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U.S. Immigration Basics Whether you plan to come to the United States for a short visit or a permanent stay, your first step is to apply for a visa. Many people think they can show up at a U.S. embassy or border post, describe why they’d make a good addition to U.S. society, and be welcomed in. Unfortunately, this is the exact opposite of how the U.S. immigration system works. Instead, people who want to come to the U.S., whether temporarily or permanently, must determine whether they fit into eligibility categories for either "permanent residence" (a green card) or for a temporary stay ("nonimmigrant visa"). Then they must submit an application -- in fact, often a series of applications -- to one or more of the U.S. agencies responsible for carrying out the immigration laws. These include U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which has offices across the United States, and the U.S. Department of State (DOS), which manages consulates and embassies around the world. What Permanent Residence (a Green Card) Is If you want to be able to make your permanent home in the United States, you'll need what is called "permanent residence," or a "green card." Green card holders can live and work in the U.S. and travel in and out, with very few restrictions (though they can't vote, and can be deported if they abuse their status). Family members of U.S. citizens make up the largest number of green cards issued each year. Others are issued to investors and workers who have been petitioned by U.S. employers or have special skills. Still other categories have a humanitarian basis, such as refugee or political asylum status (which can lead to a green card), for people who are fleeing persecution. What a Temporary (Nonimmigrant) Visa Is People who want to come to the United States for a limited time need what is called a "nonimmigrant” visa. This lets them participate in specified activities (such as studying, visiting, or working) until their visa runs out. Students and businesspeople make up the largest groups of nonimmigrant visa holders. Nonimmigrant visas are also issued for tourists, exchange visitors, and workers with some kind of specialty that is lacking in the U.S. workforce. For more information, see Exception: Visa Waiver Program A visa is not necessary for short-term visitors from one of the Visa Waiver Program countries listed at http://travel.state.gov. You can come to the U.S. for up to 90 days for business or pleasure purposes if you're from one of these countries. You will, however, need to present a machine-readable passport. Also, beware: The ease of your entry is balanced by the ease with which you can be kicked out -- you automatically give up many rights and benefits when traveling without a visa. To enter on a visa waiver, simply present yourself, your passport, and your ticket home to the officers you'll meet upon arrival. If you come by land through Canada or Mexico, you'll also be asked for proof of sufficient funds to pay for your stay. Applying for Immigration Rights After figuring out what type of visa or green card you’re eligible for, you'll need to figure out how to get it. Most people (with the occasional exception of Mexicans and Canadians) must obtain a visa at a U.S. consulate before departing for the United States. If you’re already in the United States legally, you may be able to apply to “adjust" your status to permanent resident, or "change” your status to another type of visa. Where to Find the U.S. Immigration Laws Your possibilities for a visa or green card are set out under U.S. federal law. Being "federal," the law is the same across the United States, unlike state laws, which can vary by state. If you want to read the U.S. immigration laws -- which very few people actually want to do -- they’re found in Title 8 of the U.S. Code, or in the Immigration and Nationality Act (I.N.A.) In addition, information on how USCIS intends to carry out these laws is found at Title 8 of the Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.). The DOS regulations are at Title 22 of the C.F.R. The CFR can be searched at the Government Printing Office website. The trouble is that even lawyers have trouble researching the U.S. immigration laws -- they're considered to be the most convoluted and easily misunderstood portions of all U.S. law. But if you have a specific reference to a section that you'd like to read for yourself, by all means look it up, then seek professional help if you need it. Your best bet for getting any professional help with your immigration situation is to hire an experienced immigration lawyer. Ask friends or local nonprofits for referrals or go to the website of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA). Whatever you do, don't go straight to USCIS for advice. The people who staff their front desk are not all well trained, and if they give you wrong information, they take no responsibility, even if it causes your deportation or destroys your chances of immigrating. This happens! Many of these immigration laws are interpreted in U.S. Immigration Made Easy, by Attorney Ilona Bray (Nolo), including how to obtain many different visas, including the K-1 visa for fiancés, the B-1 and B-2 business and tourist visas, the H-1B, H-2B, and H-3 visas for temporary specialty or agricultural workers, the L-1 visa for intracompany transferees, the E-1 and E-2 visas for treaty traders and investors, the F-1 and M-1 visas for students, the J-1 visa for exchange visitors, or the O, P, or R visas for temporary workers, and how to get a green card through a family member, through the Diversity Visa Lottery, or as an asylee or refugee. The Risks of Lying to the U.S. Government One of the worst things you can do to your chances of getting a visa or green card is to lie, either on paper or during an interview with a U.S. border or other immigration inspector. Lies can have both immediate consequences, such as not being able to enter the U.S., and long-term consequences, such as not being able to get a green card -- ever. Who Can Be Kept Out No matter what eligibility category you fall into -- whether you’ve married a U.S. citizen, received a job offer, or been accepted to a school -- the U.S. has the right to say no. And not just because there’s something wrong with your application. The immigration law contains a list of things, like crimes and certain diseases, that makes someone "inadmissible.” For more information, see When the U.S. Can Keep You Out.

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A gallium scan is a diagnostic test that looks for infection, inflammation, and tumors. Gallium is a radioactive metal, so the scan is generally performed in the nuclear medicine department of a hospital. The gallium is mixed into a solution. It is injected into your arm and moves through your blood, collecting in your organs and bones. Your body will then be scanned to see where and how the gallium has accumulated in your body. Although gallium is radioactive, the risk of radiation exposure from this procedure is lower than from an X-ray or CT scan. Aside from the injection, the test is painless and requires very little preparation. However, the scan takes place several hours after the gallium injection, so schedule your procedure accordingly. Your doctor may order a gallium scan if he or she suspects that you have cancer or to help determine the source of unexplained pains or fever. The scan is also used as a follow-up test for patients who have been diagnosed or treated for cancer. A gallium scan of the lungs can help to diagnose of a variety of lung diseases and infections. There is no need to fast and—aside from the gallium—no other medications are required for this test. In some cases, you may need to use a laxative or an enema to clear your bowels before the scan so that stool does not interfere with the test results. Notify your doctor if you are pregnant, think you may be pregnant, or are nursing. Tests involving radiation are not recommended for women who are pregnant or nursing and should not be performed on very young children if an alternative test is available. This is an outpatient procedure, which means that you can go home on the day of the test. When you arrive at the hospital, a technician will inject a gallium solution into a vein in your arm. You may feel a sharp prick and the site may be tender for a few minutes. After the injection, you will be able to leave the hospital as the gallium begins moving through your bloodstream, collecting in your bones and organs. You will be instructed to return to the hospital at a specific time for the scan, usually between six and 48 hours after you receive the injection. When you return, you will change in to a hospital gown, remove all jewelry and other metal, and lie on your back on a firm table. A scanner will slowly move around your body while a special camera detects where the gallium has collected in your body. The camera’s images can be viewed on a monitor. The scanning process takes between 30 and 60 minutes. It is important that you remain completely still during the scan. The scanner does not touch you directly and the procedure is painless. Some people find the hard table uncomfortable and have trouble remaining still. If you think you will have trouble lying still, tell your doctor before the test. The doctor may give you a sedative or antianxiety medication to help. In some instances, the scan may be repeated over the course of several days. In this case, you will not need to have additional gallium injections. A radiologist will review your scans and send a report to your doctor. Normally, the gallium will collect in your bones, liver, breast tissue, spleen, and large bowel. Gallium is taken up by cancer cells and other compromised tissues more readily than by healthy tissues. So, gallium that collects in other sites could be a sign of: Gallium Scan of the Lungs In a gallium scan of the lungs, your lungs should appear normal in size and texture and should have collected very little gallium. Abnormal results could indicate: - sarcoidosis (when chronic inflammatory cells form nodules on multiple organs) - respiratory infections - tumors in the lung - scleroderma of the lung (an autoimmune disease that damages vital organs) - pulmonary embolus (an arterial blockage) - primary pulmonary hypertension (high blood pressure in the arteries of your heart) This test is not foolproof. It is important to note that not all cancers or small defects will show up in the gallium scan. There is a small risk of complications from radiation exposure, but it is less than the risk involved with X-rays or CT scans. The risk increases if you have many gallium scans over time. Your body will eliminate the gallium naturally, though a trace amount may remain in your tissues for a few weeks.

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Arrowwood Viburnums make a nice addition to shrub borders or a filler along a woodland edge. E-mail This Page to Your Friendsx A link to %this page% was e-mailed Plant type: deciduous shrub Hardiness: USDA Zones 3 to 8 A native shrub grown for its creamy white blooms and dark green leaves, arrowwood viburnum is a tough, durable and adaptable landscape plant. The large, coarsely toothed leaves are usually glossy and make a handsome backdrop for the flat-topped, four-inch-wide clusters of tiny white flowers that appear from late spring to early summer. The flowers are followed by blue-black fruit that attracts birds, and bird-sown plants may appear in other parts of the garden. In fall, the leaves turn yellow, red, or purple-red. Arrowwood viburnum ranges from six to as much as 10 or 15 feet tall and wide. Established plants have a rounded to somewhat vase-shaped habit and produce dense clumps of straight to arching branches that were once harvested by native Americans to use as shafts for arrows. Arrowwood viburnum spreads by suckers and will form good-size clumps with time. Cultivation: Give arrowwood viburnum a site in full sun or partial shade. Plants thrive in most well-drained soils and will grow in a wide variety of soils. They need minimal pruning: Remove old or dead branches by cutting them back to the base of the clump in late winter or early spring to make room for healthier new shoots. Immediately after flowering, clip back stems that stick out and spoil the overall symmetry of the plant. How to use it: Use arrowwood in mass plantings to create screen or hedge plantings. Avoiding these common landscaping mistakes will save money and time down the road. Shade-tolerant shrubs that are grown for their flowers are best planted where a little sun can filter through, such as near...(5 photos) Ninebark, prairie sage, snowberry and other native plants help make the best use of rainfall in this earth-friendly garden design.

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Try Asking: "What do you understand?" One of the most difficult questions a student has to answer after hearing a lesson is: ``What don't you understand?'' Students dread this question and many learn to never admit that they're confused. If students knew what they didn't comprehend, they wouldn't be lost. They can form coherent questions only if they understand the whole lesson. The solution is to ask instead, ``What did you understand?'' The student gets a positive start on the problem by telling you what he or she knows. The tutor can sort out the areas that have caused the student not to understand. Use Encouragement To Motivate You have the opportunity to praise the work of your students and this will give them recognition for a job well done. This is a comment that focuses on the student. You can say, ``You are so organized.'' The tutor can also motivate the student through encouragement by saying, ``Your essay showed great organization. Each idea was clearly developed.'' Other examples of the difference between praise and encouragement: Praise: "You're a great writer." Encouragement: "This story is great. Your characters are so real." Praise: "You are super. You always get these problems right." Encouragement: "Your hard work on solving word problems really shows"

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According to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's stories, Dr. John H. Watson is born on this day. Coincidentally, the author died on this day in England at the age of 71. Conan Doyle was born in Scotland in 1859 and studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh. At the University, he studied with Dr. Joseph Bell, whose extraordinary deductive powers were said to be the inspiration for Conan Doyle's character Sherlock Holmes. After medical school, Conan Doyle moved to London, where he practiced medicine and wrote. His first Sherlock Holmes story, "A Study in Scarlet," was published in Beeton's Christmas Annual in 1887. Starting in 1891, a series of Holmes stories appeared in The Strand magazine. The popularity of the stories enabled Conan Doyle to leave his medical practice in 1891 and devote himself to writing. But he grew tired of his character and had him hurled off a cliff, to his presumed death, in "The Final Problem". He later resuscitated Holmes due to popular demand. In 1902, Conan Doyle was knighted for his work with a field hospital in South Africa. After his son died in World War I, Conan Doyle became a dedicated spiritualist, attempting to contact his late son through the help of a medium. He died in 1930.

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On this day in 1973, President Richard Nixon declares that America's energy requirements have outpaced its production capacity and urges Congress to pass Senate Bill 1081, which would authorize the construction of a pipeline to access oil from the North Slope of Alaska. Nixon claimed the nation's "dangerous reliance" on foreign oil, controlled mainly by the increasingly powerful, but politically unstable oil-rich nations of the Middle East, posed a threat to America's economy. America had once relied on cheap domestic oil, but by the 1970s, dwindling supplies forced the nation to buy more expensive oil on the international market. An Arab oil embargo in 1973 exacerbated the problem. Saying that the conservation of existing domestic supplies was not enough, Nixon declared that America had to find and tap more oil resources closer to home. In his announcement on this day, Nixon projected that the pipeline would be completed in 1977, and would eventually carry 2 million barrels of oil per day into the port at Valdez, Alaska, where tankers would then carry the precious cargo into the continental United States. Nixon sought to assure an increasingly vocal environmental movement that the planned pipeline—which he called the "single largest endeavor ever undertaken by private enterprise"--would be constructed and operated "under the most rigid environmental safeguards ever devised." Meanwhile, though, he asked Congress not to attach amendments to the bill that would have given federal agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Natural Resources and the Department of Fish and Game regulatory power over the pipeline's construction. Oil began flowing through the pipeline on June 20, 1977. Although the pipeline increased domestic oil supplies, America continued to rely primarily on crude exports from the Middle East. In 2001, President George W. Bush expressed the desire to open up more of the Alaskan North Slope to oil and gas exploration and production. He echoed Nixon's original claim that to do so would ease America's dependence on foreign oil and make the nation less vulnerable to political instability in the Middle East.

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In the largest Russian military offensive since the 1979 invasion of Afghanistan, thousands of troops and hundreds of tanks pour into the breakaway Russian republic of Chechnya. Encountering only light resistance, Russian forces had by evening pushed to the outskirts of the Chechen capital of Grozny, where several thousand Chechen volunteers vowed a bitter fight against the Russians. With the collapse of the USSR in 1991, Chechnya, like many of the other republics encompassed by the former Soviet Union, declared its independence. However, unlike Georgia, the Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and the other former Soviet states, Chechnya held only the barest autonomy under Soviet rule and was not considered one of the 15 official Soviet republics. Instead, Chechnya is regarded as one of many republics within the Russian Federation. Russian President Boris Yeltsin, who permitted the dissolution of the Soviet Union, would not tolerate the secession of a state within territorial Russia. About the size of Connecticut and located in southeastern Russia on the Caspian Sea, Chechnya was conquered by the Russians in the 1850s as the Russian empire pushed south toward the Middle East. Its people are largely Muslim and fiercely independent, and the region has been a constant irritant to its Russian and Soviet rulers. In August 1991, Dzhozkhar Dudayev, a Chechen politician and former Soviet air force general, toppled Chechnya's local communist government and established an anti-Russian autocratic state. President Yeltsin feared the secession of Chechnya would prompt a domino effect of independence movements within the vast Russian Federation. He also hoped to recover Chechnya's valuable oil resources. After ineffective attempts at funding Chechen opposition groups, a Russian invasion began on December 11, 1994. After the initial gains of the Russian army, the Chechen rebels demonstrated a fierce resistance in Grozny, and thousands of Russian troops died and many more Chechen civilians were killed during almost two years of heavy fighting. In August 1996, Grozny was retaken by the Chechen rebels after a year of Russian occupation, and a cease-fire was declared. In 1997, the last humiliated Russian troops left Chechnya. Despite a peace agreement that left Chechnya a de facto independent state, Chechnya remained officially part of Russia. In 1999, Yeltsin's government ordered a second invasion of Chechnya after bombings in Moscow and other cities were linked to Chechen militants. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Yeltsin's handpicked successor as Russian leader, said of the Chechen terrorists, "we will rub them out, even in the toilet." In 2000, President Putin escalated Russian military involvement in Chechnya after terrorist bombings in Russian cities continued. In this second round of post-Soviet fighting in Chechnya, the Russian army has been accused of many atrocities in its efforts to suppress Chechen militancy. A peace agreement remains elusive.

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Known within the army as “Razor Tôjô” both for his bureaucratic efficiency and for his strict, uncompromising attention to detail, he climbed the command ladders, in close association with the army faction seeking to upgrade and improve Japan’s fighting capabilities despite tight budgets and “civilian interference.” Tôjô built up a personal power base and used his position as head of the military police of Japan’s garrison force in Manchuria to rein in their influence before he became the Kwantung Army’s chief of staff in 1937. He played a key role in opening hostilities against China in July. Tôjô had his only combat experience later that year, leading two brigades on operations in Inner Mongolia. Seeing the military occupation of Chinese territory as necessary to force the Nationalist Chinese government to collaborate with Japan, he continued to advocate expansion of the conflict in China when he returned to Tokyo in 1938 as army vice minister, rising to army minister in July 1940. He pushed for alliance with Germany (where he had served in 1920-1922) and Italy, and he supported the formation of a broad political front of national unity. In October 1941 he became prime minister. Although Tôjô supported last-minute diplomatic efforts, he gave final approval to the attacks on the United States, Great Britain, and the Dutch East Indies in December 1941. Japan’s early victories greatly strengthened his personal prestige and his assertion that there were times when statesmen had to “have faith in Victory.” When the war intensified, Japan’s losses mounted, and its fragile industrial foundations threatened to collapse. Tôjô characteristically sought to gather administrative levers into his own hands. Serving as both prime minister and army minister, at various times he also held the portfolios of home affairs (giving him control of the dreaded “thought police”), education, munitions, commerce and industry, and foreign affairs. In February 1944, he even assumed direct command of army operations as chief of the Army General Staff. Yet despite all his posts, Tôjô was never able to establish a dictatorship on a par with those wielded by Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin. He served constitutionally at the behest of the emperor, without support of a mass party, while crucial power centers, such as the industrial combines (known as zaibatsu), the navy, and the court, remained beyond his control. After the island of Saipan fell to American forces in July 1944, he was forced from power, despite arguments raised by some officials close to the throne that Tôjô should be left in office to the end to accept responsibility for the loss of the war so that a court official could “step in” to deliver peace. After Japan’s surrender the next year, Tôjô attempted suicide when threatened with arrest by occupation authorities, but he was tried and hanged as a war criminal on December 23, 1948. At his trial, he asserted his personal responsibility for the war and attempted to deflect attention from the emperor. In 1978, despite the protest of many citizens opposed to honoring the man they felt had brought disaster on Japan, Tôjô’s name, along with those of thirteen other “class A” war criminals, was commemorated at Yasukuni, the shrine in Tokyo dedicated to the memory of warriors fallen in service to the imperial family. THEODORE F. COOK, JR. The Reader’s Companion to Military History. Edited by Robert Cowley and Geoffrey Parker. Copyright © 1996 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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On World Press Freedom Day, the United States pays special honor to the importance of media freedom – a crucial element of freedom of expression – at home and abroad. A diverse and independent press is crucial to holding governments accountable and promoting democracy around the world. The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL) at the U.S. Department of State details the state of media freedom around the world in the Annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. The USAID Media Sustainability Index is an equally important tool in monitoring and reporting on media freedom. The Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs also routinely highlights the mounting threats to journalists everywhere and the critical importance of a free press to democratic societies. The United States continuously works to advance media freedom around the world through bilateral engagement, public diplomacy, programming, and multilateral diplomacy. Examples of State Department and USAID efforts to promote media freedom include: - The State Department’s Edward R. Murrow Program for Journalists, through the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA), has welcomed more than 1,000 rising international journalists to the United States since 2006 to explore the role of independent media in fostering and protecting freedom of expression and democracy. - The State Department’s Bureau of International Information Programs (IIP) provided country-specific press freedom projects, as well as public diplomacy programming tools centered on blogging and ethics and a journalism ethics package promoting credibility and integrity in a digital age, both of which empower local citizens to share their stories. IIP also partnered with Embassy Dhaka, Bangladesh for a virtual program on applying journalist ethics in today’s digital age of 24-hour news and social media. - The State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor funds 86 media programs, including programs that focus on investigative reporting, conflict sensitivity reporting, civic engagement by youth through media, increasing diversity in the media sector, gender-sensitive media programming, and access to independent media in local languages. - In the Middle East and North Africa, DRL is funding a program to train youth, many of which are at-risk, to influence national and regional dialogues and debates on democracy and human rights through media. - DRL’s internet freedom programs focus on technology that not only provides journalists with online security, but also gives them open and uncensored access to information and communications, in addition to digital safety training and support. - In Mexico, DRL is funding a program that assists Mexican media professionals, including journalists, bloggers, and others, by continuously monitoring local security environments and responding to elevated threat levels. - DRL’s SAFE Initiative provides state-of-the-art trainings to journalists on physical and digital security and psychosocial care through centers in San Salvador, El Salvador; Tbilisi, Georgia; and Nairobi, Kenya. This year the program will expand, adding an additional hub in Asia. - The U.S. Middle East Partnership Initiative assisted 66 media sector organizations and hundreds of journalists promoting media freedom and journalist training in the Middle East and North Africa region in FY13. - USAID also provides strong support for media freedom around the world. Currently, USAID supports independent media strengthening programs in more than 31 countries, with an approximate annual total budget of $40 million. Examples of these initiatives include: - Since 2011, USAID’s Internet Freedom programming has worked with hundreds of vulnerable civil society and independent media organizations and bloggers in more than a dozen countries to provide them with long-term mentoring, tools, training, and techniques to keep themselves and their data safe and resilient online. - In Ukraine, a local partner organization of the USAID-supported Regional Investigative Journalism Network (RIJN) has played an active role in anti-corruption efforts by securing and making public thousands of sensitive documents that former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and his entourage attempted to destroy upon fleeing the presidential compound in early 2014. The Organized Crime and Reporting Project (or OCCRP), an organization which supports RIJN, has also created a website to track assets held by former Ukrainian officials abroad. - In Afghanistan, USAID support has resulted in the emergence of a national network of nearly 50 Afghan-owned and operated radio stations with millions of listeners across the country. Notably, USAID seed capital support to the Tolo Television network, a popular source of independent news, has allowed Tolo to grow and provide non-state television to over two-thirds of the population. - The USAID-supported program “Building a Digital Gateway to Better Lives” has empowered more than 200 professional and citizen journalists in the Middle East and North Africa to report on issues rarely covered by local media by giving them hands-on experience with digital journalism tools. The U.S. government has also brought media freedom issues to the fore at the UN and in regional multilateral forums. For example: - At the March 2014 UN Human Rights Council (HRC) session, the United States sponsored a consensus resolution renewing the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Opinion and Expression, a vital international voice promoting freedom of expression, including press freedom. - The United States joined over 70 other states in a joint statement highlighting the importance of the safety of journalists at the September 2013 UN HRC session. - The United States condemned violence against journalists and called for their protection, especially as they report on armed conflicts, at a UN Security Council debate that we convened on July 17, 2013. We also co-sponsored a resolution on violence against journalists at the September 2013 Human Rights Council session and last fall’s UN General Assembly. - The United States fully endorsed the 2012 UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity.

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Animation Speed in PowerPoint 2002, 2003, and 2007 Author: Geetesh Bajaj Product/Version: PowerPoint 2002, 2003, and 2007 Date Created: March 30th 2009 Last Updated: March 30th 2009 Excerpt/Capsule: Explore speed presets in PowerPoint that determine how long an animation takes to complete. There are five speed presets available in PowerPoint: - Very Slow: This animation speed plays for 5 seconds. - Slow: This animation speed plays for 3 seconds. - Medium: This animation speed plays for 2 seconds. - Fast: This animation speed plays for 1 second. - Very Fast: This animation speed plays for 0.5 second. Follow these steps to change the animation speed for any animation: - Select the object that has an animation applied to it. If you don't know how to add an animation to a slide object, refer to the Adding an Animation tutorial. - Now make sure that the Custom Animation task pane is visible as shown in Figure 1. If this task pane is not visible, you won't be able to see or select any animations. For PowerPoint 2007 users, make sure that the shape is still selected, then activate the Animations tab of the Ribbon -- next click the Custom Animation button to bring up a task pane of the same name that you can see in Figure 1. Remember, this is a toggle option: click once to show the Custom Animation task pane, and click again to hide it! Users of earlier PowerPoint versions (PowerPoint 2002 and 2003) can again make sure that their shape is selected. Then they should choose Slide Show | Custom Animation to access a similar task pane (see Figure 1). Figure 1: Custom Animation - Now access the Speed drop down list, as shown in Figure 2. Select the animation speed you want to use for the selected animation. Figure 2: Animation Speed - Save your presentation. The following presentation shows you five preset animation speeds in PowerPoint: Have your ever used keyboard shortcuts and sequences in PowerPoint? Or are you a complete keyboard aficionado? Do you want to learn about some new shortcuts? Or do you want to know if your favorite keyboard shortcuts are documented? Go and get a copy of our PowerPoint Keyboard Shortcuts and Sequences E-Book.

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Humayun- The Mughal Emperor Costructed The Fort When the second Mughal emperor Humayun decided to make a city of his own he decided on the site of the ancient city of Indraprastha. Humayun was quite a scholar with a fine grasp on such matters and so it is certain that the site was chosen deliberately. When his Sher Shah Suri overthrew him, he destroyed most of Dinpanah (refuge of the faithful) as the city of Humayun was called to make way for his own Dilli Sher Shahi or Shergarh. Incidentally, Humayun was probably the only emperor in history who built a city in Delhi and did not give it his own name - this was typical of Humayun's rather sophisticated and dreamy character. The Layout of The Massive Colossal In plan the Old fort, now simply called Purana Qila by Delhites, is irregularly orbital. The walls of the immense Qila tower down on the road that takes one to Pragati Maidan from the height of 18m, and run on for about 2km. It has three main gates - the Humayun darwaza, Talaqi darwaza and Bara darwaza (which one uses to enter the fort today). The double-storeyed gates are quite huge and are built with red sandstone. of all the gates entry was forbidden from Talaqi (forbidden) darwaza, the northern gate. It is not clear why this was so. Other Attractions of The Fort Sher Shah Suri and his successor could not complete the city, and when Humayun defeated Sher Shah's son to take back his city, he did not deal with Dilli Sher shahi as the latter had done with Dinpanah. In fact the Mughal emperor very handsomely completed the city and even used several of the buildings like the Sher Mandal, a rather pretty two-storeyed octagonal building. Humayun used this as his library and, then tripped to his death from its steps. Excavation of Grey Ware Pottery Several excavations have taken place in the Purana Qila in an attempt to prove, or disprove as the case may be, whether it is indeed the site of Indraprastha or not. Diggings have yielded Painted Grey Ware pottery which has been dated to 1000BC. Similar stuff has been noticed in other sites associated with the epic Mahabharata as well, which seem to conclusively prove that this indeed was the place where Indraprastha once flourished. These excavation have also thrown up material, like coins, associated with the Gupta (about 4-5th century AD) and post-Gupta ages (700-800AD) of Indian history as well. One of the most fascinating buildings, and also one of the few that still survive, in the Purana Qila is the Qila-i-kuhna masjid. Sher Shah Suri built it in 1541 (also see History) and he was obviously out to make a definite style statement. The mosque is quite a place; its prayer hall measures 51.20m by 14.90m and has five doorways with the 'true' horseshoe-shaped arches. Apparently the idea was the build the whole mosque in marble, but the supply ran out and red sandstone had to be used instead. But the builder used the material at hand very skillfully and the result is quite spectacular - the red sandstone and the marble contrast beautifully with each other to give the mosque a very distinctive air. The mihrabs (prayer niches) inside the mosque are richly decorated with concentric arches. From the prayer hall, staircases lead you to the second storey where a narrow passage runs along the rectangular hall. The central alcove is topped by a beautifully worked dome. In the courtyard at one time there was a shallow tank, which had a fountain. The mosque has an inscription which says 'As long as there are people on this earth, may this edifice be frequented, and people be happy in it.'

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Hackers today use a wide variety of tools and techniques to gain entry into networks across the globe, stealing and destroying confidential data, as well as defacing public websites, writing malicious code, and bringing systems and networks to their knees. These attacks can sometimes cost companies thousands of dollars in downtime, resources, and manpower, not to mention the possibility of having secret data stolen and leaked. The purpose of this paper is to discuss some of the most common tools and techniques hackers use today, and how you and your company can protect your infrastructure from these attacks, as well as broaden your knowledge on hacking as a whole. The true meaning of hacking is to increase the capabilities of an electronic device, and use it beyond the original intentions of the vendor. Hacking began in the 1960's, when a group of students at MIT were tweaking electric trains to go faster and be more efficient. Then, it wasn’t long before a group of these guys started using their skills in the mainframes at MIT. In the 1970’s a new type of hacker emerged, called a “phreaker”, who could hack telephone systems and make phone calls for free. By the 1980’s, hackers were starting to use computers more and more, and started using Bulletin Board Systems to share stolen computer passwords & credit card numbers, which led to the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act being passed by Congress in 1986. Once the internet had its surge of users in the 90’s, hacking was becoming more main-stream and the number of hackers around the world started growing rapidly (Hackingalert.com). This document is in PDF format. To view it click here.

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The United States, in particular, and the world, in general, faces a health care crisis of enormous proportions. The cost of care is already rising, but the combination of an aging population and changes to diet and lifestyle leaves a growing percentage of the population susceptible to chronic health conditions, such as heart disease and diabetes, which further drive health care costs. By 2020, the United States is expected to spend $4 trillion annually on healthcare -- more than the GDP of all but a handful of nations. Health care, then, is ripe for innovation. Much comes from academia, which lets data scientists, economists, and medical professionals collaborate more freely than they might in a corporate setting, but new ideas come from the private sector as well. [ The iPad revolution is coming to a hospital near you | InfoWorld's Andrew Lampitt looks beyond the hype and examines big data at work in his new blog Think Big Data. | Download InfoWorld's Big Data Analytics Deep Dive for a comprehensive, practical overview. ] The Future of Health and Wellness Conference held earlier this month at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology highlighted the results of some of these collaborations. Collectively, they won't address the 30 percent of wasted health care spending -- some $800 billion per year -- that the Obama administration hopes health care reform can eliminate, but they demonstrate progress in understanding how patients age, cope with stress, change our behavior, and interpret the information that doctors give them. 1. Reality mining: Using data to influence healthy behavior Using smartphones to collect information about what people are doing and how they are behaving, which Alex "Sandy" Pentland, director of the MIT Human Dynamics Laboratory, describes as "passive monitoring from the things you carry around every day," results in a data set that's "hugely richer than anything you've ever seen before." It's an extension of data mining known as reality mining, and its predictive capabilities seem to know few limits.

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Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) have unveiled the first glycosyltransferase clone collection specifically targeted for the study of the biosynthesis of plant cell walls. The JBEI GT Collection, the first glycosyltransferase clone collection specifically targeted for the study of plant cell wall biosynthesis, features GT clones of rice (shown here) and Arabidopsis plants. (Photo by Roy Kaltschmidt) The idea behind what is being called “the JBEI GT Collection” is to provide a functional genomic resource for researchers seeking to extract the sugars in plant biomass and synthesize them into clean, green and renewable transportation fuels. Glycosyltransferases (GTs) are enzymes that catalyze the connection of simple monosaccharide sugars into the complex polysaccharide sugars that are essential to a wide range of plant cell structures and processes. While it is known that plants have evolved large families of GTs, the chemical nature of these enzymes is such that the specific functions of most GTs remain largely unknown. This is a major drawback for bioenergy research where the goal is to modify plant biomass for maximum fuel yields. To address this problem, especially as it pertains to cell wall biosynthesis, a large team of JBEI researchers, led by Joshua Heazlewood, director of JBEI’s Plant Systems Biology program, has cloned and verified a clone library consisting of 403 Arabidopsis GTs and 96 rice GTs. In plant biology, Arabidopsis is the reference plant for species like poplar, and rice the reference plant for grasses. “Using the unique infrastructure and resources at JBEI, we have provided a collection of high quality GT clones, all of which have been verified by sequencing and are available in easy to use cassettes,” Heazelwood says. “We’re making this entire collection available to the plant research community and expect it to drive our basic understanding of GTs and enable the manipulation of cell walls.” In addition to the clones for Arabidopsis and rice GTs, Heazlewood and his collaborators at JBEI also created a set of highly efficient particle bombardment plasmids – pBullets – which are plasmids shot into a cell to mark the location of targeted proteins. The JBEI pBullets are constructed with markers for the plant endomembrane system, the collection of membranes that separates a cell’s functional and structural compartments. “Our pBullet vector series is custom designed for efficient bombardment,” Heazlewood says. “Researchers generally use large unwieldy plasmids that perform badly when it comes to localizing proteins.” While the 403 Arabidopsis clones represent approximately 88-percent of the defined Arabidopsis GTs, the 96 rice clones represent only 15-percent of the defined rice GTs. JBEI researchers are now working to expand this. Both the JBEI GT Collection and pBullet vector series are available to the research community through various outlets. For more information visit the Website at http://gt.jbei.org/ Heazlewood and his collaborators have published a paper on the JBEI GT Collection in The Plant Journal. The paper is titled “The Plant Glycosyltransferase Clone Collection for Functional Genomics.” Co-authors were Jeemeng Lao, Ai Oikawa, Jennifer Bromley, Peter McInerney, Anongpat Suttangkakul, Andreia Smith-Moritz, Hector Plahar, Tsan-Yu Chiu, Susana González Fernández-Niño, Berit Ebert, Fan Yang, Katy Christiansen, Sara Hansen, Solomon Stonebloom, Paul Adams, Pamela Ronald, Nathan Hillson, Masood Hadi, Miguel Vega-Sánchez, Dominique Loqué and Henrik Scheller. This research was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science. Additional Information For more about the Joint BioEnergy Institute go here Lynn Yarris | Eurek Alert! NIH scientists find 6 new genetic risk factors for Parkinson's 28.07.2014 | NIH/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Fighting bacteria – with viruses 28.07.2014 | European Molecular Biology Laboratory EMBL 24.07.2014 | Event News 08.07.2014 | Event News 08.07.2014 | Event News 28.07.2014 | Ecology, The Environment and Conservation 28.07.2014 | Life Sciences 28.07.2014 | Power and Electrical Engineering

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Cleaning is apparently good for you. A recent study shows that women are cleaning less than they were 50 years ago. And less cleaning could be contributing to weight problems as household activities are being weeded out of our daily routines. Dr. Edward Archer, a research fellow with the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, explains, “We’ve engineered physical activity out of our daily lives.” Lest he be regarded as sexist (by implying that women are sitting around getting fat instead of vacuuming and folding laundry), Archer goes on the note: “By no means does this mean that women should do more housework, but they’re now doing less (calorie-spending activities) than they were doing in the past, and we need to integrate more activity back in their life.” In other words, household chores were just a natural way to get calorie-burning activities into daily life. Now that women are doing less housework, they aren’t burning those calories. The study in question, published this month in PLoS One, is a follow-up to an influential report conducted in 2011. The original report determined that in the last 50 years, more and more Americans are sitting down on the job. Physical activity at worse has significantly lessened, contributing to a lesser amount of physical activity overall. The authors of the original study found that Americans were burning almost 150 calories less than his or her employed parents had. The decreased physical activity increased risks of obesity, especially in men. The new follow-up study, headed up by Archer, set out to find how women had once spent their time at home, and if those activities had changed. Archer and his team then decided to see if any changed had an effect on patterns of physical activity. “Fifty years ago, a majority of women did not work outside of the home,” said Archer. The study used data collected from diaries, chronicling how women spent their time from 1965 to 2010. Among women who were not employed, “housework-related calorie expenditure decreased by about 360 calories from 1965 to 2010. They went from 33.1 hours a week of domestic chores to 16.5 hours a week,” states the study. For women who worked, they completed less than seven hours of household tasks per week in 2010, burning 132 fewer calories than they did in 1965. Researchers also noted that as women’s activities lessened, their screen-based activity time increased. Time spent in front of a screen went from just over 8 hours a week in 1965 to over 16 hours a week in 2010. Unemployed women in particular are at risk for more screen exposure, spending a whopping 9.6 hours a week in front of a screen. Working women spent an average of 7.5 hours a week on screen-related activities. “The reallocation of time from active pursuits (i.e., housework) to sedentary pastimes (e.g., watching TV) has important health consequences,” the authors noted. Archer also noted that women who struggle with obesity also tend to birth babies who have more fat cells, further perpetuating the obesity epidemic. Do you think that women work less in the home now than 50 years ago? [Image via Shutterstock]

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Have you ever wanted to impress your friends with a cool physics project? Well you're in luck!! My instructable will teach you how to build the simplest kind of heat engine. This instructable is a cheap (roughly $20 cost) and a simple idea to build for a basic physics demonstration. The total time to build takes only an hour from start to finish. The importance of this project stresses the simplicity of demonstrating a simple heat engine through heat energy converted into mechanical motion. Building this rubber band heat engine is one of the simplest and coolest ways to demonstrate how work is done through the use of heat. You can also impress your friends by telling them you're building an "engine". What is a heat engine? A heat engine is a machine that converts heat energy into mechanical motion. The Rubberband engine will convert heat engery, using a heat lamp, into a mechanical motion by spinning the wheel. How does this work? Rubber bands react opposite of metals when exposed to hot and cold temperatures. When exposed to a (hot) heat lamp, the rubber bands will contract and become smaller. As they contract, the center axle will shift towards the outer rim of the wheel causing the wheel to become unbalanced. When the wheel is unbalanced, it will cause the weight to shift and begin to spin! Henceforth, heat energy has now been converted into mechanical motion. Follow the next 6 steps carefully and you will soon have a fully functional rubber band heat engine! NOTE: Building this heat engine is a bit challenging for children but could easily be accompanied by someone of the age 12+.

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Civilians in Conflict Affected Areas Armed conflict can have a devastating effect on the rights and well-being of individuals and communities. Those already vulnerable are at an increased risk of forced displacement, deliberate and targeted attacks, abduction, sexual violence, denial of property and land rights, lack of access to livelihoods, family separation, and more. Canada has been at the forefront of efforts to develop and promote a range of practical measures to improve legal and physical protection of civilians, and reduce impunity for violations and abuses. The protection of civilians is now a central element of the United Nations (UN) Security Council’s work. Canada engages in the protection of civilians in armed conflict situations by: - Combatting the recruitment of child soldiers; - Maintaining the civilian and humanitarian character of asylum; - Preventing unintended humanitarian effects and sanctions; - Addressing sexual abuse and exploitation in humanitarian contexts; - Stemming the illicit trafficking of small arms and light weapons and the use of explosive remnants of war; Canada’s present focus is creating practical tools to facilitate effective responses to protection challenges and to support international advocacy efforts on behalf of affected populations through: - furthering evidenced-based research on the safety of humanitarian aid workers in complex emergencies; - protection training and the development of strategic handbooks and field manuals; - targeted expert level roundtables and regional seminars to identify good practice and lessons learned that can be applied to better protect civilians at risk. For more information on Civilians in Conflict Affected Areas: - Forced Displacement in Conflict Areas - Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in Emergency Situations Canada has taken an active role at the international level in promoting the rights and well-being of internally displaced persons. We have been active in discussions at the UN Security Council, the UN Commission on Human Rights, the UN General Assembly, and the UN Economic and Social Council, in regional fora and on a bilateral basis, seeking to identify practical solutions to the challenge of internal displacement. Canada has also directly supported the Office of the UN Representative of the Secretary-General on the human rights of internally displaced persons and collaborated on a number of initiatives through the Global Peace and Security Program. Building on our commitment to seek solutions to the problem of internal displacement, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) will continue to support activities that improve the humanitarian response to internally displaced persons, encourage a better understanding of internally displaced persons’ concerns and seek to address the root causes of displacement. DFAIT’s efforts seek to prevent violent conflict from erupting; to respond to ongoing crises; and to help construct the foundations of stability in countries emerging from crises, all of which help internally displaced persons to return. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is the primary inter-governmental agency specifically mandated to protect and assist refugees. It leads and coordinates international action to protect refugees and resolve refugee problems around the world, and is an important actor in the field to address the needs of its persons of concern. Canada is among its top ten donors. Canada, through the Stabilization and Reconstruction Task Force (START), is responsible for coordinating overall policy which affects Canada’s international relations. START also leads for the Government of Canada on specific policy issues related to refugee protection and humanitarian affairs. In conjunction with other government departments, in particular Citizenship and Immigration Canada and the Canadian International Development Agency, START works with the UNHCR to promote protection assistance for vulnerable persons and populations and long-term solutions for refugees and persons of concern. Globally, there are 10.4 million refugees - ordinary people who overcome extraordinary odds when fleeing persecution and conflict, either in mass exodus or on an individual basis. UNHCR works with host countries to ensure that the basic human rights of vulnerable persons are respected and that refugees are not returned involuntarily to a country where they face persecution. UNHCR and its partners also seek to provide at least a minimum of shelter, food, water and medical care in the aftermath of a refugee movement. In the longer term, UNHCR helps to find durable solutions for refugees by supporting civilians to voluntarily repatriate to their countries of origin, integrate into countries of asylum, or resettle in third countries. The UNHCR also provides protection and assistance to stateless persons, individuals and groups fleeing situations of generalized violence; mass violations of human rights; and in specific instances, persons displaced within their own countries. Through its members it UNHCR’s executive committees, Canada contributes to shaping UNHCR policies and programming and has the opportunity to advance issues of importance to Canada and Canadians; the promotion and protection of human rights and the rights of vulnerable persons and protection assistance to those in need. Sexual violence in armed conflict is often used as a method of war to instil fear in the civilian population, especially women and girls. Children may be at particular risk due to their level of dependence, limited ability to protect themselves, and their separation from family. They are at greater risk of exploitation and coercion. Sexual and gender-based violence in conflict contexts is a serious life-threatening protection issue; it is a crime against humanity under international law. Humanitarian action must therefore consider the different humanitarian and protection needs and capacities of women and men. Canada pays close attention to the possible effects that a humanitarian response may have on the role of men and women in households and in their communities. It is critical that additional tensions are not created through response efforts. To that end, Canada is actively advocating for humanitarian action to meet the security and protection needs of women and girls in natural disasters and complex emergencies by: - ensuring the gender balance of humanitarian response teams; underscoring in multilateral fora the importance of documenting and analyzing sex-disaggregated data - including strong sexual and gender based language in humanitarian resolutions to strengthen the normative framework; - engaging bilaterally and multilaterally political and diplomatic authorities to draw attention to instances of sexual and gender-based violence in country-specific contexts; and - encouraging the compilation of best practices to codify them as a doctrine in the context of peacekeeping operations, where the protection of civilians is often now a core component of the mandate. This will enable mission planners and commanders to have a clear sense of how to respond in the face of specific protection challenges, including the targeting of women and children and sexual violence. We also advocate that those entrusted with protection (troops, police, etc.) must have the knowledge and training required to effectively fulfill their protection role, with particular sensitivity to the realities and needs of women and children. - Date Modified:

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Definition of 'Impact Fee' A fee imposed on property developers by municipalities for the new infrastructure that must be built or increased due to new property development. These fees are designed to offset the impact of additional development and residents on the municipality's infrastructure and services, which include the city's water and sewer network, police and fire protection services, schools and libraries. These fees can also be levied against any individual or entity where its actions create an externality within a municipality. Investopedia explains 'Impact Fee' Some U.S. states attempted to institute an impact fee on individuals who owned vehicles registered in another state, who then subsequently registered that same vehicle in their homestate. This smog impact fee was eventually overturned by the U.S. courts, who stated the fee was unconstitutional on the grounds that it unfairly discriminated against persons from other states.

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Provisional statistics for 2013 suggest it has been a very average year – but those annual figures mask a year which features some significant weather highlights. Temperature, rainfall and sunshine amounts have all been very close to the 1981-2010 average. The mean temperature for the UK is currently 8.76C, which is just 0.08C below the annual long-term average, rainfall stands at 1079.8 mm, which is about 94% of the average, and sunshine is at 1425.7 hours, which is 104% of the average. All in all, it seems like a very ‘normal’ year. However, a closer look at individual months and seasons shows a different picture. The coldest spring for more than 50 years This year’s spring was widely the coldest since 1962 but for some parts it was the coldest spring since 1891. The cold season was mainly due to the very cold March but April and May also saw well below average temperatures. Winds were often from the east or north, with notably low temperatures and some unseasonably late snowfalls extending into April and May. A fine summer and autumn's St Jude's Day storm However, after a mixed June, July kickstarted a period of relatively fine weather which led to the warmest, driest and sunniest summer since 2006. The season itself isn’t that remarkable in its own right, but becomes so when put into context of the last few years which have generally seen disappointing weather. Autumn was fairly average in terms of its numbers, with temperature, rainfall and sunshine close to average. A mild but stormy December After a fairly dry November to finish the autumn, we moved in to what has become a very unsettled and stormy December. The first major storm came through on the 5thand 6th, then another followed on the 18th and 19th, with another storm tracking past the UK on the 23rd and 24th. While there have been strong winds during December, rainfall has seen marked regional differences. For example, parts of southern England have seen around double the amount of rain they would normally expect while some spots along the east coast of the UK have only seen around half of their December average. Other than the generally unsettled conditions, this December has also been mild – it is currently ranked as the seventh mildest December in our records dating back to 1910.

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A PIONEER SHOWS THE WAY In the pre-Indian independence era, knowledge and information about Indian philosophy and religions were not projected in any dynamic, vibrant or sustained manner to the world outside. Swami Vivekananda, Vircand Gandhi and Mahatma Gandhi shine out as star performers who travelled abroad widely and spoke with eloquence, knowledge and conviction about Indian philosophy of non-violence and the Indian way of life. The successful non-violent struggle for independence led by Mahatma Gandhi made a deep impact on the minds and hearts of people in different continents. In a world grown weary of wars and conflicts, use of non-violence by Mahatma Gandhi came as a beaconlight. That Mahatma Gandhi was since his child-hood influenced by teaching of Jain religion attracted interest in it abroad. Large number of Jains also began to travel and settle down abroad in Africa, U.K. and later in U.S.A. and Canada and some of them took with them their adherence to the principles and practices of Jain religion, but there was no teacher to guide with practice and inspire them to a sustained exploration of its riches. In the past infromation and knowledge about Jainism in foreign countries was spordic through speeches on special occasions or conferences by distingushed Jain scholars like the speech of Virchand Reghavji Gandhi at the World Religious Conference in Chicago (USA) in 1983 and subsequently in Europe. Dr. Hermann Jacobi had published translation in English of some Jain scriptures as early as in 1884. Herbert Werner, Dr. Zimmerman, Saletore, Glassluapp, Winternitz, Walther Shubring, R. Williams, Mrs N.R. Guseva, Paul Marett, Kenoldfield are prominent among those who wrote books on Jain religion in the first half of the twentieth cnetury. Vincent smith, Fergusson, Percy Brown, Klans Fischer, Dr. C.R. Jain and James Burgess wrote books and aritcles on Jain art and It is in this background that Gurudev Chitrabhanu undertook his pioneering mission to awaken the West to non-violence compassion and relativity of truth and to make Jainism known, appreciated, accepted and followed abroad. Gurudev Chitrabhnu was born on July 26, 1922 in Rajasthan and received his education in Bangalore. He renounced the material world at the age of twenty—and matured his consciousness as a Muni (Monk) through silence, meditation, fasting and deep study of scriptures for twenty-eight years. During this period as a monk, he inspired a large number of people with his scholarship, devotion and spirituality. His discourses were thought provoking and brought out the relevance of Jain philosophy to the problems faced by individuals and society in the increasingly materialistic world. With ease and grace, Gurudev Chitrbhanu left a deep impact on the minds and hearts of many national and international personalities of outstanding stature. The late Smt. Indria Gandhi, former Prime Minister of India, interacted with him periodically for over two decades through personal meetings as well as exchange of letters. She respected him for his sublime vision and regarded his blessings as ‘always a source of strength, support and comfort.’ Morarji Desai, former Prime Minister of India and a person committed to non-violence and vegetarianism holds Gurudev in great regard and has exchanged views with him from time to time. He inaugurated the Vegetarian Society (Reverence for Life) of Bombay in November 1983 and observed that ‘There is a false assumption prevailing that non-vegetarians are physically superior to those who do not eat flesh. He cited the horse, elephant, bull, hippo and cow as examples of tremendous physical power and stamina.’ The late Jay Prakash Narayan, the great Sarvodaya Leader was deeply impressed by Gurudev Chitrabhanu’s most persuasive eloquence in favor of non-violence in thought, action and deed Already as a Muni, Gurudev Chitrabhanu’s popularity had soared high among his followers and the Indian public by virtue of his profound knowledge, powerful oratory and convincing appeal. Scores of political and social leaders among them Ravi Shankar Maharaj, Rukmini Arundale, K.M. Patil and others participated prominently in the congregation held to hear him preath. Both as a Muni and after renunciation of monkhood as a Guru, Chitrabhanu has continued to serve the cause of mankind and humanitarian philosophy and way of life with fervour, dedication, faith, sincerity and strong will-power. Now his constituency of followers is world-wide and includes India-born Jains and others from different starts of life. He has inspired them to bring miraculous change in their lives. Prominent religious leaders of different factions the world over recognise him as a front-ranking broad-minded and open-hearted teacher of a deeply compassionate philosophy of reverence of life in all its forms. He carries conviction since he practices what Over the years Gurudev Chitrabhanu has had opportunities of meetings and discussions with world leaders and statesmen like President Moi of Kenya, Kurt Waldheim, former UN secretary General, Governor Francis W. of Massachusetts (USA) and several others. In 1970 Chitrabhanu became the first Jain monk to change ancient rules against wearing shoes and travelling by vehicle in order to participate in the Second World Spiritual Summit Conference at Geneva. He assumed a unique role of a Spiritual Ambassador of the East to the West. He observed: “As if spiritual wings are lifting Me to participate with the world.” Gurudev opened the Summit Conference with the Navkara Mantra and at the concluding ceremony chanted some verses of Bhaktamar on immortal love and devotion, and offered prayers for the peace and well-being of all living being in the universe. His message made a profound impact that, “I believe in the practice of non-violence more than in the preaching” “and with friendliness to life, one cannot harbour hatred. And without hatred, how can there be room for war, conflict and killing” and. “The happiness of the individual is only part of the happiness of all. The universe is one ecological The renowned Indian industrialist G.D. Birla called on Chitrabhanu in Geneva and the meeting turned out to be a beautiful illustration of passing on positive vibrations. When Mr. Birla arrived at the place of Gurudev’s residence, Gurudev was observing his hours of silence from 12 noon to 3 p.m. Mr. Birla waited for twenty minutes for the period of silence to be over. He experienced a great sense of refreshing realisation and awareness that while in the material world people waited for him, this was the first time he waited for a holy person. He gained enriching insight into life. He observed that “I may have donated immense material wealth to many, but the wealth I have secured from Guruji’s silence today is incomparable.” He gained a glimpse into the wealth of inner peace and contentment which Chitrabhanu was radiating. Thus began a pioneering mission with a newly emerging global role for Chitrabhanu for spreading the message of universal peace, fraternity, compassion, non-violence and reverence for life in all its forms. In 1971 Chitrabhanu renounced the hierarcy of monastic life he had led for 28 years to be free to carry what he regarded as his new vision of a universal mission. He travelled through Europe lecturing to European audiences in England, France, Switzerland, Holland, Germany and Italy. He had a historic meeting and dialogue with pope Paul VI at the Vatican in Rome on the fundamental purpose of life and essence of The new phase in Chitrabhanu life began in right earnest in U.S.A. at the spiritually and intellectually invigorating atmoisphere at the Third spiritual Summit Conference at the Harvard Divinity School in 1971.

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|Emblem of Wasilkow The town of Wasilkow is situated eight kilometres northwest of the great Jewish city of Bialystok. The township stands in the vicinity of partly hilly and partly swampy lands in the Podlaske lowlands, between the rivers Suprasl and Czarni, and belongs to the Bialystok district. The history of Wasilkow can be read from the inscriptions on the tombstones in cemeteries that are located not far from the city. The name Wasilkow was known as early as 1528. In the year 1566, King Zigmund Augustus directed Grzegorz Wolowicz to designate an area of land for the town of Wasilkow, with borders laid down between the Podlaske and Trocki districts. In the same year, King ZigmundAugustus conferred upon Wasilkow the title and privileges of a city according to the Magdeburger laws, and a year later, he built a church for the Christian population. Wasilkow, with two hamlets and the villages of Dombrowke and Stuszianka were designated nonindependent districts that were to be leased to the highly regarded Royal Engineer, Chiap Bratfus and the official head clerk, Lukasz Gurnicki. By 1665, the city had expanded to about 4780 acres (126 Wluk) with a corn mill, nine streets, a market and a suburb called Wulki. The town dwellers and peasants of Wasilkow district sought protection from the King from the heavy taxes imposed by governors of the area. The conflict continued for a long time, until 1739, when the town received from King Zigmund, the so called letter of protection that ensured the rights of the citizens of the town against the policies of the governors (starosta). The governors were forced to strictly adhere to the recognised rights. In the year 1781, for example, King Stanislaw August forbade the Governor I. Kruszewski from imposing higher taxes than those that had previously been set. In 1781 Wasilkow consisted of 115 families. By 1795 it belonged to the Grodna district and, during the Prussian reign, (17491795) to the Bialystok district. In 1799, Wasilkow was still a small town with a population of 891. In 1807 it was incorporated into Russia and was part of the Grodna district. In fact, in all periods of Prussian rule, Wasilkow belonged to the Bialystok district and in all periods under the Russians, to the Grodno district. In 1860 Wasilkow had 212 houses and 677 people living in them. A more rapid expansion, in all respects, took place after the famous November 1830 uprising which subsequently resulted in the detachment of a part of Poland from the Russian Empire and the establishment of the socalled Polish Crown (the Polish Kingdom) with limited autonomy. Borders were set up with Customs authorities to regulate the trade between Russia and the Polish kingdom. This aided the growth of industry, trade and particularly the development of the textile industry. By 1860, there was a population of 1381 in Wasilkow with several textile factories, two tanneries and a mill with a large number of hand weaving looms. By 1890, there were eleven factories, 508 houses and a population of 3335. At the outset of the twentieth century, there was a steep decline in production and employment and in all branches of industry, particularly in the production of heavy fabric (suknotuch). In 1910, there were only three factories operating in Wasilkow. Between the first and second world wars, we note a stable growth in overall production, with periodical crises best reflected in the growth patterns of the population: in 1931: 4,801; in 1939: 5,127. Parallel to the growth industry and population is the growth of the role of the trade union movement and the demand of various associations for better working conditions. It is worth mentioning the hard working conditions that existed in the Wasilkow textile industry such as long working hours and low pay. This led to strikes in the years 1885, 1887, 1905 and 1933. |Magistrate City Consul of Wasilkow| At the time of the establishment of Wasilkow in 1566, a few families of Jews were already living there. During the period of the 30year War (16181648) the number of Jews increased greatly due to the expulsion of Jews from Germany. Some of them settled in the areas of Bialystok, Chroszcz, Suprasyl and Wasilkow. In 1760, the number of Jews in Wasilkow was 138. In 1799, the number of Jews reached 280 according to the figures of the census conducted by the Prussian authorities. In 1807, Wasilkow, a part of the Russian Empire, numbered 677 inhabitants the majority of them Jews. There is a marked increase in the Jewish population in 1847 thanks to the development of the textile and timber industries in the region. In 1860, Wasilkow numbered 1381 inhabitants; they were divided into the following religious denominations: RussianOrthodox 65; Evangelists 19; Catholics 817 and Jews 480. That makes the Jews 35% of the population in general. In 1891, there were 508 timber houses, 2 brick houses and 51 business premises. The general population reached 3335. (1770 makes 1625 females). By the year 1897, the population numbers already increased to 3880 of which 1470 were Jews (approximately 38% of the population). The Jews took a great part in the commercial and industrial life of the city. Even in the 18th century, in the year 1765, a Jewish merchant, Moshke Herszowicz from Wasilkow, imported goods to the value of 1700 zlotys which at that time was a large sum of money. It is also documented in the same Custom's declaration that Jewish merchants from Wasilkow, Grodek and Zabludow, exported large quantities of hops, being an importexport commodity. The Jewish living quarters were concentrated around the market area in the northern part of the township and along Bialystocker Street. The name of the street was changed several times. In the 17th century, a Jewish prayer house was already in existence. In the 18th century, the prayer house was demolished and a wooden synagogue was built in its place. |The Wooden Synagogue Pen sketch of Wasilkover Synagogue In 1809, a new section was built for women with a separate entrance. A roofed foyer was also added for people to spend some time during the reading of the Torah and for talks and discussions. The Wasilkow synagogue was quite alike in construction to the Synagogue of the BialystokGrodziensk style which was built in Sokolka, Sidra, Janowa, Sobotkin and other places. The twolevel roof was covered with shingles. Around the roof, an ornamental border in art crafted timber, with frieze coloured lead light windows. The Holy Ark (ornkoydesh) containing the Torah scrolls was elevated by stairs which led up from the pulpit where the Chazan prayed and chanted. The bannisters were beautifully crafted. The choir assisted from the steps. Various painted lions symbolized the strength of the faith as well as inscriptions from the Bible. In the middle of the shul was the Belemer (Bima) where the reader chanted sections of the Parchment Torah. This small area was also raised with steps on both sides. Around it was a balustrade of ornamental iron. There was beautiful harmony of construction in the altar, the niches, the walls, ceilings and light. With the growth of the Jewish population, three more Beth Hamidrashim were built. In 1806, the socalled Great Beth HaMidrash, the UrachChaim, Beth HaMidrash was built, in 1880 the (Kleiner B.M.) and in 1895, the Chai Adam Beth HaMidrash was built. Avram Barasz and Beryl Kawenoky were the founders of the Beth HaMidrash ChaeyAdam which was started in 1895 and finished in 1896. The structure was a mixture of bricks and timber. Half circle windows, a gable roof gave the shul a very attractive look. In these pages, there is a sketch of the Beth HaMidrash and the plan as submitted to the Department of Geology and Geodesy in Grodno. These were made available by Mr. Anthony Rudolf who lives in London. His grandmother came from Wasilkow in 1911. Mr. Rudolf has a great sentiment for history of our town although he knows no Yiddish at all. This proves that the interest for one's roots is bound to the historical continuation of our people. Many thanks to Mr. Rudolf for collecting and donating the valuable material for this Memorial Book of our town. All Synagogues were built with care and great love of detail where local craftsmen could express their skills in the intricacy of wood carvings and elegance in design. Three Jewish cemeteries existed at that time. By now, only one survives and is in a state of total neglect. The Nazis destroyed archives, documents, diaries, etc., which would have helped us a lot to write a more thorough history of Wasilkow Jewry. However, it is possible to state on the basis of retrieved documents that a Jewish (Kehile) community existed already in 1694. They even had certain privileges. The towns of Tiktin and Grodno had claims to Wasilkow, but the town was incorporated into the Bialystok area Authority in the 18th century. So were: Zabludow, Choroszcz, Michalowa, Knizin, Jaszynowka, Grudek, Adelsk, Sokolka and Janowa. A great fire broke out in Wasilkow in 1895. Half of the town was burnt down. The Bialystok Jewish Community assisted with substantial funds after the fire. The economic life of Wasilkow depended upon the Geographical proximity to the industrial centre of Bialystok. Life was not easy at all for our people in Wasilkow. A lot of poverty and a constant struggle to survive. People made a living out of handcrafts, small trade and market; transport (that is usually carrying heavy loads on their backs) and few had road houses for peasants coming to town but were in great danger of their lives. Some grew a few potatoes and vegetables in their backyards, a few had a cow or a goat for milk. So there was a little cheese and butter for the children. In the early thirties of this century, many Jews kept cows, goats, cultivated small areas for vegetables, but as the economy developed, more and more turned to other occupations. At the outbreak of war in 1939, there was an old man, Pinie Werniker who was still looking after his garden and selling his produce to the locals. Wasilkow was on the main road WarsawBialystokWilnoSt.Petersburg (Russia). Therefore, peasants, travellers and small traders used to stop and spend a little time in town. As Bialystok progressed, so did communication with surrounding villages. Wasilkow benefited from the great flow of produce from the country to Bialystok. Some of our people would purchase goods from peasants and then sell to wholesalers in Bialystok to make out a living. There were a few wealthy merchants. Brothers Litvin (Brutchkes), Ydl Zadworanski (Maldivan) who lived on the outskirts, Getzl Rubin, Artzik Minkin, Zorach Ratowiecki and a few others. They would deliver to distant townships; Sokolka, Grodno, and Krinka, various wheats, corn, oats, pighair, skins, etc., barley, peas, flax, cattle, sheep and goats. In autumn, the custom was to load the cellars in each house with potatoes, cabbages and cucumbers. The cabbages were finely sliced and pickled in barrels. Flagons were filled with blackberries or raspberries with plenty of sugar to preserve them. The juices were often used as medicines in case of illness. Another favourite was fried strawberries. One cannot forget the custom of feeding geese in order to use the fat and the flesh in severe winters as well as use the feathers for pillows and eiderdowns. Who can forget the delicious taste of grivn goose cracklings as mother melted them down with onions? This was the way to carry on with the household in the most economical way and keep the family happy via their pleasantly satisfied bellies. This way, the traditions and family unity were kept for the future. The Road Inns. The Kretchmies The old style road inn catered for peasants, their horsedriven long carts, wealthy people, coaches and their horses. In modern times, buses took over most of the transport yet there was still a lot of trade going with horse driven carts. The largest and best oldstyle inn was Jehuda Modawans. A huge timber barn without an attic. Often snow or rain got through the roof shingles. No floor. The earth and mud covered with straw, cleared once in two or three years. twenty to twentyfive carts and horses could be accommodated there. The inn was the small wooden house next to the barn where the peasants were able to purchase hot tea, chicory coffee, pickled herrings, sausage and vodka. One found a warm spot in the winter when the cold reached minus 30 degrees. They slept on wooden benches, tables, on the bare floor or on their carts near their produce and their horses. After old Moldawan death, his daughter Malka took over. She was a hefty woman. Her mother Chaja assisted her. Malka married a man whom she thought would be a great help in the business. Unfortunately, he was an incorrigible gambler, playing cards most of the time. The business was running down. The warm room on these frosty nights attracted the peasants to a game of cards. So were some neighbours like Avromke the baker, Motke Mishkin's soninlaw, Awremtche Shtabinski, ElieaElkone Shapiro. The first that got heated quickly would fight for little reason the last, gambled large amounts to scare off his coplayers. The gambling ended only when Avromke's wife came screaming and crying or when Malke woke up, grabbed a broom and chased the nogooders out. The second inn in the town belonged to Itche Mishkin, called the Pig Biter (chaser baiser). As a young fellow, he bet one of the town's smart alecks that he could bite off a pig's tail. He won the bet but stayed with the nickname. Mishkin's barn was smaller than Modawans, so was the house. As he was getting old and frail, the business was running down. His daughter Frume, a very short woman, helped as much as she could but to no avail. His eldest son Berl became a timber merchant, quite a snob and he wouldn't even enter his father's barn that was full of rubbish. The younger son Chaim also became a merchant after finishing high school. He wouldn't hear of helping father. So, fewer and fewer came to this inn. Some peasants used to spend nights in the centre of town if unable to get into the barns. Near Pinie the gardener's house, Meir Inker's shop and Pudlasha's bakery. About two hundred metres from the Cerkiew, the Russian Orthodox Church. The Polish Catholic Church was quite a distance away. This annoyed the Poles. They tried now and again to liquidate the Cerkiew and move their church to the centre of town. On the way to town, some peasants used to stop at Rubin Shapiro's bakery. Ruwke's shop catered for hot tea, cold meats, hot breads, herrings and spirits. The boss was actually Ruwke's wife Faigl, a tall and good looking woman who could handle any peasant getting nasty or refusing to pay the bill. There were a few other food shops. Archik the Greek, Minkin, MosheKoik's, Judl Zadworanski, etc. In between the wars, various shops opened in the centre of town selling drinks, savouries, beer and alcohol, cakes and sweets. The owners of small pubs were Saria Lipstein, Pesach Stolnicki, Tashemowicz, Hershke Polak, and Tewl Kamien. Popular sweet shops (Cukiernie) belonged to Chaim Czapnik (the Roshennoer) Pesls, Yankl Lipstein's (Glowacki), Baila Rabinowicz the daughter of Sulke the Kvasnik's, Abraham Polak, Shlomo Kane. Tea rooms belonged to Judl Zadworanski, Esther Litwin. The Polish owners of liquor rooms were: Krzywiec, Franciszek Biechowski, Dombrowski, Szymaski and others. Most Jewish people worked their lands when Israel and Judea were independent Kingdoms. They looked after flocks of sheep, cattle, camels, horses, goats and various poultry. Orchards covered large areas as well as live trees. The tradition was carried on after the temple was destroyed and Jerusalem burnt. Jewish settlers took up land in Poland right from the beginning. There is an amount of documentation to prove this. Even names of some villages show that Jews attached themselves to the Polish earth. Szmidkow, Moshkow, Lazarze, Zydowies, Yudendorff and others. Jews arriving from the West founded commercial centres and factories. Jews from the East, many descendants of the Khazars, were specialists in silk weaving, tanning skins, furriers, glass production, silversmiths, etc. From Silesia, Jews were known as expert weavers, bricklayers, builders, butchers, tailors, etc. Many settled near noblemen's fortresses. Together with Christian craftsmen, they supplied merchants and markets with their products. Jews contributed to the development of industry and the Polish economy thanks to their expertise especially in weaving, glass products, fur and skin production, copper and trade products and even in At certain times 90% of production was done by Jews. Polish craftsmen were angered so they formed guilds which restricted the numbers of Jewish craftsmen by instigating exams. These exams were designed to cut the numbers of Jewish workers. There was a most colourful array of tradesmen in Wasilkow, nearly 100% Jewish. The town situated on the main road WarsawSt.Petersburg naturally developed as a centre of all trades. People with various characteristics, habits and customs influenced by their trades, formed a most interesting field for study and observation. As mentioned before, motorized transport came but most goods were still carried in peasant's long horsedriven carts. This of course called for work to be done by skilled blacksmiths. Horseshoes, wheel rims, repairs to carts, spokes in wheels, all sorts of catering for vehicles and horses. The roads were primitive causing a lot of wear and tear. Itche Sztabinski and his five sons worked a blacksmith's shop near the town. Itche looked very good with his Franz Joseph beard and good posture. He was the reader and singer of prayers in the small shul Beth Midrash. While an excellent tradesman, he could be bad tempered and get heated for any little reason. As a boy he had the misfortune of having cut 5 fingers off his brother's hand while chopping firewood. His brother Mulke didn't talk to him for years after that. His eldest son Moishke immigrated to Argentina to look for greener pastures. Itches' second son David was another hot tempered specimen. He married a girl from a nearby township. Soon after the wedding, he got a mania that his new wife wanted to poison him. She did everything possible to convince him how wrong he was. She ate in front of him the meals she cooked but he was incurable. Finally, they parted. Another blacksmith was Mordche Maler Mokele. He was so short that he looked like a circus dwarf. His wife was, however, a tall and beautiful titan. Mokele could walk under the horse's belly unbent and do the horseshoes. A skilled man, the peasants liked him. At times, his sons Hershel and Alter used to assist in the shop. Another blacksmith shop near the windmill belonged to Aron Shapiro, Shmul Yoke's son. A respectable bearded man, he kept his family quiet and dignified. His youngest son Elie left for Argentina in 1936. He worked there as a weaver, made a little money and returned in 1938 to take his beloved Miriam Mirl Rabinowicz to Argentina. Elie did not make it with his beloved Miriam. They got caught up with others when war broke out. They most likely lost their lives in Treblinka. Yosl Mosiondz worked his shop with his son David in the street near Shepsl the tailor's house. He worked very hard all his life. His second son Laibl took up carpentry in Bialystok. He didn't fancy his father's trade. There was Israel Loshitzki, a first class tradesman. A progressive man who liked to read, especially newspapers. He was in partnership with Yosl Mosiondz but later started his own shop at the market opposite the Carkiev. Nearby was a house that belonged to Velvl the teacher. When a house is mentioned in this book, one must not think in terms of villas in America or Australia. Nothing like it. Israel had a White Russian labourer who learned to speak Yiddish perfectly. There was a Polish blacksmith, Pan Butchkko at Bialystok Street near the wooden bridge. He had little work not being a great expert but the propaganda support your own, boycott the Jews brought him some customers. There were a good few bakeries in Wasilkow. One must note that everything was done by hand. No machinery whatsoever. Every bakery catered for the local people around them. They had no delivery trucks to shops or eating places. The variety of baked goods was good. Each bakery developed specialities over the years. Srolki Serejski's was known for his bread rolls, croissants, dinner rolls, horseshoe rolls, various cakes, egg loaves chales, etc. The best in town, Serejski's bakery, was in the narrow street behind Shieyes Der Kvasnik Lemonade Factory. He also had a retail market outlet next to The pharmacist Godlewski in Bialystok Street. Israel Press, called Srolke Butlarz, baked the tastiest plaited bread. His bakery was built of bricks at the market square near Meir Inkiers shop. Chackel (Hatzkel) Neche's bakery at Bialystok street offered a beautiful variety of breads. Next door was Itchke's butcher shop. Rubin Rubin Shapir owned the large bake house, tea room and general store near the town. Mendl Perlman, an expert baker, employed quite a few people. His bake house was next to Shmulke's, the butcher. A splendid business went to ruin when Mendl got old and could no longer work. One of his sons Jacob Elie, married and had to work with his wife in her piece goods shop. She was not well either. The other son Motl, a very smart and presentable man, left the town to live in the capital Warsaw. Mendl's daughter, Nechama, managed the bakery for some time after Mendl died. She married a man and both decided to change to a soda water factory. Brocha Press owned the bakery at Bialystok street opposite Neumans' brick building, later called Bielozor's building. She worked with her sons and daughter Rachel. The eldest son, Chaim, immigrated to Canada. Later, the youngest son Laibl followed him. Another son, Srolke, got married and opened his own bakery at the market square. Shmulke became a foreman in a textile factory in Bialystok. The result was the liquidation of Brocha Press's bakery a few years before World War II. Laizer Mazur's bakery was situated behind Mendl's. His products were not so popular so he switched over to cakes, torts, biscuits many done with chocolate topping and some ornamental designs. This went on right to the outbreak of the war in 1939. It is worthy to note the number of women who managed bakeries in Wasilkow as they became widows. Braina Owsay had a bakery behind Rosa Spektor's shop. Her unmarried daughter worked with her. They had a good constant clientele. Mrs Kaplan's bakery was very well known for her specialties. Small cakes and egg loaves with melted sugar through them. They were selling quickly in the mornings. All bakeries were Jewish owned until a German arrived a few years before the war. He rented part of Gershon Galand's house in Koscielna street. A great number of Poles switched over to him as they could not stomach the Jew's successes. The German was far from being an expert. He naturally joined up with the Nazis when they arrived. He was given the job to agitate local Germans to leave the area before the Russians would take charge. Shoe Makers and Boot Repairers New shoes were a luxury for many people. Therefore, repairs and patching provided many jobs. Mostly small income was derived from the trade yet Wasilkow repairers did not do too badly. They were dignified and respected. Moshe Aron Spektor, called Mosharn, was a tall impressive Jew, clean and with a longish beard. He often spoke on matters pertaining to the communities' affairs and needs. He owned his own house at the Shul court. His attic was occupied by Moshe the Shames the beadle from the great Shul (synagogue). Mosharn was a good tradesman. He employed a Pole which was unusual. The house was about 20 metres from the great Shul. One son, Peisach, was known as one of the founders of Zionism in town. The daughter Riva joined a dramatic theatre group. Children and adults preferred not to go near the Shul, so near to Mosharn's place. A rumour was spread that at twelve midnight, all the souls of the dead gathered there and one could hear their voices behind the timber. Another boot repairer was Chatzkl Chanatzki, called Chatscke for short. A wellbuilt man with a short French beard, he looked good. A constant shul goer, he had his permanent seat there but life was no pleasure as he stammered badly. It took a long time to get a word out of him. More unfortunate for him was the suicide by hanging of his youngest daughter Chave 18years of age. She was quite good looking. The whole town was shaken with this tragic event. A special commission arrived from Bialystok. A postmortem was performed which as is known, is not accepted by religious Jews. Suicide and postmortems mean that the body cannot be buried within Jewish cemeteries. Reb Chalzkl carried on the repairs with his son Aron. On Fridays they would finish work early as their duty was to be in the shul before the first start appeared. Greeting the Sabbath as King Solomon said was like greeting the queen. Nisl Grushkin, called the Ciechanowtzer boot maker, had his workroom next to Mordchai Maler's blacksmith shop. Grushkin was a great worker producing new shoes. His daughter Sheine Riva, was one of the most beautiful girls in town. Two sons studied in Hebrew college Tachkemoni, later changed to Yawneh college. Grushkin was the first Jew to be shot by the Nazis when the ghetto was formed. His body was taken from Yakim street. Laible Viltchek, a boot repairer, represented the growing number of the young intelligentsia. He worked at his parents' house at Swistopol. Not a terrific tradesman, he made up by being active in community affairs. Shoeman the dreamer (holem) lived in a dilapidated small house all in cobwebs. The time came to pull down this old structure and Josl Mosioudz built a new little house. The largest and oldest shoe factory belonged to Faiwl Judowski. At the market, he employed a few men and some apprentices. They produced new shoes for shops. The place was founded before World War I. When Faiwl died, the factory was liquidated. Shoemen and repairers owned their own modest houses where room was made to work. Shoe Top Makers Only two of them were in Wasilkow. They competed against one another until one left to live in Bialystok. He was good at his trade. He occupied half the house where later, Godlewski the pharmacist took over. The one that remained was Simchah Sarah the humpback's soninlaw. Simchah was not much of a tradesman. His tops would not fit so the boot makers had to take orders to Bialystok. Simchah could hardly make a living. While most workshops were owned by Jews, this trade Of making shoe tops eventually was taken over by the Polish craftsmen. Many of them made good quality products. Many Jewish clients flocked to the Polish maker Sawiniswski in Yakimer street. The true and pious must eat only Kosher meats. Woven or knitted fabrics must also be Kosher as certain mixtures are prohibited. Therefore, butchering and tailoring were basic, essential trades in the lives of the Jewish people. Jewish tailors were essential to the preservation of the faith. Over hundreds of years, this profession entered the books of literature, poetry and music. Many jokes and stories relate to tailors' lives. I am a little tailor from Danzig, oi Danzig. That's the way a tailor sews. Etc. When young, Abraham Shnaider the tailor managed the largest workshop in Wasilkow with many employees and apprentices. Abraham's wife died suddenly. He lost his good health. Bad asthma kept wearing him down. He often looked into the holy books. Many thought he was secretly a Lamed Vovnik. That is a saintly man who would give his good shoes to a barefooted man on the coldest day in winter. He looked indeed like a saint with his white beard. Abraham passed away when the Jews were chased into the ghetto by the Nazis. Shepsl Winik, called Deaf Shepsl, was a good tailor and had lots of work but he didn't know how to organize his work. He was typical of the kind of tradesman: Boot makers walking bare, tailors wearing rags. Shepsl's son Avreml worked with him. The two daughters were helping out yet little income came in. He took on work for three years in advance. Dates for fittings could not be kept. No one knew when the garment would be finished. Tailors were regarded as liars. They always had excuses many rather strange. Laibl Lentshiner, called Laibl the Shmatnik (the ragman) was a good tradesman. One day, the chief of the post office a Pole ordered a special jacket of black satin. He was a very tall man of about 2.20 metres. Six months before Yankl Lipstein the weaver ordered a long black satin coat as worn on Sabbath. When the Postal chief arrived to try on his jacket, it was not even cut. Nevertheless, Laibl coolly grabbed the long Sabbath coat to try on. It fitted. That gave him time to cut out the jacket and try it on the short man Lipstein the weaver. Meilach Koton from Losiniec was a quiet character. He had his workroom at Velvel the teacher's house. Meilach preferred to work for nonJews because he drank a good deal. Jews were not very tolerant to drunks. In his youth, he walked from village to village sewing and patching for peasants. Tailoring was all done by hand. He learned to drink homemade brews with the villagers. His son Moshe, a respectable man, had no influence on his father. He could not change his father's habits. Other tailors, Zaidke from Janove a quiet man; brothers Yosl and Yankl Lentchiner, one very good one in Pesl's house, another from Stawisko resided at Shifra Ratwecka's house. This is a trade strictly connected to laws and rules according to the Holy Scriptures. The saying goes: there is no beginning or an end to interpreting the Torah same with the meat trade. Experts must know every bit of carcass since some have to be removed, some perfectly useful parts are for sale to nonJews and only certain parts are Kosher. The wealthiest kosher butcher in Wasilkow was Shmulke Perelstein. His house was one of the few brick homes. There was a well in the yard for their own use, a rare luxury. Even the street was called informally 'Shmulke the butcher's street'. One must understand that a kosher slaughter man is a man of learning, of good habits, observant and ranking nearly equal with the Rabbi. He was a wellbuilt man, radiating strength and confidence. He dressed in the old style of Russian Hasid's (cap). Shale's wife, Rachel, was tall, broadshouldered. A great saleswoman, her motto was to sell and sell for cash or on credit. She would knock on doors to remind the late comers. No refrigeration, no ice chests people had to buy meats fresh without delay. Members of the family assisted in the enterprise. The sons Yowl, Chine and Itzel, the eldest soninlaw, Chain were strong muscular men able to work hard and return in kind to anyone who would molest them. All of them perished at the hands of the Nazi murder gangs and Polish antiSemites whose hands were awash with Jewish blood. Shmulke had a reserved seat in the great BethMidrash. The second kosher butcher was Itchke Perlstein no relative to the previous. His house on the main street had a balcony around it without balustrade or bannister. One could easily fall over and break a limb. Itchke attended regularly the Shul ChaiAdam, at the rear of the great Shul. His wife Shaina got very stout, possibly because she could not bear any more children after her first seven. These were all healthy, good looking, bright, interested in community affairs and world affairs. None of them wanted to work in the meat trade. Everyone belonged to a different political group. The eldest son Chaim was in Poalei Zion. He married a girl from Yashinowka and settled there. Chone was a fiery communist, Malka with the general Zionist; Nisl in the Bund, Shimon General Zionists, AlHamishmar later joined labourZionists. Hayele was a member of Zuknuft and Yosl was in Beitar. However, they respected one another and kept peace in their parents' home. Outside, things were a little different. Reb Itche was a prominent citizen. A reader and chanter of the holy book in Shul and occasionally, administrator of the shul. Reb Berl Biber owned the meat shop in Tevel Kamien's Street, separated from the residence. They usually were together. Getting older, Reb Berl handed over the business to his son Pesach, preferring to study with his coreligionists the holy books, the gemarah. Shlomo Shlachter's shop was next to the Jewish midwife Mrs. Sternfeld. Shlomo was rather average. His living room was next to the shop, an area occupied by his wife, sisterinlaw but without children. Motke Nishkin's shop was in the front room of his little house. He concentrated more on buying and selling cattle. Yankel Sokolowicz, called Yankl Basia's or Zeidke's, owned the newly built shop opposite Mulke Shtabinski's house. Years before the family Bielaus lived there. Yankl was one of the younger generation of Kosher butchers with their own characteristics. He was the only Jew from Wasilkow who escaped the Nazi trap. With the help of some righteous gentiles, he survived the war and the holocaust. Faiwele Fisher also had a newly built shop. He was regarded as one of the wild ones. Mordchai Shlachter had his shop in Hertzek Gelers house at Bialystok Street. There was Aron Shimon's too. Here, people used to buy their cattle and calves from neighbouring villages and seldom at markets. One had to get setup early in the morning, buy the animal or two, then get to the Jewish slaughter house near town and not far from the Jewish cemetery. The abattoir was most primitive. The scripture reader Chazan was the ritual slaughterer. He had to pray first. The Rabbi made the decision as to whether there was a blemish on the carcass. The meat traders were regarded with greater respect than others. They were better off. They were strong, healthy men and worked mighty hard. From buying, transporting along peasant's carts, sometimes the cow would break away, run and damage somebody's garden, then attend to the slaughter, carry quarters weighing a hundred kilograms and finally selling to fussy, choosy yet goldenhearted women. Horse and Cart drivers Balagoles Lots of people were making a living out of carting goods mainly by horse and cart. The cart sides were like long ladders placed sideways on the cart chassis. Carting was done between Wasilkow and Bialystok but many travelled longer distances up to 100km to Sokolka, Skidel, Krinki, Grodno and other places. Some journeys took 3 to 6 days. These journeys were not always safe. In 1926, the unexpected happened when the carter Efraim Froitchik and his son Moishke travelled home, they were stopped in the Bukshtel forest by two bandits. A bayonet placed in Moishke's heart, he died the next day. Cartage expanded with the development of the timber and textile industries. Groups of specialized carters formed naturally. One catered to Bialystok factories, another to shops, travellers and some to knitters. Textile factories employed many carters. While goods had to be cut and finished for export, there were huge cases and timber containers of all sorts and various sizes. Wasilkow weavers were supplied with yarns and weaving goods, so were merchants and shops. Carting took long hours and arduous work. A few Polish men took up the trade. The Jewish Balagoles were not regarded as inferior. Many of them were dignified, and respectable citizens. Some worthy of remembering were the 4 brothers Moed, Mazikim, Jacob, Efroitchik, Niske and Faiwke. Everyone had quite a few children. The children followed the profession. Fiwke had no children. His wife Etl was a teacher and later a letter writer for those unable to write to their relatives in America. Other carters were: brother Yechiel and Fiwl Inker, Yoske Mielnicki and Chain, Berl Spektor, Meir Wilczek, Elie Spektor who lived near the town Elie the apzhirikbedraggled. Zelik Spektor and his father Jankl's Henie and his sons Henach and Nachum. They loved their father greatly. They would jump into a fire for him. Jankl was temperamental and quickthinking. One day, he called out to the boys: We're off to America. Pack up. They immigrated, stayed a while in the states, then Yankl decided to return to Poland. The boys were painting a house. They had to throw away the brushes, pack again and the three returned to Wasilkow and their horse and cart. During the later thirties, some buses appeared on the roads. One of the carters sold his horse and cart and bought a bus which he drove right to the outbreak of the war. Some butchers owned carts and horses for their needs. Many took out their horses in the evening to pastures along the road the council property and thus saved on feed. Good feed was past Trillings' factory and the Water works. One had to watch a horse until 2 or 3 in the morning. Shops and their keepers One should write shops and merchants. Wasilkow shopkeepers derived from little from their businesses which they could hardly be called Merchants. Many could not afford new shoes or new clothing. Yet each family would possess a white table cloth for Sabbath and silver plated candlestick stands. Mothers have to light candles on Friday nights and pray with their daughters for peace, bread and for averting danger. The Gentles resented the Rich Jews for the above luxuries. As mentioned before, Jews really strived to live off the land but many noblemen in the middle ages compelled Jews to run liquor inns so they could sell their liquors to peasants and other products from the Noblemen's enterprises. Some Jews were even compelled to hold the keys to the churches and cerkievs as some paps and priests were too drunk on occasions. Pogroms and insecurity compelled Jews to convert into cash and easily carried valuables in case of expulsion from a given area. Confiscation of Jewish property took place quite often. Wasilkow had a greater proportion of Jewish shops than other towns like Zabludow, Suprasle and other. Some days, army regiments marched along Bialystok Road. They stopped for 15 to 30 minutes. The 42nd infantry regiment, the 10th cavalry regiment and the 14th division of the artillery regiment were amongst those that stopped. They were good customers. Shops emptied in no time. We must not forget the names of Craftsmen and Shopkeepers of Wasilkow such as: Chaim Czapnik, G. Polak, G.Czapnik, Masha Chienkes, Bielaus, Lapshins, Press, Avraham Polak, Ester Lipstein, Shlomo Cohen, Reize Spektor, Moshe Batlais, Dovid Batlai, Braina Ovsei, Herzke Barikan the ginger, Tsvl Kamien, Shiftra Ratowiecki, EstherRiva Gotlieb, Dovid and Meir Litvin, Lajzer Mazur, Mendl Perlman, Vlevel Shneider, B.Srolusz, Nachum Leizor, Botkowski, Kailetchkes near the baths, Chatzkl Neches, Avram Shternshus, Pesls, Sarah Minies, Getzl Rubin, Chaim Bachrach, Judl Sheitlis from Grodno, Motke Farber, Meir Inker, Srolk Press, Sz Weis, Mindele Lewin, Shimon the innkeeper, Sarie Liptstein, Beila Rabinowicz, Falk near the shul, Lupatchiches, Mirke Katz, Peisach Stolnicki, Kaplanicha, Israel Serejski, Ruben Shapiro, Judl Zadwaranski, Artzik Minkin, Moishke Rolak, Stein, Tashemowicz and others that were liquidated and forgotten. Not included in the list above were furriers, watchmakers, dyers, bookbinders and harness makers. During the twenties, a group of Poles decided to develop their own merchandising movement. Some leaders of the Falcons Sokol organisation gathered at the council house near the orchard. One time, this house belonged to the church. Eventually this became the Peoples' House. During Czarist times, these were the Council chambers. The secretary was Gospodin Czechowicz (Pr. Tchehovitch). He adjusted quickly to the new Polish regime and continued in his job until he was finally removed so as to allow a Pole to carry on. The Falcons and the peasant groups opened a store called United Villages store (Zjednoczenie). The purpose was to supply tools, machinery and fertilisers. It actually became a general store. The council did not charge them any rent. The purpose was to deprive Jews of customers. Like most state enterprises, this one soon ran down. Prices were high, little variety and the service was bad. AntiJewish propaganda could not bring in customers. The Polish and White Russian clients returned to the Jewish shops. |A part from Mark| Getting ready for the holy Sabbath started on Thursdays. Women washed and ironed clothes for the family so they would be dressed cleanly on the holy day. Food had to be bought and prepared especially the traditional Chulent. As no lighting of fires was allowed on Sabbath, this large pot of potatoes, barley and vegetables had to be kept hot at the nearest bake house. The children had to take the wellmarked chulent pots to the baker and then collect them on the Saturday. Woe to the child who picked up the wrong one with inferior contents therein. The most delicious parts were the goose necks filled with a tasty filling of fatty meat, onion and garlic. Inside the pot and on top of the potatoes and barley was a dish of baked pudding made of carrots, plums and rice or noodles. The baker's rules were very strict. The chulent pots had to be in on time on Friday. The oven could not be opened for latecomers. This deadline rule was adhered to better than the railway timetable. Moishe the beadle from the Great Shul (synagogue) signalled the oncoming Sabbath on Friday afternoon, by standing in the middle of Bialystok Street and calling out three times at the top of his voice: Yiden to the shul. After that, shops were shut; work tables covered and weaving looms were stopped. Even a few who were secular conformed to the customs. Friday evening holiness spread over the town. People bathed, dressed themselves up and walked to the Shul. Mothers lit the candles, covered their eyes with their hands and murmured the appropriate prayers. Strangers in town were invited to partake in the Sabbath meal after shul. Some would spend the night at their hosts' modest home. Sabbath was a complete day of rest until the Soviet army arrived in 1939. In these last years before the war, the young preferred to congregate in the Shul's courtyard rather than stand praying inside. This was the time for chatting and discussions. After Sabbath chulent and puddingkugel, people used to go to some lovely places for fresh air after a week's hard work and worries. Yakimes one kilometre away was popular. There was a nice meadow near a watermill and a lake with lots of waterlilies that stretched as far as the Tchugunka under the railway line and on to Suchonia village. This property belonged to Pan Pilkowski the miller. There was a large swing and boats could be hired. Another popular place was Jurowce, some 23 kilometres from town. There were pine trees galore and a lovely aroma of the Knishin forest further on. A large mansion deep in the woods once belonged to a Russian baron. The river Suprasl cut through the area and flowed past a village where food could be bought, such as milk, yoghurt, cream and extra tasty black bread. Jewish people used to walk there from as far as Bialystok. Other men used to go to Shul in the afternoons to study the scriptures while the children waited for the Havdalahwhich is the lighting of the coloured plaited candles, signifying the end of the holy Sabbath. Each boy would have a sip from the silver cup after the chazn chanted the prayer. Sabbath ended when the first star appeared. Many went back to work and the holy enchantment disappeared for another six days. The days of penitence September or October These days started with the New Year according to the Jewish moon calendar. They consisted of serious selfcriticism, prayers and penitence. These days, everyone's fate is decided and confirmed in heaven for the following year. The atmosphere is sombre; children realize the seriousness of the time. Wrongdoers know that the severest punishment will come from heaven if they are not forgiven. The only consolation for the people praying, fasting, even flagellating themselves, is the food. Special good, tasty things are served. So the coming year will be great and sweet. Before the holy day, women go to the cemeteries to pray near the graves of their loved ones. The chazan, far from being a wealthy man, gets a few coins for chanting the special prayers for the deceased. Even Sara Katchke, the bath attendant, made a little money. She had a hundred professions but never enough to eat. On the two days of New Year and Yom Kippur the Day of Atonement all Shuls, BethMidrashin and Shtibls (little prayer houses) were full. Women, who were not obliged by ritual, flocked to every possible place where there were prayers and chanting. There was a place for the poor who couldn't afford permanent or reserved seats. Rivers of tears flowed as there was never a time of plenty nor safety for the Jewish people of these parts. In the afternoon of the first day of New Year, the parents took their children for Tashlegh to the river to say the prayers that all their sins would disappear in the deep waters and be forgiven. It is better to take refuge in the lord than to rely on nobles. On the eve of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement which is the holiest day in the year, many Jewish men subjected themselves to flagellating to pay for their sins. All prayer houses and shuls including the sections reserved for women were full and overflowing. Men wore the white death shrouds and black and white prayer shawls. The reader and prayer chanter in the same clothing was surrounded by men carrying the holy Torah scrolls. Reb Tevie Kamien led the Kol Nidrei prayers in the great Beit HaMidrash. Cantor Kewalski and his choir sang in the Great Shul (Synagogue). The atmosphere was unbelievably sombre, holy, as if the heavens had opened to the cries and prayers of the Jewish men and women. It was as if the Messiah was coming any day. There was some hope where room for hope was no more. The evening signalled the start of the 24 hour total fast. Some men would use a pinch of strong tobacco to smell for relief, or drops of ammonia and valerian. There were eight joyous holy days. Most homes had especially constructed verandas without ceilings, so the roof tiles could be Removed and replaced with greenery, grasses, etc. This commemorated the shelters built quickly and dismantled when our forefathers moved on in the desert of Egypt on the way to the Promised Land. Meals had to be eaten in the succos. On these days, a palm leaf and citrus fruit used to be carried to shul for blessings to be recited. Children had to pick some twigs which were also used during prayers. During one night called Hoshana Rabah, people recited the Bible believing that the prayers during this night would be particularly successful. The last day of succos is the day of joy and happiness, for having the Holy Scriptures, the Torah. Dancing with holy scrolls went on inside and outside the shuls. Some drank strong drink to reach an even higher level of exultation with the fervour of their faith in the Lord. One of the most enthusiastic was Vehuda Dreier. He had a few drinks and offered some to others. He did his best to amuse and cheer up the people around him. Quite the scholar, he never missed daily prayers and study of the Torah. He was also a good wood turner. The peasants liked his spinning wheels, reels, winders for weaving shirts, sheets, blouses and even long coats. All holidays were of special significance to the children as they would grow and carry on the customs and the faith. There are eight days or rather evenings when candles are lit. The menorah or candle stand is placed near the window for everybody to see the believers. The days are for work. The candles are lit in the evenings, prayers are chanted and sung. Chanukah is to commemorate the great victory. When the temple in Jerusalem was desecrated by enemies and then won back, cleansed and a little sacred oil was found sufficient for one night, this oil miraculously burnt for eight nights. There were days when we straightened our backs and raised our heads, proud of our armies that conquered the GreekSuria (the idolaters). We were then more courageous to repel the Polish hoodlums who kept harassing us. Many literary chapters, songs and compositions were written pertaining to Chanukah in Hebrew and Yiddish. Children got ready for this holiday long before in the Tachkemoni Yavneh and Sholem Aleichem Schools. In our school, the teacher, Mr. Landinski, taught us songs. We had to stay back after lessons. Landinski played a miniature accordion. He also taught single or group recitations. The Zionist organization used to arrange a Chanukah bazaar every year for the J.N.F. weeknights but not on Friday. This was a time of freezing nights and tons of snow covered the roads, roofs and fields. Next to the wood stove, men sat playing cards, dominoes or spinning tops. Children played games; women brought hot potato cakes, goose crackles and hot sweet tea. We sang: Candles, so beautifully, telling us stories of a past never forgotten, of a land where we were free. Purim is a one day holiday, yet a working day. The evening before, Jews go to Shuls where the Megillah is read. The story is of Jews in Persia in the middle ages when a tyrant minister Haman decided to annihilate all the Jews. Queen Ester was able to survive to convince King Ahasuerus that her people should be saved. Children had great fun in Shul. They had to make as much noise as possible when Haman's name was mentioned. Specially made Wooden noise makers were used. In the old times pantomimes were performed. Boys and girls used to dress up in oriental garb acting all parts in the Queen Ester story. There were plays about Joseph, David and Goliath. In the years before World War II, children used to dress up for this holiday, knock on doors and sing Purim is today, give us a few cents and we shall go away. Every holiday has its food specialties and so did Purim which was called Haman cakes. They were tastily baked triangle bags full of poppy seeds and honey. Perhaps the most beautiful and most joyous of all the holidays, Pesach usually fell in April, coinciding with the northern spring after a severe winter. The holiday commemorated the exodus of the Jews from Egypt, the crossing of the Red Sea and the forty year march through the desert (Sinai). It commemorates the Lord's gift of the Torah and the Ten Commandments and finally, the entry into the Promised Land. The day before the eight days of celebrations, all leaven bread had to be cleared and taken to the bath boiler to be burnt. Any remaining crumbs had to be searched for with a lit candle and swept up with a goose feather. Cleaning of homes, washing dirt spots, re-arranging things, painting, etc. was done with a great gusto. Only Passover dishes, crockery and cutlery could be used for these eight days. Wine and mead were home-made having matured through the winter months. Matzos unleavened bread was the only bread eaten. Many baked these themselves and neighbours assisted in the holy task. During these holidays, goodwill reigned in families. Relatives and friends used to visit one another. Bakeries known for their matzos were Elia Spektor, Gutka and Bob Rubens. The first two nights of Passover were celebrated in every Jewish home, religious or not. Traditionally, the youngest son must chant the 4 questions: Why is this night different from all other nights? Why do we only eat unleavened bread? Why do we eat bitter herbs? Why do we lean when eating? During the feast, a cup of wine is filled for the Prophet Elijah to partake. At a certain stage, the front door is open for the imaginary prophet to enter and a prayer is said with great solemnity. He calls and has a sip of wine, blesses the household and moves on to the next neighbour. Every child is convinced that some wine has been drunk. After shul, children played with peanuts and chestnuts. The star custom of painting eggs was taken up. They played knock the eggs'. If the Russian orthodox Easter happened to coincide, the boys and girls of both faiths played with eggs near the Cerkev. The Bielo- Russians used eggs (smolarkesi) filled with tar so our children lost the game. Passover contributed a good deal to the economy of the place and surroundings. Wood for baking was delivered for eight weeks prior to the holidays. Women were employed for the specialized jobs of kneading, grooving and trimming the matzos. Wasilkow was known for the quality of its products. Carts full of baskets of matzos were transported to Bialystok. The great Gaon (scholar) Raphael Gordon himself had authority over baking and delivery. He employed men of learning to watch over every phase of production. One of these was Yehuda Dreier, another Berl Jacob Moses, the beadles' son-in-law. He was also the cantor and reader in the Great Shul. Over the years, some people became well known for their skills and speed as the matzo season was very short. Such were: Chona Polak, Chaim Kokatch, Ratowiecki, Shia Sokolowicz, Ischor Sztabinski, Ischor Gorfain, Joel Spektor and others. Every bakery tried their hardest to get the skilled to work year-after-year. One of the best was Shike Polak. After his death, his sons Chone and Avreml took over. During the 6-8 week Matzo season, every bakery employed 18 females, a watchman, two apprentices and 7-8 others. This helped the needy a little. Some evil-minded gentiles spread rumours that Jews used human blood for baking matzos, preferably children trapped for this purpose. Some clergymen in the middle ages kept spreading this legend. There are people who believe this even now because the Nazis took up the vilification. In fact only unleavened flour and plain water must be used no other ingredient whatsoever. The bakeries had to safeguard themselves only Jews were allowed inside. Gentile children tried hard to get in so as to get a few tasty freshly baked matzos. There was a case when the community got very worried: Young Simcha Rabinowicz, Rubin's son, was employed as an apprentice at Polak's bakery. He smeared a gentile boy's face with soot from the oven. Just a child's prank. The boy ran away crying. People were prepared for the worst. Soon after, the Poles would arrive and slaughter the lot. Nothing happened! All was well again. This is a one-day holiday, as if made for the younger folk only. Indeed, it is a day dedicated to the memory of 12,000 students of Rabbi Akiwa who perished during the 32 days of pestilence. It was the time of Roman occupation of Jerusalem. There were no more deaths on the 33rd day. So the day is celebrated with joy and picnics. The day also coincides with the anniversary of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai's death regarded as the writer of the holy book Zohar. Before his death, he divulged some secret interpretations of the Kabalah to his students. To this very day, pilgrims travel to the Rabbi's grave in Miron, Israel. They cover the roof of the grave with a pile of wood, lit a fire and then sing and dance all night. In most Jewish communities, Lag Ba'omer is the children's holiday. All schools have entertainment instead of classes. Wasilkow children spent the day mainly at the Jurowcer forest. All were nicely dressed, cleaned with knapsacks full of food for the day. They marched army-fashion, singing. Some carried white and blue flags with the Star of David. Jewry definitely proclaimed their feelings for Zionism and Zion. One of the most effective groups was BRIT-TRUMPELDOR. They wore smartly cut khaki uniforms; scout shorts, white and blue ties and peaked caps. Each of the held a specially carved stock. In front of the column, a large flag was held. This was a rather long march, well past the railway line. Once in the woods, people went on to collect blackberries, raspberries and flowers for mum. The teachers used to explain the history of the holiday. An important aspect of the day was that Jewish children from the State Schools could attend. They got little Jewish education in the government schools. Parents and friends waited for the young to return from the forest. They applauded the marchers so the day ended joyously and happily, reassured that Jews would survive and return to Zion again. Every survivor of Wasilkow will remember the wonderful Lag Ba'omer days which he or she enjoyed in the years gone by. JewishGen, Inc. makes no representations regarding the accuracy of the translation. The reader may wish to refer to the original material JewishGen is not responsible for inaccuracies or omissions in the original work and cannot rewrite or edit the text to correct inaccuracies and/or omissions. Our mission is to produce a translation of the original work and we cannot verify the accuracy of statements or alter facts cited. Wasilkow, Poland Yizkor Book Project JewishGen Home Page Copyright ©1999-2014 by JewishGen, Inc. Updated 27 Apr 2014 by LA

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PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE JET PROPULSION LABORATORY CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011 Contact: Diane Ainsworth FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 29, 1995 SCIENTISTS STUDY MARS LANDING SITE IN WILDS OF WASHINGTON What better way is there to prepare for a mission to Mars than to study a place with the same landforms and geologic features here on Earth? Researchers from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Arizona State University and the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston did just that this week when they surveyed a corner of central eastern Washington that resembles Ares Vallis, an ancient flood plain on Mars that will become the landing site for NASA's 1996 Mars Pathfinder lander and rover mission. More than 60 scientists and educators gathered in the Channeled Scabland, near the cities of Spokane and Moses Lake, to examine landforms and geologic features created by one or more giant, catastrophic floods which swept through the area as the North American continent thawed from an ice age. The field trip was designed to bring together Mars Pathfinder scientists and engineers, kindergarten through 12th grade educators from Washington and Idaho, and other interested members of the Mars scientific community. Eleven elementary and secondary school educators and five alternates were competitively selected in April to participate in the trip, based on their plans for educational follow-up activities involving students, teachers and parents in their home communities. "The Scabland formed when waters the volume of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario combined broke through a glacial dam and flooded the region in about a two-week period," said Dr. Matthew Golombek, Pathfinder project scientist at JPL. "That flooding carved landforms and geologic features that are analogous to Ares Vallis." The ice dam, located where present-day Lake Pend Oreille, Idaho rests, created Lake Missoula, Montana, which formed from the melting ice sheet that covered much of Canada during an ice age more than 15,000 years ago. "We believe a catastrophic flood like this occurred in the Ares Vallis flood channel, washing rocks and sediments from highland regions into this flood basin early in Mars' history," Golombek said. "The two sites, in essence, are geologically analogous to one another." The Mars Pathfinder landing site -- located at 19.5 degrees north latitude and 32.8 degrees west longitude -- is 850 kilometers (527 miles) southeast of the location of the Viking Lander 1, which in 1976 became the first spacecraft to land on Mars. Pathfinder will be the first spacecraft to land on Mars since the twin Viking landers arrived almost 20 years ago. Scheduled to arrive on July 4, 1997, Pathfinder will parachute down to Ares Vallis at the mouth of this ancient outflow channel, which was chosen for the variety of rocks and soil samples it is thought to contain. "The Ares Vallis site is what we call a 'grab bag' location with a wide variety of rocks that were swept into the area during this catastrophic flood," Golombek said. "The plain is most likely made up of a thin veneer, perhaps 100 meters thick, of flood deposits. Using a microrover, we hope to sample a wide variety of rock types and ages within a 10-meter (33-foot) radius of the lander." Both the Pathfinder lander and rover will carry stereo imaging systems to photograph the Martian terrain. The rover will also be equipped with an alpha proton x-ray spectrometer, which will allow scientists to examine the composition of the rocks. The imaging system will reveal the mineralogy of surface materials as well as the geologic processes and surface atmosphere interactions that created and modified the Martian surface. The instrument package will also yield information on dust particle size and water vapor abundance in the thin Martian atmosphere. Even though the exact origins of the rock samples on Mars will not be known, the chance of sampling them could reveal a lot about the planet, Golombek added. The rocks would have been washed down from highlands at a time when floods moved over the surface of Mars, telling scientists much more about Mars' early evolution. "Viewing the Scablands on this trip allowed engineers designing the Pathfinder lander and rover to become familiar with the kinds of surfaces the lander must land safely on and the rover must roll over during the Pathfinder mission," Golombek said. "The educators were particularly excited at being a part of the discussions between the Mars scientists and Pathfinder engineers about the nature of the landing site." In addition to bus trips to the Scabland site, participants also saw the region from the air. Flights over the flood plain gave them aerial panoramas of the outflow channel so that they could better understand the full context and history of these immense landforms produced by the Lake Missoula floods. "The intuitive understanding gained by seeing the Scabland terrain from both the air and ground will be essential for interpreting the nature of the Mars Pathfinder landing site in Ares Vallis," Golombek said. "The relevance to Ares Vallis is especially important because Pathfinder will not obtain descent images on the way down. We'll have to rely on existing Viking images and images taken from the Pathfinder lander once its on the ground to interpret the geological context of the landing site." The Scabland field trip was co-sponsored by Arizona State University, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston. Mars Pathfinder -- the first of NASA's Discovery missions -- is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C.

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I started by playing Barnes and Noble's video of Charlie the Ranch Dog (scroll through the older books at the bottom to get to Charlie) so the students could see the artwork projected REALLY BIG. I think the students were already familiar with the story but I asked them to pay special attention to the role of the illustrations- how the artwork helps tell the story. After the story, I showed them parts of a blog post by Ree Drummond/the Pioneer Woman about the process of writing and publishing Charlie. The post had good information about the collaborative process and how the publisher, author, and illustrator all worked together until the book was perfect. This is where the perseverance part comes in- the post touched on how Diane deGroat made lots of preparatory sketches and plans and had to revise her work. I think this is good for students to hear about when they can be quick to complain about the simplest revisions. In addition to text, the post was a wonderful resource to find lots of photos of the illustrative process. In particular, I liked this photo showing sketches of Charlie in different poses. We talked about how deGroat referenced photos of Charlie as she created her artwork since the book is based on a real dog. The students' job was to pretend they were illustrators and reference photos of Charlie and deGroat's sketches to make their drawings. I tried to get the students to draw big and fill the space- this continues to be one of my biggest challenges. In the second class period, the students traced their pencil drawings with black crayon before I demonstrated the wet on wet watercolor technique I wanted the students to try out. I showed how to load the brush with really wet brown paint, apply it, then load with black and let it run together and blend. Some students had a hard time getting the right consistency for the paint but most eventually figured out how to work fast enough to let the colors blend. At first, I just wanted the students to trace with black crayon to make their drawings bolder, but it ended up working as a barrier and mostly keeping the wet paint inside the lines. The biggest surprise for me with this lesson, was the level of stress it created for students. They love dogs, they love the story, they love painting. BUT, a good chunk of students, sort of freaked out when drawing. I don't think I've ever had so many students try to get me to draw something for them before. It was my 2nd graders during this project that prompted me to create and hang a "No I Can't Allowed" sign on my door. I had to stop classes and so we could chant "We can do hard things!" It was slightly ridiculous. You'd think that I'm a perfection-demanding slave driver from some of their reactions. I thought maybe they were intimidated by looking at deGroat's illustrations but we even talked about how we weren't trying to copy her, just work like her, and how even my painting was not as good as hers because she's been working at illustrating books since well before the students or I were born! Some had to start from scratch in the 2nd class since they spent most of the 1st trying to convince themselves and me that they couldn't do it. The atmosphere was much more positive in the 2nd class period with the promise of fresh paint!

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Keymark Corporation and Leed... The LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System is a voluntary, consensus-based national standard for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings. Keymark is dedicated to manufacturing the kinds of aluminum extrusions that comply with its standards and promote earth-friendly ideas to help build a better world for our future. LEED was created to: - Define "Green Building" by establishing a common standard of measurement. - Promote integrated, whole-building design practices. - Recognize environmental leadership in the building industry. - Stimulate green competition. - Raise consumer awareness of green building benefits. - Transform the building market. The impacts of high performance Green Buildings: - Green Buildings are designed for cost-effectiveness and resource conservation. - If there is an increase in first costs for Green Construction, it is easily recoverable in a short period of time. - Green Buildings boost employee productivity - the number one asset for most businesses. - Green Buildings enhance occupant health, safety, and well-being. - Clean and healthy buildings can reduce legal claims and liabilities for the owners. - High performance features translate into high value for tenants. - Property values increase for developers and owners from leasing through operations and maintenance. Leed provides a complete framework for assessing building performance and meeting sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality. Leed recognizes achievements and promotes expertise in green building through a comprehensive system offering project certification, professional accredidation, training and practical resources. Keymark's commitment to sustainable environmental solutions begins with a resource comprised from one of earth's most plentiful recyclables... Aluminum.

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Guidebook—Geology and Paleontology of Northwestern Kansas Next Page | Previous Page From Oakley to Stop 1 We begin our field trip in Oakley, at the crossroads of two federal highways, U.S. 40 and U.S. 83. Located in the extreme northeastern corner of Logan County, Oakley is the county seat, replacing the more centrally located former county seat of Russell Springs. Its location on major transportation routes, including I-70 and the Union Pacific Railroad, has allowed Oakley to survive, while Russell Springs has faded in importance. Oakley is situated in the High Plains physiographic region; the elevation of our starting point is 3,062 feet. Beneath Oakley is up to 226 feet of Ogallala Formation (see stratigraphic column below), the primary component of the High Plains aquifer. As we will discuss in more detail at Stop 3, the Ogallala consists of sediments that eroded off the Rocky Mountains during the Tertiary Period (see geologic timetable). Stratigraphic column of rocks encountered on this field trip. The High Plains aquifer supplies the numerous center-pivots that irrigate the fields around Oakley. Nearly all the irrigation in Logan County occurs along the northern fringe of the county. As we proceed south along U.S. 83 toward the Smoky Hill River, we will see the landscape and agriculture change. The irrigated fields will be replaced by dryland farms and shortgrass pastures and rangeland. Once we enter the Smoky Hills physiographic region, the topography will become more dissected and outcrops more common. Much of the High Plains is covered by a fine, loose silt called loess. Much of this loess was deposited as windblown dust during the ice ages of the last few hundred thousand years. Although glaciers never reached this part of Kansas, glaciers in the Rockies to the west and in the upper Midwest and northern Plains produced large amounts of finely ground rock material that was carried by strong winds and deposited across large areas, including the High Plains of Kansas. This loess has buried the Ogallala and older rocks that would ordinarily crop out across the High Plains. Outcrops are restricted to those areas where stream erosion has removed the overlying loess. Our first glimpse of the Ogallala occurs as we cross the Middle Branch of Hackberry Creek, about 8 miles south of Oakley. As we continue south, deeper into the Smoky Hill River valley, we enter an area where the Ogallala has been removed by erosion and the Niobrara Chalk from the Cretaceous Period pokes out from its loess covering. Our first stop will be at Monument Rocks, where we'll get a close-up look at the Niobrara Chalk. This guidebook is also available in print form as Kansas Geological Survey, Open-file Report 2002-42, from KGS Publications Sales office, 785-864-3965. Unless noted otherwise, illustrations by Jennifer Sims, Kansas Geological Survey; photographs by John Charlton, Kansas Geological Survey. Text by Liz Brosius, Jim McCauley, Bob Sawin, and Rex Buchanan, Kansas Geological Survey. Field Trips | Next Page | Previous Page

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While your children are most likely making their list for Santa and their eyes may light up over all the shiny toys on the market this time of year – you need to remember that some of these items account for hundreds of thousands of injuries each year. In 2009 alone, it was reported that there was an estimated 181,900 toy-related injuries, stating that nearly ½ of these injuries occurred in children 5 or under. In order to keep your little ones safe please take a moment and read over some great reminders when it comes to kids, toys and safety. - Kids 3 and under tend to put most everything in their mouth, avoid toys with small parts, they can become a choking hazard. - Avoid marbles, and small balls that are smaller than 1.75 inches for kids under 3. - Remember kids 3 and under pull, prod and twist toys, make sure toys with eyes, noses and other parts are secure. - Keep in mind a child’s age when buying gifts this season - Get rid of the plastic that toys are wrapped in; it can be a real hazard in the wrong little hands. - Toys with long strings or cords may be very dangerous to infants and very young kids. - Always remember projectile toys can turn into weapons and can injure eyes very easily. It’s good to remember that protecting children from an unsafe toys is all of our responsibilities. Careful toy selection and proper supervision of kids while they play is the best way to make sure they do not get injured while playing. Now go have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and remember its always more fun to play with a friend, so this Christmas get on your knees, crawl around, enjoying the new toys and best of all enjoy the smile you’ll see on your little ones face while you play with them. Merry Christmas: from the staff at KidSafeInc.com.

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Heartland Region Phosphorus Best Management Practices Workshop June 8-10, 2004 - Nebraska City, NE The Heartland Water Quality Coordination Initiative's Nutrient and Pesticide Management (NPM) Team hosted a Phosphorus Best Management Practices (BMPs) Workshop at the Lied Lodge and Conference Center, located at the Arbor Day Farm in Nebraska City, NE. The workshop was held on June 8th, 9th, and 10th of 2004. The June Phosphorus Workshop followed a February 2004 Phosphorus Roundtable meeting of approximately 20 researchers that addressed phosphorus pollution issues in the region. The February meeting reported the latest findings on BMPs. The June workshop was designed to relay that information and to formulate tentative plans for application in each state. There was a total of 63 participants from the states of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska; including employees from the county, state, and federal levels. The NPM Team plans to host similar roundtables and workshops in regards to Nitrogen in 2005, and Pesticides in 2006. These meetings will also compile information and evaluate BMPs for Nitrogen and Pesticides, respectively. Workshop Information and Presentations are Phosphorus Workshop Information Sheets: of Phosphorus Best Management Practices for Agriculture Management Practices for Agriculture - Watershed Modeling and Field Drainage Systems Phosphorus Indexes in the Heartland Region Workshop Speakers and Presentations: - The Effects of Phosphorus on Aquatic Environments. Power Murray, Iowa Natural Resources Conservation Service Ayala, Nebraska Natural Resources Conservation Service Miller, Missouri Natural Resources Conservation Service - Missouri Phosphorus Index. Power Point. - Using the Phosphorus Index in Missouri. Leikam, Kansas State University Baker, Iowa State University John Kovar, Iowa National Soil Tilth Laboratory McVay, Kansas State University Massey, University of Missouri Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality Workshop Group Discussions: The workshop group was divided into five smaller groups (Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Region 7). The following two items were discussed: 1) How the Phosphorus Index is used in each state. 2) Phosphorus Best Management Practices (BMPs)...opportunities, obstacles, training needs, etc. The workshop group reconvened, and each of the five groups presented on their group discussion.

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'Sinkhole season' has only just begun in Florida SEFFNER, Fla. (AP) - As crews entombed a man who was swallowed by a sinkhole near Tampa, the earth opened up again just a few miles away. In a neighboring county, officials investigated reports of a home cracking on Tuesday, perhaps due to another sinkhole. Across Florida this time of year, State Geologist Jonathan Arthur says it's the start of what's unofficially considered the "sinkhole season." He says it coincides with the state's rainy season and usually lasts until the end of summer. Arthur looked at 50 years of data and found that there is usually an uptick of reported sinkholes in February, with an increase until about July, when activity tapers off. Both extremely dry weather and very wet weather can trigger sinkholes. Man-made activities can also cause the earth to collapse. (Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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- Social determinants of health and tobacco use in thirteen low and middle income countries: evidence from Global Adult Tobacco SurveyKrishna M Palipudi Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America PLoS ONE 7:e33466. 2012..Tobacco use has been identified as the single biggest cause of inequality in morbidity. The objective of this study is to examine the role of social determinants on current tobacco use in thirteen low-and-middle income countries... - Exposure to tobacco smoke among adults in BangladeshKrishna Mohan Palipudi Office on Smoking and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Indian J Public Health 55:210-9. 2011..To examine exposure to second-hand smoke (SHS) at home, in workplace, and in various public places in Bangladesh. Materials and..

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What is a Feral Cat? Feral cats are members of the domestic cat species, but are not socialized to humans and are therefore not adoptable. Cats have been living outdoors near humans for more than 10,000 years. They typically live in groups called colonies and have strong social bonds with their colony members. So, you're seeing cats in your yard... Like all animals, feral cats make their home where they find shelter and food, often in close proximity to humans. We understand that not everyone enjoys having cats in their yard, and these simple tips will help divert outdoor cats away from certain areas. You may want the cats to stick around; some ideas below will help make areas attractive to the cats. Coupled with Trap-Neuter-Return and ongoing care, these quick steps can help you coexist with your neighborhood cats! 5 easy steps for deterring cat behaviors 1. Talk to your neighbors. Determine whether the cat is a pet, stray or feral, and if he has been neutered. If not, get it done! 2. Apply nontoxic deterents around your yard. 3. Put a tight lid on your trash can. 4. Block gaps in the foundation of your house, plus all sheds and outbuildings. 5. Use a car cover. For more information on dealing with cats visit our web page How To Live With Cats in Your Neighborhood Because feral cats are not socialized and not adoptable, they do not belong in animal shelters, where they will be euthanized. Instead, feral cats should be neutered, vaccinated and returned to their territory. Lane County Animal Services no longer takes in feral cats. Instead, we have teamed up with Greenhill Humane Society and the local veterinary community to create the Feral Fix Program. For more information on this Trap-Neuter-Return program please call Greenhill Humane Society at 541-689-1503 or visit www.feralfix.org Trap-Neuter-Return is an effective and humane way to stabilize feral cat populations. Cats are humanely trapped and taken to Greenhill Humane Society, where they are neutered and then returned to their colony site. The Vacuum Effect - Animal control's traditional approach to feral cats - catch and kill - won't keep an area free of cats for long. Catch and kill is cruel, inhumane, and creates a vacuum, as do attempts to "relocate" cats. Known as the vacuum effect, this is a documented phenomenon in a variety of animal species throughout the world. Once the cats are removed from a territory, other cats move in to take advantage of the newly available resources and breed, forming a new colony. Catch and kill is an endless and costly cycle. Discover the Truth about Feral Cats A feral cat is not socialized to humans. Though feral cats are members of the domestic cat species and are protected under state anti-cruelty laws, they are typically fearful of humans. Feral cats should not be taken to animal control shelters. Feral cats' needs are not met by the current shelter systems, because animals who are not adoptable are euthanized. Feral cats live outside, but are killed in shelters. Even no-kill shelters are not able to place feral cats in homes. Feral kittens can be adopted. Feral kittens can often be adopted into homes, but they must be socialized at an early age. There is a critical window, and if they aren't handled in time, they will remain feral and therefore unadoptable. Feral cats can have the same lifespan as pet cats. And they are just as healthy, too. The incidence of disease in feral cats is just as low as in pet cats. They live healthy, natural lives on their own, content in their outdoor home. Catch and kill doesn't work!!! This endless cycle is extremely costly to taxpayers. Cats choose to reside in locations for two reasons: there is a food source - (intended or not) - and shelter. When cats are removed from a location, survivors breed to capacity or new cats move in. This vacuum effect is well documented. Trap-Neuter-Return does work. No more kittens. The population stabilizes and their lives are improved. The behaviors and stresses associated with mating, such as yowling or fighting stop. Not only does Trap-Neuter-Return make good sense, it is also a responsible, humane method of care for outdoor cats. You can make a difference and save lives. Together, we can educate people about feral cats and the fact that they don't belong in pounds and shelters. To learn more or to find tools to help you spread the word in your area, go to www.alleycat.org

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Each October, schools recognize the oldest and largest campaign designed to prevent young people from using drugs. While the exact dates of the celebration vary each year, many people understand the importance of these days in a larger campaign to prevent substance abuse. The week serves as a way for communities and people everywhere to take a stand against substance abuse and the destruction it brings to children, lives, homes, and communities. Each person who participates in the celebration makes a personal commitment to stay free of substance abuse and work toward a drug-free United States. The week also celebrates the life of DEA Special Agent Enrique Camarena who was killed by a Mexican drug cartel as he fought to keep drugs out of our country and protect our children. The life and untimely death of Agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena serves as the inspiration for the red ribbon campaign. Agent Camarena was raised in a very poor home, but he dreamed of making a difference. As he grew, he attended college, proudly served in the US Marine Corps, and served as a Police Officer. He decided to join the US Drug Enforcement Administration, a move which his family tried to talk him out of. He told his mother, “I can’t not do this, I’m only one person, but I want to make a difference.” He was sent to work in an undercover assignment in Mexico, investigating a dangerous and well-connected drug cartel. On February 7, 1985, as Agent Camarena left his office to join his wife for lunch, five men forced him into a car. His body was found a month later. After the tragedy, friends and Congressman Duncan Hunter launched Camarena Clubs in California, where Camarena was raised. Club members promised to lead drug-free lives as a way to honor Camarena and others who had died in the drug wars. Club members also began wearing red satin ribbons as a way to memorialize him. The Red Ribbon Week remains as one of Agent Camarena’s most important legacies, helping to preserve his memory and continue his work against illegal narcotics. By wearing a red ribbon during the last week of October, people everywhere can show their support for an America free of the scourge of narcotics. In many areas, the traditional red awareness ribbon is still worn at schools, businesses, and community events. For others, wearing red ribbon pins is a way to celebrate red ribbon week throughout the year. Awareness pins have been a popular way to show support for different causes for many years. Many people enjoy wearing a pin because it is a very simple way to show support for an important cause. On the other hand, some organizations choose to sell pins as a way to raise money for their campaigns, and some schools distribute red ribbon pins to faculty and students as a lasting way to show their commitment to a drug free world. Awareness ribbon pins are instantly recognizable as standing for something important, and there are few things more important than protecting the future of our children by eliminating substance abuse. LapelPinsDirect.com is a manufacturer of Custom Lapel Pins of the highest quality and offers free artwork with your order. For more information please call (888) 720-2115 or visit http://www.lapelpinsdirect.com/

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Hydrocephalus that is diagnosed in young and middle-aged adults is different from hydrocephalus diagnosed in infancy and early childhood, or adult-onset normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) found in older adults (typically age 60 and older). Doctors are just beginning to identify and describe this distinct form of hydrocephalus. As yet, there is no universally agreed-upon term to describe this form of hydrocephalus. We have chosen to use the term coined by Dr. Michael Williams: the syndrome of hydrocephalus in young and middle-aged adults (SHYMA). (Other terms used to describe this and similar forms of hydrocephalus are late-onset idiopathic aqueductal stenosis, long-standing overt ventriculomegaly of the adult, and late-onset acqueductal stenosis.) Symptoms of SHYMA may include headache, subtle gait disturbance, urinary frequency, visual disturbances and some level of impaired cognitive skills that can noticeably affect job performance and personal relationships. Correct diagnosis is oftentimes delayed, as the signs, symptoms and risk factors may not be recognized. The degree of symptoms and their resultant effect varies widely among patients. If symptoms have been present for years, the patient may be more seriously disabled. Early diagnosis can be a factor in successful resolution of symptoms. The cause of the hydrocephalus may be congenital (present at birth with few or no symptoms); acquired, from such things as head injury or trauma, meningitis, or a brain tumor; or idiopathic (no known cause). Additionally, some people who were shunted for hydrocephalus as infants but are no longer under the care of a pediatric specialist may exhibit gradual signs of unrecognized shunt failure due to uncompensated hydrocephalus. SHYMA is diagnosed using a combination of brain scans, intracranial pressure monitoring and clinical evaluation of symptoms. Once symptoms of gait disturbance, mild dementia or bladder control have been identified, a physician who suspects hydrocephalus may recommend one or more additional tests. At this point in the diagnostic process, it is important that a neurologist and a neurosurgeon become part of your medical team, along with your primary care physician. Their involvement from the diagnostic stage onward is helpful not only in interpreting test results and selecting likely candidates for shunting but also in discussing the actual surgery and follow-up care, as well as expectations of surgery. The decision to order a given test may depend on the specific clinical situation, as well as the preference and experience of your medical team. These tests may include computerized tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), lumbar puncture, continuous lumbar CSF drainage, intracranial pressure (ICP) monitoring, measurement of cerebrospinal fluid outflow resistance or isotopic cisternography. Neuropsychological evaluation may also be recommended. In many cases, prompt treatment can reverse many of the symptoms of hydrocephalus, restoring much cognitive and physical functioning. If left untreated, however, symptoms can become quite disabling, leading to severe cognitive and physical decline. The most common treatment for SHYMA, as with all forms of hydrocephalus, is shunting. Hydrocephalus is a chronic condition. However, with early detection, effective treatment and appropriate interventional services, the future for individuals with hydrocephalus is promising. "Copied with permission of the Hydrocephalus Association. All rights reserved."

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There are many different Linux distributions and they all have their own idiosyncrasies and ways of doing things. In particular, there are two different ways a Linux (and Unix) computer actually starts up, configures its interfaces, and so forth. These are BSD system initialization and System V system initialization. If you dip into some of the Unix news groups, you will find occasional religious wars between proponents of these two systems. If that sort of thing amuses you, have fun burning bandwidth and join in! Possibly the most widely used distributions are Slackware which uses BSD style system initialization Red Hat (and its former associate Caldera) which use SysV system initialization (although in a slightly modified form) Debian which uses SysV system initialization BSD style initialization typically keeps its initialization files in /etc/... and these files are:- /etc/rc /etc/rc.local /etc/rc.serial (and possibly other files) Of recent times, some BSD system initialization schemes use a /etc/rc.d... directory to hold the start up file rather than putting everything into /etc. System V initialization keeps its initialization files in directories under /etc/... or /etc/rc.d/... and a number of subdirectories under there:- drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 1024 Jul 6 15:12 init.d -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1776 Feb 9 05:01 rc -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 820 Jan 2 1996 rc.local -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2567 Jul 5 20:30 rc.sysinit drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 1024 Jul 6 15:12 rc0.d drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 1024 Jul 6 15:12 rc1.d drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 1024 Jul 6 15:12 rc2.d drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 1024 Jul 18 18:07 rc3.d drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 1024 May 27 1995 rc4.d drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 1024 Jul 6 15:12 rc5.d drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 1024 Jul 6 15:12 rc6.d If you are trying to track down where your Ethernet interface and associated network routes are actually configured, you will need to track through these files to actually find where the commands are that do this.

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The Expect package contains a program for carrying out scripted dialogues with other interactive programs. First, fix a bug that can result in false failures during the GCC test suite run: patch -Np1 -i ../expect-5.43.0-spawn-1.patch Now prepare Expect for compilation: ./configure --prefix=/tools --with-tcl=/tools/lib \ --with-tclinclude=$TCLPATH --with-x=no The meaning of the configure options: This ensures that the configure script finds the Tcl installation in the temporary tools location instead of possibly locating an existing one on the host system. This explicitly tells Expect where to find Tcl's source directory and internal headers. Using this option avoids conditions where configure fails because it cannot automatically discover the location of the Tcl source directory. This tells the configure script not to search for Tk (the Tcl GUI component) or the X Window System libraries, both of which may reside on the host system but will not exist in the temporary environment. Build the package: To test the results, issue: make test. Note that the Expect test suite is known to experience failures under certain host conditions that are not within our control. Therefore, test suite failures here are not surprising and are not considered critical. Install the package: make SCRIPTS="" install The meaning of the make parameter: This prevents installation of the supplementary expect scripts, which are not needed. Now remove the TCLPATH variable: The source directories of both Tcl and Expect can now be removed.

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How did your state or county fare last year, weather-wise? A new interactive map, released Jan. 15 by the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group, uses government data to provide the data in a 50-state interactive map. / NRDC If you think 2012 was a tough year for weather in the United States, you're right - it was. Thousands of monthly weather records were broken - and now you can see where, on an interactive 50-state map released Tuesday by an environmental group. Last year, 3,527 such records were broken for heat, rain and snow, up from 3,251 in 2011, according to U.S. government data. Some of the records had stood for 30 years or more. That reflects serious climate change, says the Natural Resources Defense Council, which created the map. Last week, the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C., confirmed that 2012 was the warmest year on record for the USA, where weather records date to 1895. The average temperature was 55.3 degrees, 3.2 degrees above the 20th-century average, and 1 degree above 1998, the prior record-setting year. Yet the NRDC map captures other weather events, too, presenting them state by state and even county by county. It considers them record-breaking if they exceed the monthly maximum for the past 30 years. It links them to climate change, citing a 2012 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that found at least a 66% chance that human activities - primarily the burning of fossil fuels - have worsened extreme temperatures and coastal extreme high water. Which states were affected the most last year? The top 10, listed in alphabetical order, are: Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, Tennessee, West Virginia and Wisconsin. Weather records show Superstorm Sandy's storm surge height, 13.88 feet, broke the all-time record in the New York Harbor and last summer's drought was the worst in 50 years while wildfires burned more than 9.2 million acres. A draft of the third Climate Assessment Report, prepared by a federal advisory committee and released Friday, says climate change is already affecting how Americans live and work. It says the average U.S. temperature has increased by about 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit since 1895, and more than 80% of that occurred since 1980. It projects a further increase of 2 to 4 degrees Fahrenheit in the next few decades. Copyright 2014 USATODAY.com Read the original story: 50-state map tracks climate-related 2012 weather records

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The commonly used names, Early EnglishGlossary Term, DecoratedGlossary Term and PerpendicularGlossary Term were first used by Thomas Rickman, in his Attempt to Discriminate the Style of Architecture in England, first published 1812-15. Choose from the options below to learn more about the different phases of traceryGlossary Term. The grouped lancetGlossary Term windows of the Early English period of GothicGlossary Term gave way by the mid 13th century to the traceryGlossary Term window. GothicGlossary Term traceryGlossary Term is based on the geometry of circles, as is clearly visible in the earliest examples where the heads of the windows are filled by one or more roundels. The lower part of the window opening was divided up into several 'lights' by vertical mullions of coursed masonry, the roundels are composed of curved 'bars' of masonry, often with petal-like cusping around the inside of the circle. This invention of 'bar traceryGlossary Term' began in France in the earlier 13th century, and was rapidly adopted in England from the 1240s, the rebuilt choirGlossary Term of Westminster Abbey providing a prestigious example of the Geometric style. From the late 13th century and through the 14th century the geometry became more complicated and subtle; the complex patterns of the Decorated style were created by combining parts of circles to form exuberant flowing or net-like designs. During the 14th century an alternative approach developed, in which the traceryGlossary Term was reduced to a grid of horizontals and verticals, hence its name Perpendicular, whose rectangular compartments were convenient frames for images. The change took places only gradually, many 'DecoratedGlossary Term' forms continuing in use in the 15th century." A form of tracery introduced c. 1250, in which patterns are formed by intersecting moulded ribwork continuing upwards from the mullions. It was especially elaborate during the Decorated period of English Gothic, i.e. c. 1290-c. 1400. The part of a cathedral, monastic church or collegiate church where services are sung. A distinctive phase of English Gothic which developed at the end of the 13th century and continued into the later 14th; sometimes abbreviated to Dec. Named from its elaborate window tracery, which abandoned the simple circular forms of Geometric in favour of more varied patterns based on segments of circles. Dec tracery makes much use of ogee or reversed curves, which were combined in the 14th century to produce reticulated and flowing tracery composed of trefoils, quatrefoils and dagger shapes. Similar inventiveness is seen in the patterns produced by the lierne and tierceron vaults of the period, in the three-dimensional handling of wall surfaces broken up by canopy work and sculpture and in imaginative spatial planning making use of diagonal axes. (E.E.): The first phase of English Gothic architecture, predominant in the period c.1180-c.1250, and making use of the pointed arch for openings and vaulting. Sometimes called lancet style from its use of single narrow windows. These can be grouped together to form plate tracery. Larger arches frequently have narrow multiple mouldings, heavily undercut. Stiff-leaf ornament in high relief, and compound piers (i.e. with groups of shafts), often making use of Purbeck marble, are also characteristic of the period. The style of the Middle Ages from the later 12th century to the Renaissance, with which it co-existed in certain forms into the 17th century. Characterized in its full development by the pointed arch, the rib-vault and an often skeletal masonry structure for churches, combined with large glazed windows. The term was originally associated with the concept of the barbarian Goths as assailants of classical civilization. Slender single-light, pointed-arched window. Hence lancet style, the first phase of English Gothic architecture (c. 1180-1250; also called Early English), from its use of such windows. English version of late Gothic, developed from the 1320s, which continued into the early 16th century; sometimes abbreviated to Perp. Characterised by large windows with a grid pattern of mullions and transoms, with the mullions continuing to the head to the arch, which is often of flattened or four-centred form. This motif of panel tracery is used also for wall decoration, and on the fan vaults that were used for the most prestigious buildings. Openwork pattern of masonry or timber in an opening, especially the upper part of an opening; most common in Gothic architecture. Blind tracery is applied to a solid wall. Plate tracery, the earliest form, introduced c. 1200, has shapes cut through solid masonry. Bar tracery, introduced c. 1250, has patterns are formed by intersecting moulded ribwork continuing upwards from the mullions. Bar tracery types include: curvilinear tracery, with uninterrupted flowing curves, typical of the 14th century (also called flowing tracery); geometrical tracery, typical of c.1250-c.1310, which uses simple forms, especially circles, chiefly foiled; intersecting tracery, used c. 1300, formed by interlocking mullions each branching out in two curved bars of the same radius but different centres; loop tracery (Scots), used c. 1500-45, with large uncusped loop-like forms; panel tracery, with even upright divisions made by a horizontal transom or transoms; reticulated tracery, early 14th century, with net-like patterns of ogee- (double-curved) ended lozenges; Y-tracery, used c. 1300, which branches into a Y-shape.

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The Buddha is in the meditation hand position or Dhyana mudra. The Dhyana mudra is the mudra of meditation, of concentration on the Good law, and of the attainment of spiritual perfection. According to tradition, this mudra derives from the one assumed by the Buddha when meditating under the pipal tree before his Enlightenment. This gesture was also adopted since time immemorial, by yogis during their meditation and concentration exercises. It indicates the perfect balance of thought, rest of the senses, and tranquility. The color of the stone has a unique orange/red color to it that you do not see often in red marble. About Gorora Stone: Gorora stone or Red marble is a wonderful stone for sculpture because of its wide color range. It is rarer than most soft stones and must be shipped into Tamil Nadu from Uttar Pradesh in the north. The stone has wonderful cream/yellow/green veins in it contrasting to the beautiful deep red to sometimes pink natural coloration of the stone. The stone is extremely glossy. When a red marble statue is polished it has a disarming shimmer. "If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change." ~ Buddha~ The Buddha, whose original name was Siddhartha Gautama, was the founder of Buddhism, the religion and the philosophical system that produced a great culture throughout much of southern and eastern Asia. Buddha, meaning "awakened one" or "enlightened one" is a title not a name. In Hindu Dogma, the Buddha is viewed as being the 9th avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu. The Buddha was a son of the rulers Sakyas. He was married at the age of 16 and lived in luxury and comfort sheltered from the harsh realities of life. When he was 29 he realized that men are subject to old age, sickness and death. He became aware of the suffering inherent in existence. He resolved to give up princely life and become a wandering ascetic (samana) in search for the Truth. With the two of samanas he attained mystical states of elevated consciousness but he failed to find the Truth. He continued his search and was joined by five ascetics in a grove near Uruvela, where he practiced sever austerities and self-mortification for six years. When he fainted away in weakness, he abandoned ascetic practices to seek his own path to Enlightenment. Discarding the teachings of his contemporaries, through meditation he achieved Enlightenment, or ultimate understanding. There after the Buddha instructed his followers in the dharma (truth) and the "Middle Way" a path between worldly life and extremes of self-denial. The essence of the Buddha's early preaching was said to be the four Noble truths: 1) life is fundamentally disappointment and suffering. 2) suffering is a result of one's desires for pleasure, power, and continued existence; 3) to stop disappointment and suffering on must stop desiring; and 4) the way to stop desiring and thus suffering is the Noble eight fold path - right views, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right awareness and right concentration. The realization of the truth of anatman (no eternal self) was taught as essential for the indescribable state of release called nirvana. Balan Arimuvani is the artist behind all our colored marble statues. He has worked with Lotus Sculpture since we started in 2002. His small marble workshop began with only him and 2 other workers. His business has grown to 8 marble artists and now he has a granite workshop employing 30 workers for large granite statues. He continually credits Lotus Sculpture with his success saying it would not have been possible with out the continuing commissions from Lotus Sculpture. Balan is a good friend of Kyle Tortora, the owner of Lotus Sculpture. He has a wife and two beautiful girls. View the video below to meet Balan and see his marble workshop and see a little how the statues are carved: "Use a cotton cloth and gently buff the surface of the statue to bring out the natural polish of the stone." White, red and black marble statues are easy to take care of as they just need some annual upkeep to keep them looking as they did when they were first carved. Here are some easy tips to keep your White, red and black marble statues from Lotus Sculpture looking like the gods they are: Dust the statue as needed to prevent dirt build up To make the statue shine use a cotton cloth to buff the sculpture You can use a small amount of natural oil such as coconut oil or olive oil to further polish the sculpture Use a tooth brush to get into the hard to reach spaces of the sculpture DO NOT TOUCH the painted surfaces of any of the white marble statues. This will damage the painting if done often We recommend keeping our marble statues in an indoor environment. The statues are durable however not durable enough to brave the natural outdoors. Please feel free to contact us directly if you have any questions regarding your wooden statue from Lotus Sculpture, (760) 994-4455 or firstname.lastname@example.org. This sculpture is in our Oceanside, California store and ready for immediate shipping. The shipping charge is automatically calculated by UPS for shipping within the United States. Each sculpture is usually shipped within 24 hours of the order with the exception of the weekend. To obtain a shipping quote simply add the statue you are interested in to your shopping cart and then select click on the "Calculate Domestic Shipping" button. Lotus Sculpture uses Instapak foam injection packing system or bubble wrap and recycled peanuts to ensure that all our pieces arrive undamaged. Click here to learn more about Lotus Sculptures packing. This sculpture is in our Oceanside, California store and ready for immediate shipping to anywhere in the world. If you are in Canada please select "UPS Standard to Canada" for the shipping option. If you are an international customer please select "International Shipping" during checkout. The shipping charge will be calculated as $0. Lotus Sculpture will email you the correct shipping cost subject to your approval or you may call us at 760-994-4455 or email us at email@example.com for a shipping quote. Lotus Sculpture uses Instapak foam injection packing system or bubble wrap and recycled peanuts to ensure that all our pieces arrive undamaged. Click here to learn more about Lotus Sculptures packing. Shipping quote for SOLD Red Marble Meditating Buddha Statue 11" This statue weighs too much to be shipped using UPS or any of our international carriers and will have to be shipped by a freight carrier. We will get you a freight shipping quote for this statue. Or you can call us directly at 1 (760) 994-4455. Sign Up For Special Discounts & Learn About New Arrivals

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This argument again assumes that everyone should be denied the right to choose because only some might not be able to get exactly what they want in a school. School choice does not create a Utopia, but it does respect the rights of all families, including those with special education needs, to seek the best education for their children. There is also no reason to believe that competing schools will not be able to fill demand for important services: Private schools already serve many students with special needs. School choice will most likely reduce transportation costs. The best government schools tend to be in wealthier districts that are expensive to live in, and if out-of-district parents want to send their children to these schools (if they are even allowed), the cost of transporting them there may be high. School choice will reduce the cost to parents of sending their children to the best schools because residence will no longer be a strong determining factor in school quality. Schools that excel will be rewarded with more enrollment—wherever they are located. As choice expands, schools able to meet local families' needs will spring up in more communities, thus lessening the need for long commutes. In addition, there is no reason to believe that schools would not be willing to provide their own bus service if it proves important enough for parents.. Transportation is a minor barrier compared to the cost of tuition or of buying a home in the "right" school district. A recent poll asked 502 Detroit parents with children in government schools why they did not enroll their children in a private or charter school of choice. Only 11 percent of all respondents cited lack of transportation as the primary barrier, but 43 percent said the expense of tuition was the chief reason. When asked which was the greater concern for them, tuition costs or transportation, 100 percent said tuition costs.169 Private schools are already serving special education students. According to the U.S. Department of Education, over 100,000 students attend private schools with public money. Students with serious emotional disturbance account for 40 percent of the students enrolled in these private schools, according to a recent study.170 There is no reason to believe that private schools would not continue to serve these and other special-needs students in an increasing number under a school choice program.

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Have you ever wondered how network security professionals sleuth on the Internet? Many of their tools are highly specialized and have special sauce, but there things that you can do right on your Mac to do some sleuthing on your own, especially if you think you've been the victim of an Internet attack. This is the first in a series of articles. The first thing to know is that the domain names we use every day are just human friendly, memorable names for Internet addresses that use the Internet Protocol (IP). For example, we tell our Web browser to got to Filemaker.com because that's easy to remember. However, the Mac has to convert that to an IP address before it's usable. IP addresses are called "dotted quads" and are of the form x.y.z.t. I won't go into too much detail there except to say that, in the case of Filemaker.com, their IP address is 188.8.131.52. That's easy to get by sending out what's called a "ping." Think of it as a short, packet of data sent out, analogous to a sonar ping, that returns some information. You can get that information easily on a Mac with the Network Utility found in /Applications/Utilities. Just launch it, select the Ping tab, and enter the domain of Web host of interest. Note that often, for security or to reduce system loading, many sites disable ping, but often the IP address is still returned. What's interesting is that IP addresses are generally assigned by country, and there are databases of IP addresses versus geolocation. That's one way your iPhone knows how to locate you. Suppose one of your log files suggests some malicious activity from a source called "thebadguys.com" and you want to find out more. There are several ways to track them down. First you could use the same Network Utility in the "Whois" tab to collect some information about their domain registration. Many malicious domain holders will try to minimize their public information, but anyone who registers a domain has to supply some minimal data. In our example, the Mac's Network Utility doesn't supply a lot of interesting information, so it's better to to use the command-line in the Terminal app. It's also in the Utilities directory. No need to be concerned here. You won't hurt your computer. Just launch the Terminal app and type in, for example: > whois filemaker.com /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app (Customized look) Just hit CMD-Q when you're done, just like any other Mac app. Whois is a standard Internet utility that looks up domain registration data. Now we may know some things we didn't know before. If it was hard to find the phone number on the Website, there it is in Whois. We even have a street address and an e-mail for admin and technical contacts. Of course, in this example, all that information about Filemaker is public. However, the site you're investigating might not be so forthcoming on their Website. What's interesting about IP addresses is that the highest level domains are generally assigned by country. There is a database of IP's vs. cities, in fact, and you have to look around to find a conversion site. For example, you were working with the IP address of, say, 184.108.40.206, you could go to MelissaData.com to look up the city and the corresponding ISP. That IP turns out to be in Berlin, Germany. Converting IP Address to a City and ISP Finally, a word of caution here. All this information is public, but Internet security is a high priority for everyone. As a result, the Internet has changed a lot since its early design, and security people are more alert than ever to probes like these. So it's a good idea to use these techniques with sobriety, caution, and care, only for research or your own legitimate forensic purposes.

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Think back to the Halloweens of your childhood. What do you remember most? Sure, there were costumes and parties, but the most exciting part was peering into your bag to see what types of goodies you had accumulated. When you got home, you sorted them by category: Chocolate-peanut butter cups were the favorite, perhaps, followed by lollipops with the gumball middles, and last, black licorice. You were absolutely mortified to learn that your mother had handed out those chalky candy wafers. These days, many parents are steering away from the traditional, sugary sweets and trying to promote healthier eating in their little witches and scarecrows. The "trick," they say, is to encourage good eating habits, while allowing kids to enjoy the fun of the holiday. "Halloween is a unique, special time of the year," says Alice H. Lichtenstein, D.Sc., senior scientist and director of the Cardiovascular Nutrition Laboratory at Tufts University. "It only comes once a year, so beware of making Halloween candy a 'taboo' subject. It's more important to be cognizant of how eating habits are handled on a day-to-day basis." As long as kids are getting sufficient nutrients during the day, Dr. Lichtenstein says, a little bit of indulgence won't hurt them. A mother of two, Dr. Lichtenstein has had years of experience in monitoring her kids' Halloween haul. The majority of the goodies, she says, are individually wrapped candies, although some parents have started giving away non-food treats: glitter stickers, temporary tattoos, erasers, rubber worms, and colored pencils. Still, kids amass all sorts of goodies, typically sweets, and tend to overindulge on Halloween night and for several nights thereafter. Experts recommend that treats be doled out sparingly, perhaps one for dessert each night for a week alongside a healthy food such as a piece of fruit. Dr. Lichtenstein says she has heard of some schools that have created programs in conjunction with local homeless shelters to help disperse extra candies. "It's a great idea," she says, "because it not only avoids overconsumption, it helps teach kids charitable lessons of giving." If your school does not have such a program, organize one, Dr. Lichtenstein suggests. Many parents are wary of trick-or-treating for safety reasons; they worry about their children wandering into unknown neighborhoods, and are wary about treats that come from unfamiliar homes. Parenting groups suggest having private parties to diminish some of these concerns. Invite your child's friends into your home, and offer them healthy Halloween goodies such as popcorn balls, fruit and low-fat cookies made into spooky shapes. You can find several Internet sites with clever home-cooking ideas. If you're making homemade treats to send to school, wrap them well and include a small label that identifies what the treat is made of. Include your name and address, so parents can rest assured that these treats are safe to eat. Finally, keep in mind that kids aren't the only ones who tend to indulge in Halloween treats. To reduce the chances that you'll "sneak" a piece (or two) before the big night, buy treats just before the holiday—and buy candies that you don't care for, even if your kids do. Dr. Lichtenstein advises that the best way to have a healthy Halloween is for parents to set a healthy example, placing the most importance on making costumes and visiting friends. "De-emphasize the food aspect," she says, "and emphasize the fun!" Cheese and cracker packages Packs of dried fruit Small packages of nuts or raisins Packages of instant cocoa mix © 2014 Main Line Health

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The global toll of premature birth Preterm birth (birth before 37 weeks gestation) has not been accorded the global priority due it by international health policy makers, researchers and donor organizations, in part because of a lack of data on the worldwide extent of the problem. As a first step in helping fill this data gap, the March of Dimes in October 2009 issued a white paper on preterm birth, with estimates from the World Health Organization, of the rate of preterm birth for the world as a whole and by UN region. In considering the data, it is important to note that only singleton births and birth to mothers with no known medical conditions were counted. Thus, the estimates most likely significantly underestimate the true magnitude of the problem. The report paints a grim picture. It shows that in 2005, an estimated 13 million babies were born preterm, almost 10 percent of total births worldwide, representing a global prevalence of preterm birth of 9.6%. About one million deaths in the first month of life (or 28 percent of total newborn deaths) are attributable to preterm birth. The toll of preterm birth is particularly harsh in Africa and Asia where over 11 million (85%) of all preterm births occur. In contrast, 900,000 babies are born premature in Latin America and the Caribbean, and about 500,000 preterm births occur in both Europe and North America (Canada and the United States combined) on an annual basis. The high absolute number of preterm births in Africa and Asia is associated with the substantially greater number of deliveries and fertility levels in these two regions in comparison to other parts of the world. When considering the rate of preterm birth, the report data paint a very different picture. The highest rate by UN region is found in Africa where 11.9 percent of births are preterm. The WHO data show a rate in North America of 10.6 percent. The lowest rates are in Australia/New Zealand and in Europe, where they are 6.4 and 6.2, respectively. Where good-quality trend data are available, preterm births also seem to be increasing in numbers. In the USA, for example, the rate of preterm birth has increased by 35% in the past 25 years, because of factors such as a rise in the use of assisted reproductive technologies. The report notes that although more research is needed to find the interventions that are effective at preventing preterm births, there is a lot that can be done now. For example, in high-income countries there needs to be more focus on preconception health. Women planning a pregnancy should be encouraged to adopt a healthy lifestyle, including giving up tobacco smoking if they smoke and losing weight if they are overweight. In developing countries, there are several simple low-cost interventions that can help promote a healthy pregnancy outcome, such as treating malnutrition in women before and during pregnancy, treating high blood pressure and diabetes, and monitoring pregnancies for problems. Care for preterm babies can also be low cost and effective, such as keeping the baby warm, treating infections, and providing adequate nutrition. A forthcoming Global Report on Preterm Birth from the March of Dimes and WHO will be issued late next year with the first ever country-by-country estimates of preterm birth prevalence. The March of Dimes and WHO expect that the data in the White Paper and in the forthcoming Global Report will serve as a catalyst for policy makers, researchers, donors, clinicians and the general public to address preterm birth, a global public health problem that has been, to date, under-recognized, under-counted and under-funded. Most common questions How does March of Dimes Global Programs carry out its activities? March of Dimes Global Programs conducts its work through “mission alliances” with non-governmental partners in target countries. We offer our partners technical expertise and the extensive resources of the March of Dimes, including professional and public health education materials and tools for establishing data collection systems, public awareness campaigns and programs for education of health professionals. We conduct interventions in middle-and low- income countries to strengthen prevention of preterm birth and birth defects and reduce infant mortality. We do this in partnership with a wide variety of organizations, including the World Health Organization and other international health agencies, academic medical centers, non-governmental organizations, parent/patient organizations and other stakeholders. How severe is the global problem of birth defects and preterm birth? Every year, nearly 23 million babies worldwide are born prematurely or with a serious birth defect of genetic origin. Over 4 million of these babies die before their 5th birthday and, for those who survive, many face life-long disability. While birth defects and preterm birth affect all countries, the toll is particularly high in developing countries. For more information, see our reports on global toll of prematurity and birth defects. Where does March of Dimes Global Programs work? Since its establishment in 1998, March of Dimes Global Programs has conducted partnership projects in 33 countries across Central and South America, Africa, the Middle East, South-eastern Europe, Asia and the Western Pacific region. Our current programs are in China, Lebanon and the Philippines.

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Surfacing must be done with caution. The submarine is first brought to periscope depth and a thorough search is made of the surrounding area. When assured that surfacing is safe, the preliminary order, "Stand by to surface," warns the personnel that the signal may be expected. At the sounding of the signal, three blasts of the diving alarm, or the, passing of the word "Surface, Surface, Surface," the various actions necessary are performed. The bow planes are placed on ten degrees dive and rigged in automatically unless the conning officer gives other instructions. A report, "Bow planes rigged in," is made to the conning officer. Speed is increased to about 6 knots to give maximum lift. Due to the up-angle on the ship, the increased speed makes the inclined surface of the hull effective and the resultant lift raises the ship, The stern planes are used to limit the upangle to about 5 degrees. The up-angle may be increased by blowing the bow buoyancy tank. Blowing the safety tank increases the positive buoyancy. However, this is not usually done. The main ballast tanks are partially blown to surface normally. After surfacing, the high-pressure air is secured and the blow is completed with the low-pressure blowers. Sealing the lower conning tower hatch permits immediate opening of the upper hatch since the relatively small volume of air in the conning tower can be released without danger. This procedure expedites the movement of personnel to the bridge. When the decks are awash, the conning tower hatch is opened and the commanding officer goes to the bridge. In the meantime all stations, are alert and prepared to dive at once. The safety of the ship demands that nothing interfere with an emergency dive, should it become necessary. When the commanding officer is satisfied with surface conditions, the announcement, "All clear" will indicate that the submarine is to remain on the surface and the remainder of the surfacing routine is carried out. During this interval, the low-pressure blowers, using air from within the ship, are completing the blowing of the main ballast tanks and reducing the pressure within the hull. Usually the pressure is equalized before the lower conning tower hatch is opened. The engine air induction and hull outboard ventilation valves are opened on orders from the bridge. Propulsion is shifted to the main engines from the batteries. The safety tank is flooded, the low pressure blowers are secured after 15 minutes running, or when the tanks are dry, and normal surface routine is again assumed.

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Chronic kidney disease, also called chronic kidney failure, describes the gradual loss of kidney function. Your kidneys filter wastes and excess fluids from your blood, which are then excreted in your urine. When chronic kidney disease reaches an advanced stage, dangerous levels of fluid, electrolytes and wastes can build up in your body. In the early stages of chronic kidney disease, you may have few signs or symptoms. Chronic kidney disease may not become apparent until your kidney function is significantly impaired. Treatment for chronic kidney disease focuses on slowing the progression of the kidney damage, usually by controlling the underlying cause. Chronic kidney disease can progress to end-stage kidney failure, which is fatal without artificial filtering (dialysis) or a kidney transplant. Signs and symptoms of chronic kidney disease develop over time if kidney damage progresses slowly. Signs and symptoms of kidney disease may include: - Loss of appetite - Fatigue and weakness - Sleep problems - Changes in urine output - Decreased mental sharpness - Muscle twitches and cramps - Swelling of feet and ankles - Persistent itching - Chest pain, if fluid builds up around the lining of the heart - Shortness of breath, if fluid builds up in the lungs - High blood pressure (hypertension) that's difficult to control Signs and symptoms of kidney disease are often nonspecific, meaning they can also be caused by other illnesses. And because your kidneys are highly adaptable and able to compensate for lost function, signs and symptoms may not appear until irreversible damage has occurred. When to see a doctor Make an appointment with your doctor if you have any signs or symptoms of kidney disease. If you have a medical condition that increases your risk of chronic kidney disease, your doctor is likely to monitor your blood pressure and kidney function with urine and blood tests during regular office visits. Ask your doctor whether these tests are necessary for you. Chronic kidney disease occurs when a disease or condition impairs kidney function, causing kidney damage to worsen over several months or years. Diseases and conditions that commonly cause chronic kidney disease include: - Type 1 or type 2 diabetes - High blood pressure - Glomerulonephritis (gloe-mer-u-lo-nuh-FRY-tis), an inflammation of the kidney's filtering units (glomeruli) - Interstitial nephritis, an inflammation of the kidney's tubules and surrounding structures - Polycystic kidney disease - Prolonged obstruction of the urinary tract, from conditions such as enlarged prostate, kidney stones and some cancers - Vesicoureteral (ves-ih-koe-yoo-REE-ter-ul) reflux, a condition that causes urine to back up into your kidneys - Recurrent kidney infection, also called pyelonephritis (pie-uh-lo-nuh-FRY-tis) Factors that may increase your risk of chronic kidney disease include: - High blood pressure - Heart disease - High cholesterol - Being African-American, Native American or Asian-American - Family history of kidney disease - Age 65 or older Chronic kidney disease can affect almost every part of your body. Potential complications may include: - Fluid retention, which could lead to swelling in your arms and legs, high blood pressure, or fluid in your lungs (pulmonary edema) - A sudden rise in potassium levels in your blood (hyperkalemia), which could impair your heart's ability to function and may be life-threatening - Heart and blood vessel disease (cardiovascular disease) - Weak bones and an increased risk of bone fractures - Decreased sex drive or impotence - Damage to your central nervous system, which can cause difficulty concentrating, personality changes or seizures - Decreased immune response, which makes you more vulnerable to infection - Pericarditis, an inflammation of the sac-like membrane that envelops your heart (pericardium) - Pregnancy complications that carry risks for the mother and the developing fetus - Irreversible damage to your kidneys (end-stage kidney disease), eventually requiring either dialysis or a kidney transplant for survival You'll likely start by seeing your primary care doctor if you have signs or symptoms of kidney disease. If lab tests reveal you have kidney damage, you may be referred to a doctor who specializes in kidney problems (nephrologist). What you can do To get ready for your appointment, ask if there's anything you need to do ahead of time, such as limit your diet. Then make a list of: - Your symptoms, including any that seem unrelated to your kidneys or urinary function - All your medications and doses, vitamins or other supplements that you take - Your key medical history, including any other medical conditions - Questions to ask your doctor, listing the most important ones first in case time runs short Take a family member or friend along, if possible. Sometimes it can be hard to remember all the information, and a relative or friend may hear something that you missed or forgot. For chronic kidney disease, some basic questions to ask your doctor include: - What's the level of damage to my kidneys? - Is my kidney function worsening? - Do I need more tests? - What's causing my condition? - Can the damage to my kidneys be reversed? - What are my treatment options? - What are the potential side effects of each treatment? - I have these other health conditions. How can I best manage them together? - Do I need to eat a special diet? - Can you refer me to a dietitian who can help me plan my meals? - Should I see a specialist? - Is there a generic alternative to the medicine you're prescribing? - Are there any brochures or other printed material that I can have? What websites do you recommend? - How often should I come back to have my kidney function tested? Don't hesitate to ask additional questions during your appointment. To determine whether you have chronic kidney disease, you may need tests and procedures such as: - Blood tests. Kidney function tests look for the level of waste products, such as creatinine and urea, in your blood. - Urine tests. Analyzing a sample of your urine may reveal abnormalities that point to chronic kidney failure and help identify the cause of chronic kidney disease. - Imaging tests. Your doctor may use ultrasound to assess your kidneys' structure and size. Other imaging tests may be used in some cases. - Removing a sample of kidney tissue for testing. Your doctor may recommend a kidney biopsy to remove a sample of kidney tissue. Kidney biopsy is often done with local anesthesia using a long, thin needle that's inserted through your skin and into your kidney. The biopsy sample is sent to a lab for testing to help determine what's causing your kidney problem. Depending on the underlying cause, some types of kidney disease can be treated. Often, though, chronic kidney disease has no cure. In general, treatment consists of measures to help control signs and symptoms, reduce complications, and slow progression of the disease. If your kidneys become severely damaged, you may need treatment for end-stage kidney disease. Treating the cause Your doctor will work to slow or control the cause of your kidney disease. Treatment options vary, depending on the cause. But kidney damage can continue to worsen even when an underlying condition, such as high blood pressure, has been controlled. Kidney disease complications can be controlled to make you more comfortable. Treatments may include: - High blood pressure medications. People with kidney disease may experience worsening high blood pressure. Your doctor may recommend medications to lower your blood pressure — commonly angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors or angiotensin II receptor blockers — and to preserve kidney function. High blood pressure medications can initially decrease kidney function and change electrolyte levels, so you may need frequent blood tests to monitor your condition. Your doctor will likely also recommend a water pill (diuretic) and a low-salt diet. - Medications to lower cholesterol levels. Your doctor may recommend medications called statins to lower your cholesterol. People with chronic kidney disease often experience high levels of bad cholesterol, which can increase the risk of heart disease. - Medications to treat anemia. In certain situations, your doctor may recommend supplements of the hormone erythropoietin (uh-rith-roe-POI-uh-tin), sometimes with added iron. Erythropoietin supplements aid in production of more red blood cells, which may relieve fatigue and weakness associated with anemia. - Medications to relieve swelling. People with chronic kidney disease may retain fluids. This can lead to swelling in the legs, as well as high blood pressure. Medications called diuretics can help maintain the balance of fluids in your body. - Medications to protect your bones. Your doctor may prescribe calcium and vitamin D supplements to prevent weak bones and lower your risk of fracture. You may also take medication to lower the amount of phosphate in your blood, to protect your blood vessels from damage by calcium deposits (calcification). - A lower protein diet to minimize waste products in your blood. As your body processes protein from foods, it creates waste products that your kidneys must filter from your blood. To reduce the amount of work your kidneys must do, your doctor may recommend eating less protein. Your doctor may also ask you to meet with a dietitian who can suggest ways to lower your protein intake while still eating a healthy diet. Treatment for end-stage kidney disease If your kidneys can't keep up with waste and fluid clearance on their own and you develop complete or near-complete kidney failure, you have end-stage kidney disease. At that point, dialysis or a kidney transplant is needed. - Dialysis. Dialysis artificially removes waste products and extra fluid from your blood when your kidneys can no longer do this. In hemodialysis, a machine filters waste and excess fluids from your blood. In peritoneal dialysis, a thin tube (catheter) inserted into your abdomen fills your abdominal cavity with a dialysis solution that absorbs waste and excess fluids. After a period of time, the dialysis solution drains from your body, carrying the waste with it. - Kidney transplant. A kidney transplant involves surgically placing a healthy kidney from a donor into your body. Transplanted kidneys can come from deceased or living donors. You'll need to take medications for the rest of your life to keep your body from rejecting the new organ. For some who choose not to have dialysis or a kidney transplant, a third option is to treat your kidney failure with conservative measures. However, once you have complete kidney failure, your life expectancy generally would be only a few weeks. As part of your treatment for chronic kidney disease, your doctor may recommend a special diet to help support your kidneys and limit the work they must do. Ask your doctor for a referral to a dietitian who can analyze your current diet and suggest ways to make your diet easier on your kidneys. Depending on your situation, kidney function and overall health, your dietitian may recommend that you: - Avoid products with added salt. Lower the amount of sodium you eat each day by avoiding products with added salt, including many convenience foods, such as frozen dinners, canned soups and fast foods. Other foods with added salt include salty snack foods, canned vegetables, and processed meats and cheeses. - Choose lower potassium foods. Your dietitian may recommend that you choose lower potassium foods at each meal. High-potassium foods include bananas, oranges, potatoes, spinach and tomatoes. Examples of low-potassium foods include apples, cabbage, carrots, green beans, grapes and strawberries. Be aware that many salt substitutes contain potassium, so you should avoid them if you have kidney failure. - Limit the amount of protein you eat. Your dietitian will estimate the appropriate number of grams of protein you should eat each day and make recommendations based on that amount. High-protein foods include lean meats, eggs, milk, cheese and beans. Low-protein foods include vegetables, fruits, breads and cereals. Receiving a diagnosis of chronic kidney disease can be worrisome. You may be concerned about what your diagnosis means for your future health. To help you cope with your feelings, consider trying to: - Connect with other people who have kidney disease. Other people with chronic kidney disease understand what you're feeling and can offer unique support. Ask your doctor about support groups in your area. Or contact organizations such as the American Association of Kidney Patients, the National Kidney Foundation or the American Kidney Fund for groups in your area. - Maintain your normal routine, when possible. Try to maintain a normal routine, doing the activities you enjoy and continuing to work, if your condition allows. This may help you cope with feelings of sadness or loss that you may experience after your diagnosis. - Be active most days of the week. With your doctor's advice, aim for at least 30 minutes of physical activity most days of the week. This can help you cope with fatigue and stress. - Talk with a person you trust. Living with chronic kidney disease can be stressful, and it may help to talk about your feelings. You may have a friend or family member who is a good listener. Or you may find it helpful to talk with a faith leader or someone else you trust. Ask your doctor for a referral to a social worker or counselor. To reduce your risk of chronic kidney disease: - Drink alcohol in moderation, if at all. If you choose to drink alcohol, do so in moderation. For healthy adults, that means no more than one drink a day for women of all ages and men older than 65, and no more than two drinks a day for men 65 and younger. - Follow instructions on over-the-counter medications. When using nonprescription pain relievers, such as aspirin, ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin IB, others) and acetaminophen (Tylenol, others), follow the instructions on the package. Taking too many pain relievers could lead to kidney damage and generally should be avoided if you have kidney disease. Ask your doctor whether these drugs are safe for you. - Maintain a healthy weight. If you're at a healthy weight, work to maintain it by being physically active most days of the week. If you need to lose weight, talk with your doctor about strategies for healthy weight loss. Often this involves increasing daily physical activity and reducing calories. - Don't smoke. If you're a smoker, talk to your doctor about strategies for quitting smoking. Support groups, counseling and medications can all help you to stop. - Manage your medical conditions with your doctor's help. If you have diseases or conditions that increase your risk of kidney disease, work with your doctor to control them. Ask your doctor about tests to look for signs of kidney damage. Jan. 02, 2014 - Goldman L, et al. Goldman's Cecil Medicine. 24th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2012. http://www.clinicalkey.com. Accessed Oct. 1, 2013. - Ferri FF. Ferri's Clinical Advisor 2014: 5 Books in 1. Philadelphia, Pa.: Mosby Elsevier; 2014. https://www.clinicalkey.com. Accessed Oct. 1, 2013. - Marx JA, et al. Rosen's Emergency Medicine: Concepts and Clinical Practice. 8th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2014. http://www.clinicalkey.com. Accessed Oct. 1, 2013. - Bope ET, et al. Conn's Current Therapy. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2013. http://www.clinicalkey.com. Accessed Oct. 1, 2013. - About chronic kidney disease: A guide for patients and their families. National Kidney Foundation. http://www.kidney.org/atoz/content/aboutckd.cfm. Accessed Oct. 2, 2013. - Coping effectively: A guide to living well with kidney failure. National Kidney Foundation. http://www.kidney.org/atoz/content/coping_effectively_guide.cfm. Accessed Oct. 2, 2013. - Kidney failure: Choosing a treatment that's right for you. National Kidney & Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse. http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/KUDiseases/pubs/choosingtreatment/index.aspx. Accessed Oct. 2, 2013. - Kidney disease and diet. Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. http://www.eatright.org/Public/content.aspx?id=4294967540. Accessed Oct. 2, 2013. - The kidneys and how they work. National Kidney & Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse. http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/kudiseases/pubs/yourkidneys/. Accessed Oct. 2, 2013. - El-Zoghby ZM (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Oct. 25, 2013. - Hickson LJ (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Oct. 9, 2013. - Rethinking drinking: Alcohol and your health. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/RethinkingDrinking/Rethinking_Drinking.pdf. Accessed Oct. 2, 2013. - Dietary guidelines for Americans, 2010. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/DGAs2010-PolicyDocument.htm. Accessed Nov. 5, 2013. - Post R (expert opinion). U.S. Department of Agriculture, Alexandria, Va. Aug. 8, 2011.

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Ventricular tachycardia is a condition in which the lower chambers of your heart (ventricles) beat very quickly. Ventricular tachycardia is a type of tachycardia, a condition in which your heart beats quicker than normal because of a problem in your heart's electrical system. In ventricular tachycardia, your heart may not be able to pump enough blood to your body and lungs. Ventricular tachycardia may lead to a condition in which your lower heart chambers quiver (ventricular fibrillation), which may cause your heart to stop (cardiac arrest) and lead to death if not treated immediately. Nov. 20, 2012

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Right click here to download as a brochure Painful Peripheral Neuropathy More than 2 million people in the United Stated suffer from painful peripheral neuropathy. This refers to pain arising from the damage to the nerves of the limbs. This condition usually affects both lower extremities simultaneously. Occasionally, it affects the upper extremities. The nerves are composed of (1) motor fibers, which tell muscles to move, (2) sensory fibers, responsible for touch, temperature, pain and other sensations and (3) autonomic fibers, which regulate automotive functions in the body The most frequent causes of damage to the peripheral nerves are diabetes and chronic, heavy alcohol use. Less common causes of damage include vitamin deficiency, low thyroid levels, autoimmune disease, certain medications and intoxication from chemicals and heavy metals. The longest nerves, such as the ones linking the spinal cord to the feet, are more susceptible to damages; thus, the first noticeable problems occur in the feet. Common symptoms include numbness and tingling, as well as feelings of swelling and tightness. Complaints of “bugs crawling” or “running water” sensations are common. Weakness in the legs is a common associated problem, as is a loss of sensation in the legs and feet leading to poor balance when standing or walking. A condition sometimes associated with painful neuropathy is Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS), a peculiar type of pain and discomfort that causes people to move and shift their legs continuously. A characteristic of painful neuropaths is burning, especially at night. In fact, the skins may be so sensitive that the weight of the bed sheets can’t be tolerated. Electrical or lightning sensations are also common. Loss of sleep due to the pain compounds the problem and facilitates the onset of depression. Although there is no reliable cure for neuropathic pain, many drugs used to treat depression, seizures and other central nervous system disorders can help. Elavil, Tegratol, Neurontin and Klonopin are just a few of the drugs used. Small doses of narcotics are sometimes effective, but large doses may compound the problem. Nerve blocks or injections of certain medications around the painful nerves often help in selected cases. Nerve blocks may last for a long time (up to several months) but are seldom permanent. Physical therapy modalities, as well as water therapy and electrical stimulation, may provide relief, and exercises are also important to maintain function. The vast majority of patients can improve substantially after the proper combination of treatments is found. Procedures to destroy painful nerves such as cutting or burning nerves, rarely help and often create additional pain. Pain may arise from damage to almost any single nerve in the body. Nerves may be damaged in a variety of ways, including trauma from injuries or surgical procedures, viral infections, such as shingles, or a compression of a nerve, such as a ruptured disk, or carpal tunnel syndrome. The pain is often similar to the one that occurs in peripheral neuropathies, and treatment options are the same, although the damage to a single nerve may respond much better to nerve blocks. Restless Leg Syndrome Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS) is a fairly common condition that afflicts people primarily at night. The symptoms usually start shortly after retiring to bed and are described in many ways. Some describe is as a “creepy-crawly” sensation, others as severe tingling or painful numbness. These uncomfortable sensations are promptly alleviated by moving the legs but often reappear after a short while. When the pain is severe, sleep is impossible and patients often have to pace the floor continuously to obtain relief. RLS has no known cause, but it is often associated with diabetes and is frequently found in other members of the family. As if this were not enough, patients suffering from RLS often have a condition named PLMS*. This causes the legs to “jump” at night starting while trying to fall asleep but continuing throughout the night. Often the spouse complains about being “kicked" by the sleeping partner. This may, without the person’s awareness, disrupt his or her sleep at night, leading to excessive daytime sleepiness and fatigue. There is no known cure for RLS or PLMS, but they are treatable with medication. Restless Leg Syndrome responds well to some drugs used to treat Parkinson’s disease, such as Sinemet. Other drugs, such as Klonopin and Neurontin, are effective in treating both conditions. *Periodic Leg Motion of Sleep

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Abstract: It is known that the honeybee, Apis mellifera, uses olfactory stimulus as important information for orienting to food sources. Several studies on olfactory-induced orientation flight have been conducted in wind tunnels and in the field. From these studies, optical sensing is used as the main information with the addition of olfactory signals and the navigational course followed by these sensory information. However, it is not clear how olfactory information is reflected in the navigation of flight. In this study, we analyzed the detailed properties of flight when oriented to an odor source in a wind tunnel. We recorded flying bees with a video camera to analyze the flight area, speed, angular velocity and trajectory. After bees were trained to be attracted to a feeder, the flight trajectories with or without the olfactory stimulus located upwind of the feeder were compared. The results showed that honeybees flew back and forth in the proximity of the odor source, and the search range corresponded approximately to the odor spread area. It was also shown that the angular velocity was different inside and outside the odor spread area, and trajectories tended to be bent or curved just outside the area. Keywords: odor source search; flight control; foraging flight; honeybee; wind tunnel Export to BibTeX MDPI and ACS Style Ikeno, H.; Akamatsu, T.; Hasegawa, Y.; Ai, H. Effect of Olfactory Stimulus on the Flight Course of a Honeybee, Apis mellifera, in a Wind Tunnel. Insects 2014, 5, 92-104. Ikeno H, Akamatsu T, Hasegawa Y, Ai H. Effect of Olfactory Stimulus on the Flight Course of a Honeybee, Apis mellifera, in a Wind Tunnel. Insects. 2014; 5(1):92-104. Ikeno, Hidetoshi; Akamatsu, Tadaaki; Hasegawa, Yuji; Ai, Hiroyuki. 2014. "Effect of Olfactory Stimulus on the Flight Course of a Honeybee, Apis mellifera, in a Wind Tunnel." Insects 5, no. 1: 92-104.

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Eggs May Reduce High Blood Pressure Researchers in Canada are reporting evidence that eggs — often frowned upon for their high cholesterol content — may reduce another heart disease risk factor — high blood pressure. They describe identification of egg proteins that act like a popular group of prescription medications in lowering blood pressure. The report appeared in the Feb. 11 issue of ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, a bi-weekly publication. In the new study, Jianping Wu and Kaustav Majumder note that eggs are an inexpensive source of high-quality protein and other nutrients. Egg consumption, however, has decreased during the last 40 years amid concerns about cholesterol. Recent studies do suggest that healthy people can eat eggs without increasing their heart disease risk. Other research hinted that certain egg proteins might have effects similar to ACE inhibitors, prescription drugs used to treat high blood pressure. Pursuing that lead in laboratory studies, the scientists identified several different peptides in boiled and fried eggs that act as potent ACE inhibitors. The scientists showed that enzymes in the stomach and small intestine produce these peptides from eggs. Fried eggs had the highest ACE inhibitory activity. It will take studies in humans to determine if the egg proteins do lower blood pressure in people, the scientists emphasized. Funding for the research came from livestock and poultry industry groups.

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Gum Disease (Periodontal ) Periodontal diseases range from simple gum inflammation to serious disease that results in major damage to the soft tissue and bone that support the teeth. In the worst cases, teeth are lost. Gum disease is a threat to your oral health. Research is also pointing to possible health effects of periodontal diseases that go well beyond your mouth (more about this later). Whether it is stopped, slowed, or gets worse depends a great deal on how well you care for your teeth and gums every day, from this point forward. What causes periodontal disease? Our mouths are full of bacteria. These bacteria, along with mucus and other particles, constantly form a sticky, colorless "plaque" on teeth. Brushing and flossing help get rid of plaque. Plaque that is not removed can harden and form bacteria-harboring "tartar" that brushing doesn't clean. Only a professional cleaning by a dentist or dental hygienist can remove tartar. The longer plaque and tartar are on teeth, the more harmful they become. The bacteria cause inflammation of the gums that is called "gingivitis." In gingivitis, the gums become red, swollen and can bleed easily. Gingivitis is a mild form of gum disease that can usually be reversed with daily brushing and flossing, and regular cleaning by a dentist or dental hygienist. This form of gum disease does not include any loss of bone and tissue that hold teeth in place. When gingivitis is not treated, it can advance to "periodontitis" (which means "inflammation around the tooth.") In periodontitis, gums pull away from the teeth and form "pockets" that are infected. The body's immune system fights the bacteria as the plaque spreads and grows below the gum line. Bacterial toxins and the body's enzymes fighting the infection actually start to break down the bone and connective tissue that hold teeth in place. If not treated, the bones, gums, and connective tissue that support the teeth are destroyed. The teeth may eventually become loose and have to be removed. Risk Factors for gum disease - Smoking. Need another reason to quit smoking? Smoking is one of the most significant risk factors associated with the development of periodontitis. Additionally, smoking can lower the chances of success of some treatments. - Hormonal changes in girls/women. These changes can make gums more sensitive and make it easier for gingivitis to develop. - Diabetes. People with diabetes are at higher risk for developing infections, including periodontal disease. - Stress. Research shows that stress can make it more difficult for our bodies to fight infection, including periodontal disease. - Medications. Some drugs, such as antidepressants and some heart medicines, can affect oral health because they lessen the flow of saliva. (Saliva has a protective effect on teeth and gums.) - Illnesses. Diseases like cancer or AIDS and their treatments can also affect the health of gums. - Genetic susceptibility. Some people are more prone to severe periodontal disease than others. Who gets periodontal disease? People usually don't show signs of gum disease until they are in their 30s or 40s. Men are more likely to have periodontal disease than women. Although teenagers rarely develop periodontitis, they can develop gingivitis, the milder form of gum disease. Most commonly, gum disease develops when plaque is allowed to build up along and under the gum line. What can I do to prevent gum disease? Here are some things you can do to prevent periodontal diseases: - Brush your teeth twice a day (with a fluoride toothpaste) - Floss every day - Visit the dentist routinely for a check-up and professional cleaning - Eat a well balanced diet - Don't use tobacco products How do I know if I have periodontal disease? Symptoms are often not noticeable until the disease is advanced. They include: - Bad breath that won't go away - Red or swollen gums - Tender or bleeding gums - Painful chewing - Loose teeth - Sensitive teeth Any of these symptoms may signal a serious problem, which should be checked by a dentist. At your dental visit: - The dentist will ask about your medical history to identify underlying conditions or risk factors (such as smoking) that may contribute to periodontal disease. - The dentist or hygienist will examine your gums and note any signs of inflammation. - The dentist or hygienist will use a tiny ruler called a 'probe' to check for periodontal pockets and to measure any pockets. In a healthy mouth, the depth of these pockets is usually between 1 and 3 millimeters. - The dentist or hygienist may take an x-ray to see whether there is any bone loss. - The dentist may refer you to a periodontist, a specialist who treats gum diseases. How is Gum disease treated? The main goal of treatment is to control the infection. The number and types of treatment will vary, depending on the extent of the gum disease. Any type of treatment requires that the patient keep up good daily care at home. Additionally, modifying certain behaviours, such as quitting tobacco use, might also be suggested as a way to improve treatment outcome. Deep Cleaning (Scaling and Root Planing) The dentist, periodontist, or dental hygienist removes the plaque through a deep-cleaning method called scaling and root planing. Scaling means scraping off the tartar from above and below the gum line. Root planing gets rid of rough spots on the tooth root where the germs gather, and helps remove bacteria that contribute to the disease. Medications may be used with treatment that includes scaling and root planing, but they cannot always take the place of surgery. Depending on the severity of gum disease, the dentist or periodontist may still suggest surgical treatment. Long-term studies will be needed to determine whether using medications reduces the need for surgery and whether they are effective over a long period of time. Here are some medications that are currently used: |Medications||What is it?||Why is it used?||How is it used?| |Prescription antimicrobial mouthrinse||A prescription mouthrinse containing an antimicrobial called chlorhexidine||To control bacteria when treating gingivitis and after gum surgery||It's used like a regular mouthwash| |Antiseptic "chip"||A tiny piece of gelatin filled with the medicine chlorhexidine||To control bacteria and reduce the size of periodontal pockets||After root planing, it's placed in the pockets where the medicine is slowly released over time.| |Antibiotic gel||A gel that contains the antibiotic doxycycline||To control bacteria and reduce the size of periodontal pockets||The periodontist puts it in the pockets after scaling and root planing. The antibiotic is released slowly over a period of about seven days.| |Antibiotic micro-spheres||Tiny, round particles that contain the antibiotic minocycline||To control bacteria and reduce the size of periodontal pockets||The periodontist puts the micro-spheres into the pockets after scaling and root planing. The particles release minocycline slowly over time.| |Enzyme suppressant||A low dose of the medication doxycycline that keeps destructive enzymes in check||To hold back the body's enzyme response -- If not controlled, certain enzymes can break down gum tissue||This medication is in pill form. It is used in combination with scaling and root planing.| Surgery for gum disease Flap Surgery. Surgery might be necessary if inflammation and deep pockets remain following treatment with deep cleaning and medications. A periodontist may perform flap surgery to remove tartar deposits in deep pockets or to reduce the periodontal pocket and make it easier for the patient, dentist, and hygienist to keep the area clean. This common surgery involves lifting back the gums and removing the tartar. The gums are then sutured back in place so that the tissue fits snugly around the tooth again. Bone and Tissue Grafts. In addition to flap surgery, your periodontist may suggest bone or tissue grafts. Grafting is a way to replace or encourage new growth of bone or gum tissue destroyed by periodontitis. A technique that can be used with bone grafting is called guided tissue regeneration, in which a small piece of mesh-like fabric is inserted between the bone and gum tissue. This keeps the gum tissue from growing into the area where the bone should be, allowing the bone and connective tissue to regrow. Since each case is different, it is not possible to predict with certainty which grafts will be successful over the long-term. Treatment results depend on many things, including severity of the disease, ability to maintain oral hygiene at home, and certain risk factors, such as smoking, which may lower the chances of success. Ask your periodontist what the level of success might be in your particular case. Getting a Second Opinion About Treatment When considering any extensive dental or medical treatment options, you should think about getting a second opinion. To find a dentist or periodontist for a second opinion, call your local dental society. They can provide you with names of practitioners in your area. Additionally, dental schools may sometimes be able to offer a second opinion. Call the dental school in your area to find out whether it offers this service. Can Gum disease cause health problems beyond the mouth? Maybe. But so far the research is inconclusive. Studies are ongoing to try to determine whether there is a cause-and-effect relationship between periodontal disease and: - an increased risk of heart attack or stroke, - an increased risk of delivering preterm, low birth weight babies, - difficulty controlling blood sugar levels in people with diabetes. In the meantime, it's a fact that controlling gum disease can save your teeth -- a very good reason to take care of your teeth and gums. - Cosmetic Surgery - Cosmetic Dentistry - Weight Loss Surgery - Laser Eye Surgery - Laser Hair Removal - Hair Transplant - Health Insurance - Life Insurance - Family Health - Medical Tourism - Hair Loss - Stop Smoking - Dental Implant - Bowel & Abdominal Problems - Chest Problems - Child Health - Diet & Nutrition - Drug Addiction - Ear, Nose, & Throat Problems - Elderly Health - Eye Problems - Hair Loss - Heart & blood Problems - High Blood Pressure - Hormone & Endocrine Problems - Men's Health - Mental Health - Nervous System - Pregnancy & Birth - Sexual Health - Skin Problems - Sports Medicine - Travel Health - Urinary & Kidney Problems - Women's Health

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Definition of Nat'l Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID): One of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), the mission of the NIAID is "to support and conduct research and research training (that) strives to understand, treat, and ultimately prevent the myriad infectious, immunologic, and allergic diseases that threaten millions of human lives." Immunology figures into this statement presumably because it is the common foundation for infectious diseases and allergy. Last Editorial Review: 6/14/2012 Back to MedTerms online medical dictionary A-Z List Need help identifying pills and medications?

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View your list of saved words. (You can log in using Facebook.) Surgical insertion of a hollow needle through the abdominal wall into the uterus of a pregnant female to extract fluid from the amniotic sac for analysis of fluid and fetal cells. This can reveal the fetus's sex (important when sex-linked genetic disease is possible), chromosomal disorders, and other problems. First performed in the 1930s, amniocentesis is generally done under local anesthesia in the 15th–17th week of gestation. This entry comes from Encyclopædia Britannica Concise. For the full entry on amniocentesis, visit Britannica.com.

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Bed bugs are small, parasitic insects that feed off the blood of mammals and birds, typically at night. They are copper colored and wingless, but turn bright red as they feed. Bed bugs are found in mattress seams, box springs, or in cracks and crevices near sleeping areas. As bed bugs cannot fly, they crawl or are carried by other animals, including humans. Common methods of transportation include hiding in luggage, clothes, mattresses and furniture. Read more about 'bed bugs' While the insects do not carry diseases, their bites will often leave a red, swollen welt that will itch. Scratching at these welts can cause infections. Not everyone who is bitten by bed bugs will develop these welts. Detecting bed bugs can take some time if someone hasn’t been bitten. Dark fecal spots and light-brown sked skins are one way, but the best way is to remove linens from mattresses, dismantle furniture and frames and check in holes and crevices with a flashlight and magnifying glass. If an infestation has occurred, thoroughly vacuum and wash all infested areas, including steam cleaning. A new mattress by also be necessary if the bed bugs have laid eggs. Spray approved insecticides along cracks and crevices and then sealing them if possible. If the infestation is sizable, contacting a pest control specialist is the best option. For more on bed bugs, visit the CDC’s resource page on the insects. (Text by Noel Kirkpatrick)

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The Ministry is committed to encouraging involvement in sport, recreation, and physical activity among Ontarians. For children in particular, participation in recreational and competitive sport provides excellent opportunities for healthy development and life-long healthy living. In Ontario, over 2 million children participate in sport every year. The ministry endeavours to encourage children's safe involvement in sport. This new publication, Making It SafeR: Preventing Sexual Abuse of Children, provides useful information to individuals and organizations involved in providing sport programs for children. Made up of a Handbook, four Educational Modules, and Coach's Notes, Making It SafeR is designed as a practical resource that will assist sport organizations in taking important and initial steps to creating safer environments for children who participate in their sport programs. Developed in consultation with child protection experts and sport leaders, Making It SafeR includes easy-to-understand information on pertinent laws, the problem of child sexual abuse, and preventative measures organizations can adopt--measures such as screening of staff/volunteers. Through a risk management approach, this resource will equip sport leaders with general information on how to reduce the risk of child sexual abuse within their organizations. The Handbook, Educational Modules, and Coach's Notes are available for download. For more information on these publications, you may contact one of our regional offices. Making It SafeR: Preventing Sexual Abuse of Children (A Guide for Ontario Sport Organizations) Making It SafeR (PDF Version - 508K) Coach's Notes (PDF Version - 108K) Position Analysis Form Position Analysis Form (PDF Version - 44K)

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Open Source Radiation Training Building Coordinator Program | Current Emergency Alerts | Emergency Procedures | Environmental | Fire Safety Lab Safety | Occupational Safety & Health | Programs & Training | Public Safety & Emergency Management Directory | Links | ESH Home All persons working in a laboratory in which open sources of radioactive materials are used must complete initial radiation safety training and annual refresher training. The requirement applies to all researchers in an Authorized User's lab, even those who do not use radioactive materials and are not likely to enter the radioisotope area. It does not apply to laboratories in which only sealed or plated sources are used. Radiation safety training for open-source users at Murray State University has the following components: - A set of web-based Radiation Basics modules with an accompanying test. Participants must successfully pass the Radiations Basics Test. The Radiation Basics modules and test can be viewed any time at the Modules web page found below. All persons who work in a laboratory in which radioactive materials in open-source form are used must take the test. Radiation Basics Modules There are six computer-based training modules: - Radiation Properties - Background Radiation & Other Sources of Exposure - Biological Effects - External and Internal Dose Limits - Government Regulations and the Radiation Safety Program - Radiation Monitoring These modules provide information on the following topics: - the basic characteristics of radiation, including the properties of various radioactive emissions - radiation units - natural background and other sources of radiation exposure - the biological effects of radiation exposure - the risks of radiation exposure - rules and regulations - the administration of the radiation safety program at Murray State University - annual radiation dose limits - the ALARA Philosophy - when radiation dosimetry is required and when it is not - the Declared Pregnant Worker Program If you would like to go to a specific module: After reviewing the six modules, print and complete the exam. A copy must be sent to the Radiation Safety Officer, Office of Environmetnal Safety & Health, 615 Gilbert Graves Drive. - Completion of this test does not certify you to use radioactive materials. Radiation Open Source Exam Radiation Safety Manual

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Originally Posted by Mike94PGT Imagine a turning fork and a speaker, side by side. Connect the speaker to a audio signal generator that sweeps from 20Hz to 20000Hz. Turn on the generator and crank the volume up, pointing the speaker at the tuning fork. Slowly wind the generator from 20Hz up... When the frequency of the signal generator gets close to the frequency written on the side of the fork, it will start to vibrate. When the frequency of the generator matches that of the fork, it will vibrate alot and the system is said to be in "resonance". As the frequency moves on past the resonance frequency, the fork will stop vibrating again. Now consider a flute: a hollow tube of specific length with holes placed strategically along it's side. If you blow across the end, you hear a note. If you change which holes are covered, you change the note that's played. What's happening is that the effective length of the flute is being altered by covering/uncovering the holes. This changes the natural frequency of the flute and thus the note you hear. In the engine's intake manifold, you've got a similar setup. The engine changing speed is equvalent to the change in frequency in the speaker example. The pulses of the speaker are similar to the pulses produced by the action of each cylinder's intake valves (and chamber pressures when the valve open etc...) The tuning fork might be considered to by the medium - the air in the runners in this case. As the engine runs through the RPM range, the intake valves open and close faster and faster as engine RPM increases, just like the speaker pulses faster and faster as the frequency dial is turned. The length of the runners, their volume, manifold pressure and temperature etc all determine at what frequency the air in the runners & surge tanks will resonate -- that is, vibrate just like that tuning fork. During times of resonance, the vibrating columns of air (which, though moving, still can support a standing wave) can actually help charge the cylinders. A vibrating column of air has dense sections and rarefied (low pressure) sections. If the standing wave is just right, a dense section of air meets the valve just as it opens. The denser air pours into the port, moreso than if resonance (and thus this standing wave) wasn't happening. The effect is a very mild "supercharging". But the engine RPM is always changing. If there was only one runner length, there would only be one resonance point. Mazda makes the manifold like a flute that can resonate at several wavelengths by making the runners have variable effective lengths. They do this by using butterfly valves in the manifold to direct air a "long way" or a "short way" (#2 is primarly responsible for this). Closed, the path is "long" and the primary resonance frequency is low. Open, the path is short and the primary resonance frequency is higher. By further changing the frequency in each surge tank (by opening or closing #1 valve, which exposes the each bank to the others' intake pulses, effectively doubling the frequency each surge tank sees), they manage to get several points at which good standing waves are set-up through the RPM band. In the KL03, the VRIS (variable resonance intake system) plates are controlled by the PCM, which is looking at engine RPM and loading (throttle angle) to know when to open the valves. #1 opens at 3250, which doubles each surge-tanks' frequency. #2 opens at 4250 which then shortens the average path length by 1/2. At 6250, both valves close. This 6250 point is a bit of a let down. The natural tendency would be to further shorten the path length but the realities of aluminum casting (driven by packaging and cost concerns) rears its head: there's no provision to make things even shorter. The only recourse they have is to revert to the longer path and lower frequency and rely on the 2nd-harmonic to provide a reduced-but-still-effective ram effect. It's a compromise and one of the things I dislike about the KL03 manifold. The North American I4 does not have this system, just the V6. BTW, people who get a KLZE but who don't upgrade their PCMs are getting hosed: the KLZE, with it's markedly different manifold, has different resonance points than the KL03. The PCM doesn't know this and switches the valves thinking it's an '03. Meanwhile, the ZE manifold never really has a chance to do its resonance thing properly because the PCM is stupidly flipping the valves at the wrong times. Also, people who remove or "tie" their VRIS are also hosing themselves. By disabling this feature, they're removing resonance points from the RPM band. Engine torque will suffer in the affected RPM areas and peak power will not climb. (Well, if someone completely removes the #2 valves & shaft, I suppose a bit might be gained from the removal of the restriction in the 4250-6250 range, but it won't be a huge gain and output will suffer everywhere else...) Does that help? (Please, someone put this in the FAQ [img]images/smilies/biggrin2.gif[/img] ) ** Mod Note: Done, Mike! Several years late, but Done!**

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P-3 Alignment Discussion and Working Group: The Policy and Issues Behind Linking the Early Years to the Early Grades Now more than ever, educators understand the significance of early childhood education and the need to support a seamless continuum of learning for children coming from a high-quality early childhood learning setting to the early grades, or from “age three to grade three.” Building successful prekindergarten through grade three (P-3) alignment learning and developmental systems that interface with comprehensive programs and services is an essential investment to ensure that children who are at risk of beginning their primary education years behind their peers have a chance to learn on equal footing. P-3 alignment can be effectively supported by “linkage” policies that help forge connections between the early childhood community and K-3 systems to address the common goal of closing the readiness gap before it comes an achievement gap, which often persists throughout a child’s learning or academic career. Aligned early childhood care and education systems spanning from prekindergarten through grade three call for myriad programs and services that help children achieve higher levels of social, emotional, and intellectual success, and clear benchmarks for child and student academic outcomes. Developing and sustaining successful P-3 alignment includes goals and activities that policymakers and practitioners must meet to address: - Standards and Assessment - Accountability and Quality - Teacher and Leader Effectiveness - Governance and Data - Professional Development The P-3 Working Group comprised of principals and Title I directors will discuss these issues and establish the principles of an effective P-3 policy framework. After substantive engagement and discussion, staff will draft and release a report to be used by NAESP and the National Title I Association and inform policy and advocacy on successful P-3 alignment.

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Finger millet crossed the Indian Ocean more than 1,000 years ago and since then has become extremely important in South Asia. In India, where it is generally called "ragi," this native African grain is now grown on more than 2 million hectares. In its new home, scientists and farmers have created numerous ragi races. There are, for instance, plants that are purple; seedheads that are short, long, "open," "curved," or "fisty"; seeds that range from almost black to orange-red; and there is also a popular type whose seeds are pure white. Some ragi varieties are dwarfs (less than 50 cm), some tiller profusely, some are slow to mature and are grown mainly under irrigation, while others mature quickly and lend themselves to dryland production. Ragi is considered one of India's best dryland crops, and most of it is produced without supplemental water. The plant is both adaptable and resilient: it survives on lateritic soils, it withstands some salinity, and it has few serious diseases or pests. Ragi also yields well at elevations above those suitable for most other tropical cereals. In the Himalaya foothills, for example, it is cultivated up to slightly over 2,000 m above sea level. Despite its importance in the Himalayas, about 75 percent of the ragi area lies in South India, particularly in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh. In parts of this vast region farmers can get two crops a year; in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh three are not unknown. Wherever the rains at sowing time are uncertain, the farmers often transplant ragi like rice. In fact, the two crops are commonly grown in a "relay'' that is good for both. For instance, in May a farmer may start out by sowing ragi seeds in the nursery; in June, he (or she) transplants the seedlings to the field and replants the nursery with rice seeds; in August, the ragi crop is harvested and the rice seedlings are put out into the just vacated fields. This process is efficient, highly productive, and a good insurance against the vagaries of the weather. Ragi yields as much as 5,000 kg of grain per hectare. Because the seed can be stored for decades (some say 50 years), it is highly valued as a reserve against famines. However, ragi is much more than just a famine food. In certain regions it is an everyday staple. It is, for instance, a principal cereal of the farming classes in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh, as well as in the Himalaya hill tracts (including those of Nepal). The grain is mainly processed into flour, from which is made a variety of cakes, puddings, porridges, and other

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Momentum is building for the Australian millimetre community to embark on a millimetre-line Galactic Plane Survey using the Mopra telescope. A survey of multi-molecular-line species with arcminute or lower angular resolution is long overdue and the Mopra Telescope is the perfect instrument to use for such a large-scale study. The Mopra Spectrometer (MOPS)* offers an unprecedented 8-GHz instantaneous bandwidth and with the added capability of on-the-fly mapping, Mopra is now a world-class facility operating at 3, 7 and 12-mm and remains the only single-dish telescope in the Southern Hemisphere to be operating in the 3 & 7-mm wavebands. Mopra's niche in star-formation studies is its ability to collect data on the lower-state molecular-line transitions, which are important for chemical modeling and the easiest to detect. These data complement those from the new single-dish facilities built in Chile (ASTE, APEX, NANTEN, which do not operate below the 1-mm waveband). The profile of Mopra has risen considerably in the past two years, particularly in the International Community. More than 90 percent of Mopra projects in the APR08 semester were led by overseas investigators and more than half of these had no Australian collaborators. Undertaking a millimetre-line survey of the Milky Way for open release is a way for the Australian Community to boost its profile and provide a much-need molecular-line database that will form the basis of follow-up studies with ATCA and ALMA. The composite survey by Dame, Hartmann and Thaddeus (2001, ApJ, 547. 792) remains the only molecular-line dataset offering complete coverage of the Milky Way. Spectra contain the single transition of CO(1-0) 115 GHz and have been either smoothed or interpolated to a 7.5-arcmin grid. Despite the modest angular resolution this survey continues to be widely used and cited**. The subsequent NANTEN Survey (available for collaborative projects with the Nagoya team) also provides spectra of the single CO(1-0) 115 GHz transition yet with higher angular resolution (between 4 arcmin and 8 arcmin) but limited to the Galactic Plane. Mopra can do better than both of these surveys. With the 8-GHz bandwidth capability of MOPS, Mopra can provide multiple molecular-line transitions (including bright maser transitions) simultaneously and at angular resolutions of 2, 1 or 0.5 arcmin at wavelengths of 12, 7 or 3 mm, respectively. A southern galactic-plane survey in either of these three wavebands with Mopra will produce a dataset with the highest angular resolution available and will for the first time enable large-scale chemical analyses. As a first step in the planning of the Mopra Milky Way Survey (MMWS) a 1-day meeting will be held on 3 November 2008. The aim of the meeting is to identify the science drivers for different molecular-lines in the 3, 7 and 12-mm wavebands as well as to arrive at a decision on the best central frequency to use for the MMWS (keeping in mind that the 8-GHz wideband allows many molecular species to be observed simultaneously). The minimum velocity resolution and sensitivity of the survey must also be decided. To facilitate discussion there will be a series of contributed talks from the community about targeted millimetre-line studies that are currently underway as well as the science to be gained from studying particular line transitions. Before embarking on the the full MMWS further enhancements to improve the survey speed of the current Mopra system are required. These may include bandwidth enhancements, multibeam systems, online software improvement for automated observing as well as an offline data reduction pipeline and online archive. The outcome of the 1-day meeting will feed into the science case to support these future developments. We should be limited in our aspirations only by science cases for the unique science that Mopra can do. We should be mindful of ATNF priorities, and work closely with ATNF in proposing new facilities and projects, including giving ATNF plenty of lead time to consider and give input to our requests. More information about Mopra is available in the online guide Information for Mopra Observers. * MOPS was funded in part through a grant instigated by the University of New South Wales (UNSW) under the Australian Research Council Grants scheme for Linkage, Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF), and in part by CSIRO-ATNF. * * The second most cited radio astronomy paper of the year in Table 1 of Trimble & Zaich (2006) on the "Productivity and Impact of Radio Telescopes" and citations have increased every year since its publication to a peak of 79 in 2007. Kate Brooks and James Urquhart Main Lecture Theatre Australia Telescope National Facility Headquarters Marsfield (Sydney) NSW Australia Teleconferencing and Videoconferencing are available. Please contact Kate Brooks for the access numbers. Monday 3 November 2008 The meeting website is http://www.narrabri.atnf.csiro.au/mopra/Survey/SurveyMeeting.html The Final Program (pdf format) is now available. Email: Kate.Brooks @ csiro.au CONTRIBUTED TALKSDownload the presentations from here. There is no formal registration. All those interested are invited to attend. For catering purposes (morning and afternoon tea) please email Kate Brooks with your intention to attend the workshop and any dietary requirements you may have. View the list of participants (locally) . TRAVEL & ACCOMMODATION Marsfield is a residential suburb about 25 km north-west of the centre of Sydney. Accommodation is available at a number of nearby University Colleges and Hotels. Participants are responsible for their own travel and accommodation arrangements. Further information is available in the online Visitors Guide to the ATNF |© Copyright CSIRO Australia, 1994-2012 Legal Notice and Disclaimer, Privacy Statement.

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New Water Reclamation System Headed for Duty on Space Station Johnson Space Center, Houston Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. News release: 08-060 HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- International Space Station crews soon will have a new water reclamation system that will recycle wastewater, allowing up to six crew members to live aboard the orbiting laboratory. The latest addition to the station's life support system departs today from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., to NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla., for final flight preparations. The new Water Recovery System, or WRS, is the second part of a comprehensive life support system for the station. It is scheduled to fly aboard space shuttle Endeavour on STS-126 targeted for later this year. The first part of the system, the Oxygen Generation System, was launched on shuttle Discovery in July 2006. The two systems are part of NASA's Regenerative Environmental Control and Life Support System, or ECLSS, for the station. "Recycling will be an essential part of daily life for future astronauts, whether on board the space station or living on the moon," said Mike Suffredini, the station program manager. "Delivering this hardware is an important step in achieving the station's full potential, allowing for additional crew members and more scientific research." By recycling, the system reduces the dependence on Earth resupply by cutting the amount of water and consumables needed to be launched by about 15,000 pounds, or 6,800 kilograms, a year. "As early as the late 1960's we knew sustaining life in space would require recycling water and oxygen," said Bob Bagdigian, ECLSS project manager. "A number of us have experienced the entire lifecycle of this technology, all the way from early ideas to implementation. Knowing that we will soon see this system completed, gives us great pride." Through a series of chemical treatment processes and filters, the Water Recovery System creates water clean enough to drink. In fact, part of the same process has been used in Third World countries to produce drinkable water. A distillation process is used to recover water from urine. The process occurs within a rotating distillation assembly that compensates for the absence of gravity, aiding in the separation of liquids and gases in space. Once distilled, the water from the urine processor is combined with other wastewaters and delivered to the water processor for treatment. The water processor removes free gas and solid materials such as hair and lint, before the water goes through a series of filtration beds for further purification. Any remaining organic contaminants and microorganisms are removed by a high-temperature catalytic reaction. These rigorous treatment processes create water that meets stringent purity standards for human consumption. Engineers at Marshall and at Hamilton Sundstrand Space Systems International Inc., Windsor Locks, Conn., led the design and development of the Water Recovery System. NASA Television will show highlights of the Water Recovery System undergoing checkout at Marshall, before shipment to Kennedy. The highlights will air during the NASA TV Video File Monday at 4 p.m. EDT and 10 p.m., and Tuesday at 6 a.m. For downlink and scheduling information and links to streaming video, visit: For information about the space station, visit:

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NASA Scientist and Education Award Winner Leads Student Phytoplankton Study Dr. Tiffany Moisan is a NASA scientist who thrives on studying the ocean and has a passion for educating and inspiring students in ocean sciences. Last year, Moisan received an award that enabled her to work with the education community and bring students into the field for a hands-on learning experience. Moisan, together with other scientists and educators, has created a curriculum that will enable other schools to do the same thing. It is called Rising Tides and is available in book form on the Internet. It was distributed to Virginia schools and describes coastal oceanography. Dr. Moisan works in the Ocean Sciences Branch of the Hydrospheric and Biospheric Sciences Laboratory at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Va. The laboratory is located on Virginia's Eastern Shore. In 2011, she was awarded an Education Internal Research and Development (IRAD) award. She developed a curriculum for middle school to undergraduate students that utilized an ocean optics radiometer to measure reflectance and solar stimulated fluorescence. She led a collaboration with John Hopkins Talented Youth Program, Baltimore, Md., and Ocean Optics Company, Dunedin, Fla. that distributed the instrument and accompanying curriculum. The curriculum's goal was to create a hands-on project to inspire and teach students in biology, optics, physics, and oceanography, and to explain climate change processes within the carbon cycle. In November 2011, Dr. Moisan and students from the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJHSST), Alexandria, Va., worked together in the field to conduct physiology experiments to understand how phytoplankton respond to diurnal changes in light, temperature, and tides to understand how coastal productivity changes over the day. Moisan said, "Students got hands-on experience by using mini spectrometers to understand the physics of color and the biology on phytoplankton the base of the food chain. I believe a wider distribution or library of these spectrometers can be created for many schools to use at an affordable cost. We watched with pleasure as students were able to connect microscopy samples with in situ instrumentation to ocean color satellites." This SeaWiFS image of our world depicts the Global Biosphere - the ocean's long-term average phytoplankton chlorophyll concentration acquired between September 1997 and August 2000 combined with the SeaWiFS-derived Normalized Difference Vegetation Index over land. This image shows where there is more or less plant life on our planet. On land, the dark greens show where there is abundant vegetation and tans show relatively sparse plant cover. In the oceans, red, yellow, and green pixels show dense phytoplankton blooms, those regions of the ocean that are the most productive over time, while blues and purples show where there is very little of the microscopic marine plants called phytoplankton. (Credit: NASA) › Larger image The students joined Dr. Moisan at the Chesapeake Bay Tunnel pier, located on the Delmarva Peninsula. The Delmarva Peninsula is a large peninsula on the East Coast of the United States, occupied by most of Delaware and portions of Maryland and Virginia. Students experienced how scientists sample the ocean. Samuel Thompson, a student in the Undergraduate Student Research Program joined Rachel Steinhardt of Sigma Space Corporation, Lanham, Md., to collect water. The samples were analyzed quickly in a garage, set up like a laboratory, where filtration and physiological measurements were conducted. The students worked as research scientists in the field and applied concepts of oceanography that they had been reading about in class. They were amazed to see a combination of high-tech instruments like the spectrophotometer being used alongside homemade devices such as a simple winch on the pier. The scientists were doing what is necessary to collect data and making adjustments as they were working in the field. "Working alongside the scientists emphasized that engineering skills and creativity are as important in research as core knowledge in math and science," said Lisa Wu, Director of the Oceanography & Geophysical Systems Laboratory, at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. "For some students, knowing that NASA works in Earth's inner space as well as outer space was an eye opener. The fall algal bloom was a bonus." Later, students returned to their high school laboratories to witness a dinoflagellate bloom under a microscope. The students also compared the water quality analysis to NASA satellite imagery. Several of the students are following up with applications for summer internships that would expand on this work with her during the summer. Dr. Wu and Dr. Tiffany Moisan and students spend a day working on the dock on the Bay, exploring the waters beneath the fishing pier near the Chesapeake Bay Tunnel. (Image courtesy Dr. Anthony Wu) › Larger image NASA contributes a tremendous data set -- called "ocean color" -- to the oceanographic community. Ocean color is the characteristic hue of the ocean according to the presence and concentration of specific minerals or substances, such as chlorophyll. Together with global or regional maps of pigment distribution of phytoplankton all over the world and other products, NASA gives unprecedented global coverage of phytoplankton information to scientists and the public. NASA scientists study the ocean using satellites and at colored dissolved organic matter, ocean biology, calibration of the satellite, modeling of the physics of the ocean, etc. Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology is a unique Fairfax County public school offering a comprehensive program that focuses on scientific, mathematical, and technological fields. The TJHSST students that accompanied Moisan attended the Oceanography/Geophysical Systems Lab at the school. The lab explores the biology, chemistry, geology, and physics of the Earth's last frontier. As a Governor's school, TJHSST serves as a resource for other elementary, middle, and high schools from the five nearby Virginia counties, as well as around the nation and with the international community. Its goal is to connect educators, scientists, and students in real-world scientific inquiry. This is done through video conferencing as well as face to face during professional conferences or field trips. Moisan said, "NASA's relatively modest investment in this activity has produced profound results. It's a great way to interest students in STEM studies, and I hope we will be able to continuing to do so in the future. Hands on activities such as these are needed in STEM." Moisan said she wanted to be a scientist ever since she was young. At Texas A&M University, where she worked in an oceanographic laboratory as undergraduate, she decided to become a phytoplankton ecologist and pursue higher degrees. She's traveled to exotic places such as the Antarctic to study phytoplankton, something that she hopes all students will be inspired to do. Students can gain the fascination about science at an early age, which will help motivate them to pursue jobs in the science and engineering field. "There is no greater feeling than discovering something on your own," she said. For more information about NASA's phytoplankton research, visit: For more information about the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, visit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

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Recent Report by U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples says legislation protecting Native women should be an “immediate priority” in U.S. (Helena, Montana) - According to the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, James Anaya, the U.S. Congress should make legislation protecting Native women an “immediate priority.” Following a month long tour to hear from indigenous peoples and tribal Nations within the United States, the Special Rapporteur presented his report in September on the situation of indigenous peoples in the United States to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. The report recommended that the United States immediately address violence against women through legislation. The report pointed to the fact that Native women in the United States are suffering horrendous rates of domestic and sexual violence—violence considered one of the most pervasive human rights violations in the United States. Legislation such as the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) reform advocated by indigenous peoples and proposed by the executive to extend protections for Native women against violence remains stalled in Congress and tribal organizations are calling for this international human rights crisis to be addressed immediately. The Indian Law Resource Center, the National Congress of American Indians Task Force on Violence Against Women, Clan Star, Inc., National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center, and other Native women’s organizations have turned to the international human rights community for help. In response, independent international experts and human rights bodies have repeatedly called on the United States to take action to combat the epidemic levels of violence against Native women right here at home—levels now on a par with and even exceeding estimates of violence against women globally. With VAWA stalled by partisanship and politics and with little time remaining, Congress must act immediately to bring long overdue justice to Native women in the United States. “One of the most basic human rights recognized under international law is the right to be free of violence. While many in the United States take this right for granted, Native women do not,” said Jana Walker, senior attorney and director of the Indian Law Resource Center’s Safe Women, Strong Nations project. Indian women are 2 ½ times more likely to be assaulted and more than twice as likely to be stalked than other women in this country. Today, one in three Native women will be raped in her lifetime, and six in ten will be physically assaulted. Even worse, on some reservations, the murder rate for Native women is ten times the national average. Some 88% of these types of crimes are committed by non-Indians over which tribal governments lack any criminal jurisdiction under U.S. law and, according to the Census Bureau, 77% of the population residing on Indian lands and reservations is non-Indian. “This leaves Indian nations, which have sovereignty over their territories and people, as the only governments in America without jurisdiction and the local control needed to combat such violence in their communities,” added Terri Henry, Co-Chair, National Congress of American Indians Task Force on Violence Against Women, Councilwoman, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and Board member for the Indian Law Resource Center. While federal authorities have exclusive jurisdiction over most of these crimes, U.S. attorneys, often located hundreds of miles from a reservation, are declining to prosecute 67% of sexual abuse matters referred to them from Indian country. Criminals act with impunity in Indian country and Alaska Native villages, threaten the lives of Native women daily, and perpetuate an escalating cycle of violence in Native communities. “Young women on the reservation live their lives in anticipation of being raped,” said Juana Majel Dixon, 1st Vice President of the National Congress of American Indians and Co-Chair of the NCAI Task Force on Violence Against Women. “They talk about ‘how will I survive my rape’ as opposed to not even thinking about it. We shouldn’t have to live our lives that way. Congress can act now and NCAI is calling on members of the House and Senate to not let this crisis continue for one more day.” Experts within both the United Nations and the Organization of American States have examined violence against Native women in the United States and issued recommendations, yet the United States has done nothing. UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women, Ms. Rashida Manjoo, concluded in her report to the UN General Assembly in New York in 2011 that the United States “consider restoring . . . tribal authority to enforce tribal law over all perpetrators, both Native and non-Native, who commit acts of sexual and domestic violence within their jurisdiction.” In October 2011, after a thematic hearing, Violence Against Native Women in the United States, the OAS’ Inter-American Human Rights Commission expressed strong concern about violence against women in Honduras, Nicaragua, Columbia, and indigenous women in the United States, urging these countries to address such violence through laws, policies, and programs in collaboration with the women affected. The United States’ position to get tough on violence against women globally and international human rights law calls out for Congress to remove the legal barriers in United States law that discriminate against Native women. “Native women should not be protected less just because they are Indian and are assaulted on an American Indian reservation or in an Alaska Native village,” said Walker. “The epidemic of violence against Native women is a human rights crisis that Indian country has long been aware of and now the world is taking notice and supporting justice for Native women in the United States,” added Henry. Congress should too. Immediate action is needed to pass a better VAWA that protects Native women and all women in the United States from violence. Help us get the attention of lawmakers who must act now. Visit www.indianlaw.org to sign our petition for a stronger VAWA.

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"1963 is not an end but a beginning." - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Fifty years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. proclaimed his dream of racial and economic equality in the United States with his "I Have a Dream" speech. It became one of the most historically significant speeches in American history, alongside Lincoln's 1863 Gettysburg Address and John F. Kennedy's 1961 Inaugural speech. An estimated 250,000 to 300,000 people from across the country traveled to the National Mall for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on Aug. 28, 1963. Actor Ossie Davis and his wife Ruby Dee served as master and mistress of ceremonies. The March on Washington brought together the Big Six coalition of civil rights groups: the Southern Christian Leadership Conference led by King, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee headed by John Lewis, the National Urban League, the Congress of Racial Equality, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. You may know that the March on Washington was a call for an end to racial segregation and Jim Crow laws in the South, or that the speeches were said on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, and you certainly know King's ringing "I have a dream" refrain. But did you know time limits for speeches were four minutes -- and King's speech clocked in at 16 minutes? Here are 10 other interesting things you may not have known about the March on Washington: 1. Organizers sent out different versions of brochures about the March for blacks and whites. One of the interns for the march, Elliott Linzer, said, "You're not going to get a whole bunch of whites to catch a bus at three in the morning to go to Harlem or Bed-Stuy, but they will go to Forest Hills or Park Slope." 2. Numerous celebrities were there, including Bob Dylan, Jackie Robinson, Josephine Baker, Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, Marian Anderson and Joan Baez. The March was the equivalent of the red carpet. It is said that Josephine Baker's manager Phil Randolph wrote to the planning committee, "We trust that Miss Baker's appearance and participation in the 'March' will not go un-noticed and that proper and adequate accommodation at the 'March' will be accorded her." A list of Hollywood names was sent to President John F. Kennedy to schedule TV and film meet-and-greets. 3. Ossie Davis wrote a skit for movie stars to perform, but organizers thought it was too complicated. That's not the only things that didn't make it into the program. Selling "NAACP Freedom Bells" as a fundraiser and coordinating Ole Miss "seggies" T-shirts -- designed to upset segregationalists at the University of Mississippi -- for everyone to wear were two suggested ideas that never happened. 4. Many people passed out from heat exhaustion. Writers note that by noon on the day of the march, people became sick from dehydration and the heat. Sylvia Johnson, a 14-year-old girl from Washington, collapsed near the Lincoln Memorial around 12:30 p.m. and a T.V. cameraman wrapped ice in tissue paper to cool her. King comforted her and she left on a stretcher. By the days' end, 35 Red Cross stations had treated 1,335 people. 5. The march was organized in only two months by civil rights activist Bayard Rustin. Many people didn't want Rustin to be in charge of the march because he was gay, a former communist and didn't serve in World War II. Labor leader A. Philip Randolph, however, insisted Rustin be the leader. Rustin rented a space for $350 a month in Harlem where he set up the March on Washington headquarters and handled all the logistics. Volunteers got just a five-minute break every day. Some brought brown moonshine in Pepsi bottles to work, and people smoked all day in the crammed building. Rustin was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama in August. 6. The march on Washington cost $29,563 to organize in D.C., including $18,838 for sound equipment. Other expenses included $16,626 for printing leaflets and bulletins and $11,277 for printing buttons and pennants. Two-thirds of the money raised came from donations and the selling of souvenirs and tickets. 7. The number of toilets at the march was a big concern. Senators Hubert Humphrey and Paul Douglas sent long letters to organizers to stress the need for enough toilets. Douglas wrote, "Without a good supply of toilets some horrible things will inevitably happen which will bring discredit on the march and marchers." 8. A Hawaiian songwriter donated 500 orchid leis to major figures at the march. 9. There were more members of the media at the march than at the Kennedy inauguration two years earlier. The Washington press corps hired 1,700 extra correspondents. 10. King had given his "I Have A Dream" speech before. The reverend said the speech to 25,000 people in Detroit a few months before the march. Some portions of the speech were added for the March on Washington. President Barack Obama will speak on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington on Wednesday, Aug. 28.

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- About NDAP - Contact Us FEEDING RIGHT TO HELP YOUR OBESE CHILD Overweight and obesity are now impending health crises in the Philippines. For decades we considered our children’s weight in terms of normal growth and development. If our children were on the fat side we believed it will be outgrown as they grow older. However, a local surveillance among kindergarten boys in a private school shows that overweight and obese children often remain so at follow-up after 5 years. Some even gained more weight. Researchers agree that the longer a child remains overweight, chances are he will become an obese adult. They also predict that, instead of seeing heart disease in the mid-years, the present children may succumb to heart attacks and stroke as early as their 20s. What causes children to be obese? Despite the complexity of genes and hormones, obesity is basically an energy imbalance , between calorie intake and calorie output, between food eaten and food burned. Calorie is a unit of measurement of energy in foods consumed and burned in physical activities. When a child eats more than his body and physical needs, the unburned calories from excess food are stored as fatty tissues. Consequently , body weight goes over what is right for his age ,sex , and activities. If unchecked, the overweight child could go on to become an obese child. What are the contributing factors? Fast food chains with their high fat sweet salty meals ? Softdrink and sugary “fruit” drinks manufacturers? Schools which allow calorie-dense and “empty calorie” foods in cafeterias and vending machines ? TV networks and makers of video games that have brought about a sedentary lifestyle to our children? Education policymakers who limit physical education in schools? Health professionals who do not educate parents and children about healthy lifestyle? Or could the parents themselves be blamed ? Interestingly, data from a new survey of parents by ACNielsen show two thirds of parents blame themselves . After all , parents have control over eating patterns and activities of their young children. A UK Survey reports 30% of mothers and 57 % of fathers as failing to recognize overweight in their children. Some parents show no concern at all for their overweight child . Parents from the high socio-economic strata were no different from those in the lower bracket. What can parents do? Treatment of child obesity includes not only the child but the family as well. Parental involvement is an integral component of its management. Family eating and activity habits have a much stronger influence on weight than heredity. The first step is for parents to monitor their children’s weight. If they see that their child seems to be gaining weight much faster than his playmates or peers at school and his clothes don’t seem to fit especially around the waistline, then it’s about time to see a pediatrician . If the child is found to be overweight, a healthy weight goal is determined. The best goal is not to lose weight but to lower the rate of weight gain as child grows taller and develops muscle. However, if the child is found to be obese or has health problems related to weight, a realistic weight loss is planned. A dietitian will be most helpful in setting how many pounds to lose and in tracking the progress every day. In monitoring weight gain or weight loss, the basic principle of calorie intake equals calorie output is followed. Stop Weight Gain ! Calorie/ energy Intake = Calorie / energy Output = Get active ! Reducing added sugar, fat , oils and cutting down on food portions ( i.e. 1 scoop ice cream instead of 2 scoops) are healthy ways to cut down on a child’s calorie intake. Keeping a daily food and activity log helps parents know what their child is eating ,where his calories are coming from and how he is burning them. When combined with regular weight monitoring, a balance can be worked out through physical activity, thereby preventing weight gain. For example, a gain of l pound a week is equivalent to taking in 3500 more calories. Cutting a child’s diet by 500 calories a day will lead to no weight gain. Consult a dietitian for help in calorie counting. Calorie Intake < calorie output Calorie output > calorie intake Losing weight is to deplete fatty stores in the body by eating less and being more active. This means the child has to decrease the amount of calories he is eating and drinking, or exercise to burn more calories, and better yet , do a combination of both. If a child at his steady weight lessens his eating by 250 calories each day or indulges in activities that burn 250 calories more , he could lose one-half pound in one week or 2 pounds in a month’s time. Or the child could eat 125 fewer calories and burn 125 calories more. For example, instead of his usual Big Mac ( 560 calories) for lunch, he takes cheeseburger ( 320 calories). Or he eats one-third of a Big Mac ( 187 calories) and plays ball for 30 minutes. Maintaining or losing weight involves full commitment from the child and the parents. It means changing lifestyle, educating themselves on healthy eating and controlling the external environment. In addition, behavioral experts advise focusing on specific positive goals. Instead of emphasizing on pounds to lose which sounds negative, choose a specific action like drink cold refreshing water in place of soft drinks. Lifestyle changes include eating breakfast every morning. Without breakfast, the body’s metabolism slows down to conserve the food. Whereas, eating breakfast signals the body to use the food rather than store it. In addition eating fast foods should be cut down. A recent Harvard study shows that overweight teeners tend to overeat in fast food chains than their lean peers . Sit-down family dinners are highly recommended . A 2003 study has shown that eating food away from home contributes to excess weight in many school-age kids. Family togetherness helps develop a positive attitude towards food, ensures that nutritious foods are served in regular intervals and controls snacking of high-calorie foods like French fries, doughnuts, pastries, etc. As nutritionists often say, the family that eats together stays healthy together. Family meals are also best served in the kitchen or dining area, not in front of the computer or television. Doing so prevents the child from paying attention to his feeling of fullness. Eating while playing games or doing homework makes eating an unconscious activity which shouldn’t be . Make eating an activity in itself - enjoyable and fun. Small changes such as reducing sugary fatty foods and drinks are achievable targets at the start . “Cold turkey” is one approach found effective to eliminate sugar. Note that children have an innate preference for sweet taste. Lots of fruits , vegetables and drinking lots of water are not only nutritious but they are less calorie-packed and an effective way in “ tricking” the stomach into feeling full. Children can be taught the value of a nutritious healthy diet. Studies show that the child who understands the meaning of calories , the burning of calories during physical activity, their relation to body fitness and health are more committed and motivated to shed off excess pounds. Will special diets work? Many quick-fix weight loss programs and diets are promoted today . Are they safe for children ? The popular low carbohydrate foods and diets like Atkins, The Zone, South Beach, LA. Shape focus on good food and bad food, not on the overall eating pattern. Hence, carbohydrate-rich nutritious foods like fruits, grains, beans, pasta, leafy and starchy vegetables rich in essential vitamins , minerals, fiber and beneficial plant compounds are limited . A missed opportunity - because these are high volume foods filling to the stomach, yet low in calories. High protein foods like meat, poultry, fish, eggs are in . According to experts , the initial short-term weight loss is due to water and muscle loss , decreased appetite and reduced calories. No one knows the long-term health effects of low carbohydrate diets. No child should be deprived of an important foundation of a healthy diet. The Challenge to Parents Parents should set a good example. It is important in establishing good eating habits among their children. Many studies report that parental overweight and obesity can predict adult obesity in their overweight/obese children. One study shows that mothers who restrict their overweight daughters’ eating resulted in overeating in the absence of hunger. An overweight child needs support, acceptance, reassurance, and encouragement from parents. What children should learn are : to prefer those foods that , taken together in the right portion sizes, lead to a healthy body weight. It must be clearly understood that obesity cannot be blamed on specific foods as there are no good or bad foods. The eating pattern over time is the main consideration. . Eating a meal of fast food can be compensated by eating less at other meals and /or exercising so that the overall pattern in a day or two is balanced calorie intake and output. Parents need to show patience. Change takes time. Healthy eating doesn’t become a habit overnight. It takes time and effort to make it a part of a daily routine. It also takes time to notice a change in a child’s weight. By modeling healthy-living habits , talking to your children openly and without judgment, and letting them know they are loved, no matter what, then you are on the road to successful parenting of an overweight/obese child. WHO/FAO release Expert Report on diet and chronic disease. World Health Organization. March 2003. Childhood Obesity: Parenting Advice. Mayo Clinic.com. 11/27/04 Summary of the Presentations at the Conference on Preventing Childhood Obesity . Pediatrics.114:1146. October 2004. American Obesity Association: Childhood Obesity. 10/16/03. www.obesity.org Ludwig D et al. Relation between consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks and childhood obesity: A prospective, observational analysis. Lancet. 357:505. 2001. Janssen I. Et al. Waist circumference and not body mass index explains obesity-related health risk. Am J Clin Nutr. 79:379. Mar 2004. d overweight mothers. The New England Journal of Medicine. 318:462. 1988. Stewart Agras W. et al. Interactions between parents and kids may contribute to overweight in children. Journal of Pediatrics. July 2004. American Diabetes Association Annual Convention. Jeffery A., Kaufman F., Katz D. Early Bird Survey at Plymouth, England / Studies to treat or prevent pediatric type 2 diabetes study group . June 4, 2004. Gillis L. Eating food away from home contributes to excess weight in many school-age kids. Journal of the American College of Nutrition. December 2003. Asian Food Information Center. Preventing Childhood Obesity. 5/17/99. Jeffrey A. UHI: 28 ( Suppl 1) S33. 2004. Childhood Obesity. Consensus in Pediatrics. Vol 1:4. 2004. Position of the American Dietetic Association : Dietary Guidance for Healthy Children Ages 2 to 11 Years. J Am Dietet Assoc. 104:660. April 2004. Grimm GC. et al. Factors associated with soft drink consumption in school-aged children. J Am Dietet Assoc. 104:1244. August 2004. Regidor PB, Cua SS et al. Five year surveillance of the body mass index of school entrants in an urban private school 2002. ( poster presentation at the Second Obesity in Childhood and Adolescence. Nestle Nutrition Workshop Series Pediatric Program. Vol 49. Lippincott Williams & wilkins. 2002. McConahy KL et al. Portion size of common foods predicts energy intake among preschool-aged children. J Am Dietet Assoc. 104: 975. June 2004. Agras WS et al. Interactions between parents and kids may contribute to overweight in children. Journal of Pediatrics. July 2004. Birch LL et al. Learning to overeat: maternal use of restrictive feeding practices promotes girls’eating in the absence of hunger.Am J Clin Nutr 78:215. August 2003. There are no upcoming events at this time. Active forum topics Stay informed on our latest news!

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Windcrest students attend camp write a long Fourth graders at Windcrest Elementary School are attending Camp Write A Long in the library. They will attend five sessions focusing on the Traits of Writing. Campers are listening, writing, and singing each day. Guest readers and student readers help campers focus on the different traits of writing. Campers have also been focusing on conventions as they get ready to take the STAAR writing test April 2-3. Students received "Camp Write A Long" bags to pack up all their writing tools. Students listen to a presentation to help further sharpen their writing skills. Posted on Mar. 28, 2013

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Dealing with Impatience Whether it's butting into conversations without being invited, becoming frustrated for not getting something right, or refusing to wait their turn, children with ADHD are notoriously impatient with others and themselves, a trait that often rears its ugly head in social situations. Before your child jumps into a conversation, make sure he listens for several minutes to make sure he fully understands what is being discussed. Before responding, encourage him to collect his thoughts, quiet his mind, and think about what he could say that would add to the conversation. If your child acts on his impulsivity and simply blabbers on without having listened to and digested what was being discussed, he could make a bad impression and drive people away.

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Because low serotonin can result from the stress and strain of our modern way of living, and because its symptoms severely reduce the joy of life to such a tremendous degree for so many people, Serotonin Deficiency Syndrome is one of the most widespread and debilitating problems of our time. The fact that serotonin's function in the brain may be reduced or impaired in major depression is supported by clinical studies on the spinal fluid that bathes the brain and on brain tissue of individuals who died with depression, particularly after suicide. When we have enough serotonin, we feel emotionally stable, we can sleep, we can sort out the feelings and determine in a logical manner if there is a threat present. When we are low in serotonin, we feel immediately irritable and we are overly sensitive to sights and sounds. We have difficulty sleeping and may suffer unexplained outbursts of tears. When we have enough Serotonin, we are . . . In addition, we are . . . |Loving and Caring ||Reflective & Thoughtful| |Able To Think| And we . . . Good Dream Recall But when we have a shortage of serotonin, lookout! We are . . . |Impulsive||Abusive||Reactive||A Real Pain| Plus we . . . - Fly off the handle easily . . . - Have a short attention span . . . - Seem to be "blocked" and "scattered" . . . - Crave those sweets and high carbohydrate foods . . . - Suffer from Insomnia and have poor dream recall Serotonin is a neurotransmitter normally manufactured by your body . . . 5HTP (Tryptophan): Tryptophan is one of your essential amino acids, and can not be manufactured by your body. You must get this amino acid from either your food or a supplement. It combats stress, depression, insomnia, and aids in weight control. Research shows that it helps relieve migraine headaches and may reduce some of the harmful effects of nicotine. It aids your body in the production of serotonin.

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EEE, West Nile not seen in NH yet, but it's early Stagnant water is essential to the life cycle of the mosquito. This mosquito is standing on the water from which it ahs just emerged. Below the surface are several pupae waiting to emerge. (ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/DOUGLAS ALLEN) What to do …People are encouraged to practice the “Three D's” of mosquito prevention: Drain: Empty out containers at least once a week. Fill in low-lying areas. Dress: Wear long sleeves, long pants and light-colored, loose-fitting clothing. Defend: Properly apply an approved repellent, such as DEET or oil of lemon-eucalyptus. Source: American Mosquito Control Assn. "Hot and humid is certainly a good recipe for mosquitoes to thrive in," said Piera Siegert, the state entomologist whose office enforces regulations to curtail the human-assisted spread of insects and diseases that threaten the health of the state's forests and agriculture. "There does seem to be a higher level of mosquitoes." Howe wasn't surprised by the lack of positive test results. "Historically, in New Hampshire, there really haven't been positive results until the middle or end of July, which is why we begin our testing for mosquitoes on July 1," she said. "It's no surprise given the non-stop rainfall in June and now in July," MacGregor said. Last year, Manchester saw its first positive result for West Nile come from a batch of mosquitoes collected July 19, "probably the earliest we had seen it," said Philip J. Alexakos, chief of environmental health and emergency preparedness for the Manchester Health Department. This month, all 52 mosquito batches tested came back negative, he said. The city collects samples four nights a week at three locations, with two traps at each location. Those locations are not disclosed publicly because of past vandalism. Last year, the city submitted 700 mosquito batches and received 31 positives for West Nile and one positive for EEE. The city hired Dragon Mosquito to spray once last year, in August. "When we spray, we only spray city-owned parks, playgrounds and athletic fields. We do not do road-based spraying," said Public Health Director Tim Soucy. Plaistow budgets $33,000 for the testing program and an additional $6,000 for emergency spraying, said Public Health Director Dennise Horrocks. Last year, Plaistow did no emergency spraying, and the town didn't have any positive results for EEE or West Nile Virus, she said. "Currently, the town of Bedford does not do testing or spraying for mosquitoes," he said. "We did not do testing and spraying in 2012, either." "Information will be posted at the town athletic fields and common areas, (and is) currently a public service announcement on Bedford Community Television," he said. "In addition, the information is on our town website." Win tickets to see Cher's D2K Tour E-cigarettes find a market in NH Protesting workers nix Market Basket amnesty Faith and freedom; a near-martyr comes to NH Powerboat hits canoe on Winnipesaukee

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For many, it just wouldn’t be St. Patrick’s Day without a pint! In fact, 13 million pints of Guinness and countless cups of green beer are chugged around the world every March 17th. While we’ve heard all about the bad things beer can do to our bodies, in moderation it could do some good too. “It’s like the best job ever,” said Eric, a brewmaster. Eric's concoctions can intoxicate, but they could also medicate. “Well alcohol’s been used as medication for forever and ever,” said Sara Jo Nixon, Ph.D., Professor, Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology at the University of Florida. Nixon, who is an addiction expert, says, like red wine, drinking beer can be good for your heart. “That’s something that the beer industry has not really capitalized on,” Nixon explained. An Italian study of more than 200,000 people found those who drank a pint a day, had a 31 percent decrease in heart disease risk. Beer can also raise HDL, the good cholesterol, in your body. A 2009 study found the high levels of silicon in beer can be good for bones, but too many could mean more fractures. “We also know that there’s a line between too much alcohol being bad for bones,” explained Nixon. Harvard studies found beer can prevent blood clots and reduce the risk of stroke, and that a few beers a day lowered the risk of diabetes in middle-aged men by 25 percent. Research in Europe found moderate beer drinkers had 30 percent higher levels of the disease-fighting vitamin B6 compared to non-drinkers. “But, you can’t substitute a beer for your multivitamin,” said Nixon. Nixon says, moderation is key. It’s recommended women have no more than one drink a day and men, no more than two, because the organ systems that benefit from a few beers, “Are the same organ systems that are comprised when you cross the line,” she said. A few more benefits of beer, a study in Finland reports that men who drank a few bottles daily lowered their risk of kidney stones by 40 percent. Also, researchers have found marinating a steak in beer could reduce the risk of cancer. It wipes out the majority of carcinogens that are produced when meat is fried in a pan.

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Joan of Arc leads the French to victory, the Germans sink the Lusitania, the Nazis surrender, the 27th Amendment is ratified after two centuries, and Mercedes-Benz and Chrysler announce a $40 billion merger, all on this day. 1942: During the Battle of the Coral Sea, United States Navy planes launched from an aircraft carrier sink the Japanese Imperial Navy light aircraft carrier Sh?h?. The battle marks the first time in the naval history that two enemy fleets fought without visual contact between warring ships. U.S. Air Force iStock / damircudic Warner Bros. Television It's easy to upload your photos and/or videos on News8000.com. Once you do, we'll share your upload with the community!

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One of the first mammals to use echolocation may not have been a bat or a whale, but an early ancestor of horses. Hyopsodus was a weasel-like ungulate that lived 55 million years ago, around the time that bats are thought to have evolved echolocation. Maéva Orliac of Montpellier University, France, and colleagues say that a new fossil cast of its braincase shows Hyopsodus had a large inferior colliculus, a brain region enlarged in echolocating animals. They argue that Hyopsodus could echolocate: a skill that another group of ungulates – the whales, dolphins and porpoises – would not acquire for at least another 20 million years. Gregg Gunnell at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, says the large inferior colliculus may just be a sign of sensitive hearing rather than full-blown echolocation, though. "If an enlarged inferior colliculus is truly related to echolocation, then Hyopsodus potentially could have used rudimentary sound orientation," he says. "But calling it echolocation seems to be overstating the case." Journal reference: PLoS One, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0030000 If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.

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Though the experiments by Claus Rolfs and colleagues on changing the half-lives of radioisotopes are most impressive (21 October, p 36), this is not the first such result. In 1994 Otto Reifenschweiler showed that the radioactivity of tritium absorbed in titanium particles could be reduced by 40 per cent at temperatures between 115 °C and 275 °C (Physics Letters A, vol 184, p 149). To explain these results, Reifenschweiler put forward the unorthodox hypothesis that tritium nuclei, when absorbed in the extremely small single titanium crystals, combined in pairs - and that the decay constant of such a pair is much smaller than that of free tritium. It seems that it is indeed time to explore this fascinating field. From John Davies Rolfs says that before his experiments "no one thought a nuclear property like the fusion rate could be enhanced by the environment". Not so. Muon-catalysed deuterium-deuterium fusion was ... To continue reading this article, subscribe to receive access to all of newscientist.com, including 20 years of archive content.

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The ever-faster rise of carbon emissions worldwide slackened in 2012 – and that might signal a lasting trend Editorial: "We can cut emissions without a global deal" 2012 may go down in history as a remarkable year. For the first time, the maddening pace of humanity's greenhouse gas emissions showed signs of a global slowdown. Importantly – and unlike the drop in emissions triggered by the 2008 recession – the let-off is happening at the same time as global wealth continues to swell. "The small increase in emissions [of 2012]... may be the first sign of a more permanent slowdown in the increase of global CO2 emissions, and ultimately of declining global emissions," declares the Trends in Global CO2 Emissions: 2013 Report, published by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency and the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) last week. It analyses the latest emissions data, right up to 2012. The news should provide fresh momentum for UN negotiations on a new climate treaty, which resume in Poland on Monday. To avoid more than 2 °C of climate change – the target agreed in the 2009 talks – global emissions need to drop fast. We are nowhere near this goal, but the 2012 figures offer a first sign that action taken by the world's biggest emitters is having a measurable effect. "This signals a shift towards less fossil-fuel intensive activities, more use of renewable energy and increased energy saving," says Jos Olivier of the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency. The data show that global carbon dioxide emissions rose by 1.4 per cent in 2012. Allowing for it being a leap year, the underlying increase was just 1.1 per cent, says the report, compared with an average of 2.9 per cent since 2000. Importantly, the emissions rise is considerably less than the increase in global GDP of 3.5 per cent. "We see a decoupling of CO2 emissions from global economic growth," says Greet Janssens-Maenhout of the JRC in Ispra, Italy, a co-author on the report. The three biggest emitters – China, the US and the European Union – which account for more than half of global emissions, all show this decoupling effect. The most dramatic drop was in the US, which cut CO2 emissions by 4 per cent last year, despite its economy growing by 2.8 per cent. US emissions are now 12 per cent below their 2007 peak, and back to levels of two decades ago, the US Energy Information Administration confirms. It says a big switch from coal to shale gas in 2012 was accompanied by a 5 per cent reduction in the energy needed to create each dollar of wealth. The EU continues its decade-long fall in emissions. Its GDP might have dropped by 0.3 per cent in 2012, but emissions fell even further – by 1.6 per cent. The most significant change may be in China. After rising by about 10 per cent a year for a decade, its emissions are now almost twice those of the US. But in 2012, they grew by only 3 per cent, while its economy grew by almost 8 per cent. China still gets two-thirds of its electricity from coal, but it is shifting to natural gas, hydroelectricity, and nuclear (see "China: the big turnaround"). "These are very positive signs," says Niklas Höhne of energy analysts Ecofys in Utrecht, the Netherlands. "Decoupling is definitely happening. We are seeing it in a lot of the world." What is behind the slowdown? In most countries, the biggest factors are measures to boost energy efficiency, according to the International Energy Agency. This includes everything from fuel savings in factories to more fuel-efficient trucks and the adoption of low-energy light bulbs (see diagram). A shift in the types of fuel we burn is also driving emissions down, says Janssens-Maenhout. Solar, wind and biofuels doubled their contribution to the global energy mix between 2006 and 2012. If hydroelectricity is included, half of the electricity generating capacity added in 2012 was from renewable sources. And cutting coal out of the mix is vital, adds Janssens-Maenhout. Burning natural gas instead results in half the CO2 emissions. So, while many environmentalists fear a dash for gas will delay the rise of renewable energy, its growth in the US and China is curbing emissions. What about emissions from deforestation – historically a huge source? The JRC study did not include these, but Höhne says there is good news on that front too. Brazil has cut deforestation in the Amazon by 70 per cent in the past decade. "Two-thirds of the world's emissions are now under some kind of national climate law or strategy to limit them," says Höhne. "Major emitters like Brazil, South Korea, Mexico and China have all made pledges." He says China is on target to reduce emissions per dollar of economic output by between 40 and 45 per cent between 2005 and 2020. Many of these initiatives follow national commitments made at climate negotiations in Cancún in 2010. If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.

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Knock on wood, but the US hasn't seen a fatal commercial jetliner crash in exactly four years—a new record. And no stat encapsulates just how safe flying has become more than this one: A US passenger now has a one in 45-million-flights death risk, which statistically means you could fly every day for about 123,000 years before dying in an accident. And things are pretty rosy around the globe: Last year was commercial aviation's safest year since 1945, with just 475 fatalities worldwide. Better planes, improved communication, and more advanced equipment, like navigation technology, are behind the safer figures, the New York Times reports. Another big improvement: Regulators are much more proactive about safety, as evidenced by the grounding of the Boeing 787 fleet before anyone was hurt. But experts say we shouldn't get too comfortable, since airports are more congested than ever and the FAA is having a hard time instituting new rules for better co-pilot training. (But speaking of phobias, here's one you definitely can't relax about: The University of Florida reports that US shark attacks hit a decade high last year at 53, the most since 2000. There were 80 unprovoked attacks globally, a slight uptick from 2011.)

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The highlight of Earth Day Fort Wayne on Sunday at Eagle Marsh will be views of a pair of nesting bald eagles. Earth Day was originally a national event when it began April 22, 1970, started by US Sen. Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin. It falls around the spring equinox/ According to the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin, “Earth Day was a turning point for environmental politics, starting the 'Environmental Decade' of radical legislative reforms.” During the '70s Nelson was instrumental in getting environmental legislation implemented including the Clean Water Act, the National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, the Federal Environmental Pesticide Control Act, the Clean Air Act, the Environmental Education Act, the National Hiking Trails and the National Scenic Trails Acts and the establishment of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. Last year's Earth Day event at Eagle Marsh drew 1,200 people, and, weather permitting, Betsy Yankowiak, executive director of the Little River Wetlands Project, said they are hoping to draw an even bigger crowd for Sunday's 1-5 p.m. event. Visitors will have a chance to explore the 716-acre acre wetland preserve on Fort Wayne's southwest side, getting “hands-on” with nature at discovery stations and other free activities. This year they will have many of the same activities they had last year, and of course the star attraction is a pair of nesting bald eagles that live in the Marsh. The pair has already laid an unknown number of eggs in their nest. Yankowiak said the pair takes turns on the nest, while one incubates the eggs the other hunts for food. Right now is the perfect time to observe the nest with the high-powered spotting scopes at the special Earth Day viewing station, because the leaves on the trees are still budding. In a couple of more weeks the nest will be totally hidden from view. Yankowiak, said the number of people attending the free nature programs over the year at Eagle Marsh has doubled from 6,000 in 2012 to 12,000 in 2013. “We would really like to see families come out and discover the natural world around us,” Yankowiak said. General Motors is the sponsor of the farmers market, featuring locally grown produce and baked goods, NIPSCO is sponsoring a native species area where visitors can preserve Eagle Marsh with native plants, Indiana Michigan Power is sponsoring 10 free, fun, hands-on stations for kids and OmniSource is providing free snacks and sponsoring the main information tent. Additional sponsors include: 3 Rivers Credit Union, Physicians Health Plan, Fort Wayne Metals, The U.S. Green Building Council, Coventry Meadows, Republic Services and The Plex.

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Pressure, Fluid Flow, Bottle Name: Kathy Van O. We did the demonstration with the two liter bottle full of water with three covered holes on the side. Uncover the top hole, no water escapes. Uncover the second hole and air bubbles are seen at the top hole and a stream of water comes out the second hole. Why does the water level stop at the top of the hole? Everyone predicted that the water would run out to just below the hole, but every time the meniscus of the water was at the top of the hole. We need a scientific If the hole is small enough, the surface tension of the water and the adhesion of the water to the bottle may be enough to support the additional height of water. I suggest experimenting with different size holes. You could also reduce the surface tension by adding soap to the water and see if this affects Pretty sure the water is held back that extra 2-4 mm by the surface tension of the water stretched across the small exit hole. A corollary to that is: I bet the outside of your bottle is not wet, even after the water streams out and dribbles to a stop. If it was wet, the water level inside would go as low as you expect. Paint your bottle with dish soap and include a few drops inside, too. Then the water level will go down farther, possibly a below the bottom of the lowest open hole. Gimicking the hole often changes this, too, like making the bottom edge of the hole rounder, or putting a few shallow razor-blade scratches on the hole's bottom edge and on the outside surface leading 1/8 to 1/2-inch down from the hole. These scratches do not go through the bottle wall, they are merely concave parts of the plastic's surface which attract water better than the glossy, clean manufactured surface. Crazing the surface with acetone or nail-polish remover or sand-paper would have similar effects. With your bottle un-modified, pour a gentle trickle of water down the side of the bottle, so that it touches the hole. This will probably "suck" the excess water out relatively briskly, without appearing to work hard. Some of my plastic sinks at work are extremely resistant to draining the Can be a pesky design problem. Click here to return to the Physics Archives Update: June 2012

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Pioneers of Power: 1925-1929 "We had a heck of a time getting the poles to set in the swamp, mud and muck. But if you put a stick of dynamite on the bottom of a pole, stood it up straight and shot it off, the pole would jump in the air and then drop into the newly created hole. We called that 'shooting the poles.’” -- FPL lineman, on working in the 1920s. The birth of FPL FPL was born in the final days of 1925 when - Florida was experiencing the greatest land boom the nation had seen - cities were springing up overnight - residents were pouring into the state by the thousands and - a dependable supply of electricity was desperately needed. The founding company FPL's earliest roots can be traced back to Thomas Edison and the General Electric Co. GE created EBASCO (Electric Bond and Share Co.), owner of American Power & Light Co. that held many utilities in the western hemisphere. FPL - a consolidation American Power & Light purchased the properties that were consolidated to form FPL on Dec. 28, 1925. The unlikely patchwork of enterprises included small electric generating plants, ice plants, water, gas, fish, telephone, sawmill and street car companies, a steam laundry, an ice factory, a limestone quarry, a sponge fishing boat and even 35 mules and wagons. Facts about FPL The new company began its first year of service with - 76,000 electric and gas customer accounts serving 58 communities - 230 miles of transmission lines - 1,149 miles of distribution lines - a generating capacity of 70 megawatts and - an average price per kilowatt hour for residential service of 8¢. In the first years of its operation, FPL - broke ground for the first power plant construction project -- the 50-megawatt Lauderdale plant - began plans to build another "superpower" station at Sanford - dealt with the 1926 hurricane that hit Miami with 138-m.p.h. winds and - dealt with the 1928 hurricane that buffeted Palm Beach, claiming some 2,000 lives. Dark Days, Brighter Horizons: 1930-1944 "I'll never forget the day the manager told us all of the hotels had been taken over by the Army. And very soon before dawn, we heard men marching in the streets. Once I had to ask soldiers to move a pup tent out of my driveway so I could get to work." -- Secretary in the FPL Miami Beach Office, 1940. The hurricanes in the 1920s, combined with the stock market crash, sent both Florida and FPL reeling through the Depression years. The challenges included: - Mounting unpaid bills, though the minimum monthly electric bill was $1 - people attempting to steal electricity - turning FPL offices into showrooms for selling appliances - laying off workers and cutting the pay of those who stayed and - in 1933, telling FPL shareholders there would be no dividends. By 1939, however, Florida's economic skies were brightening. FPL - served more than 141,000 customer accounts with electricity - served more than 18,700 customer accounts with gas and - doubled its original generating capacity to 155 megawatts. Then came 1941 and war. FPL met the challenge and - published ads calling for conservation - training women to do the work of over one-quarter of the employees who had been called to war - expanded the work week to Saturdays to meet the demands of powering large military institutions and defense industries in its territory and - worked with adjoining utility companies in a spirit of unity to interconnect power lines and systems for wartime emergencies. FPL awarded citation FPL's response to the war years did not go unnoticed. On Feb. 1, 1944, Admiral W. R. Munroe, commandant of the Seventh Naval District, presented FPL with a Citation for Meritorious Wartime Service. He was quoted: "When we asked for power, we got power; and not, thank God, alibis!" The Building Years: 1945-1960 "The tendency to persevere, to persist in spite of hindrances, discouragement and impossibilities, it is this that in all things distinguishes the strong soul from the weak." -- Plaque that belonged to McGregor Smith, former FPL president. During the postwar period from 1945-1960, new residents poured into Florida at the rate of 3,000 per week. By 1960, Florida was the 10th most populous state in the nation, compared with its 20th ranking in 1950. Meeting the explosive demand Demand for power was so great that FPL quadrupled its generating power by - building new plants at Palatka, Riviera, Sarasota, Fort Myers and Cutler - expanding plant facilities at Miami, Sanford and Lauderdale - leasing a Navy power ship docked at Port Everglades and - equipping two large railroad cars and trailers with generators and moving them around the state to meet seasonal peak power demands. Financing the growth To finance Florida's growing demand for power, FPL joined the New York Stock Exchange in 1950. The following year, the company announced a $435 million, 10-year expansion program that would take it into the 1960s. In 1957, FPL filed for a $4.4 million rate decrease, the first of 11 rate decreases over the next 15 years. In 1960, FPL built a new unit at Port Everglades with plans for three more units – just in time. New residents were coming from all directions, lured by the Space Age from the north and by simple freedom from the south as Cuban exiles hit Miami's shores. Space Age to Nuclear Age: 1961-1972 "U.S. Fires Astronaut Out of This World" -- Miami News, May 5, 1961. Space age challenges FPL did its part to meet the Space Age challenges of putting a man on the moon. Starting in 1964, FPL built the Cape Canaveral plant to provide - 425 megawatts of power, twice the amount in the entire FPL system only 20 years earlier, and - a plentiful supply of power to the missile complex and the expanding surrounding residential and industrial areas. A stormy decade Weather turned out to be another of FPL's challenges in the 1960s. These stormy years brought the following hurricanes that hit FPL's service areas: Cleo, Dora, Betsy, Alma and Inez. Nuclear age plants In 1965, FPL announced plans to build a $100 million nuclear power plant at Turkey Point. In 1972, FPL brought Turkey Point Unit 3 on line, followed by Unit 4 in 1973. Partnering with the community In the process of building the Turkey Point plant, FPL found opportunities to partner with community organizations to use Turkey Point land for: - Dade County's largest and most pristine wildlife sanctuary for birds, fish and other wildlife - Boy Scout and Girl Scout camps, along with a home for a full-time Florida Board of Conservation ranger, and - a sea survival school near the site created by the Air Force. Crisis and Challenge: 1973-1999 "This country cannot be dependent upon foreign oil, or the day will come when the lights will go out." -- FPL official, 1970s. The 1970s challenged FPL in new ways. Management had to deal with - the OPEC oil embargo, causing petroleum prices to rise from $4 a barrel in 1972 to more than $30 by 1981, - FPL's dependency on oil for more than 50 percent of its generation - a recession that gripped the nation with double-digit inflation and interest rates - requesting FPL's first general rate increase in history in 1972, with other rate increases and denials of rate increases following, - stalled construction projects and financial difficulties, and - the national controversy over nuclear power after Three Mile Island. FPL emerged from this time of crisis to make several important changes: - Instead of promoting the use of electricity, FPL would focus on promoting the conservation of energy and become an industry leader in environmental performance. - FPL Group Inc., a new holding company, was formed in 1984. This enabled the company to expand through the creation of new companies and the acquisition of existing ones. - By converting some oil-fired units to natural gas, adding new nuclear units and contracting with neighboring utilities to purchase coal-fired power, oil dropped to 26 percent of FPL's generation by 1988. New nuclear plant In 1976, St. Lucie unit 1 went on line followed in 1983 by unit 2. Considering the times and circumstances, unit 2's completion in an industry-record six years was an amazing feat. Through it all, FPL tackled the challenges and flourished, earning - the Edison Electric Institute's prestigious Edison Award in 1986 - numerous accolades for its environmental programs - acclaim for its innovative Quality Improvement Program and - the Deming Prize in 1989 - the first non-Japanese company ever to capture the coveted quality award. FPL continued to face challenges in the 1990s: - Sweeping federal initiatives to deregulate the utility industry created more energy choices for customers than ever before. Utilities that would prosper in this highly competitive environment would be those that delivered quality and reliable services at the lowest prices. - FPL worked to reduce costs and streamline its operations. Operations and maintenance expenses are reduced by 36 percent from 1990 through 1999. - Hurricane Andrew, the nation's most costly natural disaster, strikes South Florida in 1992 causing extensive damage to FPL's system. Thousands of FPL employees, many victims of the storm, work tirelessly to restore electricity to 1.4 million homes and businesses in just over a month. A new "generation" of power plants State-of-the-art combined cycle units, an industry showcase for efficiency, entered service at the Martin plant in 1994 more than $100 million below budget. The Fort Lauderdale plant, site of FPL's first power plant construction project in 1925, is repowered in the 1990s to nearly triple the plant's generating capacity. Growth beyond FPL's service area FPL Energy (renamed NextEra Energy Resources in 2008) was formed in 1998 to manage NextEra Energy's growing interests in electricity markets outside FPL's Florida service area. The subsidiary focuses on clean energy technologies and fuels such as - hydro, and - natural gas Substantial Growth and The Great Recession: 2000-2009 “At NextEra Energy, Inc. we do more than talk about sustainability. We embody it. In just over a decade, we’ve committed more than $10 billion to renewable energy. Today, we’re the leading renewable energy company in North America. We’re No. 1 in wind energy production and No. 1 in solar power, too.” -- Lew Hay, NextEra Energy, Inc. Chairman and CEO, 2009. Industry and economic challenges In the first decade of the 21st century, the electric industry faced challenging events that continue to have an impact on NextEra Energy: - a failed attempt at energy restructuring in California, followed by warnings of a national power shortage, then the fear of a glut of generating capacity in most regional markets - the collapse of Enron and other companies, raising serious concerns about business ethics and financial integrity - continued volatility in the market price for natural gas, followed by discoveries of unprecedented reserves - a high-profile national debate over the best response to global warming, and - new federal energy legislation, with important provisions related to wind energy, nuclear power, energy conservation and industry structure. New ways to manage NextEra Energy is responding with initiatives that include: - improving commercial skills and pioneering new ways to do business - streamlining operations and lowering costs - improving customer focus, service and responsiveness, - growing its emissions-free wind power, solar power and nuclear power businesses, and - maintaining a corporate governance structure and financial reporting process that reflect the best practices in the industry. In recognition of our achievements in clean energy production, environmental excellence, customer satisfaction and shareholder value, NextEra Energy was named the 2003 winner of the Edison Award, the electric industry's highest honor. Dramatic growth outside of Florida NextEra Energy subsidiary NextEra Energy Resources is a clean energy leader and one of the largest competitive energy suppliers in North America. - This business is the largest generator in North America of renewable energy from the wind and sun. - The company operates nearly 9,000 wind turbines at more than 70 wind projects located in 17 states and two Canadian provinces. - It operates the largest solar power plant in the world in California’s Mojave Desert – the 310-megawatt Solar Electric Generating Systems (SEGS). - NextEra Energy Resources also operates clean, emissions-free nuclear power generation facilities in New Hampshire, Iowa and Wisconsin as part of the NextEra Energy nuclear fleet, which is the third largest in the United States. - Going forward, NextEra Energy Resources has a strong pipeline of attractive renewable energy projects. New plants and customer programs at FPL FPL added its 4 millionth customer in 2002 and continues to take actions to meet its customers' demand for reliable electric service and help them take more control over their energy use: - More than 1,000 megawatts of clean, natural gas-fired generation were added to FPL's system in 2002 with the repowering of existing power plants at FPL’s Fort Myers and Sanford locations, and an additional 1,900 megawatts entered service at the Manatee and Martin plants in 2005. - A new natural gas-fired power generating unit at FPL’s Turkey Point site south of Miami was commissioned in 2007. The unit serves some 230,000 Florida homes and businesses. - FPL received approval from the Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) to build three combined cycle generating units at the company’s West County Energy Center. Two of the units, serving a total of 500,000 Florida homes and businesses, are already online, and the third unit is under construction and is expected to go into service in 2011. These investments are increasing the efficiency of the FPL generation fleet and providing savings to customers. - FPL is also moving forward with nuclear “uprates” at its St. Lucie and Turkey Point nuclear power plants, which will add 400 megawatts of emissions-free power. - In 2009, FPL commissioned the DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center, the largest solar photovoltaic power plant in the United States. Construction is also underway at two other FPL solar plants in Florida, one at the Martin plant location and one on the Space Coast. - During the decade, FPL expanded dramatically the services available to customers on its Web site, www.FPL.com. Customers can receive and pay their electric bill, connect or disconnect service, access useful energy information such as an online home energy audit, and more. - FPL continues to offer a variety of energy efficiency and load management programs to help customers hold down energy costs and exercise more control over energy consumption. Since 1981, these programs have avoided the need to build 12 additional power plants. Responses to the “Great Recession” Success is often determined not by how well you do in good times, but how you respond to adversity. NextEra Energy has actively responded to the challenges of the extraordinary 2008-2009 “Great Recession.” The company: - made tactical adjustments to its financing plan and focused on maintaining access to capital - reduced capital expenditures in its wind program and elsewhere - increased focus on expanded electric transmission systems, especially in West Texas, so that renewable energy can more easily be brought to the population centers where it’s needed most, and - increased its commitment to shaping the public policy debate. A low-carbon leader Through NextEra Energy’s substantial investments in low-carbon electricity generation, the company is now one of the cleanest power companies in the nation. Consider: - If every utility had made the choices NextEra Energy has made over the years, carbon dioxide emissions from the electric power sector, which is responsible for 40 percent of America’s CO2 output, would be cut in half. - For the United States as a whole, that translates into a 20 percent emissions reduction, which is the equivalent of removing 209 million cars from the road. That’s eight out of every 10 vehicles – just from asking the power industry to match NextEra Energy’s emissions profile. Taking a stand on climate change NextEra Energy has been a leader in advocating for prompt action to address climate change. - In June 2008, for example, Chairman and CEO Lew Hay spoke at the Florida Summit on Global Climate Change in Miami. “Every day we delay,” he said, “another 18 million tons of CO2 are released into the atmosphere, most of which will remain there for close to a century. And with every year of inaction, the carbon reductions needed to deal successfully with climate change become larger and harder to achieve.” We need real leadership on climate change – leadership that looks at the challenge of ‘decarbonizing’ the $14 trillion U.S. economy and says, ‘We can do this.’ Leadership that considers the consequences of inaction and says, ‘We must do this.’ Leadership that recognizes America’s obligation to set an example for other countries around the world and says, ‘We will do this.’" - In February 2009, Mr. Hay told a meeting of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners in Washington, D.C., that “Carbon emissions impose huge costs on society – costs that the emitters don’t bear. To use a phrase you don’t normally hear from a power company CEO, we must ‘make polluters pay.’ Only when carbon carries a price equal to its cost to society as a whole will we have a level playing field among all forms of electricity generation.”

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Explore Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis Hypersensitivity pneumonitis (noo-mo-NI-tis), or HP, is a disease in which the lungs become inflamed from breathing in foreign substances, such as molds, dusts, and chemicals. These substances also are known as antigens (AN-tih-jens). People are exposed to antigens at home, while at work, and in other settings. However, most people who breathe in these substances don't develop HP. To understand HP, it helps to understand how the lungs work. When you breathe, air passes through your nose and mouth into your windpipe. The air then travels to your lungs' air sacs. These sacs are called alveoli (al-VEE-uhl-eye). Small blood vessels called capillaries run through the walls of the air sacs. When air reaches the air sacs, the oxygen in the air passes through the air sac walls into the blood in the capillaries. The capillaries connect to a network of arteries and veins that move blood through your body. In HP, the air sacs become inflamed and may fill with fluid. This makes it harder for oxygen to pass through the air sacs and into the bloodstream. The two main types of HP are acute (short-term) and chronic (ongoing). Both types can develop as a result of repeatedly breathing in an antigen. Over time, your lungs can become sensitive to that antigen. If this happens, they'll become inflamed, which can lead to symptoms and may even cause long-term lung damage. With acute HP, symptoms usually occur within 2–9 hours of exposure to an antigen you're sensitive to. Acute HP can cause chills, body aches, coughing, and chest tightness. After hours or days of no contact with the antigen, symptoms usually go away. If acute HP isn't found and treated early, chronic HP may develop. Symptoms of chronic HP occur slowly, over months. Chronic HP can cause a worsening cough, shortness of breath with physical activity, fatigue (tiredness), and weight loss. Severe HP may cause clubbing (a widening and rounding of the tips of the fingers or toes). With chronic HP, symptoms may continue and/or worsen, even after avoiding the antigen. Sometimes, chronic HP can cause long-term lung damage, such as pulmonary fibrosis (PULL-mun-ary fi-BRO-sis). This is a condition in which tissue deep in your lungs becomes scarred over time. Avoiding or reducing your contact with antigens can help prevent and treat HP. For example, cleaning heating and ventilation filters can help reduce your contact with mold. Wetting compost prior to handling it can reduce contact with harmful dust. If HP is caught early, avoiding the antigen that caused it may be the only treatment you need. If you have chronic HP, your doctor may prescribe medicines to reduce lung inflammation. Researchers continue to study why some people develop HP after being exposed to antigens, while others don't. They're also looking for better ways to quickly pinpoint which antigens are causing HP in people who are believed to have the disease. The NHLBI updates Health Topics articles on a biennial cycle based on a thorough review of research findings and new literature. The articles also are updated as needed if important new research is published. The date on each Health Topics article reflects when the content was originally posted or last revised.

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Bothriocidarids are the strangest of all echinoids, and in the early 20th Century there was fierce debate as to whether they really belonged in the class Echinoidea. Thanks to the detailed work of Mannil (1962) their structure is now reasonably well understood. Paul (1967) reinterpreted the test as being composed of entirely ambulacral plates, based on comparison with his new genus Neobothriocidaris. This peculiar structure distinguishes them from all other echinoids. Mannil, R. 1962. [The morphology and taxonomy of Bothriocidaris (Echinoidea)]. Ensv Teaduste Akadeemia Geologia Instituudi Uurimused 9, 143-190 [in Russian with English summary]. Paul, C. R. C. 1967. New Ordovician Bothriocidaridae from Girvan and a reinterpretation of Bothriocidaris Eichwald. Palaeontology 10, 525-541.

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With the aging of America, increasing prevalence of chronic disease and growing immigrant and minority populations in the U.S., there is the real potential for both unintentional traditional and digital health-care disparities. Health information technology (HIT) holds significant potential to provide tools, electronic health records (EHR) in particular, that enable the health-care system better respond to the health-care needs of American diversity and avoid disparities from occurring. To ensure that EHRs can live up to that potential, NIST and Johns Hopkins are partnering on a research program aimed at developing human factors guidelines for preventing disparities related to EHR adoption. The objectives of the research are to ensure: NIST will employ the research findings to develop technical guidance that provides the basis for HIT design decisions (based on universal design principles) that will decrease or eliminate potential health-care disparities among end users. Implementing identified best practices and comprehensive technical guidelines will help support safe, effective, error-free EHR use among an increasingly diverse population of potential users. Accessibility barriers to HIT devices for the one in five Americans with disabilities are a closely related area of concern that EHRs have the potential to address. By providing guidance for HIT design, NIST has an opportunity to achieve a nationwide impact that is truly welcoming to all people, regardless of ability. Even though Section 508 applies only to the federal sector, NIST believes it is important to promote the use of accessibility standards on a voluntary basis. For that reason, NIST supports HIT standards for accessibility of electronic and information technology promulgated by the U.S. Access Board. It also is working to develop test methods to validate HIT accessibility conformance. The positive impact of accessible HIT includes not only improved health, but also improvements in the employment and education of people with disabilities.

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As the amount of oil pouring out of the broken, mile-deep Deepwater Horizon well continues to add up in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, scientists who have worked to clean up past oil spills say it's too soon to predict the long-term effect on Louisiana's coastal shorelines and wetlands. But unless the underwater spigot is shut off quickly, an unlikely prospect, the continuing flow of oil will at least create serious short-term impacts. "We are in a breathless waiting game," said Baton Rouge-based Melanie Driscoll, director of bird conservation for the National Audubon Society. "Every oil spill is different, and so what this one will do depends on a long list of factors. "Light crude oil emulsifies faster than heavy crude. Oil breaks down more quickly in a warmer climate like the Gulf Coast so much faster than in someplace like Alaska," she said. "But it still depends on how much oil enters the water and gets pushed by the water and waves onshore and into inland wetland areas." Still, the 2.1 million gallons of oil estimated to have been released through today is less than a quarter of the oil that spilled from facilities in the Outer Continental Shelf and along the state's coastline during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. But the winds and waves of Katrina and Rita acted as major dispersal engines for some of that oil, and with many of the more than 50 spill locations onshore or in near-shore wetlands, much of the oil was mopped up within a few weeks of the two storms, according to several scientists who looked into those spills. And one of the biggest spill locations was in a populated area, the more than 800,000 gallons released from a failed tank at Murphy Oil's Chalmette refinery. Not much damage from oil in hurricanes "There really was very little damage to the Mississippi and Louisiana coastlines from oil during those events," said John Pine, director of the Appalachian State University Research Institute for Environment, Energy and Economics, who published a study on the Katrina and Rita releases for Oceanography magazine in 2006 while a researcher at Louisiana State University. "Most of the large spills during Katrina were from large storage tanks, which were not heavily regulated, as opposed to the regulations for offshore facilities," said Nicholas Santella, a former Southern Methodist University researcher and co-author of a report on the effects of petroleum and hazardous material releases during Katrina that was published in this month's edition of Risk Analysis. What makes the Deepwater Horizon spill different is its potential to be a continuing producer of polluting oil, with as much as 18.9 million gallons of oil possible if it continues to leak for three months at the present rate of 5,000 barrels -- or 210,000 gallons -- a day. "The timing is really quite bad," Driscoll said. "For some species, it's the beginning of the nesting season, and there are birds on nests and eggs on the ground, on barrier islands and beaches where the oil is likely to occur," she said. April also happens to be the time when migrating shorebirds are arriving in south Louisiana, soon to begin mating and starting their own nests, and when intertropical migratory songbirds are literally dropping out of the sky to rest after a sometimes 500-mile flight over the Gulf of Mexico, she said. How much oil gets into the marsh and its makeup also will be important clues to its long-term effects, said Karen Westphal, an Audubon scientist who researched a number of spills in Louisiana while a researcher at the University of New Orleans and working for a company that assisted oil companies in monitoring spill effects. A little bit of oil isn't all bad "A thin coat of oil generally breaks down relatively easily," Westphal said. "There's a lot of microbial action occurring in the organic marsh soils." Indeed, oil can actually act as a "fertilizer" to marsh grasses, she said. "It's got extra carbon molecules and some other minerals and things, and so marsh grasses have tended to grow back relatively well," she said. However, coastal mangroves don't survive as well, she said. But that also depends on the amount of oil, she said. LSU fisheries scientist Richard Condrey remains concerned about the effect of oil reaching what looks like just another stretch of open water just north of the Chandeleur Islands, on what's known as the St. Bernard Shoals. The remains of the ancient St. Bernard delta of the Mississippi River, the shoals are the spawning grounds for female crabs that are believed to spend much of their lives in Lake Pontchartrain, he said. "The female crabs are spawning, releasing eggs, larvae and renewing their ovaries by feeding on the shoals," he said. "It's a continuous spawning cycle from April to October, with new spawns every 21 days. "Even if the larvae make it through oil there when they're released, then they'll hit the beaches and those could be covered with oil, too," Condrey said. "So they could end up dead anyway." Whatever the oil's effects, the one positive that could come from the Deepwater Horizon could be a renewed science lesson for the nation on the importance of the state's coastal marshes, said UNO coastal scientist Denise Reed. "In the long term, this spill means increased national and international attention to our eroding coast," Reed said. "It's not the way you want to get it, but it's up to us to use this to show it would be a lot better with an unbroken coastline." And as federal and state agencies review the damage caused to natural resources by the spill, it will provide an opportunity for any mitigation payments to be used to forward the state's ongoing coastal restoration efforts, she said. "At some point, there's going to be a lot of money coming as a result of this spill," Reed said. "Don't worry about fixing this little impact here and that little impact there. Bundle it together and do something good, use it to repair the damage to make it more healthy and resilient in the future." Mark Schleifstein can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.org or 504.826.3327.

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ROBERT SIEGEL, host: Well, now a story about the stuff that we've been putting into our guts for ages. Domesticated crops were the key to the growth of human civilization that made it possible for us to settle down, build cities, monuments, cultivate what we think of as a civilized life. The very first crops were thought to be cereal grains, but a discovery in Israel suggests that it was a fruit that ended human rootlessness and that fruit was the fig. NPR's Christopher Joyce reports. CHRISTOPHER JOYCE reporting: Hunting and gathering for a living isn't much fun. Long commutes for those hunters to find game, same for those who have to gather those acorns and wild oats. Thankfully, people in what is now the Middle East and Turkey figured out that if you collected seed from wheat or barley and planted it in the ground, you could kick back and eat out of your own backyard. But now archaeologists in Israel have discovered something they didn't expect: 11,400-year-old figs in an excavated house. And not just any figs. Mutant figs. This fig is an accident of nature, a rare kind of tree that isn't pollinated by insects and won't reproduce unless someone takes a cutting and plants it. But it does grow soft and tasty figs rather than the unpalatable wild kind. According to Harvard anthropologist Ofer Bar-Yosef, generations of people must have lived around wild fig trees until the Newtonian moment when someone figured out how to grow these mutants. Professor OFER BAR-YOSEF (Harvard): It's generally women who do the gathering in hunting-and-gathering societies. And you know, years of experience would tell them exactly how the plants behave and so on. With the figs, it's very easy because you just need to cut the branches and just stick them into the ground. JOYCE: The evidence for this conclusion is a handful, quite literally, of dried mutant figs found in a village called Gilgo(ph), not far from Jericho. The figs were in a house where there'd been a fire. Mr. BAR-YOSEF: Then maybe they were all the remains of what used to be some kind of a domestic storage, you know, baskets hanging from the ceiling, you know, to avoid the mice get to them and so on. And the whole thing just collapsed on the floor. JOYCE: Writing in the journal Science, Bar-Yosef and colleagues in Israel say these figs may now be the first cultivated crops, centuries before the first farmers planted cereal grains. But he suspects the transition to domesticated crops, whether it was barley, oats or figs, was a slow process. Mr. BAR-YOSEF: The fact that the figs were already domesticated means that humans were enjoying this practice of cutting branches and sticking them into the ground to be the new trees. You don't get plants like figs domesticated if you don't start planting it systematically again and again. JOYCE: Since these were small, tightly knit communities, once one person figured it out, well, the fig doesn't fall far from the tree, does it? Christopher Joyce, NPR News. SIEGEL: You can see photos of what's left of those ancient mutant figs at npr.org. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.

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Wondering what is going on with our students: why they show up late, miss class, give attitude, or generally have a hard time? It could be that they’ve experienced power-based violence, such as sexual assault, at the hands of someone they know or who they care about. Learn more about power-based violence, especially sexual violence, and how these issues affect all of us, whether we are survivors or bystanders. April 10th at 4:00 pm EST. Click here to register: https://answer.rutgers.edu/course/154.

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Women In The Abolition Movement: Historic Sites In New York N1: The New York Historical Society Location: 170 Central Park West, New York City Open: Tues-Sun: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m Library Open: Tues - Fri: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Admission: Adults $10; Seniors, Students, & Teachers $5; free for children under 12 For a complete schedule of events and more information, visit: http://www.nyhistory.org/programs.html The museum holds a wide range of exhibits, from paintings to sculptures to furniture to American Cultural objects. A special exhibition will be open from through March 5, 2006, entitled: Slavery in New York. The exhibition examines the little-known history of enslaved New Yorkers. The Museum's Bernard and Irene Schwartz Distinguished Speakers Series, running from October 2005 through February 2006, includes fifteen lectures on different aspects of slavery, including three that focus on women in the abolition movement. N2: Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture Location: 515 Malcolm X Blvd, Harlem Open: Tues-Sat: 10 a.m - 5 p.m For more information, visit: http://www.nypl.org/research/sc/sc.html The Schomburg Center contains exhibits on all aspects of African American heritage, including extensive information on the Underground Railroad in the "Lest We Forget: The Triumph Over Slavery" exhibition. N3: The Hunt House Location: 401 E. Main St., Waterloo, New York **The building is currently under renovation and is not open to the public Jane and Richard Hunt were active Quaker abolitionists who invested and managed a factory that specialized in woolen textiles as a boycott of slave-labor cotton. Their carriage house was used as a station on the Underground Railroad. It was also at the Hunt House that the idea for the Women's Rights Convention was conceived and both Jane and Richard were signers of the women's Declaration of Sentiments in 1848. N4: M'Clintock House Museum Location: 14 East Williams St, Waterloo, New York Open: May-Sept, Tues-Sun: 1 - 4 p.m. Admission: adults $3 those under 17 are free For more information, visit: http://www.nps.gov/wori/ Mary Ann and Thomas M'Clintock and their daughters Mary Ann and Elizabeth were members of the Western New York Anti-Slavery Society. Their home was a station on the Underground Railroad. The home is also where women's rights leaders wrote their manifesto, the Declaration of Sentiments. More information about Mary Ann M'Clintock can be found in the Philadelphia site, Fair Hill Burial Ground.

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Alcohol may have a "protective effect", a US researcher says, after a study found injured patients are less likely to die in hospital if they have alcohol in their blood. However the study's author, injury epidemiologist Lee Friedman, stressed the findings were not a cause to drink, as alcohol intoxication - even minor inebriation - is associated with an increased risk of being injured. "However, after an injury, if you are intoxicated there seems to be a pretty substantial protective effect," said Friedman, who is assistant professor of environmental and occupational health sciences at the University of Illinois. "The more alcohol you have in your system, the more the protective effect." Friedman analysed Illinois Trauma Registry data for 190,612 patients treated at trauma centres between 1995 and 2009 who were tested for blood alcohol content, which ranged from zero to 0.5 percent at the time they were admitted to the trauma unit. Of these, 6733 died in hospital. Friedman looked at the relationship between alcohol dosage and in-hospital mortality following traumatic injuries such as fractures, internal injuries and open wounds. Surprisingly, he found alcohol benefited patients across the range of injuries, with burns the only exception. "At the higher levels of blood alcohol concentration, there was a reduction of almost 50 percent in hospital mortality rates," Friedman said. "This protective benefit persists even after taking into account injury severity and other factors known to be strongly associated with mortality following an injury." The study will be published in the December issue of the journal Alcohol (http://www.alcoholjournal.org/article/S0741-8329%2812%2900152-8/abstract). Friedman said it is important for clinicians to recognise intoxicated patients who arrive at emergency departments, but also to understand how alcohol might affect the course of treatment. He said further research bio-mechanism of the protective effects of alcohol is needed, as if it could be understood, "we could then treat patients post-injury, either in the field or when they arrive at the hospital, with drugs that mimic alcohol".

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Introduction ~ Perspectives from a Rural Planner – Margaret Walton Myth #1: “There are no jobs in agriculture” Margaret discusses the opportunities and the challenges. Myth #2: “Eating local is hard to do” March through November agriculture thrives…but what happens then? Myth #3: “Organic is always better” Some facts to consider when choosing organic… Myth #4: “Agriculture is hard on the environment" Farmers…fertilizers…certification – what the public probably doesn’t know. Myth #5: “Farmers don’t protect water” This legislation might surprise you. Myth #6:“There’s only industrial agriculture in Ontario Who owns our farms anyway? Myth #7: “Good crop/bad crop” Where did this attitude come from? Myth #8: “All food comes from the grocery store” Margaret explores the bigger picture. For more information please contact OAFE: email@example.com

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The nation's chemical and energy-intensive food and farming system, Food Inc., is out-of-control, posing a mortal threat to public health, the environment, and climate stability. Economically stressed and distracted consumers have become dependent on a factory farm system designed to provide cheap processed food that may be cosmetically perfect and easily shipped, but which is seriously degraded in terms of purity and nutritional value. USDA studies reveal that the food currently grown on America's chemical-intensive farms contains drastically less vitamins and essential trace minerals than the food produced 50 years ago (when far less pesticides and chemical fertilizers were used). As even Time magazine has admitted recently, given the hidden costs of damage to public health, climate stability, and the environment, conventional (factory farm) food is extremely expensive. Much of Food Inc.'s common fare is not only nutritionally deficient, but also routinely contaminated--laced with pesticide residues, antibiotics, hormones, harmful bacteria and viruses, genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and toxic chemicals. 1 Like tobacco, factory farm food is dangerous to your health. No wonder organic food is by far the fastest growing segment of U.S. agriculture. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the California Department of Agriculture (CDFA), and the Environmental Working Group (EWG) have shown that many of the nation's favorite foods are contaminated with a lethal cocktail of the most toxic chemicals, putting consumers, and especially children and infants (who are up to 100 times more sensitive to toxic chemicals) at risk. For those living in factory farming communities and working on farms, the constant exposure to the most toxic pesticides poses an even greater risk than the general population for cancer, birth defects, asthma, Parkinson's, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, Alzheimer's, liver, kidney, heart disease, and many other ailments. Forty-eight percent of U.S. women now get cancer, as well as 38% of men. There is now conclusive evidence that exposure to farm and household chemicals (including body care and cleaning products) greatly increase your chances of getting cancer or other serious diseases. This is why there are large and growing clusters of cancers and birth defects in farm and urban communities all over the U.S. These clusters are a direct result of the use of toxic pesticides and fertilizers on our farms, ranches, gardens, and lawns. 2 Several recent French court decisions have determined that farmers are suffering from leukemia, Parkinson's, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and myeloma cancers as a direct result of chemicals they've used on their farms. 3 The chemicals causing these cancers and leukemia are the same chemicals used to grow food in the U.S. Besides the damage to human health from pesticide use, chemical agriculture's use of synthetic fertilizers and sewage sludge have polluted the nation's streams, creeks, rivers, oceans, drinking water, and millions of acres of farmland. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Environmental Working Group, two-thirds of the U.S. population is drinking water contaminated with high levels of nitrates and nitrites, caused by nitrate fertilizer runoff from factory farms. Large areas along our coastlines, bays, and gulfs have become "dead zones" as a result of excess nitrogen fertilizer and sewage sludge flowing into them. Serious illness and death are directly attributable to high levels of nitrates and pesticides in drinking water. 4 Factory farming's carbon footprint is also huge. Government officials have consistently failed to regulate agriculture's greenhouse gas emissions or even admit that they are a serious problem. Most official estimates of greenhouse gas pollution of U.S. agriculture range from a ridiculously low 7% to 12% of total U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Recent analysis has demonstrated that U.S. factory farms and industrial agriculture are responsible for at least 35%, and possibly up to 50%, of greenhouse gas emissions. 5 Unfortunately, agriculture is currently exempted from even weak U.S. efforts to control greenhouse gases, including the recent cap and trade legislation passed by the House of Representatives. 6 Hopefully the most recent U.S. EPA directives in December 2009 on curbing greenhouse gasses will apply to agriculture, our most polluting industry. However, "just say no" Republican and Democratic congressmen are doing the bidding of their pesticide, fertilizer, and petroleum clients (instead of their constituents) and have vowed to block any efforts by the EPA to regulate emissions. The farm and chemical industry may now be as vulnerable as the tobacco industry was in the 1990s. People in the U.S. have finally become suspicious of the safety of the (non-organic) food supply. Millions are wary of home pesticides, weed killers, and synthetic garden and lawn fertilizers. Big agricultural chemical companies are under increasing criticism from consumers, including relatives of those hospitalized and killed by farm chemicals and factory farm contaminated food. Giant tobacco corporations lied to the public for decades, claiming that cigarettes were safe. Similarly chemical corporations and agri-business have conducted a hundred year campaign to hide the dangers of their farm chemicals. They hired scientists in the 1920s and 1930s to lie to the public about the dangers of arsenic and lead, the most widely used pesticides of the era. They hired scientists in the 1950s and 1960s to counteract the criticism of DDT and the other World War II pesticides and fertilizers. In the mid 1960s and the 1970s corporate agribusiness and chemical giants like Monsanto put enormous resources into debunking the criticisms of toxic chemicals in Rachel Carson's Silent Spring and those of other public health and environmental activists. Chemical companies hired fake laboratories to give their most toxic chemicals a guarantee of safety in the 1980s and 90s. The EPA, Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the USDA accepted these bogus reports as valid until independent scientists and safe-food activists exposed the truth. The chemical industry has routinely stalled or neutered any chemical regulations passed in the U.S. Much of the public still believes it is protected because Congress passed several landmark pesticide and chemical control laws in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Unfortunately, the chemical corporations and corporate agribusiness have lobbied successfully against these laws, weakening or repealing them. As a result, only a handful of the 80,000 industrial chemicals or pesticides used in farming or found in consumer products have lost their federal or state registration in the last 40 years. 7 As the co-author of this essay, Will Allen, concluded in his 2008 book The War on Bugs, it is time to conduct a full-scale offensive against factory farming and industrial agriculture. It is time for consumers to stop buying chemical food and using poisonous chemicals on their lawns, gardens, and in their houses. It is time for executives and workers on factory farms to become whistle blowers. It is time for chemically assaulted farmworkers and farmers to sue these killers. It is time for chemical and food industry employees and feedlot cowboys to expose factory farming's dirty secrets, just as high-level tobacco executives and tobacco workers did in the 1990s. It is time for courageous magazines or Internet sites to refuse farm and home chemical advertisements. In 1905, Colliers magazine refused to publish any more patent medicine ads. Almost immediately, the Saturday Evening Post, and the Ladies Home Journal joined the boycott. This didn't solve the problem of useless patent medicines, but it provoked a public dialogue and the rejection of thousands of dangerous potions. The public exposure of these "snake oil" remedies saved countless lives. Similar bold moves need to be taken to protect us all from the ravages of Food Inc. Time magazine's recent expose in August of 2009 of our dangerous and costly food system may be a signal that at least some reporters in the media are willing to expose the hazards of factory farms and chemical agriculture. Sadly, other media outlets continue to serve as cheerleaders for GMOs and industrial food. The New Yorker magazine and National Public Radio continue to carry Monsanto's ads claiming that GMO crops use less pesticides and can feed the world's population, when in fact recent research has shown that GMO crops actually increase pesticide use. Other studies have demonstrated that yields of both GMO corn and soy are actually lower than non-GMO varieties. 8 In the European Union (EU), pesticides and farm chemicals have come under increased scrutiny since the EU instituted a rigorous chemical evaluation and registration process, known as REACH (Registration, Evaluation, and Authorization of Chemicals). Many of the most toxic (and profitable) chemicals used in farming and consumer products could lose their registration in the EU within the next few years. U.S. agricultural chemical lobbyists are worried that more aggressive regulations such as REACH are going to limit their sales in Europe and that more rigorous chemical enforcements are headed to the US, following the European example. It is time for the federal government to stop promoting and subsidizing factory farms and junk food. Food Inc.'s "business as usual" practices are destroying public health and the environment, destabilizing the climate, and setting us up for disaster in the coming era of petroleum and water scarcity. It is time for the Obama Administration and government regulators to place mandatory warnings on dozens of the most toxic foods, similar to the Surgeon General's warnings on tobacco products. We also need warning labels on pesticides and chemical fertilizers, as well as a wide range of consumer products. The following are proposed Surgeon General's warnings for a few of the many (non-organic) crops we have analyzed, strawberries, peaches, and carrots: DANGER! PROPOSED SURGEON GENERAL'S WARNING FOR STRAWBERRIES Average Pesticide and Fertilizer Use on 2006 California Strawberries 9,274,453 pounds of pesticides used at an average of 279.44 lbs per acre on 33,190 acres. THIS IS THE HIGHEST AVERAGE PESTICIDE USE ON ANY FRUIT OR VEGETABLE! Two of top five pesticides are probable carcinogens. All five of the top chemicals cause multiple birth defects. Five pesticides account for more than 90% of use on California strawberries. Most used pesticide was Chloropicrin, or tear gas. Second most used pesticide was Methyl bromide, the ozone destroyer. 92.3% of berries tested had pesticide residues. 69.2% of berries tested had two or more residues. Of the 109 pesticides used on strawberries, 38 were detectable on berry samples. Some strawberry samples had as many as 8 residues. Strawberries were the SECOND most pesticide contaminated fruit in the EWG study Fertilizer use averaged 350 pounds of Nitrogen fertilizer per acre on coastal lands, which drain into the ocean. NITROGEN FERTILIZER IS THE MAIN CAUSE OF NITRATE WATER POLLUTION, DEAD ZONES IN THE OCEAN & GREENHOUSE GAS POLLUTION. PREGNANT WOMEN, CHILDREN AND THE ELDERLY ARE MOST AT RISK FROM THE USE OF THIS FRUIT! Sources: California EPA, DPR and CDFA, Environmental Working Group, U.S.EP DANGER! PROPOSED SURGEON GENERAL'S WARNING FOR PEACHES Average Pesticide and Fertilizer use on 2006 California Peaches 4,676,273 pounds of pesticides used at an average of 76 lbs. per acre on 61,377.95 acres. Two of top five pesticides are probable carcinogens, three cause birth defects, one is an endocrine disruptor, and three damage fish and other aquatic life. 96.6% of peaches had pesticide residues. 86.6% had two or more residues. 42 different pesticide residues were still detectable on the fruit. Some had as many as 9 residues on a single sample.Peaches had the highest percentage of fruit with dangerous residues of all fruit tested. An average of 125 pounds of NITROGEN, 10 pounds of PHOSPHOROUS, and 200-500 pounds of POTASH fertilizer were used per acre-NITROGEN IS THE MAJOR CAUSE OF U.S. DRINKING WATER POLLUTION, DEAD ZONES IN THE OCEAN, AND A MAJOR SOURCE OF GREENHOUSE GAS POLLUTION. PREGNANT WOMEN, CHILDREN AND THE ELDERLY ARE MOST AT RISK FROM THESE FRUITS! Sources: California EPA, DPR and CDFA, Environmental Working Group, U.S.EPA DANGER! PROPOSED SURGEON GENERAL'S WARNING FOR CARROTS Average Pesticide and Fertilizer use on 2006 California Carrots 6,616,796 pounds of pesticides were used at an Average of 102 lbs per acre on 64,870.55 acres. Most used pesticide was Metam sodium (Temik). Temik, Telone II, and Methyldithiocarbamate account for 90% of pesticides on carrots. All three cause birth defects, two are probable carcinogens. 81.7% of carrots had pesticide residues. 48.3% had two or more residues. 31 poisons were detected on the samples. 6 residues detected on a single sample. An average of 250 pounds of Nitrogen and more than 100 pounds of phosphorous and potash fertilizer were used per acre on carrots-NITROGEN IS THE MAJOR CAUSE OF U.S. DRINKING WATER POLLUTION, DEAD ZONES IN THE OCEAN, AND A MAJOR SOURCE OF GREENHOUSE GAS POLLUTION. PREGNANT WOMEN, CHILDREN AND THE ELDERLY ARE MOST AT RISK FROM THIS VEGETABLE! Sources: California EPA, DPR and CDFA, Environmental Working Group, U.S.EPA The proposed warnings above are not the kind of corporate-friendly regulations that will be tolerated by chemical companies such as Monsanto, Dow, Syngenta, Bayer, DuPont or BASF. Consumers will need to fight these corporations to gain their right-to-know what's in our food and other products. But these are indeed the types of warning labels that are needed, similar to the warnings on tobacco products. Given the regulatory coma of the FDA, the USDA, and the EPA, we need to be careful about what we eat and feed to our families. We must seek out and purchase organic foods and products whenever possible (organic standards prohibit the use of toxic pesticides, chemical fertilizer, and GMOs), but we also need to be aggressive about demanding that the current factory farm system must change. It is, after all, our tax dollars that prop up the GMOs, chemical agriculture, and junk food of Food Inc. Our tax dollars literally subsidize the production of foods that cause diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and cancer. Recent studies indicate that 68% of the U.S. population is overweight, while 34% is obese. This fattening of America over the last 20 years is a direct result of the highly processed junk foods that we eat, loaded with fat, sugar, salt, and toxic residues. Only our collective voices, votes, purchases, and demands for fundamental reform and regulation can change the nation's dangerous system of food production and distribution. 9 But, don't wait for the regulators to act before you change your food habits. Organic and health-minded consumers are transforming the marketplace with their purchasing power all over the world. You can too! We need to demand that our presently out-of-control food and farming system be regulated. Like the mortgage, bank, insurance industries, and Wall Street, agriculture has not been properly regulated for decades, if ever. EPA, FDA, and the USDA regulatory practices have been severely weakened by pro-agribusiness, deregulatory administrations since Reagan. It's time to crack down on the hazardous practice of corporate agribusiness. As long as no one is regulating how many different toxic substances are applied to conventionally grown food, a staggering amount of chemical cocktails and synthetic fertilizer will continue to be used. The scary bottom line is that America's corporate food handlers and processors do not care about your safety. They care about their profits. All the "conventional" horrors of industrial agriculture are banned on organic and biodynamic farms. Why? Because organic consumers and farmers decided to create third party certification organizations in the 1980s that enforced strict regulations on how organic food could be grown. So, instead of asking: Why does organic food cost more than "conventional" food? We should be asking: How cheap would poisoned ("conventional") food have to be to be a good deal? The time has come to stand up and be counted, to force the chemical, genetic engineering, petroleum and sewage sludge corporations to bend to the people's will, to endure their own tobacco moment. Only then will Rachel Carson's hopes for a sustainable future be realized. Only then will a 21st Century Silent Spring be averted. 10 Only then will we be able to stop factory farming's assault on public health and all Earth's creatures, large and small. Footnotes: 1. Will Allen, The Death of Food, Alternet, April, 2008. The Real Cost of Cheap Food, Alternet, June 2008. Organic Consumer's Association Newsletter, April and June 2008. Bryan Walsh, Getting Real about the High Cost of Cheap Food, Time magazine, August 21, 2009 2. The Environmental Working Group's 2008 Dirty Dozen Vegetables and Fruits (with the highest residues). Residue analyses from the United States Department of Agriculture. California EPA, Pesticide Use Reports, 1970-2006. Will Allen, The War on Bugs, Chelsea Green, White River Junction, Vt., March 2008. 3. Smith, Diana, 2010, Cancer and Pesticides: Victims Fight for Justice. Ecologist, February 4. 4. See: The Environmental Working Group's study of EPA water quality data, and California Department of Agriculture's Fertilizer studies from 1985 to 2006. 5. Shiva, Vandana, 2009, Soil not Oil, Navdanya, New Delhi, India. Allen, Will and Cummins, Ronnie, 2010 Beyond Copenhagen: Building a Green and Organic Future. Huffington Post, Organic Bytes, February 6. Greenhouse Gas emissions were deemed on December 7, 2009 to be deleterious to public health by the U.S. EPA. It will be interesting to see if this ruling allows greenhouse gasses emitted from agriculture to be regulated like other industries 7. The United States Environmental Protection Agency began in 1970. Instead of protecting the public the EPA has aligned itself with Monsanto, DuPont, Bayer, Crop Life and other chemical protective groups. California's Proposition 65, passed in 1983 to regulate Cancer Causing Chemicals in public places. Instead of banning them or regulating them they now only inform you that cancer causing chemicals are present. California's Birth Defect Prevention Act, passed in 1984 was designed to eliminate the most dangerous birth defect generating chemicals. After 25 years almost no chemicals have lost their registration. 8. Chuck Benbrook, 2009 Impacts of Genetically Engineered Crops on Pesticide Use: The First Thirteen Years. The Organic Center. November 17. Boulder, Colorado 9. Will Allen, We Need Food and Farming Regulation NOW! Chelsea Green Blog, April, 2009., Organic Consumer's Association Newsletter, April, 2009, Common Dreams, May, 2009. 10. Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, 1962, Fawcett Publications, Greenwich, Conn. Will Allen is a famer, community organizer, activist, and writer who farms in Vermont. His first book, The War on Bugs, was published by Chelsea Green in 2008. His website is www.thewaronbugsbook.com http://www.thewaronbugsbook.com the farm website is www.cedarcirclefarm.org http://www.cedarcirclefarm.org Ronnie Cummins is an organizer, writer, and activist. He is the International Director of the Organic Consumers Association and co-author of the book, Genetically Engineered Food: A Self-Defense Guide for Consumers. His organization's website is www.OrganicConsumers.org http://www.OrganicConsumers.org Zuri Allen Star and Michael Kanter researched the California Pesticide statistics, and the author researched the fertilizer data. Any errors in interpretation, however are entirely the author's. Is This Factory Farming's Tobacco Moment? By Will Allen and Ronnie Cummins By Will Allen and Ronnie Cummins Organic Consumers Association, April 8, 2010 Straight to the Source

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(also amboyna wood) The decorative timber of a rapidly growing SE Asian tree, used for cabinetmaking. - The tree is Pterocarpus indicus, family Leguminosae More example sentences - Its paleness escapes looking bland thanks to contrasting inlays of ebony, walnut and amboyna, a wood distinguished by bird's eye curls. - After finishing the surface, the grain texture of amboyna wood has a depth and richness unmatched in other textured woods. - The centrepiece of the pavilion was a grand piano designed by Ruhlmann and made from such exotic materials as amboyna wood and Macassar ebony. mid 19th century: named after Amboina Island (see Ambon).

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adjective (marshier, marshiest) Characteristic of or resembling a marsh; waterlogged: the marshy ground towards the sea More example sentences - In the summer, they breed on marshy, lowland tundra at the northern limits of the boreal forest. - They nest in the low Arctic, on tundra ponds with marshy shores and bogs. - It was a large, indoor school that sat upon a sandy island surrounded by marshy swampland. - More example sentences - Various features including circular and curvilear features on ground that is level with tendency to marshiness. - From what it sounded like, the trees fell, and over several summers sank into the mushy tundra marshiness. - Because of its marshiness and flat topography, Savannah is prone to flooding.

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Having or showing a dislike or distrust that is derived from prejudice; bigoted: people are prejudiced against us prejudiced views More example sentences - Demeaning, degrading, bigoted, and prejudiced ideas and behaviours are fought every day around the world. - Such prejudiced views and blinkered thinking, unfortunately, are not just confined to the right. - You're not supposed to show yourself to be at all prejudiced or bigoted. biased, bigoted, discriminatory, partisan, partial, one-sided, jaundiced, intolerant, narrow-minded, unfair, unjust, inequitable, non-objective, unobjective, blinkered, parti pris, coloured, distorted, warped, loaded, weighted; racist, racialist, anti-Semitic, chauvinistic, chauvinist, sexist, heterosexist, homophobic, anti-gay, ageist, disablist, classist, fattist

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A sharp pinnacle of rock in a mountain range. More example sentences - Across the valley, towering above you, is the snow-covered dome of Mont Blanc, glaciers tumbling down its northern face –and the razor-sharp ‘needles’ of several aiguilles, set in a jagged line across the southern horizon. - The summit of the Aiguille Verte exhibits the original culmination of the group which is now divided into several aiguilles. - For the athlete who will spend days on an aiguille for the sake of gymnastics has less of the true stuff in him than the simple fellow who goes a walking tour in Devonshire from an honest liking for high places. mid 18th century: French, literally 'needle'. Definition of aiguille in: - The British & World English dictionary

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“Too often we underestimate the power of touch—a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring—all of which have the potential to turn a life around.”—Leo Buscaglia, American author Buscaglia’s thoughts on touch ring true in the field of parenting as much as they do in any life relationship. With infants and toddlers, touch is an everyday part of life, but as children grow older, many of them don’t want to be touched. Yet, researcher Tiffany Field has found that touch has a powerful effect on how kids grow. The more they’re touched in positive, appropriate ways, the more they thrive. With that said, I’ve composed a few simple tips for you to consider as you work to remember the power of touch in your everyday parenting: • Think of touch as another way to communicate with your child. Whenever you pat your child on the shoulder, snuggle up to read together, or hug your child, you’re telling your child that you love him or her. • Examine your comfort with touch. Some people enjoy more touch than others, and some have been wounded by inappropriate touch. Know yourself so that your issues of touch don’t get passed along to your kids. • Talk about how touch has changed over previous generations.Some generations have maintained that “touch” was equal to “spoiling,” which resulted in very little touch. Some people have been more reticent to touch others because of all the news and litigation of inappropriate touch. Yet, kids need parents who touch them in supportive, loving, appropriate ways. • Know your child’s preferences.Some enjoy playful touch, such as pillow fights and gentle wrestling. Others like hugs. Everyone is different, and kids often have their views of touch change as they grow older. For concrete ideas through the childhood years, read the article, How to Speak Love Language #1 – Physical Touch. • If you or another family member is uncomfortable with appropriate touch, consider getting a pet to teach you about the joy of touching. Cats and dogs are usually ideal since they love to be petted and touched, and they make their needs known (such as when a cat crawls into your lap or a dog lies her head on your lap). As a family, play with your pet together so that family members can enjoy petting an animal. Then gradually expand to family members by rubbing each others shoulders or combing a child’s hair. If you have a child under 5 • Frequently hold your infants and toddlers. Rock them. Cuddle with them. Pick them up when they cry. Let them sit in your lap when they want to. Positive touch is essential for raising young children well. The asset-building book What Young Children Need to Succeed includes lots of ideas on how to touch kids in positive ways from birth to age 11. Check out the book from your library, or find it online on Amazon.com. • Play games that involve touch, such as having your child ride you like a horse. Blow raspberries onto your child’s tummy (as long as your child enjoys this). Tickle each other. Play with your infant’s hands and feet. Continue to play in these ways as long as your child smiles, giggles, and enjoys it. • Make reading a part of your everyday routine. When you read to your child, have your child sit in your lap. Or snuggle up close together. If you have a young child, between the ages of 6-9 • At this age, some children pull away from hugs and other types of touch. Look for touch that they like. For example, some kids enjoy sandwich hugs where you sandwich a family member in between two other family members and squeeze. Others enjoy arm wrestling. • As your child learns to read, sit next to your child so that you’re touching. This often works best in a soft couch, oversized chair, or bed. Some kids may still enjoy sitting in your lap during reading times, but other kids may like the slight touch of your sides when you sit side by side. • Play games that involve touch, such as tag; duck, duck, goose; and three-legged races. If you have a tween or a young teen, between the ages of 10–15 • It’s often typical that kids at this age don’t want their parents anywhere near them (let alone touching them). Honor their needs for space, but don’t check out of their lives. When possible, touch their shoulders when you say you’re proud of them. Or ask your daughter if you can style her hair. • If you coach or lead a club for kids at this age, make high-fives a regular part of your routine. For example, start out and end each session with high-fives. This type of touch often works well with kids at this age. • Help your kids find activities that include appropriate touch, such as soccer, basketball, marital arts, and other sports. Even if they don’t want you to be touching them, they’re often open to others touching them. That’s why you can see a couple of kids suddenly start to wrestle at this age or a couple of girls styling each other’s hair. If you have an older teen, between the ages of 16–18 • Teens at this age still may want their distance from their parents, but teens often like it when the same-sex parent (or an extended family member) touches them in some appropriate way. This could include a dad lightly punching his teenage son’s arm or a mom giving her daughter a hug. • When your teenager is stressed, ask if your teenager would like a hand massage or a shoulder massage. Make your offer very specific (such as massaging the neck) so that kids don’t freak out that you want to touch them all over. Most kids enjoy a type of touch that relaxes their tense muscles, and you often can talk as you touch your teenager in this way. (Note: You don’t need to know how to do a proper massage. Just rubbing the shoulders and lightly kneading muscles is all you need to do.) • Model appropriate touch with other family members who are open to your touch. If you have a younger child, touch him or her in the ways your child likes. If you have a partner, hold hands in front of the kids. The way you model touch also makes a big impact on kids.

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Christopher, for instance, listens carefully when people talk; he first said "spatula" at 16 months. Alexandra, his twin sister, bounds off across the playground -- she was the first in the group to go down the big, twisty slide all by herself. Grace watches carefully from the sidelines before enthusiastically exploring new things later on. Alex observes; he can often be found studying his board books intently. Phoebe, my daughter, revels in hands-on play in sand, mud, and water. When I see the different ways these kids respond to and pick up information -- by leaping in or watching first, by looking at things or picking them up -- I wonder if these are clues to how they'll learn best as they grow. Will Phoebe always want to get her hands on things? Will Christopher always respond most strongly to words and sounds? And do these tendencies matter? An increasing number of researchers say yes. Every child has a distinct "learning style," or way of observing her surroundings and gaining new information. While everyone learns individually in a variety of ways, we all -- children and adults -- do it best when using particular senses and ways of exploring the world. Many researchers agree that there are four primary learning styles: auditory (based on hearing), kinesthetic (based on movement), tactual (based on touching and feeling), and visual (based on seeing). Young kids tend to be kinesthetic and tactual -- that's why they seem to be in perpetual motion and obsessed with touching everything in sight -- but even the littlest one may prefer another learning style. "You can see this with a youngster who particularly likes music or appears to listen very intently: He may be an auditory child," says Priscilla O'Connell, a doctoral student at St. John's University, who studied learning styles in children ages 6 months to 3 years. "A child who's especially attracted to colorful toys may be visual." Susan E. Davis writes about health and child development for a number of national magazines. Sampling Every StyleEven infants may display tendencies toward a certain way of learning, experts believe. "Some babies seem especially observant and attuned to details," says Barbara Marcelo Evans, M.D., a neurodevelopmental pediatrician at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, in Camden, NJ. "Others may be very verbal and vocal at an early age." Whatever a baby's tendency, she's apt to experiment with various styles -- often at the same time. A 3-month-old who stares at the rattle she waves in her tiny hand takes in information visually, auditorally, tactually, and kinesthetically. But babies go through short phases of focusing on a specific style. "A one-year-old may seem physically precocious, but that can level off within a few months, and then she may seem very attuned to listening instead," says Jim McCrory, Ph.D., a professor of education at Mary Baldwin College, in Stauton, VA. All this experimentation is good for your baby. That's why many experts advise that even if you see a strong pattern in an infant or toddler, it's best to focus on stimulating all the senses, by exposing her to a variety of experiences. Picking a PreferenceA toddler may begin to display a particular learning tendency. Recognizing and responding to his preferred style as he explores new concepts and materials can help your child develop a sense of mastery. Though we sometimes think that there's a "right" way to teach almost any child a particular skill, learning-style proponents argue that there is a right way to teach almost any skill to a particular child. Here's how you can recognize and support each type of learner: Auditory learners gain new information best by hearing it. Signs that your child's a listener: - She quickly remembers the words to stories and songs. - She follows directions easily. - She repeats overheard phrases and comments. Ways to help her learn: - The more you talk, the more information she'll gather. - She'll enjoy listening to stories -- about both real and imaginary events -- and telling her own. - Songs and rhymes are a great way to teach new things -- from colors and letters to remembering daily routines. Kinesthetic learners like to get physically involved in learning, using their bodies to investigate new places and concepts. Signs that your child's a mover: - He gleefully zooms down the slide-over and over again. - He pretends to be characters from a favorite book, mimicking the story's actions. - He always brings his toys to life, moving them about, and revels in active games. Ways to help him learn: - If he acts out stories, it will help him understand and remember favorite books. - Teach new information by creating movement games. For instance, draw letters on the sidewalk and have him jump on the one you call out. - Have him role-play scenarios you've created to help him learn new concepts or remember important safety lessons. Tactual learners need to feel and touch things to understand how they work. Signs that your child's a toucher: - She's drawn to objects with interesting shapes and textures, and loves to play with blocks. - She needs to actually feel abstract ideas, such as touching an ice cube to understand how cold "really cold" is. - She has trouble following directions to unfamiliar tasks. Ways to help her learn: - Introduce new tasks or materials, then let her try them. - Give her materials with interesting textures that are sturdy enough to stand up to intensive handling. - Offer her a variety of puzzles and table games. - Let her make shapes and letters with her finger in sand or flour, or form them with clay. Visual learners pick up information best by seeing new material. Signs that your child's a watcher: - He's mesmerized by photos, illustrations, and television shows or videos. - He remembers how to do things he's seen others doing. - He's quick to recognize shapes, colors, and letters. Ways to help him learn: - Share picture books with plenty of engaging graphics. - Show him educational television shows and videos, which are a good way to explore new topics. - Demonstrate how to do new tasks or use materials he hasn't tried before. - Let him sort and match by creating murals or collages. - Make a chart with photos to show daily routines or household chores. By tuning in to your child's preferred style, you may help him learn more -- and more easily. That's not to say that we should only encourage our kids to do things one way. All children need to have experiences that call every learning style into play so that they can succeed in school and beyond. But when we help our kids learn in the way that's most natural for them, they're more likely to develop the confidence needed to master every learning style. It's too soon for me to guess if my own daughter, Phoebe, will continue to be the mud-loving tactual learner she is today. But for now, I plan to give her plenty to get her hands on -- and learn from.

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We already covered teen eating disorder causes, and it is very clear that we are still not certain of them. As such it is very hard to come up with prevention methods for eating disorders. The main eating disorders in today’s society are bulimia nervosa, anorexia nervosa and binge eating and we are still not clear if regular stress factors have any influence or what kind of influence they have on these disorders. One thing is for sure, more and more teens are being taken in by the standards set by the media. It is hard for insecure teens to feel good about themselves when models and actresses and even dolls are made according to certain standards. All of these things greatly contribute to teen distorted view of their body and it creates a false ideal of how women should look, which in return takes them on unhealthy diets and stressing out over their appearance. So if we were to speak of prevention we would have to change the media and the entire society’s view on appeal, which is impossible. But there are a few things that can be done on the family level in order to prevent a teen eating disorder from appearing. - The first place to start is by giving an example. Show your kids that they need to eat healthy and take care of their weight, but take care of their healthy weight, not the weight according to false standards - You need to help your teen think positively of himself or herself, a positive self image and good self esteem teenagers are far less likely to develop an eating disorder - Make sure that your teens are eating healthy nutrient full and balanced meals - Try to point them out to some more realistic models and idols instead of fitness models and superstars - Strictly prohibit teasing based on someone’s physical appearance - Try to get your teens to participate in physical activities and team sports. A team sport is a great way for teens to develop higher self esteem and make a better body image of themselves, which in return lessens the odds of developing a teen eating disorder. Of course since we are not sure what may be causing teen eating disorder we should take care of all the other issues that may appear, both physical and emotional. Any issue that appears to be problematic should be dealt with and you should try to teach your teens how to think positively and encourage them to deal with their emotions, all of that will help your teen form a better image and have better self esteem, which in return lowers the chances of teen eating disorder appearing in your child.

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For some, Tibet is a destination of a spiritual pilgrimage. For others, it is a peaceful, calming land with a beauty that is beyond explanation. For a few, Tibet holds a special place in their hearts as the birthplace of the Lhasa apso. History and Origin Originating in the villages near the sacred city of Lhasa, the Lhasa apso is one of three dog breeds from the land of Tibet. The others are the Tibetan terrier and the Tibetan spaniel. In his homeland, the Lhasa is known as the Abso Seng Kye, the Bark Lion Sentinel Dog. As the name implies, the Lhasa was bred and developed to be a guard dog. Since larger mastiff-type dogs were used to patrol and protect outdoor perimeters, the Lhasa was given the responsibility of protecting the inside of homes. This included the homes of the privileged classes as well as the Dalai Lama. During a trip to Tibet in the 1930s, an American named C. Suydam Cutting arranged an audience with the Dalai Lama. They became friends and a pair of Lhasas was given to Cutting as a gift from the Dalai Lama in 1933. This gift resulted in the establishment of the Lhasa apso in the United States. The Lhasa apso was first admitted to the American Kennel Club in 1935 as a member of the non-sporting group. Since the Lhasa originates in a land of harsh climates, a hardy constitution and a heavy dense hair coat is to be expected. The hair coat is also straight and long. Typically tan in color, the dog comes in other colors. The Lhasa is a small dog with a tail that curls up over the back. The head is moderate in shape with a medium length muzzle. The ears are small and heavily feathered. The adult Lhasa apso stands 10 to 11 inches at the shoulder and weighs about 15 to 20 pounds. The harsh climate of Tibet has led to the development of a hardy and vigorous dog. The breed is intelligent and seems to have a sixth sense in distinguishing friends from strangers. Aloof and watchful of strangers, the Lhasa quickly becomes friendly and outgoing when he gets to know you. Home and Family Relations The Lhasa is a born protector and companion. The breed thrives on human contact but is not very tolerant of small children. The Lhasa does best when kept as a house pet. The Lhasa happily lives with other dogs, as long as human companionship is provided. The Lhasa is generally an obedient dog and can be easily trained. Some Lhasas tend to be independent and can have some difficulty following commands. The breed will eventually do what is asked but may need to take a little time to think about the instructions first. The long dense hair coat of the Lhasa requires frequent grooming to prevent mats and tangles. Some Lhasas tend to be overly protective and aggressive so early socialization and obedience training are strongly recommended. The independence of the Lhasa can lead to problems with dominance and aggression but with firm and loving discipline, this can be prevented.

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C.C.A. Baldi Middle School is located in Northeast Philadelphia and was named after Charles Carmine Antonio Baldi (1862-1930), the first Italian immigrant appointed to the Philadelphia Board of Education, 1924. Baldi Middle School includes grades six through eight and is comprised of a diverse population of approximately 1,200 students. A highlight of Baldi Middle School is the comprehensive Fine Arts program developed and taught by Marjorie Robbins. The extensive curriculum includes drawing from observation, composition, color theory, mixed media, and art history. Another significant component of the program is the appreciation of cultural diversity. Projects often explore symbolic motifs, art forms, and art mediums practiced around the world.

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Myth and Cult of Adonis Adonis is a young fertility god, a comely youth beloved by Astarte, and represents death and rebirth in an oriental vegetation cult. He is also known as the agricultural divinity named Eshmun. derived from the Canaanite title, Adon. It is the Semitic word for master or lord and i means my, therefore Adonai (Adonis is the Hellenized version of the same) translates as my similarly the meaning of Baal, with whom he shares traits, is also lord or master. The myth of Adonis suffers from a lot of confusion. This study will show that he had two origins, several fathers and mothers, in some ways. His mother was Greek Aphrodite, the equivalent of Phoenician Astarte and Roman Venus. lover was also Astarte and Venus; while his fathers were several kings The Greeks knew the cult of Adonis in the sixth century BC, unquestionably through with Cyprus. In the same period Ezekiel (8:4) notes his existence in Jerusalem under the Babylonian name of Tammuz, who saw the women Jerusalem weeping for him at the north gate of the temple. Adonis parallels the eastern companion god Dumuzi/Tammuz and the Hittite Telipinu. is a Semitic immigrant to the Greek pantheon and is therefore not counted among the greater gods. His cult was established in Greece by 600 BC and his worship was known to Sappho and her circle. Adonis has two origins: Cyprus and Byblos. On Cyprus, his father is either Canaanite/Phoenician king Theias or Cinyras, king of Paphos, or Pygmalion; his mother was Myrrha, the king's daughter. At Byblos, it is Phoinix, father of the Phoenicians. Paphos sees him linked to the goddess Aphrodite, with whom a tie has already been established. The worship of Adonis, a cult especially popular with women, was celebrated on flat rooftops by the planting of plants and the offering of incenses. It also involved lamentations for the dead god. The incense and wailing of women are identical practices to those found in Baal worship. In Greece, the goddess Persephone fulfills much of his role. In Phoenicia, his worship supplanted that of Aleyin, a vegetation god and son of Baal, who was killed by Mot. According to legend the king of Canaan, Theias, had a daughter named Myrrha or Smyrna who was cursed by Aphrodite. She was forced to commit incest with her father when she was twelve; with the complicity of here nurse she succeeded in deceiving him for eleven nights, but on the twelfth night Theias discovered whom she really was and prepared to kill her. Myrrha fled, and the gods taking pity on her, turned her into a tree, the myrrh tree. Ten months later the bark peeled off and an infant emerged and was named Adonis. Aphrodite was very moved by the beauty of the child, placed him into a coffin and she gave him to Persephone, goddess of the Underworld, to bring up. Becoming infatuated with the beautiful child Persephone refused to give him back. When Aphrodite returned to retrieve the coffin she discovered that Persephone had opened it and claimed the handsome child for herself. Zeus became the arbitrator in settling the dispute between the two goddesses, and it was decided that Adonis should live one-third of the year with Aphrodite on earth, one-third with Persephone in the Underworld, and the final third with whichever he pleased. Adonis chose to spend two-thirds of the year with Aphrodite and one-third with Persephone in the Underworld. Adonis was an avid hunter. Astarte fell deeply in love with him. She tried to persuade him to give up the dangerous sport. Adonis refused. The story goes that while out hunting, Adonis was killed by a wild boar. The Phoenician goddess Astarte tried to save him but she was too late. And so it is the blood of Adonis that each spring turns to red the torrential river, the Adonis River (modern Nahr Ibrahim in Lebanon) . Afqa is the sacred source where the waters of the river emerge from a huge grotto in a 200 meters high. It is there that the myth of Astarte (Venus) and Adonis Across from the grotto are the remains of the Roman Temple of Venus. The temple was destroyed by the Christian Emperor Constantine (285 - 337 AD), it was later rebuilt by Julian the Apostle (362 - 363). His most important temples were at Byblos and Paphos. The temple of Astarte, celebrated the annual death and resurrection of Adonis. Phoenician festival appears to have been a vernal one, for its date was determined by the discoloration of the river Adonis, and this has been observed by modern travelers to occur in spring. At that season the red earth washed down from the mountains by the rain tinges the water of the river, and even the sea. The blood-red hue and the crimson stain were believed to be the blood of Adonis. Again, the scarlet anemone is said to have sprung from the blood of Adonis, or to have been stained by it. The anemone blooms in Canaan/Phoenicia may be thought to show that the festival of Adonis, or at least one of his festivals, was held in spring. His death appears to have been annually mourned, to the shrill music of flutes, by men and women about midsummer in the month named after him, the month of Tammuz (July). The dirges were seemingly chanted over an effigy of the dead god, which was washed with pure water, anointed with oil, and clad in a red robe. At the same time the fumes of incense rose into the air, as if to stir his dormant senses by their pungent fragrance and wake him from the sleep of death. Women bewail him, because his lord slew him so cruelly, ground his bones in a mill, and then scattered them to the wind. The women (during this festival) eat nothing which has been ground in a mill, but limit their diet to steeped wheat, sweet vetches, dates, raisins, and the like. Images of him, dressed to resemble corpses, were carried out as to burial and then thrown into the sea or into springs; and in some places his revival was celebrated on the following day. The red anemone marked his reappearance on earth. Laments for the death of Adonis is contained in several hymns, which liken him to plants that quickly fade. that in the garden has drunk no water, Whose crown in the field has brought forth no blossom. A willow that rejoiced not by the watercourse, A willow whose roots were torn up. A herb that in the garden had drunk no water." The voices of the singers chanting the sad refrain and to catch, like far-away music, the wailing notes of the flutes: "At his vanishing away she lifts up a lament, Oh my child! at his vanishing away she lifts up a lament; My Damu! at his vanishing away she lifts up a lament. My enchanter and priest! at his vanishing away she lifts up a lament, At the shining cedar, rooted in a spacious place, In Eanna, above and below, she lifts up a lament. Like the lament that a house lifts up for its master, lifts she up a lament, Like the lament that a city lifts up for its lord, lifts she up a lament. Her lament is the lament for an herb that grows not in the bed; Her lament is the lament for the corn that grows not in the ear. Her chamber is a possession that brings not forth a possession, A weary woman, a weary child, forspent. Her lament is for a great river, where no willows grow; Her lament is for a field, where corn and herbs grow not. Her lament is for a pool, where fishes grow not. Her lament is for a thickest of reeds, where no reeds grow. Her lament is for woods, where tamarisks grow not. Her lament is for a wilderness where no cypresses (?) grow. Her lament is for the depth of a garden of trees, where honey and wine grow Her lament is for meadows, where no plants grow. Her lament is for a palace, where length of life grows not." In the great Phoenician sanctuary of Astarte at Byblos, the death of Adonis was annually mourned, to the shrill wailing notes of the flute, with weeping, lamentation, and beating of the breast. On the next day he was believed to come to life again and ascend up to heaven in the presence of his worshippers. The disconsolate believers, left behind on earth, shaved their heads as the Egyptians did on the death of the divine bull Apis. Women who could not bring themselves to sacrifice their beautiful tresses had to give themselves up to strangers on a certain day of the festival, and to dedicate to Astarte the wages of their shame. In Phoenician temples women prostituted themselves for hire in the service of religion, anyway, believing that by this conduct they propitiated the goddess and won her favor. "It was a law of the Amorites, that she who was about to marry should sit in fornication seven days it appears that before marriage all women were formerly obliged by custom to prostitute themselves to strangers at the sanctuary of the goddess and to dedicate to the goddess the wages earned by this sanctified harlotry. The sacred precinct was crowded with women waiting to observe the custom. Some of them had to wait there for years. At Paphos the custom of religious prostitution is said to have been instituted by King Cinyras, and to have been practiced by his daughters, the sisters of Adonis, who, having incurred the wrath of Aphrodite, mated with strangers and ended their days in Egypt. In this form of the tradition the wrath of Aphrodite is probably a feature added by a later authority, who could only regard conduct which shocked his own moral sense as a punishment inflicted by the goddess instead of as a sacrifice regularly enjoined by her on all her devotees. At all events the story indicates that the princesses of Paphos had to conform to the custom as well as women of humble birth. But at different places the ceremonies varied somewhat in the manner and apparently also in the season of their celebration. At Alexandria images of Aphrodite and Adonis were displayed on two couches; beside them were set ripe fruits of all kinds, cakes, plants growing in flowerpots, and green bowers twined with anise. The marriage of the lovers was celebrated one day, and on the morrow women attired as mourners, with streaming hair and bared breasts, bore the image of the dead Adonis to the sea-shore and committed it to the waves. Yet they did not mourn without hope, because they sang that the lost one would come back again. The date at which this Alexandrian ceremony was observed is not expressly stated; but from the mention of the ripe fruits it has been inferred that it took place in late summer. There were continuous classical and patristic proofs that existed throughout the Mediterranean world of this touching cult, in which the joy of Adonis' and Astarte's reunion was succeeded by the grief of his sudden death and the women's funeral lament. Ephemeral gardens symbolized the grace and prompt decline of the deity. fertility rite continued in Lebanon into the 5th century AD. Adonis or Adonai and Hebrew settled in Cyprus around 900 B.C. They conquered Cypriot Idalion, and brought their cultic practices to it. In Phoenician the two words that mean "Lord": Ba'al and Adon, as indicated earlier. Ba'al had a very specific identity for Phoenicians -- including the Phoenician -- as the primary male deity. Thus Ba'al was not available as an appellation for the native deity encountered by Phoenician traders at Idalion. Since the local Cypriots called their god the Wanax -- that is, the Lord -- the Phoenicians likely called this native god by their other word for "Lord": Adon. The name "Adon" appears in a number of Phoenician inscriptions in Cyprus, including one from Idalion. The title "Adon" must have been used to designate the local deity by Phoenician visitors to worship in this shrine. The Greeks took over the administration of Idalion from the Phoenicians around 300 B.C. The primary language when the Greeks arrived was Phoenician. So it would have been natural for the Greeks to assume that "Adon" was the name of the local deity rather than a title. The name "Adon" was then Hellenized by adding the Greek ending "IS" -- Creating the familiar "Adonis." Later, after the Romans conquered Cyprus in the first century B.C., a number of poets cited lovely Idalion as the place where Venus had her fabled affair with Adon or Adonis. In the Bible the Israelite god Yahweh is sometimes referred to as Adon, though the term is used as a title, not as the personal name of Yahweh. Eventually, the appellation "Adonai" (my Lord) became a substitution name for pronouncing in prayer the unutterable name Yahweh, which by the early rabbinical period (first and second centuries A.D.) had become too sacred to pronounce. To this day, when Jews encounter the consonants of "Yahweh' (YHWH) in prayer, they pronounce it "Adonai." They might be shocked to learn that this substitution word is related to the Phoenician "Adon" and the Greek Cypriot "Adonis." Further, Muslim, Jews and Arabic-speaking, Aramaic/Syriac-speaking Christians might be shocked also to learn that their words for God come from the Phoenician god's name of "El" as in "Elah," "Allah," "Elahona,""Eloh," "Elohaino," "Eli," "Eloi," "Elohak"...etc (the prohibition against graven images) and the use of a standing stone (massabah in Hebrew) -- are characteristic of Israelite cultic practices. Therefore, if is there a connection between worship in ancient Cyprus and worship in ancient Israel, the link is the Phoenicians. Popular religion among the Israelites as opposed to the "official" religion promoted in the Hebrew Bible, especially the Book of Deuteronomy-was similar to Phoenician religion. The Bible presents a purified, elite monotheism devoted exclusively to the worship of Yahweh. nationalistic parties that produced the Hebrew Bible proscribed the worship of Ba'al and suppressed all but the faintest traces of a theology that included a consort of Yahweh. But both Ba'al and this female goddess continued to live on in Israelite popular religious practices as in Phoenician (formerly Canaanite) practice. The local Cypriot god the Wanax, or the Lord, was worshiped by the Phoenicians as Adon and then later by the Greeks as Adonis. This god had a female consort, much like the Phoenician Asherah -- a goddess whom the official Israelite religion had much about other Phoenician gods, please see the assay in this website entitle "Phoenician Canaanite Religion -- Pagan."

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Search our database of handpicked sites Looking for a great physics site? We've tracked down the very best and checked them for accuracy. Just fill out the fields below and we'll do the rest. You searched for "Navier-Stokes equations", type: Website We found 6 results on physics.org and 77 results in our database of sites 77 are Websites, 0 are Videos, and 0 are Experiments) Search results on physics.org Search results from our links database Claude Louis Marie Henri Navier (1785 - 1836) is remembered today, not as the famous builder of bridges for which he was known in his own day, but rather for the Navier-Stokes equations of fluid ... George Gabriel Stokes (1819 - 1903) is best known for his work in mathematics in particular vector analysis which has a theorem named after him (Stokes Theorem). He is also noted for his work on the ... Eigenvectors are a special set of vectors associated with a linear system of equations (i.e., a matrix equation). A comprehensive list of many useful equations and formulae ranging from acceleration to the volume of a cylinder with many more complicated equations too. The Maxwell equations are the set of four fundamental equations governing electromagnetism (i.e. the behaviour of electric and magnetic fields). An introductory treatment of the differential equation the Schrodinger wave equation, only the time-independent wave equation in one-dimension is considered. A non-turbulent, perfect, compressible, and barotropic fluid undergoing steady motion is governed by the Bernoulli Equation. This site includes links to related topics. The Schrodinger equation is the fundamental equation of physics for describing quantum mechanical behaviour. Brief description of Stokes' law and edge effects. A shockwave tutorial showing how to balance chemical equations. Uses shockwave. Quite good Showing 1 - 10 of 77

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How do we handle Plateout problems?? One perplexing problem that occasionally arises during long extrusion or molding runs, especially with opaque, pigmented or filled compounds, is plateout - a term used to describe the buildup or deposit of incompatible material on the screw, in the die, on roll take-up equipment or sizing sleeves. In time this deposit affects the surface finish of the product, and also provides sites for sticking - leading to degradation. Production down-time for clean-up is then necessary. All the factors responsible for causing plate-out are not fully understood. It is believed that minor incompatibilities of additives are partly responsible but not the whole cause. Changes in type and use levels of lubricants, fillers, pigments and stabilizers, as well as changes in processing conditions (speed, temperature) can affect the severity of plateout - for better or worse. Even the weather (high humidity) has been known to aggravate plateout! Although plateout may occur in a clear formulation, most plateout incidents seem to happen with opaque, pigmented or filled compounds. Invariably, a combination of two classes of metals are usually present in plateout - prone compounds - alkaline earths (calcium, magnesium from the filler or barium from the stabilizer) and heavy metals (most commonly titanium from titanium dioxide pigment, also lead and cadmium from stabilizers or pigments). Several empirical approaches to the control of plateout have evolved over the years, which have shown varying degrees of effectiveness: 1. Stabilizers based on organotin derivatives have not been shown to contri- bute to plateout, mainly due to their very high compatibility or solubility in the PVC melt. On the other hand, salts of barium, cadmium, calcium, zinc and lead are either insoluble or less compatible with the PVC melt and can aggravate plateout if other conditions are right. 2. Compounds based on emulsion polymerized PVC resins (E-PVC) normally cannot be induced to show plateout. In some cases, replacing a small amount (10-20%) of suspension (S-PVC) resin with E-PVC will reduce plate- out. This may be due to the presence of trace amounts of emulsifier present on the resin, for the addition of either cationic or anionic surfactants in very small amounts (0.1 phr) has also been shown to reduce plateout. 3. A mechanical approach to plateout control which has worked successfully involves the use of a small amount (0.5 phr) of a silicate filler to contribute a mild abrasive or scrubbing action on metal surfaces. 4. A small container of mineral spirits mounted above the sizing sleeve of a vacuum cooling tank so as to permit a slow, dropwise addition of mineral spirits on the hot vinyl profile just before entering the vacuum sizer will often keep sizing sleeves clean. PVC and Other Resins Forum Moderator "Keep Your Powder (& Resin!)Dry!!"

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Also known as Yosa no Buson (his family name is actually Taniguchi), Yosa Buson was a famous Japanese poet and painter during the Edo period. He, along with Bashō and Issa, are considered the greatest poets during the era. He is also considered one of the four great haiku masters along with Matsuo Bashō, Kobayashi Issa, and Masaoka Shiki. Buson was born in Kema, Settsu Province (now known as Kema-chō, Miyakojima Ward in the city Osaka). At the age of 20, he moved to Edo (now Tokyo), and learned poetry from the haikai master Hayano Hajin. After Hajin's death, Buson moved to Shimōsa Province (now Ibaraki Prefecture). While there, he followed the famous travel diary of Bashō. He published his notes in 1744 of the trip under the name Buson for the first time. After his travel through Japan, he settled in the city of Kyoto at age 42. At this time, he began using the name Yosa, which he took from his mother's birthplace of Yosa, Tango. At the age of 45, he married and had one daughter, Kuno. He remained in Kyoto and continued writing poetry while also teaching it at the Sumiya. In 1770, he began using the pen name Yahantei, meaning Midnight Studio, which was the same as Hajin. Buson died at the age of 68 and was buried at Konpuku-ji in Kyoto. Haiku by Buson - At the over-matured sushi, - The Master - Is full of regret. - Pressing Sushi; - After a while, - A lonely feeling - A whale! - Down it goes, and more and more - up goes its tail! - In nooks and corners - Cold remains: - Flowers of the plum

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Different questions — Different responses The way you ask a question can determine whether the other person provides a limited response or will tend to be more open; whether they become defensive or willing to share information. Your tonality and word emphasis also plays a big part. Remember: if you don’t get the reaction or response you wanted, it may be due to the question you asked. Inquiry that limits interactions Inquiry that furthers interactions - Don’t you agree? - Do others feel that way too? - Do you understand what I’m trying to say? - Did you do that because of X, because of Y or because of Z? - (Thinking: “He screwed up”): Do you really think you did a good job? - I have some concerns about how you handled that. I’d like to say what they are and get your reactions. - Why don’t you just try what I’m suggesting? - Why didn’t you just tell me? - What prevented you from telling me? Did I say or do something that made it difficult? - Why are you so defensive? - Do you have a different view? - What are your thoughts? - Do others feel differently? - What’s your reaction to what I’m saying? - What led you to do that? - What about what I am suggesting raises doubts? - You’re reaction is unexpected. What’s going on?

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Commercial Fisherman use a variety of gear to harvest the bounties of the sea. In this section we have detail just a few of the many different types of fishing vessels and fishing gear. Many of the vessels and gear you see here are modified slightly for different species, but their use, or method of use is relatively the same throughout species. Also included in this section are descriptions of some of the new devices and techniques used to prevent bi-catch. Bi catch can be most harmful to species which are not intended in a catch because the two species might swim or migrate together and thus be in the same place as the targeted species. Bi catch methods are commonly used for tuna capture, shrimp harvesting and ground fish harvesting. This section also shows some of the common safety features which fishing vessels employ. Fishing is one of the world's most dangerous professions and many inventions have helped make fishing a more safety means to earn a living. While still a dangerous profession, the devices listed here are critical for safety in today's fishing world. So browse through our gossary with links to the UN Fact sheets for all of these methods, vessels and devices and get a feel for the hard work that goes into bringing you safe seafood every day, 365 days a year.

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