page For the beginning copy next HTML cod in notepad. Assure that the operation is right executed or the page will not function. <body> <h2>My first web page !</h2> Thee upper code, is all you need to create a simple web page. Now you can save the document in notepad selecting from File menu the Save As option. In the new opened window, select All Files. We will give a name to the file, for example "index.html", without using the quotation marks. Check twice before you push the Save button. I will ask you to try to remember where you have saved the file because we will work with this file a bit later. How to see your first web pages - Browsers So that you can see your web page, you should use a browser. Browsers are those internet programs who interpret HTML cods, similar with those you have copied and saved in notepad. These transforms the HTML cod in a web page that can be read by any internet user. The most used browsers are: How to see your first web page If you want to see your web page, you have to open "index.html" file in a browser.In this way, open a new Internet Explorer window and follow my instructions: - From File select Open - Click on Browse so that you open Windows Explorer - Do you remember where you have saved the file? Very well, there you must go. - When you found it do a double-click to open it Congratulation ! YOu have just opened your first web page. << Back \| Next >> Codes Generators 2 Last Generators added on ScriptGenerator.net Tutorial html, html beginers, webhosting guide, domain name, table, html color codes, html tutorial, html tags, html	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25450000
Home > Marketing & Communication > News says imagination is child’s play Parents who invest a lot of time and thought into choosing Christmas gifts for their child may find themselves frustrated when the child plays with the box the present came in rather than the gift itself. Dr. Ron Fannin, associate professor of family science and coordinator of the child development program at Texas Woman University, advises parents to relax — it’s all part of growing up. are doing these things, such as pretending a box is a rocket ship or a car, they’re projecting what they want to have going on in their lives,” he said. Many of today’s toys don’t require much of the children playing with them, Dr. Fannin said. we’re caught by our own technology. The toys do everything — we just watch,” he said. “As adults, we buy toys all the time. Ours are just more expensive and less involved. If a child has a toy, he wants to use it.” enjoy both physical and imaginary involvement with their toys. Dr. Fannin said a better question for parents considering gifts is what will hold the child’s interest. be chosen with an eye toward stimulating the child’s imagination,” he said. “Because of this, sometimes the toy with the fewer bells and whistles is more engaging. The simple toy requires the child to involve himself or herself more fully into the play experience. This is a very good thing.” Tel: (940) 898-3456	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25452000
1785 - 10th May 1863 The son of a Greenock merchant, the tall and "somewhat ungainly" Anderson traded as a manufacturer before managing the Glasgow Union Banking Company. His main achievement was the absorption of private banks into the Union Bank of Scotland, starting with the Thistle Bank of Glasgow in 1836 and including the Paisley Union Bank (1838) and the Aberdeen Bank (1849). These mergers required delicate negotiations, for which Anderson, with his reputation for integrity and honour, was well suited. He was often consulted on monetary matters by Sir Robert Peel, and in 1841 gave evidence to a Commons Select Committee. He was chairman of the Unchartered Banks of Scotland, 1844-45, and a member of Glasgow Town Council. He also served as a magistrate, as president of Anderson's University (founded by his uncle, Professor John Anderson), and as secretary to the Chamber of Commerce. He died at Carlung, Ayrshire, on 10 May 1863. "MUCH has been said and written about the Scottish Banks and their peculiar system, and inquiries have come from all parts of the world as to wherein lay the origin and secret of their strength. The answer to such inquiries is in the simple fact that, unlike their neighbours in England and elsewhere, the people of Scotland were left free by the Legislature to create a system of banking suitable to their wants. Before the days of railways and steamboats each district, by a process of "natural selection," had its banker. He was the trusted custodian of the savings of the thrifty. He was the discreet and sagacious supporter of the enterprising trader and adventurous man of commerce. His promises to pay gold on demand were freely accepted within the circuit of his district as a convenient and necessary medium of exchange. In this way there grew up throughout the country substantial private copartneries conducting the business of banking and serving the important purpose of promoting industry and thrift. The currency doctor had not yet been born, and the subtle suggestion had not yet been made that a one-pound note, convertible into gold on demand, might, unknown to its possessor, be of less value than the coin it represented. "But the range of banking credit of these substantial copartneries was naturally limited to the districts where they respectively were known, and with increased facilities of communication and transit, and the rapid development of commercial enterprise, it by-and-by became evident that banking institutions of more commanding importance and more widely-recognized stability were required to take the place of the old local private banks. The three "old banks," with their headquarters in Edinburgh, had not yet seriously set themselves to serve the country districts, and the two new joint-stock banks which had been started there were comparatively in their infancy, when, in 1830, an energetic movement was begun in Glasgow to institute a joint-stock bank. It is not "sixty years since," and yet this apparently laudable proceeding provoked at that time the enmity and opposition of the "old banks" and private bankers to an extent which is now almost incredible. With great difficulty a law-agent was found sufficiently audacious to draw the bank's contract of copartnery, and when this had been accomplished and the bank had surmounted the dangers incidental to its birth, the directors were most fortunate in placing the young institution under the guidance of a gentleman of exceptional sagacity and experience, Mr. James Andrew Anderson. "Mr. Anderson was then forty-five years of age. He was the son of Mr. Andrew Anderson, of Greenock, a much-respected merchant there, and was nephew of the celebrated Professor John Anderson, founder of Anderson's University, so he came of an excellent west country stock. Mr. Anderson had been bred to business in the counting-house of Mr. Dugald Bannatyne, and for fifteen years had traded successfully as a manufacturer. At the time he was selected for the important office of manager of the Glasgow Union Banking Company, as the bank at first was called, he had already acquired a high reputation for intelligence and integrity, and his subsequent career fully justified the expectations which were then formed. In those days the trade of Scotland was small compared with what it is now, but the fluctuations in prices, notably in grain, were more violent, and extended over wider limits than is often experienced now, and the banker's duties were correspondingly difficult. Through these troublous times the bank was safely guide steadily improving its position in the public estimation. "That Mr. Anderson fully grasped the capabilities of his office was well shown by the manner in which he, more than any of his brethren, discerned the change of the times as affecting the private banks, and set about absorbing these old aristocratic institutions into the broader and more expansive organization of the Union Bank of Scotland. Beginning in 1836 with the Thistle Bank of Glasgow, which dated from 1761, there followed in due succession - In 1838, Sir William Forbes, J. Hunter & Co., of Edinburgh, dating back to 1694, In 1838, the Paisley Union Bank of 1788, In 1843, the Glasgow and Ship Bank, dating, as regards the Ship Bank, from 1750, In 1843, Hunters & Co., of Ayr, of 1771, In 1849, the Aberdeen Bank of 1767, and in 1857, subsequent to Mr. Anderson's retirement, there was added to the foregoing list the Perth Bank, dating from 1766. Transactions such as these must have been preceded by negotiations of the most delicate and confidential character, and that they were conducted with success is evidence beyond question of the high reputation for integrity and honour enjoyed by Mr. Anderson. "Mr. Anderson's knowledge and capacity as a banker were recognized not only by the adherents of the Union Bank, but by the other managers of banks throughout Scotland. In 1841 he was examined before a Select Committee of the House of Commons, and was complimented on the clear and intelligent evidence he gave on the difficult questions relating to capital, currency, and credit. In 1844 and 1845 he was chairman of the Unchartered Banks of Scotland when the Bank Acts of these years were passing through Parliament. He was frequently sent for by Sir Robert Peel, when he fought what proved to be a losing battle for freedom of note issues as against the centralizing views of the Prime Minister. Nor was his energy satisfied with his own proper occupations. He was at one time a member of the Town Council and a magistrate of Glasgow. He was several years president of Anderson's University, and for eight years he acted as secretary to the Chamber of Commerce in succession to his friend, Mr. Dugald Bannatyne. "Enough has now been said to show that an important place must be assigned, among the men who have made Glasgow what it now is, to the name of James Andrew Anderson. His official duties were of a high and responsible order, and were performed in a manner which secured him the entire confidence of his fellow-citizens. This rested wholly on his capacity for good work, combined with unbending integrity, for Mr. Anderson had none of the airs and graces which sometimes appear to do service for solid attainments. In figure he was tall, angular, and somewhat ungainly, with a rugged, serious countenance. He was a typical Scot, always earnest and grave, and yet a vein of kindliness and humour would often force itself through the somewhat hard exterior of his manner. Mr. Anderson retired from the management of the Union Bank of Scotland in May, 1852, and died at his residence of Carlung, in Ayrshire, on the 10th May, 1863." From: James MacLehose, Memoirs and portraits of one hundred Glasgow men who have died during the last thirty years and in their lives did much to make the city what it now is (Glasgow, James MacLehose & Sons, 1886), 3. James Andrew Anderson, available at http://gdl.cdlr.strath.ac.uk/mlemen/mlemen003.htm [accessed 14/08/2012]. £1,889 15S 5D Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Central Scotland, Scotland Carlung, Ayrshire, Southern Scotland, Scotland	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25460000
This is Science Today. A new study has found ergonomically correct tools - such as computer keyboards - benefit workers a little later than previously thought. David Rempel, the director of the University of California's Ergonomics Program, says this study, which was done in connection with researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, concluded that people using such tools shouldn't decide whether they work based on Rempel: The value of a study like this is, for the first time it looks like a relatively simple intervention - making a small change in the keyboard which doesn't significantly impact the cost of the keyboard - might have some health value. Narrator: While their work did find ergonomically correct keyboards very beneficial, Rempel recommends other activities as well. Rempel: Limit the number of hours on the computer, make sure they're adequate work breaks and make sure that the whole workstation is set up properly for the person's body size. Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25462000
Hb electrophoresis; Hgb electrophoresis; Electrophoresis - hemoglobin Hemoglobin electrophoresis is a test that measures the different types of the oxygen-carrying protein (hemoglobin) in the blood. Blood is typically drawn from a vein, usually from the inside of the elbow or the back of the hand. The site is cleaned with germ-killing medicine (antiseptic). The health care provider wraps an elastic band around the upper arm to apply pressure to the area and make the vein swell with blood. Next, the health care provider gently inserts a needle into the vein. The blood collects into an airtight vial or tube attached to the needle. The elastic band is removed from your arm. Once the blood has been collected, the needle is removed, and the puncture site is covered to stop any bleeding. In infants or young children, a sharp tool called a lancet may be used to puncture the skin and make it bleed. The blood collects into a small glass tube called a pipette, or onto a slide or test strip. A bandage may be placed over the area if there is any bleeding. No special preparation is necessary for this test. When the needle is inserted to draw blood, some people feel moderate pain, while others feel only a prick or stinging sensation. Afterward, there may be some throbbing. You may have this test if your health care provider suspects that you have a disorder caused by abnormal forms of hemoglobin (hemoglobinopathy). Many different types of hemoglobin (Hb) exist. The most common ones are HbA, HbA2, HbF, HbS, HbC, Hb H, and Hb M. Healthy adults only have significant levels of HbA and HbA2. Some people may also have small amounts of HbF (which is the main type of hemoglobin in an unborn baby's body). Certain diseases are associated with high HbF levels (when HbF is more than 2% of the total hemoglobin). HbS is an abnormal form of hemoglobin associated with sickle cell anemia. In people with this condition, the red blood cells sometimes have a crescent or sickle shape. The cells easily break down, or can block small blood vessels. HbC is an abnormal form of hemoglobin associated with hemolytic anemia. The symptoms are much milder than they are in sickle cell anemia. Other, less common, abnormal Hb molecules cause anemias. In adults, these hemoglobin molecules make up the following percentages of total hemoglobin: In infants and children, these hemoglobin molecules make up the following percentages of total hemoglobin: Note: Normal value ranges may vary slightly among different laboratories. Talk to your doctor about the meaning of your specific test results. The examples above show the common measurements for results for these tests. Some laboratories use different measurements or may test different specimens. The presence of significant levels of abnormal hemoglobins may indicate: There is very little risk involved with having your blood taken. Veins and arteries vary in size from one patient to another and from one side of the body to the other. Taking blood from some people may be more difficult than from others. Other risks associated with having blood drawn are slight but may include: You may have false normal or abnormal results if you've had a blood transfusion within the previous 12 weeks. Nagel R. Methemoglobinemias and unstable hemoglobins. In: Goldman L, Ausiello D, eds. Cecil Medicine. 23rd ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier; 2007:chap 168. Steinberg M. Sickle cell disease and associated hemoglobinopathies. In: Goldman L, Ausiello D, eds. Cecil Medicine. 23rd ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier; 2007:chap 167. © 2011 University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC). All rights reserved. UMMC is a member of the University of Maryland Medical System, 22 S. Greene Street, Baltimore, MD 21201. TDD: 1-800-735-2258 or 1.866.408.6885	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25463000
9 January 2013. Climate change poses many challenges to beaches and coastal areas and to the people living near these areas. In order to educate school students and community members on how to protect their beach environments, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Jakarta office and the FOCIL Foundation organized a Sandwatch training of trainers for teachers and students from Wangi-wangi island, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia, in Wakatobi, Indonesia, on 17 and 18 December 2012. The training involved 18 students and 6 teachers from 3 local schools and started the implementation of Sandwatch activities on the island. In particular, the event aimed to socialize the concept of Sandwatch for climate change adaptation and education for sustainable development, discuss Sandwatch methodologies, and develop a one-year workplan for Sandwatch implementation in the respective schools. During the training workshop and a fieldtrip, teachers and students identified the environmental problems facing Waha beach, discussed the environmental problems they will focus on as part of Sandwatch activities (each school will choose a beach where they will implement Sandwatch), and debated on how Sandwatch activities can be regularly implemented in the schools for the next 5 months and beyond. Coastal environmental issues identified and discussed at the training include sand mining and the ensuing rapid erosion, beach use, and debris. One-year workplans for beach monitoring, data analysis, result sharing and taking action are currently being developed by each school. Participants are encouraged to share the knowledge they have gained with other students and to invite them to implement Sandwatch activities and be part of the global Sandwatch programme. It is expected that by mid 2013, at least 40 students will have been involved in Sandwatch activities in Wakatobi. The first beach monitoring will be carried out by mid January 2013. The Sandwatch project was launched by UNESCO in 1999 as a volunteer network of primary and secondary school students and teachers. Sandwatch seeks to develop awareness of the fragile nature of the marine and coastal environment and the need to use it wisely. The project activates an educational process through which school students and community members learn and work together. They critically evaluate the problems and conflicts facing their beach environments and develop sustainable approaches to address these issues. Sandwatch provides a practical ‘hands-on’ approach for integrating the values inherent to sustainable development into all aspects of learning. It thereby empowers citizens to act for positive environmental and social change.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25465000
Posts Tagged ‘Allergy shots’ Most people do not experience adverse reactions to allergy shots. Sometimes they may have swelling, redness or itching at the site of injection. These mild reactions are usually treated with antihistamines, and the doctor may adjust the dose for the next injection. Rarely more severe reactions are manifested. In sensitive individuals, the vaccine can cause asthma symptoms such as difficulty breathing, wheezing or coughing. In addition, an anaphylactic reaction can cause dizziness, nausea, chest tightness or swelling of the throat that prevents you from breathing. These reactions can be treated in the office, but sometimes may require treatment in hospital. Read the rest of this entry » Before administering vaccines allergy testing is needed to determine which allergens will trigger allergic reactions. These studies include skin or patch tests and a blood test called “radioallergosorbent test” or RAST. The results are not always accurate. You may get a positive test without allergic symptoms or, conversely, to show allergy symptoms even with a negative test. How it is done When given an allergy vaccine is injected a small amount of allergen under the skin, usually in the fleshy part of the forearm. At the start of treatment, the injections are usually once a week and go increasing doses of allergens gradually with each injection. A patient can achieve the maximum dose, also known as a maintenance dose at four to six months of starting treatment. Read the rest of this entry » Allergy shots, also known as immunotherapy, are a medical procedure that involves making the body insensitive to not overreact to certain allergens. They are given small amounts of the substance to cause discomfort by injection to stimulate the immune system gradually. As the weeks and months will increase the amount of allergens in gradually. It is not yet clear how the allergy shots, but it is estimated that the treatment stimulates an immune response against allergens other, which is more comfortable than traditional allergic response. The vaccines do not provide immediate relief, but may be a good long term solution if they work well. Many people have managed to reverse the symptoms of allergy after completion of treatment (3 to 5 years) with allergy shots. It may take six months to a year before symptoms begin to disappear. For those who respond to treatment, allergy shots can significantly reduce the intensity and frequency of symptoms. However, in some cases, it may not produce any effect or the results are minimal, even after completing a year of treatment. Read the rest of this entry »	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25466000
Supporting early childhood education: BASF’s “Action on Education” campaign As part of the “Action on Education” campaign, BASF Aktiengesellschaft is supporting seven projects aimed at boosting early childhood education in daycare centers. The projects are being organized and carried out by organizations that operate daycare centers in Ludwigshafen – the city of Ludwigshafen and Germany’s two main churches. Ludwigshafen’s 89 daycare centers are taking part in the projects together. An academic research group will provide ongoing support and post-project evaluation for the projects, which are intended to be sustainable and to continue after the project phase is over. The projects address topics that are an integral part of the educational guidelines laid down for daycare centers by the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. 1. Project “Language Makes You Strong! Language Bridge Daycare Centers” Language is the key to successful education and integration, which is why this project aims to improve the development of language skills among children from diverse social and cultural backgrounds. Promoting language skills in small groups and in everyday classroom situations helps in the following way: using small groups, trained staff use games to systematically teach children with poor language skills a specific number of new words, e.g., “clothes” or “parts of the body.” To consolidate the new vocabulary, each topic is again dealt with in the entire group and in other ways (for example, by naming the different items of clothes when getting dressed). Parents are children’s most important language partners. Once a week, parents who come from other countries or families with educational problems go to the daycare center with their children. They learn in game form how to encourage the use of language using play and get tips on what to do at home. 2. Project “Pure Nature” This project helps daycare centers to teach children about nature. The idea is to give children a wide variety of ways of learning about nature so that they develop a relationship with nature and the natural world, and experience and understand its relationship with other things. For this reason, an important part of the project is building natural play areas for the centers. Examples include model outdoor play areas, such as building small hillocks, climbing opportunities or making little streams. 3. Project “From Small to Smart” The aim of this project is to encourage children to be curious about scientific phenomena and to help them learn how to express and think about their experiences. Age-appropriate, hands-on experiments help to encourage their interest in chemistry, math and physics. Specially equipped educational workshops in each of the participating daycare centers also encourage the children to learn more easily. In small groups, the children find out what happens, for example, when they mix paints, what substances dissolve in water or discover “hidden” air. Using materials found in every household, the children are able to make surprising experiences. 4. Storytelling Workshop Listening to stories from different cultures doesn’t just fascinate children, it also helps them to better understand their own and other cultures. This project uses storytelling as an educational tool: children learn to listen and become storytellers themselves, while at the same time coming face to face with stories from other cultures and traditions. 5. Project “From Piccolo to Picasso” Helping to develop creative skills in children is the aim of this project, which boosts the esthetic and artistic element of the centers’ curriculum. Children are given the opportunity – based on their teachers’ suggestions – to express themselves using colors, shapes and experimental designs. Artists are also invited to come and work with the children. All the participating centers have set up “children’s studios” – their size depends on the available space – where the children can draw, paint or make things. 6. Project “Guaranty for quality” This project introduces quality assurance into daycare centers with respect to processes, structures and results. Staff at the centers are trained to monitor and improve the quality of their own work on an ongoing basis. Every year, each center chooses specific areas from a list of defined, quality-relevant subjects that they want to focus on and implement, for example integrating parents into the work of the centers. 7. Project “Observation and Educational Partnership” This project intends to assist center staff in developing their observational skills: the idea is to be more aware of children’s individuality so that they can be given greater personal support. Center staff are trained to systematically observe children’s development, their strengths and needs and to document these observations for each child. The training also teaches staff how to talk to parents with the aim of persuading them to work more closely with the centers in the interests of the children.Back to top	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25467000
\|© UNICEF Angola/2010/Blumenkratz\| \|An infant sleeps under a mosquito net in Angola.\| By Yolanda Nunes Correia LUANDA, Angola, 25 April 2012 – Today, 25 April, is World Malaria Day, an event that calls attention to the critical need bring malaria under control. Despite progress made in Angola’s fight against malaria, the disease remains the country’s principal killer of young children, accounting for 35 per cent of deaths among children under age 5. This is more than a statistic for Catarina Cassinda, from Namibe Province. One year ago, in April, she lost her 18-month-old child to malaria. “My personal story made me an activist in the fight against malaria in the school where I teach,” Ms. Cassinda said. Taking action against malaria Ms. Cassinda is a teacher at Tombwa Primary School, where she has seen the positive effects of efforts to combat the disease. “There are now fewer and fewer cases of school absenteeism due to malaria. The means of malaria transmission by mosquito bites and the protection measures, including the use of treated mosquito nets, are taught to students,” she said. “The topic is also included in our training manuals.” She and her family now always sleep under insecticide-treated mosquito nets. And Ms. Cassinda wants to prevent other mothers and families from going through what she has been through. Reaching as many as possible Many bilateral and multilateral partners have been supporting the Government of Angola in reinforcing the national malaria control programme. Access to long-lasting insecticide-treated nets (LLINs) and malaria treatment has been increasing at a steady pace since 2006. UNICEF provides technical and logistical support for the procurement and distribution of LLINs. UNICEF is also assisting communication campaigns to raise awareness about the need for and proper use of mosquito nets. “UNICEF is working with partners to ensure the three essentials: knowledge to be protected and early detection of malaria; free access to malaria treatment and prevention during pregnancy; and ensuring access to free drugs and nets,” said UNICEF Representative in Angola Koenraad Vanormelingen. Communication campaigns, education activities and social mobilization activities have also played an important role in creating demand for mosquito nets. Millions of mosquito nets have been distributed in Angola in the last few years, increasing the coverage of under-5 children and pregnant women to 26 per cent, according to the 2011 Malaria Indicator Survey. And efforts are underway to help even more people keep their families safe. Balbina Calamua Inácio, a mother of three boys, is happy to say that her family has taken measures to protect themselves. “I protect my boys since an early age by sleeping under treated mosquito nets,” she said. World Malaria Day 2012 (opens to an external site)	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25469000
For nearly half-a-century, molecular biologists have sought to solve the mystery of how proteins are synthesized and the intricacies of ribosomes — the small particles in cells on which proteins are synthesized. Two UCLA molecular biologists propose a solution in the March 21 issue of the journal Nature. The scientists — James A. Lake, UCLA professor of molecular, cell and developmental biology, and UCLA graduate student Anne B. Simonson — show how the “factory of life” works. “The ribosome is like a computer-driven protein factory that has been cloaked in secrecy,” Lake said. “We knew the shape of the factory, and we could see the trucks going in, but we couldn’t peer beyond the factory gate. We knew the names of the employees, but we didn’t know what they did. Now we have a hypothesis of how the employees move in and out of different rooms to get their work done, and even what they have for lunch. Our hypothesis of how protein synthesis works may be refined, but we are confident that the central parts are correct. “Proteins are the workhorses of the cell, the molecules that make us what we are, and every protein in our body is made on a ribosome,” Lake said. “Ribosomes are central to life, and are in every living organism, from the smallest bacteria to humans.” Why is it important to understand how ribosomes make proteins? Each of our cells has more than 100,000 ribosomes, and solving what Lake calls “the puzzle of life” requires a much greater understanding of the ribosome’s role in protein synthesis than the broad outlines scientists have had until now. In addition, the research could lead to new antibiotics, and insights into how genes are regulated, which could lead to new treatments for a variety of diseases, Lake said. In molecular biology, translation is the process that turns genes into proteins — the “molecules of life.” Scientists have not understood how this critical process works, but have known that it has three phases: initiation, elongation and termination, of which elongation is the key. A number of antibiotics work at the translation level. “Elongation is the heart of protein synthesis,” Lake said, the phase in which the ribosome adds amino acids, sometimes hundreds of them. In their Nature paper, Lake and Simonson explain the molecular details of elongation, including the location and movement of more than 10,000 atoms. In addition, they have located a novel binding site for transfer RNA (tRNA) when it enters the ribosome. “Genes are being turned on and turned off, and transcribed and translated constantly in our cells,” Simonson said. “Learning the mechanisms of how this works is key.” With the new knowledge, it may become possible to make modifications in parts of the translation process to suppress lethal mutations and design new proteins to counteract the defects that cause numerous diseases, Lake said. If the ribosome is a factory, then the workers in the hard hats include tRNA and EF-Tu, a ubiquitous protein molecule that is like a large motor transporting tRNAs and amino acids. Simonson and Lake have learned how they move and function. “EF-Tu moves to exactly where it needs to go to transport the tRNA to where it needs to be so the amino acids are close enough together to be added to the end of a growing protein chain,” Lake said. “The structure led us. The ribosome’s structure was telling us, ‘It can’t move like that, it doesn’t fit there, you have to turn it this way.’ All the times we would make mistakes, the ribosome would correct us.” “The most exciting moment for me occurred late one night when we saw the initial binding site for tRNA before it turns,” Simonson said. “The structure of the ribosome dictated how it fit in. We looked at each other and said, ‘Wow! That’s amazing.’” The research, which involved sophisticated computer simulation, was federally funded by grants from the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Energy and the Astrobiology Institute.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25471000
- For Teachers Witch one are right? 1- She was keep the butter here or she kept the butter here. I Would Like To Ask You ,please . Which One Is Correct? 1- She was Keep The Butter Here. 2- She kept The Butter Here. Thank You Alot . was keep is wrong English a lot is two words Continue to work hard and ask as many questions as you want.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25480000
Recently, the San Diego Council on Literacy interviewed and filmed 14 adult literacy students for a short video to be released this fall. In the video were nine women, five men and two teachers. Seven were white. Four were black. Three were Latino. Two had learned English as a second language. One was a nurse. Four earned college degrees. Two earned degrees before they became literate. What many of these learners had in common was that, somehow, they slipped by all of us, either by being made invisible by others, or by successfully, of their own will, making themselves invisible over a period of 12 school years. Some parents, teachers and administrators knew that something was wrong with the reading progress of these students but did not, for many reasons, intervene. Many years later, these students found the courage to ask for help from the affiliated programs of the San Diego Council on Literacy. Today, we know that we can, statistically and with unfortunately good accuracy, determine who will succeed and fail in school simply by knowing that person’s income level, ethnicity and ZIP code. It would seem that, by now, we would have overcome the glaring obstacles that interfere with the proper education of our children. We have not. In the Diamond Community, an area in southeast San Diego that includes 10 neighborhoods surrounding the intersection of Euclid and Market Street, community members are meeting regularly to address old issues in the education of inner city youth. For six months, community leaders have gathered twice monthly to understand more deeply the education challenges facing the area. With the Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation offering a place to convene, the Diamond Community Education Working Group is building a common understanding of the problem and a shared vision for the future. The group is presently in the early stages of articulating a plan of action that focuses on enhancing the capacity of principals, teachers, parents, and community organizations to support early literacy development. This strategy is a direct response to what the group has learned about the importance of early literacy for future academic success. It is also a response to the poor performance of area schools, where 70 percent of third graders were reading below grade level in 2010. Chula Vista, with leadership from Mayor Cheryl Cox, has taken several steps to address a communitywide approach to increase literacy. As a charter member of the national Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, Chula Vista has cross-sector teams of individuals working together to support school readiness, student attendance, and summer learning. Chula Vista schools, nonprofits, hospitals, businesses, government, and churches are collaborating to support young people and the adults who care for them. From our work in recent months, we have relearned a few important messages. One is that expectations and attitude are powerful enough to change … everything. If we expect good, we get good, and if we expect mediocrity, or failure, we get that, too. Another lesson is that a good home environment is more powerful than the bleakest of neighborhoods. Parents who read, read to their children, have books in the home for their children, talk and listen to their children, control television time, advocate for their children when they are in school, and who are determined that their children will read and succeed, are a good thing for all of us.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25486000
Researchers uncover attack mechanism of illness-inducing bacterium found in shellfish DALLAS — Aug. 18, 2008 — An infectious ocean-dwelling bacterium found in oysters and other shellfish kills its host’s cells by causing them to burst, providing the invader with a nutrient-rich meal, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found. The bacterium, a relative of the one that causes cholera, co-opts and makes fatal a normal cell process that starving or stressed organisms use to disassemble and recycle expendable proteins into more vital metabolites. Called Vibrio parahaemolyticus, or V para for short, the bacterium is already a major cause of human illness and economic loss in Asia. It is dangerous primarily to people with liver disease or suppressed immune systems, although it can be killed by fully cooking shellfish, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It caused major disease outbreaks in the northwest and northeast U.S. in the late 1990s and killed two people after Hurricane Katrina when tainted seawater entered open wounds, according to the CDC and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. “This pathogen has spread to all the oceans of the world, and is resistant to many antibiotics,” said Dr. Kim Orth, associate professor of molecular biology and senior author of a study appearing online this week and in an upcoming issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Orth said she became interested in V para after its DNA was sequenced by Japanese researchers. She saw similarities between some of V para’s genes and those encoded by an unrelated bacterium that causes plague, which she also studies. V para was already known to kill host cells but the molecular mechanisms were unclear, Dr. Orth said. However, the new study shows that V para physically contacts host cells and then injects molecules to trigger the protein breakdown process. Normally, this protein breakdown mechanism, called autophagy (pronounced “aw-TAH-fah-gee”) or “self-eating,” is tightly controlled by the cells. In the study, the researchers infected cultured human cells with V para and found that the cells very quickly showed signs of autophagy, such as forming distinctive small compartments that collect and transport proteins for disassembly. The cells also became rounded, probably from a collapse of their internal framework, and their outer membranes began leaking, the researchers found. The cells died within three hours. The researchers hypothesized that the invading V para scavenged nutrients from the dying cells to support their own proliferation. “No one has seen such a rapid triggering of autophagy before,” said Dr. Orth. “Treating the human cells with an autophagy inhibitor halted the protein breakdown process but did not save the cells, because V para uses other pathways by which to kill cells,” she said. “However, because it can kill by several routes, it’s important to understand all of them.” In addition, because of rising ocean temperatures, the brackish conditions that favor V para growth extend farther north along the U.S. coasts. “We’ve received a wake-up call that this is important environmentally, and we want to understand at the molecular level how this pathogen infects, kills and persists,” Dr. Orth said. “There are people getting sick from this emerging pathogen in the United States, yet there is no major effort to understand its pathology. “There are many ways to kill a cell, and we’ve discovered yet another one. The bacterium hijacks activities from us and deregulates them. It’s like a bulldozer.” Although less dangerous than cholera, V para causes similar symptoms: diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and fever. In general, people recover in about three days, needing only rest and fluids, according to the CDC. One of the fatalities from the Hurricane Katrina aftermath had human immunodeficiency virus; details on the other case were not available. Other UT Southwestern researchers involved in the study were lead authors Dara Burdette and Melanie Yarbrough, graduate students in molecular microbiology; Anthony Orvedahl, a student in UT Southwestern’s Medical Scientist Training Program; and Dr. Christopher Gilpin, assistant professor of cell biology. The work was supported by the National Institutes of Health, the Burroughs Wellcome Fund and The Welch Foundation. Visit http://www.utsouthwestern.org/infectiousdiseases to learn more about clinical services at UT Southwestern in infectious diseases. Media Contact: Aline McKenzie To automatically receive news releases from UT Southwestern via e-mail, subscribe at	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25487000
Glycohemoglobin (HbA1c, A1c) Test Overview Back to top Glycohemoglobin (A1c) is a blood test that checks the amount of sugar (glucose) bound to the hemoglobin in the red blood cells. When hemoglobin and glucose bond, a coat of sugar forms on the hemoglobin. That coat gets thicker when there's more sugar in the blood. A1c tests measure how thick that coat has been over the past 3 months, which is how long a red blood cell lives. People who have diabetes or other conditions that increase their blood glucose levels have more glycohemoglobin than normal. An A1c test can be used to diagnose prediabetes or diabetes. The A1c test checks the long-term control of blood glucose levels in people with diabetes. Most doctors think checking an A1c level is the best way to check how well a person is controlling his or her diabetes. A home blood glucose test measures the level of blood glucose only at that moment. Blood glucose levels change during the day for many reasons, including medicine, diet, exercise, and the level of insulin in the blood. It is useful for a person who has diabetes to have information about the long-term control of blood sugar levels. The A1c test result does not change with any recent changes in diet, exercise, or medicines. Glucose binds to hemoglobin in red blood cells at a steady rate. Since red blood cells last 3 to 4 months, the A1c test shows how much glucose is in the plasma part of blood. This test shows how well your diabetes has been controlled in the last 2 to 3 months and whether your diabetes treatment plan needs to be changed. The A1c test can also help your doctor see how big your risk is of developing problems from diabetes, such as kidney failure, vision problems, and leg or foot numbness. Keeping your A1c level in your target range can lower your chance for problems. Why It Is Done Back to top This test is done to: - Diagnose prediabetes and diabetes. - Check your treatment for diabetes. How To Prepare Back to top You do not need to stop eating before you have an A1c test. This test can be done any time during the day, even after a meal. How It Is Done Back to top The health professional taking a sample of your blood will: - Wrap an elastic band around your upper arm to stop the flow of blood. This makes the veins below the band larger so it is easier to put a needle into the vein. - Clean the needle site with alcohol. - Put the needle into the vein. More than one needle stick may be needed. - Attach a tube to the needle to fill it with blood. - Remove the band from your arm when enough blood is collected. - Put a gauze pad or cotton ball over the needle site as the needle is removed. - Put pressure on the site and then put on a bandage. How It Feels Back to top The blood sample is taken from a vein in your arm. An elastic band is wrapped around your upper arm. It may feel tight. You may feel nothing at all from the needle, or you may feel a quick sting or pinch. Risks Back to top There is very little chance of a problem from having blood sample taken from a vein. - You may get a small bruise at the site. You can lower the chance of bruising by keeping pressure on the site for several minutes. - In rare cases, the vein may become swollen after the blood sample is taken. This problem is called phlebitis. A warm compress can be used several times a day to treat this. - Ongoing bleeding can be a problem for people with bleeding disorders. Aspirin, warfarin (Coumadin), and other blood-thinning medicines can make bleeding more likely. If you have bleeding or clotting problems, or if you take blood-thinning medicine, tell your doctor before your blood sample is taken. Results Back to top A1c is a blood test that checks the amount of sugar (glucose) bound to hemoglobin. The result is shown as a percentage. The result of your A1c test can also be used to estimate your average blood sugar level. This is called your estimated average glucose, or eAG. Your doctor will have your test results in a few days. The American Diabetes Association (ADA) criteria to diagnose diabetes includes the option of testing A1c. The diagnosis of diabetes needs to be confirmed by repeating the same blood sugar test or doing a different test on another day. The normal values listed here—called a reference range—are just a guide. These ranges vary from lab to lab, and your lab may have a different range for what's normal. Your lab report should contain the range your lab uses. Also, your doctor will evaluate your results based on your health and other factors. This means that a value that falls outside the normal values listed here may still be normal for you or your lab. Less than 5.7% \|Prediabetes (increased risk for diabetes)\|\| 6.5% and higher \|A1c %\|\|Estimated average plasma glucose (mg/dL)\|\|Estimated average plasma glucose (mmol/L)\| \|Children younger than 6 years old\|\|Less than 8.5%\| \|Children ages 6–12 years old\|\|Less than 8%\| \|Teens ages 13–19 years old\|\|Less than 7.5%\| Some medical conditions can increase A1c levels, but the results may still be within a normal range. These conditions include Cushing's syndrome, pheochromocytoma, and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Corticosteroid treatment increases the A1c level. A1c levels may be higher in children and adolescents with diabetes. What Affects the Test Back to top Reasons you may not be able to have the test or why the results may not be helpful include: - Having severe blood loss or a blood transfusion in the last 3 months. - Having certain medical conditions, such as sickle cell anemia, hemolytic anemia, some types of thalassemia, and severe kidney disease. - Having your spleen taken out. This changes the normal life cycle of red blood cells and A1c levels. What To Think About Back to top - If you have diabetes, your doctor may recommend that you have an A1c test every 3 to 6 months, depending on how well you are meeting your treatment goals. - Some people who develop diabetes have normal A1c levels early in the course of their disease. - A1c levels can be normal in some people who have untreated diabetes and certain medical conditions, such as sickle cell anemia, hemolytic anemia, severe kidney disease, or pregnancy. - A1c levels are not useful for finding low blood sugar (hypoglycemia). - The A1c test does not replace the need for other regular blood glucose tests, including checking your blood sugar at home and a regular blood glucose test. References Back to top - American Diabetes Association (2012). Diagnosis and classification of diabetes mellitus. Diabetes Care, 35(Suppl 1): S64–S71. - American Diabetes Association (2012). Standards of medical care in diabetes—2012. Diabetes Care, 35(Suppl 1): S11–S63. Other Works Consulted - Fischbach FT, Dunning MB III, eds. (2009). Manual of Laboratory and Diagnostic Tests, 8th ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins. Credits Back to top \|Primary Medical Reviewer\|\|E. Gregory Thompson, MD - Internal Medicine\| \|Specialist Medical Reviewer\|\|Alan C. Dalkin, MD - Endocrinology\| \|Last Revised\|\|May 17, 2012\| Last Revised: May 17, 2012 To learn more visit Healthwise.org	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25488000
Gautama Buddha, born as a prince, lived life as a king and worshiped as a God. He searches for the true power and enlightenment. The Buddha who is the founder of the Buddhist religion is called Buddha Shakyamuni born is the Lumbini, Nepal, but at the age of 29, he left his place and kingdom and loved ones behind, Siddhartha (the actual name given by his mother) became a wandering monk. He took his training and studied with the wisest teachers of his day and he continued the search of the peace. He became God for common man, and people actually learn the cause and reason of human sufferings. He got worshiped in many countries, his thoughts and moral values spread all over the world and common people got the way to known they happiness and sadness. Now In more than dozen countries, his thought and messages are been preached and followed by people. In Theravadin countries, Thailand, Burma, Sri Lanka, Cambodia and Laos, the New Year is celebrated for three days from the first full moon day in April. His thoughts have been followed by countries like Mahayana, where they celebrate New Year starts on the first full moon day in January. Festivals and holidays Buddhist New Year In Theravadin countries, Thailand, Burma, Sri Lanka, Cambodia and Laos, the New Year is celebrated for three days from the first full moon day in April. Vesak or Visakah Puja ("Buddha Day")-Traditionally, Buddha's Birthday is known as Vesak or Visakah Puja Vesak is the major Buddhist festival of the year as it celebrates the birth, enlightenment and death of the Buddha on the one day. This celebration is called Vesak being the name of the month in the Indian calendar Magha Puja Day (Fourfold Assembly or "SanghaDay") Magha Puja Day takes places on the full moon day of the third lunar month (March). This holy day is observed to honor an important event in the life of the Buddha. Moreover, like this, there are other days which have been celebrated on the honor of the lord Buddha. In this trip one can feel the real sense of life and real the values of mortality and immorality? People will come to known about the Buddhist philosophy. In addition, the trip is offered by expert and knowledge people who are well aware about the Lord Buddha and the day celebrated on his honor holidays.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25491000
Malathion Pesticide Exposure and Its Effects Attention and behavior disorders are some of the most common conditions among young children, and some of the most concerning for parents. Researchers have long been looking for causes of these types of conditions, and while heredity and chemical imbalances are commonly thought to be causes, exposure to malathion pesticide is also showing to be a possible source. Pesticides called organophosphates, which include parathion and malathion pesticide chemicals, have been shown to be a possible link in the development of attention difficulties in children who are exposed to the toxins. While it is one of the lesser potent pesticides that have been included in the study, the prevalence of the use of malathion pesticides make exposure to the substance very easy. The malathion pesticide is used in the treatment of fruits, vegetables, cotton, landscaping, public pests, recreation areas such as playgrounds, and much more. In order to help keep exposure to malathion pesticide to a minimum, many people choose to: - Wash all fruits and vegetables thoroughly before eating - Cook foods completely - Wash new clothing before wearing - Constantly wash hands, especially when out in public areas - Avoid touching the face or mouth, as well as foods, with dirty hands If your child is displaying symptoms of attention or behavioral problems, and you suspect it may be caused by over exposure to malathion pesticide, contact your physician. He or she may be able to help properly diagnose the condition and help you create a plan to manage the condition.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25495000
Q: When people talk about acidity in a coffee being a positive attribute - what do they mean? A: Oftentimes 'acidity' is related to objective pH level (think lemons and grapefruit). Coffee is low in this type of acidity. When we talk of acidity in the coffee cup we refer to the vibrancy, liveliness and fruity brightness, which is characteristic of high grown, high quality arabica beans. A: Bitterness is often the result of 2 things: - Dark roasting (this may be intentional to create a roasty smokiness that some drinkers enjoy - oftentimes it is unintentional!) OR - Over extraction by the barista in creating the cup - the grind of the coffee may be too fine for the brewing method resulting in too little water running through too much coffee A: Contrary to popular belief, coffee should never be stored in either fridge or freezer! The four main enemies of the coffee bean are oxygen, heat, moisture, and light. Once the beans are taken out of the fridge or freezer, the coffee will absorb the condensation when the ice-crystals have thawed. Always store your beans in a cool, dark, dry place like the pantry. Remember, coffee absorbs smells so store your beans in an airtight vacuum container. A: Coffee is a perishable good - you must think of coffee the same way you think of your fruit and vegetables, which no doubt you probably buy on a weekly basis. Coffee reaches its peak potential between 3 to 12 days after roasting, after which the coffee beans begin to deteriorate quite quickly. To truly enjoy a fresh cup of coffee, you need to be buying coffee fresh from the roaster in small lots. Keep an eye out for one-way valves on the packaging, check for roast on dates (or use by dates!) and store in a cool, dark, dry place. Try to consume ground coffee within a week of grinding, while whole beans should be consumed within 3 weeks of roast date.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25501000
Observation TowerStanding in the open mountain pass of Dukla on the Slovak-Polish borders you can see an observatory tower offering a spectacular view of the Slovak and Polish land – the background scenery of the fights during the Karpathian-Dukla operation. The Tower was opened up for public in 1974 on the 30th anniversary of the Battle of Dukla pass. It is 49 m high and was built on the site of an original wooden observatory tower from 1959 nearby a temporary observatory site of the commander of the 1.Czechoslovakian army corps. The tower interior is well-decorated with some art pieces of the sculptor A. Raček: “Vítanie osloboditeľov – Welcome of the liberators “, a figure composition “Spoločný boj – Common fight” of the academic sculpture J. Koreň. The tower exterior is decorated with “ Lime tree branch” being a symbol of a Slavonian solidarity created by an academic sculptor F. Patočka. Inside the observatory tower we can find: "A plan of an attack of the Red Army through Karpathy mountains to help directly SNU” and "An actual map in the space of the Dukla pass from September 30 up to November 5th 1944".	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25502000
The first census to report on how well people were housed was that of 1891, but the only statistics gathered were on the number of rooms and the number of people in each household. From 1951 onwards, more questions were asked about 'amenities', meaning specific facilities that households either possessed or had shared access to. One interesting measure of progress is the change in the amenities covered by the census. In 1951, these were piped water, a cooking stove, a kitchen sink, a 'water closet' meaning a flush toilet, and a 'fixed bath', as distinct from a tin bath hung on the wall between uses. In 2001, the list of key amenities was shorter: central heating, and 'sole use of bath/shower and toilet'. Differences in what information was recorded by each census complicate comparisons over time, and none of our three measures are entirely consistent. Our detailed statistics are held in structures called nCubes, which you can think of as tables with one dimension, or with two ... or with twenty. Their dimensions are defined by the variables each nCube combines, and each variable is made up of categories. These nCubes are available at national level for this theme: \|Available nCubes\|\|Period covered\|\|Variables (number of categories) \|Total Households\|\|1931 to 2001\|\| \|Housing Density, redistricted\|\|1931 to 2001\|\| Persons per Room \|Housing Amenity, redistricted\|\|1951 to 2001\|\| Housing amenities, simplified	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25506000
This page is designed to tell you more about their use, and how it affects you. What are cookies? - Cookies are small text files which are stored by your browser (for example Internet Explorer or Firefox) on your computer or mobile device. - Cookies allow websites to store things like user preferences. - They enables websites to "remember" certain bits of information. - Cookies cannot harm or scan your computer for private information stored on your hard drive. How can I turn cookies off? Your should be able to adjust the settings of your browser to prevent websites storing cookies, however, turning off all cookies may prevent this website from functioning correctly. You can find out how to adjust your cookie settings here:	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25510000
LEESBURG, Va., Aug. 15, 2007 – During the first 30 days of life, newly born horses (called "foals") are especially sensitive to bacteria and other dangers commonly found in their every day surroundings. Each year between January and June, dozens of these foals are brought to Virginia Tech's Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center for treatment where the hospital's experts work diligently to return the critically ill young animals to full health. “We work with extremely compromised patients that sometimes arrive to us with diseases involving multiple organs,” said Dr. Anne Desrochers, clinical assistant professor in equine medicine. “It is very fulfilling to see many of these little babies go home happy and healthy after having been so sick.” Common problems that can affect foals include prematurity, neonatal sepsis (infection), hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (brain damage resulting from a lack of oxygen which is also known as “dummy foal”) and diarrhea. “These diseases can occur due to exposure to pathogens in utero or after birth” said Desrochers. Due to their delicate nature, neonates that are brought in for emergency treatment are always seen first by members of the hospital’s internal medicine team who specialize in the physiologic interaction among internal body systems. These board certified experts oversee and implement their care along with help from residents, interns and nurses. “The nature of a neonate’s illness can be more volatile because their immune defenses are not quite as vigorous as those of adults,” said Dr. Martin Furr, the Adelaide C. Riggs Chair in Equine Medicine. Furr notes that all horses have very sensitive organ systems that can be damaged by sitting or lying down for extended periods of time. A foal’s small size (the average healthy neonate weighs approximately 100-120 lbs) allows the clinicians to prevent this problem by moving the patient often and repositioning their body as needed. “Their small size enables us to manage their posture so that they don’t become compromised as a result of lying on the mats,” said Furr. Unlike in human medicine in which infants are often separated from their mothers, foals that are brought to the center are typically kept in the same stall as the mare. This practice is both a convenience for the owner and a benefit to the patient. “When the foal is healthy and gets back home, we want them to have a full and normal life with their mothers so, in most cases, it is best if they stay together during treatment,” said Desrochers. “The mares are usually extremely cooperative because they seem to understand that we’re here to help.” Integral to the success of the center’s neonatal care service is the Foal Watch Volunteer Program which matches volunteers with cases requiring around-the-clock attention. Participants in the program sit with sick patients for assigned periods of time in order to observe and report any physical or behavioral changes. “It is important to be very alert with neonates because their weakened state makes them susceptible to other complications,” said Furr. “Our faculty, staff and volunteers, very carefully monitor these patients to avoid problems such as sores, eye infections and imbalance in blood glucose levels.” According to Penny Archer, director of volunteer services at the center, the Foal Watch Volunteer Program runs from the time that the first foal is admitted in early February to the time that the last patient leaves in late June. Horse experience is not necessary but all participants undergo mandatory training. “The goal is to supplement the equine medical center’s workforce with a capable and trained volunteer team,” said Archer. “They are an extra pair of eyes, hands and ears in the intensive care unit.” Although the task of bringing a sick foal back to health can be very challenging and demanding, those who participate in the healing process note that it is also extremely fulfilling. “The first time they start nursing, the first time that they take steps, it makes your job worthwhile,” said Desrochers. “It’s very demanding to deal with because the foals are usually so sick and vulnerable and not every patient recovers, but at the end of the day, it is always worth it.” Information regarding the Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center’s clinicians and services is available online at www.equinemedicalcenter.net. Appointments for neonatal consultations may be scheduled by calling 703-771-6800. Virginia Tech’s Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center is a premier full-service equine hospital located in Leesburg, Virginia, that offers advanced specialty care, 24-hour emergency treatment and diagnostic services for all ages and breeds of horses. One of three campuses that comprise the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, the center’s team of equine specialists is committed to providing exceptional treatment to patients, superior service to clients and cutting-edge research to the equine industry.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25514000
Q: I have two two-year old ‘Yoshino’ cherry trees in full sun planted thirty feet apart. They were both thriving but over the past month one tree’s leaves are drooping, turning yellow, and falling off. The other tree looks great. The sick tree has less drainage than the other and has been in some standing water. Is this root rot and will the tree survive? A: Flowering cherry trees are famous for their dislike of poorly drained soil. Their roots demand constant gas exchange. In other words, the roots have to breathe. Cherries installed in un-amended clay soil or planted too deeply or in spots where water accumulates usually die after a few years. I’m doubtful your sick tree will survive. Remove it, mix a bag of soil conditioner in a six-foot wide planting area and put another in its place. Tags For This Article: planting	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25519000
Q: How deep do roots go into the ground for tomatoes and most other vegetables in the home garden? I am thinking not very deep and if so why do I need to waste time and gas tilling the entire space? A: Depth is not the problem – it’s width. Roots grow widely from the base of the stem of vegetables but they only grow as deeply as they can find usable oxygen. Tilling increases the area in which roots can expand. You should be mulching the area between plants to prevent weeds.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25520000
People love their pets and consider them members of their family: Caregivers celebrate their pets' birthdays, confide in their animals, and carry pictures of them in their wallets. So when your beloved pet dies, it's not unusual to feel overwhelmed by the intensity of your sorrow. But understanding how you grieve and finding ways to cope with your loss can bring you closer to the day when memories bring smiles instead of tears. What is the grief process? The grief process is as individual as the person, lasting days for one person or years for another. The process typically begins with denial, which offers protection until individuals can realize their loss. Some caregivers may try bargaining with a higher power, themselves, or even their pet to restore life. Some feel anger, which may be directed at anyone involved with the pet, including family, friends, and veterinarians. The caregivers may also feel guilt about what they did or did not do, and may feel that it is inappropriate to be so upset. After these feelings subside, the caregivers experience true sadness or grief. In their depression, caregivers may withdraw. Acceptance occurs when they accept the reality of their loss and remember their animal companion with decreasing sadness. Remember, not everyone follows these classic stages of grief some may skip or repeat a stage, or experience the stages in a different order. How can I cope with my grief? While grief is a personal experience, a caregiver need not face this loss alone. Many forms of support are available, including pet bereavement counseling services, pet-loss support hotlines, local or on-line Internet bereavement groups, books, videos, and magazine articles. Here are a few suggestions to help you cope: What can I do for my child? The loss of a pet may be a child's first experience with death. The child may blame himself, his parents, or the veterinarian for not saving the pet. And he may feel guilty, depressed, and frightened that others he loves may be taken from him. Trying to protect your child by saying the pet ran away could cause your child to expect the pet's return and feel betrayed after discovering the truth. Expressing your own grief may reassure your child that sadness is okay and help him work through his feelings. Is the process more difficult if I'm a senior? Coping with the loss of a pet can be particularly hard for seniors. Those who live alone may feel a loss of purpose and an immense emptiness. The pet's death may also trigger painful memories of other losses and remind caregivers of their own mortality. What's more, the decision to get another pet is complicated by the possibility that the pet may outlive the caregiver, and hinges on the person's physical and financial ability to care for a new pet. For all these reasons, it's critical that senior pet owners take immediate steps to cope with their loss and regain a sense of purpose. If you are a senior, try interacting with friends and family, calling a pet-loss support hotline, even volunteering at a local humane society. If you know seniors in this situation, direct them to this Web page and guide them through the difficult grieving process. Will my other pets grieve? Surviving pets may whimper, refuse to eat or drink, and suffer lethargy, especially if they had a close bond with the deceased pet. Even if they were not the best of friends, the changing circumstances and your emotional state may distress them. Give surviving pets lots of TLC ("tender loving care") and try to maintain a normal routine. It's good for them and for you. Should I get another pet? Rushing into this decision isn't fair to you or your new pet. Each animal has his own unique personality and a new animal cannot replace the one you lost. You'll know when the time is right to adopt a new pet after giving yourself time to grieve, carefully considering the responsibilities of pet ownership, and paying close attention to your feelings. When you are ready, remember that your local animal shelter is a great place to find your next special friend. Copyright © 2001 The Humane Society of the United States All rights reserved.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25531000
Credit: NASA's Earth Observatory/NOAA/DOD Earth at Night This new global view of Earth's city lights is a composite assembled from data acquired by the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) satellite. The data was acquired over nine days in April 2012 and 13 days in October 2012. It took 312 orbits to get a clear shot of every parcel of Earth's land surface and islands. This new data was then mapped over existing Blue Marble imagery of Earth to provide a realistic view of the planet. The image was made possible by the satellite's "day-night band" of the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite, which detects light in a range of wavelengths from green to near-infrared and uses filtering techniques to observe dim signals such as city lights, gas flares, auroras, wildfires and reflected moonlight. The day-night band observed Hurricane Sandy, illuminated by moonlight, making landfall over New Jersey on the evening of Oct. 29. Night images showed the widespread power outages that left millions in darkness in the wake of the storm.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25532000
New from Webteacher Software and partners, GoogleMapBuilder.com An easy interface to turn any spreadsheet into a Google Map Webteacher Software now offers I teach computer classes for a living to corporate clients of all levels. After 2 years of teaching, I have learned a lot about communication between people of various levels of computer experience. This tutorial assumes that you have no prior programming experience, but that you have created your own HTML pages. If you find this tutorial helpful, please let me know (it's my only reward). Also, links are graciously accepted. Actually, the 2 languages have almost nothing in common except for the name. Although Java is technically an interpreted programming language, it is coded in a similar fashion to C++, with separate header and class files, compiled together prior to execution. It is powerful enough to write major applications and insert them in a web page as a special object called an "applet." Java has been generating a lot of excitment because of its unique ability to run the same program on IBM, Mac, and Unix computers. Java is not considered an easy-to-use language for non-programmers. What is Object Oriented Programming? OOP is a programming technique (note: not a language structure - you don't even need an object-oriented language to program in an object-oriented fashion) designed to simplify complicated programming concepts. In essence, object-oriented programming revolves around the idea of user- and system-defined chunks of data, and controlled means of accessing and modifying those chunks. Object-oriented programming consists of Objects, Methods and Properties. An object is basically a black box which stores some information. It may have a way for you to read that information and a way for you to write to, or change, that information. It may also have other less obvious ways of interacting with the information. Some of the information in the object may actually be directly accessible; other information may require you to use a method to access it - perhaps because the way the information is stored internally is of no use to you, or because only certain things can be written into that information space and the object needs to check that you're not going outside those limits. The directly accessible bits of information in the object are its properties. The difference between data accessed via properties and data accessed via methods is that with properties, you see exactly what you're doing to the object; with methods, unless you created the object yourself, you just see the effects of what you're doing. Objects and Properties Your web page document is an object. Any table, form, button, image, or link on your page is also an object. Each object has certain properties (information about the object). For example, the background color of your document is written document.bgcolor. You would change the color of your page to red by writing the line: document.bgcolor="red" The contents (or value) of a textbox named "password" in a form named "entryform" is document.entryform.password.value. Most objects have a certain collection of things that they can do. Different objects can do different things, just as a door can open and close, while a light can turn on and off. A new document is opened with the method document.open() You can write "Hello World" into a document by typing document.write("Hello World") . open() and write() are both methods of the object: document.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25541000
A new study is taking the anti-aging power of antioxidants to the next level for fighting wrinkles. A researcher at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem has succeeded in isolating a plant-based antioxidant that counters the breakdown of collagen fibers in the skin. Unlike antioxidants, such as vitamins C and E, which oxidize quickly becoming less potent from heat and time, this new discovery is a stable antioxidant that is more effective in combating the effects of free radicals that leads to aging. The plant source of the antioxidant has not been disclosed yet because the research is being patented. The researcher plans to use it to develop a new generation of anti-aging skincare products.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25545000
The game, which is part of the McGraw-Hill Practice suite of hands-on, experiential learning games, was tested in schools across the country, including Georgia Perimeter College, Collin Community College in Texas, California State University, San Diego State, Richland College in Texas and Clayton State in Georgia. Professor Jason Seitz of Georgia Perimeter College said the game helped his students tie all of the concepts in his course together to develop a deeper understanding and knowledge of the subject. "With an engaged classroom, I can spend less time transferring facts and more time exploring implications," he said. Despite the negative press that video games sometimes get, they're changing the way subjects are being taught in classrooms across the country. According to a March 2012 survey of teachers, 32 percent use games two to four days per week, while 18 percent use them every day. An overwhelming 70 percent of teachers agreed that using digital games boosts motivation and engagement, and 62 percent of teachers said that games make teaching easier. Dave McCool, president and CEO of Muzzy Lane Software, said the challenge with serious games is to make them both fun and educational. While there have been proven benefits of using games as part of educational curriculum, educational games aren't flooding the market. "The fact that 'Oregon Trail' and 'Carmen Sandiego' still stand out after 30 years isn't great from the perspective of how powerful good, serious games can be," McCool said. McCool's team is expanding "Government in Action" to work on iPad and Android tablets to take advantage of touch controls. The iPad version of the game will make its debut at the 2013 SXSWedu conference in Austin, Texas. "Educators seem to have more tools available to them than ever before, and there's no doubt that, when appropriately utilized, technology has the capacity to enhance the classroom experience," Tierney said. "The key, of course, is to familiarize and excite teachers to maximize its use in the most positive way." As is the nature of gaming, "Government in Action" has been designed to be addictive. Instructors have found that students will replay the game again and again to explore myriad options, as well as to compete on the leaderboard.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25549000
Shop Men's Categories Layering for Comfort and Safety Protection from bright light and UV radiation Sunglasses protect the eyes from the sun's damaging UV radiation, and improve visibility and comfort on the water by reducing light intensity and filtering out glare. On the water, the combination of direct and reflected light is much brighter than on land. Unfiltered glare, the light reflected off flat surfaces like water, windshields, bright white decks and sails, is so intense that it impairs vision (a clear safety hazard). Glare causes squinting, fatigues the eyes, and can result in visual discomfort and headaches. Glare is present even on hazy days. Most sunglasses reduce light intensity by 80-90 percent with darkening gray, green, amber, or other colored lens. Colored lenses alone are not enough protection for marine conditions. To filter out intense glare and prevent squinting, sunglasses for boating should be polarized. And they should be coated to block 99-100 percent of the damaging UVA and UVB (ultraviolet) rays that can reduce visual acuity at night, and cause degenerative eye diseases like photokeratitis, snow blindness, cataracts, pterygium, and various forms of eye cancer. Sunglasses should also be shatterproof to protect the eyes from injury in the event of sudden impact. When light rays reflect off a surface, the reflected rays concentrate in one plane and are said to be polarized. Reflected glare is an example of polarized light. Even on overcast days, the high–intensity light we call glare can be harsh and overwhelming to your eyes. It blinds you and masks what's behind it. Squinting blocks out some of the light, but not the glare. Ordinary sunglasses can reduce the total amount of light reaching your eyes but, like squinting, they don't eliminate the glare. A polarized lens filters out the glare by blocking all polarized light waves except those traveling in a specific orientation. A polarized lens blocks horizontally polarized light with a polarizing film of molecules running in parallel vertical chains sandwiched between two optical lenses. These vertical chains block horizontal light waves, allowing only vertical light waves to pass through. Vertical light waves, commonly called "ambient light," are scattered evenly and don't produce glare. You can tell if a lens is polarized by rotating the glasses (or tilting your head when you are wearing them). You will find that they reduce glare better in some positions than others. By blocking out only the polarized glare, the intensity of the light reaching your eyes is not reduced, so objects retain their definition and visual detail. This effect, combined with a tinted lens, makes it much easier to see and identify things both on and below the water like fish, buoys, skiers, wind zephyrs and underwater hazards. Some manufacturers use polarized lenses to reduce glare on LCD instruments, fishfinders, etc. When viewed through sunglasses that are polarized differently than the instrument lens, no light is transmitted and the instrument face appears black. The only solution is to remove the glasses. Visible light transmission and lens color Lenses of different densities absorb different amounts of light. The amount of light passing through the lens is called visible light transmission, expressed as a percentage of total available light. For boating, visible light transmission should fall in the 15-30 percent range. On the brightest days, you want the lowest visible light transmission (darkest) lenses. Lenses are available in a bunch of different colors, and lens color is more than a fashion or attitude question. The technology behind the colors: - Gray: a neutral all-purpose color that reduces glare, provides good contrast and no color distortion. Ideal for use on both water and land, especially for driving. - Brown/amber: increases contrast in most light conditions. In addition to bright sun, amber offers excellent light management properties on cloudy or rainy days, and filters high-frequency near-UV light. Good for general purpose, high contrast light situations. - Purple/rose: heightens visual acuity and enhances color (especially with objects against a blue or green background). Delivers brightest field of vision and is applicable for sight fishing, bass fishing, inshore fishing, sport shooting, extreme sports and skiing. - Yellow: reduces the blue part of the spectrum. Blue light causes a scattering type of glare known as "blue haze." Best color for snow. Cuts through fog or haze, but has the worst distortion of colors. - Green: offers enhanced visual acuity for specific light situations such as sight fishing, but is worn by many for everyday use. Optically speaking, the flatter the lens, the less distortion. Curved lenses refract, or bend, the light rays as they pass through, so light doesn't enter your eye in a straight line. Your eyes are forced to work overtime to process and correct the visual information, which may cause eye fatigue and headaches. This distortion can be eliminated with corrected prismatics; check the label for distortion-free prismatics before purchasing curved sunglasses. Lenses of good sunglasses are complex, and are constructed from several layers. The inside has an antireflective coating to reduce "bounce-back" on the inside of the lens and a water-repellant coating to shed water and make cleaning easy. An ultraviolet coating protects your eyes from UVA and UVB radiation. Lenses made of polycarbonate are extremely tough, yet lighter than glass, and can be made oversized to wrap around the face and block entry of light, wind and dirt from the sides, top and bottom. Polycarbonate lenses are impact-resistant and shatterproof, an important safety feature, especially for sailors, who may be at risk of being struck in the face. They naturally block 100 percent of the sun's harmful UV rays. Trivex and Kaenon's similar proprietary SR-91 have been available for about the past ten years, with UV-blocking and shatterproofness similar to polycarbonate, but they are stronger, clearer and lighter, with better chromatic distortion performance (less distortion as you look away from the center of the lens). SR-91 has better scratch resistance than polycarbonate. Optically ground glass lenses provide the best quality and vision and are more scratch resistant, but they are also heavier. A "compromise" lens material is CR-39, a plastic polymer with optics superior to polycarbonate, but with similar impact resistance and the best scratch resistance of all plastic lenses. The best materials for boating sunglass frames are lightweight, flexible, durable materials such as nylon, propionate or acetate (also called zyl). Metal frames may be stylish, but they will quickly corrode to a ghastly green in a saltwater environment. Some manufacturers, such as Costa Del Mar, use corrosion-resistant monel in their frames. Frame hardware is made with either strong, maintenance-free pressed-in pin hinges, or with spring hinges for a snug, comfortable fit. Frame hardware should be corrosion-proof. Most of the sunglasses we sell have corrosion-proof nickel-silver or stainless steel hardware. Wire core sunglasses have heavy wire embedded in the temples and earpieces for maximum adjustability and shaping to achieve a custom fit. Lenses can be waterproof coated to shed water and make cleaning easy, or mirror-coated to eliminate overhead and reflected glare at the front of the lens. According to one manufacturer, mirror coating provides more control over the transmission of specific wavelengths than lens color, so it can enhance the visual sharpness and contrast of the lens. Some lenses are also coated on the interior with an anti-reflective coating to reduce "bounce-back" on the inside of the lens. - Aviator style glasses are droplet shaped and follow the contours of the cheek. - Cateye glasses are relatively round lenses with a single nose bridge. - Clip-ons are for use with prescription glasses, and can be flipped up instead of removed for normal vision indoors or in low light conditions. - Double bridge glasses connect the lens frames in two places–over the nose and between the eyebrows. - Fisherman style glasses have small side lenses to block light from entering outside the normal range of vision. - Shield style glasses have a large, single piece visor-like lens that shields the upper face, a style that's very popular for snow sports. - Wrap-around sunglasses are highly curved both horizontally and vertically to match the contours of the face. By hugging the face closely on all edges, wraparounds do a great job of blocking light and wind from entering at any angle. Other styles blend features of these basic styles. More important than style is fit. See below. Getting a good fit Sunglasses should fit the wearer's face, not only to look good, but so the optical center of the lenses roughly matches the wearer's center of focus to minimize distortion. The three basic measurements for sunglasses are lens size, temple length, and overall width. Glasses should fit snugly without pinching. Weight can also be a factor in correct fit; glasses that are too heavy on the nose can cause headaches.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25554000
An Abbreviated History of Ultimate Compiled by Michael E. Iacovella Ultimate, as with all disc sports, would not exist without the invention of the flying disc, or "Frisbee," as it is commonly known. The first known contemporary tossing of a "disc" was by Yale University (USA) undergrads in the early 20th century. The Yale campus was in close proximity to Connecticut's Frisbie Pie Company, whose pies while being a popular treat in themselves were sold in metal tins that would hold flight when thrown over a very short distance. The now-popular pastime of "tossing the disc" remained in obscurity until the invention of a plastic flying disc by Fred Morrison in 1948, which was much more durable and flight-worthy than anything made of wood or metal. This invention led to the first mass-produced disc, called the "Pluto Platter," made by the Wham-O toy company beginning in 1951. The year 1954 saw the first recorded competition using a flying disc when Dartmouth University (USA) students organized a tournament for the disc sport known as "Guts." A year after the Frisbie Pie Company's closing in 1958, Wham-O, based in California, USA, registered the name "Frisbee" as a name for its flying disc products. This trademark was reportedly the result of the predictable nickname that students at Yale and Harvard had given to the new toys. The invention of Ultimate, also known as "Ultimate Frisbee," occurred within a year of the first mechanical patent on a flying disc, by Ed Headrick in 1966. Joel Silver and others at Columbia High School (CHS), Maplewood, NJ, USA, introduced their idea of an "ultimate" Frisbee game to the student council in 1967, and the first known game was played in 1968 between the student council and the staff of the school newspaper. The newspaper staff was victorious in a game where the only boundaries were the goal lines and other natural side boundaries (eg., railroad tracks, river, fence). The games continued the following year, with matches being played in the evening under the glow of the mercury-vapor lights in the school's new parking lot. The first and second edition rules were drawn up by CHS student Buzzy Hellring, and were later refined by Silver and John Hines. The very first interscholastic Ultimate game was played between CHS and Milburn High in 1970; CHS won, 43-10. The first conference of Ultimate teams was created in 1971, which consisted of five New Jersey high schools, including CHS and Milburn. Some ultimate-playing graduates of the league formed teams at their respective colleges and universities. On November 6, 1972, Rutgers University (NJ, USA) defeated Princeton (NJ, USA), 29-27, in the first intercollegiate game. [Note: The game was played exactly 103 years after the first intercollegiate American football game, on the same exact site, which had since been turned into a parking lot. The same team won by the same margin of victory.] Yale hosted the first Ultimate tournament (8 college teams in attendance) in 1975, which was won by Rutgers. That summer, Ultimate was introduced at the Second World Frisbee Championships at the Rose Bowl, aiding in the development of Ultimate on the West Coast of the USA. Disc sports began to spread to Europe and Asia at about the same time, as is evident by the formation of the Swedish Frisbee Federation (SFF) in 1974, the Japanese Frisbee Disc Association in 1975, and the Australian FDA in 1976. Belgium and Austria each organized FDAs in 1977, with Finland's FDA and the Danish Frisbee Sport Union to follow in 1978. The Ultimate Players Association (UPA) was formed in 1979; Tom Kennedy was elected the first director. The UPA, the national governing body for the sport of Ultimate in the USA, was the first national, player-run US Ultimate organization. Prior to this juncture, events were sponsored and/or run by the International Frisbee Association (IFA), which was a former promotional arm of the Wham-O toy company. At the first UPA Nationals in 1979, Glassboro State College was victorious over the Santa Barbara Condors, 19-18. The first Ultimate European Championship was in Paris, France, in 1980; Finland, England and Sweden finished one, two, and three, respectively. The World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF), the international governing body of all disc sports, was founded in 1984, a year after the close of the IFA [Note: at the IFA's closure, membership was reported to be 100,000 members in 30 countries]. Flying Circus (open), USA, Lady Condors (women), USA, and Sweden (juniors) win the first WFDF-sponsored World Ultimate Championships (for national teams) in Colchester, United Kingdom (1986). The first World Ultimate Club Championships (WUCC) was held in Cologne, Germany, in 1989. Philmore (open, USA) and Lady Condors (women, USA) win their respective divisions. Seven Sages (masters, USA) become the first international club Masters champions at Millfield, UK, in 1995, and Red Fish, Blue Fish is the first Mixed champion at St. Andrews, Scotland, in 1999. Currently, Ultimate is played by an estimated 100,000+ players in over 30 countries. The Ultimate Players Association (USA) reports an overall membership of 13,000+ dues-paying members. Membership in the UPA and other national organizations is growing yearly at a startling rate. Thirty-five years have elapsed since the first disc was tossed for a goal under the mercury-vapor lights of the Columbia High parking lot. As you bask in the warmth of the Hawaiian sun at the largest Ultimate tournament in history, reflect on the growth of a spectacular sport within which the deepest-seeded value is sportsmanship.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25555000
Estimating child mortality due to diarrhoea in developing countries Cynthia Boschi-Pinto a, Lana Velebit b, Kenji Shibuya c The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were adopted in 2000 with the aim of reducing the severe gaps between rich and poor populations. Most countries have endorsed Goal 4 of the MDGs to “reduce by two thirds [between 1990 and 2015] the mortality rate among children under-five”.1,2 Reliable information on the magnitude, patterns and trends of causes of death of children aged less than 5 years helps decision-makers to assess programmatic needs, prioritize interventions and monitor progress. It is also crucial for planning and evaluating effectiveness of health services and interventions. Yet, data are very scarce in low-income settings where they are most needed and estimations are necessary for these areas. In the 1980s, Snyder and Merson3 generated one of the earliest attempts to estimate the worldwide burden of diarrhoeal diseases, demonstrating the substantial health onus due to diarrhoeal diseases on mortality among children aged less than 5 years. In the following decades, subsequent reviews updated these initial estimates using similar methods of assessment.4,5 These initial estimates were based on average values derived from a limited set of studies without taking into account the epidemiological variations across different regions. Responding to international demand and to the need for better evidence-based cause-specific mortality, the Child Health Epidemiology Reference Group (CHERG) – an independent group of technical experts jointly coordinated by WHO and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) – was established in 2001. CHERG has undertaken a systematic, extensive and comprehensive literature review of published information and developed a methodological approach that is transparent and consistent across different diseases and conditions to produce estimates of the major causes of childhood deaths.6–10 This study is an essential part of the overall CHERG efforts. Its main objective is to provide estimates of deaths from diarrhoea in 2004 at all levels, mainly for countries with incomplete or non-existing civil registration data. Common sources of data for cause-specific mortality include vital registration systems, sample registration systems, nationally representative household surveys, sentinel Demographic Surveillance Sites (DSS) or epidemiological studies of cause-specific mortality. In countries that account for 98% of under-5 deaths worldwide, there is very limited or virtually no functioning vital registration system in place to support attribution of causes of deaths.11–14 A sample registration system, which reports causes of death on a regular basis, is currently available only in China and its coverage and quality for under-5 deaths is challenging.15 Nationally representative household surveys such as Demographic Health Surveys (DHS) and UNICEF’s Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) do not usually report on causes of death, and DSS data were not available until very recently.16 Epidemiological studies currently constitute the main source of data available and were therefore used in this review for estimating diarrhoea-specific mortality. Studies included in the analysis were identified through a systematic search of the scientific literature published since 1980. Medline was searched using the terms: “developing countries”, “mortality/death”, different spellings of “diarrhoea” and combinations of these terms. No restriction was placed on publication language. The search identified a total of 804 papers of which 207 were kept for review of abstracts. The reference sections of the studies retrieved were reviewed to identify additional papers. Studies were then assessed to ensure that they met the main inclusion criteria: (i) direct or derivable diarrhoea-specific proportional mortality data; (ii) a minimum of 25 total deaths; (iii) a maximum of 25% of unknown or undetermined causes of death; (iv) community-based studies with at least 1 year of follow-up; and (v) follow-up time multiple of 12 months to minimize seasonal effects. Data were abstracted onto standardized paper forms by two independent abstractors, double-entered into an electronic database, and validated. Table 1 (available at: http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/86/9/07-050054/en/index.html) summarizes the main characteristics of the studies retained for the final analysis. Adjustment of age groups As not all studies reported on age ranges that were suitable for immediate inclusion in the analysis, we developed and applied a correction algorithm to adjust for age groups. By doing so, all data referred to the same age group (0–59 months), allowing for the inclusion of a greater number of studies in the analysis. Proportional mortality model A traditional approach to estimating cause-specific mortality is to model mortality rates. Instead, we have decided to model proportional mortality as this is the measure of interest when assessing causes of death by country. Moreover, as the WHO process for estimating causes of death is based on the estimation of under-5 mortality level, followed by the allocation of the causes of under-5 mortality,6 proportional mortality is a more pertinent outcome that can be used in the completion of the estimation process. We employed a weighted regression model to assess the relationship between the observed proportion of deaths from diarrhoea and potential explanatory variables, in an approach similar to those previously used for estimating proportion of deaths from pneumonia.6,10,17 Covariates included in the final model were those available from the studies selected, so that the model could reflect the relationship more accurately than in the conventional approach of using national averages. The variables included were: under-5 all-cause mortality and dummy variables for mid-year of study and for nine WHO subregions.18 All-cause under-5 mortality was obtained for the same (or comparable) site from which the proportional diarrhoea mortality information was derived, as follows: (i) directly abstracted or calculated from available data in the study (30 studies); (ii) obtained from the authors when not possible to calculate from published data (three studies); (iii) obtained from DHS data (11 studies); or (iv) obtained using a method similar to that used for the adjustment of age groups (three studies). As under-5 mortality rates were reported in different measures (rates, risks or ratios) in the publications, we have transformed those provided as mortality rates (5m0) into a single metric – the probability (risk) of a child dying before reaching the age of 5 years (5q0). WHO subregions are defined on the basis of levels of child and adult mortality: A, very low child and very low adult mortality; B, low child and low adult mortality; C, low child and high adult mortality; D, high child and high adult mortality; E, high child and very high adult mortality.18 The nine low- and middle-income subregions included in the model are: African Region (AFR) D and E; Region of the Americas (AMR) B and D; South-East Asia Region (SEAR) B and D, Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) B and D and Western Pacific Region (WPR) B. Other potentially important variables considered for inclusion in the model, such as coverage of oral rehydration therapy, access to clean water, and health system indicators, were only available for a very limited number of studies at site level and thus could not be incorporated in the model. The regression coefficients obtained from the final model were used to predict the proportion of deaths from diarrhoea at country level by using national information on under-5 mortality in 2004 and data for the corresponding subregion. The number of deaths from diarrhoea in the year 2004 was estimated by applying the model-predicted diarrhoea-proportional mortality to the number of under-5 deaths in each country. These were then aggregated to provide subregional, regional, and global (low- and middle-income countries) estimates. Detailed information on the estimates of all-cause under-5 deaths can be found elsewhere.19 Uncertainty estimates were generated using the standard errors obtained from the prediction model and running 10 000 Monte Carlo simulations. Of the 68 studies that met the inclusion criteria, 47 were kept in the analysis because they provided data that enabled us to either abstract or calculate site-specific under-5 mortality rates (Table 1). Seven studies presented data for more than one point in time, and one study provided data for different study populations, adding up to 56 data points and representing a total of 210 000 all-cause deaths and 33 500 diarrhoea deaths. Three data points were from nationally representative studies, seven from studies carried out in urban settings and 43 (77%) from those carried out in rural areas. This distribution compares well with that of the rural and urban populations in the countries studied. Fig. 1 shows the location of the 47 studies retained from the literature search, revealing the regional distribution of study sites as follows: 23 data points (41%) in AFR, 17 (30%) in SEAR, and 12 (21%) in AMR. There were very few studies or information available from EMR or WPR. The scarcity of information in these two regions is a fact, not only for diarrhoea mortality, but for other diseases and conditions as well.8,13 Fig. 1. Distribution of epidemiological studies used in the analysis Studies were distributed around an average mid-surveillance year of 1990. Two studies were carried out in the 1970s. As for the remaining 54 data points, the mid-year of data collection was between 1980 and 1984 for 14 observations, between 1985 and 1989 for 26 observations and between 1990 and 1994 for 13 observations. Only one study was completely carried out after 1995. In recent years, low-mortality studies were seen more than high-mortality studies, reflecting the secular downward trend in child mortality that has been accompanied by a decrease in the proportion of deaths due to diarrhoea. The age-adjusted (0–59 months) diarrhoea-proportional mortality ranged from 4.6% in Brazil in 199720 to 47.7% in Egypt in 1980.21 The final regression model was (standard errors in brackets): logit(% diarrhoea deaths) = 5.31 + 2.01(time) + 8.56(subregion) [3.67, 1.02, 0.97, 1.92] where ln5q0 is the natural logarithm of the risk of dying between birth and 5 years in the study site, time is a dummy variable for mid-year of study (1 for 1990 and after, 0 for before 1990) and subregion is a dummy variable for WHO subregions (1 for SEAR B and D combined, 0 for the other subregions). The goodness-of-fit was satisfactory, as reflected by the R² of 0.60. There was no systematic deviation among the residual. A simple validation technique that is commonly used is to compare the model outputs with empirical data other than those used in the model. We searched the latest data from DHS and other nationally representative surveys in which verbal autopsy was used to obtain information on causes of death among children aged less than 5 years. We have identified three recently published surveys with available information from Bangladesh (DHS 2005),22 Cambodia (DHS 2005)23 and Liberia (Food Security and Nutritional Survey 2006).24 The difference in cause categories made direct comparison difficult, particularly for Bangladesh and Cambodia. The only comparable data set was that from Liberia where the model-based estimate and empirically observed figure for the proportion of diarrhoea deaths were 15.9% (95% CI: 12.4–19.3) and 16.1%, respectively. This is not sufficient to validate the entire set of extrapolations but it does illustrate the performance of our method in countries where a vital registration system does not exist or is incomplete. Subregional, regional and global estimates Estimates of diarrhoea-proportional mortality for nine low-and middle-income WHO subregions are shown in Table 2, together with point estimates of the number of deaths due to diarrhoea and corresponding uncertainty ranges. The model-based global point estimate of 1.87 million (uncertainty range: 1.56–2.19) diarrhoea deaths corresponds to nearly 19% of the 10 million under-5 deaths that occurred in the world in 2004.14 AFR and SEAR assemble together 78% (1.46 million) of all diarrhoea deaths occurring in the developing world (Fig. 2). Fig. 2. Distribution of deaths due to diarrhoea in low- and middle-income countries in 5 WHO regions SEAR D suffers the highest average burden of diarrhoea-proportional mortality (25%) as well as highest numbers of death (651 000 diarrhoea deaths). It follows AFR D (402 000 deaths), AFR E (365 000 deaths), and EMR D (221 000). In SEAR B, AFR D, and AFR E, the median of diarrhoea-proportional mortality is around 17%. The lowest proportions and numbers of death were observed in the low child mortality region of the Americas (AMR B) and in EMR B. Table 2. Estimates of diarrhoea deaths among children aged less than 5 years in low- and middle-income regions of the world, 2004 Table 3 shows the top 15 countries ranked according to the number of under-5 deaths due to diarrhoeal diseases. These 15 countries account for 73% of all under-5 diarrhoeal deaths occurring worldwide. India alone is responsible for more than half a million diarrhoeal deaths. Table 3. Countries accounting for three-quarters of deaths due to diarrhoea in the developing regions of the world, 2004 Despite several attempts to estimate mortality from diarrhoea over the past decades and in recent years, the uncertainty surrounding its current level remains quite high. This occurs partly because of the lack in quality and number of available data and partly because of the lack of consistency in methods. We systematically reviewed studies that provided child cause-specific mortality published since 1980 and employed a rigorous and transparent approach to estimate current country, regional, and global diarrhoea mortality. Two recent studies presented global estimates of child deaths due to diarrhoea that were equal to 2.5 million5 and 2.1 million.25 A third review has estimated that 22% of all deaths among under-5s in sub-Saharan Africa and 23% in south Asia were caused by diarrhoeal diseases in the year 2000.8 The point estimate in our study resulted in 1.87 million deaths with an uncertainty range of 1.56 and 2.19 million deaths. These results are slightly lower than those calculated in the three other recent reviews. The main reasons for the differences encountered between this study and those by Kosek et al.5 and Parashar et al.25 are most probably due to the different data and methods employed. In the present study, we performed a thorough literature review and took advantage of best available data to adjust for age, time, all-cause under-5 mortality, and regional mortality strata. Our approach has four major advantages when compared to earlier estimates. First, the method used here is transparent with all data sources available on the web. In addition, it is consistent with the CHERG systematic review protocol and comparable to the method used across different causes of under-5 deaths.6–10 Second, the adjustment for age groups had not been previously used in the estimation of deaths from diarrhoea and has enabled the inclusion of a larger number of data points in the analysis. Third, our study did not assume that the locations where studies were carried out were representative of the whole country. The use of local covariates to relate to proportional diarrhoea mortality and the use of national level variables to extrapolate estimates to national levels is intended to provide a correction for this common biased assumption. Finally, our approach enables estimation of diarrhoea mortality at country level, not just of regional averages. The method employed in our study is closer to that used by Morris et al.,8 also developed within CHERG.One of the possible reasons for the somewhat lower estimates calculated in our analysis are the different sources of data. We have included 57 data points in our analysis as opposed to the 38 included in the review by Morris et al., mostly from sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia. In our review, there is a larger number of studies from the Americas, where the proportions of deaths due to diarrhoea are lower than in sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia. Other likely reasons for the differences are the different covariates included for modelling and the different models employed, which have diverse assumptions and statistical properties. It is worth noting that the multicause model has also provided higher estimates for the proportion of malaria deaths in sub-Saharan Africa (24%) than the 18% estimated by the single-cause model proposed by Rowe et al.9 Besides, the all-cause model has not taken into account the high proportion of HIV mortality in the AFR E subregion. It is likely that this may have resulted in an overestimation of the proportion of the other causes of death. There are some limitations intrinsic to the type of review and meta-analysis used in our assessment. Locations where special population studies are conducted are rarely representative of the entire countries as they are usually carried out in populations that are either easy to access or have atypical mortality patterns. However, using local variables in the model and national level variables to predict country estimates should account, at least in part, for this potential site bias. The inclusion of mid-year of study in the model could be seen as reflecting both time and place of study as studies conducted in different years could also be from different places. Yet, time distribution of the studies within each region is very similar. Furthermore, the use of a dichotomous dummy variable for controlling for time in the regression model makes them equivalent for all countries. Our estimates, as well as those obtained from other reviews, rely on published epidemiological studies that used mostly verbal autopsy methods in their assessment of causes of death. Consequently, they have limitations that are inherent to this type of data such as misclassification of causes of death due to imperfect sensitivity and specificity of the instrument. Misclassification of causes of death is likely to be random; therefore it does not necessarily imply that the distribution of these causes will be biased. We have not attempted to correct for the possible measurement errors introduced by the use of verbal autopsy26,27 because there was not enough site-specific information from validation studies to enable an adequate adjustment.27 It is also worth noting that most (68%) of the data used in this review refer to studies that were carried out between the late 1980s and early 1990s and that the latest mid-year of observation was 1997. This represents a lag time of almost 10 years. Currently, available data are unable to capture possible recent changes in diarrhoea mortality either due to changes in interventions, their coverage, or new emerging diseases and competing causes of death, with the exception of HIV/AIDS which is captured by the use of subregional levels of mortality. Public health implications Estimates obtained here can be used as the starting point for the monitoring of cause of death at country, regional and global levels in the future. Clearly, such estimates do not replace empirical data. Nevertheless, they are an invaluable tool for guiding decision-making and prioritizing interventions in child health strategies and planning in countries where vital registration or other sources of community-based data on causes of death are not available. Importantly, such an estimation process is exceptionally useful for identifying gaps in information and for developing approaches to tackling data problems. Information on causes of death for children aged less than 5 years has not increased significantly since the late 1980s. The lack of systems able to generate representative quality data on a regular basis is one of the major obstacles for international and national planning to reduce under-5 mortality. By providing best possible estimates of the distribution of causes of death, CHERG methods have proven to be a transient alternative to countries without adequate information. The main CHERG standards for estimating the burden of mortality, used in this review include: (i) thorough literature search; (ii) data abstraction exercise performed by two independent data abstractors and with two independent data entries; (iii) very strict inclusion and exclusion criteria; and (iv) use of local covariates to predict national estimates. We strongly believe that these rigorous criteria ensured that inputs for the current estimates consisted of the most valid information available and that the modelling of local variables to predict national estimates was performed using an innovative and best possible approach. Results presented here should thus allow settings without adequate information to draw a reasonable picture of the burden of under-5 diarrhoea mortality that should ultimately result in practical planning for the prioritization of interventions and decision-making. ■ This work was done through CHERG, coordinated by the Department of Child and Adolescent Health and Development and supported by the Department of Measurement and Health Information Systems of WHO. We thank Bob Black and members of CHERG for their critical review of the methods. We thank Colin Mathers, Doris Ma Fat and Mie Inoue for providing data related to the WHO mortality database. We also thank Cesar Victora and Bernardo Horta for providing additional data from their cohort study. Funding: The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation provided financial support for the work of CHERG. Competing interests: None declared. - United Nations Millennium Declaration 2000. Available from: http://www.un.org/millennium/declaration/ares552e.htm [accessed on 19 May 2008]. - United Nations Millennium Development Goals. Available from: http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/ [accessed on 19 May 2008]. - Snyder JD, Merson MH. The magnitude of the global problem of acute diarrhoeal disease: a review of active surveillance data. Bull World Health Organ 1982; 60: 604-13. - Bern C, Martines J, de Zoysa I, Glass RI. The magnitude of the global problem of diarrhoeal disease: a ten-year update. Bull World Health Organ 1992; 70: 705-14 pmid: 1486666. - Kosek M, Bern C, Guerrant R. The global burden of diarrhoeal disease as estimated from studies published between 1992 and 2000. Bull World Health Organ 2003; 81: 197-204 pmid: 12764516. - Bryce J, Boschi-Pinto C, Shibuya K, Black RE. WHO estimates of the causes of death in children. Lancet 2005; 365: 1147-52 doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(05)71877-8 pmid: 15794969. - Lawn JE, Cousens S, Zupan J. 4 million neonatal deaths: When? Where? Why? Lancet 2005; 365: 891-900 doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(05)71048-5 pmid: 15752534. - Morris SS, Black RE, Tomaskovic L. Predicting the distribution of under-five deaths by cause in countries without adequate vital registration systems. Int J Epidemiol 2003; 32: 1041-51 doi: 10.1093/ije/dyg241 pmid: 14681271. - Rowe AK, Rowe SY, Snow RW, Korenromp EL, Armstrong Schellenberg JRM, Stein C, et al., et al. The burden of malaria mortality among African children in the year 2000. Int J Epidemiol 2006; 35: 691-704 doi: 10.1093/ije/dyl027 pmid: 16507643. - Williams BG, Gouws E, Boschi-Pinto C, Bryce J, Dye C. Estimates of world-wide distribution of child deaths from acute respiratory infections. Lancet Infect Dis 2002; 2: 25-32 doi: 10.1016/S1473-3099(01)00170-0 pmid: 11892493. - Black RE, Morris SS, Bryce J. Where and why are 10 million children dying every year? Lancet 2003; 361: 2226-34 doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(03)13779-8 pmid: 12842379. - Mathers CD, Ma Fat D, Inoue M, Rao C, Lopez AD. Counting the dead and what they died of: an assessment of the global status of cause of death data. Bull World Health Organ 2005; 83: 171-7 pmid: 15798840. - Rudan I, Lawn J, Cousens S, Rowe AK, Boschi-Pinto C, Tomaskovic L, et al., et al. Gaps in policy-relevant information on burden of disease in children: a systematic review. Lancet 2005; 365: 2031-40 doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(05)66697-4 pmid: 15950717. - World Health Statistics. Geneva: WHO; 2006. - Rao C, Lopez AD, Yang G, Begg S, Ma J. Evaluating national cause-of-death statistics: principles and application to the case of China. Bull World Health Organ 2005; 83: 618-25 pmid: 16184281. - Adjuik M, Smith T, Clark S, Todd J, Garrib A, Kinfu Y, et al., et al. Cause-specific mortality rates in sub-Saharan Africa and Bangladesh. Bull World Health Organ 2006; 84: 181-8 doi: 10.2471/BLT.05.026492 pmid: 16583076. - Garenne M, Ronsmans C, Campbell H. The magnitude of mortality from acute respiratory infections in children under 5 years in developing countries. World Health Stat Q 1992; 45: 180-91 pmid: 1462653. - The world health report 2004: changing history. Geneva: WHO; 2004. - Mathers CD, Stein C, Ma Fat D, Rao C, Inoue M, Tomijima N, et al. Global Burden of Disease 2000, version 2, methods and results. [Global Programme on Evidence for Health Policy Discussion Paper No 50]. Geneva: WHO; 2002. Available from: http://www.who.int/healthinfo/paper50.pdf [accessed on 19 May 2008]. - Antunes JL, Waldman EA. Trends and spatial distribution of deaths of children aged 12-60 months in São Paulo, Brazil, 1980-98. Bull World Health Organ 2002; 80: 391-8 pmid: 12077615. - Tekçe B. Oral rehydration therapy: an assessment of mortality effects in rural Egypt. Stud Fam Plann 1982; 13: 315-27 doi: 10.2307/1965803 pmid: 6965183. - Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey 2004. Dhaka, Bangladesh, and Calverton, MD, USA: National Institute of Population Research and Training, Mitra and Associates, and ORC Macro; 2005. - Cambodia Demographic and Health Survey 2005. Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and Calverton, MD, USA: National Institute of Public Health, National Institute of Statistics and ORC Macro; 2006. - Food Security and Nutritional Survey. Liberia: World Food Programme; 2006. Available from: http://www.humanitarianinfo.org/liberia/assessments/others/doc/Grand%20Gedeh%20April%2005.pdf [accessed on 27 May 2008]. - Parashar UD, Hummelman EG, Bresee JS, Miller MA, Glass RI. Global illness and deaths caused by rotavirus disease in children. Emerg Infect Dis 2003; 9: 565-72 pmid: 12737740. - Anker M. The effect of misclassification error on reported cause-specific mortality fractions from verbal autopsy. Int J Epidemiol 1997; 26: 1090-6 doi: 10.1093/ije/26.5.1090 pmid: 9363532. - Chandramohan D, Setel P, Quigley M. Effect of misclassification error of causes of death in verbal autopsy: can it be adjusted? Int J Epidemiol 2001; 30: 509-14 doi: 10.1093/ije/30.3.509 pmid: 11416073. - Amin R. Immunization coverage and child mortality in two rural districts of Sierra Leone. Soc Sci Med 1996; 42: 1599-604 doi: 10.1016/0277-9536(95)00024-0 pmid: 8771643. - Becker SR, Diop F, Thornton JN. Infant and child mortality estimates in two counties of Liberia. Results of a survey in 1988 and trends since 1984. Int J Epidemiol 1993; 22: S56-63 pmid: 8307676. - De Francisco A, Hall AJ, Armstrong Schellenberg JRM, Greenwood AM, Greenwood BM. The pattern of infant and childhood mortality in Upper River Division, The Gambia. Ann Trop Paediatr 1993; 13: 345-52 pmid: 7506881. - Fontaine O, Diop B, Beau JP, Briend A, Ndiaye M. La diarrhée infantile au Sénégal. Med Trop 1984; 44: 27-31. - Ghana VAST Study Team. Vitamin A supplementation in northern Ghana: effects on clinic attendances, hospital admissions, and child mortality. Lancet 1993; 342: 7-12 doi: 10.1016/0140-6736(93)91879-Q pmid: 8100345. - Greenwood BM, Greenwood AM, Bradley S, Tulloch S, Hayes R, Oldfield FSJ. Deaths in infancy and early childhood in a well-vaccinated, rural, West African population. Ann Trop Paediatr 1987; 7: 91-9 pmid: 2441658. - Greenwood BM, Bradley AK, Byass P, Greenwood AM, Menon A, Snow RW, et al., et al. Evaluation of a primary health care programme in The Gambia. II. Its impact on mortality and morbidity in young children. J Trop Med Hyg 1990; 93: 87-97 pmid: 2325198. - Jaffar S, Leach A, Greenwood AM, Jepson A, Muller O, Ota MOC, et al., et al. Changes in the pattern of infant and childhood mortality in Upper River Division, The Gambia, from 1989 to 1993. Trop Med Int Health 1997; 2: 28-37 doi: 10.1046/j.1365-3156.1997.d01-131.x pmid: 9018300. - Jinadu MK, Olusi SO, Agun JI, Fabiyi AK. Childhood diarrhoea in rural Nigeria. I. Studies on prevalence, mortality and socio-environmental factors. J Diarrhoeal Dis Res 1991; 9: 323-7 pmid: 1800564. - Molbak K, Aaby P, Ingholt L, Hojlyng N, Gottschau A, Andersen H, et al., et al. Persistent and acute diarrhoea as the leading causes of child mortality in urban Guinea Bissau. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg 1992; 86: 216-20 doi: 10.1016/0035-9203(92)90580-6 pmid: 1440794. - Pison G, Trape JF, Lefebvre M, Enel C. Rapid decline in child mortality in a rural area of Senegal. Int J Epidemiol 1993; 22: 72-80 doi: 10.1093/ije/22.1.72 pmid: 8449650. - Victora CG, Huttly SRA, Fuchs SC, Barros FC, Garenne M, Leroy O, et al., et al. International differences in clinical patterns of diarrhoea deaths: a comparison of children from Brazil, Senegal, Bangladesh, and India. J Diarrhoeal Dis Res 1993; 11: 25-9 pmid: 8315250. - Delacollette C, Van der Stuyft P, Molima K, Delacollette-Lebrun C, Wery M. Étude de la mortalité globale et de la mortalité liée au paludisme dans le Kivu montagneux, Zaire. Rev Epidemiol Sante Publique 1989; 37: 161-6 pmid: 2772361. - Delacollette C, Barutwanayo M. Mortalité et morbidité aux jeunes âges dans une région à paludisme hyperendémique stable, commune de Nyanza-Lac, Imbo Sud, Burundi. Bull Soc Pathol Exot 1993; 86: 373-9 pmid: 8124110. - Georges MC, Roure C, Tauxe RV, Meunier DMY, Merlin M, Testa J, et al., et al. Diarrhoeal morbidity and mortality in children in the Central African Republic. Am J Trop Med Hyg 1987; 36: 598-602 pmid: 3578657. - Kahn K, Tollman SM, Garenne M, Gear JSS. Who dies from what? Determining cause of death in South Africa’s rural north-east. Trop Med Int Health 1999; 4: 433-41 doi: 10.1046/j.1365-3156.1999.00415.x pmid: 10444319. - Mtango FDE, Neuvians D. Acute respiratory infections in children under five years. Control project in Bagamoyo District, Tanzania. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg 1986; 80: 851-8 doi: 10.1016/0035-9203(86)90241-5 pmid: 3603635. - Mtango FDE, Neuvians D, Broome CV, Hightower AW, Pio A. Risk factors for deaths in children under 5 years old in Bangamoyo District, Tanzania. Trop Med Parasitol 1992; 43: 229-33 pmid: 1293726. - Shamebo D, Muhe L, Sandström A, Wall S. The Butajira rural health project in Ethiopia: mortality pattern of the under fives. J Trop Pediatr 1991; 37: 254-61 pmid: 1784061. - Watts T, Ngändu N, Wray J. Children in an urban township in Zambia. A prospective study of children during their first year of life. J Trop Pediatr 1990; 36: 287-93 pmid: 2280435. - Diarrheal diseases in Mexico. Morbidity, mortality and management, 1990-1993 Salud Publica Mex 1994; 36: 243-6 pmid: 8073339. - Antunes JL, Waldman EA. Trends and spatial distribution of deaths of children aged 12-60 months in São Paulo, Brazil, 1980-98. Bull World Health Organ 2002; 80: 391-8 pmid: 12077615. - Bailey P, Tsui AO, Janowitz B, Dominik R, Araujo L. A study of infant mortality and causes of death in a rural north-east Brazilian community. J Biosoc Sci 1990; 22: 349-63 doi: 10.1017/S002193200001871X pmid: 2401677. - Barreto IC, Kerr Pontes L, Correa L. Vigilância de óbitos infantis em sistemas locais de saúde; avaliação da autópsia verbal e das informaçães de agentes de saúde. Rev Panam Salud Publica 2000; 7: 303-12 doi: 10.1590/S1020-49892000000500003 pmid: 10893970. - Barros FC, Victora CG, Vaughan JP, Teixeira AM, Ashworth A. Infant mortality in southern Brazil: a population based study of causes of death. Arch Dis Child 1987; 62: 487-90 pmid: 3606182. - Campos G de J. dos Reis Filho SA, da Silva AA, Novochadlo MA, da Silva RA, Galvão CE. Infant morbimortality due to acute diarrhea in a metropolitan area of northeastern Brazil, 1986-1989 Rev Saude Publica 1995; 29: 132-9 pmid: 8525323. - Victora CG, Barros FC, Huttly SR, Teixeira AM, Vaughan JP. Early childhood mortality in a Brazilian cohort: the roles of birthweight and socioeconomic status. Int J Epidemiol 1992; 21: 911-5 doi: 10.1093/ije/21.5.911 pmid: 1468852. - Victora CG, Vaughan JP, Barros FC. The seasonality of infant deaths due to diarrhoeal and respiratory diseases in southern Brazil, 1974-1978. Bull Pan Am Health Organ 1985; 19: 29-39 pmid: 4027452. - Victora CG, Barros FC, Vaughan JP, Teixeira AM. Birthweight and infant mortality: a longitudinal study of 5914 Brazilian children. Int J Epidemiol 1987; 16: 239-45 doi: 10.1093/ije/16.2.239 pmid: 3610450. - Ibrahim MM, Omar HM, Persson LA, Wall S. Child mortality in a collapsing African society. Bull World Health Organ 1996; 74: 547-52 pmid: 9002335. - Khan AJ, Khan JA, Akbar M, Addiss DG. Acute respiratory infections in children: a case management intervention in Abbottabad District, Pakistan. Bull World Health Organ 1990; 68: 577-85 pmid: 2289294. - Tekçe B. Oral rehydration therapy: an assessment of mortality effects in rural Egypt. Stud Fam Plann 1982; 13: 315-27 doi: 10.2307/1965803 pmid: 6965183. - Nazir M, Pardede N, Ismail R. The incidence of diarrhoeal diseases and diarrhoeal diseases related mortality in rural swampy low-land area of south Sumatra, Indonesia. J Trop Pediatr 1985; 31: 268-72 pmid: 3877814. - Anand K, Kant S, Kumar G, Kapoor SK. “Development” is not essential to reduce infant mortality rate in India: experience from the Ballabgarh project. J Epidemiol Community Health 2000; 54: 247-53 doi: 10.1136/jech.54.4.247 pmid: 10827906. - Awasthi S, Pande VK, Glick H. Under fives mortality in the urban slums of Lucknow. Indian J Pediatr 1996; 63: 363-8 doi: 10.1007/BF02751529 pmid: 10830012. - Bang AT, Bang RA, Tale O, Sontakke P, Solanki J, Wargantiwar R, et al., et al. Reduction in pneumonia mortality and total childhood mortality by means of community-based intervention trial in Gadchiroli, India. Lancet 1990; 336: 201-6 doi: 10.1016/0140-6736(90)91733-Q pmid: 1973770. - Khalique N, Sinha SN, Yunus M, Malik A. Early childhood mortality - a rural study. J R Soc Health 1993; 113: 247-9 doi: 10.1177/146642409311300507 pmid: 8230076. - Baqui AH, Black RE, Arifeen SE, Hill K, Mitra SN, al Sabir A. Causes of childhood deaths in Bangladesh: results of a nationwide verbal autopsy study. Bull World Health Organ 1998; 76: 161-71 pmid: 9648357. - Baqui AH, Sabir AA, Begum N, Arifeen SE, Mitra SN, Black RE. Causes of childhood deaths in Bangladesh: an update. Acta Paediatr 2001; 90: 682-90 doi: 10.1080/080352501750258775 pmid: 11440104. - Bhatia S. Patterns and causes of neonatal and postneonatal mortality in rural Bangladesh. Stud Fam Plann 1989; 20: 136-46 doi: 10.2307/1966568 pmid: 2734810. - Chen LC, Rahman M, Sarder AM. Epidemiology and causes of death among children in a rural area of Bangladesh. Int J Epidemiol 1980; 9: 25-33 doi: 10.1093/ije/9.1.25 pmid: 7419328. - Fauveau V, Yunus M, Zaman K, Chakraborty J, Sarder AM. Diarrhoea mortality in rural Bangladeshi children. J Trop Pediatr 1991; 37: 31-6 pmid: 2023300. - Rahmathullah L, Underwood BA, Thulasiraj RD, Milton RC, Ramaswamy K, Rahmathullah R, et al., et al. Reduced mortality among children in southern India receiving a small weekly dose of Vitamin A. N Engl J Med 1990; 323: 929-35 pmid: 2205798. - Pandey MR, Daulaire NM, Starbuck ES, Houston RM, McPherson K. Reduction in total under-five mortality in western Nepal through community-based antimicrobial treatment of pneumonia. 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Ask the experts and many of them will tell you the same thing: the single-serve coffee category is hotter than freshly brewed java. Fueled by convenience, the time-saving system that lets users prepare drinks by the cup is gaining popularity worldwide. Yet, since their inception, single-serve cups and capsules have had to dodge the criticism that they’re inherently bad for the environment. Since single-serve capsules are discarded after each use, the brewing method is not as green as preparing drinks with ground coffee or espresso. And, we’re talking about a lot of cups and capsules. According to the National Coffee Association, single-serve coffee is the fastest-growing sector of the home market, as well as the second most popular brewing method after conventional drip coffee makers. So, what’s an environmentally conscious coffee lover to do? Must eco-concerns be set aside in favor of fast, convenient, and reliable drinks by the cup? Fortunately, leading single-serve manufacturers are addressing the issue head on. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR), the maker of K-Cups for Keurig, conducted a life cycle analysis to assess the environmental impact of its single-serve packs. Highlights of the study are as follows: According to the study, even though the end-of-life cycle -- when a K-Cup is used and discarded -- is the most visible, it actually only accounts for only 5% of the potential global warming output. Nevertheless, GMCR has put together a program to allow workplace customers in the contiguous U.S. to collect and return spent K-Cups for composting and energy from waste processing. The Grounds to Grow On program is estimated to have recovered 4.1 million K-Cup packs and composted over 85,000 pounds of ground coffee in the same year. The plastic from spent K-Cups saved approximately 139 kilowatt hours. Want to take matters into your own hands, give the Keurig My K-Cup filter basket a try. It is a reusable filter that lets you brew with any ground pre-ground coffee you choose. No hassle, no mess, and no waste. At Nespresso, the talk centers around recycling as well as developing more sustainable aluminum for their single-serve capsules. In the U.S., the company has capsule collection systems in place in cities with Nespresso boutiques including: New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Nespresso has also launched the AluCycle, partnering with mining, refining, retrieval, recycling organizations to improve the sustainability of aluminum. The company has also teamed up with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to promote environmentally sound aluminum practices. Taking its commitment one step further, Nespresso has equipped some of its single-serve machines with an ECO button, which will automatically turn the machine off after 30 minutes of inactivity to conserve energy. The feature is available on the latest generation of the CitiZ machines. As an added bonus, purchase any Nespresso single-serve machine over $199 from now until June 17, 2013 and you can register for a $50 Nespresso Club credit good for free capsules. Illy iperEspresso fans can take heart in knowing that their capsules are made from recycled plastic. The company is working on a method to allow consumers to open, clean, and recycle their capsules. While single-serve systems may not be as eco-friendly as other more traditional brewing methods, the leading manufacturers are taking notes and continually making improvements to their products. Don’t write them off just yet. Like heirlooms, treasured recipes get passed down from generation to generation, building memories at every turn. In celebration of Mother’s Day, we’re asking you to share your family’s favorite coffee or espresso-related recipe for a chance to win a Keurig B31 Mini Plus in Platinum, a box of Green Mountain Nantucket Blend K-Cups, two Whole Latte Love Latte Cups. You can submit a drink or food recipe, so long as one of the ingredients is coffee or espresso. Enter here by noon (EST) on May 6, 2013 and we’ll put your submission up for an open vote. Our fans will determine who wins this contest! Voting ends on May 9 noon (EST) just two days after recipe submissions are due. Anyone with a college experience similar to mine will be in for a number of late nights and early mornings. Now, whether you’re in a dorm, or in an apartment, getting that first cup of coffee can be essential to keeping you alert and productive for the rest of the day. I know that time and money are kind of a big deal for most college students, and I know you’re going to want to find a fast and affordable source of coffee. Don’t worry; we’re here to help. When it comes to quick, convenient coffee, single-serve machines work very well. No mess, no hassle, and you never need to worry about brewing too much. If you’re worried about price, don’t be. We have a number of affordable single serve options like the Keurig B31 Mini Plus, and if you do go with a Keurig, you might want to check out the My K-Cup Filter Basket, an innovative accessory that allows you to use your own pre-ground coffee in your machine in addition to K-Cups. While a single serve machine is likely to become a much worshiped and permanent fixture in your place of residence, necessity will sometimes require that your coffee be mobile and when that’s the case, few things work better than the Bodum French Press Travel Set. Not only is it an actual French press for brewing coffee, it’s a stainless steel mug that you can take anywhere, how’s that for dual functionality? Now the coffee. It’s true that you could go to any local grocery store and probably find some super cheap drip with remarkably clever names like “Brewer’s Choice” or “Happy Mountain Coffee,” and sure it’s kitschy and character building. But, when you don’t feel like drinking something that tastes like diesel fuel every morning, that’s when you check out our coffee instead. Even without a really expensive machine, good coffee is still good coffee. You might be thinking though that you’re limited to pre-ground, well think again. The Bodum Bistro Blade Grinder is a compact and affordable option for budget conscious bean lovers and is available in four colors. No matter where you go, or what your major may be, remember that back to school doesn’t have to mean back to bad coffee! It's summertime and the living's easy, shouldn't your coffee be simple too? Simplicity is the name of the game with Keurig and we're happy to introduce some new K-Cups this season to keep you caffeinated with minimal hassle. These K-Cups are compatible with all Keurig machines, the Breville BKC700XL as well as the Cuisinart SS-700. Fans of celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck, whose restaurants, shows and cookbooks have been American staples since the 80s, can now enjoy his original coffee creations at home. Keurig has partnered with Puck to offer two memorable K-Cups, Breakfast in Bed and Jamaica Me Crazy. For a traditional cup of Joe that's anything but ordinary, try Wolfgang Puck Breakfast in Bed. This medium-roast, single-serve coffee is well balanced and smooth, making it perfect for those laid-back summer days. If you're dreaming of a tropical getaway, on the other hand, Jamaica Me Crazy may the perfect ticket. This flavored coffee puts an island twist on regular java. It is distinguished by a remarkable coconut flavor and pleasing aromas. Not to be outdone, Timothy's and Gloria Jean's Coffees have flavored K-Cups of their own. The first is the exotic Timothy's Kahlua Orginal K-Cups. This light-roast Arabica coffee sets itself apart with enticing flavors of rum, caramel and vanilla. Timothy's Kahlua K-Cups are great for late afternoon drinks or entertaining guests, as the flavors beg to be savored. For more conventional fare, try Gloria Jean's Cappuccino Coffee K-Cups. This is a creamy, medium-roast flavored coffee with cinnamon-y undertones. It has a well-rounded body and balanced acidity. The Kahlua and Cappuccino K-Cups are both certified Kosher. If you just need a quick jolt to keep you going during the dog days of summer, Keurig's new Revv Coffee K-Cups promises to deliver just that. Said to capture “energy in its purest form,” Revv is a striking dark coffee that is undeniably bold. Since it was launched, the Revv blend has been praised by countless customers for being smooth and never bitter. The new Green Mountain Extra Bold Espresso Blend is also another great option for fans of strong coffee. It's a dark-roast blend of certified organic and fair trade coffee. Green Mountain Extra Bold Espresso presents a nice palate consisting of chocolate and vanilla flavors accented by a smoky, fruity undertone. All of Keurig's new K-Cups are available in boxes of 18. But, if you find a flavor that's to your liking, make sure you stock up as they have a very good chance of selling out! No matter if you're brewing at home or looking for a single-serve coffee solution for the office, K-Cups are a great value and offer the convenience of truly hassle-free beverages. If you're tired of the same old drinks, break out of the rut with a creative latte. This month's recipe is perfect for the adventurous latte lovers out there. In a tall 16oz glass, combine the espresso, syrup and milk. Stir the contents and add ice. Garnish with whipped cream, if desired, and enjoy! With St. Patrick's Day right around the corner, may the luck...and drinks, of the Irish be with you. Given the upcoming festivities, now is as good a time as any to take a look at the history of one of the most (in)famous, drinks in the world—the Irish Coffee. In true Celtic fashion, think Leprechauns and pots of gold, the origins of the Irish Coffee begins with a local folklore...Legend has it that the drink was invented in a cafe at the now-defunct Foynes Airport. In 1943, on a particularly nasty winter evening, a flight bound for Botwood, Newfoundland made the critical decision to return to Foynes after several hours in the air. Consider that 1943 was during WWII and commercial air travel was really in its infancy—think well-heeled men and women on a flying-boat voyage. The circumstances of the diverted flight were trying at best and left passengers a little bit more than peeved. Upon making the decision to head back to Foynes, the captain reportedly sent a Morse-code message to the control tower, alerting ground operations personnel of the impending return. At the terminal, preparations were made to welcome back the crew and passengers. I know, you're skeptical already; but keep in mind, this was the 1940s...flying was a glitzy affair. Back to the regularly scheduled story...Head chef Joe Sheridan of the airport restaurant was hastily asked to make something to warm the passengers and lift their spirits. He decided to...well...add a little spirit to their drinks. After all what could keep you warmer and happier than a hot coffee and some good old Irish whiskey? As the night progressed and everybody had been served, one of the passengers approached Sheridan to thank him for the hospitality. Making small talk, the passenger asked if Brazilian coffee had been used to prepare the drink...To which Sheridan responded "No, that was Irish Coffee." The rest is history. From that night forward, Irish Coffee was served to all passengers going through Foynes Airport. The tradition continues to this day; dignitaries arriving at Shannon Airport are still welcomed with a warm cup of Irish Coffee. Want to celebrate St. Patrick's Day in style? Try this authentic Irish Coffee Recipe: Joe Sheridan's Original Irish Coffee Preheat an Irish Coffee Mug using hot water. Try our Stout, Classic or Pedestal version of the mug. Pour freshly brewed coffee into the mug; add sugar and whiskey. Top with cream. The Keurig B70 K-Cup Brewer is quick, easy, and efficient with a number of programmable features. It will let you make a fresh drink every time, instead of having to brew a full pot of coffee when you really only want one cup. Be sure to read my blogs to find out why I’m so passionate about this machine. The first coffee was rumored to have been consumed in Ethiopia around 850 AD. Today, other than water, coffee is the most widely consumed beverage in the world. Over 400 billion cups are consumed every year. Thirty-five percent of the world’s coffee is consumed in the United States. The coffee industry employs over 25 million people. Here is a quick look at the inventions that have made coffee consumption so popular: Today, many manufactures use single-serve options for brewing coffee that have filters built in. Popular brands include: Nespresso, Illy, Gaggia, Keurig and Tassimo, to name a few. The average American can create the desired drink in seconds, with the perfect amount of coffee, temperature and no cleanup. The development of single-serve systems can trace its roots back to the humble paper filter. Many single serve options, consists of a “filter” that contains an exact amount of coffee, ground specifically to create a unique coffee drink. The packaging prevents oxygen, light and moisture from degrading the coffee. Each cup of coffee produced is of the highest quality and freshness. Several well-known coffee roasters, such as Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, have created branded single-serve coffee options.Illy and the iperEspresso System Illy has evolved into a world renowned manufacturer of coffee. Illy coffee is available in medium or dark roasts; regular or decaffeinated; whole bean, fine and medium grinds; as well as E.S.E. (Easy Serving Espresso) pods and iperEspresso capsules. Illy’s introduction of the iperEspresso System has revolutionized the preparation of espresso. This patented two-part process replaces the traditional manner in which espresso was extracted. In the first stage called “iper-infusion,” hot water under high pressure creates optimal brewing conditions within the iperChamber to enhance the extraction of coffee flavor and aroma and increase its richness and complexity. In the second stage, “emulsification,” coffee is forced through the patented e-valve at the bottom of the capsule, mixing with air to produce a velvety, long-lived crema. Illy’s iperEspresso capsules are compatible with the FrancisFrancis X7 and Gaggia for Illy Single-Serve Espresso Machines.The Modern Espresso Machine he modern-day espresso machine was created by Gaggia in 1946. It has experienced subtle changes since its inception. The technology and use of commercial components have not changed. Consumers who want to achieve an authentic espresso or milk-based drink from home are rarely disappointed. The machines offer the option to use ground coffee or pods. Recently, Gaggia introduced a new pressurized portafilter basket that takes the guesswork out of creating perfect crema. This filter basket is compatible with all the semi-automatic Gaggia Espresso machines currently on the market. Additionally, the popular Gaggia Baby series introduced a new model that has dual boilers, perfect for temperature stability and creating milk based drinks with ease. As you can see several inventions, introduced to coffee drinkers over 75 years ago, still have an impact on how we enjoy this beverage. It will be exciting to see how the coffee drinking experience continues to evolve in the next decade.Tracy I always thought that my street was pretty liberal and open-minded; but based on the faces and reactions, you would think that she had just opened the liquor cabinet and poured herself a double. The fact of the matter is, despite the preconceived ideas that my friends might have had, the benefits of coffee, in moderation, for children are proven. Research by Dr. Tomas DePaulis at Vanderbilt University's Institute for Coffee Studies has actually shown that children who drink coffee are much more alert; show a marked boost in concentration, and may do better on school tests. Studies have also shown that coffee has helped children with Attention Deficit Disorder stay more focused and on-task. Dr. DePaulis shared his research and discussed childhood depression with WebMD. In the interview he said, "There recently was a study from Brazil finding that children who drink coffee with milk each day are less likely to have depression than other children, in fact, no studies show that coffee in reasonable amounts is, in any way, harmful to children." Just as an end note, Jordan has never missed being on the Honor Roll and she is as happy as a 15-year-girl could be. What is the youngest age that you think children should start drinking coffee? How have your kids reacted when they have had coffee to drink?	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25566000
As concern over global warming intensified over the past few years, biofuels derived from food crops quickly emerged as a practical answer to the energy crisis. Adding corn ethanol to gasoline or using palm oil for biodiesel makes the fuel burn more cleanly, stretches oil supplies, and perhaps most attractive to some politicians, provides a nice boost to big agribusiness. In Europe and in the US, increasing biofuels was mandated by law. Fortunately the rush to biofuels production has slowed because of a number of well-documented negative side effects. Biofuels production contributed to a global food shortage and a rise in food prices as farmers sold off their crops to ethanol or biodiesel producers. Deforestation increased in tropical wilderness areas as countries such as Brazil and Indonesia cleared rainforest to make room for biofuels such as soybeans, leading to large losses in biodiversity. Deforestation also increased greenhouse gas emissions, as carbon stored in those forests was released into the atmosphere, offsetting gains from biofuel use and contributing to global warming. In the US, agricultural run-off increased as millions of acres of farmland were brought into production, creating one of the biggest ever dead-zones in the Gulf of Mexico as fertilizers made their way down the Mississippi. Much of the farmlands returned to production were lands previously placed in highly successful, federally funded conservation programs…including some of our last wild prairie lands. With remarkable lack of foresight, some members of Congress have suggested removing even more lands from these programs. The decreased fuel efficiency of vehicles using ethanol – some drivers are also saying ethanol fuels makes their engines sputter – combined with the energy and fertilizer intensive process for producing crop-based biofuels, further combined with serious biodiversity and food supply impacts, all make it clear that biofuels produced from crops are not a solution. Another perverse effect has been that ethanol subsidies driven up the price of corn, slashing profit margins, and making corn-based ethanol production in the US have viable only for some of the larger food producers – the very same large industrial agribusiness companies that drove the rush to ethanol in the first place… Biofuels hold significant promise if they are produced in a way that takes their entire life-cycle into account, from production to indirect impacts such as loss of wilderness areas, and especially if they can be generated using non-food crop sources. Cellulosic ethanol, produced from switchgrass or biowastes has higher cellulose content and is available in abundant quantities without growing crops. Cellulosic ethanol could therefore be a far more efficient and environmentally friendly biofuel alternative, pending investments in the necessary technology and infrastructure. Luckily we‘re now witnessing the first retreat on crop-based biofuel production as politicians are finally forced to admit that crop-based biofuels are hugely problematic. The European Union Parliament’s Environment Committee recently voted unanimously to reduce mandated biofuel targets, though only Parliament can make this decision final. In the U.S., the State of Texas is asking the Environmental Protection Agency for a waiver to temporarily reduce ethanol production. As with the EU, EPA has not yet decided what to do. With a little luck, common sense will prevail, and the result will be a stronger food supply, better economic policy, and more wild nature. Post your Comment here Comments are the sole responsibility of their authors. WILD is not responsible, nor will be held liable, for blog comments. WILD reserves the right to delete any comment that is abusive, profane, rude, or considered spam.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25569000
Sail through the Beagle and Murray Channels to disembark in Cape Horn National Park. Cape Horn, a sheer, almost 425-meter-high promontory where the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean merge, was discovered in 1616 by the Dutch commercial expedition organized by Isaac Le Maire. The Cape owes its name to the Port of Hoorn, the expedition’s departure point. In the afternoon, will disembark at historic Wulaia Bay, once the site of the largest Yamana aboriginal settlements. Charles Darwin landed here in 1833 and you'll walk through the beautiful native vegetation to a lookout point. This evening, the Captain invites us to our Farewell Dinner as we prepare to sail for Ushuaia, Argentina. Overnight onboard. *Note that the landing at Cape Horn National Park is weather permitting only.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25570000
Short description The Encyclopedia of Peace Psychology, available online or as a three-volume print set, features nearly 300 entries from international scholars that examine the psychological dimensions of peace and conflict studies. Entries provide key concepts, methods, and practices that define peace psychology in the twenty-first century. An invaluable resource for deepening our understanding of the contributions of psychology to peace, it also offers insights into constructive ways in which psychology can be applied by private citizens and policy makers for the promotion of peace and social justice around the world. From the contents Topics Covered Activism Aggression Biological perspective Children Civil society Cognition Conflict Conflict management Contact theory Coping Critical perspective Culture Decision-making Drama theory Dynamical systems theory Education Emotion Empathy Ethics Forgiveness Gender Global issues Group processes Human rights Ideology Indigenous peacemaking Influence processes Intergroup relations International relations Intervention methods Levels of analysis Liberation psychology Media Military Moral Nonviolence Obedience Peace psychology Peace studies Personality Political psychology Positioning theory Prejudice Reconciliation Refugees Research methods Resilience Social identity theory Social justice Social psychology Social representations Spirituality Stereotype Terrorism Threat Trauma Violence	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25572000
Where are we now? Climate "Today" Before we move on to projections of future state of our planet's climate, let's take a few looks at the current state of Earth's climate. These graphs show how carbon emissions, atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, and global average temperatures have changed in recent times. This image shows sea surface temperatures (SST) averaged over a whole year (in this case, 2001). Notice how temperatures range from freezing (0° C or 32° F) near the poles to around 30° C (about 86° F) in the tropics. Credits: Image courtesy of Plumbago via Wikipedia, using data from the World Ocean Atlas 2001. Here is Earth's surface air temperature in recent times. This image shows average temperatures for the period from 1961 to 1990. Credits: Image courtesy of Robert A. Rhohde and the Global Warming Art project. Average Global Temperature 1940-2005 \| All values are in comparison to 1940-1980 average (green shading). Map at left shows 1995-2005 averages (the orange shaded region on the graph above). Blue points and lines on the graph are annual values; the red line is the 5-year smoothed average. This map (above) shows recent changes in Earth's surface air temperatures. The colors indicate the temperatures in the decade around 2000 as compared to average values from about 40 years earlier. Specifically, the colors compare average temperatures during the years 1995 through 2004 versus the averages from 1940 through 1980. The global averge temperature increased about 0.42° C during this time. Credits: Map image courtesy of Robert A. Rohde and the Global Warming Art project. Graph is original artwork by Windows to the Universe staff (Randy Russell) using data from NOAA. Use the popup menu in the upper left corner of the interactive below to select a map to view. Choices include contemporary global surface air temperature and sea surface temperature, changes in temperature by 2000, and four climate model projections for possible future climate in 2025 and 2095. Compare maps side-by-side using the viewer below. Shop Windows to the Universe Science Store!Cool It! is the new card game from the Union of Concerned Scientists that teaches kids about the choices we have when it comes to climate change—and how policy and technology decisions made today will matter. Cool It! is available in our online store You might also be interested in: Leaders from 192 nations of the world are trying to make an agreement about how to limit emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases, mitigate climate change, and adapt to changing environmental conditions....more Climate in your place on the globe is called regional climate. It is the average weather pattern in a place over more than thirty years, including the variations in seasons. To describe the regional climate...more Less than 1% of the gases in Earth's atmosphere are called greenhouse gases. Even though they are not very abundant, these greenhouse gases have a major effect. Carbon dioxide (CO2), water vapor (H2O),...more Television weather forecasts in the space age routinely feature satellite views of cloud cover. Cameras and other instruments on spacecraft provide many types of valuable data about Earth's atmosphere...more Predicting how our climate will change in the next century or beyond requires tools for assessing how planet responds to change. Global climate models, which are run on some of the world's fastest supercomputers,...more The world's surface air temperature increased an average of 0.6° Celsius (1.1°F) during the last century according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). This may not sound like very...more A factor that has an affect on climate is called a “forcing.” Some forcings, like volcanic eruptions and changes in the amount of solar energy, are natural. Others, like the addition of greenhouse gases...more	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25573000
Aug. 3, 1492: Columbus Sets Out to Discover … a Trade Route 1492: Christopher Columbus, sailing for the Spanish crown, weighs anchor for the New World. From his flagship Santa Maria, Columbus commanded a squadron that included the caravels Niña and Pinta. The original purpose of the voyage was not to discover new lands but to open up a trade route to the "Indies" or Asia, that would allow Spanish merchantmen to bypass the hostile Muslim fleets sailing out of the Middle East. Columbus tried to interest the Portuguese in his scheme, but they took a pass. He would have been spurned by Spain, too, had that nation’s centuries-long war with the Moors been going badly. Fortunately for Columbus, the Spaniards were winning handily, and victory was in sight. When the last Moorish stronghold fell at Granada, Spain was feeling expansive. And Columbus, the sailor from Genoa, was ready and waiting. He never did find that alternate route around the Muslims, but on Oct. 12, 1492 Columbus made landfall in what is today the Bahamas, and the course of history was changed forever. Although it’s long been known that other outsiders reached North America well before Columbus, his landfall remains the most significant, for good and ill. It opened up the sea lanes to the first permanent back-and-forth traffic of Europeans, their armies, their priests and their commerce. Image: Chromolithograph depicts Columbus claiming possession of the New World. (Prang Education, 1893) This article first appeared on Wired.com Aug. 3, 2007.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25580000
Term: The Upper Mississippi (Historic Marker Erected 1980) Rest Area, Tourist Info Center No. 31, I-90, French Island, LaCrosse, La Crosse County From Lake Itasca, Minnesota, to Cairo, Illinois, the upper Mississippi River flows through America's heartland for over 1100 miles. Its currents have borne the Indian's canoe, the explorer's dugout, and the trader's packet. Jacques Marquette, Louis Jolliet, and Zebulon Pike tested its strength. Mark Twain gave it life in literature. Paddle-wheelers by the hundreds ferried lesser known passengers over its waters during the halcyon days of steamboating in the 19th century. Into the Great River pour the St. Croix, Chippewa, Black, Wisconsin, Rock, Illinois, Missouri, and Ohio. Along its banks have flourished St. Paul, Winona, La Crosse, Davenport, Keokuk, Quincy, and St. Louis. For a time diminished in importance by the rail-roads, the Great River came back into its.own in the 20th century through dredging and damming. The present nine-foot channel and a series of locks and dams allow 300-foot barges to transport coal, cement, grain, and other products vital to the region's economic well being. Imposing in size and beauty, violent and muddy in floodstage, calm and serene on a summer morn, the Great River sustains life and livelihood within itself, along its banks, and upward in the hinterlands east and west. [Source: Source: McBride, Sarah Davis. History Just Ahead (Madison:WHS, 1999).]	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25582000
Learn something new every day More Info... by email Dark energy is a very sparse, uniform negative pressure that permeates the entire observable universe. It accounts for 70% of the mass/energy in the universe and is responsible for its accelerating rate of expansion. Dark energy is unlike the energy we are familiar with because it is not concentrated locally, as is the case with stars and galaxies, manifestations of conventional matter and energy. There are many other important differences between conventional energy and dark energy, which physicists continue to investigate. The exact form or mechanism of operation of dark energy is unknown. In this respect, it is similar to its cousin, dark matter, which can only be observed by the influence it has on normal matter and energy. There are two major theories for the form of dark energy, although one is more prominent than the other. The first theory, quintessence, describes the dark energy as a fluctuating field that changes its intensity based on location. The second theory, that of a cosmological constant, describes dark energy as constant and uniform. It is this second theory that is believed by most physicists and forms the basis of the Lambda-CDM model, the prevailing model of the structure of the cosmos. The negative pressure of the cosmological constant is thought to originate from vacuum fluctuations at extremely small scales in all space. So-called virtual particles are continuously created and destroyed in this vacuum, creating a quantum foam that itself has energy. The existence of dark energy has implications for the ultimate fate of the universe. If dark energy is an intrinsic property of space, as it looks to be, then it will continue to be exist indefinitely. If dark energy is the cause of the universe’s accelerating expansion, then it will also be the cause of reducing the average density of any parcel of space in the long run. As the universe grows more and more sparse, it will also grow more cold and hostile to life. Therefore, dark energy can justifiably be blamed for bringing on the “Heat Death” of the universe. Is Europe using some type of Dark Energy device to power the Earth? ?My dad read it to me from a news paper. I just Could not find anything about it	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25584000
Cameron marks 1919 Amritsar massacre UK Prime Minister David Cameron visited the site of the infamous 1919 Amritsar massacre by British troops in India on Wednesday -- but those hoping he might apologize for the atrocity were disappointed. Cameron, the first serving British prime minister to visit Amritsar, a Sikh holy city in the northwestern state of Punjab, laid a wreath at a memorial to the hundreds killed in the massacre. Writing in a book of condolences at the Jallianwala Bagh memorial, he described the massacre as "a deeply shameful event in British history." He added, "We must never forget what happened here." However, he did not give a formal apology for the atrocity, which occurred while India was part of the British Empire. A spokesman for Cameron said the British state had always described the massacre as monstrous, but that "we need to be careful about going around apologizing for things that happened 40 years before the prime minister was born." Cameron's trip to India is focused on promoting closer trade and business links. Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip, previously visited Amritsar in 1997. In 1920, then-cabinet minister Winston Churchill condemned the massacre as "an episode which appears to me to be without precedent or parallel in the modern history of the British Empire ... It is an extraordinary event, a monstrous event, an event which stands in singular and sinister isolation." The atrocity occurred when a British Army general ordered troops to open fire to disperse a crowd of unarmed protesters who had gathered in Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar. A report by a British-led committee in the wake of the massacre put the number killed at close to 400, with three to four times as many people injured. Indian observers put the number killed at more than 1,000. Copyright 2013 by CNN NewSource. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25596000
This item is in: Food Science > Nestlé functional foods and nutrition series > Nestle nutrition workshop: Pediatric programMicrobial host-interaction: Tolerance versus allergy Edited by P Brandtzaeg, E Isolauri and S L Prescott Nestlé Nutrition Workshop Series: Pediatric program Series No. 64 Most indigenous microbes occur in the intestinal tract, and their interactions with the host are largely unknown. Current understanding of host-microbe interactions links early microbial contact to the origin of disease, a theory that has its roots in the hygiene hypothesis. Modern life style appears to deprive the infant of conditions that provide adequate anti-inflammatory or tolerogenic stimuli upon antigen encounter. Thus, maturational signals from the environment and the diet are insufficient to adequately shape the immune system. Microbial host-interaction deals with the relationship between the gut microbiota as well as altered pattern of early microbial contact and the origin of human disease. New aspects of the original hygiene hypothesis are discussed in relation to disorders spanning from allergy and autoimmunity to obesity.The results presented suggest that all these disorders may be linked to aberrant antigen absorption and immune responses associated with dysfunction of mucosal defense. Researchers, clinicians and students interested in the interaction of the host with indigenous gut bacteria and the consequences for human health will find this publication of utmost interest. ISBN 3 8055 9167 5 ISBN-13: 978 3 8055 9167 6 272 pages 234 x 156mm hardback £165.00 / US$280.00 / €200.00 Usually dispatched within 1–2 weeks Titles which may also be of interest: Milk and milk products in human nutrition Drivers of innovation in pediatric nutrition Importance of growth for health and development Emerging societies - coexistence of childhood malnutrition and obesity A paradigm for commensalism: The role of a specific microbial polysaccharide in health and disease; The hygiene hypothesis: Do we still believe in it? ‘ABC’ of mucosal immunology; Innate and adaptive immune pathways to tolerance; Hitting the mucosal road in tolerance induction; Obesity – extending the hygiene hypothesis; Autoimmunity and diet; Eosinophilic esophagitis: Example of an emerging allergic manifestation? Microbial–host interactions in inflammatory bowel diseases and experimental colitis; Development and regulation of immune responses to food antigens in pre- and postnatal life; Novel approaches in treating food allergy using allergens; Allergen avoidance approaches in food allergy management; Role of dietary immunomodulatory factors in the development of immune tolerance; Microbial–host interactions: Selecting the right probiotics and prebiotics for infants; Probiotics and prebiotics: Immunological and clinical effects in allergic disease; Modified proteins in allergy prevention.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25598000
Microsoft Word styles are powerful tools included in all versions of Word. If you are a new user, you may not know what styles are or how to apply them to format your documents. Whether you own Word 2007 or 2010, this article will help you understand the basics of Microsoft Word styles. It shows you how to find the predefined styles, and includes a tutorial that shows you how to change the style set and easily format your document by applying styles. It also briefly covers the topic of custom styles. A style is a definition that determines the document formatting options that are applied to characters or paragraphs. Note: Sometimes styles are referred to as tags. However, in Microsoft Word, styles is the correct term. How many times have you gone through a lengthy document and manually reformatted the same text over and over again to get it right? It can waste hours of your time and all of that clicking can give you a nasty case of carpal tunnel syndrome. Using styles helps you use consistent formatting throughout your document. Applying a style only takes a click or two so it is much faster than manually formatting block after block of text. Styles can contain definitions for fonts, paragraph spacing, line height, hyphenation, tabs, page breaks, indentation, and more! As you can see from the list, styles can become quite complex. But don't worry, Microsoft Word contains many predefined styles. That means you can use them even if you don't know how to create your own styles from scratch. There are different ways to access the predefined Microsoft Word styles, but the easiest way in Word 2007 or 2010 is to select one from the Quick Style gallery. Quick Styles were introduced in Word 2007 and are located on the Home tab. There are 11 style sets to choose from, 14 style sets in Word 2010. Each set can be altered by selecting different theme colors or fonts, resulting in thousands of unique styles available for document formatting. For the following tutorial, open Word 2007 and start a new document. (These instructions also work for Microsoft Word 2010.) Let's begin by entering some dummy text so you can see how changing the style set affects the document formatting. Here is how to enter random text into a document: Entering this code inserts three paragraphs of text into your document. Now let's see how easy it is to change the look and feel of the document just by changing the style set. Follow these steps to change the style set in your sample document: To change the theme fonts or colors, click Change Styles again, then select either Colors or Fonts from the menu. In Word 2010, there is an additional option on the menu for changing paragraph spacing. Now that you have selected a style set, let's apply some styles to the text in your document. Follow these steps to easily create a title by applying a style: The new style is applied and your document now has a professional-looking title. If you are following the steps in this tutorial, your paragraph formatting is probably set to the default (Normal) style. But just in case it isn't, let's apply the default paragraph and font style to make sure that the formatting is consistent throughout the document. Follow these steps to apply the Normal style: All of the text changes to the default font with the default paragraph spacing. The text looks a bit boring, so let's add emphasis to certain words by applying a character style. Follow these steps to apply bold formatting to selected text: You have just formatted your first document using Microsoft Word styles! Not only does it look professional, but you have created a handy reference guide to Microsoft Word 2007 galleries. Before you close the document, why not print it? The predefined styles give you lots of document formatting options to choose from, but you can also create your own custom Microsoft Word styles. You can create new styles for each document, or you can save your custom styles and reuse them later. Saving styles you use often is a good way to speed up the process of creating Word documents. So how do you save the custom styles you create? You save them to a template. You can save styles you always want available to the default (Normal.dotm) template, or you can save styles to custom templates. You may have already used some of the custom Microsoft Word templates that are available in the Template gallery. Open the Microsoft Office Template Gallery To open the Template gallery, click the Office Button, then click New. To download the free online templates, you must have Genuine Microsoft Office software installed. The next time you use a Microsoft Word template, look at the Quick Style gallery within the document to see the custom styles the author created. Return from Microsoft Word Styles to Document Formatting	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25599000
One entry found for correct. Main Entry: 2correct Function: adjective 1: meeting or agreeing with a particular standard <correct behavior> 2: agreeing with fact or known truth <the correct pronunciation> - corĚrectĚly /-rek-(t)l/ adverb - corĚrectĚness /-rek(t)-ns/ noun synonymsCORRECT, ACCURATE, EXACT, PRECISE mean brought into agreement with truth, a fact, or a standard. CORRECT stresses the notion that something is free from error <a correct answer>. ACCURATE stresses that great care has been taken to make sure that something agrees with the facts <an accurate description of the meeting>. EXACT stresses that something agrees very closely with fact or truth <the exact number of people present at the meeting>. PRECISE suggests an even closer or more careful agreement with fact or with a certain standard <the precise measurements of the room>.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25600000
3 entries found for fission. To select an entry, click on it. Main Entry: 1fis·sion Pronunciation: fish-n also fizh- Function: noun 1: a splitting or breaking up into parts 2: a method of reproduction in which a living cell or body divides into two or more parts each of which grows into a whole new individual 3: the splitting of an atomic nucleus resulting in the release of large amounts of energy	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25601000
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition - n. A common European crow (Corvus corone) having glossy black plumage. Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia - n. The common crow of Europe, Corvus corone: so called because it often feeds on carrion. See cut under crow. - n. The urubu or black vulture of America, Catharista atrata, a common bird of the southern United States, resembling the turkey-buzzard, and feeding entirely upon carrion. - n. The common crow of America, Corvus americanus. - n. A name of the European rook, Corvus frugilegus. GNU Webster's 1913 - adj. the common European crow (Corvus corone) which feeds on carrion, insects, fruits, and seeds. - n. See under Carrion. - n. American vulture smaller than the turkey buzzard Sorry, no example sentences found. ‘carrion crow’ hasn't been added to any lists yet. Looking for tweets for carrion crow.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25602000
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition - n. A device, such as a fuse or percussion cap, used to set off an explosive charge. - n. An explosive. Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia - n. That which detonates; it detonating preparation; a percussion-cap. - n. A device used to detonate an explosive device etc. - n. rail transport, UK a small explosive device attached to the railhead to provide an audible warning when a train passes over it. GNU Webster's 1913 - n. obsolete, obsolete An explosive whose action is practically instantaneous. - n. obsolete, obsolete Something used to detonate a charge, as a detonating fuse. - n. obsolete, obsolete A case containing detonating powder, the explosion of which serves as a signal, as on railroads. - n. obsolete A gun fired by a percussion cap. - n. a mechanical or electrical explosive device or a small amount of explosive; can be used to initiate the reaction of a disrupting explosive - detonate + -or (Wiktionary) “And interestingly, a similar detonator is connected to a massive nuclear device under the city of Munich, set to ignite in eighty hours.” “Besides, the detonator is not yet manufactured that will explode that charge.” “But suffice it to say that it is concentrated hydrogen peroxide mixed with flour, attached to a very crude detonator, which is, again, a very crude about four gallon plastic container.” “A “nano detonator”, that is, a detonator roughly smaller than an electron.” “You know, your cell phone now is called a detonator and simple things like Gatorade apparently can be used as a component of a bomb that could take your plane down, so I think people are very weary and they want to know that we're doing things.” “And I would raise a concern about the fact that even though there were no detonators, the detonator is the easy part of the explosive.” “The detonator was a remote car starter purchased over the Internet.” “American Airlines spokesman Tim Smith called the detonator holder "nothing threatening.” “In all of this cases, the detonator was a mishandled of the well perforator (made in china).” “The detonator is a rifle cartridge with a nail on the primer cap.” These user-created lists contain the word ‘detonator’. A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up. ammunition, anti-aircraft mac..., anti-vehicle mine, automatic machine..., ballistic missile..., bazooka, biological weapons, booby trap, bunker-busting bomb, chemical weapons, cluster bomb, light battleship and 218 more... Looking for tweets for detonator.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25603000
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition - n. The income of a government from all sources appropriated for the payment of the public expenses. - n. Yield from property or investment; income. - n. All the income produced by a particular source. - n. A governmental department set up to collect public funds. Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia - n. The annual rents, profits, interest, or issues of any kind of property, real or personal; income. - n. The annual income of a state, derived from the taxation, customs, excise, or other sources, and appropriated to the payment of the national expenses. - n. Return; reward. - n. Synonyms Profit, etc. See income. - n. The income returned by an investment - n. The total income received from a given source - n. All income generated for some political entity's treasury by taxation and other means - n. accounting The total sales; turnover. - n. accounting The net revenue, net sales. GNU Webster's 1913 - n. That which returns, or comes back, from an investment; the annual rents, profits, interest, or issues of any species of property, real or personal; income. - n. Hence, return; reward. - n. The annual yield of taxes, excise, customs, duties, rents, etc., which a nation, state, or municipality collects and receives into the treasury for public use. - n. the entire amount of income before any deductions are made - n. government income due to taxation - Recorded in English from 1433, "income from property or possessions", from Middle French revenue, from Old French "a return" (modern French 'revenu'), the prop. feminine past participle of revenir ("come back") (=modern French), from Latin revenire ("to return, come back"), from re- ("back") + venire ("to come") (Wiktionary) - Middle English, from Old French, from feminine past participle of revenir, to return, from Latin revenīre : re-, re- + venīre, to come; see gwā- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition) “The comments seem to be suggesting why not tax capital if the reduction in revenue is made up by increased taxes on wages.” “Nvidia may have reported a loss of $201.3 million for its fiscal 2010 first quarter after the markets closed yesterday, and a 42 percent drop in revenue from the same period a year ago, but the company still has quite a few things going for it.” “It seems to me that it would be worth it to Tacoma's schools and other government functions that the state raise that $200 million plus in revenue from a sales tax increase. poliTICKLING” “The state expects to receive $1.2 billion in revenue from the delay of a corporate tax break.” “This year Proactiv's licensee and distributor, Guthy-Renker, will collect roughly $800 million in revenue from the acne treatment -- its runaway bestseller.” “Does the amount of stimulus spent this year & the loss in revenue from the Making Work Pay cut completely counteract the increase in GDP over what was projected because of the stimulus?” “LightspeedVenturePartners – Apple has made no more than $20-45m in revenue from the appstore, May 13, 2009” “All the while you are waiting for that day when the edict comes down: Due to unforeseen shortfalls in revenue from the Lents ballpark, we regret to announce that the new Lents parking meters will now be collecting money during normal downtown parking hours.” “Number one, gas tax revenue is only one component of transit funding, and may well be augmented by new ones soon — revenue from a cap and trade program, or a greater share of federal transportation funding shifted to transit.” “Given the cost of wholesale funding and no real prospect of material volume growth, the [weakness in revenue] is likely to continue into 2011," Mr. Quinn said in a note to investors.” These user-created lists contain the word ‘revenue’. Budgetese - not a sexy topic but a very comprehensive list of words and collocations used in EU circles. Budgeting experts please comment and expand. heading, across-the-board ..., emergency reserve, frontload, mopping-up, performance reserve, positive margin, negative margin, public finances, structural operat..., administrative ex..., management of EU ... and 657 more... AAMS countries, access to Communi..., access to informa..., accession criteria, accession negotia..., accession to an a..., accession to the ..., accession to the ..., ACP countries, ACP-EC Committee ..., ACP-EC Convention, ACP-EC Council and 1088 more... A combined list of 1. EU Buzz - single words 2. EU Buzz - collocations 3. EU Buzz - the 100 most active absorption capacity, absorption rate, acceding country, accession candidate, accession countries, accession country, accession criteria, accession cycle, accession negotia..., accession partner..., accession priorities, accession treaty and 2650 more... Some of the catchwords of several presidential debates (Obama-Romney 2012 Denver debate's transcript fully included) additionality, audit trail, accounting standards, auditing standards, general audit obj..., a posteriori audit, a priori audit, above board, acceptable error ..., access rights, accountability, accountable entities and 1283 more... Use these and get promoted words from work basic prices, buying-in price, agricultural levies, agricultural prices, intervention / tr..., intervention stocks, intervention system, interprofessional..., area aid/payment, area-based subsidy, Community financing, direct assistance and 217 more... All words of the Lisbon Treaty (Persons' names, foreign and grammatical words have been eliminated, MWEs have been split up into individual words. Capitalization has been retained if r... 1. Strictly EU terms with special European meaning used only in the EU 2. Keywords central to the understanding of the EU (people working for the EU are usually able to give thematic... words for currency The new favourite words of people on Twitter. A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favorite word" and adds it to this list. grabbable, retuiteando, leaving, fantastic, absolutely, kurwa, hella, ridic, underpass, hate, interlude, plush and 2369 more... Very basic words for ESL students. This is a list of academic words for students learning English as a Second or Foreign Language. It includes 570 word families that often appear in academic texts. It does not include words that are... Looking for tweets for revenue.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25604000
There are a couple easy ways to insert a hyperlink in an OpenOffice document. For both, start by highlighting the word or image to which you’d like to attach the hyperlink. Next, click on the Insert menu, and select Hyperlink. The hyperlink dialog box opens and offers several choices; Internet, Mail &News, Document, and New Document. For this demonstration, we’ll link a word to a website. I’ve highlighted the word Worldstart, opened the Hyperlink dialog box, and placed the website address in the Target field near the top. To ensure that the right address is placed, I copied it from the browser address bar, and pasted it in the field. The highlighted word from the document appears in the Text field near the bottom, but this can be changed. If you do, the word in the document will change as well. When you’re satisfied, click Apply. It’s always a good to test your link, by clicking on it. But if you just want to do a quick check, hover your mouse over the linked word, and the link will appear. You can also find a hyperlink button on the standard toolbar (the little globe and chain links). Clicking on that will also open the hyperlink dialog box. And there you have it.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25610000
Uganda Ministry of Health, Uganda Ministry of Water and Environment, Uganda Bureau of Statistics, International Livestock Research Institute, World Resources Institute This report presents maps and analyses designed to inform the policies surrounding poverty reduction efforts in Uganda and to help reach the 2015 national targets on safe drinking water and Drawing on Uganda’s rich baseline of wetland data and poverty mapping, this report provides a detailed examination of the links between ecosystem services and the location of poor communities and presents practical lessons for policy-makers across government. Presents various methods that use ecosystem services—the benefits of nature such as food, fuel, natural hazard protection, pollination, and spiritual sustenance—to enable decision makers to link ecosystems and economic development.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25615000
Featuring Winston Shrout There are several forms of the Latin term habeas corpus. In this DVD we are going to make its meaning simple and understandable. Habeas corpus was a privilege guaranteed by the Magna Carta of 1215 AD. It is an extremely important legal instrument that safeguards individual freedom against arbitrary state action. In today’s world, we can appropriately use habeas in a number of situations. For a long time I have advocated that habeas should precede any suit, because its primary use is to determine whether or not there is even subject matter to discuss. Keep in mind that many attorneys tend to “rush to court” without any established facts. Since that is often the case, it is our responsibility to slow the process down so that we can ask some crucial questions. First of all, let’s see if there are any material facts upon which the suit is based. Since we are going into Admiralty law, let’s determine if there is in fact any valid, certified claim to talk about. Let’s do a habeas corpus so that you, Mr. Attorney, can produce a certified claim. Oops, you don’t have one? “Your honor, we have a Rule 12b6 problem here … failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.” In other words, there is no subject matter jurisdiction here, because … there isn’t any subject matter. Habeas corpus is a powerful tool that we explore in this DVD. This DVD is an important Single Topic that is based on information discussed at the recent Los Angeles Event.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25619000
On January 9th, citizens living in southern Sudan will vote on a referendum to secede from the northern part of the country. A clock in the town of Juba, the political center of southern Sudan, counts down to this referendum, symbolical of the locals’ excitement to part from the hegemonic north. Nearby, the Darfur genocide crisis that continues to plague the area is not an isolated event. It’s all related, part of two brutal civil wars that have been for decades tearing the nation apart; as of late, literally. Sudan has traditionally been seen by many as the bridge between the Arab and the African worlds—one not particularly easy to cross. The north and the south of Sudan are just about as culturally and religiously different from each other as you could possibly imagine. In the north, Arab culture dominates, and the majority religion is Islam. In the south, the predominant culture is more traditionally sub-Saharan African, and the primary religions are animist belief systems and Christianity. Ever since the country gained independence from Britain in 1956, the cultural and religious systems of the north have been heavily imposed on the whole of Sudan, resulting in southern resistance and the ongoing strife. In particular, this imposition of a differing set of beliefs can in large part be attributed to the current Sudanese president, Omar al-Bashir. Al-Bashir arose to power in 1989 through a bloodless coup, and this past April, won the first ostensibly democratic election the nation has held in 24 years. I hesitate to call the election democratic because many believe that al-Bashir, who is notorious for his corruption, rigged it in his favor. While there is no proof, it is generally not unsafe to consider that leaders who are in power through a coup have significant sway in any following elections. Whether he is rightfully in power or not, al-Bashir has imposed northern ideals throughout the whole nation, a primary cause of the Sudanese civil wars. Many attribute the Darfur genocide, just a single episode of the extensive bloodshed since Sudan’s independence, to al-Bashir. Because of these accusations, he is currently on trial for war crimes, the only current head of state in such a predicament. To drive home his impositional tendencies further, al-Bashir has said that if the south secedes, he will impose Shari’a in the north, in an effort to make northern Sudan officially an Islamic state. My first response to this situation was wondering: How did two peoples so immensely different from one another end up together in the first place? This is not the same as the American Civil War, where regional differences led to ideological differences, which in turn led to secession. In the Sudanese case, ideological and cultural differences existed long before the country gained independence. Thus, one should look to colonialism as the primary cause of Sudan’s problems. It seems to me that Sudan’s independence process was dangerously arbitrary; occurring at the time of mass European decolonization in Africa. It’s as if Britain backed out of the region and drew a national border at random. And now, after over half a century, the people want that to change. Despite the referendum on schedule for next month, the potential new border still has not been set. Money, of course, is a factor. Sudan is one of the most oil-rich nations of Africa, but most of the country’s oil is found in the south. On the one hand, the north might not want to draw a new boundary where the south gets all of the resource wealth, a potential cause for even more strife. On the other hand, some see oil as a potential area that could keep the two sides friendly if they do end up splitting. Mutual desire for the oil wealth may bring the two sides together diplomatically if the split ends up happening peacefully. As you can see, this situation is extremely complex, far more so than the south simply saying “we want to secede” and secession then happening. To better understand the context, one needs to consider the past, but one should also consider the future: what will happen if the current nation of Sudan does in fact split? I am wondering particularly about those who have their roots in the south but live in the north. Since the referendum was announced, many of these people have moved back to the south, but a fair number still remain in the north. What will happen to these primarily non-Muslim people (and Muslims alike) if the north does in fact impose Shari’a on al-Bashir’s whim? Al-Bashir will go from an imposer of northern Arab and Islamic values to being completely intolerant of this significant minority in his newly allotted half of Sudan, and the results would be tragic. What message would a Sudanese split portray to the rest of Africa, the rest of the world? The African Union fears that a Sudanese split would incite other secessionists around the continent. Other nations undergoing similar domestic, regional conflicts of interest may feel not only that they have a right to secede, but may even feel encouraged to do so. Is this kind of outright division the right answer to such a complicated historical struggle? Is there even a right answer? Experts seem to agree that the nation will inevitably split. Whether this bifurcation happens via a timely, democratic, and peaceful referendum or through continuing bloodshed is a matter that only time will tell. I will certainly be following this issue in the coming weeks, and I wrote this article before the scheduled referendum in the hope to spark more interest on the issue. I urge you to follow it in the news; the results affect a much wider area than simply Sudan. Stay tuned for my next column, where I will compare and contrast two leaders in South America on opposite sides of the political spectrum and compare their respective political systems to that of the United States. Latest posts by David Klayton (see all) - Should Turkey be a part of "Europe?" - February 26, 2011 - Moderately Extreme: Ideological Flexibility in Latin American Politics - January 27, 2011 - When One Nation Becomes Two - December 31, 2010	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25621000
The Righteous Among The Nations About the Program "In those times there was darkness everywhere. In heaven and on earth, all the gates of compassion seemed to have been closed. The killer killed and the Jews died and the outside world adopted an attitude either of complicity or of indifference. Only a few had the courage to care. These few men and women were vulnerable, afraid, helpless - what made them different from their fellow citizens?… Why were there so few?… Let us remember: What hurts the victim most is not the cruelty of the oppressor but the silence of the bystander…. Let us not forget, after all, there is always a moment when moral choice is made…. And so we must know these good people who helped Jews during the Holocaust. We must learn from them, and in gratitude and hope, we must remember them." Elie Wiesel, in Carol Rittner, Sandra Meyers, Courage To Care - Rescuers of Jews during the Holocaust, NYU Press, 1986. P. 2 Yad Vashem was established to perpetuate the memory of the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust. One of Yad Vashem’s principal duties is to convey the gratitude of the State of Israel and the Jewish people to non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. This mission was defined by the law establishing Yad Vashem, and in 1963 the Remembrance Authority embarked upon a worldwide project to grant the title of Righteous Among the Nations to the few who helped Jews in the darkest time in their history. To this end, Yad Vashem set up a public Commission, headed by a Supreme Court Justice, which examines each case and is responsible for granting the title. Those recognized receive a medal and a certificate of honor and their names are commemorated on the Mount of Remembrance in Jerusalem. This project is a unique and unprecedented attempt by victims to pay tribute to people who stood by their side at a time of persecution and great tragedy. Based on the principle that each individual is responsible for his or her deeds, the program is aimed at singling out within the nations of perpetrators, collaborators and bystanders, persons who bucked the general trend and helped the persecuted Jews. Thus, when Yad Vashem was established in 1953, a mere eight years after the Shoah, paying tribute to the Righteous Among the Nations was included in the Remembrance Authority’s mission. Struggling with the enormity of the loss and grappling with the impact of the total abandonment and betrayal Europe’s Jews, the State of Israel remembered the rescuers. The program therefore is a testament to the resilience of the victims, who despite their having come face to face with the most extreme manifestation of evil, did not sink into bitterness and revenge and affirmed human values. In a world where violence more often than not only breeds more violence, this is a unique and remarkable phenomenon. It probably stems from the notion that if one was to build a future in a world where Auschwitz had become a real possibility, it was essential to emphasize that Man was also capable of defending and maintaining human values.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25629000
When you spend a lot of time with your friends you may notice changes in their eating habits that worry you. Or you may also notice them acting differently or feel they have changed. Are you worried they have an eating disorder? Signs to look out for are them often talking about weight and shape, saying things like: - "I need to lose weight" - "If only I were slimmer, I would be happy" Or you might find yourself thinking: - "My cousin only talks about food or the shape of her body. She is very critical of herself and puts herself down all the time." - "My brother tries to be perfect in every way. He worries all the time about what other people think of him." - "My friend only thinks about her weight and her body shape." - "My friend sometimes starts eating and canít stop." - "My sister has become very distant from us. She seems to keep herself away from her friends and family." - "My friend keeps disappearing into the toilet. I donít think she even knows she has a problem." If this sounds familiar it may mean that your friend has a problem with food or may have an eating disorder. People with an eating disorder may eat too much, eat very little, or refuse to eat. This is often because they feel unhappy, angry or distressed. If you are worried about a friend or relative you can contact the Eating Disorders Association for advice and support. Donít be worried about contacting them as talking to someone will make you feel better and it is the first step to a friend or relative getting help. They will listen to what you have to say and offer suggestions that may help. You can contact the Eating Disorders Association on 0845 634 7650 or email firstname.lastname@example.org . You can even text them on 07977 493 345. They are open 4.30pm to 8.30pm on weekdays and 1pm to 4.30pm on Saturdays. To read more information about Eating Disorders visit www.edauk.co.uk	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25633000
WiFi is defined as an abbreviation for An example of WiFi is WiFi Broadband Cable DSL Definitions What Is WiFi? How Does Wireless Internet Work? How to Build a Wifi How to Connect to Wifi How to Hook Up a Wireless Router How to Change Wireless Settings Explain Wireless Access Point Browse entries near WiFi	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25634000
Galaxy Cluster Takes It to the Extreme Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. Chandra X-ray Center, Cambridge, Mass. News release: 07-065 Evidence for an awesome upheaval in a massive galaxy cluster was discovered in an image made by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. The origin of a bright arc of ferociously hot gas extending over two million light years requires one of the most energetic events ever detected. The cluster of galaxies is filled with tenuous gas at 170 million degree Celsius that is bound by the mass equivalent of a quadrillion, or 1,000 trillion, suns. The temperature and mass make this cluster a giant among giants. "The huge feature detected in the cluster, combined with the high temperature, points to an exceptionally dramatic event in the nearby Universe," said Ralph Kraft of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) in Cambridge, Mass., and leader of a team of astronomers involved in this research. "While we’re not sure what caused it, we've narrowed it down to a couple of exciting possibilities." The favored explanation for the bright X-ray arc is that two massive galaxy clusters are undergoing a collision at about 4 million miles per hour. Shock waves generated by the violent encounter of the clusters' hot gas clouds could produce a sharp change in pressure along the boundary where the collision is occurring, giving rise to the observed arc-shaped structure which resembles a titanic weather front. "Although this would be an extreme collision, one of the most powerful ever seen, we think this may be what is going on,” said team member Martin Hardcastle, of the University of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. A problem with the collision theory is that only one peak in the X-ray emission is seen, whereas two are expected. Longer observations with Chandra and the XMM-Newton X-ray observatories should help determine how serious this problem is for the collision hypothesis. Another possible explanation is that the disturbance was caused by an outburst generated by the infall of matter into a supermassive black hole located in a central galaxy. The black hole inhales much of the matter but expels some of it outward in a pair of high-speed jets, heating and pushing aside the surrounding gas. Such events are known to occur in this cluster. The galaxy 3C438 in the central region of the cluster is known to be a powerful source of explosive activity, which is presumably due to a central supermassive black hole. But the energy in these outbursts is not nearly large enough to explain the Chandra data. "If this event was an outburst from a supermassive black hole, then it's by far the most powerful one ever seen," said team member Bill Forman, also of CfA. The phenomenal amount of energy involved implies a very large amount of mass would have been swallowed by the black hole, about 30 billion times the Sun's mass over a period of 200 million years. The authors consider this rate of black hole growth implausible. "These values have never been seen before and, truthfully, are hard to believe," said Kraft. These results were presented at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Honolulu, HI, and will appear in an upcoming issue of The Astrophysical Journal. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala., manages the Chandra program for the agency's Science Mission Directorate. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory controls science and flight operations from the Chandra X-ray Center in Cambridge, Mass. Additional information and images are available at:	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25645000
More Information will come soon. Welcome to the International Youth Climate Policy working group We’ll be using this as our primary means of communication as we discuss and develop policy positions leading up to (and beyond) Copenhagen! Role of the Youth Climate Policy Group: 1. To discuss and keep up to date with policy developments in the international political realm. 2. To inform the rest of the International Youth Network of current policies and to make policy documents more accessible. 3. To draft policies and briefing documents to be used by the International Youth Network in our activities (ie lobbying, outreach, education, media, etc). For any questions please feel free to contact our coordinators. Kyle Gracey firstname.lastname@example.org Marcie Smith email@example.com The Policy WG coordinates the overall policy activities and objectives of the youth. It oversees the activities of the policy affinity groups. It’s objectives are to track policy developments in the negotiations, summarize these for other youth to learn from, and inform actions and communications about policy developments. Forest Policy Affinity Group Gemma Tillack firstname.lastname@example.org Gemma can provide a description of our actions, but we have a side event on Youth Voices on Redd organized for Young and Future Generations Day, as well as forest-specific actions on REDD and LULUCF Policy Principles, Our Guiding Principles – International Youth Delegation – Click here to access the poilyc page. Youth envision a world with a safe and stable climate. In this world, unmitigated pollution of the shared atmosphere is no longer acceptable. Developed countries have paid the full debt of their historical emissions burden on the climate by facilitating and financing necessary adaptation measures in developing countries. Also financed by developed countries, global innovation has been harnessed, and effective renewable and energy efficient technologies have been developed and equitably distributed throughout the world. Having addressed climate change through a strong global agreement, and free from the added pressure of a more dangerous climate, we are now able to turn our full attention to the world’s other pressing issues including food security, water & sanitation, health care, education and freedom. The lessons that we learned from climate change will allow us to work effectively on these issues. Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry Global Financial Crisis Youth involvement in COP Emissions Targets-Cut the crap Temperature increase due to global warming must be kept as far below 2°C as possible. In order to minimize the risk of climate catastrophe, we must, at the very least, reduce atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases to 350ppm CO2-e as quickly as possible, and follow that up with increased efforts to return to pre-industrial levels of greenhouse gases. For those who want to go for a 450ppm CO2-e target, a key aim of many negotiators at this conference, would give us a less than 50-50 chance of staying below 2°C, which is unacceptably risky. Thus, getting exposed to a high level risk like that is uncompensated compared to the little or no economic gains for few. Henceforth we must aim at the highest level possible. To achieve our goal of a safe climate future, we believe that: - Global emissions must be reduced by at least 85% by 2050 (compared with 1990 levels), in line with IPCC recommendations for maintaining a safe climate. - Developed nations must actively lead, committing to emissions reductions of at least 40% by 2020, and 95% by 2050. Global emissions must peak and decline by 2012. Technology Transfer-Go zero carbon The undeniable link between energy and other forms of technology with global poverty is a key area which must be addressed in a sustainable way to increase the resilience of the global community. This means that by financing and supporting sustainable development globally, developed nations have the ultimate power to end inequity. Supporting mechanisms for this purpose will create a world where all have equal opportunities to minimise the impact of climate change. To this end, developed countries taking leadership in research, development and commercialization of renewable and energy efficient technologies is sufficient to transition global infrastructure to a zero emissions future together than the change in attitudes for the global population. The benefits of technological advancements in such a scenario must be equitably distributed throughout the world, facilitating clean, efficient and sustainable development in vulnerable regions. Through capacity building and transfer of intellectual property, developing countries should be empowered by addressing the gap in needed and existing levels of capacity for technological advancements. Adaptation-Now or never, DO or DIE The impacts of climate change are disproportionately felt. Those that are most vulnerable also have the least capacity to adapt. Entire populations are threatening with total annihilation. In line with the common but differentiate responsibilities principle, developed countries need to pay the full debt of their historical contribution to climate change and manipulating the use of natural resources of planet earth by facilitating and financing necessary adaptation and mitigatory measures in developing countries. Action must be taken to create new and additional funds that are separate from existing development assistance. The current amount of funding available for adaptation measures in developing countries is completely inadequate, being only a fraction of that required and governed by institutions with a bad record. Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD)-Plantations are not forests Forests are more than just trees and carbon. They are living systems which ensures the well being of all living organisms on this green planet. It is essential that deforestation and forest degradation are dramatically reduced in developing countries equitably and rapidly. Degradation is any activity that reduces a forest’s carbon carrying capacity and/or harms biodiversity. Additionally, any definition of deforestation and forest degradation should distinguish between native forest ecosystems and agricultural tree crops, noting that the native forests are more sustainable and efficient and effectiveness in storing carbon and making the planet cooler. Developed countries have a responsibility to provide finance and support for developing countries to take immediate action to avoid deforestation, permanently conserve, and sustainably manage native forests. Priority must be given to protect primary forest caps which are richer in carbon and has amazingly rich bio diversity. REDD accounting must accurately reflect the actual carbon carrying capacity of these forests. Accountability, transparency, and good governance must be required of all participating parties. In addition, developing nations have a responsibility to prevent emissions leakage and to engage their society in all levels of decision-making. The engagement and participation of local and indigenous communities must be guaranteed and are not negotiable. Moreover, the centrality of secure land rights to the REDD conversation cannot be understated. An equitable and effective REDD regime will ensure the security of the land and property of local and Indigenous peoples under the sustainable managing practises of resources. Critically, REDD must be a mechanism for forest conservation and sustainable management for the sake of climate stabilization, not a mechanism for profit. By extension, we reject REDD as an offset mechanism for Annex-1 countries. Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry-Banking carbons and accounting Land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF) accounting and reporting must be mandatory, to ensure that all emissions are accounted for when assessing mitigation progress. Despite the huge technical difficulties, LULUCF accounting must accurately reflect the actual carbon carrying capacity of standing forests. Also in the vein of accuracy, there should be a distinction between native forest ecosystems and agricultural tree crops, noting that the former has a far greater carbon carrying capacity. In addition, LULUCF accounting must be structured such that there are strong incentives for protecting natural, bio-diverse, pristine ecosystems. Accountability, transparency, and good governance are essential. Finally, all land use and forestry measures must engage and empower local and indigenous people to sustainably manage their local resources and maximize benefits to ecosystem services and biodiversity. Global Financial Crisis-Capitalism fails, again! The global financial crisis provides a valuable opportunity to reconsider the foundations of our economic structures, and to begin the transition to a sustainable, low emissions future. It is a perfect educate our self’s to what kind of things to come if we follow this mutant globalized and capitalistic paradigm of existence. Major reformations to financial structures in the first world should be coupled with substantial investment in renewable and energy efficient infrastructure which is urgently required, and its implementation will create green jobs that will last beyond the financial crisis. The global financial crisis does not provide an excuse for inaction on climate change. Actually it opened all the close windows and doors to see the world. Action on climate change is urgent, and will remain so for the duration of our lifetimes. As youth, our future quality of life depends on the actions of today. We cannot afford any delay. NOW or NEVER!!! Youth involvement in COP 15-No more promises. We need strong action NOW! Young people offer hope, optimism and vision and the much needed energy and capacity. International youth delegates are the human face of the United Nations, as we will fully experience the future consequences of the actions of older generations. At every COP, we remind governments that they are bargaining with our future, and that their calls for action on climate change must be sincere. Every time we push older generations to go for fair deals. In order to guarantee a safe climate for generation’s present and future, governments worldwide must act, and act now. Because future generations will either suffer or benefit from decisions made today, it is crucial that young people are involved in shaping these decisions. As a result, we demand that all government delegations to have a youth representation, in order to ensure a tangible youth presence in the most important international negotiations of our known modern history.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25655000
Quit vegetables and fruits and exercising – that`s the new mantra for losing weight, according to a nutritionist. Zoe Harcombe has said that everything that people thought was good to stay healthy - fewer calories and more exercise - only packs on the flab. "It`s a myth. It`s the carbs that pile on the pounds," The New York Post quoted Harcombe as writing in her book `The Obesity Epidemic: What Caused It? How Can We Stop It?` She said Americans must go back to older dietary rules calling for red meat, fish, eggs, cream and butter, all virtually carbohydrate free. "You`ve got to go back to sticking a pork chop on the grill," she said. Here are a few myths she busted in her book: 1. Veggies and fruit are more nutritious than any other food: Greens are good only if they are slathered in butter in order to deliver the fat-soluble vitamins they contain. Sugar in fruit gets stored as fat in the liver. 2. Losing weight is about reducing calories: "If you cut 500 calories from a 2,000-calorie daily diet, you will lose weight at first." But the body will compensate and turn down its metabolism to reduce energy and use fewer calories. 3. Starchy foods should be the main part of our diet: Pasta, bread and grains turn into sugar in the blood, which is unhealthy. It forces the body to release insulin, which stores fat, in order to get the glucose levels back to normal. 4. We should exercise to combat obesity: "It will only cause you to get hungry, and your body will crave carbohydrates, which causes weight gain." 5. Fat is a definite no-no: "Real fat from natural foods is good. Eat only what nature grows." "Stop grazing and snacking. Go back to eating three good meals a day and manage your carbs if you want to lose weight," Harcombe said.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25656000
Salty diets tied to kidney stones, osteoporosis Toronto: People eating high salt diets tend to develop kidney stones and osteoporosis, a bone disease that leads to increased risk of fracture, says a study. Principal investigator Todd Alexander from the University of Alberta and his team have uncovered an important link between sodium and calcium. They appear to be regulated by the same molecule in the body. When sodium intake becomes too high, the body gets rid of sodium via the urine, taking calcium with it, which depletes calcium stores in the body. High levels of calcium in the urine lead to the development of kidney stones, while inadequate levels of calcium in the body lead to thin bones and osteoporosis, the American Journal of Physiology - Renal Physiology reported. "When the body tries to get rid of sodium via the urine, our findings suggest the body also gets rid of calcium at the same time," said Alexander, researcher in the faculty of medicine & dentistry at the University of Alberta, according to its statement. "This is significant because we are eating more and more sodium in our diets, which means our bodies are getting rid of more and more calcium. Our findings reinforce why it is important to have a low sodium diet and why it is important to have lower sodium levels in processed foods." "We asked a simple question with our research - could sodium and calcium absorption be linked? And we discovered they are," said Alexander. "We found a molecule that seems to have two jobs - regulating the levels of both calcium and sodium in the body. Our findings provide very real biological evidence that this relationship between sodium and calcium is real and linked," he added. First Published: Wednesday, July 25, 2012, 11:29 Post your Comments	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25657000
Patan (Sanskrit: पाटन Pātan, Nepal Bhasa: यल Yala), officially Lalitpur Sub-Metropolitan City, is one of the major cities of Nepal located in the south-central part of Kathmandu Valley. The city was initially designed in the shape of the Buddhist Dharma-Chakra (Wheel of Righteousness). The four thurs or mounds on the perimeter of Patan are ascribed around, one at each corner of its cardinal points, which are popularly known as Asoka Stupas. Legend has it that Emperor Asoka (the legendary King of India) visited with his daughter Charumati to Kathmandu in 250 B.C. and erected five Asoka Stupas, four in the surrounding and one at the middle of the Patan. The size and shape of these stupas seem to breathe their antiquity in a real sense. There are more than 1,200 Buddhist monuments of various shapes and sizes scattered in and around the city. The most important monument of the city is Patan Durbar Square, which has been listed by UNESCO as one of seven Monument Zones that make up the Kathmandu Valley World Heritage Site	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25664000
(HealthDay News) -- Hemorrhoids are often painful swollen veins near the anus, the U.S. National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse (NDDIC) says. They commonly are triggered by straining during bowel movements, the effects of pregnancy or childbirth, or constipation. To relieve the pain of hemorrhoids, the NDDIC suggests soaking in a bathtub of warm water for about 10 minutes, several times daily. Use of a hemorrhoid cream or a suppository also can help relieve symptoms. You can help lower your risk of hemorrhoids by drinking plenty of water and eating lots of fiber. Regular exercise can also help soften stools and make bowel movements easier.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25668000
by Gregory McNamee Talk about your worm’s-eye view of the world. From time to time, I am pleased in this column to announce the discovery of some hitherto unknown species,or the rediscovery of one thought to have disappeared. An international team of scientists has done this one better, announcing the discovery of an entirely new phylum comprising an ocean-dwelling flatworm called Xenoturbella and its kin, collectively the acoelomorphs. Interestingly, these creatures seem to be backward-evolving: their ancestors had gill slits and guts, but the current acoelomorphic configuration lacks them. As researcher Maximilian Telford of University College London puts it, “We’ve got these very simple worms nested right in the middle of the complex animals. How did they end up so simple? They must have lost a lot of complexity.” * * * If in the course of evolution you decided to lose your ears, you would have good reason. The world is a noisy place, thanks to ever-busy humans, and it’s getting noisier. In response, many species of animals are getting noisier themselves in an effort to be heard, a process, notes Rose Eveleth in Scientific American, called the Lombard effect. Right whales and house finches, for their parts, are calling in at different frequencies to get around shipping and urban noise. As Eveleth writes of animals in her provocative piece, “Many of them are doing the vocal equivalent of wandering around asking, ‘Can you hear me now?’ And increasingly, the answer is no.” * * * Gibbons make a fair amount of noise themselves—and perhaps that stands to reason, given that, next to the great apes, they’re our closest living relatives. That noise is more complex than you might think. Indeed, report researchers from the German Primate Center in Göttingen, the crested gibbons of Southeast Asia have distinctive regional accents. These accents suggest both familial typings, as well as the ancient migration of the species from a location to the north of their current range to points farther south. * * * A new phylum is discovered, but a current species declines. That, sadly, is the way of this noisy world. Scottish scientists, reports the BBC’s Highlands and Islands service, are documenting the decline of the common scoter, a kind of duck, in the islands to the north of the country. The scientists are now studying the effects of climate change, which has implications in predation and in food supply. Says one, “We believe climate change may be a factor because warmer winters and springs could lead to aquatic insects such as mayflies and caddis flies hatching earlier in the season and not being available to the scoter ducklings when they hatch out themselves. And warmer winters may, over time, lead to more predators surviving and that could make an impact.” * * * Homer Simpson, his son, Bart, their kin, and the good citizens of Springfield are odd ducks one and all. They’re cartoons, after all, so they’re supposed to be goofy. It’s worth noting, though, that the Homeric lineup lives in the shadow of a nuclear reactor, the river is full of three-headed fish, and the night sky glows unnaturally, all reasons to think that something other than mere cartoonery might be at play. It’s also worth observing, then, that researchers at the University of South Carolina’s Chernobyl Research Initiative have concluded that the offspring of 48 species of birds born in the vicinity of that vast Ukrainian accident site have smaller brain size (by 5 percent, on average) than birds born elsewhere, and that this correlates with both reduced cognitive ability and heightened mortality. This mutation seems to be occurring at relatively low doses of radiation, further correlating with the widespread difficulties of children born in the northern Ukraine since the 1986 disaster, who, the researchers’ report maintains, “have higher rates of neural tube defects and related neurological disorders than other children in uncontaminated regions of the Ukraine and Europe.” Champions of nuclear power, take note.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25677000
Civic Communications Specialist 2400 S. Scenic Ave. Springfield, MO 65807 September 14, 2012 Packing a Healthy Lunch Means Keeping Food Safety in Mind Too BUFFALO, Mo. With school back in session, many children will bring a packed lunch from home to school. That makes it important to know how to make lunches nutritious and safe according to Christeena Haynes, a nutrition and health education specialist with University of Missouri Extension. "Healthy lunches provide energy and nutrients that your children need in order to learn and play at school. It also helps prevent them from eating junk food that isn't so good for them," said Haynes. Making a healthy and safe lunch requires starting with a clean lunch box. Haynes says to wash it with warm soapy water every time it is used. "Before you begin making the lunch, wash your hands and make sure the food is prepared on a clean surface, using clean utensils," said Haynes. If you pack perishable foods, take steps to keep it cold. These types of foods should not be held at room temperature for more than two hours. "It is best to pack a lunch with an ice pack in an insulated lunch bag or box. An alternative is to pack your child a shelf stable lunch that does not require refrigeration," said Haynes. Examples of non-perishable foods are granola bars, whole fruit, peanut butter, and canned foods. Variety is also the spice of lunches. Try to pack a lunch that includes most of the food groups: fruits, vegetables, grains, protein, and dairy. A whole wheat tortilla filled with ham and cheese, carrot sticks with dip, and an apple is a well-balanced lunch that contains all of these foods groups. Dips and sauces are often a good way to get children to eat their vegetables. Try using healthy dips such as hummus, yogurt, or guacamole. Another way to make lunches more interesting and introduce your child to new foods is to change simple things like the type of bread for sandwiches (bagels or pitas) or the form of cheese (cubes, slices, strings). "If you are limited on time in the mornings, you may want to consider packing their lunch the night before and keeping it refrigerated until the next day. Then, just add a cold pack and they are ready to go," said Haynes. For more information on nutrition issues, go online to extension.missouri.edu or contact one of the nutrition and health education specialists working in the Ozarks: Christeena Haynes, in Dallas County, (417) 345-7551; Dr. Lydia Kaume in Barton County, (417) 682-3579; or Dr. Pam Duitsman, in Springfield, (417) 886-2059. Source: Christeena Haynes, (417) 345-7551	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25678000
"The real question is not whether these cities shrink – we're all shrinking – but whether we let it happen in a destructive or sustainable way," said [Dan Kildee, treasurer of Genesee County, Michigan, where Flint is located]. "Decline is a fact of life in Flint. Resisting it is like resisting gravity."...Nobody will be forced to move? People will enjoy living near a forest or meadow? Choosing which areas to knock down will be delicate but many of them were already obvious, he said. The city is buying up houses in more affluent areas to offer people in neighbourhoods it wants to demolish. Nobody will be forced to move, said Mr Kildee. "Much of the land will be given back to nature. People will enjoy living near a forest or meadow," he said. Mr Kildee acknowledged that some fellow Americans considered his solution "defeatist" but he insisted it was "no more defeatist than pruning an overgrown tree so it can bear fruit again." First, I'm sure people will be forced to move if this thing gets going. Second, you can't just return to nature by removing the streets and buildings. What will these non-urban buffer zones really look like? Even if it is something like a forest — made of very fast-growing trees? — or meadow, what sorts of animals — rodent and human — will run wild there? I don't mean to be completely negative. Just asking a couple obvious questions.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25685000
Work - Overview The tools, rules, and relationships of the workplace illustrate some of the enduring collaborations and conflicts in the everyday life of the nation. The Museum has more than 5,000 traditional American tools, chests, and simple machines for working wood, stone, metal, and leather. Materials on welding, riveting, and iron and steel construction tell a more industrial version of the story. Computers, industrial robots, and other artifacts represent work in the Information Age. But work is more than just tools. The collections include a factory gate, the motion-study photographs of Frank and Lillian Gilbreth, and more than 3,000 work incentive posters. The rise of the factory system is measured, in part, by time clocks in the collections. More than 9,000 items bring in the story of labor unions, strikes, and demonstrations over trade and economic issues.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25687000
South Carolina, Southern Georgia, and Northern Florida, west to southern Alabama. Ambystoma cingulatum occupies seasonally wet, pine flatwoods, and pine savannas in the southern United States. The Flatwoods salamander is typically found under logs near small cypress ponds. Traditionally, the Flatwoods salamander was found in sandy, seasonally wet, longleaf pine communities. But, due to European settlement these areas have been replaced by slash pine, or destroyed altogether (Petranka 1998). Adult A. cingulatum are subterranean, living mainly underground in root channels or crayfish burrows (Conant & Collins 1998). Length: 3 1/2- 5 1/16 in. The Flatwoods salamander is a small highly variable ambystomid, with coloration ranging from specks, to grayish lines that resemble a frosted or lichenlike reticulated pattern. About 5% of A. cingulatum lack the frosted appearance altogether, with 2% having light annuli on their dorsum (Petranka 1998). Costal grooves average at about fifteen. The head is small compared to the shoulder and neck. Sexual dimorphism is slight to non-existent, with sexually active males being slightly shorter in length, and having a swollen cloacal region. Hatchling A. cingulatum are 7.5-11.5 mm long, and are pale brown underneath, and dark brown above (Petranka 1998). The young develop a yellow stripe that runs the length of the body. Older larvae have a paler stripe that may be retained up to one year after metamorphosis. While variations in coloration are often geographic, subspecies are not recognized (Conant & Collins 1998). The male Flatwoods salamander reaches sexual maturity at one year, but often does not breed until the following season. The females are mature and breed during their second year (Petranka 1998). Breeding populations range from 200-400 adults. Migration to breeding sites such as ephemeral habitats like ditches, burrow pits, marshy ponds, and swamps is triggered by rainy weather from mid October to early February. The adults move during the heavy rain and cease moving within five hours of the end of rainfall (Petranka 1998). The salamanders travel to the breeding sites located at or near pine flatwoods that support long leaf pine, slash pine, and wiregrass. Males and females migrate together and emigrate in December and January, after spending approximately thirty eight days at the breeding site. They return to their home range, females weighing 37% less after ovipositing. A. cingulatum is one of the only Ambystoma species, other than A. opacum, that courts terrestrially (Petranka 1998). Females lay 1-34 eggs in linear or clumped fashion beneath logs, leaf litter, sphagnum mats, bare soil, bases of bushes, and at the entrances of crayfish burrows (Conant & Collins 1998). The female abandons the eggs and leaves them where they will hatch in about two weeks, triggered by heavy rains that raise the water level. Hatching becomes staggered when it requires multiple rains to fill the pond. The larval period lasts from three to five months (Petranka 1998). Courtship occurs after arriving at the breeding sites, although it has never been witnessed. Other than migration and emigration to and from the sites, the Flatwoods salamander is a solitary species. They live underground and are only triggered to emerge by heavy rain. A. cingulatum has a defense posture where they roll their tails. Because a majority of these salamanders have tail damage due to attacks by invertebrates, it is likely that this is a life saving response (Petranka 1998). Hatchlings begin feeding immediately on invertebrates and zooplankton, which aids them in growing at a rapid pace. As A. cingulatum becomes juveniles and adults, they remain carnivorous, feeding primarily on earthworms and other insects (Petranka 1998). Other than preservation of biodiversity and treasuring a native species to maintain ecosystem equilibrium, there is little economic importance to humans. It could however be hypothesized that salamanders keep insect populations under control The Flatwoods salamander is a small, rare ambystomid with widely distributed populations. Clearing of land, creating ditches, filling wetlands, and conservation of native longleaf pine forests to create managed tree farms, have destroyed and reduced populations. A. cingulatum is a candidate for federal concern because populations seem to be declining throughout the range (Petranka 1998). It is endangered in South Carolina, rare in Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. Management is complicated, involving both aquatic and terrestrial preservation (Conant 1998). It should be noted that A. cingulatum is one of the only terrestrial breeding salamanders that abandons its eggs in North America. (Conat & Collins, 1998) It is also interesting to consider that up to 77-84% of older larvae have damaged tails due to attacks from invertebrates. (Petranka, 1998) Cara Seely (author), Michigan State University, James Harding (editor), Michigan State University. living in the Nearctic biogeographic province, the northern part of the New World. This includes Greenland, the Canadian Arctic islands, and all of the North American as far south as the highlands of central Mexico. having body symmetry such that the animal can be divided in one plane into two mirror-image halves. Animals with bilateral symmetry have dorsal and ventral sides, as well as anterior and posterior ends. Synapomorphy of the Bilateria. animals which must use heat acquired from the environment and behavioral adaptations to regulate body temperature forest biomes are dominated by trees, otherwise forest biomes can vary widely in amount of precipitation and seasonality. A large change in the shape or structure of an animal that happens as the animal grows. In insects, "incomplete metamorphosis" is when young animals are similar to adults and change gradually into the adult form, and "complete metamorphosis" is when there is a profound change between larval and adult forms. Butterflies have complete metamorphosis, grasshoppers have incomplete metamorphosis. having the capacity to move from one place to another. the area in which the animal is naturally found, the region in which it is endemic. Conant, R., Collins. 1998. Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern Central North America. NY: Houghton Miflin Co. Petranka, J. 1998. Salamanders of the US and Canada. WA: Smithsonian Institution Press.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25692000
Chronometric Techniques–Part II Most of the chronometric dating methods in use today are radiometric . That is to say, they are based on knowledge of the rate at which certain radioactive isotopes within dating samples decay or the rate of other cumulative changes in atoms resulting from radioactivity. Isotopes are specific forms of elements. The various isotopes of the same element differ in terms of atomic mass but have the same atomic number. In other words, they differ in the number of neutrons in their nuclei but have the same number of protons. The spontaneous decay of radioactive elements occurs at different rates, depending on the specific isotope. These rates are stated in terms of half-lives. One half-life is the amount of time required for ½ of the original atoms in a sample to decay. Over the second half-life, ½ of the atoms remaining decay, which leaves ¼ of the original quantity, and so on. In other words, the change in numbers of atoms follows a geometric scale as illustrated by the graph below. The red curve line shows the of atomic decay The decay of atomic nuclei provides us with a reliable clock that is unaffected by normal forces in nature. The rate will not be changed by intense heat, cold, pressure, or moisture. The most commonly used radiometric dating method is radiocarbon dating. It is also called carbon-14 and C-14 dating. This technique is used to date the remains of organic materials. Dating samples are usually charcoal, wood, bone, or shell, but any tissue that was ever alive can be dated. Radiocarbon dating is based on the fact that cosmic radiation from space constantly bombards our planet. As cosmic rays pass through the atmosphere, they occasionally collide with gas atoms resulting in the release of neutrons. When the nucleus of a nitrogen (14N) atom in the atmosphere captures one of these neutrons, the atom subsequently changes into carbon-14 (14C) after the release of a proton. The carbon-14 quickly bonds chemically with atmospheric oxygen to form carbon dioxide gas. Carbon-14 is a rare, unstable form of carbon. Only one in a trillion carbon atoms in the atmosphere is carbon-14. The majority are carbon-12 (98.99%) and carbon-13 (1.1%). From a chemical standpoint, all of these isotopes of carbon behave exactly the same. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere drifts down to the earth's surface where much of it is taken in by green growing plants, and the carbon is used to build new cells by photosynthesis . Animals eat plants or other animals that have eaten them. Through this process, a small amount of carbon-14 spreads through all living things and is incorporated into their proteins and other organic molecules. of carbon-14 in the atmosphere and its entrance into the As long as an organism is alive, it takes in carbon-14 and the other carbon isotopes in the same ratio as exists in the atmosphere. Following death, however, no new carbon is consumed. Progressively through time, the carbon-14 atoms decay and once again become nitrogen-14. As a result, there is a changing ratio of carbon-14 to the more atomically stable carbon-12 and carbon-13 in the dead tissue. That rate of change is determined by the half-life of carbon-14, which is 5730 ± 40 years. Because of this relatively rapid half-life, there is only about 3% of the original carbon-14 in a sample remaining after 30,000 years. Beyond 40-50,000 years, there usually is not enough left to measure with conventional laboratory methods. Radioactive decay rate for Carbon-14 (N = the number of atoms) Half-Lives Years Past C-14 Atoms C-12 Atoms 0 0 1 N 1 N 1 5,730 1/2 N 1 N 2 11,460 1/4 N 1 N 3 17,190 1/8 N 1 N 4 22,920 1/16 N 1 N 5 28,650 1/32 N 1 N 6 34,380 1/64 N 1 N 7 40,110 1/128 N 1 N The conventional radiocarbon dating method involves burning a sample in a closed tube containing oxygen. The carbon containing gas that is produced is then cooled to a liquid state and placed in a lead shielded box with a sensitive Geiger counter. This instrument registers the radioactivity of the carbon-14 atoms. Specifically, it detects the relatively weak beta particles released when carbon-14 nuclei decay. The age of a sample is determined by the number of decays recorded over a set period of time. Older samples have less carbon-14 remaining and, consequentially, less frequent decays. Knowing the half-life of carbon-14 allows the calculation of a sample's age. A radiocarbon sample being prepared for dating with the AMS technique A relatively new variation of the radiocarbon dating method utilizes an accelerator mass spectrometer , which is a device usually used by physicists to measure the abundance of very rare radioactive isotopes. When used for dating, this AMS method involves actually counting individual carbon-14 atoms. This allows the dating of much older and smaller samples but at a far higher cost. Although, organic materials as old as 100,000 years potentially can be dated with AMS, dates older than 60,000 years are still rare. Radiocarbon and tree-ring date comparisons made by Hans Suess provide needed data to make radiocarbon dates more reliable Paleoanthropologists and archaeologists must always be aware of possible radiocarbon sample contamination that could result in inaccurate dates. Such contamination can occur if a sample is exposed to carbon compounds in exhaust gasses produced by factories and motor vehicles burning fossil fuels such as coal or gasoline. The result is radiocarbon dates that are too old. This has been called the Autobahn effect, named after the German high speed roadway system. Archaeologists in that country first noted this source of contamination when samples found near the Autobahn were dated. The effect of global burning of fossil fuels on radiocarbon dates was verified and calibrated by Hans Suess of the University of California, San Diego when he radiocarbon dated bristlecone pine tree growth rings that were of known chronometric ages. Subsequently, it is also called the Suess effect. Other kinds of sample contamination can cause carbon-14 dates to be too young. This can occur if the sample is impregnated with tobacco smoke or oils from a careless researcher's hands. This is now well known and is easily avoided during excavation. Still another potential source of error in radiocarbon dating that is adjusted for stems from the assumption that cosmic radiation enters our planet's atmosphere at a constant rate. In fact, the rate changes slightly through time, resulting in varying amounts of carbon-14 being created. This has become known as the de Vries effect because of its discovery by the Dutch physicist Hessel de Vries. All of these potential sources of error in radiocarbon dating are now well understood and compensating corrections are made so that the dates are reliable. There are a number of other radiometric dating systems in use today that can provide dates for much older sites than those datable by radiocarbon dating. Potassium-argon (K-Ar) dating is one of them. It is based on the fact that potassium-40 (40K) decays into the gas argon-40 (40Ar) and calcium-40 (40Ca) at a known rate. The half-life of potassium-40 is approximately 1.25 billion years. Measurement of the amount of argon-40 in a sample is the basis for age determination. Dating samples for this technique are geological strata of volcanic origin. While potassium is a very common element in the earth's crust, potassium-40 is a relatively rare isotope of it. However, potassium-40 is usually found in significant amounts in volcanic rock and ash. In addition, any argon that existed prior to the last time the rock was molten will have been driven off by the intense heat. As a result, all of the argon-40 in a volcanic rock sample is assumed to date from that time. When a fossil is sandwiched between two such volcanic deposits, their potassium-argon dates provide a minimum and maximum age. In the example below, the bone must date to sometime between 1.75 and 1.5 million years ago. Using the potassium-argon method to date volcanic ash strata above and below a bone sample in order to determine a minimum and a maximum age Potassium-argon dates usually have comparatively large statistical plus or minus factors. They can be on the order of plus or minus 1/4 million years for a 2 million year old date. This is still acceptable because these dates help us narrow down the time range for a fossil. The use of additional dating methods at the same site allow us to refine it even more. NOTE: the plus or minus number following radiometric dates is not an error factor. Rather, it is a probability statement. For instance, a date of 100,000 ± 5,000 years ago means that there is a high probability the date is in the range of 95,000 and 105,000 years ago and most likely is around 100,000. Radiometric dates, like all measurements in science, are close statistical approximations rather than absolutes. This will always be true due to the finite limits of measuring equipment. This does not mean that radiometric dates or any other scientific measurements are unreliable. Potassium-argon dating has become a valuable tool for human fossil hunters, especially those working in East Africa. Theoretically it can be used for samples that date from the beginning of the earth (4.54 billion years) down to 100,000 years ago or even more recently. Paleoanthropologists use it mostly to date sites in the 1 to 5 million year old range. This is the critical time period during which humans evolved from their ape ancestors. A relatively new technique related to potassium-argon dating compares the ratios of argon-40 to argon-39 in volcanic rock. This provides more accurate dates for volcanic deposits and allows the use of smaller samples. Fission Track Dating Another radiometric method that is used for samples from early human sites is fission track dating. This is based on the fact that a number of crystalline or glass-like minerals, such as obsidian, mica, and zircon crystals, contain trace amounts of uranium-238 (238U), which is an unstable isotope. When atoms of uranium-238 decay, there is a release of energy-charged alpha particles which burn narrow fission tracks, or damage trails, through the glassy material. These can be seen and counted with an optical microscope. Fission tracks in obsidian as they would appear with an optical microscope The number of fission tracks is directly proportional to the amount of time since the glassy material cooled from a molten state. Since the half-life of uranium-238 is known to be approximately 4.5 billion years, the chronometric age of a sample can be calculated. This dating method can be used with samples that are as young as a few decades to as old as the earth and beyond. However, paleoanthropologists rarely use it to date sites more than several million years old. With the exception of early historic human made glass artifacts , the fission track method is usually only employed to date geological strata. Artifacts made out of obsidian and mica are not fission track dated because it would only tell us when the rocks cooled from a molten state, not when they were made into artifacts by our early human ancestors. Thermoluminescence (TL) dating is a radiometric method based on the fact that trace amounts of radioactive atoms, such as uranium and thorium, in some kinds of rock, soil, and clay produce constant low amounts of background ionizing radiation. The atoms of crystalline solids, such as pottery and rock, can be altered by this radiation. Specifically, the electrons of quartz, feldspar, diamond, or calcite crystals can become displaced from their normal positions in atoms and trapped in imperfections in the crystal lattice of the rock or clay molecules. These energy charged electrons progressively accumulate over time. When a sample is heated to high temperatures in a laboratory, the trapped electrons are released and return to their normal positions in their atoms. This causes them to give off their stored energy in the form of light impulses (photons). This light is referred to as thermoluminescence (literally "heat light"). A similar effect can be brought about by stimulating the sample with infrared light. The intensity of thermoluminescence is directly related to the amount of accumulated changes produced by background radiation, which, in turn, varies with the age of the sample and the amount of trace radioactive elements it contains. A ground up placed in a Heat is raised in an energy from the sample Thermoluminescence release resulting from rapidly heating a crushed clay sample What is actually determined is the amount of elapsed time since the sample had previously been exposed to high temperatures. In the case of a pottery vessel, usually it is the time since it was fired in a kiln. For the clay or rock lining of a hearth or oven, it is the time since the last intense fire burned there. For burned flint, it is the time since it had been heated in a fire to improve its flaking qualities for stone tool making. The effective time range for TL dating is from a few decades back to about 300,000 years, but it is most often used to date things from the last 100,000 years. Theoretically, this technique could date samples as old as the solar system if we could find them. However, the accuracy of TL dating is generally lower than most other radiometric techniques. Electron Spin Resonance Dating Another relatively new radiometric dating method related to thermoluminescence is electron spin resonance (ESR). It is also based on the fact that background radiation causes electrons to dislodge from their normal positions in atoms and become trapped in the crystalline lattice of the material. When odd numbers of electrons are separated, there is a measurable change in the magnetic field (or spin) of the atoms. Since the magnetic field progressively changes with time in a predictable way as a result of this process, it provides another atomic clock, or calendar, that can be used for dating purposes. Unlike thermoluminescence dating, however, the sample is not destroyed with the ESR method. This allows samples to be dated more than once. ESR is used mostly to date calcium carbonate in limestone, coral, fossil teeth, mollusks, and egg shells. It also can date quartz and flint. Paleoanthropologists have used ESR mostly to date samples from the last 300,000 years. However, it potentially could be used for much older samples. Comparison of the Time Ranges for Dating Methods Whenever possible, paleoanthropologists collect as many dating samples from an ancient human occupation site as possible and employ a variety of chronometric dating methods. In this way, the confidence level of the dating is significantly increased. The methods that are used depend on the presumed age of the site from which they were excavated. For instance, if a site is believed to be over 100,000 years old, dendrochronology and radiocarbon dating could not be used. However, potassium-argon, fission track, amino acid racemization, thermoluminescence, electron spin resonance, and paleomagnetic dating methods would be considered. EFFECTIVE TIME RANGE OF THE MAJOR CHRONOMETRIC DATING METHODS In addition to the likely time range, paleoanthropologists must select dating techniques based on the kinds of datable materials available. Dendrochronology can only date tree-rings. Any organic substances can be used for radiocarbon and amino acid racemization dating. Calcium rich parts of animals such as coral, bones, teeth, mollusks, and egg shells can be dated with the electron spin resonance technique. In addition, ESR can date some non-organic minerals including limestone, quartz, and flint. Burned clay and volcanic deposits are materials used for paleomagnetic dating. Glassy minerals, such as mica, obsidian, and zircon crystals are datable with the fission track method. Pottery and other similar materials containing crystalline solids are usually dated with the thermoluminescence technique. The potassium-argon and argon-argon methods are used to date volcanic rock and ash deposits. Other chronometric dating methods not described here include uranium/thorium dating, oxidizable carbon ratio (OCR) dating, optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating, varve analysis, and obsidian hydration dating. Copyright © 1998-2012 by Dennis O'Neil. All rights	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25694000
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. March 11, 1996 Hubble Telescope Maps Pluto Credit: A. Stern (SwRI), M. Buie (Lowell Observatory), NASA, ESA, Explanation: No spacecraft from Earth has yet explored Pluto but astronomers have found ways of mapping its surface. A stunning map of this distant, diminutive planet, the first based on direct images, was revealed late last week in a Hubble Space Telescope press release. Above are two opposite hemisphere views of the computer constructed map of Pluto's surface (north is up). The grid pattern is due to the computer technique used where each grid element is over 100 miles across. The map is based on Hubble images made when Pluto was a mere 3 billion miles distant. It shows strong brightness variations - confirming and substantially improving upon ground based observations. While the brightness variations may be due to surface features like craters and basins they are more likely caused by regions of nitrogen and methane frost. The frost regions should show "seasonal" changes which can be tracked in future Hubble observations. Yes, Pluto is a planet even though it is only 2/3 the size of Earth's Moon! Authors & editors: NASA Technical Rep.: Sherri Calvo. Specific rights apply. A service of: LHEA at NASA/ GSFC	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25697000
Inner City Kids Meet Outdoor Life December 24, 2009 by: Laurie Johnson "Ok get your helpers to open your reagent..." About 30 fifth-graders bundled in sweatshirts and gloves are huddled around Naturalist Teri MacArthur as she demonstrates a water quality testing experiment. "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight...whoa! Gee whiz! What happened? It turned black. Actually it turned blue." The kids are spending the morning studying Spring Creek on the Montgomery County Preserve. They're here through the No Child Left Inside program, run by Legacy Land Trust. Executive Director Jennifer Lorenz says Legacy Land Trust has preserved more than 8,000 acres of green space in this region. And someone needs to be around in the future to conserve those wilderness areas. That's one of the reasons they're reaching out to middle schoolers. "We want to raise the next generation of conservationists. If they don't get outside, like you and I may have when we were kids, then they can't have any affinity — they can't say that they enjoy nature if they're never in it. So our goal is to get them out into the wilderness areas that we protect and hopefully later, when they're adults, they'll want to help us permanently protect them." Of course the program is more than just a self-serving interest. Research indicates when kids apply classroom learning in the field, their grades are better. "This helps science scores. All across the country many, many scientists have studied kids out in the wilderness and those who are able to get out and do real-world applications of things like water quality testing from streams, their science scores are higher. So that's a great immediate output of this." But eleven-year-old Monica Day isn't really thinking about test scores. "We've been studying how pollution affects waters and how just the tiniest bit of something can change the pH level in water. Whenever we first got the water it looked a little disgusting, actually. And then we added some colored water or something to it and then we tested it to see what the color was and the color had a rating, like 7.0. And I think it tested the acid in the water from acidic to basic to neutral." Day is from the Honor Roll School, a private school in SugarLand. But for urban students in inner city schools it can be difficult to get here. So Legacy Land Trust pays to bus middle schoolers out to these locations so any kid can learn to take care of and love the wilderness. Laurie Johnson. KUHF-Houston Public Radio News. This story first aired on February 3, 2009. podcast feed: > KUHF News	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25698000
Though he was highly thought of in his own day and for many years thereafter, one hears today little of Daniel Sennert. He was born in Breslau in 1572. His father, a shoemaker, died when Daniel was 13, and his mother had a hard time sending him to the University of Wittenberg, where he was sent in 1593. In 1597, he finished his philosophical studies and began the study of medicine, which he pursued later at Leipzig, Jena, Frankfurt-am-Oder and Berlin. He received his degree at Wittenberg in 1601. He intended to practice in his native town, but Jessenius, the professor of medicine, retired in his favor, and from 1602 until his death from plague in 1637 he not only occupied the chair of medicine but was repeatedly dean of the medical school and rector of the university. He was made one of the physicians of George, Elector of Saxony,	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25704000
In an age of advanced technology, our generation is the key to helping society advance. How are we being prepared for the future? The key to the doors of opportunity and success is an experience of the real world at an early age. This would include responsibilities of a higher level -- mastering time, managing money, entering the work force and driving. All this lies in the hands of the ability to drive as a young adult. Driving has benefits, and also consequences that teenagers can learn from, which are vital to decision-making. States decide at which age to grant the privilege to drive. In some states, incuding Florida, teenagers can begin driving at 16 after having a permit for six months. In other states, teens must wait an extra two years until they can obtain their driver's license and get a job without the hassle of parent transportation to and from school, work and home. Do you think this is fair? While some teens get a head start on life once they've acquired their license, others must wait. Teenagers must learn to be independent from their parents as early as possible, with college only a few years away. Statistics involving teen drunken driving and automobile accidents are frightening, but can we allow this to stop teenagers from driving? Rather, this should be motivation to improve and educate teenagers about the consequences and precautions that must be considered while driving. As children grow, they must be prepared for what the future might throw at them. Driving is a way to prepare for the future, and also for the responsibilities of adulthood and being independent.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25718000
The Library provides a wide array of resources and services to help you assist the student in your life with their exciting education journey. You may need an Orange County library card to access some of the resources. Get yours today! When it's time to think about heading back to school, this Virtual Gallery should be at the top of your list. Got FCAT? No problem! You can ace the test when you prepare using the math, science, and reading material found in this Virtual Gallery. View our FCAT tutorial to learn more about the FCAT and the test preparation resources the Library provides. Designed for middle school and high school students, this gallery contains manuals, DVDs, fiction, online resources, and websites aimed at providing guidance and inspiration for the science fair. Explore the exciting interactive lab for science project ideas! This resource aimed at educators contains a wealth of information on early childhood education, FCAT preparation, kindergarten readiness, classroom management, lesson plans, and more. This gallery shows you all the steps of the research paper writing process including brainstorming, researching, and citing your work. You'll find materials, databases, and websites to help you get the job done. These online guides provide quick access to a variety of Library and external resources. Subjects include history and culture, finance, holidays and observances, technology, and so much more. Sunshine State books are required reading for many students. Read or listen to one of these fantastic stories on your eReader or other mobile device after you check it out for free from OverDrive! Uh oh! The novel you need to read for class is checked out! No problem, just download it from the Library. OverDrive offers over 150 classics and other titles commonly found on school reading lists. They're available to listen to on your computer or MP3 player, or to read on your laptop. Crisis averted! If you'd like to add some excitement to your life, the Library offers entertaining and educational programs for children and teens, from birth through 18 years of age. Check out library programs for children or events for teens ages 13-18. Come join the coolest new tech club! Join Whiz Kids, the club that creates comics, animates images, mixes music, makes movies, and much more. In one easy step you can access your school's Accelerated Reader™/Reading Counts!™ lists online and check to see if the Library has the book you need. Then, order the books for home delivery or pick them up! Read the Books offers great book suggestions and ideas for kids of all ages. Find titles by selecting fiction or non-fiction and grade level. Read the book. Love it. Repeat. Browse booklists created from the recommendations of people like you! Enjoy books on a variety of topics like dinosaurs, football, friendship, weather, and more. There are even booklists based upon grade and age levels. Take an alphabet tour! Preschoolers will learn school skills and get their wheels turning with interactive reading activities. If you're thinking about going to college but don't know where to start, we have resources that will show you the way! Chapters include topics like getting into college, college life, where and what to study, graduate school, and more. Don't let homework get you down; run it out of town when you take advantage of our live tutoring, resources on how to write a research paper, test preparation assistance, and FCAT help. Start your kids off on the right foot by instilling principles and characteristics everyone values. Parents who need help developing their child's curriculum will love this eGuide. Explore subject sections on Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies, Fine Arts, Foreign Language, and Health. Resources are also grouped by student age to help you easily find the right resource for your child. If you've been asking yourself what you and your child need to know to better prepare for entering kindergarten, this step-by-step guide is for you!	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25727000
Beinecke Library Construction Photographs, 1961-1963 Documenting the construction of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, this collection of photographs captures the transient stages of a massive, three year project. One of the largest buildings in the world devoted entirely to rare books and manuscripts, the library was designed to have room in the central tower for 180,000 volumes and in the underground book stacks for over 600,000 volumes; it now contains well over 500,000 volumes and several million manuscripts. The building, of Vermont marble and granite, bronze and glass, was designed by Gordon Bunshaft, of the firm of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill; the George A. Fuller Construction Company of Hamden, Connecticut was the general contractor. Work began on the building in 1960 and was completed in 1963. The white, gray-veined marble panes of the exterior are one and one-quarter inches thick and are framed by light gray Vermont granite. These marble panels filter light so that rare materials can be displayed without damage from harmful ultraviolet light. From the exterior, however, the building's powerful stone geometry serves to dominate the space it occupies in Hewitt University Quadrangle, amidst neo-Classical and neo-Gothic neighbors. The building and its endowment are the gift of Edwin J. Beinecke, Yale 1907; Frederick W. Beinecke, Yale 1909; Walter Beinecke, Yale 1910; and their families. Over 500 photographs by C.T. Alburtus and unknown photographers, varying in size, 20.7 x 25.5 cm. and smaller, in color and black and white	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25742000
[Updated] The “object” that was found in Bermuda waters yesterday [Aug 12] is a scientific glider used to collect marine data which was recently deployed by scientists from the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences [BIOS]. The Harbour Radio Duty Officer said, “Bermuda Radio can confirm that the suspected missile spotted on the crown of challenger bank is in fact a scientific glider used to collect marine data. The unit was recently deployed by scientists from BIOS in conjunction with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution . “The instrument stopped transmitting data around 48 hours ago and was considered lost. BIOS and Woods Hole are keen to recover the unit. Any sighting of the glider should be reported to Bermuda Radio so that retrieval can be arranged,” concluded the Duty Officer. The glider had caused great interest last night, with many people trying their hand and guessing what it might be. Some people did guess correctly that it was a scientific object used by BIOS, while many others thought it may have been some form of missile/drone/torpedo/bomb. Update 9.15am: Larry George from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts [website] confirmed that the object is a spray glider/autonomous underwater vehicle which is used to collect information about the ocean and is controlled remotely. The glider was deployed in Bermuda waters on August 10th, and they lost all contact with it on August 11th, and assumed it was lost until they received a phone call late last night. The glider was deployed to record data such as fine ocean currents, with Dr Jong Jin Park and Dr Breck Owens from Woods Hole the scientists in charge of the research. Asked how many of these gliders are in our waters, Mr George confirmed that this is the only one. He explained the glider was marked, however it was upside down in the water hence the marking was not visible. He also the fact the glider was upside down indicated that something had gone wrong with it. As of this writing the glider is still in the waters, but a team from BIOS is heading out this morning to try and recover it. - BIOS Appoints Interim Director - Ocean Rendezvous Rescues Research Project - BIOS Research: Impacts Of Ocean Acidification - BIOS Study: Climate Change, Ocean Bacteria - The Search For Bermuda’s Deep Water Caves - BIOS Scientist Part Of Global Ocean Study Articles that link to this one: - Unidentified Floating Object In Bermuda’s Waters \| Bernews.com \| August 13, 2012	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25744000
Bicycles are inherently stable because of their geometry. The geometry causes the bicycle to always turn into the direction it begins to lean, which keeps it upright. The reason is best illustrated through a concept known as counter-steering. Counter steering is how all two wheel vehicles turn. When you want to turn towards the left, you turn the handlebars a little to the right. The friction of the wheels pulls the bottom of the bike towards the right, which initiates a lean towards the left. The handle bars then begin to swing towards the left to track through the turn. When it's time to stop the turn, you turn the handlebars a little more to the left. That pulls the bottom of the bike further towards the left, which brings the bottom of the bike directly under the center of gravity and thus stopping the turn. On many bikes and at low speeds, the counter steering effect can be unnoticed by many riders. However, at high speeds, or with heavier vehicles such as motor cycles it is more significant. So, how does this work where there is no rider? It is because of the rake in the fork and the rail it causes. If you trace an imaginary line through the axis of your fork to the ground, it will hit the ground ahead of where the wheel contacts the ground. Because the wheel contacts the ground behind the steering axis, the wheel will always feel a force from the road trying to bring it to center, pointing straight ahead. When the bike is tipped to one side, the forces begin to push the wheel to the side that the bike is tipped. So all these forces add up. The rake in the fork makes the bike want to go straight forward. And when it feels a bump in one direction or the other, the counter steering will tend to bring the bike the other direction. Then the fork rake will begin pushing the front wheel further away, which will then straighten the bike out, because of the counter steering.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25747000
Newsflash: “You should be taking a fish oil for good health!” How many times have you heard the terms “fish oil,” “omega 3,” or “omega 3 fatty acid” being plastered in health bulletins or recommendations lately? If you are paying any attention, it’s everywhere! Why? Because there is so much excitement over the prospect of these ‘good fats’ in helping prevent and treat the #1 killer of Americans today- heart disease. Here are some quick tips on understanding what you might read about these little oily pearls and drops of goodness! 1. Omega 3 fatty acids are protective to your body because they help reduce inflammation. (Inflammatory diseases are those that end in ‘-itis.’ If you have arthritis, sinusitis, or heart as it should be called, omega 3′s can help.) 2. All omega 3′s are not created equal. For example, fish oil and flax oil are sources of omega 3 fatty acids. Fish oil is 8-10x more potent than flax oil in terms of its ability to reduce inflammation. 3. A quick way to know if your supplement is a potent source of omega 3′s- calculate how much EPA and DHA is in each capsule. EPA and DHA (short for very long chemical names you don’t need to know) are the strongest of the omega 3′s. The more in your supplement, the better in today’s culture of inflammation. If you are taking a 1000 mg capsule of fish oil, but only 400 mg of it is in the form of EPA and DHA, that’s how much you can likely bank on in terms of helping to 4. Studies show 1000mg of fish oil (remember, I would say EPA + DHA) can help most adults prevent heart disease risks and 2000 mg- 4000 mg of good omega 3′s could be prescribed for others with riskier 5. All fish oil is not created equal. Even if it has the same amount of EPA + DHA, if the manufacturer of your fish oil has not purified out the bad stuff like mercury, PCB and dioxin, you might get other problems in the process. Remember, fish are a product of the water they live in and the water these days is not as clean as it used to be. Look for a product that uses a distillation process that takes out the bad chemicals and saturated fat that you don’t need in your supplement regimen. This is just the beginning of more to come on this subject. If you get yourself going with these tips and add in a healthy dose of good nutrition, regular physical activity and a happier disposition, you are sure to be ahead of most Americans on your path to preventing disease. But do me a favor… please pass this on to anyone who takes fish oil. I see way too many people wasting their hard earned money on substandard fish oil supplements that likely are not helping them and potentially hurting them. Pay it forward…the more they know, the more they help themselves. Then, they can join you in the ranks of Patients Powered by	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25761000
The internet can be thought of as the world’s largest database. This is so, because it is comprised of inter-connected databases, files, and computer systems. By simply typing in some keywords, one can access hundreds to millions of websites containing treasure troves of facts, statistics, and other formats of information on an endless array of topics. Because the internet is such a valuable resource, we should seek new and innovative ways to mine the data using ethical means. The goal of scraping websites is to access information, but the uses of that information can vary. Users may wish to store the information in their own databases or manipulate the data within a spreadsheet. Other users may utilize data extraction techniques as means of obtaining the most recent data possible, particularly when working with information subject to frequent changes. Investors analyzing stock prices, realtors researching home listings, meteorologists studying weather, or insurance salespeople following insurance prices are a few individuals who might fit this category of users of frequently updated data. Access to certain information may also provide users with strategic advantage in business. Attorneys might wish to scrape arrest records from county courthouses in search of potential clients. Businesses, such as restaurants or video-rental stores that know the locations of competitors can make better decisions about where to focus further growth. Companies that provide complementary (not to be confused with complimentary) products, like software, may wish to know the make, model, cost, and market share of hardware that are compatible with their software. Another common, but controversial use of information taken from websites is reposting scraped data to other sites. Scrapers may wish to consolidate data from a myriad of websites and then create a new website containing all of the information in one convenient location. In some cases, the new site’s owner may benefit from ads placed on his or her site or from fees charged to access the site. Companies usually go to great lengths to disseminate information about their products or services. So, why would a website owner not wish to have his or her website’s information scraped? Several reasons exist for why website owners may not wish to have their site’s scraped by others (excluding search engines). Some people feel that data that is reposted to other sites is plagiarized, if not stolen. These individuals may feel that they made the effort to gather information and make it available on their websites only to have it copied to other sites. Are individuals justified in feeling that they have been taken advantage of, even if their websites are posted publicly? Interpretation of what exactly “republish” means is widely disputed. One of the most authoritative explanations may be found in the 1991 supreme-court case of Feist Publications v. Rural Telephone Service. This case involved Rural Telephone Service suing Feist Publications for copyright infringement when Feist copied telephone listings after Rural denied Feist’s request to license the information. While information has never been copyrightable under U.S. law, a collection of information, defined mostly in terms of creative arrangement or original ideas, can be copyrighted. The Supreme Court’s ruling in Feist Publications v. Rural Telephone Service stated that “information contained in Rural’s phone directory was not copyrightable, and that therefore no infringement existed.” Justice O’ Conner focused on the need for information to have a “creative” element in order to be termed a “collection” (1). Similarly, information, taken from publicly available websites should not be considered plagiarism or even theft if only the information (numbers, statistics, etc.) is reposted to new sites or used for other purposes. Scraped websites also experience an increase in used bandwidth as a result of being scraped. Some scrapes take place once, but many scrapes must be performed over and over to achieve the desired results. In such cases, the servers that host the pages being scraped inevitably experience an increased load. Site owners may not wish to have the increased bandwidth, but more importantly, excessive page requests can cause a web server to function slowly or even fail. Rarely, however, do most scrapes cause such strain on a server on their own. Accessing a page through scraping is no different from visiting a page manually, except that scraping allows more pages to be visited over a shorter period. Additionally, scrapes can be adjusted to run more slowly, so as to minimize the strain on the server. Scraping is usually slowed when more than a few scraping sessions are being run against a single server at one time. Interestingly, having one’s website scraped can have positive effects. Of course the recipient of the scraped data is pleased to have desired data, but owners of scraped sites may also benefit. Think of the case mentioned above in which home listings are scraped from a site. Whether the information is reposted or stored in a database for later querying to match homebuyer’s needs, the purpose of the original site is met—to get the home-listing information into the hands of potential buyers. Individuals who scrape websites can do so, while still following guidelines for ethical data extraction. Perhaps it would be helpful to review a list of tips for maintaining ethical scraping. One website I consulted gave the following suggestions: · Obey robots.txt. · Don’t flood a site. · Don’t republish, especially not anything that might be copyrighted. · Abide by the site terms of service (2). Occasionally, individuals who scrape websites have paid for access to the material being scraped. Many job- and résumé-posting websites fall into this category. Employers must pay a monthly fee for an account which provides access to the résumés of potential new hirers. Certainly, the fact that employers pay for the service entitles them to use whatever means are necessary to sort through and record the desired data. The only exception would be where the site’s terms of service specifically prohibit scraping. While republishing images, artwork, and other original content without permission is unethical and in many cases illegal, using scraped data for personal purposes is certainly within the limits of ethical behavior. Nevertheless, page scrapers should always avoid taking copyrighted materials. Use of bandwidth is no more deserved by any one person than another. Even making scraped data available to others online can be argued as ethical, especially when the scraped website is posted on public space and the data taken doesn’t include any creative content. After all, the purpose of hosting a website in the first place is to provide information.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25785000
Shooting sulfur particles into the stratosphere to reflect the sun? Dumping iron into the ocean to boost the absorption of carbon dioxide? Could these far-fetched and dangerous-sounding schemes help avert potentially catastrophic effects of climate change, or would they exacerbate conditions on our ever warming planet? These strategies, which involve the deliberate and large-scale intervention in our climate system to moderate global warming, are known as geoengineering. Fantastical as they seem, billionaires Bill Gates, Sir Richard Branson and others, are investing millions of dollars into the geoengineering research of a few leading climate scientists like Ken Caldeira at Stanford. At first, Caldeira thought geoengineering sounded crazy too, but his research showed that it would basically work. If global warming exceeds 2˚ C, it would be “a prescription for disaster,” said NASA scientist James Hansen. To prevent this from happening, we need to cap atmospheric carbon dioxide levels at 350 parts per million; but in March 2012, we reached almost 394.5 ppm and global greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise. Even if we were able to immediately cut greenhouse gas emissions to zero, however, global warming would continue for the foreseeable future because carbon dioxide remains in the atmosphere for several hundred years. Moreover, the international community has failed to reach an agreement that tackles the fundamental problem of controlling carbon emissions and prospects for doing so don’t look good. As a result, geoengineering is beginning to sound less like science fiction to some, and more like a possible Plan B. Geoengineering strategies fall into two main categories: - Solar radiation management, which seeks to reduce the amount of sunlight that reaches earth by deflecting it or increasing Earth’s reflectivity (albedo). - Carbon dioxide removal, which tries to take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. Solar radiation management includes efforts like white roofs that deflect sunlight, brightening clouds by shooting seawater into them to increase their albedo (salt provides the nuclei that seed the clouds), and controversial strategies based on the cooling effect that can follow major volcanic eruptions. In 1991, Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines erupted, sending 22 million tons of sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere. The sulfur particles scattered around the globe, deflected sunlight, and cooled Earth by 0.4 to 0.5˚ C. Solar radiation management would recreate this effect by using balloons, aircraft or cannons to shoot tiny reflective particles like sulfates into the stratosphere to temporarily block sunlight. The 1992 Panel on Policy Implications of Greenhouse Warming calculated that this strategy would cost just pennies per ton of carbon dioxide mitigated. It would also be fast-acting, capable of quickly reducing the impacts of heat stress on crops, resulting in increased productivity since carbon dioxide levels, which boost growth, would remain high. Other solar radiation management ideas include the use of engineered nanoparticles, which could be constructed to ascend high into the atmosphere and keep their shiny side to the sun, and sunshades in space made of mirrors. Solar radiation management would do nothing to address the root cause of global warming—carbon dioxide emissions—or ocean acidification caused by the sea’s absorption of excess carbon dioxide. And while stratospheric aerosols could theoretically produce cooling on a local or global level, they might also create regional problems by affecting rain and snowfall patterns and causing drought. According to Caldeira, a year or two after Mt. Pinatubo, when aerosols dropped from the stratosphere, both the Amazon River and the Ganges had very low flows and droughts occurred. A 2010 study by ETC (Erosion, Technology and Concentration), an international group that opposes geoengineering, states that solar radiation management climate models show a risk of increased drought over Africa, Asia and the Amazon jungle. Putting sulfate particles into the stratosphere could also damage the ozone layer, lead to acid rain and increased ocean acidification, and interfere with solar cells, astronomy and satellites. In addition, solar radiation management techniques carry the risk of a rapid rise in temperature if the program were started then stopped, which would be more dangerous to life on Earth than a gradual temperature rise. Carbon dioxide removal strategies reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, or attempt to manipulate natural processes to remove greenhouse gases indirectly. While they tackle the fundamental problem of carbon emissions, and address ocean acidification, they would require many years to fully take effect. Carbon dioxide removal techniques include tree planting, creating biochar (charcoal) and burying it to increase carbon sequestration, carbon capture and storage, adding carbonate to the ocean to increase carbon dioxide uptake, and capturing carbon from the air. Klaus Lackner, Director of the Earth Institute’s Lenfest Center for Sustainable Energy, is developing an “artificial tree” that removes carbon dioxide from the air. Ocean fertilization is perhaps the most controversial carbon dioxide removal strategy of all. Through photosynthesis, phytoplankton in the ocean absorbs half the carbon dioxide taken up annually by all of Earth’s plants. Ocean fertilization involves depositing nutrients (iron, nitrogen or phosphorus) into areas of the ocean lacking one of these key nutrients to stimulate the growth of phytoplankton and increase the absorption of carbon dioxide, which is then carried to the ocean floor when the phytoplankton die. Critics say ocean fertilization could alter food webs; deplete oxygen at deeper ocean levels; produce eutrophication, dead zones and toxic algal blooms; increase ocean acidification in the deep sea; and impact coral reefs. While the cost of ocean fertilization would be relatively low, Britain’s Royal Society says that none of the various carbon dioxide removal methods assessed have proven to be effective at an affordable cost with acceptable side effects. Most geoengineering research today is being done with climate models and mapping; few field tests have been conducted. The Fund for Innovative Climate and Energy Research, run by David Keith of Harvard and Ken Caldeira and funded by Bill Gates’ personal funds, has given out $4.6 million for research on climate modeling, technical feasibility, governance, potential and risks, but it does not support field-testing methods like solar radiation management and ocean fertilization that would actually interfere with the climate system. ETC argues that geoengineering cannot be tested because in order to truly assess its effect on the climate, it would need to be deployed on a massive scale, which would likely also have massive repercussions. Germany, India, Canada, Russia and Britain are studying geoengineering, and more countries will soon be capable of it as well. In 2009, a German-Indian government-sponsored experiment (LOHAFEX) dumped 6.6 tons of iron into 300 square kilometers of the South Atlantic. There was a burst of algae growth, but within two weeks, the algae was eaten by small crustaceans, so less carbon dioxide was absorbed than anticipated. In October 2011, a British project called SPICE (Stratospheric Particle Injection for Climate Engineering) was scheduled to test a delivery system using a tethered balloon and hose to deliver water one kilometer into the sky. It was put on hold due to opposition from environmental groups. Geoengineering opponents cite many risks. Strategies could be ineffective or incomplete. The technology could fall prey to mechanical failure, human error, natural disasters or terrorism, and lead to devastating and/or irreversible disruption of the climate system. Many want to ban geoengineering research for fear it would reduce the imperative to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Scott Barrett, Lenfest-Earth Institute professor of natural resource economics at Columbia University, takes issue with this point. “People worry that if we use geoengineering, we wouldn’t reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. But we’re not reducing them anyway…And given that we have failed to address climate change, I think we’re better off having the possibility of geoengineering…However it does raise the question of do we have the wisdom and institutions to use it wisely?” Governance is perhaps the thorniest aspect of geoengineering. Because geoengineering is a relatively cheap way to address climate change, it is unilateral—rich countries and billionaires could finance it on their own—yet the consequences would be global. Who then should get to control geoengineering, and under what governance? Some strategies would benefit certain countries and harm others, so who would have the right to decide whether, when and how to use it? Geoengineering would likely create winners and losers—should losers be compensated? Could conflicts lead to geoengineering wars? While there are various international treaties, aspects of which could limit some geoengineering experiments, there is no overarching regulatory framework that governs the broad use of geoengineering technology. In October 2010, the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity adopted a moratorium on geoengineering activities that could threaten biodiversity (the United States has not ratified the convention). ETC is pushing for a comprehensive test ban on geoengineering at Rio+20, the U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development in June. The 2009 geoengineering report by Britain’s Royal Society calls for an international body to review mechanisms that could regulate geoengineering, and for scientific organizations to develop guidelines for research and evaluate benefits and environmental effects. “The central problem for the governance of geoengineering,” the report says, “is that while potential problems can be identified with all geoengineering technologies, these can only be resolved through research, development and demonstration… Ideally, appropriate safeguards would be put in place during the early stages of the development of any new technology.” Barrett, an expert in international agreements, believes a geoengineering agreement should focus on what countries should do and what they can agree upon. He contends that an agreement should simply require a country intent on engaging in geoengineering, from field research to larger experiments, to let the world know. This would enable other countries to react or discuss the situation beforehand, make deals or participate, and avoid conflicts. It would also encourage collaborative research and development. Countries would be willing to sign on because they would know that other nations would also have to declare their intentions. If an agreement were too restrictive, or included a ban or veto power, Barrett says, countries that wanted to proceed with geoengineering would simply walk away from the table. Despite the risks and uncertainties of geoengineering, many scientists believe we must study the options to ensure that damaging actions are not taken in haste in the future. The Royal Society recommends that further research and development of geoengineering be undertaken, but that policies also continue to focus on reducing carbon emissions and adaptation. It stresses the importance of placing all concerns about geoengineering in the larger context of climate change impacts that would otherwise be likely to occur anyway and comparing the relative risks and potential benefits. “Imagine some point in the future when things are starting to go very wrong. And turning down the sun would have a good chance of limiting damage. Would you really not want to know if the technology worked and what its side effects were?” Barrett asked. “Even if we were to ban geoengineering today, if things get bad in the future, they’d do it anyway…would you want the future to be ignorant?”	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25803000
August 10, 2012 \| 13 Money and politics go together like sodium and chloride–an important element (in the non-chemical sense of the term) of life that can also be corrosive and deadly. The third question in Sciencedebate.org’s list of top 14 science questions that President Barack Obama and presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney should address this election year has to do with federal funding of scientific research. Unlike climate change, where there is a scientific consensus that warming is happening and that humans are at fault, there can be no scientific answer, I would argue, to the question “Should scientific research be funded with public moneys or private or some mix of both?” Still, given science’s role in fueling the economy, I think it makes sense to explore the funding issue more deeply. 3. Research and the Future. Federally funded research has helped to produce America’s major postwar economies and to ensure our national security, but today the UK, Singapore, China, and Korea are making competitive investments in research. Given that the next Congress will face spending constraints, what priority would you give to investment in research in your upcoming budgets? A few facts to get the conversation started . . . I look forward to your comments. Update (Sept. 5, 2012): Click to see the answers to the top 14 science questions from Gov. Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama. Election 2012 button used under Creative Commons license BY 2.0.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25816000
Border People: Life and Society in the US-Mexico Borderlands While the U.S.-Mexico borderlands resemble border regions in other parts of the world, nowhere else do so many millions of people from two dissimilar nations live in such close proximity and interact with each other so intensely. Borderlanders are singular in their history, outlook, and behavior, and their lifestyle deviates from the norms of central Mexico and the interior United States; yet these Mexicans, Mexican-Americans, and Anglo-Americans also differ among themselves, and within each group may be found cross-border consumers, commuters, and people who are inclined or disinclined to embrace both cultures. Based on firsthand interviews with individuals from all walks of life, Border People presents case histories of transnational interaction and transculturation, and addresses the themes of cross-border migration, interdependence, labor, border management, ethnic confrontation, cultural fusion, and social activism. Here migrants and workers, functionaries and activists, and "mixers" who have crossed cultural boundaries recall events in their lives related to life on the border. Their stories show how their lives have been shaped by the borderlands milieu and how they have responded to the situations they have faced. Border People shows that these borderlanders live in a unique human environment shaped by physical distance from central areas and constant exposure to transnational processes. The oral histories contained here reveal, to a degree that no scholarly analysis can, that borderlanders are indeed people, each with his or her own individual perspective, hopes, and dreams.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25828000
Formaldehyde is a type of chemical compound that is of essential use to many manufacturing sectors and other industries. When talking of formaldehyde, most people will be more familiar with one of its forms – formalin. Formalin is a solution of formaldehyde that is famous for being used as an embalming fluid. Formaldehyde is quite toxic and it is known to cause cancer and also other health disorders. Formaldehyde is classified as one of the simplest forms of aldehydes, which are chemical compounds that possess a terminal carbonyl group. A carbonyl group is an atom grouping that has, within it, a carbon atom that is double bonded to an oxygen atom. HCHO is the chemical formula for this chemical compound. The unique chemical formula of formaldehyde makes it a very versatile foundation or base for creating more complex aldehydes. Formaldehyde, in its pure form, is a colorless and gaseous compound. It is also quite reactive. Because of these properties, it is usually mixed in with other chemical compounds in order to create a more stable substance. Formaldehyde has many industrial and manufacturing applications. It is an important ingredient in the manufacturing of glue, antiseptics, preservatives, resins, paints, embalming and film processing. Formaldehyde is actually quite abundant in the atmosphere because it is one of the byproducts of combustion. It is also naturally formed through atmospheric reactions. It is actually a major element that makes up smog. Frequent and high exposure to formaldehyde can lead to cancer, as well as respiratory problems. Skin problems and inflammation of the mucus membrane are some of the short term effects of formaldehyde exposure.	fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-25831000

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